Get To The Monkey’s 100th Post!

Hey all, Devo here. It’s been 5 months and 100 post’s since Get To The Monkey’s birth onto the internet. I’ve had a lot of fun so far, and I’m so happy for the followers and the loyal readers that I have.

I just love to watch movies! There’s something medicinal for me. It’s relaxing. Or unnerving (depending on how crappy it is). And if you are new and looking for a fun and real look at movies, subscribe here and follow Get To The Monkey on Facebook.

We’ve got a lot of stuff to look forward to. I’ve seen tons of movies recently (a midnight showing of a certain Captain as well) and I just haven’t had the time to write reviews. I will be getting to everyone of them very soon. There have been some superb ones, and there have been some stinkers. This will be fun.

Also, I want encourage everyone to leave me comments! I love reading them, and I love to hear about your thoughts on a film. Whether or not you agree with me, leave comments. If you ever are browsing this site and wish that there was a review on some movie, ask me to watch it and review it! I’ve done one of those already, and hope to do many more.

Again, feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks to my subscribers, and happy movie watching to my fellow cinematic adventurers.

Nosferatu

Nosferatu

UR – 94 Min – 1922

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Starring Max Schreck as Nosferatu and Gustav von Wangenheim as Hutter, “Nosferatu” is the silent movie classic portrayal of “Dracula”, in which the vampire expresses interest in a new residence. Then after becoming obsessed with the wife of real estate agent Hutter, he travels back to Hutter’s hometown and spreads death everywhere he goes.

This is not only the oldest movie that I have reviewed for Get To The Monkey, but possibly the oldest movie I have ever seen. This film was the first vampire movie that was made. Not only that, but it is also the first time that a vampire dies via sunlight in all of vampire fiction. A very big movie for being a 1922 silent film. I personally was very excited to see it.

The film starts out with our main protagonist, Hutter, picking flowers for his wife. It was kind of an odd way of starting a story, but whatever. It really wastes no time in getting to the monkey, as the next scene is Hutter talking to his boss, Knock, about a Count Orlok who wants to buy a house in the city. From this scene on, the film grabs hold of you and won’t let go. And I’m surprised! It was silent for pete’s sake. But it did. Also, it was very creepy in many scenes.

First off, whenever there is a scene with Max Schreck all done up in his Nosferatu makeup, you will get a very weird chill up your spine. His monstrous eyebrows and creepy teeth and fingers are a haunting image. Plus the way he slinks around and stares at people is just freaky. One neat thing is the incorporation of the old legend of having to invite a vampire to come in. Ellen does this and sacrifices herself by being the pure hearted woman who willingly gives her blood. And that leads to the coolest thing about this movie. The end. He gets so caught up in drinking her blood that loses track of time and is killed by the morning sunlight. Again, for it being a movie from the 20’s, the end scene is very high budget.

My first impression right after the closing credits was that it was mediocre. I let it sink in for a couple days, and realized what a great piece of history this was. A first in many books, and after nearly 90 years, it retained a deep fear factor. This factor, mostly attributed to the lack of sound, was probably horrifying to people in the 1920’s. But for people now (who actually enjoy real horror, or real vampire stories for that matter), it’s refreshing to watch a horror movie that isn’t centered on elaborate death scenes and special effects. I give this one a thumbs up. Especially in these days were “Twilight” is running rampant and killing what used to be known as vampire stories. It’s really cool to sit down and watch how they all started. The real vampire story.

 

X-Men: The Animated Series

Originally running from 1992-1997, this animated series ran through many of the original storylines from Stan Lee’s comics. I remember catching a few re runs as a kid, but never got to watch a whole season. So now, thanks to Netflix Instant Queue, I got to watch all 5 seasons.

I really enjoyed this series. Yea, its full to the brim of 90’s cartoon cheese. But hey, it’s your typical Saturday morning cartoon. And since I was more of a reader in the 90’s (I would spend hours in used book stores reading these comics), I knew these famous stories already. Throughout the span of the 5 seasons they cover the “Dark Phoenix Chronicles”, “Days of Future Past” and “Legacy Virus”. This made the show for me. Because, to be honest, the voice acting and dialogue was gonna drive me nuts.

The final thing about this show I thought was really cool, was seeing how much the live action X-Men films used this show as inspiration for their character development and the way they talk/act. The best examples of that is Wolverine and Beast. The worst was Professor X. His cartoon version is seriously lacking Sir Patrick Stewart’s power and awesome English accent. So that was a good change for the live action films.

Overall, there’s a lot to love about this show, with only minor things to dislike. Any fan of the live action films will find enough similarities to like it, while the comic fans will enjoy seeing a bunch of classic storylines and characters wearing the classic uniforms come to life. Fun, very 90’s, and Marvel. Whats not to like?

