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Rated: R for language and crude sexual humor throughout, and some sexuality.

Comedy

Theatrical Release:Jul 31, 2009 Wide

Over the past few years, writer/director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) has shown that nothing?not even losing your virginity or the miracle of childbirth?is sacred. About his third film behind the camera, he says, “I’m trying to make a very serious movie that is twice as funny as my other movies. Wish me luck!” Apatow directs Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Leslie Mann in Funny People, the story of a famous comedian who has a near-death experience.

Adam Sandler, Eric Bana, Jason Schwartzman, RZA and newcomer Aubrey Plaza join a cast that reunites Judd Apatow with Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Jonah Hill in their third comedy together.

I had seen this movie a while ago, but I unfortunately never got around to writing a review. I’d like to start by saying that, though I did find Funny People rather long, which is the complaint most critics gave, I will say for the most part I was pretty entertained throughout. At the heart of this comedic gem is a surprisingly serious character study of stand-up comics involving friendship and a near-death experience.

Apatow was really able to find a close to perfect mix between serious and comedy. He did it perfectly in Knocked Up and came pretty close with this one. Adam Sandler plays a famous stand-up comedian and actor who finds out that he’s going to die soon and starts changing his lifestyle habits, while gaining a friendship with Seth Rogen’s character. That’s really all you need to know.

What I love about Apatow’s movies and especially in this one, is the comedy feels so real and heartfelt, almost awkward at times. Its the comedy you share with your friends daily and that’s  what makes his movies so enjoyable. He doesn’t force anything, he just tells his stories while being pretty hilarious along the way. If you liked any of his work I’m pretty sure you’d find yourself enjoying Funny People. I know I did.

Grade: B+

L’altra donna del re è un film del 2008, diretto da Justin Chadwick. E’ un adattamento cinematografico all’omonimo romanzo di Philippa Gregory.

Leggi altre notizie su: | Justin Chadwick | Natalie Portman | Scarlett Johansson | Eric Bana | Jim Sturgess

Tom Hanks, left, plays symbologist Robert Langdon and Ayelet Zurer portrays physicist Vittoria Vetra in the thriller “Angels & Demons.”

This week’s DVD releases cover a lot of territory. They include a family film from the director of “Spy Kids,” a holiday comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, an Adam Sandler feature helmed by writer-director Judd Apatow and a big-budget thriller starring Tom Hanks.

Funny People
3 stars
DVD contains rated and unrated versions of the film. The rated version received an R for language and crude sexual humor throughout, and some sexuality
Universal
Available on: DVD and Blu-ray

There are enough funny people in writer-director Judd Apatow’s appropriately titled relationship dramedy to keep things interesting through the movie’s 155-minute run, but the filmmaker is awfully lucky he assembled the cast that he did.

Adam Sandler stars as George Simmons, a wildly popular actor-comedian who seems to have it all: Hit movies, a palatial Southern California home and the adoration of fans everywhere. But when Simmons learns he’s contracted a deadly disease that could very well end his life, he begins to question his place in the world, and he latches onto a fledgling comedian named Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) for support. Although funny, Ira is yet to perfect his standup routines, so he’s ecstatic when the veteran Simmons agrees to hire him as a personal assistant, and the two men quickly form an awkward but genuine friendship.

Apatow sets up the premise with style, and its interesting to watch Simmons, who is jaded and miserable, interact with George, who is still full of hope and excitement. Unfortunately, the movie takes a negative turn when Apatow leads us into a subplot built around the one big love (Leslie Mann) that George let slip away. Because Sandler and Rogen are a lot of fun to watch, and because they get good supporting performances from Mann, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman, we can forgive Apatow for straying. Still, there’s little doubt that “Funny People” would have been funnier if it skipped the romantic stuff and put all its energy into George’s bout with mortality and his relationship with Ira.

The movie is available as part of multiple home video releases, including a two-disc Unrated Collector’s Edition. Extra features vary.

Angels & Demons: Extended Edition
2½ stars (out of four)
Unrated
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Available on: DVD and Blu-ray

You have to give director Ron Howard credit for consistency. His adaptation of writer Dan Brown’s “Angels & Demons” shares precisely the same pace and tone as his earlier take on Brown’s bestseller “The DaVinci Code.” Trouble is, “The Da Vinci Code” movie is merely a workmanlike thriller, while the book was a breathtaking piece of genre fiction.

“Angels & Demons” is arguably a weaker novel, but I had higher expectations for the film because the plot is more cinematic. While “The Da Vinci Code” spent a lot of time focused on ancient codes and ciphers, “Angels” is a fast-paced footrace through the streets of Rome. As in “Da Vinci,” Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is at the center of the action.

Langdon is called upon by the Vatican when it appears that a secret society known as the Illuminati has surfaced and placed a devastatingly powerful bomb at the heart of Vatican City. Equally horrifying is a message claiming that four cardinals — the most likely successors to the just-deceased pope — have been kidnapped and will be publicly executed. The perpetrators have left hints as to when and where they will commit their nasty deeds, but they are steeped in historic riddles that only Langdon has the ability to decipher.

Intent on stopping the murders, he embarks on a desperate race to solve the riddles and beat the Illuminati at its sick game. He’s aided by the Vatican police, Swiss Guard and a beautiful physicist named Vittoria Vetra (Ayelet Zurer).  Also helping is Camerlengo Patrick McKenna (Ewan McGregor) who — because of the pope’s death — is temporarily the lead authority at the Vatican.

Howard does a good job recreating the events depicted in the book, and Hanks captures the Robert Langdon spirit perfectly, all of which leaves us with a decent movie. Decent, but not great. What the film lacks is the breathlessness one feels while reading the novel. Yes, there are exciting moments on screen, but they are frequently countered by extended dialogue sequences that relieve much of the tension. Part of the trouble is that Brown’s plotting is complicated and cerebral, and it’s tough to condense that type of storytelling into a two-and-a-half hour movie. It can be done, but it takes an extraordinary effort, and everything about this film is painfully ordinary.

DVD extras include more than a half dozen making-of features, focused on everything from the adaptation of the novel to the film’s elaborate props.

Four Christmases
2½ stars
Rated PG-13 for some sexual humor and language
New Line Cinema
Available on: DVD and Blu-ray

With most DVD releases hitting stores less than six months after a film was released into theaters, it feels odd to get “Four Christmases” a full year after its theatrical run. But, clearly, New Line Cinema decided the video would attract more attention during the holiday season. The studio is probably right because, as a comedy, “Four Christmases” is slight, but there aren’t many holiday films to choose from, and it’s always nice to have something new to throw in alongside “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “White Christmas.” 

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star as Brad and Kate, a modern power couple that have never married and spend their holidays trying to dodge their fractured relations. Things go awry, however, when bad weather stops their planned flight to Fiji and a television news crew interviews them about the bad break. Suddenly, their parents — all divorced — are aware that they’re available for the holiday, forcing them to accept invitations to four separate Christmas celebrations … one with Brad’s crotchety father (Rober Duvall), one with Kate’s newly spiritual mother (Mary Steenburgen), one with Brad’s anything-goes mom (Sissy Spacek) and one with Kate’s surprisingly normal dad (Jon Voight).

