Archive for November, 2005

Recent Viewings

Published
by
nathanshorb
on November 26, 2005
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

Hello. It’s been a while since I’ve posted. But something tells me you’d like to know what movies I’ve seen lately and what I thought about them. In that case, here you go:

A Very Long Engagement - Of course this movie was beautiful…could we expect anything but? I had a very hard time following it, as there were so many names and faces and twists and turns of which to keep track. But in the end, none of those things matter, as the whole story is simply about Matihlde finding Manech, hoping to be reunited. It’s a lovely film, and Jeunet does an incredible job in exploring a new genre. The look and feel and material is so different from Amelie, yet it is every bit as amazing. So, I enjoyed it.

The Corporation - This is probably one of the most well done and comprehensive documentaries I’ve seen. It is carefully thought out and put together, which is critical for making its point. Its all about corporations and the problems they present. It presents its case pretty fairly. A little long and laborious, but important and well done.

Capote - The film itself was good, though nothing earth shattering. Philip Seymour Hoffman, on the other hand, shattered the earth like it was nobody’s business. Hooooooly Philip Seymour Hoffman. Wow. I mean, he was good. Really good. Honestly, I spent the entire movie asking myself, “Is that really Philip Seymour Hoffman?”

Sideways - I finally was able to rent this one to see what the hype was all about. Granted, I fell asleep for the middle part of the movie, but I’m still wondering what all the hype was about.

Elizabethtown - Take it or leave it.

In Her Shoes - Leave it.

Junebug - I liked it. Strong character development and interesting material. Nothing new, though, as a movie like this one seems to be done every year, good but not great, simply about a bunch of people who cant talk about their problems.

I don’t remember seeing much else lately. That’s all. Thank you very much.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Published
by
Lij
on November 20, 2005
in Adventure, Based on a book, Based on a novel, Coming of age, England, Family, Fantasy, Mystery and Sequel
. 2 Comments

I am a Harry Potter fan, and that should be stated from the very start. I love the books and really enjoy the movies, so that is my bias.

I remembered about halfway through Goblet of Fire that other than the ending chapters, this was my least favorite of the books. It’s a great book, but compared to the others, it’s the weakest. I think the same could be said of the movie.

I enjoyed the movie because it was fun, entertaining, and suspenseful enough, but I didn’t like it as an adaptation. I didn’t feel that it really entered the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts and wizards — and that is exactly what makes the books and movies so great. Usually, you get to embrace the entire existence of these people, but not so in The Goblet of Fire.

Still, I’d definitely recommend seeing the movie, as it’s a great story. Everybody is doing a good job in their roles, even though we hardly got to see half of them in this film. I think Daniel Radcliffe is still doing well as Harry, Emma Watson may be slightly annoying, but she’s still cute, and Rupert Grint is turning out to be my favorite of the three. The kid who plays Neville Longbottom is turning out to be a lot less dorky than they thought he would be, and I bet they’re having to dorkify him before each day’s shoot.

Ralph Fiennes is definitely the best part of the movie. His Voldemort is way better than Gary Oldman’s Sirius Black, that’s for sure. He’s super scary, and if I were Daniel Radcliffe, I’d be terrified of him, even if he was joking around like in this picture here. That big smile Daniel’s got on his face? He’s really thinking, “He’s going to kill me… somebody help me!” I know that’s what he’s really thinking. I know it.

Because Ralph Fiennes does not mess around.

Anyway… to sum up:

  • Good movie.
  • Good cast.
  • Kind of long.
  • Took out too much of the story. (Even to a minimalist like me.)
  • Book/Movie 5 will be better, I’m sure of it.

Shopgirl

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 18, 2005
in Art, Based on a book, Based on a novel, Drama, Narrated, New York, Road Trip and Romance
. 0 Comments

This is the much awaited movie-form of Steve Martin’s novella and I’d have to say I really liked it. Martin also wrote the screenplay, directed the movie, and acted in it. Zach Braff anyone?

I remember seeing a trailer for this a little while ago and thought it had potential, but then Liz started telling me all about it because she’s read, and owns a copy of, the book. Apparently this really captures what it’s like to be a 25 year old female. I can’t say I have much experience in that department, but I’m just going to agree.

The other main characters in here are Claire Danes and Jason Schwartzman, son of the unforgettable Talia Shire from Rocky. Schwartzman had a lot of funny lines that were very I Heart Huckabees-ish, yet it wasn’t like he was being typecast here.

The other day I was being asked if this was more of a comedy or a funny drama. I wasn’t really sure what to say. It definitely has that independent film feel to it. You know, the type of movie that doesn’t fit any one cookie-cutter genre type/style so they just call it “independent”.

All I know is that if you get a chance, get yourself down to Castleton Arts before they shut down. I love that place and sadly enough….they’re closing down.

Fog of War

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 11, 2005
in Cold War, Communism, Documentary, History, Vietnam, WWII and War
. 0 Comments

If you’re into documentaries I’d throw this out as a must see. The whole movie is Robert McNamara talking about when he was Secretary of Defense, things that happened in WWII and Vietnam, getting along with presidents, etc. The movie is setup as Mr. McNamara talking about some lessons he’s learned over his 85 years of existence. I can’t really say much else other than it was awesome. Here’s the lessons he presents us:

