Murmur - colemanranahan's Content

State of Play Review

Tue, 05 May 2009 19:55:19 GMT

by: colemanranahan
A staunch political thriller above the ordinary.

State of Play is directed by Kevin MacDonald and is written by Tony Gilroy (The Bourne Series, Michael Clayton) and Matthew Carnahan (Lions for Lambs, The Kingdom). State of Play is adapted from the BBC 6 part miniseries title of the same name.

State of Play starts off with a young man and a pizza delivery boy being gunned down in the streets of Washingotn D.C. after the young boy had been fleeing from the assassin. The next day Congressman Steve Collin's (Ben Affleck) young and attractive research assistant falls in front of a train, prompting media frenzy about his involvement with her. A reporter from The Globe Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) begins investigating the story with online/blog reporter Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) as they begin to discover there is much more to the story than once originally thought. Throughout the ordeal they also have to deal with their boss Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) about finishing the story and being done with it by press time.

State of Play is very impressive. The film brings along an all-star cast of characters as well as some veteran actors like Jeff Daniels as Senator George Fergus, a very stern politician attempting to help Collins, Michael Weston as one of Crowe's investigative reporters, and Jason Bateman, an eccentric personality who reveals much about what is happening. The entire cast did a fantastic job, which is especially great for a political thriller. It also shows how great Russell Crowe's character is, that even though he is old school, use's an old computer, he gets the job done well, and right.

The score for State of Play is also very impressive. Not all too often is an electric guitar heard as background music, which provided for great transitions between scene changes and made for fantastic suspense.

State of Play has several different aspects to it, although it is a story about a politicians aide being killed, it also involves the aspects of print journalism versus the bloggers, and how the media controls sistuations, something that Lions for Lambs tried to do, but failed to capitalize on that like State of Play does. It also tackles the current topic of the privatization of Homeland Security, tossing in corporate conspiracies at the same time without being hokey an dover the top, which made for a great concept in this movie.

That said, State of Play is a fantastic political thriller, people should seek it out while they can, or catch it immediately upon DVD release, it is a solid movie, with solid performances across the board. Don't let it look like a generic political thriller to you, even though thte title may make it seem like it. State of Play really is a great film.

Star Trek - JJ Style

Sat, 09 May 2009 03:32:21 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Did it blow your socks off?

Star Trek is directed by J.J. Abrams, and is written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. I knew the film was going to be action packed already, because you have J.J. Abrams, the man who directed Mission Impossible 3, and Roberto Orci who wrote Transformers, Mission Impossible 3, and Fringe and Alias episodes. The film stars Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Simon Pegg as Scotty, and Eric Bana as Captain Nero an evil Romulan out for blood after his home world is destroyed.

To start off, I can say I went in with insanely high expectations, I'll say it, the trailers got to me really bad. The third trailer that was put out for Star Trek in my opinion is a work of art. Something that makes the movie look so incredible. And I think that's something that perhaps disappointed me a little. I highly enjoyed the movie. I think it's the best Star Trek movie I've seen thus far, but I think I set myself up for too much excitement.

The movie is stunningly gorgeous. Nothing looks cheesy or badly CGI'd, everything is clear and crisp, kind of like MI3. The action scenes are incredibly well put together, and keep your eyes glued to the screen. The Romulan drill fight was probably my favorite fight scene. The beginning fight scene between the Romulan ship and the U.S.S. Kelvin was almost breath taking. I'll be honest I didn't want the movie to end. I would've been willing to sit there for another two hours to see the next adventure. The movie obviously wasn't perfect by any means. I thought the training scenario was a little corny and a bit overplayed, it was kind of used to show Kirk's pompous attitude, but there were plenty of scenes that established that already.

Sound design was something that played a huge role in this movie. After Abrams found out that the movie was not going to be released for another six months he said that they went back and worked over a lot of the sound. I can't honestly imagine what the film would have been like if they hadn't. This film makes you feel like you're there. The phaser blasts when they're fighting in the Romulan ship, the Starships firing torpedo's back and forth at each other, hell, the little noises that the starship elevator made, or buttons on the main deck of the Enterprise sounded incredible.

The score was highly enjoyable for Star Trek, there were a couple of moments when they could've toned it down, like they were playing a couple of the scenes too powerful, but I still thought it was a good score. Michael Giacchino is someone who has been with Abrams for a long time from Lost to Fringe to Alias, so at least we have someone who has staying power.

The one thing I will say that I highly enjoyed about the film was the things that have made the series famous were paid lip service without leaving the audience scratching their heads, sure some stuff might have been left out, but when they would make references it was done in an easily explainable manner.

The acting for this came out a lot better than I thought it would have. Zachary Quinto as Spock did not disappoint, but the writer's threw in something for me which was an interesting element I don't remember seeing before (now don't quote me). I did watch most of the original series from Netflix Instant Watch and don't really remember a love element being played in for Spock, so for me I thought that was new and an exciting place to take the story. I thought Simon Pegg did a great job playing Scotty, the accent didn't feel forced, but I could see him playing into it a little, but it didn't bother me. I'm glad that they wrote in the lines that made him famous, but didn't force it. The entire audience cheered when he said, "I'm giving her all she's got Captain!" Eric Bana as the evil Romulan Captain Nero was simply awesome. He was a character who simply just acted on impulse, and it was fun to see him tear it up on screen. Zoe Saldana played Uhura with the attiude I remember from the series.

Bruce Greenwood as Captain Christopher Pike is the essence of a Federation Captain. He has the look and feel of a starship captain. Especially for the setup in the trailer, his voice is something that could lull me to sleep in a non-creepy way. Anton Yelchin as Chekov was a bit obnoxious at first, but over the course of the movie he settled in quite nicely. Karl Urban as Bones McCoy was a really interesting casting choice, someone I would not have thought of originally. He looked very much the part, a little overacting at times, but it wasn't over the top. John Cho I think made for a fantastic Sulu, although I wished they would've explored his character a little more. I always thought the Sulu from the original series was always compelling and quite strange, in a comedic way.

Chris Pine was the one I was worried about most going into this film, I hadn't seen him in any previous film's and the trailer's didn't give me much to go on in terms of his acting ability. I had seen that on IMDB he did a movie previously with Lindsay Lohan, so that didn't help his credibility with me. Well after having seen Star Trek all doubts about him have been erased. I thought he played it with a great punk style attitude for being so young, and I look forward to seeing him in the next installment of the franchise.

All of the character setup done by the writers was a nice job. I simply just can't wait to see how far they can take it in the next installment. A friend of mine was disappointed a little they didn't delve farther in for the characters, but did agree that it was a great setup for a movie.

The story setup probably could have left out the one scene with Kirk as a child driving the car off a cliff, I realize that it was simply a setup to show that Kirk was a bit cavalier and didn't really care who said what. But I think that could have been handled in a completely different manner.

If you haven't seen the movie yet, spoiler alert *stop reading*

The parallel universe storyline I thought made a great concept, and was easily explained to the audience. So the old Spock (Played by Nimoy) gets captured and is forced by Captain Nero to watch as he destroys his home planet Vulcan with a Romulan drill and some red matter (basically creates black holes), all the while the young Kirk is told by Old Spock not tell Young Spock that he exists, but in reality is simply just joking around. One side note, the red ball of doom is back!! For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about there was a red ball in Alias *created by JJ Abrams* which basically exploded and flooded a building practically drowning Michael Vartan's character. Maybe I'm the only one who thought of that similarity but anyway. I thought ending the film with Nero dying in the blackhole was a great way to end his storyline, because basically that's how he extracted some of his revenge.

I'm glad they ended it with what normally came as the intro for the original series, the famous line, "Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enteprise" with Leonard Nimoy as the voiceover, it's a shame they couldn't get Shatner to at least make a cameo that way, but I'm glad they they ended in that fashion.

Overall, even as someone who has seen the original series, I loved what was displayed across the screen. The story could have evolved moreover but I did not walk away disappointed by any means. The sound design was huge for me, you could tell how hard they worked on that to almost make you feel like you were there. Great setup for the characters, and I can't wait to see how deep they go with the character's relationships next time around. The film wasn't perfect by any means, but highly enjoyable even thus. This is a film I highly recommend seeing, and so far my favorite movie of the year. BAM.

Green Day 21st Century Breakdown

Sat, 16 May 2009 08:03:04 GMT

by: colemanranahan
New album released

I'm going to have to say how surprised and blown away I am by the new Green Day album entitled "21st Century Breakdown." Initially from the release of "Know Your Enemy" I was going to guess that it was going to rock harder than American Idiot, but it rocks in a much more interesting way. Interesting is the word to say. Also for the price, 18 songs for 14 bucks (9 in my case because of Reward Zone) there is a lot of content for your dollar.

This album incorporates a blend of old styles combined with new styles of Green Day. And that's what made the album for me. It's a toss back to the old days while also showing how Green Day has evolved over the years since their debut album. I think a lot of people were initially afraid that it was going to be American Idiot all over again, tossing controversy all over the place. This does that, but with quite a different attitude. They've established how much of a powerhouse that they are, and now they're branching out. 21st Century Breakdown takes on religion, apathy and government and the decline of society around us.The album is separated into three acts as well, tackling topics in each act. The use of the blended styles with the crazy lyrics that entangle 21st Century Breakdown are really something.

American Idiot established the character of St. Jimmy, and this time 21st Century Breakdown follows the character of Gloria and Christian.

The only qualm I have with the new album is that the first couple of songs use a soft prelude and then switch to the rock, that's ok for a couple of the songs but after 3 or so you should probably cut down on that.

I'm quite surprised by this album, I went in with completely different expectations and quite frankly I'm really pleased with everything. I don't quite think it's album of the year, but it could be a contender at least. I think if you're a fan of Green Day you'll enjoy this. It's a strong album.

Glee

Wed, 20 May 2009 17:46:00 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Are you passionate about what you do?

Glee is created by Ryan Murphy, who created Nip/Tuck and Popular. Some people don't want to call this a musical, they say it's a show with singing. A Glee Club where it's members simply sing. The Glee club is made up of various members coming from all over high school. Matthew Morrison's character Will Shuester is a Spanish teacher who has just taken over the Glee club. Whatever the hell you want to call this, I'm fine with because the show is of quality material. Hate High School Musical? Well then this show is probably more your liking without the entire thing consisting of song. Glee is more mature too, hoping to snag the other margine that HSM missed. It's quite funny, so on a two front basis it's already running very strong on the comedy and the singing.

To be quite honest, after the show was over I had a giant grin on my face, and till now I'm still trying to figure out how it got there. Now mind you this is only the pilot, there are more episodes to come that's for sure, but they are running out of the gates guns a blazing. I'm really interested to see where they take the show now, because they've already overcome the simple storyline of be who you want to be, don't be afraid of doing it, and be passionate about what you do. The pilot does kind of set up the storyline of the Glee club going to a national competition already, which makes the show predictable. However, if they manage to change things up along the way this may be one of Fox's strong contenders running into the fall.

The show is made up of an interesting cast, the stronger, more recognizable actors are Jane Lynch playing an overzealous cheerleading coach, and Jessalyn Gilsig, Shuesters wife of five years. So this show is an opportunity for more unknowns to make their presence known. Lea Michele is a Broadway actress (who won a drama desk award being on Broadway) essentially marking her debut here as one of the bright, young, and underestimated students. Her and Cory Monteith's character are somewhat of a cliche but it's still enjoyable. Monteith plays an all star quarterback who has a hidden passion for singing. Jayma Mays character Emma, an OCD guidance counselor seems very predictable and I feel like I know what's already going to happen with her character and how she will affect the storyline.

Overall, I was very impressed by this show. I think if they manage to balance the comedy and music as they did in the pilot the show will be extremely comfortable settling into the fall lineup. It could very well be predictable, but I'm enjoying everything about it so far. Be sure to check it out on Hulu before it disappears.

Terminator Salvation

Mon, 25 May 2009 17:59:30 GMT

by: colemanranahan
The question is, can it really be saved?

Terminator Salvation is written by Michael Ferris (T-3 and Surrogates) and John D. Brancato (T-3). The film is directed by McG. This film has a huge cast, starring Christian Bale as John Connor, along with Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright, Moon Bloodgood, Helana Bonham Carter, Anton Yelchin as Kyle Reese, Michael Ironside, Bryce Dallas Howard as Kate Connor, and Common. By the way every time I say McG i feel weird. Terminator Salvation takes place after Judgement Day has happened, and John Connor is helping the resistance to stop humanity from disappearing forever.

I was finally looking forward to a Terminator movie where we would be able to be a part of the actual reisstance, the actual war that was Machine vs. Man. I remember seeing Terminator 3 and being just ok with it. The trailer for Salvation made it look incredibly gritty and full of action. Terminator Salvation definitely delivers on action, there is no doubt about that. I enjoyed the gritty look and feel to it.

The dialogue, I was not a huge fan of. Parts of it were cliche, there was even a random part where John Connor just grunts into a radio...I'm not sure if he had something stuck in his throat like dust, or if I simply missed what was going on. Certain parts of the movie also felt forced, like the writer's were having trouble moving things along so they tossed something in to get everything moving. Some of the trademarks of Terminator, the "I'll Be Back" seemed a little hokey in this film. It didn't seem fan pleasing, or an homage, just tossed in there.

I fet like there should have been more set up for Sam Worthington's character Marcus Wright. Many times his character just knew how to do something, without explanation, he would just fix something. Did his character previously live on a farm? Was he a mechanic? It's established that before Judgement Day Marcus killed some people was executed on Death Row, and was supposed to donate his body to science. Dr. Serena Corgan from Cyberdyne Systems, played by Helan Bonham Carter, with terminal cancer working on advanced research is the one to convince him to do this. However he wakes up in 2018 to discover the world he knew was gone, and the machines have taken over.

Why the writers from T-3 were tapped for this movie I will probably never know. Especially considering that McG wanted to make a great Terminator film. He basically succeeded, but the failure is all in the writing. Which is a shame because the only reason Bale wanted in on the film is that is was character based, and that didn't really happen in this film. Especially since it felt like they just threw away Kate Connor as a character. They showed Kyle Reese as starting to fill into a leaderhsip role, I liked that, so it should be interesting to see what they do with him next film.

There was maybe only one cinematography shot I had a problem with, which ws one of the drag around shots of Sam Worthingotn you could tell it was green screen.

