Finally!

It feels like I haven't written about movies in ages, and for no better reason than pure laziness of writing more than a sentence and attaching a youtube clip!

So, finally, here's a few of the films I've seen lately:

Shutter Island
I was hesitant to go see this film after seeing the trailers and thinking it was going to be a horror movie and that's just not my thing.  Well, I'm glad I went because it was great.  I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, but know this: a) Despite it's trailer, it is NOT a horror movie.  Scorsese does a great job of creating suspense and tension with the music and editing, but there are no boogie men, and no one is jumping out of the closet and killing everyone, and b) It's Martin Scorsese. If there are any directors out there that deserve some credit and your confidence that he will make a great film, it's him

Although, he should fire whoever ran his marketing campaign




Alice in Wonderland
I generally love the work of Tim Burton, so it hurts me to say that I was underwhelmed by this movie.  While much of the special effects are amazing (the Queen of Hearts was priceless), much of the CGI was awkward, and took me out of the movie.  I kept wondering how hard it would have been to digitally remove a gap from Johnny Depps teeth instead of putting some black putty on them, or why Krispen Glover (as the Jack of Hearts) looked so fake while he was riding his horse when they could have simply shot really horse riders... I still could have overlooked it's visual flaws, as there were definitely more good than bad, but it was the forced used of Depp in too many parts (WHAT IS UP WITH THAT DANCE SCENE?!?!?!  When/ If you see the movie, you'll know what I'm talking about) and the typical Hollywood movie battle of the 3rd act that is unforgivable.  Anyway, I don't want to bash it too much, it was... good... but just not as great as it should have been.  And definitely not what I was hoping for




-k

This Weekend

Valentines day on Friday, and I'm sure some of you are considering going out to see a movie.  In case you decide on Valentines Day, starring everyone, here is one of the greatest summaries about a movie ever, courtesy of Roger Ebert...

"Valentine's Day" is being marketed as a Date Movie. I think it's more of a First-Date Movie. If your date likes it, do not date that person again. And if you like it, there may not be a second date."

More importantly, the Olympics start!!!!

GO CANADA!!!!!!!!!!



Have a great weekend,
K

So what?!

I went and saw Youth In Revolt this weekend, and thought it was a fun movie and recommend it, but that's not the point of this entry...

It's about the complaint that everyone (myself included) seem to have about Michael Cera:

"He always plays the same roles"

We've all enjoyed him as a quiet, innocent, simple, buddy character in, well, ALL of his movies (and tv)... Superbad, Arrested Development, Juno, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Paper Heart, Year One (I can imagine but will never actually know!)... He not only plays the same character, he IS the same character...


But then I thought about it.  Who cares!

I like all of those movies!  If it wasn't Michael Cera, it would be someone else playing that same character, and would it be any better?  Probably not, because he plays that character well!

The worst thing an actor can do is make you think about the real person, not the character they are playing when they come on screen and take you 'out off the movie'.  MC doesn't do this because as far as I know, that is him on screen in real life!  He IS that guy on and off the screen

Anyway, I won't rant anymore about it, but I'm just saying; So what! Stop complaining about Michael Cera, and spend the energy wondering why their aren't more comedies about suicide bombers...





GO SEE YOUTH IN REVOLT (and read the book!)


btw, there is a character in this movie, Francois Dillinger, that is the complete opposite of a Michael Cera character... Maybe it's a sign of things to come...



-k

WHY?!!!!!! (and some funny)

I went and saw Daybreakers yesterday expecting to see something incredible.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, there's often nothing that can ruin a movie worse than high expectations, but I felt confident in this one. 

It was such a simple and great idea: In the 'not too distant future', Vampires have taken over and are harvesting the last remaining humans for blood.  The human race is becoming extinct and the Vampire scientists need to find an alternative... 

It starred Willem Defoe (who has experience in the genre with Shadow of the Vampire), and Ethan Hawke (who had put in his 'not too distant world' time in with Gattaca)

The trailer looked fuckin awesome:




And does this sound familiar?  It was written and directed by Brothers and the poster shows people hooked up to machines that using them to keep a society alive!

