Next Stop, Wonderland (1998)

This is a film I have wanted to watch for long time, but had a hard time tracking down a copy.  My motivation for watching this film was that Boston's most notorious DJ, Charles Laquidara makes an appearance in this film.  Unfortunately, his appearance is extremely short, and only stood out because of his voice, for those who recognize it.

The film itself is fairly good, and is labeled a romantic comedy, though it may be stretching the use of the word comedy.  It featured some good shots of Boston, as well as all outdoor shots being in Boston, make it clear this movie was filmed in Boston.  It makes a good nostalgic trip for those who know Boston, but offers little in the way of a tour of the city (not that was it intended to).

The cast of actors did well in all their perspective roles, though there was nary a Boston accent to be heard.  While Hope Davis is beautiful, she appears quite a bit younger in the posters for the film than she appears in the actual film.  Holland Taylor also appears in the film, who was hard to place, but turns out to have had a prominent role of the 80s sitcom Bossom Buddies.

Unfortunately, the attraction and attachment between the two lead characters was never suitably established, so their real motivation for getting together is unclear.  It would be nice if there had been a second part to this film, to show what made their relationship work, when all their previous relationships had failed, though perhaps we are supposed to deduce that from their personalities as shown in the film.

Zardoz (1974)

I was watching an episode of Futurama, and the professor had taken the crew to a uniform shop where they were trying on different uniforms.  I recongnized uniforms from Dune, Barbarella and Star Trek, amongst others.  But the professor was wearing such an outlandish uniform I couldn't understand why the writers would put him such a ridiculous and obviously made up uniform.  Later on, I did a little searching and found out how wrong I was.  I had found Zardoz.

Real Science fiction is when the author either comments on problems in society, while making the story in a future setting, or the consequences and implications of technology.

Space Fantasy is more like an adventure set in space, not usually examining the consequences and implications of technology.

Zardoz is not really either of these, though set in the future, the technology represented is all preindustrial.    Perhaps it is a questioning of the fallacies of immortality, much like the struldbrugs of Gulliver's Travels, but without the consequences of aging, and in that way could be considered science fiction.

The story starts of without much explanation, and with several puzzling events.  To say its strange is an understatement, but after the first few minutes, the story continues and is somewhat mundane, with a few strange events here and there.

It's hard to find anything outstandingly redeeming about this film, though you could say that Zardoz spouts a extreme right wing view, quite literally.

To be honest, it's difficult to comprehend why Sean Connery would make such a film. But after reading his bio, it seems after he quit the James Bond series (twice), few studios would hire him, which might explain why he made this film.

Kuffs (1992)

I didn't know this film existed, and I have a positive image of Christian Slater, though I have seen few of his films, I've always enjoyed his performances.  The film Heathers is one of my favorite movies.  I hadn't heard of any film Mila Jovovich had made before The Fifth Element, as I naively believed that was her first role.  I thought she was outstanding in that film, they way her character progressed from not speaking English to learning it step by step.  I also have seen very few films with Bruce Boxleitner (the title role in TRON) so that also peeked my interest.  Also Troy Evans is in this film.  You may remember him as having a prominent role in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.

My primary motivation in this film was to see Mila Jovovich.  I have never found her overwhelming attractive, and I thought her first scene in this film did little to change that image, I was surprised at how long her legs appeared.  It turns out she was very young when she made this film, only 15.

Anyhow this film has what I would consider a trade mark of Christian Slater,with a LOT of exposition, talking directly to the camera.  The director made some odd choices, giving the film a quirky feel.  The plot was interesting enough, making for an enjoyable, though not remarkable, film.

The Broken Chain (1993)

After catching the last half of the film Geronimo (1994), I did a little research and found that Wes Studi (who played the title role) had also made a TV film called "The Broken Chain" about the Iroquois Nation.  Wes Studi himself should be considered a (Cherokee) national treasure, but I don't want to go off on a tangent right now.

Anyhow, the film fairly accurately captures the historical events, as well as native American culture, along with the story that should be told.  It is certainly a significant historical event, one too often unknown and forgotten that everyone should at least have a basic understanding of, as the concept of a united nation was based on it, as was the foundation of the United States.

The only problem is that film seems to be lacking in realism in one respect, that is the over use of the English language.  While I release people don't like to read subtitles, it doesn't show an accurate reflection of how native American's would have primarily used their own language when speaking with each other.

