Author Archives: LukeMiller

A Few Movie Facts: Luke

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1. Of the AFI’s top 10 films of all-time, Raging Bull, Gone With the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia are the only films which I have not seen. The only films I think belongs in their top 10 list are Schindler’s List and Citizen Kane.

2. Some films I think they are missing out on are Children of Men, There Will Be Blood, Gangs of New York, Apocalypse Now, Kill Bill, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Pan’s Labyrinth and Taxi Driver. Man, I have a thing for dark films.

3. Favorite director is Martin Scorsese, hands down. Continue reading →

This City is Cinematic: Ten Cities for Independent Filmmaking

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Thanks to the digitalization of the film industry, one no longer has to live in Los Angeles or New York to become a filmmaker. Now the auteurs are able to plan, produce and cut their films in just about any city in the world without needing the Hollywood studio lots and financing to back up. With many cities and states seeking to cut away from LA’s business, they’ve been implementing tax breaks and resources which make things a little easier for the independent filmmaker.

For the past ten years Movie Maker magazine has been posting a list of the ten best cities to live, work and make movies for independent filmmakers. Recently, they have published their list of cities for 2010, which can be seen in their latest article here. CyniCritics looks at what these cities have put out recently and what their locations can be ideal for.

1. Albuquerque, New Mexico

What’s been filmed there: The Book of Eli, Terminator Salvation, Crazy Heart, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Transformers 2, Sunshine Cleaning, No Country for Old Men, Little Miss Sunshine and 21 Grams

Who used it best: The Cohen Brothers in No Country for Old Men

Ideal for:  Desert settings, possible Iraqi war films, post-apocalyptic films Continue reading →

ARCHIVE REVIEW: Lars and the Real Girl

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Lars and the Real Girl
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Written by: Nancy Oliver
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Paul Schneider, Emily Mortimer, Patricia Clarkson

Pretty much your standard indie-love-dramedy. Boy meets girl. Boy suppresses feelings for girl. Boy orders an anatomically correct mannequin off the internet in replacement.

Okay, so not quite the standard love story arc we’re used to, but it’s definitely something quirky and cool enough for to get excited about, since it is the premise is really what drives the interest throughout movie. Lars Lindstrom (Gosling) lives in the garage/apartment adjacent to the home his brother (Schneider) and him inherited from their dead parents. For the most part Lars seems like a normal guy, driving his own car, attending church, dressing in a range of gaudy sweaters and working in a small desk job where he has many co-worker friends who attempt to reach out to Lars. The problem is, is that Lars rejects their affection and often seems irritated by their company and kindness. Continue reading →

TRAILER: Tron Legacy

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Tron Legacy
Directed by: Joesph Kosinski
Written by: Adam Horowitz, Richard Jefferies, Edward Kitsis
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Gerrett Hedlund, Michael Sheen

Rumors were true, Tron Legacy will be a sequel to the 1982 film which was one of the first films to rely heavily on early forms of CGI. Only this time audiences will be able to enjoy the Tron world in CGI’s prime and new exploration into 3D technology. Producing the project is the original writer and director, but to write the project Disney has doing what it does best, using full corporate synergy by employing nearly the entire Lost staff. Directing the project is first time director Joesph Kosinski, who only has a few video came commercials to his name. But it makes sense, given a few of the motion capture images look like video game characters.

It’s safe to call it a cross between Star Trek and The Dark Knight trailers, the former for plot reasons, the latter for stylistic. There seems to be enough plot to keep the story up to pace with visually magnificent Tron world, which looks like it might be the best of 3D yet. Disney is clearly dedicating itself to take full advantage of the new technology, although it doesn’t see to want to take too many risks since every film so far has been a remake or sequel (sans Up, but those were pre-Avatar days). Overall, it looks exciting as hell, and seems to take itself pretty seriously. Continue reading →

REVIEW: Alice in Wonderland

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Alice in Wonderland
Directed by: Tim Burton
Written by: Linda Woolverton (screenplay) Lewis Carroll (books)
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Anne Hathaway

