Author: crunchonthis

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No Country For Old Men – Caught in the Middle

No Country For Old Men

Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen
Rated R for strong graphic violence and some language
Blu-ray and standard DVD available on March 11, 2008

When No Country won the Oscar for best picture, a lot of folks, including me, were forced to do a lot of head scratching.  But upon much reflection, I have started to see what is so amazing about this film.  My biggest problem with it was what they did with the hero.  Of course I thought the hero was Brolin’s character.  If you watch the film from the point of view that Jones’s sheriff is the hero, Bardem is the villain, and Brolin is just caught in the middle, the film takes on a new dimension.  It is a deeply complex story with interesting characters and thought-provoking dialogue.  The DVD contains a nice documentary on the making of the film and working with the Coens, but like all of the other Coen Brothers films, there is no commentary from them describing their strange, quirky process. 


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Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears A Who! – It’s The End Of The Speck As We Know It

Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!     B

Starring the voice talent of Jim Carrey, Steve Carell, and Will Arnett
Rated G
Appropriate for all ages

The Story: An elephant named Horton discovers that a whole world named Whoville exists on a speck atop a flower.  While he is able to communicate with the mayor of this world, no one believes his tale, and conversely, no one in Whoville believes the mayor.  When the animals in Horton’s world try to kill off this speck, it is up to Horton to outwit them and do what he can to save Whoville from being wiped out of existence.

The Good: You can already guess that kids are gonna love this flick.  It is fast paced with loads of colors and a story that they will eat up.  While the film is not as adult friendly as your average Pixar pic, this one should keep the interest of the parents as well as other non-parental units that might wander into the theater.  The creativity is abundant here and should make most audiences fond of this lesser-known Dr. Seuss tale. 
I do find it very intriguing that the commercials and trailers for the film are trying to sell the voice talent over the film itself.  For those thinking that they are getting a Judd Apatow animated film here, please know that Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill are very minor toons in the story and are only being touted in the ads to get you thinking that you might be seeing a G-rated Superbad.  That being said, Carrey, Carell, and Arnett are all brilliant in their respective roles.

The Bad: Every so often the animation breaks from computer to hand-drawn in a very awkward way.  They even try to throw in a Pokeman sequence which feels very out of place.  Also, the end of the movie ends with a song that kind of ruins the enjoyment being had.  From what I understand, Jim Carey insisted on the song against the studio’s direction, and I really wish the studio had stuck to their guns and nixed it. 

The Summary: Beautiful animation combined with innovative story-telling make this a great family film that won’t dull the wits of the children watching it.

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10,000 B.C. A Prehistoric Disapointment

10,000 B.C.     C-

Starring Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, and Cliff Curtis
Directed by Roland Emmerich (Independence Day)
Rated PG-13 for sequences of action and violence
Appropriate for ages 13+

The Story: 12,000 years ago, a tribe is invaded and the men kidnapped for the purpose of building the first pyramids of Egypt.  One of the men that survived the attack goes after his tribesman and his woman, who was also stolen as a gift for the king.  Along the way he encounters many strange beasts and becomes a leader of men.

The Good: There is no doubt that the film feels like a big epic.  It’s immense in subject matter and full of great concepts.  The cinematography is pretty spectacular as are the aesthetically beautiful sets.  A lot of skill went into the building of this film.

The Bad: No matter how big your film is, without a decent script, there is no movie.  This script needed some help.  Writer Harold Kloser is a decent music composer, but his first script lacks the complexity and creativity of his music.  The story is not compelling and the characters don’t earn our empathy or interest.  The story has some potential, but doesn’t know what to do with it.  Maybe it’s the distraction that the film steals too many elements from other more successful epics such as Apocalypto and Dances With Wolves, or maybe its that the acting is so poor by most of the cast, but whatever it is, it’s more than apparent that this pic just doesn’t work. 

To make matters worse, the CG isn’t up to snuff.  The mammoths look decent, but the saber-tooth tiger looks completely inorganic.  And lets not discuss the giant birds that look more like dodos than raptors.

I have here exactly the opposite complaint that I had with Semi-Pro last week: this should have been an R-rated film.  You throw in more violence, more bad behavior, and maybe even some decent romance and/or sex, and you might have the ingredients for a pretty strong film on your hands.

The Summary: Bad acting, writing, and C.G. effects plague this promising prehistoric picture.

