Cloverfield

My wife picked this movie out at the library, knowing nothing about it, but thinking the DVD case looked interesting.

Turns out it's a movie produced by JJ Abrams (of 'Lost' fame), though I missed this in the opening of the movie so I didn't know it while watching the movie.

The opening scene is at a going away party for some guy, Rob Hawkins (the protagonist). It's shot (as is the whole movie) from a handheld video camera (or it's supposed to be). The opening scene drags on and on... and on.... and on. I actually got so bored I started reading a book that was laying near the couch. Finally, the action started. I thought the finally we'd get some normal cinematic shots, but no, the handheld camera theme continues on, Blairwitch Project style.

So the story is about some alien creature that lands in Manhattan. It starts wreaking havoc in the city, and then the military comes and the battle causes even more havoc. Rob Hawkins' friends wander around trying to figure out what to do. They die off or disappear one way or another. They wander around Manhattan trying to rescue Rob's main squeeze. In the end, everyone dies, and you're left wondering, "WTF was that about?"

You never find out anything about the monster like, what is it? where did it come from? what does it want? do they kill it? WTF happens?!?!?!?!?! They tried very hard to make you care about the characters, but I never did. I just wanted a building to fall on them to get them out of the story's way.

It was terribly disappointing because it seemed to have some great potential. A good and interesting premise and great special effects, and the actors were actually good as well, but the one person POV was a disaster. Especially because that one person knew nothing about what was going on.

Don't waste your time. I heard there's a sequel coming out, perhaps that will be better.

Premonition

Think a cross between Butterfly Effect, Groundhog Day, and Pulp Fiction.

Premonition stars Sandra Bullock and a few others I don't know. The movie takes you through a week in the life of Linda Quinn Hanson (Bullock) and Jim Hanson (Julian McMahon), Tarantino style, in which he dies, but then hasn't died yet... or will he die at all? Can Linda stop it?

Well, as in Butterfly Effect, or long before, in the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex (by Sophocles), it seems that any attempt to change fate, in actuality, fulfills it. Which is unfortunate. As a teen, when I read Oedipus Rex, while the other kids were giggling over the incest, I was shocked by the unyielding force of Fate, and frightened by determinism, either scientific or theological (e.g. Calvinism.) Wikipedia has a great entry on free will. But now, after living a while and being seemingly beholden to deterministic Fate, I want to see Fate turned on its ear!! It's why I loved Quantum Leap, Scott Bakula righted the wrong, dammit! But more often, Fate has it's way, as in Oedipus Rex, as in Terminator, as in Butterfly Effect, as in The Final Countdown, and as in Premonition. Oh well :(

The premise of this movie is interesting, and so in exploring the theories about fate and free will, I stumbled upon a quote by 19th c. German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, "A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants." Another translation I like better (perhaps it is a paraphrase) is, "A human can very well do what he wants, but cannot will what he wants." Stew on that a little. How terrible! If that's the case, what hope is there for me?!

Is the movie worth watching? Sure, it's alright. Holes in the plot, but not a waste of your time.

Employee of the Month

I almost didn't think it worthy writing a post about this movie, because, well, it was pretty dumb.

However, it had two redeeming qualities. One, it was filmed in New Mexico, with funding aid from the State's film office. Two, it starred Dane Cook. Unfortunately, neither quality made the movie any better. Oh, it also starred Jessica Simpson, though that neither detracted nor added to the movie, she did a decent job.

Being filmed in NM is a redeeming quality because, well, I'm from New Mexico and it's a fantastic thing for the state that we're really promoting film making here. As an aside, my mom got cast as an extra for a couple movies coming out this fall. Bordertown got dropped from theater release, I think, but it will be released on video at least at the end of August. No Country for Old Men will be released in November. She got cast in Bordertown first as a nun in a hospital scene with Antonio Banderas. It seemed like a scene too important to cut, so unless they re-shot it, I'm pretty sure she'll make the final cut. She was cast as a nun again in Old Men, but I think her's was a background extra thing there.

Dane Cook, if you don't know, is a fantastic comic. Therefore, I was especially disappointed and surprised the movie wasn't funny. Don't know if it was his fault or the script.

Pass on this one.

Astronaut Farmer

I won't write anymore about how I can't remember why a movie got put on the netflix queue. I never remember, and it doesn't matter.

This movie was fun, and it was family-friendly enough, though we had to look past some light cursing. Decent acting by Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen. Perhaps I had fun watching it because it was filmed in New Mexico. The scene where Charlie Farmer is soliciting advertising from a cowboy-businessman... that takes place in front of a local feed store!

So, Charlie Farmer is, well, a farmer in Texas and is a good father and husband. He has a dream to build a rocket that will fly into space and orbit the earth. He's not totally loony, as he has a degree in aerospace engineering or something and was in the US Air Force training to be an actual astronaut. But family tragedy brought him back home to the farm, where he continued his simplistic dream of going to space...

In spite of the FAA and other government agency's objections to him flying his rocket, and in spite of the financial ruin he's certain to bring his family, he proceeds, aided only by his teenage son as mission control and the moral support of his wife and young daughters.

