Monday

Impressions before seeing it
Found it on TV and it sounded cool - one of those "guy wakes up and doesn't know how he got where he is" type movies, which I always find interesting. Plus it's Japanese.

How was it?
Monday started out just fine: our main character wakes up in a hotel room, confused and disoriented, and then he remembers being at a funeral where the guests are informed that the deceased's pacemaker is still on, so somebody (him) needs to cut him open and snip a wire to turn it off before the cremation makes the corpse explode. Wrong wire is cut, corpse explodes. That is a cool opening to a movie, and by that point I was ready to enjoy this mother.

Unfortunately that was about the only part I did enjoy. Throughout the rest of the movie, our hero has more flashbacks about what he's done and why he's in a hotel room, but that story was kind of bland rather than something a little more interesting like other movies in that style such as Saw or Unknown. And apart from that, a lot of the scenes seemed to drag on too long, which isn't always a problem in some movies and it wasn't a problem in the opening funeral scene of this one, but in the scenes following it there wasn't a reason for it because nothing new was happening that wasn't already happening five minutes ago when the scene started.
And finally, the ending left me unimpressed because it made the movie feel like one long public service announcement against guns and alcohol.

Recommendation
I think this movie is sort of like a Japanese Taxi Driver or Falling Down (which I still have yet to see, but I assume it's similar), but it didn't need to be. I really would not have guessed after seeing that cool opening that it would go in the direction it did, because it had greater potential than that. So, yeah, I was disappointed.

This Week in Television - July 19-23, 2010

The IT Crowd
Aaaaaand they topped last week's episode! I loved the idea of an episode about Roy and Moss playing hooky on the day that their boss finally shows them some recognition (sort of), and seeing George Lucas saddened at not meeting them. Also a nice throwback to an episode in the previous season when Moss tries to kiss Roy to get them out of trouble again. And it had been a while since we got jokes about Jen knowing nothing about computers, so that was cool to see again too. No complaints at all, this was probably one of the best IT Crowd episodes ever.

Zhou Yu's Train

Impressions before seeing it
I found this movie on TV and decided to watch it because it starred Tony Leung and Gong Li. However, I forgot that there are two Tony Leungs in Hong Kong cinema, and this dude wasn't the Tony I was thinking of from all the Wong Kar Wai films. Damn, now I'm stuck with the less cool Tony for two hours.

How was it?
Sometimes Zhou Yu's Train does feel like it's trying to be a Wong Kar Wai film, with it's unconventional romance story and occasional voiceovers, but it lacks the charm, and the proper Tony Leung (okay, I'll stop mentioning that now). But maybe it's not fair for me to compare film styles just because they're both Chinese.

What I want to say about this movie is that at first I had some trouble following what was going on (there was unexplained symbolism for the first half), then they offered an explanation and I understood what they were going for, then they offered some more explanations and I just got confused again. I don't have a problem with things being open to interpretation, but there's a difference between that and not making sense.

Recommendation
I think this movie had potential to be interesting and cute, but they tried too hard to be artistic and I didn't care much for the characters or the love triangle, which I'm not entirely sure actually existed due to the lack of clarity. I wanted to like it, and I didn't hate it, but I was underwhelmed.

Beowulf

Impressions before seeing it
I have read the original epic poem from which Beowulf is adapted, but I have to admit it was kind of boring. I remember a lot of lengthy scenes describing feasts and celebrations and ceremonies, but I guess the rest of it was alright. Anyway, I wanted to see the movie more for the animation than the adaptation.

How was it?
Well, the feast scenes still made the cut, but at least they were more interesting here. John Malkovich's character, while perhaps pointless to the overall story, acts as a near antagonist in these scenes, regularly trash-talking Beowulf and refusing to believe his heroic deeds. Anthony Hopkins also contributes some humour as a hedonistic old king. But the best parts are the violent action sequences in which Beowulf demonstrates what a beast he is: escaping a sea monster's jaws by tunneling through its eye with his sword, fighting Grendel in the nude to be "on equal footing with the monster" (even though it's about 20 feet tall), and half severing his own arm to allow himself enough reach to rip a dragon's heart from its chest. Note to self: never piss off Beowulf under any circumstances.

Like The Polar Express before it, Beowulf uses that incredibly detailed motion capture animation system that makes the characters look freakishly similar to the actors voicing them. Especially, in this case, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie, but I also recognized John Malkovich and Robin Wright-Penn because of the accurate depictions in them as well, and I picked out Crispin Glover as Grendel because of the voice. Anyway, the animation is gorgeous but it's one of those cases where it almost seems pointless to choose animation over live action when both would look so similar. Not pointless to me, because I am a big fan of 3D animation, but I can understand the argument.

