The Losers

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Movie: The Losers (2010)

Studio : Warner Bros.

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 98 min

Website : the-losers.com

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Based on a comic of the same name, this film is an old-fashioned action movie with tough guys, guns, chicks, and explosions. The plot has the main characters, The Losers, traveling from place to place, working together, carrying out various missions, exchanging witty banter, while trying to find and destroy the ever-so-elusive Max, a ruthless boss who is very well-protected.

Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) directs this action flick with lots of confidence, zooms, action still shots, and various editing tricks, which, thankfully, weren’t too distracting. The typical action movie plot had occasional fun twists.

The characters and their relationship dynamics truly make this film shine. They have great chemistry. Jeffery Dean Morgan (who played The Comedian in The Watchmen) is charismatic as the decisive, yet flawed leader of the group. Zoe Saldana brings a lot of feminine charm and spunk as Aisha. The banter between the characters brings a lot of humor and life to much of the film.

Jason Patric is particularly great to watch on screen as the bad guy, Max, an evil genius with the best lines, just short from being completely insane. He is often surrounded by women. He kills and gets people killed for small things. Of course, he may not be realistic, but is a great cinematic bad guy.

There are occasional missteps here and there. A fight scene between Clay and Aisha appear to make little sense in regards to plot (but hey, it looks cool). Also, while the stunt work and real-life action scenes look good, whenever there is CG, it looks out of place, and in some cases, took me out of the film. Now, given its comic book origins, I have forgiven a lot worse in other films that were also made from comics.

This film reminded me a bit of the 2003’s Italian Job, in terms of flavor. Overall, this film, padded with humor, action, and fun characters, was made purely to entertain, and the filmmakers have certainly accomplished that mission.

-”D-Art” Kang

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Kung Fu Hustle

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Movie: Kung Fu Hustle (2005)

Studio : Sony Pictures Classics

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 117 min

Website : kungfuhustle.com

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

“Kung Fu Hustle” is the brain-child of Stephen Chow, a Chinese film maker who combines both his knowledge of American and East Asian film making. Though probably classified as a comedy, it should be equally a fantasy and martial arts woman.

As with every film, the opening image is the most important one in a film, the second-most being the ending. Instead of going straight into the story and introducing the main characters, the villains are first introduced. They are the third group seen, the first being the city’s police, who are being beaten by the leader of the “Crocodile Gang”, a tough group of gangsters who have the police in their pocket. “The Axe Gang” approaches them in the street and a fight ensues, the Crocodile gang getting the worst end of it.

The protagonist of the story isn’t even introduced until easily 12 minutes into the film. “Pig Sty Alley”, the home of the majority of the film’s action is a poor part of town run by a chauvinist and his loud-mouth, cigarette-smoking wife. These people are destitute but have great courage. The Axe Gang comes to town after Sing (Chow) and his friend attempt to steal money from one of the sty’s occupants. They attempt to call the gang members with a firecracker, which backfires, but in the end, the gang members approach and are promptly beaten back by three of the store owners.

The action sequences are incredible. As someone who prefers a realistic style of violence over movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but these sequences are for more than artistic sake, being a vehicle for both plotting and humor at the same time.
A word on the humor: there is a lot of great humor in the movie, from the physical comedy of the hair stylist who wears pants that almost have no point to dancing gangsters, and Loony Tunes inspired moments, coupled with a lot of puns as well as very subtle moments in dialogue and staging of the actors.

This is one martial arts movie that I can watch time and time again, feeling like I have missed details that make it better with each viewing. As with all his films, Chow plays a major role in the film, his comedic talents not just on the script. His performance sticks out among many great characters in the film. This is a film for anyone wanting a laugh or seeing incredibly choreographed action.

-M. Sigurd Hall

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Kick-Ass

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Movie: Kick-Ass (2010)

Studio : MARV Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 117 min

Website : kickass-themovie.com

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

I tend to make it a rule to avoid remarking on films that I am familiar with on other formats since transitions are always difficult to appreciate in both ways. The more exacting the transition can be, the more you alienate fresh audiences to the experience. Likewise, a film that tries a different approach from that format lowers the expectations of the diehard fans. Even the most praiseworthy attempts to new formats suffer from clipping of the original material to make a better—sometimes even superior–story.

