Category: Movies

Children of Men

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I’d wanted to see “Children of Men” for sometime now. Last night I got the chance. Wow! What an amazing movie. Set twenty years in the future at a time when there have been no babies born into the world for 18 years. It’s a bleak, repressive, dreary and totally believable future.

Clive Owen plays Theo a normal man suddenly thrust into a role that possibly entrusts him with the future of humankind. Although Owen gets top billing [along with co-stars Julianne Moore and Michael Caine], it truly is director [and co-screenwriter] Alfonso Cuaron who is the star of this movie. His vision is so truly realized that we feel as if we are in the center of this nightmare world. His use of handheld cameras, long continuous shots, and harrowing set-ups leaves viewers on the edge of their seats and breathless.

The Good: Cuaron’s direction; sudden twists; Michael Caine’s character; Owen’s first escape with the woman; how/why Owen avoids execution in the city; Owen’s resolve to get to the woman despite the war raging around him; the Gypsy woman; the refugees’ and soldiers’ reaction to Owen leading the woman out of the building; ALL of the background details [kept in the background] that make the future despair seem so real; the fact that Owen isn’t a super hero and never picks up a gun — he’s a normal man who rises to the occasion.

The Bad: a world without children… the scene with the empty elementary schools and playground… that such a world of despair could be so believable

The Ugly: People wounded/dying from the battles.

Children of Men is an amazing film.

 

Cloverfield Trailer & Questions

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There’s a new high definition trailer available HERE for JJ Abram’s top secret monster movie, “Cloverfield.” Now that we can see the trailer in high def [with the ability to go frame-by-frame] more questions than answers come to mind.

My two big questions are:

1] Why is the actor’s face pixelated out? I’ve posted a screen shot above. We hear his voice, but are not allowed to see his face. Is he a surprise star? I have no clue.

2] Did you notice that one of the women in quarantine seems to blow up? I’ve posted a screen shot below. She is being moved by men in HAZMAT gear and appears to be a normal woman, but suddenly her body starts to expand. Perhaps the monster is able to infect humans and create others like it? PURE speculation on my part… but she does appear to be blowing up.

So watch the trailer and let me know your thoughts.

Riddick’s Return?

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One of my favorite movies is “Pitch Black.” I loved how it came out of nowhere, without a big name writer, director or stars and nailed it. Everything about the movie worked for me. Especially Vin Diesel as Riddick. I also thought it was cool that writer/director, David Twohy and Vin Diesel were in sync with the character of Riddick; so much so that they planned to bring him back in a trilogy.I have to admit that “The Riddick Chronicles” was a bit of a let down. Suddenly we learn that Riddick isn’t human and will play a role in saving the universe. Argh. I liked Riddick as a tougher than nails, human ex-con on the run who cares for no one except himself and his own survival… and yet risks his life to save a child. Still, “The Chronicles of Riddick” had it’s moments [and enough of them to earn the movie a place in my dvd library]. And yeah, I’d still like to see more of Twohy and Diesel teaming to bring us further adventures of Riddick. Two movies and an animated adventure just weren’t enough. There was so much untapped potential with Riddick that there had to be another movie. That seemed unlikely since “The Riddick Chronicles” didn’t do as well at the box office as hoped.

Maybe things have changed. David Twohy recently announced on his website: “All I can say now is ‘We’re talking about it.’ The DVD numbers were really good – we know that, and some potential financiers know that. But if another movie surfaces, it probably won’t be a Universal movie and probably will be an independent movie. Which means we’ll have to make it for substantially less than the last installment. That’s okay. ‘Pitch Black’ was $22 million all in. Maybe it’s time to go back to our roots – as we go on to The UnderVerse. “

Now THAT’S what I’m talking about.

Revolver: Hit or Miss?

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Have you seen THIS TRAILER for Revolver? I hadn’t until just a few minutes ago.

It looks like it could be really good. With a screenplay by Guy Ritchie and Luc Besson and a cast that includes Jason Statham, Ray Liotta and Vincent Pastore, you’d have to believe it’s going to be good, right? Then when you read THIS PLOT SUMMARY you have to ask, how can this not be a winner?

So why do I still have some doubts?

