Chuck DelRoss's Movie Review/Discussion Blog

Guess who's back? (maybe)

2009-02-12T13:32:00.000-08:00

It has been almost exactly a year. Time for me to give my periodical attempt to revive this blog. Movies are pretty much my favorite thing, and I do enjoy writing about even if no one is reading. As I get older though, it becomes increasingly tough to find the time to fit this into my schedule, especially when it offers no reward exception some sort of vague personal gratification. Regardless, I am going to give this the old college try yet again and I guess we'll see where it goes.

The natural place to start would of course be a wrap up of 2008, but I can honestly say I am still getting caught up on all of last year's offerings. I feel it would be unfair to offer up some sort of numbered list when I am still getting around to viewing some of the year's best reviewed films. The Oscars are coming up soon though, so I thought I would run down a few of the categories and discuss what I have seen.

Best Picture

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Cean Chaffin
Frost/Nixon - Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Eric Fellner
Milk - Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen
The Reader - Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Redmond Morris, Donna Gigliotti
Slumdog Millionaire - Christian Colson

- I have only seen two of these (Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon), but out of those two, I would certainly lean two Benjamin Button. Frost/Nixon was well acted but felt a little slow and uneventful at times. It didn't quite do enough to shake off its roots as a stage play. It worked for Chicago a few years ago though, so who knows? I plan on seeing both Slumdog and Milk as soon as my schedule allows, so perhaps I will amend this if one of them really strikes my fancy, but as of now, I'm going to throw my support behind Benjamin Button in what seemed to be a rather weak year for motion pictures overall.

What about The Reader you ask? Well, the beauty of doing this kind of writing just for fun is I do not have to see every single movie, and frankly The Reader looked about as boring as watching paint dry, so I think I will probably take a pass on that one.

Best Director

Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Gus Van Sant – Milk

- As stated before, I can only speak on 2 of these movies, but although I haven't seen either picture, I would really have no problem with Boyle or Van Sant winning. They have both spent their careers making films that, while not always successful, and that is to be commended. I would have to go with David Fincher here though, because even though Benjamin Button is probably not his best work. In the 90's, he was making some of the best films in Hollywood, and it will be nice to see him get recognized next weekend.

Best Actor

Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

- Judging by the hype, this is a two man race between Penn and Rourke. Frank Langella was good as Nixon, but the fact that Anthony Hopkins already portrayed the same man in a very similar manner will probable hurt his case. Pitt was good as well, but a lot of what made his performance interesting came from special effects. He chooses his roles well anyway, and I have little doubt that he will be nominated again. Harvey Milk is supposedly a career roll for Penn, but the Mickey Rourke cinderella story, combined with the fact that his film was mostly shut out of other major categories, leads me to believe that he will probably be collecting his first statue.

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet – The Reader

- I have yet to see a single one of these films. I hope that doesn't make me sexist.

Best Supporting Actor

- As close to a lock as I can remember in the recent history of this show. Bet your house, your car, your kids, whatever. I don't care if you love or hate the film. Ledger WILL be awarded this Oscar posthumously. I was wondering why exactly Tropic Thunder snuck into this, but it is just filler. As much as these other four nominees matter, you could have given Jason Mewer a nomination for Zack and Miri Make A Porno. Ledger by a mile.

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams – Doubt
Penélope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

- Once again, not a whole lot to say here, but I'll play the odds and go with the movie Doubt as my winner.

Besides that, I'd say the only category I can really offer any thoughts on is Best Animated Feature, and I would bet my winnings from Heath Ledger on Wall-E in that category. So if you make a killing taking my advice and betting the Oscars, I expect you to paypal a cut to Chuck.delross@gmail.com.

I think that is it for today since its almost time for me to leave the office, and I certainly wouldn't deign to work on this on my own time. Look for more tomorrow (maybe), although I haven't quite decided what I'll write about.

