Electric Dreamstate

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Review: Speed Racer

Sunday, May 4, 2008 2 comments Labels: , , , Posted by Daniel Kaszor 12:58 PM


The Wachowski Brothers mark their directorial return after a five years off with the kid and LCD-user friendly Speed Racer.

The Plot:
Speed Racer, looks up to his brother Rex Racer who races cars. However, Rex Racer gets killed and then Speed Racer needs to race to win. Or something. The plot is inconsequential when it isn't incomprehensible.

Good:
• This movie REALLY looks like a cracked out acid trip. There's a weird hyperactive energy here that's all over the place. The final race where Speed wins (spoiler I guess, sorry), ends with a 2001-esque sequence that plays out like a hyperactive visual orgasm. It takes the style of the old cartoon and ramps it up.
• The movie is at it's best when it's really pushing how over the top it is. Whenever their crazy shit is going on you can't tear your eyes away.
• The kid and the monkey are distractingly annoying less often than you would expect (although they are still distractingly annoying).

Bad:
• The plot.
• Any sequence where the hyperactive style goes away and it becomes more like a regular movie. There are two scenes in particular where Speed is getting a pep talk from his parents that just DRAG.
• The kid and the monkey.
• The idea that Racer X could be anyone BUT Speed's brother Rex. Seriously.
• It was too long.

Overall:
It was impressively insane. I don't know if it was enjoyable though. Not really.

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Review: Iron Man

1 comments Labels: , , , , Posted by Daniel Kaszor 12:34 PM

The first summer movie hits, and it features one of the more interesting Marvel heroes and the Robert Downey Jr.'s second coming (or third coming, or maybe fourth).

The Plot:
Tony Stark is a super-genius and a playboy, making billions as the head of Stark Industries, the world's largest weapons manufacturer. After a successful sales call in Afghanistan, Stark is kidnapped and taken captive by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings. They want him to make them a bomb. He makes a suit of robotic armour instead, and then escapes. Having a crisis of conscience, he decides to make a new better suit and become a superhero. Iron Man is born.

Good:
• Hits all of the necessary superhero story points perfectly.
• RDJ portrays Stark as capable, narcissistic, caring and a little crazy. It works.
• The suit is pretty bad-ass.
• The movie has a sense of child-like wonderment tempered with a realistic gravitas. Only not that pretentious.
• Simply fun from start to finish.
• Best post-credits Easter-egg ever.

Bad:
• Jeff Bridges's bad guy seems a touch too over the top and buffoonish in the movie.
• The stereotypical terrorists.
• Not quite enough Iron Man.

Overall:
Very few summer blockbusters hit the sweet spot of FX, characterization, cheezy fun, seriousness and pace as Iron Man. Although may not be the best summer blockbuster coming out this year (although who knows), it may well be the most easy to enjoy without reservation. Worth seeing on a big screen.

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Review: Forbidden Kingdom

Friday, April 25, 2008 1 comments Labels: , , , , Posted by Daniel Kaszor 9:18 AM

Jackie Chan and Jet Li are the pillars of the Hong Kong and Chinese marital arts flicks making there way to North America in the last fifteen years or so. Too bad that they waited until they were old to team up.

The Plot:
Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano, the poor man's Shia LaBeouf) is a kid from Boston who likes Kung Fu movies. He gets roughed-up by street thugs, finds a magical staff and falls off a roof. When he wakes up he's in The Forbidden Kingdom, a version of ancient mythological China. Now, with the help of a drunk and possibly immortal vagabond (Chan), a kind-of assholish monk (Li) and a love interest who talks only in the third person (Yifei Liu), he must return the magic staff to the Monkey King (also Li) and defeat the evil Jade Warlord (Collin Chou).

Good:
• The action is better than most American produced martial arts movies (this is probably because of the Chinese funding and choreography).
• It's certainly Jackie Chan's best American movie.
• The pace is somewhat breezy. It doesn't drag.
• It plays the hero's quest angle fairly well.
• It's kind of fun how they explain Chan and Li playing multiple roles.

Bad:
• You can really see the political aspect between how much presence Jackie Chan and Jet Li have in the film. About 20 minutes in it seems strange that Li's monk character hasn't been introduced yet (although he has showed up as the Monkey King), and I realized that it was because that would have unbalanced the movie towards Li and away from Chan. On the same note, the fight between Li and Chan is quite good (considering how old they are), but ends in such a draw as to seem pointless.
• The story arc of the movie is fairly predictable.
• The white lead is bland.
• When kung fu shows up in the "real world" at the end of the movie, it seems out of place.

