Try to find this movie.

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Yeesh… I haaate to say this about an Osamu Tezuka film but, for me, it was not a positive experience. I LOVE Tezuka’s stuff, normally.

Technically any good? The animation is definitely stunning by 1980-standards. Obviously, it’s looks dated by today’s standards. But that’s not even what bothers me about this movie. The plot is incredibly thin and the goals are achieved with amazing ease. What’s worse is that there are big, long sequences of “humor” where “cartoon” characters dance around and act silly doing nothing to move the plot forward. These scenes seemed inserted to please international audiences since, at the time, most folks outside of Japan would have trouble wrapping their heads around an adult storyline told in animation, so we see what I can only describe as a Jar-Jar Binks prototype and some of his friends who are equally annoying.

How did it leave me feeling? Disappointed and longing for Tetsuwan Atomu (aka Astroboy) or Black Jack, two of Tezuka’s other creations.

Read a longer review of Hi no tori 2772: ai no kosumozon that I wrote for Otaku-Complex.com here.

Sadly, for fans of this movie, it’s hard to find anywhere and hasn’t been released on DVD in the US. If you find a US distributor, please let me know. It’s Tezuka, so I want people to have access to it.

Buy it!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Written by William Goldman and based on his book? You bet it was a positive experience!

Technically any good? While the story is a little basic, it doesn’t overextend itself by complicating the plot too much. As a result it manages to do what it sets out to do really well. And of course the acting is perfect, but what do you expect from this cast? Anthony Hopkins, Burgess Meredith and Ann flippin’ Margret!!

OH yeah and it’s directed by Richard Attenborough.

Yep. THAT Richard Attenborough.

I have to admit being a little disappointed at not being completely blown away by this film, what with the cast, director and writer being known for their relative brilliance. However, this is film embodies the way movies should be made. It’s a good solid work that doesn’t rely on gimmicks or CG or even a lot of violence to creep you the hell out.

How did it leave me feeling? Definitely entertained. Hey, Ann Margret even gives us guys (and any lesbians out there) a little peak! I thought she’d never done nudity. ANYway, it left me very entertained and interested in reading the book it was based on.

Final Rating? SIYL – See If You Like–it’s a psychological thriller so if that’s not your cuppa, skip this. But if you are a person who likes solidly made films and don’t mind a little intense suspense and a bit of blood, Magic is your movie.

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Mixed experience for sure. This movie comes from a great place, premise and intent, but the execution of it just goes south.

Technically any good? Like I said, the premise was really interesting. However, the execution felt sadly student-filmish. The acting through the first third of the film was awkward (and wasn’t so much better through the rest of it) and the editing didn’t help it. Though to be fair to the actors, almost all of them are good in places, so I tend to shrug more at the director than them.

The film felt slow and that didn’t help that the story was really thin. There were plot elements that might have been interesting in a better movie, but this movie has a bad case of trying to run before it could walk.

How did it leave me feeling? frustrated. I don’t know how this movie got in my Netflix queue, but I wish it hadn’t. However, if the filmmaker ever considers remaking this movie, I’d love to help. I truly do think it has some great ideas (and even, on occasion, some great dialog).

Final Rating? DNS – Do Not See.

Watch the trailer for
yourself!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Geh, not really. The movie might be really good, but the trailer just wanted to convince me that some folks were really, really scared by it.

Technically any good? The trailer intercuts clips of the movie with shots of the audience in a crowded theater watching the movie. Showing me how other people react to the movie didn’t make me wonder how I’d react. It made me think: “Well, I tend not to react the way most folks do, so I don’t know if I’ll like this.”

As far as the movie goes, it looks like Blair Witch Project set in an average suburban house. If that sounds appealing to you, then maybe you should see it. However, because of the nature of the cinematography (looking like home video) I’d imagine it would be much scarier watching it at home than in the theater since it would feel like a more natural environment.

The only thing I really got from the trailer was that the FX are pretty realistic. Probably CG, but minimally–WHICH IS GOOD.

How did it leave me feeling? This trailer didn’t give me enough to go on, so I can’t tell if I will go out of my way to see this or not. Probably not since most of what I remember from the trailer (which I just watched moments ago) was just the gimmick of seeing the audience in night-vision video.

Final Rating? NFI – NetFlix It: Really, how can they expect any of us in today’s economy to spend $10+ to see a movie shot like a home video?

This movie originally premiered at Screamfest back in 2007 but then was screened at Slamdance in 2008 and is slated for limited release in the US on September 25, 2009.

Buy it!

Positive Experience/Entertaining? This is easily the most entertaining, enlightening and educational documentary I’ve ever seen. It’s truly incredible!

