Hello friends and comrades,
I've been assigned to work 4 nights, 5 days in our neighboring state of Eastern Washington. Its a strange land, where they helpfully have the same currency as us in Western Washington, the dollar.
First off, the weather... Its amazingly sunny out here. In Tacoma, the highs for the next 4 days should be 71, 71, 68, 66 with partially cloudy/patchy fog type weather. Here in Yakima, its 81, 81, 80, and 76 and completely clear, literally, not a cloud in the sky. So for all the people who grump and grouch about "where's summer?", you should take the 2 hour, 40 minute drive over the scary mountains and visit the Palm Springs of Washington.
Second, the grocery store. Top Foods is Top Foods.. which is true, but i was startled by the size of the hispanic foods aisle. At the Top Foods on Union Street back in Tacoma, the Hispanic Foods sections occupies about 3-4 bays, where as at the Top Foods at Union Gap, Yakima, the same section occupies one whole long side of an aisle. There's one bay devoted entirely to bagged masa (the corn flour used to make primarily tamales) and another that's nothing but canned chiles of different varieties. Also, in the bulk foods area, theres an immense bin of dried pinto beans.
This may be because according to the best (and quickest) source I found, the population mix is 69% white and 34% hispanic/latino. Now beyond the obvious that this adds up to more than 100% and that african american/pacific islander/native americans are somehow in the negative percent, there's a substantial hispanic population here, compared to Tacoma's 60% white and 7% latino.
Finally, the Yakima Mall area... It looks normal enough, with 2 stories and what not. The bottom story was the normal mix of clothing stores, a hallmark, an orange julius, nothing to speak of. The top floor had a 3 restaurant food court - a pizzeria, a chinese place, and the very tasty Bruchis cheesesteaks. To the left of the pizzeria was a framed picture store, and to the right of the other 2 were a Christian bookstore and a huge military recruiting area (that has banners visible from downstairs). It was a really weird and quiet floor with the eerie feeling you get when devout photographers, glasses wearing Jesus biography readers, and the military. And tasty cheesesteaks and a bored looking chinese lady and the most stereotypical Italian guy working at the pizzeria (his name might have been Tony and the special was spaghetti with meatballs).
The rest of the mall area looks like someone saw the Lakewood Town Centre and decided to place the same bunch of stores, except not in a neat grouping where they all face inwards and you park inbetween them. Instead, the Union Gap mall area has the same 10-12 stores (Borders, Petco, Shopco, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc.) all in one huge interconnected parking lot facing pell mell in every direction so you have to drive around to each one separately in the least convienient way possible. This would be a problem in Lakewood, except at this town center, there was literally no one there (I know its Thursday afternoon, but still) so getting around would only waste your gas and not your time.
Got to go earn my keep and go to work and have some folks guess at some Skittles.
That's all I have to say about that... For now
Patrick
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Machete!
Robert Rodriguez really needs the credit for being one of the premier action directors of modern film. Seriously, think about it... Desperado, Sin City, Dusk Till Dawn, Grindhouse, and now Machete... Even his more flawed films like Faculty and Once Upon a Time in Mexico definitely have great kinetic energy to them.
A lot of people like to point at the Spy Kids Trilogy, Sharkboy/Lavagirl, and Shorts as his weak points. He has a family and wants to make movies for his kids too... I've got no problem with that. The fact that his kids inspired him to make the Spy Kids and helped him write Sharkboy and Shorts is really cool in my book. I can't picture many other directors making big studio movies inspired by their kids stories... That said...
MACHETE!
Saw it at a 1:50 matinee, which to me is the perfect time to see a movie like this and wow, was this awesome... Tonewise, somewhere between Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Planet Terror... Exactly what I thought it'd be, so just some bullet points...
Danny Trejo finally gets his starring role and channels his inner Charles Bronson... Yep, he doesn't have a lot of range at all, but no one plays the quiet badass better...
Steven Seagal's hispanic accent was worth the $8.00 matinee price.
Pretty much every Rodriguez supporting favorite showing up... even the doctor and twin babysitters from Planet Terror... and Daryl Sabara, the boy from the Spy Kids movies... and James Parks as Sheriff McGraw (who was also in Kill Bill and Grindhouse as the same character)
Although Jessica Alba can't act at all... it seemed more appropriate here.
Why has it taken this long for Michelle Rodriguez to show up in a Robert Rodriguez film?
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know I loved Shea Whigham in Splinter... and he's in a smaller supporting role here too, and does pretty well...
The Hungarian bodyguard is played by Rodriguez's buddy, Nimrod Antal, who directed Predators.
Geez this was bloody, but not as bloody as Piranha 3-D
There's a lot of plot here, but the final fight sequence is worth the price of admission..
Eli Roth, get on that Thanksgiving movie next!!
Downside... there's a little too much plot and a few too many characters... but I have to give an overall rating - 7.5/10... the extra .5 for the last 10 seconds, which made me laugh out loud.
A lot of people like to point at the Spy Kids Trilogy, Sharkboy/Lavagirl, and Shorts as his weak points. He has a family and wants to make movies for his kids too... I've got no problem with that. The fact that his kids inspired him to make the Spy Kids and helped him write Sharkboy and Shorts is really cool in my book. I can't picture many other directors making big studio movies inspired by their kids stories... That said...
MACHETE!
Saw it at a 1:50 matinee, which to me is the perfect time to see a movie like this and wow, was this awesome... Tonewise, somewhere between Once Upon a Time in Mexico and Planet Terror... Exactly what I thought it'd be, so just some bullet points...
Danny Trejo finally gets his starring role and channels his inner Charles Bronson... Yep, he doesn't have a lot of range at all, but no one plays the quiet badass better...
