Why So Blu?

‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ Forever (Movie Review)

I am a Batman fan. People who know me well enough are pretty clear on that. With that said, while Batman and the characters in his universe provide more for me to think about, I also grew up reading and watching Spider-Man (and occasionally his amazing friends). I may find something more inherently interesting in the Caped Crusader, but it is easier to find fun in watching your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man knock out bad guys and one-liners, while zipping through New York City. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 delivers on that and while the film is certainly stuffed with story and setups, it also features some dazzling action, a few very solid performances, and some ambition to go with some unfortunate desire to rest a lot of weight on Peter Parker’s shoulders.

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A Neon Powered Conduit & ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ (Movie Review)

When I moved to Austin, TX over a year ago from Cleveland, OH I expected my change of scenery to be quite stimulating and invigorating, but you all know that whole grass is always greener on the other side thing, right?  While the skies may not be grey all the time like in Cleveland, I would take that downtown skyline any day.  However, I say this only to illustrate a point because the same comparison can be made when analyzing recent DC super hero films to Marvel ones.  Although I believe the Nolan Batman trilogy to be some of the best superhero films ever made, I can clearly see where comic book purists can get off complaining that the onscreen events are too dark, brooding and unconventional in terms of how a comic book movie should look, pop and shine on the big screen.  I can accept that, so can most people, but also many cannot.  So where am I going with all this?  Well, let me get straight to the point I am trying to make. Continue reading ‘A Neon Powered Conduit & ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2’ (Movie Review)’

NBFF 2014 Review: ‘Follow Friday The Film’

So what is all this Twitter business? Wednesday at the Newport Beach Film Fest afforded me the opportunity to check out a documentary that would have made more sense to see on a Friday. At least I now know what I can recommend via #ff on Friday, as Follow Friday the Film is an enjoyable documentary about Twitter. While not an instructional guide and more of an interesting look at how society is evolving, with a specific focus on popular social media, the film is not attempting to force Twitter on its audience, but instead invite folks to see the deeper value in typing a certain amount of characters into a program at any time. It helps that the film is structured together through a road trip, with plenty of interviews to really provide a broad perspective on the subject. As a person that uses Twitter plenty, I was happy to find a group that put out a film explaining this microblogging service so simply, yet in a charming manner.

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NBFF 2014 Review: ‘Unforgiven’

Monday night at the Newport Beach Film Festival saw a film that I have been anticipating for some time be represented as the Japanese Spotlight feature of the night. I was quite happy to have seen it. The Japanese remake of Unforgiven makes a good case for why I am never against the idea of a remake, before I actually see it or have enough information to pass judgment. Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Best Picture winner is the film I consider to be his best work as a filmmaker (and as an actor, for that matter), so the concept of remaking his film should presumably strike ire in the hearts of those that claim remakes are always terrible. Of course, hypocrisy is a funny thing, as the reaction to Ken Watanabe starring in a samurai version of the same story seems to have made most skeptics excited about this particular idea. Still, this is not about the public at large, it is about what I thought of the film, which basically amounts to being an interesting remix.

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NBFF 2014 Review: ‘Cas & Dylan’

Here’s another Newport Beach Film Fest review focused on just one feature that I caught on Monday morning. Cas & Dylan is a Canadian-produced road trip comedy, focused on an odd couple that needs to be enjoyed, if one wants to enjoy this film as a whole. It is a bit cutesy in the way it presents a scenario that can be summed up by saying, “She’s a [blank] and he’s a [blank], but together, they’ll become best friends ready to do whatever.” Fortunately, Richard Dreyfuss and Tatiana Maslany make for a good pairing and the film gets enough mileage out of its comedy and drama to make this good-looking film a good watch as well.

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NBFF 2014 Review: ‘Felony’

I only checked out one film on Sunday, for the Newport Beach Film Festival, but it was an interesting Australian crime drama serving as a morality tale and a showcase for the three lead characters. Felony features some strong performances, with Tom Wilkinson, in particular, making a good case for why he is almost always enjoyable in whatever role is given to him. The idea of seeing not just two, but three sides of the law makes for an interesting story to be told and Felony works that angle about as far as it can go, before settling in a way that left me satisfied.