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

PG-13 – 157 Min – 2011

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Starring Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spencer, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” follow the Autobots as they learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and then race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets.

It almost seems too soon for another Transformers movie. Yes, the time between the first two movies was two years, just as between the last two. But, I can’t help but feel that this one was a little rushed. Despite that, I saw this movie not only in theaters on opening weekend, but in IMAX. And not only IMAX, but 3D. Hey, it had to be an epic installment right?

One thing can be said about this installment, it did not feel like the normal Transformers movie. The previous movies were action filled, but entirely light hearted in the core due to the amount of jokes (especially from Shia). This one toned down the jokes and went in a rather dark direction. The whole movie leaves you feeling despair and that all hope is lost for these characters that we’ve come to know since “Transformers” in 2007. I mean, the earth is getting utterly destroyed by the Decepticons. Like there is almost nothing left by the end of the movie. One comedic aspect that wasn’t absent, however, was Shia’s signature scream that he’s been doing since “Even Stevens” . That was during the first of two times in the film that a car transforms with a person inside (a complete first in the series, and I thought it was hilarious).

The casting was pretty much the same as the previous two films. Shia LaBeouf returned to his role as Sam, and actually made this go ’round a little different. We see a Sam who is completely tired of whats happening to his life. He has saved the world many times over, and yet he can’t tell anyone about it. This frustration comes to light in one of many job interviews he goes on. His parents were again played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White, and they were just as funny as ever. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson also returned to play Lennox and Epps, and rounding out the returning cast members was John Turturro as Simmons (probably one of everybody’s favorite characters). The spot previously filled by Megan Fox for the “hottie of the movie” was filled in by a no experience actress named Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who only got the role because she’s ridiculously good looking (she was a Victoria Secret model for pete’s sake). Patrick Dempsey came in as an awkward bad guy named Dylan (even though I never watched a single episode, he’s known to me as the doctor from “Grey’s Anatomy”). Also new to the cast was John Malkovich (after hating him for so long, this guy redeemed himself for me when he played Marvin Boggs in “Red”).

The storyline for the movie was probably the most iffy thing to me. It felt less like a movie about transforming robot cars, and more like an alien invasion film (and God knows we’ve seen enough of those). The pacing was set to high the entire movie, and because of that you get rushed through some scenes without getting to fully take in the amount of special effects that were put into this. The overwhelming nature of this film acts as a distraction to an Autobot’s death as well. I mean, there were definitely some parts to the film that were great, but if you are viewing this as part of a trilogy, it doesn’t do justice to the previous two. I honestly didn’t really like the turn for the dark that they went for. With Sam flying off the handle at everyone in the movie and getting in fights that he knew he couldn’t win, and the Autobots dying off or almost dying off every five seconds, none of it seemed to be in character for anyone.

The greatest thing about this movie can be summed up to two words. Leonard Nimoy. Not only is he Spock, but c’mon, he’s has the most bad ass voice (with Liam Neeson in second for that trophy). Him voicing one of the transformers was perfect. No other words can be said but that. As well as having him in the movie, there’s a scene where a couple of the small Autobots are watching television in Sam’s apartment, and what are they watching? An old “Star Trek” episode with Spock in the scene. That made me very happy inside (on that same note there is another reference to “Star Trek” when Sam mentions that somewhere looks like the bridge of the Enterprise). In the same scene, if you look on the wall as Sam passes, there is a poster for a band named “The Dandy Warhols”. This is cool to me because, not only are they an indie band, but they did the theme song to one of my favorite shows “Veronica Mars”.

Over all, movie is decent. It’s a decent installment to a good series, it’s a decent action movie, and it’s a decent special effects movie. Had I not seen it in IMAX 3D, I probably wouldn’t have been as impressed as I was. I cannot say for certain whether or not it’s worth a watch, but I will say this. If you care at all about the direction that this story line was going, watch it. If you got bored after “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, it’s not worth your time. I did hear that this is Shia’s last time screaming “OPTIMUS!”. So, really should we even bother?

 

Big Fish

Big Fish

PG-13 – 125 Min – 2003

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Starring Ewan McGregor as Ed Bloom and Billy Crudup as Will Bloom, “Big Fish” is about a son who knows nothing of his dying father’s life aside from the mythical stories he would tell him as bedtime stories.

Everybody has that grandfather who will sit you down on his lap and tell you wild and outlandish tales of his life. Mine most certainly did, and that is perhaps why my imagination was so wild has a kid. This movie is precisley those kind of stories, only come to life. And what better director in the world could do this besides Tim Burton? I say nobody.

