Stieg Larsson, Lisbeth Salander and the books you are seeing everywhere!

So I have recently been drawn in to Steig Larson’s Millenium trilogy.  Living in New York, you can’t help but see people reading it all around you on the subway.  I got interested after reading a review of the first movie (The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo).  I went to see the movie in an art house theatre and I was hooked.  It is amazing how quickly you forget you are even reading subtitles, when the movie is good enough.  This led me to begin reading the books. … Continue Reading

Chain snatchers and giant broads – The 4th Annual White Elephant Blogathon

This is my second year participating the White Elephant Blogathon; my experience last year was so enjoyable (by which I mean utter dismay) that I quickly signed up for another year of service. If you’re new to this, basically we all throw movies into a hat, draw a title from said hat and write a review about it. Usually we go for some awful movies and just try to make the best of it. This year I drew Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (a la 1958 version)… all I can say is whoever threw this name into the pot has to be godless and cruel.

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Human Centipede: a Review in 3 Segments

If you haven’t heard about Human Centipede, you’re in for a shock/surprise/treat.  Human Centipede is the story of Dr. Heiter (Dieter Laser), a prominent German surgeon–a conjoined-twin specialist–who dreams of creating a “human centipede” by surgically attaching 3 people via the digestive track.  And if that sounds like something stomach-churningly disturbing, it is. … Continue Reading

Robin Hood, or as I like to call it, Robin Hood Sucks

It’s taken me a few days to sit back, relax a bit and write out this Robin Hood review. Initially, when I saw it with my brother on Thursday night at a sneak preview, I was pleasantly surprised by the film. It wasn’t anything great but I had a fun time in the theater, even though we had a guy who kept repeating the places where the film took place. The guy also got on his cellphone multiple times and didn’t trust ‘that motha fucka Lil’ John.’ Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Okaaaaaaaaaay! Ugh, finally the guy left due to my brother making fun of him by doing his exact voice but saying even dumber things, such as ‘Yo, I didn’t know the Titanic sank. Shit!’ and ‘Yo, I’m an annoying asshole. Shit!’

But I’m pushing away from the review of Robin Hood. After seeing it, on the train ride home I came to a conclusion. I liked it. But when I was walking home, I was just thinking about every flaw the film had (and there are plenty) and forgot entirely about what I actually liked about the film (which wasn’t actually that much when looking in hindsight). The more I thought about it, the more I actually started to not like it. Then even more so, loathe it. Which is a strange turn of events for a few days worth of thinking it over, talking with other people about it and coming the simple conclusion about this film.

Which is that it sucks a royal Magna Carta sized big one.
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Los Cronocrimenes, or Timecrimes remake listed for 2011

Pinkface

In case you missed it, Los Cronocrimenes (or “Timecrimes” en ingles) is a low-budget Spanish film about a man who stumbles upon a time machine after investigating the assault of a young girl in the woods.  After that, the plot gets way too complicated and way too spoiler-ific to recant on a blog.  If it sounds confused, it is, but that’s part of what keeps you watching it.  And if you can forgive a few far stretches in character motivation, this movie will have you until the very end. … Continue Reading

Ponyo

When Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2002, the first (and only, so far) non-English animated film to win, it was a huge breakthrough for anime in the United States. Since then, the animated films of Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki have gained widespread acclaim. I just watched Ponyo a few days ago, and though I really enjoyed it, I don’t think it was quite up to par with the other Ghibli films I have seen. Granted, I haven’t seen their whole library, but my absolute favorite films have been Spirited Away and Grave of the Fireflies.

Ponyo was a beautifully animated film (like a Ghibli film wouldn’t be), and the story was very cute. It is about a young fish who hopes desperately to become a human. She falls into the hands of the young Sosuke, and her love for him allows her to become human.

Grave of the Fireflies was the most moving animated film I have ever seen, hands down. If you have not see it, I urge you to–I would consider it even more moving than most live action films as well. Spirited Away was just a great story all around. In terms of story and emotional investment, I felt Ponyo lacked both–but I also feel that it was meant for a much younger audience, so I can’t complain too much. It was still a great film, and still much better than most American animated films.

If you’re looking for a great introduction into Studio Ghibli’s works, I would suggest watching Spirited Away first. And if you’re up to watching one of the most depressing and moving films ever created, watch Grave of the Fireflies. If you’re in the mood for something cute, Ponyo.

My Blockbuster 49 Haul: Review #1

When perusing through the two huge piles of movies, which equal to 49 films, that I bought for 90 cents each from one of the many dying Blockbusters in this country, I couldn’t decide which film to pick as the first installment. Would it be a film I had already seen in theaters? Would it be something brand new to me? Or would it be something I feared would make me sick to my stomach, not from being scary or gross but from the sheer audacity that it was made in the first place?

These films will be rated on a scale from 0 cents to 90 cents, considering that was the ultimate price I paid for it. 0 being a total waste up to 90 cents, showing that it was well worth the coinage. If for some reason a film surpasses even that mark, I’ll make up an even better grading.

I decided on this horribly rainy day to check out a film I had seen in theaters with my brother and my uncle last year. A film that was a remake of a classic flick from the 1970′s, a NYC favorite if you will. That film is The Taking of Pelham 123.

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Faith, Morality and Forgiveness in the Face of Great Tragedy

A stunning performance on both of their parts.

I have reposted this review I had done for Lucid Screening in honor of Lee’s new trailer.

Lee Chang-dong’s Secret Sunshine (Miryang, 2007) opens with a stream of sunlight coming through a car window. Lee Shin-ae (Jeon Do-yeon), a recent widow, and her young son Jun (Seon Jung-yeop) have broken down on the side of a road while moving to her husband’s hometown of Miryang, a small city in the southeast region of Korea. After flagging down a passing trucker she gets help from Kim Jong-chan (Song Kang-ho) the boss of a local car repair shop who helps Shin-ae find a place to start her piano school and live. Soon, unimaginable tragedy strikes and we follow Shin-ae as she finds faith and loses it in her desperate struggle to keep going. … Continue Reading

Go see WORLD ON A WIRE at MoMA! Brilliant! Sexist! Self-aware!

The 1973 German sci-fi  classic World on a Wire (or Welt am Draht), directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, is not readily available to U.S. audiences, and it doesn’t seem that there are any plans to bring it overseas.  The film originally aired as a 2 part miniseries on German television, and has never had the chance to enjoy widespread American viewership. So, with that said, imagine my delight when I found out that the Museum of Modern Art would be screening this film for the next couple of weeks.  I didn’t know what to expect from the film: I only knew that I had to go. … Continue Reading

Remember Primer? Time to Revisit the Time-loop.

In case you didn’t already know, Primer (2004) is available on Netflix: Watch Instantly.  What that meant for me was that it was time to revisit one of the most confounding films I’ve ever seen (and enjoyed…immensely).  Primer is one of those films that is served well by its obviously low-budget production qualities (the film was made for a mere 7,000$).  The lack of major-studio influence gives the film the sense of voyeurism in the same way a show like Friday Night Lights experiments with natural lighting and static camera-angles.  It really works for Primer because the film features some of the most believable sci-fi dialogue ever written.  … Continue Reading