The Big Catch Up

September has thankfully started and I've started to get back in the loop here in the "real" world (as real as someone who lives in a fantasy world like me could). To that extent, my nose has been pressed to the powerbook and musical acitivity abounds in many ways, hopefuly in ways you will hear someday in the future. There's also a great new Echo and The Bunnymen single that I urge you to check out and the brilliant Halloween Alaska have a second album that might just rival the excellent first (it's certainly going to find a slot on my "Best of 2005" list.

I've really been behind on my movie going, so Irene and I made a serious effort to go to the movies this past week and we did 4 movies in 5 days, which I think is pretty impressive. She hadn't seen 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN which held up incredibly well on the second viewing for me. It's a much smarter movie than I gave it credit for and Mr. Apatow himself this week aannounced he will do a romantic comedy starring the brilliant Seth Rogan, who could be the next big comedy star (something G and I were saying while watching UNDECLARED years back).

As some of you may know, a certain screenwriter used to front a little band you may have read about here called the aggression. He has two movies out at the moment, which is very freaking impressive. Three movies this year and he made a very cute new baby. This man is not human. Anyhow, here are my short reviews of his two films:

THE BROTHERS GRIMM: I have mixed feelings about what I saw. For the record, I was a big fan of the script. I'm also a fan of Gilliam. However, I felt his directing was inconsistant. What I was looking forward to was seeing how the usually insane Gilliam would take the material and put his own visual and theatrical spin on it. There are some great "Gilliam" moments where I felt he took good advantage of the written words, mostly with the the supporting characters (Pryce and Satan himself), but then it seems at times that he forgets to be Gilliam in other scenes and just directs in a way that I feel was too straight to match the clever script. I feel like he softened a lot of the edge that made thescript scary and I wouldnt mind that if the "Gilliam" tone had been consistant. The special effects at times seemed unfinished and that took me out of it occasionally. It just didn't feel REALLY scary till the third act, which I felt was very strong and enjoyed a lot. I particularly liked how the arc between the brothers developed and Jacob became the real hero. That progressed nicely. I liked Matt Damon a lot, he was very funny and Heath was good as well. Dr. Fury's script was scary, clever and bizarre and I wanted to see some more surreal directing from GIlliam to match your awesome script.

SKELETON KEY: Now, I hadn't read this script, so I was going into it without any idea how it would end, though I kept hearing and reading about a bit twist at the end....I REALLY enjoyed this film. I thought the director did a really good job. It was smart and really built up the momentum as it progressed. It's a really cool od school thriller and it was told really well. I really liked the actors as well. She's really good and really carried the show. I liked how Fury dropped little pieces of the backstory and various clues as it moves on, never giving too much away, yet enough to make the ending kick serious ass. I thought the twist was one thing, but it was actually another, so the ending was a very cool twist. Awesome. The whole audience gasped. Sweet. This is a really smart film and I had a good time and really didn't realize how caught up in it I was until the shit started to hit the fan. Subtle. Cool as shit. G's only complaint that Fury didn't write enough scenes of her in her underwear, and I've sent in that complaint to the writer directly.

Then last night I had the honor of seeing what is CERTAINLY going on my "best of" list this year and that is the excellent action movie TRANSPORTER 2. You may laugh, but the TRANSPORTER movies are good, simple fun action movies with extremely well designed action set pieces and fights. But that's not what makes them special, it's the star Jason Statham, who is a charismatic powerhouse. I know a few years ago there was a lot of debate as to who the next big action star is and I'm telling you here, now, that this guy is IT. He and The Rock can carry action films to a whole new level. if you haven't seen his movies, Statham can ACT, and has an extremely wide range. I truly believe he could do a romantic comedy if he wanted to. I'm hoping we'll some more of his dynamic rangein the upcoming Guy Ritchie movie, REVOLVER, where he steps up to the lead spot after being second-banana (and scene stealer) in Ritchie's other movies and throws down with Andrew 3000 and Ray Liotta. Anyhow, TRANSPORTER 2 is a fun as fuck movie witch great action though, like the last movie, the final set piece is too FX driven to be convincing but as Lurch pointed out, thats now the tradition. Anyhow, possibly the best action star in the world is here and should he blow up, you read it here first.

F