Gunstar Super Heroes(dev. Treasure)
This was a fun game. The story was unnecessary and the bosses were ripped straight out of the original Gunstar Heroes. I enjoyed this quite a bit.
***1/2 out of ****
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Oh Bjork...
Dancer in the Dark(dir. Lars von Trier)
The directing for this movie is good, but the material sucks. The whole central event that sets everything in motion seems something out of a bad TV movie. Her stubborness to not reveal Bill's secret is frustrating and makes absolutely no sense? Why would you keep your promise to someone if they betray you? Especially in the situation she's in? Bjork's performance would have been heart-wrenching in a better film. Peter Stormare's performance is probably the one that got me the most because the love he displays to Selma. That part of the plot is quite effective and quite depressing. Her relationship with the prison guard was quite touching as well. The musical parts seemed to go on alittle too long, but that's how I feel about a lot of the musicals I've seen. They are a breath of fresh air from the bleak reality of the film. I was really loving this movie when she broke out in the song when the train rides by. I wished it retained that level of brilliance. Too bad. It's still decent mainly due to the performances and von Trier's directing.
**1/2 out of ****
The directing for this movie is good, but the material sucks. The whole central event that sets everything in motion seems something out of a bad TV movie. Her stubborness to not reveal Bill's secret is frustrating and makes absolutely no sense? Why would you keep your promise to someone if they betray you? Especially in the situation she's in? Bjork's performance would have been heart-wrenching in a better film. Peter Stormare's performance is probably the one that got me the most because the love he displays to Selma. That part of the plot is quite effective and quite depressing. Her relationship with the prison guard was quite touching as well. The musical parts seemed to go on alittle too long, but that's how I feel about a lot of the musicals I've seen. They are a breath of fresh air from the bleak reality of the film. I was really loving this movie when she broke out in the song when the train rides by. I wished it retained that level of brilliance. Too bad. It's still decent mainly due to the performances and von Trier's directing.
**1/2 out of ****
Monday, May 28, 2007
Oh Kate...
Little Children(dir. Todd Field)
It was a very visceral experience and I'm still trying to come up with an intrepretation that makes sense of it all. The film's greatest point is that it points out the phoniness not in just some of the character's actions on screen, but also the phoniness that is inherent of cinema. This is most obvious in a couple of scenes especially the whole ending segment and the narrator. The narrator delivers his lines in such a tongue in cheek way and most of his lines are pretty much bold faced lies. He describes Kate Winslet's character as "boyish" in a dry objective tone. Many critics have criticized this point because they most likely find Winslet attractive. I would definately not call her "boyish", but I would also not call her a "knockout." The narrator also describes a football game in the usual dry and objective tone that makes the whole scene seem like a satire of all those movies about football that try to inspire its audience with stories of perserverance(sic?) and hardship. It is easy to poke fun at this scene cuz these men are grown men living in suburbia playing football and taking it alittle too seriously. The narrator's false lines comes heavily in play at the end. You could pretty much say the film explodes in a similar way as a film like Magnolia explodes. The melodrama and emotion is set extremely high. The stories are "resolved." I say "resolved" mainly because you realize that nothing is truly "resolved" especially for Ronnie. How do we know everything is "resolved?" The narrator tells us. The characters' conflicts could not be resolved in such a short amount of time and could possibly never be resolved. The scenes that show the characters acting on their desires are probably the most disturbing in the bunch, but in a sense, liberating except Ronnie's concluding his date by masturbating. You could say the scene is exploitative, but it is easy to see why Field kept it in the film. If that scene was not in the film, his character would seem harmless and misunderstood. The scene where Ronnie goes to the pool for a swim is also a scene pointing out cinema's phoniness. Slant Magazine compares the scene to Jaws, which makes perfect sense. The tension is high during this scene, but why? It is broad daylight and parents are all around the pool. Could Ronnie possibly abduct a child or do something possibly worse? The only scene that rings false and not false in the way that these other scenes do is Kate Winslet's character showing up at Brad's game to root for him and the make-out sesh afterwards. The whole scene seems to undermine Winslet's character's intelligence and just seems absurd. Other than that, this movie is great.
**** out of ****
It was a very visceral experience and I'm still trying to come up with an intrepretation that makes sense of it all. The film's greatest point is that it points out the phoniness not in just some of the character's actions on screen, but also the phoniness that is inherent of cinema. This is most obvious in a couple of scenes especially the whole ending segment and the narrator. The narrator delivers his lines in such a tongue in cheek way and most of his lines are pretty much bold faced lies. He describes Kate Winslet's character as "boyish" in a dry objective tone. Many critics have criticized this point because they most likely find Winslet attractive. I would definately not call her "boyish", but I would also not call her a "knockout." The narrator also describes a football game in the usual dry and objective tone that makes the whole scene seem like a satire of all those movies about football that try to inspire its audience with stories of perserverance(sic?) and hardship. It is easy to poke fun at this scene cuz these men are grown men living in suburbia playing football and taking it alittle too seriously. The narrator's false lines comes heavily in play at the end. You could pretty much say the film explodes in a similar way as a film like Magnolia explodes. The melodrama and emotion is set extremely high. The stories are "resolved." I say "resolved" mainly because you realize that nothing is truly "resolved" especially for Ronnie. How do we know everything is "resolved?" The narrator tells us. The characters' conflicts could not be resolved in such a short amount of time and could possibly never be resolved. The scenes that show the characters acting on their desires are probably the most disturbing in the bunch, but in a sense, liberating except Ronnie's concluding his date by masturbating. You could say the scene is exploitative, but it is easy to see why Field kept it in the film. If that scene was not in the film, his character would seem harmless and misunderstood. The scene where Ronnie goes to the pool for a swim is also a scene pointing out cinema's phoniness. Slant Magazine compares the scene to Jaws, which makes perfect sense. The tension is high during this scene, but why? It is broad daylight and parents are all around the pool. Could Ronnie possibly abduct a child or do something possibly worse? The only scene that rings false and not false in the way that these other scenes do is Kate Winslet's character showing up at Brad's game to root for him and the make-out sesh afterwards. The whole scene seems to undermine Winslet's character's intelligence and just seems absurd. Other than that, this movie is great.
