Now you can have the Cinema Psychic on your chest! Yes we have finally got our heads out of the sand and put together a store with some great merchandise. Goto the Cinema Psychic web page and click the link at the bottom of the page marked “store“. You will also find Clip Show and Hands on Food merchandise as well!
Thanks for your continued support, buy a shirt, or two!!
Jim and I have launched a new video podcast staring yours truly. The Cinema Psychic is a once a week video podcast reviewing movies opening in the cinema that week. Check it out every Friday at cinemapsychic.com.
In the middle of summer the good people at Kimball’s Twin Peak Theater were good enough to feature a few non-blockbusters that I was very happy to see.
Brick – This is a neo-noir high school murder mystery with a twist of Bogart style dialogue and so much old time slang you’ll need an index to keep up. I little dull in the middle, but interesting enough for me. Again I give you no supporting material. Bet you’re becoming real self reliant.
A Scanner Darkly – from the writer of Blade Runner and Total Recall and the Director of Waking Life and Dazed and Confused comes something that will no doubt blow your mind. This movie is glossed over with a style of animation that makes the film look real enough, but also gives you the desired druggy feeling as well. I’d like to explain it, but I’d rather just have you see it and then remind me of how good it is later. Thanks.
Little Miss Sunshine – This is the best film I’ve seen this year. It’s a fine line between Comedy and Drama. Often when films try to walk this line the comedy falls flat and the drama is laughable. This movie was funny from start to finish and each character (there’s about 6 or 7 of them) is completely developed and engaging and lovable. This was the best surprise at the movies for me in a long time.
And I’m spent. All caught up. Suppose I’ll go see something tonight. Not that you needed to know about that because chances are you won’t hear about it for another 6 months. Okay hey take it easy.
There are a couple more blockbusters from last summer to talk about, so ah, lets talk about ‘em.
Poseidon – directed by Wolfgang Peterson who has become typecast as the director for any movie to take place around water. Das Boot, The Perfect Storm and now this remake. That’s right it’s a remake. Were you fooled with by the absence of “adventure” from the title? Bet you thought it was a completely different kind of movie. Lots of action. Lots of almost drowning sequences and a couple actual drowning sequences including one of the most shocking moments I’ve witness with an actor I’m quite fond of, but will fail to mention because I’d hate to spoil that little surprise.
The DaVinci Code – A whole lotta something was made about this supposed controversial film. This I don’t mind spoiling. Jesus had a wife. Who’s to say he didn’t? why not? And more important. Why not? What I find confusing is that a group of people who place infinite importance on family are enraged by the suggestion that their savior was a family man. This world confuses the hell out of me.
The Devil Wears Prada – Jim made me see this one. He’s gotta big crush on that gal that stars in it. What do you want me to say about this film? Yes I formed a small crush myself on the charming young lady. The movie was funny at parts cliché at other parts, to be expected. There are only so many places a film like this is gonna go and further there are only so many options the writers had. Couldn’t throw too many surprises in a film made for teenage girls. They wanna smile and I’m sure a few of ‘em did. I wanted to see the Break Up that night for the record, however I still haven’t seen that one. Suppose I’ll catch it on video. Did you want to know that?
Lady in the Water – I don’t know what all the complaining was about. I had a great time. Great characters, funny dialogue, sentimental dialogue, fairy tale kind of feeling and the guy made this movie for his kids. Gotta love that. Last time I heard of a writer makin’ a movie based on something they made up for their kids was William Goldman’s The Princess Bride. Little known fact: Goldman has two daughters, he asked each of them what the story should be about and one of them wanted a story about a princess and the other wanted a story about a…it’s too unbelievable to hear. Never mind.
Hope you all enjoyed your summer. If you didn’t try harder next year.
I’m sure you all just kind of figured that I boycotted the cinema this summer. ME! Miss out on all the sequals?! Never!
Mission Impossible 3 – So Tom made friends with the guy that created the television series Felicity, Alias (which Tom thinks is awesome; Jim too for that matter) and my favorite Lost. The story I heard. Tom calls up J. J. Abrams (or a liaison) and invites J. J. out to Tom’s place where they would take about movies and jets and other things that interest Tom. After surviving the weirdness of Tom Cruise’s people calling and inviting you to spend a day with Tom J. J. agreed to do the movie. It turned out ok. Not as stylish as the first two but it’s clever enough and features Phillip Seymore Hoffman in his most intimidating role to date.
X-Men 3 – this movie has all the geeks really pissed off because their beloved director Bryan Singer was replaced with Brett Ratner. I’ve seen the first two X-Men films and I’ll admit that they are well enough and I was entertained for a couple hours, but where does Singer get all this adulation. The writing is absurd and the films contain no action. Yes, that’s a very general statement with no supporting points. I realize that. Tough shit. X3 is as good as either of the other two and just as bad.
