by Mr. Blunderson
Kevin Smith had promised a net trailer today for Zack and Miri Make a Porno but instead I got bupkis.
That's okay. At least Kev and Mos are regularly updating their smodcast... oh wait, they didn't do that today either!
DAMN DUDE!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
We're not dead yet
by Mr. Blunderson
It's been a while since anything has been posted here so we'll knock out a whole bunch at once if you don't mind too much.
Gone Baby Gone
After the movie was over I had to scrub the Boston off me and I loved that. Casey Affleck demonstrated some unbelievable chops here carrying the weight of a private investigator hired to "enhance" the police investigation. He more than holds his own with cinematic heavy weights Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. The cast was solid, the directing (from Ben Affleck no less) was extraordinary, the only thing I didn't love about the movie was the "twist" at the end. I didn't buy it, it was a little much, at the end of the day I didn't need it. The good news is it didn't completely ruin the movie for me, which is why I give it a "way decent" on the Mr. Blunderson scale. I could watch these characters going about their normal lives for hours and hours it was that damn good.
Shallow Grave
This is a movie I have heard good things about and I was particularly interested because it was the first big film from Danny Boyle. I have had a hard time putting this review into words and as much as I wanted to like this movie I will just say that it took me three days to watch this movie from beginning to end. It was too dark for it's own good and I hated the characters and wanted the actors that played them to die horrible deaths, I hated them all as soon as they were introduced. At that point it wouldn't matter if this was the best plot in the history of cinema I simply didn't give a shit anymore. As much as it kills me to do it, Shallow Grave registers a "Meh" and no better.
Southland Tales
This movie was going to have to be spectacularly bad for me to not love it, so color me surprised when I didn't. This movie is just. plain. weird. It is full of characters I wouldn't mind getting to know better but the plot never seems to settle enough for that to happen. It felt like three movies crammed into one. There are some cool ideas but none of them get a chance to flow or be realized. Imagine watching a trailer that lasts for more than two hours, that's what I felt like. And if I hadn't been following the Southland Tales since Richard Kelly had started lensing the damn thing so I knew background on the characters and situations that enhanced my ability to follow the narrative (if it can be called that) I would have been really, really lost. Maybe this movie really kicks ass when you are high. I'll let you know if I ever find out. Until then this movie gets a (and it kills me to say this) "don't bother."
Dan in Real Life
I'm convinced Steve Carell can be in any movie and make it better. Definitely the case here, even though the movie isn't all that bad. It manages to rise above also staring Dane Cook, a story that is bent on focusing on the eccentricities of a family over developing the relationships between the characters, and not having the balls to make someone (anyone!)be the "bad guy." Dan in Real Life is sweet and light and slightly sentimental and thus earns a "mostly decent."
Walk Hard
The longer the memory of this movie sits in my mind the better it is. John C Reilly is a funny, funny guy, and does a great job carrying a silly, silly film. Even though it's tough to recommend this movie, I liked the shamelessness of it all, the music was surprisingly top notch, and the bit with the Beatles was worth the price of the rental. It's worth seeing once, which is why I'll give Dewey Cox a mostly decent, on the Mr. Blunderson scale.
It's been a while since anything has been posted here so we'll knock out a whole bunch at once if you don't mind too much.
Gone Baby Gone
After the movie was over I had to scrub the Boston off me and I loved that. Casey Affleck demonstrated some unbelievable chops here carrying the weight of a private investigator hired to "enhance" the police investigation. He more than holds his own with cinematic heavy weights Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. The cast was solid, the directing (from Ben Affleck no less) was extraordinary, the only thing I didn't love about the movie was the "twist" at the end. I didn't buy it, it was a little much, at the end of the day I didn't need it. The good news is it didn't completely ruin the movie for me, which is why I give it a "way decent" on the Mr. Blunderson scale. I could watch these characters going about their normal lives for hours and hours it was that damn good.
Shallow Grave
This is a movie I have heard good things about and I was particularly interested because it was the first big film from Danny Boyle. I have had a hard time putting this review into words and as much as I wanted to like this movie I will just say that it took me three days to watch this movie from beginning to end. It was too dark for it's own good and I hated the characters and wanted the actors that played them to die horrible deaths, I hated them all as soon as they were introduced. At that point it wouldn't matter if this was the best plot in the history of cinema I simply didn't give a shit anymore. As much as it kills me to do it, Shallow Grave registers a "Meh" and no better.
Southland Tales
This movie was going to have to be spectacularly bad for me to not love it, so color me surprised when I didn't. This movie is just. plain. weird. It is full of characters I wouldn't mind getting to know better but the plot never seems to settle enough for that to happen. It felt like three movies crammed into one. There are some cool ideas but none of them get a chance to flow or be realized. Imagine watching a trailer that lasts for more than two hours, that's what I felt like. And if I hadn't been following the Southland Tales since Richard Kelly had started lensing the damn thing so I knew background on the characters and situations that enhanced my ability to follow the narrative (if it can be called that) I would have been really, really lost. Maybe this movie really kicks ass when you are high. I'll let you know if I ever find out. Until then this movie gets a (and it kills me to say this) "don't bother."
