Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review
I like roller coasters, they are fun, they are exciting, and they thrill me. They also last only 40 to 60 seconds. There is a reason roller coasters are only seconds long. If they lasted longer they would make you sick, they would cease to be fun, and people would not ride them any longer. Transformers: Dark of the Moon is like a 3 hour roller coaster. It just makes you sick.

A lot of people are saying that Dark of the Moon is the best of the Transformers movies. Of course thats like saying I am the smartest kid on the short bus. I enjoyed the first Transformers, for the most part it was clever, and gave me exactly what I wanted in a Transformers movie, namely giant alien robots blowing stuff up. The second Transformers, Revenge of the Fallen, was a horrific, unfunny, borderline racist piece of trash. But somehow it made money, and earned what many are calling a redemptive sequel. Dark of the Moon is a better sequel than Revenge of the Fallen, but how could it not be?

Transformers: Dark of the Moon wisely eliminates many of the problems that the prior sequel emphasized. However instead of replacing it with clever dialogue, improved characters, or even a coherent story, it crams in more giant alien robots blowing stuff up. For just about the entire movie, I had no understanding of why anyone was doing what they were doing. Not only did the plot make no sense, it took forever to tell us nothing.

One of my favorite comedies is Billy Madison. In it Billy must compete is a Jeopardy like quiz challenge.  After giving a long, unintelligible, somewhat nonsense answer to one of the questions posed to him, the quizmaster says the following:

Mr. Madison, what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

Thats kind of how I felt after this movie. I just felt dumber for having watched it. A dumb movie can be forgiven especially if it has heart, or a soul, but Transformers: Dark of the Moon is simply void of those things. I will concede that there were spectacular action sequences, and many alien robots were destroyed. But for what purpose? Are we better for it?

Now don't get me wrong, if you love giant alien robots blowing stuff up then you will be orgasmically satisfied. There is an eye-bleeding three hours of it. But for me, I needed a bit more. I enjoy action movies, and I enjoy explosions, but there is a point when too much of a good thing is bad. The biggest issues I have with this movie really stem from its length. At nearly three hours long. I could see an hour or more being cut out of this movie, and not only would the movie still work, it would be better, sharper, and more entertaining. Michael Bay is a brilliant director for this type of movie. He is a master of the heroic low angle pan, and he has never been afraid of mass destruction. What he does tend to lack is a sense of realism. I am not saying that we have to follow all the rules of physics in a movie about giant robot aliens, but I do think that the human characters cannot be thrown violently into all manner of solid objects and simply walk away. Give them a bruise, or a limp or something for crying out loud.

Now that I mentioned it lets talk about the humans in the movie. The human characters in the Transformers series are supposed to be the heart, the reason we care. In Dark of the Moon the human characters are for the most part extraneous. I know the inexplicable romance between Megan Foxx and Shia LaBeouf was a weak point in the prior installments, but the romance in this movie is even weaker. I think the only reason Rosie Huntington-Whitely is in the movie is to pout, wear heels and revealing outfits to apocalyptic battles, and be the stereotypical damsel in distress. Frances McDormand is wasted in a boring lifeless role, and John Turturro returns to again compete with Kevin Dunn, and Julie White for the title of "most annoying character." None of this not the actors fault, they all play the parts they are given quite well.  The real blame must be laid at the hands of the writing, but really who cares about dialogue when there is explosions to be had. Essentially all of the human characters in this movie are reduced to nothing more than shouting and running scenery. Why have human characters at all if their only purpose is to be vaporized or stand behind rubble? However there was two stand out actors in the film. John Malkovich, and Ken Jeong, are unforgettable and together provide the best and most clever sources of humor in the movie.

The bottom line is that like the other movies in the series Transformers: Dark of the Moon is just dumb.  It has no brains, it consists of one explosion after another, and with no real purpose even the greatest of action movies become tedious, and in the end the Transformers franchise is just that, an exercise of our ability to endure monotony.

