7 posts tagged “movies”

I really wish I'd seen the Indiana Jones trailer in a theater, with like, a million movie fanboys and fangirls, or something, because this just looks so cool and it would be fun to hear people's reactions. Some things are meant to be experienced on opening night, or with your fellow movie nerds. 

Ah, the internets. I was sitting here with my morning coffee in my awesome new home office, reading all things wikipedia, and a stumble here and a tumble there and bam! some news hit me in the fact like a ton of bricks.

I had to take a break from all things current event related (what with the death and mayhem on MUNI and the ongoing mess that is local politics), so I went to the movies on Friday to see Cloverfield on opening day. And, I'm happy to say that for what it was, and for the purposes I selected it, the film did the job quite well. J.J. Abrams and his talented team of directors and writers managed to pull of what hadn't really been done before - do a "monster attacks a city" movie solely from the perspective of people caught in the middle of it who don't know the hows or whys of what is going on - just that Bad Things Are Happening, and there's no way to tell from moment to moment what one "should" do. Although the hand-held camera perspective did get some people a little carsick-ish at times, the level of intensity once the sh*t went down was pretty realistic. More than once you wanted the guy holding the camera to turn around and get a better look at The Big Monster or whatever, but of course, that just made it more realistic and a lot scarier, since you had to imagine just what the heck was going on. And, as we all know, people imagining what is going on can come up with things way scarier than any Hollywood producer. More importantly, the film did a really good job of portraying the sheer panic, chaos, and attempt at response by the government to a disaster than any I've seen in a while. If you've ever had the misfortune of being in a big natural or man-made disaster, there's always that moment when you have that feeling like the ground just fell out from under you, and suddenly just about everything that seemed so important a moment ago means squat, and now, Sh*t Is Bad. If anything, it has made me wonder if I should be developing a Post Apocalyptic Workout as the Slackmistress has done, to prepare for the next big (quake, monster, zombies, terrorist attack, whatever). After Katrina, does anyone really think the federal government has even a small clue as to what to do in case of (quake, monster, zombies, terroist attack, whatever)? One thing that I thought of as the credits rolled and the heroic music that would normally have played during a "typical" monster film was that it might have been kind of cool for the producers to put out a fake trailer after Cloverfield came out of what the film would have looked like had they done the 10000th Remake of Godzilla route. You can almost hear the dialogue: "Mr. President....Manhattan is under attack...by a...a... Space Bug!" "You can't kill that thing with rockets and bullets....you need to use the nukes!" "Time to spray for bugs in Manhattan....American style!" And so on. Anyway, it was a great way to get away from the ongoing, bit-by-bit decay that seems to be enveloping Our Fair City, and our country in general, and aside from annoying ads for Mucinex at the theater, was worth the 9.50 I paid. PS: For another film that provides that hand-held camera, "you are there" approach, go rent 84 Charlie Mopic. I saw this movie years ago, and the experience has stuck with me even though I only saw it once. Definitely worth seeing. And if you want to really get scared, go search for the hand-held real video our soldiers are shooting in Iraq. I've seen a few of these and all I can say is that if we don't give these guys like, super nice treatment when they come back from that hell-hole, well then we suck.

I will never forget the first time I heard of this vague concept called "Shoot 'Em Up" and I was intrigued. But then I saw the preview. It is as if Corporate Marketing folks in a secret chamber said "Horror of horrors! Mr. Njudah is not buying enough movie tickets! How can we get him and similar cool connisseurs of Pop Culture into our stupid movie theaters?"

After furious amounts of research, fueled by Red Bull and whatnot, they realized "Oh, wait! here's the formula! Guard it with your lives:

-put Clive Owen in the movie

-put Monica Bellucci (on whom Mr. Njudah has been carrying a torch for since BEFORE the Matrix trilogy)

-have lots of amazing examples of how to kicks ass and take names

-oh and just to frak with him, put in Paul Giamatti as the bad guy

-wait, did we forget to mention have LOTS OF AMAZING ACTION and stuff?

End of Memo"

But here is where mere words and reviews do not do justice to the film itself. I mean, sure, I can tell you that in the first 5 minutes Clive Own skillfully delivers a baby while shooting down like, 15 bad guys with the other hand but me saying it is stupid. You seeing it is like "omg, it's like they looked into Njudahs brain and wrote down exactly what he wanted to see on Friday afternoon!"

I hate spoiler-y reviews so I shan't ruin it for you. All I will say is this : whenever I've seen a Die Hard or simliar film and they have all sorts of silly mayhem and serious ass kicking, I and my trusted colleague Mason Powell dub it a "total McBain moment", in honor of the character played by Rainier Wolfcastle on The Simpsons.

This film was McBain on frakking steroids, caffiene, guarana, and God Knows What Else. And you know what? I LOVED IT.

My biggest regret of my short sojourn in Los Angeles was not somehow waiving a magic wand and getting to produce awesome films, which would star awesome actors like Clive Owen some day, and more important, allow me but a few moments with the lovely Monica Bellucci so that I might take in her awesome acting skillz and hotness in person.

But hey! Maybe she reads the N Judah Chronicles. You never know, right?

If you're not reading Lisa Katayama's Tokyomango blog, shame on you. It's really good, has all kinds of awesome links, and managed to do the impossible - get me to the theater (again), get me to go to the Opera Plaza Theater on Van Ness (hitherto considered impossible) and see a movie called Yo Yo Girl Cop (aka Sukeban Deka).

Ok, so that last part sealed the deal. You didni't think I'd pass up a chance to see ass-kicking fighting chicks in a film directed by one of the makers of Battle Royale, now, did you?

