Writers Block becomes Johnny Love

This post was supposed to be a huge recap of my birthday movie marathon. Unfortunately, every time I sat down to write it writers block would get the best of me.

For now, just a quick update from yesterdays cinema* outing:

Public Enemies



Took Dr. Mrs. Just Another Movie Geek to see her number one Boyfriend Johnny Depp (back off ladies, he belongs to her.) Directed by Micheal Mann we were given a very fascinating look into the life of John Dillinger. The film hits upon all of the "high" points of his famous bank robbing career (even if it takes some liberties with a few historical details.) However, for Mann I felt this was a rather subdued effort from him.** Christian Bale pops up as the FBI agent leading the hunt for Dillinger but manages to give a rather non-memorable performance. Don't take that badly though, I feel he and the director did that on purpose for the single fact alone that this is Johnny's movie, and he shines throughout. Even for Mann I felt there was an abundance of extreme close ups on Mr. Depp and allowed us to just fall into his man beauty***. And boy have those lips have never been more succulent. First thing I mentioned to Dr. Mrs. Just Another Movie Geek walking out of the film was "yep...I would go totally gay for him." The only draw back I felt in the film was within the script itself. In a desire to cover as much detail in Dillinger's life, I felt his standing as a almost Robin Hood like character were glossed over. SPOILER (kinda): At one point in the film Dillinger is arrested and being driven to the prison. The streets are lined with his fans cheering him on but at no point in the film are we ever given any reason as to why this is. For anyone unfamiliar with the actual history of this case, the script falls short.


Dr. Mrs Just Another Movie Geek adds:

I agree, the script could have gone into more detail as to why the public loved him. There could have been more to the love scene or more of them.

There was this beautiful line: (paraphrased)

(seeing girl in the bathtub)

Johnny: You look like you could use some company?
Girl: Why dont you and Prince Albert get in here then?

I also agree this film was all about Johnny, and I think that is a good thing. If one is looking for an action movie I would not say that this is it. Yes there were quite a few shoot outs, but that was not the intention of the movie. I think if you are an adult and like more subtlety and finesse to your movie going experience, this is a great choice.



*I will admit that I have fallen out of love with the "cinema" experience for all the usual cases (price, commercials, people, etc..) and most discussions here at JAMG are from my home theater experience. However, the local AMC at the mall has early (before 10am) showings for cheaper so I have decided that is the only way I will actually go to a theater for the most part. (The Big Picture (for booze) and Cinerama (for "big" films) witstanding)

**After Miami Vice I think he felt he needed to dial things back a bit and let this one carry itself. It was a fine film, but it just didn't have that normal "oomph" that I usually get from Mr. Mann.

***Oh man the closeups. Mann is still in love with his HD cameras and it truly shows. If you ever wanted to be able to count the pores on Johnny's nose, or see Christian Bale's razor burn ...this is the film for you.

What a weekend!

Just Another Movie Geek Headquarters was proud this weekend to partner with Akbar Cinemas (aka my redesigned living room) to host the first annual Movie Marathon.

12 hours.
5 movies.
10 people (total spread out over the day)

Perfection was met.

Pictures of the "theater" and a more detailed review/crowd reaction of each film will follow here later this week. For now, just wanted to throw up quick post as to what we watched. The overall unifying theme to my marathon was "Fun" As it turns out (as we will review later) there were alot of unplanned but amazing sychronicity between the films.

Films: (presented in their viewing order)

Castle of Cagliostro


(one of my all time favorite Animes)


Big Trouble in Little China


(easily one of the greatest action films ever made)

The Good, The Bad and The Weird


(my new obsession film)

Iron Man


(comic book personified perfection)

Mystery Film:

????

I think I am going to reserve revealing this until the full review comes up. It was well received at the marathon so that made me very happy.


Then on Sunday, Dr. Mrs. Just Another Movie Geek and I gave the theater a second run and watched:

Galaxy Quest


Still hilarious and STILL a better Star Trek film than that recent waste of celluloid.

