Sunday, December 21, 2014
Thursday, December 18, 2014
I Rage Against Star Trek Into Darkness
If you know me, I am an huge Star Trek fan, have been for as long as i can remember. I was always a fan of the Original Series (you know, Kirk and Spock) and as I got older grew into TNG and Voyager. Hell, I even like alot of stuff about Enterprise, the show everyone hates. Just take a listen to the theme song, it is not good and completely out of place within the Trek universe.
Wasn't that bad? Don't worry, the show is actually pretty good, they were just trying to reinvent Trek for the 21st century, hey speaking of reinventing Trek, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS WAS A PIECE OF CRAP!
A lot of things Into Darkness tried to do ended up not working. Khan in the movie... just wasn't Khan. He played a fine villain (I live Benedict Cumberbatch in so many ways) and they could have made it work just fine by keeping him John Harrison the whole movie. Instead they make a ham-fisted effort to connect to one of the most popular of the original movies.
Which is about what the entire film feels like: a shallow effort to capitalize on stuff that worked before, without ever realizing what made it good. Everything from Carol Marcus to Section 31. Scenes that should have been powerful felt like a joke, supposedly big reveals were telegraphed well in advance, things from earlier Trek were called in without cause.
Which seems to be another trend in the movie, ethical questions are completely ignored. Where we have the chance to question whether Kirk is persuing vengeance or justice, we don't. No one questions his decision to violate treaty and his orders, no one suggests that Kirk is too close to the problem. Scotty is the only one to object, and only to having an unkown weapon near his engines. Kirk gets a get-out-of-quandry-free card, he doesn't kill Khan because Khan saves his ass and surrenders.
It's a lazy story that avoids complexity as much as it avoids moral uncertainty. How does Khan get to the one place Kirk can't follow? Why does he go there? Why did he do anything? How did Marcus get funding for such a ridiculous expenditure? The Enterprise is their flagship, their most impressive ship. So why do they suddenly have the capacity to build something twice its size? How does Khan know so damned much about ship design 200 year after his area of expertise? How can Khan's blood magically save Kirk from death? Why doesn't Bones, who has always played Kirk's conscience, have any signigicant part in this movie? Why? Because lazy writing, that's why.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
5 Cameos from Matt Damon
Warning! This post contains potential spoilers, read at your own risk.
Matt Damon is great at playing a wide range of characters. From comedy to hard drama, Damon has got the chops.
Lets just take a moment to admire this gorgeous man
Mmm yeah, isn't that nice?
But he is not always the central character, he is lesser known for his obscure and not so obscure cameos.So without further ado, here is my list of the top Matt Damon cameos.
5. Finding Forrester
This is a little known feel good film from Sean Connery and a young Rob Brown, an actor forever to be typecast as an athlete (I guess there are worse things) and directed by Gus Van Sant.
At the end of the film, Damon makes an appearance as a lawyer representing Connery's character's estate. An odd little appearance, but coming off the heals of Good Will Hunting I would want to take it easy for a bit.
4. Che: Part 2
Suddenly, a wild Matt Damon appeared.
That was my initial reaction to his brief and mildly confusing cameo as a western priest in the Bolivian jungle in Che: Part 2.
3. Youth Without Youth
Although I admit to have never seen this film, I remember Entertainment Weekly soiling themselves over Damon's cameo in this 2007 Francis Ford Coppola bomb.
2. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
In this stupidly awesome Kevin Smith outing, Damon and Affleck play douche-bag versions of themselves on the set of the fictional Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season complete with Gus Van Sant as an unmotivated/tapped out version of himself.
Matt Damon is great at playing a wide range of characters. From comedy to hard drama, Damon has got the chops.
Lets just take a moment to admire this gorgeous man
But he is not always the central character, he is lesser known for his obscure and not so obscure cameos.So without further ado, here is my list of the top Matt Damon cameos.
5. Finding Forrester
This is a little known feel good film from Sean Connery and a young Rob Brown, an actor forever to be typecast as an athlete (I guess there are worse things) and directed by Gus Van Sant.
