The Brave One, 2007

This was an amazing film! Even though you know what's going to happen, the story is riveting and gripping; you have to see exactly how what you know is going to happen happen.

Jodie Foster inbues her character with an intense depth that draws one right in. The story, obviously, is highly dramatic and pulls your strings. Don't watch this film expecting action sequences, but also, the scenes are so gruesom and energized that this is no drama, either. I was not overly convinced by Terrence's performance. Or perhaps the fault lies with his script. Or something.... He is very honorable, but the kind of honorable with a flaw. And I am biased towards Naveen, having seen him in other productions; his part was .... well, quite small in this one, but the story (and Jodie) magnified his presence in phenomenal ways.

I love how the plot drew me in. You know the story is about vengeance and vigilantes, you know hte good guys are going to win. But you just have to see how it all comes down. It touches on the morality of justice, a deep topic in any context. My one biggest problem is that this movie, like so many others, glorifies the individual, personal sense of what is right and what is not. It does not adhere to an absolute standard of justice. On the other hand, it also showcases the severe problems with the current legal system, especially the inability of the "upholders of the law", the police, to bring the guity before judgement. I love how Terrence's character (Mercer) said of such a problem that there is nothing legal he can do about it, but had to backtrack and rescind that statement. He opened up the window to his true thoughts, just a crack, and realized that what he said is not fit for the law he is supposed to represent. That is the grit of life.

The recurring theme (both in music and via the radio show) of "walking the streets" became powerful, and I am really glad the director/producer did that. I was enthralled how "walking the streets" irrevocably transformed into a stranger;

There is no going back, to that other person, that other place. This thing, this
stranger, she is all you are now.

There is something about that statement which resonates with the power of authority and truth about that. We are all changing, growing, becoming strangers on the streets we walk. We may try to stay the same, and we may see the same things around us, but people change.

WALL-E, 2008

This was a really cute movie; great for watching with little ones. I really enjoyed the "over-the-top" roboticness; arms and manipulators that go through 720 degrees of motion, panels that slide and peel like onions, never-ending motion that results in a very simple action. The contrast between the stark hospital purity (aka, sterility) of the "future" robots and the grit, the run-down, energy-inefficient clumsiness of the older (WALL-E) was very well done. The team that wrote, designed, automated and directed WALL-E was ingenious; so many small details, so many idiosynracies, so many things that could be "real".

Two particular problems I had with the story (and Pixar to a degree). While so much attention is given to the landscape and WALL-E, the humans look like plastic toys. Ok, forget that they are enourmously overweight, so many of Pixar's humans look so unreal. Ok, now back to the story, it is just ridiculous that every single human is obscenely obese; where are the health nuts? The Tree huggers? And what's with every single person being so disconnected from reality that they do not even notice the "world" (ship) around them? If that was the whole point, the storywriters did well to go above and beyond to make it. But it just felt.... out of place. And the robot "Hospital Ward" was done up more like an experimental lab from a horror movie, only with bright shiny lights and pastel colors.

The romance was light-hearted and heart warming. The pixelized facial expressions of the white robot (EVE) were great; interesting how they were so retro, as well. I enjoyed the complete facial swipes as EVE attempted to find a language that WALL-E would understand.

Terminator Salvation, 2009

I had an opportunity to watch this flick for free - did not want to waste the money to rent it. The whole Terminator series has gone down hill in a big way. The time travelling just throws the whole thing off. The lastest film capitulates on the impossible war against the superior machines, and there are so many holes that the story could be a strainer for pasta.

I love all things hi-tech; I like robots, spaceships, futuristic settings, etc. The only reason I even agreed to watch latest incarnation of Terminator was for the special effects and the robots. While I enjoyed the soundscape and various technology-oriented themes, it was mostly a disappointment. It seems that the machines have gotten dumber and weaker instead of smarter and stronger. They have at least gotten bigger; the monstrous, 60-foot tall bi-pedal mech had the cool touch of including mechanized, autonomous killer bikes. Although for all their technologocial superiority, they still were immobilized very easily. Likewise, the machine slave transporter included cool assault drop ships.

