What I Think of: Catfish (2010)

(this shot is one of my favorite scenes in the film)

This is a documentary by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman and it follows Ariel's brother, a young (did I mention very attractive) photographer, Nev. I don't want to get too into the plot as I don't want to give away anything. This documentary in a way is like a mystery--you uncover things as you go along but the basis is that Nev was befriended by a child prodigy that saw one of his photos and painted it for him. They become 'friends' online and becomes friends with her extended family. As the relationships blossom, Nev has developed an interest in learning more the friends he has made and this is when the story starts to unfold.

A discussion that I had with Joshua after the film was that he did not like that the camera man, Nev's brother Ariel, and their friend, Henry interacted with Nev. In summary, Joshua's thoughts around documentary is that it should only focus on the subject and the director/cameramen should not be involved with the story. He's coming in from a technical point of view and from someone who actually really likes documentaries. I, on the other hand, do not prefer documentaries but I've definitely have seen some great ones in my time. But I won't claim to be a documentary expert but I will say I did enjoy the interaction between the subject and the film maker. Why? Because there's a relationship there, the brother and friend are part of the journey. They are his only friends and confidants as he goes down this path.

As for the story itself, it's quite an interesting one. The marketing has been clever in not revealing too much and promoting it in a very ominous way. Is this a documentary? Is it a horror film? Is this the real life Crying Game? Will this become a snuff film? Ok the last two were things I were thinking but perhaps others too. I think if you end up going to see Catfish, go in blind but also don't go in expending some mind blowing experience, just enjoy the ride.

What I Think of: The Blind Side (2009)

This 2009 Oscar nominated film is based on the true story of Michael Oher, an under-privileged teen living in Memphis, TN and the family who took him in. Directed by John Lee Hancock, who also directed the feel good movie The Rookie, this story really sucks you in from the beginning. Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) is a quiet teen who seems to struggle academically, when through a family friend was enrolled in Wingate Christian School. The students at this school come from an upper-middle class background, which sets Michael apart from everyone else. One cold rainy night, the Tuohy family was driving home together when they spotted Michael with a T-shirt and shorts. Leigh Anne (Sandra Bullock) stops the car and asks Michael if he has a place to stay for the night. He did not and Leigh Anne invites him to their home. This is the beginning of Michael's integration into a stable family home, and having people look after his well-being. Michael is not only becoming part of the family, he also joins the football team where he learns to be a great offensive lineman.

This is a really touching story that hits on one good deed and setting an example for others. This is something inspiring and teaches people about giving and selflessness. Sandra Bullock was a great sassy mom, and I barely recognized Tim McGraw as the sensitive family man. SJ (Jae Head) and Collins (Lily Collins) were Michael's siblings and you felt the chemistry amongst the three kids / actors. Kathy Bates as Miss Sue, Michael's tutor, was a refreshing. It is a good movie to watch with the family and I loved that it was based on a true story of a teen, who was later drafted to the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft.

What I Think of: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the 2009 film adaptation by the book of the same name and directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Similar to the book, it follows Millennium journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), in his investigation on the disappearance of Harriet Vanger, the beloved niece of Vanger Corporation CEO, Henrik. During his investigation, Blomkvist requested a researcher to help him go through old archives and follow up leads. Here, he meets Lisbeth Salander(Noomi Rapace), an anti-social introvert who has a thing for black attire and multiple piercings. She is one of Milton Security's best researcher, and unbeknownst to Blomkvist, one of the world's renown computer hackers. They start working closely with each other unraveling the truth about Harriet.

I have read the book and now watched the film and though I was not sure if Rapace looked the part of Salander, she definitely nailed her attitude. Nyqvist was perfect in look and character. I think the screenwriter and director did a great job at capturing the story that felt true to the book with modifications that felt right for a film. It did not bog down in the details, where in a book it's great to paint the picture but in film, can be unnecessary and confusing. Some characters were omitted / played a smaller part, which was fine as it was not integral to the overall story. I enjoyed the film as it was fairly true to the book and though I don't speak Swedish, the acting was great and met my expectations for the characters, and the drama unfolded in a timely fashion (not drawn out, nor abrupt). Definitely worth the watch.

