Posts filed under 'Movies'
Pollock is, yet another, biopic about the 1950’s modern art painter, Jackson Pollock (Ed Harris), and how he came to fame through discovering the drip/splatter-paint method. The film also stars Marcia Gay Harden as Lee Krasner, Pollock’s wife.
A film about a painter didn’t really appeal to me, but I remember seeing Harris nominated for Best Actor at the Academy Awards, and it sparked my interest. Netflix told me I would like it and it got great reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, so I put it in my queue. When will I learn to trust my instincts? Don’t get me wrong, Harris and Harden were spectacular in this movie, but the movie itself was pretty boring to me. I didn’t feel anything but disgust for Pollock since he was portrayed as a selfish, egotistical drunk. An my feelings for his wife were no better because she chose to stay with him. Besides the good acting, I also thought the cinematography was wonderful. There were some great shots done with interesting color and some others of the New England countryside.
July 9th, 2005
Friday Night Lights is based on a book of the same name by H.G. Bissinger, which chronicles the 1988 football season of the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas. Billy Bob Thornton plays the coach, and there aren’t any other big stars in the movie except for Tim McGraw, but he has a small part.
I really liked this movie, especially the way it ended, which I thought made it seem more realistic and emotional for the viewer. The “kids” in the movie do a very good job acting and playing football. I also liked the costume design, which was made up of a lot of 80’s clothes and hair styles. While the soundtrack did consist of some good 80’s music, I thought the music in the more serious scenes was also well done. If you are a fan of football, you’ll like this movie. If you live in Texas, I think you’ll like it even more.
July 6th, 2005
Meet the Fockers is the sequel to Meet the Parents, which was a very funny movie starring Robert DeNiro, Blythe Danner, and Ben Stiller, in which Greg (Stiller) has to meet his fiance’s (Teri Polo) parents, Jack and Dina (DeNiro and Danner) so he can ask Jack for her hand in marriage. Sadly enough, Meet the Fockers, even with the extra star power of Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand as Greg’s parents, fails to deliver the goods as well as it’s predecessor.
This movie follows shortly after the first one, and Greg has planned a trip for his fiance and her parents to meet his family before they get married. There is a major clashing of personalities between Jack, who is an uptight former CIA agent, and Greg’s father, a former stay-at-home dad, and mother, a geriatric sex therapist. Since this is a sequel, it has to be compared to the first movie. This one just wasn’t as funny, and the devices that were used to carry the jokes seemed desperate. Sure, there are some funny moments, but the humor is tired since we’ve seen it already.
July 4th, 2005
Can you say “Romantic Comedy”? If you look it up in the dictionary, surely this movie would be mentioned, and I can’t think of a romantic comedy that I’ve liked this much in while. Hitch is about Alex ‘Hitch’ Hitchens (Will Smith) and how he has a job as a dating consultant, but falls in love with a gossip columnist, Sara (Eva Mendes), that threatens his business. His main client at the time is Albert (Kevin James), an accountant, who wants to date one of his company’s highest profile clients, Allegra Cole (Amber Valetta). Sara tries to get the scoop on the story and that is where she crosses paths with Hitch. Hitch tries to woo Sara, but all of the smooth dating advice he gives to his clients doesn’t seem to help, and he has one dating disaster after another.
This movie was not overly sweet and cute, and I really liked the way we had to follow two plots to the film. There was the plot of the accountant trying to date his client, who seemed to be out of his league, and there was the story of Hitch and Sara. I never got bored with the movie, and most of the funny moments were actually funny.
July 3rd, 2005
Man, I really liked this movie!!! I know part of it might be from all the hype and some of the reviews I read at Ain’t It Cool News, but I’ve seen through the hype on most movies, so I think my opinion is real. My wife really liked it too, and she is very honest when it comes to movies, even if she knows I like them.
War of the Worlds is a screen adaptation of the novel written by H.G. Wells in which aliens from another planet come to destroy the inhabitants of earth. In the movie, we follow Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) and his son (Justin Chatwin) and daughter (Dakota Fanning) as they attempt to escape the terror and destruction of the aliens and go to Boston where Ray’s ex-wife (Miranda Otto) is supposed to be. Ray is a terrible father to his children, who seem to barely know him, but he seems to get a new lease on their relationship by surviving this ordeal.
The special effects in this movie are the BEST I’ve ever seen, and I am predicting an Oscar for best visual effects. The movie, on the other hand, won’t win an Oscar for much else, but I really enjoyed watching it for more than the special effects. This film is terrifying, real, grips you from the very first alien sequence and doesn’t let go until the end. You are on the edge of your seat the entire time, wondering what is going to happen next. And speaking of the first alien sequence - watching the way the aliens kill people has to be seen to be believed. It is spectacular and horrifying at the same time. The ending is okay, and stays true to the book from what I hear, but I was expecting something more spectacular.
Besides some of the plot holes, this movie is just awesome. The acting is great, and the effects and meant to only be seen in a theater. Please go out and see this movie before you rent it, and you won’t be sorry. I’m going to try and see it again soon!
July 2nd, 2005
Be Cool, a sequel to the very funny Get Shorty, follows Chili Palmer (John Travolta) as he gets bored of the movie industry in Hollywood and decides to try his shylock tactics on the music business. He rescues a very talented singer, Linda Moon (Christina Milian), from the clutches of a wannabe “gangsta” named Raji (Vince Vaughn) and his gay actor/bodyguard (The Rock). He also gets tangled up in the Russian Mafia and a rap group called The WMD’s led by their manager, Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer).
