BEST OF THE YEAR!!!
Okay, this list is my top ten list of movies from the past years... subject to debate and all that, but it's my top ten so fuck you. -=)
10: Green Lantern
Kind of sad... this movie could have been absolutely great, but some poor direction and a few too many directions kept it from really nailing the mark.
9: Sucker Punch
Loved this movie. Steampunk Nazi Zombies for the win! I also liked the story, even though alot of folks did not. Well, different strokes and all that.
8: Fright Night (remake)
I wasn't thrilled with this movie, but it was good and well done for the most part. A little too much CGI and an unlikeable main character, but everything else was top notch.
7: Thor
Fun movie, but a poor script didn't help it. Helmsworth is fantastic, though... and that's what we were looking for.
6: X-Men: First Class
Ehhh... great film, but I didn't like the rewrite on Havok. It's just me, though.
5: Pirates of the Carribean 4
Good stuff, not great.
4: Troll Hunter:
Fantastic film!
3: Captain America
So awesomesauce and pure geek-fu fun!
2 13 Assassins.
This is pure Miike, the man who brought us “Audition”, “Sukiyaki Western: Django” and “Ichi: The Killer”. The mans’ body of work includes family films, samurai epics, horror films, and on and on. Now we have the Samurai epic. FANTASTIC. Check it out!
1. Tucker and Dale vs. Evil:
I haven't laughed so hard at the movies in a long LONG time!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Avenue Q: review
The first time I heard songs from the soundtrack of "Avenue Q" was at the gaming table of the Bennett family. I immediately fell in love with so many of these great songs, and the Bennetts burned me a copy that I still listen to several years later. This was sometime around the year 2004 or 2005... so here we are in 2011 and I'm waking up one day after spending a fantastic evening watching the Paper Wing Theatre production of the show. I guess calling it "fantastic" is a bit of a spoiler for where this review is going to go, but I'm sure you'll get over it. So let's get into the nitty gritty...
The show actually started before the doors opened when the Bad Idea Bears (Erin Davison and Mark Weddle) came outside and greeted the audience waiting in line. The pair ran a couple of routines on audience members, making people feel like part of the show from the get go. Eager, excited, and enthusiastic, the Bad Idea Bears encouraged both the audience and the cast to drink, have fun, and to ignore the consequences. The people were laughing and the doors opened for a very eager audience. Shuffling to our seats, I thought we'd have some pretty good seats in the way back and be able to see the whole of the set. Flush with color, the stage was an amazing character in itself.
So the lights go down and actor Nicholas Kelly takes center stage as Princeton, our main protagonist through the show. A 23 year old college graduate looking for his purpose and a place to live. He finds that place to live on Avenue Q, a Sesame Street-like atmosphere of colorful characters that make up the rest of the cast. Nicholas' voice is amazing and consistent, picking up the majority of the songs throughout the show. He handled Princeton incredibly well and his own facial expressions drove the emotions and humor of the character.
"It Sucks to be Me" introduces the rest of the cast: Kate Monster (Jill Miller), two non-puppet characters Brian and Christmas Eve (Daniel Matthey, Amy Rose), Nicky (Jay DeVine with Penny Morgan)and his room mate Rod (Shane Dallmann), Trekkie Monster (Robert Feeney with Sonita Cardoza), with human superintendent Gary Coleman (an amazingly charismatic Lindi Lewis). The song also prepares the audience for the content of the show, including vulgarity and adult themes and caustic humor. The band hit a huge stride and propelled the music throughout the show, absolutely NAILING every track and backing up some great voices. With the house packed, director Koly McBride delivers another hit show to the Monterey Bay Area. Also appearing in various roles throughout the show are the Ensemble Cast featuring Cody Moore, Penny Morgan, Sonita Cardoza, Katy Wieser, Mark Weddle, Erin Davison, and Robert Feeney.
While Princeton may be the audience surrogate that introduces us to this world, Kate Monster is the absolute heart of the production. Jill Miller's voice, her body language, and the puppet itself are all in sync throughout the show and I'm blown away by the level of talent in this young woman. Whether it's watching her innocence shattered in "The Internet is For Porn" or watching her heart ripped out in "There's a Fine, Fine Line", she tends to reach out and snatch your attention. Her budding romance with Princeton provides an anchor to the shows several sub-plots, including the predatory advances from Lucy The Slut (Katie Wieser). The interaction between Kate and her boss, Mrs. T (Taylor Noel Young) sent a shooting pain through my eye because I laughed so hard.
Another sub-plot involves Rod coming to terms with some personal identity issues. As a Republican Investment Banker, actor Shane Dallmann is stiff and wrapped up tight with some slight shaking as he struggles with questions regarding Rods' sexuality. Partnered with Nicky, the pair share good chemistry as best friends living together for perhaps a little too long. Each one grates on the others nerves in typical "odd couple" fashion. Rod seeks help from therapist Christmas Eve and there are some hilarious moments between these two.
I attended the show with my wife and our friend, whose comments after the show were glowing. We all had a great night and were hugely entertained. My wife's favorite characters were Kate Monster and the Pink "Bad Idea Bear". Support the local arts and attend this fantastic show featuring all local performers. They work hard for your appreciation and make sure to bring a handful of change for the second act. Heck, bring a wad of cash and spend it on the cookies and coffee. My wife says the Chai was "To die for."
The show actually started before the doors opened when the Bad Idea Bears (Erin Davison and Mark Weddle) came outside and greeted the audience waiting in line. The pair ran a couple of routines on audience members, making people feel like part of the show from the get go. Eager, excited, and enthusiastic, the Bad Idea Bears encouraged both the audience and the cast to drink, have fun, and to ignore the consequences. The people were laughing and the doors opened for a very eager audience. Shuffling to our seats, I thought we'd have some pretty good seats in the way back and be able to see the whole of the set. Flush with color, the stage was an amazing character in itself.