I felt inspired while watching the movie, and I even felt like crying a little (shut-up) when the rocket actually launched, but now I can't remember what was so inspiring about it... perhaps it was the moral that dogged determination will get you your dreams, and it takes the support of those around you and sacrifice. Thinking back, the premise is all a little silly, even if it was just a movie, but it was a feel-good type of movie. Sorta like Little Miss Sunshine.

So, yeah, grab the popcorn and the kids, and have a nice time.

The Prestige

I didn't remember how this movie ended up on the netflix queue, but it did and I'm very glad. Starring Hugh Jackman (of Wolverine fame), Michael Caine, Christian Bale (don't know him), Scarlett Johansson, and delightful appearances by a medly of other actors, including David Bowie (who, after looking at IMDB, I find has been an on-again, off-again actor for decades) doing a fantastic rendition of Nikola Tesla.

The movie was just plain good. Plot twists and suspense galore. The ending was not clear until the end, as it should be. A must see.

But what really stayed with me was a quote by the character Tesla. It goes something like,

Perhaps you've heard the saying that man's reach exceeds his grasp. It's a lie. Man's grasp exceeds his nerve.

How remarkable! I couldn't find anything to corroborate the real Tesla saying anything of the sort, and some googling revealed that the root quote actually comes from British poet and playwright Robert Browning, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp -- or what's a heaven for?" I better like the Tesla character's twist on this quote.

Man's grasp exceeds his nerve. Yummy. For those of you who don't want to think too much, 'reach exceeding grasp' means people often worry that their dreams, those things people can conceive, are sadly often beyond their grasp. Character Tesla says this is hogwash, for the irony is that the true limiting factor is not humanity's grasp, but rather humanity's nerve. Basically that man is capable of some remarkable things, but we don't have the nerve to seize it. The wikipedia entry of Nikola Tesla is a good read, btw.

So I walk away from this movie with two things: First, a desire to read a Nikola Tesla biography. Second, and most importantly, a kick in the pants -- I often feel that I'm simply incapable of achieving what I desire... perhaps character Tesla is right, though... perhaps I fail to achieve not for lack of ability, but for lack of nerve...

As an aside, I put the 1998 biography of Tesla, "Wizard, the Life and Times of Nikola Tesla" by Marc J. Seifer in the lit queue because Seifer supposedly looked at the Tesla archives in Yugoslavia and used freedom of information requests to get documents regarding Tesla from the U.S. Government. Important because the government apparently took a keen interest in confiscating many of his papers and devices after his death.

Edmond

Not sure how this movie ended up on the Netflix queue, but it did. I was delighted when I saw it had William H. Macy, whom I first 'discovered' in Fargo (along with Steve Buscemi).

So here the titular character (played by Macy) is living the drab life of a businessman, without love, passion, or purpose. He has some sort of epiphany at a fortune teller's, and in a single night, he is thrust from his gilded-white life to darkness. A netflix customer review compared it to Falling Down, but I disagree. The theme might be similar, but Falling Down was thoroughly entertaining, and one could easily relate to and sympathize with Michael Douglas' character. Edmond was neither entertaining nor sympathetic. Falling Down was about a man who breaks. Edmond is about a nut-job.

The first third of the film seemed to hold great promise. The dialogue was drawn out, but seemed to be headed somewhere. I could easily relate to the protagonist's initial condition. Throw in Rebecca Pidgeon and Julia Stiles and I was quite optimistic. But then Edmond's slide into violence and darkness begins and it all gave way to utter nonsense.

Edmond rants non-stop about prejudice, race supremacy, truth-to-oneself, and living. I don't know what the David Mamet play was about, but the movie felt like a voyeuristic look at a lunatic, rather than an every-man falling into his own darkness and depravity. Whatever introspect Edmond was exploring was on the level of coherence and sophistication I would expect of my six year old.

I won't even bother to put the DVD back in to paraphrase this accurately, but while imprisoned, Edmond is ranting on about how no-one can know the truth about what we are, that no one could take it. Edmond's cell-mate (a black man, to throw in irony, who quickly made him his punk) joins in about how maybe animals can know because maybe they are left-behind aliens. Edmond agrees it's a possibility. With absurdity like that to obscure any depth, how can one take this movie seriously. I get what the screenplay was trying to say, but the movie utterly failed.

Eragon

I heard of this movie first (keep in mind we don't watch TV... by choice) when searching for Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne on Youtube. The song is on the soundtrack... sorta... i don't recall hearing the song until the credits rolled.

Anyway, the Eragon-Keep Holding On video was pretty cool, and to the top of the Netflix queue the movie went.

The movie starred an apparant newbie, Edward Speleers along with some delightful veteran actors including Jeremy Irons, Sienna Guillory, Robert Carlyle, John Malkovich, and the lovely Rachel Weisz (as the voice of the dragon).

I have no complaints about the movie, though I wish it had been more. The acting was good, the special effects were good, but the storyline was formulaic: Kingdom suffering under the cruel rule of a knight-type turned evil, the hope of the people falls upon an unsuspecting farm boy who, with the aid of a magical dragon, brings freedom to the kingdom.

Oh well. The kids liked it, and it was fun.