She’s Out of Your League

broderic on March 18, 2010

She’s Out of Your League makes explicit the conceit of the Macho Chick Flick: “How does he end up with her?” It’s right there in the title. A hottie, 10, hooks takes out the nerdly 5, they hit it off, and believe that they are right for each other. Will they believe to make it right? Will their friends spoil it? Are they really meant for each other? And can a 5 make himself into an 8 to get close enough to dating a 10?

Of course, it rom-com land, they end up together. The reason to watch is to find out what their obstacles are.

I like Jay Baruchel. He starred in the underappreciated Apatow tv show, Undeclared. It reminded me of college at the U, and that was 7 years out ten years ago. Yet, he is pretty much annoying here. He’s too nerdly. No girl would dig that. When you think of him that way, then he was perfect for the role.

This movie falls into the Apatow, guy rom-com except that it didn’t have any of his repertoire company except for Baruchel. I kept trying to figure out which character would be played by an Apatow member. There’s a Jonah Hill/Seth Rogan guy, the fast talking friend. There’s a Jason Segal role and a Paul Rudd role. It seemed like the producers scrimped on the stars and with second rate actors.

Alice Eve is attractive. But she’s not the hottest girl out there. I wonder if that was the way it was supposed to be.

2 of 5 stars.

Shutter Island

broderic on March 6, 2010

Shutter Island is Martin Scorsese doing his thriller thing. It is based on a Dennis Lehane novel as if that means anything to you. Lehane did a few novels that have been turned into movies perhaps you’ve heard of Mystic River or of Gone Baby Gone. He’s a man of New England, and Scorsese is a man of New York. How does this affect any thing? I don’t know but my review is suddenly going off the rails into a different reality…

Shutter Island is about two federal marshals conducting a manhunt on the eponymous island mental institution looking for an escaped patient. She was supposed to have disappeared without a trace. The wardens have no idea what happened.

Unfortunately, it may take you awhile to figure out what the twists and turns in the movie’s plot. Or if you’ve watched a lot of movies, you’ll expect the unexpected.

Scorsese works in a genre that seems out of his interests. But, he did do the Val Lewton retrospective for Universal. And he does bring some of the extraordinary creepiness that was trademark of Lewton. In fact, the strangeness of the film reminded me of The Curse of the Cat People. It’s not what it seems which was the same for both films.

One thing: don’t watch with your psychiatrist mom she’ll know everyone’s crazy and complain that it’s just like work.

3 of 5 stars.

Seriously? Comic books?

broderic on March 5, 2010

I am surprised that the Pulitzer people deem comics worthy of serious consideration of an artform. They’ve given a Pulitzer to Art Spiegelman’s Maus and lately they’ve awarded the Pulitzer for fiction to an otaku. Since I am myself a comic book fan, I’m glad that they do think it worthy of praise. So I searched out the one Pulitzer winner dealing with comic books and men in tights, Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

It’s the story of the infancy of the comic book industry in the United States. It covers the beginnings of the super hero genre from the introduction of Superman to the first twilight of the industry in the Congressional hearings into juvenile delinquency in the 50s. It the story of two cousins who embark on a blaze of creativity bringing into being several superheroes. It is the story of immigration and assimilation into the United States as all stories of the populace of the American people is really about. It is the story of Jews in America, and the story about escaping who we really are. They are looking for their own übermensch — the Golem or Warsaw, an alien from the planet Krypton, the un-imprisonable Escapist — to do battle with the Germans.

The plot follows Josef Kavalier as he escapes the Prague ghetto before its demise by the Nazis, flees to America, and becomes a comic book artist. The plot also involves Sammy Clay, Josef’s cousin and collaborator, and Rosa Saks the bohemian girl in love with Josef.

Kavalier and Clay begin with their super heroes a few months after the introduction of Superman. They create the Escapist, the super hero who cannot be confined by any jail, box or ropes. He fights to free people from injustice, and at the time he fights the Nazis. He is Kavalier and Clay’s Jewish super man. They also created Luna Moth, a sensual lady crime fighter, inspired by Rosa Saks. These two super heroes are their most famous creations.

Kavalier is the artist. He sees the potential artistry in the comic book medium, and he attempts to break out of the squares of the format. Clay is the prolific writer. He has plenty of stories to tell. He writes all their stories. Brothers by their pen, they create what becomes legend. They mix with the early comics industry making friends and making legends.

The book is written like Kavelier and Clay were real comic creators. Mixing the real New York city in as part of the milieu. Gotham. Metropolis. Empire City. America.

