roundup

I’ve watched a few movies over the last few weeks and I thought I’d share my thoughts with you. Some of them are new, one is one that I talked a lot about some time ago, and one was one that I just wanted to see (just cause) and one is one I will most likely see this week.

First.
Yes I saw it (of course I saw it). Unfortunately I didn’t get to see it opening day like I would have wanted. But I got to see it with Rachelle and AJ. It was everything I had hoped it would be. We saw it at a Saturday morning matinee, so it wasn’t exactly the right crowd. We laughed throughout the entire movie, but it didn’t seem like the whole theatre was into it. I, myself found EVERYTHING, ANYONE said to be completely hilarious. Let’s put it this way: if you go in and take it seriously, then you will be disappointed. If you go in not expecting much but want to laugh at everything, then you are going to have a blast. It was worth all the hype!!! And I saw a headline from digg.com that said “Let me save you $12: Why 98% of people want to see Snakes on a Plane” which lead to this (caution language), which completely sums up the entire snakes experience.

Next.

Let me say I think this may be one of the best films I will see all year. I had actually gotten tickets to a free screening earlier this summer but for a number of different reasons I wasn’t able to go. But it has been on my list and I am really glad that I got to see it. I thought the whole entire film was really put together well. The story was great and captured a realism that I enjoy. The acting was more than fantastic, EVERYONE was great. Each performance was unique and personal. The characters were people I could identify with and felt a strong connection to. It is movies like these that continue to give me hope that not all of hollywood has sold out. The only thing that bugged me about this film was a small continuity issue. I just happen to be good at picking these things up. For a lot of the film we find the family stuck together in a small old VW bus. And in these shots often the camera is placed near the front windshield facing back giving a clear view of the entire cabin and views out the back. I did notice that even though the family was headed from Arizona to California, most of the shots were done on Hwy 14 in CA. That didn’t really bug me too much, but what did was I was able to pick out in most of the shots that there were usually 1 or 2 CHP cars in the background running traffic breaks so that too many cars wouldn’t be in the shot. It was kinda annoying since the CHP cars weren’t even fully in a lane. All aside I highly recommend this film and I hope that one or more of the actors gets nominated for something in the upcoming awards season.

Here’s one that I should have seen a long time ago, but I didn’t.
I finally sat down and watched it this past week. I had wanted to see it when it came out and I had talked about it here over 2 years ago. Let me say it wasn’t bad. The story isn’t exactly what I’d call a masterpiece but it does its job. Ultimately it provides what it was supposed to, being that of some pretty amazing visual effects. Being shot almost entirely on blue screen, the animators worked for more than 2 years to complete over 2000 digital shots. The movie is stylized. Looking like an old serial movie of the film noir era. The color schemes are great and add a depth to the film. Over all the movie drags a little and it takes some wiliness to intentionally immerse one’s self into the world that has been created. The acting was par, nothing spectacular. If you have some time and haven’t seen it, I would definitely recommend renting a copy, if only to admire the hard work in completing this project. (Watch the making of, special feature (caution it’s kinda long (2 parts)) and you will gain a deep respect for the makers of the film.)

Just tonight I rented:

This movie got delayed so many times that by the time it finally came out most people had written it off (of those who actually wanted to see it). Let me give you some background info about this before you write it off. You see when this movie went into production the Farrelly brothers (Peter and Bobby) (the producers) (think Dumb and Dumber, Something About Mary and Me, Myself & Irene) wanted to make sure that they wouldn’t offend anyone, since the plot revolved around the Special Olympics and many mentally challenged people. So the Farrelly brother approached the big wigs at the Special Olympics and had them come on as consultants and the Farrelly brothers gave them a lot of control to say yea or nay to many of the elements of the film. The Farrelly brothers wanted to make sure that they were portraying the mentally handicapped community in a positive light. All said and done, with the largest cast of mentally handicapped people ever, the Special Olympics gave a healthy approval of the movie. With a combo of the Farrelly brothers and Johnny Knoxville in a movie you would almost expect every scene to be either a sex joke, a fart joke or someone getting hit in the balls. While there is a good scene involving Johnny Knoxville’s crotch and some waterballoon this is hardly the case. It was a fun movie with a great story line which in the end shows great character in the lessons the characters learn through out the course of the movie. It provides plenty of funny moments, many involving the fantastic cast of mentally handicapped performers. It’s definitely one of those, I don’t really care what I watch kind of movies but once again I’d say give it a chance and you may be surprised.

Lastly.
We have Mike Judge’s (Beavis and Butthead, Office Space and King of the Hill) long anticipated 3rd full length movie. It’s called Idiocracy. You may have never heard about this movie, but it is the reason that Office Space at the beginning of the summer started showing up in blockbuster on a shelf that said see the original before you see the sequel. Which left many people perplexed since there had been no mention to Office Space having a sequel or (god forbid) a prequel. We later found out that the reason Office Space was put on the shelf was due to the fact that Mike Judge was working on a new movie. Months and months past with little to no information about the film. I myself had forgotten about it until I finally read an online article stating that it had been released. What!?!?!? I said to myself. I hadn’t seen a single ad or preview for it. Glad, yes. But still perplexed. Well it came out this past Friday the 1st of Sept. in limited release (which means if you don’t live in a major city you’re more than likely out of luck). The movie’s premise is that America is getting stupider and stupider as our culture progresses. The government coaxes an “average” guy (played by Luke Wilson) to be involved in a hibernation experiment. Wilson’s character wakes up either 500 or 1000 years in the future and finds himself surrounded by a society of idiots, leaving him by far the smartest man on earth. And I can only assume hilarity ensues. The cast is rounded out by Mike Judge favorites, Stephen Root (Milton from Office Space, Bill from King of the Hill and Gordon from Dodgeball) and David Herman (Michael Bolton from Office Space), it also features some funny people like Maya Rudolph and Justin Long to name few. The reason that this movie has secretly been released is apparently (from article above) that Fox who is distributing the movie has given up on it and doesn’t want to promote it and thinks it will do more than poorly. That to me is a shame. Especially since Office Space was such a cult classic that went on to do a decent sum of money in DVD sales and even made cultural history as Swingline (the stapler company) now produces a limited edition red stapler all due to Office Space. I’m excited for this movie even if no one else is. Do me a favor and see the movie and spread the word. I’ll let you know what I think of it in an update once I see it, so check back in a week or so.

———
Update 6:20p
Idiocracy was pretty good. It definitely has it’s moments, and Luke Wilson lives up to his talent. Maya Rudolph gives a fairly good performance, but resembles many of her SNL characters. The satire factor was through the roof and provides the backbone for the film. I must say that Mike Judge has great talent in his writing ability.

Honestly this film may setback his career a few years. Not because I think it wasn’t a good movie. But because it definitely isn’t a mainline movie or it isn’t a movie that will find great acceptance with the majority of the culture. Especially since there is NO promotion for the film, I fear that not enough people will see the movie until a quiet DVD release. And even then I fear that it will be a small cult following of people who will see through the shotty CGI and the overall dumpy/indie feel of the movie and recognize it for what it is.

I do suggest you see the movie. Much of the great stuff is in the background. From the signs to the little pieces of set that speak volumes of commentary. Some of the highlights for me were, Stephen Root’s performance, Thomas Hayden Church’s performance, as well as pot shots at some of the nation’s leading corporations.

So there you go. If you see it let me know what you think.

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