Redbelt

Yes.

Redbelt was released in theatres on 5/9/08 and on DVD and Blu-ray on 8/26/08.

"Redbelt" is the story of Mike Terry (Chewitel Ejiofor), a Jiu-jitsu master who has avoided the prize fighting circuit, choosing to instead pursue an honorable life by operating a self defense studio with a samaurai's code.

Terry and his wife Sondra (Alice Braga) struggle to keep the business running to make ends meet. An accident on a dark, rainy night at the Academy between an off duty officer (Max Martini) and a distraught lawyer (Emily Mortimer) puts in motion a series of events that will change Terry's life dramatically introducing him to a world of promoters (Ricky Jay, Joe Mantegna) and movie stars (Tim Allen). Faced with this, in order to pay off his debts and regain his honor, Terry must step into the ring for the first time in his life.

I really enjoyed Redbelt. When I saw the trailer for it my reaction was, "What was that?" It seemed to have little or no plot. It was just a bunch of supporting actors speaking softly to each other. Having seen the movie, I can now imagine what the trailer should have been and it's unfortunate that they weren't more creative with it. Something that I remember specifically about The Sopranos was that there was always a lot more action and suspense in the "scenes from next weeks episode" than there actually was in next weeks episode. Redbelt is the opposite. There isn't an overwhelming amount of action, in fact there is very little, but the trailer didn't even imply that Redbelt had a plot. The plot, as it happens, is a tremendous amount of set up, but it all pays off at the end... to an extent.

After that stirring recommendation, i still feel the need to add that my one complaint about the movie is that the end could have been more clear if they had added two or three more lines of dialogue in the middle of the movie... or maybe they were there and I just missed them.

You should rent Redbelt, it's an enjoyable film that had an unfortunate trailer and a ridiculous release date.

Religulous

YES.

Religulous is a documentary in which Bill Maher goes around the world asking questions about religion to religious and political leaders as well as religious shop owners, theme park performers and members from several congregations from all different faiths and backgrounds.

Do I think the film is a fair representation of religious people? No. Do I believe they specifically targeted the "crazies"? Yes, but here's a question: If a religious man filmed a documentary where he went to atheists, agnostics, scientists, homosexuals, and abortion doctors and asked them questions about what they believe, he wouldn't be able to fill a 90 minute movie. They would simply be saying facts; truths that are parts of every day life, it would probably be rather boring. Plus, he would probably have a hard time finding people who are crazy about not being religious.

People very rarely preach "doubt" aggressively, and that's what it seems like Maher is doing in this documentary, but in every interview he does, if someone gets angry it's simply the result of Maher asking a question that "they don't like" (which translates to "they don't know the answer to"). I have all the respect in the world for people who have faith, but I will never understand people who rely on religion. The leaps of faith that most religions are based on are, literally, unbelievable. In the real world, in modern times, what people claim to be miracles are coincidences and anyone who claims to be speaking to God, is "hearing voices". Anything else is just magic and the same religious extremists who accept that Jesus Christ turned water into wine, walked on water and could cure the sick, then turn around and try to ban other books that tell stories of people using magic for good (Harry Potter, for example).

I thought about this a few years ago and I still believe: After we're all dead and gone, when aliens come to earth, if the first book they found was Lord of the Rings they will probably worship Gandalf the White for bringing King Aragorn back to the throne bringing about the third age of man. They'll tell the gospel according to Tolkein in which the brave Frodo Baggins tosses the Ring of Power into the fires of Mount Doom saving all life from the clutches of the evil Lord Sauron. See how silly that sounds?

The whole film leads up to religions' take on the "end times". Religious zealots believe that "the end is near" While that may be true, it's not going to be because God is raining fire down from the skies. It will be because we rained fire down from the skies, onto some other religion, strictly because of their beliefs.

Religulous isn't a particularly well made documentary. It's poorly edited and a little bit 'all over the place'. There are some obvious liberties taken to shock the audience. During what seems to be a live stage show of "The Passion of the Christ" the audience is shown cheering as Jesus is being stabbed. I can't imagine... well, maybe it did happen, who knows with these people. Those of you who agree with Maher should see it for the entertainment value. Those that don't see eye to eye with him? You should watch it, too... maybe you'll see how silly it seems and start to ask the same questions Maher does.

Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist

Nah...

As much as I enjoyed it, I can't suggest that you go spend $10 on Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist. It's a funny, sweet movie and if you're between the ages of 16 and 20 or want to revisit that age, or if you're big into the New York indie rock scene, it might actually be worth the money. If you don't fit into any of those categories my suggestion is that you wait until it's on DVD.

Even at 89 minutes it feels like it could have been cut down. The leads are perfectly cast, except for one extremely awkward scene where Michael Cera needed to be confident and Kat Dennings needed to be vulnerable. The actors didn't pull off the emotions and the scene was unnecessary anyway. If they had cut that scene out entirely the movie would have worked better as a whole.

The music left a lot to be desired, too. I just didn't feel like the songs, with the exception of one, symbolized what was happening in the movie... which is a concept implied by the movie's title. I almost expected it to be a musical without the singing and dancing; meaning that the songs would represent exactly what was happening in the movie and that the music would be at the forefront not just a constant "music-bed" underneath the actions of the characters.

What could have been an excellent movie turned into a better than average romantic comedy for a younger crowd. Since it succeeds at that, I can recommend Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist as a rental, but not as a trip to the theatre.

Appaloosa

No.

I really don't like westerns, but that's not why I won't recommend Appaloosa. There are genres of film that I don't like so I try to make a point of reviewing the quality of the movie as well as giving my level of enjoyment. I liked 3:10 to Yuma and I've grown to appreciate Unforgiven, but Appaloosa was not a well made western.

I think part of the problem was the cast. An important ability for even the most famous of actor is to be able to convince the audience that they belong in the time period or region that the movie takes place in. At no point did I forget that the characters were being played by Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, Viggo Mortensen, and Renee Zellweger. In fact, I couldn't even tell you their characters names if you asked me to. None of them convinced me that they were these characters and so throughout the movie I just saw those four celebrities wearing silly costumes a whole month before Halloween.

My other issue was the fact that there really was no climax. This movie was essentially 3:10 to Yuma if that story actually took place in Yuma. They didn't need to get the prisoner to the train, they simply needed to wait for the train to get to them. There's very little story there, so once the criminal was on the train, the train is ambushed and the criminal gets away. From that point on, Appaloosa is a love story only.

As a side note, I was watching this movie in a theatre with about 30 other people. Most people were there in groups of 2 or 3 and I assume the groups didn't know each other. Everyone in the theatre was giggling at things that were happening in the movie that weren't funny for 1882 (the year the movie takes place.) It seemed like the audience thought the costumes, the language, the accents, the dirt roads, the architecture, and the fact that the people of that time didn't drive cars was silly and preposterous. That might have taken away from my experience also, but it just really wasn't a good movie.

The Foot Fist Way

I'm gonna say yes, but only because it's already out on DVD.

The Foot Fist Way was released in theatres on 5/30/08 and on DVD on 9/23/08.

Just to clarify, this movie is currently available on DVD and is no longer showing in theatres.

Imagine if Michael Scott from The Office taught Tae Kwon Do in a small town. Fred Simmons believes he is as good as, if not better than, B-movie Martial Arts film star Chuck "the truck" Wallace and feels the need to prove it to people who just don't care.

The movie isn't overly funny, but if you're bored, it'll do.

Eagle Eye

I almost said yes simply because there really isn't much out there to see, but it occured to me that there are other things you could do... other than seeing a movie... I don't know what, but people do other things all the time (skiing, invading small countries, husking corn, etc.) I also thought about how out-of-control ridiculous the plot is, and that almost solidified my stance that you should not see Eagle Eye...

... but Yes, You should see Eagle Eye.

I bet you're a little confused. Well, you don't like skiing, you don't have an army (yet), and it's not your night to cook. How could I possibly know all of that about you? I have an artificially intelligent master computer system that knows everything about everything and can do anything. In fact, if you did enjoy those activities, in order to get you to see Eagle Eye, it probably would have leveled every mountain in the world, started peace negotiations with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, and husked every ear of corn in the world. That's how ridiculous the plot of this movie is. Has that cleared anything up? No?

