Friday, February 11, 2011

Queue Tips: Blue Valentine

Apparently, "Blue Valentine" is not the sequel to "My Bloody Valentine".  Or "Blue Velvet".  This is a film starring Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling.  Also in it is John Doman, who played Rawls in HBO's "The Wire".

I really liked the writing and editing of this film.  The past and future were intercut together very well and pretty seamlessly.  Unlike in "Rabbit Hole", we were able to see the characters change.

The film starts with the death of their family dog.  It instantly reminded me of "Wendy and Lucy" where Williams plays a character who has lost her dog.  And then I thought maybe this film was made by the same director.  Maybe Kelly Reichardt finally realized she should try and connect with the audience.  Well, after the film, I checked the credits and found that this was directed by Derek Cianfrance, about whom I pretty much know nothing.  I think he did an excellent job with this film, and I look forward to seeing more from him in the future.  Meanwhile, Reichardt is probably working on some other boring shit.

The acting was superb.  Ryan and Michelle were both very natural and believable.  What else can I say?  I think of stuff while viewing but totally forget once it's done.  And it doesn't help when so much time passes before blogging.  So I guess, just check it out when you get a chance.




Thursday, February 10, 2011

Queue Tips: Rabbit Hole

Apparently, "Rabbit Hole" is not some kind of Jewish porn.  I guess I read the title wrong.  This is a film starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, who play a couple who lost their young son.

Being a fairly new parent, I have had a lot of fears, morbid scary thoughts that I wish would never happen.  It's tough to imagine what it would feel to be in that kind of situation.  God forbid something happens, I just don't know what kind of person I would become.

My main problem with this movie is that we're watching the characters after their tragedy.  We don't really know who they were or what their life was like before.  We're seeing them react to the situation but we don't know how they may have changed.  Either that, or I totally just missed it.

I thought the film was well done, although I felt it was a little melodramatic at some points.  There was a little too much yelling for me, but I guess the characters needed to let out their frustration.  I would still recommend it but you can probably wait for the DVD.

This movie was based on a play, and I would actually be more interested in watching the stage production.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Queue Tips: The Fighter

Apparently, "The Fighter" has nothing to do with Dave Grohl.  Cos he was in the Foo Fighters.  Hello?  Anyone?

This was a pretty good film despite the plain, generic sounding title.  Christian Bale never disappoints.  You gotta love his dedication to his craft.  He kind of actually reminded me of a client who was a former boxer.  Mark Wahlberg was all right, I guess.  He hasn't actually done anything that has truly impressed me.  But then again, I haven't seen "Invincible" yet.  Or "Max Payne".

Melissa Leo was awesome.  I didn't know she would be in it.  I always love little surprises like that.  She was of course terrific in "Frozen River".  Recently she was in HBO's "Treme".  And you've probably never seen her in "Homicide: Life on the Street", but that was a pretty good show.

I don't like to reveal too much, and I don't know what else to say, so just check it out when you get a chance.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Queue Tips: Where my speeches at?

Apparently, "The King's Speech" has nothing to do with Elvis.  Or one of the leaders of the Civil Rights movement.  Or a basketball player from Sacramento.  Or a hockey player from L.A.  Or Fu's Chinese Restaurant.

Nope.  Instead, it's about King George VI, who reigned over England during World War II.  Apparently, the guy was a stutterer, and being a public figure who had to speak to his people, that was a problem.  So he hires a speech therapist who tries to help him.

It's a good film, although I felt they made some situations feel a little too convenient.  The movie didn't start out with the main character as king.  He was only the Duke of York in the beginning, and they kind of made him less ambitious than you would expect a normal human being to be.  Even when he was finally crowned, he seemed less than enthusiastic to be at such a high position.  Of course, they show that he was burdened by his duties and that he didn't actually have total power or anything.  But I just kind of expected him to be a little happier.  Just a bit.

Geoffrey Rush was terrific as the speech therapist.  You may have seen him in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.  I don't know if you've seen him in "Quills" though.  If you haven't, put it on your queue and check it out.  I watched that film a while ago with my wife.  I popped the DVD in before going to sleep one night, hoping to just watch a few minutes before dozing off.  We ended up staying up to watch the whole thing and sleeping around two in the morning.  That was the latest we've gone to sleep in a long time.

Oh yeah, and Guy Pearce plays King Edward VIII, the older brother of George, who is played by Colin Firth.  Helena Bonham Carter plays his wife.  Michael Gambon aka Dumbledore plays King George V.

And the film is directed by Tom Hooper, who I didn't know much about.  It turns out I've seen some of his work as director of the mini-series "John Adams".  If you haven't seen that, check it out also.  It stars Paul Giamatti.  David Morse is in it also, as well as a small role by Mamie Gummer, who is the daughter of Meryl Streep.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Queue Tips: Dawn tread on me.

Knock knock.

Who's there?

Narnia.

Narnia who?

Narnia darn business!  Mwahahaha!

I love that lame little joke.  I look forward to "Chronicles of Narnia" movies just so I can tell it again.  When I first watched "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", I didn't even realize what exactly a wardrobe was.  I thought it was just clothes.  I didn't know it also stood for the piece of furniture that holds the clothes.  I was like a little kid watching that movie.  I was like, "Ohhh, that's the wardrobe."  And later, "I guess she must be the witch."  And then when the lion showed up, I was like, "That's the lion!"  Well, I guess I already spoiled it by revealing that there's a lion, a witch and a wardrobe so I won't say anymore.  Put it on your queue if you haven't watched it yet.

I recommend "Prince Caspian", too.  There is a prince in there whose name is Caspian, but that's all I'm saying.  Apparently, some audiences didn't like this because it wasn't Christian enough or something.  I wasn't viewing the film in those terms, so I actually enjoyed this movie.  I never read the books either, so I was neither disappointed or appointed not disappointed in the plot.

"The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" was a bit of a letdown, even though I knew the two older kids weren't going to be in it.  I kind of feel bad for the young fans who weren't aware of this going into the film.  In addition to that, the Dawn Treader is a ship where the characters go on a voyage.  You don't actually see much of Narnia, and you see less characters than in the previous two films.

In this third installment, we are introduced to an annoying cousin not unlike the one in those Harry Potter stories.  I found him pretty damn irritating, which was the point, I guess.  I think maybe they could have used him more to show or re-introduce the Narnian characters.  "Dawn Treader" wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either.

And now, some Metallica: