Wild Wednesday

I am still struggling with what I want to do on this blog on Wednesdays, so I think I have it figured out. I am going to have 5 things for Wednesdays and just scroll through them on a weekly basis.

Week 1: Essay
Week 2: Music video reviews
week 3: movie trailer reviews
Week 4: album reviews
Week 5: DVD reviews

This week I want to talk a little bit adaptations.

I like to think of myself as not being a book snob. I am not one of those people who always says "Well, the book was better" every time a movie is made from a book. I like to believe that each format has great things about them. Yes, movies begin in the hole because nothing can compare your own imagination, in terms of how characters look or how the action unfolds. This is just the nature of a book. That is what makes books so wonderful. However, seeing the things in your mind in some way on the big screen can be a wonderful experience as well.

I have been thinking about this a lot the last few days because of My Sister's Keeper. Now, I have not read the book, and I have not yet seen the movie, but the adaptation has really struck a chord all over the Internet with fans because the movie has changed the ending of the book. I cannot say how the book ends or how the movie ends, although I have a pretty good idea at how both end from reading about the controversy. In adapting a book into a movie things have to be changed or cut or moved in order to take the length of the novel and turn it into a 2hr or so movie. However, most adaptations keep the original idea, or moral of the story. It does not seem like this one has done that. In Watchmen, events of the ending changed but the end message stayed the same. I know fanboys were up in arms over the changing of the major event in Watchmen, but they were missing that while the event changed, the intention stayed the same. That is a successful adaptation, in my opinion. Watchmen turned a huge Graphic Novel into a less than 3hr movie, but got the basic intention of the Graphic Novel just fine. My Sister's Keeper did not do that. Whereas the abrupt ending of the book (again I am sort of guessing) was meant to show that you cannot always fix things and that fate will have its way, was changed for a more Hollywood appropriate ending.

I also want to draw attention to some movies that are, in my opinion, better than the books that came before them. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is always the first one I go to because while the books are amazing, the movies keep all of the amazing elements and lose a lot of the more Tolkienian aspects that have been a hindrance on so many people who try to read them. The Hobbit songs are gone, first and foremost and the story moves a lot more quickly in the films. Because the visuals in the movie are so striking and strong, they make up for losing the ability to create something in your imagination, besides, Gollum looks nearly identical to how I always envisioned him looking. John Grisham's A Time to Kill is another movie that does the book better, but for a totally different reason. The acting in A Time to Kill really help put faces to the ideas and morals to be found within that movie. I did not really get into the book hardcore until I had Sam Jackson's face to place on the jailed man.

Then there are those movies that are adaptations that I did not know were adaptations and if the movies do their jobs, I will pick up the book. This happened just as recently as yesterday, when I finally read The Soloist. Until the movie, I had no idea the story existed. The movie, while good, left me wondering about a few things and the book answered those questions for me. I know people are always strongly adverse to their favorite books being turned into movies, but I have read more than a few books because I saw the movie first and only knew it was a book after the fact.

The snobbery or the elitist joy one gets from saying "The book was better" is nothing more than that person's attempt to show that they can read and since for whatever reason people think that reading equals intelligence, they are trying to prove they are smarter than someone who has not read the book, or who does not care one way or the other. Yes, most often, the book is always better, but if you know that before seeing the movie, why go see it? If your mind is made up that the movie will always be inferior, just stay away. People want to stop Hollywood from turning books into movies, but without them we would not have the movies Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, Silence of the Lambs, The Lord of the Rings, No Country for Old Men, Forrest Gump and countless other Oscar winning and much beloved movies.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

I have a lot to say so I am just going to jump in, but the movie will be referred to as TF2 for the review.

For the last two years, Optimus Prime and the Autobots have joined forces with the military to combat any sort of Decepticon movement, while Sam Witwicky has been finishing high school and getting ready to go to college. His girlfriend, Mikaela, is working on cars in hot pants and worrying about Sam leaving for college. Then some shit goes down. The Decepticons are making their move to attempt to revive "The Fallen." There is a map somewhere that leads to some place where there is something that can revive the Decepticons because they are no longer able to produce more Transformers. I am not sure how they used to do it, but some energy is missing and if they can locate this thing, they can suck the energy from the sun of the Earth and The Fallen can come back to Earth and the Decepticons can complete their Global takeover. Unfortunately for Sam, the map, with the symbols is in his head and he is once again on the run from giant transforming robots, only this time he has more buddies. He has Mikaela, a roommate, Bumblebee, an adorable little remote control 4x4 transformer and twin transformers(More on these guys later). Oh and they pick up John Turturro's weird ass character along the way. Only this time he is not a Government agent, just a weird dude with a lot of knowledge.

One of the major complaints I have heard about the movie concerns the story. People don't like it, or don't think there is any, or something. Watching TF2 and complaining about story is like going on a date with Megan Fox and complaining about the lack of intelligent conversation. You do not go on a date with Megan Fox for intelligent conversation and you do not watch TF2 for story. That being said, I liked the story. I was interested in the ancient mythology that Transformers had battled on Earth for a long time and that Prime is a family name that roughly translates to BAD ASS. I like that we got 15 minutes worth of exposition from a retired Transformer who had been in the Smithsonian. Jetfire is his name and he is a beautifully rendered Transformer and he tells interesting stories, very much like the Obi Won of the story. He moves the movie along while filling us in on the things we need to know.

The next major complaint concerns the twins, Skids and Mudflap. The complaint is that these two characters are negative stereotypes on black people. Here I whole heartedly agree. These characters are meant to inspire comic relief, with one having a gold tooth and both talking in some broken Ebonics and wanting to bust caps and admitting they cannot read, they are disgusting and incredibly racially offensive. It got to the point where they were very distracting from the overall experience of the movie. I am not sure how these characters got into the movie or why someone felt they were necessary because the movie is steeped in comic relief as is(more on that later), but there they are in all their gold toothed glory, spouting off one ignorant, stereotypical phrase after another and in the moment when they admit they cannot read their own language because it is old stuff, I just threw up my hands in disgust.

Through all of that, is the movie any good? Well, yes and no. It is not as good as the first one, that much I do know. My biggest problem with TF2 was how much comic relief there was. You have John Turturro, the little 4x4, the twins, Sam's roommate, Sam's parents and to a certain extent, Sam himself. There are entire scenes that are used just as comic relief that did not inspire laughs (Sam's mom high on a pot brownie). I know these are the types of things one can expect in a Michael Bay movie as he loves to mix the bombastic explosions with goofy nonsensical comedy, but the movie is just too full of comedy that does not work. The roommate, too good looking to be such a nerd, is played as the guy who thinks he is cool, but whines, screams and hides like a little girl at the first sight of real danger. Ha ha, very funny. Well, when the guy tazes himself it is pretty funny and when John Turturro tazes him it is pretty funny. So, when annoying roommate gets tazed it is funny, when annoying roommate does anything else, not funny. In TF3, I hope he gets tazed a lot more. After all of that comic relief, it is still not done because the giant Transformer, Devastator has two giant wrecking balls for testicles. WHY!?!?!

However, when it comes to TF2, what I really want, what I really need is action. And TF2 has it is spades. The opening action sequence is astounding and anytime you have Optimus Prime jumping out of an airplane, you have a bad ass scene. Then, you have the best scene in the whole movie where Optimus battles 3 or 4 Decepticons, including Megatron. The scene, which takes place in a forest of some sort features amazing fight choreography, great CGI, and even a nice emotional pull. It is the kind of scene you want duplicated throughout the entire movie. The characters are sharper looking, more fluid moving and the fight looks like it is just a human fight replicated by giant transforming robots. SO Awesome. Then you have the kick ass climatic battle that weaves human forces and robot forces battling it out near giant pyramids. Devestator looks so kick ass and while he does not actually do much, he looks super impressive. There are awesome explosions, incredible looking robots, Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson looking very good in their military outfits while shooting, dodging bullets and screaming official sounding things and you have Megan Fox running, a lot. What can be better.

