Liz and I were able to catch the latest installment in the Batman series over the weekend. We’re both glad we were able to catch it on the big screen. After all the buildup, hype, and raving reviews, we finally got to see what everyone was talking about.
I was very impressed with Batman Begins and I wasn’t in any way disappointed with The Dark Knight. I’m already looking forward to the next one. Heath Ledger did an amazing job with The Joker. I was reading someone’s comments somewhere and they were talking about how they’ve never been a Ledger fan until now. They also never realized how menacing and diabolical the Joker could actually be, and after thinking about Jack Nicholson’s portrayal from 1989, they realized that Nicholson was just delivering the same role he had been for the previous 20 years or so. You may or may not agree with that, but it was a little mind blowing to me. Maybe I haven’t seen enough of Nicholson’s films, but I’ve never quite understood why people are so enamored by him. Yeah, he has some good films out there with great performances, but I’ve never been that impressed. It’s really too bad Ledger isn’t with us anymore for any follow-up films.
Often times in sequels, it’s hard to make something that lives up to the original. I think Christopher Nolan did a good job in raising the bar by bringing in the Joker, but there’s always room for some improvements. I don’t think Christian Bale had to really act that much this time around. The gutteral “batman voice” got a little annoying and old, but it makes sense he was talking differently to try and hide his identity. Aaron Eckhart did a decent job. I’ll always remember him as Nick Naylor from Thank You for Smoking. It’ll be interesting to see if he makes a comeback in the future.
I think Gary Oldman had a much more active role this time around. He’s such a great actor and it’s nice to see him able to spread his wings a bit. I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal more than Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes. She also fit in pretty well. It wasn’t like some films where actors change for a particular character and the whole time you’re confused as to who exactly that person is. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were wonderful as usual. Some friends of mine complained after the first film that they were grossly underutilized. I kind of agreed, however, it was nice to actually have a “real” actor play the role of Alfred for a change. I was just happy to have a live body in the role.
Some of the scenes with the Joker are a bit disturbing, but this is rated PG-13, so there’s not a whole lot to worry about. They cut away at just the right moments in certain scenes. Liz and I both said we got a little bored in the middle, but overall we thoroughly enjoyed it. I would highly suggest getting out and seeing this one before it leaves the theaters. You won’t be sorry.
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I’m not really sure why I added this one to my Netflix queue. I think it was suggested to me as something I might like. Writen, directed and produced by Peter Sollett - you might recognize his name in conjunction with a new film coming out, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist starring the ever-funny Michael Cera. I wasn’t really sure what to think of this film. I think part of the confusion was with the title. Raising Victor Vargas would imply it might be about Victor growing up or his parents raising him or something. The story starts off with Victor being ashamed everyone in the neighborhood knows he’s dating a “fat chick.” So he heads to the pool with his sidekick to try and change his reputation. We eventually get clued in to his interesting homelife and his grandmother who is raising him. So I thought maybe the story would be centered on the grandmother, but it wasn’t. I want to say I didn’t understand the point of the story, but that just sounds bad…even though I still feel that way.
If you check out the cast list on IMDB, you’ll notice that most of the characters real names are also their character names. I’ve always though that must make the acting a little bit easier. The two people I recognized were Melonie Diaz from Be Kind, Rewind, and Victor Rasuk from Lords of Dogtown and I’m Reed Fish. I appreciated the effort put into accents and vernacular. It seemed to fit the time and place, or maybe it’s just what I’m used to from watching TV.
Overall I wasn’t really thrilled with this one. I know movies can just be entertainment; they dont’ have to always teach you a lesson. This one didn’t seem to have a lesson, there wasn’t any major closure, there didn’t even seem to be much of a character change in anyone.
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For some reason I’m always intrigued by drug movies. Maybe it’s because it’s something I know nothing about. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what they were going for in Spun though. It almost had an MTV, jazzed-up feel to it. At times I think the film was trying to accurately portray what it’s like to be on crystal meth, but all the while being hip and cool about it. Everything was shot with a lot of close-up lenses. I know some would argue this really gets you in there, but I really prefer the wide-angle any day. It gives you a feel for the scene and its surroundings. There was also a lot of camera movement and jiggling along with some varying camera speeds with time lapse photography. I think this is what may have confused me on the level of seriousness.
At times things were from almost a first person view. Not like a first person video game, but from the viewpoint that you were in the group. At other times the camera was pulled back a bit and I felt much like an outside observer. This combined with some of the camera tricks are what made me feel like the film was “jazzed-up” to seem more hip and cool. The main pair of cops trying to catch everyone also seemed like they might have been more at home as the two detectives from Hot Fuzz. While most drug-centered films I’ve seen are trying to show how drugs are bad (Blow, Trainspotting, etc), this one almost made it seem maybe a little cool. I felt the comedy aspects were counteracting the seriousness of the drugs.
