Multiple movie reviews in one post! OH YEAH!

I watched three movies yesterday, two worth reviewing and one not really worth reviewing but I figured I'd might as well so down to brass tacks:

The Hunger Games (2012) dir. Gary Ross

This is one of those movie/book phenomenons I end up seeing as a rental just to see what the hype was about (hell I watched the first Twilight for this reason as well as other hyped movies).  Additionally I was interested in seeing how the protagonist was portrayed.  I had only seen one trailer before the movie came out and based on that alone I had a pretty good idea of what the movie was about.  I wasn't expecting much since I had written it off as an American girl power Battle Royale-lite.  I wasn't that far off in my expectations but what surprised me is that while The Hunger Games is a girl power BR-lite on the surface, there were some elements to the film that surprised me.  It also surprised me that I actually began to care about some of the characters (to the point where I'm actually curious to read the book) and things that were alluded to the film that obviously played a more important role in the book.   What surprised me the most was, in retrospect, it is not simply a "girl power" movie, though it could be viewed as such, superficially.  Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) strikes me as less of female character and more of an everyman (with superior survival skills) and for me this was an interesting, and refreshing, approach.  I found myself liking her character more because she was just herself and the filmmakers didn't use her as a soapbox or a social ills hammer to bludgeon you with.  The same can be said for the side characters (some of which are minimally developed but still made for engaging players).  I also enjoyed how the characters were shown to rely on their natural strengths (mentally and physically) during the short training sequences and in the ensuing combat.  The characters in the movie sold me more than did the story itself.

As a fan of dystopian literature and films, I found the story to be predictable (a more accurate description would be telegraphed), lacking tension, with some interesting but under-developed themes.  This came of a knowledge of the genre and having seen the trailer.  The world in which they live was interesting but the film failed to really cement that part of the story (which I'm sure the book does a better job of).  Something something totalitarian regime something something screw the poor people something something wait, where's the "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?" moment?  Not that the movie necessarily required such exposition but as a dystopian junkie I'm a huge nerd for the twisted reality created (e.g. 1984, Logan's Run, Battle Royale, We, etc.).  I got what they were going for but I wasn't particularly sold.  I found the lack of tension to be disappointing.  As much as I like Katniss and her peers, I never felt she was ever in danger (I knew there were several more books and the movie in the first in a series).  I knew which characters were going to get snuffed and how quickly by their amount of (or lack of) screen time.  In pursuit/survival films (the good ones) the tension needs to be turned up to 11 and remain there even during requisite moments of rest and/or humor.  I don't feel that the lack of tension is because of my age or movie-going experience.  There are a number of PG/PG-13 movies I saw when I was younger that when I rewatch I still get a, "INDY, LOOK OUT!" feeling no matter how many times I see it.  While I was engaged while viewing The Hunger Games, it failed to suspend my disbelief and really get into the movie.  At one point, I realized this and it created a sense of disappointment I couldn't shake.

From a technical standpoint the movie was solid, the effects were well done, the violence and action were clinical (not necessarily a bad thing for a movie that was marketed to a younger audience), and costuming and color palettes were standard but aesthetically engaging (washed out blues and earth tones for poor schlubs and garish, nearly cartoonish colors for the wealthy and indolent). A major flaw though was the painful camera handling, especially during the first half of the film.  During action sequences the shaky cam wasn't terribly apparent but for a good number of static shots the camera jiggled (e.g. a shot of a man sitting, a domestic scene, a number of non-FPS crowd shots).  I realize this is a very common complaint in my reviews but damn it, just put the damn camera on a tripod or a pile of phone books.

In the end I enjoyed The Hunger Games enough to want to pick up the book and look forward to the next movie installment.  This time though I'll avoid trailers, teasers, spoilers, and have a (relatively) unbiased watching experience.

