Snowulf - Films

Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

nospam@example.com (John) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:00:00 -0800

I went into this film knowing nothing more than it was based on a book and by the title had some affiliation with Greek Mythology, a topic on which I did quite a bit of reading in my youth (and yes that means I also watched Hercules and Xena - minor sidenote Lucy Lawless is doing an amazing job in Spartacus).

This will be rife with spoilers, so if you don't want to know, don't read.

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Review: High Fidelity - Book and Film

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Recently, I read High Fidelity on my Kindle.

I had watched the movie a while back and remembered it fondly, so I decided to read it on my Kindle.

After reading the book, I thought it seemed a bit different than what I recalled form the movie, so I netflixed it and watched it on Wednesday.

Warning: Potential Spoilers Abound - I'm comparing a book and a movie so that should be fairly obvious.
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Review: 2012 (The Movie)

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

I'm not a huge fan of this entire 2012 hype/hysteria. So many people are panicking over this shit, that NASA had to make a website specifically to debunk it.

That being said, it really isn't a problem in the movie because they really don't go into that much depth about it. The movie shows the planetary alignment, but doesn't talk about it that much. They show mass suicide at a Mayan temple, briefly. Mostly the destruction of the Earth is due to elevated solar flare activity which throws off "lots" more neutrinos which go about "microwaving" the core of the Earth. The core gets hotter, the shell gets hotter, things start to break apart... and California sinks into the ocean, which was John's favorite part of the movie.

I could spend the next 30 minutes picking apart all the horrible flaws in the science and glaring issues with the movie, like say a plane flying through an ash cloud... but I'll spare you. Instead why don't you take a peak a this Real Life Comic which does a fantastic job summarizing it.

What do I think? Yes, go see it. It is a decent flick where things get blown and the Earth is destroyed. The special effects are fairly good too.

Review: Boondock Saints 2

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

As noted previously, I went to visit Jon this past weekend. On Friday, I will cover that particular event in greater detail.

I originally came down thinking that we might go see 2012 (I'm a sucker for a good disaster flick). What I was not expecting was to find out that Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day was playing.

This review will be spoiler free, partly because this movie is not in wide release. However, there are spoilers if you haven't seen the first film.

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Review: The Maiden Heist

nospam@example.com (John) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

On Saturday, The Maiden Heist showed up at my place (thank you netflix).
It is sort of odd that I received it on Saturday as Amazon says this isn't due till November 24.

The Maiden Heist stars Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, and William H. Macy. All three actors are guards at a museum, each of them have a favorite work of art, and each of them are crushed to learn that the exhibit is being moved to Copenhagen, Denmark (which is "really far away" and "a really hard language"). Morgan Freeman comes up with the idea to steal the art, but they don't quite know how to do it, thus they enlist Macy.
Macy plays an ex-military character, though it shifts a couple times as to which branch and what "action" he was involved in during his service. He provides the gear and continually offers words of encouragement, until a certain part during the climax. He also enjoys appearing in the buff with his particular art piece (The Bronze Warrior). ARTnews has a great piece about each of the works, take a gander if you'd care to know more.

I can't really say much more without giving away the movie, so I'll just close with my recommendation. This is a rent, if you like the actors. I don't see much reason to buy this one, maybe if you are a big art fan and want to gush over some of the other works shown in the film you might like it or see it as wish fulfillment... but I doubt it.

One question that I wondered after watching the film: was William H. Macy's nudity inspired by his bare bottom in The Cooler?

Review: Max Payne

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Max Payne recently showed up in my netflix queue and since I watched it, I thought I might review it.

First off, this is a movie based on a video game, wait, make that two video games, or rather a series.

Having never played the games, I knew nothing about this franchise, but I assumed it involved blood, violence, and guns, lots of guns.

This review will be mostly spoiler free.
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Review: Crank 2

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Crank 2: High Voltage once more stars Jason Statham, which may seem a little odd as he well... fell out of a helicopter and smashed into a car followed by bouncing off into the asphalt at the end of the first one.

Warning: SPOILERS abound.
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Review: Taken

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Today, we will be discussing Taken on Bluray.

The Blu-ray in question offers both theatrical and unrated editions. Having seen the former in the theater, I chose the latter.

As per usual, this review will be spoiler free.

Taken is the story of a father who had been a spy. He quit his day job, as it were, to build a relationship with his daughter who is turning 17 as the film opens. She wants to go to Paris with her 19 year old friend, and he doesn't like it.

My little sister went to Europe when she was 16 with a church group and I remember my own father being reticent even about that - something I completely understand and agree with, as it happens.

Eventually, her father agrees after thinking about it, then gives her an international cellphone so he can keep track of her. No sooner than they exit the airport in Paris do they do something stupid: they share a cab with some random guy they just met, followed by telling him all about where they are staying and how they'll be all by themselves there.

When Kim (his daughter) finally calls home, the kidnappers burst in and take her friend; she describes it all to her father and he tells her what to do, and specifically, that she will in fact be Taken, which she is shortly thereafter.

Not to give anything away, the next hour or so involves some fast paced action, lots of violence, and a really nice body count. Basically, Liam Neeson is a bad ass.

