4 stars I don't even know where to begin. Joy maybe. Crazy pleasure cinematic joy. It was there in theater 13 at the Arclight in Pasadena today. What Kill Bill was to Kung Fu movies, Scott Pilgrim is to video games. The movie loves video games, particularly classic 8-bit games which is a trip back to 6th grade before I started liking girls. The movie begins with a ridiculously awesome re-imagining of the Universal Studios logo and off we went.
Scott Pilgrim is the bass player in a Toronto garage band "Sex Bob-omb!" and one night he dreams of a girl with hot pink hair. The next day at the library with his 17 year-old Chinese girlfriend Knives Chau, he sees her there. Ramona Flowers(I love the name Ramona) and him start dating and then come her 7 evil exes. That's really most of the story. But the movie isn't about the story, it's about this unbelievable visual style.
Edgar Wright directed Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz and unfortunately I did not like either of those movies. Here in his first American film(or is it Canadian since it all takes place in Toronto?) he pulls out all of the stops. It is an "epic of epic epicness" with Scott Pilgrim fighting his way through Romona's 7 evil exes to prove his love. These aren't normal fights. This is Street Fighter II/Tekken mega battles with super upper cuts and Hadokens and flying roundhouses that shatter your enemy into hundreds of coins. K.O.! The movie switches from normal widescreen to cinemascope to split screens and there are power up meters and extra lives and at some point the theme song from The Legend of Zelda pops up. The only thing missing is a warp zone. I'm trying to describe how amazing it all is to see but these are just words. You have to see these things in full action. And it's glorious action, exceptionally cut together, exciting, and a whole stankin' lot of fun. Michael Cera seems the highly unlikely action hero but even taking on Chris Evan's 6 stunt doubles, he seems to know what he is doing.
I've written before how much I don't him as an actor. He's great as George Michael on Arrested Development but the rest of the movies are really the same character. He was the only thing holding me back from seeing the movie, but surprising to me, he is great as Scott Pilgrim, although again playing a similar version of that character. We so root for him though and it doesn't hurt that he is such a good fighter and a seemingly great bass player. It's so true that if a movie character is good at something, we immediately like them. Mary Elizabeth Winstead made little impact on me in Death Proof and Live Free or Die Hard, and I usually don't like pretty actresses masquerading as rebellious punk hipsters, but her performance works so well because she seems so vulnerable under that pink hair. And her eyes do seem a tiny bit like the Anime eyes Ramona has in the graphic novels. Ramona Flowers the character is a comic book icon and I think Winstead does a good job of playing the movie version of her. The two of them have a nice chemistry and although the attractive girl and the geek guy couple is completely tired, it proves that there can be a good version of even the strongest cliche. Their romance is one I really enjoyed. And she ain't a bad fighter herself with that big hammer (+2 against girls).
The rest of the cast is very good. My favorites were Alison Pill(In Treatment) as Kim Pine the band's deader than deadpan female drummer(she's my favorite character in the novels), Aubrey Plaza(Funny People) as the hilariously hateful Julie who really does have issues, and Mae Whitman as Ramona's only female ex. "You punched me in the boob!" But the star of the movie is British director Edgar Wright. His enthusiasm and passion is poured out in buckets and it's infectious. The movie has no fat, it has a perfect pace and tone and its mastery of cinematic apps makes me very envious. Apps including flashbacks shown using kiddie cute hand drawn comic book panels and a band battle between the Katayanagi Twins and Sex Bob-omb that is visualized with two dragons vs. some sort of gorilla monster. Believe me it's cool. Even the ways characters enter and exit a scene are so clever. The movie very sadly bob-ombed at the box office but please go see it in a theater so you can appreciate the dazzling cinematography by Bill Pope(The Matrix) and all of the great sounding sound.
One last note, their band Sex Bob-omb is pretty freaking great. "We are Sex Bob-omb and we are here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!" Beck wrote and composed their songs and they're blasting on my iPod right now. The whole soundtrack is great. "Black Sheep" by Metric (Clash at Demonhead in the film) is a showstopper. I see tons of movies but I'm telling you it is rare to see something so good and so stylistically stunning. I'm talking about a list that includes Moulin Rouge, JFK, Kill Bill Vol. 1, The Matrix. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is not quite up there with those films, but it's a good list to be on. Most of all its just so much fun. The best video game movie not based on a video game. The best time I've had at the movies this year. Now I'm gonna go see it again.
Someone asked me if I was going to see Eat Pray Love. My response was a resounding no. I like chick flicks, probably more than the average guy, but I despise Woman Movies. They fall into a special category absolutely not for men. I have never seen any of these Woman Movies with their terrible posters and Lord willing, I never will.
