...and I don't even know what to think. They were originally going to go with an unknown, but apparently wise ass Evans came in and swooped up the part near the last minute. How will it turn out? Well, bizarre at first, but as I keep reading, a lot of people did not think the fairly comedic Michael Keaton could pull off Batman back in '89. And for all the problems the film apparently has (I still see it as a masterpiece to this very day), we all saw how that turned out. But this obviously gets him off the hook completely with Fox and the Fantastic Four, so that ridiculous reboot will clearly be taking off soon enough I'd imagine. I have faith in Evans in the role, with as little I know about Cap as I do. He steals scenes in every movie he is in, and was the only thing that made Four tolerable. But as for being the headlining act? That is what worries me.
So as you can probably guess, I have been playing a lot of God of War III. It is a much harder game than I imagined it would be (probably not helped by my playing it on Titan mode, but hey), but it is visually astounding. The amount of shit going on at any given moment in the foreground and the background is simply amazing. You rarely hear that companies are really pushing the PlayStation 3 to its graphical limits, but this game puts it in high gear from the start and has yet to ease up. I just hope the rest of the game turns out just as well. Oh, and having Kevin Sorbo play Hercules? Awesome.
So, onto the business of TV (movies will have to wait for a post tomorrow). Have a review of The Crazies on deck this week, alongside at least two others. Not as bad a movie as I thought it would be, but not especially scary.
I'm still not onto watching Parenthood yet, but hope to catch up later this week.
On Chuck, things are still very much the same. Last week's "Chuck vs. the Tic Tac" was a much better episode than tonight's "Chuck vs. the Final Exam", if only because it revealed a bit more backstory for John Casey and had a guest spot by the T-1000, Robert Patrick. While I'm still disappointed with the lack of real comedy per episode, the romance is what is really bugging me. It just feels forced, and seems to keep getting dragged up every so often to kind of offset the action. In previous seasons, it was smoldering in the background and kept coming to a head every so often. Here, it practically smacks you in the face at every given moment. I will not give up on the show, but it does make me disheartened to think that the changes they had to make to keep the show alive really seem to be more detrimental than positive.
Last week's Lost, "Recon" was boring in almost every sense. I was tired when I caught it late, but was hankering for some God of War, so I was wide awake. But somehow, I still managed to doze off for part of it. But rather amazingly, I did not miss much at all. I dug that Sawyer was a cop in his "flash-sideways", and I like that we know where his allegiance lies, but the episode just did not do anything for me at all. It was on par with the Kate-centric "What Kate Does" as the worst episode of the season. This week's is a Richard flashback episode, and is one I have been eagerly awaiting. I hope it proves to be worthwhile. Hope being the operative word.
And FlashForward finally came back last week with a surprise two-part episode. Well, surprising to me who wanted to do something last Thursday after 9 PM, but ended up watching the whole thing.
I had missed the fall finale "A561984", and just never got around to watch it. Luckily, "Revelation Zero: Part 1" and "Revelation Zero: Part 2" had plenty of flashbacks to pivotal moments in the episode. So I don't feel like I missed a whole lot. The two-parter felt just as clunky as I remember though. The writing is not as atrocious as the critics say, but the format just feels a little too much like Lost with more payoff. For every question answered per episode, it opens up tons more. But unlike Lost that took some time to introduce new characters, every episode seems to bring on at least five new characters. I know there are some behind-the-scenes problems with producers leaving, but the show is having way too much trouble finding its grounding. I fear it will be cancelled, but it will be for good reason.
It is a show with a wicked premise, some great actors in interesting roles, but it just seems to be running around hoping it will attract enough people to become the next Lost, as opposed to actually attempting to become the next Lost. For what it is worth, the reveals on who and how Suspect Zero survived the blackout and the rather bizarre notion that the FBI is now racing to stop another blackout, was quite riveting. Focusing on Dominic Monaghan's character for almost the entirety of the second half? There were some exceptions, but overall...not so much.
And I crammed and finally finished the entirety of Season 1 of Mad Men last week. Of the final five episodes ("Shoot", "Long Weekend", "Indian Summer", "Nixon vs. Kennedy" and "The Wheel"), I only really enjoyed two of them. The others? Merely okay.
"Shoot" was just an all out crazy episode that left me intrigued and riveted all at once. It made me instantly remember why I wanted to get into the show, and provided enough material to make me want to finish it. The fighting, the backstabbing, the totally clueless and completely off-the-rails Betty Draper who is pretty enough to model but nuttier than a squirrel when it comes to using a BB gun...they were all on display and the episode was just excessively entertaining. My favourite of the season, and one who's motif I hope is repeated in future episodes (with hopefully more dry wit).
"Nixon vs. Kennedy" on the other hand, was just one that helped answer questions and offer up new ones. And of course taught us that everyone at Sterling Cooper smokes, flirts and cheats on their spouse. No one appears to be safe. It gave us another fine Vincent Kartheiser performance, and finely told us the reason why Dick Whitman suddenly became Don Draper after fighting in Korea (I originally thought it was during World War II), and why he was so hesitant to just go with what his brother Adam was saying a few episodes back. Surprisingly graphic scenes in this episode too, but only because of how "wholesome" the rest of the season was. I liked how the creators balanced the Kennedy/Nixon fight with the Don/Pete fight, and how much darker the outlook is for Season 2. I'm just glad his reasoning for the name change wasn't ruined like the gamechanger for Peggy in "The Wheel". I'm glad she will have some sort of presence as a result of the clusterfuck of things that happen to her in Season 2, but only because she was one of the weaker things about the show thus far.
Overall, Season 1 of Mad Men was a bit off balance in parts, but came out swinging in others. It is a really interesting show, packed with an awesome, likeable cast. It is a bit of a slowburn though, and it did take awhile to really become invested in it (unlike other shows I picked up on DVD and instantly loved like Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm and in an addicting sense, True Blood). But I think it will pay off in the end, as long as the groove the creators found at the end, is the groove that sticks through into the next season.
