Thursday, April 30, 2009

The Brothers Bloom


Last night I had a chance to see a screening of The Brothers Bloom at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

The movie is the second film from writer/director Rian Johnson, whose first film Brick was one of my favorite films from 2005. With Brick Johnson was able to take a fresh spin on the Film Noir genre by setting it in a high school and creating a slang language that made the world the characters lived in seem unique and original. There was a lot of style present in the writing and direction, and with Bloom Johnson is able to once again create a world that is stylistic in it's own way without feeling like he is repeating himself as an artist.

For his second film, Rian Johnson approaches the genre of the con man, or grifter. Adrien Brody plays Bloom and Mark Ruffalo plays Stephen, brothers who have floated through the foster care system, constantly being returned for bad behavior. It is during this phase of their life that they learn their true talents as con artist. They grow up to become some of the most famous and successful con men.

Stephen is the idea man. He is constantly creating elaborate stories for the brothers to thrive in. They create the perfect situation for their mark so that they can take them for all they have. Bloom is the actor, portraying each character his brother draws out for him with such realism that the targets never know what hits them.


Bloom has become a bit tired of the game. He doesn't feel like anything in his life is real, it's all a world of make believe that his brother has invented. He wants out. He wants to live a normal life and be a part of something that is authentic and true. But like most con men he can't stay away for long.

Stephen brings him back in for one last con, his best yet. The target: a wealthy eccentric recluse named Penelope played by Rachel Weisz. Stephen cooks up a complex game to bring Penelope out of her shell and on the adventure of her life, while at the same time giving Bloom what he has longed for: something real.

The film is really funny and quirky with lots of slapstick moments of humor. The brothers have a great chemistry with each other, and Weisz plays up the lonely odd spoiled kid with great humor and innocence. But it's the brothers side kick Bang Bang, played by Rinko Kikuchi, that steals the show. She barely utters a single word in the entire movie but brings a strong vaudeville type of physical humor to the role. She is mysterious and sadistic and flat out funny and charming. The relationship she has with the brothers and eventually with Penelope is very sincere and funny. All four play off of each other with great ease that it all seems natural.


The plot is quite complex with lots of twists and turns that you would expect from a good con story. I never fully was able to figure out who was conning who and I was left guessing till the very end. And even when I thought I had it figured out, it was wrapped up in a way that was very satisfying.

The film starts out with a lot of laughs and keeps the pace throughout most of the film but some of the laughs did die off near the end as things got a bit more serious. As Rian Johnson explained to the crowd after the film, that was an essential element to telling the story. The characters lived in a fantasy created by themselves so it was necessary to make things light and fun for the audience to be a part of that story as well. As things got away from their story and more real then so did the tone and pacing, which makes sense and actually enhances the meaning of the ending.

The writing was good with sharp snappy dialogue and multifaceted characters. There were a few plot points that I didn't feel were explained well but that could just be editing for timing purposes or maybe I missed something. There are a lot of beautiful locations that are photographed well to share the majesty of the destinations and put you into the scene.

The Brothers Bloom was an extremely fun and entertaining movie. It was originally supposed to be out last year but got pushed back till this summer. I was highly anticipating this film because of my love for Brick and it didn't disappoint. Rian Johnson is now two for two and I'm excited to see what he has next. The movie will open in limited release on May 15 and open in wide release on May 29. It's not your typical summer film but it's good counter programming to have it open against some of the big titles. If you are tired of mindless stories with lots of explosions and you want to see something smart and fun I highly recommend you check out The Brothers Bloom.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

My Homework Assignment: My 100 Favorite Movies of All Time

What is it with movie fans, or music fans as well, that we feel a need to constantly make lists of our favorites or least favorites?

Maybe it's a way of justifying to ourselves as well as the rest of the world not only what we like but why we like them. Every year everyone has a top ten list of their favorite movies of the year, or favorite albums, or favorite television shows. Even the awards shows that crowd the airwaves are a list in a way. They pick their five favorites in whatever category and then pick their favorite from that list. We all do it. I know I do at least.

