Movie Reviews!

[pieces o nine]

I recently saw Next  (I'm a Nicolas Cage fan)  and recommend it to anyone who likes adventure.





Edit: Darlica, split topic

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I saw two movies this weekend which deserve a review.

500 days of Summer
Genre: romantic comedy (tragedy really)
In this movie a guy falls for a girl who takes him, to dump him after a while. Has been done to the death you say? Possibly, but the merit here is that instead of the typical rosy fallacy the movie tells a real story with all the pain it involves, mercilessly. In fact it was quite painful to watch, and I'm sure many viewers will recognize the situation right away, in some cases -like mine- from personal experience.

The whole thing looks like a train wreck in slow-mo, which is made bearable by the small jokes peppered all along, plus the fact of it's non linear delivery.

I have to say that the movie works in many levels and the acting is quite good, but go see it at your own peril. You have been warned.

District 9
Genre: scifi, action, drama
OK, this is perhaps the best movie of the year, possibly better than Watchmen (which is a very good movie IMO) and a must if you like sci-fi. The movie tells the story of an alien ship stranded on the skies of Johannesburg, South Africa filled with about a million or so disoriented aliens, and the guy in charge of relocating them from the slum where they live to a refugee/concentration camp outside Johannesburg. The movers behind the 'eviction' are more interested in the inner workings of their weapons than on letting them leave the planet (on which they have been for about 20 years).

Without giving more of the plot, I can say that the success of this movie is how believable the subcontext is, a number of layers that give that feeling of something real with some layers of gray below the obvious villain(s)-reluctant hero device that drives the movie. In the end a number of plot points -that may have been used before in different movies- mix in a credible way leaving a bittersweet taste (and a likely sequel).

The acting of the anti-hero is superb (enhanced by the fact that he isn't a known actor) and the CGI does a brilliant job conveying the emotions of the key aliens.

This one is really a must.

[Opsa]

I saw "Ponyo" last week with the Opsalette and her young friend. We are all fans of Miyazaki, who also directed "Spirited Away", and "My Neighbor Totoro", among other weirdly wonderful animated films.

It did not disappoint. It was just as beautiful and strange as the others. This guy really knows how to portray children as children, and not just little grownups. They are goofy and joyful and sometimes fearful.  They never do anything right the first time. Even pulling a backpack over one's head is achieved in several tries, and this is fascinating to me. Plus, he uses old people and treats them like people.

There are some underwater scenes that are just breathtaking. There is some magical stuff that's confusing and goes unexplained, but that's okay. It's from a child's viewpoint where not everything is obvious.

It's nice to go to the movies and just be carried away on someone's creative spree and into another world. I liked it.

[Aggie]

Fido.
[youtube=425,350]8Mo6C6up1Qo[/youtube]

Nice Canadian boy-and-his zombie film.  Filmed in my hometown with lots of scenes in the park I used to feed the duckies in as a lad. 

The trailer pretty much gives you a good feel for wht to expect.

[Darlica]

That's a zombie movie I would watch!

I hope it comes here at least on DVD!

District 9 and Ponyo are now on the to watch list too.

[Aggie]

It's excellent - probably one of the best comedy movies I've seen in a while.

I should note that this is already out on DVD as it's from 2006. 

[Opsa]

Oh, it looks like exactly my cup of tea! And with a Ramones soundtrack? Why haven't I ever heard of it?!

[Aggie]

Meh, low-budget Canadian film, so it probably got little promotion beyond the CBC.  Even I forgot about it (and it's filmed in my freakin' hometown!) until I saw it in my local (newly-discovered and awesome) indie video store last Saturday.

Get your hands on it! It's great!

And surprisingly less cheesy and less gratuitous gore than one would expect for a zomcom.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

District 9
Genre: scifi, action, drama
OK, this is perhaps the best movie of the year, possibly better than Watchmen (which is a very good movie IMO) and a must if you like sci-fi. The movie tells the story of an alien ship stranded on the skies of Johannesburg, South Africa filled with about a million or so disoriented aliens, and the guy in charge of relocating them from the slum where they live to a refugee/concentration camp outside Johannesburg. The movers behind the 'eviction' are more interested in the inner workings of their weapons than on letting them leave the planet (on which they have been for about 20 years).

Without giving more of the plot, I can say that the success of this movie is how believable the subcontext is, a number of layers that give that feeling of something real with some layers of gray below the obvious villain(s)-reluctant hero device that drives the movie. In the end a number of plot points -that may have been used before in different movies- mix in a credible way leaving a bittersweet taste (and a likely sequel).

The acting of the anti-hero is superb (enhanced by the fact that he isn't a known actor) and the CGI does a brilliant job conveying the emotions of the key aliens.

This one is really a must.

YES. SOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo awesome. I can't wait to get my hands on a DVD of it.

[Opsa]

I saw "Where the Wild Things Are" this past weekend and was very surprised at how much it really isn't a childrens' film. There were some very dark and disturbing moments and things so scary that some little kids in the audience rather freaked out at times, and I don't blame them.

However, I found it to be quite intriguing and beautiful in its exploration of the facets of one boy's psyche. The monsters were impressively crafted and their expressions were exquisite. I don't know how the heck they made them fly into the air and land crashing down into the woods and onto each other so recklessly. The scenery was fiercely lovely. The kid that played Max had a wonderfully serious face.

