As the obvious direct descendent of Johnny 5, Wall-E is definitely pretty charming. I mean, I was worried that this movie would completely suck since Pixar is definitely in need of some hits (although maybe not since critics and awards loved their last few films, but I generally yawned through Cars and Ratatouille). People were telling me Wall-E was a must see. Well, I must saw it and I was a tad underwhelmed.

Technologically, Pixar is amazing as usual. The idea of using robots is genius because everyone loves robots, everyone -- except those people on Battlestar Galactica I guess. Plus the storyline involves overbearing morals about greed, gluttony, and garbage. Instant winner.

So the first half of the movie with no dialogue was dope as hell. Where it all bogged down for me was the second half when the focus turned bit too far away from Wall-E and it becames a tad too action adventure orientated. The pacing switch was too much and I kind of lost interest. It's definitely a "just go see it."

I feel like I need to shout out *batteries not included. Just because.

Labels: B, Movies

Man this movie came in hyped for me. All week long people have been asking me what I thought of it. I had to meekly reply, "I haven't watched it (yet)!" My geek cred was in serious dispute. People everywhere loved this thing and I was hoping to be swept away by Christopher Nolan's vision.

Then again, seeing as I didn't enjoy Batman Begins that much, I had to be skeptical. Keeping my expectations in check, I finally got to watch it tonight. What do I think? Well, it's certainly got a ton of good things going for it. The plot was complex and yet tied together well. The Joker kept me on the edge of my seat and he struck just the perfect anarchy reigns tone. Overall it's a semi-must see and definitely one of the finer comic book films.

Of course, there were also excruciating horrible lines and moments. None worse than the little boy at the end screaming "Batman!" Seriously, if you've seen this movie already, wasn't that incredibly jarring? We walked out of the theatre making fun of this little boy's voice and Batman's guttural mumble. Let me expand on that. Do you think anyone would take Batman seriously if he talked through clenched teeth all the time and pitched his voice so damn low for no apparent reason?

I really want to give this thing an A just because they really did craft an intriguing tale and I can see that they tried to put some intelligence and heart into the film. However, it was just a bit too long, a tad cheesy, and the hilarious voices just kick it down a notch. Sorry.

Labels: B, Movies

In short, this is a film about immigration and the travails being in this country but always under the threat of deportation. The first half of this movie set up an interesting situation, wonderful dynamics, and allowed the charisma of its stars to shine through. While I kept thinking this movie was a little too conveniently simple, it did seem to have something fresh and interesting.

By the second half of the movie though, everything devolved into (semi-)stereotypical Hollywood endings and felt like it moved like molasses after constant action in the first hour. The strength of the acting makes the thing a slight recommend but overall I was inclined to be disappointed even without having any prior opinion of the film.

Labels: B, Movies

I've been avoiding movies for about a month in an effort to concentrate on writing. Plus most of the films I wanted to watch were only hop worthy. Seven plus hours in a theater later and I'm basically caught up with everything the summer has presented so far. First we watched the Incredible Hulk, which was arguably better than Ang Lee's version although I much prefer his daring stylistic choices to this one. I'd actually rate this sub-par if not for the fact that I'm now a proud Marvel stockholder and need it to do well. But even with that in mind it's annoying to see Edward Norton whine and run his way around as Bruce Banner all day long. The whole thing just seemed uneven. And Liz Tyler is awful. Simply awful.

We caught the last thirty minutes of Kung Fu Panda, Indiana Jones, and Prince Caspian in-between the other full showings. Of them all, Kung Fu Panda was probably the best. Yeah, you heard me right. Indy seemed to be way too regurgitated and Caspian suffered from most of the same problems as the first one. Oh well. After discovering that Sex and the City was not playing after eight o'clock -- mind boggling for a rated R movie -- we watched Iron Man again.

By the time that was over it was midnight and Get Smart was premiering so we thought, "Why not?" Best decision of the day. If you had to port Michael from The Office into a big screen movie, this was pretty much it. Steve Carell has cornered the market on incompetent but lovable losers. Also, I've been watching Anne Hathaway's earlier work (Princes Diaries, Ella Enchanted) and I've decided I like her. The entire movie itself was silly but filled with some great lines and hilarious scenes. So after my semi-six pack of movies, I'm all caught up and now I'm ready for a summer of actually good movies to come out.

