Atlantis The Lost Empire

Atlantis: The Lost Empire by Disney. 

I know this movie came out a long time ago but I'd never seen it so I got it from the good old library for a family movie night and my kids loved it. I've also got to admit I'm a sucker for these adventure, finding a lost civilization type of archeology story lines, though they're rarely done right, but the most I look forward in them is the fun and adventure they can bring. 

For the most part this little movie does this, my son had a great time watching it. I really like the fact that Disney made a bold move with this movie and did some really different design work on the characters and architecture much like Hercules. Not much else to say about this movie but that I had a good time watching it.  I just wish the cliched parts in the third act had been done differently then I think it could have been a much better movie.

Cold Days

Cold Days by Jim Butcher. 

No movies this weekend, got the new installment for the Dresden Files on Tuesday and had been reading it ever since.  I finished it sometime in the wee hours of the morning. 

Man what a good series, it only gets better with each new book. Don't worry about any spoilers I'm not going to give away any important information that happens in this book. I've been reading this series for the last three years, mostly to get caught up to the new books that come out.  I've noticed a few thing about this series of books (book 14 and counting so far) since my dad introduced them to me and have kept me reading since I started. I don't normally like book series because as they go on they normally take on a very formulaic, cliche ridden structure where the reader is left with little surprises. I'm not saying the Dresden series hasn't got formulaic things or cliched structure because it does and it has to (and I'll explain why this is true later) but it also has a few more things that keep me reading. 

The main reason it has to have these formulaic things and cliched structure is because we're dealing with a blue collar type of character in Harry Dresden and what blue collar worker who goes to work from 9-5 doesn't have formulaic things and cliched structure in their life? Every honest to God 9-5 worker has a formulaic and cliche ridden lifestyle: there are things they do at certain times of every day, the alarm goes off - early in the morning - they get up make coffee and get ready for work--Harry Dresden is just like this and Butcher writes him just like that. He really feels like he has a 9-5 job  and deals with things with that kind of mentality. I think this is one of the things that makes Harry Dresden so relate able, despite all the supernatural/mystic things that happen to him or the many monsters he encounters on a daily basis. It's this grinding, blue collar, formulaic, cliched, working life that makes him so real. 

Then there are the little things Butcher has done that keep me reading. 

First thing, this series feels like I'm watching a television show with each new installment being a new episode that continues the over arching story line.  Don't for one second think Butcher doesn't know where this story is going because for every book that's released he just adds new things to a story that just keeps getting bigger, more exciting and more detailed. 

Which brings up point two: continuity. Butcher's ability to let each book affect the next book is amazing, in that everything that happens in one book effects the book(s) that follow which makes the ending of one book so damn frustrating because now I have to wait for at least a year to find out the consequences of the book I just read-that is some good storytelling. A good example of this is how as the early books kept rolling along with each episode - for lack of a better word - Dresden's body was getting older.  This was making him not able to do the whole save the world in 24 hours sort of thing any more because was getting physically beat down, where as in the first few books he was younger and able to do it. 

Thirdly he builds some good mythology into story and just keeps building on that created mythology, from a nerds point of view (mine) that's just another thing that fuels my fire to keep reading this series.  His world building is one of the best out there and is just fascinating to watch his world expand and grow with each book.

Lastly its the characters that truly make a story and these characters that Butcher has created, keep bringing me back with a smile on my face each time I encounter them in the book. His characters seem so real with the conversations taking on a familiar, friendly atmosphere. This is one book I found myself laughing out loud the most with as his characters said or did things with in their nature that were just so funny. With Cold Days Butcher has started to weave every book before into this book so this is not a book for starters.

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra staring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. 

Jess and I watched this on Christmas Eve and it had been a couple of years since I've seen this movie but I've got to say this is still one of the best movies ever made. I like the way it's subtly put together, each piece of the story line unfolds on the screen in a slow but necessary manner and then when they are all put together near the end does the viewer really understand what has happened. 

There's too many screenplays now-a-days that use the sledgehammer approach to subtlety, so it was nice to watch a movie that new about pacing where every scene in this movie has to be there.  There is not one wasted scene in this movie (how many movies have anywhere near that today?.  Character development, by the end of this movie if you don't know George Baily and Mary's character, thought process, desires, and human nature there is something serious wrong with you because it's all presented right there before you as you watch the movie (how many movies now-a-days even have one character like that in it let alone two?).  And this movie heralds back to the old school of direction: letting actors on screen actually act and not ruining it with over editing or exposition camouflaged as nothing but dialogue. 

