Got it Memorized?

19th May 2012

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Insomnia quick review

After seeing this, I’ve seen all of Christopher Nolan’s movies. This certainly wasn’t his best, but it was a good movie as I’ve come to expect from him. Nolan’s an intelligent and inventive director that manages to pierce the mainstream market, so I have a lot of respect for him. Insomnia is about a cop (Al Pacino) who is under fire in his own district, so he gets assigned to a case in an Alaskan town that’s all day sun in the summer, and moon all winter. It is summer, and for his reason, along with his conscious, our cop cannot sleep. Anybody who knows me knows I’m in no way a Pacino fan, but he turns in a great performance in a movie driven by the character performances. Hillary Swank and Robin Williams, in a serious role, are also great. The movie is classic noir and the blurring of reality and imagination that was greatly mysterious and fun. The very bittersweet ending also added to the movie. It’s certainly no “Memento”, but it is another enjoyable movie from Nolan, and it’s on instant Netflix, so why not watch it.
7.5/10

6th May 2012

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How to make the “Avatar” sequels not suck

While the story of the original was very lackluster and formulaic, the incredible visuals carried the movie to make it a watchable and possibly technologically influential movie in the industry (not so much as “2001: A Space Odyssey”) due to its sheer scale. Cameron created something with the first movie that has potential, but could also just, well, suck.

• Don’t try to carry on with dead characters

James Cameron created a world of his own with “Avatar”. We don’t need a continuation of the previous movie’s characters when there is so much to be explored. All of the characters have developed as much as a James Cameron character will develop. The sequels should not be just, “Hey we’re done being dynamic and all, so why don’t we get a Chinese tech studio to make cool pictures and  have us fuck shit up for 2 hours?”

• Try to make it thought provoking

It’s what science fiction does. The first was more of a take on greedy america and war fueled by big business, the implications of finding this whole new planet filled with life were barely present. That wasn’t the issue in the first, it could be in the second. People taking advantage of the body transfer process, maybe using it to live longer, there are possibilities to explore. The first movie left you salivating due to the graphics, with the development power behind these next ones, why can’t it do that along with give a little food for thought.

• If it can be risked, don’t make it a direct sequel, or a sequel at all

If Avatar was planned as a series, I’d say, “Go ahead, finish telling what you wanted to tell.” But the fact of the matter is that there are only sequels being made because of the financial success of the first (They’d have made a Titanic sequel if they didn’t write themselves into a hole with that whole boat sinking bit, amateurs). That being said, why do we need a direct sequel? People will love it as long as it’s pretty, have some freedom to develop. One of the things I admire about the Final Fantasy series is that it is developed by the same company with each iteration, is numbered in order, yet each manages to tell its own unique story line with new characters and worlds each time, it is not afraid to reinvent. At this point, anybody who hasn’t seen Avatar hasn’t done so because of choice, but still, something like this could encourage those who haven’t seen it that there’s no need to gain pleasure from the second. Maybe a few references to the original will keep audiences happy, and help a movie buff not be discouraged by the potentially dull sequel.

• Explore! Explore! Explore!

We’ve seen it all before, we want new! Take this planet you’ve got there, and make it whole. There are seven wonders on this world, there should be fourteen on Pandora. Why? Why not? The possibilities are there, they just need the right art directors and animators. This is science fiction here, remember, it’s new things or die. In most cases (Twilight Zone excluded, don’t even attempt to put Avatar on the same level), science fiction relies on its visuals to tell the story. Let us see bright visuals that 3d glasses won’t give a dull tone to, give us phenomena, give us what we want to see.

• Stop holding my hand for too long

Many people criticize voice-over and won’t watch movies with them. It’s lazy, it’s bad writing. I for one, favor voice-over in a lot of circumstances. Why would I want some annoying amnesiac or new kid in town wandering around asking questions for the audience until I feel no sympathy for the brainless lead when instead, a well written voice over can get me to the meaty stuff faster and painlessly? I see right through question characters. They are lazy writing. We know a lot about Pandora now. Tell me what’s changed right out front, as quickly as possible, and then show me the movie. I really feel a lot of the time that the movie doesn’t really start until the explaining is over, the world is ready for you to see. 

Face facts. Avatar was a beautifully dull movie. Its physical beauty will only carry it so far until we get bored of watching and want to see something truly important happen, or people speak real dialogue. Maybe this is just my views as a movie snob, nonetheless, would any of these things hurt the quality of the movie, I think not.

Tagged: AvatarJames CameronSequels2001: A Space OdysseySam WorthingtonSigourney Weaver

25th April 2012

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Movie Review #3 8 1/2

A less well known movie by classic Italian director Federico Fellini I watched this weekend on a car ride, not the most pleasant way to watch a movie, but I dealt. The movie is almost exclusively in Italian which may be a turn off for many people, and subtitles can be distracting. There are odd moments when people speak English which seems just a bit out of place, but not too strange, and can be a break from the constant reading.
The reading can be incessant because there is always people talking or shouting and interrupting or anything of the sorts. This is the point however. The movie is so much like real life where we’re constantly distracted, as in real life, we learn to filter these noises to get down to what’s important, which is just what the main character struggles with. If self-indulgence in movies if off putting to you, I’ll say right now, do not watch this movie. The main character, Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) is a fictionalized Fellini, a director struggling with apathy, something most everybody (you heard me you angsty teenagers) can relate to. He is currently directing a sci-fi movie that he has lost complete interest in, but a huge investment of money has already gone into the movie’s production and the studio is pushing him to begin filming. The movie follows him evading starting the filming, but it mostly follows Guido’s psychological journey, in a more modernist way.
Most movies portray dreams in such a way to torment the protagonist and haunt them of their decisions. While Guido does have some nightmares, notably the intro, a really curious beginning, his dreams are mostly a reprieve from his life of little substance. A complaint typical of the movie is that the narrative is disrupted because there’s always uncertainty over whether he is dreaming or awake, but for me, the distinction is easy. Guido lives in his dreams, he is happy, he is never overwhelmed, his dreams are where he lives, while his life is what he struggles to cope with.
There are so many memorable scenes and great technical moments that make you forget that this came out in ‘63. The opening dream sequence is an incredible introduction to the character’s mind and a very notable scene. Also a scene with Guido and many women in a brothel is brilliant and fun, and any time the town prostitute, Saraghrina, is on screen is brilliant, this women, oddly being one of the most interesting characters. All of the boys from the Catholic school pay her, a fifty some old woman, to dance for them. She’s old, unattractive, fat, and incredibly seductive to the point that all of the boys are mystified by her. She’s kinda reminiscent of Myrtle in The Great Gatsby. All of these scenes and characters are absolutely unforgettable and make this movie great.
This movie came into view to me when people told me it was similar to one of my favorite movies of all time, “Synecdoche, New York” (which I will review soon after I watch it again). It’s very possible that Synecdoche was inspired by this due to the similarities in it being about a struggling director trying to express only truth. But the movies each have their own merits and both are masterpieces (yes, I said it, a dead giveaway). Eight and a half touches so much psychologically that everybody thinks about and has a host of compelling characters that everybody can find some of the self in. The movie has technical achievement for its time and even a classic “Citizen Kane” like staple, “Asa Nisi Masa” which can be made Mean whatever you want. This movie is wonderful in every aspect and I cannot spread enough praise for it

Rating: 10/10

Tagged: Federico FelliniEight and a Halfgreat movies

20th April 2012

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It’d be nice

I just want someone who will watch movies with me all day, silently, just watching, we can talk afterwards, connect afterwards, but mostly just watch