This Is What I'm Looking At

Thoughts on Vampire Academy and the Lego Movie

2014-02-12T21:14:00.003-05:00

Phil Lord and Chris Miller are three for three on film. The Lego Movie is winning combination of humor and a surprising amount of heart. At first it seems as through it might just take a fairly generic take on "the one", the unlikely hero who will save the world from a malevolent threat.

The Lego movie becomes so much more than that though. Within the confines of a big budget licensed property, Lord and Miller found a way to deliver incredible sight gags and riffs on other big licensed properties. However, the the thing that really hooked me to this movie was it's sentimental turn in its third act. I'm not ashamed to say that while the movie had me laughing and enjoying ride for its first two-thirds, that final third had me tearing up a bit, with a touching revelation on the themes being special, the nature of toys, and the relationship between fathers and sons. Another great job by a great writer/director combo.

**** Stars.

Vampire Academy is mess. I should have known it would be from the start, the poor advertising that tried to make it seem like a knock off Mean Girls mixed with vampires, the current hot fad in Young Adult literature.

There are so many problems with Vampire Academy. We start with premise itself. In the world of Vampire academy, there are good vampires, evil vampires and half human/half vampire hybrids who pledge their lives to protect good vampires. "Vampires" (note the quotation marks) have the ability to manipulate the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water) in addition to having the glamour people like in True Blood. My first thought after seeing this was why do vampires need protectors if they are so powerful themselves? Their hybrid protectors don't seem to have any superpowers at all.

The plot of the movie is meandering, nonsensical, it tries to be a statement of school social dynamics, friendships, relationships, and then tries to toss in an overarching mystery that has no resolution. I got the feeling the creators tried to combine two or three of the books storylines into one movie to try an hook viewers to want to see a sequel.

The performances by the two leads are acceptable. The main character played by Zoey Deutch shows a lot of potential as an actress, she has a real charm on screen and reminds me of a young Linda Cardellini. Too bad she is trapped behind material is beneath her.

* and 1/2 Stars.

Closed Circuit Thoughts

2013-09-02T18:21:00.000-04:00

I haven't seen a legal thriller in while, they seem to have gone out of style. Closed Circuit fits square within the genre, it doesn't change the rules of the legal thriller but delivers a solid entry to the genre.

The film opens with an intense scene of a terrorist bombing of a public market in London, from there we meet to lawyers who are charged with defending one of the suspected mastermind of the crime. As is par for the course in these legal thrillers, the case is not as simple as it seems from the outset and the true crime reaches into the highest levels of power.

Closed circuits will not change anyone minds on the genre, but delivers all the tension, suspicion, and conspiracy that fans of the genre will enjoy. Unfortunately the forced ADR'd ending is a real bummer.

**1/2 stars

Quick Thoughts about Getaway

2013-09-02T18:06:00.000-04:00

Look, I knew what I was getting into when I chose to see Getaway. You have a man, with a special set of skills, who is being forced to do a robbery to save his kidnapped wife. He gets a special car, and he proceeds to crash his way through Bulgaria to help execute the plan of the unseen mastermind.

There were a lot of car chases and crashes and most were not exciting, there are performances where it seems no one cares. I was rather bored throughout, these crashes weren't too exciting, the villain's plan was too generic (steal money).

There was one cool thing that happened on screen. In the final car chase, the director chose to silence the soundtrack, put a camera on the dash of the chasing car and let us really see how exciting a car chase can be on screen.

This is the type of movie that will work in the background while you are on your tablet browsing the internet. Just look up occasionally when you hear a bang and you'll get the gist of what happened.

*1/2 stars

We're the Millers: We're Not Very Good

2013-08-08T22:15:00.001-04:00

We're the Millers is as generic a comedy as they come. The film has an interesting novel concept, however, it doesn't manage to live up to its promise. Jason Sudeikis stars as a drug dealer who after losing all of his supplier's stash, offers to smuggle some drugs as repayment. He hires three people to pretend to be his family on a vacation to Mexico to sell a cover identification at the border. What we have next is a road trip movie with bonding between our four leads and the people they meet along the way.

The problem starts with the protagonist. Jason Sudeikis is not charismatic as any sort of lovable loser who the audience should care about. His character is smarmy and worst of all, not funny. This is the first movie I have seen with Sudeikis as the lead, and I'm not sure I want to see another with him as the lead. The movie in general is not very funny, for an R-rated film, there aren't many bawdy or outrageous jokes. The funniest part of the movie are the supporting performances of Nick Offerman and Katheryn Hahn, who play another couple who were on vacation from Mexico.

