The People VS George Lucas

So I read that this movie, The People VS George Lucas will be at the SXSW film festival. Its all about the passion people have for Star Wars. I once had that passion, but after the Special Editions, the Prequels and a slew of shite video games, that passion has faded. In related news, Patton Oswalt is funny and would use a time machine for good.

A Single Man

A Single Man is first time director Tom Ford's break through film. It the story follows George Falconer 8 months after the death of the love of his life, Jim. The story follows Falconer as he decides to make a sudden and drastic change in his life in order to leave the past behind.

What really sticks out to me in this film is the cinematography. Ford's direction is absolutely top notch in this film. From the opening scene, to the moments of clarity for Falconer, every shot seems to have meticulously chosen to add just that certain amount of depth to the world.

Colin Firth also received a much deserved Oscar Nomination for best leading role. His portrayal of George Falconer is real, strong and moving.

I was blown away by the macabre beauty of this movie. With such a depressing and somber plot, it is amazing at how well it blends humor into it. Firth and Ford together really bring the character of George Falconer to life.

Big Fan

Big Fan is the story about someone who is fanatic about football. Well, not just football, but the New York Giants. Patton Oswalt plays Paul Aufiero, a man living a meager existence as the "World's Biggest New York Giants Fan." Paul spends his days listening to Sports Talk Radio and preparing the speeches he will deliver that day. His life involves working overnight in a parking garage, going home to his mother's house and on game days setting the parking lot of Giants Stadium watching the game on a portable TV.

Despite the fact his existence is meager, Paul seems happy. His friend is impressed with his oratory skills on "The Zone" and he has his beloved Giants. Until the day he has a run in with the Giants Star Player; who ruthlessly beats Paul until he is stuck in a hospital for 3 days. The remainder of the film focuses on Paul being torn by his love for the Giants and his family pushing him to seek justice.

Patton Oswalt delivers a remarkable performance playing the part of a 'lovable loser' who is going through a mental breakdown. Robert D Siegel does a wonderful job with the script and directing, never poking fun at the fanaticism that National Sports teams garner.

Moon

Moon was released on Blu Ray today. This is a great example of where a science fiction idea is turned into something that questions the nature of reality and existence. I won't spoil the twist for those of you who haven't seen it, with that I implore you to seek this movie out. I would put it up as one of the top movies of 2009.

This is Duncan Jones first film, and he nails it. With actual set pieces and miniatures, Moon is considered shoe string budget at five million dollars. Sam Rockwell delivers a spectacular performance as the lone worker on a Moon mining station, his only companion is a robot played by Kevin Spacey.

A surreal masterpiece, Moon is something I look forward to watching time and time again.

More Avatar

So I hear a lot of people complaining about the Story in Avatar; which is all well a good. Its not some new interesting and creative story, but it works. More importantly it brings you into this vast sprawling 3D world that James Cameron and Associates have created. Needless to say, I found this video to be quite hilarious.

Up in the Air

I did something Sunday night that I rarely do these days. I actually went to the theater and paid to see a movie. The movie was suggested by a friend, and I didn't really know much about it other than that a friend from high school happened to work on the film (read: corral hoards of women swooning after George Clooney) when shooting was being done in Omaha. Anyway, there wasn't much appeal. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised. Clooney continues to get better with each new film. The supporting cast was great as well, with appearances from Zach Galifianakis, Danny McBride, Jason Bateman, and Sam Elliott, to name a few).



George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who travels around the country to various workplaces and conducts employee layoffs on behalf of bosses too cowardly to do it themselves. On occasion, he also delivers motivational speeches about the virtue of a relationship-free life, often using a backpack analogy. He relishes the comfort of being anonymous during his perpetual travels. He does not have a personal life and chooses to stay away from his family. He is close to achieving his personal goal of 10 million miles.

One of my favorite things about the film is the opening credit sequence featuring some amazing aerial shots and an outstanding version of This Land is Your Land by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. This isn't really a video, but you get to hear just how amazing their version of the song is.



The other major highlight is that the film includes various shots of Omaha, including the downtown area and the airport. Seeing this movie in Omaha is probably a completely different experience than seeing it anywhere else. You can literally feel how excited people get seeing an Omaha landmark (even though Clooney's character frequently laments the fact that his life is based out of Omaha and refuses to admit that he actually 'lives' here). When it's all said and done, Up in the Air is good movie with a good soundtrack and is, overall, a pretty solid piece of film making.