Like “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” the film considers the stress of family gatherings, but never in a mean-spirited or distressing way, and Vaughn and Witherspoon are typically charming. “Four Christmases” is a generic comedy in every sense, but it has enough funny moments to make it viable for anyone who enjoys Vaughn and Witherspoon. The film will never replace “Miracle on 34^th Street,” but it does go down awfully well with a nice glass of egg nog. 

The DVD has no extra features. 

Shorts
2½ stars
Rated PG for mild action and some rude humor
Warner Brothers
Available on: DVD and Blu-ray

In one of the more bizarre careers in film history, do-it-all filmmaker Robert Rodriguez regularly shifts between, ultra-violent action movies — “Planet Terror,” “Sin City,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico” — and family friendly material — “Spy Kids,” “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl.” “Shorts” falls into the latter category, telling the story of several children who discover a mysterious charm called a Wishing Rock. The kids soon learn that any wish made with the rock in hand will come true, leading to wild adventures with space aliens, upright crocodiles and even a booger monster.

All the craziness is set against the backdrop of the ultra-corporate world they call home. You see, the children’s parents work for a gigantic corporation run by a nasty CEO named Mr. Black (James Spader). Predictably, his kids, Helvetica (Jolie Vanier) and Cole (Devon Gearhart), are the town bullies.

Rodriguez chose to tell his story through a series of short films that are replayed out of order, leaving viewers to piece things together a little at a time. The most important player is Toby “Toe” Thompson (Jimmy Bennett), the narrator of the each piece.

“Shorts” is wild, wacky and childlike enough to appeal to most elementary school-age children. It is not, however, as carefully crafted as today’s better family films. Rodriguez’s plotting is so over-the-top, it seems he was focused solely on letting his inner child loose, forgetting that a great family picture also includes something for parents.

Along with the movie, the DVD includes one of Rodriguez’s “Ten Minute Film School” extras, this one focused on the making of “Shorts.” Also included is a “Ten Minute Cooking School” episode devoted to the making of Chocolate Chip Volcano Cookies.

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK

“2009 World Series Film — Philadelphia Phillies Vs. New York Yankees”: A detailed account of the season that led the Yankees to their 40^th American League pennant and 27^th World Series title. Available on DVD Nov. 24 and coming to Blu-ray Dec.15.

“The Witches Hammer”: Horror story about a woman named Rebecca (Claudia Coulter) who is brought back from the brink of death and turned into a vampire by a secret agency. Then, she is used as a weapon against her own kind. 

“Gomorrah”: Award-winning Italian drama based on undercover Italian reporter Roberto Saviano’s expose on Naples’ mafia underworld. The film is being released as part of the Criterion Collection, and it’s presented in Italian, Mandarin and French with English subtitles.

“Golden Age of Television”: This three-Disc set features kinescopes of the live broadcasts of “Marty” (1953), “Patterns” (1955), “No Time for Sergeants” (1955), “A Wind from the South” (1955), “Bang the Drum Slowly” (1956), “Requiem for a Heavyweight” (1956), “The Comedian” (1957), and “Days of Wine and Roses” (1958).  These shows were a combination of theater, radio and filmmaking when TV technology was growing rapidly. The set also features interviews with a number of acting legends, including Andy Griffith, Piper Laurie, Jack Palance, Mickey Rooney, Rod Steiger and Mel Torme.

“Megafault”: Syfy Channel thriller about a massive earthquake that creates a crack in the Earth’s crust and threatens to tear the world in half.  Stars Eriq LaSalle (“ER,” “Without a Trace”), Brittany Murphy (“Sin City,” “8 Mile“), Justin Hartley (“Smallville”) and Bruce Davison (“X-Men,” “Knight Rider”)

“Evergreen”: Coming-of-age film about Henrietta (Addie Land), a 14-year-old who believes she’s missing out on life. Desperate to change her family situation, she inserts herself into the lives of wealthy Chat Turly (Noah Fleiss) and his mother Susan (Mary Kay Place), only to find that she may have it OK after all.

“Toi & Moi (You & Me)”: French romantic comedy about Ariane (Julie Depardieu), a writer who pens stories for a magazine inspired by her sister Lena’s (Marion Cotillard) love life.  Both women are in relationships with commitment-phobic men, and they fantasize about finding Mr. Right. Presented in French with English subtitles.

“Beverly Hills 90210” — The Eighth Season: Life after graduating high school is no cake walk for Brandon (Jason Preistley), Kelly (Jenny Garth), Donna (Tori Spelling), David (Brian Austin Greene) and the rest of the original “90210” gang. During season eight, they explore issues such as Kelly being victimized by a drive-by shooting, Donna’s drug overdose, and Brandon and Kelly’s wedding plans.

“Melrose Place” — Fifth Season Volume 2: This season had a huge shift in cast members, as the final 13 episodes introduced Rob Estes, Lisa Rinna and Alyssa Milano. Also, Grant Show, Marcia Cross and Laura Leighton left the show.

Forrest Hartman is an independent film critic whose byline has appeared in some of the nation’s largest publications. E-mail him at Forrest@ForrestHartman.com

Whoever said that the standoff at the end of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly obviously hadn’t seen this epic duel. What Ennio Morricone’s film score masterpiece was to the 20th century, so “Don’t move the boat!” shall be to the 21st.

Two years from now, you’ll be watching Woodpecker Vs. Snake adapted to the big screen with a $300 million operating budget, directed by Michael Bay and starring Will Smith  as the Woodpecker and Eric Bana as the Snake, with a surprise cameo from Jack Nicholson as “Don’t move the boat!” guy. Mark my words.

(via Lindsay Robertson)

Ahhh Tuesday, one of the best days in the entertainment business. It’s the day (usually) when all DVD’s and Blu-Ray’s and CD’s are released for eager fans to pick up and pay their hard earned cash on the “5-disc Special digital download plush toys action figure” edition of their favorite movie of the summer. So, I felt it was necessary to bring a review out of the archives about a movie coming out this Tuesday (tomorrow) that I saw this summer. The movie was Judd Apatow’s Funny People, and lets just say I was less than impressed…

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Funny People is the third film to be directed by Judd Apatow following The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up. He has also produced some of the best comedies in recent years such as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Pineapple Express. Funny People also has an amazing cast as well as amazing cameos by some of the best comedians. So why is it that when I left the theater after seeing this film it left a bad taste in my mouth?

Funny People stars Adam Sandler as George Simmons, a famous comedian who has a rare blood disease and decides to go back to his roots as a stand-up comedian. While performing at a comedy club one night he meets Ira (Played by Seth Rogen) who is a struggling comedian and is hired by George the next day. Ira’s job description is basically to write jokes for George and talk to him until he goes to sleep at night. When George learns that the experimental drugs that he has been taking is actually curing him, he decides to go and visit “the one that got away”, an ex-girlfriend played by Leslie Mann.

Now i do want to take the time and tell that there are a few things to like about this movie. My favorite thing about this film is that it shows the true nature of comics: they’re vain, insecure, competitive, dark and unhappy people who mask these attributes behind jokes. This should have been the heart and soul of this film. Another thing that I liked was the cameos, especially by Sarah Silverman, Ray Romano, Norm Macdonald, and Eminem (yep, that Eminem). There was a good balance of comedy and drama which kept this film afloat for the first hour and a half.

