June 11, 2009
Paycheck (2003)
Should I see it?
Not even on a dare.
Not even on a dare.
Short Review: This film is so horrible it’s given me post-stress disorder.
This movie was apparently made on a bet. I can’t believe sober adults came into this production with the intent of making a good movie. If John Woo keeps making poop cakes like this disaster he should be forcefully deported back to China. Let him dumb down their culture, why do we need to take the hit?
I usually try to find something I like in a film. With this waste, I honestly think I liked the ending credits best. They gave me a comprehensive list of people whose work I should avoid. That is a great service and I appreciate it.
Related Reviews:
Ben Affleck movies
Hollywoodland (2006)
Armageddon (1998)
Other Critic's Reviews:
Reel Views
Film Jerk
Labels: Aaron Eckhart, Ben Affleck, film, John Woo, movie review, Paul Giamatti, Uma Thurman
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 8:00 AM
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February 17, 2009
Movie Trailer: Thank You for Smoking
"Michael Jordan plays ball, Charles Manson kills people, I talk."
I loved this movie. Dead on, sarcastic satire of our corporate culture. This is one of the smarter movies in the past few years and simply nails its targets. The trailer does a good job of selling it, and hits on the right parts of the movie. If you are intrigued by the trailer, I can't see how you're not going to love the full product.
Return to the movie trailers page
Screenwriter: Jason Reitman (The Zero Effect)
Director: Jason Reitman (Juno)
Actors: Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man 2). David Koechner (Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby), Maria Bello (The Cooler), Robert Duvall (The Godfather), Rob Lowe (St. Elmo's Fire) and Sam Elliott (Tombstone)
Screenwriter: Jason Reitman (The Zero Effect)
Director: Jason Reitman (Juno)
Actors: Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man 2). David Koechner (Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby), Maria Bello (The Cooler), Robert Duvall (The Godfather), Rob Lowe (St. Elmo's Fire) and Sam Elliott (Tombstone)
Labels: Aaron Eckhart, David Koechner, film, JK Simmons, Maria Bello, movie trailer
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 5:00 PM
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December 11, 2008
Meet Bill (2007)
Should I see it?
No.
Aaron Eckhart gives a good performance as the titular Bill. Bill is a loser who suffers the indignity of his wife cheating on him. He also languishes at a meaningless executive job that he received working under his abrasive father-in-law. Bill meets up with lingerie saleswoman Lucy (Jessica Alba) and a wisecracking kid named The Kid (Logan Lerman). With their help, Bill has an epiphany and begins to turn his life around.
There are some good moments in this film and Eckhart is quite good in his role. The main problem with the film is the script by writer/director Melisa Wallack goes way out of its way to make Bill the biggest loser possible. It gets to the point where Wallack doesn't just set the character up as a hapless fool, she humiliates him multiple times, and beats the character down to a point where most people would probably take their own lives. If you were writing about someone you hate and wanted to paint them in the worst terms possible you'd probably still end up portraying them better than what Wallack does here. By the time she decides to have Bill turn his life around his humiliation is so complete the steps he takes to recover his dignity feel incomplete.
The movie isn't a complete loss but it is flawed. Life is too short for flawed movies. If you haven't heard of this film, you're probably best served by not learning more.
There are some good moments in this film and Eckhart is quite good in his role. The main problem with the film is the script by writer/director Melisa Wallack goes way out of its way to make Bill the biggest loser possible. It gets to the point where Wallack doesn't just set the character up as a hapless fool, she humiliates him multiple times, and beats the character down to a point where most people would probably take their own lives. If you were writing about someone you hate and wanted to paint them in the worst terms possible you'd probably still end up portraying them better than what Wallack does here. By the time she decides to have Bill turn his life around his humiliation is so complete the steps he takes to recover his dignity feel incomplete.
The movie isn't a complete loss but it is flawed. Life is too short for flawed movies. If you haven't heard of this film, you're probably best served by not learning more.
Labels: Aaron Eckhart, Elizabeth Banks, film, movie review
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 5:00 PM
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The Dark Knight (2008) *Repost*
Should I see it?
