Brothers Grimm

The Great Terry Gilliam returns with a new tale of quirky horror. Great show. Reminds me of Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. Recommended.

Fantastic Four

It didn't get very good reviews, but I liked it. The effects were nice, but the acting was cheesy (it's a comic book after all!). And it had humor too. Recommended.

Saw

After all the hype when it came out, I rented Saw. Saw is absolutely NOT the movie they were promoting. I got the impression it was a brutal gory movie where a serial killer tortures his victims by making them torture themselves.

Okay it is brutal. But it's not that gory. It's actually a pretty snappy thriller/drama with decent acting and plenty o' plot twists.

Hellraiser VII: Deader

I liked the original Hellraiser movie. It was scary, original and the bad guys looked really cool.

But like Superman, as the movie studio squeezed out more sequels, the quality started to suffer. By this version, number 7, just about the only thing left from the first movie is the name.

Pinhead makes a few appearances, but it's just above cameo status. Most of the movie is watching the main character (played by Kari Wuhrer) run around the streets and buildings of a town in Romania.

Movies I wish someone would make

Speed Racer
One of my favorite childhood cartoons, the movie version was almost made several times, but has remained in limbo for years. It has great raw elements- technology, racing, exotic locations, mystery and comic relief. The potential for stories is wide open.

Flashforard
Excellent intriguing, thought provoking book by Robert Sawyer. I can't believe why stories like this get overlooked while Hollywood churns out more TV show remakes and sequels to crappy originals.

Lost Horizon
This classic Frank Capra film is begging for a remake. The original copy of the film was lost, so even that can't stand on its own. Someone tell Spielberg about this. He could do such a good job with it.

Iron Man
If you thought Batman, Superman and Spiderman were cool... Iron Man is all about cool.

The Amiga Story
The Amiga got the shaft when it comes to any documented history of computers. Everyone assumes there were just Macs and PCs. It's such a shame since the Amiga actually has a really interesting story and influenced the lives of so many people including artists, musicians, scientists and people from all walks of life. I think something like Stacy Peralta's Riding Giants would be appropriate.

Movies I'm looking forward to

Aeon Flux (Dec 2)
This was originally a series of short animations on MTV's Liquid TV show over a decade ago. There really wasn't much of a plot, and no dialog (just music and f/x audio). Now it's a full length movie. I'm a little worried, but willing to give it a try.

The World's Fastest Indian (Dec 9)
Just saw the trailer for this on QuickTime. Anthony Hopkins plays a New Zealander who comes to America to break the speed record. Looks cool, quirky and fun.

Chronicles of Narnia (Dec 9)
Everyone's favorite story about the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They better not mess this up!

King Kong (Dec 14)
Peter Jackson does his "dream movie" he's been dying to do ever since he was a kid. What was LOTR?? A warm-up? Return of the King is a hard act to follow, but from the trailers and the bounty of behind-the-scenes footage, this looks pretty damn good.

Munich (Dec 23)
Steven Speilberg switches gears from War of the Worlds to serious mode. This is the story of the 1972 killing of the Israeli Olympic team and the revenge assasinations that followed.

Memoirs of a Geisha (Dec 23)
A best-seller book turned into a movie. Always a good formula.

Mission: Impossible 3 (May 5)
One had it's moments but was a snoozer. Two was awesome. I hope three keeps up the trend.

The Da Vinci Code (May 19)
See description of Memoirs of a Geisha.

X3: X-Men 3 (May 26)
See Mission: Impossible 3.

Superman Returns (Jun 30 2006)
Although it's protrayed as a new story for the blue guy, this is really a tribute to the Superman character, comic, original 1978 movie and especially to Christopher Reeve. Like a multi-million dollar fan film. Bryan Singer was a big enough fan to jump out of X-Men 3 to do this, so he's sure to do a good job. I have good hopes for this one.

Lady in the Water (Jul 21)
M. Night Shyamalan's latest flick about an apartment building superintendent who finds a fairy tale character in the apartment's pool. Stars Paul Giamatti.

The Fountain (2006)
Darren Aronofsky made his name with the indie movie Pi (which I still can't figure out, perhaps because I fell asleep), and later for Requiem for a Dream (which I hear is really good but depressing). The story spans 1000 years and involves time travel. That's peaked my interest.

Ghost Rider (2006)
A new comic-turned-movie about a stunt bike racer who gives up his soul to become a cool looking vigilante. Starring Nicholas Cage.