Burton, the genius imaginateer behind Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd along with a list of other brilliant works, teams up for the eighth time with star Johnny Depp to recreate a classic childhood fantasy in the likes of their 2005 effort Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The story is more of a sequel than a remake, combining elements and characters from Lewis Carroll’s 19th century books Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It starts with Alice, now 19 and soon to be wedded to a freckled face boy who suffers from digestion issues and happens to now own her dead father’s trading business. The trouble is Alice (Mia Wasikowska) has no intentions of marrying him or living a life where everything is decided for her. When asked to accept her fate of no longer being able to accept her fate, Alice rushes away and follows the white rabbit into a whole where she returns to Wonderland although not remembering having been there before.

In Wonderland Alice is told that she must rescue Wonderland from the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) by slaying the Jabberwocky with the sword of the Red Queen’s sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). With direction from many of the realm’s bizarre characters, including a delightfully peculiar Mad Hatter (Depp), Alice is taken on a journey where she and only she can decide the fate of herself and of Wonderland.

In other versions of Carroll’s story, the story and realm which he creates is more linked to our world, with commentary on villainous Victorian aristocracy, 19th century breakthroughs on philosophy of the self, self-absorption and even perhaps the sad end to world anglo-manifestation. Of course these messages are far above the heads of children, but make great observations for adult audiences. In Burton’s version, this dimension of the story is slightly written out in favor of a more Disney approved feministic theme about being able to make your own decisions and do what it right. It’s not total fluff though, and it’s written into the story quite nicely, with Alice’s real world reflecting her Wonderland world. Burton cleverly has characters in both worlds imitate each other and even mimics his scenes to draw the comparisons. Continue reading →

ARCHIVE REVIEW: It Might Get Loud

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It Might Get Loud
Directed by: David Guggenheim
With: Jack White, Jimmy Page and the Edge

Non-music fans please be aware, if you haven’t heard the names Jimmy Page, Jack White or Edge, it might get dull. Though Guggenheim (the An Inconvenient Truth director) plucks three of the most influential and coming of age guitarists of their respectable decades, the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, “It Might Get Loud” misses some of the larger or more vibrant connections these guitarists have, leaving the movie strumming a little too softly.

By bringing three such prominent musicians together, many interesting story-lines are instantly created, Edge’s innovative electronic sound manipulation vs. White’s bare bones blues improvisation as well as each musician’s respective social context and upbringing. At times these perplexing relationships seem undercut to give more time for the guitarist to play fan favorites, leaving the audience a little thirsty for more interaction and unity between the riffs. Continue reading →

Complete Oscar Coverage

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OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Matt Ersmaper’s Picks

Luke Miller’s Picks

BEST PICTURE NOMINEES REVIEWED

Avatar

Verdict: The film is titanic in every way, from its dazzling images and special effects to its messages and attention to detail. But with big budget comes big demand, meaning Cameron must make a crowd-pleaser. Dumbing down the dialogue, character depth and dynamics, he creates a universal story the whole world can understand and enjoy. Avatar is whatever movie you want it to be, a love story, a message movie, or an visually imaginative heyday, but to sophisticated moviegoers it’s only meh. Grade: B- Full Review Here

The Blind Side

Verdict: John Lee Hancock’s bombastic, preachy and watered down The Blind Side is the one movie nominated for Best Picture this year that didn’t deserve its slot. This is the crowd-pleasing, melodramatic sports movie that moved both the Monday Night Football crowd and Sarah Palin wannabes to tears.  Hancock directs this film with a style right out of the sports film playbook, taking no chances and milking every crowd-pleasing scenario for maximum fluff. Grade: D Full Review Here

District 9

Verdict: District 9 is the greatest display of gritty sci-fi, with its scathing political undertones and pulse pounding action.  Blomkamp is able to mesh aliens seamlessly into a very real human world that echoes our own. While the obvious political undertones make this an allegory for apartheid, more conceptual parallels can be made with our current human rights, terrorism, and corporate moral dilemma. It’s expert movie making from top to bottom.  Grade: A Full Review Here Continue reading →

Oscar Predictions: A Second Take

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CyniCritcs reviewer Matt Erspamer posted his Oscar predictions and hopefuls a while ago here. For a second opinion on the main categories and a look at some of the technical awards, Luke Miller posts his picks and favorites here.

