Robin Hood

At the movie theater where I work, there is no way to annoy my co-worker more than mentioning that Russell Crowe and Ridley Scott are working together again/ Crowe has appeared in the last 4 Scott movies and while they have had varied degrees of success, critically and financially, those of us that work at The State Theater believe it should stop. I was never excited about Robin Hood. I watched it go through all kinds of changes in script, casting and even the basic story structure, but it never once sparked my interest. When the trailers were released, I still felt nothing. And I love movies with Bows and Arrows. I love that cliche follow the arrow shot and I love watching hundreds of arrows flying through the air. However, there was just something too on the nose for me about this. Of course, Ridley Scott was directing with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. You need a villain, of course Mark Strong would be that villain. You need a wise older man, who else would be but William Hurt. It was all just too easy, too convenient. I probably never would have actually seen it if my free movie ticket was not expiring, but it was and I did.

Robin Longstride(Crowe) is an honest man, a good archer, and a good soldier. However, when his honesty gets him in trouble with King Richard(The always valuable Danny Huston) he decides it is time to cut his losses and leave the army. When Richard is killed in battle, Robin and his band of merry men make their break for it, but they run across a bunch of dead soldiers who were returning the crown to the king. He assumes the identity of Sir Robert of Loxley to take the crown to London and to take a fallen soldier's sword home. His sense of duty brings him to Nottingham where he continues to take on the part of Robert of Loxley in order to protect the real Robert's wife, Marion(Blanchett)from losing everything. Meanwhile the new king, John starts taxing like crazy and anyone who will not listen gets their cities destroyed by Godfrey(Strong) and his evil army. Godfrey is a trusted confidant of the new king, but he has an agenda of his own, starting with killing our fair hero, Robin/Robert.

This Robin Hood is an origin story. We see Robin the Hood before he became the "Rob the rich to give to the poor" legend we all know. He is an honest man who works outside of the law because of a corrupt ruler. While he is wonderful with a bow and arrow, we rarely see him with one. In fact, we rarely see anyone with any weapons because there is this giant chunk in the middle of the movie where nothing even remotely interesting in happening. Are we supposed to care to watch Robin and Marion fall in love? She never actually grieves her dead husband, but since we find out they only spent a week together, that is supposed to make it okay. We know Robin and Marion are going to end up together, so why not give us more action?? I want to see Robin wielding his bow and arrow! I want to watch Little John swing his weapons on some unsuspecting villain. I do not want to watch Robin and Marion riding horses trading life stories.

The film making is also very lazy. I felt like I knew every single shot, cut, color scheme and action movement before it happened. I believe i have seen this movie about a dozen times, and this one lacked the energy to even care about switching it up even just a little bit. Ridley Scott is man who has directed his fair share of wonderful movies, but this felt like a paycheck for everyone involved. No one even tried to make something interesting or unique. They just gave me exactly what I expected them to give me. There was no creative spark to be found anywhere. Even Mark Strong, an actor I think has amazing potential, was just essentially rehashing his Sherlock Holmes villain. He is better than this. Go check out out Body of Lies. This guy has more going for him than just being the new Andy Garcia.

I know I expected nothing, and some might say that clouded my ability to enjoy the movie, but I disagree. I went in hoping to be surprised. It is not my fault no one showed up for work with a glint in their eye. Russell Crowe is only good when he is challenged by some outside force and here, his biggest struggle was keeping an accent. Now, I am not one to talking about using accents, but I am also not paid 15 million dollars to appear in a movie. I am not saying his British needs to be perfect, I am just saying it needs to be steady. He needs to keep the same accent for the entire movie, or just do not use one. I was far more distracted by his varying accent than I would have been listening to an Australian Robin Hood. He does not have the charm to pull off Robin Hood. Crowe is a lumbering laborious actor who is better when he is not supposed to be charming. If you wanted an Aussie for this job, they should have gone with Hugh Jackman.

I hope this is the worst movie I see this summer. I was bored out of mind and even the climatic battle, which should have been awesome left me yawning and not caring one bit about what happened to anyone. Maybe I just wanted my Robin Hood to be a Robin Hood movies, not some dumb generic movie. I wanted the Sherwood Forrest, the Sheriff of Nottingham to be a big part and I wanted to watch Robin Hood rob rich people and give it to poor people. Is that really too much to ask?

Final Grade: F

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

Summer is the perfect time for ridiculous movies. There is something about the summer movie season that makes it okay for these cheesy, big broad action movies to exist. I wish I could better explain why it is that way, but I cannot. It is just a fact of my life. In fact, I kind of get excited for Jerry Bruckheimer produced movies in the summer. Even though he made a mockery out of them with those god awful Pirates sequels, I still want his summer movies to be big and fun. This year he was returning with a Pirates style action movie. It is a "Sword and Sandal" style action movie big splashy effects and the Memorial Day release date. It seemed like a cannot lose situation, but the movie was not without controversy due to Jake Gyllenhaal not being remotely Persian. More importantly though, was the question "Can this break the bad movies based on video game?" curse.