Avatar

Now here is a movie I have been torn about watching.  I usually like science fiction, but with all the hype over this film, and James Cameron, I wasn't inspired to watch this film, but thought it was something I should check out at some point.

While James Cameron made two films which I thought were very well done and quite enjoyable (The Terminator and Aliens (Alien part 2), since those films I have felt he has been making films that have been vastly overrated.  I never cared for Terminator 2, as I thought it was trite.  In the original Terminator film, everything fit together perfectly, Kyle's story being completely without evidence (So it was impossible for anyone to discern that he was NOT crazy), the Terminator being pretty much unstoppable, but took bits  of damage and got worn down, etc.  In Terminator 2, it was just a story about two robots fighting, much of which didn't make sense.

Also, I have felt some resentment since Titanic over took Star Wars as the highest grossing movie.  Titanic did not create the phenomenon that Star Wars did (both in changing the movie industry, marketing and giving life to a new movie studio), and is vastly overrated, both as a film and for it's place in movie history.

As for the film Avatar itself, I fail to see what the big deal is.  It was.  A bunch of tall blue monkeys, in a black light world.  Also, blue skin is a cheap way to signify an alien race, and has been since it was first appeared in Star Blazers (Uchu Senkan Yamato).

The other problem with the film was that it was extremely predictable.  Of course the protagonist was going to sympathies with the alien race.  What other direction could the story possibly go in?  Basically, this was as South Park aptly described it "Dances with Smurfs".  The alien elements of the film take away from the possible significance of it, and make the film corny.

Also, the whole thing with the joining of the head tails made no sense.  There is no plausible reason that a cross species electrical plug would evolve.  The only thing that would make sense is that it was how they sexually reproduced, but in that case, it would be odd to say the least that they were bonding with animals and trees in that way.

As often happens with James Cameron's films, he doesn't get the real root of the character's dedication and makes up some odd element to justiy their dedication to their cause.  Instead of having the characters , there were odd electical currents running through the roots of the trees.  Like a need for a physical explanation for their bond with nature would make it clearer to the viewer, when it really just make it hokey.

Also, I am getting pretty sick of movies being given accolades for taking over the as the highest grossing film.  As the price of tickets go up, of course the amount of money a film can bring in will increase, Also, the continued increase in the population means there are more potential movie goers.  In the past there have been films that were considered so good that people went to see them repeatedly, some in excess of 10 or 20 times.  The number of tickets sold is a much better barometer of a films popularity (especially when taking the population at the time into consideration.)

Doraemon and the Robot Army

I was flipping through the channels and I have the Japanese channel on my favorites list, and I  saw the title Doraemon, and had a noslatigic feeling for this show so I decided I wanted to watch an episode of the show.  This was the closest I could get, and it is the first Doraemon movie I have watched.

Doraemon is a very popular children's TV show that has been running for more than 30 years.  Every year the studio releases a Doraemon movie in the theater which loads of kids go see.

I used to watch Doraemon in Japan for Japanese language listening practice.  I actually it was pretty easy to understand becuase the characters were talking about event happening around them, as opposed to other shows where the conversation often has little to do with the characters surroundings and it's easy lose the gist of the conversation.

Anyhow, in television format the show is fun, light and enjoyable.  In movie format, they try to make a more serious story, but I feel that detracts from the appeal of the Doraemon program.

I was also a bit surprised that they showed a pretty much complete naked female in this movie, but then again you have to remember that Japanese are not prudish about nudity, and do not feel it has negative connotations.

Pacific Heights (1990)

This film has been on my list for over a year, as it was recommend to me when I was learning about being a landlord.  A guy told me to watch this film, as it shows what a bad tenant can do.  Honestly, I think he was referring to the fact that in this film the bad guy takes tenancy (without paying any rent) and it is extremely difficult to get him out.  After that, the guy does a bunch of wild things that I don't think anyone could expect a tenant to do, but are vaguely possible.

Mathew Modine is in this film, but the only film I can ever recall seeing him in is Vision Quest, which I remember as a mediocre movie, and stands out more for the Journey song, "Only the Young".

After watching the film, I read some reviews, and I was surprised that the reviews came down so hard on the film.