So the lights go down and actor Nicholas Kelly takes center stage as Princeton, our main protagonist through the show. A 23 year old college graduate looking for his purpose and a place to live. He finds that place to live on Avenue Q, a Sesame Street-like atmosphere of colorful characters that make up the rest of the cast. Nicholas' voice is amazing and consistent, picking up the majority of the songs throughout the show. He handled Princeton incredibly well and his own facial expressions drove the emotions and humor of the character.
"It Sucks to be Me" introduces the rest of the cast: Kate Monster (Jill Miller), two non-puppet characters Brian and Christmas Eve (Daniel Matthey, Amy Rose), Nicky (Jay DeVine with Penny Morgan)and his room mate Rod (Shane Dallmann), Trekkie Monster (Robert Feeney with Sonita Cardoza), with human superintendent Gary Coleman (an amazingly charismatic Lindi Lewis). The song also prepares the audience for the content of the show, including vulgarity and adult themes and caustic humor. The band hit a huge stride and propelled the music throughout the show, absolutely NAILING every track and backing up some great voices. With the house packed, director Koly McBride delivers another hit show to the Monterey Bay Area. Also appearing in various roles throughout the show are the Ensemble Cast featuring Cody Moore, Penny Morgan, Sonita Cardoza, Katy Wieser, Mark Weddle, Erin Davison, and Robert Feeney.
While Princeton may be the audience surrogate that introduces us to this world, Kate Monster is the absolute heart of the production. Jill Miller's voice, her body language, and the puppet itself are all in sync throughout the show and I'm blown away by the level of talent in this young woman. Whether it's watching her innocence shattered in "The Internet is For Porn" or watching her heart ripped out in "There's a Fine, Fine Line", she tends to reach out and snatch your attention. Her budding romance with Princeton provides an anchor to the shows several sub-plots, including the predatory advances from Lucy The Slut (Katie Wieser). The interaction between Kate and her boss, Mrs. T (Taylor Noel Young) sent a shooting pain through my eye because I laughed so hard.
Another sub-plot involves Rod coming to terms with some personal identity issues. As a Republican Investment Banker, actor Shane Dallmann is stiff and wrapped up tight with some slight shaking as he struggles with questions regarding Rods' sexuality. Partnered with Nicky, the pair share good chemistry as best friends living together for perhaps a little too long. Each one grates on the others nerves in typical "odd couple" fashion. Rod seeks help from therapist Christmas Eve and there are some hilarious moments between these two.
I attended the show with my wife and our friend, whose comments after the show were glowing. We all had a great night and were hugely entertained. My wife's favorite characters were Kate Monster and the Pink "Bad Idea Bear". Support the local arts and attend this fantastic show featuring all local performers. They work hard for your appreciation and make sure to bring a handful of change for the second act. Heck, bring a wad of cash and spend it on the cookies and coffee. My wife says the Chai was "To die for."
Thursday, November 24, 2011
An Evening With Mr. Johnson:
I’ve actually been struggling with where to begin when organizing my thoughts on “An Evening With Mr. Johnson”. I usually just sit there and let things just sort of dribble out until there’s a fairly steady stream, but there was nothing. So I sort of sat there, staring, wondering why the dang thing wasn’t working. I had laughed almost constantly, found it hard to breathe through the laughter, and I truly had a great time. Why couldn’t I express myself? Jodi Gilmore starts the show off with a laugh and we get a lot of the expected puns right out of the way. He delivers a fantastic little monologue about his preparation for the role complete with visual aids. We then dive headlong into the story; Ed (L.J. Brewer) is spending New Years Eve alone after a particularly nasty break up with his fiancée. It seems that Ed’s past struggles with faithlessness have landed him in hot water before. Struggling to understand his failings, Ed eventually blames that poor body part and sparks an all too familiar debate. Gilmore is that irreverent, sarcastic, and somewhat volatile appendage. It’s a classic battle between the Id and the Ego to determine dominance over the male psyche, with both sides attempting to reconcile the desires of the other. Brewer is grounded as an average guy coping with the problems of interpersonal relationships as he approaches middle age. He still wants to see himself as the dangerous young man he once was but his Id has started to remind him that those moments are limited and there are really only a few years left. Michael Matteos’ script isn’t just hilarious, it’s also a little brutally honest when it comes to facing those later years.
But there is only so far a person can go in facing their own issues. They can talk as much as they want, but it’s ultimately a struggle with your self. Whatever terms you come to, you eventually have to face the rest of the world. It’s the second acts’ introduction of Alison Smith as Ed’s fiancée that sets him on a collision course with even deeper issues. The fact that she’s a psychiatrist and her clinical demeanor have driven a sharp spike between the original pair, and Smith presents a fantastic foil to Gilmore’s earlier snark and irreverence. That collision is the set up for a series of hilarious exchanges between Ed, his Id, and the fiancée as they struggle to cope with Ed’s betrayal and identity issues.
Koly McBride brings a fantastic script to life and delivers another wonderful evening at the Paper Wing Theater. And you have no idea how much I wish I had a better sentence than that. It’s unoriginal, it’s not daring, it’s not clever, and it completely lacks the poetic flair that my praise should give it. I sat on the computer for a couple nights, struggling to figure out the right words… and that stupid sentence kept popping into my head over and over again. I would read it, erase it, and then write it again. It’s not that it isn’t true, because it is. It’s that so bland and banal a sentence seems so ill fitting for such a great time. It was well worth my time and I caught my wife laughing out loud at several moments, so why don’t you do yourselves a favor and check out “An Evening with Mr. Johnson”.
But there is only so far a person can go in facing their own issues. They can talk as much as they want, but it’s ultimately a struggle with your self. Whatever terms you come to, you eventually have to face the rest of the world. It’s the second acts’ introduction of Alison Smith as Ed’s fiancée that sets him on a collision course with even deeper issues. The fact that she’s a psychiatrist and her clinical demeanor have driven a sharp spike between the original pair, and Smith presents a fantastic foil to Gilmore’s earlier snark and irreverence. That collision is the set up for a series of hilarious exchanges between Ed, his Id, and the fiancée as they struggle to cope with Ed’s betrayal and identity issues.
