The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

The original Universal monsters are some of my favorite movies in the world. "Dracula," "Frankenstein," "The Wolfman," "Creature from the Black Lagoon," "The Invisible Man" and "The Mummy." I have loved them for a long time, and are actually a large part of why I love film so much. I also love the remake of "The Mummy." Now, it may not be great looking back, but it was damn fun and when it came out it was the perfect blend of those old movies I loved and new big budget action movies and I ate it up. When I got it on VHS, I watched it no less than once a week for a very long time. I thought "The Mummy Returns" was pretty good until the scorpion king showed up (because of bad CGI). However, the commercials for this movie never did much for me (except when Fraser said, "Yea, same mummy. TWICE!" Brenden Fraser rocks). So, did this live up to my love of the first one?

Not even fucking close. I don't often like to refer to movies in simplistic terms or phrases, but this movie was retarded. Sorry if you are offended, but it is the only way to describe this movie. Almost every line in this movie is stupid and contrived, as if adding the word "mummy" to a sentence makes it funny. That or awkward sexual innuendo thrown between father and son, uncle and nephew, mother and son, and man and yak. Truthfully, you remember that charming comedy that was in the first one and lesser so in the 2nd? It is gone. Except for one scene at the beginning, which I will get to later. Even the way the movie unfolds is stupid.

The opening prologue, which takes forever by the way, is pretty much the exact same as the first "Mummy" except for the fact that we learn that Jet Li can control the elements (personal thought: when did wood become an element?) and he is the one that becomes the mummy. Then we see present day which is about 8 to 10 years from the second movie. Rick and Evie have it made because Evie has written books about their past experiences (which is actually supposed to be what we saw in the last two movies, because the Evie in the books are a "different person.") They are rich and seem to get interrupted anytime they try to get it on. Rick however, is not content with this lifestyle, always being the adventurer. Their son Alex has taken a cue from his parents and has gone excavating, but this time in China. Then, for some reason, Rick and Evie are sent to China to give somebody a stone, where they run into Alex. They get angry because they didn't know he had dropped out. Jonathan runs the night club the all meet in. They go to see Alex's latest dig. For some reason, a group wants to bring the emperor back to life... so they do with the stone the O'Connells brought (they had to bring it for some reason... I have no idea why). So now the O'Connells have to team up with two women who have eternal life and go to stop the Emperor. To stop him, they must have Yetis help them... and fuck this I stopped carrying once the yetis showed up (truly, the high point of the movie for me though. Simply for the fact that there were fucking YETIS in a mummy movie. With such lines as "Don't worry, the Yetis will help us." Awesome.) 

This movie movies from one convoluted set-piece to another. It also seems extremely bland as if we've seen most of these things in the other movies. Such as a giant fight in the sand between two ancient forces ("The Mummy Returns"), the street chase ("The Mummy"), and the initial finding of the tomb with the fight versus an ancient order to make sure the evil doesn't return ("The Mummy"). Truly, there are only 2 original set pieces in the movie and they both make no sense, but at the same time they are my favorite parts just because how laughably bad their placement in the film is: the Yeti's and Jet Li turning into a 3-headed dragon. None of it makes much sense, but it is damn hilarious and entertaining in a very cheesy way.

Another complaint about this movie is that it is just too long. Yes, this movie by quickly, but there was a moment in the movie where it literally hit me and I said "Damn... this movie is too long." This is should be about an hour and a half. Truthfully, they could have easily written out much of the beginning, because it takes forever for Jet Li to become the mummy. However, the other movies were about this long, so why does this drag?

Because none of the characters click at all. Not one of them. One of the most fun things about the first two is seeing the cast all bounce off each other with the great chemistry they had. However, they've re-cast two of the four O'Connells and the rest of the cast is just trying to get a hang of the English language. I think the thing that killed a lot of the chemistry is just how inconsistent these characters are with their counterparts in the first two. Alex is now a man, rather than a boy from "The Mummy Returns" but the thing is that somehow he has magically shifted his british accent (which made sense since they lived in England) to a brooklyn accent. I mean, that is just sloppy casting. I guess it can be explained by the fact that we were seeing the "fictionalized cheap" versions that Evie wrote in her books, but damn, this is the movie that seems like the cheap and fictionalized version. Speaking of Maria Bello, I have a notice to her: Do NOT ever do another British accent. It was terrible and the entire time you are spent with a strange goofy look on your face. Well, I will give you that if these films are supposed to be call backs to 1930 B-Films, then you nailed the acting. Perfectly.

Now, the one saving grace of this movie could be Brenden Fraser as Rick O'Connell. I'm sorry, but I'm in the "Brenden Fraser kicks ass!" club. His performance is the one consistent thing from the first two. However, he seems to be a bit run down in this film, but that is the character in this one. He also has the best scene in the film all to himself in the opening moments when his character is trying to fish and he gets frustrated and starts to use a gun. Perfect O'Connell moment. He can't escape the crappy script of this at times though as you can tell he just doesn't click with anybody but John Hannah who does the best with what he can here, but he is given the worst "comedic" lines in the entire thing. 

This movie could have been so much better and I would have LOVED to see this film take off into the direction it was originally intended for (O'Connell versus a different Universal monster in each movie). This is a big disappointment as it never delivers on the fun that the first two had, except for the moments where it delved into the "so bad its good" category. In fact, the only reason this might not have come out on DVD this week is the fact that "Lost Boys: The Tribe" hit shelves this week and that HAS to be better than this.

The Dark Knight

A year ago was when we first Heath was cast. Then we saw his face and heard his voice. Then we saw him move. All the while this film has been gaining speed as being one of the most expected movies of the year. Now, this movie has been so hyped up, how could it ever live up to the hype? How could a super hero movie with characters we've seen before be as great as it looks?

Rather easily it seems. Nolan and his team have crafted, not just the best superhero movie of all time, but also a masterfully crafted crime film filled with human pathos. Don't be fooled, this is not your typical superhero movie. Hell, this isn't your typical movie. This is Nolan crafting the single best Batman story ever told. Yes, better than "The Killing Joke," "Year One," and "The Dark Knight Returns." This is the ultimate Batman film. The ultimate Batman story. 

Jonathan and Christopher Nolan have created a masterful script where every character is presented with an lesser of two evils question at least once in the film. None of them make stupid or bad decisions either, which you do see in even the best of superhero movies. Nope, all of the characters take time and weigh their actions and make a decision that way. All except for one character that is. Another interesting thing I loved about this film is that the Nolan's have been known to mess around with how they tell their stories. Now, they don't tell it out of sequence here as they have in the past. However, there is a point in the movie that they decide not to fully explain everything. It is slightly disorienting as you feel as if you have missed something important. The thing is, every character is in this state in the film at this point and the Nolan's have just shoved you into his "world without rules" and you are at the exact same state the characters in the movie are. That is brilliance. 

Christopher Nolan has also improved as a director since "Batman Begins." A complaint I still have about that film is that hand-held was used too much. Here, Nolan is steady and knows exactly what he wants. His action scenes are extremely well crafted and the tension and danger in all of them are high. In fact, from the opening moments of the film, you know that you are in for a dangerous film. There is not a moment in this movie that isn't taught and full of suspense. You never know what is coming next, mainly because the main pulling the strings doesn't either.

That man is of course the JOKER. He is demented, sick, twisted, brilliant and just plain crazy. The worst part of all of it though is that he KNOWS he is. In fact, he embraces his insanity. There is the main difference between he and Batman and he knows how to expose it. The Joker in this movie just does what he wants. He has no reason, no point other than to "introduce a little anarchy." Strangely though, in the final scene you feel sad for him. Not very sad, but empathic. He thinks he can turn anybody to him, but when he realizes he is alone... There is a definite look of defeat on his face. Note have I haven't said that Heath Ledger puts this in the character, because Heath is gone here. 