That leads to the next problem, the climax within the climax. The climax takes up the final 30 minutes of the movie, but the climax within the climax is a one minute fight between Prime and The Fallen. BOO! It is a kick ass minute, but still only a minute and after 2 and a half hours of foreplay, you want the damn thing to last longer than a minute, right ladies? I am not sure why is it such a short fight, but the movie is called "Revenge of the Fallen" and the Fallen does not really so much but sound like Candyman(Awesome Tony Todd) and sit and wait. Then when he done waiting, he fights for a minute. What up, yo? Did something go wrong in The Fallen's contract? Was his trailer not up to SAG standards and so he walked? I do not know, but I was majorly bummed.

Of course, the biggest problem with the movie has nothing to do with robots at all. You want me to believe that giant transforming robots exist, fine. You want me to believe in a Transformer with giant testicles, cool. I can even buy into John Turturro's character in a man thong, really I can. You cannot convince me there would ever, in a million years, be a time and place where a guy like Sam Witwicky would travel across the country to go to college when he is dating Megan Fox. No sir, you are a liar. No guy walks away from that. No way, no chance, no how. This is the biggest lie in the movie. Megan Fox is walking sex, her character is dirty, loves to fix cars and wears tiny little shorts while doing it. No guy is leaving that for anything. Sorry, but not happening.

TF2 is a mixed bag of bad jokes, hot chicks (hello, Isabel Lucas!!), amazing action and Shia running and while screaming. For the most part I got what I wanted, but there was too much of the stuff I did not want for me to fully recommend this movie to people who are not already fans of giant robots who transform into tanks, cars, trucks, and hot chicks (Hello, Isabel Lucas!!). No people get peed on in this movie, but the little 4x4 does hump Megan Fox's leg, but can you blame him? I think if I got close to Megan Fox, I would hump her leg too. When Michael Bay directs a movie there are certain things that you just have to allow, because you know that through it all you will get kick ass, loud as hell, explosions and if I have to suffer through some pretty bad comedy to watch Optimus Prime lay the smackdown on a few Decepticons, well I can deal with that.

Final Grade: C+

Year One

I feel like maybe it is wrong for me to review a movie that I did not stay through until the end, but I am going to do it anyway.

Billed as the first road trip movie, Jack Black and Michael Cera star as two cavemen idiots who are banished from their tribe. Well, Black is banished and Cera goes with him because his hut burned down. Black was banished for eating from the forbidden tree of knowledge. After he eats it, he believes himself to be smart and he sets out to disprove all the theories of his tribe. Leaving their tribe sends them in some sort of time warp where Biblical characters interact with these cavemen and it is possible there are Roman soldiers involved. During the travels they witness Cain killing Abel, stop Abraham from sacrificing Issac and run into their old tribe members who have been sold into slavery and taken to Sodom. Black and Cera go into Sodom to try and free the two women of their tribe that they love.

It is at this point that I left. I left for a few reasons. First off, the movie is incredibly awful. Secondly, I was starting to get texts that Michael Jackson was dead. Third, the movie was incredibly awful. For starters, it is a comedy without a single laugh in the first 50 minutes. Then, you have scenes that appear to end mid scene like the editor fell asleep and the editing process just kept going and when he woke up, he just told everyone it was finished. There is a scene where Michael Cera gets a snake wrapped around his body and then in mid scene, it just cuts to the next scene without any explanation as to what happened.

I love Michael Cera but this was not a good look for him. His line delivery only works if he has funny things to say, but there is not a single moment of laughter to be had within the entirety of this movie. If you think this movie is funny, I would seriously doubt your intelligence as a human being. That is how bad it is!

The worst part of all of this is that I will forever remember this movie because it is where I was when Michael Jackson died. One of my favorite musicians was dying and I was watching this piece of crap wishing I were dead. It is unfortunate that this movie will be etched into my memory for as long as I have memory because of the monumental thing that happened during it. Screw you Harold Ramis, Jack Black, Michael Cera and the two writers who will now set their sights on ruining Ghostbusters.

The Proposal

Because most Romantic Comedies are the exact same movie with different people and slightly different circumstances, the most important element is chemistry. Chemistry? Yeah, chemistry. If the two people who are supposed to fall in love have great on screen chemistry it can take a run of the mill ROMCOM and make it slightly better. The genre has been built on putting two people who hate each other in a place where they end up loving each other and if the two involved make it believable, the whole cliche is much easier to swallow. Hell, the entire reality television dating genre is built of the same premise that if you put people in close proximity to each other, love with eventually rule the day. So, Sandra Bullock came out of Romantic Comedy retirement for this, so you know she is game. She is a legend in the ROMCOM game. Ryan Reynolds has done a few Romantic Comedies, and the ladies do seem to love the man. He is charming, witty, pretty and ummm, well his abs don't hurt. This does not guarantee success though. It will only succeed if the two come together and spark.

In the world of book publishing, Margaret Tate(Bullock) is an evil witch who is incredible at her job. She is feared by everyone in her office to the point that when she gets to work, the office IM goes crazy with "It's here." Andrew Paxton(Reynolds) is her unsung assistant. He is a man who drinks the same coffee as her, just in case he spills hers, he can give her his. He is thoughtful and believes books can change the world, but he is stuck being her assistant and he hates every second of it. Instead of going home for his grandma's 90th birthday, he has to work over the weekend. He wants to quit, but he can't because he has been there for 3 years and he thinks eventually he will get to be an editor. Everything changes when Margaret find out she is going to be deported back to Canada and cannot continue her job. Instead of accepting that fate, she forces Andrew to marry her. Andrew uses her desperation as blackmail as well and gets that promotion to book editor, but first the couple has to make it through the weekend in Alaska with Andrew's family.

As it is a ROMCOM the results are painfully predictable, as are the supporting characters. Andrew's mother is sweet, his dad does not understand him, his grandma is a funny and hip old woman, and he has a sweet ex-girlfriend. If it sounds like 70other movies, it is. There is some slapstick, a funny scene involving a cute dog, goofy dancing, bedroom confessions and the all important public confession of love after all those schenanigans. Yet, Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock mostly won me over. Bullock does not quite nail the super-bitch she is supposed to be, and the first 30 minutes or so, she did nothing for me, but when the action switches to Alaska and the gorgeous castle of a house, Bullock's natural charm for being goofy pulls through. I was totally smitten by a scene where Bullock and Betty White are out in the wilderness doing a chant to the Earth and Bullock begins a serious booty dance, which would seem out of character except in another charming scene (The bedroom confession), Bullock's character confesses that her first concert was Rob Base and D.J Easy Rock. That bedroom confession scene is going to make or break this movie for people. It made it for me. Bullock does a wonderful job of letting us know why she is so cold and distant and Reynolds does his best to just allow the scene to happen.

For his part, Reynolds does his usual witty, slightly overly cute persona and he plays well with Bullock. His disdain at the beginning is easier to believe, than Bullock's bitch, but they both turn at the right moment. Reynold's does not get any real silly stuff to do, but he gets some great scenes with Craig T. Nelson who plays his father and it is important because when you see Andrew's house in Alaska, you will wonder why he left. Then he has these scenes with his not-so-nice father and you kind of understand. He does enough to make the girls swoon and of course, there is the naked scene, where both he and Bullock are very impressive and both are kind of sticky, him from sweat and her from just getting out of the shower. It is a scene played for appropriate laughs, but it is also kind of hot to see two well toned naked bodies crash into each other.

