no clue movie review: Toy Story 3

I have to admit that I was kind of excited for this movie. I wasn't sure what to expect but I loved the previous 2 films and Pixar had yet to disappoint me. These characters have always been top notch and last year when I saw the re-issue of the 1st two films in 3D, I fell in love with them all over again. I am normally skeptical of a 3rd film in a series, but this was an excellent movie overall.

The setup for this story is amazing. Growing up with these films as many of us have, you really feel for these characters. When you see all the characters coming on the screen for the first time, all those good feelings come rushing back. I expected at some point to be feeling like I've seen this all before and that I might grow tired of the toys. NOT AT ALL!!! The story is fantastic and packs an emotional wallop at the end. I teared up a bit, I admit it. We get introduced to many new characters, but my favorite voice of them all is Michael Keaton as Ken (of Ken & Barbie). He is absolutely a stand out. Everyone is good though. I know its hard to judge acting by a voice actor, but I definitely didn't feel like I was hearing an actor, these characters seemed alive to me yet again.

From a technical standpoint, this film is amazing looking. The animation is fantastic. Pixar is getting really good at people too. I remember that in the first Toy Story that people looked not quite that good, but you forgave it because it was such a good story. Well, they have really mastered their look. Plus, the movie is filled with honest to goodness action sequences and so many "blockbuster" movie shots that I was in heaven.

Now, I have seen this movie in both 3D and 2D. I will say that you don't need to see this in 3D. It definitely doesn't detract from the movie, in fact there are a couple of great 3D sequences, but the 2D version is just as good. Pixar's animation is all you need.

I would say that this is probably my favorite movie of the year so far. Great story, great characters, hilariously funny and heartbreakingly sad at times too. It runs the gamut of emotions. It's great for kids of all ages. I've seen this now with a 8 year old, 7 year old, 17 year old, 60 year old, 36 year old and finally a 2 year old. EVERYONE LOVED IT!!! Truly amazing, since you don't see that very often. In fact, my nephew, the 2 year old - this was his first movie theater experience and he sat through the whole thing and didn't get up once.

I think I've said it a bunch of times, but this is a fantastic movie that deserves to be seen over and over again.

Trailer
Official site

Thanks for checking this out and come back for more soon. Hopefully, I will have seen some more movies...

no clue movie review: The Last Airbender

I didn't know anything about the Nickelodeon animated TV series before seeing this movie. I had a friend who was a fan. I had seen a really good trailer or 2 for this movie and it looked cool. It was directed by M. Night Shyamalan which piqued my interest. M. Night has had a spotty track record. I loved The Sixth Sense, Signs and Unbreakable. I absolutely hated The Village & Lady in the Water and have yet to see The Happening. Thankfully there is no twist ending in this movie. I also believed that he would try to stay true to the story. In short, this movie is a big fat disappointment for me and filled with wasted opportunities.

I actually was hooked in the beginning of the flick. There is a mythology that is interesting and there are some pretty spectacular special effects not too far into the film. As the movie went on, it just got bad. The writing in the film just keeps hitting you over the head and I felt like many of the characters kept saying the same thing over and over again. There is far too much voiceover in this movie too. Many times, the voiceover talks about what I thought would be cool stuff to see. Perhaps there is just too much information to get across in one film, not sure. All I know is that when a movie starts telling me stuff and not showing me, that's never adding to my level of enjoyment.

The movie has a really dark tone. Not really one moment where I felt the mood lightened and I was feeling a sense of wonder. Which is odd, because the subject matter lends itself to that. Overall, it just feels like it is taking itself so serious and important. That lessened my enjoyment. I mean even The Dark Knight which was ultra-violent and ultra-serious at times, made me chuckle a few times.

The acting feels very robotic and at times just awful. I suspect that had a lot to do with the writing, but there are only a few bright spots. Anytime that Dev Patel (Prince Zuko) and Shaun Toub (Uncle Iroh) are on screen together, I felt a connection. They have a real father-son type bond.

The movie isn't a complete waste of time. There are some spectacular effects - especially the water bending effects. The pacing seems good, except for all the voiceovers which drag it down. Appa - Aang's pet or buddy, whatever you want to call him - looked very cool too.

After the movie - my friend Mike had me watch 2 episodes of the series. The tone is completely different. It has a fun and coming of age, exploring your powers kind of tone. Downright hilarious. Strong mythology and can get tense at times (granted I've seen 2 episodes), but overall whimsical really. This movie totally doesn't give you the same feeling. I would watch the series again, but probably not the movie.

Overall, a really big disappointment of a movie which seems to have a very rich mythology to pull from for a film franchise. Too bad. It's not an unwatchable bad movie. I was entertained. There are some cool moments to watch, but overall, it's just OK. I want to add that I saw this movie in 3D, which I generally enjoy, and this movie has horrible 3D. It's like a hatchet job in my opinion. It gives the technology a bad name. Don't waste your money - the glasses don't do anything to improve the movie.

Film's Trailer
Official Site

Thanks for reading, I hope to post more reviews soon. I haven't seen as many movies this summer as I normally do, but I have seen a few.

no clue movie review - fred's 2010 oscar picks

It's Oscar Sunday! I like watching the Oscars. Not too many award shows that I still enjoy watching, but for some reason I always watch this one from beginning to end each year. I even watch the Barbara Walters Special. I hear this is her last year for that special. Anyway, not sure what the show will bring, but I always like to post my Oscar Picks.

This year I downloaded an official ballot from Oscar.com. You can too! I marked my picks with little stars and I think I did a pretty good job. District 9 for Best Adapted Screenplay could be a sentimental pick, but what the hell. Click on the picture to see my picks larger.
We'll see later today if I'm right.

I saw some of this year's nominated movies, but like every year I didn't see all of them. Here's a list of movies that I still need to see and want to see:
The Hurt Locker
Up In The Air
A Single Man
An Education
A Serious Man
Invictus
Un Prophete
The Last Station
The Lovely Bones
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Nine
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Julie & Julia
The Cove
Food, Inc.
There maybe more, but not sure. There are other movies that I didn't see too, but I may not see those at all. We'll see.

