'Tis the season for award giving in the movie industry. Many award shows occur with grand clothes, red carpets,and many rounds of applause. One of the most noted and watched is of course the Academy Awards. Where in return for the winning of many votes, and doing pretty great performances the winners get heavy golden statues of naked men and a paper with their name on it. It is an evening to be remembered. And cherished in the eyes of the beholders. It is probably one of my favorite times of year.
At the video store where I currently work we do an Academy Award contest every year. We print up thousands of ballots with the nominees for best picture, best actor, best actress, and best supporting actor and actress. The customers win free rentals for guessing right. One free rental for three right answers, three for four right answers and ten for getting all five right. The employees on the other hand get cash money. It is a glorious time at the store. Except for all of the tallying of ballots at the end. That part isn't so much with the fun. But other then that.
Anyway the nominees this year for best picture are "Black Swan," "The Fighter," "Inception," "The Kids Are All Right," "The King's SPeech," "127 Hours," "The Social Network," "Toy Story 3," "True Grit," and "Winter's Bone." I have so far seen 5 of the ten mentioned and will soon being watching number 6. I am planning on seeing on all ten. I know that I have reviewed most of the ones that I have seen so forgive the repeats. But I want to just give each of the ones I've seen a quick report.
With "Inception," and "The Kids Are All Right," I was less then thrilled. I liked "Inception" well enough. Good movie making, acting was great, level upon level of 'huh?' going on. But I wasn't like "OH MY GOD BEST MOVIE EVER!!!" Like so many others seemed to be. I think that the visual effects were pretty fantastico though and I do hope that it gets recognition for that. Not best picture of the year in my mind though. "The Kids Are All Right" I just didn't like. The script was poor and the story was unbelieveable. The acting was pretty good but there was nothing else to it. It was kind of a boring story even. I don't understand why it made the list but there it is all listed. See if only I was on the decision making committee of the Academy.
Then there was "Toy Story 3," and "The Social Network." Both good. "Toy Story 3" was adorable and of course lots of fun because it's "Toy Story." In fact I cried a little at the end and I just liked it. But again I wasn't blown away by it. Loved it as a cartoon but again not a best picture type. "The Social Network," was good. Well made, interesting, well acted, but nothing that made me stop in my tracks and say "whoa there!" But maybe it was. Maybe I'm too picky or some might say snobbish about my movies. I don't know.
Yesterday though I watched "Black Swan." That movie SHOULD be on the list of best picture nominees. I was just blown away by it. It was beautifully made, extraorinarily acted, the script was fantastic, and the visuals were off the charts. It was dark and intense and creepy and it really sticks with you but that is part of the brilliance. Starring Natalie Portman, who is up for best actress, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel and directed by Darren Aronofsky. The story is about a ballerina who after years in the ballet chorus finally lands the part as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake. Already having the perfect personality for the White Swan she struggles with finding the darkness in her for the Black Swan. Once she finds it though she loses control of it and eventually she begins to lose her mind.
The whole film in and of itself is like a modern version of Swan Lake, Natalie Portman's character as the natural White Swan and Mila Kunis as her opposite twin the Black Swan. The trick is discovering where the reality ends the crazy begins. Apparently Natalie Portman had to lose 20 pounds and train 5 hours a day 6 days a week for the role. And it was worth every little bit of training that she put in. I can't in good conscience give anything more away but I will say that this is one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. Everything fit. It's dark and hard to watch, but beautiful and worth the discomfort. It is one of those movies that will not sit well with everyone. The darkness and the pain that permeates it sticks with you and it can be hard to take. If you can handle it I say go for it.
I appreciate that it is on the best picture list but I don't think that "Black Swan" will win. I think that it is too dark, too out there for that but it's a best picture in my book.
I still have to see "The King's Speech," I am highly anticipating that one. I hear naught but good things. And then there is "Winter's Bone," which I have waiting for me, and "127 Hours" which I think might be a hard one for me because as far as I can tell it takes place mostly in a small crevice and I'm not good with the small cramped places. And then there is "The Fighter," and "True Grit." I hear good about both of those as well. Although I also heard two negatives about "The Fighter" but I will still see it. It is on the list after all.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The Greatness that is Jaz Parks
OK so I have been gone for quite awhile. My BRAND NEW computer stopped working for no apparent reason. Then my internet went out so I couldn't even use my old computer to get online. Lameness all around. But now it seems like as long as I stay plugged in and don't make any sudden moves I can use the internet on my old computer. And so I return.
