The BeaverMoose's Dam

Movie Journal Entry #99: The 'burbs (1989)

2009-10-26T11:14:00.004-04:00

The 'burbs
A fun late 80's movie from the director of Gremlins. The movie is about a group of suburban neighbors who become obsessed with their new neighbors who they believe are Satan worshiping cannibals.
A bit of slapstick and ridiculousness mixes well with some fun filmaking techniques, some over the top characters and a pinch of not so subtle social commentary make the 'burbs just an all around fun movie. This is the Tom Hanks before his serious roles and although he's playing the serious man of the group he's still very funny. Somewhere between Gremlins and Wayne's World the 'burbs is definitely one of those movies to watch with a group of friends on a Saturday night and just have a good time.

See It

Movie Journal Entry #98: Dead Space: Downfall (2008)

2009-10-24T08:17:00.006-04:00

Dead Space
An animated prequel to the Dead Space video game. Downfall brings us exactly to the point were the game starts up. The films feel is fairly similar to the games and the animation is pretty good but its a pretty useless movie that i just didn;t care about. The game is incredible though.

Don't See It

Movie Journal Entry #97: Paranormal Activity (2009)

2009-10-22T16:19:00.005-04:00

Paranormal Activity
PA is a smartly made experiment in minimalist cinema that plays off our everyday fear of the unknown. A girl who's been followed by a demon since she was a child is a victim of paranormal activity, odd and unexplained phenomena is happening to her. After he boyfriend moves in with her he decides to document these odd things using a video camera, it is through the lens of this hand held camera that the film plays out. The boyfriend character is unlikeable and provokes the demon into manifesting himself, but I'm pretty sure that's kind of the point. The movie is also a slow burn as nothing really happens for the first half of the movie, but once more weird things start happening the movie becomes pretty tense and the viewers can really let their imagination run wild.
Way better than The Blair Witch Project.
See It

Movie Journal Entry #96: Capitalism: A Love Story (2009)

2009-10-15T10:07:00.006-04:00

Capitalism
Moore is back with his wacky antics and his tales about the rise and fall of US economic history. Similarly to his other films Moore goes out and finds the most corrupt parts of the capitalist society and brings them to the forefront of the movie. As always he spends time in his hometown of Flint, Michigan and with some people that are poor and suffering. Slightly exploitative, greatly informative and very funny, capitalism is an entertaining movie that shows us a whole bunch of problems yet doesn't necessarily give us that much answers.
It is more of the same yet greatly informative and definitely deserves a watch.

See It

Movie Journal Entry #95: Mysterious Skin (2004)

2009-10-07T01:18:00.005-04:00

Mysterious Skin
A Dark depressing and hard film to watch. Mysterious Skin is a film about a young man who lives as a male prostitute and another that believes he was abducted by aliens. Their connection is revealed about two thirds through the movie. The twist happening possibly too early and with not enough subtlety sort of cheapens the last third, but the reveal is so powerful and really makes the whole movie come together.
A incredibly powerful coming of age tale that tells the story of two interesting yet very different young men. Each of their lives compiled as a series of encounters and connections, they are amazingly drawn out. The movies has some disturbing scenes yet they surprisingly play out more as mystical events than horror scenes. The amazing music really helps with this and sets the tone for the whole movie, it reminds us that despite the increasing darkness there always is a light at the end of the tunnel.
See It

Movie Journal Entry #94: Zombieland (2009)

2009-10-06T17:45:00.007-04:00

Zombieland
A movie that takes a page out of the Shaun of the Dead book of Zombie movies, Zombieland puts the fun back in zombie killing. Told through they eyes of the cowardly Columbus (who's rules for zombie survival are really amusing), Zombieland originally written as a TV series, is packed with the great tiny tidbits give any good TV show its individuality. Different than anything else we've seen in this genre, Z-Land isn't a straight out satire of zombie movies but feels more like a series of really fun scenes and set pieces set in a post-apocalyptic world with zombies. With a convincingly hilarious cast, a great cameo about 2/3 through the movie and some really fun and gory Zombie decapitations, Zombieland is, dare I say, the most fun you'll have in theaters this year.

Must See It

Movie Journal Entry #93: Surrogates (2009)

2009-10-06T17:44:00.008-04:00

Surrogates
As Trailer Voice Guy: In a world where everyone is a supermodel that can't act, and someone is killing them, Bruce Willis and Bruce Willis' haircut must save everyone!

So people are robots and someones trying to kill everyone, the premise is somewhat original but the plot is so conventional and predictable. Even the action wasn't that impressive. I'm gonna sound like an elitists here but had they gone more in depth into the philosophical significance of the premise and technology this movie might have been worth watching. There's nothing to see here and this movie will be forgotten about by next year.

Don't See It

Movie Journal Entry #92: Tokyo Gore Police (2008)

2009-09-29T19:56:00.006-04:00

Tokyo Gore Police
A movie that might actually give Dead Alive a run for its money in the blood and gore department, TGP absolutely lives up to its name as one of the goriest movie's ever. With a weird fucked up anime storyline, a good amount of ridiculous violence and some really creepy looking mutants TGP is definitely not for everyone. There is however no other movie that I've seen that has a guy growing guns out of his eyeballs and a mutated hooker with an alligator head as her lower body. This a fucked movie for fans of fucked up movies and anyone into that kind of ridiculousness should check this one out. Those Japanese people are crazy.

Maybe See It

Movie Journal Entry #91: Fanboys (2008)

2009-09-29T19:55:00.003-04:00

Fanboys
A road movie about a group of Star Wars fans in the 90's attempting to infiltrate the Skywalker ranch to watch Episode 1. The movie is very geeky and has a bunch of references it features Star Wars VS Star Trek tensions, Celebrity cameos, Kristen Bell in a Slave Leah costume and has a pretty good sense of humor. This is a movie for geeks and people who enjoy pop culture references. Anyone else will just not get it.

Maybe See It

Movie Journal Entry #90: Raising Arizona (1987)

2009-09-29T14:51:00.008-04:00

Raising Arizona
The Coen brothers' second movie is about a guy that loves stealing things. When his wife can't have a baby he steals a baby. Similar to the Coen's other dark comedy movie, Raising Arizona is very funny. As in most other Coen movie's there's some criminals and a large some of money thrown in the mix. With often ridiculous situations and wacky over the top characters, Arizona is just what you'd expect from a Coen Brothers movie. It is however probably the weakest of their films I've seen up to date. Still its a good, fun entertaining movie to kill one and a half hours watching.

Must See It

Movie Journal Entry #89: Sunshine Cleaning (2008)

2009-09-25T20:06:00.005-04:00

Sunshine Cleaning
The producers of this movie tried to repeat the indie feel and charm that made Little Miss Sunshine a breakout hit in 2006. They did not succeed.
Sunshine Cleaning is a weird film. It has a good concept, some great actors and an interesting script yet just feels average in every possible way.
Two sisters start a clean-up service that specializes in cleaning up dead bodies at crime scenes while at the same time having to deal with the fact that they're incredible under-achievers. Clifton Collins Jr ,that guy who's awesome in every movie he's in but no one knows who he is, is great as a one armed store owner and Amy Adams plays despaired pretty convincingly but in the end the whole movie is just extremely passable.

Maybe See It

Movie Journal Entry #88: Four Rooms (1995)

2009-09-24T13:31:00.005-04:00

Four Rooms
A compilation of four stories set in a hotel during a new years eve. The final segment of the film is directed by Quentin Tarantino and is the highlight of the film, 2 impressive 7+ minute takes show that Tarantino was just having fun with his short. Robert Rodriguez also directs a fun segment casting Antonio Banderas and a parody of himself. The first two segments however are pretty weak, the stories are just kind of ridiculous and not that good and Tim Roth plays the bellhop character way too over-the-top.
The film is half-good and fun to watch with a friend because of how ridiculous it is but is no where near as good as any of the directors feature films.

Maybe See It

Movie Journal Entry #87: The Informant (2009)

2009-09-22T18:47:00.004-04:00

The Informant
A smart and ridiculously funny comedy about a man and a scandal. Matt Damon is great as Mark Whitacre who offers his help to the FBI to unveil a worldwide price fixing scandal. The political/economic thematic elements are sometimes confusing and the story sort of drags on near the end as we are treated to a series of very repetitive meetings acting as a denouement but the characters are so enjoyable the story matters very little.
The movie is really about this character of Mark Whitacre, who often seems too clueless to be a company VP. At various moments during the film we are treated to thoughts and insights into Whitacre's mind. These moments are both hilarious and very revealing. The film ends on a high note and everything that seemed so ridiculous up to that point seems to make sense. This is a true story after all.

Must See It

Movie Journal Entry #86: Extract (2009)

2009-09-22T18:46:00.004-04:00

Extract
Mike Judge creator of Beavis and Butt-Head and Director of cult classic Office Space is back with Extract. The story about the owner of en extract factory and how he deals with the people around him. The rebellious workers at his factory, his hippie friend and his unresponsive wife.
I'll let Beavis and Butthead tell you what the story is about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZcn7ubEFy8
The movies plot seems at bit all over the place with all the different characters and doesn't flow all that well. Contrastingly the great supporting characters are really the strong point of the film and make it worth watching. There's a great pot smoking scene and the gigolo the main character hires is probably the dumbest and funniest character I've seen in a very long while.
Even if its not the greatest movie I'm gonna say to go see it just to support Mike Judge. Everyone should at least rent Office Space.

Maybe See It

Movie Journal Entry #85: Jennifer's Body (2009)

2009-09-20T14:39:00.007-04:00

Jennifer's Body
So I was watching this thing set in a high school with an evil girl and witty dialogue and girls kicking ass, it was awesome. It was called Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Jennifer's Body is basically a 100 minute long episode of Buffy but like totally not good, I'm mean it was like "Hitler" bad . Like total "crocs fashion faux-pas" and everything. If only it'd been awesome like *insert super obscure indie band here*. >_>
It seems writer Diablo Cody decided to ignore the most people's criticism of her overly pop-culture filled, witty dialogue that was present in Juno and just go all out. Jennifer's Body is just too much, where as Jason Reitman, in Juno, was able to balance the hipster slang, indie music and overall "bubblegummy" feel of the film and turn it into a fun little indie flick, Karyn Kusama did not.
Adam Brody is great as a Satan worshiping indie rockstar that has just casually decided that the only way to break in to the business was to make a human sacrifice. Juno tackled some pretty serious issues, in Jennifer's Body the fate of indie rock bands in the industry is the closest thing this movie gets to any kind of social critic. Although the horny teen might argue that, "Megan Fox is soo hawt!! This movie roxxorz!!!" they are wrong. Even short skirts and cleavage shots cannot save this movie from Fox's horrible cringe worthy acting, seriously she's actually shitty, she's like Troll 2 shitty.

Don't See It

Movie Journal Entry #84: Sugar (2008)

2009-09-18T00:10:00.001-04:00

Sugar
Filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, who made the amazing 2006 film Half Nelson are back with another interesting character study. This time about a Dominican Baseball player hoping to make it into the Major Leagues. Sugar features a great performance from newcomer Algenis Perez Soto as the young Miguel "Sugar" Santos. The film tackles the pressures of performing in sports as well as the language barrier and culture shock of these "import" baseball players that come to America. Sugar is a very interesting and real character, and that's what makes this film work. The movie definitely lives up to the filmmakers' debut full length feature and more so. Sugar is an exceptional piece of filmaking and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do next.
My only problem in the entire movie is a scene with band "name-dropping" I hate when that happens in movies, I'm looking at you Garden State, 500 Days of Summer, among others.

Must See It

Movie Journal Entry #83: In the Loop (2009)

2009-09-18T00:09:00.018-04:00

In The Loop
All I have to say is that by the end of this movie my face was hurting from smiling so much, literally. In the Loop is a smart and satirical British film with enough wit, deadpan humor, swearing and vulgarity to keep you laughing throughout. With its political storyline it isn't always easy to understand what exactly is happening, although I believe that is somewhat the point as even the characters do not seem to know what exactly it is they're doing. The movie sometimes feel a bit like its jumping around a lot and the cinematography style is that overused pseudo-doc style we see so much of these days (The Office) and is kind of tiresome. The story is ridiculous and absurd and just incredibly funny. If you like the British humor and don't mind a bit of politi-talk, see this movie. Its not for everyone though.

Maybe See It

Movie Journal Entry #82: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

2009-09-11T10:18:00.003-04:00

The Manchurian Candidate
I haven't seen the Jonathan Demme remake of this movie and after watching the original I don't think I really want to. This movie is incredible.
A soldier is brainwashed by communists to do their dirty deeds, he can be controlled from a distance by using trigger words and images. Another soldier from the same infantry unit, played by the great Frank Sinatra, must figure out the mystery of the brain washing and save his friend from becoming a political assassin.
There's a scene near the beginning of the movie that is simply amazing, it takes place in a room where an entire infantry troop has been hypnotized. The movie cross cuts between reality and illusion as the viewer attempts to figure out what exactly is happening.
The film is amazingly constructed and acted. More thrilling and tense than any contemporary thriller, The Manchurian Candidate is a classic masterpiece that has aged incredibly well. I found myself still guessing until the very end what was going to happen. This is my second John Frankenheimer movie, after The Birdman of Alcatraz, and I'm beginning to like him very much.

Must See It

Movie Journal Entry #81: 9 (2009)

2009-09-09T23:39:00.008-04:00

9
Style over substance... 9 is a movie that is delightfully dark. The story is stupid and the writing despite there being very little dialog is horrendous. The original short on which the movie is based had no talking characters, rightfully so because Shane Acker is not a writer. He is an animator and in that regard I give him credit. The art direction is amazing. From these great dystopian backdrops to the villainous chimeric creatures (a few that I found somewhat reminiscent of the deformed toys in the original Toy Story) the movie is one of the most stylish looking animated movie in recent years. Unfortunately, slick animation and giant cyborgs just don't make up for the unlikable characters and contrived storyline.

Maybe See It

Movie Journal Entry #80: World's Greatest Dad (2009)

2009-09-09T00:41:00.007-04:00

World's Greatest Dad
Its hard to understand how a movie that I really didn't like for its first 30 minutes of run time ended up being one of my favorite movies of the year. There isn't much I can say about the movie without spoiling the great surprise that happens around the 30 minute mark. I will say this, World's Greatest Dad is one of the funniest and darkest comedies out there. Its a smart movie that tackles some important themes, none of theme which I can get into without ruining the movie. The underrated Robin Williams does another good job with a more serious role.

Must See It

Doing the new: Must See It / Maybe See It / Don't See It

Movie Journal Entry #79: Duplicity (2009)

2009-09-05T00:04:00.007-04:00

Duplicity
This movie blew my mind. It is incomprehensible how Clive Owen who played in Sin City and Shoot 'Em Up has managed to star in 2 of the most boring movies in the last year. I thought this movie would play out like a wacky con movie, but it just got so ridiculous with its twists and turns that I kind of didn't care anymore after a while. The "witty" dialogue seems forced and the actors just feel like their reading lines. Even Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson were horribly average. To be fair, I watched the last half of the movie while doing other work at the same time.
Yes it was that boring!

Movie Journal Entry #78: Mutant Chronicles (2008)

2009-09-03T01:40:00.010-04:00

Mutant Chronicles
Another movie from last year that no one saw, Mutant Chronicles is a pretty low budget indy movie starring Thomas Jane and Ron Perlman about an evil machine from space that turns people into monsters.
You'd expect the movie to be somewhat original as it isn't coming from a big studio and its concept is somewhat different then what we would normally see from these kinds of movies. The execution is, however, a complete failure. Taking its plot points from "Hollywood filmaking 101" we are treated with some great original lines like:
Dude 1:"Tell my family.... tell my family, I love them! Argh!!!" followed by Dude 2:"NOOOOOOO!!!"
The acting is pretty bad, even though I like Thomas Jane and the over stylized blood and gore just looks wierd, maybe because I watched it in Blu-Ray but all the effects looked really fake as well.
Bad movie, don't see it we need to expect more from these lower budget movies.

Movie Journal Entry #77: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

2009-08-28T09:28:00.008-04:00

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
As an alien probe threatens to destroy earth Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise must go back to the 1980's to gather two whales, the only creatures capable of communicating with the probe. Yes that is the story of the 4th Star Trek movie and as ridiculous as it sounds, it kind of works. A fish out of water story, (no pun intended) Voyage Home sends Kirk and Spock to a weird and mysterious world different than anywhere they'd ever been, the 1980's. The funniest movie yet, Voyage Home has a lot of great moments, some fun new characters and some pretty good special effects for the time. It was also nominated for 4 oscars. Good fun movie.

Movie Journal Entry #76: Chicago (2002)

2009-08-26T21:08:00.014-04:00

As I've recently been jonesing on the trailer for Rob Marshall's new film Nine I've decided to go back and have a look at his other successful musical film, Chicago.
The movie, that I'd forgotten had won best picture in 2003, is a smart movie about obsession with fame and the corruption and over glamorization of criminals. The strong points are of course the sound, music and songs which are all great. The songs are good but most of them forgettable, a few like the opening sequence "All That Jazz" and the song the prison inmates sing about their murders stand out but probably more so for their choreography than the songs themselves.
The choreography of the song and dance numbers as well as the cinematography during these sequences is amazing, some of the best looking scenes I've ever seen the problem is that they all end up looking and feeling somewhat similar. Regardless of the setting of the story the songs always return to the stage and it does get tiresome after a while.
Nevertheless Chicago is a very strong performed, great looking movie that has just gotten me more pumped for Marshall's upcoming movie Nine.

