The Informant!

broderic on October 3, 2009

The Informant! is Homer Simpson. Most everytime that Matt Damon opened his mouth and talked about ADM I was thinking that he was Homer Simpson brought to life on the big screen. The cluelessness and the profound stupidity was all there. Matt Damon can do no wrong in channelling the buffoon, Homer Simpson.

The only problem Matt Damon is Matt Damon. I could not get past fat Matt Damon to imagine the actual protagonist which distracted me all movie long because he was supposed to be portraying a real man. Fat Matt Damon is still Matt Damon rather than the guy who brought ADM ignominy.

The film though was awkward. It was rated R, but I don’t think there was any profanity, nudity, violence, or adult themes to warrant that rating. It was supposed to be a comedy, but wasn’t of the Something about Mary type. It was very Coen-ish. It looked like the seventies, with clothes from the eighties, taking place in the nineties, and funky sixties fonts. The story was rambling. I couldn’t tell the time frame when the actual events took place. Did he meet with the FBI months later? Or was it next week? No idea, because it all seemed to take place in a compressed time frame. One scene wasn’t directly related to another scene in time. Awkward.

In the end, the film sorta rambled then it ends. It’s an ending at least.

2 of 5 stars.

Extract

broderic on October 1, 2009

Because I’ve seen another movie since I saw this one, I have to write up my thoughts and/or review on the latest Mike Judge film, Extract. But, for real, I completely forgot I saw this film until TheSeed, as we were leaving the theatre reminded me.

Extract follows the same Mike Judge movie release M.O: A misleading ad campaign, a less than stellar opening weekend, an early, ignominious exit. Maybe it would follow the rest of his other movies and become a hit on video and constant rotation on Comedy Central. Maybe. It’s got a chance. It fits right in after Waiting and before Employee of the Month.

The bad ad campaign starts with the misleading idea that Mila Kunis is the love mistress there to steal Jason Bateman’s heart. She’s there, but her story is completely different.

The movie is terrible. Not very funny. Completely forgettable. Don’t watch until it comes on Comedy Central. Although, it did make Kristen Wiig look kind of cute. But that’s not enough.

2 of 5 stars.

崖の上のポニョ

broderic on August 25, 2009

Ponyo or in the romanji, Gake no ue no Ponyo, is another of Hayao Miyazaki fantastic movies. He’s the last of the animators that still believes in hand drawn animation. It is difficult to find it being used as the medium in the US, but in Japan with its lively anime scene, hand drawn still seems to be a cherished medium. John Laseter agrees considering that it is his Disney that has been releasing the latest Studio Ghibli films, and he has a Disney hand drawn animated film coming out soon.

As for Ponyo, it isn’t as great as Miyazaki’s latest films. It isn’t as awe inspiring as Spirited Away, and it isn’t as cute as Totoro, yet, there is still some charm in it. And still some fantastic imagery.

The scene of Ponyo running on the waves. The joy in her face. The waves cresting and moving. Fun. Exciting. Something that hand drawn animation seems to get done very well. There is an organic quality to these scenes, and for me it illicits a feeling of fun.

As for the story, it was okay. Another of Miyazaki’s meditation of the human-nature conflict. And transformation of the human soul. And it hints at Yellow Submarine.

Still pretty good. I want to hear the original Japanese seiyu.

3 of 5 stars.

District 9

broderic on August 21, 2009

District 9 was supposedly consolation for the director in the cancellation of The Halo movie. Maybe the last half of the movie was left over from the screen play. It started as a faux documentary on the political problems with immigration of aliens (from another planet). Then the script changes into the standard summer shoot ’em up: the Halo Movie. Should the movie had changed? I don’t know, but it happens every time in the summer. They need the action. Abandon the story.

And what did they abandon? Some logic. Why would aliens make alien technology weapons that are awesome, then just roll over when the po-po come to kick them out? Why would aliens need to horde human weapons? Why wouldn’t aliens just be taking over the planet? No sense.

Meh. It’s just another summer movie. Turn your brain off and go enjoy the aircon.

3 of 5 stars.

Adventures From My Netflix Queue: Amélie

broderic on August 17, 2009

I didn’t plan on blogging the movies I saw today, but a scene in Amélie was directly copied in Ghanjani. It’s kind of weird to notice these things. Similar to Julius Caesar from yesterday. Is it coincidence?

