"Your mind is the scene of the crime..."

Okay. Up until yesterday, I was going "Huh?" with virtually every thing I saw for Christopher Nolan's upcoming summer thriller "Inception." I mean, what I saw still struck me as kinda cool, but I couldn't get over the confusion I felt about it.

Now that I've seen the new trailer that's currently playing before select prints of "Iron Man 2," however, the confusion factor is still there...but dang, the wow factor is ten times stronger.

From what I can tell, "Inception" stars Leonardo DiCaprio--an actor who I've decided I'll watch in anything--as a member of a criminal gang or whatever who steals things from people's dreams. Or does he implant them in instead? Or both? I couldn't really tell.

Actually, I can't really tell you anything beyond that about the plot in hindsight...but everything that I saw made sense when I was watching the trailer. And it looks really good, with the epic scope that Nolan is famous for, and as an added bonus, his favorite actor Sir Michael Cane is in it too.

I've been wondering for a while if "Inception" would be able to find an audience, largely because it at first seemed to me like a movie that was so high concept that it could give many people a headache. Now I find that I'm really, really hoping for this to be a hit, and my gut feeling is telling that folks just might show up for this one after all.

There's a line spoken by Leo's character near the end of the trailer: "In dreams, everything makes sense. Only when you wake up do you realize that something was weird." That sounds like how I'd describe this preview.

I will try to get a review up for "Iron Man 2" really, really soon. As for some of the other stuff I said I'd post, that doesn't look like it'll happen, although I may still write a review about "Kick-Ass" for the heck of it...even though it's been about three weeks since I saw it now. In any case, look for more updates from Dacey here soon.

Well, today just became a much better day, because...

"BATMAN 3" HAS A RELEASE DATE!!!

Or, "The Dark Knight 2" has a release date, if you prefer to call it that.

And it's a long way off...July 20, 2012.

But still..."BATMAN 3" HAS A RELEASE DATE!!!

Will post more updates later...including stuff that I should've gotten up like days ago. A "Kick-Ass" review, comments on the "Last Airbender" trailer, rambling about "How to Train Your Dragon 2" already being confirmed, stuff like that. All who bother to read this thing have been warned. ;)

Vampires, werewolves, Victoria, oh, my...

Okay. While I know I should be realistic and not expect "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" to be the badass action movie that it looks like from its new trailer, it's a little hard for me not to. How can I not be when the entire focus of the preview is on an evil army of vampires?

The new ad hit the internet Friday after debuting on Oprah, and has already generated over a million hits on YouTube. Running at less than two minutes, it's a lot more satisfying than last month's teaser, which didn't really show much of anything beyond Edward and Jacob hating each other.

This new trailer doesn't even show any shots of Edward and Bella cuddling with each other. Instead, it begins with Jacob telling Edward that he "must tell Bella" something. It turns out that, for reasons that the ad doesn't explain, an army of vampires has been building, leading a series of killings across the land. And they're heading, apparently, straight for Bella. Figures.

The rest of the trailer is almost nothing but action: We see Jacob and his shirtless werewolf buddies teaming up with the Cullens and doing all kinds of crazy shit to the bad vamps. There's also some footage of Victoria, looking...well, different, since she's now being played by Bryce Dallas Howard for some reason. On a plus side, though, it doesn't look like it'll be quite as noticable as Maggie Gyllenhaal replacing Katie Holmes in "The Dark Knight."

Of course, the actual movie will probably be filled with scenes of Edward worrying about Bella, Jacob being grouchy, Bella trying to decide what it is she wants, etc. The "bad vamp" stuff probably won't come into play until the third act. And that's perfectly fine, and really what I expect from this franchise by now. Still, as much as I enjoyed "New Moon," it did suffer from being kinda slow. Perhaps "Eclipse" will be better in that regard? Perhaps not, but it doesn't hurt to hope, now, does it? ;)

The "Kick-Ass" Controversy

This week, you are bound to hear lots of press in the movie news involving a little superhero called Hit-Girl. She uses a mean double-ended blade, gets into brawls with bad guys, and swears like a character from "Crashed."

Did I mention that she's about eleven or twelve years old?

Such is the controversary involving "Kick-Ass," a comic book movie opening Friday that has already drawn a ton of buzz, both possitive and negative. There are a ton of great reviews already on the internet, but there are also those that are a bit more...concerned about the film.

And virtually every review I've seen for the movie, in one way or another, is centered around the character of Hit-Girl: Either they say she completely steals the show, or they find her kinda...well, disturbing.