Despicable Me (2010) dir Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud

I had avoided this movie because I frankly am not a fan of Steve Carrell.  I just don't find his brand of humor humorous (at least how it's portrayed in the scant number of movies I've seen him in and no, I don't like The Office).  I prefer absurdist over his brand of awkward, uncomfortable humor (though I find deadpan comedians brilliant).  I was in the mood for an animated feature though and Despicable Me was one of the few I hadn't seen.  As many of you know, I'm a huge fan of animated features.  They bring out the little kid in me and in all honesty, the treacly sentimentality of a majority of them make me cry (Oh, that's funny?  When's the last time you didn't cry while watching Up or a Pixar movie?  I bet I make you get all misty just by saying Toy Story 3).

Despicable Me is a well done, predictable, yet an entertaining and well crafted movie.  Carell and cast's voice work were excellent (once I stopped thinking, "Wow, Carell is doing a really good job.").  The tried and true (well-worn) story of a grumpy bastard who learns to love is one of my favorites.  Shut up.  What I really enjoyed about Despicable were the animation and the humor.  The animation because it had a very European touch and the humor for the same reason.  This is one of the few animated features I've seen in quite sometime where the jokes actually made me laugh hearty peals of laughter (there were one or two I had to rewind).  The "Ah!  Curse you tiny toilet!" made me laugh so hard I nearly peed and made Moxie look at me like I had gone batty.

Yeah, it was fun and cute and I had a good time.  If you haven't seen it then I suggest it wholeheartedly.

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (2010) dir Zack Snyder

I saw a trailer for this before the abysmal Airbender movie and was momentarily interested until I found out it was a 3D movie (3D delenda est).  I had completely forgotten about this movie until I was poking around for another animated movie to watch after Despicable Me.  I figured, what the hell, and rented it.  Now, I'm not a Zach Snyder fan.  I thought 300 was poop infused with crap and Sucker Punch was entertaining as a piece of cosplay wank/watch after smoking a bunch of reefer clunker.  Watchmen was just awful.  His Dawn of the Dead was pretty good and though I'm all out of patience for zombie flicks, I'd rewatch it.

Ga'Hoole is an excellent kids' fantasy movie.  Predictable (making it a Monday night predictability triple feature) but actually kind of awesome.  Based on Kathryn Lasky's book(s?) this movie falls solidly into my "Was that so hard?" category.  It's a strange category I have for movies that are genre pieces that hit all the right notes and are just well-crafted works.  I may know exactly what's going on and be able to tell you the plot devices and character archetypes before I even see the movie but when I watch it, all that goes out the window and I just enjoy myself.  Few movies are in this category but the ones that are I will actually watch again and again (Antoine Fuqua's Shooter is a prime example - it's a good movie and yes I love Marky Mark as much as I love kittens and Skittles).

I enjoyed myself from start to finish.  The animation is amazing, even by today's standards.  The voice acting is superb, genuinely great (and I had to laugh at one point because it reminded me of late 20th Century fantasy where everyone was British/Aussie/Kiwi because nothing says high fantasy like a non-American accent).  

It's not without it's faults - the songs are puke inducing and James Newton Howard's score is lacklustre at best (though, I'm not a fan of his compositions).  There were several times I noticed where the movie was supposed to be 3D and some overlong visual sequences that, while very pretty, made me look at my watch.  Apparently the movie distills three books into one feature and there were points where I could see that.  Some characters were briefly on screen and just stepping stones in story progression.

All in all I'd put it on regularly if I owned it, as a cleaning day movie.  Plus Hugo Weaving has such a sexy voice.    

The Woman in Black (2012) dir James Watkins

The reviews of The Woman in Black had been favorable for the most part - especially from reviewers I like and trust compared to the ones I don't (*cough* fuck the Austin Chronicle) - and I'll give any haunted house movie a shot.  My interest was piqued by the trailer and the setting more than the cast or director James Watkins, whose other directorial endeavour Eden Lake (2008) I haven't seen simply because it looks kind of boring - urban couple versus gang of kids (but it does star Michael Fassbender).  Watkins also wrote the script for The Descent 2 which was shockingly good as a sequel.  I know a lot of people made noise about Daniel Radcliffe being in a horror movie.  Not being much of Harry Potter fan I didn't give a shit.

