Straight Edge Life

Weak. Sadly weak. Harrison Ford is one of my favorites. No boy growing up in the Indiana Jones franchise can really say otherwise in all honesty. And I certainly don’t fault the weakness of Firewall on Harrison. It was just a limp and formulaic plot. I give it props for not trying to be more than it was. I also enjoyed that Chloe (Mary Lynn Rajsku) from 24 was in Firewall. She’s always fun. Don’t go into this movie expecting a lot. Certainly don’t go into it expecting that it will have anything to do with networking or any other aspect of geekdom. The server rooms are silent (viciously untrue of real server rooms) and the presentation of technology is very non-specific. It’s just not very compelling and fails to bring your concern for his kidnapped family to a level high enough to make anything that happens very interesting or important. It’s pretty obvious that someone in hollywood pulled the formula out and popped in the appropriate and inoffensive topic (networking), found some good actors and a crew. Harrison Ford does an excellent job of getting the crap kicked out of him and still winning the fight. How does he do that? Anyway… not much else to say. 4 out of 10.

For some reason I thought this movie was going to be a bit scarier. I didn’t expect it to be so much the suspense thriller type thing that it was. And that’s ok, because it’s a good movie. In some ways it’s very plain, almost vanilla in it’s story line. A bit implausible, almost annoyingly so at a couple of points. But It’s not the story that makes this movie work. It’s the acting. It’s the camera work, it’s the general intensity of it. Rachel McAdams and Cillian Murphy work very well together. And there’s something just creepy about Cillian’s eyes when he plays those evil roles that just makes him totally believable. And Rachel, playing the victim, did a solid as hell job in maintaining a believable part herself. I definitely recommend this to someone looking for a good way to pass a few hours on a hot summer day. You won’t be bummed you saw it.

Holy crap. This movie is so fantastically scary, it’s just madness. I’m in the middle of it now. Had to pick up the laptop to distract myself for a bit, it’s so freaky. Dakota Fanning is amazing. She’s so little but carries so much weight as an actress. De Niro and his stunning intensity almost has trouble keeping up with Dakota. Together they are amazing. And the movie itself is just perfect for the two of them. Widowed father with distraught child move into the country to leave behind the memories of mom’s suicide. Shortly thereafter the daughter, Emily, played by Dakota, makes friends with Charlie… and evil presence. Bad things start to happen at the same time as Emily’s mom’s death. 2:06 AM. Scary, evil stuff. I’m not through with the movie yet, but I just don’t see how they could possibly screw this up.

Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn knocked my socks off in The Interpreter. There’s this thing that happens when Penn gets pissed off or frustrated as a part of his roles, his voice cracks and you just forget about Penn and feel the character. It’s weird because he does it in all of his roles, but it works and it always adds to the intense roles he plays. And The Interpreter is intense. It’s a politically charged story about a United Nations interpreter (Kidman) who overhears plans for the assassination of a west african leader. To make a long story short, the whole thing blossoms into an intense investigation of both Kidman and UN security with a team lead by Penn. Along the way both characters reveal pieces of their dark past and keep the audience well entertained.

This is probably the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. Literally every frame could be pulled, printed and framed on your wall.

I don’t think I need to say anything besides that. But to put it in context I’ll mention a few recent and popular chinese fu films… Hero was just gorgeous and a great Epic of a film. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was elegant and beautiful with a powerful story. Another of my favorites, Iron Monkey, was also very nice to look at and appealed to a less sophisticated audience. Basically, Iron Monkey was hella funny. It had much more comedy than Crouching Tiger, or Hero… House of Flying Daggers is just a feast for the eyes. The story and plot is not as appealing, epic or funny as the movies just mentioned, but it’s not like you’ll miss it. Even the actors. Ziyi Zhang, Takesi Kaneshiro and Andy Lau, are all very attractive. The photography, the martial arts, the art. It’s so gorgeous. I love it.