Be Cool is not nearly as cool as Get Shorty, which had much better humor, edge, and coolness in it’s script and characters. I kept reading about the dance scene in this one between Uma Thurman and Travolta as if it was good, but I saw nothing good about it. They looked like they were forced to be dancing, if you could call it that. It was no where near as good as the scene they had in Pulp Fiction. It’s a shame because I got sucked into the trailer by seeing all the big names in this movie. I can’t say it was a horrible movie, because there were some funny parts and I really liked to hear Milian sing, but that’s about it.
June 26th, 2005
Closer (starring Julia Roberts as Anna, Jude Law as Dan, Clive Owen as Larry, and Natalie Portman as Alice) is the story of 2 couples (Anna/Larry, Alice/Dan) and how their lives are changed and effected by a love affair between a woman and man from each couple. It sounds confusing, but basically, Dan and Alice meet and fall in love, then Dan meets Anna and decides he’s fallen in love with her instead, but Anna won’t have him at first. Then, by fate, Dan meets Larry in a chat room and pretends to be Anna and gets Larry to come to an aquarium that Anna frequents. Larry shows up and meets Anna and falls in love. A year later, the two couples meet at a photography exhibit of Anna’s, where Dan once again professes his love to Anna, which she then accepts. After that, it’s a bumpy ride full of passion and betrayal.
Closer is an adapted screenplay written by the author of a stage play by the same name. This shows up in the screenplay and dialogue of the movie, which is a bad thing, in my opinion. I felt like I was watching a movie of a play - not because of the set or props - because of the dialogue spoken. On top of this, the words spoken between the characters are very explicit, which didn’t seem very realistic. I could see maybe one of the characters talking like that, but not all of them. Out of four people, at least one would be somewhat reserved and morally grounded, you would think. I will give it this, however: even though some of the speech is offensive, the conversations are striking and well acted. I’m not really sure why Clive Owen was nominated for and won awards for his performance, which I thought was the least of the 4 players. And since I’m used to seeing Julia Roberts as a sweetheart both on and off the screen, she seemed to be miscast and out of place. Criticism aside, I thought the acting overall was great, and the cinematography was also very nice.
June 23rd, 2005
The Aviator is a biopic about the early movie making career of the innovative, daring, and eccentric Howard Hughes (Leonardo DiCaprio), after he inherits his father’s fortune.
I initially gave The Aviator an 8, but after reading up on how the movie was made, talking to my wife, and just general reflection on it, I decided to change my rating. I still think Million Dollar Baby will top this one, but I think The Aviator will get 2nd place in my rankings. This movie is jam-packed with terrific acting. Cate Blanchet deserved her Oscar for her portrayal of Katherine Hepburn, one of Hughes’ love interests. I think Leonardo really got the shaft by not getting an Oscar and getting beat out by Jamie Foxx. Foxx didn’t have that much real acting to do, but he did one heck of a Ray Charles impression. DiCaprio does some much better acting in this movie, and I think that acting, not impressions, should be the yard stick by which an Oscar is measured. Anyway, the sheer production of this movie is just something to be inspired by. Lots of A-list actors, lots of custom design, huge sets and props, and an epic story.
June 22nd, 2005
National Treasure was blasted by many critics as a nonsensical, action-mystery wannabe. For the most part they are right, but this movie was just good ol’ plain fun to watch. To sum up the unusual plot, the movie follows Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) as a man devoting his life to figuring out the family mystery that was told to him as a boy about the largest treasure in the world, how it was hidden by some of the founding fathers fo the U.S., and how his great great grandfather was given a single clue to find and protect it.
I won’t give away any more of the predictable story, but Ben does go on quite an adventure to find the treasure. It really follows the usual action flick formula: he has a sidekick, he meets a girl and falls in love with her, and he is met with many insurmountable obstacles and always seems to get past them. But that formula has been around for a reason, and when you add big production company money to it, you get a fun movie to watch.
June 20th, 2005
It’s now official: I’m a big Wes Anderson fan. I don’t think there were many times during this movie in which I wasn’t at least smiling or smirking. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou is mostly a spoof of Jacques Cousteau, in which we follow Team Zissou to find the rare jaquar shark that ate one of its members and life-long friend of Steve Zissou, its captain.
Everything about this movie is very original and eccentric - from the screenplay, props, soundtrack, and everything in between. The cast, which is a list of powerhouse actors, were remarkable and funny. I think my favorite was Willem Dafoe as Klaus, one of Steve Zissou’s (Bill Murray) crew members. He has an undying friendship with Steve, even though the feelings aren’t reciprocated evenly. When Steve’s alleged long lost son, Ned (Owen Wilson), comes into the picture, he gets very jealous of Ned, which cracked me up. One of the treasures of the movie’s supporting cast was Pele, played by Seu Jorge. Between scenes, he plays really good acoustic versions of popular David Bowie songs in Portuguese. I didn’t know they were all Bowie until the end of the movie, but I knew I recognized the tunes to most and was able to spot Space Oddity.
I don’t want to give away any more, but it’s stuff like that for which you have to tip your hat to Wes Anderson. His movies aren’t for everyone, but if you like one of his previous ones (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums), you’re bound to love Life Aquatic.
June 15th, 2005
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