David Theiss

Check it out.  ”The Facebook” movie gets a trailer and it looks pretty darn cool.  After seeing this I have no trouble believing that the story of the founding of Facebook can make a compelling movie.  And because Aaron Sorkin, my all-time favorite dramatic writer, penned this particular adaptation (from “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook”), it is certain to have all the love-it-or-hate-it cracker-jack dialogue, cute one-liners, and witty uber-smart and idiosyncratic characters – perfect for a story centering around a group of Harvard computer nerds.  I really hope this turns out to be good.  The media climate is right for this to hit and hit big.  All involved are very talented.

Here we are, this blog has lated a year and it’s time for my second annual summer movie preview.  This is a list of some of the biggest releases of the summer, some quick thoughts, and a gauge for how pumped I am for each release.  If things go like they did last year, I’ll probably see about three of these movies.  I honestly do want to see each and every one of them though.  Hopefully, I’ll get to at least half of them.

May 7th

IRON MAN 2

I think the original Iron Man was really overrated.  That may make it sound as though I didn’t like it, but I did – a lot.  It’s just that people made it out to be one of the greatest comic book movies ever created.  It’s not The Dark Knight.  It’s not even Batman Begins.  That being said, Mickey Rourke alone gets me in the theater.  There’s been nothing in any of the trailers that really has gotten me very pumped for it, but I’m hoping that this one can build off of some of the cool ideas of the first installment.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 8/10

May 14th

ROBIN HOOD

As probably many know, Gladiator is one of my favorite movies of all time.  I love Russell Crowe and believe him to be one of the greatest actors of his generation.  Director Ridley Scott, also having done Gladaitor, is already is a cinematic legend.  And even though Robin Hood looks like a half baked version of Gladiator, even though it’s PG-13, even though the story doesn’t look all that interesting – the moment I saw Crowe all bloodied up, bow and arrow in hand, I was pumped.  I hope they can recreate some of the magic that they did 10 years (!!!) ago.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 8/10

May 21st

MACGRUBER

I love the little sketches before and after commercials on SNL.  I think they’re hilarious.  I think Will Forte is one of the funniest guys going these days.  Heck, I thought he was funny when he was doing Abe Lincoln in Clone High on MTV.  And even though Saturday Night Live movies rarely pan out, I want to see it only to see what irreverent off-the-wall humor they come up with. Not a huge release, but I’m interested, and that’s more than I can say for 90% of what comes out most of the time.  Well worth a Sunday matinée.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 6.5/10

June 11th

THE A-TEAM

I don’t know anything about the show except Mr. T was in it and they had a van.  So, I’m not too familiar with the source material.  With that being said, everything in the trailer except the last 20 seconds looked pretty cool.  I’m not bursting at the seams to see it, but it’s the big beginning of June tentpole release, so there may be some redeeming qualities about it.  Right?

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 6/10

June 25th

KNIGHT AND DAY

This movie looks ridiculous.  Tom Cruise is about as unlikable and actor as there is anymore.  I’ve never liked Cameron Diaz.  But James Mangold has director some admirable films.  There’s just something about this movies that feels like it should have been made three years ago.  It’ll have good action though.  You can take that to the bank.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 6.5/10

July 2nd

THE LAST AIRBENDER

I feel as if a trend is emerging.  I’m not familiar with Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor do I want to be.  I think the teaser trailer looked a little stupid, and I’m pretty sure the movie is based on a American anime cartoon on Nickelodeon.  I’ve heard raves about how good it is and how it’s not a cartoon for kids, but having never had the pleasure of watching it, I can only go by what I see.  I will say that I do love a good fantasy epic, and this one looks to be as grand as they come.  Adding to my general distaste would be the fact that it’s an M. Night Shyamalan movie.  It’s a big release, but I only have marginal interest.  Sorry.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 7/10

