One of these days, the powers that be in the entertainment industry will realize how valuable a robust offering online will be to their bottom line and their audience share. Until then, we’ll just need to keep an eye out for the more enticing furtive steps in their slow toddle toward the inevitable. As someone who doesn’t have cable and relies mostly on Netflix for their movies, the web is the obvious choice. And, over the last month or so, Hulu has been my destination of choice for TV and movies.

A few friends of mine and I saw Cloverfield on Saturday and I was very pleased with the film. It delivered exactly what it needed to and told a convincing and engaging tale from a unique perspective. For those not familiar, Cloverfield is the creation of J.J. Abrams, the creator of Lost. It tells the story of a group of friends whose going-away party is interrupted by the violent invasion of New York City by a massive creature. However, the story is presented as the unedited contents of a video camera SD card (the reason why the movie itself is one and a half hours), recovered after the events it recorded. The novel storytelling device is what prevents Cloverfield from becoming blockbuster dreck like Godzilla and, for me, added a terrifying realism to the entire film, which grabbed me from the moment the attack begins all the way through to the end.*

Note: I give no specific spoilers, but I do occasionally describe the movie’s structure, more often pointing out what is not done. I leave it to you to decide how 'virginal’ you want you perspective to be going into this film.

Have you seen the new American edition of Creature Comforts? If not, you should make a point of getting in front of your TV on Monday at 8pm and flipping to CBS. It is a thoroughly entertaining and oddly soothing bit of TV.

28 Weeks Later is a music video. Well, a series of them.

A shame, really. Its predecessor, 28 Days Later, was an excellent reinvigoration of the zombie attack genre.

We saw Spider-Man 3 on Friday, as we’re big fans of the first and second installments. The second is one of the best comic superhero films out there, so the expectations were very high. It was a lot of fun, and they packed tons into the film. It’s a very entertaining and thrilling flick, but it loses track (a little bit) of what made the Spider-Man franchise work, falling prey to the Bigger Is Better philosophy that drained the original Batman movie franchise of all its worth. Fortunately, everyone involved still delivered thrills and laughs to make up for the wafer-thin helpings of everything but action.

Minor Spoilers: Most of what I describe is in the trailers, but if you don’t know anything, you might have some plot points spoiled.

Frank Miller’s 300, the comic, is a gorgeous fictionalized retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae. It is a hyper-epic, in the way that Sin City is a hyper-noir. The battles are visual essays on unrelenting force, the grace and power of a body forged to fight with weapons deriving their energy from human motion, and the waves of absolute oppression crashing against the rocks of self-determination. It is a stylized homage not to the specific ideologies of the Spartans, but to their truly staggering will and strength, obtained through a cultural dynamic of constant, brutal testing of the self. To read 300 is to marvel at the possibilities contained within humanity, to witness the raw harshness of human existence forge societies and soldiers of unparalleled might. 300 is an ode the magnificence of human spectacle, as manifested by the players on the stage of the Battle of Thermopylae. The forces at work on both sides of the battle are both horrifying and magnificent. 300 the film builds upon this base, pushing all of these aspect further and amplifying them beyond reality. Miller never shies from hyperbole to convey his message, and the film gladly obliges.

Spoiler warning: While I don’t give away much of the film, or its ending (which is a matter of history, by the way), I show a lot of content, which may give you an inkling of how things go. All images are from the trailers.

I just heard on NPR about scientists questioning Gore’s documentary An Incovenient Truth that says, basically:

...after the talk, a couple of [the scientists] came up to me and said, you know, “He didn’t exactly get the science right.”

And this is exactly what should happen in a scientifically-oriented, scientifically-conscious society.

I’m a bit late in posting this, as we rushed out to see it on opening night, but here it is now for posterity: Casino Royale is the best Bond film and is one of the coolest action movies I’ve ever seen. No more crazy supervillains who want to carve their names on the moon or use giant ice lasers to freeze the Bahamas if they don’t get $1 billion or whatever. It’s Bond becoming 007, pushing himself to the limits to find and stop the enemy, because he will never stop. It’s James Bond at his rawest and most driven, and Daniel Craig does a brilliant job giving Bond a perfect blend of cool, arrogance, wit, steel, and poise. I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better re-imagining of the Bond character and series than what was delivered in Casino Royale.

Alisa and I saw Children of Men last night. I’d heard someone describe it as the Blade Runner of our generation. When I heard it, I was skeptical of this statement, but now I understand.

What makes Children of Men so powerful is not just Alfonso Cuarón’s excellent directing, but the entire production. Every element is perfectly honed towards creating a bizarre but entirely believeable scenario. A world that’s only a half-step from our own, but full of the same seeds. The world is rich and full of characters who act with a strangeness that communicates verisimilitude. Extreme circumstances push the people populating this fictional Britain away from homogeny and into their states of coping: denial, survival, brutality, commitment, extremism, and blends of all these traits. Little explanation is given for anything beyond the main thrust of the story, and the world of the film thrives on this frigthening confusion. It feels a lot like the chaos of real life.