  1. The human race will not eliminate war in this century, but we can reduce the brutality of war - the level of killing - by adhering to the principles of a “Just War,” in particular to the principle of “proportionality.”
  2. The indefinite combination of human fallibility and nuclear weapons will lead to the destruction of nations.
  3. We are the most powerful nation in the world - economically, politically and militarily - and we are likely to remain so for decades ahead. But we are no omniscient. If we cannot persuade other nations with similar interests and similar values of the merits of our proposed use of that power, we should not proceed unilaterally except in the unlikely requirement to defend directly the continental U.S., Alaska and Hawaii.
  4. Moral principals are often ambiguous guides to foreign policy and defense policy, but surely we can agree that we should establish as a major goal of U.S. foreign policy and, indeed, of foreign policies across the globe: the avoidance in this century of the carnage - 160 million dead - caused by conflict in the 20th century.
  5. We, the richest nation in the world, have failed in our responsibility to our own poor and to the disadvantaged across the world to help them advance their welfare in the most fundamental terms of nutrition, literacy, health and employment.
  6. Corporate executives must recognize there is no contradiction between a soft heart and a hard head. Of course, they have responsibilities to stockholders, but they also have responsibilities to their employees, their customers and to society as a whole.
  7. President Kennedy believed a primary responsibility of a president - indeed “the” primary responsibility of a president - is to keep the nation out of war, if at all possible.
  8. War is a blunt instrument by which to settle disputes between or within nations, and economic sanctions are rarely effective. Therefore, we should build a system of jurisprudence based on the International Court - that the U.S. has refused to support - which would hold individuals responsible for crimes against humanity.
  9. If we are to deal effectively with terrorists across the globe, we must develop a sense of empathy - I don’t mean “sympathy,” but rather “understanding” - to counter their attacks on us and the Western World.
  10. One of the greatest dangers we face today is the risk that terrorists will obtain access to weapons of mass destruction as a result of the breakdown of the Non-Proliferation Regime. We in the U.S. are contributing to that breakdown.

Kung Fu Hustle

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 11, 2005
in Action, Animation, Comedy, Crime, Fantasy, Foreign, Independent, Martial Arts, Philosophical and War
. 0 Comments

I never really knew what to think of this movie when I saw previews for it and when it was in the theater. A couple friends of mine said it was really good, but I sorta forgot about it. Well I put in on my Netflix list and low and behold, I gave it a 5/5 rating.

The only way I can describe this movie is to say it combines some of the surrealness of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers with some of the martial arts of The Matrix, Hero and previous movies, along with a touch of the hilarity I’ve come to know as the one and only, Jack Black along with a dash of Looney Tunes. Confusing? I hope so. I’m trying to entice you to go out and actually watch this.

This movie starts off innocent enough with an all well too familiar story of a gang oppressing the poor and helpless. However, it’s the way that the silent heroes unmask themselves and save the day that makes this movie unique and oh so cool. What starts out as a small grudge between one gang and a small community soon turns into something much bigger as long retired masters step up to the plate and a long-ago locked away criminal is brought out as a trump card. Yes, this certain aspect is a lot like Boondock Saints.

Even though this movie is full of revenge, violence, grudges, and the poor and weak being trampled upon, there is still redemption. True Kung Fu is not about big muscles and kicking the crap out of people. In fact it has so much more to do with balance, continuity, peace and not having to fight. This goes so much against our high school gotta-impress-the-ladies and prove our alpha-maleness mentality.

The special effects in here were awesome. A lot of wire-acrobatics were employed along with blue screens and CGI. All of it seemed very appropriate to me. None of it came off as cheesy and over the top. There was even a very obvious reference to Bruce Lee’s greatness when the heads of the Axe Gang are being warned to step off. I loved it!

One other thing I’d like to highlight is the use of Chinese music in this film. So many foreign films these days use Western music when it just doesn’t seem to fit. Kung Fu Hustle uses only Chinese music played on the traditional instruments. It just fits so well with everything.

If you haven’t been able to guess already, I highly recommend this film. So get out and watch it if you haven’t seen it already.

Stay

Published
by
Chalupa
on November 9, 2005
in Drama, Mystery and Thriller
. 0 Comments

It took me a while to try and come up what to say about this movie; not because I didn’t like it, but more because I don’t want to give too much away. So let me start out by saying this movie is awesome.

If you saw the previews or have read a little about this you’ll know that the movie centers around a college student, Henry (Ryan Gosling), who wants to kill himself and a shrink, Sam (Ewan McGregor), who is trying to prevent that from happening. Sam’s girlfriend, Lila, is played by Naomi Watts. This seems pretty straightforward until you start getting farther and farther into the movie. Is Henry confused? Is Sam confused? Are we just dumb movie watchers and confused? At one point Henry meets an old blind man who is a friend of Sam’s. Henry freaks out because the man looks exactly like his father, who has been dead for some time. I think you could compare Stay to films like Memento, A Beautiful Mind and Fight Club. I know there’s more out there, but I think three examples are enough here. The basic thing going on here is that you’re a bit confused, things aren’t making much sense, but then you get to the end and everything is explained. I think that’s about all I’m going to say about the plot. Otherwise I’d get carried away and ruin it for you.

The cinematography is great in here. I’d also like to go out on a limb and say I witnessed the best transitions ever while watching this film. The one example I’ve told people is Sam takes a cab to a house. Now you could show Sam walking all the way up to the house or just cut from inside the taxi to the doorstep. In the movie you have Sam stepping out of the cab and then all of a sudden you see somebody standing at the door and then it cuts to Sam at the door. Sam actually saw himself standing up there. The kicker is everything is done seamlessly and you don’t even realize what happened until afterwards. To top it all off, that was a simple transition. Others had complete scenery changes that were all seamless! It’s awesome.

I’d like to end this up by saying while this movie isn’t full of objectionable material, this isn’t something you would want to take a small child to. This is rated R and they don’t do that for no reason at all. I think this movie could fall into the entertaining AND thinking categories, but it mind depend on what you find entertaining. It’s one of those movies that after you watch it you start realizing more and more about it. I would call this one a must-see for the year. It’ll be making its way to my top 10 list.