Hot Tub Time Wasting Machine

I am a John Cusack fan. I always have been and I suppose I always will be to some degree. Recently he has been making it very difficult for me to see his movies, as he has been doing some crapola films. This new film, "Hot Tub Time Machine", is no exception to the crapola genre of movie making. It's horrible.
The basic premise is that 3 old high school friends and one nephew head to a weekend getaway at the same place that they used haunt back in high school. They are frustrated with their own lives and are at the same time trying to live in the past. They find a hot tub time machine...yes, they do...I usually do also when I head to Bowen Island or up to Whistler when I am trying to relive my glory high school days. Sigh, really people keep up here. So they find the time machine and it takes them back to the exact same place but in 1986, when they were supposed to be cool and had their whole pathetic lives ahead of them. Yup, that's the story. They end up spending the rest of the movie, trying to get back to 2010 while trying not to disrupt the natural turn of events that occurred originally. Did you get this incredibly complex story line? It's so "Back to the Future" with several major exceptions...."Back to the Future" was funny, well written, innovative, creative and included many talented actors...acting well.
Yeah. This movie was one that I really didn't need to see on the big screen. Well, to be completely honest, I really didn't need to see it at all. I would have happily spent my days rewatching all those glory Cusack moments in "Say Anything" or "The Sure Thing" or even his little role in "Sixteen Candles". John, John! Where did you go wrong?
Are there no more creative ideas floating around Hollywood that James Cameron can't put onto 3D? I don't understand why anyone would have made this film. It was ridiculously stupid, poorly written and just plain silly. It should have been called the "Sad Hot Tub Time Machine" as I am certain that everyone involved was so sad that they had to associate themselves with this crapola film. Where was the acting? Well, I think there was anything for the actors to work with and quite frankly there wasn't a whole lot of acting going on.
My son told me that this movie is being compared to "The Hangover" from last year. Let me make myself perfectly clear (in case the last several paragraphs were too vague), this movie is nothing like it. "The Hangover" was hilarious, over the top, provacative, funny, strange and pushed the boundaries of decent film making with good lines and many surprises.
"Hot Tub Time Machine" owes me 90 minutes, a diet coke and $11.99 Canadian. Where should I send my receipts? Mr. Cusack?

Alice, are we in Wonderland again?

There are times when a film maker just gets it. Tim Burton the creative genius behind Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd, is really one of the best directors of his time. His dark, gloomy, dramatic, over the top, insanely creative movies have been wonderful showcases for talented character actors like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. See, Tim gets it. He finds a story, arranges for a top notch screen play, enlists some of the the most creative and innovative actors of all time and makes a movie.

Over the weekend, I saw "Alice in Wonderland". I was a little apprehensive, as I have this thing about eyes and when I saw previews of Johnny Depps' Mad Hatter and how they did his eyes...well, lets just say that I was almost ready not to see this film until it came out on DVD. That being said, I am really pleased that I took the plunge and watched this in 3D on the big screen. It was excellent.

The story is about Alice who ends up back in Wonderland after many years and what task she must take on. She reconnects with all those original characters and now there are more to enjoy. Burton's version of this story includes parts from both books, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. His talent for picking his actors is really second to none. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter was able to make himself sympathetic while carefully crafting crazy. Helena Bonham Carter (Burton's real life partner) as the Red Queen, has some serious family issues that she needs to address. One of my personal faves, Anne Hathaway as the angelic White Witch and the lovely Mia Wasikowska as the demure yet outspoken Alice. The always scary Crispin Glover as the Red Queen's right hand man, Stayne is also excellent.

Some of the additional actors that are attached to this film through their voices are Timothy Spall, Michael Sheen, Stephen Fry and the absolutely perfectly voiced Blue Caterpillar by Alan Rickman.....'whoooo arrreeee yooooou?' Shiver....the voices were perfect. Did I mention that the voices were excellent?

I enjoyed many, many things about this film. It wasn't overly violent - the last Burton film that I saw was Sweeney Todd and that was a bit too violent for me. It was also visually appealing. The colours that pop off the screen and right into your 3D glassed eyes were fantastic. The backgrounds, the make up, the costumes, the voices, the script, the music. Ahhh, I almost forgot about the music...which matched the film perfectly. It really was an integral part of the story telling and I appreciate the creativity that it took to match music with such an script.

I realized last night when I was watching this film that I was really at a loss for words. It captivated me for the entire time. I didn't lose my focus or check my watch. For me - that's quite a feat. I didn't know how many ways that I could express my amazement and enjoyment without completely boring you all to death. It was very much like a bed time story for adults, except that it didn't make me sleepy. It renewed my appreciation for Mr. Burton, strengthened my adoration for Johnny Depp and gave me a new understanding for the 3D world. Go see this film. It's worth the time and effort to see it on the big screen. It'll be in my dreams for a long, long time.

