Tuesday, November 29, 2011

The Lives of Others- Absolutely amazing piece of work. The film rings so much truth and tragedy that you want to bow down to the film's greatness. Yes, it's a bit long. Yes, it's kind of odd that the film has like three "2 years later" bits in the course of 10 minutes, but this is a really good German film well deserved of its praise. It's too bad that director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (try saying that 10 times as fast) really hit a low note with his next film (Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie's 'The Tourist'). This film shows much greater potential. One of my favorite bits is the interchanging of the characters of HGW and Georg Dreyman as they search Dreyman's apartment. The tension that Donnersmarck creates is fantastic. This movie has so many interesting angles going for it that you really are invested in all three leads for the entire 2 hours and 20 minutes. Trust me, it's worth having surveillance over.



- Jeff Bassin

Saturday, November 26, 2011

The Muppets (2011)- After giving myself some time to think, I would have to say that this movie is highly recommendable. The reason I gave myself some time before reviewing it is because its one of those movies that gives you a "fun high" after it. TOO MUCH FUN! If someone walked into the movie with expectations for a character driven story, they won't get it. But if they are looking for a good time, plenty of jokes, and certain freshness that comes from the combination of young (Selena Gomez and Jack Black bits) and old (Pee Wee Herman map traveling) ideals, they will definitely be pleased. The performances are hammy (especially the muppets, "Waka waka") from Jason Segal and Chris Cooper (the military dad in 'American Beauty') but that's all part of its charm. Also, Amy Adams gets her fair share of screen time doing musical bits, which is a welcome return to her big break in 'Enchanted'. Speaking of the music, the film contains many homages to the HBO show 'Flight of the Conchords', of which I was a fan of. Many of the musical numbers are written by one of its stars, Bret McKenzie, featuring clever and catchy tunes like a rap by Chris Cooper, and one about a party of one (a "me" party) that I absolutely enjoyed. In fact, the music was probably one of my favorite aspects. Though music only goes so well with its director, also a creator of 'Flight of the Conchords', James Bobin, who actually did a stunning job, considering a lot of the work he did for the TV show was very low budgeted. It seemed fairly unexpected that the pieces in this film be so large and "in your face", but oh how they were. Definitely give this movie a shot if you are in the mood for some good ol' fashioned family laughs.



- Jeff Bassin

Friday, November 25, 2011

Early Review of The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn- Spielberg (Come on… fine: 'Saving Private Ryan', 'Schindler's List', 'Jaws', etc)/ Jackson ('The Hobbit', 'Lord of the Rings Trilogy', 'Dead Alive', etc.)/ Wright ('Scott Pilgrim vs. the World', 'Shaun of the Dead', 'Hot Fuzz') all working on one film. It's a dream come true for any film aficionado. But… sadly it didn't reach my expectations. To be fair to the people behind it, it really is a great film. It's the 'Indiana Jones' comeback we wish we could have had. Only, I had it pegged for the best movie this year and it surely isn't that. It's one of those odd circumstances where every element of the film analyzed on its own is either "good" or "perfect", but put together only averages a "pretty good" in my mind. Spielberg's direction is perfect, Weta Digital's animation is beautiful, the performances by Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, and Daniel Craig are thoroughly fun, and the script from Steven Moffat ('Doctor Who', anyone?), Edgar Wright, & Joe Cornish (the exceptionally entertaining 'Attack the Block') is fairly solid (even though lacking the comedy and character development I would expect from someone like Wright) for the first of what is proposed as a trilogy. Of course, I enjoyed the movie. But I was disappointed. Let down. Maybe the sequels will be better. This was supposed to be the best film of 2011, but now I'm thinking it won't even win best animation film at the academy awards. But then again, we'll see. After all, its main competition is 'Cars 2' at the moment.



