January 26, 2009

#012: The Fall

     This past weekend I watched a little-know movie called "The Fall". This is a film about a young girl at a hospital who befriends one of the other patients. It starts Lee Pace as Roy, the man confined to his hospital bed, and Catinca Untaru as Alexandria, the little girl with a broken arm. It is set in the 20's. Alexandria visits Roy so that he can tell her a fictional story about a band of heroes on a quest for revenge. It was reminiscent of "The Princess Bride", but with a lot more "grit". I am having a really hard time trying to put my feeling about this movie into words. I wasn't blown away by it, but it was very interesting. This movie has some very stunning visuals. They alone might be enough to make this movie worth watching. The only other word I can think of to describe this movie is "charming". It focuses on this theme of childhood innocence contrasted against the pessimism & cynicism of adulthood. I definitely won't sit here and strongly recommend you watch it, but there are some really great scenes. There is one scene shortly after the two main characters meet. Alexandria is in Roy's bed with him, and he asks her to play a little game. He wants her to go to the end of the bed and touch one of his toes. He gueses the incorrect toe and she immediately moved her hand to that toe and tells him he is correct. He asks if she is lying, but she insists that was the toe she was touching the entire time. It was very powerful scene showing how this young girl could sense that this man needed hope, and she couldn't crush that by telling him he had been wrong. There are a few other scenes in "real life" that are also very powerful. However, most of this movie takes place in the fantasy world of this story. We are seeing it through the imagination of the young girl, and how she interprets the words of the story. This is where the fantastical visuals are coming from. As we are in this fantasy world more and more I found it hard to follow exactly what was going on. Nothing has to be linear or make sense, and a lot of times for me it didn't. I am sure there was a lot of symbolism I was completely missing. I should probably watch it again, but I don't know if I really want to do that. When I watched the movie I was in the mood to just sit back and be entertained without having to think about it too much. It does that, but the true impact of the story, and how it is presented, requires a little more thought. The acting in this movie was pretty good. I really liked the performance by the 7 year old Catinca Untaru. Without her the movie could have been a lot worse.

~3 stars for this decent movie. It is not mainstream, and it might be kinda hard to get into.


January 25, 2009

#011: Burn After Reading

This past week I was able to check out the new Coen brothers' creation. The Coen brothers really haven't registered in my mind until this past year after I saw "No Country For Old Men." I have seen a lot of their movies, but never realized who was behind them. I guess you could say that I am a luke-warm fan of theirs. I haven't even seen "Raising Arizona" which might be one of their most popular films. I think the first Coen movie I saw was "The Big Lebowski." I remember liking this movie, but didn't really see what the big deal was. I really want to see that one again because I think I would like it much better now. The next movie I saw was either "Fargo", or "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou". I liked both of those, "Oh Brother" definitely being the better of the two. While it was a decent movie, I don't think I could sit through "Fargo" again. Then there was "Intolerable Cruelty", which I didn't really like. Then "Ladykillers" which I absolutely hated. I had no clue that the same people had produced all of these movies, nor did I really make the connection going into "No Country". Right from the beginning I knew that "No Country" was going to be a great movie. By the end I was huge fan. At that point I looked to see who was behind it and realized what other movies they had made. All that being said to illustrate the point that these guys have the ability to make very good movies, but they can also put out some craptastic ones. For me "Burn After Reading" is definitely on the crappier side.
After "No Country" I had pretty high expectations for the next Coen movie. Shortly after BAR came out I was surprised to hear a lot of negative reviews. I was still holding out some hope for this one though. Right from the beginning I could tell this movie wasn't going to be up to the same level as "No Country". The story never really hooked me in. I found myself feeling bored quite a bit, and completely annoyed with the characters. I was still holding out hope for an interesting and surprising ending. I really feel like I was let down on that one too. There were some funny scenes in this movie; rather some funny lines in a few scenes. There were also some things that happened that created some situational humor. However, I don't really see how they classified this one as a straight up comedy. I realize that the Coens weren't going for a traditional comedy, but you still have to make it funny to call it a comedy. I know a lot of people hated the Brad Pitt character. I have to say that he didn't really bother me, and I actually found his mannerisms to be somewhat funny. I can see why other people hated his character, but I didn't mind him. So, I guess I can't really recommend this one to anybody. My lowered expectations were definitely not met by this film. There are a lot of better movies out there, and there are definitely much funnier ones.

