So I made a last-minute decision to catch an early matinee showing of Cursed on Sunday (had to see it early so I could be home in time for the red carpet pre-show at the Oscars), but it was such an unimpressive, mediocre, middle-of-the-road sort of movie that I'm not even going to bother doing a write-up on it. Instead, I'm going to focus on the real event of the weekend -- The Oscars!!
I seem to get worse and worse every year as I get more and more into movies and Hollywood. I used to not really pay any attention to the Oscars. Two years ago I actually watched the whole thing. Then last year I also watched the red carpet pre-show, flipping back and forth between shows on different channels (have to maximize the viewing of the hotties in their sexy dresses). This year I did all of that, AND watched the after-awards show, recorded the late-night post-Oscar shows (which went into the wee hours, but I had to get to bed so I could get up and go to work in the morning), AND recorded Good Morning America this morning to catch their Oscar interviews!! It's becoming a scary, obsessive/compulsive sort of thing, I tell you. But what can I say, movies are my life! :)
So on to the event. I have to say, there were so many lovelies this year it's hard to know where to begin. Hilary Swank looked very fine in that backless gown of hers, Drew Barrymore was looking lovely as ever, Halle Berry was a treat for the eyes, Salma Hayek was all kinds of fine. I think my favorites for the evening, though, would have to be Natalie Portman, Zhang Ziyi (whose see-through top offered the evening's requisite nipple shot), and Catalina Sandino Moreno, who was just all-the-way-around beautiful. There were a lot of strapless gowns this year, which is something you'll certainly never hear me complain about.
So despite the fact that the critics had nothing but bad things to say about him, I think Chris Rock did a great job as host this year. And considering that almost 3/4 of the viewers polled by ABC gave him an A or B rating, and only 10% gave him a D or F, I don't think I'm in the minority in that view. As one of the commentators after the show noted, he didn't really crack on any of the people in the audience, but instead focused on people who weren't attending this year, but if you think about it, there's a good reason for that. Unlike past hosts like Billy Crystal or Steve Martin who've been in the business long enough to be friends and co-workers with many of the attendees, Chris Rock is a relative newcomer, and still more stand-up comic than movie actor. Which means it's a lot harder for him to make jabs at the people in the audience and get away with it, since he doesn't know them nearly as well as Steve Martin does. But the jabs he did make were pretty funny, and he was good enough to make jabs at himself along with everyone else, which I think says a lot.
Was his intro as good as Billy Crystal's movie montage intro last year? No, probably not, but he still did a pretty good job, IMHO. His comparison's between G. W. Bush and working at the Gap were great (when he started talking about invading Banana Republic I was laughing my ass off). But he was equal-opportunity in his political bashing, teasing Tim Robbins about "boring us with his politics". And I couldn't help but smile when he introduced Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz as "four" presenters (and they were four very nice presenters at that, especially the two that Salma was showing off so nicely in that dress of hers).
Of course, Robin Williams did his best to outshine the host when he introduced the Best Animated Feature award (I can see why they won't let him host the show, considering how much trouble he can get himself into in just a 5-minute award intro). His comments about gay cartoon characters was a riot. The funniest part of the show by far, though, was when Pierce Brosnan was joined by the animated Edna Mode from The Incredibles to announce the award for Best Costume Design. She was funny as hell!! I love the fact that they're recognizing the popularity of animated features, and taking advantage of the constantly evolving computer animation technology to start bringing animated characters into the awards presentation. This is a trend I hope to see continue in the future.
Nothing really exciting this year as far as acceptance speeches go, and nothing at all really surprising as far as the winners. Of course, there weren't exactly any big, exciting films to root for this year, either. As was to be expected, The Aviator nabbed pretty much all the technical awards it was nominated for, then it basically crashed and burned when it came to the big awards, most all of which went to Million Dollar Baby. Let's face it, for whatever reason, the Academy just doesn't really like Martin Scorsese. That poor guy's going to get a Lifetime Achievement award one of this years just because he's never won an actual directing award. The most important moment of the night, though, had to be Jamie Foxx taking the Best Actor Oscar over the much-overrated (in my opinion) Leonardo DiCaprio (if for no other reason than I had twenty bucks riding on whether or not Jamie Foxx won an Oscar -- thanks for the beer money, Cliff!).
Although I had serious reservations about the format change this year (having all of the nominees onstage for some awards, presenting some awards in the audience), I have to admit they actually did a pretty good job of it. It had sounded like people getting more minor awards were going to be glossed over because they weren't going to be going to the stage to accept their award, but in the end I think it just saved them the long walk down to the stage. When it was all said and done, I think they did a good job with the new format. It will be interesting to see what next year holds for us.
