Category Archives: Movie

The moving picture industry has had a profound effect on me.

The Great Debators

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What?  An inspirational sports movie that Jerry Bruckheimer DIDN’T produce?  What is the world coming to?  What’s next, a really crappy video game adaptation that doesn’t have Uwe Boll’s fingerprints all over it?  This is a really great film and the directorial debut of Denzel Washington which makes it all the more memorable.  Starring Denzel and Forrest Whittaker, the movie combines inspirational sports movies like Glory Road and Remember the Titans with inspirational teacher movies like Dead Poets Society and tells the fascinating story of the Wiley College debate team – the first African American debate team to compete with Harvard – the best in the league in 1935.  Not the same Marshall as We Are Marshall (that was Marshall University in West Virginia). 

Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and Misc Internet Mischief

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Sweeney Todd This was a phenomenal movie musical. Haven’t seen the show in 2 years, but it’s Sondheim and Tim Burton and it’s just incredible. The bloody visions of Tim Burton fit perfectly with Sondheim’s bloodiest musical and it’s just beautiful. The film is visually very stylistic…I wouldn’t say cel-shaded per se, but it’s the closest description I have for the visual draining of color that occurs in the film that just makes the blood that much more stark and dramatic. Johnny Depp delivers an amazing performance as the titular Demon Barber. Helena Bonham Carter-Burton is great as Mrs. Lovett – so very funny and very manipulative. Alan Rickman can sing? Holy crap! Is there anything he can’t do? Timothy Spall seems to have gotten a career spike from Harry Potter (Petter Pettigrew) as this is the second big holiday movie I’ve seen him in (Enchanted) but I can’t complain … Continue reading →

Awake and Danny Gans

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Awake Starring Hayden Christiansen and Jessica Alba, this movie focuses on a condition called anesthesia awareness, wherein the body is completely paralyzed but the mind is fully awake – meaning you can feel pain – not something you want during a heart transplant. The movie is really well acted and has a really great story. Part love story, part medical drama, part conspiracy and part John Q, I enjoyed it very much. Hayden is a fine actor as long as he has a real director/script (i.e. not George Lucas). Danny Gans I got the Christmas Show so I guess I didn’t get to see the really, REALLY impressive bits like Satchmo, Elvis or Michael Jackson. I also didn’t really start enjoying myself until 15-20 minutes into the show because it was all singers that I wasn’t really familiar with so I couldn’t draw comparisons. He was doing bits of singers … Continue reading →

I Am Legend, Phantom (The Vegas SPECTACULAR) and Blue Man Group Live! At The Venitian

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I Am Legend Having just watched a TV Guide special on it last night, it was quite fascinating to see the final product. The third re-telling of Richard Matheson’s The Last Man On Earth (1960’s The Last Man Standing with Vincent Price and 1970’s Omega Man with Charlton Heston) puts Will Smith in the titular role of one man’s struggle to cope with overwhelming loneliness in the face of some worldwide catastrophe that turns everyone else into dead or zombie/vampire thing*. A little scarier than I like my thrillers, but still very enjoyable. Will Smith is absolutely phenomenal as he copes with loss, loneliness and mutated humans who love eating other living things. It was also an intriguing look at breaking down the psychology of the human mind. The mutants are led by an alpha male who (despite Will Smith’s theories) displays very-human like abilities of mimicry and plotting. It’s … Continue reading →

The Golden Compass and American Gangster

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The Golden Compass (Movie) DAMN IT! They pulled a Two Towers on me…they moved Shelob to the next movie…I guess I can accept that, but it’s still frustrating to be expecting one kind of ending and getting another ending (ala Sky Captain). As far as book adaptations go, this one does fairly well. Switches the 2nd and 3rd acts so that Hollywood can have it’s big battle as the movie finale…accelerates time acceptably (unlike Eragorn where Saphira grows exponentially in one instant) by adding characters and adjusting where information is divulged. Is more vague on the politics of the Magisterium and it’s interaction with the Church. VERY vague on what Dust is (a long time ago…our ancestors went against authority…yeesh*). The entire character of Fra Burber is merely there to accelerate the story and I can accept that. Little bits and pieces missing, but for my money, nothing I’m really … Continue reading →