- Jeff Bassin

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Wings of Desire- This is the kind of film idea that I love. A unique concept that allows the filmmaker the ability to create a beautiful story while also allowing the audience to see inside the minds of even the smallest characters. As it says in the film, they are more than extras. They are important. They are extra human. It's almost a complete and utter masterpiece up until it reaches the end, because then it keeps going. The film chooses to go on for so long that when it finally gets to that "To Be Continued." at the end (it has a sequel), you kind of ask "Why?". There's a very long and kind of confusing monologue at the end that while it is talented, it really just grows boring. It's like that bit in 'Brief Interviews with Hideous Men' where John Krasinski does the same thing for 10 minutes. It's too much. It's just not very believable unless in a theatrical setting. Director Wim Wenders could have easily had actors Bruno Ganz and Solveig Dommartin have a friendly conversation. It would have made way more sense than a Dommartin's odd poetic profession of love at their first meeting. On a final note, Peter Falk is pure magic in this movie, both interesting and memorable. I will definitely give the sequel a go when I get the chance, if only to see him do that "as himself" character again.



- Jeff Bassin

Monday, November 19, 2011

Mr. Popper's Penguins- "No penguins were harmed in the making of this film. Jim Carrey, on the other hand, was mercilessly bitten. But he had it coming." This is the proclamation the film makes during the credits of the film. And maybe he did have it coming. After all, 'Yes, Man' was pretty darn terrible. But not for this film. It's a family film. So don't complain. I thought Carrey was actually quite entertaining and not that much over the top in this one, which is a good thing (his old 'Ace Ventura' style doesn't really translate well into modern day in my opinion). It's also always nice to see Clark Gregg and Philip Baker Hall, two really great character actors, and Angela Lansbury from 'Murder, She Wrote' is in it (I don't watch the show, never seen it, but hey, I do like the song and I have seen it on while channel surfing). Technically, nobody was harmed in making this film, physically, financially, or popularity wise. A good move on Carrey's part.



- Jeff Bassin

Friday, November 18, 2011

Friends With Benefits- Like I've said before, the cast really makes this film. The whole film seems cheaper when I think about the dialogue and app jokes coming from other people's mouths (though Kutcher and Portman probably could have done this one too though). So enjoy it, a solid enjoyable romantic comedy doesn't come around that often.



Transformers: Dark of the Moon- All together a little tiring the second time around. Especially knowing that after 2-3 hours of explosions (cool though they are), I will be rewarded with nothing but that same shlocky Optimus inspirational speech, with no real ending in sight. My problem is that it is left open ended. Why? It's the end. Why can't it seem like it? Everything until then is fine though (explosions and money burning by the second)… I mean, for a Transformers flick.



Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2- It's finally gotten to the point where I can completely decide that I enjoy Part 1 more than Part 2. Despite the Helena Botham Carter/ Polyjuice scene being one of the best in the series in my opinion, the film really is just okay. By okay, I mean good, just not notable. I liked it, but it feels like a concluding chapter rather than one on its one. It's like the last chapter in a book. You've already gotten through the real arcs, now you just have to finish it so that nothing is left to watch. Actually, I'll put the movies in order so you get that I'm not hating on it.
8: Chamber of Secrets
7: Order of the Phoenix
6: Sorcerer/Philospher's Stone
5: Half-Blood Prince
4: Deathly Hallows Part 2
3: Goblet of Fire
2: Prisoner of Azkaban
1: Deathly Hallows Part 1
None of the films are bad. All are awesome. But after about ten minutes of deliberation, that's my order of 8.



- Jeff Bassin

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Fright Night (Remake)- Entertaining. It's not an especially memorable movie, but I was excited to see it, and it didn't let me down too much (a little less comedic than I thought it would be and the second half of the film gives way to action over dialogue way to much) but I loved a few of the characters enough to care less about those aspects. Those characters would include Colin Farrell's Jerry and David Tennant's Peter Vincent. Farrell isn't the scariest vampire to hit the screens since 'Nosferatu' but he most definitely makes it seem like it was fun to work with him on set. Farrell just releases confidence and professionalism, and you can tell that the guy knows his physical acting bits just as much as losing that celtic tone. With Tennant, sure, he's basically just doing the same bit Johnny Depp does with Jack Sparrow but with a rock and roll magician, but in the end, he's Doctor Who, so he kind of strides awesomeness anyways.