And that's about up-to-date on TV. Watched "Part 1" of The Pacific, but want to reserve judgment until I watch "Part Two". More tomorrow with movies...
Monday, March 22, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
If Tarantino can do it, than so can Kratos
Destroy and re-imagine Greek mythology that is.
So with God of War III descending tomorrow, I figured this would be a good time to talk about the series to this point, minus Chains of Olympus...because I don't have a PSP to play it on, and it wasn't included in the Collection set.
So I never was interested in the series when it first came out on the PS2 back in 2005. It was on my radar, but having a full time relationship along with a full time job and a full time school career kind of put the time for PlayStation on the backburner. I still played it, but never as much as I did when I first got the system, or as much as my beloved Nintendo 64 before it. But as the word got out on God of War III, and with my new interest in playing my PlayStation 3, I figured it may be a good idea to brush up on the two now legendary games before playing the third. I was going to borrow the original PS2 versions from a friend a few months back, but Sony's brilliant idea of putting the games on one Blu-ray Disc, with updated HD graphics (for the most part) and trophies, kind of changed that plan quite rapidly.
God of War in all of its glory, is a masterpiece of action gaming. It was fun to play, it had an engaging story, and despite some rather increasingly annoying puzzles and climbing areas, it was a fantastic ride. It never really lost its momentum, and playing until odd hours of the evening were never an issue for me (unlike Bioshock, whose 4 AM playtimes were only because each level took up so much fucking time). I genuinely enjoyed almost every minute, and look forward to blasting through it for the 5 hour trophy. There was just something so inherent and easy in just dispatching enemies violently with magic and might, that it almost became addicting to keep going. It was a genuine surprise, and one that really made me wish I caught it way back when it was first released.
God of War II on the other hand, was a bit of a disappointment. Not on the lines of being a terrible game, but just not being as fun as the first game. I enjoyed playing through parts of it, but the updated mechanics, and some of the new features (like swinging around and gliding with stolen wings) were more aggravating than fun. I nearly broke my controller in some instances. The story was still there (even with its cliffhanger of an ending, that would have really pissed me off had I played it back in 2007), but it felt like a footnote more than an actual followup. The first game was so self contained that it did not really need a sequel. Here, it just feels like overkill, like Sony had a surprise hit and wanted to up the ante, but not enough to make it feel like a totally new game. More like a version 2.0 (much like Modern Warfare 2, minus the initially awesome Spec Ops missions). But like the first game, it still had a very addicting portion, and I greatly enjoyed completing it.
But having played the two games, I can say that despite their being very similar, they still hold up quite well. They really were cut of a different breed from other PS2 games, and it shows in how well they come across being played on a PS3.
With God of War III, I just hope they bring it back to the basics. I've only sparingly read the glowing reviews, and have my Ultimate Edition preordered for pickup tomorrow, but I really want the game to be as enjoyable as Part 1. It can introduce new elements, but not let them take over the game or make it feel like Sony is overdoing it with how epic the game should feel. I have faith in the game, will likely kill it before the end of next week (opening up some time for Heavy Rain), but that is my hope. Will it happen? Likely not. But if the game is still fun, without being overly complicated and aggravating like some portions of God of War II, than I will be more than impressed.
So with God of War III descending tomorrow, I figured this would be a good time to talk about the series to this point, minus Chains of Olympus...because I don't have a PSP to play it on, and it wasn't included in the Collection set.
So I never was interested in the series when it first came out on the PS2 back in 2005. It was on my radar, but having a full time relationship along with a full time job and a full time school career kind of put the time for PlayStation on the backburner. I still played it, but never as much as I did when I first got the system, or as much as my beloved Nintendo 64 before it. But as the word got out on God of War III, and with my new interest in playing my PlayStation 3, I figured it may be a good idea to brush up on the two now legendary games before playing the third. I was going to borrow the original PS2 versions from a friend a few months back, but Sony's brilliant idea of putting the games on one Blu-ray Disc, with updated HD graphics (for the most part) and trophies, kind of changed that plan quite rapidly.
God of War in all of its glory, is a masterpiece of action gaming. It was fun to play, it had an engaging story, and despite some rather increasingly annoying puzzles and climbing areas, it was a fantastic ride. It never really lost its momentum, and playing until odd hours of the evening were never an issue for me (unlike Bioshock, whose 4 AM playtimes were only because each level took up so much fucking time). I genuinely enjoyed almost every minute, and look forward to blasting through it for the 5 hour trophy. There was just something so inherent and easy in just dispatching enemies violently with magic and might, that it almost became addicting to keep going. It was a genuine surprise, and one that really made me wish I caught it way back when it was first released.
God of War II on the other hand, was a bit of a disappointment. Not on the lines of being a terrible game, but just not being as fun as the first game. I enjoyed playing through parts of it, but the updated mechanics, and some of the new features (like swinging around and gliding with stolen wings) were more aggravating than fun. I nearly broke my controller in some instances. The story was still there (even with its cliffhanger of an ending, that would have really pissed me off had I played it back in 2007), but it felt like a footnote more than an actual followup. The first game was so self contained that it did not really need a sequel. Here, it just feels like overkill, like Sony had a surprise hit and wanted to up the ante, but not enough to make it feel like a totally new game. More like a version 2.0 (much like Modern Warfare 2, minus the initially awesome Spec Ops missions). But like the first game, it still had a very addicting portion, and I greatly enjoyed completing it.
But having played the two games, I can say that despite their being very similar, they still hold up quite well. They really were cut of a different breed from other PS2 games, and it shows in how well they come across being played on a PS3.
With God of War III, I just hope they bring it back to the basics. I've only sparingly read the glowing reviews, and have my Ultimate Edition preordered for pickup tomorrow, but I really want the game to be as enjoyable as Part 1. It can introduce new elements, but not let them take over the game or make it feel like Sony is overdoing it with how epic the game should feel. I have faith in the game, will likely kill it before the end of next week (opening up some time for Heavy Rain), but that is my hope. Will it happen? Likely not. But if the game is still fun, without being overly complicated and aggravating like some portions of God of War II, than I will be more than impressed.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Who ordered the whoop ass fajitas?