While I am familiar with Millar & Romita’s Kick-Ass as a comic, my main problem is one centered on the concept itself: it fails to offer a convincing reality. Granted, this sounds preposterous since this is a superhero movie, but this was marketed from the getgo as an attempt to make a “superhero” that seemed realistic, with his own myspace persona and everything. By removing that grounded perspective, you lose the one item that perhaps made this film different from most other wide-released superhero movies out there aside from the repeated complaints about a 13 year old ninja and her Adam West-like gunman daddy.

To be fair, the changes are justifiable. Certain elements in the comic wouldn’t make for a sellable movie, and characters are better fleshed out as a result. But the problem is that it brings nothing new as a result. Even the acting comes off as relatively underwhelming outside of the ridiculously outlandish interaction between Nicholas Cage and Chloe Moretz.

It won’t impress fans too much, and for audiences unfamiliar to the comic, it’s nothing new. All the same, considering how the “real superhero” concept has been fairly well-tread with 2006 bringing us Special, 2007 offering us Kabluey, and even 2010 heading out with the hard-to-disappoint Woody Harrelson in Defendor, this is an issue best left on the comic rack. If you’re looking for Superbad meets Spiderman, then give this film a go, but considering what other action fare we can anticipate in the next few months, Kick-Ass may graze your cheeks just long enough until something better comes along.

-Donald Lee

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Greenberg

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Movie: The Secret of Kells (2009)

Studio : Les Armateurs Vivi Film Cartoon Saloon

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 75 min

Website : thesecretofkells.com

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Set in the Dark Ages of Ireland, young Brendan lives in the great walled community of Kells. He has never gone beyond those walls, for fear of Viking raiders who have been pillaging villages and monastaries as of late. When the sole survivor of the island abbey of Iona comes bearing a book of legends so beautiful in pages that it scares sinners away, Brendan finds an artistic side to him that demands to go beyond the limitations placed on him to finish the incomplete book.

The animation itself is a deceptively simple style. The characters are not so much created out of simplicity as it is to make them flow with the pace of the story. As you go further in, the art style begins to show more of its medieval roots, often framing scenes or playing as natural backgrounds seamlessly with the action. It is not unlikely to think of this movie flowing the same way your eyes do watching the patterns of a tapestry or, in this case, the illuminated script of what would become one of Ireland’s greatest treasures.

If there is anything that made me troubled at this film, it’s the unnecessary politically correct direction taken. Brendan’s other fellow brothers are a multitude of ethnicities. The ethnicity shows no real purpose for this whitewashing other than legal purposes and an accessory accent. Thankfully, these issues also don’t seem to detract too much either from the point of the tale.

Although this film is only 75 minutes, it doesn’t feel too short. It actually paces well and feels like it’s much longer at points. This is not a bad thing, as the film completes itself gracefully from start to finish without a moment of awkwardness or padding in-between. If anything, it’s a nice change of pace from the normal fare expected in terms of animation. I would not only recommend seeing this in theater, but will look forward to seeing it again shortly.

-Donald Lee

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Greenberg

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: Greenberg (2010)

Studio : Scott Rudin Productions

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 107 min

Website : here

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is the brother of Phillip Greenberg. The difference between them is that Phillip is a successful owner of a hotel chain with a healthy family with three kids and a dog in a large home in California. Roger Greenberg is a “do nothing” who lived in New York City as a carpenter with a mental breakdown who lives like an old man wishing it was twenty years ago.

Greenberg is a film about acknowledgement. Greenberg refuses to acknowledge people but wants to be acknowledged, particularly by those who had something to do with his past in California. As he attempts to find some way to bring back the things he loved in his high school days, he finds himself in a frustrating relationship with his brother’s personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig), who is almost twenty years younger than him and strangely resonates with his eccentric attitude. She is one of the only people who acknowledges and admires him, and he hates her for it as he tries to get people in his past to acknowledge him instead.

