The DVD Case Pantheon: The World's End

Spoiler Warning: If you don't want to be spoiled for the big twist, watch this film first, then read on.

I'm kind of a late comer to the Edgar Wright fan club. I was aware of Shaun of the Dead when it came out, and heard the reviews, but as I'm not much of a zombie fan I didn't make any effort to see it*. Being that I was a late comer to checking out british TV shows, I didn't jump on the Spaced bandwagon until relatively recently. My first real appreciation for his work was when I went to see Hot Fuzz, unaware of what I was getting into. The result was one of my favorite movies of 2007, which is saying something as that is one of my favorite years of movies. Three years later came Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which again made my top ten for that year.  By then Edgar Wright was on my "must see" list, along with The Coen Brothers and the Andersons Wes and P.T.**

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the few movies I've had the luxury of seeing on opening night - the theater was only half full, despite the hype built up around the movie, and the advanced screening worked well with my schedule. It's a shame more people didn't turn out (not that the movie needed any help making money elsewhere, mind you) because for every empty seat, someone missed one heck of a movie.

Image property of Marvel Studios

Guardians, written and directed by St. Louis' own James Gunn, is a somewhat obscure property of Marvel's that frankly a lot of fans are surprised even made it past development hell and into full production, let alone ranking a 92% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. I mean, a talking raccoon? Come on guys, you can't be serious.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Snowpiercer

Note: The bulk of this post will be fashioned after one of my favorite scenes from the film. It won't really be a spoiler per se, but it might be too close for comfort for some people. Also, it might make very little sense to you. Therefore, the first paragraph will be a very boring but concise review of the film.

In short, Snowpiercer is one of my favorite experiences at a movie theater ever. The action is taut and exciting, the sharp contrast in colors between the rebelling people from the end of the train and the vibrant colors displayed by those farther up the train is impressive. The story is fairly crisp and fun to follow. Best of all are the performances. Chris Evans, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Song Kang-ho, Go Ah-sung, Jamie Bell, and others do a wonderful job in their roles. Tilda Swinton is great as the "Great Engineer" Wilford's chief stooge, and Allison Pill damn near steals the show. See this film, preferably in a theater if you can.

OK NOW ON TO THE "REAL POST". DON'T CONTINUE UNLESS YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE, OR AREN'T BOTHERED BY KNOWING DETAILS ABOUT WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN IN A MOVIE.

Summer Movie Reviews, Part One

Look, I intended to write about many many movies this spring and (now) summer, but things just didn't go that way. I will be writing about Under the Skin and Noah as promised, but not right now. Why? Well first off, they aren't summer films. Secondly, the former is so good (and strange) and the latter is so off the charts weird (and at times good) that they deserve their own posts. So keep watching for them. Also not included in this batch is Muppets Most Wanted, because there's little to write about it save for it being a very light, mostly forgettable, but still enjoyable adventure with the old familiar Muppets.

Into Troubled Waters: Season Four of Game of Thrones Ends

SPOILER WARNING: I'm gonna be talking a lot about things that have happened on the show, and vaguely hinting at things to come based upon the remaining two books yet to be adapted. If you haven't caught up, and don't want to read between the lines about potential future events, please save this for another day.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Amazing Spider-Man 2

It's hard to pin down why The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is so inessential. After all, Andrew Garfield is a damn good Spider-man, and Emma Stone is great as Gwen Stacy. Sally Field is a good Aunt May, and Paul Giamatti is fun (if underused) as Rhino. It looks gorgeous, with none of the effects problems that plagued even the best of the Raimi bunch. It even has one of the best scenes in the five Spider-Man movies*. It's a movie that is the lesser sum of its parts, and I'm not sure why.

