I’m a huge Kevin Smith fan. I’m even friends with him on Facebook.
Jersey Girl is about a guy who’s wife dies in labor, loses his big PR job and has to raise his daughter.
I think most fans were disappointed by Jersey Girl because it was pretty different than the stuff that Smith has put out in the past. There are moments of inspired dialogue, but nothing as sharp and witty as Clerks. And I think that’s where the film went wrong. People were expecting that. They were expecting something vulgar and outrageous and couldn’t see what was there in front of them.
Jersey Girl is sweet and Ben Affleck does a fair job. If anything is wrong with the movie, it would be Liv Tyler’s character. She’s underused and that particular subplot falls flat when it just starts to get good.
Jersey Girl is definitely a departure from Smith’s previous work. But it’s sweet and touching and it works on those levels. It’s not ground breaking cinema, but it’s entertaining (if you’re into that sort of thing).
Dog Bites Dog is a HK movie about an assassin who falls in love. Pang (Edison Chen) is shipped to Hong Kong to assassinate a judge’s wife. Some detectives examine the scene and track Pang down. They manage to catch him, but he escapes and the cops pursue him.
This movie’s got a lot of style. And if you’ve seen the garbage of a movie Unleashed, where Jet Li is raised as a dog, you’ll undoubtedly see the similarities. Dog Bite Dog goes even further by actually inserting dogs barking and growling during some of the fights, specifically between Pang and the cop.
For the most part, the movie’s fine. The pacing is good and you end up really caring for Pang. But just when you think it’s over, they tack on another 25 minutes or so. This last bit is terrible and really pulls down the movie. Another case of greatness turned into garbage, a la, AI.
There’s some really strong themes in this, like identity and safety, but it gets lost in the final act. You’ll be tempted to watch more after Pang gets on the boat, but don’t, it’s not worth it.
Knocked Up is Judd Apatow’s the follow up hit to The 40 Year Old Virgin. Ben (Seth Rogen) goes to a party and meets Alison (Katherine Heigl) who he ends up spending the night together. She gets pregant and decides to keep the baby. The rest of the movie covers their romantic development and themes of growing up.
It wasn’t a bad movie, just not all that funny. The 40 Year Old Virgin was much better in the laugh department. But Apatow manages to weave a heart felt story of two mismatched people who find each other. There are parts that seem drawn out, but the main problem, is that it’s too real. The circumstances and the way the deal with them are too true and common to really be funny.
Miller’s Crossing is a gangster movie where, Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) plays two gangs against each other. Set in the 1940s, the Coen Brothers do an excellent job of setting the time period. But it takes awhile to get to the point of the movie. To be honest, there were points where I felt a little lost.
If you’re a fan of the Coen Brothers or if you like period pieces, this is requisite viewing. Otherwise, you’re not missing too much.
Live Free or Die Hard is about a bunch of hackers who are out to steal some money. Don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler. Since it’s Die Hard, you know it’s about money. It’s always about money. John McCain (Bruce Willis) is back with a damsel in distress, Matthew (Justin Long), in tow.
All Matthew does is wine and wine and state the obvious. The few times that he’s actually useful for something, he manages to get in trouble or get a gun pointed to his head. Lucy, McCain’s daughter, has a bigger sack then Matthew.
Any card carrying geek will automatically balk at having the “Mac Guy” play the resident hacker. And you would think seeing the “Mac Guy” get emasculated left and right would be fun, and it is, for about 5 minutes. At which point, it gets old.
Die Hard has its requisite explosions and gun fights, but none of it builds any tension. We’ve been here before and we know all the bad guys die and all the good guys live. No matter how preposterous it may seem.
Futurama released its first straight to DVD movie which will then be aired on Comedy Central. After being off the air for about two years, it’s a welcome sight. But you might not want to run out to pick it up just yet.
There’s a bunch of time traveling, Lila meets a girl, and some internet scammers steal the Earth. There are a bunch of sight gags and a ton of references for Futrama jedi to catch. They also do a fair job of keeping track of the potential paradoxes that time travel could cause, not that they really pay too much attention to causality.
For the most part, the movie is effective. If you’re a Futurama fan, you’ll surely welcome the series’ return to TV. If you’ve never seen the show before, it does a fair job of introducing some of the characters, but honestly, it won’t nearly be as funny for you.
Tekkonkinkreet is an anime about two boys, Black and White, who run a small ghetto. They eventually fight yakuza and other stuff.
Part of the draw is that these boys seem to have super powers. They can jump really high or do other crazy things. But they’re not the only ones with these powers.
The animation is a mix of beautifully detailed backdrops and rough sketchy character animation. This contrast works, giving the anime a very distinct style. Some of the best animation occurs in White’s dreams. These dreams are made of watercolor and morph and transform fluidly.
The plot is kind of thin and there aren’t really any heady themes like you would find in most anime. This is not to say it’s bad. But for the most part, you’re just sitting there waiting for something to happen and when it does, you kind of want it to mean something.
Gone Baby Gone is the directorial debut of Ben Affleck. It’s about two private investigators that are hired to help find information about a missing child. But the kidnapping isn’t as straightforward as it would seem.
For the most part, Baby works. Casey Affleck does a surprisingly good job in the lead. And even though the film is technically sound, it just didn’t generate a lot of tension for me. There was one section towards the middle where they assault a house. But aside from that one segment, it was all kind of flat.
Of course, there’s a twist ending. But it’s not like Shyamalan’s twists that come out of the blue. The twists here work and you don’t feel like you’re being manipulated.
If you like mysteries, check it out. It’ll definitely provide plenty to talk about afterwards.
I watched this based on Steve’s recommendation. I tend to watch a lot of movies while I’m doing other stuff. Sometimes I read a magazine, sometimes I do some work. In this case, I was trying to wrap up some stuff for Love Angle. But the first half of the movie was so engaging that I stopped what I was doing to watch the movie.
The first half of the movie is tight and engaging. You care about the victim and want to see the perp brought to justice. Then they throw in this crazy car chase that absolutely blows your mind.
Then, all of a sudden, it’s all over. What was thrilling and original becomes predictable and boring. But I don’t know if they could’ve gotten away from it. The problem was, they removed the most interesting element of the story. What made the story really interesting was looking into the past. Without this little toy, it’s just like any other cops and robbers, or in this case, cops and terrorist, movie.
This isn’t so much a review of Transformers, as it is a way to talk about the new JJ Abrams project, codenamed: “Cloverfield”. If for no other reason, you should go see Transformers for this trailer. It is probably the best trailer EVER! There’s plenty of descriptions of the trailer out on the internet, so search if you’re interested. I would link to the trailer if I could find it.
On to the review.
For the most part, Transformers is fun. The movie is long, and you feel it. Mostly because they try to pack in so many jokes that when they don’t hit, it just slows everything down. This is probably the biggest flaw of the film. What should be a tense epic, becomes almost hum drum. You never really feel like the fate of the world is at stake because the remove the urgency with humor.
This is not to say the movie is bad. The transformers look amazing. As much as I dislike that Bumblebee is a camaro, it kind of works. And Megatron is a house and a half, transforming into this crazy fighter jet. And when they battle, the bring it hard.
The highlight has to be Megan Fox. She is so hot. When you do a google image search, she just looks pretty. In some pictures, kind of plain. But the cinematographer is so good, that she steals the scene whenever she comes on.
If you love transformers, see it. If you love making movies, watch it for the “Cloverfield” trailer.