At the end of the film, Damon makes an appearance as a lawyer representing Connery's character's estate. An odd little appearance, but coming off the heals of Good Will Hunting I would want to take it easy for a bit.
4. Che: Part 2
Suddenly, a wild Matt Damon appeared.
That was my initial reaction to his brief and mildly confusing cameo as a western priest in the Bolivian jungle in Che: Part 2.
3. Youth Without Youth
Although I admit to have never seen this film, I remember Entertainment Weekly soiling themselves over Damon's cameo in this 2007 Francis Ford Coppola bomb.
2. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
In this stupidly awesome Kevin Smith outing, Damon and Affleck play douche-bag versions of themselves on the set of the fictional Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season complete with Gus Van Sant as an unmotivated/tapped out version of himself.
Warning! Spoilers Here!
Read at your own risk!
1. Interstellar
This one came as a pleasant surprise to me. Even though I had read on the official Wikipedia page that Damon had a cameo in the film, I completely forgot while watching the film and became absorbed into it.
Without giving too much away, Damon plays an astronaut sent on a mission through the wormhole Mcconaughey and his gang go through many years earlier and presumed dead, without giving anything big away, they find him and things are not quite what they seem.
So there you have it, if you have any other cameos I missed, write me a comment.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Trailer Geek-Out 2014
If anyone reading this grew up in the 90's, you should be generally excited for these upcoming films. Hell, even 60's, 70's and 80's kids will be excited about these, my Dad sure is. I am the first to admit that sequels are an overused industry tactic to sell tickets, but damn these trailers really make these films look tempting. After both of these film series became lowest common denominator in the early 2000's I had hope they would retire both of these series and prevent further damage to the two things I loved most in my childhood. For reference, this was my face after watching the trailer
After the announcement of Colin Trevorrow becoming attached as director to the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park series and J.J. Abrams for Star Wars 7, I had some glimmer of hope that the next installments would be a lot better than the 2000's slump.
The Jurassic World trailer blew me away while scrolling Reddit on the toilet (admit it, you do it too) and the Episode 7 trailer after waking up with a mild post-thanksgiving hangover and jumping up and down on my bed out of pure nerd excitement (admit it, you did that too),
This has been a great year for sci-fi adventure films (Guardians of the Galaxy yo!) and I am stoked for both of these films, all we have to do is wait.
Oh, and while I was writing this, I totally forgot about this seldom talked about sequel (kind of) to another great film series that is more from my teenage years.
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Mockingjay Part 1 Review
Last years addition to the Hunger Games film series, Catching Fire, was perhaps one of the strongest films of the year. Even though I surprisingly enjoyed the first film, I expected the sequel to be a weaker entry and simply be the same film as the previous one much like The Hangover 2. Again, I was pleasantly surprised with the film and began building anticipation for the final entry. After the death of Philip Seymour Hoffman and the announcement of the film being broken into into two parts, I wondered how the film would fare upon release.
the film follows the events of Catching Fire, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Finnick (Sam Chaflin) and Beetee (Jeffery Wright) have been spirited away from the destruction of the Quarter Quell and brought to the underground military fortress of District 13 to aid in the war effort against the Capitol. Katniss is asked by Plutarch (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and resistance leader Coin (Julianne Moore) to become the symbol of the rebellion, and is conflicted between becoming a political symbol, and finding a way to rescue the captured Peeta (Josh Hutcherson).
I will start by saying this was the darkest entry into the Hunger Games series. The themes of war and the costs affiliated is a prevalent focus of the film, and I felt this was the most important aspects. Several parts of the film bared similarities to the struggle in Syria and the topic of modern revolution that were very timely. I feel it is important to show the people of my generation the real affects of war and not just the portraying it as a glorious or fun event that modern media tends to do with films and video games.
