A beef with Rotten Tomatoes

Today, huge nerd that I am, I wandered on to rottentomatoes.com and browsed their list of best reviewed sci-fi films ever. Their countdowns are unfortunately structured so that the user must go through the entire list backwards, one movie at a time. The quickest way to browse the list is to go by tens towards the front. Opposite of user-friendly.

Finally I got to the top ten. Wondering why Star Wars: A New Hope was so far down on the list (#9, behind Minority Report and Children of Men), I went to read the reviews. You have to be a pretty big cynic to give Star Wars a bad review, especially when in 1977 it was the coolest thing that had ever happened in a movie theater.

What I found was terribly disappointing. The reviews cited on Rotten Tomatoes do not include any from the original release! Instead, they are all prolific comments like "Classic!" There are bad reviews that claim triteness and shallowness... all from 1997.

I find a "Top Reviewed ________" list extremely less credible when it omits any period reviews from older movies and relies solely on jaded analysis of the DVD re-releases. Thoughts?

Save the cheerleader...

Despite the infamous tagline, Heroes is worth your time if you haven't already checked it out. It's hard to say anything without spoiling, so let me say this: some characters are lovable, others are scary, others can't decide which they are. I still don't know whose side some people are on.

I think I set a new record of general ridiculousness yesterday when I watched the (intense!) finale of Season One about 50 minutes before watching the premiere of Season Two live. It's going to be a complicated season, but that's part of what makes this show fun.

All I'm saying is, wtf happened to Peter?

I am officially the lamest blogger ever.

HOWEVER, I'm getting back on the horse, first of all by posting an arbitrary Office picture. John Krasinski with an iPod... it doesn't get any sexier than this.

It's been a long summer, and a long first month or so of school. I'm tired of movies not being a part of my life. So, a few short points of interest:

1) This is a convenient website: http://videoeta.com/ Damn you, Simpsons Movie, for not being released sooner.

2) Important forthcoming dates: Office Season 4 starts Thursday. Heroes Season 2 starts Monday. Those actually weren't so much dates but days. Oops.

3) I recently gained one tiny, tiny, tiny granule of respect for Grey's Anatomy, and that is because they name all of the episodes after songs. The two part episode called "The End of the World" and "As We Know It" is my favorite. So, think about a grain of sugar, and you now know the exact size of my respect for that show, which is bigger than it used to be, but very small indeed.

4) Today I rented "The Tiger and the Snow", one of Roberto Benigni's latest projects, naturally starring him and his wife and directed by him, also with an appearance by Jean Reno, whom we all know is a badass. It has a 6.9 on imdb, and since it's not a cult film I tend to be a little more trusting of their rating system. So although I am excited, I'm also a shade worried.

5) I'm writing this last one to keep myself honest. I need to post about Hairspray, which was hilarious, Heroes, which kicks ass, and Arrested Development, which might be the greatest thing to ever happen to Planet Earth, and I don't mean Prince's new album.

Kubrick

I've long been a fan of Kubrick and am always frustrated when Speilberg is mentioned ahead of him in terms of great directors. How many directors have the courage to take on really controversial material. Kubrick made film versions of TWO of the most controversial novels of the 20th century: Lolita and A Clockwork Orange.

His IMDb stats are stagering and unparalleled. Dismissing the handful of short films and documentaries he did prior to 1956, Kubrik directed just eleven movies over 43 years. Here they are in ascending order based on IMDb rating:

Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - 7.0
Lolita (1962) - 7.6
Barry Lyndon (1975) - 8.0
Spartacus (1960) - 8.0 #188
The Killing (1956) - 8.2 #135
Full Metal Jacket (1987) - 8.3 #94
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - 8.3 #78
The Shining (1980) - 8.4 #60
A Clockwork Orange (1971) - 8.4 #50
Paths of Glory (1957) - 8.5 #42
Dr. Strangelove (1964) - 8.7 #21

Blood Diamond

Great, great movie. What could have easily been turned into a standard, unimportant action movie was handled with great care by Edward Zwick (Glory). The acting was spot-on. DiCaprio is like a real life Han Solo. The Oscar nominations were well deserved, in fact, there are probably a few nominees that owe Blood Diamond an apology for taking a spot it deserved in the Best Picture category (sorry, The Queen, get out).

Children of Men

Dark, raw, disturbing, and visually stunning. I wouldn't have thought this would be a movie I'd regret not having seen in the theater. I don't know if this movie should be #122 on IMDb, but it certain needs to be watched by everyone as an unfortunately accurate insight into the human condition.

A pirate's life for me... maybe

So, I definitely paid $25 for my ticket to Pirates III, but I guess that is to be expected in London's West End. Even the indie theater there is $20 per ticket. Also, the theater was almost empty, ergo London has officially been given the rating of "lame" as a movie town until further notice (Harry Potter).

Anyway, last night I saw At World's End in Leicester Square in a huge theater that has absolutely nothing on the Warren. It was three hours long. However, so much plot stuff was going on that it was hard to deal with the characters at all. I was happy to see a little bit more time spent with Will and Elizabeth. Elizabeth turns out to be a complete badass and that part I loved.

What I loved the most about this movie, though, was the ending. It was really sad (it could be taken as not that sad, but I thought it was pretty painful), so that was actually a nice surprise. I don't prefer movies to have sad endings, but the way they handled it in Pirates III redeemed them a little bit for Pirates II. Let's just say it took the movie down a couple of notches on the Popcorn-O-Meter, which in the dire situation of this franchise, is a good thing.