So my one of my horror movie buddies came over the other night and we watched it.  I hadn't known that it was a Hammer Films production and that made me very, very happy.  If you're not familiar with Hammer Films then click the link and educate yourself.  Also Ciaran Hinds showed up and I'm kind of a huge fan of his.  Do yourself a favor and check out his performance in the Irish ghost movie The Eclipse (2009)

The movie is excellently produced and shot, a top notch old school Hammer Film.  In true classic style (and the mark of a quality haunted house movie) the house is a central character in the story.  There's a heavy sense of foreboding and menace over the entire film.  The scares are kind of refreshing in their simple classic style-remember the banging in The Haunting (1963)?  Yeah, that kind of scare.  There are a couple of jump scares but they work.  The eponymous Woman is the dark figure standing at the end of the bed.  If you let your munchkins watch this movie it will freak their shit out (if they have the patience to sit through it).  The suspense starts from damn near the get-go and really kicks into gear once Radcliffe's Arthur Kipps reaches the creepy British hamlet (again a classic set-up for English horror).  As a Hammer film The Woman in Black works well.  I look forward to more modern Hammer flicks.

If there's a downside to the movie, I'm afraid it's Radcliffe's vaguely twitchy performance.  Maybe it's because I kept expecting Peter Cushing to suddenly appear and say, I got this.  Go make a romantic comedy, kid.  A majority of the reviewers I read mention Radcliffe's age as a detriment.  I don't think it's Radcliffe's age - the role is made for a man approaching middle age, if not middle aged.  Imagine Ryan O'Neal in George C Scott's role in The Changeling (1980) - one of the best haunted house movies ever made.  It just wouldn't work.  I'm not saying Radcliffe (or any of the cast) turned in a poor performance.  I just think the movie could of had more of an impact with an actor who could have sold the role.

All in all definitely worth watching with the lights out on a dark and stormy night.

Red Tails (2012) Dir. Anthony Hemingway

I, like many people I am sure, wasn't paying much attention to Red Tails.  I had seen the trailer and thought, "Okay, a WWII airmen movie about black pilots.  That's cool."  I had been familiar with the Tuskegee program but didn't know much more about the unit or its exploits in the European air war.  Truth be told, I had shrugged off seeing it because Cuba Gooding Jr. was in it.  Plus from the previews I figured it would be an uplifting tale about men being awesome even when the odds are stacked against them.  Paint by numbers WWII airmen movie a la Memphis Belle (1990).  When it comes down to it, Red Tails is simply a paint by numbers flyboy movie (if you're familiar with the genre then you'll probably only be in it to watch the aerial combat).

What sets Red Tails apart from its ilk is that the film focuses on Black airmen and their struggles to be recognized as equals in the eyes of white servicemen, the brass, and a society that systematically denied opportunities for equality.  Frankly Glory (1989) did it better, with a more convincing set of characters, and better dialogue.  I certainly don't have a problem with the subject matter of the film or treatment but Red Tails felt, for lack of a better term, safe.  On one hand, I enjoyed the film and cheered at the right points and laughed the right points and teared up at the right points but on the other I kind of winced at some scenes of white and black pilots coming together and the moments of "fight with your mind, not your fists" dialogue.  While I wasn't expecting (or hoping for) some kind of Spike Lee polemic I didn't expect such a two dimensional film.  Then again, it didn't need to be a political race movie because it ultimately was about pilots being awesome.

Terence Blanchard's score was pretty lacklustre but Anthony Hemingway and his technical staff put together a great looking movie.  Having the backing of Lucasfilm definitely showed because the aerial sequences were pretty bad-ass and I had a good time recognizing planes that I grew up knowing the names and makes of.  Seeing the ME-262 (the German jet that appeared near the end of the war) in action made me really happy, because ME-262s are fucking awesome.  Seriously, look them up.  Jet fighters in WWII.  Awesome.

