Lam talks

FEAR(S) OF THE DARK

2009-03-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

You'd think a movie with the word fear(s) in the title would have at least a few minutes of scary material. Sadly, this was not the case in the supposedly terrifying "Fear(s) of the Dark". The tag line of this movie was "Don't Come Alone!", and rightly so. I feel that if I had watched this movie alone, I would've wandered off a roof somewhere out of boredom, impassiveness or lack of anything better to do.

While I'm sure that the film maker's intents were noble, it feels like they lost any vision they may have had to begin with somewhere along the way. The idea was to take a new spin on fear. No zombies or vampires or things like this, but instead, roads less traveled. Nightmares, scientific specimens and as the title says, the dark. At some point, it's stopped being a movie that was supposed to scare you and became a movie that maybe was a little scary at times, but mostly just made you think. This would be okay if the movie succeeded at making you think, but no cigar here. 0 for 2, Peur(s) Du Noir.

So maybe their goal was for the movie to look good. The animation was interesting, but by no means impressive. The only scene that was creative was the very last scene, which takes place an hour into the eighty minute running time. The rest of the scenes were visually mundane and could be seen in any random graphic novel.

This would've been more enjoyable if the word "fear(s)" had been taken out of the title. Scary is the last word that comes to mind when trying to describe this movie. Maybe if the title was "Darkness is mildly eerie" or "here's a collection of random cartoons I did while smoking a bowl". This movie fails in everything it tries to do and leaves the viewer horribly bored. False advertising had me disappointed in the end and asking for MUCH more. Fear(s) of the Dark left me with a bad taste in my mouth and a missing 80 minutes from my life.

2/5

SUNSHINE CLEANING - Life's a Messy Business

2009-03-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

My first promotional showing. Very cool. Anyway.

Life got you down? Feeling stuck in a rut? Get into crime scene cleaning. Or at least that's what Amy Adams taught me. Following the story of sisters Rose (Adams) and Norah (Blunt), and their accompanying cast of friends and family, Sunshine Cleaning was all the heartwarming story I hoped it would be. After Rose's son is called to the principal's office for what seems like the hundredth time, she decides to take put him into private school. Sadly, as she has just left her job, this is no To fund her maternal dreams, she starts "Sunshine Cleaning". And the line reads: Life's a messy business.

Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of Emily Blunt going into this. I didn't dislike her, but I didn't see what everyone loved about her. I can happily say, I'm eating my words. As Norah, Blunt plays a conflicted younger sister. When I say conflicted younger sister, I mean conflicted: Everything from her relationships with her Sister and Dad, the death of her mother, and for a brief time, her sexuality. I know what you're thinking, because I was thinking the same thing for the earlier part of the movie: "UGH! Another whiny female character that I'm going to be forced to stomach for an hour and a half". Again, my words go down bitter, because she was wonderful. While in other pictures, this sort of character can be overbearingly annoying and fake, Blunt portrayed, as stated by film enthusiast and my close personal friend, Will Schiffelbein "A conflicted, but not whiny" character. Another positive note in Blunt's performance was her accent. Apparently I'm highly ill informed on all things Emily Blunt, because only today did I learn that she is a Brit. In a recent interview with Royal Douche Bag Ryan Seacrest, she explained ever so elegantly, "while I say 'frustRATed, you say 'FRUstrated'". Not just informative, but pretty sexy. ANYWAY, I'm rambling now. Her accent was well done. Moving on.

Her cast mate and "older sister" is played by the always lovely by Amy Adams. Unfortunately, that was all she was this time around. Please, don't confuse what I'm saying for me thinking that I didn't like her performance. It's quite the contrary. What I enjoyed from Adams was not so much her stand alone performance, but how her character aided her cast mates and in turn her own character. A good example of said struggles is that between Rose and her romantic interests which are two: The first (and more prominent in the first half) is her "boyfriend" Mac and the other (which is more prominent in the later half) is between her and Winston, the lovable, one-armed clean shop owner. While both men are (somewhat) able to stand on their own, not only does Adams help them, but vise versa, which sounds like something that should be normal, but sadly is not. Where as her other roles really made Adams the star of the movie, Adams took an accidental though appropriate back seat.