Bonus: If you're a fan of The Office, you have to watch SNL's Japanese version.

Labels: B, C, Movies

Wong Kar Wai's films are moody, atmospheric, and romantic and I'll readily pay up to watch anything he does. Yes, the title for this particular movie is laughable but after you watch the movie, it seems less silly -- sort of.

This is Wong's English-language debut and it boasts Norah Jones, Jude Law, Rachel Weisz, and Natalie Portman. All the performances are terrific and I really like Natalie's blonde-fro look. Norah Jones doesn't have too much to do despite being the main character but that's alright because she plays the part of observer quite well.

The cinematography is beautiful as expected however there's definitely something missing. I felt like In the Mood and 2046 had a lot more story and meaning. My Blueberry Nights has neither. There's a sort of lesson in there about dealing with life, love, and loss but it's more heard than seen and the film doesn't really leave you with any lasting impact past the visuals. There's still enough bright spots here though to warrant a big screen watching.

Labels: B, Movies

Man, isn't Saffron Burrows the coolest name? Of course, I thought "Saffron Burrows" was a male before I saw this movie but I think I had the name confused with authors Jonathan Saffron Foer (Everything Is Illuminated) and Augusten Burroughs (Running With Scissors). More confusingly, we couldn't place her previous film work until we finally looked her up and realized she played Andromache -- Hector's wife -- in Troy. Her distinctive cheeks and facial features rang a bell but we couldn't place her for the life of us.

This is pretty much a run of the mill heist movie supposedly based on a true story. British accents make everything twice as watchable though, so in all, it's not a bad way to use two hours of your life.

Jason Statham is clearly the English version of Bruce Willis and he does his usual charismatic tough guy thing. Is it time to anoint him as a A-List movie star? I mean, at this point he's carried more hit movies than most A-Listers even if all of his roles are exactly the same.

Labels: B, Movies

For some reason, the movie wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. It might be my lack of historical background, it might be my super high expectations, or maybe I just need to read the book first.

I mean, the art style and animation is quite catchy but the movie itself seemed to drag. And I can't pinpoint why because the pacing of the scenes were (mostly) excellent and the movie covered the major plot points well. But something big was missing. I was really hoping I'd love this movie. Oh well.

I wonder what Maus would be like as a movie.

Labels: B, Movies

Is Daniel Day-Lewis capable of delivering a bad performance? With a win this time around, it'll be an Oscar hat trick for Day-Lewis. And that doesn't include awesome performances in Last of the Mohicans, In the Name of the Father, etc. Any film Day-Lewis chooses to do is usually a quality flick. There Will Be Blood is engrossing but also nothing like what I expected.

The trailer definitely hypes up the action aspects of the film and draws a picture of warring factions when in truth, it's really just about the inner demons of one man. Everything is supremely well done -- directing, cinematography, acting, writing -- but I can imagine how the impact of the film would have been far less if not experienced in an immersive movie theatre environment. If this type of movie is your cup of tea, go, don't rent.

Check out Wikipedia after you've seen the movie to answer the big question you've probably got spinning through your mind. Sure helped settled my mind.

Labels: B, Movies

It must suck to be Philip Seymour Hoffman and resigned to taking supporting actor roles (until recently) knowing that but for a twist of genetics, you could be a huge movie star. Hoffman's acting chops were finally revealed to the world in Capote but since then he's been a little quiet eh? He steals every scene he's in during this movie and I'm psyched to see him paired with Laura Linney in "The Savages" -- one of the few films left on my must-see list from 2007.

The script for Charlie Wilson's glitters of course because it's by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing) and most of the acting is spot on; I'm starting to love that Amy Adams. However, the whole movie was a bit light in explaining character's motivations and seemed to leave out too much historical background for the layman. Then again, why blame someone else for my lack of world history knowledge?

Most importantly, Lilly subletted her house to one of the actresses in the movie. She plays a prominent role but you'll have to ask Lilly who exactly it was.

Labels: B, Movies

Into the Wild
Christopher McCandless graduated from college, gave away his savings, and set off to traipse around the United States in an attempt to escape consumerism and become one with nature. Inspired by Henry David Thoreau and Jack London, he also subsequently joined them as RIP two years after he disappeared.

