The Hurt Locker (2009)

The Hurt Locker (2009)

Written by Mark Boal
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow




Kathryn Bigelow has made some of my favorite movies. The odd thing is that she mainly directs action flicks, which is pretty unheard of for a chick. While most lady directors stick to typical romantic comedy shit, Bigelow has taken it upon herself to become the go-to director for dramatic action flicks with heart. Point Break, arguably the best action flick of the 90’s, and Near Dark, a flick that did vampire action/drama wayyyy before it was cool, were both directed by Bigelow. It has also been rumored that she played a major part in the production of Terminator 2, without a doubt the best action flick of the 90’s, directed by her then husband James Cameron. That said, The Hurt Locker deserves every accolade and bit of praise it has been getting for the past 7 or 8 months. It is, in my humble opinion, the best movie of 2009. However, it is not without its flaws.

The Hurt Locker follows a bomb removal squad in Iraq for about the final 80 or so days in their tour of duty. The flick starts out with a scene so high in tension that I actually had to pause it just to get my breath back. Anthony Mackie, in an award-worthy performance plays Sergeant Sandborn, second in command to Staff Sergeant Matt Thompson (played by the always magical Guy Pearce), while the young and wonderful Brian Geraghty plays Specialist Owen Eldridge. When their leader dies in combat, Sandborn and Eldridge are saddled with Staff Sergeant Will James (played by Jeremy Renner, that guy you probably keep hearing about but you’ve willfully ignored while he played awesome characters in such movies as Dahmer, North Country, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Crawford, and 28 Days Later). Will James is young, cocky, brash, and kind of reckless. Overall, he’s a bit of a D-Bag. But he’s defused something like 800 bombs and he’s fucking good at what he does. For the next 75 days, James leads Sandborn and Eldridge on the ride of their lives.

What’s good: Damn near everything. As you’ve probably been reading, Jeremy Renner is fucking fantastic. Absolutely incredible. His performanced is nuanced and he acts better than most guys with twice as much experience. What’s most surprising is that he really does change by the end of the movie. He’s completely different from when we first meet him, and his transformation is really incredible. It’s what makes me love film. As I said before, Anthony Mackie was really incredible as well. There wasn’t a really big change in his character, but you could really see the pain that he held inside of him throughout the movie. Brian Geraghty was really good as well, although his character was kind of one note. Also good: the cinematography. If you’ve read any of my reviews, you’ll know that this is a big make or break point for me. Here, it definitely helped the movie. It was beautifully shot. I believe it was filmed on location in Jordan, and it really shows. You can almost feel the heat coming off of the streets and desert. There were a couple really beautiful slow motion shots that I really really enjoyed, and in my opinion they didn’t use them enough. From what I can recall, there was one in the beginning and another in the middle of the movie. A few more would have really helped.

There wasn’t much in the way of music, but it wasn’t really missed. This flick was about building tension, and the lack of music really helped. There were also a handful of cameos in the flick, which, I’m not gonna lie, were both cool and not so cool. Guy Pearce, David Morse, Ralph Fiennes (Team Voldemort!), and Kate from LOST all showed up for a few minutes. The good part was that they’re awesome cameos. The bad part is that none of them were for more than 5 or 10 minutes. Also, I don’t understand why Evangeline Lilly was in this. Yea, I know, she’s beautiful and all, but she’s not much of an actress, and it seemed like her star power really took away from the weight of Jeremy Renner’s character. At least for me, being a huge LOST fan, it was weird seeing Kate in anything other than LOST and it really took me out of the flick for the last ten minutes, which was probably when I should have been most invested in it. I think the role would have been better suited for somebody a little less known and, quite frankly, a little less beautiful. I just hate seeing incredibly attractive people in indie dramas. I know that seems weird, but I think indie dramas like this are better suited for normal looking people. Nothing against Kate.

The last thing I want to say is this movie is intense. Like, it’ll make your stomach ache. “Why?”, you ask? The tension. I can’t really describe it without getting too spoiler-y, but I will say this – one of the bombs they had to disarm was inside the stomach of a dead 12 year old boy. And that wasn’t the bomb that made my girlfriend run screaming from the room. I’m just saying, if you don’t take lightly to tension and extreme violence, this may not be the flick for you. However, I love that shit, so I can confidently say, without a doubt, this was my favorite movie of 2009. If I had to give it something, I’d say 10 out of 10.