DVDs Watched this Week: The Good:MAD MEN Seasons 1-3, Crumb, Cradle Will Rock The Bad: None The Ugly: None
Trips to the Theater: None Actors of the Week:Jon Hamm, Elisabeth Moss, Vincent Kartheiser Directors of the Week:Terry Zwigoff
TRAILERS/CLIPS of the Week: Love and Other Drugs. A rom com I might actually want to see. It helps that they are two great actors. And it's sort of a Brokeback Mountain reunion. They were married in that film. Although seriously unhappily.
For the last 6 days, my life has completely been about Mad Men. I still have to go to work and I still have to shower and shave, but the rest of it has been Mad Men. I of course knew about the show. Emmy for best dramatic series 2 years in a row, Jon Hamm on SNL and 30 Rock, the stunning Christina Hendricks everywhere. I think I tried to watch the pilot a couple years ago but it didn’t click for me then. For whatever reason I decided to rent the first season and proceeded to watch 3 seasons in 3 days. Being single and having no responsibilities has its wonderful benefits.
Mad Men is about New York city ad executives in the early 60s. It was THE job to have. Respected and prestigious, and you could make a ton of money. The head mad man is Don Draper who is the Creative Director of Sterling Cooper(what a great name. who wouldn’t want to work with that company) and he is very good at his job. “I sell products”, and he does it like no one else. He is in charge of the idea. Someone thought of Got Milk and Be Like Mike. My recent favorite is Snickers Satisfies. That’s so perfect. Of course it does. Don would’ve came up with it if Snickers bars existed 50 years ago.
He is the man people want to put in family magazines. He has his beautiful blonde former model wife (January Jones), he has 2 lovely children, and he himself is indecently handsome. He also has mistresses and incredible self-loathing. There are many great supporting characters, but the other lead character really is Peggy Olson(Elisabeth Moss) who starts off the series as Don’s secretary. Secretaries back then were exactly the stereotype women find offensive these days. “Good morning Mr. Draper”. She takes his hat and coat. “Would you like some coffee?” Peggy is a graduate of Ms. Deaver’s Secretarial School and makes her commute from Brooklyn into Manhattan every day.
Like the Sopranos, the show is about two things. It’s about work life and it’s about home life. The work life is fantastic. It actually made me semi-excited to be working in an office. I felt a little pride about that. I thought it was just going to be a show about a—hole ad men selling worthless products but it really goes the other way. It’s about creative people and the creative process. They really have to think hard about these products and how to sell them. Don then gives a presentation to the clients that honestly usually knocks my socks off. His pitch for a Kodak slide machine is unbelievable. And everyone in the office needs to work to help. The art department, the media department, the account managers taking the clients out for drinks, it’s a process that great to watch. It’s also great that the products aren’t fake. They’re trying to convince their clients that Heineken should proudly promoted as imported and that Pepsi’s new diet soda should not be called Patio.
The home life is about the women. When women were prisoners in their homes and did in fact eagerly await their husbands arrival at 5:15 with a drink in hand. Betty Draper looks like the perfect wife but inside is a world of dissatisfaction and loneliness. I was wondering if the show would just turn off female viewers but I think the show might be the most sympathetic to them. The writing staff actually has more women than men. And considering today’s insane shift toward the housewife as an ideal, a show about the 1960s may be more relevant than ever.
Speaking of the 60s, it’s so much of what makes the show fun to watch. Everyone’s constantly smoking and alarmingly, everyone’s drinking in the office. One day Don’s liver is going to explode like firecracker. Not to mention the fashion. The men have their skinny suits with skinnier ties, the women have their 2 hour hairdos, layers of undergarments, and long skirts. It’s surprising how much it doesn’t seem like a costume show. It all just feels normal and that’s a great accomplishment. Btw, I wish I could look half as good as Don Draper looks like in a suit. Also, there’s of course the extreme chauvinism of the time period. Even strong women like office manager Joan Holloway(Christina Hendricks) is at the mercy of these men. Peggy is always referred to as Don’s “girl” and really is treated like a second class citizen. But it's the 60s and things are changing. As a side note, the money really makes me laugh. Don is offered a raise of 40. I thought $40,000/year must’ve been a lot back then as Don is becoming a partner. Then Don asks for 45. “$4500 it is”. $4500! LOL. Then later Peggy asks for a raise of $5/week. $35 up from $30. She can hardly afford the .35 cent lunch and brown bags it every day. Someone even complains that 10 cent diapers are so expensive they should really be made to be used more than once. Awesome.
I love Peggy Olson. She is the character I relate to the most. She starts as a secretary, but through fortunate circumstances she starts to write ad copy. First for a lipstick company, then for an electric exercise device for women. Eventually she becomes a junior copywriter. Her upward mobility is shocking to everyone including herself. Elisabeth Moss is incredible in the role. She was first daughter Zoey Bartlett on The West Wing and now she gets to play this young 22 year-old girl who is coming of age before our eyes. It’s perfect casting. Her voice, the fact that she’s the shortest girl in the office, and yet she holds her own with the guys. It’s her talent that earns her respect, not the shortness of her skirt. She finds such joy in being creative and we feel that too. She also has a very bad thing happen to her during the first season but I won’t spoil the surprise. It’s a great character. One of the most memorable female characters I’ve come across in TV or film.
