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The rarely updated blog of Joel Dixon
Viewing blogs tagged Movies
Monday, August 04, 2008
The Deep Voiced Knight
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 04/08/2008 22:56:05I saw The Dark Knight on the weekend and enjoyed it muchly. It goes without saying that Heath Ledger's contribution was incredible. One small aspect of his performance that I didn't expect when going in was his portrayal of the Joker's voice - it was a pleasant surprise. Christian Bale's take on Batman's "man voice" however - was very distracting.
Looks like I'm not the only one to think this - nor the most eloquent. One of the blogs I read hosted a mock interview with the caped crusader recently - which sums up my feelings quite well.
Indeed.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Sunday, November 04, 2007
Autobots Transform and Rollout!
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 04/11/2007 16:36:35Updated by Joel Dixon at 13/11/2007 23:39:10
Bell and I had a quick browse through JB Hi-Fi and found a very cool special edition of the Transformers film on DVD. Firstly, I loved the Transformers film, one of my favourites of this year. Secondly, the DVD case transforms!
DVD case. Admittedly, it's not too taxing to guess what this will transform into. ""
The DVDs are stored in a little cavity on the back
The transformation itself is pretty weak - but it's the first DVD cover I own that can transform!
Ingenious DVD marketing people! Apparently when Saw IV comes out - it will actually contain a human eyeball! Looking forward to that one.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: DVDs, Movies
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Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Top 5 non-Hollywood movie endings
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 24/10/2007 11:08:25I was watching Without a Paddle the other day (I'm a Seth Green fan) and it wasn't too bad. But throughout the film, no matter how dim the future looked for the main characters, I knew it was all going to work out OK. A lot of movies coming out of Hollywood seem to spend most of the time trying desperately to fool you into thinking the story will end in a disaster, then do a spectacular switch-a-roo at the end.
I'm also reminded of the time I watched Pirates of the Caribbean with Bell, I was really enjoying the movie until they pulled a complete Disney ending and everyone was happy (except for the bad characters). It's made me think back to the movies I've enjoyed because of an unexpectedly sad or weird ending.
The death of the main character isn't enough for me, as they can be quite common especially in mafia / crime movies. There are also a lot of movies where the main character does die at the end, but everyone learns a life lesson and the world is a better place. Movies with a moral to the story don't count no matter how tragic (think Romeo and Juliet). I'm after the unexpected, coming-out-of-nowhere and for no good reason endings which aren't just a logical progression of the storyline.
We need these unexpected tragic endings from time to time, to keep us honest. If there is the real threat that all of the characters contract rabies and die from a freak electric can-opener accident - you are more invested while watching the film.
I will note that I am probably missing out on many other great non-Hollywood movie endings. There's many movies I've never watched (which I'm currently rectifying), so some killer endings are probably missing. If you know of any - please comment to this entry and let me know - I would be very interested.
Here are my personal top 5 non-Hollywoodland movie endings:
Bambi didn't make the final list - as I don't remember anything about the actual movie (including the ending). It does however get a honorable mention because I can still remember that I was extremely upset by the movie at the time. After checking out a synopsis on the Internet I can confirm - yeah, that would have upset me.
A great movie that makes you think, and definitely needs to be watched twice. Guy Pearce plays a man with a weird form of amnesia in which his brain is unable to store new memories. For assistance he leaves himself a series of notes and has a number of tattoos on his body with various facts he feels are important. It wasn't the easiest movie to understand or try to guess what was coming up - but I still think the ending was notably unexpected.
A top movie written by a pair of Melbourne boys - directed by one of them and the other played a main character - I blogged about this movie when I first watched it. As I said then, one of the better twist endings and completely unexpected. It's a horror movie, so you know people are going to die at the end, but there was one aspect of the finale that forced an audible gasp from me.
I have to admit I didn't see the twist ending of this movie coming, and I think that was the same for a lot of people. This movie really kick started another round of the surprise twist ending for mainstream films - and at it's time of release it caught many people by surprise. This is another movie where it pays to watch it twice.
This movie would easily be number 1, if they had have kept the original ending. I've kept it in my list because they have preserved the original ending in the DVD as a special feature (be sure to check it out). The story is that Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and director Rawson Marshall Thurber were very happy with the unconventional ending, but the movie studios wouldn't allow it (instead creating the bubblegum ending in place now). See the movie's Wikipedia entry for more.
Easy Rider is a great movie that's clearly stood the test of time. Interesting story, pretty good soundtrack, and a brilliant performance by Jack Nicholson in his first big role (for which he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar). While I had heard of this movie for a long time (as I'm sure a lot of people have), I didn't know that the ending was going to be so unexpected. You have to watch this film if you haven't already - and then you'll definitely know what I'm getting at with this blog post.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Wednesday, October 17, 2007
I have found the Explorers
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 17/10/2007 15:13:39I think it's been bothering me for 5 years now, I can remember wondering about it while I was still in Uni. There was a movie that I used to love as a child, almost as much The Goonies and Flight of the Navigator. I was very young when these movies came out (around 4 I guess) but they received high rotation on the VCR until I was old enough to appreciate them.