I don't know why everyone went googly-moogly about Lucas being one of the executive producers.  He didn't write the script or the story based on John B. Holway's book.  He didn't direct it or edit it.  The reviewer on imdb is right about lots of the fallacies and might be right about the Tuskegee Airmen deserving a better movie but I'm not sure why he (or other reviewers - positive and negative) are putting such import on Lucas.  There's a bunch of stuff about Lucas on the Red Tails wiki but I'm not interested enough in reading it.

Not world's most memorable air combat movie but not one of the worst either.  I guess the best thing about this movie for me is if some kid gets interested in WWII aircraft because of it or wants to learn more about the Tuskegee Project, that's pretty cool.  As far as making an effort to see it?  Wait until it's streaming on netflix or someone else wants to pay for the rental or you've run out of airplane movies to watch.

Creature (2011) dir Fred Andrews

I'm a sucker for creature features, monster movies, and beastly beasties.  Hell, I think I love creature features as much as I love haunted house movies.  My favorite episodes of Night Stalker, The X-Files, Buffy, and Supernatural are the creature feature ones.  The problem is creature features mostly suck and by suck I mean, are fucking pieces of shit which make Corman movies look like Kurosawa (though Humanoids of the Deep which was recently rereleased is surprisingly "good").

Fred Andrews' Creature was something I had been waiting to rent (for a price drop) and y'know, it really wasn't too bad at all, and in some ways was pretty awesome. 

The premise is simple, there's a gatorman legend in the swamps of Louisiana.  Six young people (who in some ways actually turn out to be kind of well acted and sympathetic - shockingly) on a roadtrip to NOLA, stop at spooky coon-ass gas station, oh look Sid Haig is creepy, titties! gore! titties!, camping=death!, swamp people=death!, who will survive and what will be left of them?  It's not rocket surgery but the effects were good, the acting was much better than average  - Wayne Pere and David Jensen were particularly awesome, Lauren Schneider and Serinda Swan were particularly attractive (and convincing characters), and the twist wasn't bad in the least.  The climax of the movie kind of made me go, "Meeeeeeh." but it wasn't a deal breaker.  Production value was far superior to a majority of the straight-to-video congealed discharge I've watched a few minutes of - Creature looked like a real movie.

All in all Creature was enjoyable and not a complete disappointment and better than most creature features (fuck you Sci-Fi channel). 

An overdue megapost

Haven't been feeling the bloggity bloggity recently.  Been pretty bored and just putzing around with SWTOR and watching recent "blockbusters" which for the most part haven't been worth the time spent watching them (Rise of Planet of the Apes was fuckin stupid but then again all of those movies are shite).  Frankly I've run out of interest on SWTOR and will probably cancel my subscription sometime in the neart future.  On the upside there have been one or two games which have peaked my interest and these are worth commenting on.

Alan Wake was released on PC a week or so ago and has been getting good reviews.  I hadn't played it on 360 because I didn't want to buy it piecemeal DLC.  The PC version is complete and the same price point as on 360 so I went with PC.  It's an interesting game that belongs to the Silent Hill school of survival horror, very atmospheric, spooky, clumsy combat, etc etc etc.  I'm enjoying it and recommend it if you're looking for something to play with the lights off.  One thing I particularly like is how the game is broken into episodes, like a tv series.  At the beginning of a new episode the game does a "Previously on Alan Wake" and then the next segment begins.  This division of chapters has actually changed my game play style.  Instead of power gaming through it I've played an episode and then done something - or played something - else.  Kind of cool.

