THE LOST BOYS [1987] review
September 4, 2008
I may have only ever seen THE LOST BOYS once, long ago when it first came out. In my memory it existed as this super cool 80s movie about teen vampires representing in California. And that it was scary. Most of those memories were, in fact, incorrect. Or, the twenty years in-between have changed my perceptions of scary, cool and representing.
THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT [2004] review
August 23, 2008
The grave and dark tones in THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT were not at all what I was expecting of this movie. I both like it when a movie is not what I expect it to be tonally and don’t like it…because I always pick a movie on purpose based on its expected tone to match my mood at the time of viewing. That said, even though BUTTERFLY was much darker than my expectations for what it would be, after the very grim first act, I settled in and went along for the ride the dual directors sent me on.
THE KARATE KID [1984] review
August 18, 2008
In the summer of 1984, in Cape Cod, Massachusetts I went to see THE KARATE KID with my grandfather. The only moment I can remember clearly is walking out of the theater into the parking lot, at twilight time, seeing other kids doing the crane pose. Like all the other kids who just saw it, I was totally stoked to try karate. I believe every single kid who saw THE KARATE KID that summer left the theater doing some kind of karate motion.
Few movies have achieved such iconic status as THE KARATE KID. Pieces of dialogue from the movie are burned into pop culture. No doubt everyone knows “wax on, wax off.”
THE KITE RUNNER [2007] review
August 8, 2008
I value loyalty above almost all else. The character Hassan in THE KITE RUNNER personifies true, absolute loyalty. His loyalty stems out of purity. His loyalty is to Amir, and he may not exactly be worthy of such loyalty. The two boys are growing up in Afghanistan right before the Soviet invasion. In their carefree lives, there is no hint of this coming threat, save for the times the adults mention “the communists.”
A kite runner is not what I could have ever imagined. I will not describe what a kite runner is here. I will only say that boys in Afghanistan have a unique game involving kite flying. The kite flying scenes are filmed beautifully. It is good to sweep out of the rather harsh landscapes and up into the sky for awhile.
This is a movie where characters have secrets you never thought such a person could have. They are revealed unexpectedly in the story. There are surprising coincidences that clever scriptwriters like to employ. Yet nothing felt too gimmicky.
On the contrary, THE KITE RUNNER has a lot of heart, a lot of purity, and all of that stems from the childhood loyalty of the boy Hassan. Even I, not often moved by children, wanted to hug the boy and take care of him. His loyalty touched me deeply and I feel great affection for him, even now. To have such a loyal friend would be blessing.
The movie touches on the recent political situation in Afghanistan with the Taliban. The grip upon the country by the Taliban is revealed slowly, first only with facial hair rules, but then the ultimate laws are shown. And they are baffling to a person living in the modern world. In an excellent piece of editing, the director, Marc Forster, shows us the ludicrousness that in the year 2000 in certain places people are being stoned to death for adultery, by cutting to another place where such a thing is mentally and physically a world away.
The movie can make you emotional, and angry at characters and countries. Yet the kites continue to fly, not necessarily as they used to, but still they fly.
(I often mention about watching movies in HD. I watched THE KITE RUNNER via some manner of blu-ray, and it was stunning. I don’t want to say if you are not watching movies in HD you aren’t watching movies, but rather that watching a movie in HD is a whole other experience entirely.)
THE DARK KNIGHT [2008] review
August 3, 2008
WARNING: SPOILERS
Right after the Joker was captured at about the half-way point of THE DARK KNIGHT, I was already thinking to myself, “the most badass film, ever.” Then the film totally changed gears and became an incredible psychological thriller and statement on the effect of terrorism on modern society. I was not prepared for this dual-genre film, and it blew me away leaving me walking out of the theater knowing it will enter my pantheon of unforgettable movie going experiences.
BATMAN BEGINS [2005] review
July 31, 2008
I rewatched BATMAN BEGINS in preparation for watching THE DARK KNIGHT this weekend. I first saw BATMAN BEGINS in a theater here in Japan. I remember it being pretty much my best movie going experience in Japan. It was a Wednesday night sneak preview. And when Batman first went under the dashboard of the Tumbler I screamed out loud like a little girl I thought it was so badass.
Upon this second viewing, however, the movie has lessoned in my opinion. I feel I am no hurry to ever watch it again. Now, I love origin story movies. My favorite book and movie of the LOTR series is Fellowship of the Ring. I especially like seeing how superheroes become superheroes. BATMAN BEGINS offers a satisfying, if not a bit stereotypical origin training story. I mean, how Bruce Wayne gets lost and goes to a Chinese (?) prison to fight criminals and harden himself—I thought that was pretty sweet. Then getting trained up in a mountain top hideaway, also sweet. But I think I just do not like Liam Neeson. I think that was a bad casting choice.
