DOUBLE REVIEW!!! Tintin and Dragon Tattoo: NR #13 & 14

Happy late Holidays!!! Sorry for not reviewing anything last week, but I feel you can forgive me since it IS Christmas. To make up for it, I'm going to review my two most anticipated mainstream movies that, strangely, have a lot in common. They both are based on literature that are HUGE in Europe, both authors are dead, both already have some form of media in their home country, both were released on the same day in America, and both have great performances from Danial Craig. I'm of course talking about...

      

Let's Begin

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

PLOT

Mikael Bloomkvist is a Swedish journalist who has just lost a libel case to a billionaire industrialist. Because of this his magazine, Millennium, is quickly going under. He is hired by Henrik Vanger, CEO of the large Vanger corporation, to solve a 40 year old murder case that has Henrik's niece as the victim. Mickael is having a hard time finding clues and hires a goth research assistant named Lisbeth Salander, who has a mysterious and obviously troubled past. They soon discover they've gotten themselves into something more dangerous then they thought. 

PROS

I'm going to start off with a personal pro of mine. Do you remember the first trailer for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" that had the badass cover of Led Zeppilan's "Immigrant Song"?

    

Well that song gets a moment to shine as the song playing over the extremely creative and jarring opening if you never read the book or seen the movie before. Also, if you liked that song you can buy it off of iTunes right now!

The acting is this movie is great. Danial Craig does a great job as Bloomkvist and everyone else does a good job too.

The one stand out is Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. While I haven't seen it, I've heard that whoever played Salander in the Swedish film didn't that good of a job capturing the spirit of Salander from the books. Well I'm happy to say that Mara pulls off this performance flawless. She really shows off how frail and weak she looks, but mess with her, and you'll regret it. It's actually very scary.

This film is a near perfect adaptation of the book, not just in content, but in pacing and spirit as well. What I mean is that the first half of the movie is slow and mainly focuses on Bloomkvist and Salander's scenes are way too short, just like in book. It also picks up right where the book picks up. It has the same tone as the book, isolation, dark, and disturbing. Even when they have to leave out a part of the book or do it differently they do it with flying colors. I haven't seen an adaptation like this since last years "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World".

The movie seems just as graphic as the book but doesn't show it. Basically, whenever it's about to get too graphic, Fincher makes the smart decision by implying most of the graphic scenes rather than show them. It makes it more disturbing because your imagination fills in the blanks, that's why some of the best horror movies are the ones that follow the rule of  "Less is More".

The score done by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is, as always, amazing. The funny thing is Trent and Atticus did the soundtrack for David Fincher's last film, "The Social Network" and it's completely different from that one. I found myself zoning out from what was going on on the screen and focusing all of my attention to the music.


CONS
You know how I said how well the movie follows the book? Well it also follows its flaws. Bloomkvist, while having a great performance from Craig, is still just as uninteresting as he was in the book



CONCLUSION
This is a near perfect movie, especially if you've read the book. While not as fast paced and action-packed as most thrillers or how the trailers made it seem, it's still a must see and another great movie under Fincher's belt.


RATING
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The Adventures of Tintin

PLOT

Tintin is a young journalist who discovers a secret involving a model pirate ship. With the help of his dog Snowy and the alcoholic Captain Haddock, who's ancestors sailed on the pirate ship, they race to stop the evil Sakharine from discovering the secret before they do.

PROS

The motion capture animation is the best its ever been. You know how in movies like "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf" the characters seem really strange and look like lifeless puppets? Well that's something we like to call the Uncanny Valley, and it's always in the eyes. Well I'm happy to say this is farthest from the Valley they've ever gotten. The characters look great and never seem creepy or lifeless.

The 3D is amazing. It really immerses you in Tintin's world, and they barley use cheap pop-out tricks, but it's still really cool whenever they do. One scene where it's raining, it looks like the rain is falling into the theater! A must see in 3D

The action in this movie is the best action I've ever seen in any form of entertainment, period. They are just so ridiculous and fast paced that it leaves you at the edge or your seat and your jaw firmly on the floor. Most of them are all in one take, barley cutting away. Things are moving and reacting all over the place it all seems so seamless and smooth, which is thanks to Peter Jackson's animation team.  The 3D only makes these scenes even better. 

