el cine

Coriolanus

I'm choosing to write about this movie because it's  not in my review of AFF for Austin Fusion, and I loved it so much. 

I'm one of those random people that loves Shakespeare plays.  I think he (or whoever he really is) is a fantastic writer and love the stories he conveys.  The stories and emotions that run through each character are unique and full of passion.  You connect with it on a different level, without even realizing that you feel those emotions all the time.

Anyways, let me get to the film.

It is an adaptation, a modern adaptation, yet still has the Old English dialogue.  Yes, if you're not used to the language it can sound like a whole bunch of random words that you hardly understand.  The beauty about doing Old English in a modern setting, the visuals and situations help you understand what the words mean.

When you have amazing actors, this is even more apparent.  The acting in this film is phenomenal!  You have Ralph Finnes, Vanessa Redgrave, Gerald Butler just to name a few.  The passion that these actors portray through their dialogue and characters are fascinating.  It's RF directorial debut, and while it seems a little ambitious, it's right up his alley (Shakespeare trained actor) and did a brilliant job!

There are several war scenes throughout this movie, and I felt that each one of them was realistic.  It was gritty and touched a cord in you that you wouldn't except from a Shakespeare movie.  Yes, I know that war scenes are common place in film now, but this one felt different.  It's hard to explain, but the bullets firing and falling sounded like you were right there (in which I have been to a shooting range with  my Navy brother).  This part could just be a me thing, but I felt there was something different about these war scenes.

When I left the theater, all I could say was "Wow."  It was intense and powerful and left you speechless.  All things you want to feel when you leave a good drama/tragedy movie.  I would recommend this movie to everyone.  Sure, it might not be for everyone since it's in Old English, but go outside your comfort zone and watch it.  You won't be disappointed. 

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Warrior

OMG.  I didn't realize how long it had been since I wrote about a movie.  It's not like I haven't seen any, Summer Blockbusters anyone?, but I guess this totally falls under lazy.

I won't back track and talk about the summer movies (loved all: Thor, Super 8, X-Men, Captain America), but I will talk about the latest movie I saw: Warrior.

Holy crap, this movie is amazing.  I had originally wanted to see it specifically because Joel Edgerton  was in it.  (What can I saw, I'm a loyal actor follower), and then got super happy when I found out Tom Hardy was in it (he's totally amazing and rising pretty fast on my rankings).  I necessarily didn't care too much about the MMA aspect of it, even though my appreciation for the sport is growing (thank you Tim Kennedy). 

It took me a little bit to see this movie, not really actually, but I finally got to see it with my sis-in-law, the other Joel enthusiast.  We made a night of it, having dinner and then discussing out magazine article (more on that later).  I had heard some good reviews for that movie, and knew I was in for a treat, but I didn't realize how emotional I would get.

I won't, again, say much about it, but what I will say is that it's not what you think.  Even when I thought the trailers give away the ending (didn't I talk about that in a previous post?), it actually doesn't.  There are so many layers to this film that it's unbelievable.

When you think you know something about one of the characters, they turn and show you something different.  They don't lay everything out in the beginning, and it's a journey to find out what really is going on with each character.  It really is a character piece, touching on something that many of us have gone through or can relate to and putting it into something that's as popular as MMA.  

Maybe that's why I had such an emotional reaction to the film.  There were a lot of things that I could not only relate to, but I dare say something that I have experienced personally.  While they aren't exactly the same as what I went through, the way they present the challenges and plot points in the film were so brilliant and well done that I did connect to it.

When you talk about the story, you have to immediately talk about the acting.  Holy Shit!  Everyone was absolutely amazing, wonderful.  Tom and Joel, f*** man.  I will be watching anything they will ever be in (not that I wasn't going to already).  The level of talent with those two is mindblowing.  Do they have a different acting gene in other countries?  Then you throw in Nick Nolte.  Sure, he hasn't been his best in the last few years, but he's back now.  I really hope he gets a nomination this year.  I think they all deserve it, and definitely script, but I really hope this is Nick's year.

If you haven't seen it, you must!  You have to go out and watch this film.  It's just beautiful.

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Scream 4

Two new movies in two weeks!  This hasn't happened in ages!  It's really hard to do that nowadays, with the rising cost of the movie ticket.  I think it'd ridiculously expensive and one more reason I dislike the studio system.  (Even though art houses are plagued by the same downfall.)

I have to say, I didn't hate it.  It's not the best horror film, but than again it's a slasher flick, and those are on a different plain.  I'm not a big slasher girl, so I wasn't as excited as others were.  Most of the time I think they are hilarious.  Not to say that I'm desensitized to violence, but I think the absurdity of slasher violence is funny, even though I know it's totally possible.  That seems confusing, I know, but I'm the one laughing in the theater.

