LemonFrosted

Romeo + Juliet

2004-11-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

This is the Baz Luhrmann version with Leo and Claire. This is certainly one of the movies that have had a major impact on how I view film. Even though it isn't Baz's best work (that would be Moulin Rouge) it has a certain flair and style, merging these two worlds into some new thing entirely its own. Teh reason why it works is the same reason anythign by Baz Luhrmann works: he's unapologetic in his delivery. Teh whole world could stand up in disgust, and he wouldn't care. You have to admire balls like that. Among the other things that certainly influences the apeal of this movie is the fact that it came out right around that time that I was becoming aware of the world around me in terms of movies and music, finding my own taste, and also at that time where I was turning into a full-blown teenager with acne, relationships (or lack thereof), mood swings, angst, frustration, and so on. This came at the right time to epitomize all that.

Total: 136

Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)

2004-11-11T09:45:00.000-07:00

The copy that we watched looked like it had been mastered (it was on VHS) from about five different reels, some of which were subtitled, others which were not. The subtitles would drop out at some very inoportune moments leaving long stretches of important dialogue (I'd like to assume) untranslated. However, I must mention, due to the simplicity of the story and the characters, their everyday-ness, much of what they say can be inferred anyway. Knowing before hand that the two main characters were not trained actors, I was amazed at how fluid their performances seemed. Maybe that's teh Italians for you, less culturally self-conscious about things like cameras and being watched. It would make perfect sense if that were the case. Throughout the film I was consciously impressed by how crowded it was, knowing that those crowds were the real every-day crowds of Rome.

Total: 135

The Bourne Supremacy

2004-11-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Once againI've managed ot write out a fair bit of commentsary on a movie, and then shut the window by accident, thusly losing all my writing. I really liked the first one, and the second one is certainly a worthy sequel. It reminds of of why Bond was good in the first place. I'm caring less and less about watching people doing crap in front of a blue screen, or being CG'd in, unless we're talking Hellboy or Spiderman and their like which are structurally an entirely different story (fogive the pun). I could go on for days.

Total: 134

Erin Brockovich

2004-11-09T18:42:00.000-07:00

I don't really know what's up eith the current run of movies aside form the fat that my dad brought home a stack of DVDs that are normally at school with him for his classes, and I've been in need of somethign to quell my thirst for film, and use as a plausable excuse for not studying.
When I became conscious of the fact that Soderbergh directed this movie it did somethign to me. Most of that somethign is found in a realization of the fact that it doesn't matter who directs a Julia Roberts movie, it's going to be built around her and a director is there almost as a formality.
I remember when this came out I heard dozens and dozens of comments in the media focusing on the profanity and her outfits since Roberts is a national institution. the only line that surprised me to hear coming out of Julia's mouth was the comment about 643 blowjobs in five days.

Total: 133

Glory

2004-11-07T21:54:00.000-07:00

I'm tired and I don't want to forget to put this up so my comments will be brief. Civil War movie filmed in the late 80's, earned three Oscars in 1989, and shows both the care and concern that went in and the telltale signs of pre-DVD productions. Very good, but a lower budget than we're used to in these sort of stories in the post-Braveheart world.

Total: 132

The Incredibles

2004-11-06T01:36:00.000-07:00

I just have to say first that they did NOT run the Episode III trailer before hand, and I seriously considered walking out and getting a refund, then coming back tomorrow. I'm glad I stayed for the movie, but at the same time the same movie would have been there tomorrow, possibly plus Episode III. Anyway...
This movie really does hold pretty much everything I could ask for from an animated movie that doesn't involve Miazaki. One, it's been put together by Pixar, lords among animators, and really the seminal computer animation team. Two, it's directed by Brad Bird, the man responsible for The Iron Giant, which is quite easily among my favorite movies of all time, has been there for a while, and is expected to stay there for quite a while more. There is something about Brad Bird's films (all two of them) that has left me able to admit the flaws of the product, but at the same time feeling like I just watched something that's involved so much love and care, that you know you're seeing something special. Aswell, it certainly helps that he has a firm grasp of character and the little things that make them special.
Quite certainly worth your money, even at a first-run theatre. Definetly one to bring your date too.

Total: 131

Supersize Me

2004-11-06T01:29:00.000-07:00

This is the second time I've seen this movie, and the first time I've seen the first three or four minutes of it. Not that those minutes really change much of anythign, but it's a nice cohesive feeling. Morgan Spurloch poisons himself for the sake of entertainment ans editorial. It really is one of the ballsiest movies out there right now, and certainly commendable for the respect it's garnered.

Total: 130

Collateral

2004-11-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

I love movies. I especially love watching movies in the theatre. Somethign about the experience of paying money to put up with anoying employees (yes, I know where the theatre is. I knew where they were when I came in four days ago, I knew where they were when I came in last week, I know where they are still), dumb advertisments and trivia slides (which have managed to get more irritating jsut within the last month with a shorter rotation cycle, sync'd music, and the inclusion of C2 commercials, meaning you hear the same three songs, see the same two trivia sides, and watch the same commercial, with the same four advertisments at least twice apiece if you arrive with any time before the movie starts), a painful seat, and no pause button makes movies more enjoyable for me. I'm probably crazy.
I really enjoyed watching this movie. I was torn between this and purpously subjecting myself to pain with Resident Evil: Apocalypse or watching this which I've had on good report is an excellent film. Which it is. I really enjoyed watching it. I found myself looking forward to what was going to happen, how it was going to end. It's actualyl kinda rare for me to be feelign that through a movie. I generally know how most movies are going to fall together before hand, largly just as a function of having seen so many movies. I'm not sayinf I was surprised by the ending, as it's not meant to be a surprise, and there was the general knowledge of "yah, they'll survive" just because it's that kind of movie, but I found myself looking forward to how they would get there.
I do share the sentiments of many people in trying to figure out when Jamie Foxx woke up and decided to learn how to act. I am far from disappointed, but it is surprising that this is the same guy who brought us Booty Call with a character named "Bunz".

Total: 129

Miss Evers' Boys

2004-10-31T23:20:00.000-07:00

It's hard to really describe reactions to a movie like this without taking time to really digest the film as a whole. It really is writing these posts that does me a lot of good in figuring out how film is put together, how it works and doesn't. Part of the problem I have with movies is that I find it hard to hate a movie. Even somethign like Raising Helen or 13 Going on 30 I can make myself sit through and "enjoy". Not that this has much of anything to do with Miss Evers' Boys.
The story, as a character study, is quite well done as we watch Miss Evers (Alfre Woodard) trying to grasp her place in something that is beyond her control. She does what she can because she cares for those in her stewardship. She hold on to an increasingly faint hope that leaves one, by the end, wondering if it ever really existed. Those causes we fight with no end in sight and no reason in memory.
As a political force, the movie is okay, this for the very reason that the cause lacks sense or reason. They hold on to the idea that what they are doing is proving that negros are not physically inferior to the whites, but to a great degree their cause becomes lost when the subject becomes moot point, i.e. what does it matter who catches syphilis more if a ready cure is availible? I suppose my point here is that the personal grasping at logic, and the lack of logic they struggle with, is the very reason why it loses political force. It's hard to make a statement about a cause that you, by definition, do not understand.
I'm probably wrong and have missed the point all together.

Total: 128

Dawn of the Dead: Director's Cut

2004-10-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's only marginally different than the version Tim and I saw in theatres back in May but this time we saw it with the girls present. I've found since my orriginal writing that we've decided to use the word zombling regularly to describe the zombie baby, as an interesting side note. That scene has been slightly extended to change the pacing and intensity of it. It's less shocking, but heavier, as there is more screen time devoted to the baby, allowing us to see it's helplessness, shots of characters reacting, and a shot of Sara Polly lining up her shot. The majority of other scenes removed are for the same reason that most sceness are removed from any movie: pacing, redundancy, and length. If you've seen it before in the orriginal cut you sit there and think "gee, that's why this was cut" even though aa few of them have some interesting lines that are referred to later, like CJ sitting in the holding cell reading an article in a women's magazine about trust being the number one ingredient in any relationship.

Total: 127

On The Waterfront

2004-10-27T18:31:00.000-06:00

Rightfully the winner of the Oscar (trademarked and protected by martial law) for best picture of 1954, this is really a powerful story, superperbly acted, of people doing what is right when teh whole world is against them. My favorite touches of realism are those little moments that serve to cement the world this takes place in. So many movies that claim a presence in "the real world" leave me wondering 'where are the police?' or 'does anyone else actually notice?' Little touches, like the police officer at the beginning saying 'yah, I know you don't like police, but someone's gotta talk', produce a living, breathing environment for the story to take place in. In so many ways this is an example of a movie done right.

Total: 126

Raising Helen

2004-10-24T08:11:00.001-06:00

Well, it's not bad. It's not spectacular either. It uses some pretty heavy material as the foundation of its story, asking you to accept a fair bit in terms of how the characters respond to the deaths in the family. The adults act like adults, grieving when they can, struggling with the loss, but the kids... Well, I'll give the film-makers this: it's notoriously hard to get the intensity of performance out of children that an accurate portrail of loss demands, and when they are caught on film, the results are usually so heavy that it would entirely destroy a "dramatic family comedy" and instead turns it into "the most disturbing 'family' movie ever". Think Radio Flyer for a good example of how this interplay works.

Total: 126

Aladdin

2004-10-24T08:11:00.000-06:00

So, long time childhood favorite. It's really a great movie, if you're willing to just accept the imposition of 20th century Western morality and forward-thinking social feminism on 12th century Middle-Eastern society. Marrying "for love" is a pretty new luxury. New enough that we still find a sense of purpose in trans-class romance, in spite of living in a society with a "transparent class system." For a contrast, even the template for most romances, Romeo and Juliet, has its characters on the same class level as each other, and to the best of my recollection, someone please fill in the blanks if I'm wrong, most of Shakespere's works adhere to these rules. Whatever. It's got good music and humor that has aged well.

Total: 125

The Conversation

2004-10-20T17:05:00.000-06:00

Gene Hackman plays Harry Caul in this tense story about a man who has spent so much time spying on others that he has become all but incapable of opening his private life to others. The events of the film centre on the days following a shady job that he is hired to do. After recording the conversation of a couple he begins to suspect that there is a greater plot at hand than immediatly appears. Probably the richest part of the film is who the soundtrack is integrated into the story line and the symbolism of the story. The recorded conversation with its innocuous and dangerous strains is played repeatedly in the background layering meanings on top of the life of Harry. since Harry's job is the business of recording, the business of sounds, we hear the world as he hears it: taps, knocks, white noise, interrupting static, footsteps, the clicks that locks, doors, shoes, rings, and just about everythign else makes, and a cool blue jazz long play on the hi fi.

Total: 124

Alien: The Director's Cut

2004-10-10T23:38:00.000-06:00

i've seen this movie a number of times before, it being among those movies that have existed through my entire existance, but still not being as prevalent as Star Wars, I actually watched this movie for the "first time" a number of years ago after I fell in love with Ridley Scott's work through Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise. It's hard to say anything truly unique about a movie that has become so much a part of our cultural pastel. So much exists in the form of homage, theft, and parody that there is very little new ground to be broken in discussing this film. One of the things that was discussed while we were watching the film was about the nature of phenominae, sitting here wondering what the next "revolutionary" film will be. What will be the next Star Wars, the next Alien, the next Saturday Night Fever? Has our culture become so conscious of these phenominae that we're looking too hard for them and as a result crimp the chances of their happening? I don't know, but I do know that Alien is a film that has aged very well. In spite of hundreds upon hundreds of chest-burster rip offs and parodies, the orriginal is still one of the most intense pieces of film making in existance. Partly because, as I found out during the viewing, the actors' response to the spurting blood (they were told what would happen but weren't told how much blood was being used) is not simulated. Thinking also of the M*A*S*H episode where Radar informs a room full of cast members about the death of Lt. Col. Blake while they're under the impression they're filming pick-ups, a little real emotion can work wonders that acting can not.

Total: 123

I, Robot

2004-10-08T16:15:00.000-06:00

I really thought that I was going to be more offended by this movie than I was. To start, this movie bears little more than a passing resemblance to the orriginal novel, and I found it curious that the crdits at the end use the phrase "suggested by Isaac Asimov's book" instead of the typical "based on" or "inspired by." Part way throught he movie I reviseted one of my orriginal hypotheses about this movie that it'd be better called by a different name, but that poses two problems. If you remove the Asimov connection you have to alter the three laws in some ways to prevent being cited for plagarism, a difficult task seeing as Asimov devoted his life to these kinds of theories. It would be a monumental task to come up with a comprable set of rules. Second problem is that the name "I, Robot" is just so cool. I tried to think up a different name for the movie that would be equally applicable and still sound good, but "Sonny" was the only one I could come up with, and it's not as cool, it just isn't. With these taken into mind it becomes very easy to disconnect from Asimov's work and just accept what's going on on screen.

Total: 122

The Limey

2004-10-06T16:30:00.000-06:00

"Limey" is a slang term for Englishman, making "The Limey" the Englishman. I mention this because of the use of slang. It's typical to have the dialogue reflect the person, the character, as much as possible. This really is the only ideal setup as our daily uses of speach often reflect our background and personality. In Resevoir Dogs the characters issue a nearly non-stop stream of profanity, a vocal counterpart to the violence of their existance. In The Limey, Wilson is a recently released convict (yes, of English descent) and a thief by trade. His style is the language of the streets, a neverending stream of jumping thoughts and slang terms, a counterpart to the instability of his life (in and out of prison) and the visual stream-of-though created through Soderbergh's editing. He's on a personal crusade to find the man he feels is responsible for his daughter's death. In the end it's touching in how well the story falls together as we discover that we're following a man who does not seek for revenge, but seeks to put the time he's lost into context with the life he knows.