But this vessel begins to sink as soon as George learns that he’s getting better. Out of nowhere George and Ira decide to go to Laura’s house. This whole road trip takes up the last hour of the movie and is the main reason that the film sinks and sinks fast. It just seemed like there was no structure to this entire hour and should have been cut by about 40 minutes. By the time the film ended I didn’t really care what happened between George and Ira and the rest of the gang: in truth I just wanted to get out of the theater.

But this isn’t the only thing wrong with this film, it just isn’t all that….funny. Besides the stand up acts from all the comics (Except for Aziz Ansari, who is only funny in Parks and Recreation), there was a LOT of moments where things that were supposed to be funny wasn’t (there are too many jokes about penises that were old 12 years ago) and the rest of the movie goers in theater number 16 agreed with me. There is a really good movie hidden in this film if the story had been tweaked a bit and if the script was more spontaneous.

I respect what Judd Apatow tried to do with this project but I think he tried to put too much into a film that needed simplicity. It’s just not worth the $9.50 for the movie ticket to see this movie. Don’t get me wrong, there are a lot worse comedy films you could go see this summer (Year One, The Ugly Truth, Twilight: New Moon) but there are also a lot better Comedies you can go see (The Hangover, Land of the Lost). I strongly suggest you go see something besides Funny People.

Verdict: SKIP IT!

What did you think of Funny People? Did I get my review wrong? Or was I spot on? Voice your opinion and post a comment.

Dirección y guión: Judd Apatow.
País: USA.
Año: 2009.
Duración: 146 min.
Género: Comedia dramática.
Interpretación: Adam Sandler (George Simmons), Seth Rogen (Ira Wright), Leslie Mann (Laura), Eric Bana (Clarke), Jonah Hill (Leo), Jason Schwartzman (Mark), RZA (Chuck), Aubrey Plaza (Daisy), Aziz Ansari (Randy), Maude Apatow (Mable), Iris Apatow (Ingrid).
Producción: Judd Apatow, Clayton Townsend y Barry Mendel.
Música: Jason Schwartzman y Michael Andrew.
Fotografía: Janusz Kaminski.
Montaje: Craig Alpert y Brent White.
Diseño de producción: Jefferson Sage.
Vestuario: Betsy Heimann y Nancy Steiner.
Estreno en USA: 31 Julio 2009.
Estreno en España: 4 Septiembre 2009.

“Hazme reír” relata la historia de un famoso cómico, interpretado por Adam Sandler, que descubre que tiene una enfermedad terminal, y que decide apoyar a un colega de profesión (Seth Rogen) que está empezando en este mundillo.

Vaya decepción, así de claro, leí Adam Sandler, Eric Bana, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogeny Jason Schwartzman bajo la firma del siempre querido Judd Apatow y me apasione tanto que casi me da un tabardillo, pero al leer la descripción de la película en internet, me mosqueo cantidad eso de 145 minutos, me dio en la narizota que una película de la gama Apatow no podía durar tanto. Y más me dio cuando vi eso de Drama/Comedy.

¿En resumen?, sin alardear de ser crítico de cine ni ostias, UN GRANDISIMO CAGADO DE PELICULA, UN GRADISIMO MIERDA DE DOBLAJE (Como siempre pifian la voz de Seth Rogen) Y SOBRE TODO, UNA GRANDISIMA PERDIDA DE TIEMPO.

Pedro dixit

The one time that Seth Rogen and Adam Sandler, actually aren’t funny.

Famous and wealthy funnyman George Simmons (Adam Sandler) doesn’t give much thought to how he treats people until a doctor (Torsten Voges) delivers stunning health news, forcing George to reevaluate his priorities with a little help from aspiring stand-up comic Ira (Seth Rogen). Judd Apatow (Knocked Up) writes and directs this moving comedy that also stars Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman and Aubrey Plaza.

Funny People is a movie that I’ve wanted to see for a very long time now. I love Sandler, Rogen, and most of all Judd Apatow. And when I heard they we’re all goin to be in the same film together I could not believe myself. Finally I got the DVD and watched it and I’m quite glad.

This is Apatow’s third written & directed film, and in his last two showings (Knocked Up, The 40 Year-Old Virgin), he showed a great way of blending hilarious comedy with some moving drama. However, in this film he doesn’t show his best directing abilities. I felt like he was being more serious with this film, as this is probably one of his more serious and mature pieces of work cause it is about dieing. I just didn’t feel like this film hit every single point it could have. Apatow over-uses the slow-motion zoom in to show his characters being emotionally effected by something, and it really starts to become a little too obvious.

Still, his humor does hit the mark. I felt like there were a little bit too much of those jokes about boners and such, but really I wasn’t expecting much different. The humor blends in really well, where at points in the film they are actually making little jokes about death, and it lightens up the mood.

Apatow also does a great job of blending in fiction with non-fiction to evoke compelling realistic performances from the cast. I think this is a role of a lifetime for Sandler, because the character he plays is a goofy comedian he gets to indulge in the zany side of his comedy, but also he gets to play the characters darker parts and he does a fantastic job at it. Seth Rogen is really great in this film as he isn’t playing the usual Seth Rogen you see in every other film, he is actually more serious and believable as a very awkward and nerdy geek who is just trying to be funny. Surprisingly, the funniest out of this whole cast has got to be Eric Bana. Yes, out of a cast filled with Jonah Hill, Adam Sandler, and Seth Rogen The Hulk ends up becoming the funniest guy. He comes late in  the film but plays this stereotypical macho-man guy and really gives this film the extra laughs it deserves.

There are two films in Funny People, one about Sandler and Rogen, and the other about Sandler and Leslie Mann. It’s less of a buy one get one free deal, as much as it is a buy one and get one you really didn’t ask for. The latter part didn’t feel like it was supposed to be put in the film, and just added on to less comedy and more drama.

Consensus: Funny People is not Apatow’s best, but still has a great blending of comedy and drama, with some realistic performances. I just felt like this was two movies rolled into one, and lack of cohesiveness between the two separate stories is what stops it from being a great movie.

8/10=Matinee!!!!!

A meandering mess of a movie, Funny People is all the more disappointing because early scenes sparkle with brilliant potential, crisp comedy and poignant drama. The movie is Judd Apatow’s third directorial project, continuing the producer/director/screenwriter’s tendency for overlong pictures with its 145 minute runtime.

One of the key problems with Funny People is its uncanny ability to kill its own momentum. Apatow starts with an interesting, humorous and touching premise and sets it up beautifully, drawing characters we care about and letting us into the world of stand-up comedy with some unique sequences. He uses his stars well, too, having them perform comedy in front of live crowds and shooting the reactions. But it’s when Apatow creates a mountain out of a subplot that Funny People loses everything it could have been.

Adam Sandler stars as comedian and actor George Simmons. He is, essentially, playing a slightly different version of himself. Simmons’ career has been built on a series of lowbrow comedies and he lives a luxurious lifestyle. The problem is that George is suffering from a rare blood disease and is, as a result, expected to die. He’s isolated himself from family and true friends, so he decides to use the situation to better himself.

