revolver

this is a guy richie film, a director known for gangster movies like 'lock, stock, and two smoking barrels'. he launched the careers of vinnie jones and jason statham. in this film statham is back where he started, this time with a long haired wig! here he plays a guy who just spent a few years in jail. once he gets out he finds success, but also finds out he has only a few days to live. a couple guys show up and give him an ultimatum: give us your money and we will help you get revenge on the guy who put you in jail, or die unavenged. the story starts out as a pretty simple one, but it quickly turns into a much more complex study of philosophy and what existence truly is. when all was said and done i was a bit confused, but in a good way. the stath does a great job, per usual, and richie does a fair job of building the story and then flipping it and expanding it in a way that's not too frustrating or without cheating to get us to its conclusion. i look forward to watching this one again to see what i may have missed.

the host

this is a korean monster movie. the story revolves around a lazy good-
for-nothing guy who's daughter gets taken by a creepy looking fishy
beast, the guy then tries to save his daughter, screwing up at every
occasion. the family must work together to save the daughter and try
and get free from the crazy creepy beast. the story is the just a slight
variation on so many monster movies, but it has a little added twist in
that its a korean film. so it allows a slight glimpse into the life of the
korean culture. the effects are surprisingly good here, through out
almost the entire film i was never taken out of it because of a poor
quality monster, most of the time i just forgot it was fake and just enjoyed the story unfolding!

day watch

this one isn't nearly as good as night watch. the first one is so strange and so eclectic, it builds a whole new mythology and interesting world. this follow up feels like its watered down. its as if the director found such success with the first one that someone gave him a ton more money for the sequel, but also took away so much control over what he could do- this one feels like it was made to please everyone, which as we know, usually means it pleases no one. some of the oddities are still there, but the story line is much more generic and formulaic. the ending though is very satisfying, and that alone makes it work. thats the problem though, its the only thing that works. it almost feels like it could have been condensed into about twenty minutes (instead of the outrageously long two and a half hours that it is...) and added to the end of the first film to make it one solid vision and one complete film.

night watch

this is a russian movie about vampires. i had rented this one once before, but didn't realize that the disc had two sides. i ended up watching the side that did not have an english dub, so it was really confusing and hard to follow. this time i didn't make the same mistake! the story is about this hidden underworld where there are people working for the light side, and the dark side. they are constantly trying to keep a balance in this world. both sides have people who work for them who keep the other side in check. those who work for the light keeping the dark in check are called night watch, those who work for the dark keeping the light in check are called day watch. over the course of the film we get to know some of the agents from both night and day watches. they are all on a quest to find and turn the one chosen boy who will, once and for all, tip the scales in the favor of which ever side he chooses.
the director behind this film is truly a visionary. his unusual sense of style and storytelling perspective are very unique. after this movie, and its sequel were such huge hits in russia, he was given a hollywood movie to try his unique style (the film he made was 'wanted'). this particular film, though, benefits greatly from the different perspective and ideas presented. russian culture has many similar things as us, they have myths and legends about vampires and other things, but they are certainly different than the ideas we are used to. the film works from those culturally understood ideas. they don't bother to explain the russian history of these myths and legends, which just adds to the mysterious quality of the film. in it curses are taken literally, the light and dark sides of the battle are portrayed in ways that are different than they are in western movies. all this together adds up to a pretty strange film- which was actually really cool! (now that i watched it in english...)

pineapple express

i've never been a big fan of stoner movies, so this one didn't initially appeal to me, but it was a free rental, so what are you going to do, right? the story is about a weed smoker who goes to his dealer to get some stuff, when he leaves he witnesses a murder, freaks out, and convinces his dealer to go on the run with him. hijinks ensue. the movie turned out to be pretty fun. it stars seth rogan, but he not the draw here, the real draw is the other two- james franco does a really funny job as the drug dealer, and danny mcbride is hilarious as 'red', a guy who gets caught up in everything. the movie does a pretty good job of mixing the stoner movie style with the action movie style, and ends up being a pretty strange, fun little ride.

