Up in the Air and Sherlock Holmes, nothing terrible, nothing great

As the year winds down and we get our final entries into theaters, the last films that seemed to have potential are amounting to very little after all. About a month ago, there were four oe five films that looked pretty good. The John Woo movie Red Heart or whatever, that nobody saw, and Ninja Assassin which is supposedly terrible were two of them. Then there was Up in the Air and Sherlock Holmes, both of which, were nothing special. And finally there is Avatar which I have yet to see. For the recent two films that I did see, Up in the Air is the better of the two, an enjoyable movie that just doesn't branch out with creativity the way Clooney's Michael Clayton did two years ago. Instead, it keeps things very low key, with Clooney basically playing Clooney in all mannerisms and temperament. The plot covers all the bases, but it is so precise that it feels formulaic. Like they made sure to cross all the is and dot all the ts. Instead of going down a checklist (circular ending, character change), creative movies reinvent their own structure and formula. Take the movies from 2007, not just Michael Clayton, but also No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood, Gone Baby Gone, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.

Sherlock Holmes is also not a bad movie, but it has little going on aside from some occasional smiles at humorous moments. The plot is adequate and somewhat of a mystery, but this is Guy Ritchie which means action and style above all else. He does a find job with those two things, and that's what gives the movie it's momentum, but in the end, it is an entriely forgetable film.

Let's hope Avatar is great, because right now the best of 2009 list is looking pretty shabby.

Winter movies with potential

There aren't a whole lot of movies that I'm pumped for this winter season. After all, we have already encountered the new movies from two of the best filmmakers we have working today, Tarantino and the Coen Brothers. But still, there is some potential in the air. Some newer directors who have only been established in the last five to ten years have their latest projects on the way. Take Jason Reitman who really made a name for himself in 2007 with Juno. His latest movie, the George Clooney vehicle, Up in the Air, looks even better. And James McTeague, who really only got started as a director the year before, with 2006s V For Vendetta, also has a new project coming out. That film is Ninja Assassin and looks like it is holding nothing back. On the topic of action and a movie that looks like the director was born to make it, there's John Woo's new film Red Cliff. It looks like a movie by Zhang Yimou, the only other action director who could have possibly made a film like this. Getting back to America for a moment, there are two other films worth noting. One is actually more British than American, despite starring Robert Downey Jr, and that movie is Sherlock Holmes, directed by Brit director Guy Ritchie. The other movie is James Cameron's Avatar. He hasn't made a movie since 1997s Titanic and this one looks like the thing he's been waiting to make for the past decade. So there you have it. Five movies.

Ninja Assassin

Red Cliff

Up in the Air

Sherlock Holmes

and

Avatar.

They can't all be great. I know that. And my guess would be that Up in the Air is the most sure thing of the pack. But they all look like they'll be fantastic and seem to have a lot of potential going for them.

A Serious Man, not an easy movie to figure out

I saw the most recent Coen Brothers movie, A Serious Man, the other night, and once again these guys found a way to surprise me. Honestly, nothing they do should really surprise me anymore, but this one was pretty unique. It was very Jewish and very into 60s rock. The music was Jefferson Airplane and Jimmy Hendrix and the plot was a black comedy about a man whose life was falling apart. In that way it reminded me of their film noir The Man Who Wasn't There, only there were no crimes and murders here. But there was certainly a femme fatale. Or two. The movie told of this man and his son and his wife leaving him for another man, and his job at school (a blackmail incident, so yeah, some crime I suppose), and his possible tenure. During the course of the film, the man goes to see three rabbis and each one is a pretty humorours experience. The tooth story is truly wonderful. The movie as a whole is just okay, but like most of their movies, I'm sure its smarter than it appears on the surface and will take some serious thinking about and maybe even multiple viewings to truly understand.

Wild Things, aint really wild, but is still okay

The Wild Things isn't quite as good as it should have been. It's a fine movie, but it's not really light or care-free. Spike Jonze has always been an interesting director, but also fairly dark. He's delved into depravity with his past two movies, and even though Wild Things might seem like a chance for him to break away from that (a movie about a fantasy island full of beasts), he doesn't. The movie treats the beasts like people, giving them real personalities and psychological depths. That's not really a bad thing, but it's probably darker and more thought-oriented than most expect. This is not a feel good movie. But it is interesting. The voices and costumes and animation and look of the film are all wonderful. James Gandolfini as Carol is terrific. And the story is alright. They say that this movie is closer to the real experience of being a kid than any other movie and that's actually true. But by the real experience of a kid, it includes all the bad things. Loneliness, not fitting in, unexplainable rage, things like that. It is a smart, good movie, but it is also sad. And if you want to enjoy it, you will need to do some thinking.