What the %@#! is a Reboot?

Seriously.  I'm tired of this trend.  I read today that the Bourne movies are getting a reboot.  I just don't understand what it is.  The first Bourne movie came out in 2002.   That's 8 years ago.  How can you already be rebooting it? There was nothing wrong with the franchise in the first place!  With this, Spiderman, the countless horror flicks, and Superman, X-Men and everything else, I'm fucking tired of it.  Yea the third Spiderman movie was a complete turd but what you do is hire another director and start fresh, like Batman did.  But you don't do it 10 years later! The first Batman movie (the Tim Burton one, not the Adam West one from the 60's) came out in 1989.  Batman Begins came out in 2005.  That's over 25 years later, and 10 years after Batman & Robin, a film which affectively ruined filmmaking in general.  25 years is plenty of time to reboot a franchise that is struggling.  10 years is not.  Fuck you hollywood.

Avatar (2009)

Avatar

Written and Directed by James Cameron

 

            Well, here’s an interesting movie.  It’s the phenomenon that has captured the imagination of the world.  I know you have many questions.  Is it all it’s cracked up to be?  Is it even good?  What cereal is the best?  Well I have answers for all of those questions, and many more.  Read on, young journeymen, read on.

            There is one thing I really liked about Avatar and one thing that I really didn’t like.  What I didn’t like was the story.  What I did like was the visuals.  Here’s what the story was: A paralyzed marine named Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington, or the good robot, and only good part, from Terminator: Salvation) is forced to infiltrate the natives (known as the Na’vi on the distant moon-planet known as Pandora with missions to destroy their race.  Jake does this by using an Avatar.  Basically, his brain gets plugged into the body of a creature whose DNA has been combined with his to create his own unique Avatar.  Of course, Jake is the only person that the natives will let join their family.  Upon becoming a part of the Na’vi, Jake falls in love with them.  Soon, he is forced to take a side – the humans or the Na’vi.  Which one do you think he chooses?  That’s right, he chooses the Na’vi.  He then helps them to fight off the humans, eventually winning the war, and he becomes the king of the Na’vi and sends the humans back home.  Does any of this sound familiar?  It should, because you’ve seen it in EVERY MOVIE YOU’VE EVER SEEN!!!  So the one thing I didn’t like about this movie was probably the most important thing you’d want to keep somebody watching it.  Fortunately, there was a lot to like about this.

            I guess the first thing that I should talk about is the special FX, because that seems to be what everybody is talking about with this flick.  Yes, James Cameron did create new technology for this movie.  No, you did not see the effect of this technology.  Let me take a moment to explain.  When movies and video games involving a lot of computer generated creatures are made, they’re usually done using motion capture technologies.  Motion capture is when the actor or actress wears a black leotard with dozens of tiny little green ping pong balls on it (it looks like this).  The actor then performs however he or she wants and then the movements of the little balls are converted into computer code.  Then they use the computer to create a CGI creature, and use the actors movements as a template.  They used this technology for Gollum in Lord of the Rings and King Kong in….King Kong, as well as in countless other movies.  What James Cameron did for Avatar, is he created a camera that converted the ping pong ball movements directly into the image that we see on the screen.  Previously, when people used Motion Capture technology, it would take several months of computer work to convert the MoCap into a believable character, and the actor, director and crew would often have to go back several times to create new data.  With Cameron’s new camera, they can do it on the set, and it only has to be done once.

            When it comes to the special effects, Cameron really took his time with this.  It took him 10 years to complete the visuals of this.  The entire movie takes place on a distant planet, and believe me, you will buy every second of it.  You will be upset that this magical planet doesn’t exist, because it is completely beautiful.  I’ve never seen any thing like this, and I really hope I get to see more of it.  Cameron and the FX company (Weta, which is owned by Peter Jackson, who did the Lord of the Rings movies) put thought and time into each individual blade of grass, and it really showed.  The digital characters were done very well.  The first scene was a little awkward, but I think it was meant to be that way.   After about 15 minutes of seeing the Avatars and the Na’vi, you never once think of them as digital creations.  These are living, breathing people, and you genuinely care about them.  The action sequences were spectacular as well.  Each one had me on the edge of my seat.  Last, the 3D was superb.  Most movies use 3D as a gimmick.  Lots of shots of things coming towards the camera, things like that.  Avatar used it differently.  Everything was in 3D, but it was all pretty natural.  Sure, there were some shots down long hallways, but for the most part, it was all just a regular movie in 3 dimensions.

