Pan's Labyrinth follows a young girl named Ofelia who accompanies her pregnant mother to a military outpost in 1944 Spain where her step father is the commander. He is a sadistic commander for the fascist regime that was in power at that time. Ofelia escapes into her fantasies where she believes she is the long lost daughter of the king of another world.
The film follows Ofelia as she negotiates both the violent and dangerous real world and the idyllic fantasy adventure in her head. The fantasy scenes are amazing to view with textured and even very creepy creatures who aid or hinder her quest to be reunited with her lost world. The fantasy world is off set by the quite brutal things that happen in the real world including torture and summary execution.
This film has a nice balance of both worlds and even has an amazingly good resolve. I left the theater liking the movie and two days later I'm writing this and really liking this movie. The acting was well done, the directing was good. The human stories told were touching and the ending was...without giving anything away...very well done.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Letters From Iwo Jima
Letters From Iwo Jima is an good war film. It isn't fantastic. I'm not sure what all the critical praise is about. I think Thin Red Line (1998) is far superior. It tales the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima from a side as Americans we don't often think of. I've heard a lot of critics say that perhaps as a student of history I've always been interested in the other narrative so I always thought war movies that were all patriotic were missing something. Recall that Thin Red Line does in fact have a few words from a Japanese soldier and I would suspect more were disposed on the editing room floor.
Letters does have one very vivid and memorable and also shocking scene involving honorable suicide. The acting is strong, especially Ken Watanabe and the direction solid but I was underwhelmed by this film. I would have enjoyed a deeper delving into the war culture of Japan that caused the men to fight as they did.
Letters does have one very vivid and memorable and also shocking scene involving honorable suicide. The acting is strong, especially Ken Watanabe and the direction solid but I was underwhelmed by this film. I would have enjoyed a deeper delving into the war culture of Japan that caused the men to fight as they did.
The Painted Veil
I think I liked The Painted Veil when I saw it two weeks ago but I can't recall much about it now. It was a bit long and not a very coherent plot but it was more about the characters than anything else. Naomi Watts and Edward Norton play some extraordinarily complex characters who run the gamet of emotions. This is definitely one of those roles an actor loves to get. The cinematography in this film was also breathtaking to look at. This is a rare US movie filmed in china and the country side is amazing to see. I'm glad I saw it so I can comment on any nominations but not memorable for me as a film.
Aliens
A personal favorite movie of mine for years has been James Cameron's Aliens (1986). When I learned that the local indie theater was going to be showing this film on the big screen, I was thrilled. Well the print of the movie I'm pretty sure was from twenty years ago, it was scratched and blurry and actually pretty poor image quality but you know what? I didn't care one damn bit.
As much as Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) was a scary thriller, Cameron's film is an excellent action film. But that isn't to say there isn't suspense in this movie because believe me there is. What exactly happened on the colony? How are the aliens moving around? Who is going to live? Will Ripley save Newt? I know the answer to every one of these questions and I still was glued to the screen.
I forgot how funny this film is too. There are genuinely funny moments with fun dialogue and plenty of action. And I couldn't help but cheer aloud and neither could the rest of the audience when Ripley yells out at the end "Get Away from her, you b*tch!" This is an experience I wish I could have had years ago in its original release but to be fair to me, I was five. Watching this old print with a crowd of hard core fans was almost as good. So go rewatch or watch for the first time an excellent suspense action film from one of the great directors of our time.
As much as Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) was a scary thriller, Cameron's film is an excellent action film. But that isn't to say there isn't suspense in this movie because believe me there is. What exactly happened on the colony? How are the aliens moving around? Who is going to live? Will Ripley save Newt? I know the answer to every one of these questions and I still was glued to the screen.
I forgot how funny this film is too. There are genuinely funny moments with fun dialogue and plenty of action. And I couldn't help but cheer aloud and neither could the rest of the audience when Ripley yells out at the end "Get Away from her, you b*tch!" This is an experience I wish I could have had years ago in its original release but to be fair to me, I was five. Watching this old print with a crowd of hard core fans was almost as good. So go rewatch or watch for the first time an excellent suspense action film from one of the great directors of our time.
The Queen
I went to the theater to see a special viewing of Aliens (1986) and ended up seeing The Queen (2006). I blame the internet for lying to me about when Aliens was showing. Ironically I went initially to see a movie that had a queen (albiet a hideous alien one) in it and after a small snafu I ended up at a movie that had a queen in it (debatably the English royal family could be aliens).
