Monday, September 13, 2010

Machete Review

Wow! Machete was crazy and when I say crazy I mean crazy. First off this movie really isn't for the faint of heart. There's a ton of violence that's consistent throughout the whole thing which makes sense considering that this movie is something of a spoof on exploitation films from back in the day. The violence is really over blown and cartoonish in someways which is sort of the style these days. You either like it or you don't. Personally I found myself laughing at most of it. It's sort of so sick that you have to laugh. I don't know if that's good or bad but I can say I did find myself laughin'.



Aside from the violence the plot is also out of control. Think Charlie Manson type race wars but between Mexicans and Whites instead of Blacks and Whites but if Charlie Manson had more of a self serving drug dealing purposes for starting it all. Yeah, it's out of control.

It's also interesting to note that this movie has a political agenda which is a big part of the theme. It's not subtle about it either(nothing about this movie is subtle). I'm not going to say if I'm for it or against it or even what it is, just letting you know it's there and very loud. I prefer subtle most of the time but it's fine for this movie just because everything else is more of less screamed in your face so for better or worse it fits.

Just some random points of interest. First this movie is random. Steven Seagal is Mexican but for some reason runs around with Samurai swords, Lindsay Lohan gets dressed up as a nun and I don't know. There's a bunch of other weird shit. Oh, and Lohan's boobs are there for the peepin'. So, yeah, that might mean something to ya or not. Have fun!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Suck Review

Suck was another feature I wound up seeing at this years Newport Beach Film Festival. It's a story about a Canadian rock band that sucks. Luckily for them they all get turned into vampires that instinctively know how to kick some ass. This was a fun premise that worked and made for a lot of laughs. Sometimes films at these festivals take themselves a little too seriously. This was not one of those films and I had a great time.





The guests appearances in the movie were cool. Alice Cooper plays the main guru to his rock and roll vampire band and of course they meet down at the crossroads. There are several other classic rockers that make an appearance. Dimitri Coats, Iggy Pop, Henry Rollins and Moby make up all the other musicians that I noticed which is a lot of rock star power if you think about it. Even Malcolm McDowell(A Clockwork Orange) makes an appearance as the killer of vampires.


Another interesting thing to keep an eye out for if as you're watching is the album cover references. They recreate art work of some classic rock records from The Rolling Stones, T-Rex, The Beatles, The Who and probably a few that I missed. I must admit that I do enjoy the post modern reference game.





If you're looking for an independent movie that's straight up fun and has some rocking tunes I'd absolutely have to recommend Suck!

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Newport Beach Film Festival Opening Night

Opening night of the Newport Beach Film Festival started off with a showing of the film Five Star Day. The screening was packed and I've reviewed the film in a previous post if you're interested in seeing it. The red carpet was a good time with a strong showing of press and celebrities. Some of the celebrities included the actors from Five Star Day like Cam Gigandet (who was also in Twilight) and Max Hartman. A few of the Real Housewives of Orange County were also in attendance and people seemed to enjoy the fact that they were there. There was also a pretty strong showing of other celebrities and production people like Charles Hambleton, one of the producers of The Cove.





Following the screening was the opening night gala at Fashion Island. First things first the food was great and extremely varied. There were twenty five different restaurants cooking up various culinary delights so it was guaranteed that you'd find something to enjoy. The gala was one of the best places to be if you were looking to schmooze with people in the industry.
The gala also had it's share of events. The first one being the fashion show presented by Fashion Island. The show featured styles from various shops within Fashion Island so if you were looking for a preview of the spring lineup this was it.


Next up was a performance by Cirque du Soleil. I'd never actually seen anything from them before but this was rather interesting. Some of the gymnastic abilities of the performers were nothing short of astonishing. I still can't believe that a guy can do a handstand on another guys feet while he's doing something of a handstand. It looked rather dangerous which made it quite exciting.





