I have seen a few celebrities in person in my life. Hulk Hogan, Rupert from Survivor, Teck from The Real World Hawaii — they all have something in common. Reality stars, all. However, in 2008 I found myself in Los Angeles, walking down a sidewalk I encountered an actor I liked at the time who has since become one of my favorite actors working today.
The man I am speaking of is Sam Rockwell.
This is his most recent film. Continue reading
The Book of Eli has a very straight forward plot. The movie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world after some sort of war, rapture, or the end of days. It is a dry rustic world which I perceived as a mix between the environments of two popular video games, Borderlands and Fallout 3.
Eli (Denzel Washington) obviously has a book of some sort and he has a mission to take it somewhere, and he has been walking for over 31 years. Naturally he won’t let anyone touch it and it has some sort of power to it. People want power, enter antagonist Carnegie (Gary Oldman).
The movie includes some pretty unexpected twists and I am a strong believer in respecting people’s surprises so I won’t reveal any spoilers.
I’m here today to inform you about the new take on a classic hero, Sherlock Holmes.
Now I have never seen the original movies, nor have I read any of his books. The extent of my Holmes knowledge comes from the wonderful world of pop culture, combined with old cartoons and the like (such as the Sherlock Holmes in the future cartoon that was on T.V. a long time ago). I went in to this knowing the basics i.e. super smart, pipe, Elementary Watson, etc, etc, nothing more nothing less. On to the movie.
We are introduced to Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) as he details his plans to incapacitate a lowly lackey. The detailing done in this scene set the stage for future encounters that Holmes has. After a few brutal ass whoopings inside an old tomb we meet Watson (Jude Law) who seems throughout the movie’s course that he could be his own movie star. Continue reading
I have learned that in 2009, it’s better to have no expectations of a film than high ones. The year saw a parade of films I was greatly anticipating fall short of expectations, to the point that the entire year felt like one disappointment after the other at the cinema.
Alas, I have tried to learn to not follow films from pre-production through release because you only end up feeling let down when it doesn’t meet the lofty standards you have for it. I’m so glad this film wasn’t on my radar until a month ago, and even happier that it kept me on the edge of my seat the way it did. Continue reading
You know, few movies achieve the kind of buzz that Avatar has been creating for seemingly the entire decade. The buzz on James Cameron’s next project has been in the making for what seems like an eternity, so is the juice worth the squeeze?
The premise of the movie is actually pretty simple. An ex-Marine who has lost the use of his legs finds himself as an Avatar after the death of his brother, as a human mind in the body of one of Pandora’s Na’Vi, it’s native race. He finds himself torn between the two worlds, wishing his avatar life was his real life, and his real life the fantasy.
First and foremost, I will say this. If James Cameron doesn’t win every award for Best Director this year, there is a flaw in the system. This is one of the most ground breaking films to come out in the last twenty years, and it completely rewrites the book on what to expect from movies in the future. The special effects are absolutely mesmerizing for the entire run-time of nearly 3 hours, and thankfully never feel gimmicky or distracting. Continue reading
It seems common these days for movies to be produced that are based on a book, a short story, or some article. I don’t know if you can attribute that to a dearth of creativity in Hollywood, that writers are only capable of adapting the work of others, or if filmmakers just really want to bring certain stories to the big screen. However, I absolutely cannot claim Fantastic Mr. Fox to be one of these uncreative adaptations, because in all honesty, it’s one of the most unique films I have ever seen.
Fantastic Mr. Fox is based on the book by famed author Roald Dahl (Charlie and The Chocolate Factory). However, what is done here instead of making it into a typical animated movie, Director Wes Anderson implements stop-motion animation in a casual, eye-catching way that leaves us with a tremendously interesting film. Continue reading
I loathe Katherine Heigl. No, I don’t know the lady, and she might actually be a pleasant person (which I doubt), but ever since she started talking about how sexist the dialogue was in Knocked Up she lost all credibility. Then, she makes a film like The Ugly Truth, which is actually more crass, more vulgar, and terrible to boot, and I haven’t heard her make a peep about it.
But, I always put personal feelings about celebrities aside, and if they can make good films I give them a pass. After all, my personal opinion about celebrities matters not at all. But make no mistake about it, this movie is awful. Not that I expected anything special, but I thought that maybe I would get a few laughs out of a junky romantic comedy, but there aren’t any to be found in this pile of mess.
The movie’s premise is paper thin to begin with. Heigl plays a Sacramento TV producer who is a control freak and has trouble with men. Big surprise. On the quest for bigger ratings, she sells out after her co-worker Mike (Gerard Butler) begins his segment “The Ugly Truth” on the newscast each night. Of course, Mike brings the much sought after ratings, and Abby slowly begins to accept that Mike is her meal ticket. Continue reading
Overview:
Like a lot of people burned out with Twilight-mania, I am fucking sick of vampires, and generally have little to no interest in reading, seeing or hearing anything about them. That being said, when I heard of the Korean vampire movie Thirst, I was instantly enticed for one simple reason, and that reason was its director, the great Chan-wook Park.
For those of you (likely everyone) unfamiliar with the work of Park, he specializes in ultra-violent revenge films, most notably the 2005 masterpiece Oldboy, which ranks second on my list of the best movies of the new millennium (trailing only Feardotcom).
While Thirst doesn’t reach the heights of that brilliant film, it is an undeniably effective and jarring thriller well worth seeing for anyone who has the stomach for it. Continue reading
On paper, teaming ace Curb Your Enthusiasm curmudgeon Larry David with legendary curmudgeon writer/director Woody Allen is ideal. Or at least maybe it would have been had Allen not stopped being a relevant filmmaker years ago. Still, my love of David made me excited to rent their collaborative effort Whatever Works when it his DVD shelves this week. But in case my snarky second sentence didn’t give my opinion away, let me leave no doubt. This movie sucks.
Plot Outline:
The movie tells the story of Boris Yelnikoff (David), a crotchety, know-it-all, former Pulitzer Prize nominated Physicist, who leaves behind an upper class lifestyle after a failed suicide attempt. The miserable Boris despises everything and everyone. Then one day, he meets a beautiful 21-year-old Southern Beauty Pageant contestant named Melodie (Evan Rachel Wood), who he begrudgingly forms a romantic bond with despite a four decade age difference and the fact, as Boris points out constantly, she operates at a much lower intellectual level than he does. Continue reading