Movie Review: IT

So anytime I decide to see the film adaptation of a book I particularly like, here are my fears:

1) The movie will be so faithful to the book that there was no point in seeing it
2) The movie is so different from the book that there was no point in calling it the same title
3) They won't have my favourite parts
4) The won't have cast whoever I think should have got the role
5) The producer/writer/director will have simply missed the point

Having just seen the previous Stephen King adaption - The Dark Tower (and it fulfilled worries 2, 3, and 5) I was really nervous going into IT, a long-time favourite of mine, and one that has already been adapted (and that I saw as a kid when it originally aired), luckily, I didn't need to be worried.

IT was pretty darn great, the story was well-told, the scares were incredible, and I was really impressed by all of the performances. A Horror film focusing on the value of friendship has a difficult road to walk, but this one did it incredibly well.

I could get into spoilers, but instead I'll simply state that I was simply shocked the whole way through with how much I liked the film as a movie, not just a horror movie, but a movie overall. This may end up being the first Horror movie I'll decide to own since It Follows back in 2014.

Well worth the watch!

Movie Review: Boyhood

This weekend I finally got around to seeing one of the movies I've been most excited to see in 2014, Richard Linklater's Boyhood.

The premise of the film is deceptively simple, it creates a drama following a boy from age six to eighteen, by creating a series of short vignettes, one for every year or so of his life, and filming in real time, over 12 years so that when the audience sees the film, they literally watch this boy (and his sister, and their parents) grow and age over the course of a dozen years.

Very much as with Michael Apted's Up Series the film works best over time, and as with that series I was mesmerized by the film as it's lead Mason (Ellar Coltrane), slowly but surely grows from an uncertain little boy into a young man on the cusp of adulthood.  

If you can see it do so, I loved it in the theatre and will be sure to get it once it's available on DVD or Blu-Ray as it is really unlike anything else I've seen in a long time.

Simply Wonderful.

Movie Review: Robocop (2013)

Having rewatched the original a few weeks ago with my wife and kids, this week we decided to check out the 2014 remake, so here you go, Robocop.

For the most part the film follows the original, with a few key differences (sorry, some spoilers here).

1) No focus on the corporate culture as in the first film

2) A reverse of the original concept (first film focused on a machine learning to become a man, the remake focuses on a man learning to become a more effective machine)

3) The film is pretty clearly influenced by the recent Batman trilogy, in everything from shots to the fact that Robocop is now dressed as Batman from the neck down.

4) A surprisingly low level of blood and violence - as the first film was incredibly graphic in its representation of the effects of violence, bodies were mangled, blood splattered across the screen, etc., the remake is a much more standard action film - yes there was a high kill count, but almost all of the violence was bloodless and no one who had been shot was shown as much of anything other than alive, dead, or "taking it like a man"

In the end the film was ok - there were performances that were pretty great, but I missed the stop-motion animation of the original, and having just watched it recently, I'm not sure why a remake was needed at all.

If you have the option, skip the remake and rematch the original, because it is awesome.

Movie Review: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

A few days before my wife and I went to see an advanced screening of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (Thanks Tribute), I read the original James Thurber short story (published in 1939) and absolutely loved it. Honestly, if you’ve never checked out the short story before it is only six pages and is a delight to read.

On to the movie – first of all, it isn’t really a true retelling of the story, some characters have been changed (the original Walter is married) and the film, at just under two hours goes on much longer than the original story, which takes place over an afternoon shopping trip.

Secondly – I absolutely loved it.

First of all Ben Stiller is really great in this film. Over the years I’ve seen most of his film and television work (right back to his first appearance in an episode of Kate & Allie), and he fits into the character of Walter so completely he almost disappears. Walter begins the film as an incredibly quiet, soft-spoken man, drawing virtually no attention and living his life in his very active imagination. When forced by circumstance to step outside of his routine, however, we begin to see the vibrant person living inside, and I was shocked by how wonderfully Stiller shows this throughout the course of the film. The movie has a wonderful sense of humour and considering just how beautiful it is to look at and listen to (amazing soundtrack, by the way); it really comes off as a very personal character piece.

This may actually end up being one of my favourite films of the year, and I strongly recommend checking it out in theatres if you have the opportunity.

Movie Review: Psycho

Doing a little prep work yesterday, I treated my 15-year-old daughter Kaia to her first viewing of the 1960 Horror Classic, Psycho.

I did this for three reasons.

1) Honestly, whether you're a horror fan or not, there really are very few films as fun to watch for the first time as Psycho.  I told her nothing about the film, except that I thought she might like it and let her enjoy the experience with no knowledge of what the story would bring (totally jealous by-the-way, as I knew most of the plot points the first time I watched it) - for the record, at first she thought Norman was kind of cute.

2) Tonight on A&E the new series Bates Motel is starting, and as it follows a teenaged Norman Bates, she's probably going to either see it or hear about it - so I wanted her to see the original first.

3) In a week or two, I should be getting the 2012 film Hitchcock from my local library, and as the film is about the making of Psycho, I wanted to review the original again before I saw a story set behind the scenes.

In the end we had a pretty fun time watching the movie - at first she thought the title was a little misleading, after all, what's so psycho about a lady stealing some cash from her boss - it was pretty suspenseful however, so my daughter said the movie should have been called Suspense-o (doesn't quite roll off the tongue, does it?), but by the end, she admitted, the title was a pretty good one for the story.

