Archive for November, 2004

Enduring Love

  • Written by Box Office Boredom
  • Posted November 26, 2004 at 2:40 am

A Film Review By Jason L. King

Rating:Rated R for language, some violence and a disturbing image
Starring:Rhys Ifans, Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton
Directed By:Roger Mitchell

Final Grade:

My creepy friend Dave always used to try to convert me to Christianity. Every time he saw me he would tell me something new about the boundless abilities of God’s great love, and how I am lonely lost and scared with out God’s merciful hand. I always kind of ignored Dave’s preaching. You see there was some truth in what Dave was telling me, but I didn’t want to hear it. Perhaps he was right, but the problem was the way he approached me with it. He literally attacked me with preaching each and every time I met up with him, and instead of teaching me a thing or two he actually drove me in the opposite direction. I felt as though I was being thrown to the wolves, I was attacked at all sides. Dave was trying his best to carryout what he thought was in my best interest. The problem was he would belittle the ways I thought, and never really gave me a chance to speak my mind. He never took a step back and asked himself, “Gee, am I coming off as a friend trying to help a friend or as a flippin’ psychopath?”

The film Enduring Love reminds me a lot of my experiences with Dave. Now if you happen to be reading this Dave, I am not saying you are crazy I am just saying you weren’t very tactful with your approach. In Enduring Love, 3 men wind up in the wrong place at the wrong time. A hot air balloon crashes to the ground nearby and both tried to pull it down. During their attempts to pull it down one of the men is tragically killed. Life carries on for our two main characters and each of them is trying to cope, and not really succeeding. One of the characters, Joe, begins to believe that Jed, one of the other men is stalking him. Instead Jed is only trying to show Joe that the tragedy that they shared brought them together. But Jed’s ways of showing Joe this are a little unorthodox and Joe begins to mentally unravel.

Enduring Love is a 2-Hour long character study of two separate people. The first, Joe, a character who is a man of science and not a man looking for spiritual meaning. Joe believes that Love is a science, and that life is a series of coincidences. The other character Jed believes that Love reigns all and that everyone is connected because a heavenly body chose them to be together. Having two totally different opinions, the two can’t get along at all. But the problem is Jed wants to change Joe, he wants Joe forever as his friend and will do whatever it takes to get him.

Acting in this film is great. Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill, The Replacements, Danny Deckchair) plays the role of the emotional psycho extremely well. He comes off really creepy yet interesting and does an overall great job right down to the small gestures and movements he makes. Daniel Craig stars as Joe, who also does an outstanding Job. Craig is a great actor, but he is a great actor that will never see a leading role in a big budget film. A few years back I remember seeing him in Road To Perdition with Tom Hanks and being very impressed, so it doesn’t surprise me that the man has impressed me again. Also starring in the flick is Academy Award Nominee Samantha Morton, and while her role is limited she does a great job.

Where Enduring Love both fails and succeeds the most is when it comes to the plot. The film is based off of a critically acclaimed book and although it does a decent job adapting the story, the film feels as though it drags for its short 100-minute runtime. As I was watching there were various points where I was losing interest in the characters and just wanted the story to end. Yet at the same time, the story was intriguing at spots and would spark my interest again. All in all, the plot was a roller coaster of moments that were very well executed and others that were poorly executed. I suppose that when you look at it from a broader perspective the director does a fairly good job with the film. After all portraying the emotional unraveling of two people and still keeping the audience interested is a lofty undertaking. But then again, Director Roger Mitchell has done a story similar to this before. He directed Changing Lanes, the Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson vehicle back in 2002, which also dealt with two people coming together after a tragic coincidence. While I wasn’t a huge fan of Changing Lanes, I actually thought the plot was far better executed.

In the end, Enduring Love is pretty hit or miss. I found some enjoyment because of some solid acting by some fine actors that don’t have Hollywood clout. I also found a film that did a decent job of giving us a 100-minute character study that didn’t bore me to death. The problem with it was that it didn’t really make me want to jump up and cheer for it either. If you want to watch a character unravel before your eyes on film, go rent a classic like Dog Day Afternoon, or even pick up a copy of Roger Mitchell’s Changing Lanes. Both of them will prove to be a better flick. But if you are looking for something to pass the time and want to take a chance on a small film, pick up Enduring Love on a rental shelf someday. You could do far worse.

