Some Dude Reviews Movies

"I bite." Wes Anderson is one of my favorite filmmakers. Probably my favorite, all told. His aesthetic is immediately recognizable, his sense of balance and shot comp are second to none, and his music choices are almost always top notch. Anderson's signature whimsy speaks to me, and his deadpan style always makes me smile. I will always watch a Wes Anderson movie. It embarrasses me that I didn't catch Isle of Dogs  in theaters, but here we are. So I picked it up at Target and fired it up as soon as I got home. Summary: All dogs have been banned from Megasaki, and have been banished to an island of trash off the mainland. An aggressive canine flu has made canines a dangerous proposition. One young boy braves the wilds in a search for his best friend, while courageous people on the mainland attempt to devise a cure for the deadly dog flu. Pros: Absolutely Gorgeous:  This marks Anderson's second stop motion animated feature, after 2009's Fantastic Mr....

When I started this journey, I knew that I was going to include one of Quentin Tarantino's three westerns. Yes, three westerns: Django Unchained , The Hateful Eight , and Kill Bill Part 2 . The second Kill Bill movie wouldn't do, as it was more of a spiritual western, not to mention the second half of a super-movie. I actually watched Django , only to find, at its end, that the film wasn't nearly as good as I remembered it. Or, rather, that Tarantino was still working out the kinks on what he wanted to say about the western. So I decided to watch The Hateful Eight , and have decided to include it, here, as the final western in my month-long sojourn in the genre. Summary: A group of people are trapped in an old haberdashery in the mountains, pinned down by a blizzard. Most of them are on their way to Red Rock, for various reasons: two bounty hunters and their quarry; the new sheriff; the traveling hang man; an ex-confederate, looking for his son. As the night goes by...

The world will be sad, indeed, when we hear the news that Tom Cruise, at the age of 85, has passed away on the set of Mission: Impossible XV , whilst jumping from one airborne plane to another. The man does not stop. And who, honestly, would have thought that Mission: Impossible  would be Cruise's flagship property? Remember the second one? With the doves? Well, Cruise is back for a sixth installment of his hit franchise, and it is a doozy. Summary: There's a thing. And the mission is impossible. Ethan gets a team. Blah blah blah. Explosion. Car chase. Explosion. Seriously, go see this movie: the less you read about its plot the better. Pros: Artisanal Action:  Writer and director, Christopher McQuarrie, is an artist. Anyone can assemble some A-listers, put guns in their hands, have them run around amid explosions, and call it a day. It takes a true filmmaker to put something as entertaining as Mission: Impossible - Fallout  together. I've been a fan since his p...

"We're going to Contention!" The western lived in its own shadow in the seventies. It wallowed in the eighties. The early nineties saw it come back, raging against the dying light. But then it was quiet, again. It never really died, mind, it just went into hibernation. That was, until 2007, when director James Mangold dropped his remake of the 1957 classic of the same name, 3:10 to Yuma . Yuma  would bring the western blazing back to American screens. I remember seeing it in theaters, with college friends, and loving it. So, does it still pack a punch? Summary: Ben Wade (Russel Crowe) is a deadly outlaw, with a team of equally brutal fellows at his beck and call. After robbing the latest railroad cash delivery, Wade is captured by the law in a small town. A desperate rancher (Christian Bale) will pin his future on escorting Wade to the train in Contention, to deliver him to Yuma prison. But it won't be easy. Pros: The Cast:  Bale and Crowe anchor the major...

"Dark and difficult times lie ahead..." After Alfonso Cuaron's powerhouse Prisoner of Azkaban , the Potter series heads into darker, more mature territory. Goblet of Fire  was, at its release, the longest book in the series, by a mile. Our heroes were becoming full-fledged teenagers, and the Dark Lord's plan begins to turn in earnest. Summary: Harry & Co. head back to Hogwarts for their fourth year. Only this year promises something different: Hogwarts will play host to the infamous Triwizard Tournament. When Harry's name is pulled from the titular Goblet of Fire, and his participation in the dangerous tournament sealed, he will need to gather every resource at his disposal in order to make it out alive. Pros: Looking Better All the Time: It is the year 2005, and CG effects are getting better, exponentially, with each film. The opening sequence at the Quidditch World Cup is gorgeous: magical tents dotting a field outside of a giant Quidditc...

"You tell 'em I'm coming. I'm coming, and hell's coming with me." I grew up on this movie. I watched it on TV. I rented it from Blockbuster. I owned the VHS. I bought a DVD of it, when that finally dropped. I was reluctant, then, to go back and revisit it. So much of one's childhood is amazing in the moment, but, upon reflection, weaknesses and faults start to show. It's been a long time since I saw  Tombstone  all the way through: conservatively, maybe 15 years. The American Myth series gave me an opportunity to add it to my list, and, after watching John Ford's  My Darling Clementine , Ford's own telling of the shootout at The OK Corral, its addition to the list of famous westerns became imperative. While watching  My Darling Clementine , I couldn't help but compare it to  Tombstone . So, did  Tombstone  live up to nostalgia's weighty expectations? Summary: The Earp brothers, and their wives, are headed for new fortunes. Fresh...

"... happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, when one only remembers to turn on the light." Alfonso Cuaron's addition to the Harry Potter film franchise is divisive, to say the least. It has committed deep-cutting crimes against the integrity of the novel it is based on, and the spirit of its characters, according to people who feel strongly about it. I, however, have positive memories of the film, and recall it being one of my favorites (of the films). So... how does it stack up, these fourteen years later? Summary: Harry prepares for another year at Hogwarts, but a dangerous dark wizard has escaped the hell of Azkaban Prison, and has his sights on the young wizard. Facing new dangers at every turn, Harry will discover new things about his parents, about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and about his future in the wizarding world. Pros: A Visual Feast: Director, Alfonso Cuaron, definitely knows how to make a visually stimulating film. His shot compo...

"We all got it coming, kid." We have come a long way. Or I have. Or, the western has. I've been watching westerns all month, from each decade dating back to the 40s. When Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch  dropped in '69, the western was left gutshot, and it staggered through the seventies, and fell on its face in the eighties. But it would be given a hand-up in the nineties from one of its former star actors: Clint Eastwood. Eastwood had been directing films since parting ways with Leone after the Dollars Trilogy. By 1992, he was getting older, and decided he was going to have one more go at the genre that made him famous. He dropped Unforgiven  on the world like a bomb, and helped define the western's newer, more modern form. Summary: William Munny was a man of violence. But his wife broke him of those ways. But she died, and left him with two kids and a failing hog farm. When a young gun rides up, offering Munny an opportunity to go kill some men who...

"Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it." When this movie started, I thought that I had made a mistake: I thought that I had put in the wrong movie. The quality had, even in the first few minutes of the movie, taken leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. I double checked and made sure the right disk was in. And then, for good measure, I checked IMDB. This film hit theaters a YEAR after Sorcerer's Stone . It looked like there was five or six years difference. The first film had the unenviable task of setting everything up. The second film would be freer to dig in and tell a story on the strength of already-established characters. And from the very first few minutes, it was already a better movie. Summary: Harry and the gang return to Hogwarts for their second year. But a terror has been awakened in the bowels of the school, and an ancient evil stalks the hallways. As panic hits a fever pitch, and students are found petrified in the ha...