still truckin'...

It's been a while since I wrote on here, but that's because I've been unbelievably busy these last few months. The biggest and best thing that has happened to me is that I moved out of my shithole apartment with my shitty roommates, and am now living with Logan Olson in Culver City. And I LOVE it here! Too bad it's only temporary. In a few months I'll likely be having to figure out a new living sitch, but c'est la vie!
Also, this isn't really a change from anything I've said before, but I'm becoming more and more aware how movie trailers are not my cup of tea. Yes, they're cool, and yes, I am honing my editing skills. But OH how I wish I were working on my own film, or even some OTHER film, instead of just working on the ADVERTISING for a film. Working on trailers only leads to working on more trailers. I think I'll be at my current place for another year or so (unless someone drops the chance to direct a feature right in my lap), and then it's going to be time to move on to something else. Maybe grad school? Not sure yet. I do have to be aware that I am doing better than the majority of my friends are, and I do HAVE a job in this crazy Hollywood business in this awful economy. But (and I don't want to sound like a hothead here), I feel I'm made for better things.
On the other hand, I am writing a lot, and collaborating a lot on little projects with friends of mine. And I suppose at this point in my career that's all one can ask for. I've been meeting with big-wigs at Disney and other places now and then for "career advice" and they all tell me I'm doing the right thing at this point in my career. So, one must stay hopeful, stick to it, and not get stuck. I may be artistically frustrated, but I'm still optimistic.

Anyways, review time...and I apologize in advance for their quality. I had a bit of alcohol in my system as I wrote some of this (you have to relax SOMETIMES right?), and I'll try to keep them brief, since there are a lot of them. I need to be more regular about this blog thing.

1) "Beer For My Horses" Yes. This IS the first movie I'm going to review, as watching it was one of my first experiences upon moving in with Logan. The movie features Toby Keith as a deputy in a small Texan town. I knew this movie was going to be shit from the get-go, and it was. But this is one of the few cases where the fun of the movie was actually ruined by the plot. The first half hour of the movie is actually pretty enjoyable, as Toby Keith just meanders through town doing your basic southern stuff like hitting on hot southern women and hanging out with Ted Nugent as he brandishes dual machine guns (seriously, you have to see it). But things take a dive for the boring as soon as the guys go on a road trip to rescue Claire Forlani from...something. I don't even remember anymore.
Oh! But Tom Skerrit's in it. And he's always fun.

2) "Chop Shop" This movie got great reviews, and it was a very low-budget film, so I was excited to see it as the sort of movie that I might be able to make.
However I really disliked what this movie ultimately had to offer. While it gives you a glimpse of those people who live on the fringes of society, the story of a young Mexican boy and his sister struggling to make a living in Los Angeles by illegally tearing apart cars and giving sexual favor left me asking, "OK, so why would anyone want to SEE this movie?"
(SPOILER) The two don't succeed in any of their goals, and the movie abruptly ends as bleakly as it began. What was the point? Skip it.

3) "Bang the Drum Slowly" This is an old sports film starring Robert DeNiro as a baseball player with a terminal disease, and chronicles his last year playing with the team before he dies.
Frankly, I was a little disappointed by this "classic." DeNiro is good, sure...but again, nothing really happens, and then the movie ends. We're supposed to feel sorry for the guy, but I was just bored all the way through.

4) "Hoosiers" This movie hasn't aged perfectly, since about a million other sports movies have copied its style since it was made. But it still holds up pretty well, mainly thanks to Gene Hackman as the coach. And frankly, even though "Hoosiers" has a lot of imitators, it still does the formula better than most of the movies that followed it.

5) "Get Carter" (the old one, not the Sylvester Stallone one) It's interesting to see a young Michael Caine kick so much ass. Caine is good in everything, and even in his most refined butler-like roles, I've always sensed the badassery lurking underneath (I let out a little cheer when Alfred smacked that guy upside the head with a golf club in "Batman Begins"). In "Get Carter" we see where it all stemmed from, as Caine takes out fools left and right, and also bangs a lot of chicks. It's also nice to see that Caine is really QUITE out of shape as he does so, hearkening back to a time when dudes DIDN'T have to have washboard abs in order to score the ladies (I do the best that I can, but it's tough!). I had issues with the ending of this movie, but all in all, it was worth seeing just to see how badass Caine could be in his youth.

