Movie Review: ANOTHER EARTH

On November 22, 2006 Darren Arnofsky's The Fountain hit theaters. I remember when the credits rolled I sat in my seat, pleasently traumatized by what I had just seen. I hadn't had a feeling like that until watching Another Earth.

Another Earth is directed by Mike Cahill and stars Brit Marling (who also co-wrote with Cahill) and William Mapother. If you've watched the trailer and I hope you have, you know that on the eve of a terrible accident, Rhoda causes an accident that ends the life of a mother and child; leaving the husband a widower. On this night the discovery of a second Earth is revealed. Rarely in a summer, where numerous sequels and big budget blockbusters are released; are we given a movie that truly makes us use our brain. Aside from context of the movie, there is a beautiful and yet tragic relationship between the two main characters. Their relationship is extended by various doctors and scientists who ask those moral questions such as "what would you say to the to other you?" or "Has the other me made the same mistakes that I have". These question tap into the basic human emotions of ours to figure it all out and figure our why we are here.

Those questions and the actions of the characters are what make the movie such an emotional powerhouse. Brit Marling who plays the main character Rhoda, has a very interesting acting style. With no formal training she delivers a very deep and neglectful performance that doesn't make the audience feel sorry for her, but more or less ask ourselves if we'd do the same thing that she is doing.

I'm sure that the thought of focusing on the sci-fi aspects of this film would be more attractive and commercial but there is subtext here that truly makes you think and is fuel for an amazing after movie conversation with friends. While my review isn't that long, only because its something that you should experience and not have someone like me explain it to you, I must say that this is by far one of my favorite movies of the summer. It holds more in its soul than that piece of shit Transformers movie! If your looking to be challenged and maybe discover something about yourself; see this movie!

Oh and one more thing, the end is also breathtaking!

Another Earth makes its way into theaters on July 22nd, 2011

Deuces!
StuntmanBob

New Trailer: THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN

The new trailer for Marc Webb's reboot the The Amazing Spiderman is online. The movie stars Andrew Garfield (The Social Network, Red Riding pt.1) as Peter Parker and Emma Stone (Easy A) as Gwen Stacy.

The overall tone of of this movie just seems a lot more raw and realistic. I'm immensely digging the connection to Peter's parents that shows up in the beginning, if you've seen the old television show, you know why. This is a great teaser; it sets up the characters more and leaves the effects and action at bay, for now.

Watch the trailer and leave your thoughts. Very excited for this new interpretation.



Dueces!
StuntmanBob

MOVIE REVIEW: Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Disclaimer: This is a spoiler filled Review of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. So if you don't want to know what happens, I suggest you stop reading now. But if you don't give a shit, READ ON!

"...No matter what happens, I'm really glad I got in that car with you".

If you remember watching the first Transformers movie; these lines happen right before Sam takes the cube to the tallest building to be handed off to the military. Mikala (Megan Fox) calls him back and she doesn't do the cliche thing and say "oh Sam, I LOVE YOU" No like a flippin' gangsta' she makes her words count and ring true. At that moment, every person in the audience was really glad we got in the car with Sam.

There was this wonder and awe that came with the first Transformers movie; that brought everyone back to being a kid. Yes, there were moments like the cop interrogation scene that were a little much, but it had this almost PG-13 feel of Michael Bay's The Rock to it. There was a relationship between a boy and his first car that was held through out that movie and made us care for these characters.

The sequel: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was an advancement in the action but a let down in the character department. The characters become caricatures of themselves in an an effort to make the movie...ummmm...funny? Most of this was attributed to the Writer's Strike that was on the horizon at the time but there's only so much you can't take the blame for. TF: Revenge of the Fallen got too mystical and thus the main point of the Decepticons wanting to destroy our sun for energon was quickly overshadowed by robots and dogs humping each other and loud screaming characters who were only added...ummmm...to be funny? The action in the movie, while good, was quite a mess. Small action, big action, more small action, little story, OH WAIT BIG ACTION!!!, small action and then.....Scene. Like I said messy.

