The Prestige (2006)

Christopher Nolan makes pretty cool movies - Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), Batman Begins (2005), & The Prestige (2006) are cool. They've got a great look, decent scripts, and are generally interesting to watch. That being said I didn't think that The Prestige was all that great. It was good but...

1) I didn't care or like or dislike or really feel anything for the characters. Two rival magicians and the stunning woman they both love and the greatest trick in the world. Okay, sounds good. Throw in Michael Caine and David Bowie? Bonus! Maybe I wasn't giving Jackman, Bale, and Johansson a chance. Note to Johansson: you're gorgeous and - when not trying - a really endearing actress. When you put on a terrible Brit accent and try to act it's just kind of painful to watch.

2) The Prestige would have made a great graphic novel adaptation of the novel. Steampunk just works better as a graphic novel than a movie. It's just too difficult a genre to translate i.e. Steamboy or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

3) The surprise ending is heavy handed and spoiled the rest of the movie for me. Amanda liked it and I'm sure that there are plenty of you out there who dug it. Our differences are what make us all special.

On the upside:

1) Magic is neat.

2) Michael Caine and David Bowie were in the movie.

3) It was beautifully shot and Scarlett Johansson wore corsets.

4) Magic is neat.

Oddly enough watching The Prestige really made me want to watch The Illusionist (2006) even though it has Ed Norton in it. We'll see.

The Abandoned (2007)

The Abandoned (2007) was a pretty good ghost story. Ghost story/haunted house movies are a) few and far between & b) mainly crap. It just works out that way. The Abandoned wasn't particularly complicated or rife with twists but there was something satifying in it for me. I wouldn't say run out and throw down money for it in the theater but rent it when it comes out in time for Halloween.

Apologies but I am under the weather and can't summon the energy for a grand slam review. Here's a full review from http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/007501.html.

The Number 23 (2007)

While this is not a review of the movie I just had to bring this The Number 23 review to your attention. Kevin Crust - you rule. I'm a bad review junkie and this is an awesome bad review. Check it out.

Starter for 10 (2006)

Starter for 10 is my generations' sort of second hand nostalgia - that is if Adrian Mole was more of a role model than Holden Caufield, your favorite bands ended up Mancunian and mix tapes were the only way that you could let someone into your life.

The plot is basically this: University bound guy from a working class boardwalk town gets accepted on his own merit. Falls for busty dream blonde while ignoring the fact that the "funky" hat brunette is the better match. Ends up screwing everything up, has falling out with his buddy who was left behind. Life goes to shit, he sulks back to his working class roots while Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want plays. Makes up with his best friend, gets his shit together, and goes "Once more unto the breach."

If this doesn't sound particularly fresh well...shut up. I had a smile on my ugly mug, a toe tapping, and laughed at those moments - "I can smile about it now but at the time it was terrible."

I honestly didn't know this was a period piece until I saw the preview - by the by the preview has an awful song playing over it that would have been better replaced by an Echo & the Bunnymen or Tears for Fears song or hell Peter Gabriel's Games Without Frontiers would've worked well.

Here's the obligatory run down:

Acting: I don't know who these actors are - except for Charles Dance who in my opinion should get a lot more work than he does - but I plan to see what movies they've been in or will be in. Protagonist Brian Jackson - James McAvoy...was...in Chronicles of Narnia. Well. Huh. In any case he was really good in Starter for 10. The ladies were spot on and hot, y'know in an accessable way. Supporting cast was solid through and through.

Directing & Cinematography: I had not a single problem. Solid work. What can I say I'm a sucker for shots of shutdown for the season boardwalks. Most of it was unobtrusive and there were no fireworks or "look at this fabulously artistic shot".

Writing: Adapted from David Nicolls' A Question of Attraction - which I plan to read soon - by David Nicholls was brilliant. It captured the awkwardness and humilitations of those years of life. I was cringing as I was laughing.

Soundtrack: All joking aside I think that I made this mix tape in the mid-90s. I'd buy the soundtrack if I didn't already own all the songs...except for one or two.

If you get the chance to see this movie then I hope you do. That is if you're an old fart close to or past 30. If you're not then you should see it anyway - at the very least it's a really endearing romantic comedy of errors of sorts with an amazing soundtrack.

Now if you'll excuse me I have to go lay upon the floor, smoke, and listen to something melancholy.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005)

I'm going to start by saying that I never liked the books even as a kid. I was much more a LOTR and Lloyd Alexander fan. The characters in Lewis's books were all pretty much spoiled English brats and nothing particularly interesting happened. I didn't and still don't care about any of the religious allegory folderol. This movie gives the impression of being made simply to have something to plug the post-LOTR holiday fantasy movie vaccuum.

Narnia is an excellent example of what can potentially go wrong with fantasy movies:
1) None of the characters are interesting, developed, charming in that little British kid way, or even remotely likeable.
2) Everything that could have been cool was pretty crappy - either because the movie was edited slap-dash and quick cut or because there wasn't really anything cool in the movie save a couple of WETA monsters.
3) The score was...well...I don't remember any of the score so that's a bad sign.
4) Aslan died because he was ashamed of being in such a crappy movie.

I hope I don't have the kind of kid who would like this swill. Then again if fed a diet of the same stuff I grew up on plus LOTR chances are they might have decent taste.

Because I Said So (2007)

I am never going to see this movie. Chances are that none of you are going to see it either unless forced to by family members during some sick holiday spending time together death march.

The reason I mention this movie is because i have to draw your attention to the metacritic.com reviews for it: http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/becauseisaidso Man, some of the reviews are brutal. Scroll down to the bottom to read the Wall Street Journal verdict.

Reading negative reviews on metacritic.com is one of my favorite ways to waste time. Granted I also like reading negative reviews for movies I like just so I can get my dander up. If you have the chance check out the reviews for Ghost Rider.

Tears of the Black Tiger (2001)

This was kind of a crap shoot. Either this movie was going to be abyssmal or pretty cool. The group we went with was fairly divided. I thought that it was pretty cool.

If you haven't heard anything about Tears of the Black Tiger then let me tell you the basic premise. It's a Thai Western with star-cross'd lovers shot in a classic '60s style only with insane ultra-violence and filmed only a few years ago. If you're familiar with classic Westerns with "John...Marsha...John...Marsha" melodrama complete with sighs, wistful glances, and tears...lots of tears then you won't be surprised. If you're familiar with old HK movies with melodrama/violence/melodrama/violence/"Happiness is as fleeting as the sweet Spring breeze." sigh/cheezy song/violence/melodrama/big showdown/tears/the end then you won't be surprised. Some of you may be surprised by the level of graphic violence. I was to a certain extent. There are: a couple of pretty grisly head shots, explosions that blast people into little chunks, dismemberments, and lots of people getting lead poisoning. It's pretty refreshing actually because the action breaks up a good chunk of melodrama & flashbacks. The violence also creates a good amount of the humor in the movie, at least in my book.

Apart from the cheese and the action and the astounding colors I will say that I really dug the soundtrack and look forward to adding to my collection if I can find it. The soundtrack consists of an insane mix of Thai ballads, lounge numbers, mushy love songs, bizarre pseudo-Spaghetti Western influenced scoring, twangy guitar & whistling - I swear to God it was Thai Western Swing, and one bizarre piece of scoring that had a lot of disconcerting warble on it. Sure it wouldn't make for everyday listening but still it'd be a solid addition to a collection.

I wouldn't say that this movie is for everyone. I can understand why it would turn a good number of people away. Watch the trailer. If you like what you see then watch the movie. If not then don't watch the movie. Simple as that.