CaptainRyannn Blog

Seven Pounds Review

CaptainRyannn — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 07:42:34 GMT

When I first saw the trailer, I must say, I wasn’t too impressed with it. It didn’t really feel like a movie that I would be moved by despite its overt advertising as a moving film. I then watched an interview with Will Smith on Jay Leno and from the way they were talking, it really seemed like they were onto something here. Now, I’m not sure if it was that which finally pushed me to see this, me wanting to see as many 2008 films as I can in order to create a ‘Best of’ year end list, or the fact that I’ve been listening to DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince’s album, Homebase, almost every morning for the past week. (Man, that’s such a great album.) Whatever it was, I went into it with neither high nor low expectations.

We enter the film with a shot of Ben Thomas, played by Will Smith, on the phone with 911. He calls for an ambulance and reports a suicide. When the paramedic asks who the victim is, he says in a crisp, decisive voice, “I am.” We then cut to a scene where Thomas gets into contact with a blind meat salesman, Woody Harelson, and pretty much verbally assaults him in what could perhaps be one of Smith’s darkest scenes he’s ever done. Afterwards, immense regret and sadness come over him and along with the suicide introduction; we are left to ask “Why?”

The premise of the film is Thomas going around to seven different strangers, the salesman being one of them, and evaluating their life situation. He then has to decide whether they are really are deserving enough for his help. He utters to one old woman, “It is within my power to drastically change his circumstances, but I don’t want to give that man a gift he doesn’t deserve.” as he attempts to deem the worthiness of another man.

Much of the film, perhaps too much of it, relies on the viewers’ lack of knowledge. From the opening scenes and throughout much of the film, we are left almost completely in the dark as to what Ben Thomas’ motives are and what has happened in the past that has left his face scarred with sorrow. We are forced to ask ourselves why he has brought a jellyfish into his cheap motel room and why he’s even in the cheap motel room to begin with. I can understand why director Gabriele Muccino, also responsible for The Pursuit of Happyness, did this; to keep audiences in their seats because frankly, it doesn’t have a whole lot of story going for it other than a theme that’s been done plenty of times before.

The one concrete thing that remains here is Will Smith’s portrayal of Ben Thomas, a man who’s haunted by his past and searches for redemption. While I may not enjoy all of Smith’s films, I can definitely admire him as a person. Having an album out by 17 and winning a Grammy at 21. Then going on to do a hit television show and following that up with a career in the film industry, he’s definitely made a name for himself. With one of his most complex characters yet, Smith displays a whole spectrum of emotions that are nothing short of believable.

There was so much that could’ve been more thoroughly examined and so many ideas that should’ve had more screen time but were pushed into the background as a victim to the over-attention paid to the romance between Thomas and Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson). While still a pretty decent relationship, there were far more interesting aspects to Seven Pounds that didn’t receive as much notice as they should have.

Overall, Seven Pounds is a decent film about an attempt at redemption masked by acts of altruism. His motives aren’t explained until the very end and those motives are perhaps one of the few things that carry the viewer’s interest throughout the film. Now that that’s settled; seven pounds of what?

Into the Wild.

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 22:01:12 GMT

Being one of my most anticipated films of 2007, Into the Wild held up to my high expectations. Robbed of a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, Into the Wild was possibly on of the most poetic movies I’ve seen that has dealt with teenage angst, human and nature interactions, and the idea of ultimate freedom in such a beautiful way. Chris McCandless (Emile Hirsche) is sick of living by society’s rules. After graduating from college, he hits the road in a quest for absolute freedom. He burns his social security card, cuts up his credit cards, and gives his life savings away to charity. He then sets out on the road where he meets a bunch of people that support him and his quest to reach Alaska. Along they way, he runs into a hippie couple who are on the road like him, a farmer who puts him to work, and an old man who wishes he was young again. While the ‘present’ of the film is set on the Magic Bus in an Alaskan forest, the bulk of the film is through flashbacks of his journey and childhood. Although many people, including myself, claim that Chris McCandless was self-centered and arrogant, one cannot help but admire his courage and determination that he had in order to achieve pure happiness. With great supporting performances from Marcia Gay Harden, William Hurt, Vince Vaughn, Jena Malone, Catherine Keener, Kristen Stewart, and Hal Halbrook, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild is a film that will most certainly be remembered years and years and years from now.