The story is pretty average, no surprises that were not setup at the beginning of the movie. There are however, no cringe inducing moments in the movie, and that is more than you can ask for a movie this year.

** stars

Gangster Squad and A Haunted House: Poor Starts to New Year

2013-01-14T17:02:00.001-05:00

Not much needs to be said about Gangster Squad. It is a boring 1940s gangster movie that stars an uncharismatic Josh Brolin as the leader of a group of tough cops who go rogue to bust the operation of notorious LA gangster Mickey Cohen, played by Sean Penn. there are also tonal issues, with Penn acting his hammiest, yet Brolin and his crew are almost dead serious. This is not a movie that be remembered in 3 months.

** stars

A Haunted House is not a good movie, it's really crude and not thought out too well. The jokes are few and far between however there are a few of them there. Nothing that will make anyone laugh too much, but there are a few chuckles. Many of the jokes are sexist and dumb, and I know I should feel bad about them, but I chuckled at times. More often than not the jokes are lazy and repetitive. I think this will find an audience of people who don't think about it too much.

** stars

My 2012 in Movies, by the Numbers

2012-12-30T20:39:00.002-05:00

2012 was a big year for me in movies. Big in that I restarted my podcast, The Long and Late Movie Show with Russell Hainline and eventually the lovely Shira Selkovits. 2012 was also big in that I spent a lot of money watching movies this year. Between Netflix, Amazon Video, and movie theaters, I spent $1,496.53 this year. That's a pretty staggering amount in my case. After seeing this I wanted to delve a bit deeper and see what my spending was like at the theaters this year.

I have seen 72 films in 2012 that were released in 2012. For an non-professional movie-goer, I think this was a pretty good clip, a little more than a film per week. For a full list of the films I have seen in 2012 check out this list on Letterboxd. http://letterboxd.com/lategordon

First, here is a graph on which theaters I spent the most on this year:

Graph of my 2012 Spending at Theaters

My top theater this year was the AMC Orpheum 7 because after I moved into Manhattan in March of 2012, this theater was the closest one to me. Not counting food, I spent $318 out of a total of $722.30 there this year. These numbers could easily have been higher if I did not take advantage of AMCs deal of $6 movies before Noon numerous times.

Next, is my Theater spending per month:

Monthly Spending at the Movies

You can see that my monthly spending at the theater rises during the year until August. This makes sense. As the year went along better movies started to come out, including the big blockbuster summer releases.

There is hope for my 2013 to have a lower spend. I recently joined the website Moviepass, and for $30 a month I can see one movie per day. With there help, I hope my yearly movie costs drop by fifty percent and at the end of 2013, I don't talk about how much money I have spent at the movies, but rather how many movies I saw per month.

Quick thoughts on Jack Reacher

2012-12-21T15:56:00.001-05:00

Jack Reacher has the parts to be a good popcorn action flick. For the most part it is successful. The action is well done, however the story is a mess. The villain's plan when given a once over, is really ridiculous and unnecessary.

Tom Cruise is good as the savant investigator Reacher. His performances in the action scenes are great. Cruise doing what Cruise does best. The direction of the action is also great. The two major action scenes, a car chase and a shoot out at a quarry are well done and exciting.

Werner Herzog as the main villain is scary and creepy. He delivers some great villainous speeches that seem a part of another movie.

** stars

Suburgatory: Current Lost in It

2012-11-07T22:52:00.002-05:00

ABC's Suburgatory was a one of the few new comedies from last year that really resonated with me. The story of Tessa Altman (Jane Levy) and her father George (Jeremy Sisto) moving from Manhattan to the suburb town of Chatswin looked terrible before I actually watched an episode and discovered that it was a quirky fish out of water story. Tessa's characters was the right amount of silly and pretentious outsider that really worked when contrasted against the other inhabitants of Chatswin. It was easy to understand how it was renewed for a second season.

Suburgatory is now four episodes into its second season and I am getting the feeling it is losing what made it interesting; Tessa. The writers seem determined to give Tessa almost no interesting plot points and instead have concentrated the show around everyone else. George and Dallas have a budding relationship going with some funny quirks associated with it. Tessa's friend Lisa and her family have their own interesting story with the discovery that the older brother Ryan is adopted. Tessa is floating through scenes not even offering up any sort wry and witty comedic one liners like she did in the first season. Another issue is Tessa's foil, Dahlia, who once was a source of salient knowledge delivered through a comedic shallow girl attitude (you have to see it understand what I mean here), has been unused to any effect this season.

