Shmee.Me

August 19, 2013

I Revisit Robin Hood!

Disney recently re-released Robin Hood on Blu-Ray. Robin Hood was never considered to be one Disney’s top classics, and that is probably why this re-release was not given the fanfare of a lot of their films, but it is still well thought of, and since my wife is a Disney freak, I decided to buy it for her.

The film follows an anthropomorphic fox version of the titular character as he works to steal back the money that was taxed from the poor by interim king lion Prince John. Robin Hood is also trying to win the heart of the beautiful vixen Maid Marian.

The film is super simple, and does not tell a deep story, but it is effective. The shots of all the poor animals in chains are quite moving, and they play Robin as the perfect likable rouge doing what he can to help the people out.

The upgrade to Blu-Ray has done wonders for this film, and it looks great in high definition with its bright colors and well drawn characters. Some people complain that some of the detail is lost when these old movies are upgraded, but I can see none of that here, and it definitely looks better than a VHS version would on a big screen.

This movie is simple and makes me smile. It has fun characters and a big heart. If you are a Disney collector than the Blu-Ray is a must buy, and if not it is still worth it because it is a fun family film that can be enjoyed for generations to come.

August 17, 2013August 17, 2013

Chillin’ with Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths is a 2012 film written and directed by Martin McDonagh (In Bruges). Much like In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths is about violent men, but this movie is much more self aware and strange, and even now I am not sure whether I loved it or hated it, but I do know it made me think.

The film fallows Marty Faranan (Colin Farrell), who is trying to write a new screen play for a movie called Seven Psychopaths. He is having writers block, so his friend Billy Bickle (Sam Rockwell) is trying to help him by pointing to real life killers through either the news or an add in the news paper asking the psychopaths to come to him. Billy has a side business with Hans Kieslowski (Christopher Walken) where he steals dogs and Hans plays the good old man that found the dog for reward money. Business is good until they steal a dog from Charlie Costello (Woody Harrelson) a local mob boss and psychopath, and now all their lives are in danger.

This is one of the more bizarre movies I have seen in awhile. It feels like you are watching the movie being written right in front of you, and Martin McDonagh has a lot to say. He knows you are watching the movie for a funny violent buddy comedy, and he does give that to you partially, but he also uses Marty to rag on the current state of film scripts, with their dumb over top action sequences, or poorly written women that are only there to die or be eye candy. Giving the film a very meta feel. It is almost like he doesn’t like the genre of film he made.

The violence in this film is strange as well. It alternates between the dumb over the top kind, but then during the psychopath interviews it gets very real and graphic, and at times horrifying. McDonagh is subverting what you started to watch this movie for, and instead showing you what this would really look like, and it is not something you are in general really wanting to see.

The actors are all great in this film. If you know me, then you know that you know that anything with Christopher Walken gets bonus points, and this part was obviously meant for him. His character is strange, but still totally relatable. Sam Rockwell’s character almost represents the dumb movie this could have been by just being off the wall crazy, but since he is such a good actor he pulls it off. Colin Farrell’s character is in the movie mostly to observe the madness, so his role is not as dynamic, but he plays it well.

If you are looking for a movie that is a change from the norm than Seven Psychopaths might be it. Like I wrote before, I am not sure how I totally feel about this movie, mostly due to its graphic nature, but after I watched the movie it left me thinking, and that is a good thing.

August 16, 2013

Windows Phone Amber Update

Microsoft and Nokia are rolling out the Amber (GDR2) update. Since my phone updated without issue, I thought I would give my impressions of it for my Lumia 928.

The biggest addition in the Amber update for all Windows Phones is greater developer control of the camera. Nokia took full advantage of this by releasing the Nokia Pro Cam app that allows you to change the shutter speed, ISO, which flashes to use, and whatever else you would want to tinker with. This app is really for their 41 Megapixel camera on the Lumia 1020, but it is fun to have on this phone as well. Plus Nokia updated the auto setting on the camera to just take better pictures overall for us point and shooters.

