The Darjeeling Limited

When I saw the trailer, I had mixed emotions. Part of me was as completely ecstatic as I always am for discovering any movie in which Wes Anderson is involved. The other part of me was a little disappointed to see that it looked exactly like everything else he does. Don't get me wrong. I'm an absolute sucker for his unique style. But I just began to wonder how many more movies he could make with the same actors, plot lines, camera techniques, and any other string of details before getting completely redudant and unoriginal. Again, don't get me wrong, I would keep watching his redudant and unoriginal movies, but I just began to get worried for him. Well, it turns out, The Darjeeling Limited is a bit of a departure. In Anderson's world, it's a simple movie. But keep in mind, to most directors a simple movie doesn't involve a film shot entirely on location in the country of India. Gone is the large cast and multiple story lines. Besides one flashback, gone is the detailed backstory. Gone are the elaborate and detailed sets. Gone is the original soundtrack. It's considerably shorter, too. Even many of the dry one-liners are gone, and the humor feels more subdued, not as dry or dark. Many things are different, and it gives the movie a simple feel. It turns out feeling like an EP between full-lengths or a short story between novels. One friend called it his Punch Drunk Love; a simple, straightforward story that follows an epic like Magnolia. And all of this allows us to focus on the scenery, the brothers, their stories, and their development on this journey. When you finish watching, you won't be blown away, and it won't make it to the top of your list of favorites. But the setting, the characters, and the story, along with the classic Anderson heartbreaking/heartwarming moments are enough to make it a solid, enjoyable movie that you'll be glad you saw.

The Martian Child

I'm always a sucker for a good John Cusack film. I think the first film I saw him in was The Journey of Natty Gann and I've been a fan ever since. Another interesting tidbit is how often his actual sister, Joan Cusack, plays his sister or another character in his films. She happens to be his sister again here. They just have such a great brother-sister dynamic. If you didn't know, this is based off a book. Liz read it to review for an online magazine she's the books editor for, Infuze, and really enjoyed it. She did say that there were some noticeable differences between the two, but they were both good. John plays David, a sci-fi writer, who adopts Dennis, played by Bobby Coleman. Dennis has trouble relating to people and believes he's from the planet Mars. David was seen as maybe a good fit for Dennis because of his childhood similarities and some of the books he has written. Amanda Peet also plays Harlee, a friend of David's and his deceased wife. In a way, this movie was a little manipulative like I am Sam. It's definitely not easy trying to care for Dennis or help him merge into a social life, but David goes out and achieves anyways. It was also cool to see Peet in a role where she wasn't the sleazy, crazy or slutty type. I'm not saying she's type-cast, it was just nice to see her in a different kind of role. It has also been cool to see Cusack play the roles of a concerned father/parent figure in the past few films he's done. In 1408 he's the father of a dead child. In Grace is Gone he's a recent widower and father, and in Identity they're all trying to protect the young boy. Even though John Cusack has a long list of very unique films and characters, I always think of him as doing the romantic comedies and it's cool to see him play different roles. This might be a good movie to see after reading the book or vice versa. It's worth your time and could maybe even be considered one of those "feel good" movies like Amelie.

Dan In Real Life

If you liked Pieces of April or About a Boy, you'll probably love this movie because it was written and directed by Peter Hedges. Dan in Real Life, is about a widower who write a daily column in the local newspaper about parenting, family and life in general. It's that time of year again when the whole family gets together and Dan accidentally falls in love with his little brother's new girlfriend. First off, if you're any kind of fan of Steve Carell (Anchorman, 40 Year Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, The Office) I think you'll like this. Lots of comedy. Lots of laughter. Lots of Steve Carell. Another welcomed face would be Juliette Binoche (Chocolat) who plays the girlfriend and even Dane Cook who plays Mitch, the younger brother. I'm a big fan of Dane Cook and his stand-up comedy. I even liked him as The Waffler in Mystery Men and nearly laughed myself to tears seeing him as a line cook in Waiting..., however, he just played Dane Cook in those movies. It was nice to see him branch out a bit and actually act. One thing Liz and I noticed was Dan didn't really discipline his kids. Throughout the movie he did things they didn't like - the oldest wasn't allowed to drive and the middle child wasn't allowed to do what she wanted with her boyfriend. In response, the children weren't very respectful of their father. If I had acted that way towards my mother at that age, I would probably be walking with a limp now; especially if I had done that in front of my grandfather. This kind of seems like a trend in society and movies. Parents are often busy trying to be their kids' friend instead of being the parent. Overall, we really enjoyed this one. It has a happy ending and is sure to entertain. You should check it out. I know you'll love the impromptu song about pig-faced Ruthie Draper.

Lions for Lambs

Liz and I watched Lions for Lambs immediately after American Gangster and even though I liked it, this one wasn't quite as awesome. In a way it kind of came of as political propaganda and wasn't always sure what they were trying to make me believe. It also reminded me of Rules of Engagement in the sense that a side-story is two stranded marines but the movie is really people talking about that situation. Directed by Robert Redford and written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (The Kingdom), you could definitely see similarities in style and theme from some of their previous work. Redford, who also acted in this, plays a college professor trying to inspire one of his slacker-students to greatness in California. At the same time Meryl Streep is interviewing Tom Cruise, an up-and-coming senator aspiring to the presidency, about a new military plan of action in Afghanistan. Thirdly, we are watching this new plan unfold as two marines, played by Michael Peña and Andrew Garfield, are pinned down by enemy gunfire and just happen to be former students of Professor Malley, Redford's character. So as you can see, this is one of those movies where everything is connected in some way. One thing that was cool about this is everything is happening simultaneously around the world, which is reflected by the time differences between the different situations. Liz pointed out that Tom Cruise, Sen. Jasper Irving, was really just a cleaned up Frank T.J. Mackey from Magnolia. He used the same tactics and cunning to bend his listener's will toward wherever he wanted. He was very manipulative and never really said what he meant; all the while trying to control things around him like the Wizard of Oz. Streep's character, Janine Roth, represents the media. She sees through the senator's manipulation, but her editor won't allow her to write what she really wants because they have to worry about ratings. This is definitely trying to make a point about the media today with how they've covered the "wars on terror." I also liked to see Streep acting again compared with her last performance I saw, The Devil Wears Prada, where she wasn't really doing much at all. I realize she won awards for it, but I felt like the other nominees were much more deserving. Redford's professor seemed just a little bit too forceful to me. It was almost as if he was manipulating his student, but I'm not sure exactly to what. Trying to make him care more about his studies is definitely a positive. However, beyond that I'm not sure what the end goal was. Overall, I'd say this movie is definitely worth seeing before Oscar time rolls around. It might even get nominated for something.

American Gangster

Starring Denzel Washington as Frank Lucas, a real-life American gangster, I feeling like I was watching Training Day, only this movie was much cooler, much classier, and just better all around. According to the film, which was based on claims by Frank Lucas, Frank Lucas was the driver/bodyguard that stepped in after his boss died of a heart attack. What's different about this mob story is that Frank Lucas is black; he's not Italian, Sicilian or Russian. He brings in his brothers to help run the business and runs shop like the Italians. He makes sure the public and everyone around him loves him. People even love him when Frank beats the crap out of them for making mistakes. On one hand, Lucas was kind of like Robin Hood. He took from the rich and gave to the poor. Frank also cut out all the middle-men and worked for himself. He dealt in narcotics and got his good directly from Southeast Asia. He bribed a lot of people to make his operations work and brought a lot of them down with him. This movie is definite Oscar material. Denzel has been nominated several times for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. He has won two Oscars already and I wouldn't be surprised if he won again for this film. Some other talented performances would include Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Josh Brolin, Ruby Dee, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Jon Polito. I really enjoyed the cinematography. Lately in films we've been seeing the wild camera shots and angles. The Bourne series would be an example of this, even though I like it there, and it just wouldn't work in this film. I didn't really pay attention to the ASL (average shot length), but it was very easy to follow and the timing and flow of the film went very well. I think Ridley Scott did quite well directing. You might recognize that name from his previous works such as Alien, Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men and who could forget Blade Runner? He's also produced a long list of movies. One that I've been wanting to see in particular would be The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Even though this is a mob/gangster movie, it also shows a peek into the lives of these people. It's not just extortion, lies, decent and people getting knocked off in casinos and dark alleys. Definitely a good drama as well as a crime and thriller. I highly recommend this one.

