Invictus

*no spoilers*
Tis the season for warm-hearted movies about reconciliation. First The Blind Side, then Precious, and now Invictus (I have a feeling Avatar will be the same). All these movies share the common themes of hardship, cultural barriers, and racial healing. I guess there is no better gift than that during the holidays.

Invictus tells the story of Nelson Mandela as he is released from prison and is shortly elevated as president of South Africa in the early 90’s. Mandela, played by Morgan Freeman, recognizes the opportunity to unite his fragmented country together using rugby. His plan was to inspire the World Cup underdogs to victory and his country to greatness.

Invictus is an enjoyable film, one part politics, one part racial reconciliation, and one part sports. Like The Blind Side, there is a little bit for everyone to enjoy. While the story is nothing less than amazing, Invictus is better in parts than as the whole. There are many strong scenes that make you shake your head in amazement because of the inspirational leadership of Mandela. However, despite memorable moments, Invictus leaks momentum throughout till it builds to an anti-climatic sports conclusion. It wasn’t bad enough to ruin the film but definitely you couldn’t help but feel the lost opportunity.

Morgan Freeman successfully channels the regal spirit of Mandela, without him there would be no movie. Matt Damon does a fine job as the rugby Captain Francois Pienaar. It wasn’t a stellar performance but he fit the part of the reluctant leader adequately.

My main complaint about Invictus falls on the shoulders of its director. As talented as Director Clint Eastwood is, you can see his inexperience with the sports genre. Being unfamiliar with rugby (like the rest of the western world) I found myself lost in the action of the game. I had no idea if a play was good or bad or what was at stake. It also didn’t help that some of the scenes were drawn out because of slow motion. So while the human drama was strong, Eastwood ‘dropped the ball’ with the sporting element of the film.

I am a sucker for true stories (actual photo above) and this really helps it’s mild success of this film. Like The Blind Side, you are a little more forgiving of the movie knowing it’s true life origins. So if you like one of the following; rugby, politics, racial reconciliation, Morgan Freeman, confusing sports scenes, or excessive slow motion- then go see Invictus.

I give it 3 out of 5 Babbles

If you are interested in reading the poem in which the movie is named after, check it out on my other blog.

San Diego Comic Con 10

Believe it or not, it’s time to start thinking about Comic Con 10 (July 22nd-25th)! It’s the 41st anniversary and will no doubt be the biggest Con ever! The four-day passes sold out in record time already and hotels are getting tougher to get by the day. Last year, there was over 125K in attendance! The individual day passes go on sale tomorrow (Dec 15th) so don’t delay. You better get to the tickets before hordes of ”Twi-hard” locust swarm in .

Click here to buy individual day tickets (starting Dec 15th)

Check out posts and pics from last years Comic Con.

Listen to our Comic Con 09 podcast.

"Wonder Nerd powers activate!"

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and hotness

In the strange saga of America’s obsession with Zombies perhaps the strangest twist by far is the phenomenon of Pride and Prejudice…and Zombies. Yes, you read it correctly. If you haven’t heard of this book that has been sweeping the nation then you soon will because it is going to become a major motion picture. When I first heard about this I just sort of shrugged. I thought maybe it will be good but probably not, that is until I just heard it announced who the leading lady will be. Take a guess anyone? Would you believe the one and only Natalie Portman? Now I’m totally in, not merely because she is freaking gorgeous, but generally speaking, she makes good movies. (Now, now, let’s not be so quick to point out Episodes 1-3.)

Consequently, this has spawned a whole series of Zombie remakes. Here are a few:

5. The Zombie’s Karamazov

4. War and Peace with Zombie’s

3. Zombie’s Progress

2. The Undead Heart of Darkness

1. Oliver Dark Twist

In order to capitalize on the trend, studio’s have even begun remaking movies with Zombie’s, here are some slated for 2011 and include, Inglourious Zombies, When Zombie Harry Met Undead Sally, You’ve Got Plague and of course, Dude, Where’s My Zombie?

Of course they were considering making a Zombie Star Wars Episode 2-3 but realized that Hayden Christiansen had pretty much already filled this roll.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is being produced by Lionsgate and set to release sometime in 2011.

The princess is crowned queen at the box office

The new Disney animated tale is treated like royalty coming in at $25 million. This is fairly lackluster for the once king of the animated kingdom. However with little competition, it easily landed in number one. The Blind Side continues to surprise with another strong performance at $15.5 million bringing it’s total to an unexpected $150 million. Not bad for a movie budgeted at only $29 million. I guess no one saw the Blind Side coming. Invictus had very poor opening weekend totals at $9 million.

1		The Princess and the Frog Weekend gross: $25M
2		The Blind Side Weekend gross: $15.5M
3		Invictus Weekend gross: $9.1M
4		Twilight: New Moon Weekend gross: $8M
5		A Christmas Carol Weekend gross: $6.9M

Dexter: Season 1 DVD

Cold.