In fact, every actor disappears in their roles here. Also, everyone gets at least their 15 minutes in this movie. None more so than Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent. He is the center of the movie. The lynch pin. The man everyone is after and the man who is after everything. He wants justice and will do anything to get to it. Bruce sees this in him, but mostly, Bruce sees Dent as his way out. His way to his old life. Dent, however, sees Batman as a symbol the city needs. Dent's decent into madness is extremely sad and depressing with an incredible and shocking pay off. In fact, the best moments in this moment aren't the giant action scenes, but the pathos driven smaller scenes. The climax of the movie is so powerfully tense and it involves 5 people. 

God damn it, quit reading what I'm saying about this movie and just go out and see it. NOW! Everyone is incredible and I could just go on and on about this film. What's the point though? Just go experience the first truly Oscar worthy film this year (other than In Bruges for best original screenplay). I'm not just saying that as a fan boy of Batman either, I'm saying that as a film fan. If this doesn't get Best Adapted Screenplay and Supporting Actor (for Leger definitely, and maybe even Oldman or Eckhart) Nominations, it'll be a downright shame. This is going to be a classic, so see it for yourself.

NEW FEATURE SCRIPT

Okay, so the last time I posted about a Feature Script, after I looked at that script, it was pretty bad. There were good moments in it, but it was just rushed and not that good. It was good though to write a total 180 from "Joe Britz." 

However, this new script is somewhere in between that and "Joe Britz." It has the action that "Eulogy" had, but it has the comedy that "Joe Britz" did. Except, instead of a bunch of pop culture references, this movie is full of a bunch of character comedy. I definately think that if enjoyed "Joe Britz" especially when he was paranoid or the "Jesus Rant" you will enjoy this movie.

The basic plot is that two guys have lived through the apocalypse and after they abandoned the place they are staying at, they have to make it to a certain destination. Along the way they run into cannibals, old friends, mutants and one totally awesome cameo. I'm not going to give this character because it is awesome! But let me tell you that we ARE going to try to get this filmed, but it might not happen. I also have to mention that it is 134 pages long which will translate into a rough cut of 2 hours and 14 minutes. We will be cutting it down though, to probably around 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours. 

Heath is being played by Jordan Gutirrez 

Rick is being played by Cole Souza

The first page is to the right.

Iron Man

I have been following this movie for several years mainly because I love "Iron Man." He is my favorite Marvel superhero and think he is one of the more interesting characters based on his choices and his personal life style. I wasn't sure about Favreau directing because of his track record of child comedies, but listening to his passion for the project I was sold. Then he gave us the fantastic casting of Robert Downey Jr. and I knew he was going in the right direction with this. Then the trailer hit and I had no worries.

Iron Man is the story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the head of Stark Industries. He is brilliant, but on top of that he is also cocky and a playboy. He has no care in the world and doesn't take anything seriously. While he is doing a sales pitch of his new Jericho missiles, he is kidnapped and many people die in the wake of this. The terrorist group calling themselves the 10 Rings want him to build them another Jericho missile, but Stark builds a suit to escape and decides that he isn't going to stand for making weapons anymore. When Stark gets back, he makes the announcement about his company taking a new direction and quickly Stark begins to unravel a plot that he must stop with his new invention.

This movie is pretty damn badass. I mean, what movie that begins with "Back in Black" and ends in "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath isn't? However, it isn't the work of the music that makes this awesome the blame for it is largely Favreau and Downey Jr.

Robert Downey Jr. has always been an incredibly good actor who has been waiting in the wings to become a house hold name and now he has found it. Downey is absolutely pitch perfect as Tony Stark. He is smarmy, cocky, confident and hilarious. It probably doesn't hurt that Downey and Stark have led somewhat similar lives (especially in the comic books). Even though Downey plays the cocky really well, seeing him transform from playboy who doesn't give a shit to hero is great and probably the best portrayal of a superhero other than Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne to date. It is really a tour de force and Downey's best performance other than Chaplain. 

However, Downey would never even have been there if it wasn't for Favreau. He proved to me that he isn't only a man of comedy. Just as Nolan with Batman, Raimi with Spiderman and Singer with X-Men before him, Favreau was able to take the great things about the superhero and bring it to the screen. Everything you love about the Iron Man comics are there. The thing that I feel Favreau did better than the others have done is set up for a series without a blatant cliffhanger. So much is there that they can develop into a series. Not only that, but they can not introduce any new characters and just have villians that appear as just characters in this film. It would feel like a regular character arc and more of an extension of the first film. Not only that, but he also has definite hints to where Stark's character is going to go in the future (he does love his scotch). Favreau also does the smart thing that a lot of comic book movies don't: he doesn't turn the creation of the suit into a montage. He spends a lot of time on this, making the movie more believable. In fact, a large portion of the actual plot revolves around the suit.

One of the more exciting things abut this movie is where it is going to go. This is definitely a great beginning to the summer movie season. I have a feeling it is also going to result in some of the best sequels and in turn, one of the best series of movies. 

P.S. WAIT UNTIL AFTER THE CREDITS!

Top 5 Summer Films

Okay, so I haven't actually reviewed a movie in a really long time. Frankly, it is because I have not felt extremely compelled to throw in my views on some movies that people seem to have the same opinion about. Summer movies though, you can't miss those. The best movies I've seen that have come out this year so far  that I haven't reviewed are:

In Bruges (4/5)

Leatherheads (4/5) - I love slapstick film and there is one scene that is so beautifully shot that I want to just hang it up on my wall.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall (4/5) - About on par with 40 Year Old Virgin in terms of laughter, but I feel it is an all around better script.

Now to the real list, the top 5 big  budget action/comedy films I want to see that are coming out later this year are.

5) Wall - E

I love Pixar with a passion. They tell stories that they want to. Never do they half-ass a movie just to make a buck, they aren't Dreamworks Animation. This movie seems to be the next great project. I mean, they have had a brilliant marketing campaign and I'm already in love with that goofy little robot who reminds me of Number 5 from Short Circuit. This is the story of a robot who finds his place in the world. The interesting part about it is that it is told with extremely limited dialog. This is going to prove exactly how good Pixar is if they can tell a compelling story without a main character that speaks, and I think they can. It also looks so beautiful.

4) Pineapple Express

Judd Apatow is awesome and so will this movie be. I actually have the script for it, and let me tell you it is a good one (however, many lines have changed I've seen from the trailer, but they've changed for the better. Script review will be up shortly). It is the story of Dale (Seth Rogen). He just wants pot, and he scores the best in town from his dealer Saul (James Franco). However, he witnesses a murder and all shit hits the fan. Saul and Dale have to hit the road and avoid being killed. I've watched this trailer about one time a day since it hit the internet and every time I see another thing. This is going to be hilarious. I love the part where Saul tells Dale how they can catch them. 

3) Iron Man

Iron Man has always been one of my favorite superheroes. I used to rent a 60's cartoon where Iron Man fought War Machine. Now this movie just looks badass. Everybody looks incredibly perfectly  cast. Especially Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. They pretty much share the same life, especially with Stark's later alcoholism. Downey seems to have taken on this role as a man who is forced into being a super hero after becoming a prisoner of war. I was fairly skeptical on what Favreu would do with it because he had never done anything like this, but it looks like he has nailed it. It also kicks off this year's summer movies. Seriously, this just looks awesome and a good start for Marvel Productions.

2) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Who doesn't love Indiana Jones? Nobody? Right, that is what I thought. I grew up watching them and I love all of the movies. The only problem that people could forsee with this movie is the time between the last one and this one. However, I feel that it is a good sign because they could have just chruned one out after the last movie and nobody would have batted an eye. They have waited their time to find the perfect script and the trailer, which I love, shows this. They know what fans know and what fans want to see in a new movie and it seems as if this is a happy balance between Raiders and Temple of Doom. I don't know much about the plot, as nobody really does, except for the fact Indiana is searching for some crystal skulls... sounds good to me.

