Tuesday, March 1, 2016

Deadpool, Star Wars and Trumbo!

I have watched so many movies and I have been playing so much Fallout 4 it is unbelievable but I figured if I didn’t get these movies down with some kind of review, even if they are not very good, I would be horribly remiss. So here are three EXCELLENT new movies I have watched! 
 

Deadpool

Even though it is early in the year, I think Deadpool may be the best movie of the year. Hahaha, I know it is crazy but I have never seen a movie that enjoyed as much this movie. The depiction of having cancer and how it affects the people in your life is amazing. The movie is really, really R rated and I was still shocked that some ignorant pieces of garbage parents brought their kids to the movie (I am talking about kids under 10 years old!) Luckily for them, their kids were good or I would have flipped my shit. I am fine with them watching it at home because I do not believe in censorship but if they stop liking the incredible violence and the blood and guts part of the way through the movie and they start causing a fuss, it ruins it for all us good adults. Hahaha. So, the movie is pretty accurate for depicting Deadpool and there is no one that could have played him like Ryan Reynolds. I am so thankful that I live in a time where a super fan can bust his ass and use his connections and the power of the internet to get his passion made into a movie. It took ten years or something but he did it and his marketing campaigns are working wonders. It is the first R rated movie to open up over $100 million and that shows that it is possible to make movie catered towards adults only. Hopefully, this will open up more movies that never would have been possible before Deadpool. For me I love things that break the fourth wall (movies, comics, books, cartoons) and I LOVE flashbacks so this movie combines these two loves together beautifully. From the opening title sequence you know that this is going to be a movie where you are going to continuously laugh, and I did. However, my favorite parts are the serious cancer scenes where they did an amazing job. The character of Deadpool is flawed, he is a great anti-hero and I think that is why people have such devotion to him. I read an amazing review that I just cannot compare to, but this is when this fun review gets serious. The movie does not play around the cancer, it doesn’t make it look like lollypops and sunshine, he is angry and he is dealing with it through gritty humor. Cancer sucks. No matter what anyone says, including myself, cancer is awful. It takes things away from you that you can never, ever get back. It changes you to your core which is why I love this movie so much.  Then again my most favorite movies are cancer movies where the survivor dies. I think it shows more honesty than the ones where there is a miraculous cure. People die. I could die from my cancer. It is a fact. Having everyone smiling in the end and happy just pisses me off to no end. That is why I disliked the Crazy, Sexy, Cancer book I read. No one gets to live like that after cancer. You don't get to travel around on trips and retreats and go find yourself. You get to have follow ups with your doctor and pay your fucking rent except now you have a hard time getting out of bed. You have lost all your muscle mass, you have a weak immune system and your boss is pissed that you are missing too much work. You have debt up to your eyeballs and none of your collectors give two shits about your situation. You are stressed to the limit while your doctors remind you that if you stress your cancer could come back. No matter what anyone says, myself included, being a survivor (or just surviving cancer if that is preferred term) fucking sucks. Period. There is no silver lining. There is no bright side. It just sucks. Your life is forever changed and no one fully understands it, even fellow survivors. It is awful. So, when you are watching Deadpool try and imagine how much cancer sucks and how well they show that. They still keep the dry wit and inappropriate humor of Deadpool but they also show that there is another side to him, a side that is really pissed off at having cancer and having to watch the ones he loves suffer. Plus there is nothing better than a good revenge movie. Nothing. ^_^
Some of my favorite quotes are:

Vanessa Carlysle: I love you, Wade Wilson. We can fight this.
Wade Wilson: You're right. Cancer's only in my liver, lungs, prostate, and brain. All things I can live without.

Colossus: You will come talk with professor Xavier.
Deadpool: McAvoy or Stewart? These timelines can get so confusing.

Deadpool: Wow, this is such a big house, but I only ever see the two of you here. It's like the studio didn't have enough money for any more X-Men...
Deadpool: [Commenting on her shaved head] Ripley from Alien 3!
Negasonic Teenage Warhead: Fuck, you're old!

Another great thing about the Deadpool movement is that Ryan Reynolds took the time to make a video emphasizing the importance of checking for testicular cancer which is incredibly common in men and there needs to be way more important in every male’s life. 

Here is the great video:

One more thing I wanted to add is if you are a survivor or have had cancer at any point in your life, parts of this movie may hit VERY close to home. There is a part in the movie where Deadpool explains what it is truly like to have cancer, no happy sunshine, no inappropriate jokes just a realistic, clear depiction of cancer and all its awfulness. The quote that hit me hard was ““The worst part about cancer isn’t what it does to you, but what it does to everyone else in your life.” Like the great review below I found myself looking towards the person I care about and thinking about all the people that went through the trenches with me and how hard it must have been for them. There is a truth to this movie that really shines through the dick jokes and slash ‘em up moments. Thankfully for all of you other viewers out there the serious moments are not overwhelming here and even when the movie starts to get serious it takes a very short time before something to make you laugh happens. Overall, I couldn’t think of a greater movie to see and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. It is awesome. Go see it!  





Star Wars: The Force Awakens

It took me quite a long time to make the time to go see the new Star Wars movie and I am kind of glad I waited. I was worried that someone would ruin something for me but I had one thing slightly ruined but luckily I didn’t realize it at the time. The overall feel for this movie is exactly like the original movies. There is a wonderful heart to them. The characters are not overwhelmingly 3D to the point where it ruins the movie like Lucas did with the other movies and the remakes. It feels like the animatronics, child like wonder of the first movies. The characters are exciting and funny and it is nice to see so many old faces come back. This movie caused a lot of controversy and for nothing. A black storm trooper is perfectly acceptable and what is more I cannot imagine him being any other race after seeing the movie. It was the ideal casting! He was perfect! A female lead that says more than five things- yeah seems legit to me. My guy told me that his problem is the female lead (Rey) is too much of a Mary Sue character, which he then had to explain to me because I am not up on my TV Troupes. However, I didn’t really agree with him, I think female leads are unnecessarily criticized but no one says anything when Harrison Ford does something amazing and is a complete hero. It is crazy but it is true. Another big controversy was how male actors are allowed to age in Hollywood and female actresses are not. All I know is that Carrie Fisher looks AMAZING in the movie, absolutely stunning. Plus, I am not sure but I think they made her look older so she would match Harrison Ford. Back to the movie though, it was action packed, it didn’t have the best story in the world, but considering that it is planned to be another trilogy it makes sense that there is not going to be all wrapped up ending.  Overall if you haven’t seen it: 1. you are probably living under a rock or 2. You are waiting for it to come out on Blu Ray. Either way, you should see it when you have time because it has been well worth the wait for a new movie. I think my overall movie review is also affected by the fact that I saw it in a theater with fully reclining seats and I got to eat nachos! I had never been to a theater where I could lie down and watch a movie, it was pretty awesome and because I waited so long to watch it, there were only 6 other people in the whole theater! Yay! :-D




