"Get Busy Livin', or Get Busy Diein'"
Friday night at dinner my father listed a few movies he wanted to go see, in the list were Miami Vice, World Trade Center, Night Listener, and A Scanner Darkly. But, at the end of the weekend, there are only a few I can scratch of his list.
Seeing as we go see a movie almost every afternoon, I'm pretty sure we'll see everything in wide release. But no one cares what my dad wants to see, just how I thought the movies were I've seen.
Mooby's, One Ring, and Donkey brutality
Clerks II has been on my "must see list" for almost 4 months now, and I've finally given myself enough time to go see it. It was definately worth the $7.50; hell, I'm even willing to spend more on Kevin Smith's films. His direction and acting were worth every penny. Even as little press it's recieved, I haven't seen a movie this funny in years. Since I saw it early Friday evening, I was expecting a semi-large crowd, but we were in a small theatre seemingly at the end of the hall.
If you have seen Clerks., you will know Dante Hicks and Randal Graves work at the Quick Stop Groceries. The first film takes place over a single day, just as the sequel does. It's been a long while since I've seen Clerks., but I remember it being hilarious.
As Dante arrives at the Quick Stop, he opens the steel door and sees it on fire, quickly closing it as if it's a dream and opening it again. A year later, Dante and Randal are working together at a Mooby's, a fast food restaurant much like a McDonalds. Today is the last day that Dante will be in Jersey before moving to Florida with his fiancee Emma and the happenings of the last day make my life seem boring.
I need to find a Mooby's to work at; seems like they're having a lot of fun. Anyway, I haven't laughed that hard and that many times in.... well, I forget when the last time was. The movie was hilfuckinglarious. I enjoy Kevin Smith's directing and Randal gives his opinion no matter who's listening... heh, "Porch Monkey 4 Life!"
I don't want to make it seem like I'm basing a ratings system off of this movie, but I think I'd have to give it some mad props.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The world will never be the same after this morning"
As my father enjoys movies as much as I, we headed out to see Oliver Stone's new film, World Trade Center. If you're old enough to find this blog, you're old enough to remember where you were, and possibly what time of day it was, when you found out that Tower 1 was hit by American flight 11. I found out at 8:17 CST, walking between classes, immediately I ducked my head in a class and saw that a second plane had hit as well. Everyone knew what we were watching -- history in the making, the world changing forever, an outbreak of war -- and in an instance at 9 AM Tower 2 collapses and the world is plunged into silence outside of New York where it is chaos. My teacher said it best, "Holy shit."
Even 4 years 11 months after the matter, the film still evokes the same eery silence that everyone felt that clear crisp day. From the start I knew I was in for a treat. The opening scenes show a normal day, as it was for everyone but the 19 hijackers. 30 minutes later the first tower is hit and no one knows what's going on. The rest is history, but from a different point of view; a view of those who lived through the most horrible event on American soil.
Oliver Stone went out of his way on this one and didn't let the Hollywoodesque feel even begin to creep into this future classic. Nicolas Cage leads a performance like none I've ever seen from him; no over acting, no clicheic lines, but a true hard nose cop, as I think John McLoughin truly is. The entire cast brings a piece of every characters emotions of how emergency workers families were feeling that day, every character important, every character pulling emotion buttons in the audience. Willy Jimeno (Michael Pena) brings out the best of human compassion as he argues with rescuers to get out his partner first. "If he dies, I die!" I don't think there's much more praise I, a lowly student, can give a film of this greatness.
Of course people will redicule the movie for being horrible; a quick buck for Hollywood; a movie that never should have been made, blah blah blah. They are wrong. In 15 years when the high schoolers are taking history wondering why the US invaded Afghanistan and why people are constantly on the lookout for possible terrorists on planes, they will watch this movie and understand what happend that day. They will understand what it was like to live through the time when no one knew what tomorrow would bring, no one knew if the weekend would come, and no one knew if a father would come home.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cocaine, Speed Boats, and Fast Company
Although I'm not a huge fan of Colin Farrell, I've been pleasentl suprised by a few of his movies. Most notably Tigerland, Phone Booth, and of course, Miami Vice. Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx and a seemingly unkown cast from a broad swath of countries brings together one of Michael Manns' best films yet. The gritiness of Collateral ceeps through but suits the film correctly.
