My Overly Precious Indie Narration

GPOY

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 01:14:00 -0400

GPOY

moviesatthetheatres: Drive (2011)

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Wed, 30 May 2012 07:52:41 -0400

moviesatthetheatres:

Drive (2011)

Trailer for Freaky Deaky starring Crispin Glover, Michael Jai...

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 22:17:38 -0400

Trailer provided by

Trailer for Freaky Deaky starring Crispin Glover, Michael Jai White and others!

This looks right up my alley. The trailer is equal parts awesome and hilarious. Michael Jai White is possibly the baddest of asses in Hollywood. So, I can’t wait to see this.

Paul F. Tompkins: Hubris!: LABORING UNDER DELUSIONS.

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:39:48 -0400

Paul F. Tompkins: Hubris!: LABORING UNDER DELUSIONS.:

paulftompkins:

My new Comedy Central 1-hour special premieres Saturday, April 21st at 11pm E/P. FYDVRI (for your DVR’s information), its searchable title is PAUL F. TOMPKINS: LABORING UNDER DELUSIONS.

In it, I recount various adventures I have had as a show business person and as a non-show business person. These recountings have a humorous bent to them (intentional).

After you watch it on Comedy Central on Saturday, April 21st, you need only wait mere hours until Tuesday, April 24th, when you may purchase it to have in your home forever and ever until God, in His wisdom, separates you from it by death (yours). This DVD version of the special will be almost twice the length of the broadcast version, and will features some crazy extras. Including! The great Eban Schletter scoring some of yours truly’s whimsical rambles with a wooden piano machine.

Here is some crass information which, ideally, leads to me making money:

The extended and uncensored version of “Paul F. Tompkins: Laboring Under Delusions” will be available for download on April 24 on iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, Vudu, Samsung Media Hub and in HD exclusively on Xbox LIVE and Sony PlayStation Network.

More purchasing information to come as this story of me making money unfolds! But for now:

SAVE THIS TELEVISION DATE.

(April 21st at 11pm E/P.)

Oh, and feel free to repost the living Hell out of this.

likethefeathersofathunderbird: Back on October 8th, 2011, I got...

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:36:00 -0400

likethefeathersofathunderbird:

Back on October 8th, 2011, I got the pleasure of attending the taping of Paul F. Tompkins’ new Comedy Central special at the grandiose Alex Theater. It was as hilarious as you’d expect from one of, if not, the funniest men working in comedy today. Tompkins’ evolution has been impressive where has gone from more conceptual humor to more story based comedy, by his own admission, mind you. That evolution was on full display during this special. I see his prolific and impressive work on all podcasts including his own, Pod F. Tompkast, as part of the reason he has gotten more comfortable telling long stories without immediate pay off on stage (keep in mind that this is an appraisal based more off following him mainly though podcasts these past few years than seeing him perform live. I’m sure it’s a combination of the two, but most likely more a result of his unparalleled work ethic and brilliant mind). That was a long tangent to cover myself from saying something probably way off basis (Don’t judge me, nameless internet interneters). This special is structured around Tompkins’ jobs prior to being a comedian. He starts by talking about his retail jobs moving all the way to hosting Best Week Ever before it inevitably got canceled. The running thread between these jobs is Tompkins desire not to be yelled at. A feeling we can all relate to, and one I’m currently experiencing, which is hard when I have like nineteen bosses. Due to Tompkins using that jobs that he got yelled at as a structure, it makes the stories instantly relate-able to everyone and make the material accessible to everyone. The stories are human and most of all hysterical. My buddy and I were fighting for breath the entire time. As a treat for attending the taping, we got to see Paul do some terrific punch ups, where he played the manner off with humor and aplomb. As an extra special treat, we got something straight out of the Tompkast, where he brought the talented and ever silent Eban Schletter out to back him up on the piano. Paul told an insane stream of consciousness story that has unfortunately faded from my mind like it was some lucid fever dream, where he was telling it only to me. Then to close out, he sang a rousing rendition of “Danny Boy”, and it nearly brought a tear to my eye. I hope both of these make the extras on the DVD. Probably one of the best evenings I had in a very long time. Not even the majority of the room wearing “California Formal” jeans and a plaid shirt when Paul asked for people to dress nicely (Come on, the man wears a fifteen piece suit and you can’t wear a dress shirt and slacks?) or having to wait in a labyrinthine line or fighting LA traffic and almost missing the show could ruin the show.

*Photo was posted by Paul F. Tompkins on his facebook a few days after the taping of the gorgeous backdrop from the show.

