True Grit the Review

Last years Oscar contender, True Grit continues to prove that the Cohen Brothers are easily one of the best film makers working today. A remake of the book of the same name (and movie from 1969), it’s such a treat to watch a bad ass Western these days. A classic tale of revenge, young Mattie Ross hires a Marshall, Rooster Cogburn to find her fathers killer, Tom Chaney. She’s a tough girl who won’t take no for an answer, hell bent on seeing Chaney be punished for his senseless crime.

True Grit is awesome from top to bottom. A great script that is surprisingly funny is brought to life by a fantastic cast. Jeff Bridges (who has been on a roll these past few years), Josh Brolin (him too, thanks to the Cohens as well) and a surprise casting choice with Matt Damon as LeBeouf fill out the main cast. But the real star here is Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie and she’s amazing. The entire movie rides on her shoulders and she kills it in every scene. She’s relatively new to the business and at 15 years old her performance was that much more impressive.

Watch it!

Movie Quick Hits

Some recent stuff I’ve watched that can be summed up in 5 sentences or less.

Hereafter– Follow how 3 different people from 3 different walks of life deal with death. Clint Eastwood directs one of the most boring movies I’ve seen in quite some time. Matt Damon lends his star power to this snooze fest.

Twelve– A young drug dealer who really doesn’t dig life gets his world flipped over when his cousin is killed. Everything he calls on as a constant in his life ceases to. I usually dig these types of movies, but this one didn’t work for me and I’m not really sure why. The cast was decent but I think the journey wasn’t terribly interesting. Watch the amazing movie Pusher instead.

A.I. Artificial IntelligenceThis was the last movie Stanley Kubrick worked on, which Stephen Speilberg picked up to see it to completion. Wild sci-fi movie that I’ve been meaning to watch since it came out in 2001. Haley Joel Osment was The-Kid-Actor of Hollywood at this point and he did a remarkable job as David, a robot boy adopted to a family when their own sun is cryo-genically frozen until a cure for him is found. When the son comes back, David is cast out on his own to his bewilderment. He sets out on a journey to become a real boy so his family will take him back and love him. It’s a spin on the Pinocchio tale set in the future that really makes you think about what being human really means. Some crazy animatronic work by the late Stan Winston is in full effect in this often very visually striking film. I didn’t like the end though, it took a really weird turn there.

The Mechanic-Jason Statham laces up is action shoes again for this one. Arthur is a Mechanic (see: hitman) who is very good at his job. After he’s forced to take down a friend, he ends up taking his friends son as an apprentice, to teach him to channel his anger into this new, specialized line of work. The Mechanic is a solid action movie. Statham does his usual quality work here, the direction is good, the action is fun and often inventive and there are enough twists that keep things interesting (even if they are predictable).

Summer Solstice

Happy Summer everyone! It was a overcast today but the sun busted through for most of the day. Very nice right now so we’re off to a good start. We’ll see if the thunderstorms in the forecast for the rest of the week will come to fruition.

The Fighter the Review

Another Oscar favorite from last year, The Fighter stands tall next to other cinematic favorites like Rocky and Raging Bull.

Getting punched in the head is a dangerous profession. Equally so when you’re family is just as dangerous as the guy you’re facing in the ring. The Fighter based on the story of Micky Ward on his final run to become a boxing champ. With the help of his older brother Dicky as his trainer and his mother as his manager, Micky is stuck between a rock and hard place. With a brood of Boston sisters nipping and snapping behind him, Micky and his new girlfriend, Charlene, stick together to make some changes when the family status quo clearly isn’t working.

This is a hell of a movie. When Mark Wahlberg actually gives a shit about a movie, he puts in some fantastic work. This was a passion project for him and he had the great benefit of being able to act with Christian Bale as Dicky. They work incredibly well together, they really do come off as real life brothers. Often really funny even with a sad scenario, Dicky has a crack addiction that robbed him of his future, one that he wants his younger brother to obtain. Rounding out the wheelhouse is Melissa Leo as Alice, the mother of the 6 sisters and 2 boys. A maniac in heels, she steals almost every scene she’s in.

Such a good movie packed with great writing, actors and direction. The boxing scenes are terrific too, everyone should watch this movie, one of 2010’s best.

X-Men: First Class the Review

……..and the franchise is saved! After the train wreck of X-Men 3 and the embarrassing Wolverine movie from the passed 3 years, the X-Men flicks were all but ready to be forgotten. First Class cleans things up and shows us this universe has a lot left to offer audiences.

Turning the clock back to 1962, we watch as Professor Charles Xavier and and Erik “Magneto” Lensher step in front of the mutant movement and become the leaders of the two factions of the “next evolution of the human race.”