Steven Seagal's hispanic accent was worth the $8.00 matinee price.
Pretty much every Rodriguez supporting favorite showing up... even the doctor and twin babysitters from Planet Terror... and Daryl Sabara, the boy from the Spy Kids movies... and James Parks as Sheriff McGraw (who was also in Kill Bill and Grindhouse as the same character)
Although Jessica Alba can't act at all... it seemed more appropriate here.
Why has it taken this long for Michelle Rodriguez to show up in a Robert Rodriguez film?
If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know I loved Shea Whigham in Splinter... and he's in a smaller supporting role here too, and does pretty well...
The Hungarian bodyguard is played by Rodriguez's buddy, Nimrod Antal, who directed Predators.
Geez this was bloody, but not as bloody as Piranha 3-D
There's a lot of plot here, but the final fight sequence is worth the price of admission..
Eli Roth, get on that Thanksgiving movie next!!
Downside... there's a little too much plot and a few too many characters... but I have to give an overall rating - 7.5/10... the extra .5 for the last 10 seconds, which made me laugh out loud.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Gratuitious Fun
So this summer, most of the movies that I wanted to see all showed up in mid to late August. So some quick thoughts about some of those movies...
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - 8/10
Ridiculous energy, really fun fight sequences, and three great villains (cocky Chris Evans being utilized properly, schmarmy Jason Schwartzmann, and an amazingly great job by Brandon Routh). Michael Cera wasn't as irritating as usual and I actually liked him as a badass hero. The soundtrack fits the movie really well, with most of the music by Cera's band, Sex Bob-Omb written by Beck and the songs of another band written by Metric. The crazily kinetic and frenetic visual style really fits the story, and Edgar Wright does for retro video games here what he did with zombies in Shaun of the Dead and action movies in Hot Fuzz. Its a shame that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are a little too old to be involved with the teenage-20something action. The reason why this movie doesn't get a perfect 10/10... Mary Elizabeth Wimstead as Ramona Flowers was fairly weak to me as the "dream girl." She seemed actually a little realistic and mopey and not as desirable as the movie tried to make her. Also, the first half hour of this movie seems like "Not Another Michael Cera Movie" as it takes a while for the first evil ex to show up and the inbetween time is fairly bland and not that interesting.
Expendables - 6/10
I really wanted to like this one and I liked the energy, but the movie was more a Stallone-Statham piece with most of the other big name action stars relegated to supporting roles or almost cameos. In particular, the iconic Jet Li only gets a lame series of "short" jokes and actually has to be saved by Stallone on multiple occasions. The Stallone-Willis-Governator scene is definitely the high point, but its far too short. I understand that Arnold has other commitments, but I've had liked to seen Bruce Willis be in the movie more (maybe showing up at the end as a surprise mastermind villain). Many of the fight scenes are annoyingly shot in close up shaky cam and a lot of the martial arts and fighting prowess of the different actors is lost by the poor editing. The entire last sequence is a total throwback to the glorious excess of 80s action movies especially Commando and I really loved Terry Crews' weapon as well as the Statham/Li double team move (anything else would be too serious of spoilers). The Expendables is worth seeing, its fun and mindless, but there's a lot of wasted potential that I hope a future sequel could fix.
Piranha 3-D - 9/10
As to the movie filled to the brim with glorious excess, I bring you Piranha 3-D. Featuring a super eclectic cast, the most nudity in a non-pornographic movie that I possibly have ever seen, and a ridiculously gory 3rd act, this movie delivered in every way I hoped it could. It was really fun to see director Alexandre Aja's humorous side, as his previous films (High Tension, Hills Have Eyes, and Mirrors) were all somber and serious. The actors were all having a blast, with special props going to a Doc Brown channeling Christopher Lloyd, Wild Wild Girls director Jerry O'Connell (finally someone letting him ham things up), and Ving Rhames once again playing the badass (I hate that his best scene was ruined by the previews).
I've heard this movie had a tough time achieving the R rating, I'm frankly flabbergasted as to how some of the different scenes made it past the MPAA, and I can't believe what the eventual unrated director's cut will look like. On the bad side, all the characterization is straight out of film stereotypes 101, some of the jokes do fall a bit flat, and the first hour or so of the movie doesn't have much carnage at all. Also, wayy too many of the good scenes are ruined by the trailer, including the last shot of the movie! For the love of God, Hollywood, please stop showing the end of movies in the preview... But if you want some pure adult escapism, check out Piranha 3-D complete with not awful yet fun 3-D effects.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - 8/10
Ridiculous energy, really fun fight sequences, and three great villains (cocky Chris Evans being utilized properly, schmarmy Jason Schwartzmann, and an amazingly great job by Brandon Routh). Michael Cera wasn't as irritating as usual and I actually liked him as a badass hero. The soundtrack fits the movie really well, with most of the music by Cera's band, Sex Bob-Omb written by Beck and the songs of another band written by Metric. The crazily kinetic and frenetic visual style really fits the story, and Edgar Wright does for retro video games here what he did with zombies in Shaun of the Dead and action movies in Hot Fuzz. Its a shame that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are a little too old to be involved with the teenage-20something action. The reason why this movie doesn't get a perfect 10/10... Mary Elizabeth Wimstead as Ramona Flowers was fairly weak to me as the "dream girl." She seemed actually a little realistic and mopey and not as desirable as the movie tried to make her. Also, the first half hour of this movie seems like "Not Another Michael Cera Movie" as it takes a while for the first evil ex to show up and the inbetween time is fairly bland and not that interesting.
