Fun Movies and the Hellboy franchise

July 15th, 2008 Jason O Posted in Entertainment, Movies 4 Comments »

I love movies. I have a DVD collection that is easily over 200 titles and growing. I see movies all the time, though never as much as I’d like.

For a few years Buddy and I used to get together for a double feature. One of our more interesting outings was a back-to-back viewing of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines and Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. While I enjoyed both movies I made an observation about Pirates that I had not noticed before in a movie. I called Pirates “fun”. I’m sure it wasn’t the first “fun” movie I ever watched, it was just the first time I noticed it.

I noticed this again after watching Hellboy II: The Golden Army. While hardly a perfect movie, it again illicited that same feeling of “fun”.

To me, having fun is an interactive experience, and so while I may call a movie entertaining, enjoyable, or engaging I rarely qualify them as fun because I don’t usually feel involved. Movies are a spectator sport for me. I know nothing about making them other than watching some behind-the-scenes special and the business of Hollywood is an alien world compared to the business of software development that I am intimately involved with.

Yet there have just been this handful of films that seems entirely structured around pleasing the audience. I know the Hellboy films are practically a labor of love for Del Toro, and it may be as much about making himself happy as anyone. I don’t really care, because when I watch these films I feel like I’m getting off a rollercoaster at the end. I feel like I was part of the experience even though all I really do is sit there (Hey, just like a rollercoaster!). I wish I could elaborate further but I just seem to be missing the vocabulary to explain what is so different about these films.

I challenge someone to watch Hellboy (another film I enjoyed) and then go out and see Hellboy II: The Golden Army. You’d probably get a good idea of what I mean. Hellboy is a good comic book movie. Hellboy II is fun. I don’t know how else to put it.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Closely watch the woman in this video

June 30th, 2008 Jason O Posted in Culture, Entertainment No Comments »

Chances are you’ve seen this video on YouTube before. An ordinary British man singing opera and sounding like a complete professional. He’s nobody in particular, looks like a guy off the street, and furthermore is about the most uncomfortable person you’ll ever see facing a crowd. Once he starts singing though he is some sort of opera diety. As I’ve said, you’ve probably seen it.

Watch the female judge (Amanda Holden) in this video. They show her about three times and if you’re not paying attention to something you’ll miss that despite having pretty close to the same look on her face the entire time she is quite clearly having three different experiences throughout the piece.

Stage 1 - Stunned
She cannot believe this milquestoast off the street started belting out opera like he’s Pavoratti’s bastard-child. This guy is good!

Stage 2 - Waves of emotion
She is nearly overcome by how beautiful and passionate his singing in. You can see that she is barely containing the tears.

Stage 3 - Arousal
She is ready to bear his children. Her only saving grace is that as soon as he stops singing he goes back to being an introvert extraordinaire. He snaps back to normal faster than the singing frog from the old Warner Bros. cartoons.

Aside from the miraculous performance of the singer, this speaks volumes to me about the differences between men and women. I’m tempted to expound further, but if you don’t get the differences from watching the video and seeing Ms. Holden’s reactions then it’s probably beyond my ability to explain.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Hurl what?

June 23rd, 2008 Jason O Posted in Entertainment, Television No Comments »

I noticed the advertisements on G4 for a new game show called “Hurl”. Contestants go through an eating contest and then have to do a bunch of exercises like zero-g machines and other naseua inducing activities. The last person to not vomit wins. They are graphically showing people throwing up.

I have a pretty high bodily fluid tolerance, but the last thing I want to see is people repeatedly throwing up. Technicolor yawns are just not something I want to see. Is there really an audience out there that wants to see people losing their lunch? The part that concerns me is that they would only make this show if they thought there was an audience for is.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Catching up with Speed Racer

May 30th, 2008 Jason O Posted in Entertainment, Movies No Comments »

Last weekend the whole family went to see Speed Racer. So far the movie has garnered a whopping 37% on Metacritic and 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. I was personally reluctant to go see it because the previews made it look like an assault on my eyes and I wasn’t sure I could take the abuse for over two hours.

Generally I understand why movies get the review scores they do. Fantasy films routinely get raked over the coals for not being dramas and silly comedies are often burned at the stake. If you dare show any themes that are counter to Hollywood culture expect film critics to filet your movie like a trout. While Speed Racer bills itself as a live action version of a cartoon and also markets itself as a family film, it really has not committed any film critic’s cardinal sins, so I suspected the review scores truly represented a bad movie. That said, my youngest son picked the movie and he loves fast cars so we agreed to go see it since he hardly ever gets to pick the movie.

