Once is a movie that every single one of my movie friends asked if I'd seen. I also saw it listed on all those "Top Movies No One Ever Saw" lists the critics put out. So going into it, I had some pretty high expectations.If you've not heard by now, Once is a musical. No, not that kind of musical. This is about as far away from John Travolta in drag as you can get. And by my standards, that's a good thing. Instead, Once takes you along the life of a guy with a guitar (pictured on the poster). As Guy moves through life, he writes songs that just happen to relate to whatever situation he's in. The songs blend naturally into the storyline, so you'll not find any backup dancers that pop into scene as he's watering the man-eating plant.
The somewhat observant of you probably noticed the girl on the poster, too. Yes, Once is a love story. But you won't find our hero composing songs in his underground lair while hiding his freakish face with half a mask. Instead, what you get is a simple story of a guy and a girl with all the messiness and complications of love. The two of them don't even have names. They are listed as Guy and Girl in the credits -- a sign that the movie is intended to transcend the specifics of the story.
And you know what? Everything works. The music is fantastic. So good, I'm tempted to buy the soundtrack next time I'm out shopping. The acting is great. The story is sweet and messy and real all at the same time. So should you rent this? Absolutely. Will you love it? Hard to say without giving away too much of the story. But you still need to see it.
One word of caution here. The guy is Irish and the girl is Czech. Sure, they speak English, but you may need subtitles or a couple beers to get past the accents. So ladle yourself up some Guinness, settle in with your significant other (or cat) and check this one out.
Grade: B+
I'm not the biggest fan of Superman. Sure, I've seen all the movies, caught a few seasons of Smallville, and seen a few of the animated cartoons. But I've never read any of the comics, so I feel I'm justified in my "not fan" categorization. But when I saw the trailer for Superman: Doomsday I said to myself, "Hmmm, I should check this out."There are three very important things you need to know about this film.
1) It's animated.
That could be a huge turnoff for some of you, but it's done by the same team who do the Batman, Superman, and Justice League cartoons. If you're familiar with those, you know they're pretty decent.
2) It's rated PG-13.
Now, I bet you're slightly intrigued. Does it deserve it? I'd say yes. It's certainly not rated R, but it's not a movie for kids. The fights are brutal and there are some fairly graphic murder scenes that shocked me a bit. But the rating really comes out of point 3, which is...
3) Superman dies.
Those of you whining about spoilers, shut up. If this wasn't known from the beginning, not a single one of you would be interested in this. Now, you are saying, "Hmm, I should check this out."
When you tackle something as heavy as the death of a superhero, your writing has to be spot on. And for those moments, Superman: Doomsday gets it near perfect. So much so, there are scenes that caught me off guard at how brilliantly they capture some real, heavy emotions. Unfortunately, those are just a few scenes and the rest of the movie reverts back to cartoon writing.
Just like the writing, the voice work is uneven. Adam Baldwin (Jayne from Firefly/Serenity) voices Supes while Anne Heche voices Lois. I'll let you decide if those voices work for you, but I didn't have too many problems with 'em. Though I did wonder why Superman never declared his unending love for Vera. (That's a Firefly joke for those of you not in the know).
If you're at all interested in how anyone could handle the death of Superman, this is worth a rental. If you don't care at all, well, you probably stopped reading at the title.
Grade: B-
Someone once said that a good bowel movement is better than sex. I can only deduce the director of Shoot 'Em Up had the time of his life as it's been months since I've seen a larger turd on screen.The "movie" (if I can call it that) starts off with Clive Owen sitting on a park bench when a very pregnant woman runs past while being pursued by a guy with a gun. Clive Owen rescues the mother during a shootout while she's giving birth. The rest of the movie is just a collection of gunfights with Clive holding a gun in one hand and the baby in the other.
As you may have figured out, this movie is intended to be over the top. I get that. I also enjoy over the top movies when done well, like Hot Fuzz. Those movies work because they are usually mocking something, while not taking themselves too seriously. There's an art to it.
Shoot 'Em Up tries to mock action movies (I assume) with its ridiculous fight locations and super high body count. But at the end, it throws a very non-subtle anti-gun message at you. So instead of being fun, it starts thinking it's a movie with a point. It's like when Perot and Nader ran for president. Everyone laughed and had a good time at the idea until they discovered, "Wait, you're serious?"
Even without the exposition on the second amendment, none of the characters are all that likable and by the end, the movie gets pretty dull. The backstory on the baby is fairly interesting but when that gets wrapped up, the last four (yes, four) gunfights just get in the way of the movie being over.
Grade: D (only because I liked the baby story)
Happy New Year, everyone. I've never done a list like this before, but thought it might be fun. Now I'm only going to count movies that were released this year. Older movies I caught on DVD won't make it.
So here goes, in no particular order...
BEST:
So here goes, in no particular order...
BEST:
- 300 - Some people didn't like this one. Personally, I think it should be required viewing for any guy to get his "Man Card."
- 3:10 to Yuma - If I had to pick one movie for Best of the Year, this would be it. This is a must see for everyone who loves movies. It's perfect.
- No Country for Old Men - Think Fargo set in Texas. Tommy Lee Jones will probably win the Oscar for his work here. The movie itself could win, too.
