YAHHH! The iPad was Announced today.

Unless you’ve been under a rock, you know that the Apple had a big announcement today.  They announced their tablet device…  the iPad.

Before we get to my opinions, let’s start with what we know:

• 9.7″ Screen
• 1/2 thick, 1.5 lbs
• 10 Hours of battery life with 1 month of standby
• 16 – 64 gigabytes of flash storage
• Accelerometer and Compass – (GPS?)
• Speaker and Microphone
• WiFi N, Bluetooth
• 3G optional

This device runs a modified iPhone OS.  It will run most of the current iPhone apps out of the box. For most apps it will run iPhone apps in native resolution or “doubled” resolution.

They announced an “iBookstore” to purchase books for the device.
They announced a version of iWork specifically for the iPad.  Each app (Numbers, Pages, Keynote) will be $9.99.

Pricing:  16GB – $499, 32GB – $599, 64GB – $699  w/o 3G  (Add $130 for 3G)

No camera, no multi-tasking, no phone capabilities that we know of.

My Opinion:

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Sherlock Holmes

A Sherlock Holmes movie doesn’t really cry out “action-adventure”, even more so than with the stereotypical image of Sherlock Holmes as the calm, collected, steel-nerved thinking machine. Take that and add in that Guy Ritchie is directing (Snatch, RockNRolla, Revolver) and Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man) is starring, there’s the possibility that this movie could simply attach a known name to a film that bares little resemblance to the spirit of the material. It’s to this film’s credit that this portrayal of Doyle’s most famous character gives it new life and calls previous incarnations into question.

There’s an interesting scene near the beginning in which Holmes is seated at a restaurant waiting to meet Watson and his fiancee. As he’s waiting, he notices little details: bit of a conversation, the sound of the silverware, a watch ticking. Soon these details grow and intensify with Holmes struggling to maintain composure. It’s a very interesting theory that Holmes brain is wired differently than other people in that he can’t NOT notice the details we all miss. It works to give Holmes a humanity we can appreciate. Another scene takes Joel Silver’s almost patented slow-motion fight sequence and adds Holmes using his deduction to reason the best moves to see a fight through. It works very well.

For the main plot, Holmes and Watson must discover and attempt to foil the plans of Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong, who played Archy in ‘RockNRolla’), a villain who seems to hold supernatural power. Strong plays him well, making him menacing and giving him real character. Rachel McAdams does a great job portraying Irene Adler, possibly the only woman who has ever bested Holmes and could keep his interest. McAdams doesn’t have as much material to draw upon as other actors do for their characters, and I think that freedom to play comes through in the confidence and charisma of her Adler.

The movie is shot in an industrial England that thankfully doesn’t drown in black, but uses gray and heavy desaturation in the colors. It’s a visual choice I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ritchie work with in his previous films, but one that gives the film a unique identity. This is also true of the music, which uses a lot of smaller orchestrations and string quartets to give definition to the time period.

This was well worth seeing in the theater at least once, and it’s worth a purchase once it’s released to homes. A very good action film with some brains behind it.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

I don’t really find myself calling movies ‘charming’. It feels like a trite thing to just say about a movie. To me it feels like a word marketers slap on to a movie’s advertising that’s code to parents meaning it’s safe for kids to see. So you will understand my point of view when I think I can truly say that The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a charming movie.

Roald Dahl’s work tends to have a dark edge to is (the more recent Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a good example) which is absent in this story, but it’s also not material one would typically consider a children’s story either. We come across the main character, Mr. Fox, at what looks like the end of his daring adventures, working as a newspaper columnist, settling down buying a better house (tree, actually) for him and his family. But then Mr. Fox gets the urge to pull one last ‘job’ and trying to avoid the wrath of the three big farmers from which he plunders. It touches on the ideas of family, community and being true to who you are. I say touches. It’s far and away from a heavy-handed Disney moral tale, and it’s told with a sophistication that can appeal to all ages, which is no mean feat.

