Ocean's 11 (Steven Soderberg, 2001)

Country of Origin: USA



A remake of the 1960's Rat Pack classic, Ocean's 11 has it all. By using the talents of A-list actors George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Julia Roberts, this movie was given a new modern and realistic approach. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) has just been released from jail for theft, decides to rob the three biggest Las Vegas casinos, owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia). With the help of his friend Rusty (Brad Pitt) and a gang of 9 of the best criminals, he plans a heist that will amaze you.

When this film first came out, I had no real desire to see it. It was one of those "If my friends want to see it, then I will go" type of movie for me. My brother rented the movie, and I had nothing better to do, so I decided to watch it. I loved it! I have seen a lot of "heist" movies but they all had very unrealistic, sci-fi gadgets to help them along. This movie was all real: the tools they used, the plans. It was quite refreshing to see a film like this. All the twists and turns certainly left me shocked at the end, and I love how they show you how the tricks were done. Whenever I watched this movie it makes me want to become a criminal because it looks so fun! I wonder if anyone has tried to rob a casino after this film? I really enjoyed Ocean's 12 as well and I am looking forward to seeing Ocean's 13.

Armageddon (1998)

Armageddon features Bruce Willis as Harry Stamper and Ben Affleck as A.J. Frost. Harry’s job was to lead his oil drilling team into space to battle an asteroid the size of Texas. This enormous rock was threatening to destroy Earth. A.J., who is Harry’s daughter’s fiancé, was challenged to go into space along with Harry and his team to battle this threat. After fighting many obstacles and losing a lot of their men, they finally dug deep enough into this massive asteroid to place a bomb to destroy it. All goes well until they realized that they had to sacrifice a man to detonate the bomb manually. A.J. was randomly selected as the one who will stay behind to detonate the bomb, but Harry at the last moment pulled him aside and took on the responsibility. Harry was an automatic hero. The movie created a Jesus-like figure for Harry for sacrificing his life to save the entire world.

Armageddon is a very eventful movie with a lot of action. The plot and the characters were developed very well in this movie. I could not keep my eyes off the screen during all the high thriller action scenes. The first “outer-space” movie I watched was Apollo 13, which I felt was one of the very best space movies created, with that said, I would rank Armageddon in the same category. I highly recommend this movie; it has become one of my favorites.

Overall it was very entertaining and what I felt to be a very emotional ending.

2006: In Retrospect

2006 was another strong year for cinema; one filled with lament, dystopic visions, sorrow, and fantasy. Although I've hardly seen all the major films of the year, I still feel inclined to discuss my favourites.

Of the many central themes recurrent in 2006, death was among the most prevalent. "A Prarie Home Companion" was perhaps the most significant as it explored ruminations on passing while eventually becoming director Robert Altman's final film (Altman died several months after the film was released theatrically). The film is a triumphant farewell interspersed with hope and mourning. On the opposite spectrum, Woody Allen's "Scoop" and the indie favourite "Little Miss Sunshine" explore death with a decidedly more upbeat and breezy atmosphere. The latter is among the better experiences I've ever had at the cinema.

2006 also marked a remarkable conquest for Mexican filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men"), Alejandro Innaritu ("Babel"), and Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth"), who created artistically profound films and generated remarkable box office return for their efforts.

My favourite film of the year had less press and won fewer awards than those that I have already mentioned. Regardless, "Half Nelson" was among the best received films of the year and featured one of the most haunting and astonishingly authentic performances of the past decade. Ryan Gosling creates a layered and nuanced character in his portrayal of a inner city high school teacher with idealistic intentions. Conflict arises when this teacher's drug addiction interferes with his teacher/student relations. Apart from a incredible soundtrack (trouncing Zack Braff's popular work in "Garden State") and an adept supporting cast, "Half Nelson" succeeds in creating subtle analogies between addiction and modern culture while avoiding any cliches. It is a trancendental experience and one that begs to be discovered.

