Roland Chang's Movie Blog

Titanic

2012-02-14T16:30:00.000-08:00

4 stars I'm not one who necessarily triumphs populist cinema (which is a weakness I need to overcome as a cinefile), but Titanic is a great movie. At one point I might have been on the "it's not so great" bandwagon, but I was wrong. Titanic is a great film, and a real cinematic accomplishment. James Cameron rolled the dice on this $200 million dollar water romance, and he came up a winner. Big time. So let's do it. Let's do a critical analysis of the once biggest movie of all time, now beat by Cameron himself with Avatar. I hadn't watched the film in years and popped it in Sunday night.

What do people really think about when they bring up Titanic? Unfortunately, probably Celine Dion. I personally think about how many times people went to see it. I know most of us saw it in the theater at least twice, and some people I knew even reached double digits. It was one of those movies that everyone had to see, and it does seem like the entire world did in fact see it.

Watching it again, I think I understand why it connected with so many people. It took two of the basic food groups of movies and did it at a high skill level. Those two things are romance and spectacle. The romance first. Nora Ephron cheekily said that there are two traditions of romance on film. The Christian tradition and the Jewish tradition. In the Jewish tradition (like the film she wrote When Harry Met Sally...) the characters are the impediments to romance. Their own issues, their own insecurities, etc. In the Christian tradition, it's the world that is the impediment to romance, as in the case of Jack and Rose. The world Rose is from does not want them to be together. She's rich, he's poor. He's has no roots she's upper class. And of course the more everyone is against it, the more we are for it. It's very simple, it's just hard to execute in modern contemporary cinema without people dry heaving. But Cameron did it by setting it 1912, on this famous ship, and by stacking the deck. Rose's fiance Cal is a tremendous a--hole, her mother is controlling and selfish, and then she meets this guy who's an artist and unencumbered and is free to do whatever he wants with his life. You want this girl in a corset to run away with the penniless guy. We're so on their side.

The second thing he did was cast the best people for the lead roles. Dicaprio wasn't a star then, and I know I thought he was a bit of a pretty boy, but he was the right guy. He's completely charming the whole way through and gives such a winning performance. Has he done another romantic film since Titanic? The masterstroke though was Kate Winslet. She had done Sense and Sensibility and Heavenly Creatures and no one knew her in America. And instead of casting a young, thin cover girl, they got a world class actress from Britain. They would never cast someone like that today. I myself think she looks better now then she did then, but she's not the stunning girl that women admire/hate from afar. No, Kate Winslet is who they are. They are that girl who stares blankly at the dinner table not knowing why she is there. They are that girl whose mother nitpicks her every move and tells her what not to do. Winslet fought hard for the role and I think she's wonderful in the movie. Her best scene oddly enough is when Cal gives her the diamond. Look at her face as she looks into the mirror. There's so much going on inside, and we just know how awful it would be if she married this guy. Billy Zane deserves some credit too for going all out as the nightmare fiance. When he orders her dinner for her, what a tool. Lastly, the chemistry is very palpable between Dicaprio and Winslet. Their scenes are full of life and energy and I enjoy watching the two actors together. One problem I have though is that they constantly say each others' names throughout the entire movie. Jack! Jack! Rose! Rose! Someone did a count and she says "Jack" 80 times. Enough!

That all works very well, and then the last hour is all spectacle. They'll never make movies like this again. They'll never have 400 extras in period costumes running around on a ship. They'll just create them virtually. There were a lot of cutting edge special effects for the time, but so much of it was really done, with part of that huge boat on an angle as it sunk into the ocean. We all know it, but it must've been a tortuous shoot. One scene I kept thinking about is where Jack and Rose are caught at a gate and need to find a key on the floor to get through. The water is visibly rising fast in the scene. So what do they do. They roll, they shoot a take, the water rises in this giant set, then cut. Then they have to drain the set, dry the actors, reset and repaint whatever has been destroyed or ruined by the water, and then they do it all over again. Added to which the water can't be warm because it would start to steam, and I never noticed how thin Winslet's dress is. There's no room for a wet suit. Imagine waking up for work every day for months, knowing you're going to be in cold water all day. Forget it. The footage is still amazing. Oh man, when the boat breaks in half, my eyes still go wide. Unbelievable stuff. There's also that terribly disturbing shot when we pull back on thousands of people frantically splashing in the ocean water. It's that kind of unnerving desperate panic, and we know none of them are going to survive.

The genius thing Cameron did as a writer that many critics have mentioned is showing a computer simulation of the wreck early on in the movie. It's this little animatic showing the Titanic hitting the iceberg, then sinking, then breaking, then going under. That way he doesn't have to explain to us what is happening while it's happening. We know it already, we understand, and then it just becomes about human drama. It also becomes about massive shots like those gigantic propellers emerging out of the water. Think about how confusing it would've been if we didn't have that information. Some of the dialogue may not be great, but the structure of the script is so sound. Even the present day scenes with Bill Paxton, the movie wouldn't have worked without them. The first time we see Titanic in 1912 is 20 minutes into the movie. It just wouldn't be done today.

There are bad things of course. Why are all of the foreign characters annoying, including Jack's Italian friend and the Irish guy they meet up with. I wish they left out contemporary things like Rose giving that guy the finger and their spitting contest. The big moment where she says, "I'm flying", it's too much. Too much! Also I realized how outdated the score is. You never hear scores with recurring melodies anymore like E.T. or Indiana Jones. Maybe it's just been too many years of being bombarded in an elevator with "Neearrr, farrrr, wherEVER you are..." Along with Jerry Maguire, it was the last big unabashedly romantic film of the 90s. It satiated audiences and then they wanted no more. Well, at least until Twilight came along.

They've started to show the trailer for the upcoming 3-D release and I think it's going to do very well. We've forgot about the delays, the crazy budget, and all of the problems they had making the movie. We forget that Cameron's films before this were Terminator 2 and True Lies. We just think of Titanic, good or bad, as a landmark like the Wizard of Oz, The Godfather, and Star Wars. "My Heart Will Go On" is still irritating as ever, and maybe it's not cool to like Titanic, but a lot of the time "cool" gets in the way of enjoying cinema. When it comes out on Blu-ray, I know I'm buying it.

