A solid Post-apocalyptic movie! It's a fun thrill ride! This film is a harken back to the old classic post-apocalyptic films of the 70's, while also being a film that is a traditional Samurai film. Denzel plays a badass like usually! While of course the religious themes are present in the film, it doesn't beat you over the head with them. I dug the film as an alternative apocalyptic films of today. While it does take place in that world, the world doesn't overwelm the story and the story is actually solid. The 3rd act of the film has a great twist, but it doesn't drag the film at all. In fact it almost makes the film and Denzel that much more awesome. In terms of the acting Denzel is the best. Gary Oldman is as hammy in the role as he is called to be, but he's a fun villain to watch, Mila Kunis was ok, but she doesn't drag the film down. Overall, a surprisingly good film and a good time. I'd say it's a solid FULL-PRICE!
While Visually: it's interesting, but it's ultimately a 2 hour screensaver. I couldn't emotionally connect to each character and I wasn't really feeling the story. Having read the novel, it gets rid of some small key aspects to focus on the more lamer ones sadly. But overall, I thought the performances were good. Stanley Tucci was fantastic as perfectly cast as Mr. Harvey. His performance is so layered and textured and it's unsettling to watch at times. It does it's job,but I can't help but feel let down by Peter Jackson. I really wanted to love this film, but it's a RENTAL. Surprisingly for the first time Peter Jackson isn't slavish to the original book as he was to LOTR, but there will be an inevitable 3+ hr cut of this film on dvd at some point.
Viseral and fantastically made. Everything about the film is well made and provides some of the most tense and suspenseful scenes to come out all year. Kathryn Bigelow proves that she is the best female action/genre director around. While I do like what the film aciheved in a scene building and suspense level, the story didn't do it for me. The story and the character development was almost not there. I hated the protagonist and what his goals were, I thought everybody else was underdeveloped, and I thought that the film was trying hard at times to be heavy-handed with all of these sequences in which you see what these soliders do to each other and some of the things they contemplate doing to each other on and off the field. You get the sense of what these characters are like on the field, but not on a more personal level. I was taken by the chaos that the world of disarming bombs was and I wanted to have something there to hold it all together. I understand that it was the director's intention to not go into the solider's lives, but it alienated me in the sense that I wasn't cheering for really anybody in the whole film. The story was just lacking as was the conclusion to the film. This felt very much like a video game at points with some great set-pieces and tense action scenes, but no real narractive or character to hold it all together. I would have to give this a RENTAL.
Fantastic film! Sam Rockwell proves he is a real talent in entertainment with his brillant performance as Sam Bell. I just loved the direction this film went in and the twist is fantastic and it combines elements that made the classic space movies work so well. It just gave me a new spin on space travel and the mental hurdles one goes through for that long and in complete isolation. Overall, this film is a FULL-PRICE! I loved it!
I felt that this is the spiritual successor to classic vampire stories such as "I am Legend" The novel and it presents a really interesting world in which vampires are the normality and humans are the minority. I dug everything that the film was doing. It was a great take on vampires in which what would happen if all of society had to deal with being an immortal and what the repercussions of that would be if it happened for a long enough timeline. Apart from the questions the film presents, the film works beat for beat as a bloody gore flick, but it also is scary at times! I just found this film to be very interesting, I got caught up in the story. Ethan Hawke usually annoys me, but here he was good. Willem Defoe steals the show as Elvis! The kills are bloody and satisfying, and the tone and vibe is dark. Really surprised by this flick! Definitely a FULL-PRICE!!
I thought the story was good, but it took a slow burn to get to the meat of the story. I thought everyone's performance matched perfectly to what was going on (namely with the casting of Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell) I thought the film had some great visual moments, but they sometimes looked "fakey" but it harkened back to Terry Gilliam's animated sequences. But the film worked. It felt as if there was a big re-write feeling to it. All of the actors, including Heath Ledger, all did a good job with their roles. Overall, I'd give it a MATINEE!
Hey Guys sorry for the long hiatus! Life has been dealing me quite a few cards and now I finally have some time in the new year to talk about my top 10 and my bottom 10
Here we go guys!
HONORABLE MENTION!
BLACK DYNAMITE
Just freaking hilarious and something for the film buffs and the guys that just want a fun time at the movies!
10. PIRATE RADIO
I was just in love with this film. It's a film that deals with the mental hurdles of getting over that special someone long after the relationship is over and the film delivers a heartfelt story about the mental beginning and end to the relationship. Joeseph Gordon Levitt is perfectly cast in this film and it's great to see him in a more fun role. Zooey is great in the role as the cynical summer and you can't help but both love her and hate her at the same time. Overall great and different romantic comedy!
9. (500) Days of Summer
A fantastic film that spins the romantic comedy genre and tells a story that deals with the mental start and end of a relationship and how he grows from it. Just a great new take and Joesph Gordon Levitt is great in the film, but a lot of the credit to what makes this film work has to go to Mark Webb (The Director) for avoiding the cliches that didn't need to be there and tell a great story with some great tonal choices that establish what kind of film this wants to be. GREAT FILM!
