Light But Absolutely Hilarious Woody

Scoop (4/5 stars)

Scoop, the latest from Woody Allen, is one of the funniest films I've seen in a long time. A departure from his latest drama Match Point, this movie makes no attempt to be deep and instead provides a nice farce that proves to be very enjoyable.

The story is that Sondra Pransky (Scarlett Johansson), a journalism student, is visted by the ghost of a recently deceased reporter Joe Strombel (Ian McShane, Deadwood), who tips her off to the potential identity of a multiple murderer called the Tarot Card Killer while she is in the middle of participating in a disappearing-inside-a-box magic trick during a show given by magician Sid Waterman (Woody Allen). He claims that the identity of the killer is rich English socialite Peter Lyman (Hugh Jackman). Later on, both Sondra and Sid witness the ghost again, and the investigation is on. They arrange to meet their suspected killer, providing false identies as rich Americans (with Allen pretending to be Johansson's father), in order to gain access to his dwelling to find clues which might help them find their "scoop", the real story. A snag hits in their investigation when Johannson becomes romantically interested in her investigative subject.

The plot isn't so important here though, what is really important is this movie is downright, absolutely hilarious completely throughout. I haven't laughed so consistently during a movie for quite some time (and judging from the audience I was with, I'm not the only one). Allen is his usual overly neurotic self, and provides brilliantly hilarious dialogue. Johansson is is superb as his foil, with her determination to get the story and seriousness undermining his absurd and erratic behavior. McShane is good as a small player in the scenes he is in (I especially like the use of the ship sailing to what must be the River Stix; at one point he actually jumps off the ship as he is so determined to get his information to somebody that is alive). The one weak cast-member might be Jackman; while he is competant mostly for what he is given there are a few parts that don't ring true.

Some might say that this is very similar to some of Allen's other movies, but if it is still really funny, does that matter so much? I don't think it does. It is absolutely great for what it is. The only flaw I really see is that the way the mystery is wrapped up feels very forced and untrue. But that is only one part towards the end, and the mystery portion of the movie isn't really the reason to go in the first place. Thus, if you are interesting in seeing a good mystery movie this probably isn't for you. But if you would like to see a deliciously absurd farce with Woody playing at his comedic best with a great partner in Johansson, I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Moody Miami

Miami Vice (4.5/5 stars)

In this adaptation of the old TV series from director Michael Mann, we are given a mood and action-driven recreation of the show that is much different and improved from the original. Gone are the 1980s influenced pastel scenery and characters, and introduced is a bleak, dreary mood crime drama full of gritty action and angry characters.

The story is that one night while investigating a completely unrelated assignment, undercover Miami police officers Sonny Crocket (Colin Farrell) and Ricardo Tubbs (Jamie Foxx) are drawn into a seperate investigation after a couple of FBI agents are killed on a blown investigation due to a leak to the criminals about the agents' real identities. While initially they are set to sniff out the leak, they are drawn into infiltrating and breaking up a much larger international drug operation by actually helping to smuggle drugs into the country themselves to get in good graces with the organization itself.

Both of the leads do a good job at their parts here; Colin Farrell is good as the brooding Crocket, Foxx as the angry Tubbs. While the movie doesn't really explain why these men are how they are, that isn't really the point; right away we know them and it is interesting to see how they react to the pressures and stresses of their investigation and the pitfalls that befall them. Additionally, Gong Li is great as a member of the international drug cartel and Crocket's dual love-interest and in-road into the crime organization. I think the criticism given to her accent by some other reviewers is flawed, she isn't supposed to be playing a first-language English character, what does everyone expect? Luis Tosar as the primary villain is also a treat and deliciously mean.

The plot, while sometimes confusing (the organization isn't really completely explained, and the level of deep cover involved is passed over to an extent in order to save time), is not that hard to understand once you boil it down. What the movie is really about is the atmosphere and the mood of the characters interacting with each other, even though their motivations are never completely explained. There are bits here and there of punchy dialogue, and excellent action sequences, especially one towards the end which I would go out on a limb and say is one of the best shoot-out scenes I've seen in a movie since Mann's previous work, Heat. What really makes this movie stand out in my opinion is Mann's brilliant direction and camera work. The movie is simply a joy to look at, sink in and take in the atmosphere.

While not nearly as good as Heat, this movie is definitely in my opinion better than Mann's previous effort Collateral (and as a side note, I am pleased to note that it doesn't have to rely on a cellphone out of batteries as a plot device). Unlike the first those two movies I've mentioned, this movie doesn't focus on characters facing up against each other (like Pacino vs. De Niro in Heat or Cruise vs. Foxx in Collateral); it takes a simple story and adds a different dimension in texture. I would recommend it if you are a fan of Mann and can appreciate an excellent procedural crime saga without needing to see characters have psychological battles with each other or to have their motivations explained.