One of my favorite scenes is where George finally falls in love with Mary when she's talking with their old friend on the phone. The acting in this scene is truly amazing from Stewart and Reed's facial expressions mixed in with their acting and when they're on the phone together the sexual tension is almost exploding on the screen as he truly falls for her right before our eyes. 

Another thing I really like about this movie is how I fully empathize with George's character as he is constantly hindered from doing what he wants with his life by doing the right thing and sometimes it's like that in real life, doing the right thing is hard to do even when it has to be done.  George realizes this but still does the right thing. Watching him do the right thing and not get what he desires is heartbreaking to see.  I really felt for him as the movie progressed as I constantly saw his desires being drowned around him from doing the right thing. But as in life itself what you think you desire ends up being nothing compared to what is really around you and this is what George Bailey realizes at the end of the movie: everything he has ever wanted or desired has been right in front of him the whole time. 

I don't normally like these kinds of happy endings for movies but this is one movie where the happy ending is truly earned because of all the turmoil and heart ache I've seen George go through and I've also seen the what Bedford Falls would have been like if he had never been born. This is a good movie to show anyone that true story telling involves showing and not telling the viewer what is happening and letting them figure out what is going on.  But this is also the perfect movie that blends showing with actually having a story to tell, too many movies get arty and just show things and images without having any sort of story to tell or actual characters to connect with the audience. 

I can see why this movie wasn't received as well it first came out because it doesn't treat the audience as stupid and requires the audience to think as they watch.  And it does take multiple viewings for the beauty of what the director and writer have done with the story to fully sink in; there is just too much to take in on one viewing. This is truly a movie that will stand (and I guess has stood) the test of time and only gets better with age because there are things I noticed this time around that having kids, being a parent, being married, and dealing with family that I never would have gotten years ago when I watched it when I was young but now that I'm older it really connected with me in a way it never did before.

American Me

American Me directed by Edward James Olmos, starring Edward James Olmos and William Forsythe.

This is by no means a perfect movie but I still found it very entertaining as it explored a culture I don't know much about, namely the Mexican gang culture.  One of the best strengths of this movie is that it focuses on the main character,  Montoya Santana, and makes as much of a character as they can out of him, considering he spent his whole life in prison.  The movie really reaches it's best moments when Santana is released from prison and we get to see how his prison life matches up with the real life outside of those cement walls.  A lot of things are explored here in some fascinating ways.  There are also a lot of moments that pay homage to The Godfather, which in my books is never a bad thing, and I say pay homage because, unlike Tarantino who continually steals visuals - and then get credit for them - this movie doesn't steal but pays full homage to what has come before.

It's really fascinating watching Santana readjust to life outside of prison, considering he spent the good majority of his life behind those walls.  Olmos spends a lot time letting scenes actually play out between Santana's character and other characters in the movie.  This is a wise and experienced move as he doesn't get bogged down with the violence of the culture behind explored, inside he let's the actors actually act as they help to flesh out how Santana becomes changed from living in the inside compared to living in the outside.  Younger directors would become too fascinated with the violence and the gang culture around them to worry about the actually characters in the movie.  Even saying this, I still felt there needed to be more exploring of Santana's character.  An extra half hour I think would have really helped to show transformation that morphs him from the hard prison gang leader into the man who ultimately rejects everything that made up his life.  I don't normally want more time in movies but this is one time I think it would have hugely benefited the story.

The Dead

The Dead by Mark Rogers. 

First off yes this is a Christian themed book with zombies in it.  I know, I was amazed with the blending of two genres as I read the book and they blend seamlessly together. 

Mark Rogers is a devote Catholic so there is a lot more spirituality and discussions on faith than you're going to find in other books along with enough swearing to give this book a firm grounding in reality. One of good thing Rogers is very good at is presenting both sides of an argument, so when two people are debating or arguing you never feel one side is truly winning. It might seem that way at first but later on you're going to get the other sides version of things to balance everything out. 

Another thing Rogers does is write really well. I wouldn't say he's a great writer but man can he tell a story. His writing is on par with Stephen King, only Rogers editing of useless material is much better. King over writes to many of his books now by a hundred pages or so.  There is none of that in Rogers books. His characters are true blue collar workers or at least feel that way, which helps to give them a firm a grounding in reality and easy to relate to. The pacing moves along with a decent speed but nothing too fast and violence is well very violent as one would expect from a zombie themed story. It was a good read and doesn't take too long to finish if you're in the mood for a little light, fun reading, this is the book for you.

A Good Day to Die Hard

A Good Day to Die Hard directed by John Moore, starring Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney.

