So I watched the movie Ray last night because I had nothing better to do. I’m not certain why it got all those awards, sure the music was catchy I guess, but it was such a cliché biopic. The funny thing is I finished the movie with an extreme dislike of Ray Charles, and I’m not sure if that was the movie’s intention. Here is the movie in a nutshell: Ray, who is an extremely self-centered individual, does something really terrible - either to himself or someone else. This leads to step two where he gets inspired and writes a hit song. Step three is a five minute montage of step two song. Step four everyone loves him even if he is a jerk because he’s such a genius. Rinse and repeat for 2.5 hours. (more…)
2/27/2008
Does Everybody Love Ray, Man?
2/20/2008
Sunshine
Sunshine is probably the best scifi film I’ve seen in years. Finally a decent “Lost in Space” genre movie that doesn’t stink. The science was as good as it could be, and the story was largely character driven and very thoughtful. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since it was Danny Boyle who made the film. Love or hate his movies, they are definitely never shallow or trite. Do yourself a favor and watch the movie with Brian Cox’s commentary after you’ve seen it once. Cox is a physicist at the University of Manchester and also works with the CERN super collider. His commentary makes the movie even more thought provoking.
Boyle also throws in two short films on the DVD that are also worth a gander. Boyle’s theory is that DVD’s are a great way to distribute short films from up and coming film makers and help them get noticed.
11/7/2007
The Flying Scotsman - Braveheart on 2 Wheels
2/16/2005
Napoleon Complex
Napoleon Dynamite was the biggest waste of my time in 2004. It was perhaps the most directionless movie I’ve ever seen. I kept waiting for something to happen and it never did. It relied on physical site gags and non-sequiturs for all of its humor. However I find that younger generations love this movie and have propelled it to cult status. I suppose movies that actually tell a story is such a 90’s thing. It’s the 21st Century, stories are irrelevant and context is unimportant. It’s all about the moment. Think about it. Our society is all about temporal information flashes that exist only for a moment. With the 24 hour news cycle, news stories rarely have impact beyond that day. Everyone has an opinion, including this blogger, so everyone’s voice is heard, but equally as unimportant as anyone else’s voice. Text messages and email have shown us that paragraphs, grammar, spelling, and developing an idea with sentences is unnecessary. And maybe that’s why Napoleon Dynamite scores so well with the youth of today. It can’t lose their attention, because it never tried to keep it in the first place.
1/4/2005
When Scott Wolf Ruled The Streets
So I’m thinking of doing a video game turned live action movie film festival. Here are the movies I can think of, if you know of more please post.
Double Dragon, Streetfighter, Wing Commander, Resident Evil (I and II), Mortal Kombat (I,II,III), and Mario Bros.
9/24/2004
Movies I Wish I Could See Again
I’m a Netflix addict. I like the large catalog and the easy ability to see obscure foreign and indy films I normally wouldn’t see like Shaolin Soccer, and Nine Queens. However there are two movies that haven’t made it to Netflix that I would love to see again.
La Haine (Hate) is a French film about a three friends who live in the ghettos of Paris. The film is black and white and is a masterful allegory about class and race relations in France. It’s rare for a film to suck you in and make you care about it’s characters. La Haine does a wonderful job of humanizing the problems of discrimination in society.
The other movie is Gamle m?nd i nye biler (Old Men in New Cars). K and I saw this at the Heidelberg Film Festival in Germany. It’s a Danish dark comedy that had me laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. It’s in the same vein as Pulp Fiction but completely farcical. Apparently it’s a Prequel to another movie I Kina spiser de hunde (In China They Eat Dogs). If it’s anywhere near as funny as OMiNC, then I’d love to see it too.
If anyone can tell me how to get a hold of these movies, I’d greatly appreciate it.