For this reason and others, At World's End also pandered a lot less to the section of its fanbase that is easily entertained. Dead Man's Chest was pretty much the Johnny Depp-being-hilarious-but-ultimately-undermining-the-franchise's-value show. This isn't the case in the latest installment. That is not to say that At World's End suffers from a lack of swashbuckling. It was much less dependent on physical comedy and re-used Disnefied jokes.

So, see it because you should finish out the series, but a la the Matrix, this trilogy might have been better off with just the initial film. No pirate movie and few of any genre will ever be as cool as POTC: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

The Namesake = amazing

So, nevermind the timestamp on this entry... it's been worse. Today in a very rare occurance I had the pleasure of seeing a movie with Richie, and what a movie. Kal Penn was all grown up in The Namesake, an absolutely incredible movie. There is no short way to describe what happens in this movie. Suffice it to say that it is fabulous.

I'm still at a loss as to how to describe what happens in this movie without using way too many words. It covers an Indian couple adjusting to life in New York and then their American kids trying to balance their American culture with having an Indian family and dealing with traditions and expectations. It's a beautiful movie and I want to watch it again tomorrow. And read the book.

Spiderman 3

My reaction to this movie was actually pretty neutral. I can't really think of anything negative to say against it nor did I especially enjoy it. Reading online reviews for it, I found I agreed with most of the critics - the good and the bad reviews.

If you liked the first two, you have to see this one, but let me some up with this comment: Spiderman 2 made me cry at parts, it was that good; Spiderman 3 - not even close.

Spiderman!

I realize my lameness in not posting about Spiderman until now, but it's been a busy week and weekend. Good, but busy.
-----------

Spiderman 3 was really good, but far from perfect. I loved that it was much more of a tribute to the cheesy '60s comic strip and then cartoon that it began as. A few things were rushed, but a lot of things were good. It's definitely a satisfactory ending to the series (I was deathly afraid they would mess it up). Spiderman 3 is no Spiderman or Spiderman 2, but it's immensely entertaining and I'd see it again.

I can't think of a title that accurately conveys my anger and frustration at this.

This showed up in the imdb news thingy today:

The Oscar-winning Best Foreign Film is to be remade as a Hollywood movie. German espionage drama The Lives Of Others will be revamped as an English-language film with moviemakers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella coming together for the project. Pollack tells trade paper Daily Variety, "We would just desperately love for that film to be something that reaches more people. We haven't gotten locked into making it yet, but we're working hard at trying to get it going." The film's writer/director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck claimed Oscar gold for the film in February.

NONONONONONONONONONONONONOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The Lives of Others is amazing and fantastic just the way it is. Americanizing it will do absolutely nothing to its benefit. In fact, it will be detrimental. It will cheapen it to an unbelievable degree. That is not to say that American films are not good, but the Lives of Others is not an American film and it never will be. No one can make it one. Part of the beauty of The Lives of Others is that it is a window into a different time and a different culture. I can't imagine watching it in English.

I am having trouble finding un-profane words to describe how I feel about the absolute mockery of filmmaking that is this proposal.

And as for trying to reach more people - come on! Making a big-name, English-language version of this movie is like making a coloring book line drawing of Starry Night. The people who see the English-language version because it is in English are not going to a) go to the movie with the intent of taking away what the original filmmakers wanted or b) take that away at all, because it will be painfully absent in the dumbed-down version. Heck, maybe we can make it really fun and cast George Clooney and Angelina Jolie in the lead roles. Please, production companies, why don't you just go ahead and advertise it as a way to rip off one country's art and market it to a popcorn-film-loving audience?

What a horrible upon horrible idea. I hate big business sometimes. Now is one of those times.

Hairspray = hilarity.

This movie promises to be utterly hilarious.

Yes, that is in fact John Travolta. If that doesn't abolish any doubts you may have, I don't know what will. Check out the production stills on imdb.

Children of Men

So, I watched Children of Men Saturday night and even though I started it at 11 p.m. or so I was completely sucked in and amazed.

First of all, this movie has set decoration like no movie I have seen in a long time. The detail was incredible and the variety was ridiculous. Michael Caine (who was ridiculous, and I'll get to that later) had a house in the middle of nowhere that was full of knick-knacks and nature-y things, which contrasted absolutely beautifully with the drab, dirty, monochrome set that was London and the harrowing warzone/refugee camp, where the film's last 20 minutes took place. The difference between all of these gave the movie a very intense, gritty feel. A particularly stirring (read: awesome) scene that comes to mind: Clive Owen is running from gunshot cover to gunshot cover, and there are dead bodies everywhere. He eventually just dives into a pile of bodies behind a barricade. All three of the people in my room watching were startled (audibly) to find out that the bodies were actually alive (they reacted angrily to being dove into). That's how engrossed we were.

Back to Michael Caine. If the man suffers from any career pitfalls, he suffers from being typecast as Alfred Pennyworth (seriously, did anyone else come to mind when you heard they were updating the Batman franchise?). Not anymore. He was hilarious, tragic, and spot on as Jasper Palmer, the old hippie who actually told a guy with a gun in his face to pull his finger.

Also, I have to say that the production crew in this movie is incredible. During one scene in the warzone/refugee camp where Clive Owen is frantically looking for the girl and the baby, he walks through several floors and around several corners. The thing is,, this scene, which was several minutes long,, was done with a single camera - it was one long take full of explosions and gunshots and reactions, which would have required an incredible amount of strict coordination.