The opening night festivities at the Newport Beach Film Festival were all enjoyable and if you missed it this year there's always next spring.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Five Star Day Review

Five Star Day was the opening night film at the Newport Beach Film Festival and it was a pretty solid selection. This film follows a student around (Cam Gigandet) as he tries to prove that astrology is a bunch of bull. He tries to do this by comparing the recent birthdays of three other people that were born within minutes of him at the same hospital. The logic is that they'll all have the same exact horoscope and should all end up having pretty much the same day. Of course since it's their birthdays that they're comparing they should all be having a "five star day".




So why pick such a topic for a paper? Well, there's a girl involved of course. I don't want to give anything away but there is a cool love story here that drives the film along. Along with that there's the ever pressing question of fate vs free will that's explored. So this movie does have several different elements to it that keeps it engaging throughout.

Along with the unique premise is some solid acting. I especially liked Max Hartman as the hard partying lounge singer. One of the most charming moments of the film must have been his impersonation of Dr. Strangelove. It was unexpected, fun and spot on. Plus I love that movie. Cam Gigandet was also good and able to carry the lead. So if this seems like your type of movie and you get the chance definitely check it out.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

The 80's A Decade In Review

For me the 80's is probably my absolute favorite decade for movies. It just had so many amazingly enduring pop culture films. This list might get long on me as I know there are going to be a ton of movies I feel need to be included. Also, take the numbering with a grain of salt because it was almost impossible to decide which movie deserved the number one spot. Action, comedies, slasher, and some of the best adventure films of all time. 80's films owned. What else can you say?



1. Back to the Future - Heavy
2. Caddyshack - I always thought this was a 70's movie. Nope, 1980.
3. Platoon - Great stuff from Oliver Stone.
4. Die Hard - One of the best action movies ever.
5. Beetlejuice - My favorite Tim Burton film.
6. Ghostbusters - Bill Murray is gonna show up on this list a few times.
7. Raiders of the Lost Arc - Spielberg is also gonna pop up more than once as well.
8. Vacation - Christmas Vacation was also amazing.
9. ET - More Spielberg, naturally.
10. 48hrs - Best buddy cop film ever!
11. Full Metal Jacket - Coolest, most absurd ending ever.
12. Weird Science - John Hughes had to pop up once and since I'm a guy, Weird Science.
13. The Goonies - Great pop flick.
14. Parenthood - My favorite Steve Martin film.
15. A nightmare on Elm Street - The remake comes out soon!
16. Lethal Weapon - The second best buddy cop film.
17. The Terminator - This scared the hell out of me as a kid.
18. Top Gun - "I'll engage when I'm God damn good and ready".
19. Risky Business - More Tom Cruise.
20. Friday the 13th - Scariest last scare when I thought it was already over.
21. Beverly Hills Cop - Eddie Murphy was great throughout the 80's.
22. An Officer and a Gentleman - When you've got no place else to go...
23. The Shining - I don't care that Stephen King didn't like it.
24. Splash - Tom Hanks evolves back into something amphibious for love. Awesome.
25. Fast Times at Ridgemont High - Classic teen flick.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The Men Who Stare at Goats

I must say that I enjoyed this film way more than I expected. It's a funny off beat comedy starring Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey, Ewen McGregor and George Clooney. I really expected this movie to be stupid and in a really annoying way but it turned out to actually be entertaining. I don't know why I thought this going in, I guess the trailer I saw just didn't work for me(maybe I was just in a grumpy mood). Sometimes entering a movie with low expectations can result in a really nice surprise.





Okay, so this movie is rather ridiculous. It's about a team of Army soldiers who are with a special unit that supposedly has super powers. Things like walking through walls, remote viewing, all the normal super power stuff. Ewen McGregor is a reporter that tags along with George Clooney on some random mission into Iraq. It turns out that Ewen McGregor has super powers as well and the universe actually sent him on this mission. Don't ask me exactly what that mission was though as I'm still not one hundred percent certain. It did seem to have a lot to do with taking acid and freeing goats.