And you can really make a list for just about everything. There is a great film called High Fidelity that deals mostly with music and the characters are constantly making random lists ranking various songs for various reasons. A great example is the character of Barry, played by Jack Black, who blurts out to name "top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the '80's and 90's. Go. Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, or is it better to burn out or fade away?"

The same can be done for film. Name the five greatest scenes in which Tom Cruise does his obligatory sprinting scene. Or how about five favorite Al Pacino screaming scenes? It can be fun and challenging to come up with a list, but in the end it doesn't mean too much perhaps.

"Doesn't he look angry?"


As much as I love the AFI's tradition of releasing lists of the top 100 films or quotes or songs from films there are always going to be choices I or anyone else doesn't agree with. The lists are subjective and really mean nothing but to the person that created it. It's a way to define one's taste in a way. It also can lead to great discussions and debates as to the validity of one person's picks versus an other's choices. I love reading critic's choices for their favorite films each year, just as I like analysing the nominated films in the various awards categories. I like to compare my picks as a way of validating what I like, but also to criticize and debate what gets chosen and what doesn't get chosen. It really has no concrete merit but it's all in good fun.

So when we were given a homework assignment at work I actually got quite excited. We have a section in the store that displays all of the AFI top 100 American films of all time from the list they released a few years ago. The big boss decided to create a companion wall: the DVD Planet employee's top 100 films of all time. Each employee was assigned to submit their list of 100 favorite films, then a master list would be compiled from all of the most selected titles and we will vote for our picks from that list to create the ultimate list.

I've always wanted to try to come up with a top 100 list before but I've never felt the need to put in all of that work. I've tried to make a top ten list before but I found it too hard to whittle down all of my favorite films to just ten films. One hundred seemed like a more reasonable number that I could work with. One thing was for sure, I was going to take this seriously and do this right.

There were some that as soon as the assignment was given they had their list the next day. I took my time with it, perhaps too much time and I didn't get my list in till a couple weeks later. I wanted to make sure it was right and that took time and diligence in getting it right.

The first thing I did was started to compile a list off the top of my head of my all time favorite films. I initially came up with a little over 30 titles. I then started going through my DVD collection picking some of my favorites. I was also reading everyone else's lists as they were being turned in, catching titles that I had forgotten about or I didn't own so I didn't think about it. When all was said and done I had a master list of about 225 titles. I now had to eliminate more than half of them.

I decided I would come up with a ranking system and rate each title in several different categories such as the writing, acting, directing, personal relevance, re-watchability, etc. I would take the final tally and rank them that way. I actually started this and decided this was just way too difficult and would take forever. Maybe I was taking this a bit too seriously. Perhaps, but I wanted to make sure it was right.

So what I ended up doing was just studying my list and breaking it down into smaller groups. I started by picking the films that I felt absolutely had to be on the list and I ended up cutting it to 80 titles. I picked my initial favorite films I came up with and worked that to about 20 titles. I then ranked those in my preferred order, meticulously rearranging it until I got it right. I continued to do this for the initial 80 titles I picked, picking between 10-20 and ranking those, then the next 10-20, and so on. I was left with a top 80 list and needed 20 more titles from the close to 150 titles left from my original list.

I continued to narrow it down, scrolling over it and picking the ones that were most crucial to me. I got it to 105 titles so the hard part came of what to eliminate. Even after I got it to my final 100 list I continued to tinker with the order. There were films that were down on the list and after looking over it so many times I felt they needed to be higher so I would judge them against each one before it until I found the perfect spot for it. Some moved up, some moved down, but in the end I came up with a final top 100 list that I could be proud of. How geeky am I sounding right about now?

