Chalupa's Movies

The Darjeeling Limited

2007-11-15T18:02:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-13T18:06:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-13T17:51:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-13T17:25:00.001-05:00

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

2007-11-13T17:02:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-04T20:45:00.000-05:00

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

2007-11-04T20:35:00.000-05:00

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

2007-10-24T09:38:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-16T12:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-24T20:44:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-18T12:56:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-18T12:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-09-18T12:12:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-23T22:03:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-20T14:58:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-16T21:32:00.000-04:00

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

2007-08-16T18:14:00.001-04:00

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

2007-07-28T01:51:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-21T15:39:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-20T21:56:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-11T14:06:00.000-04:00

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)

2007-07-11T13:53:00.002-04:00

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

2007-07-11T13:53:00.001-04:00

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

2007-06-29T00:42:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-29T00:34:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-29T00:13:00.000-04:00

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

2007-06-11T12:37:00.001-04:00

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

2007-06-11T12:29:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-21T11:40:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-12T21:28:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-07T09:28:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-07T09:22:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-07T09:03:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-15T14:17:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-15T14:00:00.000-04:00

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

2007-03-15T13:54:00.000-04:00

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

2007-02-26T19:53:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-23T23:01:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-05T10:56:00.001-05:00

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

2007-02-05T10:56:00.000-05:00

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

2007-02-05T10:55:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-31T09:54:00.000-05:00

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

2007-01-31T09:53:00.000-05:00

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.

Idiocracy

2007-01-22T09:44:00.002-05:00

I have to say I was a little disappointed with this one. After all, Office Space is my favorite movie of all time. While there were several funny and hilarious moments, Mike Judge kinda let me down here. Maybe I was expecting something else or had expectations. I'm not really sure. Idiocracy is a story about the world gone bad....real bad. After a botched military experiment, two people wake up out of cryogenic freezing to find the world a much worse place. Apparently the slackers reigned and they find humanity reduced to the lowest possible denominator in the smarts area. After many trials and tribulations, Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph are able to help the people of the future do things like grow crops and bring back the economy. Maybe I just need to watch this one again some time. It was late at night, however, everybody that was watching it with me pretty much had the same opinion. Maybe it was just because this was popped in immediately after Beerfest and we were already laughed out for the night. Not really sure, but I'm willing to give this another try at some point.

Deja Vu

2007-01-22T09:44:00.001-05:00

I saw this one at the dollar theater. I love the dollar theater cause if the movie turns out to be a bust, you aren't out that much. I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie. In fact, I was kind of expecting it to be "one of those movies" where I'd be glad I had seen it for a dollar. Surprisingly, I really liked this one. If you're not sure what deja vu means, here's a definition: 1.Psychology. the illusion of having previously experienced something actually being encountered for the first time. Make sense? Well you have Denzel Washington who is a cop and there's been a horrific crime. While he's trying to check some things out, he sort of has that "deja vu" sense about the whole thing. We then find out that the government has this big top secret equipment where they can look back in time 4 days 6hours and 45min, if I remember correctly. So they use this top secret equipment to look back in time and solve the crime. The equipment shows them the past at "real time". This means that they can't fast forward or rewind so they better pay close attention. They end up solving the crime and getting their man, but this has gotten personal for Denzel and he still feels the need to tie up some loose ends. This is where it gets interesting and you find out why the movie has its name. I won't go into too many more details just because you should go out and watch this yourself. I give this one a surprised two thumbs up.

Beerfest

2007-01-22T09:44:00.000-05:00

If you're a fan of Super Troopers, I think you'll really like this movie too. A lot of the same is also the same because this was another Broken Lizard movie. Broken Lizard is made up by Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan, Steve Lemme, Paul Soter and Erik Stolhanske. The premise of this movie is the guys stumble upon a secret beer festival in Germany, are made fun of, go home, create a team, train, and return to defend their honor. This is full of many one-liners, as I'm sure you'd imagine, that you can quote and re-quote. I think some of my favorite parts were with the Germans. One of the funniest parts was when the Baron was getting a little stir crazy in his submarine and he apologizes because he had a bad experience in one once. This would be funny because he the captain in the movie Das Boot way back in the day. This movie is also full of rude and crude humor so be prepared if you go to watch this and have no idea what these movies are like.

The Prestige

2007-01-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

Back in September there were commercials and previews out for two movies about magicians: The Illusionist and The Prestige. Trying to keep them separated in my head was quite a task. I even went to see The Illusionist in the theater and thought I was going to see The Prestige. Even though I enjoyed that outing and was entertained by the film, I recently found out The Prestige is way, way better. It even made me want to go watch Batman again after seeing Christian Bale and Sir Michael Caine in action together a second time. In this film you have two magicians who have been around each other for a long time and are competing to see who is best. There is also a grudge war between the two that all started with an unfortunate accident that resulted in Angier's wife's death. In the end, the obsession to be on top ruins both men's lives and there are a few twists in there that aren't easily seen through from the beginning. This film is full of wonderful actors. It was definitely a treat to see Bowie back in action. I think his performance as Nikola Tesla blows his Labyrinth performance out of the water. Andy Serkis plays his assistant. I'm glad to see he's getting more work. The two magicians are played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. Michael Caine is an engineer who builds and designs the illusions and Scarlett Johansson plays an assistant. Besides just being a great movie, I think this film also portrays what an unhealthy obsession can do to somebody when taken to extreme levels. One thing I really appreciated was the lack of offensive material. So often in the box office I see films that great, except I can't recommend them to certain people because of certain content contained throughout. This is one that will hopefully keep you entertained, and, isn't full of nudity, violence, language and drug-use. So go out and see it. I caught it at our dollar theater. Hopefully it's playing somewhere around you for cheap too.

Blood Diamond

2006-12-31T05:30:00.000-05:00

Liz and I finally got out to see a movie! We also got to hang out with Matt and Liz so I'd call that a double bonus. I wasn't really sure if I really wanted to go see this in the theater or not just from watching the preview. I'm really glad I finally saw it though. This is a quality film. It reminded me a lot of Tears of the Sun and Saving Private Ryan, only this movie was a lot more meaningful and worthwhile. If you've never heard of blood diamonds, you've might have heard of conflict diamonds...no? Ok, I'll start at the beginning. A lot of violence has, is and will continue to happen in Africa over the control of valuable natural resources. Diamonds are just one of those resources that governments and warlords are trying to control. Many innocent people lose their lives over these resources and some of the larger nations in the world have been trying to do something about it. This movie is a story about some people who are affected by this situation. For starters this was directed by Edward Zwick. He has directed films such as The Last Samurai and Legends of the Fall. He's also produced I Am Sam and Traffic. For actors we have Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou and Jennifer Connelly. One person that immediately stuck out to me was Arnold Vosloo. You might recognize him as the mummy from The Mummy. Caprio is probably best known for his role in Titanic, a movie I still haven't watched, but I like to remember him for other roles such as "Growing Pains", What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Romeo + Juliet, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can and The Aviator. I still haven't seen The Departed. Hounsou is an amazing actor and has done an amazing job in films such as Stargate, Amistad, Gladiator, The Four Feathers and In America to name a few. Connelly has definitely been around the block. She started her career out early in classics like Once Upon a Time in America and Labyrinth. She's also been in other films such as A Beautiful Mind, House of Sand and Fog, and Requiem for a Dream. If you've seen some/all of these films you'll know that the cast is pretty good. I used to not really like DiCaprio all that much and I wasn't sure why. This guy is a great actor though. He's done a wide variety of films with a wide variety of characters. I'm always impressed. I really liked how they shot some of the different scenes with different colors. I'm not talking about colors like Hero but more along the lines of shading things from browns to blues to vibrant colors depending on the location. It's little things like that, combined with music and the score that can really set a mood for a film. Even though I loved this movie I'm sure there will be some that won't for various reasons. There is a bit of violence in here. A lot of running through jungles and people being shot and killed. There's even a scene where you see captured villagers getting hands chopped off. This might be a bit much for some, but at least it's meaningful and not a Gibson film, right? Ok, I'll just stop right there. I highly recommend this one. Check it out.

Sherman's March

2006-12-05T09:18:00.000-05:00

If you know me or read this blog very often, you'll know I always enjoy a good documentary. Well I found what looked to be something cool on Netflix a while back - a documentary about Sherman's March. This was when General Sherman marched across the South, to the sea and devastated the civilian population everywhere he turned. This sounds like it would be good, right? This is another case of expectations not being met for me. Apparently I didn't read the description of the movie before I eagerly added it to my queue. While in the next couple paragraphs I'm going to rock this movie for how I thought of it, this is probably 70% due to the fact I was expecting something totally different. The other 30% is just because the movie was lame. Well, Ross McElwee starts out with his illusions of grandeur only to find out his girlfriend has just dumped him. That's in the first 5 min and this is where the movie starts to turn south (no pun intended). The rest of the movie is then Ross chasing after every girl he meets. He's like a kid in a toy store who sees a toy and must have it. Nothing else in the world matters to him, but this one toy. Then he turns around and sees toy #2. Now he feels stupid for even ever considering toy #1 to be cool and shiny and desirable. All that matters is how much he needs toy #2. Then he turns again and sees a third toy.... I'm sure you get the point. It was psuedo interesting, but many times I left the room for a few minutes here and there and I didn't really care that I was missing parts of the movie. It wasn't that great. Left me feeling a sense of loss. I was really hoping to watch a documentary about Sherman's March.

