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On a more personal note, we had a really fun night last night.  After dinner, we wanted to head down to the Store Arch Bridge to see the Red Bull Illume exhibit.  We saw a large storm coming, but we decided we’d risk it.  When we got to the exhibit, we found that the photos didn’t start projecting until sundown about 9:30pm, so we decided to wait it out.  But there was a huge wall cloud coming from the northeast, so we decided to take shelter in the Guthrie Theater building.  The new Guthrie is a spaced-aged design that is tons of fun to explore and includes many great overlooks of the Saint Anthony Falls area, so it was an ideal place to watch the store blow over.

First we stood out on the Endless Bridge, which is a cantilever stuck 178 feet out of the side of the building and puts you right above the center of the beautiful downtown river area.  We watched a huge wall cloud move across the sky and even withstood 70mph winds for a minute or two.  Then, of course, the rain started pouring, so we went into the indoor part of the Endless Bridge.

After hanging out in there for a bit, we went up to the Dowling Studio space, also known as the “Yellow Box”.  This was an even higher overlook of the river area, but all the windows were colored a bright yellow.  I’d never been in this space, but it was really fun to watch the sun set and lightning flash through the sky in this alternate yellow world.  After the rain fully subsided, we went back to the Endless Bridge to see the lightining flash through the sky in its real bright purple hue.  It was amazing to see because you could see lightning for miles around in all directions.

Towards the end of that, we watched the huge lit-up photos from the Red Bull Illume exhibit turn on and it looked amazing.  (You can see a photo taken from the same spot on the home page of the Red Bull Illume site if you browse the photos at the bottom a bit.)  We then went down there and found some amazing photos, most of extreme sports of all kinds.  They were amazing, and if you have time some evening to come down in the next week, you really should do it.  The exhibit seems to be open pretty late, because the photos were still lit up at midnight when Isaac and I left the theater as well.

That’s right, Isaac and I actually had to hurry past the Red Bull exhibit because we wanted to catch this weekend’s blockbuster film, Hellboy II: The Golden Army.  In usual St. Anthony Main theater fashion, we walked in 3 or 4 minutes late for the start of the film due to 10 minutes of ticketing lines, but the rest of the experience was positive.  The second installment of Guillermo Del Toro’s Dark Horse Comics adaptation almost matches the first one, although most of the “character development” revolved around a romance of some sort for almost every major character.  It was nice to see more of Doug Jones’s Abe Sapien character, although he rarely kicks butt.  Del Toro goes a bit overboard, in my opinion, with the sets and otherworldly characters, making some look too much like Pan’s Labrynth, which brought me a bit out of the Dark Horse Comics characters, I think.  Ron Perlman continued to do a great job as the reluctant but prideful superhero, Hellboy, while I felt Selma Blair’s character continues just to be an emotional wreck.  The theater was pretty packed, but who knows if the series will warrant another installment or if Guillermo Del Toro will be doing it after the next four years or so on the Hobbit projects.  All in all, it was an entertaiing film, but definitely not one I’m gonna run out and buy on DVD (just like the last one).

If there’s anything I’ve learned in the last year, it’s that everyone I know thinks I’m totally insane. Well, at least anyone who asks my opinion about movies. So, for those of you who think I’m off my rocker, enjoy this next little bit. If you still think I know something about movies, feel free to learn a bit or two.

I’ve only seen a couple movies so far this year, but so far my favorites have been the ones I wasn’t expecting - I had see the movie trailers and wasn’t planning to go see them. After the movie was in theaters, there was enough buzz (not hype) about the films that I ended up catching them in the theaters. These films were Iron Man and Speed Racer. The former was a fun story of another self-made superhero like Batman - Tony Stark realizes that someone has to stop the violence in this world and therefore starts his quest to build an armored suit filled with amazing nanotechnology. It was lots of fun.

I just got back from seeing Speed Racer, which was an amazing sight to behold. Probably my favorite thing was that every frame of the film was filled with the most vibrant rainbow of colors, even more than the amazing Curse of the Golden Flower. It’s the most psychedelic film I’ve probably ever seen and the twisting, ridiculous tracks the characters race on were more than exhilarating for the viewer (think MegaRace taken to a whole new level, for you old-school PC gamers). Also, it was possibly the most fast-paced movie I’ve seen throughout the film’s 135 minutes, with most slower plot points mashed together via fast cuts and innovative wipes. The plot was a heartwearming tale of fast-paced racing, family values and sportsmanship pitted against those who make the game into big business.