Now that you know what I didn't see, I thought I could give some mini-reviews of the nominated movies I did see this year.

Avatar: I absolutely loved this movie! Technologically, this is a masterpiece. What James Cameron is able to achieve with motion capture & animation is just brilliant. Brings this technology to a whole new level. I was able to feel completely immersed in his world as soon as the film began. I felt very connected to these characters and for the first time with motion capture the eyes of the characters really came alive. I mean Gollum in Lord of the Rings movies was fantastic, but this flick takes it to a whole new level. I think making this kind of a movie must have its appeal for actors as well in the same way an animated feature does. It's kind of odd to judge the acting, because some of it is enhanced by animation. Nonetheless, all the actors acquitted themselves well especially Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana and Sigourney Weaver. This film's story is simplistic - big bad corporation trying to steal from the natives and exploit their land & destroy nature. There's also the boy meets alien and feels more comfortable outside of himself storyline. Even though I feel the story isn't overly complicated, doesn't mean it isn't effective. I enjoyed the story in and out and personally felt it held up to repeated viewings. I've seen it 3 times now in different formats and enjoyed each viewing. Take the technology away and it's a different flick, but it's not all technology that makes this movie enjoyable. This flick has made a boat load of cash and I say good for Avatar. A good movie that really exploits the immersion of IMAX 3D in a whole new way. I highly recommend this movie.

UP: Another fantastic Pixar movie. I don't know how they keep coming up with these stories, but I throughly enjoyed this movie too. Saw it over the summer and the beginning where Carl is thinking about his life & his wife. Ugh, I definitely choked up. The movie is very touching and is very simple in story. The relationship between Carl & Russell is so well done though. Just another fantastic movie. And in a totally different way from WALL-E or Toy Story.

The Blind Side: Sandra Bullock has had quite the year! She was hilarious in the screwball romantic comedy The Proposal. This movie is definitely a different side of Sandra that we don't see very often. How can you not love this woman? This story of Michael Oher & the Toughys (especially Leanne) has been documented as not being completely true to life, but as a movie I don't give a crap. This is a heart warming feel good movie. I was in tears in many different parts of this movie. This flick definitely celebrates family however you define it. I defy you to watch this and not be moved emotionally. That being said, it's not a perfect movie by any means. Some very simple versions of things, like Leanne Toughy marching into the ghetto on more than 1 occasion without incident. Big giant clumsy Michael becomes a football star after Leanne telling him to protect her. But I don't care. This movie was made by the same director as The Rookie and that movie with Dennis Quaid also moved me. Bravo! Good luck to Bullock on Oscar night and I hope she wins Best Actress.

Coraline: I went to see this movie and saw it in 3D. It was really good. It's definitely not a little kids movie, not that they wouldn't enjoy it, but I think it's mainly animation buffs that would appreciate it. It's very dark and reminded me of The Nightmare Before Christmas of course that Tim Burton Henry Selick combo. It's really nice storytelling and the animation was fantastic. I'm sure it was better in 3D, since that looked amazing. I appreciated that there weren't a bunch of 3D gags to pull you in, I believe the days of 3D being used as gags maybe over. Most 3D these days are used to just enhance the film and add to your cinematic experience. I do enjoy animation of all sorts but this kind of stop motion animation is not seen a lot these days and I really appreciated the detail that they put into this. If you enjoy animation, then you'd probably like this flick.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: Not much to say about this popcorn movie. It's loud, has tons of cool explosions and lots of giant robots from the get go. It's not much of a story that's realistic anyway. Is it fun? Sometimes. It's a very similar movie to the first Transformers and has all the same players. And yes Megan Fox looks amazing. This isn't the kind of movie that holds up to repeated viewing. Shia LeBeouf, Josh Duhamel and others are fine, but this movie is about big budget effects and big robots. I think it's too long, but other than that it was OK.

Star Trek: I'm not a huge Trekkie, but I've always enjoyed watching these movies. This blows all those other Star Trek flicks out of the water. It pays homage to the original films and doesn't try to ignore their existence while still rebooting the franchise with the original characters from the original series and films. This isn't an easy task considering the history and the fans. I loved Chris Pine as Kirk. He's funny and heroic. He plays well with Zachary Quinto as Spock who's stoic, but also is conflicted. In fact the whole cast is great. Zoe Saldana looks amazing in this movie. I also liked how the filmmakers showed us some tidbits from Kirk & Spock's childhoods. This movie has it all. Action, effects, crazy worlds, time travel and lots of fun storytelling. I was hoping that this movie would get a nomination for Best Picture this year since there were 10 nominees, but I'm glad it's getting some technical recognition. I really enjoyed this movie and this is already a part of my Blu-Ray collection and it holds up well to repeated viewing. I can't wait to see where they take these characters next. It was a blast. This isn't just a movie for Trek fans, this is a movie for fans of good movies.

District 9: I really enjoyed this movie. It is an original piece of sci-fi that isn't always sci-fi. I loved that the effects were seemingly organic to the picture. I loved that the effects didn't feel like effects. Motion capture with those aliens I believe, and boy did it rock! The best motion capture I think since Gollum in Lord of the Rings (besides Avatar, since I hadn't seen that movie yet when I saw this movie). This movie was well acted, well scripted, extremely interesting and engaging. I liked that the mockumentary piece is there, but then kind of abandoned. It really is a truly inspiring well done movie. I would watch this many times over. If you haven't seen it, you should! Really glad to see this one in the Best Picture race, even though it won't win, it's cool to see it among the nominees.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Great effects. Beautiful looking film. I found it exciting and well executed. These movies are highly enjoyable for me. I must admit that I think the last 2 Potter films haven't been extremely faithful to the books, but that doesn't bother me so much since I feel like they can exist outside of each other. I loved reading this book for different reasons than I enjoyed the movie. I think the movie plays up the teen angst much more than the book. The book was a bit more dark and sinister I think. Was it the best Potter? No. But it was an enjoyable Potter. Liked this a lot better than Transformers this summer.

