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Review – Ink

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Every once and a while, film lovers find that movie. You know, THAT movie, the one that they just want to tell all of their friends about. That little gem that none of their buddies have seen, that little indie piece that they heard about on the internet somewhere or that movie that a friend of a friend of a friend recommended a while back. Once upon a time THAT movie was films like Donnie Darko or The Boondock Saints.

Ink defines THAT movie in a multitude of ways.

The story of how Ink came to be is one that has been told a couple of times now, and one that helps lift the spirits of any wannabe film maker. I highly suggest you look into the struggles and tribulations that went into making this indie film a reality, it really lends itself to how incredible this movie truly is.

With a talented cast of relative unknowns and an original story, this movie has an easy time sucking you into it’s world. Ink‘s world is visually stunning and wonderfully imaginative. And unlike a lot of indie movies, the cast is really good. The young heroine of the film is an extremely gifted child actress and the main character, the man who plays her father, carries the film. I’d like to dive deeper into the plot and characters of the film, but I really  don’t want to ruin any of the experience that is Ink. All you need to know is that if your a fan of film, original stories, and good story telling, Ink is for you.

So get your hands on Ink Edmonton! Go halfsies on a DVD with a friend ($5 bucks each if you can find 3 other friends), demand to see it in theatre, or donate to Double Edge Films (the company behind Ink) via Paypal and then find other means of getting your hands on Ink. Whatever you do, be sure to support the underdogs and let everyone you know how awesome Ink is. I may sound like part of an underground hype machine, and when I first heard the guys of The Film Feed praising Ink, I was skeptical too. But I’ve seen Ink, and I’ll tell you, it’s worth the $20 for the DVD.

Go. Now. Filmlovers, you’ll thank me later.

5/5
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Review – Fantastic Mr. Fox

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Animation is a tricky thing. There are a lot of hours, preparation and talent that go into animating something. In the case of Fantastic Mr. Fox, the work is easily doubled or tripled with the use of stop-motion and figures. This whole film is quite an accomplishment when it comes to the animation and scenery. I hope that everyone takes that into consideration when watching any animated film. I’m here to talk about this film as a whole though and there are areas outside of animation that weren’t as accomplished.

The cast seems almost pitch perfect in this movie. George Clooney as Mr. Fox, Meryl Streep as Mrs. Fox, and Jason Schwartzman as their son Ash. Bill Murray joins them as the family friend and Lawyer, Badger to help round out the talent. All of them are quite good, and fit their characters very well but I felt like I couldn’t get past the voice talent. I kept seeing George Clooney voicing Mr. Fox versus just seeing Mr. Fox and it took me out of the film a little. I found that Jason Schwartzman easily stole the show and a couple scenes though. He got a lot of the funnier moments in the movie. Still, he like the rest of the cast fell into the trap of being a big name actor playing a character rather than just being the character.

Creeping slowly by was the story. It never really seemed to lift off the ground and felt like a quirky attempt at being funny (this is a Wes Anderson film). There wasn’t really any overall moral to the story, at least not a great one. The film really seemed to try and aim between the adult and child genre of films and ended up hitting a target closer to the adult in my opinion. The story had its moments though, and did have a couple redeeming qualities. Again I felt like Jason Schwartzman‘s character stole the show and really tried to bring it back to a kids film. He might have been a little unsuccessful though.

There’s something fantastic about this movie. Well, not really, I just wanted to use that line. Really it’s just a fun couple chuckles and giggles, with a warm heart but no real soul. Fun movie to watch, great flick for American Thanksgiving but overall, besides the animation, this movie was just ok for me. If you’re a fan of stop motion animation, it’s a must watch. Otherwise, it wouldn’t hurt taking a date to this one this weekend or maybe renting it next Thanksgiving.

3/5
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Review – The Blind Side

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When I was younger I had a teacher who used to tell all her students to KISS (Keep It Simple Student). It was a funny, helpful and true saying that helped a lot of people get through middle school. Sandra Bullock‘s latest film, The Blind Side, gives a KISS to Hollywood and the feel-good genre of uplifting movies.

Keeping It Simple is what this movie seems to do best. Not that this is a bad thing, as the simplicity seems to help keep the movie in a wholesome and family (and I mean the whole family, not the High School Musical family) oriented realm. I would very easily recommend this to anyone with a family, or someone like my Mom. Being that this movie is coming out the same weekend as the new Twilight film, I think that recommendation is an easy one to make. Mom drops the crazed teenage daughter off at the crappy sequel, Mom goes and enjoys a better movie. Hopefully this helps with its box office earnings.

