Fall Movies

So things have been pretty crazy the last several weeks. Three weekends ago I was out of town. Two weekends ago my parents were in town, and last weekend I spent part of the weekend at work (and then spent Monday & Tuesday out of town for work). So needless to say I’ve been pretty busy. But fear not, dear readers, because none of that prevented me from getting to the movies during all of those weekends, and so I’ve got four new movies to review. And now I’ve finally found the time to actually get the reviews done! :)

Let’s start with the first of these movies that I saw, which was Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, a remake of the phenomenal Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. Needless to say, the remake was easily as good as the original. Of course, with Scorsese directing a movie that gets back to his gangster movie roots, and starring such great actors as Jack Nicholson, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio (and as much as I’m not a fan of Leo’s AT ALL, I have to admit that he does a really good job in this movie).

This is so my type of movie. It’s dark, gritty, violent (about the only thing it was missing was nudity, but hey, you can’t have everything). Jack Nicholson is at the top of his game as the crime boss, and I loved Mark Wahlberg’s foul-mouthed cop (although he’s definitely a secondary character in the movie). Everyone does an outstanding job, and this movie easily ranks up there with such Scorsese greats as Goodfellas and Casino. If you like crime dramas at all, this is a must-see movie.

The movie only had one real downside for me, and it was one that didn’t really apply for most of the audience. Although the setting is changed from Hong Kong to Boston, and obviously the feel of the film is different based on the different setting/characters, the movie is pretty faithful to the original script, which means a lot of the twists and turns and surprises in the movie are all things I saw coming because I’d seen them in the original film. Which did take away from the excitement and thrill of the movie just a little bit. But at the same time, it was kind of like watching a movie you really like for the second time. Sure, you know what’s coming before it happens, but that doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy watching the movie. And I did indeed enjoy all of this movie, even if I did know what was going to happen.

So the weekend after The Departed, I headed out to the theatre Sunday afternoon to watch The Grudge 2. While it would have been fun to see it that Friday (it being Friday the 13th and all), my parents came into town that evening, so I didn’t get to the theatre until after they headed home on Sunday (and as far as that goes, I probably wouldn’t have caught it on Friday regardless, since I don’t get off work early enough to catch a matinee, and I generally try to avoid going to evening shows since I’d prefer to pay matinee prices – I'm just cheap like that).

As far as the movie goes, it wasn’t too bad for what it was, being a sequel and all. Sequels in general have a hard time comparing to the originals, and I think horror movie sequels have it especially tough, because you’re trying to keep the same feel and theme as the original, without it being a carbon copy that simply features new people being killed off one by one. But as far as sequels go, I do have to say that I liked The Grudge 2 quite a bit better than I like The Ring Two (of course it goes without saying that I liked the originals of both movies A LOT better than their sequels).

That being said, The Grudge 2 was still a fun, creepy movie. And it did a good job of building on the mythology of the original film and expanding the history of the woman who’s spirit is going around killing everyone. I also love the way it takes three different time periods/locations and jumps back and forth between them. It takes a bit of time to figure out exactly what order the events are in and how everything fits together, but a good part of the fun of the movie is exactly that – learning bit by bit how everything ties together. If you’re a big fan of the Japanese horror movie remake genre (hard to believe there’s enough movies in that category to actually consider it a genre (well, sub-genre, anyways), but boy there sure do seem to be a lot of them these days), this movie’s definitely worth seeing.

Interestingly enough, the discussion of blending of multiple timeframes into a coherent storyline (as was done in The Grudge 2) transitions us very nicely into my next movie review, and that is for Christopher Nolan’s new film, The Prestige. I loved this movie (it was SO much better than the similarly-themed magician movie The Illusionist, which I was so unimpressed with that I don’t think I bothered to do a write-up on it). Christopher Nolan is a top-notch director, and with a stellar cast featuring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, as well as smaller roles by Andy Serkis, and David Bowie as real life scientist Nikola Tesla (who I thought I recognized when I saw him, but I had to wait until the end of the movie to see his name in the credits to be sure it was actually him).