6) "Monsters vs. Aliens" I was VERY dissapointed in this film for a lot of reasons.
Mostly, I was disappointed with DreamWorks Animation for making this movie in the first place. For the most part, DreamWorks has never been on par with some of the other animation studios like Pixar or Disney. But now and then they've had a few gems, and last year's superb "Kung Fu Panda" really had me hoping they had finally found their footing. Then they come out with this garbage.
Everything about "Monsters vs. Aliens" feels concocted by some studio head with a great idea for what makes a hit, but no idea what makes a good film that will last through the ages. Tons of one-liners, one-dimensional characters, and so-called "ideas" that look good on paper, but are really just one-note gags (a lot of "ones" in there!). And I don't know how many times I have to say this, but why do animated films need big name voice actors that don't have interesting or unique voices? Aside from Seth Rogen (and maybe Stephen Colbert), the actors are horribly cast. Will Arnett is great at voice work, but he's barely used and underutilized as "The Missing Link," a completely bland and unfunny man-lizard black lagoon creature. Paul Rudd is a likable guy and a fun actor, but why use him for his voice? And Reese Witherspoon (whom I generally like a lot) is AWFUL as the shrill whiny protagonist named Susan. I wanted to punch her character in the face.
But I'm even more disappointed that critics somehow gave this piece of garbage generally good reviews, and that the American public appeared in droves to see this drivel! It proves to the studio heads that you don't need to make good movies anymore...all you need is to market the hell out of something and appeal to the right demographic. Done!
Maybe I'm asking to much from the American moviegoing public. These are the same guys who flocked to "Obsessed," "Fast & Furious" (4 Fast, 4 Furious?), and "Paul Blart," while really good movies like "Adventureland" fell by the wayside. Sigh.

Speaking of which...
7) "Adventureland" Greg Mottola really knows what he's doing. The guy gave us the best of the Apatow filmography thus far with "Superbad," and I don't think it was only because of a good script, but also because Mottola understands actors, scene structure, shot selection, and teen (and post-teen) angst.
"Adventureland" wasn't as funny as I was expecting, but it was still a very nice heartfelt drama that struck the same chord in me that "The Graduate" did. Somehow a movie about a nice, curly-haired twenty-something guy who gets a low-paying job right out of college, and maybe falls in love really spoke to me--I wonder why? I hope Greg Mottola gets to do a lot more work in the future. I like what he has to say.

8) "Klute" Jane Fonda won an Oscar for this movie, where she plays a call girl who is gets some disturbing threats. Donald Sutherland plays the titular detective asked to work on the case. However Sutherland is kind of bland, and Fonda really steals the movie away from him. As a bonus though, young Donald Sutherland looks a bit like me, and he gets to have sex with Jane Fonda...nice!
There are a lot of issues with this movie, but I recommend it especially for cinematographers looking for interesting ideas. And it's also cool to see the late Roy Scheider playing Fonda's pimp.

9) "Let the Right One In" I have really come to dislike vampires thanks to the whole "Twilight" phenomenon, but this movie was actually pretty cool. It didn't quite live up to the hype surrounding it, but it's certainly one of the best movies I've seen that happens to be about vampires. I don't want to spoil too much, suffice to say that one of the final shots of the film is one of the coolest things I've seen in any movie EVER (it's the part in the pool...you'll know when you see it).

10) "OSS 117" Will introduced me to this HILARIOUS French film that lampoons the old James Bond movies. Unlike Austin Powers, whose humor comes from his buffoonery and sheer unattractiveness, in this film the Bond character is actually rather suave and dashing. The real humor comes from the fact that Bond is actually quite a chauvinist asshole towards the women around him. The movie also feels like it was made in the 60s, complete with the same film stock, which adds to its charm.
However I don't think this movie would have worked at all had it not been for the BRILLIANT leading actor, who has perfected the smug Conneresque strut and grin. For the sequel, I hope they give him the "Casino Royale" treatment, and let him walk out of the ocean in a speedo.

11) "The Foot Fist Way" I had seen most of this movie already, but never in full until recently. Having also read (but not seen) "Observe & Report," it appears Jody Hill really has a very specific character archetype in his head--and it isn't a very likable one. Which is probably the reason "Observe & Report" didn't do so well.
However "The Foot Fist Way" works because of Danny McBride, who imbues his slightly dispicable character with the right amount of helplessness so that we grow to root for him (thought the other actors are good too).
It's got some truly hilarious moments, although it is overall a pretty depressing movie. Worth checking out, if only to get an idea what can be done with a funny script and a low budget.