Children of Men was gloriously dark, and please don't think I'm crazy/emo. The mood was beautifully conveyed by every aspect of the movie. It was just really good, and very sobering.

Dial M for Murder

The more Alfred Hitchcock movies I watch, the more I wonder why he is most remembered for Psycho. I'd rank it last of the ones I've seen.

Here's how engaging Dial M for Murder was: I didn't realize until I heard it mentioned in the special features that the entire film takes place within the same apartment.

Grindhouse

So, Grindhouse was pretty much everything it was expected to be. Ridiculous, contentless, but pretty funny because things were out of control and it was funny to see good actors in random, goofy roles. I wasn't disappointed by this one because I wasn't expecting anything. Meh. Not worth seeing again.

All I have to say is, if I could do whatever the heck I wanted with a movie... it wouldn't be this.

The Lives of Others

Today I saw two (technically three) movies, and the first of those three was The Lives Of Others. What an amazing movie. My roommate put it very well when she said that she forgot that she was reading subtitles. It's completely true. You will have no idea, watching this movie, that it's in a different language than you are used to.

The Lives of Others is about love, duty, and sympathy. It comments gracefully and empathetically on the lives of Germans living in East Berlin - Germans who wanted to believe that their system was working and also those who were ready to rebel. It dealt with how people had to sell themselves to preserve their art, and give up some dignities to preserve what they loved the most. The movie is sad at times and tense at others. It is absolutely gripping.

Supposedly Pan's Labyrinth losing the Oscar to this movie was the year's big (also, only) upset at the Academy Awards, but I beg to differ. The only reason people think that is because The Lives of Others was lesser known. The Lives of Others is on par with any and all movies in the Best Picture category of what I would consider an excellent year for movies.

Looking forward

First of all, may I just say that I am about eight movies behind and one of these days when I don't have a ton of news stories in progress I WILL get completely caught up.

Secondly, I just need to say that I am really, really excited about Revolutionary Road, a movie coming out in 2008 starring... Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet!!!! This is awesome for two reasons - 1) duh, Titanic reunion. Although cheesy, this movie's impact is undeniable. 2) Look how much these two have grown since then! They have eight Oscar nominations between the two of them and six of those have come since Titanic. Sam Mendes is directing, and it's going to be good.

Run, Lola, Run

I believe this is my first post of a movie I had already seen. It was also the first movie I watched using Netflix's "watch now" feature, so that was pretty cool. I rarely rewatch movies anymore, but it had probably been five years since I first saw this one.

Lola's boyfriend calls her saying he needs 100,000 marks (they're German) in 20 minutes or he's a dead man. Thanks to writer/director Tom Tykwer, she gets three, instant replay style attempts to save him. Each time through illustrates, in no subtle fashion, how large an impact minor things can have. For example, if Lola is delayed by two seconds, it can be the difference between catching up to someone or missing them entirely.

Run, Lola, Run is nearing it's 10 year anniversary, but it still pops with bold originality and earns its spot in the IMDb top 250 (currently #163 all-time).

Mysterious Skin

This is a movie that completely flew under the radar. I didn't even stumble across it on IMDb or because of a Netflix recommendation. It was mentioned on Ebert & Roeper as they were discussing Joseph Gordon-Levitt possibly becoming one of our next great actors. After watching this and Brick I am inclined to agree. Gordon-Levitt has continued working steadily since 3rd Rock from the Sun but without, apparently, taking any role just to get a paycheck. He's choosing risky, challenging stuff.

Mysterious Skin is a disturbing character piece following two young men who happened to be on the same Little League team ten years earlier. One has become obsessed with UFO's, convinced he was abducted as a child, the other, Gordon-Levitt, has become a gay male prostitute. The former's search for answers leads him back to his Little League days and his old teammate. This is a spectacular movie, but is not for everyone, earning its NC-17 rating for explicit sex and pedophilic scenes.

A quick side note - as a Kansan, I was excited to learn that the novel this movie is based on was written by a 1985 Little River graduate who was born in Hutchinson. The movie is set in Hutch, with the characters taking a couple trips to Inman.

Chungking Express

I first heard of Chungking Express several years ago. I think it was actually a trailer on my VHS copy of Pulp Fiction. It is a film by Wong Kar-Wai whose work I previously enjoyed with In the Mood for Love and 2046. 2046 instantly became one of my all-time favorites. It's hard to explain Kar-Wai's style, you just have to experience it. It's simultaneously realistic and surrealistic; gritty and lighthearted.

I might rank Chungking Express third of the movies of his I've seen, but he's becoming one of my favorite working directors. His next project, My Blueberry Nights, stars Jude Law, Ed Harris, Natalie Portman, Rachel Weisz, Tim Roth, David Strathairn, and Norah Jones.

It's always refreshing to realize that even though we have all the crap that Hollywood shoves in our faces, there is still a whole world of filmmakers producing quality work. If it weren't for movies like Chungking Express, something like Dukes of Hazzard 2: The Beginning might be cause for suicide.

A Quick Note on Bergman and Fellini

Sweden's Ingmar Bergman (not to be confused with Casablanca's Ingrid Bergman) and Italy's Federico Fellini have one important thing in common: their films are first and foremost about people. The story takes a backseat and, in some cases, doesn't exist at all. No matter the character, they make sure you will find something about them that you identify and empathize with.