What I Think Of: Predators (2010)

Here's an early review of a recent film release. Since we've been a bit tardy with the latest podcast (sorry guys but a new show will be released at the end of this week. No really it will!), I've decided to give my quick thoughts on this reboot/sequel to the original 1987 film, Predator (let's all try to forget the 1990 Predator 2 where a predator is defeated by out of shape Danny Glover ever happened). So here we have Predators, where elite human killers are dropped on an alien world to be hunted. Directed by Nimrod Antal (of Kontroll, Vacancy and Armored fame), the film stars Adrian Brody as an elite special opts soldier who must team up with a ragtag group of survivors to fight and fend off their captors. Upping the stakes is that while Arnold barely defeated one in the original film, washboard abs Brody must defeat 3, because the best things in life come in three's (and yes I'm including the 3-set of breasts in Total Recall).

Since we'll be reviewing the movie later this week for the podcast, I'm going to make this short and sweet, so here are some of my initial thoughts concerning this film.

• I've been waiting most my life for a true sequel to one of my favorite sci-fi horror franchises, and Predators does not disappoint. While I thought it might be decent if not cheesy, Predators is surprisingly well written, action packed and stays true to the original film.
• On that note, initially I thought that there was no way "serious" actor Adrian Brody could pull off an action lead, especially one that Arnie made famous, but he's damn good here. He's gruff, he's mean, he has a six-pack, I mean Brody just went up miles in the "man" factor in my eyes. Everyone I talk to about this movie keeps asking, "you say it's good, but I mean come on, Adrian Brody is in it. How good can he be?" He's f-n fantastic here people. The biggest surprise of the year.
• If there's one thing director Nimrod Antal knows it's how to shoot and pace action scenes. This movie is just filled with some great set pieces, great beats of humanity and characterization between action scenes- it's a film that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The film doesn't try to be anything more than it is, a B-movie action flick with an A-movie budget, and Antal just works wonders here.
• I just love actor Danny Trejo and he makes a cameo here. Why? I'm sure it's because the film is produced by Robert Rodriguez and Trejo is starring in Rodriguez's upcoming movie, Machete. But yeah Trejo is just awesome and playes my favorite character in the movie. And I think I'm in love with Alice Braga. Ever since I saw here in the disappointing Repo Men movie, yeah I can't get enough of her and she's fantastic here as well, being the only woman in the movie and yet not only being able to keep up with the guys, but also showing them how its done.
  
• Just like I always say, practical creature/monster effects are always better than cheap cgi effects. The predator costumes are just great, with a nice throwback to the original but still feeling fresh and updated.
• Lastly, if you liked the original film, you'll love this one. There's just so many homages, so many references that any fan of the original will have a blast during the film picking out everything. Thank you dvds and repeat viewings!!

So yeah, there you have it. Predators is a great reboot/sequel to the classic 1987 film, and is a true throwback to all the great genre films of the 80's and 90's that modern cinema is sorely lacking. Listen to our upcoming podcast to hear my full review, but this one is a definite must watch.

What I Think of: Un Prophète (2009)

Un Prophète is a 2009 French film directed by Jacques Audiard that won the Cannes Grand Prix award. The film focuses on a young delinquent, Malik El Djebena (Tahar Rahim) who lands himself into a six year jail sentence. He is fresh bait and soon catches the attention of a Corsican mob boss. He slowly gains access the the crime boss and does his bidding inside and outside of jail.

This is quite an interesting story about a young Arab man in France and his relationship with his fellow Arabs and with the Corsican mafia. Malik goes into prison scared and unknowing, and as he navigates through life within prison, you see him struggle with his identity and then grow into manhood. I liked the story but my issue with the film lies with the length. It was a very long film and you felt it. I can understand the character development part of it but I think there were parts that were not needed or could have been skimmed. It was still a good film nonetheless.

