Shutter Island (added 3/16/10)
I don’t really like scary movies, but when I saw the previews for Shutter Island I thought I’d give this one a chance. The only reason being, that this one was made by Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, the Departed). He’s a great director and I usually like his movies, but this one looked so different from the movies he usually makes I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Luckily the previews made it look a lot scarier than what it really was.
Shutter Island is the name of a small island that houses a mental hospital for the criminally insane. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) along with his partner are sent to Shutter Island to investigate the disappearance of one of its murderess patients who is believed to still be on the island. I don’t want to say too much more about the plot than that because there are a lot of twists and turns that take place that really need to be seen rather than explained.
I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago but I didn’t write the review right away because (a) I’m lazy, and (b) I wasn’t sure what I thought of the movie. Not like I felt about Youth in Revolt, with that movie I just didn’t really care one way or the other about it. Shutter Island I was still trying to figure out how I felt about it and what I’d say about it. So now that I’ve had some time to think about it here are my thoughts.
The acting was really good. The three main actors, Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed, Titanic), Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac, 13 Going on 30), and Ben Kingsley (Sexy Beast, Gahndi) all do an excellent job.
The film has the look and the feel of a movie that was made in the 50’s. It’s hard to put your finger on why this is exactly but it gives it a real Hitchcock vibe. This works for the movie because the story takes place in the 50’s.
As I said earlier, this movie has a lot of twists and turns in it which culminates in a big twist ending. I wouldn’t have mentioned it if I hadn’t heard the same thing in every review I read or heard. I hope I haven’t ruined it for anyone. Not giving away the twist is good but telling people there’s a twist is almost as bad because now you’re watching it knowing things aren’t as it seems. Then when the twist does come it’s not as surprising or as powerful. And that’s exactly what happened in this film. Although I have to say that after all the twist and turns were done I did like the way the film ended.
Overall though I thought this movie was good but not great. With all of the names associated with this movie I was expecting more I guess. I think this movie is worth seeing but I’d wait for the DVD. If you want to see a great Scorsese/DiCaprio collaboration check out The Departed.
The Wolfman (added 2/14/10)Going into The Wolfman I wasn’t expecting much. I thought the previews just looked OK, but I figured the special effects should be decent and I like Benicio Del Toro. Even with my low expectations, I didn’t like The Wolfman. It’s like the filmmakers figured everyone knew the wolfman story so they didn’t have to spend any time working on a good script and could get by with some good make-up effects. Unfortunately even the make-up effects weren’t that good. It was just a failure on every level.
Let me give you some example of what I’m talking about. The script was just bad. The filmmakers were remaking a classic horror movie so they figured it should be scary. Instead of writing in some actual scary or intense moments with the characters they just gave you cheap scares. What I mean is, say a character is looking for the wolfman in a dark house. He’s breathing heavily to show you that he’s scared, the dramatic music is playing to let you know it’s a suspenseful moment. He hears a noise so he sneaks up to investigate, then BANG!, a loud noise or bark and a close up of the family dog jumping out of the shadows to run out of the room. Another example is Benicio Del Toro is upset because he starts to think that he may be turning into a monster but he’s not sure. His lady friend wants to comfort him and tell him everything is OK, it’s just his imagination. She hugs him. He’s starting to think that maybe she’s right, then he catches his reflection in a mirror and BAM! Cue the loud music and a flash close-up of a wolfman’s face. Sure all scary movies have these cheap scares in them and they might even work by making you jump a little bit. The problem is is that this movie has literally two dozen of these things in it. Sometime two or three of them within 20 seconds of each other. When there are that many of them they lose their impact and become a joke rather than a scare.
Another example of the bad script was the lazy writing. Sure this story has been around for about 100 years and everyone knows it, but you can at least act like you’re trying to tell a new story. There’s a scene in the movie after a couple of grisly murders have taken place where the towns folk are sitting around in the pub trying to figure out what’s been going on. Some people think it’s the gypsies dancing bear mauling the people. Others think it’s a mad man. One old guy thinks it’s an unholy beast, i.e. a wolfman. Everyone thinks this old guy is crazy but maybe they should take the necessary precautions and start melting down their silver to make bullets. Now you and I know that silver bullets can kill a warewolf because we’ve seen about a dozen different movies that tell us this. I don’t think these guys sitting in this pub in the 1800’s should be quit as familiar with warewolf lore. Put in a scene or at least a sentence in the script explaining why they would think a silver bullet would do the trick.