The only member of his past who is willing to be a part of his life again is Ivan (Rhys Ifans), an old band member with a son and an ex-wife that Roger refuses to acknowledge. Roger insists that Ivan leave the things that has happened to him while Roger was in New York while plotting with him on how to get back the ex-girlfriend that left him during high school so long ago.

It was difficult formulating what to say about this film. It’s awkward and clumsy at times, much like Roger. We don’t really understand him, but slowly start to see the pieces of his past that made him this way. Like Florence, we are strangely drawn to his eccentricities, and only when we see him interact and care for these new figures in life do we start to really acknowledge him.

This is definitely a film for the Wes Anderson crowd. Initially, I was even tempted to call this film another Rushmore (and, no, not in a good way). But thankfully, unlike most Wes Anderson films I’ve seen, director Noah Baumbach is generous with his clues and willing to give you some slack in order to “get it”. As you go further into the film and study the pieces, you start to acknowledge that this film really is more than you originally may have believed.

-Donald Lee

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Tau Ming Chong: The Warlords

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: The Warlords (2007)

Studio : Morgan & Chan Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 127 min

Website : warlordsthemovie.com

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Missing the chance to catch this film during New York’s Asian Film Festival, I was pleased to learn about the film’s “wider” release to theaters. While released a few years back, the task of subbing a foreign film into the U.S. combined perhaps with other unknown complications have disallowed American audiences from seeing this film locally until recently.

Although widely unknown by most Americans, the Taiping Rebellion is considered by many to be one of the most violent wars of all-time, matching World War I and some may even argue the second World War as well. I will skip the background of this time, as the movie itself actually centers less on the large scale of its history and more on a point involving three particular men. A fallen general finds solace in a poor village where he meets two bandit leaders. With his guidance, they not only do they become brothers-in-arms, but fight off the rebel insurgence. Between this, there is an affair, politicking, and quite a few gorgeous moments to drink in the scenery.

I should say that even as someone who has never been a historian of this period of time, you can still tell that this film is adulterated from its original content, although if you’re complacent with the accuracy of films like Braveheart and U-571, then you should be content with this film because, despite the nature of the film, the overall execution is brilliant. Wars are epic in scale and given a gritty feel, and while there is a martial arts feel to the film, this film attempts to ground itself a little more, give or take a duel or two.

I can honestly say I enjoyed this film and would watch it again. Granted, I am a fan of this kind of Hong Kong cinema, but even when the gloves are back on and the subterfuge plays, there is a lot to appreciate between the unspoken moments of the film, from jade-toned misty mountain ranges to gracefully filthy villages to unspoken words between vocal expressions. This is definitely a foreign blockbuster I would recommend to any fan of action films willing to do a little reading with some points of underexaggerated drama.

-Donald Lee

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The Bounty Hunter

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Movie: The Bounty Hunter(2010)

Studio : Original Film

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : bountyhunter-movie.net

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

The whole premise plays out like the classic Seinfeld-ish chain of events. Gerard Butler plays a washed out cop-turned-bounty hunter, and Jennifer Anisten plays an aspiring reporter under parole. What do the two have in common? They were married. What happens when our female protagonist’s parole is missed for a big scoop? Wackiness!

It’s hard for me to not give The Bounty Hunter a little more credit where it’s due. Why? Ideally, I would like to say that the movie producers threw a little money my way and I complied like a bobblehead on a boat, but the honest truth is that despite how cliché this film is, it’s still reasonably watchable. This movie was made with no real contention for a great script, plot, or anything, and the actors know this and you can tell they’re having fun with it as a result. Gerard is practically borderline Jim Carrey at points in his outlandishness to Anisten’s forced straight man compliance, and I have to admit that it genuinely amused me feeling the energy the two gave off with each other. The side characters, while interesting, are fairly forgettable save two roles, one played by Christine Baranski as Aniston’s overly amorous lounge singer mother and Siobhan Fallon as Butler’s crude bail bond contact. Again, both seem to be somewhat exaggerated, and I think that’s what made them so infectiously funny.

