« April 2005 | Main | June 2005 »
May 29, 2005
Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events DVD
Liam Aiken .... Klaus Baudelaire
Emily Browning .... Violet Baudelaire
Kara and Shelby Hoffman .... Sunny Baudelaire
Jude Law .... Lemony Snicket (voice)
Timothy Spall .... Mr. Poe
Catherine O'Hara .... Justice Strauss
Billy Connolly .... Uncle Monty
Meryl Streep .... Aunt Josephine
Jim Carrey .... Count Olaf
Luis Guzmán .... Bald, Thickset Henchman
Jamie Harris .... Hook-Handed Henchman
Jennifer Coolidge .... White Faced Woman #1
Jane Adams .... White Faced Woman #2
Cedric the Entertainer .... The Detective
John Dexter .... Gustav
Wayne Flemming .... Captain Sam
Craig Ferguson .... Person of Indeterminate Gender (uncredited)
Dustin Hoffman .... The Critic (uncredited)
I don't know why, but it seems as if I'm going through a movie drought right now. The past few movies I've watched have been underwhelming.
Despite the appearance of some pretty big named talent in this movie (one gets the feeling that they agreed to be in it so that their kids or grandkids could see them in something), it's not really very entertaining.
Unless you like Jim Carrey's schtick. In which case, you'll be entertained.
I felt like the movie was way too long at 1 hr and 45 minutes. It wasn't interesting enough to keep my attention. Instead of using the main source material from the first three books and aspects of the other books, why not just focus on one plot? I think I would've been more intrigued by that. Of course, then we wouldn't have been able to see Jim Carrey "act" like a whole bunch of different characters.
The DVD had a featurette about Jim Carrey and another featurette that dealt with costumes for his characters. There was also a small feature that showed how to the director cast the children. I didn't even bother with the commentary. The deleted scenes were fun. The outtakes were mainly Jim Carrey's improvising stuff, so you can guess my thoughts on that.
I wouldn't bother renting this unless you've read the books and want to see how it compares.
Posted by xinh at 11:26 PM | Comments (3)
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou DVD
Bill Murray .... Steve Zissou
Owen Wilson .... Ned Plimpton
Cate Blanchett .... Jane Winslett-Richardson
Anjelica Huston .... Eleanor Zissou
Willem Dafoe .... Klaus Daimler
Jeff Goldblum .... Alistair Hennessey
Michael Gambon .... Oseary Drakoulias
Noah Taylor .... Vladimir Wolodarsky
Bud Cort .... Bill Ubell
Seu Jorge .... Pelé dos Santos
Robyn Cohen .... Anne-Marie Sakowitz
Waris Ahluwalia .... Vikram Ray
Niels Koizumi .... Bobby Ogata
Pawel Wdowczak .... Renzo Pietro
I hate when the trailers for movies make you think the movie is going to be one thing and then you watch it and find that it's completely the opposite.
This is what happened with this movie.
The trailers make you think this is going to be a comedy. Maybe not a Caddyshack type of funny, but certainly like a Groundhog Day type of funny.
This movie is neither.
What this movie is is boring. It's basically a bunch of kooky, mixed up, and dyfunctional characters all put together. And we, the viewing audience, get to watch them interact with each other and try to work out their idosynchrocies.
*yawn*
There are some good performances. Willem Dafoe cracked me up as Klaus, the German sidekick who starts to get that "Older Child" syndrome when his father figure gets a younger "son." Angelica Houston pretty much rocks the part of Steve Zissou's long suffering wife, even though she's not on screen much.
The DVD contains featurettes about the director (Wes Anderson) and some deleted/extended scenes (the one with Klaus on fire while running from the pirates cracked me up!). I think there's more stuff on the other disc but I don't have that one since I didn't bother to get it from Netflix.
The commentary sucked. Or I should say, the 15 minutes of it that I could handle. The co-writers and the director felt the need to record their commentary track at a coffee shop in which they spend most of their time while writing this movie. That's all fine and dandy but you could hear other people talking, dishes clanking, chairs scrapping, etc. It was way too noisy and it was hard to hear what the guys were saying. No way should a commentary be that difficult to listen to.
