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Monday, December 21, 2015

Heavy Metal (1981)

Heavy Metal
Within ten minutes of watching it, I knew I had a lot to say about Heavy Metal. Mostly, questions about the production and the art style that I've seen before in other 70s-80s non-children's animated films. So, I pressed on and tried to learn more about the actual content of this movie.

Heavy Metal story of The Loc-Nar, a green glowing orb that has the power to corrupt, and destroy, the incorruptible across multiple galaxies and dimensions. In eight-ish stories, we see it exercise that power. It would take too much time and space to go over each story, plus it's better to go into the movie pretty blind. Don't worry, I believe I can still find things to talk about.

Heavy Metal's strength lies in it's art-style. It's something I've seen before in Ralph Bakshi movies, and I don't know if it has a definite name. Basically, the inkers are the stars of the show. Textures really pop, and not just in the background art.

Heavy Metal's stories overall cover everything from mixed marriages, to multiple apocalyptic societies, to an original take on cocaine-snorting that still puts The Wolf of Wall Street to shame. One of my favorite stories is the second major one, where a king or god similar to Watchmen's Adrian Veitd, except without the questionable, or any, morals and beliefs, asks someone to steal the Loc-Nar for him, so he can unlock its power through a ritualistic, human sacrifice. There are many references to past and future material that people can imply or infer about sections of this movie, and that's what I really love about it. It's a movie where you get out what you put into it, so, knowing and/or seeing a certain homage to Heavy Metal, that was made in 2008, can cloud that a little.

My two major issues with the film are that homage feels more like a parody now, although I completely understand why it does, and The Loc-Nar's powers. The Loc-Nar's powers are not clear and sometimes feel contradictory. It's kinda whatever the writers need it to be. On the one hand, it gives the writers freedom to tell their stories, but on the other, it leads to some characters doing some stupid things, and wrapping up some of the stories a little too quickly and neatly. A few seconds of explanation maybe could've fixed this, but really this is just nit-picking.

I hope to expand on this review on the future, but for now, if you love animated anthologies, you'll love this. Just one warning, for those who don't know about the homage, this is rated "R" for violence and nudity.
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Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Horns (2013)

Horns
Alexandre Aja's film, based on a novel by Joe Hill, is an acquired taste. From Daniel Radcliffe's very good, but constraining, American accent, to figuring out the rules of Hill and Aja's universe, liking Horns initially seemed like an uphill battle. In the end though, with some manipulative, but circumstantial, moments I was sucked into the universe and was won over.

In Horns, Iggy Perrish (Radcliffe) is suspected of killing his longtime girlfriend, Merrin Williams (Juno Temple). Shortly after her death, he wakes up with horns poking out of his head. These horns, which are seamlessly attached to Radcliffe, may be a gift from the devil himself, but also may be the key to his salvation.

Horns is a mixed bag of good, bad, and great scenes. Absolutely none of them are terrible, but some probably could have been cut for time. Parts, of this two-hour movie, seem to drag during the middle and toward the end. The script has good, the dialogue is well-written, but some characters themselves seem less real than they should. Iggy's parents (James Remar and Kathleen Quinlan), are, at times, the standouts. On the other hand, some are very real, like local reporters who hound Iggy for an exclusive. As a fan of Heathers and Natural Born Killers, his treatment of them is one of my favorite moments in the film.

As the mystery unravels, the movie, as a whole, gets better. It really builds itself up for its final moments, but ultimately Horns is not the sum of its parts, even though many of those parts (great performances, effects, makeup, cinematography) aren't interchangeable. Horns can go from dark, to funny, to sad, successfully, at the drop of a hat. In the end, all I want to do now is see how much better the book is.

3.5/5

Update: The breakup scene is perfect. The fact that I recalled it when..."needed," even though I've only seen the movie like once, boosts Horns up.

3.75/5


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Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Cabin in the Woods (2012)

Cabin in the Woods
The universe created for a movie is never really self-contained. We're just seeing one side, or with sequels a few sides, of a much larger story. What Drew Goddard and co-writer/producer Joss Whedon give us is the side of their story that's a little bit of everything, horror, comedy, a bit of existential drama, and bureaucracy. I wish I could know more about its inner-workings, but I'll have to settle for great acting, scares, laughs, and the best critique of the horror genre since the Scream series.

In Cabin in the Woods, five friends: Dana (Kristen Connolly),  Curt (Chris Hemsworth), Jules (Anna Hutchison), Marty (Fran Kranz), and Holden (Jesse Williams) vacation at, obviously, a Cabin in the Woods. When the discover a basement cellar with all kinds of old knick-knacks, stuff starts getting weird. As they get picked off one by one, a conspiracy as old as time is unraveled.