Trumbo


I am a huge fan of Breaking Bad and Bryan Cranston, he is truly amazing and Trumbo is no exception. I am glad that Leo won an Oscar and all that since he has been shifted so many times but his movie must be amazing because Bryan Cranston’s performance in this movie was so incredible. The most interesting thing about this movie is that it really happened. It is based on real life events, and real life people. What is more interesting is that if you replace being a communist with being a socialist or a Muslim and you could have this event happening in our own time. I could completely see this happening now. The movie surrounds a group of men who were persecuted for their beliefs and put on a blacklist that kept them from working. Little did Hollywood know that even though they had this insane red scare going on where everyone was turning on everyone else, these guys were working in secret making some of the best movies of the time. While Bryan Cranston’s performance was fantastic, my favorite scene in the movie is with John Goodman. I LOVE John Goodman. He reminds me of my dad and I love everything he is in from Roseanne to Oh Brother Where Art Thou? During the movie, there is a scene where the bad guys try and black mail him into not working with Trumbo and he is not having that. I thought I was going to pee my pants from laughing so hard. Overall, the movie is funny, entertaining and insightful. Everyone should go out and watch it! 


Three great movies with tons of amazing actors; it is a good time to be had by all. Check them out! 

Friday, January 22, 2016

I have watched more movies than I can count in the 6 years since my last post!

Hahahaha, I think the title goes without saying. I have watched all the Marvel movies, plus with a Netflix subscription I have watched more random foreign movies and old TV shows that I can count. I am going to try to Update this more often than every six years. Now that this site it being completely overhauled it is about time I get things in order and try an dedicate a little bit of time to blogging. However, I can guarantee that this will never be an daily or even weekly posted blog. It will be a when I can remember blog which since I am incredibly busy I will mainly post when I remember. I apologize in advance and I hope you will forgive me. On January 10th, I lost my lifelong hero: David Bowie. He was my very first crush and my inspiration for my whole life. With him passing and then two days later the head of my assigned house Alan Rickman passing away, I have been having an Alan Rickman and David Bowie marathon. First up was The Man Who Fell to Earth. I had been meaning to see this movie since I was 13 and never got around to it, so it was about time I did.

The Man Who Fell to Earth 

If you are a massive Bowie fan, like myself, you will love this movie. It is weird, artistic and best of all has a lot of nude Bowie. There is a great soundtrack and while the acting can be a bit jerky at time with the main female lead being almost nails on chalkboard bad, it picks up at the end. The story is based around an alien who comes to earth to make money to save his family. If I am perfectly honest, the story, while interesting and VERY artistic, is sometimes a bit hard to follow. Luckily for the viewer, as everyone else ages and time passes, Bowie who play an alien named Newton, stays his same gorgeous self. Bowie has stated that he does not remember this movie at all due to all the drugs he did. He was quoted with
"I'm so pleased I made that [movie], but I didn't really know what was being made at all" and 
"I just threw my real self into that movie as I was at that time. It was the first thing I'd ever done. I was virtually ignorant of the established procedure [of making movies], so I was going a lot on instinct, and my instinct was pretty dissipated. I just learned the lines for that day and did them the way I was feeling. It wasn't that far off. I actually was feeling as alienated as that character was. It was a pretty natural performance. ... a good exhibition of somebody literally falling apart in front of you. I was totally insecure with about 10 grams [of cocaine] a day in me. I was stoned out of my mind from beginning to end"
Personally, as an artist, I really enjoyed this movie. It has a great use of color and an interesting use of camera angles. I know it is hard to believe me since I am a massive Bowie lover and always will be but if you have never seen it, you really should check it out. You can rent it on Amazon.

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 I also started an Alan Rickman Marathon. It has to be spread apart because of things like updating this site and finding a new job and handling the charity's online raffle as well as all the other big things in my life this year but so far we have re watched two movies


Galaxy Quest 
GREAT movie, ridiculously funny and Alan Rickman is supurb as always. The movie is centered around a cast of an old tv show who are now doing comic con circuits and store openings. When a group of aliens show up, the main character, played by Tim Allen, assumes they are in cosplay. However, after he arrives back on their ship he realizes that they believe the show to be real and refer to it as the 'historical documents' He then has to go back to get his crew and show them. His crew is an all start cast with Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, Sam Rockwell, and Daryl Mitchell. The movie is very funny and keeps the viewer entertained until the last moment. If you did not see this when it came out in 1999 you should watch it now. It is available on Netflix as of this posting.

CBGB

I watched CBGB back in November when it was showcased on Netflix but I watched it again for this marathon so Rich could see it. The movie stars Alan Rickman as Hilly Kristal- the Godfather of punk. The CBGB club is world famous for being the jumping off point for many punk bands and this movie documents many of them perfectly including the Ramones, the Talking Heads, and Blondie. Plus at the end of the movie during the credits they show real life footage of the Talking Heads thanking the real life Hilly for all that he has done and you get to see him. Plus there are lots of photos during the credits as well. I have never been a huge punk fan, I have always liked stupid punk - like Goldfinger- and while I like all the major bands shown in this movie, I would never call myself a punk super fan. In fact, if it hadn't been for Alan Rickman playing a badass Jew I would never have even watched this movie when I found it on Netflix. I am so very glad I did though, Rickman really shows his range on this piece. He skillfully does annoyed but caring and even though you know what happens with these major music players, the viewer is still engrossed in what will happen to Hilly. It is so very funny and has a massively talent cast including Rupert Grint, Stana Katic, and Ashley Greene

Overall three really great movies that I highly recommend!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Lots of movies, Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, Brothers, Amelia, Sherlock Holmes, Secret of the Kells, The Fourth Kind and more!






