We now come to Transformers: Dark of the Moon. The trailer to this movie held such great promise, it weaved Autobot history into American history and brought forth what we as Americans love to hear so much about; a cover-up. An ancient Autobot ship called the Arc is discovered on the moon which holds an Autobot name Sentinel Prime and a weapon he built that could bring about the end of the world. Shia Lebeouf returns as Sam Witwicky and sadly his hot gear head girlfriend played by Megan Fox is replaced by an air headed Victoria Secret model.

Sidenote: Michael Bay directs all the Victoria's Secret Commercials. Yea, he really does.

The movie begins wonderfully by bringing the nostalgia and wonder of the Apollo 11 launch to the Moon and revealing that the United States race to the moon with Russia had more behind it than just being first. However, what is the next scene after the opening credits? Ass. Victoria's Secret Ass. Ass in Victoria's Secret underwear. I'm sorry I thought this was a Transformers movie? I didn't know it was an opportunity to exercise your skills as a lingerie director!!!

In addition to findings on the moon, there are some good plot twists in this movie; we discover that Sentinel Prime has made a pact with the Decepticons and plans to use his weapon to transport Cybertron to Earth and use humans as slaves to rebuild it. Patrick Dempsey's character Dylan, a suave business man who has a nice car collection has been the man funding this invasion as the leader of the human alliance with the Decepticons. See that pitch alone should have guaranteed a slam dunk of a movie.

Sadly we have to rape what could have been a good movie and get the asian guy from The Hangover with the small dick, to do his shtick and jump up and down on Sam in a bathroom stall and try to speak "code" to him in an effort to relay some information which could have just been handed to him. Then, we have to completely underuse the great John Malkovich as Sam's tanned, orange, asshole boss who doesn't like any other color than yellow. Oh and since he likes yellow we will just add a scene where he tries to fight Bumblebee. Yea that sounds good right? Cause its funny right??? You have Alan Tudyk who has geek fame from playing Wash in Firefly and Serenity as Agent Simmons assistant??? Bloody Sad. Why wasn't he given a meatier government roll? I see what Michael Bay is going for with his casting, we get it, you like to have good actors even in the small roles. But these sort of roles should be like John Salley as the computer nerd in Bad Boys 1 and 2, there for 2min and then DONE! You don't need them through the entire fucking movie!!!

Newcomer Francis McDormand plays Agent Mearing, a tough as nails U.S Government Agent who just shits on anyone cause now she holds the "do whatever I want and get away with it" badge and she is a small breath of a real character in this movie. Even Tyrese was used well!

As far as casting goes I feel like the producers and or Michael Bay feels the need to have every character we've ever seen in the Transformers movies do something and we really don't. Creating new characters and ever getting rid of some old ones would have made this movie so much more better.

I've always loved Shia Labeouf, I think he's the Bruce Willis of our time, he's the everyday man; but here he is still acting like a high schooler and it pisses me off that he hasn't grown as a character at all! Shia is on auto pilot in this movie and for that matter so is the movie.

So you might be asking yourself; "But what about the action?" "Is there anything you liked?"

The best sequence to me wasn't even seeing Chicago getting destroyed it was the highway sequence with the dreadlock Decepticons chasing after Sentinel Prime. A new Decepticon name Laserbeak goes and murders various people and I thought the editing on those scenes added the creepy tone and mood that added to Laserbeak's ferocity. The effect is used later in the action sequence that takes place in Chicago but not well. The last hour of this movie are the events that happen in Chicago and boy its a doozie. I must admit after a while though I just didn't care anymore. There was grandious spectacle and a beautiful art to the action, but seriously it takes us fifty minutes to knock out one side of a building??? I feel like the action just ran way to long and was only there for the sake of having something BIG to end the series.

The only thing this movie does is solidify how much a classic this first one is and how for a moment we might get a Transformers series worthy of action that has purpose, driven characters and compelling story. Unfortunately, the hopeful series has turned into a big screaming contest, with a little Victoria's Secret commercial mixed in and music courtesy of 101.9

I personally say if you haven't seen this movie yet...wait till dvd or redbox it.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is in theaters now.

