andPOP » Movie

Movie Review: Twilight New Moon

Eric Emin Wood — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:13:08 +0000

I am not the audience for this movie.

I did not see the original Twilight. I read the novel and was horrified; how many teenage girls truly believe that men like Edward Cullen exist? (Fewer, probably, than the number of boys men who expect to meet a gorgeous independent woman who caters to their every whim and is miraculously attracted to slovenly underachievers, but that’s a rant for another film.) In real life a man who stalks protects a woman the way Edward does will continue to do so whether her life’s in danger or not. Perhaps the majority of Twilight fans recognize this, and treat the stories as wish fulfillment, much as this reviewer does with good romantic comedies (though not, it must be said, The Ugly Truth, which peddled a similar adolescent fantasy).

On that level, New Moon delivers. It reproduces the central appeal of the books: a man who’s faster, stronger, more romantic, better at playing baseball and musical instruments alike and more beautiful than anyone you could possibly imagine falls for Bella Swan, an ordinary, unremarkable-looking girl, and continually professes not only that he loves her, but that he cannot live without her. So protective is he that when his otherworldly urges place her in danger he actually abandons her to protect her.

This is the basest sort of adolescent fantasy, the kind any writer who’s attended university could dream up, and yet it would be undone by a sense of manufactured cynicism if author Stephenie Meyer didn’t wholeheartedly believe in it. She does, and it would appear a wide cross-section of the western world does too.

The audience I saw New Moon with cheered when Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner entered, gasped when Bella was attacked by a vampire and cheered when a pack of werewolves defended her. Director Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass) provides plenty of eye candy, and even throws in a flourish or two (I enjoyed the way he depicted three months passing). With two exceptions – one of the worst-looking CG werewolves I’ve ever seen (only one, thankfully, not the entire pack, and only for one shot) and a flash-forward near the end that I doubt was intended to elicit hearty laughter from the audience but did – he gets the job done.

My problem with the movie lies completely with the source material. I hate Bella; she’s a wallflower, reacting to (instead of acting upon) events around her by screaming, moping and becoming recklessly suicidal when Edward leaves, yet suddenly protective of (and willing to die for) him if he’s in the room and in danger. Fans of Edward will be less than pleased that he’s off-screen for more than half the movie, appearing sporadically in a series of visions. And we all know the central conflict in Twilight is a metaphor for sex, with vampirism standing in for the horrid corruption that awaits Bella should she (gasp!) consummate her relationship with Edward without tying the knot first. To phrase it diplomatically, I do not share Meyer’s Mormon beliefs.

On the other hand, how is an adolescent girl’s desire to meet someone as protective as Edward any different from the hope that your True Love is out there, somewhere, and you could meet them, which forms the backbone of all romantic comedies?

I was completely and utterly indifferent to New Moon. Its fans will lap it up.

Emily Osment Hates VHS and Vinyl

Jordan Bortolotti — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:29:47 +0000

For those of you under 20 years of age, there used to be these crazy things called VHS and Vinyl. VHS were these tapes that played movies and all sorts of video, in machines hooked up to your TV. Vinyl were these big discs which contained music that you played on something called a record machine. Sadly as Emily told Jordan, her newest projects, Hannah Montana The Movie will not be available on VHS and her newest album will not be available on Vinyl. Ah well.

Movie Review: Astro Boy

Ilan Mester — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:34:08 +0000

If you can sit through corny lines such as “everyone has their destiny,” “Astro Boy” isn’t too shabby. While it doesn’t live up to Pixar standards, the movie is quite an engaging family-friendly action flick.

The animated film tells the story of a robotic boy who first emerged in the 1950’s as part of a Japanese manga series. Astro Boy then ventured into television in the ‘60s and today, he can be seen on the silver screen with upgraded CGI animation.

The film starts with Toby (voiced by Freddie Highmore), a brilliant, curious kid who’s the son of an even more brilliant scientist (Nicolas Cage). Unfortunately, he dies in a freak lab accident and his father, stricken with grief and guilt, creates a robot that looks exactly like Toby (memories included).