Bland Tale of Revenge.

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:56:18 GMT

I’ll admit, the only reason I went to go see Death Race is because I wanted to get out of the house and my dad just so happened to want to go see this, so I agreed. I knew I wasn’t going to get anything mind-blowing or revolutionary, but rather some dirty, bloody entertainment. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much of that either. Jason Statham is back in, surprise surprise, another bland cliché action role. He plays Jensen Ames, former professional racecar driver, turned loving father / husband. That is until his wife is murdered and he is put to jail for it. (You know, just once, I’d like to see a protagonist actually go to jail for a crime he / she did commit. Enough with this “I was setup.” bullshit.” Anyway, he lands himself into a prison where an annual race is held where prisoners have the chance to earn their freedom. They compete in a three-part race and the first to win five races in a row gets to walk free. The event is broadcasted over pay-per-view and millions of people buy. Why? Because Americans love violence. The movie was pretty predictable from start to finish and didn’t have anything new to offer. I’m also getting sick of the plot where ‘prisoners fight each other for their freedom’. It’s getting to the point where it’s overdone. But that’s kind of the only way you can get people to go one on one with each other without deep back-stories. It allows the viewers to be unsympathetic towards them because they are prisoners. If everyone was innocent such as in 2001’s Battle Royale, it wouldn’t get released in America. Anyway, I’m getting off topic. Bottom line: If you’re looking for cheap thrills, go for it. If you want anything deeper than that, pass on it. It’s not that great.

A Pimp's Tale.

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:53:27 GMT

You know it’s hard out here for a pimp, when you’re trying to get the money for the rent. For the Cadillac and gas money’s spent, there’s a whole lot of bitches jumping ship. In the Oscar-winning song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp”, the lyrics tell the viewer the very essence of the film. This is the story of a hustler and a drug dealer, Djay (Terrence Howard), who is having a mid-life crisis. Tired of the same routine, he buys a keyboard and discovers that he wants to become a rapper. With his old high school pal, Key (Anthony Anderson), and the white boy with beats (DJ Qualls), he builds a make-shift home studio and begins his quest to become the next great thing. With hardships and hoes working against him around every corner, Djay struggles to maintain his “mode” and push that “good shit out” in time for a party that famed rapper Skinny Black (Ludacris) will be at in town. The reason I liked this movie so much is because offered a human dilemma. Not a black dilemma. Not a rapper dilemma. Not a drug dealer dilemma, but a universal human dilemma; the struggle for change. Even though I may still be young, I’ve felt the need to accomplish something with my life and not know how to go about doing it. The music in this movie is pretty awesome. Everything from Djay’s original songs to the rest of the soundtrack had me bouncing…and I don’t even care for most rap! So if you’re down for a good movie with some sweet music, check this one out.

Not Quite a White guy in the 1700's.

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:48:38 GMT

After falling in love with David Gordon Green’s Undertow, I checked out some of his other films. George Washington was first on the list because I saw that it was also part of the Criterion Collection. George Washington is not about a white man from the mid-1700’s, but rather a group of children set in a small, rural southern town. With not much to do, they spend their days wandering around the broken community and have conversations that form into a collage of innocence. After a tragedy happens amongst the group, they all come together and attempt to cover it up which leads to their individual quests for redemption. In one of the most poetically beautiful films I’ve seen recently, David Gordon Green tells the heartbreaking story of kids who are forced to enter the adult world early and make decisions that they shouldn’t have to make. Although I’m sure not everyone has had to go through what the kids in the film had to go through, I believe it is the perfect metaphor for teenage friendships. A group of kids who are as tight as can be part away from each other for something or another or perhaps no reason at all. Green manages to create some of the most real characters I’ve seen on film in everyway from their dialogue to their simple hand gestures and reactions. I think I might’ve been close to tears because of how magnificent this one was. Damn, it was good.

Hot Fuzz not hot enough.

