Meet The Fockers

I've been wanting to watch this film like I wanted to get sick this year. Lucky for me, both of those things happened. Practically simultaneous too.
Meet The Fockers picks up a couple years down the road where Meet The Parents left off. Gaylord "Greg" Focker (Ben Stiller) is still a nurse engaged to Pamela Martha Byrnes (Teri Polo). This time around Greg is on friendly terms with Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) as he had already walked through hell to get to this spot in the original film. That's where the trouble starts. Or doesn't start. There's very little tension between the two characters. The tension is what made Meet The Parents the comedy gold that it is.
Months away from the Byrnes-Focker wedding we travel with the Byrnes family to Miami to meet Greg's parents (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand), a retired lawyer/homemaker and a sex therapist, in that order. Through the two families obvious differences the multiple writers build a rickety fort of tension between Jack and everyone.
The stars' acting is on par for the film. It's obvious they're familiar with the character so they don't have a lot of stretch to do. As well is the directing by returning directer Jay Roach.
The problem is, this is an uninspired sequel hoping to cash in on it's viewers insecurities with their own parents. By the time we're introduced to Jack's new problem with Greg we can already see into the future that Jack will resort back to his old CIA ways, be proven wrong and accept Greg and his family into the "Circle of Trust."
The only reason to watch, if there must be one is the performance by De Niro. It's not his greatest but it's De Niro. It's funny when serious actors like him and Jack Nicholson (Anger Management) do comedy.

A History of Violence

A History of Violence is based on the graphic novel of the same name. From the things I've heard, the movie is great, and the comic sucks. I have never read the book so I can't verify that claim. Writer Josh Olson was nominated for an Academy Award for his adapted screenplay.
To be honest, I thought the film version was okay. Certainly nothing to write home about. The film started slow by introducing the characters, starting with the killers that flip the world upside down for the Stall family (Viggo Mortensen, Maria Bello and Ashton Holmes) when they walk into the small town diner owned by Tom Stall. They start to hold the place up but when one has his head turned he gets nailed with a coffee pot, allowing Tom to murder both of them. Tom is named a national hero by the media, which attracts the attention of Philadelphia mobster Carl Fogarty (Ed Harris) who comes to town with hopes to kill him.
Where as the action scenes and the brief nudity scene by Maria Bello are really stimulating to the eye, they are both very short and cut and paste. The blocking is very well rehearsed just like the fight scenes in The Bourne Identity, which gives the audience the sense that all these memories and emotions are rushing back to Tom as he disarms and kills a small number of henchmen in under a minute. The gratuitous acts of violence are nothing we as an American audience haven't seen before, which makes me question why two scenes were tuned down. The unchanged scenes the European audience saw are hardly noticeable.
The film's pace started to pick up but just as soon as an action scene was over it slowed back down to a crawl. There's a lot of talking which explains the plot, but most of it is rehashed until the truth comes forward. The biggest question comes from the ending, when Tom returns home from killing his enemies. His family is seated down during dinner when he walks in with his head down, hoping they can accept him for who he is.

Sahara

Blah blah blah. So what that it's based on the best-selling book of the same name by Clive Cussler and failed to gross the film's budget, amidst many negative reviews. It doesn't matter because you have to separate adaptations from their original medium.
Sahara was supposed to be first film out of several surrounding the Dirk Pitt (Matthew McConaughey) novel series. Much like every film adaptation the producers of the film must strip the plot down to it's most central elements and that is Dirk Pitt, marine engineer, explorer and former Navy SEAL along with his team (Steve Zahn) are in Africa essentially treasure hunting when trouble, in the attractive form of Eva Rojas (Penélope Cruz), a World Health Organization doctor surfaces. He's on the search for a Civil War Ironclad ship, and she's on a mission trying to discover the source of a terrible illness that is killing innocent Africans. By helping each other, they help themselves.
I have to admit that the plot did cater to the, I know this is fiction so it's okay to be unbelievable side while it stung like a bee with social commentary. Since viewing I'm stuck with the line, "Don't worry. It's Africa. Nobody cares about Africa." as said by General Zateb Kazim, the film's antagonist when informed his actions may have consequences the whole world would have to suffer. Hey, go big or go home.
Getting down to business, what we have here is a fun, light-hearted adventure story with an ending we can all guess will happen before the second act. As long as you don't take the film to serious you can't really be let down.