Movie Journal Entry #75: Inglorious Basterds (2009)

2009-08-24T02:24:00.007-04:00

Inglorious Basterds
Tarantino is back with his version of WW2. Set in Nazi occupied France, Inglorious Basterds is about an American team of Jewish soldiers infiltrating France as they attempt to take down Hitler and his entourage.
Despite what the trailer and film title suggest the movie actually doesn't spend that much time with Brad Pitt and his Basterds and instead focuses on other characters: A french-jewish woman, Shoshana, and dangerous Nazi Colonel, Hans Landa are both high points of the movie. Hans Landa played by Christoph Waltz rivals Die Hard's Hans Gruber for "Greatest German Villain in movies ever" and exceeds all expectations. A dangerous, threatening even frightening man, Landa, nicknamed the "Jew Hunter" is the smartest character in the movie and is amazingly manipulative and controling. Every scene he's in, most of them dialogue scenes, are some of the tensest scenes in movie history and Tarantino's writing just make it that much better.
The Basterds are sort of underwhelming and suprisingly incompetent considering they're supposed to be the best of the best. They seem to be there mostly as comic relief.
The movie aint all about 'Killin' Natzees" as Kill Bill Vol 1 was about "Killin' Japanese" as there isn't that much killing by the Basterds themselves. Although there is a whole lot of dying throughout the movie and especially near the end.
With homages to the spaghetti western and numerous other films, Basterds is a film geeks wet dream yet is completely enjoyable without getting the references.
Tarantino is a slick filmmaker that is able to make his films look, sound and feel cool without making them dumb or stupid. As of now Waltz is a lock for best actor at the Oscars and that's a fact.
Amazing movie, I'm looking forward to seeing it again and everyone who hasn't seen it should do so.

Movie Journal Entry #74: The Full Monty (1997)

2009-08-23T16:53:00.005-04:00

The Full Monty
A UK produced movie about a group of unemployed men that decide to put on a strip show to make some money, The Full Monty is a really a great original comedy.
The men must learn to dance and set up their plan while dealing at the same time with their lives and problems at home. The movie is a funny heartwarming movie about male bonding and the difficulties of life, also its about stripping. Theres not much else I can say other than SEE THIS MOVIE! One of the greatest comedies ever.

Movie Journal Entry #73: District 9 (2009)

2009-08-23T14:41:00.002-04:00

District 9
Although he sits back and relaxes in the producers seat this time around, it seems Peter Jackson can do no wrong. Giving 30 million dollars to first time feature film director Neil Blomkamp was quite a gamble, that definitely paid off.
The story of District 9 is an allegory for apartheid. As Aliens land in Johannesburg, South Africa they are locked up into an area of the city called District 9. The first part of the movie is made in documentary style but later turns into a simpler narrative story. The story is probably the weakest part of the movie; a few plot points feel thin and the story isn't all that original. Regardless the movie is one of the best looking movies I've ever seen. Its probably the best action movie of the year so far as well and the acting is really strong from the main actor.
The CG creatures in this movie are the best CG creatures I have ever seen in any movie, I often thought the aliens were puppets or robots but found out later that amazingly they are all computer generated. District 9 has set the bar.
So the story is average but the way its filmed makes it feel more original than 90% of movies these days. Really one of the best of the year.

Movie Journal Entry #72: The Time Traveller's Wife (2009)

2009-08-23T13:41:00.005-04:00

The Time Traveler's Wife
A surprisingly enjoyable movie, "The Time Travelers Wife" manages to take a time travel movie in a different direction. As the main character is unable to control where and when he travels, the movie is more about having to deal with this problem and his attempts at having a life and a family despite it. A great concept. The delivery was decent but predictable, most major plot points played out exactly as I expected them to and that was sort of disappointing. Despite that, the story's sci-fi elements still managed to keep me hooked, more so than I would have been had this been a straight out chick flick.
The movie looks and sounds great with an amazing electronic score by Canadian composer Mychael Danna.
Similarly to "500 Days of Summer" this is a romantic movie that men can also enjoy. Despite the former still being a better movie "The Time Traveler's Wife" is still incredibly enjoyable.

Movie Journal Entry #71: Gran Torino (2008)

2009-08-23T00:14:00.005-04:00

Gran Torino
If there's one thing I can say about this movie is that Clint Eastwood is great in front of the camera. The rest of the film not so much.
Clint Eastwood is a grumpy old racist Korean War vet living in a ghetto with a bunch of immigrants and minorities, how convenient. Filled with blatant stereotypes and some horrible writting, this movie had me cringing more often than grinning. It seems the writer needed to include every kind of minority possible as we get gangs of mexicans, asians and african americans, all of them stupid violent and obnoxious.
A movie where none of the characters are likable and the ones that are meant to be are played by some really horrible actors. It was hard to enjoy this movie and I didn't. A male bonding scene consisting of Clint Eastwood's characters teaching a young boy to swear and use offensive racial slurs is horrible and played for laughs. A movie where the height of the emotional payoff concerns an old car and a lighter, Gran Torino sure as hell ain't no Dirty Harry.

Movie Journal Entry #70: House on Haunted Hill (1999)

2009-08-22T00:50:00.003-04:00

House on Haunted Hill
I don't know exactly when the horror movie remake phase started in Hollywood but I think we can all agree that is hasn't been a very pleasant experience for the most part.
This was probably one of the earlier remakes and wasn't nearly as horrible as I expected it to be.
The movie is really a pretty generic horror movie, what makes it good however is how much it seems to take from the original. Although the movie plays out completely differently its the small nods to the first one that makes it great. There are also a few interesting twists and the black guy, surprisingly, doesn't die first. The cast is decent and a few of the actors have gone on to bigger and better things, Famke Janssen and Geoffrey Rush in particular.
I was not scared once during the movie simply because I'm so used to the style of these modern horror movies. Its still a decent watch and more satisfying after having seen the original.
I'd just like to point out how horrible the poster to this movie is compared to the originals.

Craptastic Classics #69: House on Haunted Hill (1959)

2009-08-22T00:46:00.005-04:00

House on Haunted Hill (original)
Despite being in my "craptastic classics" boxset the original House on Haunted Hill is actually a good movie.
Five strangers are invited to a house where they are promised 10 000$ if they can survive the night.
The film plays out like sort of murder mystery/ghost story and doesn't follow any horror movie conventions we are so used to seeing these days. Because of this, some moments in this movie actually made me tense and frightened, something no recent modern horror movie has managed to make me feel.
Vincent Price, and his mustache, are amazing. He plays the wealthy man that organizes the get together. He is delightfully comical yet threatening at the same time. The other actors also do a great job but none of them really stand out. The movie is short and sweet and the ending is really great. It is not what you would expect.
This is a definite horror classic and apparently its success is what made Hitchcock decide to make Psycho.
Thank you Vincent Price, thank you.

Movie Journal Entry #68: Hard Eight (1996)

2009-08-21T10:58:00.000-04:00

Hard Eight
In PTA's directorial debut a man named Sydney adopts and takes under his wing a down on his luck man, John. They head to Vegas where Sydney teaches John ways of playing the system and making money. A few years later they're still together and Sydney finds another person he wants to help, a young Vegas waitress/prostitute played by Gwyneth Paltrow.
The film is shorter and smaller than PTA's later movies but Hard Eight is still an intense film with some great performances by Phillip Baker Hall and John C. Reilly.
The movie is really about Sydney, the old man that has made mistakes in his life, seeing where their lives are headed he attempts to help these other younger people so that they don't make the same mistakes he did. The dialogue is really slick and the movie looks great. This director can do no wrong.

Movie Journal Entry #67: Sixteen Candles (1984)

2009-08-20T20:08:00.000-04:00

Sixteen Candles
John Hughes died last week, a sad and tragic event. One of the greatest and most prolific filmmakers of the 80's, Hughes wrote the American teen like none other and was the voice of that generation. From the Breakfast Club to Ferris Bueller Hughes showed us that teenager were real people with real emotions.
Sixteen Candles was John Hughes directorial debut and the worlds first look at his portrayal of teenage characters.
Its her 16th birthday and Samantha Baker is having the worst day of her life. Her family's forgotten her birthday the class geek is hitting on her and her crush doesn't even know she exists.
Although this was made before "The Breakfast Club" John Hughes was already playing with teenage archetypes and stereotypes at the time and was really able to make some great characters based on these archetypes.
The movie has a great heart, some 80's racism, really funny moments and a fairytale ending.
My only beef with the film is that the the relationships aren't all completely believable and feel forced at times. Regardless it is an impressive directorial debut for Hughes and one of the great 80's teen movies.

Movie Journal Entry #66: GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)

2009-08-16T10:02:00.006-04:00

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Another dumb summer action movie, but one that works. Considering I've never been a GI Joe fan I can't say if this movie follows the cartoon or comic series so these things did not affect my enjoyment of the film.
To be honest I enjoyed the film quite a bit. It felt like a mash-up of the best parts from other movies. It had James Bond gadgets, Star Wars space (underwater) battles, Ninjas, sexy girls and just a whole lot of fun and funny characters.
Some of the actors, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dennis Quaid and Sienna Miller, seem to be playing off the fact that this is a cheesy, stupid popcorn movie and are just having a lot of fun with the characters while others, Channing Tatum and Marlon Wayans, are just taking it way too seriously. Director Stephen Sommers might have less explosions and shittier CGI than Michael Bay did in transformers but at least I know what the hell is happening during his action scenes. A chase scene through Paris is one the highlights of the movie, a movie that almost never slows down and just keeps the action coming.
It kind of reminded me of "Men in Black" but without the likeable main characters.
The movie had me cringing at times and smiling at others but it was overall an enjoyable experience. A great movie for kids.

Epic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YjfGex5JHY

Movie Journal Entry #65: Moon (2009)

2009-08-16T10:02:00.005-04:00

Moon
Moon is a refreshing Sci-fi movie that stays away from giant space battles and follows a more "2001" route. An intellectual space story, Moon emulates Kubrick's masterpiece in more ways than one. With a similar look and a robot supercomputer of its own, Moon may look and feel like 2001 but its story is smart and original enough to stand on its own.
Sam Rockwell is great as always, playing multiple characters in this movie and Kevin Spacey's voice is perfect as the ominous "Gerty" computer.
The story goes into some pretty heavy existential questions like: "What makes a person human?" and questions corporate society and technology.
Considering the writer and director of this movie is Duncan Jones, son of David Bowie its not surprising to see that he made this Space Oddity of a movie. Although Major Tom never shows up, Moon still shows us that side of space that only a Bowie can.

Movie Journal Entry #64: The Hurt Locker (2008)

2009-08-11T10:02:00.023-04:00

The Hurt Locker
An exciting and suspenseful story about a bomb diffusion squad in Iraq and the reckless team leader that lives for the thrill and adrenaline rush that comes from doing the job.
The movie starts off literally with a bang (or in this case a "boom") as one of the characters gets caught in a bomb explosion, showing us straight away exactly how dangerous the whole situation can be.
Sergeant William James, played by Jeremy Renner, is introduced shortly after as a cocky and careless bomb diffusion expert that seems to have a death wish. He walks straight into a dangerous situation without thought and without following procedure, creating some conflict between him and the other soldiers.
As the movie tells us, "War is a Drug" and similarly to people addicted to extreme and dangerous sports, Sergeant James is addicted to the war. I guess the closer you are to death the more it feels like heaven.
The movie is slightly episodic as it plays out as a series of various situations. One of the greatest scenes concerns a large amount of bombs in a car in which Sergeant James takes off his bomb suit as he attempts to diffuse them. The suspense rises as various suspicious onlookers arrive, any one of them potentially capable of detonating the bombs.
The story slows down a bit at some parts and some great actors seem underused but the movie really is an amazing piece of filmmaking and definitely one of the best of the year.
Although this is not the greatest war movie ever made. I think its safe to say that it is at least the greatest war movie set in the Middle East.

Movie Journal Entry #63:The Game (1997)

2009-08-11T01:28:00.007-04:00

The Game
David Fincher's horribly underrated follow-up to the amazing "Seven", "The Game" is an amazingly made mystery/thriller with a Hitchcock like sensibility and a great David Fincher aesthetic.
After his brother sends him to a company that specializes in "Life-Changing Experiences", Nicolas Van Orton, a wealthy business man gets caught up in a game that becomes part of his life. Not knowing what is real and what is part of the game anymore Nicholas must uncover the mystery of the game and solve what he believes to be a conspiracy against him.
Michael Douglas is awesome as always and the other actors play their parts perfectly.
The plot is slightly convoluted and requires suspension of disbelief but the weird dream-like aesthetic makes the movie work. This is the kind of movie that keeps you hooked to your seat the whole time and is one of the best of its genre.

Movie Journal Entry #62: La Classe (Entre Les Murs) (2008)

2009-08-09T23:50:00.009-04:00

Entre les Murs
Winner 0f the 2008 Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival
Entre les Murs is movie by director Laurent Cantet based on an autobiographical story by teacher Francois Bégaudeau. Cantet goes for a realistic/documentary style of filmaking by casting Bégaudeau as himself and actual students as the students. Having actually gone to a french high school this movie felt so real to me.
The individuality of each of the characters is stunning and the friction between the students doesn't ever seem forced. The movie smartly and realistically tackles teacher/student relations bringing up notions of respect and authority, among others.
The movie is what one would expect from a Palme d'Or winner, a very good smart and insightful movie.

Craptastic Classics #61: Evil Brain From Outer Space (1964)

2009-08-07T02:52:00.011-04:00

Evil Brain from Outer Space
Another craptastic movie, Evil Brain from Outer Space is a movie about the Japanese superhero Starman and how he must defend the world from an evil mind controlling brain. There's monsters and stuff and super bad fight scenes... and stuff happens and there's bad guys that are evil... and...
I honestly had no idea what the fuck was going on.
The only good part is when a bad guy threatens to throw a "nuclear hand grenade" at starman. Yeah "Nuclear Hand Grenade"... I guess after WW2 everything that's threatening to japan had to be nuclear. I laughed at the ridiculous concept then went back to wondering what the hell was going on.
The movie is a super low budget horribly made movie, its also probably the inspiration for some Japanese TV shows and superheroes like Ultraman.

Craptastic Classics #60: Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959)

2009-08-07T02:49:00.008-04:00

Attack of the Giant Leeches
The first in my series of craptastic classics, attack of the giant leeches is a 1959 black and white movie that was picked out of a 50 movie boxset of old horror movies as we'd decided it had the most ridiculous title of all the movies in the set.

Unlike bad horror movies from the 80's their counterparts from the 50's and 60's don't even have that cheesy charm that makes them watchable for laughs. The only good thing about Attack of the Giant leeches is that its only an hour long, the movie is plotless, slow and incredibly boring. The people dressed in the giant leech costumes are somewhat amusing in a bad special effects way but that really doesn't make much of a difference.
This is a craptastic classic if I've ever seen one.

PS:
I love these horror movie posters from the 50's-60's, these hand drawn/painted images are just so much cooler than a lot of the poster we get these days.

Movie Journal Entry #59: Heavenly Creatures (1994)

2009-08-06T22:05:00.012-04:00

Heavenly Creatures
The only Peter Jackson directed movie I had not yet seen, Heavenly Creatures is a 1994 movie based on a true story about two teenage girls with overactive imaginations. They create their own fantasy world and characters and spend their days living and escaping into this world, making their parents worry about them and creating some conflict in the household. The movie ends in a brutal murder.
This movie is notable for a few reasons. First of all Heavenly Creatures is the movie that led to the creation of WETA Digital. That's right the company that has done the special effects for most of Peter Jackson's movies including King Kong and Lord of the Rings was first used in this movie to create a amazingly beautiful fantasy world created from the mind of a couple of young girls. Secondly this movie was the acting debut of the incredible Kate Winslet.
Peter Jackson seems to be loved for his LotR films but seeing his older movies really allows us to see how much of a genius he actually was and is.
Heavenly Creatures is a great looking movie with some amazing acting and disturbing story. It can be slow at times and the strong New Zealand accent isn't always easy to understand, but watching this movie really makes you appreciate the art and work of one of the greatest filmmakers of our time.

Movie Journal Entry #58: Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005)

2009-08-05T16:05:00.006-04:00

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
The third and final movie in Chan-Wook Park's "vengeance" trilogy, Lady Vengeance is gorgeous looking movie with a surprisingly straightforward story. A girl gets sent to jail for a crime she didn't commit, when she gets out she vows to take revenge on the man for who she took the fall and that sent her to jail in the first place.
Park visual style makes the movie look very interesting but it didn't care much for any of the characters and the story jumps from on point in time to another often making it hard to follow where we are. Unlike the first two movies in the trilogy which left me breathless after the first viewing, Lady vengeance is one of those movie that require a few viewings to take in.
It a sexy and stylish movie that similarly to Thirst looks and sounds better than the movies story makes it out to be. Regardless Lady Vengeance is an essential Korean movie that really pushes the limits of filmmaking as Chan-wook Park often does.