So it has been a few days since my last post, which was significantly larger than most of the ones I have put up thus far. But oh well.
So let's get up to speed with what I've watched lately first off.
So I'm still watching new episodes of Chuck, despite having missed the two from before last week. This week's, entitled "Chuck Versus the Beard", was actually a fairly solid episode, and no doubt the turning point for the rest of the season. Despite directing, Zachary Levi gave us another great performance as the lead, and was complimented by Joshua Gomez as Morgan. I like that Morgan is being played up again, and after this week's episode, I'm curious to see what they are going to do with his character's arch for the rest of the series. But like I said last week, they are still going with less humour in each episode, and making them more serious. I'm not a fan of this at all, but it is not too evasive just yet. Here's hoping whatever development happens with Casey next week does not prove to make the show even less funny.
On Tuesday, I missed Parenthood, but caught Lost. "Dr. Linus" was a decent episode, if for anything to further prove how awesome Michael Emerson is at being Ben, even when he is not being the creepy, evil ruler he was first introduced as. But while the ending of the episode, much like Chuck, set up for where the rest of the season is headed, the entire episode felt much like what the rest of the middle episodes of each season of Lost felt like: filler. I understand not every underlying question will be answered before the series finale, but there is just too much to say in these last few episodes that is not being said. Everything is leading to the end game, but it just feels so nonchalant, so toying. I'm only sticking with the show right now because I want to see the ending through, but if I was new, I would have ditched it with how many games the creators are playing and how little they are doing to really make the show go somewhere.
I also caught Cop Out that night, the latest Kevin Smith film. I'll have a full review soon, but while it is not a great movie by any means, it is not as bad as people say it is and it really was a great step in the right direction for Smith as a filmmaker.
The last two days, I've been catching up on Mad Men, which I really need to hurry up and finish. While I watched "5G" last week, I refreshed myself this week and went on to watch "Babylon", "Red in the Face" and "The Hobo Code". Very interesting span of episodes, that were not as dry as the first few. Much like I assumed, the show did take awhile but has finally opened itself up. While amping up Christina Hendricks' part considerably in these past episode (as well as John Slattery's Roger), and finally giving Peggy something to do (other than continue to pine over Pete), it also started showing off more of who Don Draper is, how he lives, and the demons he has in the closet. I know Season 2 revolves around Don struggling to keep his other life secret, so I am curious to see if we will find out everything that happened before he joined the war and I imagine, changed his name, or if we will only continue to get the small helpings of backstory.
Finally, yesterday I watched Pandorum and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. I have a full length review of Boondock coming in the next few days, but I can say without any trouble that it is one of the most disappointing movies I have seen in a long time. Just an atrocious sequel in all sense of the word. I think I may have just turned it off if not for the fact that I was watching it with a large group of friends, who also happen to love the first film.
Pandorum is an interesting idea in theory, but not a very intriguing movie. It revolves around two men who wake up from hyper sleep, only to find their ship in shambles and their minds suffering from amnesia. Of course, taking a theme from many science fiction films, the earth is in trouble and the point of the voyage is to find a new place to live and colonize. Surprisingly, the film's ship includes a large group of humans that will colonize the planet should the crew land, but the evolved monsters that bear more than a passing resemblance to the creatures in Resistance 2 and Dead Space seem to want to throw a kink in that plan. The more I think about it, the more the film actually reminded me a little too much of Dead Space, except with much less religious allegories. The editing is a little all over the place in many instances, and there is much too little character development outside of a not so shocking twist at the end of the film. Like the old addage says, an interesting idea on paper but not so much on film. 6.5/10.
And that's where I am going to leave it for now. I finished God of War II, but I will have more thoughts on that next week before Part 3 comes out on Tuesday. In the mean time, I started up Brutal Legend, which is not too bad so far. Got a bizarre double header of Oldboy and Blue Velvet coming up tonight, so that should be exciting too.
So let's get up to speed with what I've watched lately first off.
So I'm still watching new episodes of Chuck, despite having missed the two from before last week. This week's, entitled "Chuck Versus the Beard", was actually a fairly solid episode, and no doubt the turning point for the rest of the season. Despite directing, Zachary Levi gave us another great performance as the lead, and was complimented by Joshua Gomez as Morgan. I like that Morgan is being played up again, and after this week's episode, I'm curious to see what they are going to do with his character's arch for the rest of the series. But like I said last week, they are still going with less humour in each episode, and making them more serious. I'm not a fan of this at all, but it is not too evasive just yet. Here's hoping whatever development happens with Casey next week does not prove to make the show even less funny.
On Tuesday, I missed Parenthood, but caught Lost. "Dr. Linus" was a decent episode, if for anything to further prove how awesome Michael Emerson is at being Ben, even when he is not being the creepy, evil ruler he was first introduced as. But while the ending of the episode, much like Chuck, set up for where the rest of the season is headed, the entire episode felt much like what the rest of the middle episodes of each season of Lost felt like: filler. I understand not every underlying question will be answered before the series finale, but there is just too much to say in these last few episodes that is not being said. Everything is leading to the end game, but it just feels so nonchalant, so toying. I'm only sticking with the show right now because I want to see the ending through, but if I was new, I would have ditched it with how many games the creators are playing and how little they are doing to really make the show go somewhere.
I also caught Cop Out that night, the latest Kevin Smith film. I'll have a full review soon, but while it is not a great movie by any means, it is not as bad as people say it is and it really was a great step in the right direction for Smith as a filmmaker.
The last two days, I've been catching up on Mad Men, which I really need to hurry up and finish. While I watched "5G" last week, I refreshed myself this week and went on to watch "Babylon", "Red in the Face" and "The Hobo Code". Very interesting span of episodes, that were not as dry as the first few. Much like I assumed, the show did take awhile but has finally opened itself up. While amping up Christina Hendricks' part considerably in these past episode (as well as John Slattery's Roger), and finally giving Peggy something to do (other than continue to pine over Pete), it also started showing off more of who Don Draper is, how he lives, and the demons he has in the closet. I know Season 2 revolves around Don struggling to keep his other life secret, so I am curious to see if we will find out everything that happened before he joined the war and I imagine, changed his name, or if we will only continue to get the small helpings of backstory.