It all comes from the writing. Creator/Executive producer Matt Weiner wrote for the Sopranos and he is a formidable writer. The emotional and dramatic complexity of every episode, I’m very envious. Also the show is very funny and finds great moments of humor both big and small. A German-immigrant from the art department confesses , “I am homosexual”, and one of the guys says, “I don’t think that means what you think that means.” I fell off my couch, I was laughing so hard. I really want to read those scripts. Television shows on cable networks have been one of the greatest things of the last 10 years. 13 episodes, no commercials, no network constraints. The content isn’t for everyone, it’s for smart people. I still love Harry Potter and action movies but the richest writing is on TV. Not the BS CSI episode that has a new murder every week, I’m talking about serialized dramas that follows character and story progression over episodes and years. Lost may be off the air, but there’s still Mad Men.
Obviously I highly recommend it. The pilot is a little weak in my opinion, but the episodes only get better as it goes along. I watch a lot of things and when you find something that’s so good it’s a joy. These last 6 days can only be described as completely satisfying.
**Peggy Olson and Betty Draper. My mom's name is Peggy. My aunt's name is Betty. Strange.
DVDs Watched this Week: The Good: Citizen Kane, Happy-Go-Lucky, All or Nothing, RKO 281, Take Care of My Cat, F for Fake The Bad: Death at a Funeral, Date Night, A Christmas Tale, Barking Dogs Never Bite The Ugly: None
Trips to the Theater: Despicable Me Actors of the Week: Sally Hawkins, Orson Welles, Doona Bae Directors of the Week:Orson Welles
TRAILERS/CLIPS of the Week: How Do You Know. James L. Brooks makes good movies. As Good as it Gets, Terms of Endearment, Spanglish. Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Jack Nicholson.
Despicable Me2 ½ stars There are so many animated films these days. They're too hard to keep track of. When I was in junior high it was just the Disney films and those came every other year. Now with Dreamworks and Fox and of course Pixar, animated movies seem to come out every week. Even harder is trying to determine which ones are actually worth watching in the theater. How to Train Your Dragon, it was playing on the plane. 10 minutes in I went back to my iPod. On the other hand, Toy Story 3 is one of the best movies of the year. I think we're finally past being impressed with CG animation. It was a big deal even when Shrek came out, now 10 years later it's a regular thing. Pretty pictures don't cut it anymore. You have to be good like any other movie.
I don't know exactly how, but after years of watching movies, I can tell within the first 10 minutes if the movie is going to be good. After the first 10 minutes of Despicable Me, I realized it was just going to be okay and that's what it was. It has high concepts like a Eastern European villain as the lead and the oh so funny idea that he would adopt three little girls, but high concepts and ideas are all the movie has. The story seems to be secondary and filler. The big disappointment is that the movie isn't very funny. That's what I really want animated movies to be. Those minions are cute and enjoyable, but I smiled more than laughed. Even Gru himself isn't particularly funny. He isn't mean enough. He isn't sarcastic enough. He's just a nerd whose mother was never proud of him.
As for the girls, they are mildly tolerable but most of the time annoying. I understand that the writers are trying to reflect spoiled and over confident kids these days but I don't want to spend a whole movie with them. Other than their cute faces, what is there to really like about them? They're orphans but do not seem the least bit thankful that they've been adopted. And the minute they enter Gru's life they just pester him and us with their collective attitude. Gru seems like the nicer person. I cared more about him than these selfish brats. Why can't there be good kids in movies? Why do they have to be so grating?
Universal did a tremendous job marketing Despicable Me. Those minions are everywhere. On buses and billboards. The little yellow thumbs are the best part of the movie and I wish there was more time spent with them than the humans. It also hurts that there are so many of them. We can't really care for any single one of them since there seems to be a thousand more. Still they're a lot of fun and surprisingly loving and loyal to Gru.
Overall it's just not enough. The jokes are hit or miss, Jason Segel as Gru's rival villain Vector is completely a waste and for all of the actors on that cast list: Jack McBrayer, Kristen Wiig, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, most of them have only one or two scenes. They could've voiced their entire roles in less than a day. They spend a lot of time making animated movies (average of 4 years). They need to spend more time on the story. I think they think, it's a cartoon, no one's going to care that much. Congratulations, you got your wish.
Death at a Funeral 2 stars. It's hard to make a good screwball comedy. When everything is going wrong and it's supposed to be funny not painful. The first Meet the Parents did it, There's Something About Mary, a few recent ones. I guess someone found the idea of a comedy set at a funeral hilarious twice since this movie is actually a remake of a British film that came out in 2007. Same title, same situations, even Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) returns as a little person who was secretly the father's lover. I like Chris Rock, but I think he's a mediocre actor. He's much better at his day job and I liked him more in the documentary Good Hair than any movie he was ever in. Like Seinfeld, he should just play himself and stop trying to be a real actor.