The movie starts with Hugh Jackman drowning in a tank and Christian Bale being convicted of his murder (yes, believe it or not, Jackman’s character dies in the first 10 minutes of the film). Once in prison, Bale is given a diary written by Jackman. As he reads it, we flash back in time to when the diary was being written. During this we find Jackman reading a diary written by Bale, which flashes us back to when the two men first met, and their rise up through the world of magic (and the beginning of the competition between the two men). We shift back and forth between these three time periods, until the first time period catches up to the start of the second time period, and then back and forth between these two periods until the second catches up to the present period (which probably sounds really confusing, but it is done really well in the movie and it’s fairly easy to keep track of what’s going on when).

In the past I’ve never been much for movies that jump back and forth through time like that, but then again I think a lot of that can be blamed on Quentin Tarantino (while I like all of his movies, I’ve never been a big fan of the way he jumps around between characters and time periods and scenes). Both in The Grudge 2 (and the original The Grudge, as far as that goes) and in The Prestige this seems to be handled with a lot more finesse than Mr. Tarantino uses, which made a big difference for me (but that’s strictly my opinion of things, so please no jabs from any Tarantino fans out there who happen to read this).

But back to The Prestige. This movie is just brilliant. If you have any interest in magicians or escape artists at all, you really should see this film. They show a number of amazing tricks (and in many cases, show how they’re actually done, which is quite interesting). The acting is stellar, and the tension and mystery build as the battle between the two magicians builds. There are numerous twists and surprises to it, and I just loved the ending (although the final twist I did see coming).

The second movie that I caught last weekend I was just as excited to see as The Prestige, but I wasn’t nearly as impressed with it once it was over. And that was Clint Eastwood’s WWII drama Flags of our Fathers. Part of this stems from the poor and somewhat inaccurate marketing campaign. Because despite what you see in the trailers, this isn’t really a war movie, which is what I was hoping to see. Sure, there are a number of scenes showing the invasion of Iwo Jima, and a good part of the movie takes place during the invasion, but that’s not really what the movie’s about.

The true focus of Flags of our Fathers is the story of a photograph, the very famous photo that immortalized six Marines as they erected the U. S. flag at Iwo Jima (I’m sure you’ve seen the picture – it has since been made into a statue/monument). The film follows three of the six men (the others were killed during the battle) who are pulled back to the U. S. to go on a whirlwind tour highlighting the moment captured in the photo as a way to convince Americans to buy war bonds (since the government was borderline bankrupt, and couldn’t afford to pay for a war the American people were quickly tiring of). The photograph and the men who placed the flag captured America’s attention, and the government used that to its advantage to motivate people to buy war bonds to help them fund the war.

Throughout the movie we flash back to the battle, then go back to the men as they tour the country, and we see them struggle with being called heroes as they deal with the violence and horror of the battle and the deaths of many of their friends and fellow Marines. We also see the government desperate to use this event to their advantage, and the compromises made in the name of continuing the fight in the Pacific.

The story is pretty compelling, and I learned a lot about that time period and the events surrounding that photo that I hadn’t known before. That being said, the movie would have worked just as well (and possibly better) as a documentary of these events as opposed to a feature film about them. So while it was an interesting movie, it wasn’t as exciting or intense as a good war movie (such as Saving Private Ryan, which it has been compared to), which is what I was looking for when I went to see it. So while I can say it was a worthwhile film, I can’t give it a high recommendation, either. I’d more recommend this to someone who’s a big history buff than I would to someone who’s a war movie fan.

And that catches me up on my movie reviews. I’ve also been working on a couple of other entries that aren’t new movie reviews, to try and add a little variety to the blog, but who knows when I’ll get those done. My goal is at some point to actually start having more varied entries, it’s just a matter of finding the time to write them (I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who can’t seem to find enough time to accomplish everything they’d like to). Of course, I probably have to start with actually getting my movie reviews in on time and go from there. ;-)

You Know You're a Serious Movie Geek When . . .