Betty White makes quick work of owning the movie with every scene she is in and she does it without being the typical vulgar grandma so common place in movies these days. She is cool and hip, but not vulgar or crass. She is a sweet old lady with brutally perfect comic timing and really works her way into our hearts at the same time she is working her way into Bullock's heart. In fact, it is their short scene together that really sells the climax for me. It is in that moment you can see something shift.

The Proposal is not going to set the ROMCOM genre on fire with originality, but it is relatively charming and by the end I was won over. Bullock and Reynolds are cute together and it is almost a shame they did not fall in love until the movie was almost over. I know a lot of people think the movie is hilarious and I cannot share that sentiment, save for a few scenes, but it was funny enough to hold my attention, but it is a movie that mostly survives and charm and luckily the two leads have it in spades.

Final Grade: B-

The Taking of Pelham 123

Anytime you paint a movie in the Tony Scott aesthetic you are going to probably get mixed results. Or at the very least, very different reactions from people. It is not terribly difficult to know you are in a Tony Scott film. He loves stop motion photography, incredibly quick edits, colors that bleed and camera angles better suited for music videos than feature length films. They also seem to always star Denzel Washington these days. I have a pretty high tolerance for his abrasive style of directing, but I do have to be in the mood for it. I have loved some of his movies (True Romance, Crimson Tide, Enemy of the State), I have liked some (Top Gun, Deja Vu) and hated a few (Domino, Spy Game), so it is hard for me to pin down an opinion on Mr. Scott. He is a director who has benefited from some great performances from some pretty great actors and in this movie he had two of the biggest: Denzel Washington and John Travolta.

Walter Garber(Washington) is a frumpy man who drops his coffee on himself and seems too intelligent to be a lowly Subway dispatcher. It turns out he is supposed to be the boss, but he is under investigation for taking bribes and has been temporarily demoted. It is under these unfortunate circumstances that Garber ends up a hostage negotiator when one of his trains is taken over by a group of angry men led by a man named Ryder(Travolta). Ryder is a tattooed mess with a love of the word "Motherfucker" and when he says it, no syllable goes unspoken. He is a vile man who does not appear afraid of killing passengers. Ryder wants a few million dollars in exchange for all of the passengers and he will not speak to anyone else. He wants Garber. the mayor of New York (James Gandolfini) is a whiny wimp and is unsure of how to handle the situation and when a hostage negotiator (John Turturo) enters the picture, Ryder really loses his temper. When Ryder turns out to know about who Garber is, people begin to suspect Garber is in on it, but it also might mean somehow, the bad guys have Internet in the Subway. When one of the hostages' webcam comes back on-line, America has streaming visuals of what is going on and the NYPD combined with the transit workers try and figure out who these people are and what they really want.

Painted in that stop motion, bleeding colored aesthetic, "Pelham" is the perfect example of a hit and miss movie. Much of the stop motion photography lends itself to unintentional bursts of silly laughter as Scott tries to manipulate the stakes to make them higher, but instead, it just becomes silly. His color palate does help a movie that takes place in essentially two places: A subway car and the station. There are colors blinking in yellow, orange and red hues that make the bland silver train look more exciting, but in the end, there is only so much you can do with a subway car and Scott would have been a little more wise to just let the car be and really focus on the acting. The hostages are personality deficient for the most part, so we never grow to care about their safety. Scott also does this thing with a map that is silly, where he traces the ransom as it goes through the city, but then he also shows the actual car with the ransom, so we get the trail twice, which is just stupid. The pacing is a bit uneven and all of the supporting characters are annoying, especially John Turturo's hostage negotiator.

That being said, the movie is worth it for Denzel and John. When you have two great actors together, there can be trouble, but there can also be magic. And when you have the two actors in a position where they almost never see each other, it creates an interesting dynamic. One of my favorite examples of this is The Negotiator, where Sam Jackson and Kevin Spacey spend the entire movie apart save for the final 25 minutes or so. They are both magnificent and find a way to play off each other even though they cannot see each other. In "Pelham" it works very well because of how different the actors play their roles. Travolta, who loves playing the villain, is obviously in full scenery chewing mode, relishing every time he gets to swear, scream and point a gun into the face of a hostage. In stark contrast, Washington is quiet and controlled. He is subtle and plays Garber as a man who is always thinking, and always goes through everything in his head before talking. The scenes where Travolta and Washington are on the phone, or the walkie talkies are perfectly balanced because of how different the two guys have decided to play their characters. It also helps for when they meet later to have them be so different and yet both so good at what they are doing.

There is a cool car crash, and the chase at the end is pretty good, but Mr. Tony Scott refuses to just let the movie be and has to follow every good moment with something silly, like John Turturro in a helicopter saluting Denzel Washington. It is the silliest moment in a movie full of those kinds of silly moments. I know what I am getting myself into when I watch a Tony Scott film, but I felt like this one was Tony Scott ramped up, when he had the level of acting that did not need some many tricks. In the end, Scott kind of ruined his own movie by not trusting two of the biggest stars of acting and falling back on his tricks, but in a movie without fighter jets, they just take away from the experience more than they add to it.

Final Grade: C

My favorite movies to watch with my dad

Alright, I know I am a week late with this, but last week I was having issues with blogger. It kept showing that I did not have a blog and it took me until Thursday to realize it was because I was signed in with a different e-mail. Annoying, yes, but I am back. This was supposed to coincide with Father's day, so just pretend for a little while. These are in order and to make it on this list, I have had to watch the movie with my dad on more than one occasion.

10. Monsters, Inc.- My dad loves going to watch animated movies, even though we do not have any young children anymore, but we are both in agreement that this is among the best. Every time we watch it, we start thinking of how awesome the Disneyland ride for this movie could be, because of the awesome chase. My father loves Billy Crystal and I think this is some of the Crystal's best work. It is not a movie we pull out to watch on a regular basis, but it is a movie that comes up quite a bit as a favorite of ours in the animated department.

9. Toy Story- This is the number 1 movie talked about in relation to animated movies. I think this movie makes my dad feel like a kid again as he always talks about his own toys when we watch it. He loves movies with messages about friendship and very few movies bring that message home as clearly as Toy Story. I think my dad likes the army men best, or at least those are the toys he most talks about after watching this movie. It gives some interesting insight to my father's childhood, something I do not get often.

8. The Grinch (Live action)- Okay, I know most people loathe this movie, and I can live with that, but this movie cracks me up and it cracks my dad up. The first time we saw this we were in a pretty full auditorium and for the most part people were unresponsive. Well you know me and my laugh and while my father does not have loud or distinct a laugh, if you get him going, he can bring it. There are two moments that just killed us both and we can still talk about how we were the only two laughing and how fun it was for us. Those two moments were when the Grinch was pretending to be The Hulk and when he was impersonating Ron Howard. I am pretty sure purists of the story would hate it, but that was some pretty funny stuff and this movie remains a movie we can watch and have a great time doing so.

7. Remember the Titans- I can admit this is less for the movie than for the conversations it stirs. I love listening to people who were raised during the civil rights era and my dad is among those people and so he has stories about what was going on during the times and he actually remembers this real story catching national attention. I like the movie and my dad loves the movie, but I love listening to my dad talk about the cultural landscape of that time period, as he was growing up in it, even though in California he did not see a lot of the negativity, he did hear about all of it as it was happening. Plus, we both love Denzel.