The #1 reason the action scenes work is Spielberg"s direction. It felt like a kid in a candy shop. The camera  never stops moving and never cuts, most scenes are one long take changing characters in real-time. One great example is a scene where Tintin is being kidnapped and Snowy needs to find a way out. At that point, the camera is just barley above the floor and following Snowy running up stairs, jumping out of windows or onto to moving cars.

Most actors are unrecognizable. This may not seem like a good thing, but it really shows how good of an actor  someone is when you can't even tell it's them. Daniel Craig plays as the villain Sakharine, but you would never know. He sounds nothing like himself and you could only know it was him by reading the credits. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost play as two bumbling detectives named Tomson and Tompson who, once again, are impossible to tell apart. 

CONS

The comedy could have been much better, considering the fact that two of the three writers, Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) and Joe Cornish (Attack the Block) have been involved in some of the funniest and just plain greatest movies and T.V. shows ever made. None of the jokes are laugh out loud funny. Most of them just got a chuckle out of me or a snicker. They never fall flat, but could have used some more work.

CONCLUSION

This is what the last Indiana Jones should have been. This is most fun I've had at the movies in a long time. It's a rollercoaster ride that is longer, less-expensive and a must see 3D experience that's fun for the whole family. If you want your kids to have as a good a time as you will, don't miss this. I really want this movie to do well and I'm afraid it won't since at the theater I went to, it was just me and one other family. 

RATING

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows: NR #12

I can think of no other way to start this off but by talking about trailers. Well, it's just one trailer, but one that is my MOST anticipated film of next year. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES!!!! I had no idea there was a longer more cohesive trailer out there, but here it was, showing off how awesome this movie will be. I would say go this just for that, but it's probably all over the internet at this point. Now, back to your regularly scheduled program, which is my review of...

Let's Begin...

PLOT

Holmes and Watson are back to solve a new case and out wit a new villain. But, this one is different, he is an intellectual mastermind that may be as smart if not smarter than Holmes, Professor Moriarty. As Holmes and Moriarty play a deadly game of wit, Holmes is simultaneously trying to prove and find out why Moriarty is behind a string of bombings and strange murders around Europe.

PROS

Robert Downey Jr. is, once again, great as Sherlock Holmes as is Jude Law playing Dr. Watson. Their chemistry is also back and better than ever.

The film is shot beautifully, especially during the slow motion heavy chase through the woods. 

The scenes between Holmes and Moriarty are amazing, all 3 of them. They are some of the most epic battles of wit I've ever seen. Well, they are the only ones I've ever seen. 

The film is a lot darker then the last one, and I'm glad they went in that direction. I just wish they had stuck with the bitter sweet ending they were going for.

CONS

In the middle of the movie, my sisters,  Evan Goodrich and Maggie Goodrich, both asked my what was going on and I could only tell what was going on at that moment in time, not the whole picture. This is a very confusing movie, only because of con number 2. Which is...

The movie is BORING! It goes on and on and ON with nothing note worthy or exciting happening. Every once in a while it'll do something that'll grab your attention, but those moments or too far apart to make a difference. My sister Maggie Goodrich fell asleep, and they both, Maggie and Evan, left near end they were so bored.

The last 15 minutes should have been the whole movie. In those last minutes, Holmes and Moriarty have that battle of wits using chess as a metaphor for whats happening. It's exciting and tense, it's what you've wanted to see for the whole movie. 

Moriarty is not in it enough. He shows up 30 minutes into the film, and you don't see for another hour, then again until the last 15 minutes.

They force a stupid and meaningless sub plot with this gypsy woman whose brother is missing. It serves no purpose but to have a cool scene near the end, and it's resolved very anticlimactically since you don't care about the gypsy

Slow-motion is used WAY too much. Do remember the cool scene in the first Sherlock Holmes where Holmes is fighting a guy twice his size and they use this to show how he thinks and solves problems? They use that at least 3 times. The one scene where it worked was, once again, in the last 15 minutes.  

They cop out at the end. They pull a card that would have followed the books (at least from what I've heard) and set up an interesting dynamic for the sequel. But they just cop out and end with, I kid you not, "THE END ?" 

CONCLUSION

I heard a critic compare this to Iron Man 2, and I think he's right. It's not as well made, the villain is barley there, and it's just disappointing. I'd say see it, but don't pay 10 bucks just to have a nap. Pay 2 bucks and sleep in the comfort of your home.