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:45:36 GMT

After reading all the great reviews and quite the high rating on IMdb (8.00 / 10), I decided to give Hot Fuzz another chance. Unlike Bonnie and Clyde where my mind was completely changed, my thoughts on Hot Fuzz did not. I found the humor cheap and the plot annoying. It starts off with Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) who is literally too good and seems to make the rest of the London Police Department look bad. Solution? Send him off to the country. Once he gets there, he discovers that the town has the lowest crime-rate in the country which he feels is pretty suspicious. Soon, people start dying off in gruesome ‘accidents’ but Nicholas is convinced that things aren’t really quite what they seem to be. It’s a plot that has been done many times before and many times better. But I feel like I’m in the minority of this so perhaps I just don’t “get it” but if you’re down for a pretty flat action / comedy, check it out.

Two Crime Legends.

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:44:21 GMT

Considered by many to be one of the groundbreaking films of the 60’s, Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde offers a romanticized vision of two of the most famous outlaws in American History. A bored, small-town girl, Bonnie Parker (Faye Dunnaway), meets up with recently released bank robber, Clyde Barrow (Warren Beaty), and they set off across the Midwest robbing banks and on the run from the law. They team up with gas station clerk, (Michael Pollard), Clyde’s brother, Buck (Gene Hackman), and his nuisance of a wife (Estelle Parsons) during the journey and that’s when things start to turn bad. Ultimately, this is a road movie. It’s about average people caught up in the life of crime and on the run from authorities. When I first saw this a few years ago, I hated it. I couldn’t understand for the life of me what made this thing so special. Like many movies however, you have to mature into the right state-of-mind and after a second viewing, your mind could change completely. One of my biggest complaints lies in the film’s climax. Many of you probably already know what happened of the notorious outlaws, but some of you don’t so I’ll refrain from spoiling it for you here. Anyway, it features a series of quick cuts that pretty much ruin the entire mood and build-up for me. I once watched a program on the History Channel on the life of these two and I’m pretty sure that if they would’ve stuck to what had actually happened, it would’ve made for a much better ending. Despite all the violence, which was pretty graphic for the 60’s, the movie carries quite a light mood. If the soundtrack hadn’t been filled with cherry bluegrass music, we’d have a much different movie. The characters are all pretty solid. Every one of them did a great job. Although if you get annoyed easily, I’m going to warn you, because Buck’s wife is possibly one of the most annoying characters I’ve ever seen on screen. All she does is nag. So check this out if you’re down for an adventure movie about two of the most famous criminals this country has ever seen. I’m against a lot of remakes but if one were to come from this, I’d be the first in line.

Burn After Reading

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:41:49 GMT

Well, let me start off by saying that I originally saw this two weeks ago and loved it. So I decided to go back and see it again. The Coen Brothers seem to have formed a pattern that has worked for them over the years. After putting out a serious film, the switch gears to a comedy one. Blood Simple brought Raising Arizona. Miller’s Crossing brought The Hudsucker Proxy. Fargro brought The Big Lebowski. The Man Who Wasn’t There brought Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers (both of which kind of sucked.). Now, it is fitting that after their most acclaimed film, they up the ante for their newest comedy, Burn After Reading. With the zoom-in effect used to open the film, we are given the impression that something important is happening. Well, it is important in the sense that without it, we would not have a film. But it’s so trivial because of it’s cause. CIA agent Osbourne Cox (John Malkovich) gets demoted for too much drinking. We immediately get a glimpse into his hilarious character that is somewhat of an elitist. He gets to come home to his bitch-of-a-wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton) and decides to write some memoirs, or as Osbourne likes to call them, “mem-wah’s”. Well his darling Katie happens to be cheating on him with Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney) who is not only cheating on his wife (Patricia Clarkson) with Katie, but also the kind-hearted Linda Litzke (Frances McDomand). Confusing, I know. Well, in an attempt to ‘prepare’ for the divorce, Katie copies Cox’s financial as well as his memoirs. Through a couple of plain-forgetful actions, the disc containing these items is found on the floor of Hard Bodies, a gym that is run by Linda, Chad Feldheimer (Brad Pitt), and the well-mannered sensitive man, Ted (Richard Jenkins). Chad and Linda end up thinking that they really have something important and demand a ransom from Cox. Chaos and hilarity ensues as the term ‘making a mountain out of an anthill’ comes to life. But in this case, the anthill has actually become a mountain forged out of stupidity, infidelity, and murder.