Total: 121

The Empire Strikes Back

2004-10-05T11:24:00.000-06:00

The first thing that I noticed about this new version (which may have been in the standard Special Edition) is that C-3P0 has a whirring, servomotor noise added to his motions. I found it immensely distracting at first, just because I kept listening to see if I was hearing correctly. I suppose it's not a bad touch, just noticable becauseI'm not used to it being there.
This is still my favorite Star Wars movie, largely for the lighsabre duel at the end. I still hold firm that the Cloud City duel between Vader and Luke is the best of them all, because of the tension involved. Vader knows who Luke is, but Luke fights believing that this is the man who murdered his father. Luke pours in all his energy and focus, fighting like he's never fought before (though he honestly doesn't have much experience) and Vader still manages to waste him through much of the battle using only one hand. That touch is quite significant in itself because George Lucas was very adamant during the production of the movies that Lightsabreas are very powerful and difficult to weild, that the force of them hitting requires two hands to keep it under control. Luke uses this two-handed fighting style. Vader keeps one hand under his cloak.

Total: 120

The Fellowship of the Ring

2004-10-03T20:58:00.000-06:00

The last time I saw this was almost a year ago, the day that I came home from my mission. We watched the extended edition that night, so this was the first time I've seen the theatrical edit. I noticed some of the differences right off, but most have been lost to the fact that I've only seen the movie once before. If I were to watch the theatrical edition of The Two Towers, that would be something different.

Well, what do I love about this film? I love how well it has been put together. I love the sense of care and concern that went into making these movies. Plus Sean Bean is here. His character is wonderful, carrying a sense of power, yet weakness, all at the same time. It really is difficult to try and dissemble something like this that has become such an integral part of our culture. I'll leave it that I love this movie, as I'm watching The Empire Strikes Back right now.

Total: 119

Happy Gilmore

2004-09-30T23:03:00.000-06:00

There's somethign to be said for a good comedy. Sure this isn't exactly highbrow comedy, but it
is a great party movie with lots of quoteable lines. It's also a pretty good story. The characters are likeable/hateable as needed. Happy makes enough of a personality change that we can forgive the wild, irresponsible, angry person we see at the begining of the movie. Plus it has Happy beating up, and getting beat up by, Bob Barker. Easily one of the best scenes in modern physical comedy. I've also noticed that this movie is rife with so much product placement that I'd be surprised if Subway and Pepsi didn't pay teh studio to have the film made.

Total: 118

The Truman Show

2004-09-29T21:41:00.000-06:00

I love this movie for so many reasons. The flavor, the texture, the acting, the story, the characters... pretty much everything. My favorite scene is probably when he's in the square, starting to realize that somethign is very not right with his life. The music that plays as he very deliberately moves around with these broad sweeping motions that almost say "I am gaining knowledge. I am empowering myself." It's wonderful. Then, the power of the final lines:

""Say something! You're on television! Live in front of the whole world!"

"If I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night."

Total: 117

Full Metal Jacket

2004-09-29T17:04:00.000-06:00

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this movie that hasn't already been covered in many better ways by just about everyone else. In my opinion this is Gomer Pyle's story. His arc sets the prescident for the rest of the movie, as the second half of the movie mimicks the first, with Joker shooting the Viet girl in parallel of Pyle shooting the drill seargent. both represent a spiritual death, a giving in to the most carnal and destructive elements of humanity. the difference is that Pyle then turns teh gun on himself, where Joker goes on to live. He's alive, but for what? M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E.

Total: 116

Troy

2004-09-28T23:51:00.000-06:00

I have a small confession to make. Brad Pitt is my hero. Okay, maybe not my hero, and I say things like that often enough that it's not really a confession. I've loved his work ever since 12 Monkeys (which I havn't seen in a while, note for pay day...) and have taken the good and the bad in stride. The thing that threw me off for a long time (I didn't see 12 Monkeys until it was well past new) was that he was a pin up face in the girls lockers at the same time as that kid from Home Improvement, and I hated him. As a general rule through my life I've considered the phrases "teen idol" and "mediocre hack" to be somewhat sysnonymous, at least in the "all widgets are wikkits, but not all wikkits are widgets" way. I mean, let's break this down:

The Spice Girls - can't really sing, but they're willing to gyrate on stage for million of horny boys and tell all the little girls that this is "Girl Power" winning the favor of the girls because "they're famous and successful women."

The Backstreet Boys - can harmonize okay, but aren't stretching anythign vocally, stylistically, or intellectually. Not inept dancers, but they're certainly not channeling Tina Turner.

Jonothan Taylor Thomas - can't act very well, can't sing, can't dance. Can pose for a poster with his shirt off and his boxers hanging out very well.

Hillary Duff - how do I put this in a way that can scathe as many people as possible in as little space? Spears and Aguilera got out of control, so Disney let them go and built Duff to replace them, implanting chips into her brain rendering her into a total slave to their wims, ensuring she won't go renegade like the two previous versions.

He didn't have things stacked in his favor. I suppose I'm sacrificing my point in order to slam the pop culture I hate. I'll stop and get ot the movie. Brad Pitt can normally act.

Troy feels like the majority of the cuts included were the 87th takes: the actors were tired of pouring their emotions into it and were just doing it to get it done. tehre are moments where things shine through, the story isn't THAT BAD, but generally it just feels detatched and uninvolving. Plus Orlando Bloom's character is a total whiner. I hate whiners.

Total: 115

Willow

2004-09-26T19:42:00.000-06:00

Once upon a time there was a man named George. George liked making movies. He made a bunch of really good movies. Among these was a movie named "Star Wars." Up until the day that George died, he was never able to escape this movie. He tried, though. He tried really hard. He made movies about other fantasy worlds. He made a whole new series of movies about a wisecracking paleontologist. He told authors to take his work and rape it through any orifice they chose, but even with this he couldn't convince himself to let it be. This is not Star Wars. This is one of the diversion attempts.

This movie is fairly typical of George Lucas' fantasy works. The main characters are either inherently good in every instance, or are much better people by the end of the story. The action relies a lot on the main characters having script immunity and an acceptance that everyone who does not have script immunity is a pawn under the most opressive hand destiny has ever turned, eliminating reason, logic, and talent. Think Stormtroopers. Still, enjoyable muchly.

Total: 114

Kontroll

2004-09-26T14:29:00.000-06:00

This is easily among the best movies I've seen this year. I have a mandate (assignment) from my film teacher to watch one or more films at the Calgary International Film Festival and write a thorough analysis of one. I intend on seeing several more films (would regardless) but I'm fairly decided that this will be the topic of my essay. What follows is not my essay, but a hashing out of ideas.

Kontroll is from Hungary, is in Hungarian with English subtitles, and stars a number of people whos names I can't pronounce.

The film opens with a disclaimer from the Budapest Metro Authorities declairing that the characters involved do not represent the actual Ticket Inspectors employed by the authorities. In an interesting turn, this disclaimer is used to introduce the central theme of the film and establish some of the "ground rules" of the film. The man from Budapest Metro explains that the characters are broad representations of the struggle between good and evil and the events depicted are symbols of this spiritual battle. We then proceed into a world that exists only underground, the land above being, to the main character, as unreal and distant as heaven. In this world below heaven people come and go, some drifting in and out without so much of a thought as to their surroundings while others lock in a battle for control with those in power. Our main characters are a posse of Ticket Checkers, the most hated men in Budapest. They struggle to maintain control in this world: maintain order, maintain control of their own lives, and maintain their personal authority. The tone vascillates widely between moments of spirited fun and dark humor as the posse attempts to catch a career vandal/fare dodger and moments of claustophobic intensity and insanity as a co-worker goes over the edge of reason.

There is more, much more, as the entire film is largely symbolic. I could go on about the metamorphosis of the love interest, the presence of a serial "pusher" in the system, the struggles between separate enforcer teams, and the bizzar sport of "railing" but I'm going to save that for my essay.

If you have the chance to see this movie, go. You will not be disappointed.

Total: 113

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

2004-09-23T14:05:00.000-06:00

Here I sit, after years of waiting, with the DVD firmly in my sweaty palms. Much ado has been made which in the ultimate course of all history and futurity, amounts to very little. However, within the realm of those who understand the power of the dark-side, those of us who are Jedis like our fathers before us, those of us who are no good, stuck up, scruffy looking Nerf herders, all us scoundrels, and, yes, even those of us who are simply as clumsy as we are stupid, this means a lot to us. We've looked forward to this day, perhaps even had a wet dream or two about it, and now it's here. The only thing that remains: was it worth the wait? A delicate question that is.

I'm going to break that into two separate things: one it is good to finally have the DVDs. My wide-screen VHS copies of the original edit are wearing thin. The soundtrack fades in and out of existence at the beginning and end of each movie. I needed a replacement. So, part on is wether or not the DVDs in and of themselves are worth it, yes they are. The print quality is superb, the sound quality is excellent (I'll get to sound editing later, if ever) and the bonuses are okay. But the wait? Is there something here to justify the fact that we weren't looking at this box four years ago? Well, all too much of that is going to depend on Episode III and wether or not the Special Editions should have ever existed. With that, as I only watched Episode IV last night, I'm going to only talk about Episode IV.

Seven, almost eight years ago the Special Edition was released I left the theatre unsure of what to think. I never really saw Star Wars for the first time. I'd seen it so many times as a kid that I have trouble remembering a time when I couldn't recall some image from these movies, it along with Princess Bride have just perpetually existed in my life. This was different though. I had seen the original footage of Han talking to Jabba on the cassette "Star Wars to Jedi" that came with our Wide-screen boxed set, pre SE era, and I also remembered that footage in the context of George Saying "we wanted to do this, but we didn't have the means, or even really an idea of what Jabba was like." they then go on to discuss the several different conceptual renditions of Jabba produced for Return of the Jedi. So, when I saw the footage with the CG Jabba my thoughts traced a line somewhere along the lines of "Jabba doesn't look real" and "this doesn't look like the actions of the Jabba we see later." The reason why Jabba sent Greedo in the first place also comes to mind. the scene is redundant and included largely to show off, in my mind. I'm not really going anywhere in particular with this, so I hope you don't feel like I have a point. Greedo. Why can't Han just ice the bastard? Han being so self centered later in the movie with his "I'm in this for the money" speech is more believable when we know he's willing to shoot first. At least in the current incarnation their shots are all but simultaneous. It makes Han's actions seem more premeditated (well, he does sit there and loosen his blaster) as if he's still planning on shooting Greedo regardless, but also anticipating Greedo's actions. In all honesty, those are the only two things from the Special Edition of this film that upset me. The final assault on the Death Star was disorienting that first time in the theatre, but mostly because I was expecting to see what I'd seen dozens of times before. This edit retains it's ultimate purpose, builds up to the same end, and in many ways makes more sense, especially in relation to Luke's interactions with Edge and Biggs. I remember for years before the SE I wondered why he made the comment "It'll be just like Beggar's Canyon back home." This always struck me as odd because in my mind no one else there would know what Beggar's Canyon was. It's a weak comfort to tell people "don't worry, at least I'll be able to pull out."

Okay, I think this has been more than aimless enough for the time being. I'll leave it with this: I'm very glad to have them on DVD as now I can watch them, really, wherever I want, and the changes to this version definetly show (along with the disapearance of Metachlorian references after Episode I) the George is willing to make concessions to the fans, but he's still a curmudgeonly old man when it comes down to what he wants.

Total: 112

Election

2004-09-22T17:02:00.000-06:00

this is essentiall an essay about how we ruin our own lives. It's quite funny, but still very unsettling, watching the characters fall victim to their mistakes. the only character to avoid this fate is Paul, who doesn't actually make the mistakes. He's just sort of there, with the world swirling around him. He realizes that his life is, in the scheme of things, pretty good and takes things as they come. Mainly, though, this is about Jim and how in spite of watching his friend ruin his life through an affair with Tracy, goes on to make the same mistake with (the irony) his friend's wife and uses the same excuses. He loves his job, has a pretty good life, but hasn't learned how to communicate with the people around him. When he's confronted with a challenge he reacts rashly, usually trying to find an immediate solution without thinking of the consiquences. Tracy's life is a sort of parody of Jim's. Where Jim's good intentions earn him failure after failure and ultimately a total meltdown of his life, Tracy's self-serving and megalomaniacle intentions earn her success and prestige. Still, at the end of the affair, neither have much of their dignity in tact, only Jim realizes it and Tracy doesn't.

Total: 111

Ghostbusters

2004-09-19T23:31:00.000-06:00

A classic from childhood days, I used ot have Slimer and Stay Puft Marshmellow Man toys. They were awesome. Some of the special affects are horribly dated, but alot still stand up pretty well, surprisingly. It's nice to see how they did things before the days when EVERYTHING is CG. That's really more a knock at movies like Congo, Troy, and Resident Evil, rather than Sky Captain. Which actually brings out somethign I'd like to mention about 28 Days Later I recently read in an article, I believe in Wired magazine, where the interviewee was talking about digital technology bringing power to the little guy in filmaking. Then he clarified "I'm not talking about everyone making Jurassic Park or Troy or Lord of the Rings. I want to see the little studios being able to have that one effects shot of 1930's New York skyline out the window. That one shot that makes the movie possible." 28 Days Later has four or five such shots that stand out because you know they can't be real, but visually look convincing. It's the way this technology should be used. In the "old days" they used painted mattes, like here in Ghostbusters. Mattes are used to add the appartment building to the skyline, and there's one shot of a gargoyle as Sigourney's car is first pulling up that's actually a matte painting. Nice.