Eastern Promises

I have a confession to make: director David Cronenburg is one of those critically acclaimed directors I just don't get. However, his last film "A History of Violence" was the first one I watched and felt its power. I felt there was something there, even if I wasn't fully understanding just how complex it was. Similar to "A History of Violence," "Eastern Promises" stars the talented Viggo Mortensen and the underrated Naomi Watts in a crime drama revolving around babies, body parts and a sect of the Russian Mafia in London. Written by Stephen Knight, the screenwriter that gave us "Dirty Pretty Things," another story more specifically about black market body parts, "Eastern Promises" begins with a jolt. True to Cronenburg's form it seems, the violence in his films is often drawn out--shot without music or edited with stylized style--and it's also visceral. So are the scenes in "Eastern Promises." They touch on delicate subjects (underage prostitutes, abortion, homosexuality, pure human deception) and everything seems to be marked by the sins of these Mafia characters (similar to their iconic-like tatoos). The tagline for the film reads: "every sin leaves a mark." And this is really what the movie is all about. It unpacks this idea through its visuals and asks its audience to be subjected to its darkness (make no mistake about it, it is dark). But can we bear it? Can we endure through it? I think the film could've been more effective (or at least more accessible to mass audiences) if more music was in the film, but I'm quickly learning that this is not Cronenburg's style. He seems to like revealing things, not as if it's cinema but as if it's real life, and this tension is felt continually throughout the film. Do I believe things like this go on? Absolutely. But can I ever see myself as one of them? Probably not. It wasn't until the film's end until I sensed any kind of humanity in the "villian" characters of the film. What distinquishes people as people and people as monsters? This is another question the film asks. Mortensen and Watts are both strong here and both give convincing performances with convincing accents. But so much darkness is here I wonder if Cronenburg would've been wise to have let a little more light in (into the scenes, into the colors, in the images/icons of the film). I know this is neo-film noir from a very experienced and artistic filmmaker but I still can wonder, right? All in all, worth a rental, not quite worth the $10 cinema ticket price (unless you want to really really feel the violence--then maybe you should go to the cinema and watch it).

Into the Wild

If you haven't already read the book this movie is based on, then you should probably go pick it up at your local library. I myself haven't read it yet, but my wife does own it and has been on me to read it for a couple years. I consider myself lucky to have seen the movie. Emile Hirsch portrays Christopher McCandless, a recent college graduate who is dissatisfied with society and the business people fall into. He wants to experience nature and live off the land. He doesn't want to be tied down by a job, money or useless laws and regulations. He wants to live a simple life and enjoy the beauty that can't be found in bustling metropolises or busy cities. He wants to head North to Alaska where there are mountains, rivers and endless sky. This is a true story that includes many people that encountered Christopher, or Alexander Supertramp as he liked to call himself. McCandless came from a less than perfect home. A home that can all too easily be summed up partially be Wes Anderson's commentary on the American family, The Royal Tenenbaums. Christopher wanted to get out and see the world. In a way, maybe he left his family to get back at them. He greatly affected a great number of people he met on his way and befriended everyone in an uncanny Dude-like manner that the Coen's created in their film, The Big Lebowski. On the other hand, there were also people he hurt like his sister that was abandoned along with his parents. Throughout the movie though, we see "Alex" hitching rides from town to town, getting jobs to pay for what he needed, and even kayaking from Colorado to Mexico. He did all of this before the age of 25. That seems pretty amazing to me because I'm 26 and I can't say I've accomplished many of those things. To expound on his Dude-like qualities, I was really amazed how no one was too old, young or culturally different from McCandless to be his friend. Chris was always able to relate to people and be their friend. I think deep down inside everybody feels this way. Everybody wants to be liked. Everybody wants to have friends and be somebody's friend. However, for some reason, declaring, "I want to befriend everyone I meet" just doesn't sound very manly or macho. What's wrong with that? I think it has something to do with being tough, showing emotion and making yourself vulnerable. I highly recommend this movie and the book, even though I have yet to read it myself. One thing my wife mentioned after the movie was she wished they had shown some of the effects on people Chris had met after they learned of his death. She said everybody took it pretty hard. So I guess if you loved the movie, there's some motivation to pick up the book and give it a read.

Hitch

Starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes and Kevin James, this is a movie I remember hearing college students, where I work, talk unceasingly about back in '05, along with The Notebook - which I still haven't seen. I didn't really know what all the hub-bub was about and after two years it finally found its way to slot #1 on my Netflix list. This is a movie partly about a man hiring a dating coach to help instill confidence in himself while pursuing the woman of his dreams. The other half is the dating coach also pursuing the woman of his dreams. If you know much about the actors listed above, I'm sure you've already guessed that Will Smith is the suave and sophisticated dating coach while Kevin James is the somewhat nerdy and uncoordinated client. James' character, Albert, is after a woman he used to work for and Smith's character, Hitch, is after Sara, a woman he met in a bar. Throughout the movie we watch Hitch give Albert tips and lessons on how he should conduct himself in public and around his date. We also see Hitch putting his own advice into action while Sara is after this mystery man that supposedly helped to ruin her best friend's life. That man turns out to be Hitch, or so Sara thinks. She eventually exposes him in her gossip column, ruining Hitch's career and the relationships his clients have made or are in the process of forming. Things turn out in the end though - this is a PG-13 feel good, happy, dating movie after all. The last 20 minutes are so do get pretty cheesy for me, but overall I enjoyed myself while watching this.

The Contender

If you're a fan of The Big Lebowski, I'm going to go ahead and go out on a limb to say, you're going to love The Contender. It stars Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman and Sam Elliott. The Dude, Jeff Bridges for all you amateurs, is the President of the United States of America and is trying to get Joan Allen ratified as his choice for his new Vice President. Bridges plays a very Dude-like president, only with a little Maude-like ambition. Elliott, Bridges Chief of Staff, plays a more traditional role for himself and is more Walter-like than he is portraying the stranger. In fact, he reminds me a lot of his role in We Were Soldiers. This film also has a lot to do with women's rights and what would happen if a woman was elected to the Executive branch. Kinda timely for what's happening right now. If you'd like to hear an audio review, then I must point you here to check out my Lebowski Podcast. The Dude Abides.

The Kingdom

I wasn't too sure about this one when I first heard about it. I just didn't know how Jamie Foxx would do in this role. Jennifer Garner had that show Alias and Chris Cooper has proven himself time and again. Even Jason Bateman has done amazingly well recently with Arrested Development, one of the best shows in the past few years. I even had a chance to see a free screening a couple hours away, but wasn't able to make it. It wasn't until after I had read some of the reviews that I decided I had to see this. If you're not sure of the plot this is kinda about terrorism. It takes place in Saudi Arabia after an American "compound" for oil workers is blown up during a picnic. This isn't based on actual events, but it's one of those very plausible stories - especially with all the turmoil currently happening in that region. The FBI ends up sending in a team to help the Saudis do some forensic work at the scene and try to catch whomever is responsible. Even though this movie turns into action for the last 20 minutes or so, I'll still argue that this movie is more about people than it is guns and blowing stuff up. I think the root of many conflicts is miscommunication. People on both sides are assuming things based on many factors and reasons, and a lot of times both sides aren't even talking about the same thing. I think that's evidenced in this film. Right from the start the Saudis are very opposed to American involvement in their country and their problems. I can certainly sympathize with that. Can you think of a time you were having a problem or argument and welcomed some stranger stepping up and trying to help/solve your problems? This is seen with the character Colonel Faris Al Ghazi played by Ashraf Barhom. He's been instructed to "take care" of these Americans and not let them get too involved while the Americans are frustrated they just can't "dive in" and get their hands dirty. Eventually the Colonel and Fleury, Foxx, come to the agreement that they're both just trying to catch a criminal and prevent the continued loss of life. Once they realized they were both aiming for the same goal, just coming at it from different angles, they were able to really accomplish something. I also liked how the movie showed there were both good and bad Americans; good and bad Saudis. Not everyone who is Arab or Muslim is a terrorist. Not every American has the world's best interest in mind. I know this movie wasn't made to help improve relations between countries, but I think it takes some small steps towards breaking down some of these invisible walls of prejudice, racism and hatred. Everybody has lost somebody. The hard part is stopping the violence to try and prevent more. As the Klingons say, "Revenge is a dish best served cold."