6. Tuesdays with Morrie- I would never have touched this book until my dad told me I had to read it. We had missed the movie on television, so we watched it on DVD and it remains the only movie during which I have seen my father cry. Whereas I am kind of easily choked up in movies, my dad remains pretty stoic, but this movie does get him and it was nice to share that moment with him. It is easy to see why one would cry during the movie, but it is more than the crying. My dad grew up loving Jack Lemmon and this adds an element to the film for us. It is a fantastic made for television movie, a fantastic book and a fantastic bonding experience between my father and I.

5. Galaxy Quest- If you have not seen this movie, do it, now. It is a straight up hilarious comedy and brings my father and I to all out laughter. Actually, my whole family loves this movie and when we watched it for the first time on Christmas day, there were times when you could hear nothing but the laughter from my father and I. We have very similar sense of humor and we are both not afraid to laugh at things, even if we are the only two laughing. Guy is our favorite character, but the whole thing is just classic Hadley family comedy. It gets talked about often when our family gets together and ranks towards the top of our Christmas day movie watching list.

4. Rudy- The classic Kyle and Tom Hadley sports movie. It is inspirational and a good sports movie. If you love sports and do not love this movie, something is wrong with you. This is that movie I have to watch if it is on television and if my dad is home he will often sit down and watch it with me. Many Saturday afternoons have been spent with us watching and loving this movie. The underdog story always plays well in our house and this one is tops. My dad does not watch a lot of television these days, but I can count on him to watch this with me.

3. The Man who knew too Little- This is a pretty obscure pick, but it is a classic around our household. My mom loathes it, but my dad, brother and I absolutely love it. Bill Murray is super dry and super hilarious in a movie of mistaken identity. The comedy is very awkward and I doubt very many people love it, but we used to rent it almost monthly to sit and laugh. My mom never watches it, but she can hear us all laughing no matter where she is in the house. My dad used to love watching Murray on SNL and it is funny to listen to him relive his favorite sketches after watching this movie. It reminds me that there was a time when young people used to make SNL appointment television.

2. Field of Dreams- Not at all shocking, I know, but baseball and my dad go together like bread and butter. Most of my great memories of childhood come from baseball and my dad and I still do most of our bonding over a baseball game. So, a movie where a guy builds a baseball diamond just to play catch with his dead father, is right up our alley. It is the best sports movie, if you ask me, but it is more than just sports. It is about family, faith and commitment. It believes in the power of baseball to transport people to a simpler time. It has great quotes and and one of the best monologues about baseball you could ever hear. It has been a while since we have watched it, but I know it will always be a classic in my life and in the life of my father.

1. O Brother, Where Art Thou- I have never known my dad to see a movie more than twice in a movie theater and this he saw, 3 or 4 times and then on video we have seen this countless times. Our experience watching this movie is so great, we went to the concert where all the artists featured on the soundtrack sang the songs from the movie and more. It is all the more impressive when you realize I hate country music and it was all country and bluegrass. The movie is absolutely hilarious and finds itself quoted in our house to this day. If we bring it up, laughter ensues without hesitation. I know when he was younger, my dad's favorite movie was Sleeper, but I feel pretty confident that this is his favorite movie now. I cannot even begin to guess how many times we have watched it, and we still laugh every time.

Movies have been a part of my life forever, and my father is a big reason for that. We have movie going traditions every Thanksgiving and Christmas, and there was a time when my dad would rent a movie every Saturday night and whoever was home would watch it. I still love going to watch movies with my dad and cannot imagine a time when that won't happen on a semi regular basis.

The Tony Awards

The Tony Award show is the weirdest award shows I watch, because I never care about the winners. How can I, when I have never seen any of the shows? Legally Blonde and Spring Awakening remain the only two shows I have seen with the original cast, so every year when I sit down to watch the award show, I don't really know anything about anyone nominated or the shows that are nominated. I read reviews and everything, but I cannot make my own decisions. This goes in direct contrast with The Oscars, The Grammys, The Golden Globes and The Emmys. With those shows, I have seen or heard almost everything nominated in the categories that interest me. I know what the performances looked like because I have watched the movies. So, why watch the Tony Awards? If the actual winners do not matter to me, what is the point?

This year, Neil Patrick opened his hosting duties by saying that as a kid watching the Tony Awards was the only way he could see what Broadway was up to. I know it sounds silly now, with the Internet and everything, but I feel this same way. I am something of a Broadway novice. Even though I have spent 11 years performing in musicals, I am kind of stupid when it comes to musicals. I just started buying Cast Recordings like 6 years ago, and I am kind of particular as to what I buy. I do not spend a lot of time on Broadway websites or blogs and I do not watch a lot of videos from shows. I love musicals and I love plays and have immensely enjoyed the 5 Broadway shows I have seen and I love live theater, but for whatever reason, I do not use my Internet time on Broadway. Some of it is because I think being introduced to a show via a shaky video taped Youtube video will never do a show justice.

For the longest time, I was introduced to shows through friends. I was introduced to Rent and Batboy through a friend from a show, and then living with Erik and Jason introduced me to all kinds of shows, but for the last four years, I have really relied on the Tony Award performances. It is the chance for shows to get my 12-17 dollars on a cast recording based solely on the performance of the cast in 5 minutes on the Radio City Musical Hall stage. This is why I watch the Tony Awards.

Before I go further, I have to explain what I am looking for in an album from a musical. I need something that is fun to sing. I love pop and rock scores. I need something I can sing at the top of my lungs and have fun doing it. I am not against classical Broadway shows, but they are not as much fun to sing. I am not a traditionalist, in fact, when it comes to Broadway, I am more of that "General Public" Broadway snobs hate. I love jukebox musicals and pop operas and pop voices. But, I will not buy something just because it is a jukebox musical. I have to watch the award show to make sure it is something worth purchasing.

This makes the preferences monumentally important for me. I am prone to impulse purchases and I will have my computer open, with my iTunes open and I will buy something as soon as a good performance happens. I am probably more easily impressed than a majority of people watching the Tony Awards because I just really like to watch people sing and dance and harbor the misguided belief that anyone who actually made it to Broadway deserved it. Call me naive, I guess. However, I am rarely truly impressed by the performances on the Tonys. I need something extra from the cast. I know they perform 8 shows a week and they are probably tired, but I need a show. I need to be able to imagine what a whole show looks like. I think the people who decide on what to perform understand this, because often people go for medleys, but that does not always work (Hello, Spring Awakening).

My method is not full proof. Jersey Boys had an awesome performance at the Tonys in 2006 and I was so excited to buy the album and I have not listened to it in years because I hate it. So many of the great songs from The Four Seasons are part of medleys on the album. I am sure I could sing to it, but the good songs are too short and their is entirely too much music on their, which means they had to use some bad Four Seasons' songs. Call the Mamma Mia syndrome. Also, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels ended up performing the one song I actually ended up liking when I bought that album.

However, because of the Tony Awards I have the cast recordings for The Wedding Singer, Spamalot, Rock of Ages (Which is going to be an amazing addition for Road Trip music) and one of the best albums I have heard in the last few years: In The Heights. I had never even heard of In the Heights until the performance last year. Now, I am obsessed. Proving the power of a Tony Performance, the cast of In the Heights won me over so much, I have watched basically every video on Youtube. Now, the album makes the whole thing totally incredible, but if the Tony Award performance had been weak, I may never have bought it.

One last by-product of watching the Tony Award performances is I can skip buying shows, I thought I would like if the performances suck. I figured Cry Baby would be a show I would like, but the number they performed was awful in every way and I opted not to buy the album. The same went for Passing Strange and my curiosity to see Shrek was definitely put to rest by their number. Then there are a few performances that did not make me want to buy the album but got me interested in wanting to see the shows: Billy Elliot, Curtains and The Color Purple.