Overall:
Not something to go out of your way to see if you aren't a fan of the genre, but not crazy terrible like some were predicting it would be. It does work fairly well as an actiony kids movie.

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How am I going to get people to go to these movies with me OR The Electric Dreamstate Summer Movie Preview

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 3 comments Labels: , Posted by Daniel Kaszor 10:01 AM


Unlike other times of the year, summer movie season has a certain imperative to it. While I can rent a copy of Zodiac months late and still have the same enrapturing experience I would have had in the theatre, a summer movie is really best enjoyed on the largest screen possible and with a somewhat rowdy audience. This summer is absolutely packed with movies, and some of them are so mindbogglingly stupid that I might have to use tricks to get people to come and see them with me.

May 2:
Iron Man
This one will be fairly easy. There's a good amount of buzz going around about it and people seem interested. Also, as the first blockbuster of the season, people aren't fatigued yet.

May 9:
Speed Racer
And we run into trouble right here. Ostensibly a kids movie and a crack dream at the same time, Speed Racer doesn't appeal to everyone. Personally I really want to see the epic acid-trippy primary-colour car-orgy being sold here, but others might not be as interested.

May 16:
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
Eh, I could take or leave this one, but I'm kind of interested because I absolutely do not remember the plot of Caspian. There is fighting, and this is where the talking mouse Reep-a-cheep shows up I think.

May 23:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
This one is easy, everyone wants to see a new Indiana Jones movie. The real challenge is getting them to wait until Saturday to see it (I work Friday nights).

June 13:
The Incredible Hulk
A few weeks off (the Sex and the City movie is in between) leads us to our first double week. I secretly really want to see the new Hulk movie. Yes the directing will be workman like compared to Ang Lee's Hulk (by far the most visually interesting modern superhero movie regardless of what you felt about the overall product), and the movie is supposedly 1/5th fight scene (set on Younge Street, New York). But that doesn't matter. The 13-year-old inside of me wants to see Hulk Smash.

The Happening
Even harder to sell than The Incredible Hulk, The Happening is the latest from pretentious genre auteur M. Night Shyamalan. I found something to like in three of Shyamalan's major releases (with two being good movies), and I'm interested to see if he can pull his career together.

June 20:
Get Smart
I think that Carrel can make this work. And I have a soft spot for the Rock. Also I don't want The Love Guru to win the weekend.

June 27:
Wall•E
This Pixar animated movie has almost no talking (or characters at all other than the titular Wall•E) for, supposedly, the first third to half of the film. Hopefully I can convince people that to go to a kids movie with no talking. I think the novelty may do it.

July 4:
Hancock
The good-olde July 4th Will Smith movie. Sure this looks stupider than stupid ... but he picks up a whale and throws it into a boat! Woooo! Woooo!

July 11:
Hellboy II
Being sandwiched between Hancock and The Dark Knight isn't the greatest for Hellboy II's chances, either in the box office or for getting my friends to see it with me. The first movie was fine, if unexceptional, but the second doesn't have to be bogged down by introductory origin crap. Also evil Nazis and Cthulhu.

July 18:
The Dark Knight
This one won't be a problem. Even those who didn't like Christopher Nolan's 2005 take on Batman will probably want to see Heath Ledger's final role. Next!

July 25:
X Files: I Want To Believe
The problem here is that a) many people left the X Files with a fairly sour taste in their mouths (people say it was the last two seasons, but it was really the last four or so) b) the show has so much baggage from the mythology episodes that no one knows what's going on and c) many people are unaware this is coming out. Getting people to care will be tough, even if the movie is a "monster of the week" type story in the style of the early seasons.

August 8:
Pineapple Express
The problem with Pineapple Express isn't that people don't want to see it, it's that I don't think they really understand what it is. As far as I can tell it's fully an action-comedy with an emphasis on the "action" part. Audiences seem to think it's another Apatow stoner comedy. Will the bait be pulled away too soon for the switch to work?

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Review: Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Monday, April 21, 2008 0 comments Labels: , , , , Posted by Daniel Kaszor 8:05 AM

The summer movie season is almost upon us, and once again I return to this blog. Let's start out with a nice point form review of last weekend's Judd Apatow Brand™ comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The Plot:
Peter Bretter (Jason Segal) is a music composer on the CSI-esque show Crime Scene: Scene of the Crime and dating one of the stars of the show Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell). She dumps him and he goes on vacation to forget her ... only she's at the same resort as him with her new boyfriend.

