Drive Review

I really don't even know where to start...

So I'll just state the facts. This movie is gory as all Hell. It's super violent. But that shouldn't turn you off necessarily. It's more of a warning than anything.

Next warning: This is an artsy flick. The movie itself references European action films which is absolutely a part of its being. This is an American made suspense drama created through the lens of a European action flick paying homage to the 1970's crime drama with the soundtrack from a techno-version of Footloose.

That's not a bad thing. At least not in the case of Drive.

This is one of the most interesting and bizarre movies I've seen all year. Maybe so far in my life. It's compelling and fascinating. Thought-provoking and yet mentally unhinged. The film SEAMLESSLY blends so many different styles, ideas, and themes in a way that I can hardly believe is possible. From minute to minute the movie almost constantly evolves and evokes a fluid change of emotion and style.

Thematically speaking it's a triumph.

Acting wise, Ryan Gosling has once and for all put his stamp down as one of the finest actor's of a generation. And he does this without barely saying a word.

This is why I've waited to see what the guy was capable of...

This is hard to pull off. Some say that acting is RE-acting, and while Gosling sometimes reacts to things, there are too many times to count when he's prompted to return dialogue and yet remains silent. That's hard to do and extremely hard to pull off. Obviously this was prepared within the script, but it takes an accomplished actor to work this kind of muteness...AND evoke different feelings as they do it.

If the movie wasn't so damned interesting, I'd hate it. Because this is a dark film.

Almost all the characters are terrible people. There is horrific violence. And without spoiling anything, the ending is very ambiguous.

However, there are moments of joyous levity. There are parts that just flow. Acting that is unique and different. But above all, there are mysteries that beg to be solved.

It's clear from the beginning that Gosling's character has endured trauma within the past. This is what makes his level of violence shown later in the film both understandable and inevitable. You want to know where this guy came from and what made him so quiet. So when he explodes, you're left with an understanding for the current situation but mostly left in the dark from his inspiration and possible insanity.

Gosling's character almost lives in a time-warp. From the jacket he wears (even though the scorpion on his back is an inevitable message) to the music that's used to evoke his emotions.

I'm at a standstill with this movie. Usually I hate artsy flicks because they're pretentious and made by inept morons who are incapable of suave visual styles and interesting metaphor (even though the filmmaker typically thinks they're brilliant and Hollywood applauds). Often they try too hard.

Yet here they nailed it. There's a lot going on in this movie AND it's entertaining, albeit unsatisfying (without going into detail and/or spoiling anything).

In the end, I have to rate this movie. It's definitely interesting, and entertaining, but there are pace issues and deep symbolic metaphors that I doubt the average movie-goer will enjoy. It's a certain type of creature. One that most will have difficulty understanding. Nevertheless, I mostly had fun with it, even though it had it's odd characteristics...so:


8 / 10



AT THE END OF THE DAY, TWO REASONS WHY I'M A RYAN GOSLING FAN (no it's not cause we share the same first name...well maybe a little bit):

Five Best: Tom Hanks Flicks!

To start this off, I have to explain something. I wasn't always a big Tom Hanks fan.

I know, I know...but see that's partly why. EVERYONE loves the man. I'm wary of that kind of utter devotion. Usually it's normal for a good actor to get a certain amount of love and appreciation. But I think Mr. Hanks is in a league of his own (heh). There are so few actors that are loved across the board in the way that Tom Hanks is (Jimmy Stewart is the only one that comes to mind). He's just so nice and respectful. For me, at first, it seemed like a facade'.

I guess I just didn't want to drink the Kool-Aid. But do you know what happened?

I drank the mother effin' Kool-Aid!

I don't know if it was his prevalence in modern day cinema or my growing maturity (still growing, folks!), but something eventually clicked. Maybe I got wore down. Maybe I finally saw what everyone else saw. I think ultimately I finally just gave him a pass and realized that even though it's UNUSUAL for someone to be so beloved and yet be so down-to-Earth, it sometimes CAN happen.

And now, I'm just a massive fan.

