Reviews by Matt

Over the last two days, this list has changed a lot. Movies I thought that were going to make it, ended up getting supplanted by two movies I saw recently. All the work I put into my “Sunshine Cleaning” review ended up being all for naught because there ended up being some late additions to the list. The biggest of these resides at No. 8 on the list, it was a movie I reviewed for the school paper, but because I lost the file, I did not post in on the blog. Long winded introduction aside, I present the Top 10 movies I saw this past year.

10) I Love You, Man
Easily the funniest movie I saw this year, it was also the only real comedy I saw. Unless you count “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans,” which was funny for all the wrong reasons. Paul Rudd and Jason Segal have been apart of the funniest comedies of the past 5 years and this one is no exception. Rudd has a knack for the understated comedy. He is low key and subtle when he is delivering his lines. All of this is a great complement to Segal who is all about the more overt brand of comedy.
The other standout is Rashida Jones. In a comedy where everyone is getting all the laughs, she has to play the straight woman aside the rest of the cast. She does a great job being the one to observe the shenanigans going on around her.

9) Watchmen
Many considered Alan Moore’s graphic novel masterpiece “Watchmen” to be unfilmable. Some still might, especially the very anti-Hollywood Moore. Despite all it had going against it, lawsuits from movie studios chief among them, “Watchmen” still made it to the big screen. This might be as close as a movie can be to its source material as you can get. It improved on the ending (as mad as that statement will make fanboys) and still kept the major theme intact.
This is not your father’s comic book movie. There is plenty of violence and the blood to match. The material is darker than other comic book movies, even darker than “The Dark Knight” (no pun intended).

8) Taken
This was never posted, but I did review it in the school paper earlier this year. It was just a fun movie to watch, despite the dark subject material. What the story boils down to is a father doing whatever he has to in order to get his kidnapped daughter back and punish those who took her. The action is great; there are some intense chase and shootout scenes.
This also had one of my favorite trailers of the year.
It was so simple, yet conveyed exactly what to expect from this movie. He tells the kidnappers he will find them and he will kill them and that is exactly what he does.

7) Avatar
The review may be pending, but consider this a small preview of what is to come. Story wise it is nothing new. It is very generic. A guy goes into a tribe of natives and becomes one of them. I saw a lot of the plot coming a mile away and there were a lot of characters who were introduced but never elaborated on. I had a hard time caring about the fate of any of the side characters.
Technology-wise it is stunning. I saw it in 3-D (not the IMAX version) and I was amazed at what I saw. The attention to detail was stunning. When I say detail, I mean things as small as dirt and particles floating in the air. It was really awesome to see, especially in 3-D.

6) Up
Pixar, Pixar, Pixar. Is there nothing you cannot do? It was a risk making the star of your summer movie a 76-year-old man. Don’t you know that if you want to make a ton of money you need a young attractive lead actor/actress? You even cast an older actor, Ed Asner, to voice your lead character. Your target market doesn’t even know who that is. I don’t mean the kids, I mean the younger parents who are taking their kids to this movie. What do you mean it has made over $300 million? Wow, I apologize. I guess you can do no wrong.
You have raised the bar for animation and no one can even come close. Is there no end to your genius? I only have one request; a sequel to “The Incredibles.”

5) Star Trek
As a movie geek, you would think I would have picked a side in the “Star Wars” vs. “Star Trek” debate. I have not. The “Star Wars” prequels have soured my love of the original series and I have never really given, nor wanted to give, “Star Trek” a chance. Plus my sci-fi fandom belongs to “Firefly” so nothing can compete. The new “Star Trek” came close though.
J.J. Abrams, the mastermind of “Lost” and “Fringe” was given the keys to a U.S.S Enterprise and forever changed the series. He gave “Trek” fast paced space battles and got rid of boring political talk. The cast is great and all do a superb job and I cannot wait until the inevitable sequel.

4) District 9
This was the first time in years I have entered a theater knowing only the basic plot. It was a refreshing experience to watch a movie with the same wonder as everyone else in the theater. The movie was made for $30 million, cheap by movie standards, but looked like it cost 3 times that. It was an original story in a sea of remakes, reboots and sequels.
Sharlto Copley, the lead actor, had never acted before he made this. He had never even thought about it before. He got the job while reading lines with other actors and the director/friend, Neil Blomkamp, gave him the role.
He is currently filming “The A-Team” where he is in the role of Murdock. I think he did a great job and I hope he has long career in the movie industry.