Expendables - 6/10
I really wanted to like this one and I liked the energy, but the movie was more a Stallone-Statham piece with most of the other big name action stars relegated to supporting roles or almost cameos. In particular, the iconic Jet Li only gets a lame series of "short" jokes and actually has to be saved by Stallone on multiple occasions. The Stallone-Willis-Governator scene is definitely the high point, but its far too short. I understand that Arnold has other commitments, but I've had liked to seen Bruce Willis be in the movie more (maybe showing up at the end as a surprise mastermind villain). Many of the fight scenes are annoyingly shot in close up shaky cam and a lot of the martial arts and fighting prowess of the different actors is lost by the poor editing. The entire last sequence is a total throwback to the glorious excess of 80s action movies especially Commando and I really loved Terry Crews' weapon as well as the Statham/Li double team move (anything else would be too serious of spoilers). The Expendables is worth seeing, its fun and mindless, but there's a lot of wasted potential that I hope a future sequel could fix.
Piranha 3-D - 9/10
As to the movie filled to the brim with glorious excess, I bring you Piranha 3-D. Featuring a super eclectic cast, the most nudity in a non-pornographic movie that I possibly have ever seen, and a ridiculously gory 3rd act, this movie delivered in every way I hoped it could. It was really fun to see director Alexandre Aja's humorous side, as his previous films (High Tension, Hills Have Eyes, and Mirrors) were all somber and serious. The actors were all having a blast, with special props going to a Doc Brown channeling Christopher Lloyd, Wild Wild Girls director Jerry O'Connell (finally someone letting him ham things up), and Ving Rhames once again playing the badass (I hate that his best scene was ruined by the previews).
I've heard this movie had a tough time achieving the R rating, I'm frankly flabbergasted as to how some of the different scenes made it past the MPAA, and I can't believe what the eventual unrated director's cut will look like. On the bad side, all the characterization is straight out of film stereotypes 101, some of the jokes do fall a bit flat, and the first hour or so of the movie doesn't have much carnage at all. Also, wayy too many of the good scenes are ruined by the trailer, including the last shot of the movie! For the love of God, Hollywood, please stop showing the end of movies in the preview... But if you want some pure adult escapism, check out Piranha 3-D complete with not awful yet fun 3-D effects.
Updates on this blog
Okay,
If you look down through the archives, 2 long time posts that I've been working on and off on are finally up.
My top 7 movies from 2009 (finally!) and my top 7 directors/alternate cuts of movies (in April 2010).
I'm not sure why Blogspot does this, but my posts get posted in the order they got started, not the order I finish them in. I have a bad habit of starting lots of posts and not finishing any... so I apologize if it looks like I don't have any new content when I actually do.
Thanks.
Patrick
If you look down through the archives, 2 long time posts that I've been working on and off on are finally up.
My top 7 movies from 2009 (finally!) and my top 7 directors/alternate cuts of movies (in April 2010).
I'm not sure why Blogspot does this, but my posts get posted in the order they got started, not the order I finish them in. I have a bad habit of starting lots of posts and not finishing any... so I apologize if it looks like I don't have any new content when I actually do.
Thanks.
Patrick
Monday, August 2, 2010
Inception vs. Predators
This will be about my feelings about Inception and Predators. Its tough to avoid spoilers when talking about Inception, so if you haven't seen it yet, don't read this. For Predators, I'll only address things seen in the trailers, so it won't be as spoilery. Jadia, you get my first blog post based on a facebook comment...
So first, Inception. Everyone and I mean everyone who had seen it told me it was amazing, best movie ever, I'd love it, etc. So I had massive expectations going in... that were mostly met. I thought the last forty five minutes or so of Inception were absolutely flawless. Great acting, innovative action, clever writing... Visually, it was crisp, clean, and didn't have any glaring CGI goofyness (I want to know how they shot some of the "hotel scene"... had to be some crazy green screen sets). The cast was all around excellent, from the comic relief provided by Tom Hardy to the stoic Ken Watanabe to a surprisingly layered Cillian Murphy (his character's emotional payoff was surprisingly moving) and a welcome return to the big screen by Tom Berenger (his first movie in 9 years!).
So why wasn't it a 10 out of 10. For one thing, the inconsistent logic with the "dream worlds." There's a scene towards the beginning of the climax where Joe GL's character is shooting at some far away henchmen with an automatic rifle and then Tom Hardy's character says "dream a little bigger" and blows away the henchmen with a rocket launcher. Its a cute moment, but there are a lot of times throughout the climax when said rocket launcher would come in handy, but conveniently no one else "dreams of it." Also, its established that Ellen Page's character can create the dream levels, but it seems like the end "levels" are a lot tougher than they need to be (that snow fortress could have been a little easier to infiltrate). She also moves stuff around a ton early in the movie, but conveniently forgets to do that later on (I know they say that it would make it obvious to Fischer that they were dreaming and make his projections more aggressive, but literally wrapping the city on itself seems like a huge advantage).
More so than the above plot holes, how easily Ellen Page's character figures out DiCaprio's character's inner psyche and problems. It makes Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character seem really stupid and dense that he never figured it out in years of working with DiCaprio. Its also really dumb for DiCaprio to involve himself as much as he does (why not just have JGL, Yusef, Hardy, and Page's characters go deep into the dream and take Yusef's role in the first dream) considering how mentally damaged he is. A lot of the plot events seem to happen to create tension because the script says so and not for any real logical reason.
By comparison, Predators overachieved my expectations. The original Predator was one of my favorite movies and was followed by a goofy yet flawed sequel and then two terrible spinoffs. Even with Robert Rodriguez's involvement I was skeptical on the quality of another sequel, especially when the announced cast featured action luminaries Adrien Brody and Topher Grace.
Predators felt like the 80s sequel that the original deserved. Like the original, all of the characters are fairly simple, the plot is easy to understand, there are a lot of big guns, and a lot of stuff gets blown up real good. With the exception of the Predadogs sequence early on, there is no CGI... the Predators are once again dudes in suits and there's a lot of practical stuntwork.