Some of you may know that for some insane bizarre reason I fucking love the SSX series even thought it's an Xtreme snowboarding game.  I played the shit out of SSX3 & SSX: Tricky but that was many years ago now (SSX3 was released in 2003 - which was so long ago I was still married to my first wife).  Today the new incarnation of SSX was released and I played the demo over the weekend.  It fucking rules.  I played the shit out of the demo and just had fun.  I was rocking out by myself bein all XTREME!  Seriously though, the game looks amazing, plays great, and in the full version there's an explore mode so you can just jam around bro.  RADICAL!  Plus there's going to be online racing and trick competition.  DUDE!  SWEET!  I can't wait to play Kaori again.  Nimble little minx.

Other games coming down the line: The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings for the 360 is coming out April 17th, Borderlands 2, Hitman:Absolution, and Max Payne 3.  Gonna be a pretty good year for games.

Hope all you fine folks are well and safe and not completely miserable.

When it rains it pours: HYR Movie extravaganza!

No time to waste, I'm launching a fusillade of movie reviews!

Insidious (2010) - Dir James Wan.  

I wasn't expecting much from the folks behind the Saw series (which I view with contempt usually reserved for Insane Clown Posse) but I must say I was very surprised by the quality of Insidious.  Let me get the bad out of the way first: it's predictable, there scares stop 2/3 of way through the movie, a couple of moments of shaky camera work annoyed me (as always), and in the end felt like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone or a watered-down version of Poltergeist.  On the upside: there were a few moments where the movie scared the fucking bejeezus out of me - genuinely (the last time I remember a scare like that was during The Unborn) scared,  the casting was pretty good - I like Patrick Wilson (the guy from Hard Candy) and Rose Byrne were solid parental characters, Lynne Shaye and Barabara Hershey were highlights - Lynne Shaye particularly nailed the part, and through the first half of the movie I was seriously creeped out.  Also the opening credits were really well done, none of this pseudo-Se7en crap, it was very smooth and neatly done.

Insidious was a pretty solid creeper that went in a different direction than what I was expecting. Leigh Whannell's script moved along nicely until the third act clunk where the movie strayed too far into Poltergeist country.  Whannell sets up a reasonably convincing  family dynamic though it was impossible to suspend disbelief long enough to accept a schoolteacher and a stay-at-home mom (who is a musician taking time off for her family) have enough money to buy the home they live in.  Well, maybe they invested well and...fuck I don't want to think about the housing market and economy during a horror movie.  It's worth seeing and considering October is right around the corner you'll want to add it to your stack of horror movies.  I wouldn't watch it again but it's definitely worth giving a fair shake.

The Rite (2011)  Dir Mikael Hafstrom

One of my fellow horror movie buddies brought this over the other day (along with Insidious and Rango).  I didn't know much about it except Anthony Hopkins, exorcisms, Catholics, yadda yadda yadda, it's gotta be better than most of exorcism movies that been crapped out over the last decade.  Basically The Rite is Catholics, exorcism, Anthony Hopkins, Colin O'Donoghue, Rutger Hauer (but in a good way), and off we go.  I have to admit that this was a solid movie, not exactly a frightfest but a really well done movie.  The denouement kind of fizzled but what exactly was supposed to happen?  A parade and a pie fight?  The Rite might not dethrone The Exorcist but it certainly stands head and shoulders above the Satanic endeavours of the last decade.

Side note:  Though she doesn't say anything, wears a simple black dress, and is only on screen in support of another side character (which is a god damn shame considering her acting career), Maria Grazia Cucinotta is stunning.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for raven-haired smoldering hot Italian beauties.