So this is how I think this movie came about.  Somewhere in Hollywood there was a script lying around about a father who goes to Russia to see his son who got locked up for killing a  person and then the high jink action that ensues from everything.  Then everything that happens after just boils down into the standard action movie from here on out.  Anyway there was this producer who didn't really think much of this script but he got this bright idea that if they change the name of the main character to John McClane they would have another Die Hard movie on their hands.  With those words, Die Hard floating around in head, he went and pitched the idea to other producers around him, to lots of praise and adulation, I can only imagine.  I'm guessing this event only sparked the other producers to rush and find old action scripts lying around to see if they could do the same thing.  Never has the phrase Die Hard on a plane, Die Hard on a boat, Die Hard in a city, Die Hard in a rest home become more literal than this...Die Hard in Russia. 

This movie has no connection with the original Die Hard movie nor any even any connections with the original trilogy of Die Hard movies nor do I think it even cares.  The fourth Die Hard movie is excluded because I think the same thing happened with that screenplay that happened with this one.

The action that takes place here is so over-the-top and insane that I just found myself laughing at the total hilarity of it all as it pays more homage to Tom and Jerry and the Road Runner and Wiley Coyote cartoons than the Die Hard movies. I'm completely serious about that it plays out like an action porn movie than.  Let's see a little bit of story line and acting scene before we suddenly break out into some action that seems purposely put there just because they needed an action scene.  Much like porn movies have sex scenes randomly inserted into their "movies" of plot lines and dialogue.  They serve no purpose to storyline or character but to full fill some inner desire of self gratification.

This movie is so bad it becomes an unintentional comedy.  I also love it when the bad guys are so crazy about killing people, or anything, that they just randomly shoot anyone who gets in their way.  But when they have McClane and his son with their hands tied behind their backs suddenly they decide not just pull out a gun and shoot them.  Instead they do what?  Talk and act completely the opposite of how they were acting just moments before.  It makes absolutely no sense.  Somehow I found myself wondering back to the first Die Hard movie and thinking there is no way Hans Gruber would just sit around talking to McClane if he had a chance to kill him.  And do you know why?  Because Hans Gruber was a killer.  These guys in this movies are just two bit punks and nothing more.

A good friend of mine told me something about action movies: the hero is always defined by his villain.  Which means a hero needs a good villain.  I was thinking this over.  Die Hard: McClane had Hans Gruber.  Robocop: Robocop had Dick Jones and Clarence Boddicker.  Total Recall (the original violent 1990 version not the watered down remake): Quaid had Richter, Helm, and Vilos Cohaagen.  Predator: Dutch had the silent but extremely deadly Predator whose presence was imposing.  Aliens: Ellen Ripley had the silent but deadly aliens and Carter Burke.  This movie has no memorable villains at all and is merely worth seeing just so you can see how badly and desperate the Die Hard series has ended up.  This movie is merely a passing shadow of its former glory.

Stoker

Stoker directed by Chan-wook Park, starring Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, and Dermot Mulroney.

I've been trying to think all day about what to talk about this movie.

Visual, I think that's the best place to start.  This is visually one of the best films I've seen in a long time.  And by visually I don't mean burdened down with special effects shots, on the contrary it was the director who made this movie a visual feast for the eyes, as he proved time and time again that a director doesn't need special effects to give a movie a memorizing and stunningly visual flare.  His camera movement, camera placement, and his ability to set up scenes, all contributed to how this movie came together for a visual buffet.  It is, visually, one of the best films I've seen in a long time.  And for a director, who actually directed a movie and let his visual style weave throughout they story and strengthen everything in the story without getting in the way of the story line.

What an intriguing story line.  I won't go into the details of the story line but will just say, it's a very interesting story with some genuinely interesting characters.  Everything about the storyline and characters is explored in a natural, organic way where it all flows and is paced at pitch perfect speed without a speed bump or slow down sign available.  I was enchanted from the "prologue" type of opening until the end of the movie where it tied back into the prologue.

I'm not normally a Nicole Kidman fan but she did a good job of portraying a wife who lost her husband and who was doing her best to stay focused on life.  But the real stars of this movie - besides the outstanding visual flare brought from the director - are Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode.  Who infuse every scene they're in with such a fire and charisma not found too often in movies.  When they are on scene the camera is fully glued to them, waiting and wanting them to act before it's lens, and that is no joke.  They bring that much energy and passion to the story and characters as they weave into director Chan-wook Park's visual style with ease and precision. 

This movie is basically a big screen adaptation of the TV show Dexter.  And I won't go into any more detail than that, but I will say it is about serial killers and told in an extraordinarily different way.  And I will end this review by saying go out and watch this movie.  It needs to be seen.