The Martian Child DVD

As a fan of John Cusack, and yes I'm still waiting for a truly great film from him, I rented this combined with the fact that it is based on a true story, more or less, of David Gerrold who, among many other things, wrote the Star Trek episode, The Trouble With Tribbles. He took on the challenge of adopting a boy from a foster home as a single father after the death of his wife.

The movie is pretty much that same scenario, with Cusack taking on a child to kind of fill in the hole left by his wife's death. The kid being eight and bounced around in foster care was a big enough challenge, but like Gerrold, he also took on the challenge of a boy so emotionally abused that the boy took on the reality that he must be from another planet. This boy believes, as much as a mentally and emotionally abused child might, that he is from Mars, complete with hiding from the sun and wearing affectations to complete his fantasy.

Now with this you could have one of three films. The Hallmark channel film, The Lifetime channel film or a gutsy indy film about the struggles of the day to day care of such a special needs child. Now I'm going to say that what we wound up with was pretty solidly a Hallmark channel film that never really challenges you or the characters and all is well at the end. That being said, the tone of the film is fine, the acting is fine, particularly of the odd, Martian boy as played by Bobby Coleman. He deserves high praise for his ability to control and improv his character though being only eight years old. It's worth it to see this performance alone. There is also a good turn by sister Joan Cusack who is really begging to be given something more to do in this film as she chews her way scene to scene and by Amanda Peet (Saving Silverman, Igby Goes Down, The Whole Nine Yards) as John's love interest.

The film is engaging and worth a look as a passing some time laundry film for Cusack fans, but I really would have liked to see the nuts and bolts of this relationship. The guy is an author on deadline and he's trying to take care of a seriously emotionally helpless little boy who was just dumped somewhere with his sister (and where is she?) and apparently tried out and returned by at least one prospective adoptive family, I mean there is more than enough meat here for a really serious drama, with some comedy... the stuff he does as a Martian is pretty cool for an eight year old actor... and I really would have liked to see that movie much more than this one. In that regard, if you ask yourself if this another half hearted attempted at creativity by Hollywood, well yes.

(Isn't it something like 85% of Hollywood output is rated generally poor in an average consensus like at Rotten Tomatoes? And they wonder why American box office is in a slump? But I digress...)

So I give it 2 of 5 stars, 3 if your a Cusack fan just for a breezy, generally good family type film that you can watch in a group or casually ignore as you do laundry.

Pushing Daisies

Yeah, I know, "Pushing Daisies" is so last fall and didn't make it back after the strike, but I'll put in a plug for it now anyway. Robyn and I watched it when it was on and it was hands-down our favorite TV series of the season.

It's got an odd premise: Ned ("The Pie-Maker") has the ability to touch the dead and bring them back to life. But there are some catches, of course, arbitrary but certainly necessary to make this interesting: if he touches them a second time, they're dead forever. If he doesn't return somebody to death within a minute of their revival, somebody else in the vicinity will die instead to take their place.

Ned works with a private investigator who solves mysterious deaths for reward money; they simply find the dead people, bring them back to life and question them (within a minute), and then restore them to death and collect the bounty. Of course, in the pilot episode we run into a hiccup: Ned resurrects his childhood sweetheart and can't bear to kill her again. So for the rest of the show, they're doomed to a touch-less romance. Figure that one out.

But what really makes the show sparkle is the way that it looks and sounds unlike any other TV show. The colors are extra-vivid, the writing is snappy, and there's narration (by Jim Dale, who did something like 300+ voices for the Harry Potter audiobooks) which gives a storybook quality to the whole thing. You can practically hear Dale winking at you from behind his microphone. It's not a show that takes itself seriously, and it's all the better for it. Ridiculously complicated murders and accidental deaths? Check. Bereaved aunts who used to be synchronized mermaid swimmers? Check. Incredibly delicious pies made from once-rotten fruit? Check.

If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and go check it out. I think you can watch full episodes at ABC.com.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

The Book of Lost Things - John Connolly

The older books were bound in calfskin and leather, and some of them contained knowledge that had long been forgotten, or that was found to be incorrect as science and the process of discovery uncovered new truths. The books that held this old knowledge had never come to terms with this relegation of their worth.

"Once upon a time—for that is how all stories should begin—"John Connolly begins a tale about books and fairy tales and the world of the imagination that grips you and doesn't let go until the end. David is a young boy in London, and after his mother dies and his father remarries, he grows more and more distant and buries himself in books. But gradually, the boundaries between his world and the world of fairy tales begin to dissolve. He can hear the books whispering to him, he has visions of a Crooked Man, he hears the voice of his mother calling to him from across the divide.

