War of the Worlds

Directed by Steven Spielberg, War of the Worlds is a stunning remake of H.G. Wells's classic that pits the entire human race against an alien army hell bent on destroying us in place of themselves. Told through the eyes of one family, Spielberg shows us fear, determination, and outright panic in many situations where they are just trying to survive. War of the Worlds is a darker tale interwoven with outstanding talent on both sides of the camera.

We start out the movie with Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) who is a simple working man, divorced, and going to spend a weekend with his children (no, I'm not talking about Katie Holmes) whom he never sees. Soon, however, a huge lightning storm brings more than just bad weather, but an unexpected invasion. Throughout the entire movie, the devistation and destruction is action packed, only stopping to breathe towards the final act. The surround sound is some of the best sound I have ever heard in a movie--it had my seat shaking, it was so powerful. Now that is how you play a summer blockbuster. Also, lets not forget Dakota Fanning. She is perhaps one of the best child actors I have ever seen. Fanning never fails to amaze me in her seemingly mature talent, being only eleven years old. (If you doubt me, check out Taken, a mini-series now on DVD). Her performance sets the bar for panic and fear in the movie. Maybe some of this credit can be given to Spielberg, known for transforming Drew Barrymore in E.T. into a loveable little girl on-screen.

Speaking of Spielberg, I am continually amazed by his technical expertise in filmmaking. There is one shot in the movie that I didn't catch the first time--it took a second viewing to catch it because of its subtle, yet powerful nature. Cruise and his family are trying to escape the invasion, making their way through the crowded interstate in a van. If you see the film, pay attention to what the camera does: it pans, rotates, goes into and out of the van with such fluditiy, I wonder "how on Earth did he do that shot!"

However, there are a couple of details that mar the performance of this otherwise good movie. First, is the lack of an overall picture. Yes, the movie is very focused and straight-lined, but I wanted to get a sense of the invasion and its ultimate result, especially at the end of the movie, which brings me to my next problem. I felt that the film could have used 10 or 15 more minutes to resolve and wrap-up the story.

So, ignoring the rather flat ending, War of the Worlds is a great movie that I would recommend to anyone looking for a good summer movie.

Batman Begins

I'll just go ahead and get this out on the table right now: Batman Begins is the best comic book movie out there. It is the best Batman movie out there (although, after Batman & Robin, anything would be better). If you thought that Marvel was the king of all comic book movies, then prepare for the king to be overthrown. In one fell swoop, DC Comics has claimed its stake with what will hopefully be an endearing series of movies.

Many of you may know that Chrisopher Nolan is the widely acclaimed director of Memento. Also, many of you may know that David S. Goyer is the outstanding screenwriter for Blade. Throw these two talented men together to come up with what is easily the darkest, grittiest, and most meaningful Batman movie to grace the silver screen. Nolan decided to skip the theatrics and get to the heart of what makes Bruce Wayne the Batman. The story mostly surrounds the situations on how he became Batman and his motivations for doing so. The previous iterations never really seemed to capture this, and Batman Begins pulls this off flawlessly. Nolan also chooses to focus on the fact that everything is not perfect when he starts---the bat cave is just a dingy old cave, his ride is a tank/car, and his suit needs work. Still, it never would have worked without Christian Bale.

Christian Bale is my Bruce Wayne now. It used to be Michael Keaton ("I'm Batman...I'm Batman"), but Bale surpassed my expectations and threw his character into such a demonic and angry conotation, that I knew why Bruce Wayne wanted justice. The supporting cast is equally as impressive. Gary Oldman plays Lt. Gordon, Michael Caine is an outstanding Alfred, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson, and Cillian Murphy. All very important to the story and the screenwriters make sure that we never lose focus on the world that we are immersed in.

Without knowing it, this is the Batman that I have wanted to see since 1989. I find it ironic that the title for this movie sums up what should have happened years ago. Batman Begins truly gives us a fresh start and a good foundation to build on.