Overall the acting in the movie was great. I especially liked Kevin Spacey playing the total dick head which seems to be a role that suits him. I'm not trying to put Kevin Spacey down here, I love watching him play these types of characters especially in a movie that isn't meant to be taken all that seriously. Tricking a guy into taking acid then freaking him out with by flicking a light in his face was pretty funny. The rest of the cast was solid as well. Jeff Bridges was another standout as the total hippie but the entire cast was great.


The only thing negative that I can say about this movie was it seemed a little thin in terms of plot. This caused the movie to slow down here or there. Luckily there was enough goofy humor and old school rock tunes to keep me involved. If your looking for something fun I'd definitely recommend this movie. I give it a B+.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Green Zone Review

This was a movie that I thought had a lot of promise featuring Matt Damon and the director of the Bourne movies. Unfortunately, it isn't nearly as good as any of the Bourne movies. It's about the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Now here's a shocker, they don't find any. This movie was actually a lot like watching the news way back in 2003. Which is to say that it was old news.





On top of that the cinematography was a little annoying. They tried to tie the movie together with annoying camera movements, quick zooms and having weird fast focusing(and a lot of random blurriness). I didn't like this at all and I'm sure they thought it might make it seem more exciting but it really didn't work for me.


In short this movie is a rental. I give it a C overall.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Where the Wild Things Are Review

I finally saw Where The Wild Things Are last night by Spike Jonze and I really enjoyed it. I know that a lot of people complained about this movie being a little too wild for kids and it is. This isn't a full fledged kids movie by any stretch of the imagination. However, some kids may still enjoy the movie but I highly doubt many of them will really grasp or appreciate the subtext that runs throughout. This may also be hard for some parents to watch as they may not want to face (or be reminded of) the idea of a ten year old (their ten year old) going through this type of situation.





This movie (as I see it) is essentially about a child who's forced into some sort of premature loss of innocence due to the fact that his parents are getting a divorce. For instance no ten year old should be taught that everything, even the sun, will one day die. For those of us that have long ditched our innocence this is not such a big problem and rather entertaining.


The kid then tries to cope with this loss by escaping to some far off fantasy world where everything in life actually turns out like it should have and how he wanted it to be. The problem is that his sad reality starts to seep into his fantasy and eventually ruins the whole thing.





As for the execution, it was largely fantastic. Visually wonderful, cool soundtrack, and a descent story. You may end up drifting when the story lags here or there but it's not really a big deal and doesn't happen often. For the most part it was a really good time. This movie also made me have a lot of throw backs to being a stupid kid. Especially the play mud fight that always ended in a real fight. Always!


I give this movie A.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Paley Fest: Dexter

So I went up to see Dexter night at this years Paley Fest. For those of you who don't know the Paley is LA's museum for television and every year they put together a panel with the cast and crew of various TV shows. This year they featured such shows as Lost, NCIS, and of course Dexter(my favorite TV show).





They hold this at the Saban theater which is in Beverly Hills. A wonderful place to go see something like this but a little on the large side. If you ask me a little more intimacy would have improved the evening but then they'd be turning away people who wanted to go and check it out. Some of these like the Lost night have sold out completely.


The night started off with an episode of Dexter. I've never seen a TV show on a big screen before and it was a rather unique experience. It made it even more unique seeing the show with a large crowd cheering on the characters. The episode we watched was “Hungry Man” from the fourth season. A great episode if you haven't seen it.


Then the entire cast comes out and sits on the stage right in front of you (John Lithgow wasn't present). They also had several of the executive producers of the show on stage and the writers were also on hand but out in the audience. The panel had something of a moderator that asked them questions. A lot of the questions were about the choices they made concerning the character Rita at the end of the fourth season. Then there were a lot of questions about the future of the show. However, they couldn't say much about it because they wouldn't want to ruin any surprises. After that the audience was aloud to ask anything they wanted.





