watching movies one cup at a time

This movie is supposed to be a live action/fantasy film version of the classic ’60s cartoon show Speed Racer. Through endless reruns and cult following, an interest in Speed Racer has lasted over several generations of kids. This film however little to nothing to do with the original cartoon. Sure, there is a character named Speed Racer who drives the Mach 5, but the similarities end there.

The film has a very whacked-out, over saturated vibe to everything. The colors are beyond bright and also clearly fake. The whole movie feels like one big fake plastic fruit tree. It relies so heavily on CGI one wonders why they didn’t just make it 100% CGI instead of sticking out-of-place real people into the fake environments.

Story is weak, characters are weak leading to some unimpressive performances from otherwise great actors, and the whole thing is just drowned out with visual over-stimulation.

Bottom Line: Don’t bother.

For some reason my 5 year old daughter really really likes this movie. And before you say “you let your 5 year old watch Spice World?” let me just say that the movie is harmless. Love them or hate them, the Spice Girls were never raunchy or inappropriate for kids. They are very cartoon-like and the movie is a bit of a farce. It’s a silly little movie that exists solely to cash-in on the Spice mania that was happening over 10 years ago. it’s definitely done just for laughs. Interestingly enough it has a lot of cameos from British television comedians like Hugh Laurie, Barry Humphries, and Jennifer Saunders. There is a lot of self-parody in the film as well. the Spice Girls at that time did not take themselves so seriously. It was all about fun and music. So while I wouldn’t say this is necessarily a kids movie, it’s certainly safe for kids. And for what it is, it’s really not bad.

When they said “reboot” they weren’t kidding. This basically flips the Star Trek mythology on it’s ears and pushes it in a whole new direction. The way they do that is thanks to the old Star Trek friend – time travel.

Star Trek has always had a pretty cozy relationship with time travel. And I always appreciated the way the Next Generation handled it in particular. After the cancellation of the most recent Star Trek television series and the less than spectacular performance of the last Star Trek movie 7 years ago, many considered the franchise to be dead. The Next Generation cast wasn’t getting any younger and the Original Series cast is dying off slowly. And without a bankable new television show, where could it go? Well time travel can solve everything.

Technically this is a sequel to the last movie, Star Trek: Nemesis. But by sending some of the characters back in time, the Original Series characters are spun off into an alternate reality. They even go as far as to say that “this is a new alternate reality” rather explicitly in the film. Basically all bets are off now because this new cast is free from the past mythology, which has now been made irrelevant.

Is this a good thing? Ultimately it’s a good thing for the franchise. The new cast is good, it’s got action, it’s got humor, it’s an enjoyable movie with some style. But I can see Star Trek purists not being into this. And my personal preference was always for the Next Generation, which was already very different from the Original Series, and is very different from this cast. However, judging this separately from the rest of Star Trek, this is a very enjoyable movie. The goal here is to win over new fans and I think this Star Trek will do that. It’s a much better fit for our current culture than the previous films and much more inviting to non-Trekkers.

If you like Sci-fi, you’ll like this movie. If you are a Star Trek fan, watch this with fresh eyes. It’s a bold step and I think it pays off.

I’m not a big fan of stoner humor. But this movie was actually pretty good. It never got too gross or over-the-top. And some of the jokes were definitely pretty clever. It’s from the Broken Lizard group and is about a bunch of state troopers who mess around more than actually work. Eventually that leads to them getting shut down, also due to budget cuts, but it all works out in the end. I especially liked Jay Chandrasekhar’s character and his very deadpan joke delivery. He is also the director and one of the writers.

Bottom Line: Overall it’s not brilliant, but I would say it’s definitely worth watching.

I have to admit, I have been going back and forth with this one. When I first saw it in the theater, I was not thrilled. It’s grim and very bloody. Just heavy dark, nonstop. But I found myself going back to the music again and again. I wound up downloading the soundtrack and I can’t stop listening to it. That is mostly to the credit of Stephen Sondheim for writing the songs. But I do like the versions from the film a lot better than the original Broadway recordings. Tim Burton gives it a lush feel to match the depths of the city around the characters. And Johnny and Helena do a great job with the music.

Johnny Depp is of course amazing again. The range he is capable of is quite impressive. This character was like a cross between Edward Scissorhands, Jack Sparrow and Willy Wonka all combined and much more sinister. It was a delight to watch him fill the room every time he was in the scene. Helena Bonham Carter was very good as Mrs. Lovett and managed to evoke tenderness convincingly alongside cold-blooded murder. After seeing the movie it’s hard to see anyone else in that role. And of course Alan Rickman was his usual perfect self. Timothy Spall did his fabulous nasty toady role that he has perfected in many films over the years, always creepy. Read the rest of this entry »

Boring. looks nice and all, but just plain boring. Not a whole hell of a lot happens and who really cares what does happen. The characters are flat, the acting is weak, and the direction is just lethargic. This is comic book legend Frank Miller’s first film directed solely by him (he got a co-directing credit for Sin City) and one gets the sense that after Sin City he said to himslef “Hey, I could do this directing thing no problem.” Well there is a problem. What works in comic books is very hard to translate into movies. Very well experienced directors rarely pull it off, and Frank is not an experienced director by any stretch. It just all feels so bland and pointless, more impressive as still camera shots than moving action. Yawn.

Eva Mendes is one of the lead actresses in this film and she is a TERRIBLE actress. She really sucks the life out of every scene she’s in. Scarlett Johanassen is a real dead fish on screen as well. Samuel L. Jackson is a larger-than-life cartoony villain and he does that well. And Gabriel Macht as the Spirit does a good job as well. But too much bad acting and a very weak story leaves this shiny piece of jewelry not shiny enough to make it worth the trip.

Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman are a couple staying in a remote house one night after a disappointing evening at a wedding. Three strangers show up and start to terrorize the couple while wearing some goofy masks. Terror ensues. This movie is pretty much a one-note suspense flick where every 5 minutes someone jumps out or creeps up and goes “boo!”

Bottom Line: Watch it on cable if youv’e got nothing better to do.

Seriously one of the worst movies ever. It was astounding how bad it was. I’m mad I got suckered into seeing it. Where do we start? Cameron Diaz is in this movie blatantly trying to cash in on her There’s Something About Mary fame from a few years earlier. But this is like a really bad copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of what that movie was. The plot makes no sense, the characters are put in basically random situations just to fuel some lame and usually gross jokes, and there is pretty much nothing likeable about any of these people. And what little laughs they could squeeze out of this were ALL in the trailer! So if you saw the trailer, you already saw anything that was remotely funny in this thing. I hate when movie studios do that. It’s total bait-and-switch to steal my $10. I want that 2 hours of my life back.

BTW, the writer of this flick was a staff writer for South Park and this was her first movie. And guess what? That was also her last movie. Somehow the director keeps working, which is a shame because the directing was a mess. Avoid this movie by any means necessary.