Transformers 2
What a mess. I'm pretty sure the script was written by a 14-year-old boy. It wasn't 100% bad. It had a lot of action, special effects were well done (although I'm getting mighty sick of this CGI crap), and I laughed at maybe a couple jokes. Having read every I-can't-believe-they-put-that-in-the-movie (dog humping, mom on pot, racist robots [did these guys have a purpose; did I miss an introduction?]), I was prepared for everything that came my way which really eased the pain. I say, out of 4 stars, I rank it 1 and a half stars.
Where the Wild Things Are
Very well done. Spike Jonze creates an amazing world, very unique akin to his tastes. The movie, in a word, is precocious, much like an 11 year old's imagination. An 11-year-old dealing with feelings of rage. I certainly had my bouts at that age, and this movie encapsulates those feelings in a very raw sort of way. It's not fanciful yet there is still something very magical about it. And it's rather melancholy. Will kids get it? Hard to say. It's like the opening quote of "The Breakfast Club". Kids already know what it's like cuz they're living it. This is for those who wish to revisit that time without rose colored glasses. I can't say I loved the movie, but I can say I greatly admire it far more than I liked it (if that makes sense). It looks gorgeous, has a gritty indie feel, and strays far away from any cliche (which might be its greatest credit). I loved the trailer but did not love the movie. However, that doesn't detract from the movie. It just means I'll watch the trailer 50 more times before I see the movie again. Very glad I got to see it. There are def people who won't "get it" (it's anything but mainstream), but it's absolutely worth it for those who will. I say, out of 4 stars, it ranks, at its lowest, 2 and a half stars (it meanders quite a bit halfway through), and at its highest, 4 stars (it's simply beautiful and joyous to meander in such a world).
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Kicking things back into gear with 44(!) reviews!
So, I figured I have some catching up to do. I went back and scrounged up 44 reviews (some very detailed; some only a sentence long). They go in descending order (from recent to oldest). Here we go:
Gimme Shelter - Documentary that chronicles a deadly Rolling Stones concert. I was very impressed with this. It perfectly captures the descent of a crowd's decency, and I think the crowd (not the Stones) are the real star. If "Woodstock" was about peace and psychedelia, then "Gimme Shelter" is about chaos and barbarism. Near the end, you see a girl in the front row in tears fighting her emotions to try and enjoy the Stones performing right in front of her. That encapsulates the tone of the doc perfectly. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I love the format of how the Stones reacting to the footage in retrospect carries the narrative of what actually happened. If there's one thing missing from documentaries, it would be any cinematic flair such as this. Consequently, if you bring a gun to a concert and are hopped up on meth, don't be so surprised if you leave in a body bag. That's just stupid if you ask me.
The Atoimic Brain (MST3k) - One of the few movies they've done where I had fun with the movie just for itself and wouldn't mind seeing again sans commentary. I love that the girls' accents are deplorable ("Dick Van Dyke had a better accent!"). It's all too obvious that they were hired for their looks and not their talents. Anyway, hilarious as always and quite fun if just a little dry in places.
The Hurt Locker - Story of the life of a bomb defuser in Iraq. Touted as the greatest Iraq movie yet (What was the reigning champ? Yeah, I dunno either). The problem with all the other ones is that they take the Iraq war's politics to task. This was just a well-done war story that takes place in Iraq (and couldn't be told anywhere else due to the job position). The director Kathryn Bigelow pulls out some stunning performances out of her unknown actors and creates compelling, nail-biting (albeit straight-forward and realistic) action sequences. The movie doesn't have a conventional plot, but the ticking clock of just making it to the end of the tour of duty alive is enough... esp when your bomb defuser is something of a wild card with an affinity to adrenaline rushes. "War is a drug" the opening quote proclaims, and this story makes great commentary for that. The advantages, the downside, the consequences. One element that I loved here that's missing in other Iraq movies: The soldiers react on instinct and are rewarded for their suspicions. Before, it's always "taken by surprise", so it's really nice to see U.S. soldiers' fears of insurgents confirmed instead of them always killing an innocent or dying (yes, yes, we get that... war is evil... blah blah blah). I think I found this to be darker with a better statement about war than just "war sucks". And it's not afraid to be humorous at times either. Audiences need that relief, otherwise they will become numb with tension, so that's a real testament to the power of this movie imo. Highly recommended!
The Goods - Jeremy Piven's a hired gun to sell cars for a failing business. Second time seeing it. Funny enough. Laughed harder during certain parts cuz I was anticipating them. Other parts I laughed really hard at before weren't as funny. Still fun.
Ghost - Directed by Jerry "Airplane!" Zucker, this movie is waaay better than it's supposed to be. Even with its flaws, it still comes off so endearingly. RIP Swayze. Cry
Anvil: The Story of Anvil - Watched under the pretenses of "The Real Life Spinal Tap". It's fascinating but not as charming as I'd hoped it to be. Definitely full of kooky people which makes it fun, but the struggle the band goes through was painful to watch sometimes.
Beyond the Mat - I don't know nor care much about pro wrestling. Now before you hit me with that folding chair, I'll say that this doc was very competent, informant and insightful. I was hoping for The Wrestler: The True Story. But Aronofsky's pic was like the focused narrative whereas this was more like A Survey of All the Behind the Scenes Stuff. Very nice that it covered pretty much every route a wrestler can go... but it sacrifices any focused narrative to accomplish that (excluding the vignette approach of individual performers). One major issue I had though. The documentarian violates the cardinal rule (don't interfere with your subject) by showing Mankind the horrified reaction of his wife and kids while at a show. "I feel like a bad father," Mankind says. Did he quit soon after that? He shouldn't have. The lesson should've been don't take your friggin wife & kids to the show!! The kids are def too young to understand what's going on. Don't quit. Just don't show them their dad getting beat the living snot out of him! Geez.
Starman - I was looking for something like "Ghost" and felt this might be similar (and in theme, it's exactly the same). Jeff Bridges is an alien recreated in the image of his widowed wife, Karen Allen and must get to Arizona in 3 days. Man, John Carpenter has got to be one of the most liberal users of B-roll footage of any working director. It reminds me of Ed Wood sometimes. The difference of course being Carpenter uses his for atmosphere and pacing whereas Wood used his as filler. Still... that's a LOT of b-roll footage! A good, notable sci-fi flick. I would watch it again if a friend really, really wanted to... but prob not of my own volition. BIG issue with the ending though.