- Zodiac - This was a creepy movie about a serial killer in California. Well acted and extremely well paced for a movie that covers several years.
- Grindhouse - Obviously these two had to make the list. Go watch both of them. Now.
WORST:
- Wild Hogs - Imagine two hours of jokes about the biker in the Village People. This one's worse.
- Blades of Glory - I like Will Farrell, I really do. I just don't like him in any movie where he's the main star. This was better than Anchorman, but that's not saying much.
- Bridge to Terabithia - Some of you who saw this will assume I'm a cold-hearted bastard for listing this one. I can handle that. But the movie still sucked.
- The Invisible - Worst.Ending.Ever.
- Ghost Rider - You know that prank where you set a bag of poo on fire and leave it on your enemy's doorstep? This is like that, but the bag of poo is in your DVD player.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT:
- TIE: Spider-Man 3 / Transformers - Two movies I had such high hopes for, dashed upon the cold, rocky coast of mediocrity.
Still left to see:
There are still many movies I'm waiting to see. Hopefully they'll be included in the Best and not my Worst list. They are...
I Am Legend, The Bourne Ultimatum, Ratatouille, Superbad, The Kingdom, Stardust, Charlie Wilson's War, Sweeny Todd, Juno, Across the Universe, and The Kite Runner.
I hope everyone has a great 2008 (Note to self: Trademark "Two-thousand Great")!
Every time I watch a documentary these days, I go in expecting two things:1) It'll lean politically left.
2) There will be a bunch of people whining on camera.
Who Killed the Electric Car? fulfilled both of my expectations.
The movie tells the story of GM's failed EV1 in the 90s. Never heard of it? It was the first electric car by a major automobile manufacturer and was only sold in Saturn dealerships in California and Arizona. I vaguely remember it, but it was neat to learn a little more about the car and its short life.
The problem is that this movie portrays the car as the savior of mankind and how the evil, ignorant men in power killed our one chance of salvation. I got the feeling the car should have been named JC1. More tears were shed over the death of this car than the actual number of them produced.
To be fair, the movie puts the blame on a number of different "suspects." There's Big Oil, GM, consumer ignorance, and the CA government. Bush wasn't even in office when GM killed the project, but he gets blamed, too. The best quote to describe the EV1's demise is "death by a thousand cuts" and the film does a good job of describing each of those.
Also, the film never really talks about the problems the car had. It said a typical charge would last about 60 miles, but it didn't say at what speed. It also didn't say how long it would take to charge, only "typically overnight." It also didn't describe how much horsepower it had, nor its safety rating. Electric cars are awesome, but there are some big technological hurdles to conquer before they are viable. With gas prices rising and technology getting better, I bet we see an EV2 on the market in the next 5 years.
So should you rent this? It did have some interesting points to make, especially since I don't remember the car all that well. If you can handle a bunch of people whining about a crappy car, then go for it. Otherwise, just start reading Popular Mechanics for the next innovation in alternative fuels.
Grade: C
Like I mentioned in the Planet Terror review, Death Proof is Quentin Tarantino's yang in the Grindhouse movies (Note to self: stop talking about Tarantino's yang). But unlike Planet Terror, this one is not a horror movie. Sure, there's lots of gore and violence, but it's not horror.Rose McGowan makes an appearance has a blonde with two normal (boring) legs, but Kurt Russell stars as the obligatory creepy guy. He stalks women and laughs like a creepy guy and even demonstrates a creepy way to eat nachos. But he's got a personality and a cool name (I won't spoil it) that makes ya want to have a few beers with him. All in all, he's awesome. Some critics say this is Kurt's best role ever. That's saying a lot when you've got Snake Plissken on your resume.
Like Rodriguez, Tarantino plays around with the Grindhouse Special Effects(tm). Instead of having the film skip and melt, he plays with the edits. Back in the old days (or maybe they still do it), an editor would cut the different takes and piece them back together into one continuous reel. Now imagine if those cuts weren't exact and missed a few frames that should have been left on the floor. That would get real annoying if it happened a lot, but Tarantino is a genius and everything works to perfection.
The one thing that everyone will tell you about this movie is the car chase. Fact, it's the best car chase in movie history, even beating out The Blues Brothers (/dwight schrute). Yeah, it's that good.
So as you may have guessed, you need to watch both Grindhouse movies. Invite some friends over, let them in if they bring beer, and have an outstanding evening. Which one is best? Well, that's what the drunken arguments at midnight are for.
Grade: A
Yes!!!
Los Angeles, CA (Tuesday, December 18, 2007) Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson; Harry Sloan, Chairman and CEO, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM); Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne, Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs of New Line Cinema have jointly announced today that they have entered into the following series of agreements:
* MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute two films, “The Hobbit” and a sequel to “The Hobbit.” New Line will distribute in North America and MGM will distribute internationally.
* Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will serve as Executive Producers of two films based on “The Hobbit.” New Line will manage the production of the films, which will be shot simultaneously.
* Peter Jackson and New Line have settled all litigation relating to the “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) Trilogy.
Said Peter Jackson, “I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us, so that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”
(Ain't it Cool News)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