We also get to see the origin of the T-800 101 model from the original Terminator which I thought was interesting and a lead in for more origin since there will probably be another Terminator movie. I guess you could say this is a minor spoiler, so don't read if you haven't seen it yet, but Arnold's in this movie, as a face-planted CGI T-800. He doesn't have any dialogue

Spoilers now

I thought the storyline using the frequency that shuts down Skynet bots to be reversed and track down the high command was a good concept, but sort of clumsily written. Michael Ironside was an exception though in playing a good role through General Ashdown. This sets up how Connor became the leader of the reisistance.

Marcus Wright manages to redem himself in the end when John Connor gets impaled by a Terminator, and donates his heart to him, but I guess I didn't feel the redemption.

Overall I enjoyed Terminator Salvation, but I would've hired entirely different writers. That said, it looks gritty, and had a great feel to it, but the writing is probably the downfall of this movie.

The Tonight Show w/ Conan O'Brien

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:17:29 GMT

by: colemanranahan
The wacky hair, the hip strings, the Ford Taurus, Conan has come prepared

Ladies and gentlemen, it is with a proud voice I present to you, The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. The wacky pompadour with pizazz has taken the reigns from Jay Leno and is now the present image beamed to televisions across the United States first thing after the news now. I could not be happier. Conan's first show was a fantastic sight to see, that nothing had changed. Conan still came out with that quirky, high energy personality that he's always had. He even debuted the hip strings! And the famous 1992 Ford Taurus he's been driving all along this time.
A lot of people were worried about the transition of Conan moving from New York to Los Angeles, but Conan kept the intro song, which I think is a huge part of Conan's signature, besides everything else practically. He also kept the band, The Max Weinberg 7 along for the ride. Although it is a shame Joel Goddard did not transition, Andy Richter is now the voice of The Tonight Show. He isn't a bad announcer to be quite honest, I was a little worried, but he did a fine job. I think he interjected a little too much during the opening monologue, but given a month or two I'm sure everything can get settled in quickly.

The set for The Tonight Show looks absolutely gorgeous, with a gargantuan amount of space that can be utilized to their advantage. I can't wait for some of the skits they come up with in that huge area.

People all over seemed to think that Conan was playing it safe the first episode, which I could see. But I easily saw Conan slip into fine form and get comfortable with what was going on with the show. Give him a couple of weeks, we'll have a prime Conan.

I thought for the first show guests were interesting, Will Ferrell and Pearl Jam, which were both highly entertaining even though I'm not a Pearl Jam listener.

As someone who has watched Conan O'Brien since 7th grade, staying up late at night when I should have been going to bed, I'm glad Conan has come to an earlier time slot, sure he might be a little wackier than the time slot's previous viewers are unaware about, but I'm sure Conan will safely tuck in America like that of Jay, and before him that of Johnny Carson.

Welcome home Conan.

Drag Me To Hell

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:42:32 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Which way? Kicking or screaming?

Drag Me to Hell is written and directed by Sam Raimi and co-written by Ivan Raimi. The film stars Alison Lohman (Matchstick Men) Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Lorna River, and Justin Long. Christine Brown is your average loan officer, getting by in the world and looking for that big promotion. She gets her opportunity when Mrs. Ganush comes along, looking for an extension on her house loan so that she may continue to live there. Her boss Mr. Jacks tells her to take initiative and that she has to make the difficult decisions in order to climb the corporate ladder. She denies Mrs. Ganush the extension and well I'd be damned if I said all hell didn't break loose. Mrs. Ganush curses Christine and attacks her.
I haven't had so much fun with a film like this in a long time. Drag Me to Hell is all sorts of fun, even doing so while being incredibly campy. I got several friends to go along who thought the film was going to be complete crap but they ended up walking out with their jaws hanging to their shoes. Sure there's a conveniently placed anvil lying in a Los Angeles shed, but it was so much fun to see it used! The film also does a great job in getting you to jump, even when you expect it.

The dialogue is cheesy, (bitch!!) the special effects are corny, there's a lot of mouth action in this film (no pun intended) so prepare to be grossed out a lot. And best of all, you get to see a talking goat, and a dancing goat demon possessing a human (danced like that at a party, boy people got confused). Drag Me to Hell is also very loud.

Alison Lohman is probably not the greatest lead actress but for DMTH I thought she did a great job, especially delivering the quite teenager like lines she delivers when she triumphs over a demon. Justin Long did an alright job playing her boyfriend professor of psychology.

I won't spoil the ending of the film, but suffice to say that there were so many areas they could have taken Drag Me to Hell. Not that I necessarily want a sequel to a film like this, but Sam Raimi could have easily branched off into other areas. That said, I had a ridiculous amount of fun watching Drag Me to Hell, so try to convince your friends to watch it, because they very well could be pleasantly surprised. And remember to put your dentures back in if you want to bite someone's face off.

The Hangover

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:14:13 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Paging Dr. Douchebag!!

The Hangover is written surprisingly by Scott More and Jon Lucas who's previous credits include Four Christmases, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past....yikes. The film is directed by Todd Phillips who has directed Old School, Starsky and Hutch, and Road Trip. The Hangover is the ever so beaten to death story of a group of dudes going to Las Vegas before a wedding to party it up before Doug (Justin Bartha) gets hitched. Doug is accompanied by his fiance's weird brother (Zach Galifianakis), somewhat jockish in charge school teacher Phil (Bradley Cooper), and an incredibly whipped dentist named Stu (Ed Helms). They party, have fun, and wake up the next morning with no recollection of what happened.

They wake up the next morning to find Doug missing, a tiger in the bathroom, and the entire suite they are staying in in complete disarray. Phil comes up with the idea of retracing their steps so that they can find out where Doug went, as well as figure out why there was a baby in the closet.

The Hangover is really funny, more than funny, it's hysterical on so many levels. The cast is a weird group of characters. They really did a nice job with using Zach Galifianakis strong point of awkward situations.

I think the one of the stronger points of the film actually was Ed Helms. I could literally listen to him play the piano all day while singing satirical tunes. I'm glad that Jeffrey Tambor's character wasn't the stereotpyical "I'm gonna kill you" father. It made the film less cliche that way then the typical worry of, "We've got to return this car in pristine order or he's gonna kill me."

Mike Tyson also made an appearance during the film, well because it turns out that was his tiger that ended up in the suite bathroom. I really don't have an opinion of his involvement in the film at all, except when he punches Alan (Galifianakis) in the face and knocks him out, "He's still got it."

Even though Bradley Cooper has been around for almost a decade I feel I am now starting to appreciate his work, starting with Alias really. I've liked him in Yes Man, and he was great in The Hangover, I look forward to any of his comedic roles in the future.

Heather Graham was also made a nice appearance, which for some strange reason made me want to watch Swingers again. She was a nice contrast to Stu the dentist.

For some reason though, which bugs me is that this should be comedy of the year so far, but there's a voice in the back of my head telling me that I Love You Man is better....and I'm not sure why. The two films have completely different subject matter, and I Love You Man actually had a theme and a message behind it. And I really enjoyed The Hangover, something must be a glitch in my brain.

The film ends in a predictable manner, but the credits killed the audience, absolutely killed. And of course I mean the comedic version of killing. Because those fellas really don't remember what they did for a good reason.

Social Networking Woes

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:11:29 GMT

by: colemanranahan
To delete or not to delete? That is the question.

When is it time to let go? When is it time to wait for the reunion and catch up? (I'm not going to my reunions for my own reasons but..) I've had an interesting dilemma in the last couple of weeks. I've deleted a lot of people from my Facebook that I knew from high school. I mean A LOT. Try about 200 people. These are people who I never talk to on the famous social networking website, I hardly ever talked to them in high school, and when I give them the axe, suddenly they freak out, immediately add me back, and lay the guilt trip on me for deleting them.

When I delete these people I get a sense of calm and accomplishment, maybe because I never need to talk to them again, but that if I actually have to talk to them again I would rather do it face to face instead of sitting at a computer screen. Go ahead and call me a hypocrite I do have some people I don't really talk to still on my Facebook account. But I'm starting to get to the point where I just want to delete my account and stick with other networks like Twitter where we can just disappear if we want to. But with Facebook, it seems if you suddenly disappear from someone's friend list everyone panics. Unfortunately sometimes the only form of communication I have with someone is over Facebook. GRRRRRR damn social networking and internet addictions.

I like doing what I do, the Twitter, Facebook, podcast, etc. etc. But at the end of the day I want to just hang out and watch a movie without being snapped at for deleting someone off an electronic list.

Facebook URL's

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:34:41 GMT

by: colemanranahan
....MySpace, is that you!?

So Facebook now has the fancy customized username URL's. Hmm fancy, I guess. So now everyone has the ability to go to facebook.com/(username) and fight amongst themselves in a giant cluster#$^! again just like.....MySpace....the social network that when mentioned we now shudder with utter contempt. Slowly but surely the YouTwitSpace/Face/shut up meme is slowly making it's tiny little trek up the hill.

I'm pretty sure Facebook is starting to lose it's mental grip. Eventually at some point Facebook will have a schizophrenic episode (We own your @&!*), punch it's users in the face (Ok you can have it back!), and complain how the cops are out to get him because he accidentally ate Henry the 3rd's cupcake....(Don't sue us please!) (disorganized much?)

What's so wrong about having your username in Facebook be =?9281231 ....I don't care really. That's why you search the networks, browse the people, Facebook certainly has a better structure when it comes to finding people, but URL's in my opinion really aren't the answer. There will be plenty of people who will take URL's that have nothing to do with them, or we'll also have all the annoying immature URL's like .com/yourface (really?). Maybe there's something I'm just missing, or I'm still a tad delirious from all those shots of vanilla syrup I had before but this is something that doesn't help much at all in my opinion.

Also a cupcake sounds good right about now...mmmm sugar.

Party Down - Are we having fun yet?

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:38:46 GMT

by: colemanranahan
The quirks of working in the catering business.

Some of us have the dream of making it big, some of us have tried, and some of us have simply fizzled in our hopes and dreams. The Party Down experience is something fun and fantastic that conveys that. Created by Rob Thomas, Paul Rudd, John Enbom, and Dan Etheridge (essentially everyone from Veronica Mars) Party Down is the story of Hollywood wanna-be's or failures working in the catering business in Los Angeles, California.

Think of Party Down as basically the U.S. version of The Office set in the catering business. Much of comedy is set on weird, quirky, awkward humor that is very much present on The Office. There is the overzealous boss Ron Donald who tends to make himself look like a moron (a very interesting and fun Ken Marino) who is dead set on opening up his own Soup&Crackers franchise store. Henry Pollard (Adam Scott) is essentially Jim Halpert but for some reason more interesting and can't stop running into people at parties that recognize him from the one commercial that has marked him as the guy who says, "Are we having fun yet?" Casey Clein (Lizzy Caplan) is kind of Pam but actually cool with a stand-up comedian backround who has recently divorced her husband. Martin Starr plays a Ryan/Dwight - esque character as an aspiring screenwriter waiting to make it big.

What's fun about Party Down is that every episode takes place at a different party. The episodes don't stretch outside the party but they are able to infuse personal lives throughout the conversations that take place at the parties they cater. So somewhat slowly we see character development more out of Henry and Casey and Ron as the episodes go on. And what's a shame is that Jane Lynch is not in the last two episodes of the season because she provides a nice contrast to the show, but she had to go start filming a series named Glee (which Conor and I have also reviewed the pilot gleefully hahahahaha) so Jennifer Collidge takes her place in the last two episodes of season 1.

What's also a shame about this show is hardly anyone has seen it. It's been on the Starz network and is now on Netflix Instant watch so I urge you to see it. The first season has only 10 episodes but they all conveniently fill the 25 minute mark. Party Down has been renewed for a second season and I feel it necessary for this show to get out to more people as Adam Scott is starting to climb my roster of interesting actors (not that I have a roster but still...ok Simon Baker, Jon Hamm...uh...). And yes the Lizzy Caplan bug has bit me, so all in all if you can check out this series somehow so that it gets some more air time.

Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:13:52 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Batter up!

Pretend this is Real Time with Bill Maher for just a second (just because you mentioned it Josh :p)

New Rule: Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman are never allowed to work on Transformers again......PERIOD.

Maybe it was just because they invited a third writer on, but whatever the hell happened to the final draft of Revenge of the Fallen, seems to have been written by small children who huffed white-out and finger painted the entire thing. Because this was....atrocious. I'll go ahead and say it now, I enjoyed Terminator Salvation more than this in terms of summer blockbusters, and I didn't like TS which says a lot.

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen is directed by Michael Bay, who directed the previous installment. Revenge of the Fallen takes place two years after Sam Witwicky placed the cube in Megatron's chest and sent him to the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean. Well now he's back, and apparently decided to become the Fallen's bitch....The Fallen is an ancient robot that inhabited the planet earth a long time before Megatron had even reached the planet, and he has him running errands...."Be a dear and turn on the machine hidden in the pyramids so that we can suck the life out of the sun will you?"

I'm trying not to think about this film more and more as I go on, but every time I do I actually become more angry. Really?!? You're going to have Mudflaps/Skids two worthless/product placement characters throughout the entire film? They amount to nothing as offensive characters than to be mere comedic substitute for Jazz's missing humor. I literally cringed every time they were on screen. The fact that Ironhide and Ratchet were almost backseated to these characters is beyond me. I actually enjoyed the first one to be quite honest, I liked the first one. And now I'm going to say that I loved the first one just because this film was such a huge disappointment to me.

I didn't really have a problem with Bay directing this, with the exception being the animation this time around for Transformers. It almost seemed worse than the last film to be honest. Most of the sequences were fine, but when the animation started to speed up it seemed to become noticeably worse. The fights were somewhat enjoyable, especially with Optimus driving his hand through a chest and ripping one character apart was fun.

There are definitely sequences in the film that are enjoyable and feel like the first film, but there are just too many scenes in this movie that are not enjoyable, boring, and intentionally dragged on. Much of the humor that made the first one easier to withstand is now obnoxious and practically used as a crutch in this film.

I can't fathom....why the Blackbird decepticon turned Autobot is interesting at all. I found his monologues to be annoying and way too drawn out.

