Archive for May, 2007

Volver

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 21, 2007
in Comedy, Drama and Family
. 0 Comments

I’m sure some of you have seen this movie/know what it is, and others of you have no idea what I’m talking about. Volver got some press because it was directed by Pedro Almodóvar (La mala educación and many others) was nominated for an Oscar, and also won 36 other film awards world-wide.

This movie is about relationships between women who are related to each other. You have mother-daughter relationships, sister-sister relationships, aunt-niece relationships and grandmother-granddaughter relationships. This film has a bit to say about taking care of your friends and loved ones, and doing the “right” thing in situations. I mention doing the “right” thing because a lot of times we’re willing to bend the rules when it involves people we know and love. People will do weird things to protect their child, mother, friend, etc. All seriousness aside though, we do get to see some fun interactions between family and even some reconcilliation.

This film is in spanish. It takes place in Spain so you’ll hear some of that tell-tale lisp that is a bit different from most latin-american speakers. There are also little things here and there that might seem weird, but is just culturally different. I wouldn’t put this movie in my top 10 list of 2006, but it’s definitely worth a watch.

28 Weeks Later

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 12, 2007
in Drama, Graphic Violence, Horror, Sci-fi, Sequel, Thriller, Twist and Zombie
. 1 Comment

If you didn’t know, this is the sequel to 28 Days Later. They are, in a sense, zombie movies, but they’re done with class. There’s great acting, great dialog, great cinematography, effects, etc. I think these movies stand by themselves quite well. If you didn’t catch the first one, you should be able to go and watch the sequel without feeling clueless.

Danny Boyle and Alex Garland directed and wrote the first one and produced the second. So even though it’s technically not the same director, Boyle still had a hand in what went on. These movies have shock value. They make you jump. If you’ve seen either, I assume you know what I’m talking about. What I’m proud to announce is that 28 Weeks Later takes it up a notch and still makes you jump a little.

Totally different actors. We don’t actually see anybody from the first film. Going in, I was kinda wondering what had happened to Jim and Selena, etc. Maybe they survived, maybe they didn’t. We don’t actually know for sure. I think I like it better that way. Everyone did well acting. As far as I know, this is the most violent role Robert Carlyle has played. Definitely a bit more aggressive than his character Begbie from Trainspotting. Also recognized Catherine McCormack (Spygame and Braveheart), Jeremy Renner (SWAT and North Country), Harold Perrineau (Oz, Romeo + Juliet, Lost) and Rose Byrne (Wicker Park, Marie Antoinette, Casanova). It was interesting to see the plot in both movies being driven by children.

One things I must really applaud is how the chaos was filmed. When you had people running around and being chased, eaten, etc. They shot it from the perspective of the victims - running around wildly and panic-stricken. However, it wasn’t so crazy that you felt dizzy or motion-sick. There were also key images that were shown so that you knew exactly what was going on.

I’m interested in taking a look at the soundtrack. The previews had Muse, but the score during the movie was all themed music and no recognizable songs. We have the soundtrack to 28 Days and love it. Hopefully this one will be good as well.

Boyle and Garland were both criticized for being way too optimistic in the first film. I think that was because most of the people lived and you assumed they were rescued and lived happily ever after. Obviously something does go wrong though because there’s a sequel. It would be interesting if there was a third installment - maybe 28 months later or something like that. Depending on where they went with it, the film could be just as good or really bad. There’s a lot more I’d like to discuss and talk about, but I wouldn’t want to ruin the movie for you. That said, I highly recommend this one.

Curse of the Golden Flower

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 7, 2007
in Action, Adventure, Based on a play, Drama, Epic, Martial Arts, Romance, Suicide and Tragedy
. 0 Comments

Once again, I was awed by yet another action movie from director Yimou Zhang. You may seen some of his other movies like House of Flying Daggers, Hero, Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles, Raise the Red Lantern, etc. This guy puts out good stuff.

