Superman, Pirates, Lady in the Water, Miami Vice, Talladegan Nights...

My computer is down, but my movie ticket still works. It's amazing what one movie ticket for "Matrix Revolutions" will get you when you complain enough. I think this is all the movies I've seen since Tokyo Drift, and most of them have been better that that movie. Superman was good Summer fun with great Superman music and a couple sweet scenes (the airplane). Pirates was also good Summer fun, but seemed unable to decide between realistic, Nate and Hayes piracy or Disneyfied plastic-skull pirates. Lady in the Water was as good as I expected, but didn't blow me away as I had hoped. Miami Vice wasn't as good as its awesome trailer, but it was ten times better than anything else in its category. Talledegan Nights had its moments, and it had its anti-moments. I'll talk to you all later, give me a call and tell me what you all think, or if you've seen something good.

3Fast3Furious: Tokyo Drift

Vin Deisel brings a smile to my face. Is that not manly to admit? I really liked the first Fast and the Furious movie. It showed me something origninal in the underground racing sub-culture. It had energy, it had style, and it had manliness with Vin. Of course it also had Paul "bro" Walker. Seriously, does he get payed based on the number of times he says "bro" in a movie. He says "bro" more times in his average movie trailer than I have said in my entire lifetime. It's not his fault I guess, most likely he was brought up in a Southern California beach bum home and his parents both said "bro" his older siblings probably called him "bro" and surely he had a little Cocker Spaniel named "Bro". Anyways, Paul Walker wasn't in this, the third installment, so really the "bro" factor doesn't come ito play in this specific review.

Tokyo Drift made a good move to show us something new, focusing on a different style of racing and a whole different country, read the title of the film and you may be able to figure out exactly which country and what style of racing I refer to. Lucas Black was the star of this film, and ever since Sling Blade I haven't liked his voice. I'm sorry, nothing personal but it just is distracting. As you probably can guess this film is not about the dialouge, so his speaking was limited and therefore we didn't have too much of a problem. The racing/drivng was fun, energetic and even exciting, the story was alright and the music was bearable, well maybe I actually liked some of the music. All in all, if you want to see a movie for fun and a bit of escapism, this is the one. Unless of couse you do race illeagally, and have a buttload of money to buy, fix-up and detail, then totally destroy Japanese racing cars. If that is you, then this movie is more like a documentary, and you should go see An Inconvenient Truth for some escapism. I'm out of here "bro"!

Nacho Libre

The anticipation is over, and I was not dissapointed. I wasn't blown away either, but it's probably my own fault for anticipating so much in the first place. Will I ever learn my lesson? Superman can't possibly be as good as I hope it will be, usually the only thing that usually dosn't dissapoint are those movies that I'm sure will suck that turn out alright. Like the next movie I saw after Nacho Libre. Well, you'll have to read about that next, right now we're talking about Nacho Libre in case you forgot.

It was funny, as funny as the trailers and then some. Jack black stayed in character throughout the whole movie, an interesting cross between a Mexican priest and a pop culture influenced typical male. I loved the use of slang within the context of spiritual issues. The wrestling, the relationships, the singing, the facial expressions while riding his "chariot" and of course the baptismal scene. It was a hilarious movie, perhaps the funiest I've seen since Napolean Dynamite. of course there haven't been any funny movies since Napolean Dynamite, so whatever.

The Prarie Home Companion

I saw this movie a week ago, and didn't write about it because it wasn't really anything special. Now you're probably wondering what in the world a twenty-something, trendy, hip, cool guy like me was doing going to see The Prarie Home Companion in the first place. I do have an excuse, actually two: On Saturday mornings when I'm in line at the bank drive-through, sometimes I listen to the radio show on NPR, or maybe I'm listening to Car Talk, anyways, at some point durring the week I find myself listening to The Prarie Home Companion on the radio, and I like that guy's voice. When he's talking I am interested, whenever he stops and it moves on to music, the channel is changed. The other reason is that Robert Altman directed it, I like that Gosford Park, so I thought I would give it a try. Well, they had the guy with the voice, so I wan't dissapointed on that front, and Robert Altman directed the film in an interesting way that at least kept me awake. Other than that it pretty much was, well, not anything special.