Koly McBride brings a fantastic script to life and delivers another wonderful evening at the Paper Wing Theater. And you have no idea how much I wish I had a better sentence than that. It’s unoriginal, it’s not daring, it’s not clever, and it completely lacks the poetic flair that my praise should give it. I sat on the computer for a couple nights, struggling to figure out the right words… and that stupid sentence kept popping into my head over and over again. I would read it, erase it, and then write it again. It’s not that it isn’t true, because it is. It’s that so bland and banal a sentence seems so ill fitting for such a great time. It was well worth my time and I caught my wife laughing out loud at several moments, so why don’t you do yourselves a favor and check out “An Evening with Mr. Johnson”.
Monday, October 17, 2011
MEGA-REVIEW CATCH-UP!!! Tucker & Dale, X-Men: First Class, Perfect Host, True Grit, and more...
Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil
Let’s take a familiar story and set it askew. College kids on vacation decide to head off into the backwoods, get drunk, go swimming in the lake, generally act like the irresponsible punks that they are and then they run afoul of some redneck locals. It’s a familiar horror film trope. But what if the redneck locals really are just well meaning good ol’ boys? What if the problem is a series of mishaps and miscommunications? This is our basic premise behind the story of “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil”. Our title characters are best friends setting out to repair a dilapidated cabin recently purchased by Tucker with his life savings. When our erstwhile pair manages to rescue one of the kids from drowning, the others believe that she’s been taken hostage and the rednecks are full of ill intent. The kids attempts to “rescue” their friend result in a series of brutal accidents, leading our duo to believe that they’re the victims of some “suicide-murder pact” perpetrated by the girls friends. They also come to believe that they have to protect the girl from her friends and events continue to spiral and escalate out of control. The results, although tragic, are also pure slapstick hilarity.
Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are fantastic as the title characters. Their performances keep the characters engaging and it’s their convincing friendship that keeps the audience interested in the events surrounding them. Their reactions to the brutal deaths are hilarious. Labine is simply brilliant as the well-meaning but somewhat naïve Dale while Tudyk plays it much more straight as Tucker, a man who sees his lifes’ dream turning into a nightmare. It’s a great comic pairing and works especially well with the premise of the film. There are a number of decent gore effects, including the trailer-spoiled death by wood-chipper but the film goes beyond the simple slapstick comedy by giving us a pair of likeable main characters for whom to root when they must eventually face the “evil” of the title.
4.5 out of 5.
X-Men: First Class
So I didn’t expect much out of the new X-Men: First Class film and was kind of surprised to read and hear so many good things about it. I still wasn’t convinced to give it a theatrical viewing, but eagerly snatched it up as a Netflix DVD rental. Based on the comic book franchise, “First Class” gives us a look at the Xavier Institutes’ past and the friendship between the Professor and his nemesis, Magneto. We find an early introduction to several characters in the franchise, the story takes place at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and we get an incredible villain portrayed by Kevin Bacon. All of the promising comments bore tremendous fruit and the film takes you on an action packed thrill ride with an engaging story. All of this, of course, hinges on the very real possibility that the viewer has absolutely no interest in the comic book or is able to completely forget key issues regarding the characters introduced to the story.
We’re treated to an introduction to Alex Summers, the younger brother of familiar X-Men icon Cyclops. In this film, the younger brother is a prison inmate released from solitary confinement in order to join Xavier’s band of misfit mutants. Although his relationship with Cyclops never comes up beyond naming him Summers, as a fan of the character his placement in the film is frustrating. The portrayal of Alex as an arrogant punk instead of the insightful archeologist and compassionate hero he is in the comics rankles my feathers a little further. But, that would just be one character out of several that included a Banshee AND Moira MacTaggert born in America without the slightest hints of an accent, a female “angel” with insectoid wings and the ability to spit acid or fire or some such, or a completely superfluous character whose only purpose from the moment he hits the screen is to die an ignoble death. I’m not precisely certain how much of the “comic book” actually became included with the film, but I would suspect they had little more than a list of names and powers when the writers hammered out the script.
I suppose a lot of the film can be forgiven for taking such incredible liberties, but I’m a purist at heart and I think that some continuity needs to be maintained when developing a franchise film based on a franchise comic book. I know a lot of people saw this film as the direction in which comic films should be pushed, but it didn’t push the right buttons for me. It’s largely a fantastic film and it’s a shame they had to drag several characters over the coals in order to get it made. I would recommend the film for anyone who has no interest in the comics and would warn purists that there are A LOT of changes to some beloved characters in the series.
3.5 out of 5.
The Perfect Host:
Skeet Ulrich, a fugitive on the run, manages to charm his way into the home of David Hyde Pierce on the night of a dinner party to be hosted by Pierce. Unfortunately for “Fat Johnny Depp”, DHP is not the mild mannered host we originally assume him to be and events quickly spiral out of control. The film mostly revolves around the interplay between Pierce and Ulrich, the latter of which seems out of his depth throughout most of the film. Hyde Pierce is a psychotic bag of trouble for the Fugitive, showing off a scrap book collection of previous dinner “Guests” and taunting Ulrich about the direction of his life. We also find out that Ulrich’s crime is not all we originally believe it to be, as we get constant flash-backs to the love of his life and her medical problems intercut with scenes of the detectives looking for Ulrich. As DHP continues to torture, mock, and humiliate his victim, Ulrich begins to show the audience more of who he really is and we get a real game of Cat & Mouse.
The film delivers some improbable twists and turns and should have probably ended a little sooner than it’s run time, but it had its heart in the right place and was cleverly performed. The real highlight of the film, however, is David Hyde Pierce. There are so many scenes where Pierce just dominates the camera and gives us a glimpse into a mind that is just flat out bizarre.
4 out of 5.