With animals wearing suits and ties, badgers acting as lawyers, and rats acting as security guards I started to think that Wes Anderson probably could have simply turned all the characters human and made this a live action film. However, his films are very visually rich and this serves him well when he turned to animation. Many choices he made point to making this a very warm approachable film, like the choice of using stop-motion animation rather then computer animation. One of the benefits of going this route is that it gives this world very rich textures from the animals fur to the natural wood of the outdoors and furniture. This film was shot digitally and I saw this film in a digital projection theater and those textures really pop and give the world life that is frankly missing from the smooth, sterile, clay-like surfaces of most current CG films. Wes also chose a very nice natural autumn color palette with reds, oranges and browns which make the film vivd without becoming candy-coated bright. Another striking things is the framing of shots that’s very straightforward. Characters are usually framed head-on or facing straight left or right. Action moves in these limited directions as well. I think these simple visual choices help offset the more complicated grown-up issues the story tackles.

The humor in the film is well-done too, emanating more from the characters rather than catchphrase one-liners and gags (although there was a pretty funny running gag of characters saying ‘cuss’ rather then actually swearing.) The role of Mr. Fox is perfectly suited to George Clooney, adept at playing charismatic con men. Jason Schwartzman also plays a role similar to his strengths, the insecure Ash, son of Mr. Fox. These people aren’t doing ‘voices’ as much as they’re doing characters, and while in some instances this could end up looking lazy, here it comes out as natural, letting people play to their strengths. Having said that, I need to mention Willem Dafoe as Rat. He managed to disappear into this deranged character well and was the only voice that surprised me when the credits rolled. The lively dialogue is probably also due to the fact that instead of compartmentalizing everyone into soundbooths and recording each one separately, Anderson had everyone record lines together in various outdoor locations. It give the conversations real rhythm and weight.

This is a film that I highly recommend seeing. Definitely worth seeing it in a theater, especially one with digital projection. It’s also a worth a purchase as a hi-def digital download or Blu-ray (if you’re still into that sort of thing).

Ninja Assassin

Sometimes a ninja assassin movie is just a ninja assassin movie. This is what this movie aspires to be and it does it very well.

This doesn’t mean it’s one-dimensional by any means. While the story is fairly simple, telling of Raizo’s (Rain) training by his clan, his fall from their ranks and the fight for his life, it’s not merely a frame for a set of fight sequences. The filmmakers actually saw fit to tell this story well. While I felt there was a small drag at the beginning to set the plot up (especially after a gripping opening action sequence), the rest of the movie did a very good job of balancing action with plot. It helped give the characters depth that made the ensuing fight scenes that much more impact.

And the action really delivers. A lot of people behind the Matrix movies were involved in making this movie and that expertise shows here. The fight sequences are as engaging as anything you would expect from the producers of the Matrix movies. These are also enhanced by some very interesting digital work. Raizo’s main weapon is a chain whip dagger and using CG to show the deadly path it forges creates some very cool scenes that would have been impossible to make practically. That along with the copious amounts of blood and gore. The carnage, while plentiful, doesn’t feel gratuitous. It serves to show things like the deadly effectiveness of the ninja and the brutal nature of clan training.

Rain, known more as a singer/entertainer in South Korea, does a great job in this movie, bringing not only his physical training to the role, but also some good acting chops showing the pain and discipline this character has gone through. Also performing well in this is Naomie Harris (also known for her role as Tia Dalma in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) as government agent Mika whose investigations into ninjas get her involved.

This was fun to see in the theater and is definitely worth a purchase once it’s released to the home market. A very good action film that does just what it does and does it very well.

Where The Wild Things Are

Spike Jonze has made the first emo children’s movie.

If I had limited time to give you a summary review of this movie, that would be it. Whenever a movie is made out of a source that doesn’t seem to have enough material to qualify for a half-hour TV special (do they even make those anymore?) let alone a full movie, there is the risk ruining the movie version by adding to the original. It is to Jonze’s credit that the choices he and co-writer Dave Eggers made are not effects-laden filler, but real strides to flesh out the story.