I hope the writers can turn this around this season, I hate to see a show with such potential ruin it in only the second season.

Movies of the Weekend: The Bourne Legacy and The Campaign

2012-08-12T23:14:00.002-04:00

There is not enough of this action

The Bourne Legacy is tough movie to think about. This fourth movie ofthe series is part fan service for the prior trilogy and part attempt to introduce a new lead character for a new series. However, the createors seemed to forget what made the original films a fun and different take on the action hero.

The first thing missing is the action. Legacy is filled with scenes of people yelling at each other, yelling into phones and not much action. Worse yet, the characters yell about random code works such as "treadstone", "blackbriar" and "outcome" constantly without properly explaining them. As a reboot to the series, it is a mistake not to reintroduce us to the Bourne world. Having Ed Norton with a constant upset face yelling these three words in every scene is disappointing and confusing.

The other issue is the new lead, Jeremy Renner as Aaron Cross. He doesn't have a compelling story. I couldn't buy him as a hero, for much of the first part of the movie, he is a junkie searching for a fix. On his search for his fix, he finds and protects a doctor played by Rachel Weisz, and the two go on an adventure to find the cure for Cross's addiction. Not exactly a guy you want to ever cheer for.

The Bourne Legacy doesn't leave up to the legacy of its predecessors, the lack of action, the confusing story and the lack of a interesting hero, really made this a disappointment.

** Stars

The Campaign suffers from the same thing that has plauged most of the comedies released in 2012. It is only sometimes funny. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, the candidates running for congressman of the 14th district of North Carolina. Both characters are buffonish to the point where you can't believe at any of these men had any chance at successfully using the bathroom much less run a political campaign. There are some funny scenes, my favorite is whenFerrell and Galifianakis trash talk each other before their first debate. However, most of the scenes are just over the top silly and not very funny. The movie needed a straight man for one of the leads to play off. Two buffons riffing off each other just doesn't work.

There is potential for better comedy here, especially since Jason Sudeikis, John Lithgow and Dan Ackroyd are wasted as supporting characters. It feels as though there was more to the screenplay originally and was chopped down to fit the 85 minute run time.

** stars

Killer Joe: I Might Not Look at Fried Chicken the Same

2012-08-01T23:53:00.001-04:00

A drug dealer, Chris (Emile Hirsch), who owes his suppliers money, plans with with his father, stepmother, and sister Dottie (Juno Temple) to kill his mother in order to take the proceeds of her life insurance whose beneficiary is Dottie. Chris arranges for a contract killer, Joe (Matthew McConaughey) to kill his mother. Since Chris doesn't have the money to pay Joe's upfront fee, so Joe offers to take Dottie as retainer for his services. As is often the case, things don't go as planned.

That's the plot of William Friedkin's Killer Joe, based on the play of the same name. A rather simple story, but that's not what makes Killer Joe a great film.

What makes Killer Joe work is McConaughey's fantastic performance as Killer Joe Cooper. Throughout the movie, he uses his natural Texas charm to make his Joe both a charming and menacing character. There are two amazing scenes in the film, one where Joe and Dottie are alone in a trailer home and the final scene with the entire family, McConaughey slowly builds the character of Joe into a both an alluring and disturbing personality.

The last twenty minutes of the movie are tense a slow build to a fiery conclusion, even though final minute or two felt rushed and unexpected, with not enough justification of what happened. Those final two minutes are not enough to turn me off from Killer Joe.

***1/2 stars

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter - Honestly, a fun time

2012-06-24T23:15:00.000-04:00

There has been major lack of fun at the movies this Summer. Movies such as Dark Shadows and Battleship are a couple of the movies that have ridiculous premises but had a major lack of fun. In Dark Shadows, the execution was boring and Battleship took its premise too seriously to really enjoy itself. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter knows what kind of movie its audience expects and delivers on those expectations well.