Interesting Trailers

I don't normally post about trailers... but one is for my most anticipated movie of the year and the other looks mindblowingly awesome so, here goes.

Trailer For Babel

Hopefully this is as good, or even better, than Amorres Perros and 21 Grams.

Trailer for The Fountain

Maybe this won't be good? But the futuristic scenes are going to look amazing.

DVD: Drifting Aimlessly

Somersault (3.5/5 stars)

This is the story of an Australian teenage girl, who after getting caught attempting to seduce her mother's boyfriend, runs away to a remote ski resort town and attempts to meet up with a boy she used to know. After he refuses to see her, she decides to stay in the area and see what she can make of it, as she has nowhere else to go.

She goes to a bar, gets picked up by a young man who casts her aside the very next day, and ends up meeting another one who she advances upon but isn't receptive at first. He gets her a hotel room, and eventually she ends staying in a flat formerly inhabited by the hotel owner's son, gets a job at a local gas station, all the while pursuing this man. Eventually they get together, but they have different ideas about what their relationship really is; she thinks it is something like love, he is very flippant and doesn't see it as that much of a big deal. Eventually she starts looking for what she wants in other places.

With maybe one exception, there isn't any heightened drama to the story, it meanders along as this lonely girl has a string of relationships trying to find love but instead gets used. She is a confused teenager attempting to live an adult life and gets emotionally punished for it, basically failing for the short time that we see her to achieve a level of emotional maturity.

While the movie could have used more plot, the acting and direction (there are some really beautifully done gimmick shots throughout the movie that I really liked) make up for it to a large degree. So while this movie is very slow and moody, aimless, just like the main character, if you can get into something just to enjoy the characters and scenery you may enjoy it.

DVD: The Writer and the Girl in the Cafe

Ask the Dust (2/5 stars)

This film, starring Colin Farrell and Salma Hayek, and written and directed by Robert Towne (the writer of the classic Chinatown), seemed like it might be some interesting exploration into the struggles of a writer and immigrants. However, it gets off track and instead turns into something very dull.

The story is about Arturo Bandini (Farrell), an Italian immigrant who moves to Los Angeles to attempt to become a successful writer. Obviously he stays in a burnt out hotel room; also has a few cooky neighbors (one played by Donald Sutherland) which provide slight bits of amusement for the film. He eventually meets two different women; one who is enamored with the little bit of writing he has already published but has some serious issues that I won't reveal, and another, a Mexican immigrant (Hayek) who works in a cafe that he visits to spend his last nickel. Of course, his last nickel. The story attempts to be about the problems he faces as a writer, their relationship struggles, and the intolerance both of them (especially Hayek's character) face as immigrants but it fails miserably by continuously going off track.

Much of the movie is plagued by the most irritating narration from Farrell's character, from what I can assume is from the novel he is working on throughout the book. Must every movie about writing include massive amounts of narration? In some cases (like Adaptation, because it is really funny) it works, here it just fails as it is miserably boring. The characters and the issues they face just aren't that interesting; it seems like the movie is plagued by trying to attempt to conbine too many themes (intolerance, love, and writing) without expanding any of them enough to be interesting. Pulp drama, I suppose.

The one good thing about the movie is that it looks nice, but it doesn't make up for the plodding plot and boring characters. Coming from the writer of Chinatown, I expected a lot better than this. I recommend not bothering with this one.

Sorry for the Inconvenience

As I've gotten comment spammed 3 times in the last few days, I noticed that there is a word verification option in order to post a comment. I've enabled it, and all this means is that when posting a comment you are presented with a word that you have to type in as verification to prevent automated commenting, like when you sign up for a web email account, etc.

You can still do this even if you're commenting anonymously (or typing in a name with the 'other' option), I am just sick and tired of having to dig through every post and delete a comment that says "Great Site! Here's my link to some random gambling site!"

A Box Office First For the Year

For the first time, at least half of the top ten box office earning movies have "good" reviews as based on their RT scores.

2 - Monster House 69%
6 - Clerks II 66%
8 - Superman Returns 76%
9 - The Devil Wears Prada 77%
10 - Cars 76%

Way to go, consumers! Although, I did not see any movies this weekend so I did not contribute. I may see Monster House or Clerks II later, or even Lady in the Water (horrible reviews), because I'm morbidly fascinated by how bad it might actually be.

DVD: Another Oscar Mistake / Thug Kidnapper Redemption

Tsotsi (2.5/5 stars)

I seem to be on some kind of roll with formulaic movies. This is the story of a brutal thug (this doesn't give anything away as it is in the first few scenes, but we almost immediately see him watch idly by as his friend stabs someone to death, he shoots a woman in front of her house when he was going to to rob it, and he robs and taunts a man in a wheelchair) who by chance ends up in possession of a baby and it changes his life. The baby comes from the woman shot in front of her house, as he steals her car only to find out that there is a crying child inside. He freaks out, leaves the car, and brings the baby back to his place. Thus begins the movie, can you guess the entire plot yet?