Cinderella Man

Like most of movie-goers out there, I knew nothing of Jim Braddock's story. Even after researching him and his fights, I still didn't know enough that made me think this movie was going to be nothing more than a canned Hollywood movie. In many ways, it is a canned experience, but I loved every moment of it. And, as you may come to find out, this could very well be Ron Howard's best piece since Apollo 13.

We follow Russell Crowe who plays Jim Braddock, a successful boxer before the Great Depression hits. Once that lands on the country, he is plunged into financial trouble and his struggle is to mainly keep his family afloat. Only when his former manager, Joe Gould, gives him a chance at a comeback can Braddock begin his journey to become the "Cinderella Man". In a time when the working man could get a leg up on the world, it gave hope to those who had none. That, at its core, is the moral message to Cinderella Man. Boxing is just the vehicle Braddock uses to, no pun intended, fight his way through the hard times.

The acting is some of the best you will see this year. My vote for Best Supporting Actor goes to Paul Giamatti for portraying the outgoing, no holds barred manager Joe Gould. Everytime he was on-screen yelling at Braddock from the corner or trying to convince the boxing big-wigs, it felt real. That's when you know you've hit the mark.

In the end, most people will want to compare this among the other boxing movies out there. I say, go ahead and let them. Cinderella Man may not be a Rocky type of boxing movie, but it has heart and, so far, it definitely ranks up there among my top movies of the year.

Blockbuster Online vs. Netflix

I don't know why it has taken me so long to sign up for an Internet movie rental service, but my only guess could be that I was waiting for the right time. Right time for what, I have no idea. Following, I will detail the pros and cons of the two big online movie rental programs.

----Blockbuster Online----

To begin my adventure, I decided to start with Blockbuster Online to see how different they were from Netflix. After two attempts to sign up successfully, I was online and already filling up my queue. Undaunted by the fact I wasn't able to start immediately, I put that all behind me and began to enjoy finding movies that I have wanted to see but somehow passed me by. After adding two dozen movies to my list, I continue to use their website. All the while, I notice the website is a little cluttered. There is this huge section devoted to your queue. Why this needs to be on every page you look at is beyond me, but Blockbuster felt its important, so I move on.

The next day I recieve an email telling me that movies have shipped. I can't help but be excited as I browse the selections, ignoring my work, and still add movies. Now, some of you may be saying that all of this sounds great. However, I have yet to tell you why this was the honeymoon period which led to my downfall and disgust with Blockbuster.

The entire reason I initially chose Blockbuster over Netflix was because they have an extra feature: 2 Free In-Store Rentals each month. Wow, what a deal right? Wrong. You can only use the coupons if you do not have any online rentals at home. Basically they have to recieve your online movies before you can use your coupons. They also expire.

Blockbuster is VERY slow in processing and mailing. Those movies they said were shipped on Wednesday? I got them on Saturday. We'll get to how this is a bad thing when I describe Netflix. Not only were they slow, they seemed to change the status of my queued movies. A movie I had at the top of my queue was available "now" but in the span of eight hours moved to "short wait" and then to "long wait".

After my two week trial was close to over with, I said "Forget it! I'm done with this service." That's when I decided that anything would be better than this and I was right.

----Netflix----

The second half of my adventure for the quest of The One Ring...ahem...sorry, wrong review. After my letdown with Blockbuster, I knew there was only one choice and that was Netflix. Signing up was effortless and their website was well organized, clean, and quick. So much of a drastic change, I began to wonder how Blockbuster, a giant of a corporate chain, could not afford better web designers. Nevertheless, I was pleased.

So, in order to test the waters, I began transferring my useless Blockbuster queue over to my new golden ticket. Every single movie I added was available. Like a dog unwary of his new master, I started adding more movies to attain some idea of Netflix's availability status. So far, I have not had to wait for a movie.

The shipping! Oh, the glorious shipping! After filling my queue, I was told it would be a max of three days to recieve my movies. Two days later my mailbox was full. Let me tell you, there is a huge difference between two days and four days.

