Ratatouille (2007)

Disney's Pixar knock it out of the park once again with another amazing film. Ratatouille is a story about a rat who desperately wants to become a chef in Paris. This movie was directed and written by Brad Bird who brought us such great films like The Incredibles and The Iron Giant.

I just want to start off by saying i was extremely impressed with the voice acting in this film. Everything seemed so fluid and did not feel like an animated film at all. Sure that the beautiful art did not help either. This is hands down, one of the best looking movies i have seen to date. From the gorgeous scenery of Paris to the little detail in the food that you can see and the detail in Anton's typewriter, just stunning.

The score in this film fit it perfectly with a very stereotypical french sound, it fit so well. Overall, do yourself a favor, watch this movie, love it, make sure you watch every last scene because you do not want to miss anything.

9/10

Guillermo del Toro in talks to direct both Hobbit films

I know, i dont post news and this will probably be the first and last but considering how much i love Del Toro's work and how much i love The Hobbit, i had to post this.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/hobbitnews.php?id=41329

Holy fuck! am i stoked if this comes true, i think he will bring such an awesome feel to Middle Earth.

Say Anything (1989)

One of my all time favorite John Cusack films, ive seen this movie so many times and it never gets old, i had to watch this film again today after watching Rivers Edge, i had to see Ione Skye in a great performance. Just very well written dialog, a lot of really well shot scenes too that really show the emotion Lloyd is going through. And a lot of good quotable lines.

I am currently reading Chuck Klosterman's book; Sex, Drugs and Cocoa-Puffs and the first chapter explains how the character of Lloyd has given guys a bad name who want to get into a good relationship because females look for the Lloyd in all of us guys. I can totally see that. See this film if you already havent.

"I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen"

9/10

Rivers Edge (1986)

This movie was so bad, i couldnt even find a movie poster for it. The only redeeming quality of this film was Ione Skye, who is hot as hell and of course my girl in Say Anything. Crispin Glover graced us this film with his usual over acting, but this was just so over the top, it was unwatchable at times. Keanu Reeves also played the lead in this film and holy fuck, horrible. Just bad acting, horrible dialog and a stupid ass plot with Dennis Hopper playing a psycho...AGAIN. Dont bother with this

2/10

Chinatown (1974)

Roman Polanski's best film, hands down. One of the best of the best of the noir films. Tight dialog written by Robert Evans, Jack Nicholson pulling off one of his best performances and Faye Dunaway actually looking pretty damn good in this film. Just an awesome film all around, i cant recommend this enough to people who even might be aspiring film makers or writers, this is a good film to use as a template if you ask me.

9/10

My picks for the Oscars 2008

Best Picture
There Will Be Blood

Best Actress
Ellen Page *only movie i saw from that list*

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem

Achievement in Directing
No Country For Old Men

Original Screenplay
Juno

Best Animated Feature
Wow, i didnt see any of these movies but im going to see Persepolis soon

Achievement in Art Direction
There Will Be Blood

Achievement in Cinematography
No Country For Old Men

Achievement in Costume Design
Didnt see any of these

Best doc. feauture
Didnt see any of these

Best doc. short subject
Didnt see any of these

Achievement in film editing
No Country For Old Men

Best foreign language film of the year
Didnt see any of these

Achievement in makeup
Norbit *just because i can*

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
3:10 To Yuma

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from Once

Best animated short film
Didnt see any of these

Best live action short film
Didnt see any of these

Achievement in sound editing
There Will Be Blood

Achievement in sound mixing
3:10 To Yuma

Achievement in visual effects
Transformers

Oscar Nominations for 2008

BEST PICTURE
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie, "Away From Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Valley of Elah"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007)
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild (2007)
Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton (2007)

Achievement in directing
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
"Juno" (Fox Searchlight), Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

Adapted screenplay
"Atonement" (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her" (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay
"Juno" (Fox Searchlight), Written by Diablo Cody
"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages" (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins

Best animated feature film of the year
"Persepolis" (Sony Pictures Classics): Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Brad Bird
"Surf's Up" (Sony Pictures Releasing): Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Achievement in art direction
"American Gangster" (Universal): Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
"Atonement" (Focus Features): Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Golden Compass" (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount): Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins
"Atonement" (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

Achievement in costume design
"Across the Universe" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal) Alexandra Byrne
"La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood

Best documentary feature
"No End in Sight" (Magnolia Pictures) A Representational Pictures Production: Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience" (The Documentary Group) A Documentary Group Production: Richard E. Robbins
"Sicko" (Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company) A Dog Eat Dog Films Production: Michael Moore and Meghan O'Hara
"Taxi to the Dark Side" (THINKFilm) An X-Ray Production: Alex Gibney and Eva Orner
"War/Dance" (THINKFilm) A Shine Global and Fine Films Production: Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine

