BEST of 07'

In no particular order, i have assembled the BEST films of 2007, THAT I'VE SEEN! lets make that part very clear, there are quite a few that i'm duying to get my eye's on that either i had no time for, or didn't come and play here in O-Town. So expect some additions in the near future.

1.) Black Snake Moan. Samuel L. JACKSON and Christina Ricci give career defining moments here in one of the most bizzare plots i'v ever even heard of, let alone seen. Basically Jackson comes across town whore Ricci, who's going crazy cause her boyfriend (justin Timberlake, showing off suprisingly good chops here) is off in iraq. He chains her to his house, and starts readign her the bible and teaching her the blues, in an effort to "cure her of her wicked ways." Well, it works. The music, the twists and turnes of the events, everything comes together to make a film so heartbreaking in it's harsh reality and hylarious in it's absurd comedy that you'll never forget it.

2.) Sweeny Todd. The music is not catchy. there is almost NO color in the entire thing, and everyone looks dirty and ugly. and i LOVED every second of it. Probably the grosest story ever gets retold as a musical with an all star cast and tim burton behind the camera. As usual, it's splendid. Think Sleepy Hollow with singing, and there ya go. Not much else to say. Loved it.




3.) Across the Universe. A COMPLETLY different type of musical to Sweeny Todd. This is going to be in my all time in history lists. A musical, with an origional story, set to the music of the beatles. Julie Taymore (director of the lion king on broadway and the oscar winning FRIDA) puts so much imagination and invention into every single shot, you can't take your eye's off of it. The music is sung in such origional ways, and given such new meaning and context, you'll be hearing these old classics like you've never even thought of. Simply amazing, from beginning to end. This one will be getting heavy rotation on dvd from me, thats for sure!



4.) The Kingdom. A very Well done episode of Law and Order for the first hour, and one of the best action films EVER MADE for the second half. You could litterally divide the film in half and think you have two different movies on your hands. This is the epidomy of excelent craftsmanship. The script is SMART first, then entertaining second. So when the cars start flying and the guns a blazin' you actually CARE about whats going on. Also, the last 2 minutes is such a shocker on an ending, but not in event, but of character revelations, you'll have to see it to believe it!

5.) Pans Labyrinth. Alice in Wonderland for grown ups. Guiermo Del Torro has crafted a VERY beautiful film in his native mexico, taking old myths and legends of his culture, and flipping them on their heads. It's dark, touching, and ultimatly uplifting.


6.) The abandond. A return to psycological horror. An adopted woman suddenly learns the mother she could never find has died, and left her a sprawling house in the backwoods of russia. Thats all the set up you need for one of the truely scariest films i'v ever seen in my life. You'll have many different options to choose from once the film is over, as it never REALLY comes out and says what's going on, but there are enough hints in all directions that everything sounds good. Probably the best haunted house film ever, up there with the origional The Haunting. Seriously, checking this out should be on your priority list.

7.) The Host. A Korean film about a monster that attacks the capital. Sounds like Godzilla right? Wrong. This monster movie delivers all the chills and action of the forger legendary pictures, but adds a family to dysfunctional and hylarious, you'll find a lump in your throat at the end. In turnes horrifying (the first monster attack comes out of no where and is VERY graphic) and harrowing (not all the main characters make it to the end, not even the children are safe!) this is like JAWS, only in a different language, and a MUCH bigger budget.

8.) SUNSHINE. Another horror, though this one more toward a sci-Fi actioneer. Danny Boyl, director of 28 days later goes for a 2001 meets the matirx kinda vibe in the biggest "why wasn't this a huge box office smash over labor day weekend" movie ever. it looks like it had the budget of the lord of the rings, and the action is soo intense you'd think it'd have gotten more of a push than it did. Who knows, it entertained and thrilled the pants off of yours truely, and here it is ont he list!.

9.) No Country For old Men. Very creepily realistic crime opera set in a bleak town by the border. Character actors abound doing what they do best in a jucy little thriller packing more of a punch than most other films of it's ilk. Every performance is stellar, and not one scene is waisted, though you may not always know exactly what it's purpose is, it all comes together.