There are other examples of the bad script but I think you get the point. Let me just talk about the make-up effects real quick. Yes some of the transformations of man into beast were pretty cool but overall the special/make-up effects weren’t very good. I just didn’t think the look of the wolfman was that great, which is very disappointing since Rick Baker, one of Hollywood’s best make-up artists, did the make-up. The wolfman’s body looked like he had some pillows stuffed under his shirt to give the look of muscles. His face looked about the same as it has in every Wolfman movie. Plus it didn’t seem like he could close his mouth. Every scene he would stand there growling and drooling with his mouth wide open.
Don’t waste your money on this movie. If you really want to see it, wait until it comes out on HBO or borrow the DVD from a friend who didn’t read this review. If you’re looking to see a good warewolf movie check out An American Warewolf in London. Even Teenwolf would be a better choice than this version of The Wolfman.
Have you ever had to pee so bad that you have to walk to the bathroom slightly bent over because standing up straight puts too much pressure on your bladder? Well that was me after Up in the Air. You might be wondering why I’m telling you this in a movie review. I’m telling you this because that’s how good Up in the Air was.
About half way through the movie I started realizing that the tanker of diet Coke I just drank probably wasn’t the best idea. As the movie played on the urges to pee got stronger and stronger. The same thing happened to me during Avatar. The difference was that in Avatar I just waited until it seemed like it was going to be a slow(talking) part so I could go and not miss any of the action. Because the action is really why you’re going to watch Avatar. With Up in the Air I didn’t want to miss a minute of the movie. You get so involved with the characters that missing even a small part of it would be like missing a huge special effects fight seen in a different movie.
You may have heard that the three leading actor/actresses have been nominated for Oscars for their work in this film. I couldn’t agree more. George Clooney is George Clooney. He does a great job and you believe that his character really loves what he does and life on the road/in the air. Vera Farmiga also does an excellent job with her role, but the person I was most impressed with was Anna Kendrick. The only other thing I’ve seen her in is Twilight as one of Bella’s non-vampire high school friends, and honestly I didn’t really think she was that good. Up in the Air wouldn’t have been nearly as good if her performance wasn’t so good. Although George Clooney is the lead actor in the movie I think it’s Anna Kendrick’s performance that made the movie work.
I really liked Up in the Air and I think it’s worth seeing in the theater although it would play just as well at home on DVD for those of you that refuse to go to the theater. You know who I’m talking about. I think this is one of the movies you should see before the Academy Awards though. If you like it you should check out some of Jason Reitman’s other films, Thank You for Smoking and Juno.
About half way through the movie I started realizing that the tanker of diet Coke I just drank probably wasn’t the best idea. As the movie played on the urges to pee got stronger and stronger. The same thing happened to me during Avatar. The difference was that in Avatar I just waited until it seemed like it was going to be a slow(talking) part so I could go and not miss any of the action. Because the action is really why you’re going to watch Avatar. With Up in the Air I didn’t want to miss a minute of the movie. You get so involved with the characters that missing even a small part of it would be like missing a huge special effects fight seen in a different movie.
You may have heard that the three leading actor/actresses have been nominated for Oscars for their work in this film. I couldn’t agree more. George Clooney is George Clooney. He does a great job and you believe that his character really loves what he does and life on the road/in the air. Vera Farmiga also does an excellent job with her role, but the person I was most impressed with was Anna Kendrick. The only other thing I’ve seen her in is Twilight as one of Bella’s non-vampire high school friends, and honestly I didn’t really think she was that good. Up in the Air wouldn’t have been nearly as good if her performance wasn’t so good. Although George Clooney is the lead actor in the movie I think it’s Anna Kendrick’s performance that made the movie work.
