tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81506677415512313052024-03-04T22:31:10.824-08:00Kind Of a Movie BlogGetting the Mainframe back in the CoolantValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-27382440089245668942013-12-09T12:52:00.002-08:002013-12-09T12:55:56.158-08:00Go Back to the Abyss Prepared for You<br />
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It's the holidays again, and the movie gods have decided that, for another three-year stretch, Middle-earth mania shall once again reign supreme next to jingling bells and wrapping paper. On December 13, the next chapter comes out, which I have christened <i>The Hobbit 2: The Middle One</i>, officially (and less originally) titled <i>The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug</i>.<br />
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This is the second film in a bloated trilogy, a trilogy made up of nine hours of fluff unceremoniously ripped from a slim, 300-page children's book. Almost nothing from the first film, <i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i> (2012), was actually in the book, and the characters have been changed from their iterations in the source material. Both of these problems plagued the <i>Lord of the Rings</i> trilogy (2001-2003), and really were all that prevented it from earning the title of "masterpiece." Returning writer/director Peter Jackson failed to realize this, (which probably has something to do with the distraction of the approximate $3 billion worldwide box office take for that trilogy) and returning co-writers Fran Wash and Philippa Boyens haven't changed their altering ways. So the <i>Hobbit</i> trilogy, under the exact same leadership, is failing in the same ways <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> did.<br />
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But, good or bad or bloated or nonsensical, the <i>Hobbit</i> films should not exist in the first place. New Line is ending at the start, telling a story with no stakes. Everyone has already seen <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, and nothing in <i>The Hobbit</i> matters nearly as much as the events of that previous trilogy. The audience already knows that hero Bilbo (Martin Freeman) will survive <i>The Hobbit</i>, already knows that the magic ring he finds will turn out to be the evil, all-powerful One Ring, already knows that Bilbo's nephew Frodo (Elijah Wood) will have to go on a successful quest to destroy it, already knows that wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) will lead the successful war against the true bad guy, the dark lord Sauron.<br />
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So the real reason these films are coming out is the money, not the story; these Tolkien adaptations make money, (again, over $1 billion worldwide for <i>An Unexpected Journey</i>) and - sadly - no studio is crazy enough to actually try to bring <i>The Silmarillion</i> to the big screen (article <a href="http://www.kindofamovieblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/hobbit-schmobbit.html" target="_blank">here</a>). So, we get three movies out of <i>The Hobbit</i>. At the most, we should have had one, and it should have been released in 1999.<br />
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Review for <i>Hobbit 2</i> coming soon <a href="http://www.buriedcinema.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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ValkyrieSDF1<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-13660441014864324742013-08-28T13:42:00.000-07:002013-08-31T08:19:40.269-07:00Another Disappointing Summer?<br />
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And so, another summer movie season has come and gone. With August 9's <i>Elysium,</i> the 2013 season of blockbusters has officially ended. I would argue that it was another disappointing summer.<br />
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My biggest emotional investment rested in <i>Man of Steel</i> (June 14), and that film was the biggest letdown of the year for me. I cared less about <i>Iron Man 3</i> (May 3), the kickoff movie of the season, and while I enjoyed it, it in no way distinguished itself from the dozens of comic book movies that have been made since 2000. <i>Star Trek Into Darkness</i> (May 15), like its predecessor, was unnecessary and derivative. The best blockbuster of the summer, for me, was <i>Pacific Rim</i> (July 12).<br />
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No, I didn't see every blockbuster this summer; I never do. But I do catch up with them eventually. And this trend of sloppy, shallow, horribly written movies with immaculate special effects doesn't change. Think about the movies with the biggest hype from the last few years and consider how many of them were actually memorable for any reason other than effects. Remember <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i> (2012), <i>Battleship</i> (2012), <i>Green Lantern</i> (2011), <i>Pirates of the Caribbean 4</i> (2011), <i>The A-Team</i> (2010), <i>Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen</i> (2009), and <i>X-Men Origins: Wolverine</i> (2009)?<br />
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Thankfully, there were some great blockbusters sprinkled throughout these years (like <i>Inception</i>, 2010). I acknowledge that, and if I am dismissing any of your favorite movies with my list above, comment and tell me why I am wrong. But I have found so many of these action blockbusters to be worthless, a waste of money, not even worth $8 on Blu-ray to show off my home theater setup.<br />
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What do you think? And how were the 2013 blockbusters that I missed? Did <i>The Wolverine</i> (July 26) justify its own existence? Was <i>The Lone Ranger</i> (July 3) as awful as it looked?<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-77396720520680233922013-08-21T14:21:00.001-07:002013-08-21T14:24:15.081-07:00Buried Cinema: Jonathan Hensleigh's 'The Punisher'<br />
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I wrote an article a while back (and for no particular purpose) about <i>The Punisher</i> (2004), and I thought I would share it with you. Please think of this as a defense of a movie that you can probably find for $5 in the bargain bin on DVD and for $7 on Blu-ray, a movie that has been buried by critics. I don't think many people watched this in the right mindset; nor do I think that anyone besides fans of the comic books paid this any heed.<br />
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Reading my article a few years later, it's not half bad. Read it after the break, and visit the links I will include after the article if you're interested.<br />
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ValkyrieSDF1<br />
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Good Business, Murder:</div>
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A Critical Appreciation of Jonathan Hensleigh’s <i>The Punisher</i></div>
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By Stephen Hawco</div>
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<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The cascade of super-hero movies begun by the success of 2000’s <i>X-Men</i> has introduced film-goers to a lot of big-budget comic book stories. While the box office receipts of these films have, in general, accurately separated the good, the bad, and the ugly, the adaptation of the <i>Punisher</i> comic book was not greeted so perceptively. An anomaly among the movies of Hollywood’s new pet genre, it relied not at all upon super human exhibitions of physicality or the type of larger-than-life, C.G.-smeared action sequences designed to highlight them. <i>The Punisher</i> was so unique because it was, in fact, the equivalent of a 70’s action film adorned not in bright spandex, but in a black trench coat.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>The Punisher</i> has long been a comic book of gritty realism. The main character is Frank Castle, christened the Punisher because of his longtime tendency to shoot, mangle, and blow up every criminal he comes across. He is one of Marvel’s only comic book heroes that isn’t super; he has no special powers of any kind. The trademark iconography of <i>The Punisher</i> includes, most prominently, Castle’s black clothing, the large white skull symbol on his chest, and lots and lots of guns.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fans of the comic book should have been relieved to see that first time director Jonathan Hensleigh got these aspects right, at least. Likewise, the dark, urban environment that pervades (most of) the comics is transposed to (most of) the film. Like Batman, the Punisher prefers doing his hunting at night because that is when evil deeds are done in the open. Unlike Batman, the Punisher does not leave his prey alive to be acquitted by a corrupt jury or to be freed from the insane asylum by their allies.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>This setup screams for a movie adaptation, and Hensleigh delivered (the second one, after Mark Goldblatt’s 1989 version) in 2004. A long-time writer for big-budget action films like <i>Die Hard: With a Vengeance</i> (1995), Hensleigh made a $30 million film that was full of action for the price, yet it showcased a surprising amount of plot and the artistic sort of direction apparently deemed irrelevant in modern Hollywood action films. <br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><i>The Punisher</i> is a revenge picture that tells an origin story. It revolves around FBI agent Castle (Thomas Jane) an undercover FBI agent battling Tampa, Florida crime. After a local crime lord’s son is killed, his father, Howard Saint (John Travolta) orders the entire Castle family murdered, including Jane’s wife and son. All of the Castles are slaughtered at a family reunion in Puerto Rico leaving only Jane alive, though he spirals towards insanity. Soon he is back in Tampa, planning his revenge of pitting the Saints against each other while at the same time learning to relate to humans again through his tenement neighbors. He manipulates Travolta into killing his own wife (Laura Harring) and right-hand man (Will Patton). Jane then finishes off Travolta (and everyone else in the Saint organization) before leaving town to punish all the other scum in the world. The Punisher has been born of blood and fire, and the evil doers of the world had better watch out.