I had a fun night overall and would highly recommend it to anybody that's a fan of TV and lives in the LA area. For more info go to http://www.paleycenter.org/paleyfest2010/ They still have upcoming events through March like Breaking Bad, Glee and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

The 90's: A Decade in Movies

It's hard to sum up the 90's. It was sort of all over the place from SNL alum comedies, action and special effects blockbusters, hard hitting indie and drama films... you name it, the 90's probably had it.

So I said in my post about the 2000's that I liked the 1990's better and here's why! There was just no way to limit it to ten.



1. Natural Born Killers – Don't listen to the critics this is a crazy good time from Oliver Stone.
2. Grosse Point Blank – They need to make more dark comedies.
3. True Romance – A lesser known gem.
4. Goodfellas – My favorite Scosese movie... well maybe not as good as Taxi Driver.
5. White Men Can't Jump – Best sports drama ever!
6. American Beauty – Yeah, the 'burbs suck.
7. The Devil's Advocate – Guilt's like a bag of bricks... all you have to do is put it down.
8. Fight Club – What was the first rule again? I didn't catch it the first twenty times.
9. Terminator 2 : Judgment Day – Way better than Avatar despite what the box office says.
10. Tommy Boy – RIP Chris.
11. The Matrix – Whoa...
12. Happy Gilmore – Billy Madison was great as well.
13. Forest Gump – So many lines I repeated way too many times.
14. The Crow – Style, style, style.
15. Trainspotting – Okay, kinda depressing.
16. Wayne's World – Psycho hose beast! LOL.
17. Dumb and Dumber – Back when Jim Carrey was on the top of his game.
18. Point Break – Don't pretend like you haven't watched this twenty times.
19. Scream - Best take on the slasher genre in years.
20. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me – And mini-me was born.
21. Days of Thunder – Tog Gun all over again.
22. Seven – I miss David Fincher and Brad Pitt making movies that had a pair.
23. Groundhog Day – Bill Murray is the king.
24. Scent of a Woman – Amazing acting Pacino!
25. The Thin Red Line – Artsy fartsy but awesome.



Honorable mentions would include Office Space, Kids, American Pie, There's Something About Mary, The Big Lebowski, American History X, King Pin, Pulp Fiction, Silence of the Lambs, Hook, Pump up the Volume, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead and a whole lot more.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Shutter Island Review

This was a February movie. It certainly wouldn't have held up during the Christmas rush that's for sure. It wasn't the worst movie ever or anything like that it was just really disappointing for a Scorsese film and quite frankly I don't think I've ever been disappointed by a Scorsese movie. At least not that I can remember. So it goes.



For starters the movie was just slow. The pacing was almost painfully slow at some points. I guess you could blame the script because there really wasn't that much going on during a lot of segments in the movie. To make matters worse it was freakin' long. It was easily over two hours and it really didn't need to be that long. You can't create suspense just by killing the pacing and adding a weird score.

Shutter Island did manage to have some interesting shots. I especially liked some of the surreal dream sequences in the movie. Some of these managed to be fairly interesting to look at even though some clichéd devices were used to make them look visually exciting. Okay, paper or feathers or something else flying around in the air does look cool but we've all seen it before.

Having never read the book I was a little bummed out with how the movie ended. There's a big twist at the end and I don't want to ruin it for anyone, but I would have been happier if the movie continued with the path it was on. It would have left me liking the main character more and I knew the movie was going to end the way it did. You can predict the twist, I just found myself hoping it wouldn't go there as we got closer to the end. Also, that same type (or similar type) of twist has been done in other films which I wont name. I give it a C+.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Movies By Season

Okay, it's February and you may have noticed that I haven't done a lot of movie reviewing lately. That's because most movies that I'd like to see don't come out in February. This is the time of year that Hollywood usually puts out all it's mediocre films that wouldn't have had a chance during the holiday season. That means that February is usually a sad month for the movie going public.