Go see Children of Men. It will not let you off easily for one moment, but that weight you leave with is the understanding that the choice to change is your own.

MPAA Review: Strong violence, language, some drug use and brief nudity.
Ad Exec Review: “No children. No future. No hope.”, “The future’s a thing of the past”, “The last one to die please turn out the light”, “The last days of human race”, “No child has been born for 18 years”, “He must protect our only hope”

LIttle Miss Sunshine is a great film. The dialogue, characters, acting, all of it is dead-on and effortlessly poignant, and often hilarious. Go see it now, it’s absolutely worth it.

MPAA Review: Language, some sex and drug content.
Ad Exec Reviews: “Where’s Olive?”, “A family on the verge of a breakdown”, “Everyone just pretend to be normal”, “Welcome to Hell”

After, for a few days, hearing vague inklings about a furor over an ABC/Disney fictional drama called The Path to 9/11, then seeing it get mentions on some of my favorite sites, I decided to find out what the hubbub was all about.

Y'know what ABC and Disney? Nobody needs a fictionalized version of the attacks and the events leading up to them, especially when you’re making changes to what actual people did in actual situations that occurred only 5 years ago. And as for the assertion that the film isn’t final, and therefore we can’t comment? Riiiight. I’m sure those scenes were filmed that way for fun so the editors could scramble to change them. Tell me, why is it that Americans can’t comment on your use of their national tragedy to sell advertising slots on its anniversary? I’m curious.

Alisa and I had been looking forward to seeing The Illusionist for some time, so we made our way downtown to check it out yesterday afternoon. It’s a great rainy-day movie, as it’s based loosely on a short story (Steven Millhauser’s ‘Eisenheim the Illusionist’) which contributes to its focused and well-crafted telling. And, like most short stories I read and enjoy, it trims off the fat by creating clear characters and strong tensions to set up the delivery of the closing impact. Unfortunately, I found the closing impact to be lacking in the face of such a well-delivered and intriguing setup (about 98% of the film).

We’ve seen Superman Returns twice in four days now, and I can definitively say that it is not only a great Superman movie, but a fun, solid film. (I should note that I saw the film twice more out of circumstance than a strong desire to re-watch it, but I did go back for the second viewing by choice.) Bryan Singer is a very skillful director, and the talent he brought to the X-Men movies is present in full force but in a very different way. Singer gives us the old heart-warming, do-gooding, best-parts-of-all-of-us Superman in a darker, more aggressive fantasy world, which strives to keep close enough to our own so as not to ring hollow. He succeeds in not only bringing Superman forward, but also in not losing the newcomer and not betraying what makes the Superman mythos unique.

Straight from the official site:

This September: Original Unaltered Trilogy on DVD

In response to overwhelming demand, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release attractively priced individual two-disc releases of Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Each release includes the 2004 digitally remastered version of the movie and, as bonus material, the theatrical edition of the film. That means you'll be able to enjoy Star Wars as it first appeared in 1977, Empire in 1980, and Jedi in 1983.

This release will only be available for a limited time: from September 12th to December 31st. International release will follow on or about the same day. Each original theatrical version will feature Dolby 2.0 Surround sound, close-captioning, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish for their U.S. release. International sound and subtitling vary by territory.

BAM. I am all over that. I feel bad for the poor shmoes who bought the lesser versions on DVD with Lucas’s tinkering and crap-ifying. They will make so much money from this, it’s ridiculous. Some say it's because of the success of the Indiana Jones box set, others say it was Lucas’s plan all along to swear he’d never do it, then double his profits. I don’t really care. Han shot first, and now we’ll all have the proof on digital video discs.

UPDATE: It’s being reported that Lucas is being an asshat about the whole thing and the originals are being anamorphically ripped from an old Laserdisc copy, instead of being done properly. Well, OK then, George. Also they’re packaging the new versions with the old ones. The theory is that they can’t have the old version outselling the new. I won’t comment, as I don’t know if that’s true. Personally, I just want to be able to watch the originals on my DVD player, and someday show the old versions to my children. I think someone knows this and is just working this thing like a money lever. The whole situation sucks, but Lucas, apparently, does not understand why he’s rich and famous and is making many moves to become unappreciated and hermitic. That’s my theory.

I really don’t have time to write much about this great little film, The Matador, but you need to see it. It will surprise you at every turn, in subtle and unique ways. Brosnan’s character, Julian Noble, is quite intriguing, as are most of the characters, because they are all multi-dimensional and just when you think you have them and the rest of the plot pegged, they take another great sharp left turn. I admit, I had a hard time settling into the film because I kept worrying about where it was headed, but that slightly off-balance sensation ended up being great. I need to see this one again.

