4 stars The Muppets is (are) freaking awesome. A big warm hug of a movie that I think I smiled nearly the whole way through. Thankfully it was 10:00pm Tuesday night and no one was really there to see my embarrassing happiness.
Jason Segel is Gary, Amy Adams is Mary, and Walter (the little guy in the blue suit) is somehow Gary's brother. One thing that isn't really explained is what the Muppets are. They're like some other species that lives among humans in this world, but even though Walter looks like the Muppets, he isn't one technically. Nevermind, who cares. Gary, Mary, and Water live in Smalltown, USA and decide to take a trip to Los Angeles to visit Muppet Studios. But the studio is a wreck, it's about to be bought by a greedy oil tycoon (Chris Cooper), but they can save it if they raise 10 million dollars. They go visit Kermit at his mansion and he decides he's gonna get the whole gang back together and put on a telethon to save the Muppets. Of course they do get together, of course there are obstacles, and of course they sing.
Two people behind the scenes made this movie great. First is Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords who was the music supervisor and wrote most of the original songs in the movie. They are really good. Catchy and fun, starting with the opening number Life's a Happy Song. I'm not someone who usually likes musicals, especially when characters break into song, but the songs are so smart and funny. And it's 6'4 Jason Segel dancing down the street with little Walter in matching suits. I think if you don't like this number, you should just leave. You have a cold, black heart and I pity you! Later a ballad called, "Man or Muppet" is somehow both hysterical and sad.
The second person is director James Bobin, co-creator of the Flight of the Conchords TV show, who directed many of those episodes. He gets the tone so right. It's a hard tone to get. It's not fantasy (although often silly), it's not reality (although we feel for these cloth puppets), it's somewhere happy in between and that place is a wonderful place to be. It's a place where Amy Adams has an intercutting duet with Miss Piggy called "Party of One" about how they feel alone. It's a place where a Nirvana song is sung a cappella by Rowlf and Beaker. It's a place where the gang decides that driving to Paris would take too long, so they travel by map. That image, that idea, really made me laugh. There are some ambitious visual moves too like putting a Darren Aronofsky POV rig on one of the Muppets so when he freaks out we're moving along with him.
I admit, I'm not even that crazy about The Muppets. I never saw the TV show, I think I watched part of A Muppet Christmas Carol, but I was more exposed to the Muppet Babies cartoon after school (I wondered where Skeeter was). It was great to see them though on a big movie screen. I wanted to reach out and touch the material they made Walter out of. It was also strange to see them in such good lighting. And the puppet aspect works so well. I'm aware that there is a hand in Kermit's head making those expressions, but I'm still getting emotional when he does. Wuss!
The movie is about the Muppets, and that's good, but the humans aren't bad either. This was Jason Segel's idea to revive the Muppets, he co-wrote the movie, and he's very good in a genuine, nice guy role. Talk about the ultimate childhood fanboy dream. For me it would be somehow getting to talk to Charlie Brown on that stone wall. I love Amy Adams, I'm not ashamed to say it. Her very being is glowing and she has a great voice and a heart of gold sweetness that is perfect for the movie. I like that Mary is a little clueless sometimes to what is going on and she just sits there and smiles, hoping for the best. They are the supporting cast though and that's a smart, brave choice.
I don't think everyone is necessarily going to feel the way I do. You're not all going to get the soundtrack afterwards. You're not all going to write a review at 1:00am despite having to go to work in the morning. There's no meanness, there's no pissy hipster cynicism, there's so much heart. If you want a warm and fun time at the movies, avoid ridiculous vampire birth and go see The Muppets!
2 ½ stars Going back to 1999 with Bringing Out the Dead, I've seen every Scorsese movie released in theaters, in the theater. Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Shine a Light, etc. And in between all of the television documentaries like No Direction Home on Bob Dylan. However, I did not like his last one Shutter Island (review), and now this is two in a row.
Hugo is about a young orphan named Hugo Cabret who lives in a train station in Paris. He eats what he can steal, he maintains the clocks in the station as his Uncle did before, and he's trying to fix a broken automaton, which is a mechanical man who you can wind up and he will write something. Hugo believes that what the automaton will write is a message from his father (Jude Law) who passed away not long ago.
This is the most un-Scorsese movie I've ever seen. It's PG, it's about children, it's mostly a broad comedy, it's sometimes sentimental (which is alarming), and it's a family film. Goodness he's working out of his wheelhouse. There's a lot to be said about Steven Spielberg with E.T. or JJ Abrams who directed the fantastic Super 8 this year. They can tap into what it felt like to be a young kid and that is expressed so well in their films. I don't think Scorsese got it.
The first problem I had is with the lead actor Asa Butterfield (c'mon parents, name your children better). Freddie Highmore in Finding Neverland, Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter, Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense. I really appreciate now how good those kids were when they were young. It's not just the acting,they have something special the camera loves, at least they did when they were young boys. I don't think Asa is a very good nor a very compelling child actor. Or maybe he's no been given an interesting character. Hugo spends half the movie crying or looking desperate. It's whiny and I don't sympathize. Maybe I prefer Harry Potter who silently, and with dignity, deals with his horrible childhood (which is much worse than Hugo's). But Hugo as a character was difficult to like.