Finally, yesterday I watched Pandorum and The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. I have a full length review of Boondock coming in the next few days, but I can say without any trouble that it is one of the most disappointing movies I have seen in a long time. Just an atrocious sequel in all sense of the word. I think I may have just turned it off if not for the fact that I was watching it with a large group of friends, who also happen to love the first film.
Pandorum is an interesting idea in theory, but not a very intriguing movie. It revolves around two men who wake up from hyper sleep, only to find their ship in shambles and their minds suffering from amnesia. Of course, taking a theme from many science fiction films, the earth is in trouble and the point of the voyage is to find a new place to live and colonize. Surprisingly, the film's ship includes a large group of humans that will colonize the planet should the crew land, but the evolved monsters that bear more than a passing resemblance to the creatures in Resistance 2 and Dead Space seem to want to throw a kink in that plan. The more I think about it, the more the film actually reminded me a little too much of Dead Space, except with much less religious allegories. The editing is a little all over the place in many instances, and there is much too little character development outside of a not so shocking twist at the end of the film. Like the old addage says, an interesting idea on paper but not so much on film. 6.5/10.
And that's where I am going to leave it for now. I finished God of War II, but I will have more thoughts on that next week before Part 3 comes out on Tuesday. In the mean time, I started up Brutal Legend, which is not too bad so far. Got a bizarre double header of Oldboy and Blue Velvet coming up tonight, so that should be exciting too.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Thoughts on Oscar
Well, the Oscars were just as exciting and just as boring as usual. But before I go onto that, I offer this.
Simply, cannot wait. Huge fan of the first film, and thinking adding all kinds of exceptional talent to the second film can only help make things better. Going to be a little weird seeing Don Cheadle as Rhodes, but anything is better than Terrence Howard. Glad I managed to fit the clip into a post without it covering up the side parts of the blog.
But onto the real reason for this post, the Oscars.
So going into tonight's show, I was really apprehensive. Likely not as much as the Academy themselves, but as a film fan, it really was a bit of a nailbiter at the beginning of the show. All the talk was on Avatar and The Hurt Locker, and if having the wacky ten nominees for Best Picture meant anything that would help or hurt either of them. While we do not know whether they did have an effect or not, about halfway through the show, likely after The Hurt Locker took two sound awards that everyone pegged were going to Avatar, it was clearly going to be a night for the critically acclaimed Iraq war drama.
I kept posting on my Facebook all my random thoughts throughout the show as opposed to live blogging like in the past, and I think it worked out quite well for me.
So without further adieu, a non-ordered list of thoughts.
- Loved the opening song by NPH. Just a really great number from a really funny guy. I imagine he may be hosting the show in the future.
- Really liked the way they did the Best Original Song nominees this year with one long video as opposed to individual live performances. Ensured that we saw the original singers in action, and only got a snippet of each song as opposed to the entire thing. Or worse, a random musician flown in specifically to sing the songs and either fail miserably or bore the audience to death with how long it goes on for.
- The interpretive dance number? Thought the dancing itself was incredible, but the bit was just out of place. Seemed totally random and likely could have been replaced by the orchestra playing the music over scenes from the nominated films, or just another video showing the musicians in action.
- Precious taking Adapted Screenplay. The second monumental surprise of the evening (after The Hurt Locker nabbing the sound awards). I remember saying on an episode of The Movie Chasm (which will be posted shortly after I get more available space to host the show, and upload all the other episodes that are waiting in the wings) that Precious would take it, but later on regretting it because I had forgotten about Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner's incredible screenplay for Up in the Air. But somehow, that incredible screenplay lost out. A real disappointment for Reitman, who had the unstoppable film before December and suddenly dropped the ball after Avatar came out. In his incredibly short career, he already has 3 incredible films under his belt, and he really should have been awarded here. While I did really enjoy Precious, that film was made more by the performances than it was by the adaptation of the novel. The award really belonged to Up in the Air, which sadly got shut out completely as a result.
- The horror montage? With the exception of a random inclusion of Twilight, was a real highlight for me. Just a really well crafted video, and a solid tribute. And it doesn't hurt that they included a bit of Evil Dead II in there.
- I liked the five previous winners congratulating the acting nominees last year, but it took up way too much time. Was glad to see it was killed off...until Best Actor and Actress late in the evening. But instead of winners, they just kind of got a ragtag group of actors to say words about everyone. The best person to talk about Jeremy Renner was Colin Farrell? Really? And the best to talk about Sandra Bullock was Forrest Whitaker? And Oprah? Come on. Either go with your original, interesting idea with previous winners, or just don't do it at all.
- Sandra Bullock winning was a bit of a disappointment. As I've said previously, I still have not seen The Blind Side, so for all I know she really is incredible in it. But to me, it just kind of feels like the Academy was giving back to someone who simply had a really good year. But The Proposal really was not that great a film, and from what I saw of it, All About Steve really was pretty awful. So clearly, this Oscar is either going to help enlighten us to more interesting performances from Bullock, or make us forget about her again like we did before 2009.
- Jeff Bridges' speech was probably the best of the evening. Loved that he kept saying "man", but really think he could have done more of an ode to The Dude. Unfortunately, no one will remember that he won for Crazy Heart. They will wonder why he was not even nominated for The Big Lebowski.
- the montage for John Hughes was incredible, but where was Farrah Fawcett on the "In Memoriam"? And now that I'm reading, where was Bea Arthur?
- Ben Stiller's costume and makeup? Really well done, but made for a really annoying bit of the show. I did love the irony in presenting Best Makeup dressed as a Na'vi, yet the category did not feature an Avatar nomination.