And I think that's about it. I'm sure there are plenty of moments I'm forgetting about now that are worth commenting on, and plenty more discussion I could go into about the event, but I think I've said plenty for one day, so we'll call this one good.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
John Constantine, Hellblazer
After a brief hiatus, I'm back! Sadly Valentine's Day almost always means cheesy date movies at the cinemas, and so I was forced to skip my weekly trip to the theatre (Hitch looked kinda cute, but just didn't strike me as something I wanted to spend money to go see). Not that I necessarily have anything against romantic comedies, mind you, but they're just as funny at home as they are in the theatre, and they're a lot cheaper to rent. But thankfully the Hallmark-sponsored holiday is behind us, and we can return to having good movies coming out.
And speaking of good movies (and in this case, surprisingly good movies), on Sunday I went and saw Constantine. This is based on the DC comic Hellblazer, but it's hardly what you'd call a "comic book movie". Of course, this is because the original comic is more of a horror comic, and not a superhero comic, and so we've got no one running around in tights and a cape. It really doesn't compare to any other movies based on comic books, not even Hellboy (there are some similarities, but Hellboy is still much more obviously a comic book based film). The closest movie to it that comes to mind would be The Prophecy, starring Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, and Eric Stoltz (a fantastic film -- this is the first time I remember seeing Viggo Mortensen, and his portrayal of Lucifer is so incredibly memorable. If you're a fan of his at all, this is a must-see movie, even though he only has a fairly small part in it).
If you're a fan of religious, angels and devils types of movies like The Prophecy, you'll probably enjoy this movie (this is a big reason why I liked it). The story is well done, and the acting is very well done. Keanu Reeves does a surprisingly good job. Not that I have anything against him as an actor (unlike a number of people, movie critics especially). I think he's done a pretty good job in most of the movies I've seen him in. I just didn't think he'd be able to pull off the burnt-out, bitter, cynical character that is John Constantine. But to my surprise he did a passable job of it. The rest of the cast were just as good. Rachel Weisz was solid like always, and Shia LaBeouf was great as Constantine's apprentice. One of my favorite characters was Papa Midnite, played to perfection by Djimon Hounsou. Also noteworthy was Gavin Rossdale (lead singer of the band Bush) playing the demon Balthazar.
So all in all, I'd probably give this movie 4 out of 5 stars. Not nesarrily a movie I'd rush out and see again, but definitely worth seeing at the theatre (and I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD). I'm also excited to note that the movie did really well at the theatres, and Warner Bros. is already greenlighting a sequel to it! But this excites me not so much for the sequel itself, but because this should hopefully pave the way for other movies of this type to finally get to the theatres. At the top of this list would be Garth Ennis' Preacher (he also wrote on Hellblazer), and Neil Gaiman's Death: The High Cost of Living. Both have been in development hell for a while now, so it would be great if the success of Constantine motivates the studios to starting pushing forward with them.
And that's about it for this installment. Coming up this weekend we have Wes Craven's new movie Cursed (starring the lovely and talented Christina Ricci - so going to have to see this one!), and the Tommy Lee Jones comedy Man of the House (which I'm still undecided about). And of course next weekend we get The Jacket, starring Adrien Brody and the current love of my life (I wish!), Keira Knightley! Definitely looking forward to that (it looks so creepy). I have to say it again -- it is so cool that creepy horror movies (as opposed to gory, overly-violent horror movies) are seeing a sudden popularity. I just can't get enough of these types of movies!
And speaking of good movies (and in this case, surprisingly good movies), on Sunday I went and saw Constantine. This is based on the DC comic Hellblazer, but it's hardly what you'd call a "comic book movie". Of course, this is because the original comic is more of a horror comic, and not a superhero comic, and so we've got no one running around in tights and a cape. It really doesn't compare to any other movies based on comic books, not even Hellboy (there are some similarities, but Hellboy is still much more obviously a comic book based film). The closest movie to it that comes to mind would be The Prophecy, starring Christopher Walken, Elias Koteas, and Eric Stoltz (a fantastic film -- this is the first time I remember seeing Viggo Mortensen, and his portrayal of Lucifer is so incredibly memorable. If you're a fan of his at all, this is a must-see movie, even though he only has a fairly small part in it).
If you're a fan of religious, angels and devils types of movies like The Prophecy, you'll probably enjoy this movie (this is a big reason why I liked it). The story is well done, and the acting is very well done. Keanu Reeves does a surprisingly good job. Not that I have anything against him as an actor (unlike a number of people, movie critics especially). I think he's done a pretty good job in most of the movies I've seen him in. I just didn't think he'd be able to pull off the burnt-out, bitter, cynical character that is John Constantine. But to my surprise he did a passable job of it. The rest of the cast were just as good. Rachel Weisz was solid like always, and Shia LaBeouf was great as Constantine's apprentice. One of my favorite characters was Papa Midnite, played to perfection by Djimon Hounsou. Also noteworthy was Gavin Rossdale (lead singer of the band Bush) playing the demon Balthazar.