So there were a handful of other movies that I caught over the last several weeks that I haven’t covered in my blog, but none of them were all that impressive (ranging from just pretty good to fairly disappointing, but none of them interesting enough to discuss, or bad enough for a scathingly negative review), so I’m just going to skip them and move on to last weekend (it was such a nice weekend this weekend that I took a trip to Lewis & Clark Caverns instead of going to the movies so there's nothing to report for this weekend – I might take a mental health day in the middle of the week to check out what’s new at the theater). Last weekend there were four new movies out at the theaters, two of which I really, really wanted to see – Jet Li’s Fearless and Flyboys. And wouldn’t you know it, neither was playing here in town (the joys of living in a medium-sized town in the middle of Montana).

Now, the average person would probably think to himself, “Damn, that sucks. Guess I won’t be catching those at the theater after all.” But not I. No, dear readers, I immediately went to Carmike Cinema’s website (since Carmike operates the vast majority of movie theaters here in Montana) and started checking movie listings in other towns. The nearest place showing both movies was about 85 miles away. So what did I do? That’s right, it was time for a road trip, so I jumped in the car and headed down the highway. I caught both movies as a double feature, had dinner at the Golden Corral, and then headed home. All in all not a bad day out. Of course, it says something about how much of a movie buff you are when you spend as much money or more on gas to get to the movie theater as you do on the actual movies themselves.

So was it worth it, you might ask? Absolutely!! I loved both movies. So let’s get started with the reviews. The first of the two I saw was Flyboys, which is the story of a group of young American men who travel to France to fly in the French air service during the early days of World War I (they’re flying for the French because this is before America has officially entered the war). Just as a quick side note, I have to say it’s hard to believe there was a time in our history when American men actually traveled to another country to JOIN a war, as opposed to the Vietnam War era when people were fleeing to Canada to avoid going to war. But that’s another subject entirely that we’re not going to get into.

Like the football movies reviewed in my last entry, Flyboys is also based on real events, which only really comes into play at the end when you find out what happens to the remaining characters after the movie ends (although it is kind of neat to get a brief look into where the characters’ lives went after the events of the movie). The best parts of this movie, naturally, are the aerial battles between the French biplanes and the German triplanes. They are really, really cool to watch, and because of the differences in technology, are quite a bit different from modern dog fights in movies (or even World War II dog fight scenes, as far as that goes). And there’s a scene involving a zeppelin that’s just stellar. It’s also nice to see a movie focused on World War I pilots, since WWI movies are hard to find in general, and when you do find them they’re mostly focused on the trench warfare of the infantry, and not on the fledgling air corps that had just started to develop during that period.

The overall story isn’t too bad, and the characters are all interesting. There’s even a love story involving the main character and a young French woman that’s tolerable. Of course the critics complained about the story and the dialogue and a number of other petty little things. But in my mind, you go to see a war movie for basically one reason, and that’s the battle scenes. And when it’s a movie about fighter pilots (from whatever era) then it’s all about the dogfights. And the ones in this movie were pretty damned spectacular, as far as I’m concerned. So if you like war movies, definitely check this one out.

Our next film is Jet Li’s Fearless, which – interestingly enough – is ALSO based on true events (that seems to be a theme running through quite a few of the movies I’ve seen recently, surprisingly enough). The film takes place in China early in the 20th century, back when China was a weak nation that was starting to be heavily influenced by foreign nations, especially Western nations. The main character of the story is Chinese Martial Arts Master Huo Yuanjia, a hero of the era who stood up to the Westerners and brought pride back to the Chinese (for a well-written description of the movie, check out the plot outline on the movie’s imdb page. He did a good enough job explaining the story of the film that I see no reason to try and paraphrase it here).

