Displaying Category: Rating_4

Hey look, another Mike Judge movie! I felt pretty good about this movie. It wasn't hilarious or awesomely excellent or highly critical of American society (like Idiocracy) but it was funny and full of interesting caricatures... so in the end, I felt good about it. If anything, I felt like it all wrapped up a little too cleanly, because while it had a tone of "life is complicated and it sucks" through most of the movie, the ending just made everything neat and tidy with a pretty bow and, in a way, didn't feel true to the rest of the film. Still, I'd recommend it if you're looking for something fun.

4/5

I had actually planned on seeing Julie & Julia, but apparently the film was damaged the night before and the replacement hadn't come in yet. So we got free tickets and I took the opportunity to see a different movie since I was there already. Inglorious Basterds was starting in fifteen minutes, so that's what I saw. And hence no ticketstub.

So I got pretty much what I expected from a Tarentino film. It's long. There's some pretty graphic violence. People like to talk. A lot. I actually kind of liked the movie, but I'm not entirely sure why. There were lots of really really slow sections as characters sat around a table and talked about all sorts of random things. I found the language to be interesting and some of the conversations were intense, but what with those conversations making up most of the film, it definitely felt long. I would probably only recommend it to people who are already familiar with Tarentino films and really enjoys them.

*SPOILERS FOLLOW*

Also, while the film has a historical setting, it is almost comically not historical in terms of the facts. I mean, it's a well known fact that the entire German high command didn't die in a small cinema in Paris, thereby ending the war in 1944. I find it almost absurd that the movie even suggests this without any explanation. No suggestion of an alternate timeline, no backhanded "...and that's how it would have gone, if things had worked out..." Nothing. It felt weird.

4/5

This was a presentation of Ed Wood's infamous film Plan 9 from Outer Space, featuring riffing by the RiffTrax guys. In short, the movie was bad and the riffing was hilarious. I made the mistake of trying to eat Junior Mints while watching this which resulted in me nearly choking on a 'mint, causing me to go into a coughing fit and get dangerously close to vomiting. Good times! I had never seen Plan 9 before this, so it was definitely educational, in the sense that I now know how bad a movie can get... Michael Bay, you still have a long way to fall...

The rating I am presenting here goes mostly to the quality of the riffing, not Plan 9.

4/5

The movie opens as a sort of quasi-documentary following a bureaucrat as he tries to evict 1.8 million insect-like aliens stranded in Johannesburg, South Africa for the last 20 years, and move them to a different, worse slum further away from the city population who are now tired of the alien refugees. This first section of the movie serves as a dark satire on man's inhumanity to man (that's right, I'm taking it back to grade school). We get many of those awkward chuckle moments where we see something genuinely funny, and then realize if this were real (and it definitely could be real) and we were treating other people this way, it would be sickening. Without warning, the movie takes a hard right turn into more serious science fiction involving transformations and amazing alien weaponry and space ships and battlemechs and the whole way through I am thrilled and sickened and loving every minute of it. Note that the movie is extremely violent and graphically gory, all heightened by the documentary film style.

To anyone interested in seeing District 9 or even those who have already seen it, I would highly recommend reading this interview with directory Neill Blomkamp. It outlines Blomkamp's backstory for the aliens and how the ended up at Earth. Though it says there are spoilers, I don't think there was anything there that hurt my experience. It actually gave me a better feel for what was going on and put everything into better context.

4/5

I knew a lot about this movie going in. A person is stationed on the moon for a three year contract to gather and send Helium 3 back to earth. Then things get complicated. Moon's only failing is that it's a fairly slow-moving film, largely because there's no significant action and there are only two characters, Sam Rockwell's Sam Bell, and Kevin Spacey as the on-station AI, Gerty. As the plot unfolds the philosophical elements take on a lot more depth than I was expecting, which for me, really made up for the slow segments. Sure, there wasn't action on screen, but that gave me a chance to consider the moral and psychological implications of what is being perpetrated on Sam Bell. I'm not sure if this was the point of the film, but it also explored the nature of human loneliness. The things we cling to to avoid loneliness and what happens when all those hooks are ripped out and we get to see for the first time how completely alone we can be.

