A Matter of Size Review

I love Saskatoon's Broadway Theatre because it allows me to learn about movies like this.  Having never seen an Israeli movie before, I did not know what to expect.  What I ended up getting was a very entertaining and heartwarming story about four overweight friends who are tired of being ridiculed in society so they form a sumo wrestling club because Sumos are revered in Japan.  I may have liked this film more than many others for the simple fact that I could relate well to the characters.  Being a very overweight guy myself, I could really see where they were coming from and I know their frustration.  I also know that much of that frustration is self-inflicted which is addressed in this film.  So I wanted nothing more than to see them succeed and find their acceptance.  While Size does show the societal prejudices towards overweight people, it also reveals that anyone can find acceptance for who they are and that the prejudices are not universal.  There will always be people who will accept you for who you are.  You just have to be willing to find them.

Anyways, back to the movie.  As I said, I didn't know what to expect from a cultural standpoint.  As it turns out, this could easily have been a North American indie film.  There is none of the cultural confusion that usually comes from films from other countries.  The four friends carpool and hang out at a restaurant that just happens to specialize in shawarma rather than coffee or alcohol.  The whole sumo story also is not much more than Cool Runnings.  It has the four guys trying to bring a non-traditional sport to their country by using a reluctant coach.  It did not stylize the story in a Hollywood fashion because it isn't a Hollywood movie.  Instead, it interspersed intelligent humour with an underlying message which made it all seem more realistic.  (Ironically, Cool Runnings is the one based on a true story.)

This isn't a landmark movie.  There is nothing earth shattering about it that will make it a classic.  But, it is an excellent feel good movie.  If you like heartwarming stories with down to earth characters, see it.  It is one of the better ones in that genre.  Even if that is not your favourite genre, I say see it if you get the opportunity.  You will come away with a good feeling.

Date Night Review

I hesitated to see this movie because I figured it would be another one of those run of the mill romantic comedies that looks like its going to be good but all of the good stuff was in the trailers.  Thankfully, I was wrong.  Don't get me wrong, it isn't a fantastic movie and it didn't blow me away.  But it is much more entertaining than I anticipated.  A lot of that has to do with the large number of big names that I didn't know were in this film.  It has James Franco, Mila Kunis, Mark Wahlberg and Ray Liotta.  And they all seem to work well in this setting.

As I mentioned, it isn't a movie that you'll want to watch over and over.  It is rather predictable and quite unrealistic.  Overall, the acting isn't fantastic but it isn't hard to watch.  This is especially true for the dynamic between Tina Fey and Steve Carrell.  Carrell is especially funny with his understated one liners.  Unlike many Will Ferrell or Zach Galifinakis movies, Date Night doesn't rely on that hook for all of its entertainment value.  You get enough of it to satisfy and that's it.  Finally, the film is the perfect length for the genre.  Everything gets wrapped up and you don't feel like it's dragging.

Because it is no longer in theatres and is available in a wide range of cheap to free options, I say see it.  It wouldn't be worth the money but it is worth the time.

X-Men: First Class Review

As far as prequels go, this is as good as it gets.  They take a successful franchise and explore the beginnings of the whole thing.  They explain a lot about the characters and the whole underlying story of mutants vs the rest of the world.  And it's all done very well.  Not only do they do all of this but they also throw in some brief references to the X-Men movies that we all know in kind of a fun way.  Normally, stuff like that comes off as a bit cheesy but in here, it works.  While it isn't the best in the series (I still think that is the second one), I think it was actually better than the first one.  There are a couple of things that bugged me but I will deal with those later.

The one thing this movie needed to deliver on was the action.  Without that it could have the best acting, directing, etc. and would have been a failure.  With this, it delivers in spades.  It is over two hours long and it does not feel like it.  The film moves quite quickly and I found myself with a bit of a "wow" feeling during every action sequence.  But, while First Class delivers on action, it also delivers in story and acting.  The story is cool because it takes an event we all know (the Cuban Missile Crisis) that has many wild conspiracy theories attached to it and brings forth a tongue in cheek alternate theory as to what all happened.  Secondly, for an action/comic book movie, I thought the acting was quite decent.  If it was a serious dramatic piece, I would have thought it was average but I try to judge based on what kind of film it is.  There was one performance that was above the rest and that was Kevin Bacon.  I didn't even know he was in it (I did literally no research other than seeing a preview at the theatre) and, when I saw him, the first thing that went through my mind was, "please don't let his junk be in this movie."  Rest assured, it isn't.  And his performance is flawless.  Another good casting choice was the nerdy kid from About a Boy.  Turns out, he makes a good nerdy young adult too.