While I've enjoyed watching Flight of the Navigator and The Goonies again since these young days - the third movie had completely slipped my mind, and I haven't seen it for at least 10 to 15 years. Every so often it gets stuck in my head - I can remember certain parts but never enough to start a google hunt.
The main thing I remember is that there was two or three kids that built a circular space ship. The ship was controlled by a computer keyboard (very cool back then) and I vaguely remember some kind of spherical field generated by the ship that caused damaged to whatever it touched. I don't remember where they went in this ship, or anything else in the movie after the ship was built. The only other part I remembered was that one of the main characters designed the ship based on a few dreams. Anyone remember this?
Enter the Get This Podcast (I knew I listened to these guys for a reason). Tony Martin mentioned an old movie with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix called Explorers and I could almost feel my brain fizzle. Eureka!
It feels really good to get that mystery solved! I was pretty accurate in my memory. After some quick research I found that the main character had a dream about a circuit board which is for the actual bubble device (he later dreams another circuit board for a device that creates oxygen). The ship was driven using a computer, and the YouTube video linked below confirmed my suspicion that it was very cool!
One thing I had completely forgotten about was that the main characters go into deep space and meet up with aliens. I might have to find this movie on DVD and give it another viewing sometime!
Explorers
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Monday, September 24, 2007
Cable TV + PVR = Crazy Delicious
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 24/09/2007 11:27:20Apologies to the hilarious SNL skit Lazy Sunday for the blog title
While in Edmonton I decided to get the premium digital television package from my communications provider - as I knew I'd have a fair amount of spare time on my hands. I also took the option of buying a PVR device, to prepare myself for the hockey season. I made a good decision, if I do say so myself.
The first thing I did was check out the extensive Electronic Programming Guide. With the hundreds of channels and a week-long programming guide - I filled up my PVR's 80 Gb hard drive very quickly. As the hockey season hasn't started yet, I stuck mainly with movies. There's at least 6 channels that are dedicated to movies, as well mainstream channels running weekly movies.
I've been able to see movies I've been meaning to catch for a while now (such as Monty Python's Meaning of Life, Scarface and Half Baked), some old favourites (Fletch 1 and 2, Die Hard and The Firm) as well as some movies I'd never heard of.
One such movie that I hadn't previously heard of was . It caught my attention immediately, as the opening scene involves He-Man figurines involved in a staged paintball scene. I highly recommend this movie - it's a bit of a mix between and . Here's the trailer for the DVD:
But the thing I like the most about my cable and PVR mix is coming home, cooking dinner and sitting down to watchable, pause-able, fast-forward-able and rewind-able television (without the expense of DVDs).
I'm surprised Australia hasn't been bigger in the PVR space. The closest is Foxtel iQ, which is pretty good but doesn't cover all of the free-to-air channels. You can also buy a regular PVR to attach to your regular TV - but the programming guide only goes two days in the future.
I have heard that Tivo is coming to Australia soon - which is about time - but there still isn't an all-channel programming guide available. Since coming to Canada, I'm really aware that Australia is getting shafted in both the Internet and television industries. Perhaps I will have to keep purchasing those DVDs.
# Posted in the Travel section and tagged as: Edmonton, Movies
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Saturday, January 15, 2005
Deck Dogz
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 15/01/2005 01:09:00As it way my birthday today (the 24th of such occasions), my girlfriend took me to see Deck Dogz. The story revolves around 3 teenage "Deck Dogz" (skateboarders) trying to get to a skate tournament that will be hosted by Tony Hawk. The kids hope that by showing Tony a Nose-slide underflip to darkslide, they'll be sponsered and taken from their crummy neighbourhood. Getting to the competition is quite a trial with parents, the police and drug pushers trying to stop them.
I had never actually seen a preview for this film - but I had heard there was an Aussie skate film with Tony Hawk appearing, so I thought I'd give it a go. It turns out the film is really just a kids skating movie (al biet with drug and sexual references), and I found myself waiting for the "drama" to finish and the skating to begin. Even if I had have known it was a kids movie, I probably still would have gone (as I love watching great skateboarding - from Tony Hawk, or preferably Rodney Mullen).
The acting was quite poor, the plot a little too far fetched to go along with, and the cutaway visuals of the boy's thoughts were a little too distracting. There were a few laughs to be had though, and I'm happy they knew how to display skating footage, because it was the movie's saving grace.