The story for Revenge of the Fallen is not good. Energon is made more of a factor in this film, which was interesting, the storyline behind the Fallen was simply not interesting enough.

Shia LeBouf, Megan Fox, and Josh Duhamel (probably one of the best actors on this film and should be in more films) did a fine job, with Ramon Rodriguez (Witwicky's roomate college) being an annoying exception. I could not stand his character throughout the entire film and felt like his character was just slapped in there because he just happened to be running from the Terminatrix (yeah that's 2 Terminator references already...keep going). John Turturro's character just seemed to get more ridiculous by the second, whereas he was actually humorous in the first film.

I really don't mind Michael Bay directing this films at all, they're not supposed to be AMAZING films, but something visually tantalizing. My recommendation, just re-watch the first one again so you avoid kicking your car out of frustration and thinking it could've been a better character than most of the ones in Revenge of the Fallen. My Cavalier rocks just so you all know, better than Revenge of The Fallen. Starscream you disappoint me for the last time.

Public Enemies Take 2

Sat, 04 Jul 2009 06:42:52 GMT

by: colemanranahan
I have absolutely nothing I want to do in Indiana.

Public Enemies is the latest Michael Mann film starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger, essentially a folk hero if you will who liked to rob banks during the Great Depression in the 1930's. And Christian Bale plays Melvin Pervis (giggle), the agent in charge of finding him and bringing him to justice.

To start off, Public Enemies looks like no other film out there. Much of the film was shot on the high resolution F23 Sony Cameras. For parts of the film I almost thought it looked like I was watching a documentary. And I actually kind of enjoyed the feel of it. Michael Mann likes to experiment with new cameras and styles which he also used in Collateral which I liked. Bravo to the film maker who is willing to take chances and at least achieve some sort of success with that. Especially during the action scenes, which I thought were filmed really well. However, there was a seesaw effect going on with the action scenes and then the scenes with heavy dialogue. The dialogue would set up for great action scenes, but would initially drag out way too long.

The acting isn't necessarily a problem in the movie, but the character dynamics were. Both Dillinger and Pervis come off as static, stale characters. I'm not a huge fan of Johnny Depp (as in I don't get to watch a lot of his roles), I liked him in this film, but I just don't think he really got a chance to explore his character. With Pervis you start to see some character evolution in the last quarter of the film but it wasn't really enough.

Which may have tied in with how long the movie was. I could have easily seen about twenty minutes shaved off of this film. There was a huge cast with this film, but it was hit or miss depending upon the character.

One of the problems I had with the film is that throughout the film everything is seen in real time, and in the last scene with Dillinger, a slow motion effect is put in place, now I understand the set up for the shot, but it was almost a bit of a turnoff with the style and pacing of the movie.

The soundtrack for Public Enemies was something I heavily enjoyed. The song Ten Million Slaves by Otis Taylor was a brilliant piece to use during the bank robbery scenes, and I almost felt it underused at first, but was overall pleased. I've never heard banjo and guitar fused together like that before. Public Enemies did a great job capturing the essence of the 1930's with the soundtrack.

The story, though not entirely historically accurate, was probably the 3rd thing I liked about this movie even though. I didn't like the entire story spanning, but a lot of parts I enjoyed here and there.

Overall Public Enemies was enjoyable, but nothing above that. The soundtrack was a huge plus and I'm actually going to go buy it. The acting didn't really do anything for me except make me do J. Edgar Hoover (thanks Billy) impressions for a half hour at the Steak&Shake afterwords. My waiter thought we were all drunk. So far for the summer flicks this is actually in my top 5 movies because a lot of other movies have been so disappointing. This probably won't end up in my top 5 for the year, but if it does, well then.........

1st Concert Ever - Green Day: Live in Chicago

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:16:56 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Do you know your enemy?

It was one crazy night. One I'll never forget. The first concert I have ever attended. I've bought a lot of music over time but never have attended live music other than open mic night. And I thought what better way than to commemorate my first concert then with my favorite band, Green Day.

Make all the first time jokes you want but Monday July 13, 2009 was my first ever concert, and I'm 20 years old. Kind of sad but I spend a majority of my money on movies, DVD's and comics.

The ride up was a blast in it of itself. I'm not sure what kind of pre-concert ritual with most people go through, but I chose to start off on a sugar high with gummy worms and Gatorade. Probably a rookie mistake due to the fact that we hit road congestion on the 290. We didn't move for 30 minutes due to a truck that got torn in half. Luckily no one was hurt I think.

    Not sure why but I thought the photo to the left was somewhat amusing. That and the other one marking the "Road Safe." .....Right. Anyway. We got up to the concert 3 and a half hours early. The fun was just beginning.
    We pull around the United Center onto Madison Street, and then the fun began. We pulled up, guys who were wearing official United Center gear were directing people to parking lots and streets for parking. Got out and parked on a street near the United Center. Got out, paid the guy, and went on our merry way.
    Since we had time to kill we thought we would explore the Greek portion of Chicago and pass by the Van Buren bridge. I have an unmitigated love affair with Chicago so just the walk alone was worth the trip.

We get back to the United Center to discover that we had gotten scammed on our parking. Another rookie mistake. Turns out the jerks somehow got a hold of official United Center gear and got a bunch of people. Not aggravated yet but slightly annoyed. We got in to the United Center, no problem getting in, now came the giant rush to the memorabilia stands. I originally wasn't going to buy a t-shirt but as always my friend somehow manages to convince me to buy something, and I came out with a tour t-shirt.

After putting on said t-shirt we went to find our seats, which were basically on the third level of the United Center, basically the very top. We hand the lady our tickets and to the most amazing luck she tells us, "We're sorry your seats are under construction, we moved you to the 1st floor behind the sound booth." I couldn't believe my luck. Got scammed on parking, had to pay for parking again, and we get comped to the first floor behind the sound booth. For my first concert, not too shabby.

The Bravery was the opening act. The lights came down, the crowd went wild. It was a rush. I've listened to their music before, and I liked them a lot. They are quite impressive live. The music was explosive, Sam Endicott's voice was fantastic, and I was having a good time. The two quarrels I had with The Bravery is that they only played a half hour, and that Mr. Endicott is not a crowd worker. Which is not necessarily a huge problem but considering the fact that they were touring with Green Day, a band that half the concert is practically crowd work, was a tad offsetting. However they played some some songs off a new album they are currently working on so that was a plus.

After they finished Honest Mistake one of my favorite Bravery songs they walked off stage and Green Day's tech's started setting up. Now this being my first concert I had no idea how fast or how slow this was going to take, so I did not bother moving from my seat.

Green Day was ready. They had a giant projection screen behind them, and when Song of the Century started they walked out to the beautiful Chicago night skyline projected behind them. Couldn't have thought of a better way than for them to come out.

I really enjoyed 21st Century Breakdown but I had no idea the explosive power that titled song would hold. Practically rivaling American Idiot if you've ever seen Bullet in A Bible, their live DVD from Milton Keanes. They started off strong with 21st Century Breakdown, Know Your Enemy, and East Jesus Nowhere (my favorite). East Jesus Nowhere was interesting because Billie Joe Armstrong had a kid come on stage and pretend to save him as the song opened and the pyrotechnics exploded. The pyrotechnics were used quite well in this concert. Then they performed Holiday, The Static Age, Are We the Waiting, and St. Jimmy. The use of the projection screen for each song always changed, and that really added to the concert, so not only were we listening to the music, catching the power of the band, we were also getting the message from the band.

And if it's hard to tell, basically Billie Armstrong doesn't like the mainstream media. Then Green Day played some other classics like Hitchin A Ride, Brainstew, She, and then Mass Hysteria. Billie brought a random gentleman and lady on stage to both sing one half of Brainstew. After the woman was done singing he had her do a stage dive, gave her a weird look and said, "That was the worst fucking stage dive I've ever seen." The audience couldn't have laughed harder. I thought the concert was over, but of course an encore was coming. They came back and played another 45 minutes, starting with American Idiot, and then Jesus of Suburbia. Jesus of Suburbia was so much fun because Billie Joe Armstrong looked for someone who could play rhythm guitar for the song and after freaking some people out by inviting them on stage, he found an 11 year old who was amazing. He played at least 3/4's of the song. I couldn't believe it.

Then Green Day closed out with Basketcase, King for A Day/Shout (A damn good song live), 21 Guns, Minority and then finished out naturally with Good Riddance.

Overall, breaking in the first concert in was a fantastic blast. Even though we got scammed for parking, got great seats, and loved the humor and ferocity that Green Day brought to the stage. Billie Joe Armstrong is the master of crowd work. I couldn't have asked for a better time, even if my friend did end up getting a speeding ticket at the end of the night :p

The Ugly Truth

Sat, 25 Jul 2009 08:24:26 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Self-explanatory.

Bipolar acting (Katherine Heigl) meets a contrived script. That's The Ugly Truth.......no seriously, that's The Ugly Truth.

Not a good week for movies, I wasn't really prepared to go see one of my favorite comedians toss it up with a bunch of gerbils, and The Ugly Truth didn't seem anything special but I was convinced to go anyway. I'm actually glad I went to see this film. It's everything wrong that can go wrong with a script.

The plot is simple, a television show producer (Heigl) who is not so skilled romantically begins taking hints from a shovinistic man whore (Gerard Butler). The Ugly Truth is probably the worst performance from Katherine Heigl that she could muster. The entire first half of the film is some of the most contrived acting I've ever seen from her. Everyone including the extras did a better job than she did. Towards the last half of the film when Heigl actually gets a feel for the character her performance gets better but by then I tuned her out.

Gerard Butler simply looked like he was having fun. He's completely natural the entire time, except for one scene which wasn't his fault.

I tend to hound writers a lot, and this would be a perfect example of where to start off badly for a debut screenplay by Nicole Eastman. Co-writer Karen Lutz although having several scripts under her belt, and most of them not worth mentioning, did not help her much. Every single scene in this movie is contrived. The set up to each scene is clearly defined and tells you exactly where the scene is going to go next. Like when the cat comes down the stairs with Heigl he suddenly darts out the open window in the corner and climbs a tree. Heigl then climbs a tree, rescues the cat, then see's a walking Kalvin Clein commercial just come out of the shower, and then she falls and hangs upside down from the tree and the man comes to her rescue. That's how every bit of this movie went. And none of it was romantic in the slightest. It's a like a giant sign just hanging in the yard which reads, "GO HERE NEXT --->"

Yes I realize it's a romantic film (I would not say comedy, I laughed 7 times maybe), and I actually let go of that of that fact. The only time when this movie actually does anything is the dance scene with Heigl and Butler dancing together, they look natural together, there is actual romance taking place. Heigl is actually dancing and enjoying her character. And that's the best part of the movie. Also if you're going to film a sex scene the woman doesn't usually look picture perfect Stepford afterwards. And if that was written in the script....well then.....

Save yourself a headache, but if you want a great lesson in where scripting influences heavily on how the film will go, then watch this film. Also this should show you how not to direct a character from California to Antartica. And that's The Ugly Truth.

District 9

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:28:16 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Stranded far from home, District 9

District 9 is a film written and directed by Neill Blomkamp based off the 2005 short film he also made called Alive in Joburg (to which I have also seen and thoroughly enjoyed).The film stars Sharlto Copley as Wikus Van De Merwe, an MNU (Multi-National United) employee who must convince over a million aliens or Prawns as used derogatorily to District 10, essentially an internment camp for the stranded aliens. MNU is also the 2nd largest manufacturer of weapons in the entire world. The film starts out with the aliens making contact 20 years prior and the aliens descend upon Johannesburg, South Africa. For years humans waited for an invasion or advances in technology but neither of those happened. As it turns out they are workers turned refugee's after their flagship goes missing. Finally people get fed up and want the aliens to leave.

I was blown away by this film. I think this is probably one of the best films of 2009 so far, but that's because I like movies. Plus 2009 really hasn't seen a giant list of great movies come out either. (To clarify) This movie carries a ton of gravitas behind it, but I think it will be harder to understand for people who do not enjoy film as much as movie aficionados do.

Wikus is accompanied by plenty of armed guards into District 9 to deliver eviction notices to all of the aliens. In order to get them out of District 9 he must get them to sign papers first. This initially does not go over well, especially when Wikus meets an alien named Christopher Johnson, who has a son with him in District 9.

The storytelling is something very interesting and not necessarily new, but is told in a very well done way mixing documentary with actual film story behind it. The beginning concentrates mainly on the documentary, and after about the first twenty minutes is when Wikus meets Christopher and the story begins to progress. Wikus is exposed to a chemical the aliens were making when he visits Christopher to evict him. People were complaining that the story took too long to get into but I think the setup was done quite nicely.

Visually, District 9 is STUNNING. I was impressed that even though it is shot in a documentary feel, I liked the fact that they used old school camera footage to show how other people were witnessing what was going on around the area of Johannesburg. And as the story progresses the documentary style tends to go away but there are snippets here and there to show how the world is viewing the situation as it evolves. The alien weaponry (which also could only be fired by aliens) in this film is beautiful, and brutal at the same time. The audience was stunned by what the weapons would do in combat and gasped quite often. I don't exactly liken it to Saving Private Ryan but I was reminded of the scene where the soldiers were decimated off the tank by .20 mm rounds, but turn those into lasers and gravity guns.

The concepts that are in District 9 are very applicable to the modern generation and before. And by that I mean the entire apartheid situation. It's amazing in this day and age what people already do to each other. But in this film it shows how animal like humans can be when faced with the unknown. Especially since the ethics of "Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it" arises with aliens. In a world that is chalk full of racism and starting to heal from it's wounds, humans unite against aliens suddenly, unleashing prejudice. After the aliens land District 9 is eventually walled off to keep them separated from society. They immerse themselves in gun trafficking, prostitution, and lots and lots of cat food. Occasionally the Prawns are even hunted down to be eaten by some of the witch doctors because they believe it will help them transform and become powerful like the aliens.

After Wikus inhales the chemical he begins to get sick and develop a biology similar to Prawns starting with his hand. He is quarantined immediately, gets away, but is rejected by his wife after he begins to start changing. So he slips back into District 9 because he knows MNU won't initially follow him there. The concept of becoming one of them, again not new but told very well and very distinctly. Wikus then finds out that the chemical he inhaled was part of a fuel cell to help the Prawns leave Earth after being developed for twenty years. He bargains with Christopher to help him change back to completely human if he helps get the fuel cell back from MNU after he was initially quarantined with it.

