This is how I imagine a meeting between Sam Jackson and his agent, except I will not be swearing like I imagine Jackson does.
Agent: Sam, I got a script here for you to read
Jackson: Man, you know I hate reading. What is it called?
Agent: Black snake moan
Jackson: I'm in!
Agent: Sam, remember how XXX was not about porn and how Snakes on a plane turned out to be a bad move, perhaps we should read things from now on.
Jackson: Well what is it about.
Agent: You play a former blue's musician with a biblical name and whose wife cheated on him with his brother.
Jackson: Nah, that's boring.
Agent: Oh wait, you get to chain a white girl to a radiator
Jackson: Now that's what I am talkin about, I am in!
Yes, the movie that poses the question "What would happen if a black man chained a white girl to his house radiator?" is finally here. Oh and what a movie it is. We get sex and vomiting before the first line of dialogue happens. We get an extremely hot, yet trashy Christina Ricci reaching to the depths of her inner core and ripping her inner nymphomaniac from the inside and wearing it on her outsides. No one has ever really writhed around in grass in such heat that wasn't an animal. We see Sam Jackson being his usual bad ass self and we get an almost laughable premise, yet we also get a movie that through all of its crazy over the top antics turns into a pretty touching story. Yes, I said it is touching.
First off you need to dispel yourself of the trailer. This movie is not that crazy. Yes, it has crazy is in it, but it is not founded in crazy. Sam Jackson, who hasn't acted in a few years at least gets back to his core as a very broken man, looking for any reason to hurt someone. His name is Lazarus, which obviously has some symbolism in it, yet it isn't exactly obvious. If you do not know the bible, Lazarus was raised from the dead by Jesus and in this movie, you can say that meeting the over acting Ricci saved his life, or brought back his dead spirit. However, he also plays the Jesus role, taking care of a girl who is in worse shape than himself. Him washing her off has obvious Mary Magdalene undertones, but that is about as biblical as the movie gets. As far as plot goes, here it is: Ricci is in love with a more than capable Justin Timberlake but he has to go off to the Army and every time she starts to remember being molested as a youth she has to have sex to make those memories disappear. One night she gets in the wrong car and gets beat nearly to death. Jackson, a farmer in the town, finds her, fixes her up and in town hears that she is essentially the town bicycle and takes it upon himself to "save her." He is trying to cure her both of her actual physical sickness and her emotional sickness.
Jackson, a veteran stage actor, gets back to his loud, but not way over the top acting style he displayed until he became "Samuel L. Jackson" as it were. He is an honest hardworking man trying to regain his life and he is quite good here. He counteracts Ricci's sometimes over the top behavior with a strong stable force. Justin Timberlake who is only in the beginning and end does a very serviceable job in a role that requires a pretty severe mental breakdown and a fair share of paranoia considering he isn't on screen much. It is sometimes hard to take him seriously because of the baby face and the voice, but I think he has it in him to be a very good actor. There are a few other supporting players, but the movie belongs to Ricci and Jackson. And, the music. Oh what music it is too. This score is powered by crazy blues guitars and that down south funk for drums. The music is inspiring, scary, haunting and yet often gorgeous creating the perfect mood. There are 2 scenes in particular where the music becomes a character. The first one is when Sam Jackson busts out his sick looking purple electric guitar for the first time and wails on it for Ricci. During the scene, the power keeps flickering off and on because of the storm and the way the music cuts in and out it is like a third character in the scene, haunting Ricci's memories and haunting the audience's ears. Also in that scene the thunder and lightening hit in rhythm making it sound very much like a percussion section.
The second time music plays into this is towards the end of the movie and symbolizes the big change in the two characters, so I won't give it away, but it is electrifying, proving that director Craig Brewer knows how to use music to emote because his most effective scenes in Hustle and Flow were also found through the scenes utilizing music. To be honest, this should have been a very gimmicky film and should have grown tired quickly but it didn't. Yes, Ricci gets to be a nuisance at times, but you forgive it because when it gets to where it is going, you are ultimately satisfied.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Zodiac
David Fincher is a brilliant director. He has created cult classics such as Se7en and Fight Club, as well the great films- The Game, Panic Room and Alien 3. In fact he is the only director who has never made a bad film, in my opinion. Well, that all changed with Zodiac. Zodiac is 2hrs and 40mins of pure unadulterated boredom! Actually, that is a bit harsh, I was interested for about 30mins worth of material. Granted most of that 30 minutes came towards the end and by that time I was so bored I just wanted the thing to end. Suspense is something Fincher does better than most and in this movie there was almost none of it. It has to be about the least interesting movie made about an interesting subject, ever.
The movie is about the Zodiac killings that ravaged northern California from 1969 until the mid 70s and the movie has no problem taking its time covering from 1968 until 1992. Now, movies often will span decades, but they usually show things in an interesting fashion, or just show things that happen. Nothing seems to happen in this movie after the last killing. In fact, even the killings are incredibly uneventful for the most part. Jake Gylenhall, Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo are each obsessed with this case. Jake is a newspaper cartoonist, Downey is a crime beat writer and Ruffalo is the detective assigned the case. The obsession ruins all 3 lives and also ruins 3hrs of my life. Each of the men are good, solid actors and here is no different. Downey is quirky, charming and funny, as usual. Jake is earnest and intense and Mark Ruffalo has the swagger and charm he usually carries with him, but it is all wasted in a script that doesn't deserve the talent it got.
The case was never solved and it probably won't ever be solved, although the movie makes a very good case for one particular suspect, but by the sounds of the people leaving the theater, no one really cared. In fact, with the exception of a brilliant scene towards the end of the movie taking place in a basement, I could have done without this entire mess. I can only hope this was a fluke for Fincher and he hasn't pulled an M. Night Shyamalan and lost all of his talent. Perhaps if he had focused more on what the case did to these people's lives and less time on the actual facts of the case, this movie would have been worlds more interesting, but since it was based off a book that was more concerned with finding the actual killer, maybe it wasn't all Fincher's fault. Well, here it is March and I already have my first big disappointment of the year in film.
The movie is about the Zodiac killings that ravaged northern California from 1969 until the mid 70s and the movie has no problem taking its time covering from 1968 until 1992. Now, movies often will span decades, but they usually show things in an interesting fashion, or just show things that happen. Nothing seems to happen in this movie after the last killing. In fact, even the killings are incredibly uneventful for the most part. Jake Gylenhall, Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo are each obsessed with this case. Jake is a newspaper cartoonist, Downey is a crime beat writer and Ruffalo is the detective assigned the case. The obsession ruins all 3 lives and also ruins 3hrs of my life. Each of the men are good, solid actors and here is no different. Downey is quirky, charming and funny, as usual. Jake is earnest and intense and Mark Ruffalo has the swagger and charm he usually carries with him, but it is all wasted in a script that doesn't deserve the talent it got.
The case was never solved and it probably won't ever be solved, although the movie makes a very good case for one particular suspect, but by the sounds of the people leaving the theater, no one really cared. In fact, with the exception of a brilliant scene towards the end of the movie taking place in a basement, I could have done without this entire mess. I can only hope this was a fluke for Fincher and he hasn't pulled an M. Night Shyamalan and lost all of his talent. Perhaps if he had focused more on what the case did to these people's lives and less time on the actual facts of the case, this movie would have been worlds more interesting, but since it was based off a book that was more concerned with finding the actual killer, maybe it wasn't all Fincher's fault. Well, here it is March and I already have my first big disappointment of the year in film.
Half Nelson
If you watch movies for strictly entertainment value and need for your movies to reach a conclusion that is clear concise and happy, I suggest staying far far away from this intimate gem of a movie. However, if you want to watch a movie with phenomenal acting, a great score, amazing camera work and allows you to reach your own conclusion about what is going to happen after the movie ends, go out and rent this one! The mesmerizing Ryan Gosling stars as an 8th grade history teacher and girl's basketball coach whose interesting and edgy teaching tactics has allowed him to reach the students in a very real way. He is also a drug addict. Early in the film he sees an old girlfriend while coaching and in order to cope he smokes crack right at the school and as he is laying on the floor a student walks in and finds him. The student is played by Shareeka Epps and that scene is the first off quite a few amazing scenes. Gosling perfectly downplays his addiction, even as he is high and the young Epps proves up to the task as she remains calm and helpful. A very unlikely friendship is born in that moment and it proves to be the moment that really gets the film rolling.
Throughout the movie, Gosling shoots, smokes and snorts all kinds of different drugs, but for the most part it never affects his teaching. The moments in the classroom allow us to see just how good Gosling already is and lets us see just how good he is going to be with each and every film. See, it is easy to see someone physically unravel due to drugs- messed up hair, black circles under the eyes and constantly sweating- but Gosling manages to do more than that. His mannerisms perfectly capture a man whose world is spiraling out of control and he doesn't know what to do. We continue to watch the movie because of him and because of the friendship blossoming between student and teacher. Epps comes from a broken home, whose brother is in jail for dealing drugs and not rolling on his supplier. The supplier, played by a great Anthony Mackie, helps out Epps family and seems likable enough, except that he takes Epps on drug runs with him. We are supposed to probably hate him but Mackie plays him real and not like a stock drug dealing movie character. We can see he does truly care about Epps but the drug world is the only world he knows.
To be honest, plot wise this movie isn't big on it. It is a character study. A study on what happens to a man when he can no longer fool himself into thinking he has his addiction under control. A study on friendship in the most unlikely of places. The movie doesn't treat teenagers as kids but as people. The young girl is capable of fending for herself and being a very Good friend, even when her teacher does not deserve it. It is hard to say I liked the movie, because I am not sure it is the kind of movie you can like. I appreciated it. I appreciated the acting, the writing and everything else in this movie. I was drawn to the characters and to their individual problems, but mostly I was drawn to Ryan Gosling. This kid is only 26 and has racked up very impressive displays of acting and I cannot wait to see what he is going to do next. I also enjoyed that the ending allows each individual to reach his or her own conclusion.
Throughout the movie, Gosling shoots, smokes and snorts all kinds of different drugs, but for the most part it never affects his teaching. The moments in the classroom allow us to see just how good Gosling already is and lets us see just how good he is going to be with each and every film. See, it is easy to see someone physically unravel due to drugs- messed up hair, black circles under the eyes and constantly sweating- but Gosling manages to do more than that. His mannerisms perfectly capture a man whose world is spiraling out of control and he doesn't know what to do. We continue to watch the movie because of him and because of the friendship blossoming between student and teacher. Epps comes from a broken home, whose brother is in jail for dealing drugs and not rolling on his supplier. The supplier, played by a great Anthony Mackie, helps out Epps family and seems likable enough, except that he takes Epps on drug runs with him. We are supposed to probably hate him but Mackie plays him real and not like a stock drug dealing movie character. We can see he does truly care about Epps but the drug world is the only world he knows.
To be honest, plot wise this movie isn't big on it. It is a character study. A study on what happens to a man when he can no longer fool himself into thinking he has his addiction under control. A study on friendship in the most unlikely of places. The movie doesn't treat teenagers as kids but as people. The young girl is capable of fending for herself and being a very Good friend, even when her teacher does not deserve it. It is hard to say I liked the movie, because I am not sure it is the kind of movie you can like. I appreciated it. I appreciated the acting, the writing and everything else in this movie. I was drawn to the characters and to their individual problems, but mostly I was drawn to Ryan Gosling. This kid is only 26 and has racked up very impressive displays of acting and I cannot wait to see what he is going to do next. I also enjoyed that the ending allows each individual to reach his or her own conclusion.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
The Number 23 (possible spoilers)
I got the feeling that the makers of this movie wanted us to leave the theater trying to count random things to see if they added up to 23, but instead it felt like people came out of the theater arguing about whether they enjoyed it or not. I heard one couple getting into a fairly heated conversation on the way out because he loved it and she hated it. In talking to the owner of the theater (as I often do) I found that people either love it or hate, which is weird because I am on the fence about it. The movie has a very strong opening, a fairly interesting twist and a very nice conclusion but is often a mess in the middle.
Jim Carrey plays a husband and father living a fairly mundane existence as a dog catcher until his wife picks up this book for him to read. The book has an ominous red cover and comes with a disclaimer that reads like a warning label, but he reads the book anyway. To be honest, the voice over of him reading the book is a bit tedious but the images from the novel are a breathtaking dank dark blend of blacks, reds and whites. The book is about a detective who becomes obsessed with the number 23. The number is dripped in mystique and coincidence and draws him into a web of paranoia. In his mind, the detective looks like Carrey, only ripped, with tattoos and having dark sexual conquests with a woman, who looks like his wife (Virginia Madsen). In this opening hour, director Joel Shumacher weaves a very creepy atmosphere where you are never quite sure what is going to happen next. It is helped along by a very creepy, non-sequitur style music. Violins often trail off mid strike in favor of oft putting drums, adding to overall “what is going to happen next” mind state. However, Carrey finishes the novel and we are introduced to the middle section of outlandish paranoia and it becomes a movie that is not quite sure what it wants. Is it a supernatural thriller, dark comedy or a film about obsession? All of those questions seem to fit in the mindless 45 minutes in the middle.
Luckily after that mind numbing section we get a great twist and a most satisfactory ending. I won’t spoil the fun but if you find yourself wondering where the movie is going, please stick with it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The big question going in was can Jim Carrey do this? I never really doubted it because if you saw The Cable Guy or Man in the moon, you know he can be dark, but this called for something a lot darker, could we believe Jim Carrey having sex in an almost rape like fantasy? Would we believe him going nearly crazy because of a number? Is it possible to forget about how funny he is and watch him delve deep into the psychological thriller? The answer to all of these questions seems to be yes, yes we can. Carrey is slowly proving himself worthy of breaking out of the comedy genre. Yes we have seen him do less funny things, but Truman show and Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind were essentially comedies from a different angle. While this movie has moments of manic like humor, it proves quickly that it is not out to make us smile, but to challenge what we believe people are capable of.
Lastly I want to mention the director. Shumacher has been taking nothing but heat for the last decade over his dismantling of the Batman series and while he stumbled with the Phantom of the Opera movie he has made some very good movies since Batman and it is time people recognize how good he is with the camera. Yes, he made huge disasters but he also made Phone Booth, Tigerland and 8mm all of which were small scale movies proving he has a great talent.
Jim Carrey plays a husband and father living a fairly mundane existence as a dog catcher until his wife picks up this book for him to read. The book has an ominous red cover and comes with a disclaimer that reads like a warning label, but he reads the book anyway. To be honest, the voice over of him reading the book is a bit tedious but the images from the novel are a breathtaking dank dark blend of blacks, reds and whites. The book is about a detective who becomes obsessed with the number 23. The number is dripped in mystique and coincidence and draws him into a web of paranoia. In his mind, the detective looks like Carrey, only ripped, with tattoos and having dark sexual conquests with a woman, who looks like his wife (Virginia Madsen). In this opening hour, director Joel Shumacher weaves a very creepy atmosphere where you are never quite sure what is going to happen next. It is helped along by a very creepy, non-sequitur style music. Violins often trail off mid strike in favor of oft putting drums, adding to overall “what is going to happen next” mind state. However, Carrey finishes the novel and we are introduced to the middle section of outlandish paranoia and it becomes a movie that is not quite sure what it wants. Is it a supernatural thriller, dark comedy or a film about obsession? All of those questions seem to fit in the mindless 45 minutes in the middle.
Luckily after that mind numbing section we get a great twist and a most satisfactory ending. I won’t spoil the fun but if you find yourself wondering where the movie is going, please stick with it. I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The big question going in was can Jim Carrey do this? I never really doubted it because if you saw The Cable Guy or Man in the moon, you know he can be dark, but this called for something a lot darker, could we believe Jim Carrey having sex in an almost rape like fantasy? Would we believe him going nearly crazy because of a number? Is it possible to forget about how funny he is and watch him delve deep into the psychological thriller? The answer to all of these questions seems to be yes, yes we can. Carrey is slowly proving himself worthy of breaking out of the comedy genre. Yes we have seen him do less funny things, but Truman show and Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind were essentially comedies from a different angle. While this movie has moments of manic like humor, it proves quickly that it is not out to make us smile, but to challenge what we believe people are capable of.
Lastly I want to mention the director. Shumacher has been taking nothing but heat for the last decade over his dismantling of the Batman series and while he stumbled with the Phantom of the Opera movie he has made some very good movies since Batman and it is time people recognize how good he is with the camera. Yes, he made huge disasters but he also made Phone Booth, Tigerland and 8mm all of which were small scale movies proving he has a great talent.
