joshua hoover – Page 16

Way late review: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front

The Earth Liberation Front is considered a terrorist group by the FBI. They have been linked to numerous destructive activities over the years. They are a radical environmental group that takes no prisoners when it comes to defending their cause – protecting the earth. Their acronym is ELF. Yep, ELF. What could possibly be better than a documentary that covers the case of Daniel McGowan, an ELF member, who was arrested for setting fire to two timber companies? Quite a bit.

The biggest problem with If a Tree Falls is that it’s main character is a bore. This is not Philippe Petit, Mr. Brainwash, Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell, etc. This is a guy who is about as intriguing as watching a tree grow. The filmmakers, Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman, seem to sense this and do their best to move our attention to the more exciting parts of ELF – the odd characters, their mission, their interactions with law enforcement. The footage of ELF members going through extreme conditions and treatment is pretty amazing. Watching someone laying on the floor in peaceful protest only to be held down while their eyes are sprayed with mace is brutal. Watching McGowan mope around in his sister’s apartment and talk about his plight is even more brutal but in the worst way – brutally boring.

Since the filmmakers committed to telling McGowan’s story first and weaving the tales of ELF in between, it’s a tough doc to enjoy. Every time things pick up with exciting tales of planning an attack on a timber company’s headquarters or detailing the history of various peaceful protests turned violent, we’re dragged back into McGowan’s legal matter. And it doesn’t help that McGowan is under house arrest for the bulk of the movie so almost every scene he’s in we’re getting the same stale setting. Elf

While watching If a Tree Falls I couldn’t help but run through various “what if” scenarios in my head. What if the movie was told more like Man on Wire? What if the narrative played out like David vs. Goliath, with ELF as David and the corporations and US government playing the part of Goliath? What if you found just about any other member of ELF and focused on him? What if you could get Will Ferrel to put his elf suit back on and have him perform reenactments of famous ELF acts of destruction?

At last, we’re left with a promising premise for a documentary with no shortage of exciting characters and stories to tell, only to be given one of the least interesting subjects one would think to find in such a fascinating group as the Earth Liberation Front.

[xrr rating=2.5/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. See more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVPH4hntyq8[/youtube]

Way late review: Winnie the Pooh

I had the opportunity to watch Disney’s latest Winnie the Pooh film with my six year old daughter. Much to my surprise, she wasn’t thrilled about watching Pooh and friends again. She informed me that she already saw it recently at school and wasn’t a big fan. I couldn’t help but think that I’ve ruined her. She only tolerated the hour long animated feature but she got excited when she discovered that we also had Planet of The Apes arrive via Netflix. While she sat in a trance watching Pooh, she was excitedly asking questions and making comments through much of Charlton Heston’s 40+ year old, 2 hour long sci-fi flick. Go figure.

Winnie the Pooh is a throwback. The movie feels as though it could have been made fifty years ago, which is good. The last thing I want to see is a hip post-modern Winnie the Pooh. If other studios owned the Hundred Acre Wood property I know there’d be an endless stream of ironic pop culture references followed up by Rabbit revealing he’s long suffered from OCD, Tigger declaring he’s bouncing everywhere instead of driving in order to do his part to cut down on carbon emissions, Pooh breaking down and confessing he’s addicted to the drug known as “huny”, and Christopher Robin serving as the terrible human out to crush all his furry little friends by developing the hundred acre’s into a theme park. Instead, Disney gives us the story of Eeyore losing his tail and his friends’ pursuit to help him find it. It’s just that simple.

The characters behave just as they always have. Tigger is bouncing along to his own beat. Pooh is obsessed with honey. Rabbit is passionately defending his garden. Piglet is scared of everything. Eeyore is pure doom and gloom. Owl is endlessly pontificating. Nothing has changed and all these characters interact in the ways we’ve come to expect.