This lead to an amazing battle scene between MNU forces, and Wikus and Christopher. Those alien weapons were something else. I also thought that as film progressed the fights got better and bigger on scale. I really enjoyed the fight scene where Wikus utilizes a Mech to protect Christopher.

Overall, I think if people grasp the concepts that are behind District 9 then you'll love this movie. I think general audiences will probably enjoy it at least visually but a lot of people walking out of the theater didn't seem to get the soul that was behind the film. I can't wait to see what Blomkamp holds for the future.

Gamer

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 22:51:23 GMT

by: colemanranahan
.......yeah...

Having just moved into my new apartment I needed something to do.....So I went and saw Crank 2....I mean...Gamer. *Cough* *Cough* Oh wait, that was Gamer? Neveldine and Taylor are at it again, so overly obsessed with the idea that life is a game. To a certain extent it is. However having only seen Crank 2 was enough. Gamer is basically the concept of Death Race meets the visuals of the Crank series. You survive the game, or in this case, SLAYERS 30 times and you get set free off of death row, however you are controlled by someone else. The game is designed by Ken Castle (Hall) who had previously designed "Society" The real life version of The Sims/Second Life what have you where real people are paid to be controlled by someone in a remote location. People are able to be controlled by chips that replicate brain tissue and replace them.

And of course there's the antagonist, played by Michael C. Hall who has a bearing deep dark secret of some kind. Full disclosure, I love Michael C. Hall, he was absolutely fine in this, the southern accent was a bit much but a particular dance scene made me enjoy his silly character a little more.

Having seen Crank 2 previously all the camera shots were practically the same. Fast moving, quick takes, obnoxious focus on women's bodies, suffocating close to the shoulder shots, we barely get full glimpses from the characters unless the scene has slowed down a lot. I became bored with the movie.

Gerard Butler rarely disappoints, even in crappy movies, and Michael C. Hall as well. The story ended up being fairly typical and when the credits rolled, "GAME OVER" I rolled my eyes. And Simon (played by Logan Lerman) was boring, even his back story was boring.

Unlike Crank 2, Gamer was not as fun, it didn't have that much energy in my mind like Crank 2. If you want to see a Neveldine and Taylor movie go see the Crank series instead. I know it's not much of a review but there really isn't a lot to think about in this movie. Luckily the next night I went and saw Extract which saved my weekend.

Extract

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 00:02:09 GMT

by: colemanranahan
What are you doing at my house?!!?

So after the weird taste Gamer left in my mouth I felt a need to close out my weekend with something nice, like Extract. The next Mike Judge movie, Extract stars Jason Bateman as Joel, the owner of an extract plant who can't get along sexually with his wife (played by the great Kristen Wiig), and also has problems professionally at the plant. Starting when Step (Clifton Collins Jr) gets in a work related accident where he now only has one testicle. Then an attractive thief named Cindy comes to town (Kunis) who convinces Step to get a lawyer Joe Adler who is obsessed with slamming Joel's balls in the door (Gene Simmons) instead of settling.

Extract is a nice comedy. I can't think of a better way to put that. It doesn't force the comedy in, instead letting slip through the random situations that happen, or the everyday life happenings that people can connect with on screen, such as Bateman choking on pot smoke. Not that I connect with that....but you get my point. So there aren't a ton of laughs, but instead you find yourself laughing every couple of minutes.

Thought the acting across the board was great. Especially David Koechner as the annoying neighbor Nathan who stops Joel's car every time he turns into the driveway. Ben Affleck was a bit of a strange character, but very likable as Joel's friend Dean. J.K. Simmons calling everyone Dinkus was downright hysterical even though the audience I was with wasn't really aware of who was making the movie, so it was an awkward laugh. There are a lot of the under your breath chuckles which I really enjoyed. T.J. Miller playing the rock star plant worker Rory was one of them.

There really isn't a lot of plot to the movie, the story is incredibly simple and easy to follow and that's pretty much all to Extract. It's not as memorable as Office Space, but I enjoyed a lot of it. It's a very refreshing fun movie to see after you've seen something that did less than your expectations.

- Spoiler territory -
Especially the semi-retarded gigolo (Dustin Milligan) Joel hires to sleep with his wife. Which comes from connections from his buddy DEAN! (sorry love Supernatural) Joel tries sleeping with Cindy in order to get away from his sexually bored wife while trying to sell the company at the same time, citing angst amongst the workers. So Joel becomes more and more agitated as time goes on. Meanwhile the gigolo falls in love with his wife, but she rejects him and chooses Joel instead.

Overall Extract is definitely in my top 3 comedies of the year so far. I enjoyed it a lot so see it when you can. Subtle, but in the groove.

Breaking Benjamin: Dear Agony

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:17:04 GMT

by: colemanranahan
I Will Not Bow

Running off their experimental album Phobia, Breaking Benjamin is ready to break into the foray again with their newly released album Dear Agony. I was interested to see exactly where they went with this album since Phobia was a huge stepping stone into which they could change their sound. In Phobia we saw them really play with Benjamin Burnley's vocals. He became more melodic and soothing than the grunge and insane vocals he had on Saturate and We Are Not Alone. I considered Phobia to also be somewhat softer then their previous two albums. Dear Agony somehow manages to hit hard, while going farther into Ben Burnley's vocal range. And I'm sure for a lot of people Burnley's vocals are the make or break in liking the band. I think that in Dear Agony he makes himself accessible to more fans, who might enjoy this album first, before going back to listen to the other three albums.

Moving into the songs, Fade Away, I Will Not Bow, Lights Out, and What Lies Beneath are perfect examples of how the guitars (Burnley, Fink who is incredibly underrated) can still have a profound impact and grunge sound while Burnley's vocals become softer and more melodic. I Will Not Bow is certainly a throwback to the Saturate era. I wish they would have done an original video for I Will Not Bow (Surrogates companion), but I still managed to like the video because Ben Burnley is a huge geek.

Crawl was an interesting song because it felt like Burnley was really holding back on the vocals. His voice while melodic, felt like it wanted to escape and rise to Sugarcoat levels (Saturate).

Give Me A Sign was the softest song on the album, and one of the best on vocals.

You can definitely tell that his grandfather was an influence in the album, in that his picture is placed in the album in dedication, and it's evident in the songwriting as well. The various references to heaven (Into the Morning) have continued over from Phobia (Unknown Soldier).

The use of strings in this album is also excellent, adding small nuances like to the song Anthem of The Angels. I've always been a fan of whenever they introduce them into the songs, because it has worked well before like in Shallow Bay.

Coming off the single I Will Not Bow, the album is quite deceptive, but enjoyable over all. I give it a solid B, B+ effort just off the first listen. Combine the albums together, hit shuffle, and Dear Agony will mix in quite well, balancing the arch that Breaking Benjamin has taken over the last nine years.

Law Abiding Citizen

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:14:10 GMT

by: colemanranahan
I'm gonna bring this whole thing down on your head.

Law Abiding Citizen is the latest from The Italian Job director F. Gary Gray and is written by Kurt Wimmer (Thomas Crown Affair, Equilibrium). Gerard Butler stars as Clyde Shelton, a man broken from losing his family to violent killers. The attorney responsible for his case Nick Rice (Jaimie Foxx), cuts a deal with one of the men Darby (Christian Stolte) who rats on the other man Ames (Josh Stewart), who was with him the night that he actually killed Shelton's family. Shelton is completely heartbroken by what transpires. The film does have a great list of supporting actors like Leslie Bibb, Colm Meaney, Bruce McGil, and Michael Irby.

Then ten years pass by. And Gerard Butler is still ripped.......oh ...I mean Rambo kills ....SPARTANS!....nevermind. Ames is put on death row and is about to be executed when everything goes horribly wrong. The drugs are administered in a certain order, and it seems that someone has tampered with them. However the warden and everyone else in the prison are baffled. Queue the badass, smart, yet psychotic Clyde Shelton. In a systematic fashion Shelton dismantles Darby piece by piece while recording the entire thing, which he sends to Rice's now 10 year old daughter to watch. Eventually Rice comes sniffing, and arrests Shelton after they discover the body.

Then all absolute hell breaks loose. While inside prison people begin dying. Shelton makes demands to be met while living more comfortably then his cellmate. He's brushed up on his law and screws with the prosecuting attorney's and judges to make examples of the justice system being a joke. This film is incredibly entertaining, and probably one of Gerard Butler's better films. I always say that Gerard Butler has yet to have a disappointing performance for me, but then again I haven't seen every bit of his work yet. The amount of time it takes for Shelton to plan and execute his deadly plans is actually intellectual and somewhat makes sense. You can't just plan a massive calculated attack from inside prison while attempting to make friends. You need a gameplan, you need a GAMER...........I'll stop.

Shelton is absolutely so disgusted by the, "It's not what you know, it's what you can prove in court" that he moves his plan beyond just the people that hurt his family, he moves on to the people responsible for not bringing them justice. Bringing "The whole fucking thing down on your head" as Shelton refers to it. And he succeeds very well. Shelton is cunning, and the film somewhat makes you question whether or not someone is working with him. As time goes on his plans elevate to a large level and chaos begins to envelop the city.

There's a fun added experience (call it the twist) that Law Abiding Citizen brings, however, the ending leaves things to be desired, a distant anti-climactic, and feels like a Hollywood sellout. Overall the Law Abiding experience is semi-cringe worthy if you're sensitive about limbs being sawed off (just kidding) but the visual effects are doing very well. Especially the end scene which I won't spoil but suffice to say the slow motion effect used is beautifully done. It probably is a B movie, but I enjoyed it a little more than that.

Paranormal Activity

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 18:44:14 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Scary enough to get those pants off?

So I missed all the advanced screenings to go see this film. I've heard non-stop hype about this film and considering the weak showing of films this week (Vampire's Assistant, Astro Boy I still want to see) I thought my best bet would be Paranormal Activity by first time director Oren Peli. The film also stars first time actors Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston.

The film centers around Michah and Katie, living together in a nice house in San Diego. Katie claims that since she was a child, she has been haunted by a ghost. Micah then buy's a nice camera in the hopes of capturing some paranormal activity on camera. Constantly he walks around the house, taping, and especially at night when they're sleeping because that's when spirits and ghosts are most prevalent. Micah is completely amused by the situation while Katie is not and is losing sleep over the entire thing. Then they start witnessing events like doors moving while they're sleeping, loud thuds in the house, random noises, a psychic they hired getting scared out of the house, the demonologist who has suddenly disappeared out of the country that was supposed to help them, or Katie getting dragged out of her bed by absolutely nothing.

I'm a sucker for low budget movies. It's so great to be able to see what you can accomplish with literally next to nothing. Or in Paranormal's case, around $10,000-$15,000. And Paranormal does just that. The effects in this film are awesome. But Paranormal's biggest sell, in my opinion, is the crowd experience. This is a film that you should be watching with other people, because it'll probably scare the crap out of them. I hardly get scared by movies anymore (exception being Drag Me To Hell made me jump a few times) but I'm sure several people out there can find a few people brave/scared enough to watch the film with you. Because the film is so much more enjoyable with other people. I was just laughing the entire time as tension was built up in the room when a door would close, an audible "gasp" would go through the crowd and I could feel the people next to me tense up as the movie progressed.

Obviously a lot of people are going to compare this to the Blair Witch Project in which there was an improvised outline of a script, and so the dialogue was more natural. I have not seen Blair Witch (oh boo hoo) so I can't make that assessment.

A huge part of the plot lies on when Katie tells Micah that when she was a kid she said she was haunted by a ghost, and the ghost burnt her house down and everything in it. Micah hears a sound in the attic and practically scares Katie out of her wits when he finds a charred picture of Katie from her old house. Now Katie becomes sleep deprived but cannot leave the house because the ghost will simply just follow her everywhere. This is an integral part that keeps the film going because now Micah and Katie have to keep experiencing what is going on.

The one problem Paranormal Activity suffers from is the "slow burn" as I like to call it. A real slow burn. It certainly takes awhile to build upon the experience. I was very neutral to the first thirty minutes of the movie as they built up the characters of Micah and Katie. But it is completely worth it by the end of the film. Think of one of those Excel graphs where the line is just stale for the first three months then climbs and climbs. Most of the film is Katie bickering with Micah about the camera being in her face most of the time or Katie being absolutely scared and sleepwalking in and around the house. And that builds to a high finish.

There is also one tiny loophole that the film has. The Ouija board that Micah brings home infuriates Katie, so they leave the house for a bit, and when Micah does that leaves the camera on centered on the board in the living room. The spirit moves the indicator across the board and the board catches fire, which Micah doesn't really address at all. He address the scratches leftover on it, but never mentions the fire which I thought was odd to me.

And I can't talk about this movie without spoiling it. So if you wish to just see the movie instead before finishing this review, go do so.

The end is incredibly entertaining. Although apparently there are different endings (not in the wide release) to the film according to people who saw it at smaller film festivals. So I'll be interested to see that when it comes out on DVD. One night lights go flickering on and off in the host, while Katie and Micah are in bed sleeping. Then Micah begins to lay down baby powder to see if something is actually walking through the house, and one night you just see footprints appear in the room. *Tension builder /sassy voice* I was sitting next to a guy and his girlfriend was practically holding on to me from two seats over. Then one night the spirit lifts up the blanket, then (I'm probably not even citing this in the right order but bear with me) Katie gets dragged out of her bed down the hall with Micah running out of the room to go save her. He does so. By the end of the film Katie is sleep/ghost walking and one night just stares at Micah for several hours, walks out of the room, down the stairs in complete darkness, then begins screaming. I'm thinking at this point something messed up is going to happen, real messed up. Micah runs down the stairs, and Katie suddenly stops screaming. There's absolute silence for about fifteen seconds before Micah's body is thrown from downstairs upstairs and straight at the camera. Everyone in the audience freaked, and I was just sitting there enjoying the whole thing. Then Katie appears at the bedroom door, soaked in blood, then crawls over to Micah still in a ghostly state, and then lunges at the camera. Great way to end to the film on the climax (that's what she said, damn you Office).