The District 9 Ghetto

After a long, long time, I finally succumbed to watch this movie. I had my hubby watch it with me and we saw it at home, so that we could pause it whenever I had a question...which I have to say was often. Nat had seen it already and had been bugging me to see it before the Academy Awards, but there was too much to see, so it had to wait.
I really didn't know what to expect with this movie. It's a Peter Jackson film, so I expected a higher quality film already. Hmmm, interesting premise for the film. The basic storyline is that an alien ship stops over Johanesburg and when it's infiltrated aliens are found to be malnurished and in serious need of help. An area is set up for them called District 9 (somewhat like the ghettos that my grandparents were forced to live in during WW2) to contain and manage these creatures. The film follows one man who works for the company dealing with alien/human relations and what happens to him as he tries to get the aliens to move from one area to another, estentially because the govenment is evicting the creatures from their homes.
I found that the documentary type of film making with all these interviews etc was a tiring after a while and I longed for a "normal" story line. It was so sad. So sad all the time. It took me a while to get my head around the fact that we as a people/human beings apparently learned nothing from the Nazis, nothing from Apartheid and nothing from any other horrible situation in our history where humans vilified other humans for being different. These creatures were reasonably intelligent, and had language skills and could parent and keep a home for themselves. There was no reason for us to assume that they weren't capable of handling themselves. The keep them powerless and hungry and under constant surveillence, makes anyone frustrated, defensive and aggressive. These aliens (and yes, I just said that) were being attacked, tortured and demeaned for being themselves. It was hard for me to find any type of compassion for our tortured soul who ends up in the middle of a large scandalous situation where in the end he must join forces with the very beings that he found so unpleasant. He was incapable of seeing them as other living creatures that needed assistance and generosity. He used derogatory language and aggression to get what he wanted. It was very difficult for me to feel anything for him...I spent much of this movie with my mouth hanging open trying to follow.
The script was decent and I thought that the story was interesting and reasonably clever...but I don't mean in a cutzy way. This movie really bothered me. It wasn't horrible or bad, but it was incredibly difficult and forced me to watch things on screen that made me uncomfortable.
I'm glad that I finally saw the film, but I was left with a feeling of overwhelming ambivalence...I didn't know what to feel or what to think. These weren't cute little forest creatures who needed some help to keep their homes, these were ugly and scary creatures who had unfortunately relied upon another planet to help during a time of dire need and necessity. It was pretty obvious that the aliens made the wrong choice by coming to Earth. It was a sad commentary on what Jackson thinks of us.

The Lovely Bones

I forgot to mention that I loooved the special affects in The Lovely Bones. It was a nice way to change the mood throughout the movie.

Just thought I'd write something positive.

:-D

The Disturbingly Lovely Bones

This week's movie was "The Lovely Bones" with Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon and the uber scary Stanley Tucci. I think that Nat had a tougher time with this one than I did. It's the story about a murdered teen in the mid seventies and how she watches over her family as they try to grieve their loss as well as find her killer. She is caught in an area of "the in between" and has her own struggles with her loss of family, friends and love and life but is still acutely aware of her anger and need for revenge.
Now, I understand that my Mr. Julia Child, the incredibly versatile Stanley Tucci is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for this years Oscars and I'll speak about him in a minute, but I need to mention the incredible talent of this young woman...Ms. Saoirse Ronan who plays the lovely but unfortunate character of the murdered Suzie Salmon. I last saw Saoirse (I don't know how to pronounce it, so it's a good thing that this isn't a video blog) was in Atonement. Did you see that one...she was the little sister, who basically causes all the trouble. She was great in Atonement. She was fantastic in The Lovely Bones. She was fresh and light and carefree all the attributes that you would think about with regards to a young girl in the 70's. She is a good student, has friends, is a loving sister and has a new crush at school. The manner in which Peter Jackson shows the approach of our sinister Mr. Tucci towards our young beauty Saoirse, is very frightening. Absolutely every parent's nightmare and nearly impossible to move on from.
This movie posed all those horrific questions...what happens if you lose a child? How does a parent cope? How do you deal with your other children? How do you connect with your spouse?
It's a sad day in my mind when a parent outlives their child. No matter how old your child is - whether they are 5, 25 or even 50 years old- it's absolutely wrong in my book. In this movie you have two parents both grieving so intensely and trying to deal with these disgusting circumstances but in such different ways. It was tough to watch, as your mind always flickers to your own children and what you think you would be doing in this situation.
It was nice for me to see Mark Wahlberg in parental role. He's married with several children now, so this must have been quite a challenge for him. He was very sweet, tender and controlled in this movie. Rachel Weisz was also decent, but I didn't connect with her as much as I thought that I would. Her mother was played by Susan Sarandon, whom is always a delight to see on screen. She was hip and funny and brought some interesting family dynamics into play.
Ok, so now of course is the time where I have to discuss the ultra scary and very unstable Mr. Tucci's Mr. Harvey. This character scared the living bejesus out of me. He was careful and matriculate. He carefully planned and orchestrated his actions and was very deliberate. That's the part that freaked me out...everything was done for a reason. It was hard watching him keeping an eye out on the neighbourhood. It all seemed so wrong. He just seemed wrong...out of place. Clearly this was a family filled area, with children's bikes and scooters and lots of laughter and toy cars strewn on the lawn. Seeing this man standing in his house, overlooking all this was very unnerving. I appreciated the nomination for him...I don't believe that he will win this year, but he certainly raised the bar when I think of movie murderers. Yeesh! I still get goosebumps.