Pumping Iron

2006-12-05T09:10:00.000-05:00

This is a documentary starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as he attempts to win Mr. Olympia in 1975 for the sixth time in a row. This year he is defending his title against Serge Nubret and the one and only Lou Ferrigno. My sophomore football coach recommended this to us during a summer lifting session and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty amazing to see how Schwarzenegger taunted and buttered up Ferrigno and ultimately psyching him out for the win. Then you realize how old these guys are and you're even more amazed. Arnold was only 28 and Lou was only 24 at the time. Even more amazing was seeing Bud Cort in the deleted scenes. He's the star from Harold and Maude and more recently can also be seen in The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. This is another one of those "boring documentaries" as my friend likes to describe them. However, I kind of like them. If you're into body building, or just like seeing big men taunt each other, you definitely need to check out this cult-classic sometime.

Borat

2006-12-05T09:04:00.000-05:00

Robby, Liz and I saw this over the weekend and we now know what everybody is raving about. This movie is hilarious! There are definitely some crazy parts, some offensive parts and maybe even some gross parts. I'm sure there are many who would not find this funny at all...but I did. Maybe this should be tossed into the same category as South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut. The one thing I'm actually surprised with is how people are trying to sue Sasha Baron Cohen after finding out they're in the movie. These people signed release forms and were interacting with a man and a camera crew. This guy also has a TV show where he plays the exact same character. I guess some people are just slow to catch on. If you don't know much about this movie, a man pretends to be a news reporter from Kazakhstan and travels all over the US gaining experiences along the way. He's very anti-semitic and has many offensive ideas and ideologies that he shares with just the right people along the way. He also does a lot of things to put people in awkward situations and seems to get away with it because he's "foreign". I can't recommend this to most, but I found this one to be quite funny.

The Fountain

2006-11-26T23:41:00.000-05:00

I'd have to rate this one as definitely interesting, weird, and hard to follow. If you've seen some of Darren Aronofsky's other works, you might know what I mean. I've seen Pi and Requiem for a Dream. Those are both in the "unique" category for film. Especially when you're talking to the average movie-watcher. After seeing the trailer, I had this impression of a film where Hugh Jackman's character plays a different role in ten or so different centuries where he is fighting to save Rachel Weisz, who I'm assuming is his wife/gf/whatever. The trailer shows one time period where Jackman is a conquistador, another where he's a doctor and a third where he's this bald, monk-looking, futuristic guy. My impression is that this would be some time-machine or vampire-esque movie. Either he's traveling through time and living or he's immortal/undying and has been around for hundreds of years. Well I've always said going into movies with expectations is bad and it couldn't have proven more true than in this case. I'd have to say that this film was made to be experienced emotionally much more than viewed and analyzed logically. If you try the latter, things just won't make sense. Turns out there are only three time periods: The Past, The Present and The Future. There are definite connections between the past and the present, and the future and the present. However, tying all three together creates some problems. I could go into all the theories/assumptions, but I don't want to give too much away. Visually the film has some quite beautiful moments, however, I think sometimes the camera shots are a bit long. There were even moments where the music isn't quite done and it seems like a shot or visual effect is drawn out so the music could end. I could be totally wrong on this, but that's the way it seemed. There were also parts of the film that seemed to keep getting revisited. Now part of this could be simply because it was revealing more of the story. It's a bit like The Butterfly Effect in this aspect because you "watch the movie" and then more is revealed later. I would buy this reason, however, there's just not much to the movie. Visually and graphically the movie is rich while the story and plot are lacking. I'm pretty sure some people will be/are pretty worked up about some of the religious references. It starts off quoting from the book of Genesis in the Bible about when Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden of Eden. Later on, we see a Mayan priest holding a flaming sword which is once again referencing Genesis. There are a lot of Buddhist references and themes throughout. Didn't really bother me, but I'm sure others won't feel the same way. I would like to see this again, but don't want to pay another $5 to go see it in the theater. Luckily I had a chance to talk this over a bit with some people and got a few more ideas on what was going on. That pretty much just backed up my observation that the film is meant to be more like a work of art than a logical math problem. I'm not really sure how to recommend this one, expect to recommend it with caution. You'll either love or hate this. I'm not sure if there's much room for in-between.

The Science of Sleep

2006-10-23T10:17:00.000-04:00

This is another one of those long-awaited movies. The Science of Sleep stars Gael García Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries, La Mala Educación, Y tu mamá también, Amores Perros) and is directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and many music videos). So if you've seen Eternal Sunshine or some of his music videos, you probably have an idea of the kind of off-the-wall genius and humor this man possesses. Bernal plays Stéphane who has just been tricked into moving back home by his mother, who owns some apartments. He then meets his neighbor, Stéphanie, whom he almost immediately falls in love with. Meanwhile, his mother has hooked him up with a job at a calendar company where he's supposed to be able to utilize his artistic abilities. This couldn't be farther from the truth, however, his co-workers more than make up for it. Despite all of this excitement and drama, Stéphane has just one problem. He has problems seperating reality from his world of dreams. I think my favorite parts of the movie are Stéphane's dream sequences. In them, Stéphane is a host for a popular TV show where he performs music, has guests, talks about all kinds of intellectual things and has a time machine. His whole attitude is different, which makes the whole fantasy world that much more believable. He's loose, he's free, he says what he wants, he does what he wants. In this dream land, Stéphane can be the person he wants to be with nothing holding him back. It's in this dream land where he can evaluate his relationships and work out the "real" problems he has. In the dream land, Stéphane is refined, articulate and intelligent. In the real world Stéphane is sometimes forgetful, says the wrong things and sometimes comes off as a little crazy. I like to think this is the way we all are to one extreme or another. Everybody has had at least one experience in their life where they wish they could have said something else or done something else. I like to think, this is just a little to the extreme. Another aspect I really liked in this movie was the variance of language. It takes place in France, but throughout the film you hear the characters speak in English, French, and Spanish. This is definitely one of those "art films" so if you're not into those kinds of movies, maybe you won't like this. I loved it, but this is a genre I enjoy. I've also seen numerous other works be Bernal and Gondry, so that helped influence me to see this as well. There is also some nudity/almost nudity and language that might offend some of you. Other than that, I gave this film 5 stars on netflix.

Employee of the Month

2006-10-19T09:04:00.000-04:00

Last night Liz and I saw Employee of the Month. Mainly because we hadn't seen a movie in forever, Dane Cook was in it, and neither of us wanted to see yet another Lassie remake. Other than Dane Cook, the movie also starred Dax Shepard, Efren Ramirez, Andy Dick, Brian George, Harland Williams, Sean Whalen, Danny Woodburn, Tim Bagley and Jessica Simpson. Notice how I put Simpson last? Yeah, that wasn't a mistake. I read that the director/producers had Dax Shepard die his hair blonde because he looks a lot like Dane Cook and they didn't want the audience to get them mixed up. Personally, I think he looks a lot more like Zach Braff than Cook, but that's just me. Efren, or "Pedro" as he will forever be to me, played Shepard's sidekick and Dick, George and Williams all played Cook's friends at work. The plot happens to be centered around a membership-only-mega-buy-in-bulk store with a slogan, "We buy in bulk cause it's our God-given right!" They even chant it at their softball game. So all these people are at work and Cook is obviously the cool guy at work. His arch-nemesis just so happens to be Shepard who has also been the employee of the month for the past 17 months. If he makes it one more month, the grand prize is a newish car. However, a monkey wrench has been thrown into this head cashier's gear works. A hot new cashier has just transferred and rumor has it she likes employees of the month. So now Cook has a little motivation to make an effort at work. Surprisingly, he actually turns himself into an exceptional employee, but of course, hurts his friends in the process. I'm sure I don't have to tell you the ending of this movie. I think it should be quite obvious. Even though there were some pretty funny parts, the movie was a bit lame and boring at points. I think Vince Vaughn sums it up quite well for us in his cult-hit Swingers. I'm going to do some super paraphrasing here so I hope you can follow. This movie was PG-13. All we really wanted to see was the R-rated guy save the day and get the girl. Does that make sense? I hope so. If not, you really should go watch Swingers. Just remember, if you get a girl's phone number wait two days to call her. It's the industry standard.