DVD Releases for Tuesday June 28, 2011

This is the part of the blog where I tell you what I am buying for the week on DVD. Most of you who know me also know that I like to collect and watch movies at home. Most weeks I buy 1-4 releases. This week I will be buying:

Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition
Yeah I know this is a double, triple, or for some of you a quadruple dip from Peter Jackson, but if you are a fan of this trilogy you know you will be picking it up on Blu Ray. I hear that the extras are nothing new, nor are they upgraded to HD. Also absent is the presence of any Hobbit material, so you can probably expect another set to coincide with the Hobbit. I am getting this set purely for the Extended Editions in HD, and thats enough for me to be happy.







Sucker Punch
A loud, jarring mess of a movie from Zach Snyder.  I wanted this movie to be more than it is.  I like Snyder's visual style, and I enjoyed those aspects of the movie.  But the movie really could have been more, it could have been cuckoo's nest brought to all its visual life, but you know with hot chicks instead of Chief and Nicholson. Unfortunately we got a steaming turd.








Beastly
Ever wanted to see a live action Beauty & The Beast? Well keep waiting, this movie tries to deliver that story in a fresh and contemporary way, but fails on several levels.  I liked the characters in the movie, and who can argue with the plot, the problem with Beastly is the fact that it fails to develop any of the characters, they are all paper cut outs, no dimensions, or depth of any kind.








Season of the Witch
Poor Nicholas Cage, that guy needs to fire his agent. He also needs to stop making movies just for the paycheck, or we may ask for his Oscar back.











Barney's Version
Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giamatti sharing the screen has got me interested.  Barney's version was a hit at awards season, so I am excited to see just why everyone was raving about it.

Cars 2 Review

Cars 2 Review

Pixar is known for its great animation, its clever and inventive stories, and its creative characters. They have defined their brand with quality. Each and every movie they have made has been top quality, and Cars 2 is no exception.

The first Cars was my least favorite Pixar movie.  I wasn't a huge fan of the idea of personifying cars, and lets be honest the story was a blatant rip off of the Michael J. Fox classic Doc Hollywood. I thought it was good, even the worst Pixar film is better than most other movies, but in my opinion Cars was not really their best work.

Pixar has stated that unless there is a good reason, a creative reason, there will not be sequels to their films.  This philosophy has served them well. Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 are great movies first, and sequels second. Cars 2 continues this trend.  The creators purposely avoided the pitfalls of making a traditional sequel and instead push the story in a wonderful new direction.

The direction they decided was brilliant. At its core Cars 2 is a spy thriller, with more in common with James Bond than with Nascar. They don't ditch the racing, but rather than focus on the racing which would have been admittedly repetitive, Cars 2 gears itself towards action and adventure.  Cars 2 is a much more exciting film than the first one. Just like a Bond movie, Cars 2 is full of car chases, tire to tire combat, and some very exciting action sequences.  The creators took this world they created in the last movie and purposely chose do something different with it.  There are several blatant, and brilliant nods to James Bond, Austin Powers, and many other classic spy films.

The plot is driven this time not by Lightning McQueen, but by Mater, the innocent, childlike redneck tow truck. Mater has unwittingly become the spy who knew too little. Aided by two British Intelligence agents, an Austin Martin named Fin McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) and a Jaguar XJR-15 named Holly Shiftwell (voiced by Emily Mortimer), Mater must help save the world from a diabolical syndicate called LEMON. LEMON is of course comprised of famous clunkers, like Gremlins, Pintos, and other commonly known jalopies. Of course all of the makes and models of the cars fit perfectly with their stereotype characters.

One of the more interesting plot points was the concept of Big Oil using alternative fuels as a catalyst for controlled change.  If oil companies control alternative fuels then we remain at their mercy. Should these oil companies decide that alternative fuels aren't profitable, then we likely won't see change anytime soon. But maybe I am reading too much into the political subplot, maybe the creators just like in the Bond films made a villain interested in world domination, which in the world of Cars, would of course be control of petroleum products.

Overall Cars 2 was a fun and exciting movie.  It expanded the world of Cars, and allows for any number of stories to take place, and also allows the creators an opportunity to play with genre in a whole new way. Maybe we will get a Cars version of a comic book movie, or a science fiction thriller. The possibilities are now endless.