1) The Dark Knight

Batman is my favorite superhero and I love what Nolan did with the last movie. My only complaint was how long it took to actually get Bale in that damn suit. However, it looks like Nolan has decided to make the Batman movie that every fan has wanted to see: a noir film with awesome action. I know that this isn't a noir film, but it comes off as much more a mystery to solve, just like the comics. In fact, it seems as if it is one of the comics that everybody loves. We don't have to waste time with origin or anything with this, just kick off with the action and the new struggles in Bruce Wayne's life. However, this movie could easily be below Indy 4 if it wasn't for one man: Heath Ledger. He was a good actor who was seemingly reaching his peak, which it looked like is this: the Joker. The ultimate comic book villian. Ledger looks unbelievably frightening and down right perfect for the role. No, it isn't exactly like the comics but it is the spirit of the character that is there and Ledger seems to have captured to what maybe a post-mortum Oscar nomination (those who have seen parts of this film say it is one of the best villians of all time. Michael Caine was even talking about it before Ledger died). This looks down right incredible and I can't wait. Not much is known about the plot other than Wayne must take down the Joker.

So there is my list, not very shocking, but enjoy.

New Feature Script

I was going to 

keep this script underwraps until I was finished, but I'm so far along and wanted to justify my not writing of reviews in the past couple of months.

I have been working on this a lot. It will be a few weeks until it is actually done. 

It probably won't get filmed for a while either, but it has been great writing it and it is very different from The Death of Joe Britz. 

On either side  is the title page and the first page.

For anybody who read the short Fabrication the answer is "Yes, it is a feature length version of it." It is in fact the story of Stone. Fabrication is a section of it. Some things are slightly changed and the information is filled in, but it is all there, but it is only a portion of the story.

RAMBO!!!

The 80's were a time when action movies reigned. Men were men and the bullets ripped you apart. We've been missing that from action movies from the last several years where all action movies now have to have a digital twist to it. We saw this happen with Live Free or Die Hard. A once awesome character was turned into a PG-13. Stallone noticed this, and promised a super violent film with his iconic character Rambo. After the failure of Rambo III, could Sly bring it back?

Hell yes he can. This film goes BOOM! If that doesn't sound good to you, avoid this movie.

The film opens with real footage of the Burmese Genocide where the film takes place. These are horrible horrible people whose one of their favorite pass times is laying down mines and sending their victims to step on them. Then we have Rambo. He has been living by himself for many years and has never returned home. He knows what he did at one point was wrong. Then, these Christian missionaries get captured. Rambo has a fondness for one of the missionaries. So he plus a group of mercenaries go in to fuck up the evil Burmese.

This is an 80's action movie by every sense of the word. The action in this is big, giant and sometimes goofy but god damn is it a good time. The last 20 to 30 minutes of this film is just drenched with blood except for the few moments where the  screen is filmed with fire from explosions and flame throwers. Every action of moment grabs you by the balls and goes "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING TO DO!? HUH?!" 

This is the definition of the fun action movie. The bad guys are incredibly evil and the good guys just don't give a shit. Nobody except the missionaries are very good people. Stallone doesn't give a shit as Rambo except when talking with Sarah. The acting, all around is okay, nothing really outstanding but that is not why you are buying a ticket, you paying a ticket to see Rambo rip a guys throat out.

If that doesn't sound like a good time to you, then avoid this movie but if you love blood and guts and people getting blown to little pieces: this is the movie for you. 

End of the Year Wrap Up

Okay, I did one of these for the school paper but a lot of great movies have came out between that article and the end. It is rare when you have a year this good. A year that has so many movies what will become classics for various genres. A year so good, that all the classics won't even make it into my top 5 films.

Here they are:

5) The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford:

Here is a character study of two men: Jesse James and Robert Ford. A very long movie with a even longer title. This movie took several years to come out and it was worth the wait. With wonderful performances by Brad Pitt and more importantly Casey Affleck (who had a rockin' year with Ocean's 13 and Gone Baby Gone, which got great reviews but I never saw). Affleck steals the scene anytime he is on the screen. He is creepy, sleezy and you can slowly see his thought process going from loving James to having to assassinate him. On top of it all, it had very good direction and awesome cinematography. I drove 45 minutes to see this puppy and it was well worth it.

4) Superbad:

The Apatow team had a great year this year and this was their funniest film and my person preference over Knocked Up. It is hilarious and hits every last beat perfectly. This movie has already turned into a comedy classic for teens. It is my generations Animal House and it is just as funny. Michael Cera and Jonah Hill add a lot of credibility to their roles which helps add a bit of heart to the film. Then there is Christopher Mintz Plaase as MCLOVIN! At this point, I don't need to describe his role and his brilliance.

3) Sweeney Todd:

One of the best musicals of all time finally hit the screen and it did so with a flood of blood. It is a beautifully tragic film. From the beginning to the end Burton's work is felt but not Burton's overly complicated style that he has become known for. No, it is Edward Scissorhands Burton here on display and it is great as he turns out one of (if not THE) best films of his career. The same goes for Depp as he broke away from being anally raped by everyones favorite animated mouse and returned to why we like him so much. 

2) No Country for Old Men:

This movie is a masterstroke for the Coen's and the more and more I think about it, the more and more I think about how it is his their best film. It is funny, scary, taut and rather frightening. This is the only film that gave me chills just from suspense. Javier Bardem is incredible as the evil Anton Chigurh. He embodies evil and is on the same level as Darth Vader and Hannibal Lector (before he became a franchise). Everything in this movie clicks. Not only does it work as a great crime film, but also a great morality play. Forever I thought there was no way to top this movie this year as it was the best movie I had seen the past 10 years.  It is truly one of the next movie classics that will be talked about and debated for many many years. Surprisingly, there was one movie that topped that: 

1) There Will Be Blood:

The perfect combination of great acting, great directing and a great script. Everything for this movie is top notch for a group of people who have always been considered very good.  Daniel Day Lewis gives one of the best performances of all time as Daniel Plainview, a long the line of Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull. P.T. Anderson seemed to be channeling the greatness that is Kubrick in this film. In fact, if someone told me it was Kubrick's last film I would believe it. THIS is the best movie of the decade thus far and probably will be once it is out. This marks the emergence of Anderson as a master filmmaker and I can't wait to see more from him.

So there is my new top 5. I would have done top 10 but my bottom 5 are all jumbled so here they are in no particular order:

Transformers, Knocked Up, The Bourne Ultimatum, Grindhouse and Death at a Funeral

Now, with this time of the year we all get some pretty bad movies and, while there aren't any big changes from the one from the paper there is one notable one:

5) I Am Legend: 

This movie could have been called "I Am Boring." There was only one moment that captured my interest in this film and that was the fake Batman/Superman movie poster in the background. Will Smith plays the same charming guy he does in every movie and it is beginning to wear out its welcome (that is why I'm excited for Hancock). The directing in this was bland and whenever something interesting could be happen, it was ruined by shakey camera. 

4) Rush Hour 3:

You've seen the first 2? Okay, so if you make it about half as funny and the stunts about half as exciting you've seen this movie.

3) Premonition:

The trailer led on that there was more to the movie than Sandra Bullock having a premonition. When the time comes for the twist it ends up... there is no twist. Everything we saw in the trailer is just as it is in the movie. Nothing. I felt cheated out of my money. That and this movie is entirely forgettable. So much so, I forgot to review it and I forgot I had seen it until I was Hollywood a couple of days ago.