I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who likes, good acting, interesting plot or guts. A wonderful movie about love, friendship and all the shit in between, Sunshine Cleaning is sure to leave you will a smile and light nausea.

4 out of 5

SPIRITED AWAY

2009-03-09T22:54:00.001-07:00

If I get a movie off of Netflix, I try to make it a personal goal to see nothing but new movies. Sometimes they're good, sometimes bad, and sometimes they're so good that I feel a little ashamed that I haven't seen them sooner. In this visual tapestry of love, adventure and mischief, a living and breathing universe is created, holding previously mentioned qualities, as well as many so far unmentioned.

Upon moving to a new town, a shy and skiddish young girl and our heroine, name Chihiro, follows her parents into a dark mysterious, and against her better judgment, too. Little does she know that on the other side, the adventure of a life time awaits. Little Chihiro gets thrown into the quick business of Spirit Bath Housing and alone the way makes friends and memories she’ll never lose.

In reverse order, I’m going to do the best, first. The animation: I’m not really one for anime style animation (as made vividly clear in my review of AFRO SAMURAI: RESURECTION) I must say, I was beyond impressed. Each frame could be hung on the wall of the MET, and admired for decades to come. The unique animation style of Hayao Miyazaki can be cherished and admired by kids of all ages (and I do mean all ages). Let me elaborate: When I say unique style, I’m not just referring to his bright and inviting colors and always elaborate characters. The true Miyazaki style comes out in the unbelievable attention to every minuscule detail, that were it not for his many years of practice and passion, would be overlooked. A certain scene comes to mind when Chihiro is putting on her shoes. A simple, everyday task, made unique by one or two subtle nuances, not even really noticed by the viewer. While a regular artist might draw the character to sit down, slip her feet in, tie the shoe and walk off, Chihiro, slips her foot it, and then gives two little taps with the front of her shoe onto the ground, to make sure the shoe is on securely. A simple action, yes, but imagine 7-10 characters, each complete with their own set of nuances, making them, them.

Next is the wonderfully handsome voice cast. Full of classic Disney voices such as Daveigh Chase (Lilo, Lilo and Stitch) Jason Marsden (Max, Goofy Movie) Susan Egan (Meg, Hercules) David Ogden Stiers (Dr. Jumba, Lilo and Stitch) and the mighty Bob Burgen (From every Pixar movie ever), this cast pleases from start to finish. Generally, a voice cast for an animated movie is wholly cheesy especially if it's an anime. But in true Disney fashion, every voice is beautiful and real. Each character spoke to the emotions on his or her face, presenting an enticing and exciting watch.

In case it was not made vividly clear, I loved this movie. A lot. I'll be buying for myself soon and I would recommend anyone do the same. The heartwarming adventure of Spirited Away can be appreciated by kids and adults alike.

After seeing Spirited Away, I decided to check out some of Miyazaki's other works. Some impressive titles such as, Howl's Moving Castle, Kiki's Delivery Service, Castle In the Sky and Lupin the 3rd fall under Miyazaki's repatoir. Spirited Away is a good intro to the unique style presented in all Miyazaki films, but definetly check these out after!

My PSA to the Future Writers of the World

2009-03-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

Oh off-beat, indie RomCom, I hate you. So much.

On either side of me, (and by me, I mean the text and not me) are the posters for GIGANTIC and (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, both of which are, as stated above, off-beat, indie RomComs. Upon watching both trailers, I couldn't help but think that maybe I had heard something like this before, like in every other movie like it. Then, after further thought on it, I realized that every single Indie RomCom is the exact same thing. A sad realization.