The king of Persia has two sons from birthright, but one day he sees an orphan boy go out of his to help someone else and the king adopts him. The 3 boys grow up to be The Princes of Persia. The orphan, Dastan(Jake) grows into your typical movie black sheep. He does not follow orders, takes too many risks, but somehow manages to always succeed. His brothers decide to attack a sacred city because they received information that this city was making and selling weapons to Persia's enemies. They take the city and capture the sexy princess, Tamina(Gemma Arterton). The big prince claims her for wife, and he leaves Dastan to present her to the king, along with a gift that Dastan is supposed to claim as his own. The gift, a prayer robe, kills the king (Like the husband in Medea) and Dastan is the main suspect, so he bails with the princess. The princess goes with him because during the raid Dastan got his hands on a magic dagger and she is the protector. This dagger has a button on it that if you push turns back time 1 minute and only the holder of it knows time got turned back. The dagger is triggered by the sands of time that were put in a giant hour glass by the gods after saving the life of a young girl or something. Dastan and the the princess must keep the dagger out of the hands on whoever is the bad guy because if you push the button when the dagger is stuck in the hourglass, time forever can be changed, except not really because doing that will just wipe the Earth clean of people.

If you could not follow all of that have no worries because 90% of the dialogue in this movie is exposition. There is almost dialogue that does not explain something to us. It is as if the characters should just turn to us and lecture us on what is happening. Apparently we are incapable of figuring anything out. Also, if you ever forget what movie you are watching, they remind you often by saying "The Prince of Persia" about 7 times in the first 15 minutes, including the ridiculous pre-credits opening voice over work. No one in the movie can really make the dialogue work, but Alfred Molina as a anti-government crook who organizes ostrich races manages some laughs with all of the stupid stuff he has to do and say. His presence gives the movie a bit of a jolt, but I was hoping he would only be a cameo so when he kept popping up, I kind of got annoyed.

That being said, the movie was actually pretty damn entertaining. While I am certainly not a fan of the video game, on which this is based, the movie does a great job of making it feel like a game with all of ledge jumping. The director, set designers and stunt team do a great job of coming up with realistic reasons for all of the jumping and while the editing is a bit to swift for my taste, the action sequences actually look and feel pretty good. The action moves quickly and has a enough big stunts to make me sit up a little bit. The initial castle siege, led by Jake is particularly cool, especially when a giant vat of fire is introduced to the action. Sword fights are always a welcome sight in a movie and because I am a sucker for them, I am fairly easy on sword fighting movies, generally. Every time the movie starts to get waterlogged from exposition, we get an action scene that gets us going again. I only wish I had less talking and more jumping.

When it comes to these types of movies, they can be made or broken by the effects. There are some cool effects in this movie, especially as the building crumbles in the climax, but the snakes looked a bit too fake for me, which is always annoying. I am not saying they looked as bad as the Alligators at the end of Erasure, but they did not look that good. However, watching the king burn was a nice effect and a lot of the jumping stuff was probably done in front of a blank screen and it looks pretty solid. I do know a lot of money went into building the sets and it shows. A lot of the castles and cities are impressive looking. I really liked the ostrich track and that whole scene which takes place in this city full of criminals. It was a nice touch. Also, the effect of watching people go a minute back in time looks kind of cool, but also kind of goofy because we see people walking backwards and it looks like someone just hit the rewind button. That always makes me giggle.

Jake Gyllenhaal is typically an actor playing characters facing major tragedies and he is a quiet, solemn kind of actor and it was really nice to see him lighten up and go kind of crazy. He plays Dastan with a half smile and a light in his eyes. He uses his whole body to exude this kind of kinetic energy that distracts you from his ridiculous looking hair. Ben Kingsley is kind of locking down this awful kind of over acting and looks to be trying to outdo Liam Neeson for appearing in the most movies in the last two years. Gemma Alterton is not an actress so much as a young lady with a slamming body who can read lines well enough to not feel like a robot. She is perfect for this kind of movie and she and Jake have a nice sexual chemistry, but the dialogue they are given as flirting is pretty bad.

The Prince of Persia is a mostly fun, harmless action movie that fills the quota of big bad summer action movie. the action kept me interested, but the dialogue tried its best to put me to sleep. I am not sure Jake really has a career in top-lining summer movie franchises, but it was nice to watch him cut loose and have some fun with a role that required him to be more physically present than mentally present. It is not going to convert anyone to video game adaptations, but there are worse ones out there and this one mostly satisfies.

Final Grade: C

My Ten Favorite Movies from 1993

I find myself in the mood for another long term movie list project. I had a lot of fun with the Anytime Movies series last year, so I thought I would try out another series. I plan to take each year of the 1990s and make my top 10 list from each individual year. I will mostly use IMDB, but there will probably be a few other sites I use to determine the movies on the list. Yes, my real hardcore movie viewing did not begin until 1993 with Jurassic Park, but since 1993, I have watched movies from all over the place and have seen enough to be able to fill out these early years. These lists will contain where the movie are on my list NOW, not when I saw them initially. Granted, some of these movies I will have seen more than others but such is the way of a film buff. I hope you enjoy the series!

10. Dazed and Confused- Now, in honor of full disclosure, I would probably like this movie more if I watched it high, or if I even had a lot of experience in being high, but I still think it is a damn funny movie, with some great high school schenanigans, hot people, cool clothes and this magnetic performance from the now always shirtless Matthew. There is not a whole lot to say about the movie, it is just a funny drugged out comedy that takes place over 1 (?) day in a high school in the late 1970s. Watch it and laugh.

9. Last Action Hero- When I was a teenager and saw this, I really hated it. I thought it was a stupid movie that did not know what it wanted to be. When I got older, I realized that was the point. The movie is meant to be a satire on all those 1980s action movies. When I realized that, I really loved the movie. It is a big fun action movie that is surprisingly smart, even if Arnold looks like he is trying a bit too hard. I recently watched it again as part of my Shane Black phase and it still rings pretty funny. You probably have to give it a two viewings to get what all is happening in terms of the satire, or maybe I just did because I was too young to get how an action movie could also be a satire on action movies.