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Breach
A movie that gives away the ending in the first minute should not be suspenseful. It should be a bit annoying to watch when you know how it all wraps up, yet this movie finds a way to be both interesting and suspenseful. The pacing, while slow, is exactly what this movie needed and the director (Billy Ray) knows exactly what to do, which is put the camera up and just watch his actors act. In fact, I even forgot I hated Laura Linney towards the end of the movie. The true stars of the film though are Chris Cooper and Ryan Phillippe. In 2001, the FBI made the biggest bust of espionage in the history of America. An FBI agent had been selling secrets to the Russians since the early 80’s and it had cost lives and millions of dollars. The “based on a true story” picks up 2 months before the capture and we meet Phillippe’s character. He is a young grunt for the FBI trying to make agent and is put on the case of tailing Cooper’s character. He is told it is about sexual deviancy, but the Cooper character is so good, that Phillippe quickly questions the operation. He is let in on the operation and what ensues is a brilliantly paced game of cat and mouse.
The thing that makes this movie better than your typical political cat and mouse film is the performance of Chris Cooper. We know from the very beginning he is a dirt ball and a villain, yet as we watch him on screen we can understand why Phillippe’s character grows to respect and admire him before finding out the truth. Cooper, who I have always found to be overrated, is the perfect mix of wily charm, slimy disgustingness and a faux martyrdom. He will give the creeps right before praying with his family and it is that complexity that throws this movie into a higher level. For his part, Phillippe has turned into quite the little actor and he does great with the young and eager FBI wannabe. He thinks well on his feet, but even when he is struggling with the secrets he manages to keep a hint of cockiness that is exactly what the character needs.
In order to enjoy this movie you have to be able to endure a lot of dialogue. I imagine the script for this bad boy was a long one because it is pretty much all talk. The back and forth between the two main characters, while not extremely brilliant writing, sets the mood perfectly and it never gets annoying. What action we do get is very well made tension. There is a scene towards the conclusion of the film that takes place in a park of some sort that will have you on the edge of your seat and forgetting you already know what happens. That is high praise indeed for a movie thrown into the wasteland of movies called February!
The thing that makes this movie better than your typical political cat and mouse film is the performance of Chris Cooper. We know from the very beginning he is a dirt ball and a villain, yet as we watch him on screen we can understand why Phillippe’s character grows to respect and admire him before finding out the truth. Cooper, who I have always found to be overrated, is the perfect mix of wily charm, slimy disgustingness and a faux martyrdom. He will give the creeps right before praying with his family and it is that complexity that throws this movie into a higher level. For his part, Phillippe has turned into quite the little actor and he does great with the young and eager FBI wannabe. He thinks well on his feet, but even when he is struggling with the secrets he manages to keep a hint of cockiness that is exactly what the character needs.
In order to enjoy this movie you have to be able to endure a lot of dialogue. I imagine the script for this bad boy was a long one because it is pretty much all talk. The back and forth between the two main characters, while not extremely brilliant writing, sets the mood perfectly and it never gets annoying. What action we do get is very well made tension. There is a scene towards the conclusion of the film that takes place in a park of some sort that will have you on the edge of your seat and forgetting you already know what happens. That is high praise indeed for a movie thrown into the wasteland of movies called February!
Ghost Rider
Very rarely do movies like this one come along, a movie that is terrific and terrible and sometimes both at the exact same time. Through the entire movie I found myself on the edge of my seat and then the next moment cringing in pain. I laughed when I was supposed to laugh but laughed just as hard when I wasn’t supposed to. I dropped my jaw at half of the special effects and shook my head in disbelief at the other half. It was just a giant, loud, bright study in just how over the top comic book movies can be without the right touch from a director. I take nothing away from the vision of the director here because it is obvious he likes comic books. He just isn’t quite sure what he is doing half of the time.
Ghost rider is the story of a young man who sells his soul to the devil to make his father well. The Marvel comic was based upon early comics of a western bounty hunter for the devil and is not a comic that I know all that well. I always felt Ghost Rider was a comic best glanced through, not read. The story never appealed to me, but the art was always brilliant. Now here in the film version, Nic Cage plays the perfectly named Johnny Blaze. Cage is an avid comic book fan and this was a bit of a pet project for him and it shows. Cage bleeds his heart and overacting soul into the tortured flame head and often times he gets it right. Some will complain that the comic character never had any hesitation and Cage does throw a certain amount of hesitation into the role, but he really catches the spectacular over the top attitude of the film. Eva Mendes is along for the ride, although she doesn’t have much to do. She looks hot, but not quite hot enough for my taste, for a comic book movie. Sam Elliott pops up as the caretaker, giving us the required exposition and has the coolest effect sequence in the film, if you ask me.
I don’t believe anyone is going to see this movie in hopes of brilliant dialogue or story, because the trailer is all about the flash and there is plenty of flash to go around. There CGI effects go from brilliant to horrible, but I seemed to be the only one who noticed because there was a thunderous applause when the movie ended. The first transition from human to Ghost Rider is dizzyingly painful to watch, but perfect because you can feel how much it would suck to have your skin replaced by blazing fire. The blazing chain is phenomenal looking, but the skull itself is pretty corny looking and the voice is even worse. There is a certain level of cool mythology within the story but you have to really pay attention to catch it because the dialogue can be a bit tired and boring. So in the end, I still can’t figure out if I enjoyed the movie or not. It was a spectacle and unabashedly campy, but it only works half the time. However, in that half it is such a crazy fun ride!
Ghost rider is the story of a young man who sells his soul to the devil to make his father well. The Marvel comic was based upon early comics of a western bounty hunter for the devil and is not a comic that I know all that well. I always felt Ghost Rider was a comic best glanced through, not read. The story never appealed to me, but the art was always brilliant. Now here in the film version, Nic Cage plays the perfectly named Johnny Blaze. Cage is an avid comic book fan and this was a bit of a pet project for him and it shows. Cage bleeds his heart and overacting soul into the tortured flame head and often times he gets it right. Some will complain that the comic character never had any hesitation and Cage does throw a certain amount of hesitation into the role, but he really catches the spectacular over the top attitude of the film. Eva Mendes is along for the ride, although she doesn’t have much to do. She looks hot, but not quite hot enough for my taste, for a comic book movie. Sam Elliott pops up as the caretaker, giving us the required exposition and has the coolest effect sequence in the film, if you ask me.
I don’t believe anyone is going to see this movie in hopes of brilliant dialogue or story, because the trailer is all about the flash and there is plenty of flash to go around. There CGI effects go from brilliant to horrible, but I seemed to be the only one who noticed because there was a thunderous applause when the movie ended. The first transition from human to Ghost Rider is dizzyingly painful to watch, but perfect because you can feel how much it would suck to have your skin replaced by blazing fire. The blazing chain is phenomenal looking, but the skull itself is pretty corny looking and the voice is even worse. There is a certain level of cool mythology within the story but you have to really pay attention to catch it because the dialogue can be a bit tired and boring. So in the end, I still can’t figure out if I enjoyed the movie or not. It was a spectacle and unabashedly campy, but it only works half the time. However, in that half it is such a crazy fun ride!
Monday, February 12, 2007
If I did the Oscar nominations and winners
Real Best Picture nominees: Babel, The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen.
My Best Picture Nominees: Children of Men, The Departed, The Prestige, Pan's Labyrinth (to good to be only in forgien catergory) and Blood Diamond.
My Winner: While The Prestige was my favorite movie of the year, Children of Men was the best one and deserves this award and it is a shame it is not even nominated!
Real Best Actor nominees: Leo Decaprio/Blood Diamond, Will Smith/Pursuit of Happyness, Ryan Gosling/Half Nelson, Peter O'Toole/Venus and Forest Whitaker/Last King of Scotland.
My Best Actor Nominees: Leo Decaprio/Blood Diamond, Will Smith/Pursuit of Happyness, Clive Owen/Children of Men, Edward Norton/The Illusionist and Christian Bale/The Prestige.
My Winner: Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness. It may be a bit of a tug at the heart strings role, but he did something with it to the point where I didn't see Will Smith on the screen.
I am skipping the best actress catergory because I don't rememebr seeing a movie this year where a woman had a leading role deserving of an Oscar, but I will say I am hoping Kate Winslet wins just because she is amazing and I don't want Meryl Streep to win just because she is Meryl Streep.
Real Best Supporting actor nominees: Alan Arkin/Little Miss Sunshine, Jack Hayle Early/Little Children, Djimon Hounsou/Blood Diamond, Eddie Murphy/Dreamgirls and Mark Wahlberg/The Departed.
My Best Supporting Actor Nominees: Mark Wahlberg/The Departed, Matt Damon/The Departed, Ben Affleck/Hollywoodland, Eddie Murphy/Dreamgirls and Djimon Hounsou/Blood Diamond.
My Winner: This is probably the toughest one for me because I would be happy with any of these five winning, but I feel Eddie Murphy did the most this year.
Real Best supporting actress nominees: Adriana Barraza/Babel, Jennifer Hudson/Dreamgirls, Abigail Breslin/Little Miss Sunshine, Cate Blanchett/Notes on a scandal and Rinko Kikiuchi/Babel
My Best Supporting actress nominees: Jennifer Hudson/Dreamgirls, Rinko Kikiuchi/Babel, Diane Lane/Hollywoodland, Claire Hope-Ashitey/Children of Men and Maribel Verdú/Pan's Labyrinth.
My Winner: Jennifer Hudson is just undeniable in Dreamgirls, but I believe it is a short lived spark because I don't see her being a huge success in non musical films. She does deserve the victory though, here.
Real Best Dircetor Nominees: Clint Eastwood/ Letters from Iwo Jima, Martin Scorcese/The Departed, Stephan Frears/The Queen, Alejandro González Iñárritu/Babel and Paul Greengrass/United 93.
My Best Director nominees: Martin Scorcese/The Departed, Paul Greengrass/United 93, Christopher Nolan/The Prestige, Guillermo del Toro/Pan's Labyrinth and Alfonso Cuarón/Children of Men.
My winner: It hurts me to say this because Martin Scorcese has deserved at least 2 if not 3 Oscars by this time in his life and I thought I'd want him to win this year until I saw Children of Men. Alfonso Cuarón did such a brilliant job I can't go with anyone else.
Those are the major catergories and my opininos on such matters. Feel free to agree and definitely feel free to disagree!
My Best Picture Nominees: Children of Men, The Departed, The Prestige, Pan's Labyrinth (to good to be only in forgien catergory) and Blood Diamond.
My Winner: While The Prestige was my favorite movie of the year, Children of Men was the best one and deserves this award and it is a shame it is not even nominated!
Real Best Actor nominees: Leo Decaprio/Blood Diamond, Will Smith/Pursuit of Happyness, Ryan Gosling/Half Nelson, Peter O'Toole/Venus and Forest Whitaker/Last King of Scotland.
My Best Actor Nominees: Leo Decaprio/Blood Diamond, Will Smith/Pursuit of Happyness, Clive Owen/Children of Men, Edward Norton/The Illusionist and Christian Bale/The Prestige.
My Winner: Will Smith for The Pursuit of Happyness. It may be a bit of a tug at the heart strings role, but he did something with it to the point where I didn't see Will Smith on the screen.
I am skipping the best actress catergory because I don't rememebr seeing a movie this year where a woman had a leading role deserving of an Oscar, but I will say I am hoping Kate Winslet wins just because she is amazing and I don't want Meryl Streep to win just because she is Meryl Streep.
Real Best Supporting actor nominees: Alan Arkin/Little Miss Sunshine, Jack Hayle Early/Little Children, Djimon Hounsou/Blood Diamond, Eddie Murphy/Dreamgirls and Mark Wahlberg/The Departed.
My Best Supporting Actor Nominees: Mark Wahlberg/The Departed, Matt Damon/The Departed, Ben Affleck/Hollywoodland, Eddie Murphy/Dreamgirls and Djimon Hounsou/Blood Diamond.
My Winner: This is probably the toughest one for me because I would be happy with any of these five winning, but I feel Eddie Murphy did the most this year.
Real Best supporting actress nominees: Adriana Barraza/Babel, Jennifer Hudson/Dreamgirls, Abigail Breslin/Little Miss Sunshine, Cate Blanchett/Notes on a scandal and Rinko Kikiuchi/Babel
My Best Supporting actress nominees: Jennifer Hudson/Dreamgirls, Rinko Kikiuchi/Babel, Diane Lane/Hollywoodland, Claire Hope-Ashitey/Children of Men and Maribel Verdú/Pan's Labyrinth.
My Winner: Jennifer Hudson is just undeniable in Dreamgirls, but I believe it is a short lived spark because I don't see her being a huge success in non musical films. She does deserve the victory though, here.
Real Best Dircetor Nominees: Clint Eastwood/ Letters from Iwo Jima, Martin Scorcese/The Departed, Stephan Frears/The Queen, Alejandro González Iñárritu/Babel and Paul Greengrass/United 93.
My Best Director nominees: Martin Scorcese/The Departed, Paul Greengrass/United 93, Christopher Nolan/The Prestige, Guillermo del Toro/Pan's Labyrinth and Alfonso Cuarón/Children of Men.
My winner: It hurts me to say this because Martin Scorcese has deserved at least 2 if not 3 Oscars by this time in his life and I thought I'd want him to win this year until I saw Children of Men. Alfonso Cuarón did such a brilliant job I can't go with anyone else.
Those are the major catergories and my opininos on such matters. Feel free to agree and definitely feel free to disagree!
Monday, January 29, 2007
Legally Blonde: The Musical.
A musical based on a movie about a peppy blonde girl who takes Harvard law school should not work. I repeat it should not work. Of course, the movie should not have worked either, but it did. And it would not have worked without Reese Witherspoon. Just like I am not sure how well this musical succeeds without a stellar lead female. Luckily Laura Bell Bundy is exactly that. Now I do not claim to be the most knowledgeable in terms of Broadway performers, so I have no idea who this girl is, but she is phenomenal in the role of Elle Woods. She is just perky enough without being nauseating, her voice fills the theater, her dancing is top notch and her acting turns what should be just a silly show into something much more. A show with song titles like “Omigod you Guys” and “Bend and Snap” does not really deserve to also be a great show but somehow it is. I mean it really is.
I have never had more fun watching live theater than I did during the fantastic number “What you want” early in the show. The number incorporates flashy costumes, flags, banners, hip-hop dancing, amazing lights, incredible vocals and an overall joy that almost brought the audience out of their chairs. The same could be said for the second act opening, jump rope workout inspired number “Whipped into Shape”. It doesn’t hurt that the girl leading that number (Nikki Snelson) has a stomach to die for, but to hear her belt out the end of the number having just jump roped for a few minutes is a true testament of skill and talent. The show utilizes all kinds of amazing choreography, lighting, costumes, voices and an overall high energy to turn this thing into a high octane spectacle and it works so well you are willing to forgive the terrible songs like “Blood in the water” and the beginning of the song “Legally Blonde”. “Legally Blonde” hits its groove in the reprise where Vivienne (Kate Shindle) blows the doors off the theater with her power house pipes.
I am not going to lie, I expected nothing coming in and when I left I was singing “Omigod you guys” over and over. I am not sure if this show will succeed but I know if they can find more actors, singers and dancers like the one filling this cast, it may have a shot. The thing that most took me by surprise in this show was the comic timing. Richard H. Blake, who plays Elle’s ex-boyfriend, has this song early on called “Serious” and his timing in the comic realm in flawless and it doesn’t hurt that his voice soars. Christian Borle who plays Emmett, the guy Elle falls for, captures a hard edge demeanor but manages to play up the romance effortlessly and even manages to outshine his female counter part for a brief second on the song “Chip on my shoulder.” I know I am leaving out the nearly brilliant “Greek Chorus" but some of this should be left to people who actually see the show. If I had one complaint it would be the Professor, played by Michael Rupert. He had a problem getting his words out loud enough and was just overall outmatched by the rest of the young vivacious cast.
The show is not perfect and for the most part it is a prime example of style over substance, but for two and a half hours it did not seem to matter one bit. From the opening number until the end of curtain call I bought all of it. No, it doesn’t hurt that the cast is made up of mostly hot girls prancing around in skirts, but it was more than that. The show was fun, light and energetic and often times that is enough. It is good to sometimes just sit back, laugh, holler and cheer for the underdog you know is going to succeed when it is all said and done.
