Tag: movie

Reign Over Me

Reviews

I saw Reign Over Me yesterday. A very powerful film about love and loss and life. I’m not going to spend alot of time reviewing it, I only want to say that Don Cheadle continues to be an excellent actor and Adam Sandler proves again that he isn’t just a comedy guy. Mike Binder, who’s work I have loved since Crossing the Bridge and Indian Summer, has written and directed a wonderful film full of joy and heartbreak. Maybe they’ll remember him by the time the Oscars roll around next year.

It is not a happy joy joy film, so know that going in, but I highly recommend seeing this movie.

Hot Fuzz

Reviews

My super secret special contact (my brother’s wife) came through once again with free passes to see a movie screening. This time, from the guys who brought you Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz.

What Shaun did for zombies, Hot Fuzz does for buddy cop films.

Nick Angel (Simon Pegg) is an overachieving London cop. In fact, he makes everyone else look bad, so they ship him off to a small village far away from London. Danny Butterman (Nick Frost) is a local cop with no real ambition, but has a love of action films and a father who is the head cop in town. The locals are pretty lax on the letter of the law, but Nick refuses to change his attitude. And that’s when the murders begin… of course, everyone else in town seems to buy them as accidents, but not Nick and Danny.

All in all, seriously funny. I was laughing through nearly the entire film, while at the same time being thrilled with chases and gunfights and explosions and an unravelling mystery. Edgar Wright directs a top notch film, he and Simon can really write great comedy, and all the actors pull it off in style. If you liked Shaun of the Dead, you’ll like Hot Fuzz too.

As a bonus for the night at the movies, Simon, Nick and Edgar were all in attendance and did a wonderful Q&A afterwards. Fantastic!

Zodiac

Reviews

Thanks to the usual hookup, the wife and I went out to see a sneak preview of Zodiac last night. If you are unfamiliar with the subject, the movie is about the famous Zodiac serial killer of the late 1960’s. Read more about him here.

As for the movie, its a David Fincher film, so given how much I have loved his other movies (Panic Room, Fight Club, The Game, Se7en… even Alien³), I had high expectations for this film. However, it is a telling of factual events with a little fiction thrown in to round out the edges, so I tried to go in with an open mind.

The movie is good. The direction and cinematography are great. The actors each play their roles extremely well, and they portray the frantic and frustration of the case to perfection. And that leads to the downside of this film… in truth, the Zodiac killed was never caught, never brought to justice, so if you are looking for satisfaction and closure, the story of the Zodiac is not where you want to look. This is a story about reporters and police officers desperately trying to figure out a series of crimes and to catch a killer who taunts them with letters where every pieces of evidence leads somewhere but proves nothing. At one point there is a scene of one of the characters frantically sifting through the half dozen or more boxes of files pertaining to just one of the killings illustrating the sheer volume of the mountain of interviews, clues, evidence and suspects.

It is a slow film, almost like watching a documentary with re-enactments, but it is interesting to see people’s lives come together and fall apart all around this case. It is not a great film, its not something I would watch a dozen times, but I enjoyed it, and certainly didn’t think it was a waste of my time. If the Zodiac interests you, go see it. If not… wait to rent it.

Music and Lyrics

Reviews

Continuing our Valentine’s Day tradition, the wife and I made our way down to the local megaplex and saw a film. Previous outings have included Under the Tuscan Sun and Finding Neverland. This year was Music and Lyrics.

Music and Lyrics stars Hugh Grant as Alex Fletcher a former 80’s pop star who has done nothing of importance since. As a fan of the 80’s I immediately recognized his character as Andrew Ridgeley of WHAM! Of course, in the film the bad is called POP!, but its close enough. Alex writes music, but he’s no good at lyrics, and he’s been asked by a new pop sensation, Cora (think a mix of Shakira and Britney), to write a new song for the two of them to perform. Luckily, Alex finds Drew Barrymore as Sophie Fisher, who is taking over for a friend watering Alex’s plants, and she happens to be a natural lyricist.

