Tag: Movies

Sweeny Todd

If you can, see this movie. It is certainly one of the better if not the best movies I’ve seen this year. It tells a great story, with catchy and extremely well written songs. Overall, it is genuinely entertaining, and well worth your money, which is rare.

I want to see it again before I write too much more, but since that isn’t likely, I’ll just trudge on blindly. Can’t hurt. I didn’t know this was a play before it was a movie. In fact, I had never heard of the story. I was happy that I went into this movie with a blank slate, because that is something I am rarely able to do. Hmm, that isn’t entirely true. I knew Tim Burton was directing this movie starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter (all of whom are fantastic).

The movie isn’t especially thought provoking, just plain old entertaining. Leaving the movie, all I could think of was how I wanted to see it again. And its true, I do want to see it again: it is a grand way to spend two hours. Jack says he’ll buy it when it comes out on DVD, which is good, because if he buys it, I’ll be able to see it plenty more times.

I’m Legend

I’d like to draw special attention to this song, because it is a bus song. And its great.

Well Oiled Machine by Hot Buttered Rum
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/HBRSB2005-02-05.flac16/HBRSB2005-02-05d01t08_64kb.mp3]

So I’m home for winter break, and saw I am Legend. It is “ok, alright.” It could have been much better. I think Will Smith proves himself as an actor, since for much of the movie, he is the only person we see. And the story is great, I would love to read the book. But the presentation and movie overall fall flat. I’d be curious to see deleted scenes when the DVD comes out. I would hope that since there was only one actor, they filmed as much as they could, and then whittled it down afterwards.
Which is why I blame the producers for this movie being subpar. I think they shot a lot of footage, and then chopped it down to an hour and a half. I think at two hours, the story could have been told better, and it would have been a great movie.
I’m willing to bet test audiences thought that version (or a longer version) was too long, and tedious. And its true that a longer movie wouldn’t appeal as broad as it does in its current form, but I think it would have been worth it. As it is, I am Legend is nothing remarkable, but I’m looking forward to the DVD.

The General

A long while ago on TCM or some similar classic movie channel I saw The General with Buster Keaton. It is an absolutely incredible movie, and I just found out it is in the public domain. So enjoy.

Zeitgeist

I suppose this has already made the rounds, but it took me until today to see it. Some good points, some crazy points, all bound to start a fight.
Whether you agree with anything in this movie or not, its bound to make you angry. I suggest watching it, waiting a while, and then seriously considering what it has to say.

ZeitgeistMovie.com

Oh, and in that same vein (I guess) remember tomorrow is Buy Nothing Day – remember to do your part.

Union Maid

Times Like These by Jack Johnson
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/jj2005-08-05.at931.shnf/jj2005-08-05d2t05_64kb.mp3]

So I saw Bee Movie tonight, and it is mostly entertaining. Definitely weird at times, but still, overall I came away with a good feeling. The only thing I found a little weird was the underlying capitalist propaganda, which may not have been intentional, but still jumped out at me. In the beginning, the bee stands out, and breaks the norm, challenging authority. And he wins, but we’re only halfway into the movie. Suddenly, everything goes to shit, and it turns out that change is bad, and ruining the way everyone lives. So they go back, and everything is well again. Moral? Be a cog.

Otherwise, this got us talking about the impending strike of the Writer’s Guild of America. As we walked down the corridor of the movie theater, we couldn’t see another movie out in theaters or any other movie advertised on the walls (soon to be released) worth seeing. And the strike hasn’t even begun yet. If it does turn out to be a longer strike than everyone would like it to be, we’ll be looking at a long winter, with even less worthwhile movies than normal.

Although obviously this has less of an effect on independent movies. The problem of course is that they can never quite make the jump to widespread release. At this point Eric brought up an idea I hadn’t considered: theaters could start showing independent movies in an attempt to draw audiences in. That would be a massive leap forward for independent film makers (and their fans). It would also be one more step towards the decentralization of media, simillar to what is happening in music right now. Less dependence on the big three (or is it four?) production studios, and more emphasis on the content. I would personally love to see something like this happen. It has been nothing but benificial for music so far (at least from the consumer’s perspective, the labels aren’t so happy).

