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Netflix Synopsis:

Journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and rebellious computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) team up to investigate the unsolved disappearance of wealthy Henrik Vanger’s (Sven-Bertil Taube) teen niece (Ewa Fröling), only to uncover dark secrets about Vanger’s powerful family. Niels Arden Oplev directs this Swedish thriller based on the first novel from Stieg Larsson’s best-selling trilogy.

My Take:

I haven’t read the book, a synopsis of the book, or even a synopsis of the movie before renting it. I thought the title was interesting enough to warrant a rental. What was I expecting? From the title I was expecting an action film a la Angelina Jolie in Salt. What I got instead was a compelling hardcore drama-mystery-thriller.

What was difficult to handle in this film is not the subtitles, but the violence against women. There is graphic violence against the “Girl”, Lisbeth, in the title of the film, as well as referenced violence against several other females. The dialog, and descriptions of what happens to certain characters, are also difficult to stomach. It is like watching a hardcore episode of Criminal Minds or Law and Order: SVU. But then Lisbeth is one smart tough girl. She is not afraid of the pain she goes through, and certainly is not shy in dealing out a violent barrage if need be. Her complexity - a product of what she’s been through - is alluded to throughout the film. I’m sure it’s dealt with more thoroughly in the book(s).

I hear they are doing a US remake of this film. I would be hesitant to see it. But then I hear David Fincher is helming the remake. Either he or Christopher Nolan would do a worthy remake worth, at the least, checking out.

Rating: Full Admission

The Netflix synopsis: When a warmongering prime minister (Fengyi Zhang) advances his armies against two rival kingdoms, he unwittingly prompts his adversaries (Chen Chang and Yong You) to work together in this martial arts action-adventure. The ensuing conflict culminates in the epic battle of Red Cliff, a struggle by the sea involving more than one million soldiers.

My Take: A John Woo film without guns isn’t bad. And it doesn’t hurt to have Tony Leung in the cast. I was captivated by the story. But I wished it was fleshed out more. I then realized there is a longer two-part original version available.  Albeit it is four hours long, versus 148 minute for theatrical version I watched. I think the trade-off would be worth the extra effort, especially on blu-ray.

Rating: Matinee

Kate Beckinsale

The Netflix synopsis: “The lone U.S. marshal at a research station in Antarctica, Carrie Stetko (Kate Beckinsale) stumbles upon the continent’s first murder victim. With only three days left until the sun sets for six months, Carrie races to solve the complex mystery before darkness falls.”

My Take: Unfortunately, Whiteout was a weak mystery-thriller where you could predict the culprit(s) in the first 10 minutes. The only saving grace of the movie has going for it is the Antarctic setting and the Kate Beckinsale shower scene.  I’m guess the latter was added due to the overall dullness of the movie.  The source material must have better.

**Rating:*Cable TV

We were finally able to watch Iron Man 2 the other night in Cupertino.  I know its been out for some time, but we’ve been a little busy these last few weeks.  The baby fun is just starting, right?

In short, Iron Man 2 is worthy sequel. The movie introduces a few villains and heroes.  Also a character from the first film played by another actor.  It contains as much story depth and deep character development as they first movie - I write sarcastically - and plenty of action sequences.  My favorite sequence was the scene at the race track. 

Rating: Matinee

I didn’t have definite plans this morning, other than driving my wife to work. Unfortunately, she’s working New Year’s Eve day whereas I have it off. After dropping her off I decided to try a new place for breakfast. I launched the Yelp app on my iPhone and found Christie’s in Burlingame. Based on the reviews already on Yelp it seemed like the perfect way to start the day. Well, it would have been perfect if my wife could have joined me.

I love diners. This diner is located on California Drive, a slightly busy street. Metered parking was easy to find. Further out there is free two-hour parking, but you’ll need to walk a block or two. The place isn’t too large, probably holding anywhere from 40-50 people. The host/cashier greeted me promptly when I entered the door. I quickly found a single seat at the eight-seat counter.

The menu offers many choices for breakfast. I went with the “Our Own Joe’s Special” - a dish I’ve enjoyed at other diners. (As a side note, I either want corned beef hash or “Joe’s Special” when going to a diner.) Their “Joe’s Special” includes not only the requisite eggs and ground beef but mushrooms and tomatoes. It came with a healthy heap of crispy hashbrowns and nicely buttered toast.

The food was delivered promptly. My coffee cup was never empty, and I was often asked if everything was ok by several different waiters. The waiters were friendly, greeting new people and regulars with the same warm smile and hello. Luckily I managed to beat the morning rush, finishing my meal just as they were arriving.

I’m pretty sure I’ll be coming back when I’m down in Burlingame.

A few months back I decided to change the way I rate movie reviews. Previously I used the old standard of assigning a letter grade to a movie. I then moved to a liked it slash didn’t like it scale. I didn’t find much flexibility in that rating system. Now, I’m moving the real-world scale I use when asked about a movie. The scale, which I am sure is used elsewhere, is based on how much you are willing to pay to see a movie. The scale is as follows:

• Full Admission - Willing to pay for a full-price theater ticket, especially on a crowded Friday night.
• Matinee - Must see the movie in a theater, but do it as cheap as possible.
• Rental (DVD, Blu-ray, whatever media you choose) - See it right when it hits the retail market.
• Cable TV - You can wait until it shows up on cable to watch.

I’m sure there are other ratings that can be placed in there (e.g. cheap theaters, broadcast television) but I don’t find those ideal situations to watch most movies. Plus I don’t have a cheap theater near me and broadcast television has too many commercials to suffer through. Here are a few samples of movies I’ve reviewed and how I would rate them on this new scale:

• Full Admission - 300, The Dark Knight, Wall-E, Juno
• Matinee - Quantum of Solace, Grand Torino, Knocked Up
• Rental - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Transformers
• Cable TV - Nights in Rodanthe, Spider-Man 3

Let’s see how this scale works for me.