3:10 to Yuma

If you're into Westerns I think you'll like this movie. If you're not into Westerns, you might still like this movie. I've always thought of myself as a big fan of the Western genre. I think when push comes to shove I'm really just a big fan of Clint Eastwood. It's always fun to see good vs bad...and even the ugly sometimes. One of my fellow co-workers is considered an expert on the Western genre. He even has a book titled Westerns and American Culture, 1930-1955. This guy knows his stuff. One day I was talking to him about movies and to my horror the man hates Spaghetti Westerns and he HATES Clint Eastwood. The guy loves John Wayne. To me, John Wayne is the Jackie Chan of Kung Fu movies. If you couldn't tell, I'm more partial to the likes of Jet Li and Bruce Lee. Anyways, I've kind of guessed that my co-worker isn't a fan of the bad guys winning, little character development and little morality. Well, I think he just might like this movie because it's not lacking in those areas. I haven't seen the original, but I read that it has a different ending. I'll have to Netflix-it and see what I think. If you're not familiar with the plot, it's about a man who lost most of one leg in the Civil War and is trying to earn some money so his family doesn't lose their land to the railroad. In order to earn $200, he volunteers to help escort a hardened criminal to a train station to put that man on the 3:10pm train to Yuma Prison. I'm sure you can guess that everything doesn't really just run smoothly. What kind of movies do? This terrible menace to society starts off by being all nice and polite. He even tries to befriend almost everybody. Don't let him fool you though, he's still a cold-blooded murderer. However, he doesn't just kill on a whim. He does things for a reason. On the way to the train, the first man we see Ben Wade kill pretty much deserved it. In fact, before this little trip, he had recently burned down Dan Evans, the volunteer's, barn. It was still a smoking pile of timbers when the group left town. Ben figured this guy deserved it, and he did. As the group treks across the open country, more and more of them don't make it to the end, but you see a friendship growing between Ben and Dan. This is where the character development happens. Dan is a good man, plain and simple. Dan does the right things for the right reasons. Ben notices he doesn't belong on this trip. Dan has a family to take care of and not much to take care of them with. Ben knows that Dan is just doing what he can to take care of his wife and kids. I think that's why you start to see a deep respect grow between them. I'm not going to tell much more about what happens because I can't give too much away. So you may be wondering who's in this. Ben is played by Russell Crowe. Personally, I can't think of a single movie this man has been in that I didn't like. Dan is played by Christian Bale. Some other highlights are Ben Foster, Alan Tudyk, and Peter Fonda and Luke Wilson. Definitely a great group of actors. I'm continually impressed by Crowe, Bale and Foster in just about everything they do. I'm so glad I saw this in the theater. It was an experience worth every dollar I paid to see it. This will be making its way into my top 10 for the year. I highly suggest you give it a chance if you are able.

Once

Once Once Once. That's all I was hearing when this film first hit the theaters. Everybody that saw it was just gushing love for this movie. Usually that kinda turns me off to something. If EVERYBODY just loves it I kinda assume there must be something not quite right with it. I guess another reason was because none of my friends whose movie opinions I unquestioningly trust, there's about 3 in the whole world, had seen it. This was another film Liz and I caught while in L.A. and I now know what people were gushing about. This film is pretty awesome. Nobody even has names. This is something that didn't even dawn on me until afterwards. I have heard one complaint - this movie is made up of musicians trying too hard to be actors. I kinda see that, but I still like the movie anyways. Music/soundtrack is also available on EMusic if you're into that sort of thing. So story - yes, it's about musicians. More than that though it's about people finding each other, making friends and connecting with each other on deeper levels. It's about poetry, life, love found and love lost. It's about a lot of things. I can see a lot of people not understanding this film and not finding any redeeming value because this is nowhere near blockbuster material. The people, situations, dialog and pace aren't the contrived, fast action, anti-ADD sort of stuff that makes millions of dollars in its opening weekend. One interesting story I heard was while filming the scene where the guy tries to steal the guitar case, nobody on the street was informed. So in one of the first takes, a good pedestrian sees the theft happen, gives the thief a first-rate shot to the nuts and retrieves the guitar case for the main character. That's what you get for trying to invoke honest responses I guess.

Stardust

I wasn't really sure what to think of this one from the previews, but it looked interesting. I'm also a big fan of Claire Danes, Peter O'Toole and Robert De Niro. So Liz and I gave it a shot in L.A. It was definitely entertaining. It was a bit long in parts and is definitely geared towards the kids. This is probably something you could take the family to and everybody would be ok with it. I'm always surprised by DeNiro in relation to Pacino. Both actors have done many similar projects but in the past 10 years DeNiro has definitely stepped out of the mold and has been broadening his horizons. It all started back in 1999 when Analyze This came out. This was followed up by the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie, Analyze That, Meet The Parents and Meet the Fockers. He even did a voice on Shark Tale. At first my reaction was that he must need money. Bad. I don't really feel that way anymore. You might say DeNiro was kinda type-cast as an Italian gangster/tough guy. I think he's been trying to break that mold and is doing a good job at it. Pacino has done a variety of roles but I don't think they're as recently diverse as DeNiro. There are a lot of recognizable faces if you choose to go see this. Lots of cameos where you'll recognize people from all sorts of things. I wouldn't rush out to see this. Stardust isn't a must-see film on the big screen. Still worth watching some time though.

Sunshine

This is Danny Boyle's latest and greatest creation and I highly recommend it. Other films of his you might have seen would include Trainspotting, Millions, 28 Days Later and The Beach. 28 Weeks Later wasn't directed by Boyle, but he did produce it. This is definitely a sci-fi film, but it's not cheesy and nothing like Battlefield Earth. The Sun is burning out and Earth is going into another ice age. Earth has collectively come up with a way to change this by building a nuclear bomb the size of Manhattan, flying it to the Sun, and detonating it; effectively kick-starting the sun. This all sounds good, but something has to go wrong right? This is a Danny Boyle film. Well something does go wrong. Terribly wrong. What I failed to mention earlier is that this isn't their first attempt. This is attempt number two. The first mission was not successful and nobody really knows why. If you watched the trailer for this you might get a feeling of 2001: A Space Odyssey in the sense that they're in space on a mission and the ship kinda takes over. This isn't exactly what happens, but everything does seem to go wrong. Warning: Spoilers I'd love to start spouting off about the plot, but I'm trying to keep it all in here. There are a couple things I found interesting though. One is that the captain of the first ship went crazy from looking at the Sun. We also see the doctor, played by Cliff Curtis, becoming obsessed with looking at the Sun as well, but he doesn't go crazy. Yeah his skin starts peeling off from over-exposure, but he still has his wits about him. He stayed behind to save them all. Second, Harvey, the second in command after the captain dies really got what he deserved. The captain gave up his life for the mission to continue. The doctor decided to stay behind and make sure the rest of the boarding party lived. Harvey was the only person selfishly putting himself before the others. Harvey died. I think that was on purpose. Lastly, as always, things work out in the end. With Trainspotting and the 28 Days series things go crazy in one way or another, but work out in the end. I didn't know exactly what would happen while watching this, but as always, things worked out in the end. I'm sure a lot of people consider Boyle to be very pessimistic, but I think it's the total opposite. I think it's sort of similar to how Tarantino incorporates violence into many of his films when he's actually parodying it or making fun of it. You might also say it's in the same way that Kevin Smith incorporates themes and content into his films for his brother. So yeah, go out and see this. Rent it when it comes out on DVD. This is going on my top 10 list for the year.

Pathfinder

When I saw the trailers for this I thought it looked awesome. Main character is a Viking, played by Karl Urban, who was left for dead, raised by Native Americans and later fights off more Vikings who come back for more destruction. You'll probably recognize Karl Urban from a number of films he's been in like Lord of the Rings or Bourne Supremecy. If you're truly a movie watcher you might even remember him from Ghost Ship. The guy's been around. He hasn't really had a starring role yet, to my knowledge, so this was definitely a step up the career ladder for him. In the same way horror movies resort to gore and/or sex to keep people interested, this movie just resulted to gore to keep the audience entertained. It wasn't very realistic gore, but it was still gore nonetheless. Besides crazy things like a man's eye being cut out and falling to the ground like a bouncy ball, there were also many other aspects of the movie that just didn't make sense. It made me think of when Chris Rock hosted the Oscars and announced if you're going to do an action movie you need to hold out for Russell Crowe and not settle for Colin Farrell. The Indians (Native Americans) seemed so naive and totally unaware. They weren't the only people living in that area and I seem to remember from history that not all native tribes and people groups were exactly friendly so people knew how to take care of themselves. Also the Vikings were just a bit too over-the-top for me. You couldn't tell who was playing who, they had somewhat superhuman strength and were basically organic helicopter gunships minus the flying ability. Were Vikings that violent? What really is the purpose of decimating a region? If you destroy everything there's not much plunder to take home. I also found it interesting that people were wearing the equivalent of bathing suits in the mountains during winter without being affected by the temperatures. Ok, ok. I'll get off my high-horse of history, continuity and logic...but what about the cinematography? This was definitely shot as an action film but it didn't have the finesse and grace of a car chase from Ronin or a crazy, out of control fight scene from the Bourne trilogy. The lighting was bad and it was hard to tell what you were looking at half the time. I know, I know, I'm exhibiting High Fidelity elite-ism. I'm ok with that. Maybe you loved this movie. That's ok. Different strokes for different folks as they say. I just know I don't want to see this again.