In bettering himself, Simmons takes an interest in a young comic, Ira Wright (Seth Rogen). Wright is working a day job at a deli and lives with roommates who are in various stages of success in the entertainment industry. Simmons eventually hires Ira to write some jokes and the two bond with George telling Wright about his medical predicament. This relationship develops and remains an interesting component until Apatow forces an angle with George’s ex-wife (Leslie Mann) and her Aussia husband (Eric Bana) that drags things to a standstill.

When Funny People focuses on George’s return to his roots as a stand-up comic and with his relationship with Ira, it is actually a good movie. Unfortunately, Apatow abandons the premise for something else only weakly linked to Simmons’ illness and this abandonment makes for a bizarre, unfunny, boring second half punctuated by Mann’s abysmal performance and Sandler’s inability to drum up chemistry with her.

There are a ton of guest spots here, too, but those are confined to the better portions of the movie. Eminem shares a hilarious moment with Ray Romano, while comics like Norm MacDonald, Sarah Silverman and Paul Reiser drop by. There’s also a performance by James Taylor in the mix, which helps cement the aura of celebrity Sandler’s Simmons exists in. It helps things feel real that Sandler tries his best, too, but in the end there’s little to be done with Apatow’s bloated script.

Rogen keeps to his usual self, never quite reaching for much and never quite hitting it, but he does reasonably well when he works with Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman. He’s tossed an unnecessary bone in the form of a small romantic angle with comedian Aubrey Plaza’s character, but this goes nowhere and remains completely uninteresting after it’s swept up by Apatow’s need to give his wife something to do.

In the end, Funny People is its own worst enemy. It becomes a bloated waste of talent, completely abandoning the momentum drawn up by a pretty good first half. It’s ambitious, overly so, and tremendously long all things considered. While it does have the support of a good Sandler performance, there’s just not enough other stuff here to recommend this movie.

3.9/10

Trailer:

This King really does know how to mack back in the 16th-century.

Director Justin Chadwick’s opulent historical drama stars Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn and Scarlett Johansson as her sister, Mary — both beautiful, ambitious and vying for the heart of powerful but intemperate King Henry VIII (Eric Bana). Though both women are the monarch’s mistresses, only one can become his queen consort — but at what cost?

Remember when you were taught in history class about that guy Henry VIII, and he was ginat, and fat and there was that little picture of him eating the chicken? Well that guy is played by Eric Bana, who does not match any of those characteristics at all. That’s basically all your going to get in this movie.

Now I’m no historical major, but I know a little thing or to about the 16th-century and what events took place. This film basically makes all those factual happenings and romanticize them into something totally unbelievable. Throughout the film I wondered if, if the King is so busy with these two women, who’s controlling what happens with England.

The film felt more of a soap opera than a film. There were moments that just made me want to puke by how overly romantic it was trying to be. And other than this I just felt bored all the way through. Like honestly nothing exciting really happens until the first hour is up and then the real story develops. I zoned out a whole bunch of times even when the stroy came on, and as a whole found this not so interesting.

I also think that this film could’ve really pushed the boundaries a lot more. It was PG-13 and it felt so drawn back by this, that it made its love scenes less romantic cause they were afraid of showing some boobies. Now, I’m not trying to sound perverted or anything, but when you have two beautiful women such as Johansson and Portman, you would expect to see some bodies go around but nothing quite happens in order to get its appeal going.

I liked the set pieces and found this to be very good to look and gaze at. The scenery made me feel placed in this era, and I really did feel in this time-period as this was happening.

Natalie Portman is what really makes this film. Her performance is so good and rich that I actually did believe her as this totally bitchy sister that all she wanted was the fame and fortune as Queen. Bana is misscast and I didn’t find him to be very engaging as a King, and this is what basically threw me off from his character.

Consensus: Portman’s great performance and beautiful set desings, aren’t enough to save The Other Boleyn Girl from a boring story that just felt like a 1 hour and 55 minute soap opera.

3/10=SomeOleBullShiittt!!!!

(update of a previous post – original is here)

Data
Title: Star Trek
Year: 2009
Length: 126 minutes
Director: J.J. Abrams
Writers: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman, based on the TV show by Gene Roddenberry
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Karl Urban
Music: Michael Giacchino
Distinctions: currently #134 on IMDb’s Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: a time-traveling Romulan has a vendetta against Spock
How I saw it: in the theater, May 2009; on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Great. As a geek, I am required by law to love the whole Time-Travel-Created-Alternate-Universe thing.
Story: Terrible.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Great.
Cinematography: Terrible. J.J. “Lens Flare” Abrams does everything he can to take you out of the movie.
Special effects/design: Indifferent.
Acting: Good.
Music: Great. Michael Giacchino orchestrating a classic sci-fi TV theme song… that’s all anyone can really ask for from a movie.
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good). Fun and fast paced. There’s some nice comic relief, and loads of geek-pleasing moments. The action scenes are a mess. The plot isn’t very interesting, mostly just getting the characters re-introduced – which is fun for a fan, since it’s extremely well cast (especially Karl Urban’s Bones) and the characters and dialog are well-written – but there’s still not much plot. It’s not a science fiction movie, and it’s not a submarine movie like previous good action versions of Star Trek have been. In place of those elements, there’s standard loud, fast-moving-camera, dumb action. They’ve got the characters down right; now they just need to put them in a movie.
Objective Rating: 7/10 (Pretty good).

Top Gear is most assuredly back! In the 14^th series opener, the boys went on a journey to Romania to try and find the best road in the world, there was a test between a Mercedes S63 AMG and a BMW 760LI and the actor Eric Bana dropped in.

I think the surprise of the night came when I found out that Eric Bana is Australian! I had no idea that he wasn’t an American actor. Well, I suppose that just goes to show how good he is. Also, he is a giant fan of motorsport and races GT cars regularly. It even came out that he has not taken a movie project because he would rather go racing. His prowess on the track really came through when it came to his lap in the reasonably priced Suzuki Liana. Even though it was extremely wet and even though he missed a gear change, he still managed to put in the fastest wet lap of all time, which is damn impressive. All of his lines were spot on and you could tell from the video that he was going to be fast. All in all, a very good lap from a surprisingly Australian person.

The test round the track that took place involved James, for once, testing out some hot super sedans. The Mercedes S63 AMG and the BMW 760LI both feature huge engines, a 6.2 liter V8 in the Merc and a 6.0 liter, twin-turbo V12 in the BMW. Both make generous amounts of power and torque, but the BMW is faster in both a straight line and around a track. This surprised me because I would have thought that the BMW would have been the softer of the two, given that the AMG is usually thought to be a brutish sort of car, and the BMW 7 series generally isn’t thought to be all that sporty. But the Bimmer was better able to put the power to the ground without completely lighting up the back tires around every corner like the AMG. And though the BMW won the battle, it was still decided that both cars were wastes of time and money because they are overpriced and overpowered and don’t know what they really are. They are supposed to be luxury limos, but also try to be sports cars, and that just dilutes them from being truly one or the other. And I have to say, I agree with their verdict on this one. If I want a sports car, I’ll go buy a Porsche or something and if I want a big luxury saloon, I’ll get a Jag, but I don’t need them to be put together and then pay more than I would for both of them combined with the one car.

