Thursday, September 20, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
SHOOT 'EM UP and ROCKET SCIENCE
In an effort to try not to think of the pure awesomeness happening right now at the Toronto Film Festival (they’re basically screening all the films I want to see this fall…this happens every year…for this reason, I’m always a little bitter at the beginning of September), here are some catch-up reviews. I should mention that lack of a review aside, Superbad is one of the best movies I've seen all year.
SHOOT ‘EM UP
As with any profession, or at least a hobby you want to be really good at, I have a lot to work on when it comes to writing about film. One significant advantage I could give myself is to stop looking at anything that’s released about the film prior to its release (trailers, mostly). Another is to at least eliminate from my brain all expectations I had going into a film. Because going into Shoot 'Em Up, I was expecting something just insane. Maybe the best action movie ever. At least top five. And I heard a LOT of comparisons to Looney Tunes, of which I’m a massive fan and hold in high artistic esteem. Well…none of that’s true. It is a silly movie. It’s silly as hell. And a lot of fun. But for a movie called Shoot 'Em Up, there are way too many parts where people aren’t shooting each other, and its characters and plot aren’t nearly strong enough to fill these voids. And there are a lot of very, very failed attempts at humor. Action movie fans will appreciate the use (and subsequent table-turning) of clichés – the one-liners, the love interest, the idea that some sort of moral ideal can be used as a reason to kill dozens, maybe hundreds, of people. But for my money, the insane, ridiculous, hilarious action movie was done twice in the last year, and better – Smokin' Aces in January, and Crank in September ’06. And Domino the year before that. And the only recent film that deserves to be in the same breath as LOONEY TUNES is KUNG FU HUSTLE.
But one thing Shoot 'Em Up has that none of those others do is that classy bastard, Clive Owen. My dad, for YEARS, complained about the lack of real MEN in cinema, and rightfully so. Even our damn action movies were filled with pretty boys! Sin City changed all that, mostly for Mickey Rourke, but you gotta give it up for Clive. And he brings that same level of badass to this film. But unfortunately, the film wasn't as badass as him. There just weren’t nearly enough moments that had me on the edge of my seat (the car chase and skydiving shootout are the two major exceptions), largely because the only kinds of action in this movie are gunfights, and that just doesn’t hold. I LOVE gun fights, but they don’t sustain a movie. At some point, someone’s going to have to go all fisticuffs.
So this is a solid middle-of-the-road film for me. I’d like to blame expectations, but my massive expectations have been shattered before, so it can’t just be that. Still, if you’re sitting around your house/dorm/apartment sometime in a few months and are in the mood for what a film called Shoot 'Em Up would deliver, I definitely recommend making the trek to the video store.
ROCKET SCIENCE
“There's a new indie comedy about high school coming out this weekend that I will not be seeing this weekend (too much glory), but will be seeing next week if anyone else wants to come. It's called Rocket Science. And even though this increasing trend of quirky, indie movies about teenagers that are all ripping off the vastly-superior Rushmore kind of annoys me, I can't deny that I enjoy the ones I see.”
-Me; Wednesday, August 15, 2007
This is not one of those movies. There are some really inspired moments in this film – the opening prologue of the film is beautiful and poetic, but the rest of the film just can’t sustain it. Not only is this a rip-off of Rushmore, it’s a rip-off of Thumbsucker too (and really, who rips off Thumbsucker?), but without an ounce of the heart of either. There are a lot of moments constructed so that they try to elicit some sort of emotional response, but…this is where the director really shines or just falls flat. There have been so many movies made about heartbreak that, really, if you can’t construct the basics of a heartbreak scene just using what you’ve seen in other movies, time to find a different job. That isn’t the director’s problem here…his problem is that he understands all the necessary ingredients (including the indie comedy staple of having your wildly underage protagonist drink heavily…see also the unbearable The Squid and the Whale), but he puts NO emotion into it. Maybe I was just fed up at that point and there really was something going on, but as a man who has had many, many women disappoint and reject him in many, many different ways, even I couldn’t connect beyond the basic “oh yeah, that kinda blows.”
I should mention that at the start of the third act, I was so certain the film was going to redeem itself, but instead it just took a nosedive into more and more indie film clichés. I should also mention that in spite of the film’s total running time of 98 minutes, I was trying to figure out if we were actually into a fourth act, and was quite certain the film had been running for close to two hours (with still a whole act to go).
