Seven Pounds *** 1/2

Hello Out There,

My first review is one that I want to get out of the way since I just saw this film on Tuesday night for 6 dollars at Lowell Showcase. 

Well, the film was really quite an upper. No! This was one of the most depressing but engrossing films I've seen in a long time. I will put a spoiler sign up now. I believe I can't review this film properly without getting into it. 

SPOILERS **********************

Will Smith plays Ben Thomas an IRS agent. He is like Batman or Robin Hood but for matters of the body. We see him going around to random people trying to get them a little bit more help. He helps out a Latino woman who has 2 children and an unseen abusive husband. You know the type. Woody Harrelson is a blind pianist that is seen by Ben Thomas in a bar. Finally, Rosario (I may be giving my best performance) Dawson is a seemingly single woman helped out by Ben Thomas. What do all these people have in common? Why is Will Smith walking around the film like a depressed Wall Street trader? Allow me to get into detail in the next paragraph.

Ben Thomas gets into a relationship with Rosario's character. She has congenital heart disorder. We know this because she passes out when she walks her dog. Ben Thomas shows up at her house to try to convince her to fight to be put higher on a list for a heart donor. He shows up again at the hospital, I think, when she passes out again. They start to show affection for each other. And what begins for the next hour is quite a beautiful love story. One that you know will be tragic. But how? Well, let me tell you folks. 

Ben shows up at Rosario's house where she is all dolled up. She looks amazing in this film even if she looks sick for 80% of the film. Anyways, she gets him a gift. LOL. It's a salmon shirt and jeans to get him out of his Reservoir Dogs black and white suit. They slow dance. Than they have sex. :( Is this safe for a poor woman with a heart disorder? Well, they show Ben looking at Rosario's neck where you can hear only her heartbeat. At this point I thought ok here it is she's gonna die....because they had to fuck. Nope. Instead Ben runs out of the house and literally runs in the pouring rain. We see him run into the hospital looking for the doctor for Rosario. He asks her what percent does she have of finding a heart. She replies 4%. Ben is angry and calls him up lawyer friend. Wha? Lawyer friend? Yeah.

The undercurrent of the whole film is Ben talking to Barry Pepper's character about serious stuff. I should 1st mention here that Ben owns a jelly fish in an awesome fish tank. He tells a jelly fish story. You know that it will play a part at some point. Ok. Than we also see Ben's brother trying to track him down. Ben's bro shows up at Rosario's house after the sexy time. Things are made clear and this is where the movie either gets lost on you or you feel cheated. Ben's bro tells him that he needs to stop parading around as an IRS agent. Yep, Ben has been lying to these people. In fact, somehow Ben's bro is the real IRS agent and Ben has made a phoney baloney ID. 

Got all that?! Well, now we see the flashback to see what caused Ben to act depressed and eat Chinese food in a hotel room. Ben and his wife(that I failed to mention..we see her in a smattering a flashbacks) get in a deadly car accident that kills 7 people including his own wife. All because he looked at his cellphone. Than we see Ben have the newspaper article pinned up on his wall. Now everything begins to make sense. Sort of. Although, it can not prepare one for the ending. 

Basically, Ben has decided to commit suicide which is actually the 1st scene of the film. How he does it is sad but ultimately can't be taken too seriously. As soon as he leaves the hospital after he had sex with Rosario he goes to his hotel room and fills up the tub with ice. Lots of it. He dips himself in it and we see....the jellyfish in the tub. So of course he gets stung and begins to tweak out and all the shower curtains go flying and you think .... what the fuck is going on?! He just got Rosario to fall for him only to literally give her his heart. Yep, to jump to the whole shebang. This suicide is so that Rosario can live with a decent heart and Woody can see and play piano. Pretty much he's a walking suicidal organ donor.

Now, I wish there was that unintentional comedic scene of Rosario getting the pager going off to know that she had a heart waiting for her. And than she finds out that it is from Ben. I'm sure that would've killed her. I mean she would've been calling up the man she just finally fell in love with and keep in mind had sex with. Well, sorry girl-he's dead. 