On to the main event now. In what can only be described as a hair-brained scheme to find a road they could have simply gone to right off the bat, the boys traveled through the country or Romania in search of the Transfagarasan Highway. This is the highest, and most dramatic paved road in the country and looks very similar to the Stelvio Pass that they visited a few series ago. Of course, it wasn’t just about the road though. The cars that they brought were supposed to be the best grand touring roadsters in the world, and so Clarkson brought an Aston Martin Volante, Hammond showed up in a Ferrari California and James brought a Lamborghini LP560-4 Spyder. They then bickered and did what they do best by driving around, getting lost and competing in challenges that don’t really settle anything at all. Of course, since they were in Romania, it was only natural that they should see a ton of Dacia Sanderos. For those who don’t know, James is obsessed with this car. He feels it is a cheap car with no frills that is actually pretty good. So, Clarkson bought him one. And, as happens with all their gifts, you just knew that it had to get ruined somehow. This time, a large semi-truck backed into it and completely destroyed it after James had parked it “conveniently.” I know it was set up, but it was still great to see, because I think that James actually did like that car. After that, the boys followed May and, of course, got lost out in the Romanian countryside where James had a fender bender with his Lambo. But, after all of that nonsense and tomfoolery, they finally reached the road, and it turned out to be an epic thing. Clarkson even commented that the road was a combination of all the best corners of all the best race tracks in the world, and there is no greater compliment than that.

Overall, the episode was a good one for the start of the series and it can, hopefully, only go up from here. I wish I knew what was coming up on the show next Sunday, but they did not tell the audience. I’m assuming that it will be a big surprise. I will say that the one car I am hoping to see on this series is the new Noble M600. I want to see what it can do around the track, because it is supposed to be devastatingly fast.

Eric Bana gives Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto some hair care tips.

(Paramount) Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Eric Bana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Bruce Greenwood, Leonard Nimoy, John Cho, Anton Yelchin, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder, Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Morrison, Rachel Nichols, Faran Tahir. Directed by J.J. Abrams

Even icons from time to time must reinvent themselves, if for no other reason to remain relevant in changing times. That is even more true for those having to do with the future.

The Federation starship U.S.S. Kelvin is investigating strange readings at a black hole. To the surprise of the ship’s captain (Tahir), a gigantic spacecraft of unknown design emerges from the singularity and without any provocation at all, opens fire on the starship, crippling it. The captain is forced to come aboard the unknown ship and is escorted to its captain, a Romulan named Nero (Bana),  who proceeds to ask the Federation representative some rather odd questions, the strangest being what stardate is it. The answer drives Nero berserk and he murders the captain and once again opens fire on the Kelvin.

The second-in-command (Hemsworth) orders an evacuation of the doomed Kelvin, paying special attention to his wife (Morrison) who is in labor. He intends to join her, but the ship’s automated functions are out of commission, and they are needed to gain critical time for the crew of the Kelvin to make their escapes. He realizes with sickening horror that he must remain aboard to run the ship manually. The young lieutenant saves his crew by ramming the dying starship into the unknown spaceship, crippling its weapon systems and propulsion. The name of the young hero? George Kirk.

Years later, his son James (Pine), born the day of his death, is adrift in Iowa, drinking in dive bars, picking up every woman he can and generally just lashing out at the world. While attempting to pick up a pretty Starfleet cadet named Uhura (Saldana), he gets jumped by a number of cadets, holding his own for awhile before getting his tush handed to him until Captain Christopher Pike (Greenwood) stops the fracas and clears the bar. He talks to the young Kirk about his father, and the difference he made to the 800 lives that were saved by his sacrifice and invites Kirk to join the Academy.

At first Kirk is reluctant to join Starfleet but eventually relents. On the shuttle ride to San Francisco, he meets an irascible divorced physician who is joining Starfleet to rebuild a career that had been essentially stymied in his divorce. The medico’s name is Leonard McCoy (Urban).

Already at the academy is a young half-Vulcan named Spock (Quinto). Tormented by young Vulcans for his half-human ancestry, Spock elects to follow the Vulcan disciplines of logic and dispassion of his father Sarek (Cross) with the blessing of his compassionate mother Amanda (Ryder). Despite this, Spock elects to decline admission to the Vulcan Science Academy (the first Vulcan ever to do so) and join Starfleet. After graduating from the Academy, he devises the notorious Kobiyashi Maru test, the infamous “no-win” scenario.

In the meantime, a brash young Ensign Kirk is blowing through the academy in a mere three years, still picking up women wherever he goes including a beautiful young Orion ensign (Nichols) who has come up with a rather ingenious solution to Spock’s test, landing him in hot water with the Academy dons. Unfortunately, an emergency comes up that relates directly to Kirk’s past, one that will bring all the disparate elements and characters together and forge together a crew that is destined to become a legend, while a man from the future (Nimoy) holds the key to the lives of Spock and Kirk.

The Star Trek franchise has been in decline for several years now, with an over-saturation of product that eventually seemed somewhat formulaic in many ways. Star Trek reboots the franchise with the original characters as seen through fresh new eyes. Director J.J. Abrams balances a delicate line of maintaining the spirit of the original series while adding additional elements of action and epic scope. Thus his new re-imagining of Star Trek will please not only hardcore Trek fans but also more general audiences.

Electing to go with a cast of young actors while steering clear of big name actors (Bana as Nero is the most recognizable face in the show other than Nimoy, and Bana is nearly unrecognizable in any case), and they come through in spades. All of the major crew members (Cho as Sulu, Pegg as Scotty and Yelchin as Chekov, as well as Urban and Saldana) have extremely pivotal scenes and establish their characters nicely.

Much of the success of Star Trek rests on the shoulders of the two leads, and they pull through splendidly. Pine captures the essence of James Tiberius Kirk without the quirks and mannerisms of William Shatner. He nails the bravado, the charisma, the independence and the compassion of Kirk but at the same time manages to render him human and fallible. Like Shatner’s Kirk, he is rash and sometimes prone to egotism, but at the heart of him is his brilliant intuition and willingness to risk. Pine takes an epic character and makes him accessible.

Quinto, best known as Sylar on the hit TV show “Heroes” makes a marvelous Spock. He radiates icy calm that masks the boiling inferno below the surface. Spock is heavily conflicted but chooses not to come to terms with his conflicting natures; instead he subverts his more human aspects in favor of the Vulcan stoicism. Quinto also has an uncanny resemblance to Nimoy as a young Spock, and fills the boots more than adequately.

There are plenty of breathtaking special effects, not to mention some intense action sequences, the best of which is a parachute jump onto a drilling platform high in the atmosphere of Vulcan. Visually, this is a movie that will rock your world.

But is it Star Trek? That’s the question most Trek fans were hoping to have answered. I have to say, yes and no. The original television series in many ways was less action-oriented than this is. Yes, there were plenty of fistfights, phasers set on stun and epic space battles in the original, but the themes had to do with things that were important to series creator Gene Roddenberry; man’s inhumanity to man, racial tension, drug abuse, gender inequality and the supreme waste and ultimate uselessness that is war. Here, we are being re-introduced to the characters that the producers hope to rebuild the franchise with and the movie is more about that than taking on issues.

