Mini Reviews and Best Movies of the Year (so far)

I thought up a new review thingy! I will still write regular reviews when I can, but when I can't, I will write a Mini Review. There is no writing really, just listing the main ideas. Before the reviews, I would like to put out what my best movies of the year (so far) are.


Nominees:
Up
Star Trek
Taken
Watchmen


Cuts:
Watchmen: Too many errors!
Taken: A great movie on it's own, but does not have much to go back for.
Up: This is a strong movie, but small flukes prevent it from winning.


Winner:
Star Trek


Why:
Star Trek is the most entertaining and well done movie so far. Up came very close (the strong story of Star Trek pulled it through). I had a lot of fun seeing Star Trek, and not just because of action and humor. I really cared for the large (and great) cast by the end of the movie. I also was fond of the awesome space battles.

Mini-Review: Star Trek

Good:
-Spectacular CGI space battles
-Great acting, an awesome cast in general
-Epic score
-Solid story
-Lens flares
-Really funny (Simon Pegg was a genius choice)
-Leonard Nemoy
-Easy to pick up on without being a Star Trek fan previously

Bad:
-Winona Ryder as Spock’s mom
-Teensy bit cheesy in one scene

4.75/5

Mini-Review: Taken

Good:
-Liam Neeson
-AWESOME action (“like Bourne on Red Bull”)
-Intense
-Simple premise works effectively

Bad:
-Brief
-Takes a while to get going

4/5

Mini-Review: Up

Good:
-Very emotional
-Really funny; lots of quotable lines
-Great animation/looks in general
-Memorable characters
-Uplifting (pun intended)
-Nice score


Bad:
-Predictable
-Not as good as other Pixar movies

4.75/5

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen review and some big news

Yeah yeah I haven't posted for a month and a half. Traveling interfered twice (and computer problems). I also had these little things called finals. Since it is summer, I will be gone soon. I will be without access to the internet for two weeks starting July 5. Next week, I may have some word documents emailed to myself so I can put them up wherever I am. I plan on preparing those tomorrow.

The big news:

Next year, the Academy Awards will have 10 nominees for Best Picture! I think this is a great idea. The additional nominees will not necessarily be contenders, but they will be getting the attention that they deserve. Here is a good article on the topic. Maybe 8 would be a better number, since the additional spots will need to be "filled in" some years.

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

I want to say this right away: I anticipated that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen would be akin to something found at the bottom of a porta potti. Transformers (2007) made me cringe due to a terrible story, poor music choice/editing, weak acting, and flat humor. Just like Wolverine, this state of mind came in handy. The midnight showing I was attended, the homemade Megatron costume sitting at my feet, the can of Red Bull in my cup holder, and the shouts of “Oh shit!!” from the crowd whenever something awesome happened probably all had roles in my opinion. I liked Transformers 2.

Sam (Shia Labeouf who gives it a nice human touch) is moving away to college. As he is on the phone with his girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox who could use some work…), a shard from the All Spark gives him trippy visions of symbols and outbursts at seemingly random times. Somehow (this is explained) this has to do with the origin of the Transformers and a baddie named The Fallen. Despite this cheesy sounding setup, I found the plot to be more rewarding than the first movie. More of the story had relatable and interesting events tied to it, unlike the cheesy and bland narrative of the original. The plot was also epic and the human actions believable. Although this portion of the movie was good, it was not perfect. Certain events were rather predictable.

Megan Fox and Shia Labeouf run away

There is not one big thing that suffocates Transformers; instead, it is nitpicky details and oddities that do the job. One is the terrible choice of music. Sorry Green Day, but “21 Guns” is one of the most annoying songs I have ever heard. Not only is this song placed once, but twice. The rest of the soundtrack is good enough; the score carries epicness like it should (but it’s no masterpiece). Multiple editing quirks were also present. Literally, characters would be in one location, and in the very next frame, the same characters would be in a different location (but in the same scene, and this is not teleportation). I was temporarily confused by these abrupt errors, but they don’t affect anything else. The last of these small blemishes comes from a chase scene stolen right out of Terminator 2. And that’s the issue. Not only is the idea and action the same, but the context is as well. Sorry Michael Bay, but you are no James Cameron.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is filled to the brim with action. This, by far, is a very good thing. Not only is the action epic and crazy; it’s loud and badass. Have you ever seen a robot rip out another robot’s spine Mortal Kombatesque style? How about Optimus Prime getting shanked by Megatron? I don’t want to say the rest of the memorable scenes, because they kick some serious ass. I find it hard to believe that this move lasted two and a half hours. Yes, the action is that sweet. At the same time, the special effects (CGI and explosions) rollick the screen. While not as stunning as last time, the robots are still impressive.