Sparks fly, comedy ensues and love blooms. To be honest, its formulaic and there isn’t much in the way of surprises… but that doesn’t mean its not a good movie. Its hilarious, its romantics, heart warming and funny. It is a fantastic date flick, and if you love the cheese of 80’s music its just that much better.

Yeah… I recommend this movie. Go see it with someone special.

Smokin` Aces

Reviews

In case you haven’t seen a trailer that actually explains it, here is the short version: Buddy “Aces” Israel was a Las Vegas magician who turned mobster. Buddy causes a split in the Vegas mob with him running one side and Primo Sperazza on the other. Primo is sick and he’s ordered the death of Buddy. Buddy is in the process of turning Federal witness against the whole West Coast mob families. A couple of Primo’s guys decide they want to make sure Buddy dies (or maybe they just want to be the guys who do it) so they hire a few more hitmen to go after Buddy too. Oh, and some bail bondsmen guys are after Buddy for jumping bail. The Feds learn about the hit and hightail it to Lake Tahoe where Buddy is hiding to try to protect him, meanwhile the hitmen all decend on Tahoe as well.

There is alot of set up for the first part of the moive, introducing each of the hitmen (or hitwomen in the case of Alicia Keys and Taraji P. Henson), all the Feds and giving some background on Primo Sperazza, Buddy “Aces” Israel and the case against the mob. The characters and the actors (including Ryan Reynolds, Ray Liotta, Jeremy Piven, Andy Garcia, Jason Bateman, Ben Affleck, Peter Berg, Tommy Flanagan, Curtis Armstrong, Matthew Fox, and more) make the movie… and when the shooting starts, the action ain’t half bad either.

All in all, this was a great fun movie. I recommend it, though it is a bit bloody, so it is not the best date movie and absolutely not for kids.

The Spirit of Giving

Random Thoughts

I’ll admit, when it comes to gift giving occasions, like birthdays and Christmas, I usually phone it in. That’s not to say I don’t get the person something they want or something they need, or that they don’t appreciate the gifts, but… I usually play it safe. You like movies, here is a movie; you like console games, here is a console game; you have a wish list at Amazon, here is an item off your wish list at Amazon.

This year though, I think for a couple of people, I’ve finally managed to pull off “the good gift”. You know the one I mean. The thing they didn’t ask for, the thing they think no one will buy them, the thing they forgot that they wanted but that you remembered them talking about… and now I’m all full of excitement about Christmas morning on a level beyond the norm.

Damn, I should have been doing this all along. But I’ll give credit where credit is due… I couldn’t have done it without Amazon.

One of the problems you run into with giving gifts is trying to remember thing people have said they wanted. Usually, you don’t really think about it until the time to give in near and so the main thoughts in your head will be of stuff they’ve talked about recently. But Amazon introduced Gift Idea Lists this year. You can add a person, then add gifts to that person… they’ll even give your three recommendations for gifts based on the list (I do wish this was larger, three just seems to not really be enough). So now, not on some scrap of paper I can lose, whenever someone I know mentions something they want, I can go drop it on their Gift List and save it for when I need to buy them something.

It’ll even keep track of gift giving days for each person… so guys, sorry, but you’ve run out of excuses for forgetting anniversaries.

American Movie

Reviews

This is one of those movies that people will tell you that its one of those movies you either love or hate, there is no middle ground. Only, I kinda found the movie to be… meh.

I suppose I can see their point. Much of this film is irritating, and its the kind of irritating that either you laugh at or that you go see a doctor about. If you don’t know what American Movie is, well, its a movie about this guy who wants to make this movie called Northwestern, only for some reason he feels he needs to make this short film called Coven (that’s pronounced “koh-ven” so that it doesn’t sound like “oven”). Northwestern is supposed to be the excellent drama type film, while Coven is a horror flick.

These guys, they are stupid, and their lives are stupid, but only in an “Hi, I’m an average American” type way. Its not that they are actually mentally deficient, but its like that friend of yours who insists that he’s good at basketball despite losing every game he’s played, of which no one you know has actually witnessed so you can’t be sure he’s ever even played at all.