So, I have been a complete and utter slacker when it comes to providing movie reviews recently, luckily, I made a list and started to view some of the ones I have seen before I got so hugely busy. You have no idea how long I spend on my website. I never knew it could be so much time. I find myself staying up late researching and make pages. I do love the fact that I am getting all this information and dropping it all in one place to make it easier on survivors. It makes me so very happy. So, without further ado, in the random order I remembered them in here are some movie reviews to catch you up! I know there are at least a few that I cannot remember. They say Chemo brain when you are on chemo but I think I still have it and should be able to continue to use it! Love Love Jettychan

Cirque du freak The Vampire’s Assistant
The Vampire’s Assistant was a delightful little movie. I love John C Reilly, he is just too amazing and in this movie he is very funny and easy to relate to. He plays a vampire who acquires a restless teen (Darren) as his apprentice. The teen’s best friend (Steve) is obsessed with vampires and asks to be made one but the vampire refuses and the friend gets angry, Darren is more into spiders. There are two kinds of vampires, human eating and non human eating (still drink blood but don’t kill them) Vampires and Vampaneze. The movie is based off a popular book series and I hope very much that they will make the rest of them and that they don’t end up all Golden Compass on me and leave me with no ending. Yes, if you don’t know there is no real ending here, there is a general ending to the action but no real ending. The movie has some awesome creation for the freaks with a snake boy, a monkey girl, and bearded woman played by the fantastic Selma Hayek as well as these super cute creatures that live on the circus’ grounds. The movie plays upon the idea that there is a truce between the vampires and the vampanees, but the bad guys are trying to get the good guys to break it so there can be a war. The funniest part of this movie for me is the controversy online about the monkey girl. I read about it a long time ago when I was bored at work, but as I hadn’t read the books or seen the movie I didn’t really understand, well basically people are angry because they turned the monkey girl into a white girl and that made people angry. However, I can see how this is super funny because I could just see the outrage that would have happened (even if it was in the book) if they have picked a beautiful African American girl to play the lead girlfriend and then had her actually as a monkey. It could have caused major issues so I think it was wise to hire an average looking white girl instead. Overall a nice little movie I think everyone would like, but if you read the book, be prepared, I have read people were VERY disappointed in it.

Planet 51
I always enjoy animated movies. It is a sad fact that I cannot usually find anything wrong with an animated movie. I know the time and skill it takes to make it and so I think I take all animated movies with a grain of salt. That being said, I did not have to finagle my opinion on this one, this movie was very fun. I can see it being mainly for kids but as an adult I still enjoyed it and the most interesting part is the 51 in the name represents a year coordinating to our 1951. The general story is of an astronaut who lands on a planet thinking he is claiming it for America when he finds that the planet is already inhabited by a whole civilization. The more important main story though is following a young alien who has been lead his whole life to believe that aliens from other planets are mind eating horrible creatures (much like our old sci fi movies) and he starts to question the teachings of his life such as the size of the universe and the ability to travel into space to find new life. The movie really is a great watch. You should pick it up if you have a chance, makes a great rental.

Secret of the Kells
This movie is not out but thanks to the marvels of the internet I watched it on a website unaware that it was not out. I wanted to see what the other Oscar nominated films were that were competing with my much loved Up. This is an animated movie obviously, but it is not a children’s animation. It is an adult animation about this legendary book and the monks who protect it. There is a lot of violence and some gorgeous landscapes of nature as well. The music is amazing, and the story is very interesting. I do not know the references it makes in religious terms so I could not appreciate it in that way, but as an animated movie it was very beautiful and well done 2D animation. I would not recommend it for someone who is looking for a Pixar movie or an action movie. I would say it is more of an intellectual beauty of a movie but still worth watching when it comes out.


Law Abiding Citizen

As I have said many times before, I love a good vengeance, take the law in your own hands, vigilante film. I love them so much because I relate to them. If you screwed me over or did something to me, every man in my family would be hunting you down and probably a few non family members too. It is human nature to relate to someone who has been wronged and is then wronged again by our crocked legal system to take it on himself to get some good vengeance. In this movie a man has lost his wife and child at the hands of robbers and yet the man who is the ring leader and the one he see commit the crimes before he is knocked out cops a plea and is let free blaming it on the weaker man, and letting him take the fall. So, the husband, played by a delicious Gerard Butler, takes the law in his own hands and makes everyone who has their hands dirty pay, and I mean everyone. It is up to the attorney who made the deal to try and figure out how he is committing these crimes. The movie is wonderfully well done and will keep you guessing on what is going to happen next and until the very end I loved it. Then by far the worst possible ending in the whole history of cinema (perhaps) was created for this movie. The whole movie I was wondering how they were going to end it because they couldn’t possibly let him go after all the people he has killed, so they wrote themselves into a corner, couldn’t figure out how to end it so they literally threw together a craptastic ending. I wont tell you what happens but after you watch the movie remember this review and come on here and share if you thought it felt this way as well!

Gentlemen Bronocs

Gentlemen Broncos has one half of the awesomeness that is Flight of the Conchords, so I knew I would find it funny. The story is simply, a boy goes to a writing camp and enters a contest where his favorite author is the judge, his entry gets “lost” and next thing you know his favorite author releases a book that is the exact same except the main character is a transvestite and has a different name. The humor is off to put it mildly. You have to have a messed up sense of it in order to full appreciate this movie. The movie bounces back and forth between the real world, a movie set version of the original (the boy sold the story to some friends who make a crappy version), the boys ideal version of the story, and then the authors altered version. The movie has some very messed up parts and a few gross out scenes but overall it is a quirky, messed up humor movie. So, if that fits your bill, check it out. If not, stay far, far, far, far away. To put it mildly this movie has a DUMB sense of humor to it. If you are childish you should definitely see it.

Surrogates
In a world where no one actually lives but instead spends most of their time inside a robot which is a nicer, more ideal version of themselves, it is no surprise that something awful is going to happen. The issues start to arise when the non surrogate using people start killing the people while they are in their surrogates, which is not supposed to be able to happen. Stars Bruce Willis as the main police officer and he does a great job, full of action. Lots and lots of action, not too much story. There is some back story for his character explored but mainly the movie centers on the above storyline. Had an interesting ending, not really what I would have expected, but the overall movie is kind of a let down from the previews. Worth a rent but not really a buy.

