Category — movies

CoCo said not to be cynical, but it’s kind of hard for me. I’m working on it though. I’m also trying not to be jaded. It’s hard to do CoCo.

I keep starting a bunch of drafts for posts but wind up deleting them because I come off as c&j. (I also come across as a dick, but that’s okay, everyone knows I’m a dick).

But when I look around the blogosphere, it seems that cynicism is in no short supply.

I’ll give you a mellow example of my own take in how I can easily be led down the dark path of snark.

I finally got around to watching District 9. It passed my 3DMT™ because I thought it was entertaining even the story wasn’t that original and a bit ham-fisted in shoving stuff down our throats.

It almost didn’t pass because my first reaction was to rip the movie apart. I think I wanted to tear it down because I had read some articles about how the movie was made, or rather, how it became to be a full feature. And I was a bit jaded about it being nominated for an Oscar.

Supposedly it was a spec film for the director to show off some ideas to Peter Jackson for a Halo movie. Those plans were scratched, but they realized that for just a bit more budget they could put out a full movie with the material they had- or by adding just a bit more.

But here’s the thing-

1) I’m not sure if that info is even true, but it’s what I remembered and

2) two movie blog posts that ‘reported’ that trivia seemed to lead you to infer that it was a lesser quality film because of that history- if the posts hadn’t been written that way, how would I have reacted?

I skipped out seeing District 9 in the cineplex because of that inference. Looking back I realize now I would have had a good time. It was on my to-do list for the holidays (along w/ Avatar, which I still haven’t seen)

I would have had a good time, but I would still rip on the film – in a good-natured way though. (Seriously- why was Christopher the only alien who was smart? Why did his kid have big old sad dog eyes? To make him more available emotionally?)

But go rent the film, it’s pretty good. It’s not Oscar worthy at all, but it’s still fun.

Liked District 9 but want to watch something else? Go rent the original Alien Nation with James Caan and Mandy Patinkin (not the TV show).

While you’re doing that, I’m going to try to read fewer movie blogs.

-Oh, and re: item 2 above–

And does it matter? It’s kind of cool that a dude had a project about to be shelved but had it get a second life. Hey, at least he’s creating content.

Another movie clip, from 1983 – the part they almost always cut out whenever this flick is on TV. I never knew the blonde was 30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski.

And a jealous nerd. I wish I could make cool movie props.

I was performing “DVR maintenance” yesterday and watched the first episode of The LL Cool J and Robin Show NCIS: Los Angeles and there was a part where the woman from The Incredibles Oscar-winner Linda Hunt scans Chris O’Donnell’s character’s eyes with a handheld scanner.

I’m pretty sure that’s the same scanner Adam Savage built for Bicentennial Man (LINK TO PIC). What do you think?

It’s nerdy that I knew about that prop being on his site… and nerdier that I got my own screenshots of NCIS: LA… but that’s a whole ‘nuther story about Maltese Falcons that I don’t want to get into right now.

The cool thing about Savage’s prop is that he built it from a Dunhill lighter and added lights nstuff. I wish I knew how to do that (and had a machine shop).

Inglorious Basterds passed my 3DMT ™. I really liked the film a lot.

A friend had been in town recently and I was saying that I was apprehensive about seeing the movie because I didn’t like Death Proof and was worried about Basterds being good. Plus, based on the little I knew about the plot, I thought it’d be kind of an icky “Jew Fantasy Porn”. But I had nothing to worry about.

I’ll start with some negative comments first- IB is not a straight up war “team” movie like Guns of Navaronne, Force 10 from Navaronne, The Dirty Dozen or The Big Red One, or even The Great Escape- so if you’re expecting that (and some ads and interviews lead you to believe this), you may be disappointed.

If you’re expecting Jew Fantasy Porn- American Jews getting together and beating the shit out of Nazis, like I was, you won’t get that either. There is a that but it’s a bit… just a set-up for me (btw, I don’t think that Eli Roth is that good, he just fits the bill physically, he had no depth and I think his character is what the kids will remember from this- also was it him or Omar Doom as a d-bag in that bar scene in DP that made you wonder how people got cast?).