Bad Teacher Review

Bad Teacher Review

Bad Teacher wants to be the dirty comedy of the summer, and it tries hard to be that.  The problem is that you can see that it is trying.  A great puppet once said "Try not, do or do not, there is not try."  Yes it was Yoda, but the point is just as valid, a comedy, especially one that wants to be dirty, can't try, it must do. I am not saying that the movie isn't funny, in fact quite the opposite, the movie is quite funny in parts, but the problem is so much of the movie feels forced and not organic. The movie isn't a failure, but it isn't a home run either.

Cameron Diaz plays Elizabeth Halsey, a shallow and materialistic gold digger who is only teaching until the right sugar daddy comes along. She is crass and rude, and spends most of her teaching time hung over and or passed out while the students watch classic films about classic teachers.  The plot, if you want to call the moments in between curse words, vulgarity, and crude gestures, revolves around Elizabeth's desire to get breast implants so that the new substitute teacher, played by Justin Timberlake, will notice her.

Of course in order for her to succeed she must overcome two things.  The first is of course the extremely high price of breast augmentation surgery.  The second is Amy Squirrel, the optimistic and dedicated teacher, who is Elizabeth's polar opposite. Of course the two compete over the Justin Timberlake character, which lead to mildly amusing exchanges, which were done much better in Rushmore nearly 15 years ago.  Amy Squirrel is played by Lucy Punch, a brilliant english comedienne who you will recognize from Dinner For Schmucks. As good as she is, she is unfortunately under utilized.

While I fault the movie for trying so hard, I will give it credit for being unapologetic in regards to its main character. Most of the time movies try to make us like the hero, by making them change for the better. Not in this movie.  Elizabeth starts the movie as a horrible person, and she finishes the movie as a horrible person. She succeeds against her nemesis, not by becoming a better person, or a better teacher, but by out foxing the goody two shoes.  Elizabeth never misses an opportunity to be opportunistic.

Bad Teacher is sadly just another forgettable summer comedy, full of a couple of good moments, but not many great ones, which is the biggest disappointment.

DVD Releases for Tuesday June 21, 2011

This is the part of the blog where I tell you what I am buying for the week on DVD. Most of you who know me also know that I like to collect and watch movies at home. Most weeks I buy 1-4 releases. This week I will be buying:

The Adjustment Bureau
Quite possibly my favorite movie of the year so far. I know that parts of it fall apart upon scrutiny but how often do we get a quality blend of philosophy, science fiction, humor, and romance.  Not only did it successfully blend all of those elements together, but it did so while also making us think and I dare anyone to watch this movie and not enjoy it.






Unknown
Unknown wasn't a great movie, but it was very entertaining.  I knew the twist in this movie about half way through, but I still wanted to know how they were going to pull it together.  A pretty straight forward action film, that tries to be more intelligent than it is.  Essentially the movie begins as a tight well paced action thriller in the mold of The Marathon Man, but eventually it decays into just another loud action movie.





The Eagle
I have to admit I am completely skeptical of this movie. It looks like a Gladiator clone, and yet everyone I know who has seen the movie thought it was great, and it received both high praise and blistering criticism from the professional reviews I read. I will just have to find out for myself.






Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules
The first Diary of a Wimpy Kid was an amusing yet deeply flawed movie.  I don't expect much from it's sequel but if you are a fan of the books, then I am sure you will be rushing out to see this.  As I am not a fan of the books, and the first one left me apathetic, I don't have much in the way of a desire to see it.






Cedar Rapids
Similar to Bridesmaids, Cedar Rapids sports an interesting mix of comedy role players. Cedar Rapids has been listed as one of the funniest movies of the year. And has an impressive "85% Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes. I hope that the movie delivers and is as funny as the trailer was.