True Grit: (remake)
So the Coen Brothers got together and decided to throw together an updated remake to a classic John Wayne film? I wanted to see this one in the theater, but circumstances prevented me and it took awhile for me to get around to giving it a spin on the DVD player. Having only seen the original once some random number of years ago, I thought it was a fair story that held up well. The Coen Brothers didn’t really do a lot to change it up or deliver something especially new, but this is a much darker version of the story. Jeff Bridges is fantastic as Rooster Cogburn, but he lacks some of the warmth that John Wayne brought to the role. It could be better with the story the Coens choose to tell but the story really does belong to the character of “Maddie”… the young actress portraying Maddie should have a heck of a future. She’s not the spit fire comedy relief of the first film, but is rather a tragic heroine struggling to cope with the loss of her father and the responsibility of caring for her family. She’s a hard girl and her scenes with Le Beouf are exemplary. Probably the weakest aspect of the film is the LeBeouf character. However it seems perhaps it was purposefully so, as Matt Damon seems too soft for the role of a Texas Ranger. Maddies’ cutting remarks hit very true to the mark and LeBeouf is often humiliated throughout the course of the film. He doesn’t seem at all to be the hard-bitten trail hand he claims to be.
I'm not entirely certain why, but I just can't think of much to write about for this film. It was a good film, but nothing I could just talk about for paragraphs at a time. Anyway, I recommend it.
4 out of 5.
TrollHunter
I’ve never been a fan of the “first person” shaky cam affect used in perhaps a few too many recent independent film projects. Troll Hunter follows a documentary crew as they stalk the moves of a known bear poacher. We quickly discover that the poacher is far more than he seems and the crew finds out that Trolls exist. There are different species running wild on preserves throughout Sweden, and its’ the job of this poacher to hunt them when they escape. And that’s what this film is… there are several great scenes, but it’s a lot of running through the woods and some great CGI affects to animate the Trolls our crew comes across. There’s some government conspiracy goodies, some science behind the existence of trolls, and we get a lot of information regarding the mythology of these creatures. Fun film.
4 out of 5.
Animals
This wretched drivel is werewolf fan fiction romance disguised as a serious attempt in film making. The mind numbing “plot” involves a strange woman on the run from her abusive boyfriend, arriving in town, seducing the town “hero”, and then turning him into a werewolf… sorry, that term is never actually used. They get turned into CGI glowing wolf-like creatures of blurry nonsense. Oh, god… and then we find out that the guys female best friend has been one of these creatures all along, but she’s a good woof and yadda yadda blah blah blah. This movie started off slowly, revved it’s engine maybe once throughout the debacle, and then finished us off with an anticlimactic series of endings before mercifully rolling the end credits. There are worse movies out there, but this debacle was a total waste of time.
1 out of 5.
Let’s take a familiar story and set it askew. College kids on vacation decide to head off into the backwoods, get drunk, go swimming in the lake, generally act like the irresponsible punks that they are and then they run afoul of some redneck locals. It’s a familiar horror film trope. But what if the redneck locals really are just well meaning good ol’ boys? What if the problem is a series of mishaps and miscommunications? This is our basic premise behind the story of “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil”. Our title characters are best friends setting out to repair a dilapidated cabin recently purchased by Tucker with his life savings. When our erstwhile pair manages to rescue one of the kids from drowning, the others believe that she’s been taken hostage and the rednecks are full of ill intent. The kids attempts to “rescue” their friend result in a series of brutal accidents, leading our duo to believe that they’re the victims of some “suicide-murder pact” perpetrated by the girls friends. They also come to believe that they have to protect the girl from her friends and events continue to spiral and escalate out of control. The results, although tragic, are also pure slapstick hilarity.
Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine are fantastic as the title characters. Their performances keep the characters engaging and it’s their convincing friendship that keeps the audience interested in the events surrounding them. Their reactions to the brutal deaths are hilarious. Labine is simply brilliant as the well-meaning but somewhat naïve Dale while Tudyk plays it much more straight as Tucker, a man who sees his lifes’ dream turning into a nightmare. It’s a great comic pairing and works especially well with the premise of the film. There are a number of decent gore effects, including the trailer-spoiled death by wood-chipper but the film goes beyond the simple slapstick comedy by giving us a pair of likeable main characters for whom to root when they must eventually face the “evil” of the title.
4.5 out of 5.
X-Men: First Class
So I didn’t expect much out of the new X-Men: First Class film and was kind of surprised to read and hear so many good things about it. I still wasn’t convinced to give it a theatrical viewing, but eagerly snatched it up as a Netflix DVD rental. Based on the comic book franchise, “First Class” gives us a look at the Xavier Institutes’ past and the friendship between the Professor and his nemesis, Magneto. We find an early introduction to several characters in the franchise, the story takes place at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, and we get an incredible villain portrayed by Kevin Bacon. All of the promising comments bore tremendous fruit and the film takes you on an action packed thrill ride with an engaging story. All of this, of course, hinges on the very real possibility that the viewer has absolutely no interest in the comic book or is able to completely forget key issues regarding the characters introduced to the story.
We’re treated to an introduction to Alex Summers, the younger brother of familiar X-Men icon Cyclops. In this film, the younger brother is a prison inmate released from solitary confinement in order to join Xavier’s band of misfit mutants. Although his relationship with Cyclops never comes up beyond naming him Summers, as a fan of the character his placement in the film is frustrating. The portrayal of Alex as an arrogant punk instead of the insightful archeologist and compassionate hero he is in the comics rankles my feathers a little further. But, that would just be one character out of several that included a Banshee AND Moira MacTaggert born in America without the slightest hints of an accent, a female “angel” with insectoid wings and the ability to spit acid or fire or some such, or a completely superfluous character whose only purpose from the moment he hits the screen is to die an ignoble death. I’m not precisely certain how much of the “comic book” actually became included with the film, but I would suspect they had little more than a list of names and powers when the writers hammered out the script.
