Was the Chris Nolan movie, Inception, inspired by the 2004 Donald Duck comic, Uncle Scrooge: The Dream of a Lifetime? You be the judge. (Be warned that the comic link loads very slowly even on broadband.) Damon Brown’s CNN post about this is here. My opinion? The comic is very good and could be a problem for Chris Nolan despite his claim that he worked on the Inception script for 10 years.
This has been a long five day weekend for me and it’s been an interesting couple of days.
- Have been reading Quotable Star Trek by Jill Sherwin all week. If you are a fan of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, this is a great book to have. Be warned that it does not have any of the quotes from the last years of Deep Space 9, the last year of Voyager, the last two Berman movies or the 2009 Star Trek movie. Nevertheless, this is among my favorite books. And for the record, the doctors in Star Trek
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Honestly, this was a film I expected not to like, but I came away with the sincere hope that the Motion Picture Academy will remember Jackie Chan come Oscar time. Don’t get me wrong, Jaden Smith as Dre Parker is a talented actor and one day he will be a master his craft, but Jackie Chan is a master now.![the-karate-kid-movie-2010_3505c583[1]](http://wsash.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/thekaratekidmovie2010_3505c5831.jpg "the-karate-kid-movie-2010_3505c583[1]")
The movie is long at 2 hour and twenty minutes and I kept waiting for it to reach the plot points of the original Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio vehicle. It did so, but only after providing us with a travelogue of China’s beautiful scenery. Frankly, I spent a lot of time wondering if this movie wouldn’t be tighter if they dropped about 20 minutes of scenery because, you know, I get it: the movie was shot on location in China – no soundstage, no digital photo insertion.
The problem is that if you saw the 1984 movie, you’ve already seen this movie and you know how it turns out. So the verdict? Go see the movie. Enjoy Jackie Chan’s performance. Watch Jaden Smith continue to learn the craft that one day he will rule because he is a very talented actor. Enjoy this movie and the real and apparent chemistry between Smith and Chan. It’s a great way to kill 2 hours (and 20 minutes).
Last night, I saw the movie, Kick-Ass. I’m not going to lie to you. The movie was laugh out loud funny, violent, profane and disturbing.
It has qualified as a guilty pleasure, but I can’t in good conscious recommend this as a “must see” film.
The problem with this film starts with its title (which is not kid-friendly), its MPAA rating of “R,” its gore and the fact that the best character in this film is not the character pictured above. See it when it comes on pay TV or see it in the theater if the price is heavily discounted. Otherwise, wait for this movie to show up as a DVD and hope that someone gives it to you as a gift. That’s the only way I’d see again.
There will be many reviews this weekend that will tell you that Shrek 4 is not worth seeing or is disappointing. Well, I’m here to tell you don’t listen to those reviews, go see this movie.
The synopsis of this movie is very simple: our hero Shrek becomes George Bailey of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He wishes to undo a moment of his life that he feels changed him into a drab, dull and boring individual. Like George Bailey, Shrek doesn’t realize what he has until it’s gone.
It’s not often that I go to a movie and laugh out loud, but I assure you I did. And I wasn’t the only one. The matinee I attended, was equally divided between children and adults. And the adults were laughing louder, harder and longer than their children. To be honest, many of the jokes and gags in this movie, flew over the heads of many of the small children. But rest assured, I’m confident that the adults got every single one of them.
By its very title, this movie tells you that this will be (most likely) the last film. I really wouldn’t put much bank on that. We already know that Antonio Banderas, who plays Puss in Boots, is already signed up to do a spinoff film on his character. I, for one, can’t wait if the writing is as sharp and the direction is as tight as this movie was. This is a movie you can go see and enjoy again and again, even without kids.
I make no apology for not seeing this movie when it first came out late last month, but I am sorry, after viewing it, that I waited. This movie is one of the two best I’ve seen so far this year – live or animated.
If you expect to see a coming of age story about a young, misunderstood boy suddenly accepted as a hero, you won’t be disappointed. But what you will also find is a story about what motivates us to do the things we do and how that motivation is universal. And there is a wonderful subtext about the eternal relationship and conflict between fathers and sons. This sub-story is what made How To Train Your Dragon a joy for me.
This movie make excellent use of 3D technology. It resists throwing things at you for the sake of creating an effect and relies on immersing you (when appropriate) in the story. There are violent scenes which may be too intense for the very young especially in 3D, but everyone else should really enjoy this saga. This movie is a clear reminder that we are living in the golden age of animation: the storytelling has finally caught up to the art technology.
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