Jackie Brown

First of all, I would like to apologize to all of my stead fast followers for the long delay between these reviews. I got caught up in a summer class and did not have a chance to see anything new or worth reviewing.

I am going to start this review with getting my bias out of the way. My favorite director is Quentin Tarantino and he has yet to make a film that I did not enjoy. Today I finally watched Tarantino's third full-length feature film: Jackie Brown (link to trailer).

Overall: A
This film is not Tarantino's best work but it is classic Tarantino. The film features a flight attendant named Jakie Brown (Pam Grier) who gets caught up between an arms dealer and a federal sting operation run by the ATF. Jackie has been smuggling money for Ordell Robbie (Samuel L. Jackson) out of Mexico however, on her latest run she gets pick up by federal agents Ray Nicolette (Micheal Keaton) and Mark Dargus (Micheal Bowen). The agents find Jackie is carrying $50,000 and some cocaine so she is a arrested and after being bailed out by Max Cherry (Robert Forster) agrees to help the ATF get Ordell. Jackie and Max start to spend more time with each and form a relationship that is not quite romantic but is extremely close. In order to help the ATF Jackie agrees to convince Ordell to bring all of his $500,000 he has in Mexico back home to California. Jackie decides that she has the opportunity to walk away with that money so she convinces Ordell to bring the money up by telling him that they are going to trick the ATF and disappear. While telling Ordell and AFT that she is going to help them to trick the other she and Max form a plan to walk off the money themselves.

Story/Screenplay: A+
I do not have much to say about the screenplay other than Quentin Tarantino wrote this screenplay. This is where Tarantino films truly shine. Tarantino has an ability to make a two hour film where there is very little action and instead tells a story through dialogue. Tarantino does not need special effects or huge budgets he tells his story through writing. However, the downside of this is if you do not enjoy one of Tarantino's films you will not like any of them. I am the lone Tarantino fan in my group of friends. They all say that his films are boring and nothing happens. That is the downside to Tarantino's style of story telling there is no gray area. You either look at him as a visionary or a complete idiot.Overall, this story is well done and the writing is flawless.

Acting: B+
The lone Oscar nomination for this film was the acting in a supporting role for Robert Forster's portrayal of Max Cherry. While Foster did an amazing job as the lonely bail bondsman, I do not feel that cast as a whole messed well together. I feel that the individual actors did well in their roles Samuel L. Jackson is the only person I can think of to play Ordell Robbie and even Pam Grier does a phenomenal job as the cunning Jackie Brown. However, I feel  that Robert De Niro as the washed up bank robber and Chris Tucker as the random guy who owes Ordell money are out of place. They both do a perfectly fine job but they just do not fit with the rest of the cast. To me, it is much more important for a cast to work well together than just having one or two amazing performances from individuals. I feel that in this film that is what you have, amazing individual performances but not an all around great cast.

Direction: A+
Again this is a Quentin Tarantino film. His directing style makes you feel like you are watching a film from the seventies with a much more intricate plot. He employs many cheesey camera angels and on screen graphics. Tarantino has a way of using the screenplay to enhance the directions and shots he chooses. The style this film has is where Tarantino puts his signature. Basically, this film is directed by Quentin Tarantino and he style is all over the film. The shots he chooses, the angles he use consistent in this film and all his films.

Visuals: B+
In all, this film is not visually pretty by today's standards. However, it does not need to be pretty. The story, in my opinion, would be not be portrayed as well if the visuals became the focal point of the film. That being said the editing of this film is amazing the way scenes left in and cut out help to move the story along and make the story that much more interesting. The ability of the editors to add suspense to each and every scene just by placing two shots next to each other. The editing of the film enhances the dialogue that Tarantino spends so much time perfecting.