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StuntmanBob

Teaser Trailer Premiere: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL

Could the Mission Impossible series be the next Fast and Furious?

The trailer for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol; the 4th installment in the series, has gone up today courtesy of Trailer Addict. This series seems to have had a resurgence after the J.J. Abrams directed Mission Impossible III, which in my mind is the best in the series so far.

This installment is produced by J.J. and co. But directed by none other Brad Bird; director of classics like The Iron Giant and PIxar's The Incredibles. As with the Fast and Furious series I'm hoping Ghost Protocol brings about a fresh new take on the series and takes it to some incredible feats! This will be with all prints of Transformers: Dark of Moon this week/weekend.

Enjoy!

Movie Review: GREEN LANTERN

I'll preface this with saying that I haven't read the plethora of Green Lantern comics out there, but as I continue to educate myself on the character, I can honestly say that the movie does not live up to the writing or the drama in those great books!

Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds as test pilot Hal Jordan, who is chosen by the Green Lantern Corps to be the first human to wear a powerful ring and defend the universe. The movie is directed by Martin Campbell who has rebooted the James Bond franchise twice (Goldeneye and Casino Royale) as well as The Mask of Zorro.

The opening of this movie is a brief history of the Green Lantern Corps and the villain Parallax, from there we are witnessed to the escape of Parallax by some alien astronauts and then the selection process begins. The initial trailers to Green Lantern looked quite horrible; the CGI just did not look complete at all and ridiculous. Thankfully for the finished film they darkened up the green and energy coming from the suits which make them look a bit more plausible. That's really only one of the few highlights of the film.

Ryan Reynolds does an okay job at portraying Hal Jordan, but his demeanor and leading man qualities did not convince me that he was having doubts about himself being apart of the Corps. The moments where he was expressing his self doubt to Blake Lively, who only serves as eye candy, are really tough to get through. Its one of those times where someone should be screaming "ACTING!" at you. This self pity became contradictory often because directly after those scenes Hal Jordan would be doing something very heroic and with out fear, that was completely opposite of how he was "apparently" feeling.

Pete Sarsgaard plays Hector Hammond, who after performing an autopsy on Abin Sur, comes into contact with the yellow power of fear. His figure is transformed into a Hunchback of Notre Dame type and is played off in the movie as Jordan's doppleganger. I see what they were trying to do in showing a parallel between these two men and how having this great power thrust upon them affects their lives, but Hammond's story feels more fleshed out than Jordan's. Pity I couldn't get fleshed out journey's of both men.

Mark Strong who plays Sinestro is pitch perfect! I wish he was more of the villain in this movie, I think it would have proved to be a better movie overall! I really disliked Michael Clarke Duncan as the voice of Kilowog, Jordan's fight instructor, because you could tell it was him! I hate that someone actually thought "oh this character looks like it could be voiced by a big black guy", yea let's get him! I mean have some originality with your voice castings please!

The home planet of the Lantern's is called Oa. It's truly something to behold, you can tell most of the time was spent on the design of getting that right and not the story. Shame, again, I couldn't have both.

The training sessions Jordan goes through on Oa after becoming a Lantern are pretty cool. The ring that the Lantern's possess can create anything their mind thinks up through will power; the stronger your will, the stronger your creation. So you have this ring that can create anything and the movie really underuses this ability. The end fight between Jordan and Parallax was entertaining but the power to create things from sheer thought didn't reach its full potential! I'll be honest that the effects for the creations where really good, but still I wasn't wowed.

Despite my negativity, I was honestly childishly entertained. There are some redeeming moments in this movie and of course the very heavy CGI action takes my thought away from the lackluster story. This is due to my low expectations going into the movie. Another movie that I would always compare to Green Lantern, trailers wise, was this summer's THOR. Both movies were trying to break new ground in the superhero genre by meshing two worlds together. THOR I believe is the victor in this case, mostly because in that movie you had sets and things that set the actors apart from their environment; not to mention interact with. Green Lantern suffers from having way too much CGI. I understand Oa is an alien planet and all, but does the rock have to be CGI? I think some practical sets for the planet of Oa could have helped ground the movie a bit more and helped with the power of the Lantern's on Oa and on Earth.