Also, it takes the practice of putting location names at the bottom of the screen in little type and flips it around by making them huge and neon colored, which I think is pretty great (I like type).

MPAA Review: Strong sexual content and language.
Ad Exec Reviews: A hitman and a salesman walk into a bar...

Alisa and I saw V for Vendetta last night, and it’s a good film. Should you see it? Absolutely. It’s thought provoking, doesn’t shy away from shooting over the audience’s head to get them to think, and is a resolute exploration of an idea rather than a plot or characters. I want to make that clear first, because it’s also a very ‘inaccurate’ adaptation of the comic, and I’m having a hard time seeing past that. The first time I read V for Vendetta was around ’96 or ’97 and I’ve read it many times since, so my vision of the tale is fairly calcified. To truly see the film on its own merits, I’ll probably need to see it one or two more times. Having said that, I have to sympathize with the comic’s author Alan Moore and assert that the movie is not as good as comic, but only if you believe the difference in medium does not prevent comparing the two. I’ll try to give it a fair look here. But, for me right now, most of the movie’s strengths become its weaknesses when compared to Moore’s original. Though that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

For those of you not familiar with it, Night Watch is the first of a Russian “epic horror trilogy” or “epic fantasy trilogy”, depending on which ads you read. Just check out the trailer. Then go see it, because it’s wild, original, and great.

Wow! So busy this past month. Well, I’ve got a lot to write about and many of those subjects deserve more time than I have now, so I’ll just start off with this look at a flick Alisa and I rented.

Watching Ocean’s Twelve was like watching the second Matrix film. The unique feel and focus of the original, the very things that made it great, are eschewed for what seems like one-upmanship on every front. Ocean’s Eleven is a brilliant work of subtle, sly wit and grace. Ocean’s Twelve just trips on its own overly twisting and turning plot, largely because it also tries to be too clever and absract in the telling. On top of that, Soderbergh doesn’t seem to realize that we all don’t really get it or connect with it, so his nudge, nudge, wink, wink treatment that worked so superbly in the first film falls flat. Very flat.

The film works best when it gets back to the basics of the original, which it rarely does, and focuses on developing the interactions of the characters and one well-developed heist. Otherwise, you get the sense that they skipped every third line of the script in an attempt to add quirk and film three movies at the same time. Many of the individual tricks and conceits probably would’ve made a great focused movie on their own, but together it’s just a mess. Caper films work when the audience feels like part of the team, not like the hapless detective or uptight owner of the stolen treasure.

Don’t bother with this one and just watch Ocean's Eleven again instead.

Alisa and I really enjoyed this little Norwegian film about Swedish scientists who travel to Norway to study the kitchen habits of bachelors there (which we rented because Alisa will be living in Oslo for a little while). Of course, to maintain the veracity of the scientific study, the Swedes are meant to not interfere with the men whose kitchens they literally perch. But, as the film demonstrates so well and so sweetly, this is a foolish notion. As the two men we’re focused on try to go about their lives acutely aware of each other, but avoiding direct interaction, the inevitable happens.*

Kitchen Stories is a like a perfect small slice of key lime pie. It’s short, sweet, and just right. It succeeds because it’s so self-contained and gently focused on doing one thing and hitting all of the right sensations. The story doesn’t tell us anything earth-shattering, it just carefully shows us a wonderful facet of humanity in its own heart-warming way.

It’s well designed, well acted, well written, and very touching. I recommend it for a weekend evening when you’re looking for a smile and a good story.

MPAA Review: Mild language

*There’s a subtext here, as the Norwegians split from Sweden to gain independence, which no doubt irks the Swedes.

Damn. Damn.

I admit, about 4 episodes in, I was a bit worried. The show seemed to be fragmenting and the plot looked like it was going to balloon out of control. Plots began to spin off sub-plots and the intrigue of the last episodes of season 1 branched out in unexpected ways (for me, at least).

I was a bit worried because season 1 was unadulterated sci-fi greatness. I found no flaws in any aspect. I love watching it. BSG is taking TV sci-fi (and on-screen sci-fi in general, arguably) in new directions with a stripped-down, gritty reality that many sci-fi shows eschew for well-oiled super technologies and smoothed-out space societies. Even so, season 2.0 is a different beast. From the intro score to the crushing realities of life in a fleet on the run after global holocaust, this was proving to be a very a different season. But as the episodes progressed and narrative threads split and merged, I think the show came out stronger, if a bit less consistent.

Spoiler warning: While I avoid revealing too much key information about season 2.0 (the first half of season 2 before the break), I’m going to assume you’ve seen all of season 1 and know the resolution of the Adama plot brought into play in the season finale. If not, read on at your own discretion.