I must say I was quite surprised by my final list. I've been called pretty pretentious by some friends when it comes to my taste in movies, which for the most part I would agree with. There is definitely a fair share of artsy or indie films on my list, but there is some fluff represented as well. Ultimately these are the films that I can watch over and over again. Many are films that have had a direct influence in shaping not only my tastes in movies, but my life personally. I think there is a direct correlation between the art or music or films we like and the type of personalities we have, and our personality behavior has a direct effect on the choices we make in life. To me that is one of the major powers that film has on not only my life but our society and culture in general.

This list was finalized a month ago but if I were to write it now it would probably be different depending on my mood today. There was a film I had owned on DVD that I just watched last week that just blew me away, and had I written this list now it probably would have made my list, it was that good. If you were to compare this to a list I would have written ten years ago it would be drastically different because my tastes have considerably changed. In a way it can be a time capsule to capture that one moment of your life and what you were like when you wrote it. Maybe half of the list would have been on it ten years ago, and it would have been in a really different order. One film in particular stands out to me as being in a completely different spot now than it would have been ten years ago, and I'm reminded by that quote from Barry in High Fidelity, is it in fact unfair to criticize a once great artist for his latter day sins? I'll let you guess what film I'm referring to.

And as I've said before, these lists are subjective. This list is in no way meant to be the definitive list of greatest films ever made, but just my list of personal favorites. So I figured I would share my list with you my dear readers (or maybe it's just reader) for several reasons. One, because I'm a pretentious geek and I need to validate my list to myself by sharing it with you so I feel important. But really, I figure if I am going to write reviews and offer my own opinion and criticism then you should know where I am coming from as far as my taste in film. If you know what kind of films I like and why I like them then it will help validate to not only the reader, but to myself why I like or dislike a film I may watch or write about.

Plus I hope that it will start a conversation and debate about these particular films and your own opinions of them. And maybe it will get you to think about your own favorites so that we could share, compare, and debate who is right and wrong. Maybe I have some films on this list that you haven't seen and it will inspire you to seek them out and find new films to watch. Whatever comes of it, I hope you enjoy reading this. I'm going to reveal them in groups of ten, working backwards until we get to number one.

So without further adieu, let us begin!


#100 His Girl Friday (1940)

This is one of the best screwball comedies staring one of my favorite actors Cary Grant. Cary Grant could do it all from drama to comedy to thriller. He had a certain charisma to him that made him likable in every roll. The closest we have to him today I think would be George Clooney. They have that certain mix of charm and good looks that just screams movie star.

The story focuses on two reporters played by Grant and Rosalind Russell who are both in the news paper business and about to divorce so that Russell can move away with her new love and leave the business and start a new life. Grant will do whatever it takes to keep her around and ends up putting her on a story that turns out to be the biggest the city has seen in quite some time. Meanwhile Grant's character Walter Burns comes up with all sorts of mischief to try and sabotage Russell's new relationship so he can get her to stay.



The movie is full of quick witty dialogue and slapstick humor. It was directed by Howard Hawks who was one of the original giants of old Hollywood. The screwball comedy is a genre that has often tried to be imitated but hasn't had the same success as it did in the '30's and '40's. It's a film I feel still holds up and worth checking out.


#99 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)



Here's a movie that had a drastic effect on the future of special effects and lead to films like Star Wars being possible. Stanley Kubrick's film is definitely an acquired taste and could be difficult to watch. It's more of a visual poem than it is a traditional plot based story, but that is what makes it unique.

The movie follows the mysterious monolith that suddenly appears on Earth during the stone ages, then again in the future buried on the moon. When the moon monolith is discovered it sends a signal to another one located near Jupiter and an exploration to that planet is set to find the origins. Along on the mission is HAL-9000, the on board computer with a mission of it's own. The monotone voice of HAL helps the eeriness created for one of the most sadistic killers ever created for the screen.

The movie is asking questions of our existence. Where did we come from? Where did the universe come from? Is there life besides us out there? The psychedelic solar trip at the end of the film is one of the most unique effects created for a sci-fi film. The innovative camera work and special effects along with the use of classical music helps to tell the story in place of any dialogue, which is used sparingly throughout the film. It can be a hard film to watch, but Kubrick has undoubtedly created a masterpiece that needs to be seen to be appreciated.