What is really mystifying about this film is just how quickly his personality changes. One minute the protagonist is the vilest person imaginable, then when the baby appears he suddenly becomes a nice, caring person. Does this baby have telepathic power over him to change his personality instantaneously? It sort of reminds me (not quite as bad) of the moment in Revenge of the Sith where Anakin Skywalker is screaming "I hate you!" at the Empereror, then is saying "yes, master" and running off to kill Jedi children 90 seconds later, except in reverse.

Besides this the movie is complete formula; down on his luck, poverty stricken person with a terrible childhood overcomes their misfortune to do something good (what that ends up being, I'll let you guess: it isn't very hard). The writing is very calculating and not really the slightest bit original. Also there are moments in the film where the most horrendous songs are played, providing me with a little nausea. In addition to this add the nicer sounding, but very typical African style score for some very bland sound. The one thing I'll give it is that the cinematography is good, something along the lines of City of God or The Constant Gardener without the hand-held camera.

This film won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the Academy Awards last year. Why? Because it is well made enough, and it is exactly the same kind of recycled, overly-endearing muck that appeals to the voters on a regular basis (it doesn't matter that there is really no character development, the character changes, Oscar!). I've only seen one other nominee (Paradise Now) so far, and already I know that it completely did not deserve the award it got. Since it was released in the United States this year though, I consider it to be a 2006 film, but nevertheless it is not nearly good enough to make any of my charts.

DVD: Inspiration Out Of Focus

On A Clear Day (2.5/5 stars)

This movie tells the story of a man who, after losing his job and being too old to do anything else, gets really angry at the world and decides to swim the English Channel. It is a pretty typical, slightly-comedic slightly-dramatic against-all-odds inspiration story. I saw this movie because it was a Focus Features release (why am I still relying on them I don't know), so first after over ten movies in a row that I really liked this is the third out of four that I did like much at all.

What have you seen in this movie that you've seen before? Well you've got the unlikely character trying to accomplish a vaguely impossible feat to start. Insert a few personal demons and dysfunctional relationships and you've got yourself a character. Add a dash of random obstacles thrown at the character, and few moments where the character thinks they are going to give up, and you've got the struggle. Throw in a cast of supporting characters who are either discouraging towards the main character or supportive and spired by them (some of whom, usually, first one then the other) and you've got your relationships. Add some manipulative touching moments and the "oh will he succeed!" climax and you've got your writing and directing down.

While it isn't quite so outrageously cliched and emotionally manipulative as say, Akeelah and the Bee from earlier in the year, and a little bit more quirky and interesting, this film isn't anything special at all. What I don't get about these types of movies is why they don't even bother to attempt to add anything new to the formula. You've seen this movie a million times before, and you can definitely choose not to watch it one more time.

Pirates 2 Obliterates Box Office Records

Well, here we have it. Only studio estimates so far, but they are fairly reliable indicators. And the numbers are high enough that a margin of error is rather irrelevant anyway.

Single Day Box Office Record
-----------------------------

Former record holder: Star Wars III: Return of the Sith: $50,013,859
Pirates Total: $55,549,000

3 Day Weekend Box Office Record
--------------------------------------

Former record holder: Spider-Man: $114,844,116
Pirates Total: $132,028,000

Wow. While I found the movie very flawed, here's to hoping it knocks that piece of garbage two-hour long torture scene The Passion of the Christ out of the top ten of all time.

Also of note, we have yet another weekend where less than half of the top 10 have good reviews, as judged by a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The highest of the year so far is four in one week.

Dead Man's Bloat

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (3/5 stars)

The familiar characters return for another adventure. This time around, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) are brought up on charges for helping Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) escape at the end of the last movie. The British official who shows up with the charges offers Will a deal, however. If he will retrieve Captain Jack's compass, they will all be pardoned. The secret of this compass is that it not only can it lead people to the secret hideout from the first movie, it can also lead to a special chest which contains monster pirate Davy Jones' chest, which can allow one to either defeat him or use it as leverage against him to have power over the open seas. Will sets off first while Elizabeth remains in prison, and eventually she breaks out and sets off on her own adventure.

The movie goes through a number of different locations, first from Will meeting up with Captain Jack at an island inhabited by cannibals, to their later encouter with Davy Jones, Will's capture and the Black Pearl's escape, Elizabeth's stowaway aboard an honest merchant ship which eventually leads her to meet up with Captain Jack and the Pearl on a pirate island, and the eventual climax at the location of the Dead Man's Chest at some uncharted island.

I liked the first movie a lot for what it is (4, maybe 4.5 stars), and maybe that is why I was so disappointed with this movie. The first 45 minutes could have easily almost entirely been cut out, the entire portion where they travel to the cannibal island is completely unnecessary. Not only that, but this section of the movie is rather dull and boring. The action scenes don't fit with the story, the humor is flat, the witty dialogue and interaction among the characters from the first movie is practically non-existant. It is only later, once the characters meet up with Davy Jones and the real story begins, that the movie picks up the pace and the quality of the action scenes and the writing improve. The second two thirds (the movie runs about 2.5 hours) are quite a bit of fun actually, especially the last hour or so.