Avatar

So I finally got a chance to see the big movie event for 2009; or as James Cameron would have you believe, the history or cinema. Avatar is an epic tale of Humans encroaching on the native life of this fantastically beautiful world of Pandora. Both the production and story are epic in a nature, and if there is one thing Mr. Cameron understands its epic.

I felt the characters and story in Avatar were a bit on the stock side. Generic Corporate Villain, Generic Science Hero, etc. I do think this worked in the movies favor, where he could focus more on writing it in an entertaining way as opposed to coming up with something completely fresh. Speaking of which, his writing was spot on, just right with the heavy handed-ness and the levity when needed. With a moral we've heard over and over (conservation, anthropology, etc). He wasn't out to write the greatest screen play, he was out to recreate a movie event.

Now one of the biggest points of this movie is the special effects. I realized by the end of the movie I was not thinking about which moments where CGI and which were real life. I also felt the 3D added a certain depth and reality to the fictitious planet of Pandora. Some of the moments in 3D are truly mind bending, with the sweeping vistas to the simply things, like a laboratory. I think the simple fact of the matter is that you never were put out of the moment by the special effects, they only added to it.

In the end, I would say Avatar is one of the most interesting movies I've seen in a long time. James Cameron is certainly an entertainer and when given the chance to make something epic and over the top he is able to deliver. I think a lot of old hands in Hollywood could take a lesson or two from him on how not to ruin your career with the big budget labor of love.

This 'aught' to be the Decade to Remember

So, I've been trying to think of some great list to close out the decade. Its a tough call with seeing all the things that happened over the past ten years. When we entered this decade, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was still fresh in our minds, the PS2 was the latest in gaming and Portal CD Players still dominated the Market. Since 2000 we've seen the advent of the Digital Era; if you told me ten years ago I'd have over 400 albums and countless video games all owned via digital means. That Imax would no longer be reserved for documentaries at the Zoo. Apple Computers would again be the definition of sleek and high tech; TV would be replaced by the Internet. Its been an interesting decade for entertainment, that is for certain. So as I compile my list of Movies, TV, Video Games, and Music, what are some of your most memorable moments in the last decade?

Time Travel

So Zach has got me addicted to Lost, which is starting to delve into paradoxes involved with time travel. It got me thinking about some of my favorite moments in TV & Film involving Time Travel, and I think the final scene in Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey does just about the right thing in the absurdity department.



Do you have any preferred moments involving time travel?

The Wicker Man

So Ryan got me to watch The Wicker Man over the weekend. A horror movie set on a small fictional island in Scotland. A police sergeant, Neil Howie, is sent to investigate the disappearance of a young girl Rowan Morrison. Upon his arrival the town tells him she does not exist, even the mother of this missing girl claims ignorance in the whole matter. As the mystery is unraveled in Pagan Folk Lore, The Wicker Man takes some excellent twist and turns. I would have to say this ranks near the top for one of the best Horror Movies I've seen in my life.

It has also come to my attention that Edward Woodward, Sgt Howie in The Wicker Man, died over the weekend.

A Serious Man

The newest film from the Coen Brothers marks their distinctive style, with shots that would almost seem mundane from anywhere else, dialogue that is real, distinctive and awkward. The film follow Lawrence Gopnik, an Orthodox Jewish Physics Professor as his life begins to come unraveled at the seams. He has a student attempting to bribe him for a better grade, his bid for tenure is in jeopardy when the school receives anonymous letters denigrating him, his wife is asking for a divorce so she can marry a long time family friend, his children are ungrateful and manipulative, finical troubles, etc. Needless to say, Larry Gopnik feels as though his life has suddenly come apart.

As this is going on, he continues to hear from the different people in his life that he should visit the Rabbi. His wife and her new lover, his divorce lawyer, the head of his department. The first Rabbi he sees is the underling, and gives him some strange advice about looking at things with a new perspective (Look at the parking lot Larry!). Obviously missing the problems within his life, a fresh perspective fails. The second Rabbi he sees tells him a strange story of a dentist that finds "Help me, save me" written in Hebrew on the back of a gentiles teeth. The story leads no were with no real moral, other than this dentist lets the mystery dissolve away into the past and continues on with his life. The final Rabbi he goes to see is blocked from him by a Secretary.

