Movie Review: Reneissance

I caught Reneissance on the dish the other night, its a neat little movie. Its animated but in pure black and white - not even greys. The movie itself is just 'okay', but its got an interesting look. Not very memorable, but one thing did stick with me; the setting is a futuristic (~50 years) Paris, and sections of the city have had "glass" pedestrian promenades built above the streets. I think this is a very interesting and doable idea for city core areas that have become over congested. Thinking of areas in Toronto like Yonge and Queen, picture a glasstic (my word for something transparent with the flex and strength properties of plastic) platform built at about the 3rd floor level that goes between the buildings and completely covers the streets. There is room at street level for the cars, trucks, and streetcars, but the majority of the pedestrian traffic would be above this. The glasstic still allows daylight to reach the underlying street, but there is now room for free human movement outdoors including outdoor cafes and miniparks with seating areas and gardens in the middle of what would be the intersections below. The underlying structure would need to be strong enough to support the weight of many people (thinking sporting event or political rally or protest) and the winter snow, but minimal snow removal costs would be incurred in this area, just enough on the pedestrian level to allow movement between buildings - but even that is optional since the pedestrians could use the street level in winter to avoid the snow. Anyway, this was a minor background concept in the movie, but it got me thinking about the practical applications.

Movie Review: Babel

Movie Review: Smokin' Aces

Liked it a lot more than I expected! But that often happens to me with movies - I see something that looks good but not great, so I go in with low expectations and have less chance of being disappointed. Lots of guns and violence, makes for a loud couple of hours! Good flick...

Movie Review: Snakes on a Plane

Wasn't disappointed because didn't expect much. I think the part of the movie I liked best was when the video signal from my satellite dish cut-out for several minutes and the recording jumped ahead to when the plane was coming in for a landing - and didn't really care that I missed one of the main parts of the show....

Movie Review: Deja Vu

We watched Deja Vu last night and I liked it quite a bit. The idea reminded me of some thoughts I had back in high school about time travel and thinking that traveling faster than light may not take you back in time but might allow you to see back in time (at least within a certain time period). Also seemed to touch on the "observer effect" - which I think learned about as either the "Hawthorne Effect" or the "Heisenburg Principle" which basically says that the act of observing something changes the possible outcomes, so you are never really observing what is really happening.
Anyway, I think I liked the movie because it got me thinking about some of these things - it stimulated a few brain cells that have been dormant for a while.... I liked it... On a side note I'm thinking of taking the Hawthorne Effect to work and putting it into practice... ;)

Movie Review: Crank

Not going to spend much time here, in short Crank was disappointing. I loved The Transporter and that's where I started considering movies with Jason Statham as good picks. But after Transporter 2 (come on, give me a break with the car barrel-roll bomb removal sequence - please...) and now this, he might have to come off the watch list...not so much because of him, but because of the director/producer teams he's working with...my opinion.

Movie Review: Click

Not bad for an Adam Sandler flick... The commercials for Click make it look like a comedy, and it did have some comedic elements and moments, but really it was a cautionary tale about living your life while you can and enjoying the things that make up a day and the pleasures of family. In this case the main character had a tendancy to fast-forward through bad spots in life, but I think I would have had a tendancy to pause or slow-motion a lot. Like this friggin' bathroom remodel - pause my life in the work-week evenings while trying to figure out how to make things work and put it all together, then slip back into regular time to enjoy the weekends. Hell, even slow-motion through the whole weekend! But I'm sure there are pitfalls to this also that would come to light if I actually thought about it (like maybe I age a lot faster than everyone else because I'm running on faster time...?). All in all I liked it, was a good movie.

Movie Review: Done - no more movie reviews here

Looking over my blog I find that it is turning into nothing but movies - which I don't want. So I am not going to post any more reviews here, this will be a space just for stuff - I will track and review movies on the Yahoo site since it is better suited to the job.

Movie Review: Primer[what the...? still trying to figure it out]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Movie Review: Nell[undecided, predictable plot and a little preachy, but...]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Movie Review: Walk The Line[good flick, not a big Johnny Cash fan, but good story]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Movie Review: Corpse Bride[slow to start, but I liked the ending]

My online review and my movie list ranking.

Movie Review: So I Married an Axe Murderer[good, the beginnings of Austin Powers can be seen]

You can really see the beginnings of the famous Mike Meyers characters in the rough - the Dad is the Fat Bastard and there are a couple of other moments in the movie that sound like other parts of The Spy Who Shagged Me. I liked it.
Online review, and my ranking.

Movie Review: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit[a little slow, not as good as the one with the penguin]

In general I like Wallace and Gromit, but this movie seemed to lag a bit. Of course Gromit steals the show, as always, and the little bunnies are really cute - especially when floating around in the BV6000 and when shivering in the shadow of the were-rabbit. Not sure why, but I started losing interest near the end - just seemed a little slow...
Online review, and my ranking.

Movie Review: Aeon Flux[I liked it, but not great]

The movie was close enough to the series to follow the basic plot - and seems to explain the series a bit, but different in style and overall concept; the movie had a definite beginning, middle, and end - unlike the series which were/are generally a bunch of "middle" bits, leaving lots of questions and intrigue. Doesn't stand out as a cult classic, but is worth a look if you like the series.
Online review, and my ranking.

Movie Review: Crash[wow. lots of stuff I'm not use to seeing... you should see this movie]

This is a good movie. I don't want to talk about what its about because that will create expectations. Just go see this movie. Its a little heavy but well worth the ride.
Online review, and my ranking.

Movie Review: Suicide Kings[I liked it, not your standard plot line]

It is worth the price of admission to see the 70's flashback of Christopher Walken in disco suit with long hair pulling some disco moves at the bar ;). And I love Denis Leary in almost everything I've seen him in (hard to tell if he's actually acting or just that guy you love to hate...). I like the way the story is told and some of the twists - its a good watch.
Online review, and my ranking.

Movie Review: Bend It Like Beckham[liked it, had some good cultural commentary]

We were attracted to this movie by Parminder Nagra, who we liked from the TV series ER. We didn't know what to expect, but it was a fun little movie that highlighted some of the cultural differences that exist in our multicultural world (in this case, London, England). Recommend for a light evening watch.
Online review, and my ranking.

Movie Review: The Party[disappointing, expected more from Sellers]

I am a Peter Sellers fan - I like his style of comedy, so when I saw "The Party" while surfing through my ExpressVu online guide, I recorded it to the PVR. I now think that I might have outgrown the Sellers type of comedy but I also think this just wasn't a very good movie.
Online review, and my ranking.

Movie Review: Ultraviolet[disappointing, had all the action elements but didn't come together]

Not sure why, but I found this movie fell flat. The action sequences and effects were excellent, the story line and sci-fi technology was interesting but I just couldn't bring myself to care. Maybe too much flash and not enough substance?
Online review, and my ranking.