July 16

INCEPTION

Now here’s a movie I can get excited about.  Watch the trailer and you’ll understand.  I really don’t know what it’s about, nor am I supposed to.  I think the least amount of information I have about this movie, the better it will be.  Christopher Nolan is a really interesting director and I can’t wait to delve into this one.  Mark you calendars, this one will be good.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 9/10

July 23rd

SALT

I’m about exactly as pumped for this as I am for Knight and Day.  This too feels like it should have been made in 2007.  I don’t know, it just feels dated.  Who is Salt?  The factor to which I care about the answer to that question is directly related to how much of my ticket someone else pays for.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 6.5/10

August 13th

THE EXPENDABLES

Now, this movie feels like it should have been made in the 80′s – and that’s a good thing.  I really liked the newest Rocky movie and I liked (although to a much lesser extent) the newest Rambo offering.  So for me, Sly Stallone has been doing alright lately in my book.  Add every other 80′s action star into the mix and create a plot out of thin air that allows these guys to go rampaging through a third world country and I say you’ve got about a $25 – $30 million opening weekend.  Mindless gore and destruction is good when all you claim to be is mindless gore and destruction.  I’ll be there for sure.

ANTICIPATION FACTOR: 8.5/10

ADDENDUM: As I did last year, the following is a list of movies that are coming out that I either a) didn’t feel like writing about but are still big releases, b) am not interested in at all, or c) have no knowledge of but feel that if I don’t mention them, I’ll look stupid when they make $350 million.  On that note, also playing this summer: Shrek Forever After (May 21st), Sex and the City 2 (May 27th), The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (May 28th), Survival of the Dead (May 28th), Killers (June 4th), The Karate Kid (June 11th), Jonah Hex (June 18th), Toy Story 3 (June 18th), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (June 30th), Predators (July 9th), The Adjustments Bureau (July 30th), Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (August 13th).

Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman

Directed by: Jason Reitman

Since this came out a few weeks ago, I won’t go into a big, long review or try to break the movie down all that much.  But for the sake of chronicling what movies I’ve seen, I’ll go ahead with a pretty quick review.

“Up in the Air” was great.  It stars George Clooney as Ryan Bingham - a guy whose job it is to fire people.  He’s called a “Termination Facilitator” and it’s his job to do the things that your spineless boss won’t: tell you that you’re (abruptly) out of a job.  He’s brought in by companies that are quickly downsizing – something that one would think is happening frequently these days.  Ryan follows a very strict lifestyle: he flies around the country for 300+ days a year – virtually living on a plane – and his only interactions are with the men and women he’s firing and his fellow nomads who he meets on hazy nights in hotel bars.  It’s a lonely life, but it is uniquely his.

The film is an interesting examination of a compelling lifestyle.  He’s not married but he has a family, though his two sisters really don’t know him.  It bothers him that he’s not close to his family, but that’s who he is.  Roger Ebert cleverly and accurately describes Ryan as “one of those people you meet but never get to know.”  He doesn’t apologize for this, but he’s never unlikable.  It’s just his makeup.  It’s in his DNA and he couldn’t get it out if he wanted to.

In all, the movie is extremely  poignant and topical.  It deals the realities of unemployment and hopelessness as it relates to losing your job in a really mature and sophisticated way. It is a movie that is perfectly married to the times and should be seen by everyone.  Clooney is great, the supporting cast who I haven’t mentioned here, is also great.  Jason Reitman, coming off of the success of Juno, has directed another interesting and important film.

Excellent, excellent work.

My Grade: A

P.S. Katie thought it was depressing.

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldaña, Stephen Lang, Giavanni Ribisi, Sigourney Weaver

Directed by: James Cameron

After 15 years of hype and anticipation, Project 880, or James Camerons’ Avatar, is finally here.  Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive and anticipation has reached a fever pitch.  Hell, Roger Ebert cited Star Wars in the first paragraph of his review to describe the experience.  Everyone knows the general story by now as it has been rehashed again and again in the media as of late so I won’t do so here.  The only question that remains is whether or not Avatar lives up to the hype.  Is it as good as everyone hoped it would be?  And the answer is: kinda.

