Here and There Blog

Young people camping in remote creepy place.  Joss Whedon of vampire fame. These two elements sounded promising for a good scare so I gave it a go. I knew this would not be a typical slasher movie and this is true. The 5 friends are part of a larger, filmed, production where every step is nudged by a white lab coated team. The concept is good, watching people suffer for as yet audience unknown purposes and have a death competition against Tokyo. Bring in the zombies, werewolves, and your worst fears into The Cabin in the Woods and see what happens. Actually, sadly, not much happens and that is bad news because what is an different take on this genre of horror is slightly boring at times. I expected a bit more humor since Whedon is know for witty, wise-cracking writing but while there is humor here, it's mostly of the dark type. The zombies don't seem fully realized (I know, they're zombies but still) and only stoner Shaggy seemed to have a grasp on what was happening. A...

Paul , with Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead fame, green aliens, and tributes to Spielberg, is a movie where all the right elements go wrong. I was going to pass on Paul until I saw the trailer which was pretty funny so off I went to see the whole 100 minute expanded trailer. Quick synopsis - aliens do exist, one was caught, developed a side job, escaped, and wound up partnering with two SF geeks straight from Comic-Con who then agree to help Paul go home. What I learned in this movie is that one-liners and tributes to SF fandom do not a good movie make. Rated R for profanity which wasn't that effective as a comedic tool, Paul has a few laughs, some smiles if you're a SF fan and two guys on a road trip with the usual jokes.  The best part of the movie for me was the Comic-Con sequences, filmed on location at the con. The only person laughing in the theater was the one pre-teen boy and had this movie toned down the language and gone PG-13 it would have reached a more apprecia...

The Adjustment Bureau is pretty much what you would expect from the trailers, no surprises, no disappointments. In this world, all of our lives are kept on path by non-human although very human looking men.  If we steer off course of our written plan then an adjustment is made (car accident, missed phone call) to get us back on track. That works well enough until David and Elise (Matt Damon and Emily Blunt) and fall in love in an instant and are then thrown apart by the adjusters. Somehow David manages to catch the adjusters in action and they have to reveal their secret then threaten to destroy the people he cares about if he reveals the secret. So this coincidence we have to ignore otherwise it will be annoying that our protagonist is one of the rare people that find out about the Adjustment Bureau. In a Matrix-y manor the movie goes about the two lovers finding and losing each other until one adjuster takes pity on David and helps bring them together. Lots of drama and then ...

As a frequent flying traveler, I was happy that Up in the Air is less about miles and points and places the focus on people and relationships. Work takes a toll on all personal relationships and this is heightened by travel that places people in a bubble world and out of touch with everyday life. This disconnect and how important the personal connection can be is the theme of Up in the Air. The core cast is 3 people: the business traveler, his unwilling/unwanted apprentice, and the sometimes fling. These three each approach relationships in a different way and through their life on and off the road we're confronted by their realities. Sometimes what we're given makes sense, other times it seems a bit exaggerated for the point of story telling. Up in the Air is nominated for all sorts of awards and I'm sure this will continue. I wouldn't put this as a best picture or best actor but then again, this has been a weak year for strong movies. I enjoyed the movie and the pa...

Nine was on my list to see before I read all the critic reviews. I haven't read anything positive about the movie yet it has been nominated for several awards and that made me wonder what was so good in a movie so bad. So off I went in search of the answer. Daniel Day Lewis stars as Guido, an Italian film director and seducer, who has lost his way. The music numbers serve as his imagination of how a scene should be or as how he views his own life. Whatever, the music is white noise and serves no purpose other than to showcase the costumes. Who is good in this movie is Penelope Cruz who is the only female that has something to do that shows her as a person rather than a one dimensional character. Cruz was the only life in Nine and her Golden Globe nomination is deserved. Everyone else was average. What I found interesting is that several people were offended by the suggestive erotic nature of Guido's life and left the theater. Nine has no nudity, one sex scene under a blanket ...