The difference between Predator and s is that the original had a cohesive team of special ops badasses while the new one has a squabbling team of different types of killers. It's a little stereotypical as far as the characters go. We get the intense black guy (but not as intense as Bill Dukes/Mac from the first), the angry latino (an underused Danny Trejo), the stoic honorable asian, the hick (who I recognized as Billy "Downtown" Anderson from Major League 3), the Topher Grace (playing Topher Grace), and more. Brody pulls out a Christian Bale/Batman gravelly voice, I'm impressed how he got himself into amazing physical shape, and seems really believable as the extremely quick and cool under fire protagonist.
So why wasn't this a perfect 10? Lawrence Fishburne's character was really goofy and only there for exposition. A lot of the scenes straddled the line between homages (there's a moment similar to the full on badassery when the Indian dude takes off his shirt from the first) and ripping off the original (did we really need another impossibly far drop off a huge waterfall?). The scene from the previews where a ton of Predator laser sights zero in on Brody, well, that isn't even in the movie ( I hate when movies shoot scenes only for the trailer). For my liking, we see too much of the Predators. Part of what made the original so awesome was that we don't see the Predator full on until the end, and although the prosthestics/suits look amazing, its still a dude in a suit. Plus, the 'civil war' aspect is underdeveloped and fairly weak (if they wanted to go that route, I'd have liked the movie to focus more on that).
So both movies I liked, both have strength and weaknesses, I'd recommend both and I thought Inception was better overall... But only just a little.
That's all I have to say about that.
So first, Inception. Everyone and I mean everyone who had seen it told me it was amazing, best movie ever, I'd love it, etc. So I had massive expectations going in... that were mostly met. I thought the last forty five minutes or so of Inception were absolutely flawless. Great acting, innovative action, clever writing... Visually, it was crisp, clean, and didn't have any glaring CGI goofyness (I want to know how they shot some of the "hotel scene"... had to be some crazy green screen sets). The cast was all around excellent, from the comic relief provided by Tom Hardy to the stoic Ken Watanabe to a surprisingly layered Cillian Murphy (his character's emotional payoff was surprisingly moving) and a welcome return to the big screen by Tom Berenger (his first movie in 9 years!).
So why wasn't it a 10 out of 10. For one thing, the inconsistent logic with the "dream worlds." There's a scene towards the beginning of the climax where Joe GL's character is shooting at some far away henchmen with an automatic rifle and then Tom Hardy's character says "dream a little bigger" and blows away the henchmen with a rocket launcher. Its a cute moment, but there are a lot of times throughout the climax when said rocket launcher would come in handy, but conveniently no one else "dreams of it." Also, its established that Ellen Page's character can create the dream levels, but it seems like the end "levels" are a lot tougher than they need to be (that snow fortress could have been a little easier to infiltrate). She also moves stuff around a ton early in the movie, but conveniently forgets to do that later on (I know they say that it would make it obvious to Fischer that they were dreaming and make his projections more aggressive, but literally wrapping the city on itself seems like a huge advantage).
More so than the above plot holes, how easily Ellen Page's character figures out DiCaprio's character's inner psyche and problems. It makes Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character seem really stupid and dense that he never figured it out in years of working with DiCaprio. Its also really dumb for DiCaprio to involve himself as much as he does (why not just have JGL, Yusef, Hardy, and Page's characters go deep into the dream and take Yusef's role in the first dream) considering how mentally damaged he is. A lot of the plot events seem to happen to create tension because the script says so and not for any real logical reason.
By comparison, Predators overachieved my expectations. The original Predator was one of my favorite movies and was followed by a goofy yet flawed sequel and then two terrible spinoffs. Even with Robert Rodriguez's involvement I was skeptical on the quality of another sequel, especially when the announced cast featured action luminaries Adrien Brody and Topher Grace.
Predators felt like the 80s sequel that the original deserved. Like the original, all of the characters are fairly simple, the plot is easy to understand, there are a lot of big guns, and a lot of stuff gets blown up real good. With the exception of the Predadogs sequence early on, there is no CGI... the Predators are once again dudes in suits and there's a lot of practical stuntwork.
The difference between Predator and s is that the original had a cohesive team of special ops badasses while the new one has a squabbling team of different types of killers. It's a little stereotypical as far as the characters go. We get the intense black guy (but not as intense as Bill Dukes/Mac from the first), the angry latino (an underused Danny Trejo), the stoic honorable asian, the hick (who I recognized as Billy "Downtown" Anderson from Major League 3), the Topher Grace (playing Topher Grace), and more. Brody pulls out a Christian Bale/Batman gravelly voice, I'm impressed how he got himself into amazing physical shape, and seems really believable as the extremely quick and cool under fire protagonist.
So why wasn't this a perfect 10? Lawrence Fishburne's character was really goofy and only there for exposition. A lot of the scenes straddled the line between homages (there's a moment similar to the full on badassery when the Indian dude takes off his shirt from the first) and ripping off the original (did we really need another impossibly far drop off a huge waterfall?). The scene from the previews where a ton of Predator laser sights zero in on Brody, well, that isn't even in the movie ( I hate when movies shoot scenes only for the trailer). For my liking, we see too much of the Predators. Part of what made the original so awesome was that we don't see the Predator full on until the end, and although the prosthestics/suits look amazing, its still a dude in a suit. Plus, the 'civil war' aspect is underdeveloped and fairly weak (if they wanted to go that route, I'd have liked the movie to focus more on that).
So both movies I liked, both have strength and weaknesses, I'd recommend both and I thought Inception was better overall... But only just a little.
