Category Archives: Movies/TV

Review: American Sniper – Legend, the most lethal sniper in U.S. Military history

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American Sniper is a biographical/action film directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Jason Dean Hall. It’s about Chris Kyle, a Navy SEAL sniper and his tour in Iraq. The film is based off of the book of the same name.

The good; the movie does a good job of not focusing too much on war, we get enough flashbacks and time away from the middle east to balance out the intensity of fighting a war.

Bradley Cooper does a superb job as Chris Kyle. There’s a scene right at the beginning of the movie where he has to make a decision on who to shoot, Cooper does well in giving us the struggle that goes on inside of him. Then when he’s back home stateside we get the sense of him not belonging in civilian life, how difficult it is for him to adjust.
I believed that Cooper was Kyle throughout the film.

The action sequences are great. They aren’t overly bloody and gratuitous, but they’re appropriate for the horrors that go on in war.

Clint Eastwood knows how to direct conflicted characters, which makes his movies all the more compelling. Our main characters are developed and three dimensional, not these cardboard cut outs that pass for leading roles these days.

The audience at this screening was very well behaved, it was like a Christmas present to myself, everyone was attentive from the moment go until the end (oh the end credits, what a great tribute to Kyle’s life). This is how movies should be viewed in the theatres.

The bad; I’d have to place Sienna Miller here, it was unbelievable that she was pregnant. I found myself not connecting with the scenes she was in when Kyle was back home… maybe that’s the way it was supposed to be though?

Overall, I would go see American Sniper in the theatres. It’s only in limited release at the moment, but once it goes wide in January, go check it out. When they say all war movies are anti-war movies, this is the prime example. What’s more is that when you watch this film you’ll learn about an American Hero and the toll that took on his life.
Excellent film, I enjoyed every moment of it, bravo to Bradley Cooper, I might go as far to say I smell an Oscar nom.

 

Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – back again?

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The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the last installment in The Hobbit trilogy. It starts off where the last “film” left off, Bilbo witnesses Smaug incinerating Laketown while Thorin and his band of dwarves watch from the Lonely Mountain. Stuff happens and armies are amassed to take the treasures from Erebor. Friendships are tested, strengths are tested, skills are tested, computer capacity to render is tested and my interested is tested.

The good; the actors do a great job, Martin Freeman as Bilbo is wonderful, he brings a great humanity to the role. Ian McKellen as Gandalf is perfect, I can’t imagine anyone else for this role.

This film actually has stakes, Thorin’s obsession for the Arkenstone is both believe-able and tragically relate-able. The threat of life ending situations is actually realized in this final film, that’s what was missing from the previous installments.

The bad; the movie is basically battle porn. It’s scene upon scene of armies battling. It’s like a Michael Bay film (not a good thing) set in a fantasy realm. In the first five minutes of the film we get a climactic scene worthy of the third act… where do we go from here? Well, if it was like The Empire Strikes Back we’d focus on the inner character struggles and build up to a third act climax that deals with an emotional show down. Sadly in The Battle of the Five Armies the character stuff gets pushed aside with all the battle scenes upon battle scenes.

No more songs in this movie?? Ahem, lost opportunity.

Overall, catch it on tv or rent it to close the trilogy out.

Also, no talking during the movie.

 

 

 

LAX: Now Home to Kogi BBQ

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Chef: Roy Choi

If you live in Los Angeles, you may have noticed the food scene upping its game over recent history. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as the diverse demographics are conducive to not only a wide variety of culinary palettes, but one of the biggest perks perks of living in a melting pot are the fusions of complementary flavors that push the boundaries of dishes you thought couldn’t be made better.

I used to in Santa Monica and was lucky enough to benefit from the food truck trend. If you head over to 31st and Ocean Park, you’ll see a variety of trucks serving anything but run of the mill food offerings from gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches to curry cheese fries. If there was a man to thank for the explosion of trucks that shattered the notion of mediocre food from roach coaches, it’s Roy Choi, and what could be better than his delicious food having a home at the Los Angeles International Airport?

In more recent media, if you’ve seen (and drooled while watching) the movie Chef, you’ll see why the residency makes sense. Any airport can have a McDonald’s or Starbucks, but bringing Roy Choi’s famous Korean taco fusion to the masses sends a bold message that Los Angeles is more than a home for sports teams, insufferable traffic, earthquakes, and the entertainment industry.