After watching the movie, I truly think the reviewers must be smoking something and it’s pretty potent stuff. While the movie can get downright silly sometimes and some of the visuals look like a big budget version of The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl, the movie is actually pretty well done and fairly well acted. Admittedly there were a couple of moments, and I do mean just two, where the film ventured into less than family friendly fare, but for the most part it was an enjoyable romp for ages 6 to 34, or essentially everyone in our family. Even my wife enjoyed it, and this is just not her kind of movie at all. I don’t know that it is something I would have seen without the kids and I confess that may be coloring my judgement of the film. Even so, 35% seems pretty harsh for what turned out to be a fun movie.

Really it’s too bad because the movie has not done well so far and I’m sure the reviews aren’t helping.

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Indiana Jones and the quest for the Bleeding Turnips

May 29th, 2008 Buddy Pine Posted in Entertainment, Movies 1 Comment »

I went to “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” with fairly high expectations. My fault entirely but I’ve always liked the style of the Indy films and I correctly surmised I would for the most part, be in for a good time. True to form, Spielberg seems to leave no question that he is the director of this film as his style is clearly present in some shots. The feeling is so tangible you almost have flashbacks of previous Indy films and during the jungle chase, of Jurassic Park.

This movie initially leaves you with positive feelings and high hopes. This soon become mixed which eventually evolve in to a bad taste in your mouth that lasts pretty much at the point the movie ends.

The Crystal Skull tries to an recreates some key elements of the franchise. The initial premise is rock solid and puts Indy well on his way to a confrontation with an evil empire. Who better to replace the Nazis than the Soviets? The Soviets are after the famed Crystal Skull and the reason they want it is equally logical to Indy films past, world domination.

What the movie does lack is coherence and it isn’t long before we see the film trying hard to tie up every loose end possible with winks and boorish references. This is where George Lucas’ influence is clearly felt and evokes flashbacks of the Star Wars prequels. Lucas seems to think that talking about previous films in current ones and slavishly relating them back to their progenitors is a cheap way to cash in on their popularity. He seems to believe these tie-ins are the only way to legitimize a film as part of the series. What it does accomplish is frustration.

Lucas seems to be an evil Walt Disney from some parallel universe, sucking the magic out of a film. He does his best to leave The Crystal Skull a shell with no possible mystery. The film is schizophrenic at times, jumping between Spielberg’s desire to make everything look epic and Lucas’ hamfisted attempts to relate the story to the audience, a wasted and pointless exercise because these are probably some of the most watched and referenced films in movie history. There is utterly no need for such things.

There is a sense of disappointment to the way this film ends because it resoundingly ends leaving use with no real mystery, something the previous films gave us by not obsessing over answering every question. Indy is an aging man with a son who is hinted at being his heir apparent. We are left with a coy smile from Indy telling his son he “isn’t done yet” . Frankly, you know he is.

I can’t fault Ford’s efforts, he obviously put a lot of physical effort in this film and he isn’t afraid to mix it up in fight scenes or do scenes most actors his age would shy away from. Ford seems dedicated to making sure Indy, even as an aging professor can hold his own.

The ending of the film jumps so far and away from anything related to the genre that you honestly wonder who could have thought this was a good idea. The earlier films were good fun but there is a difference between fun and nonsense. We knew it was coming earlier in the film but you hoped there would be a skeptical answer supplied instead of little green men in flying saucers. What made the previous Indy films so entertaining was the fanciful take on historical events and myth, this film doesn’t seem to care.

The film is so concerned with loose ends, adding new characters and dashing off to various locals that aspects of the film seem to be stripped down to simply save time. What they stripped away was the premise and reason for many of the actions and events. Even solving the atypical temple puzzles/booby traps seem like a yawn the character blow past instead of stopping to take in the possibility of their own demise that built suspense in the previous films. The last half of the film seems to be in a rush to reach it’s conclusion. It almost feels unfair, I’m here to experience another installment in the Indy saga, not make things neat and tidy as fast as possible.

All of this could be overlooked but in the end The Crystal Skull seems like a wrestling match between the styles of Spielberg and Lucas. I think it’s obvious that Lucas can’t write or direct his way out of a paper bag. Spielberg for all of my issues with him, shows he can still make something shine in a unique way. Ford’s acting and obvious comfort with his character saves the day in a lot of instances but the film falls flat at times because it becomes rushed and totally silly, even by Temple of Doom standards.

Despite all of this, I can’t say I disliked the film, I’m just a tad dismayed

AddThis Social Bookmark Button