Since 2007, the writers of Transformers seem to have grown. Even in times where it didn’t seem appropriate, humor was nearly abundant. A few of the laughs were not very clever (dogs humping? I see that around my own house). Other things, like the twins, were some of the funniest CGI characters I’ve ever seen (Dug from Up was funnier, but not by much). Along with the humor, the writing in general has improved. A couple classic franchise lines surface when those “Oh Snap” moments occur. Especially “Autobots, Roll Out!”

I’m not really sure how to cap this whole thing up. I can tell you that mental preparation creates wonders, and that is for sure. I know that the midnight screening made seeing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen a blast. Maybe this will be like The Dark Knight, where I watch it on DVD months later and frown upon my previous opinions. Regardless of the situation I was in, I had fun (some mindless, some not). With that in mind, roll out to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

3.75/5

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Review

Sorry for not posting.

Yesterday I discovered a great way to write more and better reviews: spending two days on them instead of one sit down session. I find it hard to find the time at times for sitting down at the computer for 2 hours straight (if not more). Every other Sunday is "no screen time Sundays", and every other week is one hour of screen time. That is inconvenient for review writing, but this forehead slapping realization will hopefully result in more reviews.

As you have (hopefully) noticed, I added some jazz to this blog. On the right hand side is a link to my Twitter page, where I will be putting interesting news links. If you are already friends with me on Facebook, then don't bother. Below that is a poll, because I do want some honest feedback. I know that one, or two, english majors read my writings. So, feel free. Farther down is the box office, by top five movies, and little links that were there before. At the bottom of the page is a list of registered readers of this blog (there are none yet). Next to that is a nifty little subscription button.

Now for the nice news and trailers!

Francis Ford Coppola is coming out with a new movie! Trailer




The teaser for District 9 will be below the short film link. District 9 is based on Alive in Joburg, a short film by Neill Blomkamop. He is also directing District 9. Peter Jackson is producing! Here is a first look by Rollingstone. The trailer reveals almost no story, but here it is: Aliens landed in South Africa, and they were relocated to a refugee camp after residents in South Africa wanted them out. A corporation called Multinational United (MNU) contains the aliens. One MNU soldier gets infected by a alien thingy, and starts to turn into one of them. He goes to the camp...and...that's all I know. It is filmed like a documentary. The short film is below.

X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE

Upon seeing this movie announced a few years ago, I was psyched. Upon seeing the epic trailer, I was still excited, if not more so. As the release came closer, I looked at Rotten Tomatoes as I usually do. Last Friday, I was greeted by an icky 40%. Ouch. However, Rotten Tomatoes does an average of positive and negative reviews, so you have to look at the average score. I don’t remember what it was, but honestly, my expectations were lowered. Looking back, I find that to be a good thing, because I was pleasantly surprised.

Wolverine gets going within a few minutes of the start time. First known as James, then Logan, and then Wolverine, and his half brother Victor Creed/Sabretooth, run away from home after James’ father is killed. James sprouts bone claws and the pair stick together through The Civil War, World War I, WWII, and the Vietnam war (by the way, this is shown in a really cool credit sequence). The two are picked up by Stryker, a military officer. I don’t want to say much more, because unlike a lot of other people, I liked the story. It was rather predictable and already known, but it was nice to have something more than just action. Despite cliché “twists” and some unexplained details, the story is close to enough for carrying the movie.

The only hand holder (not crutch!) for the narrative is the cutting action (pun intended). A few of the fighting sequences are ridiculous (fire escape, anyone?) On the other hand, quite a few were awesome and absolutely badass. The helicopter, Wade’s sword moves, and especially the last epic battle were sweet. I don’t think Wolverine used the same move more than twice, except for the repetitive Sabretooth fights. For the most part, I found the action to be a great companion for the story. At times, as mentioned before, this was not the case. The most recurring factor was the weak writing. How can fighting be taken seriously with easily walked on dialogue? Even in scenes of plain talking (which was not a whole lot), the writing + acting formula fell apart. Due to this, I found it easy to make fun Wolverine.