Next, the casting.  Sam Worthington did a pretty good job (just like he did in T:S, an otherwise pretty mediocre movie). Here as the main character.  I was totally with him on his entire journey.  He never became unbelievable.  His emotion was always real.  He did a good job, and I see a lot of good things ahead for this kid.  Zoe Saldana performed just as well.  Even though her character was done digitally and you never see the actual actress, her facial ticks and physical expressions definitely show through.  She did a really great job at making us believe in her as a character with real thoughts and feelings.  The rest of the cast, however, were just a bunch of stereotypes.  Giovanni Ribisi, who is usually pretty awesome, is simply the uncaring bad guy.  He plays the same character as Bill Paxton in Aliens.  He’s just completely evil.  Sigourney Weaver plays the environmentalist scientist.  She’s just on Pandora to observe the natives and the wildlife.  She doesn’t want anybody to get hurt.  There was one interesting line where Jake said “Dr. Augustine knew what I was doing, but she let it happen so that she could get closer to the Na’vi.”  I found this line incredibly interesting, but they never said anything else about it.  Stage actor Stephen Lang played Colonel Miles Quaritch.  If Giovanni Ribisi’s character was evil, then Colonel Quaritch was Satan.  He says all the things that you expect a bad guy to say, like “Shut your pie hole” and “It seems diplomacy has failed.”  The bad thing about this movie, as I said before, is that for the most part, it’s incredibly predictable, right down to the characters and the dialogue.  And boy is the dialogue atrocious is some parts of this movie.  Just plain terrible.  Cheesy dialogue is fine in a movie with good actors that embrace the cheese (like Inglorious Basterds).  Cheesy dialogue is not acceptable in a movie that tries to be an epic adventure (like Avatar). There were many parts where the cheesy dialogue took me completely out of the experience.

Did I like Avatar?  Hell yes.  The experience was extraordinary.  Was it a good movie?  Kind of.  The story and characters were nothing new.  The dialogue was downright bad.  But it looked beautiful.  And even though I’ve seen the story at least 3 million times, I still enjoyed myself.  I truly believe that it’s a game changer, at least when it comes to filmmaking.  Does it deserve awards for Best film? Hell no.  Best director, definitely, but this is not the best film I’ve seen this year, not by a long shot.  I can still recommend it though.  I’m gonna give it a 7.5/10.

LOST

I just wanted to inform my 3 loyal readers that I will be taking a brief hiatus from my blog to catch up on LOST before the final season begins on February 2, 2010, at 8 pm.  My annual "Previous Seasons Recap" was diminished to just watching seasons 4 and 5, due to the fact that I've probably seen every episode somewhere between 5 and 15 times.  Sadly, watching LOST greatly cuts into my movie watching time, but it's the price you have to pay for great storytelling.  I'll try to watch movies as often as possible, but I can't guarantee anything.

Cloverfield (2008)

Cloverfield (2008)

Written by Drew Goddard

Directed by Matt Reeves

 

            It comes as no surprise that my love for this movie is due in part to the participation of both J.J. Abrams and Drew Goddard.  My fascination with Lost is well documented and widely known by my friends and family members.  Not so coincidentally, J.J. Abrams produced both Cloverfield and Lost, in addition to writing and directing the pilot and several episodes of the latter.  Upon Abrams’ departure to focus on directing Mission Impossible III and Star Trek, Drew Goddard briefly became the showrunner for the remainder of season one of Lost, until Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof took control.  So, when I saw the trailer for this then at-the-time untitled movie before Transformers with my good friend White Goodman, I nearly shat my pants in excitement.  If you haven’t seen the trailer for this, well then I certainly suggest you do (I tried to post it here, but I had trouble finding the original teaser, so I abandoned that venture).  It was a simple teaser trailer, shot on a handheld camera, following people around a party in New York City.  Suddenly there was an explosion and the head of the Statue of Liberty came flying at the camera, landing in the street.  It was about 1 minute long and ended just as simply as it began– with the words “From Producer J.J. Abrams” and then “Coming 1-18-08.”  Needless to say, I was floored, just like everybody else.  The movie soon became a cultural phenomenon, taking the internet by storm with a vicious (then unheard-of) viral marketing campaign, leading to rumors upon rumors about what the film was about.