I almost forgot to post about this. I saw King Kong over the Christmas weekend and it exceeded my expectations, which were high but wary since I didn’t believe that it could be as good as I was hearing. Much as Michael Mann did with Heat, Jackson is closing the book on King Kong. Message from Jackson to world: “move on, this one is done.” I really don’t think any remake of King Kong would add anything to the narrative. He squeezed every ounce of emotion, depth, and thrill that an earnest telling of this tale could provide.

Alisa and I checked out Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events on DVD a little while back, and I must say that it was a very interesting film and a truly gorgeous one. It didn’t meet my expectations, but it didn’t let me down, either. It is very much its own world. I haven’t read the books, but I would guess that the film is more about the spirit rather than the letter of the tales (it takes events from a few of the books in the series).

We saw this flick over opening weekend, and I agree with my friend Steve Laniel, the first hour is an interesting and shaded experience with some intriguing characters, then it it flattens out and is about as plausible as a 10-year old in chain mail armor leading an army...wait.

Spoilers alert: If you haven’t read the books, you’ll read big plot points here you don’t know. But, honestly, how do you think this thing plays out?

I saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire while on Thanksgiving vacation and it was a mixed bag. In some ways, it was one of the better movies: it didn’t shy away from the darker content of the book and it hit the feeling of the world throughout. In other ways, it was the first in the series to really suffer from the divergence of the films and the book, and highlight the great lengths the writers, director, and editor will have to go to from now on to make the movies work. In fact, this may be the film that forces them to actually change the storyline to accomodate the differing medium, or make more movies than books (doubtful). I have a feeling Harry Potter fans will be howling “avada kedavra” when The Order of the Phoenix goes up on the big screen because so much of the story, characters, and world will be cleaved off.

Spoiler Warning: In this post I assume you’ve read the book and won’t be surprised by the movie. I give away many plot points below.

Alisa and I watched Robot Stories on Sunday. The title of this quartet is deceptive, as the term ‘robots’ is used loosely, both in subject matter and theme. The series of four short films is a study of human nature far more than a study of robots or their influence on our lives (or speculative ones). This is a decidedly low budget work, but an enjoyable one. The stories are a bit pat, as they examine their subjects only superficially. They work as compact narratives, but as explorations, they’re dragging a nail across a surface that would yield readily to deeper digging. All of these themes have been explored elsewhere at greater length, so don’t look for anything completely innovative here. However, their spareness and brevity distills the themes down to their essence, which has its upsides as well.

If you enjoy films just outside of the mainstream, light sci-fi, or vignettes, than Robot Stories is a decent rent. Otherwise, it may be too light and too brief to warrant your attention.

MPAA Review: Not reviewed. But Australia raves: “Mature Audiences!” and Singapore chimes in with an exuberant “Parental Guidance!”
Ad Exec Review: Everything is changing... Except the human heart.

Alisa and I are going to fund a new TV show to compete with Martha Stewart and Donald Trump. It’s called ‘How Many of You Will Be Alive After All This Punching?’

We’ll get a bunch of ambitious, whiny, self-serving MBAs and just punch them for a solid hour. Whoever’s left after that day gets to continue on to the next round. Alisa will stand over the corpse(s), point forcefully and say “You’re expired!”

It’ll be great. Plus, we can do a promo with Mountain Dew where people can win a free punch on-air. 1 in 10 caps wins a punch, 1 in 1,000 wins 10 minutes worth.

At the insistence of Rebecca and Brian, Alisa and I have been watching the first season of ABC’s Lost on DVD.

Wow. I had no idea how great it was.

This movie confirms that heavy-handed satire built on a foundation of predictable humor and cursing is still not something I find entertaining. Also, that puppets are a hit-or-miss humor tactic. There were a few genuinely funny, witty moments, because Matt Stone and Trey Parker are funny, witty guys, but this movie felt shallow to me. Their other work has a depth I just didn’t see here. I was bored by it.

Also, I’m not really part of their core audience: people who aren’t old enough to see the movie in the theatre. I have a feeling that the movie did exactly what they wanted it to, but parody should, in some way, offer more than the parodied form (Jerry Bruckheimer movies). Often, Team America: World Police was just miming in irony.

The puppeteering and set work was pretty cool, though.

MPAA Review: Graphic crude and sexual humor, violent images and strong language – all involving puppets.

Ad Exec Review: Putting the “F” back in Freedom; Freedom hangs by a thread.

Go and watch Firefly right now. Go to Netflix or wherever and rent all of the DVDs of the show (there’s only one season). If you haven’t done this already, you’re living a seriously diminished life. Once you do that and see how frickin’ great Firefly is, you’ll be able to understand just how mind-rendingly kick-ass the movie Serenity is.