The animation is classical yet never boring. A couple scenes use different styles of animation to mix things up. There’s a chalkboard drawing sequence and then a Pooh in a land of honey scene which are surreal. Both gave me flashbacks to that dream sequence in Dumbo. Even as a child I was convinced the people who came up with that little number were ingesting magic mushrooms.

Perhaps the best part of this latest adventure with Christopher Robin’s crew was its length – 63 minutes total. You have to love that. As much as my daughter wasn’t thrilled to watch the movie, she sat through it again mainly because it was over before she knew it.

I must confess something now. My daughter is not alone. I’m not the biggest Winnie the Pooh fan either. I enjoyed the movie for what it is, a short, fun, simple, and nicely animated film that doesn’t wear out its welcome. And for that I give it a slightly higher rating than I’d probably give it otherwise.

[xrr rating=3.5/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbFz–GCkOM[/youtube]

Way late review: Street Thief

As one who enjoys documentaries, mockumentaries, and movies/shows that fall somewhere in between, I must confess that I’m growing weary of the trend of the fictional movie shot as a documentary. What was once new and exciting is now commonplace. It happens. However, the problem with this trend is that it breeds sloppy film making. The built-in excuse is that the lo-fi picture and sound, the slacker acting, lacking screenplays, etc. are all part of keeping it real. After all, this isn’t another movie, this is a documentary – wink, wink.

I had the disadvantage of seeing Street Thief five years after it was originally released. In between 2006 and now, I’ve seen more than a few documentary, found footage style fictional films. The newness of that approach to fiction films has worn off. Had I seen Street Thief closer to when it was released rather than discovering it on Netflix streaming five years later, I probably would have enjoyed it more.

The story is straight forward. A documentary filmmaker connects with a professional thief, Kaspar Karr (Malik Bader). The film wastes no time showing Karr in action as he robs a grocery store. From there we get to know the man a little, though he’s guarded and suspicious of the filmmaker’s motives. Karr takes us through the ins and outs of various robberies. He shares little tips along the way as he cases his next target. Setting aside disbelief that any great thief (as Karr claims to be) would allow someone to film him in this manner, the insights into the strategy and tactics used hold interest. In between all the action are cuts to interviews with a professional thief in prison. These scenes provide a good contrast between Karr’s arrogant, I’m not your average criminal and the sage advice of someone who thought he was just that but finds himself in prison anyway.

Around the half way mark a seemingly straightforward robbery goes awry. We’re not told why and then Karr disappears for two months. Finally, out of nowhere, Karr reappears and gets back in touch with the filmmaker, though never explaining why he disappeared or what exactly happened during the robbery of the night club two months ago. The next target is a movie theater. It is clear by the amount of careful planning Karr puts into this job that we’re seeing a new level of thievery. Again, setting aside disbelief that a thief would go to such great lengths to plan this perfect heist yet allow it all to be filmed as a documentary, the setup and execution hold interest, though the low fidelity film making becomes aggravating. This more significant robbery demands better camera work. But that’s a big down side to this sub-genre. In order to keep things real one can never break away from run and gun filming.

The rest of the movie plays out with some twists which are definite spoilers. The ending felt long and forced mainly because the disbelief the movie required throughout was impossible to hold all the way to the end.

Street Thief succeeds more than it fails. Malik Bader as Kaspar Carr carries the film well. The contrast of Carr with interviews of a similar criminal in prison worked. The details revealed before, during and after each robbery were engaging. All this outweighs the shortcomings of the format (fictional documentary) of the film.

[xrr rating=3/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEC0NmiTuSY[/youtube]

Quote from EC: “I have seen so many teeth but yours is the best.”

The Tooth Pixie? My now ten year old son decided he’d play the part of the “Tooth Pixie” for his sister who lost her first tooth over the weekend. He left the following note:

Dear Leia Hoover,

I love your tooth. In return I give you this $5 dollar bill. I have seen so many teeth but yours is the best. Love the Tooth Pixie.

XP

Apparently the Tooth Pixie signs all official letters with “XP”. Who knew?

