Out on DVD--Quick reviews by Sean Marshall Metcalf

Slumdog Millionaire ****

Slumdog Millionaire is such an enjoyable film. It has been called a feel good film but I think that is selling this or any film short. The story is a simple one. Jamal is a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. As he answers the questions, the events of his life unfold and show why he knew the answer. It seemlessly weaves in and out of Jamal's adult life and his life as a kid. It is a well crafted film down to even the music which is a big part of what makes the movie work. It is the winner of 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. DVD March 31, 2009



Bolt ***

Bolt surprised me. I wanted to not like this John Travolta/Miley Cyrus animated movie but it got me hooked with a fun and smart story. It plays out like any fish out of water, journey to find home, animated animal buddy flick. But it has a funny script, developed characters, great animation, and most of all some heart. As dog movies go, I much preferred it over Marley and Me. DVD March 24, 2009

Marley and Me **1/2

As dog films go Marley and Me is just okay. I would have liked to have seen less relationship between Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston and more of the dog Marley. Both actors have a great chemistry with the various dogs who play Marley through out his life, but don't have much chemistry with each other as husband and wife. But really, the reason to watch the film is not the actors themselves but the dog. And what keeps the film entertaining is seeing what Marley is going to do next. When the film was all over I did have to go and hug my Boarder Collie mix Ziggy. DVD March 31, 2009

Race to Witch Mountain

**1/2 out of ****
By: William Moon
The latest loosely-based remake or as Disney likes to call it "re imagining" of 1975's "Escape to Witch Mountain" isn't exactly bad. It just lacks the heart, soul and character development that made the original so magical and engaging.

That's not to say you shouldn't waste your time by passing the film up altogether. It has a lot going for it, and by that I mean it delivers great performances from its lead actors, Duane Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb and newcomer Alexander Ludwig, along with enough action to keep you fully entertained for an hour and a half.

I believe a lot of the critics gave this film the correct rating, but for the wrong reason. Many took the film too seriously, questioning the logic situation of an actual band of SWAT team chasing a couple of teen aliens with a robotic-looking Predator-like creature following them as well, and really, I think many of them criticized the film in the wrong areas.

Yes, it's a very implausible plot, but lets look at the given genre and targeted audience, here. This is targeted to preteens and promises to be a fun, action thrill-ride and in my opinion, is much more successful than the recent Twilight, in that regard. However, the effects are just about as bad, if not worse, and the believability of these characters in these situations were erased for me every time it was so obvious they stood in front of a green screen.

I know I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief and pass all of that by, but the film simply only seems to go through the motions of the action and not focusing on the heart. And while the actors are convincingly good and the music befitting for the so-called race, the effects, themselves are not so much. There is a relationship formed between Johnson's character Jack Bruno and Alex (played by Carla Gugino), which seems about as unnecessary as Robb's character breaking down and crying in her farewell in the end. If you're going to try and add a romance and break the rules of the aliens feeling emotion (because in the beginning of the film they were about as robotic as Stepford children), please fully flesh out your emotions. These are just a couple of minor quibbles I had with the film, and they're hardly noticeable, seeing as how 90 percent of the film involves the children and Jackson running for their lives.

Watching this film, I can't help but be reminded of last years City of Ember, which I felt had much more depth, better effects and a script than this film did. The original material of Escape to Witch Mountain had a lot going for it. So why would there be a point in remaking the film and simply have the characters running for 90 minutes and still calling it the same thing? I'm not a stickler for keeping things strictly to the original sources, but I think some of the development could have been left in this time. I'm not saying I didn't have a good time watching the three characters running through the entire movie. In fact, I had a blast. The dialogue ranges from everywhere of being flat-out goofball to pure comedic timing and wit, thanks mostly to depending on the deliverance's of the actors.

