Happy Birthday Harry!

Since today is Harry Potter's birthday (and J. K. Rowling's as well) I thought I'd celebrate with the just released trailer for the 6th movie, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, coming out November 21st. Enjoy!

X almost marks the spot, but skews slightly off target

Chris Carter wanted X-Files: I Want to Believe to be a stand alone project; for people who had never seen an episode of X-Files to be able to watch it and completely understand what was happening. But when it comes to the X-Files, is that even possible?

Fans of the show will undoubtedly enjoy seeing Mulder and Scully together again, and together more than has ever been shown before (I won't go into details, but after 9 seasons of longing looks and sideways glances, things have definitely progressed in the years since the show ended.) No longer in the FBI, Scully is approached by new agent Mosley Drummy (portrayed by rapper Xzibit who should stick to rapping) to ask Mulder to return and help solve the disappearance of a missing FBI agent. Assistant Special Agent in Charge Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet) apparently has a jones for Mulder, as she is the one that has cleared away all charges against him in order for him to come back and help. She is "Scully-lite", a skeptic of claims by a former pedophile priest (Billy Connolly) that he is having visions of the missing agent despite the fact that he keeps leading them directly to missing limbs in a field of pristine snow.

Scully herself spends most of the film in a state of conflict. She is working at a Catholic hospital and needs to perform a controversial stem cell procedure on a young boy. She asks Mulder to help find the missing agent but spends the rest of the film asking him to walk away. She is repulsed by Father Joe and his deviant past, but is compelled to see him regarding his simple prophetic statement of "Don't give up hope." After questioning everything and everyone around her, she is not sure how or where to place her faith.

Faith in Mulder is what Scully resists the most. Our first glimpse of him is as a fully bearded man, clipping out stories of events that would have made new cases if he was not hiding out from the FBI. Back in investigation mode, his enthusiasm for paranormal activities is reawakened and takes him into familiar territory of being ultimately consumed by his longing for the truth. He may no longer work for the FBI, but it is clear that his mind is never far off from his life's work there.

As with most of the television episodes, there is a lot of information beneath the surface that is never quite explained or solved. There was a lot of secrecy about the film before it's release; so much so that fake publicity went up and the film was not even screened early for reviews. Perhaps this was not the wisest of moves, as those fans looking for something deeper in paranormal mythology will be deeply disappointed. No alien conspiracy here, but more a testament towards the connection between all of us; those that we despise and those that we long to save.

Be Smarter

Let me start by saying I really wanted to like this movie. I mean, I love The Office, so naturally anything with Steve Carell is automatically on my must see list. I also was fortunate enough to see Alan Arkin at a lecture on the day the movie released. Unfortunately, I just couldn't love this movie to recommend it as anything more than a rental, and perhaps a red box rental at that.

I never really watched the show so I was starting off with no real knowledge of the characters. I thought that this would make me a lot less outraged than fans of the show that someone as young as Anne Hathaway was playing Agent 99. I think the age difference would not be as notable if there was better chemistry between the two characters. Their romantic tension is practically zilch so it seems unreasonable to go from loathing to lusting so quickly.

The rest of the cast is simply okay. Bronco fans may cheer (or jeer I suppose) at a brief appearance by Bill Romanowski. Dwayne "no longer The Rock" Johnson does what he does best --makes fun of his cheesy self. Masi Oka and Nate Torrence as Bruce and Lloyd, the techie guys at CONTROL earn a few laughs, but certainly not enough for their own movie expansion, though that is what they got with the release of "Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control" on DVD. Seems more like the publicity department at Warner Brothers are the ones out of control with the need to suck out all the money they can from this project.

Some of the stunts and props are fun and entertaining. Advancing beyond the shoe phone is a Swiss Army knife with more capabilities than an iphone, a skydive struggle with not enough parachutes, and exploding dental floss. The action sequences try to compete on the same level as other serious spy movies, but try to add humor. While this was achieved so well in movies like "Casino Royale," here it seems to make everything a bit muddled, and the humor wilts a bit because of it.

That is not to say that there were not moments throughout the film that had me laughing out loud. However, most of those times I found myself alone in my laughter. While the rest of the audience would laugh at the sillier missteps of Maxwell Smart, like those seen in the trailers, I found myself laughing more at Carell's deadpan deliverance, which makes him so great on The Office, and while delivered in a similar style, Carell is talented enough to not mix up Michael Scott and Maxwell Smart, despite their same initials and misguided intentions.