Saw 4

2008-02-28T21:01:00.000-08:00

Theatrical Release Date: 10/26/07
DVD Release Date: 1/22/08 (pretty quick turnaround)
Starring Lyriq Bent, Scott Patterson, Costas Mandylor, Tobin Bell, Donnie Wahlberg
Screenplay by Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan
Story by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan and Thomas Fenton
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman
My rating: 5/10

I guess we're stuck with these movies whether we like it or not. They're cheap to make, they have a small but loyal target audiences, and if you put one out every October, apparently you're guaranteed to turn a tidy profit to the tune of 60 or 70 million dollars. Unfortunately, the gas gauge on this series was on E about two installments ago, so we're left with nothing more than a workmanlike horror flick that will appeal to no one but hardcore fans of the genre. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), I happen to be one.

As a brief refresher, the first 3 movies dealt with a killer named Jigsaw (Bell) who would set up elaborate puzzles or traps for his victims wherein if they didn't meet a goal, they would pay with their life. In the 2nd film, he takes an apprentice named Amanda (Smith). In the 3rd, they are both killed. Rather inexplicably, we now have the 4th (and if IMDB is to be believed, a 5th this coming Halloween). The story of a man running through one of Jigsaw's twisted mazes to find his child is all but abandoned. Instead, we follow Rigg (Bent), a cop who is obviously a little unstable, mainly due to the fact that his coworkers and friends seem to keep dying or turning up missing.

Rigg himself is then abducted by Jigsaw and sent through a series of twisted obstacles while attempting to save Detective Matthews (Wahlberg picking up a paycheck). Don't know who detective Matthews is? That means you've never seen Saw 2. This is one of the cardinal mistakes of number 4. It's not self sufficient. It's plotted heavily enough that you need to have seen the first 3 in order to really get a grasp on it. ANYWAY, all the while, 2 FBI agents (Patterson and Athena Karkanis) and a police detective (Mandylor) are in pursuit of Rigg, who they suspect (probably rightfully so) has snapped a bit.

It's kind of hard to review a movie of this nature. As previously stated, if you like this kind of thing, you will have a good time with it. If not, stay far away. It's a little more comprehensible than the 3rd one, which suffered from even more overplotting than the current installment, as well as annoyingly murky cinematography. It is, however, completely devoid of the fresh concept that made the first film enjoyable, or the off the wall nihility that carried the second. It is a slasher film that conforms to all the expected cliches (except for the killer coming back to life, but maybe the filmmakers were saving that for the 5th installment). It even has the obligatory plot "twist" that has become so commonplace these days and usually needs to get completely shoehorned into the plot.

There is really nothing else of any note to say about this movie. I saw it about a week and a half ago and I had to go to IMDB to look up the names of characters and actors. It's not horrible for what it is, but it's a total cash grab for everyone involved, and all aspects of it reflect that. If you're a true fan of horror films, I'm sure you can find something a little more worthwhile and substantial to watch than this thoroughly forgettable sequel.

Be Kind Rewind

2008-02-26T19:08:00.001-08:00

Release Date: 2/22/08
Starring Mos Def, Jack Black, Danny Glover, Mia Farrow, Melonie Diaz
Written and Directed by Michel Gondry
Rated PG-13
My Rating: 7/10

Michel Gondry is a confusing filmmaker. There is really no denying that in a visual and all around aesthetic sense, he is one of the more off kilter, exciting filmmakers currently working. Be Kind Rewind is Gondry's 4th feature (5th if you count the Dave Chappelle concert flick Block Party), and it is his second foray into writing (after 2006's The Science of Sleep). While I have personally yet to see Science, his newest film has led me to believe that Gondry is perhaps better suited to simply stick to directing. I think Be Kind Rewind is a very good movie. It has a lot of heart to it, and it should put a smile on the faces of all but the most cynical viewers. It is, however, tonally unbalanced to say the least, and lacking the focus of Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind, which I consider to be one of the best movies of the past few years.

The premise at least is extremely promising. Be Kind Rewind is a video store in a bad neighborhood of the industrial town of Passaic New Jersey. A developer is attempting to gentrify the neighborhood and the owner, Mr. Fletcher (Glover) is faced with a choice between making necessary repairs to get his building up to code, or leaving his building to get torn down in favor of condominiums. Determined to save his store, he sets out on a mission to observe a West Coast Video and find out what he could be doing better.