- The Hurt Locker dominating Avatar was a total surprise. I really thought Avatar would take more than three (Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects), and did not think The Hurt Locker would take six. But I am very glad it did. I already know people are saying how years from now we will look at the Avatar snub the same way we look at Citizen Kane losing, and Star Wars losing. And we just might do that years from now. But the reality of it is, James Cameron and his crew swept the Oscars with Titanic years ago, and irrevocably changed the way films were made. The film tied for most nominations ever (14) and tied for most wins (11). And it was the highest grossing movie ever made...until Avatar. In essence, James Cameron topped himself and proved that he continues to dominate in the film world, even if he takes an extended break and just makes documentaries for a few years. Why in the hell should the Academy award someone who basically did the same thing he already did years before, and won for at that time? Yes, the waves of change are already in place with what Avatar has done for 3D. Don't believe me? Look at Warner Brothers scrambling to upconvert Clash of the Titans to 3D in time for the film's release on April 2 (pushed from March 26). But sadly, with the potential exception of Transformers 3 (which I already dread), there are no films that are taking advantage of the 3D used so incredibly in Avatar. Every movie on tap for 3D is simply a post-production upconversion which speaks more about the film distributors wanting to make more money at the box office than it does for advancing the way films are made.
But I digress. Avatar is an amazing film, and a truly immersive experience. It is the kind of film that forces audiences to experience it in a theatre, because they simply will not get the same effect when they watch it at home. I already know the film will not hold up when I watch it on Blu-ray, in 3D or not, because it simply will not measure up to how amazing it was to see in a theatre twice. But Avatar, when boiled down to its nuts and bolts, is simply an incredible piece of entertainment. A wildly expensive one, but a film that makes you remember why you like watching films. The Hurt Locker on the other hand, is a powerful, emotionally charged film that is gritty, real and simply riveting. It is one of the most intense films I have ever seen, and is just a great movie all around. And whether it is true to reality or not, it gave us a slice of the Iraq war in a way that is simply unmatched by every other film about modern warfare. It deserves its accolaids, and is the deeply layered film that Avatar simply is not.
As for Bigelow, the huge undertaking of making The Hurt Locker is nothing compared to James Cameron and Avatar, but she still put in an incredible amount of effort into the film. She won the award not because she was a woman, but because she made an effective and admirable film. I'm glad she broke the wall down for female filmmakers, and I can only hope we see more being nominated. But they will have to measure up to the greatness Bigelow put on display from the beginning all the way to the end of The Hurt Locker. It is a haunting film, and one that does not leave you all too quickly. I'm very glad it won Best Picture, because now it means people will have to rush out and see it. I only wish they had done it before hand.
- Finally, Alec and Steve did a great job as hosts, and were incredibly funny. But save for a few sketches, they really did not do much for the show. I was expecting them to appear much more often and offer more quips, but they seemed really toned down for the majority of the show. Kind of disappointing.
All in all, an interesting show. I went 16/24 (missed the screenplays, the shorts, Best Foreign Film and the sound awards), so while not impressive, it still was not all that bad. As for next year, I imagine NPH is already on the short list to host it. Here's hoping they don't struggle to nominate ten films again...
Simply, cannot wait. Huge fan of the first film, and thinking adding all kinds of exceptional talent to the second film can only help make things better. Going to be a little weird seeing Don Cheadle as Rhodes, but anything is better than Terrence Howard. Glad I managed to fit the clip into a post without it covering up the side parts of the blog.
But onto the real reason for this post, the Oscars.
So going into tonight's show, I was really apprehensive. Likely not as much as the Academy themselves, but as a film fan, it really was a bit of a nailbiter at the beginning of the show. All the talk was on Avatar and The Hurt Locker, and if having the wacky ten nominees for Best Picture meant anything that would help or hurt either of them. While we do not know whether they did have an effect or not, about halfway through the show, likely after The Hurt Locker took two sound awards that everyone pegged were going to Avatar, it was clearly going to be a night for the critically acclaimed Iraq war drama.
I kept posting on my Facebook all my random thoughts throughout the show as opposed to live blogging like in the past, and I think it worked out quite well for me.
So without further adieu, a non-ordered list of thoughts.
- Loved the opening song by NPH. Just a really great number from a really funny guy. I imagine he may be hosting the show in the future.
- Really liked the way they did the Best Original Song nominees this year with one long video as opposed to individual live performances. Ensured that we saw the original singers in action, and only got a snippet of each song as opposed to the entire thing. Or worse, a random musician flown in specifically to sing the songs and either fail miserably or bore the audience to death with how long it goes on for.
- The interpretive dance number? Thought the dancing itself was incredible, but the bit was just out of place. Seemed totally random and likely could have been replaced by the orchestra playing the music over scenes from the nominated films, or just another video showing the musicians in action.
- Precious taking Adapted Screenplay. The second monumental surprise of the evening (after The Hurt Locker nabbing the sound awards). I remember saying on an episode of The Movie Chasm (which will be posted shortly after I get more available space to host the show, and upload all the other episodes that are waiting in the wings) that Precious would take it, but later on regretting it because I had forgotten about Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner's incredible screenplay for Up in the Air. But somehow, that incredible screenplay lost out. A real disappointment for Reitman, who had the unstoppable film before December and suddenly dropped the ball after Avatar came out. In his incredibly short career, he already has 3 incredible films under his belt, and he really should have been awarded here. While I did really enjoy Precious, that film was made more by the performances than it was by the adaptation of the novel. The award really belonged to Up in the Air, which sadly got shut out completely as a result.
- The horror montage? With the exception of a random inclusion of Twilight, was a real highlight for me. Just a really well crafted video, and a solid tribute. And it doesn't hurt that they included a bit of Evil Dead II in there.
- I liked the five previous winners congratulating the acting nominees last year, but it took up way too much time. Was glad to see it was killed off...until Best Actor and Actress late in the evening. But instead of winners, they just kind of got a ragtag group of actors to say words about everyone. The best person to talk about Jeremy Renner was Colin Farrell? Really? And the best to talk about Sandra Bullock was Forrest Whitaker? And Oprah? Come on. Either go with your original, interesting idea with previous winners, or just don't do it at all.