Avatar is a pretty good movie.  That’s as far as I can go.  It’s not great by any stretch of the imagination and all the “four star” and “A” ratings that it’s getting are really boggling my mind.  Sadly, with a movie this big, it will turn out that if I don’t absolutely love it, most of my comments will be negative, and most people will take from this review the idea that I must obviously hate the movie.  And that couldn’t be further from the truth.  So, right from the beginning I’ll say it: Avatar is a good movie.  I liked it a lot.  I recommend it and you should definitely go see it.  But with all that being said, Avatar can be described as nothing else but a modest disappointment.  I feel similarly to this movie as I did to Inglourious Basterds.  Both were built up so much and were ultimately victims of their own hype.  I’ll try to break it down:

Story: At the end of the day, the story of the movie may be the biggest disappointment.  It’s completely trite and cliche and is based off the oldest of character archetypes.  There are no surprises or interesting character developments.  You don’t get any insight into any of the character nor do any of them particularly make any huge changes throughout the movie that the film doesn’t absolutely require them to.  Minus all the affects and artistic design, you have seen this movie before – many, many times.  And the saddest part is that its so predictable.  While it’s nowhere near as bad as the Star Wars prequels, something still feels very stiff and sterile; like there’s a fill-in-the-blanks book somewhere for directors that teaches them how to make “epic”  movies.  The whole film feels rushed (which is quite an accomplishment for a film that runs 2 hours and 40 minutes) and is lacking any actual “moments” that don’t constitute marveling at the technology or CGI.  Story details that should be given real time to breathe are discussed only in passing and with little attention.  To say the least, I expected a lot more.

And on top of that all, it’s really preachy.  The ignorant and greedy white man seeks to steal land and resources from an innocent and peaceful indigenous people.  The real-world overtones are so clunky and obvious they’re almost groan-inducing.  And even though I’m in film’s wheelhouse as far as my political leanings as they relate to the lessons of the movie – even I found it pretty lame (Note: using the term “shock and awe,” at any time, is retarded – sorry).

Performances: There are two actual performances in the movie: Zoë Saldaña who we only see as a CG character Neytiri, and Stephen Lang as the evil corporate mercenary Miles Quatrich.  Both are excellent and really anchor the movie.   Saldaña particularly pulls off quite a feat due to the fact that her performance is 100% motion-captured but feels true and authentic throughout.  Other than those two, the performances are all pretty poor.  Sam Worthington shows even less charisma than he did in Terminator Salvation and Sygourney Weaver is just going through the motions as the bleeding-heart scientist.  The script is much to blame as it doesn’t give them much to work with by way of memorable lines or witty dialogue, but with so much talent you would expect more.

Visual Effects: Quite honestly, the real star of the movie.  The environments are absolutely stunning.  Pandora is a living breathing world that always feels complete and tactile – it’s feels like a real place.  They far surpass the Star Wars prequels’ use of CG environments and finally moves beyond the video gamey feel that many of those backdrops had – i.e. it doesn’t feel like actors standing in front of a big painting.  The flora and fauna all feel appropriately beautiful  and the creature models are spectacular.  The Na’vi character models are also very good, but still fall short of being completely photo-realistic as Cameron intended.  Their facial expressions are particularly stunning in their realism as is the realism of the mouth movements when speaking.

3-D: This gets a “meh” in my book.  Some parts are really cool – particularly the flying scenes and anything having to do with real heights.  But for the most part the 3-D is just a novelty.  It’s cool and adds a little bit of flavor to the movie, but I’d like to see it again without the 3-D on the big screen.  Plus, it seems like the frame rate suffers in scenes with really fast movement – but that only happens a few times.  Particle effects and the smalls jellyfish like creatures that float around look pretty awesome, as well.

