Here's a quick recap of the movies I've seen recently.
I Am Legend (starring Will Smith)
My purpose for seeing this movie was for entertainment. I wasn't looking for anything serious or a deeper meaning. Having said that, entertainment is what I got.
The story is an interesting concept. A man finds himself one of the few survivors of a monster virus. He must rely on himself to survive and find a cure for the virus. Director Francis Lawrence did a good job with the blockbuster imagery and showing how a person's mind may go a little crazy if they only had a dog to talk to. But the "infected" or zombies as I like to call them reminded me too much of i-Robot. The fact that a virus would suddenly make the victim some superhuman zombie is bizarre to me.
I'm sure if I read the book that the movie is based off, it would shed some light. But for not reading the book, the movie looks like almost any other zombie movie.
It's one of those movies you hope to see on tv when you're taking a sick day.
Juno (starring Ellen Page, Michael Sera)
Overall, I liked the movie. But the first 15 minutes were kind of a turn off for me. I wasn't so sure how much I could take of all the witty and slangy dialogue. I cringed when I heard "homeskillet" and "honest to blog" being used as "funny" dialogue. Also, Juno's character seemed inconsistent at times. She's supposed to be this punky, hard-exterior girl. That's fine. But it baffles me that she would perform such twee pop songs. That doesn't fit.
Okay, with all that aside, I did like the movie after seeing it all the way through. It did make me genuinely laugh at times. And I did get choked up in other parts. Once director Jason Reitman got into the meat of the story he showed a well-crafted honest look at an independent teenage girl going through a taboo situation. (i guess teen pregnancy isn't that taboo anymore, is it?)
I'd recommend seeing this.
Charlie Wilson's War (starring Tom Hanks)
Political movies aren't always the most pleasant of films. If you don't know too much of the subject matter, it can be very boring. But that's not the case with Charlie Wilson's War. Based on a true story from the 80s, Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson (Hanks) provides resources to Afghanistan to defeat the Soviets. Of course, this was a covert operation. The movie does an excellent job of tying in that secret moment in history to our current global state. It isn't contrived, but subtle enough to make you think. Hanks portrays well the dirty, womanizing politician who actually wants to make a difference. There's nudity and swearing which can be uncomfortable to watch with your old Korean parents. But it's actually a good film. My old Korean parents even liked it.
If you don't like politics, don't see this movie. Everyone else should see it.
P.S. I Love You (starring Hilary Swank)
I watched this movie against my will. But I decided to give it the benefit of the doubt. Well, it was as bad as I thought. There's nothing wrong with "chick flick" movies. But this one was wrong. If you love to cry about anything, you'll like to cry at this movie. It's got all the cliche sadness in it. Here's the basic story. Girl is annoying. She is even more annoying when she fights with her Irish husband. Husband dies of brain tumor. Girl is so sad and has a hard time getting herself together. Husband orchestrates this plan to send wife some touching letters after his death...myesteriously! Well, the mystery is over. The husband had the girl's mom follow his instructions to carry out his letter deliveries beyond the grave. Girl is able to move on with her life and falls in love with another Irish guy. Don't you just want to cry right into your jumbo sized diet coke?
Don't watch this movie unless you love love love love chick flicks.
There Will Be Blood (starring Daniel Day-Lewis)
Paul Thomas Anderson movies usually have some sort of uplifting quality to them. In the end, there's some sense of hope. Anderson breaks that trend of hope in his latest film There Will Be Blood.
The film opens boldly with fantastic desert imagery and no dialogue. An uneasy mood is set with the piercing, swarming sound of violins as the soundtrack. Right away the audience sees horrible physical harm that happens to oil well diggers. But it comes to no surprise to those in the film. It looks like business as usual.
The movie follows the career of oil man Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis). He's a competitive and ruthless man. Sometimes it's hard to decide if it's greed or hatred that drives him to do the things he does.
Plainview brings his business to a small town. Anderson uses astonishing imagery to show what a major industry can do to such a place.
Based on Upton Sinclair's Oil! this movie offers multi-layer characters and beautiful images. But don't expect to see a Magnolia. Anderson has something completely different in store.
I recommend seeing this on a big screen. And yes, there will be blood.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
The Kick-Off with Michel Gondry
This is a blog about movies. It has reviews, discussions of the filmmaking process, a look at directors, anything related to movies. I kick-off my first post with words on Michel Gondry's talk from last night in Chicago.
GONDRY SPEAKS
I braved the chilly drizzly weather to see Michel Gondry speak at the Apple Store in Chicago last night. It inspired me to create a blog about movies. I won't talk about the faux pas of Chicago Time Out's film critic Ben Kenigsberg who moderated the event. But if you're really curious, ask me and I can tell you all about it later. Below is a recap of Gondry.
Michel Gondry talked about the process and idea behind his upcoming movie Be Kind Rewind. He edited the film in Final Cut Pro, which is why he spoke at the Apple Store.
Gondry wrote the screenplay and directed the film. The movie is about a man who accidentally becomes magnitized and erases all the videos in his friends rental store. To save the business they remake the movies. They call this process Sweding. They tell customers the film remake comes from Sweden and therefore is more expensive and takes a longer time to arrive.
Gondry showed clips of a Sweded Rush Hour 2, Ghostbusters and Driving Miss Daisy.