As for the other characters, they are mostly underwritten. You have great actors like Emily Mortimer and Ray Winstone who have nothing to do. Or Sacha Baron Cohen who plays a bully security guard who is goofy but not very funny. And sadly one of the best young actresses around Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass, Let Me In) is miscast as a Parisian girl from the 1930s. She's too contemporary and too American. She isn't convincing as a European, despite a good accent. Ben Kingsley is solid, but he should have a few more scenes. Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy in HP) stands out though in a strong performance.
The better parts of the film come about midway when the movie becomes about movies. The automaton leads them to the world of filmmaking and this is why Scorsese made the movie. So he can talk about the birth of filmmaking and those early directors and the absolute tragedy that so many of their films are simply lost and forever gone. They would burn the film after and sell it to someone who would break it down into chemicals that were were made into shoe heels. It's a horrendous crime. But by this time in the movie it was too late. I felt assaulted by the production design and all of the numerous cogs and gears that crowd the film. If you have a fetish for clockwork, this movie is for you. I saw it in 2D and maybe something is gained in 3D, but I didn't see the Scorsese flair in terms of the camera. One example is the boring overuse of CGI. We have a lot of big, fake shots of the city of Paris and they are a snore. There's no immediacy in the camera work like in The Departed or The Age of Innocence or even his recent work on Boardwalk Empire. I didn't care much for the lighting either, despite Robert Richardson being one of the best DPs out there. It's a mediocre looking film from one of the greatest visual directors of all time.
I didn't see much at all of the master director I love. I didn't enjoy the story, I didn't admire the filmmaking. I think it's the wrong material for him and I wonder who the movie is for anyway. Will young kids enjoy this uninteresting mystery about an automaton? Maybe some of them have fantasies about living in a railway station, but would they want to do it in the poverty of post-war 30s Europe? It looks like I'm in the minority as the movie is getting glowing reviews. Maybe it just wasn't for me.
2 stars Things started off well and the first 30 minutes when it was just the cowboys was very good. Daniel Craig, despite being a man from England, seemed awfully comfortable in a Western, riding a horse, being a badass. Then the aliens show up.
I'm sorry but I cannot go with this concept. It's too silly and it's not a good combo. I don't want to see cowboys lassoing aliens. I don't want to see flying metal drones snatching up Indians. I just don't care. This kind of risky material should attempt to be cool, but this movie is sadly not.
On a basic level I don't care about these characters either. If they die, if they live, it doesn't matter since I'm not invested in them. Those first 30 minutes need to be about setting them up and introducing us to them but that is done poorly. Olivia Wilde is again beautiful and a surprisingly strong actor among a cast of men, but I know nothing about Ella other than she is maybe the first person I've seen wearing a dress with a gun holster. Harrison Ford is strangely underwhelming as Colonel Dolarhyde, a wealthy cattle owner who teams up with Craig's character Jake Lonergan. Maybe it's the accent? I think it's the first time Harrison Ford has played a Southern character? I could be wrong, but the performance seems wrong. There's something to be said about the hardcore curmudgeons like Tommy Lee Jones and Clint Eastwood. There's something appealing about their gruff old age. Harrison Ford seems a little soft here. Also the supporting characters, despite having good actors like Sam Rockwell and Adam Beach, are unmemorable.
The whole movie's unmemorable. I don't know, I think the tone is wrong. Mixing cowboys and aliens should be fun right? Maybe some humor? It's just all taken so seriously. It's dully shot, a surprising low from DP Matthew Libatique who recently shot Black Swan. The score is mediocre, and the action isn't great. Jon Favreau made so many good decisions directing Iron Man, but there are so many bad ones here. The material is no good either. You know what movie it reminds me of, War of the Worlds with Cruise. I had the same blah feeling after seeing that movie. The aliens are coming and they're putting me to sleep.
These clips are more entertaining than the movie.
The Future 2 ½ stars I think Miranda July is wildly talented, an amazing performer, but there's something about her films that I can't get in. I can't break through the shield of eccentricity. The Future is about a couple, Sophie who teaches a kids dance class unhappily. Her husband Jason works as a tech support phone guy at home. Then they adopt a cat named Paw-Paw (who has a speaking part) and things go off. I mean they really go off into a different time and space and reality. You can immediately see how intelligent Miranda July is. The choices she is making are different and thought out, but I can't connect to them.
On the DVD, there is a behind the scenes that shows her actually performing The Future as a one woman show. She's a performance artist, that's her bread and butter, and she then adapted the show into this film. But even the few minutes we get to see of this stage performance is amazing. It is so compelling and impressive and I was sucked in. The whole story is coming from her, and it is better than seeing it as a film. Maybe movies are too much about reality and about needing a certain reality to emotionally connect. I hope to see her live some day. I hope to meet her.
