queen of versailles

this is a very fascinating look at the real estate crash and how it effected the 1 percent.  the film follows an immensely wealthy family as they begin building the largest private residence in north america.  as the construction gets underway the big economic crash takes place and has a huge impact on the family being filmed.  what was originally planned to be a documentary about the creation of this big home, the opulence of this filthy rich family, instead becomes the story of a fortune being lost.  through out the movie we see the husband, a man who made his millions on time-shares, watch as his fortune slips right out of his hands.  it is an amazing glimpse of how the super rich live and how they deal with the loss of the money and status: the denial and bargaining as they come to terms with the dramatic changes in their lives.  granted, its not like the family become destitute or anything, they just went from hundreds of millions, to just dozens...  poor things, i don't know how they could ever manage!   at the beginning of the film the husband is asked by the filmmakers why he wants to build the largest private home in north america?  his reason is 'because i can'.  by the end of the movie he remembers his words and realizes how far he has fallen, how humbled he has become by the terrible events.  its an incredible and raw look at one family dealing with the realities of financial ruin.  it is an amazing documentary, definitely worth seeking out.

fortress 2: re-entry

the first 'fortress' movie i love, its total cheesy fun.  this movie on the other hand, is just total cheese.  the movie begins eight years after the first one, lambert and his wife live quietly with their son in a log cabin in the woods, off the grid.  unfortunately, the government has found them and lambert is arrested once again.  realizing that the last prison, a hole in the ground in the middle of the desert, was too simple to hold him, this time he is shipped off to a prison space station.  there's never really any reason given for this prison to exist in space, but it does anyway...  again lambert finds himself trapped and has to figure out a way to escape.  he works with a few of his cell mates to break in to the warden's office and take control of the space station.  the effects are terrible and the dialog is even worse this time around.  its no wonder this one went straight to dvd here in the US.

fortress

i've seen this one probably a dozen times over the years.  it was a popular favorite among my friends in high school.  i will first of all admit, this movie isn't very good, but that's what makes it even better!  as a fan of the original 'highlander', i have a very soft spot in my heart for christopher lambert- i just love his bad acting and fantastic voice!  this movie though, is not as iconic as highlander for a reason...
the story is set in the future where, due to over population, no one is able to have more than one child.  lambert and his wife had a child who passed away and are caught crossing the border.  she's pregnant with another child, so both of them are arrested and thrown into a high security prison called 'the fortress'.  its a jail in the middle of the desert that basically looks like a giant hole.  lambert is forced into slave labor, mining deep underneath the desert.  his wife, on the other hand, is being kept in the same prison, awaiting the birth of her child, which will be taken by the prison to do with as they see fit.  in order to escape, she cozies up to the warden while he hatches a plan to bring the whole place down.  one of the best parts of the movie is the set.  the fortress itself looks pretty good, especially for 1992!  its fairly predictable in its story line, but is actually quite fun to watch.  the plotting and planning between the prisoners, as well at the revelations about the warden make the film interesting and worthy of the minor praises it sometimes receives.

battleship

its actually worse than its reputation.  i thought, just for a lark, i'd give it a try and see what all the hate was about.  and it was terrible.  i cant actually give a full and honest review of the movie because i fast-forwarded through most of it...  the characters are cardboard cutouts, the action is shiny and big, but oh so boring.  and you want to know what the worst part is?  at no point in the movie does anyone actually say 'you sunk my battleship'.  seriously?  thats the one reason you make a movie based on the board game- the one reason!  i cant even muster up enough interest to write more about the movie, so i'll end it there.

casting by

an interesting documentary about the role of casting directors on tv and in film.  the documentary takes a look at the life and career of many different casting directors, focusing on marion dougherty, a pioneer in the field of casting.  there are many celebrities who show up to talk a bit about how important marion and other casting directors were to their careers.  some, like jon voight, talk about how his entire career is due to marion's work and fighting for him to fill the role that made him famous in 'midnight cowboy'.  there are many interesting stories and examples of her work, including directors who admit that they would have been sunk without the help of great casting directors.  it follows marion's fight to get recognition for the job of casting.  what started out as an unrecognized position eventually lead to there being an actual on screen credit for the work.  the film goes so far as to make the case for having the oscars recognize the role of casting director as a category worthy of an award.  the different views and insights given by those who do this mysterious job of picking actors that would be great for a role and great together is something that is rarely thought of and certainly under appreciated.

