Tales From Earthsea

Ok I meant to do more of these recently but I just plain forgot and I don't like reviewing a movie once it's been a week since I've seen it. I forget things... a lot of things.

So Tales from Earthsea is two things. Number One it is the newest film from Studio Ghibli who brought us gems like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, Howl's Movie Castle, My Neighbor Totoro and a slew of others. Number Two it is the second to last book in the Earthsea series by Ursla LeGuin. Back in 2004 I read part of Wizard of Earthsea, because the TV movie was coming on Sci-fi (I refuse to spell it any other way!) Well the TV movie wasn't very good and I didn't finish the book but I did understand some basic things last Friday when I saw Tales From Earthsea.

The main character is still Sparrowhawk from all the other books but much older now and instead of just Wizards having "True Names" every one does... idk why. A True name is the name you are given at birth but when you become a wizard and graduate you select another name for yourself. A true name holds power to influence or command. Ok Lesson over moving on.
Sparrowhawk happens upon a young boy named Arren who is on the run for killing the king and stealing his magical sword. They stay with Tenar from Tombs of Ataun (book 2) and get captured by an enemy Wizard named Cob. Fight to the death and ride off into the sun.

The major question though is does ti hold up to the previous masterpieces or does it fall in with some of the lamer Ghibli movies. Honestly I enjoyed it quite a bit. It made me want to go back and read Wizard of Earthsea, and any movie that gets me interested in reading is something special. If you enjoy Princess Mononoke or Howl's Moving Castle you'll enjoy Tales From Earthsea.

Lincoln Lawyer

Ok so, for a guy who has a movie blog I really don't get to see movies that much. Now about a week ago I was standing in front of a theater. I had no plan of what to see just to see something, unfortunately I was on a time limit so I had to choose between Lincoln Lawyer and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2. Well I never saw the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid so I figured I'd be lost as to the story so ten minutes later I was sitting in the theater for Lincoln Lawyer.

Lincoln Lawyer is based on a book by Michael Connelly which I have never read and probably won't read (crime novels aren't my thing).  The movie stars Matthew McConaughey, wearing a shirt, as Mike Haller the man who apparently feels it's bad ass to relive Driving Miss Daisy while pouring over his active cases and conning money off of his clients. Mike takes the case of a rich kid who claims to be wrongly accused of beating a hooker. While working on the case he finds he's in over his head.
 
Lincoln Lawyer was ok, I remember walking out of the theater generally pleased but it's not very memorable as movies go.  The case was interesting the first time but now that I know the ending I don't think I'll want to see it again. Also the ending of the movie just kind of peders out. The big climax doesn't feel worth the rest of the movie. It's worth a matenee at least.

DVD Throwback- Batman: Under the Red Hood

I'll admit it as a kid I freaking loved Batman. I would be another 5 or so years when I was sent a free copy of Ultimate Spider-man in the mail and fell in love with comic books to become the bizarre comic nerd I am today.

I assume most people are aware of  "Batman the animated series" made in the 90's, that redefined the character and brought him back into the public's eye or at least introduced him to a whole new generation of kids who hadn't seen the two movies with Michael Keaton. Well Batman TAS ran for 4 seasons spawning a Superman TAS that wasn't bad and Batman Beyond, in my opinion a very under rated show and under used property of DC. Eventually Batman and Superman ran their course and suddenly Justice League hit Cartoon Network. JL was also a really good show but I assume DC thought they could get more out of the concept so JL ended and Justice League Unlimited started with shorter run time and a bigger cast. JLU was also amazing, but when that show had run it's course DC decided to do start a line of animated movies targeted to young adults and teens that focused on specific characters, be it their Origins or just stories (taken from Graphic Novels).

Now that you have the back story I can review a straight to video release from last year that I didn't have the chance to see until today. Batman Under the Red Hood is a story of a new crime boss who comes to Gotham under the guise of "The Red Hood" he begins to steal business from other crime bosses which means they send goons after him which means Batman takes notice. Red Hood gives Batman the chase and Batman feels there is something familiar about him.