Although I'm one to avoid creating lists, I've done so here for the purposes of convenience.

01) "Half Nelson"
02) "Children of Men"
03) "Volver"
04) "A Prarie Home Companion"
05) "The Proposition"
06) "Cache"
07) "The Departed"
08) "Marie Antoinette"
09) "Little Miss Sunshine"
10) "Water"

- Kurtis

Donnie Darko (2001)

Director: Richard Kelly (2001)
Country of Origin: USA

Donnie Darko was the much deserved recipient of 11 awards and 9 nominations. I just watched this movie for the first time last week, and definitely think it is one of those films that must be watched more than once. This movie kept my attention throughout the whole movie, and probably for about two hours afterwards as I pondered what happened. Still, right now there are questions running through my mind. There are so many possible ways that this film could be interpreted. The director, Richard Kelly actually had a hard time finding an endorser due to the fact that it had such a mix of genres and tones. This movie could be possibly classified as horror, but I’d lean more towards a bit of fantasy. As I watched this movie, I finally thought that I figured out what was going on, when all of the sudden there is a great turn at the end that made me want to watch it again. In an earlier discussion today with Kurtis, he mentioned the directors cut, which sounds like it may explain many of my questions. I plan to find a copy of this very soon! My recommendation is that you watch the theatrical version first, and if you enjoyed this movie as much as I did then I’m sure that you will want to watch the director’s cut. All I can end with is that I can’t believe it took me six years to watch this movie!

View trailer here:
http://imdb.com/title/tt0246578/trailers

Run Lola, Run (Tom Tykwer, 1999)

Country of Origin: Germany

German director Tom Tykwer created the fast paced Run Lola, Run (aka Lola Rennt in Germany and some other parts of the world). This was a movie that seemed like it had a simple plot with a rapid tempo, aimed mostly towards adrenaline junkies; however, it is so much more. It stars Franka Potente (you might have recognized her from Bourne Identity) as fiery red head, Lola, who has to find a way to get 100,000 Deutschmarks in order to save her boyfriend, Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu). But this is no ordinary action/ thriller/ crime/ drama/ romance. No, no. Eccentricity seems to be the theme of this film. Tykwer’s passion of seeing love triumph over all in a non conventional way is well lit up in this film. In one interview he said his main emphasis was on “the role of coincidence and fate and the notion that the smallest alteration in the unfolding of a day could have enormous consequences.” In other words, it was a matter of cause and effect. Tykwer shows his audience how a few seconds could alter the events of an entire day by allowing Lola to repeat the same day three times; each time there is a slight alteration from the previous, and each time Lola is closer to getting Manni the money and preventing an untimely death.

This movie was enjoyable in the sense it felt as if I was on a rollercoaster. The story moved along so fast that, in actuality, it only lasted 20 minutes or so (mind you the 20 minutes of story was repeated 3 times and slightly different each time, which made it round out to about 90 minutes.) The use of animation and movement was intense and added to effect of the main character’s rush to save her beloved. If you are not up for the generic shot em’ up action thriller or the sappy romance, but want to watch something in between that is not like the rest, I suggest Run Lola, Run. If you rent the DVD, you get the option to watch it in German or English, but trust me on this one, the German version has more emotion.

300 (Zack Snyder, 2006)

Country of Origin: USA

This motion picture was so good that I just had to put in another review on it. Hope that’s ok with everyone. =)

First off, the cinematography of this movie was just immaculate. The use of camera angles throughout the battle scenes and how the director used slow motion to emphasize the intensity of the battles really gave the scenes that extra “umph.” Not only was the use of angles, in the movie, well utilized, but the way in which the director decided to colour the whole movie, as to give it a sort of ‘legendary’ look. Instead of simply using our everyday colours, Snyder made the movie look as if it were a painting. The well-toned bodies’ of the Spartans just glistened in the sun light and just made them look like Gods.