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Many of the fans of the comic book complained about the amount of scheming on Castle’s part, hoping instead for nothing but a wall of bullets for two straight hours. Hensleigh and co-writer Michael France (<i>Goldeneye</i>) are too smart for this, knowing that for a single man to take down an entire syndicate, he would actually have to be intelligent, not just weighed down with ammunition.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And some intelligence is required to see the details Hensleigh shows us. Jane breaks the glass of a gun cabinet at the moment he decides on revenge, signifying his break from reality. Immediately after, his rebirth as a dark avenger is transparently shown in close-up, as he raises the black, skull-adorned t-shirt his son had bought him between his face and the camera, blotting out the old Frank Castle and revealing the new man, the vigilante, two shots later as he lowers it.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Jane never explains his plan on camera, but we are shown enough hints of it to piece it together long before he brings it to full fruition. He steals Harring’s car and parks it illegally at the same hotel that he has tricked Patton to occupy the same night. The parking ticket that results will much later lead Travolta to think that his wife and best friend are having an affair. Harring’s stolen earring left in Patton’s bed seals the deal, and we know that Jane planted it there.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The decadence of the Saints is never once stated. Publicly, they are a wealthy and popular Tampa family, making appearances at their own hip nightclub. Privately, where we are allowed to see them, their actions reveal their character. Travolta and Harring celebrate the news of the Castle murders by exchanging celebratory gifts: Harry Winston earrings for her, sex for him. The surviving Saint son, John (James Carpinello), is speaking to his father at home when his half-naked companion for the night nonchalantly slides into the frame and puts her arms around him, causing not even a stir from Travolta. Carpinello leaves a strip club in broad daylight.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>As Travolta is about to execute one of his own henchmen for an infraction, the man claims innocence. Framed in a two shot, Carpinello gives Travolta a look that says, “Yes, he’s innocent, but kill him anyway,” and Travolta does. Patton looks like he’s out on a pleasure walk while Jane is beaten almost to death right in front of him. Sex and murder are just another indulgence for the Saints, no more meaningful than a family meal.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The film’s best moments come with the action. Hensleigh’s visual style here is one that recalls the great action pioneers of the 60’s and 70’s: Peckinpah, Siegel, and Leone. Like these men, Hensleigh made a nihilistic film where even the (anti)hero has something inside, something to do with death. Hensleigh’s expressed goal was to “attempt to make a comic book film as if Sam Peckinpah had directed it, or Don Siegel, or one of the auteur, R-rated, violent-oriented directors of the early 70’s.” Like them, he incorporated a visual style that was just as intriguing as the story.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The camera often follows over-the-shoulder of Jane as he handles his guns, and it pans around in the direction he aims, framing his upper body, his weapon, and the enemy in the same shot. When Jane faces six Henchmen in the Saint nightclub, the depth of field allows this whole composition to be in focus, but sometimes Hensleigh goes for added effect, like when Jane peeks around a doorway and a rack focus shows us his target.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The scenes of hand-to-hand combat are filmed in a most surprising way: from a wide view, with shots lasting longer than a half-second. Modern action etiquette dictates a shaky camera cutting quickly from one close-up blur of action to the next, deceiving the audience into believing the two combatants are performing intricate and deadly moves. Hensleigh doesn’t use particularly long takes, but he lets them last longer than most current directors would. His actors really had to be performing these actions in succession, and there is a lack of insert shots amidst the wide ones. The effect is much more convincing.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hensleigh’s editing is pretty standard and doesn’t draw attention to itself, another ancient technique. During action sequences, his cutting allows us to see what is going on in most takes. However, when Jane kills an adversary by shooting a spring-loaded knife into his jugular, the impact is shown in four different shots within one second, all too quick to be comprehended. Here as elsewhere, the editing explodes with the violence. Almost no slow-mo is used in the film; the action is not slow or beautiful. It is awkward and desperate when it isn’t downright funny. The massacre of the Castle clan does not look like ballet.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>In this sense, and most others, Hensleigh actually copies not Peckinpah or Siegel, but Leone. This film is exaggerated, set in a harsher yet more entertaining world than ours, a world of impossibly good timing and operatic coincidences. As the backlit Jane faces off with Travolta in the final showdown that echoes a Western duel, the music tones a death knell. Travolta, meeting the man he blames for his younger son’s death for the first time, states his reason for the massacre of the Castle family: “You killed my son.” With impossible timing, Carpinello is heard shouting from off camera, just before an explosion silences him. With a quick glance back at the night club in which the last Saint child just died, Jane informs him, “Both of ‘em.” Figuratively, Jane has killed Travolta’s son right in front of him, returning the favor.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Travolta is then shot, outdrawn by Jane; men of Travolta’s stature no longer do their own fighting, just executing, and Jane’s anger burned the brighter. On the bullet’s impact, Hensleigh cuts to a close-up behind Travolta’s head as he spins around to face the camera in shock: his life is over; one man has taken down Howard Saint. This is the same shot as in Leone’s <i>Once Upon a Time in the West</i> (1968), when the mighty Frank (Henry Fonda) finally meets his match and is shot by Charles Bronson’s Harmonica. We see their eyes because, in both films, the eyes are the window to the inner person.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Leone zoomed in to a huge close-up of Bronson’s eyes in <i>Once Upon a Time in the West</i> before revealing his motivation for revenge against Fonda: the memory of his brother’s murder. In <i>The Punisher</i>, Hensleigh gives us a close-up of Jane’s eyes as he makes his most important decision. At the end of the movie, his revenge completed, he puts a gun to his chin to end his life. Then, after the close-up, we see what he sees: his wife (Samantha Mathis) is walking away from him into a haze and signaling for him to stay behind. He is not to meet her in the afterlife yet. (In this sense <i>The Punisher</i> is a lot like <i>Gladiator</i> but with more .45’s.)<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>When Jane faces down two henchmen in a lobby, the shot is also from <i>Once Upon a Time in the West</i>, when Bronson gets off a train to meet three men Fonda sent to kill him. The camera is low, with the bad guys in the foreground, their backs to us, and Bronson in the background facing us, framed between two of his opponents. The wide-angle lens allows all to be in focus. In <i>The Punisher</i>, Jane is only facing two men, but the shot is the same and the sequence follows Leone’s favorite formula: the editing builds tension during a period of homeostasis. We cut from close-up to close-up: men’s faces, their guns in their holsters, fingers twitching nervously as they feel for the right moment to draw. Then, suddenly, the guns are drawn and men die, all within a couple of seconds.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The feeling of exaggeration is completed by the film’s use of music. A musical hit man (Mark Collie) walks into a café, sits down in front of Jane, takes his guitar out of its case, and performs a song foretelling Jane’s death. Our disbelief at the absurdity of the situation is reflected on the faces of the perplexed café patrons. Even more unbelievably, the man packs up his guitar and walks out without attacking. Later, Jane fights a long hand-to-hand battle with a ridiculously large opponent (Kevin Nash) to literal opera music, Verdi’s “La Donna E Mobile.” Italian composer Carlo Siliotto adds a Spaghetti Western-like score, mimicking Morricone. From the beginning, the influence is obvious, as the animated opening, similar to those of Leone’s first three Westerns, features bullets flying across the screen to Siliotto’s majestic yet melancholy main theme.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>These credits are followed by two hours of “ultra violence married with a sort of wacky sense of humor,” as Hensleigh described it. This is purposeful, transposing the style of current <i>Punisher</i> comic writer Garth Ennis. The violence itself was too much for some critics; adding black humor to scenes of death and destruction just made their reaction even worse.