Feb 2012 Reviews 2 (Tower Heist, J.Edgar)

2012-02-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

Tower Heist 3 stars Unlike many other people, I have no problem with Brett Ratner. There are many directors who are worse than him. Shawn Levy, Peter Berg, whoever directed She's Out of My League. The only movies of Ratner's that I've truly disliked are X-Men 3 and After the Sunset with Pierce Brosnan. Man, that movie was boring. I like the Rush Hours, I think Red Dragon is well done, I even like The Family Man with Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni. The thing about all his movies is that they are comfortable places to be in. You always like the characters and enjoy spending time with them. Tower Heist isn't a great heist movie nor does it have big laughs, but it's nice spending time with these people.

Josh Kovacs (Ben Stiller) is the building manager of The Tower in NYC, where a very wealthy Wall Street investor Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda) lives in the Penthouse. It's an exclusive building to say the least, and it runs like a well oiled German machine with intense security and a staff a king would feel comfortable with. Unfortunately Arthur Shaw has been indicted for a Bernie Madoff like crime, which affects the employees of The Tower because they gave their pension funds to Shaw to invest in. Their money is gone and Ben Stiller, Casey Affleck, Matthew Broderick, Michael Pena, Gabourey Sibide, and Eddie Murphy plan to steal it back.

The concept is of the moment and enjoyable. Of course we want to stick it to some evil white Wall Street guy who has a pool on the top of a high-rise. Seriously, F him. We want the regular guys, who incidentally have no talent or experience with robberies, to win. Strangely, the movie isn't that funny. Even Eddie Murphy doesn't do or say many funny things. Sorry, but the phrase "seizure boy" doesn't make me giggle. I didn't laugh that much, but like I said, I liked these characters and enjoyed spending time with them. Ben Stiller in particular is a strong lead in this kind of comedy. The heist holds interest and I did want to see how they were going to pull it off. The FBI are involved with handling Shaw and Tea Leoni is the lead of that team. I don't really know what significance her character has, but I like Tea Leoni and her character and therefore liked seeing her in the scenes she was in.

I've started putting certain movies into a certain category now. Safe and completely undemanding. That's why so many people went to see the last Mission: Impossible. Not because it's good, but because it's safe and undemanding. It takes no effort from you. No emotional demands, not much thinking. I guess it's a matter of how enjoyable is it then when you finally do see it. I liked Tower Heist, despite its lazy title.

J.Edgar 2 stars The movie should've been called "Old Age Make-Up". Sorry but Clint is on a bad roll. Didn't like Hereafter, Invictus, Changeling. He's a director that's so dependent on a good script to make a good movie and J.Edgar isn't very good. Biopics have gotten very old for me and I don't care the least about J.Edgar Hoover. He was a megalomaniac of stupendous proportions. A man who believed in his own power above all else, despite proclamations of patriotism. The best portrayal of him is in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, where he is a supporting character. That's where he belongs. He did modernize and create the Federal Bureau of Investigation and that is an amazing thing. But I don't care about his relationship with his mother or to his partner Clyde Tolson. Hoover spent his lifetime ruining the lives of many people. As for the rest of the film, there are a whole lot of white men in wool suits. And I'm sorry but the make-up is not convincing. I don't buy Dicaprio as an old man.

The Sunset Limited (review from 2.17.11) 3 stars Samuel L. Jackson, despite a recent run of bad movies, is still one of my favorite actors. I think he is one of the best we have, particularly when it comes to language. He has a verbal dexterity that is incredibly enjoyable and this is one of his best roles in a long time. He plays Black, a regular blue collar guy who one day saves Tommy Lee Jones' character the professor when the professor tries to throw himself in front of The Sunset Limited (a subway train in NYC). This has all happened before the movie has started. It really begins in Black's apartment, just the two of them, and the movie remains there for the next 90 minutes. It is a 2 person play, written by novelist Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men, The Road) and from regular conversation, the men start talking more and more about why the professor did what he did. How did he come to a point where the only option was suicide? Black is an evangelical Christian and is trying to get through.

Their dialogue is wonderful. It's intelligent and metered, it is some very good writing. They might have vastly different educational backgrounds, but both characters are very smart, experienced and they like each other in a sort of anthropological way. That being said, I do have problems with one room movies. It probably would work better as a play, with the two actors right there in front of you as opposed to filmed with cameras. You couldn't get 2 better actors in these roles and Tommy Lee Jones has directed their performances well, but I think the movie is better to listen to than to watch. The main question I see is not how convicted are you of your beliefs but how well can you articulate them? The end though, Black's final few sentences, they hit home. I was taken aback by how moved I was. Now on DVD.

Velvet Goldmine 3 stars I watched Velvet Goldmine when it came out on DVD around '98 but I had no recollection of it. Watching it again 14 years later, it felt like time traveling back to 90s independent cinema. This kind of movie probably wouldn't get made today. It's a mid-budget period picture with no stars. Ewan McGregor and Christian Bale are famous now, but they weren't back then, and who would go see a movie about early 70s Glam Rock.

In 1984, a British newspaper reporter Arthur Stuart (Christian Bale) is tasked with finding out whatever happened glam rock star Brian Slade (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Slade's career ended after a staged mock killing of him at a concert was received so poorly by his fans. And through Arthur's investigation, we plunge into the world of Glam Rock. Heavy make-up, blinding outfits, androgyny, bisexuality, and a lot of good music. Brian Slade is obviously based on David Bowie (whose persona was Ziggy Stardust at the time) and Ewan McGregor's character Curt Wild is based on Iggy Pop. The brilliant thing Todd Haynes did was to not use the real names of the real people. The characters and events are based on them, but they're not beholden to them. The drama is not handcuffed by the technicalities of history.

Todd Haynes wrote and directed Velvet Goldmine and as I wrote in my Mildred Pierce review, he is a fine director with wonderful visual taste. The movie is filled with striking shots and moments. One in particular I love is a sequence where Christian Bale's character Arthur brings a new record home. He gently takes it out of the bag, then its wrapping, and then we see a gorgeous pristine black LP come out of its cover for the first time. It's those moments that people so intimately remember from their childhoods. The movie is incredibly directed and that's what kept me into it. He also borrows a device from Citizen Kane. In that film, a reporter was investigating Kane's life and in that investigation we learn about what happened from the accounts of people who knew him. However, I fully admit that I don't like movies about rock stars. It's always the same. Great music, the people love him, and then the drugs and self-absorption and the brutality toward everyone around them. Why anyone would want to date, let alone marry a rock star is beyond me. It's not going to end well.