Needless to say the movie is very well put together, with that great dry sense of humor, wonderful shoots and vivid colors that bring almost a surreal aspect to what would other wise be something that seems almost real. I think one of this scenes that really sticks out in my head is when Larry climbs on top of his house in order to fix the antennae so his son can watch F-Troop. The vista he sees from this vantage point is of a stark suburban wasteland, his oasis in all of this is a neighbor who is sun bathing in the nude.

A common theme within the life of Larry Gopnik is that he "hasn't done anything." Which is exclaims over and over whenever something terrible is happening to him. The idea that his complacency is what should shield him from the tribulations of life is both naive and short sighted. When he goes to his Rabbi's for help with his seemingly broken life, they offer no help and have no answers, asking one "If we are to field the questions, why are we not provided with the answers?" To which the Rabbi shrugs his shoulders and smiles. Eventually, when his brother and him are living in motel, he wakes up to his brother almost violently sobbing. In the midst of his tears you hear him exclaim that God hasn't given him shit, that he is a good person and tries but God does not give him anything, at which point Larry says God won't give you anything, you must get it yourself. I felt that moment should of been an epiphany for Larry, realizing that his complaining of "I haven't done anything" is the same as his brother saying "I haven't been given shit."

As the movie climaxes, it seems as though good things are starting to happen for Larry once again. But just as soon as the good happens, there is more bad. I think this is the over all theme in the movie is that really, in the end, only you can control how you react to things, and that doing nothing is not the key to contentment. Life takes an active participant and requires more thought than people are willing to admit. Religion is a refuge for those that seeks answers, but in the end, the pillars of religious thinking are just as clueless as everyone else.

In the final analysis, I found this movie to be witty, insightful, and well put together.

2001: A Space Odyssey

By far, the greatest Science Fiction movie ever created is 2001: A Space Odyssey. The story of man kind finding tools from such advance species and trying to figure out their purpose. Its a reminder that we are only a small part of these ever expanding universe, that our roll is still not come into full definition. As we try to explore such a wondrous object as the Monolith we learn that our own tools are primitive in comparison.



Moments like Hal 9000's malfunction due to improper impute of data only shows the sharp mind of Arthur C Clarke. An AI designed to only serve humans and never distort data is told to lie and keep a secret from other crew members its solution to the problem is to eliminate the problem. Such an excellent scene where David Bowman sets down with Hal and they talk about rumors circulating about their mission. The scene where Bowman 'kills' HAL is maybe one of the most disturbing moments in cinema history, evoking a strong sense of sympathy for a computer is a powerful statement in story telling ability.




The final scene where David Bowman overcomes all odds and enters the Monolith is most amazing. To have such a man of intelligence, resolve and courage be the judging of all of our species is quite the trip. As the Monolith pulls him in, it shows him the history of the species who created it, brought it to earth and began the process of evolution that culminated in the moment David Bowman said "My God, its full of stars!"



The movie is a great example of the visual telling of a story. Combined with the book it becomes one of the greatest examples of speculative fiction to ever be conceived. To think, that in 1968 they would see the Computer take such a prominent roll in our lives, and how we would rapidly advance into the Space Age. Unfortunately Geopolitics stopped the Space Race in the late 70's.

More on John Hughes

As Megan had mentioned earlier John Hughes has passed on. There are only really two movies of his I remember loving from my childhood, the ever so classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Weird Science. Both forever classic in the halls of cinema history.

One of my favorite things about Ferris Bueller's Day Off, is the car, a 1961 Ferrari GT California. This car holds the auction record at the Pebble Beach Concours D'elegance, one of the most prestiage car auctions in the world.

John Hughes

Even though most of his films were released somewhat before my time, they make up a large part of my library of favorites.
A fitting eulogy.
John Hughes will remain, even after his death, one of my all-time favorite directors.

Some of the memorable scenes:

Ferris Bueller's Day Off


Some Kind of Wonderful


16 Candles


Pretty in Pink


Also, John was today's featured Nerd Boyfriend.