The Book Of Eli

So I completely understand where they were trying to go with this film, or better yet, what they were trying to accomplish with it. Here we have Denzel Washington as the toughest guy left on the face of the post-apocalyptic planet. He’s the only man left that seems to have any sense of morality or decency left inside of him. So he fights against those the wrongdoers. So the film is basically Denzel ripping through sets of bad guys one after another. The bad guy’s leader is played by Gary Oldman who is probably one of my favorite actors and does shine in this film in many scenes as the stereotypical ominous leader of the bad guy group. Watch the trailer in case you missed it.

The Book Of Eli Trailer Here

Like I said before, I know what they were trying to accomplish with this film – Denzel Washington fighting hordes of bad guys in post-apocalyptic American badlands, saturated filters used throughout, righteous path scriptures thrown in, epic slow motion shots and score – it should have worked, but for me, it fell awfully hard on its face. There was no story. What was Denzel trying to obtain? How did America become so torn apart? What purpose does Miley K serve besides on screen eye candy? All questions I needed to have answered and didn’t. And yes, I get that he was trying to bring a last copy of a KJV Bible to the new library, but that’s the driving force?

The fight scenes killed me too. They were like a bad composite of MORTAL KOMBAT mixed with the MATRIX and KILL BILL – didn’t leave me impressed in the slightest. Even when there was a cool kill shot, it was totally apparent that it was CG because it was pretty piss poor CG at that.

A lot of my friends told me this film was extraordinary, like it was the second coming, but for me it was a shot-in-the-dark attempt at a sweeping end-of-days epic with a great front man’s name attached to it. Not for me. Give me MADMAX, THE ROAD, or WALL-E any day over this flick.

Rating: 5/10
RottenTomatoes: 47%

**PS – I’m going to start adding RottenTomatoes rating to the films I watch. I will check what they rated the film after I have rated – don’t worry I won’t cheat.

Up In The Air [2]

The film I first started this little blog off with – I have now returned to. I guess I’ve come full circle. And this is the first film that I’ve watched twice this year. I guess that says something about how good it is. We watched this up north at the camper one night with my parents. And yes, I still like this film as much as the first time when I saw it, so I won’t spend too much time talking about it, actually, I won’t spend any time on it at all – go read my first blog. : )

Blood Simple.

How do I even begin to start talking about this film? Definitely one of my top 5 films of all time – this one is extraordinary. Ok let’s get the plot of the way. Ray is sleeping with Marty’s wife and Marty finds out about it. Marty is also Ray’s boss until Ray quits his bartending job. Marty pays off a hitman, played by legendary M. Emmet Walsh, to take Ray out. However, Walsh instead kills Marty and takes the money thinking he has gotten off scot-free because no one can link him to the deal. That’s where the story begins to get good. Sound confusing and twisty? It should, because this film has a ton of dynamics going on simultaneously and it never lets up.

Blood Simple. Trailer Here

Hands down this is my favorite Coen brother’s film. But I love everything they’ve down – except for INTOLERABLE CRUELTY – I just didn’t like that film for what it was, but I understand why it was like it was. FARGO, BURN AFTER READING, THE BIG LEBOWSKI (which I reviewed earlier in the year) – they are all superb and so worthy of viewing. But this film, their first film too, is in a league of its own in my opinion.

The acting, the script, the story, the camera work – everything is top notch here. I especially love the dialogue. They always told me that for dialogue to work it has to be interesting and lively, and be relevant for the story, and that’s exactly what we have here. Words not just for the sake of words. They have meaning for the entire story and help develop our very interesting characters.

The film is just shot so meticulously and layered so well that it hurts to watch because it is so amazingly simple yet complicated. I don’t even know what else to say about it. You need to see it if you haven’t. I guarantee that it will not be everybody’s cup of tea, but many of you will appreciate it and love it for what it is. The best part is the final scene where Francis shoots the person behind the door. I just love how that whole sequence was set up and the twist. Awesome.

Rating: 10/10

Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer

This film is highly regarded as one of the most intense and disturbing films of all time. I wouldn’t go as far to say that – CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST or even TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (1973) is more disturbing than this film, but I understand why people say that about it. Because it is shot in documentary style it really seems realistic and very believable. The film follows to best friends who become bored with their small time lives and turn to serial killing strangers as a way to experience something new and exciting.

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Trailer

The film does have some shocking moments. At the end when Henry finally kills of Otis – that was a bit of a jolt to the system (sorry for ruining that for everyone who hasn’t seen it). And I do love the scene where they are watching back the footage of the home invasion and following murder – pretty disturbing stuff all around. Otis and Henry are both interesting characters to watch as well. We know that there is something not right with them and then it finally manifests itself in their murdercapades.

Not a film for those with weak stomachs, but definitely a horror classic – if only THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT would have taken some hints from this film I think it would have been a much better docu-horror film. Watch alone in the dark with small children all around J

Rating: 7.75/10

Alice In Wonderland (remake)

Talk about buildup surrounding a film. Whoa! This would be the winner hands down for the past year. Every time a new trailer came out, it was all everyone could talk about. Tim Burton’s take on a classic Disney flick – it was destined to rock the cinematic world. I finally got around to seeing it this week. I didn’t see it on the big screen, or in IMAX, or in 3D. Nope. I saw it on blu-ray on a 52 inch LED. IT was beautiful, but I have a lot to say about everything else that I took in that night.

AIW Trailer (How have you not seen this?)

Ok, like I mentioned I was super excited to see this. Johnny Depp as the mad hatter, a new vision for the old story and film, etc, and I love Tim Burton and all of his films, even BIG FISH, which some people aren’t so pleased with. But this film struck a unique nerve in me. From the very first minutes I knew it was going to be something completely different and odd. Imagine that for a Burton film, right? And that is exactly what we got – a true Tim Burton film indeed.

I did like this film, but I didn’t love it by any stretch. IT felt so surreal to me, perhaps TOO surreal. I didn’t get caught up in the new wonderland and the majority of the characters seemed so far out that I couldn’t relate whatsoever. The film DID hurt me. I was hoping for something much more than what I got. Maybe if I would’ve seen it at the IMAX theatre or in 3D my experience would have been different, but I wasn’t overly impressed. The story was unimaginative and so narrow that it hurt to ride along with these characters on their mission to bring the white queen the sword from the red queen and then have them go back and kill the red queen with it – really? That’s all you can give us?? Maybe I’m being too hard on it, but the mission reminded me of TRANSFORMERS 2 where they had to run from point A in the desert to point B – have we really gotten this stagnant as a society to where that is considered entertaining?

Visually the film was beautiful, and I understand why the CG was so overexposed and vivid, but it made it harder to believe too at the end of the day. The story was terrible; the characters were interesting but not well developed. Give me BEETLEGUICE or BATMAN any day over this…

Rating: 7/10

Brick

It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen this film and I have been meaning to give it another twirl, so that’s what I did. The film follows a young man who is trying to solve a mystery per se – a girl named Emily is found dead in a sewer runoff and Brendan has to weave his way through a slew of interesting characters to find out what really happened to her and what she was into that got her killed. On another note: I know I’m really behind on my reviews, so I’m going to have a blowout of movies this weekend. I will be up north, so hopefully I can find some time to sit back, kick my feet up, and watch some films. Probably looking at JAWS, SWF, and possibly CLUE? I will try to tackle some new movies as well – so let’s see what I can get accomplished.

Brick Trailer Here

Oh this film… It is true, the more you watch it, the more you appreciate it more and begin to give yourself to it. The first time I saw it I was confused, stunned, and in a sense of awe at it. It’s setup like a 1950s film noir crime drama. It’s backed with a solid DP team, tight writing, well-drawn characters, and unbelievably sharp dialogue. And the dialogue carries throughout the entire film. Just when you think they can’t be any more “cutesy” BOOM! You’re struck with something that knocks you down.

There is a lot more happening here than what meets the eye. You can just tell. This is one of those cinematic journeys that have so much thought and intention injected before shooting that it boggles your mind a little. I’d like to offer that it is semi-Lynchian is style as well. Maybe we were never supposed to know everything that the writers and director intended with each character and subplot, but it is a fascinating journey nonetheless.

Overall, I probably will not be in huge hurry to revisit this film anytime soon. It’s a great ride while it’s happening, but it does tend to drag it some parts more than others, and it is noticeable. I, am not one to ever put down a film that takes their time and doesn’t over rush the pacing, but if I noticed this film’s pacing, others will as well. And to much more levels of severity than I did. This is one my parents and wife would probably hate. I enjoyed it, but I guess I’m in a different space.

Rating: 8/10

The Basketball Diaries

The film that really showed the world the kind of actor Leonardo Dicaprio can be in these intense roles. Here he plays a teenager who’s involved in all the juvenile normalcy activities like basketball, joking with his friends, and intravenous drug use melded with exchanging sex acts with random men in bathrooms for money. What a role Leo plays here. So the story follows Leo’s downward spiral after being introduced to Heroin.

TBD Trailer Here

Mark Walberg also plays a really good junkie too – totally believable in every sense of the character. The first and second acts were the best in my mind. There’s a moment the mood takes an awkward little change – I first noticed it heavily when they go into the bar for cokes.

Overall the film is a well done, unrelenting, intense look at addiction and how it can destroy relationships and lives. The dynamic between mother and son is also very interesting to watch unfold. And Leo’s acting throughout is utterly superb. That alone is reason enough to watch this film.

Rating: 8.75/10