Way late review: The King’s Speech

Period pieces that come out just in time for the Oscars don’t get me too excited. The King’s Speech was no exception. Even once I received the disc from Netflix, I had it for almost a month before I finally caved in and watched it. I’m happy I did.

Colin Firth plays King George VI, a man who struggled with a terrible stammer since a young age. In fact, before Firth becomes king in the film, we watch as he struggles to give public speeches. The camera work makes us feel the full emotion of the struggle as it gets catastrophically close. There is nowhere to hide, not for Firth, not for us. Meanwhile, King George V is getting older and losing his health. He has two sons, one (Guy Pearce) a loose canon with little interest in royalty beyond the exploits it affords him, and the other (Firth) who seems destined for the throne except for that one nagging problem – he can’t speak a complete sentence without stammering through it.

Firth’s wife (Helena Bonham Carter) pushes for Firth to get help. She seeks out the best therapist in the land and this leads her to Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian who has some seemingly unusual tactics for helping his patients overcome their speech impediments. Like any film where we have an underdog student and an unorthodox teacher, there is the fairly typical progression in the budding relationship between the two and the improvement in the student. Thankfully the director (Tom Hooper) never over does it and the acting never goes into the dreaded territory of “Oscar bait” performances. The relationship between Firth and Rush’s characters is believable and enjoyable to watch, even when you know exactly where the story is headed.

True, The King’s Speech has some trite scenes but they never left me rolling my eyes or ruining the story as a whole. And the final triumphant scene (sorry if that spoils it for you) is rather subtle, especially when you consider sports themed films that follow a similar narrative which culminate in manipulative melodrama. The King’s Speech isn’t perfect but it is one of those movies that is very hard not to enjoy.

[xrr rating=4/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvkdLgsEko[/youtube]

Way late review: Planet of the Apes

I can remember being in grade school and flipping through television channels (maybe all 10 of them – we didn’t get cable) on a Saturday afternoon and inevitably it seemed that Planet of the Apes or one of its many sequels was on. I remember being a little freaked out by the look of the ape costumes. There was something not quite right about the human eyes, the quasi-real looking mask, and the barely moving lips that got to me. The strange thing is that I can recall only two scenes of the movie. One is Charlton Heston running half naked through the primitive ape village as those disturbing ape costumed people either scattered or attempted to capture Heston with nets. The other scene is when Heston is having a long dialogue with the apes. Wait, that covers about two-thirds of the movie. And there in lies why I never saw more than ten minutes of the sci-fi monkey classic when I was younger.

Fast forward to 2011 and I’m more patient with watching films. Since I really enjoyed this year’s ape movie, I wanted to give the original a full viewing. I ended up watching it with my ten year old son and six year old daughter. I was sure they wouldn’t make it more than thirty minutes. To my shock, they made it all the way to the end, though it tested their patience along the way.

I enjoyed Planet of the Apes overall. I’ve always liked the idea of the story. The overall execution was well done, campiness and all. The ape costumes were still a bit terrifying with the mouths barely moving when talking but that’s also part of the fun. What was less than fun was when the film tries desperately to hit you over the head with its themes, using heavy handed dialogue that takes place in a single setting, normally with long dialogue between Heston and one or more ape. It wouldn’t be bad to have one of these scenes but there were at least three and none of them added significantly to the story. There are some deep messages being preached in the movie, but by the time one of these overly long scenes ended all I could think about was if we’d get to see some more action. For all its good intentions, Planet of the Apes is at its best when the expedition is downplayed and the action is moved to the forefront. Just enough expedition and exploration of deeper themes goes a long way to making a film like this hit the perfect balance between action and deeper meaning. Unfortunately, the screenplay for Apes seems determined to hit the viewer over the head with not so subtle ideas about social justice, religion, and science.

