Brothers

Director Jim Sheridan has a wide variety of films under belt from My Left Foot, to In America, to Get Rich Or Die Tryin', 50 Cents semi-autobiography. I like this about a director. It shows that he has a versatile mind and that he's open to making any type of film which is what I think a lot of directors are lacking these days. You can't always put in a Jim Sheridan film and be able to tell it's a Jim Sheridan film as you would be able to with a say Wes Anderson type of director, and that's not a bad thing at all.

Sheridan's latest effort, Brothers, is a character driven drama that rings true to real life situations that one might face while being placed in the situation these characters are placed it. The story centers around Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire), his wife Grace Cahill (Natalie Portman), and his brother Tommy Cahill (Jake Gyllenhaal. Sam and Grace are a young couple who have been in love since they were 16 years old. They have two young daughters and they're happy. Once Sam gets sent back to Afghanistan things take a change for the absolute worst. It's every soldiers wives nightmare and worst possible situation to be in when two officers show up at your door and you just know what news they have for you. After Grace gets the news that Sam is dead Sam's ex-con brother Tommy starts hanging around her house more and more, helping out with the kids, and helping out remodeling the kitchen for her. After spending more time with him Grace realizes that the has been criminal she once hated is actually becoming a great guy both to her and her kids, and her kids simply adore him. Just when things appear to be turning around and the possibility of starting a new life with Tommy is growing more and more realistic things take yet another turn, this time is is for better or worse. These are some questions that are raised after we learn that after months and months of torture and being held in captivity she gets a call saying that Sam is still alive, and coming home.

The film cuts back and forth between showing Sam as a prisoner and Tommy and Graces life thinking that Sam is dead. The scenes with Sam in Afghanistan are real and intense and really gives the audience a true sense of fear. The scenes at home are also realistic and show just how are you supposed to handle a situation like this? Tommy is clearly just trying to be a nice guy with helping Grace and the kids out, he's not trying to sleep with her or anything. But as time progresses situations like that do come around and the film has an interesting approach to dealing with them that I like. It takes it very slow. Because it's hard for the both of them to deal with the situation. Which is real. When Sam returns home he see's that things aren't the same and realizes that neither is he. He's severely messed up in the head and what comes is intense and scary to say the least.

Tobey Maguire offers hands down the best performance of his career and may be a sleeper for a best actor nomination for the Oscars or Globes. He went through a great physical change with losing 30 pounds for the roll and although it's not nearly as crazy as what Christian Bale did for The Machinist or Rescue Dawn, it's still a great accomplishment and makes him look creepy as hell. Natalie Portman is also very good and plays the role of a grieving widow to absolute perfection. I swear that woman can not just cry on command but she knows how much to cry and how to look while crying given the different situations she's in. Going into this I wasn't expecting much form him at all, but it was actually Jake Gyllenhaal that turned out to be my favorite part of Brothers. He did the opposite of Maguire and bulked up for the role, turned scruffy, and sports a tattoo on his neck. He does a great job at playing a quiet, kind of weird guy who you can just tell has had a background in crime and has a difficult time adjusting to life outside of prison. He wasn't really given enough material to work with to deserve a nomination, but he did the best he could've possibly done in my opinion. I wasn't a fan of the films score at all. It was a kind of strange up beat country theme that I thought was a bit out of place. It's a fairly small and quiet film , that is until Sam comes home, and it's good, not great by any means. But it was an interesting and entertaining film, and the performances were what really made this film enjoyable for me. Brothers gets a solid 3 and 1/2 outa 5.

New Moon

When Twilight came out last year I saw it opening night because I knew I had to experience seeing it with a crowd of people who were dying to see it, and that's the same thing I did this year for New Moon and it was pretty nuts to say the least. When Twilight came out I was actually going in expecting the worst but left with seeing an intriguing love story involving vampires and humans. New Moon, the second series installment, certainly continues right along that road but it's a little less effecting than the first one. At least on me it was.

Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is a year older and a year wiser....kind of. She desperately wants Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) to to turn her into a vampire, now. She wants eternal life with him. She's doing it for the sake of love though, being afraid that Edward will no longer want her anymore when she's old and grey. Edward disagrees with her request to the utmost then hits her with some news, some very bad news for Bella. The Cullens have to get out of town asap. People are starting to notice that they aren't aging and they need to leave before they get caught. Bella begs and pleads and then bam, the Cullens are gone just like that within the first 20 minutes of the film. Now the real story gets started. Bella's childhood friend Jacob (Taylor Lautner) starts coming around more and he's not looking like the old Jacob used too. He's jacked up with muscle, in love with Bella, and he's a werewolf. We new by the end of Twilight that he was a wolf, but in New Moon we finally get to see it. He's not just any wolf either, when he transforms he turns into a raging gigantic blood curdling wolf who will stop at nothing to protect Bella.

