mconrad3

Member since 1/13/2009, last signed in awhile ago.

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Interested in:Comedy, Comedy Drama, Historical Film, History, Horror, Science Fiction, War, Western

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Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War

Tae Guk Gi
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"I'd be the first to admit that I haven't been up on foreign films as much as I probably should. One of my favorite films from last year (Let the Right One In) was made in Sweden. Today I had the opportunity to sample South Korean cinema in the form of Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War. I have never seen a war film that didn't deal with Amerian centered conflicts. Letters from Iwo Jima, while impressive, was still a primarily American film. Tae Guk Gi, on the other hand, is a product of Korea in which the American involvement is only mentioned in passing. The story is of two brothers living in South Korea who are drafted into service following the outbreak of hostilities that would last for three years and serve as a proxy war during the Cold War. The view from the trenches ain't pretty, but that's what makes this film important. Not unlike Saving Private Ryan, this film places a more human face on soldiers in the war. They aren't the brave war heroes marching off to victory. They' ... " [More]

Waking Life

Waking Life
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"Despite my reverence for this film, there isn't much I can say about it. It is one of those films that I find difficult to describe to people who haven't seen it before. I recommend it, but I don't know if I can say anything else about it other than I think it is ineffable to a degree. It's a film about philosophy, but it's not a documentary. It's a film about a journey, but it's not exactly a cohesive story. It's animated, but it's rotoscoped so there's life action under the sketches and inking. It is a film that truly feels like a dream. You enter into it completely lost in what, if anything, is going on. It jumps around, but not so much that you lose the little footing you have. The main character sort of floats through different scenes and we, as an audience, go along with it. There's not necessarily a rhyme or reason to the plot movement, but it doesn't have to be...because it's a dream. Stuff will occur and things will be said that you'll barely remember (not unlike a real dr ... " [More]

Singin' in the Rain

Singin' in the Rain
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"I was never a big fan of musicals. I had to participate in them throughout my elementary school career and even landed a few lead roles, but something about randomly breaking out into song didn't really jive with me. It's probably because it had been parodied so many times in my childhood shows and films that I couldn't take it seriously. Overall even the modern musicals haven't really appealed to me. Of all the musicals I've seen though, the ones from the forties, fifties, and sixties are the ones I can sit through. Singin' in the Rain is no exception. Taking place just at the beginning of the talkie era of filmmaking, I was quite intrigued by the plot and story of the film. In all honesty, I wasn't expecting that much of an interesting story, being that I was of the assumption the entire movie was about singing in the rain. I admit now that I was wrong, and that I actually enjoyed the tale constructed before me. It may be only because it is one of the few original movies I've see ... " [More]

Requiem for a Dream

Requiem for a Dream
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"It's not often that someone manages to successfully create the genre of Greek tragedy in a modern setting. If I were to pin any director's name to such a project, it would be Darren Aronofsky. That being said, he's already managed to create said-tragedy in Requiem for a Dream. The story about a group of druggies attempting to break out of their sorry states but ultimately failing and ending up worse off then they they started is something that, had it not revolved around drugs, could have come from Sophocles. It is a story that is well constructed and well executed, but a story I can only watch a handful of times over a period of years. I can only liken watching Requiem of a Dream to watching a train wreck happen. On some primal, horribly morbid and vulgar level, it is entertaining and interesting to watch. It isn't until you realize you're watching people being hurt that you start to feel bad. In most cases, this transition last only seconds, but in Requiem for a Dream, the audien ... " [More]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotles ...
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"Eternal Sunshine is a film that I seem to enjoy the more I watch it. The first time I saw it, it struck a chord with me. At the time there was this girl in my life that reminded me very much of Clementine and I think that's what first drew me into the film. The thing is, though, as I watched it a second time, I realized there was much more to it than the quirky love interest. There were a few themes going on that also rang true when I discovered them within the storyline. It's not a mainstream movie, but I'm counting that on the side of the pros. That being said, it no doubt does not appeal to people who aren't interested in thinking about what their watching. Aside from dissecting a relationship from the end backwards, I found this particularly intriguing kearnel commentary that may not have been intentional, but nevertheless spoke to me. It was the idea seen in many Greek and Shakespearian tragedies: fate cannot be escaped, and some things are meant to be. I'm not saying that the ... " [More]

Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"Rachel Getting Married is one of the few Oscar nominated flicks I was at all interested in seeing. If there's anything that floats my boat as much as dark comedy, its dysfunctional families. Anne Hathaway plays recovering addict and sister to the bride as she reaquaints herself with her family in the closing days before the wedding. It's definitely an unmitigated view of a family during get togethers. The handheld camera and the choice of there being only music within the narrative makes you feel like it's a documentary. There are moments that make you cringe, make you laugh, and make you pause to take a breath. All of it works. I wasn't truly aware of Anne Hathaway's acting range outside of romantic/tween dramedies until this film. Turning a 180 from the roles she's usually known for, she doesn't waste any time getting into character. The same can be said for the rest of the cast, as the whole thing feels again like a documentary. Some of the moments I found so akin to moments at ... " [More]

