Argo

broderic on October 17, 2012

When did Ben Affleck become a decent director? He competently directed Gone, Baby, Gone and The Town. Now with Argo he’s directed a nice 70’s period piece of the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

Argo is about the incredibly incredulous story of how the US got six US Iranian Embassy workers out of Iran during the Hostage Crisis in 1979. Ben Affleck as a CIA agent who specializes in extraditing US people from harrowing situations. He comes up with the craziest way to get these hostages out: a Canadian Star Wars ripoff movie, Argo. He’s going to go into Iran, scout out locations using the hostages as his “crew,” and walk right out of there. Just like Ocean’s 11.

Not a bad flick. It had me on the edge of my seat in the final third of the movie as I waited with bated breath on the escapees being busted. Except I knew that they escaped. It would’ve been known better as part of the Iranian Hostage Crisis. Sort of like the crash and burn helicopter rescue. They made it and it receded from my memory until this move brought it back in glorious 70’s moustaches.

One final note, the CIA agent, Tony Mendez, is the father of Toby Mendez, the sculptor of the statues at Camden Yards.

4 of 5 stars.

Looper

broderic on October 3, 2012

Looper, with or without the Quint voice, is a perfectly serviceable time travel movie. There’s holes in the loop if you think about it, but like every other time travel movie, there is always that problem. If you had to send one actor back to the past, Bruce Willis is your man. If you had to have one actor be a young Bruce Willis, it would’ve been better with a CGI young Bruce Willis rather than the prosthetic laden Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

3 of 5 stars

“What kind of cruel charity charges orphans $500 to eat dinner?”

broderic on September 10, 2012

The Words

The Words reminded me of Atonement. It’s a story told by a writer writing at a keyboard. Yet, it’s about three writers. The first one we see is the main character, followed by the actual author of the main character’s novel, followed by the author of the book from which the main character is from. It’s 3 stories, but it could be one.

The Words is about a writer who finds a manuscript and gets it published under his own name. Then the writer of the manuscript shows up. It is all told through the point of view of the author writing the story of the writer and the actual writer.

It is like Inception, a story within a story within a story. Who’s story it is is left up to you the audience.

I thought it was the main writer who was writing about himself. But then the movie ended and I had to write this lame review up. Anyhow, it’s not so good of a movie as it tries to make it’s appeal through the interplay of stories, but falls short. Especially, in the end.

2 of 5 stars.

The Expendables 2

broderic on August 21, 2012

I never saw the first one, because I believe that with a movie like The Expendables 2 you don’t need the first to know what’ll happen with the second. Of course, with big bangs and explosions, that’s all you really need to know about The Expendables 2.

The plot was also expendable. It had something to do with stolen Russian radioactive material. These terrorists need to be stopped. They will be stopped by Stallone and company. Van Damme was the baddy. There was a cameo by Chuck Norris. Schwarzenegger and Willis reprise their roles from the first one (at least that’s what I got from watching the first movie’s trailer on YouTube).

I turned off my mind and watched the pretty explosions. Although, there was a lot of CGI blood spurts and bad CGI head asplosions. It was all so funny. So very, very funny.

2 of 5 stars.

The Bourne Legacy

broderic on August 15, 2012

You never knew that there were so many secret super soldier programs in the US military industrial complex until you see The Bourne Legacy. Every branch of the service has their own not to mention the 3 letter agencies. Jason Bourne was just a tip of the iceberg; there’s plenty more where he came from. Just go down the block. You’ll find another.

The Bourne Legacy is all about Jason Bourne, and what he means to all the super soldier programs that have not been revealed. It takes place alongside the final two films of the previous trilogy as the secret of Treadstone/Black Briar is revealed. It means that Jeremy Renner’s super soldier program is compromised, and it’s showrunners, Ed Norton and Stacy Keach, have to shut it down before it, too, is brought before a Senate committee. They’ll shut it down by killing everything associated with it, as if you didn’t know. Never work on a secret super soldier program or be a secret super soldier, because they’ll terminate your contract with extreme prejudice.

Renner, in my opinion, is the perfect next Bourne. Every time I see him, I expect something drastic to happen, something bad. He’s always on edge. You know something bad was coming. Something like a heat seeking missile! Boom! There goes the super soldiers!

And they also had to eliminate the other workers, too. What a job. So Rachel Weisz had to run like Lola; and her story arc was similar. Is there a chance that she’ll make it through the next Bourne movie alive? Repeat. At least we know that they’ll have a decent life in the PI.

3 of 5 stars.

The Dark Knight Rises

broderic on July 31, 2012

You know how much I hated the previous installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, so it should come as a surprise that I found The Dark Knight Rises more palatable. Maybe I’m getting use to Nolan?

The main difference between the two Dark Knight films is that this one is actually as comic booky as could be. There’s a guy with a mask that talks funny, and it ain’t Darth Vader. There’s all kinds of comic book action: Batman gets his back broken! Then there’s all kinds of comic book plots like the back stabbing (literally!) twist in the end. Of course, I never read any Batman books so it all came as a surprise to me.

In the end though, it was decent but The Avengers kicks its ass.

3 of 5 stars.