One thing that shocked me a little in the opening of the movie is the voice work. Growing up with Batman TAS Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamil are the only voices I hear when I read Batman and the Joker (respectively). Once I got used to it I enjoyed John Di Maggio's performance as the Joker (voice of Bender in Futurama). Also I find Bruce Greenwood a suitable replacement for Kevin Conroy, but what I really enjoyed was Neil Patrick Harris as Nightwing. Well more just that Dick Grayson was there at all. I always feel that Nightwing has a lot of potential as a character and that DC under uses him a lot and often mistreats the character. (Wally West was Flash for 25 years before Barry Allen came back and Dick Grayson was Batman for less than a year before DC dug Bruce Wayne back up!)

Another thing I'd like to mention is the level of detail they put into the back story of this, from Jason Todds death to the Joker's Origin I was just astounded. Being a comic nerd that I am I enjoyed the call backs to previous stories and as a reviewer I felt there was enough detail that I could show this to some one who didn't read Batman comics at all and they would still understand.

Also something that impressed me, the fight scenes were done beautifully. Normally in an animated movie I expect fight scenes to be choppy and done as quick as possible, but here I felt that everything flowed nicely.

I would recommend this only if you're interested in Batman. Batman Under the Red Hood is available on DVD and is currently available for streaming on Netflix.

Unknown

"Do you know what going insane feel like, doctor? It feels like a war between who everyone tells you you are and who you know you are" -Martin Harrison

Taken was a movie made in 2008 starring Liam Neeson going through France and kicking copious amounts of ass to get his daughter back. The movie was, to me, amazing and it sits up there with Die Hard and Transporter as one of my all time favorite action movies. In Taken, Lian Neeson proved he can do action movies. So understand my excitement upon seeing the poster for Unknown.

The poster doesn't say much, just that Liam Neeson needs to get his life back and that he's letting his gun do the talking.

I knew nothing about Unknown going in and I personally thought  that it was really good. So if that's all you need go with confidence. If not, read on.

Unknown starts us off with Martin Harrison, Liam Neeson, and his wife Elaine or Ellen, I can't remember she's not very present in the movie, but she's played by January Jones. So far you have a Martin and a January in this movie and I am a Martin born in January, strange.

Anyway, Martin forgets his briefcase at the air port and leaves the hotel to go and get it. On the way he gets into a freak accident and almost drowns. His cab driver saves him and he falls into a comma for four days.

He wakes up with hazy memory but remembers his wife is at the hotel. So he goes there to ask why she didn't come looking for him when he finds another man has become him, literally another man has become Martin Harrison. His wife doesn't recognize Liam Neeson nor do his colleges. Of course he has no I.D. so he has to find out what is going on.


Honestly the mystery of the movie had me going every which way but to the correct answer, which I won't spoil. I think the only thing I was disappointed in was the lack of fight scenes. In Taken, Liam Neeson destroyed every thug that stood in his way with a sharp punch to the gut, a demand for information and a snap of the neck when they wouldn't talk, but here there's one really good fight scene at the end and that's all.

All in all the movie was enjoyable and worth the price of admission if you're just looking for a good story to kill a few hours, however, Taken is still the superior movie and if you haven't scene it yet you should be ashamed of yourself!

RS Throwback- Touch of Evil

A new segment on this new blog called Throwback which takes a look at older movies (pre-2005) that I missed and maybe you did too...probably not though.

