'Daybreakers' Review

Don't let their appearance fool you. These are vampires including Ethan Hawke in center. Watch the preview for a good plot summary: http://www.daybreakersmovie.com/

I'm a fan of vampire films and novels. I still think Bram Stoker's Dracula is the scariest novel I've ever read. So when a new movie about vampires is advertised and the preview looks good, I try to see it in the theater before it goes to DVD. The last one I've seen but only on DVD was Let The Right One In, an earlier blog entry. The preview for Daybreakers looked enticing so I decided to catch a Saturday matinee. I went alone because my wife is getting over the extraction of two wisdom teeth and wasn't interested in seeing fangs and more blood.
>>The story takes place ten years in the future where a mass infection has changed most of the population into vampires while the remaining humans are hunted for their blood. You can't tell who are the vampires except from their yellow eyes, longish incisors, and chalky skin which are downplayed to be not noticeable at first. A chain smoking Ethan Hawke plays a vampire hematologist seeking a substitute for human blood as its scarceness is creating world unrest. He will not drink human blood, an act defying his nasty corporate boss played by Sam Neill whose corporation sells blood milked from captive humans and wants to capitalize on the shortage.
>>Hawke saves some humans on the run and they eventually believe he wants to help them. When he meets Willem Dafoe, a former vampire cured during an accident, he uses him to learn how to duplicate the cure and maybe save the world. Meanwhile Neill enlists Hawke's soldier brother to track them down as he wants no cure found since it would destroy his profitable monopoly.
>>The filmmakers give Daybreakers a steely blue-gray high tech look for night scenes that blends well with the vampires' unsettling appearance. There's plenty of gore but spaced well within the plot. If you think you've seen enough vampire movies with the usual cliches, this one has a few surprises placed amid the action and suspense. The cast is up to the task including Dafoe who offers good support with a few wisecracks that lighten the darkness. This is one well done creepy film for fans of this genre.

'Avatar' Review

Zoe Saldana & Sam Worthington as aliens. Watch trailer #2 for a plot summary: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/avatar/26982/main

Movie fans have been wondering what James Cameron has been doing since 1997's Titanic. That blockbuster is the biggest grossing film of all time. So how does a director top that achievement? Audiences and reviewers will be harsh on any subsequent film he makes... especially if it's a smaller one.... waiting for him to fail... "Oh it's not as good as his others, etc." Cameron knew that and has been quietly working for years on a new film. Publicity has been slowly released about him experimenting on new technology... perfecting 3-D.... something about a sci-fi plot...
>>Well the wait is over and now we have Avatar, a blockbuster that outshines Titanic in every way. Everything you read or heard about it is true. $230 million + was spent creating it and all that money is up there on the screen in full splendor. The box office receipts have already passed that amount since its recent release as word of mouth and glowing reviews keep mounting. The detailed work is eye-popping in 3-D and is used judiciously, not effect for effect's sake. Years ago I've seen 3-D films at the Sony Imax Theater in NYC but they played under an hour and we had to wear these heavy electronic goggles. Avatar uses lightweight glasses which are a relief since the film unwinds over two and a half hours and never drags. Perhaps an intermission would be good for a toilet break and to give our eyes a rest but perhaps Cameron didn't want viewers to lose the story's's momentum. Mercifully the 3-D effects are spaced apart enough for dramatic impact and never overwhelm you to the point of acquiring a headache,
>>The plot will remind you of films like Dances With Wolves and The Emerald Forest where an outsider joins a foreign culture and becomes one of their people... risking his life to defend them against his greedy, ignorant superiors. This time we go one hundred and fifty years into the future to the moon Pandora. Good performances by a newcomer Sam Worthington as a soldier and Sigourney Weaver as a sympathetic scientist (a veteran of Cameron's Aliens; some of the work here will remind you of that film) as the good guys who fight against a buff, gruff Stephen Lang as the gung ho military commander bent on destroying Pandora's ecological/mystical balance in pursuit of a rare mineral wanted by his corporate employers.
>>Expect seeing a world populated by strange creatures and wildlife. Some of the scenes are breathtaking in 3-D as they lead up to the spectacular battle at the film's end. If you never saw a 3-D film, this is the one to see. It doesn't matter if you don't like sci-fi as the story will win you over. Don't be surprised if Avatar outgrosses Titanic. This crowd pleaser is the movie event of the year. You dare not miss it. As enticing as the previews are, it's not the same experience seeing it the way it must be seen on the big screen. Avoid a non 3-D showing.