The performances, particularly from Jonathan Rhys Meyers are so strong. He apparently has not aged in 14 years because he looks the same today. But look at that photo of Ewan McGregor. He's probably too old now, but goodness he should've played Kurt Cobain. McGregor, despite my dislike of his character Curt Wild, is sensational in the film, doing all of his own singing. As well as all of his own full frontal nudity. Bale looks so young, so different from the characters he's been playing lately, and Toni Collette is just wonderful as Brian's wife Mandy. Like Liza Minelli, it was that era of certain women shamelessly glamming it up and speaking in terrible affected accents. Lady Gaga anyone?

However, I'd say watch Haynes later film I'm Not There, about Bob Dylan. It's much more ambitious, and it's a better movie as an exploration of a rock star. Sadly I didn't care about Brian Slade and his wigs and jumpsuits. The best parts of the movie for me take place 10 years later when we see everyone without their make-up and without their Halloween costumes. They're sober (both physically and mentally), they've moved on, but surprisingly almost all of them remember that time fondly. I'm all for personal expression and being different, but not as an affectation and not when it hurts so many people. Rock stars don't kill anybody, but they leave a lot of bodies in their wake.

Weekly Recap 2/10/12

2012-02-10T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Footloose (2011), Footloose (1984), Velvet Goldmine, Wayne's World 1&2, Inglourious Basterds, Swordfish, Stranger than Fiction
The Bad: None
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: Life is Beautiful (La Vita E Bella), Stranger than Fiction, Revolutionary Road, Everything Must Go

Trips to the Theater: None

Actors of the Week: Julianne Hough, Miles Tenner, Mike Meyers
Director of the Week: Roberto Benigni

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
The Amazing Spider-Man. We want more Emma Stone, less Denis Leary.

The Bourne Legacy. Alright. A good trailer and Edward Norton. Now I'm interested.

Feb 2012 Reviews 1 (Anonymous, Dream House)

2012-02-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Anonymous 2 stars Shakespeare was an actor. That’s not disputed. Evidently he was also a stupid, vain drunk who was a minor player in a plot involving Queen Elizabeth I (Vanessa Redgrave) and Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. As the filmmakers of Anonymous would proclaim, Edward De Vere was the one who wrote all of Shakespeare’s plays as William Shakespeare was a son of an illiterate and no manuscripts were ever found that were actually in his handwriting. What the movie really wants to be is Shekar Kapur’s Elizabeth starring Cate Blanchett. Roland Emmerich has directed such brainless moneymakers like ID4, Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. This is his attempt at a smaller drama, but it’s not in his wheelhouse and it’s not very good. There’s no one really here to root for, and the deck is so stacked against this boorish Shakespeare that we are supposed to immediately accept that he did not write his famous plays. I don’t believe it, but mostly because I don’t want to believe it. I don’t want his plays reduced to veiled political moves. I don’t want them to be underhanded statements pertaining to who will inherit the throne after Elizabeth dies. Rhys Ifans is powerful as Edward De Vere, but the director of Universal Soldier can’t do this kind of movie.

Dream House 1 star Why on earth did Jim Sheridan the director of My Left Foot, In America, and Brothers make Dream House? It’s a psychological thriller, and it’s a waste of time. Daniel Craig is a happy husband to Rachel Weisz and a father of two. They all move into their dream house. However, he learns that a family was previously murdered in that house. Has the murderer come back? Is he stalking his family? Or is it all in his head? I’m just going to say it so if you really do want to see Dream House, don’t read on. Also don’t watch the trailer because it gives it away anyway.

Of course it’s in his head! How clever. A character creating an ideal reality in order to deal with his guilt? How terribly clever! The Sixth Sense, Shutter Island, and a lot of TV shows have the exact same idea. Jim Sheridan fought a lot with the production company Morgan Creek and tried to get his name taken off the film. The stars Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig disliked the film so much that they refused to promote it. I wish I knew those things before I rented it.

Luck I was properly excited about Luck. Mostly because of David Milch who created NYPD Blue and also what I think is one of the best televisions shows of all time, Deadwood. He's a writer of exceptional depth and talent who pours his numerous life experiences into his scripts. He has owned horses and loves the race track and it makes a lot of sense that he would set this television show in the world of horse racing. Add to that Michael Mann who from what I see, his greatest contribution has been in casting. There are a lot of Mann regulars like Dennis Farina, John Ortiz, Ted Levine, Michael Gambon, and even Joan Allen. The star though is Dustin Hoffman who reminds me that he is one of the best actors in the world. He's hypnotically watchable as Chester "Ace" Bernstein who begins the series getting out of prison after a 3 year bid. He went down protecting a business partner, and his plan is in motion to do what they did to him. Dennis Farina is his driver, but obviously he's a little more than that, and their scenes are enormously enjoyable. It's that shorthand Milch dialogue that these guys deliver perfectly. Their scenes are acting gems.

I wish the whole thing was about these two guys, but it is a TV show and there are a lot of other characters at the track. A group of degenerate gamblers whose daily job is to bet on horses, there are the trainers, the jockeys, the agents, it's an interesting world. And Mann also has put his visual stamp on the races. They are intense and in your face. Scary really sometimes, with a lot of tension. I wish there were more female characters, but the series is only two episodes old.

It's cinema television, shot and directed at a high caliber. There are a lot of moments of silence and images, which I still think is rare in TV. Most TV shows is talk, talk, talk about hair fibers and blood trails and who the killer is. I look forward to the rest of the season and what Milch has planned.

Footloose

2012-02-05T01:30:00.000-08:00

1984 3 ½ stars
2011 3 stars

Look at the size of that Walkman on Kevin Bacon's belt. I love the original Footloose. I'm not proclaiming it as any kind of high cinema, but I saw it in when I was a kid, in the 80s, and there are a handful of movies that scream out the 80s to me. Footloose is on that list along with Top Gun, Sixteen Candles, Rocky IV, and Back to the Future. Writer/director Craig Brewer (Hustle and Flow, Black Snake Moan) has almost literally remade the movie. It is beat for beat the same film, down to the red blazer Ren wears in the final scene. Since it's so similar, why not review both.