I have never had more fun watching live theater than I did during the fantastic number “What you want” early in the show. The number incorporates flashy costumes, flags, banners, hip-hop dancing, amazing lights, incredible vocals and an overall joy that almost brought the audience out of their chairs. The same could be said for the second act opening, jump rope workout inspired number “Whipped into Shape”. It doesn’t hurt that the girl leading that number (Nikki Snelson) has a stomach to die for, but to hear her belt out the end of the number having just jump roped for a few minutes is a true testament of skill and talent. The show utilizes all kinds of amazing choreography, lighting, costumes, voices and an overall high energy to turn this thing into a high octane spectacle and it works so well you are willing to forgive the terrible songs like “Blood in the water” and the beginning of the song “Legally Blonde”. “Legally Blonde” hits its groove in the reprise where Vivienne (Kate Shindle) blows the doors off the theater with her power house pipes.
I am not going to lie, I expected nothing coming in and when I left I was singing “Omigod you guys” over and over. I am not sure if this show will succeed but I know if they can find more actors, singers and dancers like the one filling this cast, it may have a shot. The thing that most took me by surprise in this show was the comic timing. Richard H. Blake, who plays Elle’s ex-boyfriend, has this song early on called “Serious” and his timing in the comic realm in flawless and it doesn’t hurt that his voice soars. Christian Borle who plays Emmett, the guy Elle falls for, captures a hard edge demeanor but manages to play up the romance effortlessly and even manages to outshine his female counter part for a brief second on the song “Chip on my shoulder.” I know I am leaving out the nearly brilliant “Greek Chorus" but some of this should be left to people who actually see the show. If I had one complaint it would be the Professor, played by Michael Rupert. He had a problem getting his words out loud enough and was just overall outmatched by the rest of the young vivacious cast.
The show is not perfect and for the most part it is a prime example of style over substance, but for two and a half hours it did not seem to matter one bit. From the opening number until the end of curtain call I bought all of it. No, it doesn’t hurt that the cast is made up of mostly hot girls prancing around in skirts, but it was more than that. The show was fun, light and energetic and often times that is enough. It is good to sometimes just sit back, laugh, holler and cheer for the underdog you know is going to succeed when it is all said and done.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Pan's Labyrinth
There are not enough superlatives to explain the full brilliance of this masterpiece. Like The Prestige, The Departed and Children of Men, this movie is perfect. Director Guillermo Del Toro has created a beautifully harsh reality and at the same time created a dark, yet gorgeous fantasy world and when he weaves them together it is hard not to feel like wishing you were a child. See, the fantasy world exists in innocence, where a young girl has the soul of an ancient princess inside her and she must complete 3 tasks before she can get back to that world. It is a truly magnificent accomplishment of a film and the final 20 minutes will leave you breathless and leave your body filled with goose bumps
12 year old Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, the young girl whose innocence allows for this fantasy to take place. However, in reality she is in Spain right after the war in 1944, but there is not peace because her mother has married a Captain in the Spanish army and he is currently fighting off a pack of revolutionaries. The captain is a cruel man who gets off on torture. Ofelia’s mother is pregnant with his son and the captain needs the son to carry on his name. The mother has complication with the pregnancy and Ofelia worries about what will happen. Enter, Pan. Pan is a keeper of the fictional world, sort of. He is Ofelia’s guide and a messenger of sorts between the two worlds. I don’t want to give anything more away because everyone should go out and see it so I will focus on other aspects of the film.
First off, it is in Spanish with English subtitles and while I am rarely one for watching subtitled films, I have to say that the Spanish is what helps make this movie gorgeous. The language fits the mood and the style of the film and I was never once bothered by reading the subtitles. In fact, there were times I didn’t need to look at them because I could understand the emotions conveyed by the words without needing to know the words. The movie is layered in constant metaphors as it flawlessly switches from the brutal war time reality and the fairy tale world. Be warned that this movie is brutal in showing the fascist war regime. There is a lot of close up blood and torture, but I think it only adds to what makes this movie fantastic. The visuals are stunning, the script is rich with gorgeous poetry like words and the acting is superb. I know this movie will require further viewings to fully grasp every metaphor and symbol hidden throughout and that is just fine with me because I could sit through this countless times. For anyone saying 2006 was a bad year for film, obviously missed the 4 perfect films of the year and I am glad to say I did not miss them and glad that I got to see this movie and I hope everyone else will as well!
12 year old Ivana Baquero stars as Ofelia, the young girl whose innocence allows for this fantasy to take place. However, in reality she is in Spain right after the war in 1944, but there is not peace because her mother has married a Captain in the Spanish army and he is currently fighting off a pack of revolutionaries. The captain is a cruel man who gets off on torture. Ofelia’s mother is pregnant with his son and the captain needs the son to carry on his name. The mother has complication with the pregnancy and Ofelia worries about what will happen. Enter, Pan. Pan is a keeper of the fictional world, sort of. He is Ofelia’s guide and a messenger of sorts between the two worlds. I don’t want to give anything more away because everyone should go out and see it so I will focus on other aspects of the film.
First off, it is in Spanish with English subtitles and while I am rarely one for watching subtitled films, I have to say that the Spanish is what helps make this movie gorgeous. The language fits the mood and the style of the film and I was never once bothered by reading the subtitles. In fact, there were times I didn’t need to look at them because I could understand the emotions conveyed by the words without needing to know the words. The movie is layered in constant metaphors as it flawlessly switches from the brutal war time reality and the fairy tale world. Be warned that this movie is brutal in showing the fascist war regime. There is a lot of close up blood and torture, but I think it only adds to what makes this movie fantastic. The visuals are stunning, the script is rich with gorgeous poetry like words and the acting is superb. I know this movie will require further viewings to fully grasp every metaphor and symbol hidden throughout and that is just fine with me because I could sit through this countless times. For anyone saying 2006 was a bad year for film, obviously missed the 4 perfect films of the year and I am glad to say I did not miss them and glad that I got to see this movie and I hope everyone else will as well!
Smokin' Aces
Every year 2 or 3 movies get released that owe their existence in some way to Quentin Tarentino and in 2007, this is the first of that batch of movies. However, it seems to borrow more from the Kill Bill volumes than the usual Pulp Fiction jacking and for the most part it seems to work. I am not going to lie, the movie makes absolutely no sense and every single character is essentially a cut out caricature, but it is so much fun to watch the mess unfold on the screen that you are really able to check your brain at the door.
A wasted Ray Liotta and a fantastic Ryan Reynolds are FBI agents sent to pick up a mob informant. The mob informant is about to give the FBI the biggest name in organized crime and because of that, there are 3 contracts out on his head. The bulk of the movie takes place inside a Lake Tahoe hotel and once you get passed the 45 minutes of exposition, you are in for a wild ride. See, that is the biggest problem with the movie. It feels that we need 45 minutes worth of back story before it can jump into the chainsaw wielding, gun blasting, and blood flying action. So what we get is a few monologues by different characters, all roughly hitting us over the head with useless information. Anyone coming to this movie for character development or plot points has obviously come into the wrong movie. People come into this movie because the trailer promises crazy over the top action with crazy over the top characters. Included in this orgy of actors is- Matthew Fox, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and musicians Alicia Keys and Common. Alicia and Common both hold their own in their film debuts and I hope to see more of them in the future, especially if Alicia Keys is going to keep dressing like a hooker.
Luckily, after those first 45 minutes we get all the crazy over the top action we can handle. A guy gets lit on fire, more than a few people are brutally shot to death, another few are chopped up by a chainsaw and as soon as it starts all of my hopes and dreams for this movie were realized. We even get a pointless twist at the end, just for the hell of it. Ryan Reynolds, the main protagonist of the film is probably going to eventually break out as a big star, and he shows here that he deserves it. In a movie full of contrived over the top characters, he holds his own as the conflicted straight man and in the climax he really takes this movie beyond b-movie fare. On a final note, if you see this movie try and ignore the bad jersey accent by Ben Affleck and attempt to figure out where Andy Garcia’s character is from because his accent sounds like nothing I have ever heard and it is beyond obnoxious!
A wasted Ray Liotta and a fantastic Ryan Reynolds are FBI agents sent to pick up a mob informant. The mob informant is about to give the FBI the biggest name in organized crime and because of that, there are 3 contracts out on his head. The bulk of the movie takes place inside a Lake Tahoe hotel and once you get passed the 45 minutes of exposition, you are in for a wild ride. See, that is the biggest problem with the movie. It feels that we need 45 minutes worth of back story before it can jump into the chainsaw wielding, gun blasting, and blood flying action. So what we get is a few monologues by different characters, all roughly hitting us over the head with useless information. Anyone coming to this movie for character development or plot points has obviously come into the wrong movie. People come into this movie because the trailer promises crazy over the top action with crazy over the top characters. Included in this orgy of actors is- Matthew Fox, Jason Bateman, Peter Berg, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and musicians Alicia Keys and Common. Alicia and Common both hold their own in their film debuts and I hope to see more of them in the future, especially if Alicia Keys is going to keep dressing like a hooker.
Luckily, after those first 45 minutes we get all the crazy over the top action we can handle. A guy gets lit on fire, more than a few people are brutally shot to death, another few are chopped up by a chainsaw and as soon as it starts all of my hopes and dreams for this movie were realized. We even get a pointless twist at the end, just for the hell of it. Ryan Reynolds, the main protagonist of the film is probably going to eventually break out as a big star, and he shows here that he deserves it. In a movie full of contrived over the top characters, he holds his own as the conflicted straight man and in the climax he really takes this movie beyond b-movie fare. On a final note, if you see this movie try and ignore the bad jersey accent by Ben Affleck and attempt to figure out where Andy Garcia’s character is from because his accent sounds like nothing I have ever heard and it is beyond obnoxious!
Friday, January 19, 2007
The Hitcher
When you have seen most horror or scary movies ever created it makes it difficult to scare, shock or gross me out in the usual ways of a horror film, so it becomes about waching these movies to see how they work on a different level and this one, just doesn't. As far as remakes go, I think this is a good one to remake because the original has such a small cult following that most people who see it won't be making comparisons. To be honest, I only vaguely remember the original with the exception of remembering Rutger Hauer is one amazing psycho. Now, Sean Bean or Lord of the Rings fame steps into the crazy shoes of John Ryder and he is more than up to the task of being a complete nut job.
The plot involves a couple who pick up a hitch hiker and he attempts to kill them. They avoid him in the first of 4 cool moments in this disaster. However, Ryder regains his footing and comes back to haunt them through a series of illogical plot points and not very scary methods. To start with the lack of logic, let me clue you in to something. These is a scene where they are in a car and they see a sign for a town coming up in 12 miles and we see that the car is going 60mph, yet somehow they magically make it to that town in 6 minutes. That is towards the begining of the film and the rest of it just follows suit. Sophia Bush and Zach Knighton play the unlucky couple and they do their best to run, get bloody and play scared but music video director Dave Myers is in way over his head and obviously is just taking after the last few years of horror movie remakes, but this lacks the general suspence of the Texas Chainsaw remake.
I will say a few good things about the movie, for example in a scene where Sean Bean is speeding towards our couple in a nice looking trans am the song playing is a nine inch nails song and it fits the scene perfectly. Also, the disgusting body being pulled apart scene is there in all of its delightfully disgusting glory. The last thing I want to make mention of is Sophia Bush. We first see her trying to change her clothes in a car and she spends the movie in a mini jean skirt and this girl is a knockout. I have never seen her in anything before but she si enough to make me think of throwing One Tree Hill on my nextflix! I honestly can't tell you if she can act because other than Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jamie Lee Curtis, every actress is essentially the same in a horror movie, but she looks amazing wielding a shotgun and looks even more amazing falling out of a bed, which works enough for me.
The plot involves a couple who pick up a hitch hiker and he attempts to kill them. They avoid him in the first of 4 cool moments in this disaster. However, Ryder regains his footing and comes back to haunt them through a series of illogical plot points and not very scary methods. To start with the lack of logic, let me clue you in to something. These is a scene where they are in a car and they see a sign for a town coming up in 12 miles and we see that the car is going 60mph, yet somehow they magically make it to that town in 6 minutes. That is towards the begining of the film and the rest of it just follows suit. Sophia Bush and Zach Knighton play the unlucky couple and they do their best to run, get bloody and play scared but music video director Dave Myers is in way over his head and obviously is just taking after the last few years of horror movie remakes, but this lacks the general suspence of the Texas Chainsaw remake.
I will say a few good things about the movie, for example in a scene where Sean Bean is speeding towards our couple in a nice looking trans am the song playing is a nine inch nails song and it fits the scene perfectly. Also, the disgusting body being pulled apart scene is there in all of its delightfully disgusting glory. The last thing I want to make mention of is Sophia Bush. We first see her trying to change her clothes in a car and she spends the movie in a mini jean skirt and this girl is a knockout. I have never seen her in anything before but she si enough to make me think of throwing One Tree Hill on my nextflix! I honestly can't tell you if she can act because other than Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jamie Lee Curtis, every actress is essentially the same in a horror movie, but she looks amazing wielding a shotgun and looks even more amazing falling out of a bed, which works enough for me.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
The Protector
How does one review a movie when the only reason I watched the movie was for the martial arts? Does it seem worth it to talk about the plot or the acting or writing, or do I just make note of the action sequences? I admit this is quite a tough quandary! I usually pass on Asian martial arts epics because they rely too much on fantasy with the flying trough trees and unbeatable odds but this one had something in the trailer that spoke to me. The action looked real, without the wires and neat camera tricks and I was most certainly right.
If you want a basic overview of the story it goes as such: The character grows up in a tribe in Thailand that worships elephants. Elephants are the symbols of gods. He and his father are raising an elephant that they hope will be the one chosen to carry their king. The elephant and his baby are stolen and shipped to Sydney, where it looks as if they will be killed to be put into food at a restaurant apparently run by a hermaphrodite. I cannot be sure the person is a hermaphrodite but a few lines of dialogue hint at the character not really being a man or a woman. Our lead character goes to Sydney meets an odd ball cop and goes on the war path looking for his elephants. The movie is half spoken in the Thai language and half in broken English and none of it seems to make a lick of sense. The editing is poor at best and the acting is so terrible it is laughable, but the action, oh the action.
Let me first say it takes far to long to get to a good action sequence. We don’t see any real martial arts for the first 30 minutes or so, but when we finally get one it does not disappoint. In our first real action scene, our elephant searching Thai man is faced with about 25 enemies on foot, rollerblades, bikes and motorcycles. Many of them are wielding giant swords of fluorescent light. This takes place in an abandoned building of some sort and the choreography is breathtaking. Our lead character weave sin and out of stationary subway car doors and windows. He does the splits under bars, darts through fencing and at one point walks on his hands across a ledge all while picking his spots to kick the hell out of these leather jacket wearing wannabe ninjas. The slow motion usage is borderline brilliant. After this scene we get 4 more stunning fights. The final two are so spectacular in their carnage I was almost queasy, which is exactly how I like them. He faces about 45 different baddies and with each one he breaks no less than 4 bones somewhere eon their bodies and with each crack we hear the biggest snapping and cracking sounds ever given to bones in movies. It is sheer brutality yet, the sounds have an almost joyous rhythm to them.
In the conclusion of the film our protagonist must face 4 mammoth looking men. He stands about 5’8” maybe 5’9” and goes about 185lbs and these 4 guys are over 7’ 300lbs of pure cut muscle. These fights are brutal on both ends but he takes most of whipping until he straps on some elephant bones and lays a serious beating to these four. He still can’t defeat them until he remembers his father told him that when people want to take out elephants they go for the tendons and he applies that knowledge to these four beastly men. Yes, we see and hear him slashing Achilles heels, shoulder, wrists and other joints and tendons. He uses these elephant bones as knives and these monsters are his masterpiece. It is both disgusting yet pleasant to watch, which may make me a sicko, but it is exactly what I signed up for on this one!
If you want a basic overview of the story it goes as such: The character grows up in a tribe in Thailand that worships elephants. Elephants are the symbols of gods. He and his father are raising an elephant that they hope will be the one chosen to carry their king. The elephant and his baby are stolen and shipped to Sydney, where it looks as if they will be killed to be put into food at a restaurant apparently run by a hermaphrodite. I cannot be sure the person is a hermaphrodite but a few lines of dialogue hint at the character not really being a man or a woman. Our lead character goes to Sydney meets an odd ball cop and goes on the war path looking for his elephants. The movie is half spoken in the Thai language and half in broken English and none of it seems to make a lick of sense. The editing is poor at best and the acting is so terrible it is laughable, but the action, oh the action.
