Other episodes of Film Geeks can be found here - http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/14391
Title: EPISODE21 - Animated, Action Geeks
Episode Notes: We take off a week and then start again this week covering Pixar's new flick Wall-E, Hancock, and Wanted. It's a triple feature! Tune In, Tune On, Geek Out.
http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-14391/TS-130326.mp3
Wall-E
- Animation had some good and bad parts
- Good - great use of film "flaws" (shaky cam and unfocus); Earth look is great and carries outt the "dirty feel" well and space has a real crisp look to it.
- Bad - not all of it looked animated and it appeared to change animation styles at time.
- Use of live action scene was a nice added touch
- Over-consumerism and extreme environmentalism was ALMOST over pushed (not as bad as "Happy Feet" though)
- It's definitely a cute movie with cute characters
- Appealed to a wide range of people who viewed the movie - a real knock out for Hollywood demographers
- Briney says the dust was well animated
- How did these blobous people have kids? What kind of robots were used to do that?! (only Film Geeks asks the hard question!)
- Patrick believes that Toy Story is still the best Pixar.
Grade - A-
Wanted
- Timur Bekmambetov is an excellent director and I am really excited to see what else he will do in the States. He will definitely give Michael Bay a run for his money!
- Lots of great humor - especially involving the main character quitting his job...and a keyboard
- Some really awesome gun play - almost rivals that of "Equilibrium"...almost
- James McAvoy was good and I'm excited to see what else he will do. He's almost the anti-hero version of Shia LaBeou.
- Morgan Freeman seems like he's out of place in this role. He doesn't seem to pull it off well.
- Angelina Jolie brings in some of her Laura Croft and definately the sexiness but nothing new; might appeal to strong female fans.
- The "loom of fate" was stupid and different from the comics
- Nice use of narration - just enough to add to the storyline (kind of Fight Club-like)
- A few nice twists - some are cheesy, others are good
- A real fun movie - a typical action/gun play movie but that's not always a bad thing and it's great counter programing to "Wall-E". "Tired of cute robots? Want to see a lot of bullets and blood?! Check out "WANTED"!!!"
Grade - B-
Hancock
- Definately not as bad as some of the critics have made it out to be.
- Good visuals and they don't use them a whole lot and in every scene
- Jason Bateman steals the show for me.
- Charlize Theron's character is not explained at all, seems random and appears to have been just thrown in there in a re-write. Could have been better without her or with her just being suspicious of Hancock possibly letting down her husband.
- Really wanted to see a few more crime fighting scenes - either with Hancock still screwed up or trying to redeam himself. Also wanted to see more funny scenes in the jail.
- I don't really understand why Hancock trusted Bateman's character so quickly.
- Smith doesn't knock this one out of the park like he wanted to. Maybe he's more known for doing dramatic roles instead of these action packed roles now?
- Too much was shown in the third movie trailer released and some scenes in the trailer were even taken out (Hancock dragging the prisoners in the chain gang)
Grade - C+
Showing posts with label Jason Bateman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jason Bateman. Show all posts
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Juno - Review
Juno
I'm always a little leery of mainly two types of movies. The first are so called "great" movies that come from the Oscars and especially those that are "independent". The second kind of movie that I handle with caution are those that are so called "coming of age" stories. It seems like everything today is heralded as a "coming of age" story. "The Incredible Hulk" is that coming of age story of a man dealing with his inner beast. "Independence Day" is that coming of age story of a small planet...called Earth. The only real thing that made me watch was seeing that both Michael Cera and Jason Bateman were starring and most of you might know these wonderfully talented actors from the criminally short run "Arrested Development" TV show.
This coming of age story (ha ha) is the tale of a sixteen year old girl named Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) who finds she is pregnant from a one time sexual encounter with Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). After deciding against an abortion, she hunts the PennySavers to try and find the perfect, loving couple. Surprisingly enough, she finds a couple she likes right away, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). Now she must deal with the problems that come with being not only pregnant but being a 16 y/o pregnant "unique" girl.
This movie has some really great things about it. Its has a great cast with a lot of young and adult talent, you have a great director who knows how to handle these types of stories that are very escentric, and you have the first work of a very talented writer. I'll cover these in reverse order as stated.
Diablo Cody has come from being a stripper and from working in an ad agency to being ranked number 38th on Entertainment Weekly's list of 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. I can't say much about where she ranks with others on the list but her writing diaolog and style is wonderful. Her characters talk with the adolence of teens but with the sophistication of older people. For example, a lot of slang that Juno and her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) use incorporate a lot more terminology than the "sucks", "whatever", and "as if" terminology we expect teenage girls to use in movies. Her characters have a lot of great warmth to them. From a dad (J.K. Simmons) who seems almost hip, to a snarky but whitty convinces store clerk (Rainn Wilson). However, Juno is really the most well written character out of all of them and you can tell this was written by a female in the sense that most of the dialog revolve around women, and they get the best lines too (other than a few lines the dad gets).