I highly recommend catching the special whenever it will air on Comedy Central, I’m sure Mr. Tompkins will post about it before it does. So, follow him on tumblr, twitter, facebook friend him, shower him with praise, however, you choose to get you Tompkins based news is good. And if you don’t subscribe to his two excellent podcasts, the Pod F. Tompkast and the Dead Authors podcast, then what the fuck are you doing with your life by not having 100% more joy in it?

Paul F. Tompkins’ Laboring Under Delusions airs 4/21/12 at 11pm on Comedy Central! Watch it, you fancy people!

Pre-order the DVD here.

I am just saying!

likethefeathersofathunderbird: Savages Official Trailer #1 -...

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 00:25:52 -0400

likethefeathersofathunderbird:

Savages Official Trailer #1 - Oliver Stone Movie (2012) HD (by MovieclipsCOMINGSOON)

I really don’t like Oliver Stone. I can’t really name any of his films that I’ve seen that I’ve enjoyed. They are always overwrought and shoddy. This however hits my genre flick errogenous zones and I’m cautiously optmistic about it. Aaron Johnson is a hell of an actor based off Kick-Ass and Nowhere Boy, I’m always excited to see him in more leading roles. Plus, day of the dead masks!

The Hunger Games

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:45:59 -0400

I’ll be the first to admit that I got caught up in the hype of the release of this movie by reading the first book of Suzanne Collins trilogy a week or so before the movie came out. It wasn’t an arduous task considering it’s a quick read. Quick but enjoyable and considering most of the dreck that is contemporary Young Adult fiction, the book is written surprisingly well. While it isn’t ground breaking by any means, there is a trust the author puts in the audience to be able to effectively visualize this world and what’s going on by not leading too much in the prose or gratuitous over writing…a plague of both YA and sci-fi/dystopian literature. This knowledge leads to an interesting look at this movie because I have access to information that is left out and can compare the two. The short of it, The Hunger Games movie is a strong adaptation of the book.

Now for people who want the book transplanted onto the screen, you will be disappointed. It isn’t simply taking every scene from the book and turning it into a screen play, and it is all the better off for that. One thing I enjoyed about the film is that it starts by book ending the film in the Capitol, so the audience gets a look at the gross extravagance of the people who live there leading to a stark contrast of the garish pastels and overly bright colors with the drabness and khaki of Katniss’ District 12. This is something that is hard to get across in the novel because short of the tips here and there of showing the reader the glut of the Capitol it never comes across as well as it does in the film. The only thing I disliked about the very beginning of the movie was the really weak Prim dream scene, where she has a nightmare about being chosen. It’s too on the nose and considering the trailer tips she’s chosen and people have already book, it would have been better to have her say something like, “OH NO, THE DUCKS ARE EATING MY GOAT AGAIN!” The film does a great job at letting the imagery shine and show how Katniss’ daily life is in the district.

One benefit the film has over the book is that it wisely chose to forgo giving Katniss a voice over or narration. The drawback of setting the book in first person is that it makes it kind of myopic because we can only see what Katniss sees. It makes the character more present, gives her a strong voice and adds depth specifically because we get her opinions on things, but we don’t get to see much else. The film could have easily made it primarily from her point of view, but they don’t and it gives us some of the stronger scenes in the film like President Snow and Seneca giving you a look at how sinister and vile the Capitol really is. Or the beautiful and lyrical District 11 scene, which adds to the emotion of the events surrounding the pivotal fight. Admittedly, there might be some problematic things happening in that scene, but I’m not sure if I want to attribute these problems to it just yet. However, I really loved that scene because it shows the Districts as less passive than I imagined them by reading the book.

The people of the Capitol are despicable, they are dressed like some kind of Neo-Tokyoian’s fever dream. As if the only thing that survived from the old world was Nicki Minaj videos. This leads me to another point, while the book is obviously influenced by plenty of sources, sci-fi, classical dystopian novels, and the most noticeable the Romeo & Juliet gambit. It’s less noticeable because it’s focusing so singularly on Katniss and her character. The film wears it’s homage and sources on its sleeve. The Peacekeepers look straight out of the Truffaut adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. Everything about the Capitol’s technology and people is all Huxley. And the Districts are straight Orwellian. The control room from the game echoes parts of Brazil. Not that any of this is bad, but it’s noticeable. We could argue for hours about how similar the movie is to Battle Royal or isn’t. However, that’s missing the point, there is more context to the events of the Hunger Games, and the point is to show this dystopian society crushed by the rule of a glutted, clueless ruling class. Not so much the violence, which is never gratuitous or does the film relish in the murder of children. Whereas, Battle Royal is primarily for the wild violence. Both have a place and both are good in their own right, but a comparison is pointless.