>>It's been reported that Cameron might make a sequel, possibly two. We know that he's good at making them - Terminator 2 and Aliens although Ridley Scott directed the original Alien. There's been talk for years about a sequel to his True Lies but we better not hold our breath waiting for the one about a ship hitting an iceberg... J/K

'Sherlock Holmes' Review

Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/sherlock-holmes/35683/main

I've never read any of the original stories about Sherlock Holmes so I'm not able to compare this movie to them. I've seen plenty of TV & movies versions with other actors including two on Broadway. This new movie is a hit and was enjoyable. What seems different about this one is having Dr. Watson given more screen time than in previous outings. Jude Law's portrayal makes him more of an equal to Robert Downey Jr's Holmes. They trade quips and insults at a fast pace amid lots of daring do's. Both are younger than other actors in these roles, perhaps an attempt by the filmmakers to attract a younger audience. They may not be my idea of correct casting but everyone has their own favorites for these roles. Downey & Law are amusing with their love-hate banter so pay close attention to their dialogue.
>>There's plenty of fights and last minute rescues that keep the plot moving, maybe a little too much. This film is a change of pace for Guy Ritchie (Madonna's ex-husband), known for his British gangster films. Good costumes and settings are a treat for the eyes. Rachel McAdams seems miscast as a Brit but does well enough as Holmes's ambivalent love interest and Mark Strong who played a memorable villain in Stardust is good here too. Watch the way his cold eyes stare with contempt.
>>My wife who has read every Holmes story has this to say: "You can tell your blog readers (with the proper "Spoiler Alert" warnings) that I said that elements of the plot bore an uncanny resemblance to the plot of a House episode: a physician whose brilliant but arrogant and drug-dependent friend moves in with him and attempts to break up his love relationship. The good doctor attempts to remove the friend from his premises, but comes to realize that the friend's phenomenal powers of deduction actually make him a force for good in society."

Two Un-XMAS CDs

Here's two CDs for people like me who are bored with traditional holiday music. Enya's And Winter Came... is a must for her fans who love her breathy, lilting overdubs that can't be reproduced live. You'll never see her in concert because she does all the vocals & most of the instruments in the studio and would sound lousy without her sound engineers' technology. There's two non-original songs like a haunting 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel' and a Gaelic version of 'Silent Night' done as you would expect in her recognizable style.
>>>Enya has a new greatest hits CD which includes a DVD collection of her videos and two 'making of' docs of two songs. I've never seen her videos so watching them was a treat although they're a bit repetitious. She portrayed herself as this gowned heroine of her own fairy tale fantasies cavorting through pastel forests & meadows surrounded by adoring animals. The Winter cover above gives you an idea what to expect from the videos. Here's a video from her Winter CD and, as a change of pace, filmed in a urban setting: http://enya.com/videos.php?vid=tawr
>>>Sting's new CD, If On A Winter's Night, is selling well enough to make it a small hit. In interviews he says he didn't want to record a traditional XMAS album because he thought that would be an act of artistic bankruptcy/having no new ideas. I'm sure his fellow entertainers who produced holiday music must be overjoyed to hear this dig. I bought the deluxe edition that includes an extra song and a 'making of' DVD. Here's a description from the cover: "Inspired by Sting's favorite season, If On A Winter's Night... takes traditional music from the British Isles as its starting point and evolves into a compelling and personal journey with music spanning over five centuries (including two of Sting's own songs). An evocative collection of lullabies, carols, and songs.'' He's backed by good acoustic musicians in tune with his concept although some reviewers have noted his vocal ability isn't up to the demands of some songs. That's for you to judge but give him credit for attempting something different. I'm planning to purchase the DVD of a concert filmed inside a church. A shorter version was recently shown on PBS.
>>>Here's a video of one song and a test of his singing: http://www.amazon.com/Sting/e/B000APVN7O/ref=s9_dpt_sa_videos
>>>Both CDs will please listeners who are tired of hearing 'White Christmas' for the zillionth time. OK OK I too love Bing Crosby's version and watch Holiday Inn every time it's shown. Bah Humbug and have a happy holiday!
.