All in all - I'd say 2 out of 5.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Monday, January 03, 2005
The Incredibles
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 03/01/2005 02:32:00I always spend a lot of money on movies in December, and this year was no different. I just came back from The Incredibles, the latest from Pixar Animation Studios - and their first to get a PG rating.
As the rating implied - this film was a little more mature than other Pixar movies. As it was mainly an action film, the extra violence assisted the story, and it was all very smoothly done considering it's an animated feature. While watching the gadgets and skills of the superheroes throughout the movie - the word "Cool" entered my mind on more than one occasion.
Voice acting was brilliant - Samuel L. Jackson was great as the suave Frozone, Holly Hunter's Southern accent made Mrs. Incredible's character likeable and an exceptional bad-guy performance was provided by Jason Lee.
I must say I was a little disappointed that this film wasn't as funny as the earlier Pixar stuff. I guess that would make sense as it was more of an Action film than a Family Film / Comedy. I also felt that it moved a little slowly through the first half - perhaps it took me a little time to get into it.
All in all I give it a 3.5 out of 5, a definite recommendation for kiddies.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Thursday, December 30, 2004
Saw
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 30/12/2004 11:06:00Updated by Joel Dixon at 11/08/2008 20:26:41
My girlfriend and I went to see Saw on the weekend - and I was quite impressed. The writers are two Melbourne boys - James Wan, also the Director and Leigh Whannell who also plays the part of Adam. Apparently they wrote the film so that James would have something to direct, and Leigh would have something to act in. I must say though - I wasn't entirely convinced by Leigh's acting abilities towards the beginning of the film.
I'm don't really enjoy scary movies just for the sake of being scary - but psychological thrillers that make me think are very enjoyable. Saw tells the story of two people trapped in a bathroom by a serial killer known as "Jigsaw". I won't give away any of the story - but the ending "twist" is one of the best, and least unexpected, that I've seen for a quite a while.
I found the fact that the story is being told from the potential victims perspective rather than a detective is refreshing, and makes you wonder what you would do in a similar situation. The story also tells of some of the Jigsaw's previous victims, which were all very interesting, and could have done with more emphasis.
The film ended extremely well in my opinion - which is why I'm a little worried about the sequel they've planned - Saw: Hacksaw. Apparently James and Leigh will still be involved - so I hope it does well.
Overall - I'd give it 4 stars out of 5.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Saturday, December 18, 2004
Ocean's Twelve
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 18/12/2004 19:48:00As the title suggests - I went to see Ocean's Twelve last night - and I must say I was quite disappointed. I actually didn't see the remake of Ocean's Eleven when it came out at the cinemas, I thought it had made money based on its' star power. Turns out I should have seen the first one at the movies - and left this one to DVD.
IMO, the best part of the first movie was the carefully organised and well thought out heist. The sequel replaced this with a slow moving story with eighteen "surprise" plot twists. The script wasn't written as the Ocean's Eleven sequel and it shows - as there were too many players for the story. And when the director decides to do an oddly anged zoom in on each of the characters - it got old after about 3.
A welcomed addition is Vincent Cassel as an arrogant French master thief, and the soundtrack is really quite good. I was laughing through some of it - but I was mostly waiting for it to hurry up.
Overall - 2.5 stars out of 5.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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Thursday, December 09, 2004
Team America: World Police
# Posted by Joel Dixon at 09/12/2004 11:09:00I saw my first movie in about 6 months last night - Team America: World Police. Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame, this movie is essentially The Thunderbirds meets The Sum of All Fears, with all of the humor of a South Park episode.
I had heard a little bit about the movie beforehand, but most of it had been negative so I wasn't expecting too much. I really only went along to see some friends from High School. I must say though, I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw - I couldn't stop laughing. Anyone who feels that South Park is a little too rude probably won't like this movie - but I find that adding ridiculously over the top vulgarities can assist spoof movies such as this. An example is the film's romantic scene - probably the funniest sex scene I've ever witnessed. Apparently they kept adding to this scene until the movie reached the R rating they were hoping for.
While the main plot of the film appears to be taking a dig at George Dub-ya's War on Terror, the rest of the film's political messages appear balanced. Just as they do in South Park, Parker and Stone manage to make fun of both sides of the argument - and ensure everyone looks like a dick. The plot is similar to a lot of action movies (the world is in trouble, a team try to save it) - but the main draw is the laughs.
Another pleasant surprise from the movie was the musical numbers. As they did with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the movie was littered with songs - and I didn't mind listening to them. Normally I hate movies where the main characters sing (especially Bollywood films) - but when they're actually singing something that I find amusing it's fine.
While I probably won't buy this on DVD (it's value to me was better as a shock film - probably won't work as well in subsequent views) - I'd give it a 4 out of 5.
# Posted in the General section and tagged as: Movies
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