To put a point on all this, the performances are good for the most part with Woody Harrelson the clear standout, at least for me. The changes made to his and Katniss’ relationship was for the best, at least in a visual format. Donald Sutherland is fucking frightening while just staring coldly out at the children he’s about to watch murder each other. He only goes on to prove how chilling he is when talking to Seneca. Jennifer Lawrence is still a gem, and she brings out the inherent strength of Katniss. Josh Hutcherson does a good job showing us how charming and cunning Peeta was in the novel. The movie is really good. A strong adaptation that will hopefully lead to two other strong films. Not so much that it’ll lead to two other films, it will, especially after such a strong box office performance, but that they’ll be as quality as this.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Exclusive Premiere Trailer [HD] (by...

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:46:16 -0500

G.I. Joe: Retaliation Exclusive Premiere Trailer [HD] (by machinima)

I saw this trailer today before Ghost Rider…and holy shit! This looks fuck crazy. I haven’t seen the first one because it looked bad, but this looks properly retarded. Is there any action franchise that the Rock can’t make better? This guy is finally getting into films that make good use of his obvious bad assness. No more of this Tooth Fairy non-sense. Also, what the fuck at the end? My cholesterol is a bit high after this trailer.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:01:00 -0500

Holy fuck! There was no greater news for fans of crazy, over-the-top and ridiculous action movies than when they announced that Neveldine/Taylor, the visionary directors behind the two greatest fever dreams in the Crank series, would direct the new Ghost Rider film. The batshit crazy news didn’t end there because they announced that Nic Cage would reprise the role of Johnny Blaze. What? Is this real life? Two of my favorite action directors in recent memory teaming up with possibly the most insane actor in the world! My expectations for wildly manic and dizzying action scenes and stylistic flourishes were off the fucking chart, especially after the teaser trailer of the Ghost Rider pissing flames. Today, I had the pleasure of seeing Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Does it live up to my unrealistic expectations for unbridled lunacy? However, before I answer that, I must note that I have not seen the first Ghost Rider film because it looks bad in a bad way. Also, I’m not the biggest fan of Ghost Rider as a comic property.

With that out of the way, let’s examine if Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is as crazy as you’d expect given the maniacs behind and in front of the camera. The short answer is no. It isn’t as ridiculous as you’d expect. The longer answer is that this is clearly Neveldine/Taylor proving that they can make a more traditional movie while still keeping with some of their more bombastic sensibilities. While I enjoyed this film overall, I always felt like it was holding back most of the time. The fact that this wasn’t a hard R was a fucking travesty, and you could easily tell in certain scenes the directors wanted to cut loose and show some terrific gore or at least blood. Also, I felt that everyone involved wanted to be able to let the fucks fly, but couldn’t. The main thing that I didn’t quite care for in the film was the story. It’s a standard action/comic story, bad guy wants something, but the good guys either willingly or reluctantly want to keep it from him. The story is a typical journey/road story where the good guys eventually have a big showdown with the big bad at a predestined location. Due to the kind of mehness of the story, there are many lulls between the action and subsequently the craziness that I so longingly wanted, and I wonder how much better the movie would have been if the story was different.

All that said I fucking loved this movie. While you have to wait through a ho-hum opening act, once the movie get’s going, there are several really amazing scenes. One involves Nic Cage really chewing the scenery while shaking down an eastern European scumbag who runs a pot bellied big fighting ring. Then there is a huge showdown with the red herring of a bad guy where the Ghost Rider puts his Ridery powers to good use creating one of the most ludicrous fight scenes ever. Oh man, Nic Cage is rare form here. It’s like he’s trying his best not to try. Like he read his lines the day before and was like, “Hey…I got this.” His overacting here in spots is utterly brilliant. Then there is Idris Elba who plays Moreau, a French priest-ish who loves wine. He gets to cut loose here and be every bit as over-the-top as Cage. Then there were small cameos by Giles and Raiden as head priests respectively. This may not be the best comic book movie in a while, hell it’ll probably be the worst of all the ones coming out this year, but it was a lot of fucking fun. Also, hopefully will lead to Neveldine/Taylor making a Crank 3 with Statham and Nic Cage together.

The Artist

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:00:46 -0500

Yes, I’ve finally seen the Artist. Now can I be part of the club that tells you how magical it is? How it is the finest salute to cinema since the cinemas began? Why there should be more silent films made in modernity? Wait, I don’t necessarily believe any of that. Okay, I will preface my review of this movie by saying this is indeed a good movie. There is no denying that. The Artist is all things considered a good movie. It is a charming movie with wonderful performances. Michel Hazanavicius took a huge risk by making a silent film in 2011, and it is a brave move.

