Sherlock Holmes

Christmas is now officially complete. The presents have been opened and the family time has been shared. But most importantly I've been able to see the flawless Robert Downey Jr. tear up the screen one more time before the new year as detective Sherlock Holmes. The best present a movie goer could have this Christmas weekend.

This is a fast paced, action packed Sherlock Holmes from director Guy Ritchie. It's probably Guy's most hard hitting action packed adventure that he's made thus far, and a good one at that. The script is witty, well written, and smart. Very smart, it keeps us guessing right up until the end and has a brilliant use of flashbacks that reveal just how Holmes is actually solving this crime and the little clues he found along the way that we thought the film had skipped over. The films opens with a bang as Sherlock and Watson are racing against time to save a woman from the evil Lord Blackwood played by the creepy Mark Strong. After Blackwood is caught and then put to death by way of a hanging, questions arise when he supposedly turns up alive and Sherlock Holmes and his dear Watson pursue the case.

There is not a moment of boredom in this take on Sherlock Holmes as the fast talking, inventor/detective, runs, jumps, and smashes his way through to solve this mystery. Robert Downey Jr. may be the best actor of this generation. After Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Zodiac, Iron Man, and Tropic Thunder his comeback has proved that we have missed his presence dearly on screen, the place where he truly belongs. You can tell the man is brilliant because his physical appearance doesn't change much in Holmes. He still looks just like Downey Jr. in the Holmes wardrobe. But yet he completely changes into Holmes. The accent, the movements, the witty dialogue delivery, and the stunning choreography. These are the signs of a best actor Golden Globe winner if you ask me. He's simply brilliant and an absolute pleasure to watch on screen.

The supporting cast were also enjoyable. Jude Law's portrayal as Doctor Watson was right on. Nothing award worthy, but right on none the less The way he played Holmes' friend was very well done. He's annoyed and a bit aggravated at times with Holmes and his stubborn ways, yet he can't help but laugh at him and join him on his destructive missions. He always seems to be there for him when Holmes needs him, a true friend who knows him better than if not better than Holmes himself does. Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, Holmes' ex, was nothing special but still a pleasure to watch, as Rachel McAdams always is.

Sherlock Holmes would have worked just a well if it were released in the Summer among the huge blockbuster films. But hey, Christmas day works for me. It's just a big fun film with action, comedy, and suspense that will keep entire family entertained. If you think the film can't get any more entertaining the score by Hans Zimmer, who has been my favorite composer since Days of Thunder, makes it just that much more enjoyable. The score is phenomenal, an itunes purchase for sure. The script is smart, the performances are great, the London setting is perfect, and I'm giving Sherlock Holmes a 4 and 1/2 outa 5 because of it. Go watch it and have some fun.

Avatar

Finally, it has come. James Cameron's latest epic, the most expensive film ever made, in digital 3D, yes ladies and gentleman....Avatar!! Man have I been waiting for this film to get released. I must have watched the 3 and 1/2 minute trailer over twenty times while waiting for this, and even the trailer was epic. James Cameron has made a few deep sea documentaries over the past few years but it hasn't been since 1997 when he made Titanic that he's made a feature film. He was WAY over due. All I have to say is, Mr. Cameron, it was well worth the wait my friend.

The story takes place well into the future and centers around it's main character Jake Sully played by the new born superstar Sam Worthington. Jake's a paraplegic war veteran who's been brought to a planet just outside of Earth called Pandora. He's on a team who's mission is to infiltrate and learn the way's of the native race called the Na'vi. They are each assigned their own Na'vi avatars which with the process of sitting in a machine allows them to be transported into their new Na'vi bodies and enter their world without the use of gas masks. Jake is soon torn between helping out with the friendly research of the Na'vi with Dr. Grace Augustine, played by Sigourney Weaver, or finding out ways to get what's buried beneath their sacred land for the gun-ho Marine Colonel Miles Quaritch, portrayed by the amazing Stephen Lange. Jake soon meets and falls in love with one of the Na'vi named Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana who nails this role to perfection. He grows to love Neytiri, the Na'vi race, and culture more than his own human race. Jake soon takes their side and in a heroic spectacular battle fights with them against the human Marines led by Colonel Miles Quaritch.