The problem is they are often more patient with their characters than I am prepared to be. I need a story to keep me going. So, as talented as these directors are, it is hit or miss as to whether I like their films. I didn't really care for Fellini's 8 1/2 or La Dolce Vita but did like La Strada. I've had better luck with Bergman. I really liked both The Seventh Seal and Wild Strawberries though I wasn't as impressed with Persona (which I just watched this morning, prompting this post). Bergman himself aptly referred to Persona as "poetry in images." That sounds wonderful enough, but you can guess where I found it lacking - in story.

If you're into movies you should definitely explore these two artists. Just have some caffeine ready.

The Up Series

In 1963 a British television network did a 40 minute documentary looking at the lives of fourteen seven-year-olds. The idea was that kids that age at that time would comprise the work force of the year 2000. They called it a "glimpse into Britain's future." Director Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, HBO's Rome), a young assistant on the project in 1963 has revisited these same people every seven years since, most recently in 2005 when they were all 49-years-old.

Though the subjects themselves don't seem to fully appreciate it, they are involved in something I can best describe as mesmerizing and important. It is surreal to watch their lives on fast forward. You can't help but draw parallels to your own life and reflect on where you came from and where your life is going. Roger Ebert commented that the series "isn't about their lives, it's about life."

Apted is careful not to go over the top. His questions are very simple: Are you happy? What do you hope for for your children? etc.

This is a time capsule of the contemporary human experience. Watch it.

Go see TMNT. Now.

My second day of the new-movie-each-day vow resulted in me seeing the long-awaited TMNT. It's fabulousamazing.

A few things have changed. The turtles are... skinnier. Spinter's voice sucks. April has become Lara Croft instead of being a TV reporter (sad for me, who always thought it was sweet that she was a journalist). Oh yeah, and she and Casey Jones are living together - not something I expected out of the Ninja Turtles franchise.

TMNT picks up after Turtles III. Leonardo has gone on some kind of leadership enlightenment quest, and the other Turtles have faded somewhat into normal society and no longer fight crime, with the exception of Raphael. April finds Leo while she's on a treasure hunt for a statue some rich wacko will pay big bucks for, and convinces him to come back just as all hell breaks loose, and of course, the Foot reappear.

TMNT is dark and just grown up enough. It retains so much of the amazingness and hilarity that was the cartoon and live-action movies of the late 80s and early 90s (also, the movie is FULL of references to these older installments... awesome). Raphael and Leonardo remain the central characters. The struggle between the two of them is unusually developed and just really done well.

TMNT is packed with stand-alone moments of all moods and genres that are just... fantastic. The soundtrack is great, but contains no Vanilla Ice (Go ninja, go ninja, go!). I loved every second, and I am positive that anyone that grew up with the orginal cartoon/live action movies will, and everyone else will too.

Cowabunga. There, I said it.

Cars, or Disney/Pixar Again Fails to Disappoint

Cars has been on my list for a while to see, and is one selection that is of very poor quality on peekvid.com. I've had it from Netflix for several weeks, and last night I finally watched it. It was about that time that I decided to make it a personal goal to watch one new movie I haven't seen each day this spring break starting with Cars. I have been slacking, big time.

I believe The Incredibles was the last Disney/Pixar movie that I saw, and it was endearing, hilarious, and everything we have come to expect from this collaborative group. I didn't expect as much from Cars, and was pleasantly surprised.

Don't get me wrong, Cars is no Incredibles, but it's very, very good. There were several times when I laughed aloud... alone in my room... and felt like a huge nerd. For example, at one point Lightning McQueen and Mater go tractor-tipping. Hilarious. The story itself was also just plain good. There were more plot threads than in many comparable movies, and each was developed just enough to let them blend effortlessly. Keep up the good work, guys at Disney and Pixar!

Pride and Prejudice - the 2005 version, a.k.a. the Keira Knightley version

So, a certain huge fan of the book and Ms. Austen's literature sat me down to watch Pride and Prejudice, and I was very impressed.

This movie excels in its subtlety. All of the humor comes from subtle visual jokes or subtle insults in polite dialogue. The costumes of the Bennett family look like normal dresses, but as you see the women in different dresses of the same pattern throughout the movie, you better realize their relative poverty.

The casting was impeccable. Seriously, I think Jane Austen might have written Elizabeth Bennett with Keira Knightley in mind. Everything about the movie absolutely beautiful, especially the script, and I would also venture to say that it is one of the best literary adaptations I have seen.

Also, the almost-ending scene where the Elizabeth and Darcy are in a field at sunrise... wow. The light is amazing. To shoot this shot, the director and actors would have to have perfect timing, and shoot it in one or two takes or wait until the next day at sunrise to try again. Put that in with some incredible dialog and the guy and girl finally getting together and you have yourself a scene that's a complete package - which is what this entire movie really is.

Inherit the Wind

I can't remember the last time a movie got me as fired up as this one did. It's based on the play that was based on the Scopes trial in 1925. I'm not sure how close it is to the true story, but the debate is the timeless creationism versus Darwinism. I was mad from the beginning, watching the citizens of this town marching and singing with signs saying, "Down with Darwin," "Deliver us from Evil," and the like. I took a step back and asked myself, "what about this is making me angry?" I don't have a problem with people expressing their religious beliefs and being passionate about those beliefs.

What I hate is the unwillingness to consider both sides of an argument, people who completely shut down and say, "this is the way it is and nothing else is possible." Creationists base their belief on the Bible and its infallibility as God's word... supposedly, meaning, if that were the case, I could live with it, but what occurred to me while watching the movie is that it is not the infallibility of God these people were holding sacred, but their own interpretation of God's word.

