60/60 Extra: Brokeback Mountain.

I want to start off by saying that, although I live in Texas, I am not homophobic in any way, shape, or form. I fully support the GLBT community. The only reason it has taken me this long to see this movie is, well... I just never got around to it. That being said, let's get into the review. It's almost pointless to talk about the plot, because everybody knows what this is just by the title. Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) are two cowboys who get a job wrangling sheep on Brokeback Mountain one summer. They grow close--very close. The job ends and they move on to their normal lives, having relationships and building families. Ennis marries Alma (Michelle Williams), and Jack hooks up with Lureen (Anne Hathaway). But their relationship with each other rekindles, though it slowly destroys both their lives.

I know this film won 3 Oscars (including adapted screenplay, as it was adapted from a short story) and was nominated for more. But... I just couldn't get into it. I didn't find it all that interesting. Now, the idea behind it is interesting--two guys share a romance that tears apart their personal lives during a time when such relationships are forbidden. There's room for great conflict, great drama, and great character development. But I wonder if the fact it came from a short story and was turned into a 2+ hour movie is a bit telling. I don't think there was enough plot to stretch it into such a long movie. Because of this, I was mostly just bored.

What saved the movie was the acting from the two leads. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are fantastic. Ledger, though, was the standout to me between the two, which makes it even sadder to me that he's gone. I didn't care for the female leads, though. Michelle Williams seemed awkward and forced, like she wasn't quite sure she knew what she was doing. And Anne Hathaway almost felt out of place. Apparently Anna Faris was in this movie, too, but I must have blinked, because when her name came up in the credits at the end, I did a double-take.

Overall, I appreciate what this movie did for the GLBT community, and I really liked the two male performances. However, it could have been trimmed down, as I mostly just found it rather dull. I mostly blame me not caring for Ang Lee, though. This is the fourth film of his I've seen, and only one of those four I didn't find particularly dry--which is funny, considering it was the one based on a Jane Austen novel. (Crouching Tiger was good, but rather slow at times itself. Don't even get me started on Hulk.) So I'll just leave it at that.


Stop Saying OK! OK.

SOURCE CODE.

I'm still relatively shocked that this movie has nothing to do with a Philip K. Dick story. But with it being one of my most anticipated of the year, I had to check it out sooner rather than later. Of course, the outstanding reviews coming in as of late didn't hurt, either. Source Code tells us the story of Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), a soldier who somehow finds himself in the middle of a new government program run by Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) and Colleen Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). He's involved with the titular source code, which puts him in the position of a man named Sean Fentress. Sean was on a train with a young woman named Christina (Michelle Monaghan)... at least until it blew up. Now Colter, through the persona of Sean, must figure out who the bomber is so that he can help stop another, bigger attack that the bomber plans on committing later that day. The problem is... he only has 8-minute intervals in which to find clues and figure things out.

This is a great little sci-fi thriller from director Duncan Jones, following up on his critically acclaimed Moon. And, in fact, I actually enjoyed this more than Moon. Despite the fact you know Colter cannot die within the source code, you're still kept in suspense. Along with Colter, you're trying to figure out the mystery. The film actually keeps you guessing, wondering which of the passengers it could be. And yes, they even tackle racial profiling in the film. Whereas in Moon where there really isn't much of a twist, as the film all but gives it away in the trailer, there are a couple little twists and turns in this film that I found were done really well and difficult to figure out prior to any reveal--mostly because the film pulls you in different directions and doesn't give you much time to think too much.

The acting is also done very well. I was never really like "Oh, this is Jake Gyllenhaal." He absorbed me in with his character, and I believed he was Colter Stevens. You were just as confused as him in the beginning, as disheartened as him in the middle, and as desperate as him at the end. Vera Farmiga does well as the orders-bound officer who wants to help more, but is restricted by Dr. Rutledge's commands. Jeffrey Wright himself isn't too imposing, but he keeps an air of superiority due to his knowledge on the source code. And then there's Michelle Monaghan, who has to walk a fine balance between sweet and confused, depending on the scenario. And I think she walks it well.