So if you’re looking for a reason to get to the airport earlier or dread layovers, maybe your next traveling experience will be more memorable after a bite of Kogi BBQ.

Source: Eater

 

Review: Interstellar – to infinity and beyond!

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Interstellar is Christopher Nolan’s latest film. It’s a science fiction adventure about a team of NASA astronauts who travel through a wormhole in search of an inhabitable planet, because Earth is dying.
Directed by Nolan, written by Nolan and Jonathan Nolan.

The good; I love the robots. As I’ve mentioned, it’s robot season. In the film there are two main robots, TARS and CASE, they’re reminiscent of the monoliths from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but they’re move-able with separating joints to make limbs and other shapes, it’s like a big shapes puzzle. The AI that makes these robots have a personality also reminds me of B.O.B. and V.I.N.C.E.N.T. from The Black Hole. I just love that the designs are practical versus form and elegance.

The portrayal of the worm hole was stunning. The visuals in this movie are amazing, you have to go see it on the big screen.

For an adventure movie there sure are a lot of emotional moments. The actors do a great job with these scenes.

The bad; the sound design was a little much in some areas, meaning that the score and the sound effects over powered the dialog. It was hard to hear at times.

For a science based movie, they used “love” as a factor. When the scientists have to make a choice of where to go next, one of them uses love to convince the others… that only hurt her argument. It felt out of place, perhaps a little more set up could’ve made that flow better?

There’s a “plot twist” in the second act, don’t want to say too much, but it felt a bit forced.

People are just dumb, it’s getting increasingly harder to watch a movie in a theatre and enjoy it. Here’s a line from one such “patron”… “I didn’t pay $15 to have a squeaky chair.” To which my reply was, “I didn’t pay $15 to have you fidgeting in your chair the whole movie.”

Overall, I had a good time, I don’t want to say too much about the plot for fear of spoiling it. After seeing the film it elicits conversations, and that’s good here.
The premise reminds me of The Black Hole, the robots remind me of 2001: A Space Odyssey, the music reminds me of Philip Glass, space travel and the video messaging is very much like Alien and Aliens, the special effects remind me of Tree of Life, the second act reminds me of Sunshine, the third act’s reveal reminds me of Gundam … and so on… If you were to do a double feature, I would pair Interstellar with Big Hero 6, strictly for the visuals.

 

 

Review: Big Hero 6 – equals big box office

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Big Hero 6 is the fifty fourth film in the Disney Animated Classics series. It’s inspired by the Marvel Comic of the same name, the film tells the story of a robotics prodigy name Hiro Hamada, who then in turn forms a superhero team to combat a masked villain, who’s responsible for Hiro’s older brother’s death. Simple enough right?

The good; the film is just fun. Disney keeps bringing the quality with the 3D computer animated realm.
Our protagonist Hiro (as voiced by Ryan Potter) has a great, yet familiar, arc as a character. He starts off reckless, then he finds purpose, then loses sight of that purpose, to then only sacrifice of himself in order to save someone else. It’s a very familiar character arc, but it works, and in this case, it works well.

The world building is something that has to be pointed out. The film takes place in the future city of San Fransokyo, the golden gate bridge has Asian inspired arcs, the signage on buildings has Asian writing (like Bladerunner), and there are these blimp like wind generators (I assume they’re wind generators) that are painted like Chinese dragons. There’s no time spent explaining where we are and how this place came to be, we’re just there, and I love it. It made me want to know how this city came about.

T.J. Miller as Fred, the comic relief, is amazing. His timing is wonderful, without being too much, especially his line about his underwear. And wait for the end of the credits for another great scene.

The story here is paramount, Hiro is relate-able and his journey in a sense is our journey. Then you have a great moment in the third act where he has to choose, it’s reminiscent of The Iron Giant and Wreck-It Ralph.

The bad; I honestly can’t put anything here. It more has to do with the film going audience… leave your crying kids at home next time please.

