minerwerks

Member since 7/8/2007, last signed in awhile ago.

"The devil can't take your song"

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Personal statement: "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we're uncool." - Cameron Crowe

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The Apple

Review: The Apple
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
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"Oh... my... God. I have a friend obsessed with the most obscure and bizarre movies ever seen, and when I happened by the other day, he was starting to watch this 1980 musical about a couple of kids from Canada seduced by a music business empresario. The female lead is Catherine Mary Stewart, known affectionately to many fans of 80s films from her roles in 'The Last Starfighter,' 'Night of the Comet' and 'Weekend at Bernie's.' The Male lead is some generic pretty boy with terrible acting skills and a resemblance to Bryan Singer (yeah, odd). The film is set in "the future" of 1994, where big corporations control the citizens. The master of it all is Mr. Boogalow, who surrounds himself with androgynous servants. Almost everyone in the film speaks with either a monotone or an exaggeratedly effeminite tone - until the middle of the film where we inexplicably are given a stereotypical Jewish mother character for a few scenes. At the beginning, we get the simple "seduction of the innocent ... " [More]

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Review: 'Infinite' Enjoyment
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
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"After seeing the trailer for 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist,' I joked to a friend that if someone were to design a movie specifically for me, this would probably be it. Let's break it down.'Nick and Norah' appeared to be...a) a teen comedy with a better than average chance of being good...b) with a dash of whimsy and unabashed romanticism...d) that takes place over the course of one night...d) from an up-and-coming director with an indie pedigree...e) featuring two appealing young stars...f) and a hip indie music soundtrack.I suppose if none of the above appeal to you, it probably won't matter whether I liked the movie or not. But if you can accept my claim to be able to fairly judge something so in tune with my sensibilities, you should read on. (footnote: I point to one 'Juno' as a film that seemed so right up my alley, yet left me a little cold. Good movie - cute even - but not in my top ten of the year.)Nick (Michael Cera) is a music nut who has recently been dumped. He wa ... " [More]

Re:Summer Palace
By minerwerks in Spout Mavens
"My Spout Maven review of 'Summer Palace': http://www.spout.com/blogs/min erwerks/archive/2008/10/5/3590 5.aspx As suggested, "review" is in the subject header and a recommendation is included (Ang Lee's 'The Wedding Banquet,') " [More]

Brokeback Mountain

Spout Maven Review: 'Summer' Lo ...
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Palm Pictures' DVD of 'Summer Palace' arrived adorned with a 'BANNED BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT' banner and reviews touting sex and politics "on full boil." In reality, this tells me about good old American hype than anything about the Chinese government. While interesting, the film wasn't quite as hot as the quotes imply.Yu Hong (Hao Lei) is a young girl from northern China near the border of North Korea. She travels to Beijing to attend University in the late 1980s. Upon meeting fellow student Li Ti (Hu Lingling), Yu Hong begins to open up to the new experiences the school and the city have to offer, as well as her awakening passions. These passions are further drawn out when she meets Zhou Wei (Guo Xiaodong), and the two become lovers.As a backdrop to the personal drama, there are hints of a growing political unease, which culminates in many of the students taking part in the famous demonstration in Tiananmen Square. The swift reaction of the Chinese government sends the various ... " [More]

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I liked it, is that a 'Shock'?
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
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"I am not a child of the 70s. I say this because it seems to be one of the main reasons I do not share the same reverence for the odd spectacle productions of that decade like 'Tommy' or 'The Man Who Fell to Earth.' I was going to throw 'Heavy Metal' in there, which is certainly a product of the 70s, even though it came out in 1981. Which is also the year that this sort-of sequel to 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' came out. Now, as much as I thoroughly enjoy 'Rocky Horrror' (with and without the crowd participation), I can buy into many of the criticisms of that film. They pitched the tone a bit too seriously, the pacing is erratic, and the movie never really communicates the same idea that the stage show originally did. But 'Shock Treatment' is something completely different, and it struggles to be taken on its own terms. The All Movie guide says it is "hesitantly embraced" by 'Rocky Horror' fans, but that rings as a prespective of someone on the outside observing the freaks. There ... " [More]