If you enjoyed Rushmore or The Royal Tennenbaums (all directed by Wes Anderson and all have the same feel as this movie), then you'll probably enjoy this movie. Unfortunately, I didn't.
Posted by xinh at 11:19 PM | Comments (1)
May 23, 2005
Unleashed
Jet Li .... Danny
Morgan Freeman .... Sam
Kerry Condon .... Victoria
Bob Hoskins .... Bart
Action packed and bittersweet at the same time, Unleashed follows the story of Danny, a man raised like a dog by Bart and used by Bart as a killing machine.
I think it goes without saying that fight scenes in a Jet Li movie are spectacular. This one is no exception. Jet Li pounces, attacks, kicks, and punches his way around the screen, dispatching his foes one by one.
The rest of the story is bittersweet and poignant (and yes, I cried at the end) and well acted by everyone involved. Jet Li shows great range as he portrays Danny going from docile to dangerous in the care of Bart to semi-normal in the care of Sam and Victoria.
There were several things that, to me, rang very untrue, which took away my enjoyment of the movie a bit.
How is it that Danny is this great fighter when no one's trained him to be? We're led to believe that Bart has kept him locked up like an animal so we're also supposed to believe that he just somehow grew into a great fighter? I guess it's possible that part of the collar on and off training also included fight training, but how realistic is that?
Also, when the big fight brouhaha is happening, why didn't any of the neighbors call the police? I mean, it's not as if Sam and Victoria were living in the slums or anything where people might look the other way at some violence. Then again, these are also the neighbors who didn't complain when Victoria felt the need to play the piano with Danny at 2am.
The other thing that got me was that the movie is supposed to take place in Glasgow. Apparently, there were a couple of signs that mentioned Glasgow. I guess I missed those. But you'd think that I'd have heard at least one or two Scottish accents, right? Nope, not a one. But then again, I am an American so distinguishing UK accents isn't my forte.
Overall, I'd say see it on DVD if you get a chance. If you liked Léon (or The Professional as it was known in the US), then you'll probably enjoy this movie, as it was written by the same guy (Luc Besson) and has many of the same themes running through it.
Posted by xinh at 03:52 AM | Comments (1)
May 18, 2005
Kicking and Screaming
us rated PG
95 Minutes
Directed by
Jesse Dylan
_____________________________
Meat first!
I'm gonna be quick.
Very few movies make me laugh out loud in the theatre but this one had me snickering audibly on at least 5 or 6 occasions.
I love Will Ferrel. He has a certian kind of comedy that can be repetitious to some but I've loved his stuff since Saturday Night Live and his skits with Molly Shannon.
Basically this is the story of a man who's never won anythign in his life who has a father that's all about winning and competition. When Will's character's son get's traded to another (loser) team, Will steps in as a coach and quickly learns that...his team really really sucks wind.
Mike Ditka, sworn enemy and neighbour of uber competitive grandfather get's roped in to a) piss off grandpa and b) whip the team into shape.
Eventually Will's character goes from being happy to just have fun... to being a total winning maniac like his father. The team starts winning (especially when they recruit some Italian brothers) and make it to the championship game.
la la la love and happy endings everyone's a winner. It's a good family film. Not to mention it had previews for Harry Potter and Bewitched. oooh yeah.
Posted by prism at 10:04 PM
Movie: House of Wax 2005
us rating R
105 minutes
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
superstars:
Elisha Cuthbert (girl next door, Love actually), Chad Michael Murray (Freaky Friday, A Cinderella Story), Brian Van Holt (Black Hawk Down, Man of the House), Paris Hilton (duh), Jared Padalecki (Gilmore Girls, New York Minute), etc etc etc....
____________________________________________________--
I see wax people!
I admit it. I was sucked into the movie because I wanted to see what Paris Hilton could do besides lounging around looking like a sexpot millionaire.
Here's the run down.
A group of friends get lost out of their way taking a 'short cut' to some big football playoff and wind up having to spend the night in some random field.
