Monday, July 28, 2014

Downfall marathon

Tonight's marathon is all about witnessing the downfall of three major empires. The first being the old Jedi Republic at the hands of Chancellor Palpatine, followed by the downfall of Nazi Germany at the hands of Adolf Hitler, and finally the downfall of the 300 year old Romanov Empire, and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas ll.  Tonight we have the following films on our menu.

  Star Wars Episode lll: Revenge of the Sith 2005, Downfall 2005, and Rasputin 1996

With all three of these films combined, a story arc is formed. Revenge of the Sith begins the spectacle with wall to wall action but also presents a story about a good man who was seduced by the dark side and turned his back on the old Republic by an evil and manipulative chancellor turned dictator. Ian McDiarmid's performance as Palpatine is amazing, and paints him as a mysterious figure who was able to capture an entire galaxy with his grip, and wipe out the old rule. This story is followed by Downfall which shows Nazi Germany on the brink of losing the war to the allies, and Adolf Hitler slowly realizing that his plan to conquer Europe was failing, making him lose his mind. What the film Rasputin does is it gives the story its proper closure by showing the full effects of these three individuals manipulating others, and causing a domino effect in which those around them suffer from the actions of these three madmen. Palpatine, Hitler, and Rasputin can all be summed up as being dark servants of destiny, because they altered the course of history forever in their own universes. Tonight's marathon is a representation of the themes of betrayal, seduction, manipulation, revolution, and ultimately the harsh realities of war and political corruption. 

Monday, July 21, 2014

Marathon night

With every Monday night that comes along, it brings another night of high profile movies that are not only well crafted and exciting to watch, but they also provoke deep thought and self reflection within the hidden messages and themes they present. Tonights marathon is about deciding whether you take the red pill or the blue pill, whether you take a two week trip to Mars presented to you by the company Total Recall, or whether its possible for dreams to become a reality or just another part of the subconscious. Tonights marathon is about all three of those scenarios and the lineup we have here is amazing. Here is our menu for tonoght.

                         The Matrix 1999, Total Recall 1990, and Inception 2010

There is no other way to describe the impact of these three movies coming together to form a story arc of whats real and whats not other than the fact that its going to be amazing. Each film was groundbreaking for the times they came out, and challenged technology as well as the basic conventional forms of storytelling. The Matrix is an amazing film and reminds viewers that there was a time that the Wachowski Brothers knew how to make great movies. Not only are the special effects great in this movie and still holds up to this day but the writing in this film is intelligent. Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, and Agent Smith are some of the most iconic characters in film. Trinity def goes down as one of the best female characters in an action movie next to Sarah Conner from T2 Judgment Day. Total Recall also reminds us that there was a time when Arnold Schwarzeneggar was a major movie star before his days in office as California governor, and director Paul Verhoeven was an action and science fiction director in demand before his career took a nosedive with Showgirls. This is one of Arnolds rare films that carried with it brains and intelligence along with the absurd action. You're never really certain if Arnold is dreaming everything that happens in the movie or if its truly reality. And finally with Inception, we see the true potential of Christopher Nolans skills as a filmmaker, and his first major movie coming off The Dark Knight. Compared to that movie, inception is almost on the same level of awesomeness and masterful filmmaking. Tonight is all about sitting back and allowing reality to completely get turned upside down on its face.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Tonight's marathon

It's Friday night which means the time has come for another razzle dazzle action themed marathon. I got just the perfect one to whip out for this evening. Tonight's marathon is centered around one of the greatest expert assassins in film history. His name is Jason Bourne. Tonight we have

THE BOURNE TRILOGY

The Bourne Identity 2002, The Bourne Supremacy 2004, and The Bourne Ultimatum 2007