The strength in this movie comes from cutting between the conspiracy and the, at first, standard hacking-and-slashing. Two of our big masterminds, played by Bradley Whitford and Richard Jenkins, give great, funny performances as they and their crew revel in everything they see happen to their victims. The strings they pull bring out the Scream-ness of the movie, as cliches are questioned, explained, or sometimes avoided. It's refreshing to watch after remembering that the only reasons I watched the last two Krueger movies is because those cliches were still relatively new to me.

Unfortunately, the conspiracy angle is where the problem is too, as I always wanted more from the mastermind side of things than what I saw. Some things like how the masterminds developed this world around a cabin Curt's heard of before is open to interpretation. Nothing too outlandish there, it just raises some questions.

To get my fix, I'll have to turn to fan fiction. Getting over that, what's left is a very enjoyable movie. The cast assembled is one of the best for a movie in this genre. Don't set your standards too low for the performances just because of the movie's title, since everyone here delivers. The writing and directing are fairly tight, as there's never a dull moment and jump scares are kept at an absolute minimum. They're not what this movie is about. And finally, the only thing left to say is that when it hits the fan, and the monsters are unleashed, this film will satisfy anyone who enjoys a drippy, red, horror movie set, and great creature design.

If you've read it here, you've probably read it everywhere else: this is not your typical horror movie. I was skeptical at first, mainly because I don't like the crap scared out of me, but I'm glad my sister badgered me into seeing this one.

4/5


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Thursday, April 24, 2014

Harvey (1950)

Harvey says a lot about filmmaking, and possibly only in retrospect after 64 years of the business and art continuing to change. Whether it's evolution or not depends on who is asking, but most people who watch Harvey will be able to explain why it's a great movie. Harvey began as a play by Mary Chase. The play itself, in print, I'd like to believe would be as in-demand as Shakespeare is in print.

That's why the movie works. It begins with a strong script (written by Chase and Oscar Brodney), and ends with an amazing performance by James Stewart that I believe redefines what it means to be a comedic actor. In the middle of all that are amazing performances by, among others, Josephine Hull (who won an Oscar for her role as Stewart's sister), Peggy Dow, and Charles Drake, and great direction by Henry Coster.

Now, I never said it's a perfect script. Harvey, unfortunately suffers from being a product of its time, and there are some jabs at women here and there. There's much worse in some shows and movies today, but it's especially noticeable in a black-and-white movie. There was also a very subtle remark that points to some racism, but, like before, today we still have things like that in today's media. The other problem with the film is Harvey's existence isn't always clearly defined and I thought there may have been some contradictions to how he's "on screen." It's cleared up in the end, and I'm sure re-watching the film will help me fill in some of these contradictions, but they did take me out of the moment once or twice. The good thing is that these contradictions are so rare because this movie is much more than its initial hook.

Harvey has multiple storylines to take the focus away from its main characters (Harvey and his friend Elwood P. Dowd, who's played by Stewart). Also, Harvey and Elwood aren't always hanging out together, which allows some breathing room for the actors and audience to also focus on who their characters are. This works especially well for Stewart as Elwood because Elwood is a remarkable man.

Harvey Portrait
I seriously need to see more of Stewart's movies...Patrick Stewart, too, but that's another story | Copyright 1950 Universal Pictures

When I think of comedic actors, I usually think of people who go for the punchline, one-line, or slap in the face. They are trying to be funny, and usually they are. Stewart, on the other hand, just plays Elwood as the most regular guy in the world, but occasionally he'll have these moments that are just soul-searching. In the context of Harvey, it's kind of funny. More importantly, it's dramatic. I think Stewart played Elwood P. Dowd like he was in a more dramatic role, and more of a side character (if that makes sense). He's just in this world where he talks to a rabbit that's over 6' tall, and lives his kind of bland life. In fact, Harvey is one of the few things that livens it up. Stewart becomes a bystander in this movie, and he does more than play it straight. He plays it straight with (occasionally) no one crazy to react to since Harvey is a pretty calm character himself.

The rest of the film is rounded out by that excellent cast mentioned above, as they try to figure out how crazy Dowd is, and figure out their own problems. It's mostly love-life stuff, and thankfully it's not overly mushy (I think that was also a product of the times, but I'm not sure.)

I don't want to give anything away, but I'll leave by saying that this film is one of the best escapist movies. Just forget your problems for a while and watch it because Harvey shows that sometimes that's the best use of your time.

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Saturday, March 8, 2014

Her (2013) | Short Review

This isn't a review, but I couldn't post nothing about this movie.