Bella starts to fall for Jacob a tad, but she's still got Edward on her mind. After Jacob does everything in his power to be with Bella and lets her know just how he feels, Bella gets a visit from one of the Cullens telling her that Edwards in trouble in Italy and she's the only one that can save him from the Voltori (the original vamps....the O.V.'s) The Italy scenes are by far my favorite in the film and the most well done in my opinion.

The problem I had with New Moon is that it's identical to the book and the book drags on with not much happening, it's kind of a segway into Eclipse, the third installment. I thought the director should've added just a few more action/intense scenes with Jacob along the way and really show us what he's made of, really show him kicking some ass and protecting Bella. Bella's moping around constantly got a tad bit annoying after a while but I guess I understand it, she's just a teenage girl madly in love and she misses her Edward simple as that. With that being said I heard that Eclipse contains a lot more action and with filming almost finished on that, I'm already getting excited for opening night. Call me a 14 year old teeny bopper, go right ahead, I'm not ashamed. The Twilight Saga brings me great pleasure for some odd reason. New Moon gets 3 1/2 outa 5.

Youth in Revolt

I had the pleasure of working at the Virginia Film Festival this year in Charlottesville where I was able to see a few pretty decent films. One of which on the closing night was Michael Cera's Youth in Revolt. Youth in Revolt is based on the much beloved novel of same name. It follows the life and times of 14 year old Nick Twisp and his escape from his trailer trash household and his quest to find his dream girl, Sheeni Saunders, and lose his virginity. The film contains an all star cast of Michael Cera, Zach Galifianakis, Fred Willard, Ray Liotta, Justin Long, and Steve Buscemi.

The film follows 14 year old Nick Twisp (although I think they changed his age to 16 for the film, a more believable age for Cera to play) through his adventures in leaving himself, essentially, and becoming more of a "bad boy" so he can get the guts to win over his dream girl Sheeni Saunders with who he had a minor fling with at her trailer park during a vacation he was on. The nervous fumbling mouthed Twisp soon develops the split personality of Francois, the foul mouthed, take no shit from nobody criminal, also played by Micheal Cera wearing a classy white suit and a sketchy looking mustache. I know at this day in age it isn't hard to do anymore, but I still think the filmmakers did a good job at showing two Michael Cera's playing both characters in the same scenes together.

I was a little disappointed by use of Zach Galifianakis' character Jerry, who plays Nicks mothers trashy boyfriend. I felt there simply just wasn't enough of him. His character had a few great lines in the film but that's about it, and with his recent success in The Hangover, I just wanted to see a bit more of the guy that's all. On the other hand Steve Buscemi who plays Nicks dad is great as the young hussy hounding sleaze who cares more about the well being of his car than his son. Fred Willard probably has the best scenes in the film as the crazy neighbor who's obsessed with illegal aliens and their well-being.

I must say though that this film has a strange kind of quiet feeling to it and moves along at a slow/medium pace. Not that there's anything wrong with that but it takes some getting used to. With that being said I also think that if it wasn't for the split personality change of Nick turning into Francois, this film would be lower than average. But because Cera offers some of his best work to date while portraying Nick and the entertaining Francois simultaneously, I'm recommending this film a little more. Youth in Revolt gets 3 outa 5.

Bra Boys - DVD

I've been a surfer since I was about 10 years old. I have family in San Diego and I've been going out there since I was a baby. I have witnessed many crazy and hostile acts in the water and on the beach between surfers who are "locals" and surfers who come into town snaking waves. But I have never seen localism like the way it was displayed in the documentary Bra Boys which is directed by Sunny Abberton and narrated by Russell Crowe.

The film is about one of the most notorious surf gangs in the world, the Bra Boys. They dubbed the name "bra" from their local beach and suburb of Maroubra just outside of Sydney Australia. The "gang" consists of around 50 to 100 members, most of which bare the brotherhood tattoo. They have their own special hand shake as well. But not just anyone can be a Bra Boy. You have to be willing to be there for your "brothers" whenever needed and you better bring it while in the ocean surfing. So if you're sleeping in the middle of the night and you get a call saying a bunch of the boys are brawling with 50 off duty officers at a local pub....you better be willing to haul ass.