A few words on "The Lion and the Rose"

****SPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES ARE FOUND BELOW****

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Captain America: the Winter Soldier

Somehow, a miracle has happened and I have seen a movie and written a review for it a semi-timely manner. I actually had the pleasure of viewing Captain America: the Winter Soldier in theaters on Friday. I knew I'd probably procrastinate in writing this review so I actually wrote down my major talking points on a piece of paper. Score one for organization!

Marvel Studios/Screenrant.com

The second installment of the Captain America movie franchise certainly delivered on the hype generated from the trailers. As opposed to being a true superhero movie where the action is focused on Captain America kicking ass in the name of Freedom in all his costumed glory, the film felt more like a spy thriller. Steve Rogers, the man out of time himself, finds himself working for S.H.I.E.L.D. (the security force behind the Avenger's Initiative, headed by Director Nick Fury) and questioning his place in this new generation of military involvement. The movie has a darker tone overall to what we're used to with the Marvel Movie-verse experience, in large part due to the fact that a good portion of the film lends itself to uncovering plots and motives.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Grand Budapest Hotel

The general understanding about Wes Anderson films tend to focus on the precise nature of his scenes. There is rarely any prop, any background, or any actor in the wrong place. The dialogue is written precisely, the music is perfectly chosen, and even the text on the screen is rendered in just the right font. The "Wes Anderson style" is distinct and instantly recognizable, as can be seen in this fake movie trailer from Saturday Night Live.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Bad Words

First there was Bad Santa, and it was a pretty great film. Then came Bad Teacher, which had its moments, but wasn't anywhere as good as Bad Santa. Finally, there is Bad Words, a movie starring, directed, produced, and catered* by Bateman. It's his directing debut, but is far from the debut of the typical Jason Bateman "smarm" character, even if he's more of a potty mouth than Michel Bluth ever was. While I only enjoyed parts of the film, I would like to see how Director Jason Bateman does going forward, as I think he has some promise.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Wind Rises

I must admit that I am a late-comer to the Miyazaki appreciation club. You have to look at the other writer on this blog for a more in depth and well thought out overview of his work, as she has seen many more of his movies than I have. I suppose it is fitting that The Wind Rises is supposedly his last work, as it is the first one I've had an opportunity to see in a theater. And let me tell you, it was well worth it.

The Oscars Recap: Better Late Than Never

You know, I almost didn't do a recap this year. Work has been busy this week, and Monday night I just didn't feel like writing anything. However, I have more energy tonight, I have thoughts to share on the event capping one of my favorite years of movies, and I didn't do that 24 hour Best Picture marathon for nothing, damnit*.

DVD Case Pantheon Challenge: The Master

The period after World War II ushered in seismic changes in American life. After two decades of depression and war, things started to look up again. Massive subdivsions full of tract housing sprouted up in the suburbs surrounding the major cities of the United States. People started buying things again, things such as new cars, new appliances, and even the television. Although the interstate highway system was years in the future, there were highways being built everywhere, and the great migration of people to the south and west from the industrial cities of the Northeast begun. Once again America was on the move.

DVD Case Pantheon: Magnolia

Some of my favorite films are tightly built. They clock in at about 90 minutes, leave absolutely nothing inessential in the story, and yet still find time to have well developed characters. There is usually one main story line featuring a minimum of characters. Urgency and consequences are the name of the game.

DVD Case Pantheon: Punch Drunk Love

These days, an "Adam Sandler movie" is synonymous to many film lovers with laziness. It tends to evoke sloppy crapfests full of awful animal gags, gay panic jokes, and an excuse for Sandler and his friends to take a vacation while filming*. Save for the incredibly long (and often tedious) Funny People, he really hasn't stretched his limits too far in a while. Which makes Punch Drunk Love kind of an anomaly, a blip in his career that makes me wish he'd expand his horizons more often. Or at least work with better directors.