The basic background of the movie is that King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 of his best Spartan warriors leave Sparta to intercept the Persian army, lead by Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), who are on their way to conquering Greece and the rest of Europe. (I don’t want to give out too much detail because that would ruin it for the ones that haven’t yet seen it =P)

My opinion of this movie was that it was fantastic!!! I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone and everyone. Like I said before, the cinematography was just amazing in how it was carried out. The battle scenes definitely showed why the Spartans were fierce warriors and why they were bred to become the best of the best. Overall, I would give this one two thumbs up!

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDiUG52ZyHQ

"The Searchers" (John Ford, 1956)

Country of Origin: USA

With "The Searchers," John Ford complexified issues of racism, historic ideals, and maintained his conveyance of familial unity. He also shot the film in Monument Vally -- the most meaningful backdrop one can hope to experience while viewing a John Ford production. Although, "The Searchers" attained a loyal following after its release, the film went unnoticed critically in America. In Europe, however, the French critics hailed the film as a landmark masterpiece and justly so. Ford undertook an epic film when directing "The Searchers," but with his economical choice of shots and framing, the film did not become an oversized production. After all, Ford rarely shot coverage; once the shooting began, he had already envisioned the film.

The photography in "The Searchers" is stunning, but Ford's eye for composition was hardly a surprise. One difference, however, is that "The Searchers" was shot in VistaVision, a relatively new photographic process at the time that would allow films to be shown in larger aspect ration and with more finer film grain -- a notion that would encourage directors to frame in long shots. Thus, if directors could use close-ups more sparingly, they would be able to emphasize meaning when doing so; it can only be assumed that Ford was entirely aware of this.

John Wayne's lead character, Ethan Edwards, conveys his racist values throughout the film. It is with such an approach that Ford was able to explore American History and the treatment of native americans. Superficially, the film itself might appear to condone racist values, but Ford's camera probes much deeper to occasionally reveal a sympathetic portrait, but unfortunately such films are rarely screened with ample scrutiny.

Although I could probably discuss "The Searchers" for hours as it is most definitely one of the finest films ever made, if not the single greatest American story portrayed on celluloid, I will end my review here with my highest recommendation.

NOTE: The most prolific use of VistaVision came from Alfred Hitchock, who composed several masterpieces in the format: "The Trouble with Harry," "The Man Who Knew Too Much," "Vertigo" (often cited has Hitch's finest film), and "North by Northwest."

- Kurtis

Frank Millers 300 (Zack Snyder, 2006)

Country Origin: USA

Wow, where do I even start! I went to see 300 the day after it came out in theatres and the line-ups were around the corner to see it. This was by far one of my favorite action movies of all-time, and I'd probably even go see it again. Leading up to seeing it, I had watched trailers and a few scenes from the movie on youtube and every time I watched them, I got more and more excited about seeing it. The pure intensity and aggression displayed in the characters in the movie is enough to get anyone's adrenaline going. Gerard Butler plays the role of King Leonidas of Sparta and he truly embodies the passion and spirit of what a Spartan soldier represented, such qualities like respect, honour, fearlessness, "from an early age, they were taught never to retreat, never to surrender, as death on the battlefield was the greatest glory a man could achieve."

The actors who play the Spartan soldiers all looked more than fit enough to be considered the "finest soldiers the world has ever seen," and as one of my buddies stated (in reference to the Spartans) "this looks like a steroid convention!" The film is packed with bloody and savage battle scenes which are conducted by both narrative speaking as well as direct dialogue from the actors, which gives the movie a unique style. Along with the countless battle scenes are a number of memorable lines, predominately from King Leonidas, that are both motivation and at times pretty humorous. Here's a few of my favorite quotes from the movie:

Persian:"Spartans, put down your spears..." Leonidas: "Persians, come and get them!"

Persian messenger: "This is blasphemy, this is madness..." Leonidas:"Madness? This Is SPARTA!"

Leonidas: "Spartans, ready your breakfast and eat hearty, for tonight we dine in HELL!"