Capote4stars When I first saw Capote back in '05 I remember being very taken with the murder aspect of this story. Two men in Kansas gun down a family in their home and author Truman Capote came down to write about it. The actor Clifton Collins Jr. (Traffic) is unbelievable as Perry Smith, the killer Capote gets closest too during his five years of research for his book In Cold Blood. That's what I remembered.
But what got to me this time around was the idea that Capote's dream was to write a book that would be so celebrated that it would make himself grandly famous. He then goes on to compromise whatever morals and principles he needs to gain that goal. It was the goal of his life. He's not a phony, and Capote was a tremendous writer, and he got exactly what he wanted. In Cold Blood is in the canon of nonfiction books and probably will be there forever. However, in getting exactly what he wanted, he lost everything else. He never finished another book again. He truly gained the world and lost his soul. And that choice, to go against principle as a means to an end, it destroys him. It is wholly fascinating and Philip Seymour Hoffman (who the Oscar for his role) is so good in the film. Bennett Miller recently directed Moneyball but this was his first. It is haunting and tragic and beautiful.
The Fugitive 4starsA much better Harrison Ford film. Still one of the best movies shot in Chicago. This is the Chicago I know. The light in particular. I never think of bright sunny days downtown, I think of overcast and diffused white light. In any case, The Fugitive is a classic you've probably seen a lot on basic cable. It is a great story, it is very compelling, but the reason I watch it again and again is Tommy Lee Jones and his crew of US Marshals. Marshal Sam Gerard is one of the great movie cops with tons of fantastic, brief dialogue.
People know the one: Gerard: Newman what are you doing? Newman: Thinking. Gerard: Well think me up a cop of coffee and a chocolate donut with some of those little sprinkles on top, sitting there thinking.
I always think of: Gerard: Newman get rid of the helicopter! Newman: Why? Gerard: Because I don't want to get shot!
An insanely entertaining character. And the Marshals around him are such good actors. Joe Pantoliano stands out as the 2nd in charge, but they seem like a real squad of people who have been chasing fugitives for who knows how many years. Still so much fun.
Watched this Week The Good:The Hangover x5, The Hangover Part II, The Help, Capote, The Captains, Chicago, The Book of Eli, Music & Lyrics, Juno, Woody Allen: A Documentary, Wild Man Blues, Before Sunset, The Office Season 7 The Bad: Cowboys & Aliens, The Future, The People vs. George Lucas, US Marshals, Old School The Ugly: None Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: One Day (sorry Annie), The Devil's Double, The Art of Getting By, 30 Minutes or Less Blu-Rays Bought: Super 8, In the Line of Fire
Trips to the Theater: The Descendants
Best Quote: "My relationship with death remains the same. I'm um, strongly against it." -Woody Allen Actors of the Week: Viola Davis, Ken Jeong, George Clooney, Heather Graham Director of the Week:Todd Phillips
Trailers/Clips of the Week: The Hangover. Great trailer featuring Stu's song.
3 starsAlexander Payne is one of the best writer-directors around, he just make so few films. The Descendants is #5, four years after Sideways, which I still think is his best.
Matt King (Clooney) is a lawyer in Honolulu and four things are happening to him. First, his wife Elizabeth is in a coma after an accident on the water with a speed boat. Second, his family owns a large chunk of land in Hawaii through a trust and that trust will dissolve in seven years. The King family is taking bids from developers as they intend to sell this land, probably for a huge amount of money. Third, he is trying to reconnect with his daughters as he has to with his wife's absence. Fourth, he discovers from his oldest daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley from the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager) that his wife was actually having an affair.
What's so great about Alexander Payne is that he writes about and casts real people. The actors in his movies feel very every day, so far away from the the ultra beautiful people with too much lighting we usually see. The Descendants is about these real people and how they are dealing with what is going on. Even with comas and affairs, it isn't melodramatic, it all feels very real. This isn't a movie where people scream at each other nor is it a movie where the family group hugs at the end. Sometimes you love your parents, sometimes you don't want to see them. Parents' affection for their children isn't as constant as we hope. And even though your grandfather criticizes you and insults you, you don't blow up at him and kind of just know he's like that sometimes. And the dialogue is so good. So naturalistic and easy and the jokes feel completely un-jokey. It's a funny movie, but none of the characters are trying to be funny. The humor comes out of real moments.
That is all great, but what hurts the movie to me are the four storylines. There are one maybe two too many for me. Any one of them could make an entire movie. We want to know who Elizabeth was cheating with and we want to see Matt try to spend time with his daughters, but I found the land deal plot uninteresting. It thematically ties in with the idea of Matt being a descendant of generations of native Hawaiians, but I'd rather spend time in the human stories. There are also a ton of characters and maybe I wanted to spend more time with just a few of them. Scottie, Matt's youngest daughter, is going through angsty puberty but her issues kind of get lost in the second half of the film with so many other characters introduced. Like Sid the surfer boy who has some funny lines but becomes a background extra for most of the movie.