It is that good. Imagine mainlining the Firefly series, having all of the kick-ass cool shit and great lines and laugh-out-loud, yell-with-glee scenes injected into your cerebellum like a jack into the Matrix.

Oh, it’s definitely that good.

::sigh::

I admit it, I laughed. There were a handful of genuinely funny moments. Unfortunately they were buried under piles of ‘Oh my God! I just said penis at an inappropriate time!’ gags, or endless ‘This is weird, isn’t it? What I said, it was weird! Just like everything else I’ve said!’ scenes.

Penis!

Look, I’m funny like Ron Burgundy now. Ugh.

One of the best sci-fi series I’ve seen. One of the best series of any sort, for that matter. I’ve only seen the miniseries on DVD thus far, but Battlestar Galactica promises to be as good as Firefly.* Maybe even better (yes, this is my opinion in reference to me).

Spoiler Warning: Mild spoilers ahead

Every day should begin by watching Amélie.

I saw it this weekend, and Batman Begins is better than or equal to Burton’s excellent Batman. This is Batman and Bruce Wayne as they always should’ve been done. The depth of one of the most enduring comic characters comes out brilliantly in this rich, powerful, thematic film.

Well, I officially forgive Lucas for Episode II’s tepid romance scenes. But that’s about it. Episode III is very cool when it’s good, but otherwise it’s swatting you with obvious plot points or making you squirm with dead, unecessary scenes when it’s not.

Go see it, but don't expect too much. Watch it for the sci-fi space war and Jedi fight scenes, nothing else.

Ass kicks Yoda does.

Ad Exec Reviews: The Saga is Complete; The Light Side to the Dark Side
MPAA Review: sci-fi violence and some intense images

City of God (Cidade de Deus), directed by Fernando Meirelles and Kátia Lund, adapted Bráulio Mantovani from the novel by Paulo Lins, is easily one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time, if not ever.

I can really say no more than these few things, without minimizing the story and the truth behind it: this film shows how easily foreign films can eviscerate even the best efforts of American filmmakers. It is hard to believe that an American director or writer could even conceive of, let alone create and produce, such a horrifying, effusive, scrutinizing, and empathetic work. City of God takes the efforts of some of our greatest and most stylistically masterful films (the Godfather trilogy and Pulp Fiction come to mind), rolls them up, smokes them with a casual look, and blows them back at us, leaving us reeling in the fog of violence and desperation, with visions induced by the potency of truth.

Go, see it now. There are few films I can recommend more highly.

Ad Exec Reviews: Fight and you’ll never survive..... Run and you’ll never escape.; If you run it will get you. If you stay it will eat you.; Drugs Guns Music Love
MPAA Review: strong brutal violence, sexuality, drug content and language.

Alisa and I caught Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy this weekend. I really like it. You could like it to, as long as you do one thing (no, it’s not “Don’t panic.”): don’t take it seriously at all. If you can do this, then the movie should be an utterly zany and very funny experience. If you can’t, it’ll probably be frustrating and annoying. Which sucks for you.

I'm not going to go into great detail, but the acting is great (go, Mos Def!), the production design is a solid combination of old and new school effects, and the story makes no sense but in a completely fun way, and the Guide’s graphics are clean, sharp, and very well designed (for the entertainment purposes of a movie; Shynola is the British animation company responsible for them). There’s a tacked-on romance that falls just short of Neo and Trinity’s completely ham-fisted romance from the first Matrix movie in terms of horrible train-wreck narrative flow, but in a klutzy, drunk-at-a-wedding way that makes you feel uncomfortable, waiting for it to play itself out. Fortunately, it’s not a big component of the film.

Go see it! It’s fun. End of story. Also, there’s probably going to be a sequel based on The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Ad Exec Review: Don’t Panic
MPAA Review: Thematic Elements, Action and Mild Language

As many of you know, Frank Miller’s incredible comic Sin City was recently released as a feature-length mainstream film. Alisa and I saw it on opening night, and my review is the same as most film critics’ reviews. I’ve been reading Sin City since about 1995 or so (when only the first three story arcs were published as graphic novels), and it was everything I wanted it to be and a little bit more at times. Aside from some stiffness in the beginning of the That Yellow Bastard sequence, it was pitch-perfect, making concessions for the medium of film in all the right ways and in very few spots. It’s so close that there are side-by-side comparisons on the web.

As a fervent fan of the comic, watching the film was very satisfying, as some of the most artful moments in the comic were faithfully recreated on screen. Obviously, I enjoy the comic and the movie, along with Miller’s work.

I feel no need to defend Sin City as a good movie or a good comic. But I ran across a review (of sorts) on Be A Design Group’s website, and it really bothered me. I’ll explain.