Undercover cops find out about a FBI case which goes horribly wrong causing the death of one of their previous informants throws them into the world of drug smuggling as they essentially "volunteer" for the job. As the film progresses they fall deeper into the world of drugs; forcing the question of how they get out cleanly. Everything is answered by several events hurtling everyone together into the white knuckle climax nearly at the end, leaving you wondering how long you have been waiting for the answers.
The acting was grand and I couldn't find any faults with any of the actors. All the characters were deep enough to care about them, but no time was wasted on unimportant characters. Definately not a film for my mother to go see, since she's a little squimish and not a big fan of long fight scenes. I'm actually planning to go see it again with some friends, hence it is actually one that I may be buying when it's released.
The only fault I can see in the movie is that it seems to revolve around Colin Farrell while Jamie Foxx is only a sidekick. Perhaps the original series was the same way, but Colin seems to have all he wants in this. Reminds me of any film where the main character always gets the girl and the sidekick always seems to have relationship problems.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nascar, Product Placement and Comedy(?)
Of course, I'm talking about Talladega Nights. If you've read my first post you know that I completely disagreed with what Ebert and Roeper said. Now, I've seen Old School and I've enjoyed parts of Anchorman, but Will Ferrell just isn't a leading man in my eyes. I've seen plenty of movies in the past without ever wanting to leave it because of the movie. I've wanted to leave after being surrounded by talketive kids and idiots alike.
The film begins with a son being born after being thrown out of his mothers womb. Then, years later, Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) is shown as a jack man for a Nascar team who's driver has given up on a race and Ricky hops into the car and goes on to win.........somehow..... The film then goes on to show the ups and downs of racing.
I was so happy that it ended that I didn't speak to my father about it until we were at the car as not to insult those around me. I felt the movie shows a dumbing down of America. For some reason I felt like I was smarter by walking out of the theatre. Then again, perhaps I'm too serious for a movie like this. Perhaps I should become an alcoholic father who lets his kids talk to him and his family like they're gangsters while cursing up a storm before they're 10. I'm also going to have to let my kids being as unintelligent as possible so that they could find humor in movies like these.
I found two parts amusing: 1) When Ricky was "on fire" and cries out forTom Cruise to help him; 2) The credits.
Summary: I'll channel surf through it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suppose that's enough for tonight, it's been interesting, I'll do some more tomorrow.
Feel free to give your opinions, I definately would like to hear what anyone has to say.
~Steve
Seeing as we go see a movie almost every afternoon, I'm pretty sure we'll see everything in wide release. But no one cares what my dad wants to see, just how I thought the movies were I've seen.
Mooby's, One Ring, and Donkey brutality
Clerks II has been on my "must see list" for almost 4 months now, and I've finally given myself enough time to go see it. It was definately worth the $7.50; hell, I'm even willing to spend more on Kevin Smith's films. His direction and acting were worth every penny. Even as little press it's recieved, I haven't seen a movie this funny in years. Since I saw it early Friday evening, I was expecting a semi-large crowd, but we were in a small theatre seemingly at the end of the hall.
If you have seen Clerks., you will know Dante Hicks and Randal Graves work at the Quick Stop Groceries. The first film takes place over a single day, just as the sequel does. It's been a long while since I've seen Clerks., but I remember it being hilarious.
As Dante arrives at the Quick Stop, he opens the steel door and sees it on fire, quickly closing it as if it's a dream and opening it again. A year later, Dante and Randal are working together at a Mooby's, a fast food restaurant much like a McDonalds. Today is the last day that Dante will be in Jersey before moving to Florida with his fiancee Emma and the happenings of the last day make my life seem boring.
I need to find a Mooby's to work at; seems like they're having a lot of fun. Anyway, I haven't laughed that hard and that many times in.... well, I forget when the last time was. The movie was hilfuckinglarious. I enjoy Kevin Smith's directing and Randal gives his opinion no matter who's listening... heh, "Porch Monkey 4 Life!"
I don't want to make it seem like I'm basing a ratings system off of this movie, but I think I'd have to give it some mad props.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The world will never be the same after this morning"
As my father enjoys movies as much as I, we headed out to see Oliver Stone's new film, World Trade Center. If you're old enough to find this blog, you're old enough to remember where you were, and possibly what time of day it was, when you found out that Tower 1 was hit by American flight 11. I found out at 8:17 CST, walking between classes, immediately I ducked my head in a class and saw that a second plane had hit as well. Everyone knew what we were watching -- history in the making, the world changing forever, an outbreak of war -- and in an instance at 9 AM Tower 2 collapses and the world is plunged into silence outside of New York where it is chaos. My teacher said it best, "Holy shit."