SHOOT ‘EM UP
As with any profession, or at least a hobby you want to be really good at, I have a lot to work on when it comes to writing about film. One significant advantage I could give myself is to stop looking at anything that’s released about the film prior to its release (trailers, mostly). Another is to at least eliminate from my brain all expectations I had going into a film. Because going into Shoot 'Em Up, I was expecting something just insane. Maybe the best action movie ever. At least top five. And I heard a LOT of comparisons to Looney Tunes, of which I’m a massive fan and hold in high artistic esteem. Well…none of that’s true. It is a silly movie. It’s silly as hell. And a lot of fun. But for a movie called Shoot 'Em Up, there are way too many parts where people aren’t shooting each other, and its characters and plot aren’t nearly strong enough to fill these voids. And there are a lot of very, very failed attempts at humor. Action movie fans will appreciate the use (and subsequent table-turning) of clichés – the one-liners, the love interest, the idea that some sort of moral ideal can be used as a reason to kill dozens, maybe hundreds, of people. But for my money, the insane, ridiculous, hilarious action movie was done twice in the last year, and better – Smokin' Aces in January, and Crank in September ’06. And Domino the year before that. And the only recent film that deserves to be in the same breath as LOONEY TUNES is KUNG FU HUSTLE.
But one thing Shoot 'Em Up has that none of those others do is that classy bastard, Clive Owen. My dad, for YEARS, complained about the lack of real MEN in cinema, and rightfully so. Even our damn action movies were filled with pretty boys! Sin City changed all that, mostly for Mickey Rourke, but you gotta give it up for Clive. And he brings that same level of badass to this film. But unfortunately, the film wasn't as badass as him. There just weren’t nearly enough moments that had me on the edge of my seat (the car chase and skydiving shootout are the two major exceptions), largely because the only kinds of action in this movie are gunfights, and that just doesn’t hold. I LOVE gun fights, but they don’t sustain a movie. At some point, someone’s going to have to go all fisticuffs.
So this is a solid middle-of-the-road film for me. I’d like to blame expectations, but my massive expectations have been shattered before, so it can’t just be that. Still, if you’re sitting around your house/dorm/apartment sometime in a few months and are in the mood for what a film called Shoot 'Em Up would deliver, I definitely recommend making the trek to the video store.
ROCKET SCIENCE
“There's a new indie comedy about high school coming out this weekend that I will not be seeing this weekend (too much glory), but will be seeing next week if anyone else wants to come. It's called Rocket Science. And even though this increasing trend of quirky, indie movies about teenagers that are all ripping off the vastly-superior Rushmore kind of annoys me, I can't deny that I enjoy the ones I see.”
-Me; Wednesday, August 15, 2007
This is not one of those movies. There are some really inspired moments in this film – the opening prologue of the film is beautiful and poetic, but the rest of the film just can’t sustain it. Not only is this a rip-off of Rushmore, it’s a rip-off of Thumbsucker too (and really, who rips off Thumbsucker?), but without an ounce of the heart of either. There are a lot of moments constructed so that they try to elicit some sort of emotional response, but…this is where the director really shines or just falls flat. There have been so many movies made about heartbreak that, really, if you can’t construct the basics of a heartbreak scene just using what you’ve seen in other movies, time to find a different job. That isn’t the director’s problem here…his problem is that he understands all the necessary ingredients (including the indie comedy staple of having your wildly underage protagonist drink heavily…see also the unbearable The Squid and the Whale), but he puts NO emotion into it. Maybe I was just fed up at that point and there really was something going on, but as a man who has had many, many women disappoint and reject him in many, many different ways, even I couldn’t connect beyond the basic “oh yeah, that kinda blows.”
I should mention that at the start of the third act, I was so certain the film was going to redeem itself, but instead it just took a nosedive into more and more indie film clichés. I should also mention that in spite of the film’s total running time of 98 minutes, I was trying to figure out if we were actually into a fourth act, and was quite certain the film had been running for close to two hours (with still a whole act to go).
Friday, August 24, 2007
By no means a complete list but whatever
Thursday, August 09, 2007
The Shaky Hands: Live/Self-Titled
Alright, I shoulda got some pictures sorry. The Shaky Hands were Willy Week's new band of the year, and they had a Pfork review, so they were on my periphery but I hadn't gotten a chance to hear them. So Ian, Cynda, and Doug joined me under the westward on-ramp of the Hawthorne Bridge to check them out on Sunday of PDX Pop Now!