Loose Change - Was 9/11 an inside job? This propag--documentary says yes. Watched this (again) because SModcaster Kevin Smith makes a good point: "Yeah, I know it's not real, but man, it's compelling." "JFK" is in my Top 3 movies of all time, so yeah, I'm gonna like this. I was mad and intrigued by the end, but a quick "Anti Loose Change" google search put things to rest. It's like a horror movie where the relief doesn't come until after you've left the theater and at home chillin on the computer.
I tried watching Farenheit 911 for the same thrill. Three of my fave docs of all time are "Bowling For Columbine", "Roger & Me" and "Fog of War". This might be my least favorite of Michael Moore's docs. Even as I watched it in theaters, I felt it was far too biased. He does not let up on Bush for anything. Compared to this, "Loose Change" comes off as even-handed and open-minded (a reason why I love "Bowling For Columbine"). I had to stop watching a half-hour in. It forsakes insight/discussion for finger-wagging. The best/worst part is that Obama could get blame for similar (albeit for the lesser things) but you know Moore wouldn't utter a peep about it. This doc is the bizarro Fox News equivalent. The liberal rioting during the presidential cavalcade in the beginning looks exactly like the conservative rioting seen of late. We're through the looking glass here, people.
Matrix: Revolutions (+RiffTrax) - Hilarious. Horrible movie. It's a Matrix RiffTrax. Of course, it's great. Also, I'm not convinced that there isn't a subtle nod to our Lost In Space iRiff at the 1:04:00 mark ("Quit shovin', Bob").
Puppet Master - Low budget, solid B movie. Fun enough. Puppets are best as supporting characters
Puppet Master II - Total waste of time. Not bad enough to be a fun bad movie. Uninteresting... which is like the biggest insult for a movie.
The Castle - Quirky, lovable little Aussie film that should get the recognition that only few great indie films get. I can't see anyone not liking this (Imrahil excluded).
Borat - Surprisingly still as hilarious as the first time I saw it (despite the incessant catch-phrase spewing it spawned), although I notice more and more staged moments the more I see it.
Lion King 1 1/2 - It's a Disney Direct-To-Video movie. Whaddaya expect? Most surprising thing was how well it was animated. Even if it's not a great movie, the animation is remarkably fluid, very character driven and sometimes even (dare I say?) beautiful.
The Goods - I chuckled at parts. I don't know if it was worth my $9... except that I laughed harder than I ever have at a movie ever before during one specific part. The beauty of it was that I knew very, very little about the movie going in. Unfortunately, if you ask anybody who saw it, they'll bring the scene up thereby ruining it for you. I was literally falling out of my seat and almost hit the floor and didn't stop till I got home (all this with only 6 people in the theater). Oh... and I absolutely doubt YouTubing would help. In fact, I would doubt I'd laugh at all with the scene completely isolated (and expected).
The Wrestler - Hadn't seen it since it was in theaters. Didn't think I'd revisit it ever again. But I had to revisit it just to bask in Mickey Rourke's performance. The desire to see it again spurned from my newly found favorite podcast Creative Screenwriter. That podcast should be included on every dvd as a separate audio track.
Meet the Spartans - This is about two universes collapsing on themselves. One is the movie "300", complete with plot and characters, wherein the other has all of 2007's cultural references invading. Will you survive watching this? I was sitting in Starbucks, checking out RedBox.com, and said outloud to myself, "Am I in the mood to watch this!?" I watched the trailer for it on YouTube. Sure enough, it seemed to hit some sick part of me. Maybe it was watching "Plan 9" that made me seek out another trainwreck. I certainly found it. I had heard how infamously Britney Spears just comes out of nowhere. But I got it (sort of). I mean, the setup is Leonides is asked to stop kicking people into a pit, but people who you want to see kicked into a pit keep showing up. It may not be funny, but that's at least a joke. But there were "jokes" that I had to rewind the movie for because I thought I missed something. Nope. Incoherency at its finest. Like when the queen dons the venom costume and the villain dude turns into sand. Why? Because it was in Spider-Man 3. That's it. NO FRIGGIN REASON other than that. As best as I can tell, this was written by two frat-dudes who wrote a screenplay one night after watching "Airplane!" That's not an exaggeration. That's exactly how it plays out. It isn't even long enough to be a movie. It's about an hour long, then the credits roll, then 10mins of deleted scenes, then 5 more mins of credits roll. That's when I realized that this movie hitting #1 at the box office was the moment the human race jumped the shark.
The Descent - I'd heard it was the best horror movie in 20 years. Indeed. It applies the "Jaws" method of playing your villain distant till the end of the movie. I got an hour into this movie and thought maybe I had the whole advertising wrong (of which I've seen slim to none). Maybe it was just a creepy "Vertical Limit" meets "The Poseidon Adventure"... with spelunking... or maybe it's just friggin brilliant. I seriously have not been scared by a movie like this for a long, long, long time. It affected me the whole day and I am still more hesitant before entering a dark room. I highly, highly recommend it.
Battle Royale - Japanese movie that takes place in a world where every year a class of students are stranded on a deserted island with weapons and all hafta kill each other within 3 days. I watched this right after "The Descent" to calm me down; sorta like a reminder that death can be Tarantino-style fun. I think I like it the more I watch it just because I forget that as great as it is, it certainly is not without its flaws, and I can remember more that it's fun and flawed.
Burn After Reading - "Hey, movie! You forgot your climax." I had heard that the Coen brothers write by writing themselves into a corner and then writing themselves out. When the movie ends, it totally feels like that. Now, for Coen-defenders, I "get" that last 5 minutes. It's just when I think about the complexity of what they're offering, I can't help but feel it could've been told better or perhaps at a more fun angle. Which brings me to the tone of the movie. It confused me tonally. Like it didn't know whether to be an action movie, a conspiracy movie, a kooky comedy, or what-have-you. I think it's trying to be all these things at once, but it sacrifices its cohesiveness to do that. I liked the story, and you can't not love Brad Pitt as the workout doofus, but I just wished it went somewhere. And maybe that's what this is supposed to be: "Why does every movie have to be 'about something'. Why can't movies be about 'ordinary life'?" But to say it's an ordinary story would be completely wrong. Crap... I wish I had an ending to this review.
Finished "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (this has super-high re-watchability for me). Ran outta good comedies (i.e. mostly anything Apatow related) and wound up watching...
