Due to the length of time that has passed since I viewed Kite Runner and Eragon I feel that a full review would be lacking. Therefore, I'll review them here, along with Charlie Wilson's War.
Review: The Kite Runner: 2007/PG-13/Drama
What I appreciated most about this movie was the cross-cultural universal themes. Bullying, competition, and patriotism are often considered to be primarily American ideals. I often forget that these things occur in other countries. The portrayal of them in Afghanistan was incredibly believable and opened up a new understanding of the people who lived there. Additionally, there was a sense of fidelity and manhood that is missing in our culture that we would do well to emulate.
One of the major reasons I appreciated this film was the consistency that it showed in the character flaw with one of the main characters. In the back story (which was far to lengthy) he is shown as a coward. When he finally shows some courage in living out the fidelity that he was taught he still reverts to his cowardly ways. The moment was so real and believable yet shocking because I was expecting this film to be "Americanized" as so many are.
There is one disturbing scene where the action is suggested rather than shown. Overall:
3 out of 5 stars.
Review: Eragon 2006/PG/Fantasy
Puh-Leez! There was a lot of "trying" in Eragon. Eragon was trying to be a fantasy film. Names and titles are so important in fantasy! Nearly all of the character's name fell short of what was desired (with the possible exception of the Vlern). First, the movie is about dragons and the title character's name is "dragon" with an E and sounds so much like one of the more famous fantasy characters in literature (Aragon from The Lord of the Rings). Not only that, but the antagonist has some unpronounceable name (Galbatorix). I was trying not to laugh as one of the most eloquent speakers in film (Jeremy Irons) shared the screen with a man who has difficulty speaking like the rest of us (no, not Christopher Walken, but John Malkovich)!
The movie was trying to be a classic hero story (unknown beginnings, mentor, prophecy, death of mentor, coming into his own) but it was so cookie-cutter obvious and forced! The villain (Durza) is some type of wizard who was trying really hard to be a wizard villain.
Truthfully, it was almost painful.
1 out of 5 stars.
Review: Charlie Wilson's War 2007/R/Drama
If you liked Thirteen Days you will love Charlie Wilson's War. It's an international drama riddled with intrigue and covert operations that stars Tom Hanks as a down home Texas boy Congressman with a drinking problem. Philip Seymour Hoffman (who seems to never miss) adds an Oscar caliber supporting performance as the somewhat rogue CIA operative who helps Charlie obtain the weapons necessary to run his war.
This film made an interesting point that the original design for our support of the Afghani people was to give them just enough help to force the Soviets to send more and more soldiers to fight in the war, just as we did in Vietnam. It wasn't until Wilson visits a refugee camp in Pakistan that he realizes the urgency of "shooting down the helicopters." While preventing the Soviets from gaining a foothold in that region of the world was important to protect the oil supplies there, it was funded due to the humanitarian concerns of those who controlled the money.
A lesson this movie put forth, that we would do well to listen to, is portrayed at the end. The Soviets have retreated and Charlie is trying to get $1 million to rebuild some schools in Afghanistan. They had just spent over $1 billion to fight the war, yet they wouldn't give him the $1 million he asked for for the schools. We didn't help rebuild their country. The Talaban came in and took over and we then had to go in and dispose them as they fought us with the weapons we provided them. I don't think I need to specify the parallels that currently exist in the world.
Wittily written and masterfully performed, (with the exception of Julia Roberts poor excuse for a Texas accent) Charlie Wilson's War is a movie I recommend not missing.
4.5 out of 5 stars
Friday, May 23, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A few thoughts
Two sports comments and a thought on parenthood. [that'll get a few of you to read all the way through (and a few others to just skip to the bottom...)]