First, let it be known that I'm excited for both of these, or rather that I'm excited for one of them and because they're the same movie, I'm excited for both of them. BOTH follow an offbeat and quirky man who falls in love with Zooey Deschanel. As a sat at my desk, wallowing in sorrow and sarcasm at the cookie cutter state of movies today, I feverishly searched the darkest corners of my brain, trying to find a solution. After many minutes of deliberation, I decided it best to attack the source at it's root: future writers. If writers realized that they're producing steaming shit heap after steaming shit heap, hopefully said piles of steaming shit would begin to decrease in numbers .If you're reading this, it's your job as a citizen of earth and movie lover to pass it on to your delusional friend who thinks he or she brings something new or exciting to screen writing. I wish I could take each movie as it was, but sadly, I cannot, which is why I am sending out said message to the world:

Dear future lame-ass writer,
There will come a time in your life when you will decide that you've been placed on this earth for one reason, and one reason only: to write movies. You will start by writing a small short film and have your cousin film it with his camera phone, and who knows it may even be honestly enjoyed by your friends. You'll surround yourself in film and then go to film school. Finally, you'll graduate and be dubbed educated enough to make your statement on the world via the bold and beautiful art that is film.
One day, whilst sitting sweetly on your chaise longue (which you got half price on a clearance sale from the antiquities store that closed shut down earlier this month. SCORE!) an idea will float into your lap and you'll begin to jot down some notes. For months, you'll scribe endlessly on a legal pad until finally, from your now bruised fingers and bloodied page comes the fruit of your loins: a script. The synopsis, which ends up to be so cute it just makes you want to punt a three legged kitten, will most likely read something like:

"Heath (an insomniac) and Charlotte (a narcoleptic) are just two young lovers looking to be understood."

or

"In one serendipitous moment, when grabbing for the same bottle of diet caffeine free creamcicle Shasta, Devyn and Jessie start the wild and crazy journey of love"

or maybe

"BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH".

I know you think these all seem like beautiful, original concepts that speak to the emotional in everyone, but trust me when I say, they don't. I know this is probably a startling realization for you. It's okay, I know it's hard. I can almost see what you're thinking: "What? Nobody cares about the fireman in training who grooms dogs for a living and silently pines for his customer, Mrs. Kean, the freelance shoe maker?!" No. Not a one. If you disagree, that's fine, there's only so much I can say to convince you, but trust me, I'm right. But if after much soul searching a good long cry in the bath tub (because you've finally realized the truth, but have decided to swallow it and continue anyway) you still decide to droll onto a page and call it a script, this is your choice. I admire your tenacity and I wish you all the best. You're only going to find yourself in the jeopardy of life repeating the phrase "I'll take GIANT WASTES OF TIME for 600, Alex." Quit now while you're ahead and go into child poetry or something where the chewed pieces of cud you think are good script ideas will to famously.

Best of luck, and die in a fire.

Signed
THE TRUTH

NERDCORE RISING

2009-02-26T23:28:00.000-08:00

What's the first word that comes to your mind when you see the skinny guy in the corner with "birth-control glasses" playing Magic the Gathering? Nerd? Geek? Loser? Dweeb? (Only that last one if you were in The Breakfast Club). Well the gentlemen from MC Frontalot are doing their best to add "Hardcore Rapper" to the list of Stereo types.

Nerdcore Rising follows MC Frontalot (Damian Hess, Gaby Alter, Sturgis Cuningham and Brandon Patton) on their first national tour. For those of you who are so far uneducated, Nerdcore is the name given to the nerd brand of hip hop. Combine rappers such as MC Chris, YTCracker and Optimus Rhyme with songs titled "FInal Boss" "Braggadaccio" and "I Want Candy" and hilarity and hip hop clarity are sure to ensue. (That was the extent of my raping skills).

I'll be honest, going into this, I expected a low quality/budget documentary, and that's what I got. But as opposed to other movies where this may have been off putting or down right irritating, it only enhanced the viewing pleasure and over all ambience of the movie. One of the contributing interviewees, MC Chris, states that while commercial hip hop is "all about 'I'm the shit. I'm the shit', Nerdcore is about 'I play Magic the Gathering and my car doesn't really work". So again, while in another setting the shoddy sound work and seemingly hand drawn computer work may seem off putting, in this particular case, it only enrich the message of Nerdcore: "Rap how you want to, and no one will judge".