Quick bit of info on the disc itself. Audio is 5.1, didnt find anything particularly exciting to report in the surround sound department on this flick. As is standard with blu-ray, the video is 1080p at ~24 fps (Blu-rayStats.com says it is 23.976 fps).

And I just noticed that there is a PiP/Bonus View special feature, "Black Ops Field Manual", that promises to provide up to date mission information in the form of anatomical and geographical info. So I'll have to check that out next time I watch the flick.

Lastly, it also comes with a Digital Copy, so you can watch it on your iPod should you so choose.

Verdict: If you enjoy movies with action and violence, buy it.

Review: Yes Man

nospam@example.com (John) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Yes Man stars Jim Carrey and Zooey Deschanel. It is a great little comedy about a guy who is in a rut and has little to no motivation to escape it.

Enter the premise of the movie: he attends a seminar where he promises to start saying yes to everything, from there his adventure unfolds. First off, he gives a homeless man a ride to the middle of nowhere in conjunction with letting him use his cell phone (which he promptly kills the battery on) and then ends up giving him all his cash. As he starts to pull away after dropping the homeless guy off, the car dies, which means he now has to walk to the nearest gas station. As he is filling up his gas can Zooey shows up and life becomes so much more interesting.

Eventually, he learns that he can't just go around saying yes to everything, that like all things in life it requires moderation. Anyone who has seen Lost Horizons may recall this notion.

Something incredible I just noticed during my rewatch: Ana Ng by They Might Be Giants is playing when he is at his boss' Harry Potter Theme Party. I didn't notice it till right as the scene changed, and had to rewind it a bit to make sure I heard it right, but sure enough it was there.

One annoying thing about the disc, there is a promo for the awesomeness of blu-ray that you can't hit menu to escape... which as far as annoyances go is second only to previews you can't press menu to skip.

Lastly, there is a scene of the principals going rollerblading after the credits start rolling at the end of the movie.

Verdict: great comedy, if you enjoy either of the principals, I'd say buy it.

Review: The Last Samurai on Blu-Ray

nospam@example.com (Jon) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 10:00:00 -0700

I remember very clearly when The Last Samurai was first coming out. The thought of Tom Cruise ruining what could be a decent movie on feudal Japan was forefront in my mind. Far happened to be in town so she and I went down to see the movie in Carson City, not expecting much. What did happen was that we both walked out of the movie very impressed with how good of a job he did, and overall how good of a movie it was.

So the other week I was alerted that the Blu-Ray was on sale on Amazon so I figured I'd give it a shot and pick it up. Before a few months ago, I almost never bought movies because Blu-Ray was out, and I didn't have a player (and it wasn't very high on the list of priorities). Since John was kind enough to loan me one, I've slowly been acquiring BD's, though only the cheap ones (sorry MPAA, not gonna shell out $30 for a movie - didn't do it when DVDs came out, certainly not going to do it for Blu-Ray). It arrived on a Friday and that Sunday I actually got a chance to sit down with my Mother and watch it. Possibly the best part of the entire thing was my when my Mother said "I didn't know Tom Cruise could act."

For the Blu-Ray copy itself? I think it turned out fantastic. The movie features some beautiful vistas that simply wouldn't be done justice on DVD. Granted the film was made a while ago, but I remember very clearly that the movie look gorgeous in theaters, and I think it looked just as good at home on Blu-Ray (Ok, so maybe it was slightly smaller on my screen ^_^ ). In addition to the vistas, Hans Zimmer wrote a perfect soundtrack for the movie (which I bought when the movie came out, and have enjoyed greatly) which comes across my 5.1 system equally beautifully. The only disappointment in the sound was that my Mother made me turn down the volume. The last piece of this Blu-Ray that made me smile just that much more? No damn menu's. I put the disk in the player and directly to the movie we went. Maybe I wasn't paying 100% attention to it, but it seemed like there was much less "junk" at the beginning. It's the little things in life that make me happy.

All in all, it was a good rewatch of a good movie. I realize it isn't historically accurate, but once things picked up (when he finally gets to Japan) the movie is really enjoyable. I know my Mother really enjoyed it (and she hadn't seen it before), because typically any movie that runs more than about an hour and a half to two hours, she gets bored with and leaves. The Last Samurai has a run time of just over two and a half hours, and it is worth it.

Review: Earth (movie not planet)

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Saw Earth, a couple Saturdays ago (May 2nd, to be precise). I wasn't overly enthusiastic about seeing it (as I had heard literally nothing about it), but the summary on the Fandango App (thank you AT&T for giving your DSL customers free WiFi at all Starbucks locations and apparently Barnes and Nobles) made it seem interesting. We were fairly limited on our options at the time of day we were interested in procuring tickets for a movie, so we entered the theater expecting something similar to Planet Earth.

