First off… MERRY CHRISTMAS! Second, I hadn’t posted in a while thinking that any day my blog was to be moved to AWN. As busy as they are… that hasn’t happened yet… so, I will just continue with my current blog entries until is does happen.
In discussing Terry Gilliam's DR. PARNASSUS, let's get its footnote in film history over with from the start. It was the film Heath Ledger was working on when he died. Gilliam reworked the script and brought in Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin Farrell to play versions of his character in dream sequences. It makes no difference why the choice was made, because it works so well. This is one of Gilliam's best films.
Dr. Parnassus (Christopher Plummer, SYRIANA) has been in a wager war with Mr. Nick aka the Devil (Tom Waits, SHORT CUTS) for centuries. The mystic doctor was immortal until he gave up his immortality for love. But as deals with the Devil often go, there is always fine print. Now Dr. Parnassus must save five souls before his daughter Valentina (Lily Cole, ST. TRINIAN'S) turns sixteen or the beautiful girl will become property of the Dark Lord.
Like her film, SOMETHING'S GOTTA GIVE, Nancy Meyers makes older women desirable. Sexiness is a state of mind for her characters. But age isn't really the key issue in this film. It contemplates the question of whether a woman and her ex can make a relationship work now that they have both grown up.
Jane (Meryl Streep, JULIE & JULIA) is a successful restaurant owner. She's been divorced from Jake (Alec Baldwin, TV's 30 ROCK) for 10 years now. He ended up marrying Agness (Lake Bell, PRIDE AND GLORY), the younger woman he had an affair with when married to Jane. Their son Luke (Hunter Parrish, TV's WEEDS) is graduating from college and the whole family heads to New York to celebrate. After a night at the bar, Jane and Jake end up in bed. This begins a new love affair where Jane is the other woman.
Don't worry, no one get's anything done over the holidays.
Office romances are always tricky affairs. That applies to them on screen as well. With the delightful (500) DAYS OF SUMMER now on DVD and Blu-ray, This Weekend's Film Festival looks at some great screen office romances. Some of the best romantic comedies involve love in the workplace such as classics like THE APARTMENT and HIS GIRL FRIDAY, as well as contemporary satires like BROADCAST NEWS. This lineup finds shop clerks bickering, sadomasochism, high-powered business partners and a rogue sports agent and the woman that completes him.
(500) DAYS OF SUMMER finds love at a greeting card company. Tom, played by the always wonderful Joseph Gordon-Levitt, went to school to be an architect, but has fallen into a comfortable rut penning prose for birthday greetings. Summer, played by the charming Zoey Deschanel, is hired and Tom is smitten from the start, but he's too shy to make a move. After a night of karaoke with co-workers, Summer flirts with Tom and their relationship begins. Even though Summer says she doesn't believe in love, Tom thinks she is his soul mate. The film knows how office romances work when one of the participants is shy. Tom tries not so subtly to draw Summer into conversations by trying to woo her by playing her favorite music at his desk. As I said in my original review, "It understands that there are two people in a relationship and that hope and love (or infatuation) can cloud the clear signs that what one person is feeling isn’t the same as the other. How love clicks is always a mystery. As we flip through the days, we see how Tom fell hard and how Summer was simply Summer."
Farmer John has died and a corporation killed him. That's the premise of Robert Kenner's eye-opening documentary. What humans eat has changed more dramatically in the past 50 years than it has in all of human existence.
Processed foods are everywhere. On an evolutionary level, humans respond to sugar, salt and fat, which are the chief ingredients in our fast food diets. It's also more easily available and cheaper than ever before, creating a situation where biological urges to eat whenever food is available supports a detriment to our health. This vicious circle is driven by the corporate desire to increase profits and thus executive salaries.
The corn industry, supported by government subsidies, has exploded in recent years. More than 85% of all products in the supermarket have corn in them. Corn is so cheap now, it's the number one feed for our animals. Cows have had to be trained to eat corn instead of grass. Most meat produced in this country comes from four major corporations. Cows and chickens are raised in confined cages where they are rarely exposed to light, standing in their own feces. All of this has led to the increase in cases of E Coli poisoning. Instead of addressing the real problems, which would disrupt the quick meat turn around, the corporations started treating meat with ammonia to kill diseases. Ever wonder why you can get tomatoes in December now? It's because they are picked green and ripened with gases.
