Absolutely delightful! Adult Samir looks like Michael Jackson….creepy cool… Chai-walla Who wants to be a mill-o-naire! Jamal (a young man who grew up in the slums of Bombay) gets a chance to be on the Indian version of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”, but is arrested for cheating halfway through (runs out of game time). After being tortured by the police (they take their game shows very seriously over there), a friendlier interrogation reveals that Jamal didn’t cheat, he just “knew the answers.” Further probing forces flashbacks where every question is indirectly related to one of Jamal’s memories from surviving the slums of India with his brother Samir and childhood sweetheart Latika. Fantastic music by A. R. Rahman (I’ve ranted about him before Bombay Dreams). Really nice credit sequence featuring the entire cast dancing (a Bollywood tradition Laura says). Intersperced with the dancing was the requisite “above the title” … Continue reading →

When I saw the trailer, I jokingly said it was as if Leo and Kate had survived Titanic (even though I knew it took place in the 50s). Brilliant soundtrack from Thomas Newman (Finding WALL-E)…the main theme is a dead giveaway signature. Dreamworks received no compensation for featuring cigarettes…I assume this is because cigarettes were so heavily featured in this period piece and the lawyers (ála Thank You For Smoking) were freaking out over culpability. Boo! Hopeless emptyness… John became a life-matician because of the electro-shock treatment…

The biggest thought in my mind (aside from how much I loved this movie and how incredible Michael Sheen and Frank Langella were and how glad I am that Ron Howard captured their incredible stage performance) is my curiosity regarding the human condition. Allow me to explain via ramble. The movie is framed around four taping sessions that David Frost paid Pesident Nixon 600,000 dollars for…you know…for the privilege of interviewing a former President. The story details a contract between Frost and Nixon that divides the subjects to be covered in the taping sessions so that Nixon can even-handedly justify his actions and talk about the good he did as President. The contract goes so far as to specify that Watergate is only to be covered in the last taping session, which proves to be the most dramatic interview of the four. In the first three interviews, Frost is bowled … Continue reading →

Absolutely beautiful. An entertaining Disney/family film of the highest quality. Yay Jonathon Pryce! Yay Courtney Cox and Keri Russel! Yay Aisha Taylor (Mother Nature from Santa Clause)! Bad Botox job for Guy Pearce…*tsss*. Although he did his own singing for 30 seconds and he was an amusing villain. OMG! It’s Xena Warrior Princess as the villain’s helper! Double-OMG! It’s Uncle Vernon as the hotel magnate!

Absolutely brilliant! Frank Miller is incredible (look for him in the first scene as Officer Liebiwitz)! It’s a beautiful homage to the world of comics that was while still staying relevant to the modern world. Gabriel Macht’s Spirit is dead-on with his dry wit and sense of humor. Samuel Jackson’s Octopus is outlandish, insane and absolutely delicious. And the women! What would a Spirit movie be without a bevy of beautiful maidens! All of Central City seems caught in a futuristic vintage world where cell phones, BFG’s (none of that bio-force crap) and fedora’s exist side by side! It’s beautiful!!!

I thought I would be really dissappointed with the end result when Chris Sanders (voice/creator of Stitch (and Lilo)) was pulled off his own project, but with time (and various blog entries talking about the Disney precedent of replacing film directors if the story wasn’t popping right) I eventually decided that I wanted to see the film anyways. And boy am I glad I did. For all the whining and griping I did, this is an incredibly enjoyable film and a proud addition to the Disney canon. Oooo! It’s a Jessie/Woody moment! Still a valid story moment, but it’s fun to see dogs and cats arguing like toys or real people. 😀

I suspect that if Michael Bay had titled ‘Pearl Harbor’ ‘Hawaii’ instead the movie would have been very differently received…because (without having seen it in a while), that’s basically what happens in this film…an epic love story with personal hardships framed around the Japanese naval bombings in the Pacfic during World War 2. Well that and it’s a western. Due to burning-the-midnight-oil-post-production the soundtrack is still forthcoming….curses! The music is really incredible…there’s even an awesome Australian swing number (banjo and didgeredoo!) while Hugh Jackman is beating people up. As well as Begin The Beguine and some stunning variations and choral versions of ‘Somewhere (Over The Rainbow)’.