Street Kings

Movie name: Street Kings
Year of release: 2008
Director: David Ayer
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans, Naomie Harris, Jay Mohr, John Corbett, Terry Crews, Common, Amaury Nolasco, Martha Higareda
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5

Synopsis:
Following "Harsh Times", David Ayer returns to the directing chair, handling a story of the wonderful James Ellroy (who is responsible for the books "LA Confidential" and "The Black Dahlia" to name a few). David Ayer became well known for writing "Training Day" which garnered a second Oscar for Denzel Washington. This film doesn't stray too far, again focusing on police corruption in LA, but though Ayer has a great cast to work with, this film feels like a story that has been told before (and with better results). Though this isn't a bad film, the results never stray of mediocre, mostly because the director doesn't have the bite to really take it and make it into something indelible. The film could use a director like Martin Scorsese or even Steven Soderbergh, who would make this story their own. The actors walk a fine line between contention and overacting. Keanu Reeves does a good job, but the real downfalls are the wooden acting of Chris Evans and the overacting of Forest Whitaker (sometimes less is more, and not all characters can be like Idi Amin, for which he won the Oscar in "Last King of Scotland"). All and all this film delivers, but could've reached heights that otherwise are just too far away.

The Ruins

Movie name: The Ruins
Year of release: 2008
Director: Carter Smith
Stars: Jonathan Tucker, Jena Malone, Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey, Joe Anderson, Sergio Calderon, Dimitri Baveas
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4

Synopsis:
Ben Stiller appears connected with this small film in the quality of producer. Unlike the comedies for what he is well known, this is a suspense/horror film, with the traditional young cast that suffers several horrible situations, one of them coming out alive in the end. Where this film actually ends up being interesting is in the sense that adapts a novel of Scott B. Smith, and the way it mixes the elements of suspense with traditional folk stories. The film doesn't go for the usual gore feast (which is a positive point), allowing for the characters and situations to develop (though not enough). Though not as painfully bad as the remake of "Halloween", this is a film that could've benefited from a more developed approach as far as characters and situations are concerned.

Tshirt on Threadless

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Loggerheads

Movie name: Loggerheads
Year of release: 2005
Director: Tim Kirkman
Stars: Bonnie Hunt, Tess Harper, Kip Pardue, Michael Kelly, Chris Sarandon, Michael Learned, Robin Weigert, Valerie Watkins
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6.5

Synopsis:
The term "indie" usually shelters a wide diversity of films, from those who get the backing of the majors, to others like "Loggerheads" a little film shot in under a month and that somehow finds an emotional resonance that a lot of big Hollywood productions fail to achieve. "Loggerheads" apparently follows three different stories, but they converge into a single one. The screenplay is very intelligent in the way that blends these apparently different stories, in different time frames, into a single line, where the fate of the characters all come to place. The story initially follows Mark, a young man who comes to a beach in North Carolina to watch the Loggerhead turtles. Simultaneously we follow the lives of Elizabeth and Reverend Robert Austin, a married couple whose estranged son has long lost contact, and we are also introduced to Grace Sheridan, a woman who's grieving still from giving her son to adoption 20 something years ago. These seemingly disparate stories converge to a single one, but what is really praiseworthy is the way the director, Tin Kirkman, allows his characters to build and to present themselves. These are all bruised people, who hide themselves quietly in the hopes someone can reach and somehow liberate them. All the cast does a great job, with Tess Harper, Bonnie Hunt and Michael Kelly all giving really terrific performances. Definitely worth checking out!

Paranoid Park

Movie name: Paranoid Park
Year of release: 2007
Director: Gus Van Sant
Stars: Gabe Nevins, Daniel Liu, Taylor Momsen, Jake Miller, Grace Carter, Scott Patrick Green
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4

Synopsis:
Gus Van Sant is back in one more tale of disenchanted youth in America. Following the wonderful "Elephant" that continued and further explored the aesthetic of "Gerry" (co written with Matt Damon and Casey Affleck), and "Last Days", "Paranoid Park" is another probe into the life of adolescence (in a not so overtly sexual way that Larry Clark approaches). If "Last Days" already felt as a stretch into this aesthetic and approach of film-making, "Paranoid Park" repeats what was already done, and to much weaker results than "Elephant". This film follows the life of a student who skates, and accidentally gets involved in the death of a security guard. The cameras follow the life of Alex, showing his brief interactions with the people that surround him. The film tries to be "an important art piece" about how youth gets corrupted and desensitized but ultimately feels self indulgent, in the sense that the characters are either moronic or non existent. Alienation of suburbia maybe the aim that the film tries to stab at, but in the end, other than the beautiful photography of Wong Kar Wai's regular cinematographer Christopher Doyle, the film feels empty and without any resonance.