Drag Me To Hell

When I first signed up for Netflix two years ago I was really excited to watch as many movies as I possibly could. Not only for the price that it would cost me to buy one DVD a month I had the potential to view around 12. After two years of watching 6 to 12 DVDs a month I started to feel really desensitized to everything. Horror movies don't scare me. Romance-dramas don't make me bubble. Teen sex comedies no longer get me hard.
Over the summer as the latest from the Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi was putting out his latest, Drag Me To Hell a healthy buzz followed the film. It was a good buzz. A buzz that he left the Spider-Man series behind him and was returning to his horror roots. I think this is where the problem for me begins.
As a fan of film, an ex-film major and an average person in general I like to sit down and be entertained. I want to laugh. I want to cover my eyes and deny it later. Drag Me To Hell had these elements but they just didn't follow through to the big screen.
The major problem plaguing this film was the casting. Although it was a rather small role but Justin Long was never right for this role. I don't imagine him being right for any role. Allison Lohman was great in Matchstick Men. She's not an actress suited for horror.
I certainly enjoyed the plot, letting the story unravel in front of me up until the near the end when the obvious ending was going to happen. Raimi should have known better than to give his audience what they knew to be coming. There was no way getting around that but to suffer horribly waiting for the inevitable to happen.
I read that after working on Spider-Man for all those years with huge inflated budgets he wanted to work on a film with a small budget. I imagine $30 million to be small compared to his last three films. It certainly paid for good CGI and a creepy score that chilled my bones. Raimi certainly had the production value, there was no reason to venture into campy sequences. I know there were small and far in between, but you must agree with me that they had no place there.
Drag Me To Hell is just another check mark along a long list of seemingly disappointing films that overshot it's objective either by overproduction or the film maker's wavering dream.

BBC Photos of the Day

The photo I was looking is the fifth photo following this link. It's of two men standing in front of a fountain at the first sign of snow in St. Petersburg Russia. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8302553.stm

I was attracted to this photo for many reasons. Most importantly it was the overall feel. As I went through the photo--only having seen a smaller portion of the photo at the bottom I was expecting to read that the image had been aged. The snow didn't look like snow to me. It's barely visible in the snippet. Once I had click on the photo to bring it to life I didn't see a picture of two men outside as snow fell. I saw a grainy picture, something that has been tossed around and the color scratched off.
I really like the coincidence of the water element in two different forms: snow falling from the sky and the fountain in the background throwing water up into the air.
One thing I noticed was the framing inside the picture. The bottom half is framed by the fence and then by the chain. That leaves the top half free as ever, free to snow and free for water to pour out of sprockets.

The Girlfriend Experience

For all what's been said about this movie, I was bored through out the entire piece. Obviously this is not the typical film or film setting we would expect to see porn star Sasha Grey act in. Let alone work with acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh (Ocean's Eleven series, Traffic). There's an old cliche saying that porn stars can't act. Grey certainly would not be the exception to the rule.
For all 77 minutes of this film set in 2008, the dialogue in at least one-third if not half were Chelsea's clients (played by Grey) talking and worrying about the up coming stock market crash. Excuse me for not weeping for my brotheren who are no longer reaping the financial benefits of being the rich white elite. Throughout the history of mankind money of any kind has always been a worry since it's conception. It is none more relevant here than any movie of the week, just because the clients that visit Chelsea are all wealthy white men of varying ages.
Soderbergh like his past films never finds the need to set the focus of attention on the actors themselves (nonprofessionals who often improvised their lines) while letting a scene play out in front of them, with his actors out of focus or hidden behind props. If this was from another director I might have been shocked or maybe let this drag me in, but not from Soderbergh. For an experimental film shot within two weeks for under a budget of two million dollars, the only thing that feels experimental is the budget and the time it took to film.

