Thor

broderic on May 7, 2011

Caught the noon showing of Thor in a relatively packed house. It is rare to misjudge people’s enthusiasm for a movie. I thought no one was going to watch so I went a couple of minutes before the start. I rolled into the parking lot and found a lot of cars; these must be for the earlier show. They were also for my own show. I had to sit up front.

This is the best Natalie Portman movie so far this year. The god of thunder became the god of love under her gaze.

The story is about redemption and humility. In order to gain the throne, Thor must show that he is deserving. He may rule at war, but is he wise in the ways of ruling? Is he deserving of the throne? Only if he’s cast out of Asgard into the mortal world of Midgard can he find his way back.

I sort of dug this version of Thor. It is filled with really good actors for an comic book movie. Stellan Skarsgard, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Renee Russo, and Natalie Portman all bring a weight to this movie that revolves around kingly dealings. A lot better cast that can handle the comic-ness of this all.

3 of 5 stars.

Water For Elephants

broderic on April 23, 2011

Tonight’s Orioles game was postponed so I ended up at the movies to catch Water For Elephants with Mom. I don’t know which I was dreading more those Damn Yankees drubbing our Orioles or a Robert Pattinson movie. I hate those Damn Yankees, but I think I would prefer that than this movie.

Robert Pattinson is Jacob. Go Team Jacob! He’s a Polish veterinary student who ends up in the small time circus. At first, he’s just a carnie, but later is hired on to look after the animals especially the eponymous elephant who will bring fame and fortune to the circus owner/ringleader. Of course, he falls for the owner’s wife. Cristoph Waltz is the ringleader and he’s still a Nazi; this time manic depressive. It is a classic love triangle story. I’m giving you a cursory summation of the plot, but you can guess how it all ends.

Pattinson’s Jacob was barely out of college. Living in upstate New York, he is naive to the ways of the circus. They’re freaks, clowns, grifters and movers who know the world better than him. Pattinson’s Jacob just wanders the circus wide eyed. Even after joining the family circus, he’s still naive. I couldn’t believe Reese Witherspoon’s Marlena would fall for him. I just couldn’t believe Pattinson’s acting. He witnesses Waltz’s iron fist control of the circus, and he gaily strolls into the love triangle believing he was the better man. It made me shake my head, roll my eyes, and sigh wishing he would get a clue. Is that how the book went? I bet it read better.

I wanted to get out of the theatre in order to read the book.

2 of 5 stars

Your Highness

broderic on April 16, 2011

Did I watch Your Highness or was I high and imagined it all?

I really did. Those days are behind me.

It’s not as bad as the reviews have made it out to be. It’s a spoof on sword and sorcery films from the 80s. James Franco was hilarious. The robot bird was funny too. Danny McBride is always good for a few chuckles. Rasmus Hardiker, the McBride’s squire, was funny as well perhaps the funniest of them all. Natalie Portman in another film was saddled with silliness, but it’s good that she talks non-serious roles. Wasn’t she the Oscar winner for Best Actress? Hunh?

Anyway, it’s not so bad. Get high and I bet it would be funnier. At least the lecherous puppet wizard was strange and funny.

3 of 5 stars.

Source Code

broderic on April 5, 2011

Source Code is a science fiction film of the time paradox mode. Can you travel back in time and kill your grandfather and still live? Can you travel back in time into another body and live on afterwards?

The Source Code is the capability to travel back in time from the remnants of a dead brain. You go back in time because of a brain in a jar. It also helps if you were one as well.

This movie reminded me a little bit about 12 Monkeys or La Jetée. Go back in time to save the future.

Not the best movie, but not the worst. I’ll forget about this in a few weeks. Luckily, I’m blogging it.

3 of 5 stars.

Sucker Punch

broderic on March 26, 2011

Last year Roger Ebert stirred the up the internet when he stated his opinion that video games can never be art. The internet came down on Roger Ebert and made him change his mind, or at least see the error of his ways. I think with Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch the internet may owe him an apology.

Like movies and entertainment in the 90s being influenced by MTV and it’s hyper-kinetic cuts, movies and entertainment in 00s have been influenced by video games. If they weren’t art at their dawn, they have been accepted by the majority of geeks so that they are an art form by default. Their aesthetics have been incorporated in many other forms of entertainment and sometimes that ain’t a good thing.

One of my favorite movies from last year, Scott Pilgrim v. The World is movie with some video game. Sucker Punch isn’t a movie, but a video game.

It opens with a long silent segment evocative of those opening cut scenes of video games. This establishes the background of various characters and aids in giving them motivation for some of the story. Then it gets to the place where the game takes place. Baby Doll has to escape from the loony bin. There’s a little bit of set up before she get the clues on how to escape. Eventually, she must defeat a boss in order to score the equipment to get her out of there. Very routine video game fodder.

The problem with Sucker Punch is that it wasn’t a video game, but a movie and the story it had to tell was very shallow and uninteresting. So were the characters all stock and cardboard thin. Nothing to care about.

This movie reminds me of Inception. It is a product of the director. Zack Snyder made up the whole story just as Nolan did Inception. And like Inception, it is also a gamble in that it isn’t based on a previous entertainment property no comic book, no novel, no tv show. It must live and die on its own. I admire that. Story telling isn’t dead in Hollywood just that the story its telling is.

