World War Z (2013)

While I generally liked the musical choices they made for this movie, I've got to say that they totally passed up a golden opportunity to play "Channel Z" by the B-52s. Seriously though, teh music was great. One of the very first things I noticed about this movie is the appropriate music. Playing the didonent chords when teh zombiues come is brilliant and I think has the power to be iconic like the the Jaws theme.
I know that as a fringe member of the hipster community - friend of hipsters, but obviously not one since I use the term, and have you met me? Not very hipsterish - that I am not supposed to like this movie because it is so different from the book and perhaps even counter-thetical to i's premise. But come on, Brad Pitt as a sexy former United Nations investigator and sexy doctors at the World Sexy Organization, I mean World Health Organization. How could I not watch this? I suppose I could have watched it just to see how different it was and report on that. But here's my big (former) secret: I did not read World War Z. I tried, I really, really did. I had it checked out and renewed. I would get through the first couple of chapters and then wham! Full stop. Eventually I decided to read the final chapter and then work my backwards to the beginning at random intervals, but that didn't work either.
So, I just waited for the movie to come out. I know that there was a fair bit of drama with the production of this film, like Pitt firing the producers and re-shooting the whole end fo the movie. A big enough deal that they announced that they had blown so much money that there was no way to recap their losses. But, I can't tell you how it's different from the original ending. Nor from the book. And since I've already mentioned that I can't compare it with the book, we're left just looking at this through the lense of zombie movies.
The zombie movie that this film is most reminiscent of is Resident Evil, just without the stlightly too advanced tech and zombies that mutate into even worse creatures. The zombies are fast, visoous and turn quickly. World War Z goes for a more realistic response than Resident Evil did, but we could very easily find out in WWZII that patient zero was at the Raccoon City site.
There were some things in thsi movie that you don't normally see, like someone committing suicide onscreen ("Luke, you're our last hope..!" "Fuck that shit," BAM! "No, there is another, a sister, well a guy with long hair.") You also rarely see an amputation on screen, yet we see the Israeli gal going from bitten to being called 'Righty' in a heart beat. I don't know if either were necessary to the story, you could just have had the doctor succumb to the zombie horde, but the suicide does drive home the point that it is hopeless to try and figure it out.
The outcome of the movie is fairly predictable and not quite how I would have done it, but worked. And there are scenes that are predictable, like the satellite phone incident and the way the captain of the air craft carrier behaves. But none of these are enough to take away from this film.
I have no idea how awesome a movie that actually followed the book would be. It might be the best zombie movie ever, or it might just be confusing. But, I know that the movie they made is very good and worth watching.

World War Z on IMDb

Moneyball (2011)

I was so excited about this movie when it first came out on video. A movie about statistics, starring Matt Damon. What could be better? Sweet, baseball is a good vehicle for statistics since even casual fans know that lots of statistics are involved. Damon could play the GM or something... Then I got on the rather long waiting list and heard from the person placing the hold that this was a great movie, and wasn't Brad Pitt so great because he produced the movie. My immediate thought was that makes sense, Pitt and Damon are buddies from the Oceans movies, working together would be fun for them. But, then she finished that he [Brad Pitt] was great starring in it, too. I was so disappointed that I took my name off the list. Now, do go thinking that I'm a Pitt hater, because I'm not. I like his films, it's just that I see him as more of the action hero or comedic action buffoon kind of guy. I did not see this movie being either full of action or comedic buffoonery.
Everyone I know that saw this film really liked it, so I knew that it would go back on my list of films to watch eventually. But then I forgot about, because I actually do keep a list, and I had forgotten to put it back on after I cancelled the hold.
I put my name back on the hold list and the movie came in a reasonable amount of time because it wasn't new anymore. I checked it out and looked forward to watching it with dinner that night, and while reading the back of the DVD box almost talked myself out of watching it at all because, right after Pitt's name is Jonah Hill. I don't like Jonah Hill, by which I mean I'm sure he's a nice enough guy and all, but I don't like his characters with the exception of XXX, where he is just doing voice over work.
Fortunately after a couple of days I put the disk and played it. It was a good film. Not a great film, but a good one. I'm not a fan of sports films as a genre, but there wasn't enough baseball in this. There were certainly not enough statistics. I wish that there had been less of Bailey and his daughter and more of baseball and people either cutting down the A's especially when they were doing poorly, or more baseball and people being surprised when the A's were doing good.
This movie would have been better if Pitt had stuck to producing and had cast Matt Damon in the lead. I'm just saying. And somebody else instead of Hill, whom I actually didn't hate in this role, but I did feel it was like the other Hill characters except that this one wore a suit.
If you're in the mood for a film about baseball, watch Field of Dreams or Bull Durham. And if you want a film that has just as much math in it as this one does, I recommend you go for Good Will Hunting, and not just because it has Damon in the lead. But, if you've seen all of those, then watch this film.

Moneyball at IMDb

Troy (2004)

I remember when this movie hit the theaters, the reviews were so bad that I didn't see it on the big screen. It was years later before I saw it. I remember thinking that while I wasn't terribly impressed, neither was I displeased, but really what they should have done was cast Sean Bean as Odysseus in the Odyssey - they could have called it "Ithaca" since apparently they thought using the place name was cooler than what Homer used. But, then they probably would have changed it as drastically as they did this story.
Actually what would have been really cool is if they did a trilogy based on the Iliad and the Odyssey and have it be more phenomenological than this "historical" approach, but way toned down from the likes of Clash of the Titans. Naturally they should have some genius like Peter Jackson direct. Naturally.
And the star power of Brad Pitt aside, I would have gone with an all American, or all English cast or at least picked actors that could the accent of the world. Why would Achilles have a different accent from everybody else? Why would Priam's general sound like a Scotsman? So many of the actors in this movie I really enjoy, so of course recognize, "oh look there's that elf and the fallen hero, oh over there is that mutant supervillain and the dastardly government official. hey, don't make him mad, he'll super-size and go all green on your ass, and look, he's talking to the Scotsman who's heart is brave. The main problem with this movie is that I never stop seeing Brad Pitt and start seeing Achilles. I never stop seeing Orlando Bloom and start seeing Paris. And why is Helen blond?
Because they called it Troy, I'll let them get by with "loosely" basing their film on the Iliad. If they had called it the Iliad, I would be crucifying them for the inaccuracies, you know small things like the war taking only two to three weeks instead of the ten years. Or characters who are alive (if not well) in the Odyssey getting killed off. No, I won't mention those.
What did this film have going for it? Bana, Bean, O'Toole, Cox. It was pretty. There were hardly any spots where I could tell that certain characters were computer animated. It wasn't done in 3D.
What didn't this film have going for it? Bloom, Kruger. I mean come on - making Paris an archer that so closely resembles his Legolas, except for the part where Paris is a coward. There were scenes that were computer animated. I knew this before I saw the film, and I certainly knew this when I watched the armada approach Troy and when the Greeks finally breech the walls of Troy. And, as much as I love Brad Pitt, this story should not have been about Achilles.
Now, who would I cast in my trilogy of the Iliad and the Odyssey...