#98 Adaptation (2002)


The second teaming of director Spike Jonze and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman along with fictional twin brother Donald Kaufman is a realistic if somewhat insane look at the life of a screenwriter. There are moments in this film I fully appreciate because of the realistic approach it takes to writing. The character of Charlie played by Nicholas Cage will do whatever it takes to procrastinate so that he doesn't have to write. It's nice to know that I'm not alone.

Nicholas Cage plays screenwriter Charlie Kaufman as well as his twin Donald. Charlie has just finished Being John Malkovich and he is given the assignment to adapt a novel about flowers. He struggles with how to tell the story and ends up enlisting the help of his brother who has a more Hollywood sensibility. After many struggles he ends up writing himself into the movie and the story ends up becoming the film within the film. Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper in an Oscar winning role play the characters within the film that Charlie is writing yet end up becoming real antagonists for Charlie and Donald.

The film is a really surrealistic approach to story telling and the writing process. Kaufman has a great sense of story structure that is truly complex and innovative. Cage gives one of the best performances in his career creating two completely different characters and pulling them off with great flare in his Oscar nominated role. Adaptation is a really trippy and fun movie. I would love to see another collaboration between Jonze and Kaufman again.

#97 Being John Malkovich

Speaking of Jonze and Kaufman, not only was this their first collaboration but it was their first film and they nailed it. The movie stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, Catherine Keener, and of course John Malkovich. Both Jonze and Kaufman have a unique and odd sense of story telling and their visions mix perfectly to create a fun and creative new story.

Cusack plays Craig, a puppeteer that is struggling to make it big so he is forced to take an office job with a company that is oddly located on the 7 1/2 floor of it's building. While filing away he discovers a portal behind a cabinet that leads into the mind of John Malkovich and while inside you get to see what he sees for a short period of time before being dumped out onto a turnpike outside the city. He shares this secret with his wife played by Cameron Diaz and the woman in the office he is attracted to played by Catherine Keener. An addiction and struggle over sharing this portal is created between the characters that leads to a surprising revelation about it's origins.

Like Adaptation, the story's structure is quite unique and complex. All sense of reality is thrown out and playing under their new rules Jonze and Kaufman are able to create a fantastic fable unlike anything else. It is completely original and inventive with great performances by all of the actors. Some might find it a bit too quirky but it's definitely worth checking out.

#96 Groundhog Day (1993)

What would you do if you were forced to live the same day over and over? That's the premise of this Harold Ramis comedy that stars Bill Murray as a weatherman who gets stuck living the same mundane moment over and over again.

The brilliance of this comedy is the length it goes to explore every possible thing you could do with a single day when you are forced to relive it. The story goes full circle, starting with confusion and anger and then acceptance and taking advantage of it. The set of scenes where Murray explores the different possible ways of dying, only to wake up fine the next morning is pretty damn funny.

There is a real heart and soul present in the story. Ultimately it's about finding a way to make things right in your life. Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell have great chemistry together. It's a clever story that offers a lot of laughs that holds up well. It definite must see every year on Groundhog Day.

#95 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)


This is the directorial debut by George Clooney with a script by Charlie Kaufman. Clooney brings an original visual style and gets great performances from his cast.

Sam Rockwell plays Chuck Barris, host to the '70's game show The Gong Show and who claimed to work as a secret agent for the CIA. Whether he really did this or made it all up doesn't matter. Clooney takes the approach that he really did do this to tell the story from Barris' point of view which makes for a more compelling and entertaining story. Rockwell is excellent in the leading roll and Drew Barrymore and Julia Roberts give great supporting roles. There are quite a few cool shots in the film like the long take of Barris taking the studio tour which chronicles the shift in time from his visit to his eventual employment in one single shot. Very clever and well executed. Not bad for a rookie director.

#94 Boogie Nights (1997)

A break through film from one of my favorite film makers, Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson writes a script full of complex multidimensional characters and he brings out the best from his actors with his direction.

