I Dreamed a Dream Within a Dream, Within a Movie...

Inception is the rare blockbuster that provides you with huge action scenes, explosions, car chases and good looking stars, all the while demanding your full attention. As the viewer, your eyes focus on the stunning visuals, while your mind gets destroyed by the complexity of the story. A Michael Bay movie, this is not.

Set in a somewhat futuristic present day world, Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb, a professional thief who specializes in stealing from people’s dreams. He takes on one last job with his team (Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tom Hardy plus new recruit Ellen Page) from a Japanese business man (Ken Watanabe) who promises to erase his vague legal issues, which will allow Cobb to reunite with his two children, who are back home in the States.

To explain any further only gives things away. I can tell you, though, that this “one last job” is not to steal an idea form the “mark” (played by Cillian Murphy), but to implant one; a feat which is said to be impossible. At the very least, “inception” involves a considerable amount of risk, and hence, a thriller is born.

Christopher Nolan has proven his worth to me more times than one. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of his films, (even Insomnia, which isn't as highly regarded) and his screen-writing abilities only further intrigue me. (How does a mind like his exist?) A common theme among his films is jumping back and forth between time frames within the film, creating an intricate puzzle that can leave the viewer confused, yet wholly satisfied by film’s end.

As someone who commonly remembers his dreams, I was blown away with how detailed and intricate the script was in dealing with the human subconscious. I’ve picked apart my own dreams to figure out what certain themes may represent, or how seemingly random moments and people from your life can just pop-up within these - as I like to put it - “movies of the mind.” With Inception, Nolan incorporates all of these ideas, and explains them in a way that is existential, yes, but without the common art-house pretentiousness. After all, this is a heist film at its core; and what is a summer blockbuster without action?

The film is shot beautifully, with, most importantly for this film fan, limited CGI. The zero gravity fight scene, which rivals anything from the Matrix, was done with a rotating set & cable work. This method allows the viewer to believe the unbelievable aspects of this world, because it doesn’t look like it was done with a computer.

At 2 ½ hours, the film didn’t feel long to me. In fact, it moved along at pretty slick pace, which was heightened by the fantastic score which underlined the entire film. I sensed both the urgency and the excitement that was being presented, and I was completely hooked form the beginning. As I mentioned before, my eyes were locked on the visuals, while my mind was being blown apart. A movie that does that is worth viewing again…and in this case, you’ll probably have to just to fully-grasp its complexity.


5 Dented Bumpers*



*Crash’s Film Rating Legend:
5 DB’s -- Freaking Fantastic! (a rating that’s not easily attained.)
4–4.5 DB’s -- Great: It’s worth seeing again/owning.
3–3.5 DB’s -- Decent – Good (I’d watch it again on cable)
2–2.5 DB’s -- Meh; (possibly had potential, but I won’t watch it again)
1DB -- Awful; I want my money back.

Anything less is not even worth downloading illegally

A Fist-Pump to the Sky...

I love when callers are excited to win tickets...Like Mike was to get Fred Rock tickets this morning. Only problem: he didn't actually get the trivia answer correct, lol....I gave the tickets to him...eventually. Check out the audio below.

The Fox is the Official Radio Station of Fred Rock Go here to learn more.



-Crash-

The Boy Who Cried Foul...

So, I struck out in slow pitch… twice… in my first game.

It was this utter humiliation that drove me to avoid playing on my new team for 5 weeks. (Not true…but it's much sadder this way) Either way, this past Sunday I made my return to The Slammers <- my Sunday's only beer-league-type slow pitch team. The heat was on. (No really; it was in the 30's…and humid.)

Seeing as how, for various reasons including a couple rain postponements and my own wedding, I hadn't played with the team since that fateful first outing, I'm dead-last in the batting order. The pressure to actually get on base was outstanding, and I had lots of time to agonize over my first at-bat.

The first pitch is thrown. I count: one...two... swing on three.

Whiff!

It was a swing and a miss, followed by laughter from our dugout; followed by cursing under my breath.