One of the real special ones though is Alexandra, Matt's eldest daughter. She's very smart and old beyond her years, but she's got into some trouble and is currently at a boarding school on another island. She can be rude and foul mouthed (as she is a teenager) but she loves her dad and instinctively takes care of her younger sister. She's not perfect, she's very real. So many times children in movies are just the one thing. The smart one, the rebel, the cute one, the brat. Alexandra is a complex character who I started off disliking and by the end I really came to like. Or at least I understood her and empathized with what it must've been like to grow up in that house. However in the traffic jam of people, I felt her arc didn't really have an ending. Or at least not a major one as I had hoped.
George Clooney is pretty amazing as Matt King. It's the most un-Clooney of roles. Matt's not charming or confident and he never once wears a suit. I've always complained that Clooney is always in a dark suit in every film but I don't know if I wanted to see him consistently wearing those Tommy Bahama short sleeve button downs which he always tucks in. It's a terrible, ugly, Orange County uniform. He's playing a real middle aged guy and a father and he is totally convincing. It's a subtle, measured acting performance and if he wins the Oscar for this one (as the buzz is going) it would be well deserved. Credit to Payne and his co-writers and the original author Kaui Hemmings for creating such depth in really what could've been a bland white man in his 50s.
There is so much other good stuff in the movie. Hawaii has never been shot like this. This isn't about resorts and beautiful sunsets, it's about the city in Hawaii. Flying from island to island is a big deal and we get such a sense of the inhabitants as so many of the characters feel like normal native Hawaiians. No one speaks Pigeon in the film but I do know what a Haolie is. There are also some magnificently acted scenes like the one between Clooney and Matthew Lillard. Matthew Lillard of all people! Apparently he gave a killer audition and this may reboot his sagging Scooby Doo career. Also Judy Greer (13 Going on 30) has a couple of great moments and Jeff's brother Beau Bridges may be one of the most naturalistic actors I've ever seen.
It's a lot of good, but it didn't come together as strong as I had hoped. Not in the way Sideways or About Schmidt did. One thing that hurt is that some of the scenes in the beginning are very tough to sit through, with the kind of family awkwardness we all would rather avoid. A scene early on when Scottie goes to a classmate's home to apologize because that girl's mom forces Matt to bring her is probably very true to life, but it's scenes like those that push the pause button on my parenting career. The movie's not a tragedy, but it's not about easy healing. It's genuine and in between. There is much hope but there are a lot of rough parts and Alexander Payne won't allow us to fast forward through them. It's a good film, but not a great one to me. And yet that last shot, that last moment is pretty perfect. It's a great writing move to end the film on that last shot. It makes perfect sense and it doesn't say anything more than it has to. I just wish I could say that about the movie as a whole.
The Hangover Part II 3 starsIt happened again. Of course it did, the first movie made $460 million worldwide. Most of us wanted it to happen again too.
Stu (Ed Helms) is getting married in Thailand. He is also probably the last man on earth named Stu. The guys join him for the wedding, they toast on the beach, fade to black, and then slam cut to a crappy Bangkok hotel the next morning. It's the same formula, it's the same plot structure and that is expected.
It's not as funny as the first but in a way how could it be. The Hangover was such a genuine surprise. Three moderately known actors in a movie whose title made me think it would be simple and dumb. Then that first trailer came out with Mike Tyson singing Phil Collins and knocking out Alan and everyone wanted to go. The set pieces aren't as good this time around and a moment like Phil getting shot seems wasted as there is very little comedy in that scene. Even a trip to a monastery is a letdown, but the plot still works. It gets us engaged right away because everyone wants to find out the answer to the mystery. We all want to know what happened last night, we all want to find Stu's fiance's brother Teddy who has vanished minus one finger he left behind.
What also works are the three guys Stu, Phil, and Alan. It was great to see them together again and somehow the combination of the three really works. They have different energies, different personas, and they play off each other well. The scenes where they are trying to figure things out are the best. Little throwaway moments of verbal comedy really work. I wish they individually had better subplots (Phil and Alan have no conflicts or need to change in the movie), but maybe no one else cares. Stu has a loving, understanding fiance, it's only her father doesn't like him. It's not that big of a deal if you ask me and finding her brother doesn't seem as important as finding Doug who is the actual groom in the wedding. However, the film is well put together. Todd Phillips is one of the most visual comedic directors and that counts. One stylistic thing he does is fantastic. Alan meditates and starts to flashback on things that happened that night. And instead of seeing Ed Helms and Bradley Cooper, Alan sees them as young boys and we see these kids do all of this crazy stuff in the streets of Thailand. Dirty, wild stuff with younger versions. It's really funny. Finally a new take on flashbacks that is very cool. Also a car chase toward the end is surprisingly well done, including the destruction of a hanging dead pig. The only other movies I've seen set in Thailand are Rambo II, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Beach, and that horrible Bridget Jones sequel. I don't know if any of these movies are a positive promotion for tourism. One thing they all stress is that it is hot. It is that heat where the humidity is tangible and everyone has sweat stains somewhere on their clothes. And the Wolfpack take us on a seriously low rent tour of the city where blackouts apparently happen constantly and transsexual strip clubs are hot spots. If you are skittish of seeing male genitalia you should probably steer clear of the film. It is not shy.