So I beg the question, what are his five best movies? Get ready for some curveballs, people!

NUMBER FIVE:

Joe Versus the Volcano

A significantly underrated romantic-comedy that marks the first of three times (thus far) that Tom and Meg have appeared together in a movie (much to all of our communal enjoyment). I tend to think that greatness for a flick goes along with it's quotability. Man, does this movie have quotes in spades:

"I can feel these lights SUCKING the juice out of my eyeballs!"

"Well I love you too. I've never been in love with anybody before either. It's great. I'm GLAD. But the timing stinks."

"I bribed them to sing a song that would drive us insane and make our hearts swell and burst."

"Luggage, Mr. Banks is the sole preoccupation of my life."

I could go on and on why this is a great flick (i.e. at the beginning of the movie Hanks throws one book, one poem and one play into his bag when he's quitting work that all but sums up the flick: Robinson Crusoe, the Odyssey, and Romeo and Juliet - brilliant), but I won't. The important thing is why is this on a best of Tom Hanks list. Well for one, because it's so disrespected and most lists wouldn't include it, so eff that. But mostly because it is TYPICAL Tom Hanks. He's charming, lovable, fun, funny, respectable, honorable, dashing, etc. Everything you could want from a leading man, Hanks does it with this film. Boom.

NUMBER FOUR:

A League of Their Own

Now we're entering a part of Tom's career where he did something a little different and it paid off big time. For one, he's playing a darker character than usual. A guy who's an alcoholic and an embarrassment to his chosen profession. Not to mention, he's playing an almost bit part in which he doesn't even have much to do until we're halfway done with the movie. But these are all reasons in why this is one of his best movies. Some actor's might fail at shifting gears. Most make a living on doing the same thing over and over again. Or at least, playing a very similar part over and over again. I'm looking at you Harrison Ford (not that it's always a bad thing). But here, Hanks shines. Sometimes change is good and doing something different pays off.

 NUMBER THREE:

Road to Perdition

If you had told me that Tom Hanks would be believable and remarkable in a gangster drama even fifteen years ago I would have told you to shoot it out your ass. And yet, this is simply an amazing movie with an amazing performance. Once again, you have Hanks taking on a much darker edge than we're used to (although by the time this movie came out, we were familiar with the versatile Hanks that had filmed movies like Philadelphia and Saving Private Ryan), and maybe the darkest yet? He plays a man who has lived his life working as an enforcer for the mob (killing people/assassin). But when his oldest son witnesses him in the act, it puts the lives of his entire family in jeopardy. Father and son are forced to go on the run and evade the criminals that Hanks' character has spent a lifetime protecting. OH MY GOD, what a premise. Especially for Tom. Seriously, I'm hopping in my DeLorean right now and gunnin' it to 88 MPH on my way to 1992 to blow my little eleven-year old mind AWAY.

 NUMBER TWO:

The 'Burbs

This is a movie you probably haven't seen, but you damn well better. Another one of Hanks' underrated flicks. Ahead of it's time. A dark comedy by Joe Dante (who is the man, btdubs) that is all about suburban life in America and the sometimes paranoid delusions that can strike any one of us living just a normal life that is sometimes seemingly mundane. Hanks carries the movie. Sure he's got a great cast but his character goes through so many ups and downs that the film really relies on him grounding everything that happens and having us believe in him as a real character in order to believe that the events of the movie could actually happen. Lose you? Basically the better actor Hanks is the more we buy the insanity of the movie. That's a tough job for the guy, luckily for us, he nails it. 

NUMBER UNO:

Forrest Gump - Of course

If you didn't see this coming...well - you're dumb. This movie is Hanks' tour de' force. The screen is his and he has a character with dialogue all prepared to just blow us the Hell away. This movie marked his greatness. It prepared us for all that came after it (i.e. Tom Hanks suspense star: the DaVinci Code and Tom Hanks war hero: Saving Private Ryan) and left us wanting more. It was a career defining moment and change. It was a triumphant performance within a triumphant movie that remains one of the best movies to emerge from the horrible land named after the plant that is Holly. I won't detract from the movie by trying to give it any synopsis or explain it to you like you're a child (for those morons who haven't seen it - seriously, what's wrong with you?), however, I WILL say one thing: I don't think Forrest is retarded. He's definitely slow, but the wisdom that comes from the guy and the fact that he can notice and understand when things are beyond him tells me that he's simply not that smart. But he's definitely not mentally handicapped.