Seeing a complete CGI redo of Schwarzenegger was awful. Why bring that back? Of all the kooky things, it seems that the new model's skin is exceedingly tough - the flesh was not even scratched with another Terminator smacked him upside the head. That is some impervious skin. Too bad the metal underlying the skin is so brittle.

Angels and Demons, 2009

It is interesting how Dan Brown (the author of these stories) focuses so much on religious corruption and super-secret socieities, mixing in much myth, legend and old-school fables.

I like Tom Hanks for these films. It is possible others could have filled his shoes (maybe), but I like him in what he did. I am not so sure I liked the pairing of him with the obligatory "good girl" scientist Vittoria - I did not find her believable at all. I felt that the Catholic population was well cast, even though I had strong doubts about Ewan; but he pulled through.

The story is a good bit of entertainment. I think I might be fed up with all the hooplah surrounding The Illuminati and such, between Dan Brown's stories and "National Treasure". However, the twist in this one is a good one. Overall, good flick but would not see it again.

Duplicity, 2009

Like Doubt, this one left too much up in the air. Not quite as bad. Unfortunately, I do not like the main leads (Clive Owens and Roberts have done a number of flicks together now, and I do not like their clashing smashups at all).

The director did pull some of the loose threads together, which I appreciated. The "twist" at the end even comes across as intentional, instead of a poorly done movie. One line I did not quite get, out of the many I did not get, was when Claire (Roberts) says to Ray (Owen) during one fun kissing scene is "We still do not trust each other". Sure, I get that in the espionage business, the key is never to trust anyone. But they did trust each other. I came away thinking that they direction allowed them to have too much bonding time with each other; if they truly did not trust each other, they should have been a bit more evil, cruel, conniving, manipulative. Don't get me wrong, plenty of that was going on, but it was feeling too much like "Mr. & Mrs. Smith".

Doubt, 2008

I am trying to decide what I liked about this movie. Not much. Part of it is that I do not care for Streep or Hoffman. In a way, that made everyone else stand out. =) Sister James (Amy Adams) was a good character, charming for all her naivete, but a little too childish in some ways.

I realize the premise of the movie is Doubt. And I think it makes a good point that even in varoius pursuits of religious sincercity and faith, everyone has doubts. That being said, what was the point? What was the audience to walk away with? A movie capitalizing on the topic of doubt should not leave so much up in the air, I think.

Avatar, 2009

I do not recall if I have ever seen a 3-d movie. Nope, don't think so.
So I do not have much to compare to. But what I saw I liked. True, most of the film did not seem especially 3d'ish - so much of it was, well, 2d. *grin* But whether it was my imagination, or the 3d special affects, or some combination of both, there was definitely some sharper clarify in the picture. Ironically, what really hindered the 3d effect for me was the edge of the screen - it would be extremely interesting to have watched this in IMax.

But on to the movie itself. I like the way it was shot; vibrant colors, wonderful detail, good sound quality. The CGI was exceptionally good, but not yet perfect. For instance, the landscape was amazing, especially the floating mountains. However, the humanoid Na'vi still come across as fake. I really like how the artists melded the faces of the real-life actors into their creations, and it is obvious that a lot of movement came from recording the live-action. There were enough things, tho, that demonstrated the short-comings of CGI.

The plot was interesting. Not exactly sitting-on-the-edge-of-your-chair gripping, but the same stuff recyled between the "against all odds", small man vs. big man themes as in The Matrix or even many of the Disney films.

Some of my biggest issues involve the "linking". Somehow a humans conciousness is transmitted into a Na'vi body. The films shows a hyperspace-like, almost wormhold-travel transition which would leave one to believe that this "linking" is essentially an out-of-body experience. Aside from that voodoo, the avatar Na'vi retains the special ability to "sync" with living things, which is just outrageous. Another problem I had was with the general dude; his script took him way too far into stereotypical diabolical land. And the profit-hungry corporation guy was a bit too soft and too weak in the end.

I did like the symbolism with the climatic battle between the general's mech and Sully's Na'vi; both avatars, both battling it out, tech vs nature (in a way).

I really enjoyed the performances of Worthington and Saldana; I felt they did a great job and had wonderful chemistry. Of course, Saldana's character was, for all intents and purposes, 100% generated, so some of that chemistry is a bit contrived, imo. Still, without those two, the movie would be a complete flop.