Scent of a Woman

The last time I wrote about a film I watched at home, it was 'The Searchers" strarring John Wayne. This time I write to tell you about "Scent of a Woman" starring Al Pacino. "Scent of a Woman" is not a great film, it's alright, and overall a good smooth story, but what makes this film worth seeing is Al Pacino. Last night was my second viewing of this film, I first saw it six or seven years ago. It is truly amazing to see the range of an actor like Pacino, in just one film. This role inspires hate, love, pity and contempt all in the span of a few minutes. My favorite scene is at a resturaunt, where Pacino dances the tango with a woman who is waiting for someone else. The scene is just enjoyable to watch, then you factor in the depth of the character thus far, the foreshadowing of what is to come and the perfomance in this one scene, and it makes you appreciate it even more. Pacino may be my favorite actor, well after Bogart of course, but I think I can safely say his roles demonstrate that he is a better actor than Bogart and quite possibly one of the greatest ever.

Cars

Last night our whole family went to see Cars at our local cineplex. I think that this was the first movie that we all have been to, so it was a fun experience even before the film started. As a film, Cars was entertaining, funny and enjoyable to watch. Out of the Pixar movies so far, I think this one was the least original in the story/concept department, but visually it is the best. Now it wasn't as beautiful as Finding Nemo, or as stunning as Monster's Inc, but on a whole it is the next step in animation. The scenes at night were especially amazing, the street lamps don't just cast light, they cast light into thick air, animated thick air. Even the darkness of the sky has depth and isn't just black, but somehow is real. The film seemed long, perhaps because Aravis has a short attention span and decided to remove her shoes halfway through the film. It did drag on a little, but it was well broken up with a simple story, speedy races, and humorous dialouge and moments. I especially liked the "Mater" character. Even though he was dangerously close to being a stereotypical character, he had heart and that makes up for a lot.

I'm thinking of seeing that Prarie Home Companion, of course I'm going to see Nacho Libre and Superman, this Summer is alright for movies I guess. Still nothing that I can't wait to see though... When's that Speilberg film about Lincoln coming out? That might be alright.

X-Men 3

It wasn't the first X-Men, and it wasn't the second X-Men either, but it was still alright. I wasn't as excited to see the characters brought to life, that happened in the first film. I wasn't as blown away by the action and energy, that was the second film. This film didn't have the power in an underlying message as the first two films did. What this film had going for it were the things I didn't expect. Good-bad, bad-good, life, death, let's just say this is the movie so far this year that you probably should stay in the theater until the credits are comletely finished, if you don't, well you will be sorry. I probably should have learned my lesson by now about sequels. I really shouldn't compare them to the original, merely enjoy them on their own merits. Then again, maybe I should avoid sequels altogether and have that original good impression be the only one I have... I can't wait for Indiana Jones 4 and Die Hard 4, those are going to be sweet!

The DaVinci Code

I don't read many books anymore, but for some reason, I read Dan Brown's Davinci Code. Ron Howard has filmed that book. He didn't adapt it to film, he filmed it. This is the films strength and its weakness. It is a strength in this, details, dialouge, locations, sensations have all been captured and appear richly on the screen. It is a weakness in that the film, its scope and its actors seem limited by the covers of a book. Tom Hanks captures his character perfectly. Bewilderment, genius, fear, shock and bravery. Those are probably words that were written in the book, but lacking is a real person with deep faith or experience.

The first paragraph of my review only deals with the film as a film, which I would recommend on the merits of being a book-film transition as opposed to a book-film adaptation. I should probably take a moment to comment on the films subject matter and its perspective. I liked what Tom Hank's character had to say about Christians: We have historical, physical evidence that shows that Jesus was a good man, it is on faith that we believe that he is God's son. He is essentially saying that the truth isn't always something that can be physically proven, even if people try to cover it up, that doesn't change it being true. Unfortunately the film ends with a very clear glimpse of what the truth is (within the context of the film). I understand that this is a work of fiction and I was entertained. I just felt uncomfortable with this "historical fiction" that doesn't use truth as a backdrop, rather twists and flat out lies about truth for its plot. Kind of like watching an Oliver Stone film I guess.