Inglourious Basterds: This was a really great movie. Not as much blood as I had assumed in a Tarantino movie. just the right amount of violence for me. Lots of quiet sections too which surprised me. Acting was good but as usual the writing was fantastic. The language and the time taken between actors to speak the words are pitch perfect. Christoph Waltz deserves the supporting actor win. I'd also like to see it win Best Original Screenplay. A must see for Tarantino fans and maybe for those who aren't. I think it's his best movie since Pulp Fiction.

The Princess and the Frog: Disney's return to traditional 2D animation. I thought this movie was great. Fun, romantic, heart warming. All in the style of the modern classic Disney movies. Music wasn't as memorable I don't think, but it was good. Story is more of a dreams come true and always follow your heart type of story. I just felt good after watching this movie. I don't think it was as good as UP, but better than most animated movies out there.

Sherlock Holmes: Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor, but this film just wasn't fun enough. It was OK, but it just didn't hold up for me. I got bored in a lot of spots. I thought it was a great attempt at bringing a classic character to a modern day audience. But for the most part it fell a little flat for me. CG wasn't the greatest either. Action is a thumbs up though and saves this film from becoming a real snoozer. Great funny dialogue, but I think that is mostly Robert Downey's delivery. Probably the best Guy Ritchie movie in a long time, but that's not saying much since I didn't care for most of this other films.

The Messenger: I had a short post about this movie yesterday. A good flick, but overall disappointing and really depressing. Ben Foster delivers a great performance, but it doesn't go all the way since I felt a lot of it was one note and very angry. Woody Harrelson is great as the mentor and a former soldier who is at odds with his current profession and his attitude at living life. In the end, I didn't feel like over the course of the movie I learned too much more about these characters. I just kind of existed with them in an interesting set of circumstances.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire: I said it before I'll say it again. A powerful movie and some brave and bold performances by the actresses Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'Nique. This is an excellent portrait of an abused teen and an unflinching look at families that just don't always make it. Blood is thicker than water is the saying, but in this film, escaping abusive family life is just as important in stopping the cycle of abuse. A very tough and hard movie to watch, but such an important one to see. Lee Daniels directs a masterpiece but one that will be tough for me to watch over and over again.

Crazy Heart: Jeff Bridges delivers the performance of a lifetime! Bad Blake is a beat down drunk who is only a fraction of his former self. He is leading his life down a path of destruction until he falls in love with a reporter who changes his life. Fantastic original music overseen by T Bone Burnett and great delicate direction by newcomer Scott Cooper. Maggie Gyllenhaal is fantastic too and so are all the other performances. Again, this is a tour de force performance by Jeff Bridges and that carries this movie. If you haven't seen it, you should check it out.

Thanks for reading the reviews and I'm going to enjoy the Oscars tonight. I hope you do too.

no clue movie review: 2010 Spirit Awards - winners & impressions

I’m a Film Independent member so each year I get to vote for the Independent Spirit Awards. I usually watch the show too on IFC since it’s a breezy show and there’s an open bar and it’s always interesting seeing free booze and speeches mixing. Also, each year, since I do get a vote, I get to see all kinds of nominated movies. It’s usually a mixture of big exciting finds, lots of depressing films, some really lame boring movies that I can't wait to end and finally a few I actually had found on my own and really enjoyed. I thought I’d offer my comments on the winners, the show itself and the many nominated movies I saw and the ones that I still want to see.

You can get a list of all the nominees and winners here since I’m bound to not hit all the categories and movies.

Precious was the big winner. 5 nominations and 5 wins. Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best First Screenplay. The official film title is Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. This was an extremely powerful movie. It hit me seriously in the heart. It has fantastic performances by Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Sherri Shepherd, Mariah Carey & Lenny Kravitz and many more. Gabourey Sidibe plays Precious. An overweight illiterate teenager with an awful home life. Her whole life has been filled with horrific physical, mental and sexual abuse. It shows her struggle to put a life together for herself and her children. This movie is carried by the performances of Gabourey and Mo’Nique. They are powerful and for Mo’Nique - who knew she had that in her. She’s been getting tons of recognition for this role and rightfully so. The movie is amazingly tough to watch, but really should be watched. It’s raw and emotional and gut wrenching. I don’t know what else to say. This is the kind of powerful movie that I loved and may only watch it once. It’s that tough, but I would recommend it.

Crazy Heart won 2 Spirit Awards. It was up for 3. This movie was excellent too I thought. Not as tough to watch as Precious, but also featuring a really flawed lead character who undergoes a transformation. It deals with a country singer, down on his luck called Bad Blake. Bad is played by Jeff Bridges in what I would call a role of a lifetime that he was born to play. Brilliantly understated and tragic performance. You see Bad go through so much and out of those experiences some great music emerges as well. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Colin Farrell and Robert Duvall among others follow Bridges’ lead with their fantastic performances but this movie revolves around Jeff Bridges. It’s a fantastic little movie and I urge you to see it. And enjoy the music where Jeff Bridges and Colin Farrell both sing too.

Winner for Best Screenplay was my favorite find of the Spirit Awards season - (500) Days of Summer. I had wanted to see this movie when it was in theaters, but I missed it. It was a truly fantastic movie and unlike Precious, this could be easily added to my DVD/Blu-Ray collection. Interestingly enough, it’s the type of movie that doesn’t normally get honored at the Spirit Awards. It’s funny, heart warming, unromantic romantic comedy. It was really well done, but it’s not your typical romantic comedy since it’s story telling is kind of all over the place. It’s a very non-linear story but it works so well and delivers so much emotion - laughter, tears, excitement - all kinds. It’s a really well done well written movie that everyone should watch. Great performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel among others. Gordon-Levitt has really made a name for himself in the indie film circuit. I’ve loved him in recent years in Mysterious Skin, Brick, The Lookout and others. He was also in what I can only assume is awful, but haven’t seen it, G.I. Joe movie from last summer. Again, I don’t want to give away too much, but this is a fantastic movie in all regards and I look forward to watching it again someday.

