The Jewish James Bond

Edward Zwick directed a few good movies before he created Defiance. The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond both get good grades in my book. This one he uses a fairly new actor to our eyes, Daniel Craig. Of course you can argue Daniel is not that new, but considering he hasn't been known for as long as Tom Cruise and Leo, I'll consider him, new, fresh and only widely known for one role, the newest James Bond.

Now take a few good supporting actors such as Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell and you are headed off with a nice cast. The three actors play three brothers in the film. The film is based off of a "true story", but we all know true stories are never 100% true in Hollywood. Regardless, the basis of the story is pretty good.

There is a problem though, we've seen a ton of movies about the Jewish struggle during the Nazis' bloody regime, so why make another? I would say this was stuck in my head all through out the movie. What makes this film different from the countless others, and how will it measure up against the big one (Schindler's List). It doesn't measure up quite the same. It tells a story just a bit differently than most of the films about that struggle, mostly because the great deal of the film has no Nazis in it.

Pretty much the film is about the band of brothers who survived their villiage being killed off by the Nazis invasion of Poland, and they hide in the woods in order to go undetected. However, the eventually run in and band together with other Polish Jews trying to survive. The group eventually becomes a large one and they create a "camp" for Jews to "live freely".

The dangers of course are being discovered by the Nazis who have guns and tanks and German sheppherds. There is also the danger of Polish non-Jews who are hunting down Jews for a cash reward. This is the overall suspense through out the film along with the dangers of the harsh cold winters, the lack of proper food, and illnesses that can kill without proper aid. It is literally a survival story with a twist. The twist is, that these Jews can fight, and they fight back. Making it very interesting to watch and is pretty much the only reason that this story is such a good one.

So the story is good, the cast is good, but what about the overall execution of the film. I'm going to have to say it was just okay. Emotions never ran wild for me, and the drama during the fighting is just average. To me the highlight of the film isn't even when Daniel Craig kills a Nazi...which yes, he does kill quite a few. I'm not going to say too much more, only that I say go see this movie if you love Daniel Craig, cause he does a great job, but if you are on a budget, I would wait to rent this one on DVD or get it on Netflix.

GRADE: B

My Bloody Valentine 3...um make that 2 and a half D

No, 3D is by no means a new addition to the cinemas, and by no means is it a new fad to increase box office returns...but it did just that.

My Bloody Valentine was released in both a regular 2-D and 3-D release this previous friday with an incredible amount of anticipation from horror fans nation wide, including myself.
On the surface, MBV is a generic slasher with predictable plastered on its forehead, and by no means was setting expectations any higher then that. The film did have one thing going for it, and it was the addition of the 3-D...

.. Oh and does it fail! The third dimension never really jumps out at the audience. Any one who has been to an amusement park in the last 20 years has experience 3-D that is miles ahead of the crap that was sold as 3-D on this mess. I use the example of the muppets show attraction at Disney World or the Honey I shrank the Audience, where the image on the screen actually pertrudes and feels inches from your face. MBV however simply adds a feeling of depth, which i will give them credit for, since at times you do feel like you are a creep hiding in a bush watching the events of the film unfold. You can tell where the film makers intended certain CGI effects to shoot out at the audience, including an "eye ball gag" and thrown pick ax and a bullet in slow-mo, however the image veers off to the right just slightly, and then the audience is sadly reminded that they are in no great danger, and that the promised 3-D effects simply have failed.
Valentine is among a number of other current titles to get a 3-D release, including Bolt and Beowulf, Beowulf being the only other one I have seen in 3-D, with that said I make this statement- this 3-D technology is not working simply put, it just isn't. Any one looking to get their hats blown off, or their jaws dropped will be sadly dissapointed. The effect is simply lost and actually becomes distracting, I found myself hoping for a succesful gag, and realised it was never coming about 2 minutes from the credits.

Were you in a crummy theatre? You might ask... Did you have the glasses on wrong? the answer is no and no. I saw this film on a DLP projection screen and well...there aren't many ways to wear glasses wrong...

Now for the film...

My Bloody Valentine is the remake of the 80's cult classic gore fest, and although we have advanced tenfold in our film making capabilities since then...MBV some how works to set us back about 30 years by serving as little more then a made for TV sci-fi channel mess. Jensen Ackles plays our lead Tom Hanniger, the new owner of the towns life blood, a mine that his father used to own, and of course Tom wants to sell it because he had a run in with the mad pick ax weilding maniac 20 years prior. He tries to rekindle an old flame with little hottie Jamie King, who he used to date...but now is married to his old arch nemesis Axel, who is now the town's sherriff...yeah its that good...think lifetime original movie good. People start getting slashed, including Axel's old girlfriend, who after getting film banging a trucker in a shady old motel runs naked through the parking lot and through the motel owners personal living quarters...and I say quarters because the owner is only quarter sized...shes a little person. Axel starts an investigation that is laughable (allowing the prime suspect...Tom of course...to roam town freely), so laughable I was sure a six year old with a toy CSI kit could have solved about 3 years prior...