In his absence, he leaves his loyal live in employee Mike (Mos Def) in charge and gives him a stern warning to keep his well meaning but destructive friend Jerry (Black) out of the store. Sure enough, due to a bizarre, poorly explained accident suffered while attempting to sabotage the local power plant, Jerry becomes magnetic and accidentally erases all of the VHS tapes in the store. (What year is this movie supposed to be set in anyway? It appears to be present times, but I almost feel like a non-DVD video store in current times is a little TOO anachronistic. Hell, video stores in general are on their way to becoming a thing of the past.)

Rather than admit defeat, or go buy some new tapes for about 99 cents from a swap meet or something, the duo, with the help of an attractive dry cleaner named Alma (Diaz), begin making their own truncated versions of movies, starting with a truly memorable interpretation of Ghostbusters. It is here that the movie really hits it's stride, with Jack Black exhibiting the kind of pleasant, loosey goosey charm he can have when he's working with a director who reigns him in a bit and doesn't let him go completely crazy. Unexpectedly, the neighborhood folks begin clamoring for more of their homemade films, and almost overnight, the lines at Be Kind Rewind start winding out the door and down the block.

Things obviously start to go sour, and while I don't want to spoil it, the movie doesn't go for any sort of magical happy ending, which I think was probably the right choice. In terms of tone, the movie takes several shifts. It begins as sort of a slice of life taking place in a neighborhood that time seems to have forgotten. For the segments of Jerry and Mike making their films, it turns rather slapstick. In the end however, the movie pays loving tribute to the independent spirit, be that in terms of an independent video store, independent filmmaking, or anything else. It's these scenes that truly left a good taste in my mouth despite the bittersweet ending, and it is because of these scenes that I most recommend Be Kind Rewind.

Gondry doesn't seem quite sure what kind of movie he's making here and it shows. Overall, the script seems like it could have benefited from another rewrite or two. (the sudden abandonment of a romantic subplot between Mike and Alma is particularly jarring) Despite it's flaws and overall lack of focus, however, I feel this movie is worth seeing. It's a great, strange, feel good movie with an interesting concept and some good things to say. I wouldn't call Be Kind Rewind a complete hit artistically, but it's definitely an interesting, worthwhile near miss.

Back. AGAIN. Here are some thoughts on the Oscars.

2008-02-26T13:50:00.001-08:00

So I'm back. AGAIN. Perhaps this will be a blog I write in yearly... Seriously though, I would really and truly like to start writing for this page regularly. Whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but ultimately, I'd love to be able to get to the point where I can join Rotten Tomatoes and some other sites like that. That way my insignificant, meaningless opinions would be slightly harder for the general public to avoid.

MOVING ALONG...due to the fact that we are several days removed from that motion picture industry wankfest known as the Oscars, I figured that would be as good a place as any to start dispensing my snippets of semi-ill informed wisdom.

Firstly...I know a lot of people I am friends with thought There Will Be Blood deserved a sweep, but I have to say I'm so happy to see the Coen Brothers go home with a bunch of awards, despite the fact that their acceptance speeches seemed a tad apathetic. I really can't count on one hand the number of Coen brothers movies I consider to be brilliant, and although they've recieved some consideration before (mostly in the screenplay category), Sunday was by far the most they have ever been honored at this particular ceremony.

Don't get me wrong...PT Anderson made a great great movie. And although I personally consider No Country to be the stronger movie, I also believe there can be an argument made that the Coens were just due. I know people aren't a fan of that logic (most recently for Denzel Washington's much debated win for Training Day and the almighty Martin Scorsese's award last year for The Departed). I think there is SOME validity to that reasoning though, particularly because the Coen brothers are much more prolific (and in my opinion much more consistant) than Anderson.