Let me first say it takes far to long to get to a good action sequence. We don’t see any real martial arts for the first 30 minutes or so, but when we finally get one it does not disappoint. In our first real action scene, our elephant searching Thai man is faced with about 25 enemies on foot, rollerblades, bikes and motorcycles. Many of them are wielding giant swords of fluorescent light. This takes place in an abandoned building of some sort and the choreography is breathtaking. Our lead character weave sin and out of stationary subway car doors and windows. He does the splits under bars, darts through fencing and at one point walks on his hands across a ledge all while picking his spots to kick the hell out of these leather jacket wearing wannabe ninjas. The slow motion usage is borderline brilliant. After this scene we get 4 more stunning fights. The final two are so spectacular in their carnage I was almost queasy, which is exactly how I like them. He faces about 45 different baddies and with each one he breaks no less than 4 bones somewhere eon their bodies and with each crack we hear the biggest snapping and cracking sounds ever given to bones in movies. It is sheer brutality yet, the sounds have an almost joyous rhythm to them.
In the conclusion of the film our protagonist must face 4 mammoth looking men. He stands about 5’8” maybe 5’9” and goes about 185lbs and these 4 guys are over 7’ 300lbs of pure cut muscle. These fights are brutal on both ends but he takes most of whipping until he straps on some elephant bones and lays a serious beating to these four. He still can’t defeat them until he remembers his father told him that when people want to take out elephants they go for the tendons and he applies that knowledge to these four beastly men. Yes, we see and hear him slashing Achilles heels, shoulder, wrists and other joints and tendons. He uses these elephant bones as knives and these monsters are his masterpiece. It is both disgusting yet pleasant to watch, which may make me a sicko, but it is exactly what I signed up for on this one!
The Illusionist (possible spoilers)
In 2006 there were two movies about magic released- The Prestige and The Illusionist. That is where the similarities end, though in regards to the plots of the movies. Whereas the Prestige was about obsession and the behind the scenes of magic, The Illusionist is about love beauty and the supernatural, almost. In this movie, Magic is essentially a means for philosophical debate and we are never clued in to how any of the “tricks” work. By the way, both are just fantastic! This movie starts in the present and then goes to the beginning of the story. Edward Norton is our magician and when he was a child he had a best friend who was a female. They fell in love because of their love of magic but she was rich and he was poor. She was forbidden to see him and we cut to 15 years later. Norton is now an established magician and is making his money with an astonishingly gorgeous trick of making an orange tree grow in mere seconds. Police Chief Paul Giamatti is enamored by the show and tells the Prince. The Prince takes in the show the next night and when Norton asks for crowd participation, the prince offers his girlfriend. She turns out to be the childhood friend of Norton and then the movie kicks into high gear. The trick Norton does with her is a mesmerizing trick of mirrors and death and the connection is instant.
The rest of the movie is a barrage of slight of hand and a classic who done it. The visuals are brilliant and the tricks just get better and better until you see why Norton was given the name “The Illusionist.” Norton, one of my favorite actors, brilliantly underplays his magician, using his face and hands to often tell the story where words won’t work. Jessica Biel plays his lover and she is out to prove her merit as an actress. She does well here too, proving she is more than just a pretty face with an oft amazing bikini clad figure. Here she uses that chip on her shoulder to create a female fighting for love and her own individuality. The always solid Paul Giamatti takes what could have been a very stock character and gives him nuance and a soul, a man debating within himself about the merits of his job and a love for magic. Rufus Sewell is the prince and the villain of the film, or is he? He does a great job not over acting in a part that could have easily turned into a scene chewer,
In the realm of brilliant films released in 2006, this falls in the middle. This would have made my top 10 of 2006 for a number of reasons. First off the acting and directing are just top notch, secondly, the visuals of the magic are just stunning and even more stunning are some of the shots not dealing with magic. Twice we see Giamatti storming a hall way draped in horns from killed animals and the shot is just perfect. I also like the philosophical questions posed by the magic. If we could speed up or slow down time would we? What if we could be visited by lost souls? Is the soul eternal? Everything is gorgeous and perfect. I would rank this below the Prestige as far as magic movies go, but I enjoyed that this movie allowed us to believe in the miracles of magic without showing us how everything worked.
The rest of the movie is a barrage of slight of hand and a classic who done it. The visuals are brilliant and the tricks just get better and better until you see why Norton was given the name “The Illusionist.” Norton, one of my favorite actors, brilliantly underplays his magician, using his face and hands to often tell the story where words won’t work. Jessica Biel plays his lover and she is out to prove her merit as an actress. She does well here too, proving she is more than just a pretty face with an oft amazing bikini clad figure. Here she uses that chip on her shoulder to create a female fighting for love and her own individuality. The always solid Paul Giamatti takes what could have been a very stock character and gives him nuance and a soul, a man debating within himself about the merits of his job and a love for magic. Rufus Sewell is the prince and the villain of the film, or is he? He does a great job not over acting in a part that could have easily turned into a scene chewer,
In the realm of brilliant films released in 2006, this falls in the middle. This would have made my top 10 of 2006 for a number of reasons. First off the acting and directing are just top notch, secondly, the visuals of the magic are just stunning and even more stunning are some of the shots not dealing with magic. Twice we see Giamatti storming a hall way draped in horns from killed animals and the shot is just perfect. I also like the philosophical questions posed by the magic. If we could speed up or slow down time would we? What if we could be visited by lost souls? Is the soul eternal? Everything is gorgeous and perfect. I would rank this below the Prestige as far as magic movies go, but I enjoyed that this movie allowed us to believe in the miracles of magic without showing us how everything worked.
Step Up
There is a rumor spreading throughout the IMDB community that lead male Channing Tatum is gay. This rumor has teenage girls everywhere crying and praying to their god that it isn’t true. That same demographic was also the target audience for this overly cheesy “follow your dreams” story. Channing plays Tyler Gage (porn name, much?) a juvenile delinquent, which a love for stealing cars, destroying property and dancing like his life depended on it. He is caught causing serious damage to a private arts school’s theater (which broke my heart) and his punishment was 200 community service hours in the spot he wrecked. We see him cleaning bathrooms, sweeping and mopping floors and replacing lights. Also, he is looking longingly at Nora Clark, played by Jenna Dewan. Now, I cannot fault our possibly gay leading male for his staring because this girl is a knockout AND a dancer. Yes, a real dancer, with the body and everything. Nora is a senior trying to choreograph a senior project in hopes of catching the eye of a few dance companies. See, she made a deal with her strict obnoxious mom that if she didn’t get a contract with a dance company she would take her gorgeous and rich ass to a rich girl college. I know, poor poor Nora. No lies, it is hard to find sympathy for someone whose options include Cornell and NYU. Her dance partner wrecks his ankle in some freak off screen accident. I like to pretend he did it while trying to juggle on a unicycle, but that’s just me. Mr. Gage offers to step in, or step up (get it?!?!?!) and this ignites flames between the two.
R&B singer Mario also stops in as an aspiring hip-hop producer with sick, violin heavy beats and the flyest hats I have ever seen. He is in love with a piece of milky chocolate who happens to be Nora’s best friend and since Tyler is from the ghetto he and Mario become instant hood boys. I would be lying if I said the dancing was boring because there were a few moments where I got very caught up in the moves and the rhythms of the music and dance, but it was when they tried telling a story with words instead of music that this movie falls apart. Yes, I know I am not the desired audience so it doesn’t really matter what I think. The music is banging, the dancing is incredible and the people are all hot. There is some sick basketball and a well intentioned moral in the end so who am I to totally knock the movie.
I am all for movies inspiring a sense of “follow your dreams” and I am all for movies that can bring together races and genders in the art of dance, especially when it is a combination of hip-hop and ballet. It is always nice to see things that don’t seem like they go together, fit well and the final dance sequence is pretty awesome. There is a street element to the movie that is not surprising, but no one will care if they are shocked or not. There are morals like- keeping your word, working hard, reaching for more and the all important look within yourself to find what you are made of, so in that aspect I am glad people saw this movie. I do hope for the sake of all of us though that Channing Tatum is not gay, because if he is the entire teenage girl population may band together and destroy the planet!!
R&B singer Mario also stops in as an aspiring hip-hop producer with sick, violin heavy beats and the flyest hats I have ever seen. He is in love with a piece of milky chocolate who happens to be Nora’s best friend and since Tyler is from the ghetto he and Mario become instant hood boys. I would be lying if I said the dancing was boring because there were a few moments where I got very caught up in the moves and the rhythms of the music and dance, but it was when they tried telling a story with words instead of music that this movie falls apart. Yes, I know I am not the desired audience so it doesn’t really matter what I think. The music is banging, the dancing is incredible and the people are all hot. There is some sick basketball and a well intentioned moral in the end so who am I to totally knock the movie.
I am all for movies inspiring a sense of “follow your dreams” and I am all for movies that can bring together races and genders in the art of dance, especially when it is a combination of hip-hop and ballet. It is always nice to see things that don’t seem like they go together, fit well and the final dance sequence is pretty awesome. There is a street element to the movie that is not surprising, but no one will care if they are shocked or not. There are morals like- keeping your word, working hard, reaching for more and the all important look within yourself to find what you are made of, so in that aspect I am glad people saw this movie. I do hope for the sake of all of us though that Channing Tatum is not gay, because if he is the entire teenage girl population may band together and destroy the planet!!
Save the last dance 2 (spoilers, I guess)
When I first turn on the television the first channel I look at is MTV. It is an age old habit and seems unbreakable, so yesterday when I turned it on I saw a gorgeous blonde talking about her love of dance. I figured it was the beginning of my newest guilty pleasure (dancelife) but as I continued to view, I realized it was looking a lot like a movie and more specifically, it looked like it was explaining “Save the Last Dance.” I was sick, had no movies to rent and had no netflix DVDs, so I decided to see what this was. It turned out to be the sequel to the above mentioned movie. This movie takes place where the classic original finished. Sarah Johnson, now played by a gorgeous polish actress named Izabella Miko is getting ready to start a Julliard and meets a new black man played by rising star Columbus Short. Columbus is guest lecturing during our lead character’s “Hip Hop Theory” class. Yes, allow yourself to believe Julliard has such a class. We learn that she broke up with her old black man, which makes new black man very happy. Right off the bat Sarah realizes ballet at Julliard is much tougher than she imagined, so she brushes off new black man’s advances and puts away her air force ones, focusing solely on the art of ballet.
Are you still with me? Yes, it is an incredibly basic story and I have to be honest, the major plot twist happened while I was on the phone with Erik, so I am still not sure what lie new black man told Sarah to make her so upset she turns her back on him. See, he is a musician as well and has a chance to get noticed by Vibe magazine, if she will help him choreograph some hot hip-hop dances. She says ok until he does a bad bad thing and she leaves him out to dry. Oh, she also gets the lead in the Julliard ballet when the lead goes down with an ankle injury.. She performs the ballet, a one night engagement apparently, but feels unfulfilled because she misses her puma suits and adidas shell tops. She misses the heart pounding beats and rhythms pumping through her veins when she is pop and locking. I wanted to hate this movie with every fiber of my being. I mean who could like a movie where the new black guy stops right before having sex to record her heart beat, which comes back later in the movie, but I didn’t hate it. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t hate it. I am sure some of it had to do with the incredible looks of Miss Miko and other parts of it were probably due to the fact that I love hip-hop. Either way, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t like dancing or is looking for something deep in their movies, but if you want to stare at a hot blonde dancing like a hot black girl, go for it!
Are you still with me? Yes, it is an incredibly basic story and I have to be honest, the major plot twist happened while I was on the phone with Erik, so I am still not sure what lie new black man told Sarah to make her so upset she turns her back on him. See, he is a musician as well and has a chance to get noticed by Vibe magazine, if she will help him choreograph some hot hip-hop dances. She says ok until he does a bad bad thing and she leaves him out to dry. Oh, she also gets the lead in the Julliard ballet when the lead goes down with an ankle injury.. She performs the ballet, a one night engagement apparently, but feels unfulfilled because she misses her puma suits and adidas shell tops. She misses the heart pounding beats and rhythms pumping through her veins when she is pop and locking. I wanted to hate this movie with every fiber of my being. I mean who could like a movie where the new black guy stops right before having sex to record her heart beat, which comes back later in the movie, but I didn’t hate it. I didn’t like it, but I didn’t hate it. I am sure some of it had to do with the incredible looks of Miss Miko and other parts of it were probably due to the fact that I love hip-hop. Either way, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t like dancing or is looking for something deep in their movies, but if you want to stare at a hot blonde dancing like a hot black girl, go for it!
Waist deep (spoilers)
One thing I love about movies is that they can delve into the human psyche as to what would happen if your family was in trouble. We get to see human beings at their core, or what creators of film believe we as humans would do if put in that position. In that vein comes a movie about a single father struggling to stay out of jail while trying to instill a sense of hope in his 9 or 10 year old son. The movie gets off to a quick start because in the first 5 minutes, the man’s car is stolen, with his kid inside and we are off to the races. Model/singer/rapper/actor Tyrese Gibson stars as the man with 36ish hours to come up with $500,000.00 or his son will be killed. Right off the bat our leading man is strapped and puts 2 men down while chasing his stolen vehicle on foot. We are made very aware that this man has been in the street before and is not afraid of getting down and dirty.
His first order of business is to threaten an incredibly gorgeous Meagan Good, who he feels helped mark him as a target for getting jacked. Meagan is a terrible actress but looks good in her underwear so she’ll go far in the urban film market. What follows is a string of clichés and obvious “twists” in the middle section and the yawns come out. Tyrese and his lady rob banks, rob pimps, break into a house, steal cars oh and find time for some sex, as well. He somehow finds the money, but as luck would have it the kidnapper wants to kill everyone involved after receiving the money. Shocking, I know. Rapper The Game plays our villain as a tattooed, butcher knife wielding marble mouth who cannot speak without shouting swear words like every other villain in these kinds of movies.
To be fair, there is a better than decent car chase in the final third that mostly held my attention and instead of ending in the most obvious cliché, they find the second most obvious cliché to end their movie. Now, in getting back to my original thought when I rented this movie, the director obviously believes a man would sacrifice himself in order to set his family free and for making that choice I have to respect the movie. Tyrese is fine as an actor. I mean he isn’t going to win any awards but he is serviceable and with rock hard muscles he probably will continue to find work in the action genre. Overall, I wish I hadn’t wasted my money, but I can chalk it up to a study in the human condition.
His first order of business is to threaten an incredibly gorgeous Meagan Good, who he feels helped mark him as a target for getting jacked. Meagan is a terrible actress but looks good in her underwear so she’ll go far in the urban film market. What follows is a string of clichés and obvious “twists” in the middle section and the yawns come out. Tyrese and his lady rob banks, rob pimps, break into a house, steal cars oh and find time for some sex, as well. He somehow finds the money, but as luck would have it the kidnapper wants to kill everyone involved after receiving the money. Shocking, I know. Rapper The Game plays our villain as a tattooed, butcher knife wielding marble mouth who cannot speak without shouting swear words like every other villain in these kinds of movies.
To be fair, there is a better than decent car chase in the final third that mostly held my attention and instead of ending in the most obvious cliché, they find the second most obvious cliché to end their movie. Now, in getting back to my original thought when I rented this movie, the director obviously believes a man would sacrifice himself in order to set his family free and for making that choice I have to respect the movie. Tyrese is fine as an actor. I mean he isn’t going to win any awards but he is serviceable and with rock hard muscles he probably will continue to find work in the action genre. Overall, I wish I hadn’t wasted my money, but I can chalk it up to a study in the human condition.
The Covenant
I have a moderate obsession with the supernatural. Not anything crazy, I mean I am not a ghost hunter nor do I think I am a vampire, but I find the mythology and allure of the supernatural to be very sexy, so when this movie was in theaters I had a bit of an interest. However, not enough to spend the 6 to 9 dollars it would take, so while I was sick in bed I thought it was the perfect time to rent this B-type movie. The story is essentially this: there were 5 families who possessed these super powers and when they thought one of the family’s bloodlines had ended, the other 4 decided to keep quiet about their powers signing a covenant. We are also led to believe that the Salem witch trials were due to these families. We pick up the action in modern times as the 4 remaining families are just realizing how seductive the powers can be and in shocking fashion (not really) the lost member of the fifth family has come back.
It should be said that the wrench in their super powers and also an interesting part of the mythology, is that the more they use their powers the quicker they age. The Earthly bodies cannot handle the amount of power and if you go power crazy you will look 100 years old while only actually being 40 years old. Also, when one turns 18 he “ascends” and becomes more powerful. The fifth member is back for revenge and what he wants is the power of one of the other kids who is about to turn 18. I found out that this movie is based on a Graphic Novel I had never heard of, which makes sense, story wise, but it appears the creators of the graphic novel were kept far away from the script and acting choices.