The performances were once again very good and the presence of Hoffman is a sad reminder of his death. A standout performance for me would be Elizabeth Banks as the flamboyantly theatrical Effie Trinket. In the previous films we saw her as a stooge for the government who's job was to keep up the image of glitz and glamour of the Capitol in the middle of the poverty and oppression stricken other Districts. In this film she is reduced to refugee status in the underground fortress of District 13 and for once is left without her eccentric costumes and forced to appear in public as her normal self. According to my sister, who is a reader of the book series, Effie was absent from the book and her appearance in the film was solely for the adaptation. This was an interesting choice as she is a character I've wanted to learn more about since the first film.
The only downside to this film would be the creaky and slow paced plot compared to the other films, Obviously the film is split into two parts and I imagine the second part will contain much more action and a diverse plot in the finale. I think the choice to split the film into two parts was a financial decision due to the success the Harry Potter and Twilight series had with the same tactic. After viewing the film, I can now imagine this decision as being for length reasons. My sister mentioned that Mockingjay is the longest and densest of the novels and she thought it a good choice to divide the film into two parts so as not to have a rushed story or a four hour film. Despite the dragging of the plot, I am still thrilled to see the conclusion of this series.
Mockingjay: Part 1 was released in theaters on November 21st
On a side note, here is my sister at the theater
the film follows the events of Catching Fire, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence), Finnick (Sam Chaflin) and Beetee (Jeffery Wright) have been spirited away from the destruction of the Quarter Quell and brought to the underground military fortress of District 13 to aid in the war effort against the Capitol. Katniss is asked by Plutarch (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and resistance leader Coin (Julianne Moore) to become the symbol of the rebellion, and is conflicted between becoming a political symbol, and finding a way to rescue the captured Peeta (Josh Hutcherson).
I will start by saying this was the darkest entry into the Hunger Games series. The themes of war and the costs affiliated is a prevalent focus of the film, and I felt this was the most important aspects. Several parts of the film bared similarities to the struggle in Syria and the topic of modern revolution that were very timely. I feel it is important to show the people of my generation the real affects of war and not just the portraying it as a glorious or fun event that modern media tends to do with films and video games.
The performances were once again very good and the presence of Hoffman is a sad reminder of his death. A standout performance for me would be Elizabeth Banks as the flamboyantly theatrical Effie Trinket. In the previous films we saw her as a stooge for the government who's job was to keep up the image of glitz and glamour of the Capitol in the middle of the poverty and oppression stricken other Districts. In this film she is reduced to refugee status in the underground fortress of District 13 and for once is left without her eccentric costumes and forced to appear in public as her normal self. According to my sister, who is a reader of the book series, Effie was absent from the book and her appearance in the film was solely for the adaptation. This was an interesting choice as she is a character I've wanted to learn more about since the first film.
The only downside to this film would be the creaky and slow paced plot compared to the other films, Obviously the film is split into two parts and I imagine the second part will contain much more action and a diverse plot in the finale. I think the choice to split the film into two parts was a financial decision due to the success the Harry Potter and Twilight series had with the same tactic. After viewing the film, I can now imagine this decision as being for length reasons. My sister mentioned that Mockingjay is the longest and densest of the novels and she thought it a good choice to divide the film into two parts so as not to have a rushed story or a four hour film. Despite the dragging of the plot, I am still thrilled to see the conclusion of this series.
Mockingjay: Part 1 was released in theaters on November 21st
On a side note, here is my sister at the theater
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Nightcrawler Review
The media can be relentless. Journalists out looking for stories at night will stick their cameras into any accident scene or cross a police line to get a shot to sell to a news channel for a paycheck. this is what the film Nightcrawler is about, a relentless journalist who will do anything to get a juicy news story. Written and directed by first timer Dan Gilroy, and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, this film was one of the most surprisingly good cinematic experiences I have had all year and am disappointed it was only in theaters for a short time.
One of the first things that came to mind while watching this was the 2007 film There Will be Blood. Like Daniel Day Lewis' cunning yet deep down pychopathic Daniel Plainview, Gyllenhaal portrays a sociopathic journalist willing to kill to get ahead in his business. Interestingly enough, Nightcrawler was shot by Robert Elswit, the same cinematographer of There Will be Blood.