8. Philadelphia- Tom Hanks won the Oscar, deservedly so, for his physical transformation, on top of a brilliant performance, but Denzel Washington also soars in this tragically sad story of a man fired for being gay and having HIV. Setting much of a movie in a courtroom without it being a thriller is tough, but Jonathon Demme is a sure handed director with a lot of confidence in his material, his actors and his own level of skill that the movie never turns boring. It helps having powerhouse performances, a really well written script and a message, that while a little preachy, is never too much because it is balanced with Washington's character's own blatant homophobia, which is perfectly put on display by the actor. The film is a master class in acting and of course, in film make up. Hanks' transformation really is remarkable.

7. Sleepless in Seattle- One of my all time favorite Romantic Comedies featuring two actors who work very well together in that genre. This was the second of three for this duo, and clearly the best of the bunch. Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan spend most of the movie apart, yet their chemistry comes across even as they are seemingly worlds apart. The story of a widowed man trying to find love with the help of his son is at times touching and sad, but also can be very funny. Rob Reiner's supporting role as Hanks' buddy is very funny and Rosie O' Donnell turns down the annoying for a funny side character. It takes a lot of cues from An Affair to Remember which is widely considered one of the more romantic movies to exist, so Sleepless in Seattle is a bit manipulative, but it still works.

6. Pelican Brief- Denzel Washington is a favorite actor of mine and this is the second of his movies this year to appear on my list. Based on my favorite John Grisham novel, This tight thriller is still something i enjoy watching. The movie moves very quickly, and even the down beats are filled with a nice intensity. The editing and score help a lot, but the script and story really emphasize a fast moving thriller with car bombs, up close gun deaths, far away gun deaths and they manage to make a movie where a big part of the plot is about pelicans, incredibly tense. Julia Roberts and Washington both give excellent thriller performances and they have a really nice chemistry that comes off exactly how you need it to in the film.

5. The Fugitive- Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones really make this movie for me. I love a good chase movie, but essentially they are all the same thing. What sets the good ones apart from the mediocre ones, is usually the level of acting. Tommy Lee Jones was awarded a Supporting Oscar for his work in this movie, and that combined with Ford's hard assed resolve and gruff delivery help make this movie not just a big screen version of a television show. It is tightly paced, features some great stunts and of course that great monologue from Jones about checking everywhere for the man on the run. It is a monologue that is repeated in some form by every chase film since, including the less successful, but still entertaining spin-off.

4. The Sandlot- The childhood glee of baseball has been captured in many movies, especially in the 1990s, but none capture it quite like The Sandlot. Infinitely quotable, this story about a rag-tag group of young men spending their childhood summers playing baseball. The movie is funny and sweet, but mostly it is just awesome. Growing up playing baseball, this movie has a lot of special meaning to me as it shows how baseball can bring people together and why it is called America's past time. It is one of those family movies that everyone can enjoy and it is still fun to watch, even today. The themes of the film are universal, and who does not want to just sit back and watch a wonderful movie about growing up in a simpler time heavily featuring baseball and these wonderful kids just having fun.

3. Schindler's List- To me, the fact that Speilberg did this and Jurassic Park in the same year is a perfect example of why I love him so much. This brilliant piece of film making is really tough to watch, though. I have seen it twice and am not sure I could ever really watch it again. Horrifying in almost every way, it does not flinch away from the subject matter and for that reason, I love it. The acting, the script and the solid directing all add up in this masterpiece. Neeson and Fiennes show true depth and give equally amazing performances and the black and white picture is so strikingly gorgeous that it works as a juxtaposition to the horrific things going on in the film.

2. True Romance- A brilliant script, a solid directing vision, wonderful performances all the way around and some seriously kick ass action make this one of those 90s movies that help define the decade of Tarantino fueled film making. Slater and Arquette make a dynamic tragically cool couple and when you throw in all these insane cameos from Brad Pitt, Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Val Kilmer, Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman, you get this delightful kaleidoscope of characters turning this movie about drugs, sex and violence into something somewhat iconic in a cult classic kind of way. It is the kind of movie I appreciate more and more with every viewing.

1. Jurassic Park- This is the movie that started it all for me. I had enjoyed movies my whole life, but this movie made me fall in love. From the effects, to the scares, to the story, and finally just to how the movie made me feel, Jurassic Park changed the entire course of who I was. It is still a movie I go to to remind me what movies can mean to someone, to me. Everything about it still holds up today in my eyes. Watch it and tell me those dinosaurs don't still look amazing 17 years later! Speilberg is my favorite director for a variety of reasons, but this movie is probably the biggest reason. The movie scares me, intrigues me, makes me laugh and makes me feel good all at the same time. I could never say enough great things about it and in fact, I think I will go watch it now.

Iron man 2

When Iron man blasted into theaters, it took me by surprise. I had hoped it would be good because I love Robert Downey Jr, but I did not have any expectations. I was blown away by the film. It was fast, full of wit, well paced and action packed. It was the most summery superhero movie one could ever imagine. It was the perfect opposite to the dark brooding Dark Knight that came out later that summer. However, could they capture that magic again? With huge expectations and a growing number of movie stars involved, could Iron man 2 ever live up to what everyone was hoping for? Marvel Studios has a lot riding on the success of this franchise as it is launching an entire campaign based on the strength of the Iron man movies. It cannot rely on Spiderman or X-Men, so they threw all of their weight behind Iron man. It was a bold move and one that could end up paying huge dividends for the next few years, if it works.