I really enjoyed the film as it played out. I think there is no real easy way to end this film. Ultimately, I think what Ben has done is selfish. At least with Rosario's character. This is what sat with me wrong. He has now put her through the same thing that drove him to suicide. Rosario had no idea about the car crash that took Ben's wife. But in all of that, I found a very brave film with flawed characters and motivations. 

Thanks,

Kristofor

Wednesday Is Kicking Television

Hey All,

"Previously On Lost". These are 3 words I'll be hearing in 2 weeks from tonight. What a long wait! It seemed like forever that Ben Linus was cranking a frozen donkey wheel to move the island. But to where? Or better yet - when?

I read some spoiler free reviews and I can tell you that this opening 1-2 punch of new episodes is amazing and a real brain teaser. I wouldn't expect anything less from Lost. 

What brings me back is the characters moreso than the intricate plotlines. Eh you know what they both do! Lost has been triumphant in bringing back the week to week cliffhanger. Almost to the point of wishing you had your own form of time travel to get to next week's episode. Or better yet waiting for the DVD set. 

I have no idea how Ben will get the Oceanic 6 back to the island. Sun is working with Charles Widmore to get revenge for the supposed dead - Jin. Are Jack and Kate finally together in the real world off the island? Will Sawyer hook up with Juliet? What the hell is up with Claire? Hey, Hugo is back in the mental ward. This is what I can mostly remember from last season's finale. Time to catch up on some Lost. Which is a real pleasure to do.

I can't believe how much time has passed since last time! I think Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls opened on that Thursday night the 22nd of May. We've had The Dark Knight. Tropic Thunder. My Best Friend's Girl. LOL. 

That's all that I can think of. Anyways, I would like to use this day to talk about television and some shows that some of you may want to hear about or never heard about.

Thanks,

Kristofor

Tuesday's Song Of The Day

Hello Everyone, (all 1 of you)

I spend the last day of each month making a mix cd for the upcoming month. For February it will surround all types of love songs. January's theme was about new beginnings. Here are the 1st 5 tracks if you're wondering:

1. U2 - New Year's Day

2. Wu-Tang Clan - Bring Da Ruckus

3. Weezer - The World Has Turned And Left Me Here

4. The Cure - In Between Days

5. Wilco - Pot Kettle Black        (I put these two back to back since the instrumentation sounds eerily similar)

I will discuss the 6th song since it is January 6th.

6. Talking Heads - Seen And Not Seen

Listening to these cryptic lyrics I was shocked by how this sums up one of my old script ideas. This is found off of Talking Heads fantastic Remain In Light released in 1980. The song is about personal identity and the media's influence on people's identities. 

The song begins with the narrator looking at people's faces in books, tv, and magazines. He feels that somehow these faces are right for him. And by keeping these ideas in his mind that in over 10 years his own face will subtly change to a face he desires. He even believes that most people share his ability. He thinks that people change their face to better suit their personality or people change their personality to better suit their new face. This is why he believes 1st impressions are correct. He thinks that some people may have made a mistake with their new face arriving at an appearance that bears no resemblance to them . The narrator wonders if he has made this same mistake.  Wow. My head is spinning. 

Well, my story idea I had awhile back dealt with personal identity, mistaken identity and plastic surgery. That idea that what's on the outside doesn't necessarily match what's on the inside. Vice Versa. How much does plastic surgery change someone? Does it change them that they are a different person? Can it change them into a different person? Can subscribing to a new belief change a person? How can one manipulate the whole cosmetic surgery era to suit their own needs? These are all things seen and not seen.

Thanks,

Kristofor

Coming To Theaters This Friday January 9, 2009

Hey All,

Well I would like to do this sort of post on Mondays to let you know (anyone out there, ha?) what films are coming out in the coming week.

This is really the 1st weekend of new films coming to theaters in the 09. January as most of you know is a schizophrenic month in Hollywood. You have the typical dumping ground movies and than the prestigious films finally expand to a theater new you. 