            Cloverfield is presented as “found footage,” similar to Paranormal Shitivity and The Blair Witch Project, as well as countless other films.  The difference, in my opinion, is that Cloverfield has a story worth watching.  The story revolves around a small group of 20-somethings in New York City.  During a going away party for Rob (Michael Stahl-David), a monster attacks New York City, not surprisingly leading everybody to panic and flee the city via the Brooklyn Bridge.  When the monster tears the bridge down, the group turns back to Manhatten, now intent on rescuing Rob’s unrequited love from her semi-collapsed NYC apartment.  The story is told via a hand-held camera, shot by a cast member.  It’s a home video, essentially.  Now, in most movies, hand-held doesn’t work, unless the viewer is given a damn good reason for the camera to never be shut off.  Here, they give us a good reason.  Rob’s brother Jason (played by Mike Vogel) and Jason’s girlfriend Lily (90210’s Jessica Lucas) give a camcorder to their friend Hud (played by the hilarious T.J. Miller) in order to document Rob’s going away party before he moves to Japan for his job at Slusho (Slusho is a regular staple of everything J.J. Abrams produces, from Alias, this, Star Trek, and MI:3).  Hud is in love with Marlena (played by Lizzy Caplan, who I have a not so secret crush on), and Rob is in love with Beth (played by Odette Yustman, who is the worst excuse for an actress I have ever seen, although I suppose she looks nice, although wayyyy to skinny for my tastes).  Much carnage and destruction ensues.

            Here’s what I like about this movie…pretty much everything.  The cast works great together.  You really believe that they are friends and that they have been for years.  Rob is a little whiny, but not too much that you are annoyed by him.  Lily is strong enough that you really care about her.  Jason is the smartass little brother.  Hud is absolutely hilarious, spitting out one-liners and witty remarks deep into the third act of the movie.  Marlena is just the right comibination of uncaring bitch and sweet young woman.  One thing that might bother some people is the hand-held aspect.  It does get a bit shaky at times.  I’ve been told that this can cause nausea, although it never has for me.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite.  For me, the hand-held camera only helped me get more into the movie.  We only know what they know.  We only see what they see.  There are no clever camera manipulations.  I’d like to see Transformers 2 from a hand-held perspective.  While those giant Autobots and Decepticons are destroying each other and the pyramids, what does it look like from the civilians’ point of view?  I can only imagine that it’s absolutely terrifying, and in Cloverfield, I really felt that.  The special effects for this were awesome as well.  The filmmakers definitely went the same route as the makers of District 9 and used the “Less is More” philosophy, and it really worked.  This movie has one of my favorite cinematic scenes ever, as well.  For those of you who have seen the flick, it’s the subway sequence.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, then why the hell are you still reading this and not watching the movie?

            What do I not like about this movie? Well, there are a few things, and they’re both minor and major.  First, I don’t like Odette Yustman or the Beth Character.  She does nothing buy whine and cry the whole movie, and she irritates me.  You can’t make a movie where the plot hinges on the fact that the main character loves another character that is annoying and whiny.  Fortunately, Beth is actually kind of a minor character, and she only appears in the movie for about 15 minutes total.  This brings me to the only other thing that I didn’t like.  Why did Rob go back for Beth?  Not just that, but why would Lily, Jason, Marlena, and Hud follow him?  What the fuck do they care about Beth?  From what I could tell, she was barely a part of their group anyway.  I can tell you that the only people I would have gone back into that terrible, terrible shit for are my brothers and sisters, and even then, once I encountered those horrible creatures in the subway, I would have abandoned it all together.  Not only that, but Rob wasn’t even sure if Beth was even alive!  IMHO, it’s not worth it to risk your life for somebody else who might already be dead.  I mean, what if they got back uptown and Beth’s building was collapsed, not just on a tilt? Where would the movie have gone from there?  Those are just two minor pet peeves of mine about a movie that I absolutely love, so take them or don’t.

            Overall, Cloverfield is a great action movie with a lot of heart and humor.  The pace is incredibly quick, and you’ll be on the edge of your seat the entire time.  My last comment comes from my 12 year old brother, who after watching it, said “I think I’m gonna have nightmares.”  I think that’s pretty awesome.  I’ve officially succeeded as an older brother.  I’m giving it a 8.5/10.