~2 stars for this barely funny comedy. It is definitely watchable, but doesn't offer much more.


January 17, 2009

#010: Cool Stuff / Most Anticipated

I had a couple cool things happend to me this week. First, this week on the filmspotting podcast they mentioned my name for donating money to the show. They also mentioned that I am from Rogers, Arkansas and work as an engineer at JB Hunt. I thought that was pretty cool. You probably don't know what the heck filmspotting is, so I will enlighten you. It is a weekly podcast with two guys from Chicago named Adam Kempenaar & Matty Robinson. They review movies, and do "top 5" lists for all sorts of different things relating to movies. I really enjoy listening to them. They give me tons of great ideas for movies that I need to watch that I otherwise probably wouldn't hear about. You should give them a try. They have all of their old episodes archived. I would suggest going back and finding an episode in which they review a movie that you have seen, and had a strong reaction to.   It should be interesting to hear their take on it. At least go and listen to the show that was posted yesterday (1/16/2009) and skip ahead to the 1:05:00 minute mark. That is where they mention my name. Yeah, I realize I am a dork, but I don't care. It is still cool for me.
The other exciting news for me is that this past week I ordered a PS3. It should be delivered on Monday!  This means I can now watch movies in HD with the blu-ray player.... SWEET. The best part is that Netflix offers blu-ray for a very very minor fee. So now if a movie in my queue is available in blu-ray, they will send that instead of a normal DVD. I am pretty pumped. Oh, I heard you can also play games on a PS3. I don't know much about that part, but it is supposed to be pretty fun. If anybody has any suggestions for some PS3 games that I should check out, I welcome your input.
If you notice I added a poll to the blog. I will continue to have something up there to vote on as long as I can continue to think of questions to ask. Any ideas for questions are welcome.
On to my most anticipated films of the next few months. These are movies that should be coming out on DVD soon, or are already out, that I am really looking forward to watching. Maybe this will give you some ideas for movies that you can add to your queue.

12. Lakeview Terrace
11. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
10. Zack & Miri
9. Synecdoche, New York
8. Hunger
7. The Fall
6. Let The Right One In
5. Rachael Getting Married
4. My Winnipeg
3. Slumdog Millionaire
2. The Wrestler
1. Role Models

- deric

January 14, 2009

Why Pretend?

I guess I have never really said why I called this blog the "pretend film critic".  It came up today at work, so I thought I would explain.  I have always enjoyed watching movies and thinking about the meanings behind them.  I also really enjoy listening to what other people have to say about movies.  I wanted a place where I could record my thoughts, thus the birth of the blog.  However, I really can't call myself a real film critic.  I have never been to film school and have no formal knowledge or experience about how films are made.  I have never written a script, nor do I have any insight into what makes a worthy screenplay.  But there is another reason I feel like I have to call myself a pretend film critic.  Most movie critics see films before they even come out.  They get to watch pre-screenings so they can write a review before the rest of the public even have a chance to watch the film.  I love watching movies, but I almost never go to the theater.  In fact, I have only been to a theater a handful of times in the past couple years.  I can't justify spending the money when I would rather watch the movie in the comfort of my own home.  So, I have to wait for it to come out on DVD before I even see a movie.  Therefore, any critique I would have is going to be delayed by at least 6 months.  This is usually long after all the other reviews have been written, and all the buzz has died down.  So with this blog I can pretend that I am a real film critic watching these movies just as they are released.  Hopefully you will find it entertaining and interesting.  Maybe you will read about a movie you wouldn't have seen otherwise.  Let me know if you have any ideas for posts, or movies you think I should watch.   Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.  


