So Thankful

Another belly-filling Thanksgiving has come and gone and I have to say that eating three large meals in the course of 4 days takes its toll! My wife and I hosted our first Thanksgiving meal on Thursday and surprisingly, it went off without a hitch. We had over the immediate family and enjoyed 10 hours of food, fun and Fireside Nut Brown.

The food was great and all, but we also sat down and enjoyed a great comedy together. The Darjeeling Limited is a stellar movie directed by the esteemed Wes Anderson. It's always tough to pick a movie that eight people can enjoy. Three of us had already seen it and I seemed to feel that it was enjoyed by everyone. This film follows the story of three brothers trekking through India on a train, each having some additional emotional baggage they carry on. The dialog and banter between them is wonderful, and the movie also brings in some touching human elements. I give it 4.5/5 peacock feather ceremonies.

The Friday after Thanksgiving was a sit-on-my-butt-and-digest day, and I took that opportunity to let laziness set in and I watched four movies. Kind of sick, right?
Well, here's a brief run-down:
The Time Machine - This was on TV and I just went with it. Not that great, 2.5/5 morlocks.
Outbreak - Conveniently this movie came on right after The Time Machine and I was much more impressed with it. Dustin Hoffman never disappoints and the movie was an interesting peek into the scary scenario of a virus epidemic. 3.5/5 last minute antidotes.
National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets - Now, I liked the first film, but this one was like watching it all over again. It wasn't original, and I didn't get as excited about all the clue-solving and code-breaking as I did with Nick Cage's first adventure. 2/5 conspiracy theories.
Rambo (the new one) - My brother and I stayed up late watching this one, and I regret that decision. This was the first Rambo film I've seen in it's entirety and I wasn't impressed. The violence was too much and the plot was boring and predictable. 2.5/5 unnecessary decapitations.

There you go. My wife and I are now sitting down to another movie this Monday evening, Kung Fu Panda. I'm hopeful that Jack Black will put some smiles on my face.

Recent Viewings

I just realized that I haven't been keeping up with my blogging, and I apologize friends.
I don't feel like writing any lengthy reviews, so here are a few brief one-line thoughts on the most recent films I've watched.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - 3.5/5 Not as great as the 1st, but better than the 2nd. Solid action, great acting by Depp, too lengthy.
Madagascar - 3.5/5 I wasn't expecting much from this movie, but it turned out to be quite hilarious.
Boy A - 4/5 A very good but depressing drama, recommended to me by a Blockbuster store employee, thank you!
Layer Cake - 4.5/5 One excellent British crime drama, Daniel Craig plays a suave criminal who just wants to get out, but unfortunately all hell breaks loose. Very enjoyable.
Sleepers - 4.5/5 Wow. Dark, twisted, but amazing.
Cool Hand Luke - 5/5 An amazing classic. I can't believe it took me this long in my lifetime to watch this wonderful film. I watched it about 1 day before Paul Newman passed away, so sad.

I also haven't shared the news about my newest bad idea purchase. Well, it didn't seem like a bad idea at the time, but now that the economy has tanked, I realize the money could have been spent a little more wisely, but that's all in the past. Here is a small photo of our new HDTV, the Vizio VO42LF.
Watching films, playing Wii and enjoying HD broadcasting with the new LCD HDTV has been quite a joy! We also bought a cheap Philips Up-Converting DVD player that beefs up the DVD picture so that it can be enjoyed on the HDTV, let me tell you, I have no immediate plans to buy a Blu-Ray player, because regular garden-variety DVDs look fabulous!

Sorry again about the lack of posts, but life has just been a whirlwind now that my wife has begun teaching again and that Summer's over. We moved into our first home at the end of July, and that has been keeping us busy with the unpacking and decorating. I hope to be back to at least a few posts per month, we'll see.
Ciao, Mike

Good Choice Academy!

The title is regarding the academy's choice of Best Picture for 2007, No Country for Old Men. I finally got around to watching it last night, and I have to say it was downright stunning. The intesity, the graphic violence and the subtle, dark humor all combined into one sinister, beautiful film.

The movie takes place in Texas, we follow the paths of three men, the first being Llewelyn Moss (played by Josh Brolin) who stumbles across a crap-ton of money from a drug deal gone sour. He is being pursued by one of the the most evil villians I've seen Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). To top it off, Tommy Lee Jones plays the role of the county sheriff who's trying to put a stop to all the killing that's happening under his watch. A neat detail about the film that I didn't catch while watching it (thank you Special Features!) was that the 3 main characters never really have any scenes together. Some chasing occurs, but no direct dialogue other than a small phone call between Llewelyn and Chigurh.

This is a film with plenty of gruesome violence, so please don't watch it unless you feel your stomach can handle it. Other than the squeamish factor, this movie packs a huge punch and is beautifully shot with a haunting story. I highly recommend this film to any one, it's one of the best Coen brother films I've seen. 5/5 cubes of Chigurh!