Seeing a film like this in a theater on a dreary Sunday, as weather sucked and totally delayed my upcoming new feature on the N-Judah Chronicles in a little out of the way theater like the O.P. is as much an experience as the film itself, due to the odd assortment of folks there to see what is essentially a manga come to life. There were the following:

-the two hipster older guys who were talking about the "Star Wars" episode of Robot Chicken
-the Japanese couple in their 70s
-an assortment of random indie moviegoers who frequent Landmark type theaters, most of whom were there to see something else and saw this instead (or by mistake)
-the two dudes at the front of the theater who had to make sure all of us know how much they thought the upcoming "Lady Chatterly's Lover" film from France will suck (thanks guys, we appreciate the insight, no really)
-the chick with the "Cowboy Bebop" bag (come on that is just cool, I mean seriously....)
-and of course, the guy in the black shirt....

So, when our lead character, a super crime fighting gal who's undercover in a Japanese high school trying to solve The Mystery of The Chick Who Got Blown Up in Tokyo, armed only with her strength, wits, and a yo yo of doom, the audience reaction provided as much entertainment as the movie itself, which was fine.

One could tell Kenta Fukasaku (co director of BR and son of the legendary director Kinji Fukasaku) made this film, and for me that's all I really need. Battle Royale however, still remains an all time favorite. If you've ever had a really crappy day at work, watching this is way better thearpy than say, crack cocaine.

Usually I see this sort of thing at home, on the home theater, if only because it's kind of hard to explain when that 10.50 ticket for "Yo Yo Girl Cop" falls out of your wallet. I really only went because knowing Netflix and their time-distortion delays when it comes to releasing certain foreign films in our lifetime, I figured this was the best way to see it.

If you get a chance, check it out, but don't delay if y're all interested. I made that mistake with Daywatch and missed the darn thing before I could see it......sigh....but that's another post...

It's weird. Lately I've actually been going to the theater lately to see movies, on a semi-regular basis. Is this because so much of what's out is so compelling I can't wait for freakin' Netflix?

Or is it just because I get bored too easily?

Who knows? However, when I had an unexpected respite from work to go to the movies on Friday, I did so to see Live Free or Die Hard (Aka Die Hard 4) in the theater, hoping for an opening weekend crowd experience. It did not dissapoint. Again, this stuff ain't a sensitive indie feature with angst ridden kids in weird glasses, but so what? Bruce Willis did what he does best (even with a PG 13 rating, that limited the Yippie Kay Yay Mother F**ker references, but hey, when he DID, it rocked) and Justin Long once again showed why he's more than just a Mac. (remember him in Galaxy Quest?)

However, being the eternal bargainhunter (cheapskate) that I am, when I left LFODH, I wasn't in the mood for my usual sandwich at Tommy's Joynt (a rarity), and noticed I could just walk on in to Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Now, I had haerd this one was like. a million times better than the craptastic first film, but I ended up going in mostly because it was "free." (insert your righteous indignation at me denying Ioan Gruffud one more ivory back scratcher here).

If you accept that a) the horrible way The Man has tried force Jessica Alba to be a blonde, blue eyed skinny white chick, a crime against humanity that can't be forgiven because she's way hotter when she's not wearing contacts and bleached hair, and b) that this really is just a Stan Lee Comic come to life with all the banalites therein,  then this was actually pretty fun to watch, and had a few good moments. Plus, casting Michael Chiklis as The Thing was like, genius.

The most fun? Seeing a new trailer for the Simpsons Movie, and Yet Another Trailer for Superbad, which always makes me laugh. That kid from "Accepted" is just too funny.

Transformers, though, can go to hell. Seriously, wtf?

Tonight I saw "Fay Grim", a Hal Hartley film, on DVD. Now, what is interesting is that you can see this film right now on DVD but you can also see it at your local arthouse theater (SF citizens, I believe it is at the Lumiere). This is no accident. HDNet films produced this film and as we all know, Mark Cuban (He of the Dallas Mavericks, HDNet, and 2929 Films, etc.) is no fool. He's willing to give simultaneous release of films a chance, and it is kind of cool. I would have actually seen this the other night at the theater, but thanks to MUNI I couldn't make it in time. So while I saw "Hot Fuzz" at the googleplex, I ended up seeing Fay Grim on DVD.

ANYWAY, it's a great little film. It is a sequel to the Hal Hartley film "Henry Fool" which came out in 1997. I have not seen this film yet, despite the many times people have said "hey you should rent this." And it is on my Netflix list, as are 1000s more films that are there (most on Long Wait, Very Long Wait, or Short Wait). So I saw this not knowing some of the backstory but as it turned out, that was not a problem...it's an interestin story of ordinatory people swept up in intrigue and spies and conspiracy, without making your head spin. It is a testament to any film I see at home that I don't pause multpile times to check email or do something else. So go see it.

Also, I'm bragging here (but not on my real blog) that KQED put an ad on the The N Judah Chronicles . Sorry if bragging is gauche, but what started out as a whim, and become something I've enjoyed and put a lot of work into, is finally getting the skillz to pay the billz (well at least the server bill for the year). And we're switching shirt providers from the dunderheads at GoodStorm.com to Spreadshirt.com, so a) we can deliver stuff in this decade and b) it'll look better and c) we can sell other stuff too. Yay us.

Finally, if you're commuting into SF tomorrow, be aware that vacation traffic and Critical Dorks will conspire to ruin your Friday night. Cut out of work early, or stay around the office and relax with a coffee or a beer and leave the chaos to others....