This time Throwback will be looking at Touch of Evil, a 1958 Noir movie starring Orson Wells and Charlton Heston. I heard about this movie on the web comic Multiplex along with a few other oldies that may turn up on Throwback. I didn't think much of it at the time until about a year later when I was in a film class and the teacher used a clip from Touch of Evil as an example for suspense or something. It looked interesting so I made a mental note to check it out. Unfortunately I could never find it to rent and I couldn't bring myself to buy it since I'd never heard anything else about it. So it sat in the back of my mind that I needed to watch it at some point. Luckily now I have a Netflix account, and Touch of Evil came in.
So at long last I sat down to watch this movie that I had hyped up in my mind. I have to say I really enjoyed it. I had no idea as to the plot or the characters going in and I still found it a very compelling and thought provoking movie. So as usual if you don't want various parts of the movie ruined for you just know it's worth checking out if you've never seen it before.
Touch of Evil starts us off in Mexico with a couple going to America for their Honeymoon, Mike Vargas played by Charlton Heston, and Susan Vargas played by Janet Leigh. While walking in the streets a car explodes in front of them near the border and the victim is an American politician so the American police are called in, this is when we meet Captain Hank Quinian played by Orson Wells. From the beginning Wells plays Hank kind of on the rough edge but he's looked up to by all the other cops for his record of solved cases. Mike, being a Mexican detective, gets in on the case to help Wells.

Eventually the team tracks down a suspect and Mike catches Hank planting evidence against the suspect. Mike attempts to tell every one this but no one believes him.
Distraught with guilt Hank crawls into a bottle of whiskey which leads him down a dark road until the final confrontation with Mike, who has spent the movie attempting to prove Hank's guilt.
This is the best part to me, it shows how crooked Hank has become simply by shifting the camera angles, and steadily through out the movie his face becomes more and more covered by shadow. Until his confrontation with Mike on the bridge when (SPOILERS!!!!) Hank shoots his best friend and goes into such denial that he at first blames Mike but then ends up shot himself and starts claiming he'll die a hero since he took a bullet for his best friend. (SPOILERS OVER!!!!)
I feel weird commenting on this but I really do like the make up job on Heston to make him look Mexican. I didn't even know it was him until literally the ending credits. Also I loved Wells performance in his drunken stupor. How deep he crawls into denial just so his reputation won't be tarnished.
I will admit that the movie does get a little slow in between the first scene and the planting of the evidence, but if you stick with it the movie will take you to some pretty dark and surreal places.
I would recommend this if you enjoy movies by Alfred Hitchcock or if you just like Film Noir type movies. I'm not very learned on Noir but it has that kind of feel to it, and Orson Wells (also director and writer) did a great job conveying that.

Tron seems to be more of an infamous movie than a famous one. I've seen people who've heard of it but never seen it. I've even met people who didn't realize Jeff Bridges was the Main Character in Tron. I am of course talking about the original Tron from back in 1983, which was a good movie. It had an interesting concept, effects that weren't bad for it's time, a solid story, good acting and Jeff Bridges.
Jeff Bridges is an actor who is quickly climbing up my ladder of actors I'll watch in pretty much anything, and his performance in Tron Legacy is no exception.

Before I gush about the movie I'll say this. Yes Tron Legacy is worth it. If you can see it in 3D Imax but if not it's still a pretty good movie.

Ok So Tron 2 picks up 20ish years after the Original Tron with Kevin Flynns son Sam. It actually starts in 1989 where Kevin is talking to Sam about the Grid and how he created Clu and how he Clu and Tron are building a civilization. Flynn then disappears until in 2010 when Alan from Tron arrives at Sams little seaside shack. They talk about Encom and how Sam should take it over and make it not so greedy but he refuses. Before Alan leaves he mentions that Kevin paged him from the Arcade. Sam goes to investigate and accidentally gets sucked into the Grid.
He is suited up and taken to the Gaming Grid where he fights a mysterious dual disc wielding stranger. He drives a light cycle against Clu who looks like a young Jeff Bridges.
Let me pause here and bring up that in the Grid scenes the CGI on young Bridges looks great. Outside the Grid....not so much.
Anyway Sam escapes with a girl named Quorra and meets his Dad. After some arguing and discussion Sam and Quorra go see Zeus and Kevin follows after wielding his Jedi powers.
I can't spoil the rest for you but it's awesome.
I know some people didn't like but I was floored. Granted the original Tron had more computer references than the new one does, but the new one focuses more on the ever thickening plot.
There's not much else to say except go see it.