The Grey is terrifying

The snow is bad enough...

The Grey is one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. Like many scary movies, The Grey contains an isolated group hunted by a unseen force. It doesn't have ghosts, zombies or serial killers. The enemy is two-fold; the Alaskan wilderness and a pack of wolves.

...Then you add this

The Alaskan wilderness looked fantastic, bleak and terrifying. The wolves are tension building and scary. The group of survivors are a good mix of horror tropes: asshole, black guy, nice guy and knowledgeable guy played by Liam Neeson. They play off each other well and their arguments about how to proceed are great.

I'm not too big a horror guy, but The Grey could end up being one of my favorite movies of the year.

***1/2 stars.

Chronicle: Great start to 2012

Unknown director, unknown writers, unknown actors. I try to not have an initial bias when seeing movies, however the lack of information about the creators of Chronicle, and its early release date had me worried. Trailers made the movie seem like a dumb movie about jerk teenagers with super powers.

It's good that I managed to see Chronicle, because it is good. Found footage films like this can be tricky, when the film has to explain why a character is carrying a camera all the time. Chronicle explains the camera toting well enough and the characters who carry the camera around are well developed and interesting. I enjoyed watching the three immature teenagers acquire power beyond their wildest imagination, how these teenagers would use their powers in the most immature ways. The development of the main character, Andrew from mild mannered damaged kid to megalomaniac psycho was also pretty cool to see develop on screen.

The special effects also deserve some praise here. The effects are simple, well-done and are not so overdone that the seem too fake.

The drawbacks with Chronicle for me are small, but I feel they are worth mentioning. I felt at times the main character got extremely annoying. In addition, some of the ways the filmmakers chose to get the found footage just didn't work; random characters who we barely know have cameras. At one point, a character uses telekinesis to rip some iPads and cellphones from onlookers to get the camera on him, it was hokey.

Chronicle is really good film to start the new year.

*** stars.

Thoughts about The Artist

The Artist is one of the front runners to win the Oscar for Best Picture and after seeing it recently, I can understand why. I had a fantastic time watching the movie and left the theater with a smile on my face.

The story, about a silent movie star's fall due to talking movies, and his female protege's concurrent rise due to the rise of these "talkies" is a fun throwback to a past era of film. I am surprised at how much I enjoyed The Artist, I really thought it would be a drab affair. However, there are fantastic scenes throughout the movie, from the time when our hero George Valentin stumbles to perform a scene correctly with his love interest Peppy Miller, to the moment when Valentin realizes that the silent movie is dead, and sound adds a new dimension that a silent film could never replicate.

Much like the type of character he portrays, The Artist is done in a silent movie style; no words are spoken by any of the characters during the film. This means that the films hinges on the performances of its lead, French comedian Jean Dujardin. Dujardin's ability to emote with his face and body tell the story the way that words could not. I believe that he might be the favorite for best actor right now.

**** stars.

Melancholia: A Nerve Racking Time...In a Good Way

I wasn't sure what to think immediately after seeing Lars Von Trier's new film Melancholia. When I first began watching it, I was both puzzled, yet interested at what I was seeing. The movie starts with the end of the world, and then flashes to a wedding reception, one of the happiest days of a young couple. Next we watch the facade of a happy couple crumble, all while knowing that eventually all of issues these characters face will not matter. My initially thought after the movie's first half, "Justine" was slight boredom.  I didn't know where this movie was planning to go and how these characters would face their impending doom

Melancholia's second half is similar to the first, however the focus is switched from Kirsten Dunst's Justine, to Charlotte Gainsbourg's Claire.  During this second half, I began to feel increasing tense.  The planet Melancholia has been discovered to be flying by Earth.  Claire believes that the planet will be crashing into the Earth and is scared for her family. She believes that Melancholia will crash into Earth.  Her husband reassures her Melancholia will only fly by and will not collide with the Earth.  What is so nerve racking here is the isolation of the setting.  Claire and her family live on a secluded estate, far apart from the rest of their town. There are no radio reports, no television reports, and no newspaper reports of what if anything is being done to combat the possible impending doom. We are left just with a family and their fright and acceptance of what will be.

Melancholia is not an easy film to get into, it slow build and lacking a substantial plot. I was not a huge fan of the first half, but I was uneasily caught up in the second.

**1/2 stars

NYCC: Green Lantern Animated Series

One of the few previews I saw when I went to New York Comic Con was a preview of the new DC Animated Green Lantern series. The series will be coming to Cartoon Network sometime next year.  The preview episode was about an hour and set up the basic premise of the series.

The series stars Hal Jordan, has been a Green Lantern for a couple years, while on Oa, he and the Guardians receive a message that someone has been killing the Lanterns of the outermost edge of the galaxy.  The Guardians are hesitant to investigate the deaths, however, Hal being the hero he is, he steals an experimental spaceship and along with Kilowog investigate the killings.  There they discover the Red Lanterns, a previously unknown set of Lanterns who blame the Green Lanterns for destroying their civilizations.  Not many details are given about the history of the Red Lanterns but they are definitely scary.  During the battle between Hal and Kilowog and the Red Lanterns, the experimental spaceship is damaged and unable to do the hyper warp jump to make it back to Oa.

Creator Bruce Timm  discussing episode

This leaves just the two lanterns in an unexplored area of space, with a mysterious enemy.  The animation is computer generated, with a style meant to evoke the Pixar movie The Incredibles.  I saw where they were going and I really enjoyed it.  The powers on screen were fun, and well animated.  The story seems different many other animated series.  Bruce Timm, the creator of this series, in addition to classic series such as Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited, mentioned that this series will be serialized with Hal and Kilowog discovering the history of the Red Lantern, in addition to having standalone episodes where the two lanterns will discover a new part of space.  I can't wait to see some more.

New York Comic Con: Days 3 and 4

As promised, but unfortunately very late, here are the rest of my photos from NY Comic Con:

I had a great time, and I think I would go again, but only for 1 day rather than the 4 day weekend.

New York Comic Con Day 1 Photos

I went to the New York Comic Con pre show and had a pretty cool time walking around.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the show.  I'll be going again this week, so I should have some more photos later.