Now, to the things that bugged me.  Keep in mind that none of these are enough to make me not like the movie but I feel they need to be said.  First, I'm confused as to how an eastern European can come to have a North American accent only to have it become vaguely Scottish when he's about to confront his tormentor.  Then, 40 years later, it becomes very English.  That notwithstanding, Michael Fassbender was well cast because he is the only one who actually looks like he could grow to look like his future X-Man, Ian McKellan.  Second, if you are going to set a movie in the past, you'd better be ready to make it look like it is in the past.  That means that even if the actor is a pretty boy, flavour of the month (Lucas Till), he has to have a hairstyle that fits the time period and not look like an ad for Axe products.  Further to that, the clothes also need to look vintage and not retro hipster (Azazel and the Tornado Hands dude).  So, for the whole time, I had a difficult time really believing the setting and, in a comic book movie, that should be the only believable part.

Finally, I want to say that the whole thing did have a bit of an old school James Bond feel to it in the fact that the villains are a bit too into their own luxurious surroundings.  If you see it, you may see what I'm talking about.

All in all though, this is a definite see recommendation.  It is a great action movie that stands well on its own or as part of the franchise.  And see it at the theatre that has the best sound around you or pay extra for Ultra AVX.  It adds to the experience.

Duck Season Review

Remember when you were a teenager and you had one of those days with nothing to do?  You'd get really bored trying to find something to do.  Well, that's what this movie is about.  It follows two 14 year old boys who don't know anything about life other than Coca Cola and video games, a 16 year old girl who is entering her experimental phase and an older pizza guy who has missed life.  It is one of those coming of age stories about finding your way.  But it doesn't just follow the path of the younger kids.  The interesting thing about Duck Season is that it also shows that it is never too late to change your path.

Overall, this film is kind of weird.  It seems pretty disjointed and doesn't follow any given path or story like, say, Stand By Me.  It is kind of reminiscent of those artsy films that seem to be just random scenes where you say, "what the f is going on?"  But it doesn't go that far.  In doing the film that way, the film makers really capture what it feels like to be a bored teenager.  There are moments where everyone is just staring off into space and then they get an idea to do something and everything moves forward for a little bit.  It's got some humour, some heartbreak and some confusion.  But it all seems to fit well together.  While it often doesn't seem to have a point, when it is over, you feel like things are resolved and life can move on.

It's hard for me to give a recommendation for this one.  It didn't blow me away but I also did enjoy it.  If you are in the mood for something artsy and not at all preachy, it is worth your 91 minutes.  You can probably find it on NetFlix or in a $5 bargain bin like I did.  If you do, take the time and see it.  But I wouldn't recommend seeking it out.

Burke and Hare Review

All in all, this is a fun little movie.  It is a comedic retelling of the Burke and Hare murders in Scotland in 1828.  I was skeptical about how they could turn such a story into a comedy but they did a pretty good job.  After all, by today's standards, the idea of murdering people to sell their corpses for medical research seems preposterous.  When you realize that it's a dark comedy that turns the leads into morons and not cold blooded killers, it comes off pretty well.

The best part of this film is the dynamic between Andy Serkis and Simon Pegg.  When they are doing their schtick together, you can't help but laugh.  Both do the physical comedy quite well.  I also really like the montage.  Having Tom Wilkinson give his monologue to the students and interspersing it with scenes of Pegg and Serkis doing their thing and Ronnie Corbett investigating was very well done.  Speaking of Ronnie Corbett, he is really good as Captain McKlintock.  He brings a bumbling buffoon quality that is needed for the character in a comedy.

So, the comedic effect was very well done but there is one aspect of this movie that bugged me a little bit.  They should have either delved deeper into the medical research rivalry between Wilkinson and Tim Curry or focused a little more on the relationship between Pegg and Isla Fisher and their production of Macbeth.  It seemed that the efforts in the movie were split between the two and both stories suffered for it.

Overall, though, I say see it.  It has enough laugh out loud comedy to make it entertaining.  I expected it to be deeper but should have known better given the story.  So, know that it isn't deep at all and just have some fun for an hour and a half.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides Review

I'm having a difficult time finding the right words for this movie.  So I guess I'll just start by saying I liked it.  And not just because they finally removed Orlando Bloom and Kiera Knightley from the equation.  But I would be lying if I said that wasn't a factor.  Overall, I thought this movie was really well done.  The acting was strong all the way through.  The effects and action were right up there with all the other movies in the franchise as well.  I especially liked the chase through the streets of London.  Depp's antics weren't quite as insane as they have been in the past but his reactions and dialogue was still enough to make me laugh; especially right at the end but I won't spoil this one for you.