Technically any good? Throughout the seven-movie series, there are some technical issues that make each “episode” seem less than perfect on a strictly technical level. However, what the films manage to achieve over the span of 40+ years is so amazing as to make almost any technical mistake eternally forgivable.

This series manages to give us a thumbnail sketch of the lives of 14 Brits–from the age of 7 to 49 (and I hope onward). It’s just impossible to describe what this series delivers beyond that because it undoubtedly will deliver something different to each person who watches it.

All I can say with reasonable certainty is that it will, at the very least, change how you look at your own life, regardless of class, ethnicity or nationality. For me, it did so much more. It helped me understand class, chaos, and my own choices better than I ever had.

How did it leave me feeling? Smarter. Seriously–for me watching this series was like living other people’s lifetimes. I was able to see their lives through their own eyes, learn from their mistakes, and really better understand my own life and the lives of those of my friends and family.

What the people in The UP Series have done in being in these movies is provide an amazing tool for learning that will help people all around the world and well into the future learn and understand more about humanity. Many of the participants complain about the “wound” that is opened every seven years of their lives, but for anyone watching it’s an astounding gift that that we open whenever we sit down to watch.

I am SO very thankful that this series was made and I hope very much that it continues.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you to Michael Apted, the other producers and crew that have helped over the years, and most of all, a HUGE THANK YOU to John, Charles, Andrew, Suzy, Jackie, Lynn, Sue, Tony, Paul, Symon, Nick, Peter, Neil, and Bruce for being involved in one of the few documentaries that will always contribute to betterment of humanity.

Final Rating? GSN – Go See Now. Netflix it, rent it, buy it, just SEE IT. It’s truly amazing and each person involved should be knighted by Queen Elizabeth. I’m not even kidding. As far as smart things go, this is up there with the wheel and the telescope.

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Entertaining? Sure. Good? No. I know a lot of folks disagree with me, but I just kept shaking my head almost from the very beginning.

Technically any good? The CG was incredible, as you’d expect from a Pixar movie. The acting was great, too. The basic premise was solid, as well.

Sadly, those are the only good things I can say about this movie.

Everything else, and I mean EVERYthing else, was contrived and stupid. From the talking dogs to the insane ease at which the lead characters achieve their goals to the weak reasons for conflict that stop the movie from being about 20 minutes long.

I don’t have a problem with a house being carried off by balloons. I can accept anything in a movie if the universe is constructed in a way that makes me believe these things are possible. All Up does is make me believe that anything to save the characters and further the plot is possible, including rock-stupid choices made by uninteresting, predictable characters and acts of god so common, the Deus Ex Machina Corporation would be made a Fortune 500 company from the royalties it would collect from this movie.

How did it leave me feeling? Angry because this movie had the ingredients to live up to or even surpass the Pixar level of greatness set by films like Toy Story or Wall-E. However, this movie fails on every level Pixar films usually succeed on. It’s not clever, it doesn’t resonate, and all it does manage to do is make you glad you’re not staring at a blank wall.

Final Rating? NFI – NetFlix It if you’ve got really little kids and want to show them something stupid.

Put simply: there’s no reason a kids movie needs to be this dumb.

Watch the trailer

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Wow, this could be a sequel to the unfortunately bad iRobot. So, it looks like it’ll be a big fun romp, but ultimately shrugworthy.

Technically any good? FX sure look nice (if not a little simplistic), but the idea of Bruce Willis’ idealized robot body looking like Bruce Willis with a bad wig doesn’t seem like science fiction to me, but complete and utter fantasy. Writing-wise, this story seems to happen in an interesting enough universe, but the premise seems pretty weak to me. That doesn’t mean the movie won’t be good, but it doesn’t mean it will be good, either. In fact, I’m pretty sure it won’t be any good because of the director and the star.

I like Bruce Willis, but he made that last Die Hard movie. The last movie I saw from Jonathan Mostow, the director of Surrogates, was U-571 which was about as contrived as a movie can get. No wait–my mistake, Terminator 3 was the last movie he made and I saw that, too. It was terrible, too.

Amusingly, the trailer bold proclaims: “BASED ON THE GRAPHIC NOVEL.”

Funny, I’ve never heard of the graphic novel. I’m a comic fan, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to assume the movie will be good because it was based on the comic. In fact, odds are it’ll likely be crap since Hollywood fails most of the time when it comes to adapting great comic stories.

How did it leave me feeling? there was a time when I’d be happy to rush out and see a big dumb actioner like this one. But in today’s economy, I don’t really want to spend $10-$15 (depending on where I see it) on a movie that looks as dumb as this looks. I’d be more likely to Netflix AI, Minority Report, i, Robot, or even 6th Day than spend money on Surrogates.