Dan Cook at San Jose Event Center

I’m not a big Dane Cook fan.  If someone was playing his CD or DVD I would listen or watch. But watching him live in concert is a different story.  I had no set expectations in seeing him in concert.  Unfortunately, his concert at the HP Pavilion was fair to middling at best.  He lacked any real energy or (fake) spontaneity, relying solely on his charm to push him through the night.  For me, the opening acts garnered more bellyful laughs.

Timothy Finn does a good review of Dane Cook’s concert earlier this year. It sums up the experience pretty well. Would I pay to see Dane Cook again?  Probably.  Would I spend as much? Probably not.

(photo via sjsharktank)

You don’t know what I’m capable of.

Liam Neeson does his best Jason Bourne in this action movie. Neeson is an ex-Preventer who must now use his skills to save his daughter. The movie moves along in a good clip. The violence can get intense at times, but the payoff works.

Rating: Matinee

It’s Wolverine, bub!

First off, I hated the title of this film.  It’s more suited as a comic book title than a film title.  I think they could have gotten away with Wolverine.  Non-fanboys would have known who Wolverine was, at least I think. I know he’s no Superman or Batman, but the target audience knows who Wolverine is. Well, onto the film itself.

As an origins story, it provided pretty minimal grit to understanding the man who is Wolverine in all the X-Men films. The story starts off with James / Logan as a boy and by the end of the opening credits he’s a man.  The opening credits helped the film along similar to Watchmen, covering enough history to get to a fair starting point for the story.  Well, what there is of a story.

I found the story weak and confusing at times. There are too many characters and story points to be compressed within the 107 minutes of the film. You can’t grasp any sense of who these characters are and why you should hate or care for them. It’s cool to see Gambit and Deadpool on the big screen, but it’d just as interesting to play them in a video game then watch them in this film again.

The fight scenes were on par with other X-Men films.  But oddly the special effects seem to be worse.  I would say the original X-Men film had better special effects than some of the scenes in this film. If you can wait for this film to come out on DVD, I’d say do so.  It should be out by the end of the year.

Rating: Rental

The crew of the Enterprise 2009

I tried to set my expectations low for this movie, hoping it would be good. Looking back I didn’t need to do this, as the movie succeeds on many levels.  This incarnation of Star Trek is accessible to both those familiar with and those new to Star Trek.  The story involves time travel - of course, it does, it’s Star Trek and J.J. Abrams - Romulans, Vulcans, and everything else in between.  I think the only thing that was missing was a Klingon.

The casting worked brilliantly, even having Winona Ryder as Spock’s mom worked.  The special effects helped, not hindered, the story’s progression.  There were two things that annoyed me: (1) the amount of lens flares in the movie, and (2) Pavel Chekov’s accent. The latter annoyed me only because of the number of lines Anton Yelchin, who plays Chekov, had to speak.  I would have preferred more lines from Simon Pegg, who plays the lovable Scotty.

Rating: Full Admission

Puppies. Evil puppies.

This is another one of those feel-good movies.  But if you know your dog movies, then you know what’ll happen. Yeah, it happens, but not after Marely gets a hold of your heart. Wow, did I just write that? If you’ve seen the trailer, then you’ve pretty much seen the whole movie. Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson are likable, but their characters, and the story, really don’t go anywhere. The movie won’t rot your brain, but it won’t stimulate it either.

Rating: Cable TV

Hello Red. What are you doing here?

You may have seen Redbox in your local grocery store, Wal-Mart, or even your local McDonald’s. It’s a DVD rental machine. You get a DVD for $1 dollar for one day. Not a bad deal considering your other brick-and-mortar options (e.g. Blockbuster). I went to their website to see what movies they had to offer.

The site is easy to use. After creating an account, you can access their DVD catalog. Registering only requires an email address. Search is easily done by movie title, release date, category, or even by the Redbox closest to you. I was disappointed by the number of titles offered. I wanted to watch The Reader, since it is listed as Long Wait in my Netflix queue, but Redbox doesn’t offer this movie.

When you find a movie you want to rent, you can reserve it online with a credit card. The DVD is reserved for about 24 hours. If you don’t pick up the DVD, it will be released for rental and you’ll still be charged. After reserving, go to the machine’s location (listed on the site), and swipe the credit card you used on the website. The DVD will pop out encased in a firm plastic case. It’s that simple.

It appears Redbox may start offering Blu-ray titles, but there doesn’t appear to be a start date for this. If they offer Blu-ray and a broader selection of DVD titles, it could prove to be a successful alternative to my Netflix habit. If they continue to only offer limited titles, they may not make a significant dent in my rental habits.

I think there’s something on your face.

I finally watched the Oscar-winning-feel-good-movie-of-the-year on DVD.  Yes, the actors are likable. Yes, the story is predictable. Yes, I’ll watch it if it’s on cable television, but I don’t think I’ll buy the DVD or rent it again.  If you have two hours to spend on a movie, this isn’t a bad choice.  You won’t have to think about the plot points too much, and it’ll make you, well, feel good.

Rating: Cable TV

Oh Rick!

Casablanca is one of my favorite films. I’ve seen it on VHS, laser disc, and DVD. I anxiously wanted to see this on Blu-ray.  I wasn’t disappointed with this rental.  The film looks crisp and clean, and it sounds amazing.  The amount of extras on this small blu-ray disc is astounding.  There is deleted scenes, commentary by Roger Ebert, and documentaries galore about the making of the film.

Rating: Full Admission