So like I said the month of December is usually reserved for blockbuster type movies. For instance Avatar came out on December 18. This is because most people have time off of work or school and Hollywood knows they're going to be looking for something to do. So release the best and rake in the most cash possible.




This is the same logic with the summer blockbuster run. Kids are all home from school, ship 'em all off to see a movie. That's actually the premier season for Hollywood and their big money makers. This is why you'll see a lot of big action and special effects extravaganzas come out during the summer months.


Fall is typically reserved for movies that the studios think have a chance of doing well at the Oscars and other awards shows. They have to release the films before the start of the new year so they 're still included in the upcoming season. Then they wait to near the end of the year so the movies will all still be at the top of the mind of Oscar judges come late February or early March.


I guess what I'm saying is that if you know what month it is and you've read what I've just written then you'll have a better shot at knowing what to expect when you head out to the theater. But, always remember there can be exceptions to every rule! Have fun.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Resolution

Today's topic is going to be on camera resolution. As some of you may know everything is pretty much going to HD. That's 1920 x 1080. That would mean a total of 2073600 pixels or a little less than 2.1 megapixels (just multiply 1920 x 1080 to get total number of pixels). That's as high def as your TV's gonna get (until it's obsolete) so why would anyone need a higher resolution than that?



The first and a huge reason would be that you hope to have your film screened in a theater. It's a lot like blowing up a picture in photoshop. The lower the resolution the smaller it remains unless you're okay with the fuzziness. 35mm film for instance has resolution that's much higher than 1920 x 1080 so it can be shown on the big screen. This changes with film stock, lenses etc. It's hard to say the equivalent in terms of pixels because film doesn't work the same way. Some estimate it at 20 megapixels or above, possibly even way above and IMAX would be even greater than that.

Another reason why you might want a higher resolution camera is for color correction. People say that even though you're just going to whittle it down to regular high def it still helps to have the higher resolution in post. There's just more pixels to play with. Even though you do eventually compress the file down to standard high def the end result still looks better.

Some digital cameras do record at more than regular old (old, that's funny) high definition. The Oakley Red One camera is one such camera. The 4K(4000 horizontal pixels) resolution would be a lot greater than high definition. It's also important to remember that in order to edit the higher resolution you're gonna need a blazing fast computer.



For the time being I'd keep shooting on 1920 x 1080 (unless Red Scarlet isn't too expensive) just because the odds of you getting a theatrical release is somewhat slim. Also, you can always transfer to film then color correct later if someone really thinks the movie is that amazing. This is most likely what they did with the film Paranormal Activity. They shot it on regular high def then Spielberg or whoever bought it transferred it to film and probably spent a couple hundred grand messing with it. Either way, keep shooting!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The Zero's: A Decade in Review

The zero's, the dough nut's, it was a decade. One that had to follow the 90's which after it's all said and done... I liked a lot better. Don't get me wrong, I liked a lot of the movies that came out over the past ten years just not as much as I have in previous decades.



So what sums up the decade? Well, it was definitely the time when special effects blockbuster type films ruled. Some of these were great, a lot were mediocre and some just down right crappy. Didn't seem to matter they all managed to make a ton of money. Transformers 2 ( Transformers 1 also blew in my book) and Indiana Jones 4 I'm looking in your direction and when I say crappy I mean crappy. And just to depress you... Mission Impossible 2 was the highest grossing film of 2000. Not a good way to start a decade. Read reviews before going people!

The other genre of film that took a surprising lead role with me this decade was comedies. This was one of the surprising bright spots for me with Ben Stiller, The Frat Pack(you know Will Farrel, Owen Wilson, etc.) and Seth Rogen leading the charge. I've always loved comedies and in this area the zero's really managed a solid offering.