Being gone this long I know that there are movies that I should talk about but I have to talk about one of the world's greatest series of all time. My friend has already posted about the first book "Once Bitten, Twice Shy." But I am here to talk about the series in the wholeness that makes it whole.
It is the Jaz Parks series written, brilliantly I might add, by Jennifer Rardin. It stars the wonderfully hardcore, a little crazy, voice hearing Jaz Parks. CIA assassin of the paranormal type. As in she kills the bad paranormal types. Her boss, Vayl, is a vampire, refined, an excellent fighter, strong, beautiful, intelligent, and well dead for the daytime hours. Together they form a crew with a paranoid genius, a very old, drop dead gorgeous psychic and a boyish ex-PI who along with his high-tops and womanizing ways has quite a gift for choosing the best type of bubble gum for each mission.
In each book the team faces new challenges. Crazy Vampires wanting to be dragons, haunted houses, trips to hell, bubblegum shortages. You just never know when it comes to Jaz and her gang. But the thing that stays the same, no matter what, is the witt, humor and many facets that is Jaz. She has her grandmother voice for any life type advice that is needed. Her inner bimbo, permanently seated at the bar but rarely able to stay put. Teen her, her inner librarian and a few others. Voices, beings, magic, fighting and demons, make up what has become one of my all time favorite series. There were six books when I first stumbled upon them and I have been waiting for number seven for quite some time. So imagine my genuine joy when I discovered that it has been out for awhile and there might even be an 8th out already. Either way this series gets all ten stars on the ten star chart. Or the highest rating, however you choose to rate things.
I say go forth and read. There is a plethora of enjoyment in these books. I say to you enjoy.
Being gone this long I know that there are movies that I should talk about but I have to talk about one of the world's greatest series of all time. My friend has already posted about the first book "Once Bitten, Twice Shy." But I am here to talk about the series in the wholeness that makes it whole.
It is the Jaz Parks series written, brilliantly I might add, by Jennifer Rardin. It stars the wonderfully hardcore, a little crazy, voice hearing Jaz Parks. CIA assassin of the paranormal type. As in she kills the bad paranormal types. Her boss, Vayl, is a vampire, refined, an excellent fighter, strong, beautiful, intelligent, and well dead for the daytime hours. Together they form a crew with a paranoid genius, a very old, drop dead gorgeous psychic and a boyish ex-PI who along with his high-tops and womanizing ways has quite a gift for choosing the best type of bubble gum for each mission.
In each book the team faces new challenges. Crazy Vampires wanting to be dragons, haunted houses, trips to hell, bubblegum shortages. You just never know when it comes to Jaz and her gang. But the thing that stays the same, no matter what, is the witt, humor and many facets that is Jaz. She has her grandmother voice for any life type advice that is needed. Her inner bimbo, permanently seated at the bar but rarely able to stay put. Teen her, her inner librarian and a few others. Voices, beings, magic, fighting and demons, make up what has become one of my all time favorite series. There were six books when I first stumbled upon them and I have been waiting for number seven for quite some time. So imagine my genuine joy when I discovered that it has been out for awhile and there might even be an 8th out already. Either way this series gets all ten stars on the ten star chart. Or the highest rating, however you choose to rate things.
I say go forth and read. There is a plethora of enjoyment in these books. I say to you enjoy.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
2 New and 1 Old
Well I had this whole long post about these movies that I want to talk about. And right before I posted it my internet went out for no reason except that it wanted to. And it has taken me all day to get it going again. Of course none of what I wrote was saved! So here I am at the beginning, all over again. As the title suggests I watched two new movies, well new to dvd, this weekend and then I went back a few years and watched an older one on Tuesday. Here I would like to insert a reminder. I have said that I enjoy reviewing movies that I love to hate. On that very note I have to say that a couple of the following movies are movies that are of this loving to hate nature. You have been warned.
