Toss in Some Orphans, An Artist, a Naked Brad Pitt & a Singing Villain &You’ve Got a Nice Roadtrip
Continuing my film viewing, here are some short little reviews of the last 10 movies I’ve watched over the last week to bring me one step closer to my huge goal of watching as many movies as possible….
Rating System:
* = Hated it
** = Didn’t Like It
*** = Liked It
**** = Really Liked It
***** = Loved It
Chronos (1985)
A Film by Ron Fricke
Rating: *
Thoughts: It’s listed as a documentary, but it felt more like an experimental film. There’s no dialogue and the entire film is shot using the Time Lapse technique…basically we listen to music while looking at various locations such as Stonehenge, Grand Canyon and the Egyptian Pyramids… All for 42 minutes…um…yeah.
Troy (2004)
Starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Ahh!! Art historians to the rescue! Seriously, was it that hard to do a little research and find out that the battle of Troy took place during the Archaic Period in Ancient Greece’s history and that they did not have HUGE statues and they most certainly did not have Egyptian statues? Everything was built on a smaller scale then…not the massive Classical size. That made me cringe in the worst way. Brad Pitt was nice to look at, no denying that…and I’m not a huge Pitt fan. I’ve actually seen this before, but I saw it again recently and thought I’d make my thoughts known. :^)
The Air I Breath (2007)
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Andy Garcia, Brendan Fraser, Forest Whitaker and Sarah Michelle Gellar
Rating: *** ½
Thoughts: This was kind of sad…Most of the characters, the main characters, have names that are associated with emotions. Based on an old Chinese proverb that says that life consists of four emotional cornerstones - Happiness ( Whitaker), Pleasure (Fraser), Love (Bacon), and Sorrow (Gellar). Each emotion is not isolated but represents the whole of human existence and is linked to one another. You can’t know happiness until you know great sorrow, for example. The think that links all these characters together here is ‘Fingers’ (Garcia). I’m still not sure how the title fits the movie though.
Flourish (2006)
Starring: Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, Leighton Meester
Rating: * ½
Thoughts: O.o …Um, strange bunch of characters, especially Gabriel. I thought Jennifer was good…but she didn’t have the backing of a good supporting cast and the direction wasn’t very good and neither was the cinematography. And let’s not forget how horrible the sound technician was; there were some sounds, like say a piece of paper, that were so loud that they almost drowned out the dialogue, though some might say that is a good thing. The writing itself is kind of shaky. And as much as I love him, Jesse Spencer should not be allowed to do an American accent…. *shudder* The premise of the film is good but it would have benefitted from having a much better director/writer and cinematographer, perhaps a script doctor would have come in handy here. I did love seeing tiny little Jennifer carry Jesse on her back though... :) I know that independent films usually consist of a smaller budget, but it was painfully obvious that this was made on the cheap.
Stand by Me (1986)
Starring: Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Keifer Sutherland and River Phoenix
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Better than I thought it would be. Just a basic coming of age story really. Well, there is a tad bit more dark undertones that make it more than ‘just a’ coming of age story. It was really interesting to see a young Jerry O’Connell and Keifer Sutherland….and the lanky Wil Wheaton before he became the annoying Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation…
It Happened One Night (1934)
Starring: Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert
Rating: *** ½
Thoughts: The basic plot is fairly simple; rich spoiled girl eloped, dad mad, girl runs away, meets ordinary boy on the road, they fall in love, girl annuls marriage with rich hubby, boy and girl get married. Of course, there is more to the plot than this; they argue, they run into trouble on the road, etc. Pretty good though.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Starring: Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, and Steve Carell
Rating: ****
Thoughts: Don’t they put the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional? You’ve got the motivational speaker dad who is unable to actually accomplish what he’s speaking about, the nursing home reject drug addict grandfather, the silent brother, the mother struggling to hold it all together and the extremely depressed uncle. They think that their daughter, Olive, is perfect beauty pageant material and take a cross country road trip in their VW…in what could possibly be deemed the worst road trip in history. We see the disturbing world of child beauty pageants (*shudder*) at the end of their journey… One thing that I liked was the fact that they did not emphasize the fact that Frank (Carell) was gay. I think a lot of Hollywood movies feel the need to exaggerate this aspect for some reason….
My Kid Could Paint That (2007)
Documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev
Rating: ***
Thoughts: A documentary that follows the story of a young, adorable four year old girl named Marla Olmstead who loved to paint. Her abstract paintings garnered the attention of a realist painter, Anthony Brunelli, who was drawn to her work. He showed her work in his gallery and she sold painting after painting. It seemed all too real; her work was earned the attention of a New York Times art critic who wrote a story and after that, she became a world famous artist. They were riding high until 60 Minutes aired their story and claimed that Marla’s parents doctored her work. Everything tumbled after that. Desperate to prove that they did not help Marla in her work, the parents videotaped her painting from start to finish. The documentary poses the question ‘What is art?’ especially modern abstract art when a lot of people think that anybody could paint that. The documentary suffers from some sloppy camera work (such as blurry shots during an interview, etc) but does make you question whether or not this girl is a true gifted artist, or just a hoax.