It's odd that the hammiest performances are my favorite in the film… actually not really, since I was kind of hoping for the film to take itself a little less seriously. But oh well, kudos Craig Gillespie for really successfully departing from 'Lars and the Real Girl'/ 'Mr. Woodcock' territory into 'Disturbia' territory.



- Jeff Bassin

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Head On- A real terrific romantic drama film built on strong performances and really well written characters. Everything else can mostly be ignored, despite the crazy amounts of cultural themes, since the film goes in way to many directions for one to want to touch upon in a small review. It's a real unique independent styled film and it has several very unforgettable notable moments such as the broken shot glass dance sequence (if you see it, you'll know what I mean right away). It's not the best mood movie (probably make you kind of sad) but if you want to watch a good movie, knock yourself out… I know the characters would (Boom! You'd get that one too if you saw the film).



- Jeff Bassin

Monday, November 14, 2011

Space Jam- I think this movie was nostalgic the day it came out. So much childhood in an hour and a half that you may just explode. Not really, but you get my point. Despite being a walking advertisement for Nike, Michael Jordan, and the Looney Tunes, it represents a spacial place in everyone's hearts. It's one of the few true guilty pleasure films that everyone feels guilty about together, so therefore nobody is guilty?



- Jeff Bassin

Wednesday, November 9, 2011 - What You Call Entertainment, I Call Studies (Cause I Study A Lot)

A Look at My Current Fall TV Schedule- Well, obviously, being the fan of storytelling in all mediums (Movies, Television, Books, Comics, etc.), I clearly have quite a bit of television I follow. Keep in mind I can't watch them all on TV, I am a busy college kid after all *The amount of shows will scare you. Here's some shows this fall that I'm watching, whether they are worth it or if I just can't quit (even if it's sooooo bad):

Sunday
Allen Gregory- Jonah Hill animated as an obnoxious rich kid in a public school with a bunch of other people. If that doesn't sell it to you, then it can't win. I don't laugh, but at this point, I look forward to it more than 'Family Guy' and 'American Dad'.



The Simpsons- Still funny, even if I'm no longer laughing. It's that kind of satire where you admire them more than you express it. They keep making, I'll keep watching.



Family Guy- It's gotten painful to watch. But I just can't break off of it. They are no longer controversial enough to catch attention, so they are reduced to repetition jokes and catch phrases from their notable and well thought of character ideas. It's just boring now.



American Dad- Has only a little more originality than family guy, though I did enjoy its "Cee Lo Green, Little Jacuzzi of Horrors" Episode.



The Walking Dead- Mind-boggling and entertaining, the show manages to do a whole lot with the simple premise of a young girl getting lost from the pack of survivors this season. When it chooses to be a dark show, that's when it's most surprising, but in those small moments of light humor and emotion, you have hope and pull out for the survivors, no matter the things they have done in the past.



Dexter- You know, there was a time when Dexter intrigued me more than most shows on television, but that time has come to a slight end. I mean, for someone who doesn't look for anything new on their TV, Dexter won't change on them. Dexter always gets his man (sometimes lady, I'm not sexist or anything, jeez!), and his murderous identity always remains a secret. It's tiresome, even if Michael C. Hall and the rest of the cast rock their roles to the best of their abilities. There's just only so much one can take in this 6th season before complaining that something big has to happen. That hasn't happened for two seasons, though I obviously will keep watching because it's still entertaining. Just not really surprising.



Once Upon a Time- Honestly, it's surprising how enjoyable the show is. Its light fairy tale fluff is just enough to wet the tooth without getting boring, and even if it is a bit too cheesy, it's perfectly fun. My only concern is that the plot of the show screams an ending so obvious that it won't be able to sustain as a show past 2 seasons without getting over complicated or redundant.



Misfits- Simply one of the funniest and original shows I have the pleasure to watch in the fall. Maybe 'Heroes' wasn't your thing. That's okay. 'Misfits' is so much better. Just do yourself a favor and get up to the 4th episode of series 1 (probably my favorite episode of the series) and then you can try to quit. I'd like to see that.