There are many bastions of culture and critique where one can go to experience the arts and the measured critical examination of their fruits. One of these rich cultural havens is an institution that’s been viewing and reviewing virtually all of American cinema since 1922. That’s right, it’s the The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). As a champion of objective and even-handed analysis of our nation’s filmmakers, the MPAA has allowed our collective cultural experiences to be measured, assured, and age-appropriate.

In the recent past (around 1997 or so), the MPAA began publishing expanded editions of their concise and authoritative reviews, allowing us to peer through the window of that familiar MPAA rating frame into a mansion of depth and literary finesse. Let’s have a look, shall we?

Alisa and I saw Constantine last night. This was a particularly tricky movie for me, since I’ve been reading the comic John Constantine: Hellblazer since high school. The first trailer I saw for this flick made it look like revisionist Hollywood dreck. I was very disappointed. First off, Constantine is British and blonde. While these aren’t important per se, when Hollywood votes against a blonde lead, I start to get worried (I smell creative compromise). Also, the action and plot seemed pretty flat. However, the second trailer was much cooler and much more promising (see both here). So, in spite of myself and because of my appreciation for the series, I got excited.

I've watched probably somewhere between 30 and 40 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation since Christmas (we own seasons 1 and 2 on DVD, but I've seen far more than that since my childhood), and I've come to the conclusion that Picard and his people really don't view the Prime Directive so much as the First and Most Important order or instruction, issued by a central authority, as much as an obstacle they all participate in slowly eroding.

Picard: “It's not so much a rule or law as it is a guidline to be interpreted as needed by captains such as myself.”

Troi: “Captain, I'm sensing a great—”

Riker: “Captain, I suggest we interfere as little as possible, as long as I can swashbuckle.”

Picard: “Number One?”

Riker: “My dad was too controlling, so I act out through my overachievement.”

Picard: "Surely there's some way we can right the injustices occurring on Jehosephat 12.”

Riker: “We could try to influence the native population by incorporating—”

Picard: “Oh merde, arm the photon torpedos. I can't wait to kick some ass. Engage.”

There are plenty of animated films with superb drawing, and plenty with stunning computer animation, but I haven't seen many that blend them with the effortless success of Blood: The Last Vampire, which I bought today.

The premise is well worn: there are vampires, we need to kill them. How do we do that? Well, how about an ambiguously vampirish-but-human assassin? The plot itself is fairly basic, but the execution is completely solid and visually stunning in a completely unassuming way. The simplest or most innocuous scenes often grab your eye the most. A bus turning, a plane taxiing on the runway, or the motion of the camera amongst the army base setting often cause a bigger 'wow' moment than the dramatic fight scenes. The more obviously dimensional computer graphics are truly integrated into the style of the production and fit seamlessly into the over production design. I don't know that I've ever seen any film do it that well yet (Blood was released in 2000). It's worth watching it just for these beautiful moments.

John Woo's Paycheck is quite possibly the worst movie I have ever seen. Never see it. In every way you can think of it is bad. John Woo must have been drunk or dead the entire time. Philip K. Dick's work is getting pissed on, and it's excruciating to watch.

That is all.

Over the last few weeks, I've been watching great shows like Frontline: The War at the Pentagon, Nova's many offerings, a history of musical theatre, the story of Dr. Seuss, and the examination of Kerry and Bush (may have also been Frontline).

Public television kicks ass. You should watch more of it. The signal-to-noise ratio is so dramatically high compared to commercial TV. Do yourself and your brain a favor. If you're in the Philadelphia or Delaware Valley, check out WHYY TV12 to see what's coming up.

I'm sitting in a StarbucksBose conjoined store and am facing a Philips 50" plasma TV that's looping a segment from Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. I remember Lucas' new installments being criticized for their CGI work, which looked fake. I read an article talking about how they were optimized for some kind of THX digital theatre, which made the movie look ultra-realistic (or so I read).

Well, let me tell you, the plasma TV makes it look like a low budget BBC sci-fi series. The clarity and crispness (I guess) of the screen throws the weak and unimpressive CGI work into sharp relief. I keep expecting Dr. Who to run past or an Anakin vs. Dalek fight to break out. The characters look as realistic in their environment as a person standing in front of an episode of Star Trek on TV looks like they're in space.

Take my love.
Take my land.
Take me where I cannot stand.
I don’t care, I’m still free.
You can’t take the sky from me.

Take me out
to the black.
Tell ‘em I ain’t comin’ back.
Burn the land and boil the sea.
You can’t take the sky from me.

Have no place
I can be
Since I found Serenity.
But you can’t take the sky from me.

If you watched Firefly, you'd feel the same way.