It's Complicated has a specific target audience - divorced women, ages 50-60, whose husbands left them for younger women. Especially if the divorced women have had or still have emotional feelings for the ex, despite the fact that he has lied, cheated, etc. on them. If you are in this category, then you are the one this movie wants. It must have an impact because this was the group in tears at the end of the movie. Guys, young singles, maybe not so much going to enjoy this. Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin play the divorced couple who haven't totally let go and they are both fine in their roles. The hurt/love connection between the two is played at times to the extreme where you're thinking, "really, who buys this" just so a later set-up can be had. The first half of the movie is sad drama and not really engaging (unless you are above target audience). The son-in-law character provides the single comic point of relief in this movie as the relationship between the ex...

If Spock and Uhura can be a couple, then this is the year for revisionist/updating of long standing characters. The 2009 Holmes and Watson have returned smarter than ever. Watson being happily refreshed into intelligent and strong instead of a bumbling side-kick for Holmes. Oh, and it turns out, that Dr. Watson really is a doctor. I never really got that sense from the books but here, he's given medical stuff to do. About time. At 134 minutes, the movie seemed to wander and so did my mind. Most of this was a set-up for future movies and while we know Moriarty is Holmes' nemesis, we only get a glimpse of Moriarty and not enough to worry for the sequel. This version could have been called Sherlock Holmes vs. the Dark Arts and even though there was no real witchcraft, I felt like I was waiting for Dumbledore to come in and save Holmes and Watson from the evil, corrupt, politicians of London. To enjoy the movie, lower all expectations and remember that this is a refresh or even alt...

Fantastic Mr. Fox missed my notice on it's release a couple weeks ago, and it was destined for an airplane movie until I was too lazy to leave Carlsbad to drive to Oceanside for The Road. My lucky day because I enjoyed Fantastic Mr. Fox. This completes the unplanned animation trilogy of the last week and the Roald Dahl story that I never read was brought to my attention. Reviews of Streep and Clooney's voice work had been so positive that I decided to give it a go. Fox is a reformed chicken hunter longing for his glory days and decides to go out with one big last raid. When a Fox, Opossum, Badger are linked together, the only way this could work is as a Pixar/Disney movie but we are treated to a Wes Anderson movie instead. The heart of the story is Fox's relationship with his son and wife and as discussed in a Saturday conversation, this could be called a guy coming of age or finding himself genre. Except that it is also a work of Wes Anderson and has the exact same quirky ...

Conversation, debate, potential are a few of the things that will stay with you after watching Avatar. The must see FX movie of the year, Avatar delivers on 3D technology that will change the way movies are made and viewed. What you think of the movie is going to depend on where you see it. Theaters that have invested in the newest 3D tech are going to have a brighter and more vivid film. Older technology will have a 3D experience but with muted colors. I'm not sure how Avatar looked in normal film but it will be fun to hear from someone who does both as once was enough for me. The plot is less important than the technology but if you decide to ignore the obvious (big bad corporation attempts to take over rain forest from tree loving natives) you'll be okay. The Avatars are the shell body made of the human host and alien DNA so that humans can enter a pod and transmit their consciousness into their Avatar. This allows them to interact with the locals to gain their trust, try to...

My first impulse was to pass on this movie and save it for an airplane. Upon learning that it was Disney's first hand drawn animated movie in several years, I changed my mind and set off for the theater. With a few deviations from the basic plot, the story is still girl kisses frog. frog turns into prince and they live happily ever after. That's about all you need to know. Updated a bit with New Orleans as a back drop and voodoo practicians acting as both the villian and the good fairy the animation is fun to look at and watch. I'd give it some effort for not being too annoying with singing and slapstick animal characters but I didn't love the movie. I had the sense that this was a set-up for the next Broadway musical, an addition to New Orleans Square at the theme parks, and DVD spin-offs. The target audience seemed to be about 5 years of age. The small girl behind me was tired and bored but other kids were so into the movie they were running to the front of the theate...