Beyond the hip hop and everything else is what the movie is really about: doing what YOU want to do and doing it how YOU want to do it. The emotional appeal is probably the best part of this movie. For a moment, it manages to take you out of the hilarity of it all and shows you what we'll all dealt with: the feeling of feeling out side. It shares with you a personal, yet universal side of life. How being a "nerd" affected these men and how it led to doing with they do today.

When walking out of this movie, I not only was excited to go home and add MC Frontalot to my ITunes Library, but felt empowered as a nerd. I am proud to fly my freak flag and will now fly it higher than ever. I would HIGHLY recommend this movie, especially if you've got a little nerd in you, which I'm sure you do.

SUNSHINE

2009-02-22T13:57:00.000-08:00

I'd like to believe that every movie I see has some degree of originality to it, but we all know that unfortunately, this is not true. Plots are recycled, nuances blend and so on and so forth. A film relies now on the many working parts of the machine to make one film as unique to the other as possible. But every now and again, something pretty damn close to original comes and most of the time, it's overlooked. Danny Boyle's knuckle gnawingly TENSE and glorious ACTION THRILLER is a great example. From the camera work to the plot to everything else, Sunshine presents a fresh out look on the otherwise tired genre of Science Fiction.

Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying and thus, the demise of the human race is close at hand. The first attempt to ignite the sun, Icarus One, was lost somewhere in space and was never able to complete its mission. Now, a group of eight astronauts and the new and improved Icarus 2 are propelled into this fiery adventure in hopes of achieving what the Icarus One and crew could not.

Starring the always creepy Cillian Murphy, the world that the movie creates is instantly real and beautiful: visually and mentally. Throughout the movie, the eerily realistic notion of going crazy, all alone in space kicks at your brain stem making even the more mundane moments tense and ripping. The cold, modern and dirtily clean environment of the Icarus Two creates a constant feel of isolation, even with eight vibrant characters.

The ninth character of this movie is the directing. Danny Boyle masterfully helms this project and it shows more specifically in his camera work. While I can't say too much about it while giving crucial aspects of the movie, I can say that while the whole movie takes place in one location, there are two completely different worlds created by cinematography and each is as captivating as the other.

While the outright qualities of this movie are great, the best part is that it makes you think. A lot. Not in the way that say, MILK makes you think about an overall message or moral you're supposed to take away from this. More in the way that you're confused for most of it until a long winded discussion with a viewing partner has taken place where you're able to delve into the deeper questions of the film. Where as some directing choices come from visual appeal alone, every single directorial choice is a mental message to the viewer in order to further encompass you in the film. From the surface of the sun to "Captain Crispy", every aspect of this adventure of a film is conscious and beautiful.

Having seen this movie, I now have a lot more faith in Sci-fi as a genre and Danny Boyle as a director. Something I have less faith in is the Sun as a power source. In fifty years, it's out. I don't do well with cold. I sincerely hope that Capa and crew can make the impossible, possible.

AFRO SAMURAI: RESURRECTION

2009-02-22T12:40:00.000-08:00

I don't like anime.

Okay, now we can continue.

As some of you may know, I also have a podcast on www.firstshowing.net (which if you have not listened to, you should) and one of my co-hosts and best friends is Sean Hunter. For a while now, he's been trying to get me to watch some TV show he's been watching since it came out. Afro something. I don't know. So this weekend roles around and we are fresh out of ideas for entertainment. "What do you want to do?" I ask. "We can watch the new Afro Samurai movie".

"....If I do will you stop bugging me about it?"

Before I begin to praise the shit of both this and the first installment (which we watched concurrent to the second) let me again say I neither condone nor support anime or the kind of people is creates ei: skinny pre-pubescent teens with cat ears and detachable raccoon tails.