Now that that’s out of the way. I didn’t quite care for the Artist. If I’m being honest, at times I was bored by it. It wasn’t a matter of it moving too slowly. It doesn’t, the film moves at a fast clip, probably too fast where some of the plot developments I felt weren’t given enough time, but that is quibble without being able to use any massive amount of dialogue to add to the imagery. I don’t want this to be me ranting against silent movies, but it might end up like that. Another thing I didn’t care for was the overuse of title cards to convey dialogue. Sometimes it’s necessary and works. Yet at other times, it’s done for things that the action on the screen conveys perfectly well and just makes it seem like there wasn’t enough trust for the idea to be communicated by the actors. Then there is the difficult problem of how to convey the interesting angle of a silent film actor who can’t hear what other people are saying after he isn’t able to adapt to the talkies. I loved that idea, but getting across that with Jean Dujardin’s nuanced facial expressions is difficult. The most problematic example of this is when George Valentin leaves Peppy’s mansion after discovering her weird stalker room, and then he sees the tuxedo he sold for booze in a store window. While he admires his reflection wearing the tuxedo again (I loved that scene a lot), a police officer comes up to him and starts talking. Then George starts sort of freaking out, but instead of having a title card cut away with gibberish or something to give the idea that George isn’t hearing the officer, you just have to put it together after the fact that he couldn’t. This might be a minor complaint since I got what Hazanavicius intended. Then there is my problem with the overall story of the film, I just found myself not caring all that much since I’ve seen the same sort of plot done more interestingly in Sunset Blvd and Chaplin respectively. Although, you could argue they both weren’t a silent take on the problem of a silent film actor not being able to adapt to the advent of the talkies and technology. Then there is the ending…it is the 1930’s equivalent of the all the actors in an indie movie singing a quirky song at the end before the credits roll.

Now that I’m done kind of shitting on it. I will say that Jean Dujardin is incredible in this and he’s got the movie star look down. His facial expressions in this are nothing short of amazing. I won’t like when I saw his smile as George Valentin for the first time, it won me over. Then there is the spectacular, evocative and at times whimsical score Ludovic Bource, which I loved. There are also some gorgeous scenes in this and it was directed masterfully. The truth is that you should see the Artist because while I had my complaints, I don’t regret for a minute watching the Artist.

High Road

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:00:05 -0500

I posted the trailer a while ago for this, and it looked hilarious. The film was directed by Matt Walsh of the Upright Citizens Brigade and features a lot of improvised dialogue as you’d expect considering the director is a founding member of the UCB. This will be a short review because I feel there isn’t a whole lot to say about a comedy except whether it is funny or not. So, if you don’t read anything else, know this, High Road IS EXCEPTIONALLY FUNNY. I laughed throughout the hour and twenty minute run time and had a lot of huge chuckles from the film. It’s not surprising since the cast is stacked with talented and funny actors (Joe Lo Trugio, Rob Riggle, Lizzy Caplan, Seth Morris, Brandon Johnson, and show stealer, Rich Fulcher among others). The performances are hysterical by all the bigger names, but I was actually surprised by how hilarious the two leads, both relatively unknown, Dyland O’Brien and James Pumphrey. They had a great chemistry and played well off each other, which made the road trip aspect of the movie work really well.

The rest of this review I’ll kind of talk about the lack of distinctively visual style in comedies. Most comedies are shot utilitarian without any sort of sense of style for the visuals. Many times, it’s mainly in service of the jokes in simple two shots. Even when directors like David Gordon Green do comedic features, there isn’t much presence of the visual virtuosity that made films like George Washington and All the Real Girls such a joy to watch. I mean there are spots where it comes out, but it is flashes instead of a pervading sense of visual direction. At least with DGG comedies and even Apatow there is sense of them caring a bit about the way the film flows even if it is a lot of simple two shots, but most comedies are horrendously put together visually. I haven’t seen many comedies recently, so I’ll point to Bucky Larson which is at best competently put together, but a prime example of what I’m talking or rather hinting about. I say all this to say that while watching High Road, I felt like Walsh had a definite sense of visual style to how he put the film together and shot the scenes, which I appreciate.

What I’ll say to you all is that when High Road comes out on VOD then DVD/Blu-Ray, you should definitely check it out. You’ll laugh a whole lot.

Red Lights trailer (by DutchFilmworksNL) A trailer for Rodrigo...

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:16:45 -0500

Red Lights trailer (by DutchFilmworksNL)

A trailer for Rodrigo Cortés’ new film starring Cillian Murhphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Toby Jones and Elizabeth Olsen. His debut film, Buried was one of my favorites of that year. Some of the camera work he did in that movie was insane and made even more impressive by the fact that the entire thing was shot in a coffin. He also brought out some of the best acting of Ryan Reynolds’ career. So, it’ll be interesting to see how he does with actors who have consideribly more chops than Reynolds. The trailer looks crazy and I’m hugely excited for this. De Niro doesn’t seem to be phoning it here and that bodes well for the film. Also, it’s nice to see Cillian Murhphy in a starring role. Holy fuck paranormal shit that doesn’t look horrible corny or done with stupid home videos and time lapse!