Baseball: So the Tampa BayDevil Rays are in first place in the American League East. Now, after you've picked yourself up off the floor and gotten back into your chair, I think I know why. Clearly it's divine intervention. "Leave the name 'devil' in the dust and rise out of the ashes of last place," thus saith the Lord. If the Rays and the Marlins both win today it will mark the first time in MLB history that both teams have been in first place in their divisions for more than one day! Go Sea-life!
Basketball: Seriously! In this round of the NBA playoffs 1 team has won a game on the road. The Hawks took the Celtics to seven games because they won all of their games at home! Come on! I've railed about this before, but this is getting out of hand. Here's what I wrote in 2005:
Parenthood: Daily our little Full House astonishes us with what he knows. I think he is simply amazing. And this makes me slightly apprehensive about becoming a Daddy again. How can I love anyone as much as I love this little man? When I think back to how I felt when I was an expecting Daddy for the first time, there was no way I could have conceived of the amount of love, joy, giddiness, hilarity, and awe that my little buddy provides me with. Shouldn't I, therefore be anticipating a similar response to our little Wild Card (who, frustratingly enough, remains a Wild Card)? I'm not...
Baseball: So the Tampa Bay
Basketball: Seriously! In this round of the NBA playoffs 1 team has won a game on the road. The Hawks took the Celtics to seven games because they won all of their games at home! Come on! I've railed about this before, but this is getting out of hand. Here's what I wrote in 2005:
The people who call the game, own the game. Where is my proof? How about this: Basketball. Every hoop in 10 feet high. Every court is identical. Every game is indoors. It's not like baseball where the outfields are different shapes, the infields are different materials, or some games are indoors, some are out. It is uniform. How is it possible, then, that the home team wins more than 65% of the time? The "home court advantage" is not the fans. These players are professionals! Crowd noise isn't going to throw them. It's the thing they can't ignore: the calls! The refs give the home team an advantage.Never before has there been such a burden of evidence that this is the case! I hope that the NBA takes a look at the huge discrepancy in foul shots attempted between the home and the away team during this post season. It is truly maddening!
Parenthood: Daily our little Full House astonishes us with what he knows. I think he is simply amazing. And this makes me slightly apprehensive about becoming a Daddy again. How can I love anyone as much as I love this little man? When I think back to how I felt when I was an expecting Daddy for the first time, there was no way I could have conceived of the amount of love, joy, giddiness, hilarity, and awe that my little buddy provides me with. Shouldn't I, therefore be anticipating a similar response to our little Wild Card (who, frustratingly enough, remains a Wild Card)? I'm not...
Thursday, May 08, 2008
No Walk Through
ESPN.com (along with every sports news outlet in the land) is reporting that the highly anticipated "Matt Walsh Tapes" (or MWTs) provided absolutely no new information to the NFL.
The tapes contained no (I repeat no) walk-through of the St. Louis Rams from the 2002 Super Bowl. No walk-through from the 2003 Super Bowl. No walk-through from the 2005 Super Bowl. In fact, no walk-thoughs. Ever. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.
All the MWTs did was confirm what the Patriots have already told the commissioner: Occationally, they taped the defensive coordinator. And if you'll refer to my comments when this story broke, I still have no idea how this is adventagious or why it's illegal since you can sit a man in the booth to study him and, as Mike Shanahan (former head coach of the Denver Broncos) said, "Our guy keeps a pair of binoculars on their signal-callers every game. With any luck, we have their defensive signals figured out by halftime. Sometimes, by the end of the first quarter." Not only that, but Bill has been saying since day one that it was a misinterpretation of the rule. Now we learn that his "illegal" taping has been uniform. There is no truth to the alleged taping that was rumored to be above and beyond what the Patriot's have already admitted to.