So all in all, I'd probably give this movie 4 out of 5 stars. Not nesarrily a movie I'd rush out and see again, but definitely worth seeing at the theatre (and I'll probably buy it when it comes out on DVD). I'm also excited to note that the movie did really well at the theatres, and Warner Bros. is already greenlighting a sequel to it! But this excites me not so much for the sequel itself, but because this should hopefully pave the way for other movies of this type to finally get to the theatres. At the top of this list would be Garth Ennis' Preacher (he also wrote on Hellblazer), and Neil Gaiman's Death: The High Cost of Living. Both have been in development hell for a while now, so it would be great if the success of Constantine motivates the studios to starting pushing forward with them.
And that's about it for this installment. Coming up this weekend we have Wes Craven's new movie Cursed (starring the lovely and talented Christina Ricci - so going to have to see this one!), and the Tommy Lee Jones comedy Man of the House (which I'm still undecided about). And of course next weekend we get The Jacket, starring Adrien Brody and the current love of my life (I wish!), Keira Knightley! Definitely looking forward to that (it looks so creepy). I have to say it again -- it is so cool that creepy horror movies (as opposed to gory, overly-violent horror movies) are seeing a sudden popularity. I just can't get enough of these types of movies!
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Scary Movie Weekend
Firstly, I have to say that I just love scary movies. I'm not talking about violent, gruesome horror movies, or campy, goofy Friday the 13th style movies (not that the Friday the 13th series doesn't make for a fun marathon, mind you, but they're not exactly what I'd call "scary" movies). I'm talking about spooky, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat ghost stories; movies like The Others, Thir13en Ghosts, and The Ring. So it goes without saying that I've pretty much been in hog heaven with the recent resurgence of spooky horror movies that have been hitting the theatres in recent months (and it looks to continue at least for a little while -- I can't wait to see The Ring Two, and Christina Ricci in Cursed!).
So I decided to spend last Friday night and Saturday doing a scary movie marathon (Sunday, of course, being set aside for the Super Bowl). First on my list was a trip down to the theatre to see Boogeyman. All in all, not a bad movie. It was pretty formulaic and didn't stray far from your standard spooky ghost story film, but I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing. It knew what type of movie it was, and didn't try to be anything else. It had a couple of nice surprises, and was just creepy/spooky enough to make for a fun matinee movie. If you like scary movies, it's definitely worth seeing.
On the DVD front, I just acquired a trio of Asian horror movies -- Dark Water, The Eye, and Into The Mirror (one from Japan, one from Hong Kong, and one from Korea, so you've got a little something from all over Asia). Add in Juon: The Grudge (which I'd been sitting on for a while and finally got around to watching), and you've got the makings of a fun-filled movie weekend. I'll start with Juon. While still a good movie, after seeing the American remake, the original is a little disappointing (and it has nothing to do with Sarah Michelle Gellar -- the Japanese women in the original are much cuter). Partly this is becuase the American version had a much bigger budget, so the effects in the original look pretty cheesy by comparison. The other problem is that Juon: The Grudge is actually the THIRD movie in a series. Director Takashi Shimizu did two direct-to-video films before that (this one was the first in the series to get a theatrical release), so a lot of the back story that is explained in the American version is left out of the Japanese version, because this was information presented in the previous movies. I also wasn't jumping out of my seat as much as I was when I saw The Grudge at the theatre. But that little kid is still as creepy as ever, and all in all the movie is a very enjoyable, very spooky film.
Next we have Dark Water, directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of Ringu (the original Japanese version of The Ring). This is probably the slowest paced of all the movies I watched last weekend. Initially it feels almost more like a drama, as we see a woman going through an ugly divorce and struggling to keep custody of her young daughter. But the suspense slowly starts to build after mother and daughter move into a new apartment. A child's red backpack keeps mysteriously showing up (after repeatedly being thrown away), and a leak in their apartment's ceiling gets worse and worse (which I realize sounds pretty tame and unexciting, but the movie does a great job of making it suspenseful and freaky). The tension builds right up until the end, and both the suspense and the drama keep you glued to the screen. And the surprise twist ending was fantastic! I absolutely loved this movie. There's an American remake coming out some time soon starring Jennifer Connelly, and I'm really curious to see how it's going to compare to the original (unlike The Grudge and The Ring Two, it isn't being directed by the original Japanese director, so we'll see how good a job they do with it).
The Eye is a Hong Kong horror film about a young woman who's been blind since she was two, and is able to get replacement corneas to return her sight. However, as she adjusts to seeing again, she soon discovers that she's seeing things that nobody else is seeing -- most notably, ghosts (yes, I was immediately thinking of Haley Joel Osmet going "I see dead people," but this movie deals with it in a much more suspenseful and scary fashion). I don't think there were any scenes that had me jumping out of my seat in this one, but I definitely had my blanket pulled up tight around me through most of the movie. Some of the scenes were just really, really creepy. Add to that a pretty compelling mystery as the woman tries to discover the meaning and origin of her visions, and you've got a very enjoyable movie.