Green Lantern is a very lazy superhero movie. It gives us the cliffnotes version of the heroes journey and thus makes Hal Jordon's character development really cardboard and like I said earlier contradictory. This movie had the potential make break new ground with a superhero who powers are defined from the get go as alien, but the motivation and work was not there to comfortably mesh these two worlds together so that I could care for the characters and marvel at the scope.

If you have kids, take them, you'll enjoy it for what it is, but then forget it soon after. But I suggest a matinee, DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE!

I hope the next Green Lantern movie, if there is one, is a reboot.

Dueces,
StuntmanBob

Movie Review: ATTACK THE BLOCK

"You'd be better off callin' the Ghostbusters love". - Pest from Attack the Block

The opening scene of this movie definitely had the sci-fi geek in me going as it was very reminiscent of the opening of John McTiernan's Predator. This movie is produced by Edgar Wright who directed Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz . Both Shaun and Fuzz set out to make fun of Zombie and the Action movie genre while created a sub-genre of each of them in the process. Attack the Block is directed by Joe Cornish who doesn't necessarily set out with the intentions of making fun of alien invasion movies. However it simplifies it.

I'm reminded of the 1966 Division Street Riots that happened during the end of the first Puerto Rican Day parade here in Chicago. A young boy was injured by the police which led to a three day riot because of the racism and political unrest that was happening with immigrants coming over. The National Guard was even brought in! Seriously research this event in Chicago's history; its an amazing story. Anyway this riot, ultimately led to the culture and pride that comes with walking through Humboldt Park. Now here's the plot to the movie; A group of tough inner-city kids defend their turf from an invasion of savage alien creatures, turning their South London apartment complex into an extraterrestrial warzone.


I think that Attack the Block shows an interesting look at a kind of gentrification and how far these kids and for that matter, us, are willing to go to preserve the neighborhoods we grew and continue to grow up in. Now that I got the heavy thinking off my chest, on to the rest of the review.

We are introduced to our anti-heroes as they are mugging a woman in the street and suddenly a giant flashing light crash lands into a car and we are off and running. These kids are naive, ignorant, foul mouthed, and all around BEBE kids! The movie tries really hard to make sure the audience does not care for them at all. But as the movie progresses its those same attributes that had me laughing and cheering all the way through as these badass kids battle this alien race.

Thank God! this movie doesn't come close to those sometime enjoyable, but mostly horrible B-movies on SyFy Channel. While this movie is definitely a B-movie, its one on par with John Carpenter's work; even down to the somewhat chessy synthesized alien-esque music. The designs of the aliens are simple enough to scare you. Pitch black beings with neon green teeth, they are as big as apes and as fast as a cheetah.

Its interesting that I see this movie literally a week after seeing Super 8 cause the similarities are uncanny. Kids who are having an encounter with an aliens race; all the while discovering their true purpose in life and growing from it. Maybe that description is better suited for Super 8, but WHEN you see this movie, you'll get me. I had a blast watching this movie and I recommend everyone be on the look out for it and support it when it comes out! My only critique is that the kids' London accents are crazily thick, so prepare yourself to do some translating of your own. I suggest watching Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrel's for a taste of the accent's to come! TRUST!

Attack the Block has just received a U.S. release date of July 29th! GO SEE this movie!

Believe! Trust!
StuntmanBob

SPACE JAM ON BLU RAY OCT. 4TH!!!

Remember a time when basketball was good? Remember when everyone liked R. Kelly? Well ladies and gentlemen our prayers have been answered. Get ready to see Michael Jordan, Bill Murray, Daffy, Bugs, and the rest of the Looney Tune gang tear up the MONstars when Space Jam comes to blu ray on Oct. 4th, 2011.!! Very excited!! Are you?

Head on over to AMAZON and pre-order your copy today
-StuntmanBob