Best documentary short subject
"Freeheld" A Lieutenant Films Production: Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
"La Corona (The Crown)" A Runaway Films and Vega Films Production: Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
"Salim Baba" A Ropa Vieja Films and Paradox Smoke Production: Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
"Sari's Mother" (Cinema Guild) A Daylight Factory Production: James Longley

Achievement in film editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Christopher Rouse
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild" (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment): Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Dylan Tichenor

Best foreign language film of the year
"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia

Achievement in makeup
"La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
"Norbit" (DreamWorks, Distributed by Paramount): Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner" (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics): Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" (Warner Bros.): Nominees to be determined
"So Close" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Best animated short film
"I Met the Walrus" A Kids & Explosions Production: Josh Raskin
"Madame Tutli-Putli" (National Film Board of Canada) A National Film Board of Canada Production Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski "Même Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)" (Premium Films) A BUF Compagnie Production Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)" (Channel One Russia) A Dago-Film Studio, Channel One Russia and Dentsu Tec Production Alexander Petrov
"Peter & the Wolf" (BreakThru Films) A BreakThru Films/Se-ma-for Studios Production Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

Best live action short film
"At Night" A Zentropa Entertainments 10 Production: Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)" (Sky Cinema Italia) A Frame by Frame Italia Production: Andrea Jublin
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)" (Premium Films) A Karé Production: Philippe Pollet-Villard
"Tanghi Argentini" (Premium Films) An Another Dimension of an Idea Production: Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
"The Tonto Woman" A Knucklehead, Little Mo and Rose Hackney Barber Production: Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

Achievement in sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Matthew Wood
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Achievement in sound mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal) Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate): Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Achievement in visual effects
"The Golden Compass" (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris and Trevor Wood
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" (Walt Disney): John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and John Frazier
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl and John Frazier

Fido (2006)

Another quick review here, Fido is a cute film, its about a post apocalyptic world set in a 50's era where zombies are kept as pets, slaves and servants to the people. Doesn't that sound like one of the greatest concepts/ideas you've ever heard? Yeah me too, im surprised no one has come up with this idea earlier.

But the only problem though is, it wasn't executed that well at all, don't get me wrong, this is an OK film, but the acting really is not its strongest part, neither is the script. But it has a lot of funny moments in it and some quirky one liners. Has some decent gore also. For zombie fans, id recommend giving this a view, you might not like it. For casual viewers, i think you would dig it a lot. Just wasnt me cup of tea

6/10

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

What more can be said about this film then what has already been said for the last 44 years? Amazing? Brilliant? Hilarious? There just aren't enough adjectives in the english dictionary to explain my love for this film. This has always been my favorite Kubrick film and always will be. It blends so many perfect elements of cinema in one film. Peter Sellers is absolutely brilliant in all 3 of his roles in this film, George C. Scott plays a hilarious military director and the whole cast of this movie is great. Also Slim Pickens as Major King Kong has the classic shot of him riding the nuclear bomb

Every single shot of this film just screams how great Kubrick is. From the little subtile things like the Colonel's name being "Bat" Guano meaing bat shit to Dr. Strangelove fighting his right arm to not do the nazi salute.Watch this movie, you will laugh and be intrigued and even learn something about how great cinema is made.

Colonel "Bat" Guano: Okay. I'm gonna get your money for ya. But if you don't get the President of the United States on that phone, you know what's gonna happen to you?

Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: What?

Colonel "Bat" Guano: You're gonna have to answer to the Coca-Cola company.

10/10

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Have you ever seen a movie that just completely blows you away and you do not even realize it until after? Yeah, this is what There Will Be Blood was for me. I left the theater with a taste in my mouth that said, "Good film" and as i was driving home, thinking about it, i realized how brilliant it really was.

Daniel Day Lewis plays Daniel Plainview, an oil prospector searching for the next big piece of land he can drill oil into. His performance in this movie is what sold me the most. He plays an extremely believable character from that era. From his accent, to the dirtiness in his face, he shows us that he has perfected his craft. Paul Dano who you might remember as Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine and Klitz in The Girl Next Door plays a duel roll in this film. This is where some debate comes in, he plays Paul who originally seeks out Daniel about the land his father owns to give him a tip and Eli who is at the land and is known as a prophet within the town that they live in. Even though they never share a scene, it seems that was Eli really Paul? Theres a scene where Eli knocks his father down and says "Paul is the one who seeked him out! My stupid brother". But later on in the film, you learn that Eli is a maniacal fuck who has been lying to the people. So to me, its still up in the air.

The score is excellent in this film, it fits the mood very well and is very original, and like nothing you've ever heard before. The dialog wasn't spectacular, hence the minus one point in the score, there were some cheesy delivery's of the lines and some lines that should not have been in this film, it really took you out of the mood of the film i thought. Besides the point, its still a well written and well crafted film. Paul Thomas Anderson showed us some very beautiful shots and set the mood well. I personally am not a fan of his earlier work, like Magnolia, Boogie Nights and especially Punch Drunk Love, but this movie has changed my mind about him. He did everything absolutely right. One other gripe i had was that it felt like there was not enough substance in this movie to justify the 2 hours and 38 minute run time. Do not get me wrong, there was substance and a plot there, but it could have been done in a shorter amount of time.