Calculating.

Emotionless.

Disturbingly likeable.

But enough about me, today I want to talk about Dexter, the star of the original Showtime series of the same name. I realize that the show first aired in 2006, but I have just discovered it, thanks to the Black Friday machinations of my fellow Babbler, Johnny. He, Jeff, and I have been unfolding Season 1 over the last couple of weeks, and I think I can speak for them as well as myself when I say that I like what I see.

Dexter (Michael C. Hall) is a forensics expert, employed by the Miami police department. His specialty is in blood, and his expertise comes not only from his professional work but also from his personal pastime. Dexter, you see, is a serial killer. He kills cleanly, carefully, and conscientiously; only the bad guys who go unnoticed by the law or escape the hands of justice end up on his radar and in his collection. He avoids detection himself by maintaining a façade of caring brother, loving boyfriend, and all-around nice guy.

Therein lies the rub. Dexter is a cold-blooded killer, liar, and probable psychopath. For all of that, you can’t help but like him! Mr. Hall skillfully wields both sides of his character’s personalities such ambidexterity* that you can never forget his true nature, yet you are willing to overlook it. In fact, despite his complete lack of societal ethics, it is hard not to cheer for him as he accomplishes what the police cannot.

Dexter is supported by a cadre of clever characters: Harry, his foster father who (via flashbacks) helps Dex understand his place in society. Deb, his foster sister, a rookie homicide cop who swears like a sailor and has no idea what her brother really is. Rita, his emotionally fragile girlfriend with a dark note in her own past. Sgt. Doakes, a hard-nosed detective who senses something awry with Dex. Masuka, a fellow forensics expert is played to comedic effect by C.S. Lee (whom you might remember as Buy More manager Harry Tang from TV’s Chuck).

I highly recommend Dexter, Season 1, even as I haven’t finished watching it myself. Be advised that the show does contain adult themes, strong language, violence (duh), and occasional sexual situations. That said, Dexter is extremely well-written, acted, and produced, and fully deserves its 3.5 Babbles.

3.5 / 5 Babbles

*Pun fully intended, and no doubt what the writers had in mind when they named the character.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

New Tron Legacy pics

Tron returns to the cyberworld on Decemeber 10th. Next Christmas can’t come soon enough! 

Check out our exclusive pics about TRON at Comic Con 09 along with the trailer.

armored

The world loves heist films! American and international cinema has embraced this genre and explored almost every possibility. A group of people, a big payday, a hitch in the plan, maybe even a hold out in the group and you’ve got the basic formula for a heist flick. It’s been a little while since Hollywood has hoisted good heist. Director, Antal Nimród (Neemrode) and actor, Matt Dillon round up a crew for one big score.

Columbus Short (Stomp The Yard, Cadillac Records) plays Ty Hackett, a decorated war vet and rookie armored truck guard. Ty is coerced by five of his coworkers to join them in stealing their $42 million cargo and making it look as though they had been robbed. Their foolproof plan meets a deadly wrinkle, the group begins to unravel and Ty finds himself a lone holdout amid desperate thieves.

Hungarian-American director, Nimród (Vacancy 2007)*, takes a very manly approach to this film. No romance or women to clot this testosterone cannon of a film. He keeps the pace thumping with chases, knuckle busting action, guns and explosions. He also keeps the visuals gritty with special effects, leaving the CGI in the tool box. Nothing new, but a decent redux of vintage guy film elements.

The cast does a good job of selling a mediocre story. Columbus Short fights for his Hollywood life to deliver a performance worthy of a leading role, though he seems, at times, to be a grad of the Denzel Washington school of facial expression. Despite that, he handles the protagonistic call well. The heist crew is comprised of Matt Dillon** as the leader, Laurence Fishburn as the heavy (the pun is in FULL effect here), Jean Reno (fresh off of Couples Retreat), Skeet Ulrich (Scream) and Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break, Max Payne). Milo Ventimiglia of NBC’s Heroes fame joins the fun as the curious Sheriff Eckehart. I’m now a former Heroes watcher and can safely say this is the most interesting story line Milo’s been a part of in a couple years. That show’s on the skids.

This film may not appeal to many women (except my wife, who thinks limb breaking and exit wounds make a movie “awesome!”) but it will quench the adrenaline thirst of teens and middle-aged guys looking to cleanse the palate after taking the wife to see The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Heist films have a very strong legacy. Armored doesn’t measure up to greats like Heat or Oceans 11 (either one), but it didn’t rob me blind like The Ladykillers did, so I give Armored 2.5 out of 5 Babbles. I would have ranked it higher if it was straight to DVD.

*Antal Nimród is currently directing Predators featuring everyone’s favorite dreadlocked alien game hunters.