Mark Wahlberg plays Dirk Diggler in this story that is loosely based on the life of porn legend John Holmes. He is a physically gifted kid who is lost in life but finds his calling as well as a new family in the porn industry. He becomes a huge star and eventually lets the fame and power destroy him as well as those around him. The large supporting cast that includes Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and William H. Macy give outstanding performances. Each character is fully drawn out and have their own story arc that make this film a thoroughly engaging look into the world of porn in the 1970's. It's some dark subject material but the story and direction are really excellent.

#93 Apocalypse Now (1979)

Based on the book "Hearts of Darkness," Francis Ford Coppola transfers the story and characters into the Vietnam War to tell an antiwar story and show the effects war has on man.

Martin Sheen plays Captain Willard, a man on the brink of madness himself who is hired for a secret mission to find another military man who has gone crazy, Colonel Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando, and is given the assingment of assassinating him. Along his journey he encounters a variety of interesting characters and some dark and violent battles. But it is the final interaction between Willard and Kurtz where the true madness of war is expressed.

It's a dark and complex film and can be a bit tough to watch at times, but it really is a remarkable achievement of filmmaking. There is a director's cut that was released in 2001 which I haven't seen yet that adds an hour to the film and fleshes out the characters more, but the original cut stands up just fine on it's own. The story of the production of the film is just as engaging, as documented in the film Hearts of Darkness. The madness of the characters spreads to the cast and crew that was truely cursed and would mark an unfortunate downward trend for director Francis Ford Coppola. Both films are worth checking out.

#92 Barton Fink (1991)

Another great film on the life of a writer. This was also the first of a long line of collaborations between writer/directors Joel & Ethan Coen and cinematographer Roger Deakins. Deakins camera work adds as much to the gloom and torture of the character as the script does.

John Turturro plays Barton Fink, a successful New York playwrite who is brought out to Hollywood to write the next big wrestling picture. He locks himself away in a hotel room and struggles to write the commercial work because of fear of sacrificing his intelectual side to his art. Fink strikes up a friendship with a neighbor in the hotel played by John Goodman, a traveling salesman who has a dark and mysterious side to him.

Fink goes a bit mad during the writing process and slowly begins to lose himself. The hotel room he stays in has a bit of a life of it's own. The wallpaper continues to slowly peel away and bleed out the glue holding it together. It's a strong metaphor for Fink and his struggles with trying to write something he's not passionate about. The lighting and photography of the room and the peeling wallpaper adds a great dimension to the story. The entire cast gives great performances in the usual Coen Brothers quirky way.

#91 The Big Lebowski (1998)

One of the best characters created by the Coen Brothers. I'm of course talking about the Dude.

Jeff Bridges plays "Dude" Lebowski, a drunken unemployed stoner who gets mistaken for a millionaire with the same name and dragged into a kidnapping and ransom ploy. All the Dude wants to do is bowl but his life gets turned upside down by this mix of odd characters he comes into contact with.

This is one of the funnier films from the Coens with many quotable lines. John Goodman, Steve Buscemi and John Turturro give great supporting performances, but it's Bridges who steals the show with his role of the Dude. He nails it perfectly and helps to create a truely iconic character. You don't roll on the Shabbos!

Well that's it for now. Thanks for reading along. I'll be back with the next set of ten soon. Until next time...

Monday, April 20, 2009

Sunshine Cleaning



Do you ever wonder what happens to the cool kids after high school?

Maybe it's a bit cliche but I feel that the cool kids are usually the ones that try extremely hard to hang on to that thing that made them feel and seem on top of the world and struggle to cope with the changes that occur after high school. And it's the nerds that usually didn't succeed with social endeavors but succeed academically and become wealthy and powerful in their post high school lives. I don't know if that is actually true or not, but it makes me wish I studied harder in high school. Not that I was in the cool crowd, but somewhere in between maybe. Either way, here I am floating through life trying to find my purpose. But I digress.