Having said that, it had me standing and karate chopping the television in excitement within the first twenty minutes. Where shall I begin? How about the overall awesome quality emitting from Afro the entire movie. Yes, his real name is Afro. Cool, right? What's that? Can't get any cooler? What if I told you he is voiced by Samuel L. Jackson and has a crazy friend with white hair who is also voiced by Samuel L. Jackson? Completely Awesome. There's not really a lot I can say to do justice to the sword wielding bad-ass that is AFRO samurai. It just sounds cool, his name. It even LOOKS cool. AFRO SAMURAI! Anyway, moving on.

In the bottom right corner of the above poster (www.mazedix.com) you can almost make out a figure on a motor cycle. Incase you can't see it, there's a figure on a motor cycle, and said figure has a teddy bear head on. Stupid? That's what I said. False. That is Jinno\Kuma and he plays the Darth Vader of the samurai world. He starts his life as Jinno then gets near murdered and then rebuilt to become Kuma. He almost matches Afro in ass kicking samurai power. He has two swords, so logically he should be cooler, but that's another discussion for another time.

Oh, and the three in the right bottom corner are the coolest thing in the movie.

The animation really struck a chord with me. It's based in reality but has a twinge of other-worldliness. It's incredibly stylized, especially so in the fight scenes. The only way I can think to describe it right now is if Tarantino did an animated samurai flick.

The only thing I would say that hurt my viewing was that I watched the second movie and then the first. Granted, I was able to pause and ask if I didn't understand anything, but if you're not watching it with someone who's already seen it, I would say watch the first, well, first.

I very much enjoyed this movie and will be looking out for the eminent third installment.

CHOKE

2009-02-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

What?

Seriously what was that?

Some backstory: I saw the first redband trailer for this and was pretty much hooked, if by nothing else than the explicit nudity. Then, I learned that it was a Chuck Palahniuk novel originally, which made me even more excited. To top it off, Sam Rockwell was playing the lead role. Blessed, right?

The normal effect of a mediocre movie is a mild sting of disappointment and a thick slathering of boredom, which I can deal with. What I can not deal with is confusion enough to cause anger. There was probably about 10 collective minutes where I was engaged and enjoying the movie. Given that it was a 92 minute film, that left about 82 1\2 minutes of me sad, angry and confused.

More or less, the only thing this movie had going for it, was it's leading man: the always talented, Sam Rockwell. I've been a fan of Rockwell since (don't judge me) his performance in Charlie's Angels. He was awesome. Judge if you will. I enjoyed him. ANYWHO! In this movie, Rockwell plays the self loathing sex addict, Vincent Mancini. A pleasure to watch. Mancini was sarcastic, brutal, depressing and altogether wicked. The only downside to his performance was his cast members. The fact that Rockwell was so well acted only made his cast members look that much worse. Brad William Henke (or Denny) was bland at best. The only thing that made him better was....ummm......

His female counterpart, "Doctor" Paige Marshall was played by Kelly McDonald. She was good. That's pretty much it. She was well acted, but SO SINFULLY BORING. And she had a relatively exciting (or at least interesting) character. It felt like she woke up and said "Oh shit, I have to act today". Completely distant. Totally boring.

There is one so far unmentioned merit. The poster. It's cool...and pink...

OH! and the poster credit goes to http://designfeedr.com

Hmm....truth?

2009-02-15T14:12:00.000-08:00

I'm doing pretty much everything I can to surround myself in as much Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen information as I can. Today I found something that, if it turns out to be true, has the potential to be quite awesome. Apparently there will be the first appearance of a girl Transformer called ARCEE, who as you can see transforms into a bad-ass little bike. She looks friggin cool, and you know it. Michael Bay and crew REALLY have to be careful here. If they use ARCEE as what she is (an obvious bad-ass) then it'll be awesome. But if they use her ONLY as a way to make Megan Fox look cooler, than it'll sucks. She needs to be cool. Bay has a potential hook for all of the ladies on the edge of being Transformers nerds. If he makes her girly and chick-ish than it will SUCK. Straight up. One thing I am wondering about though. This bike has wheels, and clearly, ARCEE does not...huh. Just saying. Oh wait, I didn't think about this. She uses them as throwing blades and CLEARLY, this ARCEE has already thrown them. Nevermind...

