Mark's Review: The Warriors

The year is 1979, all the gangs of New York, no not THOSE gang’s of New York, have gathered 9 ambassadors to meet as Cyrus delivers his message that New York is theirs, they just have to unify. Sure enough, SOMEONE has to ruin it… by shooting Cyrus. The Rogues did it (not a spoiler) but the Warriors get pinned (also, not a spoiler)… that was literally all I knew about this movie going into it.

The main gang which Cyrus belonged to, The Riffs, send out a message via the chief from Where In the World is Carmen Sandiego, who was moonlighting as a DJ at the time, that the Warriors are wanted dead or alive. Now the Warriors are trapped in the city, many much miles away from their home (Coney Island) with every gang looking for them.

Well, the movie basically follows these guys as they try to high-tail it back to CI and run into different problems being it the Baseball Furies, The Orphans, or the Cops. While the writing is dry, and the acting is…interesting, the movie charmed me. Swan (leader of the Warriors) has this dry DRY acting which actually works perfectly. Never really showing emotion, and personifying “strong silent type”.

I’ve heard rumors of a remake… which… makes me nervous. I kept thinking, I’d like to see what could be done with better writing, and maybe just better effects. But if they try to modernize it and set it in the present… it will fail…badly. Part of the awesome of this movie is the stylization of the time it all takes place, and how NYC is shown as gritty and like a war ground just for these gangs.

Anyway, definitely check it out.

More 48 Hour Film Projects

So, last night I got to run back into Boston to view 10 more of the films from the 48 Hour Film Project. I was really going to show support to Team: Danny Glover's Super Action Adventure Force Brigade Squad. Having already seen both their winning film from last year "The Road" and this year's "Null and Void" (both available at the website), I was looking forward to watching N&V on the big screen... and it was well worth it. This team puts together an awesome film it seems like every year!

However... the rest of the films shown left me wanting more. Even the Comedy was weak... which I thought would be tough. Probably the only other highlights from the screening were "Brokecat Mountain" which is exactly what you think it is, and maybe... yeah actually that's it. Don't get me wrong some of the other films had some fun parts, but were inconsistent. The Holiday film was actually pretty good.. basically anytime you can get a guy dressed up as Abe Lincoln playing an accordian... you get my vote.

Overall it made me feel even better for our film. For a first year entry it really came together, and we put together a consistently entertaining film... go us! Coming up in July is the 48 Hour Film Project for Providence... there is some debate as to whether or not we'll do that as well... maybe not get the whole team this time... maybe Kyp and I will try our own hand :)

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I DID IT!!!!

That's right everyone. The Seattle Times confirms that I'm right. And we all know, the Seattle Times has a long straw.. and it drinks Reuter's milkshake up....slurp they drank it up!

In the words of the Colbert Report...

I DID IT!

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Movie Excitement: Charlie Bartlett

Alright, what do you get when you take a high school kid who doesn't really fit in and is victim to over protective parents who send him to a therapist, then mix in his desire to help fellow classmates while attending a high school which drive him nuts? Charlie Bartlett... that's what you get. I have to admit, I thought this movie had already come and gone from theaters... I in fact added it to my netflix quene... wondering when it would be coming out on DVD. The film stars Anton Yelchin known for his role in Alpha Dogg, and playing the song of the protaganist in the Showtime Original series "Huff" (Showtime? HBO? I dunno). It looks to be a funny story following the high-schooler who decides to open his own psychiatrist office in the boy's bathroom, and uses his own therapist to prescribe him the medications for his "patients".

The story seems good, and with what I've seen of Anton, the acting looks promising. Also making appearances are Robert Downey Jr. and Barrack Obama.

Just kidding about Obama

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Mark's Review: Hard Candy

Ok, so... going into this film, I had zero idea what it was about. I knew Ellen Page was in it, and had heard it was good... but yeah, no clue what it was about.

That being said when it began with a close-up on an on-line conversation that would make Chris Hansen blush... I got worried.

Like I said, I didn't know what Hard Candy was about, but I knew Ellen Page looked to be like... 14 in it... so naturally... this conversation worried me immediately. So sure enough the two conversing parties decide to meet in real life, at a public coffee shop... they eat some pastries, they chat about music, books etc... and then Geoff (Patrick Wilson), the 35 year old photographer who has been chatting up this 14 year old Hayley (Ellen Page) discusses a bootleg copy of a song by Goldfrapp that Hayley has to hear, but "it'd be weird for you to come back to my place".... so naturally what's the next thing that happens? Yeah... they do...

AND THEN THE MOVIE EXPLODES.... I can't even go into it, but this movie is phenomenal. It's a little difficult to watch because of subject matter, but the acting is outstanding. I don't know if Ellen got an Oscar Nod for this film, but she sure deserved one. It's a heavy movie, that you really can't turn away from... it requires your attention. It's a strong STRONG story line, that gets pushed along by clever cinematography, and great acting by both characters. The movie takes place pretty much entirely at Geoff's house, and only features the two actors, except for a quick cameo from Sandra Oh of Sideways... yeah... I'll credit her with that, and not her subpar tv show which hurts my soul. :)

see this movie!

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