Woody Harrelson won Best Supporting Male for The Messenger. He plays a soldier who notifies next of kin when a soldier dies. It’s an Iraq war drama about another soldier played by Ben Foster (who’s really good in this movie, but needs to show more of a range next time. Too angry all the time, even when he’s maybe looking happy. He was the kid in the Disney Channel series Flash Forward. He's also been in Six Feet Under and Freaks and Geeks.) who starts to fall for a widow of a deceased officer. This movie I found to be good. Not great. I think it’s a movie that is trying to say too much sometimes, not sure. Good performances and good story, but maybe a little too much of the same tough emotions all the time. I think the romance part was done well and brave to not go too far and stay poignant. Those scenes show real emotions but the characters only let you see what's on the surface. The rest is left up to the audience. This movie is worth watching, but it’s another tough and for me ultimately depressing movie even though I felt like the director tried to offer us hope at the end of the movie.

THE SHOW: I thought it was OK. Eddie Izzard was a bit crude and rude, but that’s Eddie Izzard isn’t it. Maybe a little too much polished looking show, but that isn’t 100% accurate. It was enjoyable and still moved at a good pace. I guess the polished part was that it’s starting to feel like a big awards show. They had a set this time and normally it’s just some podiums and a screen. Since it was on Friday night instead of Saturday afternoon, the mood was maybe a bit more glamorous too. Usually this is a T-shirts and jeans crowd, but they were all decked out this time around. I did miss the really corny singing silly songs about the nominated features. I always hated that, but found myself missing it. All in all, it was a fun show I guess. Maybe uneven. OH, and my one pet peeve was the fact that everyone kept saying “independent film” like it was some sort of virus. Once I’d like to watch this show and have them talk about the movies as movies. I understand that they want to highlight that a lot of these movies are done on small budgets and outside of the standard studio system. But most of the winners get released in theaters by Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate, etc. These aren't movies we only saw at festivals. Maybe if we just stuck to the idea that these are good movies that deserve to be celebrated and people should go out and see them or watch them on DVD. I did like the fact that I felt like we got to see more clips this year of the movies, so if you hadn’t seem them, then maybe you were intrigued by the clips to go seek them out.

Overall, I guess the movies this year were of a good quality. Here’s a few more mini-reviews of films that I got to see this year.

Amreeka: Great movie about a single mother moving to America from Palestine. Great understated movie about a family struggling to realize the American dream and caught between the culture they knew and the world they live in. Really a movie concerned greatly with identity. Well done and deserves a look. Nisreen Faour is a great find of an actress and there a lot of good performances by actors I had never seen. (Except Maeby from Arrested Development)

Paranormal Activity: Good little low budget psychological horror. I had seen this one in theaters in October. I thought it was a good movie with OK performances that scared the bejesus out of me. It’s one of those horror movies where you don’t see any blood or killing, but it’s what you don’t see that’s interesting. I left the theater feeling kind of nauseous. I find that the mark of a good flick. The problem is that this movie will probably not repeat well since the shock of it all has worn off. Who knows. Big indie hit though. Hope the filmmakers and actors get more opportunities after this.

Easier With Practice: This is a fucked up little film. The story of a guy on a book tour who receives an anonymous phone call from a woman in a hotel room and he continues on with a phone sex affair with her that kind of takes over his life. It’s whacked out and weird! Creepily enjoyable though. Shot with the RED camera it looks great. It’s also fairly well acted and feels like you’re watching real people. It’s worth a look, but the tagline for this movie would never had got me to watch it. Luckily, they sent me a DVD. The director is someone to look out for in the future. His name is Kyle Patrick Alvarez.

Zero Bridge: This movie deserves a mention for many reasons. It’s a fascinating movie. Shot by a director, Tariq Tapa, with a camera and no other crew and a bunch of non-professional actors in the war torn region of Kashmir. It deserves a look by anyone who likes watching different kinds of movies (notice I didn’t say “independent”). It’s a slow moving story, but riveting and held my attention. I wanted to know more about these characters throughout the movie and after the movie I thought about it for a few hours still. Interesting flick.

Humpday: I just didn’t get it. It was boring, seemed like interesting people having stupid conversations. I did find a few scenes humorous, but not enough to say go see this movie. It won the John Cassavetes Award for best movie made for under $500,000. This is one of the “mumblecore” movies. It’s the story of 2 straight guy friends that decide to make an amateur gay porn film. Again, I just didn’t get it and I was bored the whole time. Stars Mark Duplass of The Puffy Chair. Another flick I just didn’t get.

The Vicious Kind: This was a movie filled with good performances, but sadly for me, the movie wasn’t good. It was just an all negative portrayal of family life. The characters were too screwed up and to me did things that didn’t match themselves. Actors Adam Scott (he was in Party of Five), Brittany Snow (gorgeous girl from American Dreams & Hairspray (2008) ) and others are good, but can’t save this depressing ugly movie.

October Country: Real life family that have a lot of problems. Delicate and beautifully filmed movie that doesn’t ever seem exploitive, but is really depressing. Just reminds you of all the crazy things that can happen in your family. I recommend seeing it, especially if you like family portrait documentaries. Just don’t do a double feature day with this and Precious.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil: Winner of Best Documentary, this is a great real life film. Good find! It’s the story of a Canadian heavy metal band that was very inspirational to a lot of bands like Metallica & Slayer but never hit the big time. They struggle to bring new music to their audience. It’s really an inspirational story about never giving up and always keep working toward your dreams. I highly recommend this movie. Great movie and makes you want to bang your head to some heavy metal hard rock music.

