Archive for December, 2004

Meet the Fockers

Published
by
Neville
on December 23, 2004
in Comedy and Romance
. 1 Comment

I was worried about this one. I was worried that every funny part was in the trailer and that it would just be a re-visited attempt at creating so many funny moments launched by “Meet the Parents.” Thankfully, it wasn’t all that.

I’ll reveal nothing more than saying Dustin Hoffman steals every scene he’s in and is absolutely wonderful. And, the grandbaby comes in a close second for getting laughs. See it and tell me what you think.

Assss–hoooooOOOOOle. (i thought of phil boltz every time this was uttered :)

The Polar Express

Published
by
Neville
on December 23, 2004
in Adventure, Animation, Based on a book, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Musical and Trains
. 0 Comments

I just saw this movie tonight and wow, was I missing something. I loved this movie…I loved pretty much everything about it. It was entertaining and beautiful, christmasy and wintery (not the same thing), and a movie I found myself getting way way too into. It’s always very telling when you, the 22-year-old, are thinking the same things as the seven-year-old girl sitting behind you. The only difference is, she’s not afraid to yell out these thoughts at the screen (i love seeing movies like this and having kids talk back sporadically to the movies…it makes me smile).

Anyways, if you haven’t seen it…go see it. I now know what Roger Ebert has been raving about. It’s the first movie I can think of that is based on a children’s book that seems to not lose any of the magic found in the book but rather, on the contrary, brings the magic and wonder of the book to new heights! But then again, maybe I’m just a sucker for a really really good holiday/kid’s movie? Whatever the reason, I loved this movie.

Spanglish

Published
by
Neville
on December 21, 2004
in Comedy, Drama and Romance
. 2 Comments

James L. Brooks (writer/director of “As Good as it Gets”) brings us “Spanglish,” which is yet another one of his movies that can now be added to the “movies with very interesting characters”-list (which Brooks started I believe). In “Spanglish,” Tea Leoni, Adam Sandler, and Paz Vega (who is wonderfully luminous!) star in the melting pot Los Angeles vignette about cultural differences, language barriers, and trying to raise a family amidst it all.

The story is told through the eyes of Flor’s (Paz Vega) daughter in an attempt to inform and enlighten the audience of just how wonderful her mother really is. Like all James L. Brooks’ films, the characters half resemble real people you and I and everyone else know AND half resemble people that could only exist in a Brooks’ film. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but I say this to clarify how wonderfully complex the art of screenwriting is….you can’t just put a conversation between two people on screen; it has to be tweaked to some degree.

Initially, “Spanglish” intrigued me and I found myself inside of the film within minutes. The first act is beautifully constructed and throws the audience into a family of very different people at one particular stage in their life. By doing this, Brooks’ wants us to feel that we know these people…and so, very little introduction to characters is given. I loved this about the movie’s opening premise! However, having said that, the movie has its fair share of “hit” and “miss” scenes. The scene where Flor and her daughter attempt to communicate to Adam Sandler’s character frustration and fury is one of the funniest and most perfectly “timed” scenes to come out in American cinema this year. Both Paz Vega (and the child actor…whatever her name is) nail every moment here and it could not be improved. However, there’s also scenes where this perfection is obviously lacking and so, the audience feels a bit of disconnectedness in these scenes. And the end, although like Brooks’ other films, tends to be twisting the story’s theme into something the film doesn’t really communicate as much as it probably should have. That is to say, it ends with a “what i learned from all this is…” kind of sum up, which (in my opinion) takes away from the ambiguity of the “slice of life” movie-feeling the picture seemed to be going for. And that’s exactly what the movie is: it’s not this plot trying to be worked out, but rather a snapshot into the lives of many people. I wish the story would’ve gone different ways at different times, but it didn’t and so I have to accept that fact I guess.

Overall, I liked the movie though. It’s one that gets better once you leave the theater, as the feelings of “what is going on here?” slowly drift out of your mind. I suppose though (at many points in the film) that was the director’s point: to make you feel like you were trying to make sense of something…and the language was standing between your understanding and the other person’s heart. I love that analogy…but I don’t think that was always the director’s intention. Sandler is great, Leoni is good and the rest of the cast simply…rocks. All in all though, “Spanglish” is a bittersweet, half-ass delight!

Maria Full Of Grace

Published
by
Neville
on December 16, 2004
in Crime, Drama, Drugs, Foreign and Thriller
. 3 Comments

This year’s Audience Award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, and also recently named one of the ten best films of 2004 by the American Film Institute is indeed the shocking and disturbing “Maria Full of Grace.” Sure, a movie about a 17-year-old drug mule is begging to be a little edgy but here, the movie hits much closer to home than many Americans would like to think.

Although some people are ignorant of how prevalent the drug culture really is here, “Maria Full of Grace” is a prime example of just one of the many ways drugs are being smuggled in and out of many different countries. The movie is simple yet profound, ordinary yet gripping, and altogether…quietly disturbing. I say quietly because there’s nothing outlandish or spectacular about the plot essentially…however, it tends to be both of those things and much more by the time the film is done. It weaves in the kind of drama films normally pay millions for with the “show” rather than “tell” method down to a tee. While yes, I’m recommending this movie to most anyone (I even told my mom about it, even though I know she’ll never see it) I’m still hesitant to say it was one of the year’s best. Profound? Yes. Best film material? I don’t think so, but why don’t you see it and I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Hero

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 9, 2004
in Action, Adventure, Chinese, Drama, Epic, Foreign, History and Martial Arts
. 1 Comment

Finally saw Hero tonight…and I loved it. It reminded me a lot of Basic except the twists in this plot were meaningful. It really seemed like Basic kept twisting just for the sake of it. This movie was similar to Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon in the style of fighting were it’s fanciful/dreamlike and they fly around. I know some people don’t like it, but I enjoy it. There was also a lot of philosophy involved which I love trying to understand. I know I don’t grasp everything but it’s always refreshing to see a movie where people fight each other yet there are very strong elements of honor and respect present. I’d have to say I’m also a sucker for martial arts.