S4 was a lot like the first one, which is a good and a bad thing.  The cool thing about the first (which, obviously, is the best in the series) was how hyper aware it was of pop culture and slasher film etiquette, so to speak.  It was a parody of itself.  The 4th is also like that.  It's nice that it went back to the origins of the awesomeness of this franchise, but at the same time it was tiresome and we'd seen it before.  There were changes, as all sequels change throughout incarnations, but they didn't have to keep bringing it up.  Maybe that novelty is for youth and I'm over it.  The teens in the bathroom after the movie loved it.

The acting wasn't too bad, either.  Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox-Arquette and David Arquette were back, which was awesome, and just as great this time around.  Even the teen cast wasn't bad.  I knew of Emma Roberts and Hayden Panettiere and thought they were good for what they do.  There are definitely worse actors they could of gotten.  

The only thing I have a problem with is the character of Sidney.  The whole plot of this one is that she comes back home to overcome her status as a victim and move on with her live.  Awesome, more power to her.  But, wouldn't you think, that after 15 years of being the victim and fighting for your and your friend's lives, you would of taken things into your own hand?  Wouldn't you enroll in self-defense classes?  Wouldn't you know how to kick some ass if you needed to?  Sure, there were moments she fought back and battled her fear, but I wanted more.  Not that I wanted this bad ass Hanna or Hit Girl character, but someone to stand up to a psycho killer who's lame enough to be a copycat.  A realistic person taking those classes and having that skill.  Then again, maybe its just me, and I love the strong don't-fuck-with-me female characters.

Overall, it wasn't a bad movie.  It didn't ruin the franchise, but it also didn't make waves.  I can see that if someone is really into this series or genre that they would enjoy it.

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Hanna by Joe Wright

OMG, this movie was amazing.  I knew I was going to enjoy it, I love Joe Wright films and the cast was brilliant, but I didn't know how much I would fall in love with it.

I might be not be one of the many who see it this way, but I think this movie is what a film is suppose to be.  Wright used all film mediums to tell this interesting story.

The score was wonderful.  It was scored entirely by The Chemical Brothers, perfect for this type of thriller.  Not only  does Hanna have a great score, Wright uses background sound in just the same way.  The light was just enough in just the right places, playing with tints and saturation.  The characters and the actors portraying them were wonderful, damn they are talented. And of course you can't forget cinematography.  The visuals are just beautiful.

I could go on and on about how awesome this movie is, but I'll refrain.   I don't want to give too much away in case you, dear reader, have yet to make it to the movies. 

 

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Trailers

I love watching trailers.  I watch them when I'm at work, when I'm bored, and I hate missing them in the theaters.  I'm such a movie person that I have to know what's coming out and what I'm going to be excited about.  I have the ones that I long to see multiple times (Harry Potter) and ones that I'm surprised that I'm excited to see.  However, I'm not getting as much delight out of them in recent months.  Most of them suck.

I hate how many of them are giving away too much of the story.  Sure, this has always been a problem throughout the years, but it just seems to be really bad now.  There have been so many that I've crossed off my list because I've already got the ending from the trailer.  Of course, on the reverse, this has saved me money from going to see it, but I still miss the trailer.

One of the best things about trailers was that you got just enough to get you really excited.  Maybe it was an age old story told in a new way, or it's a new movie from a favorite actor, either way it gave you that little bump that enticed you to want to see it.

I've had some amazing trailers I've seen in the past.  For example, the new JJ Abrams movie "Super 8" has an awesome trailer.  It's very vague and just hints at what the story is about.  To top it off, you can't find any information about the movie on the interwebs.  I love it.  Even though I thrive on finding out all I can about upcoming movies, I love  being surprised.

One of the other trailers that has stuck with me through the years was "Fifth Element."  When I saw that trailer I was so excited.  It was just a planet in space exploding and the title and Bruce's name.  That was it.  I love action movies, and you stick Brucy Baby in there, I'm sold.  However, I hated this movie the first time I saw it.  I know, right!  What was I thinking!  I've learned the error of my ways and now consider FE one of my favorite movies (definitely one of my favorite directors) of all time. 

Even though there is the huge chance of me getting disappointed, I still can't stop watching trailers.  I need to know.  I'm such a nerd. 

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 Fightville

This was the first thing we did as a group for SXSW.  We interviews the cast and producers of this documentary on MMA fighting.  It followed two fighters, a coach, and a promoter of MMA USA, which is an amature MMA fighting organization based out of Louisiana.