Overall, I had a blast. $56.2 million opening weekend? Looks like everyone else had a blast too. It truly is robot season in the cinemas right now. I challenge you not to love Baymax.
We also get an Asian character for the boy audience to connect with, gotta love it for that too.
The film has a screenplay by Robert L. Baird, Dan Gerson, Jordan Robert, and is directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, they previously did The Emperor’s New Groove, Mulan, Meet The Robinsons and Bolt (collectively), can’t wait to see more like Big Hero 6.

Star Wars Parody Music Videos – And Another One – All About That Base.

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So, if you haven’t noticed in your Facebook stream, there is a new music video parody of Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass.  Nerdist.com presents Team Unicorns’ Star Wars Parody, “All About the Base (No Rebel)”

Meghan Trainors original song is already pretty catchy with it’s beat and lyrics.  Team Unicorn continues that with their take.  And maybe, I’m being too factoid nerdy but their lyrics are a bit off.  In the repeated chorus, they say:

“The emperor said don’t worry about the size. He says, “It’s not like it’d be blown up twice by the same Jedi”

And I could be wrong, but I believe Lando destroyed the Death Star the second time.  Luke was in the middle of a father-son battle with an Emperor audience. So mild continuity issue with that. Other than that, pretty entertaining and otherwise, good lyrical playfulness.

Of course, this isn’t the first and it won’t be the last of music parodies to Star Wars franchise.  It’s been a while, but Galactic Empire State of Mind is still rattling in my brain.

Review: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day – fun for the whole family

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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day is about Alexander and his family. They all seem like they have it all together and pay no mind to the woes of Alexander, but soon they’ll get a taste of things not going their way. This family comedy stars Steve Carell, Jennifer Garner, Ed Exenbould (Alexander), Dylan Minnette, Kerris Dorsey, Bella Thorne, Megan Mullally, Donald Glover, and Dick Van Dyke.

The good; Ed Exenbould is pretty good for a kid actor. It helped that the movie had an ensemble cast, but he did an excellent job. This film is just family fun and you got that feeling from everyone on screen. Steve Carell was able to do his yelling that we all love, but it wasn’t too much and it didn’t call out to itself, then you have Jennifer Garner who could’ve taken center stage, but she didn’t. The story lines of each family member kept me interested by contributing the right amount of time and then moving on to the next one.

At the core of this movie, it’s about family and that’s what really drove the motivations of the characters. The wackyness of a terrible day where nothing can go right was amusing and didn’t cross over in to the realm of unbelievable.

The bad; no one’s going to see this film, when they should. In a time of darkness and broody-ness Alexander comes as a nice breath of the flip side of a coin (I know I’m mixing metaphors). People’s closemindedness, that’s what causes people to miss good movies sometimes.

Overall, I had a great time. Alexander comes as a pleasant surprise in a world where so much is going wrong. The take away is that family is paramount and that’s what really kept me invested. So do yourself a favor and go see this film, and remember what it was like to be a kid wanting to be heard.

 

 

 

 

Review: Simpsons Take The Hollywood Bowl

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Simpsons Take The Bowl

I was lucky enough to see the Simpsons Take the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday. I joked with my brother in-law that we went on the best night: Friday probably felt like an experient/work in progress, Sunday the performers would probably be tired, but Saturday would be the perfect show. The event was better than I could have imagined and helped me fall in love with the Simpsons again after a long time in the “It fell off after season blah blah blah”.

The show was hosted by Hank Azaria. You may know him from such voices has Chief Wiggum, Apu, Moe, and a handful of other characters. He’s probably the most recognizable face from all the voice actors, having a considerable resume in Hollywood beyond the Simpsons, but it really is amazing to see him physically transform as he does different voices.

I confess to not having watched any episodes in a VERY long time. I’m not even sure if musicals are still part of the show’s arsenal, but that didn’t matter on Saturday. Some notable tracks that had the crowd singing along include “Who Needs the Kwik-E-Mart”, the monorail song (sang by “the only writer anyone cares about” Conan O’Brien), “Put the Spring in Springfield” (David Silverman’s flaming sousaphone was insane), “Minimum Wage Nanny”, “Happy Birthday Lisa”.

Fans were also treated to a few clips made exclusively for the event like the intro “are we there yet?” sequence as we watch Simpsons’ arduous journey from the parking lot into the Hollywood Bowl.