I suppose a lot of the film can be forgiven for taking such incredible liberties, but I’m a purist at heart and I think that some continuity needs to be maintained when developing a franchise film based on a franchise comic book. I know a lot of people saw this film as the direction in which comic films should be pushed, but it didn’t push the right buttons for me. It’s largely a fantastic film and it’s a shame they had to drag several characters over the coals in order to get it made. I would recommend the film for anyone who has no interest in the comics and would warn purists that there are A LOT of changes to some beloved characters in the series.
3.5 out of 5.
The Perfect Host:
Skeet Ulrich, a fugitive on the run, manages to charm his way into the home of David Hyde Pierce on the night of a dinner party to be hosted by Pierce. Unfortunately for “Fat Johnny Depp”, DHP is not the mild mannered host we originally assume him to be and events quickly spiral out of control. The film mostly revolves around the interplay between Pierce and Ulrich, the latter of which seems out of his depth throughout most of the film. Hyde Pierce is a psychotic bag of trouble for the Fugitive, showing off a scrap book collection of previous dinner “Guests” and taunting Ulrich about the direction of his life. We also find out that Ulrich’s crime is not all we originally believe it to be, as we get constant flash-backs to the love of his life and her medical problems intercut with scenes of the detectives looking for Ulrich. As DHP continues to torture, mock, and humiliate his victim, Ulrich begins to show the audience more of who he really is and we get a real game of Cat & Mouse.
The film delivers some improbable twists and turns and should have probably ended a little sooner than it’s run time, but it had its heart in the right place and was cleverly performed. The real highlight of the film, however, is David Hyde Pierce. There are so many scenes where Pierce just dominates the camera and gives us a glimpse into a mind that is just flat out bizarre.
4 out of 5.
True Grit: (remake)
So the Coen Brothers got together and decided to throw together an updated remake to a classic John Wayne film? I wanted to see this one in the theater, but circumstances prevented me and it took awhile for me to get around to giving it a spin on the DVD player. Having only seen the original once some random number of years ago, I thought it was a fair story that held up well. The Coen Brothers didn’t really do a lot to change it up or deliver something especially new, but this is a much darker version of the story. Jeff Bridges is fantastic as Rooster Cogburn, but he lacks some of the warmth that John Wayne brought to the role. It could be better with the story the Coens choose to tell but the story really does belong to the character of “Maddie”… the young actress portraying Maddie should have a heck of a future. She’s not the spit fire comedy relief of the first film, but is rather a tragic heroine struggling to cope with the loss of her father and the responsibility of caring for her family. She’s a hard girl and her scenes with Le Beouf are exemplary. Probably the weakest aspect of the film is the LeBeouf character. However it seems perhaps it was purposefully so, as Matt Damon seems too soft for the role of a Texas Ranger. Maddies’ cutting remarks hit very true to the mark and LeBeouf is often humiliated throughout the course of the film. He doesn’t seem at all to be the hard-bitten trail hand he claims to be.
I'm not entirely certain why, but I just can't think of much to write about for this film. It was a good film, but nothing I could just talk about for paragraphs at a time. Anyway, I recommend it.
4 out of 5.
TrollHunter
I’ve never been a fan of the “first person” shaky cam affect used in perhaps a few too many recent independent film projects. Troll Hunter follows a documentary crew as they stalk the moves of a known bear poacher. We quickly discover that the poacher is far more than he seems and the crew finds out that Trolls exist. There are different species running wild on preserves throughout Sweden, and its’ the job of this poacher to hunt them when they escape. And that’s what this film is… there are several great scenes, but it’s a lot of running through the woods and some great CGI affects to animate the Trolls our crew comes across. There’s some government conspiracy goodies, some science behind the existence of trolls, and we get a lot of information regarding the mythology of these creatures. Fun film.
4 out of 5.
Animals
This wretched drivel is werewolf fan fiction romance disguised as a serious attempt in film making. The mind numbing “plot” involves a strange woman on the run from her abusive boyfriend, arriving in town, seducing the town “hero”, and then turning him into a werewolf… sorry, that term is never actually used. They get turned into CGI glowing wolf-like creatures of blurry nonsense. Oh, god… and then we find out that the guys female best friend has been one of these creatures all along, but she’s a good woof and yadda yadda blah blah blah. This movie started off slowly, revved it’s engine maybe once throughout the debacle, and then finished us off with an anticlimactic series of endings before mercifully rolling the end credits. There are worse movies out there, but this debacle was a total waste of time.
1 out of 5.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Fright Night remake + Hobo With A Shotgun
FRIGHT NIGHT: (Remake)
I have never been a big fan of remakes or re-imaginings, so I’m often walking into those types of films with a largely negative mindset to begin with. Now, when you take into account that the original Fright Night is actually one of my all-time favorite vampire films, there were some serious hurdles for me to actually pony up the money to see this particular movie. Casting David Tennant as Peter Vincent goes a long way to leaping those hurdles, but I was still pretty resilient to the idea of this film. Great reviews and several recommendations from friends pushed me over the edge, though I still avoided the 3D rendering.
There is plenty to love about the new Fright Night. Colin Farrell is fantastic as Jerry, danger and feral intensity mixed with shark-like viciousness. This isn’t some sparkling romantic lead and he absolutely revels in the pure nastiness of the role. Tennant is also excellent, though I still rattle at the change from a horror host to some dinky little stage magician. Also excellent are Charlie’s’ mother and Amy, the primary love interest of our lead. Even “Evil Ed”, the socially awkward former best friend of Charlie is excellently played to maximum effect despite not appearing throughout most of the film. So with this absolutely fantastic supporting cast, I was actually kind of irritated that the lead character was such a jerk. From the very beginning, Anton Yelchin plays an extremely unlikeable “Charlie”. He’s ditched his best friends from childhood because they don’t fit in with his new “social clique”, he ogles the neighbor woman across the street, and I just couldn’t bring myself to actually like this guy. Even when he realizes what a jerk he’s been, even when he’s being hunted by the vampire, I just couldn’t really sympathize with HIM. Though Tennant comes across as arrogant and cowardly, I still like him… I’m still rooting for him to be a good guy, to rise the occasion, while Charlie never really manages to gain my support throughout the whole story.