Total: 110

28 Days Later

2004-09-19T17:48:00.000-06:00

A zombie movie that's not fully a zombie movie. Why? The people aren't dead yet.
I really, really enjoyed this movie. It's rich with texture, symbolism, meaning, character, emotion, and heart. It is also genuinly creepy. The roots I found most obvious would be in John Wyndham's Day of the Triffids, as others have thankfully pointed out (I'm glad I'm not alone.) The scenes of Jim walking around deserted London bring back feelings of when I first saw Quiet Earth. My favorite scene of the movie would have to be when the initial trio is walking to Jim's house as an a capella version of the old English hymn "Abide With Me!" is played.
I had a lot more that I wanted to say about the character development, Jim's empowerment transformation at the end, and such, but I can't seem to find words right now.

Total: 109

Casablanca

2004-09-15T17:38:00.000-06:00

The world needs more movies with this kind of style and heart. Men are gentlemen and women are ladies. People wear suits and are cordial, even in attempting arrest. People have class and a sort of dignity that has long disappeared from our culture. Perhaps it's thesee movies that have inspired me to start wearing neck ties everywhere, collared shirts, slacks and nice shoes.

Total: 108

North By Northwest

2004-09-15T14:39:00.000-06:00

A quick note of something that Brenda pointed out a couple days ago is that earlier this week Sony bought M-G-M. I remembered that when the M-G-M lion came up on the screen as the movie started.

This is the first movie I've watched as a requirement for the university film class I'm taking. We were instructed to keep in mind the aspects of "story" while watching. I'm not entirely sure what my professor meant when she said that, if she wants up to be able to deconstruct the plot structure in to themes and symbols, identify wether it is Realist or formalist, or just be able to rehearse plot and character.

One of the great things about studying Hitchcock is that he is very methodical and deliberate, he doesn't throw in vast ammounts of unneeded detail. Characters that are unimportant are marginalized and only those who have some value to the progression of the story are given serious consideration in the frame of the camera. I think that this piece in particular is an excellent example of good storytelling becausee it progresses at an even pace, even going to the extent of putting each of it's three acts in a different physical location: New York, Chicago, and Grand Rapids, the cropduster being part of Chicago as Thornhill returns to Chicago after the attack. One of the things that I'd find interesting to consider a little bit more in depth would be the aspects of character development through a film. In the case of this film the characters are believable people. Even when double identities are revealed, they fit in suit with the character we know in a very instantly acceptable way. Which I suppose, as I think about it, is the only way to do things properly. In cases I can think of where the revelation is, perhaps, a little more jarring it is still believable, or at least acceptable, though it may take some conscious thought, ie. Fight Club or The Spanish Prisoner. But this isn't supposed to be a breakdown of character, but a breakdown of story. I guess I'm going to have to go home and review the reading for this week, as I read it two weeks ago. Ah well, I'm so hard done by.

Total: 107

Ghost World

2004-09-05T00:49:00.000-06:00

It's going to take more than just one viewing to be able to pull all of this movie together. But that's a pretty general sort of situation. Most movies with several themes and layers need to be viewed more than once, because, if propperly assembled, the ultimate impact of the themes and symbols isn't known until the end of the movie. Even in cases like American Beauty where the ending is revealed at the very beginning, the scope of the director's intent isn't in focus until the end. such ios the case with Ghost World. The plot is almost hidden, along with the themes and symbols, behind the happenings. What you see is a series of sequential scenes that don't start forming a big picture until the end. The majority of attention, I found, is spent absorbing the story and actual happenings on the first pass. Gathering the details that are needed to piece together an image of the "message."

Total: 106

School of Rock

2004-09-04T02:39:00.000-06:00

“There used to be a way to stick it to the man. It was called Rock and Roll. But the man ruined that too with a little thing called MTV!”
I’m not exactly sure how many times I’ve seen this movie now, or at least been present when it’s been playing. I must give it that it is a pretty funny movie. It’s not the kind of movie that you can watch over and over again, but it’s a great party movie. Jack Black’s antics can get pretty out of hand at times, but when a director is able to keep him reigned in it manages to walk a line of being over-the-top without being embarrassing. A lot of times in these kinds of comedies, where the buffoon is set up as the fall guy, it often dissolves to a point where it’s almost unbearable to watch. There are a few moments in here that do fall in that realm, but it otherwise manages to avoid the awkwardness. As an added bonus, the music really is great, as far as the actual soundtrack goes. The songs the band plays are fine the first time, but rapidly hit their tolerance threshold after repeated viewings.

Total: 105

King Arthur

2004-09-03T12:13:00.000-06:00

So, a bunch of guys are sitting around thinking "Hey Braveheart and Gladiator were really great movies. I wanna make a movie like that." Then the other guy says "Yah, but about what?" After some head scratching, someone says "I've always wanted to do a movie about King Arthur, like First Knight."
Throw all that into a cauldron and chant some fell incantations and the result will probably resemble this movie. It's not the worst movie I've seen this year, but if I had seen it in the first run theaters for $11 I would probably be walking out of the theatre feeling really ripped off right now. It straddles a line between it's different personalities, without ever really connecting with any of them whole-heartedly. There is the running theme of Braveheart's freedom, but they don't manage to capture it on the same level because of, I feel, the social standing of the characters/ William Wallace was hanging from the bottom rung of the ladder, and managed to cause a major stir in the machinations of the day. Arthur and his band are indentured, yes, but still quite far from the bottom rung. They have privilege, money, weapons, horses, armor, and authority. It doesn't have the same punch, since they don't even really "fight the system." Rome is perfectly willing to let them go once they're done dancing. It would have been a better story if the emotional focus, in a case like this, were more on the "I've been doing this so long, it's all I know" feeling that comes from the lifestyle, they're indentured to duty out of a bond of brotherhood more than loyalty to crown. they do touch on that at the very end, but it could have stood as a stronger theme. But all that brings in the next bit of observation: historical accuracy. To be honest, the Arthur legend does resemble Wallace in several ways, as a key point of it is that Arthur managed to unite the native factions of Britain. So, if we're looking at this from a historical perspective, if Arthur is a half-Brit half-Roman raised in roman society and even, as they direct several times, in Rome, where would he get his ideas about equality and freedom from? Arthur happens to idolize a Roman philosopher who opposed the Roman policy of slavery as barbaric and un-Christian. He was killed for his ideas. I'm glad that they recognize how anachronistic it is in a lot of these medieval stories to have people talking about equality, especially gender equality. Information was monopolized, hence the entire need for a revolution. There were a lot of ideas that people, common people especially, didn't have. Characters who talk about philosophy without some plausible source of their information interrupt the flow, they look and feel out of place.
There is some of that that they can't quite escape, and that revolves around the character Guinevere. The introduction of her character really represents a visible change in the plausibility of the movie. We've often remarked about "historical accuracy" as we look at Guinevere's costume on the movie poster, and it is the place where the film makers were caught up against a brick wall. To be historically accurate, she must be marginalized. To have a good story you have to bend the accuracy a fair bit. Either way you betray something of what you're trying to accomplish. So they went with a Hollywood Guinevere who outwits the boys, is a marksman like no body's business, talks of freedom and equality like she just came out of university, is handy with a sword, and feels comfortable wearing two tight straps of leather for a bra. It's the quintessential post-feminist heroine: anything you can do I can do better. It stands out a little too much, especially since Keira Knightley isn't the strongest actress out there. Several times I thought to myself "she looks like she just forgot her line." and a lot of her blocking is done in much the same manner, like she just remembered she was supposed to move. I think she got the job because her last name looks great on the movie poster, and she'd just come off the set of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Total: 105

The Nightmare Before Christmas

2004-09-02T23:23:00.001-06:00

I've certainly enjoyed that this beloved artifact from my childhood is enjoying a sort of resurgence as a cult favorite. From my 14 year old sister's friends sitting around drawing Jack and Sally on their binders to Blink 182's reference in the song "Miss You" (The unsuspecting victim/ of darkness in the valley/ we can live like Jack and Sally if we want/ where you can always find me/ and we'll have halloween on Christmas.) It's not really set up to appeal to the age group that it is marketed to in our culture. Not only is the subject matter somewhat above the exposure of most middle children, but the stylized artwork is almost too abstract, and the song composition too complex for children raised entirely on post-Walt (Eisner, Bird) Disney which has not only managed to steadily grind the intellectual quality of animated features into the ground, but has also managed to alienate Pixar, the upstart CG studio that still understood how to make a real movie.
that said, I love animation for the raw technical prowess it requires, the mental ability to break something down into all the usual aspects of cinema, and the added concept of that being presented a frame at a time. Claymation has an even dearer place for me because of the lighting. Lighting is is one of my favorite aspects of this world, the way that light effects things, the way that objects cast shadows, and claymation, because of the true physical aspect of the world and characters, allows for a more complex system of light and shadow than conventional drawings.
"Kidnap the sandy claws/ beat him with a stick/ lock him up for 90 years/ see what makes him tick."
Lock, Shock, and Barrel's song about kidnapping Sandy Claws is, perhaps, the most disturbing song ever peddled as children's fare, ever.
One of the things that particularly intrigues me about the present fascination with this movie, or at least its characters, among 13-16 year old girls is the fast that they were between 2 and 5 when the movie came out originally. I suppose the simplest answer would be that they acquired it off their older siblings, those of us who were 9-13 when the movie first came out.

Total: 104

The Big Lebowski

2004-09-02T21:10:00.000-06:00

There's actually a whole class at my university dedicated to the films of Joel and Ethan Coen, but it was cancelled a week ago. I'm sure the people who were enrolled are very upset about that. I would be. I love these guys' work.
"Smokey, this is bowling, not 'Nam: there are rules here."
I'm not sure if I can quite pinpoint what it is right now about their films that gives them their draw. Is it the characters? The directing? The script? Logically, the answer is a combination between all of the above. Films are built of all these different building blocks, and those in themselves come together through a collaborative effort. The Coen Brothers just happen to keep a lot more of the formal collaboration within themselves, as is apparent from the "written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen." With that there's, I suppose, a sort of cohesiveness that has opportunity to blossom that wouldn't otherwise. In other words, all those little things that go into a movie agree a lot more than normal. The director never has to sit there and wonder "I wonder why the writer decided to write it in this order" because he was the one who wrote it. At least, that's what I see in my mind. In reality they still need to go through the process of finding a producer, and communicating their ideas to the producer, crew, and cast.

Total: 103

Goldeneye

2004-09-02T17:45:00.000-06:00

Well, I got talking about GoldenEye and Bond in my discussion of The Bourne Identity, so I pulled out GoldenEye and started watching it. I stand that this is not just one of the best Bond movies, but is also just one great movie all together. Really, for me, what does it is the whole 006 thing. Not only is Sean Bean hot, he's also an amazing actor. The tension between the two super-spies, once friends, now enemies, goes beyond the usual "monster of the week" Bond villain making the whole affair a little more engaging. They tried to replicate this "more on the line" feel in "The World is not Enough" with the kidnapping of M, but that didn't have the same weight.
GoldenEye also brings a change in the relationship between Bond and Moneypenny, largely because their relationship before could have stood as the congressional definition of sexual harassment. In GoldenEye Moneypenny is equipped with her own arsenal of witty retorts to parry Bond's advances.

Total: 102

The Bourne Identity

2004-09-02T14:08:00.000-06:00

Among the things that I enjoy most about this movie are that Matt Damon has a face that's ordinary enough it becomes easy to believe this is a man who's job is to drift in and out of different places, leaving as little a mark as possible. As well, the lack of CG wizardry and the presence of some old-fashioned stunts (which remain within the laws of known physics) is a refreshing, I want to say 'spin' but that would be inaccurate as it's the way thing used to be all the time, treat. A lot of people seem to want to compare Bourne and Bond, but I'd wager to say that such a comparison is unfair. Not simply for the fact that it is fully possible to like both without violating brand rules, since Bond is owned by MGM and Bourne by Universal, which happen to be sister companies, or at least sleep in the same room a lot. In my mind it boils down like this: Bond is pure fantasy, reveling in gadgets, fireballs, and women, where Bourne is concerned with logistics. Bond appeals to the side of us that wants to sit safe knowing that nothing is ever really going to go wrong. Things will take a turn for the worse, but something will save the day, something we wish would happen a little more frequently in our lives. The Bourne stories take the same creative energy and instead focuses on a more sympathetic emotion, we all know how it feels too watch everything in our life go wrong. It's not that Bourne escapes the "going wrong" it's that he manages to adapt rapidly to the situation, something a lot of us wish we were better able to do.
As an additional note, it is wonderful to see a hero who is not so much concerned with revenge or personal betterment. He's not even resigned to the life he lives, or used to live. He wants out. The sooner he can stop killing people, the better. This was a side of Bond seen briefly in Goldeneye when 006 makes the comment about Bond's alcoholism "I might as well ask you if all the vodka martinis ever silence the screams of all the men you've killed" but is otherwise ignored in that series because the reality of the fact that Bond kills human beings for a living is rather unsavory.
To correct a misconception that I previously held, "The Bourne Conspiracy" appears to be the British title of this movie, and is not the title third story in the series, which is actually called "The Bourne Ultimatum." Frankly, I think Bourne Conspiracy sounds better, especially since it fits rhythmically with the other two titles.

Total: 101

Serpico

2004-09-01T00:57:00.000-06:00

I had written a somewhat lengthy discourse about the staying power of movies and inter movie references while I was watching this. Then when I was done the movie I went and did some research in a tab. The site I wound up on opened so many different pop-ups that I decided it would be easier to just close all of Safari instead of closing each individual window. In doing so I entirely forgot about my discourse and lost it all.
So, I'll talk about something different.
I love the force of character displayed here. Not just Serpico's integrity, but Al Pacino's ability to convey the "I just want to do my job" attitude at the heart of it. The central point of this characteristic, I see, comes out from the line "if they took all that energy and directed it into real police work, this city would be clean; there would be no more crime."