Unfortunately, not all voices were present in the celebration, Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns) were no where to be found. Having the entire cast would have really opened the door to more live bits and also reminded me even more how much I love The Simpsons.

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy – the end of the summer closes on a high note

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Guardians of the Galaxy is the latest Marvel film, this time we’re propelled way in to cosmos instead of New York. It’s about some shady characters that are unwillingly brought together due to a highly coveted orb and certain galactic destruction. They’re then forced into an alliance and have to work together.
Guardians of the Galaxy is directed by James Gunn, he also co-wrote the script with Nicole Perlman, it stars; Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace,  Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close and Benicio del Toro.

The good; this film is truly inspired by Raiders of the Lost Ark. Not in story and plot, but in feeling and tone. It was great to have someone who loves Raiders so much that they wanted to make a film that channeled the spirit of what they felt when they watched that movie. James Gunn does a great job in doing so, the makers of Star Trek: Into Darkness need to take a page from Guardians, we know you like Wraith of Khan, but don’t do your version.

Then the choice of re-recorded music, I love this film’s soundtrack! I actually have most of the songs already, but the use of these “oldies” actually fits in to the movie. From the moment go on that first trailer where Hooked on a Feeling was used, I knew I was going to enjoy this movie, just for the soundtrack alone. Then I learn that the song used in the trailer is actually going to be in the film itself??? That’s unheard of these days, what with marketing lying to us at every corner. The use of the songs in Guardians is evocative of Tarantino’s films (Reservoir Dogs) and Wes Anderson’s films.

I have to mention the camera work and use of CG with practical sets. This film puts anything Michael Bay can throw at us, more specifically our eye balls, to shame! I was so thankful that the action was in focus and there was a sense of geography with what was going on. It’s something that when done right goes unnoticed. But I appreciate the way they covered the action and made it coherent.

The bad;  it ended. I didn’t want it to end.

They didn’t use Spirit in the Sky 😉

Overall, such a fun movie, perfect way to end the summer movies of 2014. This is the way to build a world and introduce us to a variety of characters.
They made use of a mix-tape, which speaks to me, a product of days gone by that’s part of the character and plot, but it’s not hokey. I highly recommend seeing this movie in the theatres, especially if you can get it with Dolby Atmos.

 

 

 

San Diego Comic Con 2014

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The last weekend in July has come and gone, and with it another comic con. It seems that comic con time is spent less about seeing cool things and more about waiting in a line to wait in another line.

The weather in San Diego was rather humid, more like Florida than Southern California.

Here are some costumed individuals;

Then I encountered some non-strangers dressed up as well;

Overall, I had a good time, despite the overwhelming amount of people and other negatives I made the most of it. Comic Con is definitely a community experience, to traverse these halls solo isn’t as much fun. And I’m not the only one to feel this way about how this “event” has changed, check this out. Till next year SDCC

Review: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – go bananas!

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Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is the direct sequel to 2011’s passable Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Taking place 10 years after the events in the first movie, the “Ape Flu” has spread throughout the planet and has killed most of humanity. Meanwhile back in San Francisco, Caesar and his fellow apes are talk with each other through sign language and forming their own society. In the mean meanwhile, some humans have managed to survive in the ruins of San Francisco, somewhere in the middle the two societies meet… dun dun dunnnnn.

The good; first and foremost, the special effects. The motion capture done with Andy Serkis is amazing. Those apes look really good, after the opening credits we open up on a close up of Caesar’s eyes, and it’s very well done.

Then we have the world that we’re going to be in for the next hour and a half. The world building done here is very good, you have the Ape society and how they live; there’s a hierarchy, daily life, school, “healer” apes, hunters, and language. It all makes sense cause they took the time to make it make sense.

Jason Clarke as Malcolm is great, Clarke does a great job bringing us to understand motivation, not only in his own character but in the humans as a whole. What otherwise could’ve been a simple plot device really worked well for me.

Then you have Michael Giacchino‘s score, at the beginning of the movie there’s this very retro sound to the music, it’s like he’s channeling the old Planet of the Apes movies, I loved it. Then as the movie progresses we get the epic quality we’ve come to expect from Giacchino.

The bad; the special effects, I know I mentioned this above, but it’s a double edged sword.