Here’s a few movies that I haven’t seen yet, but want to:
Sin Nombre, The Last Station, Two Lovers, A Serious Man, A Single Man, The New Year Parade, Big Fan, Adventureland, Cold Souls, Downloading Nancy, Goodbye Solo, Fifty Dead Men Walking, That Evening Sun, Gentleman Broncos, Me and Orson Welles, An Education, A Prophet, Food, Inc., and More Than A Game.

Thanks for reading some mini-reviews and I’ll post my 2010 Oscar Picks tomorrow morning.

no clue movie review: The Hangover

I loved this movie. Freaking hilarious. I found the plot to be completely out there, but I didn't care. I laughed out loud in the theater for the entire movie and I haven't done that in ages. Rude, crude, unbelievable, raunchy, and most of all funny. The cast is great. Bradley Cooper needs to do more movies. I remember him from Alias, but he was fantastic in this flick. I really hope that this opens up more opportunities for this guy because he is a great likable actor. Ed Helms brilliant. Zach Galifianakis was too much. The rest of the cast is top notch. Todd Philips is the man for delivering this funny funny flick. This film doesn't scream technical achievement, but it looked good. This movie is not for the whole family, it's a hard R and only good for the adults.

If you want to laugh, watch this movie.

no clue movie review: Watchmen

Good movie. Very faithful to the graphic novel. I got to say though that Zack Snyder loves his sex scenes doesn't he. I thought there was a sex scene in 300 that was too much, and again here. Aside from that, the characters are complex and the storyline is good. Effects were really good and so was the cinematography. Although I could've done with less slo-mo. Generally, I enjoyed the acting, no huge standouts. It's more about the story and the characters I guess. I didn't feel like it was too long, like I'd heard. I enjoyed it, but it wasn't blow me away good. If you're interested or if you read the novel, you'll probably enjoy it though. Had I not read the novel recently, I'm not sure I would've liked it as much.

Not sure that was much of a review, but it's at least some thoughts on the movie. It's a fun way to spend a few hours if you enjoy violent comic inspired movies.

2008 is history

2008 was a big year at work, so not a very big year for no clue productions. I didn't get any new videos posted, so the website didn't get updated too much. I still have things that I want to do, but need to carve out more time to do it. My web series "no clue quickie" was booted from iTunes because I hadn't produced any new episodes, but I will try to get it back in there once I've got something new to share.

2008 was a big year for me personally. I had lots of ups and downs, but my biggest online presence was social networking. I tried out Facebook and loved it. Me and facebook and the iPhone are all over it. I also joined Twitter and I try to stay active on both.


But now that 2008 is history, i thought I'd at least share some of my favorite movies of the year. The best was The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan directed in my opinion a masterpiece movie that just so happened to have the comic book character of Batman at its core. It was brilliant. Other movies I enjoyed immensely were Iron Man, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, WALL-E, Bolt, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men and Juno. Movies that I thought were good, but not really great were Eagle Eye, Role Models, The Incredible Hulk, There Will Be Blood, Superbad, The Pineapple Express, Cloverfield, Quantum of Solace, Kung Fu Panda, American Teen, Hancock and Jumper. I loved the 3D in Journey to the Center of the Earth, but didn't love the movie. Some disappointing flicks were Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Harold and Kumar 2, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The movie I hated the most was Step Brothers. It was a funny concept with great actors, but a very unfunny movie in my opinion. I also loved Sunshine, which I saw on DVD this year. Fantastic.

So even though the economy is in the crapper right now, enjoy your holiday season and let's hope that I can too. I'll be back in 2009 for more blogging fun.

Let's also hope that the Buffalo Sabres can get it together. They haven't been playing too well lately, but did manage to get a win recently which looked good.

Happy Holidays!

no clue movie review: The Brave One

This movie had a good trailer and an intelligent cast and director Neil Jordan. I thought I was in for a great movie. I was wrong.

I didn't really care for this movie. It was a revenge story, which was appealing, but for me the characters were not consistent. They seemed to be doing things that didn't seem consistent with their characters once I got to know them. I guess there is something to say for unpredictability, but I just didn't care for it.

That being said, it was shot well, acted well, and for the most part, just a good looking movie. I just couldn't get past the characterizations personally. I wouldn't recommend it.

If you'd like to know more about it, check out the website.

check out the video version of this review.



More reviews soon, until then I'll be at the movies....

no clue movie review: The Bourne Ultimatum

The third film in the Jason Bourne movies is a great movie. A great capper to the trilogy and a great movie in its own right. It features non-stop action and edge of your seat tension throughout. Matt Damon once again delivers in the role of Jason Bourne who in this movie is out to search for those in charge of making him into who he is today.

I really like these movies because they are filled with action and intrigue. The action is always realistic and makes you feel like you're right in there with Bourne. The action in this movie is so realistic, that if you sit too close to the screen you're liable to get motion sickness. Seriously. The car chases are amazing and some of the best ever filmed in my opinion. The fight scenes are quite incredible too. In fact, there is one fight scene where Bourne is taking out another assasin who is working for the people of Treadstone. The fight is realistic and fantastical all at the same time. They use whatever they have at their disposal to fight including a magazine.

This movie also manages to break in a little humor to lighten things up a bit too. Not a lot, but enough. Damon delivers a few one liners and they come at just the right moment to get the audience going. Don't get me wrong this isn't a laugh fest, but just enough humor to allow you to let go of the intense moments for a few.

Paul Greengrass once again directs this movie and delivers. The acting isn't great, but all the actors acquit themselves well starting first and foremost with Damon. I can't imagine anyone else playing this role, which is odd, because I could never imagine him doing this role when he first started it. The rest of the ensemble which includes Joan Allen, Albert Finney and Julia Stiles, is top notch. And Greengrass while delivering fantastic action and suspense, still manages to tell a full story and keep the audience thinking. I appreciate that fact the most. It's not all spoon fed to us.

I would go and see another Bourne adventure, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is it for awhile. And if it is, they went out with a bang.

