4 out of 5

PS: Sam Rockwell is perhaps one of the handful of guys who could ever steal a scene from Robert Downey Jr.; he certainly does here. I was cracking up when he danced on stage. Here’s to more Justin Hammer in Iron Man 3.

All this criticism makes it sound like the movie is bad, but that’s not the case at all.  Like you would expect from any blockbuster from Scott, the entire film shines from the quality of the acting, cinematography, and everything else.  The many beautiful shots of rustic landscapes, towns, & castles were all quite memorable and the frenzied battle sequences were appropriately mayhem filled and epic.

What the film lacks is the outlaw element.  The whole movie feels like a prequel to the real Robin Hood outlaw movie (which you’d think you were going to see when you buy tickets for a movie called ‘Robin Hood’), and I left the theater wanting more.

3 out of 5 (which could easily be bumped up to a 4 if they release an extended cut.)

Update (5/13/10): Cinematical mentions there will be about 17 minutes added to the DVD/BD version. Hopefully this addresses some of the movie’s shortcomings.

5 out of 5

There will be those of you who need a moment to sit down and absorb just how crazy, and yet, awesome, that sounds…  This post is for you. It comes out June 2nd; mark your calendars.

To everyone else reading this and scratching their head, please watch/listen to the following items immediately: Firefly, Serenity, Werewolves & Lollipops, and My Weakness is Strong.

I love the Tobey Maguire trilogy (I even like the last one despite its flaws), so I was disappointed to see a fourth movie fall apart. However, I think Webb has some great potential to make a Spider-Man film that can resonate emotionally, rather than just another special effects film.

Here’s my list of suggestions for the Spider-Man reboot:

1. Take liberties with the story: While I initially disliked the decision to incorporate Parker’s web slinging abilities to his spider powers (in the comics he makes his own web-shooting bracelets), it was ultimately the right decision for simplicity in a film. In any case, Spider-Man has a long twisted history to pull from and it would be a shame not to tap the best parts.
2. Don’t take too many liberties: the Mary Jane & Gwen Stacy crisscrosses in the previous trilogy eroded one of the strongest elements of Spider-Man’s backstory. Have Gwen in there, have her die when the time is right (maybe not the first movie), have Peter take this hard. Maybe then, in the followup movie, you can have a little Mary Jane.
3. Service the fans: Raimi did a great job of seeding Peter’s world with people the fans knew and tantalizing them with villains like Dr. Curt Connors, but the followup to the wink was infrequently realized. (It’s too bad we’ll never get to see the Lizard.) Webb’s got a whole new start so I’d love to see some off-hand references to Eddie Brock and Norman Osborn even if they don’t show up at first, just make sure they show up eventually. Marvel is doing a great job at this with their own Avenger properties, for example: SHIELD references in Iron Man or Stark showing up The Incredible Hulk (with more to come). Steal this page from their playbook.
4. Venom: for fuck sake, get him in there. Perhaps only as Eddie Brock in the first movie, but don’t wait until the last bit of the third movie. I’d ask for a Carnage but it really couldn’t be done right with a PG-13 rating that Sony would want.

For all the attention put into the action, Holmes doesn’t loose his exceptional powers of inductive reasoning, which he uses throughout the film. To the critics and naysayers complaining that this isn’t Holmes like they’ve read in the books or seen Jeremy Brett portray, isn’t that the core of the character? Remember how Batman Begins broke down Bruce Wayne to his fundamentals and pieced him together as something different and yet familiar? That’s what Guy Ritchie and co were trying to do, and, in my opinion, they have succeeded.

Verdict: 4.0 out of 5.0

PS: Once scene which played prominently in the trailer seemed to be missing from the movie. In it, Irene Adler, wearing a corset and stockings, attempts to stab Holmes with her hair pin. He defects the blow, they struggle, and then she knees him in the testicles instead. At least, that’s how I pieced together bits from this trailer.