To be honest, I am not sure how this movie got a wide release. This should have probably been a direct to DVD release where comic book geeks like me or teenage boys who think they might be gay could be the only ones to find it. Yes, the movie is chalk full of homoerotic visuals, glances and stares between pretty boys. The script is all over the place and doesn’t help us follow the barely strung together plot and the acting is so incredibly bad, there were times it was painful to watch. Where they live is obviously cold and always raining, yet no one ever sleeps with clothes on, we are vaguely introduced to these creatures called “darklings” but never are told what they mean or of what significance they have to these characters or story. While I still find the mythology gripping and interesting and I may try and find the graphic novel, this movie is essentially a waste of time and energy.
It should be said that the wrench in their super powers and also an interesting part of the mythology, is that the more they use their powers the quicker they age. The Earthly bodies cannot handle the amount of power and if you go power crazy you will look 100 years old while only actually being 40 years old. Also, when one turns 18 he “ascends” and becomes more powerful. The fifth member is back for revenge and what he wants is the power of one of the other kids who is about to turn 18. I found out that this movie is based on a Graphic Novel I had never heard of, which makes sense, story wise, but it appears the creators of the graphic novel were kept far away from the script and acting choices.
To be honest, I am not sure how this movie got a wide release. This should have probably been a direct to DVD release where comic book geeks like me or teenage boys who think they might be gay could be the only ones to find it. Yes, the movie is chalk full of homoerotic visuals, glances and stares between pretty boys. The script is all over the place and doesn’t help us follow the barely strung together plot and the acting is so incredibly bad, there were times it was painful to watch. Where they live is obviously cold and always raining, yet no one ever sleeps with clothes on, we are vaguely introduced to these creatures called “darklings” but never are told what they mean or of what significance they have to these characters or story. While I still find the mythology gripping and interesting and I may try and find the graphic novel, this movie is essentially a waste of time and energy.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Freedom Writers
Anytime a movie makes you cry you have to decide if the movie was good or if something about it just affected you in some way, but for me, with a movie like Freedom Writers, I know it was very good and very much affected me. Wanting to be a teacher, it is great to see something like this on film. So often, we see the negative side of teenagers. The news only wants to show the sex, drugs and violence connected to teenagers and yet, the teacher in this movie looked through all of that and saw something real with her kids and I hope that I can be that same way when I eventually reach that goal. So, knowing that beware I watch this movie with a sort of biased eye and opinion. Hilary Swank stars as a fresh out of college, highly optimistic first years teacher excited to teach at a public high school in long beach. She is teaching a freshman English class and quickly learns no one expects anything from these kids, including the kids themselves. Everyone tells her just to baby sit them, her father tells her to quit and even her husband grows tired of her job, yet she keeps fighting. She fights for her kids, she fights against a screwed up system, fights against history and fights against a culture that seems hell bent on killing every young person in its path.
I have never been sold on Hilary Swank before, even with her two Academy Awards, but here I have finally conceded that she is incredible. She transitions from wide eyed optimism to hardcore determined effortlessly and conveys just the right amount of tenderness without ever coming across with pity. She reacts well with her class of misfits and each of the teens does a good job of both conveying a single character as well as an ideal of a group of characters. It would have been very easy to portray all of these kids as essentially the same, but they gave us a chance to see a side of almost every student. There are many scenes that brought tears to my eyes, but there were 3 times when I was all out weeping because it was just that touching. Movies like this often walk that fine line of being too manufactured and cheesy, but this one always manages to stay real. I am not sure how it works, but it works. Through this entire movie you see Swank’s passion and concern in her eyes. You come to understand why a woman would work 3 jobs to buy her students books out of her own pocket and why she constantly battles the administration in hopes that change can be made.
So often people give up on the youth and decide it just isn’t worth it and this is one of those movies that show teenagers want to be challenged. They want someone to care about them and their lives. I know I risk soapboxing here because this movie hit a passion and stuck a nerve of mine, but to know that things like this can happen fill me with hope and optimism in a time where I often have neither. To see a bunch of teenagers get passionate about The Diary of Anne Frank, or find their voice through the art of writing just makes me feel good inside. I do not know if everyone will like this movie, but I would hope they do. I would hope people can put aside the usual cynicism and just admire a woman for her desire and 30 or so students overcoming death, jail, beatings, drugs and indifference from adults to make something of themselves.
I have never been sold on Hilary Swank before, even with her two Academy Awards, but here I have finally conceded that she is incredible. She transitions from wide eyed optimism to hardcore determined effortlessly and conveys just the right amount of tenderness without ever coming across with pity. She reacts well with her class of misfits and each of the teens does a good job of both conveying a single character as well as an ideal of a group of characters. It would have been very easy to portray all of these kids as essentially the same, but they gave us a chance to see a side of almost every student. There are many scenes that brought tears to my eyes, but there were 3 times when I was all out weeping because it was just that touching. Movies like this often walk that fine line of being too manufactured and cheesy, but this one always manages to stay real. I am not sure how it works, but it works. Through this entire movie you see Swank’s passion and concern in her eyes. You come to understand why a woman would work 3 jobs to buy her students books out of her own pocket and why she constantly battles the administration in hopes that change can be made.
So often people give up on the youth and decide it just isn’t worth it and this is one of those movies that show teenagers want to be challenged. They want someone to care about them and their lives. I know I risk soapboxing here because this movie hit a passion and stuck a nerve of mine, but to know that things like this can happen fill me with hope and optimism in a time where I often have neither. To see a bunch of teenagers get passionate about The Diary of Anne Frank, or find their voice through the art of writing just makes me feel good inside. I do not know if everyone will like this movie, but I would hope they do. I would hope people can put aside the usual cynicism and just admire a woman for her desire and 30 or so students overcoming death, jail, beatings, drugs and indifference from adults to make something of themselves.
Alpha Dog
In the summer of 2005, I first saw a trailer for this movie and was excited for its release in January of 2006. 2006 came and the movie never saw the light of day and finally in the beginning of 2007 it found a release. See, the movie was mired in legal red tape because the story it is based on wasn’t finished and the defense was worried it would sway public opinion to the wrong (right) side. So after a year of waiting, was this movie worth the wait? HELL no. I never thought I’d say Justin Timberlake was the best thing in a movie, but he proves it here. The director seems to have no clue what he is doing and he wrote an utterly disastrous script filled with more swearing, misogyny, homophobia and racism than a movie needs to make its point. Johnny Truelove (Emile Hirsch) is a drug dealer and appears to have done very well for himself in that trade, yet the director never clues us in to exactly what is going on in his life. It is easy to assume that he isn’t nearly as rich as we are supposed to believe because this whole movie is spawned off a $1200.00 debt. Now someone rolling hardcore in cash is not going to nearly choke a guy to death when he is late with the debt. What happen next is 2 out of control spun out druggies trying to one up each other ending in the kidnapping of a 15 yr old kid. The kid is the brother of the guy who owes Truelove money.
Justin Timberlake plays Frankie, the right hand man of Truelove and the man burdened with the task of keeping an eye on the kidnapped teen while Truelove tries to figure out a plan. See, the kidnapping was spur of the moment and was incredibly sloppy. However, every time a new witness is shown, the filmmaker feels the need to remind us these are witnesses and it gets very annoying quickly. I am not sure if this movie was made as a comedy or a drama or something else all together, but my audience felt it was comical and was often laughing at moments that should have been serious. Ben Foster plays the guy in debt and plays him about as over the top as any human being can. To hammer home my point, I’ll just say even Al Pacino would be like “dude, pull it back.” In fact everyone in this thing, with the exception of JT, seems to believe screaming is the best way to get a point across. Everyone drinks, smokes and has sex. Everyone uses the word “fuck” about 50 times and I am not sure you could go 10 words of dialogue without hearing that word uttered, well, screamed at the top of someone’s lungs.
The story in itself is interesting. What happens when something spins incredibly out of control and what happens when that happens to young people who can’t grasp reality. How far do you go for your friends and when is enough, enough, but the director has no business here and most of the actors don’t either. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone are both essentially pointless and Sharon Stone in a fat suit towards the end is supposed to register sympathy but her screaming and near drooling just elicits giggles. In the end, Justin Timberlake manages to remain mostly unscathed. He is funny and light hearted when it is called for and then when he realizes what he is really in for he manages to squeeze some very serious acting chops out of his pretty face. When it is all said and done, you almost feel bad for his character, which is saying something because of what happens throughout the film. I wish I had liked this movie, but JT and all of the very hot and skanky looking girls couldn’t really make this one even worth renting.
Justin Timberlake plays Frankie, the right hand man of Truelove and the man burdened with the task of keeping an eye on the kidnapped teen while Truelove tries to figure out a plan. See, the kidnapping was spur of the moment and was incredibly sloppy. However, every time a new witness is shown, the filmmaker feels the need to remind us these are witnesses and it gets very annoying quickly. I am not sure if this movie was made as a comedy or a drama or something else all together, but my audience felt it was comical and was often laughing at moments that should have been serious. Ben Foster plays the guy in debt and plays him about as over the top as any human being can. To hammer home my point, I’ll just say even Al Pacino would be like “dude, pull it back.” In fact everyone in this thing, with the exception of JT, seems to believe screaming is the best way to get a point across. Everyone drinks, smokes and has sex. Everyone uses the word “fuck” about 50 times and I am not sure you could go 10 words of dialogue without hearing that word uttered, well, screamed at the top of someone’s lungs.
The story in itself is interesting. What happens when something spins incredibly out of control and what happens when that happens to young people who can’t grasp reality. How far do you go for your friends and when is enough, enough, but the director has no business here and most of the actors don’t either. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone are both essentially pointless and Sharon Stone in a fat suit towards the end is supposed to register sympathy but her screaming and near drooling just elicits giggles. In the end, Justin Timberlake manages to remain mostly unscathed. He is funny and light hearted when it is called for and then when he realizes what he is really in for he manages to squeeze some very serious acting chops out of his pretty face. When it is all said and done, you almost feel bad for his character, which is saying something because of what happens throughout the film. I wish I had liked this movie, but JT and all of the very hot and skanky looking girls couldn’t really make this one even worth renting.
Children of Men
Every so often a movie comes along that is just so good you can’t even find the right words to describe it and 2006 brought us a few movies like that- The Prestige, The Departed and finally Children of men. This movie is so top notch that while watching it I got Goosebumps several times just because of how excellent it was. It may seem like mere hyperbole but it isn’t. This movie is yet another example of flawless filmmaking. Director Alfonzo Cuaron (The third Harry Potter movie and Y tu mama Tambien) has created a true masterpiece. A movie filled with intense drama, insane action and infinite heart, Children of Men soars like a dove above an utterly hopeless world.
It is the year 2029 and for 18 years women have been unable to conceive children and no known cause has been found. The world’s youngest person has just died and Earth is spiraling vastly out of control. We see news clips of former economic giants like the USA and Japan under ruins, but the news claims Britain is still going strong. As we watch though, we realize that is a false statement. Britain maybe surviving but it has been relegated to total anarchy. Some, like me, could make parallels to the modern regime of American power, but I don’t think this movie is trying to hammer that thought home. Clive Owen is a man without hope. We learn he used to be a man of passion and fire, but the death of his infant years ago and his Wife’s absence has made him bitter and almost robotic. Owen is brilliant here as he makes the change from bitter to hopeful when he is faced with a young woman who is some how pregnant. The rest of the film is essentially a chase film wrapped in a war film wrapped in a character struggle film. Michael Caine provides a bit of comic relief as a former political cartoonist who passes the time by smoking new strands of Marijuana and being a friend to Clive Owen.
There is a 40 minutes sequence at the end of the film that is almost like anything I have ever seen in a movie. It looks as if this giant war, being shown from 3 different views is shot in one swooping shot as the one camera weaves through the desolate town like a snake through the jungle. I have never seen war or desolation shot with such grace and beauty, yet managing to show the grit and nastiness of war. Empty cities and run down roads are shot like they were majestic wonders of the world and not a single shot is taken for granted. This movie does not give us any concrete answers and if that bothers you and you don’t see it you will be missing out. We never find out anything for certain but in the end it doesn’t seem to matter because of the journey Clive has taken with us. He is more than up to the task of carrying a whole movie on his back and more than proves he has what it takes to be heroic. I don’t want to ruin the end, but I want to say that it ended perfectly and if you see it please tell m so we can have a discussion about the symbolism of the animals and what you think the ending meant. Also, this movie features on of the slowest moving yet highly effective chase scenes in movie history
It is the year 2029 and for 18 years women have been unable to conceive children and no known cause has been found. The world’s youngest person has just died and Earth is spiraling vastly out of control. We see news clips of former economic giants like the USA and Japan under ruins, but the news claims Britain is still going strong. As we watch though, we realize that is a false statement. Britain maybe surviving but it has been relegated to total anarchy. Some, like me, could make parallels to the modern regime of American power, but I don’t think this movie is trying to hammer that thought home. Clive Owen is a man without hope. We learn he used to be a man of passion and fire, but the death of his infant years ago and his Wife’s absence has made him bitter and almost robotic. Owen is brilliant here as he makes the change from bitter to hopeful when he is faced with a young woman who is some how pregnant. The rest of the film is essentially a chase film wrapped in a war film wrapped in a character struggle film. Michael Caine provides a bit of comic relief as a former political cartoonist who passes the time by smoking new strands of Marijuana and being a friend to Clive Owen.
There is a 40 minutes sequence at the end of the film that is almost like anything I have ever seen in a movie. It looks as if this giant war, being shown from 3 different views is shot in one swooping shot as the one camera weaves through the desolate town like a snake through the jungle. I have never seen war or desolation shot with such grace and beauty, yet managing to show the grit and nastiness of war. Empty cities and run down roads are shot like they were majestic wonders of the world and not a single shot is taken for granted. This movie does not give us any concrete answers and if that bothers you and you don’t see it you will be missing out. We never find out anything for certain but in the end it doesn’t seem to matter because of the journey Clive has taken with us. He is more than up to the task of carrying a whole movie on his back and more than proves he has what it takes to be heroic. I don’t want to ruin the end, but I want to say that it ended perfectly and if you see it please tell m so we can have a discussion about the symbolism of the animals and what you think the ending meant. Also, this movie features on of the slowest moving yet highly effective chase scenes in movie history
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
An end of the year movie blow out
As the 2006 year in movies comes to a close, I give you lists- best, worst, disappointments and surprises. If people actually read this and enjoy it, maybe I'll make it an annual thing. If not, hell, I'll probably still do it because I love movies that much. Here we go!
10 best movies:
In all honesty, the best movie of this year is a movie called United 93. This movie, though, transcends regular movies because of the emotion infused within the making of and the watching of this movie. Therefore I am not adding it to my actual top 10 list. However, everyone in our country should see this movie because it marks one of the most courageous and tragic moments in the history of our country.
10. Wordplay- This was a fun enlightening documentary about crossword puzzles. John Stewart really steals the film, but overall it was just a really good movie.
9. Lucky Number Slevin- Not enough people saw this incredibly well scripted movie. Yes, the plot twists can be seen from miles away but when the dialogue is this funny and this fast, you can overlook such things!
8.Clerks 2- No it isn't for everyone but this is Kevin Smith at his very best. I was unsure he could outdo Clerks, but seriously the script for this film is probably one of my 5 favorites ever. Plus, any argument over LOTR and Star Wars is one I am voting for!
7. Flag of our Father- I am not the biggest war film guy, but this one really stuck with me. The time switching, the story, the acting and of course, Clint, make this a fantastic film.
6. Casino Royale- Bond is back and better than ever. Gritty, bloody and filthy seems to suit the new and very improved Bond. Close action and no over the top invisible cars, make this the single best action movie of 2006.
5. Little Miss Sunshine- On paper it was a bad SNL skit, but on screen it was magical. A delightful take on a road trip movie featuring some great performances all around.
4. Thank you for Smoking- The comedy in this film has some serious bite and it all works because of Aaron Eckhart's fantastic performance. The movie moves, is hilarious and makes you think, even if just for a second.
3. Blood Diamonds- Leo had himself quite a year, didn't he. However, he was not the sole reason this movie worked. It was bloody but not in a glorifying way. It had a bit of that bleeding heart liberal bias, but it was so good it didn't matter.
2. The Departed- I have been disappointed in Scorcese's last 2 movies and so this was awelcome breath of fresh air. Everything about this movie works and works perfectly. The performances are mesmerizing, the story interesting and Scorcese moves at the perfect pace for this intense piece of art.