Cue in scary dude in a truck, mysterious smells, someone's car breaking down and random hillbilly taking them to the nearest town for spare part. Insert mysterious wax museum that's closed down, nosey teenagers poking around where they shouldn't be poking around and you've got yourself an instant 'horror' flick.
I admit it. I did like the movie. I did successfully get creeped out but only during the end scene when people started getting chased around in melting wax by crazy serial killer brothers.
I saw this movie alone in an empty theatre so for those of you who may be thinking this is a totally 'scary' movie... it's not. I did perfectly fine and I'm a wuss. It's more of a thriller than anything--the usual predicable 'college student' type film. 'college student' meaning I would lable this as a late highschool/college esque audience film.
(((sort of spoiler)))
Once again I was irritated by the fact that no one questioned the presence of the mysterious hillbilly who drove them to the town. He said he was working in some other town but dumped his roadkill in the area....you would think that he would have some idea the whole town was made of wax and was totally fake.
I was a bit dissapointed by the ending.
Worth watching if you're killing time and enjoy tame thrilling 'horror' movies.
oh yeah and Paris dying was gross!
Posted by prism at 09:38 PM
May 14, 2005
Elektra
Jennifer Garner .... Elektra
Goran Visnjic .... Mark Miller
Kirsten Prout .... Abby Miller
Terence Stamp .... Stick
Colin Cunningham .... McCabe
Will Yun Lee .... Kirigi
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa .... Roshi
Natassia Malthe .... Typhoid
Bob Sapp .... Stone
Chris Ackerman .... Tattoo
Edson T. Ribeiro .... Kinkou
Good fight scenes but that's it.
Plot and story lines are way too disjointed. The filmmakers touch on one subject, only to pull back and not provide any answers, and then move on to another subject.
Crappy acting. Lots of scenery chewing and lots of character development that just goes flat.
Action scenes are artful and exciting. They make use of Jennifer Garner's already acquired fighting skills (from working on Alias). Good special effects, especially the tattoos.
What saves this from getting 4 pitchforks is that Goran Visnjic looks good in this movie and Jennifer Garner is HOT. I was coveting her hair during the movie plus the make up job on her eyes. Smokin'!
The DVD has a few extras. The standard "making of" documentary, plus some deleted scenes, which aren't really that exciting. There's a feature called "Inside the Editing Studio" in which the Director shows you clips of the film. Which makes no sense because it's not as if those scenes weren't in the film. I could understand if that feature was broadcast somewhere before the movie came out, but it really shouldn't have been included on the DVD because it's pointless.
Overall, rent only if you're in the mood for an action movie low on plot and good acting. Otherwise, don't bother.
Posted by xinh at 12:44 AM | Comments (0)
May 11, 2005
The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Fury & The Chronicles of Riddick
Dark Fury
Vin Diesel .... Richard B. Riddick (voice)
Rhiana Griffith .... Jack (voice)
Keith David .... Abu 'Imam' al-Walid (voice)
Roger L. Jackson .... Junner (voice)
Tress MacNeille .... Chillingsworth (voice)
Nick Chinlund .... Toombs (voice)
Chronicles of Riddick
Vin Diesel .... Riddick
Alexa Davalos .... Kyra
Keith David .... Imam
Colm Feore .... Lord Marshal
Thandie Newton .... Dame Vaako
Karl Urban .... Vaako
Linus Roache .... Purifier
Judi Dench .... Aereon
Yorick van Wageningen .... The Guv
Nick Chinlund .... Toombs
I really wish I had gone for the trifecta of Pitch Black, Dark Fury, and Chronicles all at once so I could give you a review of all of them at once. Netflix, oddly enough, has the Director's Cut version of Chronicles but not the Theatrical Release and only has the Theatrical Release of Pitch Black but not the Director's Cut.
[whiny Netflix nitpick] I wish Netflix would either just have one version of a movie on DVD or start carrying both versions if a movie has one. It makes no sense to have the director's cut but not the theatrical release for one movie and vice versa for another.[/wnn].