Obviously, I have not seen "Kick-Ass" yet (I absolutely can't wait to), but here's what I can tell you about the character without having watched the film:

* Hit-Girl swears. A lot. I have no idea just how strong her profanity gets, but it is known that her character uses "the c-word" at one point...although, to be fair, the child actor's mother gave the writers permission to use that word in the script.

* Hit-Girl fights. A lot. She's whips through bad guys like the best of 'em. Here's the thing: She even, apparently, sometimes kills them. Not something that hasn't been seen in superhero movies before, obviously. But this is probably the first time we've seen it from a little girl.

* Finally, and perhaps most controversially, Hit-Girl is, at one point of the movie, tortured by a villain. I don't know how the torture scene is done, but the buzz is that the scene is disturbing and brutal.

"Kick-Ass," from the very beginning, has had a rough time finding its way to the screen. Even with Nicolas Cage in a supporting role, the movie was shot before a distributor was even attached to the project. The reason for this is probably that "Kick-Ass," at least on the surface, seems kinda hard to sell: It has extreme violence, a dark sense of humor, and, worst of all, it's a superhero movie that's rated R! Of course, these are also all things that make the movie appealing for its target audience...even if that target audience ends up being fairly limited.

But back to Hit-Girl, who has stolen virtually all press involving the film in recent weeks: The big concern of many is that children are going to see the film and imitate the character's extreme stunts. Young girls are going to lose their manners and start trash talking like Hit-Girl does. Even the use of a young actress in such a role is placing the movie under a cross-heirs. Some are almost going as far as to call it child abuse!

My personal opinion: The character of Hit-Girl looks like an absolute blast. While I understand some people having problems with a character like that, by all accounts, "Kick-Ass" looks like a satire: it's clearly not meant to be taken seriously. Kids probably won't go, because even though the movie is a superhero film, it also has a swear word in its title, which will hopefully be enough to make parents go, "Hmmmm, this doesn't look like it's going to be for my kids." If it finds success, it will almost certainly be modest at best: It will reach a total of $70 million at most. And if that happens, everyone who was offended by the concept of a 12-year old ass-kicker will probably have forgotten all about it.

First Viewing: "Back to the Future"

For whatever reason, watching a movie from the 80s always tends to give me a nostalgic feeling. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, since I was born in 1987, and was obviously too young then to really even remember anything about the decade today.

And yet, there I was, watching "Back to the Future" last night for the first time last night and getting the same bittersweet feeling that I got in me when I first watched "The Terminator" or whenever I listen to the music from "Flashdance." Was I born too late? Was I meant to be a kid of the 80s? Am I just being weird? It's all worth thinking about, I guess.

Having said that, 80s movies aren't always my favorite. Many of them have a distinct, corny"Oh, God, you can tell when they made THIS" sort of feeling about them. I wish I were smart enough to know how to explain what I'm talking about here, but I'm not. But look at "Jaws: The Revenge." Watch "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace." The 8os is the only time when duds such as these could've been made.

It figures that "Back to the Future" isn't one of those movies. It's an 80s movie in the best sort of way. You're always aware of when it was made, right down to the Huey Lewis song that plays during the start of the film, but that just makes you love it more. It's an ingenious, warm and very funny sci-fi film.

"Back in the Future" is so popular that I probably don't need to waste time with much of a plot summary. Long story short, Michael J. Fox plays Marty, a kid with self-confidence issues who's best friends with the possibly mad inventor Doc, played by Christopher Loyd. Doc has invented a car that has the power of time travel, but unfortunately, something goes very wrong in the process of testing it, sending Marty back in time 30 years. Even more unfortunate is that this causes Marty to accidently stop the crucial event in his history in which his parents met. Now, Marty has to figure out a way to get his dad (who's, like, an even bigger wimp than I am) and his mother (who's developed the hots for him) back together, or else he and his siblings will never be born!

For whatever reason, "Back to the Future" was not exactly what I always assumed it to be. I always thought it was more of an action/adventure sort of sci-fi movie. An action movie this really isn't, but the story takes so much advantage of its few action set pieces that it manages to feel epic anyway. Its comedy, while slightly dated here and there (there's a reference to Pepsi Free, which doesn't exist anymore), remains as funny today as it must've been back in 1985. And the heart, while never even remotely sappy, is always extremely warm.

As Marty, Michael J. Fox absolutely shines. He's instantly appealing, funny, and somehow manages to be both dorky and incredibly cool at the same time. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Michael was the Zac Efron of his day, since it's hard to imagine many girls who were his age at the time not being at least slightly attracted to him. Of course, watching the movie has a certain bittersweet quality today, since Fox fell victim to parkinson's disease years ago and hasn't been seen in a movie in ages ("Stuart Little 2" was his last film).