The Bible is man's interpretation of God's word. Man is fallible, so how can the interpretation be infallible? The common answer to that is that the authors of the Bible were inspired by God. Again, fair enough, but who decided that they were inspired by God? Other fallible men! The next answer is simply, "that's faith," but that's the same as saying, "I have no idea about anything, I just believe what I've been told to believe my whole life."

Wow. So this is a movie review right? Like I said, this show got me fired up. [We won't even go into the separation of church and state and how a public school could possibly ban topics simply because they conflict with fundamental religious teachings or the culture of hate, not love, that too often comes from zealots].

Anyway, watch this movie. It will get you talking and, hopefully, thinking.


Just to throw everyone for a loop - I DO believe in God and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

13 Tzameti

A friend called and recommended this to me. It was actually already in my Netflix queue, so I moved it to the top and watched it the other night.

It's a French thriller with the subtlety of Hitchcock but with a more modern sense of brutality. It was very interesting yet very simple. I won't say much more as they will be remaking it with an American cast with the same writer/director. Normally, I'd frown on something like this, but with its sub-90 minute runtime, I'm really curious to see what the director can do with a bigger budget and another crack at this idea.

The Faces of Daniel Day-Lewis

I just watched The Unbearable Lightness of Being and it solidified an opinion I've formed over my recent years of movie watching: Daniel Day-Lewis is the best actor ever. His body of work includes more diverse and more complete and more convincing characters than anyone else I can think of. To top it off, he has done so with only 17 movies to his credit over the last 25 years.

It's hard to explain, but Day-Lewis doesn't act - he becomes his characters. The voices and body language he uses from role to role are as distinct as the physical changes he undergoes.

I am extremely excited about his next project There Will Be Blood, an adaptation of an Upton Sinclair novel directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love).

Here's a rundown of the pictures above (left to right):

Convict/IRA member/boxer,yet good guy, Danny Flynn in Jim Sheridan's The Boxer.

Fun loving Gerry Conlon caught in the wrong place at the wrong time in In the Name of the Father.

Prim, proper, and slightly annoying Cecil Vyse in A Room with a View.

The menacing, sadistic, racist, strangely honorable Bill "The Butcher" Cutting in The Gangs of New York. In my opinion the second greatest villain in film history (behind, of course, Darth Vader).

His Oscar winning role as severely disabled artist Christy Brown in My Left Foot.

A bi-sexual layabout in My Beautiful Laundrette.

Troubled father Jack Slavin in The Ballad of Jack and Rose.

Womanizing Czech surgeon Tomas in The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

... another pic from The Boxer because I messed up. So I'll mention his one scene in Gandhi as a bigoted bully who attempted to block the sidewalk.

Upstanding gentleman Newland Archer torn between two women in The Age of Innocence.

Bad-ass warrior Hawkeye in The Last of the Mohicans.

Salem resident John Proctor whose spurning of a young woman ultimately leads to a lot of accusations and some trials you may have heard of.

Pirates 3 Trailer

So, there's a sweet trailer for Pirates 3: At World's End on yahoo.com. In what I must assume is an attempt to thwart YouTube users from posting it, they have generously provided a way to post it on your blog already.

A way that does not take into account the fact that not all blogs are the same layout. The embedded video file is some 600 by 500 pixels, also known as huge. I have a feeling me changing the code would not end well.

Enjoy:

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/piratesofthecaribbeanatworldsend.html

Kundun

A very straightforward biopic of the Dalai Lama directed by Martin Scorsese. Quite interesting if you don't know much about Tibet and Buddhism. I preferred Seven Years in Tibet (though it's been awhile since I've seen it). Coincidentally, both were released in 1997.

Yay for the old imdb layout

In case anyone else is dissatisfied with the new reader-unfreindly layout of imdb.com where all you can see is ads, you can for a little while go to your site preferences and change them so the movie and people pages are in the old format.

Thank God.

300

Expectations definitely play a role in how you view a movie. I was fortunate enough to have my outrageous expectations for 300 tempered by reactions like Rebekah's. So I got, more or less, what I was expecting: pure action. Normally, this would not be near enough for me, but it was so spectacularly beautiful that I really enjoyed it.

As fantastic as the story seems, one must remember that, more or less, it really happened. The Spartans WERE that rabid about warfare. 300 Spartans DID lead a Greek force against a 200,000 plus strong Persian force. [A contemporary newspaper article called the stand at the Alamo, a modern day Thermopylae]. Even some of the quotes in the movie are historically recorded.

So, unfortunately, there is no real depth here, but at the same time, it offers many things we have never seen before and is worth seeing because of them. This, along with its brother, Sin City, will likely become visual mile-markers in film history.

Are we kidding, imdb voters?

300 currently has an 8.4 rating on imdb. Are we serious, kids?

The movie was cool, and every visual and sound aspect was amazing, but ultimately the movie is empty of everything except testosterone.

So, I enjoyed watching it, but it doesn't even come close to living up to its hype. Disappointing.

Promises

This is an Oscar nominated documentary interviewing children on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict about what they think of each other. It's not as emotionally engaging as it could have been (perhaps that's why it didn't win the Oscar), but when two Jewish boys visit and play with their counterparts in a Palestinian refugee camp it's hard not to realize how ridiculous all this fighting is.

We in American (i.e. the general population) know far too little about the Middle East, especially considering how involved we like to get over there. It's always the black and white of terrorists bad, democracy good. Keep in mind this country was basically founded by terrorists revolting against an Imperial government. When one side is completely outmatched militarily, they will resort to other means to score "victories." Before I get ridden out of town on a rail, let me point out that I'm a pacifist. I'm just willing to look at a situation with an open mind and recognize that there are very few, if any, evil people, only evil deeds.