For more info: Official website

come back soon, until then, i'll be at the movies....

watch the video edition, part of no clue quickie and 30 Days 30 Videos.

no clue movie review: The Simpsons Movie

I must confess that I haven't been watching new episodes religiously like I used to, but I had to see this movie. The Simpsons tv show always delivers the laughs and makes fun of anyone and anything. I always enjoy myself when I watch an episode. And since the show is 18 years old, I have seen a lot of it over the years. I did have my reservations though to see if this would translate into a good movie or if it would feel like an overblown episode that I wished I'd stayed home and watched. I'm happy to report that this stands on its own as a fun movie.

I don't think the movie even needs for you to be a fan of the show. I think you will enjoy it more if you are. The plot is basically outrageous but involves Homer getting a pig and then getting the town encased in a dome from the government based on a pollution problem in Lake Springfield. I don't want to give it away, because there are a bunch of pretty funny scenes that lead up to it. The movie pokes fun at itself, at Hollywood, at the current state of government affairs, and many other things. I laughed quite a bit at this flick and it starts out right away. Homer and Bart deliver the biggest laughs understandably. But there are quite a few residents of Springfield in this flick that we've come to know over the years. Alas, not all make it into the flick. No Apu and some others are missing, but the show's been around a long time and they've built up a massive amount of characters, so it's hard to include them all. This movie has action, adventure, tons of laughs and the plot is definitely big enough to be made for the big screen. The 1 hour 27 minute running time don't seem to drag on at all. It moves along at a very quick pace.

What surprised me the most about this movie is just how touching and a touch of family drama it delivers. There are a few scenes that feature Marge discussing with Homer about their family life, their marriage and his constant screw-ups. I was shocked to see how nicely that fit in and made the film feel whole and not just another episode. Julie Kavner delivers some lines in such a heartfelt manner that you really believe that Marge is frustated and heartbroken all at the same time. It's more based in emotions and drama than in the normal slapstick comedy. I was thrilled to see these characters taken to a differnt place. Bart has a few scenes too where he questions Homer's ability as a father and that he doubts that Homer loves him. Homer even manages to show us that he truly loves his family and cares for them deeply even though he doesn't always show it.


Don't get me wrong, this is a funny movie. It's just that the little dramatic pauses give it an ounce of something else that make it translate into a bigger screen. They even manage to squeak in environmental issues in there for us all to chew on.

I highly recommend this movie and you will really enjoy it. If you are a fan of the series from any point in the last 18 years, you should go see it. You will not regret it. It makes you realize that these are timeless characters that were created and resonate with us for some reason. They are classics and this movie will definitely hold up to repeated viewing. Even if you're not a fan of the series, you would probably enjoy it. But I guess I have a hard understanding why you wouldn't be a fan at some point.


What are you waiting for?

for more info: visit the official website

come back soon, until then, i'll be at the movies....

no clue movie review: summer 2007 movies: mini-reviews

Since I haven't written in awhile, that doesn't mean I haven't seen any movies. I thought I would give some mini-reviews of a bunch of the movies I've seen since Spiderman 3. Here goes. Many of these are probably still in theaters.


Shrek the Third: This movie doesn't live up to the first 2. It has many slow parts and the funny jokes just don't hold up. To me overall, it seemed like it was trying to fit into an established mode with an established formula. I didn't like that. What worked so well about the first 2 movies is that they didn't seem formulaic. Very disappointed that this movie wasn't funnier.
more info: official site


Pirates of the Carribean 3: At World's End:I liked this movie better than #2, but it still didn't live up to the fun of the first picture. I liked the overall plot this time, not overly complicated compared to Dead Man's Chest, but still not as clear as Curse of the Black Pearl. It's like they decided they needed to do too much. I don't get that. Anyway, there are some way cool special effects and it brings the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion while leaving room for more adventures with Captain Jack Sparrow and company.
more info: at world's end site


Ratatouille:Is Pixar capable of making a bad movie? This wasn't my favorite Pixar flick, but it's really good. Funny, cute, heartwarming. It's a good movie that you can see with people of all ages. I went with my teenage nieces, my 5 year old niece, my Mom and brother-in-law. We all had a good time and enjoyed this story of a rat who just doesn't like to eat garbage and yearns to be a chef. It shows that everyone is different and showcases the importance of family and friendship. This shouldn't be missed.
more info: disney's official site


Transformers:Micheal Bay & an old 80's toy franchise? I didn't think that this would be a good movie. I thought it would be an overhyped piece of garbage. But I knew that I wanted to see it, because it looked like a summer blockbuster movie. I was pleasantly surprised. With a few nods to the old cartoons and movie, this movie delivers big time. It's got tons of humor, tons and tons of action and giant robots fighting with the coolest special effects. This was a highly entertaining movie and I can't believe I enjoyed it so much. I also think that this is a star making performance for Shia LaBeouf. I've always liked him since I saw him on Disney Channel's Even Stevens series, but he really is a good all around actor. I think he's destined to have a Tom Hanks kind of career which includes more serious roles and these huge blockbuster roles. Maybe more like Harrison Ford and Tom Hanks combined. We'll see.
More info: official site


Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: I'm a Harry Potter fan and as usual the book is way better than the movie. This movie does deliver though and works at a good pace and manages to showcase the teenage angst that Harry feels at this stage in his life. It's a darker movie, so it's not good for little kids, but its tone matches what I expected after reading the book. The special effects are dazzling especially in the last 20 minutes. The performances are good and I think that the child actors that we've been watching grow up are getting pretty good. This wasn't my favorite Potter film, but it does manage to take a book that has enough material to make 3 entertaining movies, get to the heart of it and show us a conflicted, confused and angry teenager take control of his life. I plan to see this flick again to see the IMAX 3-D edition.
more info: warner brothers site & muggle net

And now I know that this movie came out in April, but I can still remember it like it was yesterday and I thought it deserved a blog entry since it may still be in some dollar theaters. It's one of my favorite movies of the year so far.