Mission Impossible III

This was the Summer blockbuster that I have been looking forward to the most. Sure, I'll see the others, XMen, Superman, DaVinci, Nacho and the like, but Mission Impossible has always been sure to entertain, and always will. Can you "take it up a notch" and "tone it down a little" both at the same time? Tom Cruise and J.J. Abrams say yes. This film steps up the action level so as to almost be overwhelming. By the time it was all over I acually had the thought that there had been too much action... Can this even be possible? This action is balanced pretty well with a story that deals with friendships, trust, love and commitment. Obviously Mission Impossible III isn't going to win Best Acting or Best Screenplay, but it is nice to have characters with honorable motivations and genuine emotions.

Hopefullly if you're reading this, you have already seen this film or else the following may spoil some of the fun. My one major complaint is the moment of tension that begins the film, and then becomes the opening of the finale... Philip Seymour Hoffman, who plays the villian is threatening Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt and his wife. We probably all saw the trailers and knew that this was coming. What we didn't know is that the film begins this way, and after a 10-count Hunt's wife gets a bullet in the brain. My problem with this scene is this; we are watching Mission Impossible, right? Ethan Hunt should be able to find a way out of this situation. I don't know what his solution would be, that's why I'm Peter Crum and he's Ethan Hunt. My problem is the cheap, anti-climactic, vanilla amnner in which this shocking episode is dealt with. It was almost like the bad guys said "ya, we're bad guys, but not that bad, here, we'll give you another chance". When the child got shot right in front of the father in the film Crash, the audience goes through the trauma of the moment, then as the truth is revealed I had a sigh of relief, one with real joy. The differnce with the MI3 scenerio is that I just felt cheated.

Alright, I've gotten that off my chest. Other than that it was a super sweet film. J.J. Abrams brought his own look and feel to the film, like Alias with Tom Cruise and a huge budget. The special effects were awesome, especially Tom Cruise's transformation into Philip Seymour Hoffman, almost brought a tear to my eye. You must see this film on the big screen though, so hurry up and see it again.

United 93

I was sitting at home, in my basement, watching Fox News, CNN and MSNBC when the events of United 93 were unfolding. For me, the events of Semptember 11th were happening somewhere else, to other people. United 93 put me on the plane, with the passengers who must decide to do what is right, laying down thier lives for thier fellow countrymen. The film is effective in expressing the emotional progression of that morning; the grogginess of early morning travelers, fear and shock of the initial violent attack, panic and confusion, seeking answers and comfort, and finally resolve based on unlinching belief. This is an honarable effort by the filmmakers to pay tribute to the captive passengers and crew of United 93.

That is only part of the film though. The other significant focus is on the terrorists themselves. The film begins with them praying. These are not crazed delusional psychopaths, rather they are determined, scared, religious hijackers. This film is not about the character or motives though, just about that morning. In the context of the film, I do not know what happened yesterday to any on board United flight 93. It is not important, all that is important is what happens this morning. The one thought I had as I left the theater was this, it was actually a prayer, that God would give me strength to do what is right if I were ever faced with a decision like those captive passengers on United 93

The Sentinel

This movie does not deserve a review. It wasn't a bad movie, don't get me wrong, it was worse than bad, it was vanilla. I'm sorry, that's mean, I really like vanilla, especially natural vanilla Bryers ice cream, with some hot fudge sauce and some real whipped cream, and maybe some butterscotch topping as well. The Sentinel was bland, boring, dull and it wasted not only my time, but also the time of all those actors and actersses. Imagine how cool a movie could be with Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland and Kim Basinger... Well the movie you just imagined had no similarity to The Sentinel.

Lucky Number Slevin

I don't judge all movies in comparison to Pulp Fiction, but this one just begs to be in the same category. There is the Tarantinoesque dialouge, the gritty urban enviornments, more characters than you can shake a stick at, and of course a healthy dose of violence. Well maybe a little more than a healthy dose, but not like an overdose or anything that might require a shot of adreneline straight to the heart.

Lucky Number Slevin is smart. It knows that anyone who comes to see it has already seen Tarantino and all of his copycat wannabes. It makes you think that you're seeing a tired retread of the double-doublecross, twists in the twists, revenge flick. There were even times that I thought that the filmmakers had completely screwed up their own stroyline, or added unnecesary layers or details. Then came the last ten minutes of the film. I've probably already given away too much, and if you're still reading this it's you're own fault. The movie doesn't end believing it has suprised us, or let us in on some amazing mystery. Rather it shows us how all of its characters react to the devolepments and unraveling of the plot. Especialy note Ben Kinsley's reaction to the final revelation; priceless. Lucky Number Slevin knows its not original, but it knows that we don't know that it knows it's not original.

