Archive for November, 2006
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Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
simplistic plot plus attractive female(s) plus gore minus plausibility multiplied by number of teen interests mentioned plus product placements divided by number of WB-esque actors equals PG13 horror film. it’s a great formula if you’re bored numb and need something to entertain a third of your brain for awhile.
this movie had it all. it was predictable, simplistic, irrational, full of holes, and littered with attractive just-barely-out-of-teens actors. you’ll recognize the two lead females from the mind-numbing ‘OC’ << armstrong >> and intellect vacuum ‘One Tree Hill’ << bush >>. foster is actually accomplished, but most won’t know him because his other flicks included door in the floor and live as a house. not that he was good in either, but at least he has some cred for doing them.
the story follows six gamers as they try a game their recently-murdered friend was testing. they end up dying just as they die in the game. they decide to be heroes and kill off the witch. good times all around.
character development in this one is pathetic. actually everything about this is pathetic except the money Dell and Ford put into their product placements. it even had the ridiculous gall to end with a cabin fever-esque ending. i’m glad i didn’t go through the trouble of renting this one. at least bush and armstrong looked good upside down.
mmm … impeachment »
Tuesday, November 14th, 2006
so i was wandering the alternet the other day and ran across this vid. it’s intriguing in some ways, but ultimately worthless. not because it wouldn’t be fun to watch. it may actually spark an interest in politics for me, but look at it this way: what’s the difference?
getting rid of the prez and vp won’t make us a better country. it’s more likely that it will lead to faltering. we won’t help our global image. with bush in office we at least have a recognizable face. what’s so wrong with waiting out his term? he only has a couple years left and for the duration the democrats have control of the legislative branch. it’ll be hard for him to ignore. he may actually start thinking of consequences. … ok. i’m getting ahead of myself and starting to sound idealistic. fuck that.
we’ll still look like complete fuckbags because we don’t care enough about anyone else’s culture or beliefs. bush is vacuous and socially retarded, but there’s nothing saying anyone else would be significantly better. sure they’d avoid awkward shoulder rubs and almost certainly be a competent speaker, but how are we getting out of the clusterfuck that is iraq? is there going to be some transparency in the white house? are we not going to be outright lied to as we were just before rummy booked it? will we stop being a bunch of power-hungry shitheads? will we come to terms with our diminished role as world power?
… unlikely. we’ll never have successful foreign relations until we get over ourselves. so who the fuck cares who’s in office? the brand sucks and changing the logo won’t effect the stock prices. just chill dems. there’s a new ceo coming in ’08 that’ll knock your socks off. or at least hopefully change the company’s direction.
what we need now is to get over this party-polarization and focus on a plausible exit from iraq. but we should have thought of that before we went in? sure. but we didn’t. get over it. what’s done is done and we’re not getting the 2853 as of eight-o-clock yesterday lives back by bitching about it. you were too weak-willed to stop the neo-con machine then so stand up and do it now.
we can use the political resources we’d waste on impeachment to better our country instead. if we dwell on the past too long we’ll be like the old guy in the retirement center’s lounge complaining about how all the channels are in chinese or spanish, and how back in his day we spoke english and manufactured our own goods.
running scared »
Sunday, November 12th, 2006
not to be confused with the 1986 film with the same name, << which i will likely be watching anyway >> this movie had a few strikes before i even thought of watching it. or more precisely it was recommended i watch. and due to my access to broadband and some other helpful people’s access to compression software and peer-to-peer software i felt no need to deny this recommendation. the strikes are as follows:
paul walker as main character
general feel of fast and furious
paul walker in any role
kid as supporting lead
not that i have an issue with kids because some are spot on, << namely haley joel osment or dakota fanning >> but generally they drain a film’s acting integrity. but here i am watching a film with paul walker, so integrity in that area is already hard to find. that said, he does a fairly dece job in this role. it’s gritty. it’s akin to eminem from 8 mile. and the kid is from, notably, ultraviolet, godsend, and X-men last stand, so he knows the ropes at least well enough to work well in this one.