I can see There Will Be Blood sweeping the oscars this year and i would love to see Daniel Day Lewis receive an oscar for his performance in this film, the ending monologue sequence alone is worth the price of admission to this movie.

"I'm Finished"

9/10

This is England (2006)

Quick review, a very touching and down to earth film. Very gritty and to the point of what it should be about. A little kid who was picked on and finding his way into a skinhead group in England in 1983. The little kid Thomas Turgoose was amazing, honestly had to be one of my favorite performances from a young actor since, well maybe Pans Labryinth. Great soundtrack too, mixed with some Oi! and punk music. Highly recommend this film. Only reason i gave it a little lower score because to me, it felt like something i wouldn't watch again, but id still recommend.

7/10

3:10 To Yuma (2007)

It has been awhile since ive seen a decent western, to me it seems like a lost genre. We use to have a lot of solid films come out, mainly from one of my favorites, Clint Eastwood with great films like The Unforgiven and of course The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly. 3:10 To Yuma really brings you back to the classic western film genre that has been lost and does a great job doing so.

This film is packed with an all star cast of Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Forester, Alan Tudyk and Peter Fonda. If you ask me, they all did spectacular jobs, from pulling off a grizzled western accent to the delivery. If theres one thing people cannot complain about with this film, is the casting and the dialog, everything was pulled off extremely well. Mangold did a great job with making it feel like a classic western also, just with the tight gun fight scenes and really making you feel like you were in Texas at that time.

My biggest gripe has to be the ending of this film, to me Russell Crowe's character Ben seemed WAY too reluctant to go along with Dan (Christian Bale) to the train to Yuma. Even though at the end we do see Ben calling his horse and revealing that he has already escaped twice from Yuma. I mean it fit the movie, but to me personally, i just was not feeling it.

The highlight of this film was Ben Foresters performance in this movie, aside from seeing a great western movie again, he fucking nailed it. Hands down, a great job from him. So if you are looking for a good western film, look no further, i can see this movie being an instant classic like Tombstone, The Unforgiven and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. I know i may be missing some films but i have not dug too deep in the genre but this film really makes me want to and also check out the original 3:10 To Yuma.

8/10

Best TV Shows of 2007 (a little change of pace)

TV SHOWS:

What a strange year it was for TV this year. We started out the new fall season I thought very strong with a lot of solid shows but they all ended very abruptly, I wonder why? Oh yeah, the WGA Strike, yeah that played a HUGE role this year in the TV shows that we watched, as most of them ended their normal 23-24 episode long seasons with only 8-10 episodes. But luckily, like I said, there was still a lot of solid television on for me to talk about:

There is only one brand new show that premiered this year that can get my vote for the best show of this year if not the best show of ALL TIME, which is of course previously reserved for Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Arrested Development. That show is Pushing Daises; I have never fallen in love with a show as quickly as I have with this show. It instantly puts a smile on my face every second I watch of it. The story is just extremely well done, I mean sure it steals some of its elements from Dead Like Me, but hey, its from the same creator. Also this show stars the new love of my life, Anna Friel aka Chuck. The show is basically about a guy Ned who has the ability to bring back the dead but if they stay alive for more than 60 seconds, another person within their range will die. If he touches the person that he just raised from the dead again they stay dead, forever. The best part about this show is the style; it is a very stylized show. It feels like a giant Dr. Suess book come to life and the narrator on the show Jim Dale does a great job giving it the fantasy feel. I cannot recommend this show enough to everyone.

The Office, what can I say about this show that hasn't already been said by millions of people who watch it and pull out Michael Scott quotes everyday, I tend to use the ole "That's What She Said" too much, but hey, sometimes it works. This past season was OK, I'm not going to say great but it's so hard to judge these shows when we haven't had that much source material to do that off of. A few episodes I thought were just straight up bad though, surprisingly the one written by Steve Carell. And always remember folks…"Bear Bears Battlestar Galactica"

If you asked me earlier this year that I would look forward to a show every week that was on the CW, I probably would spit on you and say no thank you sir! Well probably not but Reaper is a show that came out of fucking nowhere. And its good, it's REAL good actually. It's about a kid who has to capture souls and send them back to hell; he works for the devil because his parents sold his soul to the devil. The writing is actually really solid and the acting is very well done, sometimes is can be hokey but it's a small flaw I can look past for an awesome show.

Flight of the Conchords, I really can't praise this show enough, catchy as hell tunes, very funny, and cool show.

