It's been more than half a year since my last post of this type. I've been busy enjoying all this stuff instead of actually writing about it, but I'll try to post as much as I can.
The Host - This Korean monster movie has the distinction of being the most popular film in Korean cinema history. It's easy to see why when you watch this film. The previews of this film make it seem like some silly monster movie, and part of it is. The aspect of the film that appealed to me the most, which the previews didn't show was how much of a family drama this is.
This movie opens in a U.S. military morgue in Korea where an American military pathologists commands his Korean subordinate to dump bottles of formaldehyde down the drain. This is based on a true incident that occurred in 2000. The rest of the movie, of course, did not. Because all that hazardous formaldehyde was dumped down the drain, a gigantic organism, The Host, becomes mutated from a fish in the river where a Korean family has set up shop. The Host attacks people along the river and eventually takes the family's daughter. She is believed dead, but later calls them by cell phone trapped in a sewer which she can't escape.
The rest of the movie follows the family as they each work separately and together to find their youngest family member. There are many funny and scary moments involving the monster and the family, but like I said earlier, what I liked the most was the drama of the family trying to save a loved one. The directing and the writing along with the actors who play the family, make you really care for them. Highly recommended.
Happy Feet - everyone who knows me knows that one of my favorite things in life is a Pixar movie. If it's a CG movie and it's not Pixar, then I won't bother. But I'm happy to say that Happy Feet is easily the best non-Pixar CG movie, and would fit alongside side any of their movies any day. Obviously influenced by the recent documentary March of the Penguins, Happy Feet follows the life of Mumble, the ugly duckling
What's great about this movie? I love how it integrates music into the lives of penguins. In this movie, all Penguins can sing and have their own song. They sing to each other to find their true loves. Of course, our main character Mumble can't sing. But what he lacks in singing ability, he has in dancing and tapping ability. The story is your typical ugly-duckling/outsider who wins over everyone, but it's done so well. The music is comprised of modern popular music and fits in perfectly. Some of the choices seem odd, but that's the charm. Think Moulin Rouge.
This movie's got it all, great writing, great direction, great music, and a great message to boot about us and the world we live in.
3:10 to Yuma - Easily one of the best movies to come out last year or any year, really. What a pleasure it is to see two of this generation's greatest actors (Russell Crowe & Christian Bale) at the absolute top of their game. Crowe may be one of those controversial figures, but who the hell cares when we get performances like this. Christian Bale on the other hand carries none of the controversy, but has acting ability in spades. He is so good in everything he does that I fear for his health because he is known as such a hardcore method actor and in almost every movie he is in he portrays a character who goes through so many emotional and physical highs and lows.
This movie follows Bale, who plays a family man just barely getting enough finances for his family to get by. Crowe portrays the leader of an outlaw gang who kill and steal to get by in life. Once Crowe is captured, he is to be sent on the 3:10 train to Yuma where he is to be imprisoned. It's not as easy as it sounds, because Crowe's crew are not far behind trying to free him. The subtle nuances and twists that develop, like those between Crowe and Bale, and Bale and his son, are just so note-perfect and play out in such a fashion that makes this movie such a joy to experience.
These two actors alone really do give Oscar-worthy performances (god I hate using Oscar-worthy as an adjective because the Oscars can be such a joke), but what really elevates this movie is a tight script, sure direction, and great supporting performances all-around. Whatever happened to the great Western genre? Well with 3:10 to Yuma, we can safely say it's still around, it was just taking a break. Just go see it.
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters - Ah, video game world records, what have we come to? It may seem like a dumb and useless subject, but this movie is neither. It is compelling and well worth a watch. What makes this documentary so compelling is that it plays out like a well-scripted drama, where we clearly have a good guy and a bad guy. You really can't make this stuff up. Like all great documentaries, it's interesting even if you're not interested in the subject.
And what else can be said about Billy Mitchell, he is quite possibly the biggest douchebag in history, but I'll be damned if he's not one of the great movie villains of all-time. In fact, the central story of the film survives only because the audience wants so bad for his record to be beaten. Without him, the movie would not have been nearly as interesting.
Burnout Paradise (Xbox 360/PS3) - Burnout goes next-gen, giving us a whole new Burnout with a large open world to explore and tons of different events and objectives to complete. While the whole open world thing is new, what remains the same is the great gameplay which remains as solid as ever. I gotta say that Burnout ruins other driving games for me because I'll always try to play them like Burnout. The driving mechanic is just so smooth and simple.
Because of the open world, you have to race in a completely different way than the previous games. You have the entire world and the many many shortcuts you can take to get to the finish the fastest. Crash mode is also different. I don't quite like it as much as the old crash mode, but there is something quite satisfying about being able to go into crash mode any time you want. Yes, anytime, anywhere.
In the end, this is still a very worthwhile game in my favorite racing game series of all-time. I know I'll be playing it for a long time just to find that last secret jump or billboard or smash, not to mention winning all the events, setting records on all the Showtime road rules. There really is a lot to do in this game, and that itself will keep you playing for a very long time.
The Orange Box (Xbox 360/PS3/PC) - based on sheer content alone, this is worth the price. It's 5 games in 1, and not a single part of the package is a stinker. You get the great Half-Life 2, it's 2 expansions, Episodes 1 & 2, along with the team-based multiplayer Team Fortress 2, and the mind-bending Portal, which despite it's short playtime may be worth the price of admission alone. All I can say is buy it, it's more than worth it.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
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