10.) JUNO. MY FAVORITE FILM EVER!!!!!!!!!! loved this. Jennifer Garner proves she can act without blowing somehting up. Ellen Page proves that you CAN be a teenager, and a good actress (lindsay lohan, are you listening?!?!?!) everything about this just rocks. it's suprising, how such a "litle" film can fill me with such HUGE emotions about life, love, and babies. it's like this years little miss sunshine, only good (cause that movie SUCKED SO BAD IN BOGGLES MY MIND HOW ANYONE COULD THINK IT"S ANYTHING OTHER THAN A LIFETIME TELEVISION FOR WOMEN SPECIAL!!!) but thats beside the point.

Brotherhood of the Wolf

Would you believe there is a film in existence that is about a rumored supernatural beast killing and maiming poor innocent folk on the French country side during the 18’Th century? What about if I said the pope himself was involved in it’s cover up, enlisting spy’s by way of brothel house matrons, and a native American Indian fresh from the newly discovered Americas doing kung fu (because he was enslaved in Japan for a time, before he got to France, you know, to kill the mythical beast) and throw in a one armed man, a dash of (heavily) implied incest, three double crosses? Well, not only does such a film exist, but it’s based on a true story. You heard me right, and I’ve done my research. It’s all true. Kinda like how everyone thinks the story of Pocahontas was a happy one (thanks Disney) but the actual history books tell another, in France they have this mythical beast killing people, but REALLY, it was the king of France trying to overthrow the pope, who had reigning power at the time. Oh, and the Jim Henson Creature Shop did all the special effects. I’m just saying.
Christophe Gans is the kind of crazy director you need to bring a story like this to life. He has literally SO many ideas, and somehow works every last one of them into a VERY think and convoluted plot. Interestingly, the story is so weird it’s true, giving him a lot of leeway in how far out there he goes. At the time of its release (2001) Brotherhood of the wolf was both the most expensive film made in France (the equivalent to 200 million) and the highest grossing film from France (total worldwide box office is near 300 million) and you can see everything on the screen. Given a Very lackluster release in America (in all honesty, how DO you sell a project like this to the masses) what we missed was one of the best action films in a good long while. I know muskets and swords don’t sound all that exiting now that we have semi automatics being sold at wal-mart, but man, this film uses everything from a hatchet to a VERY inventive (and historically accurate) sword that can slide apart and then come back together for some of the most well choreographed and filmed action set pieces I’ve ever seen.
Visually, there is something in every corner of the screen. Much like the film 300, you could pause at any moment during the film, and that image could be framed and put up as art work, it is THAT lush and beautiful. The creature himself is a mixed bag. When used as a real life prop, the effect his horrifyingly convincing (an early scene with a peasant woman trying to save a lamb is so well done, I didn’t know if I should be ooohing and aahhhing or grossed out) but when it comes to the digital creation (thankfully only used sparingly) the effect is just off enough to pull you out for the film momentarily.
That small squabble aside, the plot basically follows two gentlemen sent by the king of France to investigate a “beast” that is killing people in a secluded province. Once they arrive, thinking there is a logical explanation for everything, they soon realize the beast is much more than they bargained for. Further thickening the plot is when they realize all the victims have something in common, and as the film draws near several people come out gaining quite a bit from this demons precise killings. That’s where things get a little muddled, what with the lead getting involved with a courtesan who turns out to be a spy for the pope. Yea, ya hurd me, the POPE sends a whore as a spy. Just accept it, it happened, no really, like I said, I looked it up. Then there’s the one armed man who turns out to, well, not be one armed after all. But that’s giving too much away.
Brotherhood of the wolf is best described as Sleepy Hollow meets the Matrix meets crouching tiger hidden dragon meets the sound of music by way of the Grimm fairytales. No, seriously. So if your in the mood for something unlike you’ve ever seen before, but COMPLETELY one of the most entertaining experiences EVER, and aren’t stupid enough to hate subtitled films, you MUST check this out. This is literally in my top ten of all time in the book of Eric field’s top ten films. I own a 3 disc set directors cut DVD imported from France that’s not a joke. It’s that high up there in my totem poll, so check it out folks!!!