The movie just isn't very funny. Something happened to Martin Lawrence in the last decade. I don't think he's funny anymore. The only bright spot is Tracy Morgan who is maybe just naturally funny and he has some great moments where he's worrying about a rash on his wrist and how he doesn't want to become the Incredible Hulk. What's really not funny is the whole James "Cyclops" Marsden subplot. He takes acid (he thought it was valium) and he spends the whole movie being high and very not funny. Zoe Saldana has no purpose other than to worry about him and Luke Wilson has a good character but is given no time for him to go anywhere. Most surprising of all is that the movie was directed by Neil LaBute who directed In the Company of Men and Lakeview Terrace. He's written many great plays on Broadway and I have no idea why he decided to direct this "comedy". Comedies are supposed to make you laugh aren't they? It didn't happen much.
Date Night 1 ½ stars I hate director Shawn Levy. He's directed such classics as Cheaper by the Dozen, Just Married, 48 episodes of the Famous Jett Jackson, and the Night at the Museum movies which I hate. He is an awful director with awful taste but he continues to make movies since they are very successful. I even hate him in interviews. I think he thinks he really knows something about directing movies. He does not.
His new sin is putting 2 of my favorite comedic actors into this POS. Watching any episode of either The Office or 30 Rock will be 100x more enjoyable than watching Steve Carell and Tina Fey as weary parents who end up on some adventure with the mob, dirty cops and Mark Wahlberg's less than impressive bare chest. Why did they choose to do this movie? Steve Carell has made some good movies, but I've noticed that Tina Fey has made none. She's a genius writer, but sorry, Mean Girls is not a good movie. Baby Mama was also terrible. Some say comedy is better on TV. Look at how much is packed into one 21 minute episode of 30 Rock. Look at how little is put into 90 minutes of Date Night. For some reason James Franco, Mila Kunis, Taraji P. Henson and Ray Liotta are in this as well. They're trying to play along, but they deserve better.
The best part of the movie is actually a 3 minute scene with Mark Ruffalo. He's a friend of Carell's who is getting a divorce and talks about how he's become roommates with his wife. Their scene has more life and energy and humor than rest of the entire movie. The thing is Steve Carell and Tina Fey are so instinctively likable that you may be lulled into thinking you're actually enjoying the taxi cab shootout, the moonlit row boat chase, or them hiding out in a strip club. How original! Of course, Tina could wear a wig and do a funny pole dance!
Shawn Levy. Remember that name. No talent MF. At least Michael Bay is technically skilled. At least Brett Ratner made that first Rush Hour. At least Peter Berg created Friday Night Lights the TV series. This guy has nothing. Nothing!
Persepolis 3 stars It's the book. The graphic novel is an amazing memoir of Marjane Satrapi's young life in Iran. It is rich and emotional and hilarious. We get so much history of the time period and we get so much about Marjane and her feelings and insights about life and her experiences as a woman born in Iran. There are indeed so many experiences from her going off to school to Austria to her parents figuring out how to smuggle in heavy metal posters for her when they go on vacation. Her conflict between the Western and Middle Eastern parts of her life are incredible to read about. I love her dissection of the veil and it's use as a political fashion statement. It's the most human piece of art I've ever experienced about life in that region. Unfortunately a movie has time constraints and an animated movie has even more so. Marjane Satrapi co-directed the movie and they got the lovely Chiara Mastroianni to voice Marjane, but I feel too much is left out. There's a sequence where Marjane's mother comes to visit her in Austria that is one of the best in the novel and it's not in the movie. The film is still very funny and very emotional, and worth seeing, but I find that I can't be objective about it. I would like to hear from people who haven't read the graphic novel and have just seen the film. Many critics love it and it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Film. I very much recommend reading the great graphic novel, but if you have no intention to, please watch the movie. Marjane Satrapi's life has to be experienced. Even in condensed form. Make sure you watch the French version which is much better than the English dub.
Ebert wrote this quote about a specific movie, but I think it's something that can be said about most movies that do not fit into the usual. And it expresses a lot about how I personally feel about film. They can be a lot more than entertainment and escape. Don't be so close minded as to what movies should be. You're missing out on a lot.