However, the foundation has been laid and hopefully in the future we’ll see stories more in tune with the high bar that Roddenberry set. Given the outstanding box office returns the movie had, it is inevitable that there will be at least one or two more installments in the movie series if not more. The action and special effects will get the bodies in the door; the characters will bring those bodies back for more. Abrams has hit a home run with the new Star Trek. Now, the question becomes can he do it again?

WHY RENT THIS: Breathtaking special effects and heart-pounding action sequences drive the movie. Young actors bring established characters back to life with fresh perspectives. Pine makes a fabulous Captain Kirk and could be a future star.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The overall tone that Trek-haters despised is still present here.

FAMILY VALUES: Some scenes of brief sexuality and some violence; also there is a nightmare-inducing creature during the Delta Vega sequence. Otherwise, fit for most young audiences (but not for the very teeny tiny).

TRIVIAL PURSUITS: The seven years gap between this movie and Star Trek: Nemesis is the longest in the franchise history.

NOTABLE DVD FEATURES: There are three different home viewing versions of this so far: a single-disc DVD which is essentially just the film, a 2-disc Special Edition DVD which contains some deleted scenes including Abrams’ take on the Klingons, and a 3-Disc Blu-Ray which contains a humongous number of featurettes, as well as a 360 degree view of various Enterprise and Romulan sets. There is also a feature on Gene Roddenberry’s legacy.

FINAL RATING: 8/10

TOMORROW: Disney’s A Christmas Carol

Martian 8 - A personal project of creature/character designer Neville Page. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page

Like many Sci-Fi fans, creature/character designer Neville Page sat in a darkened movie theater when he was a child and watched in anticipation as the opening credits for the original Star Wars feature film began to roll. Having seen the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca, his mind wandered in a direction that would forever change his life.

“I began to wonder what people did in order to make a movie like that,” recalls Page. “I didn’t understand that they went to school to learn how to be creature designers, sculptors or artists for that matter, and could then go work in films. Then, however, I began to collect all sorts of Star Wars magazines – I was really addicted to the film – and in one of the magazines there was this article on [make-up artist] Rick Baker. When I saw a picture of him with a lump of clay and a sculpting tool, it suddenly occurred to me that, ‘OK, people actually do this stuff,’ and that’s where my interest [in the craft] first began.”

When he was 17, Page moved to Hollywood and, after trying his hand at acting and stand-up comedy, enrolled in the Art Center College of Design where he studied industrial design. “I did that for several years, but all along I craved to work in films,” says the designer. “The more seasoned I became as an industrial designer, it became more apparent that if I wanted to make monsters and do animatronics, it would require a huge career and lifestyle change.

“At that point I thought, ‘Well, that dream is dead,’ but the very next day, literally, something happened that changed my mind. Colleen Atwood, who’s a major costume designer, was working next door to my studio on the Steven Spielberg film Minority Report. A buddy of mine had left his keys there and she stopped by my studio to drop them off. Colleen noticed that my business partner, Scott Robertson, and I do industrial design, including helmets, and she needed a helmet for a police costume. That’s when she asked, ‘Hey, do you guys want to work on some film stuff?’ and I haven’t stopped since. You can’t plan something like that. It’s like sitting at a cafe and being ‘discovered.’ You can only hope you’re in the right place at the right time, and mine was my buddy forgetting his keys.

Squidleyflat - a personal project of Neville Page. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page

X2, The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, The Hulk, Cloverfield and James Cameron’s Avatar are just a few of the big screen projects that Page has worked on. “With Avatar I was kind of stretching my skills at creature design,” he says. “James Cameron is a very specific guy and you can just imagine how many portfolios were being thrown his way when it came to his movie. Four people were selected, myself being one of them, and I thought, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. There’s a mistake here, because I don’t have much of a portfolio.’ I had a lot of industrial design stuff, but I guess that’s what Jim wanted. He wanted a very different take on a creature design and I’ve told him many times since then how incredibly grateful and indebted I am to him because he allowed me almost a year to become educated in what he needed to be the best, well-thought out creatures in film. So he afforded us the time to really do it right.

“I’m a huge fan of doing the research and understanding the subject matter, which includes buying animal bones and things of that nature to better understand a creatures’ physiology, and Jim really dug that we were coming in fully armed with all this knowledge. You can’t pull the wool over his eyes. He’s bright on all levels, and it was our goal to help crack the design nut. There were occasions where I would present an anatomical solution to a problem that would genuinely impress Jim. That’s a good day at work! Jim is a strong man who knows what he wants, and if you’re strong enough to survive that, you come out a better person and definitely a better designer, that’s for sure.”

While still working on Avatar, the designer took on yet another new creature challenge in J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield. “When I met with [producers] J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles to discuss Cloverfield, I knew nothing about the project other than J.J. said, ‘I want to make a monster movie,’” says Page. “They explained to me that this film was a big experiment as far as how they were going to shoot  it, with handheld cameras and not a whole bunch of other cameras set up for secondary or tertiary shots. They also explained that the overall budget was next to nothing.

“For whatever reason, J.J. won me over because of his passion for the work and his loveable personality. I thought, ‘I don’t know quite what it [the film] is either, J.J., but sign me up.’ The hardest part of  Cloverfield, though, was that I was also in my last five or six months of Avatar, and the last months of any project are the toughest because you have to deliver all the final elements. I told myself, ‘I’m working with James Cameron and J.J. Abrams simultaneously. Am I the luckiest man in the world or what? You’ve got to make this work, Neville, no matter what.’”

Up close and personal with the Cloverfield creature. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page

Another angle of the Cloverfield creature. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page

Clearly, Abrams was pleased with Page’s contribution to Cloverfield because he subsequently asked him to provide creature effects and much more for the new Star Trek film. “I was tasked with two creatures right out of the gate, which were the ones on the ice planet Delta Vega,” notes the designer. “J.J. was very specific about what he wanted; he wanted one of the creatures to be red because it would look cool and be a great contrast to the white snow. The second thing he wanted was for it to have several eyes just so it was kind of freaky and scary. J.J. also wanted the creature to have a month that was extremely off-putting, not because you’d be afraid of being bitten by it, but that it might touch or dribble on you.

“If you study enough about biology and animals you can kind of reverse engineer a number of things into a plausible organism. That’s where it’s helpful to have a pretty broad understanding of several different animals as well as zoology and physics, because you’ll be able to take some really wacky concept and make it work by having all these other reference points. So I didn’t have much trouble with the color of the red creature because there are plenty of things in the ocean that are red, such as crabs, lobsters and the Humboldt squid. The creature is actually a cross between a crab and a squid, and it wasn’t necessarily that I thought of that as a means to hybridize something, but this thing just evolved to a point where it started to look like that. So I thought, ‘I can reference those two animals and tap into a little bit more of their physiology.’

“There are those who question the red color, but the important thing to remember is that this creature is most comfortable in the water, much like a squid would be. It only breaks through the ice for the occasional desperate feeding. That was my rationale, and it actually does make sense; animals do occasionally breach or leave their normal habitat when they’re incredibly hungry. However, there have been a lot of fans of the film that really objected to the fact that it was red, but when you know what its origins are, then it potentially makes sense.