What I Think Of: Franklyn (2009)

This 2008 British film is written and directed by first time feature length film directer Gerald McMorrow, that while seemingly a dark sci-fi fantasy film, is really much more. Set between contemporary London and the dystopic Meanwhile City, Franklyn is split between 4 narratives. Ryan Phillippe plays Jonathan Preest, a masked vigilante searching for his nemesis on the streets of Meanwhile City, a monolithic fantasy metropolis ruthlessly governed by faith and religious fervor. Bernard Hill plays Peter Esser, a broken man of faith, searching for his wayward son amongst the rough streets of London's homeless. Sam Riley stars as Milo, a heartbroken thirty-something desperately trying to find a way back to the purity of first love. And lastly Eva Green stars as Emilia, a beautiful art student whose suicidal art projects are becoming increasingly more complex and deadly. As the narrative shifts between the real and imaginary worlds, McMorrow explores the complex relationships between fantasy, faith, and love.

I've been wanting to watch Franklyn for some time. I first saw stills of the beautiful Meanwhile City a year ago and thought the film was going to be a full-on masked vigilante fighting corruption in a religious run world, with visuals over-riding any plot, and cgi reigning supreme. Wow, how wrong I was. Still, while the film wasn't what I was expecting, it nevertheless was a very enjoyable watch. There are just so many themes explored during the film, so many visual cues, that it felt like it belonged to the french new wave sect of cinematic history. Here are some of my thoughts concerning Franklyn:

• writer/director Gerald McMorrow should give half his pay-check to comicbook writer Allan Moore because Franklyn is so heavily inspired by Moore's V For Vendetta and Watchmen comics- the look, the feel, the costumes, the way the characters talk in the fantasy world of Meanwhile City. Moore's worlds have always appealed to me so the look of this film perfectly suits my tastes, but yeah, wow, when the film ended I had to look at the back of the dvd cover to see if it was based on a Moore property I had never heard of. I wonder if the producers got the same art director from the V for Vendetta movie.
  
• Still, while the narrative in the world of Meanwhile City is the most visually stunning, the most arresting part of the movie- it is just 1 story out of 4, and the rest of the stories are entirely original and wholly ambitious. From the story of suicide as art, to the story of imaginary friendship and lost loves, I love how McMorrow balances all four narratives until they ultimately meet. Granted, while the story may be a bit to ambitious for it's own good, and the overall narrative does get a bit confusing, Franklyn is a wonderful mix of realism and fantasy, of truth and half-truths, and of delusion and obsession.
• Ryan Phillipe's Rorschach-like performance as Jonathan Preest was pretty good, but the one who stole the movie for me was the beautiful and painfully flawed Emilia, played by the lovely Eva Green. Green always chooses such odd and unique roles that I always find myself captured by her performances. There are just so many nuances to her character Emilia, so much hurt that is sparingly and subtly explained, that for me Emilia is the one that holds the whole film together. It's her arc that transcends this movie from being too arty and unbearable, to thought-provoking and interesting.
  
• This film is incredibly slow, I mean languidly so. I can see many turning the film off an hour in because it's narrative is so fragmented, it's storyline a bit too confusing, and there's little to no action as the plot appears to just be turning in circles. However, if you do stick it out until the end, I do believe the viewer will be rewarded with a film that will make them think.
• Though I also believe that this film would have been better served as a novella or even a short story, rather than a 95 minute film. I don't know if there is enough story here to warrant a feature length film and that adds to a lot of the pacing issues I had with the film. Like I said it's slow, and you do feel a lot of time passing as you watch this one. So yeah, while I do feel the payoff is worth it, I just wish it didn't take so long to get there.
• Lastly, while the concept is strange and the film does walk a thin line of perhaps being to arty sometimes, Frankly has a lot to say about art and religion, about fervor and understanding. And my god, the costumes are just beautiful in a haute couture kind of way that a lot of times I felt as if I was watching a decayed city hosting a fashion show. Just great.
  

