A few months ago I saw some discussion of a rather obscure and bizarre 1983 movie from Australia called The Return of Captain Invincible, starring two big names - the Academy Award winning Alan Arkin, and the classic character actor villain Christopher Lee. (He was Count Dooku in Star Wars and Saruman in Lord of the Rings!)

I of course added it to our Netflix queue, not sure what to expect.

I did NOT expect a musical!

This song should give you a taste of the movie:

Captain Invincible is Nazi-fighting, flying, magnetic, indestructible All American hero of World War II, driven into hiding after being being accused of being un-American during a McCarthy-like trial in the 50's...

"You claim to be a Captain, but we have no records of you serving in the US Military. Who do you report to? Your cape is red. RED! You fly, but you do not have a pilot's license!" And so on...

The movie then jumps forward to the 80's (and from B&W to Color), and we find Captain Invincible a washed up drunk living in hiding in Australia. It is there that a desperate US President finds him, and begs him to try and recover his powers to save the world one more time.

Christopher Lee is the villain, Mr. Midnight. His evil plot? He is using a hypno ray to convince all the minorities in NYC to buy houses in posh subdivisions located on peninsulas jutting out from Manhattan.

Yes. It really is that bizarre.

And don't forget, this is a MUSICAL!!!

It reminded me a lot of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but not nearly as well acted, directed, written, or sung. The creator's of Captain Invincible seem to be trying to follow the Rocky Horror formula, but they end up falling way short.

But still - a fun and bizarre outing.

If you ever fantasized about seeing Saruman crooning about the joys of cocktails, this is the movie for you... *grin*

"There is nothing sicker in society than a lack of liquor, and sobriety."

Rating: 3 Stars

serolynne and I paid a visit to Sacramento this weekend, dropping some stuff off in storage and spending some quality time visiting with our dear friend Lindsay.

Friday night we went and enjoyed some rocking lounge music and cocktails at the Back Door in old Sacramento.

And earlier tonight, the three of us went and saw the new movie Slumdog Millionaire. It was great!

Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of an uneducated young man who grew up in the slums of Mumbai, who stuns the country by excelling in the Indian version of the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game show.

His life story is told in flashbacks while he is being interrogated by the police, accused of fraud or cheating. How else could a boy from the slums know so much?

The story structure is refreshingly unique - it doesn't follow any of the typical Hollywood formulas. The movie is emotionally engaging, fast paced, and a visual delight.

The multiculturalism of the story is a rare treat as well. The story is based upon a novel from India, the director (Danny Boyle) is from the UK, and most of the actors and all of the locations have a very authentic feel that captures the kinetic energy, color, and abject poverty of India extremely well.

This movie is generating a lot of buzz, and for good reason. Go out and see it today!

Rating: 4+ Stars!

PS: Stay for the credits. The rocking Bollywood dance number at the end is a blast!

Into the Wild tells the true story of Christopher McCandless and his tragic quest to challenge himself and rebel against modern society by journeying alone and almost entirely unprepared into the deep Alaskan wilderness in the summer of 1992.

There is a lot I admire about Chris. He went to extremes to break free from the formulas and maps that define modern society, and my heart definitely identifies with his rejection of "stuff" and the pursuit of adventure that was driving him.

But I totally reject his methods. In the end, Chris proved to be a reckless and self-centered dumbass, and though the movie does not show it - his death could have been easily avoided.

Chris graduated from Emory University in 1990, and rather than head off to law school like his family expected, he donated his life savings of $24,000 to charity, and he set off driving west, abandoning his parents and sister, never to speak to them again.

After many adventures along the way he reached Alaska in 1992, where he journeyed into the wilderness with little more than a book about edible plants, a rifle, and a 10lb bag of rice for sustenance.

It was tough living off the land. He did manage to hunt and kill a moose, but he did not know how to preserve the meat and it rotted on him. Before long, he was starving. And when he tried to escape by retracing his steps, he discovered that the shallow river he had waded across early in the season was now a raging and impassible torrent, trapping him.

He lasted a bit over 100 days, living in an old abandoned bus for shelter.