This is one thing that is sometimes disappointing with sequels, the creators tend to go too overboard. While the cannibal island scenes provided the movie with a little added action scenes, there is plenty enough in the rest of the movie and boring me out of my mind for 45 minutes before the movie really begins in earnest is not the best way to win me over. Please, movie makers, pay more attention to editing and writing, even in popcorn action movies. It makes all the difference in the world.

I'm sounding a little harsh here, and I guess that is because of high expectations. However I did give the movie 3/5 stars, which means "average" on my scale, because the later good parts of the movie make up for the terrible first parts. My personal suggestion to anyone who watches this would be this: you already have my summary of how the plot is set up from above, walk in about 45 minutes in and pick up the movie from there and you won't have missed very much. You'll probably find it a lot of fun. Infact, I may have a differing opinion on this, as the audience I saw the movie with seemed to enjoy the movie a lot and clapped at the end (there is a cliffhanger ending and a particularly enjoyable shocker in the final shot). I'm wondering if this was because they actually enjoyed the entire movie or the later parts of the movie were fresher in their memories. I'm reminded of a scene from Adaptation here, where Charlie Kaufman is talking to the teacher at the screenwriting seminar he attends. He tells Charlie that it doesn't really matter what happens in the beginning and middle of your movie, as long as you wow them at the end. Maybe that is what got the audience.

The Story of a Failed Breakthrough

Who Killed The Electric Car? (4.5/5 stars)

This documentary details the history of the electric car, from the original versions created early in the century (but lost out to gas-powered cars) up until the newer versions released starting in 1996. Now these cars have vanished from the marketplace and are impossible to get. When they create zero emissions, and are cheaper to maintain than a gasoline car, why is this so?

After a brief history of earlier in the century, the movie really begins with the re-emergence of the electric car, starting with the first version created by General Motors (and eventually other manufacturers followed their lead), and its eventual downfall. The movie clearly has a motive, the electric car was a good thing, and it should not have disappeared the way it did. Who is guilty of making it disappear?

There are many culprits to blame: car companies, oil companies, the government, a California regulatory board (which had much to do with the electric car due to a failed law which would have required a certain number of cars to be zero emission vehicles), consumers and their fear of the product, and finally false hopes of a different alternative (the hydrogen fuel cell car) which is far from being ready for mass production usage, while the electric car could be ready right now.

The movie details each of these organizations and their roles in the emergence and disapperance of the vehicle. The car companies behavior is particularly shocking, as they simultaneously promoted and actually attacked their own product at the same time. The oil companies have obvious motives against it, but why would the US government and a California regulatory board with interest in lowering emissions actually play an active role in making this alternative fuel choice disappear? One really horrifying aspect shown is the limited lease options used by the car companies when selling these electric cars, so that even when people wanted to keep their product they actually would actually refuse to renew leases, thus forcing people to give up their electric car or else face what basically amounts to car theft charges. Also manufacturing was deliberately limited, marketing sabotaged, and the information about the demand for the product summarily distorted and hidden.

It is quite baffling really. Especially if you consider which automobile companies are the ones making the real money now. Is it the American companies, who have resisted fuel efficiency at every turn? No, it is the Japanese cars that are really succeeding now, due to ever increasing gas prices and demand for the hybrid products. It is no wonder that GM is in deep trouble, their tactics on the electric car and also hybrid cars (American companies actually developed them first, but never got around to releasing them, while the Japanese followed in development worried about being behind in the marketplace and eventually took the lead), followed by other American car companies, have left them all producing gigantic unnecessary gas guzzlers which people are increasingly starting to avoid.

The movie also makes a point about debunking of some of the criticism against the product itself. People are afraid of this vehicle because it has a limited milege range, what if they want to drive farther? But battery technology has improved much over the years and could support as much as 300 miles in between charges. The average American drives approximately a little less than 30 miles per day.

Even though this product is gone and not likely to come back in its former form, there is some hope for the future. There are already prototypes of hybrid cars which rely on recharging and on even less and less gasoline. Perhaps the natural course of things will be for hybrids to eventually completely evolve into electric powered ones. And by then, battery technology can only get better and the cars will be able to go ever farther distances than they can now. I sure hope so, for the environment's sake.

Braindead Candy

Strangers With Candy (3/5 stars)

A prequel to the Comedy Central series of the same name, Strangers With Candy tells the story of a former abuser of every vice imaginable who decides to start her life over from where she went bad and starts again back in high school while she must be close to fifty years old. She does this because while she was in prison her father went into a coma and for some absurd reason everyone believes that if she succeeds he will come out of it. There is the obvious "she doesn't fit in" plot contrivances, and of course a special task (the science fair) which she feels she must win in order to save her dad.