Director Franklin J. Schaffner's PLANET OF THE APES is a classic example of how sci-fi can be used to tackle controversial issues indirectly. Michael Wilson and Rod Serling's adaptation of Pierre Boulle's novel has the thoughtful examination of human nature that Serling's previous work on TWILIGHT ZONE had. The story of an ape-ruled world where religious leaders control the thinking of their people is as provocative today as it was in the 1960s.
George Taylor (Charlton Heston, BEN-HUR) is an astronaut who signed up for the deep space mission to explore the outer reaches of space. He's a cynic who hopes there is something better than man out there in the universe. When he and his fellow space explorers stumble on a planet after years of traveling, the humans there can't speak. The world is ruled by talking apes. Taylor, having lost his ability to talk in his capture, is taken prisoner and studied by the inquisitive scientist Zira (Kim Hunter, THE SWIMMER). When Taylor tries to sign to her, she believes he is a special human that might confirm the theory of her boyfriend Cornelius (Roddy McDowall, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE) that apes descended from man. However, their religious leader Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans, ROSEMARY'S BABY) believes the theory is blasphemous and disregards Taylor — until Taylor speaks and sends shockwaves through their society.
Drama, drama, drama! And no, I don’t mean they kind running the halls of your vapid high school, or that reality series showcasing the worst angels of or nature. This is the good kind, the stuff of fiction.
Director James Toback and boxer Mike Tyson have been friends for years. Tyson played himself in two of Toback's films. I think this is the key to this documentary's success. Tyson opens up and gives his point of view on his career and his behavior. He makes sense of actions that made no sense before.
Tyson's early life was not easy. He was a heavy kid who was beat up often. His mother slept around with men. At an early age, he fell in with thieves and thugs. Eventually he was arrested and put in juvenile detention. That is where he got into boxing. When he was set for release his boxing trainer didn't want to see him fall back into crime, so he sent him to see pro trainer Cus D'Amato. At first Tyson thought about robbing the old white man, but soon he came to respect him and later love him like a father.
With his latest, Mike Judge makes strides forward as a director, but steps backwards as a writer. In both OFFICE SPACE and IDIOCRACY, there was a rawness to the framing and the pacing, but the invention of the screenplay made up for it. In this comedy, Judge makes the material slick and flow easily, but has less original things to say and less thematic control.
Joel (Jason Bateman, JUNO) is the hard-working owner of an extract factory. General Mills is interested in buying his company and his partner Brian (J.K. Simmons, JUNO) is eager to never see the troublesome employees again. While business is booming, Joel's personal life is in a huge rut. If he doesn't get home by eight o'clock, his wife Suzie (Kristen Wiig, WHIP IT) put on the sweatpants and he gets nothing. His eye begins to wander when they hire a new temp, the gorgeous Cindy (Mila Kunis, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL). His drugged out friend Dean (Ben Affleck, MALLRATS) suggests Joel hire a gigolo to seduce his wife so that he'll have a free pass to sleep with Cindy. The problem is Cindy is a con artist who has shacked up with Joel's injured employee Step (Clifton Collins Jr., CAPOTE) in order to convince the worker to sue for millions.
Judge has a lot going on in this film. There's the factory politics. Mary (Beth Grant, DONNIE DARKO) constantly refuses to work when she thinks the Mexican workers aren't doing their share. Rory (T.J. Miller, CLOVERFIELD) is a metal head who screws up all the time. Step took pride in his work until the accident. Brian can't remember any of their names. Joel loves the extract business, but no one else cares about it like he does. This is where his problems with his wife come in. Then you have his relationship with Dean, who is the kind of friend that would be your enemy if he had any one else to confide in. Also in the mix is the neighbor Nathan (David Koechner, THANKS FOR SMOKING), one of those pushy neighbors that make you hide in your house.