12) "Peggy Sue Got Married" I had been looking forward to seeing this film because I had heard it was sort of "Back to the Future" for girls, since a woman time-travels from the 80s back into the 50s. In that regard, it was similar, but pretty much everything that was fun about "Back to the Future" is missing from this movie. There were no cool Dolereans, crazy doctors, races to the clock tower, or weird parent-incest. It isn't even a fish-out-of-water story, since the main character is just transported to her old SELF from the 50s, so everybody there already knows who she is and she fits right in. Peggy Sue then proceeds to act like an ungrateful bitch and sleep with the sleazebag artsy kid, whom any normal adult woman would realize is a total dwip.
The only redeeming thing about the movie is that Nicholas Cage is hilarious at playing a young geeky kid in high school, particularly with his fake whiny high-pitched voice. Other than that, it's pretty insipid.

13) "City Hunter" This early 90s export from Hong Kong stars Jackie Chan doing...something. I was never sure what. The plot is pretty incomprehensible. It does feature one scene worth watching, where Jackie Chan reenacts the original "Street Fighter" video game, to the point that he even dresses in drag as Chun-Li (!). Other than that, it's a weird blend of cartoonish Bugs Bunny mayhem, combined with scenes of extreme violence where people get shot at point blank range a la "Die Hard." I guess they just have different sensibilities in Hong Kong.
The biggest disappointment is that Jackie Chan is sorely underused, generally only for comedic purposes. We don't really get to see any of his awesome kung fu moves. And where's the fun in that?
But if you really want to see that "Street Fighter" scene, it's on youtube!

14) "The Wicker Man" No, not the ridiculous Nicholas Cage one. The original "Wicker Man" is actually pretty good, and succeeds at being creepy by showing you things SHOULDN'T be off-putting but are thanks to the Puritan roots we've been unable to shake off (why does people having sex in the open woods freak us out so much?). Plus, Christopher Lee makes anything creepy.
The famous ending also works because its displayed with such joy, despite the horror that is going on. Give it a look, if you can try and shake the Nicholas Cage version out of your head.

15) "Crank 2: High Voltage" I have a confession to make. When I first saw the original "Crank" I didn't really get it. I found it abrasive, frenetic, and a tad offensive. However a number of my friends LOVED the movie, and on repeat viewings, I've changed my tune and come to also be a fan. The same thing happened for me with "The Wrestler," a movie that at first left me feeling cold, but has since grown on me to become on of my favorite films of last year.
After I saw "Crank" though, I thought "Boy, they pretty much used every adrenaline-heart idea possible." Man, was I wrong! "Crank 2" is even more outrageous than the first film, and frankly, it's also a lot more fun. The actors fit into their character archetypes a lot better, and its clear the filmmakers have become a lot more confidant with their craft (sure, I'd call it a craft). Jason Statham in particular chews up the scenery better than he's ever done. Bai Ling, whom I normally can't stand, is a lot of fun because she's perfectly cast as an Asian hooker, because that's basically what she is.
Sure there were a few gripes. I don't know what Pedro (yes, from "Napolean Dynamite") was doing in the movie, and its a bit dissapointing that (spoiler) Chelios doesn't actually get to rip his own heart out of someone else's chest to get it back. But it had an AWESOME ending, and I hope they get to do a third one.
Oh yeah...I'm pretty sure there aren't any mansions like that on Catalina Island, but oh well.

16) "Encounters at the End of the World" I am a big Herzog fan, mainly because he shares my zeal for adventure and travel (I wish I had more of it, actually), and also because he looked a bit like me when he was younger.
"Encounters at the End of the World" basically plays like Herzog's really well-made home movie, but that's fine. It's an interesting look at Antarctica and the bizarre cast of characters that wind up down there (Herzog notes "It seems Antarctica gathers the leftover people that drop away from the rest of the world when it is shaken").
By far the BEST part of the movie is when Herzog asks a penguin researcher if penguins ever go crazy, becoming tired of it all and wanting to escape their daily lives. The guy denies it, but then Herzog focuses on one penguin, going neither to the fishing grounds, nor to the breeding grounds. Suddenly the penguin heads off towards the mountains, escaping penguin society. It's a hilarious, but beautifully sad moment. We all are that little penguin, wanting to just disappear from the hustle and bustle of our own lives and escape.
This doc's not as good as "Grizzly Man," but it's still interesting food for thought.
And the penguin clip is on youtube too! Check it out.

Ok, that's enough for now. I'll try to be a bit more active on here in the coming months.