So, while the story isn’t as compelling as advertised, and despite all my gripes, the movie is still very good.  The middle of the film especially, when Sam Worthington’s character is learning the ways of the Na’vi, is where the movie is strongest as well as the final showdown between Sully and Colonel Quatrich.  Everyone should really go see it regardless of your movie interest for the sheer fact that it’s a true EVENT film – an event film of a quality we don’t seem to get anymore.

My Grade: (a mildly underwhelmed, but strong) B Read more…

I really liked the first one – didn’t love it.  And it definitely got overshadowed by The Dark Knight.  Robert Downey Jr. is one of the most under-rated actors of his generation and after the phenomenal “The Wrestler”, I hope Mickey Rourke continues his comeback tour.  This teaser came out earlier today, you may have already seen it, but it warrants a quick posting for sure.  To say the least, it looks pretty badass.  So everyone, enjoy this trailer and then wait the mere 5 or so  months until its release.

Looks like the trailer isn’t in a format that I can embed in my blog here right away, so follow the link below to check it out.  Once it gets onto YouTube in an appropriate quality, I’ll stick it in.   Until then, CLICK.

Starring: Robert De Niro, Drew Barrymore, Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale

Directed by: Kirk Jones

I’ve taken a few days off before writing about this for no other reason other than the fact that blogging has gotten a little tedious.  It’s hard to sit down at the computer and pump out three or four paragraphs these days.  I’m not overly busy, I think it’s just because I’m overly lazy.  But, in any event, Katie (shout out!) and I did see “Everybody’s Fine” this past weekend, so I’d really be slacking big-time if I didn’t take the time out to write at least a little tid-bit.

The general theme of the movie seemed to revolve around Robert De Niro as a widowed patriarch of a family trying to reconnect to his four children, three of which are played by Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, and Drew Barrymore.  Since all four of his children live as far away from each other as cinematically possible, the movie sends De Niro on a trip around the country on trains and automobiles (he doesn’t fly apparently for health reasons) surprising each child one at a time.

Going into “Everybody’s Fine” I had pretty indifferent expectations.  I figured Robert De Niro hasn’t been in a great dramatic picture since Jackie Brown, odds were I was going to be blown away by this movie either.

And I was right.

However, the movie is really good.  De Niro, even if he looks a little uncomfortable throughout, has genuine charm as the wandering father.  While each of his three children are only given limited screen time, their stories’ feel complete and complement the over-arching story arch nicely.  And even if no real resolution comes at the end of the film, there is an extremely touching scene involving De Niro speaking to a family member beyond the grave that is especially emotional (Katie was tears-down-her-cheeks crying).

“Everybody’s Fine” is just the movie I need.  It has primed the film pump and will hold me over until Avatar hits this Friday.  I’ll definitely be writing a bigger review for that – and hopefully in a more prompt manner than this one.

My Grade: B

A lot of you have probably seen some bizarre commercials for a movie being released this weekend called, “Where the Wild Things Are.”  To many, this film may not seem bizarre at all, but rather, extremely familiar and comforting.  That is because ”Where the Wild Things Are” is a movie based on a children’s picture book by Maurice Sendak about a mischievous child who (basically) travels to the land of big, fury, cute, monsters called the “Wild Things,” becomes their king, gets homesick, and goes back home.

The significance of the film lies with its director – Spike Jonze.  Jonze is a fascinating filmmaker who has worked in both film and in the music video medium.  Each of his works are unique, intensely personal, and never ever boring.  Just check out his music video filmography – he has directed some of the most memorable and original music videos in recent memory.