Dark Fury is an animated short (directed by the guy who animated Aeon Flux) that's supposed to bridge the gap between Pitch Black and Chronicles. I'm unclear as to why people needed that bridge because I felt that the 5 year gap was explained well enough in Chronicles, but then again, maybe I was the only one paying attention in the theatre when it first came out.
In Dark Fury, Jack (who becomes Kyra), Imam and Riddick are captured by a mercenary ship governed by a weird chick who views killing as art and therefore has caputured a bunch of wanted criminals and put them into a sort of cryo sleep and has them on display. Her ultimate conquest is Riddick and she puts him to the killing test, using Imam and Jack/Krya as bait. Naturally, Riddick kills the bad guys and they get away but one of the "Mercs" vows to find Riddick.
The animation is very reminiscient of Aeon Flux, so if you liked that style, then you'll enjoy this animation. I found it a little too animé for my tastes, but it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the short.
I will take a moment to insert a little squee! here over Vin Diesel's voice. YUM! In the live action movie, you're concentrating more on the visual of Vin so his voice gets lost. But when you're watching something animated, his deep gravelly voice just comes barrelling out at you and yowsah!
Overall, it's a pretty decent flick, if an unnecessary one.
The DVD has a nice little behind the animation feature about the movie and one about the director. It also has the full movie in animatic version so you can watch both it and the movie and compare (which, yes, I did).
In Chronicles, the movie finds Riddick 5 years later, on the run from the Merc from Dark Fury, Toombs. Riddick finds out it was Imam who put the bounty on him and he goes to where Imam lives to find out why. Turns out, Imam did it at the urging of Aereon, an Elemental, who is seeking to bring balance to the universe by getting rid of the Necromongers. Necromongers are a race of religious beings who go planet to planet, conquering worlds. They make the people of those worlds convert to the Necromonger way. Those who don't are left on the planet but then the planet is destroyed. Riddick gets drawn into the fight against the Necromongers when the Lord Marshall orders him to be killed.
Okay. For people who were expecting Pitch Black 2: Riddick vs. Alien, those people were sorely disappointed. Where Pitch Black was a Sci-Fi Alien movie, Chronicles is a Sci-Fi Action Epic. The Director's Cut has added scenes explaining Riddick's background as a Furyan a tiny bit more (just a smidge though), bloodier battle and fight scenes, more action scenes during the Prison sequence, and a slightly different ending.
The extended scenes do help clear up some of the unanswered questions that were there when you viewed the theatrical release. Some of the uneven editing is also cleaned up as well.
The special effects are still amazing, especially those involving the Lord Marshall. The action and fight scenes kick ass, especially now that they're a bit bloodier.
There are still way too many plot lines going on in the movie. Riddick vs. the Mercs. Riddick vs. the Necromongers. Riddick vs. the Prison and then vs. the Sun. The Necromongers are supposed to be the Big Bad yet the Director feels the need to pull the audience out of that story line right in the middle and put us into a whole different story line. It's no wonder the movie was over 2 hours long.
Overall an enjoyable sequel.
The DVD opens with 2 options: Convert or Fight. Either option takes you to the same features which was disappointing. I expected the Convert option to have stuff about the Necromongers and Fight to have stuff about everything else. That would've been cool.
There's an easter egg that gives a quick behind the scenes look at a fight scene between Riddick and the Lord Marshall. There's also a couple behind the scenes vignettes. One with Vin Diesel showing off some of the sets and a standard "interview with everyone to generate buzz" extra. There's also a series of explanitory featurettes to let you know who all the people are and what not (i.e., an explanation of Helion Prime; who the Elementals are; etc.). The standard commentary with Director and Actors is there as well. Unfortunately not with Vin; it's with the Director, the girl who played Kira, and Karl Urban (who referenced Lord of the Rings a lot).
The best extra though, has to be what I like to call the Pop Up Video™ extra. When you activated this feature, during the movie, little tidbits of information popped up. Stuff like background information about the characters or stuff about what happened during filming or things about the actors. I love shit like that.
And if you kept count, yes I watched this movie 3 times.