Javier Bardem's win for No Country was probably the closest thing to a no brainer for the evening. Perhaps this is high praise, but I think you would have to reach all the way back to perhaps The Silence Of Lambs to find a villain as memorable as his Anton. On somewhat of a sidebar however, I thought one of the most interesting parts of that movie was the lack of a clear moral center. Anton is most certainly the villain, but I would call Josh Brolin's Llewellyn an anti-hero at worst. At best, his ethics are certainly sketchy.

Likewise, Daniel Day Lewis for There Will Be Blood was an obvious one. Despite the fact that I didn't think it was the ABSOLUTE best flick all year, there can be no denying Lewis is absolutely amazing in it. He is by turns charismatic and completely bat shit nuts. He deserved this award more than Blood deserved best picture in my opinion because when the movie works, it works BECAUSE OF HIM. At over 2 and a half hours, Blood is definitely a bulky movie, and Lewis is a good enough actor to pretty much carry the whole thing on his shoulders.

I have not seen either of the films that actresses were honored for as of yet, hence I will not be discussing that now. Perhaps once I see both of them, if I feel so compelled, I will write about them in a future entry.

The documentary category was filled with some great entries this year, and although my personal allegiance was with No End In Sight, a horrifying indictment of the war in Iraq, the Oscar went Taxi To The Dark Side. Although I have yet to see it, it looks excellent, and also appears to cover some of the same subject matter of No End, albeit from more of a personal, and less of a policy related standpoint. All in all, it's very refreshing to see some left leaning documentaries coming out that don't share Michael Moore's penchant for hyperbole. (although Sicko was also nominated.)

One of the more disputed categories, at least among people I know, was the Best Original Screenplay win for Juno. Honestly, I come down somewhere in the middle here. Do I think the novelty of a former stripper writing a cutesy movie about teen pregnancy was a factor in the win? Sure. Do I think the dialogue in the movie tried way too hard to be clever at times? Absolutely. Am I personally offended by Diablo Cody's win, as several people I know seemed to be? Not really. I freely admit to not having seen any of the other nominees in this category yet, but judging by trailers and reviews, none of them (with the possible exception of the odd looking Ryan Gosling vehicle Lars and The Real Girl) seem to be treading any seriously new ground. Michael Clayton in particular looked to me to be a bit of a retread of any number of courtroom themed films and I was genuinely surprised at how many nominations it garnered at this and a bunch of other awards shows. As far as the ACTUAL quality of the movie, get back to me when I've actually seen it. Until then, I freely admit to this all being hearsay.

Well that's about it I guess. I do notice that more and more in the past few years, the Academy's nominations seem to be falling more and more in line with my own personal taste. I'm not sure if that's a statement about the evolution of my taste or the taste of the Academy.

Here's to another year of being a movie nerd!

Ghost Rider (Theatrical Release)

2007-03-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

Release Date: 2/16/07
Starring Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes, Wes Bentley, Peter Fonda, Donal Logue, Sam Elliott
Written and Directed by Mark Steven Johnson
Rated PG-13
My Rating: 2/10

This is the latest in a seemingly endless string of comic book adaptations currently coming down the pike, and is easily right near the bottom of the barrel, if not the absolute worst that I have had the personal displeasure to view. I'm sure the negative hype has caught up to this movie at this point, but this is one of those rare cases where the negative word of mouth really doesn't do it justice. Yes, it's really THAT bad.

We open on a young Johnny Blaze (Matt Long), and his father Barton (Brett Cullen) making money as a daredevil tandem, making crazy jumps on their motorcycles. Barton is dying of cancer however, and one late night Johnny gets visited the one and only Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda as the devil. Sounds awesome right? nope.) Johnny ends up signing away his soul in exchange for his father's health, but in a SUPER IRONIC twist, Barton ends up dying in a motorcycle accident that very evening.

With me so far? We pick up a few decades later where Johnny is the most popular stunt driver around (aided by his ability to survive any crash without a scratch). He also for some reason has become an A-1 nutjob who drinks martini glasses full of jelly beans and listens to nothing but The Carpenters.