While I'm not sure how I feel McMorrow is as a writer/director yet, I can say that he made a visually handsome film with a limited budget. He does have a nice eye for drama, but some of his editing choices and storyline pacing left me scratching my head. Still, I really did enjoy the film and would recommend it to anyone who has a bit of patience, who doesn't mind feeling confused for 60 odd minutes, and loves watching beautiful characters in run down worlds. Watching the trailer, Franklyn really isn't what you'd expect it to be, and the film is all the better for it.

What I Think Of: Brick (2005)

Come one, come all as the music plays, it's time for an homage, this time in the form of classic detective novels and movies of a by-gone-era, this week I bring you the movie Brick. This 2005 neo-noir film is both written and the directorial debut of American filmmaker, Rian Johnson. Set right out of the pages of a hard-boiled detective novel, but with the setting in modern suburbia, Brick stars Joseph Gordon Levitt as Brenden Frye, a high school student who one days finds his ex-girlfriend Emily (Lost's Emilie De Ravin), lying dead in a storm drain. He takes it upon himself to solver her murder which brings him down down the drain to the dark highschool underbelly of drug kingpins, femme fatales and classic double and triple crossing. Can Brenden solve Emily's murder and will he be happy with the truths he finds along the way?

As anyone who listens to our podcast knows, I love me some Brick, I mean really love. It has everything a fan of 40's and 50's cinema and film-noir could ever want, it's influences just bleed off the celluloid film stock. Here are some of my thoughts concerning the film:

• The plot, the characters, the dialogue all draw heavy inspiration from the greatest of detective novels and movies, especially those written by Dashiell Hammett. The characters in Brick feel like they’ve stepped right off the set of The Maltese Falcon, or The Thin Man series, or the pages of Red Harvest. And they’re high school students. Just brilliant. It's all wonderfully complex, a maze of dialogue and transparencies, a film that just gets better with each repeat viewing.
• This is the first film where I stood up and took notice of Joseph Gordon Levitt and his acting prowess. He plays the beaten down detective role so well, the guy who lives in gray, who only sees the finish line and doesn't care how he gets there. He embodies the classic single determination of Sam Spade, the detective with a mouth that cashes more checks than it can afford!! Seriously beautiful stuff and JGL has never looked back, getting better with each film he's in.
• The way the film is shot, the way the film looks is just sublime goodness. The way the colors look washed out, as if black and white are trying to push back the rainbow. It's dark hues, it's wonderful use of undefined blue, Brick is the perfect example on how to use color in a film-noir, a lot like in 1994's The Last Seduction which was also punishingly beautiful to watch.
• I will say that the dialogue can be a bit off putting for those unfamiliar with crime films and how the characters speak- the slang almost appearing as if in a foreign language. However, the script does try to explain the most important of the slang words, while the others the viewer can fill in for themselves. However, if you're watching this on dvd, I recommend turning on the subtitles if you have a hard time following what the character's say. You'll thank me for that when it's over.
• I love the fact that while everyone is tough and murder is the game, all the characters are still high school students who live at home. And while on the street everything breathes noir, at home all the characters lead a normal high school student/family life. It all just brings a wonderful added layering to the film.
• As I mentioned before, this is director Rian Johnson's first film and what a film it is. His second film, The Brothers Bloom is just as good while many even find it better. Johnson just has an amazing ear for characters and since he writes all the scripts he directs he has full control, his vision is at the forefront of all his films and the world should be thankful for that. He gets what films are about and his films make every viewer understand that while Johnson is a director, he is also a lover of films. He has seen as much as you have, maybe even more, and he'd like to show you his spin, his take on film genre's, here with film noir's and with Bloom, silent films.
  

The females here are all fatales, the muscle all stupid, the drugs all cooked, and the innocents are long gone. This is a world where no character is right, no character is pure, a world of lost souls, fast talkers, and cuts and bruises. A classic world, my favorite world, it's all crime and noir here, so just sit back, enjoy your stay and try to jump when the shadows move.

What I Think Of: The Back-Up Plan (2010)

Another month, another romantic comedy and I'm all the lesser for it. This 2010 rom-com is directed by tv director and first time feature film length film director Alan Poul and stars Jennifer Lopez as Zoe, a pet shop owner who decides that since she hasn't met the right man yet, to get artificially inseminated since she wants a child. However things don't go as planned when she meets a hunky farm owner named Stan (played by Alex O'Loughlin). Will Stan stay when he finds out that Zoe is pregnant, and is Zoe ready for the greatest gift of all- a family?