It’s a great idea going back to seeing how the two most powerful (somewhat arguable) and influential mutants in the X Men world befriended each other and ultimately split over ideological differences. It’s a well written and smart movie directed with a careful hand by Matthew Vaughn. Excellent casting and acting (I’m a big fan of James McAvoy and Michael Fastbender is a terrific Magneto) and some top notch special effects make the world come to life. Seeing the Cuban Missile Crisis in an alternate universe is a really cool experience and a great political and social backdrop for the story.

While the movie falls into some problems like comic book cliches (get to know you and training montages), odd changes that anger nerds (Havok is actually Cyclops younger brother, neither one of them would be alive at this time) and does run a bit too long at just over 2 hours. I’d say the biggest problem is that most of the mutants are unknown to most people so at times it doesn’t really feel like an X-Men tale. That said there is still a lot of respect given to the source material. Many nods to the series storied past giving winks that only comic book fans get and setting up characters and events for future stories. There are some great cameos tucked in here as well which are great additions.

Great job making this flick, which is not only a great summer blockbuster, but a great action movie in general. Gives great hope that the series is back on track and has me looking forward to the next one.

The King’s Speach the Review

The King’s Speech won 4 very deserving Oscars this passed year. I wanted to see it based on the accolades and word of mouth buzz the movie had since it came out. I knew very little about the plot going in and what one would think would be a boring art film is actually a touching and brilliantly told story.

King George VI of Britain never wanted to be king, a reluctant hero (figure head really) to say the least. He was forced to step up in place of his struck-dumb-with-love brother and had a rough go at it. The good king had a brutal stutter since he was a child and as such had the self esteem and confidence of a wet mollusk.

It’s very human story that many people can relate to. King George had very pressured upbringing surrounded by a wall of unsympathetic people. As an adult he truly was the product of his environment. Stepping into the biggest public speaking role you could ever imagine KGVI seeks the help of many speech therapists who fail until he finds Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). This brilliant Aussie helps good George become a true King.

While technical praise for crafting this film from every department is necessary, The King’s Speech is carried entirely on the shoulders of Colin Firth as King George and Geoffrey Rush. Their acting ability and on screen chemistry elevates this movie to award winning territory. I don’t think the movie would have worked without them, they’re that impressive. Helena Bonham Carter is also notable as King George’s wife who is pretty much his rock through out the movie. As the saying goes, behind every good man is a better woman.

I’d recommend this to anyone, it’s a great movie with a lasting story that is rooted in our history.

UK TV cleanup

Skins Series 4- While not as good as the first 2 series, I came to like the 2nd generation cast. I think JJ is my favorite followed by Cook who had some very good exposition about him. He change through the course of the show and came out as a genuine nice guy opposed to the raging shit he was at the start. The writing for the parents on the show was much better as well (especially Kate and Emily’s family which got the most time out of any family in the show), which I really appreciated. In series 1 and 2 all of the parents are played as worthless jokes with dialog to match. But, the ending was incredibly frustrating. The first generation of kids all had cliff hanger endings, but you knew where they were and had a good idea of what they could be doing. The 2nd generation has the crazy twist at the 2nd to last episode and then the last scene of the series is one of the biggest cop-outs I can remember in a long time. The fate of that character is going to forever be unknown which I hate (and it could go either way…plus that storyline had incredible ramifications to the story). Series 5 recently ended on the BBC so I have to wait for that to hit on DVD, but I’ve read that the new cast stinks.

I watched the original UK Shameless to compare it to Showtimes version (which I love). The original came out in 2004 and only made it through 1 series at 7 episodes. Showtime made 12 episodes and used every plotline from the original, but expanded and altered some of it to really flesh it out and changing things for the better, I think. I was actually surprised how closely it sticks to the original keeping everyone’s names the same (and look too). The casting is really great on both sides and I think the Showtime edition really honors the original while making it’s own path towards the end. Some of the UK edition feels truncated which the SHO writers changed. I like how they did Sheila’s agoraphobia “breakthrough” more and Frank’s adultery disaster is set up much better, which will be the first bridge to cross in season 2. I’d probably recommend the SHO edition over the original because of the changes and not having to decipher some hardcore English accents and slang. Makes it easier for a US viewer to get into.

Keeping with media from across the pond, I just found out the Arctic Monkeys have a new album out (Suck It and See) which I must check out.

Summer is here!

Sure it’s really Spring still, but the fantastic weather has finally showed up. It rained for almost 2 weeks straight so 73-80 with just a few clouds hanging out with a sweet breeze is like being reborn. I feel so much happier it’s stupid. I really want to move to the West coast, I hate winter with a passion now.

Scream 4 the Review

Scream 4 is the most average movie I’ve seen in awhile. The concept and parts of the execution are good and they work. But the parts that don’t are really terrible.

Taking place 10 years after the last movie, Sidney Prescott comes back to Woodsboro for a book tour and this is of course starts a new copy cat killing spree. The essential cast from the previous movie make it back with a whole batch of new kids to murder.

