Friday, July 27, 2007

Review: The Simpsons Movie


The Simpson's tackle the environment, the government, religion, pretty much everything in their first feature length film.

This movie was basically an extended Simpson's episode, but that really works for it. It was hilarious, irreverent, satirical, everything you come to expect from the Simpson's. The animation had much greater detail than the TV version, but everything else was essentially the same. The jokes were great, stuff only the Simpson's could get away with. The lesson from this movie is that you should always listen to you wife. Here, here. ;)

My favorite parts of the movie:

one-liners
random gags
ralph wiggum
Lisa punching Bart
the bullies getting beaten up

4 out of 5 stars.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


Very few in the wizarding world believe that Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) witnessed Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) return, but the secret Order of the Phoenix is gathering forces to fight. Meanwhile, Hogwarts is being controlled by the Ministry of Magic through the deliciously evil Delores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton).

Excellent movie, although it was torture having to wait 5 whole days after it came out to see it. The acting is really fabulous in this one, especially Imelda Staunton, Gary Oldman as Sirius Black, and Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood. My only complaint is that they cut sooo much out. I mean it's the longest book of the series, yet this was the shortest movie yet. It made for a very choppy plot and several characters were severely under-used, like Professor McGonagall and Trelawney. I think Ginny Weasley had two lines. However, they did get some nice reaction shots from her setting up for the next film. Plus, they cut out St. Mungo's which I really wanted to see. Alas, it was still a great movie.

My favorite parts of the movie:

Um, let's see, all of them, although Harry talking about the kiss with Ron and Hermione is quite memorable

5 out of 5 stars.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Trailer: Fred Claus



I am not quite sure about this movie yet. But it does have a bunch of good people in it, Vince Vaughn, Paul Giamatti, Kevin Spacey, Miranda Richardson, Kathy Bates, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Banks, PLUS Trevor Peacock, whom you've probably never heard of but plays Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley, best British show ever, no, no, no, no, no, no,...YES. You can briefly see him in the trailer as Fred and Santa's dad. This is by the same people who did The Wedding Crashers, so we'll see.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Trailer: Get Smart



Ah, Steve Carell as Maxwell Smart, that's as close to perfect without Don Adams. I love Don Adams voice. I always think of Tenessee Tuxedo, but you probably know him as Inspector Gadget, which is pretty much a copy of the character of Maxwell Smart. Anyway, enjoy the orignal TV show opening as well.

Sunday, July 08, 2007

J.J. Abrams Secret Trailer: AKA Cloverfield

Wow, man, just this one trailer is almost worth it to go to see Transformers. It's a totally unique marketing idea. It has no name. It's all filmed with hand held cameras. It super creepy. Think Lost people. I have tried to find the trailer again online and everywhere I have seen that it has been posted, it is now unavailable. Even more creepy. Rather than me blathering on. Check out this article. It says everything I would have, much better than I would have, and includes a link to a teaser website. J.J. Abrams rules. Geesh, Lost, Star Trek XI, and now this. He is crazy talented.

Review: Transformers


The Autobots come to protect the humans from the Decepticons as they both race to find the All Spark, the energy that created their world, now hidden on Earth.

I enjoyed myself immensely at this movie and that's what it's all about, entertainment. The whole alien robot thing did get a little cheesy at some points, but overall the story was good. Shia LeBeouf, who played Sam Witwicky, talked exactly like Justin Long in Live Free or Die Hard, hence, I loved it. Their characters both talk so fast, that they stumble and mumble over their words. It's hilarious.

The dialog overall was excellent. Sam uses the line, "more than meets the eye," the classic Transformers line, on his love interest Mikaela. Cracks me up. There is a great scene where Sgt. Lennox (Josh Duhemel) is trying to make a phone call to the pentagon while fighting the Decepticons and has to go though one of those annoying, "I don't really want to help you," operators. Great. Plus, the dialog with his parents is just so painfully funny. (They even get a few bonus scenes in the end credits).