This is one of the themes that drives the character of Rose played by Amy Adams in the film Sunshine Cleaning. Rose was the head cheerleader in high school and dated the captain of the football team. Ten years after high school she is now cleaning the houses of her classmates and sneaking off to hotel rooms with the former football captain who is now married to another classmate.

Rose has had a series of missteps in her life and she is in a rut, not sure what exactly to do with her life. She is a single mother to a boy that she is forced to pull out of his school because of behavior problems. She is struggling to make ends meet and that is when her secret beau, played by Steve Zahn, suggests that she get into crime scene clean up because there is a lot of money to be made there. As small as this New Mexico town seems from all of the external photography, there really is a lot of bloody crime scenes to work.

Rose gets into business with her younger sister Norah, played by Emily Blunt. Norah has no job, no direction, and plenty of demons from her past to deal with. The real heart of this film is the relationship between the sisters Rose and Norah. Both have scars from a dark past that haunt them and have influenced the course of their lives in different ways. Working this business together gives them a chance to bond as well as find a way to reconcile their past and come to terms with their present lives.


The theme of older sibling taking care of troubled younger sibling has been done before so the story isn't really original but the characters are well drawn out and that it makes the story enjoyable. It's a theme that was explored in the producers last film Little Miss Sunshine to much better effect. However, I really enjoyed the chemistry between Emily Blunt and Amy Adams. Each actress added a lot of internal depth and anguish to the character that made the relationship feel real and authentic.

Alan Arkin, Steve Zahn, and Clifton Collins, Jr. round out a really good cast. The acting and characters are what made this film really enjoyable. There is a good balance of humor with some strong moments of sadness. There are some really disgusting crime scenes for them to clean up as well so it could be a little squeamish for some. I felt there were a few subplots that weren't really flushed out or concluded that left me with some unanswered questions. They were big enough for me to feel a little unfulfilled by the end of the film. I'm not sure if there were some scenes left on the editing room floor or they left them ambiguous on purpose, but I would have liked a little more closure.

Overall I would recommend this quirky independent film. The acting was really strong with some really well thought out characters. I wasn't blown away by it and it's nothing really original, but it was a fun movie none the less. It may not be playing in a lot of theatres but it's one you should seek out.

Monday, April 13, 2009

My Adventures with Netflix

Netflix loves me.

We have a two out at a time subscription with Netflix where I get one and Michelle gets one at a time. I think the record for me is having the same movie for three months before I've watched it. That's an expensive rental.

Recently I was trying to watch some of the Academy Award nominated films before the Oscar telecast but that didn't quite happen. I had one for two months I think and then I had Frozen River for a month before watching it. It was an interesting film and Melissa Leo's performance was good, but it wasn't worth holding onto for a month and missing out on other films.

Lately I've gotten better. I'm trying to take advantage of the subscription rather than waste the money away. Plus my Queue is full.

You can have up to 500 films in your queue and mine has consistently been full for over a year. I usually just add titles to help me remember that I want to see them eventually, but I'm always having to either delete titles because I just went ahead and bought it or I need to make a tough choice and eliminate something to make room for a new addition. Even today there are some titles in there that I know are crap but someday I may be in the mood to watch, like the Love Guru. Hey, it could be good. After all, the Kings make the Stanley Cup finals in the movie. That may be the closest I get to seeing that happen. Ah hell, who am I kidding? The movie is going to be bad and I know it, yet there it sits in my queue taking up space. Even if I were to watch a movie a week, and never add another title to my queue, it's going to take me ten years to watch all of them. I guess we all have to have goals don't we? At my rate though, it's going to be more like 30 years.

But like I was saying, lately I've gotten better. I've actually had a few quick turn around lately. I got Rachel Getting Married and watched it right away.




This was not your typical Jonathan Demme film. He gets away from some of his signature character framing, like having the characters look directly into the camera when addressing other characters. Instead he goes for a more free roaming camera to let the action unfold naturally. The film had a real low budget feel to it, maybe even a documentary vibe, and at times felt improvised which added a sense of realism to it.