This is a movie to see if you have a couple of hours to kill, and those hours do not include children under 13. The film is PG-13 for a reason -- there are more than a few curse words that would make it a little cringe worthy for a parent. Which is too bad, as bathroom humor is part of the joke repartee, and who enjoys that more than an 8 year old? If you do, then rent this when it comes out.

Lights Out

Here is a short film I made partly for a fast film contest and polished for an audio production class. Last year I entered a contest to see who could make a film about the Colfax Marathon in less than 8 hours. When I finished, I had 3 minutes of my friend Max walking around Denver with a lamp from the 1970's that took 5 hours to make. To add insult to injury, it was mostly a silent film, as it didn't dawn on me that I should have been narrating as I went along and I had no accessible sound equipment nearby. So when the time came for me to add sound to a minute of video, I edited my contest entry, added music, a sound effect of a clicking lamp (which is actually a slamming door turned way way down) and some narration. It's a bit unpolished, as I am a world class procrastinator and worked on it the same day it was due. But here it is. I'm hoping to work on some of my other short films soon.

Holy Epic Movie Batman! (no spoilers)

There is no doubt in my mind that the numbers for The Dark Knight will be huge this weekend; especially when I had to sit in the sixth row while arriving an hour early for the second midnight show to sell out -- I believe there were six total midnight showings at just that particular theater. Being a superhero fan by default (with two older comic book obsessed brothers, I just kind of got submerged in the worlds of human spiders and flying men) I was excited to see the latest version of Batman, especially with writer/director Christopher Nolan at the helm.

I have to say, I was never too crazy about Tim Burton's attempts. I enjoy his "I'm zany, just look at my hair" attempts at things like Nightmare Before Christmas, but I just didn't get his comic book films (I won't even delve into Planet of the Apes; Kevin Smith does a much better/funnier quip on his An Evening with Kevin Smith dvd). And even though I love Chris O'Donnell, enough to even put up with his rubber suit with nipples (remember those things? Talk about scary!) Schumacher seemed to muck up Batman even more. It seemed the tale of the dark crusader was going to fall into the pits of superhero obscurity. That is until Nolan came along, and with his brother, created a world where it doesn't seem so strange to have a man in a mask performing "vigilante" justice for the benefit of the citizens of a major metropolis...and those citizens unable to fully appreciate it.

Christian Bale once again plays the part of the reluctant hero perfectly. The greatest thing about Batman for me is that not only is he just a human being without any special powers, he is also a very flawed human being. Batman Begins dealt with the origins of Batman, while this movie deals with the aftermath. Once you have decided to become something more than yourself, what defines your limitations?

While several other dudes with masks have gone through an identity crisis (and performed some cheesy dance moves along the sidewalk...ahem...Spiderman 3...shudder...), Batman/Bruce Wayne does not have much time to do anything but stop what seems to be unstoppable; a villian with absolutely no morals, no plans, and no agenda besides causing utter terror and chaos wherever he goes. About as fun as clowns can be (and that is no fun AT ALL), Joker is truly terrifying in every aspect of the word.

Had this not been his last completed film, I'm not sure the acclaim for Heath Ledger's performance would be any less praiseworthy; and deservedly so. There are moments of humor to balance out his madness; but he is truly creepy. The worst kind of enemy is the one that has nothing to lose, not even a plan going amok. As he explains to Batman, he is "a dog chasing cars" that has no idea what he would do with it if he caught it, but needs the chase anyway. It is somewhat a blessing and a curse that this last film showed what a truly gifted actor Heath was; someone that escapes so much into a role that you forget about the actor beneath the character.

As strange as it sounds, this is really not a comic book movie. The action scenes are truly spectacular, but at the same time underplayed. They don't replace a storyline, they only enhance it. The plotlines move beyond the campiness of past attempts and has characters that are highly dimensional and fully developed. Thank goodness Katie Holmes was replaced; the only sore spot of the Batman Begins film, Maggie Gyllenhaal brings an intensity to Rachel Dawes character that makes you understand why Bruce Wayne would want to strive for a day when no Batman is needed. Unfortunately for him, that seems like a day that will not come anytime soon. Fortunately for us, that brings hope for some darkness in the summertime heat of years to come.