The movie starts out with Ed Bloom telling his son, Will,  a wild story about catching a fish using his wedding ring as bait. As the story progresses the scene changes as Will grows up, and we see that he tells that story to everyone in his sons life. Will grows to resent his father when he tells that story at his own wedding, and says that his father always makes every situation about him. They decide not to speak anymore, until a few years later, Ed starts to die. Will realizes that he knows nothing about his father, and comes to his side to hear the true story. Only, Ed’s been telling these tall tales to his son for so long that he tells his whole life story in that manner.

That’s basically all there is to it. The fun factor in the movie is most certainly the portrayal of Ed’s life. Tim Burton does a great job making a world that fits perfectly with Ed’s stories. Every little detail that the old man “remembers”, no matter how crazy, is portrayed. Ewan McGregor played the Ed in the memories, while Albert Finney played Ed in the present. Both did a great job playing the same character and the two blended well. Ed’s wife, Sandra, was played by two really good actresses. Jessica Lange played Sandra in the present, and Alison Lohman played her in the memories. This was the best match I’ve seen Hollywood do for finding an actress who looks like a younger version of the other. I enjoy watching Alison’s roles (I know her as Angela from “Matchstick Men” and Trace from “Gamer”). Will Bloom was played by Bill Crudup whom I’ve only seen as Dr. Manhattan in “Watchmen” and J. Edgar Hoover in “Public Enemies”. Another notable performance in this film is from Tim Burton’s wife herself, Helena Bonham Carter. She played the old and young version of Jenny, and also played the witch. I love watching her, cause she is always such a great actress. I couldn’t say I know her as anyone but two of my favorite roles of her’s were, The Red Queen from “Alice in Wonderland” and Mrs. Bucket from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Steve Buscemi was in this as well, and just as weaselly as he’s always been.

Over all, if you like Tim Burton’s wild and imaginative stories, then you’ll like this. I personally love it, and couldn’t picture this turning out any better if it were from anyone else. Go ahead and give it a shot. It may not be the absolute greatest film, but it’s a fun couple of hours.

 

In Memory of a Jackass

Earlier this week, June 20 actually, I heard that Ryan Dunn, one of the stars of Jackass, had died. A horrible shock came over me, and I immediately thought of the cast of that series and how close they all were. I can’t imagine the lose that Bam Margera is going through specifically. They were life long best friends, and now just like that he’s gone. I can’t imagine the pain I would be going through if I lost my friend I’ve known since I was 5. My heart goes out to the Margera’s, the cast of Jackass and all of Ryan’s family and friends. He truly was too young, and now gone too soon. We miss you buddy, and you will remain our favorite Jackass

Below is the very sad interview with Bam after his best friends untimely death.

X-Men: First Class

X-Men: First Class

PG-13 – 132 Min – 2011

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Starring James McAvoy as Charles Xavier and Michael Fassbender as Eric Lehnsherr, “X-Men: First Class” is the prequel to the X-Men series, following the future Professor X and Magneto who are best friends dedicated to harnessing their powers and promoting the education of fellow mutants during the turbulent 1960s. The duo works together to stop a powerful adversary that threatens mankind, but their ideological differences drive them apart and turn them into ferocious enemies.

Hurray! Get To The Monkey’s first Barrel of Monkey’s review! And thank goodness, I thought the day would never come when I would go to the theater and come back with a new favorite film. I am a huge Marvel fan, and especially an X-Men fan. I loved all of them, aside from finding laughable aspects to the 2009 entry, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”. So when I found out that they were doing another origins film I was pumped. So much so, that I about went to the midnight showing. If I had, it wouldn’t have been a waste of time or money.

Let me start out with some complaints, as there aren’t very many. I realize that to fill Patrick Stewart’s shoes has to be a challenge. I mean c’mon, he IS Professor X. But I can’t say that I was 100 percent on board with James McAvoy portraying this iconic role. Maybe it’s hard to shake the hoofs out of my mind, but that was the only casting problem I had. That being said, he did do a really good job, the only thing I’m saying is that compared to his predecessor, it was hard for my mind to make that transition. The other thing I had to say, I didn’t like the casting for Mystique, Jennifer Lawrence. She had the boobs, er, shoes of Rebecca Romijn to fill. Of course, all of those thoughts went away as there was a nostalgic cameo from Ms. Romijn about mid way through the movie. Aside from the two casting problems, I couldn’t think of anything wrong with this one. Michael Fassbender was perfect as Magneto. He captured the essence of Ian McKellen’s interpretation, then adding youth and rage to the character. He was easily my favorite character in the film. Kevin Bacon did a great job as Sebastian Shaw, just one of the biggest bastards of a bad guy I’ve ever seen. His mutant power was pretty beast too. Speaking of beast, Nicholas Hoult played the young Hank McCoy/Beast previously played by Kelsey Grammer. As you can see there are a few differences between the two, but I didn’t mind. The rest of the cast of young mutants were all pretty good. January Jones as Emma Frost, that was just amazing. Eye candy, and a good performance. Michael Ironside, the voice of my favorite video game character Sam Fisher from “Splinter Cell”, had a small spot in the movie. I thought that was cool. One thing I noticed is that there was no Stan Lee cameo in this movie. He’s had one in pretty much every Marvel film to date, so that was weird.

