The Incredible Shrinking Man

Movie: The Incredible Shrinking Man

Actors: Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent

This movie really justifies being a classic as the story and effects are significantly ahead of their time.

The movie was released in 1957, a time when there was a great fear of the unknown stemming primarily from wars and new nuclear instruments being introduced. People were unaware of the full affects of all these new inventions, which lead to a lot of creativity in the horror movie genres of the time.

Throughout the movie you really feel for Williams as he struggles with the knowledge of his rapid decreasing size. He is an amiable character who you truly feel sorrow for and genuine concern and fear as he is unable to determine the cause and eventual result of his condition (and the doctors are no help either).

What I found to be particularly fascinating was the effects used throughout the movie. They started more subtly with making his clothes bigger to give the illusion of his shrinking size. But soon they toy with the whole room making the furniture appear larger and even his telephone. He often has dialogues with his wife where she appears to be truly larger than him despite the limitations of the effects during this era.

Rarely do I find myself wondering how they did a certain effect in these older movies, but the question crossed my mind multiple times during this film.

Eventually Williams must face many dangers that an extremely small being would, like how to accomplish the impossible task of getting up one step in a series of mountain like stairs.

This movie was truly amazing and far ahead of its time with both effects and storytelling, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in engaging science fiction movies that successfully create a true image of fear and sublimity.

Charlie Bartlett

Movie: Charlie Bartlett

Actors: Anton Yelchin, Robert Downey Jr., Hope Davis, Kat Dennings

This under movie was pretty under the radar, as I'm sure not too many people remember when it came out awhile ago (2007). I recall seeing a preview for it and thinking "hm, that movie looks interesting."

So I finally got around to seeing it and I was extremely pleased at how excellent the story telling unfolded, as well as the strong and believable cast. Anton Yelchin (who's also in the recent Star Trek movie as Chekov for all you who've seen it) plays an extremely intelligent high school student who can't seem to help but get expelled from all his snooty tie wearing private high schools.

Much like the movie Rushmore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rushmore_(film)) Yelchin seems to have an overactive ambition that leads him into misguided behavior which, while never being malicious, seems to strike a negative chord with the administration.

He lives in a lonely mansion with mother Hope Davis living with the absence of his father (you'll find out what happened to him). He eventually winds up at a public school, struggling to make new friends, however this soon changes with the initial assistance of dealings in numerous medications.

Once he takes on the roll as self proclaimed school psychiatrist listening to the problems of the students when no one else will, the story really begins to pick up.

As I mentioned before, I found the cast extremely believable in the roles which contributed to the overall enjoyability of the movie. Downey Jr. is an alcoholic single parent and principle of the school Yelchin is attending. He seems to not care about his job, which leads to Yelchin's inevitable rise as the school's heroic voice.

I found the pacing of the movie to be flawless in never missing a beat and I was never bored watching these interesting characters develop. I was truly rooting for Yelchin the entire movie, even when he was getting in trouble with the school for dealing the medicinal drugs. Never once did I find myself questioning any motives behind the characters actions, and it all somehow made a great deal of sense.

I definitely learned much from this movie, and I found myself thinking about what a 17 year old in high school really wants in life at that point, and what they should do with what they are given.

I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a plot revolving around interesting character development with likable and believable characters.

Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 Teaser Trailer! :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXJEDUainX4

Taken

Movie: Taken

Actors: Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace

Alright, so I went in seeing this movie with the expectation that it would be a typical, cliche action thriller movie with an overplayed plot. However, I was surprised to find myself very much engaged in the unique story and, though sometimes improbable, action scenes.

Liam Neeson's daughter who lives with his wife (who has apparently become a gold digger after the divorce, as she is married to an older, excessively rich man) is kidnapped in France.

At first I was really annoyed by his overbearing wife and frustratingly ignorant daughter (who looks more like a retired senior than a 17 year old high school student). Who sends their 17 year old daughter to a foreign country to follow a mediocre rock band? You feel terrible for Neeson, knowing that he is completely in the right protecting his OBVIOUSLY incapable daughter and ignorant wife, but you soon learn his incredible bad ass moves make up for his emotional vulnerability.

In the pursuit of his daughter, he is met with much resistance (even within the French embassy) as well as a mediocre supporting cast. However, he is amazingly capable in the search for his daughter who he fears has become unwillingly (and unknowingly) involved in a prostitute crime ring.

Many of the scenes involve Neeson engaged in action-packed combat scenes that are often very hard to believe (as he goes against 5-6 armed men and takes them out in a matter of seconds). With this in mind I am the first to criticize an overly simplistic thriller movie, but I still found myself engaged in the story, and rooting for Neeson the whole time.

Overall: The story is noticeably original, and Neeson, though forced to drive the movie in light of a weak supporting cast, successfully engages the audience in this thriller.

Japanese Spiderman 1978-9

Alright so my first review isn’t exactly a movie, but it merits a review all the same.

I recently discovered a Japanese version of the ever so popular american hero, Spiderman. (It’s free to watch streaming over at marvel.com).

You may be wondering, what were the Japanese doing toying with one of our beloved heroes in the late 70’s? However, much to my surprise and delight, the series takes a certain creative license, changing the origin of Spiderman and, to an extent, the meaning and destiny, if you will, of his character.

In this series, he is still an awesome crime fighter, but he is left the legacy by a dying 400 year old man who came from the far off “Spider Planet.”

But you can read all this stuff over at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man_(tokusatsu) .

The series, though appropriately cheesy of the era, captures this new essence of Spiderman and really makes for a fun watch. The endings seem a bit repetitive but there’s something about the series that just makes it addicting to no end. Perhaps the nostalgic factor, or maybe it’s seeing a familiar superhero in an entirely different light and cultural lens.

Bottom line, you guys should check out this series for sure, but beware, it’s hard to stop watching it once you begin.

I promise my next posts will review more modern movies, but I hope you found this insightful!