That's all I have to say about that.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
top 7 movies of 2009
I know its well into 2010, but I just recently got done watching all the 2009 best picture Oscar nominees (well, except Precious, but I just couldn't do it). I felt like until I had seen more of the critically acclaimed movies, that this sort of column would be less valid. So without further ado, here's my top 7 movies from 2009. Why seven? because I'm lazy and there weren't that many great movies...
Honorable Mention from 2008 that didn't get a US release until 2009 so it's ineligible for the list but dang is it good movie -Let the Right One In
It's actually more of a dramatic character piece than a horror movie, the two lead child actors emote together for some of the best performances I've ever seen considering age, the script isn't super obvious but no stupid "twists" either, the camerawork pulls back to show the beautiful Swedish winter (I loved the many long shots, no goofy fast edited close up montages here). Finally, when the horror bits happened, they were intense and visceral especially when the rest of the movie was so somber. I have to say that I am less than excited about the US remake coming out this fall of 2010, I mean really, 2 years and we already get a remake?? (the trailer looks competent enough, but there's virtually no room to improve on the original thus making any remake unnecessary)
Last 3 movies out - The Road (really well made but amazingly depressing and hard to watch), Crazy Heart (very well acted but a little too familiar considering the high profile music biopics in recent years), and A Perfect Getaway (I'm still not sure if my love for this movie is that it blew away the low expectations I had or if its that good)
So without further ado...
7. Fanboys
In a year that saw such garbage as The Proposal and Paul Blart Mall Cop top 150 million domestic, this comedic gem was completely dumped by the Weinstein company. After being delayed for 2 years (it was originally set to be released in late summer of 2007), Fanboys had an extremely limited release (45 whole theaters) in early February.
So that's why you probably haven't heard of or seen this movie... but man is it funny. The best way to describe it is kids from Road Trip have a Star Wars themed Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back adventure. Or in easier to understand terms, in the year 1997, a group of friends drive cross country to Skywalker Ranch to steal a rough cut of Episode I. The main five characters have good camaraderie (especially Jay Baruchel and Dan Fogler) and there are a lot of great cameos (including Seth Rogen in three different parts). Its just a fun, silly comedy with clever references and a surprising amount of heart.
6. Zombieland
The previews didn't get me that excited (an American Shaun of the Dead knockoff) but the movie proved to be a fun, exciting ride with an appealing yet unlikely pair of the rough, vulgar Woody Harrelson and the Ceraish, germaphobic Jesse Eisenberg. Add in a long run of creatively gruesome zombie mayhem, witty dialogue, hilarious sight gags (featuring possibly the best celebrity cameo from... I can't spoil it), and Emma Stone's coming out as a hot babe with some acting chops, and you get a super enjoyable movie.
5. Inglorious Basterds
This movie wast the most frustrating on the list to evaluate for me. The good parts of this movie (the Basterds themselves, Christoph Waltz's fanatical officer, the final scene at the theater) outweigh the overly slow and unnecessary parts (the opening scene, Mike Myers' cameo, most of the bar sequence). To me, every QT movie is about ten minutes too long and has one long extraneous dialogue scene, and by my count, Basterds has at least four of these parts. On the good side, Tarantino always gets the most out of the cast at hand, which definitely holds true this time. BJ Novak, Eli Roth, and Brad Pitt stand out as the primary Basterds and their attempt to infiltrate the German ranks result in some of the funniest moments in any movie of 2009.
4. Up in the Air
I'm not generally a fan of one note snarky smooth George Clooney roles, but in the right movie (like in Out of Sight or Dusk Till Dawn) it can fit in really well. I also really enjoyed Jason Reitman's previous 2 movies (Juno and Thank you for Smoking) so I had high hopes going in. The basic premise of the movie (Clooney flies around the country helping companies to fire their employees) doesn't seem that interesting, but the amazingly clever dialogue and strong characters made this movie extremely memorable. Beyond Clooney, we also get gems in small roles from longtime favorite J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott, Danny McBride, and Zack Galifinakis. However, for me, the movie was stolen by Anna Kendrick as Clooney's younger co worker who took a pretty stock idea (overachieving up and comer) and created a nuanced, realistic character. A lot of charm, but wasn't as exciting as the top three.
3. Taken
Liam Neeson beats up Europe, nuff said. This felt like the kid of the Bourne movies and Die Hard. Really simple plot, tight pacing, the action seemed realistic and didn't get too ridiculous. In my opinion, Liam Neeson might be the most underrated great modern actor. It seems like besides Schindler's List, most of his really good performances aren't remembered. I still really dig Rob Roy, Les Miserables, and even his part of Love, Actually wasn't that bad (the other part of that I can tolerate is the Alan Rickman store). Anyhow, back to Taken, amazing smart and gripping action movie, but wasn't super original, so it can't be #1.
2. District 9
Expectations greatly influence how much I enjoy or don't certain movies and going into District 9, I knew 2 things.
1. The movie involved aliens in South Africa
2. Every person who saw this movie thought it was at least pretty good.
Featuring the completely unknown Sharlto Copley, this movie had a combination of ridiculous action, political statements, and human pathos/drama. Early on, the quasi documentary style introduced the world and setup without a clumsy expositional scroll. After the first half hour or so, things pick up, and its pretty much an extended chase to the finish.
This movie also totally kept my attention and was amazingly suspenseful the whole way to the end. I don't want to give away too many details, but the showdown with the gangsters/army leading up to the "suit" part would probably place in my favorite action scenes ever. Plus, its the rare movie that doesn't tie everything up completely tidily and leaves room for future movies from director Neil Blomkamp (After seeing this, I'd have loved to have seen his proposed Halo movie).