Finally, we have Into the Mirror, a film from Korea. This has to be one of the scariest, creepiest horror movies I've ever seen. It doesn't have the frights that The Grudge has, where every few scenes something is jumping out at you and making you scream and jump in your seat. Instead, it lets the tension and suspense build and build so that the audience just gets more and more freaked out. In some ways I think this is a better technique to keep people scared. Whenever a movie has a sudden fright in it that has you jumping or screaming, that reaction relieves the tension that's been building up; you immediately laugh at yourself for being startled, and the tension then starts building up all over again. With Into the Mirror, you don't really get that release, and so the tension builds through the whole movie. You'll also never look at your reflection the same way again after watching this!
The basic premise of the movie is that a shopping mall is getting ready to open after being ravaged by a fire. But in the days leading up to its opening, employees of the mall begin dying violently and mysteriously. The police are called in to discover what is going on. Of course, while the police don't know what's going on, the audience does (sort of), because we get to see the murders happen. The kicker, though, is that the people are being killed by their reflections. And that's what makes this movie so scary -- the scenes involving the mirrors. In one instance, a man is in an elevator that has mirrored walls. The camera shows him standing with his back towards the wall, so his reflection shows the back of his head. But then his reflection turns around and is looking at him! In the opening scene, one of the employees is in the mall late, and decides to steal a few items, including a pizza cutter (WHY she steals a pizza cutter isn't ever really explained, but it's necessary for the next scene, so you kind of have to just go with it). A security guard finds her and she quickly tells him she's just looking for the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, she pulls out the pizza cutter (again, odd behavior that isn't really explained; but hey, that's the movies for you). She's looking at herself in the mirror when the ID badge around her neck breaks and drops to the floor. She bends down to pick it up, but her reflection stays standing up, and even tilts its head down to look at her. She sees this as she's standing back up. While she's staring in shock at the mirror, her reflection raises the pizza cutter to its neck, and begins cutting open its throat. At the same time, the woman's throat just opens up as if it were being cut (but the woman is holding the real pizza cutter at her side). The blood/gore level is actually kept at a minimum, even in this scene, which is something I like. It's nice to see movies that are scary without resorting to blood and gore.
Scenes like this continue throughout the movie (and are all done really, really well), which turns into a murder mystery involving an employee of the mall who supposedly died in the big fire. However, the people being killed off are the ones who had identified her body (which, naturally, had been burned beyond recognition). The police discover that she has an identical twin sister (and this of course works really well with the mirror tricks, since you never know if her reflection is just her reflection, or if it's actually her dead sister), and one of the policeman works with her to discover what really happened to her twin. The director does an incredible job with the filming of the movie, filming scenes in mirrors then panning over to the real people, for example, which does a great job of keeping the audience off balance. You also see a ghostly spectre show up in the mirrors here and there, but it's almost always in the background where you almost miss it if you're not paying attention. This is one of those movies that I think you could watch several times and find things you'd missed every time you watched it.
I have to give this movie 5 stars. It's creepy, spooky, edge of your seat thrills, plus it actually has a really well-done murder mystery in it. Sadly for most folks out there, though, the only version of it I could find was a Region 3 version out of Korea, so unless you've got a region-free DVD player (I so LOVE mine!!) you're not going to find a version you can actually watch. Which is a shame, since this is such a fantastic film. With any luck it will make its way to the US eventually.
And thus ends the review of my marathon of scary movies. I can't wait to see more and more of these types of movies coming to the theatres (I plan on enjoying them while I can, since we all know that these trends last only so long, and then people get tired of them). There are also a few more Asian horror movies I need to pick up on DVD (once I can afford to buy them). For anyone who might be interested in the movies I reviewed above (or other Asian films), here are a couple of great Internet sites for buying Asian DVDs --AznFilms.com, and HKFlix.com (which also sells region-free DVD players, which is great since a lot of the DVDs on both sites are either Region 2 or Region 3). For anyone who's never watched much in the way of Asian cinema, I can't recommend it highly enough. There are some great films coming out of Asia (as seen by the number of them being remade by Hollywood), and they're a wonderful change from standard Hollywood fare.
So I decided to spend last Friday night and Saturday doing a scary movie marathon (Sunday, of course, being set aside for the Super Bowl). First on my list was a trip down to the theatre to see Boogeyman. All in all, not a bad movie. It was pretty formulaic and didn't stray far from your standard spooky ghost story film, but I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing. It knew what type of movie it was, and didn't try to be anything else. It had a couple of nice surprises, and was just creepy/spooky enough to make for a fun matinee movie. If you like scary movies, it's definitely worth seeing.
