"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Starting a day off with my favorite team losing horribly (Notre Dame lost today, 47-21 to Michigan 
) I figured that seeing a movie would make any day better. So now that I've seen The Guardian I figure it's a good idea to let everyone know what I thought of it. Plus, I needed to add Hollywoodland, The Covenant, The Last Kiss, and an older movie Pirates of Silicon Valley and also Flyboys.
Enjoy!
Don't miss the surprise at the bottom!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm going to break all those records"
The sneak preview for The Guardian wasn't completely full, nor was the audience a frequent movie going audience. Before the trailers started, AMC shows a pre-movie collection of shorts and usually the crowd is quiet throughout these, but no, not this time. Still talking about the Rangers sucking again this year, what's new? So, I was pretty sure it would be an.... interesting... 2 hour film. Anyway, from the trailer you know that Kevin Costner is an older Coast Guard swimmer, Ben Randall, and after an accident kills his crew, he is forced to go to A school to teach the next group of swimmers which included Ashton Kutcher's character, Jake Fischer. The film follows Ben and Jake's development through their training.
The soundtrack was nice, the acting was good; only one scene made me disappointed in Ashton Kutcher, but Kevin Costner held a great character throughout the film. The directing was great, almost as good as the Fugitive, both being by Andrew Davis. The action scenes were awesome and the graphics were as good if not better than The Perfect Storm. One of the coolest parts of the movie shows the "recruits" (?) doing personal training with the instructors yelling at them in a documentary camera view, even seeing the camera man in the corner. I'm not sure if that's a section of the film that will make it to the original cut, but I thought it made it look more realistic, but some may not like it. Oh well.
Overall, enjoyed the movie, found it a big long but there's a lot of story that needed to be told so I can understand why it may seem like it was dragging a bit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm in the picture Business!"
Although I'm too young to remember waiting all week for the new episodes of Superman, I remember watching a few on Nick at Nite, or was it TVland--don't remember; so it was a surprise to me that he shot himself. Not the best thing to tell a 8 year old. Anyway, Hollywoodland is about the murder or suicide --whichever you believe-- of Superman: George Reeves (Ben Affleck). Louis Simo (Adrian Brody) is a PI who is hired by George's mother to find out what really happend and the aftermath of his snooping. Diane Lane is George's "love" and the VP of MGM's wife, Toni Mannix. Her husband, Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), is who supposably had George put in as Superman.
It's a little bit long, 2 hours without trailers, and with it being a drama not an action flick, it'll seem a bit longer, but definately worth watching. I was absolutly impressed with the cast. Not being a big fan of Ben Affleck I was amazed at his calm demenor and uncharacteristic "Ben Affleck." If he is to win any awards throughout his career it'll be for his role in this movie. The entire cast was amazing and the script was easy to follow. The film leaves you wanting to know the truth, or at least discuss it with someone else. The soundtrack was great and so was the directing, clean crisp directing throughout the film. Couldn't find any parts which I would have redone or changed in anyway.
I don't think it'll win best picture, but I think it's definately worth seeing in the theater.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Harry Potter can kiss my ass!"
There are a few movies that I really enjoyed but didn't seem to do very well in the eyes of the general public, Driven being one of them. Unfortunately for Renny Harlin, he seems to direct movies which affect only a small group of people with his latest installment to the "only 1/20th of the world will enjoy this film" is the Covenant. The story revolves around 5 families which somehow become the holder of this incredible "Power" that is only apparent in the men of the families. Being a sorcery and craft fan, I was hoping that this film would be exciting, and don't get me wrong it started out very promising. The premise not only includes witchcraft but a very strict set of rules which they must follow: only males get the power; get some power at 13 but "ascend" at 18, which gives full power; and the most important of them all, the more the power is used, the weaker they become-- essentially the power is thier life blood, the more the use, the more they die.
Not a bad start, but after the first 1/4 of the film it started to slow down a bit as more story had to be added and explained. But, the special effects kept the movie interesting as well as the added twist of the story. The ending was a little abrupt... well, very abrupt; an awesome fight scene, but very short with an opening for a sequel.