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Hensleigh makes us watch most of the extreme moments of violence instead of cutting away or hiding them off camera, as he does when the innocent are harmed. In fact, he will often cut to them, giving his approval when Jane kills his enemies. When a man’s foot is blown off by a shotgun, Hensleigh inserts a medium shot of the impact. We see an arrow sticking out both sides of a criminal’s neck as he falls dead.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The Punisher has the peculiar honor of earning enmity for being both too stupid and too intelligent, a noteworthy accomplishment considering the paradox. The young action lovers raised on Michael Bay films were disappointed that they had to actually pay attention to follow the film’s plot. (Hensleigh even broke the R-rated action film rules concerning sex: Jane does not take advantage of his lonely neighbor, Joan [then Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, now just Romijn], despite how attracted she is to him. Nor does Romijn, a famous swimsuit model, appear nude.) The elitist critics were disappointed that the film didn’t say something more, as if a film about a homicidal vigilante needs to say something. They also disliked the over-the-top aspects of the dialogue and the violence.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Fundamentally, <i>The Punisher</i> is an action movie. The general public response to it as not being exciting enough is symptomatic of the state of moviedom. Without the flashy C.G. effects and lightning-fast cutting of modern action movies to cover its faults, <i>The Punisher</i> is laid bare. Its camp, which does exist and which turned off a lot of critics, fits in the operatic world Hensleigh created, though this is shown too subtly for today’s mainstream audience. <i>The Punisher</i> and its $33 million domestic box office are proof that in the action genre, the very appearance of subtle directing and gimmick-free cinematography has become a liability, a nuisance.<br />
<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>No, Hensleigh’s movie is not Shakespearian drama, and it shouldn’t be. It is, however, a treat for the nostalgic action fan and about as good as any film based upon this comic book will ever be.<br />
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<i>Creative control of the </i>Punisher<i> franchise was taken out of the hands of Hensleigh, Jane, and France and given to director Lexi Alexander (</i>Green Street Hooligans<i>). She made <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450314/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" target="_blank">this</a> hunk of garbage in 2008. Jane showed his continued love for the character with the excellent short film, </i>The Punisher: Dirty Laundry<i> (2012), available </i><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWpK0wsnitc" style="font-style: italic;" target="_blank">here</a><i>. And, yes, for the record, Dolph Lundgren starred in the </i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098141/?ref_=sr_2" target="_blank"><i>first </i>Punisher<i> movie</i></a><i> in 1989.</i><br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-88269667449271052102013-08-02T04:55:00.000-07:002013-08-06T14:04:12.504-07:00You're Going to Kill Him for Me: Defending Zero Dark Thirty<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I wrote an <a href="http://www.rantpad.com/?p=1033" target="_blank">article</a> for the Rant Pad a few months ago, explaining that Ridley Scott's <i>Prometheus</i> was my favorite movie of 2012. I loved it, but the amount of problems with its script made it clear to me that it couldn't have actually been the best movie of the year, the most well-crafted. And I wouldn't claim it as the best film of the year when I hadn't even seen most of the Oscar-nominated films for Best Picture.<br />
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Now that we are well into 2013, I would like to change my answer on both counts. Kathryn Bigelow's <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i> is the best film I've seen in years. <br />
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My colleagues at Buried Cinema discussed <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i> on <a href="http://www.buriedcinema.com/index.php?r=podcasts/index&podcast=63" target="_blank">podcast 134</a>, and their views were barely charitable at best. None of them said that the movie belonged on their respective Top 10 lists. I would like to defend the film largely as if I were present to respond on the podcast, but a general defense is also appropriate, in light of the amount of hate thrown at the film under shaky pretenses.<br />
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<i>Zero Dark Thirty</i> tells the story of the hunt for Osama bin Laden from the perspective of CIA analyst Maya (Jessica Chastain). Through tough times in Pakistan and bureaucratic barriers, Maya never gives up on the chase, even when her favorite lead seems to fall dead. The film leaves Maya behind at the climax, as the evidence, followed through to her conclusion, leads Seal Team Six into bin Laden's compound with a kill order.<br />
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On the podcast, there was a complaint about of a lack of emotional impact in everything leading up to the raid. This is only true in the sense that this is not a drama about the effects of terrorism and war on individuals and families. But the film's tie to reality, its most powerful aspect, is what provides the emotion for the audience during the first 90 minutes. Bigelow recreates terrorist attacks from the past decade, presenting them from an angle other than what the news media has. And so the viewer feels a sense of dread and anticipation when the titles pop up on screen: Khobar, May 29, 2004; London, July 7, 2005; Islamabad, September 20, 2008, and so on. Also, our identification with Chastain's character affects us when her life is suddenly threatened or when she loses a friend to a terrorist bomb.<br />
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Buried Cinema also echoed the most common complaint leveled against <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i>, its morality. This was presumably in reference to its depiction of torture used by CIA agents on terror suspects. I can't even begin to cover the amount of hate thrown at <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i> because of the torture scenes it contains, but I would like to point out that one of the main catalysts for the controversy was <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/10/zero-dark-thirty-torture-awards" target="_blank">this</a> December 2012 article in the left wing UK newspaper <i>The Guardian</i>, in which Glenn Greenwald bashes the film <i>without ever having seen it</i>.<br />
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Watch the film (again). At no point does Bigelow suggest that torture is a positive thing, or that torturing suspects will solve all of the United State's problems. Yes, it is rough to watch, but it is supposed to be, and the torture Maya is involved in barely yields any clues. The film's realism dictates that it show you what happened; it doesn't endorse a viewpoint on it. The morality of that is beyond refute.<br />
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The whole film is intense, including the ending raid, which evokes the tone of a very tense action film. The dark, grainy images of fully geared-up soldiers moving through the concrete compound, as unstoppable as a tide, are truly chilling. At no point does Bigelow's style draw attention to itself. She wisely avoids the shaky-cam, found-footage style that has Hollywood inducing motion sickness left and right these days. Instead, her camera stays out of the way and puts the audience in the drama. The cinematography by Greig Fraser, likewise, goes for realism rather than comment.<br />
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It has harrowing realism, stunning production values, and amazing performances. I have <i>never</i> seen a film like <i>Zero Dark Thirty</i>. And neither have you. Think of it what you will, but <i>think</i>.<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-23429774048861450082013-08-01T13:08:00.001-07:002013-08-01T13:08:09.953-07:00This was a Really Good Idea<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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According to an IGN article <a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/16/dualshock-4-prototype-measured-your-sweat" target="_blank">here</a>, an early version of the DualShock controller for the much anticipated Playstation 4 measured how much the player was sweating. Yes, <i>sweating</i>. It simply measured how wet your hands were.<br />
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As mind-bendingly useful as this feature no doubt would have been, the project was abandoned after a test with Patrick Ewing resulted in an overloaded controller blowing up.<br />
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The PS4 is due out this fall.<br />
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ValkyrieSDF1ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-82050301235708505852013-07-19T10:34:00.001-07:002013-07-19T10:34:38.797-07:00Enough Already<br />
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I understand that many movie goers can and do, in general, just relax and enjoy themselves no matter what film they are seeing. I often envy them. I guess I can't shut off my critical brain sometimes.<br />
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I say all this because I have been struck by the horrible quality of Hollywood's remakes over the last few years. This post isn't expansive enough to lament the lack of originality in Hollywood overall; I won't even begin to cover how most big budget movies are sequels, remakes, or adaptations (and bad ones at that). <br />
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But I will briefly cover two recent offenders: Marc Webb's <i>The Amazing Spider-Man</i> (2012) and Zack Snyder's <i>Man of Steel</i> (2013). I caught up with <i>Amazing</i> a year after its release, so I saw these two comic book adaptations for the first time within a month of each other.<br />