I love the idea of Planet of the Apes. When Charlton Heston gets to play the role of action hero, it’s highly entertaining. Seeing him act so dramatically with these strange looking simians who ride around on horses was mostly fun. Discovering even more ways The Rise of the Planet of the Apes subtly made references to its original predecessor was also a lot of fun. The famous ending, complete with Heston’s over the top reaction topped it all off in a way that was at once campy and oh so serious.

[xrr rating=3.5/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjcpRHuPjOI[/youtube]

Way late review: Chop Shop

As much as I’d like to deny it, the reality is that there are kids living in this world who have to take take on adult responsibilities. They never get to be kids. Chop Shop is a story about one of those kids, Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), a pre-teen who lives in Queens, N.Y. and hustles everyday to get by. Hustling in this case means picking up odd jobs, selling candy bars on the subway, working at a body shop, selling bootleg DVDs, and occasionally stealing.

We don’t learn much about Alejandro (who most call “Ale”) early on beyond the fact that he’s a street smart kid without any adult custodians, mentors or guidance. The only family Ale appears to have is a teenage sister, Isamar (Isamar Gonzales), who Ale serves as the caretaker for. He secures a tiny room above the car shop he works at for he and his sister. She gets a job working at a street food vendor, though the contrast between her work ethic and Ale’s are hard to miss. While Ale endlessly works with determination, Isamar is more reluctant. Ale appears so responsible that it’s easy to forget this is a homeless kid with little education and no one to care for him. The adults in Ale’s life aren’t portrayed as good or bad. Rather they are people who see a hard working kid they can pay a little money in order to make themselves more money. It would be easy for the story to portray these adults as villains and introduce another as a hero who saves Ale and Isamar from the life they’ve been forced into. Chop Shop is not that kind of movie. There are no adults stepping up and saving the day. Ale is left to fend for himself and his sister.

Chop Shop had an odd effect on me as I found myself seeing Ale as a young adult, not the child he was. It isn’t until about half way through the movie where I was shaken from this misconception. Ale was once again a child, forced to live in an adult world without a single adult to love and care for him. The cause for this change in my reaction is the closest you’ll come to a spoiler in a movie that doesn’t rely on a deep plot, so I’ll stop delving further.

The film as a whole has a documentary like feel to it. The camera never strays far from its subjects. The acting never feels like acting. Every moment feels real, which also makes it a challenge to watch at times. The harsh realities for young homeless kids does not make for a feel good movie. After watching Chop Shop, I wondered if it would have been done even better as a documentary. The almost cold and sterile approach to the filmmaking combined with difficult subject matter makes for a challenging watch. Overall it’s a well done film and the challenge to watch is most definitely rewarding.

[xrr rating=4/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97OJ4CmmRlE[/youtube]

Way late review: The Last Exorcism

Hi, my name is Josh. I’m addicted to watching fake documentaries. I have to be because I detest horror films but still managed to make time for The Last Exorcism.

The synopsis does a good job summing things up:

Ready to expose his miraculous deeds as mere trickery, Rev. Cotton Marcus (Patrick Fabian) invites a documentary crew to film his final exorcism. But when the devil actually possesses a girl’s body, Marcus must regain his faith and engage in the fight of his life.

Cotton Marcus is a unique character. He’s a man who was raised to sell the gospel (lowercase “g”). Whether that was the intent of his dad, a long time preacher, it’s hard to say. But Marcus knows where he makes his money, never mind that he doesn’t believe a word he preaches. A man has to provide for his family he argues. An odd angst exists for Marcus though. On the one hand he wants to make his money off his pretensions of faith, even going so far as to perform fake exorcisms. On the other hand he abhors those who do the same. The main target of his anger is at those who bring harm to children as a result of trying to perform exorcisms. Thus he wants to perform one last exorcism in front of the camera so he can prove that it’s nonsense and help stop the practice. Despite his sleazy tactics, the Cotton Marcus character is likeable. He has a charisma that is difficult to ignore. It’s easy to see why people would fall for Cotton Marcus’ schemes.