dr. strangelove

this one is always hailed as a classic, but i'm not entirely sure why. the film is a comedy that features some classic bits by peter wellers, a comedian known for playing multiple parts in films. here he plays a british officer stationed in the u.s. where the head of the base has shut off all communication and send his fleet of airplanes, loaded with nuclear missiles, off to drop their load on russia. the president gathers in his war room and his men try their best to try and stop this disaster from happening. wellers also plays the president and dr. strangelove, who is advising the war room about how to stop the planes. some things go right, but there are some things that go very very wrong. i appreciate the film for what it does, but i think i may have missed something on why it is so special. it is worth watching just for sellers alone, he is hilarious in all three roles. the best part of the film is the crazy dr. strangelove, with his thick austrian accent and his inexplicable arm that seems to have a mind of its own and is usually fighting with strangelove. one thing that is pretty interesting is that even though so much has changed in the world since the film was made, the story and situation it portrays is still a very real fear. the same story has been made many times since then, movies like crimson tide are basically just a rehash of this original idea.

valkyrie

in this film tom cruise plays a nazi. but hes a good nazi! after being injured in battle, loosing his hand, his eye, and other parts from an explosion, he decides its time to stand up against hitler. he, and a few others, feel that hitler is giving germany a bad name and feel that they must act against him. this leads to a plot to assassinate hitler. they make plans and have everything all set to go, but as the event unfolds, things keep going wrong.
one might think that the thrill and tension of this story would not really exist, due to the fact that we know from history that they fail. well, we also knew the titanic was going to sink, but the movie was still a lot of fun to watch. its not the results that make it a good story, rather the path that let them there. bryan singer does a great job of keeping the tension high and showing us how something planned so well can fall apart so quickly. tom cruise gives a fine performance as the ring leader of this plan. cruise usually plays the same character: someone who is great at something who looses it all and must rebuild himself better than ever (need an example? try watching every single movie tom cruise has been in...) but in this one, he doesnt allow himself or his persona to get in the way. this is a good movie with some great casting that shows some pretty cool world war II thrills.

mystery men

shoot. i hate revisiting movies that i liked and realizing that they are not really as good as i remembered them. unfortunately, this one fall prey to exactly that. the last two times i saw it i really enjoyed it, but this time i saw behind the curtain and realized that it should have been a lot better. i mean, look at the cast! this thing is packed full of good stars! this thing should be really funny and really well acted, but its not. it's a one joke movie and doesnt even do that great at the one joke. oh well, at least i've still got 'zoolander'!

live free or die hard

having never really been on the 'die hard' band wagon, i came into this one having actually only ever seen the third one. i know, i know, its a travesty. so, not having much connection to the franchise or the character, i was able to watch this with fresh eyes. turns out its not too bad!

the story centers around a disgruntled former government employee who warned of the possibility that hackers could get into the government files and stuff. he was not listened to, so he decided to go bad and do it himself to show them the weaknesses. well, john mcclane is not too fond of that idea, and the movie goes from there. as the story unfolds, it becomes obvious that bruce willis isnt john mcclane, but rather he's superman because he is apparently invincible... i went and saw this in the theater with my dad (who is a big die hard fan) and enjoyed it a bit. seeing it again, this time it was the 'unrated' dvd, its obvious that this movie series needs to be rated 'R' because it benefited so much from the more fittingly hard language. hearing him say his famous tag line is critical for the series! granted, its till ridiculous and totally unrealistic, but somehow the language makes it all better.