The 2nd Pitch

Contact is made (though barely). The ball grounds to the short-stop who decided to throw to third for the out rather than catch me at first. I was on base…fielder's choice, yes, but I was on base. Mission Accomplished. My stats still sucked, but beefing those up from the comedic Zero was never the goal of the day…a pipe dream, perhaps, but never a goal.

My next at bat was similar to the first, except this time the fielder elected to throw to first for the out. (I won't be focusing on my defensive play; The day wasn't about that. Although I did get an assist, we don't keep track of defensive stats, so…why try so hard?)

For my final at-bat of the game I stepped to the plate, amidst tremendous scrutiny and jeering from my teammates (If you know me at all, you know I dish it out as well as the best of them). The pitch is thrown.

Contact is made. I drive it deep into left field. So deep, in fact, that it sails over the netting designed to keep balls in the park. That's right, reader; I nailed one out of the park. My team was in shock from awe. I felt fantastic; it was the best contact a bat I'd swung had ever made with a softball.

It was foul.

So, while my story loses its impressiveness at this point, I have a reason to look forward to next weekend and a new goal to work toward: making it to second base.

-Crash-

Third Time's a Charm!

After two failed attempts, I was finally able to make my interview with Steve Mazur of Our Lady Peace happen. We talked for about 15 minutes. This is what made the air:

"MACGRUBER!!! He made a movie that's not really worth watching MACGRUBER!!!!"

Signs the movie you are about to watch sucks:

1) The guy that rips your ticket smirks as he says: “enjoy your movie”
2) There are 8 people in the theatre; 1/4 of them came with you.
3) Everyone you know who’s seen it says it sucks.
4) The Previews beforehand feature this, this and this.

MacGruber had all of these signs going in, plus it was playing in Theatre 5, Death Row for movies playing in Fredericton, only two weeks after its release.** All of this aside, I was curious. Maybe I’m just a sucker for punishment, but I had to know for myself.

MacGruber, as a recurring sketch on SNL, makes me laugh; mainly because of Will Forte. Not everyone likes him, but I find his dead-pan delivery hilarious. The sketch works because it’s only about 5 minutes long. The film, however, is 88 minutes.

I’m not going to lie, MacGruber made me laugh, but the laughs came way too sporadically for a movie of its nature. When jokes start getting repeated, it gets old…especially when it was old the first time (MacGruber’s nemesis in the film, played by a bloated, hammy Val Kilmer, is named Dieter Von Cunth…think about it) The story doesn’t really matter in a film like this, but the script has to be sharp to keep my interest in between laughs and MacGruber just didn’t do that

The actors do what they can, and as I said there are some genuinely funny things in this movie. It was nice to see Ryan Phillipe going for some laughs as opposed to being Mr. Serious all the time; I’ve already expressed my dissatisfaction with Val Kilmer (what happened to this guy!?). Kristen Wiig & Will Forte have a good chemistry and great comic timing and ability; it’s just too bad they couldn’t have shown a bit more of that here.

Overall, the experience wasn’t a total wash. MacGruber is not the worst SNL movie (It’s Pat) nor is it anywhere near the best (Wayne’s World). I wasn’t let down because my expectations were so low going in, there was no way to climb but up; after seeing the previews for Resident Evil: Afterlife & Piranha 3D, nothing I was going to watch could’ve possibly been worse.

2 Dented Bumpers.*

*Crash’s Film Rating Legend:
5 DB’s -- Freaking Fantastic! (a rating that’s not easily attained.)
4–4.5 DB’s -- Great: It’s worth seeing again/owning.
3–3.5 DB’s -- Decent – Good (I’d watch it again on cable)
2–2.5 DB’s -- Meh; (possibly had potential, but I won’t watch it again)
1DB -- Awful; I want my money back.

Anything less is not even worth downloading illegally


** As of this posting, MacGruber is no longer playing in Fredericton. (it played for 2 weeks)

A Love Born Out of Spite

The year was 1967. It was the year my father, a mild-mannered, shy, quiet soul, fell in love. This love would become strong, unwavering and not without its hardships.

No, this is not the kind of love that would eventually manifest itself into the handsome young man writing this entry for you today. That love would come later on. This love, was a love born out of spite. It is a love I, myself share. Oddly enough, I owe it all to fans of the Montreal Canadiens.

