Buddha's Rhubarb Of Opinions On Media

Glib Reviews of Recent Movies. The Revenant  - Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu Like Iñárritu’s last film, “Birdman,” I was sucked in early, then spit out just before the ending. I feel like going back and seeing if his early films fail me in the third act as much as his last few. The film as a whole was quite good, cinematically, the actors were amazing if occasionally too mannered. I mean maybe Tom Hardy’s incoherent mumbling was supposed to be incoherent? Even if that is so; it still took away from an interesting character’s arc.  The cinematography, as usual in Iñárritu’s pictures is astounding. Though, I found the Argentinian shot scenes a bit jarring with the much more haunted looking forests than the stuff done in the Rockies, that was supposed to match up. Quibbles though, that. Some stuff was done in a studio in Burnaby also. For me the simple story gave way to non-story, with the prolonged chase at the end, which was much more paint by number...

Glib Reviews of Recent DVD & Blu Ray Releases. The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  - Directed by Guy Ritchie. A pretty entertaining movie rehash of one of my very first ‘Favourite TV shows.” Like my other early rerun Favourite ‘Star Trek,’ ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ was in reruns for the first time, after 5 years off the air, so 1973-ish for me.  My first crushes on men, were probably on these two, ‘not as suave as either thinks,’ and awesomely named super spies, ‘Napoleon Solo, and Ilya Kuryakin. I have rose coloured memories of watching that particular spy show. I was very much as a kid into spy tv shows, like this or, ‘the Avengers,’ ‘I Spy,’ ‘Get Smart,’ and the zillion others that came and went in the 70’s. I tried my best not to bring too much nostalgia to this movie remake. I enjoy the Star Trek movies, best as really good two part episodes of which ever show the characters are from. Most old tv shows rebooted into movies suffer from trying too hard to re-invent...

Glib reviews Of recent DVD Releases Boyhood - Directed by Richard Linklater (Always- Spoilers - it’s a review!) Now here’s a movie with a lot of hype. Some of it is deserved. The gimmick of the film doesn’t spoil the picture, but rather entices you to be interested. Linklater and all his actors met once a year for 12 years  and filmed a part of the story. This gave them a lot of time to get the story right, or make the story seem as innovative as the technique of filming.  Definitely the most interesting parts of the film are in the visual storytelling, the distinct sense you get of what its like to watch someone grow up. Some years, the only way you know it is a year later is that they mention the next grade, or the characters have moved. Kids grow in spurts, thus the next couple of years and boom it all seems in fast motion.  The first half of the film for my money should have been called Familyhood, or something slightly catchier. The main chara...

(not so) Glib Reviews of (not so) recent DVD releases 20 Feet Feet From Stardom Directed By Morgan Neville I finally got around to watching “20 Feet From Stardom,” as it was suggested as ‘homework’ for the choir I sing in. And it was a great bit of homework. You can’t help but gain a real appreciation of what it means to sing back up vocals. A wide range of singers, almost all of whom started in choirs, are interviewed pretty thoroughly about the whole of their careers, a few front-folk like Mick, the Boss, and so on offer their own appreciation for the art and how much the backing singers bring to their songs. Some of the people have had okay lead vocal careers, but mostly, they have just kept singing behind the big stars. Pretty much everyone though is pretty humble about just getting to sing. Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, and so many others, may be familiar names that maybe should or could have been household names. Phil Spector may have given a lot of t...

Glib reviews of recent DVD/Blu Ray releases. Night Moves - Directed by Kelly Reichardt This is not your father’s ‘Night Moves,’ that one is an under appreciated Arthur Penn flick with Gene Hackman. Both do crucially involve boats though. I wanted to like this film a bit more than I did. As a big fan of Reichardt’s films in general, I was looking forward to this quite a bit. It may be though my least favourite of the bunch, but that by no means says it’s a bad film, just not quite as good as the previous three films. If you like creepy atmospheric slow paced gorgeously shot in Oregon kind of movies, you will dig this. Jesse Eisenberg is at his broodingest best, here, you barely ever see under his hooded eyes, he only ever really expresses emotions over the things he perceives with horror, like the dead deer he moves from the edge of the highway to save the dead doe the dignity of not getting run over again and again, at least. The basic plot has Jesse (as Josh, commu...

Reviews Of Recent DVD/Blu Ray releases Tom At the Farm - Directed by Xavier Dolan I haven’t watched the last couple of Dolan films, but damn this kid knows what he is doing. Tom At The Farm is a director at the top of his game, there is nothing flashy, but so much that is effective. Dolan plays the title character, Tom, whose boyfriend has just died somehow that we are unclear of at the beginning.  He goes to the small Quebec farming community where the BF is from, for the funeral, to grieve with his partner's family. He quickly learns that the family not only didn’t know who he was, but that the mom at least didn’t know he was queer. These are not spoilers, but the description from the box.  The description, though is just that, it does not convey the so perfectly paced small town horrors that await Tom as he gets to know his dead lover’s family. There are so many Hitchcock, Truffaut references and transgressive twists to the story that it has a suspenseful c...

Glib Reviews of Recent DVD/Blu ray releases X-Men: Days Of Future Past -Directed by Bryan Singer Can it be that a person who reads several X-Men comics a month can be kind of bored by the X-men? Apparently.  This movie was probably the best looking, best shot movie of all the X-Men movies, and it tries very hard to tie them all together as much as possible. Perhaps a bit to hard, as I felt like there was just too much exposition, too much handwringing, despite some great action set pieces, and some of my favourite X-Men being included, like Kitty Pryde, Blink, Iceman, Storm, and so on.  You can’t blame a superhero movie for being contrived can you? I think you can. This movie has a better pace, and script than the ‘First Class’ movie, but for some ineffable reason it was not nearly as entertaining, for me at least. This may sound like a negative review, and it’s not really.  I liked a great deal of the movie, up to the latter part where Magneto goe...

