Blood and Choke-a-lot

Blood and Chocolate, B+

Okay, so I couldn't come up with a clever title for my blog, but if it had really bad acting, this would work (take that, New York Times!). I also didn't take a picture of the screening pass, but I have witnesses if you dare to doubt me. In hind sight, I guess I could have taken a picture before I went. *note to self*

I had no expectations for this movie, considering it's a teen werewolf movie. I was pleasantly surprised though by not only it having a reasonable plot, but the main characters were very endearing. Agnes Bruckner did a great job being torn and sad, but still in love, and Hugh Dancy shows a lot of promise as a young actor, although his last credit was multiple Razzie nominee Basic Instinct 2. Both will have great careers ahead of them.

There was a bit of difference in the traditional werewolf stories here. It definitely had the Underworld feel with the werewolves being very close knit, powerful group. They didn't morph into weird beasts, but into wolves instead. That was a bit cheesy (blame the digital artists), but I guess it worked well as a concept.

Negatives: A bit cheesy in parts, but this is a teen movie. The soundtrack was disappointing considering how much I liked the Underworld: Evolution soundtrack and was expecting the same. From a fellow movie watcher, it does not follow the book at all. Not even close. So if you've read the book, don't go in with high hopes.

"Simple plot, complex characters" has become my new criteria for whether or not a story is enjoyable, and this fit the bill well. I don't know if I'd recommend going to the theater to see Blood and Chocolate, but be sure to rent it when it comes out in a few weeks.

Also, it's kinda cool that as I work on bigger movies that I could have the chance to work with actors that are in these type movies - not huge SAG snobs, but still good actors. Agnes Bruckner is sooo being cast in one of my movies.

Pan's ThatwordIcanneverspellright

Pan's Labyrinth, A-

Wow, the first A movie of the year, and we're still in January. Either my standards are slipping, or I'm getting desperate to not have a B movie blog.

At the risk of being spoilerish, let me say that this movie did not play out as billed. It looked like there would be a lot more fantasy and a lot less of the "real life" stuff. Although this wasn't the case, I did still enjoy the movie.

Sergi López has to be one of the greatest villians I've ever seen. Jono (who hated the movie (picky, picky)) agreed. He was so brutally evil that I loved to watch what he would do next. Obsession is a beautiful thing when played out properly.

The fantasy portions of the film were not as nice as I expected. They were very gritty and a bit scary. The melding of stories and myths bothered me just a little bit, but I think I can get over it.

I don't know too much to say without giving a lot of the movie away. The fantasy and real life were well crafted and played out right to the end perfectly. An excellent movie that deserves a watch if you can stomach the violence. Hurray A!

Oh, and it was free. Maybe that's why I liked it? You know when you steal thirty dollars from your roommate while he's busy reading your blog and go buy dinner with it - it's like that.

Stomp the Box Office

Stomp the Yard, B-

I was the only white man in a sold out theater. The experience of watching this movie was heightened so much more seeing to played for its target demographic. As good as Soul Plane was, I think I would have enjoyed it more in the theater (seriously, I'm kidding, settle down).

This movie was a pretty standard formula movie - guy starts out a little rough, learns some stuff, gets girl, etc etc. The thing I really liked about the movie is the main character doesn't have any crying in the rain epiphany, he simply becomes a better person by applying himself and deciding to change. What a concept.

The stepping was pretty cool. It wasn't too impressive until the very end, and that was shot and choreographed quite well.

I was warned ahead of time of some inaccuracies within the movie, the biggest being some of the main "college kids" being in their thirties. Who are you trying to fool? I can tell how old someone is and it just looked weird.

Stomp the Yard had a nice story, climax, resolution (and well done to Columbus Short for a good performance), but was a little dull at times, so it gets a B-.

Code Name: The Agony

Code Name: The Cleaner, D

I had no expectations going into this movie. I was too concerned about losing a bet that would result in me watching Bottoms Up. I lost that bet. World of hurt. On to the review.

EDIT: From Diva on our bet, "I was going to continue to push "Bottoms Up", but the description made it sound like it would only suck a normal amount of bad. "Pledge This" on the other hand sounds absolutely TERRIBLE." Wow. No mercy. Payback will be, in your words, TERRIBLE.

This movie was a typical okay budget stupid comedy, except it wasn't funny. Usually you have some scene that makes the wait worthwhile, some slapstick bit or great stunt, but I never saw it. The acting was okay at best, the plot was incoherent (not that we see comedies for plot, but take a little pride in your work, k?), and the technicals just unimpressive.

Locations were quite pretty. Canada is a nice alternative to the typical L.A. look, but it didn't soothe the pain much. Best part of the movie: the outtakes. I imagine this was a low stress, fun set to be on. I'm sure everybody who made the movie will laugh the whole way through because of what they remember from that day of shooting, or something Cedric did between takes, but it's not an enjoyable watch for the movie going public.

This flop was well placed for January. Get those losses out of the way in the first quarter, New Line.

Disappointment of Men

Children of Men, C-

This movie had so much potential for a great story, but didn't come through at all. Mankind can't have children, but it's never really explained too well. Some girl has a kid, don't know why. We've got to get the mother to some place, not sure why. People get killed, not sure why. There's no tension, no obstacles to overcome - basically the Italian Job of "sci-fi."

Technical problems: the action one-take follow shot is great for war scenes, but not for a conversational scene. Shooting an entire movie in this look is disorienting and annoying. Sound design was atrocious as well, with every character having a crystal clear voice, despite being outdoors or in an echo-y corridor.

Acting by Clive Owen was very mechanical and emotionless. He was a reluctant hero, but had a permanent look of "What, where am I?" on his face. The rest of the cast was poorly developed, which really made me care very little when they were taken out of the storyline.

With my griping out of the way, let me touch on the good. The locations were beautifully gritty. All of the abandoned buildings and the refugee camp footage was very well put together. There was some good humor that broke up the film a bit and made it not so tedious to watch. Some good action sequences in there as well, and a bit of brutal violence that surprised me a little.

All in all, a film with a lot of potential that fell far short. It's hardly a sci-fi film, and its attempts to be artistic made it frustrating to watch.

It begins!

So this is part of my attempt to watch more movies than ever. I'll probably end up seeing some movies I regret, but it should be fun. Keep checking, as I should be seeing around 2-4 new releases a week, reviewing them, and grading them.