Ok what's coming out :

Bride Wars - 20th Century Fox is trying to reclaim the magic they had almost the same time last year with 27 Dresses. Though that movie came out over Martin Luther King weekend. That was a movie I kind of enjoyed. Hey you can't beat Katherine Heigl. She's beautiful and talented and funny. Plus, Ed Burns and James Marsden had great supporting roles. In Bride Wars, 2 women in some typical movie fashion end up having the same day for their wedding. Thus the bride wars break out. To me it looks ok and I may wait and rent this one. The one thing it has going for it is the 2 leads. Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway in the same movie may make this a sleeper hit. It's too bad there aren't more movies out there for actresses like Rachel Getting Married which showed that Anne Hathaway can act. With the recent holidays there really hasn't been a romantic comedy in awhile. But wait this is more of a kitchen sink comedy. One gets orange tanned and the other gets her hair dyed blue for revenge. Yawn! The one thing ironically this is missing is the funny male lead to make it ok for men to go see this with their girlfriends. One last thing - this was one of the many movies shot in Boston in the past few years. In April-June of 2008 for those keeping track. It is directed by Gary Winick who did 13 Going On 30, Charlotte's Web and Tadpole.

The Unborn - This looks fricken scary. I mean The Exorcist scary... Hold The Phone! This is rated PG-13!!! Why bother?! I mean come on all the stuff in the trailers and tv ads looks like rated R stuff to me. So does this mean we'll get the watered down version in theaters and have to wait for the typical DVD Unrated version "Too Scary To Show In Theaters." David S. Goyer directs. He's done Blade: Trinity and the much better The Invisible both of which he directed. I believe The Invisible suffered the same fate: PG-13 in theaters and "Unrated" on DVD. Gary Oldman somehow found his way into this. Must be due to David S. Goyer having the story credit for both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Odette Yustman is the main reason to see this. She is utterly gorgeous and was great as Beth in last year's Cloverfield. At some point I would like to do a rant on PG-13 horror, but I will get into the gist of it here. Obviously, PG-13 means more people can see a film($$$$$) and who else but little teenyboppers love them some horror films. Well, there's a huge mass of people who are diehard horror fans that get jack shit. To make a simple blanket statement I would say that most of the great R rated horror films go straight to DVD. Or get very limited theatrical release. Will we ever get R rated horror films that aren't in the silly Saw series?.......Ironically, this film is being released by Rogue Pictures who last year put out 2 rated R films that were well received by certain groups of fans- Doomsday and The Strangers.

Expanding this weekend are in my opinion the films to really seek out and see. They are :

Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood's 2nd directorial effort from 2008 that is a throw back to Dirty Harry. This looks amazing and fresh. I am sure that those of you that may be reading this already know what this is about. 

The Reader - Kate Winslet stars as a secret Nazi guard who has a sexual relationship with a 15 year old boy who reads to her amongst other things. Stephen Daldry directs. He brought us the magnificent Billy Elliot. Word is that this is the better performance from Winslet. Also, I hear there is some fine work from Ralph Fiennes as well as the adult version of the 15 year old.

Last Chance Harvey - I think this will expand to probably Boston only this week. This looks like Before Sunset for the older crowd. I saw the preview for this and fell in love with its premise and sense of real time bonding and spending time together to get to know someone. This one stars 2 acting titans - Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. 

Che (part 1 & part 2) - In an unprecedented move, at least to me, this film is being divided into 2 parts showing at the same time on the same weekend. Total running time I heard is 4 hours and 20 minutes. Sadly, this has been missing from most Top Ten Lists and Golden Globe nominations. Benicio Del Toro stars and is directed by the extremely busy Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh also has The Girlfriend Experience and The Informant (with Matt Damon) coming out in 2009. 

Movies That Were Released This Weekend Last Year :

Mad Money (remember this one with Diane Keaton and the only movie that Katie Holmes has been in since she married Tom. Oh wait she was in something else. Oops!)

The Bucket List (expansion from Oscar consideration release)

In The Name Of The King: A Dungeon Siege Tale  (Uwe Boll's latest "masterpiece" with Jason Statham. Why?)

First Sunday (my 2008 Worst Film of the Year)

What Is Kristofor Going To See This Weekend :

Gran Torino and The Reader.

Thanks,

Kristofor

PS Let me know if you see any of the movies I listed here. I want to hear your reviews/thoughts/opinions on them. 

