Television & Film

Television and Film Blog

Well, it looks like I am finally on the stick with this section! About time, since I work in television!

January 27, 2008

I've seen three films in the theater within the last month. That's actually about how many films I saw in the theater last year. But one of the things I am doing now is seeing more movies - rediscovering that passion.
Anyways, the first film I saw was "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." This could of been a cheesy, campy parody - and it sure as hell had its cheesy moments, but I was quite impressed. Sure, there were the absurd parts - how many freaking kids did he have?!?!?! - but altogether, they did an excellent job on the movie. While it was mostly a parody of "Walk the Line," it also had its moments where Dewey Cox turned into a Brian Wilson, Elvis, and Buddy Holly. And the cameos! So many artists playing themselves.
Anyways, It was a good month ago since I've seen this film, so I don't have a whole lot else to say about it.

Last week I saw "I am Legend." I want to call it "Not your typical vampire/zombie movie," because that's exactly what it was! The premise was basically, someone found a cure for cancer, only the cure turned out to be a terrible disease that went airborne and turned everyone into mindless zombies with vampire like qualities.
The movie relied heavily on flashbacks to answer some bleating back story questions, like how the hell did the world end up like this, and is it just Manhattan?
But what I really liked is the fact that in most monster movies, the objective of the hero is to kill the monsters, whereas in this movie, Will Smith's character is trying to CURE these PEOPLE. In other words, there isn't just a write off of the rest of humanity, there isn't an every man for himself mentality, there's a responsibility to help those who would, because of the virus, rather kill Will Smith and his dog. Imagine if this was the attitude in say, night of the living dead?

The movie I saw last night was a Wes Anderson film called "Darjeeling Limited." Ok, I have to say...I WANTED MORE THAN A CAMEO FROM BILL MURRAY!!! Having said that, I don't really have any major complaints about the movie. It was typical of Wes Anderson, almost a marriage of "Bottle Rocket" and "The Royal Tennanbaums" only trying to be its own film at the same time.
The film was basically about reconciliation between three brothers. Thier father had died a year before, thier mother, well, they were traveling across India to track her down. Along the way they manage to fall for stewardesses, argue over their father's razor / luggage / car/ and other worldly posessions, try (unsucessfully) many Hindu ceremonies and traditions, sneak a cobra aboard a train, get kicked off a train, rescue two boys from drowning, and befriend an entire village. But along the way, they also realize what its like to be brothers - the good, the bad, and the ugly parts.
If I were to rate this movie, I would probably give it three stars. It was not the best Wes Anderson film I have ever seen, but at the same time, it was worth seeing. So, what are you waiting for? Its still playing at the cheap theaters. GO! Run! Go see it!

	tv & film
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