Half Nelson

2006-10-11T20:20:00.000-04:00

Half Nelson is all the rage in the indie film circuit right now. Remember that hunk in the Notebook? His name is Ryan Gosling, and he's in this one too, except now he's a young, hip inner city teacher. Yes, a movie about an inner city teacher. You've seen it before, right? Coolio and Michelle Pfeiffer, or Stand by Me or Stand and Deliver or whatever all those other inspirational movies are titled. This one's different. Why? Because this inner city teacher is addicted to crack and cocaine. His life is a mess, and while he still seems to be impacting his students, it's not the clean, neat, tidy, sweeping success story we've come to see too often (which, I'll be the first to tell you, is quite rare and unrealistic outside of Hollywood). There is so much to unpack in this movie it is unbelievable. That, I believe, is what is so commendable. The writers and directors successfully intertwined layer upon layer of rich themes to explore. You could watch it over and over and each time discover more to talk about. The teacher strikes up a friendship with one of his female students (who finds him high and overdosed in the bathroom). So now we have two worlds colliding: a rich young white drug addict trying to tell a poor black teenager to stay away from drug dealers. So not only do we see the contrast of cultures, the awkward explosion that occurs when different worlds intersect, but we also have a hypocrite trying to teach kids, sending mixed signals. (Romans 2:21 "You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself?") The interaction between people is another highlight, a study of relationships. Every scene is a dialogue between two people, the girl and the teacher, the girl and the mom, the girl and the drug dealer, the teacher and the girl, the teacher and his coworkers, the teacher and the drug dealer, the teacher and a woman. It's a powerful example that what we do impacts others. What is most striking, though, is the study of change. The teacher tells his classes that history is change; it is two opposing forces pushing against each other until one becomes the majority and stays the majority until the minority pushes back and takes over. It is a gridlock, an arm-wrestling match. And while he relays this to his students, we see his life of addiction spinning wildly out of control. He knows he must change, but this gridlock keeps him from it. (Romans 7:23 "I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.") The minority force that wants to change cannot take control. Many people are using a vague ending to draw conclusions that I think are overly optimistic. They are turning it into an inspirational movie filled with hope without a whole lot of ground to do so. To me, I see a bleak picture of a life filled with addiction. I see the depravity of man, a force so strong that no will of his own can cause change. And at the risk of overspiritualizing things, it points to a need for a different agent of change, one outside of ourselves that is powerful enough to become the majority force. (Romans 7:24,25 8:2 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.) So anyway. It's well done, the soundtrack is great, and it ends up being pretty meaningful. I'm recommending it to you. And Ryan Gosling is a hunk.

Accepted

2006-09-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

As soon as I saw the trailer and Lewis Black, I knew I needed to see this movie. After finally seeing it, I can't necessarily call it a high quality film, but I can say it was very entertaining. The basic plot is there are a couple guys having problems getting into a college after graduating from high school. So to trick/apease their parents, they create their own school. Soon, things get a little bit out of hand and their little rouse turns into a full blown reality. In the end, they are eventually found out and the movie ends with an Animal House style hearing where their legitimacy as a place of higher learning is decided. I gave this one a 4 stars out of 5, just because I liked it. If you're a Lewis Black fan, you'll want to definitely check this one out as you're sure to get at least a few laughs.

Johnny Mnemonic

2006-09-21T22:19:00.000-04:00

This is one of those movies I've always been a tiny bit skeptical to watch because it's an older Keanu Reeves movie. I'm not saying I hate Reeves. He's done some decent things. I'll admit it. I loved Babes in Toyland when it came out and I was five years old. I'm not ashamed of it. I was also a fan of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Point Break and The Devil's Advocate. I loved Dracula and The Replacements. Thumbsucker and Constantine were good and I still need to see A Scanner Darkly and The Gift. See, Reeves isn't so bad. Johnny Mnemonic wasn't too bad either. In fact, I thought it was good. This one came out in 1995. Remember how everybody thought it was so cool how Tom Cruise used those gloves in Minority Report? Well, it had already been done in this movie. The plots actually interesting too and I think this movie was way better than Tank Girl. There were also a lot of recognizable people like Dina Meyer from Supertroopers, Ice-T, Takeshi Kitano from Zatôichi, Dolph Lundgren from Red Scorpion and Rocky IV, Henry Rollins, and Udo Kier from Blade. You recognize some of those people, right? Anyways, the jist of this story is that people put hard drives in their heads to transfer data. Reeves is one of those people and he gets 320gb of data slammed into his head. The amazing thing is that was a TON of data 11 years ago. If you're a computer nerd like me, you know what I'm talking about. Back then a 120mb hard drive was a decent amount of space. So Keanu has all this data in his head and it's too much, so he's trying to get it out before he dies. There are of course some bad guys involved. Ice-T isn't a kangaroo in this one, but he is in the "underground" and helps save the day. I'm sure a lot of people thought this one was stupid, but I liked it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

The Illusionist

2006-09-15T13:18:00.000-04:00

When we went to see The Illusionist the other night, I couldn't remember if it was the movie with Christian Bale or the movie with Edward Norton. I didn't know until a preview for The Prestige came on, and I thought, "Oh, that's the movie with Christian Bale. I must be seeing the one with Edward Norton." The Illusionist is the story of Eisenheim (Ed Norton), who is, obviously, and illusionist. From childhood, he was in love with the beautiful heiress, Sophie (Jessica Beil), who reciprocated his love. They were eventually separated by her family, and Eisenheim left to travel the world and discover the secrets of illusion. Fifteen years later, he returns to Vienna, where Sophie is engaged to the crown prince. They meet and their love is rediscovered, but this does not sit well with Police Inspector Uhl (the always wonderful Paul Giamatti), who is always trying to figure out how Eisenheim does his illusions. The love story isn't entirely convincing, and the plot is a bit obvious, but this is still an entertaining movie. It's one part magic story, one part murder mystery, and one part love story. I liked it.

Mayor of the Sunset Strip

2006-09-05T12:57:00.000-04:00

I was immediately intrigued when I saw a trailer for this movie. I've always been a big fan of 'rock and roll' and here's somebody who's been dubbed THE MAYOR. Turns out it's a documentary about a guy by the name of Rodney Bingenheimer. This guy is friends with everybody. He was around when the Beatles, Cher, Bing Crosby and Alice Cooper were making it big. He's still around now and friends with people like Gwen Stefani and Green Day. I had never heard of this guy before, but obviously he's big. This is somebody that just loves the music, but hasn't really tried to take advantage of it. They showed his home and he by no means lives large. You might think that people have been using him over the years. I'm not really sure about that, but I really felt bad for the guy. He's a friend to so many, yet, those friends seem to not always come through for him. He currently has/had (movie came out in 2003) a radio show where his hours were being cut. You would think somebody would snatch him up. I love listening to Alice Cooper Nights and Jonesy's Jukebox (Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols). These are real rockers telling you stories and giving their opinions on bands that they personally know. It's not like they're just fans who consider themselves experts. If you like documentaries and are a little bit interested in the music scene, I think you'll probably find this one interesting.

Ed TV

2006-09-05T12:56:00.001-04:00

I remember hearing about this movie a long time ago. In fact, I just checked and it came out in 1999. So in one sense it's "old", but not really at all in the grand scheme of things. This movie comes off a lot like The Truman Show, but it's not. This is a different movie - I promise. I don't think this was as good as Truman Show, but it was still entertaining. In this movie we have TV cameras following Ed around, watching everything that happens in his life. However, Ed is aware of this. Obviously some interesting things happen because you don't expect cameras to follow you "everywhere". There's a bit of a love-interest angle with Jenna Elfman that mixes things up a bit and eventually Ed deals with those cameras. I wouldn't watch this looking to be wowed. There's a couple really funny parts that I'm sure you'll laugh at, and then there are also parts that are just there. I would give this movie a 3 out of 5. Nothing great, but not bad.

Tank Girl

2006-09-05T12:56:00.000-04:00

Tank Girl is a great B-movie out of 1995 starring Lori Petty (Point Break, Free Willy) and Naomi Watts about some rebels battling the big bad conglomerate government. Kind of the ongoing battle played out in many a movie, but this one involves a girl and her tank. Besides seeming kind of silly and weird, this movie is also heavily based on the comic world, which explains some of the costuming and dialogue. If you've seen Ultraviolet, you'll know what I'm talking about. I do have to admit, from the cover I always thought that "Tank Girl" was played byAlanna Ubach (Waiting..., Beakman's World and Sister Act). This isn't something to get all fired up about and invite 20 friends over to watch on the big screen, unless you all like this movie. I'd say it's definitely worth watching though. Where else are you going to see Ice-T dressed up as a mutant human/kangaroo fighting for justice?