The best thing about this movie is the feeling that if I had the money he had access to, I’m sure I could make a better movie than Coven… or even American Movie. Unless you are interested in the painful telling of not quite making it, I’d suggest you pass on this one.

The Da Vinci Code

Reviews

I read the book. It was pretty good. I enjoyed Angels & Demons more.

I just saw the movie. It was slow.

Not every good book makes a good movie.

I enjoyed the book.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Casino Royale

Reviews

This past weekend, I finally found a little free time to get to the theater and see a film. The wife and I picked the new James Bond film Casino Royale.

I’m not going to spend much time talking about the legacy of Bond and the history of this particular story… I’ll just cut to the chase. Its a good movie.

First off, just forget everything you know about James Bond, because except for a few inside jokes that is what they are doing. This is Bond just starting out, having previously done some other work for the British (its hinted at that he is former SAS) and is now working for MI6, something he might not be ready for. The ultra-sexy swagger is gone, but he exhibits a predilection for married women because they are “less complicated”. The slapstick from earlier films is also absent. No Bond girls named Pussy Galore, Honey Ryder, Plenty O’Toole, Holly Goodhead, or Christmas Jones, whose names always seemed to be picked for single line jokes, most of which could be seen coming a mile away. Q is gone, so no theatrics with gadgets going wrong as he shows James his new toys. In fact, the toys are gone as well.

The movie isn’t perfect… there are moments when it gets slow, but the action scenes are damn good and left me itching to see more Bond in the future.

And about the new man himself… Daniel Craig might be blond haired and blue eyed, but he makes the role his own, and he has a look about him that really makes you believe he could be a spy: rugged good looks that clean up well in a tuxedo, but rough enough to be a street thug if its needed. The wife gives him the thumbs up.

So, the end result is a film worth seeing. If you haven’t, do so.

12:01 PM

Reviews

If you have never seen the short film 12:01 PM, then you have missed out.

Don’t confuse 12:01 PM with 12:01, a horrid movie update of the same basic plot starring Jonathan Silverman and Helen Slater. 12:01 PM is about a man, Myron Castleman (played wonderfully by Kurtwood Smith) who appears to be repeating the same hour, from 12:01 PM to 1:01 PM. Its kind of like Groundhog Day, only its just the one hour. Looping a whole day over and over again isn’t really all that scary, because you have a whole day, but how much can you really do in an hour. Anyway, Myron realizes that he is repeating the hour and tries to figure out how to get out of the time bounce, but one hour just doesn’t seem to be enough to get anything done.

This is a masterpiece of short film making as its only 25 minutes long and yet in just about every way is more satisfying than most feature films.

Now, I bet you are wondering why it is I’m talking about a short film that was made in 1990, over 15 years ago. Its because I really would like to see this short film again. I’d like to own it on DVD. Its only 25 minutes long, but I would gladly pay $20 for a DVD with this on it and nothing else. The problem is… its not available. Well, not in the US anyway.

I really hate region codes. They suck. As does the NTSC and PAL crap. There is a box set for sale over on the Amazon UK site called Academy Award Winning Shorts – Cinema Collection – 56 Movies – One Box. It looks like a pretty damn kickass box set. There is a full list of the shorts over on Play.com. I want to own this box. Of course, its confusing, because the Amazon site and the Special Features section on Play both say its Region 0 or All Regions, but the details on Play say its Region 2, which is more likely. But it doesn’t matter, because its PAL, which means my TV won’t play it. And this box, which is just awesome for its content, is not available in the US (Region 1) or in NTSC. And I just find that to be really crappy.

So, I’m going to do something I don’t normally do and make an open call for piracy… if they won’t sell it to me, I have to resort to other methods. If you know where I can get a copy of 12:01 PM, point me at it. And if you work in the film industry and have any influence, put this on a Region 1 DVD and I’ll buy it, even if I already get a pirated copy.