"Yes, Man" - Uggggh. I love "Liar, Liar", but this just came out so mediocre. I guess it's cuz LL never takes itself too seriously and doesn't care that there's barely a plot; it's simply a chance for Jim Carrey to do his thing. YM however tried to put pathos into a really flat character with really flat scenarios. The greatest joys I got was finding out Zooey Deschanel played the love interest and the Flight of the Conchords' manager plays Carrey's boss. Probably works best as a date movie... when there's nothing else to rent.
"Valkyrie" - Not great, but not at all bad. Just... very dry. It comes off more like something belonging on The History Channel than HBO. Tom Cruise is adequate, and anyone who disagrees cannot separate gossip from craft. Things really took off after the assassination attempt. If the movie started with the attempt and went from there, I think it would've been a great movie. And maybe if the characters were better fleshed out and accessible too.
"Slumdog Millionaire" - Haven't seen it since it came out in theaters. This joins the ranks of "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Princess Bride". I don't know anyone who doesn't like it, and I don't know anyone I can't recommend it to who won't thoroughly love it as well (although SM might be at a disadvantage with being overhyped for some). It's just as heartbreaking as it is uplifting, and always, always entertaining. I loved it just as much the 2nd time as I did the first (maybe even moreso). Best soundtrack of the year too imho.
"I Love You, Man" - This should be a high-falutin', balls-out comedy with wacky characters with even wackier scenarios. But the writer/director knows that we get that with every comedy in the past 30 years. And every time it always gets in the realms of "Can you believe what's happening!? WINK!" Instead, we get a very simple, stripped-down comedy who grounds itself in reality. The girlfriend is never shrewish. There's no antagonist. The antagonist is the fact that Paul Rudd's character needs a best man for his wedding. When your antagonist is the story itself, well... I just love that. I liked this more than "Role Models"... but I had RM really hyped up for me. Gonna hafta give RM another shot. (Btw, I really like RM... I just don't love it... but maybe one day).
Saw "Funny People". Things I knew about it going in: It's very long (Apatow heading in an "epic length" direction) and it's just as dramatic as it is funny. Those are things you should know. Having known that, I absolutely loved it. Btw, if you don't like Apatow's movies, don't go see it (and what's wrong with you? j/k). Anyway, it is by FAR my favorite movie of the year. I haven't seen "Up" yet. I imagine I'll like that more. But "Funny People" is just awesome. It goes to some dramatic places that I haven't seen a (good) comedy go in a long, long while. I liken Apatow to James L. Brooks, a god of comedic sensibilities because he understands the drama and heart as well. Man, the movie just works, yknow? Having said all that, be forewarned it appears that audiences are divided. If you are a fan of stand-up or the world of comedy in general, then this is an absolute must-see... so go see it... now.
"Frost/Nixon". Very good movie (I dunno about Best Pic nominee). It's the antithesis to any Oliver Stone movie. And Frank Langella's potrayal of Nixon is far and away my favorite (which is actually saying a lot imo).
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. This is my kind of humor. Exactly this. I would call it perfect except the third act's tone shifts so hard that I got whiplash.
The Hangover: Hilarious. I've enjoyed Zach Galifnakis for years. I'm glad I can bring him up in conversation now. I plan on going to see it again piss drunk and at the ghetto theater on a Friday night (that way I won't be the only one yelling at the screen). I'm guessing it will be a much richer experience that way. Incidentally, my friend who I saw it with relayed to me of how during his screening before, a guy yelled out during the trailer for the upcoming horror movie The Orphan: "She just threw that bitch off that slide!" I need to go to the ghetto theater more often.
In honor of Leno's passing of the torch to Conan, I decided to watch "The Late Shift." A 1996 HBO movie about the behind-the-scenes network politics responsible for the changes in late-night talk-show hosts, after the retirement of Johnny Carson from the Tonight Show with Leno and Letterman vying for the top spot. What a cast! Recognize who's playing Letterman? That's Christopher Guest regular John Michael Higgins AS DAVID LETTERMAN!!! He really shows his range here by creating a great character with impeccable mannerisms and never being a cartoony impression (despite what that pic may imply). And there's some genuine pathos too. Bonus is that his dialogue is so spot-on, it might just have well been written by Letterman himself. Other Christopher Guest regulars: Ed Begley Jr. and Bob Balaban as NBC suits. The "Best In Show" curator Don Lake even has a micro-role as Paul Shaffer. Kathy Bates headlines as the Machiavellian manager who unflinchingly does Leno's dirty work. "Hair" alumni George Burger himself (Treat Williams) plays the charismatic talent genius, Michael Ovitz. And Rich Little does his best John McCain impression as the king of late night, Johnny Carson (seriously, it's freaky how much his looks/voice fit the part). And who plays Leno? A then unknown who went on to a great role, right? You betcha! The guy went on to play the 9th grade science teacher in "Lost," Leslie Artz. Yeah, he gained some weight. The movie is made even more poignant now seeing Letterman say how much he wants The Tonight Show and how much he was willing to give up for it. But you know there's no way he could take over now. I highly recommend reading this here about what Conan's takeover could mean for Letterman. It was a really fun and informational movie to me. I mean I love these true-Hollywood-stories so there's that (that "Three Stooges" one was actually very good too).
Saw "State of Play" (starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck in a journalism conspiracy) where Jason Bateman has a small, funny but pivotal role in it. Really great movie for the person who loved "Michael Clayton" (not as good, but close).
"I Love You, Man": I loved "40 Year Old Virgin." I loved "Knocked Up." Basically, I love anything Judd Apatow comes even remotely close to lately. Did he have in part in making "Superbad"? Anyway, if you loved these type of movies, then this is a def must-see. Excellent cast imo too. I look forward to seeing more of some of the ancillary characters in future movies. And it's also surprisingly more light-hearted than I expected it to be. I mean, conflict is never exploited for dramatic purposes (and there's plenty of opportunity for it). I can't remember the last movie I saw that took drama this lightly but still remained charming without being saccharine. A worthy addition to my dvd collection. Put it somewhere between "Role Models" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
"Knowing": Someone spilled the beans on the ending for me. Way to go, Facebook status obliviousness. Anyway, some really poor acting and I have a lot of questions about the logical progression of characters and events (the crux for a movie like this). Two stars at best. The script actually reminded me a lot of a cross between "Unbreakable," "Signs" and "The Happening." On the plus side, it has a couple wicked cool dream sequences just about worth the price of admission and some really great special effects sequences... not including a plane crash. I have yet to see a believable plane crash in a disaster movie that doesn't look like SimAirplane.