A clip from the Comedy directed by Rick Alverson and starring...

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:17:59 -0500

A clip from the Comedy directed by Rick Alverson and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. This clip is hilarious yet horribly uncomfortable. That seems to be what people are saying about the film after it’s Sundance premiere. Honestly, I’m excited for this after watching the clip. Rough House pictures picked this up for distribution, and that’s a good fit because the tone sounds along the lines of Jody Hill, Danny McBride and David Gordon Green’s recent work.

The High Road trailer, directed by Matt Walsh (of the Upright...

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:58:00 -0500

The High Road trailer, directed by Matt Walsh (of the Upright Citizens Brigade).

I remember Walsh talking about this movie on a podcast a while back. It’s good to finally see a trailer for it. The film looks hilarious and is absolutely packed with a talented supporting cast. And Lizzy Caplan for some reason makes me feel weird inside in a good way.

Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:53:36 -0500

I’ve been a Tim and Eric fan since Tom Goes to the Mayor (that remains my favorite thing they’ve done, but the level sublime absurdity they’ve achieved since then is something to admire). I loved Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! which was one of the few brilliant sketch shows in recent memories (these have been few and far between since Upright Citizens Brigade ended). Their segments of Funny or Die Presents made the entire series worth watching. When I heard they were making a movie, I was down for whatever insanity they were going to throw my way. After watching this yesterday, I can safely say whatever notions I had of what this film would be were thrown completely out of the fucking window. I don’t know if I necessarily had expectations for this movie, but if I ever did; I can safely say I was wrong. This film goes to depths and levels that most of Tim and Eric’s previous work couldn’t (a lot of that is due to time and television’s restrictions). I can never think of Ray Wise in the same way as I used to after this film or bathtubs for that matter. Everything from their series is in tact here from using non-actors who can’t act whatsoever, messing with and distorting images and sounds, celebrity cameos that are every bit as absurd as they are, and things that might make you sick. The film starts with an advertisement for a Schlaaang Corp. chair and Chef Goldblum. It ends with an Inception-ian reveal. I don’t want to go too in depth about the film because it’d spoil a lot of the humor, plus, so much of Tim and Eric’s comedy is based on actually seeing and hearing it. That said, the ending might be my favorite thing ever and I couldn’t stop laughing at it. If you like Tim and Eric then there is no reason you shouldn’t have already seen this film on VOD and signed their Billion Dollar Movie pledge. If you don’t like Tim and Eric this won’t change your mind at all. In fact, you’ll likely dislike them more after this. Now I can’t wait to see The Comedy (especially after seeing the clip for it posted on the LA Times site). Go see this fucking movie and meet Tim’s new son Jeffrey.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:38:27 -0500

I really enjoyed the first Sherlock Holmes despite it not paying any attention to the actual character of Sherlock Holmes. Also, it had the distinction of being the first Guy Ritche movie I’ve liked since Snatch, so good on it. It’s a fun movie and a good theater experience. Plus, homoerotic subtext abound, honestly, it’s like watching a RDJ and Jude Law slash fiction adaptation. That said, I wasn’t that excited for the new one. The trailer didn’t wow me, and it’d been long enough since the first one that the inherent flaws of that one became more acute. This was low on my list of stuff to see during the Holiday season and I saw it only after seeing everything else worthwhile. That said, I have too much of a man crush on Robert Downey Jr. to not see it. So, you know how everyone said that this is every bit as enjoyable as the first? They’re right. While not the same movie, the film isn’t a radical departure from the first film. Robert Downey and Jude Law still have great chemistry, the mystery element of it still doesn’t work too well, Sherlock’s hilarious detective pre-cog fight senses are still there, it still has giant and elaborate action set pieces, there are still some funny moments, and yes homoerotic subtext pervades the entire movie. That said, I enjoyed it just as much as the first one. If you haven’t seen the first one, wait for this one because it does do somethings better than the first movie. That said the sum of the parts equal out for both films. In this one the antagonist is much better and more of a challenge. I enjoyed Jared Hess as Moriarty very much and I want to see the man in more things outside of Mad Men. The law aspect of this one was much better because Stephen Fry is far more entertaining than the last chief of police. Although, I didn’t quite need to see him walking around naked, but hell that was a funny scene. The best part of this was the dueling Holmesian fight analyses, that was genius level cinema and seemed too smart to be in a Guy Ritche movie. See this for that scene.