1. The Prestige- I have not enjoyed a non hobbit movie this much in many years. Director Chris Nolan gets the most out of his actors and don't be fooled by everyone saying they saw the twist coming, because 90% of those people are lying! The movie is basically perfect filmmaking and nothing more needs to be said about it
5 worst movies:
5. The Da Vinchi Code- Everything that was wrong with the novel was wrong on screen as well. It was sluggish with horrible dialogue and Tom Hanks is at his Tooner and Hooch like worst here.
4. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift- The only good thing about this movie is the fun Erik and I had making fun of it the entire movie. It is worthless and even amazing looking cars and even more amazing looking girls couldn't save this garbage.
3. Grandma's boy- The least funny movie I have seen in a few years with some of the worst casting choices and even worse script decisions. They rip off Dane Cook, and don't do it well and nothing in this thing is even watchable in any way.
2. The Grudge 2- I didn't even make to the end of this movie, yet it only ranks number 2, which goes to show how much I hated the movie that comes in at number 1. There is no story here and the deaths are not interesting. Horribly un scary in every way.
1.Pirate of the carribean: dead man's chest- One of the biggest disappointments I have ever witnessed in a movie. It is over wrought trash, with Johnny Depp obviously slumming and even more obviously just picking up a pay check. It is long, unfunny, uninteresting, it is boring beyond belief, makes no sense, goes nowhere, resorts to bad slapstick and I cannot say enough bad things about this piece of crap.
Some movies I missed: The Illutionist, Borat, Children of men, The Good Shepard, The Good German, Notes on a Scandal and Letters from Iwo Jima
A few movies that just missed the top 10 cut: Babel, Pursuit of Happyness and Happy Feet.
Here are a few of the surprises of my movie going year:
The Bond Flick, Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland, Leo De Caprio's year, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Hugh Jackman's monster year(Prestige, The Fountain and Happy Feet), Steve Carrell in Little miss sunshine, Kevin Smith's Clerks 2 script, The Descent (easily the scariest movie of the year0 and Rob Lowe's cameo in Thank you for smoking.
And finally a few of my disappointments of the year:
Pirates and everything and everyone involved in this god awful excuse for a movie, Miami Vice, Colin Ferrell, Superman ( Singer should have made a better movie) and The Black Dahlia.
Well, there you have it, my end of the year movie blow out, please feel free to add your own list or say why I am wrong or right. Enlighten me if I missed a movie I should have seen because for a few months I didn't get to see too much. Be warned though, if you do decide to try and tell me why Pirates wasn't one of the biggest disgusting pieces of crap in the history of cinema, you will probably be made fun of.
10 best movies:
In all honesty, the best movie of this year is a movie called United 93. This movie, though, transcends regular movies because of the emotion infused within the making of and the watching of this movie. Therefore I am not adding it to my actual top 10 list. However, everyone in our country should see this movie because it marks one of the most courageous and tragic moments in the history of our country.
10. Wordplay- This was a fun enlightening documentary about crossword puzzles. John Stewart really steals the film, but overall it was just a really good movie.
9. Lucky Number Slevin- Not enough people saw this incredibly well scripted movie. Yes, the plot twists can be seen from miles away but when the dialogue is this funny and this fast, you can overlook such things!
8.Clerks 2- No it isn't for everyone but this is Kevin Smith at his very best. I was unsure he could outdo Clerks, but seriously the script for this film is probably one of my 5 favorites ever. Plus, any argument over LOTR and Star Wars is one I am voting for!
7. Flag of our Father- I am not the biggest war film guy, but this one really stuck with me. The time switching, the story, the acting and of course, Clint, make this a fantastic film.
6. Casino Royale- Bond is back and better than ever. Gritty, bloody and filthy seems to suit the new and very improved Bond. Close action and no over the top invisible cars, make this the single best action movie of 2006.
5. Little Miss Sunshine- On paper it was a bad SNL skit, but on screen it was magical. A delightful take on a road trip movie featuring some great performances all around.
4. Thank you for Smoking- The comedy in this film has some serious bite and it all works because of Aaron Eckhart's fantastic performance. The movie moves, is hilarious and makes you think, even if just for a second.
3. Blood Diamonds- Leo had himself quite a year, didn't he. However, he was not the sole reason this movie worked. It was bloody but not in a glorifying way. It had a bit of that bleeding heart liberal bias, but it was so good it didn't matter.
2. The Departed- I have been disappointed in Scorcese's last 2 movies and so this was awelcome breath of fresh air. Everything about this movie works and works perfectly. The performances are mesmerizing, the story interesting and Scorcese moves at the perfect pace for this intense piece of art.
1. The Prestige- I have not enjoyed a non hobbit movie this much in many years. Director Chris Nolan gets the most out of his actors and don't be fooled by everyone saying they saw the twist coming, because 90% of those people are lying! The movie is basically perfect filmmaking and nothing more needs to be said about it
5 worst movies:
5. The Da Vinchi Code- Everything that was wrong with the novel was wrong on screen as well. It was sluggish with horrible dialogue and Tom Hanks is at his Tooner and Hooch like worst here.
4. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift- The only good thing about this movie is the fun Erik and I had making fun of it the entire movie. It is worthless and even amazing looking cars and even more amazing looking girls couldn't save this garbage.
3. Grandma's boy- The least funny movie I have seen in a few years with some of the worst casting choices and even worse script decisions. They rip off Dane Cook, and don't do it well and nothing in this thing is even watchable in any way.
2. The Grudge 2- I didn't even make to the end of this movie, yet it only ranks number 2, which goes to show how much I hated the movie that comes in at number 1. There is no story here and the deaths are not interesting. Horribly un scary in every way.
1.Pirate of the carribean: dead man's chest- One of the biggest disappointments I have ever witnessed in a movie. It is over wrought trash, with Johnny Depp obviously slumming and even more obviously just picking up a pay check. It is long, unfunny, uninteresting, it is boring beyond belief, makes no sense, goes nowhere, resorts to bad slapstick and I cannot say enough bad things about this piece of crap.
Some movies I missed: The Illutionist, Borat, Children of men, The Good Shepard, The Good German, Notes on a Scandal and Letters from Iwo Jima
A few movies that just missed the top 10 cut: Babel, Pursuit of Happyness and Happy Feet.
Here are a few of the surprises of my movie going year:
The Bond Flick, Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland, Leo De Caprio's year, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Hugh Jackman's monster year(Prestige, The Fountain and Happy Feet), Steve Carrell in Little miss sunshine, Kevin Smith's Clerks 2 script, The Descent (easily the scariest movie of the year0 and Rob Lowe's cameo in Thank you for smoking.
And finally a few of my disappointments of the year:
Pirates and everything and everyone involved in this god awful excuse for a movie, Miami Vice, Colin Ferrell, Superman ( Singer should have made a better movie) and The Black Dahlia.
Well, there you have it, my end of the year movie blow out, please feel free to add your own list or say why I am wrong or right. Enlighten me if I missed a movie I should have seen because for a few months I didn't get to see too much. Be warned though, if you do decide to try and tell me why Pirates wasn't one of the biggest disgusting pieces of crap in the history of cinema, you will probably be made fun of.
Monday, January 01, 2007
The Devil wears Prada
I am not going to lie, something inside me is starting to believe I am a bit of a woman with my movie rental choices lately, because here is yet another movie of the female gender. Honestly though I went to rent something else but they were all out of it and it became decision between this and John Tucker Must Die. This won out and I guess I am glad about it. I say, I guess, because there was nothing outwardly spectacular about it and a few hours after watching it, I can’t say I remember a whole lot about what I saw. I do remember not hating it, but enjoying the front half much better than the back half. The story is a fairly typical “fish out of water, trying to fit in and in the process loses herself and her loved ones” story starring Anne Hathaway as a young writer thrown into a job at a fashion magazine as the personal assistant to the editor played vivaciously by Meryl Streep. I am not a big fan of Meryl’s but that is mostly due to the fact that her movies look boring beyond all belief and Hathaway is slowly making her way beyond being a clumsy Disney princess.
The first half of the movie is fairly light hearted and features some pretty good banter, mostly being said by the delightfully snooty Emily Blunt, who has done nothing of merit before this movie, and Stanley Tucci as hilariously catty accessories guru for the magazine. All of the acting is fine except at times it feels as if Hathaway is over reaching just a bit for that awkwardness and of course the clothes are amazing but there is just something missing for me. I think part of it is that whole basic plot point and after basic plot thing whether it is the main girl gets caught up in work and misses her boyfriend’s birthday, or the eventual winning over her boss thing, it all just feels so “been there, done that”. Granted, I am sure I am not the target audience for this bad boy, but it is too bad it is so entirely formulaic. I mean, even the wannabe “inspirational” speeches come off cheesy, which could all very well be because they are all about how fashion matters greatly to the world and I happen to not believe such insanity. If you want to see a movie with great clothes and that sends a message that you have to be super thin to look good, then by all means enjoy away. I however, would not partake in applauding a girl going from thin to overly thin, but maybe that is just me. Oh on a little side note, I cannot recal the name Prada coming up in this movie ever, which is kind of funny that it is in the title yet never mentioned in the film itself.
The first half of the movie is fairly light hearted and features some pretty good banter, mostly being said by the delightfully snooty Emily Blunt, who has done nothing of merit before this movie, and Stanley Tucci as hilariously catty accessories guru for the magazine. All of the acting is fine except at times it feels as if Hathaway is over reaching just a bit for that awkwardness and of course the clothes are amazing but there is just something missing for me. I think part of it is that whole basic plot point and after basic plot thing whether it is the main girl gets caught up in work and misses her boyfriend’s birthday, or the eventual winning over her boss thing, it all just feels so “been there, done that”. Granted, I am sure I am not the target audience for this bad boy, but it is too bad it is so entirely formulaic. I mean, even the wannabe “inspirational” speeches come off cheesy, which could all very well be because they are all about how fashion matters greatly to the world and I happen to not believe such insanity. If you want to see a movie with great clothes and that sends a message that you have to be super thin to look good, then by all means enjoy away. I however, would not partake in applauding a girl going from thin to overly thin, but maybe that is just me. Oh on a little side note, I cannot recal the name Prada coming up in this movie ever, which is kind of funny that it is in the title yet never mentioned in the film itself.
Dreamgirls
I have to admit that it is weird seeing a musical on the big screen that I don’t know anything about and couldn’t decide whether or not I enjoy the stage version better. However, that is what I was faced with when I went to see this movie. The movie was surrounded by all kinds of hype in both the media and in the local theater scene and I admit I was excited about it. I have always enjoyed Jamie Foxx and Danny Glover, Eddie Murphy is usually good for a few laughs and any opportunity to look at Beyonce is a plus for me. At least it was a plus until this movie. I do not mean her performance because I actually thought Beyonce actually did well in a movie for the first time, but she was like rail thin and that isn’t cute, especially for a woman who has such beautiful natural curves. Yes, I know she had to do it for the part, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it, that being said, overall this is a very good movie that suffers from a few pacing problems, oddly staged numbers, one horrid song and an overall sense of repetitiveness.
The story goes as follows; Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson and some poor underappreciated girl by the name of Anika Noni Rose are a young singing group looking for a break. Jamie Foxx plays a visionary, money hungry manager/promoter and gets them a break singing back up for a James Brown/Little Richard hybrid played with the perfect amount of arrogance and sincerity by Eddie Murphy. Foxx tries to reach a bigger (read: whiter) audience and realizes Beyonce is the key, so he bumps Jennifer Hudson from lead vocalist to background singer and issues arise. Hudson quits the group and drinks heavily while the group becomes the biggest group ever. The montage showing the Dreams during the rise to fame is one of the most cliché, boring things in the movie and almost derails it because it comes right after the most amazing scene in the film. That scene comes in the form of two songs: “It’s all over” and “And I am telling you I’m not going”. The first part of this scene is a brilliantly staged confrontation or eruption song featuring everyone one of the leads singing and the second half is a bring down the house, powerful song in which Jennifer Hudson comes to life and performs that song ina way tat I can’t imagine anyone else ever singing it again, ever. To be honest, I was not at all impressed with Hudson until that moment and in that song she got an entire audience on her side and proved her ability.
Beyonce also has a killer ballad towards the end of the film, which I believe was written for the film, that showcases she actually can sing, even if her character is not supposed to be able to. Murphy could be considered a scene stealer because this is the first time I have ever actually witnessed him acting and his “Jimmy’s rap” number was so good I was bummed when it ended. Nevertheless, in my opinion, this movie belongs to Jamie Foxx. He oozes charm like a snake and is the conflict of the film, yet when it is all said and done you still end up feeling kind of bad for him and that is quite an accomplishment considering his character is pretty much vicious. I know Jennifer Hudson is getting most of the accolades for the movie and everyone is predicting she is here to stay, but I think this role is kind of monumental and probably not a good showcase for a long time actress. I believe this because Hudson doesn’t wow me through the whole film; it is pretty much when she sings that she can sustain life on screen and so if she does musicals all the time, then maybe. Also, it wouldn’t hurt if she mixed some control in with her power on the vocal side. That being said it really is worth the price of admission to hear her tear into 2 or 3 songs in this mostly enjoyable film.
The story goes as follows; Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson and some poor underappreciated girl by the name of Anika Noni Rose are a young singing group looking for a break. Jamie Foxx plays a visionary, money hungry manager/promoter and gets them a break singing back up for a James Brown/Little Richard hybrid played with the perfect amount of arrogance and sincerity by Eddie Murphy. Foxx tries to reach a bigger (read: whiter) audience and realizes Beyonce is the key, so he bumps Jennifer Hudson from lead vocalist to background singer and issues arise. Hudson quits the group and drinks heavily while the group becomes the biggest group ever. The montage showing the Dreams during the rise to fame is one of the most cliché, boring things in the movie and almost derails it because it comes right after the most amazing scene in the film. That scene comes in the form of two songs: “It’s all over” and “And I am telling you I’m not going”. The first part of this scene is a brilliantly staged confrontation or eruption song featuring everyone one of the leads singing and the second half is a bring down the house, powerful song in which Jennifer Hudson comes to life and performs that song ina way tat I can’t imagine anyone else ever singing it again, ever. To be honest, I was not at all impressed with Hudson until that moment and in that song she got an entire audience on her side and proved her ability.
Beyonce also has a killer ballad towards the end of the film, which I believe was written for the film, that showcases she actually can sing, even if her character is not supposed to be able to. Murphy could be considered a scene stealer because this is the first time I have ever actually witnessed him acting and his “Jimmy’s rap” number was so good I was bummed when it ended. Nevertheless, in my opinion, this movie belongs to Jamie Foxx. He oozes charm like a snake and is the conflict of the film, yet when it is all said and done you still end up feeling kind of bad for him and that is quite an accomplishment considering his character is pretty much vicious. I know Jennifer Hudson is getting most of the accolades for the movie and everyone is predicting she is here to stay, but I think this role is kind of monumental and probably not a good showcase for a long time actress. I believe this because Hudson doesn’t wow me through the whole film; it is pretty much when she sings that she can sustain life on screen and so if she does musicals all the time, then maybe. Also, it wouldn’t hurt if she mixed some control in with her power on the vocal side. That being said it really is worth the price of admission to hear her tear into 2 or 3 songs in this mostly enjoyable film.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
The Last Kiss
I must warn anyone about to watch this movie: It is not the cute light movie the trailer or the cover make it out to be, nor is it adorable and funny like Zack Braff’s last movie. This movie is more of a drama than a coming of age comedy. In fact, there is more depressing screaming in this movie than there are in most movies not involving war or some sort of national tragedy. The fact of the matter is this movie is about what happens to people as they hit 30 and realize they have nothing left in life that excites them or surprises them. Braff is formidable as a leading man except he is such a snobby elitist that it makes it sometimes hard to feel sympathy for him. In fact, he really is the villain in this movie. Whereas Rachel Bilson, containing her “The OC” tendencies, comes off absolutely adorable and sympathetic as her character gets played by Braff.