I'm da boss, I'm da boss, I'm da boss...

Watched two solid films this weekend I did.

The first movie was Son of Rambow, a heart-warming comedy about two boys who decide to make an action film with the main character playing the role of Rambo's son. It's a great story, the dynamic friendship between these two boys is well played out. There are some great characters, the foreign exchange student from France is an absolute scene stealer. 4/5 flying dogs.

I happened to continue my quest to see all AFI's top 100 films (see my progress on this blog's sidebar link) and watched Raging Bull. It was quite an experience. It was a hard-hitting (pun intended) boxing drama with Bob DeNiro as the leading man. Based on the true story of Jake LaMotta, Scorsese explored the dark, jealous nature of this legendary fighter and his relationships with his wife and brother along with his self degradation. This was a disturbing
film, the boxing scenes were quite graphic (even with the film being in B&W), but it was absolutely gripping. It rightly deserves its spot in the top 10 and I give it 4.5/5 TKOs!

Three short reviews

As you may or may not have noticed, I haven't been churning out too many movie reviews lately.
Two reasons:

• I'm too critical of my own writing, and can't seem to write anything that satisfies my soul.
  


• I haven't been watching too many movies lately that have been post-worthy.

But I don't want to make this blog only about link and video dumping, so I'll give you a quick one-sentence review of the past 3 movies that I've watched, since they all have been good.

Y Tu Mamá También - Watched it last night, whoa, what a sexy and well-made movie, but very graphic! 4.5/5 mamacitas!

Finding Forrester - Quite the inspiring drama, I ended up reading The Catcher in the Rye after watching the movie (Connery's character has strong parallels with J.D. Salinger). 4.5/5 novels.

Atonement - Not what I expected, much more than a simple romance flick, beautiful cinematography. 4/5 hugs and kisses.

There you have it, some short film reviews. Happy now?

Fight the power...

One of the first movies fighting "The Man" (who actually has a name, Jim Taylor) was directed by Frank Capra. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a wonderful movie with a great story. Starring the young James Stewart as a newly appointed senator who is expected to smile and nod during his time in office. He ends up uncovering a scandal and feels the wrath of corrupt politicians and those that control them. It's a real feel-good, "yay America!" movie and deserves some 4.5/5 pledge allegiances y'all!

So many to talk about

It's the 1st of December, brrrr! I'm anxiously awaiting a gargantuan snowfall predicted for today, there seems to be no doubt among all the weather sources that a large dumping is going to take place. BRING IT ON!

Some time has passed since I last posted and I have seen a few movies. I'll do a brief recap of what I watched and what I thought. Let's begin.

Ben-Hur, an epic classic. I attempted watching this in college and only go through the first half of the movie and I've always been meaning to finish it. Well it took me three viewings to make it through this 3 hour 40 minute film. All in all, it was very entertaining. I watched the first half on my 7inch portable DVD player, not the proper medium for watching this movie which was filmed in a very wide aspect ratio, one of the widest ever used according to Wikipedia.

The movie really paced well, which was surprising for it's length, and kept me quite enthralled. I enjoyed Charlton Heston's character and he fit the role well. It featured one of the coolest action sequences I've ever seen (the chariot race) which was a nail-biting sequence. This movie deserves 4.5/5 thong sandals.

I saw Enchanted in the theaters last weekend down in Iowa. Unfortunately I had to miss the first half-hour of the movie because I had to change a flat tire on my car. It was a cute girly movie and I enjoyed it. Big fan of Amy Adams, it could be because she bears a striking resemblance to my wife, but she pulled off the innocent, clueless princess very well. It was fun and deserves 3.5/5 glass slippers, I'm sure 10-year old girls enjoyed it a lot more than I did!

Rescue Dawn, a very good movie. I have never been disappointed by any of the movies I've seen with Christian Bale. It was also very interesting to see Steve Zahn in a serious role. It's a great story of survival and it provides a touching look into the true story of Dieter Dengler (Bale's character) and it includes some gripping profiles of life in a POW camp during the Vietnam War. It deserves 4/5 spanish olives.

Finally, I'll briefly talk about the movie my wife and I watched last night. Marie Antoinette. Pretty good. I was very pleased with Kirsten Dunst's portrayal of Antoinette and it had a very youthy feel to the movie. It was fun and an interesting look into the life of a teenage queen of France. A side note, I have been to the Palace of Versailles, it's one sweet pad. OK, 3/5 pieces of cake. Did y'all know that she never actually said "Let them eat cake". Au-revoir my friends.

License to Ugh...

Well, I recently sat through License to Wed starring Robin Williams, Mandy Moore & John Krasinski. Not much to it at all. At the end of the movie I was left with an overwhelming sense of dissappointment, and I had the strong taste of cheddar (no, was it swiss) in my mouth. (The movie was cheesy... ha ha ha...)