Another State of Mind

Another State of Mind is the not prominent documentary about Youth Brigade or B.Y.O. Records (Better Youth Organization) that the new film Let Them Know is. I haven't seen that film yet but people on the org are excited. However, I did watch Another Stand of Mind (obviously) the other night when I had gotten home. Reading the description on the sleeve came as a surprise (even though I had read it many times at it slowly made it's way to the number one slot, then being shipped in the mail). There are not a lot of punk movies, documentaries in particular that are there to record history as it unfolds. The filmmakers (Adam Small and Peter Stuart) capture a true and honest look at what it is to be a punk, be in a punk band and on tour in the 1980's.
With only only one production assistant the filmmakers chronicles the first international tour of (now) legendary punks bands Social Distortion and Youth Brigade. The tour funded by BYO--Youth Brigade's Shawn and Mike Stern--begins in Los Angeles as the bands and road crew introduces themselves and perform modifications of an old school bus in which they purchased to go on tour in. Mapped out is 30 or so shows lasting about 35 days.
From the get-go, this tour was doomed. From shitty promoters paying the bands in rolls of coins (San Francisco), bus breakdowns (most of tour but easily fixed until they hit the Midwest and east coast), to being stereotyped to the point where the bands (with local help) climbed the fire escape to enter the building where they were playing later to avoid the burly biker men outside and being refused service based on looks alone (Canada).
This documentary captures well what it is to be punk, to color your hair blue and walk around with safety pins in your ears through the use of interviews with LA punks and with locals who hang out with the bands after the show.
Just as the bus is entering DC it breaks down for the final time. It's towed to the Dischord House, but the members who didn't bail on the tour in Detroit are falling apart. Three members of the crew split to stay with a friend and Social D returns home to LA. Youth Brigade is the only band left but the tour is now over, so they return to LA riding in the back of the truck the filmmakers rented. Looking back over the experience, Shawn Stern had this to say, "Yeah, I'd say it was worth it."

Wonderfalls: The Complete Series

Everyone holds that show in the heart that never should have been canceled, whether it had been short or long-lived. The one in mine is Wonderfalls, a brilliantly written poignant comedy ranging in drama from time to time. The show stars Caroline Dhavernas as Jaye Tyler, a graduate of Brown University in Philosophy who works retail in a gift shop along side Niagara Falls.
In the pilot episode of this very short-lived TV show (4 episodes aired) Jaye starts to hear voices from inanimate objects that have mouths. Any animal that has two lips and is in the right position will began talking at random, giving her instructions on what to do in her life damn the consequences, which usually hurts her emotionally until the plot of the episode has come to the end and it’s revealed she has actually helped someone somehow in their life; sometimes helping herself.
When Wonderfalls originally premiered in the spring of 2004 I was really excited to watch the show and see how the lives of the characters evolve. Returning back to campus after spring break I was devastated when I tuned into Fox on Fridays to learn the show would no longer be airing, despite how funny and relevant the show was to certain audiences. Knowing now what day a show airs is that important: Friday nights being known as the death slot, Fox destined the show to fail, never allowing it to find an audience that would tune in weekly.
Years later the entire series was released on DVD, due to enough demand and the fact that a whole series worth had been bought and paid for, the episodes shot before the Fox executives decided to pull the plug. DVD bonus features include commentary from executive producers and creators Todd Holland and Bryan Fuller and actresses Caroline Dhavernas and Katie Finneran on select episodes, a music video for the title song I Wonder Why The Wonderfalls by Andy Partridge.

30 Rock: Season 1

What’s that old saying? Life imitates art. That doesn’t seem to be the case with the hit NBC show 30 Rock. This sitcom created, written, produced and starring Tina Fey is more autobiographical than it seems. Tina Fey plays Liz Lemon, the head writer of The Girlie Show or as it was renamed in the pilot episode, TGS with Tracy Jordan. For years before the entertainment star was stepping in front or the camera for the little screen, and later for the big screen Fey was the head writer on Saturday Night Live.

On 30 Rock, she brings with her Tracy Morgan who plays none other than Tracy Jordan, a troubled and erratic fallen movie star. Executive producing is Lorne Michaels, producer for SNL and several films starring SNL alum. The SNL connection doesn’t stop there. Numerous ex-members (Chris Parnell and Rachael Dratch) from SNL make cameo appearances throughout the season.

There is another saying that Tina Fey followed well and that is, write what you know. 30 Rock is based off the on goings behind the production of Saturday Night Live, whether that deals with actor and writer problems, upper management and adding the one aspect every show on television will have; dating.

Just like SNL, 30 Rock parodies pop culture and real life keeping the show fresh but up to date with current events, even though it time stamps the dialogue. The twenty-one episode long season kept us reminded of the upcoming 2008 Presidential election by numerously name dropping the candidates, which was relevant in 2006 when the show premiered.

Alec Baldwin, Judah Friedlander and numerous other comedians and young actors round out the cast.