What we found within the first 5 seconds was that IT WAS THE SAME FOOTAGE. Granted, ~~Darth Vader~~ James Earl Jones was doing the voice rather than ~~John Hammond's Brother~~ David Attenborough, but the entire opening sequence of the Mama Polar Bear with her two cubs was the same opening as Planet Earth. Maybe it was because I watched Planet Earth a few months ago, but I was a little bored watching it. Heck, half the time it was just James Earl Jones re-reading the previous narration. I would have to say that there was maybe 40% of material that I hadn't seen before (which could have been caused by a lack of attention on my part when I first watched Planet Earth).

All in all, I was a bit disappointed with the film, and quite glad I paid matinee prices.

Bottom line: Don't bother paying for it if you have already seen Planet Earth. There is very little material presented (other than James Earl Jones' voice) that you didn't already see (or hear). However, if you haven't seen Planet Earth, or you were thinking you might wish to rewatch it, this would be an excellent sampler.

Review: War Games: The Dead Code (aka War Games 2)

nospam@example.com (John) — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:00:00 -0700

This review will be spoiler free, so if you haven't watched the film feel free to read on without worry. However, I will be making references to the original War Games and those aren't necessarily spoiler free.

To be honest, I had forgotten about this movie. I really wanted to see it when I heard they were doing a sequel to War Games, which apparently was also spelled WarGames (which makes sense given that this movie was made in the early eighties and that whole 8.3 convention), but forgot about it. Then two days ago it showed up as available for instant watch on my netflix account. I watched it last night and it reminded me of the original in oh so many ways, I kept hoping for a special guest appearance by Matthew Broderick (the star of the first film), but alas.

The film stars Matt Lanter, whom I was unaware of previously, but according to imdb he is the voice of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: The Clone Wars (which incidentally was the first Blu-ray flick that netflix sent me). The kid is a computer genius (just like the star of the previous film) and is of course lusting after the girl of his dreams who happens to be his costar (just like the last movie). Of course we are in the Post-9/11 world now and technology has advanced quite a bit in the 25+ years since the original. Thus, when the kids are running, the supercomputer, named RIPLEY, taps into the surveillance networks surrounding them, easily finding them time and time again.

The kids eventually are helped by a couple of characters from the previous film and eventually the people running RIPLEY realize that she has been given too much autonomy, however now they can't shut her down ("because that was the whole point! She needs to be free of human intervention.") and so the kid must save the day.

One fairly cool bit was the appearance of the (hopefully) upcoming MMORPG Stargate Worlds. Not terribly much of it was shown, but it still looked interesting.

My favorite part of the film went a little something like this:
The star and his buddy are looking at the list of games to play and see "Global Thermonuclear Warfare" (the game played in the previous film), pause, look at each other and go "Nah".

In summary, definitely worth a watch, and probably a buy; I will probably purchase it at some point when it is on sale.

Review: Memento

nospam@example.com (John) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 10:00:00 -0700

This review will be spoiler free, so if you haven't watched the film feel free to read on without worry.

I recently picked this up on sale at Best Buy for $10, in one of the very rare instances when Best Buy had a better price than Amazon.

The movie stars Guy Pearce playing a man who has a special form of memory loss that prevents him from forming any new memories. The film was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, whose talents you may have enjoyed in Batman Begins and Dark Knight, and possibly in opposition to the Jo(h)ns running this site: The Prestige.

The film moves backwards. I remember having rented this once before and the disc was scratched or something and so I missed the beginning of the movie, which is really the end, so I was fairly confused for most of the flick. Anywho, I bought it because I remembered enjoying the parts I did see and finding it a very novel way to tell a story (partially the reason I enjoyed A Scanner Darkly).
Our protagonist, Leonard Shelby, is still reeling from the loss of his wife whom, according to his tattoos, was raped and murdered by John G. He is still reeling from this, because that is the last thing he can remember, which serves to fuel his desire to find and kill John G.

In summary, definitely worth a watch, and possibly a buy.

Review: Punisher: War Zone (film)

nospam@example.com (John) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:00:00 -0700

This review is about the film, rather than the comic.

This review will be spoiler free, so if you haven't watched the film feel free to read on without worry.

After the just utter fail of the last one, I was pleasantly surprised that within the first 10 minutes of this film the Punisher's body count surpassed that of the entirety of the previous flick.

The film's antagonist is Jigsaw; movie does a quick origin bit that shows him as pretty boy Billy "The Beaut" Russo for a little bit before he gets his face all messed up. As part of the face destruction scene, the Punisher shoots an undercover FBI agent, though he doesn't know this at the time. When he realizes this, he has to do the usual soul searching that any hero (or anti-hero) has to do when he realizes he has hurt/killed one of the good guys.
His quest eventually prevails (c'mon, how lame of a movie would it be where the protagonist just hangs up his spurs for good mid-movie?) and several more bodies are stacked up.

There was, at least in my mind, a decent sized plot hole towards the end where a group of Russians are assaulting the same building as Frank and they don't have any sort of meeting. Seemed very strange as the Russians were there for a very specific reason, and obviously had not achieved their goal.

My favorite part of the film went a little something like this:
FBI to criminal: You have the right to remain silent *BLAM*
Punisher shotguns criminal in the face
FBI: Dammit Castle!

In summary, worth a watch, but definitely a rent rather than a buy.