Curb Your Enthusiasm this season was alright. I mean I really like this show, I always have but sometimes it gets a little old seeing Larry get into the same shit and sometimes you just want to jump in the screen and scream "STOP FUCKING UP". But the season finale was great, "HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM THE BLACKS".

If no one has noticed yet, I want to marry Tina Fey. A hot nerdy girl who is hilarious? Come on, where else are you going to find that? 30 Rock is slowly becoming one of my favorite shows and without Alec Baldwin and Tracey Morgan; it wouldn't be what it is. These two really steal the show I think and Tina is just an added bonus to an already awesome show.

Scrubs actually surprised me this year after ending last season with a horrible predictable ending; they have redeemed themselves this year for their final season. Unfortunately this season is being cut off early by the strike, so I don't know what's going to happen.

The Simpsons, still going strong I think, fuck the nay sayers. Sorry that's horrible writing I know, but I get so much crap for liking this show and not liking Family Guy, screw that I say. This show is still awesome and always will be.

Biggest disappointments so far have been Heroes Season 2, ugh, horrible writing, acting is still real shitty and a plot that is going nowhere; no thank you . My Name Is Earl, also not very good this season but I shouldn't judge it too hard as it didn't get its full season run in. South Park had a few disappointing episodes mixed in with a few good ones, 4 Kouracs.

Shows I still need to watch include: Dexter Season 1, Jekyll, Supernatural, The IT Crowd, and Battlestar Galactica Season 3.

Hot Rod (2007)

Let me start off by saying i love The Lonely Island guys, from The Bing Bong Brothers to Awesometown to the SNL Digital Shorts they produce, i think they are all hilarious. This movie Hot Rod was directed by Akiva Schaffer who is one of the Lonely Island guys along with Andy Samberg. This was also written by a normally very good writer, Pam Brady who wrote with Matt Stone and Trey Parker a lot. So what went wrong?

Well not much went wrong, it just to me felt like a waste of my time. Now i do not want to sit here and sound pretentious and say im better then watching a film like this because im not. This is coming from a guy who enjoys to watch Don't Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead and If Looks Could Kill. I love these films, but i just did not like it. I thought the script could have been a lot better then what it sounded like. They could have gone a lot further with the comedy. I expected a lot more from these guys, and i don't think they delivered at all.

5/10

Cinematic Titanic: The Oozing Skull (2008)

THEY'RE BAAAACCCCCKKKKK!!!!

To those unfamiliar with me in general, you'll know or soon to find out i am a HUGE Mystery Science Theater 3000 nerd. And announced back in November of 2007 the creator of MST3K Joel Hodgson started a new riffing project with him, Trace Beaulieu (voice of Crow and Dr. Forrester), Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl Forrester) and J. Elvis Weinstein (orginal voice of Tom Servo). There was a lot of hoopla about this, as it seemed like competition for Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett's Rifftrax and Film Crew. But in my opinion, any new MST3K that we can get, i will gladly accept with open arms.

Their first episode was riffing on the movie The Oozing Skull, or also known as "Brain of Blood" but due to rights issues, but they changed the name of the film as one of the producers of the film thought it was create "marketplace confusion" yea, like theres such a high demand for people to actually see this film. This movie is a straight exploitation film, no doubt about it, and its pretty bad too, the dialog is horrible, and the editing is even worse. But lets get to the actual riffing.

It was really nice to see the original crew back together as its been a solid 14 years since we have seen these guys back together. And they haven't skipped a beat it seems like. The riffing was hilarious from the group riffing they did, to the acknowledgment of Trace's cheesy jokes. They added a really cool interactiveness to the movie also, like having Trace on a cherry picker, cleaning the make-up off one of the actors in the film and having Stephen Hawking's come out, asking for a brain transplant after the movie was over. I had a smile on my face the entire time, not just from the laughing but just because it was nice seeing all these guys back together again
. I eagerly await the next Cinematic Titanic episode, as this was a hilarious new project and considering we really can't get a lot of new riffing on cheesy movies as Rifftrax is just riffing on current movies and The Film Crew is done, all im doing is relying on my MST3K dvd's.

"CANN YOUU FEEELL!!!!!"

Once (2007)

What happened? What took me so long to see some of the best films of 2007? I am extremely angry that i slept on this film because i only have one word to describe this film; beautiful. From the music, to the directing to the acting. Just amazing.

This is a musical, there is no doubt in my mind its a musical, it tells the story of two people in Ireland, the guy (who has no name) a broken hearted singer/songerwriter/hoover fixer and the girl a Czech immigrant who is trained on classical piano. It follows their meeting and the band they put together and share their love stories. The music is the selling point on this film, most of it was written mainly by the actor who played Guy, Glen Hansard who is in the Irish band The Frames. The music is very well composed acoustic / folk / indie with well thought out lyrics about heartbreak. Glen Hansard's music and lyrics are very powerful and his performance shows it too. I fell in love with the music, especially the beginning with the song "Say It To Me Now", they really portray the raw power of his singing.