In the Company of Men

Is this Indie Cred?
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
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"At long last, I sat down today to watch the documentary 'Reel Paradise' which chronicles the final month of John Pierson's adventure running a movie theater in Fiji. As a long standing admirer of Mr. Pierson, I was excited when I first heard about this film, but since I couldn't find one in a store locally, I unfortunately put off viewing for a couple years. The film was certainly worth the wait, succeeding as a celebration of film and a travelogue of a Western family living among the natives of the island. The experience of watching the film was quite enlightening and helped me reconnect with my enthusiasm for the movies. I can also honestly say that I had one of the most pleasant and surprising experiences ever watching a film. About three-quarters of the way into the film, John Pierson's son Wyatt is practicing a speech he will give to the audience at the evening's screening. Proud Papa John is listening from the very back of the theater, as seen below. Why would I be surprised ... " [More]

Re:Mad Lib # 5: Just Plain Mean
By minerwerks in Movie Games
"[quote user="SkyPilot"] 22. animal [/quote] Badger " [More]

Wall-E

E Good?
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Last year's Super Bowl featured a car ad with a depressed assembly-line robot who jumps off a bridge. The car company faced some controvery over the suicide angle, and this just goes to prove exactly what I took away from the spot - they successfully managed to give a personality to a machine. Why else would people get so worked up over a hunk of metal toppling into the river? It's hard not to think of this watching Pixar's 'WALL-E,' which also hangs on the ability of the storytellers to make us care about a machine. WALL-E is the last of a fleet of waste management robots designed to scurry around Earth's surface and pile our trash into towers. This particular robot, however, has become fascinated with the remnants of our world - a video tape of 'Hello, Dolly!,' christmas lights, Zippo lighters, bubble wrap are among the items brought back to WALL-E's makeshift home. One day a sleek probe named EVE is left on Earth and WALL-E is smitten. He watches sheepishly from afar as EVE mome ... " [More]

Sub topic: Review or Not a Review?
By minerwerks in Spout Feedback
"I'm now curious whether you've considered separating items that appear on a film's page into ones that came directly from "Write A Review" versus ones that include a link to a movie. I've done some posts that link to several movies, but my post doesn't provide as much context for someone who wants to read JUST about the linked movie. For instance, I mention other Robert Zemeckis films in a review of 'Back to the Future' but on the page for 'Forest Gump,' it shows my post with little 'Forest Gump' content. If a movie page had two sections - "Reviews of this film" and "Discussions that include this film," it might be more helpful. Just my two cents. " [More]

Helvetica

Dear Clearwater Public Library ...
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Why have you had two copies of the DVD 'Helvetica' in "Processing" for over a month? You make me sad. " [More]

Get Smart

Not so Smart, But Not so Dumb
By minerwerks in minerwerks Blog
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"There are two things I expected from this big-screen reinvention of 'Get Smart.' First, I figured Steve Carell would be charming and amusing (note I did not require 'hilarious') and second, that Anne Hathaway would be quite fetching. Expectation one turned out to be right on, and expectation two was actually surpassed. The question remains, however - is this enough to actually recommend the film? As a fan of much 60s pop culture, I was completely aware of the TV series 'Get Smart' but I never watched any complete episodes. I can imagine the tone from much of the contemporary sitcoms of the time, though. I don't understand the outright vitriol against the idea of making a film with the characters and basic setup of the original without being faithful to the style or tone, however. There are people who consider this an "abomination," and that's just a flat out overreaction. The truth is that this film is ultimately harmless and nowhere near as offensive as I'd feared. In the context ... " [More]

Re:Manda Bala
By minerwerks in Spout Mavens
"Holy crap, this was a great film. I watched a couple weeks ago, but exactly what to say about this took some pondering. I still don't think I did it justice, but here's an attempt: http://www.spout.com/blogs/min erwerks/archive/2008/6/26/3172 2.aspx " [More]