With a running time of about 2 hours and 45 minutes I never once found myself bored during this film. It's so well made and so visually stunning to look at it's like being on a ride at Disney Land. The 3D (Real D) only enhances that aspect of the film. Although there aren't too many "jump out at the audience moments", the 3D still makes it an amazing thrill ride. It makes you feel like you yourself are actually transporting into the avatar (since that's where most of the 3D takes place). So when Jake transports into his avatar, we transport right there with him. The 3D also makes the viewing great in the scenes where there are little bugs or ash and embers flying around on the beautiful Pandora. A land more breathtaking and tropical than any island setting I have ever seen.

The story of "man going into a sacred land to fight the natives but turns good hearted and becomes friends with them" has been done before in films like Dances With Wolves, The Last Samurai, and The New World. But hey....I LOVE that story line and although it's been done before, James Cameron executes it very well with Avatar. Seeing the character of Jake Sully change from the moping hard headed paraplegic Marine into the loving adventurous and full of life Avatar is a great achievement from both the script department and actor Sam Worthington. The performances were great all around from Giovanni Ribisi to Sigourney Weaver, to Zoe Saldana to Sam Worthington. But my personal favorite performance was Stephen Lange as the Colonel. He was so bad-ass and so into the part, he wasn't just believable as the jacked up evil Marine but his character did everything that I would expect his character to do, he fights right up until the end of the film. He fights for what he believes in and for what he want's, even if it's wrong, even if he's killing innocent beings along the way, he's got a fucking job to do and he's gonna do it dammit. Let me just say one other thing without giving anything away, the ending was amazing and pleased me in every possible way that a film ending could.

Avatar should certainly win all technical awards that it's nominated for such as best sound, visual effects, etc. as The Lord of The Rings films did and it certainly deserves to. Avatar is a film about greed and passion. A film about doing what's right and protecting and fighting for what you believe in and what's sacred to you and your home. It's about protecting your fellow people and the land that has always been there for you. It's a beautiful ride. Put on those glasses....and take that ride. Avatar 3D gets 4 and 1/2 outa 5.

Precious

I was finally able to see a film that I have been meaning to see for the last few weeks or so called Precious. Director Lee Daniels has been involved in a few very small, yet powerful films. He was the producer on Monsters Ball and The Woodsman as well as director of the somewhat overlooked film Shadowboxer. So with Precious being only his second film that he's actually directed, I can say without a doubt, that Lee Daniels has a very strong career ahead of him and I will be anxiously awaiting his next project.

Precious revolves around the story of a young 16 year old highschool girl from Harlem named Precious. Not only does she have to live with her very physically and mentally abusive mother Mary, played by Mo'Nique, but she has to live with herself being extremely overweight and reliving the nightmares of herself getting raped by her own father who also impregnated her twice. It's a pretty nightmarish situation to say the least and first time rookie actress Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe nails it. As of today she's just earned herself a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. In her first role ever, the girl earns a Best Actress nomination, now that says something about how talented she is. I actually saw a special on her and watching how cheerful she was during that and then watching Precious you can see that she really did transform into a 16 year old highschool girl who's surrounded by hate and problems.

As the story progresses we see that there's actually a lot of people who really love Precious and want to help her. Her alternative school teacher Ms. Rain, played by the gorgeous and eloquent Paula Patton, soon begins to believe in Precious and will do anything in her power to help her. She takes her in, helps her raise her child, gets her reading level up from virtually non-existent to an 8th grade level, and eventually gets her into a halfway house to prepare her for life on her own.

Mo'Nique's performance as Mary (Precious' mother) was an absolute knockout. I've never been more terrified of a characters family member as I was while watching her. Every time Precious would even go near her apartment I would sit in my seat clenching my fists to prepare for the worst. This woman is so hateful, so abusive, and so downright scary it's going to be hard to get her out of my head for a while. There's one scene in particular where Mary has just realized that she has smashed her tv set and it follows with an intense slow motion shot of her sweating and running up the stairs full speed to tear apart Precious' room. I tell you, it's a scary sight. She deserves a win for her nomination for Best Supporting Actress for Golden Globes.

Precious is a film that should be seen by all people, of all sizes, and of all races. It's a film that will leave you breathless, and will leave you thinking about it long after you leave the theater. Precious may even win Best Picture for Golden Globes. I give Precious 4 1/2 outa 5 stars.

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.