Of all the movies to choose from, I found myself compelled to see Astro Boy . My only previous contact with Astro Boy has been to make fun of him so it was the curiosity facto that got me in. I've never read the Manga but I know Astro has himself a following. Who is this movie for? For sure small children under the age of 6. That group was 100% quiet from the opening scene to the final scene when they got loud again and cheered and applauded Astro Boy . Fans of Anime will like this since the background was stunning with the blades of grass individually blowing and the pastel mountain floating in the background. Fans of Astro Boy will probably like this but I say that with caution since I just admitted I don't know the character. What to like? A robot boy with human memory and emotion. Robots in general. Clearly defined good guys and bad guys. A simple story to follow. Somewhat endearing. Mostly the animation. The basic idea I took away is the usual - utopian societies...

"It could have been better." That was the consensus last night after watching Bruce Willis save the planet in Surrogates . The newest entry in the genre of 'beware technology', Surrogates shows us how awful the world will be if we all are plugged in and living life through a console. Robots now double as the outside face so only perfect looking faces and bodies are considered socially acceptable. The real life people are fat, unhealthy, and living in pajamas in their homes with shades drawn shut. Sounds pretty good to me! The premise is that robot selves are bad, but so are the rogue humans who refuse to have anything to do with robots and live in human only reservations. I don't know why all these rogue humans look like they came from the swamps and want to lynch everyone but they do. Against these odds, I'll take the robots. Bruce Willis misses his wife (side story over drama of losing only child) and wants to see her, not her robot self. Caught up in the d...

It was a 2-fer movie weekend and I'm almost thinking that Time Traveler's Wife came out on top for me. Could be because Eric Bana is in it but the movie didn't make me think of work and I didn't think about the anomalies in it until the next day. Let's be clear here - the target audience is sentimental women. This is a chick flick and guys, well if you go with your best gal pal, your are a really good guy. I know because there were a lot of miserable men in the theater with their significant others and at the end, I think you can guess which sex was in tears and which were chomping at the bit to run. So Eric Bana plays Henry, an unwilling time traveler who can never control when he will slip away from the present and into the past or future. Rachel McAdams plays Clare, the wife. Their love affair has been going on for a long time until the two finally meet at the right age. Really, Henry what were you thinking all that time just waiting for Clare to turn 18? We...

Peter Jackson's name attached to District 9 was the only reason I went to see the movie. I wasn't into the buzz or hype but decided to give the movie a chance. I walked in to a nearly empty theater and wondered if anyone was really bothering to check it out? Set in South Africa, aliens come to Earth, hover spacecraft over J'berg , get boarded and put into their own slumtown , aka District 9. Aliens attack humans, have a thing for cat food, and the drug lords of Nigeria move into slum town to trade cat food for alien weapons that no one can use. Citizens riot (humans that is) and enters Wilkus , newly promoted man in charge of alien relocation. Wilkus manages to get himself infected with alien DNA and starts to mutate. Wilkus decides to befriend the enemy and try to save himself. Set against the unpleasantry of the slums, the movie is supposed to make us think about how we're treating people who live in slums, especially the slums with guards and fences. I know that ...

(500) Days of Summer was the weekend movie because I thought it was about 500 days of summer vacation. Not! My bad. Instead of a happy daydream movie, I was in a quirky quasi romance movie of boy meets and loses girl; girl's said name Summer. 500 days with her. I was good for about 250 of them and then it was time to end the relationship. Not that the movie was horrible, in fact it was original, tried something new, and even had moments where I enjoyed what was going on. But no vacation. The audience was mixed in age from 18 to about 80 so I'm not sure if any target audience was reached. You're either going to go see it because you've heard the buzz from Sundance or you're not going to see it. I liked the use of back and forth time in the relationship. We start in the middle and jump to Day 1, then forward, then back and so on. I liked the characters but will soon forget them. I liked that the different viewpoints were used and no one size fits all for relationsh...