“Where the Wild Things Are” marks the first time that Jonze is making a film not based on a Charlie Kaufman screenplay.  Kaufman, as many know, is also a quirky, bizarre, and completely original writer who is responsible for such strange classics like “Being John Malkovich,” “Adaptation,” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” – the first two directed by none other than Spike Jonze.  Kaufman made “Synecdoche, New York,” a movie which I haven’t seen, but have heard is endlessly fascinating if not entirely incoherent.  Interestingly enough, Spike Jonze turned down the opportunity to direct that picture in favor of helming “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Long been rumored to be embroiled in turmoil – delays, re-shoots, studio dissatisfaction – “Where the Wild Things Are”  will finally see the light of day this Friday (October 16th).  And if the director’s past work is any indication (along with the trailer) of its quality and originality, it should be a very interesting film.

Katie and I decided to take a night to ourselves, which for whatever reason, happens less and less these days.  Since we rarely get to spend any meaningful time together, we decided to go to a quick dinner and then see a movie – the former of my choosing and the latter of hers.

The Tremont TapHouse

For dinner, we went to the Tremont TapHouse – a little bar-slash-restaurant situated in the trendy and perpetually up-and-coming Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland.  I went there after a late-night walk in the rain and really enjoyed the beer list and the pierogies I ordered – and since I’m really not into spending a ton of money on dinner with a big fat wedding bill looming later next year, I really dug the prices, as well.

Once we got there we were immediately struck by how crowded it was – bustling I think would be the term.  It was filled with groups of young professionals, all with Blackberry’s in tow, enjoying each other’s company and an end-of-the-week cocktail.  We snagged the last free table near the back and ordered our food.  We both got burgers so I’m not going to spend a whole lot of time on that.  They were both really good, the place was great with a fun atmosphere, we both really liked it.

The Invention of Lying

Starring: Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Jonah Hill, Louis C.K., Rob Lowe

Directed By: Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson

Next, we shot on over to the glitzy and glamorous Crocker Park Cinema in Manhattan Westlake to see UK Office genius Ricky Gervais‘ new comedy, “The Invention of Lying” – a film which takes place in a world where no one has the ability to lie and everyone tells everyone exactly what they’re feeling.  Gervais plays a frumpy “Lecture Films” writer who, after a horribly deflating date with Jennifer Garner, is fired from his job and learns that virtually no one likes him.  While drowning his sorrows, his brain clicks into gear and he stumbles upon the first lie mankind has ever heard.  Naturally, everyone believes him, and thus begin the shenanigans.

Gervais is his usual brilliant self.  He is self-deprecating, relatable, hysterical, and neurotic all at the same time.  His verbal ticks and subtle traits are in full force and are just as funny as the have always been.  He even gets to display some of his dramatic chops in a pretty touching hospital scene that really serves as the center of the entire film.  He is a natural comic actor and there needs to be more movies that center around him like this film and the extremely underrated “Ghost Town.”

Other than the rock-solid Gervias, the movie is full of surprises.  The first curveball the movie throws is the fact that it’s chock-full of huge movie stars who pop-up in small bit parts.  See if you can spot Edward Norton and Phillip Seymor-Hoffman in quick hitter roles – Johah Hill, Rob Lowe, Tina Fey, Jeffrey Tambour, Jason Bateman, and Gervais’s Office writing partner Steven Merchant all turn up and are all memorable without distracting from the story or the stars.

The second surprise is kind of new age message of the film.  The movie’s plot centers almost entirely around religion and the meaning of life and death.  They movie mocks and derides religion and its social purpose pretty overtly, which could turn some people off (no problem with me, however).  What is disappointing about this is that while death and religion are pretty heady issues to tackle, the movie doesn’t really have anything new or original or clever to say on the subjects and the movie devolves into a predictably  formulaic final reel that mildly disappoints.  In all though, “The Invention of Lying” is a nice little movie.  We both really enjoyed it as well.

In all, it was a lovely, and much needed, night out.

My Grade (for the movie not the entire night): B

Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent, Eli Roth

Directed By: Quentin Tarantino

Dan Trachtenberg: It’s by far his best movie since Pulp Fiction.

Jeff Cannata: It might be better than Pulp Fiction.