This is the sort of film I would call a “compromise” if you want to see something with your amorous other and can’t choose between the chick flick or the action film. They’re both somewhat shlocky genres in general, and while the mishmash between them aren’t totally compatible (it actually stands out more towards the action end, in my opinion), there’s still enough in this film to make it fun to watch for some harmless entertainment.

-Donald Lee

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Layer Cake

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Movie: Layer Cake

Studio : Sony

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 106 min

Website : Layer Cake Movie

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

When looking up “Layer Cake” on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, the combined, it only gained a 7.75, but the reasons given by critics were that it was the same as all the other British crime dramas that predated it, mostly notably “Snatch” and “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”. As the producer on the two movies, it isn’t surprising that one would make this comparison, but they missed the mark. The point of “Layer Cake” was to take these same ideas, where bumbling criminals can always succeed and turn them on its head.

On previous projects that Mr. Vaughn worked with Guy Richie, the characters played by Jason Statham, Tom and Turkish respectively were neither adept nor even competent. The character played by Craig is a middle man for the British drug trade with aspirations of getting out of the business, not because of morality, but because he is a business man who tires of the incompetence of those he works with. He is backed by a small group of cohorts who help him ply his trade. Because he is careful, Craig’s character tries to stay away from those who aren’t.

Unfortunately for him, in his self-stated last deal, he is given the task of selling 1,000,000 ecstasy hits which were stolen from a group of Serbian militants. The thieves are the kind that he attempts to avoid, but now has no choice but to associate with him. Having both the British drug lords and Serbian militants on either side of him, guns drawn if he decides to sell or give the drugs to anyone but them, he has to get creative.

With a stellar cast, including George Harris, Colm Meanny, Kenneth Cranham, Sienna Miller, and Michael Gambon, the film succeeds at every corner, giving only the exact amount of information needed to move the story forward. For a viewer that wants everything explained to them, this is not the film for you, but on a second watch, the film will answer most of the questions needed to truly enjoy the movie.

A last word about cinematography and soundtrack: I am not sure that I have seen many movies with many more beautiful shots which flow in and out like dancers on a stage or music that so suits the mood, from The Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” to Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get Blue Monday out of My Head” to Joe Cocker’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”, every song fits the moment of film perfectly as if they were written for this project.

Layer Cake is a must watch, and a suggested buy for film.

-M. Sigurd Hall

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The Men Who Stare at Goats

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Movie: Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Studio : BBC Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 94 min

Website : themenwhostareatgoatsmovie.com/

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Even with its somehow puzzling title, The Men Who Stare at Goats offers an impressive line-up that raises our expectations significantly. Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, George Clooney and Kevin Spacey form a high priced cast bound to please all viewers and that make us hold out for another Hollywood blockbuster on the American army. Mind you, this is not what you’re going to get (it’s much better).

Based on true events (and on Jon Ronson’s book of the same name), the film takes us on a mind-boggling adventure through the Middle East, as Bob Wilson (McGregor) digs deeper into Lyn Cassidy’s secret psychic army story. Gone to Kuwait to win back his ex-wife by impressing her with his war reporter experience (go figure!), Bob Wilson stumbles upon Lyn Cassidy, a special-op force psychic agent played by an especially tanned and crazy-eyed Clooney. Cassidy reluctantly takes him along his journey to find his mentor, Bill Django (Bridges), creator of “the New Earth Army”, a secret experimental army unit formed of psychic warriors aka “Jedi warriors” (humoristic hint at McGregor’s famous Star Wars’ role). Bob Wilson tries to learn more/make sense of the mission of these incredible super-powered soldiers by following Lyn Cassidy in his crazy adventures.

