“[t]he whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you *keep* it a *secret*! Why didn’t you tell the world, EH?” (film draft)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Not a Kubrick fan at all, but this one is too good to pass up. Peter Sellers on top of his game, which in my opinion proves his status as the greatest comedic actor of all time. All the sexual tension mirrored with the nuclear fear of the time plays very well. I’m hard pressed to find a funnier film.

Moon retrospective, spoiler-free.

I think there is enough praise for this film that I don’t need to spew my own upon it. All I can say is that it is everything I hoped for and much more. Some complained the trailer completely gave away the mystery of the film. If that was true, then this would be a very shallow film indeed. The plot points revealed in the trailer are covered in the first act of the film, and then we travel down the rabbit-hole, uncovering the mysteries of the film along with Sam Rockwell. Who, by the way, delivers in a big bad way. Aside from Choke, I haven’t really seen him in much, but his talent is revealed by this film. I wish I could discuss his performance more, but the spoiler-free nature of this doesn’t allow it. Suffice it to say, he better be getting an Oscar nomination for this.

Duncan Jones is one filmmaker I’ll be on the lookout for. I just hope he sticks to the relatively small films for awhile, focusing heavily on characters, which is what this film excels at. I mean, with only Rockwell and Spacey how could it not be about characters?

Clint Mansell. What can I say? The guy’s great at every score he composes. The repeating piano-motif is both haunting and beautiful. The soundtrack felt like a spiritual successor to The Fountain—no complaints there!

Try to catch it in theaters, but if not, watch it you must.

Gasp! Watchmen will triple-dip

If you were planning on purchasing the Director’s Cut of the great film based on the overrated Graphic Novel (I said it) Watchmen this month, well you might want to wait a bit longer. It looks like another edition will be coming out with footage of The Black Freighter edited in, and some other stuff. You can see the original article Here (Watchmen Ultimate Edition). I was planning on Netflixin’ the DC, but this sounds ludicrous. I guess die-hard fans will buy into this. Frankly, I didn’t like the Black Freighter sub-story in the Novel, and haven’t watched the separate film version.

Expect another edition after this. Snyder will probably Peter Jackson this film for all it’s worth.

“I can’t see what you see and you can’t see what I see. So how can I know what you see?” (Film Draft)

Yi Yi: A One and a Two…

An almost three hour portrait of real life and an instant favorite of mine (watched it yesterday afternoon).

If you have the patience and don’t require boobs and explosions to enjoy a film, I guarantee you’ll love this pic. It exceeds words.

Abin Sur finds his man: Reynolds to play The Green Lantern

Apparently it’s official.

Ryan Reynolds is Wally West Hal Jordan.

Huh.  Well, Reynolds wasn’t anywhere on my personal radar for Jordan, particularly when fellow JLA’er, The Flash, should have a franchise rearing to begin anytime now.

And as /Film is quick to point out, what does this mean for Marvel’s Deadpool spin-off set up at rival studio Fox?

The Green Lantern, directed by Martin Campbell (Casino Royale), is slated to hit theaters June 17, 2011.

Thoughts on: Public Enemies (somewhat vague and spoiler free!)

Just made it back from a night out that began with a 7:10 showing of Michael Mann’s latest, Public Enemies.

With the initial trailer months back, I felt a little underwhelmed.  Mann directing Depp and Bale with Cotillard (who I’ve never watched, but c’mon) and Crudup lingering in the background — I don’t know.  I guess I expected a homerun out of the gates.

Twenty four hours ago, I was pretty excited by the prospect of catching the flick today.  Maybe the weak pallete of summer movies primed me for Enemies.  And certainly, the ad campaign and trailer stock improved from that first look.

So, what did I think?

A solid movie with several terrific moments weighed down by a dragging mid-section and somewhat indistinctive characterizations.

The above mentioned actors all live up to their reputations.  Depp does his magic. Cotillard impresses; she has me interested in her Inception appearance next summer.  Crudup: dude’s a chameleon.  Giovanni Ribisi also pops up a time or two as something of a quiet scene-stealer.  While a big guy, Jason Clarke, who does a convincing job as Depp’s right-hand guy, eerily looks like Newman in close-ups.  (Not the first time I’ve noticed.)

As for Bale, it was great watching him play something a bit different from his stock action hero turn in Salvation and watered down and, to be fair, script-caged reprisal as the Caped Crusader. His stock has fallen a lot lately, some questioning his ability as an actor — rather unjust given his filmography.  Arguably one, maybe two missteps.  He’s still one of the most capable guys out there.

So, the cast performs as well as anyone could want.  But, and it’s not that their written poorly, but their characters fall short of the depth of exploration featured in Mann’s previous works.  None of the characters necessarily feel neglected.  They each have their moments, lines.  They’re each familiar enough.  Unfortunately, we miss out on getting a close peak — that point of losing yourself in the screen, inside characters’ heads.

Mann crafts a well-directed, good-looking pic.  There’s been minor controversy regarding the hd digital photography.  It at first felt unusual with the time period.  A few brief swipes maybe lose the luster of film, but it’s my opinion Mann and his old DP Spinotti did some excellent work with the cameras that also suited Mann’s shooting style incredibly well.   The start of the pic and its finale really satisfy and are brilliantly executed (a number of shots will stay with you for a good long time) with several elevated bits in between.

Overall, Mann’s done better with a similar tale.  It’s a shame the script didn’t quite match its cast and crew.  So, it’s not another Heat, The Insider, Collateral.  But this should be generally perceived as a nice upswing over Miami Vice (a movie I personally enjoyed).

Score: A low-end 8/10

Bestest Novel of Every Time!

It’s called Moon People; a life changing novel if i’ve ever read one.

Just read the first Page!: HERE!

And if you don’t believe me, read the reviews on amazon, Here!

it’s gotta be good, cuz its like almost Independance day, and that means magic!

Bored to Death

Apparently, someone has gone and adapted my life story and sold it to HBO.   See for yourselves.

The lawsuit is forthcoming.

First Picture from Inception (kinda)

It appears the film has dropped the idea of taking place inside the architecture of the mind. Instead it will be a 200 million dollar psychological thriller/comedy involving a gay romp through tokyo ala Lost in Translation. Bill Murray is in the running to play a depressed middle-age crisis priest searching for the man who killed his father/wife/mother. The film will use a non-linear narrative style in picture-in-picture style, enabling Nolan to simultaneously meld the stories of the two main characters plus Tesla. Christian Bale will make a cameo as a trans-gender man-woman-man pimp who runs a small company of homosexual Geishas. He’ll probably have a deep welsh accent.

Radiohead will opt out of playing the ending credit music. Instead they’ll write and perform a song incorporating the names of the entire cast and crew into the lyrics. The credits will be available on iTunes in 20 different versions each costing $0.99. This will be done for obvious reasons that aren’t entirely obvious.

A David Bowie song will play over those credits.

Michael Caine will voice a talking dog. His performance will be hailed as genius. Wally Pfister will weep.

You’re an interesting species. An interesting mix. You’re capable of such beautiful dreams, and such horrible nightmares. (Film Draft)

Contact (1997)

It simply captured my imagination in a way no movie has done. The way it tackles the battle between Religion and Science is genius at times. Some people may find the ending odd; I found it perfect. Amazingly, Matthew Mcocnaughey manages to not completely play the same role he’s had in every film.

I hope one day this film isn’t considered Science Fiction, but just an interesting look at what could happen when we finally make first contact.

“I Want to Believe”