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Yesterday, I finally went to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan with some of my friends. I had wanted to see this movie ever since I saw the preview and let me tell you, it does not disappoint. While it is a little short in length it is by far the most controversial movie I have ever seen. If you are easily offended by Anti-Semitic or you are a woman you might want to think twice about seeing this one. I would say that most of the jokes in this movie were at the expense of women. It was amazing how far some of the jokes went. There is one seen where Borat is picked up by a bunch of frat brothers who say some pretty crazy stuff. I hear they are suing Cohen because they never gave consent for that to be used in the movie. Borat, who is played by Sacha Baron Cohen, is actually Jewish in real life and seems to take pride at poking fun of himself. One of the funniest scenes in the movie is when Borat stops a bed and breakfast run by an old Jewish couple. However, Judaism was not the only religion that was poked fun at; there is a seen with a pretty crazy Christian healing thing. The movie also seems to pick on rednecks as well. All in all it was the most controversial movies I have ever seen. I hear that Cohen is currently working on another movie with one of his other characters, Bruno. The thing that really made this movie was the fact that all of these scenes were not staged. I mean some of the things the random people say in this movie are insane. Anyway, I’ve done enough rambling, I give Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan two thumbs up. This is going to be one of those right of passage movies that everyone is going to have to see.

So I was at my friend’s house last night for a crab boil and while talking we got around to the subject of Fantasia (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go wikipedia it, loser!). So we got really excited and decided to watch it because we both looooved this movie when we were little. Well everything was going all good and nostalgic until we got around to the one with the centaurs and Greek mythology stuff. At which point we realized it was totally creepy. First of all, half the piece is taken up by the girl centaurs obsessively making themselves pretty and then flaunting their scantily-clad bodies for the boy centaurs (who are all really big and muscular and creepy). Can we say worst message to send young girls ever. I think Disney is 1/3 responsible for eating disorders (see: the little mermaid, waist measurement 12”). But the best part was the short clip of the only non-white characters in the whole movie pretty much, who are two black zebra centaurs (yes, ZEBRA i.e. “exotic” creature from AFRICA, come on people). The black zebra centaurs are basically servants shown for 2 seconds fanning and watering the fat drunk white Bacchus, who proceeds to chase around all the centauresses trying to molest them.

Moral of the story: Bite me, Disney, for your gender role obsession. Except for Mulan, which is awesome.

And I’m also a huge hypocrite because I still really love Fantasia.

The other day, I was watching the Mets against the Baltimore Orioles. It was a pretty good game, even though, as we all know, every player on the Mets is bad, no matter what their first-place record might indicate. So, anyway, I was sitting there, minding my own business, when my brother came along, wanting to switch the channel to watch a movie called Cellular. This is, in fact, not the first time this has happened. A few weeks ago, he wanted me to watch this movie with him, but I decided that it sounded stupid. At the time, I opted to watch In Good Company instead—not because it seemed like a particularly good movie, but because I was going through a Scarlett Johannson phase at the time. Oh, and because I really didn’t want to watch Cellular. Well, this time, I gave in and watched the movie with my brother.

The movie is about a woman, who is played by Kim Basinger, and her abduction by a bunch of crooked cops. By the way, I had just watched the first Batman and can’t believe I saw two Kim Basinger movies in a row like that. So, yeah, this woman is kidnapped, because these cops want her husband, who has a video tape of them killing some people. Kim Basinger is locked in an attic, where she finds a smashed telephone. Then, after randomly connecting wires together, she calls some guy played by Chris Evans, the same actor from Fantastic Four. Do you see where I’m going with this? This movie has the Human Torch in it! The movie also stars Jason Statham, the guy from The Transporter. However, I’m much more familiar with him in The One and Ghosts of Mars, two terrible, terrible movies. Chris Evans decides to help the woman, but first, his phone is about to die, so he does the only sensible thing. He finds a gun in the car he had just stolen from a school and holds up a cell phone store to get a charger. Then he ends up stealing a Porsche from some obnoxious lawyer. In the end, a cop, who loves his day spa, played by William H. Macy, saves the day. Everyone is happy! Of course, the main character is probably wanted for grand theft auto.

Overall, I give Cellular 1.5 stars. I would give it lower, but there was a certain made-for-tv movie called Scarecrow Slayer on the Sci-Fi channel the other night and…

P.S. Jessica Biel is also in Cellular for a full 3 minutes.

Last night we all went to X-Men 3, The Last Stand. Personally, I was not a big fan of the first two movies. I thought they were borring at times and inferior to just about every other superhero movie I have seen. I don’t know I just couldn’t take a superhero that rides around in a wheelchair seriously. However, this movie was filled with action and more new characters. My personal favorite was the Beast played by Frasier (Kelsey Grammar). There are also plenty of surprises that you probably won’t see comming. All I am going to say is that there are some unexpected deaths. Basically, it is established early on that Jene, is the most powerful mutant ever and she had survived from the end of the last movie. However, she is no longer able to control her great power, thus establishing the character of Phoenix. There has also been a “cure” that has been developed to counteract the mutant gene. Magneto and the X-Men are against the cure, however Magneto is so upset over the development of the cure he establishes his own mutant army to attact the government. So, all in all I give X3 two thumbs up and I guess it was worth the 2 hour wait.