There are other people in the movie but frankly they are nameless faceless characters for the screenwriter to make miserable. See, the item that most attracted me to this film was the fact that Paul Haggis wrote it. For you non movie dorks, Paul Haggis is the brilliant writer of Crash, Million dollar baby and the new Bond Movie. I was interested to see how he handled something less traumatic and after watching it, I found out it was actually a remake of 2001 Spanish film, so the idea wasn’t really his, but man does he put some pure venom in the words. There are a few arguments in this thing that just leap off the screen! I guess I could get around to discussing the plot. Braff has the perfect life- a gorgeous pregnant girlfriend, a great job and still has his best friends from childhood. I know, it sucks, right! Poor Poor, little Zach “My taste in music is better than yours” Braff. The girlfriend is played by former The Real World star, Jacinda Barrett and she has managed to turn herself into a fine actress. I mean she doesn’t get to do much but worry and second guess everything, but it works. Rachel Bilson plays the free spirited, temptress preying on Braff’s unhappiness but in the end she is the only character I actually felt bad for. The other plots involve Casey Affleck realizing he is miserable in his marriage, Eric Christian Olsen having semi graphic R-rated sex with some incredibly hot girl before realizing she wants a relationship and the dullest story involves Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner as a couple having been married for 30 something years and still trying to figure it out.
It isn’t easy to really like this movie except that I kind of did because of how real the writing felt and much of directing was well done. It is hard to sit through a movie when you kind of despise every character for one reason or another, but at the same time you can’t help but wish you had 4 friends you were that close to. Braff will probably amount to be a bigger star than he deserves, but because he walks around with this kind of cocky, goofy thing, I can forgive it. This movie was the first time I had seen him do much of anything other than smile and say something supercilious. I may be speaking in hyperbole but I haven’t seen enough of Scrubs to know if he does anything interesting on that show. Bilson looks incredibly hot even if she is playing a pretty typical college movie girl and she definitely would have had me choosing her!
There are other people in the movie but frankly they are nameless faceless characters for the screenwriter to make miserable. See, the item that most attracted me to this film was the fact that Paul Haggis wrote it. For you non movie dorks, Paul Haggis is the brilliant writer of Crash, Million dollar baby and the new Bond Movie. I was interested to see how he handled something less traumatic and after watching it, I found out it was actually a remake of 2001 Spanish film, so the idea wasn’t really his, but man does he put some pure venom in the words. There are a few arguments in this thing that just leap off the screen! I guess I could get around to discussing the plot. Braff has the perfect life- a gorgeous pregnant girlfriend, a great job and still has his best friends from childhood. I know, it sucks, right! Poor Poor, little Zach “My taste in music is better than yours” Braff. The girlfriend is played by former The Real World star, Jacinda Barrett and she has managed to turn herself into a fine actress. I mean she doesn’t get to do much but worry and second guess everything, but it works. Rachel Bilson plays the free spirited, temptress preying on Braff’s unhappiness but in the end she is the only character I actually felt bad for. The other plots involve Casey Affleck realizing he is miserable in his marriage, Eric Christian Olsen having semi graphic R-rated sex with some incredibly hot girl before realizing she wants a relationship and the dullest story involves Tom Wilkinson and Blythe Danner as a couple having been married for 30 something years and still trying to figure it out.
It isn’t easy to really like this movie except that I kind of did because of how real the writing felt and much of directing was well done. It is hard to sit through a movie when you kind of despise every character for one reason or another, but at the same time you can’t help but wish you had 4 friends you were that close to. Braff will probably amount to be a bigger star than he deserves, but because he walks around with this kind of cocky, goofy thing, I can forgive it. This movie was the first time I had seen him do much of anything other than smile and say something supercilious. I may be speaking in hyperbole but I haven’t seen enough of Scrubs to know if he does anything interesting on that show. Bilson looks incredibly hot even if she is playing a pretty typical college movie girl and she definitely would have had me choosing her!
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
The Holiday
On average I see 2 or 3 romantic comedies every year and usually I find them to be cute for about 40 minutes and eventually just go overkill on the sweet and like over syrupy pancakes, I have no use for them. So I went into this movie with no real delight. Add to the fact that I hate Jack Black, Cameron Diaz and often Jude Law, I have no idea what got into me when I decided to join a friend for this movie. Nevertheless, I fully enjoyed the movie and even gained some respect for Jack Black in the process. The Movie stars the brilliant Kate Winslet as a woman fed up in love (rightfully so as well) and so she needs a change. Lucky for her Diaz is also looking for a change, so they decide to swap houses for the Christmas holiday. Winslet inherits Diaz’s gorgeous Los Angeles mansion while Diaz inherits a quaint, cute little European cottage in Surrey. While Winslet falls right in love with Los Angeles, Diaz does not enjoy Surrey. Well that was until she met the drunk, gorgeous and incredibly charming Jude Law. I imagine most women would fall in love with a country if Mr. Law started sweet talking them so one cannot fault Diaz for the change. Stateside, Kate is trying to wash a smarmy Rufus Sewell out of her hair because he took her for granted for years and she had finally had it, although she was still secretly pining for him. Enter a very toned down and utterly convincing Jack Black as a sensitive yet passionate musician.
What follows could be considered a fairly basic game of cat and mouse, or a better named game would be lets all hide our feelings inside because we fear pain. While things like this often annoy me in movies, the script handles the entire thing with genuine emotion and a realistic underlying pain. When jack Black finds out his girlfriend was cheating on him Kate goes into this amazingly real monologue about “The wrong guy” or the “wrong girl”. I wanted to applaud when it was all over. Of course, I really wanted to cry because of how true it was. Also, we learn Jude Law has a very good reason to be cold and standoffish. A reason better left to people who actually see the film. Never does this movie appear fake or at face value. I know a lot of that realism belongs in the hands of the actors but the movie is directed by an up and coming romantic comedy director who seems to have found her groove after movies like “What women want” and “Something’s got to give”. She seems to have a real eye for catching the fantasy of movie romances in a light or realism that leaves those of us watching with a sense of hope, no matter how false that hope may be.
Another thing I would be remiss to mention is a huge side plot involving Kate’s character. She is a writer and while in Los Angeles she is living next door to a very old man who was a part of old Hollywood as a screen writer. The part is played by Eli Wallach and he is something to behold. He is just the right amount of old school charm and old school knowledge. I honestly have no idea who he is but he adds so much to the movie and even gets Kate’s character to watch all these classic movies starring classic Hollywood beauties who all had “Gumption.” It is because of all those movies that Kate is finally able to put the sleazy Rufus in the past and allows her to take a chance with Jack Black. I wanted to despise this movie but it won me over very early on and the only real complaint I can give it is that it really shows us how much better of an actress Kate Winslet is than Cameron Diaz.
What follows could be considered a fairly basic game of cat and mouse, or a better named game would be lets all hide our feelings inside because we fear pain. While things like this often annoy me in movies, the script handles the entire thing with genuine emotion and a realistic underlying pain. When jack Black finds out his girlfriend was cheating on him Kate goes into this amazingly real monologue about “The wrong guy” or the “wrong girl”. I wanted to applaud when it was all over. Of course, I really wanted to cry because of how true it was. Also, we learn Jude Law has a very good reason to be cold and standoffish. A reason better left to people who actually see the film. Never does this movie appear fake or at face value. I know a lot of that realism belongs in the hands of the actors but the movie is directed by an up and coming romantic comedy director who seems to have found her groove after movies like “What women want” and “Something’s got to give”. She seems to have a real eye for catching the fantasy of movie romances in a light or realism that leaves those of us watching with a sense of hope, no matter how false that hope may be.
Another thing I would be remiss to mention is a huge side plot involving Kate’s character. She is a writer and while in Los Angeles she is living next door to a very old man who was a part of old Hollywood as a screen writer. The part is played by Eli Wallach and he is something to behold. He is just the right amount of old school charm and old school knowledge. I honestly have no idea who he is but he adds so much to the movie and even gets Kate’s character to watch all these classic movies starring classic Hollywood beauties who all had “Gumption.” It is because of all those movies that Kate is finally able to put the sleazy Rufus in the past and allows her to take a chance with Jack Black. I wanted to despise this movie but it won me over very early on and the only real complaint I can give it is that it really shows us how much better of an actress Kate Winslet is than Cameron Diaz.
Night at the Museum (possible spoilers)
Allow me to begin by stating that I loathe Ben stiller movies. I can recall liking 2 movies in which he is featured and he isn’t really the star in either of them- Royal Tenenbaums and Dodgeball. So, when I say I overall enjoyed this it is really saying something. Ben Stiller stars as a loser father who needs any sort of job possible so he won’t have to move and disappoint his kid yet again. See, the kid’s mothers has a new husband who is incredibly successful and played by the un-credited and perfect Paul Rudd, and Stiller’s character is intimidated by him. Stiller finds a job as a night security guard at a museum of natural history because the museum is getting rid of their 3 night guards and replacing them with just one single guard. The 3 night guards are crucial to the story of this film and are played with glee by Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney and Bill Cobbs (A man with over 100 IMDB credits but no one has any clue who he is). The interesting thing about the museum is that all of the things inside come alive at night and run amuck on the premises. Owen Wilson pops up as a hilarious miniature cowboy with a serious complex over his height; Robin Williams is in pretty mellow mode as Teddy Roosevelt and then we have someone as Attila the Hun, Christopher Columbus and various other creatures. Also, there are two side plots involving Sacajawea.
To be honest, the first hour of the movie drags pretty hardcore and I was afraid it would never turn around but Ricky Gervais as the museum manager gives the movie a much needed shot in the arm and after his hilarious word fumbling performance the movie kicks into high gear. The last hour breezes by and when it is over you really feel as if you were just taken on a magical journey. The Special effects are excellent, especially the T-Rex, who is just a big dog and the winning spirit of Ben’s kid in the movie make it a worthwhile adventure. Of course it wouldn’t be a movie without a conflict and it doesn’t actually happen until the final 40 minutes and it involves stolen museum merchandise and the eventual team work of all the different beings within the walls of the magical museum. I am sure since it is a movie for kids or family, there is a message about taking pride in ones work and ownership of ones life, but to be honest, I wasn’t watching this movie for a moral or a lesson. I wanted to see Owen Wilson be his hilarious self and watch Ben Stiller get pimped slapped repeatedly by a funny monkey, both of which I got in spades, so I was a very happy camper.
To be honest, the first hour of the movie drags pretty hardcore and I was afraid it would never turn around but Ricky Gervais as the museum manager gives the movie a much needed shot in the arm and after his hilarious word fumbling performance the movie kicks into high gear. The last hour breezes by and when it is over you really feel as if you were just taken on a magical journey. The Special effects are excellent, especially the T-Rex, who is just a big dog and the winning spirit of Ben’s kid in the movie make it a worthwhile adventure. Of course it wouldn’t be a movie without a conflict and it doesn’t actually happen until the final 40 minutes and it involves stolen museum merchandise and the eventual team work of all the different beings within the walls of the magical museum. I am sure since it is a movie for kids or family, there is a message about taking pride in ones work and ownership of ones life, but to be honest, I wasn’t watching this movie for a moral or a lesson. I wanted to see Owen Wilson be his hilarious self and watch Ben Stiller get pimped slapped repeatedly by a funny monkey, both of which I got in spades, so I was a very happy camper.
The Break up
Having decidedly taken myself out of the "know" of our famous people's lives, I could watch this movie without the stench of "overhype" over Vinnifer of Jence or whatever inane mash up name our celebrity stalker gave this oh so important couple of the moment and I have to say it probably helped. See the movie is basically the Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn show. Yes, there are a few supporting characters in the forms of a very bloated Jon Favreau, the under used Joey Lauren Adams and the badly wigged Justin long but they are all fairly unnecessary in this film. That is not to say that I didn't like it because in all honesty I loved it.
I have always routed for Jennifer Aniston to succeed, some would say I hope that because of how unbelievably beautiful she is, but it stems from watching her in a movie called "Leprechaun" and thinking "ah poor girl, she is never going anywhere." I am glad she has proved me wrong and in this movie she seems to play into her niche. She gets to look amazing, cry over a boy, scream and throw stuff, oh and she gets to be naked, well sort of. With regards to Vince Vaughn, I have always been a fan of funny Vince. I tried to go with him to the dark side in movies like Psycho and Domestic Disturbance, but he is just better when he is playing a version of his Swingers character and again this movie plays well into his wheel house while showing he actually can act. The plot involves a couple who has been together for two years and own a condo together, but realize they are over as a couple and deals with the complications after a break up. It is pretty basic, yes but that is almost what makes it such a great movie.
Vaughn and Aniston share a hilarious opening scene which shows them meeting for the first time, then the opening credits take us through the two year relationship and then we open with yet another hilarious scene involving Aniston's character's brother trying to get a table of people to make noises like musical instruments. However, as far as comedy that's about all we get. This movie is sad, I mean really sad. That is also the beauty of it because the sadness always feels real. Granted, I can't say much because I have never been in that situation but every conversation between the now ex-couple felt like a real argument and every emotion felt real. The movie is also incredibly awkward as the two characters attempt to 1. play nice in public and 2. Attempt to make each other jealous. There are a few funny moments within the awkwardness but this movie is not really played for laughs, it is played for sympathy for both of these characters and in the end we do feel bad for them, just for different reasons. Also, movies like this have a habit of happy, tied up ina pretty little bow endings, but this one takes a different variation on tat ending and it was much appreciated by me!
I have always routed for Jennifer Aniston to succeed, some would say I hope that because of how unbelievably beautiful she is, but it stems from watching her in a movie called "Leprechaun" and thinking "ah poor girl, she is never going anywhere." I am glad she has proved me wrong and in this movie she seems to play into her niche. She gets to look amazing, cry over a boy, scream and throw stuff, oh and she gets to be naked, well sort of. With regards to Vince Vaughn, I have always been a fan of funny Vince. I tried to go with him to the dark side in movies like Psycho and Domestic Disturbance, but he is just better when he is playing a version of his Swingers character and again this movie plays well into his wheel house while showing he actually can act. The plot involves a couple who has been together for two years and own a condo together, but realize they are over as a couple and deals with the complications after a break up. It is pretty basic, yes but that is almost what makes it such a great movie.
Vaughn and Aniston share a hilarious opening scene which shows them meeting for the first time, then the opening credits take us through the two year relationship and then we open with yet another hilarious scene involving Aniston's character's brother trying to get a table of people to make noises like musical instruments. However, as far as comedy that's about all we get. This movie is sad, I mean really sad. That is also the beauty of it because the sadness always feels real. Granted, I can't say much because I have never been in that situation but every conversation between the now ex-couple felt like a real argument and every emotion felt real. The movie is also incredibly awkward as the two characters attempt to 1. play nice in public and 2. Attempt to make each other jealous. There are a few funny moments within the awkwardness but this movie is not really played for laughs, it is played for sympathy for both of these characters and in the end we do feel bad for them, just for different reasons. Also, movies like this have a habit of happy, tied up ina pretty little bow endings, but this one takes a different variation on tat ending and it was much appreciated by me!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
We are Marshall
Being a sports fan and knowing a bit about this story, I was very excited at the prospect of this movie. That was until I saw who was directing because McG would have been my first choice to direct something that should have heart. If you don't know who he is allow me to give you a little list of his credits- Charlie's Angels 1 and 2 a sublime concert DVD as well as a Cypress hill DVD concert. He is also the executive producer of guilty pleasure shows like The OC, Fast lane and the soon to be produced "The Pussycat Dolls." The Marshall University tragedy is worlds away from Cameron Diaz dancing around in her underwear or motorcycles exploding, so I was a bit worried how exhaustingly edited the football cuts would be. However, McG does manage to tone down the the flashy no heart style but unfortunately he allows the overly sappy music to rampant over this film.
For those unaware of the story in 1970 an airplane carrying an entire college football team, parents and coaches crashed and everyone was killed. The president of the school and the board members had decided to shut down the football program for a little while in an effort to regroup but one member of the football team who had stayed behind due to a shoulder injury rallied the students together to show the school board that they needed a football team. Enter Matthew McConaughey as a cheery, analogy speaking football coach. Matthew has proven to be both an amazing actor (A Time to kill and Amistad) . a horrible actor (Sahara and Two for the money) and a pointless actor (Failure to Launch and The Wedding Planner) but here he falls somewhere in the middle. In scenes of light hearted banter or intense football screaming he is flawless, but he falls short in a lot of the sympathetic moments and trips over his drawl often in the final big speech before the big game. Also, he talks out of the side of his mouth for the entire film and it gets very annoying very quickly. The real star to me in this movie is Anthonie Mackie. Most people won't know who he is but he has had bit supporting roles in movies like 8 mile and million dollar baby, but here is the one actor who rises above a cliche riddled script and finds the perfect mix of guilt, anger and pride to his performance. I don't have much to say about Matthew Fox because until the end he didn't really do much for me.