Posted by xinh at 01:08 AM | Comments (0)
May 07, 2005
Kingdom of Heaven
Orlando Bloom .... Balian
Liam Neeson .... Godfrey
David Thewlis .... Hospitaler
Eva Green .... Sibylla
Edward Norton .... King Baldwin
Jeremy Irons .... Tiberias
Marton Csokas .... Guy de Lusignan
Brendan Gleeson .... Reynald
Alexander Siddig .... Nasir
Ghassan Massoud .... Saladin
Very underwhelming movie.
I didn't read a whole lot of press or see a bunch of specials about this movie before seeing it so I had no real expectations.
Quite honestly, I was pretty Meh during the whole thing.
First, the pacing is slow. It takes a while for anything worthwhile to happen. Normally, I turn off my cell phone during movies, but about an hour into this movie, I turned it on and made sure the ringer was off because I needed to see the time. I kept looking at the time to figure out when the big climactic battle scene was going to happen. And even during the final battle scene, I kept checking the time to see when it was going to end.
Second, some of the actors are just wasted in their roles. Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons are great actors but they have so little to do in this movie. Unknowns or less famous name actors could've just as easily fit into their spots. That's not to say that Neeson and Irons didn't act the hell out of those parts. Orlando Bloom was okay. I wasn't moved by his performance but he didn't totally suck and at least he had better chemistry with his leading lady in this movie than he did in Troy.
Finally, there are just all kinds of issues I have with character motivation that I can't go into without spoiling the movie. Don't even get me started on why French Knights sound like English Knights.
There are however, some great small fight scenes. To me, those were better than the bigger battle scenes. There are also some very beautiful location and scenery shots. Amazingly gorgeous vistas and sweeping wide shots.
Overall, I'd say go see it in the theatre to experience the battle scenes on the big screen but don't pay full price for it. Or, if you've got a decent home system, just wait for the DVD.
Posted by xinh at 11:39 PM | Comments (1)
May 05, 2005
I, Robot
Will Smith .... Del Spooner
Bridget Moynahan .... Susan Calvin
Alan Tudyk .... Sonny
James Cromwell .... Dr. Alfred Lanning
Bruce Greenwood .... Lawrence Robertson
Adrian Ricard .... Granny (as Adrian L. Ricard)
Chi McBride .... Lt. John Bergin
Fiona Hogan .... V.I.K.I.
"Suggested by" the book by Isaac Asimov.
The book was a collection of short stories (review here) so the movie really only takes concepts and ideas and some characters from the book to tell the story of a detective who investigates the suicide of the head of a robotics company.
Waaaaay back before we had this lovely review site, I did a review of the movie on my blog.
I still hold to that review but after viewing it again (and again with the director and writer commentary), I would up the acting factor.
Bridget Moynahan portrays the icy scientist who's happier among robots than people exceptionally well. Will Smith gives the right amount of sadness to his tortured cop.
The action is still fast and furious with amazing special effects to knock your socks off.
The DVD doesn't offer much by way of extras. Because there weren't any re-shoots for this movie, there are no extra or deleted scenes. There's a "making of" feature, which you could've seen if you had HBO. The commentary track with the director and writer is slightly boring because they don't really offer any tidbits (other than the fact that they didn't reshoot any scenes) that you didn't already get from the "making of" feature.
Overall, I'd say rent it if you've got the time but don't expect anything special on the DVD.
Posted by xinh at 11:12 PM | Comments (0)
Exorcist: The Beginning
Stellan Skarsgård .... Father Merrin
Izabella Scorupco .... Sarah
Patrick O'Kane .... Bession
James D'Arcy .... Father Francis
Remy Sweeney .... Joseph
Andrew French .... Chuma
Ben Cross .... Semelier
David Bradley .... Father Gionetti
Alan Ford .... Jeffries
Eddie Osei .... Emekwi
Israel Aduramo .... Jomo
Julian Wadham .... Major Granville
I find it ironic that all the movies I've reviewed that deal with religious subject matter have gotten more pitchforks than halos.