Movie Journal Entry #57: Forgotten Silver (1995)

2009-08-05T15:49:00.008-04:00

Forgotten Silver
An hour long mockumentary about a New Zealand filmmaker that supposedly was the first to invent sound and color features and also the first ever full length feature film. Originally screened as a legit documentary, Forgotten Silver, despite how ridiculous it was, was actually thought to be a true story.
Smartly constructed with actual photographs and footage imitating the time period and some famous people giving talking head interviews, Forgotten Silver is a very funny, smart and well-made mockumentary by Genius Filmmaker Peter Jackson.

Movie Journal Entry #56: Funny People (2009)

2009-08-05T00:31:00.005-04:00

Funny People
The 3rd movie from big shot comedy producer Judd Apatow, Funny People is a story about two opposites. A struggling comedian becomes the assistant of a big superstar comedian and gets a small glimpse at fame. The film is very funny as all Apatow films have been in the past. Unfortunately, the better humor comes from the supporting characters way more than the two mains. Seth Rogen doesn't play his regular crude self and I was sort of disappointed. The movie is 2 hours long and none of the main characters are really likable making it hard to watch.
The numerous cameos are great, James Taylor drops F-Bombs and one of the funniest scenes features an interaction between Eminem and Ray Romano.
The stand-up aspect in the first half of the movie is a lot of fun, and time spent with Rogen's roommates, Jason Schwartzman and Jonah Hill is really great. The film falls flat however near the end of the movie when Sandler and Rogen head out to stay with Leslie Mann's character and all the great supporting characters are left behind. Eric Bana fills in as a crazy Australian guy, a parody of himself but doesn't make the movie any more interesting.
It is an interesting film and its fun to see Sandler in another serious role, I just never really cared much about the character even when he was dying, probably because the trailer spoiled the fact that he OK movie, despite the emotional plot it never really had me caring about the characters.
Randy was awesome though.

RAAANDY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peVFNna3vB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peVFNna3vB8

Movie Journal Entry #55: Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (2001)

2009-08-02T22:42:00.013-04:00

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures
Part of the Stanley Kubrick box set, A Life in Pictures takes a look at Kubrick as a man and a filmmaker. The film starts from the beginning taking a look at his childhood and how he started out and follows his life chronologically taking a look at all his movies all the way until his death. We are shown Stanley Kubrick from the perspective of his friends, family, colleagues and various actors and directors but never allowed to hear the man in question talk about himself or his film and I found that slightly disappointing.
Its a pretty conventional bio-doc yet the fact that its about Kubrick makes it really good. He is such a mysterious character and an amazing filmmaker and anything that can be learned about him is bound to be very interesting.

Movie Journal Entry #54: Falling Down (1993)

2009-08-02T22:42:00.012-04:00

Falling Down
Falling down is about an unstable guy that just gets pushed too far. After being fucked by society a man with nothing to lose finally cracks and just decides to go out and denounce all the bullshit that's taking place in our society. This movie is often funny and so gratifying throughout, Michael Douglas' character does what so much of us have wanted to do at some point or another in our lives.
Probably Joel Schumacher's best movie and with one of Michael Douglas' best performances, this movie is a masterpiece in every sense of the word. I said the guy from 500 days of summer was someone I could relate to, the guy in Falling Down is me (minus the whole going ape-shit part).
The movie is so effective in bringing its point across that near the end you start wondering if this guy, that has just gone on a rampage through town, is really the bad guy.
This is an incredibly smart and important movie that really needs to be seen by more people.

Movie Journal Entry #53: Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979)

2009-07-31T22:56:00.006-04:00

Lupin the III: The Castle of Cagliostro
This is Hayao Miyazaki's first movie and the only one I hadn't seen yet. Castle of Cagliostro is an amazing debut from an incredible filmmaker. A funny and touching story about a thief that tries to infiltrate a castle and save a young girl from an unwanted marriage to an evil count. The story seems like an average fairytale but the characters are so unique and original that the story never feels conventional.
Lupin III is the grandson of the famous French thief Arsene Lupin. Following in his grand-father's footsteps Lupin has also become a great thief. He is a smart smooth-talking womanizing character who with the help of his friends travels the world stealing valuable treasures. This is one of his adventures. With Miyazaki at the helm, this movie is one of the great animated tales ever.

Movie Journal Entry #52: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)

2009-07-31T13:20:00.004-04:00

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
I always seem to hate my first viewings of Harry Potter movies and this one is no exception. Yes some of the departures from the book bother me but its really the things they add to the movies that have no relevance at all to the story that really annoy me. The movie looks amazing and with great actors like Michael Gambon and Alan Rickman the movie delivers almost fully in the acting department.
The main problem with this movie is the writing and the directing. David Yates does not seem to be able to achieve the emotional climax necessary for this kind of story. I hate having to go back to Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban but I feel like I have to. There's a scene at the end of that movie where Harry summons a Patronus and it is one of the most emotionally loaded moments I've ever seen in movie history, I still get chills every time I watch it. Scenes that could have played out similarly in this movie were just shrugged off without any emotional payoff. I'm thinking of the Sectumsempra scene and the famous "death scene," even Sirius' death scene in the fifth movie was completely underwhelming. It seems David Yates is more preoccupied with making the big fire effects look cool than making the audience care. My problem with the writing is how the screenwriter decides to keep some things in from the books and leave others out completely randomly. The burrow scenes in the middle weren't even necessary except to have that cringe worthy scene where Ginny kneels down to tie Harry's shoe...
I'll never know If I'd enjoyed the Harry Potter movies more had I not read the books and my opinion on this film may change upon multiple viewings but as of this moment it has been a very disappointing experience.

Hilarious:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70ABKwflFZ0

Fantasia Film Festival Last Day: #51 Trick 'r Treat (2008)

2009-07-31T13:19:00.006-04:00

Trick 'r Treat
On the night where all the ghouls and ghosts come out to play, Sam, a small boy with a scarecrow like costume, is going around town making sure that all the customs and rituals of Halloween are being followed. The film is a portmanteau film consisting of 5 different stories that take place on the same Halloween night. Some teenage girls are headed for a party, a couple head home early, some kids are stealing pumpkins, a grumpy old man is staying in and a psychotic principal is on the loose as mayhem unfolds on this night of Hallow's Eve.
The movie starts off quite literally with a reference to John Carpenter's Halloween then turns it straight around telling the audience "This isn't your average Halloween slasher flick."
This movie takes almost all horror movie conventions and throws them out the window. There are some jump scares but they never seem cheap or out of place. The smartly written movie plays off the Horror movie expectations of its audience and incorporates enough twists and turns keeps the audience guessing throughout.
A movie with a love for storytelling Trick 'r Treat uses the Halloween mythology to its greatest advantage. The movie is amazingly and smartly shot and a mix of dark humor and scary scenarios make it one of the best horror movies I have ever seen.
Trick 'r Treat is a must watch and is probably my favorite film from this years festival.

Fantasia Wrap-Up
My Top 10 Best Movies (All Must-See Movies)
1.Trick 'r Treat
2.Ip Man
3.The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle
4.Best Worst Movie/Troll 2 Combo
5.Daytime Drinking
6.Reel Zombies
7.You Might as Well Live
8.Graphic Sexual Horror
9.Playing Columbine
10.Thirst

Fantasia Film Festival Day 12: #50 Genius Party Beyond (2008)

2009-07-31T08:48:00.009-04:00

Genius Party Beyond
I think that for me Anime films need to be watched at home alone or with a few friends. I haven't had good experiences watching Japanese animation this year at the festival. Although I do really enjoy all sorts of Anime the fans are really horrible. I think that if there's one thing I hate more than fucking separatists its gotta be Anime fans. Those fucking japanophiles that jerk off to Naruto, insist on watching their anime in Japanese with subtitles and refuse to acknowledge Cowboy Bebop unless I call it Kaubōi Bibappu make me sick. Here are a few pictures that depict the kind of people that anime fans are:

Genius Party Beyond is, similarly to the Animatrix and Batman: Gotham Night, a compilation of short animated films from a variety of different directors and animation styles. All of the films have really impressive animation, unfortunately most of the stories play out like experimental acid trips and barely made any sense. The short I enjoyed the most was the fourth one, it simply played as a straight out linear story and simply relied on slick animation and a cool setting to make it interesting. I might have enjoyed that existential headtrip films a bit more had there not been the stupid anime fans behind me flipping out every ten seconds and this guy in front of me with a lion's mane haircut blocking the entire bottom of the screen. I think I'm just going to stay at home to watch my Anime from now on.

This is my 50th new movie I've watched and reviewed since the month of May (20 of which were during fantasia) so I just wanted to point out this benchmark number and hopefully keep this up for the rest of the year.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 11: #48 Dead Snow (2009) and #49 I Sell The Dead (2008)

2009-07-31T07:53:00.009-04:00

Dead Snow
Dead Snow is about Nazi Zombies, that's all there is to say, what can go wrong?... A whole lot apparently. Dead Snow just felt so generic. The first hour plays out more like a slasher flick than a zombie movie as a group of friends decide to go spend a weekend up in a cabin in the snowy mountains. They start by getting picked off one by one and then when they realize they are being attacked they attempt to escape through the snowy forest. The movie picks up a bit after this point but never actually feels like a zombie movie there are usually very few zombies at a time and they just don't feel all that threatening. The Gore effects are really good and a whole lot of fun. Some highlights include: A guy hanging from a cliff holding on to a zombies intestines and another guy's face being ripped in half. The movie is shot too tightly during the zombie scenes. With a zombie movie in set on a snowy mountain side I'd expected fields of blood-covered snow but they never showed the action from far enough to see such glorious massacre. The last 10 minutes of the movie are great as we are treated with some fun decapitation sequences involving snowmobiles and chainsaws but the fun of those last 10 minutes don't make up for the boring first hour. An overall disappointing movie that would be better watched as a montage of specific sequences than as an actual whole. There aren't even any topless scenes!...

I Sell the Dead
An original and funny movie, I Sell the Dead tells the story of Arthur Blake a professional grave robber from his humble beginnings as an apprentice to his adventures digging up corpses to sell to the local doctors.The story plays out as a series of tales and anecdotes told by Arthur (Dominic Monaghan) to a Priest (Ron Perlman) as, accused for murder, he awaits his execution. Larry Fessenden (who kinda looks like a young Jack Nicholson) plays Arthur's mentor, Willie Grimes, a dirty old drunk man that knows his craft. Everything seems to be going fine until some of the corpses they find don't seem to stay dead. They eventually realize that selling the undead nets them more money and make it their new job to collect as much undead corpses as they can. Unfortunately a rival gang of grave diggers are also on the lookout for these rare corpses.
The movie's aesthetic recalls that of an old creature-feature and the humour comes from playing off that genre's conventions.
Apparently playing off the current Hollywood obsession with comic books, the movie transitions through its various tales with comic book like animations. It may seem gimmicky at first but it actually works really well with the look of the film.
Good movie, very stylish, very funny, maybe a tad bit short, something I don't see often these days.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 10: #46 Best Worst Movie (2009) and #47 Troll 2 (1990)

2009-07-30T17:01:00.007-04:00

Best Worst Movie
A documentary that takes a look at of the celebrated bad movie: Troll 2. Directed by Michael Stephenson, who played the main child actor in Troll 2, Best Worst Movie follows George Hardy and the other actors from Troll 2 in a "Where are they now?" scenario. Its an enlightening story about the how the movie became a cult phenomenon and how some of the actors had to live in the shadow of the movie. The enthusiastic George Hardy serves as the main host of the movie and is just really likable and enjoyable to watch. Claudio Fragasso, the director of Troll 2 makes an appearance later in the movie and seems convinced that his movie is a masterpiece. Its just funny seeing the cast and crew's reaction to the cult sensation. Its a good documentary but I would have liked to see references to other bad movies or other cult movies.

Troll 2
What is there to say about Troll 2. With its ridiculous script, bad acting and incredibly cheesy effects it really is one of the Best Bad Movies ever made. I'm glad I got to see some of the bad scenes in the documentary because it just made them even funnier when put into context. The movie is great and really is a must see for anyone who enjoys bad movies. Also Grandpa Seth is a badass mother fucker.

I think all there is to say about this movie can be seen in this montage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jqp9eXgXYHU#movie_player

Movie Journal Entry #45: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

2009-07-30T14:23:00.002-04:00

Bram Stoker's Dracula
F.F. Coppola's take on this classic story of Dracula is an interesting film. With exciting visuals and intelligent in-camera effects the movie looks and feels like a classic horror movie. The movie is packed with dark humor, fun blood and gore effects and some terribly creepy locations. With sexy lesbian vampires and shadows moving on their own Dracula's castle is a place of mystery and dread.
Anthony Hopkins plays Professor Van Helsing, a exorcist/vampire hunter is great conviction and Gary Oldman is perfect as the deliciously evil count Dracula.
The film follows most vampire conventions, Dracula however is more powerful and has extra abilities. He can transform into a variety of creatures and crawl on walls among other things.
The story is pretty simple: Dracula wants to bang Keanu Reeves wife because she's the reincarnation of his lover. Everyone else wants to kill Dracula because he attacked one of the girls in the village. The story is fine but the movie's strong point is really its whole look and feel.
The movie is a classic and one of Coppola's best.

Mel Brooks' Version of Dracula:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAYRdlVLtW4&feature=channel_page

Movie Journal Entry #44: 500 Days of Summer (2009)

2009-07-29T12:00:00.001-04:00

500 Days of Summer
A romantic comedy with a twist: Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a guy looking for love, Zooey Deschanel plays a girl that isn't. This new indie/hipster movie from first time movie director Marc Webb 500 Days of Summer, with its smart romantic story and great soundtrack recalls other similar movies like "Garden State" but seems to take a lighter tone on the whole thing.
Marc Webb's music director skills come in handy as he directs some very fun and interesting scenes including a musical number in a park and a split screen scene where the characters expectations of a situation and the actual reality of the situation play simultaneously.
What impressed me the most was how realistic the dialogue and the situations felt to me. Its obvious this movie was written based on experience since almost every awkward or funny or romantic moment in this film reminded me of situations I've been through in my life. For any guy that's ever been in love or even had a crush, this is a movie they can relate to.
The narrative jumps between the "500 days" through the use of a clever counter. Although some scenes (days) seemed kind of unnecessary the movie as a whole flows pretty well considering we pretty much know what's gonna happen throughout. Other little things like the characters discussions about "Knightrider" and a scene where the characters watch "The Graduate" just felt like they were included just to add some "indie" cred to the movie and were completely unnecessary.
This is the Romantic comedy for the sensitive guy and is one of the best movies of this year.

Movie Journal Entry #41: Outlander (2008)

2009-07-28T00:35:00.001-04:00

Outlander
The Weinstein company has been experiencing hard times recently as their recent movies have not met financial success. Outlander was no exception, with one of the worst marketing campaigns ever it barely made back a hundredth of its 50 million dollar budget.
An unfortunate situation as Outlander is no where near as bad as its financial fate would lead us to believe. Don't get me wrong, this movie is no masterpiece. But with strong performances, an original story and some fun blood and visual effects Outlander proudly and rightfully professes itself as a fun summer movie.
A space man lands on earth during the time of the vikings. He must befriend the vikings and help them defend themselves against a beastly alien/monster that arrived with him. Ron Perlman, Jim Caviezel and John Hurt all play their characters convincingly and the action is very fun. It is what it is and is surprisingly lot more enjoyable than most of these big summer blockbuster. A film for a movie night with a gang of friends.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 9: #42 Edison and Leo (2008) and #43 Cryptic (2009)

2009-07-27T18:10:00.006-04:00

Edison and Leo
With movies like "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Coraline," Hollywood has proven that stop motion animation is a very viable form of entertainment. Edison and Leo is no exception. The first feature length Canadian stop-motion animated film, pushes the genre into pretty dark territory yet never fails to entertain.
With Robot Chicken like graphic violence and Gore (including a beheading and a graphic jaw removal.) and quite a few not so subtle sexual innuendo's Edison and Leo is not for really a kids movie.
Edison and Leo is the story of a Mad Scientist, his family and his destructive obsession. George Edison wishes to be the greatest inventor of all time and will stop at nothing to do so, even if it means sacrificing the well being of his wife and sons.
The movie cleverly incorporates some funny Canadian elements into the movie which makes for some nice inside jokes for the Canadian viewer. The animation isn't the greatest. We can see where all the pieces of the puppets seem to cut off and I found myself often distracted by the thick line that separates the jaw from the face. As for all stop motion movies the sheer effort and work put into this movie is still very impressive.
The film mixes of dark humour, fantasy, horror, drama and romance all fairly well and flows smoothly from start to finish. Edison and Leo is a movie for fans of animation or people that appreciate dark humor.