However, this doesn’t add up to a typical ‘kid’ movie. It’s very obvious that Jonze sees this story as a sad one. His Max is lonely, misunderstood and trying to find a place where he can be accepted. Something that a lot of kids and adults can relate to. It goes a long way in creating sympathy for the character by not just being a brat who got sent to his room for bad behavior. The creatures that he comes across when he runs away are just as sad and lonely as he is, and on the verge of dissolving as a family until Max talks his way into making him their king.

The look of this movie is quite different from any recent kid’s movie by a long shot. The natural color palatte of the wild things’ world are a welcome break from the fully saturated rainbow colors of most kid’s films, but it doesn’t make the landscapes any less awe-inspiring. The dark forests and windy deserts manage to have a very otherwordly feel to them, perfectly matching the creatures. I have to admit a bias here, being a long-time fan of anything involving Jim Henson. His Creature Shop created the full-body puppets that stay very true to Sendak’s original illustrations yet fit into the natural landscapes quite well. These are enhanced by using CG to make the monster’s faces talk and emote. The computer work is subtle and seamless and gives these creatures an added believability.

As imaginative as their outward appearance is, their names and voices are very ordinary. Carol? Alexander? Ira? For me, the names weren’t an issue. These are obviously monsters and giving them names like Treepuncher or King Furball would have been too distracting. The voices follow the same logic, as no one is trying to voice a ‘monster character’ as they are just acting out a character, and this works except for James Gandolfini. I couldn’t help being reminded of Tony Soprano whenever he spoke. Gandolfini is a good actor and does Carol justice in this movie, but it might have been better served to have a less distinctive voice fill this role.

In all, I’m glad I saw this movie in the theater. Don’t know if I’d buy it though. Like the movie, it was a very enjoyable ride, but sooner or later you get over being sad and then you need to get back on the boat and go home.

District 9

An interesting campaign for this movie was launched in Los Angeles. On busses, benches and billboards, graphics declared areas as “humans only” with a phone number to call and a website to visit should one spot any alien activity. It was a very simple design that brought one of the issues of the movie to the attention of the passerby. This campaign is an excellent match for the movie, which takes racism and other issues and uses sci-fi to twist to these issues into new perspectives for people to examine. Those people who wished the recent reboot of “Star Trek” had more allegory with its’ action will find plenty to like with this film.

The tribe and I caught this at Mann’s Chinese Theater on the main screen and we enjoyed it very much. It was a very well-done movie with a lot of over-the-top sci-fi action. The big screen really showed off the crisp digital picture (this film was shot on high-end RED cameras) and the excellent digital sound. I was very entertained by this film.

So why only two thumbs up? You really have no idea how close this film was to getting the full three. Really. It’s soooo close.

Neil Blomkamp has spent more of his career as a visual effects artist (Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1, Smallville) and he definitely puts as much of the budget onscreen as he could and it shows. The aliens and the spaceship look amazing and the interaction with humans is very realistic. Great care was taken to blend the CGI with the real world as seamlessly as possible. There is no no doubt of Blomkamp’s skill in this area. He is also the writer and director, though, and for all of his creativity in the visual effects field, the story is very pedestrian. I could see the plot progression coming a mile away. I’m usually able to let myself go along for the ride in a good sci-fi movie and not notice these things but the story was very obvious. However, Blomkamp’s talent as a director really helps make up for this weakness. While the story is nothing new, it is told excellently. I could guess what happens next, but I was certainly not bored waiting for the next thing to happen.

Peter Jackson’s name was hyped the most in the movie’s advertising even though he’s a producer and not a director, which makes sense business-wise, but the influence on this movie is not from the Lord of the Rings fanatic most of the public knows. This movie has more in touch with the guy who splattered his way through “Bad Taste”, “Meet the Feebles”, and “Braindead” (“Dead Alive” in the US) and if you’ve ever wondered what THAT Peter Jackson would do with a bigger budget, this is the answer. One scene in particular paid homage to the grisly opening of “Braindead”, putting the protagonist in an almost identical predicament.