What pulled the rest of X-Men Origins: Wolverine down was some nitpicky errors that don’t really fit anywhere except for a random paragraph. Well, this is it. First of all, the lighting/the set itself made one set look really fake. It was supposed to be African slums, but looked more like a play backdrop. In the motorcycle action scene, some strange edits lead to temporary confusion. In the final fight, some of the CGI seemed stale. It is funny how much these little things add up.

In the middle of the bi-flavored good/bad OREO sandwich is Hugh Jackman. I do think that he tried hard, but because of the pitfalls of the writing and plot, his acting comes out to be average. I really wanted to like his Wolverine (and I still do), but the potential for real character depth fell short. Believe me; I got some of the feelings being conveyed. The rest was covered, thankfully, by the action. I did like Hugh Jackman’s acting, but not so much his surroundings.

I know this may sound weird after all of the ranting, but I did enjoy X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Coming in with low expectations really made a difference. Otherwise, as y’all know, my strong hopes set the real score askew. I find it a little hard to express my thoughts on how this all works, but at least I know how to somewhat express my opinions. In the end, after all that rambling, Wolverine is the type of movie that can be watched just for fun, and enjoyed in the same manner.

3.5/5

Wisconsin Film festival and a review

I didn't post for a month 'cuz I didn't write any reviews. What I did do was go to the Wisconsin Film Festival this past weekend. We (as in my mom and brother and me and the other people at the festival) saw Summer, Who is KK Downey?, some shorts, and the British TV Awards (Commercials). I wrote a review on KK Downey. I found the Best Commercial of the Year and a short that I liked, along with a trailer for KK Downey. Enjoy!

The Commercial:




The Short:



The Trailer:

WHO IS KK DOWNEY?

Sometimes a ridiculous movie comes along and affects me in the strangest of ways. Who is KK Downey? did that, but wasn’t some life changing experience. It was just so absurd, so vulgar, and so “in your face” that it is hard to think about. I guess that is what a good comedy does.

After the opening credits end with a man peeing pants down at a urinal (as in me and the man next to him could see his butt), the plot gets going along at its initially leisurely speed. Theo and Terrance are in a failing rock band and are desperate for money, Terrance wants his ex, and they both want fame. Theo wrote a book called “Truck Stop Hustler”, which gets turned down by a publisher because of Theo’s suburban whiteness (that thing is actually true; what success story would you rather hear about: a privileged kid writing a masterpiece, or a poor kid who has to work to help feed his siblings?). As a result of the rejection, Theo and Terrance create KK Downey, a drug addict identity to allow the book to be sold. It becomes a masterpiece, and the pals are thrust into fame.

Terrance as KK Downey

Every scene in KK Downey is flat out ridiculous. From (my favorite) being the parent’s receiving of gifts, to Sue’s art show (she thinks that all objects deserve a soul, which she gives by gluing googly eyes on them), I was laughing at a rate close to Borat. After the movie and the few days since, lines from the movie have stuck in my head and been on repeat. One in particular, which is the first line of the book, goes like this: “…I licked places that should have never been licked” Much of the movie, and humor, is like a feature length Youtube video.

With a funny movie there is bound to be at least good writing and I can see it here. Not all of the humor is very intelligent, but even the grossest of things takes thinking time. In addition, the costumes are just as comical. Terrance shows a little bit of belly most of the time he is on screen. Theo (who becomes T-Hux) carries around bling with his name on it, and he wears a grown out bowl cut with Harry Potter like glasses to match. As I said, everything is absurd.

The most surprising thing I found about KK Downey was how much I liked it. The acting, directing, and quality of the visuals are average, if not below. I also found the plot to be more complex than what I had originally perceived. The amount of laughing that I was involved in also made me wow a little bit. For a movie like this to succeed, the comedy has to carry the film and cover up the blemishes. That’s what Who is KK Downey? accomplished. Had there been less memorable lines and a more casual atmosphere (something akin to Little Miss Sunshine), I would be hating on this movie beyond practical reasoning.

I realize that this has been a brief review. The things that stand out the most are easily described in a few words. I also do not want to give any more away, because so much of KK Downey is the shock factor (not in the horror sense). I doubt that lots of people will see this movie. Even if you can, be aware that it is extremely vulgar and very blunt. Although, if you got through Borat you will get through this. If you are looking for a quotable comedy, or even something not well known to make you feel exclusive, try to find Who is KK Downey? By the way, you might want to bring a bucket.


3.75/5

Note: The DVD comes out in a few weeks, and I might buy a copy.