Tuesday, July 29, 2008

INTO THE WEST: 2005

Review by: Ian Coote


Six Parts = One Great Movie
Executive Producer Steven Spielberg


From the World on Fire music video sung by Sarah Mclachlan and Robbie Robertson, made for the intro the West soundtrack, to the fantastic cinema-photography, this is a grand epic story paralleling White and Native American Indian families as the west is opened up for exploration and the Indians tried to understand how to deal with the threat to their way of life.

The story focuses on several generations of two families , one White and one Native American. You are shown the glory, the infamy, the ideals, the adventure, the severe hardships, the pioneer spirit and the cruelty of the 1800's in North America.

If you are interested in America's past, see this movie. It's long, six episodes, about 9 1/2 hours in total, but worth every minute.

Part 1 "Wheel to the Stars " 1824 -1838

Part 2 "Manifest Destiny" 1836 -1845

Part 3 "Dreams and Schemes" 1848-1861

Part 4 "Hell on Wheels" 1863-1868

Part 5 " Casualties of War " 1874-1883

Part 6 "Ghost Dance" 1886-1892
I'll give it a Great Big 10
Review by Ontario Correspondent: Ian Coote

Monday, July 28, 2008

Alexander

Review by: Ian Coote

The biggest flaw in Alexander is in the casting.

First off I have to say that my son and myself are a couple of history buffs, so when we heard that there was going to be a movie made about Alexander the Great, to say we were excited would be an understatement.We were like a couple of kids waiting for Christmas.When it was finally released, we both took the day of work--just had to see it at the first showing. So away we went, with my friend Hugh also in tow, we took our seats and eagerly waited for the opening credits. About 45 minutes in I slowly felt my son's head start to rest on my right shoulder, and I heard a very low snore. A quick glance over to my left showed that my friend Hugh's chin was resting on his chest and a very large drool was hanging from his mouth, making a wet stain on his pants. I thought he might have had the big one, but he was OK. A for me,I was starting to re-taste the Swedish meatballs I'd had for supper the previous night.

So what was wrong with this movie directed by Oliver Stone and starring Colin Farrel, Agelina Jolie? First, I had never seen a movie before with Colin Farrel, so I didn't know what to expect. Could Oliver Stone have picked a more whimpy guy to play Alexander? Don Knotts maybe, and whats with Angelina Jolie as Alexander's mom? Talk about total miscasting. She usually looks pretty good in movies, but in this one she looked like a really old Cher on a bad night.

The editing was terrible,jumping from scene to scene, none of it making any sense. I was about ready to leave after about an hour, but then thought no, I'll stick around, maybe the battle scenes will be pretty good. Boy was I wrong.Take Alexander's largest battle "Gaugamela," 35,000 Greeks against 250,000 Persians. This should have been a hum-dinger, except Stone decided to film it in a sandstorm. There were 285,000 combatants, and the most we see at any one time is about three,and that's from the waist down.

After awhile I was trying to figure out, wha'ts this movie about, what's the message Stone's trying to get across? Then it dawned on me. After about 20 shots of Alexander making loving gazes at any guy in sandals and a toga, I think I got it. Alexander was gay, and it's ok, and even gay guys can be macho and tough. Gee, thanks Oliver, who would have known? Alexander is acknowledged to be one of the greatest military commanders of all time; he never lost a battle in his short 32 years of life, but this film falls far short of doing his legacy justice.The biggest flaw in the film is casting Colin Farrel in a role that is clearly beyond his abilities.

I give it one star.

Movie review by Ontario corespondant: Ian Coote

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Mister Roberts

Review by: Ian Coote

A character that you wish you could meet

1955 film starring:
Henry Fonda
Jack Lemmon
James Cagney

This is one of my all time favorite war flicks, and there is no battle action!

Henry Fonda plays a character that you wish you could meet. He's someone who is patriotic and wants to serve his country, but he remains one who will battle for his men even when it means he gets in trouble with the captain.

James Cagney plays the William Bligh-like captain and he plays the part to perfection. You know he's doing a good acting job when you hate him so much.

Jack Lemmon is very funny playing one of the laziest people you could ever hope to meet.

All in all, I can watch this movie over and over again. The acting is great, there are some hilarious parts, and it deals with a subject not many movies do, being in the back-end of a big war.

I appreciate Mr.Roberts; I only wish his part wasn't fictional.

I give it a 9 out of 10.

Review by Ontario Correspondent: Ian Coote

Saturday, July 12, 2008

All About Eve


It's going to be a bumpy night

We decided to watch a little TV before we called it a night. After flipping channels for a few minutes we settled on watching All About Eve starring Bette Davis and Anne Baxter.

Wow! What a find; Bette was brilliant in her role as Margo, an aging self-centered stage actress who at the pinnacle of her career struggles with insecurities of love and worries that her career is coming to an end.

Then she meets Eve (Anne Baxter) who is literally a no one, a complete unknown, who befriends Margo. Eve’s relationship with Margo gives Eve the opportunity to manipulate, lie and backstab her career to stardom.