Rango (2011)

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp makes me want to puke.  Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp work but the whole pirate thing makes me unhappy (I fucking hate pirates - I take a British Naval stance towards them) but Verbinski and Depp working on Rango = fucking awesome.  If you've seen the preview you know exactly what the movie is about, I don't have to recap events here.  What the previews don't show you is the complete (in some ways predictable) insanity of Rango, the brilliance of the animation, the sheer quality of production, and the amount of enjoyment I had watching it.  Now I'm not shitting all over myself with Pixar idolatry (aka HYR loves Monsters, Inc, Ratatouille, and The Incredibles) over Rango but I think that was puts the movie apart from the Pixar pack.  It's thematic qualities and at times brilliant humor really worked for me.  Sure there are the expected pop culture references and inside jokes but there were a few moments where the creators just went abruptly sideways.  For example a tired use of Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" suddenly is turned into jug band "they didn't start chasin us until you put on that get away music" greatness.  While I can barely stand Depp's cartoonish acting (75% of the time) in an animated form it works, it's almost as if the elasticity of a digitally rendered lizard was made for Depp to inhabit.

I'm buying this as soon as I can, that's how much I liked Rango.

Sniper (1993)  Dir Luis Llosa

Yeah I'm givin up some review space for 1993 Tom Berenger/Billy Zane vehicle Sniper.  What?  Sniper was one of those movies from the early 90s that form part of a core movie experience for many of my peers and myself.  1993 also saw the release of Hard Target and The Last Action Hero.  Sniper is currently on hulu.com for free and since I had nothin else to do and I was sober and bored I said fuck it.  Y'know, it was fucking bad ass, like shit this pretty good.  I started getting all into it and I realized that Tom Berenger gets a bad rap (I know Billy Zane gets a bad rap but I don't care I still love him.  I love you Billy Zane!).  Most of the people who remember Tom Berenger equate him first with 1996's The Substitute and then maybe Someone to Watch Over Me (1987), Major League (1989), and Sniper (hur hur hur that's the one with Billy Zane in it I hear you say - fuck you Billy Zane rules).  Tom Berenger's Gunnery Sgt Thomas Beckett (two T's the other Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury assassinated in 1170AD only has one T) was one hell of a character, the way Berenger plays him you can't tell if Beckett is a total sociopath or simply trying to maintain and somehow hold onto his humanity.  It's an interesting role compared to Berenger in Platoon.  Definitely worth the rewatch.

Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)  Dir Takashi Miike

I'm just gonna pour hate-o-rade on this fucker in the following order:

1. Fucking god damn Tarantino shows his fucking mug in the first section of this movie and I have no idea what the hell he said because he spoke in this wretched faux "Western" drawl mixed with some kind of racist interpretation of a Japanese narrator from one of the movies he is constantly ripping off.  The hyper-stylized set would have been interesting to look at except for the fact I kept fighting the urge to instantly turn off the movie the moment I saw and heard Captain Self-Fellator.
2. The accent wasn't racist after all indeed the entire cast - Japanese speak English with the same unintelligible garbled accent.  With no option for subtitles I couldn't figure out what the fuck they were saying.  Not that it really mattered because...
3. After about slogging thirty minutes into this movie I said fuck it, I can't put up with this shit.  I might have eaten it up with a spoon ten years ago but now...jesus.  It was just tedious.  So I ended up watching - 

American Yakuza (1993) Dir Frank A Cappelo

Yeah I know I was expecting a complete dog with a title like that too.  Then the movie starts up and the credits are rolling and I see Viggo Mortensen, Ryo Ishibashi, and Michael Nouri...nani desu-ka?  

Now before we go any further I will tell all you HYR followers that I fucking love Yakuza movies.  Some people love Mafia movies.  Some people love Russian Mafia movies.  Some people love Triad movies.  Me personally, I give the most love to the 8-9-3.  I grew up loving movies like Black Rain and Rising Sun and once I really began my exploration of Asian cinema i just went kind of apeshit for the genre.  That being said...

American Yakuza didn't really suck at all, in fact, it was pretty awesome.  The plot is pretty cut and dry and the movie moves on rails to a fairly predictable conclusion but it's one of those movies that Viggo saves just by being Viggo.  I really dug the rapport Viggo and Ryo build, like wow these guys actually respect one another.  Plus Viggo is dreamy mcdreamy.

Definitely worth watching if you're in the market for an actioner or if you want to watch a movie with Viggo you haven't seen before.