This movie was shot for only $160,000, it feels like it was shot from the streets and has a down to earth feel to it and a very documentary style to it. This is how a musical should be in my opinion, its not hokey, or cheesy, its modern, its very relateable and just well done all around.

I can really see why this movie was on peoples best of 2007 lists, this would have been on mine, no doubt if i saw it in 2007. I am in shock on how many good movies ive had the chance to see lately.

9/10

Juno (2007)

I'm sure you have heard the hype surrounding this film, for one thing, believe it. This movie is worth the hype that it received. From the extremely well acting by Ellen Page, Michael Cera, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney, and Jason Bateman. To the very well thought out and tight script from new comer Diablo Cody. And the excellent directing by Jason Reitman.

Alright, enough name dropping lets get to the film, this movie revolves around a 16 year old girl named Juno (Ellen Page) who gets pregnant by Michael Cera's character Pauly. And then follows her around over the 9 month period separated by season in the film. I fell in love with this film from the very beginning regardless of its very indie by numbers feel from the opening credits, to the quirky tic tac thing that Cera's character has. It works, it works very well in this film and fits the mood of the movie.

Cody's script is extremely well written and you can tell, even if you did not pay attention. Juno may seem to say some things that seem out of character that normally a 16 year old would say but after you get to know the character so well, you really see that it fits her persona, at first i was a little jarred and did not like it but it grew on me. This movie also contains a lot of laughs which is refreshing to see in a movie of this subject.

The soundtrack also gives this movie another "indie by numbers" feel with its folk / acoustic / punk but once again fits the movie right. If it works this well, then why the fuck not i say. It made me want to go out and buy the soundtrack right away, and that is exactly what i did. If a movies soundtrack has that effect on me, props to them because i normally do not do that, minus the Grindhouse films of course.


The acting is superb in this film, Cera once again pulls off the awkwardness of teenage youth like he does so well in Arrested Development as George Michael. Page makes a very believable 16 year old "indie" girl, J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney's roles as Juno's parents were spot on and i almost liked them the best in the film. Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner also play the parents who want to adopt Juno's baby once it is born and theres a nice little twist thrown in their that i will not spoil that i kind of saw coming but really was a turning point in the film.

The ending of this movie is what kind of got me a little bit, it seemed perfect for the film but seeing Juno profess her love to Pauly i thought was a beautiful touch to the end and really made the movie come together. I am not going to sit here and say, see this movie, but if you actually read this, please do me a favor and see this film. Even if you are not a fan of the indie feel of films, just for a comedy and a heartwarming story, see it. You will not be disappointed.

10/10

The Orphanage (2007)

Don't you hate in movies when they say "Quentin Tarantino Presents..." when you know they had absolutely nothing to do with the actual production of the movie? Well The Orphanage had the tag "Guillermo Del Toro Presents.." in front of it and you can tell he had something to do with it. Probably because he produced the film, but i digress. The Orphanage is a Spanish film directed by Juan Antonio Bayona whom i have never heard of until this film. You can tell he took a lot of his directing style from Guillermo himself and this movie i thought was shot beautifully, it had the nice wide shots when they needed to be there. And the close shots to show the suspense of the film.

This film is being marketed as a horror film and i just do not see the horror in this film at all, if you read a lot of other reviews they say the same thing, i would consider it more of a suspense/fantasy film if anything. It basically follows the character named Laura who buys the home she was previously an orphan at to make it into an orphanage with her husband Carlos and son Simon. Simon then starts to make some invisible friends who later turn out to be the ghosts of the kids Laura was orphans with. The acting in this film i thought was phenomenal, and its obviously hard to rate the dialog as the entire movie is in Spanish but everything that was spoken seemed alright with me.

Where i thought this movie lacked was that i tried to compare it too much to Pans Labyrinth and you cannot. Pans Labyrinth is MILES ahead of this film and thats where i think it lacked. The story i thought was OK, it seemed a little slow for my taste in some parts and some scenes felt like they dragged on for too long. I can see why people absolutely love this film because do not get me wrong, it is an excellent film but just some of the unnecessary shots and long scenes really took me out of the experience. There were a few suspenseful and jumpy moments in the film which is why im guessing people are classifying it as horror but thats not what the overall film was about.

The ending, like most movies is what sold me on this though, it was a very taboo ending and left you thinking for a little bit. It had a lot of heart to it too, especially the final scene of the film, i do not want to give anything away but its really touching. Another element that bugged me a bit was the score. It seemed a little too familiar to me, like it was being ripped off. Even at some points in the movie it felt a little out of place, made you think, "why are they putting this music in, during THIS scene?".