Doomsday

Movie name: Doomsday
Year of release: 2008
Director: Neil Marshall
Stars: Rhona Mitra, Bob Hoskins, Adrian Lester, Malcolm McDowell, David O'Hara, Nora-Jane Noone, Sean Pertwee, Craig Conway, MyAnna Buring
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis:
Neil Marshall is back after the cult hit that was "The Descent". Whereas "The Descent" was a claustrophobic thriller, "Doomsday" clearly goes for high velocity - like watching a B-movie with more production values. Marshall wisely gets inspiration from great action films of the past, like James Cameron's "Aliens", John Carpenter's "Escape from New York", George Miller's "Mad Max" and the more recent "28 Days Later" from Danny Boyle. The film introduces us to a virus that has ravaged Scotland and left the country isolated and apparently devoid of any survivors. When the virus reappears in London, the prime minister sends a small team to try and get a possible cure in Scotland. since proof has reappeared that there are survivors and that they may hold the cure for the virus. The team led by Eden Sinclair, a resourceful Major, find that the survivors have turned the country into something quite different than it was. This brief summation of the film doesn't make it justice - the film is filled with a great mix of action and dark sense of humor. Even though not scoring in terms of originality, Neil Marshall is an intelligent director and orchestrates a thoroughly entertaining film, filled with action sets and finds in Rhona Mitra a cool and detached performer for his main character. Really worth checking out.

Batman Films

Movie name: Batman
Year of release: 1989
Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Michael Keaton, Jack Nicholson, Kim Basinger, Jack Palance, Jerry Hall, Robert Wuhl, Tracey Walter, Pat Hingle, Billy Dee Williams, Michael Gough
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8

Synopsis:
When Tim Burton made "Batman" back in 1989 there was an uproar in the casting of Michael Keaton (then mostly known for his work in comedies, amongst them the wonderful "Beetlejuice" from Tim Burton) as Batman. The success of the movie proved everyone wrong, since the film marked the year of 1989 like no other and brought back the concept of adapting comic books to the big screen. Though this film isn't a fully fledged vision of Tim Burton's universe, Batman here is a dark, brooding soul, in a grey, gothic and nightmarish city (Gotham City designed to great aplomb by award winner Anton Furst, who passed away shortly afterwards). The film counterbalances Keaton's dark tones of the Batman character with Jack Nicholson's over the top performance as The Joker. The offset of the main characters ends up being Kim Basinger's Vicki Vale, whose character appears as a screaming histrionic woman during the entire film. Other than that, the film is a solid adaptation of the spirit of Bob Kane's character.

Movie name: Batman Returns
Year of release: 1992
Director: Tim Burton
Stars: Michael Keaton, Michelle Pfeiffer, Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken, Michael Gough, Michael Murphy, Cristi Conaway, Vincent Schiavelli
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8

Synopsis:
Following the massive hit that was "Batman", Tim Burton returned to the director's chair for the sequel, this time creating his own vision of the character, within his own universe of offbeat characters in a universe that doesn't comprehend them. Since the first film opened, Tim Burton had directed "Edward Scissorhands" which was a further exploration of his universe. "Batman Returns" is in a way a continuation, since the Batman character, and his foes, the Penguin and Catwoman, are themselves creatures that don't fit within the natural normalcy of society (just the same way his heroes usually don't). The film turned out to be generally described as "darker", having less satisfactory results in the box office, though it was generally regarded as a better achievement than the first. I have to agree - the actors did a terrific job, in particular Michelle Pfeiffer as the delicious Catwoman and Christopher Walken as the greasy tycoon Max Shreck. This was again a dark fable, where sometimes the monsters didn't have to be physically different to show their villainous side and where heroes wore masks that hid their own ghosts. A very good film, always worth checking out.

Movie name: Batman Forever
Year of release: 1995
Director: Joel Schumacher
Stars: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O'Donnel, Drew Barrymore, Pat Hingle, Michael Gough, Debi Mazar, Rene Auberjonois, Joe Grifasi
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 2

Synopsis:
Tim Burton skipped the direction of the following installments of the franchise, and the direction ended up on the lap of Joel Schumacher. Schumacher is sometimes an interesting director, but he is mostly a very mediocre filmmaker, whose idea of direction is always to turn up the volume on everything and just hope things make sense. In the end most of the times things just end up not really working. He had just given Warner a good hit with the John Grisham adaptation "The Client" back in 1994, when he was chosen as the director of the new Batman film. His vision of the Batman character was almost entirely derived from the TV series of the 60's - campy, plastic, kitsch and with almost no relation to the previous films (there was also an over saturation of color, something that the previous films didn't have). The brooding, dark Batman character was abandoned, replaced by a vaguely homo-erotic one (including nipples on the batsuit). After watching "Batman Forever", the previous two films by Tim Burton feel as documentaries - everything in this film feels cheaply executed, though clearly there was a huge budget at the disposal of the filmmaker. The acting is very unbalanced, with Val Kilmer trying to stay true to the spirit of the character, but Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey both overacting to an extent that it becomes impossible to look or hear them after 5 seconds. Nicole Kidman's role is just window dressing (that year saw her finally showing her talent in Gus Van Sant's "To Die For") and Chris O'Donnell is as good as being invisible. The film feels like a big waste of talent, something that the following film would cement and almost put an end to the character.