On the DVD front, I just acquired a trio of Asian horror movies -- Dark Water, The Eye, and Into The Mirror (one from Japan, one from Hong Kong, and one from Korea, so you've got a little something from all over Asia). Add in Juon: The Grudge (which I'd been sitting on for a while and finally got around to watching), and you've got the makings of a fun-filled movie weekend. I'll start with Juon. While still a good movie, after seeing the American remake, the original is a little disappointing (and it has nothing to do with Sarah Michelle Gellar -- the Japanese women in the original are much cuter). Partly this is becuase the American version had a much bigger budget, so the effects in the original look pretty cheesy by comparison. The other problem is that Juon: The Grudge is actually the THIRD movie in a series. Director Takashi Shimizu did two direct-to-video films before that (this one was the first in the series to get a theatrical release), so a lot of the back story that is explained in the American version is left out of the Japanese version, because this was information presented in the previous movies. I also wasn't jumping out of my seat as much as I was when I saw The Grudge at the theatre. But that little kid is still as creepy as ever, and all in all the movie is a very enjoyable, very spooky film.
Next we have Dark Water, directed by Hideo Nakata, the director of Ringu (the original Japanese version of The Ring). This is probably the slowest paced of all the movies I watched last weekend. Initially it feels almost more like a drama, as we see a woman going through an ugly divorce and struggling to keep custody of her young daughter. But the suspense slowly starts to build after mother and daughter move into a new apartment. A child's red backpack keeps mysteriously showing up (after repeatedly being thrown away), and a leak in their apartment's ceiling gets worse and worse (which I realize sounds pretty tame and unexciting, but the movie does a great job of making it suspenseful and freaky). The tension builds right up until the end, and both the suspense and the drama keep you glued to the screen. And the surprise twist ending was fantastic! I absolutely loved this movie. There's an American remake coming out some time soon starring Jennifer Connelly, and I'm really curious to see how it's going to compare to the original (unlike The Grudge and The Ring Two, it isn't being directed by the original Japanese director, so we'll see how good a job they do with it).
The Eye is a Hong Kong horror film about a young woman who's been blind since she was two, and is able to get replacement corneas to return her sight. However, as she adjusts to seeing again, she soon discovers that she's seeing things that nobody else is seeing -- most notably, ghosts (yes, I was immediately thinking of Haley Joel Osmet going "I see dead people," but this movie deals with it in a much more suspenseful and scary fashion). I don't think there were any scenes that had me jumping out of my seat in this one, but I definitely had my blanket pulled up tight around me through most of the movie. Some of the scenes were just really, really creepy. Add to that a pretty compelling mystery as the woman tries to discover the meaning and origin of her visions, and you've got a very enjoyable movie.
Finally, we have Into the Mirror, a film from Korea. This has to be one of the scariest, creepiest horror movies I've ever seen. It doesn't have the frights that The Grudge has, where every few scenes something is jumping out at you and making you scream and jump in your seat. Instead, it lets the tension and suspense build and build so that the audience just gets more and more freaked out. In some ways I think this is a better technique to keep people scared. Whenever a movie has a sudden fright in it that has you jumping or screaming, that reaction relieves the tension that's been building up; you immediately laugh at yourself for being startled, and the tension then starts building up all over again. With Into the Mirror, you don't really get that release, and so the tension builds through the whole movie. You'll also never look at your reflection the same way again after watching this!
The basic premise of the movie is that a shopping mall is getting ready to open after being ravaged by a fire. But in the days leading up to its opening, employees of the mall begin dying violently and mysteriously. The police are called in to discover what is going on. Of course, while the police don't know what's going on, the audience does (sort of), because we get to see the murders happen. The kicker, though, is that the people are being killed by their reflections. And that's what makes this movie so scary -- the scenes involving the mirrors. In one instance, a man is in an elevator that has mirrored walls. The camera shows him standing with his back towards the wall, so his reflection shows the back of his head. But then his reflection turns around and is looking at him! In the opening scene, one of the employees is in the mall late, and decides to steal a few items, including a pizza cutter (WHY she steals a pizza cutter isn't ever really explained, but it's necessary for the next scene, so you kind of have to just go with it). A security guard finds her and she quickly tells him she's just looking for the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, she pulls out the pizza cutter (again, odd behavior that isn't really explained; but hey, that's the movies for you). She's looking at herself in the mirror when the ID badge around her neck breaks and drops to the floor. She bends down to pick it up, but her reflection stays standing up, and even tilts its head down to look at her. She sees this as she's standing back up. While she's staring in shock at the mirror, her reflection raises the pizza cutter to its neck, and begins cutting open its throat. At the same time, the woman's throat just opens up as if it were being cut (but the woman is holding the real pizza cutter at her side). The blood/gore level is actually kept at a minimum, even in this scene, which is something I like. It's nice to see movies that are scary without resorting to blood and gore.