**Matt Dillon is also starring in an upcoming heist film called Takers. That film has a higher profiled cast.

My top 5 James Cameron movies of all time

As we approach the release of the highly anticipated and long waited AVATAR on December 18th, I thought it would be great to be reminded of some of James Cameron’s other achievements over his lifetime. AVATAR marks the grand return of Cameron to the big screen after 12 years. If you are a younger, you might not appreciate the genius of Cameron and how he shaped an entire generation of film goers. His creations became not only are some of the most profitable films in history, but some of the most iconic films in the sci-fi genre. So in honor of Cameron, here are the original trailers from my top 5 films that made him a legend.

#5 The Abyss (1989)

#4 Titanic (1997)

#3 Terminator (1984)

#2 Aliens (1986)

#1 Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

Fantastic Mr. Fox is..well, Fantastic.

So Fantastic Mr. Fox came out over Thanksgiving and I finally got around to seeing it. Wes Anderson is arguably my favorite director and so I am surprised it took me so long to see this movie, however, last Saturday I finally completed this task so mission accomplished.

Going in I had heard good reviews of this movie but was unsure what to expect. I love Wes Anderson’s clever and playful style but I didn’t know how it would transfer to the big screen. I was not disappointed.

This movie is good, really good. It’s very entertaining and fun to watch. The story is based on the book by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach) and follows the exploits of one dashing and daring Mr. Fox who made his living by dangerous raids on local poultry farms, that is until, after almost getting caught, his pregnant wife made him promise to stop.

Seven years later, Mr. Fox is feeling restless, pent up and poor and longs for his days of youth, and so it is that he plans one last major raid on series of three that have recently moved in. These of course are no ordinary farms, but are the estates of Boggis, Bunce and Bean, three of the meanest, toughest and well off farmers around. After the raids take place, the farmers decide to get revenge and chaos ensues.

In their attempt to end Mr. Fox’s reign they devise a plan that ends up endangering ALL of the animals in the forest, who in turn, take out their frustrations (rightfully so) on Mr. Fox.

Additionally Mr. Fox’s son Ash and his cousin Kristofferson get into quite a bit of trouble along the way. As if all this isn’t enough, the worst of the worst happen, Mr. Fox must deal with the irate but lovely Mrs. Fox, who tells him in no uncertain terms, that their marriage was a huge mistake. Eventually Mr. Fox releases he has one of two choices: A. Turn himself in or B. come up with a cunning plan to save them all, that eventually requires everyone’s help.  He opts for option B.

Anderson pulls out an all star casts of voiceovers. In addition to his usual suspects of Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Willem Dafoe, Mr. Anderson adds the talents of George Clooney, Meryl Streep and even himself, forming a narrative that is entertaining to listen to. Clooney is as smooth as ever and you could argue this movie even resembles an animated Ocean’s 11.

Mr. Anderson continues to display his brilliant panache for soundtracks as he mixes in multiple original tracks of folksy. banjo laden, thigh slapping, back porch twang with an iconic set of classic rock and roll. (Who else could put the Rolling Stones and Beach Boys in a kid’s movie?) The culmination of which is the performance of campfire jam and narrative performed by the local Folk singer Petey. It is brilliant and I plan on buying it.

Anderson does a magnificent job of mixing in his quirky, dry humor with his playful and ironic story telling. In typical fashion he manages to mix in his deeper themes of the need for family, friendship and the struggles to be something we are not versus accepting what we are.

 Of course any Wes Anderson fan will love this movie,  but it is so well done that any adult should be able to as well. I will say kids can enjoy this movie but mainly elementary school kids, not preschool or kindergarten. It would be a little above the younger children’s level of understanding.

I almost gave this movie a very solid four Babbles but as I thought more and more about it, this movie is really well done and a four seems a little too low. So it is I will agree with my fellow Babbler Johnny and give this movie a 4.5 Babbles. After all, just like Mr. Fox, this movie is fantastic.

Hit from the Blind Side (Box Office Dec 4-6th)

The Blind Side comes back with an extremely strong 3rd week in release overtaking the juggernaut, Twilight: New Moon (both released on Nov 20th). It’s obvious that strong word of mouth and overall positive message helped bring its total to $130 million in just a few weeks. Twilight still beat all competitors raking in over $250 million domestically. However, it’s no doubt that The Blind Side took a ’bite’ out of Twilight’s profits. Great to see a movie about hope and justice doing well at the theaters.

1		The Blind Side Weekend gross: $20.4M
2		Twilight: New Moon Weekend gross: $15.7M
3		Brothers Weekend gross: $9.7M
4		A Christmas Carol Weekend gross: $7.5M
5		Old Dogs Weekend Weekend gross: $6.9M

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Podcast

Our latest podcast is up! In this episode we review New Moon and the overall Twilight phenomenon that is sweeping the nation. In this podcast, we not only discuss our critical review of the movies but it’s impact on pop culture, the next generation, and morality. Since none of the Babblers are big fans, we brought in two experts, or ’Twi-hards’ to help us understand what all the hype is about. Check it out and leave us your thoughts.

The Twilight podcast can be found here.