Final Thought: This is a Quentin Tarantino film through and through therefore, if you do not like the film making of Tarantino you will not like this film. For those who are not familiar with Tarantino's work this is a story central film and it is extremely dialogue heavy. But an amazing example this genre of film.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Alright everybody, it is time for my first review. I will start each review with a link to the trailer of the film. So, if you've never even heard of the film I'm reviewing you can at least watch the trailer. I am going to structure these reviews into five categories: Overall, where I will give a brief synopsis of the film and it high points and low points. Story/Screenplay, where I will talk about how the story was executed or if the overall story idea even makes sense and also the writing. Acting, how convincing the actors are playing these characters and how well the cast messes together as a whole. Direction, here I will not only talk about how the film progresses but also the way the director chose to shoot the movie, camera angels and such. And visuals not only how pretty the movie is but also how well the scenes flow together and how they are edited together. I will give the films a letter grade from A+ to F- on each of these categories.

Overall: A-
I saw the midnight premiere of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World on Thursday night. I have been waiting for this movie to come out ever since my friend gave me the graphic novels. The story follows a 22 year old Scott Pilgrim (Micheal Cera) through his battle of seven evil-exes of the mysterious Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Pilgrim starts the story as a young man living with, and sharing a bed with, his gay roommate Wallace Wells (Kieran Culkin) but soon become infatuated with the enigma that is Ramona Flowers. Scott shortly finds out that Romona has dated 7 people in her past and they have joined forces and created the league of evil exes. In order for Scott to date Romona he must defeat each of her evil exes in a variety of battles. The film is filled with witty situational humor that sends the audience into laughing fits.The films is great example of a geeky comedy that throws in comic book references, witty one liners, and social awkwardness. Basically if you liked the graphic novels or you like comic book humor you will most likely love this film.

Story/Screenplay: A-
In this category I am going to be a little bias. I loved the graphic novels and so when the screenplay included many direct quotes from the novels I am going to love it. There are six novels that tell the story of Scott's battle through Romona's exes. The movie goes through all six novels, however, the screenplay was written before Bryan Lee O'Malley had finished writing the sixth novel so the ending of the novels and the ending of the film are similar but different. This being a movie based on books of course there are scenes from the novels that did not make it into the film because of timing. The screenplay is written by Edgar Wright of Hot Fuzz fame and Micheal Bacall. It is well written and the story is great.

Acting: B+
To start off regardless of your opinions of Micheal Cera he is the perfect choice to play Scott Pilgrim. The film as a whole is cast very well. Chris Evans does a wonderful as the overly macho, skateboarding, movie star. Jason Schwartzman falls right into place as the overly zealous leader of the evil league. The cast have all been in random things before but are not extremely well known. I think this adds to the movie it keeps the focus of the story on Scott where it should be and doesn't take away from him with a random A-list star taking over the story.

Direction: A
This is where I think the films shines the brightest. Edgar Wright does a wonderful job at taking six 200 pages novels and condensing the important parts into a two hour film. The film has many shots that they are exactly the same as the panels in the comic. Watching the film it is really cool to see a scene that is a shot for shot remake of the book. The direction and the cinematography is amazingly well done.

Visuals B+
The CGI in this movie blends seamlessly into to the film. However, my problem with the visuals are that the editing seems a little sketchy. The scenes blend together just fine but they scenes don't seem to flow right. The order of the scenes is very similar to the book but little things they sped up and  other things they slowed downed so it is just odd after reading the novels. A person who did not read the novels wouldn't notice anything but anyone who read the novels will notices these little changes and it just feels odd.

Final Thought:
If you loved the books you will love the movie. If you like comic books in general you will love the movie. If you don't like these things don't see the film you won't like it.

The Start of a Long and Winding Road

Firsts off I would like to say welcome to my little corner of the interwebs.
Here is a space were I will put all my opinions out into the open for everyone to see. In this blog my plan is to write a review for every new film I see. I may also throw in a few video games or music albums reviews just for fun. This means that some weeks I may see five new films and other I won't see any. However, even if I don't see an new film I will still attempt to write a review of a film I have seen before and is one of my favorites or I will review an album or game. The point of this blog is to start conversation about film and to promote the critical viewing of any film. That being said this is a safe place and any conversation that does take place must be peaceful. I will not tolerate personal attacks based on a person's opinions.