The acting in this movie is about par, much like how I felt about the rest of the movie. I didn’t feel like anyone really stood out. Sandra Bullock doesn’t exactly mail-in her performance, she does a pretty good job as the loving mother. Tim McGraw plays Tim McGraw, which is ok for this role. Kathy Bates makes an appearance near the end of the 2nd act of the movie and does well, though I feel like she missed a couple really opportune comedic beats. The kid who plays SJ (Jae Head) gets the most laughs in the film but overall doesn’t really out shine anyone, and maybe that’s a good thing.

I liked this movie, really I did. The simplicity of it really doesn’t hurt or help the film. It does deal with some issues that could have gotten more complicated (racism, stereotyping, drug use, etc…), but like I said early I think keeping these issues simple helped keep this movie viewable for the whole family. The movie does give out a great message about being different and having faith in people, but personally I would have loved to see them dive into the real life issues behind the feel-good story. Overall though, the film is fun, heartwarming and very family friendly. Just don’t look for anyone to be winning any Oscars with this KISS.

3.5/5
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Review – Halo 3: ODST

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Over the last two days, I got the wonderful opportunity to sit down with friends and family and plug in the newest addition to the Halo franchise.

Halo 3 ODST has a little bit of a deceiving title, as the game itself is built and rooted in Halo 3 and it’s physics, but story is based (from what I understand) during the events of Halo 2. That story, is what I’d like to focus on here in the review. Though the gameplay is does have a very pivotal part in any game, for this review, I’m going to attempt to approach it like one of my many film reviews.

And so, like my film reviews, I’m not going to give any plot points or spoilers out. If you don’t know what the game is about, what console it’s for, or what the hell I’m talking about, try bungie.net or xbox.com.

Something I’m having trouble with in reviewing this game is NOT comparing it to it’s cousins in the rest Halo series. I say Cousins, because ODST is a different beast then Halo, Halo 2 or Halo 3, especially narratively. For the first time in the series we not only take the point of view of an unsuper human, but we also play from more then 2 character’s perspectives. Bungie has played with multiple character perspective’s before in Halo 2, as you could play as the alien Arbiter as well as The Master Chief, with mixed results and mixed player response. I found this wonderfully refreshing veiw of the Halo universe though, as I was interested to hear what each character brough to the table.

That’s a big review point too, the character’s in this game are wonderful. I could be a little biased as Nathan Fillion is a born and bread Edmontonian, but he was easily my favorite character in the game. His character model looked really good, his voice acting, while a little stiff at the beginning of the game, is great by time you start getting into it. His off the cuff lines in the multiplayer mode Firefight are absolutely hilarious as well, spouting great lines like “Bam said the lady.”  Firefly alumni Alan Tudyk and Adam Baldwin also lend the voices and lead to some wonderful back and forth banter. I found Baldwin’s character great for some comic relief in his part of the story. The character of Romeo unfortunately was my least favorite character as he was kind of a jerk (I’d love to find out who played him), but maybe my dislike is just a testament to his voice acting. Last but not least is Tricia Helfer, best know for her Battlestar Galactica role, her voice work was great but, again unfortunately, her character model threw me off a bit. It kind of looked like her, but just fell flat for me. All-in-all the character’s felt like the best that Halo gaming series have seen, and I really hope we get to see more from Buck, Mickey, Dutch, Romeo and Dare soon.

The character’s are a real testament to the story of the game as well. Never has Halo felt so dark, gritty and real. I watched a great roundtable with guys over at Bungie during their visit to PAX, and in it they repeated over and over again that they were going for the Noir look and feel. I think they nailed it. This story feels like the most grounded, truly mystery ridden episode of the Halo games. Though there seems to be a little too many cinematics for my taste, they were very well done. And the way they’ve crafted the gameplay to lineup in sync with the story telling is truly well done, and I hope the bring more of this style to the next installments.

In short (though not as short as others) this game is a nice spin on an old classic. It’s got a wonderful feeling of the original Halo game, with some polished story telling that is highlighted by some fun voice acting. If you’ve got a spare day one of these weekends, I highly recommend it.

5/5
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Just as a sidenote: My buddy Mobius, my wife and myself polished the game off in less the 5 hours playing on one of the easier difficulties. The game only allows two players per Xbox, which is too bad, but we played pass the controllers between the three of us and it worked out not bad. In some respects the length felt too short, just because I liked the story and atomsphere. But in other repsects the length was just right, as we could all sit down and get it finished in one (albeit a little long) sitting.