The Heart of the Game

2006-08-27T21:18:00.000-04:00

The Heart of the Game is the latest documentary getting rave reviews. I had the privilege to see it last night. An eccentric college professor decides to start coaching girls basketball at a local high school in Seattle. He has some interesting philosophies and tactics, all of which seem to really work. The school is mostly upper-middle class and white, and in comes a basketball star who is black, from the lower class side of town. The guy coaches this girl, bringing her into her prime, and colleges are knocking on her door already during her sophomore year. There are some twists and turns and drama and court cases and everything. It deals with gender, race, class, urban culture, sports, and more. And all of it is filmed over the course of seven years. First things first, this documentary is complete and utter luck. For whatever reason, this director decides to start filming this coach. Little did he know little Darnelia Russell would be arriving on the scene shortly, and drama would be coming along with her, and all of it would turn into, seven years later, a real-life happy ending. The chances on capturing this are one in a million. It is truly amazing. Second things second, this will win the Oscar for best documentary this year. I'll go ahead and make the prediction now. But in the end, I was a little disappointed. The material is there, no doubt about it. The coach is exceptional, unique, inspiring, successful. He's a great character. The clash of races and classes is there. The shy yet feisty and determined Darnelia is intriguing. Mix it all up with sports, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and you've got a recipe for a great documentary. But there is no denying the fact that whittling 7 years of footage into an hour and a half is an extremely daunting task. Maybe that's the reason for its downfalls. I don't know what exactly it was, but the way it was presented lacked emotion. We were never given a chance to REALLY get to know any of the characters, to become attached to them. We know the coach and his philosophies, but we don't know him. We watch Darnelia with admiration, but we don't know her. We see these girls and want them to win, but we aren't on the bench cheering for them. Maybe it's the laborious narration, maybe it's the lack of in-depth material (for the sake of getting through 7 years in a concise manner), but whatever it is, I never got attached to the movie until the last 10 or 15 minutes. It's a shame, really, because like I said, the material is there. (And while it never goes far enough with any of the material, I'm glad it didn't go too far, dramatizing the issues, exagerrating or exploiting them. The director should be commended for not going in that direction.) It will get rave reviews because of that material, because it's simply remarkable that it's all caught on film, and because of the last 10-15 minutes. And it deserves the rave reviews, probably. It's definitely worth seeing. But in the end, I know it could have been much more. Maybe I'm just too tough to please, my standards are too high. Maybe I'm a documentary snob.

Clerks II

2006-08-17T09:14:00.000-04:00

I would like to start this post by saying that I am a huge Kevin Smith fan. I'm not really sure why. I remember when Clerks came out back in '94 and seeing commercials on TV for it. It looked so interesting and fascinating. I wasn't really allowed freedom in choosing every film I wanted to watch back then so I didn't actually see the movie until almost five years later. Since then I've always been interested in anything Kevin is working on. Much of Kevin Smith's work is vulgar, crude and offensive (depending on your view points) and many people have asked me why I submit myself to such filth. I've never really had a great answer other than, "I just like it." Kevin often explores controversial topics that many artists are afraid to approach. I once heard Kevin talking about how his brother is gay and has problems watching movies because he has problems connecting to them. The guy always seems to get the girl. Well what about the other people out there in the world? Homosexuality is just one topic Kevin has tried to present in a humorous manner off and on in many of his films. He is also the creator of Jay and Silent Bob and is in fact, Silent Bob himself. Smith also has this amazing fan base of cult-proportions that is a mystery to many. I think I may know part of the reason for this. Ready? Kevin Smith. That's it. This guy has charisma. He's funny, he's cool, he's personable, and he seems like the kind of guy that could be your friend. Seriously. This is just an average guy who loves movies, but isn't stuck up and a little crazy like Quentin Tarantino. So the movie....I've been digressing upon many a rabbit trail here. Clerks II is a continuation of the Dante and Randal story we were first introduced with back in '94. Only now they're 10 years older and still dealing with some of those same issues from a decade ago. Oh, and did I mention the sequel is in color? Kevin has definitely made a big name for himself in Hollywood, in the comic book world, and in the hearts of many around the world who pine after a persona as cool as one of Smith's characters. Who wouldn't want to throw water on an annoying customer like Randall? Who wouldn't want to have girls fighting over them like Dante? I'm sure a lot of you wish you could say anything and everything on your mind like Jay. Did you know there are heroines as well? There's Alyssa Jones, Veronica, Caitlin Bree, Rene Mosier, Brandi Svening, Bethany Slone, etc, etc. Oh yeah, and then there was Dogma where Alanis Morissette played the part of God. So anyways, Clerks II. Originally titled Passion of the Clerks, I assume this was to poke fun at Mel Gibson. This was even back in 2004 so this was way before Gibson decided to torpedo his career with a drunken tirade at police officers. In this latest installment we get to Dante and Randal back at it again. Working together, getting each other into interesting situations and inadvertently terrorizing some of the general public in the process. There is also another return of Jay and Silent Bob and great performances by Rosario Dawson and Trevor Fehrman (new to the Smith films). I would be lying if I said this movie was clean and unlike his other films. I was definitely shocked in a couple scenes. Once again, as usual, the bar was raised. Interestingly enough, the MPAA gave the film an 'R' rating immediately. Usually his films have to be edited to make an 'R'. The movie is definitely a bit slow in the middle and almost seems to drone on for bit, but there's a dynamite ending. I've heard some critics complaining about the end of the film, but think if you understand the progression of the previous 5 films than it will make complete sense to you too. I found this movie entertaining and enjoyable. However I would not reccomend this to anyone who is not already a fan of Smith's previous works. Definitely an acquired taste, it could be hard to fully appreciate jumping to the end of this series without starting at the beginning. A bit like the original Star Wars trilogy in the sense that each film can be watched as a seperate entity, but it really helps to see the full picture.

Butterfly Effect

2006-08-12T21:02:00.000-04:00

I was never really gung-ho about watching this movie from the impression I got after watching its trailer. Then I started hearing great reviews from friends of mine so I put it in my netflix queue about a year ago. Well, I finally watched it and I have two reactions. 1. Wow 2. I guess Ashton Kutcher really can act? First off, this is an amazing movie that just begs indepth analysis and hours of conversations. This movie deals with time travel, specifically in the life of one person and how they go back in time and change parts of their past. We then see all of the long lasting effects that occur due to the littlest changes. This goes hand in hand with the chaos theory or "butterfly effect" which is the name of this movie. It would really be mind numbing to think about how our lives would and could be different if we had this same ability. Personally, I think I'd pass on the opportunity. Secondly, I think Ashton Kutcher is a legitimate actor. If you know me very well, you'll know I've been an avid fan of That 70's Show ever since I watched the pilot episode back in 1998. I think this is a good step in his career just like The Truman Show was good for Jim Carrey and Punch-Drunk Love was good for Adam Sandler.

Little Miss Sunshine

2006-08-02T12:24:00.000-04:00

Little Miss Sunshine is in certain theaters now, and you should probably definitely go see it. It's a pretty preposterous movie, really. The characters are definitely contrived and over-the-top dysfunctional. But that doesn't take away from the story. The actors and more than capable and each one does a really really great job. Greg Kinnear is good as always, and Steve Carrell is perfect. It would be tempting to let Mr. Carrell steal the show, but he plays his role perfectly and fits in nicely. He's hilarious without shining too brightly. It's hilarious. Even a joke that is repeated about 7 or 8 or 9 times throughout the movie never gets old; you think it would, but it actually gets funnier every time. And the movie is kind of like a snowball rolling down a hill in its hilarity. It starts out a little slow and you're not sure where it's going, but it gets funnier and funnier until the big ending where you can't stop laughing. And it has this really nostalgic, heartwarming feel by the end. I walked out of the theater and saw the poster in the lobby and it brought a smile of contentment to my face and I let out one of those, "Awwws" or "Ahhs." And Sufjan is on the soundtrack. And the other band that does most of the soundtrack, Devotchka or something like that, is really really great, too. This is a terrible review, I know. But I kind of think this movie is pretty much perfect, and I can't put that into words very well.

I Love Your Work

2006-08-01T16:51:00.000-04:00

I first heard about I Love Your Work in 2003, when it was released but never accessible. The other day, when I came across it at Blockbuster, I had to rent it. The movie is a convoluted story about Gray Evans, a movie star, and his movie star wife, Mia. Gray is played by Giovanni Ribisi, who is always interesting to watch, if nothing else. He's a really good actor. Mia is played by Franka Potente from Run, Lola, Run and The Bourne Identity and The Princess and the Warrior, all quality movies. Gray and Mia have only been married for a year, and their marriage is a bit tumultuous. They're highstrung individuals with a lot of fans and a lot on the line. I believed that they loved each other in the film, but neither character was very good at acting out that love. Gray is on the verge of a nervous breakdown from the very beginning of the film onward. He is paranoid that he's being stalked, worries about what people think of him, and is constantly trying to avoid the public eye. He hates being a movie star. As much as he hates attention, he ends up befriending a fan, played by Joshua Jackson. Something about Jackson's character John intrigues Gray, as if John's normality could equal normality for Gray himself. Over time, Gray begins to live out his paranoia by stalking John and John's girlfriend, who bears a striking resemblance to a woman that Gray can't stop fantasizing about. It's difficult to tell the difference between the present, the past, and the future in I Love Your Work. Writer/director Adam Goldberg has an interesting idea with this film, but doesn't execute it all that well. What's supposed to be mysterious ends up being confusing, and what's supposed to feel fresh and new ends up feeling a bit stale. I liked watching the film, but I don't think I really understood it. It takes a lot for me to call a movie "weird," but this one fits the bill.