So here's a top ten list of my favorite movies of the decade. No real judging criteria, just what entertained me the most.





1. The Dark Knight – Hands down awesome, Batman Begins was great as well.
2. Bad Santa – Hilarious, filthy and a little disturbing but oh so good.
3. Old School – The Frat pack's best in my opinion. There were a lot of funny ones from these guys but this one was an instant classic. Too many good ones from this crew to list really.
4. Super Troopers – One of the greatest opening scenes in comedy history.
5. Kill Bill Vol. 1 – Who doesn't love over the top super stylish cartoon like violence? Especially when it has an interesting story to go with it. Vol. 2 was good but not as good as Vol. 1.
6. Sin City – A film noir parody of epic proportions. Can't wait for the sequel.
7. Traffic – Maybe the best drama of the decade.
8. No Country For Old Men – A great movie, possibly a little artsy for some.
9. Joe Dirt – David Spade as a dirt ball, sweet!
10. Man on Fire – My favorite movie with Denzel Washington.



So that's my top ten. I know there were a lot of other good ones but those are my favorites. Other honorable mentions would be Anchorman, Crash, Napoleon Dynamite, Shawn of the Dead, The Rules of Attraction, Training Day, The Departed, Blood Diamond, Knocked Up, Iron Man and Inglorious Bastards just in case you were looking for something worth seeing(as if you haven't seen 'em all already). I'm sure there were more but that's all I've got for now.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Legion Movie Review

What's with all the religious related movies these days? At least this one doesn't take itself too seriously. Really, how could it with the old lady that swears, the smoking women who's eight months pregnant and cops that like to pretend they're shooting random civilians with their finger. Dennis Quaid and Tyrese Gibson are the recognizable faces along for the ride.

This movies like that but it is to show how far humanity has fallen. It also makes for some ridiculous but funny dialog so long as you don't take it seriously (sometimes it's laugh out loud stupid). So, humanity has fallen so far that God himself has officially grown tired of all of our “bull shit” and has sent angels down to earth to kill us all like the flood in the Noah's Ark story (but a flood of evil angels). Only the birth of a baby at a remote diner that's not supposed to be born can save us and one of the Angels decides to disobey in order to save the child. An okay premise that ultimately leads to some fun action.





And action is what this movie aims for. There's a lot of gun play, fight scenes and (since the angels can't fly in their human bodies) they must arrive to the diner in whatever car they can and then smash. All of them happen to be total pieces of crap(I'm sure not by accident) that the crew must have had a good time destroying.


The movie starts to stall during the beginning part of the second half as they try to explore the characters. It just ends up turning into people sitting around whining about their life. The whole self pity party does get a little annoying and slows the movie down for awhile until the next wave of evil Angels hits. That's pretty much how the movie goes, sit around, talk about something, wave of angels attack. This movie also suffers by getting stuck in one setting. It gets dull to watch people go in and out of one diner for so long.


In the end this is an fun diversion of a movie. It's not outstanding, just okay. It gets a little redundant and the later half of the movie lags. It gets a little painful to watch when they try to take themselves seriously at all and this movie really needed some twist in the plot to drive it through the second half.

Daybreakers Film Review

Daybreakers features Ethan Hawke and William Dafoe in a world where vampires rule! However, this doesn't turn out as well for the vampires as one might think. The main problem is that there are so many vampires that they've hunted the human race to the brink of extinction. They desperately need human blood or they'll quickly become physically deformed and mentally deranged.



This is where Ethan Hawke comes in. He's a vampire looking for a cure for a huge vampire pharmaceutical company. The company doesn't really care about a cure, just making money and they figure a human blood substitute would be better for repeat business. Ethan Hawke has sympathy for the humans and eventually finds his cure with the help of some regular warm blooded humans. The head of the pharmaceutical company tries to stop them from delivering the cure.