The Fourth Kind
-This movie is based on true events and is portrayed as the actors playing the real life people. The basic story is that of the fourth kind of encounter with aliens, i.e. abduction. In Nome, Alaska they have had several unexplained disappearances and it has resulted in numerous FBI investigations there. The story takes place around a psychologist, Dr. Abigail Tyler and her study of her patients sleep issues. Her husband has recently died and she is suffering from the effects of not knowing what happened. Three of her patients are experiencing the same types of event and when she put them under hypnosis strange and crazy things start happening. The most interesting parts of this movie are the splicing of the real police footage and video shot during sessions, and the reenactments o f the events. The acting is amazing in this movie, the story is intriguing and the overall fear and suspense that is given off has very little to do with the standard notions of aliens and a lot more centered on an older, scarier creature (for lack of a better word). Mad props go to this movie for not showing the aliens or using an abundance of special effects to drown out a good sci-fi suspense movie. Over all I would recommend watching this movie and really getting into it. It is a nice little heart pumper! 
*************************SPOILER ALERT******************************************* **********************************************************************************
Personally, I didn’t know anything about this movie, nothing at all. I wanted to rent Everything is Fine, but Fish wanted this one. So, when I started the movie, I thought it was a movie about real life footage on hypnosis, which is highly debated as to its validity in documenting real events the patient has forgotten. So, as I watched the beginning of this movie, I kept thinking that if the real people were faking the hypnosis, then they were doing a better job than the people who were representing them in the movie. Then, 20 minutes in, the first patient to undergo hypnosis shoots his whole family and himself and it is shown on the police cam. It bothered me so very much, I mentioned it to Fish and he told me none of it was real, and I got upset, very upset and looked it up and of course it is “based on real events” but only the disappearances and FBI investigations, the rest are all actors. No real footage, no real audio. So, I didn’t feel like I was conned or even that I was gullible, but I was very upset that Fish had not told me that this was not a movie about hypnosis and whether their stories were real or not. When I saw that actor shoot himself, I didn’t feel like he was an actor since my brain thought it was all real. I suppose this is the point of the movie, but I did not like that part at all. Not one bit, I am very much against watching people die. Watching real people die is not entertaining and telling me that this is real makes me not want to watch it. However, once I knew it was not about hypnosis and that the videos were not real, I very much enjoyed the movie. The movie in itself showcased some forces to be reckoned with in the acting world. The reason why this movie makes you feel like it is real is simply because the “real life” counterparts are so amazingly wonderful and superb even, especially the woman who plays Abigail, who through some research I found out is Charlotte Milchards. It is so sad, she did an AMAZING job but since they don’t want to let on that the movie is indeed NOT real footage she is going to get no credit for it, she’s not credited on IMDB, and doesn’t even mention it on her own site!! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2598903/ Overall, I would recommend seeing this movie to everyone. Even if you read this spoiler alert first! Naughty, Naughty! Shame on you! :-P

Brothers
I think this falls into another one of those movies where the previews give WAY too much away. The movie explores the hardships and aftermath of war on a soldier and his family. When Sam’s helicopter is shot down in Afghanistan, he is assumed dead, so his brother Tommy steps in to help his wife and daughters have a stable life. Then when Sam is found alive and severely traumatized he comes back to a world where he is confused and unstable, convinced his wife is sleeping with his brother he feels completely alienated and it causes a storyline that is heartbreaking in its realism. For me the movie was amazing. I loved it but I did not think there was anything ambiguous about Tommy and Grace’s (the wife) relationship. However for Fish, the daughter has one line during her sisters Birthday party that killed the movie for him. Personally, I didn’t think it was too absurd, but he felt like it seemed out of place and he didn’t understand how the daughter knew the effect it would have. The ending makes sense for our time, but I must admit I felt very torn with this movie. It was really touching and I enjoyed it very much. Really makes you think about what kind of services are available for helping with readjustment into their lives. It you are not a big cryer then you will be fine, but if you are like me and have your heart just right out there, you might want to grab some tissues. I also must warn you since this pertains to quite a few of my friends on here, if you are in the military I have read both opinions of this movie, but be warned some people in the service do not like this move, so if you watch it remember it is just a movie. Plus, it has Jake Gyllenhaal in it, mmmmmmm Jake Gyllenhaal.

Sherlock Holmes
Who doesn’t know Sherlock Holmes? I loved the book I had when I was a child. It was one of those thick classic books with the full page illustrations you could buy at the grocery store; I had all the ones you could ever want: Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist, all of them. This Holmes story stars Robert Downey Jr, who is always amazing and Jude Law, whom you know I love ^_-,

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Long before he became everyone’s favorite actor, Heath Ledger was indeed Fish’s favorite young actor. He looked at him like he does Tom Hanks or Robert Downey Jr. I’ve seen A Knights Tale more times than the Labyrinth and that is saying something! He watched that movie at bed I swear for a year almost! :-P So, it was a big blow to our house when Heath died (yes for a few of you who don’t know [I kid you not I have had to tell someone on here that he was dead after she was paired up with him on a quiz about the love of your life], Heath Ledger is dead, in case you live under a rock or are under a certain age!). However the idea of this movie seemed so interesting and we were very happy to hear they were completing it with an all star cast of actors (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrel). It is a fantastical story about one man’s quest to prove to the devil that people will choose the right choice if given the opportunity (much like Lost!! IF you don’t watch Lost shame on you!! :-P). When the traveling show finds a man hanging under a bridge that appears dead but upon hitting his chest revives him, their world is turned upside down. Dr. Parnassus is an immortal monk who has a mirror that leads to your own imagination. Testing people through their own powers of thought, he battles for each person’s soul with the devil. The cast is fantastic. The graphics are superb and Heath did an amazing final job. This movie should place right up there with other beautiful imaginative classics of old. However, I do wonder how much attention would have been given to it if Heath had not died while making it. In all honesty, I would place it with Mirrormask, which is a beautiful, creative, imaginative masterpiece that is severely underrated (if you haven’t seen it before go check it out as well). Plus, the creative way they intertwined the three other actors into the role Heath played was superb. I wondered how they would do it and still didn’t think it could be done smoothly when I heard how they were going to do it, but Terry Gilliam did an amazing job of intertwining and it made the movie so much stronger. I think this movie may well have a special place with Labyrinth, Mirror Mask and The Dark Crystal and it doesn’t even have puppets in it!! Go watch it and see what your imagination dreams up!