Overall, the goods outweigh the bads in this film, i enjoyed it and even if you did like Pans Labyrinth, i highly recommend checking this out. A good start to 2008

8/10

MST3K Expierment #512: Mitchell (1975)

Oh, Joe Don Baker, what were you thinking making this horrible, horrible film. Mitchell is about a blundering drunken detective working a murder case that turns into a drug smuggling case. There really isn't much to talk about in this movie, so im just gonna cut to the good stuff, the Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffing. This has always been one of my favorite episodes and everytime i turn it on, it gets funnier and funnier. They tear this movie apart, Mitchell is a just an idiot and some of the riffs they throw out make it a viewable film. From when John Saxon's character, yes you heard me right, John Saxon is also in this movie; offers Mitchell a drink and says "How do you like your Scotch?" Crow throws out a "By the Quart" that part gets me everytime. The scene where Mitchell argues with the little kid is priceless and some of the worst dialog ive heard in a film in a long time. This movie also consists of a classic Boom Mic in shot scene. But this episode of MST3K is also a monumental episode for MST3K as this marks the last episode of Joel Hodgson as the host. The mads decide to kill Joel but with the help of the new intern Mike Nelson and Gypsy. They find the escape pod and he escapes back to earth safely. Overall, if you are a fan of MST3K, i highly recommend viewing this episode as you will laugh your ass off.

I give this movie, 2 Mitchell thumbs up

Everything is Illuminated (2005)

Everything Is Illuminated is Liev Schreiber's directorial debut, you might know Liev as mainly an actor from such films as Ransom, the Scream Trilogy and of course Phantoms. Everything Is Illuminated is about a collector, Elijah Wood's character Jonathan who is trying to collect items from his Jewish families past. He ventures to Ukraine to find the lady who saved his grandfathers life in the small village he lived in during World War II. He meets up with an old man who is a tour guide of some sorts, he takes up Jewish travelers and brings them to their destinations to try and rekindle their past. There is some comedy in this film, in the form of a Ukrainian breakdancer named Alex. He brings some moments of laughter but i felt the character wasn't necessary in this film. The good of this movie consisted of the acting and performances from the actors and actresses, unfortunately the bad outweigh the good in this film. I felt that this movie could not keep its story together, it felt like it was all over the place and changed paces way too frequent for my taste. The ending is what turned me off the most, i didn't feel like they explained things well enough about Jonathan's grandfather. I did not feel like they explained how the Grandfathers character played within the village when they met up with the lady who saved Jonathan's grandfathers life. And then at the end he just kills himself? Why?

The writing was not the strong point of this film either, and it wasn't just because of the language barrier but it seemed to easy. I believe if the movie didnt change paces so much as it did it wouldn't have been so confusing towards the end. On a plus note, the movie was very well shot, the cinematographer of this film knew what they were doing. Shots like this really prove that.

Overall, i cant really recommend this film, but possibly to the casual movie viewer i would as they might not find the flaws that i found, that sounded a little pretentious but thats ok, im a pretentious guy.

6/10

Reign Over Me (2007)

Who would have thought that the director of Blankman would have made such a good film, because come on, Blankman was complete shit. We all know that, but Mike Binder really surprised me with this film. I was a little weary before i viewed this movie after hearing the plot, yet another movie about 9/11. But surprise! this movie is not about 9/11 at all its about two guys who try to rekindle a friendship and find themselves in the process. You might be thinking, Adam Sander playing a serious role? Yeah, guess what? He pulls it off well, actually really well. I wasn't a big fan of Punch Drunk Love but the character he created for this role is very sad and pathetic and you can really feel the loneliness in his voice. Don Cheadle's character i was not really feeling though, i felt that it seemed a little too stereotypical to me and nothing new was brought to the table. The directing was very well done and very well shot, it felt like you were really inside the walls of New York City. There were some parts of this movie that got really depressing, especially during the court hearing at the end of the movie and you really felt the pain Sandler's character was going through. Binder left you with a nice open ended ending that left you thinking on what Sandler's character will be doing next. I just wish that they would have used Cheadle's character a little more and explored a little more of his family life as there were obviously issues there with his wife. Regardless of this movies flaws, i highly recommend it for a movie that might actually surprise you and think that Adam Sandler can play more then just moronic douchebags.

8/10

MST3K Expierment 613: The Sinister Urge (1960)

Ed Wood, famous for being one of the worst directors of all time has given us such great films as Glen or Glenda, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Bride of the Monster. One of my favorite Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes is where they had the opportunity to rip into The Sinister Urge, a film about a series of killings of young female actresses and police suspect it has something to do with the smut pictures that have been going around in the area. This movie is fucking horrible, its as simple as that, its not good at all. From the horrible editing to the real shitty acting and KLINE!!!! but its an Ed Wood film and i had Mike Nelson, Crow T Robot and Tom Servo along side riffing on the movie which made it that much better. From great lines like "That was a good crap!". They destroy this movie and have every right to, this episode also included a great host segment of Frank who went to see Hollywood actions movies like Speed and decided to blow up Dr. Forester. But gets foiled because of his love for Potatoe Pies. This episode also featured the short "Keeping Clean and Neat" which was had the most of Obsessive Compulsive kid ever in it. Its kinda fucked up to think that this is how strict we taught our children back then. Im sure it created some decent morals and a good foundation but DAMN!