2001: A Space Odyssey

2006-07-31T21:14:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I really like Kubrick films and other times not so much. This was one I hadn't seen yet, and I would have to rate it as mediocre. Much of the film was comprised of long, agonizing shots that made you want to grab the remote and hit the "FWD >>" button. The ending was also a bit confusing which doesn't surprise me. On a more positive note, I think Kubrick did a lot with this film that shaped the way science fiction films, TV shows and video games were/are made. For instance, a computer that talks and has a personality. Who can forget HAL 9000? Another thing I noticed was ships in space. They weren't all sleek and aerodynamic. There's also something to be said for how they portrayed the vacuum of space and how the "astronauts" lived. I would say this is another movie to count as a notch in your belt and be able to better understand pop culture references. However, it probably won't leave you salivating for more.

An Evening with Kevin Smith

2006-07-31T09:43:00.000-04:00

If you're a fan of Kevin Smith, maker of Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Jersey Girl, then you'll probably like this one. Back in 2001 Kevin went around to several colleges where he fielded questions from his fans. In fact, I was supposed to go to one of these with my buddy Perry, but I had to finish writing a program for a class I was taking. Another one of my friends, Tara, ended up going instead. The cool thing is that you can see Perry and Tara in several parts of the film. If you're unaware, Kevin's movies are crass, rude, offensive, vulgar and include lots of swearing and homosexual content. If this kind of stuff greatly offends you, I'm pretty certain that you will not enjoy this documentary of sorts. However, if you do enjoy Smith's humor you'll be delighted to hear stories about his run-in with Tim Burton, his discussion with Jon Peters over a Superman script, the documentary he shot for Prince and many other stories.

THX 1138

2006-07-31T09:15:00.001-04:00

This is definitely one of those classics you always hear about. Immediately after the movie starts all I can think of is Star Wars. This is of course, a George Lucas film so why should we be surprised? Light panels, characters, clothing, sound effects, etc. It all screams Star Wars. The story is a bit weird and at really reminds me of The Truman Show. I can't really scream accolades about this because it just didn't impress me that much. It's worth watching to be able to talk about it though. Oh, and if you were wondering, there is a Baldwin involved. Another interesting name I caught in the credits was Caleb Deschanel. I looked him up and he's Zooey's dad.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring

2006-07-31T09:15:00.000-04:00

I wasn't really sure what to expect by this movie and my initial response after watching this was, "huh?" I'm not schooled in eastern philosophy or buddhism so I know that I missed out on the meaning of a lot of things. There's also not much dialogue in the film, it's mostly imagery. The movie starts off with a monk living out in the middle of nowhere in a floating house on a lake. A young boy lives with him who is being trained to be a monk. Eventually the boy grows up, becomes tempted by worldy desires, and leaves the old monk. Then, later on the boy returns a grown man and learns yet another lesson from the monk before leaving again. Now the old monk is all alone again and eventually dies leaving the small monastary empty. In the last "season" a new monk comes to tend the monastary. I'm not sure if this is just some random monk, the old monk reincarnated, or maybe even the grown boy that the old monk taught. Like I said earlier, there is a lot of Eastern symbolism that I know I wasn't understanding. There are several things including statues of Buddha and another statue of what I believe was a goddess of some sort. I was trying to read some things on the IMDB message boards, but that turned into a lot of people giving their opinions and telling the other person they were totally wrong. This movie definitely has an Eastern religious theme to it. If you don't know much about that topic, aren't really into foreign movies and need dialogue to keep the movie flowing for you, I would stay away from this one.

Wordplay (vs. Spellbound vs. Word Wars)

2006-07-27T09:38:00.000-04:00

Let's make sure we're all caught up to speed, first. Wordplay is a documentary in theaters right now that's getting quite a bit of buzz. Everyone seems to love it, and it's about the world of crossword puzzles. The puzzlemakers, the puzzlesolvers, the New York Times editor Will Shortz, and the competition that ensues. Spellbound is the immensely popular documentary about the National Spelling Bee. It follows several kids and their parents as they win all the competitions and fight for first place. This one was nominated for best documentary at the Oscars a few years back. Word Wars is more of an underground documentary that never really rose to the surface. It's about the game of Scrabble and introduces us to some very interesting competitive characters. So, as you can already tell, the three movies are very closely related, and comparing the three is pretty much inevitable. It's a lot of nerdy people playing with words and fighting for first place. That's about all there is to it. In the end, Wordplay leaves a little to be desired, and that could possibly be only because it has to live up to the success of Spellbound and Word Wars. Many times Wordplay feels like an inside joke, and if you enjoy crossword puzzles as much as everyone in the movie does, you'll absolutely love the movie. But if you aren't a crossword fanatic (I don't think I've ever completed one in the newspaper), there's not enough left in the movie to carry it all the way. In Spellbound, you have cute kids, and that's about all you need for a successful film (ie: Mad Hot Ballroom). As if cute kids weren't enough, each one is full of life and personality, and between them and their parents, there are a lot of laughs to be had. Furthermore, everyone can relate to spelling. Even if you can't remember the spelling bee in elementary school, we all deal with it every day; there's some common ground there, which is important in a movie. There's enough here for us to enjoy the movie even though it's about something as boring and nerdy as spelling bees. In Word Wars, we have freakishly eccentric characters. While the movie definitely has its flaws, its characters are beyond belief, and that's enough to carry it. But in Wordplay, the characters are odd, and not odd enough for us to laugh or find them endearing. They're plain. Sure, you might find your favorite, but you won't be cheering for them like you did in Spellbound. There's not enough to laugh about, not enough to get excited about, not enough to talk about afterwards. It was fun while it lasted, but I was glad when it finished. Seeing how these people's minds work is fascinating, the film succeeds there. ("Move the D in Dunkin Donuts and you get Unkind Donuts. I've had a few of those before. Move the H in Noah's Ark and you get No, A Shark!") And it also makes you desperately wish you could play with words the way these people do, or at least finish one simple crossword puzzle. The film succeeds there, as well. (In fact, I plan on starting one in today's paper right after I finish this post.) Who would win in a fight? You'd be proud of all three in the end, as they all put forth a valiant effort, but first would go to Spellbound, second to Word Wars, and third to Wordplay.

Michael Collins

2006-07-24T08:46:00.000-04:00

If you know much about the Irish fight for independance, you've probably heard of a man by the name of Michael Collins. Well, this is the topic of this film. Collins is played by the great Liam Neeson (Excalibur, Schindler's List, Batman Begins) who does a wonderful job in this role as expected. Alan Rickman, Aidan Quinn and Julia Roberts also help to round out the cast in this historical film. Some parts in this might be a bit too much for some. The violence isn't too bad, but maybe not suitable for some children. If you're at all interested in Irish history this seemed to be a good one. I'm not sure on how factual everything was, but it seemed to give a good impression on how things were.

Shogun Assassin

2006-07-24T08:45:00.000-04:00

If you've seen Kill Bill, than you probable remember in part 2 where BB wants to watch a video before going to bed. The video she wants to watch is Shogun Assassin. In my latest quest to see some of the samurai movies Tarantino loves so dearly, I also put this one on the list just because it's referenced in the movie. The whole film is narrated by a small boy talking about his father. His father used to work for the shogun, but his father became too powerful and the shogun became afraid. The shogun then tried to kill him but his plans went awry and he then made an enemy of his most powerful servant. The samurai then took to the roads with his small son. The shogun sent groups after groups of assassins and ninjas after this man, but nobody seems to be able to kill him. This guy makes Chuck Norris and Rambo look like girly-men. This whole movie is in english so there's no subtitles to deal with if that bothers you. It's also short and sweet - kinda like Replacement Killers. If you liked Kill Bill, you'll probably like this one too.

Onibaba

2006-07-21T13:51:00.001-04:00

Another Criterion Collection member, yes, I'm on a kick. This film is set in feudal Japan and involves a woman and her daughter-in-law trying to eek out a living in a swamp. The husban/son has gone off to war with a friend and was supposedly killed on the way home. The son's friend starts hanging around and soon starts making his move on his buddy's wife. The mother-in-law becomes jealous and afraid that her daughter-in-law will leave her and tries to come up with way to scare her into staying. The two of them have been living by killing worn-out soldiers in the grass fields and selling their armor and weapons for food. Without her daughter-in-law, the old woman won't be able to keep this up by herself. The old woman eventually kills a samurai wearing a mask. She decides to take the mask along with his other possessions and starts wearing the mask to scare her daughter-in-law in the grass fields. The daughter-in-law takes her for a demon and is temporarily scared into staying away from her newfound lover. However, the tables are eventually turned as the old woman finds it hard to remove the mask.