RATING

RENTABLE

   

  

Adult Content in Video Games: YMNK #2

Welcome to another YMNK. I've decided that this will show stuff that I like and want to get word out about. I'll also talk about topics I believe I need to get the word out about or that I really want to talk about. A great example is this new YMNK about a heated topic that stems from people not doing their research, I'm of course talking about

Adult Content In Video Games

 To find out why this is a problem, we must get to the root of the controversy. This all started in the early 90's when fighting games were all the rage thanks to Street Fighter II. The guys at Midway Games Chicago decided to get in on that game money with Mortal Kombat, but their game didn't have anything that made it stand out besides the realistic graphics (for the time). The solution? Add blood and guts. Once the game released it was a huge hit, because of the finishing moves. For those who don't know, when you depleted your opponent's health, a message would pop up famously saying "FINISH HIM/HER" and if you put in the right button combination, your character would kill the opponent in bloody gory ways. One of the most famous examples was when Kano pulls out his opponent's still beating heart. Kids and teens loved it, parents were horrified. It soon became known as one of the biggest controversial subjects of the year. The reason being that video games were still seen as a kid's toy, so when parents saw their innocent babies tearing peoples heads off, they went crazy. While I'm not saying this was not an important issue, this was an extremely overblown issue. A senator even blamed an increase in gang violence on Mortal Kombat.
As mature rated games became more common, the issue evolved as well, but not by a lot. Now it's more about selling the games to kids, not the content. I honestly think the argument about selling violent games to kids is hilarious. Because most kids stuff is violent,just not gory. Pokemon? that is pretty violent if you think about it.

 As the controversy of violence became less and less, the controversy of sexual content became bigger. The most recent and popular story was in Mass Effect. Mass Effect is an extremely good game with deep characters, fun and engaging gameplay, and choices that actually effect the story, I highly recommend it. The issue is about a scene near the end where you have sex with one of the three possible crew members after evolving your relationship with her/him. The most skin you saw was somebody's butt, maybe a little bit of side boob, but for just barley a second. Fox News decided to report on the story with the infamous headline "Se"xbox. They were claiming that the 2 minute scene was a graphic full nudity sex scene that showed women as just objects of desire. Geoff Keighley was the opposing voice to some women who wrote a book (that was her only qualification) and he tried to tell her how she was wrong and that she had no facts. She stated that a new study said that boys who play video games CAN'T repeat CAN'T tell the difference from what's on screen from the real world. Maybe for 7 year olds, but not boys in general. Geoff tried to defend the game as best he could, but was only talking to deaf ears. That is what I'm talking about. That woman didn't know her facts about the game, she knew questionable research, but not anything about the game itself. Geoff even asked her if she had played the game, she responded saying "No" in a "Are you serious?" tone of voice.

 I feel like games can be just as compelling as any other art form, be it film, music, or T.V. Each medium has had to endure some form of controversy to get the point they're at now. We need fight back the false claims and fight to the end, defending our medium at all cost, never backing down, never surrendering, always moving forward. We've had games that have tried and succeeded in telling a mature story. Games like The Witcher 2, Mass Effect 1 and 2, even the new Grand Thef Auto has had a crack at it. Parents, don't buy your kids M rated games until you think they are old enough. 14 or 15 seems like a good age to start in my opinion. Just don't everything at face value, do your homework.


 If you like this subject and want a more British view on it, look up LiamRproductions. He started doing video game reviews but as of late has done a lot of Unseen 64 and Monocle Wearing Rebuttals, where he commentates on news storys or poorly made documentaries about video game violence and addiction. Here is a link to his latest MWR

      
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLJVWzWBlp0&feature=channel_video_title
   

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil: CR # 14

Well, I was hoping to review Tinker, Tailor, Solider, Spy, but since our "Art house" theater would rather show other independent movies, I had to rent a movie. Well I'm glad I did, because I saw another highly anticipated movie of mine. I first heard about this back in Spring of 2010. This movie has gone through distribution hell. It even was distributed in Germany where it beat The Chronicles of Narnia, and it had fewer screens to show it on, yet it still didn't get pickup! Well it finally has a DVD release and I'm happy for it. This is...

Let's Begin

PLOT

A couple of dumb college kids go up to the West Virginian woods for a week-end full of weed, beer, and skinny dipping, But, those are the villains of our story. After the kids stop at a gas station (cleverly titled " Last Chance") we start following the story of two lovable rednecks fixin up their summer home. Meet Tucker and Dale, two of the sweetest, nicest, most innocent rednecks in the United States. One night while fishing, Tucker   and Dale see one of the girls from earlier fall and bump her head into the lake. When they try to save her, the idiot kids think Tucker and Dale are a bunch of psycho killer rednecks and that they just kidnapped their friend! Now the kids try to save Alison (the stolen/saved girl) from those evil rednecks, and kill themselves in elaborate ways in the process, leaving Tucker and Dale scared and confused.