Daybreakers (2009)

Daybreakers (2009)

Written and Directed by The Spierig Brothers

            Daybreakers is the movie that Twilight wishes it was.  Well, that’s not entirely true. Let the Right One In is the movie that Twilight wishes it was, but I’ll save that for another review.  Daybreakers is about what would really happen to Edward if he wasn’t nibbling at Bella’s neck every chance he got.

            Daybreakers is set in 2019, and vampires have taken over the world.  They tried to make a deal with the remaining humans, but the humans said no, and thus, they were hunted.  Actually, they were farmed, except for the ones who went into hiding.  Ethan Hawke plays Edward Dalton, a vampire hematologist (that’s a blood doctor) in charge of making a blood substitute, as the human supply is beginning to run low.  As expected, he hate his job, because he “feels bad” for the humans.  Sam Neill (Jurassic Park in the heezy!) plays Charles Bromley, the head of some corporation that controls the world’s blood supply.  Naturally, he is the film’s villian. On the other side of the fence, Claudia Karvan (Who I’ve never heard of.  Rightfully so, as IMDB tells me that she’s never been in anything that I’ve seen, which is a symptom of one of my main problems with this flick.) plays the female leader of the human resistance.  Willem Dafoe plays her friend, and he is the most memorable part of the flick.  Ethan Hawke soon leaves the corporate world for the chance to make a cure for vampirism with Dafoe and Nipples McGee, er Claudia Karvan.

            There was a lot that was simply just mediocre about this flick.  The acting was eh.  The story was lackluster.  But there was some good, so we’ll start with that.  The FX were great.  It appears that the production lacked a budget, and what budget it did have clearly went to making shit look cool, and it worked for the most part.  The bad vampires looked awesome, especially that one that attacked Ethan Hawke and his “Out-in-the-military” brother in Hawke’s apartment/condo/awesome freaking home.  We didn’t really see any transformations, but Michael Bay didn’t direct this, so that was fine.  Also awesome, as usual and as mentioned above, was Willem Dafoe.  I’ve known of the superb greatness of Dafoe for many years now, and most people probably recognize him from Spiderman, but if you haven’t seen Boondock Saints, then you’re missing out big-time.  He was on the ball here, delivering one-liner after one-liner, and he kicked some ass to boot, unlike his much younger co-star Ethan Hawke.  I’m not saying Ethan Hawke was bad, because I like the Hawke, and he truly wasn’t bad here.  He made us care for him, and that was his job, so I’d say he was good.  But he wasn’t the action star that he should have been.  Sam Neill chewed up scenery like he was a fat kid in the Entenmann’ store.  It makes me wonder why he hasn’t been doing more recently.  I don’t think I’ve seen him since the disaster that was Jurassic Park 3.  Another great thing about this flick was the use of vampire mythology.  No sparkling, metrosexual, brooding, vampires here.  Only badassery all around.  The gore was there, and I had a blast with it.  People exploded, heads were removed, eyes were gouged out, and it was all great.  I also loved that awesome car chase with the cars with blacked out windows.  Really cool.

            Now, on to the bad.  The story was ok, at best.  Everybody was a cliché.  Willem Dafoe was a former vampire, turned human, set out to destroy the vampires.  Ethan Hawke was a vampire hematologist that DIDN’T DRINK HUMAN BLOOD.  His brother was an arrogant, pushy, military type.  The lead chick had had something happen to her family.  Sam Neill’s rebellious daughter (played particularly well by the lovely Isabel Lucas, who you saw as the Decepticon in disguise this summer in Transformers 2: The Worst Movie I’ve Ever Seen) didn’t want to be a vampire, and when she became one, she caused trouble.  All I’m saying is, the characters could have and should have been a little more fleshed out (no pun intended).  Also, the whole middle of the flick seemed to be missing an action sequence, as I kind of zoned out during it.  This is a by-product of having a very small budget, and this just means that the Brothers Spierig should have spent their money a little more wisely, which brings me to my next point – this movie should have gone straight to DVD, and the only reason it didn’t was the fact that Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe were in it.  Did you notice any other real stars here? Nope.  I think that they should have used a little more money and cast a known actress instead of Claudia Karvan.  The flick could have used a credible female lead instead of some unknown with zero acting abilities.

            Overall, I’d say Daybreakers was okay.  And the people I saw it with seemed to agree.  Mythology wise – it was great.  The idea was great as well.  The execution, on the other hand, was just ok.  If you already saw Avatar, then go see this.  If you haven’t, then there is at least one other movie out there that is much better than this.  It’s worth a rental at least, though.  I’ll give it a 6 out of 10.