Apres Vous

This is a charming, cute story set in France. Hope you don't mind subtitles.

It's one of those romantic comedies with mistaken identities, role reversals and a few physical gags thrown in. With restaurants, wine and flowers as key plot elements, it really works being in French. The same movie would be horrendous if remade in the US.

The basic plot is a restaurant maitre d' saves a guy who lost his girlfriend from hanging himself, and in attempting to help him get his life back in order, his own life starts falling apart. By the end, the loser is the successful one, but it doesn't turn out all bad for the maitre d'.

On the DVD, we saw previews for Shultze Gets the Blues and The Machinist. Both look like interesting independent films.

Good date flick. Recommended.

Interpreter

Starring Nichole Kidman and Sean Penn.

Not a bad thriller flick, much better than most. I'd say the same calibur as the Manchurian Candidate remake, but not as intense as the Bourne Identity/Supremacy series.

One thing that annoyed me was that Nichole Kidman's accent seemed to change from African (her character's) to English to Australian (her real accent). That's just nitpicking.

It was great to see Sean Pean actually speak alot. Most movies he's just looking moody and either yelling or crying.

The movie was actually shot at the real UN in New York, and was researched with real life interpreters (who prefer not to be compared to mere "translators"!). These are covered by two documentaries on the DVD.

Recommended.

Harry Potter & The Latest Big Movie Title

Last week we saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

This time it's yet another new director, Mike Newell. The first two were by Chris Columbus. I think the third (previous) film (Prizoner of Azkeban, directed by Alfonso Cuarón) has the best overall visual style and pace.

The scene with the dragon was cool. Really physical for a story that usually relies on magic spells to fight challenges. I was hoping to see Harry riding the dragon back to the stadium, but that probably would have required a spell, potion or similar.

The story focuses heavily on Harry and his conflict with Lord Valdemort who is constantly trying to regain physical form after losing it when he killed Harry's parents and failed to kill Harry. Unfortunately this great drama comes at the expense of the secondary characters (teachers, friends, visiting students from other schools, etc.) who are left undeveloped.

If you've been reading the books or watching the movies, this one's worth seeing.

Lost

Season two of Lost just started. Damn this is a good show!

Not since the X-Files has there been a show that sparked so much debate about what's going to happen next, or what the cryptic, sometimes cleverly hidden clues in each episode actually mean.

What makes Lost unique though, is that it goes into the background of each of the dozen or so main characters. Their childhood, friends, jobs, etc. And sometimes you catch a glimpse of one person's life intersecting with another. It all leads up to their plane crash and being stranded on the island. There seems to be a reason for everything. You just can't figure it out yet (but there are sooo many theories!).

A few good places to read Lost speculations and theories are:
- TV.com
- Watch with Kristin (She's a Lost fan. Read her weekly updates and chats.)
- Lost-TV

The Dead Zone

Another show worth watching is The Dead Zone, on USA network. Based on the Steven King story (and movie starring Christopher Walken), this TV series stars Anthony Michael Hall as Johnny Smith, the main character. Johnny was in a coma for several years and woke up with the ability to see the future (and alternate versions of it) by touching any thing or person.

They have come up with some really creative ways for Johnny to see his visions. Once he received a blood transfusion and saw possible futures for his donors.

The main plot of the original story, that Johnny sees a presidential candidate starting a world war, is a sub-plot that resurfaces every once in a while. They started to go overboard on this last season, and this time they've back off a bit. That's a good thing since some of the best episodes are when Jonny gets stuck in humorous situations like playing match-maker or temporary daddy.

Lately USA has been running a really funny ad campaign where Johnny touches his cat and sees how it goes through some of its nine lives.

The 4440

USA keeps hitting them out of the field with great drama/sci-fi shows. The 4400 looked like it would be just another cheesy alien story, but instead turned out to be really intriguing and multifaceted.

4,400 people who were previously abducted by aliens are suddenly returned all at once. And it turns out it wasn't aliens, it was people from Earth-- in the future. They not only took people, they changed some of them to have special powers (psychic as well as physicial) as part of a mysterious plan to change the future (their present).

Some of the powers were exposed right at the beginning. One guy can heal other's diseases. A little girl can see the future. Others don't appear until later. Some don't seem to have any powers, but time will tell.

There are also several forces at work, other than the future people. The government is trying to make sense of it all, struggling with how much they should interfere with the 4400's lives. And some of the returnee's have formed an organization which is half cult, half sanctuary from the outside world's prejudices (like X-Men).