Movie name: Batman and Robin
Year of release: 1997
Director: Joel Schumacher
Stars: George Clooney, Chris O'Donnell, Uma Thurman, Alicia Silverstone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elle Macpherson, Michael Gough, Pat Hingle, John Glover, Viviva A. Fox
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Thriller
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 1

Synopsis:
This is the film that almost single handedly destroyed the character of Batman on the screen. Schumacher opted to cast George Clooney, at the time more well known for his role on the tv show "ER" and for his turns in "One Fine Day" and "From Dusk Till Dawn", after having a fall out with Val Kilmer. George Clooney in his current interviews always stresses how embarrassed he is with this film - and justifiably so. The problem doesn't rely on the awful screenplay, but on the vision and execution of the film. Compared to this film, some of the episodes of the TV show of the 60's actually had depth and entertainment value. The acting of the film is campy and dreadful, starting with Schwarzenegger and culminating with the beautiful Uma Thurman (bad career move for her). We also have time for terrible performances by Chris O'Donnell (pretty much hamming it up as he did in Batman Forever) and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. Again, everything in this film is loud, yet the loudness can't hide the clunky, cheap and staged feel of the film. It is hard to believe that with that many resources this was the best work the filmmaker could achieve (and he went on to direct "8 mm", another mediocre film). The only reason why this film gets 1 is mostly because Stephen Goldblatt the cinematographer is always incredible (check Mike Nichols' "Angels in America") and Eliot Goldenthal is a wonderful composer.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Movie name: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Year of release: 2007
Director: Bharat Nalluri
Stars: Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Lee Pace, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Shirley Henderson, Tom Payne
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis:
Frances McDormand is an actress that can do no wrong. She has been a consistently and interesting actress since her early work with the Coens (her husband is Joel Coen) all through her Oscar nominations and win (for "Fargo" in 1996). She plays a governess without a job in "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day", a small comedy that lives from her strict presence and from the sparkle that is the wonderful Amy Adams (herself nominated for an Oscar with "Junebug" back in 2005). The film takes place at the beginning of the second world war - Miss Pettigrew has just been fired again, and ends up having to push herself to a job as a social secretary of an up and coming actress, Delysia Lafosse. Lafosse is juggling multiple boyfriends trying to find a good solution to her ambitions. In the end, love triumphs, in a film that has the charm of the classic comedies. Worth investigating!

10000 BC

Movie name: 10,000 BC
Year of release: 2008
Director: Roland Emmerich
Stars: Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, Joel Virgel, Affif Ben Badra, Mo Zinal
Genre: Adventure, Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 1

Synopsis:
Roland Emmerich is one of the filmmakers who always thrives to create a spectacles. His films aim to be a big entertainment for the masses - sometimes he achieves it with some interesting results, such as "Stargate", sometimes they leave a lot to be desired, such as "The Patriot" and "Godzilla". After the huge hit that was "The Day After Tomorrow", Emmerich went down the history path and came up with "10,000 BC", which is quite possibly his worst film yet. Very different from what Jean Jacques Annaud did with "Quest for Fire", these prehistoric men have perfect teeth, chiseled features, speak perfect english and seem to work out at LA Fitness. There is also the introduction of a series of "Stargate" influenced moments, with the pyramids showing up and some supreme being being afraid of a prophecy that comes to reality when the surfer hero appears. The acting is terrible, the special effects are cheesy and after a while you just want the film to end. Definitely one to skip entirely.

Youth without Youth

Movie name: Youth without Youth
Year of release: 2007
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Stars: Tim Roth, Alexandra Maria Lara, Bruno Ganz, Matt Damon, André Hennicke, Marcel Iures
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5

Synopsis:
After 10 years without directing a film - his last effort was "The Rainmaker" in 1997 - Francis Ford Coppola returns to films in a smaller scope, something that he always wanted to pursue, but that the success of "The Godfather" trilogy prevented him from following. I personally consider Francis Coppola one of the great directors alive, one of the great visionaries in films - he's daring, has always tried to utilize the best means possible to create cinematic experiences as memorable as possible. "Youth without Youth" however strikes me as failed experiment on his part - the film is not without it's merit, but if feels muddled in it's approach and heavy in the symbolism. Tim Roth always a great actor creates an interesting and complex character, but the object of his affection, Veronica, played by the beautiful Alexandra Maria Lara (who was much better in Anton Corjin's "Control"), feels underwritten and underdeveloped. This is a film that tries to capture the feeling of films done in the 60's and 70's (even in it's philosophical quest), yet it doesn't really connect with the audience - it feels too much a prisoner of the times it tries to emulate. See it with some reservations.

