Rob Larsen

Archive for the 'movies' Category

Style Wars Restoration Project Charity Auction

Check out this list of auction from the Style Wars Restoration Project

About this nonprofit:
The purpose of the Style Wars Restoration Project is to raise awareness and monies to restore the original negative of the first hip-hop documentary. Style Wars isnt only the first film of its kind capturing the spirit of the original artists who gave birth to this would-be global movement, its also a historical document and portrait of New York City that captures its dramatic decline in the last century and the creative spirit of the youth who gave birth to a worldwide cultural movement.

Here are a couple of sample pieces:

Movies 2011 #5 13 Assassins

Koji Yakusho in 13 ASSASSINS, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

Koji Yakusho in 13 ASSASSINS, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

You know what? 13 Assassins is probably the most straightforward film I've seen from Takashi Miike. I haven't seen everything he's done, so there might be something out there I'm missing that feels 100% like a normal human movie; but based on my limited sample I think this is the one. This is especially true since I know the genre he's working in so well. It's still a ridiculously violent, over-the-top exercise in watered steel and bloodshed. It's just that's common for the genre. He's not really pushing any boundaries here in terms of violence.

And you know what? That's fine.
(more…)

Movies 2011 #4 House

I thought I was prepared for House.

NO ONE IS PREPARED FOR HOUSE.

Seriously. This movie is a real treat. Watch the trailer and you might think you've got it figured out. You don't. It's bother weirder than you think it will be and, honestly, better. With films as bizarre as this one, it's almost okay if the only thing they offer is batshit insanity. House goes a bit beyond the insanity, to the point where I was watching for something other than the next bizarro effect. I mean, it's not Memento, but there's enough of a story to string the weirdness along nicely.

Look at the trailer and then grab the Criterion disc.

Movies 2011 #3 The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest

I had high hopes that The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, the film, would be better than The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, the book.

It wasn't, really.

My problem with the book is that it was way too slow to get started. The payoff was fun, but it was only 1/7th of the book. The rest wasn't exactly thrilling. I hoped that the movie would compact the 6/7 boring bits and heighten the impact of he 1/7th of the cool bits. It didn't really. It was similarly paced and structured as the book- plodding for the first couple of hours, then really great for the finale. The problem with that happening here is that the finale was about 15 minutes. So it's basically 2 hours of whatever for a truncated courtroom section where all the fun happens.

*meh*

Movies 2011 #2 Fellowship of the Ring

I kind of got excited that the Hobbit was filming and I had some long Sundays full of freelance writing, so I turned once again to the Lord of the Rings trilogy to fuel my break time from the writing grind.

I have the Special Extended Edition at home and as I've probably mentioned, I really prefer the extended versions. They're just that much richer than the theatrical releases. Of course, I've been living with the extended versions for so long I kind of forget what the theatrical versions were like.

That is all.