The first movie I am going to talk about is "The Social Network." It is the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of facebook. It starts out with said creator sitting and talking genius stuff to his girlfriend. Finally he says something that offends his girlfriend enough that she breaks up with him. Angry, drunk and alone he runs back to his dorm and begins blogging on his LJ, (which for those who are unaware, is Livejournal, a place where people go to blog and put up there online journal), about his now ex girlfriend. He says many mean things about her and in order to make himself feel better he will set up a site where people can compare one girl to another and rate who is the best looking. In order to get all the pictures he needs he must hack in to the various house sites and gather together all the pictures of the girls. After he and his friends finish writing the code and putting the website together they send it out and in a record amount of time they crash the Harvard server.
This causes the school to put him on academic probation and this also brings him to the attention of two of the most wealthy, uppity guys at Harvard, the Winklevoss brothers. They are rowers on the crew team, training for the olympics, and high members of the most prestigious club at Harvard, the Phoenix club. They have this idea to make a site like myspace only more exclusive and requiring a Harved email address. They are hoping that this will help get them laid more so then they already are. And they need they help of a genius like Mark Zuckerberg. It is through this that Mark gets the idea for The Facebook, as he calls it originally. This brings to him fame, fortune and one lawsuit after another. And it brings the world facebook.
The movie is written by Aaron Sorkin, which means if you know the show "The West Wing"", you know that it is brilliantly written. It is directed by David Fincher and stars Jesse Eisenberg with a touch of Justin Timberlake, as the guy who invented napster, thrown in for good measure. It's acted well and directed really well. It's a pretty good movie. There are some parts that are hard to follow because of all the computer speak that takes place. But it's a good movie I recommend it.
The second movie I watched over the weekend was something that I am almost embarressed to admit that I watched. However I did watch it with friends and spent most of the movie yelling at the TV. It was the remake of the horror film "Piranha." The movie begins with Richard Dryfuss sitting in a boat in the middle of the lake fishing. He catches a big fish drops his beer bottle in the lake, there is a big earthquake which in turn makes a whirlpool which makes Richard Dryfuss fall into the water where he is shortly devoured by many piranha. This sets the tone of the whole film. All it is, is death, blood, and random acts of nakedness.
The movie is truly awful. But in a way I kind of want to reccommend it. It's a sick, sick thing with really no redeeming qualities, although there is a part where a girl's face is ripped right off because her hair gets caught in the propeller of a speed boat. Highlight there. But really it's just bad. Apparently the director, who is very proud of his masterpiece, wanted to make a movie that went back to the good days of the campy, gory movies of yesteryear. And you know what? He really did that.
The third movie that I want to talk about was made way back in the '90's. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock in one of her most touching roles to date. It is called "Demolition Man." The movie starts out in the future year of 1996 where all of LA is always on fire. Sylvester Stallone plays John Spartan an LAPD cop who is after Wesley Snipes' character Simon Phoenix. In the beginning there is Simon Phoenix, who has hostages, and John Spartan who has come to arrest Simon and free the hostages. However things go awry. The two fight, the building explodes and it turns out that the hostages were in there. John Spartan is put into cryo jail for many, many years for accidentally killing the innocent civillians. Simon Phoenix is also put into cryo jail for being a criminal.
Fast forward to the year 2032 when life is literally rainbows, kittens and lots of happiness. Nothing ever really happens and all is greatness. Sandra Bullock plays Lenina Huxley a police officer totally obsessed with the 20th century. When Simon Phoenix escapes from his parole hearing he lays down a path of murder and mayham. The poice officers, who are not equipped for any form of violence, are a little out of their league. So with her knowledge of of the 20th century suggests that they awaken John Spartan. The man who originally caught Simon Phoenix. What follows is an epic film filled with non-stop ridiculous action and amazing one liners. This movie is truly great. In all its badness. This is another of the bad movies that are so ridiculous you just have to love it.
I highly reccommend this to anyone who truly loves non-stop epic ridiculousnes. And to entice you even more I leave you dear readers with these two gems. The Schwarzenegger Presidential library, remember this movie was made before he was Govenor even, and this "be well."
The first movie I am going to talk about is "The Social Network." It is the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of facebook. It starts out with said creator sitting and talking genius stuff to his girlfriend. Finally he says something that offends his girlfriend enough that she breaks up with him. Angry, drunk and alone he runs back to his dorm and begins blogging on his LJ, (which for those who are unaware, is Livejournal, a place where people go to blog and put up there online journal), about his now ex girlfriend. He says many mean things about her and in order to make himself feel better he will set up a site where people can compare one girl to another and rate who is the best looking. In order to get all the pictures he needs he must hack in to the various house sites and gather together all the pictures of the girls. After he and his friends finish writing the code and putting the website together they send it out and in a record amount of time they crash the Harvard server.