This movie gives important insight not just into Israel and Palestine, but also something we can try to apply to all human conflict.

Barton Fink

In true Coen Brothers fashion, Barton Fink is filled with sharp, original characters and a wonderful exercise in the use of the English language. However, neither the plot nor the characters were developed enough for my taste.

Worth a look if you flip by it on TV.

Spider-Man 3 7 minute clip.

Alright, forget going to YouTube. Apparently we are still with Blogger Beta...?

Check this out.

If you haven't already, get yourself over to YouTube and enjoy these seven minutes of wonderfulness, also known as a huge Spiderman 3 trailer.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=su1HZS3nn1U

Danny, in case you read this blog, thanks for pointing me in that direction.

I attempted to enable our blog to post videos, but either Blogger or YouTube is being a jerk and not accepting my username and password, which is incredibly inconvenient.

The Defiant Ones

Using IMDb and Netflix, I am constantly mining for potentially great movies. I struck gold with The Defiant Ones.

Two convicts, one white, one black, chained together escape when the truck escorting them runs off the road and wrecks. Self-preservation forces them to look out for the other guy.

Nominated for nine Academy Awards, this movie was ahead of its time in dealing with race relations and, to a lesser extent, the treatment of criminals. It could have easily failed or been merely average, but with Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier as the convicts, it soars to unforgettable.

The Science of Sleep

This movie is a piece of work, but very good. It's a about Stepháne, a.k.a. my love Gael García Bernal, who has issues discerning his dreams from reality, and director Michael Gondry does an incredible job implementing this with every aspect of the movie.

Most noticeably, it's in three languages. The movie goes from French to Spanish to English and back again with almost no transition. The movie also goes from dream to reality to halfway in between with little or no padding. It conveyed to the viewer exactly what kind of confusion Stepháne is feeling.

Next, and as demonstrated in the picture, are the sets. A lot of the movie takes place in a room made of what looks like egg cartons (seen above). It's a TV studio, of sorts, with two windows for Stepháne's eyes and cardboard cameras that Stepháne constantly adjusts as he tries to control things in his life. In his dreams, everything is made of arts-and-crafts supplies that Stepháne (appropriately) could have made himself. He is closest to Stephanie, his neighbor, when they are making little craft... things. I don't know what to call them. Anyway, it demonstrates how he is more able to control and shape things in his dream-like state. Maybe that's why he has trouble getting away from it.

The Science of Sleep is not plot based at all, but instead is a complex blend of character development and amazing artistic achievement with the mis-en-scene and screenplay. It is a portrait much more than it is a biography. Watch it with this in mind, and enjoy.

A Quick Note on Krzysztof Kieslowski

The brilliant Polish writer and director ended his career with the spectacular Three Colors trilogy that all students of film should see (the third part earned him an Oscar nomination for best director).

He is perhaps better known, however, for The Decalogue, a Polish TV mini-series where each of the ten parts deals loosely with one of the ten commandments and each protagonist lives in the same Warsaw apartment complex.

All of that is great stuff, but I just unnecessarily watched his A Short Film About Killing which, I found while watching it, is just a slightly longer version of Part 5 of The Decalogue. It would have been as good as his other stuff... if I hadn't already seen it! (i.e. it was good, but I thought was getting new Kieslowski, not recycled Kieslowski). Only watch it if want to substitute it in place while watching The Decalogue. Or just pass all together.

The Illusionist

I watched The Illusionist last night, and it was very, very cool. I really enjoyed everything about it. As seems to be a pattern with movies I have seen lately, there is no analysis to be made. It's a good story with a great ending.

(Don't read this if you haven't seen) That said, the person I was watching the movie with asked me in the middle of the movie if I liked Romeo and Juliet. I was like "huh? yes...?" (end spoilers).

That said, I also am watching The Science of Sleep. That movie is so far a piece of work, but also genius. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I juggle English, French, and Spanish. I didn't think I would be doing that in a movie. It's frying my brain a little.

Stranger than Fiction.

Good show. It barely qualifies as a comedy. I would call it an amusing drama, similar in tone to something like In Good Company.

I really enjoyed the movie while I watching it but, unfortunately, it felt almost pointless in the end. The book being written (as overheard in Emma Thompson's voice over) sounds far more interesting than what we are being shown.

I liked it, soon forgot it, but would definitely watch it again.

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

I really liked this movie. For whatever reason, some older movies don't stand up well against time while others do. This is a perfectly timeless movie.

The widowed Mrs. Muir moves to a seaside house still occupied by the ghost of its former master. Their relationship is captivating. This a fairly straightforward movie, but I was completely engrossed by it. A must see.

White Heat

James Cagney as momma's boy gangster Cody Jarrett. While it feels a bit outdated and mechanical, it is still a very well crafted crime movie and worth watching if you stumble across it.

The Oscars!

Well, since Richie used a picture of Marty in his Oscar post, there was really only one thing left for me to do. It's amazing how hard it is a) to find any pictures of Gael at the Oscars b) that I can save. This is pretty much the best there is. Thank goodness for fansites.