Both Bette and Ann received a best actress Academy Awards nomination for their motion picture performance.

This movie offers many unexpected jewels. One of them is that Marilyn Monroe is in this movie. She is young and stunning: you will love her as she plays Miss Casswell, a stereotypical dum-blonde gold digging Hollywood starlet.

Another jewel is the scene when Margo (Bette Davies) downs a double gin martini. She then faces the camera and says her legendary line, "Fasten your seatbelts; it's going to be a bumpy night." It sent a chill down my back.

I give this movie 8.5 out of 10, with a strong recommendation to see it.

Alfie

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Canadian Idol vs. American Idol: this year the U.S. wins so far

Last night's Canadian Idol, which featured eight of the current 16 contenders for next week's top 10 show, revealed that the pickings are slim this year. While most singers were passable with decent voices and an inkling of how to perform on stage, none had the star quality that was evidenced in the most recent U.S. version of the show.

American Idol's two Davids, the top two young guys who thrilled audiences with soulful crooning and charismatic performances had viewers on the edge of their couches wondering which of these brilliantly rising stars would win (David Cooke did, by the way). No such competition is in sight for the Canadian contenders this year. Aside from willowy but strong-voiced Katelyn Dawn and the Pigott brothers, Sebastian and Oliver, who are macho stage grabbers but not the best singers, not one contestant stands out from the crowd. And even these three lack the star power seen on American Idol this year.

Too bad. Previous years' Canadian Idols outshined the American wannabees by far. Let's hope some Canadians hone their stage personas as this year's competition rolls along . Let's hope our Canadians can rise toward the idol pedestal, if not from the outset, then from the practice they get along the way.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Canadian Idol

No star talent has yet to emerge on this season's Canadian Idol. Stay tuned, and I'll give you my picks as soon as they're clear.

The Brave One (2007)

Don't Mess With Jodie

This movie star’s Jodie Foster as Erica Bain. Erica is a New York City Radio talk show personality whose fiancé is savagely killed and she is brutally beaten up in a Central Park Mugging.
Although she tries to pull herself together after the mugging, she quickly realizes that she can’t and decides to do what every victim wants to do after they have been mugged; go kill the bad guys.

From this point on the movie becomes a female Charles Bronson, Death Wish remake. Erica becomes a New York vigilante who is determined to kill muggers. So in the wee hours of the morning she patrols New York for muggers and anyone that tries to take her purse gets a bullet in their head.

What I didn’t like about the movie was that it was just a rip off from Death Wish. A better name for the movie would have been Death Woman.

What I did like about this movie was this quote “There is no going back, to that other person, that other place. This thing, this stranger, she is all you are now.”

This Movie is worth seeing on Video only.

Out of a 10, I give it a 7.1.

Alfie

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Other Boleyn Girl

Sisters Will Be Sisters

I watched the Other Boleyn Girl with a few friends after dinner. I must admit I was a little tired that night and fell asleep 3 times during the movie.

All in all, apart from naps, I enjoyed the movie.
The movie is a convincing portrayal of what it would have been like living in the castle of Henry the 8th, King of England in the early fifteen hundreds.

The director focuses the story on Ann Boleyn who becomes Henry’s second wife and Queen of England. Ann has the king’s baby and just before her 3rd anniversary of being the Queen of England, Henry has her head cut off. Henry had her executed so that he could remarry.

What makes this movie so engaging is the side stories and their effects on this historical tale.

To me the biggest downfall of the movie was that it keeps reminding me of the Tudors TV show.

And to me the biggest pick-me-upper was the performances by Portman and Johansson as the Boleyn girls. They made the movie a delight to watch.

Out of a 10, I give it a 7.6 and recommend it as a video rental.

Alfie

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

His pants always fit

I took my grandson to Cineplex Silvercity Metropolis at Metrotown in Burnaby to see The Incredible Hulk. We got there about 20 minutes before the movie started and the theater was packed. The only seats available together were located in the front row far right of the screen. After about 10 seconds of watching up and coming previews of new movies, I realized that whoever designed the seating for the theater was an idiot. If I wanted to watch a movie like that I would have saved the 50 bucks that I spent on tickets and popcorn and I would have rented a video from Block Busters, stretched out all nice and comfy on my sofa and laid my TV on my face and watched my movie at full volume.

Well enough whining, we couldn’t handle the seats and decided to move. We found a couple of single seats in different rows and even managed to share some popcorn with the help of a couple of people in the rows between us.

The movie was fast, action-packed and the animation was awesome. Edward Norton plays Bruce Banner (The Incredible Hulk) and is most defiantly the best Banner (Hulk) ever. He’s even better than Bill Bixby from the TV show.

If you’re a Hulk fan and you like villains you’re going to love Abomination who is one very big ugly bad dude whose sole purpose in life is to prove that he is tougher than the hulk. It’s like watching a WWF Match if you were an ant.

My only pet-pev with the movie is no matter how many times Banner turns into the Hulk, which is 20 times his normal size, his pants always fit.

It’s getting late and time for bed.

Out of a 10, I give it a 7.2 and recommend it as a video rental

Alfie