This causes the school to put him on academic probation and this also brings him to the attention of two of the most wealthy, uppity guys at Harvard, the Winklevoss brothers. They are rowers on the crew team, training for the olympics, and high members of the most prestigious club at Harvard, the Phoenix club. They have this idea to make a site like myspace only more exclusive and requiring a Harved email address. They are hoping that this will help get them laid more so then they already are. And they need they help of a genius like Mark Zuckerberg. It is through this that Mark gets the idea for The Facebook, as he calls it originally. This brings to him fame, fortune and one lawsuit after another. And it brings the world facebook.
The movie is written by Aaron Sorkin, which means if you know the show "The West Wing"", you know that it is brilliantly written. It is directed by David Fincher and stars Jesse Eisenberg with a touch of Justin Timberlake, as the guy who invented napster, thrown in for good measure. It's acted well and directed really well. It's a pretty good movie. There are some parts that are hard to follow because of all the computer speak that takes place. But it's a good movie I recommend it.
The second movie I watched over the weekend was something that I am almost embarressed to admit that I watched. However I did watch it with friends and spent most of the movie yelling at the TV. It was the remake of the horror film "Piranha." The movie begins with Richard Dryfuss sitting in a boat in the middle of the lake fishing. He catches a big fish drops his beer bottle in the lake, there is a big earthquake which in turn makes a whirlpool which makes Richard Dryfuss fall into the water where he is shortly devoured by many piranha. This sets the tone of the whole film. All it is, is death, blood, and random acts of nakedness.
The movie is truly awful. But in a way I kind of want to reccommend it. It's a sick, sick thing with really no redeeming qualities, although there is a part where a girl's face is ripped right off because her hair gets caught in the propeller of a speed boat. Highlight there. But really it's just bad. Apparently the director, who is very proud of his masterpiece, wanted to make a movie that went back to the good days of the campy, gory movies of yesteryear. And you know what? He really did that.
The third movie that I want to talk about was made way back in the '90's. It stars Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes and Sandra Bullock in one of her most touching roles to date. It is called "Demolition Man." The movie starts out in the future year of 1996 where all of LA is always on fire. Sylvester Stallone plays John Spartan an LAPD cop who is after Wesley Snipes' character Simon Phoenix. In the beginning there is Simon Phoenix, who has hostages, and John Spartan who has come to arrest Simon and free the hostages. However things go awry. The two fight, the building explodes and it turns out that the hostages were in there. John Spartan is put into cryo jail for many, many years for accidentally killing the innocent civillians. Simon Phoenix is also put into cryo jail for being a criminal.
Fast forward to the year 2032 when life is literally rainbows, kittens and lots of happiness. Nothing ever really happens and all is greatness. Sandra Bullock plays Lenina Huxley a police officer totally obsessed with the 20th century. When Simon Phoenix escapes from his parole hearing he lays down a path of murder and mayham. The poice officers, who are not equipped for any form of violence, are a little out of their league. So with her knowledge of of the 20th century suggests that they awaken John Spartan. The man who originally caught Simon Phoenix. What follows is an epic film filled with non-stop ridiculous action and amazing one liners. This movie is truly great. In all its badness. This is another of the bad movies that are so ridiculous you just have to love it.
I highly reccommend this to anyone who truly loves non-stop epic ridiculousnes. And to entice you even more I leave you dear readers with these two gems. The Schwarzenegger Presidential library, remember this movie was made before he was Govenor even, and this "be well."
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
"Machete"
A couple of years ago Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino came out with a double feature called "Grindhouse" featuring one movie directed by each of them. In between the two films, or before them (I didn't see them in theaters), they put together these pretend previews. One of them being "Machete." All about an ex-federale who comes to America to start over after the biggest drug lord in Mexico kills his family.
