watching movies one cup at a time

I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from this movie but I was pleasantly surprised. It’s good movie with a genuine feel for the Star Wars fan community. The story is centered around a group of 5 hardcare Star Wars fans in 1998 who go on a cross-country road trip to break into Skywalker Ranch to watch the rough cut of Episode 1 because their friend Linus has cancer and is not expected to live long enough to see it in the theaters.

As expected, the movie is filled with Star Wars-related humor and jokes aimed at the hardcore fan. But it never panders or makes fun of the fans. It’s done with respect, and the cast pulls it off flawlessly. Plus the film has a ton of really great cameos from Billy D. Williams, Carrie Fisher, William Shatner, Kevin Smith and several brilliant characters played by Seth Rogen. You get the sense that everyone just wanted to make something fun about a subject they love and grew up with.

One interesting point is that the film is set before the prequel series came out. Many of the hardcore fans were very disappointed by those films and some argue they diminished the whole Star Wars genre, especially the first one in all of it’s Jar-Jar, little kid Darth Vader goodness. And the movie ends with the question, “Dude, what if the movie sucks?” So in a sense, 1998 may have been the last time hardcore faithful could revel in “classic” Star Wars without the stigma of Episodes 1-3.

You don’t have to be a Star Wars fan to enjoy this movie but it would definitely help. Overall it’s a good flick!

This is a rather enjoyable and well done holiday movie, ranking up there with Elf as one of the better contemporary holiday comedy flicks. Vince Vaughn of course just basically plays himself but it works fine for this role as the deadbeat, black sheep brother of Santa Claus. And Paul Giamatti is right-on-the-mark in his portrayal of Santa as an overstressed guy who just wants everyone to be happy and get along.

The movie tries to humanize Santa by giving him a “normal” family that everyone can relate too as well as the everyday problems people face. But instead of falling completely into cliche and mediocre jokes like Tim Allen’s “The Santa Clause” movies, “Fred Claus” keeps it fresh due to the quick wit of Vaughn and Giamatti. Vince Vaughn is the black sheep but he’s never one-dimensional to the point where you can no longer root for him to win. And Giamatti never reduces Santa to a one-note “Ho Ho Ho” moron.

Add to that a message about how there aren’t really naughty kids in the world, just misunderstood & misguided children, and you’ve got a nice, funny holiday movie.

I feel like I’ve seen a lot of stories about neighborhoods that go bad, gangs harassing local kids, people fighting back, etc. It goes back to Boyz In The Hood which kind of kicked off a lot of “in the hood” type movies. Gran Torino is different with it’s focus on the Hmong people and the conflict of old and new in Detroit. But at it’s heart there are connections of the “in the hood” genre of movies. So there is just a little thread of cliche running through the story. However, Clint Eastwood is a good storyteller and this movie keeps things interesting without sinking too much into one-dimensional characters. And the ending goes in a different route than what one might expect, with very satisfying results. It’s a good movie with good characters you can get behind. And props to Eastwood for directing another interesting film. Definitely worth checking out.

I really enjoyed this movie but I gotta tell ya, it was a huge bummer.

But first, what I liked about it. I always dig movies like this with big apocalyptic scenarios set in the future. It’s fascinating to me to speculate what could happen in certain circumstances. And good movies make it look so real, it’s easy to get into it. I Am Legend is a good movie. The scenario is believable and the flashback scenes of the impending doom are very dramatic and have weight. A movie is much scarier when it has an element of reality to it. Zombies and aliens are one thing, but an out-of-control virus that wipes out most of the planet is far too potentially real. And the scenes of a deserted NYC are amazing. Very effective and you can’t help but wonder how the hell they did that. Read the rest of this entry »

In theaters now, Iron Man is the long-awaited film based on the Marvel comic book superhero. Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, a rich, boyish genius whose company builds sophisticated weapons for the military. But after he’s kidnapped by terrorists using his own company’s weapons, he decides he can no longer be a part of building tools of destruction. While held captive he builds his first version of the Iron Man suit which he uses to escape. Once home he declares that his company will no longer be making weapons, which doesn’t sit well with his partner Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Tony starts to perfect his Iron Man suit in order to go out and stop the terrorists who have been using his company’s weapons. And of course eventually he and Stane have to come to a final showdown.

Robert Downey Jr. may have seemed like an odd choice for Tony Stark at first, but we could even tell in the movie trailers for this film that he was going to give it all he had and make this character work. And he sure does deliver. This is a great actor that had gone through some troubled times, not unlike the character of Tony Stark. One of the challenges of this role was to show the transformation of Tony Stark from bored playboy to a hero and from a jerk to someone likable. Downey did it brilliantly and really showed what he could do here as he effortlessly rattled off witty one-liners, channeled Errol Flynn and Howard Hughes, and created a character so completely that you cannot imagine anyone else in that role once you’ve seen the film. He made the movie fun. Unlike the tortured Batman and Superman, this movie’s Iron Man is having a really good time. Read the rest of this entry »

F’ing Dinosaurs!!! What’s not to love about this movie? Seriously tho, in 1993 when this came out, no one had seen anything quite like it. We’re very used to CGI creatures these days but back then it was very impressive how real these creatures appeared. And of the 3 JP movies that have been made, this is hands down the best. It’s not even close. Steven Spielberg really interjects some style and flair to this to build the suspense and elevate the terror. And the whole story behind the creation of the park is very well done. That is what was lacking from the following movies. By the time the third one came out, it was all “Oh Sh*t! RUN!!!!”.