Comparisons aside, this was a film that delivered on so many levels yet remained reserved when it came to violence and the characterizations of madness. This was surprising as the trailers played the film as a Drive-esque action flick. Yet there was a level of realism and shock value to the action scenes that deserves praise as well as the fact these sequences were not overused.
This is a film I would highly recommend to anyone, especially filmmakers due to the questions raised in the film about the function of documentary film and the validity of the sensationalist media.
Nightcrawler open in theaters October 31st.
On a side note, here are some photos I took at the theater
One of the first things that came to mind while watching this was the 2007 film There Will be Blood. Like Daniel Day Lewis' cunning yet deep down pychopathic Daniel Plainview, Gyllenhaal portrays a sociopathic journalist willing to kill to get ahead in his business. Interestingly enough, Nightcrawler was shot by Robert Elswit, the same cinematographer of There Will be Blood.
Comparisons aside, this was a film that delivered on so many levels yet remained reserved when it came to violence and the characterizations of madness. This was surprising as the trailers played the film as a Drive-esque action flick. Yet there was a level of realism and shock value to the action scenes that deserves praise as well as the fact these sequences were not overused.
This is a film I would highly recommend to anyone, especially filmmakers due to the questions raised in the film about the function of documentary film and the validity of the sensationalist media.
Nightcrawler open in theaters October 31st.
On a side note, here are some photos I took at the theater
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Gone Girl Review
Every time a beautiful white woman goes missing, Nancy Grace or one of those gossip show "journalists" is on the story and ready to accuse the husband of murder. This is not always the case, but it is a common media occurrence. The scenario is usually a beautiful woman going missing or is murdered, and the husband is the first suspect and the object of media speculation and condemnation. The film acts as an excellent satire on the media and post-recession America in general. Due to the twisty nature of the film's plot, this review will remain spoiler-free.
Earlier this fall, the film Gone Girl was released in theaters. The film is based on the award winning 2012 novel by Gillian Flynn (the film was also adapted by her), The film stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris. The film is directed by David Fincher, with music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
The film tells the story of Nick Dunne (Affleck), a former New York column writer born and raised in rural Missouri (the home state of author Flynn) and his beautiful wife Amy (Pike), another writer from a very wealthy family who's mother wrote a popular children's book series about her titled "Amazing Amy". After being forced to move back to Nick's hometown in the wake of the 2008 recession, Nick and his sister (Coon) manage a bar in the economically-dying town while Amy leads a strange reclusive life at home. On the day of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears from the house and an apparent crime scene is present. Slowly, Nick becomes a suspect as more details of their unhappy marriage come to light, and Nick must seek the help celebrity lawyer Tanner Bolt (Perry) to defend him against the media crusade led by Nancy Grace-esque gossip show hostess Ellen Abbot (Missi Pyle). At this point I will discontinue discussing plot details, as anymore will spoil the rest of the film's complex plot.
The performances of the cast were overall quite good, Affleck was able to effectively portray a simple Midwest man struggling with his public and at-home image in the face of tragedy. While Pike... well, I'll just let you see the film to judge for yourself, as giving too much information about her performance will spoil the plot. Surprisingly strong is Tyler Perry as the flashy yet brilliant attorney who genuinely wants to protect Nick from the possibility of the death penalty. With the strong leading cast, expect to see these names mentioned come awards season.
As a longtime fan of David Fincher, I was not surprised by his decision to direct this film. It has all the tenements he touches on, disturbing crimes, social satire, and a series of twists that are meant to shock the audience. After his last foray into the genre, 2011's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a film that was visually gorgeous, and headed by a strong cast, but lacking in story and the way the book material was adapted. This time he has almost corrected these missteps in Gone Girl, working directly with the author and creating from an American based story that feels more at home instead of foreign Sweden were somehow everyone speaks perfect English with poor imitations of Swedish accents.