2) Rob Zombie's Halloween:

Rob Zombie could have done justice to this movie, I know he could have. He changed his style completely from his first movie to his 2nd movie. So why couldn't he for this? God answer this for me! Rob Zombie took John Carpenter's great horror classic and raped it. There are a few shreds left and it is mainly in a shitty shot for shot attempt that takes place in the last 30 minutes of the movie. The fairly okay script ended up getting worse during shooting and when it was visualized it ended up being horrible. I wish I could say this was the worst movie of year, but sadly... it wasn't.

1) Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End:

No plot. Crappy acting and a horrible direction. From the singing pirates at the beginning to the retarded ending this movie sucked big fat balls. You know when a Keith Richard's cameo is the best part about your movie and even that is just okay, you've done something wrong. I can't help but believe that halfway through writing the writers went "Ah... fuck this shit! 100 dollars to who can write the movies rediculous 20 minutes that have nothing to do with the plot!" "You're fucking on!" I can't help but feel that is the reason for the movie because I don't want to blame Depp who sucked... or anybody else who has talent and all royally sucked in this movie.

There you have it.

My top and bottom 5. 

Surprises:

Musicals and Westerns. These two genres were thought to be long dead but were somehow resurrected this year. Musicals with Enchanted, Hairspray, Sweeney Todd and Once (apparently, I have yet to watch it, but my godfather did give me it so I will shortly). All great movies. Enchanted and Hairspray were those good ol' feel good musicals that used to once be so good but quickly became cliched because of how bad they were getting. Then Sweeney Todd which understood what it took to make a musical drama without being cheesy. Then westerns had The Assassination of Jesse James, 3:10 To Yuma, There Will Be Blood and No Country for Old Men.  I've never been a big fan of westerns (except for the spaghetti westerns), but if all westerns were like this, it would be my favorite genre. Think about it 3 out of the 4 Westerns I saw this year ended up on my top 5. Damn.

It's all done.

Now onto 2008.

   

There Will Be Blood (Spoilers)

I'm not a big P.T. Anderson and I'm not the biggest Daniel Day Lewis fan. The first trailers for this movie caught my eye but I didn't think it looked all that great. Then came the reviews comparing it to Citizen Kane and Kubrick films. It wasn't just one review, but almost all reviews. I could do without Kane but I'm a Kubrick whore (except for Eyes Wide Shut). I was sold on seeing it.

There Will Be Blood is about Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis). This is a man with little to no morals. Everything he does is for power. More importantly, his control of oil. He builds himself up an empire of oil when one day young man comes to visit him with an interesting prospect. The town he lives in has oil seeping out of the ground. Daniel goes to the town and there he meets the brother of the young man who visited him, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Eli Sunday has his own congregation and wants power just as much as Plainview does. They just go different ways about getting it. Plainview with his oil empire and Sunday with his accusation that he is a false prophet. Heads collide and things happen in Plainview's life that builds up to an explosive ending.

From the opening shot of this movie, it is clear that this movie is about so much more than oil. It is about Plainview: the man who will do anything for power and the thing that shows that he has power: money. There is one scene in particular that shows how much he cares about human life. While his son is watching an oil pump before they have discovered oil underground, they find it and it causes his son to go blind. This doesn't matter to Plainview though. What matters is that they found oil. In fact, his sons new handicap eventually leads him to abandon his son. 

Daniel Day Lewis gives one of the greatest performances of all time as Daniel Plainview. In this character he has shaped a character who views every man beneath him as dirt. The look in his eyes are all about power. How can he manipulate this man for his own profit? How can he milk this person for all they are worth to him? He uses family members simply so he can say he is a family man, which gives him a leg up on the competition. Anytime anybody gains a small amount of power above him there is a look of disgust and hatred. A want to kill and destroy that person. It can accurately be summed up in his line: "I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people." Lewis disappears into this role and is the perfect marriage of actor and character. Then there is Paul Dano who plays Eli Sunday. A false profit with the exact same ambitions as Plainview. Sunday is the only person to make Plainview look like a fool and from that point on, both of their destinies are sealed.

The directing in this movie shows the emergence of P.T. Anderson as more than just a very good filmmaker, but a master filmmaker. If he can keep this up, Anderson will one day be viewed along the lines of Kubrick who he is seemingly channeling in this movie. Anderson never makes one movement with his camera that doesn't have a point. That isn't just to show what is going on. In every single one of his shots there is more going on than just what you see or what you're told. He truly reaches a level of Kubrick in this movie, especially the superb final shot.

Much credit has to go to Upton Sinclair whose ideals and feelings are ever present throughout the movie. His ideals of what power and religion does to you are ever present and it is wonderful.

It is rare to see a movie this good on its first run. In fact, it has been a rare year because of how many great films came out. Not just great films, but films that will later become classics: like this and No Country. This is a powerful powerful film with a lot to say and one that needs more than one viewing. See it now.

Cloverfield

A few days before Transformers came out, there was a report on AICN about a set visit that was to see Pre-Production of Star Trek to J.J. Abram's studio on Cloverfield Street. In this report there was a little bit about an untitled movie that they were calling Cloverfield as a coverup. They said there would be a trailer for it before Transformers and boy... was there a trailer. In the time between that first amazing trailer to now, I lost interest the more and more but I heard some great things from a few people in the 3 days it had been out.  So maybe it had a chance of living up to that first trailer.

There isn't much of a story here: Rob loves Beth. On the day that Rob is to leave to Japan, Beth and him get in a fight. That and a giant monster starts fucking up Manhattan. So Rob, his brother Jason, Jason's girlfriend, a random girl and our camera man Hud set out to find her.

This is a good movie with some extremely excellent parts to it. There are points where it is extremely taut and full of tension. Two sequences are extremely good: The tunnel sequence and the last 20 minutes. These moments are great. What the movie promised with the first trailer. The shock, the awe and the sheer terror. 

Then there is everything before the tunnel which is rather boring because we've seen almost all of it before in all the trailers. It is the party and the statue of liberty, that is pretty much it. Then there is the time between the tunnel sequence and the last 20 minutes.  The problem here is that these are the parts of the story that focus on the characters and the characters aren't interesting. We've seen them in every teen movie ever and their acting is flat in the those sequences, but in the tunnel sequence and the last sequence is great.

Oh, for anyone wanting to know any clarification on the monster: you don't get it unless you pay attention extremely hard. That doesn't matter though. This monster defies explanation. It is almost as if somebody brought a Lovecraft creature to life and it is a spectacle when you finally get the ultimate shot of it.

This movie, while it had its excellent moments, is just a good movie that will keep you entertained for an hour and a half.  The problem lies in the characters and how you don't really care about them and for 2 long sequences it lost me.

New Script

Just so people don't think I've been sitting on my ass not doing anything movie-wise since Joe Britz, I just finished writing a short film. It is the first thing writing wise that I've finished since "Joe Britz" back in July.

It isn't a comedy.

It is a crime film. Only 10 pages, but better than nothing.

Got the idea while watching The Godfather (really inspired by Pacinos great performance).

I'll try to film it soon.

It is also much more visually oriented.

Walk Hard (Possible Spoilers)

Apatow. That name now means hilarious comedy. When I heard that he was doing a parody film of the musician biopic option, I was excited. Then the trailers came out, and I wasn't excited anymore. It looked average and fairly obvious. One day I was browin' around on youtube and stumbled upon r-rated clips/songs and I really wanted to see it.

Walk Hard is the "real life" story of Dewey Cox. A musician who has done everything from Blues to Disco. His ups and downs and all the drugs and wives and musical cameo's inbetween.

This film, while offering some very good laughs, ends up falling short. There are jokes that it repeats over and over and it uses some fairly obvious jokes throughout (you see a clearly not 12 year old John C. Riley say "Ma. I'm just a 12 year old."). This movie really shines though when there are songs though. If this was just a soundtrack, it would be hilarlious. With several legitamately good songs and some very funny ones, it really does save this movie.