Good:
• Some hilarious moments, many related to full-frontal male nudity.
• Did a good job making the sentimental scenes have jokes in them, and remain funny.
• All of the leads acquitted themselves well. Surprisingly Mila Kunis was probably the stand-out, having finally outgrown her Jackie character from That 70s Show.
• Stays funny throughout, despite being a bit long.

Bad:
• Unfortunately the plot focuses on several sitcom like contrivances (the fact that they're at the same resort, they have rooms next to each other, ect).
• It is a little bit long.
• Although it fulfills the Apatow formula fairly well (R-rated jokes, characters with depth, kind-of more sincere than you expect), it has become a formula at this point and isn't as surprising.

Overall:
The film is hilarious, but will be just as worth while on video.

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My Favorite Movies of 2007

Tuesday, January 8, 2008 5 comments Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , Posted by Daniel Kaszor 6:20 PM

This list is fairly mutable. Next week I might rank another movie in a different slot based on my mood. I also haven't seen the following movies: Gone Baby Gone, The Assassination of Jessie James by the Coward Robert Ford, Into the Wild and Knocked Up. Any of these might end up slotted in somewhere. Additionally, I walked out of the room about halfway into my room mate watching Hairspray.


Honourable Mention 4 - Beowulf
I'm not sure that I would put this on a "top" list, but it hangs together fairly well and the final fight between the dragon and Beowulf was the best spectacle scene in a year of spectacle. I don't know how this will look without the big screen and 3D though.

Honourable Mention 3 - Juno
The movie just seems to be a bit to pleased with itself to really slot into a top spot, but I did enjoy the movie for all the reasons that everyone else did. The film is already being hurt by its own success and it has already become cool to dislike it for its forced quirkiness. I might also just be putting it here just because my list below is so dude-centric.

Honourable Mention 2 - Wristcutters: A Love Story
You know how much money IMDB says Wristcutters made after it was "released" in theatres in November? $231,551. It was getting good reviews coming out of Sundance. In 2006. I have no idea why this quirky comedy about love after suicide couldn't find its way on the indie scene, and I wish it luck on the DVD circuit.

Honourable Mention 1 - Charlie Wilson's War
This breezy (in a good way) movie is about a real senator who was integral in getting the US to supply the mujahadin against the Soviets. It stars Tom Hanks, was directed by Mike Nichols and was written by Aaron Sorkin. It was also a good ending away from being my top film of 2007. As it is it's not quite good enough to get into my top five.

5 - The Bourne Ultimatum
The best threequel in a year of threequels, the third Bourne movie still somehow maintains the series's trademark of tense action and intelligent thought. Personally, I liked the fact that almost two movies later, Bourne is still messed up by his girlfriend getting killed. The thing does lose a bit of the realistic mayhem that the previous movies got so right (it ended up being quasi-realistic mayhem), but I think that's okay as the series built to its conclusion.

4 - Hot Fuzz
About two-thirds of the way into Hot Fuzz I didn't know if I was sold on it. It seemed less like a parody of a cop/buddy movie and more of a weird quasi-comic remake of The Wicker Man. Then everything paid off in one of the most hilarious and over-the-top sequences I've seen in years. I want to see it again right now.

3 - There Will Be Blood
There are problems with There Will Be Blood (the final few scenes with the son seemed a bit off to me), but the movie is relentless. This is mostly because of the central performance by Daniel Day Lewis as a man who's obsession with succeeding over all others feeds his seething hatred of humanity.

2 - Zodiac
This is the only movie that I can remember seeing on home video where I was captivated as if I was watching it on the big screen. It's a weird movie that stands between a fictionalized account and a straight-up reenactment of events. It's long and meanders, but damn if I didn't get absolutely caught up in the slice of history presented here. It's too bad this came out in March and no one saw it.

1 - No Country for Old Men
The first note of music in No Country for Old Men comes quietly and ominously as the end credits begin to roll, and it feels like the movie is finally allowing you to let out the breath that you've been holding in for the whole two hour running time. The Coen Brothers' last couple movies have been disappointments, but the filmmaking here is so confident and outright perfect that it's almost impossible not to become enraptured by it. Some people have poo-pooed the ending of No Country, but the more that I thought about it the more that I couldn't see it any other way.

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