Super-powered? You may ask. Then it has to be some kind of science fiction movie, right? Or is this another “Roswell-like” situation the American people have not yet heard about? Not exactly. Weirdly enough, we do not once witness any super power display or have a tangible proof of their incredible capacities. Instead of that, we discover the power of the mind over logic, over physics and most of all over common sense. What the film succeeds to do is keep us at the edge of our seats, expecting to see the magic happen, with goofy plot twists and hilarious dialogues that make no sense whatsoever to people in their right minds. As the two men’s adventure goes from disaster to disaster, we can’t help but wonder why Ewan McGregor’s character keeps going along with this masquerade. But what we slowly realize is that this insane hippie project is maybe not that irrealistic and offers to those soldiers an ideal to follow, a place to belong to.

The magic power of The Men Who Stare at Goats resides in showing us the capacity of the human mind to believe and to defy logic with unconditional faith. Maybe this is what we need: something to believe in. No matter how crazy it may seem, we simply need something to make us keep on going. All in all, do not expect to get it, do not expect to make sense of the characters, just be prepared for a very odd hour an a half of delectable madness.

-Nolwen Cosmao

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Titan AE

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Movie: Titan AE (2000)

Studio : Twentieth Century Fox

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 95 min

Website : N/A

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Year 2000: one of the most technologically advanced animated films was released, by 20th Century Fox. Directed by Don Bluth, famous for such movies as Disney’s ANASTASIA, ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN, and THE SECRET OF NIHM, TITAN A.E. is an animated film that is littered with great talent led by Matt Damon (of TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE and EUROTRIP fame), Bill Pullman (CASPER) John Leguizamo (SPAWN), Nathan Lane (THE PRODUCERS), Janeane Garofalo (MYSTERY MEN), and Drew Barrymore (E.T.).

Though it wasn’t the first movie to explore computer animation (from memory, that honor would be TRON), it used the animation as more than just a vehicle of fancy. It served as an incredibly important piece of what makes TITAN AE the movie that it is.

With a view of the stars, the hero, Cale’s (Damon) father speaks in retrospect to his son about the reason society is in its current, restless state, mostly blamed upon the alien race, the Drej, a glowing blue, energy based race of beings which were entirely animated digitally. Because of the creation of the unexplained Titan, the Drej attacked the Earth. As the ship’s creator Cale’s father takes the Titan into orbit, leaving Cale in the arms of Tek, an alien as a godfather of sorts. Both the Titan and the ship housing Cale and Tek make it into outer space before the destruction of Earth.

Fast forward 15 years. Cale works in space salvaging junk. Because humans have no home world, humans are considered second class citizens. Cale is attacked and rescued by Korso (Pullman) who tells Cale that he is humanity’s last hope against the Drej. Cale, Korso, and crew embark in search of the Titan.

What I find the most incredible about TITAN A.E. are the details. Every time a character with any amount of hair turns, their hair moves in congruence with the rest of their action. Their clothes hang naturally on their bodies, and when Cale is injured, his wounds bleed progressively through his bandages

The one lacking part is the story. It’s too much the same as so many of its processors. There is great potential, but in the end, it doesn’t deliver.

For the majority of audiences, TITAN A.E is a watch, not a buy, but it is worth the watch, as at the very least, it’s an entertaining ride.

-M. Sigurd Hall

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Hot Tub Time Machine

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Studio : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 100 min

Website : hottubtimemachinemovie.com/

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Adam (John Cusack), Lou (Rob Corddry), and Nick (Craig Robinson) are lifelong friends who are unhappy with their lives, who along with Adam’s nephew Jacob (Clark Duke), find themselves trapped in 1986, via the hot tub time machine, as their younger selves, reliving their past and missed opportunities, with a possibility (or impossibility?) of changing their present/future.

Much of the film’s strength is the fact that it takes place in the 80’s–the funky hair, the music, the slang, and the nostalgic factor. Loosely based on Back to the Future’s time traveling plotline, it also pokes fun at Quantum Leap, and various other 80’s films. Added to that is male-bonding comedy about lovable losers reliving their pinnacle moments of their past, and to the film’s credit, those moments provide poignancy.