Another Renny Harlin film, but worth noting that he's getting more and more funding the more films he does, so in about 20 years he'll do an epic that'll and be among the likes of The Ten Commandments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What you feel only matters to you, it's what you do to the people you say you love that counts."
After seeing Garden State in 2004, I anticipated the next Zach Braff film, and The Last Kiss is Zack Braff's second plunge into mainstream movies. In it, he's a 29 year old who's found the love of his life with everything he can want, but he feels as though he's in a rut. Nothing is spontaneous nor exciting to him anymore, although his pregnant wife, Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), seems to think things are amazing and wonderful. While at a friends wedding, Michael (Braff) seems Kim (Rachel Bilson) from across the yard and Kim "conveniently" gets something to drink the same time that Michael does. So they meet and she begins an attempt at an romantic relationship while talking in a tree house. She gives him her number and he realizes that he's an idiot. So, after a few weeks, he "runs into" her while she's at a restaurant. They decide to go to a party the following night and while he's there, Izzy's (Michael Weston)-one of Michael's best friends- father dies. So while Michael is supposed to be with Chris, Jenna runs into Chris while at Izzy's house.
The whole movie revolves around doing what is necessary to get the ones you love. Of course we all make mistakes and he shows what he's willing to do for the person he loves.
The directing was good, the music was awesome and Tim Wilkinson (Jenna's father-Stephen), a psychiatrist who is left by his wife, Blythe Danner (Anna), and Kim Bilson were all very wonderful in this film.
I was a little disappointed by the underuse of some of Michaels friends, who could've been exploited to make a much more comedic climax.
Definately a chick flick, but very entertaining as a comedy, which it is first and foremost.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill gates stole everything!
A film that Andy had given to me after our conversation of Microsoft Windows and Vista shows how Microsoft began the way it did, picking up the mouse and GUI from Xerox. Anyway, Pirates of Silicon Valley stars Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates, in what has become one of the most profitable industries ever. Granted I was tired, surfing the internet trying to find out information about Propaganda Films, and trying to watch the movie at the same time, but it was informative with an odd twist. The film kept jumping back and forth from Gates and Jobs respective roles in the creation of the PC. If not watching closely the movie will seem confusing but overall is enjoyable to watch and informative on how things came to pass.
If I remember correctly it was made for TNT, and being a TV movie, it's not as crisp as high budget film'll be, but the point gets across. Other than the jumping back and forth, I was quite impressed with the film in general, but not one I'd run out and buy. Definately worth the rent though.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A cowboy, a black man and The Professional
All of these make up the new WW1 flying movie, Flyboys. James Franco is Blaine Rawlings, a cowboy from Aberdeen, Texas who after his ranch is foreclosed on, punches the banker and leaves town to fly for the French before America joined the War. Enroute, he meets fellow Americans: William Jensen (Phillip Winchester) from Lincoln, Nebraska a third generation soldier trying to prove his part of the family-"To be just like you and Grandpa!"; Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) as a black boxer who's giving up his #4 position in the championship to join the war; Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) a wealthy son of a man who wants him to make something of himself after Briggs drops out of college. As they arrive in France, no one speaks French but Skinner. Joining the group, Jean Reno is the Captain Thenault who is their instructor. They meet Cassidy (Martin Henderson) the flying ace of the squadron with 20 kills and the new recruits leader on any mission.
The movie only has one drawback that I had seen and that was the visual effects were a little... well, computer generated. It was easy to notice when a blue screen was used, and I found it hard to distinguish who was in what plane, so they had close ups almost immediately after showing a plane making the movie a little more annoying than it should've been.
Otherwise, I was impressed by the scripting and the lack of attention to details; most notably, the Americans weren't better than the Germans. The entire war the Germans had air superiority over the Allies. I think the kill ratio was 1 German for every 15-20 Allies.
But the music was good, the directing was good, and I was suprised at James Franco's ability to sound Texan, very nice indeed. Does have a romatic portion, which is amusing to an extent, but still helps the audience realize the difficulties of the time period.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think at the end of every post, from now on at least, I'm going to rate -- just with stars, no description -- a few films I've caught on TV.
Cellular
Memron
Memphis Belle
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catch ya on the flip side!
