DVD Voice

Tonight’s feature was Hachiko: A Dog’s Story, starring Richard Gere, Joan Allen, and Jason Alexander. But the real actor was the Akita dog! This movie is based off a true story in Japan about a dog who who meet his owner at the train station each evening and even after the owner’s death the dog would still wait for him. Read about it here on Wikipedia. And now that I’ve just spoiled the story… LOL.

I really enjoyed this thing. I’m not much for sappy stories, and this one there really isn’t much that happens. It just underlines for us the importance of love and loyalty. That the people in your life are very important and should not be overlooked but instead valued and treated as they deserve, or better. It is a touching story and especially sad when you realize the part about how if you love someone sometimes you have to let them go, that trying to hold on doesn’t help.

That is one cute puppy! Expressive dog that can’t help but pull on your emotions.

Rated G. It’s very rated G. I didn’t know what this was rated before I started watching and I wonder how long it has been since I’ve seen a G movie. It may upset the little kids, still.

In The Loop is a film about the time right before the start of the Iraq War. A minor British Government official makes a statement that war in the Middle East was “unforeseeable” — that means, to him that he can’t foresee it. The opposite of a foreseeable war, is unforeseeable. LOL. Well, spin doctors try to hush it up, but he stands by his comments, digging himself deeper. He makes a political trip to Washington DC and does more ‘damage’ while getting in to a bigger scheme of political machinations that he is not aware of or understands.

This movie isn’t laugh out loud funny, but it is full of clever little quips and situations that are funny. You’ll enjoy the zippy references to pop culture. James Gandolfini, Peter Capaldi, Tomm Hollander, Gina McKee all star in this film.

Rated Not Rated. 106 minutes (1 hour 46 minutes). This film would probably be rated ‘R’ due to the strings of profanity. I’d love to quote a few of the lines from the movie, but most of them are profanity ridden.

Tonight I watched Appleseed. This is the 2004 version of the film, which is apparently another version (1988) of this comic book based movie.

I must say! The animation and computer graphics in here are eye-popping! At times I felt like I was watching the The Matrix it was that well done. It is about a post World War III world where a single city has developed into a Utopia of half-human population and half mechanized bioroids (biotic androids I think). There is animosity between the humans and the bioroids, but for the most part it is peaceful. Until “things” start to happen and parties begin to try to manipulate the giant computer the controls their society.

The bioroids have an artificial limit on life, they cannot reproduce naturally, they must be built and they also must get treatments every so often to extend their life – miss that and they’ll die very soon afterwards. This is spelled out quite plainly and you just know that one of the main characters will succumb or fall into peril because of this. A couple of other plot points are explicitly described to you beforehand. Enough so that you can almost take notes and wait for something along those lines to happen.

The main protagonist is quite cute and deadly both at the same time, as she does flips and turns in slow motion fighting sequences with her short shorts or skirt. And of course when given the opportunity cleavage is showcased (they don’t go out of their way to do so, however).

This was a fun little action animation adventure. I enjoyed it and it far exceeded my low expectations before the evening began.

Rated R. 105 minutes (1 hour 45 minutes) Cartoon violence.

Planet 51 is a Pixar-like animated movie. It is about a planet full of “aliens” living an idyllic 1950s-like life when a NASA astronaut sets down and plants Old Glory in one of their front lawns. The inhabitants are full of pop culture (like our 1950s space movies) of aliens coming to eat their brains, and naturally are scared of the astronaut who really wants to just get home.

A band of local kids, led by the jr assistant manager of the planetarium (when he’s not in school) help reunite him with his spacecraft so he can return to Earth.

It’s fun, and funny – though arguably not as funny as Finding Nemo, or Toy Story. This one stars Dwayne Johnson (The Rock), Justin Long, Jessica Biel, John Cleese, and Gary Oldman. Highly well done graphics, fun to watch, you’ll enjoy the evening just like you were one of the kids.

Watch for references to other pop-culture stuff, such as Back to the Future, 2001, E.T., etc. Look for the intresting things like floating food, well everything pretty much floats!

Good time to be had by anyone who lets themselves be taking away by this film.

Rated PG. 91 minutes (1 hour 31 minutes). Violence – cartoon violence with army weapons and threats of brains being eaten.

One of the movies up for the Best Picture oscar is Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire. It was released today, and well, wanting to be up on the Academy Award nominees, and see one of the winners (Mo’Nique wins Best Supporting Actress for this role). Can’t really say that I knew what to expect from this one.