Recommendation
From what I remember of the poem, the movie is similar more in concept than in plot details, but it's a lot more entertaining. But being an animation fan, I would probably like Beowulf a lot less if it were live action. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is still the most realistic looking animated film ever made, but this one might be a close second.

This Week in Television - July 12-16, 2010

The IT Crowd
When I heard what this week's episode was about, I have to admit it didn't sound that great at first. However I was pleasantly surprised when it ended up being the funniest episode of the season so far. This was mostly due to Roy's story about his girlfriend's parents dying under weirdly inexplicable circumstances and his frustration at not knowing the details, at one point involving a classic Close Encounters of the Third Kind reference that worked better than it should have because it was so unexpected. It was predictable that Moss's cell phone was going to fall out of his shirt pocket, but I enjoyed his predicament inside the claw game, as well as his reactions to Roy and Jen in this episode. Jen's storyline was the weakest, as the clueless translator gag has been done before, but Douglas helped make those scenes a bit better than they could have been, and the saving grace was the moment when the "virtual marathon" woman, bumped from the spotlight by Jen, is looking around helplessly as she mimes riding a bicycle.

Inception

Impressions before seeing it
The trailers looked amazing, but were a little vague on the story, but that can be a good thing because trailers sometimes ruin the best parts.

How was it?
I want this review to be spoiler free, but for anyone who wants a clearer plot synopsis (if not, skip to the next paragraph): Inception is about a group of people who work in dreams and subconsciousness, designing and building dreamworlds so that they can lure people into them and unearth their valuable secrets hidden within, but someone comes to them with a proposal to commit inception, the process of planting an idea into one's subconscious so that they believe that idea is their own. That's the simple version, but I think it's more than the trailers tell you.

This is one of those movies that is smart enough to mess with your head. Not in a way that makes it confusing or hard to follow (unless you're not paying attention, or are an idiot), just in a way that makes you do a lot of thinking. As with Shutter Island, my mind was tossing a lot of theories out there, thinking there might be a plot twist ending, but let's just say this is not Shutter Island. The trailers might bring The Matrix to mind for some, but I would say Inception is ultimately more like eXistenZ, but you could easily draw comparisons to both.

Christopher Nolan is developing a reputation for "intelligent blockbusters", and that's exactly what this is given its amazing action sequences, special effects, and cast. There is some appropriately dreamlike imagery, mixing real world settings with surreal occurrences, just like dreams tend to do, and the editing was crucial in regards to tension due to a lot of things happening simultaneously, but it all worked perfectly. I also loved the idea of the world around your sleeping body having an effect on your dream, because dreams sometimes work that way, too.

Recommendation
I have no complaints about this movie, because it's pretty much everything a good movie should be. Unless you don't like it when movies make you think, you should find it enjoyable.

This Week in Television - July 5-9, 2010

Happy Town
Wow, I was not expecting all those reveals. Nor was I expecting them to tell us the Magic Man's identity, but seeing as how the series is over I'm glad there was at least that much closure. I'm also glad to say my predictions were wrong. Happy Town has been somewhat average up until now, but this episode had all the makings of a good finale: action and suspense, some questions answered while new ones opened up, and M.C. Gainey busting into a room with two automatic machine guns raised in the air. I may not have said this before watching this episode, but I'll miss you, Happy Town.

The IT Crowd
Well, we started the season with a sub-par episode, then moved on to an awesome one, and this week's episode I'd say is middle of the road. I'm not against ridiculing Scientology - it is the most ridiculous religion in existence - but my problem with the Spaceology storyline in this episode is just that it came much too late. People have been making fun of Scientology ever since Tom Cruise put it in the spotlight, but that was years ago and the topic has cooled off by now. However, I will say that Douglas is just the kind of self-indulgent moron who would buy into a bogus religion created by someone named Beth Gaga Shaggy (another cameo from creator/writer/director Graham Linehan), so it worked in that sense. Jen's storyline was amusing, dating the nerdiest and most boring guy in a band (he basically has just one dull facial expression), as was Roy's sexual harassment trial against the masseur who kissed him on the ass, but unlike some of the better episodes, none of the arcs tied together.

The Orphanage

Impressions before seeing it
I was having a foreign movie night with friends and we rented this Spanish film produced by Pan's Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro. I'm not familiar with the rest of his work (as of today I've never seen Hellboy), but Pan's Labyrinth was a great movie.

How was it?
The Orphanage is a creepy horror mystery in the style of films like The Sixth Sense, The Others, and Hide and Seek, and I have to say off the bat that I'm not really a fan of that genre (although The Sixth Sense is a brilliant movie if you have the good fortune to see it before having the ending spoiled for you). I also want to point out that, while those three films have plot twist endings, this one doesn't, or at least not one that blows your mind.