I think it would be really interesting to see these dinosaurs really make an attempt at spreading beyond the island. They played with the idea in the second movie but it never got past the “Oh Sh*t! RUN!!!!” stage. The first movie made a big point about how the dinosaurs were evolving beyond what the scientists that created them had anticipated. You could take that a step further and have the dinosaurs make a real play to coming back and dominating the world again. Or at least part of it. They were once the dominant species here. So why not see what would happen if they came back and started busting up man’s world. JP3 didn’t do so well at the box office so this series has probably run it’s course. And that world idea might be too much or if not done well, look really stupid. Read the rest of this entry »

This movie follows very closely in the tradition of Guy Ritchie’s “British thug” movies, and in fact Guy Ritchie was set to direct this film but had to pass and it went to Matthew Vaughn instead. Matthew Vaughn was a producer on the Guy Ritchie films that Layer Cake is very similar too like Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch so there is a clear connection between those films and this film which is Vaughn’s directorial debut.

In this film Daniel Craig plays a middle-man drug dealer that gets caught up in a higher-stakes gangster situation than he isn’t used to or wants anything to be a part of. The movie does a fantastic job of creating the world that his character operates in and establishing believable characters with rich backstories. The action is very fast-paced and clearly this is the movie that set the stage for Daniel Craig becoming the next James Bond very soon after this came out.

Bottom Line: If you like the Guy Ritchie movies, you’ll love this one.

This is a vampire movie. But what separates this film from the flood of recent vampire flicks is that first of all, it’s set in Sweden and second, it’s actually a very touching story about a lonely boy, Oskar, who finds a friend in the sympathetic but nightmarish vampire named Eli, forever locked into the body of a 12 year old. I’ve never been to Sweden but the picture they paint here is a very cold and stark place where the bleakness of the snow and ice helps perpetuate a separateness between the isolated worlds of it’s citizens. This is a place where a secretive figure like a vampire and a friendless child can easily move around without being noticed, without anyone really paying attention or caring. It’s a empty world, devoid of life, which allows Eli to easily slip in and fill the void that Oskar so desperately needs. In Eli, Oskar finds an ally, champion, protector, and potential lover as the adolescent boy begins his awkward first steps in to puberty. In Oskar, Eli finds a companion, a warm bed in a cold night, someone to take care of, and a connection. Their shared loneliness is enough to overcome any fear Oskar has and any defense-mechanism of Eli’s.

Not a whole lot happens in this movie, it is really more of a moody and slow view of the escalation of their relationship. The events that happen in the film involving other characters almost feel like background noise to help illustrate the alienation and isolation Oskar so profoundly feels, and why having Eli come along and embrace him in to another world feels so right. It’s an enjoyable movie and worth seeing.

There is an American version being made already and hopefully it won’t “Americanize” the story too much. As with most European, subtitled movies, this movie wouldn’t appeal to a mass American audience used to seeing vampires fighting and kissing angsty teenage girls. This is far from Twilight and True Blood. It feels a lot more real and I hope that connects in the remake. UPDATE – Saw the first American version trailer and it looks very good.

Bottom line: At times both horrifying and sweet, a worthwhile film to see.

American version trailer after the break. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a new trend cropping up with 3D movies becoming more and more frequent. And this isn’t the crappy blue and red 3D your parents had to deal with, this is very intense and in your face 3D like you’d expect to see in a theme park in Florida. Except now it’s everywhere and more and more films are jumping on the bandwagon. I haven’t seen too many yet but this Monsters Vs. Aliens was very effective at using the 3D as part of the film and not just as a gimmicky trick. It’s huge scale environments and large-scale action scenes were very effectively done using the depth the 3D world allowed.

The story in this film is pretty simple and centers on the recently mutated “Ginormica” character. There really aren’t that many “monsters” here and only one alien. I would have liked to have seen more variety but it’s a good start to what might potentially be a series of films. And while the plot of the film didn’t have a lot of depth to it, it was more than enjoyable for the younger audience without relying on the more gross-out humor of Shrek. Like Shrek, this is a Dreamworks film and Pixar still has the high bar for it’s storytelling. But it did succeed in creating characters that the audience can root for and the movie does wrap up it’s story very well.

Overall it was enjoyable if not super-deep or having a lot of variety. Definitely worth seeing in the 3D theater before it hits DVD.

Fun family movie with excellent acting. Jodie Foster doesn’t disappoint as agoraphobic writer Alex Rover. And Abigail Breslin wins us over to her island girl, Nim. There’s not much to this one, it’s pretty simple. Girl lives on an island with her dad, loves Alex Rover adventure books, Dad gets lost at sea, Alex Rover makes contact with Nim looking for research on volcanoes, winds up befriending her and when Nim begs for help, Alex Ross goes against her fear of everything and makes it to the very remote island. Dad returns, all is well.

The only thing I didn’t like was I felt the ending was too rushed. Alex Ross spends a big chunk of the movie trying to get to this island, and when she finally does, the movie is basically over. We get to see her on the island for maybe 10 minutes. And Nim has already driven out the tourists herself and her dad finds his way back soon after she arrives. So she really didn’t serve any purpose out there, but next thing we know, right away we flash-forward and her and the dad are in a relationship and a new family unit is created. Just too much too fast. There just wasn’t time in this movie to go deeper into the relationship between Alex Rover and Nim and her dad and how it grew. The movie could have been twice as long to tell the complete story. But we’ll just have to fill in the rest ourselves.

Still, that wasn’t a deal breaker. It was still an enjoyable experience for a family movie and it’s nice to see Jodie Foster doing something lighthearted.