Change Your Image
jakelamotta06
Shotgun Stories
Wall-E
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and KOCS
Be Kind, Rewind
Animation:
Toy Story 2/ Finding Nemo (Toy Story)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
The Iron Giant/ The Incredibles
Fantasia/ Pinnochio/ Dumbo
Short films:
What's Opera Doc?
The Day of the Fight
Un Chien Andalou
Reviews
Mr. Brooks (2007)
Serenity Now
In "Mr. Brooks", Kevin Costner gets to indulge in his dark side. Playing against the type as a serial killer, Costner gives the role appropriate nuance and subtly. Paired with his alter-ego, Marshall (William Hurt), they create an entertaining team, as well as an intriguing set-up. Directed by Bruce Evans, this disappointment turns to heavy doses of camp which squander any potential this movie had. The Demi Moore storyline didn't work either, as it alternated between being tedious and laughable (I remember Demi Moore showing up in a Prodigy-inspired music video, complete with strobe effects and pulsating beats). "Mr. Brooks" is devoid of tension throughout majority of its length, and features more laughs than thrills. What began as an interesting and promising concept for a psychological thriller quickly turns to an over-plotted circus.
High School Musical (2006)
Infectious Surprise
I decided to give the "High School Musical" a try due to the enormous hype it has received since its debut on the Disney Channel, a hype grown so huge that it was hard to ignore. I am not in the "right" age-demographic which made this movie the phenomenon it has become, nor for which the movie was made for. But, to my surprise, I found it an entertaining, and more surprising, a worthy edition to the high school sub-genre. It isn't as good as say "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", but better than some of the dreck Hollywood has put out lately. While the movie does have its faults and drawbacks, for example the entire movie is coated in the corny (and sometimes, cartoonish) style you would expect from a Disney Channel original movie. What elevates this movie is its infectious (and surprisingly insightful) musical numbers, namely two. "Stick to the Status Quo" delivered mid-way through the movie is the high point of the movie and, for me, is the moment in which the movie transcends its Disney Channel formula. A very entertaining song that provides commentary on the stereotypes that we associate as the norms of high school. The other song is "Breaking Free", delivered during the climax, which adds a unique take on an otherwise clichéd ending. "High School Musical", while cheesy and cartoonish, is better than it has any right to be.
Accepted (2006)
Light Fantasy
I had no expectations whatsoever going in to "Accepted". It turns out the movie is dumb and formulaic with a concept so out-there, I could only acknowledge this movie as light fantasy. The characters who populate this fictional college turn it into the "anti-college", a more democratic school where the students are the faculty and they decide the curriculum. The movie is all about its rebellious against-the-system, against-the-norm attitude (Lewis Black is even cast as the "dean") but told in a family-friendly manner that it evokes "School of Rock" more than anything (besides the Belushi impression), except its not nearly as good nor memorable as Linklater's movie, nor "Animal House" for that matter. Actually, and oddly enough, "Camp Nowhere" is a more apt comparison. The movie's idealistic message only seems insightful when compared to the simplistic stereotypes of college the movie presents, and not actual college life or experience. "Accepted" features some laughs (for example, when the movie stops preaching and actually satirizes college experience in a couple scenes; and, Jonah Hill), but most jokes fall flat (for example, the school's acronym wasn't funny after the fifth time it was used). Surprisingly, the movie is sometimes charming in its dumb and playful manner, similar to its lead, Justin Long. "Accepted" is utterly forgettable and predictable, but for its brief run-time a light fantasy diversion.
Miami Vice (2006)
"Miami Vice" 2006
Michael Mann's 2006 cinematic update of the 80s-television show "Miami Vice" is gritty, violent, and nothing like the television show it is updating. Opening the movie during an undercover operation, we are introduced to the new Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs. We, the audience, are also introduced to the high-risk crime world these characters are a part of. Mann's picture is very detailed and seems to be more interested in being an undercover police procedural. That is until love connections of the two main characters are developed, trying to make these two characters more human and identifiable (and, in an all-too-calculated fashion make the high-risk world riskier). After the long-winded and uneven set-up arrives the movie's action set pieces, Mann's directoral specialty. But, what makes "Miami Vice" entertaining are its remarkable and impressive visuals. Michael Mann and cinematographer Dion Beebe, again, use the HD-digital camera and create a visual feast for the eyes (Some images making the movie seem better than it actually is). The beauty of exotic locales, a plane in flight, a boat traveling in the water, even the characters on top of building among the city's skyline are all gorgeously shot. Ultimately, it all adds up to an okay movie. Not close to the greatness Mann achieved in "Heat" or "Collateral". But, let's just say, its what "Bad Boys 2" (not a Mann picture) should have aspired to be.
Bubble (2005)
Ambitious "Bubble"
Everyone knows the landmark distribution gimmick that the film "Bubble" tried. This is what gave the film a certain "importance". But how is the actual movie? Well, the new "Steven Soderberg experience" is merely okay. A slow paced, gorgeously shot picture about three small-town people and their lonely, quiet small-town lives. All of them are trying earn enough money for a better life, and all have the desperation to get out of their boring, inert lives they are stuck in now. For example, Martha, one of the main characters, expresses a desire to go to the beaches of Aruba that she saw on the television. All of the characters in the movie are played by non-actors and they even acted using their actual homes, thus the realism is laid on thick. An experiment which provided decent results. In some scenes, the actors were very effective, in other scenes they were briefly exposed as amateurs. The steady pacing gives the movie another form of realism as the lives of the main characters seem honest and a feeling not of contrived situations. The third act of the film adds to the story a much needed complexity and, well, an actual interesting story, only to be undermined by the very last scene. Reminded me as an impression of a David Gordon Green movie.