The more people talk to each other,  the better the world can become. That's what Spike Jonze's movie Her effortlessly points to, in a time when people are able to easily isolate themselves wherever they are.  The problem with writing a real review is there's a lot to discuss, and almost all of it is better suited to research papers, debates, and editorials, among other places. What can be said in this blog is that Her is amazing.

Her



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Saturday, September 7, 2013

We're The Millers (2013)

We're The Millers
We're The Millers
starts out pretty strong and then _____. It flattens out. A good cast, trying their best, can't make up for a script that begins to die the minute the premise (that thing the trailer uses to get people to see the movie) starts in the second act. What's left is a disappointment.

Jason Sudeikis is David, a drug dealer who is robbed of cash he needs to pay off his supplier (Ed Helms). To erase the debt, Helms arranges for Sudeikis to go to Mexico, and come back with a "smidge, smidge and a half" of marijuana. To cross the border inconspicuously Sudeikis decides to have two of his neighbors, a stripper played by Jennifer Aniston and an eighteen-year-old kid played by Will Poulter, and a homeless girl played by Emma Roberts, pose as a typical American family.

Once they get into Mexico, the terms of the deal become apparent. According to Helms a smidge is roughly a couple hundred bags of weed, enough to fill every hiding spot on a giant RV. Of course, nothing goes as planned and things get complicated when the family runs into a DEA agent, his wife, and their eighteen-year-old daughter (Nick Offerman, Kathryn Hahn, and Molly Quinn, respectively). They also run into other drug dealers who have a problem with the arrangement.

Focus on Molly Quinn and the problems with the movie become clear. It's half-baked. Her role in the film is strictly to hook up with Poulter's character. We know almost nothing about her outside of what her parents are like, the two of them have virtually no scenes together, and in the end Poulter wins her over because that's his major arc in the film. She doesn't get an arc in this movie, but she's used to make Poulter look like a nerd, a freak, and in the end a hero.

The rest of the movie has the "family" getting to know each other in some admittedly sweet scenes, and getting out of a few ridiculous jams. Unfortunately, this doesn't make up for when characters, mainly Sudeikis, have to behave like assholes just because the screenwriters throw another curveball to pad the movie.

In the end, the performances do save this movie. I believed all the actors involved liked working with each other, which is the only reason why this movie may be worth watching. They're all funny in it, but they have only themselves to thank for that.


2.5/5

But creating a meme template earns it another .25/5

I'm keeping a copy right here for convenience.

We're The Meme
The staying power of We're The Millers | Copyright 2013 Warner Brothers

Update: Also, this isn't Sudeikis at his toxic best. That's Colossal. His performance, and the writing around it, are phenomenal. 

We're The Millers is a Warner Brothers film directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

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Friday, May 3, 2013

Iron Man 3 (2013) | Spoiler-Free

Iron Man 3 How do you successfully follow up The Avengers? That's is:
A) An obvious question Marvel Studios asked themselves
B) An obvious opening to this review
C) Scale back
D) All of the above

D is the answer.

Marvel did what they do best by bringing in the right people and changing the formula a bit from the previous films. This feels like a different Iron Man film than the others because it tries to bring certain elements full circle, even though the end of the era isn't until Avengers 2 (at least). Downey's role mostly remains the same (in quantity and quality), but Paltrow, Favreau, and Cheadle are all given a chance to do more than just act as Stark's foil this time.

The plot of the film is based on The Extremist storyline and the villains are The Mandarin and Aldrich Killian. These men are terrorists, who just want to wreak havoc on Tony and the world. To beef themselves up, Extremist is used to give Killian an edge against Tony's suits. This is one of the best parts of the film, as this movie has the best fight scenes of the stand-alone Iron Man films, people are actually able to physically threaten Tony, whether he has the suit or not.

Balancing out the action is a heavy dose of comedy, and some nice drama. Since this film is directed by Shane Black (who directed Downey in Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang), the banter, comebacks, and general a-hole-ness of Tony Stark is better than ever. Luckily, it's consistently funny, but not constantly present.

Iron Man 3
Since Shane Black is the director, it's also a Christmas movie | Copyright 2013 Marvel/Disney

A major focus is put on what happens to Tony after The Avengers. He's on put on edge after the experience and worries about the safety of himself, Pepper, and Rhodey. The scenes come through at a moment's notice, and to his credit, Downey transitions between everything thrown at him seamlessly. In doesn't matter if someone's wearing a super-suit and in the middle of a fight, or just relaxing on a couch because everything fits together perfectly in this film, and I'm probably going to look back and call it the best film of the summer.

4/5

Note: I recently revisited the movie and created a TV spot for it. It can be found here.


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