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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Bad Religion is one of the best bands of all time. And they have finally released a track on Rock Band 2. What are you waiting for? Go download, now!
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Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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Monday, September 22, 2008
Speed Racer - 2008 (Blu Ray)
The biggest bomb of the summer has come home and I’m surprised to say I loved it. Be warned that this IS a kid’s movie so if you are incapable of enjoying movies aimed at that demographic don’t bother. For anyone else, Speed Racer is an amazing ride. This is the Wachowski Brothers first film (not counting V For Vendetta which I still suspect they ghost directed) since The Matrix Revolutions and I’m happy to report that beneath the stunning visuals there is a solid movie.
Speed Racer follows titular adolescent race car driver Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) and his family as they are courted by a nefarious race promoter. During the race sequences multiple cars careen around the track spinning all over the road, jumping over each other, and trying to survive race tracks that are right out of a video game. These sequences are fully computer animated and they look like it. The cars don’t have as much weight as they should, which is about the only bad thing I can say about the race scenes. These races are absolutely spectacular and in high definition the visuals will cause your jaw to drop multiple times.
In fact the entire movie is worth owning simply for the visuals alone. I’ve never seen a better picture on my television than Speed Racer on Blu Ray. If you have a player I cannot recommend renting this one enough. The movie is over 2 hours long but I was never bored. Some of the humor is juvenile but the drama is played well, the plot is interesting, and the way the whole thing is cut together kind of has to be seen to be believed.
This one definitely deserves a second chance at home.
Kingdom of Heaven – 2005 (Blu Ray)
The poster child for Fox meddling now has a Ridley Scott approved director’s cut and the movie is well worth seeing. 20th Century Fox had notoriously cut out over an hour of Scott’s epic film about the defense of Jerusalem by Christian knights in the 1300’s from Muslims attempting to reclaim the city. It came out right after Return of the King and Fox marketed it heavily as a action heavy fantasy story. In actually, it is much closer to Braveheart.
The movie follows Balian (Orlando Bloom) a simple blacksmith who learns he is the descendant of a renowned knight (Liam Neeson) and travels to Jerusalem to defend it from Muslim invaders.
The movie is long but very well acted and beautifully shot. Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Eva Green, and a nearly unrecognizable Brendan Gleeson are just a few of the well known actors here. For most of the 3 hour running time there is not a great deal of action and we see both sides, Christian and Muslim, as the machinations of war begin to unfold. To Scott’s credit the muslim “invaders” are presented very even handedly, not as villains. After all, they were attempting to reclaim a city that the Christians had stolen from them 100 years before, which they in turn had taken from the Romans. The final battle as the knights attempt to hold Jerusalem is breathtaking and easily on par with anything in the Lord of the Rings movies.
Highly recommended for fans of historical epics like Braveheart and Gladiator. 
Baby Mama – 2008
Baby Mama a pretty generic romantic comedy that is buoyed by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and the enormous chemistry the two long time SNL veterans share on screen. Kate (Fey) is a 37 year old career woman and her biological clock has gone off big time. Learning that she is unlikely to be able to conceive naturally she turns to a surrogate service run by Chaffee Bicknet (Sigourney Weaver). There she is hooked up with Angie (Poehler), a white trash surrogate-to-be that agrees to carry Kate’s baby for the $20,000 fee. All manner of hijinks ensue.
There is very little in this movie that comes as a surprise. When Greg Kinnear is introduced as the love interest you can see exactly how it is going to play out. That said, Baby Mama is enjoyable and there are several solid laughs to be had. Well worth watching for fans of Poehler and Fey and an inspired extended cameo from Steve Martin.
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Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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Tuesday, September 2, 2008
The Reaping (2007)
Hilary Swank stars as Katherine, a college professor and former minister who has since lost her faith. Now she spends her time travelling the world debunking miracles. Kind of like Indiana Jones without the artifacts. On her newest case, she is called to the town of Haven , LA., a hot bed of religious fervor caused by the town river turning to blood overnight. Seems the biblical plagues of Egypt are hitting the quiet town and the townspeople want Katherine to find out what is going on. Here she meets the superstitious locals that are blaming the plagues on Loren, a young girl that lives in the swamp, saying she is the devil’s emissary.