I couldn't find any major faults in this movie other than the aforementioned slow plot development, and that really wasn't a huge detractor. Even the relatively simple background music was pretty much perfect for the few segments it came up in. Finally, corporations that control 70% of the world's energy production are EVIL.

4/5

At first I thought this movie was really excellent. Some great set-pieces, art direction, writing, effects, much darker, some emotional moments and I was feeling quite satisfied... And then I actually thought about it. There was a lot missing from this movie that was so much fun in other movies, such as Hagrid (who had maybe 17 seconds of screen time), other professors and scenes from the classrooms, that whole Order of the Phoenix thing, Voldemort... This movie felt pretty much like Harry/Dumbledore slashfic since they were it for what seemed like most of the movie. Oh sure, there was a little with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, but other than promoting the romantic storylines, they had no function whatsoever. I think that's what bothers me most, really, that the trio really doesn't function like a trio when it really matters. That worked really great in Order of the Phoenix, but apparently, that entire book has been forgotten outside of the magic newspapers.

You know what I really enjoyed? And I know I am going to be called out for this, but I loved the romantic elements. The Ron and Hermione business is almost painful to watch, which is what it should be. The Harry and Ginny thing is sweet, but I'm not really buying it. I would actually love to watch a movie just about all these budding teenage relationships and bugger-all the magic and danger and crap. I know, crazy, right? Maybe that's just where I am right now...

Oh yeah, and there was no ending. Lame.

4/5

Ah, another beautiful outdoor concert at Wolf Trap... only it wasn't beautiful. I stood waiting at the gate for about 45 minutes in 90F heat. Once I had found a decent spot in the park the frequent promises of no rain in the forecast began to evaporate as dark thunderclouds rolled in. Worse yet, Jon was bringing the umbrellas (you know, just in case). About an hour before the show was scheduled to start, the rain started. Jon got to me within moments and we popped the umbrellas and tried to think happy thoughts like "oh don't worry, it's supposed to blow over real quick..." It was a nice thought. There was a brief lull in which we quickly ate some dinner, and then the rain picked up again around the time the show was starting and continued a little past the intermission.

Persistent dampness, this is a review, so how was the actual show? It was pretty good. There was music from E.T., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Close Encounters, Jaws, Superman, Saving Private Ryan, and Indiana Jones. Oh yes, and lots from the various Star Wars movies. The music was excellent, and surprisingly, even the sound was great (much better than the Video Games Live! show). The conductor, Erich Kunzel, provided introductions to most of the pieces that helped to provide a little context for the segments. Overall, a really great show that could have only been made better by, you know, dryness.

4/5

Virtuality is a serious science fiction story that follows the 12 person crew of the Phaeton on its one-way journey to a distance star in search of intelligent life and hopefully someway to save a failing Earth or at least a way to keep the human race alive (or that's how I interpret it, anyway). That much of it sounds like something we've seen before and that's not entirely a bad thing, there's some comfort in watching a well-established concept... but things are a little different on the Phaeton.

First of all, the entire journey is being filmed by various cameras positioned within and outside the ship, edited onboard, and beamed back to Earth as a reality television program with 5 billion loyal fans. No pressure guys... Second, as a way to give the crew their needed privacy and a break from the stresses of long-term space travel, they have been provided with a virtual reality system. Think of it like Star Trek: The Next Generation's holodeck, except initiated through a set of goggles instead of a special room. Third, there's a glitch in the system.

Since this two hour feature was meant to be a pilot for a television series, we get some basic insight into several of the characters and their motivations and personal tragedies. We see their breaking points and what they do to find release from these stresses. Most of the actors are entirely new to me and those I do recognize aren't big names that I immediately know. Yet, they're all quite good and I found their performances, which felt rather reality show-like (complete with a Real World style confessional) to be convincing and satisfying.