Scanners (1981)

One of David Cronenbergs first full feature movies Scanners was a helluva way to break into the movie industry. This movie is very unconventional in many ways, from the directing style to the story it self. The movie is basically about a group of people who have telepathic powers and one guy who is trying to control all of them and a company who is trying to gain these "scanners" as a weapon against Michael Ironside's character Darryl. My biggest problem with this movie i would have to say is the lack of character development that Cronenberg disregards in the script. He nails a decent story but its just not enough for me to care about the characters. I think this is one of his weakest films and you can tell he has only grown as a better director and one of my personnel favorites over the years, from The Fly, Videodrome, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises and Naked Lunch. Still worthy of checking out but if you have only been exposed to his newer crime stuff, i cant say id recommend this one. Start with The Fly or Videodrome.

6/10

Brazil: The "Love Conquers All" Version (1985)

Terry Gilliam released this movie back in 1985 and it sure as hell doesn't look it. The version i watched was off my Criterion Collection dvd, and felt like a completely different movie. A lot of people have some issues with this film being that, there isn't much of a plot here but you really get to know Sam and love him a lot. In my opinion that is what a lot of movies lack now in days. This version focuses a lot more on the relationship between Sam and Jill and it still comes off as an excellent film. Gilliam is best known for this artsy, spacey style like in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and of course his Monty Phyton days. This film doesn't break that style at all and still brings a gorgeous fantasy element to it. Deniro's character will always be hands down one of my favorites in this film. I love the fact that he'll come in, save the day and then escape by swooping down a cable line and right into a window and disappear, its perfect. This movie will always be hands down, my favorite Gilliam movie.

Two amazing quotes:

Jill: Care for some Necrophilia? Hmm?

Holly: Put it on, big boy. I won't look at your willy.

9/10

Best Movies of 2007

MOVIES:

The team of Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost came back in 2007 *guys who did Shaun of the Dead and Spaced, which is an awesome nerdy show that everyone should check out* for a cop/action/comedy film called Hot Fuzz. Unfortunately i did not get a chance to catch this movie in the theaters and had to wait for the DVD release. I was pleasantly surprised with this film, it had the same shots that we are already use to and expect from Edgar Wright; not that there is anything wrong with that. A well written script from Simon and Edgar but i must admit that my biggest quarrel with this movie was the quick change of pace that movie turned into towards the end. I mean you kind of expected it to but it happened way too quickly for my taste. I still give it a high recommendation as just a real fun action comedy film.


This year, we were graced with another Wes Anderson film, The Darjeeling Limited. Going into this film, i wasn't expecting much but another Wes Anderson film and i got exactly what i expected. Just a colorful, well shot film with a good message even though i feel most of his films seem the same to me, with the message of a group of people or person trying to find themselves in a "different" type of situation. This one on the other hand stood out to me for some reason though. A great cast was involved with Adrian Brody, Own Wilson and Jason Schwartzman who all three did a great job with it. This movie also had a prequel to it of some sorts, Hotel Chelavier released exclusively on ITunes, it was a nice little short with Jason Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, in which they show her ass! booyah! anyway, the short really isn't necessary to the film but Schwartzman and Portman speaks one of my favorite lines of dialog ever spoken in a film

Jack's Ex Girlfriend "Whatever happens in the end, I don't wanna lose you as my friend."
Jack " I promise, I will never be your friend. No matter what. Ever."


Ryan Gosling, what a hot dude, well not really but my first exposure to the actor was Half Nelson, which i wasn't a big fan of, had a lot of potential i thought but didn't follow through. Never saw The Notebook either but his latest film Lars and the Real Girl i did get a chance to see and LOVED. The story it self seems quite outlandish and i can see that but its put together very well and told in a touching manner. The crowd me and my friend saw it with though had no idea what was going on though and were laughing at parts that were suppose to be serious, like i said yeah some things do seem out of the norm but that wasn't the point. Not my favorite movie of 2007 but still a good watch.

Another film i didn't get a chance to watch until it came out on DVD but i am real glad i got a chance to see it, Black Sheep. A great gory comedy from our favorite place, New Zealand, home of Peter Jackson and Flight of the Conchords. This film is awesome plain and simple. The special effects are fucking badass, actually Peter Jackons WETA studios did the special effects for this film. But its basically about genetically engineered killer sheep. How can you go wrong? You really cant, trust me.