Remembering Philip Seymour Hoffman

It's been two weeks since I first received the news of Philip Seymour Hoffman's death, and only now have I really been able to put anything in writing about it. Most celebrity deaths are just blips in the day, which creates a momentary feeling of loss, or a bit of time remembering their career and the great things they did which you enjoyed. Sometimes you give it a bit more thought, perhaps even purchasing an album on iTunes, or watching one of their films on Netflix. In a few cases, you feel bummed out about it for a while, particularly if they were relatively young and perhaps still had a few great things to do left in them, or if you were a big fan of their work, and were just sad to see them go, even if they hadn't done anything at all for decades.

A rare few, however, really affect you.

Before I continue, a bit of perspective. I've never cried when hearing about the death of a celebrity*. No matter how much I admired or enjoyed their work, no celebrity death creates the level of loss that a death of a family member, friend, neighbor, or even beloved pet would create.

That being said, there are just some deaths that stick with you. These rarely tend to be those of people who have lived long, full, interesting lives. I feel bad about Peter O'Toole and Pete Seeger dying, because it means we can only speak of them in the past tense now. However, they lived long, interesting lives, full of great work to cherish and remember.

Hoffman, however, was only 46 years old. He should have had 20, 30, or even 40 more years of work ahead of him. Yes, he leaves behind a prolific set of work on both the stage and screen, but once the films he already performed in are released, we will never get that charge of seeing his name in the credits. We'll never get a chance to see him perform on stage again, a place where he was apparently just as riveting, if not more so, to watch than on at the movie theater. Never again will he make a bad movie watchable, a watchable movie good, and a good movie great.

His death, like the also premature death of James Gandolfini last year, hits doubly hard because Hoffman was "one of us". By no means ugly, he wasn't the chiseled image of a Hollywood star. Like many great character actors, he was able to use his indistinct looks to his advantage. So many times he was able to disappear into the character he was playing.

The great thing was his ability to shine, no matter the size of the part. Whether he was one of the leading characters, such as in Synedoche, New York, a major supporting character such as his L. Ron Hubbardesque character in The Master, or just in a few scenes, such as his turn as Lester Bangs in Almost Famous, he was memorable. Hell, he's about the only thing I remember about the mostly forgettable Along Came Polly**.  Quite frankly, his casting in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is the only real reason I decided to watch that film. I'm glad that he finished most of his scenes for the next two, even if it sounds like one scene may have to be fudged considerably to work without him.

In honor of this wonderful actor, and the memories he's given us at Doctor Strangeblog, this week we'll be doing a special Philip Seymour Hoffman edition of the DVD Case Pantheon. I'll bend the rules for this week, having two challengers (Punch Drunk Love and The Master), as well as two posts about films already in the pantheon (Magnolia and Synedoche, New York). Along the way, there may be a few other surprises as well.

Unless you are a young child, or refuse to watch movies made after 1990, you've likely seen at least one of his films. If you have, I would recommend you seek out more. I still have a bunch to get to, despite enjoying him in many movies, several of which are either in my pantheon, or itching to get there. For example, I've yet to see Capote, the movie that won him an Oscar. Many of his films are available via streaming on Netflix, and most of the rest are available via disc.

*The closest I came was when I heard about Roger Ebert. Despite his illness and other health issues, it still seemed like such a shock.
**That and the introduction to me of the word "shart". Which was in large part due to the memorable performance of Hoffman, whose character in the film spoke the line containing the word.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Lego Movie

It finally happened. After 65 years of being in our homes, garages, various heating units, and expanding even into theme parks and video games, LEGO released a feature film. While many would be ready to dismiss this February release as one star-studded commercial, I decided to give it a chance and see how it fared trailing the coat-tails of the truly spectacular 2013 Oscar nominees.

My Favorite Movies of 2013 Final Six, Part Two (SPOILER FREE)

OK, we've made it through all but three of the films on the list. In case you've missed the other parts of the list, I've provided you with links to their posts.