Here's where an already overplotted movie starts to get even more dense: The devil's son Blackheart (Wes Bentley of American Beauty fame, making a rare motion picture appearance) has enlisted several demons to help him search for a scroll which contains (I believe) a list of evil souls that, if procured, would enable him to overthrow his father and bring Hell to earth and end the world, blah blah blah. In an attempt to combat him, good old Mephi calls in his favor with Johnny and turns him into his "ghost rider", a flaming skeleton that rides the streets at night, doing his bidding. As if losing his skin and getting set on fire once an evening wasn't enough, Johnny's childhood sweetheart Roxanne (Eva Mendes, as hot as always) has resurfaced as a fairly obnoxious tv reporter.

Honestly, I felt so silly actually describing all of that. But I digress. Honestly, it's been a couple of weeks since I've seen this, and it was so dull and unmemorable that I am struggling to remember all of the points I wanted to make in this review.

One of the biggest problems with the movie is probably Wes Bentley. He is about as intimidating as a pussycat and never once registers as an intimidating villain, not even a little bit. The same can be said of the legendary Peter Fonda. For supposedly playing the devil, he acts awfully ineffectual. Sam Elliott does the same Sam Elliott performance he's done a million times before and can pull off in his sleep as a man named "The Caretaker" who helps Johnny deal with his newfound powers. Eva Mendes is overshadowed by her cleavage. Perhaps sensing all the dullness around him, Cage is in full Face Off style ham mode, chewing as much scenery as he possibly can and even digging out his faux Elvis southern accent.

These dull performances are augmented by special effects that are...well...frankly, less than impressive. Everything is way too over the top and cartoony looking. I suppose the argument can be made that this is the proper visual style for a silly over the top comic book adaptation, but personally, I found the fakeness of the effects to be distracting. It managed to take me out of the movie even more than I already was.

The public has spoken however, and if a sequel hasn't already been greenlit, it most likely will soon enough. Personally, I struggled to stay awake through the first one, so you can go ahead and count me out for any subsequent installments.

Better late than never

2007-02-19T13:26:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I fully realize we're like 7 weeks into 2007, and lists are pretty cliched, but looking at some trailers online inspired me to do a little writing in this entry about the movies I think look promising this year.

Besides, who really cares about movies in January anyway? "Epic Movie" has already come and gone thankfully.

"300" (scheduled for release March 9) - I am not familiar with the comic book this film was based on, but I didn't know anything about "Sin City" beforehand either. While this doesn't look quite up to the level of the Rodriguez film, it looks like a great "guy movie". It looks hyperstylized, with intense battle scenes, monsters, and god only knows what else. It definitely looks fun.

"Grindhouse" (scheduled for release April 6) - Man...every movie fan occasionally has a feeling that a film was made just for them. I feel like that with "Grindhouse". Tarantino has been my favorite director since I got way into movies at about age 12, and Rodriguez has always been one of my favorites as well. Now, they're working together again (their last collaboration was the excellent "From Dusk Till Dawn"). Right now, the movie has a very original concept, a great cast, and a KILLER trailer working in it's favor. This is easily my most anticipated movie at this point, and I'm pretty sure there's no way I'm not going to love.

"Spiderman 3" (scheduled for release May 4) - This is supposedly the conclusion of this big budget saga, and the trailers seem to indicate that it's ending properly. I've always loved Sam Raimi as a director, but I wasn't too fond of the second Spiderman movie. This one, however, looks like it has the potential to deliver the goods on all fronts.

"Knocked Up" (scheduled for release June 1) - I've been reading some not so good things about this online, but I remain pretty optimistic. I'd really love for this to be the movie that makes Seth Rogan a star. He was one of the best parts of Freaks and Geeks which was without a doubt one of the best television shows ever. He also shone in a supporting role in the "40 Year Old Virgin". Now he's getting a shot at a leading role, with Judd Apatow, the man behind both Geeks and "Virgin". Definitely makes it at least worth a look in my book.