This is a pretty braindead, baseless, stupid movie. But you know what? It's actually still fairly good. It is a guilty pleasure kind of thing I suppose. Amy Sedaris as the lead character and Stephen Colbert as a teacher at her school (one particular subplot with him and another teacher at the school is particularly funny) are both hilarious in their roles. The humor is so blatantly idiotic that you can't help but laughing sometimes.

So if you're in the mood to laugh at something completely stupid, I recommend picking this up on DVD when it is out. I don't think it is good enough for a theater visit, I happened to go see it because I was out and about and planning on seeing other stuff later and the theater where I was going to see a foreign movie called Three Times had a damaged print and it was necessary to kill time.

The Fog of Drug War

A Scanner Darkly (5/5 stars)

Adapted from the novel by science fiction legend Phillip K. Dick and set seven years into the future, A Scanner Darkly tells the story of Bob Arctor (voiced by Keanu Reeves), an undercover agent working to combat the epidemic of a new drug known as Substance D, which is sweeping the country and causing mass havoc and paranoia among the population. As a result, a police state of sorts has been instituted; there is mass surveillance of the population at large, secret police instituted to infiltrate the drug rings (so secret infact, that at their office they wear "scramble suits" which continuously morph their appearance so that they are not even recognizable to their own coworkers), and an omnious organization known as New Path has been created to deal with rehabilitating the increasing number of addicts.

Like Linklater's previous (and far inferior) movie Waking Life, this movie uses a special animation technique where actors are filmed and then painted over in order to create the animation. It was a very good choice to do the movie this way, we simultaneously get very realistic characters but certain aspects of the film (like the scramble suits and some of the hallucinations) would probably be virtually impossible to do in a live-action film.

The movie opens with the experience of one particular addict at the very worst; he is halluciting that he is being swarmed by gigantic insects, and it is driving him completely insane. Through this character, who is an acquaitance to the more important ones, we are introduced to Arctor in his uncover form, a burnt out addict who hangs out with fellow users Barris (voiced by Robert Downey Jr.), Luckman (Woody Harrelson), and distant girlfriend and dealer Donna (Winona Ryder).

The movie first goes through a series of comic sequences essentially showing these characters high, simultaneously providing comic relief and showing the debilitating impact the drug has on those who use it. Eventually the movie takes a darker and more existential turn, because since he is taking the drug himself as part of his undercover operation, Arctor's world and sense of reality begins to completely unravel. Eventually we learn that he is infact actually the target of his own investigation. Because nobody at the police really knows who anyone is due to the scramble suits, no one is aware that he is actually investigating himself.

But is he investigating himself really? The damage the drug has done to him has caused his brain to attempt to compensate, and the results are severely surreal hallucinations. He's not even sure who he himself is, he's not sure who his friends are, he's not sure who his boss is, everything is a mass of confusion. Throughout the whole story, since the plot device is that Arctor is investigating himself as well as his friends, we do not even know who or what is really behind the madness of the drug or what anyone's motives even are. The mind-bending twistedness of the story keeps you constantly confused, just like Arctor, you're never sure if what you're watching is real or what it really means. Eventually, there are some shocking revelations and the secrets are revealed, but nobody really comes out of it cleanly.

But this isn't just the out-there fantasy trip movie that it seems, it's also a commentary on the damaging effects that drugs can have on a person; at one point we learn that Arctor was once was a normal middle class guy with a wife and two children, he has indeed sunk very deep into darkness. Not only that, even though the movie itself is somewhat of cautionary statement about using, it is also a statement about how the fight against the drug might be worse than the drug itself. Is it moral to put a society under complete surveillance in order to combat a plague that they choose to partake in voluntarily? Is it ethical to take a person and wreck their life in order to use them to fight the war? In any case, this is a fantastic and absolutely must-see movie.

Hidden Delight

The Hidden Blade (4.5/5 stars)

The Hidden Blade is the story of a Samurai named Munezo Katagiri during the time period in the 1800s when Japan was first beginning to realize that it needed to abandon the old ways and catch up with the rest of the world's technology. More than this though, it is a story about conflicts created by honor, caste systems, and forbidden love.

The movie begins with two Samurai friends (Munezo, and another named Samon Shimada) seeing their friend Yaichiro Hazama off, as he has been awarded an important and prestigious post in the city of Edo. From here, we go back to Munezo's house and we learn that Samon is to marry Munezo's sister, and we meet the Munezo's maid, Kie, whom we learn through narration gets married off as well. It is clear from the beginning that Munezo is in love with Kie, however class barriers (he is a Samurai, she is a mere maid) prevent their relationship from coming to fruitition. We are told that three years pass by, and the story picks up from there by revisiting each character. Munezo is now all alone, as his mother has passed away.