The best part of the movie for me was Mr. Chow. I don't care, I'm Asian, and I love Mr. Chow. He's as representative of our ethnicity as Tony Montana is to Latinos. If you're worried that someone may think bad of you because of a fictional movie character, you have some serious insecurity issues. He's hysterical, and for me, he gave me the biggest laughs in Part II. I like him more here because he's friends with the guys and having Mr. Chow on your side is a good thing.
I look forward to #3 whenever they make it. I think Todd Phillips is a solid director. Old School, Starsky and Hutch, and now the biggest R-Rated comedy of all time. The guys are great, just hopefully a little more script writing next time and a little less disgusting exotic locations.
The Hangover (Revew from 12.16.09)3 ½ stars Things didn't start off well. There was a lot do with banal shots of the wedding cake and guys trying on tuxes and that all seemed average. Even the introductory scenes in Vegas were so so, with a lame and unfunny toast on the rooftop of Caesar's.
Then cut to the next morning.
They wake up, hungover, tiger in the bathroom, and the movie really takes off. One thing about comedies is that their plots are almost unnecessary. Someone needs to drive across country, someone likes a girl, blah, blah. But with The Hangover, the plot is the best thing about it. I mean, WTF did happen last night? It's a great narrative that propels the entire film forward. I wouldn't say all of the scenes are hilarious individually, but somehow they build upon on each other and the movie gets funnier and funnier as we go along.
I really feel good for Office regular Ed Helms. Other cast members have tried movies, but he turns out to be the one with the biggest hit. Also happy for Heather Graham who is funny and very sweet in a small role as the stripper he marries. Originally Lindsay Lohan was offered the role but she turned it down because apparently she didn't want her career to be revived by one of the biggest comedies ever. It made $277 million domestically. The money shocker of the year. It's a funny movie. As for the end credits, I was dying.
3 stars I had little intention of finishing The Help. I thought I would pop it in, wouldn't like it within the first 20 minutes, and that would be that. However, the movie opens with four questions. They are:
1. Did you know as a girl growing up that one day you would be a maid? Yes ma'am I did.
2. And you knew that because? My momma was a maid, my grandmom was a house slave.
3. Do you ever dream of being something else? (nods yes)
4. What does it feel like to raise a white child when your own child is at home being looked after by someone else? (she doesn't answer)
These are exactly the questions I would ask if I were allowed to. They are questions that cut straight to it. And the answers given aren't flowery, they aren't trying to sunny up the truth. They cut to it as well, and it hurts Aibeleen to answer them. But she doesn't flinch, and that is a character I want to know.
The Help is indeed about African-American maids in Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960s. Cynically I assumed the movie would just show us how bad it was for them, how bad white people back then were, but we're ok because we're comfortably not in that time period nor in the South. And a lot of the movie is about those first two things and of course how racism is stupid and terrible, but what The Help has that most "message" movies don't are very interesting characters.
The first is Aibeleen played by the always powerful Viola Davis. I first remember her in Soderbergh's Out of Sight and later in Solaris and Doubt (for which she was nominated). She was also very good in Trust earlier this year. The movie doesn't work without her strength. She isn't asking for our sympathy or our pity. She's strong and honest and a character that has true character. Her only son has died, she is on her own, and she has very little to lose in talking about her life. The second is Minny Jackson played by Octavia Spencer who sadly I only remember from Bad Santa. Minny is more outspoken, very funny, but there are a lot of layers there too. I was concerned the movie would just be about its white movie stars Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard, but thankfully we come away thinking about these two black women more. Their scenes resonant the strongest.
Emma Stone finally shows me her star wattage as she is wonderful as Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan. I do identify with Skeeter. She's the individual among a community of people who think you should be one way and she doesn't. Stone plays her as such a real person. Awkward and flawed and someone I would want to know. She has a break up scene in the movie where she doesn't do the cliche thing of protecting herself by getting angry at the guy because he doesn't understand. She's hurt by his words and his rejection, even if he's a fool. The movie is also smart to show her not always outwardly defying the women of Jackson because she wouldn't do that. She still has to live there, and there are rules and boundaries to cross only at certain times.
A genuine bright spot is Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life) as Celia Foote, a bubbly outsider who marries one of the local men and is oblivious to why these women won't accept her. Her character is a surprise and a real strong writing move as her naive bewilderment says a lot of truth about how meaningless all of this behavior is. The women go at such lengths to be present themselves as something they're not. They are pristine and miserable. Celia's a mess and she's happy. Lastly, Bryce Dallas Howard gets the villain of the year award as Hilly Holbrook, the queen of this little town. I know this girl. I've met her and she's a monster. She does get some comeuppance but someone asks her toward the end, "Ain't you tired Miss Hilly?" Tired of passing all the judgment, tired of your insecurities that justify your behavior, tired of trying so hard to be something perfect. It's another good question.