This film centers around the royal family of China during the Tang dynasty. Like most Greek tragedies, this film doesn’t end on a much happier note. Through lies, betrayal, plots and secrecy, the royal family collapses on itself leaving very few alive when everything’s said and done. The emperor alone seems to be the only one who is untouchable. I think that’s how it’s supposed to be though. Even though he is the most powerful man in the empire, he is the loneliest because he can’t let anyone get too close to him. I’m not going to go much deeper into the plot for fear of ruining this for anyone.

I’m sure some people will/were disappointed with this film because they were expecting something action-packed from the trailer. You do get plenty of action, but not all the way through. I found the movie quite interesting and, as usual with Yimou Zhang, quite beautiful. I don’t know if he is always behind the color schemes, artwork, scenery and costuming, but they are all breath-taking in the films of his I’ve watched.

One thing I found out in the “extras” was they actually built the entire palace set. I assumed it was mostly green-screened due to its size and grandeur, but it was actually built. There was one part where Li Gong is talking about foreign tourists seeing the set and thinking they were crazy for building something of that magnitude. Speaking of which, you might recognize her from Memoirs of a Geisha. Hopefully you’ll also recognize Yun-Fat Chow from movies like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Bulletproof Monk, Anna and the King, Replacement Killers, etc.

One other thing that caught my eye were the weapons of some elite ninja fighters. I’m not expert on martial arts movies, but I feel like I’ve seen a few. These guys has scythe like swords with ropes attached. They would swing them around like grappling hooks and slice up their opponents. The epic-battle scene in the end was pretty amazing too. I was also pretty impressed with the immediately clean-up and how everything was “back to normal” afterwards. Hopefully I haven’t spoiled anything for you. I highly suggest you check this one out.

An Inconvenient Truth

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 7, 2007
in Documentary and Environmentalism
. 0 Comments

I know everybody has been raving about this movie. In on sense that made me kinda want to stay away from it. I’m a bit of an elitist in some ways and I sometimes get all High Fidelity-esque about my movie watching. Well, I finally picked this one up through Netflix and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

I don’t really think the world will end in 20 years, and I’m really no expert by any means when it comes to scientific stuff, however, I do think we could do a hell of a better job when it comes to taking care of our planet. Humans, especially ones from industrialized nations (like me), tend to be quite wasteful. We leave lights on, we refuse to walk or bike two blocks, we leave the water running, etc, etc, etc. This movie had a lot to say in just ideas. Ideas on how we can help in little ways to reduce, re-use and recycle. I’d suggest you check this one out if you’ve never seen it.

Hot Fuzz

Published
by
Chalupa
on May 7, 2007
in Action, Comedy, Conspiracy, Crime, Mystery and Parody
. 0 Comments

If you were fan of Shaun of the Dead, I think you’ll definitely like this one. I enjoyed SOTD, but thought Hot Fuzz was a lot more funny. You’ll recognize a lot of faces in here like Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, Simon Pegg, Timothy Dalton, Paddy Considine, Jim Broadbent, and maybe even Peter Jackson. Well, maybe not Peter Jackson. He is in there though.

The story goes something like this - there’s this really good cop, Nicholas Angel, who gets sent to a sleepy village in the middle of nowhere because he’s making everybody look bad in London. His arrest rate is 400% higher than anybody else. Our super-cop is then paired up with the police chief’s son of this sleep town, who happens to be obsessed with action and police movies. Even though this town has the lowest crime rate in the country, Nicholas starts to realize a lot of “accidents” seem to happen. Turns out there’s a huge conspiracy going on and he intends to solve it.

Right now I’m sure the movie doesn’t sound too exciting. What I’ve failed to mention is the hilarity that ensues in the dialog, the acting, the different cops interacting, etc, etc. I would have to say this is, hands down, the funniest movie I’ve seen so far this year. If there’s something better out there I’d love to see it. I haven’t laughed this hard in a theater since Borat. I think some of the hilarity comes from Simon Pegg. If you didn’t know, he was a writer for both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Sorta reminds me of how Wes Anderson’s movies are so funny, yet the Wilsons are usually involved in the script. If you are a fan of Pegg, you might want to check out a couple of his upcoming movies - Run, Fat Boy, Run (directed by David Schwimmer), How to Lose Friends & Alienate People, and “La Triviata” (co-writen and co-directed by Pegg and Nick Frost).