If you're going to next year's Comic-Con (July 21-24, 2011) and didn't get your ticket in advance at the convention this past July, just a reminder that registration is open to the public this Monday, November 1 at 9 a.m. PDT. With 125,000 of visitors, the world's largest pop-culture event has been sold out in the last few years. Even if you're still in the "thinking about it" stage, GET YOUR PASS NOW! If you don't, you WON'T get in.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Note: "Hereafter"
"Hereafter" review is now up on http://www.sdentertainer.com/
The review will be posted on the blog next week.
"RED"
After thrilling times at the last two movies led by Bruce Willis (“Live Free or Die Hard,” “Surrogates”), I was expecting more of the same with “Red” (Retired Extremely Dangerous). While it’s not as preposterously outrageous as “A-Team,” I haven’t had this much brainless fun with a movie since early this summer!
Powered up by an all-star, veteran cast having a rollicking good time, the graphic novel adaptation of “Red” is running wild. Fierily carefree, these retired oldsters could easily beat their younger counterparts by a round of shots and some.
When I saw Bruce Willis stumping for the movie at Comic-Con this year, I was surprised to learn about the Helen Mirren bit. At that time, I never heard of “Red” before (I was there waiting for Angelina Jolie to make an appearance on the “Salt” panel). All doubts were erased when the trailer was shown. With a stern, rifle-totting Mirren looking more than competent to kick butt and her muttering “I kill people, dear,” I was instantly sold.
On the heels of being assailed in his own home in the dark of the night, tough-looking, soft-spoken Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) rushes out to find Sarah Moss (Mary-Louise Parker), an employee of Department of Pension whom he has romantic interest in. Previously he’s been ripping off his checks so that he could call and chat with her, while she’s been chatting him up about foreign travels and romance novels.
Willis does seem like the kind of CIA operative who takes down drug lords, terrorists and governments. Parker is impeccable with her wide-eyed, nutty expressions and comedic timing. There’s a hysterical exchange at her place when the two first meet in person. And the conversation in the car about their “first date” is positively gut-busting. The coolest, singular scene involves Willis stepping out of a spinning car and onto his feet firing.
Together Frank and Sarah drive across the country to find his former CIA buddies; Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman), Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich) and “Victoria” (Helen Mirren).
With CIA agents William Cooper (Karl Urban) and Cynthia Wilkes (Rebecca Pidgeon) hot on their trails, the team is racing against time to uncover war crimes involving a top-ranking U.S. government official. Richard Dreyfuss makes a cameo as Alexander Dunning, a man with ties to the White House, and his role in the conspiracy becomes clear toward the end.
With CIA agents William Cooper (Karl Urban) and Cynthia Wilkes (Rebecca Pidgeon) hot on their trails, the team is racing against time to uncover war crimes involving a top-ranking U.S. government official. Richard Dreyfuss makes a cameo as Alexander Dunning, a man with ties to the White House, and his role in the conspiracy becomes clear toward the end.
Willis rocks with his break in-and-out of CIA headquarters and dragged-out fist fights. Malkovich is an absolute riot as the eccentric paranoid Marvin. You’ve never seen an underground compound until you see Marvin’s! Definitely do not call him an “old man” and take it easy with the grenade or bazooka. Freeman, initially seen living in a retirement home, might be the closest one to being a mellow retired agent – although don’t count him out yet (or underestimate his punch!) Armed and dangerous Mirren does her part and fits right in with the boys, all the while connecting with an old flame.
“Red” is the summer blockbuster that we never had… it’s over-the-top, comically combustible ride that we don’t ever want to stop.
DVD (blu-ray): http://tinyurl.com/2ego3dt
Friday, October 22, 2010
Upcoming Movies: November 2010
11/05 - "Megamind" (http://www.megamind.com/), "Fair Game" (http://www.fairgame-movie.com/)
11/10 - "Morning Glory" (http://www.morningglorymovie.com/)
11/12 - "Unstoppable" (http://www.unstoppablemovie.com/), "Skyline" (http://www.iamrogue.com/skyline/)
11/19 - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" (http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/)
11/10 - "Morning Glory" (http://www.morningglorymovie.com/)
11/12 - "Unstoppable" (http://www.unstoppablemovie.com/), "Skyline" (http://www.iamrogue.com/skyline/)
11/19 - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" (http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/)
11/24 - "Tangled" (http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/tangled/)
Missing Review: "Gamer"
"Gamer" is officially one of the most atrocious movies I've ever seen. Forget the gore-fest, crass acts and underground raves-like; the ultra-dizzying camera cuts and shakes, fever-pitch noises, stark blinding colors are seizure-inducing. While the premise is positively intriguing, there's no redeeming quality whatsoever. Even Gerard Butler can't save this wearisome, senseless mayhem (and it's the villain, Michael C. Hall, who keeps me from walking out of the theater - not Butler). This is a 90-minute movie that felt like 2+ hours. The game's way over before the credit rolls!