#009: In Bruges

In Bruges is a European film about two hitmen, played by Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson, that get themselves into a bit of a mess.  Their boss (Ralph Fiennes) sends them to Bruges to let things cool off a bit.  The movie follows them for their time in Bruges, and shows us how they deal with the fallout from their last job. It doesn't happen very often that I see two movies in a row that I really like. Eastern Promises was awesome, and I didn't think I would be able to top it anytime soon. Especially not with the next movie. "In Bruges" is at least as good as "Eastern Promies", if not better. I absolutely loved this movie. This is another film I had heard positive things about, but knew little else about it. I noticed it was playing on our movie channel, so I recorded to my DVR a couple months ago. I just got around to watching it this past Monday, and was completely blown away. For the most part I am overly critical of movies, and usually focus on the bad parts. I'm not going to say this movie had no faults, but I sure didn't notice many. First off, the cinematography is great. It is set in the city of Bruges, Belgium, which has wonderful scenery. They did a great job of using that to enhance the film. I hate it when people say things like, "the city itself became a character in this film." I read that crap a lot when people mentioned Gotham City in their gushing review of "The Dark Knight." Well, I am not going to say that the city of Bruges was a character in this film, but it was probably as close as any city has come. I mean, the movie is called "In Bruges", and the entire film is shot there. Wonderful scenes take place on, or in, some of the city's most prominent historical landmarks.

The next thing I loved about this film is the acting. I have never been a Colin Farrell fan. I don't think he is a bad actor, I just don't feel he has ever had a role that let him show much ability. I know he has been in several movies, but none of them really stick out to me. Well, in this movie he is great. He does a perfect job with Ray, the main character. Brendan Gleeson does a great job playing his partner, and RayFiennes is pretty good as their boss. There are definitely no bad performances that stick out in this movie. I really liked Colin Farrell's facial ticks and shifty eyes, and Gleeson's facial expressions say so much without words. For most of the movie we just hear Fiennes's voice, but the phone conversations and later scenes with him are some of my favorite of the film.

By far, the best element of this entire film is the writing.  Each scene seems to have such great interactions with the characters choosing the perfect things to say. One thing that I very much enjoyed is how paradoxical the movie was for me. The characters were faced with very serious situations, yet there was a very light feel to how they were handling things. Sometimes this movies feels like a comedy, but the content is far from comedic.  I didn't really notice it at first and didn't pay much attention to how it was being done. This is one of the main reasons that I really want to see this movie again right away. I got the feeling like each word the character speaks was chosen for a reason, and there was more meaning to them than what I could have realized. Maybe I will watch it again and find out that I am completely wrong, but I guarantee I will throughly enjoy a second viewing. I would not hesitate to recommend this movie to anybody.  Hopefully you will like it as well as I did.  When you see it don't forget to let me know what you think.

4.5 stars for this great movie. It was so much more than I was expecting. I really liked it. One of the best I have seen for quite awhile.


January 10, 2009

#008: Eastern Promises

Last night we were looking for a movie to watch.  We decided to go through the movies recorded on our DVR and pick one off of there.  As we went down the list we narrowed it down between "Mr. Woodcock" and "Eastern Promises".  I really didn't know what Eastern Promises was about, I had just heard it mentioned on some movie list and noticed it was playing on Cinemax, so I recorded it.

Right from the beginning this movie had me hooked.  It was amazing.  It tells the story of a Russian mob family that has relocated to London in order to avoid the KGB.  It stars Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts.   Looking back on it, the story-line isn't all that original, but it is acted wonderfully.  It has some amazing scenes that I wasn't expecting. This includes one of the most "raw" and brutal fight scenes I have ever seen.  This movie kept me on-edge the entire time.

Even when there was no action, there was this underlying tension between the characters that kept it exciting. It was one of those movies that had me so involved in what was going on at the moment, that I never even stopped to think how it was going to end.  I feel that it is a very well done film.  For what it is, it might be one of the most exciting and entertaining movies I have seen for a while.  When it was over I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I wasn't sure if I was even going to be able to fall asleep.

If you like thrilling dramas, and don't mind a little bit of graphic violence, then you should definitely check this one out.  I don't think I know anybody else who has seen this movie.  So, if you have seen it, or when you do see it, definitely send me a message and let me know what you thought.  Another tip, do not go out and read any other reviews about this movie until after you have seen it.  I read some this morning and felt they gave away too much information about what was going to happen.  Just watch it.  

Eastern Promises gets a solid 4 stars, a great movie.