the conjuring

i do love a good scary movie, but they seem to be pretty hard to come by.  this one, though, does a great job of bringing the scares.  the story revolves around a real case that the warrens, a married couple who deals with paranormal occurrences, investigate.  the case itself deals with a family that recently moves into an old creaky house and find it to be haunted.  there are some good scares to be had as the story unfolds, showing us little glimpses into the strange goings-on that the family confronts.  they eventually call in the warrens, ed and lorraine, to help the deal with what's going on.  the warrens are played to perfection by patrick wilson and vera farmiga.  these characters are so well fleshed out that you cant help but be drawn in by them and how they are dealing with the situation at hand.  the creepy elements keep growing as the house reacts to their presence, and by the end there is a genuine sense of dread for what might happen.  the director does a fantastic job of building suspense and paying off the promises made in the first half of the film.  by the end i just wanted to see more of the warrens!  i could easily see this turning into a whole series of films focusing on the warrens that the other cases they dealt with- i would certainly be on board for that!

steel

yeah... um... what exactly can one say about this movie?  hmmm.  i guess i'll start by admitting that yes, it is as bad as you think it is.  i don't exactly know what the makers of this movie were thinking, but they certainly weren't thinking of a good movie!  its kind of a shame, really, because the character portrayed in the movie is actually a really great one.  in the dc comic book, john henry irons is a normal everyday man who was so heartbroken by the death of superman (yes, the character's origin comes from that 90's comic book story line) that he felt compelled to try and pick up the mantle of superman himself to fight crime.  since he doesn't have any super powers, he builds for himself a steel suit and emblazons it with the familiar 'S' in honor of his fallen hero.  what we get in this movie instead is a character rewritten to remove all traces of superman (they must not have been able to get the rights for that one, huh?), and instead it becomes about a military man who comes home to find his city has been overrun with crime and feels the need to stand up against the bad guys.  oh, and i haven't even gotten to the best part: shaq!  for some reason someone thought it was a good idea to cast this guy in the lead role.  i'm sure he is an amazing basketball player, but he is considerably less skilled when it comes to emoting...  serving as his mentor is richard roundtree, an appearance complete with terrible 'shaft' puns and all!  with this movie coming out in 1997, its no wonder it took another three years for the superhero movie to recover!

chernobyl diaries

i am a sucker for found footage films.  those are the kind of movies that try to appear like they were filmed by the actual people in the movie, one of the first of these kinds of movies is 'blair witch project' and has recently become more popular through movies like 'cloverfield' and 'paranormal activity'.  in fact, the director of paranormal activity is the brains behind this movie as well, oren peli.  though he didnt direct it, he did write and produce it.  the story follows four college kids russia when they find themselves with an opportunity to sneak in, with a guide, to the abandoned city to do some urban exploring.  of course, things go terribly wrong and bad things happen- this is a horror movie, after all!  the style of the film is very much grounded in the found footage style, but whats kind of interesting is that as the film goes on it almost feels like that style isnt quite as important, and we seem to begin watching in other ways, its almost like the film is a found footage movie, but without the cameras.  the characters arent very interesting or fleshed out, but with these kind of movies it seems to be something that isnt necessary.  the definite highlight of the film is the amazing sets.  now, i'm sure that they didnt actually get permission to film in chernobyl, but the abandoned buildings and city certainly do feel real- there's no way they build those sets!  the build up in the middle of the film does a great job of capturing just how isolated and desolate the area is.  though i dont think the ending is very strong, the build up to it was certainly worth the ride!

