Matt Cooper’s Blog

Robert Redford made great movies like this in the 70′s. Awesome script and great acting. Go see it.

Michael Clayton Official Site

Bruce Willis still has it. Bruce Willis is the man. The first Die Hard was the best action movie of the 80’s hands down. The fourth installment isn’t a nostalgia trip like Terminator 3, it totally stands on it’s own two feet. Nothing deep here and nothing new really. Just plain ol’ fun. You won’t be disappointed.

This is a cartoon about a rat who can cook. It’s also an in depth allegory on finding one’s purpose in life, unconditional love and how it relates to the people close to us, and the eventual disillusion of the ego which leads to total spiritual creaminess. Ratatouille cuts us all a little slack and side steps the traditional origin story. The roots are there but this is so much more than a tired reskin of Star Wars with rodents. There’s a sweetness to the movie that you don’t see much of these days. The 3D and hand-animated characters (no motion capture) create a world you just wish you could live in. It’s a beautiful dreamlike hyper-reality and it’s set in Paris so what more could you want. it’ll take you through the entire spectrum of emotions without leaving you feeling like you were manipulated. It feels familiar but consistently surprises you with its subtleties and stereotypic restraint. It’s just so well thought out and clever.

This film is a masterpiece. Not a single detail was missed right down the the final credits. Go little rat and follow your bliss. Anyone can cook. Anyone can cook.

I’ve never seen so much killing. I mean Die Hard killing is one thing. You can watch 700 people get sprayed with bullets but it doesn’t really register. This is more like murders. Except there’s a kicker, the murderers are 8th graders.

But, with that said it’s really not about killing at all. It’s more about human nature and a handful of other comments on society—thrown in haphazardly at the end of the film. It was horribly violent but it was so creative and interesting that I didn’t get wrapped up in it.

So if you haven’t seen it just imagine 40 spoiled Jr. High students trapped on Survivor Island with an assortment of weapons. This is the kind of film Tarrentino unapologetically rips off and calls an homage.

Link

Sheila and I saw Ocean’s 13 at what will soon be the new Arclight on Ventura. This whole series has just been nuts. I’ve never watched a movie that was so self-aware of itself. It’s almost as if the actors are looking right at the camera the entire time with a look of disbelief—can you believe this shit? The story line is absolutely implausible and seems to take pleasure in that fact. It’s kinda like watching Britney get out of car. You say, “Excuse me miss but I can see your vagina.” She says, “Oh NO, I’m so embarrassed (wink wink)”. So as you watch the movie you quickly realize that if they don’t care then why should you…and then, ironically, that’s when you start to enjoy it. Ultimately the film is an ice cream cone. It’s a guilty pleasure that you gobble up but then quickly move on to something else.

This movie is seriously fucking funny. No…serious, it’s fucking funny. Seriously.

Wow. The Fountain was awesome. I’m not saying it’s the easiest movie to understand. I’ve had do do a little thinking over the last couple days to try and hash out what happened. But I’m telling you it’s worth it—and what’s wrong with thinking!

It’s metaphysical fiction and it’s beautiful, both visually, and emotionally. Unfortunately it absolutely bombed in the theaters but so did Blade Runner in ’82. I feel this film will grow on people and will one day be remembered in the same light. I highly recommend.

Synopsis:

A man travels through time in an epic struggle to save the woman he loves and to understand the mysteries of life in this sci-fi drama. In three parallel stories spanning a millennium, Tom (Hugh Jackman) searches for a legendary tree believed to grant eternal life in 16th-century Spain; tries to discover a cure for his wife’s (Rachel Weisz) cancer as a present-day scientist; and traverses the universe as a 26th-century astronaut.

Netflix link.

Right on the box it says, Warning: May cause toe-tapping. It also may cause you to worry about how people are killing the planet and the other animals who live here.

Happy Feet was a pretty intense movie. I was sorta thinking it would be a light little trifle of dancing penguins. What I got instead was kinda harsh. It had this heavy environmental message. I just wasn’t expecting that. The music arrangements were really trippy, too. Imagine “Boogie Wonderland” and “The Message” wrapped into one song—bizarre. It wasn’t bad. It’s wasn’t good. I don’t know what I’d thought it would be, but it wasn’t that either. The 3D was gorgeous. I don’t think it was as funny as it wanted to be. I’m all mixed up on this one.

Synopsis:

Living with his colony in the Antarctic, young emperor penguin Mumble is aptly named: While his friends use their singing skills to attracts mates, his caterwauling sends potential sweethearts waddling in the opposite direction. But Mumble is blessed with an unusual gift — he can tap dance in a way that would make Fred Astaire jealous! Elijah Wood, Nicole Kidman, Robin Williams and Hugh Jackman lend their voices to this spirited Oscar-winning tale.

Netflix link.

So I’m watching this show on the Discovery channel about these guys who are trying to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. It’s so amazing. Most of the climbers are over 40 and one dude doesn’t even have legs! They battle the elements and the altitude in their deadly journey to the top. I was so inspired by the courage and tenacity. During the commercial break I was having the fantasy about maybe having my own adventure. Then I opened the dish washer to get a clean bowl for my cereal but opened the door too fast and hit my toe on the kitchen floor. Man that really hurt. No seriously my toe hurt for at least a minute. It was pretty bad. Wait, what was I saying…