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There is no hope of Hollywood letting up on its deluge of comic movies; they simply make too much money. I have accepted this, yet my appetite for all these super heroes on screen was satiated by, like, 2008. The standard of quality for these blockbusters, <i>particularly in the screenwriting</i>, is just too low, and that is a double shame because all of these comics provide years and years of rich story material to adapt.<br />
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<i>Amazing</i> was widely recognized as a cash grab. Sony pictures had to make another Spider-Man movie or lose the rights to the character. But this movie didn't need to be made. It was an origin story. We just saw the same basic origin story 10 years ago, with Sam Raimi's <i>Spider-Man</i> (2002). Everything from the spider bite, to discovering of powers, to young romance and Uncle Ben's death was all seen, only with different performers in front of the lens and an (arguably) different tone. <i>Spider-Man</i> launched a trilogy that ended just <i>five years</i> before the remake. I was amazed, pun intended, at how similar <i>The Amazing Spider-Man </i>was overall to its predecessor.<br />
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<i>Superman: The Movie</i> (1978) is one of my favorite films of all time. Directed by Richard Donner, it tells the story of Superman's origin, including the destruction of his home world, his acquiring a job at the Daily Planet newspaper, his meeting love interest Lois Lane, and his discovering of his heritage and destiny. Snyder's over-long and over-loud remake covers the same thing, only without any humor or subtlety. Why did audiences need to see this?<br />
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(And in defense of <i>Superman Returns</i> [2006], that film was a love letter and a sequel, but it did <i>not</i> try to retell Superman's origin.)<br />
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Am I off base, here? Did anyone else feel that they were watching the exact same movie over again, only weaker?<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-63093558861323985492013-07-19T08:20:00.001-07:002013-07-19T08:20:50.446-07:00I am writing here now, too<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It turns out I am not the only movie fan in Binghamton, NY. My friends at weekly podcast <a href="http://www.buriedcinema.com/" target="_blank">Buried Cinema</a> have their own slick, sister site for movie-related articles, which you should check out.<br />
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They have pursued me endlessly to write for them, and we just got the details of the contract worked out. Not really. Anyway, a lot of my posts here at Kind of a Movie Blog will also appear on the <a href="http://www.rantpad.com/" target="_blank">Rant Pad</a>.<br />
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Thanks to Tom for setting this up.<br />
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ValkyrieSDF1<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-27602906326370166612013-07-12T04:02:00.003-07:002013-07-12T04:02:45.738-07:00A Rant for 3D<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have a lot to say about the current trend of 3D video. As a home theater nerd, I have to have an opinion on it. I have a basic understanding of the various ways 3D is displayed, both in theaters and in the home. I know that if you purchase a 3D TV and glasses and enjoy the experience, you will still end up disappointed at the lack of available content, especially through cable/satellite providers. I know that, wherever you watch it, 3D's glasses will limit the amount of light getting to your eye, thus detrimentally dimming the image. <br />
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I...love....3D. Despite its shortcomings, I believe it is spectacular when done correctly. 3D Blu-rays look almost as good as a theatrical presentation (see <i>Prometheus</i>), and video games on the Playstation 3 and XBOX 360 are twice as cool in 3D (see <i>Uncharted 3</i>).<br />
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However, Hollywood is killing me. 3D is being treated like a gimmick, and it has to stop. Here is the problem: movies are being shot in 2D and converted to 3D, without the proper care, in post-production. The results, in live action movies, are always, <i>always</i>, underwhelming to embarrassing. Basically, the trend of Hollywood doing this so that they can charge moviegoers more money started soon after <i>Avatar</i>, with <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/clash-titans-director-calls-3d-559105" target="_blank">this</a> hunk of garbage.<br />
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Unfortunately, I went to see Zack Snyder's <i>Man of Steel</i> on opening night. But let's not focus on that tragedy; the point was the 3D. It was flat. The post-conversion was garbage. It was a waste of money, both for Warner Brothers and audiences.<br />
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I have only seen three films in theaters (<i>Prometheus</i>, <i>Transformers: Dark of the Moon</i>, and <i>Avatar</i>) that blew me away with their sense of immersion, depth and tangibility thanks to 3D, and <i>all </i>of them were shot using James Cameron's 3D cameras. Check out what <a href="http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/07/08/james-cameron-man-of-steel-didnt-use-3d-properly" target="_blank">he says</a> if you don't believe me that post-converted blockbusters aren't up to par.<br />
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ValkyrieSDF1<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-31140592301464607002013-06-15T19:54:00.000-07:002013-08-02T03:13:49.071-07:00We Shall Try to Find the Answers Together<br />
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Zack Snyder's <i>Man of Steel</i> just opened on June 14. I've been looking forward to this movie for a year now (see <a href="http://kindofamovieblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/i-have-opinion-on-this.html" target="_blank">two posts ago</a>).<br />
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So what did I think; how is the first new Superman film since the divisive Bryan Singer project of 2006?<br />
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In short, not very good. While<i> Man of Steel</i> has a ton of action and some of the most impressive special effects ever put in a movie, it lacks the heart of its predecessors.<br />
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After the break are my myriad thoughts about what Snyder got wrong.<br />
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<i style="background-color: #ffe599;">the following is spoiler filled</i></div>
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I would like to begin by making it clear exactly what <i>Man of Steel</i> is. This is literally an alien invasion movie. The prologue is over-long and over-loud, showing the destruction of Superman's home world of Krypton and his launch into space. This section is pure space opera, borrowing <i>Avatar</i>'s (2009) sense of exotic grandeur. From then on, the rest of the nearly two-and-a-half hour running time is confined to Earth, and most of it rests on the idea of alien life on Earth, with all the worldwide drama said idea would entail politically, religiously, militarily, etc. Interestingly, the plot of <i>Man of Steel</i> mimics that of another recent blockbuster directed by a man with no filmmaking restraint: Michal Bay's <i>Transformers: Dark of the Moon</i> (2011). Evil aliens (Michael Shannon as General Zod in Snyder's flick, giant robot Sentinel Prime, voiced by Leonard Nimoy, in Bay's) are coming to Earth to brutally convert it into a copy of their own destroyed-by-war-and-greed home world. The United States military tries and fails to defeat them. Another alien (Henry Cavill as the titular Man of Steel, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime in <i>Transformers</i>) decides to stand against them and save the puny humans. Said hero has a human sidekick (Amy Adams as Lois Lane in <i>Steel</i>, the much less watchable Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky in <i>Moon</i>) to help in the struggle and raise the stakes. <br />
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<i>Superman: The Movie</i> (1978) was Richard Donner's version of this origin story. Donner hit plenty of touching moments with Superman's birth parents, surrogate Earth parents, coworkers at the Daily Planet newspaper, and love interest Lois Lane (Margot Kidder). Snyder wants us to feel the same affection for these peripheral characters that Donner did (and Singer after him, with 2006's sequel, <i>Superman Returns</i>), but he never gives us a reason to. Superman, using his Earthly guise of Kansas farm boy Clark Kent, doesn't even work at the Daily Planet in the new movie; the minute-munching scenes in <i>Steel</i> where Planet editor Perry White (Lawrence Fishburne) and his compatriots are in danger of being crushed by tons of C.G. rubble have no weight (pun intended).<br />
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This is a remake that fails to justify its own existence as such. It stands on the crimson-caped shoulders of Donner's film (and Singer's for that matter) way too much, borrowing the most powerful aspects of this wonderful mythology without showing us enough of anything new. Pa Kent (Glenn Ford) dies in Clark's youth in Donner's film, and even though that is not a dogmatic part of Superman's mythology, Snyder went the same route, albeit to a different thematic note. Both films contain clear allegory of Superman as Christ-figure, (although, admittedly, this idea was almost mute in Donner's story until Singer went a little crazy with it in <i>Returns</i>) something else that Snyder and screenwriter David Goyer simply should have avoided. In both, we see Clark as a child, learning to control his powers and seek for a healthy way to use them.<br />