Either way, she looks pretty awesome, and it only makes me more excited to see the movie. Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen will me hitting theaters JUNE 24th (MY BIRTHDAY!) and I expect to see you all there.

I'm happy to say there IS a God, and turns out, he likes comic-books

2009-02-14T19:28:00.001-08:00

Brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen.

On May 2nd 2008, the first ass-kicking, laser-blasting, red-and-gold-clad installment of Iron Man was gifted to Marvel geeks across the cosmos. As most all of you know, it was totally bad-ass. There's no denying it. R.D.Jr was and is a beast and having Jon Favreau make an appearance as Happy Hogan, made it just that much better. Moving on...

Given that the world could not possibly go on turning with ONLY 126 minutes of this glorious-ness to love and cherish, Iron Man 2 has been green lit and already it's facing it's fair share of ups and downs. First was whether or not Jon Favreau would be returning to direct Iron Man 2 or not. Luckily that was resolved, and he will be. Next was a slew of rumors about who the next Iron Man villain would be. The HULK, Iron Dynamo, Justin Hammer, Titanium Man, even the Mandarin. That's still not completely clear, not that it should be until I sit down in the theaters to watch it. Lastly is a whole mess of casting rumors including Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Emily Blunt, and most lately SCARLETT JOHANSSON!

Which brings me to the main point of this entry.

HOLY DRUNKEN REPUBLICANS BATMAN! CAN IT BE TRUE!? Earlier today, a rumor was posted on firstshowing.net (http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/02/13/rumor-scarlett-johansson-as-black-widow-in-iron-man-2/) stating that Scarlett Johansson could be in Iron Man 2. Not just as any old character though. Oh no no no. As the single sexiest being in the Marvel universe. The Black Widow. Oh my god. I love this news so much I want to marry it, have little bits of news with it and eventually leave it for another younger, sexier peice of news. Have you ever seen me excited? This is what it looks like:

Okay, that was a collage of Hillary Clinton, but she's the only thing I could find that even closely represented the pitter-pattering of my little fan boy heart. Okay, let me collect myself and I'll tell you why this is good.

However much I love Johansson's work, there's really no denying that she's been handed some shitty, shitty roles in the past such as The Spirit, and most recently, HGNTIY (He's Just Not That Into You. I coined that phrase. You read it here first). Crap crap crappy. I think what she needs is to get her hands on a nice juicy role that will get her consistent recognition from a single group of watchers. ei, comic-book geeks. I'm not saying do nothing but comic-book movies, but something like Iron Man 2 will give her career the nice kick in the ass it needs. Now, I know what you're thinking: "What about The Spirit?" True, that was a comic-book movie but allow me to defend myself: The Spirit sucked. If this rumor proves itself to be true, I can see Scarlett Johansson scoring herself a permanent seat on the speeding rocket that is the Marvel movie.

Punch Drunk Love

2009-02-10T12:06:00.000-08:00

What can one say about "Punch Drunk Love" besides "What? What the hell? What?" Even after watching it, it's hard to peg something like this into a genre. Some would call it a black comedy: if this is true, than it's pitch black. Some would say it's a Romantic-comedy: Not like any romantic-comedy I've ever seen. i think the answer lies in between these two: a Black-mantic comedy. I just coined a new phrase. Boo-yah.

The movie stars Adam Sandler in what I would call his best-acted role yet. It's one of those movies that you can't really say too much without saying to much. What I can say about it is it's wonderful direction.