3) (500) Days of Summer
When I first saw this in the summer, it was easily going on the list and could very well be placed at No.1. Well, months have passed and other movies have been watched so “(500) Days of Summer” ended up here at No. 3. As much as I love big blockbusters, I love smaller character driven movies more. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are superstars in the indie movie scene and prove it here. Tom’s obsession with Summer drives the story along at a good pace. It covers the 500 days of their relationship, just not in order. Cutting between their happiest days to when Summer breaks up with him is an interesting way to cut the movie together. It gives the viewer a chance to see where things started to turn as Tom reflects on his relationship with Summer.
Through the use of a musical scene, some great split screen shots and an amazing soundtrack, this found it’s way to the top of my list for a long time. It took a lot to place it here and I’m sure if I kept dwelling on it, it might make it back to the top.

2) Up in the Air
I wanted to see this from the second I saw this trailer:
From then on, I was looking forward to this with anticipation and it did not disappoint. Clooney is one those actors who I have a hard time separating him from the character he is playing, but in a good way. When I watch one of his movies, I see Clooney. Clooney plays Ryan, a man whose job is to fire people.
The other star is Anna Kendrick. She plays Natalie, a young woman who goes with Ryan so he can “show her the ropes.” I will elaborate more when I get to reviewing the movie later.

1) Inglourious Basterds
The executives at Miramax would have you believe that this movie is about Brad Pitt killing Nazis. To some extent it is, but it is also so much more. The star is not Pitt but Christoph Waltz. His portrayal of Hans Landa is one of the best of the year. He makes Landa one of the all time greatest villains. Writer/director Quentin Tarantino is at his best with this, his seventh movie. He has written some great dialogue scenes in the past and the ones in “Basterds” might be some of his best. The best action scenes are not the ones involving the guns but the ones involving the spoken word. Those scenes are full of tension and suspense and showcase the strength of Tarantino as a writer.
In the end of the movie a character remarks: “I think this might just be my masterpiece.” It might be a pompous remark for Tarantino to make, but he has the evidence to back it up.

5) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
“G.I. Joe” gets the honor of being the “best of the worst” and in this case, it really was. For all that was bad about it, I still liked it...a lot, actually. Yes, the computer effects were horrid, the dialogue stilted and clichéd, the plot completely predictable and acting worthy of only a daytime soap opera. Despite all that, I enjoyed every single second of it.

I see a lot of movies over the course of a year and many of them are trying way to hard to be good—see “The Soloist”—that it is nice to see a movie that doesn’t try to be more than it is. Stupid. Fun. Entertainment.

4) 9
Sometimes expectations can be a bad thing. When I first saw the trailer for “9,” I was interested. It seemed like it could have been good; the plot essentially boils down to sock puppets in a post-apocalyptic world. It was a cool idea. Then I saw the movie. Pointless. Completely and totally pointless.

In a world where Pixar runs the world of animation, the bar has been raised when it comes to this genre of movies. Story, characters and the animation itself al have to be nearly flawless to even compete with the Pixar monster. This did not even come close. The story went nowhere and did not make much sense even it the sci-fi world.

3) X-Men Origins: Wolverine
As long as I can remember, I have always been a fan of Wolverine. He was so cool when I was a kid. He had this tough, gruff and had the coolest power; regeneration. Add to that the unbreakable adamantium bones and claws and you have got a killer combination. While the first two “X-Men” movies did a great job of living up to the childhood memories, This movie kind of killed it. It was, as my review headline said, a de-clawed version of the character I loved as a kid.
What was worse was it took an amazing actor, Liev Schreiber, and made his act down to the material. I am sure he did what he could with what he has given, but it was not enough to make the movie enjoyable.

There was one bright spot. It was Taylor Kitsch as Gambit. I have been waiting for Gambit to make an appearance in the movies since the first movie and while it was not what I was hoping for, I saw a lot of potential.

2) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
I am all for dumb action movies. “G.I. Joe” was a dumb action movie; “Transformers 2” not so much. Where “Joe” had redeeming qualities in its badness, this did not. The special effects were great, just like the first one, but other than that there was nothing to save this movie.
The plot was so disjointed and unintelligible that I was very confused through most of it. There were characters crammed into the movie for absolutely no reason. Then there were the raciest robots. Despite director Michael Bay’s best efforts to convince to the contrary, the two characters—Mud Flap and Skids—are clearly black stereotypes. So much so that I was offended by what I heard and saw on screen. They can't read, talk broken, slang riddled English, and one even has a gold tooth. The robots might have well been in black face. I don't know how it made it through the editing process without someone realizing how raciest these two robots were.

1) Underworld: Rise of the Lycans
I saw no worse movie this year than the third movie in the “Underworld” series. This movie took what was a 5-minute sequence in “Underworld” and made it into a 92-minute movie. There was nothing good in this movie and nothing that made it worth watching. I had hoped I would be at least entertained, something I can do with even the worst of the bad movies. I do not think there was a substance on Earth that I could have taken to make me enjoy this movie at all. I was just bored. If you have any desire to see this movie, I ask you, neigh, EMPLORE you to just watch “Underworld.” All you need to know about the plot of “Rise of the Lycans” is summarized and is better told in the original.

