Monday, July 21, 2008

Watchmen trailer

This deserves another Holy Shit. The Watchmen trailer was in front of The Dark Knight (as was the crappy 'teaser' for Harry Potter...waste of time and film). It looks incredible.

Go to http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/ right now and watch it. Again and again. I'm pissed I won't be at Comic Con to see what else Zach Snyder has in store for fans...probably extra footage, smiley face buttons, the actors...damn it!

Review: the Dark Knight

Ho

Lee

Shit.

Where do I start? The Dark Knight is an incredible film. We saw it on IMAX last Friday afternoon in a packed theatre. Before I really start, you really owe it to yourself to catch it in IMAX. About 20 minutes of the finished film were shot on the larger format and it is visually stunning. Several of the aeriel cityscapes are in IMAX and they are vertigo inducing.

The film is grim, dark, violent and surprising. There were a number of "Holy Crap!" moments where Christopher Nolan steers the film into territory that isn't normal for a comic or superhero film. The Joker's 'pencil trick' alone was a dark and violent moment that I'm surprised was kept in a PG-13 film. And the reveal of Two Face is quite gruesome.

Much like Wall-E, this film delves into a numbers of different thematic elements. Pick what you want from it; the 9/11 elements, the personal morality plays, the personal costs involved, it's all there.

The acting is of course top-notch. Heath Ledger as the Joker, Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent may just be the best of the best here. Incredible acting by all involved, as all of them really sink into their characters. Some films, some actors, you always know who is acting on screen. Jack Nicholson is in that territory now; you always know it's Jack on screen. Ledger? Oldman? They dissappear into their roles and become their characters. There is nothing about Ledger's performance of the Joker that reminds you of the man; he is, for all intents and purposes, the Joker.

Go see this film if you haven't all ready. Go see it in IMAX if you haven't yet; the extra cash is worth it.

Best film of the year so far.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Review: Wall-E

Great film.

Just gonna state that right off. Incredible movie from the fine folks at Pixar, easily the best animation house in the world today. The animation is incredible, as you would expect from them. But what makes Pixar the best in the business, even better than their parent/partner Disney, is the strength of the story.

The story is strong and multi-layered, just like the characters and the thematic elements. Wall-E isn't the goofy little simpleton he appears to be in the commercials. The theme is far more than just an environmental warning.

I don't want to say too much for fear of revealing spoilers, but I genuinely loved the many different layers to this film.

I don't care that this is an animated movie, stereotypically the domain of children. This is a great movie, one of the best of the last five years and is deserving of a Best Picture nomination when the time comes.

Monday, July 7, 2008

July 4th

An okay weekend.

Spent Indepedence Day with the in-laws. The best part of that was watching Lorelei in the small pool they have. She loves the water. Just loves it. She went in twice and loved it both times. She especially loves 'swimming', being pulled through the water. She just smiles and giggles and laughs.

Saturday went to Kevin's house and met his wife and kid. Carpooled to the game with him. Sunday messed around the house and went to my parent's house for dinner. Good steaks.

Other than that, it's been pretty quiet. Summer school is fairly uneventful. Haven't had a chance to see Wall-E yet, though that should happen this week. Just thought I should pop up.