Is Sucker Punch misogynistic? I’ve read several reviews that say it is. I can’t really say, but I imagine that the actresses loved to do that action stuff that the boys are always doing. Sometimes it looks as if they enjoyed themselves. Is that empowerment? Is the fact that the bad guys are all men and shown in a demeaning light a case against misogyny? Does the beating of women and glorifying it the case for misogyny? You’ll have to decide yourself.

Neo as the One in Matrix. Baby Doll as the one in Sucker Punch.

Here’s to hoping we don’t get nothing but Baby Doll’s for Halloween. Seifuku is awesome and blue seifuku is awesome as well. But nothing beats the zettai ryouiki. Yes. That’s probably why I wanted to watch this film so badly. I also hoped that Baby Doll was tsundere. She wasn’t.

I’m gonna give it a medium score because I found some of the action fun. The train scene. Like Michael Bay, Snyder has his own style. It’s ridiculous and like wanting to seen the Baysian twirl, you can’t wait for the Snyder slow-fast-slow-fast fight scenes and the train scene is his Mona Lisa perfect in every way. I think it would make me watch it again just for that fight. Anyway, it was this fight and zettai ryouiki brings the score up out from 2 to 3, but just barely.

3 of 5 stars

Battle: Los Angeles

broderic on March 21, 2011

It is true about what the critics have been saying about Battle: Los Angeles. It really is a movie made up of all the action flick cliche’s you’ve already seen.

Let’s check off some movies that Battle: Los Angeles is indebted to. Black Hawk Down, Alien, Aliens, District 9, Saving Private Ryan, Bourne Identity, 300, ID4, Transformers, War of the Worlds, Avatar. The list goes on and on. I even threw in movies I’m not so sure was in there, but no doubt with squinty eyes they can be.

That said I enjoyed it still. This will be one of those movies on TNT or TBS that you’ll watch whenever its on.

3 of 5 stars.

The Adjustment Bureau

broderic on March 11, 2011

Did you know that The Adjustment Bureau was based off a Philip K. Dick short story? You could almost see a bit of the Dick in the movie, but it wasn’t paranoid enough. A group of people who watch over everyone, you find out about them, and you don’t look over your shoulder every damn day of your life? I’m just saying that it could’ve used a little bit more paranoia.

But what it really could use less of was the rom-com aspect to the plot. I thought I was watching Serendipity. There were rom-com plot points galore. They meet cute. They do well together. He breaks her hear. They make up. Fate! They were meant to be together!

So imagine this movie that was slightly funny for the rom-com aspects, throw in a little bit of Dick paranoia, and then spin in the science fiction aspect of it with the path keeper overlords, what have you got? Something that confuses my mom. Me? I was laughing all movie long. It’s the rom-comedy in me.

Needs more sci-fi and Philip K. Dick.

3 of 5 stars.

Short Shrift

broderic on March 4, 2011

God of Love put a smile on my face. It’s this year’s Oscar winner for Live Action Short, and the director and star, Luke Methany, had IMO the best acceptance speech. It was also produced by a Filipina, so it’s got a lot of good karma going for it.

The story centers around the main guy, a singer, looking to fall in love with his drummer who has the hots for the guitarist who is also the lead’s best friend. The singer prays to the gods for guidance in love and he receives it in the form of cupid’s darts. Did I mention he’s also an accurate dart player? He’ll use these darts to bring love and happiness to his life and the lives of others.

I had purchased this short on iTunes along with a few others last week before the Oscar telecast. This was the best of the bunch. Let’s Pollute, an animated short, tried hard to satirize our wasteful ways by assuming the guise of a 50s ‘how-to’ cartoon. It was too heavy handed and quickly became a one note tune. The Crush was about a boy and his crush on his school teacher. I had picked this to win, but knew immediately when I started watching it that it was a terrible choice. It was predictable. I wondered how it could’ve gotten a nomination.

That’s my Oscar shorts. I think I want to catch the Illusionist.

God of Love 4 of 5 stars.
Let’s Pollute 3 of 5 stars.
The Crush 2 of 5 stars.

Morning Tense

broderic on February 26, 2011

Watching The Gunfighter on AMC. It’s pretty tense. Jimmy Ringo, a notorious gunslinger rides into Cheyenne to woo his girl back. Everyone is gunning for him: the three brothers of the last idiot who went up against him, the local tough guy, the loafers at the bar, the kids hooking school. Everyone is except the girl he wants back. Soon, they’ll all cross paths.

The movie is pretty well written as expressed by getting an Oscar nomination. Sometimes its witty banter. And other times its the tension building.

I’m actually enthralled.

Unknown

broderic on February 23, 2011

Yup, I contributed to Unknown winning the box office bonanza for this past weekend. It was the number one movie grossing $25+ million. I wasn’t the only one as the Sunday matinee was packed. Lots of old, white folks. They switched from Owings Mills to Hunt Valley.

Anyway, without spoiling it too much, the movie was a complete Jason Bourne ripoff. Oops. I said too much.

It was very confusing when the twists started happening. Just what was Liam Neeson’s motivation supposed to be? Thinking more about it. A lot of the twists don’t make any sense because it completely wrecks any character motiviation as to why they played each other for the fool. I was expecting a nice little thriller in the Hitchcock mode. What I got was Bourne Identity 2: Married with Children.

2 of 5 stars.