8. THE HANGOVER
Wow! One of the bigger surprises of the year! I saw the trailers and was unimpressed and thought this movie stood a big chance of being crap, but god if there's one thing I loved to be proved: it's being proved wrong! This is definitely a great comedy and Todd Phillips' strongest and best comedic work to date! This film works as a great mystery and comedy all wrapped in a great package! I absolutely had a great time watching this film and so many great one-liners from Zach Gilafankis and the rest of the cast! I dug the hell out of this film!
7. CRANK 2: HIGH VOLTAGE
The best guy flick and I walked out of this film just fuckin pumped and just energetic! I loved the film and it was overall better than the last film! I loved the tone and the action and just the energy that the directors brought to the screen and I had the best time in the theatre watching this! This one tells you to suspend all disblief, but in watching this film, you are happy to do that and you just go with it and they deliver a fantastic roller coaster ride! Check this one out and definitely a great guy/action flick!!
6. Up in The Air
Jason Reitman is proving himself to be a director that keeps delivering great and heartwarming material that hits on all points and just floors you emotionally. I loved the hell out of this film. It's another strong contender for some oscar consideration I believe. George Clooney gives a fantastic and layered performance! Everyone is perfectly cast! The one actress that surprised the hell out of me was Anna Kendrick from the Twilight series. She gives a shitty performance in those films, but when it came to this, she really stood up to bat and showed she had chops and she was great in the film! Overall, a fantastic direction from Reitman with a fantastic cast make this one a definite winner and one of the year's best films!
5. Inglourious Basterds
Tarrantino delivers another film that wasn't what I expected, but in a good way. I dug the film, but I thought the film could have been an action film, but it wasn't and that's a compliment. Harkens back to the exploitive nature of the 70's. The film is about all of these plots and side characters that surround around a silmiar goal to take down Hitler in the 1940's. It's unrealistic but yet it's very smart in it's tension building. This film is "Kosher Porn" in the best sense! The language barriers are used to a great extent! The acting is also great! Brad Pitt is fantastic as Lt. Aldo Raine, but the standout from the film is Christopher Waltz! OH MY GOD HE WAS FANTASTIC!! This guy is a shoe-in for some oscar consideration as he is intimidating in not one, but many languages! Overall its a great Tarrantino flick!
4. District 9
This movie is freaking brilliant in it's reinvention of it's aliens. These aren't aliens that are warriors trying to take over the world. These are alien dumb-fucks that were stranded on a essentially a lifeboat of a ship, but they don't land in NYC or LA or a big city, they land in freaking Africa! They land in the slums and they try to make due with being there and they are essentially street rats with the basics of all impulses! What they essentially do is take the aliens and make them truly alien and remove any humanistic features and make these aliens just grotesque. It's just an awesome, deep, and heavy take on what human and alien relations are like and the parallels it draws from a lot of real world experiences without coming across as preachy by any stretch. Just a fantastic film!
3. Avatar
Jim Cameron gives the world yet another world that leaves you with a sense of wonderment and awe. I loved the hell out of this film. It may come across as a bit preachy, but it's a hell of alot of fun. Especially in 3D or IMAX 3D! This film is just gorgeous and the story itself is a lot of what Human nature deals with and has so many thematics that you can easily wrap your head around. I thought the story was great and I dug the performance capture that they did for this. You forget you are watching a CGI heavy film and you buy into all of these characters! I loved the Hell out of this film and it's easily one of my favorite movie going experiences!
2. The Road
This film is about as bleak as any you are bound to see. You feel nothing, but a sense that this world is falling apart and you are along for this journey into the hell that may come. This is a film that is about searching for humanity in an inhumane world, and I feel that this tells a potent and more introspectively insightful story between a boy and his father. I just personally enjoyed the hell out of this film as it is about a man's love and the lengths one will go to for survival and making the sanest choices. This film just connected with me deeply and I enjoyed the hell out of it! You have not seen a post apocalyptic world like this where you feel the sense that there is no hope and escaping from death be it from cannibals or starvation or the other survivors. this world is just threat upon threat and how you deal with that. The cast is fantastic! Viggo is great and so was Kodi as his son. Robert Devall was great for the bit he was in. The set design and the art direction just gives you this bleak world and you are sold. A great film, but not a fun one to sit through at times. I really enjoyed this film!
1. Up
I don't think any film came as close to hitting me emotionally or comically as this one did. The story of Carl Fredrickson is just a deeply heartwarming and beautifully told story. Pixar has proven themselves with Pete Doctors and Bob Peterson that they are master storytellers. To be able to make you feel deeply and fall in love with a character without many lines of dialogue and cry for him in the opening, just goes to show that this film is setting a new standard for animation and storytelling. The thing that people forget about this is that it is an amazing adventure story ontop of this deep stuff. The film is also freaking hysterical at points. The film just gets better and better as it progresses and it just is my pick for my favorite film of the year. Nothing has come close to touching me as this one did! AMAZING PIXAR FILM!!
Now for the biggest shit piles of the year!