P.S. Bruce Willis is doing a good job at this point in his career of recognizing his strengths and weaknesses. I told my friend Rob that his hitman character is Pepe Le Puing his way through the movie. When you get to be Willis' age there's no reason to be running all over the place dodging bullets and breaking stuff, might as well play it smart and cool. Now when's Die Hard 4 supposed to be here?

V for Vendetta

I went to this film expecting a lot of action, with a little bit of a revolution/anti-government storyline. What I got was a lot of revolution/anti government and a little action. Now I'm sure I have already been red-flagged so I might as well say that personally I enjoyed the dialouge and exchange of ideas that the film presented, and the action was just right, kind of like Little Bear's porridge. This film reminded me somewhat of the first Matrix film (suprise) in that it used its visual presentation to emphasise and build upon the story.

Personally I think that durring this moment in history, while the government and the citizens are rushing to trade in their freedoms for the promise of security, it is great that a movie like this can be made. You'll have to ask me more about this in person, because seriously there are red flags popping up on my desktop right now. What I really should say is that it is important that Michael Moore puts out his crap, as well as other filmmakers putting out films like V for Vendetta and Curious George, and Mission Imposssible 3. In America, Hollywood can lie to us, make us think, entertain us and our children. Let us never let the terrorists win, and have us all watching "approved" films in well-lit theaters, only on odd-numbered days, starring people like Ben Affleck, please never let this happen!

Winners, Losers and Ultraviolet

Crash won, that's cool.
Brokeback Mountain lost, that's cool too. Perhaps some of the buzz will die down, everyone will watch The Searchers again (or for the first time), and maybe this year we will get some really good films worth getting excited about.
Ultraviolet was cool. It was cool in a low-budget, unique-idea, not-as-good-as-Matrix, twenty-times-better-than-Revolutions kind of way. Motorcycles are cool, especially when you have fururistic devices to make them more interesting.

Best Picture

What film deserves to win Best Picture this year?

Christians don’t want Brokeback Mountain to win because of its open homosexual message.

The Rolling Stones, The Newsboys, Sandi Patti, Michael W. Smith and Caedmon’s Call all get nominated for Best Musical Group, who deserves to win?

How many Christians are there in this country? How many homosexuals are there in this country? Where are all the great Christian films?

I could keep asking questions, and making statements, but let me just answer the ones I’ve already asked…

Brokeback Mountain deserves the Best Picture award this coming Sunday night.

The Rolling Stones. (Although it was sort of a trick question since Sandi Patti and Michael W. Smith are not “groups”)

Supposedly there a quite a few Christians in this country.

Even by high estimates there are somewhat less homosexuals than there are supposed Christians.

Has the term “great Christian film” been used before?

I’m sorry, there was another question, can I really answer a question with another question?

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and Crash

Each of these movies deserves its own full-length review, but I think it is interesting to compare them to on another instead. I saw Three Burials on Friday night, and then Crash on Saturday night. Although the settings and styles of these films are completely different, there is a common theme: Growth. All of the main characters in both films start out at a certain point in their lives, and over the course of their respective stories they go through some pretty dramatic personal growth. I find this interesting because most movies don’t seem to have time for growth. Usually the characters are already established and exist only to further the story. In Three Burials I was surprised to see both the protagonist and antagonist grow, and definitely in directions I didn’t foresee. Then in Crash, there are nine different main characters, each of whom grows personally during the course of the film. I really enjoyed the fact that the film began with a cast of stereotypes and through some tough situations it dashed those stereotypes to pieces.
Independent films are supposed to be fresh, entertaining and thought-provoking. Instead they have merely become cheap, recycled, Hollywood, formula crap. Three Burials and Crash break away from that sad trend. Hopefully with the evolution of the media, with the immense variety and simplification of production, the cream will rise to the top.

P.S. Crash contains the biggest example of a director flat-out messing with his audience. It was my favorite part, after it was all over.