'2012' Review

Amanda Peet encourages John Cusack to catch an outbound flight in 2012, directed by Roland Emmerich, the Irwin Allen of today... only with bigger budgets. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/2012/30165/main

I have to say I enjoyed this blockbuster. Lots of money was spent on this production and it's a worldwide hit with audiences and not so much with the critics. 2012 follows the formula of disaster films and you do get your money's worth for two and a half hours of spectacular destruction in surround sound. So take that, Gerald Peary!
>>No big stars here because most of the cost went into the special effects. No great acting here too but it's not needed as the competent B-List actors are stereotypes and if you've seen enough disaster movies you can easily guess who's not going to be around for the end credits.
>>Spoiler Alert: How one character quickly reunites with her former husband when her current one is killed is a ridiculous plot absurdity but this is what you expect in these movies. So turn off your brain and let it get buried under the specatular earthquakes and tsunamis. which are well spaced to keep the story moving along.

'For The Love Of Movies' Review

On October 19th we took our last trip to Portsmouth NH for the year. It's difficult to plan going there during the winter and we don't want to get stuck paying for non-refundable hotel reservations and show tickets if we cancel out due to a snowstorm. The reason for this trip was to see a new documentary playing at downtown's Music Hall: http://www.fortheloveofmovies.net/
>>During the 70's & 80's we used to go to Boston to see plays and foreign & classic films. Before there was the internet to provide schedules, we subscribed to the Real Paper, a now defunct weekly Boston newspaper and we could plan trips according to the cultural info offered. Gerald Peary was a film critic who now writes for the Boston Phoenix and teaches film studies in a local college. You can read about him here: http://geraldpeary.com/
>>Peary's brother Danny also writes film books that I own. Gerald has written and directed a documentary about film critics called For the Love of Movies, something I would definitely be interested in seeing since I've been collecting film books for over 40 years and own about 400 books on film & theater (mostly film), many are out of print/rare.
>>After checking into the Sise Inn for our overnight stay, we shopped for a while. I traded in two bags of CDs and DVDs at Bull Moose Music for $74 of store credit which was quickly used for purchases for our son's 23rd birthday (DVD sets of TV's The Family Guy, volumes 5 & 6) and a few items for us: A CD of Phillip Glass's solo piano works (refer to April's blog entry about seeing him in concert at The Music Hall), Criterion DVD editions of The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp and The Royal Tenanbaums (future blog entries), and David Cronenberg's version of M Butterfly which we saw on Broadway (another future entry).
>>After dinner we proceeded to The Music Hall to see For The Love Of Movies. There was a small turnout followed by a Q & A session with Peary and his producer Amy Geller. The documentary covers the history of American film criticism from the silents to the present. Lots of interviews with well-known critics fill up eighty minutes. One important topic stressed was the current dismissal of film critics from publications perhaps due to the declining general readership and the preponderance of internet bloggers. Their film's DVD was being sold for $20 after the viewing and I bought a copy which has 40 worthwhile minutes of extras/interviews. We enjoyed the film and there were a few things I didn't know about. This project, definitely a labor of love and probably made without much money (no high tech visuals here) has been in the works for several years as Roger Ebert's interviews were recorded before his illnesses.
>>The Q & A session was followed by a meet & greet session with Peary and Geller and staff members of The Music Hall in the bar below the auditorium. Over a glass of wine I talked with Peary about how we used to read his reviews in The Real Paper. I asked when his brother is going to release Cult Movies IV, another entry in his encyclopedic series on cult movies and a must for film buffs. Alas I was told he stopped writing film books since they don't make enough money and he's switched to writing books on baseball. Bummer...
>>When I told Peary that I owned a book shown in his film, the collected reviews of Otis Ferguson who wrote for the New Republic magazine and was killed during WWII, he said, "Wow! That's a rare one!" I explained that I've been collecting film books for years. I'm sure I own some titles he doesn't have. I told him too bad he couldn't obtain a clip from a 1970 episode of Mike Douglas's TV show where I expected to see the critic John Simon get into a fistfight with Ross Hunter, the producer of Airport, when he trashed his film. I still have a vivid memory of that show. They both stormed off the stage at the end of their segment.
>>When I mentioned how in 1979 we went to the Orson Welles Cinema (no longer in existance) to see the German film, The Marriage of Maria Braun after reading a review in the The Real Paper, he said "You must have read my review." I replied with "You're probably right" since it's been too many years to remember who wrote it.
>>We also spoke with two of the theater's staff about how we plan our Portsmouth trips around their schedule. They were in shock and we assured them we weren't kidding as we listed the shows we've seen in their theater. I gave one of them my business card and a few days later he emailed me a nice note thanking us for coming from Connecticut and asked if I had any suggestions for movies worth showing. I also emailed Peary who chided me when I told him I was seeing 2012. Well I'm sorry, Mr. Critic, I'm not a film snob and enjoy most genres when they are done well. I see what interests me and so should you. Reviewers be damned... including me.
>>On the way home we shopped in Portsmouth's large Barnes & Noble where Criterions were on sale. I bought the German film, Wings of Desire, which was later remade as City of Angels with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan.