"Live Free or Die Hard" (scheduled for release June 29) - I feel action movies have really gone downhill. A new installment of this classic series could hopefully be a breath of fresh air in the midst of all the family oriented PG-13 action fare that comes out these days. Hopefully it's a hard R and Mcclane kicks some ass and takes some names. Or it could just be an aging action star trying to relive his glory days. I guess we'll see.

"The Simpsons Movie" (scheduled for release July 27) - Sure, the trailers haven't been all that great. Yeah, the series reached what most regarded as it's peak almost 10 years ago. But for those of us who literally grew up with this show, this is still a film event not to be missed. I mean, I am literally a lifelong fan of this show. I've been waiting to see it on the big screen since I was in elementary school. Cruddy trailers or not, I'll be there opening day.

"The Bourne Ultimatum" (scheduled for release August 3) - These movies still don't really get the respect they deserve. Matt Damon has created the first great action hero of the 2000's in my opinion, and I'm excited to see how the series is concluded.

"Halloween" (scheduled for release August 31) - I have seen no promotional material for this movie. All I know is it's being directed by Rob Zombie and is supposed to be a "reimagining" of the long running slasher series. As much as I think Zombie's previous two directorial efforts were flawed, I feel he is probably the only truly unique voice in horror these days. Because of that, I'm very excited to see what he comes up with to revive a series that became stagnant many many years ago.

I'm going to stop at the summer for a variety of reasons. One is I don't really know too much about this year's fall releases. I figure there will also be a bunch of smaller scale films that I'll want to see once I know more about them. The reason my list now is mostly high budget titles is because they are the ones that are already being publicized heavily. Plus there is always the possibility of something pleasantly surprising me.

If you want to know more about this year's releases, I would recommend checking out the following:
www.apple.com/trailers
www.joblo.com
and of course, the almighty imdb.com

Happy theatergoing this year to everyone. I look forward to another 12 months of being a complete cinema nerd.

Rocky Balboa (Theatrical Release)

2007-01-03T16:28:00.000-08:00

Release Date: 12/20/06
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Burt Young, Antonio Tarver, Geraldine Hughes, Milo Ventimiglia
Written and Directed By Sylvester Stallone
Rated PG
My Rating: 8/10

A quick general note before I start: I haven't updated this site since the summer. Partly because I moved and began working a new job, partly because my new job has been time consuming, and partly due to nothing more than adject laziness.

Now, due to a temporary layoff from said job, I have NOTHING but time for the next month or so, so expect an excess of updates in the next few weeks. However, I hope to not completely dismiss it, even when I do get back to work, since writing/discourse about movies is still one of my absolute favorite things.

So yeah, if anyone reads this, keep reading. And tell your friends. Onward and upward...

To my most anticipated movie of the entire year of 2006. If you're looking for a 100% objective review of the 6th installment of the "Rocky" series, you should probably go ahead and look elsewhere. Anyone who knows me even casually knows they are some of my absolute favorite movies. I even enjoy the subpar later installments. I can admit that "Rocky 3" and "Rocky 5" are both, from a scriptwriting and filmmaking standpoint, fairly subpar movies, but I love them anyway. I guess it's just a weakness I have. To put my interest in the series into perspective, I have, to date, seen "Rocky Balboa" three times.

Regardless of all of this, however, I feel the movie should please casual fans and perhaps even non-followers of the Italian Stallion. It's a well made, strictly from the heart crowdpleaser, that may cross the line into overwrought at times, but still manages to get it's message across.

This time around, we find our hero without his beloved wife Adrian who passed away from cancer several years prior. He spends his days whittling away his time in a Philadelphia rowhome and managing an Italian restaurant where he spends his evenings endlessly rehashing old fight stories. His son (now played by Milo Ventimiglia) is all grown up and well meaning, if a bit stuffy. His brother in law and sidekick Paulie (Burt Young) is still as cantankerous as ever. Two events put Rocky's stagnant life in motion in an entirely different direction. First he reconnects with a young girl named Marie (now all grown up and played by Geraldine Hughes) who he had a brief encounter with thirty years ago in the first film. Then Rocky sees a computer simulation saying that in his prime, he could have beaten the current heavyweight champion, the improbably named Mason "The Line" Dixon (real life light heavyweight boxer Antonio Tarver).