At the core of the story and the founders of the Bra Boy gang are the Abberton brothers consisting of Sunny, Koby, and Jai. The side story in the film follows the murder trial of Jai who was accused of murdering a fellow acquaintance who was once his friend. Jai is pleading self defense as he claims the guy made him and his girlfriend get into a car, then pulled out a gun and said lets do this, impllying rape and possibly kill the woman. Jai fought with the guy got a hold of the gun and shot him in self defense. I wont give away the final verdict but it gets really intense as we realize how big of an impact these Bra Boys have on the community both positive and non-positive.

The filmmakers use some great archive footage as well as live footage of the Boys and their crazy antics, whether it be catching a 15 ft barreling wave that's inches away from jagged rocks, punching police, lighting themselves on fire and jumping off of cliffs into the ocean, or jumping on top of moving busses and dancing on them as they drive away. These guys rule the city and do as they please and it's damn entertaining to watch. There's a big scene towards the end of the film that was downright scary as they show a rival gang of about 100 come into town looking for the boys and smashing everything in sight. Another one that shows Sunny and Kobi in suits meeting with another rival gang leader also in a suit, it's right out of a Mafia film and shows that these guys aren't fucking around. But what's so great about this film is that it also has EXCELLENT surf footage. The boys can surf, that's for damn sure. They are some of the best in the world. Bra Boys gets 4 outa 5.

Where The Wild Things Are

Finally one of the most beloved children's books of all time has been brought to life. Spike Jonze who's responsible for directing such odd and artistic classics as Adaptation and Being John Malkovich took on a bit of a different subject matter this time around with this kids classic, although it's not quite as "kiddy" as one might think.

Everyone out there should know the story of Where The Wild Things Are. A kid runs off to a special island and dreams up a bunch of monster friends to play with. That's the basic premise of Spikes version too although things get a little more adventurous, heartfelt, sad, and dark along the way. After Max gets into a fight with his sister, and a screaming match with his mother, he takes off alone down the street during the night wearing his dog suit. He hops in a little boat and sails off to a special island. The moment he gets in that boat is when his imagination runs wild. On the island he meets a bunch of big hairy monsters. Some with horns and one that even looks like a goat, or I think he is a goat. These are the wild things.

The main wild thing is a male named Carol. Right when Max arrives he sees that Carol is unhappy with whatever the current situation on the island may be and he's smashing everything in sight. Max immediately bonds with him. They have so much in common right off the bat. Maybe this is because Carol is portrayed after Max. Max sees things played out in front of him from his own life through the lives of these wild things. He learns lots of life lessons along the way but it's a very dark way. There's lots of crying and fighting, physically and verbally. The way Max and his sisters relationship was portrayed through the wild things was done really well and it was my favorite part of the film.

The set design and the wild things were absolutely stunning in every aspect. The settings and cinematography were both beautiful. The film has a very dark and sort of dirty feel to it. The wild things are these filthy hairy monsters with strange faces and creepy sharp yellow teeth that are sure to give a child under 12 nightmares. But I think that the overall message of the film and Max' power to dream will overcome those nightmares in the end, so take your kid. The wild things were so well done it was amazing. It seemed like it was a mixture of actors in suits with CGI for their faces. The voices were also right on target and casting James Gandolfini as the voice of Carol was freaking GENIUS. He nailed it. Max played by Max Records a newcomer to the scene was really good too, a natural talent already in his young age.

Believe it or not I think that this is one of those films that requires multiple viewings to fully get what's going on. I mean you may know what's going on but I would love to see it again to be able to catch every little detail that's being played out in front of Max with these wild things. This is a story of a boy who's fed up with the world. A boy who just wants to escape and run wild. He wants to play with friends that he wants to play with. He wants to be in charge and he wants to be loved. But Max learns many valuable lessons in the end. How to be a better kid, a better son, a better brother....and a better dreamer. Where The Wild Things Are is sure to get even better with each viewing, but for now it gets a 4 outa 5.

Paranormal Activity

After all the internet hype, the trailers, the clips, the calls, the "demand Paranormal Activity in your area" emails, I was FINALLY able to see it last night. The theater was pretty full and the crowd was into it. So I sat back and got ready to be scared shitless by the so called "scariest film EVER".