Many of the television shows have a low re-watch value. Once you have seen the season once there is really no reason to watch it again. “24” for instance is hard to re-watch on DVD because the real suspense is gone (it is part of the reason why I have not gotten the past few seasons on DVD). Even shows like “Scrubs” and “How I Met Your Mother,” are not the same the second time around, even though I tend to make it through the series over the corse of the year. I recently watched a show that falls into a completely different category. The show is “Leverage” and I have watched both seasons twice within the past three months (gotta love Netflix and its watch instantly catalogue) and enjoyed it equally both times.

“Leverage” is basically an updated Robin Hood. Nathan Ford (Timothy Hutton,) a claims investigator for a big insurance company, lost his son because the very company he worked for would not pay for the experimental procedure that could have saved his life. After months of drinking heavily and doing nothing bit dwelling on his loss, he is given an opportunity to get even; help steal from a company that has insurance through his former employers. He is teamed up with Hardison (Aldis Hodge) a brilliant computer hacker, Parker (Beth Reisgraf), a thief who steals for the thrill of it and Eliot (Christian Kane) a “hitter” who has a knack for violence. Rounding out the team is Sophie (Gia Bellman) a “grifter” or con artist. What starts out as a one-time gig, turned into a place for people to go when the law is not enough.

The opening says is all:

So what makes the show good, well besides the heists, it is the characters. They are probably some of the strongest written characters on television now. Most of the humor in the show comes from Parker. Her people skills are next to non-existant. She does not understand many social conventions— things like the concept of subtlety. She tends to be honest to a fault. In one episode they are on an airplane and Parker has the job of playing the part of a flight attendant. When she gives the announcements she makes her own additions including that if the plane did crash in the water, the impact would probably kill them anyway. All of the characters have their own distinct personalities that make them unique.

The heists are really clever and it is fun to catch the small things they do to achieve the end result. At the end they revisit key moments during the con when the switch took place or the key move that was made that allowed the Leverage team to gain the upper hand.
“Leverage” is, quite possibly, the most fun way to spend an hour. Not only are the characters great to watch, but also the heists are extremely fun. True, you know they are going to get away with it, but even during my second viewing I loved every minute of it. Season two kicks off again on Wednesday January 22, 2010 at 10 p.m. and I will be there on my couch watching the Leverage team bring the rich and powerful to justice.

I have not written about any of the new television shows this year for two reasons. 1) As always, time. Some days I have precious little of it and sleep just seems more fun. 2) There has not been much to write about. I have only really added three new shows to my weekly television schedule (“Flash forward,” “V,” and “Glee”) and only one of those is worth writing about. “Flash forward” and “V” are more along the lines of “Lost” and they have their audience. Not many people are going to venture into the world of sci-fi, no matter how good I think it is. “Glee,” on the other hand, is one of those shows that can appeal to just about everyone, as long as you can deal with musical numbers.

Set at William McKinley High School. “Glee” follows the school’s very ridiculed and downtrodden glee club. Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), a former member and current Spanish teacher takes on the role as faculty advisor for the club in hopes of returning it to its former glory.

The glee club is full of the school’s misfits like Rachel (Lea Michele) the overachiever who is very talented, but not humble. To achieve his goal, Will recruits quarterback Finn (Cory Monteith) to give the club a more popular image.

Cheerleader coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) wants to see glee club destroyed and has three of her cheerleaders join the club as her moles. Will knows of her hatred of him and glee club and the two spend lots of time airing their feelings to Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) who has to try to keep the peace in his school.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that this is a feel good show. No matter how bad a day you are having, this show just makes you feel better. 90 percent of the time it is a happy-go-lucky easy to watch, fun hour of television. There are plenty of musical numbers combined with very funny moments. It is really hard to be in a bad mood and watch this show.

The other 10 percent of the time the show can get pretty serious. Head cheerleader, Quinn (Dianna Agron) discovers that she is pregnant and that her boyfriend, Finn, is not the father. The father is, of all people, Finn’s best friend Puck (Mark Salling). The whole story is too complicated to explain here, but, long story short, Finn thinks he is the father. Quinn’s story is where we see the drama behind the music and comedy. She starts out as a spy for Sue and does everything she can to bring down the club. When Sue finds out about Quinn’s pregnancy, she kicks her off the squad and she is forced to find another place to fit in and, not surprisingly, that turns out to be in glee club.

