19 posts tagged “watched_in_2009”

A note to movie-makers: only go over 2 hours if your movie is based on a novel by J.R.R. Tolkien.  Otherwise, you're probably going to lose my interest.

Case in point - State of Play.  What could have been an edge-of-your-seat, political thriller/murder mystery instead turned into a yes-I-figured-most-of-this-out-30 minutes ago. 

The basic story: Ben Affleck plays Senator Collins who is the lead in an investigation into the private group hired by the government.  Oddly enough, the head researcher from his group is killed.  The media tries to smear Sen. Collins when he reacts to this news with tears, saying he must have been in love with her.  Russell Crowe plays Sen. Collins old college roommate (really? Crowe and Affleck are supposed to be the same age??).  Anyway, since they were BFFs, he tries to help Collins clear his name, but since he's a journalist, he goes around the police (headed by Echo's handler from Dollhouse).  But who was really behind the murder and why??? oooh that's the twisted tale!

Okay, okay - nice things first.  It appears they actually shot the movie in D.C.!  And guess what - you can't see the Capitol/Washington Monument/Lincoln Memorial from every window (I'm looking at you, Die Hard 4).  I was also VERY grateful that they did not force a romantic relationship between Rachael McAdams and Russell Crowe.  I also liked the "making the newspaper" montage - but then again, I love montages.

The movie starts out strong, setting you up with 3 murders, slowly giving us the clues to put it all together...and then for some reason it decides to tread water.  There is a intense sequence in a underground garage and then instead of using that momentum to take us to the end of the film, we get stuck with another 45 minutes of plodding. 

When I saw it was based on a BBC Miniseries, I should have known that a movie based on a miniSERIES was going to be too long. 

The actors all did a great job, the downfall of this movie was the editing.  Too much downtime, and after what should have been the climactic scene, things do not movie quickly enough to wrap up the movie.  By that point, the audience is over it. 

2.5 out of 5 stars

Legend of the Seeker is the show that Sam Raimi was born to make. 

I remember watching Hercules and Xena with my parents, and I liked them well enough.  There was a high cheese factor and I was never sucked into them as much as other shows, but they were fun.  I've always had a soft spot of the Evil Dead movies, with their mix of horror and goofiness.  And, of course, the action and adventure of the first Spider-man film is hard to deny. 

Legend of the Seeker takes all of those elements that Raimi is so good at directing and mixes them together in a story of high-fantasy.  If you ever watched "Lord of the Rings" and wished you could hang out in a magical world for longer than the 9 hours that all 3 movies run...well, you can now join the Seeker.

I'll should probably mention that I have not read any of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series.  I've never been able to read fantasy novels because the world building usually bores me to tears (though sometimes the movies will encourage me to read the books).  I like a lot of action and adventure and I want it NOW.  That's why Seeker is so great for me.  It has the action sequences of Hercules and Xena, the evolving plot of Spiderman and sometimes even the creepiness of Evil Dead.  Yes, sometimes it feels like half the stuff out of their mouths is "exposition exposition exposition" but I'd rather get it from episode to episode than all at once.

Some might say it is derivative of other fantasy stories.  To that I say - what isn't?  Seriously, everything is a take on the Arthurian/Tolkien/Lucas mythos that we all know and love.  At least, the good ones.  Seeker takes the classic fantasy story of the chosen hero and the evil villian and creates a very polished story. 

For those not familiar with the specifics - Richard Cypher is a normal farm boy out in the woods and he runs into a mysterious woman in white being attacked by soldiers.  Being all noble and such, he jumps into the fight to protect her.  What he doesn't know is she doesn't need his protection - she has her own magical powers.  She is a Confessor and has the power to suck away a persons free will and make them do her bidding.  Together they escape the guards and she tells him she's looking for the Seeker.  They go to visit the crazy old man in town who turns out to be (surprise!) a Wizard!   He rescued Richard back when a prophecy said he would grow up to kill the Evil Bad Guy Darken Rhal.  Now Richard must journey back to his home land and defeat Darken Rhal with the Sword of Truth.  (Seriously, if Rhal turns out to be Richard's father/brother/cousin/college roommate - I would not be surprised and I'd still love the show).

See?  He's Luke!  He's Arthur!  He's wandering around like Aragorn, hanging out with a Gandalfian Wizard (complete with kooky sense of humor). 