Superbad

I finally saw the long awaited and hoped-for Superbad and have to say that I was in no way dissapointed. I think this is by far, the dirtiest teen-genre movie I've seen and it wasn't full of naked co-eds going at it like rabbits. In fact, the only nudity is at the very beginning of a movie when we see a magazine cover. One side note is that when Liz and I saw this, a guy walked in with his 3 or so very young children. We were pretty worried about them being in there, but he got up and ushered his youngtsers out before they were even out of the convenient store (couple minutes in). That made us quite relieved. He must not have realized what the movie was. As I've said before, Judd Apatow is amazing. He didn't direct this, but he did produce the film along with co-writer and star Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg. Like most "cool" Hollywood people, Apatow and Rogen brought in tons of their friends from previous shows and movies. That's one thing I've really enjoyed about Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up - I get to see all my favorite actors and actresses again. One of my favorites was seeing Steve Bannos as the math teacher. He was also the math teacher in Freaks and Geeks. Then there are also the new people brought in like Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Michael Cera, an upcoming comic genius to be reckoned with. Story - this is probably the best high school portrayal I've seen in a long time. This is even better than Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused. Elephant is another amazing high-school movie, but it's in a totally different league. One thing I love so much about things Rogen and Apatow are involved in is just the dialog. It's so real. Yeah it can be rough around the edges and a little "dirty" at times, but it's how I remember high school. Just the way people act, think and look is so amazingly perfect. I'm continually wowed. The basic gist of the story is you have three fairly average senior high school students. One of them has just acquired a fake ID with the name 'McLovin' and the three friends have promised to buy booze for a popular girl's party. This sounds pretty average. In fact it sounds way too average. What happens in between the promise and fulfilling it is what makes this a masterpiece. Store robberies, mistaken identities, crazy adult-parties, bar fights and a pair of buddy-cops that could give Hot Fuzz a run for its money turn this into one of the best movies of the summer. I know I can't recommend this to a lot of people just because of the content. They'll turn it off or walk out just like that responsible father did within the first few minutes or scenes. Even though this movie is pretty dirty, it's still going in my top three movies of the year. The hard part will be decided which I like the best.

Venus

I wanted to see this movie based on the trailers I saw. I didn't quite know the plot until I started watching it. I was a little surprised, but not really at all. It's basically an old man falls in love with a much younger girl/woman. I don't remember her age being revealed, but she couldn't have been much more than 20. Even though I felt like this was a very good movie by the end, I was still creeped out just a little bit. I also don't feel like I could recommend this to many people at all based on just content. This was almost a reverse Léon in a way. You know, the international version of The Professional starring Jean Reno, Natalie Portman and Gary Oldman. If you haven't seen the longer, uncut version I can sum it up for you. There are some extra and extended scenes re-enforcing the fact that Mathilda is in love with Leon. I say Venus is a reverse because in this case it's the old man loving the young girl. For some reason this seems like a worse case, but both parties were in that consenting stage of life. "Venus", or Jessie is played by Jodie Whittaker and Maurice (the old man) is played by none other than the great and amazing Peter O'Toole. I'm not even going to start on a list of his accomplishments because it would be too immense. To give you an idea of their real age difference, Peter O'Toole just turned 75 two weeks ago and Jodie Whittaker is/will be 25 this year. Jessie was in a way starved for attention and had a warped sense of what love really is. Maurice was an old man enamored with a young girl he couldn't have and crossed the line more than once. But, and this is a very big but, Jessie kept encouraging him. The more and more time they spent together, the more she would allow him, and even invite him, to do things. Now right now you might be saying, "What the hell?" It's not as bad as it sounds. Seriously. I'm talking about things like touching her hand, kissing her shoulder; it wasn't that bad. It was still creepy and weird though. The language in this movie is a bit coarse. I kept going back and forth between potty-mouthed-old-men and this-takes-place-in-London and they-talk-that-way. I'm not really sure where I ended up, however, the choice in language didn't seem out of place or there for shock value. It truly fit. The movie ended well. I'm not going to give away the ending. If I wasn't sure I liked it halfway through, I definitely liked it by the end. Like I said before, I'm not going to recommend this to hardly anyone, but I'm still a fan.

Bourne Ultimatum

If you were a fan of the first or second movies, Bourne Identity or Bourne Supremacy, I can pretty much guarantee you'll love the third installment. This isn't another one of those tragic trilogies that took a good thing and drove it into the ground...Matrix, cough, cough. They kept it coming and kept improving things throughout the series. There's some faces you'll recognize and there's also some new ones. You already know Jason (Matt Damon), Nicky Parsons (Julia Stiles) and Pamela Landy (Joan Allen). Some new faces you might recognize are David Strathairn, Paddy Considine, Albert Finney and Scott Glenn. I was really excited to see Paddy Considine in here. I hope this boosts his career a bit. I thought he was amazing in In America, enjoyed him in Cinderella Man and loved him in Hot Fuzz. Everything kind of comes full circle this time around. You find out how things started, who is responsible for everything and as always, nobody can quite catch Jason Bourne. Once again the government goes after Bourne to cover their tracks, and end up creating even more of a mess that needs to be covered. This time there's no playing around though. If you know what the word "ultimatum" means, the movie definitely lives up to it. I don't really have much else to say about this. I loved it. Go out and see it. Tell us your thoughts.

Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster

I've said it before and I'll say it again - it's always interesting to see movies, documentaries or not, made about things I've experienced in my lifetime. I am by no means the biggest of Metallica fans, but to say that this band hasn't shaped my music tastes a little would be very far from the truth. I was pretty excited and a little leery when I heard there was going to be a documentary about pretty much the biggest metal/heavy rock/etc bands of the past three decades. Yeah, I'd like to learn more about this band, but what's the point of view going to be? Will this just be propaganda? After watching the film I have to say I loved it. Maybe it's just that good, or maybe I got sucked in. Hard to say. I guess you'll have to let me know what you thought of it. One thing I was really getting annoyed with from about 1999 to 2005 is how all of a sudden everybody loved Metallica. Yeah, they were already freaking huge and popular, but I'm talking all of a sudden it was EVERYBODY. It seemed like any and every rock station was having Metallica time every night. My little brother's friends would come over and I'd hear them start talking about how they've loved this band their whole lives and how the Black album is the best "first" album ever. Personally, I loved Kill em All, Ride the Lightening, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice for All and Black. Load and Reload were ok. Garage Inc was cool. The Symphony album was a little overplayed and I was a bit disappointed with St. Anger. At the time I didn't really know what to think of Jason leaving the band. I also couldn't stand Trujillo when it was announced he was their new bass player. Looking back though, I don't think it would have mattered who stepped in to fill those shoes. Watching the documentary showed a bit how dysfunctional the band was or had become. My initial reaction is, "Grow Up!". However, I don't know if I would perform any better in their shoes. Money and power do strange things to people and I hate being in the spotlight for whatever reason. I know the documentary doesn't show everything. It's not like things were shown the band didn't approve of. At the same time, it was interesting to see them acting like real people. There's so many insane reality shows on TV that are about the farthest thing from reality. I would pick this one up if I found it for a reasonable price. Some documentaries are cool, but it's not like I'd ever watch it again. For some reason I feel a little personally invested in this. I'm sure all you other fans out there know what I'm talking about. I give this one two thumbs up.

The Dinner Game

The Dinner Game is a french movie that was recommended by a friend. The premise sounded pretty funny and it turned out to be a pretty good film. A group of stuck-up professionals get together once a week for dinner. One stipulation is the regulars have to bring an "idiot" to exploit and make-fun of. Pierre finds such a man on a train who loves to make models of monuments, etc from matchsticks. Pierre just knows this guy is the king-of-all-idiots and invites him to dinner by making Francois think the other dinner guests are interested in making a book about his hobby. However, before Pierre and Francois can make it to dinner, everything seems to go terribly wrong. Wrong for Pierre that is. Everything from an injured back to his wife leaving him are all caused by the one man he was going to exploit and belittle. You might say Pierre got just what he deservered. Filled with slapstick comedy and cheesy one-liners, this probably won't be at the top of everybody's comedy list. It's definitely light-hearted and fun. It's also in French so you'll get to read some sub-titles. I'm no expert on french film, but I really felt like I was getting a taste of the french-film culture. I'd highly recommend this one to anyone who considers themself a movie-fan.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

There's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said about Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix, which came out more than a week ago. I only saw it last night, shortly after re-reading the book. The last time I read it was when I bought it at Heathrow Airport in the summer of 2003, after my sister's wedding in Nepal. I had planned on buying the paperback when it came out, but as soon as I saw the book in the airport bookstore, I had to have it. The same thing happened in 2005, when I saw Book Six (Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince) in a bookstore in Lourdes, France. Then, the same thing happened today -- the release date of the final book -- when I was at the mall running an errand. There it was, staring me down, and I was forced (forced!) to buy Book 7, Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows. I like Harry Potter a lot. I think that JK Rowling is a creative genius. I would love to have even an ounce of her creativity and ingenuity for myself. I guess I'm telling you all of this because unless the movie just sucked, I was going to love it. This is a biased, unfair review, because I LOVE Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix. I love the storylines, the character conflicts, the absolute perfect portrayal of what it's like to be 15. I love the book so much, and that meant that I could only love the movie. Oh, and I love Sirius Black. The best moment of the whole movie, I think, was when Harry confessed to his godfather Sirius, "I'm angry all the time." The darkness of the story lets us know that a major part of this anger comes from the connection between the Dark Lord Voldemort and Harry himself, but the honesty of the story tells us something else: it's also because he's 15, and when you're 15, you have little control over your emotions. Sure, the director of Movie #5, David Yates, tried to cram a whole lot more than he should have into the movie. But how could he not? Also, he does a great job of knowing what to leave out: Hagrid's story of living with the giants, the emotional saga of Harry's banishment from Quidditch, the lengthiness of Dumbledore's eventual conversation with his favorite student about the history of the prophecy in question. Yates also knew what was essential: the relationship between Harry and Sirius, first of all, and then Harry's emotional state. We've seen Harry abused and defeated through four books/movies, despite his victories. In the fifth chapter, it's finally taking its toll. He's tired, and he's unsure of himself. And that's what Yates does so well to capture. He understands that exhaustion and that weakness, and he shows it to us plainly and honestly. The movie definitely has flaws, but despite them, it's a really, really good story.