Twilight - A teenage Zoe Deschanel lookalike learns the lesson of abstinence from diamond-studded vampire, teenage Brendan Fraser wannabe (who presumably took acting lessons from Hayden Christiansen). I watched this in preparation for the RiffTrax release. I was expecting the worst. And I hafta say... it's not horrible. Dare I say... watchable? There are actually believable characters. I haven't seen a chick flick with believeable characters since "Mean Girls." The movie is also competently directed. The director knows how to hold back faces mugging, gets "real performances" (mostly) and offers a bleak atmosphere (which contradicts every sunbaked chick flick I've ever seen). My standard qualification for a chick flick is the lead girl has to be an average looking girl whoa acts like an embarrassed klutz all the time in front of the too-good-for-her guy. I didn't get that here. Also, vampire Edward Cullen talks through his brooding brow. Is that "hot" now? Cuz that's hilarious. The whole scene in the forest where she learns the weird-but-hot(?) boy is a vampire was full of eye-rolling, but the majority of the movie was..... not bad. Hmmm. I was kinda hoping for horribleness.
Push - The movie came and went out of theaters, which I assumed it was somewhere between mediocre to unforgettable to maybe down-right bad. I dunno what happened 'cause I really enjoyed myself. It's exactly like the trailer... but for 2hrs (which is exactly what I wanted to watch). The plot is the same as "X-Men 2" but told in the style of "Chungking Express." It's a solid, fun universe where people are born with superpowers. One difference from X-Men though is that there are just a handful of different superpowers that people have (which you could argue would benefit the X-Universe). One power is The Force from Star Wars... and this is exactly how it shoulda been done in the Star Wars movies: kickin some serious butt! Also, the movie utilizes the chess-like strategies that the X-Men movies/comics do so well to try to stay ahead of the bad guys. This, to me, was the real thrill of the movie. The guns a-blazin' and kinetic camera-work was nice eye candy too. Two things I love that "Push" does that the X-Men movies didn't do as well was showing a very natural evolution of a team driven completely by the plot. Every person there is added to move one step ahead. The other thing is that this is a ragtag buncha people trying to overthrow the evil agency. So the underdogs struggle with their powers as they try to defeat the experienced bad guys. This makes every defeat a major victory. I love that formula.
Lost In Translation - I will reiterate (by paraphrase) what David Letterman once said. Why don't they stop making bad movies and just make movies like this, say, once a month? I thought that while watching this again. Bill Murray's performance is more nuanced than I remember it too. Def worthy of the Oscar nom, if not the win. Touching, hilarious and bittersweet... after seeing it so many times even. Why can't Scarlett Johansson go back to being the indie-fim girl? She looks so much more beautiful when she's not all glammed up.
Coraline - This is one of the most imaginative movies I've seen in years. Seriously. It's part of the girl-gets-lost-in-dangerous-imagination-land genre (Alice In Wonderland, Pan's Labyrinth, MirrorMask, etc.). I'm glad I saw it in 2D cuz during the parts where my focus started to drift, I could always admire how amazing the animation was. Definitely reaches above and beyond the previous limitations of claymated movies. Very glad I saw it on the big screen. I bet a little something will be lost in the transition to the small screen. Haven't read the book but I heard it was nothing like it by one person (I think she meant the plot).
Watched "Defiance." Very good but nothing to write home about. Kinda weird seeing "Wolverine" a couple weeks before. Liev Schriber playing a violent ruffian intent on constantly fighting his brother in the same month? Okay.
Doubt - Second time seeing this. First time, I really did not like it. It was hyped as one of the best movies of the year, and I was severely disappointed. I still think it has some really clunky moments, but now that I can just ignore those out of foreknowledge, I was able to enjoy the parts where it really hit its stride (those moments are amaaazing). I think all the faults of the movie rely on a first-time director (aka Mr. I-Wrote-The-Script-AND-The-Play!!!). Sure, buddy. Maybe you should stick to that. Four stellar performances, but you know who the real star is? The chubby kid who gets in trouble. That kid is the best. If you've seen the movie, I think you'll agree with me here.
I watched Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (aka Nightmare On Elm Street 6). This is my personal favorite NOES (although the first is by far the best). It's the least serious, yet (imo) never goes campy-beyond-comprehension; tongue is always planted firmly in cheek but retains a modicum of respect. It's also very '90s. The movie opens with a GooGoo Dolls song. The special effects are very of its time but still work. It also has cameos from Roseanne and Tom Arnold. And one of the kids looks like Jay (of Jay & Silent Bob [he later went on to play Jon Arbuckle in the "Garfield" movies.... weird]). I love when Freddy kills one of the kids with the Power Glove. It's so bad. I also really like the cool 3D scene (even in 2D). Look for Johnny Depp's cameo too (his first movie was the first NOES; his credit even gets an "Introducing" credit). I give it 4 Power Gloves out of five (sorry, I've been watching a ton of AVGN vids lately too).
Watchmen - I liked the faithful adaption-ness. I abhorred the pop music (enough to where I look forward to making my own fan-edit). I hated the giggles in the theater every time Dr. Manhattan was, er, in full display. I almost puked on the teen in front of me who wouldn't stop texting. I hated that my "graphic novel impaired" friends were mortally perplexed by everything. Rorshach, Nite Owl and Comedian were spot-on awesomeness. Still processing how much the rewritten climax changes every (or most) things the book was saying. And if you're gonna do that, then why include Ozymandias' pet? Perhaps that's for another thread.
"Appaloosa" - I'm reading John Badham's unashamed-to-drop-names (like Gary Busey!) book about how best to direct right now, so I couldn't help notice how poorly the movie was directed. The movie was fun enough, I suppose. Reminds me of a b&w western from the 50s that you'd catch on TCM on a Saturday afternoon. Ed Harris (who directed and co-wrote) was somewhat bland but interesting enough. I couldn't tell whether Jeremy Irons was trying to hide his accent or not. The best part was watching Viggo Mortensen slip into his role so nicely. A friend of mine didn't realize it was him until after the movie was over. There's a total riff-worthy moment near the beginning with the Chinese waiter. I can't remember the last time I saw acting that bad before in a recent movie. If 3:10 To Yuma is an 8 out of 10, "Appaloosa" would be a 6 at best. My running gag that I whispered to my friend: "There better be apples in this movie or else I'm going to be VERY disappointed." So when one character asks "Why you goin' back [to Appaloosa]?" I quipped "Probably because of the apples." It was pretty funny.
