Justin at the Movies

Public Enemies

// July 23rd, 2009 // No Comments » // Reviews

Public Enemies
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard
Rated: R
Justin’s Rating: 3.5/5

The “gangster genre” is my favorite genre in movies. Having seen just about every gangster movie worth seeing (and seeing most of them upwards of five times each) I consider myself somewhat of an expert on gangster films. Having said that, I found myself quite disappointed with this film. I am a big Michael Mann fan and a bigger fan of Johnny Depp. Johnny Depp is known for choosing very well written scripts, regardless of there appeal to the masses, but I  wouldn’t have pegged this as a script that he would choose.

One of the main reasons that I found myself so disppointed was by the directing. It is unconventional, as Michael Mann usually is, but it is just messy in parts. He likes to try different things and do weird angles, and usually it works quite well, but it misses the mark quite a bit in this movie and just ends up being distracting. Some people complain about the camera being shaky a lot. To me, that is a stupid thing to complain about. So what if they did hand held camera work through the movie? It doesn’t hurt the film at all, except to superficial film watchers. What bothered me was how some of the camera angles were incredibly disorienting, and seemed to be quite bad. For example, when John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) breaks his friends out of prison at the beginning of the film, they are running back to the car. Then one of his buddies gets shot and falls to the ground. Next thing we know, Johnny Depp is holding on to his hand while moving backwards. In between two shots, he apparently hopped onto the side of the car and it started traveling rather quickly. And the angle was looking up at him. It was all messy and confusing. All of this was disppointing to me because Michael Mann usually does terrific work. But allegedly he and Johnny Depp weren’t even speaking toward the end of filming because Johnny Depp hated his directing style so much. That speaks pretty loudly, as Johnny Depp is one of the most liked people to work with in Hollywood because he is so nice and helpful.

I was also very disappointed by the acting. Johnny Depp does a great job like always, Marion Cotillard does a really good job, even though she tries really hard to contain her french accent. The sub par acting comes from Christian Bale. I thought he was really weak and his really weak accent was retardedly inconsistant. It was annoying. But then again, he hasn’t had a good performance since 3:10 to Yuma, so what did I expect? Billy Crudup also does a really good job as J. Edgar Hoover.

I guess overall I was disppointed that it turned more into an action movie than a drama biopic. I like those kind of movies and I wished it would have gone more that direction. But the character development was minimal, and it left me feeling kind of blah toward all the characters. With all that being said, the movie is still highly enjoyable and I would recommend to everybody that wants to be nothing but entertained for two and a half hours. Johnny Depp alone is worth the admission price.

This Week on DVD

// July 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Reviews

Knowing

Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Nicholas Cage (Says all you need to know)
Rating: 1.5/5

This may contain spoilers, so if you plan on watching this movie, just skip to the next one. First off, this movie is awful. Once again, proof for me that Mr. Ebert and I don’t agree on anything. He gave this movie four stars and called it a “superbly crafted thriller.” Did we watch the same movie?! This movie is terrible. Watch this movie and try to count the plot holes. I dare you. You will lose count. The acting is absolutely terrible, by both Nicholas Cage’s son and by Mr. Cage himself. Terrible. The writing is bad, and the ending is so cheesy and corny, it’s almost unbelievable. Who knew angels were aliens? Well, they are. And the characters are completely unbelievable. They all come to conclusions that nobody would or could rationally come to, and they all behave in a way that just doesn’t make sense. The one stupid lady has been told these “prophecies” all her life by her mother, but she just decided it would be best for her to ignore them and pretend like they aren’t real instead of trying to save people’s lives, even though she is seeing them come true. Then after Nicholas Cage proves to her that she should listen to him, she does, and then later she decides it’s in her best interest not to again. Nobody’s behavior makes any sense. And if you get underground far enough, it is possible to avoid  being burned up by solar flares. Just so you know. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Push

Director: Who Cares
Starring: Dakota Fanning, Djimon Honsou, Chris Evans
Rating: 2/5

Sadly, this is the best movie coming out on dvd this week. Go ahead and try to count the plot holes in this one too. I bet you can’t. This movie also doesn’t make any sense to me. It is just like the movie Jumper, in the sense that they decided to just make a two hour setup for the next movie. Or how about you don’t waste my time and just show me the story. There’s a plan. Djimon is such a good actor and I don’t know why he continues to do work that is very much beneath his talent level.