Capote

Philip Seymour Hoffman. Yes I do realize that the first sentence was just some actor's name. Philip Seymour Hoffman . There it was again, I'm not sure that it is truly a sentence, but this is a blog, so sue me. Forget the story, because it's very forgettable. This is a film created around a character and a perfomance that meets the challenge. Hoffman playes Capote, a famous aautor I guess, mostly because he says so in the movie. He hangs out with Harper Lee quite a little bit, I know her from To Kill A Mockingbird, that's cool I guess. I could tell you some of the details, like how Capote befriends a murder suspect in the case he is investigating for his next novel. Or I could tell you about the relationship that developes between Capote and the one of the other character. I could tell you that Capote is a homosexual, but you probably already knew that, or figured it out from the previews. I can't say I really enjoyed the film, and for the most part there wasn't really anything of substance to follow. But I can appreciate Hoffman's performance. This is one of those roles where the actor seems to dissappear, and you wonder what he was like between takes or after shooting each day. How can someone so completely take on a different character without becoming that person at least a little bit?

Good Night And Good Luck

I don't have much good to say about George Clooney. Of course I don't know him personally, so my opinion of him is based primarily on the political and social views he has expressed in public. This being said, I found much to my suprise that I really enjoyed this movie. The film is a quick, direct and clear glimpse into the life of Edward R. Murrow, the famous journalist. It is not a biography, rather a chapter in his life which the filmmakers obviously believe captures who Murrow was and what he stood for. David Strathairn plays Murrow (and is nominated for an Oscar) and he does a wonderful job. Strathairn delivers his dialouge with conviction, and I thought that his first speech is one of the best written and delivered of this past year. This film is about beliefs, and people who stand-up for and express them. In a time when there is much debate over news, journalism and truth, it is interesting to see a film that deals with the subject so directly. Is there such a thing as unbiased journalism? Even if you plug the "facts" into a computer and have it write the story, you still chose which information to include/exclude. What seperates Michael Moore from Fox News from CNN from Chritianity Today from, well you get the idea. George Clooney may be on the oppisite ends of the political spectrum, but I think we may agree on something.

The Searchers

“The Searchers” is not a cowboy movie, it is the cowboy movie. There have been other good cowboy movies and there have been some bad ones too. “The Searchers” captures the quality of the cowboy. The setting is Texas, a rugged, harsh and unforgiving time and place. This is the backdrop for a tragic and heartbreaking incident which sets in motion the search for a lost girl. The searchers are the heroes of the story, two cowboys, one hardened by experience, and one who is about to be. This film by John Ford is an unflinching exploration of two men’s perseverance and determination in the face of overwhelming obstacles. This movie is about love, compassion, family and right versus wrong. This isn’t a Roy Rogers white hat/black hat cowboy movie though. John Wayne, who plays one of the two heroes, shouldn’t be wearing a white hat, and he knows it. What is motivating him on this quest? Is he such a cowboy that all he automatically does what is brave, without thinking about it? I think not. Even with flaws, even in his fallen state, there is something deeper, something that drives him to do what is right. As I watched this film earlier this evening I realized that in many ways the making of this film, just its existence neutralizes all those mediocre, even bad cowboy movies. No, it probably does more than that, ten, no more than twenty years from now “The Searchers” will stand the test of time, while so many other supposed cowboy movies will fade and perhaps even pass from our memories. Truth has an uncanny knack for survival doesn’t it?

The Matador

I probably see, on average, one movie in the theater each week. I don't plan on writing a review for each film I see though. Last week I wrote about one of the movies I saw, but not the other. This afternoon I went to see "The Matador". For the first half of the movie there wasn't really anything special. It wasn't a very good first half. Then something happened, in a movie that I expected to be a quirky dark comedy. The movie grew a heart. The characters developed a relationship, a friendship. Now the average comedy might take some time to get to know it's characters, and may even allow a little sceen time for a friendship to exist, but this movie went further. It became about friendship, about two people actually being considerate of on and other. It didn't end with some punchline, or gooey happy ending. It had respect for the charcters and thier feelings and motivations. It also had respect for us as an audience. As I write this, I realize even more how that early bad first half wasn't a set-up for a joke, rather a prelude to a deeper exploration into the true purpose of the film. Now here's my little 'Focus-on-the-Family' disclaimer: The Pierce Brosnan character is a bad-guy, R-rated version of his James Bond. This means that he is not as respectful of women, life or the English language as one might hope. Also there was some bull fighting and I saw some alchohol and tobacco usage, just to let you all know.