Now to the real reason to watch this show: the music. I could sit here and tell you how great the cast is, but hearing is believing, which is a god place to start. In the pilot episode, the final scene is the group singing Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'."

I’ve been thinking about what it is about movies. What is it about them that make me go to the theater or buy countless DVDs? Why do I spend money I do not necessarily have on them year in and year out?

The answer can be different for other people; story, a certain actor or actress, great special effects. The list goes on and on. For me it is the moments. Those “moments” usually come from the a killer combination of great writing and great acting: when the words on the page are made all the better by the actors reading them.

I recently re-watched my favorite Kevin Smith movie, “Chasing Amy.” The short plot summery is Holden McNeal (Ben Affleck) falls in love with Alyssa Jones (Joey-Lauren Adams). The only problem is, she is a lesbian.

Overall the movie is great and is the best thing Kevin Smith has written/directed. There is one scene, or moment, stand out for me as to the epitome of why I love this movie. Spoiler Alert: they end up hooking up. That’s not the moment though. Sometime into their relationship Holden confronts Alyssa about her sexual past. He is enraged at her because of the things he has heard about her. She tries to explain to him that it was the past and he is her present. What she did before him has nothing to do with him. I would include the video of that scene, but I try to keep these posts "family friendly." So you get this picture instead:

This scene has great performances and great writing. The anger on Holden’s face as she admits to being experimental when she was younger, the rage in Alyssa’s voice as she tells him the past is the past are so real that you feel it. Affleck and Adams deliver so much in what is the most powerful scene in the movie.

Not all moments are from good movies. Take “The Phantom of the Opera” for instance. All in all, not a good movie, but I still have it on DVD. There are plenty of moments that make that movie better than it really is. I love the musical and to be honest and the only reason I bought it, besides getting it in a 4 for $20 deal at Blockbuster, was the opening scene. As those who have seen the play know, there is an auction at the beginning. When the chandelier is on the auction block it rises up and the play begins. In the movie this scene is in black and white. Now, here is the moment I love; as the chandelier rises, everything transitions to color. It is a drastic change, even more extreme than the color change in “The Wizard of Oz.” Dust and cobwebs are blown off the old seats, walls and statures as the chandelier rises from the stage to take its place above the theater and where it will sit until it comes crashing back down complements of the Phantom.


Maybe it is because I know a lot about movies that I also find those moments in the technical aspects of the movies. In “Children of Men” there is a 10-minute continuous shot. I love stuff like that.

Some things just keep hanging around; that guy at the party who stays long after everyone else has left, the lake-effect snow of Western New York, Bunker. In some cases that resilience can be frustrating and leave people wondering when they will be rid of this pain in the ass (not a commentary on my mom’s feelings toward the dearly departed dog). Then there are those things that you have to love for their willingness to stick around; the coworker who stays late to give you a hand, the friend who won’t leave until your problems are solved, Bunker. There is one more to add to that list; “Scrubs.”

Last night marked the return of the most medically accurate show on television (look it up, its actually true.) Last year the show looked to be over and many fans, me included, were satisfied with the ending. J.D. was moving on and so were we. Then ABC announced they were renewing the show for a 9th season. Now the show focuses on medical students being taught by some of the familiar faces from Sacred Heart. Turk (Donald Faison,) J.D (Zach Braff,) Dr. Kelso (Ken Jenkins) and Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) are all teachers at the new Sacred Heart Medical School.

While the show has not changed that much, it feels very different. Braff has signed on for a few episodes to make the transition to Kerry Bishé’s Lucy to become the focal point of the show. She will take over the internal monologues and crazy fantasies once reserved for J.D. This is a change I think I can deal with. There were episodes where the focus was on another character in the show and J.D. took a back seat. Those episodes were as good as any if the others in the series.

The change of scenery is also something that will require some adjustment time. Sacred Heart hospital is gone and the medical school has taken its place. It is a much bigger set and the look and feel of the halls of the old Sacred Heart is no longer there.
There are a few shows where you know you way around the world created. For me, I know every inch of Serenity on “Firefly.” I also could also find my way around Sacred Heart Hospital. This does open up the show to do more in terms of variety of locations and I look forward to see what they do with this new freedom.

The show feels very different. I really cannot find the words to describe just what that means, but it can be compared to moving. You are still home, but the new place just doesn’t feel like the old one.

The only real problem I have with the new season is that I loved the finale. The final scene of J.D. walking down the halls of Sacred Heart one last time was one a great way to end it. So, really the show has to live up to that, but I have a feeling it will. I am going to stick with it in spite of all that has changed. I truly love this show and I am happy it is still on the air after all it has been though (see any previous reviews for that lovely story.)

“Scrubs” Tuesday 9 p.m. on ABC