Meanwhile, Christopher Lloyd's Doc is possibly the most madcap performance that the actor ever gave. It's easy to see why the character is considered by many to be his signature role, as Doc has the insane charm that Lloyd is always perfect at bringing to the screen. Also, a shout-out must be given to Crisper Glover, who makes Marty's dad an extremely lovable loser, and one we feel thrilled to see ultimately triumph in the end.

I must take a moment to also compliment this movie's brilliant use of storytelling. For instance, the first shot of the movie, a extended look around Doc's room which must last about two minutes, tells us a ton of information about the character without us even meeting him! From there, the story keeps us hooked, and even though other time travel stories have imitated "Future" over the years, it somehow felt like I was experiencing this sort of thing for the first time while watching it. That's how fresh the movie has remained over the years.

For the first time, I think I understand what people mean when they say they miss the "old" Robert Zemmeckis. While I've enjoyed his motion capture animated movies from the last decade (although I feel that "Beowulf" could've been a whole lot better), there's a real magic going on in his "Back to the Future" that those films are somehow unable to capture. If you haven't seen this movie, by all means, watch it now. I honestly can't think of any reason that you wouldn't enjoy it.

Review: "The Last Song"

I walked out of "The Last Song" wanting to be a better person. Say what you will about me, but it's true.

It is, as critics have said, a rather cliche film. Like many teen romance films, you can see where things are going before the opening credits are even over, but that doesn't stop it from being effective. It might not stay with you forever, but there's a good chance that you'll be thinking about it for a couple of days after seeing it.

Miley Cyrus plays a troubled teen who's sent to live with her father f0r summer with her little brother for the first time since her parents' divorce. She's fresh from a shoplifting arrest, is in a bad mood with pretty much everybody, and treats her eventual boyfriend like crap when he accidently spills a milkshake on her while he's playing a volleyball game.

That would be a hottie played by Liam Hemsworth, a clearly decent guy who Miley's character wants nothing to do with. The dude's so obviously nice that it's a wonder that Cyrus doesn't warm to him sooner than she does. But, as is the way in these stories, it does of course happen.

Although it's being marketed mainly as a romantic yarn, "The Last Song" is first and foremost a story about father and daugther. Played by Greg Kinnear, he's struggling to get back in touch with his little girl, someone who means more to him than anything in the world. He wants her to get back to playing the piano, which is something that she always did when her parents were still together, but stopped doing after the divorce happened.

Kinnear's performance is one of the strongest aspects of the film. Obviously, the concept of a father just trying to reach out to his children is something we've seen over and over again, but Kinnear makes the character immediately appealing. He's sympathetic when he needs to be, funny when he needs to be, and once the film goes into very dark territory, handles those scenes with grace.

Cyrus is far from terrible, and is actually able to pull the role off for the most part. Admitably, her character was such a selfish bitch at first that I had a hard time even believing in her, but that feeling wore off as the story went on. I had similar feelings towards her brother, who might've been a little too adorable in his earlier scenes, but likewise grew on me as the movie went on. As the oh-so-decent boyfriend, Hemsworth does a pretty good job, although we've seen this sort of love interest in so many movies from the past that it's hard for him to bring anything especially memorable to the role.

Being based on a novel from Nicolas Sparks, the story inevitably takes a tragic turn around the third act. When that happens, those who cry at movies (and you know who you are) are bound to need more than a few tissues. Not since "Bridge to Terribithia" have I heard this much distinctive sobbing from an audience. So, if you're going to the film expecting another "Hannah Montana" story from Miley, don't think you're going to get that.

I did not expect to like this movie as much as I did. There is very little, if anything, original about it. And yet, it moved me in a big way. Hearing life lessons, even when they're ones we've heard a million times before, can be very important to us as human beings. While "The Last Song" brings nothing new to that table, it does what it sets out to do well, and deserves to be complimented for that.

First Viewing: "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

I should begin this by quickly explaining why exactly I think this would be a good idea for a series of entries. Well, in a nutshell, there are two reasons for this. The first is this: Weeks ago, when I watched "The Shining" for the very first time, I realized something that I already knew, but probably wasn't fully aware of: There is a ton of great cinema out there that I have yet to discover. Why had it taken me so long to finally watch this masterpiece? Did it live up to the hype that I had heard about it earlier? Did the "Heeeerrrreee's Johnny!" scene that the movie is so famous for still send chills down my spine even though I knew it was coming? These were all questions I had to ask myself.