Any veteran of these movies, or I suppose anyone who's seen the trailer can imagine the general direction the movie takes from here. One of the most striking things about it however, is the allegory to his own life Stallone has managed to inject into the movie. Rocky speaks of having a "beast" inside of him that he needs to vanquish by stepping into the ring for one last fight. It seems as if Stallone felt that very same demon in real life in regards to this movie, perhaps partly due to the last installment being the absurdly subpar and almost universally hated "Rocky 5".

The heartfelt nature of the movie does a lot to help overcome some of it's minor problem, most of which involve the pacing of the script (it jumps in places where it probably could have lingered a little more) and scenes that are meant to be dramatic that occasionally devolve into schmaltz territory.

Any shortcomings of the first sections of the movie should be forgotten by the time the inevitable fight between Rocky and Dixon begins. It is by far the most visceral, stylized fight in the entire series of movies. Having a real life boxer play Rocky's opponent probably helped too. This looks way more like an actual boxing match and less like a street fight than any of Rocky's previous onscreen battles. The fight features some cinematography flourishes that some might find distracting. Personally I found it interesting and thought there was a nice intense mood set for the entirety of the fight sequence.

The whole thing really makes for a very appropriate sendoff for the little Italian underdog from Philly. Hopefully Stallone has purged "the beast" and will now leave Rocky to my fond remembrances.

Some thoughts from a once HUGE fan of Kevin Smith

2006-07-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

In about 9th grade, I was working at my local West Coast Video and we got in a movie called Mallrats. It sounded like a suitably juvenile, ribald comedy so I took it home and watched it. Just as I suspected, I took a bunch of solid laughs from it, but not a whole lot else. Awhile later, someone mentioned to me that this was the second part of a planned trilogy from the director and that the first film was a bit more substantial. I took home Clerks and was hooked. It contained the same humor as Mallrats, but with what I considered to be a bit more heart. It also spoke to the distinctly listless, middle class lifestyle I was born into. I'd had a huge interest in film as a medium from a ridiculously early age, and Clerks was one of the first movies I remember seeing where I thought "That's something like what I would make if I ever made my own film". I just had a strong feeling that Clerks was made by a guy who really UNDERSTOOD. I mean, we were even from the same crappy state.

From then on, I saw his next three movies in the theatre. Chasing Amy contained his trademark dirty humor, but was a little more nuanced and melancholy. (I think it took reaching young adulthood for me to truly appreciate this one. I'd say it's become my favorite Kevin Smith film actually.) Dogma was also semi-serious and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was essentially a big in joke for obsessive fans of Smith (which I definitely was at one point). I will leave out all talks of his sixth film Jersey Girl, not because it was objectionably bad, because it really wasn't, but just because it doesn't fit in with the his "View Askew" films, which I borderline obsessed with for awhile.

Anyway, I find myself in my early 20's, not finding these films nearly as relatable as I once did. I still LOVE Clerks, maybe moreso now simply because of the inspiration it offered me as a budding filmmaker/nerd than anything else, I can still watch Mallrats as a diversion if someone else wants to watch it, and I still find Chasing Amy to be a fairly effective love story, but I'm just not as nuts for the man as I once was.

The question is, why? There are certainly flaws in his filmmaking. I mean, Clerks is worthless visually speaking, and the acting is pisspoor. The only thing that makes it a good movie is the script. Mallrats would have been unwatchable if it wasn't for the performance of Jason Lee (bringing this former pro skateboarder into the mainstream eye is probably the best thing Kevin Smith has done). Chasing Amy has a HORRIBLE ending. Dogma wasn't really that good to begin with, and J AND SB SB is just a novelty.

Ultimately, however, I still consider myself a fan of the man and his art. It seems like he's been the subject of a huge backlash amongst his fans, which is in a lot of ways unfair. I've seen the man in a public speaking engagement and for a Hollywood director, he is nakedly unpretentious and remarkably upfront. Listening to him speak (and he did so for about 4 hours, answering EVERY fan's question), you get the impression this is a guy just like you and me, just kind of going with the flow and doing what he feels is right at any given moment. (which is the vibe I got when I first fell in love with Clerks a lot of years ago).

