My Movie Review: The Next Three Days

My Movie Review: The Next Three Days
3/5

Opening Statement: Russell Crowe plays a father of one in a perfect lovable family. When his wife is convicted of a murder she did not commit and taken away from him and his son Crowe becomes mixed with depressing emotions. He begins to concoct a dynamic, thought out plan to rescue his wife and son and take them away to Venezuela. 


What's Good: For the lengthy time it's on it does a pretty good job keeping attention. There is some good performances from Crowe as a lead, but the real acting to watch here is Banks who is in tears every scene, going above and beyond any movie she has been in. Whenever action is on screen it is captured well, and quite honestly even though we don't know too much about these characters we sympathize with them. For what it is worth it keeps the heart racing, for a nice chase thriller, which consists entirely of action in the final third act.


What's Bad: Unfortunately Haggis's attempt to blend sympathetic drama and quick action makes everything seem a bit unbalanced. The first half of the film consists entirely of setting up the plan  and visits to prison where we see a crying Elizabeth Banks. The primary theme here is for Crowe's character to overcome being a nice simple man and to have to go all out, and become a violent person to help save his wife. A lot of that stays intact for the majority of the film, but by the third act the film trades characterization and emotion for heart-pounding action which is ok to watch, but kind of a jerk to the brain to transfer.


The Rant: No rant today.


Oscar Possibilities: I quite honestly can't see this getting any recognition against some of the other nods. Not even for Banks, which is most likely.


Consensus: Paul Haggis's drama-thriller strikes average in its attempt to blend the genres. A lot to keep your attention here, but not much to think about afterwards. Average.

My Classics: Casablanca (1942)

My Classics: Casablanca
4.5/5

Opening Statement: Inspiring some of the greatest quotes, and scenes in cinema history, Casablanca is the story that takes place in unoccupied Africa during WW2. A fugitive is tracked there and that man turns out to have a wife who had a previous relationship with the local, beloved bartender. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick, a man always in the "neutral" on every topic, a metaphor for America at the time if you will. Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) finds that her former lover is the only way to get the proper transit papers to exit Casablanca.


Why it's classic: Toping many lists of the all-time greatest, including lists for best scenes and lines in movie history. Simply why it is classic. It was probably a more topical film for its era, which at the time was taking place in "present" not "past." As we see it now. Michael Curtiz is behind the camera and offers some beautiful sets. He sets a tone that adds an unpleasant, but appropriate blend of tragedy and romance. 
                         Originally based off the play "Everybody come to Ricks" the film proves to have a very witty, yet well-paced adapted script. Much is owed to the artful delivery of dialogue between both the main cast, and the supporting cast. Bogart, Bergman, Henreid, and Rains give very note-worthy, if not paragraph worthy performances. At the time the "romance" genre was at its peak, no doubt. With "It Happened One Night" and "Gone with the Wind."
                        During my second viewing is this classic, I still didn't once feel impatient at its length, like I did with Gone with the Wind. Instead I smiled at the sheer 'classic-ness' of the dialogue and the wit of Bogart's Rick. However the second viewing did decrease that warm feeling of surprise. Not necessarily a five star classic, personally of course, it has aged well but I can't see it attracting many younger viewers unfortunately. 


Consensus: Classic scenes, classic characters, classic lines...Casablanca has classic literally written all over it. It is a beautifully photographed tragic romance, that could possibly go beyond Shakespeare's famous romantic-tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

My Classics: It Happened One Night (1934)

My Classic Review: It Happened One Night
4/5

Opening Statement: Claudette Colbert plays Ellie, a spoiled rich girl who has just ran away from her father. As she becomes a pretty big news event she runs into a man named Peter Warne played by the ever-so-witty Clark Gable. Once Peter finds out he makes a deal with her to get an interview, but a lot can happen in "one night."


Why It's Classic: From the get-go you can tell this is a Capra film. Not one of his best particularly, but the man does go down in director history a couple films later. It's a sweet romance, filled with enjoyable comedy that has aged well, and surprising innuendo for its time. This film was released only a couple years after sound was invented and filmmakers learned that using the sound technology they had to make some pretty damned interesting stories. This was one of the bigger accomplishments for it's time.
                            It creates itself as a classic in my book primarily because it has so many different elements that are used countlessly in our modern films. The acting is incredible from Gable and Colbert, but story is key. The reason it doesn't receive a perfect score from me personally is simply because I enjoyed it at a 4/5 pace. Nothing i'd watch again and while this was a major picture for the time, audiences back then had a railroad of amazing flicks coming (Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Citizen Kane.) 
                             Basically, the film majors in mood, and makes itself one of the greater romantic comedies. Scratch that. Probably the in the running for the greatest romantic comedy to date. Up there with "When Harry Met Sally" a very enjoyable flick.