Even the recommendations are more accurate than Blockbusters. Plus the fact you can add a friend and look at their rated movies or queue. The only downside to Netflix is in the rating system: there are no half stars. If that's the only bad thing I can think of, it's pretty obvious which service is better.

----Final Verdict----

In the end, I have to choose Netflix because they provide a much smoother experience. The shipping speed, website ease-of-use, and overall satisfaction leads me to give my nod to it. Sorry, Blockbuster, you can't topple this movie pioneer.

Star Wars Episodde III: Revenge of the Sith

Okay, people, this is the movie that so many have been waiting for. The culmination of George Lucas' vision and the entire reason we waded through the first two prequel movies. Honestly, I don't even know where to begin.

To say that Sith is the crowning achievement in Lucas' career is a huge understatement. In many respects, it seemed as if he wanted vindication to prove his worth as a filmmaker after the average showings of the first two prequels and I believe he has silenced many of those hardened critics. Now that we have that out of the way, lets get to the question on everyone's mind: Is it good?

Yes...very good. From the moment the movie begins, it is non-stop and relentless action. Rarely does it let up to give you time to rest before you are thrown into another situation which deepens the plot even more. Speaking of the plot, it covers all bases to set up Episodes IV, V, and VI. To be sure, it brings a greater appreciation and complexity to the past movies. Several times, I sat in awe wondering if this moment could be topped, only to be silenced yet again with a greater moment. I haven't felt this way since Empire. For you Star Wars fans, you know what that means.

All of the light saber battles are spectacular and truly trump anything done before. The movie is so rich with physicality you can't help but be sucked in by its gripping darkness. Also, the movie is an emotional ride that slowly slips you into hell along with Anakin. Lucas has finally made me care about the characters with gut wrenching effectiveness. Not to mention that Hayden Christensen's acting is much better than his previous efforts, though not perfect. Natalie Portman delivers one of the best lines in the movie. Ian McDiarmid stole the show. Yoda is still cool.

I am both happy and sad. Happy that the movie was what I had hoped it would be; Sad that the saga has ended. Only Star Wars could make me go to the midnight showing to stand in a line that wraps around the building. I can't wait to see this movie again.

Kingdom of Heaven

Let's forget for a moment, that Hollywood intends to be historically accurate in anything it does. If I wanted to see an historical saga, the History Channel, not LaLa Land, would be my main avenue. With that said, Kingdom of Heaven is as epic as Gladiator without all the gory battles. Going into this movie, I didn't expect it to be as thought provoking as it turned out to be. Maybe I was expecting Gladiator for the Crusades.

KOH is set in 12th century Europe and Middle East with the main focus for the Muslim and Christian struggle for Jersualem (which, oddly enough, sends an echo to the present day). If you have been following this movie at all, you will know that this has been the source of much controversy surrounding the release. Is this objectification of our current struggle against Muslim terrorists? Is it too offense to raise tensions between our cultures?
Put your fears to rest, hate mongers. Kingdom does no such thing. I found myself wanting to quote Rodney King: "why can't we all just get along?" The script plays a perfect balance, almost effortlessly, with epic battles, dialog and romantic struggles. But it seems to drag and become confusing with its many characters.

Orlando Bloom plays a young blacksmith who is recruited by his father, Liam Neeson's character, who in turn knights him and various events play out from there. The first half of the movie tends to drag on seeing as there is so much to set up. Many factions on both sides want war, while the current King settles for peace. While we are talking about characters, I must say that I didn't find Bloom to carry a strong presence. That respect goes to Liam Neeson. While his role is short-lived, I found myself constantly wishing he would somehow appear to finish the film off.

Cinematically, Ridley Scott does not disappoint. The man knows how to direct a film, that's for sure. While the movie may be a little long without a foothold to keep your attention at every span, it does present a fantastic movie experience.

The Oscars and Hollywood pat themselves on the back

I find it extremely hypocritical that the actors and directors of Hollywood are patting themselves on the back for their support of promoting a better environment. I wonder how much better the environment would be if those actors didn't own 8 cars and had their own private jets.