Everything Must Go

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:24:29 -0500

I first heard about this movie during my Senior Projects class last year. The only thing I knew about it was that it starred Will Ferrell and inexplicably adapted the Raymond Carver short story, “Why Don’t You Dance?” Needless to say the move bewildered me, how can you take just one Carver story and turn it into a feature? Especially a story as short as “Why Don’t You Dance?” Then I saw the trailer, which confused me even more. It seemed to lose the tone of the story and seemed to be just another average indie movie that happened to star one of the biggest comedy stars in the world. The story this film is inspired by, adapted from, etc. is one of my favorite Carver stories and my Senior Projects professor used it as an example for presentations we had to do. So, I always meant to see this in theaters to see how the director went from such a sparse story into a feature film, but I got distracted by being poor and comic book movies. I finally saw this a month ago, and I despised it. It’s not to say the film is poorly made, it isn’t. However, I couldn’t get away from the source material. The only things the film really shares with the Carver short is that Ferrell’s character is an alcoholic, his wife leaves him and puts all his shit on the lawn, and he decides to sell off his stuff (although there is more reason for it in the movie, which kind of misses the point). I like Will Ferrell a lot and I think he’s a solid dramatic actor. He turns in a good performance here even if the tone of the film is uneven. Part of it wants to be kind of goofy and precious while the other half wants to be serious and dour. It never finds that balance. There are some funny moments mainly thanks to Ferrell. The supporting cast is solid from Biggie’s son to Miguel Pena. When the turn comes for Ferrell to stop holding onto all his stuff and his past to moving on seems a bit forced. Yet there are some earnest and enjoyable moments after the inevitable sale between Ferrell and Biggie’s son. The truth is that I’d probably have liked this if there wasn’t any mention of Carver’s short story. However, to see a film that does manage to adapt Raymond Carver’s stories in an excellent fashion, see Robert Altman’s Shortcuts.

[Read the original short story here, http://nasonart.com/personal/lifelessons/WhyDon’tYouDance.html]

Warrior

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:07:12 -0500

This film is riddled with clichés from many sports movies. Despite that, I found myself enjoying the hell out of this. What elevates the film from it’s from these very glaring clichés is it’s performances. Tom Hardy may be one of the best actors right now. At the very least, he is my favorite. Ever since his unforgettable performance in Bronson, I’ve looked out for everything this young man has acted in. He turned in a memorable performance in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy this year in addition to this. One problem with his performance is that he leans a bit too hard on the jaded, bitter mommy issue aspect of his character. Then there is Nick Nolte who gives a good turn as a father, who is a recovering alcoholic that chased away all of his family, trying to make up for his past and earn the forgiveness of his sons. The moment resulting from Tom Hardy’s character giving Nolte a verbal castration and he falls back into the bottle was chilling. Lastly, Joel Edgerton plays Hardy’s brother in the film. He was one of the older brothers in the amazing Animal Kingdom. His is the most cliché of the story lines, where he gave up fighting because his wife didn’t want to see him get hurt, but has to go back into it so his house doesn’t get foreclosed by the bank. Edgerton is the underdog throughout the film, and by some weirdly convenient luck makes it into the Sparta Tournament. If you’ve seen the trailer then you know where the film eventually ends up and while that whole bit is relatively unbelievable. Something about the film makes you not care that it’s ludicrous. It taps into some weird part of your brain where you just want to see things work out much like Rocky. If you like this and want to see another slightly more interesting MMA movie, check out David Mamet’s Redbelt.

Haywire

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:19:00 -0500

Before I start this review, I urge you all to read Jen Kirkman’s terrific blog post, “What I Would Have Said About Eddie Brill on NPR” because her post weighed heavily on me since I’ve read it. Honestly, I know I’ve made huge strides in how I view women and life in general over the last few years. I wouldn’t go as far as claiming I’m a feminist because I don’t know enough about feminist theory and some of what I know of it, I don’t necessarily agree with. That isn’t to say that I don’t agree with the goals and ideas of feminism, but I’m more of a humanist than anything else. Anyway, gender is always a quagmire and I’m certainly not well read enough on the subject to dissect it in any intelligible fashion, so I’ll speak more to Kirkman’s article for the rest of this paragraph. While her article deals more with the idea of comedy and gender, specifically about the prevalent notion that “women aren’t funny”. Let’s make this fucking clear, women are every bit as funny as men. With comedy like all entertainment (say action films), it’s a fucking numbers game and proportionately there are more male comedians than female comedians. The truth as Jen puts it; there is simply a ton of shitty comics. Due to women being a much smaller number in comedy, they are singled out as being unfunny because of a small sample size. However, from my life the women I know and am friends with are every bit as funny as my male friends are. I just so happen to gravitate toward people who can make me laugh (not the easiest task, mind you). As a matter of fact, I know more funny women than men because I only have two constant male friends (one whom I podcast with, and one whom is hilarious because he is so unaware that he is funny). I guess this rambling non-sense is my way of Cobaining up as Kirkman puts it. I promise though that this isn’t simply narcissistic navel gazing, which most of my reviews end up being anyway, but has relevance to the film Haywire.