Come on!!! This was going to be the next Matrix (and I don't mean Matrix 2 or 3!!)... How could it not be awesome!!!!!!!


It wasn't. 

I don't want to ruin anything (more than the these Spierig Brothers already did!), but I will say, they did do a great job of creating this alternate world. There are tons of details that made me think this film was going to be great (and could have been).  Unfortunately, it ends up being like so many other bad movies do... Shoot 'em ups, explosions, "I'm sorry... just kidding... no really, I'm sorry...crap, too late", save the day (or should I say night!), "we should have made sure he was dead", lucky the bad guys forgot to account for the famous actor who's not in the last scene....  you get the idea!

So many plot holes, so much sillyness (mostly towards the end)... the only thing that could make me feel better is if there was another of those great animation news clips from China...


OHHHHH  YEAHHHHH!!!!!!





-k

Link me to FIGHTLINKER!

Friends of mine run the biggest funniest (see comments!) MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) site out there called Fightlinker, and I'm hoping they'll link me to their site (and maybe I'll add an 11th reader!)

A couple of things I'll have to do to accomplish such a feat:

1) Sign up for their site (and urge others to as well).  I told my friend that I hadn't already because I didn't want their spam, and he let me in on a little secret... Even if they wanted to, they don't have the capabilities.  I'll still use my 'junk mail address' just in case!

2) Write a review of something MMA related, and here it is:


Flash Point
I saw this film at the Toronto Film Festival a couple of years ago and will never forget it.  It is easily one of the best Martial Arts films out there, and I recommend it to anyone who is even remotely a fan of the Genre.

The Director (Wilson Yip) is one of the most renowned martial arts directors in the world. His previous movie, S.P.L., was loved by fans when it came to the festival 2 years earlier, and made this film highly anticipated. 

When the director came out to introduce the film, he told the audience that he took a year off to "analyze new methods of fighting and how real fighting would blend with film stylized martial arts."  He went on to talk about how he carefully studied MMA fighting and took the next 6 months to make his onscreen fights look this real.

The results are obvious.  This is not a sparring match with sound effects.  These fights look real (by that I mean, look like real fights which is rare)

I won't attempt to describe the action any further as I won't do it justice, so take my advice.  If you're a fan of Martial Arts or MMA, or other movies I recommend, watch this movie! (or buy it since you will want to watch it again!)





BTW, you have noticed that i didn't mention the plot. The reason is, I don't remember, and that fact shouldn't take away from this film!


Okay, so now I'm signed up with fightlinker and they better hook me up!

If you found this blog through their site, leave a message, and I'll pay for half of one of these sweet fightlinker T-Shirts for you....


-k

Up in the Air!

I read a lot of books that have been adapted into movies. More often than not, the books are far superior. There is simply too much information in a book that can't be portrayed on screen in a reasonable time.

Generally they (Directors) take a great book (Often too grand in scale to literally adapt in full), take a single storyline, copy a few of the best moments and make a decent adaptation (Catch 22, Wonder Boys), sometimes they take a good book (Generally having a much more simple narrative to a Great book) and are able to stay closely to the entire narrative, enhance the best parts that I mix the two together (Fight Club, The Road). Sometimes it's a bad book made into a bad movie (DaVinci Code - Sorry Dan Brown fans). More often than not, they simply take any book (Good or Great) and fuck it up (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Stardust)

Then there are the bad books (although they may have redeeming qualities), where the true skill of a great director comes into place. Up in the Air is a perfect example of this.

I won't review the book, but know that while it had some of the same themes as the movie, that fact that Jason Reitman turned it into a great movie is an amazing achievement!

Now, my point is that I read this book before watching the movie, and was expecting a light film about a man who spends most of his life on the road and is within arms reach of his one million frequent flier miles, and what it all means to him. What I got was so much more!