DVD: http://tinyurl.com/2avjb2eMissing Review: "Australia"
A sweeping tear-jerker across the outback. With overly long running time (2 hours and 45 minutes!), uneven pacing, subplots-juggling, climatic non-ending and anti-climatic ending, it's still worth seeing if you're a romantic at heart and may be appeased by the pairing of Australia's own glamorous stars (Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman).
Missing Review: "The Punisher" & "Punisher: War Zone"
"The Punisher" (Thomas Jane) /"Punisher: War Zone" (Ray Stevenson) is a real hard-core, gory to the bone - but it's true to its vengeful comic roots. With the massacre of all his family members forever engraved on his mind, Frank Castle (aka "the Punisher") is one vigilante who knows no bounds. When it comes to disassembling his foes, cruelty doesn't faze him. It's brutally awesome!
DVD (2004): http://tinyurl.com/2b93yq5
DVD (2008): http://tinyurl.com/2ak6th5 
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
***FREE Advance Movie Screenings***
For a list of upcoming FREE movie screenings and to print your passes, sign up at:
Film Metro - http://www.filmmetro.com/
GoBoFo - http://www.gofobo.com/
Wild About Movies - http://www.wildaboutmovies.com/
Sunday, October 17, 2010
***Special Note: Future Movie Reviews***
Due to a recent agreement with the San Diego Entertainer Magazine and because the publication is indexed by Google News, future movie reviews (as long as I'm a contributing writer and columnist for the publication) will be posted after they're published there (in order to avoid simultenaous duplication). Reviews will be posted on the blog after they "fall off" of SD Entertainer's front page or later. The latest updates are available at http://www.sdentertainer.com/author/naryani (or simply http://www.sdentertainer.com early/mid-week post opening weekend), although there will be instances where brief reviews will appear on the blog only (publications typically have a 350-word requirement). As a comparison, "Avatar" (a favorite of mine) is just under 250 words. "A-Team" is around 350 words and "The Social Network" is close to 950 words. "Red" has just been submitted for approval and should be up in the next day or two. On a separate note, while the majority of reviews from years past have been "recovered," some are still missing (although not every movie is reviewed; with the mass number of movies watched, it wouldn't be humanly possible :-P). If found or recalled from memory, "mini" reviews of older movies may appear on rare ocassions. Lastly, as 2010 is drawing to a close, I'm looking back to the last decade and putting together a list of movies that have made the most impression in my mind. Stay tuned!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
"Waiting for Superman"
Last week I was offered a free pass by Perry Chen*** to see the premier of a documentary film by David Guggenheim, "Waiting for Superman." School reform is stonewalled by rigid, varied federal, state, city, district bureaucracies. "No Child Left Behind" only produces 20-30% of students competent at their grade level. It's virtually impossible to get rid of bad teachers due to strict union rules. And incompetent teachers hardly ever lose their licenses compared to lawyers or doctors. Keeping an inmate alive in prison for a year costs more than double than sending a child to a public school. 'Superman' is a disgraceful, macro-and-microscopic portrait of our broken school system.