You could look at the whole thing as a touching tale of a young man finding himself or as a spoiled kid who died because of his arrogance. I lean toward the latter despite the movie heavily promoting the inspiring version. While the film has been getting all sorts of great reviews, I felt it was a bit dry and hardly revelationary -- or insightful. Good cinematography though.

The Golden Compass
Fine, I only watched the back half of the movie (the better half so I'm told) but if the entire thing is anything like what I experienced, it's no great adventure flick. In fact, the entire film seems stilted and aside from the very cool snow bears, there wasn't much we hadn't seen before in either Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia -- neither of which I was in love with in the first place. While this first movie will undoubtedly extend into a franchise, I can't see it measuring up as a classic.

I'm halfway through the book too (and have been for months) but I can't seem to commit to that magic either, although the series is always touted as a classic. I guess I'll give the book another go when I can. The movie? I'll pass.

Enchanted
Would you believe that out of all these movies, Enchanted was the best one? I mocked somebody at work for printing out preview passes to watch this; turns out he was just ahead of the curve. Walking out after the magic of "The End," I just felt happy inside. Happily ever after as it were. The film mocks Disney's classic stories but in a really funny way. The mix of animation and live action is done really well and it's refreshing to see the Disney princess tale given a new spin. Seriously, it's good.

Check out this NY Times story, "The Line Between Homage and Parody," for an interesting behind the scenes.

Labels: B, C, D, Movies

"Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?"

Do yourself a favor, pony up the extra bucks and go watch this in the theatre, with dorky 3D glasses on. There's no better way to experience this movie. While reviews said that this was more of a visual experience, I found the plot to be much deeper than in something like 300, which was just fight fight fight.

In fact, I'd almost say I like this better than 300 because there was hardly a moment when I wasn't entertained. Beowulf clearly proves himself to be the hero among heroes. Of course, the movie differs from the classic (it's the oldest surviving epic poem in the English language) by quite a lot so don't expect a history lesson; just an awesome guts and glory movie.

The CGI is impressive as well. While it's not pure CGI, but rather photorealistic animation, most of the shots are pretty amazing. Then again, the characters also tend to move in some unnatural ways. It's sort of like watching a video game's cut-scenes, but for two hours.

I wonder when this technology will get good enough to start using it for everything. It can already make Ray Winstone -- whoever that is -- look just like Russell Crowe apparently. I swore it was Russell as Beowulf...

Labels: B, Movies

Where has Claire Danes' career gone post-MSCL? It's hard to name a signature movie for her yet she's been in a ton of stuff. She's on my list of actresses that I enjoy watching but at this point, I'm starting to think it's just because I liked her from MSCL.

I mean, she hasn't really done anything I'd consider a classic or even semi-good. Well, now Danes plays the human incarnation of the evening star fallen from heaven but for some reason, her eyebrows were singed away. It's a bit discomforting. I kind of wish she'd stop shying away from being a redhead again since with her pale skin, it's her best look.

Stardust is being recommended as a "Princess Bride" clone and in that sense, it's spot on. While it isn't going to achieve classic status, the story and plot move along quickly enough to be thoroughly enrapturing for its two-hour running time. There are a ton of name actors/actresses in this movie and that alone justifies the "star" in the title. It's a throw back to the fantasy films of the 80s and the song for the ending credits pays homage -- hilariously -- to that fact.

Labels: B, Movies

Talk about a much hyped movie. I was pretty excited to watch Transformers but was prepared to be underwhelmed. Then I started getting emails, texts, and blog comments about how great it was. It boggled the mind. How good could this movie be? Well, we finally watched it on Friday night (after waiting in a long ass line) and the verdict? It's good. Like, pretty good.

Michael Bay knows how to make an entertaining movie. All the gripes I had with the way they designed the robots melted away once we saw the first few scenes. Throw explosions, cars, robots, and hot girls (omg, Megan Fox -- soon to be Megan Austin Green) together and Bay knows what to do with them. Sure, it was like watching Armageddon, The Rock, and Gone in 60 Seconds mashed together but hey, who cares?

There's plenty to nit-pick about the movie -- and some horrible lines and a weird cheezy sense of humor -- but I'll leave it all alone because at the end of the day, there are plenty of "this is so cool" moments to justify the long running time. Transformers, just watch it.