Total: 100

Shrek 2

2004-08-31T21:24:00.000-06:00

I had the fortune of working at a movie theatre while the first movie was out. This enabled me to watch the original a number of times on the big screen. Since then I've seen the original a half dozen times or so on DVD. Needles to say, I am a fan of the original, and I was not disappointed by the sequel. There's always something to say about a film that is able to engage both the adult and the child on separate and sympathetic levels. Of course, having an engaging story, lovable characters, and great internal chemistry also help make a movie great. These are the qualities that Shrek had, making it, rightfully, one of the best movies of 2001. Shrek 2 manages to hold on to the majority of these qualities becoming a very worthy sequel. One of the things I found interesting was how the film makers spent virtually no time re-establishing character identities. I guess when your first movie was the biggest draw of the year that's a luxury you can afford. Because it is such a great movie, I'm not going to cover any particulars of the jokes and just leave it that you should all go see it yourselves, though I will say this: I want my own giant gingerbread man.

Total: 99

The Stepford Wives

2004-08-31T00:11:00.000-06:00

Frank Oz does not live on the planet earth. He lives in some other realm of which our kind are only privy to heavily censored home videos. Michael Gondry and Quinten Tarentino are present as well.
This movie is very, very funny at moments. There are several jokes that are well worth laughing aloud at, though I look back and I think that the three of us who went together were the only ones who actually got a lot of the jokes, as I don't remember hearing other people laughing. Maybe we were just too loud. as a whole, there are some rather large plot holes, like they were never entirely sure what their mythos was going to be: were the women being replaced with robots, or is it neo-brainwashing. Eventually they say it's chips that make them act like robots, but they show us the unfinished homunculus of Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler holds her hand on a lit gas stove for several seconds, and a woman shoots sparks out of her ears near the beginning. Whatever. The quick, snappy jokes and the chemistry between our underdogs is more than enough entertainment for a rental or second run theatre.

Total: 98

Charly

2004-08-30T20:54:00.000-06:00

An adaptation of Jack Wyland's book of the same name, this is a first class tear-jerker that is best watched after you've had your heart broken. You'll feel much better aobut your own situation afterwards. Aimed principally at a Mormon audience, it manages to separate itself from the ranks of "Single's Ward" and "The RM" by using the sub-culture as a backdrop and texture rather than a punchline. Except for one scene, which I absolutely loved for it's timing and truism, where Charly, while sitting in a class where the topic of the day is "Strengthening your marriage," adds "Sam and I like to make love" to a list containing "gardening" and "going for walks." It's only funny if you understand that alot of Mormons are so shy about sexuality that it's uncomfortable to speak about even in appropriate terms.
Still, in spit of how well it caters to its target audience, I would recommend this for anyone looking for a good evening of life-affirming tears.

Total: 97

Cheaper By The Dozen

2004-08-30T20:51:00.000-06:00

Another offering from the bus, I was plesantly surprised by this piece about the joy of family in an age of only-children. Steve Martin plays the character he has come to be best known as, the stressed out dad, and does as good a job as ever. There are some actual laugh-out-loud moments in this one, especially a tongue in cheek scene where Ashton Kutcher explains to his girlfriend that his face is the reason why he gets jobs (he's a model/actor) "I'm not a very good actor. I'm man enough to admit that. This (circles his face) this is what gets the jobs."

Total: 96

Parlez Moi D'Amor

2004-08-30T20:47:00.000-06:00

Very modern French, there is no real ending to this movie.
A husband and wife have been at odds with each other for years, she finally asks him to move out. Most of the movie after this point focuses on insular conversations between them and other people.
It's been a few weeks since I actually watched it, so I don't remember what I wanted to say about it.

Total: 95

Farenheit 9/11

2004-08-29T15:10:00.000-06:00

Here's a movie that alot of people are rapidly becoming unsure of what to do with. Is the Bush administration whacked? Yes. Is Michael Moore a pompous prick? Yes. Is the current state of the world beyond the digestion of any human being? Yes. Are these subjects so large and complex that it would take years to figure out even if everyone involved just stopped what they werte doing and waited for the judgement call, just like a disputed play in the game of football? Yes. So what do we take out of a movie that clames to have all the answers? Depends on who you are. I have some problems with this movie, largely its double-talk. Moore is not trying to make an expose, or sort out the truth of the past four years as he's just trying to convince people to not vote for Bush in November.
In general, my qualms with this movie, and its double-talk, stem from Moore's style of film making. He's a big fan of presenting information in a way where people will draw false conclusions, and covering his own tracks with the "I never said it meant that" line. We, as people, take information in in a largely sequential manner, then sort it out later based on things like pattern recognition and past experience. We sort out random divergant topics from each other by their lack of relationship. For example, I say "I'm going to the store. It's raining outside." Our minds will take those two pieces of information, process them sequentially, then realize that they're not really connected ideas. Or we'll get confused and wonder why the rain would make someone want to go to the store. Or I say "I like the taste of watermelon. I'm going to the store." You'll likely assume I'm on my way out to get some watermelon. If I come back without watermelon, you'll wonder what I was talking about. Here's the catch: I've done nothing to expressly admit a relationship between watermelon and the store, aside from juxtaposing those two ideas. I have not bound the two clauses together with a "because." We tend to fill that in on our own. Moore uses this in a visual sense. He places ideas and video clips next to each other, related or not, specifically because they will create a certain picture. For example, Moore makes a comment about Bush's priorities and competancy, then places next to that home video shots of Bush on the ranch sharing a story with his friends and family about the dogs chasing an armadillo. Some people see these clips and think "Wow, Bush doesn't care about being president" and others are like "what does that have to do with anything?"
Aside from the anachronistic timelines and manufactured information flow, he also cites some bizzar references. My personal favorite for "what does this have to do with anything" is when Moore crashes bridge night at the local community centre and interviews an eighty year old lady. I do recognize the value of the indivindual opinion, but the woman is not exactly privy to information that would shed more light on the situation than Fox News.
Lastly, at least as far as I'm going to mention of Moore's filmmaking policy, is his addiction to wandering the streets of Flint Michigan as if his home town is the nexus point for all bad things. This is indicative of one of Moore's biggest motives: he wants to be the star of the show. In my mind there was very little in the movie that was actually about uncovering the truth of the past four years, or of making sense of reality, regardless of wether or not we like it, and alot of Michal Moore "interviewing" himself (presenting the answers he would give to the questions he wants people to ask him.) He wants people to flock to his opinions and vote his way.
That said, jsut because Michael Moore is heavily biased to the point of nonsense, that doesn't mean his points are foundationless. He brings up topics that need to be discussed, that our civilization will have to find the answers to if it is to live with its past. it's unfortunate that he doesn't bring any answers to the table aside from name calling and slander. I think the greatest indication of his reputation was displayed when he tried to get congressmen to enlist their children. Most refused to talk to him. Is this because of a guilty conscience, or is it because they know that being interviwed by Moore means being placed in the worst light possible? Funny, congress was his martyr at the beginning of the movie, now they're his kicking toy.

Total: 94

Control Room

2004-08-15T14:26:00.000-06:00

I'm starting to believe that the documantary and semi-documentary editorial movies are going to entrench themselves as a staple film genre within the next few years. This is quite firmly a documentary,a dn quite an effective one at that. The most poignant moment (not neccisarely most potent) is when a US officer comments about how upset he felt seeing images of dead US soldiers and US POWs, then realizing that he didn't feel the same way the night before when the same station had shown pictures of dead Iraqis.

Total: 93

House of Wax (in 3-D)

2004-08-15T14:22:00.000-06:00

Finally made it to Toronto, the neighborhood cinema is (was) having a 3-D revival of sorts. Vincent Price kills people then covers them in wax. He scares me. Plus, as it was in 3-D, there's the obligatory ingratiating moments where they do stuff, typically breaking the fourth wall, to exploit the imaginary third dimension, like having a guy with paddle balls advertise for the house of wax by paddling his balls at the camera. It was still a ton of fun.

Total: 92

The Tuxedo

2004-08-15T14:18:00.000-06:00

Worst Jackie Chan movie ever. The stunts aren't that good, and having them be the fault of some super-suit ruins the thrill of human achivement, kinda like watching the pole vault if they had jet packs. Plus Jennifer Love Hewitt (two of her movies in the same day) has a really really irritating character. You wonder how these people got to be spies int he first place, they're so inept. The movie takes its story too seriously to be a good spy comedy, and too goofy to be a good spy action movie. Too much nothing. I was also tired of watching movies on a screen the size of a postage stamp.

Total: 91

13 Going on 30

2004-08-15T14:15:00.000-06:00

I don't typically watch movies liek this, but I was trapped, literally, on the bus with nothing else to do. I suppose it could have been alot worse of a movie, but it was still pretty typical all-around. If you've seen one girly relationship comedy in the past five-ten years, you've already seen this movie. IT is nice, however, that her true love isn't some chisseledpin-up. I guess it did one thing different.

Total: 90

Secret Window

2004-08-15T14:14:00.000-06:00

Another bus viewing, Johnny Depp is a writer who kills people. Sorry I gave away the ending. It's okay, but you won't cry if you miss it. I liked it more while I was watching it than I do in retrospect.

Total: 89

Garfield

2004-08-15T14:05:00.000-06:00

This, as well as a number of th eposts that follow, were all seen while riding the bus from Calgary to Winnipeg. I was actually quite plesantly surprised by this one. Bill Murray brings just the right character to Garfield to make him enjoyably self-centered without becoming irrtatingly smug. One of the other things that I enjoyed was that the relationship between Jon and Liz is completely different from the comics. Jon is not a worthless loser, just a guy who's a little shy to ask a girl out, and Liz actually likes him too. The romance is a far better relationship to watch for two hours than watching Jon get shut down every pass. The over-all story isn't that orriginal, but it carries through.

Total: 88

Napoleon Dynamite

2004-08-08T00:35:00.000-06:00

I have to say that watching this is a bit of an odd affair. The actors are generally obviously amateurs, the editing and script are a little lose, and the story is vague, but something about it is rather charming, and you fall in love with the characters. Maybe it's watching Pedro advance his political career by hanging up pinatas of the competition, or watching Napoleon correctly identify the pollutants in different samples of milk, or maybe it's seeing the characters grow up, just a tiny bit, during the hour and a half that you're with them.
As has been consistently, and belabouredly, mentioned in just about every other review or treatment of this film, Napoleon is so socially inept that he doesn't even realize how big of a geek he is. But the big difference here, as opposed to most other teen comedies, is that it doesn't make him vulnerable as a person. Plus, he has redeeming qualities that he isn't even aware redeem him. Like his suit. The idea is that it's hideous, but his suit is, at the same time and in the same nature, so tight that I couldn't help but envy him.

Total: 87

Mean Girls

2004-08-03T22:08:00.000-06:00

We've been intending on seeing this movie for several months now. I'm glad that we were finally able to, because it's pretty funny. While not some high pinnacle of film-making, it stands a good bit above the rest of the teen-genre with a sharp script, jokes that are actually funny without involving bodily fluids, and a good cast. The pace for the movie is set pretty early when Ms. Norbury (Tina Fey) spills coffee on her front, starts taking her sweater off, pulling her shirt up as well, right as the principle, Mr. Duvall (Tim Meadows), walks in. He makes a comment and she just says to Cady (Lohan) "My t-shirt is stuck to my sweater isn't it?" The conversation follows.
"So, how was your summer?"
"I got divorced."
"My carpel tunnel came back."
"I win."
"Yes, yes you do. If there's anything that you ever need help with..."
"Could you ask me again at a time when my shirt isn't see-through?"

Add on top of the dialogue the fact that they actually had the audacity to hit a character with a bus.

Total: 86

Along Came Polly

2004-08-01T19:45:00.000-06:00

It's somewhere in between. It has alot of really funny moments, but also a bunch of plot devices and character traits that are a little superfluous, or just don't jiive in the way that I think the creators were intending.
I also think that Lisa should have been eaten by a shark.

Total: 85

Princess Mononoke

2004-08-01T13:56:00.000-06:00

I first saw this movie years ago at the rattiest theatre in town. even though it was the English dubbed version, it immediatly shot to the top of my favorite movies list. I saw it one more time in that trashy theatre, then rented it twice when it came out on video, aswell in English. I got the DVD that year for Christmas (at least, I believe it was that year) and we watched it as a family in English. So, before I saw the orroiginal Japanese with subtitles, I'd already seen the movie five times. Then I watched the orriginal, and the amazing English dub immediatly seemed trite and insignificant.
Dreamworks, in their interpretation of Miyazaki's script, added a few lines and altered some conversations, I suppose to make the characters, pacing, and dialogue more identifyable to a Western audience. These changes are, really, minor infractions as far as the scheme of dubbing sins goes. Added to that is the fact that Dreamworks can attract a lot of talent to their projects, they were able to assemble an excelent voice cast. Their Ashitaka loses some of his "mature before his time" personality, and Gillian Anderson is too identifyable as Scully to make Moro believable, but I don't really enjoy the male doing the voice in the Japanese, either, so it's a wash. Minnie Driver as Lady Eiboshi is actually a better voice, in my opinion, for the character giving her a sort of real-world do-it-yourself wisdom, but at the same time conveying an understanding of the burden of doing good. An that really is the theme at the heart of Princess Mononoke: the dichotomy of perspective. All these characters are doing what they feel is right, or at least in their best interest. Some, like Jiko, don't care a bout fight or wrong, just about staying alive and doing what's best for them; others are very concenred with right and wrong, but enforce their own opinion to the point of violence. It is a balance that we must find; a harmony.
I noticed on this viewing that the core character motivation is pointed out by one of the lepers, but this piece of dialogue is almost entirely changed in the english. He says: "The world is cursed. People are cursed. but still we wish to live."
Amazing.