Although the film was only rated PG, I don’t think it’s a great one for young kids. One of the major comedic elements is a young kid and the family monkey, which are obviously aimed at the kids, but there is some language and a bit too many scenes of immodest women to show this to the youngsters, in my opinion. John Goodman and Susan Sarandon do a great job as parents of the main character, Speed Racer, as he deals with his growing success and making his own decisions.

Of course, this time of year is the time of the summer blockbuster, a huge movie event that is full of special effects and is, for sure, best viewed on a big screen. These films are from the first crop of the year’s blockbusters, and so far it’s been a good ride. The other major blockbusters, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian were both more of a spectacle than their previous incarnations, but both failed to blow the mind in the same way as these newcomers did (as is often the case). Of course, in any given year there are the non-blockbuster movies, which I get to whenever I can because they’re not something you have to witness in the theaters. These types of films just aren’t the same at home on DVD, at least not yet (or at any of my friend’s houses).

For any of those who are wondering, here’s the films I’m looking forward to checking out this summer (although we’ll see if they’re all as good as I hope):

• The Incredible Hulk (June 13) - Edward Norton can make this one work, I think.
• The Happening (June 13) - Hopefully M. Night Shyamalan can get Mark Whalberg to do something interesting for the first time.
• Get Smart (June 20) - This one might be good.
• Wall-E (June 27) - No doubt. This is the movie event of the year.
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army (July 11) - Guillermo del Toro is back to work his magic.
• The Dark Knight (July 18) - Christopher Nolan is back for an amazing thrill ride.
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (August 15) - Who knows if this will be good, but it looks like it could be a nice 3-D animated fleshing out of the Clone Wars.

Well, maybe it’s not that people don’t respect my opinion; maybe it’s that I have too many types of films I enjoy. I mean, my favorites from last year were Ratatouille, Hot Fuzz, and There Will Be Blood - how many people do you know that liked all of those films and has a modest collection of Disney films in their DVD collection? The only one I know is me.

Over the past day, I’ve enjoyed the three to four hours it took me to read Prince Caspian, the second book of the Chronicles of Narnia series (if you count them correctly). It had been a long time since I read it, but I really enjoyed the experience of a good children’s fantasy book, which I haven’t had since last summer’s Harry Potter tome. Narnia is a great, wild world, and Lewis also brings a rich history of characters and exciting landscapes to each and every book. But seeing as this post is more about how the movie will end up, let’s talk about the other recent fantasy franchises.

First and foremost, there’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, written by J.R.R. Tolkien and directed for the screen by Peter Jackson. This one was epic. Everything was so masterfully done that every detail screamed “this is Middle Earth”. With the long film runtimes (and especially in the extended editions), they were able to put in many of those touches that made it as close as you can get to authentic Tolkien. The films were made on such a big scale that they were events to behold. There were a number of aspects of the films that grossly misrepresented and misinterpreted Tolkien’s vision, in my opinion, but the films were, overall, very enjoyable and at least in the overall spirit of the Middle Earth that Tolkien chronicled.  I went to see each movie a couple times in the theater and watched all the extended versions once.

The second and most contemporary of the fantasy epics is the Harry Potter series, which tells the story of young Harry Potter in his years at Britain’s foremost school of wizardry.  The first couple films were slightly lacking in the special effects department, but all of them solidly brought J.K. Rowling’s magical world to a vibrant life.  I’ve enjoyed every film immensely, but for some reason I’ve never had the desire to watch any of them a second time.  I guess I don’t watch movies numerous times unless I find them so cool that I want to show them to all my friends, but I never felt that with Harry’s movies.  Maybe it’s just because everyone else is into them.  Maybe it’s because it follows the books so closely that I feel like I’ve already seen it before.  And maybe it’s because I find the book was better and my imagination found it cooler, but I’m not sure.