“The fact that this creature doesn’t have fur is also another [deliberate] choice. A lot of whales don’t have fur, but rather excess blubber. It might sound as if I’m justifying things, but I’m trying to explain the fact that it’s an alien planet, so anything should go. But we have a critical Earth audience looking at the movie, some of whom saying, ‘I don’t know if I’d buy that [creature] because it’s red, doesn’t have fur and it’s skinny.’ Well, crabs somehow get away with it, and so do lobsters. There’s no fur on a lobster, so who’s to say that this creature isn’t some sort of hybrid endo-exo-skeletal thing. The most important thing for J.J. is that he just wants it to be cool for the moment so people enjoy the ride. My job is to make sure that it [the creature] is viable enough so fans and other people who may scrutinize it don’t feel insulted or gypped. But I must ask, why does no one question the survivability of the passengers on a ship that leaps instantly to warp speed? It’s all simply entertainment.”

The Polarilla creature from Star Trek XI. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page

Those who saw the Star Trek film and also, coincidentally, have an aversion to insects, probably had to look away when Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) is tortured for tactical data by Captain Nero (Eric Bana) of the Romulan mining ship Narada, and forced to swallow the mind-controlling bug. Page was the brains behind the look of that particular creepy crawly.

“That little bug was kind of an homage to the earwig that was in [the second Star Trek film] The Wrath of Khan, in that something bug-like is being put inside you that’s going to mess with your mind,” he says. “I felt it would have been far creepier to put it into an orifice that you wouldn’t normally put something in, but we were limited to orifices that were PG [rated],” jokes Page. “So ears and nostrils would have been it. I just thought that putting it in the mouth was, maybe, more like eating it, and not as unnerving.

“We did our level best to make it look upsetting, but I think most people are so bug-phobic that just having a bug near someone’s mouth was frightening enough. I really did want this one to be more like an earwig, which is why I made the tail earwig-like. J.J. was very specific, though, about wanting these claws and little tentacles that would make it look as if it has the capacity, once inside the body, to engage with the spinal cord or lower brainstem.

“So the design challenge was partially just arriving at the appropriate esthetic, but on top of that, we knew that we didn’t have the funds to do a full digital effect and that it had to be a practical on-set one. That meant we had to have something we could actually control animatronically, and that dictated a certain kind of body mass to fit the electronics into. A Japanese gentleman, in fact, made a robot that was tiny enough, or should I say microscopic enough, to go inside a rubber version of our bug. That’s what you see on-screen, this little remote-controlled bug on the end of barbecue tongs. It was quite incredible.”

Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation are well aware that its Klingons as well as Romulans looked very different from those seen in the classic Star Trek series. An effort was made in Star Trek: Enterprise to explain the change in the Klingons’ appearance, and the same thing was done in the new Star Trek movie with regard to the Romulans, including Eric Bana’s Nero.

“The Next Generation Romulans had the V-shaped prosthetic on their forehead, but in the original show, they had absolutely no prosthetics,” explains Page. “So we had to come up with a way to justify how it is that over time, some of them developed the V and others did not. For that, I worked with Joel Harlow, who did a lot of the make-up for Pirates of the Caribbean, and was the head make-up artist for the Romulans specifically. The idea I had involved a bald head and therefore shaving it completely, but in order to convince Eric Bana of this, we needed to do a make-up test first. We didn’t have the budget to hire another actor or a model for this, so I ‘donated’ my head to the cause. We would shave my head, Joel would then do the make-up test on me, and if J.J. liked it, we would move forward and create the look for Eric.

“As far as the concept of getting that V-shape to work, I went with tribal scarification,” continues the designer. “If you scar yourself over and over again in the same place, over time it turns into a keloid mass. I thought it would be interesting if we could use that to create the natural V justification. So we put together an array of designs that Harlow sculpted to replicate that look, and we had a number of tattoo and hair ideas as well. In the end, what you see in the movie is not unlike the basic concept that I wore in our presentation to J.J. The final design, however, has more character nuances in it; there’s a scar on Nero’s face, because I always liked the idea of chopping his ear off to make it look like he’s even half of the Romulan he used to be. Ultimately, J.J. decided to make it more of a bite that Nero probably got while he was imprisoned with the Klingons.”

The original scarring went through a bit of a metamorphosis before filming began, but Abrams liked the design that Page first tested, so much so that he asked him if he would like to play a Romulan in the film. The designer wasted no time in accepting the offer. “I joke with people that that was my plan all along as a child, that I wanted to be a movie star. However, I had a whole different way of achieving that. It would be through the backdoor. I’d study design for years and work and work and then finally get my break while testing the make-up. It was a very strategic and circuitous path,” he says with a laugh, “but now that I am a huge celebrity, wasn’t it all worth it? Although J.J. did say, ‘Keep your day job.’ What could he have meant?

“Seriously, the best part about doing it was two-fold. I had to go through the make-up process many times, including having to wear full scleral contact lenses. They aren’t just the small lenses that cover the iris, but the ones that extend over the eye in all directions. I can’t stand the idea of contact lenses, but I thought, ‘If I’m going to be designing this stuff for people, I should at least know what I’m asking them to subject themselves to.’

“So seeing the sculptors interpreting my designs and then seeing the make-up applied step-by-step was, for me, not only fun, but also a wonderful education in the hope that I do more work like it. The other get part was getting to be on the other side of the camera. I’ve been around long enough to know what that’s like as a designer, but being ‘an actor’ on-set and watching them direct me and everyone else was another amazing learning experience.”

Caudal luring - a personal project of Neville Page. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page

Carnivor glow - a Mattel concept illustration. Photo courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page

Besides Star Trek, Page’s other recent work includes Watchmen and Tron 2.0, the sequel to the 1982 Sci-Fi film Tron. “I started off designing a bit of everything [for Tron 2.0] with everyone else, but I quickly gravitated towards the costumes,” he says. “From there, I ended up moving from the art department to costumes and developing the hero and specialty costumes. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but it’s a hard thing to break into because it’s a totally different department.

“I recently came back from Vancouver where I watched some of the shooting [for Tron 2.0] and, my God, it looks really good. From the last script I read, I think it’s going to be an interesting film with some neat twists, and aesthetically it’s looking phenomenal. It’s right up there with James Cameron’s Avatar in terms of delivering really fresh and new imagery on-screen. If you watch the original Tron now, it’s important to note what a major achievement that it was then, and at the helm of it all was Steve Lisberger. He was the original director and conceiver of Tron and one of the producers for the new movie. Lisberger is very involved in the production and it was cool to see him and the new director, Joe Kosinski, brainstorming. It’s one of the more exciting projects I’ve ever been on.”

While some people who work in film and/or TV might take it for granted, Page sees his involvement in the business as very much the opposite. He is also happy for the chance to give back something to audiences. “When I sat watching Star Wars as a kid, my parents were going through a divorce, and the movie was an amazing escape for me,” he says. “It’s sad to say that R2D2 was my therapist at age 12. Having said that, whenever I meet someone who is moved by something I’ve done in the same way I was moved by Joe Johnston [Star Wars effects illustrator/designer] and Ralph McQuarrie [Star Wars production illustrator], that’s when it really hits home that what you do is relevant. And it’s such a priviledge to be able to do that.”