Yojimbo

2006-07-21T13:51:00.000-04:00

If you've seen Last Man Standing or A Fistful of Dollars and liked them, you need to see this movie. Yojimbo is where the original story came from. Essentially a man-for-hire comes to town where two factions are fueding. He plays both sides and they eventually kill each other off. If you're into samurai movies, westerns or classic films, this needs to be on your list of films to see. This is another film directed by the legendary director Akira Kurosawa and also happens to be in the Criterion Collection.

The Hidden Fortress

2006-07-20T09:39:00.000-04:00

If you didn't know, I've been on a samurai movie kick lately. I've been watching a lot of movies that influenced Quentin Tarantino in his films Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2. It's been an interesting ride to say the least. The Hidden Fortress is another film directed by the legendary director Akira Kurosawa and also happens to be in the Criterion Collection. The plot details the escape of Princess Yuki (Misa Uehara) and General Rokurota Makabe (Toshirô Mifune) after their clan has been decimated by a neighboring clan. Along the way, they run into two greedy peasants who are on a search for legendary gold that was hidden somewhere in the burned out castle. The peasants lend some Three Stooges-esque comedy to the film as the princess and general try to make them cooperate. I may be exagerating on this, but it also seems like the two peasants are made to be bumbling fools just because they're peasants. I don't know if this is made to fit with the time period the film was made or maybe it's this way just because. The more "noble" characters in the story do seem to be the ones making all the decisions, have all the wit and able to be capable leaders. All in all, I think this was another decent film. Not amazing or awesome, just good. I gave it a 3/5 on netflix. Worth watching if you consider yourself a movie fan.

Sling Blade

2006-07-17T23:54:00.000-04:00

I never really thought much about Billy Bob Thornton until after seeing this movie. Things just never made sense to me. The few roles I had seen him in were never that great or earth shattering. He was married to Angelina Jolie, and he never seemed to present himself very well in public. Little did I know, Billy Bob is a writer and a director besides being an actor. I've always heard other people (actors/actresses) rave about the talent this man has, but had never witnessed it myself. That's because I hadn't seen Sling Blade. This movie is about a man named Karl Childers. Karl is retarded man that gets let out of the state mental hospital. Karl was in the hospital because at the age of 12 he killed his mother and one other person. Now at face value this sounds horrible and tragic, but as you take a peak into Karl's life you start to understand why he is the way he is. After being released from the hospital, Karl gets a job at a small engine repair shop repairing engines. He's apparently a prodigy at it. His new boss also lets him live in the shop since Karl has no place to go and his living family wants nothing to do with him. Besides getting a job, Karl also makes friends with Frank, a local boy, while helping him tote his family's laundry home one afternoon. Frank likes Karl so much that he asks his mother to let Karl stay with them. From then on we see the lives of Karl, Frank and Linda (Frank's mother) unfold and we meet some of their friends as life goes on. I'm not going to much further into the plot because I don't want to give anything away. This is such an amazing movie, I'm not really sure how to give it justice by typing away on my keyboard. This film deals with family, friendships, doing what is right, justice, protecting your own, love, being willing to give up everything for somebody you care about, etc, etc. All of Karl's life he's been picked on and written off just because of his mental state. However, Karl understands a lot more than people give him credit for. He also ends up being one of the most understanding, caring and insightful characters in the film. I was so amazed to learn that Thorton wrote and directed this film besides being the main actor. Whenever I had seen the cover, I always thought that was Ewan McGregor on the cover or somebody that looked similar. That's Billy Bob folks. I also sat down and watched all of the extra stuff on the 2nd disc as soon as I could. It's always rewarding to learn about some of the behind-the-scenes stuff. Along with Thorton in the cast we also have Dwight Yoakam (Wedding Crashers, Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada), J.T. Walsh (Good Morning Vietnam), John Ritter (Problem Child, Three's Company), Lucas Black (Friday Night Lights, All the Pretty Horses) and many other recognizable faces. I think this is one of Ritter's best performances ever, mainly because we get to see him break out of some of his typecast roles and actually act. Thorton even got him to radically change his hair, something Ritter never did for any other director. Lucas Black also gives an amazing performance as a kid in this movie that you'll be hard-pressed to match. I feel like I could go on and on about this movie, but I don't know how to appropriately tell you how much this movie rocked my world. So go see this one. Please.

Shower

2006-07-17T22:13:00.000-04:00

Shower is a Chinese movie about a Japanese businessman who returns home under the impression that his father is very sick/possibly dead. Luckily when he gets home, he realizes it was just some miscommunication between himself and his mentally challenged brother. At first he wants to return home, but soon realizes he really enjoys being with his family. His father owns and runs a public bath house and his brother helps out. Every day the same customers come in and there is literally a community existing inside those walls. Soon Ming doesn't really want to go home. There's a little bit of drama here and there between some of the customers, but this movie is mainly about family. I would maybe put it in the same category as Amelie. This is a feel-good movie with good values and decent story. Worth checking out if you're into foreign films.

Capote

2006-07-13T10:56:00.000-04:00

I was going to see this three separate times while it was still in the theaters, but none of them worked out, so I guess the 4th time is a charm. We watched this last night for Movie Night. If you didn't know, this movie is about Truman Capote, who was an actual author. Some parts of the movie might make more sense to you if you didn't know this earlier. Parts of it can be a little slow and some of the things that Capote does and says just don't seem to fit. At least not for a ficticious character. This movie happens to be about his most famous publication, In Cold Blood. It's about a family in Kansas that was brutally killed in their home. The movie chronicles Capote befriending the killers, all the while trying to get research for his book. It's amazing to watch him manipulate people and situations while trying to get information. It reminded me a bit of The United States of Leland and The Chumscrubber in how a character is "befriending" someone just to get a story. In the same way, Capote pretends to be friends with the killers, while at the same time wishing they would just be executed so he could finish his book. The part of Truman Capote is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who I have always found to be just amazing. The two killers are played by Mark Pellegrino (The Big Lebowski) and Clifton Collins Jr. (Tigerland, The Last Castle, Replacement Killers). Chris Cooper is also in here as the police chief and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, Capote's friend. The movie can be a bit slow in parts, but it's really good if you can stick it out til the end. I personally, had never realized how influential Capote was. I want to read some of his books. After the movie, Adrienne brought up that Capote was mentioned in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. In the classroom somebody says, "Capote" with a long 'o' sound and the teacher corrects them with the proper pronunciation. I had completely forgotten about that. I guess there's a movie I need to re-watch. The movie also ended with some general information about Capote and the rest of his life following the book. There was one quote I really liked - "More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones."

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

2006-07-09T20:52:00.000-04:00

I unfortunately missed this one in the theaters, but luckily netflix came through for me. This movie stars Tommy Lee Jones(Pete), Barry Pepper(Mike), Julio Cedillo(Melquiades), and Dwight Yoakam(Belmont). Tommy Lee Jones also directed this movie. This is his second movie to direct and I think he did a wonderful job. This movie has 'three burials' in its titled because it's about a man that was buried three times. A mexican migrant worker is accidently shot by a border patrol officer and the officer tries to cover it up. The body was later found by the authorities and the victim's best friend, Jones, starts his own investigation. Jones goes on his own personal vendetta to track down the man responsible and make the killer realize exactly just what he has done. I think I was first drawn to this movie by the title. Then I was drawn to it by the setting, actors, and then by the story. This is a great story about having to face the music when we screw up. This is also a movie about intense friendship and loyalty. I'd like to think I would be willing to do the same thing for my friend. After Jones tracks down the man responsible, they go retrieve Melquiades' body and proceed to transport to his hometown in Mexico. It takes them a while to actually find the town and once they do, they immediately go to work. First they repair Estrada's house. They then post a sign so anybody coming by will know what they've found. Lastly, they bury Melquiades Estrada for the third and last time. It's not quite over yet though. Pete now makes Mike beg for forgiveness. At first Mike tries to shirk this one final responsibility given him, but things don't work out the way Mike would like. Even though nothing can be done to bring Melquiades back, and the whole thing was an accident, Mike is still responsible. I really felt like personal redemption was gained by the end for Mike. Some of this can be painful to watch, but I think it needs to be that way. So much of our culture today glorifies death, killing and violence. Many people view hispanic people as just "spics" or "wetbacks" and would probably even voice their opinion in support of Mike's actions. I would like to think that these kinds of people would really feel this way if put into Mike's shoes. I also get the feeling that Pete is like a "ghost of Christmas past". In the same way that Scrooge is made aware of the consequences of his actions, Mike is made aware of the consequences of shooting Melquiades. Mike also repents of his actions and comes out on the other side of his wild adventure a changed man. I'm not sure if this was done on purpose, but I think it could lead to some great discussion. There's definitely some objectionable content in here, but this is a film very much worth watching.