Amelia
The first movie in my I need to make money to move so I am watching and selling the movies I know I wont watch again. When I was a child I had the deepest love for Amelia Earhart. I wanted to be just like her, and I suppose that is her charm, everyone wanted to be just like her; to do great things like her. I still hope that I can accomplish something remarkable like her. So, I wanted to watch this movie for a long time, but getting Fish to rent movies like this is very, very hard. So, when we got this movie from his parents, he could no longer say “no, next time”. This is the exploration of her life, primarily love life and makes the pilot and flying aspects take second stage, which a lot of people hated, but I didn’t mind. I took this movie as a sort of documentary and the two most important things in her life would be her love and the second one even with that one would be flying. So, I think it right to have it be about both, plus it makes for a good movie. AND when you cast Ewan McGregor as the second male lead, vavavoom, I am definitely going to likey that romance addition! The movie starts with her on her final flight and is told through flashbacks which I have an ubber soft spot in my heart for. It explores all the aspects of her as a person, most of which I never knew as I only read the books about her accomplishments in flying and women’s rights; the ones of her as a role model for young girls. Plus the references in all my favorite cartoons included a great one in Tailspin! I didn’t know about her commercialism selling lots of products and how the country was starting to doubt her authenticity as a pilot, when all she wanted to do was make money to fly more. Anyone who knows her story knows there can’t be a true ending, however it has a bit of information on what happened to the people in her life afterward. Plus, it sparked a new interest in me for her, so I went online and read tons of papers on her. I found out that this year they are sending a research team to an island where they think she may have crash landed with her astrological navigator (Fred Noonan). They have found quite a bit of evidence and based on the lore of the island people who used to live there, and the broken audio signals from that area it could have been here. Wouldn’t that be something?? Fascinating! Anyway, the movie is good, not amazingly awesome Brave heart epic, but a very good movie. Worth a watch, plus Hilary Swank is such a crazy good actor at getting in a role and keeping true to what I always thought Amelia would be like.
Will be adding Alice in Wonderland and How to Train your Dragon Reviews at some point, both movies come with super high recommendations, but Dragon is by far the best movie I have seen in a long time and I believe the 3D does indeed out do Avatar, so go see it in 3D as soon as you can!

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Cold Souls, The Box, Couples Retreat, Little Ashes, Fantastic Mr. Fox











A Few movies to do this time, I figured I better get these up here before I start watching the new ones I rented and seeing Alice in Wonderland on Friday! In no specific order here are the most recent movies I have watched.
Cold Souls-
Cold Souls stars one of my all time favorites Paul Giamatti, if I have yet to mention how much I love Paul Giamatti, I apologize for that, I love him so much that I cannot enter a wine section without saying in as loud of voice as possible “I don’t want no fucking merlot!” to Fish. So, I have an unfair bias to this film from the beginning. However this film is very interesting, touted on the back as a reimagining of a Woody Allen story, so I am completely confused by the IMDBers who have nothing better to do that bitch about how this movie is stolen from Woody Allen, obviously it says that right on the back! The story is about Paul Giamatti playing an actor named Paul Giamatti who is having a hard time with a depressing role so he decides to take his soul out and put it in storage, when he feels to hallow without it, he rents a Russian poet’s soul (or so he thinks) and does a fantastic performance. The issue arises when he starts seeing these crazy memories that are not his and he wants his soul back however now they cannot find his soul. This is one of those movies where the reviews are just off and utterly wrong. I swear if I see one more review raving about how hilarious a movie is when it is not really meant to be a funny movie I will freak out. Cold Souls does have funny pieces because Paul Giamatti’s interactions with people and reactions to events are funny but this movie isn’t really a comedy. It is however good and worth a rent. I can’t really go into much without giving away a lot. I know you can get it from reading the back of the movie, but don’t, just go in and watch it. I saw almost no previews or reviews for this movie in popular places, but when I was in the Arabian Nights room I saw a short clip on the movie preview channel for buying to watch and thought it looked funny so I knew I would rent it when it came out. You should all check it out if you have time.
Little Ashes
I am not a huge Salvador Dali fan that is my sister’s area of expertise. However, I have been a fan of his art alone for many years and can pick out many of his pieces. This is how I find the coolest presents for my sister. :-) Fish picked up this movie because we saw a preview of it on another movie and it looked very interesting. The movie stars Robert Patterson in a non shinny but still gay role as Salvador Dali, who I never even knew was gay, probably because he hid it his whole life and Javier Beltra’n as the famous poet Fredrico Garcia Lorca, who was excellent in this movie. The movie explores the secret and controversial relationship that develops between Dali and Lorca and explores the changing of times in Spain in the 1920’s. I learned a lot about Dali, I never knew he was a pompous ass like Picasso, but now I do, thanks Little Ashes! :-) The movie is very awkward and very weird at times but I chose to look past these parts. You will literally have to tighten your jaw on some scenes where if you do not you will die of laughter. IF you can make yourself serious and take the movie for the historic pieces then you will have found a good movie. The movie has an incredibly interesting storyline and I think that primarily the actors were not bad. I do think though that somewhere along the line either in directing or exploring the roles, the idea of making this movie a dramatic work of art was superseded by the issue of acting looking downright silly. The overall effect is a movie that could have been amazing but because of something I cannot put my finger on it fell short. Please rent it and tell me why you think it is not quite there, and please don’t just tell me it is Robert Patterson’s acting because he really isn’t THAT bad in it, (his acting was on par with Dali’s history and actions), nothing compared to Beltra’n (how do you make the Spanish ‘ on the keyboard?!?! :-( ) though.
The Box
The Box is another movie that fell short. It was much longer than I anticipated and the overall story that it is sold as is literally over in the first 20 minutes of the movie. I have seen interviews with the stars of this movie and they have it right you would either do or not do it there is no middle ground. The movie is about an upper middle class family who receives a box with a red button in it, they are told that if they push the button they will receive a million dollars but someone they don’t know will die and they have 24 hours to decide. They have no real reason to have a million dollars and when the wife (Cameron Diaz) pushes the button it opens up a whole new can of worms that takes the movie from a normal horror movie into a twisting, turning Wicker Man logic movie. Fish and I have had several discussions about this movie because in the end it didn’t make a lot of sense to either of us. However we came to a few conclusions, the box is only given to families that don’t NEED the money, of course they would like the money but they don’t need it. I suppose this is why I found the wife to be an idiot. Even if the box is a joke why would you push a button that would kill another person. In the movie she makes a comment that it could be a murder on death row, really? Cause that would cause a moral dilemma? No way! They would never kill a person who deserves to die otherwise where would the moral problem come from. I am so far to the “No Way” side that I could not understand why she hits the button and everything that happens I can’t help but think, you didn’t even need the money! The movie is well acted for what it is, except I kept looking at the matte job for the scar face man and that was completely distracting, damn you After Effects class!! The story is alright but really took a dive for the crazy as you can get in two hours mode. As referred to above, check out the Nicolas Cage Wicker Man for more on this type of writing. At the end I felt nothing for any of the characters, I felt nothing for the story, I felt nothing for anything associated with the movie other than an adamant I would not push the button. Would you push the button for a million dollars if it killed someone you didn’t know? There’s the whole concept of the movie and I would like to know from you! Fish: “It was Stupid, which is sad because it is by a great director, its just too dumb, everyone in the movie is dumb”
Couple Retreat
I don’t care what anyone says Vince Vaughn is funny. I enjoy his comedies very much even if they are stupid, stupid comedies are a nice change of pace from the serious movies we normally watch. I of course forced Fish to rent this movie and he of course did not like it. He felt it was too cliché, but that is more than likely the reason that I had to wait two weeks after it came out to rent it. America loves cliché! The movie was very predictable. There are no real moments where you don’t know what is going to happen. However this movie is not the movie you rent if you want a mind fuck movie or a strong drama, this is the movie you rent if you want classless jokes about sex, nudity and in this case relationship issues. This is a movie you rent because you are in the mood for mediocre. I personally found Vince Vaughn funny in this movie and there were some nice funny parts, but not up to the other comedies he stars in. The locations are gorgeous though and we both wish they had explored them a bit more! So if you want a crappy little movie to break from all the awesome movies, Couples Retreat is not a bad rental.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
I went into Fantastic Mr. Fox wanted to see awesomeness and while I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, I must admit that I think I worked myself up a bit too much as I was a bit let down. The movie is fantastic and included some AMAZING voice talent. In fact, I believe they could not have done a better job in casting. The animation is superb and the designs are amazing. The music is also very well placed. The story is nothing like the previews and that threw me for a loop but the story in the end was pretty interesting. I kept thinking the movie was going to end and then when it went on I was pleasantly surprised. The characters were very interesting but the story was very different and I personally think it could have had a bit more. I believe if the characters were not so awesome I would have very much disliked this movie. In fact when I think about it, if these characters had been people instead of animals then I may not have liked the movie at all, a weird thought to have since the actors are some of my favorites and like I said some amazing talents! This movie is a sort of piece of life movie and those can go seriously wrong, see ALL of Noah Baumbach’s other movies. When I saw that he was the screenplay writer I thought “There it is, there is why this movie can’t just grab me and hold me!” Again though, the movie is a very good movie, but if it were just regular people (not the amazing talent) it would just be another crappy Baumbach movie, thank God Wes Anderson is there to make it fantastic!
Love Love
Jettychan