In 1967, Matthew Barton was certainly aware of hockey, but had never fully jumped into the realm of full-on die hard fandom. He knew of the teams, and he certainly knew the game. My father and his brothers would grow to become synonymous with a twice a week ice-time at the local arena; If you hadn’t played “Barton Boys” hockey, you hadn’t played hockey.

Now, while he had yet to accept the hopeful, glorious highs along with the desperate, bitter lows of choosing a sports team in which he could rest his faith, he was most certainly aware of the kind of attitude needed to be a “die-hard”. Anyone (whether knowing the game or not) who has looked at their Twitter/Facebook feed during the Stanley Cup playoffs this year is also blatantly aware of the utter ridiculousness of it all – yup, I said it.

Here’s the deal: In ’67 the Montreal Canadiens were poised to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup, after ousting Detroit & Chicago, respectively, in the two years prior. So, naturally, Habs fans (and I’m referencing Seinfeld here) had “hand” in their relationship with fans of other teams. So, like any fan with “hand”, these Habs fans – these friends and school-mates of my father – started chirping. The only thing worse than a chirping fan, is a chirping Habs fan. (You know my affiliation, so don’t even bother to defend, here.)

Yes, my father is mild-mannered, and shy…he is also stubborn and antagonistic (traits I can concede he has passed on to his children). The latter traits will trump most any other if he cares enough; and in 1967, my father cared. He cared, not for who he thought would be the best hockey team; not for who had the most cups…he cared about silencing the chirping. He cared about serenity. If another team were to beat the Canadiens and win the cup, my father knew he could go to school and not have to put up with the overzealous boasting that, until now, wasn’t even directed at him. That’s how bad it was and he’d had enough.

So, Matthew Barton, the antagonist, began to truly watch hockey, but he needed a team. He had to root for someone: a team that could be better than Montreal, a team that, by winning a game in general, could piss of an entire nation of Habs fans. He chose The Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Leafs won the cup that year; playing Montreal in the Stanley Cup finals, taking them out at home in game 6. They haven’t won another since. Montreal would go on to win the following year, and many years thereafter, but in 1967: the chirping was silenced. My father found peace. My father fell in love…with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Hey, Dad, listen…the chirping has stopped again for the year. Here’s to you, and here’s to 2011.

Even The Losers Get Lucky Sometimes

The Losers are a macho group of rag-tag military guys with nicknames as cliché as the rest of the movie itself (see poster above for nicknames). Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

The first scene arbitrarily sets up the premise: A 5-man military unit is on a mission. The unit is set-up; the mission goes bad, and they’re left for dead. The gang goes off the grid until a mystery woman offers to help them get their lives back and then spend the rest of the film exacting revenge on man they know only by his voice and a name: Max.

Max is fantastic, by the way. Jason Patrick, not necessarily known for light-hearted fare, injects snarky humour into the heartless bad-guy. He steals each scene he is in and, at least for me, he made this movie. The rest of the cast are as cliché as you’d expect in a B-class comic book movie. (Is The Losers even considered B-class?) Each of the Losers has his own specialty and they crack wise and act macho, but they all have a heart of gold...or do they?

There’s plenty of over the top action, complete with double crosses. The good guys are all perfectly accurate while the bad guys have the reflexes of turtles. There’s a cool state-of-the-art terrorist weapon that is there to have something to stop at the last second, and there’s even a love-story; but it’s merely a blip. Zoe Sandala is basically in it to look good; which I’m fine with.

Overall, The Losers is a TV Movie with a bigger budget. At the same time, that’s the beauty of it. It doesn’t take itself too seriously and that’s why I had fun. It had action; it had laughs; and it sets up nicely for a sequel. How could I expect anything more?

3 Dented Bumpers*


*Crash’s Film Rating Legend:
5 DB’s -- Freaking Fantastic! (a rating that’s not easily attained, btw)
4–4.5 DB’s -- Great: It’s worth seeing again/owning.
3–3.5 DB’s -- Decent – Good (I’d watch it again on cable)
2–2.5 DB’s -- Meh; (possibly had potential, but I won’t watch it again)
1DB -- Awful; I want my money back.

Anything less is not even worth downloading illegally