Total: 84

Spiderman 2

2004-07-31T12:29:00.000-06:00

Painful. That is, perhaps the easiets way to describe two-thirds of this movie. Maybe it's just because right now, in my personal life, I feel very much like Peter Parker, torn between a variety of different choices, none of which seem to work properly. Irregardless, for the first two-thirds of the movie we watch Peter Parker get slammed and downtrodden step after step. His life is out of balance, Spiderman interferes with every aspect. For the first hour of the film, we watch Peter walk around with bloodshot eyes, deep purple bags, and a slouch in his walk. It is amazingly painful to watch our superhero struggle with his humanity. But, without all this suffering, the final act would not be nearly so liberating. For those who havn't seen the movie yet, I'm not going to tell you what happens, as it's a little unexpected, but what it yields is very fulfilling.
While I've heard alot of praise for the fight on the train, I'm going to have to say that the section on the clocktower is my favorite. Partially because I decided that long ago when I first saw the trailers. Additionally because of the technology. It isn't that we lack the technology to seamlessly integrate actors into CG environments, it's that actors, in those environments, lack a tactility to make their acting blend in seamlessly. Standing on top of a speeding train puts you in a very intense situation in regards to the laws of physics. Not only are you dealing with gravity, but also inerita, friction, and wind resistance, a scenario very hard to replicate in front of a blue screen. This leads to something that should have it's own name, where actors don't appear to belong to the same world as the CG background. Typically lighting is a major culprit in these situation, but so are texture, camera focus, and the laws of physics. The scene on the side of the clocktower, all they have to replicate is gravity, and because the clocktower isn't moving, you have a static, real-life background to use for close-ups, reducing the problems of texture and focus.

Total: 83

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls

2004-07-28T23:48:00.000-06:00

The second Ace Ventura movie really just tries too hard. there are some really funny jokes, but most are either recycled in predictable ways from the first, or are just not funny. It's best jokes are chitty-chitty-bang-bang through the jungle, rhino birth canal, and the torture scene where he rubs the silverware across the plate, then pokes his eyeball. All the "enlightened one" jokes suck, as do the animal activist jokes.

Total: 82

Saturday Night Fever

2004-07-28T17:50:00.000-06:00

This is an example of a movie that has become so ingrained into our social fabric as far as references, parodies, and rip-offs are concerned, that a very large portion of people in our age group are familiar with it and have never actually watched it. Then when you sit down and watch it you find out that it's alot different than just that cultural perception has built in your mind. Part of the reason, I would suppose, would be that the afforementioned references and parodies have integrated their way into just about every genre and target audience. Part of the problem is the close mental associatoin to Footloose and Dirty Dancing. The resulting mental association is that these three movies are all in the same category. Footloose is rated PG and Dirty Dancing PG-13, creating a pretty big mental hole when it comes to the fact that SNF is R.

Total: 81

The Chronicles of Riddick

2004-07-28T00:23:00.000-06:00

I enjoy a good cheese crusade every now and then. No, this isn't the greatest movie out there. It isn't even, theoretically speaking, a good movie. But it is enjoyable. I'll start with what sucks. The script is, at times, atrocious. It's commendable that the actors manage to carry through them. At least, some of them. Others among the cast are quite less than bullet-proof and almost scare you with how horrible their dialogue sounds. I have an icy glare at Thandie Newton here. Unfortunately, Dame Judie Dench is not at the top of her game, seems rather uncomfortable in her role most of the time, and always has a sort of can-we-get-this-over-with way of doing things. Her character has an odd relationship with Lord Marshal, but its depth is never explained. It was probably in the script, but trimmed to keep things moving and to keep this movie from over-staying its welcome. Something that sits between flaw and insignificant is that, like Pitch Black, most of the characters have names, but you really only pick up the main ones. Of course, that is probably just my problem, and everyone reading this is squinting their eyes at their screen right now. On to the good stuff. I really like the artistic design. The ships all look distinguishable, between the three different sources we see, and they all look absolutely nothing like Star Wars or Star Trek. Don't get me wrong, I love those two franchises, but it's too easy to rip them off rather than come up with something unique in the design department. There was a particular effect that they used that I felt added a lot to it, and that was that all the ships had a very noticeable engine trail. Be it heat, gravitronic distortions, dark magic, whatever, doesn't matter, the fact that the ships acted like they actually have engines and don't just fly seamlessly around like vector graphics helps you believe their actually space-craft, no matter how weird they look. The script doesn't apologize to the audience either. I can think of some specific comparisons. A lot of sci-fi movies (I'm looking at you Episode I) have to find a way of explaining everything to the audience, and they usually do it through some kind of ignorant character who needs a refresher course on history. Sometimes this isn't such a big deal, typically when the information is very specialized, i.e.. the genetic explanations and Dr. Malcolm's rants in Jurassic Park, or when the characters handle it like normal people handle it, point form (original Planet of the Apes.) However, there are times (Episode I) where everybody just seems to be a fountain of knowledge, and willing to take the time to explain what should be common information (Corruscant is one giant city!) when normally they'd not have to explain any thing ("Why you no good, scruffy looking, Nerf herder!" I don't know what a Nerf is, but it sounds not-good.) Riddick doesn't pamper us with lengthy histories on the origins of their universe. They fill in why the Necromongers are bad, and why Riddick is important. As for the origin of their known universe, to the best I can figure out, humans left earth and found the universe to be an empty and lonely place. So they started filling it. Thousands of years later each system has come to consider itself to be a distinct race, springing from common human heritage, but possessing traits unique to their adopted heritage, results of natural adaptation. I like that I've been in a position to figure that out on my own. It's interesting, but it doesn't drive the story. Too much Sci-fi assumes that their elaborate environments are the source of 'good' (Matrix 1-3) and spend a lot of time establishing those environments, occasionally literally touring them, and making them bigger, deeper, and more elaborate at every turn. Establishing Matrix 1 was fine, it put us in a place to feel empathy for humanity, like there was a greater good for our heroes to fight for. Endless talks about rogue programs, exiles, how programs die, do programs feel, there's a key-maker program, a defense program, a fortuneteller program, a vampire program, a virus program, a hot-dog vendor program, and a program that listens to the secret thoughts of little children when they touch themselves, it all bogs things down. I like being allowed to use my imagination to figure out the peripherals and extras (not the plot Matrix 3!) and riddick gave me an opportunity to do that for a night.
I had a good time.

Total: 80

Moulin Rouge

2004-07-27T08:31:00.000-06:00

The first exposure that I had to this movie was the music video for Lady Marmalade where a dozen celebrity skanks got even more skank than normal and did their skanky thing on screen. I wouldn't say I vowed to never see the movie, but I definitely decided it wasn't on my list. Until a bunch of friends of mine, who had actually seen the movie, invited me to go. So I went and loved it. It really is a great movie. Baz Luhrman is a nut-case of the highest order, and his storytelling techniques can easily be considered presumptuous, indulgent, audacious, and pretentious to the highest degree if you don't concede the point that they work and are delightfully entertaining. Heck, I do concede that point, and I still can admit that the "Like a Virgin" scene is unbelievably indulgent. It's just very hard to hold that against the movie when you like it so dang much.

Total: 79

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

2004-07-26T16:25:00.000-06:00

I actually think that I like Episode Poo better than this one, now that I've seen the two in close proximity to each other. In Phantom Menace we have to put up with what is now apparent as the most condescending tone of voice that I've experienced in film in recent memory. This all comes from Lucas' idea that Star Wars has always been a kind of Saturday morning cartoon. The result is fart jokes, characters with dorky accents, and an ultra-sterilized world. We hear a number of references to the people of Naboo "suffering" and casualties numbering "in the thousands," but we never actually see any suffering. Actually, we never see the people of Naboo. The invasion of the Trade Federation is, apparently, unresisted until the fighting that we see at the end. The leaders of the Trade Federation are soft, their businessmen and politicians, and their army is made of robots that do exactly what they are commanded to do, nothing more or less. Summary executions and fear mongering are not exactly their forte. I don't need to see people being shot in the streets, but it's hard to believe that the Trade Bosses are doing little more than stopping by for a visit when all you see of the place is well-swept streets and freshly watered plants. One of the things that has always confused me about the Trade Federation motives is that Naboo doesn't seem to have any exploitable industry. Yes, it does have plenty of rescources: water, lumber, and no doubt other precious minerals and such, but that doesn't seem to be their industry. Their primary export, from all evidence derived from the two movies, is politicains. The trade federation never says why they're there.
Beyond that are everything that everyone else has said before: I can't beleive ultimate evil just said "yipee."
Actually, there is one other thing: Anakin and his mom are the least opressed slaves ever.

Total: 78

Blade Runner

2004-07-26T16:23:00.000-06:00

I had a really long analysis of this favorite movie in progress, then Dri wanted to check her Blog. She said she saved it as a draft, but apparently Blogger realyl didn't care about that small fact. It's lost. I don't remember what I said, and I'm too tired to think it up right now.

Total: 77

The Matrix: Reloaded

2004-07-24T16:01:00.000-06:00

Welcome to Club Zion. Thursdays are ladies night. New to the scene? Don't know what to expect? Expect machines!

If I have to sum up the story, you've been living under a rock. Ever since the first movie came out I've been unable to grasp the hype that surrounds the philosophy of The Matrix. Well, I shouldn't say i can't grasp it, because I can. It's a bunch of teenagers who never did the required reading in High School being suddenly struck by the fact that there's a world outside the suburbs that has existed for thousands of years without MTV. Without sitcoms, music videos, shock jocks, or reality TV these cultures and civilizations devised things such as art, philosophy, religion, dance, sculpture, theatre, and lore. The Wachowski brothers have collected sound bytes from major philosophers and the synapses from the back of prognosicative 20th century literature, blended it together with our modern love for imaginary violence and dreams of being superheroes. What we get is an action-packed ride through dangerous situations that exist because they're cool, peppered with references to the nature of free choice, the nature of love, the nature of consiquence, and the nature of loss. I guess I shouldn't be so elitist and should feel happy that there are movie like Matrix opening the way for more serious examinations of the nature of humanity and morality, but when all people really pick up is "there is no spoon" it's hard to believe that people will go see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind because they liked how The Matrix made them think.

I do enjoy these movies, really, I promise, but I also have to admit that my ability to enjoy them is dampened by the mass cultural acceptance, vocally flaunted as being on the grounds that it's "deep," followed by a wide scale apathy to venture beyond The Matrix. I don't know how many people I've wanted to kick in the teeth because of conversations like the following.

"Man, I loved The Matrix. It was so deep."
"Yah. Hey, if you liked that, you'd probably like Blade Runner too."
"Never heard of it."
"It's a little bit older, but it's really good. Has alot of the same kinds of ideas."
"Uh, I dunno if I'd go for that."
"well, did you like Equilibrium?"
"Oh yah, that was cool too. It was like The Matrix. You know, deep and all."
"Yah, alot of the ideas in those two came from movies like Blade Runner, Brazil, 1984, and A Clockwork Orange. You should watch them some time."
"I dunno. I really just like The Matrix. It's got bullet time."

I'm normally more positive about these movies, but for whatever reason this is what's on my mind about it all right now.
I've talked before, with friends, about the challenge that the W brothers must have faced in wrting the second two movies, the third in particular. Tehy had two much material to fit into one movie, so they split it between two. It basically breaks down like this: zion is threatened by the machine attack which some believe can be prevented by The One, and the machines are threatened by the Smith virus. We spend the entire second movie focusing on Neo trying to avert the war, only to find out that the prophecy didn't refer to ending the war in a way that those living would find favorable. Like the architect says "there are levels of survival we are willing to accept." The idea was that they were exploiting the flaw in the anomaly, that The One would feel the same about humanity, that The One would be willing to accept certain levels of survival, a general survival of humanity as a whole, over the survival of any one individual particularly when the alternative results in a fatal system crash and the destruction of humanity. At the end of the second movie Neo takes the choice that is supposed to ultimately lead to a fatal system crash (the consiquence of the unbalbancing factor individual choice inflicts on the system) a system crash that is never mentioned again. during the second movie the Smith viruus spends it's time on a personal vendetta, trying to destroy Neo. the threat that it poses on the system as a whole isn't mentioned, really, until the last quarter of the third movie. The first three quarters of the third movie are spend preparing for the physical attack of the machines and trying to get Neo out of Limbo. Having things spread across the two films in such a chunky manner is rather disorienting, tending to make the two feel llike they don't really correlate with each other, the interaction with the Architect having no impact, and the Smith threat coming out of nowhere. Ultimately, the big hole in the ending of the third movie is that nothing is done to prevent the ultimate fatal system crash. So, one could look at it in such a way that Neo struck a deal with the machine god that freed those who wanted to be free and condemned those who didn't want to be free to die in an eventual fatal system crash that there is no way to prevent because there is no more One, dooming the machines to the "certain level of survival" they were prepared to accept.
Of course none of this is apparent from actually watching the movie. It all has to be inferred, not from analysis, but from an attempt to figure out what the hell happened.

Total: 76

Saved!