The Lumia line (except the 520) now also has a feature called Peak, and what that does is when you look at the phone it shows the time without unlocking it. It is low power, so it is not a battery drain, and it is nice if you do not wear a watch. Peak also turns on when you are charging the phone, so you can see your phone’s charging status.

The last major update my phone got was the ability to filter phone calls and text messages, so now if I go to Settings, call+SMS filter, I can enter in numbers that I do not want to hear from.

I was bummed that I did not get the FM radio feature that most Lumia’s got because it would be nice to be able to listen to music when I don’t have a good data connection. Luckily Verizon’s LTE is just about everywhere so it is not major issue.

The rest of the Amber update is mostly bug fixes, an email update to better allow for the syncing of GMail, and better group texting, so all and all it was a good minor update.

August 15, 2013August 15, 2013

Summer 2013 Box Office Wrap Up!

With the Summer movie season winding down, I thought I would give my take on the most important season for film distributors. It was a crazy year, and there were a lot of surprises.

Super heroes are still the kings of Summer:

Iron Man 3 is the unquestioned winner of the Summer taking in an amazing $1.2 Billion worldwide, and Superman finally had a hit with Man of Steel this Summer with a still pretty impressive $650 Million. The Wolverine is going strong and making money, and it is already up to $308 Million dollars With the three combined taking in over $2 Billion dollars, you bet the studios are busy getting more super heroes ready for a theater near you.

Families still go to the movies:

Despicable Me 2 came in number two (probably a minion poop joke in there) in the domestic summer box office with a staggering $350 Million dollars and $750 total worldwide, the Croods barely in the summer area in March taking in a healthy $530 Million world, and Monsters University taking a great $640 Million worldwide. Proving that if you create a family movie worth watching, the family market will show up.

The ‘R’ rated comedy is not going away:

We’re the Millers ($45 Million) is starting strong, The Hangover Part III did not do as well as its predecessors but it still did $350 Million over all, and The Heat did $200 Million which is great for such a low budget movie, so if you like raunchy ‘R’ rated movies they are not going away any time soon.

The international market flexes it muscles:

The international market is proving to be the real focus now for Hollywood, with movies like Pacific Rim making less then $100 Million in North America, but over $245 Million in internation markets for $345 Million over all, and if it can get to about $380 Million we may get a sequel even though it was a “failure” in the US. This has also been true for World War Z, while not a failure in the US its global total of over $500 Million is making Paramount very happy. Fast & Furious 6 has made an incredible $544 Million in overseas box office alone for a crazy total of over $782 Million.

Stars don’t guarantee success anymore:

Tatum Channing and Jamie Foxx could not save White House Down ($127 Million), Bruce Willis took a bullet with Red 2 ($93 Million), Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges wish they hadn’t done R.I.P.D ($56 Million), Will Smith and son suffer together in After Earth ($240 Million), and most startlingly Johnny Depp crashed and burned with The Lone Ranger ($196 Million). Sure Robert Downey Jr. helped Iron Man 3, and Brad Pitt added to the appeal of World War Z, but you can no longer bank on a movie due to star power alone.

Sony is going to loose a lot of money this year:

Sony had a historically bad year with the Smurfs 2 ($160 Million), Red 2, After Earth, and White House Down all loosing a lot of cash for the studio. I hope they have good insurance, and a great accounting team to try and write off all that damage.

I hope you enjoyed this little wrap up! It has been a crazy Summer at the movies, and I cannot wait for this Fall and Winter to see how the box office fares.

August 14, 2013

Star Trek: The Animated Series

I always thought I was supposed to dislike Star Trek: The Animated Series because it wasn’t canon and the episodes could be a little silly at times, but after watching it, I have to say that I quite like it. Sure some of the episodes are not great, but in being animated they got to have far more extra terrestrial landscapes and characters.

The episodes range from pretty good to pretty bad, but still it was is another twenty-two episodes with the original cast and crew, so if you like Star Trek it is streaming on Netflix right now, and it is worth the bandwidth.