If you possibly don't know, Footloose is about a fictional small town named Bomont, where five high school seniors were killed in a car accident after a night of dancing and drinking. Because of this, the town passes a law that bans public dancing. Music is also pretty much banned. Ren MacCormack is from up north and moves to Bomont for his senior year. Kevin Bacon was from Chicago and moved with his mom. In the remake, Kenny Wormald moves from Boston to live with his uncle as his mom has passed away from leukemia. There's Ariel (Lori Singer/Julianne Hough) the preacher's daughter who certainly doesn't dress like one. She loves to dance and is in a very non-pure relationship with an older guy named Chuck. She has a best friend Rusty (Sarah Jessica Parker/Ziah Colon), and Ren becomes friends with Willard (Chris Penn/Miles Teller). I want to say right away that Willard is one of the best high school movie characters ever. That guy is hilarious and someone I want to hang out with. He's goofy and stupid and Southern loyal, all in a very charming way. It's a great character and both actors know they have a great character to play and they have a lot of fun with him.

I do give the edge to the 1984 Footloose because it's so of its time. The music, the freaking title of the movie, it's an 80s classic. Kevin Bacon's terrible haircut is an 80s classic. And there is more depth (if there is depth) to the first film. Maybe because the actors were better like John Lithgow and Chris Penn, and also probably a lot because it was the first film and the remake simply can't be original. I think the dance sequences are better too. There is technically a lot better dancing in 2011 version, but the original scenes are overall more fun. That kind of embracing the cheese 80s fun where Kenny Loggins is all over the soundtrack and a lot of white kids are dancing with their arms. Even the big sequence where Ren does his angry dance in the warehouse plays better because of the song they used by Moving Pictures. I also missed the awesome playing chicken with tractors sequence. Nothing beats Bonnie Tyler singing "I Need a Hero". That being said, the remake dance scenes are fun in their own right. Country line dancing must be so happy. It gets a big splashy set piece.

The young cast as a whole is very likeable. Kenny Wormald (who looks a lot like Garrett Hedlund from Tron: Legacy) is fine. I wish he didn't have a Boston accent, but he's convincing and good. Bacon was more fun and funny though and less of a guy with a chip on his shoulder. I haven't watched Dancing with the Stars so I don't know who Julianne Hough is, but from watching her in this version of Footloose, she's a star. She's incredibly beautiful, she dances her ass off, and her scenes with Ren are surprisingly romantic. I liked their relationship a lot. The smartest thing was to get a performer to do what they're best at (for Hough it's obviously dancing), and then they'll really shine on screen. She was the right choice for the role and she's the one thing in this movie that's better than the original. I think she's an aspiring country singer, but I hope she does more movies. Miles Teller and Ziah Colon are also very good as Willard and Rusty. Who doesn't love Ariel's best friend Rusty?

What still works is the basic story. One guy against a closed-minded small town. How can you not root for him? It's basically a teenager fighting for all teenagers, against the rules of our parents. That's why older people (like Ebert) don't get it, and it's why it still resonates. The remake sadly lacks the personality of Craig Brewer. I really liked his first two films and their personal boldness, but he doesn't do all that much here that is distinctively him. There's a lot more country music, there's some Southern hip hop, there are a lot more African American actors (a welcome thing), but in being so faithful to the original, I thought a lot about watching the original. The movie is still entertaining and worth watching, but I don't know if you can catch 80s magic 30 years later. Look at me writing the phrase, "80s magic". For whatever reason we forgive the 80s for all of its artistic sins. The movies and the music are just too fun. Now I gotta cut loose.

A pretty good trailer.

Mildred Pierce

2012-02-04T02:00:00.000-08:00

3 ½ stars One of the most exciting directors you probably don't know is Todd Haynes. He's only directed a few films. Far From Heaven and Safe (both with Julianne Moore), Velvet Goldmine with Ewan McGregor, and I'm Not There with Cate Blanchett. He's an incredibly talented guy with great taste.

Mildred Pierce takes place during the Depression in Los Angeles. Mildred (Kate Winslet) is married, has two daughters and as the story begins her marriage is breaking up. Partially due to her husband Bert (Brian O'Bryne) being out of work, partially because he's been unfaithful. She's been selling her own pies and cakes to make money but with Bert gone, she needs a real job. She eventually finds one as a waitress, but then she has an idea to possibly open her own place. She'll make it strictly a chicken place, with waffles on the side, and she'll sell her pies there too. Did Mildred Pierce invent chicken and waffles?

I have not watched a mini series in a long time. A story told over 4-5 episodes. The last time might've been The Stand back in high school, which I was hooked on over 4 nights. The great thing about Mildred Pierce is that it is more like a movie than a TV show. In TV shows there are tons of characters, but Mildred Pierce focuses on a handful, much like a movie would. But they don't have 2 hours, they have 5, and given that time so much can happen. Storylines can breathe and not be confined to one sitting. Mildred herself is impossible not to root for. When she's opening her first business (pretty crazy for a woman during that time), and then when she starts her first post-marital relationship with the famous Monty Beragaon (Guy Pearce), you just want her to succeed. I was dying to see her do well and find some happiness. Of course this is a Todd Haynes film and happiness costs.

Mildred's main problem and what becomes the real focus of the latter part of the mini series is her relationship with her eldest daughter Veda. Veda is a princess and a brat. If you look in the dictionary for the word brat, you'll find the definition of the word brat. Which is what she freaking is! She's not necessarily spoiled by Mildred, but she is a very entitled teenager who wants to be famous and live a glamorous life. And her affected speech is bloody nails on a chalk board. Mildred tries to teach her otherwise but admittedly her own behavior, particularly her sexual relationship with Monty, teaches other things to Veda. All the while Mildred's business is growing and things are looking up for her financially. This causes more problems with Veda. I've seen a few mother/daughter relationships in films and TV, but this is one of the hardest ones I've experienced. Again, given that their not confined to a movie, there isn't just one big dramatic knife stabbing argument, there are maybe 6 or 7. And more than horror movies or war epics, the most brutal cinema I witness always involves families. I've never fought in a war, I never will fight in a war, but I have fought with my parents and will fight with my parents. I wasn't alive during the Depression but the issues are too familiar. Expectations and smothering of parents, selfishness and ingratitude from kids. It's 80 years later and we're still doing it. 800 years from now we'll still be doing it.