The director for this is Jason Reitman who is probably best known for "Thank You For Smoking" which has kind of the same feel to this movie. The way I describe it is that this movie (as well as "Smoking") could take place in our real world but the people are either too weird or too smart and witty to actually be in our world. The sad thing is, the characters in these movies are just far too interesting to actually exist in the clusters they seem to do here. I do think that Reitman added a lot to the story with his ability to not bore you with the same shots and he wasn't afraid to leave some characters out of frame or not in focus or concentrate on showing you the emotions to every character all the time in every scene. Reitman also has the knowledge of being not only a director but also a writer (as he was both for "Smoking") and so I think balancing those two things helped him a lot with shooting this movie penned by another person. It also helped that he has kind of the same style characters that "Juno" has and so he knows what to do with unique characters and a normal looking story but really not that normal at all. If you watch this movie that last statement makes a bit more sense than what it probably does.
As you can probably guess, I'm not going to say too many bad things about the actors in this. Ellen Page is the star and she gets the best lines and the most time on screen to see who she really is. Page does a brilliant job of being who her character is suppose to be, a 16 year old high school girl, while also being a well rounded, knowledgable woman. She seems to teetertotter on the brink of maturity and immaturity. J.K. Simmons, who plays her father, probably gets the second best lines and he seems to take a backseat at times in the story but then he also seems to be one of the major characters. He seems to be a "Leave It To Beaver" style dad for the 21st century if I can be so shallow as to say something that sounds like something a professional reviewer would say that'd make you want to gag on shards of broken glass. Michael Cera doesn't really play that big of a role in this film and I can't say it's a bad thing. Not to say that he isn't talented or that I wouldn't have minded seeing more of his character get fleshed out, but he really wasn't a major part of the story. His character is what his other characters have been, that nervous geeky, yet somewhat cool scrawny kid you don't know whether to beat up or hang out with. Jason Bateman is kind of in the same boat here. His character is kind of background material here and while he does play a main part in maybe two scenes you can't really figure him out completely before he's gone. The biggest problems I have are with two of the supporting female roles, Jennifer Garner and Allison Janney (who plays Juno's step mother). They are quirky and they have their strengths and flaws that you see come to light as the story progresses. However, a lot of their motives are either deeply hidden or they aren't brought to light in the movie. For example, you don't really know why Garner's character wants a baby and you can't really get a feel for where Janney's character wants to go. At least Garner has a decent role to work with and she does a much better job of being a supporting actress than she does in the mail roles she has been playing. Still, there is something big missing from her character.
Grade - A+
Alright, Hollywood, you win this round. I watched and adored a movie you picked for an Oscar. I'll call it a fluke this time and hope I never repeat this patern again. In all seriousness, the writing done by Diabol Cody and the wonderful acting done by Ellen Page make this movie. If Juno was the only character in the film, I probably wouldn't change my feelings about it. So with that said, when you have some great characters like Juno's dad, Leah, and Paulie Bleeker added to enhance the character, it can only help the story and character. I can't comment on whether this is a real coming of age story, but I do know that this is a really smart and hilarious comedy that not only tugs at your funny bone but also makes you exercise your movie mind. The characters seem out of place in a real reality but they are smart and at the same time flawed and not quite as mature as their dialog makes them seem. They seem too perfect at times but at other times feel so flawed. This is by far a bad thing to say, because this is what makes the characters so charming and the writing so funny and intelligent. If you like grown up comedies where you can't see an Adam Sandler or a Mike Meyers for miles around, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the show.
I'm always a little leery of mainly two types of movies. The first are so called "great" movies that come from the Oscars and especially those that are "independent". The second kind of movie that I handle with caution are those that are so called "coming of age" stories. It seems like everything today is heralded as a "coming of age" story. "The Incredible Hulk" is that coming of age story of a man dealing with his inner beast. "Independence Day" is that coming of age story of a small planet...called Earth. The only real thing that made me watch was seeing that both Michael Cera and Jason Bateman were starring and most of you might know these wonderfully talented actors from the criminally short run "Arrested Development" TV show.This coming of age story (ha ha) is the tale of a sixteen year old girl named Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) who finds she is pregnant from a one time sexual encounter with Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). After deciding against an abortion, she hunts the PennySavers to try and find the perfect, loving couple. Surprisingly enough, she finds a couple she likes right away, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). Now she must deal with the problems that come with being not only pregnant but being a 16 y/o pregnant "unique" girl.