The Spider-Man 3 site has been launched. It might just be me, but Spider-Man looks pretty depressed in that scene. A lot of people think that MJ dies in this movie (Kirsten Dunst only signed on for three movies), so this teaser pic sort of adds credence to that view.

P.S. Note the black suit.

Apparently the previous post was an April fools joke. Nice one guys.

After my perceived victory over the evil ways of Greg, I went to see Inside Man. I was very disappointed to see that Lowes has been bought out by AMC, so I guess those bag cartoon things are gone forever. Anyway, the movie stars Denzel Washington, Clive Ownen, and Jodie Foster. Clive Owen plays a bank robber that stages the perfect robbery. Denzel Washington plays Detective Frazier, who is the lead hostage negotiator. Jodie Foster plays some sort of politician. I’m not really sure how to provide a plot summary. It kept twisting around so much that it would actually be a lot of work to try to remember what exactly was going on. I don’t really want to spoil any of the plot either. It was sort of one of those thinker movies. However, you don’t have to think too hard. It was funny at times too. I just think the ending was a bit weak. I am going to give it one thumb up.

I am usually a big fan of my box and I don’t like to be outside it. V for Vendetta challenged my typical thinking and might have actually made a significant influence on me. The movie is set in the year 2020, while the US is in civil war and Brittan has become a fascist state. The main character in the movie, V (Hugo Weaving), is a political terrorist. His goal in the movie is to blow up parliament and accomplish what Guy Fawlkes could not do. His first night on the job he runs into Evey (Natalie Portman) and saves her from the secret police that catch her out past curfew. That same night V blows up a national monument. The following day he runs into Evey again and takes her into his custody to protect her from the police. Evey eventually becomes his unlikely ally. V is faced with a moral dilemma. V is doing the right thing, but at the same time he is a terrorist and he is rebelling against his own governing body. In my usual thinking I would have been a loyal citizen even though what I believed was not what my government believed. I have now come to the realization that I need to stand up for what I believe and what I want. I should not let people tell me the way things are without challenging why they are that way. So, this one is an eye opener, go check it out.

No majors nominations for King Kong. I think Greg hyped it (read: hyped Naomi Watts) too much.

Keira Knightley and Charlize Theron for lead actress? Ack. What is the world coming to? I mean, wasn’t Charlize recently famous for killing Arrested Development and starring in Aeon Flux? Shame on the Academy.

How I love stabs at corporate America. Fun With Dick and Jane portrays this message with authority. This movies focus is on a fictitious company that goes under in similar fashion to Enron and WorldCom. Dick (Jim Carrey), the movie’s main character, gets promoted and is forced to go on TV and take the heat for what the company was doing. Dick obviously loses his job and he is forced to turn to robbery with his wife Jane (Tia Leone) by his side. Meanwhile the company president (Alec Baldwin) lives the high life. I did not know this, but this movie was actually a remake of a 1977 movie. However, from what I can pick up, they are radically different. The movie takes a turn that I did not see coming, so I will not ruin it for you. I did find the beginning of the credits to be one of the best parts of the movie though. If you have any interest in the scandals I mentioned above, I think this is a must see. In conclusion I give Fun With Dick and Jane one thumb up.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve long anticipated the next movie from PJ, and have said from the beginning that it would be great. Well, it would seem that most people agree with me.

In case you hadn’t noticed, basically ever critic out there has given this movie glowing reviews. I appreciate these reviews even more than normal reviews mainly because I think reviewers generally put re-makes down, and have a bias against them.

But who cares what they say. You came to c-wod.com to hear what Greg thought of the movie. (humor me)

Overall I thought it was truly amazingly done. In comparison to LotR, which everyone knows is the standard of the perfect movie. (I’m kidding…) I would say it is more entertaining than any single movie, but that the LotRs were better directed. But I also believe they had a greater capacity for directing greatness.

Acting wise I thought it was a little stylized. You know how when you watch old time movies you feel that the actors are acting. Well generally I don’t like being reminded that the actors are acting, but in this it works. I think it goes along with the time period, and the fact that this is a re-make. Naomi Watts was absolutely superb, and although I haven’t seen any other Oscar worthy actresses this year, I would make her the favorite. I’m basing this off the fact that I think this a 100% Oscar caliber performance. Jake Black was a very interesting choice for this movie, but it works. The character is over the top, and not part of reality; as is he. He lives in own world of pure tunnel vision towards his goal. I would say that he has a chance at being nominated for a Supporting Role. Adrian Brody, who I will admit I don’t like because of his off screen personality, I think did a fine job. I don’t think it was anything special, but he in no way takes away from the movie, but I don’t think he’ll be nominated. I also believe that an actor can be limited by his character. (Just so you know.) Andy Serkis, as Kong, did another amazing job. I think he performance in LotR (Gollum) was better, but then again he could talk in that movie. (Definitely should have gotten a nomination for LotR: tTT or RotK) I think he had some absolutely touching scenes with Naomi. I would love to see him nominated for best actor, partly because I really admire what he was able to do with CGI and having a non-speaking part.

As I said I thought the directing of this movie was great. It was a little slow in the second half hour, but I can appreciate the reason for it. I could definitely see PJ being nominated again.

I think I was fairly conservative about making predictions about the Oscars, outside of Naomi. I still want to see Memoirs of a Geisha, Chronicles, Munich, New World and maybe (but probably not) Brokeback Mountain.