Back to the Week in Film!

This week we hit the rental shop for another round of entertainment.  Here's the lineup:  The Cat in the Hat (cartoon), Barbie:  Fairytopia, The Mask, Hot Fuzz, and The New World.

Let's start with the presumably delightful Cat in the Hat (animated version).  This one quickly brought me to the point I would've expected to be at while watching the live-action Mike Myers version.  That is to say, disappointed, and praying for the end credits.  It had the Dr. Seuss animated characters, and the basic storyline, but done in an entirely annoying way, complete with highly annoying songs that were simple and practically ground into dust before they relented and moved on.  The kids were ok with it but not excited...maybe if they were much younger it would've been more enjoyable for them.

I had the good fortune to work through Barbie: Fairytopia, and am still amazed at the number of people who actually work on that line of films.  Our 6-year-old daughter of course loved it.

The Mask is great for a first viewing (and assuming you like Jim Carrey films).  The second viewing I did get a chuckle out of a handful of the jokes, but this really isn't a multiple-view movie in my opinion.  I'd certainly recommend renting it when you're in a silly mood, as it is quite funny, but wait on buying it until you give it a thorough assessment.  The story revolves around Jim Carrey's mild-mannered bank employee stumbling across a mask that, when worn, seriously amplifies his innermost desires and gives him abilities heretofore confined to cartoons.  All of this, of course, with zany results.

Film as art is highly subjective.  The New World is film posing as art.  It's visually beautiful.  The story, by itself, is beautiful.  The music, by itself, is beautiful.  The way in which it was all put together was a lot more hit and miss.  It's the story, reasonably accurately told, about John Smith, Pocahontas, and some other guy.  There is the establishment of Jamestown, ships coming and going from England, friendly and violent contact with the Native Americans, etc.  Where I had problems with it were the loud musical score paired with low near-mumbling speaking from the characters.  Also of issue were scenes where the settlers are bartering with natives, no, wait, they're fighting with them, no, hang on a second, they're bartering again, no, wait...  It almost felt like they accidentally spliced the film the wrong way and flip-flopped some parts of some of the scenes.  This was presumably intentional, and therefore I assume it was supposed to feel artsy or something.  What I felt like it actually did was to keep me from getting immersed in the story.  I kept getting yanked back out to scratch my head and wonder what they were thinking.  My recommendation, if you go in with low enough expectations, it's an interesting movie.

This brings us to Hot Fuzz, our gem of the week.  This one's the story of a seriously over-achieving cop in London's elite police division.  How good is he?  So good he gets transferred to the safest little dinky community in all of England because, well, he's making the rest of the London unit look bad, and frankly, they just can't have that.  But then shortly after his arrival, questions about the safety of this little town start to surface.  The humor here is unmistakably British, and it's very well written and performed.  It was hilarious and just plain good.  This one's a must-see!

Funny stuff from the Evil Empire

Microsoft is releasing a new ad campaign where we watch the many misadventures of Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates attempting to get "back in touch" with regular people.  Windows lovers will probably be yelling a collective "In your face, Mac!", and the Mac folks will probably adopt a smug "our ads are still better than yours" posture.

For my part, I'm indifferent to this whole "my system's the bestest ever and yours sucks" line of thought.  Microsoft catches flack because they're the dominant player.  If you reversed their respective market shares and reach, everybody would be bitching about Apple and talking about how crappy their OS is, and how Microsoft, this small niche player really has it going on.  Same for Linux.  If most people on the planet were running Linux at home, we'd undoubtedly see more cracks showing, more efforts made by the malevolent of mind to wreak havoc in that space.  In the end, I just want to be able to get my stuff done effectively with minimal disruption and good compatibility with everyone else, and frankly, I don't care what I'm using so long as it's reliable and stays out of the way, and doesn't require multiple years of sys admin experience to run properly.  So, quick recap:  Windows has problems, and, guess what, so does OS X, and yes, Linux too.  Work to improve them, don't tell me how, in spite of your favorite's problems, that it's still better than the others...I don't care.  

On with the show!  The ads are funny.  They're reminiscent of Seinfeld's American Express ads, or very short episodes of his show.  They're not heavy-handed in the marketing either, which is nice.  Part of the schtick, judging from the first two installments, is Seinfeld, toward the end, asking for some ridiculous feature in future Microsoft software, and asking Gates to acknowledge this with some odd behavior (say, doing the robot).  As for the message, it's supposed to be about connecting people, and we're supposed to say "Gosh, I can do that best with Microsoft products."  I really don't know if that's what comes across or not, but they're entertaining at least.

Ad #1:

Ad #2:

Identity

First, a quick note on one of the things I like about NZ television.  They'll routinely play a wide array of movies (kids, dramas, action, etc.), and, they're largely unedited.  People never say "Aww shucks!" while their mouths are muttering something different, and, for better or worse, it's great!

