Tag Archives: Opinion

Pineapple Express (2008)

Posted on January 18, 2010 | Leave a comment

Ahhh, the pot movie.  The stoner flick.  Such a well-traversed and easily discounted genre.  The luxury of these features is that the expectations are never very high.  Even for comedy, the writers/producers/directors of a movie about weed are generally held to a pretty light standard.  There’s a built in audience and that audience isn’t always the most discerning.  Nonetheless, Pineapple Express strives to be among those few standouts of the genre.  Up in Smoke, Dazed and Confused, Friday, Harold and Kumar, and Pineapple Express? Sure, why not.

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Up (2009)

Posted on January 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

There are elements of story, structure and general film making concepts that are universally heralded or criticized.  Conflict is good, artificial dialogue is bad.  Character development is good, cliche is bad.  And so it goes.  But there are also enumerable aspects of a film which can’t truly be judged in the same way.  Special effects come to mind as something that can at once be either terribly off-putting or the outstanding piece of the puzzle.  Similarly, an adaptation can fill seats or turn viewers off based solely on it’s faithfulness to the original material.  With Up, this dilemma presents itself in the form of sentimentality.  There’s no lack of emotional resonance here, no shortage of moments that bring a visceral response…that is, if you’re into that sort of thing. Continue reading →

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Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Full List, Oscar Nominee, Oscar Winner

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The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus (2009)

Posted on January 10, 2010 | Leave a comment

When Heath Ledger died back in January 2008, talk inevitably shifted to The Dark Knight, Ledger’s “final” performance.  There was already an insane amount of hype surrounding the film and Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker, but suddenly the phrase “posthumous Oscar” was being thrown around.  Ledger’s Joker was magnificent, and the Oscar deserved if only as recognition of all the work he did prior to his death, and had The Dark Knight truly been Heath Ledger’s final onscreen performance it would have been a worthy end to his short career.  Unfortunately it wasn’t.  Ledger was halfway through filming on Parnassus when he died, and so this is now his final performance as an actor.  A baffling, psychedelic Frankenstein of a film that frustrates both with its overreaching and lack of polish.

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Avatar (2009)

Posted on January 5, 2010 | 1 comment

A glance at James Cameron‘s filmography reveals a Director mildly obsessed with doing things on an epic scale.  The only names that come to mind who might epic him out of the top spot would be Bay and Bruckheimer, and those guys don’t generally hold a lot of water with critical minds.  Cameron however seems to ride that line between over the top and elegant.  The distinction most probably lies with Cameron’s credits as a Director and a Writer.  While technology and visual magnificence hold his regard, I don’t believe they do so exclusively.  Particularly with his last few films, James Cameron has shone an eye for story that allows him to do the remarkable things he can do visually while not bombarding his audience with absurd or scoff-worthy moments.  This is not to say that Cameron isn’t melodramatic, but coupling melodrama with compelling characters, complex situations and, again, astonishing visual effects, might just be the perfect recipe for the epic of the new millennium.

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Posted in DVD/Blu-Ray, Five Stars, Full List, Oscar Nominee, Oscar Winner

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Up in the Air (2009)

Posted on January 4, 2010 | Leave a comment

Inevitably, people will walk out of this movie shaking their heads at the depressing state of affairs in which our main character, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) finds himself.  Coming out on the other side of perhaps his most important personal discovery he is at once, like so many of the individuals he is brought in to let go, lacking direction and uncertain of his formerly clear future.  At a glance, this seems neglectful to the character; a harsh and irresolute ending for a guy we’ve actually come to like, if only for his smarm.  But this distinction isn’t made lightly and it’s what keeps you both anxious and interested. Continue reading →

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500 Days of Summer (2009)

Posted on July 22, 2009 | 1 comment

I love Zooey Deschanel. I think she’s adorable and it’s a point of contention in my current relationship. I was thusly disappointed by the character she plays in 500 Days of Summer…no, not disappointed, that’s not right. I hated her character and I hated this movie. Here’s the long and short:

This film comes with the preface, “This is not a love story, but a story about love,” which really doesn’t mean anything at all. In love stories and stories about love we follow two people as they make their way through that universal gauntlet. They struggle with some sort of inner or outer dissonance, and hopefully, finally, find their way to one another and stroll into the sunset of love, prepared forever to face all problems as one. Or not. Whatever. 500 Days of Summer utilizes this introduction to avoid the necessity of a happy ending, or at least one you recognize. Which is fine, if it’s executed properly. Continue reading →

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Posted in Bad, Bad Films, DVD/Blu-Ray, Full List

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X-Men Origins : Wolverine (2009)

Posted on May 2, 2009 | Leave a comment

X-Men Origins : Wolverine, is FUCKING terrible. (That’s my thesis statement)

I have a big problem with comic books movies when they change the facts. There’s admittedly a gray area where a comic book story is so absurd and dated that everybody is better served by updating it. But in the undertaking of a comic book movie, when stories are being combined and the non-fan boy audience is the one that matters, you do absolutely NOTHING for your product when you alter well-established stories and characters. Continue reading →

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Strange Culture (2007)

Posted on April 19, 2008 | Leave a comment

So far, the 21st century seems to be the century of apathy. We ignore so efficiently that it takes something really dramatic for people to pay attention. A news story is no longer nearly enough, even for a really spectacular fuck-up, and for this reason I don’t blame you if you’ve never heard the story of Steve Kurtz. Kurtz, an art teacher from Buffalo, finds himself the target of an investigation into domestic terrorism when EMT personnel happen to see the harmless and legally acquired biological paraphernalia being used for an installation discussing the inherent problems with genetically modified organisms and our food. Eventually, federal agents come along to confiscate all his things, trash his home and, in an impressive display of callousness, lock his cat in the attic without food or water for three days. Oh, and the whole thing starts when he wakes one morning to find that his wife has died in her sleep. So, there’s the tale of Steve Kurtz.

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Posted in Bad, Bad Films, DVD/Blu-Ray, Full List

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The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Posted on October 28, 2007 | Leave a comment

Sometimes I lie in bed at night imagining how wonderful it would be to live in Wes Anderson‘s world. In the same way I once yearned for a trip to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, or a slightly less intensive journey through Jurassic Park. Wes Anderson has established himself as, yes, a good filmmaker. He has established himself as a leader in a new generation of individuals who are appreciated at once by the studios, the shareholders, the thinkers, the feelers, and the everymen. But more interestingly then all that, Wes Anderson has established a new reality in which, though perhaps not always connected in story, or character, or setting, his films all reside together. Continue reading →

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Eastern Promises (2007)

Posted on October 28, 2007 | Leave a comment

Movies are hard to make. Story telling is hard and sometimes it can falter. I think that Eastern Promises is an example of this. Let me qualify that by saying that if the goal of this film had been different, if it had shifted its focus somewhere along the line then it could have been really great. As it was, it had moments that achieved something real and Viggo Mortensen threw in a performance both hard and fast hidden under a polished veneer of ambiguity.

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