Archive for the 'Movies' Category

Movie Reviews: “13 Tzameti” and “Mission: Impossible III”

Published at January 12, 2008 in Movies and Philip Seymour Hoffman. 0 Comments
“Merde!
~ The 13 Tzameti

Oh no, it’s fine. I always spill red wine on my white custom made shirt.
~PSH - MI3“

I saw 2 movies last night. Oh what a Friday night! One of them is part of a new project I have recently begun. More on that. But the other one was suggested to me by Paul F.

13 Tzameti
“13 Tzameti” is a black and white French movie with subtitles. Before you totally dismiss the film because of that, know this, it was a pretty kick ass movie. I won’t give away the plot, because it is too awesome for me to spoil it for you. If you can sit through 45 mins of black and white, French speaking, you will be rewarded on the other end with a truly kickass movie. Unfortunately, due to my promise to you of not spoiling it for you, I am not allowed to go into much more detail than that. Obtain this movie and enjoy! Also, if you get the DVD, check out the Extras and watch the short “Sunday’s Game”.

Mission: Impossible 3
The other movie I saw was not so much for the high quality of the movie, but it goes along with a project I had in mind. Through odd coincidence, I have now seen 1 movie every week for 5 weeks with Philip Seymour Hoffman ( PSH ) in it. In order those movies are, “The Big Lebowski”, “Capote”, “Charlie Wilson’s War”, “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” and “MI:3″. Realizing this 2 weeks ago, I decided that wouldn’t it be fun to watch as many movies as I can with PSH. His entire IMDB page lists only 46 roles, some minor, some major. So if I can manage 1 movie a week, that’s less than a year. And I have also already seen a few of them. So look for future entires to the PSH Project, which will include reviews of these movies. Starting with my most recent viewing, “Mission: Impossible III”.

I saw “Mission: Impossible” when it came out on VHS, yes, that long ago. I did not see the second one. And apparently, that had little baring on my ability to watch the 3rd installment. Tom Cruise commentary aside, this movie was not half bad for some mindless entertainment. With nominal departures from reality and leaps in faith, this movie was what I expected. PSH plays a powerful gun runner with international connections and one thorn in his side… Tom Cruise and his crack squad of commandos from the IMF. No, no, not accountants and actuaries from the International Monetary Fund, spies and soldiers from the Impossible Missions Force [ link ]. I could not make that up if I tried. Plot wise, PSH kills one of Tom Cruise’s first trainees ( from the 2nd movie I guess? ) and pisses Tom right the hell off. PSH is also working with a mole inside the IMF to complete his own little impossible mission of selling “the rabbit’s foot”, which is some kind of unknown super evil material, that is stored in the same containers they stored Mutagen in. Those plastic / metal drive up banker’s tube things, you know the ones. I don’t know much about acting, per se, but I think PSH was actually believable as a gun runner: quiet, cold, calculating, pudgy, probably unpopular as a teenager. And I genuinely think he wanted to kick Tom Cruise’s ass, maybe there wasnt much acting in that though. Am I praying for MI:4, not unless Christopher Walken plays a deranged lawyer bent on conquering Eastern Europe with an army of zombie koala bears, but MI:3 was a decent end to a semi-decent trilogy.

Thus ends my first entry into the PSH Project. I should soon post other entries for the other movies I have seen, look for those in the not-so-distant future.

Juno, Not Just an ISP Anymore

Published at November 14, 2007 in Movies. 0 Comments
“Paulie Bleeker is totally boss.“

Juno Movie Poster

I had the pleasure of attending a free sneak preview of Juno last night. The movie is about a 16 year old girl who gets pregnant. It is a really funny, well done movie. Plenty of laughs. I am sure the storyline will upset the conservatives, and maybe even some liberals, but I liked it just fine. And I got a free T-Shirt out of the deal!!

Juno was played by the girl who plays Kitty Hawk in the X-Men movies, Ellen Page. She was pretty damn funny as the too mature for her own good, Juno MacGuff. Her dialogue was fast and witty, not something youd expect from a teenager, but that’s part of what makes it so funny. Playing her love interest in the movie was the kid from Super Bad and Arrested Development, Michael Cera. He played the part well, unfortunately, I felt it was kinda the same part he played in Super Bad and Arrested Development, the awkwardly cool, trying too hard kid. Hey, go with your strengths, I’d just hate to see the kid typecast. There was also Allison Janney, aka CJ from the West Wing and J.K. Simmons, the psych guy on Law and Order, as well as Neo-Nazi on OZ.

It was a very funny movie, and even thought provoking, the mark of a successful film, in my eyes. I don’t know when it comes out nationally, but I suggest you see it ASAP.