Why don’t we see this in the film? It looks like a fun scene, I mean, look at his face! I guess we have some BD extras to look forward to.

BTW, Giovanni Ribisi is such a douche in this film that I can’t help loving him.

Verdict: 4.5 out of 5.0

I’m personally not watching it to avoid spoiling any exciting bits it might reveal. Hopefully, I won’t have to walk out of the theater for Avatar or some other big movie this holiday.

Also, I like the trailer page design. It seems like they’re trying to duplicate the iTunes store pages. Right now the only movies that have it are the aforementioned IM2 and the new Shrek film. Hopefully it will roll out for more trailers soon.

Say what you will about Russell Crowe being a stereotypical Hollywood celebrity; he’s still a great actor. On top of that, no one does historical action/drama quite like Scott.

Sign me up.

If you’re a fan of painful comedy, like ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm‘ or the British ‘Office‘ you’ll appreciate this film, which slipped under under the radar in its theatrical release.

3.5 Stars out of 5

I’d also like to pull a nice quote from an interview with the author of the original book and producer of the movie Maurice Sendak:

Reporter: “What do you say to parents who think the Wild Things film may be too scary?”
Sendak: “I would tell them to go to hell. That’s a question I will not tolerate.”
Reporter: “Because kids can handle it?”
Sendak: “If they can’t handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it’s not a question that can be answered.”

4 Stars out of 5

Update (December 21st, 2009):
Since the studio is dumping this one in February after many delays they evidently don’t have much confidence in the film. I still love the cast and makeup, but the movie itself might turn out to be a bomb.

Interviewer: Is that why you wouldn’t play LEGO Star Wars with Megan Fox on the set of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen?
Shia: Correct. Who wants to play the Wii version of LEGO Star Wars. I’d rather eat glass.

Read the full, but sadly short, interview on BigDownload.

If you want to see innovative, smart, and engaging filmmaking, be sure to check out this movie. It has the potential to get buried by the other big summer releases, but it really deserves to be seen by a wide audience.

4.5 Stars

1. Sam Rockwell always kicks ass.
2. Kevin Spacey voicing a robot? Sign me up.
3. This awesome poster.
4. Clint Mansell is doing the score.
5. It’s a science fiction thriller. An under-appreciated genera.
6. The trailer blows my mind.

It felt like wonderful NYC fantasy that was almost too reflective of my own experience in NYC, like looking it a distorted mirror.

5.0 Stars

Certainly the most original looking film I’ve seen in a while. Nice use of Arcade Fire in the trailer.

Apple is, unsurprisingly, not going to stand still and let Google Android and Palm WebOS get the upper hand on features. They pretty much went down the wish list of features for the update and checked of every one of them: copy/paste, push notifications, better Bluetooth support, and so on. Pretty much the only feature left out is background apps which Apple again dissed as a large source of battery drain.

Flash is also still a no-show, but that’s not a surprise, nor something I think Apple plans on addressing anytime soon. In any case, I still don’t think Flash would be any good on any phone device at this time.

Consumers get it this summer… I can’t wait.

I recommend clicking the links to the 720p or 1080p versions in the bottom left instead of watching the little Flash version.

Update: I just watched it and my pants are a bit damp…

(Via Kottke.)

I mean, ‘Star Whores’… SOLD.

Best comic book movie of 2009?

Update: If you’re looking for the music from the trailer, it’s a Smashing Pumpkins B-Side called The Beginning is the End is the Beginning. You can pick it up on Amazon’s MP3 store for just 89¢. I could pick out the artist but thanks to inFocus for the tip of the song name.

More info via Cinematical.

(Via Daring Fireball.)

$399 & shipping in September.

(Via Uncrate.)