This is a sci-fi B-movie-style broad comedy. This film is directed by Steve Pink who wrote the screenplay for Grosse Pointe Blank and High Fidelity. I wished he had also written this film because this film could’ve used some of his sharp wit. While the film is mostly funny overall, occasional jokes do fall flat and some parts could’ve used one more draft of rewrite. Better or for worse, much of the humor (although not surprisingly) involve toilet and sexual humor, with some gratuitous drug use and nudity.

This isn’t sophisticated stuff, but this film isn’t trying to be. It’s called Hot Tub Time Machine, after all. The film works because the characters are likeable and the time travel concept is fun. John Cusack plays his usual, likeable everyman role. Lou (Rob Corddry) provides much of the extreme, wild humor. There are fun geeky references, familiar faces, and nostalgic elements for those of us who grew up in that era–the younger generation may have a hard time fully appreciating some of that. Nevertheless, the filmmakers know it’s silly stuff and they milk and revel in the concept to its fullest extent, which is all one can ask for.

-”D-Art” Kang

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The Natural (Director's Cut)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: Brooklyn’s Finest (2010)

Studio : Millenium Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 144 min

Website : N/A

Trailer :

Review:

“The Natural” was one of the first major films directed by Barry Levinson who has produced 41 projects, written 26, and directed 34, on top of acting in 9, making him one of the most prolific film makers in Hollywood 25 years later. In 1984, only his third film made was a sensation, much having to do with the movie starring Robert Redford, backed by Glenn Close, Kim Basinger, Robert Duvall, and Wilford Brimley. For Redford, this was his 51st project, which might have seems anti-climactic for the actor, having followed such projects as “The Chase” starring Marlon Brando, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “The Sting” costarring alongside Paul Newman, “The Great Gatsby”, and “A Bridge too Far”. Already 48, Redford’s acting career had seen some of its greatest successes. Despite being in the shadow of many of his greatest successes, there is the ability to say that he might not have peaked until the making of this film. Between Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB, “The Natural” didn’t make a huge impression on the public, but some of the movies with the highest production value go unseen.

Like every film, the first five minutes are key. The film opens with a young Roy Hobbs (Redford) diving for a catch in a tall, grassy field. A soft fanfare accentuates the catch. Redford immediately is shown, remembering the lessons of his youth including him witnessing the death of his father. The second most important character of the film is shown almost immediately afterward, his baseball bat, “Wonderboy” which he hand-carved from the wood of a tree struck by lightning. After boarding a train, he is elicited the challenge to pitch to a character that can only be Babe Ruth. In three pitches, he strikes “Whammer” out. Though he is on the train to become the newest member of professional baseball, Hobbs makes it no further than the train, being shot by a silver bullet from an assassin’s gun. The story is based on the novel written by Bernard Malamud who fictionalized the career of Philadelphia Phillies’ Eddie Waitkus, who was shot by an obsessed fan.

The film is well written, with a style that sounds truly natural (forgive the pun) coming from each of the of the incredible performer’s mouths coupled with the direction of Levinson and the script by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry.
The film’s lighting is incredibly positioned, with soft key lights and orange filters which gives the movie a warm, summer-like feel which is fitting of a baseball movie. Because of this, the primary colors are warm tones, including the New York Knights’ accentuating red on their uniforms. The warm tones also help to create an old feel, as Wilkus’ and subsequently, Hobbs career was primarily in the 1930s.

The color red is almost in every shot of the film, from the roses during his first dinner in a hotel, which foreshadows Hobb’s passionate relationship with the girlfriend (Basinger) of one of the other baseball players (Madsen). Because of the filters, the blue is do dark that in many shots, it looks little more than a deep purple or even black. At moments in the film, only natural light is used, coupled with dark silhouettes, giving the look of inspiration coming from filme noir that was popular during the era, which helps to give authenticity to the project. During the time that they play early on, the filters are changed to a blue, reflecting the feeling of depression and frustration by all of the characters, despondent over the fact that they have been on a severely losing streak. One pitch is sent to him, which passes him without a swing. His second pitch is accentuated with a lightning bolt as his bat connects with the ball, knocking the leather from the insides. Immediately afterward the warm filters are back, the news reporters already.