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NBFF 2014 Reviews: ‘Teacher of the Year’ and ‘Obvious Child’

Saturday Night at the 15^th Annual Newport Beach Film Fest was another challenging scenario, as a number of films were showing and I had to consider how to best spend my time. Fortunately, the two movies I was able to see were both quite good. Teacher of the Year is my favorite film of the festival so far (granted I have only seen a small percentage of what has been available), as it was funny and heartfelt in the right ways. Obvious Child was fine too, given that it fits in the realm of quirky indie comedy, but has a sort of truth to it that puts it slightly ahead of typical indie fare. There continue to be plenty of exciting options though and Saturday just fit as another strong night for the fest and what I have ended up choosing.

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NBFF 2014 Reviews: ‘Cheatin’’ and ‘The One I Love’

Friday at the Newport Beach Film Festival found me with a lot of options to choose from. While I had heard many good things about a number of the films featured and had considered attending at least four different films playing around the same time, I ultimately chose to go with Cheatin’ and The One I Love. One is an animated feature from famed cartoonist Bill Plympton, the other was a romantic comedy-drama with a unique twist that I do not plan to spoil here. I found both to be worth watching, especially those in the mood for something a bit off center from the norm.

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NBFF 2014 Review: Lovesick

Opening night at the 15^th Annual Newport Beach Film Festival was a nice start to what should be an exciting festival to keep track of.  Given the difficulty I have had at nailing down exactly which films to check out on what days, due to interest in so many, it seems like I am in for a lot of good, interesting, or at least entertaining features.  With that in mind, I was happy to find the opening film, Lovesick, to be enjoyable enough, for what it is.  I say this because the opening night film tends to be a more palatable feature, in an effort to please the general audience as a whole, given the crowded attendance in the Big Newport Theater on Opening Night.  The film is simple enough, but the cast makes it a bit more appealing.

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The Other Women…I mean ‘The Other Woman’ (Movie Review)

Three grown woman find out they are sharing the same guy and become friends with a mission to have their silly revenge.  Admittedly I do not have a whole lot of tolerance for these kinds of movies.  I am not talking about ‘chick flicks’, as there are plenty of ‘chick flicks’ that I enjoy and would recommend.  I am talking about dumb movies that exist to provide some laughs, maybe, but are instantly forgotten and have only one real trick up their sleeve and that’s to convince movie goers to have spent their money on it to begin with.  To be completely fair, The Other Woman has a big enough performance from Leslie Mann to likely elicit plenty of smiles and make it feel like harmless fun, but also keep in mind that this film that features three female leads that never stop talking about boys.  There are also all the slow-mo boob shots and poop jokes too, which the movie definitely enjoys featuring.

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WonderCon 2014: Son of Batman (Movie Review)

From what I can tell, both Comic Con and WonderCon have proven to be great venues to debut the latest DC Universe Animated Original Movies and I am sure the other cons do it too.  The past few years have seen the debut public screenings of films such as Batman: Year One, The Dark Knight Returns, and Superman: Unbound, among others.  It makes perfect sense, as the people attending these cons consist of the exact type of audience that would seek them out.  For WonderCon 2014, audiences were treated to the debut of Son of Batman, which was screened on Friday and had an encore screening on Sunday.  The film introduces the Damian character, the child Batman learns he has, which leads to a battle with some old and new foes.  As a Batman fan attending WonderCon, I of course had to check this out for myself.

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Disney’s ‘Bears’ Be Bumpin’ (Movie Review)

I never really know how much to say about these Disneynature films.  They are not insufficient enough to call them mild distractions, as the footage is generally great, the voiceovers are fun, and there is enough work done to build a narrative that I can get behind what they have to offer.  It generally amounts to having a chance to see animals that kids generally grow up being intrigued by and having a new perspective that can be formed by families, in regards to those animals.  African Cats worked for me, as it was neat to see a big screen documentary about lions, with the bonus addition of Samuel L. Jackson providing narration.  That film also worked due to the stakes that, manufactured or not, presented a real life depiction of what lions go through.  Bears finds a way to create similar stakes, which makes the film effective enough in what ultimately amounts to a large format way to see bears in action.