A film about a guy who flies around for more than three quarters of his life, who's most real human connections was firing people could be, at the very least, an extremely depressing film. I imagined the laughs to be about (to quote Fight Club) "Single Serving Friends", and the firings to be about people freaking out and breaking things (haha).

Instead, the traveling man (George Clooney) is logical and content with his life, the firings (actually recently fired people) are touching.

I don't want to give any of the film away, but I will say that, like many good books, Jason Reitman has made a touching, funny and moving film that has well rounded and complete characters that are real and a story and narrative that is unusual, surprising and fun. Go See this movie (and root for it during the Academy Awards where it should be recognized!)


BTW, The Director also did this with another average book (Thank You for Smoking), so I shouldn't have been surprised!







-k

A little R&R

The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans

I've written about the brilliance of Werner Herzog before, and stand by it. That being said (Thank you Larry David!), this film may scare you off from watching any of his others (PLEASE don't let that happen!)

Without getting too into it, the movie is about a cops descent in a Post Katrina New Orleans.  I won't ruin any of the 'plot', but understand going in that it doesn't have a typical narrative, and there are parts that you will wonder what kind of drugs Nick Cage was really on (not to mention the director).  You will however see some amazing performances (imagine NC in Leaving Las Vegas as apposed to National Treasure), as well as some great locations in New Orleans that will appreciate what life is really like there.

I thought this movie was great, but I can see how people feel otherwise.

You've been warned about this recommendation!

Ninja Assassin: Redundant title, waste of money

I won't get into a big review of this film as it would just be me wasting more time after already spending too much watching this crap!

I must admit I had high expectations going into this which can often ruin a movie. Ninja movies are rare these days, so considering the last good one I saw was American Ninja, I think it was safe.




The best part of this film was the opening scene.

- Bad guys hanging out, lots of guns at their disposal.
- A mysterious envelope filled with black sand arrives.  According to the 'wise' old man, it predicts their doom:
    "We are all dead"
- AWWWWWW YEAHHHHH, here come the ninja's!!!!! 
- Swords, Throwing Stars, disappearing in a shadow and reappearing in others
    "Whatever they're paying you, I'll double it!"
- Lots of blood and body parts... I LOVE IT!!!!

I was beginning to forget all about Gymkata




Not for long...

The rest of this movie was complete crap! 

- The action scenes that could have been fun had comera work that was a cross between The Blair Witch and The Bourne Ultimatum
- The acting was bad. Not bad enough to be good either. Ben Miles played the head of the 'Agency' that was involved (I am not exactly sure in what capacity).  For those of you that watched Coupling, you will know him as Patrick, and that is all I could think about when he was on screen




Anyway, I've put in too much effort already. 

Speaking of effort, is it so hard to write a decent Ninja movie!??!?!


-k

I'd Rather Have Stared at Goats Myself!

I watched The Men Who Stare at Goats last night, and let me spare you the time and money and warn you:

Don't Bother...

What a steaming pile of poo!  The funniest part was the opening line and it was all down hill from there.  Not even an amazing cast (Batman, The Dude, Lex Luthor, Obi-Wan Kenobi and the T-1000) could save this crappy and uneven script. 

If you have already seen it, or plan to illegally download it, some questions and comments I have (warning: spoilers):

• HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... Ohhhhh my sides from all the Jedi jokes in front of Ewan McGregor...
• Are people being tortured by playing the Barney song over and over considered "psychic" powers at work?
• If the first time drugs are slipped to a soldier, he shoots people and then kills himself, do you really think it's wise to repeat the 'trick' on a larger scale?  Ohhhhh, what shinanigans!
• what is the relevance of killing a goat after staring at it for several minutes?  Assasinations I assume, but if you are able to get within 3 feet and keep eye contact, it's probably easier to just pull a gun
• When Clooney gets to the camp in Iraq, Kevin Spacey asks him how he found them.  When he answers that he used his Psychic ability, Spacey says that he spoke with "Alex" and that he mentioned how he saw him and told him where they were.  This makes me wonder:
• Why did he ask if he already knew?
• Is he trying to say that there are no such thing as these Psychic abilities that we spent the last 90 minutes watching?