Labels: B, Movies

FF4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
I'm a sucker for comic book movies and it's rare to find one that's even halfway worth recommending. Well, if you thought FF4 was bad, this one's better! I liked the original FF4 to be honest. It was breezy, entertaining, and compared relatively, quite excellent. It keeps the melodrama low, the action somewhat believeable, and has likable characters (and actors). The Spiderman franchise pales in comparison. The Fantastic Four are twice as fun. Squared. This sequel is actually really good and the epitome of breezy summer flick. Not that this needs saying, but Jessica Alba is ridiculous and actually pulls her weight in this film, more or less.

Ocean's 13
Will this series ever die? Sticking to the same formula as the first one, Ocean's ends (once again) with open endedness and the possibility for a sequel. Does anyone even want to watch Ocean's 14 -- or god forbid, 15? While 13 is better than 12, it's too similar to 11 to warrant any true excitement. We know they're going to win, we know there's going to be some twists, even Pitt and Clooney are getting boring. And this time out there's no Julia or Catherine (although Ellen Barkin works as a nice substitute). I know people love this series but honestly, should we really be supporting it anymore? They're robbing a bank all right, by taking ten dollars out of every movie watcher's pocket.

Pirates 3
I watched this movie in bits and pieces as I movie hopped. From what I could tell, it's long, convoluted, and better than the second. The first one is the only one in the series that's actually stellar but the second and third one will do. It's hard to say why this franchise is so fun but it is and it's not even worth commenting on. You either like it or you don't. It's silly, it's melodramatic, Johnny Depp is getting overrated (as Captain Jack) but they throw enough characters at you that you just kind of follow along for three plus hours. I like it. Ahoy matey?

Labels: B, C, Movies

Keri Russell is criminally underused in the movie industry. When they killed her off in MI:3 after a few minutes, what was the point? Everyone knows she was on the Mickey Mouse Club with Britney/ Christina/ Justin right? She's got crazy skills! Plus she had her own hit show (which lost steam after the Pink Power Ranger left, but still).

The most unbelievable part of this movie was that nobody saw Felicity's beauty? Please. Only in Hollywood would such a beautiful (meant in all senses of the word) person slip through the cracks in a small town atmosphere. In real life, she would have been the starlet of the town, headed to Hollywood (to be an aspiring actress but in reality a waitress) or American Idol, and came back after getting knocked up.

Oh right, the movie is quite good too. Not what I expected at all, and smaltzy at times, but well done. The saddest thing is about writer/director/actress Adrienne Shelley. Man. She was really good in the movie too, pulling off a very successful Zach Braff trifecta -- wait, Braff never pulled it off successfully, whoops.

Labels: B, Movies

I watched this movie in the most beautiful movie theatre I've ever been in. They played opera before the showing, the popcorn was perfect, and the stage/theatre was just amazing. La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas, San Diego. Check it out.

I thought the movie was pretty good too. A bit slow but every time the pace slacked, the monster would arrive. That's the best part about the movie; they didn't skimp on showing the (very obviously) CGI monster. I thought the movie was hilarious as a satire but my film companions just thought it was so-so. I liked it; although I'm not sure I'd have the patience to watch it again. But I'd return to the theatre!
-Ripe Tomatoes-

Labels: B, Movies

I didn't realize the Fountainhead movie was adapted to the screen by Ayn Rand herself. She only did it on the condition that "not one word be changed." Typical, right?

The movie isn't half bad actually. Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal are about what you'd expect as the main characters, and due to the style of the movie, all the dialogue (essentially ripped straight from the book) sounds somewhat natural. I don't think this movie could be made today because they'd dress it up for no reason; it's too idea/dialogue heavy; and current acting methods would make the movie overly campy.

Apparently, nobody liked it when it was released (in 1949, six years after the book was published), but to be honest, as a huge fan of the book, I wasn't disappointed in the movie. Sure, Cooper's dramatic monologue had the most uneven delivery I've ever heard but I can look past that.

I'm curious what a non-Randian would think of the movie. Would any of the philosophies get passed on? Or would it just put people to sleep?

This also makes me even more curious about the upcoming movie version of Atlas Shrugged -- starring Angelina Jolie (and maybe Brad Pitt) of all people. Not who I envisioned as Dagny Taggart but that's the least of my worries about how Rand's seminal work will translate to the screen.
-Ripe Tomatoes-

Labels: B, Movies