If you're a sycophantic, comic fanboy: yes.
If you like big, loud, flashy, but hollow things: yes.
If you're into well structured, good movies: no.
If you like big, loud, flashy, but hollow things: yes.
If you're into well structured, good movies: no.
Short Review: Its a movie about the fall of Harry Dent, his aspirations, his moral courage and his collapse into madness...oh yeah, Batman and The Joker fight in the background.
Disappointment. That's the word that swims through my head when I think of this film. I have disappointment over the opportunity that was missed. What should have been a tale of chaos versus order, good versus evil, winds up being a unfocused yarn that tries way too hard.
Disregard the gleeful, fanboys wetting their trunks who claim this is the best film ever. This simply is not as great as people desperately want it to be. This film has little to do with the battle between The Joker and Batman and has everything to do with Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Structurally speaking, Dent is the hero of the film and a tragic hero at that. Batman himself is a bystander in his own story. He doesn't drive or control any aspect of the narrative. His choices do not bring about the climax. These things fall to Dent, who, if this thing was written properly, would have been a supporting member until the final moments. Dent's fall from political hero to the evil Two-Face should have been saved to set up the next film. As it is, he acts as Batman's stand-in for the whole movie.
The real shame to this film comes with the handling of The Joker. First, he simply does not have enough screen time. Writer/Director Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) has to spend so much time developing Dent that he has to sacrifice displaying The Joker. The result is what appears to be a stunning performance by the late Heath Ledger is choppy and incomplete. The conflict between Batman and his eternal nemesis is well known to the audience and little development would be needed to get to the meaty parts of the story. Nolan, if he would have keep himself in check, could have given The Joker his due and allowed him to play in all of his trickster glory. Instead, Ledger's rendition feels forced at times with his jerky speech patterns and stabbing tongue. Given space to grow, Ledger's performance could have flowered into something special.
Opposite Ledger, Christian Bale's Batman seems like a faded copy of his former self. With nothing to do but watch those around him, this outing leaves the caped crusader sulking in the shadows. Reduced to little more than a gruff voiced prop.
Nolan's problem is the same one that tanked Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3. Having multiple villains, multiple stories, and multiple themes is like tying three baskets to the bottom of a hot air balloon and expecting it to fly. A story needs to have a singular point supported by related themes and represented by a lone conflict between an individual hero and villain. It would be nice if multi-arced stories worked but they don't. This is the way of the world. Nolan exhausts all his time chasing down all of his narratives. He can't move his story forward.
Beyond the multifaceted plots, Nolan weighs the film down with obtuse references to the War on Terror™. IEDs, the burning 9/11-esque wreckage, hostage videos, concerns over spying and on and on the references come. These references have a place in the film but the film is so crammed with other competing points that they aren't fully explored and only provide rude nudges to the audience. Look see, he's waffling on spying on Gotham because spying is wrong - just like when we do it. Again, the references to the War on Terror™ are perfectly fine and I don't have an issue with them if they were allowed space for explanation.
Ridiculously, Nolan has been telling the press that the political overtones to the film are essentially unintentional:
"To be honest with you, in the writing of the films we try not to be too conscious of any political parallels or any thing that we might want to include from the real world because I think the terms of the storytelling demand that you be a step removed from today's political environment." - Christopher Nolan, Director Christopher Nolan on The Dark Knight, Crave Online.com
Its fine if he wants to make these arguments, but please have the manhood to stand next to your own work. The problem here is that his War on Terror™ branch seemed wedged in and obscures the real reason for the film - to watch Batman and The Joker kick each other's back ends across Gotham.
Overall, this is a flashy movie that is good enough to entertain. The same can be said of many films. Most people will probably find it worth their while. My stance is that it could have been a thousand times better and Nolan dropped the ball. This is not a great film. Its not even a great superhero movie. Sure it is big and it is flashy, but in the end it's nothing special.
Click on Bat Mope to view the trailer
Labels: Aaron Eckhart, Batman, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, film, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, movie review, superhero
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 8:00 AM
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July 22, 2008
The Dark Knight (2008)
Should I see it?