**** out of ****
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Oh Denzel?...
Deja Vu(dir. Tony Scott)
Preposterous and cheesy. Got kind of exciting near the end and ended perdictably. Denzel's wierd facial expressions were gold. It was OK.
** out of ****
Preposterous and cheesy. Got kind of exciting near the end and ended perdictably. Denzel's wierd facial expressions were gold. It was OK.
** out of ****
Friday, May 25, 2007
Oh Bogie...
In a Lonely Place(dir. Nicholas Ray)
I feel this is Bogart's best performance. He seems better suited to a weathered cynical bastard then an "attractive" cynical bastard. One of the problems with The Big Sleep and one of the most interesting parts about it is how pretty much all the women in the film threw themselves at Bogart, who is definately not the most attractive guy around. Went on for too long. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
I feel this is Bogart's best performance. He seems better suited to a weathered cynical bastard then an "attractive" cynical bastard. One of the problems with The Big Sleep and one of the most interesting parts about it is how pretty much all the women in the film threw themselves at Bogart, who is definately not the most attractive guy around. Went on for too long. It's a masterpiece.
**** out of ****
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Oh Jingfan Hu...
Springtime in a Small Town(dir. Tian Zhuangzhuang)
A lovely movie. The two actresses easily steal the show. The scene where Liyan dresses his wife's hand wound is unbelievably beautiful. It is a tad too long and some scenes drag, but it is amazing nonetheless.
**** out of ****
A lovely movie. The two actresses easily steal the show. The scene where Liyan dresses his wife's hand wound is unbelievably beautiful. It is a tad too long and some scenes drag, but it is amazing nonetheless.
**** out of ****
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Oh Maborosi...
Maborosi(dir. Hirokazu Koreeda)
I really enjoy non-narrative films like these. I absolutely adored All About Lily Chou-Chou until the last half hour or so of the film. This film has a very mysterious quality to it that makes it particularly intriguing, but when it loses its mysteriousness in some scenes, it becomes a little too obvious. The scenes are when her friend that takes care of the kids and cleans her house asks why did her husband kill himself and her in the end asking why did he kill himself. I don't know. Her at the end kind of demystified the experience because you go through the whole film without really knowing how she feels about her husband's death, which allows you to create your intrepretation of what she is thinking and feeling. Still a really good movie.
***1/2 out of ****
I really enjoy non-narrative films like these. I absolutely adored All About Lily Chou-Chou until the last half hour or so of the film. This film has a very mysterious quality to it that makes it particularly intriguing, but when it loses its mysteriousness in some scenes, it becomes a little too obvious. The scenes are when her friend that takes care of the kids and cleans her house asks why did her husband kill himself and her in the end asking why did he kill himself. I don't know. Her at the end kind of demystified the experience because you go through the whole film without really knowing how she feels about her husband's death, which allows you to create your intrepretation of what she is thinking and feeling. Still a really good movie.
***1/2 out of ****
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Oh Quentin...
Reservoir Dogs(dir. Quentin Tarantino)
What impressed me in Jr. High, now looks immature and dated. His dialogue sounds like something a teenager would write to impress his friends. It could be that this film isn't in a hyper sylized world like his other films that could be the problem, but still all the violence just comes off as disgusting and unentertaining. The scene with Mr. Pink running away from the job was actually exciting, but the scenes in the warehouse, which is the majority of the movie, are dull and uninteresting.
** out of ****
What impressed me in Jr. High, now looks immature and dated. His dialogue sounds like something a teenager would write to impress his friends. It could be that this film isn't in a hyper sylized world like his other films that could be the problem, but still all the violence just comes off as disgusting and unentertaining. The scene with Mr. Pink running away from the job was actually exciting, but the scenes in the warehouse, which is the majority of the movie, are dull and uninteresting.
** out of ****
Monday, May 07, 2007
Oh James...
Spider-man 3(dir. Sam Raimi)
It was a mess and it's attempts at camp just come off as silly and unentertaining. There were moments like Harry and MJ cooking an omelette that made me crack a smile, but the rest of it was surpisingly boring. James Franco was the best part. It was dumb.
** out of ****
It was a mess and it's attempts at camp just come off as silly and unentertaining. There were moments like Harry and MJ cooking an omelette that made me crack a smile, but the rest of it was surpisingly boring. James Franco was the best part. It was dumb.
** out of ****
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)