Hunters found his body, his journal, and his cameras full of undeveloped film just two weeks later. His final journal entry: "I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!"

The movie (and the book it was based on) surmised that Chris would have made it had he not accidentally eaten poisonous berries. But no evidence of fatally poisonous berries were ever found in the area, and the more likely scenario is that Chris simply starved to death - expending more calories to find food than he got from eating it. When he was found, his body weighed less than 70lbs.

The movie makes no mention of this - but when I went to read more about Chris and the controversy around his death, I was shocked to discover that there was a hand-operated tram over the river less than a quarter mile from where Chris had found himself trapped and unable to cross. If he had only had a detailed map, he would have been able to walk out to safety.

Just a tiny bit of preparation would have saved him.

*sigh*

The movie dramatizing Chris's life is really good though. It stars Emile Hirsch, and he does an amazing job portraying Chris and the changes he undergoes. The movie was a labor of love for director Sean Penn, who also wrote the screenplay. The location shooting is fabulous, and the beauty and magic of the wilderness is thoroughly captured.

I just wish the movie hadn't tried so hard to make Chris into a heroic figure, when in truth he was more tragic than not. That side of his story was left mostly untold.

Still... A very beautiful, and thought provoking movie. I highly recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars

Note: I am curious to check out a new non-Hollywood documentary about the Christopher McCandless story called The Call of the Wild. To make the movie, the filmmaker physically retraces Chris's journey from a more objective and less hero-worshipping angle. The "Debunking" page on the documentaries website is where I learned a lot about just how misleading the Hollywood drama version had been.

The Pursuit of Happyness is a movie chronicling the amazing true story of Christopher Gardner - a man who in the early 80's struggled to complete a grueling unpaid internship to become a stock broker while being personally broke, living on the streets as a homeless single father.

Will Smith does a fabulous job portraying the ferociously devoted father who perseveres through sheer force of will to survive and care for his son, juggling the demands of a corporate job during the day, raising his son in the evenings, and the challenges of sleeping in homeless shelters and BART bathrooms at night.

He rises above it all, excelling at the training to reach the top of his group of interns.

The real Christopher Gardner then went on to lead an incredibly successful life, eventually starting his own brokerage firm.

The movie does take a few liberties to simplify the true story, and for dramatic effect. For example, the real internship that Chris completed wasn't entirely unpaid, but that would not have made for nearly as much tension as he reached his final dollar. And during this period in the life of the real Chris Gardner, his son was actually a toddler and not 5 years old as in the movie. (The son in the movie was played by Will Smith's real son, Jaden Smith...)

The entire plot thread around the bone density scanners that Chris used to sell bordered on silly at times - particularly with the overly forced action and drama that had Chris chasing after stolen medical devices through traffic and subway stations. The real story was dramatic enough - these action sequences looked forced and just took substance and depth away from the film as a whole.

The movie does an incredible job of recreating the look and feel of early 80's San Francisco. The movie is filmed entirely on location in SF, and I loved all the glimpses of the city. The attention to accuracy in the period details is superb, particularly the recreation of the office interiors. Even the film grain looks dated.

No matter how you look at it, Christopher Gardner's story is inspiring - and the movie conveys that. Watching it gives you a great warm & glowy feeling.

Highly recommended!

Rating: 4+ stars!

Camped with the Oliver Road Crew over the weekend at the International Camel Races in Virginia City, NV - we did a little bit of DVD trading.

We loaned Pam and David the underwhelming sequel-to-a-classic 2010, and they gave us the 2007 fantasy film Stardust to watch for our evening entertainment.

Wow - it was great!

Based upon a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman, Stardust has more raw imagination, clever storytelling, unique characters, and fantastical settings than almost any other movie I've seen in years.

It almost erased the mental scars from suffering through Indiana Jones 4 last week.

Stardust was very reminiscent of the legendary The Princess Bride, but I do not think it has the same potential to turn into such a timeless classic. It is however a movie that I could watch again and again. The world of Wall and Stormhold begs to be revisited.