Benjamin Walker plays the United States' 16th president, who at a young age, has his mother taken from him by vampires. On his quest for revenge he meets and receives training from the mysterious character played by Dominic Cooper's Henry Sturgess. We are also introduced to many other characters and events that are key to the Lincoln's known legend such as Lincoln's Axe, Mary Todd, Stephen Douglas and the Lincoln-Douglas debates and the of course, the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War. It was a lot of fun to see how the writers of the movie fit in Honest Abe's vampire hunting within his rise from shopkeeper to lawyer to President.

Honest Abe with his trusted weapon

Speaking of the vampire hunting, the action scenes in Abraham Lincoln: VH are fun and inventive. From vampire attacks on a Civil War battlefield to fights on top of stampeding horses, the action is cool and unique. The scenes are shot well, and though I didn't see it in 3D, I don't think i missed much.

There are things that could be better about the movie, such as a more compelling, defined villain and a better explanation on the rise of Lincoln as a politician. However, these are minor squabbles that only slightly get in the way of the movie being a good time.

**1/2 stars

First Half Catchup

2012-05-29T22:36:00.000-04:00

There have been a ton of 2012 movies I have seen and haven't wrote about here. Let me see if I can quickly recap them in the order they were released this year.

Haywire: Had a good time watching this flick. The star Gina Carano is decent, not great in her role as private security agent. There are some great hand to hand MMA influenced fight scenes and a really great soundtrack. There are also a ton of great cameos by talent actors to support the newcomer Carano in the lead. **1/2 stars

John Carter: Decent, it gets a bad rap, but I think the budget might have caused some negative press for the movie. John Carter deserved a better, more focused marketing effort, because the movie is slightly better than average. The special effects are really good, the story had me relatively engaged, and there are decent jokes. This perfectly good for what it was; a summertime Disney swashbuckling adventure. **1/2 stars

Wrath of the Titans: I did not see the original, so I went into this movie cold. What I got was a bland movie with poor special effects, poorly done 3D, and worthless story. Nothing here had me engaged. Wrath of the Titans didn't get me mad, just bored. *1/2 stars

American Reunion: Lacked the energy of the other movies in the American Pie movies. The movie was a getting the band back together movie where the group got together to do nothing. There was one scene that reminded me of the teen sex farce that American Pie was, but there wasn't enough like it to go around. *1/2 stars

Cabin in the Woods: Don't want to say much about what happens plot wise, however this is a witty, well written horror comedy that makes fun of the stereotypes in horror movies and has an original premise. ***1/2 stars.

Safe: A well directed Jason Statham action movie that has a pretty decent plot. The movie goes a bit off the rails in its third act but the fun and excitement of the first 2/3rds makes Safe worthwhile. *** stars.

Avengers: Simply put, this is brilliant. Great special effects, great story, great performances. No need to couch this behind the veil of it's only a superhero movie. Simply brilliant, I believe this could be best superhero movie ever. ***1/2 stars

The Dictator: A definite surprise. Very funny, and not for the faint of heart. There are tons of offensive jokes, but offensive to everyone. Sascha Baron Cohen does not wear out his role in a performance that could have gotten incredibly tiring. **1/2 stars

Battleship: A rage inducing movie. The plot makes no sense, the special effects are cheesy and hokey. From the very first scene I wanted to throw something at the screen. Battleship also exploits veterans by having them do dumb looking things in the movie, just to tug at our heartstrings. I did laugh when the soldiers began playing an actual game of Battleship in a battle against the alien invasion. It was one of those so bad it's good moment. I give it a half star for that *1/2 stars

Headhunters: One of the best films of the year. A twist-filled crime thriller that is a total blast to watch. Aksel Henne gives a fantastic performance as Roger Brown, a corporate headhunter, who uses his position to scout potential art theft victims. Needless to say, things go wrong on his last big score. Where the move starts and where it ends will keep you guessing and you will be on the edge of your seat nervous and excited to see what will happen next. ***1/2 stars

Men in Black III: At least it is better than MIB II. However, this only means that MIB III is only okay. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones phone in their roles, but Josh Brolin gives a decent performance of the young Agent K. The script is a bit of the mess, the middle uses dated jokes about the sixties (they are so weird back then, they must be aliens!). ** stars

Dark Shadows: Don't Bother

2012-05-13T19:37:00.000-04:00

Dark Shadows is based on a 1960s supernatural soap opera of the same name. The film pulls a lot of soapy elements from the TV series, however the soap opera elements is the downfall of the film.