If all these pieces seem like a lot to deal with in 92 minutes you'd be right. Events build on each other humorously. Brad the gigolo (Dustin Milligan, FINAL DESTINATION 3) and his interactions with Joel and Suzie are some of the high points. The drug interludes with Dean are the low points. The various pieces are weaved together smoothly, but in the end they don't amount to much. Joel and Suzie's relationship is too thinly developed to care about. The look at factory life is intriguing, but Joel's desire to sell right from the start doesn't really mesh with his "love" for the extract business. Nathan and Dean seem like sitcom observations rather than real characters. Dean especially seems like a plot device rather than Joel's true friend.
EXTRACT's title is fitting. Judge's observant eye extracts characters from real life. But sometimes parts get boiled down too much. If the sitcom antics are the artificial flavoring added, they overwhelm the recipe. Judge keeps adding ingredients and watered down characters, making the final product a bland stew. In one taste, some good ingredients stand out like Bateman. The next taste will be sour like many of the awkward plot resolutions. Like an extract, the film might taste like the real thing, but something about it tastes fake at the same time.
Straight comedies aren't usually the place to look for stunning visuals. So this inconsistent 1080p presentation of Mike Judge's laugher won't disappoint too many fans. The colors are good, but the blacks are patchy. The sharpness of the picture pops in some scenes, making it look the best any Judge film has looked, but then other scenes look soft and flat. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack isn't any better. The speaker balance is front speaker skewed. While the dialog is crisp, the soundscape is flat, especially in scenes inside the extract plant. The only element that utilizes the 5.1 effectively is the scoring and music.
The special features are few, short and not too impressive. The only one of note is the 11 minute making of doc titled "Mike Judge's Secret Recipe." The featurette skims the surface of the production, focusing a great deal of the factory elements of the story. Judge talks about his inspirations for setting the film in a factory, which is the only real depth in the special features. But it's not much. There are some funny moments, but not enough to enlighten fans on what Judge had intended with the overall film, which is his weakest to date. The only other features include some extended moments and one deleted scenes. They add nothing.
Well, I haven’t seen it yet. But I’d lay down 20 in Vegas that Cobra The Animation is all about guns and girls.
Considering this is only the first box, this collector’s series has clearly been chosen to convey the ultimate and final expression of the Dragon Ball saga. Although I’m not a fan, this ain’t too shabby.
The first four months of the year use to be a typical wasteland for bad romantic comedies and cheap thrillers. Now summer-caliber event films are coming out as early as February. Big stars and big directors are involved. Of course hot indies will pop up from now till then, but these are the exciting releases on the board thus far.
15) How to Train Your Dragon (March 26)
Trailer
This one barely made beat out some flicks like HOT TUB TIME MACHINE and THE DIARY OF A WIMPY KID. The trailer was not that impressive. Based on Cressida Cowell's picture book, Hiccup is a young Viking who instead of slaying dragons, he learns to train them, which is an embarrassment to his clan. Let us hope for more KUNG FU PANDA and less MONSTERS VS. ALIENS.
For those already tapped into the streaming vein of PlayStation Network, anime is definitely on its Christmas list. Here’s the latest post from my friends at PSN. And, evidently, this is only a small part of the 12-day promotion.
As perhaps the worst decade in global economic history comes to a close, 2010 won't be so bad for Naruto and Bleach fans.
Rob Marshall (CHICAGO) is good at musical staging on screen, but he is no Federico Fellini. If that statement means something to you, then you'll understand where I'm coming from when reviewing this film. Often a more cerebral experience than an emotional one, the film, adapted from the Italian musical based on Fellini's classic 8 ½, is a thoughtful exploration of an Italian movie director in crisis during the 1960s. And because the film is so nuanced and steeped in Italian cinema history, this production made the film geek in me smile. So it's a double edged sword, having seen 8 ½ before, it both enhances and takes away from experiencing this film at the same time.
Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis, THERE WILL BE BLOOD) is a living legend of Italian movie directing. Production of his latest film, Italia, is about to begin. The problem is that he hasn't written the script yet. At a press conference, he sneaks out and runs away to a spa to get away and think. He pushes off his wife Luisa (Marion Cotillard, LA VIE EN ROSE) from joining him, but embraces the arrival of his mistress Carla (Penelope Cruz, VOLVER).
Check out AWN's review of Tornado Outbreak by Konami.
Zombies... Lots and lots of zombies. Check out AWN's review of Zombie Apocalypse for Xbox LIVE Arcade and PSN.
James Cameron's career has been a lead up to making this film. Subjects he's touched on in previous films, such as the environment and corporate greed, come together in this visually arresting sci-fi event. Like STAR WARS did, he takes tried and true conventions of the genre and twists them into something exciting and new.
The world of Pandora is a kaleidoscope of glowing colors and vicious creatures, and its inhabitants are tall, sleek, sexy blue-skinned warriors called the Na'vi. The SecFor corporation has come to the world to mine valuable minerals, but it lies under Na'vi sacred grounds. Flesh and bone avatars of the aliens controlled by human scientists are used to negotiate with the Na'vi and learn the planet. When one of the scientists is killed, the corporation brings in his twin, paraplegic Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, TERMINATOR SALVATION) to operate his avatar to save on growing a new, very expensive, avatar. Head scientist Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, ALIENS) is furious about it because Jake isn't a scientist, but a marine grunt. Her complaints fall on deaf ears, however, as corporate hack Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) is only interested in business, not science. This, however, encourages Col. Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang, THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS) who sees Jake as a military spy.
With THE HANGOVER now on DVD and Blu-ray, This Weekend's Film rounds up some raunchy comedy for your viewing enjoyment. In addition to a black out filled trip to Las Vegas, there are bawdy stand-up comedians and an outrageous Austrian fashion journalist. Wanton drunkenness consumes the Sunday lineup with a holiday black comedy and the quintessential raunchy laugh fest.
THE HANGOVER has four friends heading to Vegas for a bachelor's bash right before Doug (Justin Bartha) is to get married. Along for the trip are Doug's best friends the alpha alpha-male Phil (Bradley Cooper) and the henpecked Stu (Ed Helms), as well as his loserish brother-in-law-to-be Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis in a star making performance. Phil, Stu and Alan wake up in their hotel room with missing teeth, a baby and a tiger. Also Doug is missing. Now they must piece together the night before so they can find their friend and get him to the wedding on time. As I said in my original review, "Surprisingly, as much as the film goes for the raunchy humor, more times than not, it roots its humor in its characters." The dynamic between the opposites Phil and Stu creates most of the film's laughs. Alan sees the world from a skewed perspective and adds the right dose uncertainty to the entire story. The over-the-top events of their missing night aren't just random, but driven by the characters' personalities. It's one of the funniest films of 2009.
Watch this movie! You won’t be surprised why Ichi has received endless acclaim. As adaptations go, it’s spot on.
Taking a look at the new Disney "The Princess and the Frog" film and what its early box office could mean.
A different feeling sunk in as I watched ANIMAL HOUSE more than 10 years after I first saw it in college. Then I found it full of pointless debauchery and foolishness. However, now, I felt a tinge of nostalgia. Not for myself, but for a time and place. Many raunchy college party films have come after this one, trying to up the ante, but none have the dry satire underneath.
Larry Kroger (Tom Hulce, AMADEUS) and Kent Dorfman (Stephen Furst, TV's BABYLON 5) are looking to pledge a fraternity. At first they go to the Omega Theta Pi house, where the brothers and their cookie cutter Southern prom queen girlfriends have no time for a fat kid and a geek. Kent convinces Larry to go the Delta Tau Chi house, where his father was a member. As a legacy, they have to take him. Larry is reluctant because it's the notorious party house where drinking is a sport. But Delta House is really a band of misfits and the freshman take to being part of a group instantly.
At any rate, the monstrous popularity of Bleach overshadowed, and continues to overshadow, the mediocrity of the Bount. No matter how many complaints you can hurl, the Bount cycle did not deviate from the essential Bleach aesthetic: the deep bonds of friendship and a never-ending chain of bankai wielding battles.