Now the Samurais are in the process of learning the technology of firearm usage; their breed is not long for this world. There are several scenes in the movie showing the training of the Samurai that are absolutely hilarious and provide an excellent change of pace from the drama of the rest of the story. Kie it turns out, has been married into a very cruel family, while Yachiro Hazama has been accused of traitorious acts and imprisoned. The main arcs are about Munezo's struggle to keep his integrity amongst the class conflicts, corrupt leaders, and changes times. The eventually story revolves around freeing Kie from her poor situation and later their unobtainable love, as well as the eventual conflict between Munezo and his friend the traitor, who eventually escapes and must be dealt with by order of the ruling Samurai clan.

This was a nice change of pace from the most recent movies (The Twilight Samurai being the one exception, by the same director) about Samurais. It has little action; most of the movie is spent on the relationships between the various characters, and the human element is very refreshing, especially the subdued interaction between Munezo and Kie. Also what is excellent about this are the surprising amount of comedic sequences. In this way it reminds me a little bit of The Hidden Fortress, by the legend Akira Kurasawa, by being able to include comedy in a movie of this genre without going into outright parody as some movies (like Kung Fu Hustle) do. To top it off, the movie is quite beautiful, with wonderful cinematography and gorgeous scenery.

Judging from the theater where I saw it, it won't be getting a wide release and won't stay in theaters very long, but it is definitely something to keep on your radar for DVD in the future.

How I Didn't See "Little Miss Sunshine"

Okay, so a little while back I saw an advertisement for a free advance screening of Little Miss Sunshine, which comes out later this month. I thought, "excellent! I can see a movie early for once!" The website where you RSVP'd and got an invite said that no recording equipment would be allowed.

Now am I stupid enough to bring recording equipment? Of course not. I got there early, at 6:00, for a 7:30 PM show. Sat in line for an hour and finished reading "All the Names" by Jose Saramago as I was waiting. Finally at 7:00 they started letting people in. As I was about to get into the theater, I saw a guy with a camera, and chuckled. Boy, is that guy stupid or what. Then suddenly the guy searching people says "No one with a camera or laptop will be allowed in the theater!"

No laptops allowed? Without any extra recording equipment? What am I supposed to do with my laptop exactly, record a pirate copy of the movie with electronic telepathy? In any case, I could not get in because there's no way I am entrusting my laptop (which I do not own, as it is for work) with guest services.

So, if you ever go to one of these free advance showings, don't bring anything with you, you never know what they will kick you out for, no matter how ridiculous it seems. I didn't ask if they would've booted me for my IPOD. The funny thing is though, they were letting people in with cellphones, many of which were, I am assuming, camera phones.

Blech.

I Hate The Emmys

Well, this has got to be one of the worst and most confusing list of Emmy nominations ever.

You can see the entire list here.

The really, really bad?

1) No Best Drama nomination for Six Feet Under. For that alone I may not even bother to watch the show.
2) A Best Drama Nomination for House, but no Best Actor in a Drama for Hugh Laurie? Come on, he is the entire show.
3) Multiple nominations for The West Wing. Does anyone even like that show anymore, or think it is still good? I never liked it in the first place, but even people I know who used to like it say it isn't any good anymore.
4) No nomination for Mary-Louise Parker, and no Best Comedy Series nomination, for Weeds.
5) No nomination for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Zach Braff (Scrubs).
6) Two and a Half Men being nominated for Best Comedy Series.

There's many more bad things, I just don't feel like listing them all off here.

The good?

1) Desperate Housewives being shut out of not only Best Comedy Series, but Best Actress in a comedy series.
2) The nominations that Six Feet Under did get (Actor, Actress, Directing, Writing).
3) Outside of The West Wing and Two and a Half Men, the shows in the two main categories are all good.
4) 24 getting acting nominations outside of lead actor (Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress).

I suppose that for the second year in a row, I will watch and hope that The West Wing loses best drama, and not really care about anything else. I'm by and large going to hate the results, just like the nominations, anyway. I suppose I may pull for 24 in all categories for being snubbed in past years, even though it did not make my top five for this year.

July/August Movie Preview

So, here's the list of movies that potentially interesting for the next couple of months. This is the calm before the storm really, in September and October the barrage of very interesting looking movies is going to be insane.

Note: Some of these movies are actually being released on Wednesdays, but in those cases I have the date down as the Friday of that week.

July 7th:
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Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

The Sequel. The question is, will this be a franchise where the sequels actually succeed? It is at 75% RT right now (higher than the first) so maybe so.

A Scanner Darkly

Richard Linklater's animated adaptation of the Phillip K. Dick novel. Mixed reviews so far, but I will see any adaptation of the author. Maybe something someday will be as good as Blade Runner.

Edmond

Written by David Mamet. Starring William H. Macy and Julia Stiles.

Plot Outline:
A fortune-tellers teasing rumination sends Edmond Burke lurching into New York City's hellish underworld.