However, he realizes shortly after bringing the robot home that no one — or in this case nothing — can replace his son. He abandons the robot, who later takes on the name Astro and leaves the gleaming Metro City in order to find a place where he belongs (I apologize for the cheesiness, but that’s literally how he feels).

There’s one catch, Astro is powered by Blue Core energy, a crystalline nugget that’s extremely powerful and that the government, mainly the vicious president, wants to get its hands on.

While the plotline may not appear simple on paper, it’s easy to follow on screen. As a film, “Astro Boy” is quite simple and doesn’t offer much innovation to its animated-action genre. But, it isn’t a completely passive movie. The war-obsessed fictional President in the film (voiced by Donald Sutherland) is an obvious political allusion anyone who sees the movie will pick up on within seconds. Also, the treatment of robots is quite cynical.

As far as the animation goes, it isn’t necessarily realistic per say, but it’s well done — to the point that you really get into the action. One thing the film deserves kudos for is its cast. While Summit Entertainment is relying on big names — including Samuel L. Jackson, Charlize Theron, Kristen Bell, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy, among others — to draw in the audience, it pays off, because for the most part, their voices suit their respective characters — including Highmore who brings Astro to life.

Director David Bowers (“Flushed Away”), who penned the movie’s screenplay alongside Timothy Harris (“Space Jam”), clearly borrowed certain concepts from films like “WALL-E” and “Robots,” to create this movie. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to make “Astro Boy” unique from them.

Unreleased Michael Jackson Song To Be Unveiled On October 12

Joelle Tomlinson — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:01:19 +0000

Michael Jackson fans rejoice.

No, the King of Pop has not been resurrected, but his presence can be felt on October 12 at midnight through his latest never-released single, entitled “This Is It.”

The single will be unveiled to the world on www.MichaelJackson.com. According to Sony, the press release states that “This Is It” marks “yet another exciting moment in music history for one of the world’s most revered artists; featuring backing vocals by Michael’s brothers The Jacksons, the song plays during the closing sequence of Sony Pictures’ forthcoming film MICHAEL JACKSON’S THIS IS IT and is on the 2-disc CD set Michael Jackson’s This Is It, which is the stand-alone companion to the motion picture.”

If you’re one of those people who thrive on anticipation, you can wait for the full release, when Sony Music Entertainment’s Columbia/Epic Label Group will release the two-disc album Michael s This Is It internationally on October 27th in North America, to coincide with the release of the Motion Picture on the 28th.

For more information about the film, fans are encouraged to visit www.thisisit-movie.com.

Lauren Conrad Tackles The Movie Industry

Joelle Tomlinson — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:15:45 +0000

Lauren Conrad’s spotlight may be gone from reality show, The Hills, but she has deftly redirected it to her newest movie-making endeavor.

Conrad has decided to work with the executive producers of Twilight, Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, to turn her novel, “L.A. Candy,” into a film.

“I mean, you can’t do much better, right?” she remarked to MTV News at the launch of her Kohl’s LC Lauren Conrad clothing line.

According to mtvnews.com, she went on to explain that the book was never meant to be a movie. Instead, Conrad had envisioned it as a TV show. The former Hills star knows a thing or two about TV. “Originally, when people started talking to me about turning the books into television, I was really excited,” she explained. “Then we got approached about the movie and I wasn’t really sure it would work. The story is supposed to take place over a couple of years and it’s hard to do with a movie.”

With doubts of a movie deal in her mind, she went on the book tour, and that’s when inspiration hit her. “I was sitting in a room and then it just came to me,” she explained about why she finally decided to turn it into a film. “I came up with a format that worked and discussed it with them. They really liked it.”

Movie Review: Zombieland

Eric Emin Wood — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 03:06:03 +0000

Here’s an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser; albeit, a crowd-pleaser with lots of blood spewing, limb-chewing, and bone breaking – but really, why would you see a movie called Zombieland if you didn’t want to see that?