Hurlyburly

If you look up hurly burly you'll find the definition: noisy disorder and confusion; commotion; uproar; tumult. That pretty much describes this movie. You have a core group of three friends, Eddie (Sean Penn), Mickey (Kevin Spacey) and Phil (Chaz Palminteri), who are somewhat monetarily successful and living in L.A., yet have the mentality of disturbed teenagers. Along with this core group are Artie (Gary Shandling), Darlene (Robin Wright Penn), Bonnie (Meg Ryan) and Donna (Anna Paquin). The four guys are pretty much constantly taking drugs of some sort or another. Eddie is stuck on one long diatribe about this, that and everything else; he's like a skipping record. Phil is prone to frequent, violent outbursts. Mickey seems to somewhat have it together, but it's almost like he's lowered himself to the level of his other friends. I could be totally wrong on this. If I had to make a pecking order Eddie would be in the middle with Phil on the bottom and Mickey on top. Phil has it the least together and Mickey has it the most, which isn't saying much. This was almost like watching a whole movie Derek Zoolander and his idiotic friends, only it wasn't funny and it was much darker. At one point Bonnie, after getting thrown out of her moving car by Phil, tells Eddie, "If your manner of speech is in any way a reflection of what goes on inside your head, you are lucky you can tie your shoes." That pretty much backs up my second observation that everybody in this film was so dumb at life they almost seemed retarded. My first observation being these 30-40 year old men were still living like they're in college. The whole quality of the dialog seemed quite lacking to me too. Maybe that's because it just wasn't very intellectual...or funny. That's one reason why I absolutely love Kevin Smith movies. Yeah his Jersey series is all about a couple of stoners and their adventures, but there's a lot of heart and soul put into them. It's the same reason why I love Judd Apatow's work. These are characters that just seem real to me in one way or another. I'm not quite sure if the whole point of this film was to poke fun at some of the absurdity of Hollywood or not. If that's the case, then this movie would be very similar to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. I really couldn't stand that movie...even though I realized it was satirical. It was just a bit too much for me. Everybody in this film was so selfish and narrow-minded. It was pretty crazy. Made me glad I don't live that way. Some of the discussions and arguments reminded me of watching kids in high school all hyped up on hormones and emotions getting worked up about who-knows-what. You might discern from my tone that I wasn't a huge fan. That's pretty much true, however, I'm not dismissing this film as crap or worthless. Any good work of art produces a reaction. Movies that are really just terrible aren't even worth talking or writing about. Afterwards, it really hit me that this would make a much better play than film. I was checking out IMDB and saw that this was a play by David Rabe, who also wrote the screenplay. I don't know if I'd necessarily recommend this or not, unless you're really into movies.

The Queen

Finally saw The Queen and what everybody was raving about at the Oscars. Helen Mirren does indeed rock the kasbah in her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II. It was very interesting to see historical events reenacted that I remember happening just 10 years ago. I don't know much about the royal family or what goes on across the pond, but it's something that has always fascinated me a little. There's just something about royalty that grabs my interest and imagination. It makes me think of knights and castles and decadence. I hadn't really thought about it before, but it was interesting to see the queen portrayed as someone from a different generation with methodical logic and reason behind her decisions and actions. Yeah it seemed cold-hearted to not publicly acknowledge the loss of Princess Diana, but that's just not what you did 50 years ago. It was also interesting how they pointed out some of the accomplishments and achievements of Elizabeth II's reign. I hadn't really thought about it before, but she's been on the throne for 55 years or so and became queen when she was 26. That's how old I am. I don't think I'd do too well at being president/king of anything, let alone a country, or commonwealth. I've heard people say this movie was long and boring. I guess that could be true if you're not into historical things and dramas. This actually wasn't that long. Only about 90 min. I'd suggest you check it out if you have time.

Danielson: A Family Movie (or, Make a Joyful Noise Here)

If you've ever heard of a band called Danielson or Danielson Family, you'll never forget those vocals. You might describe them as unique, weird, awesome, screeching, annoying, etc. All I know is that it grows on me. Another unforgettable trait of their music is the lyrics of their songs. They're all about life, in a weird and quirky way. Some songs are hilarious and others are just plain thought provoking. If you're interested in learning more about this band, this is the documentary to watch. We meet Daniel Smith, founder of pre-mentioned bands, and learn about how everything started. Things are explained related to band members, who they are, are they really related, music content, costumes, etc. It was also cool to see Daniel Johnston a bit in there. Besides learning about all of the band members, there's also a sprinkling of live footage throughout. We also learn what's in store for the future and Smith's current projects. If you're not that into music and/or don't really like documentaries, this probably isn't the film for you. I really enjoyed it though. Thanks for the suggestion Shorb!

Transformers

I don't have a whole lot to say about Transformers. I used to watch the cartoon as a kid, but wasn't fanatical about it. I'm also not opinionated enough about the cartoon to rip apart the movie for minuscule inconsistencies. Yeah, so Optimus Prime has some flames painted on the side and Megatron didn't turn into a gun fired by Starscream. Big deal. The movie was still action packed and entertaining. For me, I don't know if this would have been absolutely necessary to see on the big screen. I'm sure some would heartily disagree with that, but this would have been the same experience for me on my television. I still suggest catching it sometime.

Animal Factory

This is a movie I've seen at Best Buy, Blockbuster, etc for a long time and I've always wondered what it's like. The cover just makes it look so good. I wouldn't say this was amazing, but I really liked it. Directed by Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe and Edward Furlong are both inmates in a prison. Dafoe is the head of a faction in the prison and Furlong has just been incarcerated. Like most prison shows, movies and stories, Furlong needs to find some friends fast or he'll turn into what they call "fresh fish". This is where Dafoe and his gang of thugs step in. Dafoe has never seemed like a big and scary person, but he pulled off being tough and formidable here. I wouldn't want to mess with him. It's no wonder so many stand up for him in this prison. For some weird reason, he latches onto Furlong and looks out for him; being genuinely friendly in the process. Dafoe sees something in this young man that he doesn't have with his fellow inmates: intelligence, wit and somewhat of a striving to better oneself. The dynamic duo makes plans to escape. In the end only one of them makes it out, but that's ok. We're left feeling like this is how things were meant to be. This left me wanting to finish watching all of Oz, a TV show about a hard-core prison. I was also left wondering why Dafoe took the time and effort to even look out for Furlong. Maybe this was a peek into the humanity of his character. I'd say this was also some good directing by Buscemi. Interestingly enough, he directed a couple episodes of Oz after making his prison movie. So I guess the real question is does Animal Factory remind me of Oz, or does Oz remind me of Animal Factory?

Waitress

Now here's a movie that left me pleasantly surprised. I was a little intrigued by the previews. I occasionally like to cook things and all the unique pies sounded interesting. There was also the fact that Nathan Fillion (Firefly and Serenity) was starring in it AND this was Adrienne Shelly's last movie. I usually try to avoid the PG-13 movies because I get annoyed with the crowd. Tara knows what I'm talking about here - all those pre-pubescent teens. Luckily the theater wasn't full of them this time around. So Jenna, played by Keri Russell, is pregnant and married to the biggest jerk in the world, Jeremy Sisto. Jenna likes to make pies and starts going to her new doctor who is played by Fillion. Jenna falls in love with her doctor because he's the only man that has noticed her, and isn't a jerk, in quite some time. What's she going to do? How can she get rid of Earl, her husband? Don't worry, it doesn't turn into a murder mystery or get cheesy. Things work out in the end. One of the best parts is when Old Joe, the owner of the diner where she works, tells Earl a thing or two. Everything seems to work out for the best in the end. Definitely a feel good movie. Not quite as feel-good as Amelie, but something to put a smile on your face and worth watching every so often.