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Into The Wild – The Ultimate Adventure



Into the Wild

Starring Emile Hirsch, Hal Holbrook, and Vince Vaughn
Directed by Sean Penn
Rated R for language and some nudity
Available March 4, 2008 on Standard DVD and HD-DVD

Based on the real life and death of Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild follows a young man that leaves behind the comforts of home and travels around the country on foot in the search to find true happiness and satisfaction.  When he ends up stranded in an abandoned bus in Alaska, he faces the most difficult of challenges: staying alive.  For some strange reason, this film found itself missing from Beaumont theaters this last fall, in spite of achieving some relatively decent box office numbers (22 million), so hopefully it will find a good audience on DVD.  Sean Penn and crew put a lot of love into this mesmerizing story and the performances by Hirsch, Holbrook, and others are very strong.  In theaters the film seemed a little long (148 minutes), but on the small screen it feels just right.  I wish there was a commentary or two, but all we get on the two-disc set are the film and a couple of production documentaries. 

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American Gangster – Bringing It To The Streets

American Gangster

Starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe
Directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator)
Rated R for violence, pervasive drug content and language, nudity and sexuality
Appropriate for ages 17+
Release Date: February 19, 2008 on DVD and HD-DVD

I firmly believe that had this great American crime drama been released in theaters in December, we would have seen this film nominated for tons of Oscars this year.  Just because the buzz burned out too early, though, don’t skip this powerful drama based on the true story of Frank Lucas, the infamous gangster that was responsible for destroying Harlem with his steady supply of pure heroine.   Imagine  Scarface meets The French Connection and you have American Gangster, a nail-biting thriller that belongs more in the 70’s than in today.  The DVD contains an Unrated Extended Cut while the HD-DVD version contains both the original in HD and the new cut on the flip-side in standard format.  The alternate beginning is a little over-hyped due to the fact that they just moved the post-credits sequence to the front, and the deleted scenes aren’t all that memorable, but there is a very informative commentary by director Ridley Scott and writer Steven Zaillian. 

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Darkon – Nerds in Paradise



Darkon

Unrated but contains strong language
Directed by Luke Meyer
Release Date: February 26, 2008

This winner of the 2006 Audience Favorite Documentary at Austin’s South by Southwest Film Festival follows the lives of a strange group of folks that like to take their role-playing to an extreme.  Every weekend this group of wannabe warrior poets set out to conquer and destroy their enemies in a live-action dungeons and dragons-ish universe.  At first the pic is just funny and peculiar, but rapidly turns into an immensely interesting and entertaining adventure reminiscent of this year’s King of Kong.  So, in honor of this year’s South by Southwest Festival, which is about to start up (www.sxsw.com), I’d like to highly recommend this terrific little doc.

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Vantage Point – Yours, Mine, and the Truth


Vantage Point    B-

Starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, William Hurt, and Forest Whitaker
Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, some disturbing images and brief strong language
Appropriate for ages 13+

The Story: Set in modern-day Spain, the President of the United States (Hurt) is attending a summit and arranges to make a public good-will speech.  Before he utters a word, he is shot by an assassin.  This scenario is told over and over again from different vantage points and character views until the story resolves itself.  During the course of the film the audience sees the view from the Secret Serviceman (Quaid), the American tourist (Whitaker), the President himself, and the assassins and how they all intertwine.

The Good: For an action film, you could do much worse.  There is plenty of adrenaline for everyone and you barely get a chance to breathe before the story starts over again.  Yes it’s a little gimmicky, but the gimmick pays off and leaves us with an overall entertaining experience.  I think that you have to appreciate the originality here and the 24 style film making works well with the premise.

The Bad: Quaid is very good here, but some of the performances, especially Whitaker’s, are pretty cheesy.  I also thought that the big twist was more than a little predictable, but it doesn’t hurt the effectiveness too much. 

The Summary: Creativity combined with fast action makes this a nice little popcorn flick.

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And The Winner Is…

Just a couple of weeks ago it looked like we might be missing a televised Oscar ceremony this year.  Fortunately, the writer’s strike is officially over and the fiasco that occurred with the Golden Globes won’t be repeated for the big show.  John Stewart is poised and ready and now has a team of writers to help him make the most of the biggest night of the year for movies.  A lot of folks think the winners for the top six will be fairly predictable, and the odds-makers agree.  As for my ballot, I am going to predict some bigtime upsets.  While most think that the Coen’s latest pic No Country For Old Men will steal the show, I think that the buzz might have faded out early and that there will be some huge surprises.  There is one thing for sure – there will be many different winners on February 24.  So who will they be?  Here are my thoughts…

Best Picture – There Will Be Blood.  While I think that AtonementJuno are far superior films, and that the odds are in No Country’s favor, I think there will be just enough votes to push Blood into the winner’s circle.