In short, it’s an Oprah Winfrey presented story about an overweight inner city teenager who is pregnant with her second child. It shares with you her struggles to obtain a life and her strength to better herself and pull herself out of the unfortunate circumstances which are not her fault.

It’s a tough one to watch. It’s hard to see how cruelly people can treat each other – but on the flip side it is amazing how far a little kindness goes. I don’t know that I can really empathize well with the characters here, because honestly I can’t imagine myself in that kind of situation – but I know it has to be really hard. If you take the time to watch this and honestly feel what’s going on, you can’t help but feel grateful for your life, no matter how hard you think you have it. I know I don’t have it very good, but in comparison my gratitude meter has gone up.

P.S. It is also amazing to see how the character changes over time as the education she is getting (and honestly it isn’t a whole lot) sinks in and makes her more refined and “with it” if that makes sense.

Rated R. 109 minutes (1 hour 49 minutes). Profanity out the wazoo!

I didn’t get any time over the weekend to watch anything. And I didn’t get to see the Oscars presentation last night even. This is probably the first year ever that I’ve seen more than 1 or 2 of the contenders. Oh well, next year!

Tonight I watched Audition, Takashi Miike’s horror film from Japan. It’s about a man in Japan who has his wife die of an illness about 7 years earlier. He is prompted by his son that he should marry again, so he decides he will. Not knowing how to meet women, he takes the advice of a friend or co-worker (I could never really tell which) and holds a fake “audition” and views the women. He’s enamored with one and calls her later a few times, they go to dinner, etc.

He comes in to talk to his son one day who suspects right away his father might have a girlfriend. His father confirms it and that they are going off on a trip for the weekend and he’ll ask her to marry him. He also mentions he’ll introduce her to his son sometime soon! (weird!) Anyway, that’s when the horror element starts up. And I thought it was rather creepy, but nothing that would keep me up at night.

After watching it I looked at a few extras and found that this movie ranks #11 of the 100 scariest. Eli Roth and Rob Zombie both declare how creepy it is. That’s when I see a few scenes and realize that the glitches I thought might be effects were the video skipping. So, I missed a hunk of the gory stuff on this DVD. NetFlix sent one that didn’t play right. So, I’m off to their page to report a defective disk. When you report one as unplayable or defective you have the option to have them send a replacement the next business day. I got the gist of this one, so I think I’ll just have them send the next title!

If you like horror and a little gore and want something that is more creepy that your ordinary horror, you’ll like this one. Be prepared to read the Japanese sub-titles as I couldn’t get the English audio track to play – but I’m thinking now maybe it didn’t have that track even though it was listed in the cycle of audio tracks from my remote. Anyway, enough of my problems!

Rated UR (Unrated). 115 minutes (1 hour 55 minutes). Almost zero profanity – at least the parts I actually did see. I saw one scene where an auditioning girl stripped down to her panties and you got a glimpse of her nice boobs. Gore and violence - torture and dismemberment, if that’s your thing.

This is the big movie version of Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are. Everyone on the planet has probably read this book — except me. I didn’t really know what to expect it to be about besides it was a little boy’s imagination. I just finished watching it and maybe it’s one of those kind of movies where you need to let it sink in for a while before you really know what you think. I don’t know what I think of it.

As I got into it I thought it would be an imaginative child’s world – and it is – but I didn’t really expect at the heart of it to be about relationships. Honestly. Relationships and how we do little things or say things or don’t say things that someone else doesn’t quite understand what we really feel and so they get upset and want to leave. It was through Max’s eyes and you can see how as child he doesn’t entirely understand what is going on either, but as King he’s supposed to make it better. And I felt for the guy .. honestly, because here I am, pretty old (too old actually) and I don’t understand relationships either! How do you genuinely let someone know you really care and yet not come off as wimpy, or needy/clingy, or any of the other negatively implied attitudes? And then I saw the one character who was smart, Goat, but who no one listened to what he said or wanted to include him – they just treated him like he would always be there because he wanted to be around them. I feel like that, a lot … how should he remedy that? And then there are lots of times that the characters make you feel alone with them. And that gnawing loneliness that saps the joy out of living. I know its important to be ok with being alone, but as social creatures we aren’t supposed to perpetually be alone. So this opens a whole bucketload of questions, and they just remain unanswered. (Yes, you aren’t supposed to let movies answer life’s questions for you, I know). But the whole movie really left me feeling sad. I understand where Max was coming from, I had in some ways a similar childhood experience, I just didn’t run as wild as he did. Which, I guess means I was more easily overlooked.