I particularly loved Robert De Niro as the flamboyant cross-dressing lightening harvesting flying pirate Captain Shakespeare. Michelle Pfieffer was also brilliant as the evil witch Lamia.

I highly recommend this movie - it is a delightful and imaginative treat, and thoroughly enjoyable in all ways.

Go see it!

Rating: 4+ stars!

We've been hanging out in Reno decompressing a bit from Burning Man this week, staying at the Grand Sierra Resort / RV Park. Last night after some high stakes gambling in the casino (Cherie made $25 and I lost $20) we decided to splurge on the adjoining $3 movie theater to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

*ugh*

I had heard that Indy 4 was pretty bad, but it was worse than I could have imagined it being. All the elements that made the original Indiana Jones movie and character great were present, but in such a forced and poorly scripted fashion that at times it was downright painful to watch.

The plot was incomprehensible and senseless. The main characters were so indestructible that you never once felt any tension, true sense of adventure, or risk for their lives. And the whole Crystal Skull story line was promising, but the way that it was executed was totally ridiculous...

*sigh*

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a disappointing return to a classic trilogy. But even it was not nearly as disappointing as Indy 4.

Some classics are really best left classic. And along those lines - hearing today that the original cast is reuniting to make Ghostbusters 3 fills me with dread.... *sigh*

Rating: 1 star.

BTW - I haven't gotten around to posting any pictures or stories from Burning Man yet, but serolynne has posted some awesome summaries and photos chronicling our experience. Check them out here!

We just got back from seeing Pixar's latest - WALL-E.

Wow. Awesome. Incredible.

Go see this movie. See it on a big screen.

You will love it.

Pixar has done it again. *grin*

Rating: 5 stars!

This was a weekend for unusual movie viewing experiences. First, on Saturday night we saw Animal House for free on the big screen at Cinemaworld.

And then Sunday night, we watched Across the Universe while floating in a hot tub.

As often happens - good things come from "embracing the power of and". While debating with our visiting friend Martin whether to watch a movie or hang out in the hot tub, we decided - why not both? Soon we had a laptop screen and speakers set up, and Martin provided the movie.

I had never heard of Across the Universe, but it was an amazing and offbeat treat. The movie uses the music of The Beatles (33 songs!) to tell the stories of a young artist from Liverpool (Jude), his best friend and soon-to-be-draftee Max, his activist love Lucy, and a swirl of other characters surrounding them in the turbulent late 60's setting.

The visuals of the movie get rather trippy at times - particularly during the psychedilic bus trip sequence with Dr. Robert (U2's Bono) singing "I Am The Walrus" as they road-trip across the country. Then the outrageous Eddie Izzard makes an appearance singing "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" with a chorus of dancing Blue Meanies.

When Max gets drafted, things get even weirder as an Uncle Sam poster comes to life to sing "I Want You So Bad" to him while he is marched through his indoctrination physical.

The music is great. The visuals are stunning. The characters are engaging. The entire 1960's NYC world feels brought to life. Ever step of the way the movie feels unpredictable and imaginatively engaging.

I loved it. This is what movie magic is all about!

Rating: 5 stars!

Saturday night we decided to get out of the house for a while, and serolynne and I met up with mladypain for the Free Midnight Movie at Cinemaworld in Melbourne.

This week's feature - the 1978 comedy classic Animal House.

I always worry when I watch older "classic" comedies. So many of them have failed to age well, and many are now downright painful to watch.

But Animal House has held up to the test of time. It is a delight, and often downright laugh-out-loud hilarious. The plot is simplistic, the humor crude and outrageous, and that is exactly the point.

John Belushi in particular demonstrates his mastery of physical comedy and facial expressions. He is a comedic genius indeed.

Animal House gets extra points from me for being such an original movie that has inspired countless imitators.

All in all, a great night out. And you can't beat the price - free!

Rating: 5 stars!

Often people are amazed that serolynne and I can manage to live so well together in a 16' long trailer.

It really isn't that hard.

These folks on the otherhand - egads!

Imagine having and raising NINE kids while traveling (and surfing) full time in a 24' motorhome. Talk about a lack of space!

