Hugo (2011)

Hugo
One word describes this movie: Beautiful.
Martin Scorsese kicked serious ass in his first kids movie.
It was made for adults to enjoy as well.
And it was made especially for fans of film and film history.
Beautiful colors.
Inspirational.
Touched the heart in some ways.
My favorite character has to be the the station inspector
played by Sacha Baron Cohen.
The other characters were awesome too.
Good moments like the flashback scenes where this kid
is amazed on the magic of making movies.
Can't wait to see this movie again.
Another note to add:
The 3D here is so amazing.
This is what 3D should be about.
Not that other cgi crappy 3D effects (Captain America).

Definitely in my top 10 favorite movies of this year.
Check it out.

The Tree of Life (2011)

The Tree of Life
I didn't like it.
Some art fans might like it.
I tried to like it but it was just too much and too long.
It was mostly boring.
The first 40 minutes are nothing but images
with some narration here and there.
I thought I was watching some documentary about the history on
the Earth (dinasours, the ocean, nature).
Then after a while we get to some of the spoken dialogue scenes.
A little confusing.
Brad Pitt was alright.
Sean Penn has like a total of 10 minutes of screen time
in this 2 hour and 13 minute movie.
The kid the plays the young Sean Penn's character was really good.
The music was okay.
But that's about it.
I thought it was going to be more drama between
father and son relationship.
But what I got is pure poetry about God and nature.
It's not exactly my cup of tea in a movie.
This was mostly shot in Austin and surrounding areas.
Cool to see the Barton Springs Pool making it into the movie.

Don't waste your time on this unless you have very good patience.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
A little cute and a little sweet but nothing
to be excited about.
I was expecting lots of more music.
I like the beginning parts but then it drags on
about them finding their drunk friend.
But then there's a part I liked where the friend drops her
phone and her gum in a dirty brown water toilet.
She gets both of them and puts the gum back into her mouth.
The rest was just typical.
Of course Nick and Norah fall in love with each other.
If they didn't, what kind of movie would this be?

An alright one time only movie when you're bored and you want
to see something while having lunch.
Good with a turkey sandwich.
And have a bubble gum for dessert.

Family

YAKUZA NIGHT THURSDAY

Every third Thursday of every month of this year,
I'll be watching a yakuza flick.
Love the yakuza genre but haven't really seen a whole lot.
There's a lot of classics out there.
This will help me explore these Japanese movies.
I'll be watching a few from directors,
Kinji Fukasaku, and Takashi Miike, as well other
yakuza flicks from the 60's and to the present.


Family
This started out freaking crazy (Takashi Miike style)
but then it turned out very confusing.
It was hard for me to follow the story and some of the characters.
But I love the metal/punk music on here.
There was hardly yakuza traditional stuff but there was some
to qualify this as a yakuza flick.
This is known as Family 2 in some countries but it's not a sequel.
I love some of blood splatter scenes near the beginning.
Most of it was kind of slow.
My favorite Yakuza film from Miike is still Graveyard of Honor.

No trailer found.

Bellflower (2011)

NEW RELEASE TUESDAY


Bellflower
This movie sounded a bit interesting when I saw the trailer
in the theatre. So I said, what the hell?
So what's my word on this?
Kind of stupid movie.
Picture the suburb California kids from Laguna Beach and
put em in a semi violent movie, and you get this.
In fact, the dialogue and acting here is just like those MTV shows.
So, right away, not a good start.
There's interesting things in the story but very little.
It gets a little unpredictable towards the end but
once again, I didn't feel these characters, so who cares?

My advice, don't bother even renting this.

24 Hour Party People

24 Hour Party People
Not bad, people.
The beginnings of Punk Rock are shown in this documentary.
Well, more specifically, punk rock in the U.K.
And even more specifically, this focuses on the band, Joy Division.
I like the soundtrack and the whole story of rock and roll.
My favorite parts where in the first half.
The second half felt a little too long.
I like the style they told the story, documentary style.
I like the part where our main character tells us right near the
beginning, the future and destiny of everybody else in the room.
Gotta mention the music again.
I mean, they have the Sex Pistols here.
Good soundtrack.

If you're a fan of classic punk, this would be a good movie to check out.
For everyone else, depends on the mood, I guess.
It's alright.
This made me want to watch another punk movie, SLC Punk.

Career Opportunities

Career Opportunities
Silly movie from the early 90's.
Produced by John Hughes so it has to have
a cameo by John Candy.
Anyways, this was alright.
I always wondered what would it be like to be locked in
overnight inside Target. Well, now I kind of know.
Not bad. I don't know if I'll be roller skating all over
the store but eating popcorn and jumping all over the store,
sure why not?
I've seen lots of films with the main actor here but he's usually
in minor roles.
It was kind of funny in the first 30 minutes.
Then the rest was so and so.
This inspired me to have a bad 80's night or 80's night in general.

This DVD was hard to get, but if I Luv Video doesn't have it,
Vulcan Video never fails. These stores are only in Austin, of course.