• All Profiles rental history will be added into the main account rental history
• Your additional Profile Queues will be eliminated. If you would like to keep a copy of each Profile Queue we recommend that you print them out.
• Profiles movie ratings and Profiles Friends connections will no longer be available
• You will not be able to transfer your Profiles data to a separate new account

This seems like a particularly consumer-hostile move from a company that, in the past has had a fairly positive reputation for customer service. As a subscriber and heavy-user of this feature myself, I feel particularly betrayed. The unceremonious termination of my 100+ item queue and 1000+ ratings make it seem like Netflix really doesn’t give a damn about anything but it’s bottom line. As Ars Technica points out, replicating a 4 disc at-a-time account, which costs roughly $24/month, with two 2 disc at-a-time accounts will cost $28/month, or $4/month for Netflix’s bottom line.  Adding insult to injury, Netflix reasons for the change in policy are simply “…to continue to improve the Netflix website for all our customers,” with no other details provided.  This kind of bullshit PR-speak only serves to aggravate customers like myself who are left wondering how eliminating already-in-place features helps improve the site.

There are, unsurprisingly, many upset Netflix customers pouring onto the web to complain about this.  Some resources and petitions they have thrown together include:

• Get Satisfaction: Netflix to break homes by eliminating profiles
• Digg: Netflix Eliminating Profiles
• Hacking Netflix: Netflix Eliminating Account Profiles
• Protest Netflix’s Cancellation of Profiles Petition
• SaveNetflixProfiles.com
• Netflix Community Blog: Profiles feature going away

Even if you’re not a current Netflix subscriber, you should take note of how Netflix responds to this issue. If you are a current subscriber, I encourage you to visit the websites above, sign petitions, and complain to the company about this blatant disregard for the value of their customers.

Update: they came to their senses and decided to keep them after all.

If names like David Fincher (director), Eric Roth (screenwriter), F. Scott Fitzgerald (story), and Brad Pitt (title character actor) don’t do it for you… well… you’re in need of some film lessons.

(PS: Whoever is doing Brad Pitt’s makeup is going to win an Oscar. You heard it here first.)

Update 1: Kottke is just as impressed, plus he dug up the Fitzgerald short story (now in the public domain).

Update 2: Unsatisfied with the HTML version of the story I linked to above, I created a PDF with an improved layout. Download it here (80 KB) and share it as you like.

Update 3: Apparently I wasn’t the only one with the idea to make a PDF.  Jonathan McNicol has done even more work on a PDF by fixing up errors in the text and doing an even better job typesetting it on a leaflet style.  He’ll be doing one chapter a day for the next 11 days.  The first chapter is up now.

The Kronos Quartet are playing a concert in February where they will perform Clint Mansell’s Requiem for a Dream suite.

(Via Choire at Kottke.)

Sweet.

(Via DF.)

Sweetness.

To sum it up Kevin Costner plays the title character, an upstanding business and family man who is sometimes controlled by an addiction to killing (embodied in schizophrenic-like visions by William Hurt). Demi Moore is the cop tracking him down while dealing with her own ugly divorce and Dane Cook is a man who witnessed one of the murders. But that’s pretty much only the setup and it’s hard to talk about much more without giving away key plot points.

I was compelled to write about it here, however, because it’s one of the most visceral reactions I’ve ever had from a movie. It’s one of those movies that messes with your psychologically because it’s all kinds of fucked, so you come out of the movie not even knowing what to think. It’s terribly gory and celebrates violence it portrays. The really wonderfully disturbing part is that it makes you revel it just like Mr. Brooks.

The movie draws favorable comparisons with greats like Seven, Fight Club, A History of Violence, and American Psycho.

Honestly my only complaint was that, though the film purports to be based in Portland, Oregon to a one time resident it clearly is not (having instead been filmed mostly in Louisiana). There are other implausibilities in the movie but it takes them with a running start and never looks back, and, after doing the same myself, I embraced them too.

According to Costner, it’s the first part of a trilogy so we should hopefully be expecting more wonder-fuckedness soon. There’s certainly a lot of more ground left to explore with the characters established in the movie. I’m looking forward to it.