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‘Transcendence’ Exceeds No Limits (Movie Review)

For a techno-thriller about artificial intelligence, it actually seems to make sense that Transcendence does not have a whole lot of emotion to back up its big ideas, aside from  Paul Bettany’s cry face, which makes its appearance now and again.  This is a film that could have worked as a cheesy B-movie with the words, “When computers fight back!” written on a billboard entrance to a drive-in movie theater.  Instead, it feels like a glossy, big-budget studio film with a screenplay that feels like a cautionary tale that has been updated from an original draft written 20 years ago.  Not helping is the high caliber cast providing mostly half-hearted performances and a lack of urgency in a dramatic narrative that sets its stakes much higher than they ever actually feel.  Even when some of the neat ideas are given some visual lift, Transcendence is still mostly a dull affair.

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‘Oculus’ Hit Me In The Center Of My Horror Fandom (Movie Review)

Oculus is a clever, well-crafted, and scary good time at the movies.  As far as horror movies go, for having a premise with the logline:  a brother and sister try to outsmart a killer mirror, the screenplay for this film is very smart.  The film is a strong character drama that just happens to have a supernatural element, but the acting is very strong and the approach to the story keeps things moving.  Oculus has its share of scares too, but they are well-earned, with developed suspense and a nastiness that is more implied than on display.  I am always happy to enjoy a good horror movie, regardless of the sub-genre or filmmaking style on display, but Oculus really caught me off guard with how effective it felt in a variety of ways.

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Only Lovers Left Alive Is Bloody Great (Movie Review)

It makes a lot of sense that indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch has finally made a film about vampires.  He practically is one, given his height, slender and pale appearance, white hair, and the fact that he only pops up every so often to release a film into the night for the masses to find.  The fact that he doesn’t cast a shadow is a curious quality as well, but regardless, Only Lovers Left Alive is a rather brilliant film from a man with such a distinct style, making it easily one of the films I was happy to latch onto most in this early half of 2014.  Sure, this film does feature vampires, but that aspect is only used to add layers to the characters and forward the plot, which there is not much of.  True to Jarmusch’s style, the film is very minimal in traditional storytelling, but surreal in its presentation, and incredibly deft in the way it handles its two lead characters in this very unconventional love story.

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Winter Is Coming For ‘Captain America’ (Movie Review)

Captain America really has his work cut out for him.  Along with being a man who now lives in modern times after being frozen for several decades, he is also an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. performing intense field work, a devotee to untangling a web of international conspiracies if it means keeping his country safe, and the target of a secret assassin who may or may not share history with Cap.  It is a very good thing that Marvel Studios has a lot more confidence in how to make these movies work at this point, because even with all the trouble the piles up towards the end of the supremely entertaining Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the film never stops being an entertaining and action-packed delight.

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Captain America and Winter Soldier Kick it in Cleveland (Movie Review)

Let’s be honest with each other.  Both Marvel and DC have their hands filled with tackling tricky properties on the big screen and showing off big, bold and ambitious new worlds to us all.  You would think on paper Captain America would be an easy property to formulaically develop proper, but you’d be wrong.  Captain America represents all things…well…American.  That kind of patriotism can bite you in the…um…foot when your biggest box office draw is the international audiences, don’t you think?  However, despite my past negative feelings on Captain America: The First Avenger, it was a huge success for Marvel and a springboard into something so much bigger…the onscreen debut of The Avengers.  Chris Evans came in, obviously reluctantly at first, and breathed much needed life and charisma into the star-spangled crusader and craftily Marvel wove the character into their already developed formula getting him ready for an even larger presence in The Avengers, which I am thankful for.  They kept the lines of continuity, despite the time shifts, very tight and harmonious in the new cinematic galaxy they began carving out with the first Iron Man film. Continue reading ‘Captain America and Winter Soldier Kick it in Cleveland (Movie Review)’

‘Sabotage’ Has Been Breached (Movie Review)

Sabotage is a nasty little thriller from writer/director David Ayer (Training Day, End of Watch), which stars Arnold Schwarzenegger in another leading action movie role, following his term as Governor.  The film is getting its share of notice for having a plot that feels akin to an Agatha Christie-styled whodunit, as it revolves around Arnold’s team of DEA agents being murdered one by one.  It is just too bad that this whodunit has all the intelligence of the script for I Still Know What You Did Last Summer.  Sabotage is a big waste of talent, resources, and time.

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