The Oscars this year were, I thought one of the best Oscar shows that I've ever seen. The last four awards were a little bit boring because there were no surprises, but really most of it was pretty good. Ellen was a good host and I enjoyed watching her harass Eastwood and Spielberg. Also, the presenters were well-chosen. Tobey and Kirsten with the Spiderman intro. Gael García Bernal. Abigail Breslin and Jaden Smith. Gael García Bernal... yeah. Let's just say that I've got The Science of Sleep sitting on my TV stand (which, actually, is two filing cabinet-like pieces of dorm furniture pushed together) and I'm pretty excited.

Oh -- I almost forgot to mention! Where were Brad and Angelina?!?

Just kidding.

The Big Sleep... also unfortunately belated

The Big Sleep is film noir and what is known as "classic cinema" at the very top of its game. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall (who, I contend, has to be a tenor) star. Bogey is a private detective and has that exact same office setup you've seen copied in parodies and cartoons of film noir stuff. Bacall is the rich old guy's rebellious and slightly shady daughter. It's great.

On top of being one of the movies that everyone copies, The Big Sleep is also one that is just very good. It's funny a lot, heartbreaking at times, and full of savory mysteries and intrigue. There's no analysis to be made. Every frame of it just makes you happy because you know that amidst grotesque wastes of time and energy like Norbit and Epic Movie, sometimes, sometimes people make incredible movies.

A Very Belated 21 Grams

You know how you can watch a Tarantino movie and without being told know who the director was after five minutes (tops)? It's the same way with this director - the amazing and wonderful Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu. He loves to mess with time and sequencing, which makes for a great movie-watching experience piecing together an entire story.

This year's Babel, which was unfortunately disappointed several times at the Oscars on Sunday, is his third such piece, and it's amazing. Amores Perros (2000), one of my favorite movies, is also his. On a side note, Babel and AP both feature the most gorgeous man of all time, Gael García Bernal. Between the two films was 21 Grams (2003, for those keeping track), undoubtedly the most shocking (in terms of subject matter) of the trilogy. It is also the one that most mixes up the sequencing.

Out of the three characters' stories, Benicio del Toro's was, I thought, the best, partially because it was the most unpredictable. This opinion also might have been affected by the fact that there were more people involved in his story and therefore more characters to develop. It also was interesting to see what has to be the inspiration for a Spielberg scene in Munich. Towards the end of the movie Eric Bana's character has painful flashbacks about the terrorism while he's going at it with his wife. Benicio del Toro's character does the same thing, but two or three years earlier and done better, if you ask me.

Amores Perros is still my favorite Iñárritu film, but I'm definitely a fan of 21 Grams. It's emotional and riveting, with lots of character development. Also known as a recipe for a Rebekah movie.

Oscars

Congratulations, of course, go to Martin Scorsese and The Departed. They had my vote this year (I called the victory a month ago). I’ve always respected Scorsese and actually prefer him to someone like Spielberg.

There is a new trend at the Academy Awards - they are increasing different from the once reliable predictor, the Golden Globes. The Departed marks the third year in a row that the Oscar winner for best picture did not win the Golden Globe for best picture. The three previous times that occurred where in 1995 (Braveheart), 1992 (Unforgiven), and 1991 (Silence of the Lambs). To find the fourth occurrence you have to go all the way back to 1978 (The Deer Hunter). And, though I haven't done the research, I'm willing to bet that when you add in Little Miss Sunshine's win at the SAG's, you have the unprecedented event of three different movies taking home the top prize at the Golden Globes, SAG's, and Oscars.

The biggest upset that speaks volumes about how very worthy movies can easily slip through the craps is The Lives of Others beating out Pan’s Labyrinth for Best Foreign Language film despite Pan’s Labyrinth earning more nominations than The Departed. This is because while nominations are based the film recommended by Academy members, the winners are supposed to only be chosen by those who have seen all five nominees in a given category. So, what much have happened was, The Lives of Others was relatively unseen by voters until after the nominations came out, just enough to earn its nomination. But once the voters watch all the foreign nominees, they realized it was better than even Pan’s Labyrinth. That makes me think it’s quite likely that if the Academy were to call for another vote to pick nominations, the list of nominees would be remarkably different than it was, not just in the foreign film category.
Anyway, just a thought.

Bring on the best of ’07.

The queen of the Oscars?

Movies.com writer Dave Wright put it well: "The Queen is a very cool, very funny movie about death and grief and good manners, but it's kind of small and British...." It's very interesting, but a little bit dry. That said, I understand that a lot of the movie hinged on the fact that the queen did not believe in showing her emotions. The film succeeded in showing a stark contrast between the emotion of the British people and the reaction of the queen. It demonstrated well how living her life under a hundreds-of-years-old set of rules impacted how the queen handled an unprecedented situation, but in doing so lost a lot of potential emotion in the film. It was more about the politics, and about the eventual transition from the old ways to the new. I have to say, I found it a little disappointing that the most emotional part of the movie for me was the actual footage from the events surrounding Princess Di's death. I also understand that the film wasn't made to pander to an audience, and I respect that. However, there is a difference between pandering to an audience and captivating them. I wasn't really captivated.

This situation reminds me a lot of Capote. The movie was not what I would call vibrant, but the lead performance was acclaimed. I don't know that I quite agree with the rave reviews Mirren has been getting, but she was very good. Hers is just not a role I would consider a lock for an Oscar - or maybe it is just this year. Honestly, would Mirren stand a chance against last year's field? I have to think that the winning role in the best acting categories should be more of a role that really grabs the audience, like Reese Witherspoon's. For example, would Mirren have even gotten a nomination against the nominees of 2004 (Charlize Theron for Monster, Naomi Watts for 21 Grams, Samantha Morton for In America, Diane Keaton for Something's Gotta Give, and Keisha Castle-Hughes for Whale Rider)? I have my doubts.