"I can't tell you how many people have told me that just don't get '________'. They want to know what it's about. They complain "nothing happens." They've been trained by movies that tell them where to look and what to feel, in stories that have a beginning, a middle and an end. '________' offers an experience in the exercise of empathy. The characters empathize with each other (that's what it's about), and we can empathize with them going through that process." DVDs Watched this Week: The Good: Kick-Ass, Me and Orson Welles, The Ghost Writer, Lady Vengeance, The Host, Secrets & Lies, Life is Beautiful, Inglourious Basterds, Persepolis The Bad: Un Prophete, Thirst, The Good the Bad and the Weird, Happy End, Johnny Handsome, Unthinkable The Ugly: None
Trips to the Theater: None Actors of the Week: Young-Ae Lee, Olivia Williams, Brenda Blethyn Directors of the Week:Roman Polanski, Roberto Benigni, Mike Leigh
TRAILERS/CLIPS of the Week: Hit Girl Red Band Trailer
3 ½ stars Looking back when the film came out, I feel stupid that I didn’t go see it in a theater. Richard Linklater directed my favorite film and he’s directed a lot of other great films so why the hell didn’t I go see this one in the theater? The U.S. trailer was bland and maybe I was a little put off by Zac Efron. Also, look at that terrible poster. But I love Orson Welles. Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons. I have a small poster of him on the wall in my bedroom. In any case, I finally did see Me and Orson Welles on DVD. For reasons unknown, it’s been released on DVD in a very limited fashion with only online rental places like Blockbuster Online and Netflix carrying it. It isn’t even for sale. Probably because it had an extremely poor showing at the box office, grossing less than $2 million.
Me and Orson Welles is more about the Me, the me being Zac Efron’s character Richard, who is a senior in high school, aspiring to become an actor. By chance he sees a group of actors and crew outside the Mercury Theater and makes an impression, particularly on the great Orson Welles. To give you a little background, Welles was a prodigy. He was a genius, and he put that genius into the arts. First on radio (he created the infamous War of the Worlds broadcast), later on film (Citizen Kane was The Matrix x10 of its time), and for a while in the theater. He was 22 at the time of this first production of Julius Caesar and he was already a huge star. A magnificent actor, an even better a director. It was the first stage production with grand ambition. The first time someone even saw blood on the stage. Everything before was apparently just pantomimed. He was brilliant but also an arrogant arse. An egomaniac and a control freak, and yet everything he produced was gold. The audience adored his plays, his performances, his radio broadcasts, and sometimes his films. Film which is a costly art form ultimately was to his demise. He said himself that he spent so much time trying to finance his projects that he didn’t have time to do anything good. He died mostly being known for past glory and for being very overweight.
Efron’s character Richard is of course flattered and overwhelmed by an opportunity to play a small role in the play and is introduced to the world of the theater. Like the great movie about music Once, Me and Orson Welles really gets what it means to be young and to want to be creative. I might not be that young anymore, but I still know what that means. When your life is consumed with movies and books and art and you can’t imagine your life being about anything but. Richard does of course get some harsh lessons in the process but his enthusiasm is something I get to the core. I had seen one movie with Zac Efron before, Hairspray, but I don’t remember who Efron played. And for all of his teen idol status, he turns out to be a very good actor and an engaging lead. There’s an openness and vulnerability to him that is essential to the character and to us rooting for him. His pretty face is surprisingly subtle and expressive. More surprising is that he is stronger in the dramatic scenes than he is in the scenes where he just has to be young and charming. People were scratching their heads as to why Linklater cast him, but it’s a great choice. I don’t want to see the overlit-sentimental Charlie St. Cloud, but if Efron picks the right roles, he could have an interesting career ahead of him. I can’t believe I wrote those last few sentences but they’re true.
Also good is Claire Danes(haven’t seen her in a while) as Orson’s career minded assistant and of course British actor Christian McKay as Orson Welles. It’s his first role on film and it is crazy uncanny. He is the young Welles. The look, the voice, and certainly the personality. It’s so good you just believe it. You actually have to think about how much work that must’ve taken.
The movie’s plot follows the production of Julius Caesar and the obstacles to get it ready for opening night. The cast of characters are enjoyable enough from the set designer with the hilarious blue collar New York accent to the supporting actors all trying to score with Ms. Danes. That kind of behind the scenes chaos was done better in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (also set during The Depression) but the thing that makes this film special is Richard and our identifying with him. We feel so much of the joy and happiness he is feeling just being part of this thing. He’s 17, in a play with Orson Welles, and infatuated with his assistant. He savors every moment and we do too. And when we finally get to see the play on opening night, it is a sight to see. Linklater recreated what Welles had done and you can’t help but be in awe of the visual choices and the dramatic impact the play has. As well, we feel what the actors feel as they are terrified, they drum up the courage, and then elated when they get to perform. Actors really do put themselves out there in ways normal people do not. Danes is quoted as half jokingly saying, “It’s always humiliating.”
The movie is for us who love the arts and have a passion for creativity. It’s not a completely sunny movie as the business is often brutal, but I felt inspired afterwards and very thankful for the path I’m put on. Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, The School of Rock, Waking Life. Linklater maybe makes the best movies about what it is to be young.