2004-07-24T12:38:00.000-06:00

This is an uncommon little movie. Following a group of outcasts at a Christian high school we get a movie that doesn't deride Christianity or mock christ, but instead embraces the principles of the Bible and focuses it's criticism on the casual culture that has formed around religion. For example there is a scene where Pastor Skip (the head of the school) and Mary's mother are having dinner and Pastor Skip is relating a conversation he'd had earlier with a co-worker "so I tell him, you know I can't tell the difference between Christian music and Secular music anymore, and he says that's the point, grab their interest." The thing I find interesting about this line is that it's drawing out this point that Christianity, or the culture surrounding it, has become something that it's not supposed to be. So many people have feared being truly different than the world that they have remodeled Christianity after the very things the Bible councels them to avoid in lasciviousness and base selfishness. The effect on the other end of this is that the adherants to this culture lose sight of the real meaning of being a Christian, ostracizing and persecuting the sinnners and strangers instead of welcoming them with warm arms and helping hands. Another line that serves to pull out this cultural observation, the desperate attempts to have Christian versions of everything worldly, is when we are first introduced to Patrick, the skateboarding son of Pastor Skip. The teacher introduces him to the class as having just returned from a world tour with the Christian Skateboarders and Cassandra, the smoking Jewish girl at the back of the class, says "Christian Skateboarders? Is nothing sacred to you people?" Of course the best line in the movie comes from Mary after Hillary Fay and her friends attempt to exorcize Mary in a bizzar drive-by intervention. As Mary walks away from their lunacy Hillary Fay throws her Bible at mary's back. Mary turns around, picks the book up and says, with a commendable ammount of despiration, "This is not a weapon. You idiot." and walks away.
After a prief glance at the IMDB bbs it's apparent that alot of people are judging this movie for what they percive it as being. I find that funny soley on the grounds that that is the attitude that Saved! is rejecting. But at the same time Saved! is not promoting an anything-goes relativity. It allows itself to admit that Mary has done something wrong, she made a mistake both logically and morally, but in a truly Christian way it accepts her for who she is and seeks to help her out of her predicament rather than condemning her to her misery. It says that as long as we're willing to try and change, willing to love one another and learn from our actions, we're not beyond hope.
Total: 75

The Sixth Sense

2004-07-18T13:20:00.000-06:00

I'm not entirely sure just how many times I've seen this movie before, but it must be said that I love it for many different reasons. The event that brings us to watch it this time is that I was going to be meeting some friends out camping in the mountains, so i figured bring a ghost story. We watched it on my laptop while sitting around the campfire. It was really quite nice. Perhaps what I love most of all about the work of M. Night Shyamalan is how he treats texture and colour, almost like they are characters of the movie aswell. Plus you add in Bruce Willis. For his reputation as an action hero he has, underneith, an excellent talent at conveying the emotions of stress, confusion, and loss. I've always apreciated how generally mature and professional his characters are. He may not be Ben Kingsley, but that's why there's only one Ben Kingsley. I enjoy this movie because it allows itself to be a story, to have a point, and let the action tell that story, make that point, rather than say to itself "we havn't seen enough ghosts, there havn't been enough spooky moments, we need to add more in." It's ghosts aren't supernatural beings with a malice towards humanity, they are everyday people who havn't left yet. If they are frightening, malicious, angry, or vengeful, it is because those are the things that we allow ourselves to become while we are alive.

Total: 74

The Last Samurai

2004-07-15T13:42:00.000-06:00

I remember when I first heard about this movie, and saw that it was starring Tom Cruise I hung my head in shame, suspecting that Tom Cruise was the title character. Thankfully, he's not, and this is an entirely different movie than that image would have been. Initially we started watching this movie a month ago, made it through the first half hour, then circumstances prevented us from finishing.
Ken Watanabe is amazing as the leader of the Samurai forces who are staging a rebellion both against and for the good of the empire. He lives in a world of ideals and strived perfections that gives him empowerment over his world.
Tom cruise is a raging alcoholic and an army captain. At the same time.
Among my favorite lines comes from when Tom Cruise tells Colonel Bagley "I'll kill jappos, i'll kill the enemies of jappos. Hell, for five-hundred dollars a month I'll kill anyone you want. But I want you to remember, I'd gladly kill you for free."

Total: 73

Schindler's List

2004-07-11T17:35:00.000-06:00

We watched both of these movies in the same day, so I figured that I would save all my rambling about the holocaust for my post on this movie, but my observations apply to both. There is a certain ammount of evil within every man, woman, and child that will grow and fester and destroy if given the right conditions and spurred by the right cause. In the same stroke, there is a certain ammount of good within each of us that will do the same under comprable circumstances. Nowhere do we see this more beautifully and barbarously depicted than in those mediums attempting to grasp the quantity and quality of suffering we are able and disposed to inflict on one another during times of war. From the general's comment "They have no future. This is not just the old Jew hating talk. Now it's policy." to Schindler's "I could have saved one more, and I didn't." we attempt to comprehend the scale of life, how the choices of individuals affect nations, and how the paths of nations sculpt the choices of individuals. How do these people become who they are? Schindler observes of Amon Goeth that he would otherwise be quite an enjoyable fellow, but here in this time of war we get a man who drifts to an almost sub-human level, his life ending at the end of a rope for crimes against humanity.

Total: 72

The Pianist

2004-07-11T16:30:00.000-06:00

For starters, I really wish I hadn't just cut all my hair off because then I would be several inches closer to having hair like Adrien Brody.
Adrianna and I have been meaning to watch this movie for several months, but this is one of those "things come up" situations where we never get around to it. Well, we fianlly did get around to it, and I'm glad we did, but aside from the hair I'm not sure where to begin with this so I'm rambling away.
I give this movie a hearty recommendation, even though I'm probably the last person in the free world who hasn't seen it. I suppose I should mention the one touch that I was most tickeled by and that would be the can of pickels that he finds while wandering around the ruins. I loved the little character touch, the sense of desperatism, that is displayed by his interactions with the can. He has reached a level of such dispair that the sheer possibility of food is all that matters to him. I love when the German officer is asking him questions and, when asked what he's gdoing, he responds "Trying to open this can." No plea for pitty, or begging for his life, because that no longer matters. Just trying to open this can so I can eat. Otehrwise I'm forefit anyway. Yah, I really can't infuse the description with the same charm as the moment.

Total: 71

Van Helsing

2004-07-08T11:34:00.000-06:00

Rated PG-13 for non-stop creature action violence, frightening images and sensuality.
That's the official MPAA breakdown of Van Helsing. Even the MPAA has apparently been bought out to sell just how exciting movies really are. It's not just "violence" or "animated violence" or "comic mischief" anymore, it's "non-stop, edge-of-your-seat, this movie is going to lick out the inside of your skull kind of action."

So, the actual movie was quite entertaining, but mostly because Adrianna and I spent our time mud slinging. For example, the movie stars Hugh Jackman who is better known as Wolverine, so there must be some Wolverine type reference. Signed sealed and delivered. To give you an idea of how this film law works, watch the first X-Men movie again. Ray Park plays Toad. Ray Park also played Darth Maul in Episode 1 the summer before, so there must be a Darth Maul reference in there. What do we get? After Toad drops Storm down an elevator shaft he gives us a quick little move with the bar he's carrying that mimicks exactly a move he uses in Episode 1, only there he had a lightsaber.
Another fine detail contained in Van Helsing also concerns the cast. Hugh Jackman is joined by four pairs of breasts which are each ruined in turn. Several of these pairs really deserve our respect for what they're able to carry off, if you think about things not in terms of being a movie on screen. Think about what these people are doing in terms of the fact that they're actual people standing around acting these things out. Want an example? Of course you do! After the experiment to bring Dracula and his three pairs of breasts' offspring to life (there are thousands of them, but since he's had three pairs of breasts to himself for hundreds of years, do you blame hiim?) fails and all the little bastards blow up in mid-flight the two POBs still alive wail and moan with a startling amount of energy. I can imagine the director telling them "I want you to wail and gyrate against each other. Try to find some kind of line between distressed and erotic." To gain some greater apreciation of how humiliating this must look in real life when you strip away the CG background, the soundtrack, and the theatre, pick up a copy of Queen of the Damned and watch Aaliyah's blooper reel. What was believable in the movie when she had the funky effects overlaid on her voice suddeenly becomes degrading and humiliating.
Must not forget to mention the presence of several scenes where the vampires are standing on the roof, upside down for no apparent reason. But there is a reason! Two, actually. One: because it gives an excuse for an effects shot. Two: three POBs hanging upside down wearing low cut dresses? There's a reason they're POBs.
Despite these being detractions from the movie, theyr're teh substance it's made of and pretyt much the reason it's enjoyable. Don't suck on rock sugar and complain it's too sweet.
I could go on about Carl, the monk who can get away with all kinds of things because he's "still just a friar" and some honsetly glaring inconsistancies (how did the other carriage get across the chasam?) but I'll let you discover these gems on your own.

Total: 70

Elephant

2004-06-27T08:32:00.000-06:00

So, this was among the bundle of movies that I bought for my birthday. It's slow-paced, but that, if you're paying attention, lends itself to an air of constructive confusion. The characters are regular teenagers, and they do alot to establish how normal it is to be screwed up nowadays. The types of characters that would normally be demonized for picking on the underdogs are brought to a pittiable level instead. One thing that really threw me off about the presentation is the gunfire. The guns that the charcters are carrying are real guns loaded with blank shells. A real gunshot is so loud that a microphone set for human voices won't pick it up normally, so it sounds fake. I thionk gus Van Saint did that on purpose as a kind of demonstration of our perceptions of reality. We're so used to hearing something fake and thinking it real that when we hear something real it sounds fake.

Total: 69

Dr. Strangelove or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

2004-06-25T06:42:00.000-06:00

If you're a Kubrick fan, you've probably already seen this. If you're not a Kubrick fan, then this is a good accessable movie to start with. It's quite odd as a whole, but there's still something charming about it. the only thing that ticked me off was that three times while we were watching it I was asked the exact same thing: Is the whole movie in black and white? Yes. When was it made? 60's. So it's black and white on purpose? Yes. Oh.
If you're looking for a rip-roaring comedy that leaves you sore from laughter, this is not it. this is a subtle movie, a dark comedy that plays off of little references and satires about how and why we do things the way we do. Watch it while you're awake and can pick up all the little nuances and you'll have a great time.

Total: 68

Hidalgo

2004-06-22T22:55:00.000-06:00

As much as I love the Blade Runners and Fight Clubs of the cinema world, every now and then we need a movie that has no great depth, is fairly predictable, or at least assumable, meaning that we can take certainthings for granted ie the good guys win and the bad guys lose. This is where movies like Hidalgo come in. They're made with a love that almost makes you believe that money never came up as a motivation. But seeing as this is an industry and people do this for a living, we know that 99.9% of the movies we see aren't some giant UNICEF box. Whatever, Hidalgo will probably not find it's way into my permanent collection, but it did a really good job at entertaining us for the evening.
Viggo Mortensen is believable as a half Sioux half white cowboy. Believable enough that you don't wonder why he doesn't just pull out his sword and off these guys. Hidalgo is a horse, so we had alot of fun making jokes about going to see a horse movie. There was also a tall guy sitting all alone right in front of me, so I had to keep leaning around his lonely bitter head to read the subtitles when people were talking in Sioux and Arabic. He turned around and snapped at me when we were talking through the trailers. It's not my fault he's going to the movies alone.

Total: 67

Spiderman

2004-06-22T17:32:00.000-06:00

I love Spiderman. He is so dreamy. There, I said it. There's something about grown men and the superheroes that they grew up with that's a little close to unhealthy. That may very well be at the core of the whole re-marketing of every franchise ever developed before the current day. Whatever, if all of them were as good as this movie, we'd be swimming in a sea of ecstasy. I still have yet to see The Hulk and Daredevil, but I think I'm caught up on every other Marvel movie to come out in the last little while, and I must say that they're doing pretty well for themselves.
My sister got me this on DVD for my birthday, so we watched it after dinner yesterday. I probably could go on and on about how much I like Spiderman because of what it reflects in society and everythign else that goes along with that. I could rave about Sam Raimi's treatment of the story, all the little Raimi touches that come out showing you that this was a film made by those who love Spiderman. But I won't. I'm just going to say that Spiderman 2 comes out next week. I almost wet myself when I sw the trailer for the first time at the beginning of Return of the King.

Total: 66

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

2004-06-20T17:47:00.000-06:00

Second in the HP offering, I have a similar view to these as I do to the Lord of the Rings movies. I don't really view them as individual movies, but as some sort of long sequential movie. With Lord of the Rings that's actually closer to true than it is to false. It's not quite as true with HP, but still not too far off. It's been a couple years since I read the books, but I still remember my first impression of the first two movies being quite faithful to the books, choosing to leave out information rather than events. I actually like the ending of this episode better in movie form than I did when I read it. Because I read the first two books in rapid sequence I feared that the series was going to become a series of "oh no! Voldemort is back!" and they would find some new way of defeating him every book. Fortunately it doesn't. But I digress from my point about the ending. When I read the whole anagram thing from Tom Moldova Riddle to I am Lord Voldemort it seemed quite contrived, but for some reason seeing it in the movie made it a little easier to believe that Voldemort actually used to be named Tom Riddle and spent some insane number of hours sitting there thinking up an anagram of his name. I guess you need something to do during defense against the dark arts, since they never seem to have a teacher who actually teaches the class.

Total: 65

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

2004-06-19T17:09:00.000-06:00

Here's an interesting offering. the story follows a blind samuri who comes into a town overrun with gang activity. In the course of his daily wanderings he manages to eviscerate most of the gang members and scare off the rest. It's a modern period piece in Japanese with subtitles. Inside this movie is a really tight 90 minute touching samuri movie, but there are quite a few scenes that are of the quality we're getting used to seeing in the "deleted scenes" features on DVDs. they're in charcter and are usually amusing in some way, but they do something that interrupts the flow of the movie or breaks the atmosphere of the moment. For example there is one scene where our Incompetant Comic Relief attempts to teach several other boys how to swordfight, and they just keep hitting him in the head. Is it funny? yes. Is it what the characters would probably do? Yes. Is it Zatoichi disembowling gangmembers? No. Now, I'm not saying that all I watch this for is the violence, but the point is that the scene could have disappeared and things would keep moving instead of pausing for some nonsense. A really nice touch in the movie is a number of scenes with some tap-dancing peasants who, Stomp style, match the percussion of the soundtrack with their daily actions like working in the field or building a house. They only become a nussance during the final few scenes after Zatoichi has defeated the Ronin the gangs have hired when the whole town decides to throw some type of elaborate party where everyone is doing a Riverdance-meets-Kurosawa routine in a frameing style reminicient of the cast call at the end of a play, when even the dead characters come out for their applause. Interspersed with that are short segments where we learn Zatoichi's true identity and see the defeat of the real masterminds. Still quite the enjoyable movie, but I thought it could have been trimmed. Plus the graphics are really bad. Almost all the blood and half the time the swordblades aswell are computer generated. this makes some effects look really odd,a nd the blood is never believable except in the few cases where they use real blood. the kvetch I have with this is that Samuri dismembering people on film is practically an industry in Japan. They've been finding ways of making it look believable for forty-odd years now, there's no real reason to switch to CG. even ultra low budget films have the capacity to make us believe a man just had his hand chopped off. Come on, give us a little more corn syrup.

