Two in one day!!!

Will you look at that – the blog entries just keep on coming! Two in one day!! How amazing is that?! Let’s just hope I can actually maintain this momentum for a little while. So the week following Sin City brought us Sahara. While not a great movie, it was a fun popcorn matinee sort of movie. It wasn't nearly as good as National Treasure, it was certainly a hell of a lot better than the sadly disappointing Lara Croft films (I still want to slap the writer/director of those films completely senseless for screwing up what should have been great movies). Matthew McConaughey does a pretty good job as the hero here, and I’ve always liked Steve Zahn. Admittedly he tends to play the same goofy sort of character in every movie he does, but he’s really good at it, so I don’t see any reason to complain. And of course Penelope Cruz is just nice to watch.

The movie has all things you’d expect from an action/adventure movie – gun fights, chase scenes, lots of action, a fair bit of comedy to lighten things. Sadly, while it has all the elements you’d expect, it doesn’t really have anything to make it unique or original. So while it is enjoyable to watch, there’s really nothing about it to make it stand out from any other movie of this type. I’d probably give it about 3 ½ stars.

Also released this weekend was Fever Pitch, which I need to see one of these days (if for no other reason than I’m a pretty big fan of Drew Barrymore), but I haven’t gotten around to seeing it yet.

So on we go to the next weekend (that would be Friday, April 15^th for those of you keeping track). This weekend brought a single wide release (which I don’t even think I got around to seeing until a week or two after it came out), and that would be the absolutely horrid and completely unnecessary remake to The Amityville Horror. This movie stars serious Ryan Reynolds (you can always tell serious Ryan Reynolds from comedy Ryan Reynolds because he has a beard). Sadly, serious Ryan Reynolds really isn’t very impressive as an actor (his role in Blade: Trinity was just terrible!). He doesn’t do too bad a job here, but it’s still nothing all that impressive. The original of this movie was a really good film – very spooky, very atmospheric. This version basically steals elements from every popular horror movie to come out in the last few years (especially the remakes of Japanese horror films that have been so popular lately), and throws them together around the basic story outline of the original film (they still have the audacity to list this one as being “based on a true story,” which is a complete joke). Don’t waste your time or money on this complete waste of a film.

From utter crap we move on to a pretty good political thriller the next weekend – The Interpreter starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. While I did like this movie, nothing about it really stands out enough for me to remember several months later. This is one of those movies that I enjoyed, and I’m really glad I saw, but it’s not one I think I’d watch more than once or maybe twice, so I probably won’t get it on DVD. I wish I’d done this review months ago so that I could give this movie the write-up that it deserves, but them’s the breaks. Well, I think that’s enough for one entry. More to follow soon.

Sin City ('nough said)

Frank Miller’s Sin City. I have but three little words for it – OH. MY. GOD. This movie was absolutely f*#@ing incredible!!! And to hell with any of the idiotic, useless movie critics out there who thought otherwise. I loved this movie. I saw it like three times before it left the theatres. Visually, it is stunning. The stark black and white interspersed with bits of color really gets your attention. The stories are involving, the characters are interesting and unique, the women are incredibly hot. Admittedly it is very violent, and there a few scenes that I could have done without (for example, Clive Owen forces Benicio Del Toro’s head into a toilet and holds it there for several seconds to intimidate him. When Benicio pulls his head out, he spits out quite a bit of very yellow water, which stands out all the more since everything else in the scene is black and white). Even the more vulgar, distasteful scenes, though, still very much fit into the theme and mood of the film, so you can appreciate their being in the movie, even if you don’t really enjoy watching them.

I especially like the ending of the movie, which ties in well with the beginning of the film to really complete the stories and tie everything together. The movie certainly isn’t for everyone, but if you like gritty, dark, violent pulp fiction, then you’ll love this movie. I can’t wait for this to come out on DVD. However, to be fair, there are a few negatives. While most of the performances are pretty damned good, Bruce Willis kind of looks like he’s just going through the motions at times. Also, this being pulp fiction, some of the dialogue is pretty over the top. Michael Madsen especially (who’s generally a great actor that I really like) seems to have trouble delivering some of the lines, and they come out kind of flat. But these minor faults can certainly be forgiven in what is overall a fantastic film.

And of course no conversion about Sin City would be complete without talking about the women in the movie. Jessica Alba not surprisingly is incredibly sexy, and gives a wonderful performance. She is just all around a great actress. Alexis Bledel also does a great job with her character (and she's REALLY cute). Rosario Dawson is really fun to watch (and has a couple of great lines), and Jaime King and Brittany Murphy do passable jobs with the roles that they have (although both have somewhat smaller roles). My absolute favorite, though, has to be Devon Aoki’s silent killer prostitute Miho. She is just so cool!

Well, I’ve probably gushed enough about this wonderful, incredible movie. I’m sure there’s plenty of people out there who’ll disagree with me, but as far as I’m concerned this is without question the best movie so far this year. It’s worth seeing over and over and over again. Of course, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is out today (I'll definitely be seeing that this weekend), so we’ll have to see how it compares. I’m a big enough fan of Johnny Depp, Tim Burton, and the original story and movie that I fully expect this one to give Sin City a good run for its money (and maybe in a few weeks or so when I actually get caught up with my blog, I’ll be able to tell you how they compare).

Oh, one final note. While checking out imdb’s entry on Sin City (to make sure I spelled everyone’s name correctly), I noticed an entry for Sin City 2 that says it’s supposedly due out in 2006. We can only hope!!!

A new post!! Oh my God! Is it really possible?!?