This documentary (entitled Surfwise) about the life and adventures of the disturbingly unconventional Paskowitz family looks absolutely fascinating. I can't wait to see it.

Saturday night serolynne and I had a bunch of friends over for party, and then on Sunday we went out to see Iron Man with a bunch of the out-of-town stragglers who stayed over.

It rocked.

Great characters, fun special effects, and an ass-kicking super hero. Iron Man takes the typical summer blockbuster formula, and executes it nearly perfectly.

I was a bit disappointed with the climatic final battle (ice?!!?), and I wish there had been more background and depth given to the villain. And there were a few scenes that were just not particularly believable, even allowing for the Iron Man universe physics. The suit is supposed to be indestructible, not the man...

But minor quibbles aside, this movie was a visual feast perfect for seeing on the big screen. Much fun!

Rating: 4+ stars

I never would have imagined this.

A documentary about the quest to be the world's best Donkey Kong player you would expect to appeal to a rather limited audience. I mean, just how fascinating can it be to watch a bunch of geeks obsessing over insanely high scores in a 25 year old video game???

But to my surprise - The King of Kong ended up being one of the funniest and most entertaining documentaries I have ever seen. Even if you could care less about video games, the personalities that the filmmakers capture are beyond fascinating. This is such an incredibly well made movie revolving around such an engrossing story that it is impossible not the be entranced.

swdev and his wife invisibleink151 joined serolynne and I for lunch and a movie this afternoon. Based upon a good review I had stumbled across online, Kong was in our NetFlix stack, and became our lunchtime entertainment.

We were all floored, laughing out loud, and constantly staring at each other with jaws on the floor. None of us expected The King of Kong to be so amazingly good.

The rivalry between reigning champion and "Gamer of the Century" Billy Mitchell and out-of-nowhere upstart Steve Wiebe is as gripping as any rivalry in the history of sports. Billy has seemingly based his entire life around his reputation as the best, and his 1982 record had never been challenged - until Steve came along.

Steve's wife and kids are bemusingly supportive of their father's sudden fame and glory. But the family dynamics make for some of the best parts of the film. Here is Steve talking with his daughter:

Jillian: I never knew that the Guinness World Record Book was so... I never knew it was so important.
Steve: I guess a lot of people are... yeah, a lot of people read that book.
Jillian: [while directly looking at Steve, her father] Some people sort of ruin their lives to be in there.

*ouch*

And then there is Steve's toddler son, demanding that his father "Stop playing Donkey Kong and wipe my butt!" while his father tries to stall him as he is just at that very moment within striking distance of the record. Talk about bad timing!!

A scripted comedy could never generate such perfectly funny and real moments.

As Kong progresses, you find yourself cheering on the underdog Steve, and hating the cowardly Billy as squirms every which way to avoid having his record stripped from him.

The cast of supporting characters is just as fascinating. There is even a Q-Bert playing grandma mixed into the pot.

I haven't seen something this solidly entertaining in ages. If you get a chance, watch this movie!

Rating: 5 stars!

Note: Billy claims that the movie unfairly portrays him, and distorts the truth for dramatic effect. His claim is potentially true, but then again - he is pouting and has refused to even watch the film since its release. For a fascinating interview with him, including several video clips, look here.

This afternoon serolynne and I went and saw the U23D concert film.

Wow.

No fluff, no filler, no backstage shots... Just 80 minutes of U2 rocking out while on the Vertigo tour.

The high definition cameras combined with the 3D effect is stunning. You really feel like you are there, zooming above the audience and around the stage. The lights, the sounds, the energy of the crowd... It was amazing.

It is so immersive that at times it feels less like a film than a concert. I could hardly keep myself sitting still - you can't help but want to stand up and move, shout, and sing. Several of the songs were so emotionally powerfully they brought tears to my eyes.

It was an amazing experience. Almost as good as being there. A bit less energy than live, but you get a much better view...

U2 is the most amazing band I have ever seen perform. If you have never had the chance to see U2 live, now is your chance. Spend the $10 and see this film. You will be blown away.

Rating: 5-stars!

New Years Day was a good day for movies.