Our lives would be so much cooler:

Dun-da-dun-dun, dun-da-dun!

IF WE HAD SOUNDTRACKS!!!

This is going to be a recurring article, where I point out something grand that would just make our lives so much better and be the all around bee's knees. Can't believe I just used the bee's knees saying...awesome. 

On to the subject matter at hand! Some of the most iconic music of the 20th century was created by brilliant composer's making music for movies. I mean John Williams alone has created the music for Superman, Indiana Jones, Jaws, Star Wars, and Jurassic Park. All of these tunes I'm willing to bet you'd recognize if only even a few notes were played for you.

And in the best cases what these composer's do with this music is nail down the personality of the characters and the theme of the movie overall.

 

The video above is from Raiders of the Lost Ark and it's the scene in which the Ark is being transported by the Nazi's, but Indy's going after it. It's a great scene, probably the best in the movie, and what they've done with this video is highlight the music. They took out sound effects and dialogue in order to examine and demonstrate how powerful the music is for this particular sequence. 

Obviously, not all of our lives are as awesome as Indy's or Superman's. But still, who wouldn't want a soundtrack for their life?

The music could not heighten up your intensity when working out at the gym as the Rocky theme starts up:

Or what about danger? Imagine you're swimming in the ocean when the Jaws theme starts up...wouldn't it be nice to have that warning?

I'd like a warning for when this ass was behind me!

OR this guy...yikes. But you know you'd fuck him...hard. Silence of the Lambs reference FTW.

I know what you're thinking, but Ryan, how would that work when we're around other people or when we're in large groups?

Good question. Easily answered/solved. First of all, it's not unheard of for multiple composers to work on a soundtrack together. Hans Zimmer and James Howard both worked on Batman Begins and the Dark Knight, both contributing their strength's and creating something that I personally love and think is pretty badass. Both are very good on their own, but together, they did something very original and creative. It's always interesting to see what happens when two artists collaborate.

My point here is that music can blend and be created almost as it goes. And indeed, this already happens all the time in movies. A perfect example once again (I admit I LOVE Raiders, but find it odd that I keep having to refer to it, that was not it in the plan) would be Raiders of the Lost Ark, the main theme can definitely be attributed to Indy, but there's a theme for his love interest Marion that's literally titled Marion's Theme. And there are times when this creeps into Indy's theme or they both creep into other parts. You see what I'm saying?

Obviously if you were at Comic-Con with a bunch of people, the music we'd all hear would be FOR Comic-Con, it would be the theme of Comic-Con. If you were at a Chargers game you'd hear the theme for the Chargers (something lame and with a slight build-up towards the end that comes along too little too late). When you were with your spouse or significant other you'd probably have a theme that was yours as a couple, but then you'd still have your own theme when out on your own, and of course your theme would alter given the situation you were in. 

How amazing would this be? It would just make everything better? Driving to work and you have to swerve because some idiot is touching up their make-up in the mirror and BOOM, suddenly the music is righteous and dramatic as you yell at her in your rear-view mirror! Dealing with a co-worker you don't like becomes suddenly exciting because the music is telling you to dodge and evade. Eating pizza, oh the glory, the glory! Making love, bow-chicka-bow-wow. 

There is potential there.

Everything would be so much more magical and triumphant. Having music that followed you around in your little life would just enhance everything. The exact same way it does with movies. The perfect score or song can turn a mediocre movie into a powerhouse. Look at Dirty Dancing. And honestly, I don't really believe in mediocre lives. So the potential for AWESOMENESS is there.

God, get on this!

The only wish you'll ever need!

Come on, you know you've thought about it.

Everyone has!