This movie is being billed as Jet Li’s last martial arts epic, and is directed by Ronny Yu (who's done a surprisingly eclectic range of films since coming to the US), with action choreography by Yuen Wo Ping. The combination of these three tells you right up front that the martial arts in this movie are going to be breathtaking, and indeed they were. The fight scenes are absolutely incredible. But just as important, the story is fantastic and the acting is top notch. We see a boy rise to manhood, only to fall from greatness and journey towards redemption. Along the way he energizes the morale of his entire country (and became a national hero). It’s a great story of China’s history brilliantly told. Just as a warning, though, it is also very much a Chinese movie, meaning that you’re watching it with subtitles if you go to see it (for those people who are bothered by such things). Being as big a fan of foreign films as I am, this didn’t bother me in the slightest, and I’m so glad I went and saw this movie at the theater.

I would highly recommend both of these movies as ones to see at the theater if you get the chance (and I will definitely be picking both of them up when they come out on DVD). Well, that’s it for now. Should I get to the theater during the week, I’ll try and get my review out on whatever movie I go see as quickly as possible (which sadly isn’t always as easy to do as I’d like). Until then!

Football Movies

So last time around I covered a couple of comedies that I caught at the theater recently. With this entry, we switch to the inspiration sports film, in particular the football movies Invincible and Gridiron Gang (both of which I caught at the theater several weeks ago). You just gotta love a good, old-fashioned inspirational sports movie, especially if it’s a football movie. I’ve always been partial to football movies as far as sports movies goes (probably because football is about the only sport that I actually don’t mind watching on TV, since I’m not really much of a sports person). I do have to add, though, that I really liked Miracle. But by and large my favorite sports movies are all football movies.

Let’s start with Invincible, the true story (which goes without saying, since pretty much all inspirational sports movies are based on true stories) of Vince Papale, a Philadelphia Eagles fan who gets the opportunity to attend open tryouts for the team, and out of everyone who tries out, is the only one to actually make it onto the team. As is to be expected, this movie pretty much follows the standard formula for this sort of movie by the numbers. We’ve got our hero, the underdog/outsider, who’s not liked by his fellow players, and doesn’t know if he has what it takes to make it as a pro. But he sticks with it, proving to himself, his teammates, and the fans that he can make it in the pros and contribute to the team.

Comments are often made in regards to movies such as this about how formulaic they are, and I wouldn’t argue this point. But I would say, the reason for this is that the formula works. Everybody loves to see the little guy triumph, to see the underdog make good and become a hero. It’s just a great storyline that you can’t really go wrong with. And so there’s no real reason to mess with it. Invincible is no exception to the rule.

Mark Wahlberg does a good job in the lead role, but he’s a very talented actor who does a good job in every role he takes, so that’s no surprise. He makes the character likable and believable – somebody you want to root for (which is exactly what you want in this sort of film). All in all I really liked this movie. Anyone who enjoys sports movies, or just good, wholesome inspirational movies, I think will enjoy this one. I highly recommend it.

Our next movie also follows the same basic formula as Invincible, but has a number of noticeable differences. That movie is Gridiron Gang, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. One of the big differences is that this movie features high school football as opposed to pro ball. Now, as a rule, I generally don’t enjoy high school football movies as much because too often there’s too much focus on parent issues and teen angst and other assorted melodramas that have little to do with football (Friday Night Lights, for example, I wasn’t impressed with at all). Gridiron Gang, however, managed to keep this to a minimum (although it was still present in a few scenes), so I can’t complain about that too much.

The Rock does a really good job in this movie, and I have to say I liked his performance. The fact that he actually played football before becoming a pro wrestler I think helps a lot with his character, and makes him pretty believable. The other actors all do a pretty good job as well. The fact that the kids are all in juvenile detention makes for an interesting twist, and they handle the issue of gang violence pretty well in the movie. I also loved the idea of bringing girls from the girl’s detention center to be cheerleaders at their games was pretty damned funny, too.

So in the end I enjoyed Invincible more of the two movies, but they’re both pretty solid films, and anyone who enjoys this genre of films will not be disappointed with either movie (at least, in my not so humble opinion).