ted

ugh.  i guess its self fulfilling prophecy, but i knew i wouldn't like it and, surprise surprise, i didn't.  i know it was huge when it came out, but i only just now have gotten around to seeing it.  i don't really care for seth macfarlane, to be honest, i've never liked 'family guy' or any of the other imitations that he came up with, so i guess i shouldn't be stunned to find that i don't care for his big screen work either.  the story is about a boy who wishes his teddy bear would come alive and be his best friend.  it comes true and they all live happily every after.  this movie takes that premise and asks 'what would that relationship look like twenty five years later?'  turns out that he never grew up and now he's in his mid thirties and still acting like a child, and having his teddy bear around hasn't helped issues at all.  its a rather interesting and fun starting point for a story, but it doesn't really go beyond that idea.  it basically plays out each and every generic trope that one would expect.  in fact, it kind of plays like a romantic comedy between the guy and his bear.  the girl, mila kunis, is merely there to be the obstacle between the two.  she becomes someone who is trying to tear them apart.  the whole movie is terribly predictable and is mostly just pop culture reference after pop culture reference (although, should that really come as a surprise to anyone who knows macfarlane's style?).  the movie is obsessed with the flash gordon movie from the eighties.  that not being a touchstone of my youth (to be honest, i've never even seen it), all the references to it were lost on me.  i'm sure people who love macfarlane's stuff will totally adore this movie, but it was certainly not for me!

riddick

i'm not a huge fan of this character, but i rather enjoyed this movie.  the first riddick movie, 'pitch black', was a rather generic sci fi b-movie.  it was ok, but nothing special.  the second attempt to bring the character to the big screen, 'the chronicles of riddick', was really bad overblown lameness.  but this one was kind of fun.
the movie has a strange structure to it, basically combining three movies into one.  the first movie is about riddick trying to overcome the deadly challenges of this desolate world he has found himself on; he faces the scary creatures of the planet and adapts to its inhospitable environment.  the first third of the movie plays like a silent film where vin diesel is training and fighting the killer creatures to survive.  the second third of the movie finds riddick confronting two sets of bounty hunters trying to get him.  this section plays like 'the predator', except we see it from the perspective of riddick, the creature being hunted.  i really liked this part of the movie and felt it was the strongest portion.  the last third plays more like a jailbreak movie where everyone is just trying to get off the planet and overcome the beasties that are attacking.  over all, for such a small picture, it does a great job with the special effects, making believable creatures and environments.  the whole mish-mash of the three movie styles in one kind of works, it allows the movie cliches to be glossed over.  sure, its predictable, but it doesnt linger long enough on any one trope to get stale.  to be honest, i would welcome another film in the riddick series if its as fun as this one!

here comes the boom

ok, i know full well that this is not a good movie.  i went in with the understanding that this is not the best film that cinema has to offer.  with that foreknowledge, i must say, i rather enjoyed it.  i've got a bit of a sweet spot in my heart for kevin james, being a larger man myself, i always find myself cheering on other larger guys no matter what.  well, this movie finds kevin james as a teacher trying to raise some money to keep the arts at his school.  now they have hit my sweet spot: i'm a teacher, a kevin james fan, and i have a degree in art.  im pretty sure that my opinion can be declared invalid at this point, and i know it.  the main plot of the film revolves around james' character making the decision to become an MMA fighter.  not being a sports fan, this was, to me, the part of the movie that i didnt care as much for.  for me, i could have just watched an entire movie about kevin james as a teacher and been all set!  the problem with the film is that it follows every single cliche about the underdog sports film as well as every cliche from any adam sandler produced comedy, and does very little else.  i know, but james is so likable that the fact that its bad just kind of melts away- and its got henry winkler!  there's no way i can stand up against that sort of charisma power!  over all, i know its not that great of a movie, its completely predictable and bland, but i rather enjoyed it none the less.  perhaps that makes me a bad movie critic, but i dont care.