I was not completely enchanted with the lead-in story (which was not in the original book), but that part wasn't too long and helped put a background on the reasons for young Max's voyage.

The Wild Things seemed to represent raw emotional aspects of Max's mind in combination with his experience, and even though they could be unpredictable and threatening sometimes, they could each also be very deep and thoughtful and endearing. I think maybe Max needed to face and embrace them before he felt he could go back home.

I'm still chewing on the meaning of this movie, but that's a good thing.

[pieces o nine]

I saw Where Wild Things Are  over the weekend as well. I knew they'd have to pad the story line to make a feature-length film, and I think the inserted back-story was Ok. I liked how Max was surprised to realize that some of his thoughtless pranks hurt (feelings as well as physical) the monsters just as he had felt hurt by the other's actions back home.

I was really shocked that the theater filled quickly with small children --- WHO PUT THEIR BUMS IN THEIR SEATS, KEPT THEM THERE, AND WHO KEPT QUIET!!! Yay kiddes, an thee groanhups wot razed ye!




~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One exception: the extended family which plonked in 'my' row  [always sit back row, center, if possible]  and began loud, non-stop, stream-of-consciousness monologues. About 10 minutes into the movie, I stood up and strolled to the end of the aisle, surprising myself as much as them with how much I LOOMED over the cowering little wretches. I locked eyes with granny and stated, calmly but clearly:

"There is a soundtrack. It is not you. If you cannot keep it down, I will get an usher. Is that clear?"

She snarled at me like a cornered ferret, "yes."   But the whole clan shut the heck up. Victorious, I returned to my seat, savoring the theatre-wide silence from all the other little patrons, and my own ability to tame one particular set of semi-feral children.

But. after they returned home, I hope the wild rumpus started... 

[Opsa]

Haw! Good for you. Saint Chatty would be proud.

I prefer to sit in the center back, as well, as I am a real spaz about people making a lot of noise or kicking my chair. Several little tinies broke into crying fits, but they were far away in front of me, so it didn't bug me.

I was surprised by the violence, like when the goat showed his wounds and when the bird lost his arm. That may have been too much for the littles. But I think those instances illustrated the intensity of a child's feelings.

[pieces o nine]

Thanks; I thought of her as well.   


And I agree about the film's violence, although small kids often have vivid and bizarre (violent) imagery in both sleeping and waking dreams...

I thought the stick replacing the lost wing/arm was a perfect[?] touch. It both minimized and emphasized the injury. Using something associated with innocent fun (on a snowman, for example) was really ... weird ... treated so off-handed-ly as a functional prosthesis.

Ultimately, I think it all works for kids old enough to be working through their own 'wild' impulses as part of the civilizing process of childhood.

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

I'll try to catch it (Pieces, so good to see you!), I loved Being John Malkovich and Adaptation although I was a bit wary after listening to the critic of NPR (now, he hated Watchmen, which I considered incredibly good).

No more details!

[Lindorm]

Goya's ghosts, a film directed by Milos Forman and produced by Saul Zaentz.

Oh dear, where do I begin?
This film is an attempt at portraying the later life and times of Goya, through some extraordinary events involving people close to him -or perhaps, people he would want to be close to. Goya is played by Stellan Skarsgård of all people, who mostly wanders around and looks distracted for most of the time. Javier Bardem plays the big, bad inquisitor who wanders around in a black cape and looks broodingly around him. Ines (played by Natalie Portman) is the beautiful daughter of a rich merchant, who is suspected of jewry and heresy by the inquistion and thrown intop prison, where she is interrogated by Javier Bardem in such a manner that she eventually becomes pregnant. Meanwhile, Stellan Skarsgård runs around and is a generally artistic genious who anxiously tries to be nice to everyone and stay uninvolved, and paints scandalous portraits.

Then, enter the french revolution, and cut-scene to 15 years later. Natalie Portman now plays her own daughter, who has become a prostitute and of course gets picked up by Javier Bardem's character -who, by the way, has changed his allegiances somewhat. Then, Napoleon invades, and everything is thrown into turmoil. Oh, and Goya walks around and is an artistic genious who tries to be nice to everyone and stay uninvolved, but now he has gone deaf, too.

Diverse alarums and excursions ensue, after which we end up with suitably Forman-ish emotional turmoil and philosophical musings over fate and life.

Yawn.

Sure, Javier Bardem can and does look and act really terrifying, and we do get to see a bit of naked Natalie Portman in chains, and there are some mass scenes that are very skillfully done, and the photography is in parts really beautiful, but where is the story? The Ariadne thread? The motivations of the characters, especially Goya? To me, it all felt a bit too much like "Hey, let's make a beautiful costume drama, with a bit of morality and existential philosophy to throw in, and since this is a serious movie, we can show some tits and ass, too, so let's get a young actress in there somewhere. Oh, and to show that we are really high-brow intellectual, lets throw in a bunch of references to Luis Bunuel movies, too!"

As I said, yawn. When you consider how much passion and emotion there is in the art of Goya, it is rather ironic that they have managed to make such a passion-less and lukewarm film.

Oh, and it does get quite a bit tiresome to always have Spain in the early modern age portrayed as a land of primitive bigotry and scheming, opressive cardinals.


Still, a naked Natalie Portman in chains is a naked Natalie Portman in chains, so I suppose there are those that might find some redeeming value in the movie. Me, I'll probably use the disc as a drinks coaster.