Scenes like this continue throughout the movie (and are all done really, really well), which turns into a murder mystery involving an employee of the mall who supposedly died in the big fire. However, the people being killed off are the ones who had identified her body (which, naturally, had been burned beyond recognition). The police discover that she has an identical twin sister (and this of course works really well with the mirror tricks, since you never know if her reflection is just her reflection, or if it's actually her dead sister), and one of the policeman works with her to discover what really happened to her twin. The director does an incredible job with the filming of the movie, filming scenes in mirrors then panning over to the real people, for example, which does a great job of keeping the audience off balance. You also see a ghostly spectre show up in the mirrors here and there, but it's almost always in the background where you almost miss it if you're not paying attention. This is one of those movies that I think you could watch several times and find things you'd missed every time you watched it.
I have to give this movie 5 stars. It's creepy, spooky, edge of your seat thrills, plus it actually has a really well-done murder mystery in it. Sadly for most folks out there, though, the only version of it I could find was a Region 3 version out of Korea, so unless you've got a region-free DVD player (I so LOVE mine!!) you're not going to find a version you can actually watch. Which is a shame, since this is such a fantastic film. With any luck it will make its way to the US eventually.
And thus ends the review of my marathon of scary movies. I can't wait to see more and more of these types of movies coming to the theatres (I plan on enjoying them while I can, since we all know that these trends last only so long, and then people get tired of them). There are also a few more Asian horror movies I need to pick up on DVD (once I can afford to buy them). For anyone who might be interested in the movies I reviewed above (or other Asian films), here are a couple of great Internet sites for buying Asian DVDs --AznFilms.com, and HKFlix.com (which also sells region-free DVD players, which is great since a lot of the DVDs on both sites are either Region 2 or Region 3). For anyone who's never watched much in the way of Asian cinema, I can't recommend it highly enough. There are some great films coming out of Asia (as seen by the number of them being remade by Hollywood), and they're a wonderful change from standard Hollywood fare.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Alone in the Dark
So I went and saw Alone in the Dark this weekend. The critics, naturally, tore this movie apart -- but then again, it's an action/horror/video game movie, so OF COURSE they tore it apart. Personally I don't know why studios screen movies like this for critics. They know just as well as the rest of us that the critics are going to tear it apart for not being the next Sideways (which I still say looks like a boring and dumb movie). Not that I'm saying Alone in the Dark is a great movie or anything, but it sure had me laughing my ass off (oh wait, it wasn't actually supposed to be a comedy, was it?).
It's always been my opinion that there are two types of bad movies out there -- the kind that when the movie is over, you can't believe you actually wasted money on it, and spend the drive home complaining about all the things wrong with the movie, and then the kind where you spend the drive home laughing your ass off about all the things that were wrong with the movie. Alone in the Dark definitely falls into the latter category. And so my response to all the critics out there is this, "Lighten up!!" Seriously, these people really, really need to invest in a sense of humor (somehow I see a full post all about the complete uselessness of movie critics somewhere in my future). Is this movie Shakespeare? Is it the next big contender for Best Picture? Not even close. But then again, IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE!! But you know what, that's not always the end of the world. Every now and then it's fun to go see a movie that's just bad and simply enjoy how bad it is (for example, one of the trailers I saw this weekend was for a movie called The Cave, which looks like just a horrible, horrible movie that's been done way too many times before. But I'll probably catch it on a matinee anyways, just so I can laugh and joke with my buddies about how horrible it was once it's over).
The biggest shame about Alone in the Dark is that it really had the potential to be a good movie. Actually, it had the potential to be several good movies, and I think that was it's biggest failing. It couldn't quite decide what type of a movie it wanted to be, and so you get Aliens merged with National Treasure merged with Resident Evil merged with a couple of other movies. Which ends up leaving us with all kinds of gaping plot holes and unanswered questions, and scenes that don't seem to fit into the movie, and interesting plotlines that end up going nowhere. Which is too bad, really, because I think Christian Slater is a damned good actor, so it'd be nice if he could get into a good movie where he can showcase his talents. And one with co-stars that can actually act!
Stephen Dorff isn't that bad an actor (although he's not exactly at his best in this one), but Tara Reid? How that girl still has a career is beyond me. Most of the worst-delivered (and consequently, the funniest) lines in the movie come out of her mouth. The least they could have done is expanded the brief, almost sex scene between her and Christian Slater so that we could have seen some nudity (this is a movie that certainly wouldn't have suffered from a gratuitous nude scene). Hell, Tara showed more tit at her last red carpet event than she did here!
Well, I think that's about it for this rant. Hard to say when my next post will be. Looking at the schedule, it looks like it'll be a good three weeks before the next movie of note (Constantine) comes out (but January/February are usually pretty dead months at the cinema, so no surprise there). Maybe I'll have to do my rant about the critics this week or next.