On with the show...

Identity has a good cast with John Cusack, Ray Liota, Amanda Peet, and Alfred Molina (among others).  It's a pretty well done thriller with a nice plot twist toward the end.  It borders on horror...but I'd say it doesn't quite cross that line.  People do die, there are tense moments, and there is a bit of blood, but not to the extent of most of the horror genre.  

The plot is roughly this.  During a rainstorm in a fairly desolate Nevada location, a small group of independent people end up at a small motel/cafe/gas station, and roads are washed out and/or flooded in every direction.  The people are from geographically disparate locations and from all walks of life, but is that really the case, or do they in fact share something in common?  While this is puzzled over, people start dying, and it becomes apparent very quickly that there is a method behind the madness.

Overall, it was a good thriller and it was nice to catch it.  If you like a good thriller, I'd recommend giving it a watch.

The week in film: Part Trois!

The third installment of what has roared out of the box as a feature du jour on this blog gives us another handful of flicks, some of which you may have even heard of!

This week's lineup brings us these choice bits: Brother Bear 2, Garden State, Out of the Blue, The Station Agent, and House of Sand and Fog.

Brother Bear 2 leads us off with a story that, in the tradition of hastily made Disney sequels is both unmoving and forgettable, or rather, it would be if the adults in the room could stay awake to watch it. Generally speaking, if I'm watching an awful movie, often I can find at least one plot point to cling to that makes me watch it to the end, hoping something interesting may actually happen. This is a kid's film, and as such it doesn't necessarily need such hooks for the intended audience, and I just couldn't stay awake for lack of caring. (my wife fared better, but she did also have a laptop and internet connection on her lap throughout) Your kids may very well like this movie, but I cannot promise the same for you.

I did thoroughly enjoy Garden State though. This movie, by "that guy from Scrubs," was really well done. There was a period of time initially where I had this feeling that, well, it was just a little odd or different, and it took a bit to identify why. The portrayal of the characters had a interestingly "real" feel to it that was a nice break from the more polished mannerisms of a typical Hollywood production. The story itself is pretty good. A guy comes home for his mother's funeral, and ultimately confronts some long-standing pain that he has with his father over a prior tragedy shared by Mom, Dad, and son. It's well told, well acted, and has some nice supporting characters with interesting stories of their own. It's recommended viewing.

Out of the Blue falls under the category of "films about things that happened in New Zealand that were not related to Lord of the Rings and are therefore not likely common knowledge." This category label alone, at just under 4 feet long, was what attracted us to the section, and ultimately to this movie. ;-) This flick is a true-to-life drama about the Aramoana massacre, the deadliest shooting in the history of New Zealand, leaving 13 people dead. It's well acted, and has Karl Urban (Eomer from Lord of the Rings) leading the cast. This is a difficult film to watch in the sense that it is an utterly gut wrenching event. The senseless slaughter of many innocent men, women, and children, gunned down in cold blood... It's a powerful movie for sure. One area that was left open in our opinion was any kind of background into the killer. Obviously he snapped, but there isn't much given for background (possibly simply because nobody really knows). There is fleeting reference to police checking in on him...some bad blood between him and a former long-time friend and neighbor...but any kind of obvious history that would've triggered his snap aren't really presented. Of particular interest to us with this movie was seeing scenery that we've been to, and that we live (figuratively) right around the corner from!!! There were definite moments of "hey! we've been there!" So, if you're interested in a bit of NZ's unsavory history captured in an effective and well executed film, this is a good one.

The Station Agent is another independent flick that I heard of awhile ago and, upon seeing it on the shelf, it came to the forefront and I thought hey, why not. Well, I'm glad I did. This is a really fun movie, often funny, and at times moving, about the lives of three strangers, each with their own issues and demons who, through the course of time become unlikely good friends. This one shares with Garden State that feel of dropping a camera in on normal people going about their business. It's well told and well acted all around, and just an enjoyable movie to watch.

The House of Sand and Fog is a difficult film to watch. It's extremely uncomfortable. It's a train wreck from which you can't look away. The story is well done, as is the acting. But be warned, it's a very dark drama. The setup is this...a depressed and down on her luck woman is evicted from her home due to a bureaucratic snafu, and in the resulting auction, her house is sold to an immigrant trying very hard to better his family's situation. The film starts pretty dark and the light only continues to dim as the story progresses. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then this is probably a great one to rent. If you like happy endings, perhaps steer clear.

Forklift Training for the masses

This was forwarded to me by a friend and is absolutely hilarious, though not for the faint of heart. It has blood and guts aplenty, but done with cheezy comedic sensibility, and is a graphic illustration of what not to do when operating a forklift. Oh, and it's in German, but the language barrier really isn't a problem in understanding the video!