Outlander


Way better than its concept should have let it be. Alien Monster, Spaceman and Vikings. Really, what more could you have asked for?

The Muppet Movie


We decided to bring the Lego out and needed some back ground noise to carry us along. The film seemed like a perfect way to go.

A movie, a show and a theater upgrade

Movie Review:

The Frisco Kid

Pulled up an older film this weekend to re-visit. Re-visit isn't the right way to think about this. I recall bits and pieces of this from my youth but I think it was a bit beyond my young age so I don't think I actually saw it. A period comedy set in 1850 we see the tale of Gene Wilder as "not the worlds greatest Rabbi" be sent from Poland to San Francisco to tend to a new Jewish community.

I'm a Rabbi!

Hijinks ensue along the way as he treks across the old west. Hooking up the Bank Robber Harrison Ford

I'm a Bank Robber

( Dr. Mrs. Just Another Movie Geek says "damn that boy is hot.... Young Harrison is going back on my List")

Early on into the film characters start to become almost one dimensional stereotypes and you feel that this may not be a fun ride. But then you realize that every character is a stereotype and it is played to the fullest the romp becomes a good time.

"Here Chicky, Chicky. I don't want to eat you...I just want to make you Kosher!"

The film even manages to touch a few points of cultural bounds being broken and true friendship but ends up not playing it cheesy.

C'mon Sioux nation... do the hustle!

A decent comedy that holds up 30 years later. Harrison and Gene play great off each other. It's a shame that Harrison didn't do much more comedy*. He was actually quite funny.

An interesting marketing thing. Check out the original poster back from the 70's when Gene was a huge comedy draw (and Harrison hadn't quite his full super star status yet) and then check out the DVD cover from a few years go:

Show Review:

Being Human

Got suggested a new BBC show so we checked it out. Well worth the checkout. Now this may sound as a bad joke setup, but this is the premise of the show:

A vampire (who's on the wagon from sucking blood,)


A Werewolf (who has issues dealing with his moon light transformation or as the show calls it "his time of the month" )


and a Ghost all share an apartment.


The three of them try to lead a normal existence with their lives and neighbors. Unfortunately they can't stop being who they are and all the baggage that comes with that. Smartly written (I would classify it as a Dark Drama/Comedy) the show weaves a great mythology with a fun story. Even at only six episodes for the first season (and another on the way) I recommend giving this a go.

New Project:

Here at Just Another Movie Geek headquarters, my screening room (aka the living room) just got an upgrade. I spend the weekend making a 5x8 foot platform for the back half of the room has stadium seating. I will post some pictures of it later when it gets a full test drive this weekend.






*His accent in K-19 The Widowmaker doesn't count ;)

History lesson for children everywhere...

...back in the 80s it was a law that any performer MUST produce at least 1 rap video in the career.

Observe: Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd*





*Don't get me wrong, I acually love this movie and think it is a fine piece of 80s cinema and a great TV to film conversion. But oh man... this video is a stinker.

81-98 of the 98 movies everyone should see

You have waited for ever for this. It is finally here.


Yes, we finally get to finish last films to my list of the 98 movies everyone should see.


81. 82. 83.

These three are to me the ultimate Comic Book movies.

Spiderman 2


After dealing with the usually good but unfortunate origin film, the second chapter in the recent Spiderman series was perfect. Peter comes into his own and deals heavily on he wants to be and who he truly is.

The Rocketeer


I like to imagine this film takes place in the same world as Raiders of the Lost Ark. Young hot shot pilot, comes across a rocket pack, fights nazis. What more could you ask for?

Batman Begins


While I do have the luggage that comes with being a DC Fanboy, Batman Begins works really well for making a almost plausible and believable Batman in a real world situation. A few plot holes still bug me from time to time, but it is so far the best ever that DC has managed to put on the silver screen.