Even with all his cardboard and childhood craft ideas, it still looks like a visual masterpiece. The story and script seem promising, but I'll have to wait to see the movie to really be the judge of that. His writing debut with Science of Sleep was fair, but kind of fell flat for me in the end.
Gondry said directing and writing is more embarrassing for him than simply directing. He's the only one responsible for the bulk of the work. But he enjoys it for the challenge. That seems to be the approach he takes to most things.
He talked about his earlier days as a drummer in a band. And it wasn't really until Bjork saw the music video he had made for his own band that his future in film started to take off. She called him to make a video for Human Behaviour off her Debut album.
He said when he comes up with ideas for music videos, he usually goes for his most absurd idea just to see if he can actually pull it off. Now that he's officially a film director, he still makes music videos because he enjoys doing them.
He talked about projects he's working on. One takes place in Japan. He worked with a crew of Japanese people, which he says took him out of his comfort zone, but he found it to be a great experience. He said he's not a guy who needs to bring his posse with him everywhere he goes. The film is in post-production and is slated as Tokyo.
He also mentioned an animation he's working on with his 16-year-old son. He described their relationship as a dictatorship. His son is the dictator, and he is the rebellor. His son tries to get him to smoke pot, and he tries to convince his son that it isn't a good idea. His son is violent in his art, he is gentle. The movie is about some kind of dictatorship, and Gondry said this is the perfect movie to work on with his son. They're working with comic book writer Daniel Clowes and using the voice of Steve Buscemi as the main character. Keep an eye out for that in 2009.
Finally, Gondry ended with his own Sweded trailer of Be Kind Rewind. I'm sure it will end up on the internet at some point, but for now I can't find it anywhere. I'll do my best to describe it to you. Picture the trailer for the movie but imagine it shot with a Hi-8 camcorder. Replace all the characters with Michel Gondry or manikins dressed up in costume and wigs. Anything anyone says is said in a French accent, (i.e. Waaaht hahbeened do our ooood?). And of course it wouldn't be Gondry made without more cardboard and kid craft ideas. If you can find it, it will be one of the best trailer spoofs you'll ever see.
Check out the movie website: www.bekindmovie.com
GONDRY SPEAKS
I braved the chilly drizzly weather to see Michel Gondry speak at the Apple Store in Chicago last night. It inspired me to create a blog about movies. I won't talk about the faux pas of Chicago Time Out's film critic Ben Kenigsberg who moderated the event. But if you're really curious, ask me and I can tell you all about it later. Below is a recap of Gondry.
Michel Gondry talked about the process and idea behind his upcoming movie Be Kind Rewind. He edited the film in Final Cut Pro, which is why he spoke at the Apple Store.
Gondry wrote the screenplay and directed the film. The movie is about a man who accidentally becomes magnitized and erases all the videos in his friends rental store. To save the business they remake the movies. They call this process Sweding. They tell customers the film remake comes from Sweden and therefore is more expensive and takes a longer time to arrive.
Gondry showed clips of a Sweded Rush Hour 2, Ghostbusters and Driving Miss Daisy.
Even with all his cardboard and childhood craft ideas, it still looks like a visual masterpiece. The story and script seem promising, but I'll have to wait to see the movie to really be the judge of that. His writing debut with Science of Sleep was fair, but kind of fell flat for me in the end.
Gondry said directing and writing is more embarrassing for him than simply directing. He's the only one responsible for the bulk of the work. But he enjoys it for the challenge. That seems to be the approach he takes to most things.
He talked about his earlier days as a drummer in a band. And it wasn't really until Bjork saw the music video he had made for his own band that his future in film started to take off. She called him to make a video for Human Behaviour off her Debut album.
He said when he comes up with ideas for music videos, he usually goes for his most absurd idea just to see if he can actually pull it off. Now that he's officially a film director, he still makes music videos because he enjoys doing them.
He talked about projects he's working on. One takes place in Japan. He worked with a crew of Japanese people, which he says took him out of his comfort zone, but he found it to be a great experience. He said he's not a guy who needs to bring his posse with him everywhere he goes. The film is in post-production and is slated as Tokyo.
He also mentioned an animation he's working on with his 16-year-old son. He described their relationship as a dictatorship. His son is the dictator, and he is the rebellor. His son tries to get him to smoke pot, and he tries to convince his son that it isn't a good idea. His son is violent in his art, he is gentle. The movie is about some kind of dictatorship, and Gondry said this is the perfect movie to work on with his son. They're working with comic book writer Daniel Clowes and using the voice of Steve Buscemi as the main character. Keep an eye out for that in 2009.
Finally, Gondry ended with his own Sweded trailer of Be Kind Rewind. I'm sure it will end up on the internet at some point, but for now I can't find it anywhere. I'll do my best to describe it to you. Picture the trailer for the movie but imagine it shot with a Hi-8 camcorder. Replace all the characters with Michel Gondry or manikins dressed up in costume and wigs. Anything anyone says is said in a French accent, (i.e. Waaaht hahbeened do our ooood?). And of course it wouldn't be Gondry made without more cardboard and kid craft ideas. If you can find it, it will be one of the best trailer spoofs you'll ever see.
Check out the movie website: www.bekindmovie.com
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