A soap opera TV series has the time to tell stories, build characters and set stakes of the story. The film has none of this. Bella Heathcote plays Victoria Winters, a mysterious woman who accepts a position to work as a governess to the Collins family. Johnny Depp is Barnabus Collins, a cursed vampire who has been unearthed after being trapped in a coffin for 200 years. In the intervening 200 years the once powerful and proud Collins family has fallen from grace, so Barnabus takes it upon himself to help them.

This is about as much I can say about plot of the film because not much time is spent on the other characters for me to even begin to care. Michelle Pfeiffer is the matriarch of the Collins family and she does nothing but have a stern face and try and explain away Barnabus' oddities. Chloe Grace Moretz as her daughter is no better, she has an unsightly scowl on her face in every scene.

Dark Shadows' crime is just that it is boring. I had seen the trailer before watching the film and I am pretty sure I had already seen every joke in the film from the trailer.

The best part of Dark Shadows is the music. The score is great and really fit the tone and time of the film.

Dark Shadows feels like it was Tim Burton and Johnny Depp just spending a few months having a good time and not caring if the actually made a good film. Other than the music this film is just a failure.

*1/2 Stars

Quick Reviews: Other Films I've Seen

2012-03-26T23:50:00.003-04:00

I've been neglecting writing about some of the new films I have seen this year. Let me catch up with three of the film I haven't written about here.

One of the many fantastic Ghost Rider freakouts

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance - A fun movie, but not for everyone. Since I am a fan of Nic Cage, I enjoyed all of freak outs and facial ticks. The Ghost Rider being is more menacing and insane, it lives up to the craziness of a living skull on fire. Ciarán Hinds is not outdone in facial ticks, his performance is really cool. Story is also not too terrible.
*** stars

Denzel is cool, but forgettable

Safehouse - Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds deliver forgettable performances in a rather pedestrian action movie. The action scenes are not too exciting. The Macguffin and the eventual are rather generic and uninteresting. I won't remember this movie in 2 months.

*1/2 stars

Not much here to see

Jeff Who Lives at Home - A decent film. The setup event to the movie where Jeff receives a phone call is rather random and quirky. This movie is very "indie", it has things that are at times incredible impossible to believe would happen. Ed Helms and Jason Segel work well with each other, but they aren't given anything interesting to do. Suan Sarandon has a small role in the film with her own interesting storyline. In fact, I understand her growth as a character more than Segel and Helms. Not much here to see.
** stars

The Hunger Games

2012-03-25T16:41:00.000-04:00

My first reaction to seeing The Hunger Games, was "How is it possible for a movie to be so long, yet feel rushed?".

The Hunger Games begins with a title card summmary of the world that flashes by incredibly fast, barely explaining the incredibly deep and dystopian future of the world of Panem. The events surrounding the Games, a fight to the death between male and female pairs from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol city are barely explained, the filmmakers seem to expect viewers to have read of the popular series of books from which the film is based.

Jennifer Lawrence's performance as the defiant Katniss Everdeen is good. She worked well with the material she was given, however she is limited by script. Simply, Katniss Everdeen is not a well developed character. She is surly and lacks charm. We are not given many chances to like or root for her.

The film looked great, the sets and costumes looked fantastic. The world was fun and interesting to see. The same can't be said of the action scenes; the editing on many of those scenes were jarring. Many times I was unable to follow what was happening on screen because of how the action was cut.

My main problem with the movie is the script. Events happen incredibly quickly, and without reason. The significance of certain actions and concepts are not fully explained.

I had an okay time watching the Hunger Games, however if I was not familiar with the books, I don't think I would like it as much.

** 1/2 stars.

Wanderlust: Wander Away

2012-03-12T20:58:00.001-04:00

Wanderlust is director David Wain's new film. I enjoyed Role Models, a 2008 comedy from Wain, which I thought was funny and touching. However, unlike Role Models, the laughs are missing from Wanderlust. I chuckled a bit, however there aren't too many laugh out loud moments. The few laughs in this movie come from primarily from the supporting cast and not the main story. Ken Marino, Michaela Watkins, Michael Ian Black, and Michael Showalter have really funny supporting parts in the movie.

The story of yuppies leaving NYC to live on a commune is so-so, and is forced to ramp up because it is a movie, and an unneccessary plot about losing the land is shoehorned into the movie. It is almost the plot of a bad 80s movie.

** Stars

The Grey is terrifying

2012-02-22T21:23:00.001-05:00

The snow is bad enough...