The movie is a bit long and some of the scenes will be painful to sit through, but it's a good one. Maybe it is a bit soft like Ebert said in his review, but not every movie about race has to be Mississippi Burning. Racism bothers me particularly because it's so stupid. It's deciding voluntarily that you will be closed minded, and what good is that to the world. I don't think the movie is going to start any revolution about equality, but movies are meant to make you feel, and I felt for these women. What more can you ask.
Watched this Week The Good:The Fugitive, Pirate Radio, Blue Velvet, Speed, Blade Runner, The Negotiator, Scarface (no te muevas cabroncito!) The Bad: None The Ugly: None Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: Puncture, A Better Tomorrow (the Korean remake) Blu-Rays Bought: HP and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Trips to the Theater: None Actors of the Week: Al Pacino, Dennis Hopper, Philip Seymour Hoffman Director of the Week:Jan De Bont
Trailers/Clips of the Week: The Hunger Games. Not that visually interesting, but I like the concept. Now I want to see it.
Woody Allen: A Documentary. Airs on PBS Sun Nov. 21 and Mon Nov. 22.
I didn't appreciate it fully at the time, but so many of these I watch again and again. So many of these I give out to friends. How great was 2009. My Top 10 of 2009
3 stars It's hard to review Scarface objectively because it's so ingrained in film culture. It's a classic solely based on how well remembered it is. Even someone who knows nothing about it knows that title.
Almost 30 years ago Brian De Palma directed Scarface and it's the gangster movie of that decade. The Godfather was the 70s, Goodfellas was the 90s, and Scarface was the 80s. It's such a movie of the 80s. The synthesizer soundtrack, the bad hair, and especially the excess. The movie is overflowing with excess and consumption, which the 80s were a lot about. Money and women and power. It was also about cocaine which we don't think much about lately since it's as dated as pleated pants, but it was everywhere. Scarface is a time capsule movie and weirdly enough, because it's so of its time, there is a timelessness to it.
One of the main reasons I wanted to write this review was to talk about the screenplay by Oliver Stone. This wasn't an improvised movie. This dialogue didn't come from the actors or the director. The countless number of great lines came from Oliver Stone. He wrote, "Don't get high on your own supply." He wrote that line about money and power and then women. He wrote, “I always tell the truth. Even when I lie.” He wrote, "Say hello to my little friend!". It is one of the most quotable films ever, and people talk a lot about Pacino and De Palma (rightly so) but Stone wrote that screenplay.
Of course it doesn't hurt that Pacino is so amazing in the film. A friend of mine had never seen Scarface and was so taken aback by Pacino's performance. It's easy to call it over the top, but to me it's perfectly at the top. I think of Denzel Washington's performance in American Gangster. It's low-key and brooding and so boring. Tony Montana is alive x 10. You have to be in this type of film. You have to be in order to make us believe the character had that much ambition, that much drive, and that much sick perversity to bury his nose in a mountain of coke. I love Tony Montana as he is, I don't want him to be quiet and reflective. He's intentionally two dimensional. He is his balls and his word. He's instinct without intellect. He's also hilarious, intentionally or not. This time around I noticed that when he insults his wife (a shockingly young Michelle Pfeiffer), after she leaves the room he keeps saying, in that accent, "I was kidding! I was only kidding!". I myself was dying with laughter. We like Tony because he's good at what he does and because he has a sense of humor. And we love that accent, inaccurate or not. "I'll bury those cockahroaches!". Pacino also somehow looks like a completely different person than he does in other movies. Something about that scowl and the way he moves. I never think it's an actor acting, I just think it's Tony Montana. How bizarre is it that Pacino played two of film history's most memorable gangsters with this and Michael Corleone. I've never wanted to be a gangster. It is a completely unappealing lifestyle that ends in death or jail. What I like so much about Scarface is that it really does scare you straight. The violence is not appealing or cool, it is brutal and horrifying. You mean I might have my arm cut off by a chainsaw? You mean I have to kill someone in cold blood in the middle of the street? F that. But the most brilliant scene happens toward the end when Tony, Manolo and Tony's wife go to a high end restaurant to have dinner. They're in black tie, they have a great table, and they are bored to tears. Nothing excites them, even cocaine, and Tony actually asks if this is what it's all about. It's a terribly effective scene. Bad people die in the movies all the time, but to see them so dissatisfied, empty, and bored, that's powerful stuff. And of course there's a great little speech about how we need guys like Tony to point at and say, "There's a bad guy" so we can go on doing whatever we feel because we're not bad. "Say goodnight to the bad guy!" It might be my favorite line in the movie.
All this being said, it is a tough film to watch, still one of the most violent films ever made. And it's really about bad, negative people who are lousy to spend time with. In another film, Tony's wife would've been the one good thing in his life, but Elvira is a icy bitch whose "womb is so polluted". Pfeiffer is daring in how cold she allows her character to be. I doubt many actresses today would be willing to play someone so unlikable. Even his relationship with his sister Gina is completely twisted and incestuous and ends disastrously. It's a downright tragedy, ending with a bloody nose dive into your indoor pool. The world is not yours, as much as you think it everything in it is coming to you. Something else is coming to you and your last sound is a throat scream after being shot in the back by a sawed-off.