Back half of The Final Six | Films 7-15 | Films 16-25

Like the previous three movies on the list (two ranked #3 and one ranked #2, but pretty much everything in the final six is close enough that ranks don't matter), each of these will get a longer post going into more detail (and including spoilers) at some point over the next few days. Now enough housecleaning, let's see those final three!

My Favorite Movies of 2013: Frozen (SPOILERS)

Right from the start of the movie I really enjoyed Frozen. With the unconventional start under the ice, as the saw begins cutting it into blocks for the townspeople, it had me hooked. Granted, the appearance of the northern lights a few minutes later helped as well. Through the sadness of "Do you Wanna Build a Snowman", the mixture of anticipation and dread in "For the First Time", the coronation, the bouncy fun of "Love is an Open Door", and the reveal of Queen Elsa's powers I was really enjoying the film. Had it just stayed at that level, I would have been pleased with the film.

However, what followed was the scene that would take the film from like to love. I'm talking about "Let It Go".

My Favorite Movies of 2013: Her (SPOILERS)

It's the usual story, told thousands of times. Man installs sentient OS. Sentient OS (which takes the voice and personality of a woman) takes care of every need of the man. Man falls in love with OS. OS starts to fall in love with man. Man starts to resent the growing agency of OS. OS evolves beyond talking to just man. OS falls in love with hundreds of other people while still loving man. Man can't quite deal with OS loving hundreds of other beings. OS evolves to a higher plain of existence, leaving man alone. Man realizes people are not here solely for his benefit and begins to move on. Man sends letter of closure to former wife. Man goes up on roof with long time woman friend and contemplates things. The End.

My Favorite Movies of 2013: The Wolf of Wall Street (SPOILERS)

It was during my second viewing of Martin Scorsese's new film The Wolf of Wall Street that I caught myself rooting for Jordan Belmont. It was during the part of the film where he had a SEC deal on the table. It meant he would no longer be head of the company he started, and he would have some fines, but he'd get to keep his money, and avoid criminal prosecution. In other words, he was getting off light after committing various forms of financial fraud. Yep, I found myself rooting for a drugged-out philanderer to take the safe play and retire gracefully, effectively beating the system. I can't say I felt too good about that.

Favorite Movies of 2013: Big Six Part One (Spoiler Free)

For you readers who wish to remain spoiler free, here are the next three on my "Favorites of 2013" list. If you've seen them, or don't care about spoilers, each of these also have their own posts. The first half of the "Big Six" will be revealed tomorrow.

My Favorite Movies of 2013: #15-7

No need for chit-chat, on to the rest of the list!

#15 About Time

Despite some reservations about the main character and how he build's his relationship, I really enjoyed this film. It can be pretty funny, while also being quite emotional as well. It sticks to the few rules about time travel it sets up very well, which certainly counts for a lot. This movie wins the "Much Better than the Trailer" award for 2013.

My Favorite Movies of 2013: #25-16

Obviously this list was intended to be out before the last week of January. However, as stated before, pneumonia delayed my plans, so here we are. Without further adieu, let's start my favorite movies of 2013 list.

First off, a reminder that this list is my list of favorites. The ranks on this list do not try to convey the quality of the film, or in any way reflect a general consensus of the best films of the year. They merely convey how much I enjoyed the films. In addition, this list includes films that are generally considered to have been released in 2013, even though I saw a few on this list in 2014. It doesn't matter whether I saw the film in the theater, only that I saw it before this past weekend.

The Slightly Belated Oscar Nominations Post

I would have liked to have posted this hours ago. However, as this is a side gig, and things such as sleep*, work, and catching up on movies that I had yet to see thanks to my bout with pneumonia. As such, eleven at night is the earliest this could get written. Now that that defensiveness is out of the way, on to the perpetual whining.

2013 was an amazing year for movies. I've seen eight of the nine Best Picture nominees**, and all of them range from good to excellent. However, one of the big favorites (American Hustle) is unfortunately one of the merely "good" films. Granted, I saw it as I was heading into my lost month of sickness, so perhaps I just wasn't on its wavelength. Sure, it was fun, but it was like eating cotton candy. There just wasn't much there. And that's great, sometimes it is fun to just watch a movie that is entertaining and well acted. It just isn't something that should be up for consideration as the best film of the year.