Slumdog Millionaire. The best way to describe it: "City of God: The Love Story." I think I might've hated the story mainly because I hate obvious coincidences (the movie hinges on the theme of coincidence anyway, so I'm aware how that's an invalid point). However, Danny Boyle is the total god and savior of this film. It alternates from jumpy, frenetic and visually entertaining flashbacks (think "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later") to a more static yet very glowing and powerful stillness of the present day (think "Sunshine"). It's just as achingly heartbreaking as it is uplifting. While it may not be my favorite of the year, I'm tempted to put it in my Top 5. Then again, my fondness to "City of God" may be pushing it forward ever so slightly. A hearty recommendation. A sporting chance at a Best Pic Oscar nom in that underdog-indie-with-a-heart-of-gold-"Little Miss Sunshine"-"Juno" sorta way. You could probably take your grandparents to see it too. I saw it with a buncha old people and I never felt embarrassed or think they'd be lost by it because it's such the real crowd-pleaser.
Gimme Shelter - Documentary that chronicles a deadly Rolling Stones concert. I was very impressed with this. It perfectly captures the descent of a crowd's decency, and I think the crowd (not the Stones) are the real star. If "Woodstock" was about peace and psychedelia, then "Gimme Shelter" is about chaos and barbarism. Near the end, you see a girl in the front row in tears fighting her emotions to try and enjoy the Stones performing right in front of her. That encapsulates the tone of the doc perfectly. I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I love the format of how the Stones reacting to the footage in retrospect carries the narrative of what actually happened. If there's one thing missing from documentaries, it would be any cinematic flair such as this. Consequently, if you bring a gun to a concert and are hopped up on meth, don't be so surprised if you leave in a body bag. That's just stupid if you ask me.
The Atoimic Brain (MST3k) - One of the few movies they've done where I had fun with the movie just for itself and wouldn't mind seeing again sans commentary. I love that the girls' accents are deplorable ("Dick Van Dyke had a better accent!"). It's all too obvious that they were hired for their looks and not their talents. Anyway, hilarious as always and quite fun if just a little dry in places.
The Hurt Locker - Story of the life of a bomb defuser in Iraq. Touted as the greatest Iraq movie yet (What was the reigning champ? Yeah, I dunno either). The problem with all the other ones is that they take the Iraq war's politics to task. This was just a well-done war story that takes place in Iraq (and couldn't be told anywhere else due to the job position). The director Kathryn Bigelow pulls out some stunning performances out of her unknown actors and creates compelling, nail-biting (albeit straight-forward and realistic) action sequences. The movie doesn't have a conventional plot, but the ticking clock of just making it to the end of the tour of duty alive is enough... esp when your bomb defuser is something of a wild card with an affinity to adrenaline rushes. "War is a drug" the opening quote proclaims, and this story makes great commentary for that. The advantages, the downside, the consequences. One element that I loved here that's missing in other Iraq movies: The soldiers react on instinct and are rewarded for their suspicions. Before, it's always "taken by surprise", so it's really nice to see U.S. soldiers' fears of insurgents confirmed instead of them always killing an innocent or dying (yes, yes, we get that... war is evil... blah blah blah). I think I found this to be darker with a better statement about war than just "war sucks". And it's not afraid to be humorous at times either. Audiences need that relief, otherwise they will become numb with tension, so that's a real testament to the power of this movie imo. Highly recommended!
The Goods - Jeremy Piven's a hired gun to sell cars for a failing business. Second time seeing it. Funny enough. Laughed harder during certain parts cuz I was anticipating them. Other parts I laughed really hard at before weren't as funny. Still fun.
Ghost - Directed by Jerry "Airplane!" Zucker, this movie is waaay better than it's supposed to be. Even with its flaws, it still comes off so endearingly. RIP Swayze. Cry
Anvil: The Story of Anvil - Watched under the pretenses of "The Real Life Spinal Tap". It's fascinating but not as charming as I'd hoped it to be. Definitely full of kooky people which makes it fun, but the struggle the band goes through was painful to watch sometimes.
Beyond the Mat - I don't know nor care much about pro wrestling. Now before you hit me with that folding chair, I'll say that this doc was very competent, informant and insightful. I was hoping for The Wrestler: The True Story. But Aronofsky's pic was like the focused narrative whereas this was more like A Survey of All the Behind the Scenes Stuff. Very nice that it covered pretty much every route a wrestler can go... but it sacrifices any focused narrative to accomplish that (excluding the vignette approach of individual performers). One major issue I had though. The documentarian violates the cardinal rule (don't interfere with your subject) by showing Mankind the horrified reaction of his wife and kids while at a show. "I feel like a bad father," Mankind says. Did he quit soon after that? He shouldn't have. The lesson should've been don't take your friggin wife & kids to the show!! The kids are def too young to understand what's going on. Don't quit. Just don't show them their dad getting beat the living snot out of him! Geez.
Starman - I was looking for something like "Ghost" and felt this might be similar (and in theme, it's exactly the same). Jeff Bridges is an alien recreated in the image of his widowed wife, Karen Allen and must get to Arizona in 3 days. Man, John Carpenter has got to be one of the most liberal users of B-roll footage of any working director. It reminds me of Ed Wood sometimes. The difference of course being Carpenter uses his for atmosphere and pacing whereas Wood used his as filler. Still... that's a LOT of b-roll footage! A good, notable sci-fi flick. I would watch it again if a friend really, really wanted to... but prob not of my own volition. BIG issue with the ending though.
Loose Change - Was 9/11 an inside job? This propag--documentary says yes. Watched this (again) because SModcaster Kevin Smith makes a good point: "Yeah, I know it's not real, but man, it's compelling." "JFK" is in my Top 3 movies of all time, so yeah, I'm gonna like this. I was mad and intrigued by the end, but a quick "Anti Loose Change" google search put things to rest. It's like a horror movie where the relief doesn't come until after you've left the theater and at home chillin on the computer.
I tried watching Farenheit 911 for the same thrill. Three of my fave docs of all time are "Bowling For Columbine", "Roger & Me" and "Fog of War". This might be my least favorite of Michael Moore's docs. Even as I watched it in theaters, I felt it was far too biased. He does not let up on Bush for anything. Compared to this, "Loose Change" comes off as even-handed and open-minded (a reason why I love "Bowling For Columbine"). I had to stop watching a half-hour in. It forsakes insight/discussion for finger-wagging. The best/worst part is that Obama could get blame for similar (albeit for the lesser things) but you know Moore wouldn't utter a peep about it. This doc is the bizarro Fox News equivalent. The liberal rioting during the presidential cavalcade in the beginning looks exactly like the conservative rioting seen of late. We're through the looking glass here, people.