84. 85.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock


The dichotomy of Star Trek films. The needs of the many, versus the needs to the few..or the one. Wrath of Kahn is the greatest Star Trek film and does entirely work on its own but I do enjoy the two of them together. Plus I have great childhood memories of both. WoK I saw in an afternoon matinee with Disney's Treasure Island with my brother, SFS my father pulled me out of school early one afternoon and took me to see it.


86.
Tampopo


WARNING: Only see this film if you have access to delicious noodles after viewing. You will want to eat them.

This is a Japanese movie all about food and primarily Noodles. It is an awesome and surreal romp into a cultures love of food and the traditions therein.

87.
The Bride With White Hair


Chinese supernatural mixed with extreme wire work Kung fu. A fun film that is totally representative of its greater genre.

88.
The Fifth Element


A visual treat and (to paraphrase a new friend met today) "a delightful scifi romp" Totally fun and exactly what you need when you want Fun and Scifi.

89.
The Professional


The hitman and the orphan he protects. Luc Besson's greatest film.

90. 91.
Two 80's scifi films lead us into the final 8 on our list. While Pixar and practically every other films use of CGI today we must never forget two forefathers of merging computers and cinema.

The Last Starfighter


A teen who is a wiz at a video game gets recruited to defend the frontier from Zur and the Kodan Armada.

Tron


A man gets sucked into a virtural world of a computer and must stop the evil CPU.

Both are excellent adventures.

92.
The Wind and the Lion


Sean Connery as a Muslim pirate in 1904 in Morroco. Really, what more than that do you need to see it?

93.
Zardoz


Sean Connery in a loin cloth for most of the movie. Really, what more than that do you need to see it?

94.
Excalibur


My favorite take on the Arthurian legend. John Boorman paints a beautiful mystical world to experience a great version of Le Morte d'Arthur

95.
The Lord of the Rings




These three films get lumped as one for they truly are one story. A great fantasy story and an excellent adaptation of three awesome books.

96.
12 Monkeys


Terry Gilliam hits us with one of the best time travel movies put to celluloid. Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis give two amazing performances.

97.
What's Up, Doc?


A screwball comedy from the 70s that got a lot of play in my house growing up. Barbara Striesand is actually quite funny and the zany film works. A final car chase that ranks up close to the chase from The Blues Brothers.

98.
Hudson Hawk


We end our list with a film that gets not enough love. Bruce Willis at the height of his early career convinced some studio to give him a bunch of money and just let alot of people have a great time making a fun movie. So many great one liners and just overall fun.

Punisher War Zone aka Land of a thousand blood squibs

I will freely admit that I was always a DC Comics boy. While I knew of characters existence in the Marvel world I never really followed their books. So with that, I get to go into most Marvel films without the fanboy luggage I have as with a DC film. And with that, I did fully enjoy the recent film "Punisher War Zone."

Being a big fan of Ray Stevenson from Rome, my limited (to one Batman/Punisher cross over comic) knowledge of the character led me to feel that he was born to play the role. He pulls it off well (far better than Dolph Lungren or Thomas Jane) and the story (while not deep) carries the film well.

What truly works in this film is the level of violence. It is over the top. So over the top it loops back on itself just to go over the top again. I would say it even takes it to almost camp levels but not so far that it is unbelievable. And for a character that is essentially Batman without the qualms about taking a human life you should see it.

I would recommend this film for big action buffs or those that like excessive violence and dismemberment.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Once in a while a film comes along and just hits me in a perfect way. Now, I know I tend to pretty much only gush about things or think they are the worst.* I am trying to expand my levels of review but I have to say, this film was one of the funnest experiences I have ever had.

This weekend I had the pleasure of viewing a Korean film called "The Good, The Bad, The Weird."

