Quick reviews

Some quick reviews of films screened since the last entry

The Dark Knight A

This is the only film this year that is in the running to unseat WALL*E as the best film of the year. I hope to do a more exstensive blog on this film (including spoilers) after I see it for a third time so I will leave further comment on the film until then.

Superhero Movie C

Saw this in the hotel room with Alex and he laughed his butt off which elevated this to a C, anything that gives your kids pleasure it's hard to be too rough on. Others wise a somewhat lazy effort as all these films tend to be better than Epic Movie, but that isn't saying much.

National Treasure II: Book of Secrets C-

Actually a little bit better than the first one, which to my mind was unwatchable, this is still pretty ridiculous, seeking logic look elswhere.

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D B-

This is fun, especially in 3-D, I was expecting to enjoy the 3-Dness of it but be pretty bored by the story. What I found was that they were actually fairly clever on the story front, they had a nice entry into the story, this isn't a remake of an earlier version but a new way to explore the novel.

Space Chimps C-

Yeah better to just not, it's not so bad it's offensive but it also isn't really worth your time.


The Age of Innocence A

This is part of Ali and I's linking film game, the previous film was a Room With a View, the link between the films is actually multiple, Daniel Day-Lewis is a link, also adaptations from novels, period films with the class system as a theme. When I first saw this film upon it's initial release at the Century Seven theatre in Fargo I was underwhelmed. My initial feeling was that the voice over narration did not work, and the the film seemed devoid of any real emotion. Then a few years later I rewatched it on laserdisc and was astonished at how different my reaction was. This is a great film, the voice over narration is pitch perfect, and it is all about emotion, and the burying of it. Great film, fantastic performances throughout.

Next film in our linking game was....

The Dead Poets Society B+

Link here being Robert Sean Leonard who appears at the very end of The Age Of Innocence. Films holds up fairly well, I had not seen it since it's release in theatres, when Robin Williams first came on screen I got a little worried that this would be with hindsight a Patch Adams performance, thankfully not, this is Williams the actor not williams the Ham. Also very good was Robert Sean Leonard and Josh Charles. The one thing that struck me was the lack of story arc for what seemed at times to be the main character played by Ethan Hawke. He had some scenes that seemed to sort of deal with his issues but he didn't really seem to be the focus of the film most of the time and then also seemed at times that he was supposed to be the character through whose eyes we experienced the story. That part didn't really seem to come together, but that is a minor quibble.

The next film was ...

Flirting A-

The link being a boys school. I remember it was around new years 1993 Scott, Dawn, June, and I were in MPLS to celebrate the holidays with my Mom and little brother Aaron, we went to a screening of Peter's Friends at the Uptown theatre. Before it was saw two trailers that I remember to this day, Strictly Ballroom, and Flirting. Neither of which I was ever able to see until they came out on home video both of which I owned on laserdisc and now on DVD. This film is actually a sequel to a film The Year My Voice Broke and is actually the second in a planned trilogy, the third installment of which seems destined never to be made. Flirting is one of the best films about young love ever made. It perfectly captures the growning love and respect between two individuals it acknowledges the importance of the sexual feelings of characters at this age but also shows it as more than just hormones. You have a genuine desire for these two people to get together, and you can only hope that someday down the road they will find each other again. The film does a great job of rounding out the supporting characters with very little effort or screen time, no one outside the main characters really has a story arc and yet you feel like you know them, at least as well as you know the people you went to school with. It captures so many things about adolecence besides first love, like the cruelty of kids that age towards each other, and how ridiculous adults can be.




X-Files: I Want to Believe B

I'm a fan of the show, I'm a fan of the characters, I liked it. I can understand why some people would be expecting Aliens or something that played into the x-files mythology more, but I didn't have a problem with that chance. I thought the story was engaging, and creepy. but really what I was there for was the Scully Mulder dynamic and I thought it gave us a nice little. update on that.

