Matt Kauffman movie madness

Book Review: Star Wars: Legacy of the Jedi - Judith Wilson
A common character links these stories of Jedi masters and their padawan learners. Yoda & Dooku, Dooku & Qui-Gon, Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan and Anakin. It's interesting to see Dooku as a young man and his relationship to Qui-Gon when they are both relatively young. It leads nicely into the Clone Wars and while being good overall, it isn't an exceptional read.

TV Review: 24: Season 4 I watched this again with Yukiko on DVD. Perhaps the best season of 24 yet. Most, but not all, of the annoying characters from seasons past have been dropped. Other seasons had a definitive halfway point where a completely different plot takes over but here there is one consisten story running through all the episodes. Of course there are plenty of inconsistancies and 'convenient' happenings but that is to be expected. Once again, Jack Bauer is the master of all things and must personally take responsibility for just about everything that occurs. I was kind of hoping they'd find a way to replace Kiefer Sutherland by now, or at least lessen his importance to the show, but that doesn't seem likely now. I hear rumours of a 24 movie project too. Maybe they can find someone besides Middle Eastern terrorists to use next time around.

Movie Review: Jawbreaker (1999)
My friend Matt lent this video. To me it tries really hard to be the next Heathers but it falls seriously short. 3 cool girls accidentally kill one of their friends in the middle of a birthday prank. They try to cover it up and shenanigans ensue. Pam Grier has a small, pointless part that really adds nothing to the plot. In fact it diminishes from it a little. She arrests someone even though there is direct evidence implicating someone else. She also doesn't bother asking several obvious questions to the last person to have seen the victim. The kids are all good looking and drive nice cars so it is really nothing more than an edgier version of Beverly Hills 90210. 5/10

Movie Review: My Best Friend's Birthday (1987)
The short feature at this month's movie club with Matt Kauffman. This is Tarantino's first ever film, a short film he made while working at a video rental shop in California. It's in B&W and several of the characters and situations were later reused in his screenplay 'True Romance'. Tarantino appears in the film and he is the best actor of the bunch. There is no ending to this as the final reel was apparently destroyed in a fire at some point. This little experiment isn't really noteworthy other foreshadowing Tarantino's brilliant future films.

Movie Review: Braindead (1992)
An early film by Peter Jackson. Wow, this is surely the bloodiest movie I have ever seen. Bloodier than any slasher flick, bloodier than the entire Evil Dead series combined. Not for the faint of heart. A bite from the dreaded 'rat monkey' starts off the mayhem as the victim dies and becomes a bloodthirsty zombie. More of an absurd comedy than a horror really, the final 1/3 of this movie is one big blood-soaked, lawnmower-pureed mess. 8/10

Scary Bunnies

Book Review: 鉄腕アトム　Atom Boy －　手塚治虫 Osamu Tezuka
Japanese manga about the adventures of Astro Boy. The main story has him and a group of other robots fighting the evil roboids. He also beat up some punks in Mexico. It's a kids' comic so I was a little surprised at the level of violence in it. Immediately after a deadly battle where several people are killed, Astro Boy is invited to Mexico City to play. That was a little strange for me.

Movie Review: Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Mork & Mindy' (2005)
A made-for-TV movie about Robin Williams' career making role as Mork from Orc. It was pretty nostalgic seeming the classic series reenacted. The actor playing Robin Williams did a fantastic job and really pulled off Williams non-stop lunacy. The movie details how the show changed directions on the whims of the producers, Mork's beginning as a wacky guest character on Happy Days, and the tragic death of John Belushi. 7/10

Movie Review: The Brown Bunny (2003)
Before I got to the end of this film I was thinking about all the horrible things I could say about it. Such as:
it's a real road movie, half of the movie is shots of the road. The other half is shots of houses going by and static shots of his face while he's driving. Not that these weren't interesting (the music was cool too) but there was far too much of them.
Then I got to the 'infamous' oral sex scene. It was completely unerotic but what was shocking to me was what was coming out of his mouth. Yes I said HIS mouth. This meek, lonely man was suddenly throwing out horrible insults at his girlfriend. Why was he doing this. Then a major revelation occurs which completely changes the whole perspective of the film. It really blew me away. I'm sure a second viewing of the movie with this new information would completely change the experience. Unfortunately it would be pretty tedious to sit through all those driving scenes again. It was very daring for Gallo to make a movie like this where the audience really has to endure 80 mins of non-action before everything is turned on it's head. In many ways it's similar to Gus Van Sant's movie 'Gerry'.
I first heard about this movie when it premiered at the Cannes festival in 2003. Roger Ebert really panned it at the time and it was called the worst movie to ever be shown at the festival. Apparently Gallo later trimmed down about 26 mins in editing. Ebert really liked the shorter version and gave it a thumbs up. His review of the shorter version is quite interesting. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040903/REVIEWS/409020301/1023
Certainly not a movie for those lacking in patience, but a great payoff for those who can get through it. 7.5/10