Here is a link to Empire writer Ian Freer's review
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=138307
Two more strong points of the film would be the performances of relative unknowns Carrie Coon and Kim Dickens. Coon as the snarky/protective twin sister of Nick, and Dickens as the intuitive and witty homicide detective investigating Amy's disappearance. Both these performances stood out, as i have never seen these actors in films before, and would actually like to see both nominated for awards. Second would be the haunting and yet driving score by Reznor and Ross, two composers becoming welcomed staples of the Fincher-verse. Both soundtracks for The Social Network, and Dragon Tattoo are home runs to me, and seeing them knock another score out of the park makes them 3 for 3.
Another interesting note on the production aspect of the film would be the editing. The film was edited using the Adobe Cloud and its apps like Final Cut, and After Effects, two pieces of software I have used as a film student. According to SlashFilm.com, this is the first time this software has been utilized to fully to edit and visualize a film, were before it was only used for small touch up.
Although the ending is somewhat drawn out and a little flat, I would highly recommend this film, and cannot wait to see how it fares come awards season.
Gone Girl was released in theaters on October 3rd.
 |
| Photo courtesy of screenrant.com |
Earlier this fall, the film Gone Girl was released in theaters. The film is based on the award winning 2012 novel by Gillian Flynn (the film was also adapted by her), The film stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris. The film is directed by David Fincher, with music by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
The film tells the story of Nick Dunne (Affleck), a former New York column writer born and raised in rural Missouri (the home state of author Flynn) and his beautiful wife Amy (Pike), another writer from a very wealthy family who's mother wrote a popular children's book series about her titled "Amazing Amy". After being forced to move back to Nick's hometown in the wake of the 2008 recession, Nick and his sister (Coon) manage a bar in the economically-dying town while Amy leads a strange reclusive life at home. On the day of their fifth anniversary, Amy disappears from the house and an apparent crime scene is present. Slowly, Nick becomes a suspect as more details of their unhappy marriage come to light, and Nick must seek the help celebrity lawyer Tanner Bolt (Perry) to defend him against the media crusade led by Nancy Grace-esque gossip show hostess Ellen Abbot (Missi Pyle). At this point I will discontinue discussing plot details, as anymore will spoil the rest of the film's complex plot.
 |
| Courtesy of Rolling Stone |
As a longtime fan of David Fincher, I was not surprised by his decision to direct this film. It has all the tenements he touches on, disturbing crimes, social satire, and a series of twists that are meant to shock the audience. After his last foray into the genre, 2011's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a film that was visually gorgeous, and headed by a strong cast, but lacking in story and the way the book material was adapted. This time he has almost corrected these missteps in Gone Girl, working directly with the author and creating from an American based story that feels more at home instead of foreign Sweden were somehow everyone speaks perfect English with poor imitations of Swedish accents.
Here is a link to Empire writer Ian Freer's review
http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?FID=138307
Two more strong points of the film would be the performances of relative unknowns Carrie Coon and Kim Dickens. Coon as the snarky/protective twin sister of Nick, and Dickens as the intuitive and witty homicide detective investigating Amy's disappearance. Both these performances stood out, as i have never seen these actors in films before, and would actually like to see both nominated for awards. Second would be the haunting and yet driving score by Reznor and Ross, two composers becoming welcomed staples of the Fincher-verse. Both soundtracks for The Social Network, and Dragon Tattoo are home runs to me, and seeing them knock another score out of the park makes them 3 for 3.
Another interesting note on the production aspect of the film would be the editing. The film was edited using the Adobe Cloud and its apps like Final Cut, and After Effects, two pieces of software I have used as a film student. According to SlashFilm.com, this is the first time this software has been utilized to fully to edit and visualize a film, were before it was only used for small touch up.
Although the ending is somewhat drawn out and a little flat, I would highly recommend this film, and cannot wait to see how it fares come awards season.
Gone Girl was released in theaters on October 3rd.
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