Another inspired about this movie is the casting. John C. Riley has done musical befores, but he has never really carried a movie on his shoulders like this, but he really does a great job. He plays every scene as if it was a real biopic. Riley understands that for this movie to work, it had to mimic the movies it is trying to as closely as possible and being the very good serious actor he is, he does nail it. Hell, he pulls out tears for when he regains his sense of smell in one of the more funny parts of the movies. Jenna Fischer has always been cute from The Office, but in this she is downright hot and does the same as Riley. Though they maybe delivering some rediculous dialouge, they deliver it with a sence of seriousness. In fact, everybody, except the "real musicians" are cast as if it were a real movie.

The direction is also spot on. The cinematography and direction are exactly like a real biopic. You know that look? The deep gold/red that seems to punctuate both Walk the Line and Ray (which is this mostly aimed at, even though there is a segment that takes down Bob Dylan). It is replicated perfectly.

In fact, this could be the films biggest downfall: it is too real. It feels as if it is biopic trying to be comedy instead of a comedy trying to be a biopic. While there are admittedly enough comical parts to keep one going on (their jabs at actual musicians is hilarious), there are no really big laughs. In fact, the parts that are supposed to be rediculous are the funniest moments other than the song. These rediculous moments you ask? They are whenever we see a famous musician being played by somebody who totally shouldn't (even though, if they ever did a Buddy Holly movie, Frankie Munez could be a good choice) play them. The best is The Beatles moment where they begin fighting. Of course, these moments rely on you knowing each different musician and how they were supposed to be.

In all, this was a disappointing film, but it does have its moments. You could do worse than this (like any other parody movie that seems to come out nowadays. CAN'T WAIT FOR "MEET THE SPARTANS!") but with these people behind the movie, you would expect more.

Enchanted

In film, it hasn't been cool be to happy for happiness' sake for a very long time. A fairy tale? No way can that be done. Not after Shrek. Well, Disney has retaliated back with a semi-parody/loving tribute to their own princess films.

Enchanted is about Giselle (Amy Adams) who is a princess who only wants to be married and share true love's first kiss. She sings songs with her animals and dances and lives in a tree and is a cartoon. One day she meets Prince Edward (James Marsden) and within that day they are to be married. Edward has an evil stepmother (Susan Saradon) who knows that when Edward gets married, she will no longer have power. Thus, she along with her cronie (Timothy Spall) send Giselle to New York. There she meets Robert Phillip (Patrick Dempsey) and her love with Edward is tested as she opens up his eyes and he opens up hers.

Every actor is clearly having the time of their life in this movie. I've never been a Patrick Dempsey fan, and I still feel he is the weakest link in this film. It isn't that he is bad, in fact he is very good. We see him go from an asshole to somebody we really do like and care about: I just hate his voice and think it is almost comically high pitched. Everyone else is reveling in playing their archetype of the princess genre. Susan Saradon has always been great at playing a bad girl and now she gets to play the ultimate evil woman. Timothy Spall should only play cowardly side kicks because he does very good everytime he does it. James Marsden plays Prince Edward with charm and a sence of idiocy that is exactly how a cartoon prince would appear in real life. Then their is Amy Adams as Giselle. From the moment you see her as a cartoon, you know you are going to love her. She is pretty, sweet and just adorable. From the first moment you see her you want to see her win and you never want to see her sad. She also has a pretty good singing voice.

Which is a great thing about this movie: the music. This is something that Shrek hasn't been able to properly parody yet, maybe their pop-music compliation soundtracks have been their way of trying to do that, but it hasn't worked. Disney has recruited Alan Menken again to do the music and he adds even more classics to Disney's repertoir. I will garuntee you that "True Love's First Kiss," "Happy Little Cleaning Song" (hilarious) and "How Does She Know You Love Her?" (once more, hilarious and parodies how musicals break out in movies while being an extremely charming song) will all be remembered for a long time after and will be playing in Fantasyland when you go to Disneyland.

This is a truly wonderful movie. Unlike the Shrek movies which have made their money on smashing this type of movie, Enchanted uses the cliches of the genre to generate their comedy and characters. It works great as we don't just like our main characters because they aren't anything like what we are used to, but we are reminded why princess movies from Disney are classics: it is because they are downright charming.

Sweeney Todd

I'm into theater. Most people(if not everyone) who read this know that. I first got a taste of Sweeney back when they did the concert version which I still love to this day. It was around that time when Burton was first attached to this project. Even then I thought that it would be a wonderful matchup between director and material. Then Burton left and returned to the project with post-Pirates of the Carribean Johnny Depp attached. I have lost a lot of respect for Depp after the last 2 Pirate movies, but this would be his next project and I was hoping that he would live up to when he was once great.

The story is about Sweeney Todd (Depp) who once went by the name Benjamin Barker. He used to have a beautiful wife and baby daughter, until a jealous judge (Alan Rickman) send Barker away and took on Barker's daughter as his own. Todd returns with one thing on his mind: revenege. He uses his old profession of a Barber to exact his revenge. He rents a room from Mrs. Lovitz (Helen Bonaman Carter). She loves Todd and will do anything for him, like bake his victims into pies.

Some people feel that Burton hasn't made a good movie for a very long time, I happen to disagree and really liked his "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Corpse Bride" but I believe he still hadn't reached the level of genious as Ed Wood all those years ago. For all those doubters, Burton has made his best film and it is a wonderful film. He uses every trick he has in his hat in this one. Great opening titles, witty dark humor, crazy blood, symbolism and a very dreary almost black and white look. It has his fingerprint all over it, but it has something that most of his movies don't: real emotion. The characters are not quirky for quirky's sake. In fact, there are really no quirky characters.

In fact, every actor has nailed down their character. Now, none of the adults are very good singers and being an actor and not singer, this doesn't bother me. Mainly because everybody is either good to great except Anthony. While, the kid playing Anthony has a great voice when they cut the song "Kiss Me" where he an Johana meet (Sweeney's daughter who gets almost no screen time in this), his eyebrows make the great love songs he sings somewhat creepy. That and he looks like a girl. Carter is very good as Mrs. Lovitz she plays up the fact that she is in love with Todd much more than any of the performances and it works very well. She isn't too funny and her british accent is impecible. Depp's performance is not the angry Todd that most poeple are used to on stage but it is a great performance. The sorrow that lies in his eyes is so powerful that you know why he is insane and you feel greatly for him. The way he does each song, how he bites each words. One moment that is so tiny that always fills me with his sorrow is the end of "No Place Like London" at the beginning of the movie. His voice cracks off and it is so sad and great. I would say that this is his best performance other than Gilbert Grape (Ed Wood might be better, I still haven't decided). The real stand out performance of this is Alan Rickman. He is creepy and very unsettling as Judge Turpin. He is a sexual beast and his duet with Todd, "Pretty Women" is probably the vocal highlight of the movie. Rickman better get an Oscar nom for this.

Now, be forewarned as I have seen people walk out of the movie for this reason: it is very bloody. When I say very bloody, I mean that there are only 3 or 4 parts that are bloody but when the blood flows it rushes like a river. The blood isn't very realistic though, so it never gets too crazy. Another thing is that when the blood flows, it flows differently depending on the person and is a character in itself. While it is very bloody, it is tastefully bloodsoaked because it serves as another character...sort of.

Other than my one problem of "Kiss Me" being cut, I loved this movie. In fact, I'm writing this after my second viewing. It is a excellent musical that has been worked into a very excellent movie that holds its ranking above the best of a very distinctive filmmaker (love him or hate him, everyone knows Burton). Definately one of my favorite films of the year.