Consensus: Frank Capra is always excellent with his modest, feel good direction, mixed with an excellent adapted screenplay from Robert Riskin, all in which is helped greatly by two powerhouse performances from Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. A movie to be seen by any movie lover.

My Movie Review: Enter the Void

My Movie Review: Enter the Void
4/5

Opening Statement: Oscar is a young drug dealer living in Tokyo. He recently started selling drugs to get his sister's ticket to move here with him, now he gets caught up in a deal gone wrong where he is shot and killed. From there he enters his after-life, or a better word for it, THE VOID.


What's Good: I entered the void, and I liked what I saw. Director Gaspar Noe has a way to make the supernatural afterlife look pure, trippy and a nice scenic, yet dark view of Tokyo. We watch many things after Oscar's death that help us reflect on his character and the characters in his life. This movie is truly bizarre with an odd third act that starts out slow but ends with a borderline- pornographic surprise. Simply put, Noe is an artist who has a deep dark bizarre view on what happens after you die, and at times it can be oh so beautiful. A religious experience we might not morally agree with, but makes up for being theatrical dynamite.


What's Bad: At times Enter the Void seems slow, maybe unevenly paced as well. Unfortunately I couldn't tell you if this was a good directorial decision or a bad one. Since all the excellent camera angles seem continuous throughout the whole story. 


The Rant: No rant today. You would think people would freak out about this film religiously so I could rant about it just being a movie. But no one seems too pissed.


Oscar Possibilities: None, unfortunately.


Consensus: Enter the Void an amazing experience, an artistic, pornographic, supernatural view on the after life, that achieves great amazement from it's highly original use of lighting and cinematography.

My Classics: The General (1926)

My Classics: The General (1926)
5/5

Opening Statement: Starring one of the bigger comic actors of the time Buster Keaton. The General focuses on a young man who shares a love of his train and a woman. He may be small, be once both are messed with he has to take a stand. In this epic comical silent action flick.


Why it's Classic: Buster Keaton never was as big as the amazingly talented Charlie Chaplin, but Keaton is still amazing talented. His reflects an unusual dead pan emotion regularly but is often dragged into heroic action. It's a contradiction, but it worked. There is no dialogue in The General, it came out at the end of the silent era. The dialogue that is said is shown to us on screen, and rarely did they have it, or even need it. We are entertained the whole time throughout The General, we sympathize with our comical character and we want to see him achieve his goal.
                              After creating such a lovable character, who is funny and sweet, the writers put him into a more extreme position, as an action hero. The majority of the film follows him on the train, and he is either chasing or being chased. In a way it works as cat and mouse antics. There is a great deal of fun slapstick and the story simply has no problem with flow. The music incorporates sounds at times, which is genius, there is also a greatly gets is involved emotionally. This is an orchestra playing the perfect notes, at the perfect time.
                               All in all, The General blends action, adventure, comedy, and romance so damned well. This movie is so fantastic it is hard to find the words. It is fun for the whole family, with war violence kept to a minimum, and it surprises me how creative the whole crew behind this film is. The stunts are very risky for the actor, they are put endanger of injury, they love their job. There is also one of the most expensive stunts performed in the silent movie era in this film. Even around 90 years later I find these stunts to be eye candy. I don't like the modern CGI stuff like Transformers and The A-Team as much simply because it's not real. In The General we have real trains with actors in real danger, it looks beautiful almost like a stage play.
                            In the end, with shakespearian talent on the screen, and an impressive imagination, one of the greatest films in history was created. I loved this movie, even the modern audience would awe at it if they give it the chance. My only problem is that I get sad that there aren't many recent movies like this. Then again I doubt something like this would work for this time era.


Consensus: Perfect genre blend, fantastic, artistic performance,  beautifully enacted stunts all are shown on screen created by some of the greatest imagination in the history of film.

