Archive for April, 2006

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 25, 2006
in Corporation and Documentary
. 1 Comment

I first saw a poster for this movie in a classroom and instantly wanted to see it. I had seen a trailer of sorts a while back and had forgotten about it. I would have to most definitely say this movie makes you hate Wal-Mart. I can definitely see some of the problems identified in the film in person at my local Wal-Mart, however, I don’t remember the store back home being that way when I was a child. Maybe this is because things have changed since it’s founder, Sam Walton, died a few years back. I’d like to think he didn’t plan for his business to be this way.

What I really wonder about is what other Super Size Me with Morgan Spurlock when he shows how unhealthy McDonalds is for people to be eating. Even though the food is bad for you, I also know that every other fast food is not healthy for me either. This includes Burger King, Hardees, Rally’s, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, etc, etc, etc. I really wonder though if other mega stores are just like Wal-Mart.

The real question is what to do. If you boycott one local Wal-Mart that only hurts the people that work there. Even though they are being treated badly, according to the movie, I know that where I live it’s one of the main employers in the area. What would all those people do if they lost their jobs? Changes have to be made at the corporate level. I’m not really sure how to get to those people.

Oldboy

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 23, 2006
in Based on a comic, Based on a graphic novel, Drama, Graphic Violence, Kidnapping, Martial Arts, Mystery, Narrated, Neo Noir, Revenge, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

Oldboy is a movie I learned about from my good buddy Tim Mahan. It’s a Korean film about a man who is kidnapped and held in a room for 15 years. He’s allowed to watch some TV but has no access to things like sunlight and contact with other human beings. Eventually he breaks free and decides to try and figure out who imprisioned him and why. He can’t find his family and friends because the world thinks he murdered his wife and is on the run.

Through the twisted world one man has created, we eventually discover exactly what Dae-su Oh has done to warrant such revenge. I do need to say that this movie is kind of messed up and wouldn’t be enjoyed by many. If you’re up to it though, you might want to give it a try some time.

A Lot Like Love

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 23, 2006
in Comedy, Drama and Romance
. 0 Comments

This movie always looked interesting to me on previews so I eventualy threw it on my Netflix list. It stars Amanda Peet and Ashton Kutcher. I think Ashton did a great job in this movie because he seemed like an actor to me. I’ve been a big fan of That 70’s Show, even though they seemed to have recently jumped the shark, and most things I’ve seen Ashton in just seem like an extension of Kelso, his role on the TV series. Some examples would be Dude, Where’s My Car?, Just Married and My Boss’s Daughter. I have yet to see The Butterfly Effect, but that’s another one on my long, long Netflix list. I’ve heard that one’s pretty good. Amanda Peet has also been in some great things and not so great things, but it’s not like I try to avoid films she’s in.

There are definitely some cheesy moment and a lot of funny moments in this movie. Great for entertainment. The jist of the story is a on-again/off-again relationship between two people that randomly meet. It’s one of those relationships where they’ll get together in X years and that doesn’t really happen. Then throughout their lives they keep running into eachother randomly and purposefully. It starts to get cheesy when they’re both getting married to other people and end up calling off the weddings to be with each other.

I wasn’t a real big fan of the ending, yet not sorry I had seen the movie.

Cowboy del Amor

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 23, 2006
in Documentary and Matchmaker
. 0 Comments

Cowboy del Amor is a documentary about a man named Ivan Thompson. Ivan is a cowboy who also happens to be a matchmaker. He hooks up American men with Mexican women. The movies follows Ivan as he tries to match up several customers and even tries to find a wife for himself. Ivan insists that he runs a reputable business and definitely discourages customers who are just looking for a ‘common whore’. Ivan is more concerned about the people he helps than just making a buck.

I think one of the best moments was on the DVD extras when Ivan talks about trying to inact revenge against one of his former business partners. Apparently the two of them started a business together and Ivan somehow got screwed. Well Ivan planned out how to blow up one of this guy’s buildings. Right before he was going to go through with everything he found out lightening struck the building he was going to blow and burned it down. Also, another business the man owned burned to the ground on the exact same day. Ivan decided to let God handle revenge and just stick to living.

This film definitely isn’t exciting and thrilling, but I found it quite interesting. I would say a must see for the documentary fans.