Hatchet.

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:36:41 GMT

Sometimes, I don’t know whether to rate a movie based on how good it was or how much I enjoyed it. If the latter were true, it’d be a 25 / 10. This movie had me screaming ‘**** yeah!’ more than most anything I’ve seen this year. Since it’s release, the tagline for it has always stuck with me; Old School American Horror. I wasn’t quite sure that that meant. I must admit, I was initially turned away from it because it was listed as comedy / horror for its genre and previous titles with this listing such as The Tripper and Severance just downright sucked. I decided ‘what the hell’ and watched it anyway. It opens with a pretty recycled scene, two characters having a good time in the middle of nowhere. These two characters happen to be horror legend, Robert Englund and some other guy and the location; a swamp. We see something come out of the water and pretty much tear them to shit. As most horror movies, this is the initial set-up. It is Mardi Gras weekend and after getting dumped, Ben (Joel Moore) just doesn’t feel like being around the festivities. Him and faithful, but complaint-filled buddy, Marcus, find a little ‘Haunted Swamp Boat Tour’ and think it might be a nice time. Once there, we meet the rest of the characters for our nice little outing: the slutty girls, the horny guy, the nice, elderly couple, the mysterious woman. And of course, we’ve already met the innocent guy and the “token black guy” as Not Another Teen Movie would put it. As Hatchet went on, I realized that the comedy was in the actual humor itself, but rather in how intentionally bad the movie was. I suppose one could classify it as a ‘spoof’. Anyway, through a series of events, our comrades end up onshore in the middle of the island and are faced with a deformed man who was accidentally killed by his father with a hatchet when he was younger. (The man is played by another horror icon, Kane Hodder.) Actually, it is pretty cool that 4-time Jason portrayer and Mr. Freddy Kruger appear in the same film that has nothing to do with either one of these characters. So, people in the middle of nowhere, killer butchering them. This movie has some of the best gore scenes I’ve seen recently and would definitely receive an NC-17 had this version been turned in to the MPAA. Here's an example of the kind of gore you can expect from Hatchet. I guess it would be only proper for me to post a spoiler warning, but shouldn't you expect everyone to die from the type of movie this is anyway?Like I said, Hatchet is in no means a good movie, but it wasn’t meant to be. If you take it seriously, you’ll dislike it. The constant “homage” to the horrible acting, larger-than-life killer, stereotypical characters, and buckets of blood of the 1980’s is something of a “thank you” for being a horror fan for all these years. And to director Adam Green and this wonderful cast, I’d like to say “No, I insist, thank you.”

All the Real Girls

CaptainRyannn — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:34:05 GMT

The more and more I watch the films of David Gordon Green, the more I realize that he’s one of the best directors of his generation right now. He manages to portray character in the most genuine and sincere way. His plots aren’t filled much except human emotions. All the Real Girls is no different. Paul Schneider plays Paul, the ‘Don Juan’ who has seemed to get into every girl’s pants who lives in the small, sleepy town. The fact that Schneider’s physique and face is nothing extraordinary tells us something about the setting itself. The fact that such an average-looking man is ‘sex-icon’ of the town is a way of showing how much the town, and the people in it, have going for them. Paul’s best friend is Tip. Tip’s little sister is Noel (the always pretty, Zooey Deschanel), who has just recently returned to town. Frustration amongst Tip erupts when he sees his best friend flirting with his little sister. We meet these two characters within the first scene of the film as they share awkward romantic dialogue with each other. As the time-frame rewinds a couple of weeks back, with the introduction in mind, we can’t help but wonder if Paul was being genuine with Noel or not. This is the core of the film. It is the story of a man who needs desperately to prove that he’s overcome his reputation for the sake of true love. However, just as true love exists, so does heartbreak and there’s plenty of that within these frames. The continuous, soft, trance-like music throughout the film as well as the honest and real-life characters place us in the same town as them. Whether we are in Glidden, Iowa or New York, New York, we are there with the people of All the Real Girls and are able to experience each and every emotion as if they were our own.