Booo. I know. What the hell was I thinking watching this? But again like I always say, I'll see any rom-com and time and again they prove me a sucker. The two lead character's are so different, so at odds with one another and yet, and yet... so right for one another. Wow. You can imagine how the movie ends. I wanted to see this one because I was a big fan of the 2007 tv show Moonlight, which starred Alex O'Loughlin as the hunky vampire, but yeah, I've come to understand a movie about a woman who is obsessed with having babies isn't really for me.

Here are some of my thoughts concerning this film:

• Jennifer Lopez has really gone down hill as an actress. I mean she still has the cute rom-com female love interest going, but just thinking how she started out in Selena, then in Out of Sight which is just one of the best movies, it's kind of sad. Still, she has carved out a niche market here, but I can't think of any of the rom-com's that she's been in that have been stellar...or good?
  
• Since Jennifer Lopez's character owns a pet store (and since they do book signings at pet stores although this is the first time I've heard of such a thing), Caesar Romano makes a cameo. I'll give any movie more credit when they get Caesar in the film. I love dogs, and Caesar's tv show allows me to watch dogs play and still make me feel like I'm watching something important.
• I know that Alex O'Loughlin is good looking, but the way he goes about courting Jenny from the Block is really creepy, very stalkerish and not endearing in a cute way at all. Which made watching this film almost feel like a horror/crime thriller, like I was expecting him to turn up with bodies buried underneath his house. But hey, he is good-looking so maybe really good-looking people do things differently.
• On that note, to many things are left unexplained, too many threads left unfinished. Stan owns a farm that he maintains and yet never seems to work at the farm. Zoe owns a pet shop that she rarely visits. Her guy employer seems to have a crush on her/is thinking about leaving the store, but the thread is never finished and he's only shown like three times so it's odd they had a story-arc surrounding him. Alex goes back to school so he can learn how to open and run his own grocery store but then quits the school because he has to work to support J-Lo's kid, but then he still somehow opens the grocery store and nothing is ever explained. I mean for a rom-com I'm stunned that there were so many left open threads.
• On that note, why where there so many threads in a rom-com? This movie is just way too long for its source materiel- yay we get to watch J-Lo be pregnant for an hour. Oh shes part of a single-mother's support group, and they're all hippies and lesbians and that's why they're single moms. Good for you director Alan Poul keeping up those wonderful stereotypes. Even worse, you don't go all out on the lesbian/hippy single mom stereotypes so it's never funny.
• There were just way too many characters in this movie. There's like 15 supporting character's and yet all feel like throwaways and are unnecessary. Especially when Stan goes to the park to hang out with other dads as he stresses about what it means to be a father. Just brutal. Way too many supporting characters that are supposed to matter but just make the length of the film feel longer.
  
• On that note, I can so see how Alan Poul has mainly directed hour tv shows like Six Feet Under and Rome, because this movie acts and is paced like a 45-minute show and yet sadly the movie is over 100 minutes long. Painful.
• Seriously Alex O'Loughlin's character is just way to creepy to be the male lead in a rom-com. I mean he comes off as a stalker/serial killer and while I get that J-Lo's Zoe is desperate, she's having a kid and this guy just keeps showing up everywhere. Again, I guess the really good looking people live in a different world and have a different set of social moral standards.

So that's what I think of The Back Up-Plan. Oddly much worse than I thought it was going to be since I really felt that it didn't know what it wanted to be, a rom-com about two people falling in love, a family drama on what it means to be a family, or a rom-com about two people not ready for parenthood. Either way, it failed at all three. Still there's a shirtless Alex O'Loghlin and J-Lo still looks pretty good, so yeah, some eye-candy I guess. But if you watch it and don't like it, then like me, you have no one to blame but yourself.