Good special effects, great action, comedy. Good summer blockbuster.

My favorite parts of the movie:

J.J. Abrams secret trailer (shown before the movie technically, more on that soon)
Dialog
80's references
Scenes with his parents
Autobots hiding in the backyard

4 out of 5 stars.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

Review: Live Free or Die Hard


John McClane (Bruce Willis) is charged with ferrying Matt Ferrell (Justin Long) to the FBI and finds himself trying to stop a cyber-terrorism plot.

This movie was far better than my expectations. The action was quite unbelievable. Plus, how many times really can McClane get the crap kicked out of him and still keep going? Yet, the plot was interesting. The comedy was fantastic. Plus, it starred Justin Long whom I've loved ever since his days in Ed.

The scenes with Kevin Smith as "Warlock" were hilarious. Any humor that involves Star Wars is the best. Warlock: "Boba Fett, are you a fan of the Fett?" McClane: "No, I'm more of a Star Wars fan." Kills me. Plus, Tuvok from Star Trek: Voyager, actor Tim Russ, makes a random appearace. I never see anyone from that show in anything else.

My favorite parts of the movie:

taking down the helicoptor
Warlock
the way Ferrell (Justin Long) talks, especially to the OnStar lady
McClane beating up a girl

4 out of 5 stars.

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Lauren's Tidbits: INDEPENDENCE DAY

In the scene where Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are being chased out of the alien mothership, Jeff says "Must go faster, must go faster." In the film Jurassic Park, when Jeff is injured, riding in the back of a jeep, and getting chased by the T-Rex, he says exactly the same line; same emphasis, same tone, same everything.

In the scene at the start (look carefully) just before Will notices the alien ship, all of his neighbors are packing up and leaving. There is a mailman delivering the mail to one of the neighbors. Always delivering, come rain, shine, or aliens.

The little boy who plays Dylan co-starred with Will once before. He played Will's youngest cousin, Nicky, on the television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

There are several references to other science fiction movies in ID4. When Jeff Goldblum turns on his computer, the computer's voice says 'Good Morning Dave' which is a reference to the film 2001.

The humans are out of missiles in the final battle, except for Randy Quaid, who crashes into the alien main weapon, destroying the ship. A number of problems here. First off, a central control center operator reports all the missiles have been fired, indicating they can monitor all planes. But somehow Quaid's missile escaped their notice. Then no one in the control room seems to know where Quaid came from, which they should know if they were monitoring the fighters. Actually these mistakes stem from the original ending, which involved Quaid arriving to the battle in his biplane with a missile strapped to it, because he was too drunk to be given a fighter. He then flew the biplane into the alien ship because he obviously couldn't fire the missile. But producers felt this was too cheesy and filmed Quaid in a fighter, but chose not to film the control center scenes again.

When the First Lady is hopping in the helicopter to fly out of L.A. , another helicopter is nearby. It flies past a building that has a large IBM logo on it. People are standing on the top of the building, giving the impression that it is one of the first buildings to blow up. Remember that the movie was sponsored by Apple.

The reason for the introduction of the 'biomechanical exosuits' was that actually two alien designs were presented to Emmerich, but since he liked both, the more monstrous design was used for the suits.

-courtesy of The Marlar Sheet

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Review: Ratatouille


A rat named Remy (voice by Patton Oswald) dreams of becoming a chef and gets a chance to realize that dream with the help of Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano).

Pixar is unbelievable. I loved it. It was a great story, funny, had great animation, the food looked amazing... All that said, some of it could be lost to little ones. There was a lot going on, but I am sure they would enjoy it none the less.

I love the process Pixar goes through to make their movies. If you get a chance, watch their video podcasts on their website. They're great. In fact, because Pixar uses voices from within at different stages of the process, two of the characters in Ratatouille work at Pixar, Linguini and Emile (Remy's brother). The director just fell in love with their voices to the character. How awesome.

My favorite parts of the movie:

look of the food
physical comedy
Emile
the rats saving the day

5 out of 5 stars.

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