If the title evokes a Sergio Leone feel it, then you are in the right place. Set in 1940 Manchuria, we follow the tale of a bandit, a Bounty Hunter, and a Gangster all after a treasure map and each other. They are then followed by various Manchurian Warlords, Local gangsters and even the Japanese Army. Throwing in every possible homage to Leone (and even Morricone in the music) we are given a 2 hour and 15 minute Korean love letter to the Italian Maestro.

Check out the opening credits for the film. The Korean characters you see on the screen are the main actor credits as they fly by.





*I have found that my rating scale is based on I only like to watch things that I have a feeling I will enjoy it (be it plot, actor/director/writer I admire, etc..) and when i do see something I think is utter trash, I really really don't like it. I am trying to expand this.

Mini Movie Reviews (aka what I have seen recently)

King of California
3.5 out of 5

This film was a weird one. At the end of it I totally enjoyed it (if for nothing else than Micheal Douglas' stellar performance) but this film was a bit strange. It has to be the most bi-polar film I have ever seen. At one point it wants to be a kooky comedy about a girl and her slightly deranged father. Then 5 minutes later its a touching drama on the strained relationships children can have with their parents followed again later by a satirical look at consumerisms rapid destruction of California. Either the director wasn't sure totally where they wanted to go with it, or it was a direct parallel to the mental state of the main character. Either way, the film is worth a watch but don't expect much coherence.




Beowulf
4 out of 5

Finally got a chance to see this. A loose retelling of the Ole English poem this entirely Motion Captured CGI film was entertaining. Other than the abysmal Angelina Jolie (seriously, she can't act her way out of a wet paper bag) the voices/faces* captured for this animated film worked wonders. Creating the film in a CGI world worked really well IMO instead of making a set and shooting it for real. The only thing that bothered me about the film was since this was originally made to be a 3D film, many of the "in your face" moments were a bit jarring in a 2D presentation. Quite a bit more violent than I thought it would be but an enjoyable experience.

*most of the main cast were digital recreations of the voice actor supplying the part. Very well done and quite fluid.




Passchendale
4 out of 5

The uber talented and quite gorgeous man Paul Gross has continued to entertain me. His Grandfather who fought in WWI shared only with him a horrific detail he encountered while in the service. Paul dedicated this film to his and the other thousands of Canadian soldiers who gave their life. As for the actual Battle of Passchendale, the film comes up a little short but in reality, that was not it's goal. Showing us only a little of actual fighting in the beginning and then more at the end, the flim primarily focuses on life back home in Canada and the actions of soldiers who made it back. A decent love story interweaves into the whole story and connects the whole thing together. Saving Private Ryan level of graphic war time action is shown in both fighting sections of the film. Highly recommend if you want to see a fictional tale in a quite realistic setting and history.

My time with the new Star Trek

So I know I said I wasn't going to see it. Nothing in it seemed to interest me and honestly I felt that the whole franchise was dead and we should all just move on.

But I caved.

I went and saw the new Star Trek.

In all fairness, I primarily did it because my wife wanted to see it. I do get a certain amount of joy from making her happy. (and her cousin was in it... we always like to see him in films)

I tried my hardest to go in with an open mind. Many people seemed to be enjoying the film so I figured they couldn't all be wrong.

In the end it was ok. Not great, but not terrible. I am honestly having a problem with so many people finding it to be "the greatest Trek film ever" and wanting to see it multiple times. But then I may just be bitter. I don't feel that way, but thats the only logical conclusion I come by.

As a Trek Film I would give it a 6. As a film on its own, I would give it a 4.

The rest of this review will be fairly spoiler filled. Proceed at your own risk.

There were lots of bits in the film I enjoyed:

The sounds were beautiful.

Most of the main characters had their signature line spoken.

Casting was fairly spot on. Especially Karl Urban as McCoy. He saved the film for me multiple times.

Ultimately, I had no problem with all the changes made to the Trek time line. Time travel can be a fickle bitch so things that didn't jibe with what came before was ok. My problems with the film came about in execution of said changes. At it's core, this film suffered from a great number of plot holes that just made the story overall not work for me.