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Snyder edits by association here, much as he did in <i>Watchmen</i> (2009); the scenes with child Clark are not set chronologically near the beginning of the running time but sprinkled artistically throughout, utilizing the thematic meaning of the context of the surrounding scenes. <i>Steel</i>'s best scene is one such flashback, a quiet mother-son scene between Clark and Ma Kent (Diane Lane) set in Smallville's elementary school.<br />
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As appreciated as these (generally) subdued moments of mentoring, love, and formation are, Snyder's take just doesn't make enough room for them amidst all the cartoony destruction. Even the violence without literal explosions contains room-shaking noise and bass; Superman and Zod's cronies beat the living kryptonite out of each other at super speed, so every punch and tumble results in the displacement of so much air, earth, and concrete that a megaton bomb may just as well have gone off. Snyder can't help himself.<br />
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For <i>Man of Steel</i> to work, Snyder and Goyer needed to find a note that Donner and Singer had missed, but all of the best ones were clearly taken.<br />
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And speaking of notes, the iconic John Williams score has been left behind. In an effort to separate this film from its predecessors, Snyder has included entirely original music for the first time in Superman movie history. Hans Zimmer does what he can here, but he simply can't compare with Williams, despite presenting probably Williams' biggest competition in the realm of Hollywood composer supremacy. While pretty, his music is completely forgettable. * main themes <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFGJaOTK2vI" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGUyNy07ZYg" target="_blank">here</a>, music for Krypton <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hlGhXAn-_A" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-vz4Gdtrvc" target="_blank">here</a> *<br />
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Bryan Singer knew he couldn't best Donner at this; he didn't try. <i>Superman Returns</i> was a pensive, slow, measured love letter to the Dick Donner original. Instead of exploring something new in the Superman universe, Snyder has retread old ground, throwing in just enough twists and improved special effects to make this fly for general audiences. Despite the monstrous marketing machine that is <i>Man of Steel</i>, more imposing and clamorous than any Kryptonian terraformer, you'll be amazed how quickly you'll forget this movie.<br />
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Also of note:<br />
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The film was post-converted to 3D, and I honestly forgot I was watching 3D for half of it, so limited was the depth. Skip that.<br />
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There is one spectacular action sequence in which Zod and 'Supes punch each other around the skyline of downtown Metropolis.<br />
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Environmental abuse by its inhabitants is now the cause of Krypton's destruction, but this is forgotten when the alien tentacles start squirming.<br />
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Anyway....<br />
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Thanks,<br />
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ValkyrieSDF1<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-21599553333774349842013-03-28T04:14:00.000-07:002013-03-28T04:17:21.225-07:00This is Not a Review of "Olympus Has Fallen"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I just saw the new Antoine Fuqua (<i>Shooter</i>) action flick, <i>Olympus Has Fallen</i>. The movie is about a brutal terrorist takeover of the White House and one man's attempt to save the day. I don't have any intention of really reviewing it here (click <a href="http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/olympus_has_fallen_2013/reviews/?type=top_critics" target="_blank">here</a> for some adequate drubbings), but I would like to list a few complaints that the more thoughtful movie fan may agree with.<br />
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1. Insane contrivances. The prologue has a cataclysmic car accident; no cause is ever given. None of the president's secret service agents ever seem to wear kevlar...ever. Breaches of security protocols at just the wrong time lead to the easiest White House takeover I've ever seen.<br />
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2. For crying out loud, if you're going to have this many A-listers in your film, tell me that in the dang advertising. Performers that you can't believe are in this movie, in this movie: Ashley Judd, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell, Angela Bassett.<br />
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3. The violence is too much and done in poor taste. The terrorists shoot everything that moves in D.C. with pinpoint accuracy. A few shots of innocent civilians running in terror would suffice; instead we get tons of close-ups of head-shot executions.<br />
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4. The Asian-looking terrorists, fighting for North Korea, are presumably Korean. With names like Sam Medina, Malana Lea, and Kevin Moon, the people portraying them are not. Hollywood gets it wrong again...because Americans are too stupid to know the difference, right?<br />
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In short, don't pay money to see this unless mindless, overly-violent action appeals to you.<br />
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...Holy crap, do you realize that Roland Emmerich has <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334879/?ref_=sr_5" target="_blank">the exact same movie</a> coming out in June?<br />
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ValkyrieSDF1<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-50199025721982040112013-02-15T12:23:00.001-08:002013-02-15T12:23:36.556-08:00Please Don't Give this an Oscar....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, I saw Tom Hooper's <i>Les Miserables</i>, and I can't understand why anyone loves it. Wait, no. Say rather that I can't understand how anyone would want to see it more than once.<br />
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The problem is that the poster above is representative of the <i>entire</i> movie... If you want the experience of viewing the 2012 film in your home right now (without pirating a copy), just purchase the soundtrack on iTunes and play it while staring at this poster for 50 minutes. The movie was made almost entirely of close-ups.<br />
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Just stop looking at Anne Hathaway about 1/4 through your experience.<br />
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Hooper has done the story a disservice by choosing such an awful visual style. I don't know if anyone has had the necessary access to the film to try this, but someone needs to perform a quantitative study to see 1) what percentage of the film's total shots were close-ups, and 2)what percentage of the film's total running time was made up of close-ups.<br />
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Call me classical, call me old-fashioned, call me stupid, but I have always thought that visual techniques should have meaning. Only in modern times have we so abused composition, camera movement, and editing that they are rendered meaningless. But composition was the least abused until this high-profile mess. When you shoot literally 60% (?) of a movie in close-up, the close-up becomes meaningless. Whether the characters were happy, sad, loving, spiteful, singing, or silent, they were always filmed from three inches away. And it was painful to watch.<br />
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As a man who made a musical, you would think Hooper would understand the importance of "composition."<br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-75489527876534447782012-07-26T11:54:00.001-07:002012-07-26T11:54:58.161-07:00I Have an Opinion on This...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The <i>Superman</i> franchise has been taken away from Bryan Singer and his crew, but it would appear that it is still in good hands. Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures have handed the reigns to Zack Snyder for a reboot, under the supervision of producer Christopher Nolan.<br />
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This new trailer for next year's <i>Man of Steel</i> looks absolutely awesome. It is playing in front of <i>The Dark Knight Rises</i>, for any of you who want to see this puppy on the big screen.<br />
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What I appreciate about this teaser is that the reverence for the Superman character seems to have been preserved; I was afraid that with the (relatively) tactless Snyder at the helm, Supes would be turned into a dark, brooding anti-hero. I was born into a world where Dick Donner's original film defined the character, so I have never known a Superman who wasn't a Christ figure. <br />
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I am not saying that Clark Kent has to be perfect, but the epic nobility of the character has to remain intact <i>or else it isn't a </i>Superman<i> film</i>!<br />
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<i>P.S. There are two version of this trailer, one with Jor-El speaking and one with Jonathan Kent. The music is from </i>The Lord of the Rings<i>. <span style="background-color: white;">For the list of powerhouse performers in this movie, go to IMDB</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0770828/" style="background-color: white;" target="_blank">here</a>.</i><br />