This is actually quite an enjoyable, fun, action-packed good film for children. I can't necessarily say it's a good film for adults, though. I enjoyed it, but that doesn't mean I thought it was good. I think the film didn't completely go out with its campy side, or have the best of effects and script to make it fully a serious film either, but if you do choose to see it, please, just take it for what it is: a fun popcorn, caffeinated adrenaline ride. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you want something more substantial, stick to the original.

Twilight The Review by Sean Marshall Metcalf

Twilight is on DVD March 21, 2009 and I thought I would give my take on the film.

Twilight **1/2

Twilight is a moody dark tale of teen angst that is not particularly a great cinematic achievement. It is however a great packaged piece of cinematic pop culture. It is Lost Boys meets Dawson's Creek.

Bella moves to Forks, Washington. She is drawn to the mysterious Edward Cullen and like Bella we are too. It is no big surprise that he is a vampire. And so the romantic saga begins. As a romantic goes, Edward is kind of over protective voyeuristic and creepy. Bella is headstrong and seems kind of emotionally detached from the world around to everything but the hypnotic stare of Edward. The two make love work because Edward some how resists the urge to feed on her, but the romance is challenged when another vampire, James, wants feed on Bella. And the battle for Bella begins with Edward and James.

The production values are slick on Twilight. The make up on Edward as well as all the vampires in the movie is very heavy handed but it is some what balanced out by the washed out cinematography. It kind of makes them cool and goth. There are voice overs in the film by Bella and I did not understand the use of them in the film. Nothing that Bella said in the voice overs told me anything that the plot and the characters themselves did not already tell me.

Twilight is not a bad film. I still could not get out of my head that I was watching some teen drama on the CW or ABC Family channel. It is entertaining enough and is a slickly packaged teen angst meets horror film. Twilight is for me is kind of guilty pleasure movie. One that I might watch again on a rainy day and i feel like watching a moody teen angst horror film.

Sean's take on Watchmen

Watchmen--Sean's take

by Sean Marshall Metcalf

I give Watchmen *** as well. From what I have read Zach Snyder used the graphic novel of Watchmen as his storyboard. Does going shot by shot from the source material make him a good director? There is no doubt it makes for a visually stunning film. And Snyder had a big under taking here. Not only did he have to make try to make a good film but he had to make a film that would be accepted by Watchmen's legion of fans.

The opening credits montage was a great way to show the timeline of the heroes up to 1985. After the credits I had a hard time figuring out what the film was really going to be about. Not to say I was enjoying what I was watching. As the story played out I found myself drawn most the the storyline of Rorshash, who is played brilliantly by Jackie Earl Haley. He is very much an anti hero and his voice overs reminded me of a hard boiled detective in a Film Noir film. The film is very melodramatic and much plays out at times like Days of Our Lives as if it were directed by Roy Lichtenstein. Each melodramatic moment is framed like a Lichtenstein painting.

The make-up was a bit cartoon like especially Nixon. He looks like he walked straight out of a political cartoon in the editorial section of the newspaper. The old age make-up on the 67 year old is a bit much but I could look pasted it because her performance as a retired hero was good.

And yes the blue penis was very distracting. Are we not as used to seeing male full frontal nudity on screen because it seems that the female form is exploited most of the time in film?

Watchmen is not the best of the comic book/graphic novel inspired films. I enjoyed Dark Knight or even V for Vendetta (Another Alan Moore graphic novel) more. But Watchmen is a highly entertaining and visually stunning film.--Sean Marshall Metcalf

Watchmen

*** out of ****
By: William Moon

The year is 1985, and President Nixon is about to serve his fifth term, in this alternative reality that looks much like the one in which we live in. The opening credits of the film provide a look into what is going on in the world. Lesbian superheroes are slain, war is breaking loose and a band of unarmed peace-loving hippies are gunned down by so-called war heroes, just because they choose to want a better and more loving society. All the while a Bob Dylan song plays over the events.