January 8, 2009

#007: Man On Wire

This post will be dedicated to a 2008 documentary known as Man On Wire. This film tells the story of the French street performer Philippe Petit's greatest achievement. Philippe's main passion was wire-walking, and he thought of it as artwork. While he was walking on the wire he was creating art, just as a sculptor creates art when he carves a stone. The main focus of this film is showing us how he created his masterpiece. His masterpiece being how he illegally broke in to the world trade center, strung a wire between the two towers at the very top, and then walked across that wire... numerous times. To me, just thinking about this seems unreal. I have never heard this story mentioned before. It did happen in August of 1974, exactly 8 years before I appeared on this earth. Still, I would think that I would have at least heard about this happening. The story is great, and the pictures and video they have are breathtaking. Even now, as I sit at my computer, when think back to the photos of him out on the wire my stomach turns. I am afraid of heights, and seeing him balancing on a cable suspended a quarter mile off the ground just blows my mind. Needless to say, I feel that this documentary is definitely worth watching. 
Like most any documentary, it is slow at times. They describe in detail how Philippe and his team were able to plan and execute such a feat. Even though I knew he actually accomplished his goal, and lived through it, I still felt this tension as he talked about it. I felt scared for him, and worried about him falling to his death.
Another reason why I liked this movie is because they didn't even mention 9/11 once. You can't help but think of the eventual fate of those towers as they show them being constructed in the 70's. The filmmakers didn't need to include anything to remind us of what happened, it was already there when you looked at the pictures of the New York skyline when Philippe first came into town. I am glad they focused on what the movie was about, and didn't try to include some social commentary along the way. If you hate watching documentaries, then don't watch this, you probably won't like it either. However, if you have an extra 90 minutes, this film tells a pretty good story that I had never heard before.

3 stars for this interesting documentary.


#006: Hancock

Most people have probably heard about this movie. Will Smith plays a drunken superhero by the name of John Hancock. Each time he comes to the rescue he is met with criticism from the very people he is trying to help. He has a very harsh way of dealing with it, which only makes matters worse. The beginning of this movie was great. There was impressive special effects, and Hancock was fun to watch on the screen. He ends up saving a guy who works in the PR business, and offers to help Hancock revamp him image. We learn that Hancock cannot remember anything about his past, which is in part causing his rough way of dealing with things. This PR guy teaches Hancock to come across more humbly, and try to conform more to societal norms. All the while he is creating an identity for himself and becoming more comfortable with his situation. Watching this process was interesting and by itself would have made for a very good movie. Up to this point the movie wasn't taking itself too seriously, it was just a good time. There was no deeper meaning trying to be conveyed, it was just entertaining to watch. However, at some point this movie takes a harsh turn. I am not going to spoil anything if you haven't seen the movie yet, so I am going to be as vague as possible. Hancock encounters a situation where his powers are being weakened. His past is thrown back in his face and we get everything explained to us by another character. This is the part of the movie that I had a lot of trouble with. I felt like it didn't need to be there at all, and completely hijacked the once enjoyable movie I had been watching. I hate it when everything is just given to the viewer like that. Once I had gotten used to this new movie I started to buy into it a little more. By the very end it had redeemed itself a bit. Then it comes back with a 45 second scene that completely ruined it again for me.
I suppose I would recommend watching this movie if you have any interest in it. The first 45 minutes of the movie are definitely worth watching. I really didn't like the story line for the second part of the movie, and hated the ending, but you may react differently to it. Overall it wasn't a bad movie, and I am glad that I checked it out.
Please let me know what you thought about this movie if you have seen it.

2.5 stars. An alright movie even though it really flounders at the end.


January 6, 2009

Back To Business

Hopefully everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday break. I know we had a lot of fun on our trip north, besides dealing with the horrible Indiana weather. We are back home now and settled in, so I should have time to post again soon. I have seen several movies the past few weeks, so I am looking forward to reviewing at least a couple of them. Here is the list of movies I have watched since my last post, along with an "out of ten" score. If you have any questions or comments about any of these movies, feel free to shoot me an email.

The Visitor........7/10
Kung Fu Panda......6/10
The House Bunny....3/10
Man On Wire........7/10
The King Of Kong...8/10
American Teen......7/10