Here is what I think is due (but in now way expect to happen): An apology from the Boston Herald, one from the Senator from PA who is such an Eagles homer that he launched an "independent" investigation to what may or may not have happened before the NE/PHILLY Super Bowl, one from every fan from every other team who has taken the allegations as fact, an apology from anyone who has displayed that "Cheaters" Patriots logo with the camera up to the Flying Elvis' face, and one from anyone who pretends that the Patriots are the only team who was doing this. If there's a rule about it, it's because it's rampant. Otherwise, the Patriots would have simply received a stern talking to. Furthermore, if it were only the Patriots who were engaged in this activity, there'd have been no reason to "make an example" of them by handing out the most severe fines and penalties possible.
I'd also like to remind everyone that the Patriots won 17 games in a row without "cheating." If the Jets really wanted to stick it to the Patriots, they should have blown the whistle on them during week 15, not week 1. Basically, not much has changed since I first responded to "Spygate."
All the Patriots have to worry about is continuing their winning ways. I'm amazed that this season they seem to have landed an easy schedule. Even the Giants could win a few with the opponents New England will be facing. Really anything less than 14-2 would be disappointing. Not only that, but their first 6 games are looking fairly easy. It appears the bar for most consecutive regular season games won is going to be set at about 25! That's quite a feat!
The tapes contained no (I repeat no) walk-through of the St. Louis Rams from the 2002 Super Bowl. No walk-through from the 2003 Super Bowl. No walk-through from the 2005 Super Bowl. In fact, no walk-thoughs. Ever. None. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Zero.
All the MWTs did was confirm what the Patriots have already told the commissioner: Occationally, they taped the defensive coordinator. And if you'll refer to my comments when this story broke, I still have no idea how this is adventagious or why it's illegal since you can sit a man in the booth to study him and, as Mike Shanahan (former head coach of the Denver Broncos) said, "Our guy keeps a pair of binoculars on their signal-callers every game. With any luck, we have their defensive signals figured out by halftime. Sometimes, by the end of the first quarter." Not only that, but Bill has been saying since day one that it was a misinterpretation of the rule. Now we learn that his "illegal" taping has been uniform. There is no truth to the alleged taping that was rumored to be above and beyond what the Patriot's have already admitted to.
Here is what I think is due (but in now way expect to happen): An apology from the Boston Herald, one from the Senator from PA who is such an Eagles homer that he launched an "independent" investigation to what may or may not have happened before the NE/PHILLY Super Bowl, one from every fan from every other team who has taken the allegations as fact, an apology from anyone who has displayed that "Cheaters" Patriots logo with the camera up to the Flying Elvis' face, and one from anyone who pretends that the Patriots are the only team who was doing this. If there's a rule about it, it's because it's rampant. Otherwise, the Patriots would have simply received a stern talking to. Furthermore, if it were only the Patriots who were engaged in this activity, there'd have been no reason to "make an example" of them by handing out the most severe fines and penalties possible.
I'd also like to remind everyone that the Patriots won 17 games in a row without "cheating." If the Jets really wanted to stick it to the Patriots, they should have blown the whistle on them during week 15, not week 1. Basically, not much has changed since I first responded to "Spygate."
All the Patriots have to worry about is continuing their winning ways. I'm amazed that this season they seem to have landed an easy schedule. Even the Giants could win a few with the opponents New England will be facing. Really anything less than 14-2 would be disappointing. Not only that, but their first 6 games are looking fairly easy. It appears the bar for most consecutive regular season games won is going to be set at about 25! That's quite a feat!
Friday, May 02, 2008
Review: The Pursuit of Happyness
2006/PG-13/Drama
Another "based on actual events" movie that somehow misses the lesson that ought to have been learned by the main character. Chris Gardner is struggling to make ends meet selling a medical device into which he invested his family's life savings. His wife is stressed as she works two shifts to earn the bulk of their income and still care for their son. Chris decides to try to get a job as a stock broker. Of course, that means starting out with a non-paying internship.
As this movie dragged on it became less of a drama and more of a mellow drama. It was as though we were watching the beginning of Job unfold before us. His wife leaves, he can't pay his rent, he misses major appointments, he losses key pieces of equipment, the IRS takes all of his money, he gets evicted, etc, etc, etc. Not only did it get tiring, but it became depressing.