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<br />ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-81495365487278932012012-03-06T16:17:00.007-08:002012-03-06T16:37:38.940-08:00My Fiancee Likes Die Hard<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5PGS511LQEttpifw22ZB5Rd3iE4xds8m95gJcQ0hvvs2-Wiee961Bgk_NX4JVvoJjLG4RLpn13ojHxWYvpx1akuRws_LcZjMdsZjE6C9dGaNR43Y2G_9QzAKejhV_5Y2RUtyTMhavSkQ/s1600/Die-Hard.jpeg" style="font-style: normal; "><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5PGS511LQEttpifw22ZB5Rd3iE4xds8m95gJcQ0hvvs2-Wiee961Bgk_NX4JVvoJjLG4RLpn13ojHxWYvpx1akuRws_LcZjMdsZjE6C9dGaNR43Y2G_9QzAKejhV_5Y2RUtyTMhavSkQ/s320/Die-Hard.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5716945829930114626" /></a><br /><div style="font-style: normal; ">I really shouldn't have to say anything more than that.</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">She saw the 1988 John McTiernan classic for the first time with me a few months ago. We watched my Blu-ray copy (strongly recommended!).</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div style="font-style: normal; ">Her general response? "There was a lot of language, but I liked it."</div><div style="font-style: normal; "><br /></div><div>Way to go sweetie! Now, dear reader, is <i>your</i> fiancee cool enough to like <i>Die Hard</i>?</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-81998784337367547402011-09-10T14:39:00.000-07:002011-09-10T15:20:16.964-07:00Hobbit, Schmobbit<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbm0U6vOXE8mf7uzqnKMRl_mtF88NoolRbZz_ZDbFGNq-E3gGLXrQ6U6vS2Ul1_WNIUFqLSZSxpWmbk7pYXBNKpwYPvHLOMDSM-VJ32A5kTf2_0CfQI4xtMZDd6VWTeKWVHc_4Rv66I-E/s1600/021-Finglofins-Challenge-p.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbm0U6vOXE8mf7uzqnKMRl_mtF88NoolRbZz_ZDbFGNq-E3gGLXrQ6U6vS2Ul1_WNIUFqLSZSxpWmbk7pYXBNKpwYPvHLOMDSM-VJ32A5kTf2_0CfQI4xtMZDd6VWTeKWVHc_4Rv66I-E/s320/021-Finglofins-Challenge-p.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650853675438027250" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" >Artwork by John Howe</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Sorry to disappoint all of you <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> movie nerds, but I didn't particularly like them very much. They failed to be faithful to the source material when it counted, but the money rained from the sky every time one was released, so now New Line is hard at work on two prequels based on <i>The Hobbit</i>. The first is called <i>The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey</i>, and it is due for release in late 2012. Now I know returning writers Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson did a kick-butt job the last time, but can someone please explain the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/">casting</a> to me???!!! What the $#!& is the Necromancer doing in this movie, played by Benedict... Cumberbatch? Are you kidding me?! That's not even a name! Where is this, Eriador? $@&&*#@$ it all! And who is this Elijah Wood guy, playing the as-yet-unborn Frodo Baggins?</div><div><br /></div><div>The book that <i>should</i> be turned into a movie is Tolkien's posthumous masterpiece, <i>The Silmarillion</i> (1977). This is the most epic of his works, and it deals primarily with the First Age of the world. It involves the creation of Arda, the births of the Elves and Men, and their battles against the first Dark Lord, Morgoth. Sure it is entirely unfilmable, but that is what they said about <i>The Lord of the Rings</i>, remember? </div><div><br /></div><div>There are battles in this story that literally reshaped the earth with their sound and fury. They make the Battle of the Pellenor Fields look like a pillow fight.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Thus he came alone to Angband's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth to single combat. And Morgoth came.</i></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-75069180966573558192011-09-10T14:21:00.000-07:002011-09-10T14:39:15.538-07:00Binghamton Flooding 2011: Bad for Social Life, Great for Netflix<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcAlGEsJGA0j_HKm3eHSHyl5AmK_YZghWGM4KbNFLY2JLoggnt0b7QsnBJrXvxR_5eUyjrbgVD8XNp-6FTQuI_Y2PD9t7cipDQZBJnOe2LSOGxg8R4uQwk6wZktzYV0F-HB3RU4LtCsk/s1600/3512061562_680b3b549a_z.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 249px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcAlGEsJGA0j_HKm3eHSHyl5AmK_YZghWGM4KbNFLY2JLoggnt0b7QsnBJrXvxR_5eUyjrbgVD8XNp-6FTQuI_Y2PD9t7cipDQZBJnOe2LSOGxg8R4uQwk6wZktzYV0F-HB3RU4LtCsk/s320/3512061562_680b3b549a_z.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5650845307923378978" /></a><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" ><u><br /></u></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">Well, those of you who pay attention to the news probably heard that areas of upstate New York have gotten hit with extreme flooding again. This just happened five years ago, so between this and the local Quizno's closing, the question does remain: why do any of us still live here?</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">See pictures <a href="http://www.pressconnects.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=CB&Dato=20110908&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=109080807&Ref=PH">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In any case, I was among the blessed; I kept my electricity and media services the entire time. So, what to do with myself, stuck alone in my apartment for days? I tried Netflix on the PS3, my first time ever! Sure I haven't seen my girlfriend in five days, but at least I'm catching up on classics I missed originally! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">A sample of films I have seen in the past few days on Watch It Now:</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Die Hard 2</i> (1990)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Point of No Return</i> (1993)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance</i> (2002)</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh, I love you, Shannon!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">ValkyrieSDF1 </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-39188913009042824452011-09-06T13:46:00.000-07:002011-09-06T14:46:25.110-07:00Movie Review: Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLmhReDojJu7h43L7xq02LDzvOCf9CqaoU3jTDEJCazwlCvAgJ01VDewguPvUULEG73xfnHloLN-0Lx6Cf52BtDGbSiB59YKYTIOoYVFEtjwQcz5A18zeX9netAB5W2avD_xLz6biQ4Q/s1600/13assassins_smallposter.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 101px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWLmhReDojJu7h43L7xq02LDzvOCf9CqaoU3jTDEJCazwlCvAgJ01VDewguPvUULEG73xfnHloLN-0Lx6Cf52BtDGbSiB59YKYTIOoYVFEtjwQcz5A18zeX9netAB5W2avD_xLz6biQ4Q/s320/13assassins_smallposter.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5649352072047457874" /></a><br /><div>At one point in Japanese director Takashi Miike's <i>13 Assassins</i>, the character of Shinzaemon (Koji Yakusho) makes a remarkable statement. When asked to plot the assassination of a cruel lord, which in effect would guarantee the end of his own life, Shinzaemon responds not with a "why me?" or a "no way," but instead stammers, "How fate smiles on me." The chance to perform a good deed and die a noble death is a blessing to him. This illustrates the character of one of the great men of this film, and the audience's admiration for its 13 heroes is much greater than their admiration for Miike's overlong, climactic battle.</div><div><br /></div><div>Miike is the most famous of modern Japanese directors here in the West, but he has only achieved this status through shock value; his movies such as <i>Ichi the Killer</i> (2001) and <i>Audition</i> (1999) are exploitative and stomach-turning in their violence. <i>13 Assassins</i> is easily the best and most watchable film I have ever seen of Miike's, but it is still in danger of drowning in its own blood.</div><div><br /></div><div>The film has a simple plot, divided into three segments. First, Shinzaemon is approached to kill the evil Naritsuga (Goro Inagaki), and we witness the lord's misdeeds in flashback. Second, Shinzaemon gathers 11 other faithful samurai to join his new cause (the thirteenth warrior joins up later). Finally, after some brief travel, Miike slices his film into a 50-minute battle, with more action than I have ever seen in an uninterrupted sequence. I can't be sure, but I believe this easily sets the body count record for a samurai film, as 200 soldiers square off against our heroes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Miike still fails to show restraint as a filmmaker, and this awesome action movie suffers for it. The final battle is too long, as one bloody, telephoto shot full of bodies and swords and mud rolls into the next. The events become very difficult to differentiate. The battle is actually less effective than those in Akira Kurosawa's <i>Seven Samurai</i> (1954) because Kurosawa's film does not drag the action out until it has lost all impact and become formulaic; Kurosawa also set the standard for chaotic, close-range battle footage shot with long lenses in <i>Samurai</i>. To Miike's credit, the rape of a married woman by Lord Naritsuga is left off-screen, but shots of Naritsuga's mutilated-- but living-- sex-slave recall Miike's inability to make a movie that doesn't offend.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>13 Assassins</i> looks spectacular and benefits from wonderful performances, and I even liked it enough to consider a Blu-ray purchase, but overall it doesn't live up to the standards for meaningful but entertaining samurai films set by the Kurosawas and Goshas of yesteryear. It tries so hard that it bleeds out right off the edges of the screen.</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-31106016428706574502011-06-17T11:07:00.000-07:002011-06-17T11:38:32.939-07:00I Owe You All an Apology...<div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNuJ3qYcOi289dNongGP0VvWBszKL9bWxPMTuzhE8II2Q1GNE62i3s5lMUnSdUfaVptjdI9w8XLe9dl5fUIChDyX1acBMZ-xIkQhWWoxS4K_twa0Nn-BbHkIUCGShyb5G8k-wa35j5Pvc/s1600/Transformers3.