The Tracey Fragments D+

yeah, I like Ellen Page too, I like her a lot, and she's does what she can here, but this is just a mess that really doesn't seem to go anywhere and it's derailed by it's overbearing technique, fractured screens to the tenth power, almost unwatchable I found myself constantly checking the time elapsed to see if it was almost over.

The Martian Chronicles C

This is a made for early 80's TV miniseries and it shows, the best parts are the ideas which come from master story teller Ray Bradbury, but pretty much everything else is cheese on toast. Interesting but this production did not age well.

Torn Curtain B-

This is one of the few Hitchcock films I had never seen before, finally got around to it and I can see why it isn't considered a classic, but it's still true Hitchcock, and there are many scenes that work very well. This is definitely one I would check out again.

Topaz D+

One of the other Hitchcock's I had never seen, this one will not be veiwed again it was a tough screening. There was one scene that felt like classic Hitchcock and that was the opening sequence. Beyond that it really felt like a mess and the ending is terribly anticlimatic, something you do not expect from Hitch.

Smart People B

This was a much more enjoyable outing from Ellen Page. Thomas Haden Church is also very good here, the less effective performance is that of the lead Dennis Quaid, he made one wrong choice in his performance and while it doesn't ruin the film or even his contribution it is unsuccessful, it is the choices he made to physicalize his characters conceitedness. the raised nose and affected speech patterns in certain scenes were just off otherwise it was good.

Tropic Thunder A-

This is very funny very enjoyable time at the movies. Great comedic performances from Steve Coogan, Robert Downey Jr. and Jay Baruchel in particular. In fact performance wise the only not pitch perfect one was Ben Stiller, who was still good, he just seemed to be playing it a little broader than the rest of the cast. Tom Cruise also give a completely original performance as an obnoxious bald foulmouthed studio exec.

OK OK

Ok, decided I should do something even if it is late So Top 10 favorite directors (living/working). (no Particular order)

1. Kenneth Branagh
2. Woody Allen
3. Kevin Smith
4. Martin Scorsese
5. Wes Anderson
6. David Fincher
7. Judd Apatow
8. Quentin Tarantino
9. Paul Thomas Anderson
10. Cameron Crowe

Once again that is totally off the top of my head, OK Ok I did go over and glance at the DVD shelves.

Top 10 favorite directors (Dead/not working). (no Particular order)

1. Alfred Hitchcock
2. Frank Capra
3. Charlie Chaplin
4. Howard Hawks
5. Robert Wise
6. Buster Keaton
7. David Lean
8. John Ford
9. Preston Sturges
10. Elia Kazan

long time no blog.

Well sorry. It's been nearly a month since we returned from our trip and I haven't written a single blog entry. Well I will try and write a full blown blog entry over the weekend for now I just wanted to get on and make some excuses. Busy at work, busy with family, I've been sick for over a week now, avalanche stranded us in our car, kidnapped by the tooth fairy who claims I still owe her two teeth, rhubarb. Some combination of the above is too blame. I'll go in now and update the 2008 viewing list and then try and get something out this weekend with a quick word on each.

On Vacation

Just a qick update to let any readers know that I will be on vacation from July 4th to July 21st. In the meantime feel free to read older posts and make comments. Happy 4th of July everyone.

Wall-E A+

Last Sunday I saw Wall-E and I doubt that I will see a better film this year. I'm trying to think of my favorite films from last year and as far as I can recall it tops every one of them. I must say I was fairly well shocked at my reaction to this film. I thought the trailers looked fun, but I really didn't think I would really connect with it. When I think of Pixar the company behind probably 90% of the greatest animation in the last decade or more, I wonder why I thought Wall E would some how fall below the others. Maybe it's because it's about robots, maybe I was expecting a manipulating romance about characters I wouldn't care about if they weren't contriving reasons for me to care. Whatever my reasons I suspect that that theory of lowered expectations would have come into play, would have that is if the film needed them, but it doesn't. I'm not going to spoiler the movie for those who haven't seen it. I also don't want to overpraise it, though again I doubt the film could fall victim to that phenomenon either.