The scene: The girl helps out a blind man.

She spots him lonely on the curb. Then she goes to help him. Takes him by the hand. Leads him to his destination all the while describing what she sees. She gives a running commentary on life being led around them.

In both movies, it signifies something important in the girl. In Ghanjani the girl is carefree, and shows her kindness as helping towards others: it comes naturally. In Amélie, the girl needs to become carefree and she slowly comes out of her shell.

Qué un shell!! Audrey Tautou is plain cuteness personified like an anime girl come to life. Moe in French.

Amélie is a charming movie. Love and the search for love will always be fun to watch. When the girl is as cute as Tautou it’s even more charming. When her character is as shy as that, I’m easily charmed. Reminds me of all the quiet, shy anime girls I so dig. (Mio! Yakomo!) You just want her to find that love. The search is darn cute as well. Find the man. Give him clues. Show him you love him. It’s as easy as that. Where’s my quiet anime French girl in my life.

3 of 5 stars.

Hunh!?

broderic on August 16, 2009

This should be tweeted, but your limited to 140 characters.

I’m watching Ghanjani, some BollyWood film on iFC. It starts off as rip-off of Memento: some guy with amnesia looking for the killer of his girl.

And then like all Bollywood films, the singing kicks in. We’re now in some romantic comedy showing the back story of how the guy with amnesia falls in love with the girl. It’s a case of mistake identity. And singing.

When will it get back to the thriller?

UPDATE WITH REVIEW:
I was just looking for something to watch this morning as I was waking up, and I decided to check out one of the free channels that I get on DirectTV. It’s the Independent Film Channel, iFC, showing their Sunday Bollywood programming. I let the station play as I was more interested in the morning’s news on the blogs. That is until, that dude decided to beat some guy up. Then I was intrigued about the movie. Then they started in with the singing. And the movie went from some thriller to romantic comedy.

She was a struggling model low on her ad agency’s actress list. He was the scion of the big telecom company. He’s come back from America to take charge of the family business. She is somehow linked to him. She pretends he’s her boyfriend. It works and she becomes the darling of the ad agency. They do finally meet. Cute. She thinks he’s an aspiring actor. She helps him get a job with her clout. They sing and dance.

Then we go back to finding out how she dies. And we’re back into Memento land and the bad ass kicking ass theme.

I was more interested in the romantic comedy. I wonder if that would make a better movie.

3 of 5 stars

Pulled From the Shelves: Shall We ダンス?

broderic on August 13, 2009

Pulled from the shelves is going to be some musings on a film from my vast library. Okay, it really isn’t vast, but it’s spilling out all over my house. Perhaps it’s time to invest in some DVD sleeves and recycle the boxes.

The first installment in this retrospect of my collection is a look at the Japanese Academy Award winner for Best Picture of 1997, Shall We Dansu? I don’t remember getting this one, but I found it sitting on my television still encased in plastic. It must’ve been when I bought some books from Amazon, as Marge at the FishTank, reminded me on Twitter.

If you hadn’t seen it, you may have seen the recent remake with J-Lo and Richard Gere. It has the same plot. A salaryman, slave to the grind seeks something outside of work and family to make him happy and relieve his ennui. He happens to see a beautiful, young woman looking forlornly out of the window of a dance studio. For a week, he catches sight of her every day from his the train home until one day he decides to find her. He at first approaches dance just to meet her. When he does finally have a chance to be alone with her, she rejects his advances and tells him that he is mistaken if he took up dance just for her. He accepts the rejection and puts his heart into dancing so much so that he begins to participate in amateur ballroom dance competitions.

All this time his wife suspects him to be having an affair. He’s no longer depressed and he smells of perfume when he comes home late. She hires a detective who informs her of his passion for dancing and who ends up finding passion in dance as well. She’s jealous.

He on the other hand is ashamed. Close dancing is unexpected in Japanese society. He doesn’t want anyone to find out about his dancing. A colleague at work also is a ballroom dancer, and he too hides it from everyone.

Our salaryman is also ashamed about finding happiness outside of his marriage. He doesn’t like to make his wife jealous. His obligation makes it too much to continue dance, but the rhythm calls. It calls for him, not just the pretty dance instructor.

Sorry about the spoilers.