~Steve
) I figured that seeing a movie would make any day better. So now that I've seen The Guardian I figure it's a good idea to let everyone know what I thought of it. Plus, I needed to add Hollywoodland, The Covenant, The Last Kiss, and an older movie Pirates of Silicon Valley and also Flyboys.Enjoy!
Don't miss the surprise at the bottom!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm going to break all those records"
The sneak preview for The Guardian wasn't completely full, nor was the audience a frequent movie going audience. Before the trailers started, AMC shows a pre-movie collection of shorts and usually the crowd is quiet throughout these, but no, not this time. Still talking about the Rangers sucking again this year, what's new? So, I was pretty sure it would be an.... interesting... 2 hour film. Anyway, from the trailer you know that Kevin Costner is an older Coast Guard swimmer, Ben Randall, and after an accident kills his crew, he is forced to go to A school to teach the next group of swimmers which included Ashton Kutcher's character, Jake Fischer. The film follows Ben and Jake's development through their training.
The soundtrack was nice, the acting was good; only one scene made me disappointed in Ashton Kutcher, but Kevin Costner held a great character throughout the film. The directing was great, almost as good as the Fugitive, both being by Andrew Davis. The action scenes were awesome and the graphics were as good if not better than The Perfect Storm. One of the coolest parts of the movie shows the "recruits" (?) doing personal training with the instructors yelling at them in a documentary camera view, even seeing the camera man in the corner. I'm not sure if that's a section of the film that will make it to the original cut, but I thought it made it look more realistic, but some may not like it. Oh well.
Overall, enjoyed the movie, found it a big long but there's a lot of story that needed to be told so I can understand why it may seem like it was dragging a bit.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm in the picture Business!"
Although I'm too young to remember waiting all week for the new episodes of Superman, I remember watching a few on Nick at Nite, or was it TVland--don't remember; so it was a surprise to me that he shot himself. Not the best thing to tell a 8 year old. Anyway, Hollywoodland is about the murder or suicide --whichever you believe-- of Superman: George Reeves (Ben Affleck). Louis Simo (Adrian Brody) is a PI who is hired by George's mother to find out what really happend and the aftermath of his snooping. Diane Lane is George's "love" and the VP of MGM's wife, Toni Mannix. Her husband, Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins), is who supposably had George put in as Superman.
It's a little bit long, 2 hours without trailers, and with it being a drama not an action flick, it'll seem a bit longer, but definately worth watching. I was absolutly impressed with the cast. Not being a big fan of Ben Affleck I was amazed at his calm demenor and uncharacteristic "Ben Affleck." If he is to win any awards throughout his career it'll be for his role in this movie. The entire cast was amazing and the script was easy to follow. The film leaves you wanting to know the truth, or at least discuss it with someone else. The soundtrack was great and so was the directing, clean crisp directing throughout the film. Couldn't find any parts which I would have redone or changed in anyway.
I don't think it'll win best picture, but I think it's definately worth seeing in the theater.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Harry Potter can kiss my ass!"
There are a few movies that I really enjoyed but didn't seem to do very well in the eyes of the general public, Driven being one of them. Unfortunately for Renny Harlin, he seems to direct movies which affect only a small group of people with his latest installment to the "only 1/20th of the world will enjoy this film" is the Covenant. The story revolves around 5 families which somehow become the holder of this incredible "Power" that is only apparent in the men of the families. Being a sorcery and craft fan, I was hoping that this film would be exciting, and don't get me wrong it started out very promising. The premise not only includes witchcraft but a very strict set of rules which they must follow: only males get the power; get some power at 13 but "ascend" at 18, which gives full power; and the most important of them all, the more the power is used, the weaker they become-- essentially the power is thier life blood, the more the use, the more they die.
Not a bad start, but after the first 1/4 of the film it started to slow down a bit as more story had to be added and explained. But, the special effects kept the movie interesting as well as the added twist of the story. The ending was a little abrupt... well, very abrupt; an awesome fight scene, but very short with an opening for a sequel.
Another Renny Harlin film, but worth noting that he's getting more and more funding the more films he does, so in about 20 years he'll do an epic that'll and be among the likes of The Ten Commandments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"What you feel only matters to you, it's what you do to the people you say you love that counts."