Besides Jet Li, I also got to see Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Maggie Cheung, Ziyi Zhang and Donnie Yen. Great performances by all. You would probably recognize Ziyi Zhang from Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon if you’ve seen that movie. We also watched the movie subtitled. This is another thing I enjoy doing - just hearing other languages. I think you can get more out of the movie just by hearing the original language spoken. You usually lose some of the acting when listening to voice overs. If you don’t believe me, pop in one of your movies at home and switch the spoken language to French or Spanish and you’ll see what I mean.

There were also some very cool things going on with colors throughout the movie. There were great contrasts and very vivid colors. At one point two of the actors are fighting in a wooded area where it is obviously ‘fall’ because all the leaves have turned yellow and are falling from the trees. Then at the end of the fight when one of the actors defeats their foe, everything turns a deep red. There are also other scenes in the movie where predominant colors are blue, green, yellow, white, etc. I wasn’t exactly sure if all the colors are supposed to mean some deep meaning or not, but they were obviously supposed to mean something.

I’d have to say my favorite part about this film is when it is revealed that the King isn’t just a tyrannical psychopath, but a man with a noble mission in mind. He wants to unite all of China and defend its borders from those who would wish to conquer it. Only a few people even realize this and they are the ones you would least expect. I don’t think you would say this move has a “traditional western” happy ending, but I was happy with the ending.

Neville, it sounded like you weren’t too impressed with this. Maybe I’m just weird or maybe this was one of those movies where it’s better viewed at home than on the big screen or something. What exactly did you think of it?

A Very Long Engagement

Published
by
Neville
on December 5, 2004
in Based on a novel, Drama, Foreign, Mystery, Romance, WWI and War
. 3 Comments

Don’t hate me because I saw this movie before you.

Yes, this movie was only playing in two theaters in all of L.A., but I was determined to see it before I went home and so, after church today, I did. Audrey Tatou teams up with the brilliant and visionary Jean-Pierre Jeunet (yes, the wonderful director of “AMELIE”) to bring the world yet another glorious, rapturous, gorgeous film. This time though, Jeunet has decided to take on World War I, and a love between two people that began when they were young.

Tatou is luminous once again, playing the role of a woman stricken with polio, who’s waiting at the homefront for good news from the war regarding her fiancee. Unfortunately, all news coming to her is not so good. But that will not destroy Tatou’s character’s hope, which is what the movie is really all about: the will and hope and desire and fight to live, whatever the circumstances.

Once again, Jeunet has created a story that builds up so much suspense along the way, the final moments of the movie are literally, viewed while holding one’s breath [see the "AMELIE" final scene where Amelie meets Nino in that no talking, silent, face-to-face match up in her apartment:)---only a cat getting sleepy-eyed can break such bottled anticipation and excitement]. With this movie, it’s funny in parts, despite its heavy and dismal subject matter at times…but this makes it a nice mood change (and shift) from Jeunet’s previous work in “AMELIE.” Here, the romance is still there, but it carries much more weight this time around. But the production of “A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT” is nothing short of breathtaking. It would be a travesty for it to be overlooked in either best set/art director or best cinematography categories for the upcoming Oscars.

I wouldn’t say that I liked “A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT” more than “AMELIE,” but I will say that it was a worthy follow-up for Jeunet. It’s as sad as movies can get, yet, at the same time, it’s a movie that makes you want to look to the sky and think that tomorrow may very will be a much better day.

Finding Neverland

Published
by
Neville
on December 2, 2004
in Based on a play, Biography, British, Drama and Family
. 3 Comments

Maybe I’m a sucker for movies that carry-on the theme of the wonder and beauty of child-like belief and faith and hope (see my last year obsession with “In America”) or maybe there’s something that touches on the eternal when films capture so subtly what people spend their whole lives trying to understand. Whatever the reason, “Finding Neverland” does just this. One minute, you’re watching a movie as an adult; the next, your overwhelmed by faces of children, magic, and your own bewildered tears.

At one point while watching “Finding Neverland,” I was crying and I had no reason why. I started thinking, “why am I crying at this point?” and kept thinking on it till’ the movie ended and I think I may have figured out (partly) why. This movie deals with that pivotal moment in every person’s life where their childhood is no more and they are, in fact, an adult. Call it growing up, growing older, or ‘innocence lost,’…whatever/whichever way you put it, everyone eventually goes through it. I think when movies touch on such universal truths or rather, human circumstances and feelings, they touch on something much greater than the sum of their parts. “Garden State” did this with its exploration of ‘home’ and captured near-perfectly that odd transition between high school, college and age 30, where life seems to be staring straight back at you, asking you what to do next. Here, in “Finding Neverland,” director Marc Forster (director of the brilliantly brutal “Monster’s Ball) does something truly groundbreaking: he makes adults care about hope and wonder and belief, in a world where adults are taught to care about everything and anything else BUT these things. That’s the kind of direction more film directors need a lot more of nowadays

So far this year, “Finding Neverland” is one of the year’s 10 best films for many reasons, but I’ll mention only one reason briefly for time sake: Johnny Depp. Depp gives another groundbreaking performance that proves he really is the most versatile actor working out there today. Sure it’s less flashy and showy and funny than his work in “Pirates of the Carribean” but it’s much harder to pull off what Depp does here so effortlessly. His simple, quiet, yet profoundly tender performance deserves Oscar recognition. on top of that, I can think of no other actor who could do what he does, and make a movie such as this come off as good as it does here.

So all in all, go see this movie—now. And I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.