The story has echoes of movies like "The Neverending Story" or "Labyrinth," where a child enters a realm of make-believe and does battle with monsters of all sorts, most notably fighting the demons inside themselves, and then re-emerges, changed for the better. It also reminded me of the more-recent "Pan's Labyrinth," partly because it's also set during World War II, but also for the terrors contained in David's storybook world. These are definitely not the Disney versions of fairy tales that you grew up with; nor are they Grimm's originals. They are something more sinister, with our modern fears and sins mixed in, and some of them are extremely creepy.

It's no real spoiler to tell you that David survives, but all other characters are fair game: you never know who's going to fall prey to wolves and trolls and sorceresses in towers. David is on a quest to seek the king, who is said to have The Book of Lost Things, in which perhaps he will find something to help him get back home.

The writing is superb, although I found that some of my favorite passages were from the beginning of the book, before David enters the other world. It is here that things seem most dissonant, and there's a tension as we try to figure out what's real and what isn't: does David really hear the books speaking to him? Is there really a Crooked Man skulking around in the house? But once we enter the other world, the rules have all changed. Wolves that speak, trees that bleed, Communist dwarves—they're all less startling than the ivy creeping into David's bedroom in the real world, because in this dream world anything seems possible.

Still, this is not to say that I didn't enjoy the rest of the book, for I definitely did. I'm almost certain this will take a spot in my favorites list at the end of this year. If I happen to find ten more books that are all better than this one, it will be a good year for reading indeed. If you're a fan of books about reading, Neil Gaiman, and fairy tales, give this one a go.

(from my books blog at http://books.rainybayart.com)

One - Neal Morse (CD)

Available at Amazon.com HERE
This is a slightly older release by Christian artist Neal Morse. Neal was formerly with neo-progressive rock group Spock's Beard and the supergroup Transatlantic. As the singer and predominant writer of those groups, he restarted a genre of music made most popular in the seventies by bands like Yes, Genesis and ELP. Fortunately, he also greatly influenced by the pop sensibility of The Beatles and thus his music is a little more modern, a little fresher and definitely more light hearted than some of the old school dinosaur bands of time's gone past.

Neal writes big sweeping epics that are really suites of songs linked together to make great epic songs, many lasting 20 minutes or more. He uses that elongated style to create thematic albums that are often singular concepts that run through the whole album. This particular CD is about the creation of man by God, man's fall from grace and his reunification with God. In one track you can expect to hear not only great musicianship in typical rock music formats, but he veers into jazz, acoustic, latin and symphonic music. He improvs particularly well at the piano and at the acoustic guitar. His voice is passionate and unique though he does tend to wear his love for John Lennon right out on his sleeve sometimes. The music here is not an immediate post grunge blast of 3 minute pop. It's thoughtful, spiritual and considerably rockin' music that may take several spins to really find everything that he's doing in each song.

There are some great musicians on this album aside from Neal who can play nearly every instrument. There is also Phil Keaggy, renowned Christian singer, songwriter and guitarist. On drums is percussion powerhouse Mike Portnoy of the mighty mighty Dream Theater and a host of other metal and progressive rock acts. On bass is Randy George of the Christian progressive rock band Ajalon who is a fine guitarist and singer as well as bassist. With such a line up, even if you weren't a big Christian fan, you know the music is going to be top notch.

The Creation opens the disc with a long suite of music about God and Adam and Eve in the garden. The end where God searches for the hiding shamed pair is extremely powerful and along the way you twist and turn through an incredible variety of music. From there you work your way through to the final epic tracks where there is reunion between man and God. At eighty minutes across several tracks, you know you are getting your money's worth on music.

The special edition, if you can track it down on e-bay or amazon, has the rest of the tracks that couldn't fit including one stand out track that should have been front and center on the main disc, King Jesus which just a real celebration.

This disc is for fans of classic rock styles, but with an updated modern sound by some amazing players. It rewards the listener with great music and with a good sound spiritual message that is never cloying or superficial - it's passionate and he means it. Well worth a look, and if you like that one, Neal's previous release Testimony might even be better.

I give this one a definite 4 out of 5 stars for solid musicianship and a positive message in a fresh old school rock style.

- Eddie

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

So this is my first review post. Ever. Big deal huh?