I seriously wonder why Hollywood isn’t making movies with as much visual appeal as any of these four films. It’s like going and watching the world through a master photographer’s eyes. Perhaps Hollywood puts too much emphasis on the star power and not enough on the completeness of the movie.

This movie was exactly what I expected it to be. It lived and breathed 100% authenticity. Authenticity to the conversion of graphic novels into movies; something that’s becoming a genre of it’s own right. And a genre that I’m coming to love more with each new movie created in this style. I’ve never been a big graphic novel guy but I can see myself becoming one very soon.

But, about the movie… it’s packed full of so many good actors that I can’t even begin to remember them all. Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Jessica Alba… They all play there parts well enough that the movie is superbly cohesive as you weave through the intricate plot lines of two or three simultaneous stories. The acting is great obviously, as is the photography, the sets, costuming and lighting. I really don’t have many complaints about this movie. None actually.

You might not want to take little kids to see Sin City because it casts all men as violent and sadistic killers. Either corrupt or broken. All women are portrayed as either virgin sluts or prostitutes. Either helpless or ruthless. And I think it takes a bit of perspective to manage that. But if you’re as casual about violence and sex as most american audiences are, you probably won’t even notice. I just happened to overhear a couple of Eugene girls going on about how offended they were.

But I digress… this movie is worth seeing on the big screen. If you’re a fan of graphic novels or just want to explore best that they have to offer in film, see this movie.

They give away all the good bits in the preview. The rest of it was pretty much formulaic. It’s worth a go if you’ve been living in a void and haven’t seen any previews. Otherwise take someone pretty shallow to see it. They might be amused. Maybe.

The ONLY thing that really bums me about about the Blade franchise is that they don’t play up any of the warm sexy renaissance character typically prescribed to vampire genre movies. They’ve hit on the goth, industrial modern aspects of it. And they do that bit pretty damn well. But for as much as I like the Blade series I’d love to see at least some sort of tip of the hat to some of the better aspects of past vampire flicks. Namely, the atmospheric flavor. What ever happened to the power of the vampire to seduce? What is a vampire without sex appeal and sexual power? Now forget the fact that Jessica Biel is insanely sexy. She definitely kicks the sexy factor up simply by breathing, walking and… you get the picture. But she’s not a vampire. And she’s not trying to be sexy or to use her sexiness to defeat, overwhelm, or direct the enemy (pick one), she actually tries to make it a non-issue.

Outside of the sadly sexless atmosphere I really liked this movie. I’m a big fan of Ryan Reynolds. Wesley Snipes is tight in his third role as Blade. Ever developing that bad ass attitude to a honed point. The plot is about as feasible as you can expect from a vamp flick and the dynamics between those two and Biel are good fun. The movie is quite funny at times. I don’t have many complaints. I’d see it again. And I’d recommend you see it. Whether or not you like vampire movies.

I recommend watching this movie before you watch any movie which has the potential to be a disappointment. Big Trouble in Little China is the quintessential good bad movie. If you can love this movie (and you likely will) you’re much more likely to love the movie you’re about to watch. Big Trouble is so awesome at getting me in the mood to watch bad movies. It shows in perfect form how good a bad movie can be. It’s so lovable, so silly, so fucking funny.

In a nutshell it’s about a big bunch of trouble in Chinatown, San Francisco. Go figure, right? Well it’s hard to say much more without giving away everything about the plot. Plenty of Kung Fu, lots of fighting, and enough humor to go around. In a word; Choice.

I was in a good mood last night and ready to supplement my mood with a funny movie. So let me tell you this first; I loved the first Bridget Jones. It was darkly funny, oddly reassuring and just generally a good time. After watching it I felt like my life, my dating life, could always be worse and any social weirdness I’ve ever felt is miniscule when compared with that blundering, lovable goof, Bridget.

The second movie, which I saw last night, was a huge disappointment. I can sum Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason very simply: B O R I N G. Canned, predictable, contrived and just generally blah. Sequels should measure up. This didn’t. Not even for Bridget faithfuls. My advice is to skip it.