As the credits roll, one would think that the film would promise a politically charged film, in where the superheroes would be seen as liberals and the villains as conservatives, but the film is a lot more complex than that. On the given surface, the plot, in itself, may only completely make sense to those who have read the graphic novel or seen the film at least a couple of times, and there are many visual distractions that sometimes draw focus away from what plot there would be, and yes, if you've already heard, I am indeed talking about the infamous blue penis of character Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup). That's not to say the aesthetics of the film aren't worth congratulating, because they certainly are. The sequences on Mars are some of the most breathtaking visuals I've seen since Darren Aranofsky's The Fountain, and despite the unnecessary usage of the penis on screen, it still looks visually realistic in all of its digital enhancement. Yes, the pun is intended. But now that I've spent so much time focusing on the cock, on with the plot.

When The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a former superhero, is murdered, the masked vigilante Rorshach (Jackie Earl Haley) sets out to investigate the murder. The film ranges over about a thirty-year time period, and rather than hiring different actors to play the young and the old, the same actors play them, with some of the worst makeup I've ever seen on film. One character even looks into the screen at one point to proclaim to the audience "I am 67 years old." It's probably good she told us that, because otherwise we might think she was a 30 year old woman with bad stage-lines plastered across her forehead and cheeks.

The film tries to appeal to a wide-ranged audience, never straying away from explosive adrenaline or a thought-provoking commentary on modern and past times in our world. In many ways it's meant to be seen as a political satire, and although I did not enjoy Zach Snyder's (the director) previous work, this felt like it had more depth than his recent 300 and by far it's well worth the watch for visual effects alone.

I still believe Zach Snyder isn't the best director and here's why: I believe he doesn't fully comprehend the meaning behind his work a lot of the time. As I've said I believe the film is supposed to be a political satire on our times in a political and comical manner. We have a character in the film that is a former superhero, and now a recovering alcoholic, with a bad past with a man who nearly raped and abused her. The woman later gives in and cheats on her husband with this man on her own will. If you wouldn't know any better and I never talked about her being a superhero, you might think this subplot might belong on Days of Our Lives. I think in many ways the film does take itself too seriously, unlike Sweeney Todd, which reveled in all of its maniacally dark humor, but that isn't to say Watchmen is a failure by any means. It's a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining work of mainstream art that provides a more insight look to what Hollywood could actually be capable of if they set forth in achieving so. The Dark Knight is probably the highest accomplished work in this method. It's a nice effort of a film for hopefully more great superhero movies to come, and although I am still convinced Zach Snyder is a bad director, I believe, as a whole, Watchmen will not disappoint fans of the graphic novel, superhero fans and moviegoers who simply want an entertaining and visually pleasing film.

Coraline

***1/2 out of ****

By: William Moon

Coraline tells the tale of a young girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning) living with her parents, who spend most of their time writing and not giving enough attention to their own daughter. Bored at home, and with her neighbors, Coraline discovers a secret world within her own home, full of magic, wonderment and never ending pure fun. It sounds like a dream come true, until Coraline's parents from the other realm want to make Coraline "one of them" by sewing buttons into her eyes, completely erasing the actual Coraline, much like "The Stepford Wives." Obviously Coraline refuses, and rushes back to her old world, but escaping isn't as easy as she thinks it will be.

The film is based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, author of Stardust and Mirrormask, and much like those films, Coraline is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Director Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) weaves us into this surrealistic stop-motion world of both terror and wonderment, and like The Nightmare Before Christmas, it is a film that appeals to all ages.

There's the sense of morality that the film holds that sometimes we take for granted what we have and during a tumultuous time or catastrophic event are forced to see what truly means something to us. The score is one of the best in years, by Bruno Coulais, and only enhances this wonderfully created world.

The film isn't as good as Nightmare Before Christmas, but is certainly good in its own right, and in many ways better than Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. It might be a little scary for some viewers and some parents might have a problem with some of the suggestive sexual innuendos in the film, but it's no worse than what one would see in a Shrek film. Many people seem to place all animated films in a category only for children, and Coraline isn't one of them. There are many animated films that come out each year for adults, such as Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir. Coraline falls somewhere in between Monster House and those.