If anyone thought admitting to being Iron Man would change the overall demeanor of Tony Stark(Downey) they would be wrong. The man is still cocky, still an asshole and still totally cool. He is putting on a year long expo to find a better world, he is battling the Senate over his Iron Man suit and as always, battling his own self destructive nature. On top of all of this, he now has to battle Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) a Russian with the tech of Iron Man and a personal vendetta against the Stark family name. Stark's health is also an issue and causes him to spiral out of control causing a confrontation between he and his good buddy Rhoadie(Don Cheadle). Vanko is his bigges problem though, especially after Vanko's grudge is bankrolled by Justin Hammer, a Stark rival on the weapons front who has grand ideas of getting rich and getting in the White House. With Hammer's resources and money, Vanko can afford to have tech just as good as Stark.

This is kind of a broad stroke recap of the action because, well there is a lot of story going on. There is an entire side plot dedicated to setting up this massive Marvel world involving Samuel L. Jackson and Scarlett Johansson as agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. the organization putting together The Avengers Initiative. And a good chunk of the tech geek in me loved watching Stark try and create a new element to keep him alive, but I think that section might actually bore people a little bit. Like so many of these superhero sequels, Iron Man 2 does suffer a little bit from trying to do too much. The middle does sag just a little bit, but whatever shortcomings the movie does have, it makes up for all of them with lively performances, great action, a breezy attitude, a kick ass soundtrack and one knock out climax.

Downey Jr is back in full snarky form and he is having just as much fun this time around. Downey had a hand in hiring the screenwriter and had a hand in helping the script the film and it shows, as the dialog flows out of his mouth just perfectly, He is matched wonderfully by Gwenyth Paltrow, back as his potential love interest and everyone else handles the dialog well. Mickey Rourke is quietly intimidating and while he does not have much in the way of dialog, he makes perfect use of his screen time with just a nod, or a smile, or a tilt of the head. His Russian accent does not waver and he has this great scene in a prison cell with Downey, where the these two redeemed actors quietly feel each other out and have an intense moment. Sam Jackson adds nice levity to the ridiculousness and Johansson is perfectly sexy, naughty and the right hint of dangerous. She has never looked sexier, which is saying something. However, Sam Rockwell kind of takes the cake for me on this movie. From his badly self tanned hands, his awful dancing and his mannerisms, Rockwell recalls every 1990s Gary Oldman villain. He is full of this glee at being in such a massive movie and his energy bounces through his entire body in every scene.

Jon Favreau directs with a steady hand, but never overdoes it. He understands the comic beats in the movie and understands that Iron Man is meant to be summer fun. We should leave the theater feeling like we got our sweet tooth on. The brain candy that is Iron Man 2 does come with some serious moments, but they are always followed by these wonderfully charming moments, like the roof top scene towards the end. We just witnessed chaos and bombs exploding, followed by a heart to heart, but the scene ends in laughs. Favreau deserves kudos for understanding not to let things get too serious because after all, it is a movie about a superhero.

Of course, it is a summer superhero movie, so what about the action? There is not as much of it as one might expect, but the action that does exist is pretty awesome. There is a short action scene towards the beginning that was surprisingly brutal, but the real fun comes when Rhoadie gets to put on a suit and become War Machine. Stark and Rhoadie have this wonderful fight, tearing through Stark's house all set to this mash up of "Another one Bites the Dust" and "It takes Two." That scene features a lot of glass smashing, which is always welcome in an action scene, but it is also brutal to watch these two friends just beat on each other. The trailer for the movie was built around this image of Iron Man and War Machine being surrounded by robots, so, the movie's action adrenaline is going to live and die by the climax.

And what a climax it is! First we get Iron Man being chased by these drones AND Rhoadie, flying through the air, weaving in and out of buildings and structures trying to lose as many as he can. While that is going on, the drones on the ground are firing rockets and causing explosions. Plus, Scarlett Johansson is getting her hand-to-hand combat one with a bunch of dudes. She flips, kicks, spins and punches her way through a handful of bad guys, only enhancing her sex appeal ten-fold. From there we get that epic image of our two heroes surrounded by these drones and it does not disappoint at all. The action is fast and well shot, dizzying us a bit but not too much. We get a lot of gun shots and hand to hand combat, plus this crazy awesome weaponry. By the time we get the eventual climax of the climax, we are so revved up, we cannot wait to see what happens next.

Iron Man 2 does have a lot going on and at times it may seem tough to follow. Marvel is setting up a lot for the future in this movie, while trying to tell a mostly self contained story and it mostly works exactly how they hoped. There are some wonderful nods to fans of the Marvel world and the movie does a great job of getting me excited to see where this entire world heads and I cannot wait to watch it unfold. The suitcase Iron Man suit was a nice touch for the fans and the tag after the credits is pretty exciting for those who are invested in the world of Marvel. Iron Man feels bigger than just a movie, as it represents a whole movement of films and it is not easy to not get crushed under all the pressure, but by adopting a breezy attitude, Iron Man 2 stays afloat and entertains for 140 minutes and when it was all over, my brain was full of all the ice cream and candy it could need for a while.

Final Grade: A

My 10 favorite movies from 1992

I find myself in the mood for another long term movie list project. I had a lot of fun with the Anytime Movies series last year, so I thought I would try out another series. I plan to take each year of the 1990s and make my top 10 list from each individual year. I will mostly use IMDB, but there will probably be a few other sites I use to determine the movies on the list. Yes, my real hardcore movie viewing did not begin until 1993 with Jurassic Park, but since 1993, I have watched movies from all over the place and have seen enough to be able to fill out these early years. These lists will contain where the movie are on my list NOW, not when I saw them initially. Granted, some of these movies I will have seen more than others but such is the way of a film buff. I hope you enjoy the series!