I really liked this book. The comics creation part early was the boring stuff. The story afterwards of the two creators is the important interesting part of the book. It wasn’t they who created art, but art created them. They lived their lives open and free in reaction to being comic creators. It makes me want to be a creator myself.

A-

The Wolfman

broderic on February 20, 2010

Following the myth of The Wolfman, I should wait until the next full moon to write up my review. Except that if I did, I would wake up and find that I don’t remember anything about it. A week later and the story is the same. I don’t remember anything about The Wolfman.

Of course, if you had seen it, you’ll think that the curse would be infinitely terrible. That the fiancée of your dead brother mauled by a supernatural creature would fall for you. That your issues with your dad would turn out to be really big issues.

3 of 5 stars.

Adventures From My Netflix Queue: The Ramen Girl

broderic on February 6, 2010

Watching the weather and seeing the snow come down in bunches, it’s best to stay in doors. I’ve got nothing better to do, so I pop my latest Netflix into the DVD player. It’s early for this DVD almost a week and I’ve just put this in — a new record.

Today’s movie is The Ramen Girl. It has been in my queue for a year now always the bridesmaid but never the bride. I keep pushing in down, but since the movie stars the late, Brittany Murphy, I figured I would have to honor her memory by finally watching her flick. No disrespect to her and her memory.

The Ramen Girl is about Murphy’s character going to Japan to follow a boy who then dumps her. Stuck in a foreign land what is she to do. One night in the rain she follows her tears to a ramenya. There she tastes heaven and decides that she should be a ramen cook. The rest of the film is about her learning to cook ramen.

The best part of this film is that it explains the mystery of ramen. You think it’s all about the noodles, but really its the broth. I’ve got plenty of ramen in my cupboard, but I don’t really want the packet broth. If I can make a decent broth, those square dry ramen noodles may almost taste good.

So, Murphy attempts to become a ramen chef. It is hard life made even harder by the her lack of understanding Japanese. But she does learn. Little by little. Not Japanese, but ramen and the broth. Eventually, she gets to become the successor to her sensei, and learns about ramen.

After the movie, I had a bowl of arroz caldo. Not ramen. But I don’t think I do a good broth just yet.

3 of 5 stars

Post Grad

broderic on January 29, 2010

I was watching television last week and saw on Fox Movie Channel (they’ve got like 4 films they continuously show back to back to back to back) when they had a commercial break for the movie Post Grad. I thought hard about it and remembered that I did watch it. I didn’t write a review though so it’s as if I never saw it. And then I had to ask if I did see it.

That shows how much that movie was forgettable. The only cool thing in the movie was the belt buckles. Why’d I go see this? And when?

2 of 5 stars.

Adventures From My Netflix Queue: Linda! Linda! Linda!

broderic on January 24, 2010

While watching the Jets/Colts AFL championship tilt, I have some time to jot down some thoughts on this film. Usually, I would write a review for a movie that had moved me, good or bad. I liked Linda! Linda! Linda!, but not moved enough. I’m writing this just to ponder some of the comments I have read on the internet about the movie.

Comments about it being slow and boring. Hmm. What they are most likely criticizing is the static nature of the shots in the movie. The director, Nobuhiro Yamashita< eschews the normal medium shot-close up-reaction cross-cutting. What he does do is just set up the scene in a medium shot and let's it roll. In fact, I wanted to see the interaction between the characters: their reactions or their emotions, but was hardy treated to it close up. I can see that this static set up can make the movie seem slow, less dynamic, but it can't be boring. It's about girls doing rock and roll that can't be boring! Linda! Linda! Linda! is about rocking out. The movie’s plot is about a music club (K-ON!) upon loosing members still wants to participate in the fall school festival. They’re search gets them a lead singer, the Korean exchange student, who’s comprehension of Japanese gets her into hilariously awkward situations. They’ve got three days to come together as a band. The rest shows them practicing and going about their high school lives: preparing for the school festival, warding off love confessions, etc. It’s a fine movie culminating in the rocking cover of The Blue Hearts, “Linda Linda,” the namesake. It’s a movie that inspires the awesome episode of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, “Live Alive!” K-ON! also seems to be inspired by it. 4 of 5 stars.