But these aren't all young attractive superheroes. They're "real" people, of all ages. That's part of what makes this so interesting. Some want to use their powers for good, some for personal gain. Some just want to live normally.

The 4400 is a good show for those are addicted to the "what's going to happen next" type story that leaves you hanging at the end of each episode.

BSG: Season 2

Season 2 of Battlestar Galactica has started. I was a little skeptical about whether they could keep the story interesting with Commander Adama out of commission (recovering from being shot by a Cylon spy), but they've managed to pull it off.

We just saw episode 4, which had a major sequence of events leading to President Roslyn and Lee Adama staging their escape to become fugitives hiding in the fleet of ships. The Cylon spy (Boomer, who didn't even know she was a Cylon) was assassinated Jack Ruby style by one of Galactica's crew. Heelo and Starbuck meet up with a former Pyramid team (a popular sport kinda like basketball) who are now fighting for their own survival. And finally at the end of the episode, Adama finally returns to see the mess created in his absence.

I think what gives BSG it's power are the multiple storylines that branch out and occasionally reconnect with the main plot line of Human vs Cylon. Stories that rely on several main characters have much more depth and potential than ones based on just a few. This technique had been successful for X-Files and Alias. Unfortunately both of lost their edge when they neglected their ensemble cast and focused only on the few main characters. With less to work with, the stories became repetitive and boring.

Another technique well executed by BSG (and Alias & X-Files in their early years, and now extremely well done by Lost) is the deliberately slow feeding of details about major mysterious aspects of the story. We really don't know the whole history of Humans and Cylons, nor what plans the Cylons have in store for the future. There are also still questions about the loyalties of several characters like Baltar, Lee Adama and Boomer. In the '70s series, it was pretty obvious who was good and who was bad. This time, it's harder to figure out.

Can't wait for the next episode...

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

My review is a simple quote from the movie: "Eww."

This would have been a nice remake except for two things:
1) Depp's playing of Willie Wonka was as if he were drunk, high and/or just plain stupid. That doesn't make sense for the guy who designed that amazing factory. I liked Gene Wilder's smart, cynical Willie much much more.
2) Too close to the original. It could have used some modernizing to make it worth making a remake.

This is strike two for Tim Burton's remakes (#1 was Planet of the Apes).

War of the Worlds

My review for this movie can be summed up by its initials: "W.O.W."

This movie has such raw power, it's just amazing. Not since Aliens have I been so drawn into the world appearing on screen that

WOW combines the raw realism and force of Saving Private Ryan with the mind blowing visuals of Jurassic Park.

Batman Begins

Finally someone did it right!!!

Too bad it took so long. But this movie hits the Batman story right on the head. I can't wait for more!

Madagascar

Great characters and really really funny stuff! The penguins are cool, but the lemurs rock!

Star Wars Episode III

Well, we saw it. And we saw it hours before anyone in the US because we were in New Zealand for the opening on May 19.

It does what it promised: Show how Anakin transforms into the evil Lord Vader, and set the stage for Episode IV. But it sure doesn't deliver the potential it could have. Then again, neither did Episodes I or II. They were well produced, stylish and definitely "in" the Star Wars world.

But they lacked the spirit and roughness of the first three movies. The new Episodes are just too clean, scripted like a high school play, and, especially in Ep III, too grandiose. It's like watching an opera, not a movie. Pretty to look at, but just not fun. My apology to opera fans out there.

Rumor has it that Lucas is preparing a TV series based on Star Wars. And he's planning to remake the entire set of movies (again!), this time in 3D.

HG2G

At last the long awaited movie version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy arrived on big screen. Douglas Adams (the author of the 5 book "trilogy" (an inside joke)) had been trying to get this done before his untimely death in May 2001. He had started writing the screenplay, and the project wasted away in limbo until it finally came together. He's still credited for the screenplay in the movie, which ends with a semi-subliminal image of his face and a dedication "For Douglas."

If you've read (and loved) the HG2G books, you'll love this movie. It has all the great moments, enacted with dedication to the Douglas' quirky offbeat humor. There's an additional sub-plot about Hama Kavula, who Zaphod beat in the election for President of the Galaxy. Hama is played by John Malcovich. The ending is a bit different, but it's not too bad. And best of all it leaves it way open for a sequel (or two, or three perhaps!).

