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.

No Strings Attached

broderic on February 5, 2011

If you have to see a movie with Natalie Portman doing the dirty, make it No Strings Attached rather than Black Swan. She enjoys the sex much better in No Strings Attached. You will enjoy her too as this movie gives you a chance to catch multiple glimpses of Natalie Portman skin. Not that I was looking.

In No Strings Attached, Portman plays the man role in a rom-com. She’s the one who is non-committal. Ashton Kutcher plays the girl role smitten from the beginning waiting for the right man to commit. They make for a refreshing rom-com couple. Ivan Reitman directs a script written by Elizabeth Meriwether, a woman, and he comes back with a solid effort than makes you forget his past couple of stinkers. It was the script that makes the movie.

I laughed throughout. I almost cried, but knew that this was where it was going to end. I wanted to see these two get together because I was rooting for love. I always root for love, but I don’t mind all the fun sex that lead them to love.

It’s deserving of a much higher ranking.

3 of 5 stars.

The King’s Speech

broderic on January 23, 2011

The King’s Speech tells the fascinating tale of Young Prince Albert who became King George VI father to Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. He stutters which is not good for aspiring to be King. Yet, it is hinted that his stuttering is because he doesn’t want to be King. Guy Pearce even doesn’t want to be King, and he wishes that he wouldn’t become King replacing Dumbledore. So he abdicates to sleep with that harpie from the colonies. Prince Albert assumes the kingship and must be regal. Will his speech impediment hinder him?

This movie is the story of Albert trying to live up to being royalty and to meet the challenges of the changing world. It follows his relationship with the speech therapist, Lionel Logue. The Prince wants a cure. The therapist wants the Prince to be true to himself and act as kingly as possible. They clash in styles. High-low. Commoner-king. Teacher-student. Patient-doctor.

The reluctance of the Prince to take on the mantle of the heir apparent manifests in his stuttering. The pressure is great on him. He must be great and rise up to the challenges that were facing England and the world in 1930s. The weight of the world is on the stuttering fool. He will recover with the help of the speech therapist.

I liked it. I liked that it was something in the Prince to overcome: being afraid. I liked Geoffery Rush as the Prince’s speech therapist. His character didn’t care if it was the King he was helping. They were all of the same caste. I guess it takes an Australian to not be too concerned for the social station.

I also liked the fact that Helena Bonham Carter acted. You forget that she can because she’s always directed to be over the top. As Queen mother, she is the rock base for the Prince. She loves him and wants him to be as good, as great, as she believes him to be. The love helps him. Bonham Carter makes it believable. Dial her down a notch and she becomes watchable.

You know this rating is going to bite me next January, but I really dug this film while watching it. Very well told story, good acting, and clear direction. It’s been some time that I’ve doled out the max, so here it is. Because it is all true.

5 of 5 stars

Black Swan

broderic on January 15, 2011

Black Swan is a cautionary tale for the creative types. If you seek perfection in what you do, the rigid regimen may leave you vulnerable. You can’t really play wild because it requires you to let go and be rather than act. Of course this could be dangerous as this throws all logic out the window and you’ll go crazy. Just ask Natalie Portman.

Her character can’t be perfect to play the black swan. It tears her up inside trying to find perfection in the flawed. Then it tears her up literally in order to find that spark of inspiration to be the black swan.

This movie pretty much writes itself once you know the players. In fact, I knew even before what was going to happen once you hear about Swan Lake. Portman is the quiet, mousy type who’s talented but vulnerable. Her mother, Barbara Hershey, lords over her as only a tyrannical stage mother can. The French ballet dude lords over her too making her a new star to take the place of the aging Winona Ryder. Mila Kunis comes in as the doppleganger who could be her rival and/or her lover.

I liked that Winona represented the old guard. You have the millenium generation’s ingenue replace gen-x’s gamine. Very symbolic. And lots of this movie made use of symbolic things. Swan Lake with the white swan-black swan. Old versus new. Darkness versus light. Perfection versus intuition.

One last thing, that scene, you know that scene, was pretty hot. Filmed like a nice porno. And don’t masturbate if your moms sleeping in the same room!

3 of 5 stars