Paul Thomas Anderson both wrote and directed this as well as the Oscar winning movie "There Will Be Blood". having seen both of these and noting the differences between the two make me both admire the skill of Anderson and further increase my belief that he's absolutely bat-shit crazy. The style in which P.D.L is directed is not like anything I've ever seen. It's a film that nears chore status in how hard it is to follow. Now, if you're an experienced film watcher, it won't be anything new for you. But for the average movie viewer, or even those who dabble in film, it will most likely take two viewings to fully comprehend everything it throws at you.

One thing I have to mention is the way Anderson shows the creation and growth of love. So often directors force their audiences to stomach the same old shitty stereotypes in romantic-comedies. The kiss in the rain. The waiting by the phone whilst Melissa Ethridge whines in the background. Girl finds boy, boy loves girl, boy hurts girl, boy wins girl back. blah blah blahdy blah. But all of the moments where love is a character are new and original and heart-warming. From lighting phone booths to Harmoniums, the movie is warming and is a new and out there outlook on love.

See it

Coraline

2009-02-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

I'll be the first to say that I am the most avid animation fan I know, and thus a certain bias is presented, but I can safely say that Coraline is easily the most visually b-e-a-utiful movie I've seen in a very, VERY long time.

Let's start things off with the obvious strengths. The animation:
Beyond the fact that it's easily the most visually pleasing stop motion film seen, it was also the most fluid stop-motion I've seen. I'd really be interested in seeing the FPS in this because at some points it felt completely fluid and above stop motion. Taking another piece of Henry Selick's work as example, at some points during "The Nightmare Before Christmas" the stop motion felt very blocky and stop go (obviously). But thinking on it, I can't recall a single moment in Coraline that wasn't completely fluid and beautiful. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record so let's move on.

Another thing that struck me was how each environment unique and more exciting than the last. You really saw Selick grow as a director in this film. In his other stop motion films, there's always a trend between the "real world" and the "other world" and their color pallets. One is very gray and black and dull and the other is vibrant and loud and pops out at you. However, in "Coraline", Selick was forced to create a realistic world, as well as at least two other notable "worlds". Each world was different in it's own different way, but still rooted in some sort of crazy Selick-reality.

The last gold star this movie earned was it's fantastic voice work. With talents like Dakota Fanning (Coraline Jones), Teri Hatcher (Mother, Other Mother), Keith David (Cat) and Ian McShane (The Amazing Mr. Bobinsky), it was blessed from the beginning. Every voice was expressive and great. That's really all you can say about it. Lovely.

The only real problem I had with it was the line they stepped on as far as their MPAA rating. Without giving too much away, there was a moment of near cartoon-nudity, and not in a good way. Crazy, old, fat, cartoon nudity. Not fun.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed "Coraline" and would highly suggest seeing it to anyone who is even a little bit interested.

Pokemon - the First Movie

2009-01-31T01:41:00.001-08:00

Tonight I had the pleasure of watching Pokemon - the First Movie. Please don't leave. I swear, I have something credible to say.
Let it first be said that I am an OG Pokemon fan. When my roommate Will (who's work can be seen at reelfilmjunkie.blogspot.com) said he was getting Kagemusha, the epic tale directed by the near enlightened Akiri Kurosawa, next on his Netflix, I (mostly as a joke) ordered Pokemon and said we could watch it after to lighten the mood. Needless to say, we ended up watching Pokemon first and I can happily say, I enjoyed it as much as I did in my first viewing, as a dumb, dopey eight-year-old.
True, a can a Bush's Baked Beans probably has more cinematic merit that this movie, but as stated earlier I am a giant Pokemon geek, so judge if you will, but I liked it. And given that I am a P.G. (Pokemon geek. It's just easier to shorten) it was good for me to see the good ol' days of the first 151 and not the sad recycled garbage that my beloved franchise has devolved into.
For those of you who have not seen it, it begins at Mewtwo's "birth". He finds out he's just a clone and not really valued by his creators, he flips is shit, and it progresses from there.
So yeah, like I said, not the greatest movie of all time, but for a good laugh at the blatant goofiness of Pokemon and the warm feeling of nostalgia, give Pokemon - the First Movie a watch.
3\5 stars.