10. Basic Instinct- Always a guilty Pleasure, the Erotic Thriller is a lost art. I would say it peaked with this glorious movie of sex, murder and very over-the-top acting. The big reveals are perfectly delicious, the sex is at turns steamy and erotic and at times ridiculous. The dialog walks the fine line between B-movie and mainstream, often veering solely into B-movie, which is perfectly okay by me. The movie was made famous for Sharon Stone's crotch shot and the reaction shots from the guys, but the movie has ice pick killings, lesbianism, crazy movie sex and Michael Douglass' best B-movie cop performance, ever. Seriously, what is not to love?

9. Batman Returns- Some might be surprised to find this movie so far down the list, but I am not as in love with Tim Burton directed Batman movies as so many others. Yes, Michelle Phiefer in the catwoman suit is sexy as hell and Michael Keaton makes a wonderful Batman, but the whole penguin and Christopher Walken storyline just do not do as much for me as others. Still, it is worth being on my list because, well catwoman is always sexy. The action is pretty cool and the look of the movie is appropriately dark and Michael Keaton really is a winning Batman.

8. Wayne's World- I truly believe Wayne's World is the reason SNL keeps trying to make movies from the their sketches. Wayne's World is the best of the bunch if you ask me. Yes, more than Blue's Brothers. The chemistry between Myers and Carvey is ridiculous, the outlandish storytelling and broad jokes, mixed with physical comedy is awesome and of course, all of the 4th wall breaking is absolutely wonderful. Of course, the only thing this movie needs to be on this list is that glorious scene with Bohemian Rhapsody. Does anything else really matter? I mean I could talk about Rob Lowe being awesome, or Tia Cararre being sexy, but you have 4 guys lip-sync performing Queen's epic song and that is enough!

7. A League of their Own- Girls playing baseball is not usually something I am clamoring to see on screen or in real life, but how can you not like the movie? It captures the joy, innocence and importance of baseball in times of trials for our country. Tom Hanks is absolutely delightful in a supporting role and Madonna and Rosie O' Donnell mine good laughs from their easy going chemistry, but Geena Davis is really the star of the picture. The baseball scenes are well paced and genuinely exciting. Actually the movie does a great job at keeping things moving throughout the whole time. Plus, it features Tom hanks delivering the now famous line "Are you crying? There's no crying in baseball."

6. Chaplin- I have to admit that my love of this movie is pretty much solely due to Robert Downey Jr's flat out amazing portrayal of Charlie Chaplin. Downey has long been a wonderful actor and this movie proves the guy can do anything. Downey not only nails the side of Chaplin the movie fans saw, but he delivered a layered, complex performance of a genius not fully understood in his time and who felt trapped the persona on screen. Of course, Downey is no stranger to that kind of tortured artist side, but he is a daring actor always willing to just put himself out there. The movie hinders entirely on the performances and everyone delivers. I do not get back to this movie very often, but I am always glad when I do.

5. Malcolm X- Much like Chaplin, this movie hinges on the lead performance and Denzel delivers like crazy. Spike Lee challenges the audience with an unflinching film of one of the more controversial African-American leaders of our time and Denzel goes completely with him. As a filmmaker Spike Lee has always challenged views on race from every angle. He takes white people to task, but he has also always challenged those in the African American community and in this movie he is after everyone. He asks us to respect a man, while often disagreeing with his methods. I cannot comment on the historical accuracy of the story, but I know good filmmaking when I see it and Lee's style is splashy, but it works, even though the film probably called for a more traditional style. Lee's angles, colors and lighting actually help make this better than the typical Biopic.

4. Glengarry Glen Ross- David Mamet has long been a favorite writer of mine and this movie is the perfect example of why that is. At times, Mamet's screenplays get bogged down in too many double dealings, but this one is just a great story, great dialog and brilliant performances all the way around. The cast- Pacino, Harris, Spacey, Lemmon, Arkin and Alec Baldwin's memorable cameo- give a master class in how to speak intricate dialog, all while delivering knock out performances. There is not a lot of action going on, it is just a bunch of guys talking and saying these ridiculously perfect lines, crafted by a master of the language. James Foley has not amounted to too much of a director, but in this movie he knew to just let the words and acting do it all. I never tire of watching all of the brilliant male performances and I wonder how it would have gone if the actors let their own egos get in the way too much.

3. Aladdin- There was a time when I could recite this movie from beginning to end. It is a magnificent triumph in filmmaking, animation, voice acting and story telling. Everything about it is just so wonderful. When I was 12, I fell in love and I am still in love to this day. Robin Williams' Genie has become the measuring stick for comic voice acting and it has yet to be surpassed or even matched by anyone else in any other animated film. The songs are catchy, but also have meaning in furthering along the story and just about every character is memorable in some way. It features one of my favorite love songs from a Disney film and gives us a great meaty villain, who is just scary enough without going overboard. I love the vibrant colors and quick pacing of the movie. Plus, it has a magic genie, a flying carpet, and a tiger!

2. A Few Good Men- Like David Mamet, Aaron Sorkin is one of my favorite writers. His screenplay for this movie, based off of the play he wrote is fast, funny, dramatic, daring and full of these brilliant lines. However, he is helped by Tom Cruise's confident performances and his ability to hold up to Jack Nicholson's nasty, scenery chewing and the two of them in the courtroom together create this gorgeous, combustible scene that lives on thanks to their back and forth about wanting the truth. The cast is filled out with all kinds of good actors, and Rob Reiner really opened the movie up by letting Sorkin know, characters could walk and talk in movies, allowing Sorkin to write these wonderful scenes while keeping the camera moving and keeping the entire thing interesting.