What I Think Of: The Bounty Hunter (2010)

What do you get when you team up two really good looking and fun actors, one who sends women all a-flutter with his washboard abs, the other formerly America's sweetheart who has aged really damn well? You get probably one of the Top 5 worst movies to be released in 2010. Again proving I'll watch every rom-com that's released, here we have The Bounty Hunter. This is a 2010 action romantic comedy directed by Andy Tennant (of recently Hitch and Fool's Gold infamy) as stars Gerard Butler and Jennifer Aniston as ex's in a cat and mouse game for their lives. Butler stars as Milo, a bounty hunter who finds that his next assignment is to bring his bail-jumping journalist ex-wife Nicole, to jail. However, things turn out generically, as the couple find themselves on the run for their lives when Nicole's current investigation appears more than it seems. They must fake being married again and hide out or be found and live down their vows "to death do us part" (and yes I went there). Here are my initial thoughts after watching the film:

• This film is actually stunningly bad. I mean I know it has an 8% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but I think that's still being generous. Granted, the trailers looked terrible, but I thought I would get at the very least a generic romantic comedy (which I can always watch), but this is like a hybrid of generic romantic comedy with even a more generic action movie and wow, it's like at the end someone slapped me in the face, looked in my wallet, scoffed at what they saw and then left, leaving me with my money but without my dignity.
• But the key to how bad I should have known this movie would be was that its directed by Andy Tennant who directed Matthew Mconaughey and Kate Hudson in Fool's Gold, which made my worst movie list of 2008. He was able to take two actors who starred in a film I really liked (How to lose a guy in 10 days) and then reunite them in a movie that made me wish I had lost my very eyesight. It's a shame too, since his directing career started out promisingly. Sure Fools Rush In is generic, but at least it wasn't insulting, and I love Ever After. I mean I've watched that like 20 times that movie is so good. But yeah, no more. You have once again taken two actors I really liked, put them together and made me never want to watch them in another movie again. At the very least I can say this one positive about director Andy Tennant, "I believe from now on I can always count on you to create a movie that will make my bottom list at the end of the year and give me something to talk about. For that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart."
• I'm a big fan of Gerard Butler, but I think this is easily his worst performance. It's like he ate a ham sandwich before shooting and decided to act the entire movie in a really overly dramatic and hammy way. It actually made me really sad to watch him sink so low. But hey, it's a pay check and he got to hang out with Jennifer Aniston, so that's a plus.
• On that note, damn Jennifer Aniston still looks really good. I think she's gotten hotter in her old age. Sure, she still acts like Rachel in everything she does, but I don't care. She's just damn hot and well, I actually like her Rachel shtick, so I'll watch her in anything, and I thought she was really good in Love Happens.
• However, while I don't think Andy Tennant's direction helped, I can't say he should shoulder all the blame. Sarah Thorp's script is really frustrating. The whole movie doesn't know what it want's to be. A comedy? Well it isn't funny and there's no standout comedic moments. An action film? Well, the action scenes are really poorly shot and the plot that sets up the action actually makes very little sense. A romance? Well, we also don't really have that, and the reason why the couple originally divorced is just as poorly thought out and constructed as the rest of the movie. In the end, the movie tries to be three things, but leaves the viewer with nothing.
  
• Seriously, Gerard Butler is terrible in this film, and his character isn't really all that likable. And for that matter, neither is Aniston's, so you're left watching the movie, with two pretty terrible people not caring if they get back together, or perhaps hoping they do because they deserve to make each other miserable.
• In the end, I wish I could say something positive beyond, "wow Jennifer Aniston still looks really good", but I'll frankly be stunned if there is a worst romantic comedy then this one released this year. It seems like director Andy Tennant has forgotten how to present believable and interesting characters, and like how Uwe Boll's name is synonymous with the worst of video game adaptations, Tennant's name is now synonymous with the worst of rom-coms.
  

A definite "sneak out/I want my money back" rating. It's a damn shame this movie has already made around $121 million worldwide which will keep producers green-lighting films like this as long as big names are attached to the finished product. Anyway, do yourself a favor and stay away from this one no matter how much you may like the actors in it.