Best Director – Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.  While he might be best known for his beautiful paintings, Butterfly has got Hollywood singing Schnabel’s praises and if the Coen’s have lost any steam at all, this could be the surprise of the night.  As an aside, Schnabel received his B.F.A. from the University of Houston and deserves some cheering on from the locals!

Best Actor – Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood.  While the competition is good, I think that Lewis is the winner by a mile.  It’s rare that the front-runner is this far ahead of the pack. 

Best Actress – Jule Christie, Away From Her.  As much as I want Ellen Page to win for Juno, I think that Christie’s portrait of a woman suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease will take the trophy. 

Best Supporting Actor – Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men.  Personally, I preferred the performance of Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild due to the fact that he actually acted rather than just terrified, but I have to admit that Bardem gave a truly scary performance that will be remembered for years to come. 

Best Supporting Actress – Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone.  As a character, she upset me more than any other character I saw on screen this year.  Her performance was almost too real and evoked some very hateful feelings from it’s audience.  If that doesn’t earn an Oscar, then i don’t know what will.  

As for the rest of the slate, here’s how I would vote.

Best Animated Feature – Ratatouille
Art Direction – Sweeney Todd
Cinematography – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Costume Design – Atonement
Documentary Feature – Sicko
Film Editing – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Foreign Language Film – Mongol
Makeup – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Original Score – Atonement
Original Song – “Falling Slowly” – Once
Sound Editing – The Bourne Ultimatum
Sound Mixing – The Bourne Ultimatum
Visual Effects – Transformers
Adapted Screenplay – No Country For Old Men
Original Screenplay – Juno

While these aren’t all my personal picks, this is how my ballot would look if I had to try to predict the future.   

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The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – A Hauntingly Beautiful Western

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, and Sam Rockwell
Rated R for strong violence and brief sexual references
Appropriate for ages 17+
Release Date: February 12, 2008
Available on DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD

2007 was a great year for westerns, and Jesse James was the cream of the crop.  Based on the brilliant book by Ron Hansen, the pic follows the infamous Jesse James and his gang and how he came to his demise.  Yes, the story is all there in the title, but the journey is very much worth taking. Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck turn in amazing, award-worthy performances as the titular characters.   The screenplay , like the book, comes across like poetry.  The biggest standout is the breathtaking look of the film shot by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins.  I must recommend a wait on purchasing this one at this time.  Due to the fact that this is a bare-bones disc with movie only, a rental will suffice.  While I wasn’t able to inspect the Blu-Ray or HD-DVD versions, my research shows that they are laid out the same way.  I’m sure a special edition will be on it’s way. 

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Fool’s Gold – 10 Reasons Not To See This Film

Fool’s Gold     D

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Kate Hudson, Donald Sutherland and Ray Winstone
Directed by Andrew Tennant (Hitch)
Rated PG-13 for action violence, some sexual material, brief nudity and language
Appropriate for ages 15+

The Story: A newly divorced couple, McConaughey and Hudson, attempt to find a treasure that has been buried for almost 300 years.  In their way is a rap mogul that not only wants the treasure, but wants them dead as well.

The Good: The aesthetics look professional.  This is a well shot film with lots of good action sequences and a whole lot of well-toned skin from its actors and actresses. 

The Bad: 1) This is a romantic comedy that is neither romantic nor funny.  2) The script is abysmal.  3) The plot is laid out like a bad Scooby Doo episode.  4) The villains are cookie cutter goof balls.  5) The two best actors in the film (Sutherland and Winstone) turn in the two worst performances.  6) The sidekick played by Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting) is a useless waste of script.  7) At two hours in length, this pic is thirty minutes longer than any bad rom-com has the right to be.  8) Donald Sutherland’s laughable accent.  9) The subplot between Sutherland and his Paris Hiltonesque daughter makes me cringe.  10) There is very little chemistry between McConaughey and Hudson, and yet they make another movie together.  

The Summary: This is a good Valentine’s Day to stay home and rent a real romantic comedy.