Steve Eramo

As noted above, all photos courtesy of and copyright of Neville Page, so please no unauthorized copying or duplicating of any kind. Thanks!

În invazia asta de ecranizări cu monștri și apocalipse, am reușit să văd un film simplu din punctul de vedere al efectelor speciale și al spectaculozității, dar complex prin ceea ce oferă iubitorilor genului. Când spun „iubitorii genului” mă refer la cei cărora le plac poveștile de dragoste, copleșitoare în sentimente și lacrimogene.

După părerea mea, filmul este unul destul de reușit, care reușește să stârnească emoție oricui. Henry (Eric Bana) suferă de o boală genetică foarte rară, ce îi permite să călătorească în timp,fără a avea însă control asupra fenomenului. Întâlnirea dintre el și Clare (Rachel McAdams) are loc când ea avea vârsta de doar 6 ani, moment din care o vizitează periodic. Când aceasta devine o femeie matură cei doi se căsătoresc, deși disparițiile lui nu erau foarte comode pentru Clare. După nenumărate încercări și teste genetice, cei doi reușesc să aibă un copil, o fetiță, ce va moșteni anomalia genetică a tatălui, dar care în anumite proporții învață să o controleze. Finalul este unul foarte…..sensibil. Evit să menționez cum anume, pentru că nu vreau să dezvălui chiar tot celor ce nu au văzut încă filmul.

Am fost foarte încântată de film pentru  că în afara faptului că nu intră în tiparul filmelor cu dezastre și arătări din ultimele luni, a reușit să mă scoată din cotidian și să intru într-o lume de poveste, fără personaje negative și intrigi. Vi-l recomand!

NOTA : 7

Download subtitrare  Funny People

Trailer Funny People :

Funny People with Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Eric Bana

I was really looking forward to this movie. I had seen the trailer and I thought : “Cool! We are going to watch a half-funny, half- dramatic film!” Well the movie was a little dramatic and a little funny but that’s all. And that can’t really get you through 153 minutes (146, if it is not unrated). I am not saying it was all bad, but there were so many unnecessary scenes and so many useless lines- it just doesn’t work.

So George Simmons (Adam Sandler) is a successful, highly popular and very rich comedic actor. He has come a long way from stand-up comics. He doesn’t have a problem picking women and all looks fine for him-until he goes to the doctor’s and finds out he is terminally ill. He examines his life. He realizes he has screwed up when he ruined things with the love of his life, Laura (Leslie Mann). Laura left George when he cheated on her and went on to marry an Australian called Clarke (Eric Bana) who apparently cheats on her too. But she has two kids with him…

George doesn’t have any real friends either. When he goes back to the stage for live comedy (probably for nostalgic reasons), he meets a clumsy,not-so-funny Ira and for some reason decides to have him work for him. Ira is ecstatic- he is writing jokes and assisting his favorite funny man.

Ira has two close friends: Leo (Jonah Hill) a comic a little funnier (supposedly) than him and Mark (Jason Schwartzman) who plays in a sitcom that Ira can’t really stand to watch.

So the movie concentrates on relationships and trusts the dialogs: Between George and Ira, Ira and his buddies, Ira and Laura and later on my favorite : when Clarke comes from a business trip to find George and Ira at home with his wife and kids.

There are things I like about the movie, I can’t say I despised it. Let me write down the likes first:

+ Eric Bana: Don’t tell me it is because he looks good because he doesn’t , not here. But he is a good actor and his role & over-the-top Australian accent is funny. He is a real Aussie but that’s not how he actually speaks…And there were some good jokes that came from Ira about why they shouldn’t mess with him.

+ Seth Rogen: I normally don’t like him. I despised his character in Knocked-Up, he just wasn’t funny. But in this movie, he is the only character that is well…humane and at least slightly likable. With all his failures and good intentions, he was fun to watch. He has also some funny takes on who makes it successful in life. And Ira’s stand-up scenes at least one or two funny moments.

Dislikes:

- Leslie Mann’s Laura: She was fine and likable at first but later she just got…OK, so she can forgive a cheater ex (Adam Sandler) because he is dying. Fair enough. But then he gets better and she suddenly acts like he is the one that got away and her husband is an asshole..and..yeah the problem is Clarke isn’t actually that big an asshole, he is certainly not worse than George. So you sympathize with…no one, really! Ira is OK but then he really acts like a crybaby most of the time and you just want him to tell George to stick it.

-The Brat Pack: I don’t have anything against Brat Packs or crude comedy- as long as the combination works. I like the group of Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson and well, I adore Old School. But if you are going to throw in lots of swearing and abrasive language, please make sure it is funny!

-The stand-up acts: The movie involves so many scenes with them. It just slows the movie down. Really slows it down, because they are just not funny 99% of the time.

- Duration : You really shouldn’t have a story pretending to be profound for 153 minutes, when you could have a much more effective and much funnier story told in 90 minutes! I thought it was ironic. In one scene Laura tells George to cut the swearing and he jokes that then he wouldn’t have a third act. I wish Leslie Mann had told the same thing to real life husband Judd Apatow. Yes, brat pack and family members….Ouch!

In wish I had known the movie was Judd Apatow’s and his brat pack’s.His movie making is just my style. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy 40-year-old virgin, the movie had a lot of funny moments. But I was really bored during Knocked Up. It wasn’t funny, I didn’t like any of the characters and if a comedy doesn’t make you laugh, you feel bad. I have nothing against Sandler- I actually really like some of his movies, like The Wedding Singer, Big Daddy, The Longest Yard and Anger Management. But the elements in the movies just don’t work. Indiviudally, Bana,Sandler and Rogen are good. The idea of the story is fine. Cameos are fun. But..that’s pretty much it. And it certainly didn’t help that I watched this movie on the same day I watched Hangover. Hangover is my next post- it is directed by the Old School director Todd Philips. And it is a perfect example of how you can be crass and funny without being boring and irrelevant.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I was supposed to catch 2012 but tickets were full-up on Thursday night so my colleague CK and I ended up watching this one instead. I’d heard a lot about the movie and yep it’s definitely good so I’m glad I managed to catch this one instead of 2012 (which I’ve heard isn’t that great). “The Time Traveler’s Wife” tells the tale of Henry & Clare who fall in love but the twist to it all is that Henry is a time traveler who can’t control when he jumps through time. It’s a very different sort of romance but a great one anyways.

Eric Bana & Rachel McAdams have great chemistry on screen. At the heart of it “The Time Traveler’s Wife” is a romance movie first and very little is done to expound on the time travel bit but I didn’t care much for that cos’ both Bana & McAdams ‘ performances pull you into the story. I enjoyed the movie tremendously and found it really apt that the ending turned out to be a bittersweet one.

Watch it for yourself cos’ I enjoyed it thoroughly and it’s definitely one for the girls and guys who’re not too shy to admit they like a good romance every once in awhile.

Rating: 5 Stars (out of 5)