The feeling I got from watching the dancing in this movie (maybe also, from the movie itself) is exhilaration. It looks like fun. I likened the feeling to riding my bike. It must be really fun! And especially, if you have a partner. Sometimes I feel like taking dance lessons. It looks like fun. It must be exhilarating to be in the embrace of a girl moving together to the music. And just like our salaryman, dancing may bring out the life in me.

So, I was glad to pull this film out of my library. I’ll gladly watch it again. In fact, I’m watching it again right now.

4 of 5 stars

(500) Days of Summer

broderic on July 29, 2009

At the beginning of (500) Days of Summer, the film makers intentionally allude to the fact that what you are about to see is a work of fiction, and the story is not about anyone real. While they played it as a joke, sometimes you can imagine yourself in the story. You may feel that you resemble a Summer Finn or you may feel that you resemble a Tom Hanson. There’s a little of both of them in all of us. Unless you are dead to love inside.

The movie is about Tom and Summer and their days in and out of love. The movie wants to avoid any romantic comedy clichés, but does pack some in. The meet cute: “I love the Smiths.” Awww. The fatefulness of love: it works not as you expect, but it does. The quirky sidekicks: no its the guys this time not the girl. The cliché are there, but inverted. I watch a lot and know about romantic comedies and these just jump right out at me. The film makers wanted to hide it but it’s there.

They also hide the tale of the relationship. Yes, they meet and then they break up. The why is harder to grasp. “We fight a lot?” Really? Show me. “I didn’t feel like I wanted to.” Really? Show me where you didn’t. If you put the scenes in chronological order will it show why they broke up? I felt like I missed it. They could’ve made it more clearer.

The writers did a good job at capturing love as seen by a sappy boy. I could be that sappy boy. I too have notions of ideal love. Perhaps looking for too perfect love. I’ll never find it. I credit the writers for making such a realistic story. I’ll not credit myself for feeling so like a Tom Hanson.

What’s there not to like about the film? I didn’t like the happy ending. I didn’t like that love can conquer all at least that is what I got from how Tom broke out of his funk. Yes. Breakups shouldn’t always be good for you. They’re bad. Why does his sister have to be so smart? During the opening credits, I couldn’t believe that a soccer player that young could like The Smiths and the Jesus and Mary Chain. No kid listening to that music looked like that when I was growing up.

What’s good? “She likes Magritte and Hopper.” Hmm-hm. I wish they all could be.

3 of 5 stars.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

broderic on July 20, 2009

Leaving the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, I was livid in what they had done to the story. They pealed away the best parts (IMNHO) of the book that of Tom Riddle and the how and the why he became Voldemort. They also took out the fireworks, the battle at Hogwarts. What was left was a 2.5 hour prequel to the final book and to the two final movies. It just didn’t have to be that way.

This adaptation loses the context to what is going on in the wizarding world. The stakes were raised since the last movie as the resurrection of Voldemort meant increasing conflict with the muggle world, but except, for the opening, you don’t get the tension between our muggle and the wizarding world. It is glossed over and meant to have been extrapolated by those that have read the books. The danger to our world is part of the reason that Harry and his allies must defeat Voldemort. The bad want to inflict harm on us muggles. The good wants to live in harmony. The high stakes are not laid out in the movie.

For me, the high stakes are what was central to the books. Not only is it about Harry Potter, but it is about the wizarding world co-existing in our universe. It is about Hermione and Ron, Harry’s pals who end up falling for each other. It’s about the Weasleys and Ginny. It’s about the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore’s Army, and augurs. It’s about the long line of Hogwart’s head masters. It’s about Tom Riddle and Voldemort, and Snape and the Deatheaters. It’s more than just Harry Potter.

But the movies don’t give us that. For me, the books progressed from being about Harry to being about his world. He wasn’t always the most interesting character. It was the others around him that made him interesting, and his nemesis, Tom Riddle was the most interesting of all. The story expanded around Harry in the books, but the story seems to coalesce around him in the movies. Just as the story gets interesting, the movie jettisons those elements that make it more interesting in order to tell Harry’s tale. It’s like a meal without salt: there’s something off about the taste.

When I got home, I had to read the last chapters of the HBP to remind me of how good the book was. I got the battle at Hogwarts details wrong. Yet, I decided to put the book on my night stand, to read it again and to remember that a story about Harry Potter is more than just about him but of his world.

3 of 5 stars.