This brings us to the first installment of The Chronicles of Narnia in feature-length film, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  I went to see it with a friend on opening weekend just a week after reading the novel it was based on.  I’d read it a whole number of times in my childhood, but I found it still was a great read even in my mid-twenties.  However, when I saw the film, I was a little disappointed.  I didn’t feel the filmmakers captured the epic land of Narnia that well, and I found the movie’s special effects a bit too unpolished to be believable.  It was a good, faithful adaptation of the book, but it lacked the connection I felt with Jackson’s interpretation of MIddle Earth.  Even in the couple years since the Wardrobe released, I’ve had no strong desire to give it another look.

In my opinion, Prince Caspian is going to be pretty hard to make into a film.  The book lacks connection with the main characters for long gaps, as the first third follows the Pevensie’s as they rediscover Narnia, the second talks about the titular character, and the ending has almost all of the action and brings both parties together.  It could easily be a problem for the pacing and development of the film.  Also, with the basis of the first film firmly behind us, there’s actually not that complicated of a plot, so I can see why the old BBC version just spun it into the start of Dawn Treader.

All this is to say that I hope they can do better with Prince Caspian and not just try to churn out a sequel.  It could be with less to do in the 140 minutes that they will do a better job of bringing Narnia to life.  Walden Media has historically done a great job with creating films from books, and with Douglas Gresham helping out with production just like the last film, it could be the best film of the year.  On the other hand, Andrew Adamson’s only film experience besides Wardrobe is directing the immoral and unintelligent Shrek and Shrek 2, so there’s very little depth to draw upon from the director.  I’m still going to see it this Friday, but here’s to hoping that the production team can overcome the film’s inherent hurdles.  If not, we have next to look forward to a possible adaptation of The Screwatape Letters sometime in the next couple years and the film adaptation of one of my favorites, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader in May 2010.

Director Matthew Vaughn started out producing Guy Ritchie’s hits Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, then decided to try his own hand at directing with Layer Cake, a somewhat intriguing crime film starring the up-and-coming Daniel Craig. His most recent production, Stardust, is a case study in many of the vices of today’s modern film.

From the preview, the film looks promising. There’s evil witches and a boy who loves a girl. The boy says he’s going to fetch a fallen star for the girl. Robert DeNiro seems to play a pirate of a zepplin pirate ship. There’s kings and princes and other magical stuff. But this isn’t The Princess Bride.

Much like movies such as Shrek, Stardust quickly maintains that the magic is poisoned by making sure that every character from the land of Stormhold is dysfunctional like every other modern movie. The hero of the movie is borne of a one-night stand with a princess enslaved to a witch. We find that the king of the land of Stormhold is determined by all of the seven brothers killing each other and the last living heir is the ruler (so much that the princes are named only in the order of which they were born). Robert DeNiro is not a swashbuckling pirate, but a cross-dresser who is trying to hide is true effeminate side from his crew. Also, most if not all of the characters flaunt their sexuality to the point where the film almost surpassed the PG-13 rating.

I don’t know about my readers, but when I’m looking for a good fantasy or fairytale film, I’m going to stick with Tolkien or Disney, who know how to put together a convincing story without insulting the viewer’s sensibilities. Speaking of which, Enchanted is a modern fairy tale that doesn’t totally ruin the boundaries of the genre but still plays with it in intriguing ways. Of course, don’t watch these with your kids unless you’re ready to answer some of the hard questions of life.

To be honest, most times, I hate the “teaser trailers” that show nothing more than a new logo. But hey, this one shows the Enterprise under construction, so it almost doesn’t count as a teaser. Yes, this is the only big movie that I know about for this Christmas: a Star Trek movie that predates the original series and contains a cast never before seen on TV or film. Plus, it’s written and produced by the guys behind MI:III and Lost. It might be pretty exciting, but we’ll only know in 11 months.

Watch the Star Trek teaser trailer at the official site.

This past weekend in theaters before I Am Legend there was the exclusive preview for The Dark Knight, next summer’s sequel to Batman Begins. The trailer has now surfaced online, and it’s pretty exciting. Here’s what my friends had to say:

Josh: preview = awesome

Joe: dude yes!
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeess!!!!!

David: uh huh
2008 is finally on its way
about stinking time

Colleen: DUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who knows? It might be a decent movie. In my book, it’s going to be surprising if it beats Wall-E for best movie of 2008, but it’s a bit early to say for sure..