1408

Liz and I saw 1408 tonight. It's a PG-13 thriller about an author who drives around seeking haunted places to write about. At this point in his life he's seeking out haunted hotel rooms. He spends the night in them and then gives a 1-10 rating on scariness measured in skulls. He doesn't seem to really get scared by anything until he heads to New York and visits the Dolphin hotel. The hotel manager is played by none other than Samuel L. Jackson. Good choice for the role. Jackson definitely tries to get Michael (John Cusack) to not stay in the room, but then there wouldn't be a movie, right? So at first the room isn't scary at all. It's just a normal room. Everybody at the hotel seems scared to death to step one foot through the door. Then weird things start happening. Stuff gets moved around, things go back to their original state, etc. Then Cusack starts seeing things, gets freaked out, hurts his hand, and wants out of the room. Too bad though. The room doesn't want to let him go. Now we enter the part where I got bored. You see, I'm not really into scary movies and this movie wasn't even scary. One thing I'll give this movie is that it didn't resort to gore in an effort to keep the audience interested. If you didn't know, horror movies fall back on gore and most other movies fall back on sex and nudity. The really special ones include both - i.e. Hostel, etc. So, like I said, this movie didn't fall back on blood and guts to scare us. I think this could be seen as both a positive and a negative. Positive because they tried to be a good movie. Negative because it wasn't really scary, but the PG-13 rating was kept. Any more gruesomeness and it most likely would have been rated R. So, it got into this loop cycle thing where Cusack could not leave the room. He desperately wanted to, but "The Room" said, "No." This is where I really got bored. There's even a "tricky" ending where we don't really know if he's dead or alive; in the room or out of it. One thing is for sure though. Cusack's character isn't the only one being affected by the room in the end. Redeemable factors would include the acting. Even though I love John Cusack's acting, he kinda does mostly the same kind of movies. If you don't know what I'm talking about check out Serendipity, America's Sweethearts, High Fidelity, Say Anything and Grosse Point Blank. Now you might say, "But wait, he's done so many other movies." This is true. He has. However, with Say Anything being one of his most prominent roles, Liz and I decided this, that is what John Cusack is remembered for. He has been branching out though, I think this is definitely one of those branch-out movies. Even though I really liked Cusack's acting, I still gave this one a 2/5 on Netflix. It's kinda like the movie Monster with Charlize Theron. I really did not like the movie but it had some amazing acting done by Theron. So I'd say this one could be worth watching, but if you get bored by the scary movies you might feel like I did about it.

Letters From Iwo Jima

This is Clint Eastwood's sequel to Flags of our Fathers; showing the Japanese viewpoint of the battle for Iwo Jima. It stars some of the same actors and I thought it was much better than the first installment. Ken Watanabe does an amazing job portraying General Tadamichi Kuribayashi trying to beef up the fortifications and defenses of that tiny island in the last ditch effort to defend their homeland. He and other officers knew it was a losing battle before even going there. There's not many war movies out there, made by American studios, that show the "enemy's" point of view. Especially not in the World War II era. I think it's a good thing to view them as fellow human beings than savages. I think Eastwood did a good job pointing this out in a couple scenes where one side shows compassion for a POW and gives them medical treatment. At the same time there are other scenes showing brutality, but that's also what happens during a war. Being a huge fan of war movies, I would recommend Letters from Iwo Jima over Flags of our Fathers. This movie is more about the people fighting the war than epic battle scenes. Other movies like this would be Thin Red Line and Paths of Glory.

Knocked Up

Yet another amazing creation from Judd Apatow. If you're a fan of Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared or 40 Year Old Virgin, you're sure to love this one as well. It's full of faces you'll remember along with more side-splitting comedy. In this film Ben, played by Seth Rogen, meets Alison, played by Katherine Heigl, at a bar and she gets "knocked up". The story then unfolds as Ben tries to do the right thing and be a responsible father while Alison is trying to deal with an unplanned pregnancy and living with her sister who's having some marital problems of her own. Mixed in are Ben's stoner buddies and all kinds of hilarious one-liners that will probably have you laughing out loud. Most of this humor is pretty crude though so it's something to keep in mind before going to see it. There's a good chance you could be offended. One thing I love about Apatow's projects is they just seem so real and down-to-earth to me. I see these characters and I can relate to them, or they embody someone I know. I see realistic conversations and situations being played out that I could see happening or have heard similar stories about. I think this is why I like it much more than your run-of-the-mill comedy/romantic-comedy that creates impossible situations with unbelievable outcomes. This has to be right up there with Hot Fuzz being some of the funniest movies of the year. I highly recommend seeing this one.

Volver

I'm sure some of you have seen this movie/know what it is, and others of you have no idea what I'm talking about. Volver got some press because it was directed by Pedro Almodóvar (La mala educación and many others) was nominated for an Oscar, and also won 36 other film awards world-wide. This movie is about relationships between women who are related to each other. You have mother-daughter relationships, sister-sister relationships, aunt-niece relationships and grandmother-granddaughter relationships. This film has a bit to say about taking care of your friends and loved ones, and doing the "right" thing in situations. I mention doing the "right" thing because a lot of times we're willing to bend the rules when it involves people we know and love. People will do weird things to protect their child, mother, friend, etc. All seriousness aside though, we do get to see some fun interactions between family and even some reconcilliation. This film is in spanish. It takes place in Spain so you'll hear some of that tell-tale lisp that is a bit different from most latin-american speakers. There are also little things here and there that might seem weird, but is just culturally different. I wouldn't put this movie in my top 10 list of 2006, but it's definitely worth a watch.

28 Weeks Later

If you didn't know, this is the sequel to 28 Days Later. They are, in a sense, zombie movies, but they're done with class. There's great acting, great dialog, great cinematography, effects, etc. I think these movies stand by themselves quite well. If you didn't catch the first one, you should be able to go and watch the sequel without feeling clueless. Danny Boyle and Alex Garland directed and wrote the first one and produced the second. So even though it's technically not the same director, Boyle still had a hand in what went on. These movies have shock value. They make you jump. If you've seen either, I assume you know what I'm talking about. What I'm proud to announce is that 28 Weeks Later takes it up a notch and still makes you jump a little. Totally different actors. We don't actually see anybody from the first film. Going in, I was kinda wondering what had happened to Jim and Selena, etc. Maybe they survived, maybe they didn't. We don't actually know for sure. I think I like it better that way. Everyone did well acting. As far as I know, this is the most violent role Robert Carlyle has played. Definitely a bit more aggressive than his character Begbie from Trainspotting. Also recognized Catherine McCormack (Spygame and Braveheart), Jeremy Renner (SWAT and North Country), Harold Perrineau (Oz, Romeo + Juliet, Lost) and Rose Byrne (Wicker Park, Marie Antoinette, Casanova). It was interesting to see the plot in both movies being driven by children. One things I must really applaud is how the chaos was filmed. When you had people running around and being chased, eaten, etc. They shot it from the perspective of the victims - running around wildly and panic-stricken. However, it wasn't so crazy that you felt dizzy or motion-sick. There were also key images that were shown so that you knew exactly what was going on. I'm interested in taking a look at the soundtrack. The previews had Muse, but the score during the movie was all themed music and no recognizable songs. We have the soundtrack to 28 Days and love it. Hopefully this one will be good as well. Boyle and Garland were both criticized for being way too optimistic in the first film. I think that was because most of the people lived and you assumed they were rescued and lived happily ever after. Obviously something does go wrong though because there's a sequel. It would be interesting if there was a third installment - maybe 28 months later or something like that. Depending on where they went with it, the film could be just as good or really bad. There's a lot more I'd like to discuss and talk about, but I wouldn't want to ruin the movie for you. That said, I highly recommend this one.

Curse of the Golden Flower

Once again, I was awed by yet another action movie from director Yimou Zhang. You may seen some of his other movies like House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, Raise the Red Lantern, etc. This guy puts out good stuff. This film centers around the royal family of China during the Tang dynasty. Like most Greek tragedies, this film doesn't end on a much happier note. Through lies, betrayal, plots and secrecy, the royal family collapses on itself leaving very few alive when everything's said and done. The emperor alone seems to be the only one who is untouchable. I think that's how it's supposed to be though. Even though he is the most powerful man in the empire, he is the loneliest because he can't let anyone get too close to him. I'm not going to go much deeper into the plot for fear of ruining this for anyone. I'm sure some people will/were disappointed with this film because they were expecting something action-packed from the trailer. You do get plenty of action, but not all the way through. I found the movie quite interesting and, as usual with Yimou Zhang, quite beautiful. I don't know if he is always behind the color schemes, artwork, scenery and costuming, but they are all breath-taking in the films of his I've watched. One thing I found out in the "extras" was they actually built the entire palace set. I assumed it was mostly green-screened due to its size and grandeur, but it was actually built. There was one part where Li Gong is talking about foreign tourists seeing the set and thinking they were crazy for building something of that magnitude. Speaking of which, you might recognize her from Memoirs of a Geisha. Hopefully you'll also recognize Yun-Fat Chow from movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Bulletproof Monk, Anna and the King, Replacement Killers, etc. One other thing that caught my eye were the weapons of some elite ninja fighters. I'm not expert on martial arts movies, but I feel like I've seen a few. These guys has scythe like swords with ropes attached. They would swing them around like grappling hooks and slice up their opponents. The epic-battle scene in the end was pretty amazing too. I was also pretty impressed with the immediately clean-up and how everything was "back to normal" afterwards. Hopefully I haven't spoiled anything for you. I highly suggest you check this one out.