Many complain that Corailne is about as soulless as the Other Parents in the film that try and sew button eyes on Coraline, but I would have to disagree. I believe Coraline has the depth and heart that are required for the film. It's not touching in the way a typical Disney film would be, but it doesn't need to be. It's about learning lessons and appreciating the value in ones every day surroundings. Like many adaptations of Alice in Wonderland, there are many moments in Coraline that do feel a bit unnecessary and tedious in the overall grand scheme of the plot, but in the end everything seems to fall into place in a rather spellbinding and spine tingling conclusion.

In one of the most creatively well-constructed films I've seen in quite some time Coraline manages to be both an accomplishment on a visceral and thought-provoking level.

Quick Reviews of current DVD releases by Sean Marhsall Metcalf

Rachel Getting Married ***

Anne Hathaway gives her Oscar Nominated performance in Rachel Getting Married as Kym, who comes home from rehab to witness the final days leading up to her sister Rachel’s wedding. It is not the story itself that pulls the focus in this film but Hathaway herself.--Sean Marshall Metcalf

Milk****

Milk is one of the great films of 2008. It not only has the Oscar winning performance of Sean Penn as Harvey Milk but also a great supporting cast as well. The story itself centers on equal rights for gay people in late 70’s San Francisco but it definitely mirrors some of the struggles of gay people in California and in the county today.--Sean Marshall Metcalf

Role Models **1/2

Role Models is in the vein of the Judd Apatow buddy films as 40 year old Virgin, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Knocked Up. It is defiantly not as good or as raunchy as any of the ones mentioned but it is fun nevertheless. It also has a stand out performance by Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin of Superbad) as a teen who is obsessed with a Dungeons & Dragons type game. --Sean Marshall Metcalf

Frozen River ****

Frozen River not only has the best performance by a female (Melissa Leo) in 2008 but also tells a story that very memorable. Its central plot revolves around illegal immigration over the Canadian Boarder via the frozen St Lawrence River. It is a story where nature, in this case a frozen river, becomes a central character in the story. This is a must film!--Sean Marshall Metcalf

The ****/**** Films of 2008

By William Moon

This is a list of films released theatrically in the United States which I have given an A to, thus far. I know 2008 is far over, but not everything is out on DVD yet from 2008, and I will not be making out my top 10 of the year until probably during the summer, like I always do. This is a list of the films that have a chance in making the list. I will add films if I hand out more ****'s.

(in alphabetical order)

4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days: A Romanian film about two women who set out to have an illegal abortion performed in a hotel room. With its stark angles and long-shot takes, 4 Months manages to be both a gritty, near neorealistic journey into 1987 Romania, as well as a heartrendering story of two women and their fight against societal and governmental differences. 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days is like Irreversible, in that it is both compelling, realistic, raw and rare. The kind of film that sucks you in and seeps its way into your skin for days, weeks, months, perhaps years...

The Band's Visit: A quirky-comedic Israeli film that is mostly spoken in English, about an Egyptian band, scheduled to perform at a famous orchestra, only to find no one has come to pick them up or direct them where they are supposed to be going. The Band's Visit is spoken in three different languages, but mostly English, so I wouldn't consider it a Foreign Language Film. The film is both moving and lighthearted, captivating depth and hilarity. It captures the essense of quirky life much better than American quirksters such as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine. It's a film that is definitely worth a visit.

The Dark Knight: Christohper Nolan's masterpiece and sequel to Batman Begins. Legendary Bruce Wayne (aka Batman. aka Christian Bale) duels head to head with the Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger). The film is a masterfully suspensful, adding all the right elements of a comic book movie and even then some. I'd go to say this is probably the best comic book to screen adaptation I have ever seen, and many other critics agree. The production values are top-notch and Ledger gives the performance of his career. The Dark Knight is an action-packed, intelligent thriller that is not to be missed or passed off for the mere fact of limitating it to its genre.