I Am Legend

This movie has been done twice before: The Last Man on Earth (starring one of my favorites, Vincent Price) and The Omega Man (starring another of my favorites, Charelton Heston). Both of them were able to pull off the role in completely different ways. Vincent Price was able to pull it off in a creepy way and Heston in a badass way. So when I heard that this was being made by Will Smith, I automatically thought of the movie "I, Robot" which I really hated. Of course, I'm not familiar with the source material as I was with "I, Robot" so I decided to give this a shot.

The last man on earth is not alone. Robert Neville (Will Smith) was a scientist and a soldier before a vaccination to cure cancer was given out and ended up turning people into strange vampire... things. Now, Smith is just walking around Manhattan with his dog (who was adorable as a puppy by the way) going "crazy", trying to cure the virus, and live as normal a life as possible.

I love character driven films, I really do. I mean, I really liked "The Assassination of Jesse James" which was a 3 and a half hour movie with about 15 minutes of action and all and the rest was all character development. It was a brilliant film, and films about isolation and decents into maddness, I love. This movie though, this movie somehow made 1 hour and 45 minutes feel like 6 hours. The first 15 minutes hold promise, but the next 15 minutes are exactly the same, as are the following 15 minutes up until the final 15 minutes. Nothing ever freaking happens and, unlike Heston or Price, Smith is not able to hold this film from being boring.

Smith has become the biggest box office draw of the time. Stick this man in a movie and it is garunteed to get a giant box office, even if the movie isn't that good (Hitch). I do have a large like of Will Smith. I think we was great in Ali and does have a great charm and is very funny in the "Men in Black" films. As of late, I have been growing tired of him. He plays the same exact role in every single film. He is always the charming guy who cries at some point in this movie. In this movie, he cries a lot and is "charmingly funny" a lot. The schitck has gotten old for me and I want something new.

Oh, and for the director: YOU'RE NOT PAUL GREENGRASS! Shaking the camera does not make it "scary" nor does it build any tension. In fact, it just gives us a headache. Lucky for us, we don't have to put up with it since there are only three action scenes in the entire film, all of them poorly executed.

The man reason they don't click is because of all the crappy cgi that is in this film. Why do you need the main vampires CGI'd? It isn't even like what they look like is that un-human. They could have easily been done with makeup, and very cheaply also. You just need some white makeup that looks translucent. BAM! Damn, how hard is that? Even if they only had the main vampires. They had two different main vampires. That would have added some credibility to it instead of taking the audience out of it all with CGI flying this way and that way.

Honestly, I really disliked this movie. It is the first movie that I've ever walked out of to go to the bathroom halfway through. It took me about 5 minutes and guessed how much I had missed? 0. Nothing that contributed to the film. The second half of the film, I couldn't control my yawning. Don't get me started on the blatant 9/11 references OR the product placement (which was the exact same as "I, Robot": EVERYWHERE! Good thing I have a MAC, that way I can cure the world of vampires too!). If I was marketing this sucker the tagline would have been more informative: "The Last Man on Earth Is Boring As Hell."

No Country for Old Men

I actually heard about this movie about a year and a half ago. At the time I was going through a phase almost all modern film fans should go through - hunt down every single movie the Coen Brother's have made. So I checked IMDb, the idea was interesting, but I had just finished my viewing of most of their films (except Crimewave and Blood Simple, so sue me) and with The Ladykiller's being their most recent film, I wasn't expecting much. Then the reviews from the Toronto film festival came out. Then the trailer came out, and I didn't just want to see this movie I NEEDED to see it.

If it wouldn't piss some people off this could be my entire review:

Best Movie of the Decade Thus Far.

Thank god for the Coen's. They have made another classic and a simply great film all around. Even with a fairly basic plot: A man, Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), stumbles upon a drug deal gone wrong. He takes the two million dollars and goes off to live a good life. Of course, he realizes that one person must have lived through it and not have gotten the money. Moss knows he is in for a difficult time, but he doesn't know how difficult. We then meet the one who got away: Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem). Chigurh is a storm, a force of nature, wanting the money and only one can make it out of it all. Throughout the film we get updates on Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) as he follows their blood-ladden trail.

The Coen Brother's have constructed the next classic film. Their direction here is the best they have ever done. The cinematograhy here is incredibly beautiful, as you would expect from the Coen's. In fact, this is the only film where I have been so scared where I got chills. Chills literally ran up my spine and I jumped about a foot - even though I knew what was coming. That is the genius of the of the Coen's. At the beginning they tell you how Moss works and how Chigurh works, from there you can figure out everything that is going to happen and even when you see it coming, they build up the suspence to where it is almost intolerable which is then followed by violence that is almost as intolerable. This is all aided by the brilliant choice on their half to have no soundtrack playing. It is never a hinderance: it only helps, in a big bad way. Instead of the music building higher and higher cuing you how much time you have left until it happens, the Coen's put you right in the middle: you know what is going to happen, but you don't know when. The end is never clear who will win either: Moss or Chigurh.

Josh Brolin kicks some ass Llewelyn Moss. This has really been a break through year for Brolin with Grindhouse, In The Valley of Elah (didn't see it), American Gangster and now this. All of them he is incredibly bad ass. Here is very silent and calculating. He knows what he is facing, and he is trying to out do him. This would probably be a role that Brolin could get nominated for a Oscar for if he wasn't totally overshadowed by Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh.

You know those clip shows where they always show Hannibal Lector and Darth Vader? Add one more to that list. Anton Chigurh is the next film legend. He is a force of nature and Bardem adds so much power and danger to this role that everytime he is on screen you are scared for everybody else. Very few people see him without dying. You can notice that Bardem is shorter than some of the people he is playing opposite of, but you are never worried for him. One look into his eyes is to look into the eyes of someone who views human life as something useless, something that can be just tossed aside. He won't stop until he gets exactly what he wants. Even just hearing his footsteps inspires a sence of fear. Bardem has the Best Supporting Actor award locked up.

There has been some controversy surrounding the end of the film. I would not have had it any other way. If I made it, I could have done it differently, but I'm not a genious as the Coen's are. In fact, I felt the movie was even better for the choice that they made with the end. Yes, they messed with some big structure things in film, but they did it in a way that is brilliant and makes perfect sence and adds to the feeling it is trying to communicate.

Nothing has touched this film in quality so far. In fact, nothing has even seen its dust. Usually, I think less of a movie after a few days of seeing it (I'm writing this 4 days after I saw the movie for the first time) but this movie has not lost its impact.

The Coen's are back and thank God for them.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Look in any Entertainment magazine for the last few years and you will see this film under the "coming soon" section. The director had a problem getting the studio to release the picture that he wanted to be released instead of the western-shoot 'em up that they wanted. After much fighting from director Andrew Dominik and producer Brad Pitt, they released the version they originally shot. Once it was released there were mixed reviews some calling it overly long and others calling it a masterpiece.

This is the story of all the events in Jesse James' (Brad Pitt) life leading up to his murder by Robert Ford (Casey Affleck). It starts after James' last train robbery where they re-cruited a band of rag tag robbers to take over a train in this group is Charlie (Sam Rockwell) and Robert Ford (Casey Affleck). From the first moments we see that Robert Ford is obsessed with his heroes. He idolizes Jesse James and desparately wants to be like him. He knows all the similarities and he is just a slimey bag of uncertainty and want. We are also introduced to James in this scene and he is extremely charismatic and we know why he is the stuff the legends are made of. Throughout the film though we see James' decent into paranoia and Casey Afflecks realization that this god, is simply a man.