Superman Returns – So this is why the renowned Bryan Singer couldn’t do the X-Men. Here’s what’s good: The music from the original (John Williams) is still here, the opening credits are identical and they didn’t recast Jor-El (Superman’s Father). They reuse the footage of Marlon Brando from 1978. Here’s what’s bad: The original music that was composed for the film, once again the writing is juvenile (once again no supporting points; trust me), and finally the moments where they use Marlon Brando’s voice overs are so pointless and arbitrary. Very disappointed in this one.
Clerks 2 – Very funny (no supporting points other than saying it was written by Kevin Smith). Love the cast, love the dialogue (some of it) love Rosario Dawson. This film takes a few dives into the over dramatic and the arguments between a few characters could have been cut up a bit. As for the grand finale which will remain a surprise to you was not that grand. Side note: Kevin said before this film that he wouldn’t make another Jay and Silent Bob film however he promise his co-star and friend Jason Mewes that if he stayed off drugs he’d write another film for him. This was it. Kudos J.
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 the Dead Man’s Chest – this movie was too long and personally I found Depp’s routine running a little thin, but that is no criticism of him rather the writing, director and editor that relied to heavily on him.
Special thanks to those that have encouraged me to start writing these again! You know who you are. And I hope these didn’t suck too bad.
More “half ass” catch up reviews…
The Hills Have Eyes is a remake of a 1977 classic by “Master of Horror” Wes Craven. This remake is gory, shocking and never boring. Even in the first act, where nothing devastating has happened, the interaction between family members is entertaining. It was honest and funny and eerie because you know this innocent group has the worst imaginable horror in store for them.
V for Vendetta was written by the Wachowski’s, the Masterminds behind the Matrix trilogy. This comic action satire is sharp and funny and grandiose. The man behind the mask deserves special mention here as he is most recognizably Mr. Smith from the Matrix. Hugo’s performance as V is vaudevillian, vivacious, virtuoso and vibrating with vigor, verve and a vagary for volleys of a vast vocabulary.
The Inside Man is a bank heist film with a twist. The twist here is the director, Spike Lee. Instead of forgettable performances from the meaningless side characters this film gets its life from the many colorful New York quintessential characters that occupy the background of this film, playing perfect compliment to good performances from Denzel, Clive and Jodie.
Lucky Number Slevin is one of my favorite films so far this year. It is a stylish mob against mob flick starring Josh Hartnett, Lucy Lu and a few other familiar faces. The brilliance in this film is the dialogue. This film makes Hartnett sound like Bogart and despite an obvious concluding twist this film provides a lot of fun in between.
Thank You For Smoking is another in the string of best films so far this year. This one is written and directed by son of Ivan Reitman, (Ghostbusters director) Jason Reitman. This is a spin story on a spin doctor, not unlike Levinson’s Wag the Dog. Great cast, great dialogue, this story, about a tobacco lobbyist who juggles his job, family and image wins on charm and savvy.
The half ass “catch up” reviews…
Memoirs of a Geisha, one of the few books out there I’ve actually read, was originally set to be directed by Steven Spielberg and instead fell in the hands of Rob Marshall of “Chicago” fame. The book as it reads is very cinematic. It seemed like it would take a fool to screw up its adaptation. The fool, Rob Marshall. This is a fine film and entertaining, but pretty flat and no where near the journey it deserved to be.
Munich is the film Spielberg gave up on Geisha to direct. This film was the best of all the nominated films for best picture last year. The others: Good Night and Good Luck, Brokeback Mountain, Capote and the winner an oddly enough the hardest for me to remember, Crash. The story everyone was familiar with was the kidnapping and botched rescue of the Israeli Athletes. The story of this film focuses on the vengeance sought out by Israel on those responsible. The film is a beautiful tale of evil begetting evil and in the end violence should be learned as inappropriate measure.
Brokeback Mountain, the most talked about picture of the year has given us yet another adjective for the word “gay.” When you feel the need to express that something you observe is “gay” now may say “Brokeback” and not feel as much like a bigot. The film is based on a short story and this explains why the story felt a little stretched to me. The performances were extraordinary and this was a wonderfully tragic story, but I fell victim to the advertising on this one. A great love story is what it was called and I don’t deny that they may have been in love, but the fact that they were in love was not the focus of the story. The focus was on the backlash of admitting who they were to themselves and the rest of the world and for that it was a great movie, however not a great love story.