Matrix: Revolutions (+RiffTrax) - Hilarious. Horrible movie. It's a Matrix RiffTrax. Of course, it's great. Also, I'm not convinced that there isn't a subtle nod to our Lost In Space iRiff at the 1:04:00 mark ("Quit shovin', Bob").
Puppet Master - Low budget, solid B movie. Fun enough. Puppets are best as supporting characters
Puppet Master II - Total waste of time. Not bad enough to be a fun bad movie. Uninteresting... which is like the biggest insult for a movie.
The Castle - Quirky, lovable little Aussie film that should get the recognition that only few great indie films get. I can't see anyone not liking this (Imrahil excluded).
Borat - Surprisingly still as hilarious as the first time I saw it (despite the incessant catch-phrase spewing it spawned), although I notice more and more staged moments the more I see it.
Lion King 1 1/2 - It's a Disney Direct-To-Video movie. Whaddaya expect? Most surprising thing was how well it was animated. Even if it's not a great movie, the animation is remarkably fluid, very character driven and sometimes even (dare I say?) beautiful.
The Goods - I chuckled at parts. I don't know if it was worth my $9... except that I laughed harder than I ever have at a movie ever before during one specific part. The beauty of it was that I knew very, very little about the movie going in. Unfortunately, if you ask anybody who saw it, they'll bring the scene up thereby ruining it for you. I was literally falling out of my seat and almost hit the floor and didn't stop till I got home (all this with only 6 people in the theater). Oh... and I absolutely doubt YouTubing would help. In fact, I would doubt I'd laugh at all with the scene completely isolated (and expected).
The Wrestler - Hadn't seen it since it was in theaters. Didn't think I'd revisit it ever again. But I had to revisit it just to bask in Mickey Rourke's performance. The desire to see it again spurned from my newly found favorite podcast Creative Screenwriter. That podcast should be included on every dvd as a separate audio track.
Meet the Spartans - This is about two universes collapsing on themselves. One is the movie "300", complete with plot and characters, wherein the other has all of 2007's cultural references invading. Will you survive watching this? I was sitting in Starbucks, checking out RedBox.com, and said outloud to myself, "Am I in the mood to watch this!?" I watched the trailer for it on YouTube. Sure enough, it seemed to hit some sick part of me. Maybe it was watching "Plan 9" that made me seek out another trainwreck. I certainly found it. I had heard how infamously Britney Spears just comes out of nowhere. But I got it (sort of). I mean, the setup is Leonides is asked to stop kicking people into a pit, but people who you want to see kicked into a pit keep showing up. It may not be funny, but that's at least a joke. But there were "jokes" that I had to rewind the movie for because I thought I missed something. Nope. Incoherency at its finest. Like when the queen dons the venom costume and the villain dude turns into sand. Why? Because it was in Spider-Man 3. That's it. NO FRIGGIN REASON other than that. As best as I can tell, this was written by two frat-dudes who wrote a screenplay one night after watching "Airplane!" That's not an exaggeration. That's exactly how it plays out. It isn't even long enough to be a movie. It's about an hour long, then the credits roll, then 10mins of deleted scenes, then 5 more mins of credits roll. That's when I realized that this movie hitting #1 at the box office was the moment the human race jumped the shark.
The Descent - I'd heard it was the best horror movie in 20 years. Indeed. It applies the "Jaws" method of playing your villain distant till the end of the movie. I got an hour into this movie and thought maybe I had the whole advertising wrong (of which I've seen slim to none). Maybe it was just a creepy "Vertical Limit" meets "The Poseidon Adventure"... with spelunking... or maybe it's just friggin brilliant. I seriously have not been scared by a movie like this for a long, long, long time. It affected me the whole day and I am still more hesitant before entering a dark room. I highly, highly recommend it.
Battle Royale - Japanese movie that takes place in a world where every year a class of students are stranded on a deserted island with weapons and all hafta kill each other within 3 days. I watched this right after "The Descent" to calm me down; sorta like a reminder that death can be Tarantino-style fun. I think I like it the more I watch it just because I forget that as great as it is, it certainly is not without its flaws, and I can remember more that it's fun and flawed.
Burn After Reading - "Hey, movie! You forgot your climax." I had heard that the Coen brothers write by writing themselves into a corner and then writing themselves out. When the movie ends, it totally feels like that. Now, for Coen-defenders, I "get" that last 5 minutes. It's just when I think about the complexity of what they're offering, I can't help but feel it could've been told better or perhaps at a more fun angle. Which brings me to the tone of the movie. It confused me tonally. Like it didn't know whether to be an action movie, a conspiracy movie, a kooky comedy, or what-have-you. I think it's trying to be all these things at once, but it sacrifices its cohesiveness to do that. I liked the story, and you can't not love Brad Pitt as the workout doofus, but I just wished it went somewhere. And maybe that's what this is supposed to be: "Why does every movie have to be 'about something'. Why can't movies be about 'ordinary life'?" But to say it's an ordinary story would be completely wrong. Crap... I wish I had an ending to this review.
Finished "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" (this has super-high re-watchability for me). Ran outta good comedies (i.e. mostly anything Apatow related) and wound up watching...
"Yes, Man" - Uggggh. I love "Liar, Liar", but this just came out so mediocre. I guess it's cuz LL never takes itself too seriously and doesn't care that there's barely a plot; it's simply a chance for Jim Carrey to do his thing. YM however tried to put pathos into a really flat character with really flat scenarios. The greatest joys I got was finding out Zooey Deschanel played the love interest and the Flight of the Conchords' manager plays Carrey's boss. Probably works best as a date movie... when there's nothing else to rent.
"Valkyrie" - Not great, but not at all bad. Just... very dry. It comes off more like something belonging on The History Channel than HBO. Tom Cruise is adequate, and anyone who disagrees cannot separate gossip from craft. Things really took off after the assassination attempt. If the movie started with the attempt and went from there, I think it would've been a great movie. And maybe if the characters were better fleshed out and accessible too.
"Slumdog Millionaire" - Haven't seen it since it came out in theaters. This joins the ranks of "Little Miss Sunshine" and "The Princess Bride". I don't know anyone who doesn't like it, and I don't know anyone I can't recommend it to who won't thoroughly love it as well (although SM might be at a disadvantage with being overhyped for some). It's just as heartbreaking as it is uplifting, and always, always entertaining. I loved it just as much the 2nd time as I did the first (maybe even moreso). Best soundtrack of the year too imho.