The example that really sticks out is the baby Ape, there’s a scene where the humans are interacting with the baby and it just doesn’t look as good.
Then the opening sequence is a hunting party scene where the Apes are hunting whatever’s in the forest for food. On one side you have the Apes above, in the trees, stalking their prey, down below you have the deer unaware of death from above.
Then in a scene similar to The Gladiator, hell is unleashed and the Apes descend on to their prey. I marveled at the eye candy displayed before me… but I couldn’t help but wonder how much render time this took. Cause sure it’s epic and looks amazing, but it doesn’t beat the real thing. If it was a bunch of actors in rubber masks running through the forest, that’s still a bunch of actors in rubber masks running through the forest. Where this scene was all created in the computer. But that’s just my old-school way.

There’s a throw away line about how the humans that are alive and surviving are genetically immune to the flu virus that ravaged the planet, I dunno… I’d like a little more please? Just a little sumthin’?

*SPOILER* The climax of the movie, in two parts, left me with a tilted head. Malcolm befriends Caesar and helps him to overtake Koba and his command over the Apes. Then you Malcolm has to convince Gary Oldman that the situation can be resolved, he just needs to wait. So Malcolm, who’s had a good rapport with Oldman (leader of the humans) simply draws a gun on him as he’s wiring the foundation of the tower where the Apes are now headquarted… but doesn’t even attempt to explain why he’s doing what he’s doing??? He just holds them hostage! Really? That’s completely against what we’ve built up for these two characters.
Then above, in the tower, you have Caesar going one on one with Koba, and there’s a point where Koba left hanging, Casesar chooses to grab Koba and fling him off to his death… I get it, these are Apes and not humans, but you’re giving them human characteristics. There could’ve been any number of alternatives that ended with Koba’s death… have Caesar attempt to save Koba, but then Koba attacks, letting him fall to his own death. That’s one and I just came up with that right now. What does that ending message say?
And the ending seemed really rushed, they want the next movie to be the literal Planet of the Apes, where the Apes outnumber the humans, but I liked where this movie took us and wanted to spend more time as this world transitioned to one ruled by Apes.*END SPOILERS*

Overall, much better than that first movie. Way to build the world. Even though the third act seemed super rushed, director Matt Reeves has redeemed himself after Cloverfield.

 

Review: Earth To Echo – echos movies from the 80s

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Earth to Echo is about three best friends who stumble upon a mystery, which turns in to an alien. They then start to communicate with the alien and learn that it wants to go home. Taking to their bikes they ride all night helping the alien find parts to rebuild its pod thingy, sound familiar?? I know Mac and Me right?
This film is a sci-fi adventure film that’s presented in the found footage format, it’s directed by Dave Green and written by Henry Gayden.

The good; the kids are great. Teo Halm, Brian Bradley, Reese C. Hartwig, and Ella Wahlestedt really deliver. Just like Super 8,the kids’ performances are what carry the movie, it’s what keeps you invested. From the start I immediately felt connected to all the kids and understood their motivations.

Unlike Super 8, the story is more compelling and once we see the alien (Echo) I still manage to care and stay connected to the story. Both films are essentially pulling from E.T. but Earth to Echo manages to use the found footage format and make it work. The hand held quality/aspect was used to great effect here (no thanks Cloverfield).

The ending is the same as the previously mentioned E.T., and yet manages to still be climactic. This is due to the great build up for end and that the focus is on the kids the whole time, and not on the spectacle of the alien itself or the special effects.

The bad; the posters, it’s way too similar to E.T., which is turning people off of seeing this film. At no point is the E.T. glowing finger done in the movie, it’s more of the kids poking at this thing they found.

The introduction of the girl in to the journey seems a little unlikely, but after the initial introduction she gels just fine.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this movie. I want more like this, in the 80s there was a slew of this sub genre of kids taking on the world (The Goonies, Monster Squad, The Gate, Flight of the Navigator, Explorers…). I can admit that I was primed to like this movie before I even saw it, but after viewing I was still able to have fun and be thoroughly entertained. So take a kid to see Earth to Echo, or better yet, take the kid in you to the movie and remember a time where we rode our bikes without fears of Amber Alerts and friends’ backyards were virtually our playgrounds.