Blog change

For those of you still going here, STOP IT!

Go here instead: http://infiniteframes.blogspot.com/

Might's well

I'm still planning to move this site, just gotta figure everything else out first. But for now, there's fat RoboCop! What a great character.

Also, ayumi-shade, thanks following! HEHE

Hiatus

^A very gross word, no one like hiatuses (hiati?).

This isn't the end of the wonderfully named blog "drawing movies". Well, technically it's the end of this particular blog... but I will still try to draw movies every week! It'll just be on my main website, www.kevinapproved.com . However, I won't start the drawings until my new layout is done, and it should be completed around the end of summer 2010.

LOOK FORWARD!

What's this guy supposed to be, the ultimate badass?

No Country For Old Men
Directed by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Produced by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Scott Rudin
Written by Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Cormac McCarthy (Novel)
Starring Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly Macdonald, Woody Harrelson

No Country For Old Men "AWESOME" Trailer

Notes

• This movie never explicitly really states what's happening. I feel like I had to deduce a bunch of stuff on my own. So... that threw me off a bit.
• Dude! Tallahassee is in this movie! Alas, no zombies to kill. (Yeah I saw Zombieland a couple weeks ago.)
• There's pretty much no music in this movie, so you audiophiles should, uh, hear elsewhere.
• Josh Brolin ALMOST looked like Paul Rudd. Too bad it wasn't Paul Rudd.
• There were actually a couple funny parts! THANK YOU.

Things I Learned from No Country

• If you're looking for guns in Texas, look for dead Mexican bodies, because they usually have guns. (Uh... not meant to sound racist.)
• The U.S./Mexico border in 1980 kinda sucked when it came to security.

Recommended to

• Those who want to see gunshot wounds.
• Those who want nightmares of Javier Bardem.
• Those who like to think about stuff. Deeply.
• Those who enjoy any of the actors.
• Cowboys.

Not recommended to

• Impatient people.
• Those who are expecting an exciting thriller.
• Casual movie-goers.

Conclusion:

Let me first say this: This movie is a drama. There are some elements of thrill and horror, but above all else, it is a drama. That being said, the ending went totally over my head (spoilers coming). There wasn't really any climax, the last scene was just Tommy Lee Jones talking... it's almost as bad as the ending of The Red Pony. I don't care if you want lemonade, boy!

But the movie, for the most part, was well done - I greatly admire the Coen Brothers' non-traditional style of filming. The acting was top-notch (especially Javier Bardem as Chigurh), the setting was gorgeous, and a few key scenes made it worth a viewing. As for a SECOND viewing? ...Maybe not for another 30 years.

That... was for everything else

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
Directed by Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois
Produced by Bonnie Arnold, Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Michael Connolly, Tim Johnson
Written by Adam F. Goldberg, Peter Tolan, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders, Cressida Cowell (Story)
Starring Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, America Ferrera, Craig Ferguson

How to Train Your Dragon trailer

Notes

• I accidentally called this "How I Met Your Dragon".
• I wish Gerard Butler had to yell a line like "THIS... IS... BERK!!!" and then push a dragon down an endless pit.
• BUHH or could you imagine if he had an ex-wife in the movie played by Jennifer Anistion? And he was assigned to capture her and take her to the dragons?? The movie could be called How to Train Your--... nevermind.
• One of my only gripes is that they didn't explain why Hiccup doesn't have a Viking accent.
• I like to pretend that after the end of the movie, the Vikings become super angry for no reason and start conquering random territories. This is potentially the prequel to The Secret of Kells.
• I have a love-hate relationship with the character designs in the film. On one hand the vikings are awesomely huge and the dragons are cleverly constructed. On the other hand I feel like some of the designs were too "safe". For example, Hiccup's hair is bland and they designed it in such a way so that it's more relatable to today's audience. TODAY's audience. Which, I realize sounds like a good thing, but it bothers me that the Jim Halpert hairdo will become passe in about 20 years. It's like if the film came out in the 1980's, they'd have given him a mullet or rattail. This grinds my gears because I feel like the movie should establish that it DOES take place in a different place and a different time, but by having fashion accustomed to the 21st century America, it breaks the confines of their world. (This is also seen in the kids' America accents. Either have everyone sound like a Viking or no one!) They implement contradictory ideas for the sake of making the film more approachable, but at the expense of more powerful story telling.
• Did I over think that? It probably just bothers me...
• Did you know the movie is loosely based on a book??

Things I learned from HTTYD

• How to train my dragon.
• Dragons are cool pets.
  
• Viking children don't have viking accents. (I assume they grow into them, like puberty.)