I am a big fan of The Office and Krasinski's character is perfection on that show. He essentially channels the same sarcasm with a lot less wit for his character in this movie and it doesn't work. His acting was a lot worse on the big screen. Also, Robin Williams, one who rarely dissappoints (both on the dramatic and comedic fronts) played a creepy, stalker reverend who enjoys teaching the joys and hardships of marriage through sadistic and psychotic means. Mandy did nothing for me either.

I did enjoy the small cameos played by Brian Baumgartner (Kevin in The Office) and Angela Kinsey (she plays Angela... funny). They added some nice comedic relief offsetting the boring chemistry between Williams and Krasinski. Well, to sum it all up, I'll give it 1.5/5 cans of spam and never watch it again.

Peace and love.

"I'm sorry Shaun..."

Just watched Shaun of the Dead the other night for the 2nd time. LOVE IT!

Hilarious, slightly scary, and downright clever. Can't wait to see Hot Fuzz, I need to rent it soon.

Anyway, this movie gets 5/5 cricket bats. Pure genious.

Killer mutant fish terrorizing South Korea

Hello again, my wife and I just watched a great movie that I feel I need to post about.

The Host was an excellent movie, one that really brings home the Halloween spirit. It certainly was not your typical monster movie, this one had style, a great story, good acting and some really heartfelt moments. It also had a balanced amount of suspence and a few jumpers.

This movie is South Korean (we watched it in Korean w/ subtitles) and it featured some really talented actors. The girl who gets kidnapped by the monster was amazing and the main characters really seemed to play up their roles to the fullest, there were many comical moments that worked well. I was also very impressed with the effects (the monster was all CGI, but it was very believeable).

OK, I don't have much more to say, but I recommend this movie to all who enjoy suspenseful thrillers, this has it all and don't let the fact that it resides in "Foreign" section deter you from renting/buying it!

The Host gets 4.5/5 chicken nuggets (delicious).

"Shane! Shane! Come back, Shane!"

This is sad. It's 10:30AM and I've finished my 2nd movie of the day. To be honest, I started my first movie (Shooter, see my last post) yesterday, but none the less, I woke up early to drive my wife to the airport, and then ended up finishing 2 movies before noon! Sad.

Since I just started this blog, I'm kind of pumped about posting, so anyway, here is my short review of the movie I just finished, and old western called Shane.

It was pretty darn good. Made in the early 50's, Shane is a nice movie set in Alabama after the Civil War took place and farmers are laying claim to their land. The story focuses on a family and a mysterious man named Shane who band together along with their neighbors to fight a man who has taken the liberty of oppressing the settlers. Anyway, enough of a plot synopsis, you can read it on your own at imdb or Wikipedia. I'm a sucker for old movies, they really seem to captivate me (as long as they were done well). The lead actors really were very believeable, the only person that was a little annoying was the young boy Joey. None the less, the story was classic, the movie was inspiring and the execution of the film was very good. It seemed to have been nominated for 6 Academy Awards, only winning best Cinematography for color films. Also, I only recognized on of the actors (I'm working on broadening my knowledge of pre 1970's actors) and that was Jack Palance. He played "Curly" in the City Slickers movies! The film's score was very good, turns out the composer (Victor Young) was nominated for 22 Oscars and he only won one posthumously.

Any who, I found out about this film through the AFI Top 100 Movies list and it rightly deserves to be there.
I give Shane 4.5/5 cowboy hats and think anyone who's interested in classic Westerns should check it out, it's a very believeable and touching story.

Let's start with a short review

Well, I'm joining the ranks of millions who've started posting life snippets online. Well, all I can offer to this infinite wealth of knowledge, gossip and b.s. is some thoughts on one of the things that I do a lot. Watch movies. I've seen plenty in my lifetime (albeit I've only been around only 23 years but I've seen plenty to kick some serious tush in "Scene It"!)
I'll get right to it. The last movie I just finished watching on DVD about 1/2 hour ago was Shooter.

A decent flick starring Mark Wahlberg, Danny Glover, Michael Peña, and Kate Mara to name a few. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the same guy who directed Training Day (pretty good), King Arthur (good action/storyline) & Tears of the Sun (not so much).

Completely fashioned out of the action movie template (with little to add) it flowed well. The camera work was fine and the suspense was good. The action sequences and fighting were well executed, and the technical details were believable to a certain degree. There was little to be amazed at throughout the story, a few predictable twists and some slightly unexpected plot direction. It was based on the book Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter and I'm sure the book (as always) had more to offer. All this aside it was an enjoyable movie. There was good chemistry between Mark Wahlberg and Michael Peña and some humorous sequences between them. Also, I enjoyed Danny Glover's role, I've always been a fan of his work (can't go wrong with Angels in the Outfield!) Anyway, in summary, I'd give this a (drum roll please...)

3/5 gold coins (stars are so overused, and I think I'll pick a new object for every review, we'll see how that goes).

Hope you enjoyed, I'll probably rant about other things throughout the life of this blog, but it'll mostly be about movies.