GRINDHOUSE: This Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature was high octane non-stop in your face action. I loved this flick. The movies are bloody, high action, fast paced and just plain disgusting. They are highly entertaining and really get your attention. My favorite was Rodriguez's Planet Terror. It just rocked. The overall presentation though made this flick. Complete with fake trailers, missing frames and cheesy 70's music, I was transported to a gory broken down movie house with sticky floors and questionable patrons without having to go to a sucky old broken down disgusting movie theater. I know it wasn't extremely successful, but it is highly worth seeing and I hope you check it out.

That's all for now. More movie reviews on the horizon. I'll be back at the movies again soon.

no clue movie review: Spiderman 3

This summer's first must see in my opinion. Spiderman 3 directed again by Sam Raimi delivers on the blockbuster level and gives us a few characters to look at and work with. That's what I like best about the Spiderman movies. They always deliver some charcterizations and show us real people who just happen to have extraordinary abilities and how they deal with them. With that being said, this movie isn't without its faults.

The special effects are quite impressive. The Spiderman moves look cartoonish, but they have from the first movie. But it's a comic book movie. That doesn't really bother me. WIth this being the third movie, these Spiderman swinging effects get better and better but not realistic. It's part of the look of the movie at this point. But this character isn't doing realistic things, so what's the difference? I don't have any issues with that. The Sandman effects are quite impressive. The big fight at the end is out of this world, the fight with Peter Parker and Harry Osborn is quite exciting. The character of venom and the goo that is embodying this alien symbiot is way cool. All in all, the state of the art special effects are out of this world and worth the price of admission alone.

The charcters all have a backstory. In this movie, it almost looks like we're supposed to be rooting for the bad guys. They all have a hard luck angle, but it's almost a little too much sympathy. I'm glad to see it though instead of a bad guy just showing up and cackling. The Doc Ock villain from Spiderman 2 is still my most favorite though. It also seems that Raimi goes out of his way to show us the ugly side of fame and the ugly side of Peter Parker. Yes, some of it is the alien symbiot that he likes the feel of the extra power (power of the dark side pretty much), but its also the price of fame. Peter Parker starts buying into the fame of Spiderman and at times appears not just in it for the trueness of helping others in need. But remember, this is a college kid who had this power thrust upon him and he's bound to make mistakes which I really like. I wish they would've gone a little further exploring the dark side though. I'm sure that would've turned a few people off maybe if they went too far, but for me they didn't go far enough. I like that Mary Jane gets jealous of Peter and Spiderman as her career is sliding as an actress. Fame is fleeting I guess, right? It's also addictive. I guess that's the point of it all. You can let it consume you like Eddie Brock did and become Venom or you can confront it and overpower it like Spiderman does. One of the other things that you notice about the movie is its play to comedy. Noticeable in all the movies, this time it seems a little forced or inappropriate at times. I guess there is a formula for this success now too. I as a moviegoer also have relatively high expectations going into this movie which plays into this review as a whole.

Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and it lived up to expectations mostly. I would highly recommend seeing the movie at least once. A good popcorn flick and that's about it. But its worth seeing it at a good movie theatre with a good size screen and good sound. We're off to a good summer so far. If they all are only this good, then I'll be a very happy moviegoer.

For more info: official site

come back soon for more reviews, until then, I'll be at the movies....

no clue movie review - 300

I went to see the movie, 300, directed by Zack Snyder, today. I have to say that I enjoyed the movie immensely. It is ultra violent, highly stylized and a great action flick. It's not for history buffs. At least, I doubt that this is a true representation of acient Greece.

The movie is an all out action flick about King Leonides and the city of Sparta being overrun by the army of persians led by the God King Xerxes. The source material for this movie though is not a history book, but the graphic novel "300" by Frank Miller. I felt like the movie was an all out rush of adrenaline for me. So many intense action scenes featuring beheadings, mass death and sword fighting. I just felt a rush from scene to scene. It did seem to drag a bit toward the end and maybe could've been cut a bit more in the editng room, but I have a feeling they were leaving room for some soundtrack montages. But, all in all, I really enjoyed the film.

Again, no marvelous acting. This movie is about style. And it has a lot of it. It's got a very unique look to it. I've read it was shot with a lot of green screen elements and the backgrounds were added later. But it's more than that. Shot on film gives it a grain which usually doesn't happen with the modern green screen films of today. Many of those are shooting digitally, which gives them an intensely polished look. This movie isn't like this at all. He's playing with colors in the film to make the red capes of the Spartan men just pop off the screen. The other colors are very subdued. It makes for a very breathtaking look. He's also got the bodies of the men in the movie as part of the style. Miller's graphic novel had these intensely buff men of Sparta fighting the Persians and Snyder's film has that too. Which must of required tons of intense physical workouts all the time by the entire cast. But it does lend to the style of the film. It gives it this graphic novel come to life look.

The movie also has fantstic sound. I mean really big sound. It's amazing. See this movie in a good theater to take advantage of all the amazing rumblings, fighting noises, screams of the armies, thundering armies, etc.

Overall, I'd say I enjoyed the movie and would recommend it if you like highly stylized, violent films. It's not for everyone. But I liked it a lot. It was a good movie to release tension and just have a good time. I've seen a lot of films that require concentration lately with subtle story points, etc. This movie was the complete opposite. It has a very clear simple story and purpose. I just sat back and watched all the fighting, cool look and cool filmmaking on display.

You can find out more at the official website.

Come back again, and I promise to have more movie reviews coming. Until then, i'll be at the movies....

no clue movie review - fred's 2007 oscar picks

Well, I'm still watching some of the nominees (Babel, etc), but that won't stop me from trying to pick the winners. Again, this is a list of who I think WILL WIN. It's one of the tightest races in years that I can remember, so watch the awards tomorrow night. I will be watching.