1. Watchmen
Watchmen might be my favorite comic story that could possibly become a good movie. From the marketing campaign to the casting to the amazingly faithful direction, this is the best comic to movie adaptation to date. I could write for a while about everything I love but I'll focus on debunking the criticisms I've heard the most.
It's too long... Its a fricking epic, I love how much character development was kept in. If you want a short, to the point comic action movie, watch 300.
It's too gratuitous... This one is tougher, because the comic was written in the mid 80s, so Zack Snyder definitely intensified the violence (bones breaking, Manhattan making people explode) and sex aspects. Did this bother me? Nah, with the sheer volume of action/events, I think making some a little more memorable didn't hurt the movie that much.
But they changed (item X) from the comic... The density of the Watchmen universe made it amazingly hard to translate to a movie. Even with the 3 hour directors cut, there were cuts. To me, I can distill it down to focusing on the current team of Watchmen and really trimming a lot of the side characters. Its really funny to me that Ive heard complaints that it was too long yet things were left out. Its also funny how amazing V for Vendetta the movie was, yet Alan Moore and a lot of the hardcore fans really hated it.
Malin Ackerman/Matthew Goode can't act... Well, I kind of agree with the first and really would have liked a stronger actress there (Christina Hendricks from Mad Men would have been a cool choice). Goode as Ozymandias had a really tough part to play - the pacifist intellectual. It just is not as dynamic a character as Manhattan or Night Owl not to mention Rorschach. I think he did a really good, no great, no iconic job (and no best supporting actor nod, not even in Golden Globes).
On to what I liked specifically... SPOILERS!!!
A yellow screen with black company logos, a Pat Buchanan parody, MTV, door breaking, slow motion mug throwing, major league ass kicking, wall breaking, coffee table breaking, kitchen knife throwing, the shot of Jeffrey Dean Morgan thrown out a window, the freefalling yellow smiley face button,
pseudo slow motion opening montage with Bob Dylan song playing over the credits, a hot lesbian kiss, prostitutes, we find out who really shot JFK, the moon landing, gratuitous Richard Nixon winning another term as President, exploding store
awesome Jackie Earle Haley voice overs, a grappling hook gun, old superhero bullshit session, bean eating, World Trade Center in the background, cool teleportation effects, multiple flashbacks, superhero funeral set to the Simon and Garfunkel opus "The Sound of Silence," barfing, gratuitous Carla Guigno attempted flashback rape
The Comedian kicking ass: setting a guy on fire in the Nam and killing a pregnant woman, map burning, Matt Frewer!, the super cool old Night Owl, conscience growing, a blue skinned guy on Mars, gratuitous extended flashback concerning Dr. Manhattan's origin, tank destruction, exploding bad guys
Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon ecstatic about nuclear war killing people on the U.S. eastern seaboard, a deliveryman hitman, cool slow mo bullet to the head, metal thing to the body, a foamy cyanide death
The police fight with the bug spray flame thrower, Jackie Earle Haley without a mask!, ball punching, cheek tearing, gratuitous dogs fighting over a human leg bone followed by dead dogs, meat cleaver to the top of the head (ouch), attempted prison beating, hot grease to the face followed by amazingly badass line, gratuitous night vision goggles, impotence fighting, a midget prison gang boss, superhero sex, kid rescuing, outrunning an explosion, a prison riot, arm slicing, toilet breaking, electrocution, funny midget killing
Antarctica?, a big character revelation, funky tiger critter, a floating glass machine, Jimi Hendrix!, pacifist ass kicking killing millions to save billions, bullet catching, dead tiger critter, touching final moments, gratuitous ink blot, world peace, gratuitous "The Outer Limits," and an attack on Ronald Reagan, crappy My Chemical Romance cover of a Dylan song
Whew...
Who's gonna make the 2010 list? Who knows?
That's all I gotta say about that
Patrick
Honorable Mention from 2008 that didn't get a US release until 2009 so it's ineligible for the list but dang is it good movie -Let the Right One In
It's actually more of a dramatic character piece than a horror movie, the two lead child actors emote together for some of the best performances I've ever seen considering age, the script isn't super obvious but no stupid "twists" either, the camerawork pulls back to show the beautiful Swedish winter (I loved the many long shots, no goofy fast edited close up montages here). Finally, when the horror bits happened, they were intense and visceral especially when the rest of the movie was so somber. I have to say that I am less than excited about the US remake coming out this fall of 2010, I mean really, 2 years and we already get a remake?? (the trailer looks competent enough, but there's virtually no room to improve on the original thus making any remake unnecessary)
Last 3 movies out - The Road (really well made but amazingly depressing and hard to watch), Crazy Heart (very well acted but a little too familiar considering the high profile music biopics in recent years), and A Perfect Getaway (I'm still not sure if my love for this movie is that it blew away the low expectations I had or if its that good)
So without further ado...
7. Fanboys
In a year that saw such garbage as The Proposal and Paul Blart Mall Cop top 150 million domestic, this comedic gem was completely dumped by the Weinstein company. After being delayed for 2 years (it was originally set to be released in late summer of 2007), Fanboys had an extremely limited release (45 whole theaters) in early February.So that's why you probably haven't heard of or seen this movie... but man is it funny. The best way to describe it is kids from Road Trip have a Star Wars themed Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back adventure. Or in easier to understand terms, in the year 1997, a group of friends drive cross country to Skywalker Ranch to steal a rough cut of Episode I. The main five characters have good camaraderie (especially Jay Baruchel and Dan Fogler) and there are a lot of great cameos (including Seth Rogen in three different parts). Its just a fun, silly comedy with clever references and a surprising amount of heart.