Beowulf

Beowulf is a strong, brawny epic with everything and then kitchen sink thrown in just in case. This is both a blessing and curse for this state of the art “motion capture” motion picture from Robert Zemeckis, the man responcible for Forrest Gump, Cast Away, and the Back to the future features.
Every 9’Th grader is forced to read the classic literature, usually against their will. The sing-songy phrasing and SLOW pace usually turn off the average high school student. Celebrated fantasy author Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery (everything from Pulp Fiction to Silent Hill) do an amazing job at cutting out the fat, and beefing up the action and sex to appeal to today’s audience. However, between the script that wants desperately to appeal to today’s younger audiences, while staying true to the source material, things get muddled. The directorial choice to have the picture computer generated might at first glance seem a wise one, given the heavy fantastical elements, that too becomes a misstep to a certain degree. Zemeckis fills the movie with almost distracting visual flair, seemingly just because he can. Also, the picture is in 3D, which is admitidly VERY cool. Unfortunately, between being a really cool 3D movie, a literate epic, and an action movie that can keep up with 300 and gladiator, the film ultimately only mostly succeeds at all of them, and doesn’t ever really feel like it reached the many goals it sets out to accomplish.
That’s not to say the film is nothing short of breathtaking. The computer animation on display here is the best ever, period. There are moments where Anthony Hopkins is speaking, and the camera zooms in on his face, and I guarantee that if an unsuspecting audience member were to walk in right then, they WOULD NOT be able to tell that it was nothing but pixels and digits. It’s s that photorealistic, at times. There does however seem o be some characters that are given more care than others. The women, for example, still lean toward the “shrek” level of quality, while the male counterparts all get much more detail and fluid motions.
The action in the film is also very impressive. This is where the 3D aspect really comes into play. At the end of the feature, when a giant dragon is chasing our hero around, you can’t help but be amazed at the sheer level of violence on screen. Also, earlier scenes, such as Grendel’s attack on a cottage, works amazingly well, computer animated 3D movie or not (I was actually shocked at how graphic it was, especially given the p.g.-13 rating).
At the end of the day, Beowulf is a VERY COOL movie. That’s it. The story is more complex than you’d expect from this kind of movie, but the plot gets muddled in all the forced, albeit amazing action scenes, and it’ll be interesting to watch the film NOT in 3D, and see if the gimmick actually lets you focus on the content more. Time will tell, but as it is, it’s a perfect way to spend 2 hours of the holiday season, and certainly the best computer animated movie up to now.

there is something in....THE MIST!

The Mist is one of the best Stephen King film adaptations ever; right along side The Shaw shank Redemption and The Shining. However, this is also one of the best films of the year, period. Frank Darabount (who was responsible for the Shaw shank redemption and the other King film, The Green Mile) has taken a short story no less, and turned it into the most intense two hours you will spend in a theater this year, or any year for that matter.
The film starts very abruptly with a violent thunder storm, leaving a small town with slight damage and no electricity. The locals gather together at the local grocery store, and it is here that we meet the varied and stereotypical set of characters. The crazy religious nut (played with so much over the top glee by Oscar winner Marcia gay harden that you start to think televangelism is her true calling) the nebbish store clerk (who is given his heroic moment to shine) the cute young cashier who has all the boys falling over her, and the awkward bagger boy. The last two most definitely NOT falling into the clichéd disaster movie mold. And that is where this film succeeds. It starts off like any other horror film/disaster movie. You have all the elements set up, as they start to play out, as the mist rolls in and people start to disappear, and then start to die, and then start to panic, the clichés are thrown out the window one by one.
There are some familiar faces in the crowd, Gay harden for one, Thomas Jane (punisher) and André Braugher (Poseidon) all give stellar performances, and some street cred to what is otherwise a creature feature, but the order in which they, and others (i.e. small innocent children) are dispatched in increasingly more gruesome ways makes it impossible to tell who the “star” is, who is the clear villain and hero. All these lines are blurred in what quickly becomes a parable on the human condition, and the violence that is inherently in the hearts of man. This becomes all the more apparent when the Religious spinster starts preaching about god, and the end of days, and signs, especially when her biblical premonitions start eerily coming true. The people start having to choose sides, and a little civil war erupts. Suffice it to say not all the deaths in the film are inflicted by other worldly beasts.
Speaking of creatures, nothing can prepare you for the slimy, scaily, tentacled, acid webbed monsters that slither out of the mist. Some of them are vaguely familiar to bugs we all know, just altered (spiders for example, only the size of a coffee table) or mosquitoes (only the size of footballs and with seriously more bite) and others are so foreign the person who came up with their design should be handed an Oscar for creativity, or locked up. You don’t see nary a hint of them for the first hour or so, but once they show up, it’s a non stop assault on the senses.
The people are killed off one by one at a time (actually, more like five by eight) until the climactic sequence. Now, I hate to discuss endings, but here I feel I must give a warning. For anyone who loves happy endings, or at least hopeful endings, stay AWAY!!! This film has the most HORRIFYING, SHOCKING, ending ever put to film. It’s not a twist, it’s not “the sixth sense,” they never give a solid explanation of what’s going on in the mist, but the ending here is so slap you in your face bleak, you’ll either love that a film had the balls to go there, or you’ll cry foul at the irony. It IS however, the logical, and dare I say realistic conclusion to what precedes it though.
The Mist is my favorite film of 2007, not THE BEST (Black Snake Moan is probably still on the top of that list) but this is the most fun you’ll have being scared in a LONG time, quite possibly ever.