There were so many scenes in this movie that were awesome, I don’t know if i can choose one to be my favorite (I lied, the best scene in the movie involves a surprise cameo from someone and I’m not telling who, it is so funny though). Pretty much every scene with Magneto was great, and yet they didn’t outshine any of the other character’s scenes. When a movie can be so good that there wasn’t a better part than the other, you know its a good one. I’d have to just buckle down and say that the very end when we see Charles and Eric become Professor X and Magneto was probably the most exciting part of the film. It was a great build up, and an even better pay off.

Speaking of build up, the soundtrack was excellent in this installment. Usually Marvel movies have a pretty epic soundtrack with a lot of tension build up, and this was no exception. I went and bought two of the songs from iTunes.

This is definitely one to go see in theaters, one I will absolutely be buying when it comes out. There is no secret scene at the end of the credits (which is weird being that pretty much every Marvel movie has those now), so I can save you the ten minutes of credits I waited through for nothing. But the movie was so good it didn’t need an extra scene to make you want to see more, cause I’m already counting down to “First Class 2”. Just please Hollywood, don’t call it “Second Class”.

Tron: Legacy

Tron: Legacy

PG – 125 Min – 2010

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Starring Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn and Garrett Hedlund as Sam Flynn, “Tron: Legacy” follows the story of the son of a virtual world designer who goes looking for his father and ends up inside the digital world that his father designed. There he meets his father’s creation turned bad and a unique ally who was born inside the digital domain of The Grid.

Ah yes, Tron. I remember trying a few times in my life to get through the original “Tron” from 1982, but I would always lose interest really fast or just fall asleep. So when it was announced that they would be making a sequel, 28 years later, I was excited to see what today’s graphics and animation could do for this story. Well, the exciting colors and impressive display of computer graphics are just about the only thing that’s worth this movies rental.

This was the second movie in a night I had watched starring Jeff Bridges. Earlier that night I had watched “True Grit“, so the transition between the old west and The Grid might have been too much for me. Plus, Jeff’s performance in “True Grit” was so excellent that when I popped this one in I was actually kind of disappointed. He wasn’t horrible, but then again, there wasn’t anything amazing about him either. The one biggest complaint of mine was that they opted to make a complete CG young version of him, rather than have Jeff’s own face then just computer inhance it to cancel out the wrinkles. It’s been done before (in “X-Men: The Last Stand” they did this to both Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen). Garrett Hedlund (last thing I saw him in was “Troy” as Patroclus) did an alright job, again nothing to crazy good. He got kind of annoying after a while actually. Olivia Wilde, now she made the movie for me, her and sexiness. Her character was pretty cool, and she was probably the best actor in the film. Michael Sheen is one of those amazingly talented actors who can only play bad guys. He was Steven Arthur Younger in “Unthinkable”, Lucian in “Underworld”, Lord Oliver in “Timeline”, and apparently Aro in “Twilight” (though were just gonna forget that he’s in that). He looked pretty bad ass as Castor in Tron, and I was glad to see that he hasn’t lost his bad guy flair. Also, Cillian Murphy (I know him as Jackson Rippner from “Red Eye” or Scarecrow from “Batman Begins”, though most know him as Robert Fischer from “Inception”) had a brief role in the beginning of the movie.

Speaking of brief roles, Daft Punk also had a brief spot in the film. Not only that, but they did the soundtrack to the movie. So, needless to say, the soundtrack was pretty beast.

The over all feel for the movie is just that Disney was trying to flex their CG muscles. Besides that spectacle, there really wasn’t much to it. I was a little let down, especially by the ending (it was such a typical Disney ending). There really isn’t anything new under the sun I suppose. Also, I probably would have enjoyed this movie more if it were a “PG-13” rated flick. They could have put in a lot more action that was more action and less stylization. I gave it a solid 2 and a half monkeys. Take it or leave it, I personally did not like it all that much. Well, except for Olivia Wilde.