There are many points of humor, which are only moments here or there, grouped together, including the 7th inning stretch speeches which liken losing to a disease.

I won’t ruin the last 2/3 of the film. What I can say is that it definitely is worth the watch, having a runtime of almost 2 ½ hours. Not only is this probably Redford’s greatest film, it is also one of the greatest films ever made, with a story that ends naturally, neither happily nor sad, but with great closure to a great story. If you haven’t seen this film, or if it’s been years, it would behoove you to change the habit, pick it up from the rental store or put it in the queue of your Netflix account. You won’t be disappointed.

-M. Sigurd Hall

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Brooklyn’s Finest

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Movie: Brooklyn’s Finest (2010)

Studio : Millenium Films

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 132 min

Website : brooklynsfinestthemovie.com

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

I’m currently teaching a class in introductory literature, during which students are required to read one play. This semester, that play will be Oedipus Rex. As I’ve been rereading the play and attempting to tie it into my lessons on Greek tragedy, I couldn’t help but think of Brooklyn’s Finest, which stars three characters who could easily be tragic heroes in a Greek drama.

The first is Tango (Don Cheadle), a narc who’s been undercover for so long that he’s become confused about where his loyalties lie, particularly to Caz (a returning Wesley Snipes), a drug dealer who apparently saved him during a prison riot when he did an undercover stint there. Eddie (Richard Gere) is a burnt-out patrolman with seven days left before retirement. We first see him when he wakes himself up by chugging some whiskey and pointing a revolver into his mouth. Ethan Hawke is Sal, a detective with a wife and family that’s too big to support, with a set of twins on the way. In desperation, he’s taken to robbing drug dealers.

The movie intercuts these three stories, as we’re meant to see the hardships that real New York City cops endure: it’s the antidote to the fake buddy cop picture. We see Tango’s frustration appear to drift into borderline madness as he keeps being promised Detective First Grade by his supervisor (Will Patton) and threatened by a slimy agent (Ellen Barkin) if he doesn’t bust Caz. Eddie’s being asked to mentor rookie cops by taking them into the high-crime Brooklyn streets that have worn him down. His “retirement ceremony” brings some dark humor, all the more because it’s so sad. Sal’s wife (Lili Taylor) has to go to the hospital because of mold on the ceiling, which is threatening the health of her unborn twins. “Can you move to a bigger house?” the doctor asks. If only he knew…

The pacing here is excellent. Antoine Fuqua, the director of Training Day, does a great job at moving back and forth between these three stories, never dwelling on one for too long but allowing us enough time to get to know each character. The only downside was I had a hard time sympathizing with Hawke’s character, who seems to have put himself in his predicament of “too many kids.” My reasons will make me sound inhuman, so I’ll stop there.

The cinematography is fitting to the story as well. We don’t see overhead shots of the Brooklyn Bridge with the Manhattan skyline in the background, like most New York-set movies. Shots are limited to the streets, because this is the world occupied by these cops. The romance of New York is lost by most people who live there, but these guys appear to see it as a crime-ridden hellhole. With the exception of a shot of a subway station and the Brooklyn accents (well-done by both Gere and Hawke), this could really take place in any city.

One of my favorite movies is Requiem for a Dream, based on the Hubert Selby book. I hadn’t seen his name on any of the previews, but I wondered for a bit if the screenplay had been adapted from one of his novels. Brooklyn served as a fitting backdrop for his stories, all of which focused on multiple characters suffering from their own faults, and ultimately, succumbing to the consequences to follow. Michael C. Martin and Brad Caleb Kane, the screenwriters, certainly seem to have been inspired. It’s well-written and well-made. Not as good as Training Day, but worth the trip to the theater.

-Craig Wynne

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Alice in Wonderland

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Movie: Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Studio : Paramount Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 108 min

Website : aliceinwonderland

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Roger Ebert was the person who got me started reviewing movies for my middle school newspaper. In preparing for my reviews, I usually read his, and he came to an epiphany about Alice in Wonderland: Lewis Carroll didn’t write it for children. As I watched the film, I reflected back to when I was six years old, when I first saw the film. I remembered being completely confused throughout the film and somewhat frightened when Alice was being chased by the Queen and her mob of cards (I also thought back to why my friends and I were so fascinated by it during college). As I write this review, I realize Tim Burton was the perfect candidate to direct this version, which plays like a tripped-out nightmare (which Carroll’s story essentially is).