It's always been my opinion that there are two types of bad movies out there -- the kind that when the movie is over, you can't believe you actually wasted money on it, and spend the drive home complaining about all the things wrong with the movie, and then the kind where you spend the drive home laughing your ass off about all the things that were wrong with the movie. Alone in the Dark definitely falls into the latter category. And so my response to all the critics out there is this, "Lighten up!!" Seriously, these people really, really need to invest in a sense of humor (somehow I see a full post all about the complete uselessness of movie critics somewhere in my future). Is this movie Shakespeare? Is it the next big contender for Best Picture? Not even close. But then again, IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE!! But you know what, that's not always the end of the world. Every now and then it's fun to go see a movie that's just bad and simply enjoy how bad it is (for example, one of the trailers I saw this weekend was for a movie called The Cave, which looks like just a horrible, horrible movie that's been done way too many times before. But I'll probably catch it on a matinee anyways, just so I can laugh and joke with my buddies about how horrible it was once it's over).
The biggest shame about Alone in the Dark is that it really had the potential to be a good movie. Actually, it had the potential to be several good movies, and I think that was it's biggest failing. It couldn't quite decide what type of a movie it wanted to be, and so you get Aliens merged with National Treasure merged with Resident Evil merged with a couple of other movies. Which ends up leaving us with all kinds of gaping plot holes and unanswered questions, and scenes that don't seem to fit into the movie, and interesting plotlines that end up going nowhere. Which is too bad, really, because I think Christian Slater is a damned good actor, so it'd be nice if he could get into a good movie where he can showcase his talents. And one with co-stars that can actually act!
Stephen Dorff isn't that bad an actor (although he's not exactly at his best in this one), but Tara Reid? How that girl still has a career is beyond me. Most of the worst-delivered (and consequently, the funniest) lines in the movie come out of her mouth. The least they could have done is expanded the brief, almost sex scene between her and Christian Slater so that we could have seen some nudity (this is a movie that certainly wouldn't have suffered from a gratuitous nude scene). Hell, Tara showed more tit at her last red carpet event than she did here!
Well, I think that's about it for this rant. Hard to say when my next post will be. Looking at the schedule, it looks like it'll be a good three weeks before the next movie of note (Constantine) comes out (but January/February are usually pretty dead months at the cinema, so no surprise there). Maybe I'll have to do my rant about the critics this week or next.
Friday, January 21, 2005
House of Flying Daggers
So much to my surprise and delight, the local arthouse theatre here, The Wilma (http://www.thewilma.com/), actually got House of Flying Daggers. And I'm especially glad they picked it up, because it's a great theatre to see movies in. It's an old, classic style theatre (it's an 82-year-old historical landmark), but it's got digital sound and a top end screen. As rundown as the outside is starting to get, it's still the best theatre in town (but sadly that's because Montana is stuck with Carmike Cinemas for most of our theatres). Too bad most of the movies they get in aren't ones I'd normally be interested in seeing, especially if I have to pay for the privelege (I don't care how many awards it's won; after seeing the trailer for Sideways, the only way I'd go see it was if I was a movie critic who was getting paid to go see it).
I have to say, I really enjoyed House of Flying Daggers. While not quite as good a movie as Hero was, it still had it's strong points. Among them was the fact that it had its humorous moments (which Hero didn't really have), and like Hero, the fight scenes were spectacular. The actors were superb, and of course Zhang Ziyi was as lovely and enjoyable to watch as ever. The movie was a little disappointing in a couple of spots, however. Naturally, with movies of this sort, there's a fair amount of suspension of disbelief required to really enjoy them, which is fine, but in this case I think they pushed that boundary a little too far a few times, and a couple of scenes were just a little too over the top for me. But it's the story that I think really sells the movie for me. It's very engaging, and there are all kinds of twists and surprises that you just don't see coming (I didn't, anyways). You are completely drawn into the interactions between the three main characters. I won't spoil the ending, but considering that this is a Chinese film, it goes without saying that it doesn't end on a cheery note.
Which brings me to my next topic of discussion -- the differences between American movies and Chinese movies (or foreign films in general, for that matter). After really getting into Hong Kong action cinema, I found it very fascinating to compare the basic formulas between Chinese action/crime style movies, and Hollywood action/crime movies. Both genres have a very basic formula that almost all movies in the genre more or less follow, but the two different formulas have some very distinct differences, especially in regards to how the movie ends. Let's take a look at the Hollywood formula first. With a Hollywood movie, the climax/ending pretty much falls along these lines: villain kidnaps girl, hero confronts and defeats villain, thus saving the girl, then hero and girl ride off into the sunset. Very much your standard happily-ever-after Hollywood ending. Obviously the specifics will be different, but if you go over the base storyline of almost any action movie to come out of Hollywood, you'll see that it follows this basic formula.