The list could easily continue for quite some time but I'll let you see it and enjoy it all for yourself. There is no confusing this movie with a chick-flick as it is quite clearly an action packed guy-type movie, but that being said, I still think it's a great must-see movie for anyone to enjoy. I can't say enough good things about 300, just please go see it for yourself and then you'll understand that "...free men stood against a tyrant, that few stood against many, and before this battle was over, that even a God-king can bleed."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkdMvpb8o3Q Warning--contains scenes of violence and nudity. Viewer discretion is advised.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ( Steven Spielberg, 1989)

Country of Origin: USA

All you have to hear is "Dah dah dah dah, dah dah dah..." and you know that Indiana Jones is on the scene. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is the third (but, supposedly not final) installment. In this film, Indiana (Harrison Ford) teams up with his father (Sean Connery) to search for the infamous Holy Grail before the Nazis get to it first. Searching tombs, surviving dangerous boat races, tanks, Hitler himself, and uncovering the greatest archaeological find, this movie has it all!

All I can say about this film is that nothing compares to it! This is a classic in my book. From the first time that I saw it I was hooked. I Love all the Indiana movies but this one is my favorite. It has everything that I love in a movie: tons of action, romance, comedy, and mystery. I love the scenes where Indiana has to perform the three tasks to retrieve the Grail because it puts me on the edge of my couch every time...and it has been many times! The special effects, I believe, are great for that time, like how Walter Donovan (bad guy!) turns into a mummy, and all the explosions during the tank scenes. I believe that the camera angles work for this film, but I have to admit that I don't watch the change in angles. I'm more focused on Harrison Ford! The cast is perfect for this film. Ford and Connery have a great father-son chemistry that makes me laugh!

Saw 3 (Darren Lynn Bousman, 2006)

Country of Origin: USA

The third installment of this gruesome thriller will make the hairs on your arm stand on end. By carefully planning and placing certain events from the past in order and incorporating particular sequences from each characters' lives, Saw 3 creeps-out and scares most of those that are brave enough to watch.

The lives of many people are at the mercy of one man, Jeff (Angus Macfayden). He and his wife, Lynn (Bahar Soomekh), are kidnapped by Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) and his protege Amanda (Shawnee Smith). If Lynn ever wants to see her family again, she must race against the clock to keep Jigsaw, who is on his death bed, alive and if Jeff ever wants to be with his family again he must go through a series of tasks and learn the lesson of mercy. Little do they know that Amanda has a series of secrets that seep-out and alter the outcome of each persons' destiny.

In my opinion, I thought that this movie was good (This could be because I love horror/scary movies). What made this movie good for me was that it was able to make me squirm and give me chills down my spine, which is not a common thing for me. I don't normally squirm or get chills when I watch movies like this, so if a film can achieve this, then it must be good. Kudos to the work of the director. The effects of sound, lighting, and camara angels, I believe, were the major contributors to acheiving what they did. I do recommend this film to anyone that likes to watch horrors and be scared, but I don't neccessarily recommend this film to those that get sick easily because. let's just say that it's a bit more graphic and explicit than Hostel.

Un Dimanche à Kigali

Country of Origin: Québec, Canada

Director: Robert Favreau

Un Dimanche à Kigali is playing in le Cinématheque movie theatre downtown on Howe and Davie right now. It is a very cute theatre that has only one theatre. This film is about a Québecois film maker, Bernard (Luc Picard) who goes to Rwanda to film a movie about AIDS. He becomes very close to many of his film subjects and their family. He falls in love with Gentille (Fatou N'Diyae), one of the workers of the hotel that he is staying at. War breaks out in between the Tutsis and the Hutus and they get stuck in the middle. Bernard refuses to flee to Canada because he knows that if he does, Gentille will be killed as she is a Tutsi. This film is extremely realistic, and does not leave anything to the imagination. There were a few scenes that were a little too gruesome for me and I had to look away, but this film is based on a true story, so the harshness is a must to portray what the Favreau is trying to show. This film is filmed in French, but has English subtitles, so it can be enjoyed by almost anyone. As I left the theatre, I heard many people compare this film to Hotel Rwanda. I found out afterwards that it was filmed in the same hotel as Hotel Rwanda. Although this is not my usually genre of film, I enjoyed it, as did the other members of the French Student Union that I went to it with.

