I Love You, Man

broderic on April 5, 2009

“I need some fucking friends!”

Ain’t that the truth? It’s difficult to acknowledge, but yes, I need some fucking friends. Like who’s gonna be my best man at my wedding. I don’t know Lou Ferrigno, so he’s out of the question.

I Love You, Man. Good flick. It had me laughing. And that’s all I needed for the last couple of days. A few good laughs. And some buddies to share it with.

4 of 5 stars.

Monsters vs Aliens IMAX 3-D

broderic on April 2, 2009

What’s old is new again.

Last Saturday, I needed a pick me up so what better way than to catch mindless drivel at the local movie emporium. Of course, by local, I mean something within a 20 mile drive. In the middle of breakfast, I decided I wanted to catch Monsters vs Aliens in three dimensions. So I drive to the local IMAX three dimension movie palace and join the morning crowd. Supposedly, all showings before noon should’ve been $5, but the premium that is IMAX cost be the same price as a regular ticket. Was this worth it?

Three dimensions is a farce. It doesn’t add anything to the film. It’s a gimmick to get you into the theatre. It worked. The depth of field is pretty cool. They did use the hokey “it’s coming at you” shots, but overall you don’t notice too much overt third dimension hokeum. Yet, I can’t but think that this doesn’t add much to the movie going experience. Sometimes it distracts when scrolling too fast.

The character design of Ginormica was freaky. I like manga, shoujo manga, with creepily big eyes, but Ginormica was disturbing. Must be because I she also reminded me of the girl in Bolt. Do studios share the same computer file for every woman character out there?

As far as story, I really dig the science fiction aspect. You had to be familiar with all the 50s monster movies to get all the monster references: the creature from the black lagoon, the blob, the fly, and Mothra. And Mothra… errr Insectasauros was pure fun. The story reminded me of The Incredibles. The writing reminded me that at least DreamWorks toned down their need to reference pop culture and made a movie that will transcend this day and age.

3 of 5 stars.

Quote of the Day [3.25.09]

broderic on March 25, 2009

“The world is divided into two kinds of people, those who have friends and those who are lonely like poor Tuco.”

Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez aka The Rat (Eli Wallach), “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly”

Quote of the Day [3.22.09]

broderic on March 22, 2009

“Run and hide, asshole. Run and hide. If you should be picked up next week buying a hundred-thousand dollar sports car in Newport Beach, I am going to be supremely disappointed. Because I want my people to find you, and when they do, rest assured we are not going to hand you over to the police. So my advice to you again is this: run and hide. That is all that I ask.”

Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), Ocean’s Eleven

Adventures From My Netflix Queue: Millennium Actress

broderic on March 18, 2009

It took me three sitting, but I finally finished Millenium Actress. The first time it put me to sleep in twenty minutes. The second time just under ten. This last time was the pure sitting and then I found out how good of a love story it was.

Millennium Actress is an animated film by Satoshi Kon. He’s another celebrated Japanese animation director famous for Paprika and Three Godfathers. I’ve seen Paprika but didn’t think anything of it. I’ve partially seen Three Godfathers but didn’t think anything of it. I almost didn’t finish this film, but glad I did. Satoshi Kon while not as great as Miyazawa is a cut above Makoto Shinkai.

In Millennium Actress, a documentary crew goes to interview the reclusive titular actress, Chiyoko Fukiwara. Her story is told in flashbacks that are filmed like the movies she starred in. It plays around with the settings. What era are we in? Is this one of her movies? Are they saying the script or what she said in real life? And her story is one of finding the love of her life. She helps an left-leaning artist escape for a time from the police and falls in love with him. She doesn’t seem him again until she follows him to Manchuria under the guise of being an actress. But the times are tough for them to meet as war follows and he is imprisoned because of his politics.

The movie plays out in how she yearns to reunite with him. She lives her life always looking for him and a chance to find him once again.

There is a prop that reminds me of Notorious. It is a key that Chiyoko longs to return to her love. And just like the key to the wine cellar in Notorious that was given back to Hitchcock from Ingrid Bergman at a celebration before he died. I liked how Millenium Actress reminded me of that.

One thing I love about animation is that it can tell many stories well. It is a stylistic choice that a strong creative person can use to great effect. I wish it would expand from the children story ghetto we’ve currently got it slotted into in the US.

4 of 5 stars.

He’s Just Not That Into You

broderic on March 16, 2009

I was dragged kicking and screaming to He’s Just Not That Into You. Do I have to know how foolish we make ourselves out to be as we try to find that special person?

No.

With that being said, it was a strange movie that reveled in dating tropes that it tried so hard to make fun of. I guess that it is difficult, because we are all fools once. (Twice a fool is just stupid.)

3 of 5 stars.

Watchmen

broderic on March 16, 2009

Watchmen is a movie. And it’s a comic book, or in a more haughty phrase, a graphic novel. It’s one hell of film though.

It’s an adaptation of one of the most revered comic books. It sticks to it very much. There’s a lot of talking. Not much action which is funny for a comic book movie. Yet, it was trying to capture what the comic book was all about.

Who was a hero? Rorschach, looking for the killer, but is too indebted to his honor system and world of good-bad, black-white, is done pretty well. The Comedian is plenty fascistic. The Night Owl finds himself grows from sad sack to kick ass. Dr. Manhattan and his blue organ blow shit up. Silk Spectre is pretty bad ass herself. Ozymandias is effeminate and cruel.

It’s a good movie I’ll admit, but I am a geek at heart.

The music was incongruous. It got in the way because it wasn’t period.

4 of 5 stars.