The Tree of Life Review

The Tree Of Life Review

A four year old boy sits on a park bench, next to an elderly man.  The elderly man is a well respected and brilliant physicist. The boy is just a boy. The physicist, seeing he has an audience, begins to explain all the secrets of life, the universe, and everything to the four year old boy. The four year old boy sits mesmerized by the old man's tale, listening carefully, focused on every detail. When the elderly man finishes, he looks down at the four year old boy, and says "Do you understand?" To which the four year old boy says, "No sir, but can I hear it again?"

After sitting through the Tree of Life, I believe that within it must be all the secrets of life, the universe, and everything. Terence Malick has laid out his philosophy on the meaning of life quite beautifully. But I also, like the four year old boy, I cannot process it. I guess am not as smart, or wise, or as experienced as I thought.  Perhaps there is an obvious meaning to the movie that I couldn't see it. Maybe I couldn't see the forrest for the trees. I don't know, but what I do know is that I couldn't see any real narrative structure to the movie.  It's timeline is incomprehensible, and when it does begin to form some linear structure, about one third into the movie, it becomes just a series of disjointed events, like memories that you can't quite place in time.

It is in this section of the movie that the story of a boy and his loss of innocence is told.  Raised by a nurturing mother, and a strict father, the boy undergoes a transformation. He lets go of his youth, filled with grace instilled in him by his mother, and embraces a jaded hard edge, drilled into him by his father.  Brad Pitt plays the father quite well.  He is a man who once had a grace of his own, a great musician, who was beaten down by the world and who doesn't want his son to repeat his mistakes.  He is loving, but hard, and moments of tenderness are almost immediately followed by moments of intense severity.

The movie consists very little of plot, or story. It exists more like an impressionist painting set to music and poetry, than a film.  There is an elegance to the movie that is both delightful, and frustrating.  Throughout the movie I was constantly reminded of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  The Tree of Life, just like a Space Odyssey, sometimes lets go of its story in favor of beautiful artistic visuals that bring added depth and emotion to the film. Unlike 2001, The Tree of Life tends to lose focus on the story, and get lost in it's art. I appreciate art, I think many films can be artistic, but I also think that movies are stories, and without focus a movie can become messy and chaotic.  The Tree of Life is just that, blissful chaos.

There is no real easy way to explain what The Tree of Life is about. It defies definition, and it is as beautiful as it is unexplainable. I still can't wrap my head around what this movie was about. The best way, the only way to know what this movie is about is to experience it for yourself. Maybe if I see it again I will understand.

Green Lantern Review

Green Lantern Review

If I were to rate superhero films on a spectrum that had the 1978 classic Superman: The Movie on one end, and the messy diaper that was 1997's Batman & Robin on the other, then the Green Lantern would fall somewhere smack dab in the middle.

The movie is a fantastic introduction to the character.  If you have never heard of the Green Lantern, or Hal Jordan you don't have to worry about being left out of the loop.  You will get to experience and learn all about who Hal is. You will get to learn all the demons of his past. You will learn the names of  who his supporting characters are, including the traits and personalities of the main members of the Green Lantern Corps. For those of us in the know, this is a bit painful, but those who are new to the world of Oa this will be a fascinating and wonderful peek into the vastness of the Green Lantern Corps. The less you know about the Green Lantern, and the story of Hal Jordan, the better off you are. However, because the movie spends so much time on this the movie drags in sections. 

I should also mention that I feel the movie could have used a bit more humor. The movie wants to be taken seriously, it wants to exist as a thoughtful action film, but thats not what we want from our spandex clad gods of summer. We want a witty remark, or a joke, or something that lightens the mood. The movie forces itself away from the typical light hearted super hero movie so desperately that it at times becomes too heavy, and bogged down by its own weight.

Visually speaking this movie is beautiful.  The toughest part of creating the world of the Green Lantern is making us believe in the interstellar universe and in Oa, the home planet of the Green Lantern Corps.  The film does an exceptional job with this, and you believe in the reality that they have created.  Many people have complained about the suit being a completely fabricated piece of CGI. I disagree. Personally I think that this was the only way to go when it comes to the Green Lantern. He is a hero who is only limited by his imagination, so why not allow that to flow organically from within the suit.