And now we find ourselves with Clerks 2. I haven't seen it yet, but my endearing love for some of his body of work will probably get me out to the theatre to see it soon. Without sounding too critical or too much like a typical Smith detractor, however, I definitely have my doubts. My biggest quibble is the whole "been there, done that" factor. Smith has made a living making movies with the same vibe, save for Jersey Girl, and part of me is just really fed up with him going back to the well. At the same time however, he has been very quick to point out that he feels Clerks 2 is a statement of his feelings at this point in his life, just like the original was. And since all through my teens/twenties, I identified with Clerks, maybe the same thing will happen with Clerks 2, even if it takes me awhile to full appreciate, like Chasing Amy.

I suppose the bottom line is I am waiting for him to wow me again. I want to believe that he's got another movie in him that will make me feel as excited and refreshed as Clerks did. I don't want to be one of those internet fanboys bitching that he lost his touch in like 1999. I don't know if Clerks 2 will be that movie or not, or if it will ever happen. I guess time will tell.

A Scanner Darkly (theatrical release)

2006-07-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Release Date: 7/14/06
Starring Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson, Winona Ryder
Directed by Richard Linklater
Written by Richard Linklater, Philip K Dick (novel)
Rated R
Chuck's Rating: 8/10

Films based on Philip K. Dick's futuristic, paranoid writing have always been a mixed bag. Generally, the film adaptations have a thought provoking concept, but never really expand upon it, opting instead for mindless action. The best of the bag is probably Spielberg's Minority Report, which managed to balance both fairly well. A Scanner Darkly is a talky affair with no action anywhere to be found, and because of this, the viewer is treated to a whole different side of Dick's futuristic dystopia.

Richard Linklater, the Texas based filmmaker whose most well known works included Slacker, Dazed and Confused, and School Of Rock, isn't the most obvious choice to direct this movie, but one look at his dreamy headtrip Waking Life is enough to see that he obviously has some idea of how to navigate this territory. To start, he uses a procedure known as rotoscoping (also used on Waking Life). Rotoscoping is the process of filming scenes live action and then having animators paint over them in post production. The effect renders the film animated looking, and in the case of this film, rather bizarre looking. Considering the subject matter this film deals with, it becomes obvious that this is a perfect visual choice.

Keanu Reeves plays Bob Arctor, an undercover cop investigating users of a drug called Substance D, which is apparently highly addictive. He lives with several users of the drug, including his girlfriend Donna (Winona Ryder), and a paranoid nutcase named Barris (Robert Downey Jr.). Arctor, however, is addicted to Substance D. His coworkers have no way of knowing this however, because he wears a suit around his office that makes his face and body become a rotating series of random features, thus concealing his identity. Substance D, however, apparently causes the left and right sides of the brain to come apart and fight each other, so Arctor may not even be aware of the fact that he is investigating himself.

From here we see Arctor in a variety of situations, on both sides of the law, while his friends wax philosophical in the form of lots of talky, paranoid monologues about existence in general and a ton of other subjects. The majority of these monologues are given to Robert Downey Jr., who is absolutely brilliant. It's a real shame he has such a messed up personal life, because he's one of the better actors of our time. His constant struggles with the law seem to cause people to forget that sometimes. The other acting is also solid. Woody Harrelson plays a kook very well, and Keanu Reeves, despite being a fairly maligned screen presence, doesn't do anything to stretch his range. It is also nice to see Rory Cochrane (Empire Records and Linklater's own Dazed and Confused) pop up in a supporting role. He showed real charisma in his 1990's rolls before more or less disappearing. It's baffling why he hasn't worked more since).

The rather obtuse nature of the plot will scare some away, but this is one of the more original, visually interesting, thought provoking movies to hit theatres and quite awhile, and it is definitely a refreshing alternative to the typical superhero movies and sequels of the the summer movie season.