So…in spite of the fact that I haven’t done it in ninety years, I’m suddenly really jonesing to do some movie blogging. Also, my nephew, Torsten, chewed me out for not keeping this current. SO…here goes. I’ll try to do better…and I’ll play catch up for a bit…because I have actually watched some good movies lately.
First off…I went to see X-Men Origins: Wolverine this past weekend. At first I didn’t consider the movie to be one that I’d go to the theater to see…I was fine waiting for the DVD. I have loved the X-Men movies, but for some reason, wasn’t chomping at the bit for this one. Not sure why.
But…I went with some friends…and MAN. It was GOOD. I mean…seriously. I loved it. Anyone who is interested in the movie knows that Wolverine is a character from both the X-Men comic books, and the X-Men movies, played by Hugh Jackman. Now…I have to say it…I never put Hugh Jackman on my “list” of Hollywood studs until I see him in a movie…and then I remember how cool he is. His range is pretty broad…he’s played all kinds of characters, but Wolverine is certainly his most widely known. And probably…because Wolverine kicks so much butt. Seriously. I’d like to be a mutant…just so I could hang out with him.
If you remember the X-Men films, (I’m not familiar at all with the comic books, to be honest. Shoot me if you’re a purist…) you’ll know that Logan/Wolverine starts the first film not remembering his past. He doesn’t know where he came from…what his story is…etc. Though some of his secrets are revealed through the subsequent films, this movie serves as a prequel that tells his whole story.
As a boy, Jimmy Logan and his brother, Victor Creed, run away together, and grow up fighting wars and never growing old. Both are mutants who enjoy superhuman strength, animal instincts, and excess facial hair. Both have the ability to heal very quickly, as well, and are therefore all but indestructible in the battles they endure. When the wars end, however, the brothers don’t know what to do with themselves, and are recruited into a private army of mutants, which is lead by Colonel William Stryker.
Stryker uses mutants and their unique powers to…um…get the things that he wants…and has very little respect for anything that gets in his way…including human life. While Victor enjoys the role of a mercenary killer, Logan grows tired of the violence and leaves the team. Both Stryker and Victor feel betrayed by Logan’s desertion, and seek their revenge in different ways. In spite of this desire to remove himself from the life he once lived, Logan is forced to return as both Creed and Stryker paint him into a figurative corner. I won’t lay out the details of the story line…in case you want to see the film…but I gotta say…it plays out to my definite liking.
Along the way, we are introduced to other mutants…some who are new to the films…(Gambit, an energy manipulating con artist, played by my favorite Friday Night Lights star, Taylor Kitsch, is a favorite)…and a younger version of a future X-Men team member, Scott Summers, aka Cyclops.
I think that one of my reservations about seeing the film was thinking that maybe fleshing out Logan’s history was superfluous…I’d enjoyed him enough as it was…who cared where he came from? But…as it turns out, I really did enjoy the story, and made me like his character even more. The action in the movie was great, and I liked many of the characters. It is interesting to see where all of these characters have come from…both knowing some of the places they will eventually go…and also, in wondering they might pop up next.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
The Dark Knight
Last night we started The Dark Knight later than we should have...after eating a nice big bread bowl of delicious homemade soup.
Long story short...I fell asleep.
So did William.
So did Kristi.
Needless to say...we need to watch it again. I anticipate that I'm going to love it.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day
So…after a long hiatus from watching movies, I dove back into the movie pool with Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. It was a good one to start back in with, too…I really liked it. The movie tells the story of Miss Pettigrew, (played by Frances McDormand, who is wonderful) who is a British nanny, quite unlike Mary Poppins. As opposed to Miss Poppins, Miss Pettigrew seems to be practically UN-perfect in every way…at least according to the families she has served. After being dismissed by one family after another, she finds herself at the placement agency, and is told that they aren’t willing to give her any more jobs. Desperate for employment, she takes a reference card from her boss’s desk before leaving, and heads to what she thinks is another nannying gig.
Instead of finding children who need care, however, Miss Pettigrew finds Delysia Lafosse, (played by Amy Adams, who is fabulous) an American singer in London, who needs a different kind of care. Delysia had contacted the employment agency to find a social secretary, not a nanny, and while she has no experience with such things, Miss Pettigrew pretends that she’s been sent to fill the position, simply to keep the job.