Law Abiding Citizen - a fairly good time

Jamie Fox and Gerard Butler star in a new thriller from director F.Gary Gray, and it's one of the best things any of the three of them has ever done. For Butler, he's got a few films that are better (300, Rock N Rolla), for Fox, this is probably his best, and for F Gary Gray, well, he's done a bad job with movies more often than a good job (Be Cool).

But this movie is a step up for all of them. It's about one man taking on the system and by the system I mean the city of Philadelphia. That one man is Gerard Butler, and the first quarter of the movie, the setup if you will, is fairly conventional. Man loses family to killers. Man becomes killer and goes after those responsible after court fails him. It's all very familiar from movies like Death Sentence. But then Butler goes after the cops and things get interesting.

He's got one trick up his sleeve after another, and they're all a lot of fun. There's even a nice little surprise where the magic trick is revealed and we learn how he did it all. The movie is both a thriller and a mystery and I like that it is not a one on one showdown, and instead has Butler target everyone in the cities government, including both the mayor and city hall. In that way it reminds me of The Dark Knight. Butler is very good in the role and F Gary Gray keeps things pretty edgy. It's a fun time at the movies and something a little different.

Extract, not great, but more enjoyable than most.

It's strange to be recommneding a movie based on these grounds. It's just that these days most movies are lousy and leave you both unfulfilled and feeling like the experience had nothing to offer. Well, Extract is better than those movies. It is not hilarious and doesn't satisfy the laughter need you go in with, but it certainly has an ejoyable story about a fun little loop-hole situation that seems to make sense, not only to its characters, but also to us. Jason Bateman wants to cheat on his wife, but can't unless she cheats on him first, so he hires a gigolo to seduce and sleep with her. Things get a little out of control from there. There's another main plot going on besides this one that involves a factory accident, a hot seductress (femme fatale baby), and a suing of the factory that can put the whole place out of business. The two plot lines run side by side for Joel, who also has to deal with an annoying neighbor who won't take no for an answer. For about half this movie, I thought it was just average, maybe even a little below. Not really funny and just slightly interesting. But then unexpected things started happening, some of them twisty, some of them just fun and nice. And the movie got better and better as it went on. The cast is appealing, and that goes a long way.In the end, Mike Judge has constructed a fun little film that doesn't do anything spectacular, but is still enjoyable on a very light level.

Basterds makes Four

I'm happily surprised to say that there are now four good movies of this summer. And I'm not including Star Trek in May. I'm not even going back to The Hangover in June. I'm talking about July and August, the real months of summer. There's The Hurt Locker, 500 Days of Summer, District 9, and now Inglorious Basterds.

Tarantino's new movie has his signature all over it. There is a lot of pop playfulness that shows us that making the Kill Bill movies really did change him. He's now more about having fun than seriousness and so I don't expect him to ever make a movie as serious as Jackie Brown again. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, because Jackie Brown was pretty great, but so is this new Tarantino.

Basterds is loaded with flashy screen titles that burst onto the screeen with loud music, catchy dialogue, and funny characters. The movie is a pretty straight forward men on a mission story, and from what I understand, when Tarantino was first writing this, he ended up with a giant novel that wouldn't end. It probably had nothng to do with the mission at the theater. I'm glad he didn't make that.

The movie is two and a half hours, but it doesn't feel like it at all. It moves quickly and keeps our attention at all times. Whenever I see a new Tarantino movie, it takes me multiple viewings before I can really appreciate it. So I'm not surprised that I don't love this movie right now, but I certainly enjoyed it and look forward to loving it in the future after I see it again.

Good news: GREAT MOVIES!!!!!

Finally, here in August, the good movies of the summer have finally come out. And it's not what you'd expect. All of the loud, big budget extravaganza turned out to be garbage. Be it the mega-junk films like GI JOE and Transformers 2 or the other stuff like Bruno and Public Enemies and Funny People. Aside from the Hangover, June and July were pretty terrible. But now, at long last, here we go....

Three movies: The Hurt Locker, 500 Days of Summer, and District 9. All of them cool. All of them fun.

Hurt Locker is the best of the three, although it aint no feel good movie. Still it is incredibly deep and thought provoking. The smartest movie you'll find. And ridiculously intense. Every scene is fantastic and clever and important. And the action is great too!