The bigeest questions is: Why am I wasting my time trying to make sense of this?

The Best Movie You Have Never Seen

The Fall, by Tarsem, is probably the most amazing movie I have ever seen.

If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch it as soon as possible.  If you have, you should own it on Blu-ray and watch it again.

To describe this film would not do it justice. Take the Princess Bride, mix them with the best National Geographic Photo's, and add in the cutest little kid you have ever seen, and you've got a start!

In short, the film is about a  man in a hospital who befriends a young girl by telling her "An epic tale of love and revenge" in order to get her to steal pills for him.  The story involves an Indian, an ex-slave, an Italian explosives expert, Charles Darwin (accompanied by a monkey sidekick), and a masked bandit who all go to seek revenge on the evil Governor.  Have you stopped reading this and are watching it already?!

The story is simple enough, but that's not what makes it such a masterpiece. Shot in over 20 countries, and made without visual effects, you will watch this film with your mouth open, unable to believe the amazing locations and beauty of every shot.  It makes you want to go travel to other countries, read about mystical places, take photo's and ultimately watch more movies from this director (although you are better off with his videos).  How many films have you seen that make you feel like that?

And the kid!  Watch this film and try to tell me that you don't want to just pinch her cheeks!  The fact that she learnt English as they filmed the movie (She was discovered in Romania and has no other film experience), lost her front teeth just before filming, and actually believed that the main actor couldn't walk, just adds to the realism and sincerity of her role. If only they would put the effort into finding actress' like this instead of using that freaky child star, Dakota Fanning!   Most importantly, we share a birthday!!!


And btw, relax, there are no subtitles!

A little R&R

Review and Recommendation that is

District 9
Pre- Release: The Good

• The director of District 9 (Neill Blomkamp) was supposed to make a Live action Halo movie and came out with this short.  Unfortunately, they won't be making it, but anyone talented enough to make that had me excited
• It had been too long since there had been a good Sci-Fi Aliens on Earth film (Predator, Alien Nation), as apposed to horror (Every Alien-on-earth movie since). 
• Peter "Lord of the Rings" Jackson was producing it

Pre-Release: The Bad

• There was a ton of Viral marketing done for this film (try this) which hasn't worked on me since I got a call from Samuel L Jackson telling me to go watch Snakes on a Plane!
• Was I getting too excited for it?  I felt like I was being set up to be let down (Terminator Salvation/ Wolverine anyone?!)

The Film Itself: The Good

• THE ALIENS DIDN'T COME TO THE USA!!!
• Looked and felt like a documentary as apposed to some people holding shaky camera's as they ran around
•  The Aliens were ALL CGI... God damn they looked 'real' (as in the actors could touch them).  That was some of the best CGI work I've ever seen
• The Aliens name is "Christopher Johnson". I knew a guy from China with that same name. Love it

The Film Itself: The Ugly

• I get it, the aliens represent black people in South Africa. And that during Apartheid they were segregated.  And people are racist towards people who are different. And that part of the problem is the situation that was created by white people.  I GET IT!!!  But didn't we learn anything?  Couldn't someone have said "Hey, this situation seems awfully familiar! Maybe we should try something else!"
• Why must films hit us over the head that there will be a part 2?!  Not since the ending of Back to the Future 2 has it been so blatant (I'm sure BTTF didn't affect you like it did me, but for those of you who care, at the end of the film, they actually played the beginning of BTTF 3 and then ended it with "To Be Continued...").  Okay, maybe it was worse at the end of the first Lord of the Rings... You get the point

Overall: All Good

• I liked it!  It's a good example of how a small film can start out as a hidden gem, get over-hyped (the killer of many movies), and end up showing us why we wanted to see it in the first place.  Because a talented filmmaker had a good idea, surrounded himself with successful people and executed!  I can't wait for District 10 ;)

Do you have any films that you want to know what I thought?  Do you have a film that you liked and want some recommendations on others like it?  Let me know so I have something to write about!