The main point I took from Kirkman’s post is that as a society we need to stop assigning gender to occupation (I used it earlier to demonstrate a point), so instead of qualifying comedian simply call someone a comedian. That has relevance to Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire starring Gina Carano (in her first starring role and second film role) because it is an action film that happens to star a female. Something that happens very rarely in Hollywood, off the top of my head, I can think of three other action films that star a female in the last five years (Salt, Colombiana and Blubberella). That’s pretty weak. That makes discussing the film without any sort of reference to the fact that the protagonist is female kind of necessary. However, I’ll restrain the focus of Haywire (disappointingly not the name of the character) being female to this paragraph. The truth is Mallory is a fucking bad ass and unlike a lot of action roles for women, her sexuality isn’t the main focus. In one scene, and I’m paraphrasing due to bad memory, she tells Kenneth (Ewan McGregor) that she doesn’t wear the dress or know how to play the eye candy role. In addition, since Gina Carano is a MMA fighter, she looks like she can believably throw a punch and take down someone bigger than her unlike Zoe Saldana (who looks like she can barely brave a fierce wind). To borrow from Matt Goldberg of collider.com’s review of the movie because it is apt and relates to gender preamble I wrote beforehand. Kenneth says to Paul (Michael ‘the last’ Fassbender) when giving him the job to take out Mallory, “Don’t think of her as a woman. That would be a mistake.” And that is a good place to end this naïve and feeble exploration of gender.

To the movie! This is an excellent and smartly done action film. The action is brutal and well choregraphed, and as I mentioned before Gina Carano can deliver a punch and choke someone out like a boss (I wanted to Michael ‘the last’ Fassbender to utter out, “the thighs…so strong…”). Soderbergh makes some great choices for the action scenes in regards to the music. During the Barcelona job, he lets the action play out with the jazzy score as the only sound you hear, and that gives the scene such an old-school feel. Then during the visceral and harsh fight with Paul in the Dublin hotel room, there is no music, you hear the panting, the bones hitting glass and impact of a body slamming against the floor.

This is a smart action film, which doesn’t mean it’s challenging your notions of things or spouting Nietzsche, but it never holds your hand as the story unfold. It starts en medias res and catches you up in a clever manner. The pace is brisk and moves from different times quickly, where the only entry point for the viewer is Scott, a guy Mallory kidnaps in the first scene. From time to time she will ask Scott if he has the names and everything down then the story keeps moving on. Unlike most films that have a character relating past events to someone in the present, where you have a lot of narration of the events (*cough* Missin: Impossible – Safety Dance *cough*). Soderbergh shows you what happens rather than let Mallory tell you. The film moves from different times fluidly without any markers to let you know, but it’s so expertly done that you can’t get lost. The story is actually nothing special and much like The Bourne films and even Mission: Impossible – A Game of Ghosts, where an agent is burned and has to clear their name. However, there is the fascinating aspect of governments contracting sensitive jobs to private companies (it isn’t explored deeply because the movie never forgets why you’re there, which is to watch people get hit hard).

The direction in this is excellent and this is my favorite Soderbergh film since the Informant! While Gina Carano is more than capable of dealing out crushing blows, she isn’t the best actress and sometimes her delivery of lines is stiff. Although, by the end I figured what she was modeling her dramatic performance after, which was the Bride from Kill Bill. She has a similar cadence to Uma Thurman in those films or a mother when she’s angry at a child. The supporting cast is stacked with some fantastic actors, but since it’s his world and we simply live in it, Michael ‘the last’ Fassbender is fantastic in his small role as Paul. I’m in for whatever Fassbender is selling from now on. However, it also has the worst actor in recent memory, Channing Tatum, he is the acting equivalent of Hiroshima. His first scene made me laugh uncontrollably, it’s so bad. It was like he was reading his lines off his hand. He wasn’t helped out by Carano in the scene, but fuck was he bad there. He gets less terrible as the movie goes on, but that’s because he is in it less. I’m wondering what Soderbergh’s fascination is with Tatum, he is doing a new movie with him called Magic Mike, which I have no interest in seeing. I mean, he is not a good actor and there are plenty of good looking guys who can act a Sagan times better than him. So, why? I blame Dito Montiel for him by the way. Shame on you, Mr. Montiel.