There is no reason that American Hustle should be on that list, and Inside Llewyn Davis isn't. The latter is quite possibly the best movie I've seen all year, and deserves a lot more notice than what it has gotten. It certainly is not the most uplifting story, and I'll give you that the protagonist is often an unlikable ass. But damn is it beautiful. It's sad at times, but it is also quite funny. The fact that 5% of the academy couldn't rally behind this picture is disheartening, or at least would if the Oscars really mattered a lot more than what they do.

There certainly were snubs when it came to Best Actor, but to be fair that category is stacked this year. For example, were you to make a list of the four most obvious snubs, and one that I think should have been noticed, but never in a million years would be, it would look like this:

Robert Redford, All is Lost

Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Joaquin Phoenix, Her

Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

Simon Pegg, The World's End

OK, OK, I snuck that last one in. Although it was, in my opinion, one of the best performances of the year, Pegg has generated little notice on the awards circuit. However, the other four certainly have garnered some notice. The list of actors that were nominated pretty much deserved to be there, save for perhaps Bale.***

The other actor categories seem about what was expected, although two time Oscar nominee Jonah Hill is still a bit of a thing to get your head around. Gravity deserves to win many of the technical awards, and will probably also beat out poor Roger Deakins for Cinematography. It would be cruel irony if Inside Llewyn Davis won that award, considering all the movies he has worked for the Coen Brothers.

In other areas, Pixar got shut out in both the short and feature animation categories. Frozen got two nominations, and it appears only an upset by The Wind Rises stands in the way of Walt Disney Animation finally winning a feature animation Oscar. Also, Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa is now Academy Award nominee Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa. Despite all the jokes, it deserves the nomination.

Finally, I figured I shared the information about two "snubs" that really weren't. Blue is the Warmest Color was not eligible for nomination for the French representative for the Foreign Film category, due to it opening in October. "Please Mr. Kennedy", a hilarious song from Inside Llewyn Davis, was not eligible because it was too similar to an existing song from the sixties. Not a version of that song, but still considered too close by the Academy. 

In the end, it's questionable how much all this matters. Still, it's fun to argue and make your case for your favorites, and it will be fun griping and complaining about it in a little more than a month when the winners are announced.  Sometimes its fun because they get it right, even if sometimes it is by accident. Anything is possible at this point, even though many things aren't really that possible. But still, Amy Poehler finally won an award for playing one of the best damn sitcom characters ever, so things may be looking up.

*Seriously, do the nominations announcements have to be so damn early? I know its to get the news cycle on the morning shows, but still, that is early.

**Wolf of Wall Street is the lone holdout, and it should fall this weekend.

***Again, I can't speak to DiCaprio's performance as of yet.

Grrr.....Argh...., or why little has happened on this blog.

"Damnit, Andrew, you shirked your updates....AGAIN."

Yes, hypothetical reader who cares so much to be disappointed, outside of Erin's review of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, there has been nothing done on this blog. No "Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium", nothing about the return of Dan Harmon to Community*, nothing at all. I'm not going to sit here and spin or deny the facts.

Unlike other times, the unanticipated break was caused by a good reason. Turns out that what I thought was an annual cold was actually double pneumonia, which resulted in me being hospitalized for eight days. On top of that, I've spent the last week continuing the recover, part of a process that is going to take several more weeks before I'm fulling back to 100% strength. Only now do I feel like doing any writing, and that is just to let you know why I haven't done any writing.

It's safe to say that my Favorite Movies of 2013 feature will be greatly pared down, if I do it at all. I'm giving myself an extra week to see films (Jan 19 instead of Jan 12), and will likely just put together a 11-25 list and a 1-10 list, with short paragraphs for each film. It's not as much as I had hoped to write, but it is about all I can do at this time.