1. Reservoir Dogs- Capping off a year of bold and interesting screenplays we get to my absolute favorite writer/director: Tarantino. This is one of my all time favorite movies and it might just be the coolest looking movie of all time (no offense Casablanca!). Tarantino's script is marvelous and he got all of these wonderful actors to give these perfectly hardcore performances. The movie still holds up to me as the dialog, while peppered with pop culture, does not appear dated. Tim Roth gives a gutsy performances, void of vanity and he gets this great "story" to tell and the way Tarantino shoots the whole thing makes it look effortless. His visual style, while a pastiche of those who came before him, feels fresh and totally unique. His use of existing music, while reminiscent of Scorcese, transcends being just a copy, or just an homage to him. I feel like I could go on and on on who Tarantino is and what he means to me not only as a fan of film, but as someone whose love of film has been shaped by his influence. Instead, I will just say, Reservoir Dogs is one of the movies that made me fall in love with movies and it keeps me in love with movies.

Date Night

The pairing of NBC stars Steve Carrell and Tina Fey seems like a no brainer. Pairing them as a married couple is funny because their respective characters on their respective television shows are unlucky in love and thinking of Michael Scott and Liz Lemon dating makes me giggle at how awkward that date would be. Fey is all the rage right now and Carrell is always in style with his awkward white guy persona. I remember when I first heard about Date Night, I thought it sounded like a great idea. When I heard that James Franco, Mila Kunis and Mark Wahlberg were going to have minor roles, I got even more interested. However, when the trailers started trickling out, my excitement did not stay so high. I still wanted to see it, but it was no longer a must see, which is why it took me so long to finally get to the theater to see it.

Phil and Claire Foster(Carrell and Fey) are a married couple stuck in the routine of married life. They are not unhappy exactly, just bored. They never have sex and even their date nights have become routine. When some friends of theirs confide that they are getting a divorce because they realized they were just roommates now, Phil and Clare both start to worry individually that their own marriage is heading that way. So, Claire decides for the next date night, she was going to dress up a bit more. Phil follows suit and promises Claire dinner in the city. They are trying to shake their routine, remind themselves that they are still in love. Phil decides part of his shake up is to take someone else's reservation at a restaurant. When he does that, he sets off a chain of events that the Fosters will never forget. They are approached by two men who turn out to have guns and mistake the Fosters for thieves. Phil and Claire escape, but now they are being hunted by gun wielding maniacs who turn out to be cops, so the Fosters cannot turn to the cops. Instead they turn to a private security guy that Claire knows. Holbrooke(Wahlberg) helps how he can, but he does it shirtless and intimidates Phil. Phil and Claire go off to find the real thieves in an attempt to get the stolen property, return it and go back to their real lives, but more madness ensues!

Carrell and Fey make a very good team. They are giving to each other in comic moments and I completely buy them as a married couple. They are appealing together and they both have a nice easy charm on the big screen and these characters, while awkward, are not as painfully awkward as their television counterparts. The comedy is not as smart as one would expect from a movie in which Tina Fey is the star, but she does a pretty good job of slumming it for laughs. She looks great and is totally game for anything, including dressing up like a stripper and joining Carrell in his usual "Awkward White Guy" dance that he must utilize in everything he does, apparently. The mundane tasks of marriage come across pretty easily, but we never get the idea that this is a couple on the verge of divorce. We can see that these two love each other, they are just stagnant and what better way to break free from that then being chased all over New York city by two gun toting cops who are really bad guys trying to keep a mob boss in business?

Because this is a broad actionish comedy, there are comical set pieces, and the most effective is a lengthy car chase where the car the Fosters runs into a cab and they get stuck together, but they are on a chase from the cops, so the two interlocking cars drive together. It is hard to explain the comedy of this scene, but it is by far the most effective piece of comedy in the movie. It is laugh out loud funny and it works as an action scene as well, which is definitely nice. The stripper scene is also funny, but it is not anything new, really. We have seen Carrell do this a million times, but I will say Carrell and Fey doing the robot while trying to grind on each other was pretty funny. Every scene with Wahlberg hits very well. Wahlberg plays against his usual aggressive type and it works opposite Carrell's blustery anger at Wahlberg's shirtless chest. They also get a really good "F" word in there, which if you know me, I look for in the PG-13 movie.

The cop angle is annoying and wastes a valuable actress, Taraji P. Henson. The story does take a little too long to get where it going and not all of the comedy works for me. The first interaction between the Fosters and the two gun toting cops is supposed to come off as somewhat comical, but I found it to completely miss the mark and the one scene with James Franco and Mila Kunis did not work for me. I love both of them, but they were trying so hard to be funny that it came off rather painful, which is too bad because I was looking forward to it. I did like the running gag of people being disgusted with the Fosters taking a reservation, but even that kind of bombed in the scene with Franco and Kunis.

Date Night is a very safe, nice action comedy that does not ruffle any feathers. I believe Carrell and Fey have a much better movie in their combined future, perhaps one with a much harder edge. I feel like we have only experienced a pretty tame Fey and if given the opportunity, she could really do some R rated damage and we know Carrell is good in the edgier setting. There is definitely enough comedy that works to satisfy enough people, but I guess I was hoping for more from this particular duo. The supporting cast suggested something better as well, but Wahlberg shows a nice flare for comedy and makes me anticipate his summer comedy The Other Guys a little bit more.

