Corpse Bride

Think of this as a preview to when I come back....

Corpse Bride is a lovely movie, one of Tim Burton's finest in the field of his animated works. The story follows a young man named Victor who is set to marry a girl named Victoria, but through a serious misunderstanding and pure accident he marries a corpse. Yes, a children's movie with serious necrophilic undertones that is still charming and quite lovely. Go figure. The first thing I gotta say is the animation is excellent, with gothic and german expressionist buildings, great use of color, and wonderful cinematography. It does have a few songs, and they are all good but my favorite song in the movie has no singing in it, it's a simple piano duet but it's just awesome. A clever aspect of the film you will notice very quickly is the use of color. In the land of the living it's almost monochrome in color with shades of blue, while the land of the dead is colorful with vibrant greens, and pinks, and violets. It's mixed very well and states that the land of the living well...sucks. It's drab, it's boring, and colorless but the underworld rocks it's like a party everyday down there, with lots of fun and interesting characters! Character wise it does good, it's not perfect but you can tell they tried, with almost everybody's favorite character being the titular corpse bride, Emily. She's just a sweet, caring, lovely girl, and has a good sense of humor. Obviously she has the most character development and personality in the entire movie, you really latch onto her quick and care about her situation all throughout the movie. And...she deserves to be with Victor! I don't hate Victoria, I really don't! She's a nice, normal girl, I have nothing against her but Emily and Victor just make a better couple. They're a good couple together! You wouldn't think so but you enjoy their relationship and want them to go the distance. Now for the other characters there's not much to say, but there are three in there that are my favorites, we got Michael Gough as an all wise skeleton and how could you go wrong with that? Michael Gough is awesome. Then we have Christopher Lee as a priest, it's a short role but he still commands such a presence. And last but not least is a maggot who sounds like Peter Lorre. I'm not on drugs or anything, that exists in the movie. This has always been an enjoyable movie for me because of how much charm and lovely things are in there, plus it has some great dark humor I mean I laugh my ass off at parts, it's kind of hard not to. All together, it's a lovely little movie well worth a look if you have the time.

Well that's it for today. Tune in tomorrow for a different and unexpected damn good movie.

Sin City

This movie really did surprise me but not in the way you would ever expect.

Sin City is a pretty damn good adaptation based off of Frank Miller's graphic novel and it does a very, very accurate telling of the story. When I say this is a noir film, I mean it's a noir film especially in the visual sense. This is the noir film you could ever hope or wish to see, it's stylistic, dark, bloody, and faithful to the source material. Now the surprising bit I was talking about is the fact that the movie is split up into parts, almost like a compilation of short films done all in the same style. But not like you would expect. In this two hour and twenty minute venture into the dark and gritty world of Sin City, at about the 40 minute mark the end credits start to roll. Yeah, you read correctly. They literally split this movie into four parts, with closing credits and all. Hell, it takes 50 minutes before you see the title of the movie. Damn. That blows my mind, you never see this. Now storywise between all our short films, there really isn't that much connecting them like in Pulp Fiction, some plot points intersect but it is not the case with all the short stories. One follows a cop who took the fall after saving a little girl and his reuniting with her, a brick of a guy on a revenge hunt for the killing of a woman, and a man preventing an all out gang war between different sections of the city. And the I think genius part of it all is, it's played up. It's melodramatic, and almost theatrical in a way which is how old noir crime dramas, and even the pulp magazines which this movie took inspiration from were made. Another thing I found quite interesting is the fact the entire film shot on location here in Austin, although because of it's unique stylish and gritty backdrop most of the movie is computer graphics. And they did a good job with creating the look of this world with one exception. Okay so the entire film is shot in black and white as your typical noir film but there are pieces of color in the movie, usually around an object or a identifying aspect of a character. Like a guy has red shoes on, or a girl has blue eyes, but there is no real consistency with it! You see blood both red but also white, some characters have color on them and some don't, it seems so inconsistent like you think there would be some kind of rhyme or reason why this is red, that is blue, etc. but no! That's really the only bad thing I can say about this movie, everything is fine. I mean it wasn't great but it's not terrible either. Would I suggest it? Well maybe. Depends on if you like crime drama/noir movies or you enjoy seeing comic adaptations (even if it's from Frank Miller.) so I say approach it with caution. You really kind of have to be in a mood to watch this movie. But I thought it was okay so I leave it entirely up to you.

Pulp Fiction

Still my favorite Tarantino movie.

Pulp Fiction is a fantastic movie by Quentin Tarantino, combining very film noir-esque storytelling with a galleon of star power behind it. I mean we got Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce Willis, and of course...Christopher Walken. Oh come on, how can you turn it down now? The plot is...a bit confusing cause you see, it is told out of sequence. No lineart strict progression from start to finish you really have to piece this puzzle together which is why I call it sort of a film noir but it is not a central character in the movie, it's you. You are present for all events and you try and figure out what sequence it went down in. And the plot itself is crazy and hell I don't even think I could recount it without giving something away but it revolves around quite a crew of characters, with a hitman and his partner, a mob boss and his wife, a boxer too, the Professor and Mary Ann, you get the picture. Still awesome and very quotable dialogue, good sense of humor but can still do tension filled scenes, memorable characters, and all around just a great film. Tarantino fan or not, watch this movie if you haven't already you will enjoy it.

And thus tomorrow we will look into more of a comic book film noir, in black and white and stylized like hell. Can't freaking wait man.

Reservoir Dogs

Yeah...this movie was really good.