Dan in Real Life
I'm convinced Steve Carell can be in any movie and make it better. Definitely the case here, even though the movie isn't all that bad. It manages to rise above also staring Dane Cook, a story that is bent on focusing on the eccentricities of a family over developing the relationships between the characters, and not having the balls to make someone (anyone!)be the "bad guy." Dan in Real Life is sweet and light and slightly sentimental and thus earns a "mostly decent."
Walk Hard
The longer the memory of this movie sits in my mind the better it is. John C Reilly is a funny, funny guy, and does a great job carrying a silly, silly film. Even though it's tough to recommend this movie, I liked the shamelessness of it all, the music was surprisingly top notch, and the bit with the Beatles was worth the price of the rental. It's worth seeing once, which is why I'll give Dewey Cox a mostly decent, on the Mr. Blunderson scale.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Word from Big C Vol 17
Big C reviews King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
The only thing I can say is I turned my video game off to watch this surprisingly solid movie. It is definitely a must see.
Monday, April 7, 2008
An evening to remember Chuck
By Mr. Blunderson
I realize this is more about the movie than the man, I hope that this will nudge my fellow contributors to add some thoughts about Chuck as well.
Last night the Cirque du Jerks got together to bid a fond farewell Charelton Heston. We did this in a manner we felt most fitting, by enjoying one of his many fine movies. Hero Stew found a copy of disaster classic Earthquake, made way back in 1974.
This is the film that is the mold for how it's been done since. It didn't hurt that Mario Puzo (yes that Mario Puzu) wrote the first draft of the script. It probably didn't help that he was unable to continue working on this film when they had to modify the script to bring the budget down (Mr. Puzo was contractually obligated to The Godfather II). What I wouldn't give to see his draft of the script though as we can only speculate what part, if any of Puzo's original ideas for this thrilling epic survived the 11 subsequent drafts the script went through before finally getting shot.
Earthquake was the first movie to be presented in Sensurround, an experience that involved using 10 large subwoofers placed strategically around theaters emitting barely audible rumbles that would be felt by audience members as a means to truly make this an experience to remember. Although this in and of itself has nothing to do with the man we were honoring, it reminds us of how many films Mr. Heston made that stood apart from everything else that was being made in some small way... partly because he was in them.
As for me, I'll always remember that Earthquake featured the coolest camera lens blood splatter of it's era, and of course the legend Chuck Heston. I hate to spoil a movie that was made 34 years ago but we (Hero Stew, Big C, and I) didn't realize we were screening a film where Chuck doesn't survive through the final frame. His final moments were quietly heroic but undeniably Chuck and left enough ambiguity that we as an audience could wonder... did he make it?
I realize this is more about the movie than the man, I hope that this will nudge my fellow contributors to add some thoughts about Chuck as well.
Last night the Cirque du Jerks got together to bid a fond farewell Charelton Heston. We did this in a manner we felt most fitting, by enjoying one of his many fine movies. Hero Stew found a copy of disaster classic Earthquake, made way back in 1974.
This is the film that is the mold for how it's been done since. It didn't hurt that Mario Puzo (yes that Mario Puzu) wrote the first draft of the script. It probably didn't help that he was unable to continue working on this film when they had to modify the script to bring the budget down (Mr. Puzo was contractually obligated to The Godfather II). What I wouldn't give to see his draft of the script though as we can only speculate what part, if any of Puzo's original ideas for this thrilling epic survived the 11 subsequent drafts the script went through before finally getting shot.
Earthquake was the first movie to be presented in Sensurround, an experience that involved using 10 large subwoofers placed strategically around theaters emitting barely audible rumbles that would be felt by audience members as a means to truly make this an experience to remember. Although this in and of itself has nothing to do with the man we were honoring, it reminds us of how many films Mr. Heston made that stood apart from everything else that was being made in some small way... partly because he was in them.
As for me, I'll always remember that Earthquake featured the coolest camera lens blood splatter of it's era, and of course the legend Chuck Heston. I hate to spoil a movie that was made 34 years ago but we (Hero Stew, Big C, and I) didn't realize we were screening a film where Chuck doesn't survive through the final frame. His final moments were quietly heroic but undeniably Chuck and left enough ambiguity that we as an audience could wonder... did he make it?