This is wonderfully portrayed by the two leads of the film: Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. I love Brad Pitt, I feel that he and George Clooney are the closest we have to the hey-days of old classic cinema. Brad Pitt is once more incredibly awesome in this film, even though he is sort of just playing a toned down version of Tyler Durden in this. He is cool, calm, but at the right times, he just snaps. There is one scene that exemplfies his paranoia and explosive personality. We also see him casually except that his life is soon going to be coming to and end and probably by Bob Ford. Casey Affleck, simply, this is his year. He stole "Ocean's 13" and is supposed to be incredibly good in "Gone Baby Gone." This role though, this is his Raging Bull role. The perfect matching of actor with role. We see his disdain of how Jesse James treats him and how this hero of his is just a man. He starts out with an underlying feeling of uncertainty that grows to the realization that to be what Jesse James is, which is what he clearly wants, that he has to do something more infamous than anything James' has done. He has to kill the unkillable: he has to kill Jesse James.

Their relationship actually invokes a very biblical relationship of Jesus and Judas. In fact, this is very much a religious metaphor of the film: Jesse James is a god to the American people and here comes this man who he sort of trusts. Then Ford decides to sell out to the law. The point is also driven even more to the point during a scene where James walks on a frozen lake speaking about suicide.

This was only Dominik's second film and he has created a very worthwile film that was worth it to fight for. In parts it is a revenge film, in parts it is a character study. He knows right where to put the camera and every scene is beautifully composed and the frame is always a treat to look for. Now, the criticism about this film being overly long is valid at some points. There are a few scenes that seem to go on a minute too long and you begin to be bored (this is a very rare occassion) and he cuts to the next scene making us compelled again. The problem is that these could have simply of been tightened up by trimming seconds off of some angles, but it is a rare occasion where it drags. It doesn't matter anymore once it gets to the fantastic assassination scene. He plays it like a classic Leone mexican stand off, except James doesn't have any weaponry and it is only sounds that would naturally exist in the room. The rattling of Ford's terrorfied gun. The slight breeze from the snow. It is an exceptionally crafted scene..

In fact, this is a very well crafted film that wants to be a masterpiece so badly but just falls short into being the best movie I've seen so far this year, and not the great american masterpiece which it tries to be. Of course, if Casey Affleck doesn't get an Oscar-nomination for this film he will be criminally robbed (not saying he should win yet, but he definately deserves a nod). I'm extremely glad I saw this movie in theaters, as I thought I would only be able to see it on DVD because of the limited release. Definately a great film, but only for people who can sit down and take in everything they are seeing.

Across the Universe

During the early days of The Beatles they released three movies, a cartoon show, a documentary about their unraveling and music that changed the world of rock and roll. Undeniably the most influential band on modern rock, The Beatles are legendary. always turning out good work and breaking up before they had a chance for things to go down hill.

Then, in the late 80's the rights of the songs fell out of the hands of McCartney and the rest of The Beatles and found themselves into the hands of Michael Jackson. MJ is fast for selling any Beatle song anybody wants to use very cheaply. This made it easy for Julie Taymor (Director of "Titus", "Frida" and the stage version of "The Lion King") to make this movie which is all about how many "Beatles" songs you can cram into one movie.

The plot is Jude (Jim Sturgess) is from Liverpool, London and he comes to America to find his dad. Ends up his dad is a janitor at Princeton. At Princeton Jude meets Max (Joe Anderson), a fun loving American who hates the war. Max has a sister named Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) who hates the war as well. Jude and Lucy fall in love once Lucy, Max and Jude move into an apartment with Sadie(Dana Fuches), JoJo (Martin Luther) and Prudence (T.V. Carpio) in New York. Max gets drafted into Vietnam. From there the plot goes all wackey with Drugs, Vietnam protests, Sadie going single from her band and one Beatles song after another.

The plot is no what matters in this film at all though. The usual case is that we get about a minute or two long scene and then another song. Now, this is would not necessarily be a bad thing if the story did have every cliche of the '60's. In fact, that doesn't even make it bad. What happens is that you only connect to your actors the way you connect to a cover band: it is okay, but you want the real thing. This has been the fundamental problem of all other Beatles movies: they have been disjointed with very little substance because they are all just built around the songs. Characters are named after songs and are in there literally for one song (Prudence) or the story will take a turn into the useless for another song (Mr. Kite).

The acting in this is fairly normal. Sadly, none of the two leads stick out and are the least interesting characters in the entire movie. Joe Anderson as Max is actually very charismatic and has the best singing song out of Jude, Lucy and him. He brings out the feelings every song is trying to get at. Most notably is "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "Happiness is a Warm Gun." The two best singers in the movie are given only two or three songs: Martin Luther as Jojo and Dana Fuches as Sadie (who isn't that sexy, but has an awesome voice). These two are rock stars and kick ass in their songs. Their duet during the break up of their band is the most energetic part of the film that actually works. Luther's rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was the 2nd best part of the film and is show stopping since it is all accustic and his vocals are so soft and sweet, just how the song is supposed to be. Fuches does a really really kick ass version of "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" and "Helter Skelter." The person who really stole this film for me though was, surprisingly, Bono as Ken Kasey with a different name. He sings "I Am The Walrus" and the rest of the sequence just... kicks ass and is the high light of the film and it also marks the moment the movie starts going down hill because it is immediately followed by Eddie Izzard's "Mr. Kite" which is undeniably a trip visually, but it is an absolute terrible cover. I didn't even recognize the song until I made out that he said the words "Mr. Kite." This is the moment the movie kicks it to just wanting it to be the visuals.

The visuals are mixed between two things: the music and the dialouge. The dialouge has no feeling to the camera. It drops dead. There is nothing original there. She does the basic "point the camera and shoot" technique or she re-creates a beatles album cover for a laugh. Then there is her visuals during the music. She undeniably has an eye for this sort of stuff as every visual is tantilizing to the eye, if challenging to the brain. The problem with her visuals is that they can become comical or it has nothing to do with the song, and she just thought the visuals synched up well with the beat of the song. Truthfully, the song that most shows her pluses and her minuses is the "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" sequence. It starts out amazing strong. A terrifiying visual of Uncle Sam reaching out to Max singing "I WANT YOU!" then he gets pulled inside for training and it is the same drill sergent for everyone and they all have very goofy makeup on and I couldn't help but laugh. I mean, it is terrible when you try to make the visuals for a song that she wants to be slow and moving and people start to laugh at it, of course, they could have been laughing at her complete lack of knowledge about what the song is ("I Want To Hold Your Hand"). Then there are her amazing sequences: I AM THE WALRUS. She literally takes us through an LSD trip. Bono starts off normally and then the visuals of his body start lagging behind where he is in real space, then he becomes all negative. It is an awesome trip and a really cool scene.

But for all of the good covers, there are 2 or 3 bad covers or songs that have no use other than to be there. For a great example of a terrible cover is the rendition of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" which she decided to turn into a slow emotional song and it just doesn't work. The other terrible cover is "Mr. Kite" while Eddie Izzard has never disappointed me, I hated this sequence and it just pissed me off. "Dear Prudence" isn't a bad cover, but it is a terrible sequence that just wastes time on a useless character. Pretty much, any time it focuses on Prudence it is useless. Another sequence that was stupid/cliched was the "Hey Jude" sequence which we had been waiting for the entire movie ended up... being just another musical sequence.

The Beatles always had bad taste in movies if their films accurately show what they liked in this film and the worst criticism that I could probably give it is that it is a film that the Beatles would have liked: aka very bright and crazy colors and something to look at while tripping.

5 Favorite Directors

1) Martin Scorcese, 2)Stanley Kubrick, 3)Alfred Hitchcock, 4)Quentin Tarantino and
5)Steven Spielberg


I have wanted to be a director since I was 12. So I have studied directors, their different styles and their influences over society. So, since I'm un-original, when Kyle did a blog about his favorite directors I decided to do my own, shorter, list. Here it is. This was very difficult each director I had to judge on how many of their films I've enjoyed, who I think is the best, and who has inspired me the most to be a director

5) Steven Spielberg:

This man has rocked since his first movie "Duel" and to this day the man continues making great films. Spielberg is probably the most known director in the world. Very little people know even what a director does, but everybody knows Spielberg. His name is synonomous with great films. He has done comedies ("The Terminal") to well... any other genre. Not only has he done every genre, but everytime he does he creates a great film, if not a classic, for each genre. He has created the two best World War II films ("Schindler's List", "Saving Private Ryan"), one of the best horror films ever ("Jaws"), the best action trilogy ever (Indiana Jones trilogy), and some of the best scifi films ever ("Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "E.T".) Even his "bad" films are extremely entertaining and the man seems to just turn crap into gold even this late in his career. I cannot simply wait for "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."