***At 10, Perry Chen is the youngest award-winning entertainment critic, TV personality, Annie Awards presenter, filmmaker/animator, and radio host, reviewing movies and entertainment a child’s perspective. He has been interviewed by Katie Couric (CBS Evening News) and Liane Hansen (NPR). He has interviewed Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera, director & producer of Pixar's "Up." Perry is currently partnering with an Oscar-nominated animator, Bill Plympton, in a new animation about the Holocaust (2011 release).Tuesday, October 5, 2010
"The Social Network"
Along with "Inception," "The Social Network" is one of my most anticipated films of the year, which turns out to be equally phenomenal. A controversial cultural phenomenon, Facebook has revolutionized the way people connect and communicate on a global (and personal) level. David Fincher ("The Fight Club," "Se7en," "Zodiac," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and Aaron Sorkin ("A Few Good Men," "The West Wing," "Charlie Wilson's War") have teamed up to tell the story behind the founding of Facebook and the meteoric rise of its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Clear direction, brisk script, snappy dialogues and canny acting make this fact-based fiction, pieced together from depositions of two lawsuits, a compelling character study and social experimentation. In 2003, 19-year old Mark (Jesse Eisenberg) is inebriated and upset. He has just been dumped by his girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), in a bar, and he can't get to the most exclusive, final clubs at Harvard. In his dorm room, he spitefully blogs about Erica and hacks into the school's directory of houses. The result is facemash.com, a website that rates the hotness of female students. It results in 22,000 votes in two hours and crashes the university network. All of a sudden, Mark, a genius, nerdy techie, becomes one of the 'cool' kids on the block. Never mind that he gets grilled by the ad board and receives six months of academic suspension. Mark's notoriety draws the attention of twin rowing athletes and future Olympians, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence), and a partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella). They approach him to do programming work on an online dating site called Harvard Connection (later changed to Connect U). Meanwhile, a light bulb goes off; their conversation about the concept of the site becomes the inspiration of his own site. Mark turns to his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), for assistance on the business end as co-founder and CFO. Eduardo is onboard and bankroll the future company with $1,000 of seed money. Bidding his time for more than 40 days, Mark works tirelessly - on his own project - and appears to have neglected the Harvard Connection site. His site is shortly known as The Facebook, where Harvard students can post their profile and pictures, and exclusively connect with one another. "Facebook me" or 'friend' me becomes the hottest invitation on campus. It's also interesting to see how the "relationship status" (who's hooking up and breaking up) comes about. Realizing that Mark has taken their initial idea and spins it around into something of his own, the Harvard Connection trio fume and pursue legal actions. Like wildfire, The Facebook's expansion is inevitable. Ivy-league schools, and soon other universities, are onboard. Conflicts soon ensue. Eduardo, thinking like a "normal" businessman, attempts to garner advertisers' money to further fund the site. In the meantime, it just so happens that Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the nearly broke founder of music-sharing site Napster (sued by the music industry), finds The Facebook by accident and connects with Mark. The two find themselves on the same wild wavelength, with Mark looking up to Sean as the more experienced business partner. Sooner than later, at Sean's suggestion, Mark moves his company to Palo Alto, Calif., where the movers and shakers of leading edge technology and venture capitalists reside, for the summer. He recruits the brightest and craziest interns through programming competitions and rounds of beer shots. Eduardo, however, remains in New York for an internship in the beginning, while willingly putting up $18K for the business. When an angel investor, Peter Thiel (Wallace Langham), co-founder of PayPal, invests $500K in the company, everything is moving like a speeding bullet train. While Mark and the other co-founders, publicist Chris Hughes (Patrick Mapel) and programmer Dustin Moskovitz (Joseph Mazzello), steadfastly maintain their respective stocks in the company, Eduardo, finds himself blindsided and left behind. His shares (originally 30% when he co-founded the company) are so diluted and dwindle down to virtually nil, and his name removed from the masthead. For all intents and purposes of the film, Eisenberg is on the mark. His mind and mannerisms depict Mark's brilliance, arrogance and irreverence like one-of-a-kind wunderkind that he is. It's enough to make me ponder - if Mark didn't have that kind of temperament and acted the way he did, would he ever become "The Mark Zuckerberg?" It's probably true that "you don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies." Garfield's portrayal of Eduardo, as the more logical and rational one (by ordinary standard), is sympathetic. On a side note, after Tobey Mcguire is out of the picture, I wasn't looking forward to Garfield being 'Spidey' in the upcoming reboot of "Spiderman," but I certainly am now. Timberlake portrays Sean with smugness and obnoxiousness convincingly. "The Social Network" is a story about a socially inept kid sitting on a sideline, striving to fit in and wanting to be popular. It's a story about friendships, loyalty, distrust, betrayal, ambition, invention, connections, opportunities and success beyond any imagination. Mark Zuckerberg, at the age 26, is the most famous face of generation Y and the youngest billionaire in the world. It may take another lifetime to see another Zuckerberg, if ever. In the end, he settles with the Winklevoss duo for 65 millions. Saverin receives an undisclosed sum of settlement and has his name reinstated as co-founder. Later on he reportedly ends up owning 5% shares. The Facebook, or now is simply known as 'Facebook,' is valued at 25 billion. From zero to 1,000 to 1 million members, it grows exponentially into 500 million members in 207 countries.