Then I got a real kick out of the credit, which was just the Paramount copyright and the "Katie's whereabouts are still unknown" followed by "These characters and events are fictitious." The real brilliant part of this movie followed that, everyone thinks there's going to be a credits roll, and the screen was black with that audible hum, still keeping the tension in the room, and hardly anyone wanted to get up. Probably from not wanting to fall down the stairs scared, but the film did a good job of keeping people glued to their seats. Overall Paranormal Activity was an incredibly fun tale, and should probably be seen with multiple people.

The Men Who Stare At Goats

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:19:14 GMT

by: colemanranahan
I am a jedi warrior.

Directed by Grant Heslov
Written by Peter Straughan (How to Lose Friends and Alienate People)
Based on a book by Jon Ronson

The Men Who Stare At Goats stars Ewan McGregor as Bob Wilton, a reporter for a Michigan paper who decides to go to Iraq after his wife leaves him and runs across Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney) who claims to be a jedi, a psychic warrior re-activated for duty to use his paranormal powers. Wilton then follows him along on his mission.

The Men Who Stare At Goats is the strangest movie I've seen this year. It's just off the walls (quite literally to say) strange and for many people it's strangeness will turn a lot of people off. I however, kind of enjoyed this film. Many moments in the film are also somewhat stale, uninteresting, and make you stare at your watch. However, when it gets into the strange, I found it to be quite enjoyable and couldn't stop giggling in my seat.

I'm betting Jeff Bridges had a lot of fun shooting this film, not because he looks like The Dude nor plays him, but his character is allowed to be downright silly. Kevin Spacey's character, is the exact opposite, completely serious about what he is doing, which makes it all the more funny. Ewan McGregor's character was just very stale. His narration is boring, and drags the story along.

The constant Jedi jokes had to have McGregor cracking up during shooting though, because there were quite a few of them. Towards the end of the film I started to like his character, especially his final scene, which I won't spoil, but was just silly fun.There isn't much to the plot, although I did like the story, because let's be honest, we all want the power to stop a goat's heart. There really isn't much else to describe about this film more so than it is just strange.

Overall, most people won't like this film. But if you're a strange person like I am, you may actually enjoy The Men Who Stare At Goats.

Pirate Radio

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:41:15 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Let's Rock!

Written and Directed by Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Bean, Knotting Hill)
Stars - Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Nick Frost, January Jones, Tom Sturridge, Tom Brooke, Rhys Ifans, Kenneth Branagh

Before there was Pirate Radio, there was The Boat That Rocked. However you want to call it, Pirate Radio is a mad smash of fun, drizzled with hilarity and silliness, and quite a nice cast as well. The film centers around a pirate radio station that is in the North Sea in the 1960's, broadcasting rock&roll to Britons all over the country since it's not being played on the national radio. Carl (Sturridge) is sent to the ship to be under his god-fathers care (Nighy) and gets to deeply inhale the disc jockey culture after being kicked out of school. The rag tag group of fun disc jockey's is headed up by The Count (Hoffman) an on the air fast talking, openly defiant American bent on playing music wherever he pleases till the day he dies. All the while Prime Minister lackey Sir Alistair Dormandy (Kenneth Branagh) is trying to shut them down, constantly yelling at his subordinate Twatt (Jack Davenport) and yelling "Ass!" a lot. Don't worry I do that a lot too.

I honestly kept thinking that I had my fun movie of the year picked out, then along came Pirate Radio. For me PR had all kinds of laughs, the flat out well written joke, the subtle glance that can make you giggle, or the just plain silliness that came out in the script. And for this film, it wasn't really the script as much as it was the acting. Phillip Seymour Hoffman continues to pull of another great performance with The Count, who may end up being one of my favorite characters of his. He can be completely serious when he wants to be, all without stopping the comedy. Bill Nighy was absolutely brilliant. Carl at first expects to be put under duress when he first boards the ship only to discover that his god-father really doesn't give a flying rat what Carl does, and even tries to help him lose his virginity on the ship, to Quentin's (Nighy) NIECE. Nick Frost was also a fun character. Dave (Frost) is incredibly smoothe somehow, and ends up stealing much of Carl's thunder throughout the film, even though Dave tries to help him lose the V card when they first bring some women aboard (including Bond girl Gemma Arterton).

The DJ's across the board are very complex and different. The Count is loud, talks a lot. Dave is commonly referred to as Dr. Dave. Midnight Mark barely even speaks when he plays records, Simon Swafford (Chris O'Dowd) is the energetic breakfast DJ. And then there's the mysterious Bob, the early early morning DJ who know one even knew was there until 7 months later after he arrived on the boat. There's also the quaint and lovely lesbian cook Felicity, who is just fun to watch as she fends off the men who like to joke around with her a lot.

The movie includes plenty of montages of people dancing to music, or the DJ's going wild while a song is playing, showing how rock & roll was influential back then.

Pirate Radio obviously isn't perfect. The way the story is told is strange. You are able to take in the entire scene, and process everything and manage to care about it, but it almost leaves too quickly to the next scene, and some people might have trouble catching up. Only a couple of scenes is there invested time to take care of certain issues, like the discovery of Carl's father, or the lovely Betty Draper (....same time period come on....no? Fine January Jones) toys with Simon's heart for the star DJ on the boat, Gavin (Rhys Ifans). Also the running Twatt (Davenport) joke was amusing, but basically lost it's steam by the end of the movie.

And the nice thing about this movie is that in the most serious of situations, it doesn't turn to an incredibly serious tone. It's all kind of taken with a grain of salt and then they move on.

I'm not really spoiling the end of the movie because it's shown in the trailer but the ship goes down, and in that moment, it's still kind of light hearted. The Count vows to go down with the ship and continue to broadcast even with water at waist deep. Carl rescues Bob from down below the deck and the first thing Bob does when the water comes rushing in is he tries to make a grab for his precious record collection, which had me laughing hysterically, especially when Dave gives Bob a hand up off the ladder, and Dave takes the only record Bob could save, and says, "That's a horrible record" in the middle of the ship going down, and throws it back in the water.

Overall, Pirate Radio is a great time. The soundtrack just makes the scenes all the more enjoyable as the disc jockey's lay down music knowledge and continue to defy her majesty's government, dancing along. This may surprise some people but it's definitely in my top 2 this year.

Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:08:23 GMT

by: colemanranahan
And you said not to bring the stupid rope!

Written and Directed by Troy Duffy
Stars - Sean Patrick Flanery, Norman Reedus, Billy Connolly, Clifton Collins Jr, Julie Benz, Peter Fonda

I got giddy when the theater out by my apartment suddenly had The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. The boys have disappeared to Ireland, grown long shaggy beards and hair, and tend to farm work with their father (Billy Connolly). And Sean Patrick Flanery was almost unrecognizable, I have no idea what happened to his face but until you hear him talk I almost thought it was a different actor. First I preface with saying, I didn't need a sequel. I wasn't completely dying for it, because the first film contains itself and ended rather well.

Someone is impersonating the McManus brothers and they are not pleased about it, and the mysterious man kills their priest back in Boston, trying to get the blame set on them so that they can be drawn out along with their father. They do so, coming over on a cargo ship to get back to business and finish what they started. Time has passed, and so has the fabulous (I use that term loosely) Agent Paul Smecker. His protege, Agent Eunice Bloom (Julie Benz) annoyingly is there to pick up where he left off. The many faces you saw in the first film like the turrets bartender Doc, Detectives Greenly, Duffy, and Dolly are there, and Rocco in dream sequences throughout the film . And new face Clifton Collins Jr. plays Romeo, the new sidekick to the Saints.

I am a huge BD Saints fan. I loved everything about the first one, and because Troy Duffy really isn't that much of a filmmaker he doesn't really accomplish anything with this sequel. It's the exact same formula as the last one. The McManus brothers play jokes on each other, or their new sidekick, come up with a shitty plan that ends up getting them hurt a little, the attractive agent comes in to clean up and solve the case, and a crap ton of mobsters get capped.

The Italians in this movie were just completely not interesting, and it probably had to do with the casting. Including Judd Nelson.

I'm not sure if I was the only one that noticed this, but there almost looked like a framing issue in the first quarter of the film, maybe it was bad editing or something but it almost had a feeling like it was running at x 1.3 in the beginning, fast enough to notice a difference but not speed up the speech. The rest of the movie didn't have that problem.

There's a lot to love in this movie however, if you're a huge Boondock Saints fan I think many of the devout and loyal will really enjoy BD 2. If you enjoyed the same formula in the first one and loved the chemistry between Flanery and Reedus then you will like this as well.

Julie Benz felt like a completely unnecessary character, and I found her accent to be rather annoying, even though she was taught by Smecker, I just didn't care for her. Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus are simply the same fun loving Irishmen. Clifton Collins Jr. really needs a new look, but I enjoyed his character. Romeo is completely over the top (like Rocco was in the first film) but willing to learn so that he can be accepted by the brothers.

Spoilers

After being drawn out of hiding by the impersonator, the boys learn that their father (Connolly) was drawn out so that he may be dealt revenge by someone named The Roman (Peter Fonda), an old acquaintance of Il Duce who betrayed him and was the man to send him to prison in 75. The shootout scene that resulted after the boys show up to the The Roman's house (again...formula didn't change) was an absolute blast.

And at the end of the film, they leave it open by dropping a bomb on you (it honestly surprised the hell out of me). Smecker is alive and trying to help Agent Bloom after she decides to help the Saints and goes rogue. There is chatter amongst the internet about Duffy already talking about another sequel, and Smecker completely sets it up by saying that the Saints need to come back in full form and that Bloom and Smecker are going to help them.

Overall, Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, probably won't matter to a lot of people, but it was a fun crazy sequel to watch because I enjoyed the original. I could've done without the Julie Benz character but the movie manages to help overcome that.

The Late Review of 2012

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:21:46 GMT

by: colemanranahan
People fighting for the right to cliff jump.

Directed and Written by Roland Emmerich
Stars ? John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Danny Glover

Ahh yes another doomsday tale by Roland Emerich. This time packed with more CGI than crackers that Polly can actually eat. 2012 is the journey that see's into the future, where everything will eventually meet its doom because someone forgot to write down an extra couple of months in the Mayan calendar. Oops.

John Cusack plays a not so famous author who drives limos for a living, and this is how he begins to save his entire family. When he comes across the fact the world is going to end. He quickly gets that stretch limousine home to Amanda Peet his ex-wife, kids, and a nice doctor who owns a sports car. However none of that matters because as soon as they as step inside the wonderful world of the limo the background drops out of sight, literally.

The movies faults, or it's successes, depending on how you feel about the movie, entirely depend on these stunts. I applaud Emerich's decision to use a cliff-jump stunt every 10 minutes as a means to keep us entertained, because flying spaghetti monster willing, we would all die without it.

Cusack is very amusing, and entertaining enough to keep me glued to the screen even when the camera pretends suddenly it's on a Universal theme park ride while the rest of us are trying to keep our socks warm. Amanda Peet is quite alright, and so is the rest of the supporting cast.

The biggest hero of all in 2012 however, is Woody fucking Harrelson. Not only did that man deserve a shiny medal for his role in the calendar shaking major motion picture, but he was enflamed in style (there's a pun in there for those of you who have seen the movie). His character was the wind beneath my wings before it was sucked into the earth and then spit back out through a ?you're fucked? volcanic explosion. But don't worry, like the iPhone, the plane has an app for that.

I think my friend said it best that Emerich would have gotten a standing ovation from the both of us if at the end of the film, when spoiler alert, Woody Harrelson suddenly came floating into the arcs when they opened their windows back up, with a beer in one hand, and a giant pickle in the other.

2012 is exactly what it looks like, an entertaining, CGI migraine, that manages to cliff jump to save it's own life through John Cusack's wit. So remember, when the apocalypse comes, always tip your friendly neighborhood limo driver, and buy his book.

Brothers Review

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 00:53:49 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Do you know what I've done?!?!

Directed by Jim Sheridan (Get Rich or Die Trying??!?!?)
Written by David Benioff (25th Hour, X-Men Origins: Wolverine)

Stars ? Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, Natalie Portman, Sam Shepard

Brothers is the story of Cpt. Sam Cahill, a Marine who is about to deploy to Afghanistan, while his brother Tommy (Gyllenhaal), is a fresh ex-convict released on parole. Sam's helicopter goes down in Afghanistan and Tommy (Gyllenhaal) takes on the role of father for Sam's kids and wife Grace (played by Natalie Portman).

Maguire pulls out a stellar performance, and the circumstances that make up his character help lead you to his decisions, he goes from a loving and charismatic father, to a cold, distant, and traumatized veteran who is trying to stop himself from letting go of the edge.

Gyllenhaal also pulls out a great performance as Tommy, however his character was a little more rushed than I thought they would have made him. As a convict coming out of jail, the only thing he wants to do is drink himself under the table and find women. As time goes on he becomes the charismatic father, filling in and changing to become the father figure to (Maguire)'s girls. Essentially pulling a role reversal, and teaching himself the responsibilities his father always wanted for him.

Famous playwright Sam Shepard does a pretty nice job as the hard-pressed Marine father, who wants nothing but the best for his children, except for Tommy(Gyllenhaal). It's the cliché case of, ?I've always loved Sam, and you were just a disappointment.? It feels real though, the stories built under (Gyllenhaal) and (Maguire) add to the reality.

Natalie Portman did a great job as Grace, however, due to the fact they build up how her and Sam as the high school couple, the cheerleader and the popular athlete, I think is where the story bores.

Brothers is not Best-Picture worthy as some may call it. However, Maguire does deserve a best-actor nomination for his role (I still hope the win goes to Christoph Waltz if he gets nominated though). By the end of the film my jaw was almost hanging off it's hinges, the tension created by his kids, the dogs barking outside, they help you understand what sets (Maguire) off. To most, this film make look bland, and might avoid seeing it, but if you're a fan of Maguire and want to see him in a new light, then Brothers will help with that.

This Week in Film 1/16/10

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:10:53 GMT

by: colemanranahan
So rather than write out several long drawn out reviews why not do a bunch of them at once

So the epic bum that I am finally got around to getting a Netflix account (couldn't afford it last semester) and I've been catching up on movies I've never seen before. I've seen a lot of movies, but the movie I get the most crap for not seeing happens to be Pulp Fiction.