On the whole I was satisfied with the acting in the movie.  I was especially impressed with the performance of Ryan Reynolds.  Initially I thought he was too funny to play the part and too silly for the  intergalactic space cop role of Hal Jordan.  I was wrong.  Reynolds takes this part seriously, he knows this character, and you can tell he belongs in the part. Also perfectly cast was Mark Strong (most commonly known as Lord Blackwood in 2009's Sherlock Holmes). Besides being well cast based solely on his resume, Mark Strong does a brilliant job in his portrayal of the great general of Oa. The trickiest part for him is that he has to play Sinestro just right, with enough charm for us to like him and yet enough menace for us to believe that he can easily follow the path he is headed on.

The major theme in the movie is that the strength of will can overcome the power of fear. Hal Jordan is just a man, who has fears just like all men.  So the choice of villain for the origin story was very appropriate.  An enemy who embodies, and feeds off of the fear in others, is a worthy first opponent for a man who must conquer his own fear. Where Hal Jordan's strength lies is in his ability to face his fears, to present his courage to any villain that would use fear to manipulate those around them. I am sad to say that I am looking forward to the sequel not because of the greatness of this one, but because we can skip the origin story and get right to the betrayal of Sinestro.

Overall it is a good movie, not the great movie I am sure everyone was hoping it would be, but good.  I truly hope that it is does well enough financially to kick off the second wave of DC heroes.  I am excited to see feature films of the Flash, Wonder Woman, and Aquaman.  Weather or not we need a combined DC Universe team of heroes I don't know but it would be nice to see the second tier DC hero get a shot at being made into movies.

DVD Releases for Tuesday June 14, 2011

This is the part of the blog where I tell you what I am buying for the week on DVD. Most of you who know me also know that I like to collect and watch movies at home. Most weeks I buy 1-4 releases. This week I will be buying:

Hall Pass
It has been a long time since There's Something About Mary, and apparently this movie is another attempt by the Farrelly brothers to regain their former glory.  It will be interesting to see if they return to glory or continue their downhill slide.










Battle Los Angeles
This movie was essentially a rip off of Independence Day. Not only was it an unoriginal story but they compounded its stupidity by shooting it as if it were a Call of Duty game.  Every single scene is shot over the shoulder of a soldier.










Red Riding Hood
I like the idea of taking the story of little red riding hood and mixing in the werewolf mythos.  Whether or not this is a success or not I cannot say, but I am interested in seeing this incarnation of the story.










Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son
File this in the category of really? I mean I don't think we really needed a sequel to Big Momma's House. and I am positive we didn't need 2. Yet here it is Big Momma's House 3.

Mr. Popper's Penguins Review

Mr. Popper's Penguins Review
Mr. Popper's Penguins is a wonderful children's book. In the book Mr. Popper is a house painter in the 1930s and, like most house painters, only works Spring through Fall. in the wintertime he drowns himself in National Geographic and radio shows about world explorers. During one such show, he learns of Admiral Drake and his Antarctic adventures. He writes to him, and surprisingly Admiral Drake responds to Mr. Popper's letter with a live penguin. The adventures start with one and soon enough, the penguin family grows to nine. Mr. Popper, his wife, and their two kids take the penguins on the road as an act to earn money. The act eventually gets old and there's a run-in with the law only to be bailed out by Admiral Drake. Mr. Popper is then faced with a moral dilemma that questions the penguins' future.

Its hard to imagine messing up a movie version of this book, but somehow someway the filmmakers behind the movie version of Mr. Popper's Penguins found a way to bastardize and destroy every single ounce of charm out of this clever story. They have replaced the poor painter with the story of a workaholic divorcee, who spends most of his time as a slick corporate real estate mogul. Of course he is a absentee father because his father wasn't there for him, funny how movies recycle old cliches. For some reason they thought that telling the oft told story of a jaded modern business man who finds a heart and also wins back his family, would be far more entertaining than the clever idea of a family on the road with a penguin circus during the great depression.

I can see the development meeting in my head...

Studio Executive: Penguin's are up 40% in popularity this quarter, what should we do to get in on this market? 