The Ghost Writer 3 ½ starsFor whatever reason, I haven't liked a lot of Roman Polanski films. Rosemary's Baby, The Pianist, Frantic. And as sacrilegious as this may be, I find Chinatown underwhelming. Sorry Steven Soderbergh who is quoted as saying, "It's a perfect movie". There is something odd about the rhythm of his films and I find it alienating. I wasn't very hopeful for The Ghost Writer, which is a film that came and went from theaters awfully quickly. Added to which McGregor is sometimes a wimpy leading man and is better when he is in a supporting role or a part of a duo. It turns out I was pretty wrong.
The Ghost Writer is an exceptional thriller that is most of all immaculately crafted. The screenplay by Polanski and Robert Harris(whose novel this is based on) is as tight a screenplay as one will ever come across. Thrillers can't have much fat. The gears need to fit perfectly and the plot must always be in forward motion. Clues and suspects and characters must be brought up at the correct moments or it all falls apart. It's surprising how many thrillers are made since the level of difficulty is so high. Probably a reason why so many of them are bad.
McGregor is the ghost writer of Adam Lang(Pierce Brosnan) who is a former British PM who has recently been accused of war crimes. He supposedly handed over 3 prisoners who were subsequently tortured by the CIA. The previous ghost writer died in a mysterious suicide on this island in Martha's Vineyard and McGregor is brought in with one month left to finish Adam Lang's memoir. I don't want to give too much else away as so much of the enjoyment is discovering things as they come along. The film is packed with intelligent, adult characters. Very refreshing. They all are a bit confrontational and sprinkled with a healthy bit of malevolence but smart is always enjoyable to watch. As a writer, I believe McGregor is very good at playing one. There's a certain lack of alpha male that is overcompensated with quick wit and curiosity. It's a wonderful character to follow in this story. Brosnan is also good as the former Prime Minister and Kim Catrall is surprisingly up to the task of playing his British assistant. However, the strongest performance is from Olivia Williams(The Sixth Sense) as Brosnan's wife. She's fierce and loyal and at the same time privately doubtful and weary of this life in the public. Her acid wit brings so much pleasure. It's a great portrayal of a first lady or whatever it is they call them in the UK. The actress hasn't been around much but she really brings complexity to what could've been a one dimensional character. Really fine acting.
Polanski is the real star though, as every shot, every cut, every detail is just right. I don't believe another person could've directed this material better. That being said, the film is ultimately a thriller and despite some minor contemporary political allusions, it doesn't want to be more than a good film in the genre. That's not a bad thing, and to that end it is very successful. A great, satisfying rental.
Lady Vengeance 3 ½ starsThe third film in Chan-Wook Park's Trilogy of revenge is Lady Vengeance. This time there's a female protagonist Geum-Ja who was sent to prison after murdering a young boy. She did not, is innocent of the crime, and because of good behavior and a reformed public image, she is granted parole and set free. However, she is not reformed and plans to take her revenge on the man who forced her to confess to the crime. He had kidnapped her daughter and threatened to kill her if Geum-Ja did not take the blame. Her daughter was subsequently adopted by an Australian family and does not speak Korean.
Geum-Ja is played by Yeong-Ae Lee. She is apparently very well known in Korea, mostly for a TV drama Dae Ja Geum she did where she played a much more obviously feminine character. Park cast her against type and she is just tremendous in the role. It isn't at all some sort of tough girl put on job. In many ways she is a polite Korean woman, but she also has equally dark and disturbing behavior that really plays great against her sweet face. The character is pleasingly ambiguous and my loyalty for her may have shifted throughout the film but my fascination with her did not. Even visually the character is striking from the red mascara to that fantastic leather trench, to her pale, pale skin. She has a moment toward the end in a tight close-up where she is crying/laughing that honestly floored me. I really had never seen acting like that before. She has since semi-retired from acting having moved to the states with her husband. I hope she does more films. Her performance truly is something to see.
The movie itself is good, sometimes great. The first half is a bit clunky as some of Chan-Wook Park's can be. It doesn't have the fluidity of Oldboy. The shifts from the present to flashbacks are a bit jarring and it's hard to keep track of everything Geum-Ja is doing. Nevertheless, about 40 minutes in, things really get going with Geum-Ja reuniting with her daughter, which is very compelling since they do not speak the same language and yet are drawn to one another. Geum-Ja also discovers that this man has actually taken other children along with the one she was sent to prison for. That leads to a stunning and unexpected second half. I won't give away what happens but I've watched those scenes with these Korean parents over and over again as they consider what to do now as their children have died so long ago. It's just so unusual for this type of movie. And having grown up with a lot of Korean parents around me, the movie gets it just right. Their values, their behavior, even their actions which contradict the first two. Incredible emotional stuff. And sometimes very, very funny. Pretty original if you ask me. Lady Vengeance is not as deep or as rich as Oldboy, but very good. Yeong-Ae Lee. There really are some great Korean actresses out there.