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

Published at November 5, 2007 in Life and Movies. 0 Comments
“Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder, treason, and plot,
I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.“

No, I probably wouldnt be as aware of the holiday if it weren’t for V for Vendetta, but in my own defense, I had trivial knowledge of the holiday before the movie. The short, short version of it is that in 1605, Guy Fawkes, a Catholic in England, and his co-conspirators planned on blowing up White Hall along with the King and his aides. King James, a Protestant, was killing Catholics for no good reason, so Fawkes wanted to make a statement about that. That statement had an exclamation point at the end of it. He and his band of merry Catholics were caught and killed on November 5, 1605. Thus, Guy Fawkes Day was born. Today the day is passed with celebrations and fireworks, and even some effigies of Fawkes burned in the streets.

As dastardly ( maybe even terroristic ) a deed as Fawkes had planned, could he be considered a freedom fighter, instead of a terrorist? Shouldn’t we consider the Sons of Liberty a terrorist group, as they tossed all that tea into Boston Harbor? Is Paul Revere a traitor for warning the militias about the British Army? The British government wasn’t even killing the colonists, they were just taxing them! However, because of the outcome of the war and the country that we live in, we consider these men revolutionaries and freedom fighters. I wonder how British history books record those events? That debate rages even today, and won’t be solved anytime soon!

Now, hold on to your seats, because I am going to try to connect the events of 400 years ago, with more recent events, with the help of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was a great silent film actor in the early 20th century. Near the end of his career, he made a few “talkies”, one of his last films was made in 1940, and it was a political satire of the current events of Nazi Germany. The film was called The Great Dictator and was so politically charged, it was actually banned in Germany by Hitler himself. It is the ending of the film, Chaplin’s speech that speaks of democracy and the power of the people, that is pretty inspiring, despite the near 70 years it has been since its utterance.

So, it is in the spirit of Guy Fawkes ( his revolutionary spirit, not so much his explosive behavior ) and Charlie Chaplin’s hope for a united mankind, that I present this post, on this Guy Fawkes Day!



The Simpsons Movie

Published at August 9, 2007 in Movies. 0 Comments
“So we’ll march day and night,
By the big cooling tower,
They have the plant,
But we have the power.“

Let me preface this by saying that I have been a Simpsons devotee since the earlier 90s. I remember watching the episodes, talking about them in school the next day. Back in the days of the 1 TV household, I hooked up an old TV with rabbit ears in THE GARAGE, sat out in the cold and watched the Simpsons. But sometime after high school, I watched less and less. Maybe it was me, was I really too old for cartoons? But no, I watched South Park, Family Guy, but The Simpsons always held a dear place in my heart. Unfortunately, the show just got progressively worse. Maybe it felt it was being assaulted by the other cartoons. Family Guy was taking irreverence to an entirely different level, and South Park was making social and political commentary to beat the band.

By the time I reached college, I was barely watching it. It just got too out there, especially for The Simpsons. Homer hardly worked, the family went on wild and crazy adventures, the show was based less and less in reality. Thinking back to my favorite episodes, they are probably 6 or 7 years old. Who shot Mr. Burns?, “Lisa needs braces… Dental Plan!”, “Shake haaaaaarder boy!”, Camp Krusty ( “Gentlemen, to Evil!” ), Hank Scorpio, “Dont you hate pants?”. Genius episodes. Then, just when I just about gave up on the show, they came out with a movie. Yesterday I went with Webster, another Simpsons devotee of old, and saw the film.

Not ruining anything, in the first 2 minutes of the film, Homer makes fun of people who would pay to see something they can see on TV for free. I tend to agree. The movie was exactly what I thought it would be, one gigantically drawn out episode, with some laughs in between. And by the silence of the audience during some “jokes”, I was not alone in my feeling of “meh”. My one moment of excitement was when I heard Albert Brooks’ voice. I thought Hank Scorpio was making a comeback, how AMAZING that wouldve been.

All and all, I felt the entire movie couldve been cut to one hour and wouldve served as the perfect last episode of the show ever.

The Number 23

Published at July 30, 2007 in Geeky, Movies and Whoa. 0 Comments
“Of course time is just a counting system… numbers with meanings attached to them.“

I watched that Jim Carrey movie last night, The Number 23, I do not regret doing so. I thought it was cool, though I don’t think it did that well in the movies. At any rate, the movie is about a man’s obsession with… 23. How the letters in his name, birthdays, seemingly everything in his life computes to 23. I had actually heard of this before, because 23 is one of The Numbers on Lost. So when I was watching the movie, which was pretty dark and disturbing I think, I began to think of my own life…

My birthday is April 19 ( 4/19 ), 4+19 = 23
My Dad’s birthday is December 5, 1942 ( 12/5/42 ), 12+5+4+2 = 23
My Sister’s birthday is June 6, 1974 ( sorry Lee ), ( 6/6/74 ), 6+6+7+4 = 23

I know, I know, it doesnt exactly “work out” all the time, and you have to fudge the numbers. I am no mathematician, but I wonder how many other numbers this works with, with these dates?