The day that follows is unlike anything that Miss Pettigrew has ever experienced. In spite of the fact that Delysia is spoiled and seemingly airheaded, she and Miss Pettigrew connect almost immediately, and Miss Pettigrew honestly DOES want to take care of Delysia. She is immediately thrust into the life that Delysia lives, complete with numerous boyfriends, fashion shows, socialite friends, and lingerie designers. During a stop on at the salon, Delysia treats Miss Pettigrew to a makeover, and she begins to think that maybe…just maybe…she might fit in with this crowd, if only on the surface.
Miss Pettigrew meets some people who continue to judge her based on the world that she came from (poverty) and those who see that there is more to her than meets the eye. As she does everything she can to help Delysia make it through what she considers the most important day of her life, Miss Pettigrew is able to live what becomes the most important day of her life, as well. With the help of those who see her for the beautiful and good person that she really is…she is able to finally see herself that way.
I liked this movie for a lot of reasons. First off, I generally like movies that have British characters, because I’m totally infatuated with the accent, and tend to use it for a while after watching the movie. While this might annoy others, I really don’t care…it is who I am. But the story itself is just good. The two women in the story are polar opposites, but in each other they find true friendship, which neither of them has really experienced much of before. Though they are together for only one day…the effects of that one day in both of their lives is lasting. Basically nobody should ever underestimate the good that they can do by simply being a friend to someone else.
Long story short…it was a fun movie, it was touching, and I loved it!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
And Then I Stopped Watching Movies
Lest you think I've been slacking yet again...I seriously don't remember the last movie that I watched. Crazy...I know. I have spent most of my free time this summer watching CSI on DVD...I'm a little obsessed lately...but I'm pretty sure I'll begin watching movies again at some point. Hee hee...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Catching Up--The Lightning Round
So, I realize that I haven't been keeping up with my movie blogging. This is not, however, because I have given up my habit of watching movies. It's more just because I've been lazy. Yeah...I said it. Instead of going through the effort of writing a huge blog about every movie I've seen in the past little bit, I've decided to catch up with one sentence reviews for everything I remember seeing in the past month or so. Ready? Okay...(in the order in which I think of them, not in which I saw them...)
Um...It was okay; though not as scary/good as I had hoped it would be.
If you're interested in seeing it, you know what kind of humor it is; I laughed pretty hard at some stuff, though.
I actually really liked this movie, which turned out to be more than a typical Jack Black comedy.
There isn't much that I don't love about a good romantic adventure starring Kate and Matthew...loved it in the theater, and bought the DVD.
This movie wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but I still liked it well enough...even Ryan Reynolds, who usually doesn't do much for me.
This one was fun, and made me wish I could see the invisible world of Goblins and Fairies that are visible in the movie.
Nowhere near as good as the first one, which is sad.
Even further from being as good as the first one than The Singles 2nd Ward, which TOTALLY sucks.
It had some scary parts, but overall, just didn't do it for me.
I liked it, just as much as the first one...can't wait for number 3!
Just plain funny.
I've said before how much I love Steve Carell, and he certainly didn't let me down in this one, which had me laughing pretty much from beginning to end.So...basically...that's all I can think of. If there were more, maybe I'll add them later, but hopefully I'll get back on track with actual, detailed, reviews in the near future...:)
Thursday, June 5, 2008
The Strangers
My worst nightmare comes to life in The Strangers. Instead of one masked assailant, however, there are three. Yeah…that’s helpful.
I love a good scary movie, which I have said before, and this one is exactly what I love/hate/can’t get enough of. The movie tells the story of Kristen and James, a couple who, after attending a friend’s wedding reception, retreat to his family’s summer home which is, of course, out in the middle of nowhere. Through some flashbacks at the beginning of the movie, we learn that earlier in the night, James had proposed to Kristen, but that she told him she wasn’t ready. Understandably, there is some tension between them, and they aren’t even speaking at the beginning of the movie.
As the couple finally begins to talk again, and to “work things out,” there is a loud knock on the door. They are somewhat concerned at the late hour, (It’s 4:00 in the morning) but answer the door anyway. On the porch stands a young girl…maybe in her late teens or early twenties…whose face we cannot see because the porch light has gone out. She asks for “Tamara,” and James tells her that she’s got the wrong house. “See you later,” she says, with more than a little bit of foreshadowing. Kristen and James shake the experience off as just “weird,” and initially think nothing more of it. Shortly after this exchange, Kristen announces that she’s out of cigarettes, and James volunteers to go get her some. Once he’s gone, the “holy crap I’m going to have a freaking heart attack”s begin.