The two guitars, two percussionists, and bassist of The Shaky Hands played a fast, rhythm-heavy five songs that seemed interchangeable in their mod-surf approach, slowed down for one weak song, and then played a Holy Jesus of a Zeppelin-fronted-by-Tom Waits doozy to kick us in the ass on our way out. The crowd was Crystal-sized and mostly dug it. Though the lead singer to audience back to lead singer banter was painful to witness. Very good, short and FREE set. Only here.
PS: We didn't stay the two hours for Blitzen Trapper like originally planned. The new venue on 3rd and Madison, Audecity or something, is pretty sweet. No Loveland, but hey.
Rating: MmGravy-mMmGravy
Anyway, I had been more than a little excited for another Portland band to hit it big and my hopes weren't quite met by a huge outpouring of originality, so I rushed home to grab their new, self-titled album (from emusic you cynics) to figure these guys out. While I waited on my irritatingly slow DSL, I loaded up the aforementioned review, and saw a pretty different take on the band. More laidback folky, apparantly. Not all their songs had enormous beats, evidently. Weren't even all plugged in. A couple flutes and violins lightly interspersed. Was this the same band?
Their Beach Boys-meets-garage earnestness was refreshing on that warm summer night, but on the source material, the songs are peeled back and show a band with legs to stand on, and a future beyond openings for mid-level indies. "The Sleepless" and "Summer's LIfe" are just perfect, in their own poppy right, and are basically Ben's Own Mixtape Fodder. "I'm Alive," "Sunburns," and "We Will Rise" are really good short happy little jams. Even the sad ones are just lightly bittersweet, and mostly hopeful. Just right for the last weeks we have. Of this summer at least.
RIYL (In decreasing order of relevance, as always): Rogue Wave, Peter and the Wolf, Fruit Bats, Johnny and the Moon, The Robot Ate Me, Danielson, M. Ward, Sufjan, feedback-less Yo La Tengo songs, The Shins, The Decemberists, Califone, The Magnetic Fields
Rating: mMmGravy
Hit me or Ian up and we'll burn you a copy.
The two guitars, two percussionists, and bassist of The Shaky Hands played a fast, rhythm-heavy five songs that seemed interchangeable in their mod-surf approach, slowed down for one weak song, and then played a Holy Jesus of a Zeppelin-fronted-by-Tom Waits doozy to kick us in the ass on our way out. The crowd was Crystal-sized and mostly dug it. Though the lead singer to audience back to lead singer banter was painful to witness. Very good, short and FREE set. Only here.
PS: We didn't stay the two hours for Blitzen Trapper like originally planned. The new venue on 3rd and Madison, Audecity or something, is pretty sweet. No Loveland, but hey.
Rating: MmGravy-mMmGravy
Anyway, I had been more than a little excited for another Portland band to hit it big and my hopes weren't quite met by a huge outpouring of originality, so I rushed home to grab their new, self-titled album (from emusic you cynics) to figure these guys out. While I waited on my irritatingly slow DSL, I loaded up the aforementioned review, and saw a pretty different take on the band. More laidback folky, apparantly. Not all their songs had enormous beats, evidently. Weren't even all plugged in. A couple flutes and violins lightly interspersed. Was this the same band?
Their Beach Boys-meets-garage earnestness was refreshing on that warm summer night, but on the source material, the songs are peeled back and show a band with legs to stand on, and a future beyond openings for mid-level indies. "The Sleepless" and "Summer's LIfe" are just perfect, in their own poppy right, and are basically Ben's Own Mixtape Fodder. "I'm Alive," "Sunburns," and "We Will Rise" are really good short happy little jams. Even the sad ones are just lightly bittersweet, and mostly hopeful. Just right for the last weeks we have. Of this summer at least.
RIYL (In decreasing order of relevance, as always): Rogue Wave, Peter and the Wolf, Fruit Bats, Johnny and the Moon, The Robot Ate Me, Danielson, M. Ward, Sufjan, feedback-less Yo La Tengo songs, The Shins, The Decemberists, Califone, The Magnetic Fields
Rating: mMmGravy
Hit me or Ian up and we'll burn you a copy.
Tuesday, August 07, 2007
Party at John's is now on Friday!
(see above)
NOW ON FRIDAY!
6:00pm-11:30pm
Friday, August 10th
We're grilling burgers, bring snacks or desserts.
Keep it Dry
Confirm here or on facebook
See you all there!
NOW ON FRIDAY!
6:00pm-11:30pm
Friday, August 10th
We're grilling burgers, bring snacks or desserts.
Keep it Dry
Confirm here or on facebook
See you all there!
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