"Creative" Mind: Animated penguins who sing and dance? 

Studio Executive: Wait Warner Bros. already did that with Happy Feet.

"Creative" Mind: Well We have this wonderful children's book we optioned about a man who lives in Stillwater and has a penguin circus to feed his family during the depression. We could do a live action/animation blend.

Studio Executive: I like it. But lets loose the circus angle and for that matter change everything else in the book. Also, this memo I got says we need to humanize Wall Street after the housing crash.Make him a rich and pompous New Yorker, so that when he learns something people can love real estate moguls again. and make sure he gets pooped on a lot. Oh and at the end can we have Ice Ice Baby play over the credits? I mean who doesn't love Vanilla Ice?

Of course I don't actually think anyone actually said these things, but something tells me that there was hefty market research done. And it is the business of art that makes lousy uninspired drivel like Mr. Popper's Penguins.

My biggest problem with the movie wasn't that they modernized the story, or that they decided to lose the circus, or even that they picked a recycled storyline. My biggest problem with the movie lies in the fact that it took a great children's book, and reduced it to penguin poop. Literally,  I counted no less than seven jokes about penguins pooping. Some of them were Jim Carrey getting pooped on, some of them were penguins pooping on each other, or in toilets, and most of them were not in the least bit funny. Its a sad comment on today's youth if this is what they consider high brow humor.

I can accept that this was a children's book. I can also accept that the producers wanted to attract a modern audience, and that they felt in order to attract that audience they felt obligated to change plot lines and characters. But are kids today that superficial that they cannot appreciate a period piece? Do we have to add a fart joke to a classic tale for it to be more relatable to kids today? This is the part of the review where I bring up the god awful Gulliver's Travels starring Jack Black, because it did the same thing to a good book. Taking a tale, modernizing it but also reducing it to nothing more than a collection of out dated hip hop montages laced with dick and fart jokes. I am sorry, maybe I am old and out of touch, but when you reduce a beloved children's tale to nothing more than poop jokes, then you are not just pooping on Jim Carrey, you are pooping on the people who love the literature in which it is based.

Do yourself a favor and spend the evening reading the book to your kids, or even to yourself.  The book is far more entertaining and thought provoking than this movie, and if you order it on amazon its only like three bucks.

Super 8 Review

Super 8 Review
What exactly is Super 8. Is it a monster movie?...Yes.  Is it about aliens?...Yes. Is it a coming of age story?...Yes. Is it a military thriller?...Yes.  Some how this movie is an amalgam of several different genres and styles. It is going to be one of those great summer movies because it mimics classic films in each of these genres perfectly.

If you love E.T. Jurassic Park, The Goonies, Jaws, and Close Encounters, you will love Super 8.  The film deliberately and unapologetically steals tone, tempo, and technique from all of these films. Despite being completely unoriginal the film works brilliantly as an homage to all of these past films.  You hold a special place in your heart for films like E.T. and The Goonies, for whatever reason they resonate with you, and because this film is so reminiscent of those classics you will love this movie.

Most impressive to me in the movie was the fact that for a movie about kids, I genuinely and sincerely feared for these kids safety. Today's kid friendly adventures are way too easy.  Like children of this generation they are soft, and squishy. There is no true danger, but Super 8 puts our children in real and frightening jeopardy.  The much publicized train wreck is so much more intense, and real than the trailers teased us with, and the violent nature of both the human characters and the alien menace are just as nerve-racking. I still struggle with what was more believable, the creature or the fact that the kids survived with not much more than dirty faces, and a scrapped knee.

The creature in this movie, just like the shark in Jaws, is most effective when you cannot see it.  Once the proverbial cat is out of the proverbial bag, and we get a real good look at the monster, the creature looses is fear factor, and becomes less frightening and more foolish. I realize that J.J. Abrams purposely allows this to happen because at that point in the film we are meant to understand the creature, to sympathize with it, and realize that its just misunderstood, and shouldn't be scary at all. Of course that is difficult for us as an audience to do, especially when we spend the better part of an hour and a half scared to death of the beast.