Cryptic
Probably the movie with the lowest budget at this year festival, Cryptic is a story based Sci-Fi movie that deals with time manipulation.
I would have originally commented as to how this movie looks like it was shot on a shitty handy-cam. The movie looked had a high contrast, washed-out, desaturated look, that reminded me of a bad student film. We were told after the film that the projector was having issues and the image didn't come out as it was supposed to. I will therefore give the movie the movie the benefit of the doubt.
I really wanted to like this movie, it had a smart concept and some good buzz surrounding it. I was really hoping this would be some kind of breakout hit.
Unfortunately,I had a lot of trouble watching this movie. The writing was bad, the cinematography was dull, the story was so basic and melodramatic, the concept could have been used so much better even in a movie with this kind of budget, I was entirely disappointed.
The actors seemed very capable and did good with what they were given but I couldn't help but cringe at some of these lines and their wooden delivery. I've watched movies with bad scripts but lines in this movie like "Don't worry, I won't beat you up." came pretty close to making me walk out of the room.
Maybe its because this movie reminded me of some bad student films that I've made that I hate it so much, I don't know. People who have no interest in filmmaking might be able to enjoy this a lot more than I did. For me however the flaws of this movie just stuck out like sore thumbs and I can't really recommend it to anyone.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 8: #39 Reel Zombies (2008) and #40 You Might as Well Live (2009)

2009-07-25T03:55:00.010-04:00

Reel Zombies
After making two shitty Zombie movies (Zombie Night 1 & 2) Mike Masters and David Francis weren't sure what to do. That is until they realized that the "behind-the-scenes" and "making-of" of their movies was a hell of a lot funnier and way more interesting than the movies themselves. This led to the creation of Reel Zombies, a mockumentary about the making of the fictitious Zombie Night 3. The twist is that they're shooting the film during an actual zombie apocalypse.
This Canadian movie is a hilarious look into the world of low budget movie making of all genres. The writing is top notch deadpan humor that plays off the fact that the filmmakers know they're making a really bad movie yet are kind of clueless about what they're doing.
The movie starts off with the two directors deciding to make another movie and goes through all stages of post production. From a witty and very funny round table meeting where the directors attempt to justify the making of the movie to a very entertaining auditioning process with bad acting and topless girls. They start shooting their film and although they have no idea what they're doing everything seems to be going pretty well. That is until the real zombies they're using for the movie start eating their cast and crew. The producers must now find a way to finish their movie and hopefully not die in the process.
With a Spinal Tap vibe, Canadian sensibility and a great love for the zombie genre, Reel Zombies is one of the funniest and original movies I've seen in a long time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeL2e62_B5U

You Might as Well Live
Robert Mutt is unable to do anything right, he doesn't know much about anything and almost everyone hates him. After a few failed suicide attempts he spends time in a mental asylum where he's able to prove himself and actually be somebody. Unfortunately the Asylum kicks him out. Robert then promises himself to prove to the world that he can become a "real somebody" out in the real world.
With the help of his friend Hershey Robert Mutt embarks on a journey to collect the three things needed to become a "real somebody" as advised by his childhood hero, Clinton Manitoba. A girl, some money and a championship ring that's all he needs.
The movie is a very dark comedy that plays off the innocence of its main character. The clueless Robert Mutt gets into all kinds of awkward situations and meets a multitude of odd characters as he attempts to reach his goal.
With an amazing Canadian cast and surprisingly odd performance by Michael Madsen, this movie is a great piece of Canadian film history.
I got to talk with Josh Peace the co-writer and actor that plays Robert Mutt and he seemed like a really nice guy, with an amazing performance in this movie I can definitely see his career jumping off pretty soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odcEZqMOKZs

Fantasia Film Festival Day 7: #36 Graphic Sexual Horror (2009)

2009-07-25T00:39:00.004-04:00

Graphic Sexual Horror
Graphic Sexual Horror is a documentary about insex.com, an extreme bondage and Sado-Masochism website that became really big with over 30 000 subscribers worldwide.
As the second documentary I've seen at this film festival, GSH almost seems to tackle similar ideas to "Playing Columbine". Not in any literal manner but in a thematic one. The questions asked are about art. What is art? Can anything be too violent or too disturbing or too childish in the case of video games to be considered an art form.
Graphic Sexual Horror is about a man's vision and obsession with is "art".
Brent "PD" Scott became obsessed with bondage and torture at a very young age. It was only until the internet that he was capable of sharing his obsession with the rest of the world and make money off of it.
GSH takes an insightful look at insex.com from the actual insides of the phenomenon. As we are treated with various clips and pictures from the site and talking head interviews with a lot of the people involved with insex we are thrown into this world of artful sex and violence. All from a very objective perspective we are allowed to examine this website from all sides. We are shown the beginning and the end, the truth and the lies, the good and the bad and all in between.
This a very enlightening and powerful movie. I was surprised to find that although I felt very uncomfortable as the movie started I quickly adapted to what I was seeing. This might be saying something about the desensitization we have in this culture or simply that the movie forced me to open my mind to this type of imagery.
I find amusing that in this the age of the "torture-porn" movie, the smartest, most eye-opening (no pun intended) and potentially the most frightening and disturbing movie is this documentary about an actual torture-porn website.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insex

Movie Journal Entry #37 and #38: The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974) and The International (2009)

2009-07-22T16:32:00.010-04:00

The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974)
The original Pelham 123, stars Walter Matthau as Lt. Garber and Robert Shaw (best know as Quint in Jaws) as the head hijacker, simply named Mr. Blue in this movie. The movie is less stylish and a lot funnier than the remake. It has the distinct "70's" style and derives a lot of humor from racial stereotypes, something that I always find amusing in these older movies. Most of the story plays similarly to the remake except for the ending that is way better handled in this movie. Jerry Stiller also co-stars and is hilarious, I don't often remember specific quotes from movies but Jerry Stiller's quote: "Even great men have to pee." just made my day. Most of the characters have that 70's wackiness and are a lot more entertaining than their remake counterparts. Slickly written Pelham 123 is a fun, entertaining movie that benefits a lot from having been made in the 70's.

The International
Clive Owen was born to be badass, he should at all times have a gun in his hand and be shooting bad guys in slow motion. For example: Sin City, he's awesome. Shoot 'Em Up, Awesome. The Hire, fucking awesome! The International, awesome.... for 10 minutes, during its entire 2 hour running time.
This is the movie that proves my Clive Owen theory as the only good scene in this movie is a great gunfight inside the Guggenheim museum.
This shoot-out scene is an amazing action set piece yet the rest of the movie falls flat and is simply a contrived political thriller with a bland conspiracy theory. Too explain how I felt about this film I will narrate my thought process throughout the film. It pretty much went like this: "So the bank is evil it controls everything... wow and some people are getting assasinated.... why is Clive Owen not kicking ass... maybe he'll sex up Naomie Watts... oh my god why are they talking about stuff... zzzzz. OMG Gunfight!!! Badass... more talking....zzzzz I want a hamburger. The end."

This movie isn't worth watching in its entirety.
So for your convenience (I can't believe I found this on youtube) I give you The Guggenheim scene in HD!!!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VizJShTfUao

Movie Journal Entry #30: Brüno (2009)

2009-07-22T00:24:00.001-04:00

Brüno
Similarly to Borat, this film is not for everyone. Sasha Baron Cohen plays the fame obsessed Bruno, a overly gay-Austrian that, after getting rejected in his home country, tries to make it big in America. Bruno is a mix of shock humor, satire and mock reporting. SBC pushes bad taste to the limit with Bruno and manages to offend and insult a whole lot of people in the process. I won't lie, I laughed a lot watching this movie, but unlike the lovable Borat, Bruno often feels like the bad guy in a lot of the situations. Politician Ron Paul and The group of Alabama Hunters seemed pretty innocent, although closed minded, until Bruno pretty much goes after them. Their reactions just seem natural however as a lot of people would have reacted the same way they did.
The film is very manipulative. Its hard to figure out how much of the movie was staged and its easy to see how clever editing could have made his victims look worse than they actually are.

The funniest scene in my opinion is a focus group scene where Bruno tries to sell a TV pilot to CBS. I never thought a giant penis being waved around in my face would make me smile, but it did and I couldn't stop laughing during that entire scene. Probably because it was completely unexpected.
I hope no one takes these quotes out of context...
Its not hard to see that a lot of effort and trouble was put into making this film and Sasha Baron Cohen's dedication to the character is really incredible. Bruno just isn't a very likable character, he's very selfish and its hard to take his side in a lot of the confrontations.
Bruno is an effective and hilarious satire but does not come anywhere close to the greatness that Borat did.

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Incredible-War-Stories-From-The-Making-Of-Bruno-13759.html

Movie Journal Entry #29: De Père en Flic (2009)

2009-07-21T00:23:00.002-04:00

De Père en Flic
I find it quite amusing that this is the second french-Canadian movie I see this summer (J'ai tué ma mere being the first) and both have a very similar theme of friction between child and parent and the generational gap. Looking at my own life and the relationship between me and my father I can totally see where these filmmakers are coming from.
The movie's premise is pretty much an excuse to play on these themes and the relationships between the characters. The father and son team, both cops, are sent undercover to a sleep away camp for "fathers and sons" to befriend the lawyer of a biker gang and get him to talk.
There are 5 or 6 father/son couples at the camp and we get to see different types of each and how all the characters relate to each other.
De Père en Flic plays of the father-son relationships really well although both of the main characters are pushed to the limit. The father is just a grumpy old man and the son is a laid back, sarcastic kid always trying to prove himself to his dad. Most of the jokes are good, Louis-José Houde pretty much plays himself and he is hilarious. I found the father character is slightly more portrayed as the bad guy and is less likeable although maybe its because I simply relate more to the son character. The problem with this movie comes when they try to make the scenes emotional. We know from the beginning that the fathers and sons are going to get along by the end but most of those scenes seemed very forced and were really cringe worthy.
Its a good movie, with enough laughs, smart dialogue and action and kept me entertained throughout. Fast forward through the emotional scenes, no one wants to see men cry.
I'd like to know how my father would react to this movie, he'd probably be able to relate to the father character.

Movie Journal Entry #23: The Shining (1980)

2009-07-20T01:50:00.001-04:00

The Shining
This may be a bold statement but I think its safe to say that this is the greatest horror movie ever made. So creepy and smart, the movie's subtle themes and symbolism put it way ahead of the pack in a genre that is often used for shock factor and cheap scares. Kubrick's ominous symmetrical cinematography seems at home inside the walls of the humongous overlook hotel and gives the viewer a sense of awe in regards to the building. Themes of obsession and alienation are tackled tastefully and the movie keenly references and critiques American culture and imperialism. The film is incredibly cast: Nicholson's descent into insanity is slow but effective and Shelley Duvall plays the damsel in distress almost too well.
Its rare that a 2+ hour movie will keep me hooked throughout but Kubrick's eye for filmaking is so amazing that for a film geek like me it is impossible for me to look away.
There is only so much that can be said about this movie, it is one of those films that need to be seen to be understood, blah blah blah.... Go watch the Shining now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmOoekbK6YI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfout_rgPSA&feature=channel_page

Fantasia Film Festival Day 6: #34 Playing Columbine (2008) and #35 Smash Cut (2009)

2009-07-19T03:24:00.021-04:00

Well I'm pretty much at the half way point of my Fantasia Film Festival experience, there's been some good movies, there's been some bad but overall its been a really good experience so far. This is my first festival and I'm really loving the fact that I'm getting to see films that not a lot of people have or will get to see.

Playing Columbine
In 2005, Danny Ledonne created the game "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" a game that allowed players to reenact the columbine school shooting as the killers in a 16-bit RPG world. The game spawned a lot of controversy in September 2006 after it was discovered that the Dawson college shooter had played the game. Although Ledonne has defended his game on numerous occasions this film, directed by Ledonne allows him take a step further. The movie takes a look at his game, the controversy surrounding it and allows him to express and defend his point of view. He also uses the opportunity to talk about the gaming industry and the public's opinion of video games.
The movie is split into 4 chapters, the first examines his game and the initial reaction, the second talks about the Dawson shooting and some student reactions, the third talks about the Slamdance controversy (his game was banned from the game competition and blocked from being given a special jury prize) and the fourth and final chapter discusses the future of gaming as an artistic, political and influential medium.
The movie is conducted as a series of fast edited talking head interviews. Gaming industry experts, Slamdance jury members and organizers, school shooting victims, doctors, radio hosts, people that had played his game and other relevant characters all give their input of the specific topics at hand.
The film has the same problem that a lot of documentary films have, as that it asks a lot of questions and shows us a lot of facts but gives very little answers. In that regard it was lacking. In another regard, Ledonne with his film is the only person asking these questions; questions that as a gamer I feel are incredibly important and relevant and should be discussed to a greater extent. I wouldn't mind seeing a Playing Columbine part 2 where gaming industry experts keep the discussion going. Grand Theft Auto 4 was released slightly after the completion of this movie and it would be a very good starting point to kick off a discussion about how mainstream video gaming can act as art. GTA4 is a brilliant satire of American culture.
And I quote TIME magazine:

It's ironic that GTA became a football in the debate over sex and violence in video games, because where it belongs is in the debate over whether video games count as art. No game developers are more radical and more passionate about the storytelling power of their medium than folks at Rockstar North, and GTA IV is the company's most ambitious work ever. It's the story of Niko Bellic, an Eastern European soldier-for-hire fighting his way up the organized crime ladder in an archly satirical version of New Yo— I mean, Liberty City. It's a grade-A shoot-'em-up that doubles as an interactive novel and triples as a sly critique of American consumer culture.

Video games are often misunderstood by the older generations and this movie provides a lot of insight on how people view the gaming community and the video game medium as a whole. I could and would have watched a whole 'nother hour of this movie because there is really a lot more to talk about.
Not knowing anything about Danny Ledonne and originally disregarding his game as just another bad taste freeware game I was surprised to find someone with a brain behind this project. And although I still would not go about defending the game, I'm glad it was made because of the debates it has spawned. This is a good movie and I hope the gaming industry take the time to look at it and see how they can subtly better their games and make them relevant to the older generations.

Smash Cut
A low budget Canadian-made horror film, "Smash Cut" tells the story of a desperate horror film director that, after being destroyed by critics for having very fake looking effects, goes on a killing spree to harvest body parts to be used as props in his movies.
Inspired by the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis, "Smash Cut" is a tribute to the exploitative splatter film genre. Its a very funny movie with a bunch of random references and tributes to other movies. The movie is just a fun splatter film with a self-referential twist and outrageous performances by "Last House on the Left's" David Hess. Most of the movie is overacted but its all part of the gag. The movie never tries to hide the fact that it is Canadian made and takes pride in being filmed in Ottawa.

(click images to enlarge)
This was the first movie that I saw at Fantasia where the cast and crew were there to answer questions and I thought it was really cool to get to see the people that were behind and in front of the camera. The cast and crew answered questions from the audience and treated us with a bunch of funny and interesting anecdotes. It was a whole lot of fun.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 5: #32 Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009) and #33 Hells (2008)

2009-07-17T01:13:00.012-04:00

Lesbian Vampire Killers
The title pretty much says it all. Its pretty much just a movie with sexy girls turning into vampires. The story is pretty ridiculous, there's some kind of curse and all the girls turn into vampires when they turn 18. Two guys are out looking for an adventure and one of them is a descendant of a vampire killer... blah blah blah.
The girls are hot and there's some fun death scenes but its still a very conventional movie. The jokes are funny at times but similarly to "Infestation" the characters are stereotypes and the writing is just too forced.
It is a British film yet seems to lack the British wit and humor that some other movies like Shaun of the Dead have. It might have been more fun watching it with a bunch of guy friends and a few beers but I didn't and it wasn't.

Hells
I was looking forward to seeing this film as it was going to be my first animated movie of the festival and there had been some impressive animated films in previous years.
Hells tells the story of a young schoolgirl named Linne, who gets hit by a truck and ends up in a weird alternate universe (Hell.) In Hell Linne must go to a school that is watched over by Headmaster Hellvis who is a demon Elvis impersonator that says "Baby!" a lot. The whole world is so ridiculous, over the top and wacky that's its kind of hard to describe. The movie follows a lot of crazy anime conventions: Epic mutations, battles against giant monsters, schoolgirls having crushes of effeminate guys, etc.
Anyway Linne must find a way to graduate hell school and get out of hell. At some point Headmaster Hellvis offers to grant a wish to the winner of a volleyball tournament. So there's an epic volleyball tournament where Linne almost loses but manages to inspire her whole team by playing hard and they win the tournament. Then some whole ridiculous thing happens where everyone finds out they reincarnations of bible characters and it becomes all religious and there's a bunch of plot twists and the good guy turns into the bad guy when is madness is unleashed but then everyone in hell manages to defeat the bad guys with the power of love... and blah blah blah. I wanted to shoot myself.
I enjoy anime's like Sailor Moon and have seen some really weird anime series but this movie was just too much. It was two hours long and the last 45 minutes were so cheesy and so convoluted and so absurd, I was barely paying attention anymore.
The animation is really good as is to be expected from anime and has a kind of dirty hand-drawn look to it. I enjoyed the look and style as well, there are some really cool looking characters and the first 40 minutes are fun in a crazy anime type way but once there starts being this religious symbolism crap the movie completely falls apart.
If you need an anime fix go watch cowboy bebop or something. I hated this movie.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 4: #31 Mutants (2009)

2009-07-15T18:09:00.007-04:00

Mutants
If there's one thing I like about going to see movies at festivals is that I barely know anything about the movie before going in. Most of the time I've seen one image from the film, maybe read a short synopsis but unlike most other movies I see I haven't been bombarded with movie trailers and advertising. This allows me to have a very open mind, I have no expectations good or bad when coming into these movies, thus allowing me to be pleasantly surprised or unfortunately disappointed. The latter sadly being my reaction to this movie.
Mutants is a zombie movie from France.
As the poster to the left here points out the movie is a kind of mix between "28 Days Later" and "The Fly." It however never achieves the greatness that either of those movies do. The real problem with Mutants is that it is too ridiculous and takes itself seriously. The movie opens with a bang as a girl explodes when an ambulance hits her along the highway, promising the viewer a fun over the top gore fest. The movie unfortunately never delivers on its promise as it spends the next 30 minutes examining the transformation of a man into a zombie. That's where the comparisons to the Fly come into play, yet they are mostly inaccurate however as the zombie doesn't slowly turn into the beast as in the Fly but instead seems to just be jumping back and forth between his beastly thirst for blood and his humanity. The main character seems to have come straight out of a slasher film, she is so stupid... Supposedly she's a Doctor or a medical expert but her decision making skills would make a monkey look smart in comparison.
The movie is often unintentionally funny and that's never a good thing when a movie is trying to be serious.
The last 30 minutes turns into your average zombie flick as more characters appear mostly to serve as zombie food and of course the main character survives.

