Tuesday, May 19, 2009

movie time

so i wasnt going to do a summer movie post because it requires some effort, which i clearly dont put into this blog. but the summer movie preview post is such a rich tradition here at kent drive that i didnt want it to end. plus, faithful reader josh baron commented that he wanted more posts on the blog and since i only have about 3 readers left, i have to listen to their requests if i want to keep thrm. so without further ado, summer movies:

what ive already seen:

star trek.

before the comment from sr. baron i was already thinking about posting about star trek. its a fabulous movie. critics loved it and with good reason. ive mentioned it before that i dont always follow what the critics like, but if 95% of all the critics that saw a movie gave it positive reviews, then its safe to assume youll at least get your money's worth. im no 'trekky.' never liked the show, but they sure did make this star trek hip and cool. and since that is what i am, i liked the movie. really though. this movie is everything you hope out of a summer blockbuster. not flawless, but very entertaining and very well done. just see it.

the brothers bloom.

were it not for roommate dave i would have never known this movie even existed. i dont know if its going to get a wide release, but it opened last weekend in select theaters in new york and l.a. dave said it would be great and it was. im glad we went. he gave a great recap about the movie on his blog (blog plug). dave also happens to be the guy that is the co-host of our popular, critically acclaimed podcast (podcast plug). i really enjoyed it. it had so many random funny moments. plus it was just a good story and a very rich ending.

for the kids:

up.

oh pixar. you are so brilliant. even when you arent considered brilliant its just because people dont pause to ponder what you have done and realize the subtle brilliance. an old man attaches balloons to his house and it floats away but when it does he didnt realize there was a chubby cub scout on his porch. who thinks of this stuff? nellie has been talking about seeing this movie for about a year now, so im pretty sure we will go.


based on kids stuff, only probably not for the kids:

transformers and GI joe.

im sure ill see both of these movies. probably with a bunch of dudes. we will talk about how great life was before we had to worry about life. we will reminisce about duke, flint, snake eyes, bazooka, star scream, optimus prime and every other thing that made being a child in the 80s better than being an adult in the 2000s. unfortunately for both of these movies, im pretty sure the reminiscing will be better than the actual movie. probably because the plots wont be anything better than what we could have or did make up while playing with the action figures when we were 10.

other blockbusters:

terminator.

last terminator movie i saw was T2. i guess there was a T3, but i had completely forgotten about it. this movie has christian bale in it. i like him so i might go see it. remember that 'batman' movie he was in last summer? remember how awesome it was? that was the highlight of my summer. well, besides getting married of course (love you nellie). seriously though, if i hadn't gotten married, it would totally have been number 1 on the list. i spent all summer studying for one test. i took one break in the month of july and that was to see that movie, which might have added to the greatness of the movie. you could have put me in an eddie murphy or adam sandler movie and i would have waslked out praising it like it was 'casablanca,' 'ben hur' or even 'toy story.'

angels and demons.

i havnt read the book so id rather not see this yet. not sure if ill ever get around to the book so i very well may never see the movie. even once i do though, im sure ill just be disappointed with the movie just like everyone else that loves a book but still goes into a movie with ridiculously high expectations that for the first time ever the movie will be as good as the book. if steven speilberg and jurrasic park couldnt pull it off, i dont think anyone ever will.

except for maybe this one:

where the wild things are.

so i honestly dont know what to make of this movie. some people are very excited about it. personally i think the 'wild things' sort of look like this guy from the muppet movies, who i was always afraid of as a little kid. i guess his name is 'sweetums.' i only remember him running around and screaming and chasing people, which is sort of what this movie looks like.

im sure ill go see it though for two reasons. 1. ill see pretty much any movie that uses an arcade fire song in the trailer. especially a b-side version of 'wake up.' great trailer song = decent movie at least (sound logic right?)

2. the director is spike jonze. a white dude that spells his last name with a 'z.' i dont know what movies he's done, but he's directed two of arguably the best music videos of all time. weezer's buddy holly and the ever famous beastie boys 'sabotage' video. thats a good enough resume to see what he can do on the big screen.

ok, so im running out of steam on this post and there is a ton im missing. so ill just rattle them off:

harry potter: i never see them. why start now?

dance flick: isnt it sad that some people are unemployed in this country while others are employed to make junk like this? and they are employed because unemployed support the junk by seeing it.

land of the lost: does actually look funny. im pretty sure we will get around to seeing it at some point.

night at the museum: first one was surprisingly good because i wasnt expecting much. this time im ready for it and expecting mediocrity so im skeptical it will deliver. plus, its called 'battle at the smithsonian.' the least they could have done was put it overseas. i dont know why, but somehow it would be better in europe. 'duel at the lourve.' or 'pandemonium at the prado.' or 'vengeance at the vatican.' admit it, you would rather see any one of those than the smithsonian.

the proposal: nellie told me last night she is excited to see this movie. im a huge ryan reynolds fan. the movie looks terribly predictable but hopefully he will have a couple of moments that make it so i feel like i only lost $9 by seeing it and not $10.

500 days of summer
: another dave axelgard suggestion. looks great. probably better than the proposal.

and finally:

year one.

at first i wasnt that excited about this movie. any time any former cast member from 'arrested development' does anything, im intrigued and always want to support them in their endeavors by giving $10 to the movie studio that produced their movie as though it will in some way bring arrested development back to tv. it wont, but at least i have 30 rock now. anyways, i was intrigued because this has george michael bluth, or michael cera. but then i saw the preview and i thought it looked really funny. i dont always like jack black, but sometimes he can be really entertaining. this looks like an enjoyable summer movie. funny, but probably not brilliant funny. entertaining, but not moving. just shut off your brain and enjoy life for a couple hours because its the summer and that is how you are supposed to live life, even when you are no longer 10.



sorry its a shorter movie preview post than normal. it just needs to be long enough and entertaining enough to keep josh faithful. hopefully it is.