Total: 64

The Virgin Suicides

2004-06-13T01:45:00.000-06:00

We've been meaning to watch this movie ever since we saw Lost in Translation because of the whole Sofia Coppola thing. Add onto that the fact that I have the orriginal score composed by Air, and it is amazing. But it did somethign to the movie. The score is very intense, and the movie not quite so intense. In some ways I'm still up in the air about how I feel about Sofia Coppola as a film maker. She has a very very understated style that sits on a fuzzy line between beautifully skillful and loose. This, unfortunately, but also not surprising since it's her first film, feels a little too loose. It's not a bad movie, but it's not as tightly wound as it ought to be. this is what I was refering to with thte score. The subject matter is quite heavy and passionate and the score reflects this better than the movie with a sound that brings up images of a longing for intimacy and all the chaos that comes from hormones and being a teenager. The movie, however, is more of a cold, impassionate attempt to understand those feelings in a distant retrospect. it's not a bad idea, looking at a group of boys trying to come to grips with the lives and deaths of these girls fifteen years after the fact, watching them acknowledge the impact their fantasies had on their future lives (there is a great comment towards the end, in a voice over, about how none of them were able to find in their wives what they had imagined in the Lisbon girls) but the presentation only comes to the present time of the narrative occasionally for brief talks, interview style, with one character, distancing us from the present plight of the characters, and not totally involving us with the past plight of their story. What this means is that you don't feel like you know any of the characters enough to fully connect with their situation because you don't get to know them enough, except for Trip Fontain who is the one we meet in the present interviews. Alot of really good ideas and presentations here, but what needed tohappen is Sofia needed to pick one and run with it.

Total: 63

Kill Bill Vol. 2

2004-06-12T09:46:00.000-06:00

Quite different from the first one. It's still quite enjoyable in it's own way, and quite thematically consistant with the first half of the film, and here's why: one of the things that really impressed me about the first one was the mechanics to the violence. The violence matched the setting. when she attacks Vernita Green at the beginning of Vol. 1 they're in California, and the violence is very American Hollywood, albeit a little bit faster paced, thought that is more a consiquence of timing, not violence. I digress. The violence is American Hollywood: not alot of blood (comparativly), lots of broken glass, alot of falling over and scrapping on the floor, and ultimately the rules of combat are discarded when Vernita pulls a gun. Then she goes to Japan to face O-Ren (even though, strictly speaking time-wise she's already killed O-Ren, but we're sticking with film order here) and the violence changes dramatically. Suddenly we have ten-foot gouts of blood, limbs being chopped off every-which-where, exotic weapons, and people flying trough the air. Where American violence drops their characters to the floor in a leveling symbol of ultimate helplessness, Asian films send their characters to the skies as a symbol of superiority. I could go on about the theory for some time, but I won't. You know the visual difference. In an american film Sofie Fatale would have died (or at least disappeared from the screen) as a consiquence of having her arm cut off. Instaed, here, she survives for another almost forty minutes of screen time. Enough said. In Vol. 2 we find ourselves following The Bride into Texas. We're now into another movie style with it's own distinct rules: the western. As another aside, I do find it qutie amusing that David Carradine is in a movie that brings these two settings, Chop Sokey and Cowboy, together seeing as he made his career with Kung Fu which was the orriginal at melding these two genres together. It really is quite a natural blending too since they fill an equivalent hole in the cultural background of their respective cultures. So, the western. While vol. 1 had some American elements but remained predominantly Asian, vol. 2 is reversed. There still are some Asian elements carried over, but the movie is predominantly a Western. One of my favorite indicators of this (though I didn't like it at first) is David Carradine's character, Bill. In vol. 1 Bill wasn't a person, he was an entity, like irony or humor; vital to the progress and feel of the movie, but not actually there. Why? Because Asian villians aren't revealed until the end of the movie when the final showdown comes, or are at least kept mysterious until then. That's why the genre change, and the subsiquent very sudden change in the quantity and quality of Bill's screen time, is a little unsettling at first: we're not at the end yet. So you have to get used to it. Vol. 1 all we ever saw were his hands, Vol. 2 we frequently see him walking around like a normal person. We even see him making a sandwich for goodness sakes. But Carradine makes the transition easy to take. So, the violence. What makes it a western? Budd takes the Bride out in one shot, right off the bat, then he buries her alive. The Capture is probably the oldest Cowboy plot out there. If we go way back to the old weekly westerns (Lone Ranger and company) there was a delicate art of the cliffhanger. The hero would be put in a certain death situation then the movie would end and be resolved the next week. Impossible situations were usually solved by starting the next week's movie with a flashback explaining how the hero is able to do what they're about to do to get out of the impossible situation. Cut from The Bride in a coffin to the cruel tutelage of Pai Mei then back to the coffin for her escape. I'm running out of steam here with my explination and this isn't an essay for a film class, so there really is nothing to hold me to finishing it. It's not like there are a whack load of people out there reading this anyway.

Total: 62

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones

2004-06-07T12:05:00.000-06:00

I have this running in a small window while I'm working. Anakin is a brat. Obi Wan is hot. Padme is hot. Mace Windu is hot. Yoda is Haaaaaat. you actually have to give a fair bit of respect to the actors in this movie (Hayden Christiansen excepting) sheerly because they spend most of their time standing in front of a green screen talking to nothing in particular.
All-in-all it's not as bad as we like to make it out to be. Yes, there are alot of really crappy character moments, alot of unconvincing dialogue, and alot of see-through moments, but in many ways it's more fun than Episode I. Strange as it may be, I actually like the two new Star Wars movies. I've gotten over what I want them to be and am just accepting them for what they are. The only REAL flaw that Episode II sufferes from is Hayden Christiansen's whining. Sure you have the Blade Runner rip offs and the wasted time and pointless characters, but you also have Yoda, Mace Windu, Yoda, lightsabers, Yoda, and Yoda.
I always pictured Anakin as being a little more slick.

Total: 61

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

2004-06-07T11:57:00.000-06:00

While I do realize that I just talked about how infrequently I see movies in major chains, I do need to mention that there are two movies that have guarenteed themselves of my viewing in their first-run position: Harry Potter 3 and Spider Man 2.
Harry Potter 1 is the topic of discussion today. Adrianna and I took the DVD, my iBook, and the car, curled up in the back seat and watched after dinner on Friday.
If you havn't seen the HP movies yet, why are you sitting here reading my blog?

Total: 60

Supersize Me

2004-06-02T21:40:00.000-06:00

I havn't seen a first-run movie in a major chain theatre since Return of the King back in December. Actually, there really are only two theatres that I go see movies at: the local second run theatre, and the wonderfully atmosphered Uptown downtown. This comes from The Uptown. Immensely entertaining, this documentary serves as one more indicator of the many things that are wrong with our society. The fast food conspiracy is pretty much directly tied into the sugar conspiracy and the wheat conspiracy. But this movie doesn't concern itself so much with corporate conspiracies as it does with the sheer destructive nature of what we subject ourselves to regularely. The corporations are just doing what they're built to do (for a greater run down on that see the excellent, if long and occasionally unfocused "The Corporation") and we're the ones buying into it.
There are four specific scenes that make this film definitely worth seeing: the McPuke, the girlfriend's description of what has happened to their relationship, the doctors' reactions to what is happening to his body, and the lobbyist saying "we're part of the problem."
Alot of people out there are discrediting this with "dirthy science" or as simply a vehicle for Spurlock to get a real job. I really just think he's a guy who had some means to an end, came up with a wacky idea for presenting something he feels strongly about, and went about doing something most of us wouldn't have the constitution to handle.

totaql: 59

The Client

2004-06-02T20:52:00.000-06:00

Let's get something straight before I got too far here. There are two people out there whos names I generally use as some kind of insult or derision, as if being connected with them is an indicator of some inborn evil that will some day sprout to devour nations. those two people are Jerry Bruckheimer and John Grisham. Maybe this is just because they lose more money into their respective couches than I usually see in a year. There, the foreplay is over.
This actually wasn't a bad movie, as a movie. It had some good moments, and Susan Serandon and Tommy Lee Jones are (almost) always entertaining or at least interesting. Beyond that it's comfortably predictable. Everything feels safe, nothing really catches you by surprise. you know what's going to happen. Maybe not all the particulars of how it's going to happen, but you know what is ultimately going to result from all the plot "twists".

total: 58

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

2004-05-30T19:53:00.000-06:00

Here's a weird movie for you. Buckaroo Banzai is a half American half Japanese average guy. He spends his days performing complex brain surgery, followed up with driving experimental rocket cars through the eighth dimension. He unwinds by playing a half dozen instuments for his band (all the members of which are equally well endowed in teh talent department) and saving the world from space invaders. There's a very odd racial undertone to this movie. There are two factions from Planet 10 (that's what the aliens call their homeworld) one are the ultraviolent white guys, the other are the peace loving rastas. The aliens emit some kind of pherimones that trick people into believing that they're seeing a normal person instead of an alien. Buckaroo gets zapped by some beam while he's talking to the president on a payphone that gives him the ability to see through the illusion and also carries with it all the komic opportunities to zap every normal person he touches (or kisses.) There doesn't really seem to be much of a point to the movie, but it was funny to watch.

total: 57

Hellboy

2004-05-29T22:33:00.000-06:00

Tim and I went to go see this for a matinee at the cheap theatre. Actually, as a note, most of the movies we see are either rented from the "old release" section of the video store for one of those "seven movies for seven days" deals or are in the cheap theatre on the cheap days. this was definetly worth our three dollars. It actually would be worth more than that too. the script draggs a little at times, but the characters are so enjoyable, and they seem to be having such a good tme making the movie, that you're more than willing to forgive them.
Best line: I'm not a very good shot, but this thing fires really big bullets.

Total: 56

Cube 2: Hypercube

2004-05-27T07:19:00.000-06:00

Entertaining. Not quite mind warping for the story, but more for trying to grasp the mathematics that they throw at you. All the characters are stuck in a tesseract as some sort of imprisonment and are trying to find a way out. You have your balding fat guy who is nice to everyone, your senile old woman who people suspect might be hiding the truth, your knife weilding psycho, your geeky teenage computer programmer, your hot young lawyer in a slinky red dress, a blind girl with a real secret (the "plot twist"), and your main character. They meet up, some people yell at others, psycho tries to knife a few people, they try to solve the puzzel, realize that there's a bunch of dead scientists who are a billion times smarter than them who could't solve it lying around, and kinda go crazy. Psycho goes really psycho when he figures out the whole prallel universe aspect of things. Fat Guy is killed by a flying special effect, but Psycho runs into another Fat Guy later, kills him and takes his watch. At the end of the movie you see a version of Psycho wandering around with a half dozen watches, a bunch of name badges, and other jewelry and trophies from the other characters. Programmer and Lawyer have sex in a variable time speed room and that's the last we see of them as charcters. Blind girl is actually the world's most brilliant hacker who happens to be the one who derived the formula for the hypercube. There, I gave away the endeing. Oh yah, everyone dies. Now you hate me.

Total: 55

Nineteen Eighty-Four

2004-05-23T13:55:00.000-06:00

Two things really impressd me about this movie: the print quality for a twenty year old film, and how faithful it was to the book. This is not a movie to start watching at 11:00 at night because it uses a very understated way of doing things. Nothing is big, everything is just there. This means, unless you've read the book, you need to really pay attention and think to grasp what's going on. I have read the book and, hence, was impressed by the faithfullness of the adaptation. I fell asleep for about 20 minutes in the second half and when I woke up I knew exactly what had happened and what would happen next. Since the book consists mostly of internal dialogue, flashback, and expose, the film version moves rather quickly through the physical happeneings with alot of voice over and a few lengthy monologues. Visually this is a counterpart to Brazil with predominant dark, drab colours and industrial setting. As a matter of story comparison where Brazil gave us the indominable human spirit amidst opression and decay, Nineteen Eighty-Four gives us the disintegrated remains of that human spirit. Really it's only a difference between the end of the characters' days. Where Sam Lowry successfully escaped into his fantasy by locking himself in his mind, Winston Smith fails to escape and is ruined.
In the end, watch this movie while you're quite awake, have a note pad, and be ready to discuss it afterwards. If you just kick back and relax, wating to be entertained, it's just not going to happen. In any case, read the book aswell. If you do the movie will make alot more sense.

total: 54

The Insider

2004-05-23T13:50:00.000-06:00

This is a rather long film. Not super ultra long in the way that meakes you wonder when it's over, just it clocks in at two and a half hours and progresses when it dang well feels like it, and not a moment sooner. actually, the thing that makes it bearable is that it doesn't really stop moving. There's always something going on that moves the story foreward or gives you insight into what the characters are going through, so you just wonder "how long is this movie?" rather than "Where is this going?"
The best line: "Mike. Mike? Try Mister Wallace." as Mike Wallace prepares to tell off the corporate lawyers.