There is some good however as the movie looks very cool, dark and gloomy. The isolated hospital and snowy forests make for some really nice locations and the gore and make-up effects are excellent for what appears to be a pretty low budget flick.
Despite trying to sell itself on the whole "transformation" aspect of the zombie, "Mutants" never actually brings anything new to the genre. Everything it does was done better in some other movie.
For some good zombies flicks I recommend watching "28 Days Later", "Day of the Dead", "Dawn of the Dead" or even "Shaun of the Dead" and staying away from "Mutants."

Fantasia Film Festival Day 3: #28 The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle (2009)

2009-07-15T18:07:00.004-04:00

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle
With a title like this one anyone going into this movie expecting something conventional can't be all that bright. I knew almost nothing about the movie coming in except that it was gonna be something different, something I'd never seen before. I was right.
Little Dizzle is a very weird little movie, combining live-action with various animation techniques, it is a surrealist movie with an absurdist story. The style recalls a lot of great directors; it at some parts reminded of me Michel Gondry and David Lynch (there were even a few literal nods to Kubrick in the film,) yet Little Dizzle is so over the top and so different and so unique that it easily puts itself into its own category.
The problem with these types of movie is that I often find myself looking for symbolism where there isn't any. Not to say the movie is void of symbolism, it isn't. In fact the movie manages to go over a whole bunch of topics from religion to capitalism to addiction and the human condition. Not all of them are covered convincingly but they are all shown very humorously.
The movie is really funny all the way through. The payoff from the opening credit sequence is great and tells us right there and then that we're in for a ride. The film follows Dory, a young man forced to work as a janitor is a big office building. His new coworkers, mostly deadbeats and outcasts guide and initiate him to his life as a janitor; hilarity and insanity ensues. Most of the acting is very solid. Vince Vieluf (who's biggest credit before this was "Epic Movie") is hilarious and impressive as the crazy over-the-top wannabe artist, O.C. and Marshall Allman plays Dory with just the right amount of innocence to make him believable.
Possibly still too odd for a normal Hollywood audience, I'd still recommend little Dizzle to anyone with an open mind or that's looking to see something different than the normal Hollywood slosh. You won't be disappointed.

Movie Journal Entry #22: Public Enemies (2009)

2009-07-15T01:50:00.001-04:00

Public Enemies
I'd seen two Michael Mann movies before this one, Heat and Collateral both of which I really enjoyed. Both these movie had some really great action set pieces but what really impressed me was the acting, Pacino and DeNiro in Heat are amazing and Tom Cruise in Collateral is mind-blowing and badass. When I heard that both Johnny Depp and Christian Bale were going to be collaborating with the "Mann" it was hard to believe this wouldn't be another great Micheal Mann movie.
It wasn't.
The movie starts off with a bang with an awesome looking prison break. Depp as Dillinger is calm and cool when handling a gun and the action set pieces are what one would expect from a Michael Mann movie. Unfortunately that's really all the good there is in this movie. Prison breaks and bank robberies impress so do most action scenes however there aren't enough of them to make the 2 and a half hour running time not feel like a grind. The movie falls flat and slows down is in its telling of its love story, its just boring. Apart from Depp most of the actors, including Bale, are forgettable and the story is very repetitive. (The "FBI have him cornered, Dillinger gets away" scenario repeats at least 4 times during the course of the movie.)
There was also something that bothered me about the look. I'm still not sure whether its the fact that it was shot digitally or the way it was shot that really bugged me but there is something I can say for sure, the colours and the lighting were just horrendous. When I'm watching a movie with a hundred-million dollar budget I usually expect it to look better than daytime soap operas, but that is exactly what I was reminded of while watching Public Enemies. Everything was so damp and dark and washed out, it just wasn't fun to look at.
This is not the fun summer action movie the trailers make it out to be and I was genuinely disappointed by it. See "Heat" or "Collateral" for some real Michael Mann goodness.

Tom Cruise being a badass in Collateral:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeNPJ0fgWVY&feature=related

Movie Journal Entry #20 & #21: Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982) & Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

2009-07-14T00:14:00.004-04:00

I'm taking a break in my fantasia coverage to get to some more Star Trek films I finally got to see a few weeks ago.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Quickly drifting away from the existential mind-numb the was the first Star Trek movie, Khan gives us a more clear cut conventional space story of good versus evil. Khan, who Captain Kirk had apparently exiled on to some barren planet during the course of the TV series, is back and has vouched to take revenge on Kirk for putting him there. Captain Kirk must prevent the evil Khan from stealing "The Genesis Device", an invention designed to create life from nothing and unfortunately death from life.
With a great over the top villain, fun strategic space battles, deliciously disgusting mind control creatures and the gut wrenching sacrifice of a main character near the end, it isn't hard to see why Khan is considered the best Star Trek movie. I also find it amusing that this was Kirstie Alley (Now know as Oprah's fat friend) first movie, she played the half-Vulcan, half Romulan Saavik.
There is a quote in the movie that I had heard numerous times and had always assumed had been said by some old philosopher. After a bit of research I was surprised to find out that it simply a quote from this movie. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Simple yet logical, I am not surprised that this quote is uttered by Spock.
If you have not yet seen Khan do so, right now.

Most epic part of the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRnSnfiUI54
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlY7YnWvZBU

Star Trek: The Search for Spock
As the story picks up right after the events of Khan I'm going to be spoiling plot point from the previous movie do not read unless you want the movie spoiled for you.

So in the previous film the detonation of the Genesis device created a new life sustaining planet aptly named Genesis. After his death Spock's body was sent to the planet as a final resting place. But as Kirk and the rest of the crew return to Starfleet we find out that Spock isn't actually dead, before he sacrificed himself he mind melded with McCoy and left his essence (Kattra?) inside of him. The crew must then steal the decommissioned Enterprise from Starfleet and get back to Genesis to find Spock. Meanwhile Kirk's son and Saavik have landed on Genesis, where they discover new life forms and recover a young and soulless Spock. During this time a Klingon starship attacks and our heroes must fight their way back to the planet to save Spock, David and Saavik. Leonard Nemoy directs and Christopher Lloyd plays the evil Klingon Commander Kruge. That's right before he was Doc Brown Christopher Lloyd was in a Star Trek movie.
I found this film to be as good as Wrath of Khan. The villain wasn't as cool and there was a bit less action than the previous installment, but scenes where the crew steal the Enterprise from Starfleet and others where Kirk tricks and drops Kruge's men into a trap make this movie really great. The planet of Genesis was also a high point for me. It looked really good all around, as the characters must trek though a bunch of different climates to reach their destination. A small appearance by Miguel Ferrer made this movie for me, seeing actors in movies before they hit it big is always a treat and this movie had two of them.
Watch this movie aftr you've seen Khan.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 2: #26 Infestation (2009) and #27 Ip Man (2008)

2009-07-11T13:34:00.012-04:00

Today I saw Infestation, an American monster movie with giant bugs and Ip Man a Hong Kong Kung -Fu movie.

Infestation
Infestation is an alien invasion movie about giant bugs attacking an unnamed American city. At the beginning of the movie the bugs use a high pitched sound wave to incapacitate the entire city wrap all the people up into cocoons. A few people manage to escape their cocoons and spend the rest of the movie trying to find out what happened and where they can go to save themselves. The bugs similarly to the aliens in Pitch Black are blind and can only see people when they make sound.
The movie follows all Hollywood movie conventions, it is incredibly predictable and entirely unoriginal. The characters are all stereotypes and a lot of them were incredibly annoying (including the main character who I could not stand.) Even the bugs are uninspired. The only creature that I really enjoyed were the mutated humans, part zombie-part spider, that just looked exceptionally monstrous.
The movie mixes humor into the alien invasion scenario similarly to how the 2006 movie "Hatchet" did with the slasher movie scenario. But were as "Hatchet" played the movie as a tribute to old horror films with cameo from old horror legends, "Infestation" is just another formulaic horror flick shat out by Hollywood. You know there something wrong with your movie when the funniest joke is comprised of a bomb detonator missing its batteries. I really did not like this movie.

Ip Man
Ip Man is the story of legendary Kung-Fu master Ip Man (that's his name, pronounced Eep-Mon.) The movie goes through a few parts of Master Ip's life. Throughout the movie Master Ip defends his town from bandits and teaches the townspeople to defend themselves, later he fights against a Japanese general to defend his town and country's honor. I loved this movie: The fights are incredible, all the actors play their parts perfectly and the movie just overall looks and sounds amazing. I didn't expect the acting to be this good considering most of the actors were martial artists but Donnie Yen as Master Ip really impressed me. He plays an extremely likable character, so calm and subdued yet so threatening and badass. The supporting cast impress as well as they also kick major ass throughout. Theres even a bit of humor as Master Ip tries to balance his duties as Father/Husband and Kung-Fu master.
This is a must-see movie for anyone who enjoys action movies. I don't wanna spoil too much but lets just say that at some point Master Ip defeats 10 Japanese soldiers at the same time.

Fantasia Film Festival Day 1: #24 Daytime Drinking (2008) and #25 Thirst (2009)

2009-07-11T00:37:00.017-04:00

You might be asking yourself why I've jumped from movie #19 to #24. Well its because I want to be putting out my fantasia reviews on a daily basis before they get too overwhelming. I'll get back to my other ones when I have more free time.

I saw two Korean movies on my first day. The first, an incredibly low budget indie comedy called Daytime Drinking. The other can only be described as a very dark comedy with film noir elements and vampires, Chan-wook Park's (Director of Oldboy) Thirst.

Daytime Drinking
Daytime Drinking is a funny little film about a guy that gets into all kinds of unfortunate incidents as he attempts to get back home. A road trip movie with a heart, Daytime Drinking contains just the right amount of humor and plot development throughout to keep you hooked. Slow at times, it quickly picks itself up hitting us with punch line after punch line. As the main character, Hyuk-jin, attempts to get home after his friends convince to leave the city for a weekend and then subsequently don't show up, he bumps into quite a few odd characters along the way, almost all of them inciting him to drink with them (thus the title.) This makes for a lot of funny situations, most of them not ending all that well for Hyuk-jin as he wakes up quite a few times with a really bad hangover. There are some great punchlines near the end of the movie that bring the movie back full circle.
This is a movie I wish I'd brought my friends to, it is really funny and the story is something we can all relate to. (Who can't relate to waking up shitfaced in the middle of no where? I know I can!)
This movie is even more impressive when you take into account that the director Young-seok Noh, made almost the entire movie on his own. ( see http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1277938/fullcredits)
Good movie see it with some friends and some beers you'll have a good time.

Thirst
This is Chan-wook Park's follow up to what people refer to as the vengeance trilogy (Mr. Vengeance, Old Boy, Lady Vengeance).
Probably the most famous Korean filmmaker, Chan-wook Park hit it big in 2003 his film Oldboy won the grand jury prize at Cannes. If you need to see one Korean movie in your life it should be Oldboy. Its amazing. In fact if you haven't seen it go rent it now!
Anyway his new movie Thirst is a vampire movie about a priest that develops a deadly disease and must drink blood to stay healthy. Most vampire conventions are respected as the priest can only come out at night, he has enhanced senses and super strength.
There was something that seemed so familiar about this story throughout and I was never quite able to put my finger on it. It all made sense to me after when I did some research and found out that the movie is an adaptation of an Emile Zola story Therese Raquin, a novel that I had read in High School. I never really liked the story all that much when we read it in high school and I didn't enjoy it all that much watching it in Thirst. That isn't to say that Thirst is a bad movie, I enjoyed it very much. The entire first half of the movie is really a joy to watch. As the priest slowly turns into a vampire he starts developing urges for blood... and poon! Awww yeah! The jokes keep coming as the priest slowly give in to his carnal pleasures and we are treated to a great, really awkward, vampire-human sex scene. The movie slows down after a specific murder takes place and then turns into a big blood and gore fest. It also seems to drag on a bit near the end. With a lot less humor to keep us entertained at that point in the movie it can be a chore to watch.
Park's signature style is really great, the look is very similar to his other movies and he use quite a few cool filmaking techniques throughout. I was impressed by some of the long takes with the camera jumping from character and the focus changing each time, must have been a bitch for the focus puller.
If you like Park's other movies check this one out, its a good movie. I guess the story just isn't my cup of tea.

Movie Journal Entry #19: Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen (2009)

2009-07-09T17:23:00.001-04:00

Transformers 2: Lol-splosions!

It seems that this movie was being sold more on Megan Fox's tits and ass than the actual Giant Fighting Robots the movie is supposed to be about.

After seeing this movie I can understand why. Watching giant CGI robots fight for 2:30 hours just isn't as exciting as it sounds. The action is so fast paced and the robots are so detailed that all their body parts look alike and everything is so blurry. I had no idea what the hell was going on.
If the story is gonna be shitty we need at least have some cool action, but it didn't.
I was falling asleep at the end of the movie, yes it was late but when big explosions can't keep me awake there's usually something wrong with the movie. Also can anyone explain the story of transformers 2 to me because I have no idea what the hell was happening. Apart from the "trying to revive a specific character" plot line.

This movie is pretty much a what one would expect from Michael Bay (or an immature 15 yr-old teenage boy given 200 million$ to make a movie): There's a lot of poop and pee jokes, hot and horny girls and a lot of explosions. This isn't so bad, but there's just way too much out it. My other main problem was with the characters. They are all retarded! Literally.

Parents: Retarded. Roommate: Retarded/Useless. Robots: Retarded.

You'd think an advanced race of robot aliens wouldn't be silly, illiterate, immature, racial stereotypes... but they are and it is horrible.
Optimus is still really awesome yet only appears for maybe 45 minutes of the 2 and a half hour movie, I was disapointed.

Usually when the second film of a series is bad I appreciate the first movie more. With transformers however, I'm actually doubting myself on my previous opinion of the first film. It was pretty similar to this one and I'm wondering if maybe the transformers nostalgia made me think it was better that it actually is.

Anyway If you really wanna see some explosions, instead of seeing this movie just watch this video over and over, its the same thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRS90V8BQGo

I you wanna see awesome transformers stories go watch beast wars.

Megan Fox:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXsd5aw8oas
Awesome Michael Bay commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiHsxQJ9ZOo

Movie Journal Entry #18: The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009)

2009-06-29T22:58:00.008-04:00

Pelham 123: Fucking! Mother Fucker!

Tony Scott usually gets the shit end of the stick when compared to his brother Ridley. The fact is that both Scott brothers have made their share of good and bad movies.
I simply seems that Tony has stuck to a more mainstream dumb action summer blockbuster type of movie throughout his career and has got a lot of slack for it.
What I like about Tony Scott is that going into his movies I know exactly what to expect and thus am almost never disappointed. Ridley has done such amazing movies that when he makes something really bad its just that much worse.

Anyway lets talk about Pelham, the obligatory big Hollywood summer blockbuster remake of an old classic.
Having not seen the original I was able to enjoy this movie for what it is, a silly summer movie.
First off, I love Tony Scott's style. No matter what anyone says about him his movies always look really cool and Pelham is no different. With its slick editing and cool colour palettes this movie is just really fun to watch. Like most Tony Scott films, the style over substance saying seems appropriate but in this case I don't really mind. Pelham isn't trying to revolutionize the thriller genre, neither is it trying to hard to seem smart. Small references to the recession make this movie current yet it never says much about the actual situation.
The best part of this movie is the characters, the acting isn't amazing but Travolta's crazy antics and Denzel's... "Denzel-ness" just make this movie. Travolta is just great as he spouts obscenities and single-handedly gives this movie its R rating. He seems like a regular gangster at first but we find out later that he's actually a genius market stock investor, which is ridiculous but forgivable because he;s so entertaining.

(Click to enlarge)

Denzel plays the everyman stuck in a bad situation. For Denzel playing an everyman must be really hard because he's just so badass. He pulls it off pretty well and he and Travolta's interaction never seem forced. Although most of the movie stays true to its premise the ending of the movie kind of steers off into generic holy wood action movie territory with the obligatory car chase scene, face off between the two main characters and the Hollywood happy ending. This disappointed me a little bit but not enough to ruin the entire first half of the movie for me which I found quite good.

Worth seeing for some cool sequences and Travolta going fucking crazy! Mother fucker!