As I write this, we've finished almost all of the 3rd season 1 disc, which is sad since season 1 is the only season of this show. I admit that I blew it off when it was on TV. Partially because I don't watch much TV and partially because the premise sounded incredibly lame. But, after too many recommendations from too many people I know and trust, Alisa and I decided it was time to give it a try. Man, that's some good TV.

It's even getting to the point where I like the theme song, which is sick. Go rent it right now. You won't be disappointed (unless you are lame).

I've watched about 98% of this movie as I write this. A few thoughts:

1) Now I know what 'feel good film' means to British people: Tell America to piss off, eliminate centuries of intense classist culture, and get your romantic mush with a spike of shagging.

2) Not too bad for a laugh (I'm big on Brit humor), but it's mostly pretty silly and ridiculous.

3) It's movies like this that encourage men to do creepy things in the name of love, because in the movies it all works out OK.

That's all.

Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is a blistering and scrutinizing condemnation of George W. Bush, and the administration he represents. Moore presents a case with about two or three major threads. He presents his argument on how, through political connections, media connections, and Congressional weakness, Bush was falsely placed at the head of the U.S. government by the Supreme Court, not the voters. He reveals Bush's faltering record not only as a business man, but also as a politician (pre-September 11th), making an argument that he continues to be this incompetent. The body of the attack in this film is split between the Bush family's connections to the Saudi royal and Bin Laden families, an unsterilized view of the realities of war both for U.S. soldiers and Iraqis, and the use of America's poor to fight for the benefit of the richest.

The film covers such a broad range of emotions, that I came out of the theatre unsettled and shaken, but further motivated against Bush. Moore's sense of humor is consistent with the rest of his films, which usually let the subjects create their own absurdity, but he also tosses in movie clips and funny musical choices to amplify the sometimes astounding events he is describing and showing. This humor is dramatically offset by the revolting and terrible war footage of both Iraqis and U.S. soldiers killing and being killed. This horror is also set against the unbearable anguish of Lila Lipscomb, a mother of two veterans, who lost her son to the war. It was hard not to cry with pain and rage, as others in the theatre were, as her unbearable and unquenchable ache for her son came pouring out on her visit to D.C. In fact, one woman passing by Lipscomb, speaking to a protester outside of the White House actually accused her of being part of a staged event and questioned her about where her son was killed. Nice. Hurrah for another Bush apologist.

Ultimately, Michael Moore is a left-wing political bomb-thrower, but his film Fahrenheit 9/11 makes arguments that are as strong as or stronger than those made by the Bush administration to fund and start a war. If you swallowed the logic of the administration's chain of facts (which flip-flopped after the attacks on the U.S.), this film is a searing condemnation of that administration and its leader. Even if you ignore the implications of unsavory and wide-spread war-profiteering and outright manipulation of global politics for the gains of businessmen (the Saudis and the Bushes), the demonstration of George W. Bush's incompetence in the face of, well, presidency and responsibility, is very damning.

This documentary's basic premise is to follow eight kids as they try to win a national spelling bee. It sounds a bit lame, but the actual result is far more intriguing. The film's first segment is... difficult. These kids are A) coming out of a very challenging situation, or B) very different from their peers, or C) frightening in their intensity, or D) going through the rough beginnings of the most ungainly period in human development, or E) some combination of the preceding. However, once past the initial groundwork, the film becomes a fascinating and unbearably suspenseful narrative.

Because it's a documentary, it's a bit like Band of Brothers. Anyone can go at any time. It's usually not pretty, and it's never happy (though some take it in a very healthy manner). Also, the patterns of presentation are varied (often with an aim to fake you out) to eliminate any predictability that might emerge in the pattern of competition and elimination.

It's a surprisingly powerful and revelatory film, revealing so many subtle threads in the fabric of family, culture, society, childhood, middle America, and competition. Give it a try.

But damn, people. Damn. I thought the wedding subculture was messed up, but this stuff almost takes the cake (no pun intended). It's not so much the specifics, as it is the sometimes bizarre intensity.

Rewatching Heat tonight on DVD (as I type, even). What a great film. The music direction could've used a bit of help, but other than that it's a genre masterpiece. After this, all Cops & Robbers caper movies are just shadows on the cave wall. Heat is basically Micheal Mann saying, "Alright, I'm going to do this right once and for all so everyone else can stop not getting it right."

It's a very male film. There's a lot of brothers-in-arms kind of stuff that I know Alisa started to practically giggle at. However, it's a great piece of work, with a strong multi-threaded plot, solid acting, and very cool action pieces. There's a very brusque, professional feel to the sequences, but they still have an elegance to them. It's a bit of Mamet and a bit of Woo*, without entirely being either. The gun battle in the city streets is reason enough to put the time into watching it. It even has some genuine drama and suspense that will actually put you in a state of supsense. Pretty rare these days.