Now I don't know how it happened but Robert Rodriguez decided that it would be a good idea to make this pretend preview into a full on amazing movie! And boy oh boy am I glad that he did. This movie is maybe one of the most ridiculous, out of this world impossible movies that I have ever seen. It is about Machete a man who is just trying to live his life after coming over from Mexico. His life was ruined when the biggest drug lord in Mexico, played by Steven Seagal (who incidentially can only say one word in spanish and that not very well but it's totally worth it), killed his wife right in front of him. Machete tries to live a normal life but gets pulled into a plot to assassinate a senator who is forcefully trying to stop border crossing from Mexico into Texas. When things go wrong and his employers double cross him Machete follows a path of revenge. Killing those that have wronged him and his people. And picking up gorgeous women along the way.
From a gun toteing priest to Lindsey Lohan dressed as a nun this movie is outright ridiculous. There is just so much silliness in it that it kind of makes it brilliant. The cast consits of Robert DeNiro, the aforementioned Steven Seagal, Lindsey Lohan (the one low point of the film), Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, and in the title role Danny Trejo. Danny Trejo is an excellent Machete, a fierce very intelligent warrior, but he's not the most attractive man in the world. And yet in this film Machete is quite the laddies man. Irresisitable to women from all walks of life, including a very disturbing scene in which Machete has the beginnings of a threesome with the Lindsey Lohan character and her mother in a pool (now it's obviously a body double but still :/ yuuuck). Machete is shot but is quickly healed by sleeping in a bed with an egg under it. These are just some of the ridiculous things that happen through out the film. But it's all amazing.
I don't know how to describe this film without gushing. All I can think is "OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE IS CRAZY AND GOOD!!!! I WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN!!!" However I do have to warn those out there that this movie isn't good in the sense that this is the movie to pick when you want a truly good movie. A movie like an excellent foreign film, or a classic movie, or even a great movie that you just loved from today's time. It is a movie that is good because it is bad. It is just ridiculous and I really mean that. But it is that very ridiculousness that makes this movie a movie that I am truly in love with.
So if you are looking for an action film that just makes you go "WHOA what did I just watch?" In kind of a happy-go-lucky-this-movie-is-so-bad-it's-great kind of way, this is the movie for you! I highly recommend it!
Now I don't know how it happened but Robert Rodriguez decided that it would be a good idea to make this pretend preview into a full on amazing movie! And boy oh boy am I glad that he did. This movie is maybe one of the most ridiculous, out of this world impossible movies that I have ever seen. It is about Machete a man who is just trying to live his life after coming over from Mexico. His life was ruined when the biggest drug lord in Mexico, played by Steven Seagal (who incidentially can only say one word in spanish and that not very well but it's totally worth it), killed his wife right in front of him. Machete tries to live a normal life but gets pulled into a plot to assassinate a senator who is forcefully trying to stop border crossing from Mexico into Texas. When things go wrong and his employers double cross him Machete follows a path of revenge. Killing those that have wronged him and his people. And picking up gorgeous women along the way.
From a gun toteing priest to Lindsey Lohan dressed as a nun this movie is outright ridiculous. There is just so much silliness in it that it kind of makes it brilliant. The cast consits of Robert DeNiro, the aforementioned Steven Seagal, Lindsey Lohan (the one low point of the film), Michelle Rodriguez, Jessica Alba, and in the title role Danny Trejo. Danny Trejo is an excellent Machete, a fierce very intelligent warrior, but he's not the most attractive man in the world. And yet in this film Machete is quite the laddies man. Irresisitable to women from all walks of life, including a very disturbing scene in which Machete has the beginnings of a threesome with the Lindsey Lohan character and her mother in a pool (now it's obviously a body double but still :/ yuuuck). Machete is shot but is quickly healed by sleeping in a bed with an egg under it. These are just some of the ridiculous things that happen through out the film. But it's all amazing.
I don't know how to describe this film without gushing. All I can think is "OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE IS CRAZY AND GOOD!!!! I WANT TO WATCH IT AGAIN!!!" However I do have to warn those out there that this movie isn't good in the sense that this is the movie to pick when you want a truly good movie. A movie like an excellent foreign film, or a classic movie, or even a great movie that you just loved from today's time. It is a movie that is good because it is bad. It is just ridiculous and I really mean that. But it is that very ridiculousness that makes this movie a movie that I am truly in love with.
So if you are looking for an action film that just makes you go "WHOA what did I just watch?" In kind of a happy-go-lucky-this-movie-is-so-bad-it's-great kind of way, this is the movie for you! I highly recommend it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)