Obviously a pinnacle of Tarantino films and film in general, this is the one where every time I would go to watch it, whether with a friend or someone wanting to lend it to me I just didn't have the time. I would go to watch it and, "Hey we have to go *name of city*." I absolutely loved Pulp Fiction for my first time viewing, and can kind of imagine Tarantino and Roger Avary coming up with these iconic characters and the situations. Also to my surprise I never knew Bruce Willis was in the film as a boxer named Butch. I loved Uma Thurman, and especially enjoyed the tie-in with Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth robbing the restaurant at the end of the film.

Lately I've been on an angel mythology (my favorite being a small Australian indie film named Gabriel) kick since the upcoming Legion flick is descending upon us and so I randomly came across an 1995 Christopher Walken film called The Prophecy where he plays the renegade Archangel Gabriel. Gabriel is absolutely infuriated by the presence of humans, often calling them talking monkeys, and has come to earth looking to claim the most evil soul they have to help him in an angelic war going between heaven and hell. Elias Koteas (often known as the Elliot Stabler lookalike) plays an LAPD detective who was a former priest but left the church because he lost his faith after having horrible visions of the angelic war. I was very surprised by this movie, especially due to the cast that is in here. Virginia Madsen plays a school teacher that must protect a child named Mary (I'll try and ignore the irony) with whom has the evil soul of a war general trapped inside her, and Viggo fricken Mortensen plays Satan, who decides to come topside to stop Gabriel. This film has a very cool world, which is well thought out for an hour and a half movie. I'm working my way to the sequels currently.

Next up I actually went out to the movies and saw The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington. This film was directed by the Hughes Brothers who previously did Menace II Society and From Hell (neither which I have seen) so this was a fresh experience. The film is a post-apocalyptic tale of a man named Eli who travels The Road (cough cough) west so that he can bring a book to safekeeping. Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis also star in the film and I must say, my favorite part of the film had to be Gary Oldman. He hasn't played a bad guy in almost ten years and when he does he is absolutely brilliant at it, see Leon The Professional for details. The Book of Eli is alright, there's a lot of walking in slow motion while a score is playing in the background, which I could have done without. I'm a big fan of gritty, and the film had a lot, but I wasn't a big fan of what they were trying to do with the camera. Plenty of shots come through a keyhole or a window and suddenly turn around to get the other viewpoint, which is cool in some aspects but something about it didn't feel right. I enjoyed the score a lot though.

Another great thing about The Book of Eli is probably the ending. It's a giant WTF. And the look on Gary Oldman's face couldn't have said it better. We learn something about a character that kind of leads you to disbelief (no pun intended).

I also got the chance to see the early bird for Daybreakers, a film by another group of brothers, the Spierig brothers. Daybreakers has a very easy but interesting concept of, vampires take over the world, vampires eventually outnumber the humans, and they start to run out of blood to consume. Humans are practically farmed like the Matrix, sitting on a production line to be drained as slowly as possible while Ethan Hawke's character Edward Dalton, a hematologist in charge of finding a blood substitute. I found Daybreakers to be a thoroughly enjoyable vampire film. Sure the CGI was a little baked in there when one of them would light on fire but the concepts in Daybreakers are enough to sell the film. Vampires have taken over the world, and all of them mostly work at night because sadly they don't sparkle in this one. But it's very well thought out how anything operates, for instance Ethan Hawke's apartment doesn't have windows, and his car has a protective shield in case he actually needs to leave his house during the daytime. The car itself is very interesting also because it has a camera system and LED setup so that he can drive without a problem.

Sam Neil also makes an appearance as the vampire CEO of the company that distributes the blood, he's also a father of a human child who refuses to turn and has joined the human resistance led by a former vampire played by Willem Dafoe. The movie actually had a pretty powerful scene where vampires have rioted because of the shortage of blood, and have started turning into wild vampires (like ones with wings), and the military in a very gruesome image uses a shielded Humvee to drag the wild vampires through the streets into the natural sunlight. Despite that gruesome way to go, Daybreakers was a great start to 2010.

Lastly I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a 2008 David Fincher film about the tale of the man who aged backwards, born practically 80 years old and took the tale of being a man first before the child. I found it intriguing. It was great to see Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett work together again, I was a big fan of Babel and it won awards so I figured what the hey. I enjoyed it, didn't think it was Best Picture worthy and given a choice would probably watch Babel again over this but found it's narration and slow moving story satisfying.

I plan on using my Netflix queue to conquer the world now........in film.

Film Ketchup - The Prophecy Sequels

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 02:44:42 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Catching up on older films

I couldn't help myself, since I was so fascinated by the character of Gabriel, and the fact that Christopher Walken was even in these movies and I didn't know about it, I had to follow up on The Prophecy with it's two sequels.

The Prophecy II decides to take some time off, Detective Dagget becomes a monk and has left the LAPD, and all the other characters are nowhere to be found. Instead Gabriel returns from hell to prevent the birth of a nephilim, an offspring that is half angel, half human. The nephilim is supposed to help mend the war between heaven and hell. Spoilers ahead for those of you who haven't seen it, but within the first twenty minutes of the movie, the character of Dagget is thrown away almost immediately. He is killed in the same fashion some of the other angels were by Gabriel lighting him on fire. It felt very cheap to throw a character away like that. Sure none of the cast is back except Walken, but recognition could have been given to the significance of his character. It was a direct to video/DVD movie so I took it with a grain of salt.

Prophecy II actually has a great list of actors in it. Jennifer Beals plays the woman who is pregnant with the angel Danyael's child. Eric Roberts plays the Archangel Michael, Steve Hynter reprises his role as the wacky coroner, Danny Strong (Buffy) makes an surprise cameo as a suicidal boyfriend, and in a very creepy fashion, Brittany Murphy plays a girl named Izzy who commits suicide by running their car into a brick wall. Gabriel brings her back to drive him around and help him with things he is unfamiliar with.

For the most part Prophecy II sticks to the sort of horror, creepy tendencies of the first film, including turning Eden into an industrial wasteland, but it just didn't have the magic that made the first film gel so well. Despite the stronger casting for Prophecy II it doesn't work out as well. It wasn't terrible, but had an inkling what was going to happen very fast.

*More spoilers ahead*

The Prophecy 3 - The Ascent also waits a few years in time between stories. Gabriel has been made human by Valerie (Jennifer Beals), and is homeless, getting by with whatever he can. The angel of genocide, Pyriel (Scott Cleverdon) has come along with the intent to destroy humankind, essentially the same as Gabriel story. Danyael (Dave Buzzotta) , the nephilim, born of an angel and a human, is much older and has become a street preacher to a small group of people. He is gunned down by an assassin, but the angel in him kicks in, and he comes back to life in the coroners office.

Another angel, Zophael (Vincent Spano) is in charge of hunting down Danyael and ripping his heart out, the only way to kill an angel. He convinces Danyael's girlfriend Maggie (Kayren Butler) to help him. The cast is not very well known, but it seems to work a lot better in this sequel. Unfortunately the mistake of throwing away characters again is made and Valerie has been killed at the beginning of the film. No matter what these characters can't get a break or have time to be cared for, and we move on again.

The first two Prophecy films were considered more horror, but I would classify number 3 as an supernatural action film. The action scenes in 3 alone were better than Prophecy II. It was probably due to a different team of people working on the film, Gregory Widen responsible for the first two, while Patrick Lussier directed The Ascent.

The coroner, played by Steve Hynter again, is more centered upon as he does research into angels, and what is going on. I really enjoyed this more because he was someone I knew from the film, we know he is weird, but he has connections to what is going on and is sewing loose ends together. Speaking of loose ends, one character from the first film, Mary, makes a cameo in the film after Danyael takes off to the desert to confront Pyriel by telling Danyael she believes he will triumph over Pyriel. Gabriel kind of took a backseat in the film, he helps Danyael escape from the clutches of Zophael, and in the end is giving reprieve by becoming an angel again.

Overall I was probably more impressed with the Prophecy 3, even though it didn't have the more gothic creepy style that the first two films had. The Prophecy still takes the cake overall, but it had one decent B sequel.

Film Ketchup - 1/30/10

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:29:57 GMT

by: colemanranahan
I attempt to catch up on older films

So my friends are on a giant Kevin Spacey kick lately, mainly because they are actors preparing for a role, so they got me to watch a few films of his I never saw before. Starting with a film called HurlyBurly. It's a 1998 film directed by Anthony Drazan (who has since disappeared from movies) based upon a David Gabe play.

Eddie (Sean Penn) and Mickey (Kevin Spacey) are Hollywood men. They practically live on drugs as they attempt to get through their meaningless lives living in a house together. Eddie finds out Mickey is dating his former love Darlene (Robin Wright Penn) and asks him to break it off. He does so accordingly, and then Eddie gets back together with her. To add to their strange misfortunes their friend Phil (Chazz Palminteri) comes to them for advice on his broken marriage, and yelling at other cronies (Garry Shandling) who come into the house tempting him with younger girls (A very young Anna Paquin) seeking out Hollywood. Eddie and Mickey attempt to set up Phil with a fun loving escort Bonnie (Meg Ryan) and chaos ensues.

I was kind of surprised by this film. Eddie's life is more focused on the drugs than existing in real life. He's seen in an audition room while an actress is waiting for her queue, and he is doing the drugs right in front of her. There are great monologues in the film, great little character pieces and interactions. While everything is going on Mickey just doesn't seem to care, he'd rather go out into the nightlife. Then the two of them are broadsided by a tragedy, and sends Eddie into a panic, trying to find an answer for something that isn't possibly there. I haven't seen Meg Ryan in much, but her character as the fun, energetic Bonnie was a complete contrast to Mickey and Eddie. She brought a balance to all the chaos even though she's only in a quarter of the film.

Next up, American Beauty, the credits for this film are ridiculous, written by Alan Ball and directed by Sam Mendes. The film stars Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father who decides to do something about his life one evening after his eyes fall on his teenage daughters (say it with me, creepy!) friend Angela (Mena Suvari) at a basketball game.

I'll say this first, I finally understand the satirical references made everywhere about this film. For the longest time I sat there going, "The hell is this about?" No doubt, this film has made a dent into cinema. Not only does it have a compelling story, and strange characters which we rarely get to see, but one hell of a cast. Annette Bening plays his overbearing real estate wife Carolyn intent on impressing everyone and tries to maintain appearances. Thora Burch plays the troubled daughter who falls in love with the strange kid Rickey Fitts (Wes Bentley) next door who likes to videotape everything, unfortunately I couldn't help but laugh non-stop through the scene where he shows her the dancing plastic bag on the television, thank you Not Another Teen Movie. Ricky is not just troubled because of what he has done in the past but his bigoted Marine Corps father Frank (Chris Cooper) looms over his every move when he is not at school. Alison Janey was somewhat surprising to see as Frank's practically catatonic but still functioning wife she sits still through her life. She is very much the polar opposite of Carolyn.

It's definitely an amazing movie, no doubt I will end up purchasing it on DVD just for the vast strangeness alone. Alan Ball really capitalizes on the strange and fucked up nature of human beings and what makes us tick. And Mendes did a phenomenal job with the images presented to us. Like the scene where Lester starts doing bicep curls naked in the garage after overhearing Angela talk about him being buff, and Ricky is recording from his bedroom adjacent to the garage window just goes to show you the messed up nature of human beings, and the feeling of voyeurism even though everyone is right next to each other.

Finally I watched In The Land of Women written and directed by Jon Kasdan (who wrote an episode of Freaks&Geeks). It's the story of soft core porn writer Carter Webb (Adam Brody) in Los Angeles dealing with his famous girlfriend who breaks up with him in the first five minutes of the film. He doesn't know what to do now, and finds himself cathartic with his job. When he walks over to his mother's house he finds out his grandmother is sick in Michigan and decides that he can still do his job while taking care of his grandmother at the same time.

When he arrives, he immediately finds a friend in the lovely neighbor Sarah Hardwicke (Meg Ryan) across the street. However she has her own list of problems. She is a bit older than Webb, but they manage to find something in each other that helps them through their own lives. Sarah also has a daughter named Lucy, played by Kristen Stewart.

I really liked Kristen Stewart (still gotta see Adventureland), and the girl who played her intellectual little sister was kind of fun too. While Carter and Sarah hit it off, Sarah discovers that she has breast cancer, and stays away from her usual morning walk with Carter and the dog. So then Sarah has her daughters take Carter to the movies. Carter and Lucy begin to hang out more and Lucy comes to Carter for advice about dating the high school's quarterback. This creates complications when Carter discovers that Lucy likes him a lot too.

I don't really know a better way to describe this movie then a fluffy version of Garden State. It's not even in the same realm of writing but the tone was sort of on the side of that. I enjoyed it, it was nice to see Adam Brody in something other than Thank You For Smoking, The O.C., and Smallville. Never saw Jennifer's Body, which of course will be covered in a later article. I liked it, wasn't really anything special, but I enjoyed it for what it was. It did a nice job of trying to get you to figure out who Carter was going to end up with and ends up not meeting expectations for any of those people.

And best of all, you find out what S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Coulson does in his free time.

Edge of Darkness

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 01:22:17 GMT

by: colemanranahan
BOOM.

Edge of Darkness is directed by Martin Cambell (Green Lantern anyone?) and written by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell based upon the very popular BBC series. The film stars Mel Gibson as Boston Police Detective Thomas Craven who is trying to find out who attempted to kill him but killed his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic) after she had just come home from her job at a privately owned nuclear facility called Northmoor.

Along the way Craven comes across a mysterious man named Jedburgh (Ray Winstone) who seems to pose a question to him, was Craven really the target? Craven begins investigating everywhere he can, from the boyfriend Emma briefly mentions, to her employer General Stryker (Danny Huston in the same role essentially), and starts finding something deeper is involved.

I enjoyed it Edge of Darkness, probably the first film I enjoyed more this year than Book of Eli and Daybreakers. If it wasn't for what was later revealed I would've thought it to be a typical revenge thriller flick. I liked Gibson a lot. The beginning starts out a little rough here and there, but it feels like Thomas and Emma had a genuine relationship, asking each other about who they're seeing, an embarrassing moment where you think someone has asked a strange question but they meant something else completely different. And then that brief ten seconds when Emma starts bleeding out her nose and then throws up to getting gunned down is quick, and intense.