I loved Super 8. I loved it despite the horrible 1950's B-movie style monster. I loved it despite being a complete rip off of other influential movies of my past.  I really loved it because the real heart of the movie lies in the young actors that portray the cinephiles, the group that only wants to make a zombie movie, and finds themselves embroiled and intwined in a military conspiracy.  The story of these kids, dealing with the events around them, and growing up in the midst of all this chaos is where the movie shines.

If I was a kid today, and I had never experienced the 1980s classics that were dangerous, and scary and oh yeah involved kids, then Super 8 would be an awesome experience, full of thrills, jumps and jolts. And if I was a good parent to a kid today, after I we saw Super 8 I would turn to that kid and say, are you ready to be really blown away? Then I would proceed to show him all the classic and unforgettable films that influenced and built Super 8.

DVD Releases for Tuesday June 7, 2011

This is the part of the blog where I tell you what I am buying for the week on DVD. Most of you who know me also know that I like to collect and watch movies at home. Most weeks I buy 1-4 releases. This week I will be buying:

True Grit (2010)

One of the best movies of last year, this update of the John Wayne classic was directed by the Coen Brothers.  Jeff Bridges did a fantastic job playing the character of Rooster Cogburn and received a lot of praise. The real find of the movie is Hailee Steinfeld who plays Mattie Ross to perfection.









Just Go With It
If Grown Ups was Adam Sandler taking a 4th of July holiday with his buddies, Just Go With It is him going to Hawaii with his friends.  The movie has some very funny moments but they seemed to just give up with it in the end.  They don't even give the audience a proper conclusion. Its fun and you will laugh, but its not the best Adam Sandler comedy.








Another Year
Mike Leigh is a great director who loves character pieces. I haven't seen this yet but I am looking forward to seeing Jim Broadbent in this movie about four seasons in the life of a married couple.










The Company Men
Another movie I seemed to have missed.  The trailer for this movie looked promising, and with the release date I thought it would have gotten more awards noticed.  Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Coster, Ben Affleck and Chris Cooper star in this movie about the American working man.









Superman: The Motion Picture Anthology (1978 - 2006)
This movie collection has been on Blu-Ray before individually without Superman 3 or 4.  Honestly If I wasn't a Superman super nerd I probably wouldn't pick this set up.  But I am, and I can't wait to pick mine up.










Green Lantern: Emerald Knights
Just in time for the Green Lantern movie comes this direct to DVD animated feature. This movie will more than likely give anyone who sees it a nice knowledge base for all of the minor characters in the new movie. Nathan Fillion, Jason Isaacs, and Elisabeth Moss all provide voices for this movie. The animated DC universe movies have almost always been entertaining so hopefully this one is no exception.







Sanctum
This movie seemed like a fun ride.  Sure its not an original idea but the 3D certainly probably made up for it.  It will be interesting to see if the movie is any good without the novelty that 3D provides.

Midnight in Paris Review

Midnight in Paris Review

The thought of visiting your favorite time period, and visiting with the visionaries of the time is a concept that everyone considers at one time in their life. The new Woody Allen film, Midnight in Paris, is an insightful and charming look at this concept.

Owen Wilson plays Gil, a hack screenwriter who dreams of becoming a great novelist. He visits Paris with his Fiancee (Rachel McAdams) and her family.Visiting Paris feeds his dream of becoming a great writer in the most poetic city in the world.  He is in love with the notion of living in 1920s Paris, surrounded by the brilliance of expatriate writers and artists, and of course all this must be in the rain.

One evening after a wine tasting, a slightly inebriated and lost Gil finds himself alone on a Parisian street corner, as the clock strikes twelve.  As the bells chime, a 1920s Peugeot, pulls up and transports Gil to the 1920s.  When Gil realizes that he is actually visiting the past, experiencing his wildest fantasies, he becomes immediately entranced. He basks in the ambiance, and soaks in the wisdom of his idealistic golden age. Gil continues to visit the 1920s meeting and interacting with the contemporary visionaries of the time. The film is difficult to describe but it is lovely and the less you know the better. It is full of insight and quotable soundbites, and you will leave the theater with an appetite for life.