The Tonys offer an audience a unique look at something they will most likely never see, at least not on Broadway. Now, I do not know anyone who watches the show that is not a big Broadway nut, but I imagine there are people out there, people who dream of being able to spend the money to go to New York and see a Broadway show. For those people, the Tonys are important for different reasons than just who wins and loses. Most people can shell out 10 bucks to go see a movie that has been nominated for an Oscar, but the performances of the Tonys have the opportunity to shape an opinion on what one show people will see if they get to Broadway that year. That is what makes the show important. That is why I love the Tonys so much.

However, having Neil Patrick Harris hosting, doesn't hurt!

The Hangover

Studios are typically pretty nervous, so it was a huge surprise to me that the Studio commissioned a sequel for The Hangover before The Hangover was actually released. That never happens! They either really believed in this movie, or they were just trying to really raise the profile of this non Judd Apatow comedy. The trailer was funny and featured a wonderful comedy moment, but with comedy trailers there is always a worry that the funniest stuff ends up in the trailer and the Mike Tyson stunt was a classic case of that. How could anything in the movie be funnier than Mike Tyson singing Phil Collins? Yet, there was something slowly building about the movie. There was a buzz, an anticipation like Wedding Crashers, for this movie that was starring no one big. The closer it came to coming out, the more excited I got for it. Also, the more nervous I got that my anticipation for it was going to ruin it because I was worried it would not be as funny as I was thinking it would be.

Doug(Justin Bartha) is getting married in three days and he is off to Las Vegas for his bachelor party. Phil(Bradley Cooper) and Stew(Ed Helms) are Doug's best friends and Alan(Zack Gilifanakis) is his future brother-in-law and the four of them head off to Vegas together. Phil is the ring leader and the party animal; Stew is a nervous preppy with a real bitch for a girlfriend (he had to lie about where they were going; Alan is not all there mentally and he is legally required to stay 1000 feet away from high schools for reasons unbeknownst to us. The guys get ready for a night they will never forget and then wake up the next day without remembering a damn thing. They have also lost Doug, the soon to be groom. Phil keeps a level head and tries to detective things out, Stew slowly boils over trying not to lose it and Alan, well Alan is just kind of along for the ride. As the men try and piece their night together they encounter scenarios involving stolen police cars, tasers, a naked Asian and an Asian gang, Stew marrying a stripper, a tiger, Mike Tyson and a baby.

The Hangover is funny in a way movies aren't really funny anymore. The jokes and gags actually come from a script and exist to further along the story. Very rarely are there scenes where the characters are just sitting around saying funny things. The comedy comes from the movie, not as the movie pauses to be super funny. Now, I am not against those types of comedies, but I really liked watching a movie that was scripted specifically to be funny within the story. And the story is hilarious. Watching the whole thing unfold is really entertaining as we get the set up, then we see the after effects and then finally get the execution. They answer enough of the questions, the funniest being how Stew lost his tooth and the tiger. The pacing is excellent as there is never that much down time between crazy shit going on. The side characters all do their jobs, including Mike Tyson playing himself in two excellent scenes and Heather Graham as a stripper, well as she says "Actually, I'm an escort, but stripping is a good way to meet clients." It is hard not to like a girl who is that upfront about what she does. Graham is charming, hot as hell and even gets a few nice laughs. The stripper does not have a heart of gold, but she is a nice girl just looking for some cash.

This movie, though, lives and dies on the shoulders of Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zack Gilifinakis. Cooper, type cast as a douchebag always, is the straight man in this comedy, but he gets his laughs. He is the ultimate go with the flow kind of guy and I would kill to look that good after blacking out. He is the main detective and the one keep things together. He is the ring leader of the crazy nonsense and his hair is always just perfect. Ed Helms, using the preppy nerd he has perfected on The Office, is a comedic gem. He turns slow burning anxiety into an art and when he finally just loses it, it is hilarious. He also sings a wonderfully funny song and is the character who makes the biggest life transition as a result of the events in the film. Then there is Mr. Galifinakis. Zack is short, fat and hairy and uses all of that but does not rely on it to be funny. He has most of the best lines as a clueless, mildly retarded, socially awkward guy who used to be in a wolf pack of one. He is so earnest in his stupidity that when when Stew says "You are too stupid to insult" he merely answers with "Thank you." These three men work together just as well as the Old School boys, because they find a way to make the three comedy styles meld and create an interesting chemistry.

The Hangover, directed by Todd Phillips who in no stranger to road comedies, plays as a road trip movie, a fish out of water movie and a mystery movie. The movie never gets too side tracked away from the story of finding Doug and that is one of the biggest assets. Everything the guys do is to find Doug and every crazy thing they encounter is directly related to having lost Doug. Phillips really does an excellent job staying on task and moving the movie along with losing the comedy. The cast does a remarkable job considering all of the crazy shit they have to do. The guy I was watching it with exclaimed "I am getting tired just watching these guys do all of this." Bradley, Ed and Zack never appear too weary of it and maintain a fresh energy that bubbles over exactly when you need it to. Then, when you think the movie cannot get any funnier, the end credits sequence happens and you lose all control. That sequence not only is absolutely hilarious, it helps fill in the rest of the night. In fact, it is almost necessary vulgarity to help us piece together how things spun that out of control. It is the movie we did not see.

Everyone loves to laugh, but I have not seen this kind of consensus in a comedy in quite some time. I have not seen one person coming out of the theater that did not love it. The only argument revolves around what moment people thought was the funniest. I am not sure I can choose what was my favorite, but all of the bits involving the tiger rank pretty high up for me. Movies like this are dangerous because everything ends up fine and now these characters just have a crazy life story. It makes getting hammered not seem like such a bad idea, even though the massive black outs in the movie are not exactly due to drinking that much. I have no idea how they are going to make a sequel, but I do know that I am totally game for it. I love laughing so hard it hurts and this movie is 100 minutes of pure comedy gold, even though we never do find out what was up with the chicken. Plus, any movie that can use "Who let the Dogs out?" with such a comic touch is surely a winner.

Final Grade: A

Ranking Pixar's movies

With the release of UP, Pixar has hit the ten movie mark, which is perfect for a list. These are in a specific order, but the movies that finish from 1-7 are all at the very least B+'s. Of course, I have only not liked one Pixar movie and so it will come as no surprise to anyone which one ranks number 10.

10. Finding Nemo- I just do not get this movie. It is annoying and the only redeeming quality is the animation, but since every Pixar movie has incredible animation, it is not enough. I thought Ellen Degeneres was obnoxious and there just was not enough in Nemo for me to enjoy. I liked some of the stuff that happened in the fish tank, but not enough time was spent there. The best thing about the movie was that kids everywhere went home and flushed their fish down their toilets thinking the fish would be reunited with their families. Nice!

9. A Bug's Life- This is generally the forgotten Pixar movie, but I enjoyed it, for the most part. It is very much the beginning of Pixar and is directly aimed at young people, but I thought the supporting cast was good and Kevin Spacey as a villain is always fun. I have not watched it years, so the details are pretty fuzzy for me, but I do remember that it was the first Pixar movie to have outtakes, which I thought was pretty ingenious at the time. Plus, any movie that puts Denis Leary as a male ladybug annoyed with being consistently taken for a female, gets points, just for that. I should probably go back and watch A Bug's Life to see if I still enjoy it, but maybe the fact that I have not gone back to see it is reason enough that it is so low on the list.

