Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Be Kind Rewind is a 2008 American comedy film from New Line Cinema, directed by Michel Gondry and starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover and Mia Farrow.
The title is a reference to a phrase commonly displayed on VHS rental tapes during the medium’s heyday.
When a bumbling movie lover becomes magnetized while attempting to sabotage a local power plant and accidentally erases all of the videotapes in the small video store where his best friend works, the pair attempt to keep the store’s loyal customer base by remaking as many of the top-renting movies as possible.
Mike (Mos Def) is an employee at Be Kind Rewind, a modest mom and pop video store that is owned by Mr. Fletcher (Danny Glover). Mike’s best friend Jerry (Jack Black) works in an auto garage/junkyard directly adjacent to a local power plant. Lately Jerry has become increasingly paranoid about the effects that the power plant is having on his health. Convinced that he has developed a brain tumor from working in such close proximity to the power plant, Jerry attempts to sabotage the plant. Unfortunately for Jerry, his brain is magnetized in the process. The next time Jerry goes to visit Mike at Be Kind Rewind, the powerful magnetization emanating from his brain erases every videotape in the store.
Now the only way for Mike and Jerry to be sure that Be Kind Rewind stays in business is to remake every film on the shelves before the customers notice. But when word gets out that Mike and Jerry have remade such Hollywood classics as Back to the Future, Robocop, The Lion King, and Rush Hour without permission, the store is threatened with copyright violations and forced to close its doors. In the aftermath of the closing, Mr. Fletcher and his employees discover just how loyal their customers really are when the entire neighborhood pools their resources to transform the junkyard into a legitimate movie studio and produce an entirely original film detailing the incredible adventures of a local jazz legend.
When I first heard about Be Kind Rewind before it was even made I was excited. Jack Black, Mos Def and Michel Gondry (the director of Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind) making a movie about making other movies, awesome! I imagined what it might look like in my head and for almost two years I waited. Finally, when it came out I was shocked to read one bad review after another. No way, I thought, can it be as bad as they were making it out to be. I had to see it anyway. I don’t usually go to the theater but I tried to convince my girlfriend Kelly to go see it with me but even she said it looked stupid. So, I patiently waited for the DVD and now it has arrived. As the movie was ending Kelly was just getting home and I looked at her and said “You were right. You all were right”. She had no idea what I was talking about and became a little worried.
I am shocked at how bad this movie really is. Even when everyone was saying it was bad, I didn’t think it could be this bad. Not with a talented cast and director such as these. Usually Gondry is visually brilliant. Here he directs like a guy who just graduated from NYU film school and doesn’t know what he is doing. Black has a few moments of funny but then becomes over the top and kind of creepy. Def is the calm of the film but doesn’t add anything special. Danny Glover acts like he got lost on his way back to the retirement home. The only person I did like in the movie was Melonie Diaz who plays Alma. Throughout the movie she adds something to it that makes the whole thing watchable in a way but still she can’t save the whole thing by herself.
Even the scenes where they make the movies, the reason why I really wanted to see this film, are short and horrible. They get a few laughs here and there but go so quickly. They don’t even try to make it funny. They just kind of shoot it the way anyone who had a video camera would try to shoot in a serious way. What a disappointment.
The DVD contains a behind the scenes feature which is pretty basic. Also, a feature about the people and places of where they filmed the movie, Passaic, NJ.
Posted in DVD, Josh by Josh 
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Tags: Arjay Smith, Chandler Parker, Danny Glover, jack black, Marcus Carl Franklin, Melonie Diaz, Mia Farrow, Michel Gondry, Mos Def, P.J. Byrne, Paul Dinello
Sunday, June 8th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Be Kind Rewind is the newest dreamscape from Michel Gondry starring Jack Black and Mos Def. Who would have thought so much fun could be obtained when a man’s brain becomes magnetized while trying to take out a power plant because it causes him headaches. The now magnetized Jerry returns to his friends video store only to erase all the tapes in the store so then they, using some old school tricks set out to re-record all the movies their way. This might be a case where I was expecting too much from a movie given the actors that are involved and the super talented director.
Now don’t think that this is all there is to the movie either. The owner of the video store(Danny Glover) is facing his building being bought out by the city so he is fighting to keep it there and in the end the film they make is really a nice little charm. This film doesn’t have the usual Gondry wackiness to it, but it does offer some really nice camera tricks and the actors played their parts (I’m assuming) as best as they could. The main problem with this movie is the story. I know that the whole DVD thing is touched on but I’m talking about the dialogue. It’s just not that good, the only funny scenes are in the trailer and the rest of the movie really kind of put me to sleep. I didn’t find the story very engaging and didn’t really buy what the characters were selling me.
The dvd is also pretty cheap. All you get is the theatrical trailer which makes the movie look better than it is and you get a little feature about the town that they filmed in that runs a little over ten minutes long.
Posted in DVD, J.C. by J.C. No Comments »
Tags: Arjay Smith, be kind rewind, Chandler Parker, Danny Glover, jack black, Marcus Carl Franklin, Melonie Diaz, Mia Farrow, Michel Gondry, Mos Def, P.J. Byrne, Paul Dinello
Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I’m Not There is a 2007 biographical film inspired by the life of iconicsinger-songwriter Bob Dylan. It depicts six distinct stages of Dylan’s life and public persona portrayed by an ensemble cast of actors: Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, and Cate Blanchett, who play characters based on Dylan but with different names.
The film tells its story using non-traditional techniques, similar to the poetic narrative style of Dylan’s songwriting. It takes its name from the Dylan outtake “I’m Not There”, a song never officially released until its appearance on the film’s official soundtrack album. Critically acclaimed, I’m Not There made many top ten film lists for 2007, topping the lists for The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly, Salon and The Boston Globe.
The film intercuts stories featuring different actors playing characters based on the life or the legend of Bob Dylan. Marcus Carl Franklin, a young black actor, plays a version of the 11-year old Dylan, who calls himself “Woody Guthrie” and escapes from a juvenile correction center by hitching a ride on a train, carrying a guitar labeled “This Machine Kills Fascists.” Christian Bale plays Jack Rollins, a version of Dylan as a young folk singer with a political conscience, and who later becomes “Pastor John,” a version of Dylan the born again Christian, here singing gospel songs in a small town church. Cate Blanchett plays Jude Quinn, a version of Dylan at the height of his fame in the 1960s, when his original fan base was rejecting him as a sell-out. Ben Whishaw plays a version of Dylan as a young rebel who calls himself after the poet Arthur Rimbaud. Heath Ledger plays a character named “Robbie Clark”, a fictional Hollywood actor presented as best known for his performance in a film about Jack Rollins (the character played by Bale); he also represents Dylan the divorcé, estranged from his wife Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). Richard Gere plays the elderly Dylan as an aging Billy the Kid in a surreal Wild West town, who defeats an even more elderly Pat Garrett (played by Bruce Greenwood). Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in DVD, Josh by Josh No Comments »
Tags: Ben Whishaw, Bruce Greenwood, Cate Blanchett, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Christian Bale, david cross, Heath Ledger, I'm Not There, Julianne Moore, Marcus Carl Franklin, Michelle Williams, Oren Moverman, richard gere, Todd Haynes
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