This is a descent movie with an interesting concept. The pacing however is a little on the slow slide but on the plus side there are some fun action scenes that break up the movie. These action scenes get a little outlandish at times but it's a vampire movie so it's to be expected. Some of the violence is over the top but again this is a vampire movie.

William Dafoe is probably the movie's most interesting character delivering the most memorable lines. There isn't a lot of dialog in this movie and what is there isn't all that great but this fits the tone of the film. Almost all the dialog used is used just to push the narrative forward.

It's also funny to note that Dafoe, who's a custom car builder, has the same Trans Am as in “Smokey and the Bandit”. Run Bandit Run!

Avatar Review

The long and the sort of it is that “Avatar” isn't the most original story but manages to succeed through it's execution. I know this review is coming a little late but I was sort of avoiding another big special effects type extravaganza after not being able to sit through “2012” or “Terminator Salvation”.


The basic plot is that a big company hires mercenaries to boot the natives from their homes so they can mine the crap out of it. At first they try to do it the most diplomatic way communicating through the avatars that look just like the aliens but are controlled by people. This is how they try to convince them to leave. A marine who has no use of his legs gets dropped into this environment just because his brother was training for the role, died and he fits a similar genetic profile to plug into the avatar. Eventually he falls in love with one of the natives and their lifestyle. And yes, it does end in the huge action set piece we all saw coming ten million miles away.





The movie first off is visually amazing. I liked the art direction even though the color palette reminded me a little bit of the video game “Halo”. There's a lot going on in most of the shots with action working on many planes along the z-axis making the shots visually titillating. I'm a sucker for movies with a sense of depth and I regret not seeing this in 3D. See “2001: A Space Odyssey” for a solid sense of depth in film, in fact the whole movie is tied together with that aesthetic. It's not as over blown in “Avatar” but still there.


Now about the theme, first off you're not going to like this movie if you're favorite show is “American Loggers” on Discovery. The reality is that this movie and it's theme are pretty hippyish and the natives are total “Triggers”(Tree + Hugger = Trigger, for those who didn't know). The basic theme is that the natural world is what's real and that human/materialistic society is a bunch of destructive BS. I liked this theme even though it's been done. During parts of this movie I couldn't help but hear Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt in “Fight Club”) say “In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway.” Okay, so it's not quite that over blown but there none the less. I also remember some Disney movie where little fairies could talk to trees and feel their pain when loggers were coming in and chopping it all down. This is a lot like “Avatar” as well.


The plot is pretty straight forward aside from the whole avatar thing, which seems a lot like being plugged into the Matrix. When they unplug avatars they drop just like in “The Matrix”. The plot has the standard love story and battle between the invading humans and native aliens that was inevitable. I'm also pretty sure you could rip this plot off from most high school history books. I'm not saying the overall plot was bad, just not super original. Where the movie does shine is with some of the sub-plots. I completely enjoyed the detour where the main character must bond with a dragon type creature and learn to fly it. This is exactly like breaking a horse and for a minute I think I'm watching some out of this world western, expecting Clint Eastwood to pop out of somewhere. However, some things could have used further explanation. Like, why are the mountains able to ignore the laws of gravity? I guess the movie was just too long as it was.

In summation this is an entertaining film. The story isn't going to blow you're mind but it's still fun. A few parts start to drag but not that many. I only found my mind wandering once or twice throughout the film. James Cameron knows how to fill out a story enough with cool little detours/details to keep me interested and the visual execution was great. Cameron also made it so I was emotionally invested in the characters to at least some degree. Overall, nothing in this movie pissed me off or insulted my intelligence and that's a good thing. More than what I can say for most movies these days. I'm going to forgive “Unobtanium”(cheesy name) assuming that whatever corporation was mining it named it... “The IBM Stellar Sphere, the Microsoft Galaxy, Planet Starbucks” ... ha!