The Queen stands as a historical drama in which I can actually vividly remember the public events it is dealing with. I remember when Diana died and the royal family wasn't talking. This film gives us the inside or at least an interpretation of what was going on inside the royal family at the time. It is really well done and has strong performances from many members of the cast.
Helen Mirren of course stands out. She has been nominated for multiple awards and rightly so. I have not seen every movie on the noms but someone would have to be pretty amazing to upstage her. Sometimes I have personal favorites whom I root for despite the fact that I know they aren't the best performance but be wary to all, she was phenomenal and will be hard to beat.
The Queen stands as a historical drama in which I can actually vividly remember the public events it is dealing with. I remember when Diana died and the royal family wasn't talking. This film gives us the inside or at least an interpretation of what was going on inside the royal family at the time. It is really well done and has strong performances from many members of the cast.
Helen Mirren of course stands out. She has been nominated for multiple awards and rightly so. I have not seen every movie on the noms but someone would have to be pretty amazing to upstage her. Sometimes I have personal favorites whom I root for despite the fact that I know they aren't the best performance but be wary to all, she was phenomenal and will be hard to beat.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Happily N'Ever After
Fairly tales are apparently so timeless that even Hollywood has gotten sick of them. It has gotten to the point that classic tales like Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood are being reimagined. This, in my opinion, has been done successfully in films like Ever After (199x) and Hoodwinked (2006) and done horribly in films like The Brothers Grimm (2005). Happily N'Ever After is definitely in the latter category.
The film starts as the traditional Cinderella Story but we are introduced to a lowly servant, Rick (Freddie Prince, Jr) who is in love with Cinderella (Sarah Michelle Gellar). The wicked stepmother gets her hands on a magic staff and upsets the balance of all the fairy tales, letting the bad guys win. The prince turns out to be a chump and it is Rick with Cinderella's help who saves the day.
This film is not clever. The story drags on too long at the beginning and then hurries to find an ending. If this is the quality of children's movies these days, I am truly sorry for the children. This film completely misuses George Carlin and a star filled voice cast including Sigourney Weaver and Wallace Shawn!! (Okay so he isn't exactly a star). I would suggest renting Hoodwinked or Ever After instead. Or my personal favorite reimagining of a fairy tale, Ella Enchanted.
The film starts as the traditional Cinderella Story but we are introduced to a lowly servant, Rick (Freddie Prince, Jr) who is in love with Cinderella (Sarah Michelle Gellar). The wicked stepmother gets her hands on a magic staff and upsets the balance of all the fairy tales, letting the bad guys win. The prince turns out to be a chump and it is Rick with Cinderella's help who saves the day.
This film is not clever. The story drags on too long at the beginning and then hurries to find an ending. If this is the quality of children's movies these days, I am truly sorry for the children. This film completely misuses George Carlin and a star filled voice cast including Sigourney Weaver and Wallace Shawn!! (Okay so he isn't exactly a star). I would suggest renting Hoodwinked or Ever After instead. Or my personal favorite reimagining of a fairy tale, Ella Enchanted.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Children of Men
This is by far the best movie I have seen all year. Okay so that is a little cheap. I've technically seen only three movies in this year (2007). This one definitely makes my top ten of movies released in 2006. Alfonso Cuaron does an amazing job behind the camera creating a tight well done action thriller. And the main character never picks up a gun once.
The film picks up in the year 2027, 18 years after humans stopped being able to reproduce. The youngest person on the planet has just died and things all over the world have gone to hell pretty much. A fascist government in Britain is doing its best to curb the violence and is going about it in a very typical fear mongering way.
Theo (Clive Owen) is our main character a stolid, perhaps alcoholic man who has essentially given up on humanity. He is enlisted by his ex wife to help get an unexpectedly pregnant girl to something called the Human Project. The film follows his adventures to get the girl to her destination. There is plenty of action and intrigue for the film and it never gets tedious or boring.
There are some excellent performances from quality actors. Michael Caine's performance is of particular skill and craft. Owen is excellent as always as well. This movie has a brutal use of violence but it never seems gratuitous. It always makes sense and never pulled me out of the movie.
It amazes me that in essence this movie has a similar dystopic not so distant future that the movie V for Vendetta (2005) had and yet that movie was horrible and this movie works. The atmosphere of this movie was amazing. Some of the throw away stuff like propaganda messages on the trains or graffiti on walls was so well placed. You believe that this all could actually happen.
The film picks up in the year 2027, 18 years after humans stopped being able to reproduce. The youngest person on the planet has just died and things all over the world have gone to hell pretty much. A fascist government in Britain is doing its best to curb the violence and is going about it in a very typical fear mongering way.