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNuJ3qYcOi289dNongGP0VvWBszKL9bWxPMTuzhE8II2Q1GNE62i3s5lMUnSdUfaVptjdI9w8XLe9dl5fUIChDyX1acBMZ-xIkQhWWoxS4K_twa0Nn-BbHkIUCGShyb5G8k-wa35j5Pvc/s320/Transformers3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5619256398054048850" /></a><br /><br /><div><br /></div><div>So I said in this blog a few months ago that I would not see Michael Bay's <i>Transformers: Dark of the Moon</i> when it comes out this summer. The third film in this overwrought series of excess, it is the first to star someone other than Megan Fox as the primary heroine. Due to the fact that there is not enough room in downtown Chicago for two divas as big as Bay and Fox to exist at the same time, she has been replaced by Victoria's Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. </div><div><br /></div><div>Oh well. None of us were going to see it for the acting, anyway. Oh, and it was written by Ehren Kruger, who also wrote <i>Revenge of the Fallen</i>. None of this bodes well for the film, even though the early screening got rave reviews from Ain't It Cool News.</div><div><br /></div><div>...oh my gosh! look at this trailer!<br /><div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><iframe width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/YxVt75aGko8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The movie was shot digitally in James Cameron's true 3D, Fusion Camera technique, so it will look insane in any case. The pure insanity of Bay's unquenchable destruction-lust will be on display.</div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, I will probably see it. *sigh*</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-46239700219408135472011-04-27T13:51:00.000-07:002011-04-27T14:06:36.155-07:00Go See ThisTerrence Malick's fifth feature film, <i>The Tree of Life</i>, is due out May 27 in limited release.<div><br /></div><div>Tell me this doesn't look like the most beautiful film ever put together.</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WXRYA1dxP_0?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>Okay, so I'm not promising a cohesive narrative, but anyone who knows Malick's work knows to expect a sensual montage, not a formulated unfolding of events.</div><div><br /></div><div>By the way, if you haven't seen <i>The Thin Red Line</i> (1998), <b>go see it</b>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy viewing,</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-28133705114865736172011-04-05T14:22:00.000-07:002011-04-05T15:25:49.975-07:00Blu Recommendation: AMC's The Walking Dead season 1<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJnEbPu3VAUnVjcKue5MiSBzTy-FjHkcHKcFHpyee7ydOAQR-zXobOOSqFW289glX43xye7wwRIf4cQ4NFna4woYO4syKKvTCk5oEPi2YcMRRwUX0wncQVarTk2Azj0JRtLNT96GmK2W8/s1600/the-walking-dead-cast.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 235px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJnEbPu3VAUnVjcKue5MiSBzTy-FjHkcHKcFHpyee7ydOAQR-zXobOOSqFW289glX43xye7wwRIf4cQ4NFna4woYO4syKKvTCk5oEPi2YcMRRwUX0wncQVarTk2Azj0JRtLNT96GmK2W8/s320/the-walking-dead-cast.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592217483265664530" /></a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><i>That, uh... that sound you hear is God laughing while you make plans.</i><div><br /></div><div>Cable network AMC has clearly gotten into the modern television game, leaving behind its horrendous early-millenium malaise of unexceptional movie airing, and producing cutting edge dramas. Everyone loves <i>Mad Men</i>, which I couldn't care any less about, and <i>Breaking Bad</i> is exceptional. Then along stumble <i>The Walking Dead</i>, pushing the bounds of what can be shown on standard cable and creating more credibility for TV shows as art; this series has the pacing and quality of a major motion picture.</div><div><br /></div><div>First airing in October of 2010, this continuing series is based on a series of Image graphic novels by Robert Kirkman. The great Frank Darabont (<i>The Shawshank Redemption</i>) deserves the credit for getting this on screen, serving as the series mastermind, producing and even directing some of it. The series stars Andrew Lincoln, John Bernthal, and Sarah Wayne Callies as zombie apocalypse survivors trying to make their way through Georgia with their limbs, and humanity, intact.</div><div><br /></div><div>The blu-ray is awesome, filling your HDTV screen with its 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The series was shot on 16mm film, and the resulting image is beautiful, maintaining a grain veneer when the shots are dark but being clear and detailed during the bright shots. There is a lot of facial detail to see here, whether it consists of the stubble of a sweaty Lincoln or the abrasions of some demented walker. It also comes with a very satisfying Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround track to take full advantage of your HD-compatible home theater.</div><div><br /></div><div>While there are no commentary tracks, the blu-ray does have some good extras, including a behind-the-scenes documentary on the entire creation of the show, mini previews for each of the six episodes, a San Diego Comic-Con panel with the creators, and HD trailers for other shows and movies. The only technical problem with the 2-disc set is that there is no way to select specific chapters within any of the episodes, something even DVD's have been doing for ten years.</div><div><br /></div><div>Violent and upsetting, <i>The Walking Dead</i> is also extremely compelling, and 99% of viewers will pound through the short first season and want more. AMC is going to continue the series in 2011, so those of us safe in the real world can continue to watch these very human characters struggle through their threatening world.</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy viewing,</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-46319172520327966702011-04-05T11:49:00.000-07:002011-04-05T12:04:42.890-07:00Okay, Maybe I'm not so Happy Anymore...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0lYSYOP_21CKVPmJvUrENt7PJOcTB3B5qd_-iCArmNz-s-CM34T0D5XkojGb9G8ymfl11MzSN4kqtXBEChtOAVZyGEWa-ZlpJRv2Bks0sMyC1LIeW7smQhMrnB6pfpjk6M-uR4a376Dc/s1600/MPW-57894.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0lYSYOP_21CKVPmJvUrENt7PJOcTB3B5qd_-iCArmNz-s-CM34T0D5XkojGb9G8ymfl11MzSN4kqtXBEChtOAVZyGEWa-ZlpJRv2Bks0sMyC1LIeW7smQhMrnB6pfpjk6M-uR4a376Dc/s320/MPW-57894.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5592175567488501170" /></a><br />Ugh.<div><br /></div><div>This trailer looks absolutely horrible. I love Chris Evans (<i>Sunshine</i>, <i>Fantastic Four</i>), but this is ridiculous, and his CG-emaciated body looks like a bad joke.</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JerVrbLldXw?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Director Joe Johnston, who hasn't made a piece of celluloid crap since last year's <i>The Wolfman</i>, looks like he has no idea what he is doing; an exaggerated production design and silly tone is not the way to win over modern audiences.</div><div><br /></div><div>I used to love comic book movies, but now I'm waving the red, white, and blue flag.</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-48234026880994112712011-04-04T11:08:00.000-07:002011-04-04T11:59:24.522-07:00Movie Review: Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgms7G5qHj7YMVYg4pJEnMNVrndaPeGSP_H7_jR9CSFCubfc2lHR0zElMy1Zhzpl_3JXSCBCThlKDYQcR8-MpVYFKx8F74kNhJ3A-MW2kgPlHF9Vo1eWGmkV4n6_zqkigQDU8_ml7Sob6o/s1600/MPW-57391.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgms7G5qHj7YMVYg4pJEnMNVrndaPeGSP_H7_jR9CSFCubfc2lHR0zElMy1Zhzpl_3JXSCBCThlKDYQcR8-MpVYFKx8F74kNhJ3A-MW2kgPlHF9Vo1eWGmkV4n6_zqkigQDU8_ml7Sob6o/s320/MPW-57391.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591793162267586546" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><i>All flare, no care.</i><div><br /></div><div>I probably cold write for a month and still never address all the different ways critics hate director Zack Snyder's (<i>300</i>) new movie, <i>Sucker Punch</i>. Snyder is one artist whose work it is currently en vogue to hate on, but I have never felt that he deserved the derision until now.</div><div><br /></div><div>Snyder shows virtually no restraint in any way here, except that the exploitative presentation of the film's young, female antagonists never quite reaches R-level, and I will give him credit for restraining himself from falling into Tony Scott-like hyper cutting to round out the obnoxious presentation, but that was probably only avoided to allow for the exceedingly long takes of CGI cartoonery.</div><div><br /></div><div>The lovely Emily Browning (<i>Lemony Snicket's a Series of Unfortunate Events</i>) plays Baby Doll, a girl forced into a mental institution in Vermont after her mother dies and she accidentally kills her sister. The institution's cruel master, Blue Jones (Oscar Isaac), plans to lobotomize her. Doll and the four friends she earns (Abbie Cornish, Jenna Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, and Jamie Chung) plan a way to escape, but that way is through their own imaginations.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is all a mess from here, as the mental institution is immediately re-presented as a burlesque, the girls now trashed up, dancing whores and Blue their pimp. Within this more colorful world, Baby doll uses her dancing to gain power over her audience, the same trick Snyder apparently wanted to pull. But even when the girls dance, we don't see it; the metaphorical battle against sci-fi enemies in video game locales becomes our reality.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Sucker Punch</i> is inane and derivative, three levels of <i>Inception</i> deep in a trashy Christina Aguilera video, by way of anime action leftovers. You never have time to care about the characters, and the action scenes fail to entertain, but they annoy with their excessively loud pop music remix soundtracks. Almost the entire film is an enigmatic daydream, and the total running time in what you could exhaustedly call the real world- or what Christopher Nolan would call zero levels deep- is probably about 20 minutes.