"I Love You, Man" - This should be a high-falutin', balls-out comedy with wacky characters with even wackier scenarios. But the writer/director knows that we get that with every comedy in the past 30 years. And every time it always gets in the realms of "Can you believe what's happening!? WINK!" Instead, we get a very simple, stripped-down comedy who grounds itself in reality. The girlfriend is never shrewish. There's no antagonist. The antagonist is the fact that Paul Rudd's character needs a best man for his wedding. When your antagonist is the story itself, well... I just love that. I liked this more than "Role Models"... but I had RM really hyped up for me. Gonna hafta give RM another shot. (Btw, I really like RM... I just don't love it... but maybe one day).
Saw "Funny People". Things I knew about it going in: It's very long (Apatow heading in an "epic length" direction) and it's just as dramatic as it is funny. Those are things you should know. Having known that, I absolutely loved it. Btw, if you don't like Apatow's movies, don't go see it (and what's wrong with you? j/k). Anyway, it is by FAR my favorite movie of the year. I haven't seen "Up" yet. I imagine I'll like that more. But "Funny People" is just awesome. It goes to some dramatic places that I haven't seen a (good) comedy go in a long, long while. I liken Apatow to James L. Brooks, a god of comedic sensibilities because he understands the drama and heart as well. Man, the movie just works, yknow? Having said all that, be forewarned it appears that audiences are divided. If you are a fan of stand-up or the world of comedy in general, then this is an absolute must-see... so go see it... now.
"Frost/Nixon". Very good movie (I dunno about Best Pic nominee). It's the antithesis to any Oliver Stone movie. And Frank Langella's potrayal of Nixon is far and away my favorite (which is actually saying a lot imo).
Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. This is my kind of humor. Exactly this. I would call it perfect except the third act's tone shifts so hard that I got whiplash.
The Hangover: Hilarious. I've enjoyed Zach Galifnakis for years. I'm glad I can bring him up in conversation now. I plan on going to see it again piss drunk and at the ghetto theater on a Friday night (that way I won't be the only one yelling at the screen). I'm guessing it will be a much richer experience that way. Incidentally, my friend who I saw it with relayed to me of how during his screening before, a guy yelled out during the trailer for the upcoming horror movie The Orphan: "She just threw that bitch off that slide!" I need to go to the ghetto theater more often.
In honor of Leno's passing of the torch to Conan, I decided to watch "The Late Shift." A 1996 HBO movie about the behind-the-scenes network politics responsible for the changes in late-night talk-show hosts, after the retirement of Johnny Carson from the Tonight Show with Leno and Letterman vying for the top spot. What a cast! Recognize who's playing Letterman? That's Christopher Guest regular John Michael Higgins AS DAVID LETTERMAN!!! He really shows his range here by creating a great character with impeccable mannerisms and never being a cartoony impression (despite what that pic may imply). And there's some genuine pathos too. Bonus is that his dialogue is so spot-on, it might just have well been written by Letterman himself. Other Christopher Guest regulars: Ed Begley Jr. and Bob Balaban as NBC suits. The "Best In Show" curator Don Lake even has a micro-role as Paul Shaffer. Kathy Bates headlines as the Machiavellian manager who unflinchingly does Leno's dirty work. "Hair" alumni George Burger himself (Treat Williams) plays the charismatic talent genius, Michael Ovitz. And Rich Little does his best John McCain impression as the king of late night, Johnny Carson (seriously, it's freaky how much his looks/voice fit the part). And who plays Leno? A then unknown who went on to a great role, right? You betcha! The guy went on to play the 9th grade science teacher in "Lost," Leslie Artz. Yeah, he gained some weight. The movie is made even more poignant now seeing Letterman say how much he wants The Tonight Show and how much he was willing to give up for it. But you know there's no way he could take over now. I highly recommend reading this here about what Conan's takeover could mean for Letterman. It was a really fun and informational movie to me. I mean I love these true-Hollywood-stories so there's that (that "Three Stooges" one was actually very good too).
Saw "State of Play" (starring Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck in a journalism conspiracy) where Jason Bateman has a small, funny but pivotal role in it. Really great movie for the person who loved "Michael Clayton" (not as good, but close).
"I Love You, Man": I loved "40 Year Old Virgin." I loved "Knocked Up." Basically, I love anything Judd Apatow comes even remotely close to lately. Did he have in part in making "Superbad"? Anyway, if you loved these type of movies, then this is a def must-see. Excellent cast imo too. I look forward to seeing more of some of the ancillary characters in future movies. And it's also surprisingly more light-hearted than I expected it to be. I mean, conflict is never exploited for dramatic purposes (and there's plenty of opportunity for it). I can't remember the last movie I saw that took drama this lightly but still remained charming without being saccharine. A worthy addition to my dvd collection. Put it somewhere between "Role Models" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
"Knowing": Someone spilled the beans on the ending for me. Way to go, Facebook status obliviousness. Anyway, some really poor acting and I have a lot of questions about the logical progression of characters and events (the crux for a movie like this). Two stars at best. The script actually reminded me a lot of a cross between "Unbreakable," "Signs" and "The Happening." On the plus side, it has a couple wicked cool dream sequences just about worth the price of admission and some really great special effects sequences... not including a plane crash. I have yet to see a believable plane crash in a disaster movie that doesn't look like SimAirplane.
Twilight - A teenage Zoe Deschanel lookalike learns the lesson of abstinence from diamond-studded vampire, teenage Brendan Fraser wannabe (who presumably took acting lessons from Hayden Christiansen). I watched this in preparation for the RiffTrax release. I was expecting the worst. And I hafta say... it's not horrible. Dare I say... watchable? There are actually believable characters. I haven't seen a chick flick with believeable characters since "Mean Girls." The movie is also competently directed. The director knows how to hold back faces mugging, gets "real performances" (mostly) and offers a bleak atmosphere (which contradicts every sunbaked chick flick I've ever seen). My standard qualification for a chick flick is the lead girl has to be an average looking girl whoa acts like an embarrassed klutz all the time in front of the too-good-for-her guy. I didn't get that here. Also, vampire Edward Cullen talks through his brooding brow. Is that "hot" now? Cuz that's hilarious. The whole scene in the forest where she learns the weird-but-hot(?) boy is a vampire was full of eye-rolling, but the majority of the movie was..... not bad. Hmmm. I was kinda hoping for horribleness.