So basically this review is going to be biased, because after doing some quick browsing it appears that most people love The Orphanage. I did not. I can't say that it was a bad movie, because clearly it was well thought out and the cinematography has the appropriate dark and creepy vibe, but not overly so. But I have to use the word "creepy" in reference to the film's intent rather than its nature, because I didn't really find it spooky or disturbing. I don't even watch a lot of horror movies, but after seeing so many of the trailers over the years, I almost feel desensitized to a lot of it, because most of those movies just rely on frightening images (like, say, the kid in this movie who wears the weird burlap mask) rather than frightening stories. The Orphanage has a house full of ghost children, but I didn't really get a sense of danger from the situation. Not even when the aforementioned masked kid locked our heroine in the bathroom. And horror is supposed to be scary, right? To be honest I found it a little slow, and the time I spent cracking jokes about it with my friends was more entertaining than the movie itself and its underwhelming climax.

Recommendation
I don't know what kind of person would enjoy this movie. Even if you get really into it, it's sort of morbid and dark, and probably not as good as the three other films I mentioned. A good surprise ending might have made it worthwhile. But I suppose if you scare easily (really easily) and/or want to wallow in your own depression, then you might be interested. I wasn't, but a lot of that is probably due to my general distaste for horror.

This Week in Television - June 28-July 2, 2010

Happy Town
Dan Farmer isn't the magic man, but clearly he knows more than he lets on. Otherwise I don't see why he would so easily believe Big Dave's unconfirmed story about the pit with the seven cages. Or maybe he simply believed it because no one else did, and that's the kind of risk taker he is. And I think that Peggy Haplin having murdered TC's mother suggests a connection to the magic man through Henley. It's suspicious that she knows what Peggy did, and that Sheriff Griffin mentions her alias/real name (Chloe) when tranced, which I still believe was somehow induced by the magic man. Bonus points for including "Magic Man" by Heart in the soundtrack for this episode, the second song so far (unless I missed more) to have "magic man" in the lyrics.

The IT Crowd
Definitely a vast improvement over last week. This felt like a proper episode again, with all of our characters getting in some good moments, except for maybe Douglas, who actually sort of played it straight for a change. I especially loved Moss's storyline with the game show and then the secret society thing that sort of turned into a Fight Club parody. The Asian guy did a hilarious job of strengthening those scenes by overly dramatizing everything. I am both relieved and satisfied, because for a moment I was worried the whole season might turn out like the premiere.

This Week in Television - June 21-25, 2010

Obviously it's July now, but I'm posting this to talk about two things. First, Happy Town has been canceled. ABC released the last two episodes online on July 1st, so I'll include them in the next two TV posts. This post is here, secondly, because the fourth season of The IT Crowd premiered in the UK on June 25th. I'll be watching it online each week since it's not airing here yet.

The IT Crowd
After my praising of the first three seasons, I have to say I was disappointed in the fourth season opener. It didn't even feel like an IT Crowd episode because the plot was bland (like the dinner party episode in season 2, another of my least favourites) and none of the jokes were anywhere near as wacky as what drew me to the show in the first place. The roleplaying game scene had potential, but then it just sort of took an emotional left turn, which again is unlike The IT Crowd to do. Hopefully it's just a misstep and future episodes will still be great.

Sex Drive

Impressions before seeing it
Wasn't really looking forward to it, because we don't need more teen sex comedy road trip movies (Wasn't a fan of Road Trip, but I did like some things about Eurotrip). Although I might've changed my mind had I seen the above poster first, because how can you not want to see a movie involving a gun-wielding donut?

How was it?
First off, I was surprised to find that some of it was actually funny. I went into this with a stereotype in mind, and while it did almost entirely fulfill that stereotype, at least I got some laughs out of it. But none of the funny parts were in any of the trailers I remember seeing (sorry, ladies, I rarely find Seth Green funny outside of Robot Chicken), which again contributed to my low expectations.

Sex Drive follows the now overused formula of some friends wanting to get laid but then falling in love at the end, which is pretty much the plot of every teen comedy since American Pie, and with the same type of awkward/embarrassing situation humour that comes with that formula, "enhanced" here with a running gag where every time someone is caught in a compromising position, it's filmed or photographed and posted on the internet. I know this is the internet age and all, but I think it's a bit of a stretch that everything automatically gets posted. And just because something is on the internet it doesn't even mean a lot of people will see it (take this blog, for example), so that one didn't work for me. I also felt like they were trying way too hard to make James Marsden's character a Stiffler clone and, subsequently, push him as the funniest part of the movie, which he wasn't.

Recommendation
It was better than I expected, but I can't recommend it unless you're a huge fan of all these teen sex comedies. On the scale I'd say it's probably better than American Pie but not as good as Harold and Kumar or even Eurotrip.