8. Cars- If you want to see a movie just for the animation, this is the movie to do that. The details are incredible all the way through. If you pay close attention you can see how amazing the reflection of everything looks in the windows of the cars. it is truly remarkable. I love Owen Wilson and Paul Newman and I think the story, while a rehash of Doc Hollywood, is interesting enough. The supporting cast is pretty standard stuff, but I love the little machines that can change tires super quickly. The races are pretty thrilling, but it is a pretty long movie and I did not have a real emotional connection to any of the characters, so I did get bored at times. I believe it is the worst reviewed Pixar movie, but it is a pleasant enough movie. Plus, it let Paul Newman play an old race car. He really did wonderful voice work.

7. The Incredibles- I have to admit, I was expecting something completely different the first time I saw this, so I did not appreciate it until a second viewing. Pixar movies, up to this point, had all been super funny, but The Incredibles was not meant to be super funny. It had comedy for sure (and really great reasoning for not wearing a cape), but it is an action movie and it is the best Fantastic Four movie we are likely to see. The climatic battle is awe inspiring and watching the team use their powers together shows why superhero teams are such a good thing. The animation is cool, but not as impressive as some of the other movies, but I don't think it detracts from the viewing, so it does its job. The voice work is great especially Samuel L. Jackson and I think this is a movie that grows on you. I know it grew on me.

6. Ratatouille- I do have some issues with the theme of "Everyone can cook" since the movie shows that not everyone can cook. It should be that "any species can cook." To me this was the beginning of Pixar's era of stretching themselves commercially. I am not sure this movie should have worked, but it does. The lead is played by a comedian who most people do not know, the story is about a rat in the kitchen and there are thousands of creepy looking rats in the movie. How did they sell this movie? It helps when you have Brad Bird (the master animation director of The Iron Giant) directing. He is a wizard with directing animated films. Ratatouille also features the single most thrilling Pixar moment, to me. It is the scene where Remy is running through the kitchen trying to stay hidden and it keeps cutting to shots of open flames and knives and features an incredible score. It is a brilliant moment of action in an otherwise action free movie.

5. Toy Story 2- This might be a bit of a sentimental choice, as I know there is a large faction of people who are super high on this film. I love the characters so much and I thought the story was interesting. yes, maybe a little too much attention was put on the Round Up gang, but I think that is the point. The movie sets up Woody to make the incredibly hard decision of living forever in pristine condition, or going back home, where he knows eventually he will break and be tossed aside. Woody chooses his friends over eternal life, which is a powerful decision. But, the movie is not totally weighed down by these big life decisions. We get an entire fleet of Buzz Lightyear's and the Buzz Lightyear villain, doing a sort of Star Wars thing and the voice work is, one again, top notch. I am already excited at the prospect of Toy Story 3, if just to hear all of my favorite characters come back to life.

4. Monsters Inc. - Very few movies capture a wonderful childlike joy quite like this. The story is infinitely interesting and creative; the animation is wonderful and Boo is the cutest little girl, ever. Billy Crystal and John Goodman are perfectly cast as the lovable heroes and Steve Buschemi is amazing as the villain. The colors are vibrant and the movie is totally funny and silly and lifts the spirit with its cuteness. The climatic scene where all the characters are moving in and out of doors into different places is one of the most creative sequences I can remember seeing in a family movie and it would make an amazing ride at Disneyland. We get a super happy Yeti and the wonderful moment of the two leads pretending they are rehearsing a musical, leading to all kinds of fits of laughter. Of course, the moral of the story being that laughing is more powerful than screaming is a wonderful lesson for kids and adults. This movie will lead to the kind of uninhibited laughter that could keep the lights on Monstropolis for years and years.

3. UP- I am willing to admit this could actually end up higher with more viewings, it is that good. I am not going to spend much time recapping it because you can just go read my review of it from last week, but I do want to say that it is a heart warming story with laughs, beautiful colors, great voice work and five characters worth our time and love. Animated movies do not usually fill me with tears (Wall-E is the only other one to do it) but this one had me in the first ten minutes with an amazing montage of scenes. I cannot wait to see it again.

2.Toy Story - The original Pixar film is still one of the very best. The idea was totally original, but played on the minds of anyone who ever had a toy and wondered would would happen if they were alive. The animation was worlds beyond what we had seen at that point, but it was also about the story. Pixar has time and time shown that a great story is what matters and what could be better than a story about friendship and loyalty? Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are incredible, breathing life into these two very different, but kind of alike characters and the supporting cast does wonderful things as well. There are crazy awesome jokes and bits, and great physical bits as well. The road trip aspect is totally cool and, of course, the little aliens crack me up, even to this day. There is genuine terror at Sid, and genuine warmth and heart from Woody's loyalty to Andy and his fellow toys. Few movies really capture the wonder and joy of friendship quite like Toy Story. It is a movie that will probably hold up forever, to me and will be one that kids for generations should enjoy.

1. Wall-E- Again, this is a movie that should not work. There is no dialog for the first 15 minutes and the lead character never talks. He barely has the ability to make sounds, but it is a revelation of a Sci-Fi film. Wall-E, as a character, is by far the cutest thing I have ever seen. His desire to just hold hands with someone else only makes him that much more adorable. He is a hard working robot with a curious mind and he seems the least likely thing to save humanity, but he does it. I know people complain about the movie being heavy handed towards its politics, but I think those people are missing the point. The movie is not really about that, it is about longing for a connection. It is about getting so lost in our own worlds that we forget how important connection with someone else is. It is about the importance of just holding some one's hand, letting them know we are there for them. Wall-E excels in every aspect of film making. It is funny, has interesting characters, a wonderful story, great morals (key for a family movie) and it allows you to fall in love with Wall-E so we care about his struggle. If you do not have tears in your eyes at the end, I would think you are a heartless, soulless creature of the night.

I am very interested in the order for other people. So far, I have talked to 4 other people and no one has the same top 3. I would love to see everyone's top ten, but I I would really like to see what people put as their top 3. I think cases could be made for any of these movies, yes even Nemo, even though I did not get it, I think I understand why people love it. So please, let me know what your favorites are. I know you all watch them!

UP

Two years ago, Pixar had to sell a movie about a rat who could cook. Last year it was a robot in a movie where there was no dialog for the first 30 minutes and this year they had to sell a movie where the lead was an 80 year old man. Yet, without fail, the movies make money and are critically successful, as well. Pixar has continually shown that if you tell a good story, the rest just falls into place.

Carl and Ellie meet as young children, who both share a passion for Charles Muntz, an adventurer who has been shamed. Ellie is a talkative, friendly girl, while Carl is a quiet, nerdy kid. The two grow up, get married and promise to go to Paradise Falls, where Muntz was last seen going. In a moving and gorgeous montage, we see the life of Ellie and Carl as they grow together. They buy a fixer upper house and turn it into a quaint, nice house. They work together and are genuinely happy together. Life gets in the way and the trip to Paradise Falls keeps getting pushed back and before they know it, they are a cute old couple, still very much in love. Carl remembers the promise he made to Ellie in their youth and buys plane tickets to South America, but Ellie gets sick and passes away. On his own, Carl is a sad man, unsure of what to do until he does something that is going to get him kicked out of his house. Over night he makes the rash decision to fly, in his house, to Paradise Falls. He fills his house with helium balloons and takes off. Unfortunately for him, a little wilderness scout named Russell was on his front porch when he took off and now Carl is forced to look over Russell. Russell needs to help an elderly person to get his last merit badge before moving on, so Russell wants to help Carl get his house to a specific spot on Paradise Falls. Along the way, Carl and Russell encounter a beautiful bird, a cute dog with a collar that allows him to vocalize and Carl's old hero Charles Muntz.