The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya

broderic on July 30, 2012

This past weekend was the big anime convention in Baltimore, Otakon. One of their guests was the infamous Aya Hirano. She’s the voice actress for Haruhi Suzumiya. While there is no word about a third season of Haruhi, we still got the light novels. The latest light novel, The Intrigues of Haruhi Suzumiya.

Now the light novels in this series have followed a pattern after the first installment. There are two books of short stories followed by one book with a feature length story. The last feature length book, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, was the best so far. It featured Yuki in moe mode. The Intrigues comes a close second, and it featured Mikuru Asahina the moe maid of the SOS Brigade. While she could never beat out Yuki, Mikuru is so moe that you just got to love her like Kyon does.

The Intrigues follows Kyon as he finally goes back to save himself as he had done in Disappearance. Then he comes back to meet a version of Mikuru from eight days in the future sent back to the past by his future self. The bulk of the book involves adventures with eight day future Mikuru. Why did Kyon send her back from the future? And how does any of this have to do with the older, future, curvier Mikuru? Read the book as it was a great read.

This book added depth to the Haruhi universe. It expands the cast with the addition of an opposing faction against each of the SOS Brigade members. There’s a faction of time travelers who oppose Mikuru’s group. There’s a faction of ESPers that oppose Itsuki’s Agency. There’s another sentient alien being — Yuki watch out! It plays as a set up for the latter novels and makes the setting greater.

I sped through this book on my trip to Germany. I finished it up early in the week and I regret not having reread it again immediately. I even read it after having a few litres of beer!

After reading this installment of Haruhi, I wish to see another season of the anime. It would be awesome to get the rest of the short stories filled out, then we can get another Haruhi movie from this book. Please, please, please Kyo-ani, more Haruhi anime.

Torrented: K-ON!

broderic on July 26, 2012

It’s been a long time since K-ON!! but finally K-ON! (the movie) has seen our shores. So in its legal form, K-ON! (the movie) will take another year to reach here. Come on Sentai and hurry up with the official US releases.

To catch up with the girls from Hokago Tea Time, it’s Mugi, Mio, Yui, Ritsu, and Azu-nyan doing their whole lot of nothing on a trip to London. But we also get to see them craft their song for Azusa, which is the best part.

The movie operates as a bridge from just after the Blu-Ray only episode 27 and takes us right to the end of their last day at school, episode 24. The girls decide to go on an after graduation trip, and use their pet turtle, Ton-chan, to decide where to go. It’s London just in time for the Olympics! They get into cute situations involving revolving sushi and Otokon in London. Yui spends lots of time thinking about the song. Azusa fears Yui is yuri. Mio watches circles. Mugi does as Mugi does. Ojo-sama. Ritsu? Not so much buchou as buchou!

Loved it. I miss their antics and thank kami-sama, we got a last few episodes. Yes, it was just like the show. Not too much and the small thread that kept it together made it bittersweet. There was some more music, and Death Devil was there. Sawa-chan-sensei rocks! Where’s my normal Sawako-sensei nendoroid in full Death Devil garb? The played some music: in London, twice, for their classmates in class, and for Azusa.

I guess I am going to have to save this to iPhone as well.

Fuwa fuwa time!

4 of 5 stars.

The animation was great too.

The Amazing Spiderman

broderic on July 6, 2012

If there was one movie I didn’t think about wanting to watch this summer, it had to be The Amazing Spiderman. Why would I want to watch another Spiderman movie after the lameness that was the third? I was hoping for something beyond the standard origin story, but it was a true reboot and started right from the spider’s bite. Why? Didn’t we tread these plots already? What more can we get from another Spidey movie?

Emma Stone. Zettai Ryouiki. ‘Nuff said.

We first glimpse Emma Stone as the brainy Gwen Stacy in over the knee socks. We catch her again in over the knee socks later on in the film. She only gets up to grade B zettai ryouiki only, but zettai ryouiki anyway. I think I would watch it again just for that.

Beyond the titillation in seeing absolute territory, the movie was surprisingly decent. Overlook the fact that we have another origin story, we get the next Spidey villain, the Lizard. He’s just a regular scientist looking to merge animal DNA with human DNA for some purpose to help humanity, and to give himself an arm. Peter Parker helps him play God. The scientist merges with lizard DNA to make a reptile monster who is hellbent on making everyone a reptile too. Spidey has to stop him along with cutie Gwen Stacy. He does and did. You already know that. But does Gwen Stacy get the boy? Or at least live? You’ll have to watch it. (For the zettai ryouiki!)

3 of 5 stars.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

broderic on July 6, 2012

Yes, I went to see Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter even though I can’t stand vampire stories. I went because the brown eyed beauty, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, plays Mary Todd Lincoln. I went because the greatest US President, Abe Lincoln, hunts vampires. Let me say that again: the 16th President of the United States of America hunted vampires while prosecuting the war against the treasonous South. Come to think of it those traitorous sons of bitches allied themselves with the demons of the night; they are what caused this war. Down with Confederates and the South that supported it.

Anyhow, it was rather funny to see Honest Abe tackling vampire hunting with so much gusto. He swung an axe just as hard to crush vampire skulls as he did splitting wooden rails. He was quite effective.

Why was it that Abe Lincoln was the only one who aged? Was everyone else a vampire? Even Mary Todd?!

Down with the South! Down with the Confederacy of traitors! Down with vampires!

3 of 5 stars.