New World is the story of John Smith and Pocahontas as told by the point of view of Pocahontas, which might explain the very earthy feel and pacing to this movie. To many this has proved boring, but for me the level of authenticity given to both parties in the story made for a completely engaging and well told epic which took Pocahontas from her land to the “new world” oversees.
Match Point is Woody Allen’s best effort in over a decade. From the setting, to the intensity this is by far the furthest thing from a Woody Allen movie I’ve seen in a Woody Allen movie. The story follows the very kind and respectful, Chris, who meets a wealthy young man, who introduces him to his sister. From there a relationship of convenience begins and a lustful obsession with another woman will take Chris to his very end, where he is reminded of these great words… “it is better to be lucky than good.”
Samuel Goldwyn Films presents a film written and directed by Noah Baumbach. Running time: 88 minutes. Rated R (for strong sexual content, graphic dialogue and language).
I was hoping to watch this film a second time before reviewing it, but in the interest of getting through the seemingly insurmountable list of make up reviews to write I’ll just go ahead and write something.
This film is the work of Noah Baumbach, who started in the mid-nineties with an Eric Stoltz and Parker Posey flick called Kicking and Screaming, not to be confused with Will Farrell’s soccer coaching comedy. The next time I heard of this guy he was co-writing The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson’s film about the hunting of a mythical shark for the soul purpose of enacting revenge for the death of a friend.
This film is a look at divorce through the eyes of a couple different kids. One of them regards his father as an intellectual giant, who was taken for granted by his idiot mother. The young son is the mother’s boy who jealously guards his mothers name by renouncing his father.
The film paints some very tough characters and fatal traits that parents pass on to their children and ends with a very touching realization (as most films should) that finds the young man somewhere in his darkest and most vulnerable memory linking him to one of his parents and The Squid and the Whale.
Twentieth Century-Fox presents a film directed and written by Thomas Bezucha. Running time: 102 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for some sexual content including dialogue and drug references).
In the neighborhood of family comedies I was expecting good things from this film. And I mean family comedies in the sense that it looked like a comedy about a certain family, not that it is rated accordingly for little creatures like children. The preview was funny and quirky and made me think of one of the greatest holiday films around, Home for the Holidays. That film had its mix of humor and drama, but remained very consistent to the material and the characters. This film on the other hand felt dry and forced at every turn.
This is not a bad film, but it does suffer from noticeably bad editing and such dramatic u-turns into the overly melodramatic that can send you into a shock of uncomfortable silence. The cast does everything in their very capable hands to make this a watchable and charming film, but despite the best efforts of Rachael McAdams, Luke Wilson, Sara Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, and even Coach Craig T. Nelson.
Worth a look and even a second thought but it won’t make the exclusive holiday cut that already includes Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Mixed Nuts and It’s a Wonderful Life.
Universal presents a film directed by Peter Jackson. Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Jackson. Based on a story by Merian C. Cooper and Edgar Wallace. Running time: 187 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for frightening adventure violence and some disturbing images).
The problem with this film lies in the first hour, where so much time is spent with this filmmaker, that looks like Jack Black, and his struggle to get a movie made. It’s not exactly boring, but for an audience that already knows that the movie is about a giant ape and his accent up the Empire State Building it can go on a bit too long. However, if you should stay awake past the first hour and make it to the island you are in for some of the most exciting action scenes this side of a Steven Spielberg film.
Peter Jackson first met acclaim with a little piece called Bad Taste. This led to Heavenly Creatures, a true story about an intense friendship among two young girls, who conspire to kill the mother that tries to come between them. I haven’t seen either of these films, but his next film I did. The Frighteners is a scary film that looks like a comedy. When I first heard of this film I thought it would be more like Ghostbusters than anything else. It turned out being visually haunting with an unnerving story about two lovers who are out to break Ted Bundy’s murder spree record just for the sake of being the best. It was the quality of this film that led me to believe that I would love the Lord of the Rings films, though I did not. But Kong on the other hand, is exciting and funny and contains some of the best action scenes and special effects I’ve ever seen in the movie.
My only complaint would be the amount of time the film takes. As talented a filmmaker Peter Jackson is he seems to lack some kind of sensor in his head that allows for hour and a half to two hour films.
On a personal note…coming from Phoenix, Arizona I would often frequent a theater called the Cine Capri when I was young. From Batman Returns to Starship Troopers and each rerelease of the Star Wars Trilogy and finally with Titanic I saw great films on the biggest screen in the state, complete with golden curtains and mildew stained seats. This theater was torn down after the theatrical run of Titanic and like Jesus Christ finally resurrected so far out of the city I don’t think it’s actually in Phoenix anymore. But I got to see Kong on that very King sized screen and feel a bit nostalgic doing so. Thank you Dan Harkin for rebuilding this shrine to the most holy ritual I engage in.