Smiley Face

Movie name: Smiley Face
Year of release: 2007
Director: Gregg Araki
Stars: Anna Faris, Adam Brody, John Krasinski, Danny Masterson, Jane Lynch, Marion Ross, John Cho, Danny Trejo
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 6

Synopsis:
Following "Mysterious Skin" Gregg Araki goes to nonsense and delivers a quirky comedy that boasts one of the funniest performances of Anna Faris. Faris is a gifted comedian that thus far hasn't had the chance to really find material worth her natural comedic talents - until "Smiley Face" that is. Anna Faris plays Jane F. an actress (majored in Economics) that is constantly stoned, something that gets increasingly worse when she accidently eats her roommate's dipped muffins. The film basically follows Jane's attempts to go through her day totally high out of her wits. An interesting comedy definitely worth checking out.

Imaginary Heroes

Movie name: Imaginary Heroes
Year of release: 2004
Director: Dan Harris
Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Emile Hirsch, Jeff Daniels, Michelle Williams, Deirdre O'Connell, Ryan Donowho, Jay Paulson, Kip Pardue
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7

Synopsis:
Dan Harris is mostly well known for his writing efforts with Bryan Singer (for whom he wrote "X2-United" and "Superman Returns")."Imaginary Heroes" opened in 2004 to mostly lukewarm reviews, most of them comparing the film to Robert Redford's "Ordinary People". Dan Harris actually managed to create a film that is captivating, dynamic and filled with well developed characters, that are really well flushed out by his wonderful cast. The film could've easily fallen into "film of the week" material, but it never does, mostly thanks to the really intelligent script and the great performances of the entire cast. Jeff Daniels is as always great, playing the absent and demanding father, Emile Hirsch is a revelation playing the young son trying to find his own identity, but the show really belongs to Sigourney Weaver. This is a great role for her - it mixes humor with poignant drama, and she gets a chance to really bring those elements together. A film definitely worth checking out.

4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

Movie name: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Year of release: 2007
Director: Cristian Mungiu
Stars: Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov, Alexandru Potocean
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7

Synopsis:
Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" was the surprise winner at the Cannes Film Festival of 2007. Anchored in a story of stark realism that depicts the attempt by a young woman of having an abortion in communist Romania, the film describes the hours of the day that lead to the event and the the aftermath of it. Mungiu manages to describe the bleak and controlling communist regime, one that leaves people as prisoners of everything and everyone. Knowing that doing an abortion is a serious penalty, the director shows how the three main characters embrace a situation that may result in the termination of their lives as they exist. This is a film that doesn't want to make a stand about the abortion issue - this is a film that tries to show how a closed and castrating society makes their own members shadows of what they could be. The film boasts a terrific performance by Anamaria Marinca, a face and talent to follow.

Jumper

Movie name: Jumper
Year of release: 2008
Director: Doug Liman
Stars: Hayden Christensen, Jamie Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Rachel Bilson, Michael Rooker, AnnaSophia Robb, Diane Lane, Tom Hulce, Kristen Stewart
Genre: Thriller, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 3

Synopsis:
Doug Liman is back, bringing with him more sound and fury, but regrettably little substance or interest (much like "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" his previous directing effort). "Jumper" presents the life of David Rice, a young man with the capability to teleport himself, who finds that every action has a consequence. One of the consequences of his capabilities is being persecuted by the Paladins, a secret society that hunts people with his capabilities to exterminate them, because the power to be everywhere doesn't belong to humans. The premise however interesting as it may be, it's totally wasted away by a film that feels overproduced - too many special effects, too low on character or story development. The audience never really embarks in the journey of the main characters because they are non-existent. The terrible casting choices don't help: Hayden Christensen and Rachel Bilson are dreadful actors and Samuel L. Jackson feels as if though he's there just to get his check (as he as been in his latest films - time to stop doing every screenplay that comes your way and start being a bit more selective). Jamie Bell and Diane Lane are great and you wish they had more screen time, but alas no such luck. The film ends on an open note, possibly inviting a sequel. If so, time to pass the reigns to someone who can actually tell a story (a bit like the huge improvement that Paul Greengrass did to the Bourne films after the initial jumpstart that Doug Liman did).

PSD Magazine - Photoshop Tutorials and much more

PSD Photoshop Magazine is a publication worth checking out. Their layouts are clean and elegant, their content is insightful and pertinent. You can check their website here.