James Gandolfini, Max Records, Cahterine Keener, and Catherine O’Hara all do a very good job with the voices. The suits that the big giant monster puppets wear are very well done – they look like monsters! The movie is visually stunning and fun to watch. Worth repeated viewings. After I got done I so wished I’d picked up the bluray from Blockbuster instead.

What do you think? If you read the book does it follow it well? Do you get any meanings or messages from this film?

Rated PG. 101 minutes (1 hour 41 minutes). Violence of a kind.

Tonight I needed a break, and Ponyo fit the bill very well! This is a Japanese cartoon, it is distributed here in the US by Walt Disney, but it is a animation by Hayao Miyazaki (of Kiki’s Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, etc). The drawings were top-notch. Very beautiful to see and the story was simple and pleasing.

Great for kids – and since I’m not really much of a grown-up (I’m a waste of age) I enjoyed it! The voice cast for the English dubbed version was very good, easy to listen to. Tina Fey played one of the main characters and her husband was voiced by Matt Damon – even though he wasn’t in much of the movie.

The movie is about the underwater keeper of the seas. His daughter escapes and sees a little boy and she decides that she wants to be human. Because she uses a little bit of magic to turn herself human and escape the ocean, it messes up the balance and the world is on the verge of being destroyed. Unless they can pass the test.

If you are a kid, or just a kid at heart, this is an enjoyable evening. Just throw out any ideas before you watch, and don’t make yourself think you have to only watch grown-up movies. Get some popcorn and live a little!

Rated G. 101 minutes (1 hour 41 minutes).

Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler (300’s King Leonidis) are in tonight’s Law Abiding Citizen. Clyde Shelton (Butler) has his wife and daughter killed during a home invasion by two men. They are caught and are in the justice system when Nick Rice (Foxx) cuts them a deal. One of the two guys agrees to cooperate and testify against the other one in exchange for just a prison sentence. The guy who cooperates was actually the one doing the killing. (But, because of the felony murder rule, the other guy was just as guilty as if he had killed them). Shelton is upset that they were not prosecuted and that DNA was tossed on technicalities, etc. So, he quietly waits his time and begins setting up his plan for revenge. He finds and catches the guy who did the actual murder in a very slick way – and proceeds to do a real number on him – they tell you what, but you don’t see much of it, if any. Soon, he’s arrested for the murder and while in prison more people associated with his wife’s death are killed. Who’s doing it? Why? Will Clyde Shelton be found guilty?

This movie asks a lot of interesting questions of you. About justice and whether our justice system is not functioning well. It makes you think about vigilantism, and what really is right. Is it just what meets the letter of the law, is it what lets you sleep at night. It does expose a lot of what is wrong with the justice system and legal field, but how is it that we are to change it to make it better?

This movie was rather good. It kept my interest the entire time very well. And up until nearly the end did it become apparent what was going on. I can’t say that it was entirely satisfying as a film, but good and entertaining. Worth the evening. If you like drama/thrillers, you should enjoy this.

Rated R. 108 minutes (1 hour 48 minutes). Language and violence.

Last night was fun. Cabin Fever … campers, in the woods, horror, etc. Tonight. Ummm … not so much! Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, is a follow-up to 2002’s Cabin Fever by Eli Roth. This movie is directed by T.I. West – and apparently even he tried to disown it. It has the same contaminated water from Cabin Fever, the same goofy deputy, and the water carries a virus. The similarities stop there. This one was not clever, wasn’t enjoyable and not worth your time to watch it.

It’s a high school, they are having a prom. The school gets a shipment of Down Home Water, the water company who pumps water from Cabin Fever 1’s lake. The kids get to the prom and someone makes punch using the bottled water. Everyone at the prom is carrying a small cup of punch and sipping it. Some people who have had the bottled water earlier in the day are ok all the way until the prom. Others who drink the punch and contaminated water shows symptoms almost immediately. It causes you to forcibly vomit blood and then die. Or lie around painfully watching all your skin swell up and ooze. Then the Feds show up and think it would be a great idea to just lock the school and go inside and shoot everyone. Even after they have chained the front doors, 15 minutes later some kids finally decide to go out the back door which isn’t locked or being watched yet. Ugh.

Like I said – pathetic.

Rated R. 87 minutes (1 hour 27 minutes). Profanity. Lots, because you know its high school kids. Some nudity, for instance topless strippers who are diseased, a couple of butts, and one guy in particular shows everything down below and – well, come to think of it, that is the horror of the movie – makes you want to wash your eyes out with clorox or something. Mostly gorey stuff blood oozing, blood flying, etc. Mercifully the entire movie is short, but not quite short enough.