CGI-madness lent itself to some unintentionally awkward gore scenes. If there’s one thing I really hate about CGI it’s when they try to insert blood in a scene. It renders awkwardly and there was far too much usage of the effect throughout the film. In places where traditional effects would have been far better served, CGI dominates. There are, however, occasions where the CGI does work to fantastic effect and provides some great visuals… the vampiric features stand out, some of the stunt work blends well, but it’s just over done. One big negative, for me, was the lighting. I didn’t see the film in 3D and I can’t actually imagine being able to make out a darn thing if I had, it was just so dim. I could barely make out figures amongst the shadows. This made the ending a little anti-climactic at one point. (No spoilers, but it’s another departure from the original that sort of rankled me a bit.)
Okay, so I’m being a little harsh on this film. This was a good film, but it just wasn’t GREAT. It hit a lot of the right notes, it succeeded in every way it wanted to, but I’m still saying that the original was a far superior product and may be a certain sign that I’ve outgrown the latest generation of film-goers. It was certainly better than I expected and had a number of great scenes, including one where I just about nearly forgot that I hated Charlie. He quickly established his lack of charisma shortly there-after, but it was nearly there! Yay? Still... he's no William Ragsdale.
One great shout out, however; Chris Sarandon makes a cameo as Jay Dee (Get it?), a hapless victim who comes upon our heroes in a moment of crisis. I saw no brief moments where any of the other original cast-members so much as stopped by to wave, though. Were they too busy; was the offer ever made, or what? And what about William Ragsdale?!?!! You have to be kidding me... star of "Herman's Head"! Star of the Mannequin sequel! Star of the sequel to the original Fright Night... and the first film, even! You know... the likeable Charlie? BOOO!!!! FUCKIN' BOO!!!! Still, good movie.
4 out of 5.
And then there's this one...
Hobo with a Shotgun
After winning the SXSW “trailer” contest promoted by Robert Rodriguez, Hobo with a Shotgun saw some action when it was attached to the Grindhouse project from Rodriguez and Tarantino. And that was the beginning of its birth as a full length feature.
Starring Rutger Hauer in the title role, Hobo with a Shotgun is just over the top nastiness set to eleven with gruesome violence and unapologetic brutality. “The Drake” and his two sons are psychopathic crime lords, monsters who rule over their city like lords of proper royalty. The police are corrupt, the people are wicked, and there are all manner of scum wandering the city streets. The Hobo arrives and starts to save for his ticket out of the gutter, a lawn mower to help him earn an honest living. It isn’t long before he witnesses a series of brutal crimes (and becomes victim to a few himself), picks up a shotgun instead of the lawnmower, and goes out on a vigilante killing spree. The criminals decide to fight back and all sorts of destructive mayhem occurs.
Look, this is an over the top film with lots of gruesome horror and blood. What’s more, it does break a big rule for me, twice. In one case, it has a proper resolution. In the other, it’s just gratuitous and sort of brings the movie down a few notches for me. But Hauer is also fantastic in the role… a veteran to the genre; Hauer bites into the role with both teeth and tears it apart with pathos and rage. He takes what could have been a one dimensional character and adds depth for one of the best performances I’ve seen from him in a good many years. And three young actors make the most of their opportunities on the screen to make an impact, so the movie is definitely worth a watch for fans of the high octane action along the vein of Crank.
4 out of 5.
Monday, July 25, 2011
REVIEWS: Captain America & Flashback thoughts on The Crow
Captain America: The First Avenger
“So… you want to kill Nazis?”
In a Michael Bay film you could expect a snarky response in the affirmative. It’s the acceptable norm in most summer blockbusters, the hero is an arrogant B-A with testosterone leaking from his pores by the gallon. He’s surrounded by surgically altered women to fit a cosmetic plastic doll design, accompanied by a wise-cracking sexist moron, and he’s just as cool as cool can be. And it’s precisely the sort of model I feared most when the opening credits to Captain America rolled. Where would Joe Johnston decide to take this film? Could he somehow overcome the Hollywood hype machine in order to bring justice to such an iconic comic book character? The answer is found several minutes into the film when Steve Rogers is posed the question I asked in the beginning of this review. His answer isn’t a light hearted quip; it isn’t a bloodthirsty dismissal of the enemy. He earnestly talks about not wanting to kill anyone, just wanting to do his duty, and wanting to stand up to the biggest bully the world had ever known. In short, he talks about being Captain America. And that scene, in a nutshell, manages to capture the essence of Captain America. And that’s the small stuff, the attention to detail, that allows this film to rise above the saturated market of super hero films and deliver the goods.
Set at the height of the Second World War, Captain America is originally created in order to provide the allied forces with a special unit of “super soldiers” to gain an advantage over the Nazi’s. The experiment is thwarted by Hydra, a sub-sect organization led by the nefarious Red Skull. The one time Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) is simply delightful as the Skull; a driven, intelligent, and deeply psychopathic extremist with plans to not only dominate but utterly annihilate most of the civilized world. The Red Skull’s own experiments and technological monstrosities threaten the globe and it’s up to Steve Rogers to stop him.
Chris Evans delivers a remarkable performance as Rogers. He’s a humble, determined, and heroic character with awkward charm and slightly immature boyishness. His rise to heroism isn’t without it’s own bumps, from a bureaucratic lack of faith in his ability to political opportunism the opportunity to prove himself only comes through happenstance when he joins the USO tour of Europe. And that’s when the action kicks into high gear as the good Captain gathers a team to help him cut the heads off Hydra! Sidekick “Bucky” Barnes is well represented as the childhood friend of Steve Rogers already serving on the front lines. They’re joined by classic “NICK FURY” WW2 era characters, Howard Stark, and other Allied Agents to do battle with the agents of Hydra and the Red Skull himself. The Captain becomes an inspiration and a leader, driving his team to assault the Red Skulls various bases of operation before the thrilling finale!
5 out of 5.