About a Boy

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 23, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Comedy, Coming of age, Drama, England and Romance
. 0 Comments

Here’s one of those movies I’ve been meaning to watch for some time. I’d just like to say it’s amazing. I’d give it a 5 out of 5 if I were rating it. This is an awesome story about a self centered man who starts thinking and caring about somebody other than himself. It stars Hugh Grant (Love Actually and Four Weddings and a Funeral), Nicholas Hoult (The Weather Man) and Toni Collette (Clockwatchers and Velvet Goldmine). A lot of people make fun of Hugh Grant and I’d have to say I’m ok with that. Toni Collette on the other hand, is one of Hollywood’s glanced over gems if you ask me. She’s a very good actress and I wish I saw her in more things.

The story starts out with Will (Grant) pretending to be a single parent just to meet single mothers. Through some unfortunate events he meets Fiona (Collette) and Marcus (Hoult). Marcus then starts coming around to hang out with Will because it’s one of few places where Marcus is treated fairly and equally. All this is happening under the nose of Marcus’ mother and things eventually blow up later on. It makes sense though. Grown men usually don’t hang out with 12 year old boys on afternoons. Anyways, things get cleared up and Will even helps Marcus out at the school’s talent show.

This is an excellent movie and would appeal to a wide range of audiences.

Lucky Number Slevin

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 19, 2006
in Black Comedy, Crime, Drama, Neo Noir, Thriller and Twist
. 0 Comments

I was immediately interested in this film after I saw the first trailer. Luckily this wasn’t one of those movies that showed everything cool about it in the 45 seconds they call a ’sneak peak’. This one includes Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley. Sort of a Sin City mix of cast. It was actually interesting to see Lucy Liu in a role where she wasn’t a killer or mobster or just intimidating and crazy in general.

The movie starts out as one huge case of mistaken identity as Slevin is beaten up and hauled in to talk to the two mobsters in town, The Boss and The Rabbi. Slevin was just visiting a friend and that friend just happened to owe money to several people who wanted it back real bad. Things start to go from bad to worse as we see just how bad things are going for Slevin. His friend is nowhere to be found and now he’s in the middle of a war between two men and owing large sums of money to both. Even though this film doesn’t follow Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it was the first thing I thought of when we were introduced to The Boss and The Rabbi. Here were two powerful men, interlocked in a blood feud or sorts, who faced each other from their concrete and glass buildings across the street from each other. A shaky truce was at hand and neither wanted to fully cross the line and invoke the consequences.

Ultimately, this film is about revenge. True, pure, unadulterated revenge. I think I had things figured out right from the start on who was who and that kind of stuff, but that was ok. The movie still gripped me like a couple of arm rests with cup holders and kept my attention. This was a very good thing since it was about 2am and my 3rd movie of the night at the theater.

There’s some violence and some language and stuff like that. If you can handle it though, you should definitely give this one a watch. It’ll keep you entertained.

Inside Man

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 19, 2006
in Bank, Blackmail, Crime, Deception, Drama, Heist, Perfect Crime, Robbery, Thriller and Twist
. 2 Comments

This was the first movie Soulman and I saw the other night in our string of three. This movie stars Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Willem Dafoe and Chiwetel Ejiofor (I can never remember his name but he’s been in movies such as Serenity, Melinda and Melinda, Love Actually and Dirty Pretty Things).

This film is about a bank heist and as the title suggests, there’s an “inside man”. I was a little skeptical of this movie before seeing it, and even afterwards thought it wasn’t that great. However, the more I thought about it, the more I liked it. This movie was pretty good. I really liked how the film was paced. Right away after the movie gets going, they cut back and forth between scenes of the two detectives questioning the hostages and the heist in progress. So even though the timeline is skipping back and forth, the story unfolds in a very managable and understandable manner.

Most of the planning and tactics of the bank robbers was pretty predictable/standard. That’s ok though because once you find out why they are there and the Nazis are involved, it’s gets much more interesting. Well, at least for me. For some reason I like to pull out the Nazi/Hitler card when comparing things and just a tiny, little part of me likes to believe the Nazis are still at large in the world. Scheming and trying to take over the world, yet being foiled time after time around every corner they turn. How could you not like that little bit of fantasy? Enough movies use that as a plot anchor or even as an element to spice things up. I would however, like to apologize to anybody reading this that would be directly or indirectly affected by my flippant attitude of the first 40 or so years of the 20th century. I’m not that serious.

So……rambling again……this is a pretty good movie with enough little twists and acting to be enjoyed by many. I suggest you give it a try.