the animatrix

ah, remember the hype that was 'the matrix' sequels? i, unlike almost everyone, really loved the sequels, especially matrix reloaded- i thought it was amazing! well, when everyone was eagerly awaiting the two follow up films, we got a direct to dvd collection of short animated films set in the matrix world. as someone who was definately on board that matrix hype machine, i snatched it us as quick as i could! my friends and i watched them and enjoyed them, these nine short films were the perfect morals to wet our appitites for the full lenght movies!
now, six years later, with all the hype gone (in fact, it still feels like the opposite is true- there is still a lot of matrix sequel hate out there), i thought i would take a little bit of time and revisit these stories and see if they still hold up all these years later. each of the individual short films are given their own post, so check them out below!
the final flight of the osirus
the second renaissance 1&2
kid's story
program
world record
beyond
a detective story
matriculated

animatrix: final flight of the osiris

i remember this one was attached to another movie when it came out in the theater and matrix excitement was at its peak. this nine minute story is animated in a photo realistic style. it starts with a duel between two characters inside the matrix, they flirt with each move, and by the end they are both almost naked. then they come out of the matrix and have to deal with the robots that are tracking them. this is a simple story, but a cleaver and elegant way to share some of the visuals and story drive of the two sequels to come. we see our first glimse of the surface world, as well as the fact that the machines are trying to dig their way to zion, the human city. at points the cg looks really great, almost lifelike, but over all it has that lifeless feel to it, you know, dead eyes and all.

animatrix: the second renaissance 1&2

with visuals both beautiful and shocking, this two part collection is certainly the most powerful. it tells the story of what happened in history to get to the point they are at in the matrix. it starts with how man created robots, but the robots became self aware. there was a murder committed by a robot which lead to humans destroying millions of the robots they used to rely on. involking such powerful images as the vietnam war vietcong murder, tienemen square, and a brutal rape/killing, but having the robots be portrayed as those whom the violence is directed is very powerful and startling. the robots revolt and create their own city whose economy flurishes as man's economy falls, man is unwilling to make any comprimises with the robots.

in part two it continues the history of the robot/human situation that lead to the world of the matrix. though not nearly as powerful as the first part, it still caries some punch. the history picks up with man attacking the base city of the robots. since the sun is the major energy source for the robots, man decides to blot out the sky. the war rages on. the robots adapt and turn to the last unlimited renewable resorce: the electronic pulses of energy given off by man himself, thus leading to robots using humans as a power source. still filled with violent images, they dont have quite the same punch as in the first part. over all, it is a really interesting idea for how things turn out and what leads to robots using man as batteries.

animatrix: kid's story

this one follows the story of a kid who is questioning everything and thinks there is something more beyond this world. he is in school and all kinds of agents start coming after him, he tries to run and eventually jumps off the top of the school building saying that he believes. an interesting little story that deals with the implication of teens who always feel like the world is against them. the story does a good job of allowing us to feel his pain and paranoia, and ultimately see where that leads him. this one even features the voice work of keanu reaves and carrie anne moss. another cool note is that this kid actually shows up in the matrix sequels and plays a fairly important part in them- nice tie in!

animatrix: program

this one is certainly the most generic of the set. it features a white haired woman fighting in feudal japan with a samurai. as they battle they talk about how they are only comfortable in the matrix and not in the real world. the samurai announces that he has struck a deal with the machines to go back and get plugged in again. he tries to convince the girl to go with him. this little story brings up the idea of questioning which is more important: truth or comfort? a difficult question that is a daily struggle as we make decisions about if we should do what is right, or do what is easy. an interesting idea, but one that had been dealt with well already in the first movie when cypher makes a deal with the machines.

animatrix: world record

one of the most stylized of the series, this short film features an athlete running a race, intercut with flashes of his life leading up to the race. as he is racing he starts to become self aware of the matrix. as he realizes that he is actually in a computer program a bunch of agents show up and force him back into the programming. his legs give out and he looses the race, but he also knows what is actually going on. this one is one of the most interesting ones to me, it does a great job of showing how the machines are working against us to make sure humans stay put inside of the construct that they made for them. a glimpse into the decisions that are made between neo and the machines at the end of the third film. this gives an idea of what neo and the people in zion are fighting for.