Final Grade: C+

Nightmare on Elm Street

I could begin with a diatribe on the idea of the remake. However, if you have spent anytime reading this blog, you know I am one of the few who is not inherently against the idea of a remake, especially in the horror genre. I can list at least 5 horror remakes I prefer to the original. What I will say is that the difference between a good horror movie and a bad horror movie is often the smallest thing. Most Slasher Flicks are essentially the same thing with a slightly different killer. The differences can be death scenes, or the director's confidence, or the editing or music. Whatever it is, it can be slight. The difference between My Bloody Valentine and Friday the 13th is small, but Friday the 13th is a vastly better horror movie.

Nightmare on Elm Street takes place in some suburban city on some suburban street and inside some suburban houses. It has all of the usual suspects of a slasher flick: The killer, a group of teenagers and adults that are either clueless or are keeping secrets. The teenagers are: Quentin(Kyle Gallner), Nancy(Rooney Mara), Kris(Katie Cassidy), Jesse(Thomas Dekker) and Dean(Kellen Lutz). The Killer is the burned, knives for hands Freddy Krueger(Jackie Earle Haley). He invades your dreams and if he kills you in your dreams, you die for real. After Dean mysteriously slices his own throat in a diner late at night, the other kids start realizing their nightmares are similar. They all hear a creepy song, they have Freddy appear in them and often they are led to a preschool. The problem is, none of these kids knew each other until high school, or did they?? Quentin and Nancy are the main focus here and we watch them try and piece together memories and nightmares all while trying to not fall asleep and fall victim to the torture and the one-liners of Mr. Krueger

While the movie runs about 15 minutes too long and starts to run out of gas before closing out on a good climax, This remake/re imagining has enough good jumps, cool visuals and a super creepy Freddy Krueger, that I had a damn good time. Yet, there are problems. The flashback sequences to the horrible memories of the youth and giving Freddy more of a back story pulled focus, especially when it looked like the movie was going to humanize Freddy, ala Darth Vader. Therefore, I did get a bit annoyed a little more than an hour into it, but redemption came in the form of some seriously creepy, way left of good taste stuff in the climax. In the original film, Freddy was not so much the jokester the latter movies made him and in this remake, Freddy has some of those punchy/corny one-liners, but he is also a true monster and he has a few lines that just push him back into the side of pure evil and I like that the movie did not shy away from that.

Visually there are a few great moments, showing a first time director with confidence. I loved the nightmare in the bookstore when the books started vibrating and the waking nightmare in the pharmacy had a nice flare for the dramatic, in how Freddy appeared in a fiery silhouette. I liked that the transitions from nightmare into the real world. I should have tired of the constantly cheap and loud "jump" moments, but I found them to be mostly effective. I liked that the length of the nightmares varied a lot, so we never really knew what to expect or for how long to expect it. The last moment, visually I want to mention is during the climax where the director keeps cutting between the awake life and the dream of of Nancy. The parallels of Freddy and Quentin was a very nice effect and really brought home how deranged the Freddy in this movie was. I found it to be effective visually and in driving home this Freddy Krueger was never a man, but the kind of monster you hope to never encounter in life, or in your dreams.

The great thing about the idea of Nightmare on Elm Street is that the more the kids try to avoid Freddy, the more likely they are to encounter him. The more you try to avoid sleep, the more likely you are to experience dreams while awake as your brain tries to reboot itself. Effectively, by staying awake, you are putting yourself in just as much danger. This movie played up that idea pretty well and actually Freddy used it to his advantage. I thought there would be more focus on drugs/pills for young people to take to stay awake, but they did not do that. The movie is not perfect as the repetition of the nightmares can become exhausting, the script is pretty bad and a lot of the lines Freddy has are too groan worthy to even be moderately interesting. The make up for Freddy was not as good as I wanted it, but I could not put my finger on what my exact issue with it was. Something about it just rubbed me the wrong way. As it is a horror movie, the acting varies from serviceable to obnoxious and I actually found the gore to be a bit off-putting, which is rare for me in a horror movie.

Nightmare on Elm Street does not quite live up to my favorite horror movie remakes (Last House on the Left, Friday the 13th and Dawn of the Dead), but it is by no means a truly bad horror movie. I had fun and my scary movie buddy did plenty of jumping and hiding in my arm and once she even dug her nails into my shoulder, so that always makes for a better movie going experience. The first jump in the movie is really successful and it sets a nice tone. The movie should have done away with the two extended flashback sequences and it could have cut the running time down by at least 10 minutes, which could have left the movie with a tighter, more compact effect, instead of getting slightly drawn out. However, a good climax with two great one-liners almost make up for that lull midway through.

Final Grade: B

My 10 favorite movies from 1991

I find myself in the mood for another long term movie list project. I had a lot of fun with the Anytime Movies series last year, so I thought I would try out another series. I plan to take each year of the 1990s and make my top 10 list from each individual year. I will mostly use IMDB, but there will probably be a few other sites I use to determine the movies on the list. Yes, my real hardcore movie viewing did not begin until 1993 with Jurassic Park, but since 1993, I have watched movies from all over the place and have seen enough to be able to fill out these early years. These lists will contain where the movie are on my list NOW, not when I saw them initially. Granted, some of these movies I will have seen more than others but such is the way of a film buff. I hope you enjoy the series!