Brittany (my wife) and I went to go see Forgetting Sarah Marshall on Sunday. Interesting Movie. This was an infamous Judd Apatow (Superbad, 40 year old virgin, Knocked up) movie. I wouldn't necessarily say it was done in his typical fashion though. It was produced by Apatow, but actually written and directed by other people.

The movie was based on a script written by Jason Siegel, the main character in the film. Tall, Akward, and huge wang? Yeah that's him. Oh I'm sorry, you didn't wanna hear about his penis? Too bad. It's in the movie. Brace yourself. I didn't. And that was a mistake.

Anyways, all penises aside, the movie was a good flick. Fairly dry humor in my opinion, which I'm slowly becoming a fan of. Definitely thought it had somewhat of an 'Office' feel to it. Almost even seemed kind of slow, but at the same time not. It doesn't make sense, I know. I think it was actually because of the acting style of Siegel (main character). The premise of the movie is that Siegel's character gets dumped by Sarah Marshall (girl who's in Veronica Mars) and she is actually a TV star in this movie too. He goes to Hawaii to try to rid of his mind of her, and lo and behold, she's in Hawaii too! go figure. Had she not been there, then Siegel would've written quite the shi**y script haha. But seriously.

Jackie from 'That 70's Show' is also in it as well, playing a slightly different, more mature, and older character in this movie. Also in this movie is a guy I've never seen, who plays a British Pop Star with far too much Sexual Education. The chemistry between all the characters was unbeatable though. Partly awkard, partly way too comfortable.

Get ready for some sexual awkwardness, some laughs, some love, and some penis.

I give it 4 of 5 stars. Recommend it for a date with someone who's not easily offended.

-Justin

Florida Orchestra featuring Pinchas Zukerman

Program:
ELGAR: Serenade for Strings
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 3
SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 5


Previously this month I was lucky enough to win tickets to see the Florida Orchestra featuring Pinchas Zukerman from the local NPR station here in Tampa. James and I went and over all it was a decent concert.

The tickets ended up being 5th row center, which is not bad but for orchestral music it would have probably been better to sit a little further back. We did luck out that there was no one sitting directly in front of us.

The concert started out with Elgar's Serenade for Strings. Elgar is the most contemporary of the composers featured, and it definitely is apparent in his works. Most people would know Elgar as the composer of the six Pomp and Circumstance marches. (Think graduation song) This serenade is quite a bit different from that. It is a very relaxing piece of music, which makes it easy to listen to. This is an excellent choice for performing for an audience that may not be hard core classical music fans.

The second piece is the one that really showcased Maestro Zukerman's talent. The other two he conducted, but this one he actually played the violin. Pichas Zukerman is one of the top violinists in the World. Zukerman has recorded over 100 works and has been nominated for 21 Grammy Awards, winning two, most notably with Itzhak Perlman playing Music for Two Violins. Being able to hear some one of his caliber play in person was a privilege. This concerto is played with limited winds, and is beautiful to behold. It is three movements long and holds the same theme throughout. Again, like the Elgar it is a "happy" piece of music that could be enjoyed by anyone.

After a brief intermission, the final piece began. The instrumentation is light for Schubert's 5th Symphony as clarinets, trumpets and timpani are not called for. This was by far the "meatest" piece of music the entire night. It does not always follow the traditional form of a symphony, which keeps the more attentive classical music listener guessing. In the interest of avoiding too much music theory, there are many things in this piece that are very much known to be associated with "Schubert." This one is a little more elaborate and therefore a little harder for the casual listener to enjoy, but over all a nice piece of music.

As far as the performance was concerned, it was what is to be expected of a small, local orchestra. They were decent, but not any stand outs. Only once did I hear a mistake made, of course by a French Horn player, but it was quick and not too many people seemed to notice.

Overall I would give this concert 4 out of 5 stars.

No Country For Old Men

The latest Ethan Brothers film makes it way to DVD under the heavy heavy accolades of critics and the nods of the Oscar nominating committees. It's exactly what they are saying the movie is and it is exactly not what the audience is expecting to see. This is no Raising Arizona with humorous quirky twists through out, this is a serious dramatic turn that is more about the creation of their art than it is making an audience pleasing film. Each scene is carefully measured and staged and every look or glance of the ensemble has weight and merit. This is not to say that it is a heavy, ponderous film, but that it is a showcase for young directors on how to make the most of what they have. In many scenes the first thought I had was, 'this is a Quinton Tarentino scene'. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It means that scenes take time to show you very specific things like boots walking or wind blowing or the expanse of the desert. There is as much story there as there is in what the actors do or say. Many scenes though were almost copies of things Tarentino has done in Kill Bill. The attitude, preciseness, the choice of subject to follow was very Kill Bill except for the sudden switches to other scenes equally in your face.