(Flashback review!) The Crow
With rumors persisting of a “Crow” remake on the horizon, I decided to take a little trip back to my wayward teens and pay a special visit to the Brandon Lee classic. I pretty much fell in love with this movie when it came out and watched multiple screenings in the theater before bootlegging the VHS rental with a pair of recorders. I bought the soundtrack, featuring a significant list of alt rock names from the 90’s. I even wore the make up on occasion, but was by no means the only one amongst my friends. It was alt-goth, it was horror, it was cutting edge, and it hit all the right buttons for fandom of the time. It spawned multiple sequels, none of which succeeded in capturing the magic of the first film… as a matter of fact, “City of Angels” was so wretchedly horrible I very nearly walked out of the theater. So now that I’m turning 36 years old, will the movie still hold up to the test of time?
Brandon Lee’s death casts a large shadow over the production of this film. His death was a tragedy, taking an extremely young performer who had just begun to find his footing as a film star in his own right. As the son of Martial Arts legend Bruce Lee, Brandon was occasionally found in a number of features that attempted to exploit the name. Brandon, however, showed fantastic charisma in both “Rapid Fire” and a strange pairing with Dolph Lundgren in “Showdown in Little Tokyo.” Early talk surrounding an adaptation of James O’Barr’s graphic novel said that this film would make Brandon a star. He tackles the role of Eric Draven with great pathos, humanity, and vengeful fury. A revenant returned for a night to gain vengeance on the people responsible for the rape and murder of his fiancée, Draven’s spirit is accompanied by a crow with which he shares a spiritual bond. Immune to harm, Draven spends much of the movie hunting down the men before becoming the hunted himself. The men were all in the employ of a criminal “villain” (Top Dollar) who decides he would like to steal Draven’s power for himself. Eric is forced to remember the life that was torn from him and to confront the aftermath of a tragedy and how it affected others in his life.
Watching the film now feels a little odd. A friend on “facebook” replied to a random post I made about this film being a “snapshot of the time” and I suddenly realized how true that was. The gothic atmosphere and tone are symbolic of the time, when Gen-X found itself thrust into a world largely devoid of purpose. Its bleak setting was a snapshot to the boredom and ennui typified by my generation. The villains were dark reminders of where too many friends were headed, the music was raw, and CGI was just starting to be developed for use in live action films. (You can’t help but to compare some of the effects of today, knowing just how early a lot of the CGI in this film was.) But the story still transcends time and delivers on all the emotional cues; an opportunity for revenge against the perpetrators of a terrible crime.
The film always comes back to Draven and Lee’s performance. We are feeling his pain, we are following his path, and we are sharing his story at all times. Even when he is not on the screen, we know he’s somewhere in those dark shadows surrounding the city. Brandon Lee carries this film beyond the effects and delivers in every subtle movement. So the film still retains much of the impact for me that it had in 1994, and I cringe at the prospect of a remake. I know the project wasn’t precisely faithful to the original material, so maybe there is room for a re-imagining based on the comic itself. But, honestly, I would like to see them leave any reboot of this project for a later time and another generation.
5 out of 5.
“So… you want to kill Nazis?”
In a Michael Bay film you could expect a snarky response in the affirmative. It’s the acceptable norm in most summer blockbusters, the hero is an arrogant B-A with testosterone leaking from his pores by the gallon. He’s surrounded by surgically altered women to fit a cosmetic plastic doll design, accompanied by a wise-cracking sexist moron, and he’s just as cool as cool can be. And it’s precisely the sort of model I feared most when the opening credits to Captain America rolled. Where would Joe Johnston decide to take this film? Could he somehow overcome the Hollywood hype machine in order to bring justice to such an iconic comic book character? The answer is found several minutes into the film when Steve Rogers is posed the question I asked in the beginning of this review. His answer isn’t a light hearted quip; it isn’t a bloodthirsty dismissal of the enemy. He earnestly talks about not wanting to kill anyone, just wanting to do his duty, and wanting to stand up to the biggest bully the world had ever known. In short, he talks about being Captain America. And that scene, in a nutshell, manages to capture the essence of Captain America. And that’s the small stuff, the attention to detail, that allows this film to rise above the saturated market of super hero films and deliver the goods.
Set at the height of the Second World War, Captain America is originally created in order to provide the allied forces with a special unit of “super soldiers” to gain an advantage over the Nazi’s. The experiment is thwarted by Hydra, a sub-sect organization led by the nefarious Red Skull. The one time Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) is simply delightful as the Skull; a driven, intelligent, and deeply psychopathic extremist with plans to not only dominate but utterly annihilate most of the civilized world. The Red Skull’s own experiments and technological monstrosities threaten the globe and it’s up to Steve Rogers to stop him.
Chris Evans delivers a remarkable performance as Rogers. He’s a humble, determined, and heroic character with awkward charm and slightly immature boyishness. His rise to heroism isn’t without it’s own bumps, from a bureaucratic lack of faith in his ability to political opportunism the opportunity to prove himself only comes through happenstance when he joins the USO tour of Europe. And that’s when the action kicks into high gear as the good Captain gathers a team to help him cut the heads off Hydra! Sidekick “Bucky” Barnes is well represented as the childhood friend of Steve Rogers already serving on the front lines. They’re joined by classic “NICK FURY” WW2 era characters, Howard Stark, and other Allied Agents to do battle with the agents of Hydra and the Red Skull himself. The Captain becomes an inspiration and a leader, driving his team to assault the Red Skulls various bases of operation before the thrilling finale!
5 out of 5.
(Flashback review!) The Crow
With rumors persisting of a “Crow” remake on the horizon, I decided to take a little trip back to my wayward teens and pay a special visit to the Brandon Lee classic. I pretty much fell in love with this movie when it came out and watched multiple screenings in the theater before bootlegging the VHS rental with a pair of recorders. I bought the soundtrack, featuring a significant list of alt rock names from the 90’s. I even wore the make up on occasion, but was by no means the only one amongst my friends. It was alt-goth, it was horror, it was cutting edge, and it hit all the right buttons for fandom of the time. It spawned multiple sequels, none of which succeeded in capturing the magic of the first film… as a matter of fact, “City of Angels” was so wretchedly horrible I very nearly walked out of the theater. So now that I’m turning 36 years old, will the movie still hold up to the test of time?