Anne Hathaway was good in her role of Kym, the recovering drug addict sister coming home for Rachel's wedding. The tension between her and her family was quite thick, and it takes some time to fully realize what incidents from the past are still pulling at this family and the lingering effects they have. Nothing is ever really drilled into your head, all the emotions and conflicts are left to unravel naturally so that you can discover them yourself and that adds a lot of tension and suspense to the story. There are moments of comedy as well as sadness, but it is all balanced quite well and it makes for a very enjoyable story.




The plot is pretty simple, but like with most independent films this is about the characters and not the story. The entire cast does an amazing and believable job. I would highly recommend this film for it's performances alone, as well as some good writing.

And speaking of character pieces, the next film I watched pretty quickly was Happy-Go-Lucky. This is the latest from Mike Leigh, writer and director of Vera Drake, Topsy-Turvy, Secrets & Lies, and Naked. I really hadn't heard anything about this film until the Golden Globes when actress Sally Hawkins won for Actress in a comedy. It also went on to get a nomination at the Oscars for original screenplay.


Hawkins plays Poppy, an extremely outgoing woman who looks to bring out the light in everyone she comes across. She's a thirty year old grade school teacher who is single and lives with her best friend Zoe. She's traveled the world, loves her friends, loves her job, and is really happy with her life. When her younger sister who is married and pregnant asks when she is going to settle down she really doesn't have an answer. There is no reason to, she has everything she wants and makes the best of what she doesn't.

Her exuberance at times was a bit over the top. She is constantly kidding around and trying to get others to laugh along with her. Her energy is contagious amongst her best friends and could be very humorous at times, but there were moments it was a bit wearing on me. But I think that is the point of the character when ultimately her actions towards those around her have a negative outcome near the end of the film.


Her fun nature is innocent and she means nothing but good things, but in the end she gets a glimpse of how her attitude and actions could be misinterpreted in a harmful way. It is in this one climatic moment that we get to see the serious side of Poppy, but even after that and she sees the hurt she has caused, she is able to shrug it off and go on with her life and once again get the positive out of a bad situation. It's a wonderful trait to have to always be able to be positive and fun natured to make everyone around you happy and upbeat, but it could be positively draining as well.

I thought Hawkins gave a great energetic performance and the character was well written. There were some good funny lines, but there were some that I also missed because the English accent was a bit thick at times and I'm sure I missed a few lines here and there. Overall it was an enjoyable film with quite a few laughs. If you are looking for a quirky comedy I would recommend it.

Well I got through those two films pretty quick. I'm going on a week now holding on to my most recent acquisition from Netflix. Hopefully I don't waste this one away, but as soon as I get through it I will let you all know. So until next time...

Monday, April 6, 2009

I Know It All

Greetings and welcome to my blog.

I've been toying with the idea for a while of starting one up. I tried for a while over at myspace but I just never kept up with it. Maybe things will be different here.

The idea of having a blog has always been a bit weird to me. At first a lot of the blogs I would read were just like public diaries. I doubt anybody really cares how I spent my day, nor do I really care in sharing the details with you. Lately the world of blogs has expanded and become quite useful. Some have quite the journalistic vibe to them and have been used for great power.

As political as I can be, I highly doubt I'll be doing any of that here.

So what will I be using my blog for? Well to write about movies of course. If there is one thing I am passionate about it is film. I love to watch, analyze and discuss about anything to do with film. I'll write about some of the films I've seen recently, some I've been wanting to see, and other various discussions about different aspects of film. Maybe I'll get others invloved to help me out. I have a few ideas already that I want to try out and write about, but I'll get to that later.