I really liked Up in the Air and I think it’s worth seeing in the theater although it would play just as well at home on DVD for those of you that refuse to go to the theater. You know who I’m talking about. I think this is one of the movies you should see before the Academy Awards though. If you like it you should check out some of Jason Reitman’s other films, Thank You for Smoking and Juno.
Youth in Revolt (added 2/11/10)
I’m sorry this review has taken me so long. It’s not because it was so good that I had to find just the right words to express myself, but rather that I didn’t really feel all that strongly about the movie one way or the other. I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t really like it either. So, without taking any longer, here it is.
Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad) plays the same character he plays in every movie. Luckily I like him so it doesn’t bother me. If you’re not a fan of his, then stay away from this movie. There are a couple of laughs in the movie, but not enough to make it worth $10 or even $5. My advice, wait until it comes out on HBO and catch it there. If you want to see a good Michael Cera movie then rent Superbad or Juno.
Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Superbad) plays the same character he plays in every movie. Luckily I like him so it doesn’t bother me. If you’re not a fan of his, then stay away from this movie. There are a couple of laughs in the movie, but not enough to make it worth $10 or even $5. My advice, wait until it comes out on HBO and catch it there. If you want to see a good Michael Cera movie then rent Superbad or Juno.
An HBO movie about the legal battles that took place in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election that help determine the winner. A well made film about a somewhat complicated and possibly boring story. There were two things in particular the film makers did that I liked. The first thing was the way they combined actual news footage with the actors to tell the story. The second thing was the way the movie was shot. It was shot using a lot of hand held cameras which gave it a documentary feel. Combined with the news footage and the quality acting, it made if feel very real. That said, I still wouldn’t recommend this movie. Even with the current change in administration it’s still a little too fresh in our memories to relive this period of political history. And if you were a Bush supporter, you won’t be real happy with the portrayal of your political party. The Republicans weren’t necessarily vilified but there was a definite bias. So unless you’re a Nadar supporter or just enjoy that feeling of anger building up in your gut, I’d stay away from this one.
Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamal, an orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is accused of cheating when he is nearing the top prize of India’s version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It’s with flashbacks during the police’s interrogation that you see how Jamal’s life history provided him with the answers to these nearly impossible questions. Slumdog Millionaire is winning or being nominated for virtually every movie award out there this year. It just recently won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and was nominated for Best Picture by the Academy Awards. I can honestly say that I agree with them. I’m sure this is making all the film critics out there breathe easy knowing that I feel they made the right decision. But anyway, this is a great movie. You really care about the characters. You feel like cheering for Jamal’s triumphs and shuddering at the horrors he goes through. It’s very well done from the direction to the acting. It’s a great film but I can’t imagine India’s tourism board is all that happy with it. I’ve always felt that India is one of those countries I’d never want to travel to, and this film only validates those feelings. It feels like you could actually get hepatitis just by watching this movie. If you’re a germaphobe I’d recommend staying away from Slumdog Millionaire, but if you’re up to date on your tetanus shots and want to see a good film, go see it.
This isn’t a new movie. It’s a movie everyone has seen and usually loves and considers a comedy classic. Over the years I’ve seen bits and pieces of it but I’ve never seen the entire thing from beginning to end. So when I saw the DVD at the library I had to get it. I had to see what all the fuss was about.
As I said before, a lot of people consider Caddyshack to be a classic, one of the funniest movies ever. I think the people that feel that way are probably people who saw it for the first time around the time it came out (1980). Comedies are like that. I don’t think they hold up as well 20,30 years down the road for a first time viewing. I think for someone who saw it when it was new and loved it, could still love it and think it was funny today. That’s because it reminds them of the first time they saw it. When, “Did someone step on a duck” was new and funny. I had heard that line so many times by so many different people that when I heard Rodney Dangerfield say it it seemed more like Dangerfield doing an impression of my dad than the other way around.
I’m glad I saw it but if I was in the mood to watch something funny and was looking for something to see, Caddyshack wouldn’t ever cross my mind. In case you’re wondering, I would go for something like 40 Year Old Virgin, SuperBad, Role Models or anything by Kevin Smith