Scarface was recently re-released on Blu-ray and the transfer looks stunning in its 6K resolution. "Say goodnight to the bad guy. The last time you gonna see a bad guy like this again."
It was really great to see Up in the Air again. And to see again how great Anna Kendrick is in it.
3 ½ stars I think Jason Reitman is the real deal. I was one of the few who actually didn't like Thank You For Smoking. Juno is very good, just not great. But things all hit right in Up in the Air.
George Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a termination facilitator who flies all over the country, over 250 days a year, so that he can fire employees when their own corporations are too frightened to. His life is the airport. His life is the plane ride. I don't know about you, but I have this love/hate relationship with flying.
I didn't do much of any of it when I was young so it's still cool to travel. Even if it's just back and forth from LA to Chicago. On the other hand, I hate the waiting. I hate the recycled flight cabin air. I hate that I have to put 4 movies on my iPod since I can't fall asleep on a plane and have to find ways to entertain myself for the 4 hour flight. Ryan Bingham loves the things I hate. He's a Gold Member. I must mention though that his love of organization and efficiency is very close to my heart. Yes, always get behind Asians in a security line because we are smart packers. And of course I wear slip on shoes to the airport.
The movie is about a lot of things when lately movies aren't really about anything. It's about the brutality of the economy right now (Lord I'm grateful to have a job), it's about the illusion of stable middle class life, and it's about what we expected in our 20s vs. what we expect in our 30s. That last theme is continually fascinating to me and is something I think about a lot. In the middle of the movie, there is an incredible scene where Clooney's new 23 year-old female co-worker Natalie talks to a 34 year-old woman friend Alex about what they both want out of life. About what's important to them and of course what they want in men. The scene is tremendous.
Anna Kendrick plays Natalie and is off the charts wonderful. If Mo'Nique hadn't been in the running that year, I think Kendrick should've taken home the Oscar. The type-A girl who is secretly breaking inside has been seen a lot of times in movies before, and I'm not sure how she did it, but she drew me in completely. There is a storm of emotions going on underneath her armor of pristine make-up and a tight ponytail. And her big comedy breakdown scene is hysterical. Those scenes are ridiculously difficult to pull off and she does with flying colors. What a well written role (Reitman penned the script) and who knew a minor supporting actress from the Twilight series would be so great in it. Also, how great is her relationship with Clooney in the film. An older man mentoring a younger woman, it's just so rare in movies.
Clooney is also very good, although I'm getting tired of him always wearing a suit and tie in every movie he's in. The character may in fact be the truest to himself as he is a 50 year-old bachelor who does not want to have a family. The movie does not judge this lifestyle. It's fair about it and it doesn't overwhelm us with sunny family alternatives. It's real about that as well. Family may be stability but how many people in stable relationships do you know?
Sorry I've been talking about all of these other things. What about the movie? It's not necessarily a visual stunner, but the montages of airports and baggage claims and first class lounges are all well done. I love the scene where Ryan teaches Natalie how to pack for a trip and starts throwing away all of her belongings. The aerial shots of Midwestern cities like Omaha or St. Louis are also amazing. More than anything it's solid storytelling. As the story moved, I was drawn more and more in. How many movies get better as they go along?
On the car ride home and even now, I'm still thinking about it. It's not the funniest film, it's not the most dramatic, or the most deep. But for what it wants to be, all things do hit right.
Watched this Week The Good: Super 8, Tabloid, Coming to America, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Rush Hour 1-2, Shanghai Noon & Knights, The Terminal, Ray, Ashes to Ashes Series 1 The Bad: Page Eight, Jurassic Park III, Shakespeare Retold The Ugly: Mortal Kombat (did you know Cameron Diaz was originally cast as Sonya? She got an injury during training and couldn't do the movie. Talk about a blessing) Blu-Rays Bought: Up in the Air, A Knight's Tale, Speed, Brothers Trips to the Theater: None Actors of the Week: Keeley Hawes, Elle Fanning, Ellie Kemper, Anna Kendrick Director of the Week:Errol Morris
Trailers/Clips of the Week: Into the Abyss. Werner Herzog also directed the powerful and sad Grizzly Man.
Tabloid3 ½ stars Errol Morris is one of the best directors you don't know. I posted a review of his best work, The Thin Blue Line (review) and his latest has just been released on DVD. Tabloid is about former Miss Wyoming Joyce McKinney who fell in love with a Mormon man Kirk Anderson, he disappeared, she traveled to England with a bodyguard to find him, she kidnapped (or helped him escape), tied him to a bed and had sex with him for three days (with his consent or not), and her story blew up in the British tabloids. It became the "Mormon Sex in Chains" case. They could've thought of a better title.