Who The Hell Is Going To Watch The Watchmen !?

Hello,

I am gravely concerned about the current fate of Warner Bros.' Watchmen. It seems that there is confusion as to who really owns the rights. It is my understanding that Lawrence Gordon bought the rights back in 1986 and brought the project to 20th Century Fox. Than he allegedly brought the project over to Paramount than to Universal and finally over to Warner Bros. I don't really need to tell you who at one point was attached when this was at each one of these studios but it is pretty cool to look up on Google. 

Anyways, onto my problem. 20th Century Fox threw a copyright suit at Warner Bros. saying that they indeed own the rights to Watchmen. How could have Warner Bros. made a fucking Watchmen movie without owning the rights?! I mean come on this sounds all a little fishy to me. Movie studios pay people for these concerns and I'm sure such a high profile big budget film would have been red flagged if someone noticed "Hey, you know what we don't own the rights!" 

So I hate to come off as a conspiracy theorist in my 2nd post, but I just don't buy this whole case. The judge in CA said that there would be a trial set for January and than throws out a ruling a day before Christmas I think and says "20th Century Fox indeed owns the rights and should be in on distribution." I may not have the correct quote but that's pretty much the gist of it. Of course, internet message boards went berzerk and threatened to boycott all of 20th Century Fox's films for 2009. It even crossed the minds of many that 20th Century Fox may recut the film to get a more lucrative PG-13 or never release Zack Snyder's version.

So we wait and see what happens. I have a firm sick-to-my-stomach belief that this is all showbiz hooha to create publicity for a film that is about to come out in 2 months. Honestly, I do. I feel that there's been a somewhat quiet buzz surrounding the film. Too quiet and the studio wants loud screams and every internet message board running rampant. It looks amazing to me and I have read the graphic novel this past summer and I really loved it. It was a tough read. I don't know how Snyder is going to pull this one off, but I can't wait to find out. 

So how do you sell an almost 3 hour movie about superheroes? Do you depend on the diehard fans of the novel that have been waiting for a film adaptation for the past 23 years? How many people fall into this category? Is it enough to make this a bona fide blockbuster like last summer's phenomenal film, The Dark Knight? Maybe, but the film is rated R and unconventional but not really. It's almost like that hip "indie" band you like and want to tell everyone about. It is a tough sell and this buzz regarding the copyright lawsuit is helpful. If this draws out and it does get released on March 6th, than more people will be hearing about this historic lawsuit and hopefully be interested in the final product. I think. 

So this finally brings me to the point of this post. Is this really all smoke and mirrors? I can't really tell for sure. Why would 20th Century Fox wait until the film was wrapped and about to released and finally speak up? They know which movies are being greenlit at other studios. Maybe they just want a piece of the pie. I don't know about anyone else but that makes me angry and sick that a studio can just sit back and let another studio make a film out of their own pocket and pull this sleazy shit to get some profits. Who the hell does that in their right mind without pissing off a certain group of people(fans of the novel)?  {excuse me I stepped out to catch a 715 The Day The Earth Stood Still.....ok back } 

Ultimately, I think you could say and I'll tell you that I may be falling into that trap by talking about this right here on the internet. I will be there on opening day in IMAX. 

Question: What do you think of all this? Does anyone else feel that this film looks much better than any film being released this summer? I do. The Summer of 2008 is quite possibly the best summer for motion pictures that I can recall. 

Thanks,

Kristofor

Welcome!

Hey Everyone,

Welcome to my 1st ever blog entitled Blog Blah Blah with Kristofor. It's a silly tribute to Arrested Development's Bob Loblaw. In this blog you will find movie reviews, music reviews including concerts and cds. I doubt if I will go into personal stories. 

A year ago a friend of mine began blogging. I have posted below ( i think that's where it will end up) John's movie blog. 

Anyways, in due time I will put up a Top Ten List of the Best Films of 2008 and maybe the Worst Films too.

I also would like to try and do a segment where I can preview the films coming out in the upcoming week. We'll see what happens. 

That's it for now. 

Thanks,

Kristofor