Still, there is something else about this movie that just makes it feel different.  I'll chalk that up to the fact that it is the first one not directed by Gore Verbinski.  That in itself is probably enough to explain the difference in Depp's performance.  But I will admit that I don't know enough about the nuances of directing to really tell a difference.  There are only a handful of directors whose work I could discern from anyone else (eg. John Woo).  But the subtleties in the difference between Verbinski and Rob Marshall are probably just enough to make the difference.  I think the writing was also better.  This was the first in the franchise where the exposition did not confuse me.  As a result, I was able to enjoy it more.

That all being said, here's a few bullets I noticed regarding On Stranger Tides that I feel are worth mentioning:

• I am normally not an Ian McShane fan.  I don't mind him but he's not a favourite.  However, in this film, he is gold.  He made Blackbeard a really believable and human character.  Blackbeard had some of the supernatural quality that the other villains have had but he just seemed more human evil rather than cartoon evil.
• Penelope Cruz is much pointier in 3D than in 2D.
• I could do without a King that makes me want to gag.  The rest of the movie came away from the caricature tone from the previous three except for that.  It just didn't fit.
• You should not drink pop during a 2.25 hour movie.  I missed a little bit.
• Mermaids in this one are WAY different than those portrayed in 'Splash.'
• The Missionary character was unnecessary save for one Jack Sparrow zinger opportunity.

Taking everything into consideration, see this movie.  While it is different from the first three, it is still true to the franchise in action, scenery and general tomfoolery.  It is worth your time and money.  You don't even need to see the third one to know what's going on.  It's all explained enough.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Review (Spoiler Alert)

As I mentioned in my review of Dead Man's Chest, At World's End could be where they explain what happens to everyone because it is a full on continuation of the story of Davy Jones and the conflict with the East India Trading Company (EITC).  They do a decent job of explaining what happened to Jack and how Barbossa is still alive.  However, as per usual for the Pirates franchise, they do a sub par job of explaining the story as a whole.  The exposition in the entire series is convoluted and quite confusing.  I believe this is due to a lot of Pirate Speak.  The confusing nature of World's End is compounded by the whole plan to draw in the EITC.  You never know who is where and where anyone's allegiances lie or even what their motivation is.  The whole notion of the Pirate Brethren could have been scrapped.  Ultimately, they don't do anything and in the end reminded me of all those countries' ships surrounding Homer Simpson's submarine in the Simpsons' Simpson Tide episode.  Some writing changes would have given the same end results with Calypso and the whole plan and made it a lot less confusing.

In the previous two movies, I noted that the whole dynamic between Chris O'Donnell (oops, I mean Orlando Bloom) and Kiera Knightley just didn't work.  Well, in this movie, nothing has changed.  Their performances are still forced and wooden.  Neither of them has what it takes to play a character that can demand allegiance from people.  Neither is really a leader and their speeches and orders to crews really suffer for it.  And don't even get me started on that ridiculous wedding ceremony during what was otherwise a very cool sword fighting scene.  Ridiculous.  Fortunately, we may have seen the last of William Turner and Elizabeth Swann.  But these movies keep making money so you never know.

Another mistake they made in this film was to go too artsy.  I do believe it was planned as a continuation much like the Kill Bill movies.  And it seems like they tried to do the same thing in filming them with two very distinct styles.  (If I ever watch the Kill Bill movies again, I will review them too.  I just don't know if I can handle the gore and violence again.)  It worked in Kill Bill.  It did not in Pirates.  All of the scenes with Jack Sparrow hallucinating were just weird for the sake of weird.  It's almost as if they felt they were running out of goofy things for Depp to do so they said, "let's have him talk to himself."  It never seems to fit.

There were, however, some good things about World's End.  The action is top notch again.  The fights are great and the effects are superb.  While I didn't enjoy the artsy method they tried, I did enjoy Depp's antics once again.  His visual reactions to odd things happening are great and his one liners are still strong.  Finally, I really liked the Gibbs character.  He makes a great first mate to whoever is Captain of the Pearl.

The only reason I would say to actually see this movie is if you want closure from Dead Man's Chest.  Although that one stands on its own as a great movie, it has too many loose ends and you'd probably want to see it through.  While I haven't seen the fourth one yet (going tonight), I don't think it would be necessary to see this one first.  Just in case, I'll bring you up to speed: Barbossa is Captain of the Pearl and left Sparrow and Gibbs behind at port.  Both Barbossa and Sparrow are after the Fountain of Youth.  Barbossa has the Pearl and its crew but Sparrow has the map and his magic compass and a very small dinghy.  There, you don't have to watch At World's End.