Here's my picks:

Best Picture: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Best Director: MARTIN SCORSESE (The Departed)
Best Actor: FOREST WHITAKER (The Last King of Scotland)
Best Actress: HELEN MIRREN (The Queen)
Best Supporting Actor: EDDIE MURPHY (Dreamgirls)
Best Supporting Actress: JENNIFER HUDSON (Dreamgirls)
Best Animated Feature: CARS
Best Art Direction: DREAMGIRLS
Best Cinematography: PAN'S LABYRINTH
Best Costume Design: THE QUEEN
Best Documentary Feature: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Best Documentary Short: REHEARSING A DREAM
Best Film Editing: UNITED 93
Best Foreign Film: PAN'S LABYRINTH
Best Makeup: PAN'S LABYRINTH
Best Original Score: BABEL
Best Original Song: LISTEN (Dreamgirls)
Best Short Film - Animated: THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
Best Short Film - Live Action: THE SAVIOUR
Best Sound Editing: LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
Best Sound Mixing: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
Best Visual Effects: PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
Best Adapted Screenplay: LITTLE CHILDREN
Best Original Screenplay: BABEL

There's my ballot. Print your own at oscar.com

I'm off to watch more movies.

no clue movie review: Lots of Sunshine at the 2007 Independent Spririt Awards

I just finished watching the 2007 Independent Spirit Awards and Little Miss Sunshine was a big winner. The awards ceremony hosted by Sarah Silverman was carried Live on IFC. There will also be an edited version of the show on AMC later tonight.

You can see who the nominees were and who the winners were and much more at the spirit awards website. I'm going to use my blog to give some mini-reviews of the movies that I enjoyed watching the most during the voting process for this year's ISA. But first, here's who I voted for.

BEST FEATURE - Half Nelson
BEST FIRST FEATURE - Day Night Day Night
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD - Chalk
BEST DIRECTOR - Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson)
BEST SCREENPLAY - Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking)
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY - Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson)
BEST FEMALE LEAD - Catherine O'Hara (For Your Consideration)
BEST MALE LEAD - Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE - Amber Tamblyn (Stephanie Daley)
BEST SUPPORTING MALE - Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY - Guillermo Navarro (Pan's Labyrinth)
BEST DOCUMENTARY - You're Gonna Miss Me
BEST FOREIGN FILM - Days Of Glory

I must admit that I didn't get to watch all the movies that were nominated, but I did my best to watch as many as possible.

One film that was nominated I gave a full review to earlier in the year. Click here for the review for "Thank You for Smoking". It's got a great script and was very funny. Aaron Eckhardt is fantastic.

And now, the mini - reviews:


Little Miss Sunshine: Great movie about a crazy dysfunctional family going on a road trip to a beauty pageant for young beauty queen Olive. Reminded me of a little kid pageant that my parents took us to once. We were so not right for the thing, but it was a fun time. Not sure why we went, it was called Cutest Kids or something. This movie made me laugh so hard. It has an outstanding cast and a fantastic ensemble performance. It is a movie with sad characters each trying hard to cope with their life's dreams, failures, etc. But it's also a movie about family. And how a family pulls together and no one loves you like your family. Did I mention it was hilarious.


Half Nelson: An amazingly well done movie about a teacher who is struggling with watching one of his students possibly fall into a world of dealing drugs, a world he lives in as an addict. Ryan Gosling leads the film with a career defining performance. He's amazing. He is great in a lot of movies, but in this film he really gets to shine showing many different sides to this greatly flawed character. It's a great movie and deserves to be watched. Even though at times it's terribly difficult to do so.


Chalk: This is a very funny movie about teachers. It's shot in documentary style and looks very improvised, by a great number of very funny very talented writers/actors. It gives you the low-down on teacher politics, bickering in the teachers lounge and even one teacher's crusade to be named Teacher of the Year. This is a fantastic movie. It was also a welcome respite from some of the heavy handed films that I was watching for this year's voting process. It's not been released theatrically or on DVD that I know of, but join their mailing list and get the details on when it comes out.


For Your Consideration: What else do I need to say? A Christopher Guest Film about a film that gets early Oscar nomination buzz. Fantasticly Funny. It's out on DVD now.


Stephanie Daley: This wasn't a great movie. Overall. This was an interesting movie about teen pregnancy and its effects on this one individual girl. You see Stephanie Daley is the name of the character in the movie that is charged with killing her newborn child while on a high school ski trip. This is a heavy movie, but the performance of Amber Tamblyn is not to be missed. She's incredibly convincing in this role. It blew me away. She was just so good as this scared girl, not wanting to really admit to herself what was happening even as her body is going through these incredible changes. This movie is going to get some sort of theatrical release in the next few months and will come out on DVD after that. Seek it out just to see this incredible performance and make the judgement on the movie yourself.


You're Gonna Miss Me: The documentary category is usually filled with political films and statement pieces for the Sprirt Awards. But, this film took me by surprise. It's a documenatry about a fallen rock star into a state of mental breakdown due to drugs and quite possible family history. It makes no judgements, but tells a fantastic story about Roky Ericson. He's a member of a 1960's rock band 13th Floor Elevators. The movie is really interesting to watch and the music is utterly fantastic. A stand-out rock documentary.

Pan's Labyrinth: This movie was described to me as an adult fairytale. It's really a movie about war, family, struggle with good and evil and one girl's escape to a fantasty world. This movie is so well shot and has amazing images. It's really worth going to see. It has subtitles yes, but ignore those and just let the images tell you the story. It's a great experience.

I normally don't want to talk about movies that I hated, but I feel a need to tell you about a movie which I feel destroyed itself. It's called "Sorry, Haters". The movie stars Robyn Wright Penn as a woman who is hurt after 9/11 and is an emotional mess. The movie becomes a portrait of her as a tortured soul, but the movie ends amounting her to nothing more than a common psychopath. I feel this movie just killed itself and makes itself about nothing. I think the movie wastes an amazing performance by Robyn Wright Penn who is a fantastic actress. Watch it if you want, it's out on DVD, but I hated this movie with a passion that I can't fully explain.

On that note, that sums up my 2007 Independent Spirit Awards posting. I hope to have more movie reviews for you coming up soon. I'm definitely watching flicks, just don't always have times to write about them.

I'll post my oscar picks next.