Speaking of protagonists mention must be made of Sharlto Copley who plays the lead role of Wikus van de Merwe. According to my research, he is more of a writer and producer and had no plans or even aspirations to act or have any type of part in front of the camera, PLUS he improvised most of his dialogue. Coming from this background, I have to say he does an amazing job taking an unlikely wimp like Wikus and making him a sympathetic character. Part of this is probably due to the fact that many of the other human characters are very UNsympathetic and out to get Wikus for reasons that I’d rather not venture into spoiler country to explain, but Copley does a good job of making sure we like this guy. If he didn’t want to act before, he’d better learn to start turning down offers.

Maybe it’s the shifting of roles (effects artist-turned-writer/director, producer-turned-actor) or the fact that the story doesn’t take more risks (including setting itself up for an inevitable sequel), but there’s just a small amount that separates this very good film from a great film. It was well worth seeing in the theater, maybe even twice, and it is a solid digital download. If there is more from this story in the future, I really hope they step it up a notch.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

I went to the opening midnight showing at the Arclight with the Technochubby tribe.

This movie shares kinship with Transformers in being based on a toy line (The same company, Hasbro, in fact). It’s also based on the 80’s cartoon incarnation, taking the origin-story route. It follows Duke (Channing Tatum) and Ripcord (Marlon Wayans) as they discover and are inducted into the secret that is G.I. Joe while tracking weaponry that ultimately marks the (as the title says) rise of the Cobra organization and its key players. Charting the beginnings with a property like that is a real balancing act between a multitude of characters’ backstories and the main story. I think the writers got a little heavy on the characters origins to try and satisfy the fan base. While I didn’t feel like anything put a drag on the pacing, I do think some things could have been trimmed out and saved for a sequel, particularly the flashbacks about Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee). Their backstory feels like it’s supposed to lead up to their big conflict in the big battle, but it really doesn’t have a payoff for either character. Again, if the writers are holding back for a sequel with these two, I think it would have been much cooler to keep these two martial artists’ conflict shrouded in secrecy (Or at least saved for a director’s cut, as the young actors playing these two in the flashbacks made some enjoyable fight sequences).

The leads on the file, Channing Tatum (Duke) and Marlon Wayans (Ripcord) are competent and compelling as the soldiers who stumble on this (somewhat) secret war. I was actually surprised by Wayans, who actually gives a more grounded and subdued performance in his sidekick role. I actually found him to be funny without being annoying. The actors for this movie run a very international gamut in keeping with the more global flavor of this version of G.I. Joe. The overall movie follows this route, leading to a more sci-fi, action route than a war movie.

It’s this last point that seems to perplex some people. The tribe and I attended a midnight showing of this movie with a lot of people some would classify as geeks, including a few wearing G.I. Joe T-shirts, all looking forward to the film. At the end of the film I could overhear many of these same people trashing the film and making fun of it for being basically like the cartoon. And this movie is that: a big-budget, live-action version of the cartoon, and it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than that. It doesn’t provide some deep insight into the horrors of war or why we fight. Going into G.I. Joe expecting to see “Apocalypse Now” is like going to Transformers expecting to earn a Ph.D. in artificial intelligence and robotics.

This is a popcorn movie with lots of cool, advanced-looking weapons, armor and vehicles getting into big fights. Air battles, undersea battles, laser fights, hand-to-hand combat, giant global landmarks in peril. All the stuff anyone playing with G.I. Joes as a kid imagined was happening, and aside from a couple of effect shots that, to my eye looked horrible, the effects and setting were well-done.