Idiocracy

Idiocracy
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"It's a shame I didn't get around to seeing Idiocracy until I did. Mike Judge is one of my favorite comedic creators, but I wasn't aware he had done anything live action since Office Space, another cult classic. The issues with release certainly hampered its chances at a wider following, but I think considering the material and time of its completion wouldn't have helped it. Luke WIlson and Maya Rudolph play two people from the present accidentally frozen only to be woken up in a future where the culture revolves around all things stupid and/or redneck. The film pokes fun at just about every thing corporate and conservative America has to offer, but it doesn't have much depth to back it up. The raw, dark humor was enough to get more than a few laughs out of me throughout the course of the story. In the back of my head, I was thinking how absurdly plausible the dystopian future depected here is. The overall stupidity of the society and the punches thrown at Fox and NASCAR Dad culture ... " [More]

Body of Lies

Body of Lies
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"Ridley Scott is always going to be one of my favorite directors. His work on movies like Blade Runner, Alien, Black Hawk Down, and Kingdom of Heaven always stick in my mind after I watch them. I wasn't expecting much from him for this film, however, so I suppose it is best that way. The trailer didn't interest me very much and it's my personal opinion that Ridley needs to do more sci fi if he wants to socially commentate properly.The film is an adaptation of a novel of the same name about a CIA agent who has to gets a ground's eye view of the things going on in the Middle East. The message it's trying to send is good, but I think it gets lost in its own setting. Going into the film, people are focused more on the overall good vs. bad conflict and they lose some of the nice subtleties Scott throws in the background. And subtletly is one of the things I always thought he does well in his films. For the most part, we're getting hung up on trying to catch the terrorist and put less emp ... " [More]

Night of the Comet

Night of the Comet
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"Night of the Comet is by no means a "good" film by normal standards. It is rife with plotholes, clunky dialogue, and B-movie acting. HOWEVER, I can't help but enjoy it. It is 80s in every sense of the word and I am irrevocably drawn to it despite all of its flaws. Set in LA during a fictional comet strike, the plot revolves around sisters Samantha and Regina who must survive on their own after the comet's...well, I don't know what, but people either turned into orange dust or flesh-eating zombies. (I know you're already wondering what's not to like aout this flick). I'm sure in other hands it could be fleshed out and turned into some sort of Omega Man knock-off, but it's the corniness that makes this movie. As I've said, the acting and story are what you'd expect from a Sci Fi Channel weekend movie. The lead actors don't put on terrible performances, but some of the lines they have to run through are hilarious in their own right. ("We can say fuck, but let's substitute 'have sex' w ... " [More]

Touch of Evil

Touch of Evil
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"I suppose it should be noted that, before I continue, I am commenting on the so-called "director's cut" that is supposedly as much the director's cut as that of Blade Runner. From what I have been told, the studio threw in as much footage as possible whether it perhaps belonged or not. It is clear that you can see Orson Welle's style behind the shots and composition, but it is clear there are elements of this film that belonged on the editing room floor. The story is clearly B-movie material, but it still doesn't meet up to my expectations of what to expect from a B-movie by Orson Welles. The biggest issue I noticed is the pacing. Throughout the entire ordeal, it is very difficult to figure out how this plot moves along. Characters show up that appear all of three times and have histories that are never really explored, while two dimensional characters show up all throughout the film and stick around solely to annoy and build tension. I can understand having fun with things like tr ... " [More]

Zack & Miri Make a Porno

Zack and Miri Make a Porno
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"I should probably start by saying that I am a rabid Kevin Smith fan. This is not to say I think he can do no wrong, but one day I would be more than happy to be as successful as he is today. On small budgets and short, indie style shoots, Smith has acquired a fanbase most directors at his level don't possess. He's turned into that aloof musician that releases an album every few years and you hope it'll be just as good, if not better, than the last. Zack and Miri Make a Porno, while not my all time favorite of his films, delivers on most parts and despite its faults remains a genuinely funny movie. The film stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as high school friends and roomates who are forced to film a porno in order to make payment on their month's behind bills. The cast is much more high profile than any of Smith's other films, and some might even be mislead to believe it is a Judd Apatow production. That being said, the acting is also of a higher calibur than most of his films. ... " [More]

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane
By mconrad3 in mconrad3 Blog
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"Few films can claim the laurels rested on Citizen Kane. Fewer still were made before 1960. Even today, Citizen Kane can be watched as if it were made yesterday. It serves as a testament to the film and the men behind it, namely Orson Welles, who propelled it to such a degree of fame among the film community. Loosely based off of newspaper mogul William Randolf Hearst, the film originally sparked controversy over the portrayal of the titular characters life. Today, however, it is an enjoyable trip back in time covering the societal climate from the 1890s to the early 1940s. There are a lot of things about this flick that are ahead of its time. The kind of shot composition and transition tricks used throughout the film are still eye catching. Sitting and watching it I wonder how they managed to pull off some of the things they did considering the year it was made. Also stunning are the sets and make-up, especially for the aging done to the characters. Welles was in his twenties when ... " [More]