So after a good 3 months (God, has it really been that long?!) without an update, I’m finally getting around to writing a new entry. I do feel kind of bad about going so long without writing anything, but considering that my blog is only one of a long list of things that I’ve fallen behind on because of my move and new job (and further delayed by my purchase of a new computer that I needed to build, install, and then setup with all my programs,data, etc.), I don’t feel too bad about the delay. Of course, I’m looking over the long list of movies I’ve seen since my last review (which sadly is even further back than my last blog entry), and I’m suddenly realizing just what a daunting task I have getting caught up.

My memory being what it is, there’s pretty much no way I’m going to recall all the movies I’ve seen in the last several months. So I went to my favorite site for movie release information, Greg’s Previews at Yahoo Movies. With that list in hand, I guess I’ll just start at the beginning, and work my way through to the present. It’ll probably take me several entries (and some movies, such as Star Wars: Episode III and Sin City, pretty much require their own entries), but I’ll get there. Promise.

As I’m sure you’ll recall (and if not, here’s your reminder), my last actual movie review was waaaaay back on Monday, March 7^th, when I discussed The Pacifier and The Jacket (both of which are already out on DVD, for God’s sake). So let’s just go from there to the next weekend’s movies, which about as polar opposites as you’re likely to find. First we have a fun, family-friendly animated film. Then we have a very dark, intensely violent action thriller. The first movie would of course be Robots, from the animators who gave us Ice Age. While not as good as Pixar’s films (but that pretty much goes without saying – NOBODY makes animated films like Pixar!), and not quite as good as the Shrek movies, it’s still quite the enjoyable movie. There’s plenty of humor to keep the parents amused (without getting vulgar or adult with the humor, as lame supposed kids’ movies like Cat in the Hat stooped to), and plenty of action and fun for the kiddies to laugh at and enjoy. All in all I think I’d give it 4 stars. Definitely a fun time for the whole family. On the flip side of that, we have the Bruce Willis kidnapping thriller Hostage. While one of my buddies will certainly disagree with me (you know who you are), I have to say I much preferred the more straight forward Assault on Precinct 13 remake. While it had its violent moments, it didn’t have the dark quality or the intensity to the violence that Hostage had. Now don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the movie and I'm glad I saw it, and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys thrillers and doesn’t mind violence, but I don’t know that it’s a movie I’d watch more than once or twice. Assault on Precinct 13, on the other hand, I could watch repeatedly (either version of the movie, as far as that goes). I’d go into more detail on the films, but it’s been long enough since I’ve seen them that I don’t remember more than the broad strokes (guess that’s what I get for ignoring my blog for so damned long!). But I would certainly recommend both movies (to VERY different audiences, however).

Well, while I’m on a roll with this thing, let’s jump right into the next movie weekend, shall we? So back to Greg’s Previews to see what was playing the weekend of March 18^th. Well, what do you know, we once again have two very different movies opening. First we have the Michelle Trachtenberg film Ice Princess, and then we have the sequel to a Japanese horror movie remake, The Ring Two. I have to say, I really like Michelle Trachtenberg. But no, I didn’t actually go and see Ice Princess (I have my pride, after all). Which is not to say I won’t see it eventually. So let’s move on to The Ring Two. While I won’t say it was a complete waste of time, I do have to admit that I was pretty disappointed with it, especially considering that they got the director of the original Japanese Ring series, Hideo Nakata (a true genius of the horror movie genre as far as I’m concerned). It just didn’t have the punch of the original movie. It had its creepy moments, but didn’t really have the frights of the original, and the story sadly could have used a little work. Also, the film was missing Daveigh Chase, who brilliantly played Samara in the original movie (and did the voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch, surprisingly enough). So I think if I were to rate it, I’d give it 2 ½, maybe 3 stars.

The rest of March featured a handful of crappy looking comedies, none of which I bothered to go see. So this is probably a good place to stop (so that I can get this thing posted!). Plus, our next movie to be reviewed is the absolute best movie of the year so far (including the summer blockbusters I’ve seen so far), Sin City (which is very much getting its own blog entry)!! I loved this movie so much that with the possible exception of Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, I don’t expect it to get knocked off the top of the list for this year’s movies until Serenity comes out in September (I fully expect Joss Whedon to completely blow away the rest of the competition for the year – God knows he could teach a certain other sci-fi writer/director a few things about putting together a decent story. But I'll go more into that when that particular movie gets its scathing review). So that’s it for now. I will try my best to continue diligently pushing forward with my blog entries, so hopefully you’ll get to see more of my glowing praise for Sin City very soon.

Oh, and in case nobody noticed, to make up for my horrid, inexcusable delay in getting a new post out, I’ve added a new feature to the blog (well, I'll try and remember to do it for every new entry) – I will now be linking all actor/actress names and movie titles to imdb (only the greatest movie information site in the whole world). Later!!

Delays, delays, delays

Weeks go by, and still no update. Of course, now I'm in the process of moving to a new town to start a new job, so it'll probably be a few more weeks before I can sit down and do a real update. I do have to say this, though -- Sin City has to be one of the coolest movies I've seen in I don't know how long!! I'm going to have to see that AT LEAST one more time at the theatre!! Other than that, I need to go back through the release schedule and figure out what else I've actually seen recently that I still need to comment on. More to come eventually! :)

Argh!!!!

I am so overdue to put an update on this page (I've got several new movies I need to review, not to mention more mean, nasty things to say about idiot movie critics). But sadly between March Madness and way too much crap going on at the office, I simply haven't found time to do it. So be patient, my faithful readers; I'll try to get a real post on here some time this week.