The Grey is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. Like many scary movies, The Grey contains an isolated group hunted by a unseen force. It doesn't have ghosts, zombies or serial killers. The enemy is two-fold; the Alaskan wilderness and a pack of wolves.

...Then you add this

The Alaskan wilderness looked fantastic, bleak and terrifying. The wolves are tension building and scary. The group of survivors are a good mix of horror tropes: asshole, black guy, nice guy and knowledgeable guy played by Liam Neeson. They play off each other well and their arguments about how to proceed are great.

I'm not too big a horror guy, but The Grey could end up being one of my favorite movies of the year.

***1/2 stars.

Chronicle: Great start to 2012

2012-02-13T23:59:00.002-05:00

Unknown director, unknown writers, unknown actors. I try to not have an initial bias when seeing movies, however the lack of information about the creators of Chronicle, and its early release date had me worried. Trailers made the movie seem like a dumb movie about jerk teenagers with super powers.

It's good that I managed to see Chronicle, because it is good. Found footage films like this can be tricky, when the film has to explain why a character is carrying a camera all the time. Chronicle explains the camera toting well enough and the characters who carry the camera around are well developed and interesting. I enjoyed watching the three immature teenagers acquire power beyond their wildest imagination, how these teenagers would use their powers in the most immature ways. The development of the main character, Andrew from mild mannered damaged kid to megalomaniac psycho was also pretty cool to see develop on screen.

The special effects also deserve some praise here. The effects are simple, well-done and are not so overdone that the seem too fake.

The drawbacks with Chronicle for me are small, but I feel they are worth mentioning. I felt at times the main character got extremely annoying. In addition, some of the ways the filmmakers chose to get the found footage just didn't work; random characters who we barely know have cameras. At one point, a character uses telekinesis to rip some iPads and cellphones from onlookers to get the camera on him, it was hokey.

Chronicle is really good film to start the new year.

*** stars.

Thoughts about The Artist

2012-01-09T21:39:00.001-05:00

The Artist is one of the front runners to win the Oscar for Best Picture and after seeing it recently, I can understand why. I had a fantastic time watching the movie and left the theater with a smile on my face.

The story, about a silent movie star's fall due to talking movies, and his female protege's concurrent rise due to the rise of these "talkies" is a fun throwback to a past era of film. I am surprised at how much I enjoyed The Artist, I really thought it would be a drab affair. However, there are fantastic scenes throughout the movie, from the time when our hero George Valentin stumbles to perform a scene correctly with his love interest Peppy Miller, to the moment when Valentin realizes that the silent movie is dead, and sound adds a new dimension that a silent film could never replicate.

Much like the type of character he portrays, The Artist is done in a silent movie style; no words are spoken by any of the characters during the film. This means that the films hinges on the performances of its lead, French comedian Jean Dujardin. Dujardin's ability to emote with his face and body tell the story the way that words could not. I believe that he might be the favorite for best actor right now.

**** stars.

Melancholia: A Nerve Racking Time...In a Good Way

2011-11-28T21:15:00.001-05:00

I wasn't sure what to think immediately after seeing Lars Von Trier's new film Melancholia. When I first began watching it, I was both puzzled, yet interested at what I was seeing. The movie starts with the end of the world, and then flashes to a wedding reception, one of the happiest days of a young couple. Next we watch the facade of a happy couple crumble, all while knowing that eventually all of issues these characters face will not matter. My initially thought after the movie's first half, "Justine" was slight boredom. I didn't know where this movie was planning to go and how these characters would face their impending doom

Melancholia's second half is similar to the first, however the focus is switched from Kirsten Dunst's Justine, to Charlotte Gainsbourg's Claire. During this second half, I began to feel increasing tense. The planet Melancholia has been discovered to be flying by Earth. Claire believes that the planet will be crashing into the Earth and is scared for her family. She believes that Melancholia will crash into Earth. Her husband reassures her Melancholia will only fly by and will not collide with the Earth. What is so nerve racking here is the isolation of the setting. Claire and her family live on a secluded estate, far apart from the rest of their town. There are no radio reports, no television reports, and no newspaper reports of what if anything is being done to combat the possible impending doom. We are left just with a family and their fright and acceptance of what will be.

Melancholia is not an easy film to get into, it slow build and lacking a substantial plot. I was not a huge fan of the first half, but I was uneasily caught up in the second.