One of the things I really like about the show is Kahlan, the female lead, played by Bridget Regan.  Kahlan, the Confessor, is a very strong character.  Yes, there is a love story involved with her and Richard, but she is more than just his girlfriend.  When she ventures off into battle, you know she can take care of herself.  Usually she is the one saving Richard or coaching him on how to be a better Seeker.  It's nice to see a non-damsel in fantasy.  I get chills when she goes into battle with her twin daggers, her gorgeous dress twirling as she jumps and stabs a guy.  Awesome. 

I don't know why Jay La'gaia is on the poster - he's only in a few episodes.  Zed, the Wizard, should be on there but I guess he wasn't pretty enough. 

I am very impressed with this show.  It starts off slow, but after they get their footing and establish the characters a bit, it really gets going.  The stories are clever, the characters are likable, the battle scenes are awesome.  I'm only halfway through Season 1 and I was just so impressed I had to write this up.

and season 2 premieres next week. :D

So, if you're a fan of Battlestar Galactica, you know that the Cylons were created by man, they evolved, they rebelled, and then they came back and attempted to wipe out the human race.  At the start of each episode of Season 1 and Season 2, viewers are reminded of this fact and are assured that the Cylcons have a plan. 

Unfortunately, The Plan movie does little to shed light on the story you probably wanted to know more about - the final five and their origins.  Instead, what we get is the story of the Brothers Cavill, intercut with a collection of clips from various episodes from those early seasons. 

I felt like this was a big opportunity wasted.  What could have been a chance to delve deeper into the final five and their characters before the attack on Earth, is just a clip show.  First I was annoyed by the amount of clips in the show, then I quickly found myself LONGING for them because they were the only time anything actually happened.  And for the last half the show, I kept thinking "wow, I'd rather be rewatching these episodes rather than this mess".

There were glimmers of other ideas, of little things that could have made for a more interesting story, but since they seem determined to only show us moments that could be tied into clips from other episodes, we never got to find out more about the Cylons.  We were just stuck with Cavill. 

And, like the Caprica straight-to-dvd episode, the "un-aired footage" from The Plan will mostly consist of naked people.  Ellen Tigh drinks in a bar where the waitresses are topless, and we have a VERY random scene in the co-ed bathroom on board BSG with lots of man butt and side boob. 

For me, what makes the early seasons of BSG so great is their metaphor to what was going on in our society at the time.  The terrorist attacks, the fear, choosing sides etc..  This special takes the mystery out of so many of those moments and confuses things. 

I'm so happy we rented this and did not pay for it.  Like the Star Wars prequels or the 7th Harry Potter book, I had a better idea for what this special could have been, and seeing what they ended up creating leaves me very disappointed.  I will not be buying this on DVD for our collection because it does nothing for the story or the mythos of BSG. 

To survive in Zombieland, you've just got to follow a few simple rules:
1. Have a wacky sense of humor
2. Be up on pop culture references from 1980s-present day
3. Be ready to laugh out loud!

Honestly, if you had told me that was going to enjoy a movie with zombies and Woody Harrelson, and I would spend a good hour and a half laughing non-stop - I would not have believed you!  Even with a solid score of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes, I had my doubts.  I mean, a comedy with zombies? 

It has to be seen to be believed!

Even though they shove Woody Harrelson in your face during the trailers, it is Jesse Eisenberg that is the star of this movie, his deadpan, matter-of-fact delivery of the real rules to surviving in the zombie infested world (#1 - CARDIO!) will make you giggle.  He's that loner loser that so many of us can identify with, spending his free time cooped up in a dorm room, playing World of Warcraft.  But all that changes after the zombies arrive!  He meets up with Harrelson's character while trying to get back to his parents in Columbus, OH.  Hilarity ensues.

The best thing about this movie is that it is ridiculous, and it never tries to be anything else.  It's like "Hey, this movie is about ZOMBIES and it's gonna be FUNNY! Deal with it."  It never tries to preach about society's values; it doesn't get sidetracked by a love story; it doesn't spend loads of time trying to explain why this has all happened.  It stays true to it's mission - to make the audience laugh out loud for as much as possible while our heroes wise-crack their way through a world filled with disgusting, drooling zombies.

Yes, Zombieland is SMART and FUNNY and the kind of movie that you walk out of the theater quoting...and then find yourself quoting it days later.  The jokes range from toilet humor to literary references. 

I don't want to give too much away.  There are so many jokes and little surprises that make this movie great.  Go see it before you get spoiled. This movie makes my personal top ten list for 2009 - it was that good.

So do your cardio, remember the double tap, and always check the back seat. 

When you take a close look at the story at the very core of 'District 9', there is really nothing new there - xenophobia has been a part of our world since the dawn of time.  'District 9' does what any quality science fiction film would do; it takes issues in the real world, issues we have trouble dealing with face to face, and turning it into a story we can handle and process. 