The performances are perfect. Josh Brolin... who knew the kid from The Goonies could act? You don't even realize it's him until you kind of recognize him from Planet Terror or American Gangster. This is an amazing performance alongside equally good turns from Tommy Lee Jones and the incredibly creepy villain Anton Chigurh as played by Javier Bardem (Love In The Time of Cholera). I believe each and every one of these characters. I don't necessarily like them all or think that they are all capable of doing what they are setting out to do, but I believe them in their world.

And it is violent. It's a game of finding a stash of money at a crime scene and trying to secure it and your family safely away from trouble. Unfortunately that may not be possible and even the kindly sheriff who never had to carry a gun may not be able to help. It's over the top in its gore as much as Kill Bill was, except there is no blatant in your face winking. It is not heroic. It tries to be heroic though, and it places it's characters in heroic situations, but it's all smoke through a key hole as they all race to figure out just where and who has this money.

The ending is not exactly satisfactory. When it ends you kind of don't realize that the stories over. You want to see it end the way your mind has been waiting for it to end. For me, it was a good ending. Most things are resolved and the story of the sheriff is wound down as well. I give it two thumbs way up, but with the caution that it is not a slam bang action adventure of guns and cowboys in the desert. It's a character portrait with a lot of violence and moodiness. It is definitely worth a rent, but it may not be the film advertised on TV. The studios made it seem to be more mainstream than it really is. But it's Cohen Brothers. How mainstream would it be?

I rate this: 4.5 out of 5 stars. Great performances and movie making, but it may not be quite what the general audience was expecting. Well worth it just for Josh Brolin's performance alone.

- Eddie Presley

Beowulf the DVD

This is a review of Beowulf as presented on DVD. It's an animated film from last year that so much hype was raised over. The question here though is not so much as what kind of film it was, but more along the lines of when does tech become a hindrance and not so much an aid. This film was more about watching a proof of concept than it was watching a story. As with Ratatouille, the question quickly arises, if you wanted that street background to be photo realistic down to the shine and rust on the shutters, why didn't you just film it? For Ratatouille however, it was a Disney / Pixar film and those questions about backgrounds and undergrounds were left there in the background, but for a film where you're being asked to believe in a near photo realistic world with accurately modeled and presented human beings, then you're asking me to sit there and judge not just the background, but everything in the film. And the answer is a resounding NO, the people do not look real and the world does not look real, nor does it look hyper stylized as an animated film typically would, particularly such a comic booky genre type film. I'm left to repeat that over and over again watching hands that don't quite connect or grasp, feet not exactly right on the ground, lips too big and out of sync. Now if this had been a hyper realistic comic booky world like Ratatouille and Toy Story, then I can forgive all of it as I become a part of a world defined by it's art and design where hands, feet and lips squish and expand of their own accord.

From there you drift into one question after the other about stuff that has nothing to do with the execution of the movie at all. First of all, you have all these great actors - Ray Winstone, Brendan Gleeson (of Mad-Eye Moody fame), Crispin Glover, John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins among several more and you are going to spend the effort to film them perfectly and then rotoscope over them with only near perfect representations of themselves. Why? You have these guys live and in the flesh. You have a serious adaptation of a great Saga. Let them get on a sound stage and chew up the scenery with each other. It's like having all the great British actors found in the Harry Potter films but only having them in the films for like 5 minutes. These guys are a movie by themselves, just point a camera and shoot.

In the extras of the DVD, you see the director, Robert Zemeckis, telling his wide eyed actors on their first day, that yes this is an animated film, but you'll still be in make up for hours getting little dots each day, you'll be on a soundstage acting and speaking your parts that will be recorded and used, you'll be interacting with not just each other but full on props and animals, but you're in an animated film. Again. Why? Well, in another few breaths he says, after filming a massive boat in a storm scene that would have taken days and days to film for real, 'look how quickly this is getting done instead of taking weeks to film'. Then he goes on to express his great satisfaction at having 15 minute turn around times for set changes and stuff. So... the advantage to this is doing it on the cheap? Doing it fast? Well, I'm guessing you're now going into months and months of post production, no? You're going to pay an army of folk to create this entire world from scratch and animate this film. So have you really saved time? Saved money? Saved effort? I'm not so sure. If you're going to present a photo realistic animated film, why not just film it and have CGI effects ala LotR? That way, it looks, you know, real without having to generate by hand fake realness. Now if your going to make a unique hyper realistic world that we will become immersed in and want to be real, sure go for it. Create something new and something totally original that marks this film as it's own art and it's own imagination.

