Movie Tarts: December 2010

The last month of the year and the it looks like, movie-wise, it's going out with a punch.  There are some potentially amazing movies this Christmas season.

My Most Anticipated Movie this December is: True Grit - Ethan and Joel Coen are at it again.  This looks just as good as their other greats: Fargo, No Country For Old Men, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, Burn After Reading, Raising Arizona, and many others. (12/24)

My Second My Anticipated Movie this December is: Tron: Legacy - It is here! Finally! Listen up nerds, Tron is back!  (12/17)

Black Swan - My friend Kristin Mann told me about this movie a while ago, and as weird as it looked, I can't get over the feeling that it is going to be great.  Not only is Darren Aronofsky directing it, but Natalie Portman has some redemption in this movie and Mila Kunis has some creditability in this movie. (12/3)

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale - I just don't understand....WTF?  I want to see it just to figure it out. (12/3)

The Tourist - So this movie is basically Knight and Day with a little Salt.  The dynamic of both Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie in the same movie makes it worth seeing in the end. (12/10)

The Tempest - From the director of Across the Universe (one of my favs), comes this intriguing film.  Knowing the style that I'm stepping into helps when I see this, but regardless, it should impress.  This is based off of Shakespeare's The Tempest and should resemble Romeo + Juliet. (12/10)

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of Dawn Treader - I never read the books past the first one, but I am excited about this film.  I hope it can redeem the series because of the awfulness of the last one. (12/10)

The Company Men - The premier of this film was pushed back from September until December 10, 2010.  See my thoughts about it back in September.

The Fighter - Mark Wahlberg is about to be the new Rocky Balboa.  Everyone get ready for lots and lots of Rocky jokes directed at Mark Wahlberg, but ignore them and see this movie for what it is and not how much it's like Rocky.  Because it's not. (12/10)

How Do You Do - This looks like a cute, witty movie because of the poweful cast: Paul Rudd, Reese Whitherspoon, Owen Wilson and Jack Nicholson.  I'm definitely looking forward to it.  I hope the trailer isn't the best part. (12/17)

Rabbit Hole - This looks like a real tear jerker.  It looks to be based on a great, award-winning play and on a true story WITH actors like Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart.  (12/17)

Little Fockers - I don't know why we have sequels.  Most of the time they are garbage.  I hope this isn't one of those times.  But it probably is.  Dang it. (12/24)

Gulliver's Travels - Starring Jack Black.  So it's not going to be a seriously good movie, but it might be worth some laughs.  Interesting note: Hud from Cloverfield and Jason Segel from How I Met Your Mother are in it. (12/24)

Song Mash-Up #6

Ghostbusters and AC/DC.  That's all I have to say.

Base Jumpers Are Crazy

This is a video about a wingsuit made by Jeb Corliss.  It's not really about the wingsuit; it's more about what it can do.  These guys are nuts!

Comics Today #104

Monthly Man

Fallen - An animated short about a meteor

I thought this was a pretty good little short.


Fallen from Sascha Geddert on Vimeo.

via Laughing Squid - link

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

 It took me until it's last day in the dollar theaters to see it, but I finally did it!  And it was totally worth it.  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was a special movie.  But it's definitely not for everyone.  If you grew up in the 90s with video games, then this is a movie for you.  If not, then I'm not so sure you'd like it.

It stars Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim, a 22 year old bass player who has some trouble with the ladies.  He meets the girl of his 22 year old dreams and finds out she has 7 evil ex-boyfriends (crap, I mean ex's) that Scott must "defeat" in order to have Ramona as his girlfriend.  It sounds silly, and it is sometimes; but mostly, it's too fast-paced to realize how silly it is.  This is due to Edgar Wright, the director.  (Also one of my favorites)  He has this style of making movies that are silly, but the editing creates a buffer for the audience.  It is so fast-paced and engaging that the audience doesn't really have time to notice the silliness before Wright can get you back into the minds of his lovable characters.  It is great!

This movie is many things, but most of all, it is fun.  So fun.  The video game graphics inserted into everyday life, the amazing, multi-faceted score, the cast's diversity, the 1960s Batman style, actually written out sound effects, and how time didn't matter to what anyone was saying.

It's a shame only a small fraction of the target market will get to enjoy this movie, because despite it's generational humor and attachment, it is still a fun movie.

A couple last things:

• Jason Schwartzman is awesome
• Michael Cera is officially stupid, even though he is pretty good in this movie - See here for further explanation
• Johnny Simmons is going to be a name you know in a few years.  He has quite the list of accomplishments already and I'm pretty sure he'll just get better.  (The Spirit, Jennifer's Body, Evan Almighty, etc.)
• Kieran Culkin is Macaulay Culkin's younger brother.  Much better actor.  
• I think someone at NBC had something to do with this movie because The Office's IT guy Nelson Franklin is in it, and Parks and Recreation's April, Aubrey Plaza, is in it.
• And Michael Cera probably helped out old Arrested Development girlfriend Ann get into this movie.  Wait, who?  Ann?  Her?  Really?
• It was nice to see Anna Kendrick outside of a Twilight movie, especially since she is by far the most talented person to come from those movies.
• The group that contributed to the music is daunting.  Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck, Metric, Broken Social Scene, Cornelius, Dan the Automator, Kid Koala, and David Campbell are perticpiated.