Who doesn't like a good game of what if's???

You have control of an all mighty and powerful genie who will grant you not 1 but 3 wishes! What would you do!? Is Robin Williams right, and there is no wishing for more wishes? CAN you bring back loved ones from the dead? And why can't you wish for someone to fall in love with you?

Eh, whatever. I have figured out the rule breaker. The creme de la creme (eff accent points btdubs). The golden shower - wait, no, I mean ticket. The magical sword. The unicorn. The wish that must not be named. The one wish to rule them all.

It's simple, you rub the lamp, the genie pops out hopefully looking like Barbara Eden in her prime and you scoff at THREE wishes...who needs THREE. You only need one!

When the time comes, you proclaim proudly and powerfully that all you want is:

TURN ME INTO A KRYPTONIAN!

BOOM!

THINK about it...

What does this entail and what does it mean? Well simply put, if you're a Kryptonian (for the uninitiated, Superman is a Kryptonian - it saddens me that you didn't know this) that lives on Earth you are basically invulnerable, extremely fast, super strong, resistant to all disease, you can fly, have heat AND x-ray vision, enhanced senses, have only a need for 2-3 hours of sleep a night, and will age much slower than everyone else. Oh, and not to mention, you will be in perfect condition because while you CAN eat, food on Earth won't affect your waist line because it simply doesn't affect you you gain nothing nor lose anything from it. You get your energy from the sun, so technically you don't even HAVE to eat. But even Superman does because he enjoys food, and really, who doesn't?

Not this guy...the lipstick really off-sets his eyes, don't you think?

This ONE wish gives you everything you'd wish for anyway. Money? Super-speed your way in and out of a bank vault. Fame? Um, hello you're Superman or girl. Ability to fly, duh? Long life (because NO ONE really wants to live forever)? Yep. You wanna be fast? Done. Not interested in the flu anymore? Dunski. The perfect body? This wish is your White Knight...and not in a racist way.

Plus, you could become an all-inspiring superhero that saves lives and the world on the daily. And wouldn't that just make you feel amazing?

SECOND best superhero...and yes, that's Tom Welling as Superman.

This really is a lifesaver and goldmine all wrapped up in a free little package that I'm giving you here. It's the no-holds-barred cage match win of a wish that cannot be defeated of all wishes. You're welcome.

However, while this is all fun in games and theory, in the real-real, and on the down-low, if you even THINK about using this wish before I get a chance to I will cut you.

The genie I'd hope to find!

Abduction bombs at the box office, and why that's great news!

I'ma start with some info for you:

John Singleton directed Abduction. A decent, strong director whose resume' includes Boyz 'n the Hood, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and the very good Four Brothers. He's made movies that have made money and gone after the various trophies in Hollywood.

Besides Taylor Lautner, the movie stars Sigourney Weaver, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs, and Maria Bello. That's a quality cast!

The movie cost about 35 mil to make.

Now I don't know what all of that tells you, but I know what it tells me. This was a completely pre-packaged, well planned, and carefully orchestrated attempt at creating a super celebrity and building Lautner into a fully capable action star and marquee player within the system. It was a superficial attempt at taking the guy's appeal to prepubescent young girls and manufacture something more from it.

I honestly can't blame them (the all powerful, fully evil studio head's). They almost had to try it.

You take a guy who has a very strong fan base and you build a movie around him. It's been done too many times to count. You don't worry about story, you surround him with great, recognizable actors and you hand the project over to a capable director and then hopefully you have a massive success and you make tons of money.

But this is EXACTLY what we don't want Hollywood to be doing. Abduction failing sends a clear message to Hollywood that a celebrity's status isn't important to the average movie goer. Fame does NOT equal success and that action without creativity and originality is plain, boring, dumb and without passion. It's just like anything that is created: If it's done in a soulless manufactured sort of way almost like a connect-the-dots, assembly line process, it's never as good as the lightning in a bottle artistic steady and creative approach. For example, would you rather eat at McDonald's or have Bobby Flay come over to your house and make you something?