Plus, Henry Rollins is in it. I mean, come on! Henry Rollins. What else do you want? Go rent it.

*It reminds me of Woo's work because Mann builds sequences with an eye for their drama and overall movement. This isn't a 'ballet of bullets' kind of film, with Woo's obligatory doves and slow-motion-ironic-musical-choice-moments or anything.

Wow.

Kubrick's definitely consistent with his pacing, that's for sure. But fortunately he's also consistent with his brilliance. It's also fortunate that our nuclear scientists weren't actually quite so questionable as Dr. Strangelove, in spite of the end result of their work.

Creepy synchronicity note: when we flipped over to the TV signal upon finishing the film, the first thing we saw was Thirteen Days. I'm going to go continue reading The Making of the Atomic Bomb now.

Just watched this DVD with Alisa. It was OK. Not bad, but not great. Seth Green does a great job as club kid 'original' James St. James (author of the novel about the events upon which the film is based). Macaulay Culkin does a passable job as club kid 'flameout' Michael Alig, that occasionally really works well, but usually gives the impression that he's just trying to hang on to the external parts of his character (accent, lilt, affectations) and therefore doesn't give a consistently compelling delivery of the actual lines (or what's behind them).

Also, it's pretty hard to care about characters like these, who are trying so hard to be so superficial. Granted, they're having fun with excess in an attempt to be "fabulous" and all that, but the excess inevitably turns into destruction and betrayal. Then it becomes painfully clear they're all assholes in that in spite of genuine longings and needs, they can't hold together a shred of genuine anything for each other. At this point you remember they're all based on real people, making you even more apathetic. Then you realize that the costumes are also based in reality, which makes the whole thing seem pretty damn pathetic. I mean, there's crazy and sexy, then there's just manifested drug-induced inhibition control problems. I've seen films similar to this one, and I respect the filmmakers' abilities to keep me watching, but it only goes so far.

Let's just call the experience a cumulative neutral and not speak of it again.

::blithely turns away and sips tea with pinky out::

The third Harry Potter film, based on the third Harry Potter novel, is definitely the best of the series thus far. I believe it's largely due to three factors: 1) it's based on the best of the first three books (and one of the best thus far), 2) Alfonso Cuarón directs this time around, and 3) this is the third time these actors have done this, they frickin' better do a good job.

On top of all this, the cast (aside from the big three) is really starting to come together. You've got Gary Oldman, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, and Alan Rickman (who continues his role as Snape for the third time). I'm really, really looking forward to the next films, which will (hopefully) feature Thewlis, Oldman, and Rickman in much more prominent roles. Regardless, if you've even got a sliver of interest in the series, you should see it.

Cuarón takes the series out of its fun but not-so-amazing rut of friendly retelling, and pushes it into adolescence with a skillful hand, developing themes with style, and guiltlessly injecting edge into the story. If you're not familiar with Cuarón's work, you should watch Great Expectations for a taste of his visual style, then check out Y tu mamá también* to see what films are like in a countries not afraid of their own genitals and what they do with them.

*If you've seen Y tu mamá también, and you've got prurient mind, you'll probably chuckle at moments like Harry playing with his wand under the sheets, pretending to be asleep when his uncle rushes in to see what's going on. I won't mention the other moment that Alisa noted. See if you can figure out which it was.

Just saw this film on DVD tonight with Alisa. It's a touching, but unique story about a young woman (April) and her family, with her boyfriend Bobby as a secondary arc. The movie shows both halves of an obviously fragmented family as they journey towards Thanksgiving dinner, as hosted by the black sheep April, played by Katie Holmes, in the wilds of what I assume is NYC (don't remember if they mention it).

If you have ever been subjected to CSI: Miami, then you probably know just how terrible the show is. I won't get into everything I find detestable about this show*, or why I have enough experience with it to dislike it with such vigor and specificity, but I will say this: David Caruso has one emotion. That emotion is intensity.

*Which includes an episode warning against the corrupting influences of pornography, while simultaneously attempting to curry sympathy for the girls who star in these flicks (ironically, the men are just objects, I suppose...), who really wish they could be dating crime scene investigators and having malteds.

Alisa and I just watched Sophia Coppola's sophomore effort (if you count Lick the Star) on DVD, and I liked it, but I'm not sure why. It's not that I can't speak about it, but more that I can't point specifically to what along the way grabbed me. Perhaps it's the bias built in by liking Lost in Translation so much, or perhaps it's the Air soundtrack (doubtful). It's not on my top 25 or anything, but it's a well-crafted film and worth watching.

First off, Coffee and Cigarettes is fun and worth spending some time to watch. I've really liked Jarmusch's work (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai) and I've suffered through his work (Dead Man). This film brought both experiences to mind, but thankfully more of the former and less of the latter.