On a lighter side, because not everyone wants to see drama or action, theres 500 days of summer, which really is smart and nice and fun. It's a romantic comedy, although it doesnt play by any of the rules of romantic comedies. in fact, it sets out to defy the rules and does a damn good job. People have said there hasn't been a rom-com told from the guy's pov this well since Say Anything. I'd say since High Fidelity, but yeah, the idea is pretty accurate. Very enjoyable and quirky and different.

And then there's District 9, an alien sci-fi movie that also breaks the rules and tries to be its own unique, clever thing. Are we seeing a pattern here? District 9 is very cool with amazing effects that look real (as opposed to the usual drawings done by computers). It combines elements of Blair Witch and Cloverfield and the Office, to make the film feel more documentary-like, and that's exactly what a movie like this needs. It needs to be taken seriously and this movie figures out a way to do it.

So three good movies, none of them headlined by big stars, all of them low-key, and all of them smart as hell. These are the summer movies I've been waiting for. They're finally here!!!!!!

More of the same

As people start to weigh in about the movies that are out now or coming out soon, things are once again looking gloomy. The Adam Sandler movie Funny People is apparently way too long at 2 and 1/2 hours. It seems to be two movies in one, and more dramatic than funny. I'm sure its okay, but I was hoping for something a little better than okay. And the GI Joe movie, I thought it might be guilty stupid fun, but now I'm starting to think it will be just stupid. If it's all computer effects, like it appears to be, than what's the point? recently I've been rewatching the sci fi movies of James Cameron in the 80s, Terminator and Aliens, and the use of makeup and real effects as opposed to computerized ones make such a difference. These things actually look real. Unfortunately those days seem to be long behind us. 500 Days of Summer is still supposed to be good, and I'm sure Inglorious Bastards will be cool. So I suppose there's some silver lining out there somewhere.

Good things ahead?

Good news. I'm hearing that there are good movies on the horizon. A bunch of them. Some are out right now, like 500 Days of Summer and In The Loop. Both movies are small and almost-indie, but that's okay. They are both supposed to be excellent.

Then there are the movies that will be in theaters soon. Funny People, the new Judd Apatow movie is supposed to be very good. I just have to see it for that Raaaandy guy alone. And even GI Joe is supposed to be decent. Not sure how much stock I can put in that one, but it actually doesn't look half bad.

And of course, the movie I've been waiting for all summer is not so far off anymore. Inglorious Bastards will be out in a few weeks!

So here's the list of seeable movies

1. 500 Days of Summer
2. In The Loop
3. Funny People
4. GI Joe
5. Inglorious Bastards.

Only three of these movies will be out in the next week, since Funny People opens this Friday and the last two still have time before theyre released. But three movies worthwhile is better than we've gotten all summer. Finally, a reason to go to the movies!

Harry Potter and the blah blah blah

Just saw the new Harry Potter movie. It is literally the same old shit. I'm starting to realize that these movies (except for the one true great one that was Prisoner of Azkaban), are all pretty much the same. They really don't have plot and instead concern themselves with the minor minutia around the school. Who likes who, who's flirting with who, and a lot of spells stuff that seems pointless to anyone who hasn't read the book. The movie is not bad in the sense that the style and shots and color palette are all wonderful. But for three quarters of the movie there is just no plot. Harry has to get the new professor to tell him something. That's the plot. And the professor doesn't tell him until after three quarters of the movie. The ending is cool and surprising (unless you read the book), but it's just so long and effortless. It's as if they know the audience is coming, so they can literally do whatever the hell they want. And take as much time as they want with doing it. This is not a movie that has to please, like say The Hangover. There's a built in audience and they bank on that the whole qway. This movie doesn't earn any points for creativity or being different.

Garbage...garbage...and more garbage

It's now mid-July and things are looking ugly. There has been so little that is worthwhile this summer. Going all the way back to May, Star Trek was fun, and then the Hangover, but there hasn't been much since. I hear Up is worthwhile and Harry Potter that comes out in a few days is supposed to be dark which means good (remember Prisoner of Azkaban, the only really dark Potter movie and by far the best). Still, aside from those four movies spanning the months of May, June, and July, it's been pretty gloomy. Based on word of mouth, Public Enemies is boring, Transformers is idiotic, Taking of Pelham has a terrible ending, Bruno is non-stop offensive. Where's the fun? I went to see the Larry David - Woody Allen movie Whatever Works, simply because there was nothing else to see, and it was just as plain and predictable as everything else. Maybe Judd Apatow's Funny People will be ok, and I have high hopes for 500 Days of Summer and Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards, but those three would have to be pretty miraculous to put this summer on par with where it should be.