Brandon Lee’s death casts a large shadow over the production of this film. His death was a tragedy, taking an extremely young performer who had just begun to find his footing as a film star in his own right. As the son of Martial Arts legend Bruce Lee, Brandon was occasionally found in a number of features that attempted to exploit the name. Brandon, however, showed fantastic charisma in both “Rapid Fire” and a strange pairing with Dolph Lundgren in “Showdown in Little Tokyo.” Early talk surrounding an adaptation of James O’Barr’s graphic novel said that this film would make Brandon a star. He tackles the role of Eric Draven with great pathos, humanity, and vengeful fury. A revenant returned for a night to gain vengeance on the people responsible for the rape and murder of his fiancée, Draven’s spirit is accompanied by a crow with which he shares a spiritual bond. Immune to harm, Draven spends much of the movie hunting down the men before becoming the hunted himself. The men were all in the employ of a criminal “villain” (Top Dollar) who decides he would like to steal Draven’s power for himself. Eric is forced to remember the life that was torn from him and to confront the aftermath of a tragedy and how it affected others in his life.
Watching the film now feels a little odd. A friend on “facebook” replied to a random post I made about this film being a “snapshot of the time” and I suddenly realized how true that was. The gothic atmosphere and tone are symbolic of the time, when Gen-X found itself thrust into a world largely devoid of purpose. Its bleak setting was a snapshot to the boredom and ennui typified by my generation. The villains were dark reminders of where too many friends were headed, the music was raw, and CGI was just starting to be developed for use in live action films. (You can’t help but to compare some of the effects of today, knowing just how early a lot of the CGI in this film was.) But the story still transcends time and delivers on all the emotional cues; an opportunity for revenge against the perpetrators of a terrible crime.
The film always comes back to Draven and Lee’s performance. We are feeling his pain, we are following his path, and we are sharing his story at all times. Even when he is not on the screen, we know he’s somewhere in those dark shadows surrounding the city. Brandon Lee carries this film beyond the effects and delivers in every subtle movement. So the film still retains much of the impact for me that it had in 1994, and I cringe at the prospect of a remake. I know the project wasn’t precisely faithful to the original material, so maybe there is room for a re-imagining based on the comic itself. But, honestly, I would like to see them leave any reboot of this project for a later time and another generation.
5 out of 5.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
REVIEW: Green Lantern
"In blackest day and darkest night no evil shall escape my sight... " fans of the comic will know the rest, so let me get straight to the point. There was alot of speculation with regards to the casting of Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. The comedically gifted actor has turned in some fantastic performances as of late with a few of his lesser known films, but there was a big question regarding his ability to play the iconic role of Hal Jordan. With the films release, all questions were answered and Ryan Reynolds wound up being the least of the films problems. He tackles the role adequately enough, presenting Jordan as a reckless pilot thrust into a role of responsibility he isn't quite prepared for. He's quirky in the right moments, courageous when he needs to be, and is just about as vanilla as it gets when it comes to playing a superhero.
There are no major problems with the film. It isn't clumsy, it has decent pacing, and the story is rather traditional in and of itself. It features spectacular special effects, decent fight choreography, and a decent supporting cast. They throw in a prerequisite super sized beasty bad guy threat, introduce concepts for an ongoing franchise, and they have some fun with the concept of the Green Lantern Corps.. But, at the end of the day, Green Lantern is such a "paint-by-numbers" superhero film that it's easy to loose sight of it in the summers gluttony of comic adaptations. It's fun, it's frivolous, and you can munch your popcorn and shut off your brain because you already know how everything is going to work out and how the hero will overcome stacked odds. There is not a single surprise throughout the film. But I already know that I'm a jaded jerk-wad so I defer to the judgement of my six year old son and my thirty-six year old wife... both of whom quickly reminded me that it was a fun movie, a family outting, and it was just what it needed to be. It doesn't really matter that it doesn't try to be more.
I look back to when I was a kid... did anyone ever see the Captain America movie from the 90's? How about the "never-released" Fantastic Four film? Punisher with Dolph Lundgren? Seriously, folks... Green Lantern has the dubious honor of being compared to "The Dark Knight" and "X-Men" and other comic adaptations that have frankly spoiled the hell out of the core audience. So you might read or hear about some harsher reviews from other critis, but I'm going to say that Green Lantern was fun enough for the price of admission.
3.5 out of 5.
There are no major problems with the film. It isn't clumsy, it has decent pacing, and the story is rather traditional in and of itself. It features spectacular special effects, decent fight choreography, and a decent supporting cast. They throw in a prerequisite super sized beasty bad guy threat, introduce concepts for an ongoing franchise, and they have some fun with the concept of the Green Lantern Corps.. But, at the end of the day, Green Lantern is such a "paint-by-numbers" superhero film that it's easy to loose sight of it in the summers gluttony of comic adaptations. It's fun, it's frivolous, and you can munch your popcorn and shut off your brain because you already know how everything is going to work out and how the hero will overcome stacked odds. There is not a single surprise throughout the film. But I already know that I'm a jaded jerk-wad so I defer to the judgement of my six year old son and my thirty-six year old wife... both of whom quickly reminded me that it was a fun movie, a family outting, and it was just what it needed to be. It doesn't really matter that it doesn't try to be more.
I look back to when I was a kid... did anyone ever see the Captain America movie from the 90's? How about the "never-released" Fantastic Four film? Punisher with Dolph Lundgren? Seriously, folks... Green Lantern has the dubious honor of being compared to "The Dark Knight" and "X-Men" and other comic adaptations that have frankly spoiled the hell out of the core audience. So you might read or hear about some harsher reviews from other critis, but I'm going to say that Green Lantern was fun enough for the price of admission.
3.5 out of 5.
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