Paranormal Activity is filmed like a "fake" documentary which works best for this film considering it's small $11,000.00 budget. There's only four actors in the entire film and two of them are only on screen for about five minutes each, so it's mainly just two. The two main characters are Katie and her serious boyfriend Micah. They're young, in love, have a new house together, and are trying to start a life. Until some really weird stuff starts happening. That's when Micah right from the first scene decides to set up a camera in the corner of their bedroom while they sleep and see if he can catch anything that's happening on camera.

We've seen the whole fake documentary style of filmmaking before with The Blair Witch Project and Open Water (although Open Water isn't from a persons POV) and it's worked. I thought Blair Witch was great and even though you know it's all fake I can still manage to be convinced by it and I can see where a movie of that nature would have a real scary affect on people watching it who are from a small town who don't really know much about filmmaking. They may even think it's actually real which is a great accomplishment for the director in my opinion. What makes Paranormal Activity stand out from Blair Witch is that these things are happening to a specific person for a specific reason. MINOR SPOILERS- We're not quite sure exactly what that real reason is but this "thing" is there for a reason. There are some really cool effects in this film. Some of which, actually most of which I have no idea how they were able to pull off on their budget. There's a really cool scene with a ouija board and another really creepy scene with the powder and the footprints. But I wont give much else away. END SPOILERS.

With a running time of about 90 minutes the film felt a bit too long. It takes a while for things to get going and it's really all build up as more and more stuff starts happening over the course of the nights. The best parts by far are at night when the camera is filming in the bedroom. But another thing that makes this film stand out is that if you think your safe during the day time....think again. I did think it was a bit overrated after all the hype but I have to admit, the film grew on me from the time I left the theater to the time when I was trying to fall asleep in bed. I wasn't TOO scared in the theater but when I got home and tried to go to sleep with the lights off that's when it really hit me. Because of that the film is a success. That's just me. Others were screaming their heads off in fright in the theater, so it definitely worked for them. I will say that after you see this, at least for the first few days, every noise you hear while trying to sleep will freak you out. I must say just one more thing about this. Every film school in the nation should be showing this to their students because this is a perfect example how to make a whole lot out of very little when it comes to the process of filmmaking. Sometimes what you can't see is what scares you the most. Paranormal Activity gets 3 outa 5.

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie - DVD

Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie tells the story of two friends, Dallas and Wayne, who are amateur bigfoot researchers in southern Ohio.

I had never heard of this film but I stumbled across it on Netflix and decided to give it a try. The film follows these two guys around as they track down Bigfoot in the Appalachian foot hills. I've always been interested in people that believe in these phenomenon's, whether they're real or not. These two guys live in poverty and they're just trying to make some money to fix up their houses, get the heater fixed in Wayne's van, and have some money to leave for their wives in case something ever happen to them. The main research headquarters is located at Dallas' house. He's got a small office that's packed with equipment and pictures of bigfoot sightings taking up most of the walls. Their days consist of meeting at the office and then heading out into the woods with a video camera/camera to do "research".

What I gathered from the film is that these two guys are really strange individuals. It's weird because I really couldn't tell if they were bullshitting or if they honestly believe in this Bigfoot phenomenon. If they are full of it then they're certainly putting on a good show. I mean why else would they be spending all of their free time out in the woods doing this?? They're clearly not making any money from it and after Wayne slips up on a local radio talk show, which was their big shot at being noticed, they lose all their credibility with the public. But are they out there trying to come up with the best possible fake evidence to try and scam money, or are they looking for that real shot to take?? Again, it's hard to tell. There's a good scene where Wayne is talking to Dallas on the phone after the radio incident asking him if he's mad at him and if he's still his friend. Wayne starts crying and we see right there how much he cares about Dallas and how these two, fake or not, make a good team. But I'll tell you one thing, it's fun watching these two walking around the woods making Bigfoot calls out into the wild.

In the end what I gathered from this film is that Dallas has a lot of mental problems, they both do actually, and that he actually does believe that Bigfoot exists. Wayne on the other hand is along for the friendship aspect of it and seems to be easily convinced at times. Either way they both seem to be good guys who mean well and this Bigfoot research is what keeps them happy and busy. The film itself is only 62 minutes long but after the credits roll stick around for the original 15 minute short documentary by the same director. Not Your Typical Bigfoot Movie gets 3 1/2 outa 5.