Movie Review: Below (2002)
A very sub-par submarine horror. It's hard to believe that this movie was penned by Darren Arnofsky of Pi and Requiem of a Dream fame. The cast does a good job but the story is just full of plot holes that point to a weak script. For example, why would a woman who was believed to have aided a German saboteur and had been found sneaking inside the captain's quarters, be allowed to roam about the ship in such a dangerous situation. Even stranger is why the captain of the ship feels the need to, completely without reason or prompting, explain to this possible traitor the details involving the death of the former captain. That whole speech came out of nowhere. I had to watch it again because I thought I must have missed something to explain why he would suddenly reveal this information to her. 5/10
** SPOILERS **
The revelation that is the ghost of the murdered captain cursing the ship adds more questions than answers. This man was supposed to be a good captain who liked his crew and was liked in return. Why would the ghost murder the entire crew when only 3 of the officers were responsible for his death? And if the ghost was capable of manipulating physical object and using them to kill crewmembers, why didn't it just go after the 3 officers directly?

a real mixed bag

Movie Review: Frequency (2000)
A heart warming sci-fi/suspense mix. Stars Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel (Jesus from 'The Passion of Mel Gibson) as a father and son seperated by 30 years. Bizarre solar activity allows the two to communicate over a ham radio set. The son, a homicide detective, is able to warn his father, a firefighter, about his impending death in a warehouse fire. His father manages to survive and subsequently changes history. These changes result in a serial killer avoiding death as well, allowing him to continue his spree. The father and son try to catch the killer across 2 different times. I'm a sucker for time travel stories so I quite enjoyed this one. There are a few internal consistencies within the story's time traveling logic but it's still a good watch for sci-fi fans. 7/10

Movie Review: Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Great movie about an older man who likes to play around with younger women until he finally meets a woman his own age who is more than a match for his eccentric personality. Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton are great in the lead roles while Keanu Reeves has a nice turn as a free thinking doctor. 8/10

TV Review: Corner Gas - Season 1 (2004)
My friend Dan introduced me to this little comedy gem from Canada. It follows the lives of a few people in the small town of Dog River, Saskatchewan. With so much time on their hands they can't help but rip on each other. It's very funny but not crude. Well the episode about the world's biggest hoe was a little crude, but generally it's spic & span clean. Not as groundbreaking or controversial as Kids in the Hall but still a great watch.

Movie Review: Sin City (2005)
An amazing visual treat. The movie was filmed completely on a green screen stage, apart from the actors everything was CG. This is a very faithful adaptation of Frank Miller's comic book series, and he was given a co-director's credit due to his visual choices and style that were virtually lifted off the comic pages. It's very graphic and raw, definitely not for the easily frightened movie goer. The acting is also top notch. Mickey Rourke and Benicio Del Toro are especially good while Elijah Wood is excellent as the very quiet and subdued sicko called 'Kevin.' I was a little disappointed to read that Jessica Alba agreed to take the part of the stripper named 'Nancy' and then later refused to appear naked in the film. Nudity for the sake of nudity isn't necessary in a film, but it's an important part of her character and the environment she works in. If she was a true actress she should be willing to take on a character's role and all that it entails. Bailing out after signing onto the movie was very lame of her. 9/10

Attack of the Killer Zombies from Planet Earth

Some days you just want to watch zombie movies. This was one of those days.

Movie Review: Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Best zombie movie ever. Well, 28 Days Later was great too but technically those weren't zombies. Zombies that can run are seriously scary. A group of survivors hide out in a shopping mall while thousands of zombies congregate outside. And if it's got uber dramatist Sarah Polley in it you know it has to be good. 8/10

Movie Review: Land of the Dead (2005)
This was tough to watch after just seeing Dawn of the Dead. Now we're back to slow paced stiffs who I sort of felt sorry for. This pic has 1 zombie who's a little brighter than average and organizes the zombies into an army. Their target is a fully funtioning city that acts as an oasis against the undead. The other story unfolding is a weak morality play about the corruption inside the city that is masterminded by Dennis Hopper. John Leguizamo also stars in it but for some reason I can never take him seriously, he always seems to be trying too hard. 4/10

Movie Review: Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Funniest zombie movie ever. This one was great. A bunch of beer drinking, wisecracking, farting slackers in London are so tuned out of things that they don't notice everyone around them has turned into zombies. When they finally do get a clue, they come up with a plan to get to the best possible place to hide out. That place, of course, is the local pub. Definitely a top Indie hit. 8/10