There are some really intriguing conflicts set up throughout the program and by the end things have really gotten complicated. It's all setting up for what could be a really good weekly drama... only, it almost certainly won't be. The show aired on FOX on a Friday night with no advertising to speak of resulting in only 1.5 million viewers. That's half of what other shows like the now canceled Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles earned. This saddens me. Virtuality looks to have been a really entertaining science fiction drama that definitely would have kept me tuned in every week. Way to go FOX. If you want a chance to see it, you can find Virtuality on Hulu right now, but only for 14 more days.

4/5

Whisper of the Heart is a Miyazaki film from 1995 (and it shows, no cell phones, really old laptops... it's almost historical!) about an eighth grade Japanese girl named Shizuku who struggles to discover who she is and who she wants to be just as she's falling in love for the first time.

Well, when I write it out like that it seems so simple and trite, but it honestly is a really enjoyable little journey. Like all Miyazaki films, I really love the detail that goes into the world that's created in animation. It's not a huge thing, but it's like really great set dressing, it makes you feel as though there's a living world outside of the pictures you see on the screen. Flies and moths buzzing around a light at night or the papers and clothes strewn about the tiny bedroom Shizuku shares with her college-aged sister (sleeping in bunk beds, nonetheless!), the "lived in" touches around the kitchenette. It feels like a real family lives in that cramped apartment.

I also enjoyed the humorous, but honest portrayal of first crushes and the whole "boys are dumb!" and the cries from the class of "Shizuku has a boyfriend!" when a boy comes looking for Shizuku in her class and her utter embarrassment. It all seems like a game at that age, but everyone takes it so seriously. If we only knew then how serious it gets later on...

More important than the romantic elements, though, is the self-discovery that goes on. As Shizuku realizes her attraction to Seiji, she finds herself overwhelmed by the thought that Seiji has his life all worked out. He knows what he wants to do with himself and he'll probably be quite good at it and this leaves Shizuku feeling undeserving of his interest. Forget that she's only 13, she desperately wants to be good at something in order to make herself worthy of Seiji, and this drives her to write a story in a world of her own creation. While Shizuku found Seiji's drive to make violins inspiring, I can't help but feel inspired by Shizuku's drive to become a great writer.

While there isn't any particularly noteworthy action in this movie, it still feels like the audience is following Shizuku on a grand adventure as she strives to discover who she is and who she might become. I find myself drawn to the characters and I can't help but wonder how they turn out ten or twenty years down the road...

Of course, knowing we're talking about kids in their early teens, I'm sure this whole thing breaks up come next year as they progress into high school... right?

4/5

This is a fun little romantic comedy about an uptight wannabe history professor working as a tour guide in Greece. It relies on and plays heavily off of the classic tourist stereotypes including the tipsy Australians (who always have a can of Foster's in their hands), the old people, the divorcees who have sworn off men but are still looking, the overly nice Canadians, the rude Americans, and the "funny guy." It's funny because we've all seen them, it's less funny because we've all seen movies using these stereotypes before.

Everything about this movie is predictable, but I didn't care at all. It was fun and funny and had at least one really touching moment to get me all teary. The movie stars Nina Vardalos from My Big Fat Greek Wedding and while I have not seen that movie, I found her sense of humor to be immediately entertaining. I like her style of humor and I find her timing spot on. I did not know that Richard Dreyfus has a supporting role in this movie, but he does, and he pretty much steals the show. He has most of the best lines and is the center of the most touching moments and is also the motivation for much of the action of the movie. That's not bad at all, he certainly pulls it off well, it's just unexpected.

It's certainly not a destination movie, but if you find yourself at a theater and nothing is swaying you one way or the other, I can say you almost certainly won't be disappointed by My Life in Ruins.

4/5