Movie Journal Entry #17: The Girlfriend Experience (2009)

2009-06-29T22:57:00.003-04:00

In the same vein as The Limey and Bubble, The Girlfriend Experience is a Soderbergh "indie film".
With a low budget, a short running time and shot with a very experimental look Girlfriend takes a look at the life of an escort and a personal trainer and how they try to get by and develop their business during the ongoing recession. With actual Porn star Sasha Grey playing the Chelsea the Escort and actual reality show Chef/Health Guru Chris Santos playing Chris the Personal Trainer it is clear that Soderbergh was going for a very realistic feel for this movie.
Contrastingly, Soderbergh uses every trick in the book to give this movie its unique look. Long out of focus shots, a non-linear narrative and a few over exposed scenes give this movie a very stylish look.
As we meet different clients and friends of the two main characters we are slowly introduced to their lives and how they see the world. Chelsea opens up to a Journalist giving us the chance to find out what she thinks and feels.
The movie is smart in showing us the troubles that normal people go through on a daily basis and how they try to cope, either by spending time living their clients lives or by basing their beliefs on books about symbolism. With good acting from mostly non-actors and tightly edited story this movie is bound to please anyone that is not turned off by the subject matter.

Movie Journal Entry #16: Robocop (1987)

2009-06-29T18:25:00.003-04:00

There are a few things that make the first Robocop movie so epic. The super violent and gory action scenes, the dated stop motion effects, the humor and satirical nature of the film, the robocop theme and memorable gun spinning move he does all contribute to making this movie great. Even the acting is great with the over with Red Foreman playing the crazy crime boss and Ronny Cox and Miguel Ferrer as the two businessman competing for their super robot technology to be used by the city. The movie doesn't take it self to seriously, as the super destroyer robot is unable to go down stairs, Robocop also shoots a thug in the junk by shooting through a girls skirt, there's also the toxic waste scene that is hilariously gory. Robocop's premise (a man gets killed comes back to life and then takes revenge on the people that took his life away) inspired a lot of films in the early 90's like the Crow and Darkman. But Robocop was one of the first. This movie is awesome and still relevant in this day and age. I mean Kanye has a song on his new album named after it, what does that say?!

Stairs! His only weakness:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNckavq9fiY

Incredibly Gory and Violent Death scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy7iaH1GLK4

The toxic waste scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjEdLuqK1RQ

Robocop "sweded" for Be Kind Rewind:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZM5ZD0t1sg

Epic Robocop Theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7rjLQuW2nQ

Movie Journal Entry #15: The Hangover (2009)

2009-06-08T23:22:00.014-04:00

There's so many freaking movies coming out and I'm too lazy to write super long reviews, so I'm gonna make most of these really short.

The hangover is a very funny movie, Zach Galifianakis stands out with his awkward and smart deadpan humor. The only weak point is that the story doesn't really flow very well as the characters just seem to jump from one random point to the next. Each different setting introduces new characters and jokes. Heather Graham as the Stripper with the heart of gold and Ken Jeong as an Asian mobster are definitely the highlights in this field. During their day trying to figure out what happened they end up with a baby, a tiger, a Police Car, 80 000$ from winning at blackjack and even bump into Mike Tyson along the way.Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper also have their moments as they try to deal with the aftermath of their night out and Zack Galifianakis' absurdity. Other highlights include hilarious songs sung by Helm and Galifianakis, The Dan Band singing Candyshop at the wedding (Same band that sung Total Eclipse of the Heart in Old School) and the end credit sequence that is sure to make movie memorable for anyone that stays to watch them.

Speaking of Hangovers:

Movie Journal Entry #14: Up (2009)

2009-06-08T23:22:00.013-04:00

Up is amazing, like every single other Pixar movie. Up is everything that makes these movies great. It is smart and funny, sad at times exciting at others and just always managed to keep a smile on my face throughout. It is so obvious that the people at Pixar not only have a love for storytelling but also for the animation genre. Anything and everything can be done in the world of animation and Pixar are the ones that keep pushing the boundaries of this medium.

The movie's first quarter is a montage of Carl Fredricksen's life from his childhood to his wedding, to the death of his wife ending up with him turning into a grumpy old man. Soon after everything changes. From the instant the balloons fly out of his chimney we are thrown into this amazing fantasy world with talking dogs and giant birds. Carl is joined by a young Asian boyscout named Russell, who is attempting to earn his "Help the Elderly" badge. Their interactions are hilarious, Russell's childish habits play off Carl's grumpiness so greatly and it almost always guarantees a laugh. They eventually become very close as Carl becomes a sort of father figure for Russell.

There were over 10 000 balloons created each of them with their own animation and physics and its insanely beautiful. This is why I love Pixar.

Movie Journal Entry #13: Rocky (1976)

2009-06-08T23:21:00.010-04:00

Rocky: The First Real Underdog Story

The Rocky series had been on my "to watch" list for quite a while now. I'd been feeling like I was losing some movie geek cred by having not even seen the first Rocky. So when I saw it in a bargain bin last week I just needed to buy it.
Boy am I glad I did. This movie is amazing!

Rocky is just so genuine. Just like the character of Rocky, the movie knows what it is and never tries to be anything else. It's amazing to think that Silvester Stallone wrote this movie, back before his action star days. This movie is so smartly written and Stallone's performance is so solid, so believable that It almost felt like this was a real story. Even despite its fairytale ending and the entire theme of "The American Dream" this movie just had me believing in it the entire time, from the awkward romance to Rocky's hustling for money it never felt contrived or over the top or too "Hollywood". Everything was just right.
You'd think montages in sports movies have been so overdone by now that I'd hate this one but you'd be wrong, this is the greatest training montage in any movie ever! No contest! Every single shot from that montage has become a part of pop culture in one way or another and its easy to see why. It is the shit!
Rocky as a character is also one of the greatest characters in film history. Slightly awkward, not completely articulate, he's not even all that street smart yet he still manages to be incredibly likable and that's impressive.
Everyone else is just great too, Apollo Creed and Adrian, even the grumpy old man Mickey has become a pop culture icon.
Man this movie's awesome that's all there is too say.
Oh here's some trivia, apparently Rocky was one of the first popular movies to use a Steadicam. Wow!
Go watch Rocky now!

Unreleased Rocky 6 footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh1ghJDHpgU
Rocky Theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhlPAj38rHc
Fresh Prince does Rocky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrsdRUU3znI
Rocky Version Quebecoise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RoE4znth-A
Remi Gaillard (Kangaroo Guy) does Rocky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqOBR_Xbw2I
Watch this guys other vids they're awesome.

Movie Journal Entry #12: J'ai tué ma mère. (2009)

2009-06-05T23:29:00.022-04:00

If there's something wrong with this movie its not the movie itself but the way in which it has been portrayed in the news. It seems that whenever a movie from Quebec is recognized internationally the Quebec media end up praising it so fucking much that it really gets kind of tiresome. The way they talk about it its as if it was the second coming of Christ or something. This isn't to say that Xavier Dolan's first film isn't impressive, because it is. Even more so the fact that he wrote, directed and starred in it all at the young age of 20. However Christian fundamentalists won't be jumping out into the streets anytime soon, this movie is not the second coming but it is a incredibly well made first effort.

The movie portrays the conflict between 16 year old Huber Minel (Dolan) and his mother ( Anne Dorval), who just doesn't seem to understand him. Every little thing she does seems to irritate him from her fashion statements to her less than stellar memory(reminded me of my dad >_>). The beggining of the movie is interupted a few times by well made well-written black and white video confessions of Hubert saying how he believes he was just not meant to have a mother.
The smart yet emotionally-troubled Hubert surprisingly comes out the villain in a lot of the confrontations, with his sometimes illogical, overly emotional and unprovoked bursts of anger.
Both characters have their incredible defining moments near the end of the movie, with a drug induced confession and an angry rant over the phone.
The supporting cast have some personnality but seem at times like simple plot devices for the two main characters to feed off of. "The teacher" and "the boyfriend" make for some nice scenes and interactions but it always ends up being about the mother.
Dolan definetly has his style yet I often felt that it was there for no other reason other than just to be stylish, the first time he did this specific shot I thought that's pretty smart because of the specific situation. Yet he used it over and over after that and after a while it kind of lost its impact. A lot of his other visual choices did manage to hit markhowever. The colors at his home are very drab and illustrate perfectly the way he feels. When he's with his boyfriend everything is lighter and brighter.
Something I liked was that despite the character being gay we are not bombarded with gay preaching and what not. There was only one scene with violence that I felt was too much and unessecary. It was my least favorite scene in the entire movie.
Another fun thing about movies shot in Montreal is that there are locations that I recognized (etude du College Notre-Dame) and managed put a smile (or a frown) on my face.
Smartly written and exceptionnaly well made with such a low budget this movie is definitely a hit in my book. The more I think about it the more I like this movie.
If you have some spare time and don't mind watching emotionaly chalenging movies, support your local cinema and go see this one.

Movie Journal Entry #11: The Brothers Bloom (2009)

2009-06-05T23:29:00.021-04:00

The second movie from Rian Johnson, the man who directed 2005's amazing "Brick."
Brick was a revival of the film noir genre set in a current day high school and it is awesome! Made for half a million, staring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a kid infiltrating a drug ring, searching for his girlfriend it is a must-see for any movie fan.

I was hoping that Rian Johnson's second film would live up to my expectations but was slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong this is a fine piece of filmmaking, the problem here is the confusing story and drawn out ending. Where as Brick needed only to be seen once to be understood and multiple viewing to be fully appreciated, Bloom is the opposite, hard to understand this movie seems more relevant on a stylistic, movie making standpoint that on its storytelling skills. This is kind of ironic considering one of the recurring themes of the movie is storytelling.
The film opens with our two main characters as children with a "Royal Tenenbaums" type narration explaining their lives. They soon discover they have a knack for coming up with plans to con people. Their first plan ever starts off with Bloom (Adrian Brody) having to go talk with a girl he has a crush on. The movie eventually comes full circle when their final con involves this same situation where Bloom must go talk to a girl, Penelope (Rachel Weisz), who has inherited a large amount of money. Throughout the movie, their last con often parallels their first, small and seemingly irrelevant quotes come back later in the movie with more importance, these are the little details that reward the viewers who pay attention.
The movie has incredible charm, Penelope is a delightfully wacky character who collects hobbies, she has so much money and time that she doesn't know what do to with herself. When Bloom comes along and breaks the status quo she becomes attached to him. We are then treated with a romance story line that surprisingly does not deter from the main con storyline.

The story is incredibly confusing as it jumps from one point to another and doesn't take any time to explain what's happening, I'm still not entirely sure how or if the brothers Bloom were eventually planing on taking all of Penelope's money. I was confused to what part of the cons were planned and what was unexpected. As we are thrown around left and right through different plot twists and turns we end up not knowing where we're headed. Even after the main story arc is seemingly completed and their last con is completed, the ending drags on for another 20 minutes. The ending feels almost separate from the main story and I was just completely pulled out of the story at that point.

The movie has charm, style, humour, really good acting from all parts and is incredibly well made. It is however a movie that needs to be seen a few times maybe in slow-motion with subtitles to be fully understood because missing a part of the movie will most likely leave the viewer lost and confused.
For this reason it is not a movie to be seen in theaters, it must be rented or bought and watched a few times. I will most likely be able to enjoy this film a lot more once I get to see it again.

Shout-out to Rinko Kikuchi as Bang-Bang, she barely speaks during the movie yet is probably the best character throughout, she just has so much style.

For now I highly recommend the "Brick" DVD to any wannabe filmmakers as it contains very informative commentary and special features. Also the movie itself is fucking amazing.

Great trailer for Brick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cVzHeJ0Z3I

Movie Journal Entry #10: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

2009-06-05T23:27:00.005-04:00

This movie gets way too much praise for what it is. The truth is this isn't a bad movie but it no where near a good one either.
This movie has been compared a lot to Forrest Gump. It is similar structurally yet lacks the charm and over-the-topness that made Gump so good.
There are some good things about Button that do stand out. The acting is solid, the effects are really impressive and David Fincher manages to give the movie a lot of style, it looks very nice. The pacing is ok for a 2 and half hour movie and the characters are somewhat interesting yet mostly forgettable. Where this movie falls flat is the story, there is nothing impressive about Button's life, apart from the obvious fact that he ages backwards. He goes to war, lives on a boat, has an affair with a married woman but so what. These are more or less common things.
Gump on the other hand managed to take a slow learning handicapped child and put him in these extraordinary situations (ping-pong champion, running for running, a shrimp business, he even met the president). With a shorter running time than Button, Gump accomplished at least twice as much in his life(not even his entire life) than Button ever did. it was also a hell of a lot more fun to watch.
Button just bored the fuck out of me. Despite really strong performances by Pitt and Blanchet the love story never really got to me. My favorite parts were the beginning where we a treated to a short tale about a man who makes a clock that goes backwards and i the end when Tilda Swinton's character is seen on TV.
I still suggest seeing this movie, take a few coffees watch it with a friend or girl/boyfriend it will be enjoyable, just don't expect the most engaging story because it is far from it.

For Gump, Button comparisons:
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/35b0167b17/the-curious-case-of-forrest-gump

Movie Journal Entry #9: Hard Boiled (1992)

2009-05-31T18:48:00.006-04:00

Hard Boiled: The Epitome of Hong Kong Action Films

This is a 1992 John Woo movie starring Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung and it kicks ass.
The movie starts out with an awesome gun fight inside a restaurant where Inspector Tequila's (Chow Yun-Fat) partner gets killed. He vows to take revenge!

John Woo kind of became a joke after directing Mission Impossible 2, but back in the day he was the shit. This movie doesn't have too much kung-fu hand-to-hand fight but instead choses to stick with guns. Dual wielding handguns has never looked this cool.
Its very campy and fun movie without enough guns and explosions to make up for its mediocre story. I watched it with the English dub which just made it even more funny.

The last half of the movie takes place in a hospital where babies and old people are in danger. At the end tequila kicks ass while carrying a baby in his arms. The baby then saves him by peeing on his leg that had caught on fire. Bad! Ass! There's not much else to say about probably the best Hong Kong action movies ever.

This a 3 minute long one-take action sequence inside the hospital:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OPyoJgV_YY

Movie Journal Entry #8: Atonement (2007)

2009-05-31T16:52:00.010-04:00

This story is a period piece about this little British girl that tells everyone that she saw this guy rape a girl but he didn’t so he gets sent to fight in WW2. The movie is about the little girl trying to atone for her sins/lies.

This is a romance movie first and foremost and being a man it is already something that does not necessarily spike my interest. Mostly because I think these movies take themselves so seriously that they end up feeling very fake. I doubt very much that there was a time when we used to believe in unconditional everlasting love yet it is always there in these types of movies. I still decided to watch this movie with an unbiased eye after hearing a lot of good things about it.

Now the main problem with this movie is that’s its very very British, and not "Monty Python" British but more like "Coronation Street" British. Ya, It is boring as fuck! Unless you’re really in the mood for British melodrama this is a very hard movie to sit through. It took me like 6 hours to get through the entire thing because I kept leaving to go do other things. If you do however manage to watch the entire movie in one sitting, or two, you will be glad you did.

This is an exceptionally well made film. The writing and directing are top notch but what really stands out is the cinematography. It is fucking gorgeous (that’s write, I use the word gorgeous). Especially during the war scenes, there aren’t really any explosions but some highlights includes a field of dead catholic school girls, a 5 minute long tracking shot through the army encampment and James McAvoy(Wesley from Wanted) nailing Keira Knightley against a bookshelf.

This is all around very well-made movie but the subject matter just isn’t really my cup of tea. I’d probably say this is more of a movie for women but I dare not generalize. If you’re with your significant other and have nothing better to watch I’d recommend Atonement over those “chick-flick” romantic comedies any day.

(Don'y know why the text won't stay the same size so I gave up.)

Movie Journal Entry #7: Terminator: Salvation (2009)

2009-05-24T12:32:00.011-04:00

"Terminator: Salvation":It's Back!
[This review contains SPOILERS for the Terminator franchise.]

The Terminator franchise has always been one of my favorite action franchises. I've seen T2 over 20 times and the 1st and 3rd ones at least 5 times each. So I was definitely looking forward to this new movie, especially after its awesome looking trailer.
I was of course aware that this would not be anything like the first 3. This movie is set in the future, after Judgment Day and is a sequel/prequel to the first 3. Despite the message of T2 being that the future can be changed, Hollywood does not change and more money is more money so T4, just like T3, ignores the message of T2 and turns the storyline into a circular time travel story. In this one John Connor must save his teenage father so that he can later send him back in time to bang and impregnate his mother, so that he can be born. Yeah... maybe it sounded cooler in the 80's.
Because of this anyone who has not seen the first movie will most likely be confused by this new movies plot, although it won't matter much since the plot is arguably the weakest part of T4. (It was written by the same guys that wrote Catwoman... yeah)

I still really loved this movie.
The look and cinematography of this movie are amazing, the post apocalyptic wasteland is very reminiscent of the desert setting in T2 when the heroes are on the road (Sarah's gun stash). This is just one of many nods and references to the other movies and the franchise as a whole, and something a fan like me can really appreciate.
Despite not following the "single Terminator hunts and chases, good guy runs away" formula, T4 still manages to have some really cool chases sequences and a bunch of amazingly planned out 5-minutes long Steadicam set pieces. You'd think that the director of Charlie's Angels would be a bad thing to have in a Terminator movie but McG knows how to direct action and it really shows.

One thing to point out is that even tough the robots are bigger they are never as threatening as the T-800, T-1000 or T-X in the other movies and that bothered me a bit, this film is however set before the future of the first Terminator film so it is understandable that the robots are weaker.