Kate Winslet is remarkable as Mildred Pierce. She won the Emmy for the role. There's so much for her to do, she's in every scene, and this character goes through enough changes for three movies. She never misses a beat, she's always real, and I can't say enough about how talented she is. She's one of those actors who were just born to be one. There's an amazing scene when she and Bert officially decide to divorce. There's no screaming and yelling. They both sit there, very sad that it didn't work. They did love each other, they don't anymore, and they both feel a huge loss. Man I love that scene. Haynes has surrounded Winslet with a lot of good actors too like Melissa Leo, Evan Rachel Wood, Mare Winningham, James LeGros, and Hope Davis. Guy Pearce (who also won an Emmy) continues his career of disappearing into roles. L.A. Confidential, Memento, The Count of Monte Cristo, The King's Speech. Unbelievable. Evan Rachel Wood continues the very smart choice of a young actress taking good supporting roles with good directors (The Ides of March, The Conspirator). She's very talented and I admire her for being willing to play such a hateful character. Seriously, Veda is one little bitch monster, but Haynes won't allow us to completely judge her. We all have been that kid. We are ungrateful and pout when we don't get what we want and blame our parents for our unhappiness. The piece has layers and they're not easily filtered into good and bad.

The last thing I'll say is that I don't actually recommend that you watch this. It's strong and engaging material believe me, but it is brutal. There's a kind of piercing reality here that some of you will be scared of. Little Children is a phenomenal Kate Winslet film, but I understand that it may be too much to take. If you are interested, I'd say jump right in, despite its bad title. I know the book and the original 1945 film were titled Mildred Pierce, but who is named Mildred anymore? Petty argument aside, it's beautifully crafted and acted, and Todd Haynes always, always makes the material he chooses fascinating.

Weekly Recap 2/3/12

2012-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Mildred Pierce, Alice in Wonderland (2010), Twilight, Eclipse, The Wrestler, Crazy Heart
The Bad: Anonymous, Dream House, New Moon, Drive
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: The Rum Diary
Blu-Rays Bought: None

Trips to the Theater: M:I Ghost Protocol

Actors of the Week: Michael Sheen, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Farina, Kate Winslet
Writer of the Week: David Milch
Director of the Week: Todd Haynes

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
The Hunger Games. Superbowl spot.

For Ellen from Sundance

2012-01-31T10:30:00.000-08:00

I have no idea if "For Ellen" which premiered at Sundance this year is good or not. Paul Dano, Jon Heder.
But doesn't this photo make you feel happy?

Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol

2012-01-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

2 stars Why does Tom Cruise run like an android programmed to run like a human?

Sorry, but despite very good critical reviews, Mission: Impossible IV didn't do it for me. I enjoyed a good amount of it, but around the hour mark I came to the realization that the movie is just an action machine. It's sometimes exciting and there are car chases and hand to hand fights and the stakes always have to go higher. But it's also lifeless and lacking emotion and feels more like a product Paramount Studios and Tom Cruise decided to put out last year. Mission: Impossible 4.0.

So what's happening with this model. Well, the Kremlin blows up, and in the aftermath IMF is blamed, all of its agents are disavowed, and Cruise, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton, and Jeremy Renner are the only ones left to find out what happened. There are a lot of gadgets, some clever espionage, and nuclear war may break out between Russia and America. One thing that no one has mentioned is that a terrorist trying to get the two Cold War countries to start a nuclear war with each other is the exact same plot of The Sum of All Fears. It was a good Jack Ryan movie with Affleck and it's the same deal here. Only instead of interesting, intelligent thriller material, we get a lot of well executed scenes of double crosses and switching objects, but ultimately it's empty. It's spy candy and that would be fine if the movie maintained a high level of fun but it doesn't.

The best sequence involves Cruise climbing and then repelling from the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai. It is an amazing, sweaty palm set piece. I hate heights and the scene is scary. Sadly it happens early on in the movie, and it happens because they need to get to server room, only they have to get to it from the outside. Why do they have to get to the server room? Because they have to do something that I guess is critical to their mission. They really have to get there so Cruise can be put in a situation that requires an action scene. See what I mean? It's too transparent. It's too obvious that none of this really matters. As much as things may go wrong, everything will turn out fine in the end. This is not a serious series like the Bourne movies where characters we are attached to may actually die. Mission: Impossible is about the next exotic location (with a text subtitle), the next boring punching and kicking match, and then some countdown clock they have to beat or else the world will end. There is a subplot involving Ethan Hunt's wife (remember their boring ass relationship from the third movie?) and it is such a jerkaround. I didn't care about them in the last movie, and I don't care about them now. Simon Pegg is fine but his jokes are hit or miss. Paula Patton has nothing to do in the movie. Any pretty actress could've played that part. And Michael Nyqvist from the Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is completely wasted as the main villain. He's hardly a villain. He doesn't have one real scene. His evil plan is reduced to a news clip on a TV. Who made that choice?

What I was excited about going in was a couple of things. First was Brad Bird who previously directed The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and The Iron Giant. I was very curious about what this animation director would bring to a live action movie. Sadly the movie lacks real director personality. Anyone could've directed it. It feels like the second unit had more to do with it. The first two movies (De Palma and John Woo) have such style to them. The last two are generic spy movies. Also disappointing is Jeremy Renner. He's a great actor, but the "mysterious" agent he is playing turns out to be wishy washy. How come none of the IMF agents are tough, masculine men? They love to have unnecessary confessional moments where they reveal something painful about their past. Remember the last movie where Maggie Q talks about her childhood with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers? No? Well I don't either because it's a waste of time and bad TV writing. The screenwriters here were two writers who worked on Alias and they don't have anything new to bring. Lastly, it's so sad that Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) has what amounts to a minor cameo in the movie. It was so good seeing him on a big screen and I hope he has a future in film.

No matter what I might write, you'll probably see it anyway. Mission: Impossible is a Happy Meal at McDonald's. It's uncomplicated, sometimes fun, and it expects nothing from you. I might write a post about this later, but Cruise and Pitt are the same age. This year Cruise made a fourth movie in a franchise that started when I was in high school. Pitt made The Tree of Life and Moneyball. Who's the one making better choices? And if they are going to go with Missions V, VI, and 700, please kill off Ethan Hunt. He's one dull spy.

Reviews of the first three movies

AVGN reviews Back to the Future III

2012-01-28T00:30:00.000-08:00

Part of the Angry Video Game Nerd's review of the Back to the Future video games. This line has made me laugh hard all week.

"Oh and that f--king song. I am so so sick of hearing that. Next time I hear 'Ghost Riders in the Sky', I'm gonna think about goin' 100 miles per hour on a horse, jumping crates and getting shot at and s--t!"

Breaking Dawn Part 1

2012-01-27T00:15:00.000-08:00

2 stars Oh no, I'm going to have to finish this this series. Now and throughout the movie, I was smiling a lot, and not for good reasons. I was and am very aware that watching the fourth Twilight movie is embarrassing. But there I was in my living room watching Bella, Jacob, and Count Chocula continue their love triangle to the tune of $700 million worldwide.