The Unborn

Director: Who Cares
Starring: Nobody
Rating: 1/5

As far as awful horror movies go, well, this one is pretty awful. Everything from the acting to the directing to the writing. Then halfway through this nonsensical story they try to make it meaningful and tie it into the holocaust. Their attempt is so ridiculous and just convolutes the story even more it just makes it a big steaming pile of horror crap. This movie also contains an actor that is way to good for this movie (Gary Oldman.) He must have owed a favor to David S. Goyer or something. Things I learned from this movie: 1- Jews have exorcisms (yes, they do), 2- Dybuuks that possess your souls don’t have religious preferences when it comes to said exorcisms, 3- Dogs with upside down heads are “scary”, 4- If ever you are being haunted, get into you underwear as often as possible, 5- Never, ever name your unborn fetus Jumby. Really. You want me to be scared by an unborn fetus named Jumby. I couldn’t stop laughing long enough to be scared. Crap. Crap. Double Crap.

Space Cowboys

// June 21st, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Recommendations, Reviews

Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner, Donald Sutherland, Marcia Gay Harden
Rated: PG-13
Rating: 4/5

I remember when this movie came out and my dad said something about it. I don’t really remember what it was but I remember calling it an “old dude” movie. In a sense I was both right and wrong. It is an old dude movie, but an insanely entertaining old dude movie. If I would have watched this years ago I would have been incredibly surprised at how fun it is. But since I know now what Clint Eastwood is capable of, I wasn’t expecting any less.

This movie is about four old dudes who missed their chance to go into space back in 1958, and are getting their chance now, 40 years later. They have to go up into space because the guidance system on the satellite was created by Eastwood’s character and is now outdated, so he is the only one that can fix it. However, he will only do it if he can take his old crew with him. This movie is nothing more than pure fun and entertainment. I thoroughly enjoyed myself while watching it, and I get the feeling I am going to enjoy it more and more with the older I get. I have never like Tommy Lee Jones and Donald Sutherland more. Both are fantastic. I am sure some will complain about how there doesn’t really seem to be any sense of urgency, but that’s because that isn’t really the point. This movie is supposed to be fun, and not a whole lot more. And it accomplishes that with great success. I also really liked they Clint Eastwood handled the more emotional involved scenes. He really could have become carried away in it and been overly sentimental, but he avoided that and the scenes still worked perfectly. I highly recommend this movie if you are in the mood to just watch a movie and have a good time. Well, actually, I recommend this movie not matter what mood you are in.

Lonely Hearts

// June 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Reviews

Director: Todd Robinson
Starring: John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Selma Hayek, Laura Dern
Rated: R
Rating: 3/5

Have you ever seen one of those movies that when it’s over it’s as if you stared at wall for two hours and absolutely nothing changed? That’s kind of how this movie is. Lonely Hearts is based on a true story of two detectives, played by John Travolta and James Gandolfini, who are tracking Martha Beck (Selma Hayek) and Ray Fernandez (Jared Leto), a couple who lures in vulnerable women before murdering them and stealing their money.

My main problem with the movie is that the material and cast that they had to work with should have resulted in a much better film. This story is truly engaging, but the film failes to capture that. The pacing is very slow and never really succeeds in building any kind of suspense to the eventual climax. The shining spot and redeeming factor for the movie are the performances by Jared Leto and James Gandolfini. Both give wonderful performances that are on par with the best they have given to date. Surprisingly enough John Travolta’s performance is the weak link in the movie. I don’t know if it was the lack of depth to his character, but he just didn’t seem to grasp it. All of the characters lacked depth to an extent, but they are a little more than two dimensional. Overall this movie was nothing more than ok, but considering the cast, it should have been a lot better. Although it’s not great and pretty slow, it’s worth seeing if you are a big fan of Leto and/or Gandolfini.