A lot of movies written by Mamet turn out very well, but strangely no reviews are up yet. I may see it if it looks like it will be any good.

Strangers With Candy

Movie adaptation of the former comedy central show. With Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert.

I might wait for DVD on this one, as the reviews aren't looking too good so far.

July 14th:
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The OH in Ohio

Starring Parker Posey, Paul Rudd, Danny DeVito, and Mischa Barton.

Plot outline:
Priscilla Chase (Parker Posey) seems to have it all -- the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect husband (Paul Rudd) -- except for in bed, where sex has always left her a bit short of the finish line.

The thought of Parker Posey playing a frigid prude seems pretty funny actually. I'd like to see what the critical response to this is though, haven't heard anything so far.

July 21st:
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Lady in the Water

Will M. Night Shyamalan break his streak of three bad movies in a row after a good debut? Will it have a twist I'll see coming a mile away? At least this time I won't guess it from the trailer, like I did with The Village.

Clerks II: The Passion of the Clerks

Sequel to the original Kevin Smith indie cult hit. I have some serious reservations about whether this will actually be any good though. I'll be watching out for it anyway just in case.

July 28th:
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Little Miss Sunshine

Comedy/Drama with Steve Carrell, Toni Collette, Greg Kinnear, Alan Arkin. Go and check out the trailer on apple, this one looks like it will be pretty good. I might get to see an advance screening this week, I'll post an early review if I am lucky enough to get in.

Miami Vice

Adaptation of the TV Series. Directed by Michael Mann, starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx.

While the whole premise makes me nervous, I trust Michael Mann to make a quality film, especially in the crime genre. Heat was excellent, and if it wasn't for Tom Cruise, Collateral probably would have been as well.

Scoop

Written and directed by Woody Allen. Starring Woody Allen, Scarlett Johannson, Hugh Jackman, Ian McShane.

Woody goes back to London but this time for a comedy, staring Johannson as a reporter uncovering a murder mystery.

This one looks like it has some potential actually. I wonder if it is a remake of Manhattan Murder Mystery though.

August 4th:
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Quinceañera

Winner of the dramatic Grand Jury prize and the Sundance film festival this year.

Plot Outline: As Magdalena's 15th birthday approaches, her simple, blissful life is complicated by the discovery that she's pregnant. Kicked out of her house, she finds a new family with her great-granduncle and gay cousin.

Who knows? It may be good.

August 11th:
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World Trade Center

Oliver Stone's 9/11 movie, starring Nicholas Cage, Maria Bello, Michael Pena, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Plot Outline: Two Port Authority police officers become trapped under the rubble of the World Trade Center.

You can see the preview for this on various sites already. I can't tell if I think it looks good or not. I personally am not sure if I can buy Nicholas Cage in the role. It might have been a better idea to go with unknown actors like United 93 did.

August 18th:
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Snakes on a Plane

Will this be the so bad it's actually good movie of the year? Or will it actually be bad. You've HAD to have heard about this one by now.

Factotum

Starring Matt Dillon, Marisa Tomei, Lili Taylor. Based on a book by Charles Bukowski.

There was pretty good word about this movie coming out of Sundance, it might be interesting.

Trust the Man

Comedy/Drama/Romance starring David Duchovny, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup, Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Plot Outline: After all the drama, cheating, and trial separations, two men (Crudup, Duchovny) fight to save their respective relationships.

Who knows, the cast looks interesting. But it might end up being bad. Julianne Moore's track record lately has been absolutely horrid. I'll wait for reviews.

August 25th:
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Nothing that looks that great for this weekend.

The Fiction Department Mid-Year Awards

Okay, so what was the best of the first half of this year (in my opinion, anyway)? You may have noticed that I continually update the sidebar with my current contenders, but I suppose it is time to take a snapshot.

How much of this will last until my end of the year list? Not very much, I am guessing. Last year for example, the only thing that lasted from the first half were nominations in my foreign film category (I didn't do documentary as I didn't like enough of them last year) and a couple extra nominations that one foreign film Kings and Queen got. The stuff that is coming out in the second half of the year looks very good so I'm expecting a lot of this to get shifted out. I think the one category that will stay fairly intact is documentary, and foreign film will retain at least a couple. The rest of categories could all be completely replaced. Not that this has been a bad first-half, infact I rather like it much more than last year, but it is nothing like 2004 when you had a couple A+ hit it out of the park movies like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Kill Bill Volume Two come out by this time.