This film has more plot holes then solid story...more ridiculous story elements then an episode of desperate housewives... Like i said before, this film simply had one thing going for it, the attempted 3-D. There is no way in hell any one should venture near this film, especially if it isn't in 3-D.

Saving graces of this pile-

5 minutes of fairly hot nudity as Axel's ho lover runs naked through a parking lot...trying to get back a sex tape just made of her...so that no one will see her naked on it.. (you have to love the irony)

Midget Motel owner getting pick axed to the ceiling...

Drunk old guy with a locked and loaded shotty too hammered to use it..


Guess that is about it folks... I am sorry for really even wasting your time but I haven't been felt this screwed since Shamayalanananan's The Happening...yeah its that bad

I will be tackiling the Unborn...and I am going to try and write an article about the current state of Horror films.
Thanks for reading everyone...and have a happy valentine's day

Grade: D-

Reviews coming

Hey guys! Just wanted to do a post and let you guys know i will be updating the blog with 3 new reviews by later tonight or early tomorrow for:

Gran Torino
The Unborn
My Bloody Valentine 3-D

Looking forward to keeping this blog alive, cannot wait to see you guys

br()wnie

Slumdog is an overhype!

This movie is the over rate of this year just as Juno was last year, this kinds of movie just should only receive awards like Best Screenplay. Don’t get me wrong. I truly love this film with the many minimal faults that it had. One of the issues that I had with the films was that characters, they were so flat and no interesting at all. Latika was the girl that was forced into a marriage to a mobster, and she wouldn’t do anything to help herself and waited for Jamal to do it for her. Seriously? Just as any major Hollywood movie. Now that I think about I caught myself praising about that movie for what I made me feel at the theater, but many films touch me with really sad scenes, we just have to go back really think overall how the whole films truly holds together.
In Hollywood, I think you either go left or right, meaning that you either make a movie or you make a film. Slumdog Millionaire was a really good movie, but I feel it didn’t have enough honesty to be a film. Including that sugar over coating of the slums of Mumbai that it felt that it was just begging for awards. For this and Other reasons this movie shouldn’t have gotten the Golden Globe for Best Motion Film. Maybe I’m wrong because I don’t think to high of the Golden Globes either anymore, maybe they deserve each other for over hyping movies that don’t deserve that much attention; and for wanting attention just to sell more tickets at the Box Office.

Clint Eastwood is a racist...with a badass car

But seriously, go see Gran Torino. It will be worth your 9 dollars or whatever outrageous price you are willing to pay these days to see it. I will warn you about a few things though, if you are sensitive, and you are all about being PC (Politically Correct), don't go see it. And if you hate Clint Eastwood, don't go see it. I don't know anyone who hates Clint, but if you do, you shouldn't call yourself a movie lover.

He is a living legend, and has been far before he made Gran Torino. I'm not going to lie, he is not the most lovable character and he is pretty darn mean in the film, but he is GOOD. He is so good, he made everyone else in the film seem horrible. Which is probably the best case I have against this movie. No one can act, except for Clint Eastwood in the film. He is the only big name actor, and there is no one to follow him or even come close to supporting him. I mean yes, there have been films where actors make their mark without being on the front of the movie poster, but this movie has none. Clint couldn't find anyone who came close to being a good actor other than himself. I think the second best performance came from the grandma next door who had no English speaking lines in the entire film. She did pretty good for her role. I think Clint wanted to be as authentic as possible for the other characters in the film and perhaps none of those authentic characters were trained actors to begin with.

But on a better note, if you can look past some of the terrible acting on concentrate on the storyline and Eastwood's performance, you will be pretty amazed by this film. Clint's acting may not even be why this film has such impact on everyone. It might be the fact that the movie is so politically incorrect, that it is refreshing. You will hear more racist terms and slang in this movie than you will here in American History X. Although most of the time it is not in such a malicious manner (as you see in AM X) It is mostly refreshing and quite hilarious. You might find yourself laughing more than you want to because Clint's character is so outrageous. But he grows on you, maybe because he reminds you of your grandpa, old, grumpy, and old school as hel.

Clint did not write the movie, so you can't blame some of the bad lines on him, but the storyline overall was pretty awesome. You will enjoy the ending and the ride that gets you there. You can't help but think that Clint was trying to tell us something with his directing and acting, something more than just the story implies. This is supposed to be his last acting performance, and he solidified that he is, and always will be the most bad ass American actor of all time.