Now let's look at the Chinese formula: villain kills girl, so hero confronts and defeats villain, avenging girl. As you can probably guess, this formula doesn't exactly leave a lot of room for a happy ending. Instead, you get what I think of as a bittersweet ending; you get the satisfaction of knowing the bad guy got what was coming to him, but at the same time your hero has to deal with the grief of having lost the girl he loves. And this is pretty much the standard formula you'll find for almost all Chinese action films (at least, pretty much all of the ones I've seen, anyways). Being an American who's expecting the guy to get the girl in the end, it was always a shock to me to see the girl die, but after a while you get used to it, and now whenever I see a Chinese film, I go into it expecting the ending to be fairly dark.
I think this is one of the things that's always drawn me to foreign films -- movies very much represent the culture that made them, and it's really intriguing to see the cultural differences that show up. It's also interesting to see the common threads that run through movies. I don't think a person really realizes just how similar Hollywood movies are within a genre until they've watched a few movies of that genre from another country. Then you see just how differently the films can be done from what you're used to. I mean, imagine, for example, that Diehard had been made in Hong Kong. Suddenly you'd end up seeing McClane forced to watch Hans Gruber killing his wife, then he'd get his vengeance on him, and end the film morning the death of his wife. It's suddenly not quite the same movie at that point.
For anyone who's a fan of movies at all, I'd strongly recommend seeing a few foreign films (not just Hollywood remakes of foreign films -- go see the real thing!). Reading subtitles during a movie isn't THAT big a deal, no matter what some people seem to think. And watching the movie dubbed into English just isn't the same as hearing the actual actors' voices. You might end up with a whole new perspective on the American movies you normally watch.
I have to say, I really enjoyed House of Flying Daggers. While not quite as good a movie as Hero was, it still had it's strong points. Among them was the fact that it had its humorous moments (which Hero didn't really have), and like Hero, the fight scenes were spectacular. The actors were superb, and of course Zhang Ziyi was as lovely and enjoyable to watch as ever. The movie was a little disappointing in a couple of spots, however. Naturally, with movies of this sort, there's a fair amount of suspension of disbelief required to really enjoy them, which is fine, but in this case I think they pushed that boundary a little too far a few times, and a couple of scenes were just a little too over the top for me. But it's the story that I think really sells the movie for me. It's very engaging, and there are all kinds of twists and surprises that you just don't see coming (I didn't, anyways). You are completely drawn into the interactions between the three main characters. I won't spoil the ending, but considering that this is a Chinese film, it goes without saying that it doesn't end on a cheery note.
Which brings me to my next topic of discussion -- the differences between American movies and Chinese movies (or foreign films in general, for that matter). After really getting into Hong Kong action cinema, I found it very fascinating to compare the basic formulas between Chinese action/crime style movies, and Hollywood action/crime movies. Both genres have a very basic formula that almost all movies in the genre more or less follow, but the two different formulas have some very distinct differences, especially in regards to how the movie ends. Let's take a look at the Hollywood formula first. With a Hollywood movie, the climax/ending pretty much falls along these lines: villain kidnaps girl, hero confronts and defeats villain, thus saving the girl, then hero and girl ride off into the sunset. Very much your standard happily-ever-after Hollywood ending. Obviously the specifics will be different, but if you go over the base storyline of almost any action movie to come out of Hollywood, you'll see that it follows this basic formula.
Now let's look at the Chinese formula: villain kills girl, so hero confronts and defeats villain, avenging girl. As you can probably guess, this formula doesn't exactly leave a lot of room for a happy ending. Instead, you get what I think of as a bittersweet ending; you get the satisfaction of knowing the bad guy got what was coming to him, but at the same time your hero has to deal with the grief of having lost the girl he loves. And this is pretty much the standard formula you'll find for almost all Chinese action films (at least, pretty much all of the ones I've seen, anyways). Being an American who's expecting the guy to get the girl in the end, it was always a shock to me to see the girl die, but after a while you get used to it, and now whenever I see a Chinese film, I go into it expecting the ending to be fairly dark.
I think this is one of the things that's always drawn me to foreign films -- movies very much represent the culture that made them, and it's really intriguing to see the cultural differences that show up. It's also interesting to see the common threads that run through movies. I don't think a person really realizes just how similar Hollywood movies are within a genre until they've watched a few movies of that genre from another country. Then you see just how differently the films can be done from what you're used to. I mean, imagine, for example, that Diehard had been made in Hong Kong. Suddenly you'd end up seeing McClane forced to watch Hans Gruber killing his wife, then he'd get his vengeance on him, and end the film morning the death of his wife. It's suddenly not quite the same movie at that point.
For anyone who's a fan of movies at all, I'd strongly recommend seeing a few foreign films (not just Hollywood remakes of foreign films -- go see the real thing!). Reading subtitles during a movie isn't THAT big a deal, no matter what some people seem to think. And watching the movie dubbed into English just isn't the same as hearing the actual actors' voices. You might end up with a whole new perspective on the American movies you normally watch.
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