This movie has some really great things about it. Its has a great cast with a lot of young and adult talent, you have a great director who knows how to handle these types of stories that are very escentric, and you have the first work of a very talented writer. I'll cover these in reverse order as stated.
Diablo Cody has come from being a stripper and from working in an ad agency to being ranked number 38th on Entertainment Weekly's list of 50 Smartest People in Hollywood. I can't say much about where she ranks with others on the list but her writing diaolog and style is wonderful. Her characters talk with the adolence of teens but with the sophistication of older people. For example, a lot of slang that Juno and her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby) use incorporate a lot more terminology than the "sucks", "whatever", and "as if" terminology we expect teenage girls to use in movies. Her characters have a lot of great warmth to them. From a dad (J.K. Simmons) who seems almost hip, to a snarky but whitty convinces store clerk (Rainn Wilson). However, Juno is really the most well written character out of all of them and you can tell this was written by a female in the sense that most of the dialog revolve around women, and they get the best lines too (other than a few lines the dad gets).
The director for this is Jason Reitman who is probably best known for "Thank You For Smoking" which has kind of the same feel to this movie. The way I describe it is that this movie (as well as "Smoking") could take place in our real world but the people are either too weird or too smart and witty to actually be in our world. The sad thing is, the characters in these movies are just far too interesting to actually exist in the clusters they seem to do here. I do think that Reitman added a lot to the story with his ability to not bore you with the same shots and he wasn't afraid to leave some characters out of frame or not in focus or concentrate on showing you the emotions to every character all the time in every scene. Reitman also has the knowledge of being not only a director but also a writer (as he was both for "Smoking") and so I think balancing those two things helped him a lot with shooting this movie penned by another person. It also helped that he has kind of the same style characters that "Juno" has and so he knows what to do with unique characters and a normal looking story but really not that normal at all. If you watch this movie that last statement makes a bit more sense than what it probably does.
As you can probably guess, I'm not going to say too many bad things about the actors in this. Ellen Page is the star and she gets the best lines and the most time on screen to see who she really is. Page does a brilliant job of being who her character is suppose to be, a 16 year old high school girl, while also being a well rounded, knowledgable woman. She seems to teetertotter on the brink of maturity and immaturity. J.K. Simmons, who plays her father, probably gets the second best lines and he seems to take a backseat at times in the story but then he also seems to be one of the major characters. He seems to be a "Leave It To Beaver" style dad for the 21st century if I can be so shallow as to say something that sounds like something a professional reviewer would say that'd make you want to gag on shards of broken glass. Michael Cera doesn't really play that big of a role in this film and I can't say it's a bad thing. Not to say that he isn't talented or that I wouldn't have minded seeing more of his character get fleshed out, but he really wasn't a major part of the story. His character is what his other characters have been, that nervous geeky, yet somewhat cool scrawny kid you don't know whether to beat up or hang out with. Jason Bateman is kind of in the same boat here. His character is kind of background material here and while he does play a main part in maybe two scenes you can't really figure him out completely before he's gone. The biggest problems I have are with two of the supporting female roles, Jennifer Garner and Allison Janney (who plays Juno's step mother). They are quirky and they have their strengths and flaws that you see come to light as the story progresses. However, a lot of their motives are either deeply hidden or they aren't brought to light in the movie. For example, you don't really know why Garner's character wants a baby and you can't really get a feel for where Janney's character wants to go. At least Garner has a decent role to work with and she does a much better job of being a supporting actress than she does in the mail roles she has been playing. Still, there is something big missing from her character.
Grade - A+
Alright, Hollywood, you win this round. I watched and adored a movie you picked for an Oscar. I'll call it a fluke this time and hope I never repeat this patern again. In all seriousness, the writing done by Diabol Cody and the wonderful acting done by Ellen Page make this movie. If Juno was the only character in the film, I probably wouldn't change my feelings about it. So with that said, when you have some great characters like Juno's dad, Leah, and Paulie Bleeker added to enhance the character, it can only help the story and character. I can't comment on whether this is a real coming of age story, but I do know that this is a really smart and hilarious comedy that not only tugs at your funny bone but also makes you exercise your movie mind. The characters seem out of place in a real reality but they are smart and at the same time flawed and not quite as mature as their dialog makes them seem. They seem too perfect at times but at other times feel so flawed. This is by far a bad thing to say, because this is what makes the characters so charming and the writing so funny and intelligent. If you like grown up comedies where you can't see an Adam Sandler or a Mike Meyers for miles around, I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the show.
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