[To save you the hassle of tracking it down, here is the links referenced. http://jenkirkman.tumblr.com/post/16136734211/what-i-would-have-said-about-eddie-brill-on-npr http://collider.com/haywire-review/139073/]

Top 10 Movies of 2011

likethefeathersofathunderbird — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:28:36 -0500

Wait, you’re telling me you have two top ten lists? And one of them has fifteen movies? What kind of bullshit is this? Also, who are you and why should anyone give a fuck what movies you thought were the best of the year? All good questions hostile person I made up.

The first part is easily answered, I made two top ten lists because there were more than ten movies that I really loved this year and thought were worthy of note. Also, not all of these movies fit easily with each other, which isn’t to say that any of the movie in either list is inherently better than the other. It’s more of the movies in the first list have a certain vibe to them, whether that because be they’re more genre based, or a blockbuster/ pop corn flick, or as I like to think of them utterly fucking cool and bad ass. It’s kind of weird to put Hobo with a Shotgun in the same list as The Descendants or X-Men: First Class with Shame (For one thing X-Men doesn’t prominently show Michael “the last” Fassbender’s junk in it).

In addition, the majority of the films in the first list came out earlier this year and the others came out during the last few months (a majority of them during award season, which is another distinction between the two [the first list puts on no airs as being aimed at winning an Oscar, while the other list features many that will be nominated and a good amount that will win]. Lastly, I know that in my “award bait” list I have a genre film at the top of it, yeah, I know. Drive is that fucking good. For me, it was a matter of making some lists of films that you, potential reader, should check out at some point because they have something to offer you.

That’s all good and well, but you didn’t say who you were and why this matter…I’m just some dude who masturbates in the handicap stall at work after they took away my hard drive.

Hobo with a ShotgunAn orgasmic explosion of violence that is tempered by Rutger Hauer’s sincere performance in the midst of all the utter insanity that is happening around him. What’s a hobo to do when all he wants in the world is to buy a lawn mower to start his own business, but the world he lives in is nothing but filth and pimps and whores and drug addicts and rapists…why buy a shotgun of course and take those cock suckers out.
Attack the Block

I waxed and waned about my love for this earlier and instead of re-iterating most of those points again, I’ll just say this is the best alien invasion movie this and possibly since Independence Day. The film is sharply directed, exquisitely acted and features incredible alien designs. In addition, where else are you going to see kids fuck aliens up with katanas?
13 Assassins

A superb film that has one fucking incredible final battle scene that lasts almost as long as the set up for the battle. Throw in some mandatory Takashi Miike weirdness, a bad ass villain and Kurosawa homages, and you have one hell of a samurai epic.
SUPER

Another in the average person turned vigilante/super hero sub-genre that began way back with Damon Wayans’ Blankman, but exploded in proliferation with Kick-Ass. However, unlike most in the sub-genre, Super makes bold decisions and subverts expectations unlike most films of its ilk. Unlike Matthew Vaughn’s wonderful 2010 film, the violence in this is visceral, unglamorous and less stylized making the implausibility all the more plausible. Of note: god amongst men, Nathan Fillion plays bible based hero, the Holy Avenger. Alternate tagline: God is tentacle rape.
Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil

Is there anyone better than the great Alan Tudyk? Not really. Here he is paired brilliantly with Tyler Labine (who was also on a show canceled way too early). The two actors have incredible chemistry and create a true sense of friendship and tenderness between their characters in the movie. The film is a genre exercise that satirizes the cabin in the woods sub-genre and the evil redneck motif with some hilarious moments and outrageous gore. Of note: Cerie as the accident prone love interest.
Hesher

Ever lost someone close to you? Yeah, me neither. But T.J. lost his mom and at the same time he gains a weird pet that listens to Slayer, eats his food and shits all over his life. Hesher is a fucking tornado of terror that fucks up T.J. and his dad’s life, but somehow in the end we all learn a lesson like Little Miss Sunshine.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Apes do indeed rise, and to be fair, I wanted them to do it.
X-Men: First Class

Magneto Mad Men style might be the best thing ever and I wish this film had more of that. Although, Matthew Vaughn once again makes a funny, exciting and engaging action movie in the comic book genre that proves that Kick-Ass was a taste of what was to come. Points off for no swearing ten year old fucking shit up. Also, the decision to use Havok and some of the other young mutants continues to be fucking bewildering, but it kind of worked. Still, should have had Cyclops and the Pussycats. Of note: the best and most effective cameo in a while.
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol

Russia has some pretty fucking awesome hoodie just laying around. But don’t you hate it when you can’t get those fancy masks to work?
Super 8

I like to think the alien is a metaphor.

Top 15

Drive
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Shame
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Young Adult
Hugo
50/50
Win Win
Midnight in Paris
Beginners
Moneyball
Meloncholia
Warrior
Carnage