The Host 3 stars I hate monster movies. Hate. Even with all of the technology these days, they never look right. They never are all that scary. That spider in LOTR was fake, fake, fake. Now the monster in The Host is probably much worse than that, but somehow, some way, the badness of the effects almost makes it better. I don't know why but it makes it more fun. Why? I don't know, it just does. The best part of this movie is in fact the family who are our main characters. They are an eccentric bunch with a lazy single father, his unemployed angry younger brother, their sister who is a bronze medal archer, and their loving father. That doesn't do them justice but when you watch them you'll get it. I was rooting for them the whole time. Again, the kind of lack of seriousness, B nature of the movie is very enjoyable. There is a monster and a deadly virus and people are dying, but it's happening somewhere in Korea so it doesn't seem so bad. Btw, the movie was a gigantic hit over there. It's their Avatar. Director Joon-Ho Bong who I've wrote a lot about recently does a fine job of sidestepping the cliches and bringing a down to earth feeling to the movie. We're following the family who owns this convenient store not the feds. I'm not saying run out and rent it but if you like this type of movie, see this one. I don't like this type of movie and I liked it.
Kick-Ass 4 stars It's gonna be in my Top 10 this year. A lot of the dialogue is bad, the voice-over is bad(Brits can't write American!), but it's the phenomenal spirit of the thing. It's a big F you to tame PG-13 comic book movies. The film was produced independently by a group of Brits and rightly so since American corporations don't finance movies where 11 year-old girls drop the C-bomb. As for little Hit Girl, she is a gold star mini assassin. The great character of 2010. Unforgettable in that purple wig and school girl skirt. Not to mention the butterfly knives and her unbeatable hyper slow motion strobe light shootout. I've watched that scene countless times at this point and it always gets my blood pumping. It is the best action movie of the year. Chloe Moretz pulls a Haley Joel Osment and accomplishes something no pre-teen child should possibly be able to. Also great is Nic Cage as Big Daddy(I want that nickname) as her father who teaches her all of these inappropriate skills. Of course there's the main character Kick-Ass played nicely by British actor Aaron Johnson(could've fooled me). So many times these teenage heroes are just annoying. I was really rooting for Kick-Ass. That Prodigy song playing against his first real fight is awesome. It's a fun and often times exciting movie that comments on the genre while also giving us the goods. I wonder if Tarantino is proud or if he is just a purest when it comes to this kind of stuff. In any case Matthew Vaughn directed a great film. Out on Blu-ray now.
This review is going to be spoiler-packed. It'll be more fun talking about the specific details. So if you haven't seen it, don't read it. Seriously, going to give away a lot.
Inception 3 stars It's basically a heist film. Put the team together, plan it, take the money. Inception is Christopher Nolan's 7th film and it's definitely the most ambitious. A great deal of technical complexity. Not to mention it's huge. No expense was spared whether it be in Paris or Japan or some beach in limbo.
I have to say up front that I'm not his biggest fan. I respect him, but a lot of his movies have left me cold. I don't like Batman Begins at all, The Prestige falls apart in the last 20 minutes, and does anyone even remember Insomnia? They're much more intellectual than emotional and movies are about emotion. Still, it's been a lousy year, and a lousier summer, so I was excited about seeing Inception. Trailers were very impressive, and a friend of mine prematurely predicted that it would be one of the greatest films of all time. Haha.
Inception is about dream invasion. Getting information from someone by sedating them, hooking them up to a machine, hooking yourself up to the machine, and we all go in. The world of the dream can be constructed, manipulated, and the normal rules don't apply. Just like anyone's dream. Dicaprio's team is paid to go in and extract information and ideas by any means necessary. It's mostly intelligent con work. What they don't do, and what most believe is not possible, is to implant an idea into someone's mind and that's called inception. Btw, I'm very proud that I could explain that in one paragraph.
Let's get spoilerish. Despite all of the layers of science, physics and visual splendor, the movie really is a heist film. Dicaprio is Danny Ocean and he puts together his team to take down the casino. Joseph Gordon-Levitt(Brick) is his partner, Ellen Page is the architect, Ken Watanabe bankrolls their operation, the great British actor Tom Hardy is the forger/impersonator, and Cillian Murphy(28 Days Later) is the mark. This isn't a negative thing, but it does put the movie in a specific genre and it doesn't necessarily break free of it. They plan the job, they go in, and things of course get hairy.