**1/2 stars

NYCC: Green Lantern Animated Series

2011-10-22T18:46:00.001-04:00

One of the few previews I saw when I went to New York Comic Con was a preview of the new DC Animated Green Lantern series. The series will be coming to Cartoon Network sometime next year. The preview episode was about an hour and set up the basic premise of the series.

The series stars Hal Jordan, has been a Green Lantern for a couple years, while on Oa, he and the Guardians receive a message that someone has been killing the Lanterns of the outermost edge of the galaxy. The Guardians are hesitant to investigate the deaths, however, Hal being the hero he is, he steals an experimental spaceship and along with Kilowog investigate the killings. There they discover the Red Lanterns, a previously unknown set of Lanterns who blame the Green Lanterns for destroying their civilizations. Not many details are given about the history of the Red Lanterns but they are definitely scary. During the battle between Hal and Kilowog and the Red Lanterns, the experimental spaceship is damaged and unable to do the hyper warp jump to make it back to Oa.

Creator Bruce Timm discussing episode

This leaves just the two lanterns in an unexplored area of space, with a mysterious enemy. The animation is computer generated, with a style meant to evoke the Pixar movie The Incredibles. I saw where they were going and I really enjoyed it. The powers on screen were fun, and well animated. The story seems different many other animated series. Bruce Timm, the creator of this series, in addition to classic series such as Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited, mentioned that this series will be serialized with Hal and Kilowog discovering the history of the Red Lantern, in addition to having standalone episodes where the two lanterns will discover a new part of space. I can't wait to see some more.

New York Comic Con: Days 3 and 4

2011-10-22T17:36:00.001-04:00

As promised, but unfortunately very late, here are the rest of my photos from NY Comic Con:

I had a great time, and I think I would go again, but only for 1 day rather than the 4 day weekend.

New York Comic Con Day 1 Photos

2011-10-13T22:15:00.001-04:00

I went to the New York Comic Con pre show and had a pretty cool time walking around. Here are some of my favorite photos from the show. I'll be going again this week, so I should have some more photos later.

Apollo 18: Disappointing Trip to the Moon

2011-09-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

Too bad you never get a clear view of the aliens

Apollo 18 is boring. There I said it. It is a thriller set primarily on the moon where a bunch of astronauts discover a new species on the moon. It is a "found footage" movie, because even though Apollo 18 is a secret mission that no one should ever know about, every second of every one of the mission's members life needed to be documented.

The problem with the movie is that uses the found footage trope poorly. The main scare, repeated many times in the movie is one of the cameras catching the alien moving out of sight of the astronauts. I kept expecting something to happen and by the time it did, I was already falling asleep.

I'll give the movie credit for having a neat way to tie the creatures with a large aspect of the history American space travel.

*1/2 Stars.

Awkward: Not Shy to Say I Like It

2011-09-08T14:03:00.000-04:00

I recently caught Awkward, a new MTV series, a few episodes into its run and it pleasantly surprised me. In Awkward, Jenna Hamilton, who gets injured in an accident, however it is misconstrued as an accident. Jenna then has deal with her newfound fame in high school, navigating reactions from friends, enemies and adults.

The primary storyline of the show is the romance between Jenna and Matty, a jock at her high school. Jenna's rival for Matty's affection is Sadie, the school's spoiled, rich, bully. There is a second thread about an anonymous, mean spirited letter Jenna receives after her accident.

Awkward is a surprising good comedy-drama. The writers have slowly built the characters over the year to make them layered and interesting. For example, the spoiled and rich Sadie is a chubby girl and over the season you have seen that her weight and family issues play a large parts in her meanness, not just at Jenna, but at herself. Jenna's mother was a high school mean girl who got pregnant right out of high school and wants to relive her fun high school days through her daughter, yet doesn't want her to make the same mistakes as she did. Of course, their are characters that don't work, such as the high school's counselor who just isn't funny or interesting and sticks out as a sore thumb as misplaced.

Jenna herself is an interesting character. She seems like she is a typical high school girl who believes that she is smarter than almost everyone about her, however she is constantly discovering how little she does know. Her relationship with Matty is a one sided affair; he is unwilling to publicly acknowledge their relationship or to even define it. At the same time, Matty's best friend has told her how he feels.

Awkward is fun gem of a show. The writers seem to care about developing the characters. The acting from the lead character is really good and many of the supporting characters hold their own. I really want to see how this show develops.