The fight scenes are well shot and intense, when Craven breaks into the boyfriends apartment after he doesn't come to the door that brief knife to hand to hand combat felt urgent and like a real street fight, cause Craven throws a chair to block his escape and then punches him in the liver. There was a lot of liver shots to be honest. He really felt the need to make sure no one goes drinking.

*Spoiler Territory*

The private company running Northmoor has motives to cover up deaths of a group called Nightflower, people intent on exposing what is going on at the facility. Everything ends up being very complicated. Emma Craven was trying to get the people from Nightflower into the facility to videotape the evidence, this lead to her being profiled as a terrorist and subsequently killed. Jedburgh turns out to be the company clean up man and his job is to keep Craven away from investigating Northmoor's involvement.

It's also revealed that Emma was trying to get the information about Northmoor making dirty bombs implicating government conspiracy (Hey remember now that Mel Gibson was also in a film called Conspiracy Theory) to an attorney and then to the Massachusetts state Senator, but both the attorney and Senator were in the pockets of Northmoor. Then things just get even more complicated. Jedburgh knows he doesn't have much time left after a doctors visit, and decides to help Craven out after Craven is exposed to radiation. Craven then goes ballistic on Emma's killer, and employer. Jedburgh in a very swift motion kills the government agent trying to help out Northmoor, and the Senator before being killed by a scared Boston policeman.

I really liked the story and the action was pretty well crafted. I'll probably end up checking out the BBC series because of this film.

In Defense of Dollhouse

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:43:01 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Someone has to.

Edit: I don't know how to fix the formatting issue with this thing. But have at it anyway people!

Not a lot of people liked Dollhouse, quite frankly I don't blame anyone who ever did. Many people decided to stop watching after season one, and again, I don't blame you, it was a very lackluster season with everything going nowhere. But being a Whedonite I stuck it through till the series finale of season 2 and I'm kind of glad I did. (Don't hurt me)

And for anyone who didn't watch at all Dollhouse was the latest Joss Whedon project starring Eliza Dushku as Echo. Echo is a doll, someone who can be programmed with any kind of personality to suit a clients need, many of times this was for escorts, one time was even a version of The Most Dangerous Game. The list can go on. Season 2 is the only reason I would write an article such as this. Had they decided to cancel after season 1 I probably would've shrugged it off and eagerly awaited whatever Joss had coming next.

Is Dollhouse a good show? As a Whedonite, a weak yes. As a general fan of television? No. DH is the weakest of the Whedon universe. But it didn't go down without a fight. Dollhouse succeeds for one reason, they were going down, and they decided to pull out every single stop possible, any possible way of messing with your expectations and they did exactly that. Let's break it down.

Characters
My favorite part of Dollhouse? Alpha. Alan Tudyk really outdid himself. Another reason Dollhouse deserved to go down is because the show was centered around Echo. I agree that she was the weakest part of the show. The storyline about Alpha was much more interesting because he is this fully evolved doll (like Echo becomes at the start of season 2) that went completely psychotic, killed people and escaped the Dollhouse. He left the giant ass scar that was on Dr. Saunders face, to show you the horror of what he had done. It was a constant reminder over the Dollhouse, almost equal to Voldermort in Harry Potter.

I understand Joss and Fox had their quarrels about what should be in the show and what shouldn't be, if he had more creative freedom obviously the show could have been more. In season 2 Alpha is kind of abandoned, and Dr. Saunders goes away. Whenever Alpha would make an appearance back into the show, you knew absolute chaos was about to ensue. On that rooftop in season 2, when you saw the guy strapped to the chair with plastic explosives, you saw how clever he could be because he could let that guy explode, and then escape from that rooftop. Alpha was basically trying to kill anyone who could vie for the affection of Echo.

Alpha also managed to make Ballard (Tamoh Penikett) brain dead by placing him in the chair and torturing his mind infrastructure leaving him completely comatose. He did this because Echo was attracted to Ballard. And the next best thing about this is kind of messed up. The only way to save Ballard is to make him a doll version of himself. And it doesn't work right away, he gets up, stumbles around like a wild animal, before the doll infrastructure messes with his brain.

In the middle of it all, the person who essentially tries to fill the role of Ballard from season 1 is the great Alexis Denisof (Angel) as Senator Daniel Perrin. He targets Rossum and the Dollhouse because they are keeping secrets about illegal human testing of medical advances. To throw a monkey wrench into everything, Topher has made a device that can remotely wipe the Dolls. When the Dollhouse suspects that Perrin's wife is a doll they use the device, only to find out that she is the doll's handler, and Perrin is actual doll version of himself. He used to be a playboy, partying all the time. This was kind of mind-blowing revealing that the government is essentially infiltrated, and that anyone person in the federal government is a doll and working for the sake of the Rossum corporation, possibly to be the next President of the United States. Yikes!!

The next thing I thought made Dollhouse watchable was Enver Gjokaj as Victor/Anthony. Not only was he a very good actor, they suddenly made a very funny storyline for him because he has an impression of Fran Kranz. I don't know if that just came up at a cast party somehow as a joke, but I found this to be absolutely hilarious. Suddenly this opened up the possibilities of having Victor programmed as Topher to be in two places at the same time, or working on a project at the same time together.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Dichen Lachmann as Sierra, but her storyline with Victor where their brains were able to remember that they liked each other after each mind wipe played a very romantic element into the series.

I can go on and on about most of the actors, but the biggest thing that started happening towards the end of the series is that Joss just decided to do what he does best, and that is kill every possible important character that you can.

Topher (Fran Kranz) - A guy simply just trying to make his way in the universe, he accidentally gets caught up in the biggest conspiracy to ever hit the entire world. And mostly because he started it. You kind of end up feeling bad for the guy because he gets tricked into it.

And finally the head of it all. Olivia Williams as the Adelle DeWitt, the one in charge of the Dollhouse. They did an excellent job turning her from a sort of sympathetic (lightly) character, to almost a cold-hearted villain, in an homage to Angel in which the character has good intentions all along, but simply has to play along with the bad guys in order to achieve goals for the greater good.

Story
Dollhouse very much has something to say. In a way very symbolic about people as a whole being dolls to organizations, that they will do whatever the company tells them to do without thinking. And in Dollhouse they do this. Sure the dollhouse only has a certain amount of dolls. But through Topher's amazing mind he has developed the ability to wipe the dolls remotely, from far away. However this leads to the ability to wipe anyone without even needing the doll infrastructure, thus leading to the Epitaph Two episode in which ten years after Dollhouse falls, Rossum has control of a world of people for their benefit, but it is a very post-apocalyptic setting.

And the way they ended up getting to the final episode was very interesting. The shit didn't start hitting the fan in my opinion until the Daniel Perrin storyline came into view in season 2. Suddenly this opened up the possibility of ANYONE being a doll. Perrin then kills his handler, who is actually his wife, but changes his public opinion about Rossum, citing them as a good corporation, and that Mellie (Miracle Laurie) came from an insane asylum in Canada, descrediting her when she was about to testify against Rossum.

Echo has since evolved into a more realized person because she has the forty imprints Alpha forcefully put into her, and she has escaped into the real world. And Paul Ballard is helping her train to take down Rossum, something Ballard originally wanted to do since season 1 when he was an FBI agent. However it all comes at a loss at this point because Alpha returns and tortures Ballard till he goes brain-dead. This is literally throwing a monkey wrench into the whole situation.

Then Victor is let go because of his expired contract with the Dollhouse, then is sucked into a group of super-soldiers that Rossum has ahold of, these soldiers are utilized with group-thinking, all of them can see where the others are, know where the others are, and can immediately run to another soldiers location quickly as possible. Then Echo uses every single personality she has to disable these supersoldiers, free Victor, but ends up getting captured by DeWitt and sent to the place where nobody comes back from, the Attic. This makes DeWitt a major villain at this point. The Dolls are essentially rendered immoble, sealed up in a container, and their brains are used as processing power for the Dollhouse. Think of it like Folding-At-Home with your PS3 when it's not being used.

In the attic, you relive your worst nightmare on a repeated loop, but Echo breaks this, and discovers that she can travel from mind to mind inside the attic because they are all networked together. Not only can she do that in her dollhouse, but dollhouse's around the world. There is a killer running around mind to mind killing named Arcane, this killer is revealed to be one of the two founding fathers named Clyde of the Dollhouse. His partner put him in the Attic in the early 90's and has been trying to stop the Dollhouse ever since. Turns out DeWitt is not actually a villain, but trying to figure out how to stop Rossum herself.

This information on how to stop Rossum turns out to be Caroline, Echo's real personality, but that personality is lost, and the back-up drive containing her personality has been damaged. Bennett (Summer Glau) the lovely/psycho other half to Topher is kidnapped and forced to help Topher repair the drive so they can figure out what happened to other partner. Caroline turns out to be a freedom fighter who was already fighting Rossum for two years before she entered the dollhouse.

Whiskey (Amy Acker) makes her return as Dr. Saunders revealing that her and Boyd have a romantic relationship together. Huzzah? Whaaa? While trying to take in this information, more craziness ensues when Saunders shoots Bennett in the head, splattering her brains all over Topher, and just leaves. Echo is able to get Caroline's memories, which shows you who the current imprinted person is of Clyde, and that the other founder is Echo's original handler, Boyd (Harry Lenix).

Boyd then tricks Topher into finishing the remote wipe technology that can imprint anyone without Doll technology. All the while Mellie and Ballard are inside a Rossum base trying to get things done, but Boyd activates Mellie's assassin imprint, so that Boyd can have Ballard killed, but Mellie fights it off and tells Ballard that she loved him before she kills herself. Basically Joss is doing what Joss does best sometimes, and that is make sure no one survives, or that the happy ending does not exist for another character.

Clyde has taken over the body of Whiskey, and she and Echo fight briefly before they realize Boyd's betrayal. Boyd reveals that Echo is going to be a hero though because she can block imprints, and can essentially be the cure to imprinting so that when Rossum takes over, they won't be enslaved. Topher ends up using his wiping/imprinting tech to stop Boyd from killing anyone, making him a doll, strapping explosives to him, and exploding the original wiping/imprinting tech in the Rossum building.

But all for not.

The final episode wasn't the greatest ending to a series ever. But it wasn't a terrible way to end the series. Ten years into the future, all their efforts to stop Rossum have failed, Rossum is in full control of the world. They bring back characters from the unaired Epitaph 1 (season 1) which I never saw but it wasn't terribly hard to figure out what was going on. The only way to save the world is to get Topher back because he was captured, and to bring him to the Dollhouse to set off a bomb that would restore everyone's personalities. So Ballard infiltrates the main Rossum building in Neuropolis (ok very silly name) and pretends to pose as a upgrade doll for head of Rossum. The object of doing this? To take down whatever upgrade dolls the Rossum heads put themselves into. Not a bad plan essentially, but requires repeated effort because their minds are backed up somewhere. To no matter, Echo kills Mr. Ambrose, one of the Rossum heads and they manage to find Topher. Topher is in a terrible state of mind, Rossum would shoot people in front of Topher every day that he did not finish what they wanted.

This shows that Rossum is much more of an evil corporation than just trying to put a doll inside the White House. After Echo and Ballard assemble everyone to go inside the Dollhouse in Los Angeles, Ballard is killed in the fire fight. So Echo takes everyone into the dollhouse and shuts it closed, revealing Alpha having set up shop. He is embraced as a member of the resistance. Members of the armed militia traveling with Anthony/Victor turn on him, citing they like their imprints and don't want to be left as normal human beings. They want to rule the vast wasteland out there. And in a moment of psychotic brilliance, Alpha and Victor take down the fear mongers and lock them away.

The last few minutes of Dollhouse were a bit underwhelming, but still well played out. Topher, who made the bomb that will change everyone back, knows that the bomb can only be set off manually, claiming it a "small price to pay" for the pain he caused. Alpha has left because no matter what he cannot be restored, having evolved like Echo did. Caroline. Alpha also wants her to dismantle the wiping chair. Echo's original personality, is inside a little girl, but she will be wiped eventually so that the child can start over again.

Topher sets off the bomb on the rooftop, and turns around in a moment of zen and peace to a wall of pictures/faces that says, "To Remember." Echo gets one last reprieve as everyone is wiped, on the wiping chair a hard drive with Echo's name lay upon it. It has Ballard's personality, she uploads it to herself, so that she and Ballard can be together in her mind. Just for funsies I'd like to think Alpha gave her this hard drive. And just like the series, very symbolic like, Echo goes to the pod room where the dolls normally sleep to lay down gently as the series ends.

As Devindra Hardawar said on the /Filmcast, it's a shame this had to end. Season 2 was so full of brilliance and last second story crammed into one season it really is a shame it went out like this.

Film Ketchup - This Looks Great!

Sat, 06 Feb 2010 22:04:41 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Hello Brother!

This week in Film Ketchup I saw two movies back to back that dealt greatly with the look and feel of the film, City of God and A Clockwork Orange. One of the films I've gotten the most crap for not seeing until now is A Clockwork Orange, the classic Stanley Kubrick film adapted from the 1962 Anthony Burgess novel. Starring Malcom McDowell as the strangely disturbed teen Alex DeLarge set in a dystopian future in England. Suffice to say the storyline itself is kind of disturbing in that he enjoys classical music, drugged milk, and lots and lots of violence. He often runs around with co-horts bursting into people's homes and committing horrible horrible acts.

I was kind of blown away with the movie for two reasons, for a movie shot in 1971 I could not believe how great it looked. It looked like something shot in the late 80's/early 90's almost. The movie is almost 40 years old and it looks better than some of the films of this generation. There's a sign of a great filmmaker right there. Secondly, Malcolm McDowell played such a strange and great character. To go from a character who lives so freely (disturbingly free) without consequences, but then gets caught and constantly gags at even a thought of violence is pretty interesting.

Then the ending of the film came, and it just left me with this sense of fun you knew the character was about to have again given the circumstances of a few scenes earlier when he figures out he no longer has a gag reflex to violence.
--

City Of God

Next up I watched City of God, a 2002 Brazilian film about organized crime through several decades in Rio De Janeiro. And to quote Paul Montgomery, "It's stupid pretty." This may be one of the best shot films I have ever seen. Everything about the way a shot is constructed, to the way the scene feels is fantastic. The acting across the board is pretty great as well. Rocket, the main character, dreams of becoming a photographer, but can't because of the gang violence. I really liked what they did with his character. In the beginning you have no idea if his character is going to live or not. And towards the end of the film I was still trying to figure out if he was going to live. It was a bit of a nail biter.