Woody Allen films are a genre in itself. He has made 41 films and all of them have familiar elements, from the credits to the characters you can find benchmarks and touchstones in all of them. His films are almost always personal to him in some way shape or form, and hit or miss, they provide us with some insight into his genius.  In this case, you have to believe that Woody Allen, has fallen in love with Paris, and this love has given inspiration to a beautifully insightful and philosophical film experiences in the last decade. Equal parts entertaining and literate, unlike so many movies today, so expect to be challenged and stimulated intellectually.

A major theme in the movie is that "nostalgia is denial of a painful present." The thought that even the best of times are only beautiful in hindsight. Of course there is also the notion that those who are nostalgic for the greatness of times past are short sighted in realizing that the time they live in will one day be nostalgia for some future romantic, who would love to live in our time, especially in the rain.

X-Men: First Class Review

X-Men: First Class Review

Two X-Men have movies have been extremely well made, two others have been extremely poorly made.  So it has to be said that this film could go one of two ways. It could be like X2: X-Men United, full of depth, action, and heart. It could also be like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a deeply flawed movie, with very few bright spots.

X-Men: First Class is by far the best of the X-Men movies.  I was as skeptical as anyone going into this movie, and it literally blew me away. What blew me away wasn't the action, it wasn't the special effects, it wasn't even the groovy 1960s setting. What blew my mind, what really floored me was the unique, and engaging story.

The film is essentially an origin story for Charles Xavier (extremely well played by James McAvoy), and Erik Lensherr (brilliantly played by Michael Fassbender) the two men who are destined to soon become the leaders of Mutant-kind.

What was fascinating was the way in which these two parallel stories converge, and then eventually split.  These two friends become the men they were destined to become because of their individual histories, as well as the time they spend together.  Lensherr's story is one fueled by vengeance and anger, his sole purpose is to destroy the men he deems responsible for his experience in the concentration camp.  His rage is never more powerful then the Argentine scene, in which he brutalizes three exiled Nazis. Xavier's story is much more peaceful. His life as a scholar, and aristocrat giving birth to an enlightened and peaceful stance on Human-Mutant relations. While there are other well created, three dimensional and quality characters, make no mistake, this movie is about these two men, and how their lives were destined to become intertwined.

I am not a fan of the prequel. I feel that backstory, and prologue is just that, something that is there but need not be examined. This movie will set a new standard for what a prequel should be. It flowed and connected to the other films in the series, it didn't feel like a re-boot, in fact without the other films this one has no context.  The best part of this prequel is that despite knowing where the characters are headed you never feel like you know what is going to happen. I was on my the edge of my seat for the entire movie, and it is a rare feat when a movie can do that, especially when you know where the characters will be in the end. You do not need to have seen the previous films to appreciate this movie, but be aware that there are some inside jokes and moments of foreshadow, that can only really be appreciated when having seen the previous installments. After the movie ended and the credits rolled, I immediately wanted to watch all of the previous installments which is a wonderful sign for a prequel.

Also of note are fine, and subtle performances by Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw, Jennifer Lawrence as  the young Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as the Jekyll/Hyde incarnation of Beast. Their supporting roles both serve the story, as well as give subtext and depth to the film. You deeply care about these characters, despite knowing their future, because they are so well created, written and performed.

Bryan Singer returned to produce, as well as write the story for this film. His return in triumphant, and I am glad that he returned to this series. His choice of Matthew Vaughn as director was quite possibly his greatest addition to the series. Vaughn has established himself as a director who can adapt his style to any genre. X-Men: First Class is easily his best feature film, and shows tremendous talent as a filmmaker.

There isn't a stinger after the credits, so no need to stick around for that, however there is a brilliant cameo that I won't spoil here. I will say that it is was brilliant and perfect and the use of the F-bomb was beautifully poetic. I predict that it will go down in history as the best cameo in any superhero film ever. (Yes ever!)

I encourage you to see this movie, and it may be the first movie this year that I see more than once in the theater.