Valkyrie, an historical thriller, is based off of the true story of Operation Valkyrie, a German military plan, which would call the reserve troops of the German Army to service during WWII. In 1944, some German dissidents conspired to use Operation Valkyrie to take control of the German SS and bring order back to the German government in order to make peace with Allied forces and end the war. In order for this plot to be successful, Adolf Hitler would have to be killed so that German soldiers would be free of their oath to be loyal to him.
The German dissidents enlisted the help of Colonel Claus von Staffenberg, a German Army officer who had shown some resistance to the Nazi party movement. Staffenberg was placed in charge of the reserve army, which also gave him the security clearance to be apart of Hilter’s inner circle. Because of this, Staffenberg was also given the assignment to terminate Hitler.
On July 20, 1944, the plot was attempted and failed. When the conspirators were caught, they were excecuted in the courtyard of the Bendlerblock, which was used as an administrative building for the military during the war.
I was pleasantly surprised by this film. Going into it, I really didn’t expect much. Not knowing much about the historical aspect of Valkyrie, I found the movie to be pretty suspensful. I knew that it was a failed attempt at an assassination of Hitler, but did not know all the details. The action of the movie starts very early on and as a viewer, I didn’t ever really get a chance to relax. Director Bryan Singer (X-Men, Superman Returns) gave Valkyrie an action movie feel while maintaining the historical nature of it.
After doing a little bit of research on Operation Valkyrie, I have found that the movie stays pretty close to the original plot. I’m sure some liberties were taken, but the basic story is the same. Tom Cruise plays the part of Colonel Staffenberg and is joined by other acting heavy hitters such as, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson.
Cruise took a very active role in getting Valkyrie made. He first took interest in the picture because Singer was directing it and later decided to commit to the lead role because Cruise and Staffenberg have similar profiles. Because the picture is financed by United Artists, Cruise is also listed as an executive producer. Cruise also led the crew in a moment of silence prior to the filming of the excution of the conspiritors at Bendlerblock.
While this film certainly does not reach the status of other WWII films such as, Saving Private Ryan or Schindler’s List, it is a good portrayal of Operation Valkyrie and not a bad way to spend winter afternoon.
This past weekend saw the opening on Punisher: War Zone. This is supposed to be a sequel to the 2004 release of The Punisher starring Thomas Jane, however, nothing about War Zone seems to have anything to do with the 2004 version. The director, writers and even the leading actor has changed. I enjoyed Punisher (2004) and would have welcomed a sequel based on that version, but I’m pretty leery of diving into this 2008 sequel. I will probably get it from Netflix.
On Friday, December 12, the Earth will stand still. Fifty-seven years after 20th Century Fox gave us The Day the Earth Stood Still, the company decided to remake the classic starring Keanu Reeves. For those of you who have yet to see the original, I HIGHLY recommend it. The story is really entertaining and at the time of its release, pretty original. I am looking forward to comparing the two films, however, I don’t see why someone felt the need to remake the original.
Next weekend, December 19th, we have three releases: Yes Man, Seven Pounds and The Tale of Despereaux. I am looking forward to each of these. Yes Man, starring Jim Carrey, is a comedy about a man who decides to say ‘yes’ to every request of him for a year. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a real Jim Carrey comedy and this one looks to be a good one. Seven Pounds is a story about a man who sets out to change the lives of seven people. Starring Will Smith, Seven Pounds has an air of mystery about it. The trailers are pretty elusive about the plot, but from what I’ve seen, I’m intrigued enough to go see it. The Tale of Despereaux, is about a mouse who wants to be more then a mouse. There are some pretty impressive voice actors lending their talents to this film. Among them are: Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin Kline and Christopher Lloyd. The Tale of Despereaux is based off of an award winning children’s book written by Kate DiCamillo. I think this one will probably be the family film of the season.
There are several movies being released on Christmas Day: Bedtime Stories, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Marley and Me, The Spirit and Valkyrie. Bedtime Stories, the newest film from Adam Sandler, looks to be a cute film, however, there is an extremely similar movie starring Brenden Fraiser being released in January called, Inkheart. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will probably be good because there is great talent in front of the camera, however, the story is a bit odd. The main character is growing younger, not older, as time goes on. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are starring in the leading roles of this film. Marley and Me stars Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. I have no doubt this will be one families will venture out to see. Marley and Me is based off of the New York Bestseller of the same title written by John Grogan as an autobigraphical account of his family’s life with their labrador retriever, Marley.