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Filed under: Drama, Movies, Suspense

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie

  • Written by Box Office Boredom
  • Posted November 19, 2004 at 6:13 am

A Film Review By Jason L. King

Rating:Rated PG for some mild crude humor
Starring:Voices of Alec Baldwin, Scarlett Johansen and More! Also a cameo by David Hasselhoff!
Directed By:Stephen Hillenburg

Final Grade:

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? It’s everyone’s favorite sponge, Spongebob Squarepants! I still remember the first time I heard those words. I remember I laughed a lot. It was Thanksgiving a few years back. I was sitting on the couch with my 4 year old cousin who was suddenly glued to the TV when he saw the yellow sponge start singing that ridiculous tune. I had never heard of Spongebob in my life, so imagine my surprise when a few months later, every college kid knew who Spongebob was and actually started religiously watching the show.

With a plethora of followers, that small yellow sponge makes his way to the big screen with his first ever full-length feature film. In the Spongebob Squarepants movie, Spongebob and his dopey friend Patrick go on an adventure to find King Neptune’s crown. Spongebob and Patrick must return it in time to stop Plankton from stealing the secret recipe for Crabby Patties and eventually creating a contraption that will control the minds of everyone in Spongebob’s hometown of Bikini Bottom.

I have to admit part of me enjoyed the Spongebob Movie. It was filled full of really silly gags, bad puns and just all about silliness. It’s the perfect type of mindless fluff that kids like and older people can enjoy if they want to let loose and find their inner kid inside once again. The neat thing about Spongebob is that he appeals to a wide audience and is able to entertain both kids and adults in the same way the Dreamworks Shrek character does as well.

If you have ever seen an episode of Spongebob on TV, then you know exactly what the movie is like. It is basically an 88-minute Spongebob cartoon on the big screen. So there really should be no surprises there, except for the few times they mix real people into the cartoon. An appearance by former Baywatch Star David Hasselhoff makes for some great laughs on top of an already enjoyable film.

The downside of Spongebob is that I learned there is such a thing as Spongebob over exposure. This is a danger you make when making any cartoon show into a feature film. What you end up with is and hour and a half long episode. By the end of the hour and a half the jokes are getting kind of dry, the same thing seems to be happening again and again and you just get kind of tired of the characters. It’s sad, but adapting a character that is usually used to 15 minute shorts to a full length feature is hard to do, and while Spongebob creators did a decent job, it just didn’t work quite so well.

In the end, Spongebob is a great film for the Spongebob fanatic in you, if you are such a person. But if you aren’t skip this one in theaters. Stay at home watch a Spongebob Cartoon marathon and pick up his full-length feature flick on the rental shelves when it comes out. It’s worth a view, but not really worth full price at a theater.

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Filed under: Animated, Family, Movies

After the Sunset

  • Written by Box Office Boredom
  • Posted November 12, 2004 at 4:01 pm

A Film Review By The Mike

Rating: PG-13 for Violence, Sexuality, and a New Record for Least Clothes per Square Inch of Body Area without Nudity
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Woody Harrelson, Salma Hayek
Directed By: Brett Ratner

Final Grade:

Inspired heavily by (and even referring to) Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief, After the Sunset plays out as another Hollywood excuse to give stars a free vacation in a tropical paradise. This isn’t always a bad thing, and it is a good excuse to see how little clothing Salma Hayek can wear in one movie, but here it doesn’t add up to much more than a pleasant diversion.

Max and Lola (Pierce Brosnan and Hayek) are a couple (literally) of retired thieves, whose world is turned upside down by the arrival of FBI agent Stan Lloyd (Woody Harrelson), who they once foiled and embarrassed. Of course, he brings news of a rare diamond that they haven’t stolen, which just happens to be appearing on their tropical resort….for a limited time, of course.

The game is set, and all the usual heist movie tricks follow. Max wants the diamond, Lola wants him to quit, Stan wants to catch him. There’s even a “ruthless” Gangsta (Don Cheadle) who wants the diamond. Sadly, the talented Cheadle is wasted in a role that’s not developed (and not really ruthless either), and becomes more of a plot device than a character.

There are things to like about After the Sunset, and they aren’t limited to Hayek’s physique. Brosnan and Harrelson play off each other like the seasoned veterans they are, and there’s a lot of good humor in the script that’s set up perfectly by their relationship. And it’s needless to say the film looks good, abusing its tropical settings whenever it needs to. But prettiness and cuteness do not a movie make.