Conclusion

MUCH BETTER than I expected. How to Train Your Dragon was entertaining from the moment it started to the second the credits flashed. I often have horrible preconceptions that non-Pixar CG movies are going to be bad (maybe I'm just traumatized from Happily Never After). The reason for this is because movie studios (and a lot of the public) consider animated films to be made specifically for children, and with that mindset, they neglect efforts to create a compelling film and instead come out with a simple and sloppy mess that can ONLY be tolerated by children. This film has given me hope. Hope that future animated movies that aren't made by Pixar will not suck!

Great White Buffalo

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
Directed by Steve Pink
Produced by Matt Moore, John Cusack, Grace Loh, John Morris
Written by Josh Heald, Jarrad Paul
Starring John Cusack, Rob Corddry, Craig Robinson, Clark Duke, Chevy Chase, Crispin Glover

Hot Tub Time Machine Trailer

Notes

• Some of the best parts in the movie were the George McFly scenes.
• WHOAWHOAWHOA I just made the connection. He was in THAT movie, and now he's in THIS movie. Cool!
• I thought I'd get a better kick out of the whole 1980's retro thing, but I realize I wasn't alive back then... so maybe when Hot Tub Time Machine 9 comes out in 30 years and takes place during the turn of the century, I SHALL LOVE IT.
• It was difficult to not find John Cusak's relationship with that young girl a leeeetle creepy.
• Chevy Chase did nothing.
• The end of Hot Tub Time Machine reminded me of the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III. If you saw both movies, YOU KNOW what I'm talkin' bout. (Both films also had 4 main characters in them too!)

Things I learned from Hot Tub

• If you change a few things in the past, everything in the future will be perfect.
• The word "awesome" was a hip slang word in 1986. (Wait, right?)

Recommended to

• Those who lived through the 80's.
• Those who want to see a decent R-rated comedy.

Not recommended to

• Anyone outside of the intended demographic. (So uh... the movie did what it wanted to do.)

Conclusion

FINALLY a solid comedy with funny characters and a funny script. Nothing was majorly surprising, especially since a few parts were riffed from other time traveling movies, but it's so hard to find a good comedy nowadays in the slew of films that Hollywood is churning out. With its mediocre downs and its aweseomely hilarous ups, Hot Tub Time Machine ended up being pretty much what I expected. If it exceeded my expectations, however, I would have definitely given it... two tubs up.

-five!-

I'm going to show you how to kill a god.

Princess Mononoke (1997)
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by Toshio Suzuki
Written by Hayao Miyazaki
Starring (English voices) Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, Billy Bob Thorton, Jada Pinkett Smith

Princess Mononoke Trailer

Notes

• I keep wanting to type "Princess Monkey".
• DUDE, I didn't know this movie was so... gory! They got appendages flying off everywhere! (Okay it's not that bad.)
• Could you imagine if Miyazaki directed a Pokemon movie? Pikachu would never look more beautiful...
• Why is it that in animes, the good-looking guy is always the male who looks the most like a female?
• This movie reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, The Legend of Zelda, and The Secret of Kells. It probably should've been named The Princess of Mononoke or something.
• Wait who's Mononoke?
• And why is she a princess? Couldn't she just be the queen? I guess "Queen Mononoke" sounds a little weird.
  
• Best character: Koroku the Ox Driver!
• Best scene: Pigs painting each other with their snouts.
• ASHITAKA! has been added to CHIHIRO! in my "Miyazaki character names that are yelled List."

Things I learned from Mononoke

• Wolves can still bite with their heads cut off.
• If you have feuding armies, just almost kill all of them, then they'll give up.
• Arrows can decapitate samurai!
• Don't get an infection or else your town will hate you. Forever.
  

Recommended to

• Fans of beautiful stuff.
• Fans of Miyazaki.
• Nature lovers.
  
• Those who want to see butt load of imagination.
• Those who enjoy contemplating upon the many themes of a movie.

Not recommended to

• Anime haters.
• Little kids...
  
• Those who don't want to sit down longer than 2 hours.

Conclusion

Yeah, it's a bit long. Contrary to the trailer, there actually isn't a WHOLE lot of action, but to the movie's credit, when there IS action, it's all kinds of awesome. I very much enjoyed the movie and probably got a bigger kick out of it because I love this kind of animation eye candy. Just watch out for the middle because it gets a little slow (I think Ashitaka is just sleeping or something), and I thought the end was both shocking and unevenly paced... There are also times where I'm like "wait WHAT? oh, yeah, this is a Miyazaki movie, this is magic. Gotta go with the flow...", and if you're okay with that, then by all means watch this! At least watch it to see Ashitaka battle a giant evil black Tangla.