Across the Universe

Across the Universe is a musical about a boy from england looking for his long lost father in america, a free spirited college guy dealing with being drafted, and a girl who questions her government, and how their paths cross during the 60's and 70's. However, instead of breaking into regular old musical numbers, they break out into songs from the beatles. The songs themselves are changes, not in words, but in meaning, some taking to their literal extreem, others a vague montage of an emotion or time or place. each one is sung beautifully by a new and amazing cast of youngsters, and put in VERy interesting situations. "I wanna hold your hand" for example, is sung by a cheerleader at a peprally, to her lesbian crush. Another, and one of the most emotional sequences ever put to film, is "LET IT BE" sung by a gospel choir over images of the detroit race riots, and the dead soldiers being sent home from vietnam. Visually, it is filmed as if every single shot and frame is a painting. you could pause any moment, and frame it, and it would comfortably sit on the wall of any art museum. it is THAT jaw droppingly beautiful. The characters however drive the film, and their story is origional, and stirring. Each is givin something completly different to stand for, and as they clash with eachother, they remind you as an audience member of just what YOU stand for, what you WOULD stand for, and what you would do in the horrible situations they ultimatly find themselves in. The ONLY complaint i can possibly find with the film is the middle section. Bono of U2 shows up as a druggie revolutionary and his performance is fine enough, but his character is pointless, and used meerly to progress the plot from one location to another. His part drags a little slower than it should have, and i will probably be skipping his portion when it comes out on dvd. Other than that. 5 stars out of 5 stars. you owe it to yourself to catch this motion picture!!!!
The kingdom is a very amazing episode of Law and Order, with about 45 minutes worth of terminator 2 thrown in for good measure at the end. thats not to say there is anything wrong with it. A u.s. encampment is bombed in saudi arabia, and some FBI agents are sent in to investigate under EXTREEM pressure and constraints. as the clues mount, and tension builds, much like an episode of the excelent Law and Order program. Instead of an understated denouncement however, this film ends with one of the most bombastic, explosive, tense 45 minute action sequence that you feel exhausted just from watching everyone run around. A car chase that destroys about 98 cars leads to a chase on foot, to a building, which turnes into a shoot out of epic proportions, which turnes itno another chase through the building, ending in a mano e mano fight to the death, only to have another suprose twist and yet ANOTHER shoot out. Once again, nothing wrong with it, and it's done with so much expert craft, i defy anyone to not be on the enge of their seat. Is there lofty messages of world peace or political opinionation? not really, despite the commercials and markieting for the film, it is merely an entertaining thriller/actioneer. Thats fine, especially when it goes fro broke the way this does. Highly recomened
Pushing daisy's is a new show on ABC that is incredible, it's about a man born with a gift/curse. Anyone he touches, they die. Anything for that matter aswell. Likewise, anything he tjouches thats dead, comes back to life. However, there's a catch (there's always a catch!) if he brings someone back to life, he only has a minute to touch them, putting them back to death again, before someone ELSE dies. Example. he touches his mom as a child. she dies. he touches her again, she comes back to life, but his sweethearts father drops dead one minute later. He also has only 2 chances. example, once he killed his mom and brought her back to life, his next touch will kill her forever. Confusing, but brilliantly put out in the pilote episode. The show follows this guy (who works as a pie maker at a pie shop) moonlighting with a detective. they go around touching dead victims, finding out who killed them, puting them back to death, and then collecting on the rewards. When one of the victems is his childhood sweetheart, he chooses to keep her alive at someone else's expence. However, she doesn't know who killed her (a juicy ongoing mystery) and if he ever touches her agian, she's dead for good. It's dark humor and sweet veneer make this one of the most origional and amazingly hypnotic shows ever. it's truely unlike ANYTHING you'v ever seen before.