Superman Returns

2006-07-04T21:15:00.000-04:00

I first wanted to go see the new Superman movie only because Lex Luthor was being played by Kevin Spacey. Even though Kevin Spacey is the man, he wasn't the only bright spot for Superman Returns. This time around Brandon Routh is playing Clark Kent/Superman. He's not a very well-known actor, but he plays the part with passion and emotion. I think I would prefer Routh over Christopher Reeve any day. Kate Bosworth also does an amazing job as Lois Lane. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this one. So many times re-makes turn out to be bad apples, but I give this one two-thumbs up.

Oxygen

2006-07-04T21:13:00.000-04:00

I don't have a whole lot to say about this one. However, if you'd like to see Maura Tierney (ER) and Terry Kinney (Oz) as police and Adrien Brody (The Pianist) as a psycho kidnapper/killer, check this one out.

The Shape of Things

2006-07-04T20:58:00.000-04:00

I must admit I wasn't really into this movie until I got to the end...and it hit me like a fish in the face. This film is a great example of why you should stick out a movie and see it through because you never know how you'll feel about it until the credits are rolling. Paul Rudd stars in this film as Adam along with his two friends, Phil (Fred Weller) and Jenny (Gretchen Mol). Adam meets Evelyn, played by Rachel Weisz, while working at the museum one day and they sort of hit it off. She actually came into the museum to deface a sculpture. She's an art student, you see, getting her MFA at Mercy College. She kind of fits some of the "artsy" stereotypes and soon starts getting Adam to change some of his ways to make himself more atractive, hip, and cool. At least according to Evelyn. She eventually starts trying to manipulate Adam's friendships and relationships with other people. In my opinion, she was really starting to get out of hand. Now we've come to the climax of the story - the ending. It pretty much wraps everything up and answers all of those unanswered questions. I sure didn't see it coming.

The Anniversary Party

2006-07-03T08:54:00.000-04:00

This is a movie I started watching a while back with Liz but never finished. It's pretty good. It has a couple very real fight scenes between several sets of characters that are a bit different than your average screaming scene. The only thing I can compare it to is when Ben Affleck and Joey Lauren Adams have their big fight in Chasing Amy. This was written and directed by Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh, who happen to also be the main actors in the film. Rounding out the cast are John Benjamin Hickey, Parker Posey, Phoebe Cates, Kevin Kline, Owen Kline, Greta Kline, Denis O'Hare, Mina Badie, Jane Adams and John C. Reilly. That's not everybody, but I think that pretty much covers most of the more recognizable people. You might have noticed a few Klines up there. That's because it's Kevin Kline, his wife, and two kids. You might recognize Owen Kline from The Squid and the Whale. Definitely a talented upcoming actor who takes after his parents. I'll just come right out and say it - there's a bit of nudity in here. So if that bothers you, I'd stay away from this one. If you're a big fan of Cumming, Kline or Reilly - I'd say you should really see this one. For the average movie watcher this could be a bit boring and slow to watch. I gave this one a 4 out of 5.

Welcome to Collinwood

2006-07-03T08:49:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Collinwood is a stupid funny heist of sorts starring William H. Macy, Isaiah Washington, Sam Rockwell, Michael Jeter and Luis Guzmán. If you know who these guys are, then you'll know for sure that you're in for a treat. After Guzmán goes to jail for trying to steal a car radio he hears about a "bellini" or job-of-a-lifetime from a lifer in prison. So he then starts trying to hatch his plan to pull this heist and be set for life. The only problem is that he and his friends are more like the three stooges than those guys from The Italian Job. I'm sure you'll laugh too as you watch them try, try and try to break into the safe of a jewelry store before sunrise.

Love Liza

2006-07-03T08:39:00.000-04:00

If you like Philip Seymour Hoffman, this is a must see for you. Love Liza is about a man trying to cope with the recent suicide of his wife. Kathy Bates plays his mother-in-law and Jack Kehler (Marty, The Big Lebowski)plays his new found friend. As can be expected, Hoffman's character has trouble coping with his loss. He can't even bear to sleep in his own bed because that reminds him of her so he sleeps in the hallway on a blanket. His performance starts slipping at work and he even starts huffing just to get away from it all. He tries to cover up his addiction with a hobby for model airplanes which is how he meets Jack Kehler's character. All the while, he is avoiding opening a letter written to him by Liza and trying to avoid confrontation with his mother-in-law. This movie definitely has it funny moments and it's painstakingly real moments. I gave this a 4 out of 5.

Secretary

2006-07-01T23:29:00.000-04:00

This is one of those movies I had always heard about and had wanted to see for a long time. Besides the fact that a Gyllenhaal is in it (Maggie Gyllenhaal to be precise), the plot is pretty interesting. Maggie plays Lee Holloway who is a secretary for E. Edward Grey, a lawyer, played by James Spader. We soon find out that Lee has some problems and that Mr. Grey tends to be a bit dominant and has a knack for finding submissive employees. He soon has Lee doing many seemingly crazy things just because she'll do them and because she kind of wants too. The part I had always heard about was Lee calling up her boss to find out what she could eat for dinner, being spanked for making typing mistakes and sitting at a desk all day and night just because she was told she couldn't move. Eventually the "relationship" becomes a bit too much for Grey and he fires Lee. The movie's not quite over yet though and you might just be surprised at the ending. There's a bit of objectionable content in this movie, but I would rate this one as a must-see.

Moonlight Mile

2006-07-01T21:22:00.001-04:00

This has got to be one of the best movies I've seen in a long time. Just the charisma between Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ellen Pompeo ("Grey's Anatomy")would be enough to make this an awesome film. However, we can't forget about the story, the set and scenery, the location and the music. The story starts off with the recent death of Diana Floss. Diana is daughter to Ben (Hoffman) and Jojo (Sarandon) and was engaged to marry Joe (Gyllenhaal). We then get to see how the family, friends and town deals with this tragic event and how the events unfold. Bertie (Pompeo), who works at the Post Office and a local bar, ends up befriending Joe one day when he comes to the office. She too is grieving over the loss of a loved one and really represents love in this film. This movie has lots of seriousness, comedy and just real life going on in every single scene. I think one of my favorite parts in the movie is when Joe is having dinner with a family and the hostess seems to think he shouldn't be "tangled up in all that still" two weeks after the death of his fiancee. He then explains a bit to her about some of the "entaglements" involved in the recent death of his loved one. I watched some of the extras on this and the director, Brad Silberling, really reminded me of Cameron Crowe in the way he talked about his film like it was part of his life story. Silberling has directed a lot of TV and I think this was his first excursion onto the movie side. He's also done Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, if you've seen that one. For some reason I really like this guy. I'm interested to see what he comes out with next.

Samurai Trilogy 2: Duel at Ichijoji Temple

2006-07-01T21:22:00.000-04:00

This is the second installment of the Samurai Trilogy and I'd have to say I liked this a little bit more than the first. Towards the end all I could think of is Kill Bill: Vol. 1. I know that Quentin Tarantino is a big asian film buff and I would be surprised if this wasn't one of his influences. At one point you have Takezo challenging someone to a duel. Instead of facing Takezo, his 80 minions plot and plan an ambush to try and kill him. Surprisingly enough, Takezo outwits them and kills many of them with his sword. At one point he even has two swords. Sound familiar? I'm looking forward to part three.

Samurai Trilogy 1: Musashi Miyamoto

2006-07-01T21:21:00.000-04:00

In my neverending quest to try and culture myself on good film, I've started watching what is known as the "Samurai Trilogy" here in the states. These are three films by Hiroshi Inagaki that were made in the mid 1950's about a man wanting to become a samurai warrior set a few hundred years ago. I really enjoy watching older films sometimes because I can definitely see the transition from the stage and theater to the silver screen. Scenes are shot differently, actors do and say certain things, sets and positioning are a little different, etc. This is the era where there used to be an intermission in the middle of the movie. Can you imagine that happening today? Not likely. Didn't even happen during the Lord of the Ring movies and those were pretty long. I can definitely see most people not getting into a movie like this because it's not full of the action and lacks many characteristics of a modern film. I'd say it's worth sticking through though. Defintely a good conversation piece if nothing else.

A Prairie Home Companion

2006-06-29T09:48:00.000-04:00

I saw this movie the other night with Robby. I wasn't quite sure what it was all about, expect for the fact that it was packed full with memorable actors and actresses. Here's a few...Woody Harrelson, Tommy Lee Jones, Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Lindsay Lohan, Virginia Madsen, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, L.Q. Jones and Marylouise Burke. If you didn't know, this movie is loosely based off an old live radio show that used to really happen. That's sort of what the movie is about, except it's their last show. There's plenty of comedy thrown in between Keven Kline being a somewhat detective and people doing interesting things during the show. If you're into music much, this might be one to watch. The singing is just amazing. I had forgotten how well Lilly Tomlin and Meryl Streep could sing. Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly did a really good job too, and as much as I hate to admit, Lohan can sing too. For some reason I just have problems recognizing her as a legitimate actress in my head. I also found out that P.T. Anderson stepped in and did a chunk of the directing for Robert Altman, who was having a lot of health problems. Anderson is someone I admire greatly for many of his previous films, so that could be another reason for some people to check this one out. I can't say that I was able to see definitely influences of is, but it's not like there was a noticeable difference between any parts in the movie. I'm not sure if this is one I would buy, but it's definitely worth a watch.