The Spirit, directed by Frank Miller, seems to have the same look and feel as 300 and Sin City. The film is based off of a graphic novel by Will Eisner, but Miller wrote the screenplay. I think this has the potential to be a really good action adventure. And, as an added bonues, Samuel L. Jackson is in it. Last, but not least, we come to Valkyrie. Directed by Bryan Singer, Valkyrie is a WWII thriller based off of actual events about a group of men who plotted to kill Adolf Hitler. There has been a great deal of controversy surrounding this movie due to several factors including, Cruise’s religious beliefs and the desire to film the movie in Bendlerblock, the site of the conspiritors’ excecution. There has even been some Macbeth-like superstition within the production of the movie when the scene shot at Bendlerblock was ruined in processing and had to be reshot. I am really looking forward to this film as I am interested in WWII history.
That rounds out 2008 and looking towards 2009, we have the next installment of Harry Potter, a live-action G.I. Joe movie, and another Fast and Furious movie, just to name a few.
What would you do if you suddenly found yourself completely broke and living in an apartment without water, heat or electricity? I think that most people would attempt to sell off wordly posessions or perhaps move back in with family until circumstances get better, but not Zack and Miri, the hero and heroine in Kevin Smith’s newest flick, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.
Zack (Seth Rogen) and Miri (Elizabeth Banks) are lifelong platonic friends in their late 20s who live together in an apartment in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even though they share financial responsibilities, they find themselves in a tremendous amount of debt and in danger of being evicted. They come up with the idea of making a pornographic film in order to make ends meet.
Rogen and Banks have good on-screen chemistry and their relationship was totally believeable. I’ve become a fast fan of Rogen and was really excited when I heard he was going to work on a Smith film. Other cast members include Craig Robinson (Darrell from The Office) and Kevin Smith regulars, Jason Mewes and Jeff Anderson. The ensemble worked well together, although I must admit that Robinson stole the show for me.
I have been a fan of Kevin Smith for several years now and I was exstatic to hear he was doing another film. He is best known for what is known as the “Jersey Films”, (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and Clerks 2) where all the movies exist in the same universe. The characters in this particular set of movies have overlapping lifes and all of them are set in or around Red Bank, New Jersey. Although it is set in New Jersey, Jersey Girl is not considered one of the core Jersey Films because it does not exist in the same film universe. I could easily go on and on about Smith’s films because they have shaped so many newer filmmakers and actors careers. Smith paved the way for more independant films to become mainstream.
Zack and Miri Make a Porno has the feel of a classic Kevin Smith movie, but I felt like something was missing. I finally put my finger on it after a bit of reflection. Smith’s movies are all about character development through creative dialogue. That’s what makes them so relatable. Clerks is almost completely driven through the lines of characters because the rest of the movie is so minimalistic. With Zack and Miri, the film felt like it was all about the action and not the relationships. In that respect, I think that the film could have been better. It would have been nice to understand Zack and Miri past the fact that they are friends who live together.
For those of you planning on seeing Zack and Miri, don’t take the kids. Although it goes without saying, there is some graphic sex and vulagar language. With ‘porno’ in the title, what else would you expect? Smith narrowly missed an NC-17 rating for this one. He was able to appeal the MPAA decision downgrading the film to an R rating without having to cut a single scene.
With the recent success of Judd Apatow movies (Knocked Up, 40-Year Old Virgin), I wonder if Smith was attempting to one-up Apatow in the genre and I wonder what Apatow’s response will be. I think it would be interesting to see the pair of writer-directors work on a project together.
At first glance, Appaloosa seems pretty cut and dry. It’s a standard western, right? The film is set in the 1880s in a small, lawless, Western town called, Appaloosa. Two peace-keeping friends, Virgil Cole (Ed Harris) and Everett Hitch (Viggo Mortensen) are called in by the town’s leaders to help restore the peace and tranquility that was present before all hell broke loose due mostly to the gang of Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons). The pair are well on their way to completing their job when a young widow (Renee Zellweger) moves into the town distracting them from taking down Bragg. The story is taken from a book by the same name by Robert B. Parker, a crime writer. While it seemed that all the right people were in the right place at the right time, something about this movie just fell flat.
Veteran actor, Ed Harris, takes a stab at directing and writing with Appaloosa. Although it’s not his directing debut (Pollack, 2000), it is his first attempt at screenwriting. As if writing, directing and acting in a film isn’t enough, Harris also co-produced Appaloosa alongside co-screenwriter, Robert Knott. According to Wikipedia, Harris enjoyed Parker’s novel because it had the feel of a classic western, but incorporated contemporary criminal themes. He was also drawn to the friendship of the two main characters. Harris had Mortensen in mind for the role of Hitch after working with him on a History of Violence.