6. Zombieland
The previews didn't get me that excited (an American Shaun of the Dead knockoff) but the movie proved to be a fun, exciting ride with an appealing yet unlikely pair of the rough, vulgar Woody Harrelson and the Ceraish, germaphobic Jesse Eisenberg. Add in a long run of creatively gruesome zombie mayhem, witty dialogue, hilarious sight gags (featuring possibly the best celebrity cameo from... I can't spoil it), and Emma Stone's coming out as a hot babe with some acting chops, and you get a super enjoyable movie.5. Inglorious Basterds
This movie wast the most frustrating on the list to evaluate for me. The good parts of this movie (the Basterds themselves, Christoph Waltz's fanatical officer, the final scene at the theater) outweigh the overly slow and unnecessary parts (the opening scene, Mike Myers' cameo, most of the bar sequence). To me, every QT movie is about ten minutes too long and has one long extraneous dialogue scene, and by my count, Basterds has at least four of these parts. On the good side, Tarantino always gets the most out of the cast at hand, which definitely holds true this time. BJ Novak, Eli Roth, and Brad Pitt stand out as the primary Basterds and their attempt to infiltrate the German ranks result in some of the funniest moments in any movie of 2009.4. Up in the Air
I'm not generally a fan of one note snarky smooth George Clooney roles, but in the right movie (like in Out of Sight or Dusk Till Dawn) it can fit in really well. I also really enjoyed Jason Reitman's previous 2 movies (Juno and Thank you for Smoking) so I had high hopes going in. The basic premise of the movie (Clooney flies around the country helping companies to fire their employees) doesn't seem that interesting, but the amazingly clever dialogue and strong characters made this movie extremely memorable. Beyond Clooney, we also get gems in small roles from longtime favorite J.K. Simmons, Sam Elliott, Danny McBride, and Zack Galifinakis. However, for me, the movie was stolen by Anna Kendrick as Clooney's younger co worker who took a pretty stock idea (overachieving up and comer) and created a nuanced, realistic character. A lot of charm, but wasn't as exciting as the top three.3. Taken
Liam Neeson beats up Europe, nuff said. This felt like the kid of the Bourne movies and Die Hard. Really simple plot, tight pacing, the action seemed realistic and didn't get too ridiculous. In my opinion, Liam Neeson might be the most underrated great modern actor. It seems like besides Schindler's List, most of his really good performances aren't remembered. I still really dig Rob Roy, Les Miserables, and even his part of Love, Actually wasn't that bad (the other part of that I can tolerate is the Alan Rickman store). Anyhow, back to Taken, amazing smart and gripping action movie, but wasn't super original, so it can't be #1.2. District 9
Expectations greatly influence how much I enjoy or don't certain movies and going into District 9, I knew 2 things.1. The movie involved aliens in South Africa
2. Every person who saw this movie thought it was at least pretty good.
Featuring the completely unknown Sharlto Copley, this movie had a combination of ridiculous action, political statements, and human pathos/drama. Early on, the quasi documentary style introduced the world and setup without a clumsy expositional scroll. After the first half hour or so, things pick up, and its pretty much an extended chase to the finish.
This movie also totally kept my attention and was amazingly suspenseful the whole way to the end. I don't want to give away too many details, but the showdown with the gangsters/army leading up to the "suit" part would probably place in my favorite action scenes ever. Plus, its the rare movie that doesn't tie everything up completely tidily and leaves room for future movies from director Neil Blomkamp (After seeing this, I'd have loved to have seen his proposed Halo movie).
1. Watchmen
Watchmen might be my favorite comic story that could possibly become a good movie. From the marketing campaign to the casting to the amazingly faithful direction, this is the best comic to movie adaptation to date. I could write for a while about everything I love but I'll focus on debunking the criticisms I've heard the most.It's too long... Its a fricking epic, I love how much character development was kept in. If you want a short, to the point comic action movie, watch 300.
It's too gratuitous... This one is tougher, because the comic was written in the mid 80s, so Zack Snyder definitely intensified the violence (bones breaking, Manhattan making people explode) and sex aspects. Did this bother me? Nah, with the sheer volume of action/events, I think making some a little more memorable didn't hurt the movie that much.
But they changed (item X) from the comic... The density of the Watchmen universe made it amazingly hard to translate to a movie. Even with the 3 hour directors cut, there were cuts. To me, I can distill it down to focusing on the current team of Watchmen and really trimming a lot of the side characters. Its really funny to me that Ive heard complaints that it was too long yet things were left out. Its also funny how amazing V for Vendetta the movie was, yet Alan Moore and a lot of the hardcore fans really hated it.
Malin Ackerman/Matthew Goode can't act... Well, I kind of agree with the first and really would have liked a stronger actress there (Christina Hendricks from Mad Men would have been a cool choice). Goode as Ozymandias had a really tough part to play - the pacifist intellectual. It just is not as dynamic a character as Manhattan or Night Owl not to mention Rorschach. I think he did a really good, no great, no iconic job (and no best supporting actor nod, not even in Golden Globes).
On to what I liked specifically... SPOILERS!!!