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Precious, I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, The Time Travelers Wife





Precious-
When I heard raving reviews for Monique’s performance in this movie, I wondered what she had done to win over so many harsh critics. I’ll tell you what she did; she blew that movie out of the water! She took what could have been a cliché wanna be role and made it one of the most amazing performances I have ever seen. This movie is full of performances where they actresses (yes the movie is almost solely women) are so incredibly amazing that you forget who they ever were before this movie. The context of the movie is very mature and should be viewed with a sense of this is based on real life experiences. The author did not live this story but she lived around these kinds of stories and that makes the movie so much more real (as it should :-P). The next role where if I hadn’t known it was her, I would have spent the whole movie going, wow she looks just like Mariah Carey is Mariah Carey. When I was in middle school, I loved Mariah Carey, and I have always thought she is so incredibly beautiful. In this movie she looks like they made her spend a week awake and then forced her to watch every sad movie made in the last 10 years and then said you’re perfect! The main character is a great find for the industry. She is a wonderful sense of life and she portrays a “normal” person going through insanely hard times so well because she is a normal person. All the elements of this story are portrayed in an interesting style. They are all from Precious’ perspective with her doing narration of her thoughts and when bad things happen she goes into her own fantasy world. The way this movie all comes together makes it a fantastic watch. Every single performance is so above par that I bet they must have had a hard time with the award shows, I do not feel that a single act(or)ess in this film did even a remotely mediocre performance. It was that fabulous!
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
As I watched this movie, I kept telling myself to cut it a break, that it was made by and for ignorant men and that I should just roll with it and hope that it gets better. The movie is based on “true” events that happened to the main character Tucker when he takes his best friend out to a strip club for his bachelor party when he tells the fiancé that he won’t, and all the craziest activities of course ensue with him learning a fake lesson and bringing it all in at the end. The problem is this movie is lame. The idea that all this shit really happened exactly this way is preposterous. Now I know that some men can get away with treating people like garbage and they just take it, but I am sorry NO ONE is that cool to address everyone with that kind of ignorant comments and smart ass ways. You can’t harass the bartender, steal other people’s beers and talk the waitress into grinding you while you talk to her without getting kicked out. He basically tells the bartender that he is just jealous that the girl wants him when he tries to kick him out, and so instead they almost fight. The whole premise of this movie is that Tucker is the man and that he is trying to have sex with as many “different” women as she can, i.e. deaf, little person, blind, etc. The storyline is like the Hangover except missing the wolf pack, the song, the talented actors, good storyline, and all around enjoy-ability that is The Hangover. I really enjoyed the best friend Drew whose girlfriend cheats on him with a grill teethed no talent white rapper and has a I hate Women attitude, his lines are very funny, but the overall idea that this is a true story and that this is 100% accurate and true to live is a crock. When I was in Spencer’s the day I rented this movie, I was in the book section where that book was being sold. As I flipped through the awesome book of hilariously inappropriate post cards that I ended up buying, the two guys next to me began talking about this book. One guy tells the other guys that he has got to read this book because it will totally change how you think about partying. Then he goes into how that isn’t the right cover of the book that is the cover of the movie. The D-bag Tucker is famous online for “real life” cool things he has done like getting drunk and losing his pants at the sushi restaurant that just happened to be having a lingerie night. I do not know how people get away with saying something REALLY happened when it is so full of made up crap. I mean I am sure he probably took his friend to a strip club out of state when his fiancé didn’t want him to but the dialogue is a complete joke. Don’t waste your time unless you really want to see a poorly put together piece of fiction. Fish “I Fucking hate this movie, it was painful to watch”