In list form, here are all the plot holes, logic jumps and things that just bugged me in the film:

• Kirk being born in space. Sure this was an emotional scene that I am sure brought a tear to some eyes, but I have a hard time believing this one. A civilian woman in her 9th month of pregnancy would not be on a star ship on deep patrol. Maybe if she was the Captains wife he could pull some clout, but George Kirk was just the helmsman.



• I do not even want to talk about how useless, cheesy and only existed so Nokia could get a product placement the Corvette scene with 10 year old Kirk was.



• The Enterprise being built on earth. I have mentioned before how the science of this is completely unsound so we wont get into that again. But are we to believe that the flagship of the fleet (and supposedly the most technically advanced vessel at the time) is just being built out in a field in Iowa at an unsecured facility that Kirk can just ride his motorcycle up to?



• Kirk's Kobyashi Maru test. As a Trek fan, I was thrilled to see how the captain "changed the rules of the test so it was possible to win." While it was handled well (and I enjoyed the initial setup of pitting Spock and Kirk against each other) I felt Kirk's smugness was over the top and out of place. Even for this modified Kirk.



• So the disaster at Vulcan occurs and all the new cadets are assigned to new ships. Are we to believe that none of those ships had major crews yet?



• Chekov. Like Two-Face in The Dark Knight, he should have been held off until the next film. A 17 year old ensign allowed to be navigator of the flag ship of the fleet? No way. No how. And did we really need to bring back the cheesy "I can't pronounce "double-uu's" joke? It wasn't funny in 87, it continued to be a ridiculous blight on the character and now you are bringing it back.



• Because of Sulu's inability to turn off the parking break, the Enterprise is late to join the fleet at Vulcan and they arrive in the middle of a debris field and have to quickly navigate around it. Are we again to believe that the ship does not have forward tracking sensors (and communication with the other ships) to see what is ahead of them?



• Pike may have had a certain amount of confidence in Kirk but to give him second in command of the ship so quickly? Did the enterprise have no other officers on board?



• Here is the one call back to the series that didn't work for me in the film. In the original series, Vulcan has no moons. So how exactly is there a M-Class planet in orbit of Vulcan that Old Spock is marooned on so he can watch the destruction of his planet?



• Speaking of that planet, after Kirk is left there (rather convenient he is so close to Spock) he is chased by those monsters. At this moment I felt like I was watching a Star Wars prequel. Hell, I wouldn't of been suprised if Spock in the cave pulled out a Light Saber to chase off the beast. It is a well known fact that JJ Abrahms is a total Star Wars geek. I think he realized George Lucas will never let him play in his playground so he had to then work that off here. Lets look at a few other Star Wars parallels shall we? Spock chasing off the beast was very close to ObiWan saving Luke from the Sand people. At the end when Young Spock is trying to destroy the drill (a rather small target that is no bigger than 2 meters I would say) the Millenium Falcon errr. the Enterprise comes out of no where to provide cover for Luke/Spock so he can destroy the Drill/DeathStar.



• The threat to the "galaxy" from the future that triggered the whole thing was the Romulan star going super nova. Super Nova DO NOT HAPPEN THAT QUICKLY. Romulus would have had plenty of time to deal with this.



• So after the bad guy appears in the past and destroys the Kelvin, he doesn't appear again for 25 years. WHERE THE HELL WAS HE? Supposedly a cut scene deals with this but without it the movie has a hiccup.



• When Kirk, Sulu and Red Shirt are free falling to the drilling platform the Red Shirt fails to open his chute in time because he is some joy seeking thrill rider. Now, it can't be Star Trek without a Red Shirt eating it, but a Star Fleet officer would not act this way on such a vital mission.



• So the bridge, the halls and the transporter of the Enterprise looked all shiny new and fascinating. So why the hell did engineering look like a 20th century brewery?