Sunday, April 6, 2008
REVIEW - Superhero Movie
The weekend Superhero Movie opened a rare thing happened. The three guys who watch movies and post reviews on this site all went to see it together. I won't get into the how and why of the three of us seeing a flick like this together as it is more twisted and complex than a Dostoevsky novel... actually Big C and Hero Stew were going to see it and the one of them that isn't Big C offered to pay my way in... but what is important is that the three of us can all post our reviews at once in one post.
Like this -
Big C
Ok so myself, Mr. Blunderson, Senior Stew and his son went to see superhero movie over the weekend. It was quite the "man date" (not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter you pervs.) Now its not a secret that I like the spoof movies so I went to see this for that reason and some others that I wont mention at this time. This movie should have been one of the great spoof movies if they didn't stick so closely to just one superhero movie. Aside from some 'long winded' fart jokes and some obvious physical humor the story was ok not great. I will most likely not see this one again and you shouldn't see it unless you are looking to bring pain to your eyes and brain.
Hero Stew
My feelings on Superhero Movie were the same as my co-conspirators. WTF? I had hoped they would have stayed further from a straight rip-off of Spiderman the movie. Since I liked the cast and villain/hero designs. With Zucker and Leslie Nielsen on board I expected more of a Police Squad type of film. A parody of a genre rather than point for point plagiarism with fart jokes.
Mr. Blunderson
In the car I mentioned that this film had not been screened for critics and speculated that there is a good chance it shouldn't be screened by anyone. I wasn't planning on being right, I was only intendning to make a joke...
oy.
Like this -
Big C
Ok so myself, Mr. Blunderson, Senior Stew and his son went to see superhero movie over the weekend. It was quite the "man date" (not like that! Get your mind out of the gutter you pervs.) Now its not a secret that I like the spoof movies so I went to see this for that reason and some others that I wont mention at this time. This movie should have been one of the great spoof movies if they didn't stick so closely to just one superhero movie. Aside from some 'long winded' fart jokes and some obvious physical humor the story was ok not great. I will most likely not see this one again and you shouldn't see it unless you are looking to bring pain to your eyes and brain.
Hero Stew
My feelings on Superhero Movie were the same as my co-conspirators. WTF? I had hoped they would have stayed further from a straight rip-off of Spiderman the movie. Since I liked the cast and villain/hero designs. With Zucker and Leslie Nielsen on board I expected more of a Police Squad type of film. A parody of a genre rather than point for point plagiarism with fart jokes.
Mr. Blunderson
In the car I mentioned that this film had not been screened for critics and speculated that there is a good chance it shouldn't be screened by anyone. I wasn't planning on being right, I was only intendning to make a joke...
oy.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Word from Big C vol. 16
Big C Reviews Android Apocalypse (TV movie, Red Box Rental)
Ok so this one caught my eye when I read that Joseph Lawrence of Blossom and Chris Jericho of WWE fame had starring rolls in this sci-fi epic I had to rent and watch it. The story of this one is one that has been played out time and time again (like in the matrix) androids are secretly plotting to take over the world but there is a twist they want to be as human as possible, they even go as far as experimenting on humans that have been found guilty of murder and other heinous crimes. Joseph Lawrence plays DeeCee one of the most advanced androids ever created (I always thought that he had no emotions whatsoever). During a rescue mission he is damaged and sent for repairs, and to kill two birds with one stone Scott Bairstow's character Jute an avid android hater is convicted of murdering Chris Jericho's character TeeDee an android (WTF they are not alive but whatever) that can fight with humans which androids are not supposed to do is chained to DeeCee and during transport their transport is attacked by rouge drones and destroyed to make a long story short DeeCee wants to be a real boy and Jute helps him elude and finally escape the other androids and defeat the once human that has some how turned himself into an android. This is one of the best movies that I have ever seen with Joseph Lawrence staring in it but its probably the only one I have ever seen.
Ok so this one caught my eye when I read that Joseph Lawrence of Blossom and Chris Jericho of WWE fame had starring rolls in this sci-fi epic I had to rent and watch it. The story of this one is one that has been played out time and time again (like in the matrix) androids are secretly plotting to take over the world but there is a twist they want to be as human as possible, they even go as far as experimenting on humans that have been found guilty of murder and other heinous crimes. Joseph Lawrence plays DeeCee one of the most advanced androids ever created (I always thought that he had no emotions whatsoever). During a rescue mission he is damaged and sent for repairs, and to kill two birds with one stone Scott Bairstow's character Jute an avid android hater is convicted of murdering Chris Jericho's character TeeDee an android (WTF they are not alive but whatever) that can fight with humans which androids are not supposed to do is chained to DeeCee and during transport their transport is attacked by rouge drones and destroyed to make a long story short DeeCee wants to be a real boy and Jute helps him elude and finally escape the other androids and defeat the once human that has some how turned himself into an android. This is one of the best movies that I have ever seen with Joseph Lawrence staring in it but its probably the only one I have ever seen.
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