OK, maybe I wouldn’t Netflix 6th Day.

Final Rating? NFI – NetFlix It: that’s what I am likely to do, assuming I remember this movie even exists when it finally reaches Netflix.

Surrogates hits US theaters on September 25, 2009.

Buy it!

Would you recommend it? Definitely. In fact, I think most of us in the Western World are so in the dark about water, I think this documentary should be required watching.

Technically any good? While it does come across as very heavy-handed and preachy and doesn’t try too hard to present any opposing view points (though it does try), the facts it presents are undeniable and incredibly disturbing. It’s downright scary how much power big business has over the water in the ground. And just think about how important water is to commerce–as a result, water ends up being the number 3 commodity behind oil and electricity. Yeah. I didn’t know that either. Another fact it presents is that humans account for just 10% of the water use in the world. The rest is split unevenly between agriculture and business–the majority of which goes to business.

How did it leave me feeling? Angry, for two reasons. First, because no one seems to be aware of or have a problem with these giant companies using and controlling so much water. Second because the film pretends that a few isolated victories against these corporations means that we can stop them. Protests have stopped some companies from essentially stealing water, but Coca-Cola, for instance, is a huge company. They didn’t lose that battle in India, they just put their resources someplace else instead of wasting time with a bunch of protesters. So, I could have done without the corny, “speak truth to power” BS and stuck with the fear-mongering since that’s what is needed.

Would you sit through it again? YES! I want to go over the facts presented again and try to pick up on things I missed the first time through. This docu is jammed with interesting stuff and interesting people.

Seriously, watch this movie!!

Buy it!

Would you recommend this? Definitely, if you’re looking for a sweet movie that’s maybe just a bit darker than you’d expect. It’s not dark, but wasn’t as warm and light as I thought it would be.

Technically any good? There’s only a bit toward the end where the script starts to let us down–it’s just a slow patch where I found myself confused as to what the heck the movie was doing. However, everything around that slow patch is pretty solid. The movie is based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and it shows in the witty dialogue and ironic situations. The acting is as spot-on as you’d expect. However, I found Jimmy Stewart’s pantomime to be a bit less convincing than I would have liked, though I’m sure it was fine for the day and certainly didn’t knock me out of the movie.

How did it leave me feeling? Warm and fuzzy inside. I usually don’t like to feel that way, so I give the movie even more credit for making me not mind. Three-cheers for being a bit darker, too. I’m sure if someone ever (god forbid) remade this movie it would be a good deal lighter.

Would you sit through it again? I would sit through it again, but it’s one of those movies that does a great job–so good that I don’t think I’d want to sit through it again for a while.

watch the trailer

FIRST OFF: THIS TRAILER CONTAINS SPOILERS! BE WARNED. I watched it and was annoyed seeing, or rather hearing, what sound like major plot points given away in the cheesy voice over.

OK, now on with the pocket review:

Positive Experience/Entertaining? Well, if you’ve seen enough trailers you can spot the ones made on a budget. This trailer felt like one of those and sadly, I think once you see past all the cheesy overproduction of the trailer you can see something that might be a good movie. (Sadly because most people won’t bother to see past the cheese to the very meaty concept.)

Technically any good? First off, I think this is what we, in the US, would call a b-movie. As in, low budget. It’s from Mexico and based on the fact the trailer allowed not a single line of dialog to be heard, I’m guessing it’s in Spanish. That’s what bugged me the most about this trailer–we have no idea if the film is even in English.

NOTE TO MARKETING PEOPLE: If people are going to be turned off by a non-English-language movie, they won’t likely stick around for the whole film once they realize it’s not in their mother tongue. SO TELL US NOW.

FX-wise, this movie looks pretty reasonable. Acting wise, it’s hard to tell since so much of the trailer is just FX shots. From what the trailer does show us, I’m pretty damn intrigued by it. Generally speaking, it looks like this might be evidence that talented people are finally getting some of that cheaper filmmaking technology.

How did it leave me feeling? Frustrated with the state of trailer-making. If I were a marketer I’d do this film much better justice. Of course, while I’m enthralled with the concept–I can’t tell if the movie is any good since the trailer was cornball and ruined bits of the movie. But it looks interesting if nothing else.

Final Rating? NFI – NetFlix It. Definitely looks like a fun scifi flick even if it doesn’t quite live up to it’s Phillip-K.-Dickishness qualities.

Sleep Dealer opens here in the US on April 17, 2009. Click the poster image above to see the trailer.