The fact of the matter is this movie was fun to watch. As silly as it is, the action is crazy, the chase scenes are suspenseful, and it keeps you guessing for a pretty long time. It has a very Speilbergarian ending seeing as how he produced the thing, but as preposterous as Eagle Eye is, it was more believable, and better written, directed, and acted than Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, A.I., and Schindler's List. (Just kidding about Schindler's List, that movie was supposed to be far-fetched.)

Noise

Review coming soon.

Noise was released in theatres on 5/9/08 and on DVD on 9/16/08.

Is this a joke? Noise is a movie, staring Tim Robbins, William Hurt, William Baldwin, and Bridget Moynahan about a guy who hates car alarms. He hates them so much that he breaks into cars when the alarm is going off to cut the battery wire. He then starts leaving notes and professionally made stickers once he's rectified the issue... thus becoming "The Rectifier".

All of the above would be fine if the movie was a quirky, dark comedy. It's not. It's a drama and it's stupid.

Ghost Town

Umm... yeah.

Ghost Town was exactly what I expected it to be. It's a nice, unoriginal feel good, message movie, in which Ricky Gervais is brilliant. Tea Leone is fine, and Greg Kinnear is adequate. The direction left a lot to be desired, but then, it was directed by the writer of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (ugh, I hate that guy.)

The writing was pretty average, the best moments were when Gervais seemed to be improvising. He's just a very talented, hysterically funny comedian.

It's scary; I get home from work and see that my neighbors are sitting out on their front porch or stoop and I sit in my car and pretend to be on the phone until they go inside. I don't really like people, as a rule. I like my family and friends, but I don't make small talk and so I avoid strangers at all costs. I wouldn't go so far as to describe myself as a troglodyte... introvert, maybe or mildly anti-social. I hate when I'm standing in line and someone starts to talk to me. I hate being "forced" to meet new people, at parties, at work, at bars, whatever. I'm not sure what it is. It might be laziness, maybe it's low self-esteem or bad self image... or maybe I just think the person will most likely be a douche. In that respect I can definitely relate with Gervais' character. He's kind of an idiot, though, and a little bit prickish towards the beginning of the movie... I don't think I fit those categories, but I could be wrong.

The movie plays out pretty much as expected. I really liked the take on the idea of "unfinished business", I'm pretty sure there has never been a movie that twisted that concept like Ghost Town does. While it wasn't as funny as I would have liked it to be, it was entertaining and is definitely worth a look.

Young @ Heart

uhh... yeah, i suppose.

Young @ Heart was released in theatres on 4/18/08 and on DVD on 9/16/08.

Ok so... there are now 6 movies that have made my eyes moist. Honestly this time I think it's just because I'm tired and it's the first time that I actually listened to the words to "Fix You" by Coldplay. What a sad and beautiful song.

I don't think I'm spoiling much when I say that the full chorus doesn't make it all the way to the end of the documentary. Fuck, the group's average age is over 80, there was no way that they would all make it. My question is, if they had filmed the movie a year, or two, or three earlier... do members of the chorus die every season? They all say that the deceased would have wanted them to carry on and that they all have said that if they drop dead in the middle of the concert, to drag them off the stage and keep going. FUCK THAT!!! When I die I want everything to stop. I just fuckin died, GRIEVE ME!

Young @ Heart is the epitome of my biggest fear. In the wise words of Armageddon, "I don't want to miss a thing". Now that I know how Harry Potter ends, all I'm really living for is to find out what's going on on Lost... then I can RIP. These people are living to sing. Whenever anyone in the film finds out that they might not make it to the performance, they are completely heartbroken; the life is, literally, sucked out of them. It's awful to see and scary to think about.

Now that all of the emotional crap is out of the way, let's get down to business. The chorus sucks. Imagine being forced to sit through an elementary school concert of kids you don't know. Once you finally got your pedophilia under control, you'd be rather bored. What makes it worse is that these people have lived long enough to know better.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't have a chorus and perform concerts, but to tour Europe and film a documentary? The people who are benefiting financially are really just exploiting the chorus members' old, cuteness... and it's not cute to me. Throughout the movie, I kept having visions of them complaining about the temperature and the ticket price. No matter how many time I clean it, the bathroom is always disgusting... ugh, seniors (except my grandma, I love my grandma.)