Deep Thought for the Day LCXII
I'm reading Scott Pilgrim, but am hearing Philip J. Fry in my head. They're the same character, right?
Extract
Because I’ve seen another movie since I saw this one, I have to write up my thoughts and/or review on the latest Mike Judge film, Extract. But, for real, I completely forgot I saw this film until TheSeed, as we were leaving the theatre reminded me.
Extract follows the same Mike Judge movie release M.O: A misleading ad campaign, a less than stellar opening weekend, an early, ignominious exit. Maybe it would follow the rest of his other movies and become a hit on video and constant rotation on Comedy Central. Maybe. It’s got a chance. It fits right in after Waiting and before Employee of the Month.
The bad ad campaign starts with the misleading idea that Mila Kunis is the love mistress there to steal Jason Bateman’s heart. She’s there, but her story is completely different.
The movie is terrible. Not very funny. Completely forgettable. Don’t watch until it comes on Comedy Central. Although, it did make Kristen Wiig look kind of cute. But that’s not enough.
2 of 5 stars.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Wolverine is a terrible movie. The plot changes left and right. Was it an homage to Watchmen? “Someone’s murdering our old team.” Or did they just make it random. He was helping then he was the enemy then he’s part of the plot. Or he was my friend, then my brother, then my enemy and now my friend again.
The opening was another homage to Watchmen.
Why was Sabretooth jealous of Wolverine? I don’t know. They never show Wolverine doing anything awesome. In fact I thought Sabretooth was the bad ass.
Hugh Jackman was always miscast as Wolverine. Too friendly and not menacing enough. “I’m the best at what I do, and what I do ain’t pretty.” Sure. Sure. Pretty boy. I haven’t seen you do anything kick ass.
I always thought to know the origin of Wolverine was the suck. This movie shows how stupid it was.
I want to see Professor Xavier/Magneto movie.
2 of 5 stars.
State of Play
State of Play. I saw this a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t remember too much. I thought it was good as I left the theatre, but since I don’t remember too much, it might not have been. I remember waiting for the twist. It was there. It wasn’t too unexpected, and it wasn’t so hard to guess. I thought the twist would be different though.
Anywhoo, the movie is a remake of some British mini-series. They say the television show was better. I say who cares. I never saw it, so this was much better.
3 of 5
Thought for today [4.17.09]…
… is "Diamond Crevasse" from Macross Frontier the best song to come
out of anime?No, this is not the start to a daily series. It could be a start to an
ongoing one though.
I Love You, Man
“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.
Adventures From My Netflix Queue: Millennium Actress
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
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.
The Interanational
The International (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963178/) shows us how
evil banks are. We don't need a movie for that just look at the
headlines of newspapers. They want their cake and they want to eat it,
too. They also want your cake, and they'll eat it off your fork, too.
They feed off of us making use of our money for their own nefarious
ways. It's no wonder that in today's troubling economic times bankers
and financiers make for the perfect Dr. Evils. They are just that: pure
evil.The Interanational is a Tom Tykwer film. It has none of the pulse
pounding drive of his famous, Run, Lola, Run. It's as if he
deliberately meant to throttle down his style and make a mellow film.
Almost too mellow at times. The film's style follows the need to make
a thriller that harkens back to thrillers and intrigues from the 70s.
Those films were more focused in telling a gripping tale. The
International tries to be gripping, but in this day and age of flash and
movement, the thrills don't come across as much. You have to expect a slow boil until the plot is exposed. The film
takes too long to get the plot anywhere and, once exposed, the plot is
rather flimsy of a caper. I didn't understand what it was about. Just
go to the governments and get your bailout money. Forget about being
found out as plainly evil. Just pretend you're incompetent and you'll
get as much money as humanly possible thrown your way.The shootout in the Guggenhiem though blows this whole notion up. Slow
boil? BANG! BANG! BANG! I dug this too. Lately, most movies when
set in Europe have a look to them that screams Bourne Identity. Wasn't
Clive Owen in the Bourne Identity? Didn't he save the world in Children
of Men? Then let's make the film look Euro — modern archtecture,
cities, glass and steel. And the Gug is modern. One ramp up and down.
BANG! BANG! BANG! It was shot like a shootout from the Bourne films.
Loved it. Also, I love how Naomi Watts looked in this. All lawyerly. And those
sexy boots. And that grey scarf mixing in with her blonde hair. Mmmm.
She can be my international anyday.3 of 5 stars.
Coraline
Coraline is a girl who finds out that life in a fantasy world where everything is better than her reality isn’t better at all. The pitfalls in the fantasy world are just as deadly, and the love isn’t love but smothering. So she grows up and accepts her reality, and that is just how things go.
I dug this animated film. I’m a little bit sick and tired of CG animation, because that’s what the animation industry for feature films will become. Coraline is stop-motion animation. It gave a tactile feel to the works — a little bit of 3D. The herky-jerky motion also was fun as it was a reminder that we’re watching a film. I wish for more diverse forms of animation from Hollywood, but know that I won’t get it the way I like it.
3 of 5 stars.