Time Travelers Wife
Sometimes I don’t know how I end up reading or hearing about this critic’s comments or viewers comments, I hardly ever go on IMDB until after I have watched a movie unless I am REALLY excited about it. I don’t really have many friends who talk to me about movies, and I am not super big on keeping up with the tabloids. I get Parade magazine to my inbox because they keep me in the know for Harry Potter :-P The biggest comment I read was about the idea that this adult time traveler goes back in time to see his wife’s 6 year old self. I personally, did not see this in a pedophilia kind of way. I think that if you do there might be something wrong with you, maybe you need to stop watching movies and go see someone, especially when it is a movie about TIME TRAVELING! One of my biggest pet peeves is when the movie is about something so out there and people like to complain that one aspect of it is “unrealistic” or “wrong”, the movie is FICTION! Get over it. As far as the movie goes, I enjoyed it, Fish did not. I thought the way they progressed the story was interesting and the characters were pretty cool. Fish felt that he should have liked the movie a lot but he just didn’t. The overall story is about a wife of a man who travels through time and how she handles this, it also deals with the time traveler and his jumps. It is an interesting story but Fish thinks is was “uneventful”. I think you should see it if it is a cheap rental but I do not plan on rushing out and buying it. It was a good movie but they could have done something amazing with it and it did fall short of that amazing mark. Like a mystery with no mystery to solve, no big struggle or eventful conclusions.
Love Love Jettychan

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

So many good movies, Whip It, Invention of Lying, Pandorum





So the movies I have been watching lately are good, really, really good. The first one I watch was Whip It. Every single preview for this movie made me want to go out and skate and to find myself a roller derby league in my area and go out and kick some ass. The movie went right about the same lines. The movie is directed by my doppelganger Drew Barrymore and she also plays one of the roller derby Hurl Scouts. The main character is Ellen Page who is amazing in her role of teenager looking to break out of her mother’s idea of her future and be her own hero. The movie also tackles a bit about love, and growing up, but overall it is about how one girl takes control of her life and dedicates herself to her passion. If you have ever wanted to roller derby even just a little bit, then this movie will push you over the edge. With a fantastic soundtrack and a wonderfully funny cast of character, this movie is a joy to watch and I would love to have it in my collection.
The second movie I watched was The Invention of Lying, and it as well was excellent. I LOVE Ricky Gervais, so much so that I have his radio show on my MP3 player and when we drive long distances I do nothing but listen to his show! He is hilarious and he does not disappoint in this movie about a world where there is no such thing as lying and the main character actual invents the whole process of lying and since he is the only one who can lie no matter what he says everyone believes him. He falls into major trouble when he comforts his dying mother who is scared of the idea of nothingness after you die and is overheard telling her about the wonders that await her after she dies. He then becomes the person that has to explain the basic principles of religion to these people. Now this movie has causes a stir on IMDB because people are outraged that it doesn’t place Christianity as a historic event. Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but Christianity is technically a mythology. I know hate me all you want, my family is Christian, except my kiiiii…. Jewish sister hehehehe, love you Angel! What it boils down to is whatever you believe is yours, it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or believes. I am not a Christian. In fact on Planet Cancer I am in the Atheist, Agnostic, Spiritual and Non Believers Group and I love that they have it! I personally do not believe in praying, I think it is very selfish to ask God to do what you want him to do because you ask for it. I am not atheist or agnostic, in fact I do not even know where I belong, but I do know that whatever you believe with all your heart and soul is what is true to you. So, loosen up and enjoy that sense of humor while you still have it! God gave you the ability to laugh and you damn well better use it! SO, if you can get over your own religious beliefs and look at the movie for what it is; a comedy about a world with no lies, then you will probably enjoy this movie very much. I know I did. I would highly recommend it for a funny night!
The last movie I watched was Pandorum, which is one of the best Sci Fi movies I have seen at home in a long, long time. This movie is excellent. The cast, the shots, the story, everything is wonderful. It reminded me of another movie I LOVE called The Decent. The basic idea is that an engineer wakes up by himself with no memory on a ship that is in disarray. He is soon joined by a Lieutenant that helps guide him to the bridge. However there are these creatures now that are trying to kill every living thing. The overall story is very good in this movie and the ending is excellent. It is hard to make a Sci Fi movie that isn’t lame or over done with special effects while the story fails. Pandorum is a thrill ride, with several jump parts, that is also a psychological roller coaster. Pandorum itself is a term that describes the mental state where the body goes completely crazy from the isolation of space. And if you tell me you knew what was fully going to happen, I will call you a damned liar! The lead in this film is also one of my favorite childhood actors Ben Foster who co-starred as Tucker in Flash Forward, and boy oh boy did I have a crush on him! :-P (or as Fish makes me call him now Bananas Foster) Anyway, the movie is great pick it up! Don’t let anything deter you, as Fish said “Uhh Ohh maybe we shouldn’t get it” in response to the “By the Director of Resident Evil” label in the back. He has now forgotten all about the first movie and directly links that to crap, but he was wrong this time! Go out and find it at your local movie place and watch the awesomeness! :-D
Love Love Jettychan