Thank You for Smoking: Lobbyists, Salesmen, and other soul-less caricatures…

Published
by
Phil Boltz
on April 10, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Black Comedy, Government, Independent, Industry, Kidnapping, Lobbyist and Smoking
. 1 Comment

Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) is the ultimate schmooze. Sometime ago the best negotiator and bullshit artists were to be found in sales and politics, but leave it to our little post-modern, post-industrial, post-ethics society to create something bigger and better for the sanguine melancholy temperaments of the world to do. Introducing, the perfect mix of politics and pr, of sales and smarmyness: The Lobbyist!

A Sundance favorite by Jason Reitman, “Thank You for Smoking” tells the short story of Nick Naylor, lobbyist for Big Tobacco. The cast is full of friendly faces, Maria Bello, David Koechner, JK Simmons, Katie Holmes, Rob Lowe, Robert Duvall, and so many charachter workers that it’s sweet to see who’ll show up next.

Naylor is not only a professional talker but a father of one. In a mildly sinister tale, we are exposed to the reasons why we smoke…which, as it seems, is because we believe in freedom. Wave that flag kids, because it’s not only the spin, but it’s the truth! Now, I feel personally connected to Naylor, mostly because I talk for a living. It’s my job to get people to do what they really need to, but they didn’t know was the first step to answering their legal woes. No, I don’t sell pre-paid legal services. Accept in the sense that you have to pay the firm before we do work for you.

Essentially, this film stands on it’s own. It resists simply being an issue film, and gives us genuine characters. Albeit, mislead and depraved ones at that. Funny and respectable, I’d recommend it to you…I mean, that’s what I’m doing here isn’t it?

It’s fun…Watch it, enjoy.

Law Office,
Phil

Cinderella Man

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 10, 2006
in Based on a true story, Biography, Boxing, Drama, Family, Great Depression, New York, Rags to Riches and Sport
. 1 Comment

It’s not very often anymore that I get really sucked into movies. You know, the feeling where you’re on the edge of your chair? Well I wasn’t actually sitting on a chair. I was sitting on my floor leaning against a pillow thing butted up against my bed. Anyways, this movie definitely kept my interest.

Russell Crowe portrays the legendary boxer, Jim Braddock, in this film and does an amazing job. I don’t care what you have to say about this man’s personal life, he just does awesome at playing historic fictional and nonfictional characters. Look at movies like Gladiator, L.A. Confidential, A Beautiful Mind or Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Even the not well known film Romper Stomper is a great performance. This guy can act. Renée Zellweger and Paul Giamatti round the cast out. I was also surprised to see Paddy Considine, from In America and Bruce McGill, who always seems able to play serious parts.

This movie is also pretty clean, which can be hard to find these days. It ranks in at a PG-13 which is mostly for the violence of the boxing matches. If you’re into good boxing movies you might want to also check out Raging Bull which is about the life of Jake LaMotta. The Hurricane is about Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter and how he was injustly imprisioned and later on freed. Million Dollar Baby is another good movie, but it’s not about anybody real to my knowledge.

Corpse Bride

Published
by
Chalupa
on April 4, 2006
in Animation, Black Comedy, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy, Romance, Stop-motion and Wedding
. 0 Comments

Once again I was amazed and awed by the brilliance of Tim Burton. This man is awesome. Have you ever seen a picture of him? If not you should bust out google. It’s always interesting to see what people really look like.

I could really see some people not wanting to watch this movie simply based on previews and media. In fact, I just got my mom to watch Edward Scissorhands over the weekend and she loved it. I think she was actually surprised she even liked it. So I told her she needs to watch this one too. Yes it’s dark and dreary, but the movie is really good. Tim Burton is just really really good at dark and dreary movies that don’t turn out to be The Exorcist or Nightmare on Elm Street. This guy is talented.

The music is wonderful as always. Just wonderful. In fact, there’s even an option to play the movie without the dialogue in the special features of the DVD. This would definitely be worth checking out if you’ve already seen the movie.

One awesome part of this movie is the fact it takes place in Victorian England. The colors are drab. The clothes are tight and uncomfortable. Children are seen and not heard. There are arranged marriages. Nobody is happy.

Then you have the underworld where bright colors abound. Music is fun, jazzed and happening. People are allowed to drink and be merry. But everybody is dead. A bit of a paradox, right? So there’s two people arranged to be married that have never met each other. This could be really horrible but the two characters are probably the only two ‘normal’ people in town. Unfortunately, Victor accidently marries the Corpse Bride while practicing his vows and is then dragged into the underworld. Well, I won’t ruin the whole plot for you, but I will say, “WATCH THIS!”