The review is going to have spoilers, I can't get around it. The movie starts off immediately with the wedding. Weddings in movies are always boring and sadly vampire weddings aren't that different. There is an interesting flashback sequence with Edward killing men in the 30s, which he uses to help dissuade Bella's intentions of becoming a vampire, but we all know they're getting married. Seriously, even the reception is a snore. Lame speeches and awkward out of town vampire relatives.

Then there's the honeymoon in Brazil, and I imagine Twihards got everything they wanted. As much lingerie and simulated sex that a pg-13 rating will allow. Edward and Bella act as newlyweds do on a honeymoon. Although one thing that amused me was that they play a lot of chess on their trip. No honey I don't want to go to bed, let's play one more game. Checkmate! In your face Bella! Of course the big plot twist happens and human Bella discovers she's pregnant. With what, no one seems to be certain. Though they all have a strong idea that it will kill her. The teen wolves in Seattle find out and decide it should die, and Jacob crosses enemy lines and teams up with the Cullens to protect Bella and her interspecies baby.

So there's the story. I was hoping director Bill Condon (Kinsey, Dreamgirls) would have brought something more to the table but other than a freakish dream Bella has before her wedding, there doesn't seem to be all that much style to the direction. One thing I'm always annoyed by is how cheap the Twilight movies look. The production budget was $110 million. Where did it go? To speeding up Edward while he packs? Why doesn't the movie look better? Why aren't the effects better? Why aren't the posters better? Look at that thing. Why do we spend so much time in the monotony of the Cullen house? I think that family is dull as dishwater. They're too polite and bland. I was thinking there should be a lot more dramatic tension about Edward marrying this 18 year-old girl. Certain family members should be very against this, but everyone seems to be just fine with it. That should be a big deal and a source of conflict, but the family is too functional to be interesting.

What is still interesting is Jacob and Bella. Edward strangely takes a backseat during the second half of the movie. He's passive and allows Jacob to be the alpha. That's not a good screenwriting choice. The actors are fine, but the dialogue is not. It's too wordy and on the nose and where is the passion in any of these people? Where's the anger in Jacob? He just wants to be alone and cry. Boo hoo. I miss Bella's high school friends. Anna Kendrick has what amounts to a cameo. I like the actors who play Bella's parents but they're inconsequential to the story.

The movie seems to have no problem with being silly. "Last night was the best night of my existence". Goodness. I burst out laughing. It's too much! I like a good teen romance, but come on. I love pizza, but I've never thought of saying, "Last night I had the best slice of my existence". Also the shot of their broken bed after the first night, what is that supposed to make me feel? Am I supposed to be in awe of their sexual power? It just made me laugh. Also about midway in, the wolf pack gets together to have a pow wow about they're going to do about Bella. But they meet as wolves, not as people, and very unfortunately we start to hear them speak to one another. It's ridiculous! It's Dr. Doolittle. How do people not laugh, these furry wolves arguing in teen voices. No, grrrr, no!

I like the first movie the most, I hate New Moon, I marginally liked Eclipse, and this one is not very good. I still enjoyed watching it, but probably for the wrong reasons. Even now I find pleasure in thinking about how goofy this all is. I know they want to get new bands onto the soundtrack but some of the songs totally don't fit. The best part for me though was at the way end, during the credits. It's a tease for Part 2, and here comes the glorious Michael Sheen, the best actor in any of the movies, and it was really good to see him. I think if you were a vampire for centuries on end you would go a little mad and he's great at conveying at. No Dakota though. She'll probably show up in the finale.

No matter what I might write, Twilight gives people what they want. I could argue that tragic romances are more moving (Romeo & Juliet, Moulin Rouge, even Titantic) but I'm not going to convince anyone. I don't care about vampires and it seems so obvious that you should pick the flesh and blood guy so you don't have to lose your soul and you can continue to eat food for the rest of your life. There should be a scene about that. Not eating ever again? It's too high a price. Still, no one's going to switch over to Native American Jake. One more movie and it's done. Is that what the title refers to? The fifth one will come and go and we can emerge from the oppressive black cloud of Twilight? Then there will be a real freaking breaking dawn.

Reviews of the first two
Eclipse

Weekly Recap 1/27/12

2012-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

(Celeste and Jesse Forever at Sundance)

Watched this Week
The Good: A Better Life, Chasing Amy, Once, Moneyball, 50/50, Young Guns I-II, The Adjustment Bureau, Jersey Girl, Batman
The Bad: Breaking Dawn Part 1, In Time, 300
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: Annie Hall, Batman (1989)

Trips to the Theater: None

Actors of the Week: Demian Bichir, Emilio Estevez, Jason Lee
Director of the Week: Kevin Smith

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
Jeff Who Lives at Home. Jason Segel, Ed Helms.

Batman (1989)

2012-01-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

4 stars It's almost 25 years old, but this is the Batman I prefer. I prefer it. I'm not saying it's better than what Nolan is doing now, but this is the one I love. Also it has to do with nostalgia as it came out when I was in my teens and was the appropriate the target audience for it.

Tim Burton's Batman is iconic. The film is full of iconic moments. He lifts the guy up to his face and says, "I'm Batman". "Where does he get those wonderful toys?" The fantastic moment when the Batwing flies into the sky and pauses for a moment in front of the moon. I remember the audience gasping when that happened. Even the logo is iconic. That thing was everywhere for years after. I remember billboards with just the logo on it. No actors, no credits, just a bat encased in yellow.

Looking at it now with a critical eye, this is a director's movie. An auteur made this. This is Tim Burton's vision down to its Batfingernails. He and his design team created a whole other world. Nolan made a realistic, contemporary Batman in Chicago, Burton made his own personal Gotham City. The costume design for one thing. Remember that the only thing before this was the 60s TV show. Then out of nowhere they created this black body armor Bat suit that looked scary and amazing. I can't remember any movie before Batman that had a costume like that. It was aggressive and it made the casting of Michael Keaton make so much sense. Keaton is a guy who would have to put on a costume to intimidate his enemies. So that's what he does. It also helps that Burton (an underrated shooter) films the suit in (again) iconic ways. The close ups of the belt snapping shut and the cape spread out wide and the shot of Batman looking down at the floor and then slowly tilting up until the light catches his eyes. The movie is packed with those great moments. Production Designer Anton Furst won an Oscar for his work and it's remarkable. This is some other place that doesn't exist in our universe. It's some alternative 1989 with a 1940s flavor. It's beautiful stuff.