'An Education' Review

Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard in An Education. Watch the preview: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/an-education/33272/main

The reviews have been good for this provocative but tame English coming-of-age film that takes place in 1961. The preview here gives you a good idea what to expect. Sixteen year-old Jenny (Carey Mulligan) wants to graduate the British equivalent of high school and attend Oxford as an English major. When she meets David, an older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who puts her cello into his car on a rainy day, her goals change. He's charming and knows how to talk his way in and out of any situation, including winning over her overprotective father (Alfred Molina) who objects to them dating since David is about thirty. Jenny is warned by her teachers about how this relationship could ruin her life and her chances for college, but she wants more out of life than what classrooms can provide.
>>David satisfies and stimulates her intellectual curiosity by taking her to concerts, night clubs, auctions, and museums. He introduces her to his hedonist friends who accompany them on excursions. Soon he's fulfilling her dream of seeing Paris and she plans to lose her virginity with him on her seventeenth birthday. Jenny decides that being part of David's glamorous lifestyle is more exciting than studying and accepts his engagement ring. Her father prefers this marriage to spending money for college since she's no longer interested in Oxford. Heeding good advice she quits school and plans to enjoy the rest of her life with David.
>>The idea of older men dating teenagers makes this sound like an episode in Roman Polanski's life but those circumstances are different from this thoughtful and intelligent film. We slowly see the real David, a wolf in sheep's clothing armed with a way with words aided by a non-threatening facade, before Jenny does and we wait for her reaction. We're supposed to finally dislike him after we see how so many have been conned by him but he's too slyly charming and seemingly nice enough not to hate once the truth about him is revealed and this is the problem we face as viewers as well as Jenny and her parents. In his defense, he's not evil but just weak in succumbing to his vices without caring about the damage he does to others. The film's title is exactly that, 'an education' for Jenny in learning about life and its cruel lessons. Will she be able to break away from David's influence and continue her education is for you to learn.
>>Good performances in a small disarming film make this worth seeing. Carey Mulligan will remind you of a young Audrey Hepburn and Peter Sarsgaard is convincing enough not to hate his character, a difficult role, as we should. The '61 English period details seem dead on and I liked the less famous music of that era used for the soundtrack. Even Mom liked this movie considering she's not a fan of English films with what she calls their 'weird' accents, slang, and humor. She got the point of the story and so will you.