Push - The movie came and went out of theaters, which I assumed it was somewhere between mediocre to unforgettable to maybe down-right bad. I dunno what happened 'cause I really enjoyed myself. It's exactly like the trailer... but for 2hrs (which is exactly what I wanted to watch). The plot is the same as "X-Men 2" but told in the style of "Chungking Express." It's a solid, fun universe where people are born with superpowers. One difference from X-Men though is that there are just a handful of different superpowers that people have (which you could argue would benefit the X-Universe). One power is The Force from Star Wars... and this is exactly how it shoulda been done in the Star Wars movies: kickin some serious butt! Also, the movie utilizes the chess-like strategies that the X-Men movies/comics do so well to try to stay ahead of the bad guys. This, to me, was the real thrill of the movie. The guns a-blazin' and kinetic camera-work was nice eye candy too. Two things I love that "Push" does that the X-Men movies didn't do as well was showing a very natural evolution of a team driven completely by the plot. Every person there is added to move one step ahead. The other thing is that this is a ragtag buncha people trying to overthrow the evil agency. So the underdogs struggle with their powers as they try to defeat the experienced bad guys. This makes every defeat a major victory. I love that formula.
Lost In Translation - I will reiterate (by paraphrase) what David Letterman once said. Why don't they stop making bad movies and just make movies like this, say, once a month? I thought that while watching this again. Bill Murray's performance is more nuanced than I remember it too. Def worthy of the Oscar nom, if not the win. Touching, hilarious and bittersweet... after seeing it so many times even. Why can't Scarlett Johansson go back to being the indie-fim girl? She looks so much more beautiful when she's not all glammed up.
Coraline - This is one of the most imaginative movies I've seen in years. Seriously. It's part of the girl-gets-lost-in-dangerous-imagination-land genre (Alice In Wonderland, Pan's Labyrinth, MirrorMask, etc.). I'm glad I saw it in 2D cuz during the parts where my focus started to drift, I could always admire how amazing the animation was. Definitely reaches above and beyond the previous limitations of claymated movies. Very glad I saw it on the big screen. I bet a little something will be lost in the transition to the small screen. Haven't read the book but I heard it was nothing like it by one person (I think she meant the plot).
Watched "Defiance." Very good but nothing to write home about. Kinda weird seeing "Wolverine" a couple weeks before. Liev Schriber playing a violent ruffian intent on constantly fighting his brother in the same month? Okay.
Doubt - Second time seeing this. First time, I really did not like it. It was hyped as one of the best movies of the year, and I was severely disappointed. I still think it has some really clunky moments, but now that I can just ignore those out of foreknowledge, I was able to enjoy the parts where it really hit its stride (those moments are amaaazing). I think all the faults of the movie rely on a first-time director (aka Mr. I-Wrote-The-Script-AND-The-Play!!!). Sure, buddy. Maybe you should stick to that. Four stellar performances, but you know who the real star is? The chubby kid who gets in trouble. That kid is the best. If you've seen the movie, I think you'll agree with me here.
I watched Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (aka Nightmare On Elm Street 6). This is my personal favorite NOES (although the first is by far the best). It's the least serious, yet (imo) never goes campy-beyond-comprehension; tongue is always planted firmly in cheek but retains a modicum of respect. It's also very '90s. The movie opens with a GooGoo Dolls song. The special effects are very of its time but still work. It also has cameos from Roseanne and Tom Arnold. And one of the kids looks like Jay (of Jay & Silent Bob [he later went on to play Jon Arbuckle in the "Garfield" movies.... weird]). I love when Freddy kills one of the kids with the Power Glove. It's so bad. I also really like the cool 3D scene (even in 2D). Look for Johnny Depp's cameo too (his first movie was the first NOES; his credit even gets an "Introducing" credit). I give it 4 Power Gloves out of five (sorry, I've been watching a ton of AVGN vids lately too).
Watchmen - I liked the faithful adaption-ness. I abhorred the pop music (enough to where I look forward to making my own fan-edit). I hated the giggles in the theater every time Dr. Manhattan was, er, in full display. I almost puked on the teen in front of me who wouldn't stop texting. I hated that my "graphic novel impaired" friends were mortally perplexed by everything. Rorshach, Nite Owl and Comedian were spot-on awesomeness. Still processing how much the rewritten climax changes every (or most) things the book was saying. And if you're gonna do that, then why include Ozymandias' pet? Perhaps that's for another thread.
"Appaloosa" - I'm reading John Badham's unashamed-to-drop-names (like Gary Busey!) book about how best to direct right now, so I couldn't help notice how poorly the movie was directed. The movie was fun enough, I suppose. Reminds me of a b&w western from the 50s that you'd catch on TCM on a Saturday afternoon. Ed Harris (who directed and co-wrote) was somewhat bland but interesting enough. I couldn't tell whether Jeremy Irons was trying to hide his accent or not. The best part was watching Viggo Mortensen slip into his role so nicely. A friend of mine didn't realize it was him until after the movie was over. There's a total riff-worthy moment near the beginning with the Chinese waiter. I can't remember the last time I saw acting that bad before in a recent movie. If 3:10 To Yuma is an 8 out of 10, "Appaloosa" would be a 6 at best. My running gag that I whispered to my friend: "There better be apples in this movie or else I'm going to be VERY disappointed." So when one character asks "Why you goin' back [to Appaloosa]?" I quipped "Probably because of the apples." It was pretty funny.
Slumdog Millionaire. The best way to describe it: "City of God: The Love Story." I think I might've hated the story mainly because I hate obvious coincidences (the movie hinges on the theme of coincidence anyway, so I'm aware how that's an invalid point). However, Danny Boyle is the total god and savior of this film. It alternates from jumpy, frenetic and visually entertaining flashbacks (think "Trainspotting" and "28 Days Later") to a more static yet very glowing and powerful stillness of the present day (think "Sunshine"). It's just as achingly heartbreaking as it is uplifting. While it may not be my favorite of the year, I'm tempted to put it in my Top 5. Then again, my fondness to "City of God" may be pushing it forward ever so slightly. A hearty recommendation. A sporting chance at a Best Pic Oscar nom in that underdog-indie-with-a-heart-of-gold-"Little Miss Sunshine"-"Juno" sorta way. You could probably take your grandparents to see it too. I saw it with a buncha old people and I never felt embarrassed or think they'd be lost by it because it's such the real crowd-pleaser.
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