This DVD had absolutely no extras! And I'll tell you why. Because the director who originally had been hired to direct the movie didn't give the studio the gore-fest they wanted, so they fired him and brought in another director. The new director re-shot 90% of the movie.
This re-shoot would explain the crappiness that is this movie. Quite honestly, there was no reason for this movie. Did we really need Father Merrin's backstory? Not really, but we're getting it anyways.
The problem is that the Big Bad that Father Merrin fights isn't even The Devil. It's some minor league demon. Big whoop. And in between big gory blood lettings, there's a lot of people just walking around dark places looking scared. Seriously. I fast forwarded through 10 minutes of no dialogue, just one guy walking around in a dark church, looking at frescoes on the wall. *yawn*
Don't even bother with this movie unless you feel the need to have seen all the Exorcist movies.
Posted by xinh at 05:57 AM | Comments (2)
May 04, 2005
So Me by Graham Norton
TV's naughtiest presenter with an autobiography that actually may have been written by him.
This was a very easy read. His style is very conversational and friendly. He's led an interesting life, from growing up in Ireland, his first gay experience with a French exchange student, his struggle to accept his sexuality, travels to France, San Francisco (where he lived with a hippy commune) and getting his career break in London. Unusually, for celebrity autobiographies, he's very candid about his past relationships so you don't feel like you're missing a part of the story. The only thing missing is more stories about the guests on his show but maybe that's for book 2.
Recommended to fans and non-fans alike.
Posted by hurtling17 at 11:47 AM
May 03, 2005
Scarborough Bread
with a hint of sage rosemary and thyme......
This would be Hawkie's newest bread creation which I promised to review.
The Vegan Queen has struck again! She is always on the prowl for new recipes to appease her desires and she has, yet again, suceeded. (Not that she ever does not suceed.)
Her newest bread is the closest home made bread to Wonder Bread that I've ever tasted. In regards to lightness and fluffiness I mean. This in no way tastes like Wonder Bread. It's much better than Wonderbread could ever hope to be. It has a fantastic texture to toast which leaves it (again) light and crunchy. There's just enough herbs to give it a hint of flavour without over powering it. Slap some butter on it and sit back and take the time to slowly chew your way through it and gather up all the tastes as you go.
The best part of this bread is the potentials the recipe holds. She's already made (I've heard) a fabulous garlic bread out of this. She made a garlic cheese and herb bread with some cheddar that I got to try (along with the original). Did I say fabulous yet? Fabulous! You can adjust the amount of herbs so you can have a stronger flavour if you'd like. Ahhh, the limits only of the imagination!
Do I have the rcipe?
No.
She won't give it up.
However, I spied on her and I know that it includes flour, water, herbs and yeast. Okay, that wasn't very helpful, but I tried. ;)~
I think the Michigander's should demand that she make them 4 loaves and take it up to them this weekend.
I give this 16 million halos because if I don't Hawkie will kill me. Besides, this bread totally deserves it. Also, I do not have access to the code for the pic. Sorry.
Posted by dustbuffalo at 03:30 PM
May 02, 2005
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Martin Freeman .... Arthur Dent
Mos Def .... Ford Prefect
Sam Rockwell .... Zaphod Beeblebrox
Zooey Deschanel .... Trillian
Warwick Davis .... Marvin
Alan Rickman .... Marvin (voice)
Stephen Fry .... Narrator (voice)
Helen Mirren .... Deep Thought (voice)
John Malkovich .... Humma Kavula
Bill Nighy .... Slartibartfast
Anna Chancellor .... Questular Rontok
I liked it.
It made me laugh a lot, and I didn't even care that I was sometimes the only person laughing.
Every person was perfect in their role. I honestly can't think of a single negative thing about each person's performance. My only problem with the characters is that some of them weren't very fleshed out and were underused.
If you haven't ever read the books, there are some parts that aren't explained that make you go "huh?" Like why are towels so important? And you know, I couldn't explain it to you as I haven't read the book in a while and don't remember why towels are important.
For the most part though, even without knowledge of the book, the movie is easy to follow and everything is explained.
Go out and enjoy this movie.
Posted by xinh at 08:20 PM | Comments (0)