December Boys (2007)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe & Lee Cormie
Rating: *** ½
Thoughts: An enjoyable little Australian independent film. We follow a quartet of orphans in the 50s as they go on holiday to a quaint little coast town that changes their lives forever. While there, they learn that there is a young couple who is interested in adopting one of them. This creates a ‘competition’ among the three youngest boys as they try win over the affections of the couple. Meanwhile, the oldest boy, Maps, (Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame) meets a girl and experiences his first love and heartbreak. Through a series of events, the boys learn the true meaning of family and how much they need each other. The film is quite enjoyable though a little slow at times. Beautifully shot and shows off the gorgeous Australian coast. Radcliffe, despite being the only recognizable name in the cast, is not the main character here. That honor goes to Lee Cormie, who plays Misty, the youngest of the boys. The freckled Cormie did well in his first leading role, though at times, I just thought that his character was a little snot, but that could just be me. Radcliffe does well here as well, as his character struggles to deal with emotions of abandonment and teenage love/lust. A lot of people think that there is no career for Radcliffe post-Harry Potter, but I disagree. He’s clearly come a long way since the first Harry Potter film and is finding his place quite well.
Dr. Horrible’s Song-Along-Blog (2008)
Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillon & Felicia Day
Rating: *****
Thoughts: Awesome. Period. Yeah, it’s not a movie, more of a web blog, but it’s just awesome. Written by the always awesome Joss Whedon and his brother Jed during the Writer’s Strike earlier this year, we follow Dr. Horrible (Harris), who’s desperate to join the Evil League of Evil but must past certain standards set by the leader of the League, Bad Horse, the Thoroughbred of Sin, in order to be welcomed to the fold. He does battle with his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Fillon) while trying to win the affections of the girl of his dreams, Penny (Day). Nothing goes according to plan and he accidentally introduces Penny to Capt. Hammer, who does his best to rub it in his face. That’s just the push Dr. Horrible needs to come up with his brilliant plan to get into the League. And, yeah, they sing…
It is kind of representational of the WGA strike; with Dr. Horrible representing the writers, Capt. Hammer as the AMPTP and Penny as New Media. Though Dr. Horrible is branded a bad guy, kind of like the writers, you root for him to win. He and Hammer fight over New Media (Penny), with Hammer pretending to be the best person in the world and everyone’s best friend. Funny thing is, while the Hollywood guilds and the AMPTP are fighting over the profitability of online media, this has become one of the most popular WebShows with its own little cult following and a promise of a DVD release in the near future.
For those who have yet to see the awesomeness that is Joss Whedon at his best, you can watch it free over at the official website: Dr. Horrible
Rating System:
* = Hated it
** = Didn’t Like It
*** = Liked It
**** = Really Liked It
***** = Loved It
Chronos (1985)
A Film by Ron Fricke
Rating: *
Thoughts: It’s listed as a documentary, but it felt more like an experimental film. There’s no dialogue and the entire film is shot using the Time Lapse technique…basically we listen to music while looking at various locations such as Stonehenge, Grand Canyon and the Egyptian Pyramids… All for 42 minutes…um…yeah.
Troy (2004)
Starring: Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Ahh!! Art historians to the rescue! Seriously, was it that hard to do a little research and find out that the battle of Troy took place during the Archaic Period in Ancient Greece’s history and that they did not have HUGE statues and they most certainly did not have Egyptian statues? Everything was built on a smaller scale then…not the massive Classical size. That made me cringe in the worst way. Brad Pitt was nice to look at, no denying that…and I’m not a huge Pitt fan. I’ve actually seen this before, but I saw it again recently and thought I’d make my thoughts known. :^)
The Air I Breath (2007)
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Andy Garcia, Brendan Fraser, Forest Whitaker and Sarah Michelle Gellar
Rating: *** ½
Thoughts: This was kind of sad…Most of the characters, the main characters, have names that are associated with emotions. Based on an old Chinese proverb that says that life consists of four emotional cornerstones - Happiness ( Whitaker), Pleasure (Fraser), Love (Bacon), and Sorrow (Gellar). Each emotion is not isolated but represents the whole of human existence and is linked to one another. You can’t know happiness until you know great sorrow, for example. The think that links all these characters together here is ‘Fingers’ (Garcia). I’m still not sure how the title fits the movie though.
Flourish (2006)
Starring: Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, Leighton Meester
Rating: * ½
Thoughts: O.o …Um, strange bunch of characters, especially Gabriel. I thought Jennifer was good…but she didn’t have the backing of a good supporting cast and the direction wasn’t very good and neither was the cinematography. And let’s not forget how horrible the sound technician was; there were some sounds, like say a piece of paper, that were so loud that they almost drowned out the dialogue, though some might say that is a good thing. The writing itself is kind of shaky. And as much as I love him, Jesse Spencer should not be allowed to do an American accent…. *shudder* The premise of the film is good but it would have benefitted from having a much better director/writer and cinematographer, perhaps a script doctor would have come in handy here. I did love seeing tiny little Jennifer carry Jesse on her back though... :) I know that independent films usually consist of a smaller budget, but it was painfully obvious that this was made on the cheap.
