ORIGINALLY POSTED NOVEMBER 10th, 2018I just saw The Social Network, the 2010 movie by David Fincher about Mark Zuckerberg. While not a documentary, instead being more of a biopic, the movie probes deep into the psyche of Zuckerberg, examining his life and emotions. His analytical style of speech and combativeness is on full display here, as portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg, and his slow decline as a person is almost heartbreaking to watch. For me, the best parts of the movie was the portions that examined the relationship between Eduardo (the co-founder and SFO of Facebook) and Mark, and how they become less and less of friends as the story continues, finally leading up to when Mark makes Eduardo lose his part of the company. Andrew Garfield (who would later become the worst Spiderman) does an excellent job at portraying Eduardo, and he is easily the best character in the movie.
The score in this movie is excellent as well, composed by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, a band that I know Zach really likes. The electronic score propels the movie from a decent biopic to something sad and also very memorable. The editing is also phenomenal, particularly in the scenes in which it cuts between the interrogation and the scenes in 2004, weaving music with dialogue and visuals to create a stunning experience. One thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of was the subplot involving the Winklevoss twins. It was mostly boring and forgettable while it was happening, and didn't go anywhere in the end, besides a title card at the bottom of the screen near the end that wrapped up their plot. I honestly don’t think it needed to be in the movie, and would have trimmed down the running time as well. Final thoughts? It’s a well made, interesting, and very well acted movie with some great technical elements. Worth a watch.
0 Comments
ORIGINALLY POSTED OCTOBER 28th, 2018So as you are probably well aware, I’m a big fan of the director John Carpenter. Today's movie was Big Trouble in Little China, Carpenters foray into action-fantasy. Think of it as Indiana Jones crossed with Bruce Lee kung fu movies. The movie is about Jack Burton, a clueless trucker, who must venture through the dark side of Chinatown with his friend Wang, in order to find Wang’s fiancee. The “dark side” turns out to be a wild motley of strange creatures, warlocks, and skilled martial artists.
Ironically, Jack Burton really isn't the hero of the film. Its Wang who saves the day, and in the 80s it was rare to see such a well-rounded and interesting Asian character in a lead role. Upt to this point, most asian characters were horribly racist (and played by white men) or when not played by white people, were still very stereotypical (like Long Duck Dong in 16 Candles) so Wang was a welcome surprise. But despite this good choice of character writing, is this movie good? Yeah. It’s got a very breezy and fun atmosphere, but unlike other movies like it, it has stakes, and some genuinely scary and action packed moments. But a lot of it is just forgettable. The middle of the film isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, and is still fun to watch, but some of it just feels a bit uninspired. Indeed, the reporter character is uninteresting and has no plot significance, and I would’ve been fine if she had been dropped out of the story entirely. In addition, it's at this point in the story that Jack Burton becomes a little grating, although he has his moments at this point in the story. But the 3rd act remains delightful, with several great action set pieces (literally, the set design on this movie is AMAZING) and some awesome character designs for the monsters. The best part about this movie was definitely its art direction. Like I said, the set design here is astounding, with every background having so much detail. You feel like you’re in this world with the character. You can almost taste the delicious Chinese food, smell the gross sewer water that our heroes fall into, feel the lighting sting our skin. It's rare that a movie has such good attention to detail. As I also said, the creatures here are great. Especially in the scene where the guy literally inflates and then explodes. Its amazing they accomplished that with practical effects, and the martial art and action scenes are much better than the boring and CGI filled sludge fests of Micheal Bay and Zack Snyder’s movies. Overall, I’d say Big Trouble in Little China is worth a watch. It’s not Carpenters best work, but its still worth a try for its great art direction and creativity. Originally posted December 23rd, 2018Anthology films are a bit of a mixed bag. Most of them have one good segment and the rest are forgettable or boring. Creepshow is one of the few, however, that continually hits. Creepshow is a 1982 anthology movie directed by George Romero (director of Night of the Living Dead) and written by Stephen King (my favorite author). The film’s set up is that of an old Tales From the Crypt style comic book, and the movie is set up and filmed in that manner as well. When each story begins, we see a comic book drawing, which then morphs into a live action shot. In addition, the transitions between shots are turning pages and movement from panel to panel. We also see glimpses of inside the comic books other pages, catching a glimpse of various advertisements contained within. This helped keep the movie interesting, and also elevated it from the usual horror anthology set ups. Close up shots have backgrounds that look abstract, much like in comic books.
So I’ll be going through the segments and reviewing each, giving what i like and dislike about each. Segment One: Fathers Day The opening short of this film starts it out on a good note, although the story is fairly predictable. Basically, a family is having a reunion on Fathers Day, the anniversary in which the family's patriarch was murdered by Aunt Bedelia. Of course, the Father comes back to life as a rotting, dirty corpse, the movies first special effect set piece. The design of the corpse is very well done, made by special effects master Tom Savini. The zombie looks fittingly disgusting, with worms in his eyes and caked in dirt. There's some light comedy in this scene, mostly coming from the flamboyant Richard and the very droll Sylvia, who tells the story of her father's murder in a very nondescript way. The movie is more of a horror comedy than straight horror, something which I was pleasantly surprised by. And unique for a horror comedy, the film succeeds in both being terrifying and being funny as well. And when it's not either, it's just fun. Segment Two: The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill Sement Two’s star is Stephen King himself, playing the titular Jordy Verrill. It was a bold move to cast the King himself as the only character in the segment. Jordy, after coming in contact with a meteor, begins to be covered in plants, and eventually he starts being completely overtaken by the vines and weeds. The segment is simple, and is definitely the most overtly comedic, but its good and King does a fine job as the lonesome country hick Jordy. Segment Three: Something to Tide You Over In my opinion, this is the best segment. By far the most realistic (although it still has zombies in it, of course) and the most suspenseful by far, the short takes a Hitchcockian premise and adds a little bit of the Romero flash to it. I don’t want to spoil it, but it is, in my opinion, the movies high point. Segment Four: The Crate The films most popular short, I actually liked this one the least. Don’t get me wrong, this segment is good, with some of the movies best special effects, but it doesn't have the same impact as the rest. It might be remembered because it's the longest, perhaps. The story is fairly predictable as well, but it doesn't have the humor or scares to back it up. The best part is the middle of the tale, which see’s a professor figuring out some things about the Crate Monster. The segments weakest spot comes in its rather mean spirited twist ending. I see no motivation as to Hal Holbrook’s characters terrible actions, and the segment just gets boring and repetitive near the end. Segment Five: They’re Creeping Up on You This segment concerns a racist old white dude getting murdered by filthy cockroaches. And ALL OF THEM were real, live, squirming, roaches. Somehow that makes this segment even scarier. If you have a bug phobia, this segment is not for you. But despite my aversion to creepy crawlies, I liked this segment. Its got the right amount of pure gross out and genuine scares, with some startling special effects and excellent set design. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Creepshow. If your interested in Stephen King or vintage horror, this is the movie for you. |
AuthorSome older reviews that have not been posted publicly ArchivesCategories |