the visuals are awesome. it’s the typical high-motion cinematography used in action films or films with less than talented lead actors, which applies on both counts. because of all the motion it adds intensity and suspense where there may not have been. overall kramer did well in not over doing it. the effects << mainly attached to all the insane violence >> helped the realism immensely. he also played very close attention to scenery. the details of the sets for certain parts dislodge the senses slightly and cause you to doubt other aspects as the story develops. he also uses his locations well, going back to them over and over at different times for different sequences.
all that is typical of a shoot-em-up, fuck-em, insert-unnecessary-titty-here action flick that it was billed to be. but it doesn’t take that route. ok… so it does, but there’s a twist that not only threw me for a minor loop, but added another level to the action at the end. i won’t waste my time explaining it because you’ll be surprised too. mostly because everything about the film seems so overdone and then it becomes fresh and interesting almost immediately.
basically the acting is expectedly sub-par, but the screenplay and directing almost make up for it and make it a movie i’d recommend watching on a chill night when the girl’s out with friends or washing her hair. she won’t likely enjoy it because walker remains almost fully clothed throughout.
this will probably be the highest rating walker will get from me for awhile, but:
***
Babel »
Sunday, November 12th, 2006
Inarritu is a cinematic genius, a force to be reckoned with, a film giant un-parralled by even the most worthy of filmmakers. Babel is the best film of the past 25 years, possibly one of the top five films ever made. It is outside the box, inventive and ingenious. this film will win best picture, inarritu will win best director – sorry scorsese, try again next year – and brad pitt will win best actor. other awards will follow – best composer and maybe best editor, cate blanchet will get a nod for either best actress or supporting.
the political undertones run deep in babel. their implications are rooted in what can only be described as human frailties. several lives are connected across a wide landscape, and more important, connected through their only common bond, the will to survive. each character in babel has a dynamic story that encapsulates everything needed to touch an audience. the stories are powerful and inarritu’s innate ability to mold the actors into their award winning roles is complimented by aggressive, stylish and beautiful cinematography in what seems to be unscripted portraits of life in motion.
it begins with strong natural tones and extreme close ups on objects that other directors dismiss as b-unit; the roles of the mundane rock the screen like nothing ever has, so carefully placed like only inarritu can. typically films with several different story lines too much emphasis is placed on the relationship between characters, even when no relationship should be noticeable – forcing their storylines into confusion. initially i wanted pitt to have more screen time than he does, but the issue is not forced and inarritu so gracefully mixes each story into a cohesive movie that pays off big.
babel is moving, inventive and fresh. it is great to see a filmmaker who does not take his notes from the production company. he is a great inspiration to not only filmmakers around the world, but to humanity in its most vulnerable state.
*****
Freedomland »
Saturday, November 11th, 2006
I loved this movie from the first 30 seconds of screenplay. If you are an editor or filmmaker Freedomland is a must see. The style, pace and grace this movie brings to the silver screen is unique and original, different from anything I have seen in a long long time. Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore are not great, fair at best – far from their Academy Award winning performances of past, however, the writing and concept of this film is phenomenal. If you liked the way race relations were portrayed in Crash than this movie is not for you. Freedomland is as realistic as real gets, at times I felt like i was watching a documentary.
a kidnapping of a middle class white child ignites a fire under the black community after a black man becomes the prime suspect. a poor african american community is taken hostage, residents are not allowed to leave their area of the city and nobody can enter, it is virtually shut off by the police. what is great about the film is it does not take sides, it allows the viewer to decide whether or not justice is served through the process of investigation, or if the law extends its arm too far.
i cannot say Freedomland is a great movie, infact, it’s hardly good at face value, and in order to appreciate this great piece of what is sure to become cinimatic art you must understand how a film is made and the process a writer, director and editor go through to reach the finished product. it is difficult to step outside the box, and i give credit to director Joe roth, who just happens to be the founder of revolution studios the major production label on freedomeland, and Nick Moore, the editor, for a phenomenal risk that barely paid the electrical bill. Stay home and rent this one, but not if you’re superficial about your cinema.
***