Monsters vs Aliens, Ping Pong Playa and The Hurt Locker

I got to see "Monsters vs Aliens" with my three kids and my brother Jesse and my sister Jill. This was a fun movie for all ages, with the visuals and action for the little kids and the humor and cultural references for the bigger kids. If Matt hasn't seen this yet, I'm sure he'll love what the President (as played by Stephen Colbert) does to try to communicate with the aliens. This was a Dreamworks movie, and it had some of the feel of the Shrek series, but I liked it better. It seemed to have more depth and life flowing than Shrek, if you know what I mean. So many of these computer animated movies seem so flat and bland, maybe that's just the consequence of being compared to Pixar films. "Monsters vs Aliens" is on the high side of sub-Pixar movies, so it's doing about as good as can be expected. I guess what does disappoint me about a movie like this is how close it comes to being so much better... There are moments, there are ideas, there are characters that are really interesting or funny. But as a whole it felt more like a long Cartoon Network show than a feature length animated film. Maybe that's what some people like, but I was hoping for more, like I got from "Up".

"Ping Pong Playa" didn't make it to any theaters near me, and I don't know if I would have given it a chance even if it had. It's one of those impulse Netflix viewings that paid off. The star of this movie is a young Chinese American man who doesn't want to grow up, but desperately wants to play in the NBA, like Yao. Unfortunately he is neither tall, nor is he any good at basketball. He has always been overshadowed by his older brother, who is a kind of local Ping Pong hero. His parents are very disappointed in him, and he doesn't really have anything going his way. What balances this all out is that he's got lots of energy and a colorful personality. When his brother gets injured weeks before the big Ping Pong tournament we see right away where the plot of this film is taking us. In this case that's not a bad thing. I can handle a predictable movie, as long as its entertaining in the way it gets to the inevitable conclusion. I also liked how this movie walked the fine line between funny and inappropriate, and succeeded in remaining funny. The main character uses that Urban vernacular, but perfectly placed basketball bounces protect our ears from the harmful descriptive verbs. The movie also takes what could have been a one-idea gag, and creates a thoughtful story and set of supporting characters which save it from being shallow comedy.

Rob and I saw "The Hurt Locker" at our local art house theater. Ben had given me the heads-up on this one, and although I had heard good things about it, I didn't really know much about the story. Well, there isn't much of a story, this is more of a character study, which was alright by me. When I saw "In The Valley of Elah" a year or so ago I had that feeling that I was being taken advantage of. You know, when a movie gives you a set-up and introduces you to characters and locations, but before long you realize that everything is just a device to preach at you and impose a certain point of view. "Elah" was all about how war is hell, and there's nothing good about it, there's never any good reason to go to war, and the outcome is always ever bad... At least the movie had an opinion I guess instead of being empty and hopeless like some. Well, back to "The Hurt Locker". Here we see our men on the ground in Iraq, dealing with the day to day, reacting according to emotion, training, minds and hearts. We are following a team of demolition experts, on the prowl for roadside explosives. (Here I'd like to say "hello" our friendly NSA operative). This film had some of those "Apocalypse Now" moments where the stuff that happens is so horrifying that it's almost surreal. The movie never gets to heavy though, it's more of a documentary in the way it presents the information, but a very intimate one, in which we really get to see the Marines in their highs and lows. I think I've seen enough action movies, and dramas with war as a backdrop. I prefer to see a film like this that specializes in examining one aspect or idea concerning something that is real, but worlds away for me.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Rob and I went to see this film on Wednesday evening, no midnight showings for us old guys. We've gone to see most (if not all) of the Harry Potter films together and tend to have the same reaction as time has gone on. The first film was awesome, and a great introduction to the world and characters of Harry. The second film seemed to continue the energy from the first but wasn't quite as good. "The Prisoner of Azkaban" was a great film, a standalone work that would have been a great film independent of any previous or subsequent installments. The other two movies kind of fizzled, and are proof that you can have great sets, good actors, amazing effects etc. but if you director isn't up to the task, all is in vain. I give you this summary in order to set a context for my review of the newest Harry Potter film "Half Blood Prince". This film gets it mostly right, not "Prisoner of Azkaban" right, but pretty good. The Three major threads; memories, couples and encroaching evil all are covered well. The filmmakers do a decent job of establishing a mission for the film and then accomplishing it within the allotted time. Here's my major problem with the majority of this series; movies that are produced by the author and are designed to please the readers are doomed to fail as great films. I can always feel when I've been trapped within the confines of a book. Films should be someone's imagining of what they took away from the reading experience and never an attempt to transpose the page to the screen. I think that in 35 or 40 years when a fan of the books goes on to remake the Harry Potter series into films, then and only then will we get great adaptations. Until then I will admit that I enjoyed the seemingly endless awkward love triangles, the memory smoke in a bowl and the witch that even creeps out Snape. And at the risk of stepping over a line I will pose this final question; Harry Potter has a chance to further his relationship with Hermione, and doesn't take it (now I haven't read the last book, so don't ruin it for me) so does this prove that Harry really is gay?

Ice Age 3 and Public Enemies

Aravis and I went to see "Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" last night. She mentioned beforehand that since Jude got to see Transformers in IMAX she thought she should get popcorn with her movie... she's such a con. The chemistry between the characters, and the humor is what makes this series just good enough to recommend. Unfortunately so much about Ice Age is dull and boring. The colors, the music (or lack thereof) and the settings are just so drab and lifeless. Fortunately the characters are unique, and kind of have grown on me, and the the humor (especially Scratte) are enough to almost keep me awake. Alas this movie did not quite meet the sleeping standard (as in it caused me to fall asleep) but it was very near the end, so it was mostly good. Also, as an interesting aside, if you turn your 3D glasses upside down, the objects that are meant to jump out at you actually drop into the background, and the backgrounds come directly into the foreground.

Jess and I went to see "Public Enemies" tonight. Let me start with my primary criticism of the film; the camera work. The whole film was of that digital, handheld quality (perhaps because it was digital handheld). I completely understand the draw to this kind of filmmaking, but it was not fitting in the context of this film. At one point, later in the film there is a shootout at a hunting lodge; this scene felt like something you might see on low budget television. That was not the kind of feel that this film deserves. Unfortunately for the most part I found the camera style to be so distracting that it did take away from my appreciation of the rest of the film, but I'll try to put it all aside for the next few moments. I really liked Johnny Depp's portrayal of John Dillinger. He brought a subtle flair to this role, making Dillinger a gangster from all those famous old gangster films, with a modern introspective flavor. I also liked Christian Bale's character, an FBI agent on the trail of Dillinger. I felt like we didn't get to see enough of him or get to know him well enough, but what we did see was once again subtle yet very effective. The director Michael Mann is wonderful at conveying relationships and ideas without insulting our intelligence as an audience. Great actors and a great director don't explain stuff to you, they show you. This film contained all the aspects of a great film, yet failed to convince me that it was great. Perhaps there were too many reminders of "Heat" or maybe I spent too much time thinking about "The Last of the Mohicans" as the characters chased each other through the woods. I shouldn't be thinking about a directors other films when I'm supposed to be watching his current film. Is that my fault or his? I blame him.