Genre Character(s) of the week: Tucker and Dale

Part of what I love about horror movies is that every year I come across a horror movie that goes far beyond what I usually expect from the genre. Three years ago it was Let the Right One In, Two years ago it was Thirst, and last year it was I Saw the Devil. On Sunday I went with my BFF Mike, my youngest daughter and one of her friends to see the film Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. The movie was incredibly fun, made locally (I’m from Alberta) and introduced me to this week’s genre characters, Tucker and Dale.

Tucker and Dale, two long-time friends, are heading off to their very own vacation home, a place where they hope to do some fishing, drinking and bonding, when they happen to drive past a group of college kids. Their first meeting does not go as well as can be expected and although they go out of their way to be friendly and even rescue one of the college kids when she falls into a lake, certain misunderstandings begin to occur.

Unfortuantely, these misunderstandings mostly mean that these two incredibly nice guys (played wonderfully by Tyler Labine and Adam Tudyk) get to watch as a group of really, really stupid college kids start killing themselves in an attempt to rescue their friend. Also, as the bodies begin piling up, it starts to look more and more like these two friends must have something to do with all these murders, after all, they are hillbillies, and these are a bunch of college kids.

The movie is great, the friendship between the two leads comes across as honest and well meaning and this may be the goriest, funniest film I’ve seen in a long time. With homages to the likes of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13^th, and even The Blair Witch Project this film seems like a perfect way to remind me what is great about horror films after spending a month in the world of reimaginings.

An original story, a lot of fun, and a definite must for both my DVD collection and my future Halloween parties, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a great film.

Movie Review: Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown

For the last few months I've had my eye on a documentary about the life of H.P. Lovecraft called Lovecraft: Fear of the Unknown which came out in 2008. While checking out IMDb this morning, I found the film was available online here.

The movie is an overview of the life of the author as well as a look at his influence on modern genre fiction and film. Folks like Neil Gaiman, Ramsay Campbell, John Carptener and Guillermo Del Toro all talk about the author, favourite stories and his influence over all.

Although I don't think the film would be of much interest to people not at least vaguely familiar with the author, for anyone who has read any of his short stories, it was a pretty comprehensive view of the mans life.

Totally worth checking out.

Movie Review: TiMER

I think one of my favourite things about genre fiction is how it can surprise you. How it can exceed your expectations in a way that a lot of other fiction can’t. Basically you sit down to read, play, or watch something involving a robot, a unicorn or a monster and find yourself getting what you wanted and then suddenly realizing that the story gave you a lot more.

Case in point: The 2009 film TiMER.

The premise of this Science Fiction film is pretty simple. What if there were a device you could have attached to your wrist at a mall that told you, with complete assurance exactly when you would meet your soul mate? The machine only works with people who are actively in the program, so it is possible, like the main character, to have a wrist band displaying flashing dashes rather than a specific number of days, hours, and minutes until your soul mate pays the $79.99 fee to receive their own TiMER device.

Here’s what I liked about the movie – first of all, the lead actress Emma Caulfield was really really good – having only seen her in the tooth-fairy themed horror film Darkness Falls before this, I was pleasantly surprised by her comedic acting chops. Secondly, like all of my favourite fiction, the story was very character driven, leading the audience to care about (or at least understand) all of its characters. Finally the score was a lot of fun.

The movie moved deftly between romance and drama, and although it was a quieter film (some will find it slow), I really enjoyed how well the film handled its subject matter.

This movie was one of the nicest surprises I’ve had in Science Fiction films all year.

Movie Review: Agora

As someone who is working towards my Masters of Library Sciences Degree, there are very few movies that I feel are targeted towards my career path specifically. The Librarian made-for-tv movies starring Noah Wylie, Jet Li's Black Mask, Party Girl and The Name of the Rose come to mind, but that's about all I can think of off the top of my head.

Agora, which came out last year, finally made it to one of the speciality theatres in my city two weeks ago and I saw it yesterday. Coming from the point of view of someone who loves libraries, and has over the past few years become interested in the study of Ancient Greece and Rome, this movie was right up my ally.

The film takes place in Alexandria, Egypt in 391 AD, and follows two students of a Greek philosopher/scholar named Hypatia (played by Rachel Weisz, who by the way played another librarian in the first two Mummy films), who has an incredible understanding of mathematics and science, and unfortunately lived in a very dangerous time to be a scientist and a women.

The film does a really good job of showing a world in transition - it takes place relatively soon after Christians have stopped being persecuted by the Roman Empire and the tables are about to be turned on the followers of Rome's various pagan religions. Hypatia teaches at the Library of Alexandria and through the eyes of two of her students (one a young Roman, the other a slave), we get a very close look at this brutal period of time.

I'll definitely be purchasing the film, as I enjoyed it, found it beautifully filmed, and even though it showed some very nasty sides to a lot of the religious groups of the era, it does give a glimpse into the reasons of why this situation came about.

Movie Review: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

On Saturday my wife and I went to see the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World with our friends Mike and Trish. It was awesome.

To be fair, here are the many ways in which I am biased:

1) I loved (and own) the comic series the film is adapted from

2) I've been posting about wanting to see this film for a while now

3) The film is unashamedly Canadian in feel

4) I love (and own most of) the previous works of the director

5) From the beginning I thought that the casting of Michael Cera was perfect

The movie is a lot of fun - it felt as if it was aimed directly at my demographic (Video game playing Canadians with a love of romance/action films), contained musical bits from tonnes of classic video games, and had a story that felt both sweet and awesome at the same time (while staying true to the source material).

The cast was great, from the seven evil ex's through to Scott's family, band-mates and room mate (a scene-stealing Kieran Culkin), the action sequences were awesome and the film was really, really funny.

I am definitely recommending the movie, and already have it on my Christmas wish-list.