watchmen: the motion comic

rightfully considered the greatest comic book ever written, this dvd set is the original comic book brought to life with limited animation.  purchased as a part of the watchman ultimate edition dvd set, this motion comic is a retelling of the original 12 part series.  what exactly is a 'motion comic' you ask?  well, its pretty simple really, the comic panels themselves are slightly animated while a narrator reads out the word balloons.  if its an image of a person standing there, the light on their face may change slightly, or if something is on fire the flames pulsate a bit.  its a little strange at first, but you quickly grow used to its limited movement.  its basically a visual audio book.  the most unusual part of this particular production is the choice that was made to have the same actor read all the parts- including the women!  the strangeness of it all quickly fades away because the story being told is so engrossing that none of it really matters.  the most amazing part was how quickly it passed by, the 12 episodes total almost five and a half hours!  many  people had a problem with the live action movie because it skimped out on the story and completely missed out on some of the themes, but this production misses out on nothing, considering it includes every single word of the original series!  despite the limited animation and only one voice talent taking on all the roles (which, to his credit, tom stechschulte does very well), it is a worthy adaptation of the seminal source material.

batman: the dark knight returns part 1

like every good comic book nerd, i've read the frank miller classic dark knight returns, but its been a while.  most of it had been forgotten, so it was with almost new eyes that i was able to watch this animated adaptation.  i dont remember much of the comic, which meant that most of the story was unfamiliar to me.  the basic premise is this: its been ten years since bruce wayne hung up the cowl, and since then crime has escalated.  no longer content to drink away his feelings of responsibility and justice, he decides to step up and deal with this new 'mutant' gang thats plaguing the city.  this first part of the story deals with bruce getting back into the cape, gaining a new sidekick, and confronting the mutant menace head on.  it also sets up nicely where the story is headed.
like with all of these dc comics animated movies, there is a learning curve to jumping on board.  the animation isnt always the greatest, but for a direct to dvd release, its as good as could be expected.  also, the vocal acting is a bit stilted and doesnt really flow well, but thats kind of what these things are like.  its like listening to shakespeare, it takes about 10 minutes of it sounding like a different language before you get your barrings and are able to be immersed into the world.  after about the first 15 minutes, the mediocre animation and stilted voices melt away and the story is able to take you away.  its a little weird to watch an animated batman and not hear the voice of kevin conroy coming out, but peter weller is an acceptable substitute for this aging bruce wayne.  i know this movie added some things to the original story, but almost all of it worked pretty well and blended in to give the story a little richer context.  almost all of it- the race scene at the beginning just did not feel like it belonged at all.  come on, gotham during the day time?!?  no one wants to see that!  overall though, a nice job, and now i look forward to part 2!

hunger games

i had been eagerly awaiting this movie to come out.  a couple years ago i read this book and found it to be very good- well told and action packed.  so when the film came out i was pretty excited to see it.  i didnt get the chance to see it in theaters, but i finally caught up with it and thought it was ok.  the story follows its main character, katniss, as she becomes a contestant in a bizarre game show where children must fight to the death, leaving only one left alive.  most of the actors do a great job, hitting the pathos and emotion needed in the roles, but a lot of the choices made by the director were baffling, and at times brought down the whole thing.  some of the design work, whether it was in the districts as they watched the games, or the city and its citizens was distracting and unnecessary- really?  all those ridiculous clothes and hairstyles?  too much!  but the real problem for me was the way the movie was shot.  there were very few establishing shots- a huge pet peeve of mine.  often through out the movie it was really difficult to know what was actually going on because either the camera was way too close, it was too shaky, or both.  a crucial moment in the film in understanding the relationship of the characters is shown in a flashback between katniss and her district partner, but its almost impossible to understand what is going on and why its important simply because the camera never shows a proper view of whats going on!  another important element is the emotional weight of the final moments of the game, but it is rushed and unexplained, making it impossible to care about or believe the decisions that katniss makes.  its frustrating because the source material was an automatic home run that, due to sloppy directing, only becomes a double, and thats only through sheer force of storytelling.
it looks like gary ross will not be directing the second one- which means that i'm not the only one who had a problem with this guy, huh?  well, hope they get the second one right at least!