Also, I must mention that I am in love with the performance of Michael Sheen as Tony Blair. Now that was captivating, and I'm sad that he isn't getting more attention for it.

Regardless, the Queen is an important movie to see. It's well done and while not the most exciting, still good. It also makes for the first time I've watched a movie about an historical event that I was actually alive for (which was nice). That said, it's definitely a one-timer.

Rome

I just finished watching the first season of Rome (thanks yet again, Netflix) and I love it. Granted, I'm a big fan of history in the first place and this show may not be for everyone, but it's hard to resist such flawed heroes and virtuous villains. We follow an ambitious Roman consul and general Julius Caesar, an arrogant Mark Antony, an unsure Brutus, a young (and future Emperor) Octavian, and a humble Cicero. But our protagonists are common soldiers Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus who, much like D'Artagnan and the musketeers or Forrest Gump, constantly find themselves thrust into historical events.

This show is so unapologetically brutal it makes Gladiator look like a Disney movie. It wisely pays no homage to previous depictions of Rome (sorry, Shakespeare, no "Et tu, Bruté" here) and paves a road to Rome we have never seen before.

Diabolique

Principal Michel Delassalle rules by fear and intimidation. When his wife and mistress conspire to rid their selves of him, a seemingly well thought out plan goes wrong. Is someone trying to blackmail them or is there something supernatural involved?

I didn't see this movie coming, a 50-year-old French film. It's by director Henri-Georges Clouzot who also gave us Wages of Fear. This film was as good as any Hitchcock movie I've seen. Clouzot is a master at building intensity without the aid of music. Raw, intense, and engaging - a great film.

Shenanigans

Posted on IMDb:

- Most Adults Blame Movies for Teenage Smoking

A new study indicates that 81 percent of adults believe that watching actors smoke in movies encourages teenagers in the audience to smoke. The study, conducted by Mississippi State University's Social Science Research Center for the American Medical Association, also reported that 70 percent of adults believe that films showing smoking should automatically be required to display an R rating. -

You will be hard pressed to find someone more anti-smoking than me. At the same time, I think those stats, particularly the 70% one, are flat out crap. I hate smoking more than, conservatively, 50% of the population does. And I think the idea of making a movie R because it shows someone smoking is ridiculous. They either asked the wrong 10 people or asked some seriously loaded questions.

Come on, Mississippi, do people not make fun of you enough for being stupid? Don't make them right.

Pan's Labyrinth

Last weekend I had the privilege of seeing Pan's Labyrinth in Columbia's old Missouri Theater. It's a very beautiful movie, with one of the greatest stories the film industry has seen in the past several years. The photography was wonderful and the special effects were amazing. It was very fun to watch.

The real-world story was sad, funny, and intense all at the same time. It would have made a good movie all by itself, and it set the escape to the labyrinth world up perfectly.

The intensity of the movie was pretty fantastic. They weren't afraid to show Ofelia's "father" get his mouth ripped open with a knife, and then show the man stitching himself back together. As if that weren't enough, the idiot decided he needed a shot afterward (with an open wound to the mouth, lest we forget) and they showed us that too.

I never became emotionally invested in this movie. I was sad for Ofelia, the little girl, but not that much. That is probably my biggest regret about an otherwise stand-out picture.

I loved the dual-story idea, but I felt like the labyrinth/imaginary world line was very underdeveloped, and the transitions between the two weren't always good. Ofelia would screw something up really badly, but it would end up not mattering later on - in either world. If she failed at a task, there was no sense of urgency that she needed to get back and fix things until the faun decided to reappear out of nowhere. There also was no regret over failing the task. So I guess my question is, are they trying to make her childish, imaginary world (I was under the impression that i was supposed to be real) underdeveloped and less vengeful because that is how a child would imagine it, or am I reading way to much into it? Probably the latter. I also thought the ending was a little ambiguous, but I'll stop there because someone doesn't like spoilers.

See, I'm not crazy

Anyone who has been to Wichita for a weekend or even a day has probably heard of some of my favorite things, the Warren movie theaters. Hands down, it's the best place to see a movie I've ever been. The old Missouri theater in Columbia is the only place that comes close to holding a candle to the Warrens (but after seeing Pan's Labyrinth there on Friday, I was reminded why it doesn't).

The Warren was recently featured in Flaunt magazine in an article called "Cinemachines" reviewing the nation's best theaters. The chain occupied three of the five or six photos in the piece, and a couple hundred words. They know what's up:

The world leader, except for a limited number of super-premium theaters in Tokyo, isn't Muvico, either, although their cinemas are certainly lavish and service-rich. Nor is it any other major chain. The best new-construction theaters in terms of added amenities and quality appointments are in Wichita, Kansas. Yes, Wichita.

Bill Warren of Warren Theaters is a man burning with a mission. He wants to build the best cinemas in the world. And he's doing it.

And that's just the beginning of the part about Wichita. Heck yes. Now maybe everyone in Missouri won't think I'm crazy. If anyone wants the full text of the article, let me know. :)

Oh baby, it's back (too short for spoilers, don't worry)

And oh my goodness, what an episode. We are in for an amazing second half, people. Also, to everyone hatin' on the first half: I vehemently disagree with you. Yes, that is a blanket statement. Different does not equal bad.

The one thing I ask of this show is that someday, someday Kate and Jack are together. Everything else has been pretty much awesome.