the dog days of summer

For some reason, studios have gone more and more in the direction of bringing out the biggest and most anticipated movies in May, leaving little for June and almost nothing for July. And don't even get me started on August. So here we are, in early July, and our two big movies are Transformers 2 and Public Enemies. Obviously Transformers 2 is supposed to be terrible. No surpirse there. It looks like loud, clangy, suped-up garbage. But Public Enemies doesn't look a whole lot better. So Johny Depp is in it. So what. It's a Michael Mann movie and honestly the guy hasn't made a well-paced movie since HEAT in 1995. Everything the man does is slow in the name of art. His movie Collateral with Tom Cruise as a hitman had no reason to be slow and yet it still was. And even HEAT, much as I love it, was too slow for it's own good at times. Well, Public Enemies doesn't look any better.

So what's out that's worthwhile? the same stuff that was out and worthwhile three weeks ago, maybe more. Up and The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three, and The Hangover. Those three movies. Those are the ones to see. And I'm hoping that I'm not wrong about Pelham, but it could really go either way.

THE HANGOVER: a review

So I finally saw the Hangover, two weeks in, and it was very good. A lot of fun. It's been number 1 for the past two weeks and I really like that America appreciates this movie, because it's funny and daring like Superbad, and not the least bit afraid or trying to hold back.

The movie has the four guys in Vegas trying to piece together what happened the night before, and it works as a sort of mystery, but also as a setup for more and more ridiculous things to happen that just add more mayhem to the fire. And as the movie goes on, all things are explained although more and more complications also arise. Like Mike Epps appearing as the black Doug.

In the end, the movie is funny because the characters are funny and the situations they get themselves into are ridiculously funny. Zach Galiphanucus is really great. I know this guy is a standup comedian, but I never heard his name before and after this movie, I think he's going to be appearing in many more films. The same goes for Ed Helms. And Bradley Cooper is ready to become an A list star. All because this movie is good in a time when most movies are lousy. I put this one right next to Superbad. And both movies have relatively simple plots, but endless supplies of humor.

Die Hard on a Train: The Taking of Pelham 123 Remake

The new remake of Pelham 123 looks lousy. First of all director Tony Scott is a hack and has been since he topped out in 1995 with Crimson Tide. He had something going for him for the decade that proceeded that with movies like Top Gun and True Romance and The Last Boyscout, but after Crimson Tide, it was all downhill. From Spy Game and Domino to Man on Fire to Deja Vu, Scott became so focussed on technology that he forgot about storytelling. Even Enemy of the State was just a mediocre retread on familiar territory.

And yet for some reason the critics are liking this new remake. And as much as I am shocked, it seems believable. Evudently Scott is going back to his old ways with this one, no longer preaching technology first and plot second. I don't like John Travolta as a villain, from Broken Arrow and Face Off, but maybe the blame lies with John Woo, the director of those two movies, who is a very corny individual (great as he is with action).

So director Tony Scott might be redeeming himself with this one, and Travolta might be showing that he can actually play a villain, just not under John Woo, but there's also a third component to why this movie might be okay. Brian Helgeland. The man who penned LA Confidential with Curtis Hanson and then wrote and directed Payback all on his own. Granted that Helgeland has had setbacks too, (he wrote Man on Fire, and made The Order, and A Knight's Tale completely missed its audience), but if the best of Tony Scott (going back to his old ways) meets the best of Brian Helgeland, and Denzel is on his A game, and Travolta steps it up as a villain, maybe, just maybe this movie could be alright. The critics seem to think so, and I think they might be onto something.

Box Office Rocks

I am very proud to say that this past weekend when there were two new openings, The Land of the Lost and The Hangover, Americans made the smart decision. They went to see The Hangover and stayed away from Land of the Lost. The number one moive of the weekend was The Hangover, and that is very impressive considering it is an R rated comedy (no kids), and features no major stars. Land of the Lost, on the other hand, is PG-13, kid-friendly, and stars Will Ferrell. And it wasn't even close. The Hangover made 40 mil to Land's 20 mil. I went to see the Hangover last night, on a Sunday evening, and couldn't get in because it was sold out. It was the only showing of any movie that was sold out. As angry as I am that I didn't get to see it, I am also very happy that it is doing so well and that America is embracing it. The critics certainly enjoyed it, and now the audiences are doing the same. It's been a while since an R rated comedy did so well, and an even longer time since it did it without any major stars. I'm thinking American Pie, back in 1999, a full decade ago, in the summer and everything, might have been the last time.