So go on writers – strike!

Airplane!

As you may know, AIRPLANE! is actually a scene-for-scene remake of the 1957 film ZERO HOUR (just released on DVD), with the original plot and much of the original dialogue played for laughs. Here is a comparison of some bits from the original and their equivalents in AIRPLANE! (this is only a partial selection, of course).

I didn’t know that.

6 degrees of…

[audio:http://home.wanadoo.nl/titusvanmierlo/Pirates%20Of%20The%20Caribean%20Soundtrack%20-%2015%20-%20He’s%20A%20Pirate.mp3]

I’m sure you recognize the above song from Pirates of the Caribbean. I know I did, when I heard it in The Rock earlier tonight. I’ve got a pretty good ear, I think, and recognized the song immediately as it played during a scene where Nick Cage was running to disarm a missile. So what do these two movies have in common?

1) Jerry Bruckheimer produced both of these movies. Probably not directly responsible, but its a safe bet he brought in person #2.

2) Hans Zimmer – Although Nick Glennie-Smith is the credited composer of The Rock, Hans Zimmer appears as ‘composer: 2 themes, music producer, score arranger.’ Klaus Badelt is the composer of the first of the Pirates movies (and the song above), but Hans Zimmer composed the second two movies (Badelt is not credited anywhere in either of those).

More curiosities: in the reviews of the first Pirates movie soundtrack (composed by Badelt, produced by Zimmer) on Amazon, people recognized similarities to Gladiator and Crimson Tide (both composed by Zimmer).

So did Nick Glennie-Smith originally write the song for The Rock, or was that the music Hans Zimmer was credited for? If Zimmer wrote it, then why is that song attributed to Klaus Badelt? And why isn’t Badelt credited in the second and third Pirates movies, when his song is clearly used? The obvious answer would be that Zimmer, not Badelt, wrote the song. But, far more evidence points to Badelt.

I’m not going to draw any conclusions, because I don’t see any. I’m not trying to expose anything, just trying to satisfy my curiosity. So there’s some useless detective work for you.

The 300

Truckin > Cassidy by Phil Lesh & Friends
[audio:http://www.archive.org/download/2001-07-21.paf.mbho-ehrsam.vernon.5053.sbeok.flacf/phil01-07-21d1t05truckin_64kb.mp3,http://www.archive.org/download/2001-07-21.paf.mbho-ehrsam.vernon.5053.sbeok.flacf/phil01-07-21d1t06jam_64kb.mp3,http://www.archive.org/download/2001-07-21.paf.mbho-ehrsam.vernon.5053.sbeok.flacf/phil01-07-21d1t07cassidy_64kb.mp3]
I went to see 300 in iMax in the wee hours of this morning, and it was tasty. I think that is the best word to describe this movie. Tasty. The visuals are fantastic, the plot is simple, and the fighting is unreal. I’ve never seen a feature film in iMax before (I’ve seen other things) and it is really fantastic. There is a difference. It is undeniable. Not only is the screen far far larger than the average screen, the picture is much clearer as well. If the difference between normal movies and iMax is the difference between normal definition and HD tvs, then I’m going to have to seriously consider upgading.
What may stand out more than anything else is the battle scenes. I don’t even know how they could choreograph fights like this. Charcters are moving so quickly and accurately, and in slightly slow-mo, so we can see everything. This as opposed to other large scale fight scenes (Braveheart comes to mind). If you don’t remember the fight scenes in Braveheart, let maddox refresh you memory,

a portly Mel Gibson stumbles around in poorly choreographed battle scenes in which the camera men can’t hold their cameras still long enough for you to realize the extras in the background are standing around with their dicks in their hands.

300 is a movie very worth seeing, and if you get the chance, see it in iMax. It is very rare that movies come along that are better in theaters than anywhere else, and I’d imagine even more rare that a movie is worth seeing in iMax (its expensive). This is one of those movies.