One other aspect I really didn’t understand was the bleeping of some dialog and the blurring out of some nudity. The reason this seemed weird is because they sometimes allowed you to hear the same word in an earlier scene. Now not all nudity was blurred out, just some. I could kind of see some consistency in the blurring, but it still didn’t make sense. Maybe they were trying to avoid an NC-17 rating?
Even though I wasn’t completely on board with everything, this film did bring out an reaction and that is a sign of good art. Who can say no to a movie starring Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke, Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo, Patrick Fugit, Mena Suvari, Deborah Harry? Who’s Deborah Harry you ask? Well you might also recognize her as the front woman for a band called Blondie. Jason Schwartzman never ceases to amaze me and Rourke has been awesome in everything I’ve seen him in. It was also cool watching Blondie kick the crap out of a punk in a convenient store.
I’m not really sure how to recommend this. Some will be offended by the content and others will just get bored with the feel of it. I’m glad I stuck through and watched it all. Something to check out if you have Netflix. It’s on the Watch Instantly list.
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It’s not often that I’m just completely bored with a film, and this was one of those times. To me, this came off as a cliche of cliches. I was enticed to add this to my Netflick’s queue because of the ensemble cast and several reviews I had heard. I wasn’t really impressed.
The plot of centers around a summer camp and it’s the end of the season. All of the camp counselors are probably not quite as responsible as the parents hoped and probably a little too “cool” than the campers would like. Christopher Meloni plays the crazy and insane camp chef. He fought in Vietnam and likes to let everyone know that, but definitely not like Walter Sobchek does.
I think this could have been more funny if I was watching it with a rowdy group late at night. Any thoughts?
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If you’re a fan of the hit Sci-Fi show Stargate, then you’re sure to love A Dog’s Breakfast. Written and directed by David Hewlett, Dr. Rodney McKay, you’re sure to recognize him as the main character. Other face you’ll recognize are Kate Hewlett (Rodney’s sister and David’s actual sister), Paul McGillion (Dr. Carson Beckett), Christopher Judge (Teal’c), and Rachel Luttrell (Teyla).
Hewlett plays Patrick, a character not all too different from his Stargate role. He’s a little weird and definitely has some quirks. Out of nowhere Patrick’s sister shows up with a surprise - she’s engaged. Unsurprisingly, Patrick can’t stand Ryan, Marilyn’s fiance, and immediately starts plotting Ryan’s death. But what to do with the body?
I’m sure you’ll love this film as much as I did. Rent it if you haven’t seen it yet.
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The title 11:14 refers to a time. On one fateful night, a lot of lives are drastically changed at exactly 11:14. People die, people are hit by cars, a convenient store is robbed, one girl is playing several people for money, and one guy even losing some very important bits in a bit of a car accident.
I wish I had heard of this one when it came out. I was really impressed with it. Some of the cast includes Hilary Swank, Colin Hanks, Rachael Leigh Cook, Jason Segel, Patrick Swayze, and Ben Foster. I’m not completely sure if this would be considered a neo-noir or not, but it definitely has a lot of those elements in it. This is another one of those films with multiple time lines and everyone being connected in the end. It might be good to watch this one without the movie talkers and question-askers.
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I didn’t really know what to think of the cover, but the plot looked good so I decided to check this out. Happy Endings is a story about several groups of people all being connected without knowing it. Kind of like Pulp Fiction.
Mamie, Lisa Kudrow, is a middle aged woman working as a counselor and dating Javier, Bobby Cannavale. She’s being blackmailed by Nicky, Jesse Bradford - the kid from Hackers, to help him make a movie about her life and her child she has never met. Meanwhile, Otis, Jason Ritter, has a band and just hired on Jude, Maggie Gyllenhaal, to be their new vocals. Things get weird though when Otis’ father, Tom Arnold, takes an interest in Otis’ new girlfriend, Jude. There are a few more characters I’m not going to go into, but I’m not going to spell it all out for you.
One thing I took from this movie was how incredibly messed up some of the characters are. Mamie is being blackmailed over her son she gave away years ago by a somewhat crazy kid. All kinds of interesting things happen there. Otis is also going through hell watching his father being used by his ex-girlfriend while dealing with his own insecurities and issues. Like I said earlier, everything ends up being connected in the end.
I wasn’t really sure where this movie was going, but ending up really liking it by the end. There were a lot of strong performances by many of the characters and actors. I’d recommend checking this one out.
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I’m usually not a very big fan of animated films, not because they’re animated, because the story lines are usually very much geared towards children. Fortunately I have internet friends like ReelFanatic who give me good recommendations on what’s out there.
Ratatouille is a story about a country rat with refined tastes for food who suddenly finds himself lost and in the heart of Paris. Away from his family, he must find his own way and ends up trying out his culinary skills at a once renowned restaurant.
I immediately loved this movie from the start. There’s plenty of seriousness with some comedy thrown in. Remy, the country rat, befriends a human and Remy is able to prove to his family that not all humans are bad. I would have to say one of my favorite parts was the cooking challenge at the end, but I won’t say anymore to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it.
I’d have to say this one if fun for the whole family, and I don’t mean it in the “fun for only the kids” kind of way.
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