Doubt: From John Patrick Shanley's play, comes the story of a nun who makes accusations of a priest molesting a child. The plot might sound cliche, but the story is woven together so intricately, the dialogue so refreshening and crisp, and the performances are all among the years best. Every moment is not worth forgetting, in this brilliant film. With its pins and needles tone, and ability to show the innocence, fear, regret and dishonesty in everyone Doubt will leave an everlasting impression upon you.

Frost/Nixon: British talk-show host David Frost and former President Richard Nixon go head-to-head in this excellently directed and acted retelling of the controversy surrounding Watergate. The film is mostly comprised of interviews from Frost and Nixon, but also, like Milk and The Queen, intertwines live-action historical footage from the real events. Frost/Nixon is the best Ron Howard movie in years, and anyone that is obsessive with film or politics should see this.

Funny Games: A remake of the 1997 German film with the same title, by the same director, Michael Haneke, Funny Games breaks all the conventional grounds of a typical horror film, satirizing American cinema and what audiences hope to see. Most American horror fans go for blood, gore and pure torture, but what if the ones being torutured are a middle-class family with a ten year-old child that you'd normally be rooting for? Too bad. In Funny Games, all the rules are broken and the villians are the heroes, out to kill the family and the cliches cinema-goers have bought into.

Let the Right One in: A Sweedish film about a twelve year-old boy who befriends a vampire of the same age. This is nothing like Twilight, Interview with the Vampire or The Lost Boys and more of the surrealistic tone of classics such as Nosferatu and the original Dracula in a modern setting. The film is epically shot and devastingly gorgeous to behold, and breaks the general rules of a vampire film with still keeping the classic elements.

Man on Wire: The documentary about Philippe Petit who walked across the twin towers, Man on Wire is a touching film about the loss of a society from an artistic and societal standpoint, as well as a token of hope for those that dare defy the laws out of something they love. Driven by passion and shot with cinematic elegance, Man on Wire is one of the best documenatries of the decade.

Milk: Gus Vant Sant directed two excellent films of 2008 and this is one of them. Milk is the story of Harvey Milk, the nations first elected political gay activist. Sean Penn gives one of his best performances here as Harvey, and the film itself is incredibly moving and poignant. In a time, 30 years after the events have taken place, gay men and women are still fighting for equal rights. With live footage of actual crowds and interviews, Milk has a very docudrama feel, but never strays away from a definitive plot that spirals to a climactic beauty that is so rarely acheived on film. It's a film about letting your voice be heard, and sometimes silencing yourself to make even more of a statement.

Paranoid Park: I wasn't kidding when I said Gus Van Sant directed two excellent films of 2008. This is other. Paranoid Park is a film about teen skaters who get caught up in an accidental murder, and instead of reporting the crime, flee the scene in fear of being caught and taken to prison. Paranoid Park captures teenagers much better than last years Juno, in a manner that Bully and Kids do. The teenagers actually act and speak like average teenagers, and not like characters from a polished script written by adults. The cinematography and film editing are among the years best, and the music does nothing but enhance the world of its characters. The whole thing, like Milk, plays as sort of an operatic tragedy, both gorgeous and gritty.

Revolutionary Road: Sam Mendes's film about a surburban 50's couple that feel the need to escape a life of mundanity and normality that seems so settled and complacent. It's a film for anyone living in a small town that dreams of leaving to a bigger and better place, when everyone arounds you thinks you're insane for wanting to do so. The film is beautifully shot and intensely melodramatic. I mean that in a good way. Revoluationary Road features standout performances from Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, in this trutfully told tale.

Synecdoche, New York: Charlie Kaufman's directoral debut, about a theatre director (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) who falls too far into his own work and mind by taking Grotowski's method to the extreme of completely throwing his own life into his work into his life into his worklife. What seems like a tedious array of randomized events in the first half, more than pays off in the second in this extremely brilliantly written, multi-layered, groundbreaking work of art. It falls in the lines of films such as Mulholland Drive and 2001: A Space Odyssey that feel more like a piece of art, rather than actual film. It's something that should be seen many times to fully comprehend and something that will no doubt be studied in film schools for years to come.