While the story revolves around the two main characters, the rest of the cast is equally amazing. Irons always plays a villian ruthlessly and Lance Henricksen plays a gun-for-hire role flawlessly. In fact, the only real issue I had with the cast was Zellweger. While I normally enjoy her performances, Zellweger was simply luke warm this time out. She didn’t have the right demeanor to play the part. The relationship she has with the other characters just seemed disconnected to me. Diane Lane was slated to play the part of Allie French, but pulled out of the picuture when production stalled. I personally would have liked to see her rendition of the young widow.
As I’m sure some of you have noticed, I tend to find at least one good thing about a movie, even if I wasn’t thrilled with it’s excecution. Well, the witty dialogue kept this one moving for me. I think that there will probably be an award nomination coming from this film, and I would place my bet on the actors. If you are remotely interested in Appaloosa, I would suggest waiting for the rental.
I apologize for my rather lengthy hiatus from movie reviews, however, there haven’t been any that have really struck my fancy in the latter parts of the summer. Luckily, we are coming up on the holiday/fall movie season and there are quite a few I would like to see. Let’s start with October.
This past week, Appaloosa and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People were released. I’m hoping to review at least one of them within the next week, but I’m interested in seeing both. Appaloosa is a western based around a town without laws needing lawmen to clean up the mess. It’s been getting pretty good reviews and the buzz has been really positive. I hope it lives up to the hype. How to Lose Friends just looks like a fun comedy starring Kirsten Dunst and Simon Pegg. I’m all for frivolity once in a while.
I am somewhat interested in Quarantine, which is set to release this week. It doesn’t have any ‘big’ names headlining it, but it intrigues me the same way Cloverfield did last year. This movie focuses around an apartment building that is quarantined for an unknown reason and the residents are never heard from again. The only clue to their disapearances is the news crew’s footage that is discovered sometime after the event. I’m interested, but I won’t be crushed if I don’t see it until it’s available for rental.
Body of Lies, also set to release this week, looks pretty good. I was impressed with the last DiCaprio flick I saw (The Departed), so why not give this one a chance? Ridley Scott directs Leo alongside Russel Crowe in this film about an ex-journalist who is working with the CIA in order to track down an Al Qaeda leader in Jordan. From what the trailer suggests, Crowe’s character has his own agenda that doesn’t have to do with capturing the bad guy. Again, I’m interested, but won’t be disappointed if I don’t see it on the big screen. This film feels like a plea for an Oscar nod.
For all those High School Musical fans out there, the third installment of the popular Disney series is set to release later this month. I’m sure they are fun movies and I tend to appreciate films for what they are and not what they should be, but I’m just not into these. For those of you who are, I hope you enjoy senior year with Zac Efron.
Clint Eastwood’s latest picture Changeling looks pretty good. It is set in the 1920s and focuses on a Los Angeles woman’s search for her kidnapped son. Starring Angelina Jolie and John Malkovich, Changeling’s story seems similar to LA Confidential in that Malkovich’s character is committed to exposing the corruption that has taken over the LAPD. I would suggest that anyone interested take a look at the trailer. Again, it looks like it could be an Oscar contender, but it’s too early to tell. Changeling is set to release on October 24.
Saw V will be released on the same weekend. Enough said.
Edward Norton and Colin Farrell are starring in a New York City cop movie called Pride and Glory. Looks ok. Will probably be renting it through Netflix.
On October 31st, Kevin Smith reveals Zack and Miri Make a Porno to the world. This film has been in the works for several years and I will go into it blindly for two reasons: Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen. What can I say, I’m a fan of both. Basically, two roommates, who have never had a romantic relationship, find themselves broke and decide to make a porno to get themselves out of their financial bind. The trailer looks pretty funny and I really enjoy the movie poster, which depicts two stick figures that resemble the main characters.
That pretty much covers October. Stay tuned for my outlook on November/December movies.
Don LaFontaine, the man most known as that announcer guy in movie trailers and television spots, passed away at age 68. While he has no connection to Evansville that I can see, it’s somewhat sad that movie trailers will no longer have that same voice backing them.
SPOILER ALERT: I don’t really reveal anything too specific, however, I want to warn anyone who hasn’t seen The Dark Knight that I give a pretty in-depth review of performances and character details.