District 9 (2009)

District 9 (2009)

Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell

Directed by Neill Blomkamp

           

            If I had to review District 9 in one word, it would be “Octopus.”  If I had to review District 9 in two words, they would be “Fucking” and “Amazing.”  I just like the word “Octopus.”  Luckily for you (and me) I don’t have a limit to the amount of words that I can use.  So, let the reviews begin!

            What are you looking for in a movie?  Do you want humor? District 9 has that.  Do you want action? District 9 has that too.  How about drama?  Yup.  District 9.  This was the movie that pretty much took the world by storm this past summer, and there is a valid reason for its success.  This movie is just plain great.

            In District 9, our “protagonist” is named Wikus Van de Merwe, and he is played marvelously by Sharlto Copley, a native of South Africa.  I put the word “protagonist” in quotes because, honestly, for about half of the movie, Wikus is just downright dispicable.  You’ll hate him, but in the end he does a 180.  Wikus is the newly in charge of the Johannesburg branch of MNU (Multi-National United), a munitions corporation.  Wikus is tasked with the job of evicting over 1 million “Prawns” from the slums of Johannesburg and moving them into a new refugee camp.  Prawns are an alien race, sent here from an unknown planet.  When their spacecraft arrives, it just sits over Johannesburg until the humans cut into it.  When they get inside, they discover hundreds of sick aliens.  In an attempt to help them, they take them out and set them up with homes in the city.  When fights begin to break out between the Prawns and the Humans, the Prawns are sectioned off into ghettos, called District 9.  At first, the humans are very nice to the Prawns.  They even give each one an individual name.  However, naturally, there is a huge backlash against the Prawns.  There are also militant groups that live inside of District 9, making money off of the Prawns, selling them food, weapons, etc.  During Wikus’ attempt to evict the Prawns, he comes in contact with an alien chemical that slowly begins turning him into a Prawn.  Together with Christopher Johnson (a prawn), and Johnson’s son, Wikus must fight for a cure, while being pursued by MNU.

            There are essentially two parts to this flick.  Act I, which is a story of mistaken identity gone hilariously wrong, and Act II, the sci fi action movie.  In Act I, we’re introduced to Wikus.  Now, I think it’s worth mentioning that Wikus is played by Sharlto Copley, a non-actor.  Literally.  He had never acted before this.  He was a friend of director Neill Blomkamp and Blomkamp used him in the original short film that inspired this full length feature.  He ended up doing spectacularly well in this movie, and he’s now set to star in the (unnecessary) film remake of The A-Team.  Copley is amazing.  The narrative of this movie is told in a very unique fashion, and it helps with our getting to know Wikus.  At the start it’s a little bit disjointed, but the flick is told kind of like a faux documentary.  There are talking head interviews (talking head interviews are what they do on The Office when the cast is looking at and talking directly to the camera, or what they do on The Real World, when the cast does the same thing) interspersed with real time, non-documentary style action.  The thing is, it’s not really told sequentially.  For me, this wasn’t a problem, in fact, it really helped me enjoy the story more.  For my girlfriend, who has a permanent summer home on Jupiter, it was confusing.  If you’d like help better understanding the story – the talking heads take place AFTER everything else, but the talking heads featuring Wikus take place BEFORE everything else.  What I really like about this movie is the transformation of Wikus (and I’m not talking about the physical transformation).  I love the fact that in the first 30 minutes, Wikus is a complete douche.  You absolutely hate this man.  And he does some pretty disgusting things.  But in the final 30 minutes, you really feel for the guy.  He does a complete turnaround, and I think this is due competely to Copley’s performance.  There’s a scene near the end where Wikus is talking about his wife that nearly brought me to tears, and the fact that a sci fi movie can bring me to tears is an accomplishment in itself.  There’s not much in the way of supporting cast here, save for the bulky bald guy who plays the evil mercinary.

            Also worth noting here are the special effects.  Although this movie was made for only $30 million (I think it’s sad that I had to use an “only” before I said $30 million), I think it looked 100 times better than Transformers 2.  The news footage style really helped to mask the shoddy CGI.  Christopher Johnson was well-realized, and I especially loved the little character quirks on the Prawns.  Christopher Johnson had some sort of sheet metal permanently attached to his head, and there was one alien that wore women’s lingerie, which I thought was a great touch.  Also, the alien weapons were frakking awesome.