We're also taken into some deeper territory in the latter half of the film, particularly closer to the end. We're given questions that touch on morality, patriotism, and life--usually pertaining to "what would you do..." or "what if..." scenarios. The latter is where the themes are the strongest and work the best. The other two aren't explored all that deeply, though that doesn't hurt the film. I think scaling back a bit and not exploring them too much helped make things from going into "preachy" territory.

There were only a couple things that bothered me about the film, but I'm wary of talking about them without spoiling things. I'll just say most things about the capsule were eventually brought into question, as a lot of things weren't really explained (I mean, there was an explanation, but not one that totally satisfied me). For instance, what was the relevance of the handle on the floor that he tries to get open a couple times? And the "freezing" segment near the beginning is still making me question things.

But overall, the film was a lot of fun. If you're up for a really good sci-fi thriller, check this out. I didn't find the mysteries of the film all too obvious, nor did I think the repetition of going back to the same 8 minutes boring--everything was kept fresh. The themes are deep but not too deep to muddle the film, and the action is frequent but not too overwhelming to make it mindless. There was a good balance. So good job, Duncan Jones. I anticipate your next sci-fi film and hope it's just as good.


A Keanu 'Whoa'

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME.

So, I've been mildly excited for this movie. I haven't played the video games, but I'm a fan of the concept. And anything that involves Parkour is cool. And then I started hearing the relatively positive reviews and got a bit more excited. Though despite the reviews being positive, they were only mildly so, with ratings around the 3-3.5 out of 5 range. But hey, that's at least entertaining, right? Right.

The movie follows the story of Dastan (Jake Gyllenhaal), who started out as an orphan but is adopted by the Persian king, thus becoming a prince of Persia. But with his street-based childhood, he has some street cred and knows how to move about (Aladdin-ish). Well, after getting some news that a major city might be selling weapons to Persia's enemies, Dastan, his brothers, and his uncle (Ben Kingsley) are forced to invade them. In the process, Dastan discovers a mystical dagger that has the ability to turn back time, which is guarded by the city's princess, Tamina (Gemma Arterton). But after Dastan is accused of murdering his father, he is forced to leave with Tamina on a quest to figure out who was really behind his father's death, as well as discovering the secrets of the dagger. The movie also features Alfred Molina as a shifty entrepreneur who dabbles with... ostrich racing.

Overall, some parts of this movie are better than others. This movie was pimped out to be the next big "Pirates of the Caribbean." What I loved most about the PotC films, besides the quirky Captain Jack, were the imaginative fight sequences. And this movie had a lot of potential for imaginative fight sequences, what with the video game's basis in parkour and instant time travel. And I felt, for the most part, this potential was wasted. There's maybe one or two scenes that utilized these things well (primarily the parkour), but that's about it. But the scenes that do utilize these things are pretty cool.

The acting is decent, with the witty banter of Dastan and Tamina stealing the scenes. Dastan was a pretty fun character, and Gemma Arterton is absolutely gorgeous. Oh, and her character is decent, too, playing a strong female lead. Alfred Molina really hammed it up, and his character walked the line between funny and bizarrely annoying. There were some moments where he was funny, but the character overall was just strange, and the whole ostrich thing felt out of place. As for the other characters, the smaller roles (like the brothers) were a bit rough. They were flatly written and--sometimes--poorly acted. And Ben Kingsley was just kinda in it for the paycheck, I think.

Which leads me into the script itself. You can tell there are some very video game moments (puzzles, etc.). And those are pretty cool. But there is some pretty rough dialogue that is so forced, so stilted, so bad... I wonder how it even stayed past the rough draft of the script. Luckily, these moments are few and far between, but when they show up (especially around the beginning), they really stick out.

I know this review seems negative, but I didn't dislike the movie. It was actually pretty entertaining, and I can agree with all those other reviews that put it in that middle ground. It's not great, but it's fun, and it's a decent way to spend about 2 hours. Sure, you pretty much see everything coming a mile away, but the journey is still an entertaining one. And isn't that what summer blockbusters are all about?


Stop Saying Okay! Okay.

(P.S. And that's a strong rating... it was a tough choice between this and the next highest rating, but overall I thought this one was more suitable.)