Stand by Me (1986)
Starring: Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, Keifer Sutherland and River Phoenix
Rating: ***
Thoughts: Better than I thought it would be. Just a basic coming of age story really. Well, there is a tad bit more dark undertones that make it more than ‘just a’ coming of age story. It was really interesting to see a young Jerry O’Connell and Keifer Sutherland….and the lanky Wil Wheaton before he became the annoying Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation…
It Happened One Night (1934)
Starring: Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert
Rating: *** ½
Thoughts: The basic plot is fairly simple; rich spoiled girl eloped, dad mad, girl runs away, meets ordinary boy on the road, they fall in love, girl annuls marriage with rich hubby, boy and girl get married. Of course, there is more to the plot than this; they argue, they run into trouble on the road, etc. Pretty good though.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Starring: Abigail Breslin, Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin, Toni Collette, and Steve Carell
Rating: ****
Thoughts: Don’t they put the ‘fun’ in dysfunctional? You’ve got the motivational speaker dad who is unable to actually accomplish what he’s speaking about, the nursing home reject drug addict grandfather, the silent brother, the mother struggling to hold it all together and the extremely depressed uncle. They think that their daughter, Olive, is perfect beauty pageant material and take a cross country road trip in their VW…in what could possibly be deemed the worst road trip in history. We see the disturbing world of child beauty pageants (*shudder*) at the end of their journey… One thing that I liked was the fact that they did not emphasize the fact that Frank (Carell) was gay. I think a lot of Hollywood movies feel the need to exaggerate this aspect for some reason….
My Kid Could Paint That (2007)
Documentary directed by Amir Bar-Lev
Rating: ***
Thoughts: A documentary that follows the story of a young, adorable four year old girl named Marla Olmstead who loved to paint. Her abstract paintings garnered the attention of a realist painter, Anthony Brunelli, who was drawn to her work. He showed her work in his gallery and she sold painting after painting. It seemed all too real; her work was earned the attention of a New York Times art critic who wrote a story and after that, she became a world famous artist. They were riding high until 60 Minutes aired their story and claimed that Marla’s parents doctored her work. Everything tumbled after that. Desperate to prove that they did not help Marla in her work, the parents videotaped her painting from start to finish. The documentary poses the question ‘What is art?’ especially modern abstract art when a lot of people think that anybody could paint that. The documentary suffers from some sloppy camera work (such as blurry shots during an interview, etc) but does make you question whether or not this girl is a true gifted artist, or just a hoax.
December Boys (2007)
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe & Lee Cormie
Rating: *** ½
Thoughts: An enjoyable little Australian independent film. We follow a quartet of orphans in the 50s as they go on holiday to a quaint little coast town that changes their lives forever. While there, they learn that there is a young couple who is interested in adopting one of them. This creates a ‘competition’ among the three youngest boys as they try win over the affections of the couple. Meanwhile, the oldest boy, Maps, (Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame) meets a girl and experiences his first love and heartbreak. Through a series of events, the boys learn the true meaning of family and how much they need each other. The film is quite enjoyable though a little slow at times. Beautifully shot and shows off the gorgeous Australian coast. Radcliffe, despite being the only recognizable name in the cast, is not the main character here. That honor goes to Lee Cormie, who plays Misty, the youngest of the boys. The freckled Cormie did well in his first leading role, though at times, I just thought that his character was a little snot, but that could just be me. Radcliffe does well here as well, as his character struggles to deal with emotions of abandonment and teenage love/lust. A lot of people think that there is no career for Radcliffe post-Harry Potter, but I disagree. He’s clearly come a long way since the first Harry Potter film and is finding his place quite well.
Dr. Horrible’s Song-Along-Blog (2008)
Starring: Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillon & Felicia Day
Rating: *****
Thoughts: Awesome. Period. Yeah, it’s not a movie, more of a web blog, but it’s just awesome. Written by the always awesome Joss Whedon and his brother Jed during the Writer’s Strike earlier this year, we follow Dr. Horrible (Harris), who’s desperate to join the Evil League of Evil but must past certain standards set by the leader of the League, Bad Horse, the Thoroughbred of Sin, in order to be welcomed to the fold. He does battle with his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Fillon) while trying to win the affections of the girl of his dreams, Penny (Day). Nothing goes according to plan and he accidentally introduces Penny to Capt. Hammer, who does his best to rub it in his face. That’s just the push Dr. Horrible needs to come up with his brilliant plan to get into the League. And, yeah, they sing…
It is kind of representational of the WGA strike; with Dr. Horrible representing the writers, Capt. Hammer as the AMPTP and Penny as New Media. Though Dr. Horrible is branded a bad guy, kind of like the writers, you root for him to win. He and Hammer fight over New Media (Penny), with Hammer pretending to be the best person in the world and everyone’s best friend. Funny thing is, while the Hollywood guilds and the AMPTP are fighting over the profitability of online media, this has become one of the most popular WebShows with its own little cult following and a promise of a DVD release in the near future.
For those who have yet to see the awesomeness that is Joss Whedon at his best, you can watch it free over at the official website: Dr. Horrible