City of God also has an incredible villain. Lil Ze. Lil Ze is the crime boss who has taken over the drug trade in the City of God and is incredibly self-centered, starting from his childhood. Both actors who played Lil Ze as a child and as an adult did a great job of making you hate him. You want this character to go to jail or be dealt with in some form of justice, but he would not go away. I loved how they took care of his character in the end though. Against adults he is one of the most powerful individuals in the City of God, waging a war against the fabulously named Knockout Ned, but against a bunch of children with guns, he is easily taken out.

Overall, both movies are worth checking out if you haven't seen them already. Even though City of God has come out in this decade I could easily see it being considered a classic film within several years.

Film Ketchup - A Delicious Spectrum Sandwich

Sun, 14 Feb 2010 20:50:19 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Catching up on some of those older films

Film Ketchup: (definition) Coleman conquering the world of older films he has never seen in theaters.

I'm going to call this a delicious spectrum sandwich of Film Ketchup this week. I started out with an amazing film, had a nice filling in the middle, and ended with a pretty great piece of bread and butter.

Starting out with Sunshine, the 2007 Danny Boyle science fiction film about the second group of scientists on board a ship called Icarus that travel through space to reignite the sun. The film has an amazing all-star cast, from Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis (Before he did that god-awful Trauma series), Hiroyuki Sanada, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Mark Strong, and Batman's very own Cillian Murphy.

Sunshine may end up being one of my favorite science fiction films of the decade, it isn't perfect, but I've never been so wowed by a sci-fi film like this before. I thought the acting across the board was great, and really liked the fact that Danny Boyle didn't want them in make-up. Despite whatever scientific flaws the film has, it is beyond compelling. First their mission is to reignite the sun with their nuclear payload, but soon they discover the Icarus 1, the ship sent seven years before hand to go handle the mission, but they were never heard from again.

Some people had a problem with the fact that film turned into a bit of a slasher in the last half of the film, but I also thought that worked. There's no telling how insane it would make a person to be that close to the sun. Mark Strong always makes for a fantastic villain. If you're going to stop making science fiction films like Boyle said he was, this is one hell of a film to go out on. Definitely worth checking out.

Next up I watched the 2008 film The Brothers Bloom by Rian Johnson, the man who also made the film Brick. It seems to me that people have a very polarizing view on Rian Johnson, they either really like his films, or really really hate them. I enjoyed the hell out of Brick, so I was very much looking forward to The Brothers Bloom, especially after hearing the /Filmcast rave about it. Maybe it's just the fact that I like Rian Johnson's wacky personality, I don't know, but I enjoyed the Brothers Bloom a lot. The Brothers Bloom is about two brothers who are con men, Mark Ruffalo's character being the more persuasive, aggressive con man, and Adrian Brody playing the passive brother Bloom.

The Brothers Bloom has a nice cast list, but I ended up liking the characters of Rachel Weisz and Rinko Kikuchi (even though she had no dialogue pretty much) more than Adrian Brody and Mark Ruffalo. I do like Mark Ruffalo a lot, but the other two actors were a stark contrast.

Brothers Bloom is like a roller coaster. It just accelerating up the tracks to the top for the first two acts of the film, but unfortunately the third act did not live up to the first two. The first two acts are just absolutely fun and energetic, and I've never seen Rachel Weisz play a character like that before. But the third act just ends up getting a little too serious with these characters. Overall it was still a fun experience, but there are plenty of faults to find with the film.

And to end the sandwich of films I saw this week, I've been kicking myself for never getting around to seeing Kevin Smith's Chasing Amy. I really wish I had seen this a lot sooner. This may end up being one of my favorite Kevin Smith films next to Clerks. Chasing Amy stars Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams as two comic book artists who eventually meet up after a Con. Holden (Affleck) falls in love with Alyssa (Adams) after they begin to hit it off as great friends, but she has a secret that drops a bombshell on him, she's gay.

In terms of writing, this is Smith's most heartfelt film I've seen. It is definitely a film all about relationships and the relationships we have with best friends and crushes. I found it kind of interesting that they used comic books as a means for the characters making a living. It's very much played down, very casual, but at the same time you can see that Kevin Smith (whether or not you like him in comics) loves comic books.

Of course no View Askew film would be complete without Jason Lee as the belligerent and sexual talking Banky, and Jay and Silent Bob. Also if you're a fan of J.D. Salinger you might pick up a few references to Catcher in the Rye there. I really enjoyed the dialogue in this film, even if at times it got to be a bit of showy acting. Definitely a film worth checking out even if you're not a fan of Kevin Smith.

------

Coleman also likes to talk film on his Twitter and sometimes goes crazy with caffeine.

Film Ketchup - Films To Fall In Love With

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:54:10 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Well this is awkward....

Film Ketchup: (definition) Coleman conquering the world of older films he has never seen in theaters.

This week I decided to catch up on some films that came out with an end result: I fell in love with them. Starting out with a 2009 film from Greg Mottola who has directed several Apatow projects like Superbad and Undeclared. Both written and directed by Mottola Adventureland is set in 1987 with James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) just graduating college and has to take that minimum wage job at the local theme park called Adventureland. Brennan, who was a comparative literature major in college gets more into the real world through new experiences that he has at the park. I absolutely fell in love with this film. I'm actually kind of glad I didn't see it in theaters but only because of the fact that the trailer sets it out to be something it isn't, which is not a comedy. It's a dramedy, but I laughed maybe seven or eight times during the film.

It's a fantastic coming of age love story, with Eisenberg being surround by this great cast of people, with Ryan Reynolds as the park's repair man having an affair with the girl he has just fallen in love with, named Em (Kristen Stewart). I loved, loved, loved Kristen Stewart in this film. The more you get her away from Twilight (that being the first film I have ever seen her in) she is quickly on pace to becoming one of my favorite actors of the next generation. Quite simply this is the best movie I have seen her in so far. Also got to love Martin Starr. Also what's interesting with these characters is that you would think that some of them would be cliche's but they are a little more complicated than that. I loved how dramatic it got as well, with Em and Brennan both freaking out at the prospect of their potential relationship.

Next up I saw Orson Welle's Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane is widely known as one of the best movies ever made, and to be quite honest, it is. The 1941 film is the story of of newspaper mogul Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) and his legacy over the years. Orson Welles just commanded the screen quite like no other actor ever can. Seventy years later and this film can still kick that much ass? I love everything about it.

Whatever Orson Welles had to do for his role he did it and then some. Great set design, great use of the cameras, there's a camera trick in the scene where some people are having Welles sign some papers, and it looks like the next room over is incredibly far away when it fact it's toyed with and zoomed all the way in. You can't go wrong with Citizen Kane. Not only because it's the complete story of Kane, but how downhill his life goes, and that he eventually isolates himself after being one of the most sought after men in the world, even having the potential to become a President. This is a film any person even remotely interested in film needs to see.

Boy, after having seen Annie Hall, any big comedy I can think of from the last couple of years is just put to shame by Annie Hall. Annie Hall is probably one of the best comedies I have ever seen. Annie Hall is all about Woody Allen breaking up with a girl named Annie Hall and the situations that he goes through. Nowadays, you don't expect such funny well written witty commentary about every day life as you get in Annie Hall, and if you haven't seen this, it's on Netflix Watch Instantly, immediately watch it, because when you get lines like "You wanna glass of chocolate milk? 'What am I your son?!" you truly have a great film on your hands.

Woody Allen's neurosis is just on top of everything, and I will say it's equivalent to breakfast for comedy lovers, the most important meal of the day. Diane Keaton is a delight in this film (and shockingly my friend looks like a young Diane Keaton) and the dialogue feels like something you would talk about in real life. Woody Allen also does a great job breaking the 4th wall, and does so often. I know a lot of people aren't a big fan of that sometimes, but Allen makes it work.

Lastly, if you want to have your brain screwed with, if you want to go on some kind of drug trip without ingesting any real drugs, watch Memento. The 2000 Christopher Nolan film about Leonard Shelby, a man with anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to store new memories. Side note: if you have ever had a psychology class and watch videos about that, it's very messed up stuff. Memento is two stories happening at the same time basically, at the beginning of the film, you find out he kills a man named Teddy (Joe Pantaliano) and you go back through to figure out why he does this.
So one story takes place in black and white, with Leonard on the phone with someone, explaining the situation to someone on the phone, and the story in color is essentially the explanation for the conversation on the phone, so it starts with the end of the story first, and then goes all the way back to the beginning. I kept thinking the story was going to go one way, and it just kept screwing with your mind until the very end. You will not see where it goes. Carrie Anne Moss is also great in this film, and plays quite a twisted character. And Joe Pantaliano's character turns out to be someone completely different than I thought he would be. Overall, Memento is a mind fuck waiting to happen.

Shutter Island Review

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 02:54:06 GMT

by: colemanranahan
Pull yourself together Teddy!

Shutter Island (based upon a novel) is the latest from veteran filmmaker Martin Scorsese. Side Note: The writer of the screenplay, Laeta Kaologridis helped to write the next James Cameron project Battle Angel. The film stars Leo DiCaprio as Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Federal Marshal in 1954 sent to Shutter Island to figure out what happened to a missing patient. Teddy and his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) are finding Shutter Island to be an incredibly strange place, with no one wanting to talk about what happened. The head of Shutter Island Dr. Cawley, is playing the run-around with the two of them, forcing them to stay on the island after hurricane like weather delays them from trying to file their reports back on the mainland.

Shutter Island is predictable. This is easily judged from the trailer you know how the film is going to end up, but I found it to be incredibly satisfying. There is a slow burn that takes place for all of the characters and the story, which could have easily shaved off some time if you wanted to get more to the point, but I enjoyed every step of the way there. There are a few moments in the beginning where the editing is very wacky and it changes to some odd camera angles while a different character was talking, which was kind of jolting, but that instantly disappears after the first act of the film.

This film relies on motif's, images you don't necessarily need to remember, but in some way shape or form they are repeated throughout the film. This is another strong part of the film I think because it keeps driving into your head what the film wants you think, so that you say, "So it's going this way" but tugging at your strings along the way.

Shutter Island has a nice cast, including people like Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Hayley making a cameo as the insane (he's pretty good at that) George Noyce, Max Von Sydow as one of the doctors at Shutter Island, and Michelle Williams playing Teddy Daniels dead wife.

You can pretty much figure out the film in the second act, any small light changes or motifs that repeated kind of take you in the general direction of the films journey, especially when Teddy starts having hallucinations of his dead wife. There is simply something just respectable about this film, I didn't really find much to fault with the film other than the strange editing in the beginning. It's not the greatest film in the world, but it is really good.

By the end of the film, I was almost convinced that I was insane, because for a moment I actually held on to a glimmer of hope that what was going to happen didn't happen, but it did anyway, but I didn't have a problem with it anyway. The film gets away with the ending but only because a solid story was built up to it. It's still not a happy ending either way you look at it, and that's probably why I liked Shutter Island. It ends on a pseudo Hitchcock final image, like something from The Birds, this lighthouse, which is one of the motifs for the film. I enjoyed it, go see it.

Film Ketchup - Robert Altman and Milk

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:59:35 GMT

by: colemanranahan
What do you call it? 'The Player'

Film Ketchup: (definition) Coleman conquering the world of older films he has never seen in theaters.

This week in Film Ketchup I had to do a directors paper for one of my classes, and I was given the director Robert Altman. So I went searching for his filmography on IMDB and remembered one of the huge credits on his list, Gosford Park. I remember this film having won a crap ton of awards so why not give it a try.

Gosford Park (2001) is set in 1932 England, and many people have gathered at a mansion for a shooting weekend. Many of these people do not know each other though, and a murder takes place over night, turning everything into a murder mystery. The film has a gigantic cast, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Ryan Phillipe, Stephen Fry, Kristin Scott Thomas, and the list goes on.

I enjoyed the film a lot. And I get what Robert Altman was going for, which is the reality of everything. You have overlapping conversations, with cut away shots to other conversations throughout a scene. So there is not one conversation being entirely focused upon. I also liked how they used long establishing shots to show you were the scene is taking place before coming in to other shots. I wasn't blown away by the film but there are a lot of subtle differences that sets this film apart from regular films.

So having seen Gosford Park, I thought it would be a good idea to check out some more of his filmography after watching a clip from Altman's 1992 film The Player, starring Tim Robbins. Robbins plays a Hollywood producer named Griffin Mill who gets blackmailed by a writer for not using his script, so he kills the writer. I also enjoyed this film. It had some of the same elements of Gosford Park, but it was a bit more fun. The one surprising thing about this film was Vincent D'Onofrio. He's been on Law and Order: CI for so long that I often forget he's a character actor. So that was a nice surprise to see D'Onofrio just let loose as the angry writer David Kahane.

It's fun, it's satirical, and I actually haven't seen too much of Tim Robbins work besides Mystic River (which I loved). So it was a great excuse to watch. There's just a huge sense of irony going throughout the film and the ending is inquisitive, leaving me with some certain questions that of course will never be answered but I liked that.

Next up I saw a film called Milk. This is 2008 Gus Van Sant (I met his former sound mixer Kelley Baker the other day) film about the life of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay Californian to be elected to public office. The film stars Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, and includes Emile Hirsch, James Franco, Diego Luna, Allison Pill as they fight to help secure gay right in the 1970's. And after having watched this film, I hate society more and more. Sean Penn is absolutely phenomenal as Harvey Milk, and made me appreciate actors like Emile Hirsch and James Franco (he's awesome anyway) even more.

I like how the time line went back and forth over Milk's life, I felt like it took him a long time to get elected to San Francisco city supervisor and the mounting frustrations setting in as Milk fights to get in. Penn wholeheartedly deserved the best actor award for this film. I honestly thought it could have taken best picture over Slumdog Millionaire. Josh Brolin is also very good, playing Dan White, the other city supervisor who ends up murdering Milk and the mayor (Victor Garber) who supported him in cold blood because of being unable to get his job back. And the ending scene for this film is very powerful, after Milk is gunned down people fill the streets, for miles you can see as the camera tilts up revealing a row of people holding a candlelight vigil.

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