First of all, I must apologize for this long overdue review. However, at this point all of the hype is old news and I think a real discussion can be had about The Dark Knight.
The Dark Knight focuses on developing some of the secondary characters in the Batman universe. Police Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) continues his personal quest to rid the city of corruption and greed. We get to see a little more of Gordon’s personal life and his collaboration with District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart). Dent is also committed to make the city free of organized crime and is called “Gotham’s White Knight” by Lt. Gordon. In the Batman mythology, Dent is a close friend of Bruce Wayne. This relationship is touched on and developed well, however, I hoped they would wait to reveal the villain inside Dent until the next movie. The Dark Knight also introduces Batman’s most famous foe, The Joker (Heath Ledger).
I will admit I was skeptical of Ledger playing the Joker. To me, the Joker is Jack Nicholson. I grew up with Tim Burton’s Batman and always saw the Joker as Jacky. However, after seeing The Dark Knight, I think Ledger’s Joker is far superior. Nicholson is an icon and as such, he cannot be replaced. However, when he was the Joker, he was still Jack Nicholson. From the moment the theater darkened, Heath Ledger ceased to be and the Joker was born. It’s the first time I’ve actually been scared of a Batman villain. If you don’t go see this movie for any other reason, go to see a truly great performance.
Bruce Wayne/Batman are again played by Christian Bale. I have heard some people criticize him for the raspy voice he uses during his scenes as Batman, but I find it essential for Batman to strike fear into the hearts of evil-doers throughout Gotham. Plus it’s just really, really cool. I’ve been a fan of Bale’s work for sometime, however, after seeing him reprise his role as Gotham’s Dark Knight, I decided to attempt to watch all of his films. Netflix is making that possible and I might even start writing some reviews about his earlier works. I would recommend this type of movie marathon for anyone who is a fan of a particular actor. It’s interesting to see how an actor changes throughout his or her career.
As for The Dark Knight, I really loved this film. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been completely consumed by a movie. I look a movies as a way to escape the ordinary and observe an art form in it’s purest form. I’ve always believed that movies exist for the soul purpose of entertaining. Unfortunately, there are some people who make movies to win awards that mean nothing. Luckily for us, directors like Christopher Nolan are making movies and making movies well. It took a very special cast and crew, as well as creative vision to reinvent the Batman franchise. Thankfully, the right people were in the right place at the right time for The Dark Knight.
If you aren’t planning on watching the Olympic opening ceremonies this Friday evening, our friends at the Evansville Civic Theatre are having a screening of a new film that was shot in the Evansville area called The Anathema Report.
The story, sort of a worst-case scenario of what could go wrong in America, takes place in one evening. Imagine life in the wake of terrorist attacks by unknown individuals, people fleeing for the heartland, an every-man-for-himself chaos, government militias and a strange epidemic on the scale of the 1918 flu pandemic.
There are two showings (7 and 10:15) with tickets going for $10 a pop. After watching the trailer, I’m not so sure it’s my type of flick, but if you go, be sure to come back and let me know how the flick is.
Let’s face it. Outside of drug busts and people getting run over it’s been pretty slow around town lately. Taking queue from one of my favorite sports blogs, The Big Lead, let’s talk movies.
Enjoyed Adam Sandler’s career on SNL. Watch the re-runs all the time. Thought Billy Madison was humorous, and we won’t immediately click away from Wedding Singer if it’s on TBS. But starting with Waterboy in 1998, has a funny guy had a more unwatchable career than Adam Sandler? The guy’s making incredible loot, but can you honestly say you’ve walked away from a Sandler flick in the last 10 years and thought, ‘awesome!’?
I personally thought Waterboy was a funny flick after you’ve watched it a few times. It’s on the list of movies I will start watching on TV whenever I see it. After that, however, they are right. Garbage.
I think Will Ferrell is nipping at Sandler’s heels though. Let’s analyze his past 5 years:
Old School: Loved it
Elf: Eh
Anchorman: Pretty good
Kicking & Screaming: Awful
Bewitched: Horrific
Talladega Nights: Blech
Blades of Glory: Unbearable
Semi-Pro: Can’t make myself watch another Ferrell sports flick
Step Brothers: Waiting on DVD.
I’ve heard some good things about Step Brothers, but the recent string of sports parody movies has made my Will Ferrell stock drop. Whose worse than Sandler or Ferrell? Tell me in the comments.