After Marcus’ last exorcism he’s faced with a crisis of faith. He’s forced to consider whether he’s met his match and is dealing with something supernatural. The deeper investigation into this case is interesting until about the last quarter of the movie. It is at that point everything shifts to pure horror genre. I can’t say I fault the director (Daniel Stamm). The movie is called The Last Exorcism. Expectations have to be met at some point. But therein lies the biggest problem – the movie won’t likely please the majority of horror fans as it takes too long to get to what they crave, yet it doesn’t completely satisfy people like me who are interested in the fake documentary format. Stamm takes what could have been a very good film and makes it less so by compromising the story to appease an audience he likely lost thirty minutes into the film.

[xrr rating=3/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”340″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQF-RHJedZ8[/youtube]

Way late review: Thor

If you had told me at the beginning of 2011 that, of the latest batch of superhero movies coming out in the summer, Thor would be the one I enjoyed the most I would have laughed. There is nothing about Thor as a character that interests me. He’s absurd to me, even by superhero standards. And the trailers for the movie seemed even more absurd. It seemed like it was taking itself so seriously. Thankfully I was wrong – for the most part.

The details behind the story of Thor are not all that important. There’s quite a twist of characters and subplots in the world of Asgard. None of them matter that much. The key was that the early scenes in Asgard were OK. Yes, they tended to go a bit overboard with the manufactured drama but none of it was overdrawn. The overall plot moved forward fast enough where we eventually we see Thor thrown down to earth as a mere man.

I enjoyed the fun natured take of Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on earth. I liked Hemsworth’s character and had a fun time watching him interact in the foreign land Thor found himself in on Earth. The good natured back and forth between Thor and his friends on earth, including Natalie Portman, kept things light and entertaining. It had a bit of a Superman 3 movie feel to it at times, complete with attempts at slapstick humor.

I’d normally complain about the lack of a good villain, which Thor is guilty of, but there was too much fun to be had throughout. And that’s not even to mention Marvel’s obsession with making all these movies feed into The Avengers. With that said, I enjoyed the movie for what it was – a fun ride that never confuses itself for more than that.

[xrr rating=3.5/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHBnrJowBZE[/youtube]

Way late review: X-Men: First Class

OK, I get it. Reboots are hip. Retelling superhero origin stories is popular Hollywood sport. I think I’m burnt out already and this is before we get a Spiderman reboot next year. Wait, weren’t there Spiderman and X-Men series out in the past ten years? Sigh. I digress. X-Men: First Class is a reboot. We have the retelling of the origin story. The biggest difference this time around is it’s set in the 60’s and starts with younger versions of the X-Men.

I love the look of X-Men: First Class overall. The costumes are spot on, aside from Beast, who looks like a Thundercat raised in Fraggle Rock. The aesthetics were 60’s all the way, which made for a more compelling setting to watch a superhero origin story take place. Unfortunately, it’s an origin story for X-Men, a gang of characters that aren’t terribly interesting. The idea of X-Men, mutants, some of whom have great powers, living in our world is more intriguing than the X-Men themselves. And since there are numerous characters in the bunch, the time spent on any one is short, making it difficult to connect to any one of them.

Much like Captain America: The First Avenger, we have another wasted opportunity of superheros interacting with real history. We get a convoluted plot involving a former Nazi scientist, Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), who is responsible for the escalation of the Cuban missile crisis. Bacon plays a decent bad guy but that doesn’t change the fact that his character seems totally unnecessary.

The rest of the X-Men cast is solid, though limited by the screenplay and a general shallowness of the characters themselves. Each back story feels like a retread being told only to move us to the major conflict. The most fun I had was watching the X-Men come together to train and harness each of their individual powers. After that comes the obligatory big last battle and the tease for the follow up movie.

Another ho-hum 2011 superhero movie. Sigh.

[xrr rating=2.5/5 label=””]

This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.

[youtube width=”640″ height=”360″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrbHykKUfTM[/youtube]