BEST PICTURE
• Fateless
• L'Enfant
• A Prairie Home Companion
• The Proposition (winner)
• United 93

BEST DIRECTOR
• Lajos Koltai - Fateless
• Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne - L'Enfant
• Robert Altman - A Prairie Home Companion
• John Hillcoat - The Proposition (winner)
• Paul Greengrass - United 93

BEST ACTOR
• Steve Coogan - Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
• Aaron Eckhart - Thank You For Smoking
• Marcell Nagy - Fateless
• Jérémie Renier - L'Enfant
• Ray Winstone - The Proposition (winner)

BEST ACTRESS
• Maggie Cheung - Clean
• Anne Hathaway - The Devil Wears Prada
• Laia Marull - Take My Eyes
• Ellen Page - Hard Candy
• Meryl Streep - The Devil Wears Prada (winner) ***

*** I might decide that Meryl is supporting later, but for now, I'll keep her here.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
• Rob Brydon - Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
• Danny Huston - The Proposition
• Kevin Kline - A Prairie Home Companion
• Nick Nolte - Clean (winner)
• Stanley Tucci - The Devil Wears Prada

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
• Emily Blunt - The Devil Wears Prada
• Déborah François - L'Enfant
• Meryl Streep - A Prairie Home Companion
• Lily Tomlin - A Prairie Home Companion
• Emily Watson - The Proposition (winner)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
• The Devil Wears Prada
• Fateless
• A Prairie Home Companion (winner)
• Thank You For Smoking
• Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
• Duck Season
• L'Enfant
• The Proposition (winner)
• The Puffy Chair
• Take My Eyes

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
• Duck Season
• Fateless (winner)
• L'Enfant
• Take My Eyes

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
• An Inconvenient Truth (winner ****tie)
• The Road to Guantanamo
• The War Tapes (winner ****tie)
• Why We Fight
• Wordplay

**** I can't quite decide this one yet.

You Don't Choose Your War

The War Tapes (5/5 stars)

This movie takes a very different and interesting angle on the Iraq war. Instead of making an editorial documentary for or against, cameras are given to various members of a New Hampshire National Guard unit for one year as they spend their time serving during the conflict. This provides us a uniquely real, raw and personal glimpse into the lives of those who are over their fighting, for an against. In addition to the footage made by the troops, interviews are conducted, both of the troops (interviewing each other) and their family members at home, during and after the war.

The story isn't intended to be a propaganda piece for either side, but we inevitably see the perspectives of both anyway. Since this is an examination of what it is really like to serve in Iraq, how it affects the people involved and their families, we get the soldiers' and their family members real opinions both positive and negative. It is a refreshing take on a much overdone subject matter where everyone has an opinion and wants to force it upon you.

The content the soldiers capture varies greatly. Sometimes we see them hanging around and joking together, sometimes we see them filming the most scary situations imaginable, sometimes we see them give their opinion about why they think they are there and whether they agree with it or not. In any case it feels like we are getting the real story for once, the soldiers speak with remarkable candor about everything, and this probably would not have been possible if the story was simply filmed by a documentarian interviewing people; here we get the story straight from the source, by the people who are being affected by the situation the most.

We also see the people change over time, the experience affects those involved dramatically, and they are changed people for it. Sometimes they need to reconcicle their mission and feelings about it with their reasons for joining up in the first place. Some feel like they have done the right thing, some are amazingly indifferent to their journey, some feel that they are proud of serving but the war was for the wrong reasons, some even feel a little bit of both. One soldier in particular agrees that the war was for oil but argues that it was still a good thing, despite the original reasons given for going in the first place.

In any case, due to the unique nature of the film, this is probably the most fascinating take on the subject yet. I would recommend it to anyone, regardless of your political beliefs.

High School Basketball Highlight Reel

The Heart of the Game (3/5 stars)

The Heart of the Game tells the story of the Roosevelt High School Rough Riders female basketball team, their coach (Bill Resler), and one of their star periods for a period of time (Darnellia Russell) over a period of several years.

The primary focus of the movie, Resler, previously having no coaching experience, becomes the head coach at the school and brings them to a level of dominance; the team makes an appearance at almost every state championship tournament over the course of several years, and eventually this all finally leads up to a game in the finals during the movie's conclusion. Another focus is on one of the stars, Russell, who is touted as being a fantastic player, who has a real shot at the NBA some day. However her chances are sidetracked as she becomes pregnant at the end of her junior year. She skips a year and then comes back to play her fourth year one year too late, and the state basketball association tries to deny her the chance, but it is taken to court and at the outset of the championship game there is still the chance that even if the team wins they could get their award taken away from them if she is eventually deemed inelligible. The point is that she had undue hardship due to her pregnancy and could not possibly play her fourth year on schedule, if she were a player on the men's team she would not have to deal with this kind of issue.

The movie switches between highlight footage, interviews with the players and the coach, and news footage. The best is the stuff which focuses on the coach himself; he is a pretty eccentric person, and if the movie were more about him it would be much more interesting. However much of the movie really feels like you are watching an NFL Films highlight reel of girl's high school basketball games, which drags the movie down and makes it less interesting. There is nothing much that is too profound here, and the intereresting parts of the movie (the personalities, Darniella's struggle) are overshadowed by the game footage.

It wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't a very good one either; just simply average. I would recommend watching it on cable, because just like any sports highlights documentary that is exactly what it is suited for.