I'll be honest, I don't like Taylor Lautner. I think he's a horrible actor that comes off smug, arrogant, and immature. I think he's gained fame for eating right and working out. And if you think he's cute, I think you're nuts, homeboy's got a fucked up nose. However, I'm sure he's more than capable of making a movie I might one day like or even like him in it. But that's neither here nor there. In this case, we're talking about Abduction. An uninspired, lame attempt to create an action star out of pretty much nothing.

We need more Super 8's and Warrior's in the movie theater's, not soulless vacuum's that appeal to the teeny bopper crowd.

Sorry, but I'm team Edward, Shark-Boy.

Warrior Review

Once in a while a truly great movie comes around that knocks you on your ass. You have a truly visceral experience and rare moments of wonder and awe as you crouch precariously on the literal and proverbial edge of your seat. The movie fires on all cylinders and almost cannot fail in being awesome.

Warrior is that kind of movie.

I seriously cannot give this flick high enough praise.

If you know nothing about it except that it's THAT MMA movie, let me explain a couple things. First off, yes MMA fighting features into the plot of the flick, but it's not really about that. This is the story of two brothers from a family that's been torn apart years ago off-screen. The two men have grown and become two very different people with their own stories (which I won't go into and spoil here). They both have a background for very different reasons in cage fighting. They also have some demons (personal and professional) that lead them to get into the cage for a competition fight with a very large purse and ultimately end up having to fight each other. But that's neither here nor there. In fact, it's getting ahead of myself. The drama of the film isn't even really on the relationship the brother's have with each other, it's more about their own personal stories and what they want and what they will lose if they fail to win this prize. Meaning, you get involved with these guys. You care about BOTH of them. You root for both of them.

Choose wisely, holy man!

There's a scene towards the end that really gives a sense of what I'm talking about here. Without giving anything away, Nick Nolte, who plays the brothers' father (like a BOSS) is watching his sons fight and is crying. It's subtle yet powerful. But it's almost how you feel as an audience member. This movie puts you in the place of a family member. You care about both of these guys, you care about their failures and their successes. And again without spoiling anything, it's almost heart breaking to watch these guys fight each other. By the end, I wished I had dragged my brother along to see this with me so that we could cry together at the end...OK, maybe not cry, but sniffle a little bit. Except we're both badasses that don't cry.

No I'm kidding there would be waterworks...but they would be MANLY tears.

In closing I just want to say three final things:

1. Nick Nolte is a tour de force.

2. Get off the computer and go see the movie.

3. Tom Hardy who plays one of the brothers is going to play Bane in the Dark Knight Rises...he will be awesome.

Bane...fear him.

Geek websites you should traffic part uno:

There are literally a TON of geeky websites you could visit and might do in your little daily routine on the web. I don't know and I don't wanna know. But I do want to spend some time informing you of some places that YOU should travel and that will definitely enrich your horrible life...just kidding your life is probably only mildly terrible. Just be glad you weren't born in the Dark Ages. Boom.

OK, up first is Topless Robot.

This site covers news on everything geeky from video games to movies and cartoons. It's humor filled and even has an interesting and hysterical article series on geeky fan sex stories. I know that sounds horrible. Let it sink in...still horrible? GOOD. It should be. But it's very funny...disturbing, but funny. Take my word for it.

Topless Robot AWESOMENESS...EXCELSIOR!


Next up is the very scientific io9.















io9 posts a lot of the same news as Topless Robot, but usually with more information and less comedy styling. They also tend to get into the scientific news out there. Con: They're always posting pro-Global Warming bullshit. But hey, every rose has it's thorn.

io9 SCIENCE SHIT...YEAH!


Finally, the last site in this article will be ThinkGeek.

This site even has the word geek in it. Let's see, two words to sell this website to you: Shopping + Geek. Just spend five minutes browsing this website and I guarantee you will find something on it that will enrich your life. Seriously, take the BatSTUD challenge here.

They are currently having a SALE!


That's it for now, more to come, stay tuned!

Get excited about Batman: Arkham City!!!