What you will get with Inglorious Basterds is a movie that has smart, solid dialogue that actually works with the movie (screw you Death Proof) and smart chapters that are wide open to interpretation.

Yes, there are chapters like in Kill Bill, but they break the film out into almost separate mini-films. The first ‘chapter’ alone should win awards for Christoph Walz (the bad guy, really really bad guy) and Denis Menochet.

That first chapter sets up the evilness of the main Nazi and a French farmer. It’s strong enough that I know I’ll buy the DVD when it comes out to watch it over again.

You get a lot of FILM for this movie – a fairy tale with all of the requisite pieces: once upon a time… a scary bear … bad things going on in the dark forest  ..  a nod to the new wave and love of French Cinema… and just a love of old movies as well.

I’m still chewing on the Shoshana ‘chapter’ in my head though. I think there are a lot of references that went over my head, but is worth a second look for me.

Go see the movie. And leave me comments if you have seen it.

via the BBC:
the community of Esperanto speakers prepares to mark the 150th anniversary of its author’s birth
(story)

Is it time to celebrate the anniversary with another showing of Incubus?

It’s kind of odd how my mind works sometimes… I was watching a movie recently that starred Ralph Fiennes and Natasha Richardson (The White Countess) and I thought – that’s odd, did I put this in my queue when the sad news of Richardson’s accident came up? I had to think about it for a while and realized the movie that I had just sent back to Netflix had similar themes… or settings rather.

I had watched The Painted Veil (w/ Edward Norton,  Naomi Watts & Liev Schreiber) just the week before- so months back, I must have had 1930s China on my mind and put both in my queue. I just wish I remembered what I had been reading back then that triggered the rentals. That’s the downside of having a netflix queue that’s so long.

I’ll save the reviews for later- but let’s just say both movies are good, but very different. I liked the cinematography in The Painted Veil  more- but then again, it’s hard to film that locale and wind up with a bad shot. But I liked the story and acting of The White Countess more (even though some montages bugged the crap out of me)…

But that’s not my point today… I wanted to talk about Ralph Fiennes’ tuxedo jackets in the movie- yeah, nerdy I know. But check them out though- I took some screencaps.

I want to get jackets like these made and wear them to Angie & Mike’s wedding or some other event… (they’re *just* a bit  classier than my standard guayaveras no?)

Ralph Fiennes’ character owns a swanky nightclub in Shanghai and if he’s not wearing the standard black dinner jacket, he has on this green plaid number:

And then later in the movie when he’s entertaining Red Chinese, Japanese Navy, and European Ex-pats he has on this fancy chinese-brocade(?)/embroidered jacket:

(check out the back too)

I want one of those just to wear to Cory’s or Marc & Jen’s for bbqs and cigars! Granted, I’m not sure I can pull off that look as smoothly as the suave Fiennes, but I’ll try…

Of course in the movie, the jackets and Ralph are all upstaged whenever Natasha’s on screen

Maybe this will be my “adam savage dodo bird/maltese falcon” project.

As it’s the end of the year, I’ve been looking back to do a self-review. Part of it is so I can write my goals for next year, but mostly I just want to know how this past year went for me. My goals are almost always the same thing, so it gets boring sometimes and I need to get creative when writing new ones – or I have to be very specific.

But as I was looking back over ‘08 I realized that I haven’t been enjoying the movies as much. Well, I knew that but I wanted to think about it more and to find out why.

Here are two things that stuck out at me:

1) I think I only went to the actual movie theater twice this year. That’s it!? Just twice?! I saw No Country for Old Men and Batman: The Dark Knight.

EDIT: I saw No Country in Dec ‘07. Uggh, I only went to the theater ONCE in a year? That’s unheard of for a Schwartzman. That can’t be right.

2) Most of the moviesDVDs I watched this year, I kind of whined about. Various little things here and there… plot points, characters, etc. And as this is a blog, I don’t get into why that is, I just whine and move on. But why is that?

For item #1- I know there’s a lot of “stuff” surrounding theater-goers woes: ticket prices, concession prices, cell phone noise, cell phone texters, loud talkers, etc. But that’s not what has kept me away. I think I just don’t schedule my time correctly, or I wuss out and look for excuses not to go if I’m invited. (I get invited to a lot of daytime showings – “long lunches”.) That’s fixable.