In the end, Brett Ratner’s film plays out in a slight and entertaining manner, but there’s nothing memorable about it once it’s gone. Everyone here seems to just be going through the motions and collecting a paycheck in paradise, instead of seeming to actually want to make an entertaining film experience. The paradise formula works when there’s a bit of heart behind it, but here it’s simply a vapid excuse that doesn’t even get past the eyes.

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Filed under: Action, Criminal, Movies

Alfie

  • Written by Box Office Boredom
  • Posted November 5, 2004 at 11:18 pm


A Film Review By Jason L. King

Rating:Rated R for sexual content, some language and drug use 
Starring:Jude Law, Marissa Tomei, Susan Sarandon, Omar Epps, Sienna Miller 
Directed By:Charles Shyer 

Final Grade: 

Who is Alfie? Well a little bit of Alfie lies in the heart of everyone in the world, or at bare minimum in the heart of every man. Alfie is the person who is a womanizer (or maninizer- is that a word ladies?). A person who doesn’t really worry about what he does, whom he hurts or really thinks about his actions before he carries out with them. He’s the person you want to be, because of his confidence, but hate him for the same reasons. He’s both a blessed and a cursed person, a hero or a villain and potentially in this films case, a box office failure.

Alfie is a remake of a 1966 film with the same name. Back then the film starred Michael Caine who has now aged quite a bit since. Stepping into Alfie’s shoes is Hollywood’s nearly overexposed poster boy, Jude Law. The story of Alfie introduces the audience to the life of Alfie, a man who is known as a womanizer all across town. But when things don’t go his way, Alfie has to learn the hard way the truth behind, love, friendship and happiness.

Jude Law is great in this flick. Jude Law finds a way to bring Alfie to life and finds a way to make you both love and loathe Alfie at the same time. His performance while flawed is still great to watch. He pretty much steals the screen every time he opens his mouth, especially when he is talking directly to the audience. Watching Jude Law over the last year, it’s easy to see why Hollywood has so much faith in the actor. He’s got talent, he’s charming (and he’s cheap to get yet compared to a lot of other list stars). The problem is that the public has not warmed up to Jude Law as quickly as Hollywood has. None of Law’s films this year have really had any box office clout and have been moderate successes at best. Mix that in with what many people call overexposure and Jude Law may have a somewhat Uphill battle. Personally I enjoy Jude Law and have for quite some time (probably since I first saw Gattica years back). I wish audiences would give him a shot, the guy could be a huge star. The problem is that Jude Law is in everything, kind of the same way Nicole Kidman or Ben Affleck were in a ton of films last year. Personally I think if Jude tones it down a bit and starts kicking out one film a year, sort of like Leonardo DeCaprio, he would be better off. That was the one thing Leo may have done right is not giving in to overexposure like he easily could have. I think Law could learn a thing or two from Leo, who is consistently in Oscar films and only really has to crank one major flick a year.

Supporting Characters do a decent job in the flick, especially Omar Epps whose role is small but still packs a punch. No pun intended since Epps last film was Against the Ropes, the Meg Ryan boxer flick that nearly tops the list of worst films of the year for me. The film also relied on the Talents of Susan Sarandon, Marissa Tomei and Sienna Miller (Jude Law’s current love interest) who all do a great job as well in making Alfie an enjoyable film.

The problem with Alfie lies in the story. The story is long and drug out, and feels like it is a lot longer than what it really is. The film goes through phases where it is moving quite quickly and it is really enjoyable. Then all of a sudden it starts droning on and on and starts to bore you before suddenly picking back up again. All in all there was just a little too much going on. The droning parts seemed to coincide with the moments where Alfie was not talking to the camera. However, when Alfie would talk to the Audience via talking to the camera the film would suddenly pick up pace and are enjoyable again. Just like High Fidelity with John Cusack (and a lot of other films), Jude Law finds a way to really captivate his audience’s attention by talking directly into the camera in way that the world around him doesn’t find a bit odd or for that matter even seem to notice. It’s moments like those that make this film fun. Mix that in with some great writing when it comes to both charming and smart aleck comments from Alfie and you have a film that has some really great things going for it.