Quill (2004)

Country of Origin: Japan

Quill is a Japanese dog movie about a seeing-eye dog. It is a popular movie that was translated into multiple languages and is considered to be a very popular film around the world. The movie is about the life of a seeing-eye dog and what they go through before having the responsibility of guiding a blind person. Quill is a Labrador retriever who went through the hardships of becoming a seeing-eye dog. (based on a true life cycle of a guide dog) The main character, other than Quill, is a blind man who wanted no help whatsoever from anyone, especially not a dog. His stubbornness and his unwillingness to work as a team with Quill led to their struggles to gain trust between them, but that would vanish once he realized how much Quill cared for him and his well-being. The plot of the movie revolves around their fight to overcome challenges. Their final challenge was to be without each other as the man fell sick and was no longer able to take care of Quill.

The reason why I choose to watch this movie was not because of its popularity, but because of what this movie means. I have a Labrador retriever at home, almost like Quill, and after watching this movie it just made me appreciate him that much more. Dogs are amazing creatures; they are much more than a household pet. As the movie was able to illustrate, Quill was not just doing his job as a seeing-eye dog, but instead he was a friend and a companion who was there to support his owner, just like our dogs do.

It is a very emotional ending to the movie, but without giving away the ending, I can tell you Quill and his owner were able to overcome their challenge of being away from each other.

I highly recommend this movie, it is a slow moving movie, but every scene has a great deal of meaning behind it. It is definitely a movie that a dog lover has to see.

Trailer: None

The 79th Annual Academy Awards

It was no surprise whatsoever to hear the bitterness and resentment towards the Academy in the weeks approaching the ceremonies and the morning after -- of course, most sentiments have now tranformed to that of boredom and/or indifference. In general, I was quite pleased with the show -- a year elevated by pleasant surprises, due recognition, and a particularly adept host. Most notably, it is the story of Martin Scorsese's Best Director victory that is on the minds of most cinephiles, while the tribute to Ennio Morricone is certainly a memorable aside. For those who don't know, Scorsese has had impressive longevity in Hollywood, directing for more than thirty-five years. He's created numerous films of exemplary quality and drawn many of his films to suit his personal interest in morality; it's been said that if Scorsese weren't a director, he'd be a priest as he was once quite involved in the seminary. Of the films he's most associated with, I have the greatest respect for "Taxi Driver," which was an astonishing technical achievement as well a superb meditation on the omni-present theme of morality. Of course, there's always been notices for his work in "Mean Streets," "Raging Bull," "After Hours," "The Last Temptation of Christ," and "Goodfellas." Scorsese's immense knowledge of film has always had an influence on his content and technique, but it also manifests in his general speech; cinema is obviously an extremely meaningful facet of his existence.

The technical awards were suprisingly well-chosen by the Academy with Pan's Labyrinth justly awarded in numerous categories. Although I would very well have liked to see Emmanuel Lubezki receive recognition for his astonishly well structured cinematography in "Children of Men." His lack of acknowledgement from the Academy is worsened in light of his not winning for "The New World" in the previous year.

Although, the Oscars have very little weight in my mind -- for a more authoritative voice in cinema, I'd turn to the Cannes Film Festival -- the awards are generally an excuse to celebrate cinema and I've never be one to turn down such an offer.