Jersey Boys, Across the Universe, Misbehavin’ Nightly, Pajama Game and Enchanted (i.e. The Past Three Weeks In Entertainment)

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Jersey Boys The show is a lot of fun. The story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, it’s definitely rated R (they’re from f*ckin’ Jersey after all), but a lot of fun. It’s a biopic musical! Well then again, all biopics about music stars are musicals…I just don’t think I’ve seen the jukebox musical format applied as a biopic and I love it! Across the Universe Wow, two jukebox musicals in one week? You’d think I’d be sick of it, but I’m actually having a heck of a time. Across the Universe is the jukebox movie-musical (has that been done before?) starring the Beatles and an incredibly talented cast (definitely triple threats). Directed by Julie Taymor (the “person” responsible for The Lion King musical), the movie is very enjoyable and taught me a lot of Beatles music. The soundtrack is amazing! It’s chock full of musical goodies and I’ve … Continue reading →

Jekyll and Hyde and Why I’m Pathetic

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Jekyll and Hyde is a fascinating musical adaptation of the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel featuring the schizophrenic, “chemical”-addicted Victorian doctor trying to destroy the “Duality of Man”. I don’t remember ever reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but somehow the concept has always been present in popular culture. Anyone know why? I mean it can’t just be The Pagemaster (featuring Leonard Nimoy as Jekyll and Hyde), can it? Anyways. T. Eric Hart did a fascinating job as the aforementioned Doctor, but the real star of the show is the music. Frank Wildhorn is an incredible composer. His music has this indelible movie-soundtrack quality that makes it so much fun to listen to. Yesterday at my singing lesson, I briefly talked with my vocal coach about the upcoming Sweeney Todd adaptation and I voiced my opinion how in the beginning of the trailer, Johnny Depp sounds a LOT like Jack … Continue reading →

Jedi Vs. Sith Application on Facebook RULES!

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You can play a trivia game to boost your Jedi/Sith knowledge stats. Some of the questions are really poorly written, but sometimes they just get downright haughty. And this one REALLY pisses me off. A parsec is actually a measure of what? Answers: distance. – relativistic adjustment. – time. – weight. It has that nasty air of superiority that tries to highlight Lucas’ supposed gaff over the line “made the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs”….there’s a cannon answer to why Han makes that claim. “The [Millennium] Falcon is often connected to the Kessel Run, a pathway from Kessel past the Maw Black Hole Cluster used by smugglers to transport precious Glitterstim spice.[3] Solo in A New Hope brags that the Falcon made the Kessel Run in “less than twelve parsecs“, referring to his ability to move the ship closer to the Maw’s black holes and therefore cut the … Continue reading →

Good Luck Chuck and Ragtime

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So I was supposed to drive to Riverside for West Side Story (Performance Riverside) and then down to San Diego (Starlight Theatre) for Ragtime. But when I woke up at 1:17pm, I decided against rushing out of the house to WSS (I feel a bit like a heel though, since I knew folks from Torrance’s WSS were in it) and decided instead to head down to San Diego early and catch a flick. Good Luck Chuck This movie fits in the same vein as Wedding Crashers…rated R, lots of sex, lots of jokes. Great fun if you don’t mind a little crudity. The premise is that Dane Cook gets hexed by a Wiccan girl he refuses to have sex with as a child. Every girl he sleeps with will marry the next man they date. Then he meets Jessica Alba, an accident prone girl whom he really likes. Chaos ensues, … Continue reading →

The Brave One

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So I saw it last week and I’m only reviewing it now. Bite me. The movie is a classic vigilante story, but Jodie Foster takes it up a notch with an artist’s perspective on the whole experience. Foster plays an aural artist with a radio show highlighting the sounds of New York. But after a tragic attack leaves her fiancé dead, she buys a gun, learns the very, VERY, basic mechanics of it’s operation and tries to recover her life. Several gunshots and a near romantic relationship with a cop looking for the vigilante and you’ve got a very terse drama with good acting. Jodie Foster is SHORT! I didn’t realize how short she was mainly because I never considered Terrence Howard a tall guy. I’m pretty sure they didn’t do any Green Mile magic (have Tom Hanks and David Morse walk in a ditch while Michael Clarke Duncan towers … Continue reading →