Paramount Pictures was trying to tell everyone that Alfie’s lack of Success was because of the results of this year’s presidential election. I find that hard to believe. After all they never once looked inward and asked where did they go wrong? Perhaps it was releasing a film about a womanizer in a time when Family values seem to be on everyone’s minds. Perhaps it was lackluster and middle of the road reviews from critics. Or perhaps it was just because they didn’t leave enough stuff on the cutting room floor. There was a subplot that didn’t need to be there, the film seemed to suffer from it’s own inner demons of trying to decide which way it wanted to tell Alfie’s story. All in all it was an organized mess at times.

None the Less, I admit I do have a soft spot for Alfie. Despite it’s many flaws, I really enjoyed the flick for what it was. It’s another great performance by Jude Law and a decent story line. There is some great writing hidden in there as well. While I wouldn’t rush out to theaters to see it, don’t run away from Alfie either. It’s definitely worth a view or two. It’s decent flick, with a great cast, good story and a great ending. I’ll be buying it on DVD when it comes out; the least you could do is give it a chance by renting the DVD when it comes out. 

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Filed under: Drama, Movies

The Incredibles

  • Written by Box Office Boredom
  • Posted November 4, 2004 at 12:41 am

A Film Review By The Mike

Rating: PG for Action Violence and Animated Hotties 
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson 
Directed By: Brad Bird 

Final Grade: 

Anyone who knows me will be quick to point out that I’m usually the biggest opponent of animated cinema. It’s not that I “hate” animated films (although I often say that), but that I simply lose interest in the complete lack of reality involved in them. That is unless, of course, they have something that appeals to me on a completely unreal level. And, despite how much I wish it wasn’t true, superheroes are about as unreal as cinema can get.

It makes a lot of sense that The Incredibles, a cartoon approach to the superhero mythos, works so well. Live action films about people that can turn invisible, or have superhuman strength, or are elastic, are easy to dismiss with a skeptical eye as “cheesy.” But with the constraints of reality whisked away by a digital universe, The Incredibles is free to do whatever it wants with its characters, and it uses that freedom to capture its audience in almost every way.

Never has a Disney-produced, animated film captured a “straight” tone as well as this one does. The adventures of Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson), along with his family and friends, play out more like an action film than the comedic film we’ve come to expect from Pixar. It’s still family friendly, and it still packs a lot of laughs (thanks mostly to director Bird’s voice work as costume designer Edna, and to the cuteness of baby Jack Jack) but – make no mistake about it – this is a superhero film first and foremost.

And it’s a darn good one. The locales are vivid and awe-inspiring, the chases are hectic and engrossing, and the characters are molded through the strictest Hollywood superhero guidelines known to every man. The fact it embraces all of these hero clichés so well makes it play out more like a James Bond film than a children’s film at times, which is a unrealistic style that’s again embraced (and more importantly, its silliness depreciated) by the animated nature of the film.

One other key to the film’s greatness is the voice acting, which is as good as any I’ve seen in recent memory. Former “Coach” Nelson is the perfect everyman voice for Mr. Incredible, who needed to come off less like a superstar than an insurance agent. A big name could have ruined the role, but Nelson’s down-to-earth voice is exactly what the character needed. Holly Hunter also shines as Elastigirl; she’s perfectly able to be a sassy heroine one minute and to nail the role of concerned housewife in the next. Samuel L. Jackson gets in a few barbs as Frozone, though I’m sure his participation had to be limited to keep the film at a PG rating. Also giving welcome voices to small characters are John “Cliff Clavin” Ratzenberger and Wallace “Inconceivable” Shawn.

The Incredibles is not perfect, especially in the fact that its villain (Syndrome, voiced by Jason Lee) is so unforgettable and uninspired. Maybe the director wanted a vague, over-generalized type of villain (again, a Bond staple), but here he comes off as more of a plot device than an actual, interesting character. Oh well, at least he has innumerable henchmen to partake in the action scenes and a bombshell babe underling (yeah, even animated, she’s a babe), which are definitely welcome.

I won’t go the cheesy route and say the film is, in fact, incredible. But I also won’t recommend you miss seeing this one on the big screen. By embracing everything that’s cartoonish about superheroes, Brad Bird and company have created a sight to be seen that you’re not likely to regret viewing as soon as possible. If you’re looking for a movie experience that’ll keep you in awe and let your imagination run wild for a couple of hours, you probably won’t find a better film than The Incredibles this fall.

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Filed under: Animated, Family, Movies
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