After seeing Ironman and the Incredible Hulk this summer, I was inspired to look into a few origins of comic book movies. That research evolved into a Marvel vs. DC debate with myself. Being a fan of comic book movies, and comic books themselves, I decided to develop the debate into a review of sorts and share my findings and opinons with others. Ironically, there was a short commentary on NPR this morning about this very subject. If you are interested, I would suggest you check it out.
There have been Marvel/DC debates for years among comic books fans. That discussion has now carried over into the film world. Over the past few years, some of the most successful movies have been adaptations from the pages of Marvel and DC. Ironman, a Marvel adaptation and also the highest grossing movie in 2008 thus far, has already made over $500 million worldwide.
Since 1951, approximately 44 adaptations have been released in theaters and with the super-hero trend in recent years, there are more to come. I have compiled a list of the movies in development based off of information from Wikipedia. I was able to confirm some of the data by cross-referencing with IMDB (Internet Movie Database), however, it is impossible to tell how accurate any of this information is.
Marvel
Film Title
Release Year
Director
Status
Punisher: War Zone
Dec 5, 2008
Lexi Alexander
Post-Production
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
May 1, 2009
Gavin Hood
Filming
Luke Cage
2009
John Singleton
Announced/Scripting
Silver Surfer
2009
Alex Proyas
Announced
The Hands of Shang-Chi
2009
Woo-ping Yuen
Announced
X-Men Origins: Magneto
2009
David S. Goyer
Announced/budgeting
Iron Man 2
Apr 30, 2010
n/a
In Development
Thor
Jun 4, 2010
Matthew Vaughn
Pre-Production/Scripting
Nick Fury
2010
n/a
Announced
Doctor Strange
2010
Guillermo del Toro
Announced
The First Avenger: Captain America
May 6, 2011
Nick Cassavetes
Announced/scripting
Spiderman 4
May 20, 2011
n/a
Announced
The Avengers
Jul 2, 2011
n/a
Announced
DC
Film
Release Date
Director
Status
The Spirit
Christmas 2008
Frank Miller
Post-Production
Constantine 2
2008
n/a
Unknown
Watchmen
Mar 6, 2009
Zack Snyder
Post-Production
The Flash
2010
David Dobkin
Unknown
Jonah Hex
2010
Mark Neveldine/ Brian Taylor
Pre-Production
The Man of Steel
2010
Bryan Singer
Announced
Green Lantern
2010
n/a
In Development
Wonder Woman
2011
n/a
Announced/scripting
Justice League: Mortal
2011
George Miller
Pre-Production/tabled
This summer has already seen the release of two Marvel films (Ironman and The Incredible Hulk) and DC’s first flick of the year, The Dark Knight, is sure to be a success. In addition to the ‘main’ comic rivals, there are a few films registering in the box office that are based off of the stories from other publishers. Hellboy 2: The Golden Army is based off a character from the pages of Dark Horse and Wanted, starring Angeline Jolie, is loosely based on a series written by Mark Millar.
The debate between Marvel and DC will sadly not be settled by the films the comics produce. Each company has their own strengths and weaknesses as far as the films go, however, Marvel, in my opinion, comes out on top. They have many more marketable heroes and their stories seem to reach more people. That being said, my personal favorite is actually the DC hero, Batman. He isn’t a ’super’ hero. He is simply a bad-ass detective trying to make things right while battling his own internal demons.
If you are interested in boning up on your comic book movies, here are a few films you might want to catch.
Superman (1978) – the original directed by Richard Donner, and in my opinion, still the best version of this good-hearted alien.
Supergirl (1984) – not a ‘good’ movie by any means, but kind of fun to watch because it’s so bad.
Batman (1989) – I like this version because of Jack’s Joker, but also because it’s directed by Tim Burton. It’s a must see for all of the Batman fans.
Batman Begins (2005) – Christian Bale’s Batman is the best. I can’t imagine how we ever did it without him.
Howard the Duck (1986) – Horrible movie, but where else can you see an alien duck walk hand-in-hand with Lea Thompson and her 80s hair?
X-Men (2000) – This film exceeded all my hopes. I would also suggest the sequels for the die-hard fans who can overlook some of the lesser qualities of those films.
Spiderman (2002) – Wow. If you haven’t seen this, where have you been? It’s on TNT every other weekend.
Besides the upcoming release of The Dark Knight, I am looking forward to the set-up that Marvel is doing for the Avengers and hopefully, the DC release of the Justice League. Also being a fan of Wolverine, I am interested in the X-men Origins movie. Most of all, I just hope this trend of quality films continues to be produced from these companies.
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