There are so many levels on which Wall-E succeeds. Visually it is as astonishing as anything animation I have ever seen. there is a scene in which Wall-E is crushed by an entire Grocery store's worth of shopping carts within the scene focus shits the camera jostles and there is something so real about it that it was amazing to me not that they could compose and exicute such a shot but that they thought to, that they realized this shot filmed as it is.... but wait it isn't filmed is it it's all designed in a computer, but it feels like it's filmed. Take Toy Story for example, that has some really great animation in it but it always looks like a cartoon. This film begins to look like a cartoon only after they arrive on a ship in space that contains the human race or what it has become. In other words they wait until we have completely bought into the reality of this world before they remind us it's a cartoon, but that doesn't break the magic it amplify's the wonder at what they have done.

Character wise I need to be careful because this could easily lead to spoilers. I'll say that not since E.T. has something so asthetically uncute been so endearing. The heart of this character and his personality shine through this robot exterior and this animated robot who resembles a human less than any other robot I can think of comes off as one of the most fully realized characters I've seen this year. In fact Wall-E is one of the most human characters in film history.

Speaking of humans, again while trying to avoid spoilerville, the humans in this film mirror our deapest laws and show us what could easily happen to us as a species. But, the film also shows what is greatest about the human spirit. This is a film that isn't content to give us one lesson to take away like most animated films do this is a film bursting with ideas and themes. It is not only a great animated film but a great science Fiction film as well, for it does what alll great science fiction does it uses the distance of time and space to address the world in which we live now.


I don't want to over inflate everyone's expectations, but I laughed, I cried, it was a part of me. A+

The best so far!!

It seems like a good time to recap the best films of 2008 so far. We are half way through the year and the thing that strikes me is that it has been a very good year for blockbuster films. Usually the big summer films with the explosions and larger than life charaters are good for one thing and that is mindless entertainment. this year the big summer blockbusters seem to be a notch or two above any other year. I suspect this is due to the influnce of a few films in recent years, those that were critical as well as commercial sucesses, those that were good even while blowing things up. What are these films that began to attract talent to the franchises? For it is the talent of the creative teams that is raising the bar. for some reason big stars and good directors are getting into the block buster business and from what they are turning out it wasn't just for the payday. The Bourne Franchise and the Spider-man films are what led the charge. Those were hit's as well as critically well received, perhaps it even goes back to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, when a blockbuster fantasy film cleaned up at the Oscars as well as the box office. Also look at Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Daniel Craig as James Bond, and Christian Bale as Batman. These are great actors taking leads in franchise, blockbuster films. In the last few decades you had your great actors and you had your action stars, we kept them in seperate drawers and they rarely ever got to the same table. But now we have great actors taking on the roles of action stars. But the interesting thing is they are not just taking the roles they are altering them into more than just action stars they are turning them into action characters. Now this year we have Robert Downey Jr. as Ironman, Edward Norton as the Hulk, Harrison Ford as .... OK well somethings never change, and that's ....OK, cause Harrison Ford is active enough, smart enough, and gosh darn it people like him. So before I go any farther down this road and before we cast our eyes forward to the rest of 2008 and the Dark Knight, and Quantum of Solace, let's look at the first 6 months and I'll tell you what I think the 5...well 6 best films have been so far.

1. Wall E
2. Iron Man / The Incredible Hulk ( I know kind of a cheat)
3. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
4. Kung Fu Panda
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

My prediction is that by the end of 2008 Wall E will still be #1 a short review will appear at this blog in the next two days.

Top 10 novel adaptations

In honor of Emma, in no particular order and off the top of my head. Two qualifiers I have to have read the book, and no author's can appear twice on the list.

1. The Harry Potter films (kinda cheating I know but deal with it)
2. Hamlet (1996)
3. Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Ditto)
4. The Haunting
5. Stand By Me
6. Bridget Jones Diary
7. The Hitchickers' Guide to the Galaxy ( I hear your booing and don't care)
8. About a Boy so so tied with High Fidelity
9. To Kill a Mockingbird
10. Casino Royale

Please send comments with your own top 5's!!!