That little quote popped up in the middle of the Totally Rad Show’s review of Quentin Tarantino’s new movie “Inglourious Basterds.”  I’ve come to trust those guys and their opinions over the years I’ve watched their podcast, so naturally my hopes were high.  Quentin Tarrantino, while not my favorite modern director (that distinction goes to Paul Thomas Anderson), is without a doubt the most widely admired and arguably the most influential of the new-age, ”VCR film school” bunch.

So in short, is “Inglourious Basterds” better than “Pulp Fiction?”  No.

Is it his best movie since “Pulp Fiction?”  Honestly?  No.

Unfortunately, I have to say “Inglourious Basterds” is a modest disappointment.  It is the weakest of his big, tent-pole features (I’m conveniently excluding “Death Proof“) and is surprisingly self-indulgent and lacking focus.  The film basically boils down to four or five extended conversations that try to ratchet up the tension and suspense of an impending explosion of violence that hangs over every scene.  Most of these conversations involve Christoph Waltz’s Jew-Hunting Nazi Colonel Hans Landa.  He is the true star of the film.  The character has a smug creepiness that owns every scene he appears in.  Landa is often one step ahead of the audience, and we’re always aware of this, even if we don’t know exactly what information he has, which gives every exchange the prospect of turning bloody at a moments notice.  Waltz is simply excellent.

The disappointment belongs to the title characters: The Basterds.  The problem is that each one of them lack any resemblance of actual character – including Bard Pitt’s Aldo Raine.  Tarantino will go extended periods of time without them on the screen, which leaves the time we have with The Basterds feeling rushed and lacking any real meat.  These characters are nothing more than Nazi hunting cartoons (which isn’t entirely a bad thing all the time), and frankly I expect more from a QT picture.  That isn’t to say that the moments with them aren’t memorable: Raine convincing Nazi’s to rat out their comrades’ positions and the trio of Basterds speaking Italian before the film are all great and hilarious and masterfully crafted.

I don’t want to sound like this movie is bad.  It’s not.  In fact, it’s really good.  But we’ve come to expect greatness from Quentin Tarantino and this isn’t great.  His directing is flat and comes off very cliche.  It almost feels at times like he’s doing a parody of himself (i.e. the projection booth scene with it’s uber-slow-mo and overpowering score).  Also, the huge bits of dialogue go on too long at times and are a bit tedious – but these are all nitpicks.

Tarantino knows he’s earned the right to craft huge, extended scenes of nothing but witty and obtuse dialogue – he gets to do this because he’s Quentin Tarantino.  He knows we’ll watch and that we’ll love it.  And maybe that’s the problem.  Tarantino knows he’s good, and in “Inglourious Bastards” we have a movie from a director that has, for the first time in his career, relied upon his wealth of tricks (that are unquestionably uniquely his) at the expense of true substance and creativity.  But I liked this film a lot, regardless.

Anyway…

The final line of the movie goes like this:

Aldo Raine: You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this might just be my masterpiece!

We all get it, okay?  It’s a really good movie, Quentin.  But no – a masterpiece it is not.

My Grade: (a very, very solid) B

James Cameron, the director behind the Terminator franchise, “Aliens,” “True Lies,” and “Titanic,” is releasing a science fiction epic this Christmas entitled “Avatar.”  The project, which has been rumored for years, has been cloaked in secrecy up until recently.  A handful of intriguing stills have been released over the last few days building the anticipation for the trailer, linked below.  A lot of ballyhoo has been made as to Cameron’s use of cutting-edge CGI and in particular, the 3-D I-MAX technology he has supposedly revolutionized.  The trailer was released today and from the looks of it, has been met with a relitively lukewarm response.  Since “Avatar” will be Cameron’s true follow-up to the highest grossing film of all-time “Titanic,” there will be a considerable amount of hype around this project, which will only continue to build in the upcoming months, leading all the way to December 18^th when it’s set to be released.

Check out the trailer here.