Full Review coming never.

Directed by: Babatunde Akinloye

Cinematography by: John Bedard

Featuring: Chiz and D-Smoke of Park Circle

[youtube _m-Da8Tz4_E]

And now, my roommate’s video.

[youtube 5gNdmNQyTzU]

Leave any comments you may have, here, and also show it to as many people as you know.  I think it’s incredibly well done and would love to get the views up to a noticeable number, and hopefully get this video, and his talent, some exposure on other blogs like /Film.  So get to watchin’!

I’m not going to bother trying to touch on any plot points or elements of the story, because the film is set up in 5 chapters, and each chapter feels like it’s own short film, even though they are all directly related.  What’s more important, and more worth reviewing (to me) is the unbelievable amount of tension that saturates each chapter.  Tarantino really does an incredible job of creating a scene for his actors to really dive into and swim around.  Each scene plays out considerably longer than a typical film would usually let on, but I feel that really lets the characters come to life, and really gives the tension a chance to build and eventually explode.

I’m finding it hard to write anything else.  So I’m just going to boil it all down.  Most of the acting and dialogue are incredible.  I expect an Oscar nomination for Christoph Waltz who plays Col. Hans Landa, the main antagonist in the film.  Melanie Laurent also gives a terrific performance as Shosanna Dreyfus, and does a great job of allowing the audience to really feel every ounce of emotion that she experiences.  As for Brad Pitt and the Basterds, their performances are good enough.  They seem a bit like caricatures from different American regions that aren’t terrible, but aren’t that great either.  They’re just good enough to keep things moving without taking you out of the story.

So there you go, loads of drama and intensity, terrific performances, and pure gratification make Inglorious Basterds an incredibly enjoyable and satisfying film to watch.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I want to write more about this film, but all I can think about is just how disappointing the film was.  There were a few funny moments throughout the film, but most of the humor centers around the idiocy of the entire situation, and how deep of a hole Mark can dig for himself.  Ultimately you just end up feeling sad for Mark and his situation after the humor wears thin.

Also, the cinematography is just terrible to look at.  It’s not bad or poorly executed, I just think that the choices are all wrong.  Given that the film is set in the early 90′s, it’s lit and shot to kind of resemble the color and tone of video from back in the day.  Unfortunately, it just doesn’t look good.  I actually began to feel disgusted by the lighting in the film, but that may be just me and my background in cinematography.

Regardless, the disappointing elements in the film are too detrimental to it as a whole, and really weigh down the humor as opposed to letting it shine.  I think the story and situation could be rife with great material and entertainment, but ultimately it all feels very convoluted, boiled down, and simplified which cheapens the experience.

The Informant! provides a few laughs and is still an interesting story despite its flaws.  I’d recommend waiting for it to come to Netflix on DVD and not Bluray (because it’s just really really ugly looking).

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

To start, the movie is absolutely hilarious.  The writing of the characters is brilliant because it allows the film to mock other film genres and tropes while also setting up who these characters are and their detachment from the norm as seen through this veil of humor.  Flint’s vocal narrations of his actions are both delightfully humorous and almost heartbreakingly flawed because it is such a deep part of his reality.

The rest of the characters are just as funny and likable, in large part due to the writing, but also due to the excellent performances given by the actors.  Bill Hader and Anna Faris turn in really strong performances, but the surprise of the film comes from Mr. T who brings all of his usual energy, but also adds in a great deal of heart and life to his character.  Additionally, each of the character’s relationships with one another are very well realized and touching, which brings purpose to nearly every character interaction within the story.

On top of all of this, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is visually stunning.  The animation style, color palate, and use of 3D all work together to form something that is incredibly entertaining and engaging to watch.  I’ve written before about how I may not be the best person to judge the use of 3D in the recent wave of films that have employed it, but I feel that this film really uses 3D to add a meaningful depth to the film and characters, where the same attempt felt unnecessary with Pixar’s UP.  There were no incessant or inane attempts to hurl objects out of the screen and into the audience, and I’m thankful for that.  It’s examples like this and hopefully Avitar that will show the world that 3D can be used to enhance a story and should not be used simply as a gimmick.

Overall, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is an incredibly entertaining film that the kids and parents can both enjoy and I’m definitely looking forward to purchasing it on Bluray.  Go see it in theaters and in 3D while you have the chance.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Based on Shane Acker’s short film of the same name, 9 focuses on a group of numbered, sackboy-esque characters who are the last remnants of life in a world destroyed by war.  As they spend most of their time hiding from a beast that is bent on hunting all of them down, 9 decides to fight back and lead a charge against the beast and creatures that stand against them.

Unfortunately, this is where things go sour.  The biggest downfall of the film is that it makes huge leaps from point A to point B and so on, without really fleshing out any semblance of a plot.  It’s as though in the development of the expanded story, the writers were so rushed to throw anything down on paper, that they completely forgot that the things they wrote need to actually make some kind of sense when seen in the context of the whole film.

Additionally, the voice acting was pretty bad.  With such an excellent cast who have all done some very terrific work in their careers, they all just seemed to phone this one in, and I imagine one would have to attribute that to the direction, or lack of, on Acker’s behalf.  Most of the characters feel so one dimensional that combined with the flatness of the acting, they ultimately feel about as worth while as the potato sacks that they’re made of.

I really wanted to like this movie.  I tried very hard to look past all of its flaws, but instead only gazed past them and stared right into the gaping holes in the plot and wished for more than a vague outline of what could have been very interesting characters in an interesting world.  Unfortunately this isn’t a movie that needs to be seen in theaters.  If you’re curious about the visual effects and the style of the film, I suppose you could wait til it comes to Netflix, but even then, don’t expect much.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

So that’s it for now.  Let me know what you think.

You can modify the source code using the WordPress plugin editor on the left hand side of the dashboard or you can view/download the entire modified source code here and simply copy and paste into the editor if you wish.  The file you’ll want to modify is starred-review.php. As far as editing code goes, it’s a relatively simple change, but before you edit anything, I recommend copying the original source code and having a backup, just in case something goes awry.

First, we’re going to change the code on line 12 from:

if (is_plugin_page()) {

$sr_dir = dirname(__FILE__).’/';

if (starredreview_installed())
$sr_page = $sr_dir.’sr_install.php’;

to

function sr_options_page() {

$sr_dir = dirname(__FILE__).’/';

if (starredreview_installed())
$sr_page = $sr_dir.’sr_install.php’;

Now, given that we’ve removed the if(is_plugin_page)) statement, we must also remove the corresponding else { statement around line 42, seen here:

<?php
} //end if install
require_once($sr_page);

}

else {

function starredreview_installed(){

to

<?php
} //end if install
require_once($sr_page);

}

function starredreview_installed(){

And now that we’ve removed the else { statement and opening bracket, we need to remove the proper closing bracket } and also add add_action(‘options_page_starred-review’, ‘sr_options_page’); around line 79 seen here:

} /* end fucntion: starred_review_badge */

add_action(‘init’, ‘starredreview_require’);
add_action(‘admin_menu’, ‘starredreview_admin_menu’);
}

to

} /* end fucntion: starred_review_badge */

add_action(‘options_page_starred-review’, ‘sr_options_page’);
add_action(‘init’, ‘starredreview_require’);
add_action(‘admin_menu’, ‘starredreview_admin_menu’);

That’s everything.  Again, make sure that you make a backup copy of the plugin if you’re worried about making mistakes, or you can always just redownload the plugin from the directory if you mess up.  If for some reason I missed a step, or it still doesn’t work, let me know and I’ll double check everything.  Enjoy.