The emotional story, and the thing that reduces my enthusiasm for the movie is that Dicaprio has lost his wife and is trying to get back home to his kids. I mean, that's the real story and I'm sorry, but "the wife is dead" is so tired. How many wives and children have died in movies just so the hero can have something to feel? Hundreds if not thousands of movies. A lot of Van Damme movies. I think it's handled fine and you couldn't get a better actress to play that role than the lovely Marion Cotillard, but ultimately I don't care. A husband's guilt and regret about the past, I don't care. In a film that's anything but, it's a really lazy storyline. And it's pretty similar to Shutter Island isn't it? I think Nolan's is great at intellectual ideas and putting together a plot, but I think he is mediocre when it comes to hitting the emotional beats. At the end of The Dark Knight, did you really care that Commissioner Gordon's family might be killed? That was the climax of the movie and it had nothing to do with anything.
Still there is so much good that can't be ignored. The world of the dreams exceeded my visual expectations, primarily because so much of it did not seem at all CGI. Even when Paris is bending on top of itself, it all felt very real. Breathtaking at times. That shot from the trailer is remarkable but also amazing is the 360 zero gravity fight in the hotel toward the end. You haven't seen a fist fight like this. The concept of extraction/inception is explained well although I think there are more efficient visual ways of laying it out rather than characters just talking to one another. Yet even if I didn't 100% know what was going on at every moment, the conviction of the actors and the great forward momentum pace of the 2 hour and 20 minute film kept me in it. Hans Zimmer's driving score helps a lot too. The movie is never ever boring. I fully understood the 3 layers and "the kick" and the difference between real world time and dream time, but I wonder if the 60 year-old woman sitting next to me did. Even the idea of the totems is kind of breezed by, but the image of the spinning metal top is enough to remind us of its importance. It's a nice touch. And a nice last shot.
Dicaprio is good in what is essentially an action role. "This your responsibility, we are not prepared for this!" He has to lead his team into the dream while dealing with the memories of his wife(snore). Joseph Gordon-Levitt is underused and will probably be remembered more for being handsome in the film in three piece suits. Tom Hardy(so good in Bronson) brings a lot of needed charm and wit to the proceedings and Ken Watanabe is a nice choice for the role of the billionaire backer. Sadly the characters don't really pop and they are there more to serve the plot. Which some might argue is all they need to do in a good screenplay.
Ellen Page as Ariadne(that's not a real name) is the one that stands out the most for me, not just because she's one of my top 3 favorite actresses, but because she makes so much out of an underwritten role. She's the architect of the dream so she has to sell us on the fact that she is this hyper intelligent craftsman which I don't believe any other actress in her 20s could have done. And she's the only one on the team that knows Dicaprio's secret and she has to be a rational tether between him and reality. That's tough to do. Scene after scene, she chooses to go at him straight on instead of trying to tug at hearts and flowers. She doesn't once get weepy. The character is most of all smart and she's confident enough to stay in that without trying to cloy at us with vulnerability. She's all of 5'1 but she holds her own in this huge film with big name actors. The role is underwritten though as we don't have any emotional idea of why she is doing this. Why is she taking part in something so fundamentally dangerous? It's no big deal, but if I were reviewing the script, that's a question I would be asking.
It was right to release this in the summer since there is a whole lot of spectacle to behold. The shootouts are a hand-held yawn, but once we get to the midpoint with the players in three different layers, three different time zones against them, things really got exciting. The idea of being trapped limbo is so personally terrifying to me. It's what I think hell would be like. What a great dilemma to put the characters in. The extreme slow motion shots are beautiful and we always know where we we are, what layer we are in, and what's at stake. That's film directing. It all could've been so confusing. Great moments include the shots of them sleeping in the van, when Ariadne starts screaming, "Wake me up! Wake me up!"(never being able to wake up is also pretty terrifying), the kiss that was worth a shot, and that moment at the end on the plane. That scene is so completely satisfying. To me, the movie should've ended there. He could've spun the top there. No movie should end with blonde children being embraced by their father.
Nolan is a good director, but he's not up there with the best. He's not a very personal director and that means something to me. If you didn't notice, the movie is a re-telling of Memento(still his best film). The wife is dead, the lead character thinks it's his fault, and he creates a fictional world in his mind in order to deal with his guilt. It's 100x bigger than that movie, but the emotional issues are the same. If you think about it, Insomnia is about a cop who regrets something he did in the past, even Batman is a character who regrets and feels guilty about his past. It's time for a new theme buddy. A similar and better movie is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind which is even more complex with regards to memories and journeying through the mind. This is the pumped up action version of Charlie Kaufman. It's good pumped up action though.
All in all, you should go see it. There are scenes that are really something to see in a theater. And thankfully in glorious 2-D. It doesn't have much to say, but it is a smart movie. A summer blockbuster that is about thinking. F you Michael Bay.
4 stars I don't even know where to begin. Joy maybe. Crazy pleasure cinematic joy. It was there in theater 13 at the Arclight in Pasadena today. What Kill Bill was to Kung Fu movies, Scott Pilgrim is to video games. The movie loves video games, particularly classic 8-bit games which is a trip back to 6th grade before I started liking girls. The movie begins with a ridiculously awesome re-imagining of the Universal Studios logo and off we went.