So what makes me qualified to write about film? Well nothing really. I'm just a film lover like many of you. Although I have worked for far too many years in one video store or another, and that has given me an opportunity to watch lots and lots of movies. Lots of them mediocre, some quite good. I've taken several film classes and writing classes, but that means nothing when it comes down to it. Art is so subjective. You either like it or you don't, and often times your reasons for your like or dislike comes from a very personal background that you bring with you at all times when watching a film or listening to a song or reading a poem or looking at a painting. Your reasons for likeing something will differ than my reasons for liking it, and vice versa. But that angle for discussing and disecting something often times leads to very engaging and informative discussions. It helps to see things in the story or acting that I may not have thought of or seen.

In the end that is what I want. I want to get into lively discussions about various films, old and new, so that I may see them in a whole new light and in the end perhaps it will help me become a better writer myself. I hope you find this blog informative, engaging, and fun, and I implore anyone reading to please participate in sharing your opinions and offering any ideas you may like to see or contribute with as well.

So to start things off I figure I'll offer up my opinion of the most recent film I've seen in theatres: Knowing.





There was really only one reason I wanted to see this film and that was because it was directed by Alex Proyas. Proyas is one of the many directors like David Fincher, Spike Jonze, and Michel Gondry that came from the world of music videos. They have a wonderful sense of the visual medium and what the camera is capable of doing. I was a big fan of Proya's first two films, The Crow and Dark City, but I felt I, Robot was kind of lacking so I was hoping for a much better outing this time.

The premise is that Nicholas Cage's son's school participates in an event where they dig up a time capsule from students of the same school from 50 years prior and his son receives a drawing on it with nothing but a bunch of numbers. Cage, being a briliant professor in astronomy and lecturing on things like randomness in the universe, finds that the numbers on the sheet are not random at all, but instead contain the dates of all of the biggest disasters of the last 5o years, including how many die and the latitude and longitude of each event. The scary part is that there are still three events that have yet to occur, and the last one is only the date and is missing the rest.



There is plenty of cool effects and action scenes that keep the film entertaining. The suspense is strong and I really didn't quite know where the film was going and I was actually pleased with it's outcome. There are a few scary guys that appear occasionally that kind of came out of nowhere and offered a really creepy element to the film. At first I thought it was just random but they do serve a purpose for the ending which I liked, and it seems that the ending is what is really upseting so many people. Without giving anything away, from talking to people and reading reviews, it's the ending the ruins it for some. I'll just say I did not mind it at all and I thought it worked perfect for the story.

There are quite a few different themes that are explored and I thought some of it was very similar to Dark City, which is probably why I enjoyed it. It is, afterall, a sci-fi film. One of the things the film explores is our place in the universe, and if we are alone or not. Like Dark City, this film offers up the opinion that we are not alone, but it also shows the interest an alien society would have with us and how fascinated they are by our behavior. We are definitely an interesting species and the things that make us unique are a wonder to behold, such as the idea of whether or not we have a soul and what that means. This was a theme that was the driving force in Dark City and it is again apparent here in Knowing, but just not to the same extent.

And that brings up another of the theme's present in the film, that of faith. Cage is a man of science and the son of very religious man, in fact he's the son of a priest. Cage lost his wife a year ago and has been having a hard time coming to terms with the knowledge of a God that would do this to him. In a way this theme is very similar to that of Signs. The characters in both films are dealing with the same crisis of faith and really in a way facing the same conflicts that they must overcome. The final event is definitely a thing of science and something explainable and unavoidable, but the people of faith will approach it as the work of God punishing man. Without trying to give too much else away I'll just say that I enjoyed the final event and I thought it was handled appropriately, as well as the character's final resolution with his faith and place in the world.

There were times when the dialogue could have come across as quite cheesy and over the top, as well as some of the events, but I think Alex Proyas handled them quite well. There is enough balance of action, suspense and terror to make the film thrilling and fun. If you are not a fan of sci-fi then you may find some of the elements ridiculous and bad, but if you go in with an open mind then I think it's a fun popcorn film. Nothing earth shattering or original by any means, but a fun night at the movies.

Well that's it for now. Thanks for reading, and please leave me some comments and feedback. Until next time...