I'm not going to promise anything, but I might get "Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium" posts out for Anchorman 2 and American Hustle, the last two movies I saw in the theater before the dark iron curtain of sickness descended. And who knows, maybe I'll throw in some TV as well. 

*Short opinion after watching the first two episodes: It's good the foul-mouthed asshole's back in charge, and I'm interested to see where this season goes.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug (A "Better Late Than Never" Review)

I have a confession. I actually saw the Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug on December 14th and am just now getting around to writing my thoughts on the movie. It turns out working retail is hectic during the Holidays, who knew? So I'll do my best to adequately write my thoughts on the second film in Peter Jackson's Hobbit trilogy - in between bites of lunch, of course.

Warning! Spoilers ahead! 

As my brother Andrew so eloquently put it - "it was a good 3 hour movie that could have been a great 2 hour one."

Basically, this is all you need to know about the second installment of the ragtag group of Dwarves and their Hobbit burglar. The movie began well enough, and the pacing was definitely an improvement over the slow crawl that began An Unexpected Journey. However, some of the changes Jackson made didn't feel necessary to plot, such as Beorn stating that he was the last of his kind when the book explicitly mentions that although the mighty skinwalker will give the party refuge for the night in his house, they should beware his sons who roam outside. Also...

You know what? I'm just going to cut to the nitty-gritty. For those of who are familiar with Tolkien's classic novel, you were probably just as curious (and skeptical) about how the book could be stretched over three 3 hour long films. To pad out the second film when most of the cool stuff on the path to the Lonely Mountain had already happened in the first one, Jackson decided to flesh out secondary characters in a move that (I'm guessing, and seriously hope that I'm right about) will hopefully explain and lead towards events that do canonically take place in the book. For instance (and super serious guys, SPOILERS) the one and ONLY reason a love triangle between Kili, the nephew of Thorin Oakenshield, Tauriel, the (invented by Jackson) captain of the guard of Mirkwood, and Legolas,who, need I remind you, doesn't even appear in the Hobbit book - the only reason this exists is to shoehorn Legolas being pouty in, and to hopefully set up the Battle of the Five Armies in the third movie. Need I remind you, Kili does not survive that battle. Tauriel has already saved Kili's life at least 3 times by the time the battle takes place - it's not entirely inconceivable that Kili will end up repaying the debt in an extremely dramatic and heroic fashion. As far as the other padded material goes (the Dwarves playing Scooby Doo in Erebor, Bard's heroic rogue backstory), it pales in comparison to the general WTF-ness being thrown into the viewer's face, absolutely not subtly, by the Dwarve-Elf love story. There MUST be a reason for it. There just must be. Although, now that I think about it, funny that Legolas fails to mention any of the events that happened during this movie at any time to the Fellowship in Lord of the Rings. My thoughts about a female character being created only to serve as part of a love triangle raises some ire, but I'll spare you the soapbox rant.

The other things that struck me as odd were mostly cinematography related. Lord of the Rings looked so natural because many of the effects were practical, not CGI. I tried to get past the obvious and abundant use of graphics this time but just couldn't. I was no longer immersed in Middle Earth - just keenly aware that Legolas looked rather chubby in the cheeks despite being 60 some years younger. The tone is a bit darker this time around, unlike the more lighthearted adventure that carried through in the the first movie. There are some pretty funny moments, and of course the occasional ham-handed scene, and I will say that (plot additions aside) the pace has improved.

I don't think I can summarize the movie more succinctly than Andrew did - many things could have been pared down and many of the climactic scenes bordered on tedious. It was a movie that I desperately wanted to love, but just couldn't. It's been a divisive movie for fans, with one of my fellow Tolkeinites saying, flat out, "I hated it". Definitely worth a watch if only to find what parts specifically rubbed you the wrong way.