This version starts off with little Alice having just returned from Wonderland, being comforted by her father. We quickly cut to Alice at age 19 (likably played by Mia Wasikowska), who is about to enter an arranged marriage with Hamish Ascot, a total doofus (Leo Bill). Rightfully afraid of the monotonous life that awaits her, she flees in the middle of the ceremony and chases another white rabbit down a hole. Two seconds later, she’s back in Underland and off on a new adventure.

The visual elements here are amazing, as is characteristic of Burton. Bonham Carter has (literally) taken on a swelled head for the role of the vengeful, jealous Red Queen, and Tweedledee and Tweedledum are complete grotesques. Burton also gives this world a very dark-looking tone, which is actually even more fitting for the story than the generally pleasant-looking one of the 1951 animated version.

Burton mainstay Tim Burton gives the Mad Hatter (who turns out to be an instrumental ally in Alice’s quest) a third dimension. The story, while slow in spots, picks up when Alice is thrust into a war between the Red Queen and her sister, the benevolent White Queen (Anne Hathaway). There’s also one memorable exchange between Carter and Hathaway that allows us to peer into the mind of the evil Red Queen and infer how she came to be the creature that she is.

I enjoyed the movie, but I’ll warn parents of very young children that this is only for ages 8 and up. A very young child left the theater with his mother, in tears at one of the more violent sequences. However, in a few years, the kid probably will be enthralled by it, as will the parents.

-Craig Wynne

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Shutter Island

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Movie: Shutter Island (2010)

Studio : Paramount Pictures

Info : Click Here

Runtime : 138 min

Website : shutterisland.com

Trailer :

Click here to view the embedded video.

Review:

Having been a huge fan of such classic Martin Scorsese films like The Departed, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull, I had been anticipating the release of Shutter Island ever since I saw the first preview. And I’m glad I got the opportunity to see it.

Set in 1954, the movie starts Scorsese regular Leonardo DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal who’s been sent to Ashcliffe, a hospital for the criminally insane, to investigate the disappearance of a patient who drowned her children. Accompanying him is fellow Marshal Chuck Aule (played by a characteristically muted Mark Ruffalo).

The hospital is located on an island just off the coast of Massachusetts, and we open as Daniels and Aule are introduced to each other on the ferry ride in, but there’s something about the gray skies and rough waters on their journey that give ominous hints of things to come.

We meet Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley) and Dr. Naehring (Max von Sydow), who carry a friendly guise, but appear to have something more sinister lurking beneath. They’re reluctant to offer information to the lawmen on their investigation, so DiCaprio does some snooping around on his own.

DiCaprio digs into his character well, as he shows a man troubled by his experiences in World War II along with the recent death of his wife. As he spends more time on the island, he begins to undergo hallucinations starring his wife, and there are hints that he could just become one of the patients.

The first half of the movie appears to be a hyped-up whodunit, and an excellent one at that. Scorsese appears to layer the investigation piece by piece, as DiCaprio and Ruffalo meet with a wide assortment of characters on the island that seem to lead them towards something more complex than the case of an escaped murderess.

For this part, the hallucinations, while necessary in establishing DiCaprio’s character, seemed to be overdone and were somewhat distracting from the actual case itself. However, this being a Scorsese film, there are a few surprises, and I can’t write too much more about it without giving away a twist that I half-predicted. However, it did end up surprising me and had me thinking the next day.

The movie is visually impressive as well. A hurricane approaches, and there are a couple tautly filmed sequences starring a lighthouse at the edge of the island, as well as some harrowingly tight cliffs and high-splashing waves that echo of Cape Fear. This movie proves once again why Scorsese is the legend that he is.

-Craig Wynne

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