That's how you make your first movie! Reservoir Dogs was both written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and son of a mother it's good. The plot follows a group of bank robbers who after a diamond robbery goes wrong they all scramble together in a warehouse to figure out who ratted them out. The one element you might be shocked to see is that there is no heist. There is no footage of the bank robbery, it all deals with the aftermath of the botched robbery. I know! I was expecting some Hardboiled kind of action but no, it all takes place afterwards except for two scenes, one right before the heist and one like immediately after it. Now you may think this would be really boring but it is far from that, it keeps your attention throughout the entire film. As with any Tarantino film, the cast is excellent, the dialogue is both intense and funny sometimes both at the same time, the little action you do see is still well done, it's a very, very good movie. But man, Harvey Keitel is my hero in this movie. Stand up guy if I ever saw one and is just awesome cause well, it's Harvey Keitel that's kinda what he does. The infamous torture scene which is the most talked about part of the movie, is really grueling to watch. It isn't the intense action movie you expect but what it actually holds is still worth checking out. Definitely recommend it.

Okay so that is it for this week. Only two reviews, but we got two more next week still in this sort of genre. So I will see you then.

No Country For Old Men

Alright time to sober up a little bit. For this week and next week, we'll look a more serious films for the most part. So let's get started.

No Country For Old Men is a really damn good suspense movie by the Coen brothers following an everyday man who stumbles upon a whole world of problems after stealing about a million in cash from some drug dealers and is being hunted down by one of the most terrifying characters in film. No wonder Javier Bardem won an Academy Award for his performance, hell if there is ever a reason to see this movie it is because of his performance. This movie is one part suspense thriller, one part character study, and one part trying to figure out what in God's name the ending is. Yeah, one of those movies! But regardless of endings, still a good movie. The cast is a big part of the film's success, Josh Brolin who I think is a good actor does well here, Tommy Lee Jones does fine work like he always does, but Javier Bardem man...he makes a coin toss the most piss pants scariest thing in the world. One of the things I noticed prevalently in the film is the notion of the unknown. Many characters talk about the unknown factors, both in other characters and just in the sense of the world. And more importantly how they don't want to face the unknown but when it comes to Javier's character they have to. It is human fact that we are afraid of the unknown, and in that sense Javier's character is the most fear inducing thing ever. Everything he says is something you never hear, almost riddles mixed with more riddles. You have no idea why he does these things and that's what makes his character interesting and scary. And the other thing I noticed is an unnatural absence of music. Oh, I've heard there is a grand total of about 16 minutes of music but I ain't heard a second of it. It makes the film feel much more tense and uncomfortable so hey, big points for that. I like how the story is set in Texas for the most part, specifically in the year 1980. Although most of the film was shot in New Mexico and Mexico with sparse locations actually in Texas, it looks like West Texas. But after all is said and done, it really an interesting movie to watch and talk about so I say watch it and let me know what you make of it.

Alright, tomorrow we plunge headfirst into Quentin Tarantino's directorial debut.

Suicide Squad

Damn...good...movie.

Not the most awesome, badass comic book movie ever but damn good. I saw the movie for free and I feel bad about it, I have to see this movie again and pay for it. Suicide Squad is a really good comic book movie following Task Force X or the Suicide Squad being assembled and put to their first mission. Really good story I must say with lots to keep your attention and entertain you but once again, the characters seal this film. Every single last one of them is perfect in their roles, but major love goes to Margot Robbie and Jared Leto. Terrific Harley Quinn and an unpredictable Joker! I have to say their relationship is super loving in this movie and I am in full force behind it, I always enjoy the notion that Harley and her puddin' have a lovely relationship so major points to that. Christ if I talked about all the characters in turn we would be here all night, there is so much to say about each of these individuals and all of it is good. And a surprising element and to me the best scene in the entire movie is the bar scene, where all of these people get real, hard character development and rises an almost philosophical point that I applaud the film for. This movie does not screw around, the action is good, the humor while most of it was in the trailers is still very funny, the soundtrack is...stellar to the point where I must own them all, the acting is great, the characters are fun and interesting, I do recommend this movie. Quite a bit. I cannot wait to see this movie again, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Just a good time to be had while watching this, so let the good times roll!

Assault On Arkham

This is an excellent stepping stone into the world of the Suicide Squad.

Assault On Arkham is the perfect way to be introduced to the Suicide Squad before the new movie hits this Friday, and I figured it would be great to talk about. So the story of this movie is Amanda Waller, head of the Special Taskforce X better known to us as the Suicide Squad, gathers both veteran members and new members to break into Arkham Asylum and take back government plans stolen by The Riddler. But all is not what it appears to be. I have to say, I have owned this movie for about a year and it is still just a blast to watch, no matter how many times you see it. The animation is great, the voice acting is great, the characters are great, it's just great. Major props to both the script and the music, which are the real highlights of this movie. The script itself is hilarious, action packed, and does a good job building the world even though it is based in the Arkham universe that the succesful video games are set in. I believe this takes place after Arkham Origins but before Arkham Asylum but you really don't need to play the games to appreciate the movie. The music is bombastically badass with almost techno music mixed with a sort of honky tonk rock and roll music, it surprisingly works well. Another great aspect is the fact that the movie is, and I kid you not barely over an hour. An hour and fifteen minutes to be exact. Now surely you can find that kind of time to watch a movie, especially if you want to learn more about the Suicide Squad or are excited for the new movie. Either way, see if you can track it down before Friday, I think you will enjoy it. Until then, pizza party!