- Sandra Bullock winning was a bit of a disappointment. As I've said previously, I still have not seen The Blind Side, so for all I know she really is incredible in it. But to me, it just kind of feels like the Academy was giving back to someone who simply had a really good year. But The Proposal really was not that great a film, and from what I saw of it, All About Steve really was pretty awful. So clearly, this Oscar is either going to help enlighten us to more interesting performances from Bullock, or make us forget about her again like we did before 2009.
- Jeff Bridges' speech was probably the best of the evening. Loved that he kept saying "man", but really think he could have done more of an ode to The Dude. Unfortunately, no one will remember that he won for Crazy Heart. They will wonder why he was not even nominated for The Big Lebowski.
- the montage for John Hughes was incredible, but where was Farrah Fawcett on the "In Memoriam"? And now that I'm reading, where was Bea Arthur?
- Ben Stiller's costume and makeup? Really well done, but made for a really annoying bit of the show. I did love the irony in presenting Best Makeup dressed as a Na'vi, yet the category did not feature an Avatar nomination.
- The Hurt Locker dominating Avatar was a total surprise. I really thought Avatar would take more than three (Art Direction, Cinematography and Visual Effects), and did not think The Hurt Locker would take six. But I am very glad it did. I already know people are saying how years from now we will look at the Avatar snub the same way we look at Citizen Kane losing, and Star Wars losing. And we just might do that years from now. But the reality of it is, James Cameron and his crew swept the Oscars with Titanic years ago, and irrevocably changed the way films were made. The film tied for most nominations ever (14) and tied for most wins (11). And it was the highest grossing movie ever made...until Avatar. In essence, James Cameron topped himself and proved that he continues to dominate in the film world, even if he takes an extended break and just makes documentaries for a few years. Why in the hell should the Academy award someone who basically did the same thing he already did years before, and won for at that time? Yes, the waves of change are already in place with what Avatar has done for 3D. Don't believe me? Look at Warner Brothers scrambling to upconvert Clash of the Titans to 3D in time for the film's release on April 2 (pushed from March 26). But sadly, with the potential exception of Transformers 3 (which I already dread), there are no films that are taking advantage of the 3D used so incredibly in Avatar. Every movie on tap for 3D is simply a post-production upconversion which speaks more about the film distributors wanting to make more money at the box office than it does for advancing the way films are made.
But I digress. Avatar is an amazing film, and a truly immersive experience. It is the kind of film that forces audiences to experience it in a theatre, because they simply will not get the same effect when they watch it at home. I already know the film will not hold up when I watch it on Blu-ray, in 3D or not, because it simply will not measure up to how amazing it was to see in a theatre twice. But Avatar, when boiled down to its nuts and bolts, is simply an incredible piece of entertainment. A wildly expensive one, but a film that makes you remember why you like watching films. The Hurt Locker on the other hand, is a powerful, emotionally charged film that is gritty, real and simply riveting. It is one of the most intense films I have ever seen, and is just a great movie all around. And whether it is true to reality or not, it gave us a slice of the Iraq war in a way that is simply unmatched by every other film about modern warfare. It deserves its accolaids, and is the deeply layered film that Avatar simply is not.
As for Bigelow, the huge undertaking of making The Hurt Locker is nothing compared to James Cameron and Avatar, but she still put in an incredible amount of effort into the film. She won the award not because she was a woman, but because she made an effective and admirable film. I'm glad she broke the wall down for female filmmakers, and I can only hope we see more being nominated. But they will have to measure up to the greatness Bigelow put on display from the beginning all the way to the end of The Hurt Locker. It is a haunting film, and one that does not leave you all too quickly. I'm very glad it won Best Picture, because now it means people will have to rush out and see it. I only wish they had done it before hand.
- Finally, Alec and Steve did a great job as hosts, and were incredibly funny. But save for a few sketches, they really did not do much for the show. I was expecting them to appear much more often and offer more quips, but they seemed really toned down for the majority of the show. Kind of disappointing.
All in all, an interesting show. I went 16/24 (missed the screenplays, the shorts, Best Foreign Film and the sound awards), so while not impressive, it still was not all that bad. As for next year, I imagine NPH is already on the short list to host it. Here's hoping they don't struggle to nominate ten films again...
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Final Oscar Picks
Been a busy few days, and a rather rough day, so this will be quick and to the point. Here's my final Oscar picks and a few comments from Facebook. I will fix it up as the show goes on, and will talk after about my final thoughts. Here's hoping I can finish up some more Mad Men before Tuesday...
---------------------------
So this is what it comes down to. The big dance, the final show. Everything will either mean everything, or nothing.
Since 2005, I have managed to pull off watching each of the 5 Best Picture films before the show. This year, I only cracked 8. I missed The Blind Side and An Education, but I'm not worried about either of them taking Best Picture. But this year is interesting still for two reasons to me. One is the fact that the Academy immediately reacted to the public outcry over shunning The Dark Knight last year for the fairly mediocre The Reader by stretching the nominee count from 5 to 10. It came out of left field, and it still stuns me that they actually went through with it. While I love that certain movies like District 9 and Up made the final ballot, it still seems really random in practice. We will have to see what it does for the winner tonight. The second is the fact that this year, it seems like I was hand in hand with Oscar for the first time. With the exception of maybe 1 or 2 nominees, the final Best Picture nominees are rarely my favourites of the year. But this year, I have 6 of the 10 in my top 10. Very interesting from a personal stand point, and either shows how far I've come as a film watcher, or how low the Academy's tastes have sunk since I started really paying attention to the show back when, ironically, James Cameron swept with Titanic.
As for the show itself, I'm not expecting a lot of surprises, and that's why my picks are fairly conventional. Although I really think Avatar may take Best Picture, I am sticking with The Hurt Locker. It has been the front runner, and it seems like if they do pick Avatar, it will simply be to keep themselves in favour with the public. But with the backlash against the arrogant/ignorant but totally loveable James Cameron, I don't think they will give it to him. But then there's a lot of backlash against Hurt Locker too, not helped by the twisted events of recent where they officially banned one of the producers for a campaigning email. But will that really leave the door open for Inglorious Basterds to slip in like a lot of people are saying? I don't think so, but I do think it has a fairly good shot at Best Original Screenplay, if only because of the audacity of Quentin Tarantino to completely alter real events.