PROS

The reason this movie works are the lead actors. Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine play these characters great. You truly fall in love with these bumbling rednecks, especially Dale.   

The comedy is hilarious. It's a mix of parodying modern horror cliches, misunderstandings, and just plain craziness. I found myself laughing long and hard at a lot of scenes. The college kids are the funniest thing in my opinion. Just seeing how well each kid embodies a bad stereotype from bad scary movies and the crazy thoughts they come up with about what's going on is hilarious.

The movie has some cool gore moments, and they make some pretty good jokes with the gore as well. 

CONS

The last 3rd of the movie got a little too ridiculous in my opinion. I'm pretty sure that was the point, to make it extremely over the top and then some, but it didn't work for me.

CONCLUSION

I know this is a pretty short review but I really don't have that much to say, because I've already said everything I need to. I feel I've sold the movie as best I can. I love this movie. It has such a clever premise that I'm surprised no one has done this before. I highly recommend seeing this. It has comedy, action, gore, rednecks, and crazy college kids, what more can you ask for? I'm again surprised this was never sold to a mainstream audience, I know it could, and it should have. Oh well, hopefully my review can get some DVD sales.

RATING

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Howl's Moving Castle CR: #13

To be honest, I've never seen a Hayao Miyazaki film. For those who don't know, Hayao Miyazaki is the director and writer of some of the most critical acclaimed animated films in the world. He's worked on My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and what is considered by many to be the best film, animated or not, of all time, Spirited Away. I've only seen bits and pieces of these films, and seen one of them at a young age and can barley remember it. So this was an exciting occasion for me.My first Miyazaki film, and defiantly not my last...

Let's Begin..

PLOT

Based on the book of he same name, Howl's Moving Castle takes place in a steam-punk world that is on it's way to serious war after the disappearance of one of the kingdoms prince. Our tale is not about them though. Our story follows Sophie, a timid hat maker who never has any excitement in her life. Until a wizard by the name of Howl saves her from strange blob creatures. Later that night, the Witch of the Waste places a curse on Sophie where she transforms into an old woman and can't tell anyone about it! She decides to run away and hope Howl can help her. Once she sneaks onto the castle, she makes the excuse that she is the new maid for the castle and is allowed to stay. Sophie soon falls in love with Howl, but also finds a dark secret as well.

(Sorry if the plot is a little vague, I'll get more on the subject later.)

PROS

Miyazaki works with an animation studio named Studio Ghibli who always do an amazing job, and it shows here. The art style, the animation, all of it is gorgeous. I found myself just staring at the screen in ah. I also wasn't sure if this film used CG or if they had the most dedicated team of animators on the planet.

The voice acting is well done. One of the problems I have with anime (I do consider this anime) is that the actors are always way over the top for me. They're always shouting, be it in anger, sadness, or for comedy. Luckily, the actors here are great, acting like normal people and not some person who's had too many Red Bulls. Except for one...

This movie wasn't made for just kid's in mind. This film can be enjoyed by anyone of any age. 

The film also takes its audience seriously. What I mean is that it never fully explains things. It gives you enough hints to make your own idea of these characters. his is also a problem, once again, more on that later.

This movie is very imaginative. The world is so weird and cool it's hard not to love. Howl's castle is like a house junk yard with legs!

There is a very subtle anti-war message in this film. While not in your face, it's still there in passing. A character might mention how much problems the war is making or show how a town looks after war. It's never in your face and they always quickly return to the main plot.

CONS

Emily Mortimer plays Young Sophie, but not very well. She comes off as very wooden and unenthusiastic. Even in the emotional scenes she never sounded concerned or worried.

The story can get a bit convoluted at times, but if you pay attention and think it through (Like I had to) you get the gist of it. I honestly had to use Wikipedia to write a cohesive plot description.

CONCLUSION

I enjoyed this movie. While I didn't exactly see why everyone goes crazy over Miyazaki, I didn't see one of his best works either. This was a very creative and original film for all ages that I say is good to watch if you are interested. Now if you excuse me, I have to go on the hunt for a copy of Spirited Away. Wish me luck!

RATING

RENTABLE