Another Pixar Disappointment

// June 10th, 2009 // 13 Comments » // Reviews

Up

Rating: 3/5

Does anybody remember a time when makers of animated films would occasionally throw stuff into the movie for the adults that were forced to take their children? Well, Up felt like an animated movie aimed toward adults with stuff occasionally thrown in for the children. Up started out well enough. Who doesn’t love a story of somebody doing something great in memorium of the one they love? But then they practically ruin a beautiful story by throwing in obnoxious animals that I could not have cared less about. It felt like they threw this subplot with the animals into the movie because they needed to fill time, because the real story  just didn’t take long enough.

Up was a huge disappointment. Although it was a huge step forward from their last two efforts, this still isn’t nearly as good as I know they are capable of. It wasn’t that funny, it was boring, and it felt insanely long. I also decided from this film that I absolutely hate 3-D. It hurts my head something fierce, but that is another blog for another day. I challenge all the other movie studios out there to please make a great animated movie. I am tired of Pixar films winning best animated film just because they are pixar films. It is trendy to think that Pixar is amazing, and people have become trapped in the mindset that they can do no wrong. Well, two years ago ‘Persepolis’ definitely should have won best animated film. It is twice the film that Ratatouille could ever even hope to be.

Basically, if you are going to make an animated film for adults, then have the balls to do it. Don’t throw in a bunch of kiddie stuff that distracts from the emotion and beauty of the film. Up lacks the fun and sense of humor to be remembered ten years from now, and lacks the emotional punch to ever be considered more than an animated film and nothing more. I liked the movie, but for heaven’s sake, quit trying to disguise your agenda by wrapping it in a “children’s” movie.

Forever Strong

// May 24th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Reviews

Rated: PG-13
Rating: 1/5

Forever Strong is based on a true story about Rick Penning (Sean Faris), a high school rugby star from Flagstaff, Arizona, who finds himself in a world of trouble when he crashes his car, while driving drunk one night after a party. The judge orders Penning to the Wasatch Youth Detention Center, as the boy is still a minor and this is not his first offense. While there, the administrator of the program, played by Sean Astin, introduces him to the Highland rugby team to try to instill some discipline and values. The one problem with this is that Highland is the rival team that beat Penning’s Flagstaff team the season before. It all starts poorly for Penning because he doesn’t have a work ethic and doesn’t know how to play as a member of a team. That doesn’t deter Coach Gelwix (Gary Cole) from believing in him and trying to teach him the finer things in life.

In a movie that is specifically about character development, there is surprisingly very little, if any at all, in this movie. Penning goes from being an unapologetic delinquent who can’t get along with any of his teammates, to model citizen and best friend over night. There is never any road to redemption shown throughout the movie, yet that’s what the movie claims itself to be. There is never any evidence of personal growth or greater understanding. This movie tries to show how it’s never too late to turn one’s life around, but fails miserably.

At the end of the film, I didn’t believe that this boy had changed one bit. I still believed that he was the same kid I saw at the beginning of the film that had no regard for the law or human life. The writing, directing, and acting are all amateur at best, and the only performance that holds any life is given by Sean Astin in a completely flat character. All the characters are completely contrived and stereotypical, and we are supposed to believe that people actually act this way. All of these characters have been done before and done a whole lot better. 

Not only does this fail as a human interest story but it fails even as a “sports movie.” It runs long at 112 minutes and has nothing to hold interest, and no redeeming characters that you want to see achieve greatness. There is nothing new here to be seen. Completely contrived, unoriginal, and poorly executed. Just because it’s based on a true story doesn’t mean it’s a story worth telling. You are better off renting Rudy again.

Murder on a Sunday Morning

// March 10th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // Recommendations, Reviews

My rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
Rating: NR

I watched this fantastic documentary last night called ‘Murder on a Sunday Morning.’ It is about a 15 year old boy who is arrested for the murder of a woman who was visiting Jacksonville with her husband. This movie is very well made and shows many holes in the judicial system. I also right away thought this boy was guilty. Why? I couldn’t really figure that out. Was it because he was black, or was it because the husband positively identified him. I hope that it was the latter but I couldn’t say for sure. You get the background of the story and then you basically watch the trial unfold. Watching an actual trial was very entertaining and very maddening. I am a big fan of documentaries, especially ones that are actually documentaries, Bill Mahr. This one is very well made and everybody should watch it. And don’t worry I didn’t give anything away in this little pretend review. There is nothing bad in this as well except for a semi-graphic photo at the beginning.