10. City Slickers- Billy Crystal is kind of an enigma. He is better on stage than in film, but he has made some pretty great movies as well. He is not an actor, really, nor is he a star, but everyone I know seems to enjoy him. City Slickers is a funny and touching movie, but mostly it is about Jack Palance and his quest to win an Oscar in what seemed like never-going-to-happen scenario. Crystal and Daniel Stern have this great chemistry throughout the movie and the physical comedy of Stern blends well with Crystal's wit. When you throw in the hard ass Palance mixing it up with Crystal and you have a movie that is still pretty funny today.

9. The Last Boy Scout- When I first saw this one, I did not get it. I was too young, too unversed in the ways of cinema. I hated it. However, this list is about where the movies stand for me now and now I really enjoy this movie. Shane Black's script is hilarious and the action really keeps coming. The fact that it is ridiculous is pretty much the point of the film. Bruce Willis does his usual laconic dry one-liner thing and he is matched by Damon Wayan's brash youth and together they find a nice blend of comic styles. The violence is relatively shocking when you remember it was 1991, but it is still the comic timing that keeps me coming back to this movie. Black has a way with timed banter and a way with mixing non-sensical dialog with the stuff that is deadly important and it comes off so effortless.

8. The Boyz n the Hood- When I was 14 years old I found this movie. My love for the gangsta rap music is well documented and John Singleton's directorial debut was the filmed version of my favorite gangsta rap albums. There are great performances, a very real and dark script and Singleton's vision and together they make a combustible film about trying to survive under circumstances that do not give anyone a chance to survive. Laurence Fishbourne adds a sense of gravitas to the movement and Singleton became the youngest director to ever be nominated for best director at the Oscars. It is a tough movie to watch, but I believe it is an important early 90s film.

7. The Rocketeer- How could a young boy not love this movie? Well, I did and I still kind of do. There is a sense of charm that exudes from the innocence of the film and the filmmaking. Joe Johnston has gone on to make some fairly decent action movies, but here he remembered the charm. It is helped by the delightful performances and the easy on the eyes appeal of Jennifer Connelly. A guy finds a jet pack and becomes a full fledged superhero in WW2 era America. What is there not to like??

6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Secret of the Ooze- It is obvious that you can chalk this movie up to the nostalgia of it all. Of course the movie is not very good and the Vanilla Ice cameo is something that I should not cheer on, but I do. It captures a perfect moment in pop culture and it embraces that moment with reckless abandon, so why not love it? The turtles are still funny and still kick ass. They have to face down a Super Shredder and deal with two giant mutant monsters that are poor facsimiles of Bee-Bop and Rocksteady, but I still love it all. Talking ninja turtles will always fulfill my childlike sense of wonder and I am not ashamed of that. Plus, the Vanilla Ice really is totally awesome!

5. Cape Fear- Robert De Niro has given better performances and given more frightening performances, but this one always sticks with me. There is something about the way he interacts with Julliete Lewis that goes beyond good taste. It is the hair, the accent, the fact that he is always sweaty. He just creeps me out something fierce in this Scorcese remake. I remember catching this on television when I was 13 and I just had to see it uncut and without commercials. In terms of Scorcese's filmography, this is often left out of the upper echelon of films, but it is quite a good movie and it is creepy and thrilling, violent and has all of the things you expect from a Scorcese film, including, well De Niro.

4. Thelma and Louise- I am not sure how this movie has not been remade yet, but I am glad it has not. Ridley Scott directs the hell out of this Women on the run classic, but he also knows that Susan Surandon and Geena Davis just need to be let loose and he stays out of their way. Surandon is tough and sexy throughout and it is impossible not to root for these girls as they take back their sexuality, their power and the lives from the hands of sexist and oppressive male forces. It is mostly known now for introducing the world to an undeniably sexy Brad Pitt, but it is so much more than that. By the way, head on over to IMDB.com and to the trivia section of this movie to see all of the different people who were considered for the 2 female leads and the Pitt role. It is insane!

3. Silence of the Lambs- unlike the majority of the world, I do not consider this to be one of the best movies ever. I actually think it is pretty overrated. It is a great movie, do not get me wrong, but it is more culturally important than cinemtatically important, meaning, the place of the characters, the dialog and the story is important in a larger sense, but in terms of film, I feel like it gets unjustified acclaim. That being said, I still find a few scenes incredibly effective and the Buffalo Bill villain always intrigues me. The pacing is really good and I understand why people rave non-stop about it. It is worth it for one scene where the F.B.I is storming the house they believe to be Bill's. The editing in that scene is just flat out fantastic.

2. Beauty and the Beast- The was the first animated movie to ever be nominated for best picture and it was well deserved. It tells a timeless story with wonderful heart, humor and humanity. The music is gorgeous and the voice work is top notch. The animation is still wonderful and it is impossible not to just be taken in by the extravagance of it all. "Be our Guest" is worth the price of admission alone! Beauty was right in the middle of Disney's animation revolution and it remains my second favorite of the Disney musicals (My favorite will be on next week's list).

1. Terminator 2- Era defining effects, incredible action, a wicked supervillain, Arnold's cheesy lines and Linda Hamilton's bad-assery, what else do you really need? T2 is one of the best pure action movies of the decade and it offers thrills at every corner, while also ushering in the breathtaking effects of the T1000 robot. Robert Patrick has done all kinds of films since this, but he will always be T1000. He embodies the idea of a shape shifting, almost liquid villain. The stunts are still eye catching today and the movie holds up. The end is a tad bit too much in terms of cheesy, but that does not really matter when you have all of that action leading up to that moment of self sacrifice.