Monday
Terra Nova- I can't fully give my opinion since I never got past episode 3. It kind of lost track of what I found so original about it in the pilot, so I'm not sure if I'm content with the show anymore. I'll probably wait until the season ends, catch up, and then further my opinion.



How I Met Your Mother- 'HIMYM' is the rare show that no matter how redundant it gets (humor or story), the writing is so fresh and fun that I still enjoy it on an episode to episode basis. I'm sure the wait of a week between episodes helps me fight that problem, but still, I'll keep with it as long as it keeps doing new things with the way it tells its stories. For example, last week featured Future Ted telling the story of his friends at the bar telling the story of the hurricane that hit NY, which frightened Marshall because Marshall imagines the dangers of the world. It's complicated, but makes so much sense when watching it.



Castle- I like the chemistry between Stana Katic and Nathan Fillion, but the lack of real character development (you can skip to beginning and end of an episode and skip the middle) really bores me. The show never does anything important until its finales and the crimes no longer really have to do with Fillion's Castle character's background in writing, so what makes this different from any other procedural. It's like 'Bones', except I hope Castle ends before it gets that far, at least for the sake of the story. It took a while for the writers of 'House' to realize that's what the audience wants. Hopefully it won't take 'Castle' writers that long. Don't Bother.



Tuesday
New Girl- I misjudged Zooey Deschanel's new sitcom. It's very funny, mostly because of its great cast. But I still don't care for her character. It's just too much for me. Good show, annoying character.



Raising Hope- It's surprising how much heart and laughs a show like this has, especially after 'My Name is Earl' lost so many of that by the end. Clearly, Greg Garcia (the creator of both shows) has a nack for representing blue collar lower class, and this show picks up the funny where 'Earl' dropped it.



Workaholics- Juvenile, stupid, and hilarious. To me, this is the "fratiest" show outside of 'Blue Mountain State', with characters so lovable and dumb that it becomes unique. Most of the humor comes from misfortune, stupidity, and pop culture reference mistakes (they always mistake one show/movie/actor for another), and the satire of the workplace and recent graduate type characters is perfect. This is an example of Comedy Central letting a comedy troupe write a show, and it just working on comedy, not big names. Who needs Jeff Dunham (though I do like puppets) when you have genius like this?



Wednesday
Suburgatory- Surprising one of the better television shows starting this season. It's a fun sitcom, well worth watching before 'Modern Family'. Sure, it portrays New Yorkers (where I'm from) as being too open-minded, i.e. the kind where you eat food out of the trash, and suburbanites (where I now live) as being too close-minded, i.e. ignorant about situations besides fashion and gossip, but hey, it's all done for the satirical joke and I can dig it.



Modern Family- One of the best comedy shows on TV, and it's perfect for the whole family. That's a rare thing. Despite the humor declining as it goes into it's third season, there is still plenty of reason to watch.



Psych- Every once in a while there's a great mystery, but most of the time, I'm just sticking around for James Roday and Dule Hill's great banter. Reason to watch, not really. But the plot doesn't matter on an episode to episode basis for the most part, so if you watch, pick a episode by the plot that interests you.



American Horror Story- Frustratingly confusing, but extremely intriguing, that's what 'AHS' is. It's one of the odder shows on television, and certainly heads less towards the 'From the Creators of 'Glee'' fare and more to the 'From the Creators of 'Nip/Tuck'' fare. After watching 'Harper's Island' when it aired, I wanted more television of the genre, so it's refreshing to see horror television becoming a trend again. I enjoy its style and look and look forward to the many copies that will be made in the future on other channels because of its success.



Blue Mountain State- It's the dumbest show I hate to love. I like to call it the Misogynistic 'Scrubs'. It's ridiculously overacted, and it's jokes rarely turn away from poop and sex humor. It makes me angry that it exists. But I can't help it. It's like watching a version of the Straight to DVD 'American Pie' movies, where you feel dirty for watching it, only funnier and a bit more clever. And sometimes it's nice to feel dirty, like a night to the clubs, so there's my thought process of it.