Here’s a horror film that acknowledges how ridiculous it is by depicting a group of eight-year-old zombie girls before the opening credits; and a comedy that, by casting Jesse Eisenberg in the lead role, quickly establishes an enjoyably quirky tone, and maintains it by adding Abigail Breslin as a shotgun-toting 12-year-old and Woody Harrelson (in a terrific performance) as the movie’s resident badass.

Here’s a genre movie with a coherent plot – Breslin and Emma Stone, playing nervy sisters, push the thin but logical story along – and which pays attention to its characters, giving each of them solid backstories and respectable screentime. (My biggest complaint with Zombieland is that while the sisters are much stronger than typical damsels in distress, they nonetheless wind up being damsels in distress).

Here’s an action movie with an extended, glorious climax at an amusement park, with all the standbys (roller coaster, tilt-a-whirl, drop mechanism) used in exactly the way you’d expect; plus characters using really big guns, and firing them with a generous helping of one-liners.

Zombieland is that rare film which knowingly (rather that ignorantly) prefers to play into its conventions rather than create new ones, parading its influences on both the front and back of its blood-splattered t-shirt (in one scene a pair of characters actually sit down to watch Ghostbusters). What is wrong with that? When it’s done this well, nothing.

Horror comedy is a tough sell with audiences, and even the gold standard of this decade, Shaun of the Dead, barely raked in $13 million at the North American box office. However, I must confess I did not particularly like Shaun of the Dead. It was a great movie, but the “happy” (of sorts) ending was so dark I had forgotten what I was laughing at by the end.

I had no such problems with Zombieland. While it has few genuine scares, and much of it coasts on warm-hearted good humour rather than laugh-out-loud laughter, I can’t remember the last time I consistently heard an audience gasp, laugh, or clap at the same moments during a film.
What a wonderful year we’re having when I can say Zombieland is the best pop entertainment to hit theatres since District 9.

J-Roc and The Trailer Park Boys Creator Talk To andPOP

Jordan Bortolotti — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 03:14:09 +0000

So we went to the red carpet for the premiere of the new film (now in theatres) but we also had a one on one sit down with The Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg, and the hardest rapper from the East Coast, J-Roc.

John Lennon Biopic Packed With More Stars Than Just a Beatle

Emma Renda — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:33:49 +0000

For a generation of people who missed out on the 1960s and the advent of rock’n'roll, we sure are getting to be well-versed. Yet another biopic is slated for release this October, this time in the name of John Lennon.

Nowhere Boy is based on the book Imagine This: Growing Up with my Brother John Lennon by Lennon’s half sister Julia Baird, according to Pitchfork. The screenplay was written by Matt Greenhalgh, author of the Joy Division film Control. The film will focus more on Baird’s experience growing up with the rising star, perhaps offering a unique insight into what transformed Lennon into one of the most idyllic artists of our time.

On board to direct in his feature film debut is Sam Taylor Wood, whose repertoire includes the BAFTA-nominated punk short Love You More.

The cast includes Kristin Scott Thomas, (The English Patient and Four Weddings and a Funeral), will play Lennon’s aunt, who raised Lennon, as well as Anne Marie Duff (Shameless, also James McAvoy’s wife) and Aaron Johnson (who plays the heartthrob in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging).

The obvious next question: What about the soundtrack? So far, Goldfrapp has been enlisted to compose the score and will record it at Abbey Road Studios. The film will close the London Film Festival in late October.

Official Poster for Michael Jackson’s This Is It

Robert Ostfield — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:07:45 +0000

The poster for Michael Jackson’s This Is It has officially been released by Sony Pictures, who are producing the film. This Is It hits theatres on October 28th and features the legendary singer preparing for his last performance which would have taken place beginning this summer starting at London’s O2 Arena. The Estate of Michael Jackson is in full support of the release of the film.

Inglourious Basterds Trailer

Robert Ostfield — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:02:22 +0000

The movie comes out tomorrow so check back for our review later tonight. In the meantime here’s the trailer for the film starring Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, and directed by Quentin Tarantino.