HG2G is the closest to the funny but witty slapstick humor that made Airplane! and Naked Gun classics. Most comedies these days rely on pushing the envelope with uncomfortably squeamish situations, or are just really corny (ie: lame). Movies like Anchorman are good attempts, but still fall short of their potential. Today the cutting edge of humor can be seen after 10pm on the Cartoon Network (Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Family Guy, Harvey Birdman, Sea Lab 2021, etc.).

Looking forward to visiting the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Battlestar Galactica

Positive shields now!!!

Now wait just a centon, this ain't your old Battlestar Bonanza. Ronald Moore, a writer from Star Trek TNG, was given the reins to remake the series with a new cast, new look (mostly) and new story (mostly). In fact, this show bears more a resemblance to Space Above and Beyond than the original BSG.

In a world where an old TV show or movie is being remade every 20 minutes, the new BSG stands out as a high point of writing, acting, directing and effects. The Season 1 finale last night left me saying "Wow!", but just about every episode had the same impact. It's really great stuff.

It's not all new though-- they kept it "old school" in all the right places. The vipers look like vipers. The battlestars look like battlestars. The rag-tag fugitive fleet looks like the rag-tag fugitive fleet. It's all frackin' there!

The main characters have the same names as the original (Adama, Starbuck, Apollo, Tie, Boomer, Baltar, etc.). But they look and behave quite differently that the original, which is quite refreshing.

The special effects are a biiiig jump from the 1970's show, which were pretty damn good for that era. At least now they don't have to re-use the same viper fly-by shot every episode. They can just render another one with Lightwave.

In addition to the usual photos, promos and message board, Scifi.com also has Ron Moore's blog and an audio commentary you can listen while you watch the show! Neato!

If you haven't seen it, check it out. They'll probably be rerunning Season 1 until 2 starts up this summer.

Robots

Pixar still owns the throne of the best animation-- great design, style, story, characters, etc. They definitely paved the way for the likes of Dreamworks, Fox, etc. to offer their own animated movies.

Fox hired Blue Sky Studio to make Ice Age in 2002, which turned out to be a pretty darn good movie. The prehistoric squirrel, Scrat "made" the movie.

Robots is another Blue Sky/Fox production. It certainly earns its place next to Ice Age in terms of design and characters. The story is not too original, but it is just the backdrop to the cast of characters including Robin Williams. He has such a personality that he is really the character, not the character he's playing. But he's really funny and that's okay.

I liked the metalic rendering and camera style. They definitely took advantage of having a CG camera. I also appreciated the occasional inside computer & CG jokes. You can't have too many of those!

What really got me motivated to see Robots was the Star Wars III trailer that debuted. We were also treated to a Scrat-starred teaser for what appears to be an Ice Age sequel.

But will I buy the DVD? Probably not. I've seen it once and that's plenty. I'm looking forward to the next Blue Sky production.
See on IMDB

Alien vs Predator

Okay, I'm dedicating this Blog to the Underdogs. AvP was dissed by critics for not living up to the standards set by it's predecessors. But that's a pretty high expectation. Aliens and Predators are classics and any good movie sequel would be hard-pressed to be even half as good.

I'm just glad the movie was made at all. It took several years before the right combination of director, script, cast and studio came together and got the "green light."

The director was a big fan of both movie series. And it shows. He really pays homage to the two storylines-- almost too much sometimes. But if you enjoyed most of the A & P movies, and you like cool action/sci-fi, you'll enjoy AvP.
See on IMDB

The Jacket

Very similar to Twelve Monkeys and Butterfly effect, but still worth watching. Adrian Brody plays a Gulf War vet who goes through a series of traumatic situations, ending up in a mental hospital where he's subject to a sensory deprivation treatment. Somehow it allows him to travel into the future where he can see how things are going to turn out and try to fix them in the present.
See on IMDB

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle

Okay, so this formula has been done before from Easy Rider to Dude, Where's my Car. But this movie makes a great addition to the collection with some really funny dialog, outrageous scenarios and just plain silly fun. What the heck was Neil Patrick Harris thinking? :-)
See on IMBD

Everest: IMAX

A really great documentary about climbing Mt. Everest. This was filmed during the infamous 1996 tragedy where the IMAX crew stopped production to help with the rescue efforts.
See on IMDB

Butterfly Effect

Not well received by critics, but we liked the time travel and plot twists. The DVD has some pretty unique alternate endings.
See on IMDB