It is easy to get hung up on how amazing the animation from Pixar is, because it is breath taking. When Carl's house flies for the first time, everything looks so real. Now, Carl does not look real, with his Lego body and square head, but everything else about him feels real. The jungle looks like a real jungle and as my dad said "Sometimes I forgot I was watching a cartoon." Of course, calling Pixar animation a cartoon is like calling Daniel Day Lewis just an actor. The fact is Pixar has found something it does better than anyone and continues to do it better than anyone. Every detail is lush and every color pops off the screen. Russell and Carl are real people, they just happen to be animated. Pixar makes animated films for the general audience, but they typically do enough to make kids entertained as well. Let's be honest though, UP is not a kids film. UP is a movie about loss, sadness and how people deal with those issues and it may be difficult for young kids, but when it looks and feels so alive, the kids are going to enjoy the talking dogs and Kevin, the female bird who likes to swallow Carl's walker.

UP is more than just eye catching animation, though. UP tells a beautiful story with wonderful characters, great jokes and a melancholy sadness. Carl is a heart broken old man wondering how to live on after his wife passes and he lives this incredible adventure trying to fill the void. He worries that he was never able to give his wife the life she wanted and in the moment when he realizes he was wrong, I had tears, and that was not the only time I had tears. I have never seen a movie that made me tear up in the first ten minutes, but UP did that. It was not about the immense sadness of Ellie dying, but the immense love shared between the two. You can have your Edward Cullens and Bella Swans, give me Carl and Ellie. That is what real movie love is about and it only took them 10 minutes to tell it! That is exactly how you offer a recap of an entire life without once sacrificing an emotional connection from the crowd. How adorable were they when they were sitting in their chairs reading and holding hands?? When the house becomes the symbol of everything Carl feels for Ellie and in essence becomes Ellie, the movie takes on a whole new meaning. This is a man carrying all of his dreams and his happiness on his back trying to make things just perfect.

In trying to get that perfection, Carl realizes his life is not over and he remembers what it is like to care about someone and that someone is Russell. The roly poly child masks his own sadness in stories about being a wilderness guide and manages to make friends with everything he comes in contact with. Russell never annoyed me the way so many kids in movies do and his genuine innocence and desire to help make Russell a really nice counter part for Carl. When you throw in Kevin, a cute dodo bird thingy and Doug a cute dog who instantly connects to Carl and you have a wonderful crew of heroes. Doug, complete with lines like "I was hiding under your porch because I love you" made even me, who hates dogs, swoon. He is a cute pup who proves to not be such an outcast amongst the more dangerous dogs. Doug is the kind of loyal dog, dog owners love and the kind of dog that can make any human smile.

Not only does UP tell a great story with interesting characters and amazing animation, it offers genuine thrills as well. The climax, taking place on a giant blimp is wonderfully daring and features the kinds of things you want in a true adventure film. In fact, it is better than a lot of adventure films. Dogs flying airplanes should come off as corny to me, but in this movie I found it all utterly charming. There is an awesome fight involving a sword and Carl's walker, there are daring escapes, courageous rescues, people swinging from ladders in mid air, and a confrontation on the outside of the giant blimp as it flies through the air. There is literally something for everyone!

I feel comfortable saying that UP is, at this moment, my favorite movie of the year. Even with people hyping it up all weekend, I found myself surprised with just how great it was. It certainly ranks among the best Pixar has had to offer. Pixar is pushing what we believe animated movies are capable of doing and continuing to prove that a genuinely moving story is what matters most. UP is funny, heart racing, heart breaking, heart swelling and gorgeously directed and colored. It is the kind of movie that keep on giving and I imagine I will go back for seconds and thirds. I was moved to tears 3 times and not because of how sad it was but because of how sweet it was. If this movie does not move you, I question your humanity. Congratulations Pixar, you have truly done it again. I really thought anything right after Wall-E would be a let down, but I was wrong. Who knew a story about an 80 year old man in a floating house could be so awesome. Squirrel, indeed!

Final Grade: A+

P.S. The short film before UP is quite awesome as well. That cloud and bird combination is just too adorable.

P.P.S. I saw it 2D and am very glad for that. In case you did not know, 3D does diminish the colors and this movie is too vibrant for 3D glasses.

Sherlock Holmes, New Moon and Nine

I don't know if this will become a semi regular part of the blog, but as trailers are used to get us excited for movies, I thought I would look at a few trailers and gauge my excitement for the movies based on the trailers. Some people might think reviewing a 3 minute clip is stupid, but don't we all review trailers in the theater after we see them?



Could there be a more perfect introduction to Robert Downey Jr's Sherlock Holmes. His hair is a mess, he is smoking on a pipe and he looks just a bit odd and then he jumps out of a window. This is clearly not my parents' Sherlock Holmes. This trailer of Guy Ritchie's version of Sherlock Holmes, is exactly how I pictured Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes looking. Jude Law appears to be perfect for Watson, and having Rachel McAdams in it does not hurt and Mark Strong is the perfect villain. The trailer packs great action, and a few laughs while not giving everything away and the tag at the end is wonderful. I am interested in the supernatural aspect of someone rising from the dead, but that does not take away from the fun of the whole thing. I know people do not think this looks like Sherlock Holmes, but in the original stories, Holmes was not afraid to get down and dirty and this movie is even playing down the drug addiction to get the PG-13 rating. Sherlock Holmes has an Indiana Jones quality that is missing from a lot of action/adventure movies and I think it is a welcome aspect. I really cannot wait for December.



It may be wrong for me to include this trailer because I am not at all being targeted for this movie, but it is a big movie event and the trailer did get a huge premiere event at the MTV Movie Awards, so I am going to review it anyway. I do want to say that the trailer does an incredible job of appealing to the audience it is after. Opening the trailer with Bella whisper begging for a kiss is a sure way to hook all of those romantically challenged girls who love this shit. I, of course, do not have much of an interest, but I do have a question after watching the trailer. If Bella would have been killed in the first movie without Edward helping her, why would he leave her to fend for herself? It was noted in the first movie that Bella has a certain scent that drives vampires batty, so one would think that Edward would need to stay to protect her. It comes off like a silly plot device to bring Jacob and Bella together. The effects do look better in this movie and I do like werewolves and I like that the actor playing Jacob did everything he could to keep his role. The third movie is being directed by someone I love, so I will probably see this because I will go watch the third one, but the trailer does not make me very interested.



Hey, it is Chicago 2! Rob Marshall, you do not fool me, I know a sequel when I see it. As far as trailers go, this is pretty weak, if you ask me. I need to know if the people involved can sing and Fergie is the only one singing, but she is a singer, we know she sings! There are some nice images, and I like how it opens on essentially a blackout with a single spotlight, and Daniel Day Lewis would not have signed on if the script was weak, but this trailer does absolutely nothing for me. It stars a few females that most of the world thinks are hot, but that often times do nothing for me, but Judi Dench does have some lines lines, the only lines, in fact. I know this is a teaser trailer, but give me something that does not make me think I am watching Chicago with different actors! BLEH!


I was looking for movies that were a bit down the line, so I avoided summer releases. If people seem to enjoy this, I might throw it in the Wednesday rotation once a month or something.

The Brothers Bloom

In 2005 a movie came out called Brick. if you have not seen it, stop reading, go watch it and come back. It is that good. It was written and directed by Rian Johnson and from the minute Brick ended, I started waiting with great anticipation for what Johnson would do next. Finally, in 2008, he was to make his return with The Brothers Bloom. However, the movie kept getting pushed back, which is never a good sign. My excitement never left because I know that sometimes some movies just get lost in the shuffle, but releasing it in summer did not really seem like a smart idea. I was beginning to worry that this movie would never make it to Sacramento and after its first weekend here, I was worried it would not make it a second week, so I hurried out on Monday to catch it before it goes away.