The Life of David Gale

2006-06-29T09:26:00.000-04:00

This just happened to be the movie we kicked off Movie Night '06 with and it turned out to be a winner. What we have here is some classic Kevin Spacey being backup up by Laura Linney and a good performance by Kate Winslet. David Gale (Spacey) is a man on death row for the rape and murder of his co-worker Constance (Linney). The story gets a little bit more interesting because Gale was an activist against the death penalty and now he's going to recieve the punishment for which he fought so hard to ban. The story seems to be heading towards a sad ending as we see his life work being flushed due to his family problems, scandal with a student and his apparent drinking problems, not to mention the death row sentence. Bitsey (Winslet) is a reporter who is given three interviews with Gale before he dies. She's not quite too sure why she has been given this audience and priviledge, but it becomes apparent that Gale is hoping she can uncover some evidence to help prove his innocence. Everything pretty much comes down to the wire, but you'll have to watch to find out what happens yourself. The movie starts out a bit slow, but picks up and has a strong finish. So stick this one out if you're prone to getting bored with a movie right away. This one really is pretty good.

Winter Passing

2006-06-26T11:54:00.000-04:00

I saw Winter Passing soon after Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and have to say I was much more impressed with the former. This is a very serious movie with some hilarity thrown in by Will Ferrell who plays the role of Corbit. We also see amazing performances by Ed Harris and Zooey Deschanel. I don't think I've seen a single thing by Harris or Deschanel that I haven't liked yet. We also get to hear Deshanel sing a small bit and as Liz said, "She really needs to release an album". It's true. She can surely sing. If you don't believe me, you should check out Elf. Harris plays a J.D. Salinger character. In fact, his name is Don Holdin. His last name isn't spelled the same as the character from Catcher in the Rye, but it's sort of obvious. Holdin is an acclaimed writer who hasn't released any material in the past seven years and Deschanel plays his daughter, Reese, who hasn't been home for the same amount of time. Mrs. Holdin has died recently and Reese has come home looking for some letters that her mother had left for her. On one hand you have the seriousness of a broken man reuniting with his daughter and on the other hand you have Will Ferrell being serious and hilariously funny at the same time. This is a great movie. There's not much more I can say. Check this one out.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

2006-06-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

From the previews I was really looking forward to this movie, but I have to say I was pretty disappointed with it after actually seeing it. I really wanted to just turn it off while watching. I felt like it was giving me attention deficit disorder. The flow was choppy and hard to follow, the events just didn't make sense, the lines were cheesy, etc. I then realized why the movie seemed so weird. They were trying to mimic a myster-detective-trashy-romance paperback series they reference throughout the movie. When I finally realized this, everything started to make sense. However, I still didn't like the movie. For starters, we have Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan as the three main characters in the film. Downey is a theif-actor who is job shadowing Kilmer. Kilmer is an actual private detective investigating some murders. Monaghan is Downey's childhood/high school crush that randomly turns up and runs into Downey. The movie is narrated throughout by Downey as he re-tells this story with Kilmer interjecting a couple times. I will say the movie is clever, but it's probably a little too clever for most people to follow. So much so that I really, really wanted to just turn it off. Luckily I have a rule that I need to just watch movies til they're over because you never know how you might feel about it after the credits start to roll. Some of the reason it's hard to follow, in my opinion, is because the story is being narrated. And just like when some people tell a story, Downey would accidently leave a part out or have to re-tell something. So the story would backup or pause while the details were worked out. The story also jumped from one character to another, which isn't bad in itself (Look at Pulp Fiction for example), but didn't flow very well. Another problem I had is that things just weren't making sense. I felt like I was watching a soap opera at times. This can be explained by the following-the-book-genre theory of mine. People would say weird things or have stupid ideas, crazy thoughts, do weird things, etc. Many of the situation just seemed contrived and not real. There were even several times where nudity was introduced. However, it didn't have a point and it wasn't really that American Pie/National Lampoon-esque either. You know - the kind that draws in the 13-20 yr old crowd. If I didn't think this movie was the way it is, I would say this is probably the worst movie I've seen in a long time. I'm sure there are many that would disagree with me on this one, so maybe you should give it a watch yourself and then put up a comment as to what you think.

Green Street Hooligans

2006-06-21T11:04:00.000-04:00

I finally saw this long awaited film last night. It was just as good as I expected it to be and even a little bit more. I didn't know much about this other than it involved hooligans or soccer fans that like to cause trouble. Recognizable actors were Charlie Hunnam (Undeclared, Nicholas Nickleby, Cold Mountain), Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black, Mallrats, Mystery Men) and Elijah Wood (Everything is Illuminated, Sin City, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). I'm relaly liking Elijah Wood more and more in every movie I see him in. After LOTR I was a little afraid he might get himself pidgeon-holed into a hobbit role of sorts, but I've been so glad to see him succeed. He also happens to be born the same year as me and from my home state. So I say, "Rock on Elijah". Anyways, besides being a movie about thugs, there are a lot of good values to be learned here. Some might have to look a little harder than others, but I'll name a few in case you're wondering. We get to see Matt Buckner go from a scared, easily pushed around person to somebody that stands up for themselves is confident in who they are. We see friendships made and friendships tested. We have people realize that having a reputation with certain people isn't always all that it's cracked up to be. We also see that the mob mentality and violence very easily get out of hand and can result in some pretty drastic outcomes. If you're into soccer, or football as the rest of the world says, I would think this might be a movie for you.

Nacho Libre

2006-06-20T15:57:00.000-04:00

Jack Black has got to be one of my favorite current actors. He's so funny, so hilarious. My first realization of him was in the movie High Fidelity. I had seen him in things before, but had never really noticed him. What's amazing is that Black continues to make-me-laugh-til-my-sides-ache time and time again. I'd like to start off by saying that this movie has been heavily marketed to kids on Nickelodeon so that gives you an idea of its target audience. However, that doesn't mean it still can't be funny to 20, 30, 40, 50, or whatever year olds. This also happens to be the 3rd notch on Jared Hess's director belt and I'd have to say I haven't been dissapointed yet. If you consider yourself a real movie buff and like to watch extra stuff about movies, you have to visit the movie web site and check out the confessionals. These are little clips of Jack Black talking about the day-to-day happenings while on set. This movie should make you laugh. Black plays a mexican monk who dreams of being a luchador (professional wrestler). The only problem is that this fighting is forbidden. Meanwhile, a hot, new nun comes to the monastary and Nacho is doing all he can to impress her. Eventually Nacho gets into a prize fight with the chance to win some money to help out the orphans and I won't say any more about the plot because I wouldn't want to ruin it for you. All in all, I would list this movie as very entertaining and worth seeing this summer.

The Break-Up

2006-06-20T15:43:00.000-04:00

After seeing previews for this a long time ago, I really wanted to see it based on the bowling scene. This movie looked hilarious. As the time came closer and closer for it to come out, I also found out they had to re-shoot a bunch of footage to change the ending. This made me start to wonder a bit, but I think they probably made that decision for the best. Test audiences can be a good thing. Two things I must point out is that I spotted Peter Billingsley (Ralphie Parker from A Christmas Story) and Keir O'Donnell (Todd Cleary from Wedding Crashers). I was proud of myself for that. There's some other recognizable faces like Vincent D'Onofrio, Cole Hauser, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman (Arrested Development), Joey Lauren Adams and of course Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Parts of the movie seemed very weird to me because when I think of Vince Vaughn, I think of Swingers and it's sometimes hard for me to think of him in a serious role. Liz reminded me that I still haven't seen him in some serious roles. I think I need to get on that. So even though some of the movie seemed a bit cheesy to me, I still think it was full of hilariously funny parts. We even heard Vince almost repeat a line from Wedding Crashers. If you're into Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau humor, you'll probably want to watch this one.

Six String Samurai

2006-05-17T11:44:00.001-04:00

If you're looking for something fun and a little "out there", this might be the movie for you. Picture this - The Russians have dropped the bomb on the US. The last stronghold of freedom and America just happens to be Las Vegas. The president is none other than THE KING, Elvis Presley. So 40 or so years later the king has died and they are looking for a new, hip musician to rule. This is where Buddy comes in. Besides being able to play a mean six string guitar, he also happens to be a samurai warrior. So yeah, this sounds a little weird, but it's worth checking out if you consider yourself a movie buff.