Kristen hasn’t been alone long before there is more knocking at the door. Instead of opening it, she listens as the girl’s voice returns, asking for Tamara. Kristen tells her to leave, but the knocking continues, getting more and more insistent and loud. She calls James to tell him to hurry home, and their call is cut off. Of course. She stands by the kitchen, smoking her last cigarette and tries to shake off the “willies” she’s gotten. I think she does a pretty good job of it, too, but only because she can’t see the freakiest masked man in the history of masked men standing quietly behind her, just watching from the hallway. Seriously…that guy…he’d probably scare my nightmare’s masked man to death. When she finally turns around, of course, he is gone. Eventually, though, she realizes that she is not alone. Her cell phone, which she’d plugged in at one point, is missing. A fire alarm that she’d thrown on the floor is now on a chair. There are other sounds around the house, and she begins to panic. She looks out the window to see masked figures in the distance…two girls in masks…and then pulls one curtain back to find the aforementioned scariest guy in the history of time standing RIGHT on the other side of the glass.
How she manages not to simply die of fright at that moment is beyond me.
Kristen does not, after all, die of fright…at any point in the movie. I don’t want to go into many more details, though, because if you WANT to see the movie, it will be better if you don’t know what is coming. I will say though, that James makes it home, and that things get worse. It’s pretty clear to me that the objective of the people in masks is to terrify Kristen and James completely…to freak them out beyond all freakingout-edness…and then to go from there. They do everything in their power to keep their victims from escaping…but this is only to prolong what they obviously see as being some sort of cat and mouse game. Kristen and James are confident that the trio is there to kill them…(though at one point it is explained that it’s nothing personal…when Kristen asks them for a motive, the answer she receives is “because you were home.”)…but in spite of gaining countless opportunities to do it, our would-be murderers continually abstain from murder.
Constant suspense like this is far scarier to me, in a movie, than actual blood and gore. There are plenty of times during the movie that I sat thinking that I probably would almost want them to get it over with…rather than to continually make me wonder what they were up to, and what they were going to do, and when they were going to do it. I, however, would have honestly died of a stroke upon seeing who the credits simply call “The Man in the Mask” for the first time, so I probably wouldn’t be their ideal victim for their kind of “fun.” Thank freaking goodness!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Untraceable
The movie takes place from the point of view of Jennifer Marsh, who is an agent in the FBI’s Cybercrime division. She and her partner spend much of their time tracking down criminals who steal identities and prey on underage children…all online. In short, they get to get the bad guy without ever having to physically confront the bad guy. If I ever decide that I want to career in law enforcement, that’s the way I’d like to go.
Except that one night while on the job, Jennifer gets a tip to visit a site that is unlike anything she’s ever seen before. Instead of embezzlers and perverts, Jennifer finds a killer on the site…or at least she finds a killer’s victim. Her first visit to the site features a live stream of a kitten, which is killed, live on the internet while people watch. In fact, the more people that log onto the site, the faster the kitten dies.
As you can imagine, the killer’s victims escalate to humans. Jennifer and her partners are left helplessly watching as people are tortured and killed on a site that is always changing its address…i.e…it’s untraceable, and they can’t find out who is behind it.
The site features a counter that shows how many people are watching, and clearly states that the more people log on, the more severe the torture and deaths will be. Surely some of them think it’s merely a hoax…but some of them know what is going on…which is freaky. How many people out there would WANT to watch something like that? Bleah. In essence each person that logs on to the site is an accomplice to murder…and they are told as much in press conferences and by police. And yet, people keep logging on.
As Jennifer closes in on clues that lead her to the killer, the killer moves closer to Jennifer. You know this is going to happen…it’s movie after all…and eventually her partner and even her family are put at risk. It’s up to Jennifer to find him and stop him before he can get to them.
I thought the movie was a effective thriller. I liked the fact that, while it was very disturbing, it was not as “gruesome” as it might have been. Anymore, it seems like movies just get thrills out of blood and gore, but Untraceable was definitely less violent and gross than it could have been. The scariest thing imaginable, after all, is not physical pain…but what is going on in the minds of those who choose to inflict it.