As for the performances, strangely enough Keaton struck me the most this time, particularly as Bruce Wayne. He seems like a man who has a very hard time living in the regular world. He's a lonely guy, uncomfortable in his own skin. He's much more comfortable in the Bat Cave or driving his sick Batmobile. I love that car btw. It's a beast. Of all the Bruce Waynes, his the one I'm most interested in. There's a lot going on inside even beyond his occasional confessional moments. And of course there's Nicholson. You can't compare him to Heath Ledger. The characters, despite having the same name, are very different. The Joker in the Dark Knight is a complete mystery. We don't know who he is or where he came from. He's this personification of anarchy. This Joker we see here is a gangster who becomes this insane man after he's dropped into a vat of chemical waste. We see the aftermaths of the surgery ("Mirror. Mirror!") and the psychotic differences between Jack Napier and The Joker. Jack Nicholson is great in the movie. When he first comes out of the shadows and says, "You can call me Joker", I still get chills. Then soon after he smears the blood on a newspaper and says, "Wait till they get a load of me." Awesome. There's a lot of fantastic dialogue that's delivered very well. Kim Basinger is lovely as Vicky Vale. She really is a lone bright spot in the dark world of Gotham city. Robert Wuhl is also good as the reporter Alexander Knox. I can't believe I remember all these names.

Still, the real star is Burton. He was 30 at the time. He had only done Pee Wee's Big Adventure and Beetlejuice before this. Then he created the most artistic summer blockbuster I've ever seen. I wrote about this in a previous post but for someone so eccentric and individual, Burton makes incredibly popular movies that make a lot of money. This was one of the biggest of its time and was a juggernaut on home video. I think I wore out my VHS copy all those years ago. It's also known as one of the best marketed movies ever. The songs by Prince, the toys, the merchandising. It was a good year for Warner Bros.

Maybe most of you are too into the current Batman to watch the old one. It is old, with pre-CGI special effects and some sets that look like models, but to me it's a classic. A triumph of design and creativity. It's the most stimulating of all of the Batman movies. I don't like the sequel, I sort of like Batman Forever, and I can't stand Batman & Robin. That last one is without doubt one of the worst movies of all time. This first one though, I can't tell you how much pleasure I had re-watching it on Blu-ray. The Danny Elfman score started with that infamous musical theme and I had a great time. As for Nolan's Batmans, it really does come down to preference. I didn't want to see him training to become Batman. I didn't want Batman going to Hong Kong to fight bad guys there. I don't want an invincible Batman who no one ever lays a hand on. I want Tim Burton's world. Believe me, I'm aware I'm in the minority, but this is my blog so shut up! Lastly, let me ask you a question. Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

Tim Burton post

The Opening Titles

Chasing Amy

2012-01-24T00:00:00.000-08:00

4 stars It's been a lot of reviews lately, but I feel like writing them. Chasing Amy is Kevin Smith's best film. I only slightly prefer Clerks because of its originality, but watching the movie again tonight, it is his best film.

Holden McNeil (a pre-fame Ben Affleck) is a comic book artist, partnered with his best friend Banky (Jason Lee) who are currently very successful with their book "Bluntman and Chronic". It's based on Jay and Silent Bob and imagines them as superheroes. At a comic-con, Holden meets Alyssa (Joey Lauren Adams) who herself writes a comic book, sort of a John Hughes book about high school. He sparks to her immediately and they all meet up a few nights later at a club. However, it turns out to be a lesbian club as Alyssa is a lesbian.

I guess that's a high concept, a heterosexual guy trying to have a relationship with a homosexual woman but that's just for the trailer. That's the one liner that summarizes the movie but it doesn't. As a guy in high school, I remember how much I was affected by their relationship. He does fall for her, and despite her not wanting to, she does for him. She says it herself, "The way the world is, how seldom it is that you meet that one person who just gets you - it's so rare". Someone once asked me what movie character I feel most like and I think of Holden in Chasing Amy. I've never been in a relationship with a lesbian, but how he is as a writer, how he is with her, his personality, what he wants out of a relationship, they're all things I relate to. And I must've really felt strongly about that when I was 18 and first saw the movie. I remember thinking it was one of the best movies I had seen about being in a relationship.

Now, many years later, that part of the movie still works. I feel for these two people who get each other but have big issues in their way. And what I see now is what Kevin Smith says in his commentary of the film. The movie is about male insecurity. And it is. Particularly male sexual insecurity. Alyssa is a lesbian, but she's also had a lot of experience with a lot of people, both men and women. And when Holden discovers this he freaks out. He lashes out at her in anger and cannot seem to get passed her past. To her, it is her past, it was a long time ago. She's not that person anymore, and as much us men would like it to happen, we just don't have the right to ask someone to apologize to us for their past. But that's what he wants. He feels inadequate. He's insecure about his lack of sexual experience and instead of discussing it with her, he flips out and says she was used and how could she do that and he wants to hurt her because he's hurt. The thing is we want them to be together, very badly, so it makes this issue all the more painful.

Along with this, Holden's friendship with Banky is deteriorating. Banky is completely threatened by Alyssa. The best friend feeling threatened by the new girlfriend - it will continue to happen until the end of time. He won't accept that he's been pushed out, and as much as he's a real d--k during the movie, I felt for him. All these years of friendship and now things have changed.

Despite the casual and hard R vulgar humor (including a hilarious scene where two people argue about whether or not Archie was gay because he couldn't decide between Betty or Veronica), the movie has a lot to say about men and how they behave when they start to get serious with someone. The judgment and the double standards and making their girlfriends' lives miserable with questions and pestering and ugh. It's terribly insightful stuff, wrapped in a Kevin Smith comedy. Also the movie has some incredible dialogue, some of Smith's best, and I prefer the dirt cheap 16mm no money look to it. This came out right in the peak of the 90s independent movement. I think the same year Jennifer Aniston came out with a rom com named Picture Perfect. Who the hell remembers that one? Smith made this for $275,000 so he could cast who he wanted and make exactly the film he wanted. It saved his career after Mallrats tanked and it's one that I love taking off the shelf and watching every year.