"This is a Go-Go, Not a Cry-Cry", a line spoken by Skip in Robert Rodriguez' Planet Terror released in April of 2007. Essentially, a Grindhouse film is an exploitation film, a movie that has the intention of exciting the audience by simple and mindless fun and action and that is EXACTLY what Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarentino achieved with their release of Planet Terror and Death Proof. These films really show how much these directors have grown into their own style and just had a lot of fun making these films. We start off with Planet Terror, just a well constructed film that is goretastic and just fun, i guess i cant say that enough. Special effects are great and is a movie that should not be taken seriously and viewed as a wild ride. Death Proof is a film that a lot of people seemed to hate, but after viewing this film, it feels like a Tarentino film, up and down and all the way through, from the long dialog scenes to the typical shots of feet, people may feel that the pacing on this movie just doesn't feel right and its way too slow, and I can see why people may not like this film, but being a big fan of the dialog, I fucking loved it. I thought that the stunts were amazing, all the actors including Kurt Russell were on top of their game and the ending really sealed the deal for me. Both of these films have one of the greatest soundtracks that ive heard all year, from the jazzy feel in Death Proof to the Horns in Planet Terror, just well constructed music done by Rodriguez.

Death At A Funeral was a movie I was lucky enough to see, and is one movie I am very glad I got the chance to see. To me it seemed like it was going to be a sleeper hit until i saw that it was playing at our local "indie" theater for over 2 months, i was wrong. Death is a dark British comedy directed by Frank Oz. This movie was hands down, one of the funniest movies ive seen this year, I haven't laughed this hard in a theater in awhile, sure some of the humor seems lowbrow at times, like the scene with the shit on his hands but it almost had me in the aisle laughing, the performances by Alan Tudyk on ecstasy was priceless. Not much more to say about this film but if you get a chance, check it out, well worth your money.

Have you ever wanted to beat the 874,300 high score on Donkey Kong set back in 1982 by Billy Mitchell? Yeah, me neither but Steve Wiebe did and it was documented by Seth Gordon in one of my favorite documentaries of 2007. This film follows Steve as he tries to break Billy's score on his Donkey Kong arcade machine in his garage. You might think, WOW, that sounds terrible and boring. Its not, it actually shows the side of people that you'll never get to see and how intense people will get just to make sure Billy's score never gets beaten. Billy comes off as a complete dick in this film and at times you really feel sorry for Steve and trouble he has to go through and obstacles he has from the people who defend Billy to the death. This is a must see, even if you do not like video games, or documentaries, it is just a great underdog story.

The Coen brothers have been known to make unorthodox films from time to time. From great films like Fargo, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski and Millers Crossing they cross over to No Country For Old Men, one of the best films of 2007. This film takes the normal format you may follow for making a film and tear it up and throw it away. It is like nothing you've ever seen before from amazing dialog scenes with Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin to an Oscar award winning performance by Javier Bardem. Bardem plays one of the most sadistic fucks ive seen on screen in a long time and just knocks it out of the park. The way the movie was shot was just perfect and felt very dark and gritty. The pacing can throw a lot of people off as it is slow at times but it feels right in the film. The ending was a big turn off for a lot of people and the theater I saw it in, theater goers actually said out loud, "WHAT THE FUCK" when it ended, I just wanted to stand up and applaud such a good ending the film.

One of the biggest surprises of 2007 was Gone Baby Gone, I saw a preview for it and being a big crime noir fan I was thinking, "Wow, this looks really good" Then I saw that it was written and directed by Ben Affleck and I questioned that, because its Ben Affleck, Gigli people, Gigli. One Sunday evening I was bored and decided to head to the movies, only thing worthwhile playing was Gone Baby Gone, so I said fuck it; I walked in, only person in the theater at a 10:20 showing of Sunday night. One hour and fifty minutes later, I was in love and almost tears. This movie completely blew me away, from the dark and gritty streets of Boston shown so well by Affleck and unbelievable performance by his brother Casey. You have Ed Harris playing a scummy cop which is seems to play best and pulls off very well and another great performance by Morgan Freeman, of course it doesn't hurt that they have a very well written script to work with. The last half hour of this movie I think was what sold me on it, I am not going to spoil it but it was so emotional, you could really feel the pain that everyone was feeling. I think that it was probably one of the strongest and most powerful endings in any film that ive seen in awhile and actually left me a little misty in the eyes, its ok, im man enough to admit it. Well im not really man enough but im ok with it.

I was told by many people that Children of Men came out this year, well i saw it last year so unfortunately by a rule of thumb i cannot count it but if i did, it would be my 1 pick for movie of the year. SEE THIS FILM! It is everything that you want from a movie going experience plus more.

Honorable mentions include: Eastern Promises, 300, Knocked Up, The Simpsons movie, 30 Days of Night *soundtrack alone is worth it*, Reign Over Me

My dud of 2007 award goes to Rob Zombies Halloween remake; I have never wanted to walk out of a movie as bad as I wanted to walk out of that movie. Complete shit. I can't even talk about this film anymore without vomit trying to come back up. Some other stinkers this year include Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Superbad.

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