Despite what may be inferred by the trailers the story isn't really about John Connor, we spend most of our time with Marcus Wright. Marcus is introduced at the beginning of the movie (15 years before the story) as an inmate sentenced to death. He is killed but then reappears during the real story as a cyborg/infiltrator-terminator/plot device that does not know he is a robot. Sam Worthington (Australian actor, soon to be seen in James Cameron's Avatar) who plays Marcus is really good, despite falling in and out of his American accent, he still manages to convincingly play and bad ass cyborg robot and actually shows some good emotion during scenes that would have been otherwise really cheesy. Christian Bale is good as usual although its hard to believe that John Connor in T2 grew up into this grittier angrier John Connor. Anton Yelchin also does a good job as a young Kyle Reese. The other characters are all pretty much there for no reason. Moon Bloodgood's acting isn't convincing enough and without her topless scene (that they cut-out) to distract us its even more evident.

The final part of the movie takes place in the Skynet base where a lot of the Terminators are manufactured. A cameo from a computer generated Arnold, a final battle taking place inside a factory with molten steel, a little voice imitation from the T-800 beta model and a final epic fight between it and Marcus just made the Terminator fanboy in me really happy.

With its very stylish post-apocalyptic look, amazing looking effects, strong performances from the three main characters, really nice Steadicam set pieces and enough references to the first two movies to make any Terminator fan happy, Terminator: Salvation has successfully managed to revive the Terminator franchise. We can be quite sure that "It'll be back!"

Terminator Videos:
T2 Sweded: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mTCgIHpQXE
Mad TV parody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnq7N6X4x84
Bale Meltdown: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLXVuy0h29c
Bale Remix: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTihsJQHt48

-BeaverMoose

I'm going up north for an entire week, no internet! Oh no! About 4 reviews will be up next week though.

Movie Journal Entry #6: Angels and Demons (2009)

2009-05-20T17:07:00.013-04:00

Angels and Demons: Stupider than Stone
[This review contains SPOILERS for Angels and Demons (book and film)]
I would just like to say that I had read the book this movie is based on, this was a few years ago however and most of the plot points were kind of blurry in my mind. A few of them slowly came back to me during the course of the movie but I have to say the film still had me guessing and doubting my memories at some points during the film.
It seems that most of Ron Howards' films can be classified into two categories the "Oscar-Bait film" or the "smart(er) summer/holiday blockbuster". His movies have always walked the line between good and bad but have never managed to fall too far on to either side. Angels and Demons is part of the latter category and in my opinion is tilting further towards the bad side than the good one.
The main problem I had with A&D is that there is not one once of subtlety during the entire movie. The whole story is dumbed down and spoon fed for the summer blockbuster audience.
The story follows a process:
Character: Where do we go next?
Langdon: Well... *spends ten minutes explaining things to the character.*
Character: What? I don't understand your super complicated symbolic mumbo-jumbo?
Langdon: Oh sorry *Spends another ten minutes explaining things in a simpler way so that the character and the audience (because we're so stupid) will understand*
Character: Oh! We have to go save the cardinal!

This is a story that needs to be read because even as Tom Hanks explains all this stuff to us in simple English everything is so rushed that we are not even given the time to think about the deeper themes and one of the cardinals giving a bland short speech about science and religion at the end of the movie isn't gonna cut it.
The movie is just really stupid.

They show us what the assassin looks like in the first 30 minutes of the film yet the camera still turns towards suspicion characters when Tom Hanks is looking for him. It doesn't happen very often that I root for the bad guy, especially one as bland as the assassin but all the characters are so stupid I was happy when some of them died. Nothing that was happening seemed logical, the characters pretty much could have been replaced by rocks. They might have been smarter that way.

Also they changed things for the movie that just didn't need to be changed. Why would they change the uber Illuminati diamond anagram symbol for... keys...?
Its awesome.

Despite running around for 5 hours Langdon doesn't even solve the mystery himself, he finds the key to a video recording that the chief of police had already discovered, inside the dying chiefs hand.

Pretty much the only good thing about this movie is that Ewan McGreggor, Stellan Skarsgård and Armin Mueller-Stahl are such awesome actors that even in shitty roles they manage to be awesome. I also enjoyed the pretty CGI explosion caused by an exploding canister of anti-matter. The movie was also a lot better paced than the DaVinci Code and let's say Wolverine, but that isn't saying much.

The bottom line is Angels and Demons is simply a bad movie. I hate to bring up the obvious but anyone interested at all in the story should just go read the book and not waste their time with this thrash.

-BeaverMoose

Breakfast at 7AM.

2009-05-15T19:03:00.010-04:00

The smile of a liar.
&
How much service is too much service?

So the other day I had too go drop my mom off at work at 6 in the morning, I'd stayed up until 4 the previous night and I felt kind of weird. I assume it was the feeling most people have after they've had 7 beers, 2 rum and cokes, 5 shots of tequila and slept only 2 hours the previous night, needless to day it wasn't the most pleasant feeling in the world. So after dropping off my mom at work I was hungry and decided to go have breakfast at this place. Which I will not name...

So I entered this sunny place and sat down, the waitress offered me coffee, my run down face and the giant bags under my eyes told her I needed it. As I sipped my Cup of Joe and skimmed through the menu looking for the page with the pancakes my waitress came back and offered me a refill. Now I'm not one to refuse free all you can drink coffee, especially at 7 in the morning, but usually one would wait to be finished the first cup before going for the refill. I was most likely increasingly bothered by this because of the fact that my waitress had the most enormous smile I've ever seen. Now it may be because my brain fails to understand how anyone could have a smile that big that early in the morning or maybe it was just that this specific girls smile was that much more disturbing, I found this face to be incredibly unsettling.
How am I to trust someone with a smile at 7AM. They're obviously liars.
Let me be more clear about this. When I go to McDonald's and see someone happy, I am very disturbed. If the McDonald's worker is angry and depressed and hates his life I know that guy is trustworthy, honest and smart because he hates his job and life. If someone's happy to be working at McDonald's they're either not very smart or lying to themselves.
Same thing applies if someone has a smile on their face before the sun has finished rising.

Okay the other thing that caught me off guard was how often she kept coming back to me to refill my coffee or ask me if I'm okay. Now I'm all for women making sure in completely satisfied but after a while she was really getting on my nerves. Let me read my fucking newspaper and eat my yummy bacon.
This made me wonder whether there is a chart that determines how much tip a waitress gets relating to how much times she asks if everything is fine. What would be the average? She can come ask me if I'm okay once every ten minutes and if she does she'll get max tip. If its less often or more often the tip goes down. Its almost like a science or something, the time interval and tip might change depending on the customers' mood, the time of the day, how attracted the customer is to the said waitress and the customers' social status/amount of money he has. This is so intense I'll call this, yet to be completely evaluated, calculation: "The Gratuity Theorem" (TM) :P
Man I feel like John Nash, a Nobel prize winner who discovered some crazy theory because he was hoping to get laid.
See video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srgdg5tgPJk
And theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_equilibrium

Here's an awesome tip jar where money goes in but doesn't go out. Smart thing to do when maximizing tip.

Note:All females in this post can be switched for males and Vice Versa. I know employees are forced to smile by their bosses and the smile part is most likely irrelevant, yet still entertaining.

Interviews and First Dates

2009-05-15T12:30:00.005-04:00

There always that one thing everyone tells you to do when you're worried about a job interview or a first date. They tell you to just "Be yourself."
Now although this may seem like good advice at first, in my case it kind of falls apart the moment I realize that I am just an fucking misanthrope. That's right, another cynical bastard with a superiority complex. I of course blame the world for my contempt. The world that on numerous occasions has struck me down and held me back. That ruthless, dirty world that rewards only those weak enough to conform, assimilated into its process.
I have determined that the only way for someone like me to survive is to lie to myself, to hide in plain site within this place of repression.
I will wear the fancy suits and charming ties. I will laugh at my bosses jokes and smile at the pretty girls meaningless anecdotes. I will learn the newest trends to have something to talk about with my friends. I will get bigger and stronger to appease the worlds obsession with the physical image. I will lie to further myself, as I have learned that honesty is lost value. I will be told what to do and act without thought. I will abuse my body with illicit substances and will fuck those pretty girls to quell my urges. I will be what the world wants me to be, what its wants us all to be. I will become another gear in the machine, but I will never conform. I will simply wait and wait and wait...
- Dio
Monologue for the non-conformists.

I was gonna write a more humorous article about first dates and interviews with enumerated steps of how these situations can be handled, but I couldn't come with enough of them. That and I was feeling especially cynical when thinking about interviews.

Movie Journal Entry #5: Star Trek:The Motion Picture (1979)

2009-05-14T20:54:00.009-04:00

"Star Trek: The Motion Picture": Take Mushrooms Before Watching.

After watching the new Star Trek movie I suddenly felt a need to watch the older ones, I'd heard a lot of good things about most of the movies (especially, Wrath of Khan and First Contact) and was looking for something slightly more intellectually stimulating than the Trek I'd just watched.

So I watched the first Star Trek movie and... well let's just say its quite a change of pace from this new version.
With the first 30 minutes of the movie being a 20 minute long exposition shot of the Enterprise in space (which may have been amazing in the 70's but is very dated now) the movie seems incredibly drawn out and boring.
The story is that the crew of the Enterprise must head out to intercept a giant alien space cloud that is heading towards the earth. The majority of the movie takes place on the Enterprise bridge and nothing really happens until the last 30 minutes of the movie. I'll give it credit for trying to explore some interesting themes about existentialism and meaning, but it really wasn't anything I hadn't seen or read before.

With long shots of space and trippy imagery similar to 2001's ending sequence, the visual are still kind of interesting and were most likely more impressive back in the day or while on mushrooms.

The best thing about this movie is that it uses the Next Generation theme song! I never actually followed "The Next Generation" TV show but I immediately recognized the music when I heard it, that really says something about how iconic these theme songs really are.
For a quick listen check out the original theme song and the movie theme song here:
Original Trek theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rqlz9r3h2g
"Next Generation" and Movie theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AiSbxZYViE

I will be watching all the Star Trek movies within the next month or two. I'll try to watch some other movies in between to not become too repetitive. I'll try to cut down on the length of the review especially if I'm doing a lot of them. Also, some people *cough* *cough* are reading these reviews without checking out the links attached to them. If I post a Youtube link or whatever, check it out! Otherwise you won't experience the full potential of the review. Like right now go listen to the theme songs because they're fucking awesome! Just do it!

-BeaverMoose

Movie Journal Entry #4: Star Trek (2009)

2009-05-13T12:30:00.022-04:00

Star Trek: Going boldly where Star Wars has gone before.
[Spoilers for Star Trek movie]
The Star Trek franchise has always been more a cult TV show. Even when it was more or less popular during the original series run and later with "The Next Generation" Star Trek never managed to push itself far enough into the mainstream to make any of the big bucks as other Sci-Fi series managed to. Its tagline "To boldly go where no man had gone before!" says a whole lot about the series. Star Trek was never simply about fighting aliens and giant space battles, it was about exploring new planets and galaxies discovering new cultures. Although there were some alien battles... they never really stood up to anything from Star Wars for example.
For reference see this epic scene from the TV series: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM
The Star Trek fans (Trekkie's) have always represented the epitome of geekiness. So much so that even a video game playing, comic book reading, obsessive Movie and TV show watching geek like myself felt intimidated by this group of Uber-geeks.
I wonder why?...

I'm not gonna hate on the Trekkies though. As someone who gets dressed in drag every Halloween to go see the Rocky Horror Picture Show I know how much fun being part of these cult followings can be. Anyway back to the new movie.

Summer blockbuster season is officially in business. With a big bang, and few black holes to spare, the new Star Trek movie has successfully managed to bring some big explosions, ray guns, alien battles and all the fun and excitement you'd expect from a Sci-Fi epic into this old franchise! There is no exploring and discovering new planets and races in this movie, most likely to the dismay of original Trek fans. This can be forgiven however, at least for now, because this movie is pretty much an origin story, we are introduced to the crew and the characters and made familiar with the world of the new "Trek-verse". It's only at the end of the movie that we are in fact promised to "go where no man has gone before".

The movie starts out with the evil Captain Nero (played by the unrecognizable Eric Bana) and his giant mining ship arriving from the future through a black hole. He encounters and is intercepted by a nearby Federation Starship. As the Starship captain goes to talk with Nero George Kirk is appointed Captain. Nero attacks the Starship and the newly appointed Captain Kirk must sacrifice himself so that his wife and child may escape and survive. 20 seconds before Captain Kirk crashes his ship into Nero's humongous mining vessel they decide on a name for their child: Jim Kirk! I was slightly bothered by the fact that the father crashed the Starship into Nero's ship and it did absolutely no damage to the ship itself. I guess the point wasn't to destroy the enemy but to distract them long enough for the others to escape. As I learned throughout the movie, nothing distracts an audience better than really bright lights and reflections.
Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAaX8Aq6smQ

Anyway a few slo-mo explosions later we are introduced to Spock, a troubled young Vulcan who is harassed by his peers for being half-human, and James Kirk a rebellious child driving who drives an old 60's Corvette of a cliff. From what I've read this is most likely a message the director J.J. Abrams was trying to give. "I just threw a car from the 60's off a cliff, this isn't Star Trek from the 60's it's the new Star Trek."
We skip a few years into the future and a now 20-something year old captain Kirk is at bar hitting on the sexy Uhura (apparently pronounced A-Whore-A). Some guys tell Kirk to leave the lady alone and the movie finally starts getting interesting. They couldn't have chosen a better choice for Kirk, Chris Pine channels Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones and Han Solo like none other. He nails the incredibly cocky and rebellious attitude that made those characters so likable. He gets into a bar fight against four other guys knowing full well that he'll lose, but it doesn't matter because he proves that he has the balls to take on anything. This is the new Star Trek, with really big balls! After being introduced to a few more characters and having gone through starfleet Kirk finally arrives aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, where we are introduced to Mr. Sulu and Mr. Chekov, who's seemingly forced accent was really quite hilarious. The Enterprise is the Millennium Falcon of the Star Trek Universe, its as much a part of the series as any one of the original characters and even more so as it follows through into "The Next Generation". This new version of the Enterprise is simply amazing. The ships bridge, with its similar design is a bigger brighter and better version of the original and is really a treat to look at.
Unfortunately everytime I saw or heard the word Enterprise all I could think of was this:
http://picard.ytmnd.com/

Kirk having gotten on the ship without permission, in a very funny way I might add, gets into an argument with the ship's commander Mr. Spock. Spock, played by Zachary Quinto, is flawless! Quinto portrays Spock with such certainty that despite having recently watched the entire volume 4 of Heroes, I never felt like I was simply watching Sylar with a bowl cut and pointy ears.
From this point on we are treated to eye candy like you've never seen. This movie knows how to use its 150 million$ budget and I'm so glad it does. A super dive from space leading to a battle against some Romulans on top of a giant drill, a planet being sucked into a black hole from the inside and a pretty convincing giant bug creature are just a small part of the amazing visuals we are treated to in the latter half of this movie. The funny Simon Pegg also appears later as Montgomery Scott who perfects the "Beam teleportation" technology used throughtout the Star Trek series. The movie wraps up with some simple messages about friendship and trust and the final crew of the Enterprise finally take off to "Go boldly, where no man has gone before!"

The new Star Trek movie doesn't reinvent the Sci-Fi genre in any way neither does it bring anything new to the table. In fact it steals pretty much every single one of its plot points from the "Book of overused generic plot points".
However the numerous references and nods to the original series proves that these filmmakers have respect for the fans of the original series, a Vulcan Nerve Pinch and an old familiar face can go a long way in appeasing the fans. The high production values, amazing visuals and good use of CGI, its simple yet effective humor and the very convincing acting, especially from the main 2 characters, are what give this movie its charm and put it a slight step ahead of the competition.
Had this movie been in 3D might head might have exploded with awesomeness. (Only 7 months until James Cameron's Avatar!!!!)
After last weeks disappointing Wolverine, I'm happy to see an origin story done right.

Eric Bana WTF?

Links:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1910892

Be sure to check out all the links. :)
-BeaverMoose

Shout-out to my Favorite Medical Dramedy

2009-05-10T20:44:00.004-04:00

We are in the month of season finales. Most network TV shows are wrapping up their story arcs for the year. All the big plot twists are happening, new characters are revealed other characters are getting killed off and some characters are leaving for bigger and greater things.
The only show that I'd been following religiously for the last 8 years has finally ended. Dr. John Dorian has left Sacred Heart Hospital for good and nothing will be able to fill the gap in my chest created by this great loss.
Scrubs, the only show I've been following for over 8 years, has finally ended.
This was quite possibly the greatest finale to a comedy TV series ever. Everything was wrapped up, a whole lot of older characters showed up for one finale amazing scene and we even got a small glimpse at the characters futures. There are very few things that can give me chills and this season finale was one of them. Watching this episode the entire 8 years came back to me and I've never been more glad to have stuck with a show all the way. Through the good and the bad. The show might have gotten weaker and slightly static during the last few seasons but this finale just brought back all the charm and humor that made this series so amazing. Through JDs fantasies and Dr. Cox's incredibly insulting rants, this show made me feel up when I was down, strong when I was weak and always managed to put a smile on my face.

So here's to JD, Turk, Elliot, Carla, Dr. Cox, The Janitor, Dr. Kelso and all the rest of them at Sacred Heart.
Thank You for 8 great years of television.

