Basically, crazy North Korean terrorists attack and take over the White House. What. This movie makes the whole task look easy. There’s surely a lot of unseen details in the logistics of actually taking over the White House, but let’s just suspend our disbelief, ok?
Emperor is a solid film based on the true story of the reconstruction of Japan after World War 2. The movie is directed by Peter Webber and stars Matthew Fox and Tommy Lee Jones. Fox plays General Bonner Fellers, who was assigned by General MacArthur to covertly investigate the Emperor’s fate while the future of Japan hung in the balance. Fox has to determine if the Emperor should be punished for war crimes or saved. Fellers and MacArthur are in the tough spot of the world wanting the Emperor’s head and the Japanese looking at him as a living God. This is the story of the film.
Was it time for a parody of Vegas magicians? Is it too predictable to do so? I don’t know, but here it is. Regardless of which side of that argument you happen to be on, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone is actually funny enough to be worth a look. For much of that, you can thank Jim Carrey. Turns out, he’s still pretty hilarious when he wants to be.
You know how you’re watching Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and you see that there are 42 cars in the parking lot and then you realize that this movie is actually an allegory for the Holocaust? No? Well, my friend, then have I got the movie for you.
Ok, I figure it’s better late than never, but let’s have a look at the Oscars for this year. Frankly, I find myself more interested in the choice of hosts than the actual awards. There seems to be so few surprises in the winners anymore that I kind of enjoy the dubious host selections. And this year, Seth MacFarlane was this years lab rat.
Man, I saw the trailers for this and thought it looked really good. It seemed all moody and intense. And for the most part, it’s exactly that. And then the final act comes along and suddenly it’s like a Die Hard movie. Yeah, it’s a little jarring to say the least. Unfortunately, it keeps Dead Man Down from being a really good film.
You’d think by the ubiquitous TV ads for this film that it was going to be a real toss-up as to whether it would be any good. It felt like they were trying too hard to get you to see it. And there’s clearly a LOT of green screen and there could be a lot of that disconnected “watching a video game” type of stuff going on. Fortunately, though, Jack the Giant Slayer managed to avoid that by giving some of the giants more personality than just grunting adversaries.
Turner Classic Movies has recently restored the concert film/documentary Elvis: That’s the Way It Is, adding “lost” footage, and re-cutting the entire film. The new (2007) two-disc set includes the original DVD release augmented with the new, superior version and a few extras.
Reverb Junkies is a documentary about surf music that’s full of interview segments with concert-goers who are less likely to yell “Freebird!” than “Reverb!” Junkies focuses on the fans of surf music rather than it’s history, but their enthusiasm keeps it interesting, and lots of history seeps in.
When I was a kid, in the days before movie rentals and the internet, you got one chance a year to see The Wizard Of Oz, and if you had any sense at all, you took it. Year after year, I kept watching the film, figuring that when I stopped enjoying it, I would officially have become a grown up. By that measure, I still haven’t, despite possessing crippling credit card debt, which is usually what separates the men from the boys.