My Holidays: HALLOWEEN

In honor of Halloween I posted some pretty scary flicks you should look into. These films not only scared me but are excellent achievements in cinema.  Scare, Gore, Disturbing ratings are from Mild to Moderate to Extreme

20- Halloween
RATING: 3/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Moderate

19- Jack Frost
RATING: 2.5/5
SCARE: Mild
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Extreme

18- Drag Me To Hell
RATING: 3.5/5
SCARE: Mild
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Extreme

17- Zombieland
RATING: 4/5
SCARE: Mild
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Mild
COMIC: Extreme

16- Carrie
RATING: 3.5/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Mild
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Mild

15- Paranormal Activity
RATING: 4/5
SCARE: Extreme
GORE: Mild
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Mild

14- The Human Centipede (First Sequence)
RATING: 3.5/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Moderate

13- Saw
RATING: 3.5/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Extreme
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Mild

12- Frailty
RATING: 4/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Mild

11- Dawn of the Dead
RATING: 4/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Extreme
DISTURB: Mild
COMIC: Moderate

10- The Birds
RATING: 4.5/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Mild
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Mild

9- The Mist
RATING: 4/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Extreme
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Moderate

8- The Good Son
RATING: 4.5/5
SCARE: Mild
GORE: Mild
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Mild

7- The Evil Dead
RATING: 3.5/5
SCARE: Moderate
GORE: Extreme
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Extreme

6- The Exorcist
RATING: 4.5/5
SCARE: Extreme
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Mild

5- Jaws
RATING: 5/5
SCARE: Extreme
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Moderate

4- Signs
RATING: 4.5/5
SCARE: Extreme
GORE: Mild
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Mild

3- Night of the Living Dead
RATING: 5/5
SCARE: Extreme
GORE: Moderate
DISTURB: Extreme
COMIC: Moderate

2- 28 Days Later..
RATING: 5/5
SCARE: Extreme
GORE: Extreme
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Mild

1- The Thing
RATING: 5/5
SCARE: Extreme
GORE: Extreme
DISTURB: Moderate
COMIC: Moderate

My Articles: The World of Film, Fiction and Fiction.

The World of Film, Fiction and Fiction.


                    It's a very contradictory feeling that I enjoy criticizing film. For those who don't know I am first and foremost a screenplay writer, and I am currently enrolled at Full Sail University film school. The fact that I review movies also is very pleasantly ironic. The other day my History of Motion Picture Arts professor showed me the timeless classic Trip to the Moon. Pretty much timeless because it was one of the first movies ever made. 
                   In this class we occasionally get off topic by discussing what we just saw. Which included that and The Great Train Robbery at the time. I brought up the fact of how it must've been interesting in hindsight of the future what was being seen. We haven't been on the moon at this time, no one knew if we could go just yet.  From there the topic split into various tangents which brings me to the point of this article. When Birth of the Nation got brought up many people wondered how people at the time separated fact from fiction. The fact that it was a very racist film, could effect the way people saw things. From our professors personal perspective, you aren't supposed to ever take a movie seriously, not even documentary's.
                   It was only then I realized that I had the exact same belief as this man.  No movie can properly represent real life, this right here is real life, right now. Throughout my life I always thought the news was boring, I now realize that I was only partially right. I never get involved in politics because I feel the only way we can hear about what the hell is going on in Washington is through the media, which can be swayed in several ways. 
                   Let me see if I can explain this a little better. I loved Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 where he brought up many very negative actions performed by our president of the time, George Bush. Did I hate George Bush after I saw it? Nope, still didn't care about politics. Then why did I love this movie? Primarily because I loved the ambition of Michael Moore. I saw this world as a fictional America they discussed. The film was a character study on a fictional George Bush. Now that sounds very conservative of me, but if someone made a film bashing Obama, as well-made as this one, I would believe it to be about a fictional Obama as well.
                   Let me branch away from politics and discuss a more recent hit, The Social Network. Fantastic film that I rated 4.5/5  had Zuckerberg completely pissed, trying to hide it of course, I didn't even see how it showed him in much of a negative light, but that's a different story. I do believe, however, people are walking in to see this film and saying to themselves, this is the whole truth about the creation of facebook. They shouldn't have that mindset, it should be more along the lines of I am about to be entertained by a great movie.  Truth can be relevant passed down by word of mouth, no matter who is saying which words. 
                 I hope you all didn't have too much trouble understanding my angle in this blog. Basically my consensus for the whole thing is, Never take a movie seriously, watch it for it's main purpose which is entertainment. Maybe learn a couple things that can help you through your life. Which as far as you know is reality....or is it?