Heart of the Movie Quotes

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I was in the mood for a list today and decided that the American Film Institutes’s Top 100 Movie Quotes might be interesting to play with. So I looked at the list and decided to see if I could narrow it down to 25 quotes that contained the essence of their movie.This list may not have the most famous [“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” – Gone with the Wind], the funniest [“I’ll have what she’s having.” – When Harry Met Sally] or the dumbest [“Nobody puts baby in a corner.” – Dirty Dancing], but it does have 25 quotes which get to the heart of their movies. So here there are in no particular order…

  • “Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore,” “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939.
  • “The stuff that dreams are made of,” “The Maltese Falcon,” 1941.
  • “Bond. James Bond,” “Dr. No,” 1962.
  • “There’s no place like home,” “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939.
  • “You can’t handle the truth!”, “A Few Good Men,” 1992.
  • “Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get,” “Forrest Gump,” 1994.
  • “I see dead people,” “The Sixth Sense,” 1999.
  • “It’s alive! It’s alive!”, “Frankenstein,” 1931.
  • “Houston, we have a problem,” “Apollo 13,” 1995.
  • “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”, “Dirty Harry,” 1971.
  • “A boy’s best friend is his mother,” “Psycho,” 1960.
  • “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer,” “The Godfather Part II,” 1974.
  • “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!”, “Sons of the Desert,” 1933.
  • “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me. Aren’t you?”, “The Graduate,” 1967.
  • “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the War Room!”, “Dr. Strangelove,” 1964
  • “Get your stinking paws off me, you damned dirty ape,” “Planet of the Apes,” 1968.
  • “Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine,” “Casablanca,” 1942.
  • “They’re here!”, “Poltergeist,” 1982.
  • “Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown,” “Chinatown,” 1974.
  • “Soylent Green is people!”, “Soylent Green,” 1973.
  • “Yo, Adrian!”, “Rocky,” 1976.
  • “Oh, no, it wasn’t the airplanes. It was Beauty killed the Beast,” “King Kong,” 1933.
  • “My precious,” “The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers,” 2002.
  • “I feel the need — the need for speed!”, “Top Gun,” 1986.
  • “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!”, “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939.

 

Top 20 Horror Films

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Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought that I’d find a list of the Top Horror Movies and see how I’d rate ’em. So I went to the Internet Movie Data Base and checked out their list of the Top 50 Horror Movies of All Time [as voted on by users of IMDB].

I have to say that I was surprised by some of the movies that made the grade. I was expecting more classic horror films to appear on the list [Dracula, Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon] as well as some lesser known, but still very good horror movies like Them! or Frailty.

Ok… we have what we have. Taking their list of the top 50, I whittled it down to my top 20 and here they are in alphabetical order with some comments:

Alien (1979): Saw it on its original theatrical run and enjoyed it. A haunted house in outer space!
Aliens (1986): Even better than Alien… as much a war movie as a horror movie. Love it!
Birds, The (1963): One of the scariest movies I ever saw as a kid. Still a favorite.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935): Even better than Frankenstein. A true classic.
Dawn of the Dead (1978): Saw it in a theater the 2nd time [my date couldn’t take it the 1st time]
Exorcist, The (1973): the scariest movie I ever saw as an adult.
Frankenstein (1931): A classic!
Freaks (1932): It makes the list, but wouldn’t be near the top.
Halloween (1978): Saw it in a drive-in and it was scary without sound! LOL!
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956): Another classic from [before] my childhood.
Invisible Man, The (1933): I didn’t appreciate it until I was an adult!
Jaws (1975): Horror? Okay… it is a fun and scary movie.
King Kong (1933): Another classic.
Night of the Hunter, The (1955): A great film… maybe Mitchum’s best performance ever.
Night of the Living Dead (1968): One of my favorites!
Psycho (1960): Some pretty scary scenes the first time around.
Rosemary’s Baby (1968): I saw it in a drive-in as a kid…. creepy stuff.
Shining, The (1980): redrum…redrum… redrum…
Thing, The (1982): Not as good as the original, but still good. LOL!
Unknown, The (1927): Never cut off your arms for a lover.

Comments?

 

Two Less Than One?

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Usually when I like two things, I like ’em just as much or more when they’re combined. Vampires/Detectives [Joe Pitt novels by Charlie Huston]… M&Ms with peanuts [candy by Mars]… well, you get the idea.

I’m not sure I’m diggin’ the Predien… Aliator?? Whatever they want to call it.

And I was really looking forward to AVP: Requiem.

Good, Baby, Good

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Based on Dennis Lehane’s novel of the same name; Gone, Baby, Gone is a powerful drama wrapped around the mystery of a kidnapped girl and the secrets of everyone involved. When three days have passed without any progress the missing little girl’s aunt hires two young private detectives from the neighborhood to get information unavailable to the police. As the mystery unravels and secrets are revealed the detectives [and audience] are left with tough moral questions and no easy answers.

The Good: The relationship between Cassie Affleck and Michelle Monaaghan. The bar scene. The mean streets of Boston. The real people from these streets given cameos and speaking parts. Ed Harris. The screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard. The direction by Ben Affleck. The ending.

The Bad: The house with the ex-con child molesters [well done, but bad stuff].

The Ugly: The handsome woman… the choices that have to be made.

Gone, Baby, Gone is a Good, Baby, Good.