The second reason that I think this would be a good idea for a series of entires is this: With a first viewing comes feelings that don't always last. You can see a movie a second or third time and discover things that you've never seen before. You can love it more, hate it more, or find that it has grown on you. But there's something about a first viewing that's always going to be unique. The opinion that you have of the movie is your initial one and, whether it's right or wrong, it's the first one that you have. This, to me, is something that's interesting to write about, especially on an older movie that many already have a strong opinion on. Hopefully, it won't be a chore to read through, either. ;)

Well, enough of that. Let's get to the actual entry, shall we?

When "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" first came to America almost ten years ago, it was met with almost overwhelmingly possitive praise. The buzz was that Ang Lee, best known at the time for directing the Oscar-nominated "Sense and Sensibility," had created something that at least people in the states had never seen before: An action movie that could be easily mistaken for a ballet.

A tragic love story set in 19th century China, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" stars Cho Yun Fat as a great warrior who's felt that the film has come for him to retire. Worn down by claiming so many lives, he goes so far as to give away the sword which made him famous, a legendary blade which is more than 400 years old.

But these aren't his only reasons for retiring. His feelings towards another warrior, played by Zhang Ziyi, also contribue to his decision. They've loved each other for years, but duty and honor have prevented them from ever taking their relationship anywhere. Her feelings for him are perhaps even stronger than his for her, but she has never allowed herself to admit this. Certainly not to him, and hardly even to herself.

The story kicks into play when the sword is stolen by a mysterious warrior, a young woman played by Michelle Yeo. Trained by a monterous warrior that Yun Fat's character has sworn to kill for murdering his master, Yeo's character is, in a word, lost. Trapped in arranged marriage that she doesn't want to be a part of, isolated by the knowledge that there are very few in the world who can fight as well as she can. She is also, like the other two, going through a love story of her own. Kidnapped by an adventurous bandit in the dessert years ago, she at first resisted but ultimately fell for the man's charms, and finds herself still thinking about him even today.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is a beautiful, beautiful film. The images of China are nothing short of breathtaking, even when viewed on a laptop screen, which is how I had to watch the film. It's no surprise to know that the movie won the Oscar for Best Cinematography. Throughout his career as a director, the camera has been used very much as a tool for storytelling. This has sometimes been extremely effective, such as in "Brokeback Mountain," and sometimes ultimately a mixed bag, which was the case with Lee's much disliked "Hulk" film. "Crouching Tiger," however, is without question his best use of it any movie of his that I've seen, and I can't help but be excited about what he might come up with for "Life of Pi," even if it remains to be seen if that movie will ever actually get made.

I watched "Crouching Tiger" in the English language dub. I was not planning on doing this, but it was what started playing automatically when I began the film, and I didn't bother switiching it to Chinese. The dub is actually pretty well done, and while I couldn't find a list of credits for the dub on the DVD, I'm 95% certain that that was Zhang Ziyi voicing her own character (it would make sense, because she speaks English). When the dub is most "off," surprisingly enough, is whenever the characters start fighting. It seems as if making the English match the mouth movement in these sequences, as the dialogue isn't in sync at all. It could be a lot more distracting than it is, though.

Speaking of action sequences, that's probably what I should've started talking about right away here. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to come up with words that could possibly do them justice. Describing the fights in "Crouching Tiger" as merely spectacular would be nothing short of an understatement. True, I have seen wire work used in similar ways a number of times over the years, but never with the grace and beauty that this movie is able to accomplish. The characters literally seem to glide, almost in a surreal way, giving the illusion that they are on the brink of defying gravity. That's not to say that that's the only thing to be said about the action scenes, though. They're as badass as they are beautiful, particuarly when it comes to a face-off that takes place between Ziyi and Yeo's characters. Running at what appeared to be four minutes to me, it just might be one of the greatest duels ever filmed, with Ziyi's character resorting to more and more elaborate weapons as the fight goes on.

Funnily enough, the movie features no climatic swordfight. The ending, as I knew long before watching the film, is ultimately heartbreaking. Despite this, I find that I can't wait to watch the movie again. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" simply must be viewed repeated times, since to fully appreciate its majestic scope is impossible in simply one viewing.

I will finish by mentioning that the end credits song, "A Love Before Time," is beautiful to say the least. Since watching the movie on Sunday, I have listened to it whenever I'm able to on the internet. I will probably have to purchase not only the movie someday, but the soundtrack, too.