The Good and The Bad at the start of summer

Scorecard So Far, Summer 2009

As of June 5th

So far things are actually pretty decent. May was a little rough with only one good movie, Star Trek, but as we approached June, three more fell into place. Last year at this time, we certainly didn't have four good movies. We had Iron Man and Kung Fu Panda, and that's it. Iron Man matches up to Star Trek of this year, and Kung Fu Panda matches up to UP. That leaves us ahead of last year by two movies, Drag Me To Hell and the Hangover. There's one more summer movie of this year that should probably go on the list under the bad heading, although for some reason I think it could be decent. That movie is Angels and Demons. For that one, I'll keep things undecided until I actually see it.

The Good

Star Trek

UP

Drag Me To Hell

The Hangover

THE BAD

Wolverine

Terminator: Salvation

Night at the Museum 2

Land of the Lost

Notice how many sequels, spin-offs, and reimaginings there are. On this list, only 3 out of 8 movies are originals and all 3 of them are on the good list. Meanwhile, things that should have been surefire like Wolverine and Terminator find themselves on the bad list. Just because you have a built-in audience doesn't mean you don't have to impress. Thankfully UP, Drag Me To Hell, and The Hangover don't have that built-in audience, so they have to be good on their own merit. And with Star Trek, JJ Abrahms clearly knows what he's doing.

New Day Title

The New Day title for this blog refers to a new day in movie-making. Whether the movies are good or bad these days, there are still good ideas being made and that's important. The day of the fanboys is here. Iron Man really kicked it off by helping Marvel launch it's own studio. Now the studio has announced projects for the next few years. Iron Man 2 in 2010, Thor and Captain America in 2011, and the Avengers in 2012. I truly hope they get JJ Abrahms to direct The Averngers movie. He would be perfect. There aren't a lot of directors out there who have the edge and intelligence to be right for this material and that seems to be the biggest problem. Get a good director like Chris Nolan and you're set. His two Batman movies proved that. Get a lousy one like Louis Letterier, Gavin Hood, or McG and you are sealing your own fate.

But still the new day refers to an enthusiasm about these movies getting made, whether they turn out good or not. It's great that they made another Terminator movie, a second Transformers movie, a Wolverine prequel, and a GI Joe movie. All four of these films might be terrible (so far the first two that came out already are), but just the spirit that got them made is something to embrace. Now that we know people want to see them, we need to start making them right. That's what Iron Man did, that's what the Dark Knight did, and that's what JJ Abrahms did with Star Trek.

Also on the radar should be Spider Man 4 in 2011, and you know that Sam Raimi wants to prove that he can do much better than Spider Man 3. There's even talk of Bryan Singer returning to the comic book movie world, maybe to make a Magneto prequel. Yes, he screwed up with Superman, but that's a movie that really had no chance of working in today's day and age of the cool superhero (starting with Blade and The Matrix). Singer knows all about the cool superhero, with what he did for Wolverine in the X-Men movies, but with Superman he had to stay true to the wholesome hero and there was no way that the movie was going to work.

So even though things are lousy with comic book movies and sci-fi action movies at the moment, there is promise on the horizon. Sam Jackson signed with Marvel to play Nick Fury in a number of their movies. That cross-over stuff from last summer with Jackson's cameo in Iron Man and Downey Jrs. cameo in Hulk, goes a long way. I'm happy that studios know what projects need to be made. They know what we want to see. Now they just need to find the right directors to bring them to us. Get Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher on board. See what happens then.

May Movies '09

It's been a bumpy ride so far at the start of this summer, with the lousy Wolverine kicking it off. Last year it was Iron Man at the same time of the month and that movie gave rise of hope to everything summer that would follow. Wolverine did the exact opposite.

Luckily J.J. Abrahms' Star Trek was a smart and entertaining movie and very much like his Mission Impossible III, pushed all the right clever buttons without being amazing. It will most likely be remembered as one of the best movies to be released this summer.

Angels and Demons met with mixed responses, although it is unanimously toted as better than The Da Vinci Code, but that isn't really saying much.

And Terminator of course is supposed to be terrible. All effects and limited story. I wonder which is worse, Terminator or Wolverine. Wolvie had some positives, but they were very few. It just was not an enjoyable or well-made film. Terminator looks bleak as hell and like a movie with no hope or fun. Maybe it's better than I think, but I doubt it.

Luckily at the start of June, some new movies seem to have promise: Sam Raimi's Drag Me To Hell and Disney Pixar's UP.