- Kurtis

A Lil' Film History (1877 and counting)

As the Academy Awards were playing in the background on my TV, I couldn't help but wonder where film-making was going. Movie making is a relatively new form of art in most respects, and it has advanced drastically in the course of the last century. I am certain that it will continue to grow and shape itself into a spectacular (and entertaining) art form for centuries to come. But, let us back track a bit. We can all see where film is going, for the most part, but do we really know where it has been? What inspirational being created such an art form that most take for granted today? Well do not fret my good friend for I shall take honor in telling you today. If nothing else, I hope to leave you with an excellent conversation starter…

Below I have created a time line of how film sprang into this beautiful world of ours, so sit back and soak in the knowledge…

1877 – Eadweard Muybridge lined up a series of cameras, to take individual pictures to see a horse’s hooves moving off the ground, for Leland Stanford. Apparently, Stanford wanted to see if all 4 of the horse’s hooves came off the ground when it galloped.

1882 – Etienne- Jules Marey created a camera in a form of a gun with negative film, which was the very first short reel camera.

1889 – Thomas Edison invented a camera that could take loop footage, and to show the footage he created a Kinetoscope (which was essentially a motion scope), which played the loop over and over again. And I bet you thought the only useful thing he made was the light bulb!

1894 – Andrew Holland opened the very first Kinetoscope parlor. Remember, in these early stages of film there was no sound so in the parlor there would be someone playing a piano while people enjoyed the footage.

1895 – This was the year that the Lumieres Brothers gave birth to movies the way we know them today. They came up with the idea to put a light behind a screen to project their ‘actualities’ (their documentary style film).

1896 – Not many people know this, but Alice Guy Blanche (yes, a woman), made the first color film and the first film to have a story line.

1903 – A great year, because if it wasn’t for a certain Georges Melies creating the film ‘A Trip to the Moon’, the very first science fiction movie, we may have never been introduced to the art of editing and animation. (Ok, someone else probably would’ve come up with it sooner or later, I just like dramatics)

1927 – Ever hear the phrase “you ain’t seen nothin’ yet”? Well I bet you didn’t know it was one of the few lines Al Jolson said in the film ‘The Jazz Singer,’ directed by Alan Crosland. This was the first movie that had sound while filming it (however, because the machine they used to record sound was so loud, the whole movie had only a few dialoged sequences).

1928 – The movie ‘The Lights of New York’ was the official 100% full talkie film.

1941 – This is the final year I leave you with, the year that Orson Welles made ‘Citizen Kane.’ It was said that Welles was the man who began the talkie era, first bringing entertainment (and fear) to everyone, through broadcasting waves with the ‘War of the Worlds’ radio rendition of the planet being overrun by aliens; then taking his talents and applying them to film.

Well I hope you enjoyed this little blast from the past…let me know what you think of it!

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974)

Country of Origin: Germany

Perhaps director Rainer Werner Fassbinder's most lauded film, "Fear Eats the Soul" is also notable for being one of the key films of the New German Wave, which was headed by Werner Herzog, Wim Wenders, and, of course, Fassbinder. "Fear Eats the Soul" is perhaps most famous for its impressive handling of interracial relationships in working class Germany; but, other than the film's touching and insightful approach to an otherwise touchy issue, "Fear Eats the Soul" has the distinction of possessing an incredible presence of mise en scene, which clearly evokes the work of Hollywood melodramatist Douglas Sirk. Created in the middle of what was perhaps the most prolific directing career in cinema, the film is all the more remarkable for the brisk shooting schedule with which Fassbinder conducted all his productions. Surprisingly, given the relatively low budget, the film's stars are tremendously effective in drawing an emotional bond with the audience; the brazen and broken speech with which Ali speaks is particularly affecting.

While it can be argued that Fassbinder had greater achievements with "The Marriage of Maria Braun" and his fifteen-and-a-half hour long mini-series "Berlin Alexanderplatz," "Fear Eats the Soul" remains a surprisingly warm film from a director who was known for his cold and displeasing demeanor. Although I've often been drawn to the surreal imagery of Herzog's shot-on-location dramas such as "Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (perhaps my favourite film) and "Stroszek," I'm becoming increasingly fascinated by Fassbinder's diverse canon of films and his masterful use of mise en scene. For those unfamiliar with German cinema, the work of the said directors must be seen.

- Kurtis