For item #2- I think the reason that I’m whining more is that I’ve lost some of my escapability. I’m probably not wording this correctly- but what I mean is that sometimes I just can’t sit back and get lost into the movies like I used to be able to do.

I could with Torque (and enjoyed it) but I couldn’t do it with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (review pending). With Indy, it was because I had wanted to see it and my expectations were high. And even though I was at home and on my couch, I couldn’t get into the film without picking it apart (and thinking “Southpark was right!”).

It wasn’t until later (my 3DMT™) when I heard Kevin talking about it over Pho that I realized it was a fun movie despite it’s flaws and that I should “lighten up, Francis”

So for ‘09 I have two movie goals: go to the theater more and just enjoy what I’m watching without picking it apart.

Yes it’s been a while. Here’s how it usually goes-

insert statement here about how I’m shocked that I haven’t watched many movies (even though I have – I even had a quick blurb about the artistic Torque which you really should watch with your friends and beer this week)…

I then complain about how I haven’t been to the cineplex in a while (although true, I did finally go see The Dark Knight when it was out) on this line here ..

Okay – now we’re ready for me to whine . ..

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Someone asked me recently why I haven’t posted a DVD Roundup in a while. Well, the answer is that I haven’t really seen anything worth writing about.

I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve been caught up in other things (Euro2008 in June?, work?, tech crap?) or if I was just watching more TV from the DVR. Or maybe I’ve just been negative about everything. . .

I have a theory about the movie-watching-slowdown, but I’ll save that for a future blog post.

But I tell you what, I’ve gone through my Netflix rental history and my stack of borrowed items. Here’s what I’ve seen recently:

I Am Legend – CRAP movie. Okay, so the antagonist is smart enough to figure out how to rig up a trap just like the one Will Smith rigged up, but he’s not smart enough to open up the lab door at the end? Btw- that door operated from the outside in the earlier parts of the movie, so shhh you.

There Will Be Blood – I really really really wanted to like this movie. I thought everyone in it was great, but in the end I just couldn’t give a crap about the story. And I’m usually pretty forgiving about that. Well, I did give a crap actually now that I think about it- I just thought it kept taking weird turns . . .

The other thing about this movie is that when Daniel Day Lewis was on screen, I kept thinking he sounded like John Huston. Don’t believe me? Check out this clip, then watch this great old interview (skip to 9:20 if you’re impatient).

(Jet Li’s) Fearless – Meh

Live Free or Die Hard – Compared to I Am Legend this was high-art.

Lucky Number Slevin – This one was okay. A bit too self-aware if you know what I mean, but I thought it was interesting and clever.

Shooter – Escapist fare . . . but I bet it came from a much better series of books that I should look for to add to my commute reading stack. The movie was a bit(!) predictable.

Miami Vice – holy crap this sucked . . . so many plotholes. . . Oh, btw, on the DVD extras, they talk about how into “the art” and “the look” Michael Mann is and the lengths he goes to to get things a certain way in the movie. He should’ve paid more attention to the storytelling.

Mi3 – Was much better than Mi2. But what does that tell you?

Grind House – Wow, the first Tarantino movie I didn’t really get into . . . and I’m a fanboy!

WAIT WAIT- there was one movie that I thought was clever–

Shoot ‘Em Up – It was like a live-action cartoon with Clive Owen and Monica Bellucci. It was even strangely political. But I really was able to get back into escapist movie watching mode and enjoy this.

Other than that, you know what I’ve (still) been watching? The Shield. Season 5 wassodamngood zomgwtfbbq. And I’m getting ready to start watching The Wire. I hear The Wire is a great time suck and is very entertaining.

I forgot to include Eastern Promises in my last DVD Roundup becasue it wasn’t in my Netflix rental history- Cory loaned me the HD-DVD combo version.

I really liked the movie and recommend it highly, but I’m a bit confused as how to describe it now. You can look it up yourself if you’d like. Why am I confused now? Well, let’s get the basic stuff out of the way first.

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