• Speaking of the bridge. Now I know this was a "it will look cool" decision to have lens flare pop into frame all the time on the bridge...but can someone explain to me the logic of having so many light sources blinding you while you try to look at a monitor? Especially with all the transparent touch screens on the bridge. That thing was a visual nightmare.
  
  
• Once Scotty is brought on board the ship I have no doubt his technical skills will come in handy, but to assume that he will automatically be given the Chief Engineer position? What about the ships previous CE? You think someone who has probably been assigned to the ship since it's keel was laid is just gonna step aside? Maybe he was too drunk from testing all the beer in the antimatter mix chamber.



• For a ship so populated with Officers and crew, why did only a handful of people do all the work?



• Even if the bad guy was able to extract security codes from Pike using the slug (we did that in Star Trek II people, do we need to that again?) are we to believe that Earth has NO DEFENSES?



• Early in the film when the fleet flies to Vulcan to assist. This takes about 5 minutes. Yet for the rest of the film it takes over an hour to get back to our Solar system to stop the bad guy?



• Spock and Uruha hooking up. Even if we disregard that Vulcan's do only mate once every 7 years. Spock would in no way EVER have a relationship with someone junior in command to him.



• Even looking at his grand performance of saving the day, there is no possible way that Kirk would be given command of the flag ship of the fleet at that young of an age with no experience. Logically Pike should have remained in command and promoted Kirk to Commander and then early in the next film kill Pike and let Kirk take over.

As most of the examples of JJ Abrahms work I have seen (Lost doesn't count) it just feels like unfinished work. Alot of great ideas thrown out there but needed more polish. In the end this was the unfortunate not so great origin story that needed to be told so better future films could be made. At this point though, I am not impressed and probably will not continue.

Weekend Watchings:

FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR:



In once again revisiting the films of my youth to see how they hold up, I was not let down. As a fairly mindless childrens adventure film with a scifi edge to it, the film holds up just fine. Some dated special effects but for 1986, it was pretty good. I even managed to inject some greater depth to the film. For those who haven't seen it (or don't remember) in 1978 a 12 year old boy was picked up by a passing UFO on a robotic scientific mission. For an experiment the UFO filled up the kids brain to see what it could take. Normally, the ship hops back in time to drop you off right when it picked you up, but it determined that the human body might not survive the time jump. Due to relativity, the boy is returned to earth 8 years later but hasn't aged a day. He returns to find his family all older and the ship got damaged on it's way out so it needs the star charts it loaded in the kids head to get home.

At the end of the film, the boy realizes that 1986 is not his world and he wants to take the chance of going back in time. So here is where I found greater depth in the film. As a kid, I saw it as the boy knows he doesn't belong in 1986 so he is willing to leave it all behind. As an adult I see it as the boy realizes that 1986 is not his time. Staying there he would be poked and prodded by the government for the rest of his life and his family would never know peace. He asks the UFO to take the chance and send him back in time. He knows he might die, but he is willing to accept that. If he dies, at least his body can be dumped and allow his family to find it and have closure. His family would never have to go through the pain they did for the last 8 years of him being gone. This young boy sees things so clearly that he is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for his family. The boy has got balls.

Also, for a Disney family film from 1986, it had a fair amount of "bad language." Loved it.

Also, also? Small role played by Sara Jessica Parker back when she was still kinda geeky and super hot. Not all fake looking like she is now. Hubba Hubba. I seem to recall one of my first ever crushes was on her from this time period.


TOP SECRET:



The wife had never seen it and watching it again I realized I had never actually seen all of it. So glad we remedied that. Once again the Zucker brothers knew how to make us laugh and did the spoof properly. (unlike todays spoofs that just don't seem to get it) Val Kilmer (in his first role!) gives an awesome performance as an Elvis like performer thrust into intrigue and war in early WWII. (yes, its anachronistically incorrect...that's part of the fun) Once the double agent is reveled the end of the movie kind of fell apart for me, but I still managed to have a good laugh and enjoy the whole thing.