South Park- I still think it's one of the best animated shows of all time and it's as funny and memorable as ever, even if its references and satire are more topical. But I really want the show to end at this point, since it seems that Matt Stone and Trey Parker want to pursue other things, but because of audience's interest, and the money they are offered, they keep compromising. I just want them to be happy and do what they want. So just watch this online.



Thursday
Community- Funny and original, but not quite as brilliant as last year's season. The only episode that I truly enjoyed so far was the one where the go through the several alternate realities while rolling a dice and the 'Hearts of Darkness' parody episode. But I will still keep watching in hope of something better.



Park & Recreation- With Adam Scott and Rob Lowe firmly planted in the show, it seems like 'P&R' has reached its peak. It can't get much better. Hopefully it doesn't drop the ball, but obviously it's pretty fantastic at this point. I feel like Nick Offerman's Ron Swanson character might just make it to pop culture icon. Who knows? I'm pulling out for it at this point.




The Office- So blah. It was a recent episode where I realized that they stopped writing jokes for 'The Office'. The characters are supposed to be funny. I don't care if they are all in relationships. It's a zombie that just won't go down. Just my opinion.



Whitney- Not sure why I watch this. It's terrible, and the jokes are often flat. But I guess I have nothing to do sometimes and I bring it up on hulu.



It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia- While not every episode is a keeper, a few episodes have been some of the best of the show, so I'm going to have to side with it remaining awesome.



The League- Underrated and not watched enough. It is so consistently funny, but for some reason it hasn't caught on yet. At least not that much of an audience. Maybe it's the fantasy football aspect of it. They probably shouldn't advertise that way. It's the same way as 'Workaholics' except the party mentality for 'holics' is much easier to market.



Burn Notice- While I was right about to quit around the season 4 finale, I'm extremely glad I didn't, since season 5 has been some of the best arcs the show has seen since, well, since I first saw the show in season 1 and thought it was original. If there was ever a reason to continue the show, Matt Nix (the show's creator) is giving it. It feels like the end of the show, which is an exciting prospect, since anyone who has seen the show thinks "WOW, this is really cool, but he'll obviously choose his family over the CIA in the end". Keep it up and I might actually make it a season or two more.



Friday
Chuck- It's surprising how much more room there is left to tell in this show after most of the viewers' wants for the show have been fulfilled. It's still fun as ever, and it hasn't lost that originality that you hope a show can remain with after running through procedural-esque episodes for 5 years.



P.S. Creating this post makes me rethink quitting a few shows. So much television!

- Jeff Bassin

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

The Marriage of Maria Braun- An odd film, if I had to describe it in any way at all. It's interesting, and poses a few nice questions about morality and the pursuit of a happy life with money and success in the way, but in reality, I can't say I liked it. I just walked out of it shell shocked. It's as if you go through this long journey for these two lovers to get together but by the end of it, the two lovers have changed so much that you don't really care if they end up together. It has great performances, most notably, Hanna Schygulla, as Maria Braun, but it's just a hard movie to handle. Maybe I'll watch it again, perhaps when I feel the need to see a good female actress at work, but for now, I feel no rush to.



- Jeff Bassin

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Aguirre: The Wrath of God- Awesome film. Werner Herzog is really working his prowess on this one. The performances are great (even if they might technically alway be a performance a.k.a. they are freaking out in real life), the cinematography beautiful, and the insanity level high. It's a little slow, and technically goes nowhere, but that's kind of the point. In that way, it reminded me of 'Meeks Cutoff', but it's way better so I wouldn't sell it so far as to refer to that. I especially love the way Herzog put his most surrealistic scenes in a real fashion (a boat stuck in the trees). Seeing what the decide as a mirage from their perspective allows you to see it like it's actually there (since it is actually there) and it's a magnificent sight to look at. Give it a chance if you are in it for the long "analytical" hall, but otherwise, I fear you may be bored to tears.



- Jeff Bassin