Coming Attractions: Extract

Click here to watch the trailer for Extract

Mike Judge, the creator of Office Space, has made another workplace-themed comedy. Joel, played by Jason Bateman, owns an Extract plant and must juggle his personal and professional problems.

J. K. Simmons, Kristen Wiig, and a bearded Ben Affleck round out a promising cast. Bateman, of Arrested Development and Hancock fame, has proved that he can be a great straight-man for the over-the-top characters to work off of; and it looks like Extract used Bateman in that capacity.

With the strong comedic sensibilities of Mike Judge, and some of my favorite comedic actors, I’m going to give this a strong “four” on the Potential Meter.

Movie News: Hancock Sequel Taking Shape

Writers Adam Fierro and Glenn Mazzara have been hired by Columbia  to write a sequel to Hancock, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Plot details are being kept under wraps.

Fierro has written for such television shows as The Shield, 24, and Dexter.

Mazzara has written for NBC’s Life and FX’s The Shield.

The original director and producing team are expected to return, but there is not word yet if we will see Charlize Theron or Jason Bateman in the sequel.

Review: Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is a kid in a candy store. He loves movies. He loves making movies. He has complete control over his movies, basically he gets to do whatever he wants. In Inglourious Basterds, he mixes some of his favorite genres (spaghetti western, spy thriller, etc.) to make one big and tasty cumulative stew. Tarantino has made his best movie since Pulp Fiction in 1994, and all of the flair and intensity of his earlier work is back intact.

There are two seperate stories that drive Inglourious Basterds. In the first story, a young Jewish woman, Shoshana, plots revenge against  Col. Hans Landa, the Nazi officer that slaughtered her family. In the second  story, Lt. Aldo Raine leads a group of Jewish-American recruits behind enemy lines to kill and terrorize the Nazi army. The two stories converge at the end, as it seems Shoshana and Raine come to have the same target.

Tarantino lets the stories run long (but never boring) as he relishes in the dialogue and characters, especially the arch-villain Landa. Landa reminds me of the villain Anton Chighur from No Country For Old Men; each using cunning and brutality, each playing cat and mouse with their victims. Christoph Waltz played Hans Landa to perfection, earning him the best actor award at Cannes.

I took my wife to see Inglourious Basterds on a date. This was not exactly the best date movie. Nazis being beaten to death with a baseball bat and being scalped doesn’t give one a warm and fuzzy feeling.

But the thing that struck me about this film that I don’t hear anyone else talking about is the pervading aspect of suspense. Every scene and almost every conversation could have erupted in violence. Waiting for that violence to happen as the scenes went forward pretty much had me at the edge of my seat. How can a Nazi officer ordering a glass of milk be more suspenseful than a woman walking into a dark alley? Tarantino masterfully builds suspense just as well as any movie director out there, and he makes it look easy.

Four fishbones out of four

Coming Attraction: Capitalism: A Love Story

Click here to watch the trailer for Capitalism: A Love Story

I find Micheal Moore’s documentaries to be entertaining, but not all that informative. And I would never want to form any political opinions based on his work. He uses funny interviews and stunts to get his point across. In the trailer, he asks a Congressional Oversight Officer, “Where’s our money?” To which she simply replies: “I don’t know.”

I don’t mind Moore pointing out the alleged flaws within our society and government system, but I am hoping beyond all hope that he does not try to convince us that Capitalism is wrong or that there is a better system such as Socialism or Dictatorship. Unfortunately, I believe it is possible that Moore might take that extra step.

Although I disagree with Moore a lot of the time, and I believe he uses false arguments; I still think Capitalism: A Love Story will be entertaining and at least will get people to think and talk about the subjects he brings up. So this documentary receives a mildly high “three” on the Potential Meter.

Coming Attractions: Motherhood

Click here to view the trailer for Motherhood

Uma Thurman, playing a mother of two, faces challenges raising her children in Manhattan. Ugh. What happened to Uma Thurman? She used to be cool. She used to kick tail with Kung Fu expertise; she used to order five dollar shakes and snort cocaine. Now she’s a struggling mother in a hamfisted chick flick? For shame.

I am no fan of chick flicks, I’ll come right out and admit it. But sometimes there are some gems that rise above the genre. From the trailer, Motherhood does not appear to be one of those gems. I am going to rate this with a low “one” on the Potential Meter. Maybe someday Uma will be cool again.

Coming Attractions: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

 

What is an “imaginarium,” you may ask? According to dictionary.com, imaginarium means “no results found.”

Terry Gilliam directs Heath Ledger’s final film, with Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell co-starring as Ledger’s alternate world characters. Does this film sound confusing so far? Well the trailer doesn’t help explain things, at least I’m still confused about what the premise is.

I am going to give Imaginarium a rating of 3 on the Potential Meter. The trailer looks like a jumbled mess, but Terry Gilliam never fails to deliver a spectacle. And with Depp and Ledger in it, this could be a very good movie.

Coming Attractions: Alice in Wonderland

In Tim Burton’s 2010 feature Alice in Wonderland, Alice returns to the land of her childhood adventures at the age of 19.

Newcomer Mia Wasikowska stars as Alice, alongside Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, and Anne Hathaway as the White Queen.

Click here to watch the trailer.

I think it would probably be a good idea for Tim Burton to lay off the remakes for a while. He already has remade Planet of the Apes and Willy Wonka, and even though those were somewhat enjoyable, I like his original movies better (especially Ed Wood and Mars Attacks).

I am giving Alice in Wonderland a two on the Potential Meter. The trailer looks okay, but the feature probably will be on the same level of quality as Planet of the Apes.

Review: The Machine Girl

Ami is a girl with many problems. Her brother has been killed by a Yakuza’s son, her hand has been cut off by the Yakuza father, and her path of revenge has become a very bloody path indeed.

The amount of blood used in this film is outrageous and borders on ludicrous. There are fountains and puddles and lakes of blood. The soul purpose of this film is to depict all the various ways to die a bloody death. There are decapitations, dismemberment, slit throats, skulls split open, you get the point. And the weapons are quite over-the-top and comical as well. The main attraction is a machine gun in place of Ami’s amputated hand, but this feature also includes a chainsaw in place of a foot, a flying guillotine, and a drill bra. That’s right, a drill bra.

The low budget of The Machine Girl could be seen as a detractor to its believability, but it didn’t bother me. It almost reminded me of old Herschell Gordon Lewis gore movies from the sixties. The gooey red corn syrup and organs made out of jello were just realistic enough to make one cringe.

I guess the question you have to ask yourself is: am I in the mood for gore? If the answer is yes, then this is your movie. If the answer is no, then run far away.

2.5 fishbones out of 4

Coming Attractions: Gentlemen Broncos

 

Jermaine Clemente after taking a punch

  

Flight of the Conchord’s Jermaine Clemente stars as a sci fi novelist who steals a book written by a fan and puts his name on it. The trailer looks quirky and fun, but what else would you expect from writer/director Jared Hess, who also wrote and directed Napoleon Dynamite.

Gentlemen Broncos will be released to limited theaters on October 9.

Introductions

Hi, my name is Jon Teegarden. This is my movie blog.

I am a father and a husband. I am currently going to school to become a graphic designer. I am a movie lover.

I love all sorts of movies, as long as they are not bland. I have created this blog because I enjoy writing about movies and wanted a place to have some fun with it. This is a movie lover’s blog, not a cat lover’s blog (it simply has a cat theme to keep things fun and not too serious).

Thats me