We first meet Stephen and Bloom as young boys of 13 and 10. They are orphans who go from foster home to foster home for a variety of reasons, the final one being larceny. Ricky Jay narrates the wonderful opening as we see Stephen hatch his first con: a story in 15 parts. Stephen and Bloom con a bunch of school kids out of two dollars each, so Bloom can find out the location of some treasure from a hermit. The kids do not get the treasure, but they leave satisfied, which Stephen says is the point of a good con: everyone wins. However, Bloom never wins. Bloom is always cast as the tragic anti-hero and never gets to know who he really is. Bloom takes over the narration as we cut to the brothers in their 30s. After another con Bloom(Adrien Brody) tells Stephen(Mark Ruffalo) he is quitting. Three months later, Stephen finds Bloom and tells him he has one last con. The mark is Penelope(Rachel Wiesz) a millionaire shut in, just dying for an adventure. She is a curious girl and Bloom wants to say no, but he cannot help himself. The idea is to take Penelope for a few million dollars, while giving her the adventure of a life time. Stephen concocts a con that involves a boat, a book and a trip to Mexico. Bloom finds it difficult to con Penelope because the girl is incredibly smart and seems to know everything and of course, he is also falling in love with her, which always presents a problem in a con game.

Never one to let substance get in the way of style, Rian Johnson has written and directed one totally cool movie. The characters wear awesome hats, cool clothes and say things like "That is my new favorite camel" which implies there was an old favorite camel, and that just cracks me up. Mark Ruffalo is completely in control as Stephen and delivers a great performance, especially towards the climax. Stephen writes cons like a great author writes stories and Ruffalo captures that kind of lost artist aspect of Stephen. Brody's Bloom is a bit too down for a movie like this, but Brody does a good enough job of selling the coolness factor of it all. He plays the anti-hero well and has a very Odysseus like quality to him and that is brought home even further in that the girl he is chasing is named Penelope, the same name as Odysseus' wife. So that was probably intentional. As Penelope, Rachel Weisz is a bundle of nervous energy, adorable mannerisms and child-like enthusiasm. She is a wonderful actress having the time of her life playing a girl who collects hobbies and watching Rachel Weisz skateboard, even if only for a few seconds is just too cute. Throw in the oh so sexy Rinko Kikuchi as the mute explosions expert and you have quite a great cast of unique, quirky characters for this kind of folksy con film.

When you watch a movie about con men, there is always a sense of not taking anything at face value and you are always kind of looking out for where the twist is and on the way home, you are trying to find holes and looking for places where the con breaks down, but this movie holds up. There is not a really big twist, in my mind. It is just the story of one man trying to tell the perfect story and one man trying to live a life that is not written before it happens. The cons are merely the backdrop for these characters to figure out their lives. Rian Johnson shoots the whole thing in such a way that we want to be a part of it. We want to wear the hats, the clothes and speak the dialog. We want to live that life because Rian Johnson makes it looks so effortlessly cool. He even includes a character named Diamond Dog, just to add to the cool factor.

The Brothers Bloom gets laughs and thrills by playing off what The Ocean's movies started: putting cool people in situations where they can predict exactly what is going to happen. When the Brothers Bloom need something they go out and get it without having much problem getting it. Stephen keeps his cool no matter what happens, even when a building gets a bigger bang than they expect and Penelope gets arrested. Stephen believes his stories are flawless so there is no reason to ever get worked up. He is the kind of cool customer that only exists in movies and because of that, I wanted to be him. Of course, I am always drawn to movies that are specifically about telling stories. In this case, the stories are about making lies so good that they become truth, but the importance of the stories is that people believe them. Rian Johnson has created a wonderful story with lines of dialog like "I think you are constipated in your soul" and created a perfectly adorable woman in Penelope. Johnson is one of the freshest writer/directors out there and I hope people find his movies and realize just how difficult it is to make things look easy. It takes a special kind of director to make things cool without showing they are trying to make it cool.

The Brothers Bloom might lack Brick's originality and substance, but it is the perfect summer indie film. The locations are sunny, the clothes light, the dialog kissed by a warm breeze and the performances a perfect mix of fluffy and interesting. Everything falls into place and even though the end might bring some people down, I found it to be bittersweet and exactly how a movie like this should end. The Brothers Bloom will not the kind of box office, or patronage it deserves, but neither did Brick, when it was in theaters. If you cannot get out and see this movie in theaters, make sure you find it on DVD, I really do not think you will be disappointed.

Final Grade: A

P.S. The Queen of Hearts symbolism is wonderfully subtle, whereas the the lights constantly flickering on is not subtle, but funny symbolism.

Every Little Step (spoilers, I guess)

On the cast recording of Bye bye Birdie I have, there is a bonus track of Charles Strause (The composer) doing "Put on a Happy Face" live and before he sings it he tells the story of how that song was almost cut. The song was originally sung right towards the end of act 1 with Albert singing it as he is preparing for the Ed Sullivan show. No one responded well to the song and it was only at the encouragement of Strause's wife to move the song that it worked. There are two moments very much like that in Every Little Step, a documentary about the casting process of 2006's revival of A Chorus Line.

Blending interviews, auditions, footage from the original show and audio from the famous night that birthed the show, Every Little Step is attempting to condense about 2.5 hrs worth of movie into a little under 90 minutes, leaving much to be desired. The audience gets the history of the show, complete with a few great anecdotes, which are probably the strongest aspects of the film. Obviously Michael Bennett is not around to tell this story, but the directors of the documentary have put together all of the people who were around him while he was putting together the show and they create a very vivid picture of what it was like trying to get A Chorus Line on Broadway.

However, the movie is going to live or die with the audition process and the people who are auditioning. If you know the revival there will not be much suspense in the show, in fact, the movie does not do a very good job of giving us any real suspense or drama. We are introduced to a young beautiful girl named Jessica, and I guess she is meant to be the girl we connect to, but the movie is trying to give us so many small stories on so many different girls that Jessica gets lost, which is too bad because her journey is by far the most interesting of any of the cast. Jessica is the least likely to get cast in one of the lead roles and when she gets it, we do not even really get to see her elation at it. We see Jessica talking to her family about it, but not her face when she got the call. It is a big miscue by the directors. We do get to see plenty of those great moments of "I can't believe I got the job" but Jessica is the girl we were supposed to be rooting for and she was the underdog. She went to the last audition thinking she was just being looked as an understudy and she stole the role and we did not get to see that!

We do get a nice intimate peek in on how Broadway musical auditions happen and that is nice for those of us who love musical theater, but I am not sure how interesting the whole process is for people who do not already have a love for the genre. The 3 callback days being spaced out every four months was interesting and provided the only real drama because the creative team had two girls they loved at the second call backs, but in the final call back the two girls did not do it the same way and when given the shot to do it again, both girls were freaking out trying to remember what they did nearly 8 months earlier. It seems a bit tedious to try and ask for the exact same thing these girls did 8 months ago, but I guess that is the way it is done.

I wanted to really feel like I was living inside the experience all of these actors were having and I wanted to feel the highs and the lows, but save for one audition (Jason Tam for Paul) I did not emotionally connect to any of the auditionees. I did have a nice response to the father of one of the women auditioning and I feel the directors of this film got lucky by having him to include. There was just nothing grabbing me and I was wondering if this really was worthy of a big screen release, when it felt more like a PBS special. Even documentaries need to have drama and conflict and this movie just does not have either one of them. I understand that the directors have to work with the footage they have, but surely they could have created a better sense of drama with the actors and their stories of the actors' lives. Instead, the 90 minutes are full of semi interesting stories and kind of interesting people and a whole lot of leotards and one girl named Nikki with amazing abs.

Final Grade: D