Adventures From My Netflix Queue: Sunshine

broderic on January 20, 2010

Considering I have had this DVD in posession for two months, I'm gonna have to provide a summary review just to cleanse it from my conscience. I shouldn't hold onto my netflix for this long, but I still want to watch the DVD. My problem is to hold onto it for so long. I should find room in my entertainment time for watching netflix. There's got to be a way to find the time in between reading manga, surfing the internet, watching torrented anime, watching television, reading, and sleeping. I mean I don't need to sleep much.Anyhow, I had Sunshine, Danny Boyle's sci-fi thriller, at home for longer than I wanted. I watched it last night.The plot: Earth, in the future, is threatened by the dying light of its sun. They send a scientific team to jumpstart the star. The movie follows the second attempt to save the Earth.Surprisingly, to me, that Boyle chose to direct a science fiction flick. I didn't think he had it in him as his style seems unsuited for the genre. Off course, he's able to make the film successful because the science fiction genre adapts well. Maybe Boyle at the helm makes this movie slightly more interesting.Like all save-the-world flicks, the mission's crew are on a one way ride. Not all will survive, and when they start falling, they start to be picked off one-by-one. It is how they meet their grisly fate that is interesting. Do they know it's a one way ticket? Do they care for saving themselves or the earth? Do they realize the enormity of the responsibility in their mission? And does that scare them or enable them?One thing about space, it makes you aware of how alone man or mankind is in the universe. This makes you think too much and adapt religion or scientific skepticism. Is the universe awe inspiring because of god or is it awe inspiring because of the physics of it all? Space makes dying a lonely thing.As I watched the movie, my palms were sweating. Something about the cramp crew quarters, the heat from the sun, and the spooks. I could actually understand the desperation. Finish the mission. Don't let anything get in the way.If you send religious minded people, expect them to flip out when confronted with the universe. Crazy. Don't send these people. They'll end up wearing Nikes, packed onto bunk beds, sleeping the eternal sleep under black sheets. They'll also expect the grim ending to be in concurrance with god's plan and ruin the mission.It ended up a good flick for waiting two months to watch. Worth the long wait, but I have to stop doing that.3 of 5 stars.

Daybreakers

broderic on January 20, 2010

Daybreakers is the dark side to vampirism. If all you Twilighter, fan girls only knew how painful being a vampire is, you’d not want to snuggle up to the next cutest one you saw.

Daybreakers imagines the world over come by vampires. They have become the human race, and what is left of the human race run from them in fear of becoming food. It is that food that has become scarce for the vampires. The world’s human population has dwindled and the blood supply nearly non-existent. The vampires try rationing; the only get 20% real human blood. They look for a substitute. If they don’t find it, they revert to Nosferatu. There may be a cure. Look to the sun, not for the shiny skin, but for the burn that may bring the undead back to life.

Ethan Hawke is the vampire scientist looking for the blood substitute. He harbors feelings for humans wishing that he wasn’t a vampire. Willem Defoe is a vampire who may hold the cure. Yet, the last days of vampires approaches fast and they may not be able to save vampires or humans.

With the world run by vampires, you would think that humans would like the day and fear the night. Nope. They do all their covert work under cover of the dark, because it’s harder to see them that way.

The ending will remind you of 28 Days Later.

Vampires are stupid. Yeah, but once your undead, you will wear snazzy clothing. And a fedora.

I really wish there were werewolves.

2 of 5 stars.

It’s Complicated

broderic on January 12, 2010

I've seen most of writer-director Nancy Myer's oevre including her holiday smash, It's Complicated http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1230414/. Most of the time it was against my will as she, along with Nora Ephron, makes movies that are in no way to my taste. Yet, I enjoy watching them immensely. I love the remake to The Parent Trap. I laughed throughout Something's Gotta Give. I enjoyed my time in the theatre watching It's Complicated.The premise of It's Complicated is that Meryl Streep's character has an affair with her ex who is married to a young woman. She is also courted by her architect. Hijinks ensue.The first impression I had was this movie has those roles that are well written for women. Streep's character is well rounded. She's not the screachy ex-wife, but has enough contempt towards her ex even though they fall back into bed. She's not a caricature. Her motivations are many: vengence, remind her she's sexy, nostalgia. She's got it all and Streep plays the character with conviction expressing each motive in subtle ways.The only fault of the movie is that it plays the "will they or won't they" theme between the ex-es. Will they renew their relationship as husband and wife? It wasn't hard to tell where that plot thread was going so that Alec Baldwin's plea at the end seemed hollow and forced — like Myers couldn't write for a man. Always move forward never backward and spinning, spinning towards the future.The dude from the Office was a distraction as they should've used someone less famous. I thought he was going to do something, but ended up doing nothing.The real star is Streep. The real story revolves around her. She makes it all look so effortless. And why is she so old.3 of 5 stars.