I understand that this film was designed to be a rags to riches story. I understand that it was through perseverance and wit that this man rose from the wreckage of his life. I kind of even like the message that this movie puts forth about how anyone can be successful if you actually try and don't make excuses for why you can't do it.
However, what irks me about this movie is that the way he obtained his success was through irresponsibility. His wife was working double shifts while he was ogling corvettes. She was missing work to pick up their son while he was struggling to sell what turned out to be a terrible investment.
Not only that, but the entire movie is about the pursuit of happiness. His wife pursues it by leaving. His son's pursuit is by being with his dad. His pursuit of happiness seems to be the pursuit of money. If it were for stability, he could have gotten a paying job during the week and tried to sell his contraptions on the weekends (which he does while interning and going without pay). If it's love, he has the love of his son, and he could have worked to keep the love of his wife.
In the end, all of the things that he did: not taking a real job, not working to save his marriage, not ensuring that his son had a stable place to live, not being responsible enough to keep his car; they were acceptable because he made it. I was willing to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt until the final "epilogue" was written on the screen. It left no doubt, the emphasis of the movie was on the money.
I think the most difficult part about this movie is that Will Smith and his son Jayden put forth fantastic performances. Their frustration, struggle, and moments of love and levity are so true and real that we experience those events right along side of them. If the movie were more poorly acted, it might have been easier to watch.
I knew what the movie was about and yet it still depressed me. The acting was good, the message and emotional after taste was terrible. From here on out I shall refer to this movie as "The Pursuit of Crappyness":
0.5 out of 5 stars.
Another "based on actual events" movie that somehow misses the lesson that ought to have been learned by the main character. Chris Gardner is struggling to make ends meet selling a medical device into which he invested his family's life savings. His wife is stressed as she works two shifts to earn the bulk of their income and still care for their son. Chris decides to try to get a job as a stock broker. Of course, that means starting out with a non-paying internship.
As this movie dragged on it became less of a drama and more of a mellow drama. It was as though we were watching the beginning of Job unfold before us. His wife leaves, he can't pay his rent, he misses major appointments, he losses key pieces of equipment, the IRS takes all of his money, he gets evicted, etc, etc, etc. Not only did it get tiring, but it became depressing.
I understand that this film was designed to be a rags to riches story. I understand that it was through perseverance and wit that this man rose from the wreckage of his life. I kind of even like the message that this movie puts forth about how anyone can be successful if you actually try and don't make excuses for why you can't do it.
However, what irks me about this movie is that the way he obtained his success was through irresponsibility. His wife was working double shifts while he was ogling corvettes. She was missing work to pick up their son while he was struggling to sell what turned out to be a terrible investment.
Not only that, but the entire movie is about the pursuit of happiness. His wife pursues it by leaving. His son's pursuit is by being with his dad. His pursuit of happiness seems to be the pursuit of money. If it were for stability, he could have gotten a paying job during the week and tried to sell his contraptions on the weekends (which he does while interning and going without pay). If it's love, he has the love of his son, and he could have worked to keep the love of his wife.
In the end, all of the things that he did: not taking a real job, not working to save his marriage, not ensuring that his son had a stable place to live, not being responsible enough to keep his car; they were acceptable because he made it. I was willing to give the filmmakers the benefit of the doubt until the final "epilogue" was written on the screen. It left no doubt, the emphasis of the movie was on the money.
I think the most difficult part about this movie is that Will Smith and his son Jayden put forth fantastic performances. Their frustration, struggle, and moments of love and levity are so true and real that we experience those events right along side of them. If the movie were more poorly acted, it might have been easier to watch.
I knew what the movie was about and yet it still depressed me. The acting was good, the message and emotional after taste was terrible. From here on out I shall refer to this movie as "The Pursuit of Crappyness":
0.5 out of 5 stars.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)