If there's going to be any surprise, other than a Tarantino win for Screenplay, I think it will be Gabourey Sidibe for Precious. She's simply incredible in the film, and while she is not as good as Mo'Nique (who will win Best Supporting Actress), I think she too has a solid chance at winning, if only to split up this crazy Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock rivalry. Seriously, just because she had a good year does not mean Bullock automatically should take Oscar. I'd love to see this come from behind surprise, in fact I hope it happens.
And I really hope there are more than a handful of surprises tonight too. But sadly, I don't like being crazy, so my picks are fairly conventional. Here's hoping, with bated breath, that The Hurt Locker pulls it off. I will say this though. Even if it loses Picture, if anybody but Kathryn Bigelow goes up to accept Best Director, I will officially boycott the Oscars.
Best Picture - The Hurt Locker
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actor - Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Best Original Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay - Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Best Animated Film - Up
Best Art Direction - Avatar
Best Cinematography - Avatar
Best Editing - The Hurt Locker
Best Costume Design - The Young Victoria
Best Makeup - Star Trek
Best Original Score - Up
Best Original Song - T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham, "The Weary Kind", Crazy Heart
Best Sound - Avatar
Best Sound Editing - Avatar
Best Visual Effects - Avatar
Best Foreign Language Film - The Prophet, France
Best Documentary - The Cove
Best Documentary, Short Subjects - The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Best Short Film, Animated - Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'
Best Short Film, Live Action - The Door
---------------------------
So this is what it comes down to. The big dance, the final show. Everything will either mean everything, or nothing.
Since 2005, I have managed to pull off watching each of the 5 Best Picture films before the show. This year, I only cracked 8. I missed The Blind Side and An Education, but I'm not worried about either of them taking Best Picture. But this year is interesting still for two reasons to me. One is the fact that the Academy immediately reacted to the public outcry over shunning The Dark Knight last year for the fairly mediocre The Reader by stretching the nominee count from 5 to 10. It came out of left field, and it still stuns me that they actually went through with it. While I love that certain movies like District 9 and Up made the final ballot, it still seems really random in practice. We will have to see what it does for the winner tonight. The second is the fact that this year, it seems like I was hand in hand with Oscar for the first time. With the exception of maybe 1 or 2 nominees, the final Best Picture nominees are rarely my favourites of the year. But this year, I have 6 of the 10 in my top 10. Very interesting from a personal stand point, and either shows how far I've come as a film watcher, or how low the Academy's tastes have sunk since I started really paying attention to the show back when, ironically, James Cameron swept with Titanic.
As for the show itself, I'm not expecting a lot of surprises, and that's why my picks are fairly conventional. Although I really think Avatar may take Best Picture, I am sticking with The Hurt Locker. It has been the front runner, and it seems like if they do pick Avatar, it will simply be to keep themselves in favour with the public. But with the backlash against the arrogant/ignorant but totally loveable James Cameron, I don't think they will give it to him. But then there's a lot of backlash against Hurt Locker too, not helped by the twisted events of recent where they officially banned one of the producers for a campaigning email. But will that really leave the door open for Inglorious Basterds to slip in like a lot of people are saying? I don't think so, but I do think it has a fairly good shot at Best Original Screenplay, if only because of the audacity of Quentin Tarantino to completely alter real events.
If there's going to be any surprise, other than a Tarantino win for Screenplay, I think it will be Gabourey Sidibe for Precious. She's simply incredible in the film, and while she is not as good as Mo'Nique (who will win Best Supporting Actress), I think she too has a solid chance at winning, if only to split up this crazy Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock rivalry. Seriously, just because she had a good year does not mean Bullock automatically should take Oscar. I'd love to see this come from behind surprise, in fact I hope it happens.
And I really hope there are more than a handful of surprises tonight too. But sadly, I don't like being crazy, so my picks are fairly conventional. Here's hoping, with bated breath, that The Hurt Locker pulls it off. I will say this though. Even if it loses Picture, if anybody but Kathryn Bigelow goes up to accept Best Director, I will officially boycott the Oscars.
Best Picture - The Hurt Locker
Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actor - Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Actress - Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Supporting Actor - Christoph Waltz, Inglorious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress - Mo'Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
Best Original Screenplay - Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay - Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Best Animated Film - Up
Best Art Direction - Avatar
Best Cinematography - Avatar
Best Editing - The Hurt Locker
Best Costume Design - The Young Victoria
Best Makeup - Star Trek
Best Original Score - Up
Best Original Song - T-Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham, "The Weary Kind", Crazy Heart
Best Sound - Avatar
Best Sound Editing - Avatar
Best Visual Effects - Avatar
Best Foreign Language Film - The Prophet, France
Best Documentary - The Cove
Best Documentary, Short Subjects - The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant
Best Short Film, Animated - Wallace and Gromit in 'A Matter of Loaf and Death'
Best Short Film, Live Action - The Door
Friday, March 5, 2010
Really, you wanted more sideboob from Neytiri?
So yesterday, while I only got to play a few minutes of God of War II, I managed to stuff in two more episodes of Mad Men - "Marriage of Figaro" and "New Amsterdam".
Much like my experience with True Blood, the show is appearing to start slow and gradually open itself up. While I doubt it will end up being nearly as awesome and addictive as Blood, it is getting fairly interesting. The third episode (Figaro) was fairly boring and actually put me to sleep, despite showing off how much of a ladies man Don Draper is, but the fourth episode (Amsterdam) was a definite improvement, and a step in the right direction. I think its because they brought Pete back to the forefront, making him the villain and the bane of Draper's existence. The guy who plays him, Vincent Kartheiser, seems to be a really good job with him, showing some great range in how conflicted this guy seems to be about wanting to rise up the ranks because no one seems to want to give him a break. Continuing to love Jon Hamm's work too, even if his character seems to be a lot of things that he is not.
