woodge blog

Just for kicks I revisted this 1995 B-movie starring Christopher Lambert as a businessman in Japan who finds himself targeted by a ninja cult. Cheesy stuff but it also features a confrontation on a bullet train between a bad-ass kendo teacher and samurai-sword wielding ninjas. It's bloody and ridiculous. (And fun.)

Yes, the "science" is ridiculous... yes, much of the action is wildly implausible... yes, it's sometimes hokey as hell. But it was also entertaining in a wildly apocalyptic over-the-top fashion with earthquakes, tsunamis, toppling buildings, explosions, and a biblical conceit that's just stupid. Fun to watch despite its flaws.

Tom Cruise as real-life would-be Hitler assassinator Claus Von Stauffenberg. *rolls eyes* ... Things wrong with it: 1) Tom Cruise is not a good actor. 2) I bet even Paris Hilton could guess the ending. (Maybe). 3) Not suspenseful. Things right with it: 1) Rest of cast is good. End result? A waste of time.

This was a quirky tale of con-artist brothers with one of them getting too involved with a mark. Great cast: Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, etc. A decent diversion but I'm not surprised it went quickly to DVD (I don't think this got a theatrical release).

I don't usually go for horror flicks but this one looked pretty funny so I gave it a shot. Turned out to be one of the funniest movies I've seen this year. A big part of that was one awesome cameo appearance. Another part of that is that Woody Harrelson can be so much fun to watch. And Jesse Eisenberg's narration of his rules for surviving a zombie apocalypse (begun by a bad burger) can be gruesomely hilarious. It IS a zombie movie so there IS gore. Just so you know.

9 is a visually cool stitch-punk adventure set in a post-apocalyptic world where the machines have emerged victorious. (Sounds a little familiar, huh?) And while the setting and the characters are all infused with lots of imagination, the plot is left wanting. The story itself is pretty simplistic and the ending doesn't make a whole lot of sense. But the ride was fun and it just looks so cool. I do hope to see more of these animated flicks aimed at a more adult audience. It'll be interesting to see if this sort of thing catches on beyond the fringe. Be forewarned, some of the scenes are too intense for little kids, hence the PG-13 rating. When all is said and done, I give 9 a 7. 

Zack And Miri Make A Porno
This was a juvenile male fantasy that is as unromantic as it sounds and only intermittently funny. Justin Long was funny, the rest was much less so. And c'mon, Seth Rogen hooks up with Elizabeth Banks? Only in the movies. This one is better left ignored. Kevin Smith (the writer) is better left ignored. I think he's stuck in eighth grade. He is stupid.

Went to the movies on a rainy Saturday. Luke (age 7) was all jazzed to see G-Force with me although I was more interested in seeing Ponyo. So T & Kajsa (age 4) saw Ponyo and Luke and I saw this. He enjoyed it. He didn't rave about it, he just enjoyed it (gizmos, fart jokes, y'know... boy stuff). I however was pretty bored... pretty much throughout the whole long 90 minutes. But I was nice, I let my wife see Ponyo while I endured this. (Ponyo is the latest Hayao Miyazaki animated flick and I'm a big fan of his.)

Many complain that Inglourious Basterds is too long but two and a half hour running lengths have never bothered me. Tarantino is adept at delivering scenes filled with tension.  The opening scene is one such example and it also introduces the films charismatic main villain Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). But viewers shouldn't think this is going to be a typical WW II action flick. It's too talky for that. Instead there are various suspenseful scenes that are delicious to watch.  They are strung together not so artfully but they make the movie worthwhile.  Occasionally it gets gruesome: there are vivid scenes of scalping, throats being cut, savage beatings, bodies ripped apart by bullets... but these scenes are almost within the movie like an afterthought.  Brad Pitt is very entertaining as the hillbilly leader of a team of Jewish avengers in Nazi-occupied France.  And Melanie Laurent as a Jewess hellbent on revenge gives a smoldering performance.  The aforementioned Christoph Waltz is excellent. Inglourious Basterds would have benefitted from a tighter, more flowing plot but it has some wickedly suspenseful parts.  Also, don't look for historical accuracy. This is a fantasy.

When a trailer is playing for a movie I really want to see, I always avert my eyes and plug my ears. They give too much away, and they can eat into your experience of watching a movie.
~ actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt

I concur.