First we spent the afternoon watching Ratatouille on DVD, and I was once again blown away by it.

Then a bunch of us drove in to Orlando to see the 25th anniversary theatrical release of Blade Runner on the big screen at the Enzion.

What a stunningly beautiful movie.

Ridley Scott creates an immersive future world that is dystopian and bleak, yet not empty. His future LA is run down, but bustling. The city skyline is monumental (the pyramids are amazing!), but much of the city is also a wasteland. The contrasts and the extremes are what draw you in, and are what make it seem so real.

The visual styling is incredibly lush. Scott paints the world with shadows, smoke, rain and bright neon. The future noir visual style of Blade Runner has been an inspiration for countless sci-fi movies since, and it is easy to see why.

The slow and deliberate pacing in Blade Runner really blows me away. This is the exact opposite of the typical quick-cut action movie. And when the violence does come, the camera does not flinch away. The Vangelis soundtrack sets the mood perfectly - creating a feast for your ears as well as your eyes.

And the plot? There is no simple "good guy saving the world" story here. Rather, the movie explores what it means to be human, and what it means to be free. Do slaves have the right to rebel against their masters?

Blade Runner leaves you with no easy answers, and lots of delicious food for thought.

Rating: 5+ stars.

Cherie's dad celebrates a Christmas Day tradition of bad movies - and the choice yesterday afternoon was bad indeed. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry is a mess of a movie.

Adam Sandler and Kevin James are two extremely straight (and homophobic) Brooklyn firefighters who file for a domestic partnership to get pension benefits. But they soon discover that the city is investigating them for potential fraud, so suddenly they need to make their partnership seem as real as possible - moving in together, "gaying up the place", going to Aids benefits, and even getting married in Canada.

The movie is nothing but a mess of magnified and reinforced stereotypes. The ultimate message is one of acceptance, but not in the sense of "gay folks are everywhere and most of them look and act pretty darn normal" but rather "gay folks are flaming bizarre and disgusting, but they need to be true to who they really are so you should accept them." *ugh*

I was also really offended with the movie portraying twin sisters making out as jaw-on-the-floor hot (sisters?!?) - while even at the end of the movie making such a big deal out of two men kissing being something you should avert your eyes from in disgust.

What sort of message is that to be reinforcing? *groan*

Rating: 1 star.

After seeing Sweeney Todd Friday night, serolynne and I were in desperate need for some light-hearted entertainment on Saturday that did not involve slit throats or cannibalism.

Fortunately, swdev and Heather had left behind the animated Dreamwork's movie Madagascar in our DVD player earlier in the week (it had been put to use entertaining their daughter), and after giving up on Saturday morning cartoons, we decided to give it a watch.

It was GREAT! The perfect antidote to Sweeney Todd...

The writing had a rare balance of humor that works for all ages, the characters were well voiced and well animated, and the 3D environments were beautifully rendered.

The story was great - imaginative and original. In summary: pampered Central Park Zoo animals (a show-off lion, a zebra with a mid-life crisis, a motherly hippo, and a hypochondriac giraffe) end up in THE WILD, washed up on a beach in Madagascar after a series of misadventures running around New York City...

I particularly enjoyed the mercenary penguins that hijack a freighter to try and escape to Antarctica - only to arrive and say: "this sucks"

Consider Madagascar highly recommended! And if you get the DVD, be sure to watch all the extras - the animated shorts (particularly the penguins) are a blast too.

Rating: 4+ stars!

Friday night we headed into Orlando to meet up with some friends at Downtown Disney for dinner and an opening night viewing of the new Johnny Depp / Tim Burton movie - Sweeney Todd.

I'm glad we had dinner first, because I don't think I could have eaten much after. It is rare that a movie leaves me feeling physically a bit nauseous, but Sweeney Todd manages.

In a movie/musical about a "demonic" Victorian London barber who slits the throats of his customers and has the bodies ground up into the "best tasting meat pies in London" - being left with a feeling of nausea is actually a bit forgivable.