As always, Michael Keaton gave a great performance, I thought, as he was great being professional when it was called for, and then switching to creepy.  I also enjoyed Melanie Griffith's performance, and I haven't seen a film that I didn't enjoy seeing her in (I have seen more of Melanie Griffith's films than you might imagine, though not intentionally)

As the advice I was given was "Anyone who wants to get into land lording should watch this this film" stands true, I recommend this film to with that same qualification.

Hancock (2008)

I had been planning on watching this film for quite a while, both for the superhero factor and for Will Smith.  I have always enjoyed Will Smiths films and intended to watch all of them, but that petered off.  Still I don't think he has made a bad film, though Bad Boys (1995) could be the exception, or at least blamed on Martin Lawerence.

I knew practically nothing about Hancock before I watched it.  All the pictures I had seen of the film merely confused me more, as they showed Hancock looking sort of like a homeless guy, though I recall one where he did look like an actual superhero.

The film itself was okay, and I give it accolades for being unprecedented.  Still, there were some things in the film that didn't make sense.  Hancock was supposed to be unaware of basic pleasantries, as well as having a complete disregard for property damage, but it's unfathomable as to how he could be oblivious to all that (was it supposed to be because he was drunk?).

The real problem with the film was when he discovered the other superpowered individual.  It was kind of like Highlander 2, which was a horrible mess.  From there, there were too many coincidental events, making a unique film into a bit of a let down.

Race to Witch Mountain (2009)

I have planned to watch this movie for quite a while, but haven't been motivated to do so.  A couple of days ago, I caught part of the movie on TV, and it looked interesting and a bit fun, so I thought I would go back and watch the whole thing.

As a kid, I watched the original film, and it's sequel I believe, so I thought I should see what they did with it.  Honestly, the original films were not that great, but that is not what they were striving for.  Disney was pumping out a lot of G rated live action films, which were good enough and entertaining, but not spectacular.  I did enjoy the film as a kid, but there were some pretty hokey special effects and a few inconsitancies which kinda stuck out.

With this new film Race to Witch Mountain, I wasn't expecting that improving the special effects would have a major effect on the quality of the picture, and it didn't.  It turns out that the place where I started watching the film from was near the middle, and the first hour or so proceeding it was not all that enthralling.

The whole mystery of the kids origin which was a key issue in the original film, was completely absent from this film.  The film was a mishmash of action, sci fi and a few other elements stuck in.  Added to that there was some kind of bounty hunter who wasn't particularly relevant, except for occasionally motivating the protagonists to vacate from their present location, as well as some questionable actions by the star of the film "The Rock", made this a rather mediocre film.

Starship Troopers

I've never heard anything compelling about this film that inspired me to watch it, but I've liked a number of Paul Verhoeven's films (Total Recall and Robocop) so I thought I would give it a shot.

Funny thing is, I played a computer game based on this film, so I was familar with the insects they battled before watching the film.  But some how I had never caught pieces of the film shown  on cable before.

The film was okay, but a bit short of the comedy elements from Robocop, and it lacked a compelling story that drove both Robocop and Total Recall.  It gave no sense of accomplishment of the characters, more like they were just lucky enough to survive the battles they were thrust into.  At the end, I felt like, "That's all?"  and "What happens next?"  Honestly, I think the computer game was better.

I was a surprised to see Clancy Brown (the Kurgen from Highlander) in this, as he always makes an impression.  Still, compared to some of his other characters, this one was less intimidating.

Red Tails

Being that this was a Lucasfilm release, I had considered watching it in the theater, even more so as it featured WWII dog fighting, which George Lucas had based his space battles on.  The preveiews looked promising, but some how I never made it to the theater.  Still, somewhere deep in my heart I hoped that this film would be a runaway success like Star Wars and add another franchise to Lucasfilm.

While I had read that the film didn't do great at the box office, I thought it was fairly well done as far as story elements went.  Some of the claims by the airmen will rather incredulous, as well as how many kills the squadron got, compared to nearly non existent losses.  While the air combat was good, it wasn't enough to make it as thrilling an experience as some other films which included dog fighting.

As for the name, it is interesting as it is not clear why it was called that name at first, and the name tells little about the content of the film.  Also such as name is Red Tails seems like it could be confused with the name of an animated feature.

Historically, this is a group and situations that people need to be aware of, and for that alone, it's good that it was made.  It was a good film, but perhaps not a great one.