Best Picture

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up In the Air

Will Win: The Hurt Locker. Avatar may have audiences at home swooned away with its big glitzy effects, but with the new preferential voting system in place, The Hurt Locker has a lot less haters than Avatar which makes me believe it will be found on more number two and three place ballots of those who get cut in the early rounds. Avatar winning at this point would be one big upset after losing at the PGA, WGA, DGA and BAFTA which are all huge precursors to the Oscars.

Should Win: Up In the Air. I can’t really summarize how great this film is without ranting into a whole essay. You can read about it here in my review however.

Left Out: The following films that are better than The Blind Side: Star Trek, Away We Go, Moon, (500) Days of Summer, Public Enemies, State of Play, The Road, or Where the Wild Things Are. Personally, I would have chosen a comedy to put in this bunch and Away We Go had the best blend of funny and heart to rank it up with Juno or Little Miss Sunshine. Continue reading →

BEST PICTURE NOMINEE: Up

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Up
Directed by: Pete Docter
Written by: Pete Docter and Bob Petersen
Voiced by: Edward Asner, Christopher Plummer and Jordan Nagai

Pixar is now 9 for 10 (Cars being the DreamWorks-esque oddball). After previous bests Ratatouille and Wall-E, Up completes the trifecta for Pixar’s seemingly effortless creative machine.

Up’s plot takes off when young Carl Frederickson meets Ellie, a fire-cracker and adventurous girl that shares his interests. The two eventually fall in love and spend a lifetime together dreaming of going to South America and following their youthful spirits. But when life gets in the way, their dreams and plans are grounded. Seventy years later, after Ellie has died, Carl is forced to move to a retirement home and give up the home and life he built with his wife. Before they can take him away, he and his home fly away on the grand adventure the two always dreamed of. Continue reading →

BEST PICTURE NOMINEE: Up in the Air

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Up in the Air
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (screenplay) Walter Kirn (novel)
Starring: George Clooney, Anna Kendrick, Vera Farmiga and Jason Beitman

There is something about Jason Reitman’s ability both as screenwriter and director that enables him to do the most audacious tasks. Whether it’s clearing the smoke on the dubious debate between government and tobacco industries, bringing life to a taboo tale of a pregnant teen or travelling the gap between corporate America and the American, Reitman is always on board.

Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is in a business that thrives off of America’s deteriorating businesses. The old school corporate executioner travels all over the US, city to city, visiting companies with lists of middle managers and other white collars who are to be fired due to the economy. When bosses are too cowardly to break the bad news, it is Bingham’s job to sweep in and let them down as softly and suavely as his persona, which is why he does his job so well. In addition, he gives them a load of garbage about all the new opportunities and resources available to them. It only makes sense that he gives motivational speeches about the same sorts of subjects at business seminars and conventions. He does it well, and he loves doing it. Living a life of a nomad business man is exactly what he wants, so that he can detach himself from family, materialism and miserable grounded lifestyle led by the people which he fires.

Bingham is flying high until his company looks toward a young ivy-league hotshot (Kendrick) who proposed the company begin using an online model to cut out the travelling budget, putting Bingham’s job and lifestyle out of business. The new challenges he now faces are similar to the great challenges America is facing. Streamlining and digitizing isn’t just for corporations anymore, it’s for people, and it’s making us change the way we look at business and our lives. There is a constant back and forth between the traditional and the new.  It is an interweaved story of relevance and at the forefront is a fantastic character who must understand why he’s wandering through the world and what he needs to start bringing with him. Continue reading →