I had never been interested in MMA fighting.  I grew up on Karate.  Karate is a beautiful fighting form, and compared to that MMA was dirty street fighting.  It wasn't until I worked on a sizzle reel for a martial arts TV show and met a MMA fighter, Tim Kennedy, that my perception changed.  Tim recognized my Harry Potter shirt and we started to talk about that right when I met him.  Later, when watching him fight/train, I realized how much of a bad ass he was.  How could a nerd be a fighter?  I became to realize that I didn't have a proper grasp on what MMA really is.

Fightville is exactly that.  Fightville is a movie that showcases these athletes, and why they chose this form of fighting.  It wasn't because they wanted to be bad asses, it was because they wanted the discipline and to become a better person.  That was the biggest thing that was conveyed through the interviews, self evolution.  

This movie does an amazing job of showing that MMA is more than just a dirty fighting style.  I really hope it gets distribution and that may more people can watch and learn from this film. 

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Indy 4

I finally saw Indy 4 last night.  Wow.  Yeah, that was a horrible movie.  My brother warned me, and while I did believe him, it was on TV.

There were so many things that I had problems with.
First off, while I love LOVE her, Cate B couldn't hold her accent.  She was suppose to be Ukrainian.  She did a good accent, but she couldn't hold on to it for a long time.  I could hear her go in an out of it, and that upset me cause it's Cate B!  I almost want to forgive her, but at the same time I hold her to a higher level so expect more (cause I know she can reach that).  =(

Then there was the CGI stuff.  The opening (and ending) had these damn groundhogs that were pointless!  They were the Jar-Jar of Indy.  Then later in the story, I guess around 2nd to 3rd act, they were in the Amazon and there was this fight scene between Cate and Shia.  The splits between the two trucks...what!  Horrible.  Then, there are CGI monkeys...annoying.  THEN, Shia decides to swing on vines like Tarzan.  Swing. On. Vines.  OMG, just horrible.

Okay, Shia in general was bad.  He's not a good actor to begin with, but when you  have him trying to act like a tough guy in the 50's/60's, doesn't work at all.  Not only did his look rip off Marlon Brando, he was a bad rip off.  If they were going for inspired, they failed.  It just looked like Shia was trying to copy Brando and he failed.  Hard.

I didn't like the plot.  I thought the whole alien thing was a  bit much.  Okay, if you're going to go that route with the mythology of our world, then have the Russians searching based on the prediction of the future, not psychic powers!  That was too much.  I mean, I could be completely wrong on my history, but wasn't one reason (or rumored reason) the Czar was overthrown was because of Rasputin and his "powers"?  Again, could totally be mixing up rumor with fact, but whatever.  In my opinion, it was too much.

At least Indy was still pretty cool, even in his old age.
And there was a lot of action, like the original.

But damn.  Nothing will be as awesome as the original three.  Temple of Doom being my favorite, if you're wondering.

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Scott Pilgrim vs The World

I'm so obsessed with this movie.  Everything about it is cool.  The visuals, the story, the characters/acting, the music... Too awesome!
Sadly, I'm the pretty much the only one out of most of my friends that has scene it.  I mean... I've tried to get them to see it, having a movie night to see it in theaters, but that failed and they didn't come.  I've thought about giving it, along with other Edgar Wright movies, as our White Elephant Xmas gifts.  I thought the latter was a bit much, almost forcing like.

The beauty about Edgar Wright's movies is that it acknowledges the fact that we live in a pop culture society.  I appreciate this because it's unrealistic for something to pretend that half of our lives have never taken place.  For example, in "Shaun of the Dead" they refuse to call them zombies, even thought they are. Instead, Shaun makes Ed call them the Zed word.  They make not that they 'live' in a world were George Romero exists but that that concept is a fantasy that it couldn't be happening in real life.  Acknowledgment.

But, back to SCvTW.
I had read something somewhere where EW says that he sorta used the musical outline, but instead of musical numbers it's fight scenes.  Sure, breaking out in fights isn't common, but the way EW shoots it/writes it it makes sense and the characters just go with it.  They make it believable.
It is very fast paced, but I feel like you are right there with them.  You aren't confused by the quick cuts or the descriptions turning into the action.  You are immediately transfered to this world, and are totally okay with everything.

I mostly love the visuals, though.  I love how comic booky/video gamy everything is.  The special effects, while heavy throughout the film, are unique and you are interested to see more.  One of my favorites...No, my favorite special effect is when it comes to Julie in the coffee shop.  There is this random black bar over her mouth when she cusses, which Scott even asks, "How do you do that with your mouth?" (i hope i got that line right, or i'm going to get harassed!)

I just love this movie.  It's almost hard to talk about because everything is awesome and I feel like a little fan girl..."I like this...and this...and this...oh, and this is rad..."