I can summarize this way. To prepare to see this movie, I took a nap as soon as I got home from work so I wouldn’t nod off after midnight (as anyone that knows me can tell you, this is a herculean task), woke up, showered, assembled with the whole tribe to travel to the theater together, get parking, get some food beforehand, and got our seats. I can say, that while I wasn’t highly-impressed with the movie, I didn’t feel like my time was wasted. I enjoyed myself. Everybody had a great time. I’d say at least see it as a matinee and it will make a solid home purchase. Don’t let any overblown expectations get in the way of a good movie.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

When I got the tickets for Transformers 2 in IMAX, the only tickets I could get were for 8:45AM on a Saturday morning. Something clicked in me when that happened: I realized I was once again watching a Saturday morning cartoon. I immediately hit up the local 7-11 for a couple of mini-packs of “Lucky Charms” to sneak into the theater to complete the experience.

That was the attitude I had going in to see this film. I had seen the first Transformers movie and saw it for what it was. A big dumb action film. And that’s what I got. Big robots battling big robots on our world and causing big property-damaging explosions.

I’m actually trying to decide if the sequel raised the bar or if it was just more of the same. They blatantly return some things that changed in the original movie, from Bumblebee losing his voice and talking again in song samples, to Megatron coming back from the deep. All the original actors are. Megan Fox does her job very well, which is to look like Megan Fox. Shia LeBeouf plays his part well too which is a feat considering he has to play a kid who is somehow in a relationship with Megan Fox. For the rest of the cast, I actually found Julie White who plays Sam’s mother a bit of a comedic scene-stealer that had some pretty great bits at the beginning of the movie, putting her up there with John Turturro’s Agent Simmons and well beyond Rainn Wilson’s turn as an egotistical professor.

The voices of the Transformers are all excellent as well. The original Optimus Prime himself, Peter Cullen, returns and I can’t think of anyone else who could voice him. Hugo Weaving also returns as Megatron and he is quite good in this role, but the filmmakers correct the appalling error of leaving out the original Megatron, voiceover legend Frank Welker, by giving no less than three roles to play: Soundwave, Devastator and Reedman.

The action, being a Michael Bay film is well done. There’s some very cool robot fighting sequences (I hesitate to use the word small-scale. These are giant robots after all) These scenes were probably the scenes that took me back to a younger time and really fulfilled a dream of any kid who collected these toys. What kid didn’t take these robots and make them fight each other? Sure there’s big all-out battles with planes and weapons and gunfire, but those scenes with the robots just fighting and punching the hell out of each other were some of the most satisfying.

Plot? Easy enough to follow, but not intrusive enough to get in the way of the action. Ludicrous moments? For sure. There were some robot characters that were downright corny. Consistency? Probably the biggest inconsistency was that the IMAX showing had only some scenes filmed in full IMAX so that when it switches from those scenes to the letterboxed regular print, it’s a little jarring, but not a movie-killer.

I have really avoided reading any reviews on this movie in order to have a clean slate in my opinion, and the fact is, I really enjoyed watching this movie. It was fun. It took me back to Saturday morning watching cartoons. Totally worth seeing in IMAX. I’d pay to see it again, and I will definitely be looking the HD digital download when it’s released. This movie is firmly focused on what it is and does it well. If you have the same frame of mind, then this well worth watching. Just don’t forget the cereal.

MSI Wind still here… OSX, Crunchbang, & Windows 7

SO…  I did not take back the MSI Wind.  My friend Jed and my wife talked me out of it.  Jed’s argument was “Why?”.  Then my wife said, “It’s only 350 bux”.

I decided to play with it some more and install some OS’s on it….. Read more

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

We decided to see this movie on a whim and caught the late show. I did not know much about the movie except that it was about a guy who aged backwards. I did not know that it was almost 3 hours long. I probably would not have seen it when I did if I had known this. However, I must say, that it did not seem so long as I was watching it.

I enjoyed how they brought the story together from two differing time line perspectives. One where Cate Blanchett’s character is dying and is sharing the story with her daughter. The other from the perspective of Brad Pitt’s character Benjamin Button.

Overall, the story was better than I expected. It was refreshing, moving, and very enjoyable.