The Book of Eli Movie Review

So what can I say about “The Book of Eli” that you don't already know from seeing the trailer? Well, it's a “road movie”, you know those very typical type of movies where the main character or characters spend the duration of the movie trying to get from point A to point B. There are a lot of these types of movies like “The Wizard”, “The Lord of the Rings”, “Thelma and Louise”, etc, etc.

Basically Denzel Washington needs to get the Bible to the west coast in a post apocalyptic world for no better reason than that his faith tells him he should. This reminds me a lot of the movie “The Wizard” where Fred Savage and his handicapped brother set out for California just because his handicapped brother has an unknown desire to go. Don't pretend like you don't remember this movie, it's the one about Nintendo. Awesome!

Gary Oldman wants the Bible for his own more greedy purposes and they fight over it. That pretty much sums up the plot. Mila Kunis is in there as my friend Billy so eloquently put it to “spread hotness throughout the land”.

So first the good then the bad. The ultra violent scenes in this movie are really well shot and really entertaining. The cinematography is solid and the action scenes are tight and exciting. That's about it for the good.



Now onto the bad! In between the action sequences there really isn't much that happens. In fact aside from the movie's violent outbursts it's rather boring. The movie also fails to capture the real desperation of a world where you're forced to eat people to survive. Maybe it was because I just saw “The Road” with Viggo Mortensen (which was truly intense) or maybe it's because every main character has a bright shiny new pair of Oakley sunglasses. Seriously Denzel barters water for wet naps from KFC (the shop keep is amazed to see wet naps) yet everyone can manage to keep the lenses of their shades scratch and dirt free while kung fu fighting in the desert. When I say WTF I mean WTF? Also, there isn't really any worthwhile dialog to the whole film. If you're a fan of good solid dialog look elsewhere. The best line in the film is borrowed from Johnny Cash.

I guess this is the part where I give you the trailer to the movie I'm reviewing but... to hell with it, here's a clip from “The Wizard”. Imagine Denzel Washington in this role and you've got it!

$30 Million For A Trailer?

By now I'm sure most people that pay attention to the film industry have seen the short called “Ataque de Panico!" or "Panic Attack!". If you haven't seen it you should watch it, it's very well made and extremely entertaining with special effects that seem to be on par with Hollywood. I'm also going to assume that you're aware that it's producer netted a $30 million dollar deal with Sam Raimi and Ghost House Pictures.



What strikes me the most about this short is that it doesn't feel like I'm watching a short. In fact it's nothing like any of the shorts I've ever seen. So I start thinking about what it does remind me of and that is... a trailer! I'm not trying to put down “Panic Attack!” because I did enjoyed it and am amazed with both the production and entertainment value of such a low budget piece (about $300). It's a lot more than I could do with $300 and if it were a trailer to a movie I'd absolutely be excited about seeing it. That being said, it still feels like more of a long movie trailer than a short.



There's not much story to "Panic Attack!" except the cliché of aliens attacking and no theme to speak of that I can see. The short that “District 9” is based on has a lot more of a theme and a lot more of a story. I can see the "District 9" director (Neill Blomkamp) actually pulling a deal from his short just because they had a lot more to base a movie on. Not to say that we know for sure "Panic Attack!" will be the basis for the actual movie as part of the $30 million dollar deal. Also, I dare you to compare “Panic Attack!” to the "Independence Day" trailer and come away without seeing any similarities.



So what's the point? The point is how does one go about getting their own $30 Million dollar deal? Maybe the answer to that is just make a trailer to a movie that doesn't exist, one that gets everyone excited about seeing the non-existent movie and then maybe Hollywood will give you the funds to actually make the thing.

It's not a bad idea and don't tell me producers in Hollywood don't think just like that. One important question production companies always ask when deciding to purchase a script is, “Will the movie have trailer moments?” If your short is just an awesome trailer full of trailer moments then the answer will undoubtedly be “Yes”! So why not just make a really cool trailer and let the audience's demand get the film made? It could be worth a shot!