Up was unexpectedly likeable . The 3D animation was what made me want to see the movie and I was expecting a standard kid plot with no real value. Everyone has said this is a good movie and they are right but what no one mentions is that it's kind of a tear jerker in the beginning, middle, and end. What was that about? The central character in Up is an old man who has recently lost his wife and with her, their lifelong dream of going to South America. Faced with life in a retirement home, the man devises a plan to lift his house up and away. In doing so, he finds himself with an accidental stowaway, a young Asian fat boy, trying to earn a wilderness acheivement pin. So the adventure to South America begins to chase a lifelong dream and earn a pin. In South America the due encounters new friends - a bird and a talking dog, and enemies - bad dogs and a bad man. Wackiness ensues and wrongs and past must be set right and let loose. Up is pretty much for everyone. I'd say see it ...

Director Sam Raimi's new horror flick Drag Me To Hell could have been funny and we all expected some humor but not so much so. This is a straightforward horror movie with slow parts that build up and then the seat jump. The movie can be good or bad, depending on what you want out of it but more important - when you see it. Drag Me To Hell is a pretty boring movie on a Sunday 12:00 pm screening with an audience of 20. See it at 8:00 pm or later with a packed crowd on a Friday or Saturday night and interaction and talkback from the audience would make this a fun movie. The lead character is the type that audiences naturally scream at for being stupid. Going into a car in a dark lot, not locking doors, mocking the gypsy curse... Then again, a better movie would still hold up at any time, any viewing. Sam Raimi fans are going to go no matter what or have already gone. The rest of you, see it with the right audience or skip it. Warning - lots of green projectile vomit, bugs, and pr...

End Credits. Yes, the end credits were what I liked best about Land of the Lost . Movie reviews return not with good movies like Wolverine and Star Trek (liked them) but with a dud. Sorry about that but sometimes I'm compulsive about seeing movies that I shouldn't. Land of the Lost was a good idea that went wrong somewhere. The revamp of Holly and Will characters to adults was fine. Cha - ka and Enik , and Dr. Marshall were awkward jokes that didn't work. In fact, most of the one-liners in this movie might have read good on paper but in delivery feel flat and generated no laughs in the audience of maybe a dozen yesterday. The plot adapts elements of the TV show but jumbles them so together that any cohesiveness is non-existant. If you were thinking of watching this, save the money. Even trapped on an airplane, if this was my only movie, I wouldn't watch it again. I realize this sounds harsh. Did I like anything? Leonard Nimoy was the voice of The Zarn and that was th...

Duplicity made the weekend cut due to Clive Owen. He’s so fun to watch that I’m willing to see most of his movies even if I’m predisposed to not like them. The downside of Duplicity for me was Julia Roberts but she was okay and that reduced the dislike factor. Forget the cast for a moment and the spy/caper plot of the movie paid off big time. Well written and well directed the story follows the intertwined lives of spies (Owen & Roberts) and their possible alliance/deception/plot/love something. Counter to the spies are the corporate rival executives played by Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti – both fun in their roles. I think they must have had fun filming this movie at least in some scenes. Duplicity moves around in time and starts with 5 years back, then moves forward to present day, then back in time, to present, and so on. Pay attention. Failure to do so will leave you lost. If you pay attention you will like the movie much more than the average viewer’s rating. Every little ...

Banned for being an Israeli product, the number one bootleg DVD in Lebanon is Waltz With Bashir , an animated documentary of the 1982 war. This film that I had never heard of has won many awards, including the Golden Globe for best foreign film and is also nominated for an Oscar in the same category. Upon reading about the movie I decided that I had to see it and behold, La Jolla Village is screening the film. The documentary traces the memory recall of film director Ari Folman as he tries to remember where he was in 1982 in the war. The interviewees are real people who were also in Lebanon and many of them have partial memories or untold stories that need to be heard. The names are real but in some cases, the faces are changed to protect them from recognition. This story probably could have only been told in animation. This is a war movie from the soldiers point-of-view. The telling is almost dispassionate and detached after two decades of removal from the events. I’m sure both Israe...