5. My Bloody Valentine 3D
Just a lame ass horror movie that you will get no enjoyment out of. The only thing that worked about the film was the 3D, but that isn't enough to carry a film and it's nothing but just a horrible story with some horrible acting and cheap 3D effects. There isn't a single reason to go out and watch this again. The worst horror film that we got in 2009, but thankfully it came out in january so we got it out of the way quickly!
4. Year One
Fuckin unfunny piece of shit. The only laughs I got out of this god awful mess was just in the ending credits when they play back the outtakes. Jack Black is fuckin playing jack Black and Michael Cera is still fuckin MICHAEL CERA in caveman days! WHAT THE FUCK DO I NEED TO ENDURE THIS PIECE OF SHIT FOR!!!!! It's not funny or clever and it is a real mis-step for Apatow and crew! Talent and great cameos by great comedians all wasted in this turd of a film!
3. DragonBall Evolution
How do you make money? Someone figured "Oh We'll just make a lame ass coming of age high school story, but we won't sell it off on that alone so we need to slap the name DRAGONBALL onto the film and exploit that fan-base." Only problem is that audiences were more smarter than that. This film freaking tanked and ya wanna know why it did? BECAUSE IT'S NOT FREAKING DRAGONBALL!!! They miss a lot of the heart of the series and they told a lame ass high school story. The original story was a fantasy first about a boy growing up. They tried to mess elements, but told a really crappy Dragonball story! This movie is just a crapfest at best! It scared the Dragonaball fan-base. Thank You 20th Century Fox for raping my childhood again!
2. Bride Wars
THIS IS TRULY A GO AWFUL: COMEDY! This is a case of Anne Hathaway (extremely talented actress and one of my personal all-time favorites) getting suckered into doing a lame ass Kate Hudson film! And SHE CO-STARS IN THIS! What was left? Matthew McConaughey coming into the movie! God this film just presents the female side as just a side that wants to get married at all costs! The only character I really understood throughout the whole thing was Anne Hathaway's boyfriend! Wanna know why? BECAUSE HE WAS SANE!! NOT ONE POINT DO THESE GIRLS EVER TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THEY LOVE THEIR BOYFRIENDS OR WHY THEY WANNA GET MARRIED! THEY JUST ARE TWO STUPID SELF-CENTERED BITCHES THAT WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO ACHIEVE AND CELEBRATE THE SALLOWEST OF FEMALE WISH FUFILLMENT! Also the script, direction, and the performances are all god-awful! It is just an unwatchable piece of shit! Forget this film!
1. Gentlemen Broncos
I thought that the worst was over when January was through because January is a shit quality month for films, but JARED FUCKING HESS proved me worng. HE GAVE ME A FALL FILM THAT WAS TRULY GOD AWFUL and above all HE GAVE ME A REASON TO BELIEVE HE CAN'T DIRECT AND HE CAN'T TELL A STORY TO SAVE HIS OWN LIFE! When you have a movie full of jokes that are all the lowest common denominator jokes and you get really talented leads such as Jemaine Celement from Flight of the Conchords, Michael Angarano (good indie work to his credit), and you make them all one-dimensional characters and they are you're leads? Your movie is in TROUBLE!!! One of the other biggest things this movies does is make SAM ROCKWELL look fucking lame! SAM ROCKWELL is a very underrated actor that shows time and time again he is a major talent entertainment, and what did Jared Hess do? He made him a freaking trannie and sci-fi hero in a story titled YEAST WARS that rides a fucking laser beam shooting DEER in the fuckin movie! YEAST WARS had more production value than the whole main arc of the film put together! FUCK JARED HESS! He had a thoughtful and great story that he just turned into a piece of shit! This film boils down to poop jokes and all fucking characters that pull plot devices out of their asses! There is no way in hell a talented writer would ever want to steal a fucking stupid story as YEAST WARS. Jemaine is the only good thing in this piece of shit of a story/film. The film just angers me to know that Jared Hess is capable of taking really great comical actors and reducing them to characters that are duller and stupidier than shit The movie also has set-ups for jokes that go nowhere. I was at a press screening for this and even the screening moderator from AINT IT COOL.COM seemed like he was depressed to be backing this movie up. THERE'S ABSOLUTELY NO REASON FOR THIS MOVIE TO EXSIST! IT'S NOT FUNNY! IT'S JUVENILE! IT'S A WASTE OF TIME!!! JARED HESS IS A HACK DIRECTOR THAT DOESN'T NEED TO BE MAKING MOVIES IN THIS GENERATION! He is a one shot! Naploean Dynamite was a movie that caught on, but nobody is fucking talking about that now! He can't make a film without Jon Heder or Jack Black! FUCK JARED HESS UP HIS ASS!!!!!FUCK HIM AND FUCK THIS GOD-AWFUL EXCUSE FOR A MOVIE! IM GLAD THIS FILM FUCKING FAILED TO HIT THE TOP 70 IN THE BOX OFFICE IT'S OPENING WEEKEND! FUCK THIS MOVIE! HANDS DOWN THE WORST THING I'VE SEEN IN 2009!!!
WELL THERE YA HAVE IT FOLKS! ENJOY IT TILL NEXT YEAR!