And I also took in a long awaited second viewing of Avatar. The first time I saw it in IMAX 3D and was simply blown away by the effects and the scope of the film. The second time I just saw it in regular 3D, and rather surprisingly, it felt like I was watching it again for the first time. It is just such an impressive feat of film-making on the part of James Cameron, and just about everything in the film still held up. There just seems to be a sense of wonder within the film that manages to make it feel new for a second time viewer. I loved just looking at the effects in action, especially ones featuring water or mud, and the depth of realism the effects go into. Simply stunning. I only hope I feel the same way when the Special Edition Blu-ray comes out in November.
If there's anything I hold against the film, it is the fact that despite knowing where all the beats are, it still feels like a bad train wreck when Cameron hits the breaks after the destruction of a certain important object in the film (while I know just about everyone has seen the movie now, I still do not like spoiling it). The film practically whips by up until that point, and then totally loses momentum until the start of the epic final battle scene. Clearly the exposition is needed, and there is a bad ass scene featuring Quaritch that I love to death that comes after, but it just seems like Cameron could have done a much better job preserving the film's speed. The man is clearly not one for brevity, so if he really feels the movie deserves to be almost 3 hours long, he could at least make sure that it does not feel that long. The "I see you" bits were a little much the second time, but the script still manages to not feel as bad as people put it down for being.
As for Oscars, well, I think it has the shot for Best Picture again, but I really think The Hurt Locker will take it. Just handing it to the audience pleasing film a year after fucking over The Dark Knight seems to be a bit much. More on them in the coming days though...
Much like my experience with True Blood, the show is appearing to start slow and gradually open itself up. While I doubt it will end up being nearly as awesome and addictive as Blood, it is getting fairly interesting. The third episode (Figaro) was fairly boring and actually put me to sleep, despite showing off how much of a ladies man Don Draper is, but the fourth episode (Amsterdam) was a definite improvement, and a step in the right direction. I think its because they brought Pete back to the forefront, making him the villain and the bane of Draper's existence. The guy who plays him, Vincent Kartheiser, seems to be a really good job with him, showing some great range in how conflicted this guy seems to be about wanting to rise up the ranks because no one seems to want to give him a break. Continuing to love Jon Hamm's work too, even if his character seems to be a lot of things that he is not.
And I also took in a long awaited second viewing of Avatar. The first time I saw it in IMAX 3D and was simply blown away by the effects and the scope of the film. The second time I just saw it in regular 3D, and rather surprisingly, it felt like I was watching it again for the first time. It is just such an impressive feat of film-making on the part of James Cameron, and just about everything in the film still held up. There just seems to be a sense of wonder within the film that manages to make it feel new for a second time viewer. I loved just looking at the effects in action, especially ones featuring water or mud, and the depth of realism the effects go into. Simply stunning. I only hope I feel the same way when the Special Edition Blu-ray comes out in November.
If there's anything I hold against the film, it is the fact that despite knowing where all the beats are, it still feels like a bad train wreck when Cameron hits the breaks after the destruction of a certain important object in the film (while I know just about everyone has seen the movie now, I still do not like spoiling it). The film practically whips by up until that point, and then totally loses momentum until the start of the epic final battle scene. Clearly the exposition is needed, and there is a bad ass scene featuring Quaritch that I love to death that comes after, but it just seems like Cameron could have done a much better job preserving the film's speed. The man is clearly not one for brevity, so if he really feels the movie deserves to be almost 3 hours long, he could at least make sure that it does not feel that long. The "I see you" bits were a little much the second time, but the script still manages to not feel as bad as people put it down for being.
As for Oscars, well, I think it has the shot for Best Picture again, but I really think The Hurt Locker will take it. Just handing it to the audience pleasing film a year after fucking over The Dark Knight seems to be a bit much. More on them in the coming days though...
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Christina Hendricks, I love you.
So, have a lot to do for the rest of the day. Have a Bulldogs game in a few hours (the Hamilton Bulldogs that is), want to write reviews for Law Abiding Citizen and A Serious Man (finally), and at the same time, have a few movies to watch too.
In the mean time, I got started on Season 1 of Mad Men. I watched the first two episodes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Ladies Room". I thoroughly enjoyed the opening episode, as it gave me just enough information about each of the main characters I needed to know (specifically Don Draper played by up and comer Jon Hamm) and provided some hints as to where the season was heading (unlike Parenthood last night, that tried to cram everything it could into one episode). It has an interesting premise, and despite some dry material, I look forward to continuing watching it. Had some great humour too, which surprise me for the material, but I can imagine it is only going to get more dark and misogynistic as the episodes go on. Was a little bored by the second episode, but I think it was because it was less focused on Don, and more on the wife Betty and Peggy, the new girl. A quick search on Wikipedia suggests I am in for more fun with Peggy. Here's hoping I get more of Pete, even if he is a dirty rotten scumbag.
But who am I kidding? The real one I want more of is Joan, played by Christina Hendricks. She makes me drool every time I see her. I'm sure you can agree.
In the mean time, I got started on Season 1 of Mad Men. I watched the first two episodes "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "Ladies Room". I thoroughly enjoyed the opening episode, as it gave me just enough information about each of the main characters I needed to know (specifically Don Draper played by up and comer Jon Hamm) and provided some hints as to where the season was heading (unlike Parenthood last night, that tried to cram everything it could into one episode). It has an interesting premise, and despite some dry material, I look forward to continuing watching it. Had some great humour too, which surprise me for the material, but I can imagine it is only going to get more dark and misogynistic as the episodes go on. Was a little bored by the second episode, but I think it was because it was less focused on Don, and more on the wife Betty and Peggy, the new girl. A quick search on Wikipedia suggests I am in for more fun with Peggy. Here's hoping I get more of Pete, even if he is a dirty rotten scumbag.
But who am I kidding? The real one I want more of is Joan, played by Christina Hendricks. She makes me drool every time I see her. I'm sure you can agree.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)