Check out the last scene on YouTube before ABC take it down:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUQq_uV0X3o

-BeaverMoose

Movie Journal Entry #3: Inkheart (2008)

2009-05-07T17:47:00.037-04:00

Inkheart:Fun Fantasy Flick for the Whole Family (oh how I love Alliterations)

Brendan Fraser has been keeping himself busy during the last few years with "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "The Mummy 3" and this movie all coming out within the same year (Inkheart was beginning of '09 but whatever) we got to see a lot of him. To be honest he plays a pretty similar character in most of his movies and although he's not the best actor and doesn't star in the most amazing movies he's another one of those guys that just seems really genuine and is enjoyable to watch.

Inkheart, although it failed to make the big box-office bucks, is the best of the, what I like to call, 08-09 Brendan Fraser trilogy.
Its about this guy who, when he reads books out loud, transports the characters from the book into the real world. So he reads the book "Inkheart" and the bad guys in the book manage to escape. They decide that they like the real world and want to take it over. The story focuses on Brendan Fraser and his daughter (who is British for some reason) travelling the world looking for the seemlingly uber-rare copies of the Inkheart book so that they may somehow send the bad guys back to their world. Along the way they are joined by a character from the book that can manipulate fire, a crazy aunt and the author of the Inkheart book himself, who's comments about his own characters are often quite amusing.

The movie is filled with characters and references from fantasy books: Unicorns, Minotaurs, a bandit from "Arabian Nights", flying monkeys and Toto from the Wizard of OZ have all been released from their books and all eventually help the heroes out in defeating the vilains.

The main bad guy character is played by Andy Serkis (aka Gollum motion capture guy from LOTR) and he is awesome as the evil yet cowardly villain.

The first thing I noticed in this movie was how well it used CGI. They used an actual trained ferret as the pet of one of the character instead of using a CGI ferret and I'm so glad they did. CGI animals in movie are never realistic at its very distracting when you see the obviously fake animal running around everywhere. The CGI fire one of the characters throw around looks very good and so does the giant smoke monster. As seen in the poster.

The story isn't super deep and the pacing is slightly off during a lot of the movie. Some scenes really bothered me as well. For example at some point a girl is trapped behind some bars and can't escape, the problem is the bars are 3 feet apart, she can obviously pass between them yet she doesn't. Another problem I had was with the fire manipulator character who kept running away and coming back. Its like he doesn't want to help the others but he's a good guy so he has to help... his motivation is all over the place and although I like Paul Bettany and throwing fire is cool, that character is just really unlikeable.

Personally I think its worth seeing the movie just to watch the british actors like Andy Serkis, Helen Miren (who plays the crazy aunt) and Jim Broadbent (the author, soon to play Horace Slughorn in Harry Potter.) playing these really crazy characters. I mean you get to see the woman who played the Queen of England riding a freaking motorcycle. Awww yeahh!

-BeaverMoose

YouTube TV: 5 Awesome Shows you can Watch on YouTube

2009-05-07T17:47:00.036-04:00

YouTube has always been a great way to waste time. I've spent hours sitting in front of my computer screen going through the viral videos, webseries, video blogs and other humorous clips all through the website. I mean where else can I watch a monkey drinking its own piss, stupid people jumping off roofs and listen to songs about vagina's?
Now when YouTube started getting popular, some people had the great idea to start uploading TV series and movies. Everyone would be able to enjoy these stories for free. Unfortunately anything that isn't a masturbating monkey is most likely copyrighted by some major studio or network and therefore cannot be put online for free without breaking copyright laws. Once the corporations realized that people would be able to watch their products for free YouTube quickly underwent a purge and a large amount of copyrighted videos were removed from the website. For some reason a lot of older and animated shows survived the purge. Personally I'm a nostalgia freak and I've managed to find a bunch of awesome mostly animated shows that I used to watch when I was a kid.

Here's my list of YouTube channels with awesome oldschool shows you may or may not have heard of:

1.Reboot

What's the first ever completely computer animated TV show? That's right ladies and gents, Reboot! Reboot made computers and the internet cool before computers and the internet were cool! Mainframe Entertainment, a Canadian (WIN!) company, created this show about sprites living inside a computer and fighting evil users and defending their world viruses that try to take over the system.
*This show could also be considered the first reality TV show, considering they put tiny cameras inside a computer, recorded it and made a show out of the footage.*
Reboot is pretty much amazing in all manners of the word. The first few seasons are kind of wacky and childish yet are packed with enough computer lingo and pop culture references to make even the grumpiest adult smile. The 3rd and 4th season are slightly darker, the characters are cooler the animation is smoother and everything is 10(binary) times more awesome! If you haven't watched Reboot yet in its entirety go now!... or at least once you've finished reading the rest of this entry.
This guys channel contains all the Reboot episodes and nothing else, they're also neatly arranged into playlists. Props to him. Give it a watch:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=y2ktm2&view=playlists

2.Gargoyles

I've only just recently restarted watching this show and it is great. Darker, smarter and more kickass than almost any other kids show in the 90's gargoyles set the bar. You'd never expect a show like this from Disney nowadays. That's right Gargoyles was produced by Disney!
Man Disney was so awesome in the 90's. We had awesome animated movies and great TV shows like Gargoyles, now we get High School Musical and Hannah Montana. What happened?
So the story is about monsters living in New York City that only come out at night to protect the innocent and defeat the bad guys. Kinda like Batman except there's 7 of them! They also struggle to fit in with the humans so its kinda like the Mutants in X-Men. Plus 3 of them are kinda wacky like the Ninja Turtles. So yeah Batman + X-Men + Ninja Turtles= Awesome! 'Nuff said!
More nicely arranged playlists:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=nayrusavatar&view=playlists

3.Transformers

Wanna catch up on your Transformers stories before the next movie comes out? These guys have made it that much easier.
"tommyj666the2nd" is a brit with ,I'm pretty sure, the entire G1 and possibly G2 Transformers series.
"TheUltimateOne81" according to his channel is from Quebec, Canada! Representin'! He has the entirety of the "Beast Wars" and "Beast Machines" TV series. However neither of these channels have put their videos into playlists yet, so I added an alternate channel after theirs that has the videos playlisted. The channel with the playlist also take some videos from other users to make the TV show seasons more complete and navigation easier. Check em all out:
http://www.youtube.com/user/tommyj666the2nd
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=TheUltimateOne81
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=spec7493&view=playlists

4.Power Rangers
Remember when there was only one Power Rangers series? Remember when it was so fucking awesome! When you'd wake up every Saturday morning and sit in front of your TV just waiting to find out what the next giant monster Rita Repulsa was gonna throw at the Power Rangers? Remember going crazy when Tommy, the Green Ranger, showed up and then the flippin' out when he eventualy became the White Ranger with the Fucking awesome White Tigerzord! I do! I remember renting "The Pagemaster" VHS just because it featured a 5 minute sneak peak at the Power Rangers movie! I remember when Ivan Ooze destroyed Zordon in the first movie so the ranger had to become fucking Ninja Rangers! Ninja Rangers FTW! Plus the Pink Ranger was mad hot!
So for anyone like me that loves the Rangers, this guys channel has all the episodes from the original series. He is also slowly uploading episodes from Power Rangers Zeo (The Second Series). Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=powerrangerguy&view=playlists

5.Shadowboro's Channel
I know this isn't an actual TV show. It doesn't really matter because this YouTube channel contains over 60 different animated shows from the 70s, 80's and 90's. From "Superfriends" to "Captain Planet" this guy has everything. He's been on Youtube for 2 years and has "Over 3000!!!!" videos and counting. Check his playlists out (look past the music videos):
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=Shadowboro&view=playlists
Big props to Shadowboro.

Honorable Mentions:

Undergrads
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=AA0292B05DE53DC4

Spider Man: The Animated Series
Awesome show, why couldn't SM3 have been more like this show.
(Without Venom driving a truck of course >_>)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=palidanek&view=playlists

X-Men Evolution
Marvel have uploaded the first 2 seasons of this show and it works in Canada so that's sweet.
http://www.youtube.com/show?p=DmJMgpU45BE&s=1

Buffy: Animated Series
The entire 3 minutes and 30 seconds of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnUvZP7-5LM

Batman and Superman Animated Series and Beast Wars again (Better Quality this time.)
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=mycartoonshow&view=playlists

Clerks Animated Series
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=pmcd123&view=videos

There are probably a bunch of other YouTube channels with awesome TV shows that I haven't found yet. I'll just keep searching and hope for the best.

Notice: These videos were still on YouTube as of May 10th 09.

-BeaverMoose

Movie Journal Entry #2: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

2009-05-06T11:58:00.013-04:00

"Hollywood Shits on the Canadian Superhero."

[Warning: In this review I tear Wolverine in half. Also SPOILERS for the movie.]

Wolverine has always been an incredibly popular character. Despite not being one of the original X-Men he has now become the poster boy for the entire franchise. My little brother even originally thought that the name of our hairy blue and yellow spandexed animal was in fact "X-Man". Its only natural that as a Canadian I am proud of having a Canadian character that has managed to achieve the same amount of popularity as the Batman's and Superman's of the comic book world. I'm personally even more proud also as an Australia that Hugh Jackman has managed to portray our favorite canuck incredibly well in all X-Men movies, despite the failure that was the third movie. Mr. Jackman not unlike Christopher Reeves, loves the character he's portraying and is capable even during the most cringe worthy moments of the movie of making me enjoy his performance. I just wanted to say this before I started ripping the new movie apart.

I came in to this movie with incredibly low expectations. After being very disappointed with X-Men 3 I really wasn't expecting much from this fourth installment yet was still hoping for the best... I was unfortunately once again disappointed.
I knew this movie was gonna be bad from the get go, the first ten minutes of the movie play out like a bad soap opera. The movie starts off with a young James Howlett (aka Logan aka Wolverine) sick in his bed whining about being sick in his bed, his friend Victor Creed (aka Sabertooth) stands by his bed and tells him to stop being a pussy. Wolverine's dad enters the room, comforts his son then his mother is heard screaming downstairs, apparently Victors father, a violent drunk (cliché), is beating James' mother. So the father runs downstairs, we hear gunshots, James runs downstairs, his father's been shot and killed Oh no! So he goes to hug his dying father and in this incredibly emotional moment bone claws come out of his hands for the first time. (note:there is no blood when the claws come out, in fact I'm pretty sure there is no blood in the entire fucking movie. Sabertooth puts his hand through a guy's fucking chest and there's no blood... at all.)
Lets compare to the vastly superior X-Men 2:

Ya, usually people bleed when big fucking adamantium claws come out their hands.
Anyway back to the story... after his dad dies little wolverine spawns his claws he then looks to the ceiling and screams as the camera pans up and away from him, yes its the most cliché overused scene ever. But wait its not over... Wolvie gets up runs towards Victor's father and stabs him with his claws. As the man dies we get the overly dramatic reveal that he is in fact Wolverine's father and that he and Victor are brothers, dun dun dun!!! Any hope I might still have had that this could be a good movie when I entered the theater was pretty much gone by the time the opening credits started playing. The entire rest of the movie consists of Sabertooth becoming evil, Wolverine becoming the good guy and both of them wanting to kill each other for various reasons. (Revenge, Abandonment...) They of course team up at the end of the movie to fight the real bad guy and save the world. Wow...
As numerous other people have mentioned the movie strays very far from the source material. My problem with it isn't that the ruined any specific characters' (although they did, poor deadpool). My problem was how much they toned the movie down for kids. It made me think of the X-Men animated series of the 90's. That shw was so censored that Wolverine wasn't allowed to stab anyone with his claws. So he'd take his claws out to look cool and then put them back when fighting the bad guys. Wolverine throughout the movie talks about how dangerous and bad he is how he's an animal and he's so good at killing yet the only slicing and dicing we get in the entire fucking movie is at the end when he cuts the supermutant's head off there is of course no blood. This movie should have been darker, more violent, bloodier not because "darker is cooler" but because its a fucking Wolverine movie. The reason why Wolverine became so popular was because he was an anti-hero, in the comics he wasn't like the other heroes he did things his own way he had no qualms with killing and did whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. In this movie however he's simply a dull generic formulaic hollywood good guy. That is what's wrong with this movie.
Apart from Hugh Jackman, Liev Shrieber (Sabertooth) and Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson) did very good jobs portraying their characters. Taylor Kitsch as Gambit was also pretty good. The problem was that, apart from Sabertooth, all the other character apeared on screen for maybe 5 minutes each. Like X-Men 3 it seems the film makers tried to stuff as much mutants as they could into the story. Some characters with depth and very important roles in the comics have been downgraded to cameo characters. How sad...
One last thing, the claws: Wolverine's CGI claws are horrible! They look like they were painted on top of the image. At some there isn't even anything connecting Wolverines adamantium claws to his hands. A lot of the CGI in this movie is very poorly done and with a 150 million dollar budget makes me wonder where all their fucking money went. (Hugh Jackman's hairgel?) X-Men 1 was able to make really good looking claws with a third of the new movie's budget.

If your a fan of the character or of comic books don't go see this movie, I you want a really stupid, generic, badly written action movie by all means pay the 10$ on it. Or you could keep the money to go see Star Trek (Which is apparently very good.)

-BeaverMoose

Movie Journal Entry #1: Superman 3 (1983)

2009-05-05T01:04:00.009-04:00

Superman 3: Boozin' it up and Breaking the Mold

What can I say about Superman 3.
After the 2 revolutionary Richard Donner Superman movies, which were some of the first movies to introduce green screen effects to mainstream movies and were also the first movies to introduce us to the overly nerdy Clark Kent and his incredibly likable alter-ego, we are treated with the third installment of the franchise. In many ways Superman 3 is a disappointment, mostly because at this point, a series that had already taken a lot of liberty with its source material just seemed to stray even further away from it. I'm not saying that we needed a super serious Superman at this point, this movie was in fact made before the comic revolution of the late 80's so I wouldn't have made that much sense. However I would have liked to see a Brainiac or a Metallo or even the fucking Parasite not a Lex Luthor clone and his wacky sidekicks!
Anyway if you can look past the completelly dull story and incredible unoriginality, its still a very enjoyable movie. Especially if you enjoy 80's cheese. I found myself laughing a lot a this movie. Mostly at the blatant racial stereotypes and cheesy dialogue.
Okay so here's the story: Some evil businessman blackmails one of his employees, a stereotypical comic relief black man (Richard Pryor) , who is apparently also a computer genius, to create kryptonite to kill Superman. (Yes... the rich white man has the unemployed computer genius black man do his dirty work...) Superman that had earlier thwarted his plan to destroy the cofee crops in Colombia... or something... I forget. The fake kryptonite doesn't kill Superman, but instead makes him evil. This is when the movie gets pretty fucking awesome. Evil Superman is pretty much a jerk. Firstly he blows off saving a train from crashing because he's too busy trying to bang Lana Lang (what a babe, played by Annette O'Toole aka Martha Kent from Smallville). Then he just goes around for the next ten minutes and shits on everyone, he blows out the olympic flame, pushes up the leaning tower of Pisa, he even decides to go bang the evil dudes' assistant, a stereotypical dumb blonde who is also apparently some kind of genius and at the end of the day decides to go get smashed at the bar. (See image)
He also stops shaving and grows some scruff. Bad-Ass!
Right after that he splits himself in 2 (good Clark Kent and Evil Superman) They have an epic battle in a junk yard, Evil Superman get choked to death and disappears and then Clark turns back into good Superman. From then on Superman fights an evil Supercomputer/Cyborg (Which brings up the question of why didn't they just make Brainiac the villain in the first place?!) and saves the world blah blah.
This movie usually gets a bad wrap because its not as good as the first two, and it isn't obviously. I still think its a really funny and enjoyable movie with a lot of great moments. For example: Superman freezes a lake, picks it up and drops it on a fire, there's also a ski hill on top of a freaking building! There's a bunch of other awesome random things throughout the movie.

Although this isn't an amazing movie, I recommend it to anyone that enjoys really cheesy movies. I laughed my head off watching this movie.

Also I'd just like to point out that Christopher Reeve's (R.I.P.) might not be the most incredible actor, but he was still one heck of a Superman. I love watching him in these movies and I don't know if anyone else could have pulled it off quite like him.

Here's hoping we get a good Superman reboot in the near future. God knows we need it.

Check out this awesome video Kevin Smith talking about why Superman movies never seem to get it right: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk

-BeaverMoose

The First Post

2009-05-03T15:55:00.003-04:00

I've been putting this off for a while but I figured today is a good a day as any to get started.
Why did I call myself the BeaverMoose?
Mostly to demonstrate my Canadian pride but also because it's pretty much the second coolest animal after the Liger. (Sorry for the Napoleon Dynamite reference, I know they're old and tired.)

I'm gonna write about whatever's on my mind as long as I it consider insightful or interesting, unlike people on twitter I'm not going to write about how "I went for a walk today and saw a bird." Unless its a fucking awesome bird...>_>

I'm also gonna start a movie journal, I kept telling myself that it was too late I should have started it when I really got into watching movies, but I've realized there still is so much movies I haven't seen so that I can still start a journal now and have an infinite amount of movies to write about.

I might also write about TV, Video Games, Music, Culture, Sports, maybe even Politics or the news, things I hate things I enjoy, etc...

So I hope you enjoy, first real post will be up soon. I guess whenever I watch a movie or once I have something insightful to write.

-BeaverMoose