But that the movie is filled with often indecipherable low mumbly heavily accented quickly spoken (or sung) dialog over loud music is not forgivable in the least. Several people after the movie commented that they wished for subtitles.

The excessive gore and spurting blood didn't impress me much either. I imagine pulling off such dramatic over-the-top deaths on a Broadway stage would be amazing to see, and an incredible demonstration of stagecraft. But in a movie, spurting fountains of blood just isn't that impressive - and it felt forced and gratuitous.

The songs are well sung, but only one or two were memorable. Some of the folks we were with who had seen the stage version were disappointed that some of their favorite songs from the musical were missing from the movie.

All in all, this movie is extremely skippable. There are much better period films, slasher films, and musicals to be seen.

I expect more from Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, they seem like such a perfect match of director and star. But I also thought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a huge disappointment - so maybe I should stop expecting good things from this pairing...

Rating: 2 stars.

When he found out we were going to be still in town Saturday night, Sean got thoroughly excited about taking Cherie and I to the weekly Trash Film Orgy, held every Saturday night at midnight at downtown Sacramento's historic Crest Theater.

This weeks feature, the 1975 classic: Death Race 2000!!

Egads, what trash!

Set in the "far future" of the year 2000, the movie is about five racers competing in America's most revered sporing event - a transcontinental race from New York to LA. But this race has a twist - racers are not just competing for the fastest time, but for the most points. And how do you score points? Via death, of course:

Male adult: 20 points
Male teenager: 40 points
Male infant/toddler: 70 points
Female (any age): 10 points more than men in any age bracket
Senior citizen (regardless of gender): 100 points

Not your typical ESPN fare, eh? One highlight was seeing Sylvester Stallone starring in one of his first big roles, a year or two before Rocky. Imagine the Italian Stallion plowing over pedestrians making that trademark scowl and roaring his Rambo growl, and you get the idea...

Sadly, there was not nearly enough carnage to make this movie as fun, cheesy, or trashy as it could have been. The concept was way better than the implementation. It looks as if it was made on a shoestring budget, particularly the sets, costumes, and cars...

The best part though was the whole Trash Film Orgy experience. The theater was packed, a lot of people were in costume, cheering and jeering loudly was encouraged, and there were bizarre contests and skits on stage before the movie and during intermission. A wild Saturday night out indeed!

Rating: 2 trashy stars...

BTW: Wikipedia makes mention of a remake in the works. Death Race 3000 is potentially coming to theaters in 2008. Be afraid!

Last night we watched an incredible movie, made with intense love and beautiful attention to detail. Ratatouille embodies nearly everything I love about the art of movie making.

Night at the Museum on the other hand seems to embody nearly everything I hate.

Ben Still is hired on as a night watchman at a museum where the exhibits come to life every night. It could have been a magical fantasy. Instead it was just plain painful.

The movie felt cobbled together. There was no love or attention to detail. No chemistry between the actors. And it is little wonder. From wikipedia:

"While filming, Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson only had one day that they saw each other. Ben Stiller talked to a toothpick for the Jedediah scenes; three months later Owen Wilson came and filmed all of his parts."

A toothpick actually might have been a better casting choice.

I also found this on Wikipedia:

"Originally, Stephen Sommers was the director of the project. He eventually left due to creative differences."

Whenever a director quits over creative differences, movies should be mandated to carry a warning label:
RUN AWAY, THIS MOVIE HAS NO HEART AND NO SOUL.

Rating: 1 star

After being reminded how incredible Brad Bird is as a director a few days ago, I knew I needed to see Ratatouille ASAP. So serolynne cashed in some Fandango bux last night, and we went to see it with Lindsay and Sean.

WOW!

I haven't had so much fun going to a movie in ages. We were all four laughing out loud throughout the entire film. The attention to detail Pixar puts into character development and sets is incredible. Even the smallest details are lovingly crafted. The voices (no big names) are perfectly done. The story is fun and thoroughly engaging for all ages. And the animation quality takes the state of the art further than I have ever seen.

I give Ratatouille my highest possible rating - it is as good as anything Pixar has ever done. Go see this one on the big screen while you have the chance!

Rating: 5 stars!