            District 9 is one of my favorite movies from 2009.  Not only does it have snarky social commentary, it’s also a genuinely affecting story.  If you missed it in the theaters, then you should definitely check it out on Blu-ray, because this flick was badass.  I’m gonna give it a 9/10.

Adventureland (2009)

Adventureland (2009)

Written and Directed by Greg Mottola

           

            In a year full of surprises, I unabashedly consider Adventureland my biggest film surprise of 2009.  Those who know me know of my extreme hatred for the social phenomenon known as “Twilight.”  In fact, I don’t just hate the movies, I hate the books, I hate the people who act in the movies, I hate the people who make the props, and if it weren’t for the fact that half of the women in my family participate in the phenomenon, I would hate the people who read the books as well.  Until I saw Adventureland, my loathing extended to Kristen Stewart.  Now I mostly don’t mind her, but I actively tell people to see this movie, if only to see KStew’s fantastic, career-defying performance.

            Adventureland is a movie that perfectly captures the essence of not only the late 80’s, but it also captures exquisitely what it feels like to be young.  The flick takes place in 1987, and our lead is James, played with ease by Jesse Eisenberg (brother of that little Welch’s girl from the mid-90’s and star of Zombieland).  When James’ parents suffer a huge career setback, his dreams of travelling Europe and attending an Ivy League school whislt living in New York are set on fire and thrown to sea without a lifejacket.  In order to salvage what little future he still has, James takes a job at a local theme park called “Adventureland.”  Here he learns important life lessons and blah blah blah.  The thing about this movie is it takes things that we’ve seen over and over, but it does it in such a sweet, original way that you can’t help but fall in love.

            First and foremost, the comedy is gold here.  Martin Starr provided me with more laughs in this 107 minutes than Miss March, Fired Up, and I Love You, Beth Cooper combined.  His line delivery was amazing every time, and for me he definitely stole the show.  Bill Hader and Kristin Wiig also showed up to prove why they are the only good part of Saturday Night Live these days, although Wiig pretty much played the same character she plays every time she appears on SNL, and in my opinion, it’s getting pretty old, pretty fast.  However, she kept the laughs coming here, and I put up with it.  Ryan Reynolds gave a few good one-liners, as per usual, but this was really more of a dramatic outing for him, which came as a great surprise to me.  That brings me to my next point – the drama part of the story.

            Altough this flick is at points hilarious, for the most part it remains darkly comic, nostalgic, and just kind of serious.  This is more the story of a young man growing up than it is the gross-out teen comedy that it was billed as, and that we’ve come to expect from Hollywood, and therein lies the true beauty of the movie.  As the main character, Jesse Eisenberg performs far better than Michael Cera would have.  He plays the character as a sensitive, nerdy, inexperienced teenager, and he’s incredibly likable and believable.  His love interest is Em, played by Kristen Stewart, and this is where my biggest surprise came from.  Stewart isn’t the whiny, mopey, needy little girl that she is in the Twilight movies.  Here she’s a young girl, on the brink of womanhood, exploring her sexuality and experimenting with drugs.  The first time she nonchalantly utters the “F” word, you’ll realize that this is not the Bella that you’re used to, and it’s a refreshing performance.  The great thing is that she’s more than likely just playing herself, and it’s entirely likable.  Another performance that really shocked me in this movie was that of Margarita Levieva as Lisa P, the chick that everybody in Adventureland wants to bone.  Although she was basically just there to dance around looking hot, she really made the role a little bit more playful and deep than say, Megan Fox would have.

            Another key to making this movie better than it should have been was the musical selection.  The soundtrack includes key 80’s tracks from Judas Priest, Whitesnake, Lou Reed, The Cure, The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Rolling Stones, and many many others.  While on paper it sounds like your dads classic rock radio station, in the movie it really lends to the authenticity of maintaining the reality of the movie.  The songs really work well and they make the flick just that  much better.

            Adventureland is not the movie that you think it is.  While it was mostly advertised as an average teen comedy, it is actually a transcendant adult movie about growing up.  It’s one of my favorite movies from 2009 and I definitely recommend it.  If you’re in the mood to watch a great comedy with a lot of heart, then pick this up.  It’s also a great weapon against the Kristen Stewart haters.  I’m gonna go with 9/10.