Total: 53

The Punisher

2004-05-22T01:09:00.000-06:00

I'm going to take a moment to talk about the philosophy of comic books, to give a better depiction of my feelings about this movie and what I was expecting. The Punisher is an exploration of the darkest aspects of human nature. The title character is essentially every faceless raw passion rolled into one person. He's not a super-hero in that he doesn't have any special powers, and he's not even really a hero. He's just the protagonist. Where Superman is everything that humanity should be, Spiderman is our struggle with our strengths, and the Hulk is our struggle with our weaknesses, the Punisher is everything we should not be. He represents not the struggle with power and weakness, but the succumbing to both. The only struggle epitomized here is coping with a false view of who we are. The character of the Punisher has allowed his rage and dark ideas to control him and kill him spiritually. He feels no remorse or satisfaction in his actions, and is driven to continue out of a sense of identity that is held up by the facade of justice. This is not justice, but justification. Not of criminal elements, but of self. He has re-fashioned himself in the identity of a natural force of justice acting where the law cannot and god will not, giving him absolution for his actions. If he were to stop killing people he would lose his reason for existing as what he is. Morality creeps back in. He avoids confronting the fact that he is not a force but a human, and as such subject to the same ultimate justice as everything else, by chasing it all away with alcohol.
On a human level the idea here is that we put up false images of who we are and even go so far as to convince ourseves that we are that way. We use it to justify our grossest of failings. It's not the weaknesses we are struggling to divest ourselves of that we seek to justify, because we are trying to get rid of them, and our benevolent actions need no justification. So it is rather the darkest parts of our souls, the hidden hatreds and resentments, that we absolve of responsibility. Typically we do this by projecting our faults onto others who are worse. The Punisher only kills criminals and drowns out the rest with Wild Turkey.
As a movie The Punisher devolves very rapidly to his miserable state of 'monster' and spends its time reveling in its darkness. Because his goal is to kill people we don't get any "put down your gun" stand offs, just one-liners and brutal denouncements followed bu bullets or knives. There are some remarkably bloodless mass murders and several people die in scenarios where you wonder who decided to put that on film. Most of the enjoyment here comes from the atmosphere and pacing which are generally held intact through the movie. Everything is brutal, thourough, and darkly passionless. If you're looking for happy, you won't find it here.

Total: 52

Godzilla 2000

2004-05-19T23:34:00.000-06:00

It's got a giant radioactive lizard battling another giant radioactive lizard. Really it's all a giant metaphore for the struggle between independant cultures and the parasitic, invasive, thief-like culture of America. The Godzilla we see here is a man in a rubber suit, as it ought to be. The opposing radioactive lizard is really an alien that steals some of Godzilla's genes and is styled to look somewhat similar to the Hollywood version of Godzilla. The characters even say "it's trying to make itself a clone of Godzilla." As a theory, the film is quick to remind us that Godzilla is a cultural representation, not just a monster, and his movies are a genre unto themselves with a specific formula that must be followed or else chaos ensues, like a haiku. As a movie, it's a fun night with friends.

Total: 51

Walking Tall

2004-05-19T23:19:00.000-06:00

This movie stars a four foot long cedar 4x4. It also co-stars The Rock as a vigilante who weilds said 4x4. The Rock hits people with his fists, then he gets cut up really bad. After he heals he goes out and hits stuff with the board because people were selling drugs to his nephew. They arrest him and he gives a big speech to the jury, so they aquit him and elect him sheriff. Then he hits more stuff with the board.

Toat: 50

Le Pacte des Loups (Brotherhood of the Wolf)

2004-05-16T23:08:00.000-06:00

This was quite better fare for the night than Dragon Fighter in that it delivered entertainment without us having to invent it. The big thing that struck me was the sheer ammount of style that went into this piece. It was beautiful to watch. The one warning I must make is that we rented this as a werewolf movie, and in some sense I still think of it as that. It's not. It's a great movie, and it is a monster movie, but it's not a werewolf movie. I don't think I'm ruining anything when I tell you that the monster isn't a werewolf. The word "werewolf" only appeared once in the subtitles. The Beast is, though, still wolf related. It may just be our narrow western viewpoint that autimatically equates wolf movies with werewolves. You actually get two movies when you watch this. You get the intensely stylish drama about human relationships in a time of crisis and how we cope with the strain of our environments, and you get a ten minute action movie inserted towards the end as a little interlude before returning to the meloncholy drama for the finale. It's one of those parts that tears you as a movie lover because it falls in line with the story, there is no deus ex machina or sudden course changes, but doens't fit in with the style. It's really only one fight scene, and the bone sword is cool, but I found it went from being fascinating to being entertaining. As far as movie crimes go, that's pretty low on the list of severity, but it does take this out of the "must own" category and stick it in the "good deal" category. Certainly worth watching.

Total: 49

Dragon Fighter

2004-05-16T22:51:00.000-06:00

Dean Cain, how far you've fallen. This direct-to-video, uh, thing did manage to provide us with a little under an hour and a half of entertainment, but mostly at it's expense. This si one of those movies where you can glance at the screen and infer exactly what's going on. Dean Cain starts the movie with a subtle southern drawl whish disappears as soon as they land the helecopter. A bunch of scientists (who apparently don't actually work for anyone who cares) clone a dragon that grows to full size in the time it takes them to microwave a burrito after inserting the neucleus of one cell into another cell. Two character who I'm not sure even had names die instantly when they go into the lab to investigate the abnormal growth. Dean Cain's character has pyrophobia which isn't actually acted as a phobia so much as it's a "holy crap that dragon is breathing fire at me, I'd better get out of the way!" So the pyrophobia we're told about during "character development" disappears before they even tell us about it. The dragon actually doesn't look that bad as they saved budget by playing the same cycling animation of the dragon walking through a circular hallway. at least they had the budget to light some people on fire. When the fusion reactor blows it looks more like a couple dozen strings of firecrackers laid out on the front lawn. At the very end neither Dean Cain nor his "love interest" (they don't even kiss) seem to care about the fact that six of their co-workers were just killed within the last day. The dragon is capable of maintaining pace with fighter jets, which can't lock onto it because it's heat signature isn't hot enough, so Dean Cain opens the fuel door and spills helecopter fuel all over the dragon then shoots it with a flare gun, igniting the beast, negating the actual need to blow it up with rockets. They blow it up anyway. The best part of the movie was the deaf chef "Cookie." He isn't actually deaf, he's just faking. "They were only hiring disabled people. I needed the job." He gets roasted twenty minutes later.

Total: 48

Ginger Snaps

2004-05-14T21:14:00.000-06:00

This is probably the best Canadian movie I've seen that wasn't a documentary, or unbelievably depressing. It's a werewolf movie with a much lauded twist of comparing lycanthropy with ovulation and menstruation. It actually works is the surprising thing, and not just in a male-whore/Bevis-and-Butthead-huh-huh-he-said-ovulation kind of way. It's actually witty. the film does start to lag at the end when it turns from it's dark humor to more conventional werewolf happenings, but all in all it wasn't unfulfilling.

total: 47

Resident Evil

2004-05-12T21:39:00.000-06:00

A quick question on zombie motives: the generally accepted action any given zombie will take is to cluster with other zombies and then seek out human flesh to devour. In yesterday's offering there was no real explination even attempted aside from "it's a virus." Today's offering, also a zombie movie, uses a virus as well to turn living people into zombies. The explination the supercomputer gives about the zombie motives is that the virus stimulates the latent electrical energy in the human body reanimating the corpse. The subject retains some slight memories, but mostly just feels the urge to "fulfil the basest apetites." When the computer is prodded to explain, she replies (I was surprised at least) "To feed!" So, here's my question of their motives: why human flesh? Why wouldn't they all get a massive hankering for chicken wings, a double bacon cheeseburger, or pepperoni pizza? Why not each other? Sam Raimi's zombies were animated by evil, giving us a morality play: good dead help the living, evil dead kill the living. Romero's still have a little bit of that morality, but it's not expounded, and he frankly doesn't care, but you can catch that morality in the tag line "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth." Resident evil just doesn't have that.
I enjoyed this movie more for the tie in to the video game rather than the horrer aspect of it. After the five minute prologue followed by 95 minutes of neck biting/head shooting/blood flowing/Sarah Polley and Lindy Booth looking hot that was witnessed last night, Resident Evil was not quite boring, but headed in that drection. Lurching zombies just don't have the same scare factor anymore. Plus the only monster that moves with any speed is built of a poorly animated one. If I'd had a bunch of other people around, that's copeable. Alone it's distracting. Milla Jovovich's character is recovering from amnesia for most of the film, so we don't get to see her doing a whole tone of zombie killing, so I am still looking forward to RE: Apocalypse this summer which should be a bit more of an action movie rather than a half-way action, half-way horror.

Total: 46

Dawn of the Dead

2004-05-12T00:36:00.000-06:00

Holy Crap! That's where this starts. So, I checked my watch when the first major amount of blood was spilt. It was at 10:15. The movie started at 10:05 and three trailers played beforehand. So the carnage starts within the first ten minutes (as a nice round number) and stops about three seconds before the credit reel ends. Even the credits are made to look like blood spatered on black porceline. My favorite shot would have to be the sky-high camera following Sarah Polley shortly after said early carnage as she drives down the highway. We see a truck come into the intersection ahead of her, careen off the road, and plow into a gas station which promptly explodes in an impressive fireball. The ickiest scene is by far the zombie baby. Were this a less intense movie I'd be tempted to describe it as a "zombling" or find some other name for it. Instead it must stay zombie baby. The most superfluous character is Jayne Easwood's character (apparently, according to IMDB, her character's name was Norma) who shows up in a truck full of people, walks across the screen once, disappears for ten minutes as the fat lady zombifies, then shows up again as we watch her change into lingere and have sex with Steve (this encounter is actually how we learnt Steve's name) then drift around until dying a chainsaw death.
Something neat is that there are actually two endings to this movie. If you like happy endings where you get to make up what happens next, leave as soon as the credits start. Don't get distracted by what happens on screen, just leave or turn the machine off. If you want the other ending, stick around until the end of the credits.

As a side note to all this, I'd like to talk about how things affect our perspective of the world. When I studied physics, I suddenly started seeing the world in terms of friction, resistance, elasticity, force, and energy. When I took calculus these values became complex equations describing the change between things. When I started making my own levels for Unreal Tournament and System Shock 2 I began seeing things in terms of polygon counts. System Shock 2 also made me excessivly aware of security cameras. There are, I think, many of us out there who have watched enough zombie movies, or really any type of survival movie, and as a result we walk around evaluating the world around us in terms of "where can I get weapons, where's the safest place to hide, where would I get food and water" and so on. Hopefully, when the time comes, this nation of geeks will be able to rise from the ashes of a decimated world and save humanity. Or they'll be the first to go because they never went out and got some exercise.

Total: 45

Black Mask

2004-05-10T23:22:00.000-06:00

Today's offering: Jet Li's Black Mask.
The version of the film I have is the one that you buy at future shop for seven bucks that only comes with thte english overdub, and I have to say I'm thankful for that. Here's why: this movie is silly. There are plot holes, logic holes, bullet holes, and several other kinds of holes in this movie. Several people have their limbs severed with CDs thrown at high velocity, and the big bad boss looks like Ozzy Osbourn circa the "Momma I'm Coming Home" video. Had the orriginal Chinese track been availible I would have definitly watched it listening to the Chinese and reading the English. The reason this would be a bad thing is that I probably would have tried to take the movie seriously, and that act could easily cut the enjoyment factor of this movie in half. Or thirds. You'd still have Ozzy. He's fun in any language.
Next movie I watch I'm gonna take notes.

Total: 44

Insanity, in all it's glory.

2004-05-10T11:07:00.000-06:00

To date, here's the list of movies seen this year.
A -T means I watched it in theatres.

Signs (didn't pay enough attention. Too busy flirting with Adrianna)
Gothika -T (odd)
Spy Game (enjoyable, but probably won't see it again)
Punch Drunk Love (great, but takes some getting used to)
School of Rock -T (fun. That's all)
Lilo and Stitch (Good wholesome goofy fun)
Sleeping Beauty (hadn't seen it in years)
American Beauty (you'll love it for what it is or hate it for what it isn't)
Underworld (it's got vampires and werewolves)
Spirited Away (Miyazaki's best to date)
Memento (never watch it without someone who hasn't seen it before)
Titanic (fell asleep and burnt the cookies we were making. Seen it a dozen times before)
Run Lola Run (Seen it a dozen times and I still love it)
Lost in Translation -T (one of the best nights oif my life)
Amelie (Really enjoyable, but it was way too late at night)
Flatliners (put the VCR on double speed half way through with subtitles on. It has Kevin Bacon)
The Empire Strikes Back (The holy trilogy)
Peter Pan (new one) -T (valentines day)
Tripletts of Bellville -T (weird weird move. Loved it, but weird)
Brazil (long and tiring, but the last ten minutes made it worth it)
Magnolia (really good. Not quite great though)
Lost in Translation (This was my Valentines day present, the DVD)
Fight Club (seen it a billion times, love it, always try and have a new person there every time)
The Spanish Prisoner (worht watching twice, will molest your attention span every time)
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (not as good as Snatch)
Snatch (it's got Brad Pitt as a gypsy bare nuckel boxer, do you need anything else?)
The Fog of War -T (Very insightful)
Ice Age (uuuuh, it's a 90 minute gay joke)
The Shawshank Redemption (very fulfilling movie to watch if you're looking for something to feel good about)
The Corporation -T (fear your job)
Queen of the Damned (uuuuuuuuuuuum, it's got vampires?)
Matrix: Revolutions (no comment)
Big Fish -T (I cried)
The Iron Giant (I cry every time)
Kill Bill vol. 1 (finally got Dri to watch it)
Bowling for Columbine (Fear your neighbor)
Unbreakable (gets better every time)
Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World -T (It's a drama, not an action, but a very good drama)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -T (A breath of fresh air)
Fight Club (Christine's first time, which means she has to fight)
Final Fantasy: the Spirits Within (the ending didn't piss me off as much this time)
Remember the Titans (motivating. Plus Denzel Washington is hot)
Sunset Blvd. (classic black and white. Be forgiving, she's just crazy)