You will laugh, you might cry and you will remember to treat your elders with a little more respect after this one.

The 66th Annual Golden Globes

For those of you CCAD Film Society members who have forgotten about the 65th Golden Globes and how they were held at a press conference because of the Hollywood writer's strike. This year we finally have the award show that we have all been waiting for, without the frequent clip shows and the awkward montages.

It was straight forward and I really enjoyed watching it. Although, there were some unexpected wins, this years Globe winners could be very easily predicted.

I am not a avid watcher of mini-series but, John Adams took almost every award with Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for TV, Best Performance by an actor (Paul Giamatti), Best Performance by an Actress (Laura Linney), and Best Performance by an actor in a supporting role (Tom Wilkinson).

Of course the acclaimed Mad Men won Best Drama for a Television Series and 30 Rock won Best Comedy for a Television Series. Does anybody else think that Tracy Morgan is sometimes annoying?

Congrats to Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey for winning Best Performance by an Actor or Actress in a Comedy. Tina Fey is a genius.

Gabriel Byrne won Best Actor in a Drama Television Series for In Treatment and Anna Paquin won Best Actress for True Blood.

Laura Dern (Recount) won for Best Supporting Actress in a Mini-series or a Motion Picture made for television, I still think that Jurassic Park was her greatest work.

The only montage of the night was for Steven Spielberg who was being honored for his career achievements as director and producer. He received the Cecil B. DeMille award given by director and close friend Martin Scorsese.

Best Foreign Language Film went to Vals Im Bashir which looked beautiful and took around 4 years to make.

Best Animated Film went to my favorite, Wall-E. Pixar is brilliant. The detail and beauty of this film should be up for Best Picture.

Best Original Score in a Motion Picture went to Slumdog Millionaire. When I saw Slumdog I was laughing at the end credits but I did start dancing. The music was different and brought even more culture to the film. On another note, Clint Eastwood really does it all.

For Best Original Song, Bruce Springsteen won for The Wrestler. I have not really listened to this song or have I seen the film, but all I can say is thank God Miley Cyrus didn't win.

Best Screenplay went to Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire. I loved the film and he was up against really well written movies. I think during the announcing of the nominees it sounded like the announcer almost said "Skeemplay" right before Frost/Nixon, which I found humorous.

Danny Boyle won Best Director for Slumdog Millionaire. Like I said I loved the movie and I am glad he won.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role went to Kate WInslet for The Reader. Finally people are giving her credit.

This next one was just a joke. If I was Philip Seymour Hoffman I don't think I would have showed up to the Globes either. The only reason I would go is to honor Heath Ledger. Heath thankfully won Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. In my opinion and not everyone agrees with me but he was the best thing that came out of The Dark Knight. I guess I was just disappointed in the other nominations and feel bad for Hoffman and Ledger. (Feel free to bash on this opinion)

Sally Hawkins won Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Comedy) for Happy-Go-Lucky. This is a film I would like to see because I love British humor and she was in awe when she won this award.

I had no idea who would win Best Performance by an Actor (Comedy) but I guess Colin Farrell did an award winning job for his performance in In Bruges.

It was such a toss-up for Best Performance by an Actress (Drama). Every actress was brilliant. Of course I was rooting for Meryl but Kate Winslet walked away with this win. I still have to see Revolutionary Road but even Kate was surprised to have won this award. Does anyone else think that she is in love with Leo? She hugged and kissed him first when she won and confessed her love to him before her husband. Leo didn't have a date with him and has been waiting for her ever since Titanic. Or I can just be making things up in my head, but if anyone else feels this way don't be afraid to speak up.

What a comeback for Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler, this role was made for him and I am glad he won Best Performance by an Actor (Drama). I need to see this film but lucky he won this against some other really outstanding performances.

Vicky Christina Barcelona won for Best Motion Picture (musical or comedy). Personally Burn After Reading was my favorite but congrats to Woody Allen.

Slumdog Millionaire won for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and I couldn't be happier. It was a fantastic movie.

(The 81st Annual Academy Award Nominees will be announced Jan. 22nd)

Golden Globes Meeting

Dear Film Society Colleagues, this Sunday as you probably know the Golden Globes are on NBC so the film society is having a meeting online. The meeting will officially start at 8pm, but if you are a fashion follower you might want to get early for the red carpet show at 7pm, all of this is Eastern Time, all of this is on NBC, also since not everyone has IM i decided to use facebook, but you are welcome to talk in others ways. Remember Sunday 11 at 8pm on NBC and Facebook.