Big Fan

Big Fan

Big Fan came out this past tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010 to rent. This movie was all right. It had a good plot, good beginning, but it did not execute or finish well at all. All in all, I honestly wouldn’t recommend it as a must see movie at all. But at the same time I wasn’t completely bored.

Written and directed by Robert Siegel, writer of the 2008 indie film the Wrestler, and a reporter for the Onion, this dark comedy takes you into the life of NY Giants fanatic Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt, Spence from King of Queens). He is a loyal fan through and through. Every night he calls in sports radio stations to defend his giants against his archenemy Philadelphia Phil, and even writes down what he has to say. His life is simple. He is a parking attendant, lives with his mother, and lives for the giants. One night, he and his friend see their favorite giants player, Quantrell Bishop filling up with gas in Staten Island. They decide to follow him and try to get his autograph. They end up following him to a club in Manhattan. Paul tries to approach him to get his autograph. At first things go ok, but then Paul mentions how they followed him from Staten Island. This freaks out the football star, and he beats Paul into a bloody pulp. Waking up in the hospital days later, Paul tries to come the grips of the fact that he was beat up by his favorite football star. Now he doesn’t know if he should sue Quantrell, or give him jail time, or drop the charges so that he could play for the Giants and possibly get them to the Super Bowl.

The movie had its great moments. There were some very funny parts. I enjoyed watching the scenes with Paul’s family. Like when Paul confronts his brother on the toilet about pressing charges against Quantrell. Or when Paul gets in a fight with his mother over the phone while Paul is talking on the sports radio. But these moments didn’t last the whole time. There were some very dull parts through out the movie. As I said before, the gun was loaded, but it only shot blanks instead of death bullets.

This movie did have a lot of language. Some of it just sounded forced. But it is the way people talk in Staten Island. But it is R for lots of language. So if you’re not a fan of the F word, don’t bother to see it.

My Excused Absence

Hey everyone. I know I don’t have very many fans or followers, but I want to give you a reason of why I haven’t updated my movie blog in months. I was getting ready for marriage, and my girlfriend/fiancée decided to end our relationship and not try at it anymore. It was a sad day. I went through months of depression and reflection. But now I am all better. I have learned many many things, and I am a better man for going through the things I went through. So with that, I am back in the game with my reviews and opinions on movies.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox

I saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox over the thanksgiving break. It was honestly amazing. By far, my most favorite Wes Anderson movie ever made. It was so fresh, so original, and so funny. I honestly loved so much about it. Its claymation, but then its not. Its just fresh.

If you are not familiar with Wes Anderson, he has done movies such as Bottle Rockets, Rushmore, The Darjeeling Limited, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and The Royal Tenenbaums. His wit is hard for everyone to embrace, but if you get his sense of humor, his movies are pure brilliance. But its defiantly dry humor and wit.

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The Fantastic Mr. Fox is based off the book by Roald Dahl, who also wrote James and the Giant Peach, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Fantastic Mr. Fox (George Clooney) is the story of one Mr. Fox and his wild-ways of hen heckling, turkey taking and cider sipping, nocturnal, instinctive adventures. He has to put his wild days behind him and do what fathers do best: be responsible. He is too rebellious. He is too wild. He is going to try "just one more raid" on the three nastiest, meanest farmers that are Boggis, Bunce and Bean. It is a tale of crossing the line of family responsibilities and midnight adventure and the friendships and awakenings of this country life that is inhabited by Fantastic Mr. Fox and his friends. Through out the movie, the many characters make this movie a riot. Bill Murray plays the badger, and Mr. Fox’s “different” son is played by Jason Schwartzman so perfectly.

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Here is a list of the wonderful cast.

George Clooney ... Mr. Fox (voice)

Meryl Streep ... Mrs. Fox (voice)

Jason Schwartzman ... Ash (voice)

Bill Murray ... Badger (voice)

Wallace Wolodarsky ... Kylie (voice) (as Wally Wolodarsky)

Eric Chase Anderson ... Kristofferson (voice) (as Eric Anderson)

Michael Gambon ... Franklin Bean (voice)

Willem Dafoe ... Rat (voice)

Owen Wilson ... Coach Skip (voice)

Jarvis Cocker ... Petey (voice)

Wes Anderson ... Weasel (voice)

Karen Duffy ... Linda Otter (voice)

Robin Hurlstone ... Walter Boggis (voice)

Hugo Guinness ... Nathan Bunce (voice)

Helen McCrory ... Mrs. Bean (voice)

Adrien Brody ... Field Mouse (voice)

As you can see, this movie is stacked with brilliant actors and actresses. But what made me love this movie the most was how original the art of it was. I have never seen a Claymation movie done so beautifully. Now I am not heavily involved in the clay movie-making world, but this is by far one of the coolest movies done with clay that I have seen in a long time. It made my jaw drop. The way the shots were set up, or how they would use the most random household products to make certain effects. Like cotton for smoke. It was brilliance to see all the creativity used in this movie to make it so entertaining. So it was claymation, but then again it wasn’t.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2igjYFojUo

Besides the artwork being so fresh and a change of pace, the writing was pure funny. Instead of saying the F word, they used the word cuss. It was hilarious to hear them use the word cuss after everything. Little kids might not have gotten it, but adults sure did, and it therefore made it really enjoyable to a lot of people.

The soundtrack was a really fun listen. 1. “American Empirical Pictures”*

2. “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” - The Wellingtons

3. “Mr. Fox in the Fields”*

4. “Heroes and Villains” - The Beach Boys

5. “Fooba Wooba John” - Burl Ives

6. “Boggis, Bunce, and Bean”*

7. “Jimmy Squirrel and Co.”*

8. “Love” - Nancy Adams

9. “Buckeye Jim” - Burl Ives

10. “High-Speed French Train”*

11. “Whack-Bat Majorette”*

12. “The Grey Goose” - Burl Ives

13. “Bean’s Secret Cider Cellar”*

14. “Une Petite Île” - Georges Delerue

15. “Street Fighting Man” - The Rolling Stones

16. “Fantastic Mr. Fox AKA Petey’s Song” - Jarvis Cocker

17. “Night and Day” - Art Tatum

18. “Kristofferson’s Theme”*

19. “Just Another Dead Rat in a Garbage Pail (behind a Chinese Restaurant)”*

20. “Le Grand Choral” - Georges Delerue

21. “Great Harrowsford Square”*

22. “Stunt Expo 2004″*

23. “Canis Lupus”*

24. “Ol’ Man River” - The Beach Boys

25. “Let Her Dance” - Bobby Fuller Four

If you are having doubts about seeing this movie, ignore them and go see it. You wont regret it. I promise. It’s worth your time.