An Inconvenient Truth

I know everybody has been raving about this movie. In on sense that made me kinda want to stay away from it. I'm a bit of an elitist in some ways and I sometimes get all High Fidelity-esque about my movie watching. Well, I finally picked this one up through Netflix and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I don't really think the world will end in 20 years, and I'm really no expert by any means when it comes to scientific stuff, however, I do think we could do a hell of a better job when it comes to taking care of our planet. Humans, especially ones from industrialized nations (like me), tend to be quite wasteful. We leave lights on, we refuse to walk or bike two blocks, we leave the water running, etc, etc, etc. This movie had a lot to say in just ideas. Ideas on how we can help in little ways to reduce, re-use and recycle. I'd suggest you check this one out if you've never seen it.

Hot Fuzz

If you were fan of Shaun of the Dead, I think you'll definitely like this one. I enjoyed SOTD, but thought Hot Fuzz was a lot more funny. You'll recognize a lot of faces in here like Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Simon Pegg, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine, Jim Broadbent, and maybe even Peter Jackson. Well, maybe not Peter Jackson. He is in there though. The story goes something like this - there's this really good cop, Nicholas Angel, who gets sent to a sleepy village in the middle of nowhere because he's making everybody look bad in London. His arrest rate is 400% higher than anybody else. Our super-cop is then paired up with the police chief's son of this sleep town, who happens to be obsessed with action and police movies. Even though this town has the lowest crime rate in the country, Nicholas starts to realize a lot of "accidents" seem to happen. Turns out there's a huge conspiracy going on and he intends to solve it. Right now I'm sure the movie doesn't sound too exciting. What I've failed to mention is the hilarity that ensues in the dialog, the acting, the different cops interacting, etc, etc. I would have to say this is, hands down, the funniest movie I've seen so far this year. If there's something better out there I'd love to see it. I haven't laughed this hard in a theater since Borat. I think some of the hilarity comes from Simon Pegg. If you didn't know, he was a writer for both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Sorta reminds me of how Wes Anderson's movies are so funny, yet the Wilsons are usually involved in the script. If you are a fan of Pegg, you might want to check out a couple of his upcoming movies - Run, Fat Boy, Run (directed by David Schwimmer), How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, and "La Triviata" (co-writen and co-directed by Pegg and Nick Frost).

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

If you've ever wondered about film ratings, then you have to go pick up this documentary. Kirby Dick, writer and director, takes a giant stab at the monster called MPAA. Afterwards, he then submits his almost finished product for a rating and I'm sure you won't be surprised at what happens. Dick starts off by trying to find out exactly who is in charge of these ratings. So he hires some private detectives and they soon find out names and faces of everybody involved. He then goes on to discover how not training or guidelines are even set on how the movies should be rated. Dick also brings in many directors who have recieved NC-17 ratings on their films and discusses what exactly warranted the rating. Time after time again they point out how two movies can have almost identical content and have totally different ratings. This movie was awesome. It pretty much backed up everything I've been thinking about the film industry's rating system for the past 10 years. It also pointed out how I've noticed that violence is ok in American and sex is ok in Europe. One really interesting comment by Kevin Smith (one of my favorite directors of all time) talked about how violence is even worse than sex. He pointed out how violence towards women is so commonplace in the movies and yet we wonder why it's such a problem in our world today. I don't think movies make people do anything, however, they present ideas and ideals that are teaching the children of America. Something to think about. So if you consider yourself a movie person you HAVE to rent this one. I don't think you'll be dissapointed.

The US vs John Lennon

Being born in 1981 I don't always share the same reverence for pop icons of the 60s like my parents and other people do. The Beatles are probably one of the most famous bands on earth so I definitely know who they are, but I never really go into John Lennon. I always thought Ringo was a cooler sounding name and always wondered why he never got as much fame. Then there are also all the stories about Yoko Ono - about how she was crazy and broke up the band. Personally, I don't know what all is/was true or not, but my eyes were sure opened to a lot of things after seeing this film. John Lennon was an amazing person. A great political and human rights activist that was most definitely before his time. The interesting part was to see how scared the government was of him. Now, what he was doing, seems so benign and harmless. Yet, this was the time of the Civil Rights movement and that was only 40 years ago. Sometimes it's hard to believe injustices like that were just a generation before me. I don't think they have disappeared, but they have been curbed somewhat. If you're a Beatles fan, like documentaries or just want to learn a little bit more about Lennon you have to watch this movie.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

I didn't really know much about Daniel Johnston at all before seeing this documentary. The first time I saw posters for it I didn't really know what to think. However, after hearing a rave review from Shorb, I knew I had to check it out and was so glad I did. You probably haven't heard of Johnston either, but I bet you'd recognize some of his influences. Daniel Johnston is a musician, performer and song writer that was a very famous nobody. I say 'famous nobody' because while so many knew and adored his music, he never really made it big. He's definitely what they call a cult-classic. One aspect I was really impressed with is how they incorporated home recordings, both audio and video, into the modern footage shot for the movie. Daniel had been documenting his own life never thinking some of it could be used later on. It's really cool to see him in action and also hear what friends and family have to say about certain events/times. Everything blended together quite well. I'm sure this movie would bore a lot of people, but I found it quite fascinating. Personally, I try to appreciate the arts and sometimes it's really hard to know what to appreciate until you find out a little history behind it all.

My Take on the Oscars

Since I'm an anti-jock, I'm rarely the Monday-Morning Quarterback. On the other hand, being the artsy fart that I am, I'll be glad to take the role of Monday-Morning Film Critic. This doesn't quite fit in in the lunchroom, though. When there was mention of the Oscars at the table of guys, one asked another, "You watch the Oscars?" The other scoffed, "Hell, no!" Others agreed in disgust, making the general consensus quite clear, complaining that everything else on TV was a rerun because of those damn Oscars. I, on the other hand, was disappointed that I wasn't able to watch them due to lack of adequate reception with the rabbit ears, but I declined to express my interest at the table and kept my mouth shut. So, instead of offering my opinions in the lunchroom to a bunch of people who could care less and who would be able to respond only with puzzled looks, I turn to you, dear Cyberspace. I confide in you, always there to lend a listening ear... So here we go... Alan Arkin as Best Supporting Actor...I love Little Miss Sunshine as much as (or probably more than) the next guy, and Alan Arkin was great. But honestly! How much screen time did he actually have?! And how demanding was that role?! I'm not necessarily upset that he got it, but is it really fair to, say, Jackie Earle Haley? Was the makeup work in Pan's Labyrinth really better than Click? Just kidding. But I DO want to watch Click just to see what in the world earned it a nomination. Actually, no, I can pass on that. Inconvenient Truth winning Best Documentary...I know, I know, it's an important movie and one of the most successful documentaries ever and blah blah blah. But there's just something not quite right about a former Vice President making a PowerPoint presentation and getting an award for it. I mean, really...did the Academy even SEE Iraq in Fragments?!? The Lives of Others winning Best Foreign Language Film...I have no idea what the Lives of Others is like, and I'm sure it's a charming little movie, but if Pan's Labyrinth isn't going to win Best Picture, it should at least win Best Foreign Language Film. Forest Whitaker winning Best Actor...I'm sure he's good, but I was rooting for the underdog: the crack-addict inner-city teacher. Little Miss Sunshine winning Best Original Screenplay...Out of the nominees, sure. But here's what should have happened: Scorsese finally got his Oscar for directing, no need to give him Best Picture, too. So we give Best Picture to Little Miss Sunshine instead, then give Best Original Screenplay to Half Nelson, which wasn't nominated, but darn well should have been, and deserved to win on top of it. Little Miss Sunshine is nice, but a wee bit contrived. Half Nelson isn't, I don't think, and the layers and layers of depth and meaning that surface in turn are indeed award-worthy. And there's my unasked-for two cents.

Notes On A Scandal

What can't Judi Dench do?  She can play the Queen of England with a fierce, jewel-lined-smile in Shakespeare in Love.  She can play the rambuctious, sexually free owner of a dying English theater in Mrs. Henderson Presents.  And now she's playing a sexually frustrated and lonely old school teacher (borderline crazy teacher at that) in Notes on a Scandal, another Oscar-nominated performance.  So what can't she do?  Really?