If you notice from looking at the roaster of films listed, there is no Bourne Legacy. That's because not only isn't it necessary for this type of marathon given that the story completely finishes with Bourne Ultimatum but Legacy doesn't feel necessary at all to include. It's sole purpose is to continue a story arc that ended back on 2007, and feels more like a desperate studios attempt to milk a great trilogy. This trilogy is great because it took itself very seriously while making itself come off as being smart, action packed, and quite engaging. Of all the three films featuring Matt Damon, Ultimatum is the best one. Doug Liman did a great job with Bourne Identity but it was Paul Greengrass who really made the latter sequels something special. With the two Bourne sequels he helmed along with Bloody Sunday, United 93, Green Zone, and Captain Philips, Greengrass has established himself as a filmmaker of profound skill at adding intense realism and human emotion to his stories. I look forward to his future projects with great interest. Tonight is all about following the journey of a man who's sole purpose in all three films is to rediscover his roots, and find out the truth about his past life which to the audience is unknown at the beginning of Identity. One thing about this trilogy that makes it feel complete as a whole is that it begins and ends with the character floating in the ocean.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Tonight's marathon

Tonight's marathon is all about tracking some of the most notorious serial killers in film. We have on tonight's menu.

                     The Usual Suspects 1995, Seven 1995, and Zodiac 2007

With these three films combined, a story arc is created in which the police and members of of a newspaper column experience a tireless quest to catch three notorious serial killers. The story arc begins with The Usual Suspects, directed by Bryan Singer before the days of XMEN. In this film, Kevin Spacey plays the sole survivor of horrific gun battle on a boat that left everyone else on board dead. His story, though messy, begins at a police lineup of five suspects who meet and are suspected of being the killer. The next film, Seven, helmed by David Fincher, continues the trend of police officers, this time played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, hunting for a serial killer who murders his victims in the form of the seven deadly sins. Kevin Spacey, who won an Oscar for best supporting actor for The Usual Suspects, has a supporting role in this film. The final movie of the night Zodiac which is also directed by David Fincher, places the location in San Francisco and has a newspaper cartoonist played by Jake Gyllenhaal, becoming obsessed with tracking down a killer who calls himself The Zodiac. With these three films, you get a marathon of three films that are well acted, expertly crafted, showing a darker side of human nature, and a few noble characters quest for the truth.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Batman 1989 vs The Dark Knight 2008 movie question

Alright guys heres the 64,000 questions of the day

Who's the better Batman and Joker overall. Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson vs Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.

Ima have to go with both Michael Keaton and Heath Ledger. My resaons are that between the two actors, Keaton handled the role of Batman better with his low voice, and physical appearance which came off as being borderline psychotic and frightening .Not to mention the original suit is badass. Dont believe me, just look at the original scenes again when Batman addresses himself as "I'm Batman". See who did better between the two actors in that sequence though both scenes are great. Not to mention the suit looks better in Tim Burtons films overall. As for Nolan's movies, Ledger trumps Nicholson as Joker. Nicholson was great as a psychotic version of the character who had tasteless humor and took over Gotham and manipulated its citizens easily. With Ledger's Joker, you felt the issue of escalation being addressed at the end of Begins occurring and unlike Nicholsons Joker, Ledger was presented as an individual who didnt care for morals and just wanted to see the world burn. He didnt need to have any motives or background. He was who he appeared to be, and that made for a more frightening character than Nicholsons brilliant adaptation

Overall, ima have to go with Michael Keaton and Heath Ledger as being the best portrayal of the two main characters.

Pirates of the Caribbean marathon

Tonight is all about riding the high seas with the great Captain JACK SPARROW. We got the classics

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl 2003, Dead Mans Chest 2006, and finally At Worlds End 2007

That's right it's a night dedicated to the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. ONLY the first three films. Those are the only ones that matter in my eyes and as far as I am concerned, the story ends with the third one. Anything after that one represents the greed of a studio trying to milk the cow. By all means that's good for them but those movies wont be in any future marathons of mine. Tonight's movies are fun, exciting, supernatural, full of adventure, and there's just something about the chemistry between Johnny Depp, Kiera Knightley, and Orlando Bloom that works very well. The series is in ruins when the latter two aren't around. When I think of On Stranger Tides, I try to imagine it as a really bad dream that was so terrible it sticks with you like the one I had for Indy 4 and Die Hard 5. Tonight is all about experiencing the adventures of Jack sparrow in his prime.