Kagemusha (1980)

Between the time when George Lucas had finished Return of the Jedi, but before he had created the prequels, he executive produced a number of films.  I, as a loyal Star Wars fan, thought it was my duty to see those films.  I have watched a number of them, Twice Upon A Time, Tucker: A Man and his Dream, Mishima: A Life in Four Acts, but some how I had over looked Kagemusha, which was directed by Akira Kurosawa, who had influenced George Lucas in his creation of Star Wars, with his film "The Hidden Fortress".

I have watched a number of Akira Kurosawa's films, and I have found them all to be good, though they have all been in historical settings in the age of samurai, so you would need to enjoy those types of films to find this film interesting.

I found this film to be pretty good, though strangely the color distracted me a bit (as most of his films I have seen were in black and white), as it took me out of the historical frame of mind a bit.  I had imagined the costumes to be a bit more muted than they were.  I do find some Japanese films lacking in highs and lows, as well as challenges for a protagonist to over come.  There is no great heroic moment in this film. 

Dungeonmaster

I was looking for a T-shirt with the quote made by Adam Savage (from Mythbusters) that he said "I reject your reality and substitute my own".  I had assumed this was an original quote by him, but as it turns out, it was actual taken from the 1985 film Dungeonmaster, which inspired me to watch this film.

It was quite an odd film, as it started out with a couple, of whom the female was jealous of the amount of time the man was spending with his computer.  It rapidly switched to the couple being thrust into various situations, as dictated by Richard Moll, of Night Court fame, most of which were tests of the man's ability to resolve those situations.  This was largely accomplished by the man using his trusty computer which was part of an armband he wore.  The computer seem to spontaneously gain abilities which allowed it to resolve the situations.  Blatant case of deus ex machina.

There were half a dozen of these situations the couple found themselves in, and apparently each one was directed by a different director (as at least 3 directors were listed in the opening credits).

Overall, the film was rather unsatisfying.  Each situation was resolved fairly easily, giving little excitement to the film.

BTW, the quote comes fairly early in the film, just in case you were interested.

Walk Proud

While watching this film, I couldn't recall why I had added it to my list, but afterward I found out the actress in the film was Sarah Holcomb, who was in Animal House (The girl Pinto was with), as well as in Caddyshack (though I didn't realize it was the same girl, as she had much shorter hair). Apparently she made 4 films in 2 years and then pretty much disappeared from the face of the earth. She made one other film that I haven't seen, called Happy Birthday Gemini, which I am now on a quest to track down. Since it hasn't been released on DVD, the only copies I have seen for sale are VHS copies on ebay. I don't even know if I have a working VCR anymore...

The film also featured Robby Benson, who I had never heard of before, but some regard him has having a note worthy career.

Anyhow, I thought the film was a pretty accurate portrayal of gang membership and the concept of macho and chicano pride that made Emilio (Robby Benson) feel that being in a gang was a positive thing. The film follows him as his way of thinking changes towards the gang, to the point where he eventually quits. While the film didn't blow me away, I thought it was fairly well done.

2046

Note: I've watched quite a few movies over the last few weeks, but haven't updated for a while.

This movie was bizarre. I was originally motivated to watch it because Gong Li (Raise the Red Lantern) was in it. I saw a lot of her films in the 90s, but have haven't seen many of them since. But in this film, she didn't didn't particularly stand out. Also, I like Chinese films and the title gave me the impression that it had some kind of science fiction aspect to it (it doesn't to any significant degree).

The film has some kind of indication of time travel, but most of is just about an affair a man has with some woman in Hong Kong in the 60s with a lot of social turbulence going on. There are occasional flashes to some kind of time train, which also inexplicably has Kimtaku (from the Japanese pop group SMAP) on the train and speaking in Japanese (with subtitles for the viewers). While his existence in the film makes no sense, also the fact that he speaks no Chinese but some has a conversation (more like two monologues) with a Chinese speaking man on the train is further exasperating.

If you forget the superfluous moments of the film, the affair is vaguely interesting, and the man's refusal to make any sort of commitment to the woman, is baffling. Those elements made an otherwise bizarre film somewhat interesting. I am unsure how this film was received, but I failed to find out what the draw to the film was supposed to be.

Apparently, this the third in a series of films, but I haven't been motivated to go back and watch the other two.