If you're a sycophantic, comic fanboy: yes.
If you like big, loud, flashy, but hollow things: yes.
If you're into well structured, good movies: no.
If you like big, loud, flashy, but hollow things: yes.
If you're into well structured, good movies: no.
Short Review: Its a movie about the fall of Harry Dent, his aspirations, his moral courage and his collapse into madness...oh yeah, Batman and The Joker fight in the background.
Disappointment. That's the word that swims through my head when I think of this film. I have disappointment over the opportunity that was missed. What should have been a tale of chaos versus order, good versus evil, winds up being a unfocused yarn that tries way too hard.
Disregard the gleeful, fanboys wetting their trunks claiming this is the best film ever. This simply is not as great as people desperately want it to be.
Amazingly, this film has little to do with the battle between The Joker (Heath Ledger) and Batman (Christian Bale) and has everything to do with Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Structurally speaking, Dent is the hero of the film and a tragic hero at that. Batman himself is a bystander in his own story. He doesn't drive or control any aspect of the narrative. His choices do not bring about the climax. These things fall to Dent, who, if this thing was written properly, would have been a supporting member until the final moments. Dent's fall from political hero to the evil Two-Face should have been saved to set up the next film. As it is, he acts as Batman's stand-in for the whole movie.
The real shame comes with the handling of The Joker. First, he simply does not have enough screen time. Writer/Director Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins) has to spend so much time developing Dent that he has to sacrifice displaying The Joker. The result is the acclaimed performance by the late Heath Ledger is choppy and incomplete. The conflict between Batman and his eternal nemesis is well known to the audience and little development would be needed to get to the meaty parts of the story. Nolan, if he would have keep himself in check, could have given The Joker his due and allowed him to revel in his trickster glory. Instead, Ledger's rendition feels forced at times with his jerky speech patterns and stabbing tongue.
Opposite Ledger, Christian Bale's Batman seems like a faded copy of his former self. With nothing to do but watch those around him, this outing leaves the caped crusader sulking in the shadows. Reduced to little more than a gruff voiced prop.
Nolan's problem is the same one that tanked Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 3. Having multiple villains, multiple stories, and multiple themes is like tying three baskets to the bottom of a hot air balloon and expecting it to fly. A story needs to have a singular point supported by related themes and represented by a lone conflict between an individual hero and villain. It would be nice if multi-arced stories worked, but they don't. This is the way of the world. Nolan exhausts all his time chasing down his narratives ans can't move his story forward.
Beyond the multifaceted plots, Nolan weighs the film down with obtuse references to the War on Terror™. IEDs, the burning 9/11-esque wreckage, hostage videos, concerns over spying and on and on the references come. These references have a place in the film but the film is so crammed with other competing points that they aren't fully explored and only provide rude nudges to the audience.
Ridiculously, Nolan has been telling the press that the political overtones to the film are essentially unintentional:
"To be honest with you, in the writing of the films we try not to be too conscious of any political parallels or any thing that we might want to include from the real world because I think the terms of the storytelling demand that you be a step removed from today's political environment." - Christopher Nolan, Director Christopher Nolan on The Dark Knight, Crave Online.com
It's fine if he wants to make these arguments, but please have the manhood to stand next to your own work. The problem here is that his War on Terror™ branch is wedged in and obscures the real reason for the film - to watch Batman and The Joker kick each other's back-ends across Gotham.
Overall, this is a flashy movie that is good enough to entertain. The same can be said of many films. Most people will probably find it worth their while. My stance is that it could have been a thousand times better and Nolan dropped the ball. This is not a great film. It is not even a great superhero movie. Sure it is big and it is flashy, but in the end it's nothing special.
Click on Bat Mope to view the trailer
Click here to buy your copy of
You Are What You See and learn
to change the world from your couch
Labels: Aaron Eckhart, Batman, Christian Bale, Christopher Nolan, film, Gary Oldman, Heath Ledger, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, movie review, superhero
posted by Michelle Obama's Left Nut at 8:30 PM
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