After seeing Garden State in 2004, I anticipated the next Zach Braff film, and The Last Kiss is Zack Braff's second plunge into mainstream movies. In it, he's a 29 year old who's found the love of his life with everything he can want, but he feels as though he's in a rut. Nothing is spontaneous nor exciting to him anymore, although his pregnant wife, Jenna (Jacinda Barrett), seems to think things are amazing and wonderful. While at a friends wedding, Michael (Braff) seems Kim (Rachel Bilson) from across the yard and Kim "conveniently" gets something to drink the same time that Michael does. So they meet and she begins an attempt at an romantic relationship while talking in a tree house. She gives him her number and he realizes that he's an idiot. So, after a few weeks, he "runs into" her while she's at a restaurant. They decide to go to a party the following night and while he's there, Izzy's (Michael Weston)-one of Michael's best friends- father dies. So while Michael is supposed to be with Chris, Jenna runs into Chris while at Izzy's house.
The whole movie revolves around doing what is necessary to get the ones you love. Of course we all make mistakes and he shows what he's willing to do for the person he loves.
The directing was good, the music was awesome and Tim Wilkinson (Jenna's father-Stephen), a psychiatrist who is left by his wife, Blythe Danner (Anna), and Kim Bilson were all very wonderful in this film.
I was a little disappointed by the underuse of some of Michaels friends, who could've been exploited to make a much more comedic climax.
Definately a chick flick, but very entertaining as a comedy, which it is first and foremost.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill gates stole everything!
A film that Andy had given to me after our conversation of Microsoft Windows and Vista shows how Microsoft began the way it did, picking up the mouse and GUI from Xerox. Anyway, Pirates of Silicon Valley stars Noah Wyle as Steve Jobs and Anthony Michael Hall as Bill Gates, in what has become one of the most profitable industries ever. Granted I was tired, surfing the internet trying to find out information about Propaganda Films, and trying to watch the movie at the same time, but it was informative with an odd twist. The film kept jumping back and forth from Gates and Jobs respective roles in the creation of the PC. If not watching closely the movie will seem confusing but overall is enjoyable to watch and informative on how things came to pass.
If I remember correctly it was made for TNT, and being a TV movie, it's not as crisp as high budget film'll be, but the point gets across. Other than the jumping back and forth, I was quite impressed with the film in general, but not one I'd run out and buy. Definately worth the rent though.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A cowboy, a black man and The Professional
All of these make up the new WW1 flying movie, Flyboys. James Franco is Blaine Rawlings, a cowboy from Aberdeen, Texas who after his ranch is foreclosed on, punches the banker and leaves town to fly for the French before America joined the War. Enroute, he meets fellow Americans: William Jensen (Phillip Winchester) from Lincoln, Nebraska a third generation soldier trying to prove his part of the family-"To be just like you and Grandpa!"; Eugene Skinner (Abdul Salis) as a black boxer who's giving up his #4 position in the championship to join the war; Briggs Lowry (Tyler Labine) a wealthy son of a man who wants him to make something of himself after Briggs drops out of college. As they arrive in France, no one speaks French but Skinner. Joining the group, Jean Reno is the Captain Thenault who is their instructor. They meet Cassidy (Martin Henderson) the flying ace of the squadron with 20 kills and the new recruits leader on any mission.
The movie only has one drawback that I had seen and that was the visual effects were a little... well, computer generated. It was easy to notice when a blue screen was used, and I found it hard to distinguish who was in what plane, so they had close ups almost immediately after showing a plane making the movie a little more annoying than it should've been.
Otherwise, I was impressed by the scripting and the lack of attention to details; most notably, the Americans weren't better than the Germans. The entire war the Germans had air superiority over the Allies. I think the kill ratio was 1 German for every 15-20 Allies.
But the music was good, the directing was good, and I was suprised at James Franco's ability to sound Texan, very nice indeed. Does have a romatic portion, which is amusing to an extent, but still helps the audience realize the difficulties of the time period.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I think at the end of every post, from now on at least, I'm going to rate -- just with stars, no description -- a few films I've caught on TV.
Cellular
Memron
Memphis Belle
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Catch ya on the flip side!
~Steve
posted by Steve at Saturday, September 16, 2006
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