First and foremost, this movie isn’t scary. It has basic jump scares and orchestra hits to get some sort of reaction from the audience. There’s a good idea for a movie here, changing the formula of a horror movie in the new film landscape of reboots and re imaginations that are all the rage. But for every good idea, there’s a bad one at work. You can tell the script was being worked on all through filming as it feels very piece meal in execution.

The opening sequence which has always been a trademark for the series is just stupid and unnecessary. There are two false starts with some god awful dialog (something about the word “meta” in any context drives me nuts) that never should have made it on film. When the real beginning actual starts it feels completely unoriginal and boring. Another problem is that every attempt at humor fails. There’s a movement near the end of the movie that got a big laugh, but it wasn’t intentional (and to be fair was probably unavoidable).

The death toll is high for a Scream movie, but only one death really had any weight to it. I constantly questioned the believability of the movie as I had a hard time suspending my disbelief. There’s just so much stuff that I don’t think the killer could really do and the amount of forensic evidence left behind was downright silly. That might seem like nitpicking but you can’t leave a barn door wide open and not expect people to look in. Finally, the movie went on for one scene too long. The reveal of the killer was good, the reasoning behind it was as well (watch out for some shit dialog and acting though) and there was actually a good ending there. But it was extended out to another scene for some reason. If they just cut to black at this one perfect spot I would have thought much better of the movie, but the last 10 minutes are a fucking mess. Completely derailed the movie into a cartoon and it mimicked parts of the trilogy for no good reason. They wanted to set up another potential 2 movies but just this goofy rehash ending ruined that.

If you don’t see this movie you really didn’t miss anything.

Source Code the Review

Source Code is director Duncan Jone’s 2nd feature movie and he’s got another winner on his hands.

U.S. Solider, Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaul) is selected for the governments new “Source Code” anti-terrorism project. This new tech allows a person to go back in time for 8 minutes and re-live the events of a person who was present there. Here, a bomb blows up a train and the race is on to find the person(s) responsible so their next attack on the US can be stopped.

Source Code is a smart sci-fi movie, much like Moon, Duncan’s last movie. It’s a simple story with a few characters and locations (3 or 4 really) that is fascinating and fun to watch. It’s a lot like the movie Groundhog Day, but here Colter is forced to live just 8 minutes on the train, the clock ticking down to the next attack. Like any good movie, things aren’t as simple as they appear. In his investigation Colter must find out how to stop the terrorist and learn about how he got involved in the project. The ending is even well done if a bit confusing.

I’m a big fan of Duncan Jones, he’s got a great eye and vision and the special effects are great too. A real treat in a genre that is usually more bad than good.

Mortal Kombat

Is back and better than ever! The 9th game in the series that is out for 360 and PS3 is honestly the best game in the series and the most fun I’ve had with a fighter since 2005’s Dead or Alive 4.

Whenever a Sonic the Hedgehog game is announced it looks good and people get excited for it. They remember having good times with the series as a kid and look forward to the new, shiny experience that a new game should bring. Then it comes out and it’s a complete disaster. Mortal Kombat is like that, but the game actually came out meeting every expectation.

It’s an extension of Mortal Kombat II (which was amazing when it came out) with juggle combos and moves. There are still dial-a-combos from 3, but toned down. The game speed is right between 2 and 3 with the same chunky, deliberate pacing that the series is known for.

The game story is a retelling of the original three games. Raiden is getting crushed by Shao Kahn when he sends a vision to his younger self in an attempt to keep his present, Shao Kahn taking over, from happening. We jump back in time to the original game and events unfold and change from there. Everyone from the first 3 games in it it along with most of the stages from those games (a few added to address the new events).

This game looks amazing. The artwork is really impressive, some amazing character models and animation really make the game come alive. The damage modeling is some bar raising stuff, I can’t think f another fighting game that has this much detail, characters look like they went through a war at the end of a match. The audio supplements this, the fighting is very visceral. Great sound effects match the visual impacts of every punch, kick and impalement. The backgrounds are a treat to see, a lot of the old stages look amazing now with some really great lighting effects (the Living Forest is a great example). The brutal Fatalities are back and they made Babalities really funny. The cast is huge and just about everyone is a ton of fun to play with added special moves that make everyone play uniquely. The new special meter had 3 sections that fill up. One lets you do an enhanced special move that makes your standard special more powerful. Two bars allow you to break a combo and three bars lets you do a X-Ray attack. These X-ray attacks are like Ultras from Street Fighter that do tremendous damage and can turn the tide of a fight. They’re brutal attacks that break bones (which you can see happen with the x-ray effect) but they’re pretty easy to avoid and block so you aren’t helpless when it’s triggered.

Mortal Kombat is a great achievement for NeatherRealm Studio. An amazing amount of thought and work went into this game. It keeps everything that people love about the series while adding the production and features you expect from a game released in 2011. Mortal Kombat is easy to pick up and play, but there’s a lot there to dig into. All sorts of modes, extras and secrets to unlock mean there is a ton of gameplay to go through. Few games present a fully fleshed out world like this game does.