Theo (Clive Owen) is our main character a stolid, perhaps alcoholic man who has essentially given up on humanity. He is enlisted by his ex wife to help get an unexpectedly pregnant girl to something called the Human Project. The film follows his adventures to get the girl to her destination. There is plenty of action and intrigue for the film and it never gets tedious or boring.
There are some excellent performances from quality actors. Michael Caine's performance is of particular skill and craft. Owen is excellent as always as well. This movie has a brutal use of violence but it never seems gratuitous. It always makes sense and never pulled me out of the movie.
It amazes me that in essence this movie has a similar dystopic not so distant future that the movie V for Vendetta (2005) had and yet that movie was horrible and this movie works. The atmosphere of this movie was amazing. Some of the throw away stuff like propaganda messages on the trains or graffiti on walls was so well placed. You believe that this all could actually happen.
Philip J Fry had it right
I have an addiction to Lucy Liu. Much like the lovable dope of the short lived Fox series I think she is really attractive. Seeing a Lucy Liu movie is the closest I can imagine to what an actually drug addiction would be like. You see I have to see Lucy Liu movies, no matter how terrible they appear to be. Earlier last year I was delighted to find out Lucky Number Slevin was actually better than it sounded and appeared from the previews. I've also seen, sadly, both Charlie's Angels movies. And Ms. Liu is also why I recently watched Codename: Cleaner.
Oh dear gods, what a horrible, horrible movie. Cedric the Entertainer is like anti-comedy. The plot is bad. Very bad. Familiar faces are used to the weakest effect. Why oh why does Will Patton get into so many bad movies? I'm trying desperately to cleanse this movie from my memory. But it was still worth it for the Lucy Liu fix.
Oh dear gods, what a horrible, horrible movie. Cedric the Entertainer is like anti-comedy. The plot is bad. Very bad. Familiar faces are used to the weakest effect. Why oh why does Will Patton get into so many bad movies? I'm trying desperately to cleanse this movie from my memory. But it was still worth it for the Lucy Liu fix.
Freedom Writers
Freedom Writers plays like Dangerous Minds 2: Dangerouser. It's your typical Hollywood, inexperienced teacher with a view towards fixing a broken education system film. Everything you expect to see in this film you will see. It doesn't matter if it was based on a true story. Hilary Swank plays the idealist, naive teacher coming into an inner city school with gang problems who inspires her students to believe in themselves.
The film is made well enough, the performances are standard, nothing exciting and it has all the tear inducing moments one would expect for this type of film. I'm not entirely sure what one is supposed to get out of a film like this? Am I supposed to realize how messed up the education system is? Am I supposed to believe that if there were more teachers like Swank's character, that all the education problems would be resolved?
I suspect reforming education can't be simplified that easily. This film doesn't do anything amazing and by turning it into a pop culture event may in fact weaken whatever the real people actually accomplished. A little text blurb at the end even informs the audience that she didn't stay in high school education. A much better film about teaching was Half Nelson. I recommend that instead.
The film is made well enough, the performances are standard, nothing exciting and it has all the tear inducing moments one would expect for this type of film. I'm not entirely sure what one is supposed to get out of a film like this? Am I supposed to realize how messed up the education system is? Am I supposed to believe that if there were more teachers like Swank's character, that all the education problems would be resolved?
I suspect reforming education can't be simplified that easily. This film doesn't do anything amazing and by turning it into a pop culture event may in fact weaken whatever the real people actually accomplished. A little text blurb at the end even informs the audience that she didn't stay in high school education. A much better film about teaching was Half Nelson. I recommend that instead.
Failure and The Goal Renewed
Despite some marthon movie going near the end of the semester which had me seeing several movies, I did not make the 100 movies in the theater that I had hoped for. I saw Apocalypto, long and bloody but the foot chase sequence in the final act was amazingly fun to watch and so I give a favorable opinion of the movie overall. Eragon played and felt like a ripoff of Lord of the Rings, but if you like sword and sorcery flicks this one will work as a fix. Rocky Balboa, I'm pretty sure a new Rocky movie was not necessary but this movie played fine until the end when I got very angry for some reason. Either the second or third best of the Rocky movies. The Good Shepherd, Matt Damon was really good and really reserved. Not a perfect movie but well done in my opinion. So that wrapped up my movie going experience of 2006. I managed 85 different films (saw Superman Returns twice), fifteen shy of the goal. So I just have to aim for it again. Here we go, I've seen three movies so far, 97 to go!!
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