Movie Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Drama, 129 Minutes, 2011: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close on IMDB

Let me begin by saying that both my wife and my mother loved this film.  They laughed and they cried.  They said things like “I just love that Sandra Bullock in everything” and “Tom Hanks is so talented”.  Me?  I thought it was very, very long.  Really – I swear – it was like seven hours long.  That’s not to say it was at all bad – just long.  And a little dull.

The story revolves around Oskar.  An eccentric boy who lost his father in the attacks of 9/11 and desperately needs them to make sense of his loss.  after finding a key presumably hidden by his father he embarks on a mission to find the lock that fits the key.

Thomas Horn is excellent as Oskar and obviously both Bullock and Hanks are as well (I have to agree with the ladies: they’re both great, “All About Steve” [IMDB] notwithstanding).  One issue is that most of the actual acting is done in the extensive, pervasive and unrelenting narration (plus many of the conversations are essentially one-sided and seem like narration).

As I watched this – and I did enjoy it well enough overall - I couldn’t help but think that it was just unable to really make the story work as a film.  I kept thinking “this must be a really good book.”  Maybe if I read it I’ll like the movie more.

Movie Review: The Muppets

Family, 103 Minutes, 2011: The Muppets on IMDB

Who doesn’t love “The Muppets”?  Big, dumb, jerk-faced idiots – that’s who!  Jason Segel loved the muppets so much that he spent the better part of the last 10 years writing this movie.  More than that he made it about my muppets (and maybe yours too): The Muppet Show muppets.

While everybody loves all the muppets there’s something even more deeply special about The Muppet Show.  While the number of “Sesame Street” clones number in the hundreds and the fantastic Creature Shop has been marginalized by CGI The Muppet Show remains a paradoxical classic: a completely irony-free prime-time puppet show.

Read more of this post

Movie Review: Outlander

Sci-fi, 114 Minutes, 2008: Outlander on IMDB

A friend of mine suggested this one and I have no idea how I missed it.  Apparently it was in theaters and everything!  Good actors and a significant budget carry it a long way.  Some interesting ideas carry it further but a few unfortunate missteps keep it from real greatness.

The story revolves around Kainan (Jim Caviezel), a soldier unwittingly transporting the last of the Moorwen, huge luminescent predators responsible for (perhaps justifiably) destroying his colony and family.  When the stowaway attacks and causes his ship to crash onto a backwater planet and sink beneath a lake he finds himself in 8th century Norway with little gear and no allies.  After some misunderstandings and significant bloodshed he convinces the local feuding clans, led by John Hurt and Ron Perlman to work together and hunt the creature.

Read more of this post

Star Wars Day!

A New Hope on IMDB

The Empire Strikes Back on IMDB

Return of the Jedi on IMDB

There are few bonding experiences more important to geek dads than sharing the original trilogy with their children.  As this is the first Star Wars Day in several years that falls on a non-School Day (and the men-folk happen to be alone all evening) we’re making a full day of it: friends, all three films, popcorn and pizza.

Since we’re still waiting for George Lucas to pull his head out of his ass (or suffocate up there and let somebody else run things) and release the theatrical versions on Blu-Ray we’re watching the DVD versions.  I’m not quite as rabid as some about the special editions but they do deserve at least a measure of the derision they get.

Read more of this post

Movie Review: Hugo

Family, 126 Minutes, 2011: Hugo on IMDB

It’s sometimes hard to review universally acclaimed films.  There’s a temptation to run counter to the pack and find flaw (anything everybody likes can’t really be good can it?)  Sometimes you just have to admit it though: the pack has its moments.  This is something special.

Firstly (and perhaps least importantly) it’s a deeply beautiful film.  Scorsese is known for making beautiful films (and for finding beauty in ugly places) but he completely outdoes himself here.  The world is wonderfully layered and scales wonderfully throughout.  The miniature mechanisms of the automaton are mirrored in the enormous gears and pinions of the clock-tower.   The open-spaces of the station floor are balanced by the claustrophobic steam tunnels.  The attention to detail is lavish.

Read more of this post

Trilogy Day 2012: The Peter Jackson Treatment

Read more of this post

Trilogy Day 2012: Lord of the Rings

My wife and daughter are away overnight so my son and I decided to have a long-delayed Trilogy day.  Which was his decision (Star Wars, The Matrix or Lord of the Rings) and he decided on Lord of the Rings (the extended editions, of course).  We started late which means we won’t finish until after 3am, but there’s no school tomorrow and there’s always time for bonding, right?

Read more of this post