The aliens never landed.  Their ship just hovered.  When humans finally made contact, the creatures inside the ship were ill and trapped.  In an effort to help them, the aliens were transported to the ground to give them a chance to recover.  But what was supposed to be a short-term operation has now lasted 20 years, and the compound has transformed into a slum.  Tensions between the aliens and the humans have reached an all time high, and the government has decided to move them.  Wikus Van De Merwe is in charge of a taskforce to get the "signatures" of the aliens living in District 9, a legal technicality that Multi-National United (MNU) needs to get by to move the aliens to District 10.  Like most humans, he likes to think he is treating the "Prawns" the way they deserved to be treated, but once he is inside the slums and sucked into their world, he slowly begins to rethink the way he has seen this creatures.

This is an intense movie.  I know I spent the last half-hour, maybe even more, sitting on the edge of my seat, ready to cringe/hide/cry/scream/emote at the screen.  The effects were seamless and you never doubt that the aliens are living among these people. 

It's very smart storytelling too; there is very little handholding from the writer or director.  Either you're able to keep up with their technique, or you'll have to watch it again on DVD - they have no time to wait for you.  It's this great mix of "archival footage", documentary footage, surveillance footage, and then the movie stuff mixed in.  But I never felt confused by it at all. 

Very well done and worth seeing on the big screen.  

In a summer filled with intergalactic adventure, giant fighting robots, and boy wizards, 500 Days of Summer is a nice break.  No, it's not the best movie evar but it does what it sets out to do well and at an hour and a half in length, it's perfect for a quiet summer evening. 

Tom is a hopeless romantic, waiting for his perfect girl, and he knows it will be love at first sight.  Summer is the opposite - a free spirit who tries to avoid getting into serious relationships as she finds them too messy.  And so the story begins...or middles...see, 500 Days of Summer is told in a non-linear style, taking the audience to random days in the 500 days of this relationship (starting from the day Tom first sees Summer until the day he officially moves on).

It's a really sweet movie and it's heart is in the right place.  Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt work really well together as this on screen couple.  Clearly, this movie is targeted toward my generation, or more like the one right before it, with references to Star Wars, Knight Rider, The Smiths, and many more random pop culture jokes. 

Oddly enough, it reminded me of 'How I Met Your Mother'.  Tom reminded me a lot of Ted - and not just because of the random narrator that follows them both around (a part of the movie I was never 100% comfortable with, but I guess it worked to get some of the gags out).  Their mission for their soul mate is about the same.  So if you're a fan of that show, you'll probably really enjoy this movie.

500 Days of Summer is a nice way to relax - there's are no villians or evil doers.  It's just a sweet store. I think the humor and writing will appeal to both men and women.  If you can find a theater close by playing it, I totally recommend grabbing some friends and heading over.  (Comedies are always better when you have someone to laugh along with).  If not, def. put it on your Netflix list.  It doesn't have any big budget special effects, so seeing it on the big screen isn't crucial. 

And yes, like every good summer indie flick should - it has an awesome soundtrack. 

Full Disclosure:  Gangster movies are like Roller Coasters for me.  I'm not a fan of roller coasters, but every time I go to a theme park and see people having fun, I think I should maybe try one again.  So, once a year I hop on a roller coaster, remember all the reasons I don't enjoy riding them, and go back to waiting at the exit to each ride, holding everyone's bags and eating ice cream. 

Gangster movies tend to work the same way - I just can't get into them.  But so many people were raving about this movie on their blogs, I felt I should give it a try.  Heck, it has Johnny Depp AND Christian Bale. 

Public Enemies covers the end of John Dillinger's career, the middle of Agent Melvin Purvis', and the start of J. Edgar Hoover's FBI.  Yeah, that's a lot to cover in a single movie, isn't it? 

To me, the movie felt like it was written backwards - like the screenwriter read about Dillinger's demise and was like "OMG that would be an awesome end to a movie!" and then worked from there.  So the start of the film is really slow and plodding, and you never really get to know the characters.  By the end of the movie, I was still more connected to the actors than the characters, but the action had picked up and the last bit was a lot more interesting (though it too could have moved faster). 

The best thing about the movie for me was Marion Cotillard who played Billie, Dillinger's "true love" (or, as gangsters tend to do, the woman he decided to obsess over after seeing her from across the room).  She has one of those amazing faces, like Depp, that make the character seem deeper than the writing ever did.  I was happy any time she was on screen. 