Even though Notes on a Scandal feels like raw material for an ABC Sunday Night Special, Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett (also nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category) set this film high abovce that status.  Told with conviction, a North-Country-meets-The-Talented-Mr.-Ripley-meets-Psycho-meets-What-Ever-Happened-To-Baby-Jane little schoolhouse drama/thriller that eventually creeps you out and makes you chuckle at Dench's voice over at the same time.  Clearly a great DVD rental, if not somewhat unsettling, this movie's just one of the many in the long line of 2006 that could be called "good films."  And speaking of 2006.  Top ten lists you three???? 

Pan's Labyrinth

Wow. That's all I could say after watching this one. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into except all I had heard was good and it was a children's movie? Well, I was wrong on part of that. This is setup like a fairytale, but this is more like something out of Aesop's Fables where people die and not everything is happy-go-lucky. This isn't a G-Rated American fairytale like 'Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water.' This film takes place during the Spanish Civil War and is centered around a little girl whose mother has just married a fascist army officer. They move out into the country to where the Captain is because her mother is 8+ months pregnant and about to deliver the Captain's child. He feels like a baby needs to be born where its father is. We soon learn just what a horrible person this father-to-be is as we see him interact with his family, his soldiers and anyone else that gets in his way. This man will stop at nothing. On the trip, the girl, Ofelia, is reading a book about a fairy princess who finds her way into the human world and is trying to find her way back. In order to cope with the atrocities of her own life, Ofelia projects this story on her own life through her wonderful imagination. This is a very different take on fantasy from what most people are used to. There's no elves, goblins or ringwraiths in this film. This is the first time I've seen a movie with mythical characters that are good, yet scary looking. I was also physically on the edge of my seat in a couple parts of the movie and I can't say that happens very often while watching a movie. Many parts of this movie are about discovery and finding out just what will happen next. I highly recommend this movie to adults looking for a thought provoking imaginative film. Even though it's unrated, this would definitely receive an R-rating for violence and language. I think the story and morals portrayed are more than worth the objectionable content you might find while watching.

The Departed

I think Scorsese might finally have something to win him that Oscar he's been after. The man has had some really great films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York and The Aviator. The guy is good. However, there's always something else that seems to win. I have to say that I was thoroughly impressed and loved this one. The story is great. It's about the Irish mob in Boston and the state police who are dedicated to keeping things kosher. You have people playing both sides and some crazy people at the top. Throw in performances from Martin Sheen, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Vera Farmiga and you have a wonderful film. As always with Scorsese, this one is long. It clocks in at 151 minutes, but I wasn't left with that feeling like I've been there forever and am bored to death. I wasn't ever on the edge of my seat, but attention was kept the whole time. The story starts out with the lives of two boys growing up in Boston. Then we see them as adults and what they're currently doing. They're both involved with the police and they're both involved with the mob. I'm always a sucker for mob movies. I don't know why. I guess secretly inside I wish I was tough and people respected me. Scorsese definitely proved himself with Goodfellas, but I think this might be even better. The stories have a much different feel to them and they are in no way the same movie. I really love how you get to know the characters involved and see what happens as their lives unfold. You see bad guys doing good things and good guys doing bad things. Are the bad guys really bad? Are the good guys really good? Ok, maybe I'm taking it a little too far. This isn't a western. One thing I noticed right away was the music. There's a lot of Rolling Stones and some Pink Floyd thrown in there. I really enjoyed it. It's amazing how much the music can make or break a movie. When it's good, you usually don't notice it, but if it's bad, it can stick out like a sore thumb. I don't know what more to say without divulging too much of the plot. I loved this and plan on buying it. I hope you like it too.

Babel

I'm going to start off by saying I thought this movie was mediocre. I think there were some great performances, but overall, it wasn't tied together well. First off, this was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. He's done some great stuff like 21 Grams and Amores Perros. I respect the guy. He does good work. Actors include Gael García Bernal, Adriana Barraza, Kôji Yakusho, Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt. These are all great actors. The story - now here's where I have the problems. My first impression, from the previews and the "buzz", was that this was similar to Crash. Maybe I didn't give this a fair shake, but let me know what you think. The film Crash was about a bunch of different people with different lives, of different races and of different socio-economic classes. All of them resided in the LA area and all of them were connected through one circumstance or another. All of them were important to the story and you got a peak into each one of their lives. The film Babel is centered around an American family and a few other people that are somewhat connected to them and/or the story. During and after the movie was over, I was left with a feeling of, "why did I need to care so much about them?" This wasn't quite as extreme as in The Fountain when you never found out why it was so important Hugh Jackman's wife lived, but there was nevertheless something lacking. You find out only a little bit about the American family through snippets of conversation but that's it. The film is mainly based on the circumstances of what is happening. The circumstances were very important and quite dire, but at the same time I feel there is value to making the audience feel connected to the characters. The story of the girl and her father in Japan felt very much like a "dangling shad" of a Florida election ballot to me in reference to the plot. The father is connected because of a weapon, but that's it. His family is also messed up due to the death of his wife but if that whole part of the movie was cut, I don't think the story would have changed much at all. Their story might have been fulfilling some stylistic element or something, but I think it could have been cut or beefed up in some way. If it had been cut though, I feel like the movie would have been even more lacking because then the story/plot isn't very unique at all. I felt like there needed to be either something else connecting the Japanese family to the American family or another character and/or circumstance to add to the Japanese part. As I said before, performances were great, but that doesn't make the movie great. I think films like Monster and Ray are other examples of that. You may totally disagree with me here, and if you do give me a comment. I'd love to discuss this film with you. I think this this movie had a lot of potential, but it just fell short in my eyes.

Jet Li's Fearless

I should probably start off by saying I'm a big fan of the Kung Fu/Samurai film genre. I'm not well-versed in the genres, but I've been trying to watch some of the classics. I think martial arts for many in the US is all about taking a name and kicking an ass. Seriously. I see kids all the time kicking and punching and screaming like a character from Mortal Kombat. I have to admit that I too was one of those kids, however, I was impersonating the Karate Kid. I'm also not an expert on Asian culture or their martial arts forms, but I do know that the philosophy behind it is not about beating somebody up, but more about bettering oneself in mind, body and spirit. So the better fighter will actually defend himself instead of taking the opportunity to severely injure their opponent. I'm sure this blows some minds out there, but please keep reading. Bruce Lee - one of the premiere martial artists to bring kung fu to America was constantly denied adding philosophy to his movies. All people really wanted to see was his famous one-inch-punch and those numchucks hitting somebody in the head. I have to admit I really enjoyed seeing people fly off screen after making the mistake of making contact with Bruce's limbs of fury, but now that I'm a little older I appreciate some of the other aspects. In Jet Li's Fearless, Jet Li does just that. He brings the true philosophy into his last martial arts film. Some other good films I would suggest in this genre are Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Kung Fu Hustle and Unleashed. I can't deny that there aren't awesome and amazing fight scenes in this movie, but they aren't the main focus or theme throughout. This movie is really about redemption. You have a man who becomes famous and reckless in all aspects of his life. He thinks he is on top, but he really still has a lot to learn. Due to some misunderstandings, he makes the worst mistake of his life and loses everything. Years later though, he gets a second chance and is able to make a difference. If you can't tell already, I loved this film and highly suggest it to everyone. Other than violence, there really isn't any other objectionable material in the film to make someone want to avoid it. So please go out and rent this one and tell me what you think.

Alpha Dog

Here's another movie I had no idea what it was about before I saw it. Turns out it's based on true events surrounding Jesse James Hollywood who was one of the youngest people on the FBI's most wanted list. He eluded the feds for five years before being caught in Brazil in 2005. The story goes that Benjamin Markowitz owed Hollywood $1500 or so so Hollywood and his friends kidnapped Nicholas, Markowitz's little brother, held him for five days, and killed him in the end. One might say I just spoiled the movie, but all this information is out there if you want to look any of it up since this is based on actual events. What really drew me in and kept my attention was the reality of the film. It seemed so real. A lot of times you watch a movie and know that what you just saw would never ever happen in real life. This story definitely seemed possible. I think the performances helped make this movie what it is. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, we have Bruce Willis, Emile Hirsch, Vincent Kartheiser, Justin Timberlake, Shawn Hatosy, Harry Dean Stanton and Ben Foster to name a few. I think I was most surprised by Timberlake. I've just always seen him as a fluffy person. I'm not into his music and he's always been around other people I consider fluffy like Brittany Spears, Christina Aguilera.....and who can forget 'N Sync? This guy can actually act though. Another great performance from Emile Hirsch. I really like this guy. He seemed to almost be the same person he was in Lords of Dogtown. I mentioned to Liz that he always seems to play roles where he's a drug addict and a deviant. She then reminded me of some other roles like The Girl Next Door and Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. Another interesting aspect was the time period. I'm almost the same age as Jesse James so thinking back about when this happened while watching the film made it a lot more real for me. I really liked watching this movie, but don't know if or when I'll watch it again. It's definitely worth your time to watch it once though. Let me know what you think if you saw this.