30 years later she tells her story to Morris and honestly and truly, I don't know which part is a lie and which part isn't. My loyalties shifted a dozen times during the movie. Who is telling the truth? Joyce is a big eccentric but she seems awfully convincing. She was an attractive woman in her day and there are terribly compromising photos of her, but was she capable of this crime? She hasn't even dated anyone since. She vowed celibacy, which ironically seems a little crazy doesn't it? What role did the Mormon church play? Did they convince Kirk Anderson to lie about his time with her? Was his guilt over his sexual deeds too overwhelming for him? It's really all hard to say, and it's all totally engrossing.
Morris gets phenomenal interviews out of people. He is maybe the best documentarian of our time, but I think it's really because he's an investigator. He has such a drive for information, for points of view, for going deeper and deeper into subjects most people skim over. He's also powerfully objective. It's not his point of view he's after, it's the subject(s). He's also helped by his invention the interrotron which allows the interviewee to not just look at a cold camera during their interviews, but through a complex mirror system, they are able to see the interviewer (in this case Morris) directly. http://interrotronrental.com/
Believe her story or not, Joyce McKinney is a fascinating protagonist. Her story which continues after the incident is fairly bizarre, and it's another case of no writer being possibly able to make this stuff up. It even involves a trip to Korea that is frickin' weird. My face was stuck in puzzled mode for a long time. If you're interested in Errol Morris please first watch The Thin Blue Line. But Tabloid is pretty great too. One of the strangest love stories you'll ever see.
Page Eight 2 ½ stars David Hare is an excellent writer. His recent credits include screenplays for The Hours and The Reader. Here he writes and directs this Masterpiece Theater presentation of Page Eight, which is probably the equivalent to a HBO original movie. Although a premium cable movie has rarely had such a stacked cast. Bill Nighy, Rachel Weisz, Michael Gambon, Ralph Fiennes, Judy Davis, and Felicity Jones (Like Crazy). It is about MI5, the British equivalent of the CIA, and it focuses more on its older rung of characters. There are questions of shared intelligence, of the Prime Minister's view of this older organization, and of course there are lots and lots of secrets. Sadly though, the movie never took off for me. Bill Nighy is compelling (as always) in a different role for him as a cold, serious professional, but Rachel Weisz's journalist who wants to correct a wrong against her family is tired and uninteresting. Even his act of rebellion seems surprisingly limp, and for all of the intelligent, crackling dialogue, the plot of this spy movie (and spy movies are about plot) didn't hold. Jack Ryan may be more Hollywood but at least he's entertaining. Great seeing Judy Davis again though.
The Terminal4 stars I love Steven Spielberg's The Terminal. It gets kind of lost among his bigger films like Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones, but I think it's pretty special. Viktor Navorski is detained at JFK when his Eastern European homeland breaks out in civil war. His nation of Krakozhia is no longer a nation. He has no country, his passport is invalid, and he is forced to stay in the International Terminal, unable to enter New York City. It is a wonderful concept, based on the real life story of an Iranian man who was similarly stuck in a French airport.
I love these kinds of survival stories. Desert island, the North Pole, the MET, how would you survive? Where would you sleep? How would you get food? How would you shower? What would you do all day? Take the scenario to an airport and I'm there. So much of the pleasure of the movie is watching Viktor slowly answer those questions. What a victory it is when he gets 75 cents and eats his first hamburger. Of course Viktor meets people along the way, and because it's a Spielberg film, they are some great, nice people. A baggage handler who brings him into a poker game (Chi McBride), a guy who drives a food cart (Diego Luna) who is in love with an immigration officer (Zoe Saldana), and a janitor played by Kumar Pallana who most of us know from The Royal Tenenbaums. Viktor even starts a relationship of sorts with a flight attendant (Catherine Zeta-Jones) which is nicely restrained and a little sad.
How great is Tom Hanks in this film. The all American every man is utterly convincing as a immigrant from another country. At no point did I doubt he was Krakozhian, despite the fact that the country doesn't exist. Spielberg fills the movie with such warmth and happiness throughout. There are fantastic little montages and despite the "one" location, it is a very visual film. I remember seeing it twice in two days back in the summer of 2004. Rent it. It will make you feel good.
Sorry I haven't been posting that many new reviews lately. The reason is that I've consciously decided to stop watching just any movie that's. I used to rent almost any new release, now I'd just rather watch movies from my collection. For example, Fast Five. I hated #4 and I dislike the series as a whole, so why bother. Scream 4? Who cares.
Most of the rest I know instinctively that they're going to be bad. Like Just Go With It (as Adam Sandler movies continuously stink), The Change-Up (body switching movie=boo!), or Friends with Benefits (this is a boring concept for a movie and it's been done twice this year). Lastly I've become severely picky about animated movies as I like so few of them. Give me a reason to go to the theater Hollywood!
4 stars The Muppets is (are) freaking awesome. A big warm hug of a movie that I think I smiled nearly the whole way through. Thankfully it was 10:00pm Tuesday night and no one was really there to see my embarrassing happiness.