In the end, the movie was too long.  I think if the editing had been a bit tighter and if the writer/director could have just picked ONE theme or ONE story, it could have been a stronger film.  As it is, it's a mediocre movie that you can watch once but won't really stick with you beyond the initial viewing.

I'm gonna go get some ice cream.

Wow.

I mean, I knew it had received poor reviews, but nothing could have prepared me for how bad this movie was.  It wasn't any of the actors' fault - they were trying their best - but the script and the editing was just all over the place.

The only reason I knew what was going on was because I had played the video game which, oddly enough, made a heck of a lot more sense and had a lot better pacing than the movie. 

After Bryan Singer's X-Men and X2, the bar was set pretty high for this franchise.  When the studio ditched Singer for X3, most of us were disappointed in the film we were given.  I'm not sure who or what was behind the mess that is Wolverine, but as much as I didn't enjoy X3, at least it had a plot that I could follow, as stupid as it was.

What frustrates me the most when movies like this fail, is the knowledge that there are comic books out there, books with coherent plots that treat the characters with respect (and the continuity) that were completely ignored in the name of BLOW UP STUFF GUD!  I wasn't feeling any love for the studio, all I saw was their equations of comic books + movie = easy money for studio.  They always seem to forget that quality plays a part.  *sigh*

And they should be ashamed for wasting Gambit, a character popular with so many fans.  A story about Gambit and Wolverine would have made a lot of sense because they are very similar characters - walking the line between the good and the bad.  But no, this movie brings Gambit in just long enough to feature him in the trailer, and that is it.  WASTE!!! 

On top of that, the other mutants they introduce as part of Stryker's team, they never properly explain their powers.  You can almost hear the director chuckling about how cool it will be just to start the story in this random spot. Yeah, maybe it hits the ground running, but your audience wasn't ready yet, and they are still standing at the starting line.

The movie lacks any of the humor from the original films.  And Wolverine is supposed to be a snarky badass, but he spends most of this film moping, an Angel wanna-be (seriously, I thought he was going to give a speech about atoning for the things he had done...he should have, he said every other cliche line in the book).

Yeah, I know this review is late...but if you  haven't seen the movie yet...just don't bother.

I really had no idea what this movie would be about.  I only knew the basic facts - Woody Allen wrote & directed, Scarlet Johanssen was invovled, and I have no problem with Javier Bardem or Penelope Cruz. 

There's probably a reason I knew nothing about it; attempting to describe it without telling someone the whole movie is pretty difficult!

Vicky and Cristina are friends who decide to spend a summer in Barcelona, both of them for different reasons: Vicky is working on her Masters degree while Cristina is bouncing back from the end of a relationship.  While there, they happen to meet Juan Anotonio, a local painter.  He invites them to come away with him for a weekend.  Cristina is very excited about the idea, so Vicky tags along to watch out for her...and things just get more complicated from there.

It was an interesting movie to watch once.  My biggest gripe was the narrator.  I felt like this role was superfluous.  I am not sure why Allen decided to do this.  Was it to make the story seem like a fairy tale?  Did he not think he was getting the information across fast enough?  I think ever thing the narrator said was portrayed well enough on screen.  I found it really distracting. 

It's a visually stunning film - and the city isn't too bad either. *ba-ding* Thanks folks, I'm here all week. 

The core of the film is about what love means and what love is for every person, and how it differs yet at the same time we all want the same thing (even if we don't know it). 

It's worth watching (though I feel like Rebecca Hall got the shaft - she plays Vicky yet she's not even featured on the cover!  Her role is pretty important.  Oh well).  A solid movie but not something I could sit through multiple times.

Bolt is the star of a tv series.  Only he doesn't know its all make-believe.  At the end of every shoot, he is whisked away to his trailer by his owner, Penny, and hidden from the cameras and crew, left to think it was all real.  But one fateful day he managed to escape the trailer and he soon discovers the truth. 

It's a cute movie, and truly a fun movie for the whole family...once.  Something tells me that this predictable story will wear thin after multiple viewing by adults who are familiar with these story lines.  I think kids will want to watch it over and over, but it lacks the rewatchability of such Pixar classics like WallE and Finding Nemo that makes adults want to sit down again.  It doesn't work on the different levels that those films do. 

But it's fun and a good movie for a night when you're not in the mood for deep thinking or violent battles.  It's heart is in the right place and its hard not to laugh out loud at several of the animal antics (especially if you have pets). 

Definitely worth a viewing, and the DVD looks stunning on an HD-TV (I imagine the Blu-Ray version will melt your screen).