Monday, January 25, 2010

Wendy and Lucy, 2012, The Lovely Bones, Eden Log, Planet in Peril







Wendy and Lucy’s movie description is so misleading and was an utter let down. Michelle Williams stars in this movie that has won several awards and hailed as “the pleasures of classic storytelling” I can sum the story up in a few sentences “Woman’s car breaks down while moving to Alaska with her dog, woman gets caught stealing and dog gets lost, woman looks for dog, woman realizes that dog is better off with foster family.” The End. It was by far the most pompous movie I have seen in a very long time. The whole time I was watching the movie I hoped it would round out and have a great ending. The back summary calls this a traveling movie, and it is not even close. There is no traveling. What kills me about this movie is that it is obviously made by someone who has never had money problems or had to budget. I am sorry but when you have $600 you do not steal two cans of dog food, you just don’t. Why risk it? They are like 50 cents a can. It’s completely lame. All the characters are bad people except for one person. The movie takes place over a span of two days but it feels like forever, it is drawn out and boring in most places. I do not find this movie realistic in any way shape or form and I have been relatively poor my whole adult life, since I was 14 and moved out and me and Fish started paying for everything. This is the kind of movie where “artistic” people watch it and talk about how “real” it is and what an amazing view of real life it portrays when in fact it is not even close and just because you call it a “politically urgent road movie” does not mean it actually is. The actions do not make sense in real life, there is no logic used in this movie at all. Michelle Williams was very good as a real person however, how hard is it to play a normal person?? I am angry I wasted one of my rentals on this movie.
**UPDATE: Movie written by college professor, and Michelle Williams stayed in her guest house while they filmed it. She must have a fantastic grasp of what it is like to be poor. Having only $600 left to a college Professor must seem like such a little amount of money!**
Eden Log is a sci fi movie about a future where we get energy from tree sap. I enjoyed this movie; however I could not understand most of the dialogue. After the movie was over I found out you can watch it in the original French language. We are a dub hating household so I was very angry that we watched a dubbed movie. It made it seem really bad to us. However, I think if I had seen it in the original language I would have had no complaints about the dialogue. The movie takes place in an underground facility where almost all of the people are dead or turned into these creatures. The camera works is very interesting and they use lighting very effectively in the underground cave scenes. The summary of this movie was a bit misleading as well but it turned out fine because I did like this story very much. Online reviews have many people confused by the ending but I enjoyed it very much. If I purchase this movie I will make sure to watch it in its original form. Dubbed movies suck!
2012 is another end of the world movie, however this one is based on what everyone knows by now: the Mayan prediction of the end of the world in just 2 more years. So, prepare yourselves! The movie is centered around an unsuccessful author and his family as they fight to save their lives as the world is ending. There are some really cool special effects and Woody Harrleson is awesome in this movie as a crazy conspiratist who is finally shown to be right all along! The interesting thing about this movie is that it didn’t seem that farfetched to me. I am not the greatest scientist in the world, I’m an artist by birth, but I love me some science, always have. I still enjoy the old giant meteor coming to destroy the Earth and we have to find a way to save ourselves, even though I think if a meteor was coming they certainly wouldn’t tell us about it. That is one thing that 2012 got spot on, if the world was gonna end they certainly wouldn’t tell the populous, and they would sell the seats to the highest bidder. The science in this movie just seemed to make a lot of sense, it wasn’t like a “we’re gonna drill to the center of the Earth with our magic drill bits that can withstand immeasurable heat” movie, it was a nature is killing man kind of movie and that just makes sense to me. I did like this move, which is saying a lot since Jake Gyllenhal or some other piece of eye candy was not staring in it! ;-) Fish’s complaint: They manage to take off from every single disaster. They were always near feet away from the disasters in all their modes of transportation.
The Lovely Bones. I did not read this book and so maybe that is indeed why I can enjoy this movie. The visuals were beautiful and really made the environments she was stuck in pop. The movie is based around a girl who is killed by a serial killer and she is stuck in the in between until she can make peace in her family. The biggest problem I had was knowing they cut the rape scene out so that Peter Jackson could allow his daughter to watch this movie. That is a lame excuse to take something so big out of the movie. However in the end they do discuss some issues that are much more shocking and scary than that but Im not a father or a director so I have no idea where his mind was. The movie has several pieces that do not make sense and if they happened in the book with no explanation then I cannot imagine it being a good book. The characters act in ways that don’t make sense, there is a very important moment in the movie where time is of the essence and they just kind of sit on it. This kind of hurt the last 30 minutes of the movie for me. The ending is very weird but after I thought about it I liked it very much. If I had read this book, maybe I too would hate the movie and see it as a who dun it mystery with too many special effects, but since I went into this movie knowing that that is what it was going to be, I rather enjoyed it. Not the best movie I have seen recently, but still a pretty good movie.
Planet in Peril is my pick for this movie set. If you missed this CNN documentary you get on down to your local library and rent it. Yes, the library is THE best place to rent movies, they have new movie, foreign movies, documentaries, everything you could want and most libraries have an inter library loan program so you can order it if you library doesn’t have it. I like to get more off documentaries from the library, that and foreign movies, been getting movie from the library since I lived in Troy. This movie is about the awful state of our planet right now. It stars Jeff Corwin, Anderson Cooper, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta as they travel around the globe to show real issues that are affecting our planet. From the illegal trade and slaughter of animals in Taiwan to the deforestation of the rainforest resulting in the most CO2 gases of any place in the world, They tackle as much as they can. They show the effects of global warming on the glaciers that make up Greenland, and the lakes that are now desserts in Africa. The whole show is amazing. It is very heartfelt and the presentation of all these facts makes you want to get up and do something. I love Anderson Cooper, I have since I saw him give up his mike to go help load people in rescue boats in New Orleans. Say what you want, but he doesn’t have to help people but he does because he is a human being. The news is supposed to stat objective but when people were throwing concrete blocks at people he ran in to save an injured child. He has a lot of heart and it is nice to see in the news. Poor Sanjay Gupta though, he is always getting the short end of the stick from getting the swine flu to being in all the sickest places on Earth, but I guess that comes with the doctor territory. The only bad thing about this movie is how helpless you will feel with most of the things. The laws in other countries and how other countries react to these issues, but you will also feel angry about how our country treats our own citizens. I do hope you will all go out and rent this or you can check out more pieces on here: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/planet.in.peril/
No matter what you believe, our planet is in trouble right now and it will stay in trouble until everyone makes some drastic changes. So, #1 pick is Planet in Peril