Even 4 years 11 months after the matter, the film still evokes the same eery silence that everyone felt that clear crisp day. From the start I knew I was in for a treat. The opening scenes show a normal day, as it was for everyone but the 19 hijackers. 30 minutes later the first tower is hit and no one knows what's going on. The rest is history, but from a different point of view; a view of those who lived through the most horrible event on American soil.
Oliver Stone went out of his way on this one and didn't let the Hollywoodesque feel even begin to creep into this future classic. Nicolas Cage leads a performance like none I've ever seen from him; no over acting, no clicheic lines, but a true hard nose cop, as I think John McLoughin truly is. The entire cast brings a piece of every characters emotions of how emergency workers families were feeling that day, every character important, every character pulling emotion buttons in the audience. Willy Jimeno (Michael Pena) brings out the best of human compassion as he argues with rescuers to get out his partner first. "If he dies, I die!" I don't think there's much more praise I, a lowly student, can give a film of this greatness.
Of course people will redicule the movie for being horrible; a quick buck for Hollywood; a movie that never should have been made, blah blah blah. They are wrong. In 15 years when the high schoolers are taking history wondering why the US invaded Afghanistan and why people are constantly on the lookout for possible terrorists on planes, they will watch this movie and understand what happend that day. They will understand what it was like to live through the time when no one knew what tomorrow would bring, no one knew if the weekend would come, and no one knew if a father would come home.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cocaine, Speed Boats, and Fast Company
Although I'm not a huge fan of Colin Farrell, I've been pleasentl suprised by a few of his movies. Most notably Tigerland, Phone Booth, and of course, Miami Vice. Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx and a seemingly unkown cast from a broad swath of countries brings together one of Michael Manns' best films yet. The gritiness of Collateral ceeps through but suits the film correctly.
Undercover cops find out about a FBI case which goes horribly wrong causing the death of one of their previous informants throws them into the world of drug smuggling as they essentially "volunteer" for the job. As the film progresses they fall deeper into the world of drugs; forcing the question of how they get out cleanly. Everything is answered by several events hurtling everyone together into the white knuckle climax nearly at the end, leaving you wondering how long you have been waiting for the answers.
The acting was grand and I couldn't find any faults with any of the actors. All the characters were deep enough to care about them, but no time was wasted on unimportant characters. Definately not a film for my mother to go see, since she's a little squimish and not a big fan of long fight scenes. I'm actually planning to go see it again with some friends, hence it is actually one that I may be buying when it's released.
The only fault I can see in the movie is that it seems to revolve around Colin Farrell while Jamie Foxx is only a sidekick. Perhaps the original series was the same way, but Colin seems to have all he wants in this. Reminds me of any film where the main character always gets the girl and the sidekick always seems to have relationship problems.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nascar, Product Placement and Comedy(?)
Of course, I'm talking about Talladega Nights. If you've read my first post you know that I completely disagreed with what Ebert and Roeper said. Now, I've seen Old School and I've enjoyed parts of Anchorman, but Will Ferrell just isn't a leading man in my eyes. I've seen plenty of movies in the past without ever wanting to leave it because of the movie. I've wanted to leave after being surrounded by talketive kids and idiots alike.
The film begins with a son being born after being thrown out of his mothers womb. Then, years later, Ricky Bobby (Ferrell) is shown as a jack man for a Nascar team who's driver has given up on a race and Ricky hops into the car and goes on to win.........somehow..... The film then goes on to show the ups and downs of racing.
I was so happy that it ended that I didn't speak to my father about it until we were at the car as not to insult those around me. I felt the movie shows a dumbing down of America. For some reason I felt like I was smarter by walking out of the theatre. Then again, perhaps I'm too serious for a movie like this. Perhaps I should become an alcoholic father who lets his kids talk to him and his family like they're gangsters while cursing up a storm before they're 10. I'm also going to have to let my kids being as unintelligent as possible so that they could find humor in movies like these.
I found two parts amusing: 1) When Ricky was "on fire" and cries out forTom Cruise to help him; 2) The credits.
Summary: I'll channel surf through it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I suppose that's enough for tonight, it's been interesting, I'll do some more tomorrow.
Feel free to give your opinions, I definately would like to hear what anyone has to say.
~Steve
posted by Steve at Monday, August 14, 2006
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