The Reaping is a largely entertaining thriller that unfortunately suffers from a right turn at the end that derails the entire production. I can only compare it to riding a good, yet unremarkable roller coaster. Everything is going fine, you are enjoying the ride ok, when suddenly the car flies off the track and you run into a brick wall. Then before you can get out of the wrecakage a rescue worker hits you in the head with a hammer. The twist in The Reaping is fine on its’ own, actually it’s pretty clever. The problem is that once you are looking back on the movie as a whole it the plot holes add up rapidly. Not to mention the larger theological implications that are impossible to go into without spoiling the movie entirely.
NOTE: The last 10 seconds are just stupid. If you do see this one I recommend turning it off when the car ride starts after the finale.
2/5
The Orphanage (2007)
It’s not often we get a good and scary ghost story that doesn’t involve horrific violence and scenes of dismemberment and torture. Hell, it’s not often we get a horror movie lately that doesn’t turn one’s stomach with the violence. That is why the Guillermo Del Toro produced The Orphanage is so refreshing. This Spanish made movie takes its' scares seriously and will have you on edge the entire time you are watching while keeping the gore to an absolute minimum. This is a haunted house story where the haunters are largely unseen and extremely spooky sound effects take center stage.
Laura and Carlos buy the seaside orphanage where Laura spent part of her youth with plans to turn it into a home for developmentally disabled children. One day she is visited by a creepy social worker named Benigna and not long after her son, Simon, goes missing. Laura becomes convinced that her son is still alive and as increasingly strange events continue to unfold, Laura and her husband, Carlos, slowly unravel the mystery of the orphanage.
This is one of the drop dead scariest movies in quite a while. Sharing much in common with Del Torro’s own highly recommended The Devil’s Backbone, the movie never lets up the tension and even the most mundane of activities are sinister and frightening. There is one quiet scene half way though when Laura is speaking to her husband in the middle of the night after he climbs into bed. As the scene wears on something begins to not feel right. There is no music, no sudden cuts, just a foreboding that settles in. Then Laura hears something in the bathroom, sees the shadow of someone beyond the door, the door knob slowly turns and I spill my popcorn all over my couch.
If The Orphanage stumbles, it is only with the questions that are left when it is over. There may be some lost in translation moments here because the movie is Spanish with English subtitles. There is no dub, so be warned if reading is not your thing. Personally, I can’t stand English dubs and much prefer watching a film in its’ intended language but I know many people do not. That said, minor plot issues aside The Orphanage is well worth your time if you love old school ghost stories like The Changeling and The Shining.
Dark Blue (2002)
My copy of this movie crapped out around chapter 22 and didn’t start up again until chapter 28. Luckily this is one of those movies that features a big scene at the end where one character recaps what has happened so even though major characters were killed I still could follow along.
Kurt Russell stars as Edwin, a corrupt cop in LA on the eve of the Rodney King verdict in 1991. Edwin and his partner Chase (Scott Speedman) are assigned an investigation into a convenience store robbery that begins to uncover far more than initially suspected. There is little here that fans of cop melodramas haven’t seen before. The cast is solid, with Ving Rhames and Brendon Gleeson along of the ride as well. I’ll be honest, I got this one because Kurt Russell is in it and I just hadn’t seen it yet. Russell is a hell of an underappreciated actor and has starred in some of my favorite movies (The Thing, Escape from New York , Big Trouble in Little China). This is not his best work, but it is entertaining and a different character from the ones he usually plays. Recommended for Kurt Russell fans and gritty police drama completionists.
3/5
Spellbound (2002)
This 2002 documentary slipped us by and the kids were asking to see it so we obliged. Spellbound follows the lives of 8 kids as the prepare and then arrive at the National Spelling Bee in 1999. This one was nominated for an Oscar for Best Documentary and it is entertaining. I enjoyed it and so did the kids, but I don’t see a reason to see it again. Despite trying to shed some light into the home life of the competitors the movie came across as a bit trite and clichéd. Still, it’s good family viewing and ultimately has a nice message so it is worth checking out if you have missed it.
3/5
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