Synecdoche, NY

// March 8th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Reviews

Pronounced Si-nek-duh-kee

My official review-

……………………………………………..what?

Watchmen

// March 7th, 2009 // 3 Comments » // Reviews

Jesse and I saw “Watchmen” this afternoon and overall I still am not sure what my feelings are. To get things straight to begin with, I love the graphic novel. I think it is a fantastic piece of literature. Now that we got that out of the way. There was both good and bad in the movie.

First off I was planning on doing an ‘oscar watch’ section on my page but I didn’t think I was going to have to start it until about July or August. But my oscar watch has already officially started. Jackie Earle Haley was absolutely brilliant as Rorschach. He embodied that character and brought him straight from the comic onto the screen. I didn’t feel like there was any difference in the characters at all. He also does what I will refer to as “almost batman voice.” But it’s awesome. He understood that there was a fine line between being intimidating and sounding ridiculous. You can understand every word that he says. Don’t get me wrong, it is nowhere near as extreme as Christian Bale’s stupid batman voice. He just puts some grunge in his voice and I loved it. How this guy fell out of acting for almost fifteen years is beyond me. He is a brilliant actor and that is why he won the Justademy for best supporting actor two years ago. His performance in Little Children is also nothing short of brilliant but once again the academy has a love affair with Alan Arkin and with perverted old men roles. Bryan, you saw Little Miss Sunshine, was there anything special about that at all? No is the correct answer there. Rorschach is my favorite character in the book and I couldn’t have asked for a better portrayal of him onscreen. Absolutely loved him. Jackie Earle Haley in the running early for best supporting actor. Too bad movies like this don’t get much credit.

On the other hand Malin Ackerman is a horrible actress. She hurt the movie for me a little bit because she just simply cannot act. She has terrible delivery and even worse is she has absolutely no emotion ever…..at all. She was a terrible choice to play that part but I also am not a fan of her character.

One thing that was really weird for me was when Dr. Manhattan spoke. I knew Billy Crudup was playing him but his voice still took me by surprise. As I read the novel I always pictured him having a much deeper voice, and Billy’s just isn’t. I wish his voice would have been deeper but that wasn’t a big deal at all. Just personal preference, but it has zero bearing on the overall impression of the movie. And they didn’t do what I thought they would. They actually showed his penis throughout the movie. There is a whole lot of penis in this movie. I was a little surprised. I also completely dug Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s portrayal of the comedian. He was fantastic and portrayed him just how I would have.

Now the thing that bothered me the most about this movie was the music. This has to be the worst use of music I have ever seen in a movie. Seriously. It felt like I was watching a movie and somebody was sitting by me listening to a totally unrelated cd. It drove me nuts. The music didn’t fit at all, it made you feel awkward, and it made everything on screen look awkward. I have no idea what Zack Snyder (the director) was going for, but it didn’t work at all. At all. There were also some terrible decisions made by the director and obviously the editor as well. There were some scenes at certain moments that were horribly directed and looked very clumsy. Mr. Snyder does love his sex scenes and over the top violence, he didn’t cheat anybody out of that. The one sex scene between Dreiberg and Laura on the ship is so exaggerated in the movie and semi-pornographic. He did this in 300 as well. But it wasn’t all bad, this movie has some of the coolest moments in a movie that I have ever seen. Some actions sequences and the special effects are absolutely brilliant. Overall for me I just felt like the movie lacked the depth and emotion that the novel had. I really felt like Zack Snyder misinterpreted meanings and scenes because he shot some things in a comedic way and portrayed them like they were supposed to be funny and I really don’t think that was the intention. Overall after writing this and thinking about the movie for about seven hours now I realized that I enjoyed it. The action sequences are awesome and the movie doesn’t fail to entertain. It didn’t feel like a 2 hour and 40 minute movie at all. I would give it 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.