Another thing that bothered me technically about the film was Beowulf's privates - or more exactly the lack thereof. Beowulf purposely and sensually strips for the viewer and for the queen. He will fight for ten minutes following in the buff, but you will never see Beowulf actually nude. In fact, the film suddenly turns into an Austin Powers slapstick farce as every arm stump, leg stump, dagger, sword, table leg, shadow and passerby all amazingly just find themselves in the right position to cover Beowulf as he flings himself through the scene. Though, once every upright object he could hide behind is used up, they have to resort to the ridiculous poses Beowulf has to put himself into so that he isn't exposed to anyone.

Instead of these ridiculous stunts, why didn't they just leave him in a loincloth? They also do this with Anthony Hopkins with a very loose drape which should have been wrapped about him and stop all that hide and seek nonsense. The same for Angelina Jolie. Instead of covering her in oil that drips off her, why don't you just keep her covered with scales or drape? If want to just blatantly exploit her for $$$ ... just do it... and settle for the R rating ... otherwise... stop with the farcical visual stunts and move on. Nothing takes you out of movie faster than the director basically stating directly to the audience, "Hey! You almost saw something dirty! Ha Ha."

I mean, who is this movie for anyway? Youngsters and their money? Or are you making an adult film for adult viewers? Well... stop with the kiddy naughty naughty stuff and treat your audience with at least an ounce of respect and maturity.

This movie is really just a proof of concept. This is the technology (motion capture / digital rotoscoping / 3D animation / 3D projection / virtual camera) and here's some neat stuff you can do with it. I'm just not sure if this is the right film for the technology or even if it's the right application of the technology to this film. And I don't really want to be thinking that while this film is going on. I certainly don't think that during The Incredibles, Ratatouille or Surf's Up.

The film itself is okay. It's a good popcorn / laundry movie. The animation of the faces in some scenes is pretty much photo real, but in others it's video game quality animation. Most of the big pieces and big sets look like video game cut scene animation. The story by Neil Gaiman, (Star Dust, American Gods), is pretty good and the performances are great. It's just a shame that I have to see such great actors speaking through blocky video game mouths. Neil Gaiman did a good job working through the Saga and retelling it by drawing lines from things left hanging or added on in the original and making it work more singularly as a story and more circular as a plot by having the tale repeat and use the same characters over to show how history can repeat itself no matter how great the hero. Good stuff. The ending is left "open". It's a fade out as you are kind of led to the idea that oh no, it's going to happen again. I say the evil beast is spurned and killed by Beowulf's right hand man... and hey, they left it open... so that's what I say happened.

I rate this: 2 stars out of 5. A good laundry film that you can tune in and out of while you do your housework. Decent animation, but really, why not just film these great actors doing what they do best?

Superbad

Well, I finally saw Superbad last night, and I must say I was not impressed. It was mildly funny, but it did not live up to the Apatow hype. I expected more from the man that brought us Anchorman and 40 Year Old Virgin. There were some funny parts. The stand outs were definitely Bill Hader and Seth Rogen as Officers Slater and Michaels. Most people would recognize Rogen as Cal from 40 Year Old Virgin, but not a lot of people know Bill Hader yet. He has started getting some larger rolls lately, but he is a stand out on NBC's SNL. Although SNL has been lagging in consistency the past few seasons, Hader has been a shining star.

The two main stars, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera delivered solid performances, but were hindered by the over use of vulgarity that I can only imagine was used to give us the impression that these two were typical high school seniors. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good use of the f-bomb as much as the next guy, but seriously, they used it like 10 times a sentence. Granted I haven't been a high school senior for more years than I like to think about, but do they really say "f&*#" that much?

The newcomer, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, gave the most believable performance as a high school student. Probably because he was a high school student when he was discovered.

Over all I would give Superbad 3 out of 5 stars. I'm glad I saw it, but not upset that I waited this long to see it. It has a nice message about friendship and what that means to two guys that have grown up together, but are now at a crossroads. Definitely a rent, or wait until its on TV.

Welcome to our review site.

I miss sitting around with all my friends and talking about the latest, TV shows, movies, etc. I thought maybe we could all try and share on here. I'm looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks on whats out there already, and what's coming up.

Matt