KUNG FU PANDA [2008] review
July 28, 2008
I’ll be the first to admit I’m a cinema snob, so to speak, so it’s is extremely rare that I ever watch a movie like KUNG FU PANDA, let alone pay to see it in a theater (especially at Tokyo prices of ¥1,800 {$18}). However, there is a brand new movie theater in Shinjuku that was supposed to be pretty nice. And I knew the people I was seeing the movie with would really enjoy it, so I acquiesced. This is also the first Jack Black movie I’ve ever seen that didn’t have KING KONG in it or a lot of elitist music dialogue.
DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS [2001] review
July 22, 2008
In the past three months I’ve probably watched more documentaries than I have in the past three years. This streak started with DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS. I’m a big fan of skateboarding and surf culture, and prefer to live the surfer lifestyle myself, which stems from my love of the Sea and need to live by the Sea. DOGTOWN is a slightly pretentious documentary that sheds light on how skateboarding evolved from just doing handstands on a board with fragile wheels, all the way to the modern skating style. I found the detail and clear points showing how the Z-Boys aped moves of a surfer to be able to do never-before-done moves on a skateboard to be fascinating.
The inevitable personal and group crisis segments were tolerable and I guess needed inclusion, but I’d like to have a documentary for once not have to involve this kind of thing.
The ingenuity and boldness these early skateboarders employed in order to just be able to skate brought out the rebel in me. Seeing them hop fences in suburban neighborhoods to ride in empty pools at risk of being discovered by the police was something I would have liked to of joined in on. Describing the hierarchy of these rare, and thus valuable, skating places showed the badass spirit of skateboarding as well. If you were some punk just joining the group, don’t expect to be allowed entry into the pool!
I think RIDING GIANTS and DOGTOWN make two great companion documentaries on the origins of big wave surfing and California street skating. I recommend watching them on successive weekends. Watch DOGTOWN first though.
TOUCHING THE VOID [2003] review
July 19, 2008
I had of course long heard about TOUCHING THE VOID, but only finally watched it tonight. I didn’t even know if it was a documentary or a feature film until I checked IMDB right before starting it. I would call VOID a mixture of documentary and feature film since there is so much dramatic and amazing reenactment mixed in with just the right amount of talking head scenes.
VOID describes the harrowing tale of two young British mountaineers attempting to alpine climb the face of a mountain in the Andes that had never been done before. Obviously since they made a documentary out of the story, it was not a cakewalk to the summit and back down. However, as you see the two actual men some 20 years later, you do know they survive right from the get go, but not until the very end do you actually let yourself believe it. Countless times I thought, “how the F is he going to get out of that?” Countless times. This happens in most action movies, and then some gimmick happens making it easy to see how they will survive.
There are no gimmicks in VOID.
Just pure, ultimate display of the human spirit’s will to survive and what a Man can accomplish if his will is strong enough.
I found myself relating to the survival techniques used. Recalling an internal voice mercilessly telling you to keep carrying on, I heard that voice at times in the past when out hiking myself (in particular climbing out of the Kaibab trail in the Grand Canyon). In my case, it was only for a few hours, not days.
Truly amazing and truly inspiring story.
And I’ve written this in past movie reviews—watching a movie in HD is an entirely different experience. I watched a 720p version of VOID and it was stunning and helped me feel totally immersed in the snow, the vistas, the glacier, the crevice, the mind of the two men.
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG [2003] review
July 11, 2008
I was expecting a very different movie, and I think the wrong movie, when I watched HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG. I think I was expecting the documentary FOG OF WAR. Still, despite those mismatched expectations, I don’t think I would have like HOUSE anyway. It’s one of those follow the lives of a very miserable person type movies, which I almost never like. Watching someone’s junk like for 2-hours is not what I want out of movies, especially when the movie idles at a slow pace with long shots of fog, which I guess were supposed to be symbolic of something.
Jennifer Connelly makes the movie watchable, as I discovered during BLOOD DIAMOND for the first time, she’s a very beautiful woman and a pleasure to watch on screen. But, offsetting that is Ben Kingsley’s disturbing presence. As in SEXY BEAST, it made me uncomfortable to see him on screen. He makes me nervous, just like he does to his own family in the movie! I don’t want to get yelled at or hit! I felt sympathy for Kingsley’s wife, played by the also very beautiful and highly watchable Shohreh Aghadashloo, which 24 fans will recognize as the famous utterer of “BHOOLERZ!”
The tragic ending of HOUSE comes from people’s stubbornness, racism, and just plain lack of real communication. Actually, if only Jennifer Connelly’s character had not been so stupid and ignant, and actually read a city notification that came in the mail (multiple times), the whole movie needn’t even of happened! Plot like that prevents me from liking a movie. Why base a movie on such a dumb and silly person? Or at least make the reason for setting the plot in motion not one based on stupidity.
Still, there are some good scenes and good cinematography. Just don’t watch the movie if you are sleepy, or if you want to feel good at the end. Connelly fans, Kingsley fans, and Aghadashloo fans should be pleased, at least.
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