A couple days ago a new movie trailer surfaced online from director Wes Anderson, director of fine films such as The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Rushmore. (Also, if you’re a fan but not a longtime reader of my blog, don’t miss the commercial he did.) The trailer of note is for his fall release, The Darjeeling Limited. It looks like a signature Wes Anderson flick starring Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, and Jason Schwartzman. In this film, the three leads seem to be brothers who are reunited and go on an emotional journey to India together. It should be fun.

In more industry-specific news, it seems that this new release will be distributed by Fox Searchlight and not Touchstone Pictures like all of his earlier films. Also, Anderson has had an upcoming project of animated film of Roald Dahl’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which will apparently be his next release in 2009. That should be interesting.

In more homely news, a couple friends noticed the release date for The Darjeeling Limited is September 29th or somewhere around there. Many of my friends who currently live around the country will be in Indiana for the weekend, so maybe we should have an excursion to the local theater together?

My sister asked what I thought about Ratatouille, so I thought I’d give my thoughts. Overall, I wouldn’t say it was the best Pixar movie ever, but it was definitely up to the Pixar quality.

Of course, it looked amazing. Paris looked exactly like Paris. Everything had those little touches that you’d barely notice but make it that much more life-like. On one of the web featurettes they talked about how they vastly improved the movement and rendering models for humans, and it definitely showed as people were more detailed and expressive than ever. Most of the time, I thought the animation looked so realistic I almost forgot I was watching an animated movie.

I have to admit, I thought the idea of a rat cooking sounded a bit odd. And, at least at first, it was a bit awkward to watch Linguini, a boring young man who didn’t really want to have a life, to get poked and prodded by a rat into becoming the best cook in town. I’m not really sure that I enjoyed that the point is again that really PC-style “everyone is beautiful” and “everyone should be accepted for their talents, no matter what they look like,” because it’s become so clichéd.

Overall, though, it was lots of fun. I definitely enjoyed the scenes in the kitchen, especially from the perspective of a rat scurrying about. Also, I enjoyed the character of the cynical, snobby food critic and his monologue near the end which really will ring true for anyone who is a critic of one sort or another. I think you should definitely check the movie out. Seriously. It’s definitely the best of the year so far.

If you had asked me in January what one movie I was looking forward to this year, I may have thought about it for a minute, but there’s no doubt the answer would be Ratatouille. Some people have asked why that is, so here’s my reasons:

• It looks funny, exciting, and really tasty.
• It’s about a rat who becomes the greatest chef in Paris. I mean, how does that work?
• It’s a Pixar movie. Their track record of amazing (or at least very good) films includes Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Cars.
• It’s written and directed by Brad Bird, the guy who wrote and directed The Incredibles, one of the best movies of the last five years.
• Even the critics like it, much like many Pixar movies before this one.
• Finally, just watch this movie trailer. Use the one below or watch it in better quality:
  
  Doesn’t it look beautiful (and even on YouTube)?

I’m a Pixar fanatic because I love quality animated movies, so that’s all I really need to get me there. If you live in the neighborhood, I’m going to see it tonight (Saturday night), so give me a call if you want to join us. It should be a great time.

Movie marketing and merchandising is a rather touchy subject for one. One of the reasons I really don’t care for DreamWorks Animation is it’s marketing. For example, every time a Shrek movie comes out, you see that annoying green ogre on every box of cereal, bag of chips, and box of candy for three months before. When it finally comes, you feel like you have to go just to get him out of your head.

Pixar and Disney do marketing, but it’s much less a barrage of the senses from all sides. Also, it’s tasteful. Today I was a the Mall of America, and a couple months ago they added large video screens to the tops of the mall directory stands in the middle of the halls. For a while they promoted the Phase II Expansion, but recently they’ve been running content from CBS Outdoor, including ads and some CBS network content. Well, anyways, today they were running almost non-stop the Ratatouille full trailer. I like that. It’s not plastering the ads everywhere, but it’s hitting you softly with actual real content that will show you what the movie is about.

Which is better? A movie that’s desperate for your attention or a movie that just is offered for your viewing pleasure? Often, you’ll find that the overhyped have little substance but the well-marketed actually are enjoyable and meaningful, I think.