Glib Reviews of Recent DVD/Blu Ray releases Edge Of Tomorrow, aka Live Die Repeat, aka All You Need Is Kill.  - Directed by Doug Liman Apparently the book is called All You Need Is Kill, The movie in the theatre was called Edge Of Tomorrow, the Disc release is Live Die repeat: Edge Of Tomorrow. I am not sure why there is a lack of confidence in any of the whacky titles, It’s a pretty solid sci-fi action flick, with a good sense of humour as well. All the Groundhog Day comparisons are pretty spot on, right down to the tacked on cheeseball ending, which works better in Groundhog Day. Cruise is very well cast in these Sci-Fi action flicks, Like in Oblivion, he gets to ride at least one motorcycle, and fly a copter, there are few surprises in the film, except the solid sense of when to cut, when to let the story progress.  Director Doug Liman, maybe most famous for Swingers, or The Bourne Identity is at the top of his game here. Bam bam bam, the show moves alon...

Glib Reviews Of Recent DVDs, Blu Rays. Double Feature Night Finding Vivian Maier - Directed by Jeff Maloof & Charlie Siskel Finding Vivian Maier is one of those modern docs that probably would have been impossible to make before the internet, computers being what they are these days. I have followed this story since Maloof first put some of Maier’s photos online, and they went viral. It was extremely interesting to find out actual information and hear from people who knew this often mysterious Nanny with a Rolliflex. She was doing selfies way back in the day, and her street photography is up there with the greats like Fred Herzog, or Walker Frank. The film makers, I felt did a great job of unravelling Vivian’s secrets, which every single person who knew her confirms, she would have hated. Hated all the attention to her and her story. Which is very interesting: She left a lot of audio tapes, and 8mm/16mm film as well.  Giving both more oblique, and more o...

Glib Reviews of Recent DVD/Blu-Ray Releases. “Aronofsky’s Noah” & “Jodorowsky’s Dune” The last two films I have watched are Darren Aronofsky’s SCI-FI take on the story of the Ark building, “Noah,” and the documentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune,” which is the story of how a pretty crazy sounding version of that novel I can never finish reading, almost but not quite got made. Myself, I can’t hear the name “Noah” without thinking of the Bill Cosby sketch of the same name, where God indeed gets Noah to build an ark, and gather up all the animals. The Cosby version is funnier, but just barely. Aronofsky’s laughs though, I think are not intentional. The whole fallen angels as rock men who help Noah get this completely insane sounding task done are ridiculous, and a clever plot device. If you are looking for “biblical accuracy” (sic) this is not your movie. If you are looking for a grim kind of alternately shouty/mumbly performance from Russell Crowe, then this might be your ...

Glib Reviews of recently released DVDs (Blu rays too) Zero Theorem -Directed By Terry Gilliam It’s a crying shame that Gilliam’s latest and most “Brazil-esque” movie in decades isn’t getting a theatrical release in Canada. I hope it does some art house or second run, it’s a shame that I didn’t get a chance to see this sumptuous cinematography and sound on the big screen.  Am I saying it was a great film? Maybe; I definitely think it bears a second or third viewing to decide, really. There is a lot going on in between some of the best performances you will see all year. Christoph Waltz is as Oscar worthy as he usually is. Great performance of neurosis trapped in a hyper neurotic world. His character basically plays Minecraft with mathematical equations for a living. His manic portrayal of the loneliest man who ever lived in an old church, lovingly spoons with the note perfect middle manager, shift supervisor, professional wash out, ever so perfectly turned by David T...

Glib Reviews of Vaguely New DVD Releases Before I do my next Mini-film fest, (Swashbucklers) starting Monday, I am having a new release Nerd fest. Movies about gamers have a tiny niche in the quick to video world of modern indie cinema. My favourite is the film “The Wild Hunt” an indie film from Quebec a few years ago. It was funny, serious, and a bit of a kitchen sink drama. Hidden Gem, it is.  On Saturday I plan to watch Zero Charisma, and will have a review of that, Sunday morning, or I may watch The Desolation of Smaug, and watch Zero Charisma, on Sunday. Either way, those two movies, and a third - The Knights Of Badassdom, make a little mini-D&D-esque movie weekend, punctuated by my afternoon Sunday actually playing in a tabletop RPG. My game logs for that game can be found on my RPG/FIC blog . My character’s name is Rosie Ramses. But on to the movie which was much more likeable than I thought it would be. A decent Nerd Comedy. Knights Of Badassdom...

Glib Review of vaguely new release DVDs Last Days On Mars - Directed by Ruairi Robinson I’m really glad that there are so many Sci Fi movies getting made these days, speaking as a big fan of all (well maybe not 'all') things Sci Fi (and Fantasy) ... I just wish that more of them lived up to their potential. The thematically similar recent Europa Report does a better job despite using the so hackneyed found footage trope.  There are no such conceits in this gritty thriller that wants to be an Alien , The Thing kind of movie. Bacterial life is found, and what could possibly go wrong. There are some good characters in this film, and the premise is solid if predictable. There’s not anything wrong with predictable, if it is done with style.  Last days On Mars has some style, but not enough to keep it from making me almost nod off occasionally. I especially enjoyed Olivia Williams playing the Ice Queen Scientist as well as we all know she can. The ending, not...