 Obviously I have some very strong man-love going on for the Dark Knight. I'll probably go into that at a later date. For right this sec I wanna get into the upcoming video game, Batman: Arkham City.

This is a sequel to the AMAZING game that is Batman: Arkham Asylum. If you haven't played that game and you like video games at all, what are you doing reading this? Go out and buy it NOW. Yes, that's an order. So say we all.

As a little background, the first game (which I will now refer to as BAA) succeeded in doing two amazing things. First of all, the developers took what was best from every Batman media (comics, cartoons, and movies) and blended everything seamlessly.

They took fan-favorite voice actors like Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (hey kids, it's Luke Skywalker) who portrayed Batman and the Joker respectively on the fantastic Batman: the Animated Series and placed them into the game. They reference the Nolan-verse Batman movies in many ways. Mainly with the music that plays throughout BAA but also with the notion that Arkham Asylum is an island close to Gotham City (wherein the comics it's a medical facility far outside of Gotham). However they also reference Bale's fighting style with Batman mimicking something close to a blend of Krav Maga and the Keysi Fighting Method. And then of course there is the rich history which takes the best aspects of the comics and pretty much ignores the rest. Creatively, the designers come up with their own look for things which still hold true to the hardcore aspects of the character and world that we have all grown to love, i.e. the Batmobile:

 

The second best thing that the developers have done with these games is that they haven't made the risk of losing or dying the point of playing the game. Meaning, the joy of the game isn't in the risk of your life but in the FUN of playing as BATMAN.

Anyone who has ever played Playstation 2's Spider-Man 2 will know what I'm talking about here. When you play a superhero game you don't care about your life (Hell, most superhero's powers negate them dying anyhow), you care about getting into the world and mind of the character and enjoying their powers. So many Superman games have been ruined by the developers care over the difficulty. Um, if I'm playing as Superman I pretty much NEVER want to take damage. The joy of the game shouldn't be the challenge but the submersion into the world of the character.

Batman doesn't have any powers. But he has a ton of gadgets and is the world's most brilliant detective. Who wouldn't want to be in control of what this guy has got?

So that brings us to the upcoming sequel, Batman: Arkham City. 

The whole time I played BAA I felt like it was a test run. I don't mean that in a negative way. It was a phenomenal game. But it felt like a prologue. Almost like the developers had in mind a much broader scope but wanted to limit themselves and focus the geography to an island so that they could then pay attention to the gameplay and quality of the game as a whole. Now the sequel is upon us and what have they done? Brought us into Gotham, of course. THIS feels like the game they wanted to make, the story they wanted to tell. Almost mirroring what Nolan did with Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. I think there's something to that. 

Enough of my words, here's a taste:

Everything I've seen thus far proves that this game will actually be unbelievably better than the original. The main point proving this is actually just the simple plot: 

After the events of the first game, Gotham has been left without an asylum or prison for it's crazies and psycho's. The city has turned a piece of itself into a giant jail and walled it off from the rest. Batman has maintained a constant vigil. But events are unfolding that will force Batman into making a grand entrance and presence within the slum: Catwoman needs rescuing from Two-Face and many of his most deadly villains are on the move, including the always dangerous and sociopath Clown Prince of Crime who most definitely has a grand plan and many ulterior motives.

Seriously, what else is it gonna take? GET EXCITED FOR THIS GAME and PRE-ORDER NOW!!! While supplies last...heh. 

First Post...

So after many people have pestered, annoyed, bothered, and generally harassed me with questions and strong nudges (sometimes very violent blows) on why I don't have a blog and when will I actually sit down and write one, I have finally decided to sit down and check out this blogging thing the kid's like to do nowadays.

Why should you read my blog? Well for one, I'm a fairly decent writer with enough of a funny bone to keep you interested and I'm a man of very strong opinions and ideas. So...that's always fun.

I'm going to mostly post about movies, music, literature, video games, philosophy, daily life in Southern California from a poor bartender's perspective, and other various geeky shit. So basically anything and everything I want.

Keep reading and I'll keep it interesting.

Yeah, like that.