4) Quentin Tarantino

The early 90's showed a great outflowing of great young directors: Rich Linklater, Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez and the Coen Brothers. Some were visually oriented (Robert Rodriguez), some were dialouge oriented (Kevin Smith, Rich Linklater) there were two that had both, the Coen Brothers and Quentin Tarantino. It was a hard choice for this slot between the two, but I made my choice and it is Tarantino because well... I just perfer Tarantino. This guy knows plot structure and he knows how to manipulate it and he knows how to write great dialouge. Every line he writes pops, it is lucky he has always had great actors to surround him. I mean, this is a guy who got Harvey Keitel to produce his first film ("Reservoir Dogs") because Keitel wanted to play a role in it so badly that he was willing to do whatever possible to get it made. His use of story structure is what gained him fame and what keeps him going today. In "Reservoir Dogs" he tells us the entire story in the first scene in what seems like a simple little discussion about pop culture. Then he tells the story in chunks and allows us to become more and more involved with these characters. Pulp Fiction mixes three different story lines at one time and what appears in one scene might be totally different than what it appears. Foxy Brown... was a regular movie and the Kill Bill debacle was just that... a debacle. Then he returned to form with "Death Proof" where he messed with the formula for a slasher film and created one intense second half.

3) Alfred Hitchcock

What is there to be said about a man who has film classes dedicated to his work. He always knows what to do with the camera and he creates deep solid characters. This is a man who did two films that are set in one room and made them incredibly scary. "Rear Window" in the hands of any other man would have failed miserably. It would have lost steam very early, but Hitchcock keeps us with the character, we know all that we know, until half way through where he shows us more than the main character. From that point on we are one step ahead and it makes us more terrified for our main character concluding in the explosive finale. In Pyscho we are watching a fairly basic crime thriller for the first 30 minutes until our main character and star, who we grow to love, is murdered in the shower sequence. From that point on we are left with who we think is a very nice guy left in a crappy situation. Hitchcock did have some failures in his early career and that is why he is so low on the list for this master.

2) Stanely Kubrick

Fans of literature who feel that books need to be directly translated should HATE this man. He made his career off of being an incredible director while "mutilating books." Truthfully, while his books are bad WORD FOR WORD translations, they are great thematic translations (except for "The Shining" but that is still an incredible movie). This is a man who turned a book about the realistic chances of a nuclear war to one of the best comedies of all time ("Dr. Strangelove") and took over "Spartacus" half way through and created one of the best epics of all time. He olds, in my opinion, the award for the best scifi movie of all time: "Clockwork Orange." All of his movies are dark facinating looks at strange circumstances surrounding regular people of the world they are in and the effects of the circumstances. It is always about the characters and he has done many awesome films and even though he went out with a failure (the soft core porno wrapped as a movie "Eyes Wide Shut") he will always be known as a pure and utter genious.

1) Martin Scorcese:

Yes, Scorcese began with two bad movies, but his career really began with "Mean Streets" the first of his unofficial italian gangster trilogy. Scorcese is best when he is given a character to get to deeply know. "Mean Streets" was all about somebody who wanted to be a gangster, but couldn't, "GoodFellas" was about a middle class gangster and "Casino" was about upper class gangsters. Even though he is known for his gangster films, his best film, which is also the best movie of all time in my opinion, is "Raging Bull." Scorcese crafted such a deeply tragic film about a man who will do whatever to become the middle-class champ and once he gets it, how his life no longer has a point. This is one of his 8 collaborations with DeNiro and it gave DeNiro one of his Oscars. This film expands on everything that Scorcese had set up with "Taxi Driver" another film. Both films work as great companion pieces with each other as well as "The Last King of Comedy" and "The Aviator" but niether of these films are as good. The reason "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" work so well together though, is it shows Scorcese's great symbolism. In "Raging Bull" each boxing scene symbolized the time in his life. In fact, the scene where he throws the fight was show with flames in front of the lenses to make it seem like he was boxing in his own hell. In "Taxi Driver" there is a scene where DeNiro is on the phone begging his girlfriend to come back to him and the camera quickly focuses on the hall next to him because the phone call was "too hard to watch."

So there they are, my 5 favorite directors of all time. Go out and rent a film of theirs.

My recommendations:

5 - Spielberg - "Schindler's List"

4 - Tarantino - "Reservoir Dogs"

3 - Hitchcock - "Rear Window"

2 - Kubrick - "A Clockwork Orange"

1 - Scorcese - "Raging Bull"

Evil Dead II

So I'm reviewing "Evil Dead II" before I review "The Evil Dead." Whatever, I watched it first out of my DVD's so far. Plus, this is the best out of this series and when I say that the "Evil Dead II" is the best out of the Evil Dead trilogy it means it is the strongest of awesome visual and hysterical orgasms. Simply.

This movie recaps the first movie with the first seven minutes but it cuts out the characters who aren't necessary to its story, needed to tell you that before we began. We are told Ash came up with his girlfriend, Linda, to an abandoned cabin for spring break. There Ash discovers a strange book: The Necronomicon Ex Mortus, roughly translated, book of the dead. He plays a recording of a professor speaking passages from it and quickly the demons come and seize Linda. The rest of the movie is a manic crazy comedy as Ash tries to survive killer trees, candarian demons, rednecks, his own hand and his decapitated girlfriend.

From beginning to end, "Evil Dead II" is a visual treat with twists and turns around every single corner. I promise you, that if you haven't already seen it, you have not seen anything like this movie before. All the transitions are fluid and keep the pace of the movie constantly speedy. There is so many gags and set pieces in this crazy movie, but it never feels rushed. Everything just organically arises from the problems and rules set earlier in the first movie (and this movie). There will not be a moment where you are bored and not just staring at the screen at the bright colors or blood and gore that flies across the screen.

Not only is this movie an absolute trip, but it is hilarious. My personal favorite sequence involves Ash's fight with his hand which has become possessed by a bite from his ex-girlfriend. Of course, that isn't the only funny part. Now, not everyone is going to find it funny, but everyone should enjoy it. The comedy is very dark and arises from your ability to laugh at the ways people get attacked, dismembered, stabbed and killed.

The comedy could not have been sold by any other man that Bruce Campbell. My favorite actor of all time, Bruce Campbell has the chin and looks to be a hero and he steps up in spades. In the first movie, his character Ash was a whiney little bitch who was forced to become the hero after everybody turned into... well a candarian demon. This movie here though, this is where Ash becomes the Ash we all know and love. The bumbling hero that has know idea how to do anything but kick demon ass. His one liners are not in full swing in this movie, but they do start appearing. Most famously, "GROOVY!" Which is inserted in the perfect place.

All the great visuals though, those are in great supply from the master: Sam Raimi. The first movie put Raimi on the map as a great visionary, and this movie upped the antee. Truthfully, these are the best visuals that Raimi has ever produced. His direction is so powerful and just in your face that you have no choice but to be in shock by it. Every frame is filled with and there is almost always a joke at least in the back ground.

If you can't realize: I LOVE THIS MOVIE! Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY needs to at least see this film. If you don't like the comedy you will at least call it a visual treat. Everything is so well designed that damn... It is the perfect movie that makes me happy everytime I watch it no matter how pissed off I am.