</div><div><br /></div><div>The film is outright ugly, as a smog renders all things brown and even the (mostly animated) fight scenes look blurry. A faithful DVD/Blu-ray transfer in a couple of month's time will not be fun to look at, though it will shake your house non-stop, so if you want to own this movie you had better find something worthwhile in its content. If you are a teenage boy, I am not judging.</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy viewing,</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-11278355201908564002011-03-25T09:41:00.000-07:002011-03-25T10:45:21.299-07:00Movies I Really Wish Didn't Suck: part 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnWDBteiHsWDF4FS34SkiQIQVvcIVX3KxjOE6nagYiDXcSn9ocjfMi7qKU5P5IFYXpkKIj7SzUSSOTG4xKLqLvbPXKdYCyUf326GxZUio436GcFOc0OJ3iFYfVRISr4ZCFV9h19wpEJ0I/s1600/MPW-5894.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 216px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnWDBteiHsWDF4FS34SkiQIQVvcIVX3KxjOE6nagYiDXcSn9ocjfMi7qKU5P5IFYXpkKIj7SzUSSOTG4xKLqLvbPXKdYCyUf326GxZUio436GcFOc0OJ3iFYfVRISr4ZCFV9h19wpEJ0I/s320/MPW-5894.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5588059141317935682" /></a><br />I will be bringing you an ongoing series at random intervals. These posts will name movies I wanted to love throughout my life that turned out to be crap. These are a real tragedy, and I'm going to get kind of emotional discussing them.<div><br /></div><div>P.S. This is a great idea for a continuing series because Hollywood will always continue to supply us with disappointing crap!</div><div><br /></div><div>1. <i>Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen</i> (2009)</div><div><br /></div><div>I am happy to kick off this series with a Michael Bay "film" (hey, Mike!), and it is truly the worst of his worst. I didn't like Bay's 2007 original, but I had hopes that, since the production values on these movies are mammoth, he would hit the right tone with the sequel.</div><div><br /></div><div>Boy, was I foolish. <i>Transformers 2</i> is unwatchable, the epitome of cinematic excess, full of juvenile humor and racially stereotyped anime mechs. Shia LaBeouf is about as annoying as possible in it, and Megan Fox really doesn't get anything to do besides look good. In fact, the only thing Bay seems to want his (supposedly 'tween) male audience to objectify more than her curves is all of the military imagery. </div><div><br /></div><div>I hated <i>Revenge of the Fallen</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>2. <i>The Matrix Reloaded </i>(2003)</div><div><br /></div><div><i>The Matrix</i> (1999) is one of my favorite movies, and the trailers for its sequel made <i>Reloaded</i> look amazing, but the film was a complete waste of time. It broke the rules already established for its universe by the first film, and it did so with bad contrivances to boot.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Wachowski brothers got too ambitious with their effects sequences so that the fight scene between Neo (Keanu Reeves) and a ton of Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving) in the middle of the film literally looked like a cartoon. The story went swiftly down hill, and the filmmakers made the mistake of minimizing Neo's power; all of the momentum from <i>The Matrix</i> was gone.</div><div><br /></div><div><iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HVrGMnk5E_M?rel=0" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><div>On the bright side, the film's freeway chase scene is one of the greatest action scenes ever crafted.</div><div><br /></div><div>3. <i>The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King </i>(2003)</div><div><br /></div><div>Yeah, I might as well piss off everyone sooner rather than later with this list. But I know the story of <i>LOTR</i> better than you (unless your name is Tolkien), and I'm passionate enough about Peter Jackson's trilogy paling in comparison to the books that I should write a doctoral thesis about it.</div><div><br /></div><div>Jackson and his band of rich, know-it-all writers had already dug themselves a hole by butchering the second part of the trilogy and leaving too much ground to be covered in the final film. How to fix this? Well, simply leave out tons of amazing moments, exclude main characters, and reduce Tolkien's poetic writing to bad one liners. </div><div><br /></div><div>"I am no man!"? Are you kidding me?!?</div><div><br /></div><div>Boy, 2003 sucked.</div><div><br /></div><div>Late,</div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-56893638212813757102011-03-20T21:10:00.000-07:002011-03-20T21:38:40.220-07:00Remember When Camera Movement Meant Something?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJtANC3HGoZ3hZ2fq5-_8J41iIEG6nEbayDCJwJRfmMaujK4SdKaxHejMzF53xvg3aiuXukIplxnb7-hGaAX3xm1DVW-wn6RRdJvTliKaJN0uyKd5MCXTuwJky4SM70JNVjYr7vkJ10cU/s1600/children-of-men_10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJtANC3HGoZ3hZ2fq5-_8J41iIEG6nEbayDCJwJRfmMaujK4SdKaxHejMzF53xvg3aiuXukIplxnb7-hGaAX3xm1DVW-wn6RRdJvTliKaJN0uyKd5MCXTuwJky4SM70JNVjYr7vkJ10cU/s320/children-of-men_10.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586384422453965922" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>I have been reading a book on samurai films, and I just finished Hideo Gosha's <i>Sword of the Beast</i> (1965). Old, Japanese films make me appreciate the art of visual style in film; in other words, the camera is expressing something at all times through composition, movement, and, by extension, editing.</div><div><br /></div><div>These terms have less and less meaning in American cinema, as the big-budget movies contain incessant, meaningless camera movement (see everything after <i>The Matrix</i>), or they are shot in the increasingly popular documentary style of shaky-cam madness. One of my favorite films of the decade, 2006's <i>Children of Men</i>, was shot documentary style, so it lacked that particularly cinematic type of artistry I love so much and wish to fully understand. However, it was one of the best films I have ever seen, so I guess the directing style, which was appropriate for the film's narrative, is excusable. The hand-held camera allowed for some of the most amazing long takes ever filmed.</div><div><br /></div><div>Luckily, not all directors have abandoned their camera as storyteller. The camera rarely shook in <i>Road to Perdition</i> (2002), which was also one of the most beautiful movies ever made. An example from that film is a sequence in which Michael Jr. watches Michael Sr. from a distance, and they are also emotionally estranged. The wide angle lens that Sam Mendes uses makes the hallway between them look exceptionally long.</div><div><br /></div><div>Happy viewing,</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-45154431770807935802011-03-14T19:46:00.000-07:002011-03-14T20:07:02.392-07:00Check These Guys Out<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjedPdg3pwg9eoqD_CoNyfe86oDARc39UC9mz8IWfwgMcYSKB9MYWdhnjePUQu3vGrNprrrYvr6X-k3vU-r0XTyDgSEXV35wLZEzb4RMe1NiYqaUBvHr_44HYDmFKHvJmXVSDm59ysD0Ng/s1600/cinema.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjedPdg3pwg9eoqD_CoNyfe86oDARc39UC9mz8IWfwgMcYSKB9MYWdhnjePUQu3vGrNprrrYvr6X-k3vU-r0XTyDgSEXV35wLZEzb4RMe1NiYqaUBvHr_44HYDmFKHvJmXVSDm59ysD0Ng/s320/cinema.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584137846597725330" /></a><br /><div><br /></div><div>Some buddies in town run a wonderful little podcast all about movies, Buried Cinema.</div><div><br /></div><div>Nate, Tom, Steve and Alban... Way to go, guys... even though you did all like <i>Black Swan</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="http://www.buriedcinema.com/">www.buriedcinema.com</a></div><div><br /></div><div>I guessed starred on episodes 34 and 36. You can get the show on iTunes.</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers,</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8150667741551231305.post-79938341169617682392011-03-14T19:18:00.000-07:002011-03-14T20:06:05.782-07:00Blu Recommendation: The Thin Red Line, Criterion Collection<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YhJJJbBtMc9lPIElBSBO-GjEZj0lfTPNVEkf7gUJ_mgzeWx_CcpBGo68beiyALcqNicO7Msz2T73TgZTGdVjp72OwJaMAANt_LccCwqrZEcBXfrA8dWieo6MzzAiCi0lRW9ihM_r_20/s1600/thethinredline1.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-YhJJJbBtMc9lPIElBSBO-GjEZj0lfTPNVEkf7gUJ_mgzeWx_CcpBGo68beiyALcqNicO7Msz2T73TgZTGdVjp72OwJaMAANt_LccCwqrZEcBXfrA8dWieo6MzzAiCi0lRW9ihM_r_20/s320/thethinredline1.png" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5584130673111206338" /></a><br /><br />I totally blew it with the promise I gave you to recommend a new Blu-ray or DVD each week, and I apologize to both of you for that. But let's not argue and bicker about who killed who; let's move on with our lives.<div><br /></div><div>What a release this is, a Criterion Blu-ray from September 28, 2010. <i>The Thin Red Line</i> (1998) is only the second film I've seen from director Terrance Malick (<i>Days of Heaven</i>), but he is on a roll in my book. As usual, Criterion's treatment of the film is exemplary; I have, literally, never seen a movie look better on home video. Ever. Folks, buy yourselves a plasma and sit back to enjoy home cinema as never before.</div><div><br /></div><div>John Toll's (<i>Gone Baby Gone</i>) cinematography is absolutely stunning, as Malick puts together the best-looking war film ever. I'm not going to say that I understand <i>The Thin Red Line</i>, but I will say that it demands multiple viewings, and it contains some scenes you will never forget. The beauty of most scenes is so sublime, I'm amazed that Malick is still able to infuse the horror of war into the film.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Blu-ray features a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, a theatrical trailer, three different making-of documentaries, wartime newsreels, and a commentary track (without Malick, who won't talk about his own movies).</div><div><br /></div><div>ValkyrieSDF1</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>ValkyrieSDF1http://www.blogger.com/profile/00401260467633857433noreply@blogger.com0