As an inspirational sports movie, this falls below the upper echelon ones but above the bad ones. The story is pretty remarkable and McG along with his writers seemed to find the right side stories to focus on. We have the girlfriend of a lost player as well as the father of her boyfriend. We get a little glimpse into a kid whose father was killed but McG never pulls too much focus away from the main story at hand. The football games themselves are interestingly shot and edited. In fact, there isn't much to them which leads me to believe McG had no clue how to do football well. Perhaps that was for the best because it gave us a chance ot focus on the characters. Overall the script is bad and the music is worse, but it is hard for me to hate such a well intentioned movie.
For those unaware of the story in 1970 an airplane carrying an entire college football team, parents and coaches crashed and everyone was killed. The president of the school and the board members had decided to shut down the football program for a little while in an effort to regroup but one member of the football team who had stayed behind due to a shoulder injury rallied the students together to show the school board that they needed a football team. Enter Matthew McConaughey as a cheery, analogy speaking football coach. Matthew has proven to be both an amazing actor (A Time to kill and Amistad) . a horrible actor (Sahara and Two for the money) and a pointless actor (Failure to Launch and The Wedding Planner) but here he falls somewhere in the middle. In scenes of light hearted banter or intense football screaming he is flawless, but he falls short in a lot of the sympathetic moments and trips over his drawl often in the final big speech before the big game. Also, he talks out of the side of his mouth for the entire film and it gets very annoying very quickly. The real star to me in this movie is Anthonie Mackie. Most people won't know who he is but he has had bit supporting roles in movies like 8 mile and million dollar baby, but here is the one actor who rises above a cliche riddled script and finds the perfect mix of guilt, anger and pride to his performance. I don't have much to say about Matthew Fox because until the end he didn't really do much for me.
As an inspirational sports movie, this falls below the upper echelon ones but above the bad ones. The story is pretty remarkable and McG along with his writers seemed to find the right side stories to focus on. We have the girlfriend of a lost player as well as the father of her boyfriend. We get a little glimpse into a kid whose father was killed but McG never pulls too much focus away from the main story at hand. The football games themselves are interestingly shot and edited. In fact, there isn't much to them which leads me to believe McG had no clue how to do football well. Perhaps that was for the best because it gave us a chance ot focus on the characters. Overall the script is bad and the music is worse, but it is hard for me to hate such a well intentioned movie.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Blood Diamonds (spoilers)
Over the last few years I believe we have seen Leonardo DeCaprio quickly emerge as the new generation version of Robert De Niro or Al Pacino. It may seem like hyperbole but I truly believe it. While I didn’t enjoy The Aviator, he was phenomenal and already this year he was brilliant as an undercover cop infiltrating the brutal Irish mob in, The Departed. Now, here is again blowing me away in Blood Diamond, as a quick thinking, ex-military diamond Smuggler. The movie is about an African man, played with some serious fire and intensity by Djimon Hounsou, who finds a diamond while being a slave. He hides the diamond and eventually lands in prison. DeCaprio is in some heat after his latest shipment of smuggled diamonds gets snatched so he tries to convince Hounsou to help him by promising to help find Hounsou’s family. Add a drop dead gorgeous Jennifer Connelly as a thrill seeking do gooder reporter and you have yourself a whirl of a movie.
The movie is unflinching in its violence as well as in its politics. Diamond sellers were outraged by the movie. The Country, Sierra Leone, was embarrassed, promising the country was no longer like that but the movie is never dull, never lets up and even has some wit within the dialogue. I believe this is the highest body count I have seen on film this year and much of it is in up close full view and nearly 75% of it involves kids with guns. It is merely a side plot within the film but in reality could be an entire new film on its own. The concept of the rebel army kidnapping young boys, brainwashing them and giving them guns is a real scare and deserves to be probed by a filmmaker. That might actually be my one complaint about the movie- there is almost too much material for one movie. One more thing about the violence, it is realistic and shocking, but I think it is shocking because it feels real and almost organic. It is meant to stir feelings of uneasiness and it fully accomplishes that goal.
All of the acting in this thing is top notch but Hounsou matches his obvious physical presence with a serious level of crazy over the top intensity that some might say is too much, but if you look at it from the place of a man desperately holding onto hope that is family is still alive, you believe every single second he is on the screen and DeCaprio matches him step by step with an easy attitude and a sense that his character has thought of everything ahead of time. Leo truly excels in this movie. There are 2 scenes I could point out that show a stark contrast in the characters personality but both feel very real. There is a scene where he finally opens up so Connelly that could break your heart and later in the film he shows a menacing and threatening side as he gives warns Hounsou about something.
The movie may be a few years to late to change anything in the world since Sierra Leone is no longer in that bad of a shape and the civil war ended, but it is still good to see films like this being made. Some may find the film preachy and one person described to me as “limo liberalism” because it implies “oh when you go out to buy diamonds this week make sure they aren’t blood diamonds” but I found the film to be realistic, brutal, thought provoking and ultimately worth the ride. If for no other reason than watching Leonardo DeCaprio take his character and progress in a full 180 degrees from beginning to end. It really is like watching a genius at work.
The movie is unflinching in its violence as well as in its politics. Diamond sellers were outraged by the movie. The Country, Sierra Leone, was embarrassed, promising the country was no longer like that but the movie is never dull, never lets up and even has some wit within the dialogue. I believe this is the highest body count I have seen on film this year and much of it is in up close full view and nearly 75% of it involves kids with guns. It is merely a side plot within the film but in reality could be an entire new film on its own. The concept of the rebel army kidnapping young boys, brainwashing them and giving them guns is a real scare and deserves to be probed by a filmmaker. That might actually be my one complaint about the movie- there is almost too much material for one movie. One more thing about the violence, it is realistic and shocking, but I think it is shocking because it feels real and almost organic. It is meant to stir feelings of uneasiness and it fully accomplishes that goal.
All of the acting in this thing is top notch but Hounsou matches his obvious physical presence with a serious level of crazy over the top intensity that some might say is too much, but if you look at it from the place of a man desperately holding onto hope that is family is still alive, you believe every single second he is on the screen and DeCaprio matches him step by step with an easy attitude and a sense that his character has thought of everything ahead of time. Leo truly excels in this movie. There are 2 scenes I could point out that show a stark contrast in the characters personality but both feel very real. There is a scene where he finally opens up so Connelly that could break your heart and later in the film he shows a menacing and threatening side as he gives warns Hounsou about something.
The movie may be a few years to late to change anything in the world since Sierra Leone is no longer in that bad of a shape and the civil war ended, but it is still good to see films like this being made. Some may find the film preachy and one person described to me as “limo liberalism” because it implies “oh when you go out to buy diamonds this week make sure they aren’t blood diamonds” but I found the film to be realistic, brutal, thought provoking and ultimately worth the ride. If for no other reason than watching Leonardo DeCaprio take his character and progress in a full 180 degrees from beginning to end. It really is like watching a genius at work.
Happy Feet (possible spoilers.
While many were annoyed at the obvious liberal political platform shown in this movie, I have to say that I was not bothered by it at all. In fact, I loved this movie more than I have enjoyed an animated feature in years. For those of you who don’t know, Happy Feet is a movie about a penguin who tap dances. That in itself is nothing exciting except in this fictional world of penguinism, penguins sing not dance. So when mumbles, our tap dancer, is unable to sing he is looked down upon and leaves his father shamed. This first reoccurring theme of conformity is probably overlooked do to the later leftist agenda, but I feel that this is what the movie is about at its core. The movie is about finding a place for oneself and proving that happiness lies in individuality. There are also a few not so vague shots at organized religion running rampant within the movie
Voice wise, this movie seems to be perfect. Elijah Wood captures an innocence and spirit needed and Robin Williams, doing his multi voiced character thing is spot on as one of a group of shorter, renegade penguins. With their help Mumbles finds his “voice” sort to speak and helps shape penguin culture. The star to me though is Hugh Jackman. He voices Mumbles’ father with a faux cheesy Elvis style voice and it is amazing. Also, his vocals are spectacular which leads me to want him back on Broadway, just in a good show this time! Nicole Kidman is the supportive caring mother and Brittney Murphy rounds out the leads as Mumbles’ would be girlfriend, the sexiest most talented penguin in the tribe. Also, the animation is flawless which isn’t a surprise because most animated movies these days look flawless.
I have to admit I was a bit shocked by how scary and mean the movie was at times. I mean I know every animated film has conflict but this seemed like a more realistic conflict because it was a man made conflict. While, I am not what you would consider an “animal lover” it was hard to watch as a penguin nearly suffocated because he got one of those plastic 6 pack holders around his throat. This movie did not back down from showing the dangers involved in mass pollution and mass fishing. I guess that is why those geniuses over at Fox News were calling the movie pure propaganda. Good to know people have nothing better to do than pick apart a kids movie. I mean God forbid we teach children about the dangers of littering!! Oh no! The movie does take a bit of a bizarre turn that reminds you that you are watching a kids movie but it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment. This movie has everything you need in an animated feature-singing, dancing, crazy animation and an interesting story.
Voice wise, this movie seems to be perfect. Elijah Wood captures an innocence and spirit needed and Robin Williams, doing his multi voiced character thing is spot on as one of a group of shorter, renegade penguins. With their help Mumbles finds his “voice” sort to speak and helps shape penguin culture. The star to me though is Hugh Jackman. He voices Mumbles’ father with a faux cheesy Elvis style voice and it is amazing. Also, his vocals are spectacular which leads me to want him back on Broadway, just in a good show this time! Nicole Kidman is the supportive caring mother and Brittney Murphy rounds out the leads as Mumbles’ would be girlfriend, the sexiest most talented penguin in the tribe. Also, the animation is flawless which isn’t a surprise because most animated movies these days look flawless.
I have to admit I was a bit shocked by how scary and mean the movie was at times. I mean I know every animated film has conflict but this seemed like a more realistic conflict because it was a man made conflict. While, I am not what you would consider an “animal lover” it was hard to watch as a penguin nearly suffocated because he got one of those plastic 6 pack holders around his throat. This movie did not back down from showing the dangers involved in mass pollution and mass fishing. I guess that is why those geniuses over at Fox News were calling the movie pure propaganda. Good to know people have nothing better to do than pick apart a kids movie. I mean God forbid we teach children about the dangers of littering!! Oh no! The movie does take a bit of a bizarre turn that reminds you that you are watching a kids movie but it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment. This movie has everything you need in an animated feature-singing, dancing, crazy animation and an interesting story.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
The Pursuit of Happyness (spoilers, I guess)
Before I begin, I must mention that there is significance to word "happyness" being spelled incorrectly. I wish the trailer had shown us why because it seems to annoy those who haven't seen it, but trust me there is a reason for it. Ok, on to the review. I cried, a lot. By a lot I mean pretty much the entire last 35 minutes of the movie. Of course, evoking tears doesn't a great movie make, on its own, so, is the movie very good or just able to get the tear jerker reaction. Simply put, the movie works in every way imaginable, if you let it. It is very easy to walk in this thing with a pessimistic attitude, looking for faults and completely missing the point of this incredibly well acted, well paced well intentioned film.
Will Smith loses every single trademark mannerism or character quirks that he has built a career doing. Yes, he is charming, but he isn't oozing charm. Yes, he still has that smile, but here he uses to fight through the tears. He uses it to keep from losing his mind. He is a tremendous father, but still gets on his child when he can't quite articulate to the child what is happening, and oh what a child it is. The kid, played by Will's real son, is acting in his first role and is equal parts adorable and crazy talented. I imagine it was easy to do along side dad, but he never backs down from the emotional scenes and helps the movie complete its quest of having us believe in these people. In reality, the movie only works because they give us the first 35 minutes to fall in love with Smith and his son. However, we never blame the wife for leaving because we get to know her and we come to understand the hardships of trying to make ends meet.
The movie is heart breaking without question, but it never feels cheesy or contrived. You can't help but want this family to get through the lose of apartment, loss of hotel room and the nights sleeping in a bathroom or on a subway car. Smith is smart, caring and strong willed and pulls it off without ever playing into too many cliches. Of course, because it is inspired from a true story it will have its cliche riddled moments, but because Smith is so capable you never focus on them. I have seen some incredible movies and performances this year, but I think This performance by Smith is my favorite of the year. Never have I seen a character on screen I was routing for more than this one. Never have I felt like jumping for joy when the characters did, or never have I wanted to help a character when they were down. Also, the director chose the perfect ending to the film. We see the completion of one section of this man's life and he gives us that ending. If he were to go much longer the movie could become a slogan for capitalism meaning "money makes one happy", but they didn't. Instead they let us in on the joy of a man accomplishing the impossible and finally able to provide for his family and that is true happiness.
Will Smith loses every single trademark mannerism or character quirks that he has built a career doing. Yes, he is charming, but he isn't oozing charm. Yes, he still has that smile, but here he uses to fight through the tears. He uses it to keep from losing his mind. He is a tremendous father, but still gets on his child when he can't quite articulate to the child what is happening, and oh what a child it is. The kid, played by Will's real son, is acting in his first role and is equal parts adorable and crazy talented. I imagine it was easy to do along side dad, but he never backs down from the emotional scenes and helps the movie complete its quest of having us believe in these people. In reality, the movie only works because they give us the first 35 minutes to fall in love with Smith and his son. However, we never blame the wife for leaving because we get to know her and we come to understand the hardships of trying to make ends meet.
The movie is heart breaking without question, but it never feels cheesy or contrived. You can't help but want this family to get through the lose of apartment, loss of hotel room and the nights sleeping in a bathroom or on a subway car. Smith is smart, caring and strong willed and pulls it off without ever playing into too many cliches. Of course, because it is inspired from a true story it will have its cliche riddled moments, but because Smith is so capable you never focus on them. I have seen some incredible movies and performances this year, but I think This performance by Smith is my favorite of the year. Never have I seen a character on screen I was routing for more than this one. Never have I felt like jumping for joy when the characters did, or never have I wanted to help a character when they were down. Also, the director chose the perfect ending to the film. We see the completion of one section of this man's life and he gives us that ending. If he were to go much longer the movie could become a slogan for capitalism meaning "money makes one happy", but they didn't. Instead they let us in on the joy of a man accomplishing the impossible and finally able to provide for his family and that is true happiness.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
The Fountain
The one very easy thing about reviewing this movie is that spoilers don't exist because no one actually knows what the hell is going on in this movie. Like Pi and Requiem for a dream, this movie is never quite sure of itself, yet manages to have a stranglehold on your attention for some unknown almost hypnotic reason.
Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz star a couple in the modern time, but may also be playing a couple from the past and future as well. Jackman is amazing with fairly limited dialogue and with one character probably did all of his acting against a big green screen, yet that doesn't seem to slow him down as he impressively gives us 3 distinct yet connected characters. The connection is love. A love that may or may not span generations. A love that is possibly eternal or perhaps some of it is in someone's head. There are no real answers here, just a lot of questions about love, passion, spirituality, mortality, obsession, science and time. If it seems a lot to comprehend, also take into account that the movie is a very brisk 95 minutes long.
While you may never actually figure what is going on, you cannot help but be visually stimulated by the amazing effects and shots. The movie is truly breathtaking and stunning in terms of the visuals. The bright, muted yellows clashing with the darkness, or a black silhouette of Jackman doing karate against a background of pure glowing stars. Regardless of how you feel bout the barely there dialogue or the seemingly incoherent plot, it is impossible not to be impressed with Aronofsky's attention to the minor details of how his film looks. The camera work is beautiful and often I felt as if I was watching a gorgeous masterpiece of art in motion, which is enough of a reason to spend the money to see the film.
Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz star a couple in the modern time, but may also be playing a couple from the past and future as well. Jackman is amazing with fairly limited dialogue and with one character probably did all of his acting against a big green screen, yet that doesn't seem to slow him down as he impressively gives us 3 distinct yet connected characters. The connection is love. A love that may or may not span generations. A love that is possibly eternal or perhaps some of it is in someone's head. There are no real answers here, just a lot of questions about love, passion, spirituality, mortality, obsession, science and time. If it seems a lot to comprehend, also take into account that the movie is a very brisk 95 minutes long.
While you may never actually figure what is going on, you cannot help but be visually stimulated by the amazing effects and shots. The movie is truly breathtaking and stunning in terms of the visuals. The bright, muted yellows clashing with the darkness, or a black silhouette of Jackman doing karate against a background of pure glowing stars. Regardless of how you feel bout the barely there dialogue or the seemingly incoherent plot, it is impossible not to be impressed with Aronofsky's attention to the minor details of how his film looks. The camera work is beautiful and often I felt as if I was watching a gorgeous masterpiece of art in motion, which is enough of a reason to spend the money to see the film.
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