A yellow screen with black company logos, a Pat Buchanan parody, MTV, door breaking, slow motion mug throwing, major league ass kicking, wall breaking, coffee table breaking, kitchen knife throwing, the shot of Jeffrey Dean Morgan thrown out a window, the freefalling yellow smiley face button,
pseudo slow motion opening montage with Bob Dylan song playing over the credits, a hot lesbian kiss, prostitutes, we find out who really shot JFK, the moon landing, gratuitous Richard Nixon winning another term as President, exploding store
awesome Jackie Earle Haley voice overs, a grappling hook gun, old superhero bullshit session, bean eating, World Trade Center in the background, cool teleportation effects, multiple flashbacks, superhero funeral set to the Simon and Garfunkel opus "The Sound of Silence," barfing, gratuitous Carla Guigno attempted flashback rape
The Comedian kicking ass: setting a guy on fire in the Nam and killing a pregnant woman, map burning, Matt Frewer!, the super cool old Night Owl, conscience growing, a blue skinned guy on Mars, gratuitous extended flashback concerning Dr. Manhattan's origin, tank destruction, exploding bad guys
Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon ecstatic about nuclear war killing people on the U.S. eastern seaboard, a deliveryman hitman, cool slow mo bullet to the head, metal thing to the body, a foamy cyanide death
The police fight with the bug spray flame thrower, Jackie Earle Haley without a mask!, ball punching, cheek tearing, gratuitous dogs fighting over a human leg bone followed by dead dogs, meat cleaver to the top of the head (ouch), attempted prison beating, hot grease to the face followed by amazingly badass line, gratuitous night vision goggles, impotence fighting, a midget prison gang boss, superhero sex, kid rescuing, outrunning an explosion, a prison riot, arm slicing, toilet breaking, electrocution, funny midget killing
Antarctica?, a big character revelation, funky tiger critter, a floating glass machine, Jimi Hendrix!, pacifist ass kicking killing millions to save billions, bullet catching, dead tiger critter, touching final moments, gratuitous ink blot, world peace, gratuitous "The Outer Limits," and an attack on Ronald Reagan, crappy My Chemical Romance cover of a Dylan song
Whew...
Who's gonna make the 2010 list? Who knows?
That's all I gotta say about that
Patrick
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Survival PTrick Style
So I've had a ton of free time and I've been watching through Netflix streaming quite a bit. I've recently watched season 1 of Man vs. Wild and season 1 of Survivorman. Once I watch through all of both shows, I'm going to do a big review/comparison article (this may take a while as I am not someone who can watch a whole season of a TV show in a day, just not the patience here).
I've done a fair amount of outdoor adventuring, specifically backpacking, back in the day... I've done some rafting rafting rafting last summer and earlier this year, great times, but I do miss the backcountry. I'll preface this next section by saying 95% of my experience has been in Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks and the surrounding areas, so although I feel like the next section is fairly general, if you live somewhere far away from the Pacific NW, it may not pertain as well...
So on to Patrick's Survival Tips Part 1 (these are in no particular order by the way)
Footwear!
The number one thing I'd like to say on the subject is to make sure you have quality and appropriate footwear for outdoor situations. I personally have a pair of mostly waterproof, fitted boots that I've had since I was 17 and taken all the way around the Wonderland Trail. Many of the tough times co-backpackers have had were with poor fitting shoes or the wrong type of shoe. The majority of the trails I've hiked on have consisted of combinations of muddy, rocky, wet, and slippery surfaces. A really solid, broken in boot is completely vital.
Another part of footwear is the sock. I'm a huge proponent of wearing two pairs of socks on any trip longer than 2 miles in total.
Here's the logic. Blisters on feet = bad
Blisters are generally caused by socks rubbing on skin and are exacerbated by wetness (from sweat, rain, whatever)
So sock in shoe rubbing on skin = bad
So instead, wear 2 pairs of socks... a pretty tight inner pair (I actually prefer dress socks, but shorter athletic socks would work) and a studier outer pair (smartwool REI type socks)
Sock rubbing on sock = good for your feet
Also, assuming you are in a wet climate, the outer wool sock can function much better in rain or just walking through dewy moist plant life and keep your feet drier, especially when working with a waterproof boot.
Using this method, I've only gotten blisters on my feet once in over five hundred miles of backpacking*. (that was when I had injured my leg thus altering my normal gait and how my feet moved in my boots.) So while otherwise healthy, I have never once gotten blisters (including two Wonderland trail runs).
So there's my survival/outdoor advice for the night. More to come...
I've done a fair amount of outdoor adventuring, specifically backpacking, back in the day... I've done some rafting rafting rafting last summer and earlier this year, great times, but I do miss the backcountry. I'll preface this next section by saying 95% of my experience has been in Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Parks and the surrounding areas, so although I feel like the next section is fairly general, if you live somewhere far away from the Pacific NW, it may not pertain as well...
So on to Patrick's Survival Tips Part 1 (these are in no particular order by the way)
Footwear!
The number one thing I'd like to say on the subject is to make sure you have quality and appropriate footwear for outdoor situations. I personally have a pair of mostly waterproof, fitted boots that I've had since I was 17 and taken all the way around the Wonderland Trail. Many of the tough times co-backpackers have had were with poor fitting shoes or the wrong type of shoe. The majority of the trails I've hiked on have consisted of combinations of muddy, rocky, wet, and slippery surfaces. A really solid, broken in boot is completely vital.
Another part of footwear is the sock. I'm a huge proponent of wearing two pairs of socks on any trip longer than 2 miles in total.
Here's the logic. Blisters on feet = bad
Blisters are generally caused by socks rubbing on skin and are exacerbated by wetness (from sweat, rain, whatever)
So sock in shoe rubbing on skin = bad
So instead, wear 2 pairs of socks... a pretty tight inner pair (I actually prefer dress socks, but shorter athletic socks would work) and a studier outer pair (smartwool REI type socks)
Sock rubbing on sock = good for your feet
Also, assuming you are in a wet climate, the outer wool sock can function much better in rain or just walking through dewy moist plant life and keep your feet drier, especially when working with a waterproof boot.
Using this method, I've only gotten blisters on my feet once in over five hundred miles of backpacking*. (that was when I had injured my leg thus altering my normal gait and how my feet moved in my boots.) So while otherwise healthy, I have never once gotten blisters (including two Wonderland trail runs).
So there's my survival/outdoor advice for the night. More to come...
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