Wall-E: Another masterpiece from Pixar. Wall-E is an animated film about the journey of a sole robot named Wall-E. It's basically liberal propoganda for the green-minded folk. Think An Inconvient Truth for kids. Of course, I loved it. Wall-E is both satirically hilarious and touching and features the most convincing romantic relationship of the year, through no dialogue what-so-ever. For anyone that has a heart and an open-mind, Wall-E is a great film for you, no matter what your age.

The Wrestler: Many are calling this film the Mickey Rourke comeback, and although his performance is extraordinarly powerful, the film, as a whole, is quite amazing, in itself. Darren Aronofsky proves once again that he is one of the best directors around. He's directed everything from scifi to a drug film to a film about a man losing his mind in his own brilliance. The Wrestler tackles the story of a more simplistic one, about a man who wants to keep doing what he loves doing, even if it costs him his life. The Wrestler possibly acheives what few sport films do in that it actually touches on a deep and personally emotional level, while still pulling out the punches and blood.

XXY: A Spanish film about a 15 year-old hermadophite coming of age and to terms with her/his sexuality and emotional turmoil. It's a subject matter that is hardly ever discussed and needs to be addressed more often. 1 of every 10,000 babies are born hermaphrodites and most parents choose to make the children females, to try and lead a normal life. The only problem is hermaphrodites not only have both male and female parts but also different internal cells. Many people live their whole life with male parts and female on the inside or vice versa and never know it and this film is both haunting and mesmorizingly refreshing in tackling a subject matter we rarely see, and features a standout performance from Ines Efron.

Baz Luhrmann's Australia A review by Sean Marshall

The film Australia was released on DVD and Blu Ray on March 3, 2009. I want to devote some time to a picture that I think is one of the Best of 2008.

Australia ****

I am a big Baz Lahrmann fan. I think the three films in his “Red Curtain Trilogy” (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo+Juliet, and Moulin Rouge) are brilliant cinematic achievements. I was a little bit skeptical of Australia because it got mediocre reviews. But from the preview my gut feeling was that I was going to love the film, because it looked like it had the great production values including Art Direction, Costume Design, and Cinematography that I expect from a Baz film. The film did not disappoint me. As usual Baz uses every element to create an epic.

The story weaves together a high plains western with a cattle drive, a romance with its two leads, a family drama, and a World War II plot. Baz weaves all these stories together using the magic of the Aboriginal tribes and land. He uses the camera to sweep around every angle of the beautiful Australian landscape and thru this establishes the magical lure of the land.

Nicole Kidman is perfect as Lady Sarah Ashley. The character is not the completely fish out of water helpless female, and Kidman shows with conviction early on (by kicking an abusive ranch hand off her property) that she can hold her own in a world ruled by men. She is part Vivian Leigh in Gone with the Wind and part Mercedes McCambridge in Giant. Hugh Jackman as Drover adds nothing new to the macho ranch hand with the heart of gold but he does play the part well. Kidman and Jackman play the passionate attraction that both characters have for one another perfectly. Kidman also very convincingly becomes the nurturing mother figure to a half Aboriginal boy in the film.

I think Australia is a throw back to films such as Giant, Gone with the Wind, From Here to Eternity, and it even made me want to watch westerns such as Lonesome Dove again. It is a film that sucks the viewer in with great production values, interesting story, and developed characters. I don’t know why this picture was not nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture. It is the type of epic filmmaking that the Academy usually loves. It could have had Best Picture slot of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, or The Reader in my opinion. I would have given it Oscar Nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Editing, Cinematography, Art Direction, and Costume Design. Nicole Kidman would still fall just short of a nomination. Of the nominees I don’t know who I would take out to give her a nomination.

Australia will definitely go into my Top 10 list for 2008. And I still have a few more films of 2008 to see before I finalize my Top 10 List.