 

True Grit (2010)

True Grit

PG-13 – 110 Min – 2010

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Starring Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn, Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross and Matt Damon as LaBoeuf, “True Grit” follows the story of a tough U.S. Marshal when he helps a stubborn young woman track down her father’s murderer.

I am not a man of western movies. I mean, as a kid I watched my fair share of John Wayne films, and that is what I compare that whole genre to. Now, that may be foolish of me, and I may be missing out on some good movies, but I only think of John Wayne when I think of a western. When they unveiled the remake of one of John’s most famous movies (but one of the only ones I have never seen), I felt somewhat interested for once. What I found in this film is that I had been right about missing out.

Being that I don’t have the knowledge of the first film to compare the remake to, I cannot say for sure that this one was better. But, it is hard to imagine that it could have been inferior to it. Jeff Bridges was amazing in this role. I saw him for the first time as Obadiah Stane in “Iron Man”, however I realize now that he’s been in quite a number of famous roles prior to that. And since he made a pretty awesome bad guy in “Iron Man”, I didn’t know if I could shake the typecast I had in my mind. But boy, was I wrong. He shone bright as Rooster, the man with “true grit”. And he was a bad ass, I wouldn’t mess with him, even with only seeing out of one eye. Hailee Steinfeld, who aside from having a last name that sounds identical to a certain comedian I know, is an unknown. She did a great job, at being a pain in the ass little whiner the whole movie. But at least she could act, I guess. I really thought that having Matt Damon, or Jason Bourne to me, in this movie would seem weird and out of place. All up until I saw him in his first scene. Then I was perfectly fine with having him in this role. Not only did he rock it, but he some how shed his secret agent persona when he donned that cowboy hat. Another notable actor was Josh Brolin as the murderous Tom Chaney. He didn’t seem to change much of anything (besides the face makeup) since his last western adventure as Jonah Hex in, well, “Jonah Hex” (Aka- a movie that is a complete and udder waste of your time).

I really enjoyed the movie, and also loved the scenes with LaBoeuf and Rooster when they would get into arguments. Especially when, while Rooster is completely drunk, they have a shooting contest. The movie had a lot of action, and yet, a lot of story line. The Coen Brothers did an excellent job of retelling a famous and loved story, and from what I hear, they stayed very true to the original. If only John Wayne were alive to see Jeff Bridges filling those big boots as the man with “true grit”. Any one thinking they should remake “Rooster Cogburn“?

Check this one out. If you’re a fan of westerns, a fan of Jeff Bridges, or a fan of John Wayne, I think everyone will find something they like in this film. And this coming from the guy who doesn’t like westerns.

 

Saw III

Saw III

R – 108 Min – 2006

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Starring Tobin Bell as Jigsaw and Shawnee Smith as Amanda, “Saw III” follows the story of Jigsaw when he kidnaps a doctor to keep him alive, while he watches his new apprentice put an unlucky person through a brutal test.

This movie really started amping up what I know to be the “Saw” franchise. It picks up with and continues the big game changer that was revealed at the end of number two. There’s really not a whole lot to this installment, other than the fact that it is really not for the faint of heart. The gore and death scenes were pretty haunting, and the acting wasn’t any better than before.There was the first nudity scene from the “Saw” franchise in this one. As with all horror films with nudity, it’s never like “oh look, boobs!”, but rather disturbing.

The thing that struck me as weird was the fact that, in this installment we’re made to feel bad for Jigsaw himself. As if all along he really wasn’t that bad of a guy. Now granted, the reason for this is due to the fact that his apprentice is in a whole new league of demented evil, but still. His apprentice builds the traps in order to brutally kill people, with no way out. The original Jigsaw traps have a way out, with a sacrifice you have to pay. So, in this movie since Jigsaw is so sick and isn’t in charge of making the traps, there are no lessons learned, just rigged death traps with no resolution. Near the end of the movie you’ll start finding yourself routing for Jigsaw, because he “cares” for his victims? I don’t know. The only redeeming aspect of the movie for me was when they had a very detailed portrayal of how what happened just hours before the first movie, showing some pretty interesting things that make so much sense now. Aside from the “oh man I totally didn’t even see that coming” scenes, the movie wasn’t all that great, and didn’t have all that much happening in it. They even did off with Donnie Wahlberg’s character in a very anti climatic way. You would have thought that since he had a major role in the previous film that they would have given him more screen time.

This isn’t great but isn’t the worst movie I’ve seen. I can’t say that I’ve hated any of the “Saw” films, but I can say that I don’t get why they are so vastly popular. Watch this one if you’ve seen the first two and like them, these three really build on each other with some exciting and chilling conclusions in this installment.