The Lovely Bones (Spoiler alert!)

It's going to be short and quick...

Now I understand what the title means... Yikes!

You have to forgive me I don't read about the movies I go to. It's usually me asking Allie what the movie is about in the car on the way to it. So yeah, I saw the preview, I knew the girl was killed by a predator and was living in the "in between" until...she was ready to... you know ...commit... to heaven...I guessed.

I came out of the movie aching to squeeze my daughters. I almost woke them up when I got home stumbling into their bedrooms.

What a disturbing movie! That poor little girl, once she got into that hole, there was nothing to save her.

(Having lost a dear friend of mine by the hands of a murderer to then lose our old beloved Jack Russell recently. Maybe it wasn't the best choice of movie for me.) It touched me to the core and scared me a little. Life is so short.

Strangely enough the only time I cried was when she kissed the boy. Go figure.

And the time I felt sick to my stomach the most is when Suzie named all the children who were killed by that man.

I loved Mark Walhberg even though it was hard for me to take him seriously at times. (If you'd watch SNL regularly, you'd understand Allie.)

Even though Mr Harvey was scary, (camera angle and make up in my opinion) I don't think Stanley Tucci deserves an Oscar nomination. His make up and hair piece was too obviously fake. He didn't do much besides staring out of his windows and walk around his house or passing by in his car.

My favorite character was Suzie, so soft and sweet. Typical young tween. Her big blue eyes. Not too Hollywood pretty, I really got into her character and fell her pain.

Oh and something else. I wanted to see Mr Harvey suffer more in the end.

I wanted that smoking girl to push him over.

Now back to the book I'm reading :"My life in France" from Julia Child" Waaay lighter.

Comedy next week? Allie?

Don't mind my grammar please. English is my second language.

Am I Imagining Doctor Parnassus?

Confusing, confusing, confusing.

I remember where I was when I found out about Heath Ledger's passing. I was sitting at my desk working and found out from my colleague who works in film here in Vancouver. I found out before people.com even. I know....impressive. You can't review this film without talking about the loss of Heath Ledger. You cannot deny that he was an absolutely fearless actor, intent on taking risks and reveling in challenging roles. OK. I have done my duty...Heath - what the hell were you thinking when you took on this role? Who knows....

You know, I appreciate that I may not be the deepest person in the ocean of intelligence but I really, really, really don't understand Terry Gilliam. I can't argue that he is a talented director/ film maker but I have seen many of his films, and honestly I really can't remember one that I understood without significant assistance from others. This movie was no exception. It was strange, weird and funny. Gilliam who wrote it as well, created some very bizarre story lines and characters. Here's what I think...it's a story about a man that joins a traveling group who's Dr. Parnassus is able to send people through a special time/space/travel thingy (yes, people that's the technical word for it). Now sometimes people go through this time/space/travel thingy on purpose to for a positive outcome but sometimes people went through by accident and ended up in a little hot H2O.

One thing you can't deny with this film is that the calliber of actors who are a part of this complex story is very high. Heath, Lily Cole, Christopher Plummer to name a few of the original actors and then of course Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell jumped in once Heath had passed away to help Gilliam complete this crazy two hour film. The writing was witty, even though I didn't always understand it. The colors and cinematopghy were excellent and I enjoyed the musical aspect of it all.

My mother always reminds me not to give away any of the story lines when I do my reviews...well Ma - you don't have to worry about this one. I can't give it away even if I tried! I can't explain it regardless.

Let's sum this up...I saw this movie. It amused but confused me. I can't explain it but I did enjoy the two hours that I spent being in the theatre. Don't ask me why, but I did.