I am sad that I haven't liked any of his films as much as Clerks and Chasing Amy. And now that he's doing one more film and retiring I honestly feel a little relieved. I've seen almost all of his latter films and I'm disappointed that most of them are broad comedies. That's my subjective opinion and he can make whatever he wants, but Chasing Amy was and is very special to me and you just want that director to make something special again. He hasn't in the same way. The movie was loosely based on his then relationship with lead actress Joey Lauren Adams and it goes to show how life gives us the best material. Affleck is also so strong in the movie that I'll forgive him for any of his bad ones because of Chasing Amy. It's foul mouthed and there is a copious amount of sex talk, but hopefully you can look passed that and see a great film. #10 on my Top 10 of the 90s.

Jan 2012 Reviews (Immortals, In Time)

2012-01-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Immortals 3 ½ stars Let me say again that I dislike this genre. The sword and sandal movies are mostly bland and bad. Clash of the Titans is a recent example. Man was that movie terrible. There’s always a lot of faux British speak, swords clang and clang, and the actors usually act like 1D characters who stepped out of a painting. I was also one of the few who did not like 300. I was not excited about Immortals even though the director is Tarsem Singh. He’s an incredible shooter, but I didn't fully like his two previous films The Cell and The Fall. However, from the opening image, I was completely taken aback and surprised.

Immortals delivers. From what you would want from this kind of movie, from what you would expect, it delivers with strength. Putting a director like Tarsem into this ancient genre is exactly what movies should do. He isn’t expressing something abstractly like the nightmare imagery of The Cell. Instead he’s taking the traditions of this kind of film and doing something very different. I have to talk about the visuals first because they affected me so strongly. I admire movies for how they look, and sometimes I’m very stimulated and satisfied. But several times during this 90 minute film, my jaw dropped. That never happens. I don’t even like when people say that, but it happened. And I could try to describe what I saw, but the words wouldn’t do the images justice. You just have to see them, and they must be seen in High Def. This movie demands at least a Blu-ray screening. The design work is stunning, particularly the costume design by Eiko Ishioka, who did the dazzling costumes from Bram Stoker's Dracula all those years ago. I’m so glad they did not stick to some tried, tired, and true interpretation of “history”. No white togas in this movie. It’s about Greek gods, it doesn’t have to be historically accurate. I even noticed that the shields are ornately designed. It’s sumptuous and beautiful stuff.

What got to me the most are the fighting scenes. They are gorgeous and sometimes breathtaking. We’ve all seen hand to hand (not my favorite movie fighting style), but the editing and slow motion used as punctuation is unbelievable. The choreography seems fresh and new. How is that possible? I think by putting such a strong visualist behind the camera, Tarsem gave us something new. He doesn’t see action like most directors do, and that’s refreshing. And thankfully the movie is R, so when a spear goes through someone’s head, it really looks like a spear going through someone’s head. I enjoy a good kill and the movie is full of them. They are brutal and hearty and made me grunt with pleasure. Uhhhh!

Henry Cavill is the next Superman and he is great as Theseus, a peasant destined to lead the Olympians against King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke). Hyperion is determined to destroy Olympus and the gods and he hopes to accomplish this by finding the Epirus Bow, a magical weapon that lays waste to everything in its path. Along the way, Theseus meets an oracle Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and through visions she helps lead the way. There are the Greek gods in the heavens, Zeus, Poseidon, Athena. And even though they are not supposed to, they occasionally intervene. When they intervene it’s pretty damn cool as they wipe out tons of bad guys with incredible CG force. You can imagine where the rest of the story goes, but I like that it’s simple so that the visuals can come to the foreground. Mickey Rourke is effective as the villain everyone wishes would get what’s coming to him, but I think they could’ve got a better actor. The character work is admittedly not too strong, but the movie is so great to look at. The visuals give the movie forward momentum. They seem to be propelling the story forward. I just wanted to see the next thing Tarsem had to show us.

One last thing. The final image of the film blew me away. It involves the Immortals in the heavens above and I was completely overwhelmed. I sat there stunned in my apartment for a minute or so. I should’ve seen this in a big movie theater. I did not want to see Tarsem’s next film Mirror Mirror with Julia Roberts, but now I think I have to.

In Time 2 stars New Zealander Andrew Niccol wrote and directed Gattaca in 1997. It's a brilliant film, one of the best of that decade. He followed that with the screenplay for The Truman Show, another great movie. However since then I haven't really embraced what he's done. S1mOne is a mess with Al Pacino playing a movie producer who digitally recreates his star actress when she leaves his film. The next was Lord of War, which has its moments of wit, but it doesn't work as a whole. His latest is In Time, Timberlake's first leading man role, and it does have its moments, but it doesn't work as a whole.

The idea is that time has replaced currency. Instead of earning and spending dollars, you earn time and spend time. Rent, coffee, a car. That is high concept enough to accept. It's difficult to grasp though in terms of the story. How much is a minute worth? What is a year? $50,000? It would be nice to have some sort of exchange rate here to understand what things really cost. The second thing Niccol adds and what really is unnecessary is the idea that people stop aging at 25. Everyone in the movie is young, and we have a lot of strange moments like when a very young woman is introduced as someone's grandmother. What is the point of this? It's a director choice to have everyone in the movie be 25, but it's not cool, it's confusing. Yes we're all trying to stay young, but it's barely commented on. Also, what happens is that your clock starts at 25. So if you haven't earned any extra time, you die at 25.

What would've helped would be to show a bit of Will Salas's (Timberlake) past. We ourselves need to time to digest this new world and a longer introduction would've helped a lot. There is a thorough sequence in Gattaca setting up that world of genetic engineering, but here it happens too fast. Will's mother is played by Olivia Wilde (who of course looks the same age even though she's 55) and she has some quick lines in the morning about having enough time for the rent and the bus and I don't understand. Also, in this "Time Zone", which is a ghetto, people live day to day. Meaning if you don't work that day, you die. Isn't this a little extreme? What terrible, stressful lives these people must be living. It's too much too swallow.

Eventually Will ends up getting a glimpse of the good life where he meets Sylvia (Amanda Seyfried) who is a rich girl, daughter of a hugely wealthy father (Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser who gives the best performance in the film) and by some circumstance he kidnaps her. They go on the run, they're attracted to each other, she gets to see how he lives, she starts to believe in his belief that the system needs to change. Republicans are going to hate this movie as at its core it's about the redistribution of wealth. The movie doesn't work. Will's plan to change everything is pretty unsophisticated. The two actors have very little chemistry together. Most of the time he grabs her hand and they run. This Bonnie and Clyde robbery spree they go on is not enjoyable nor does it make much sense, and Timberlake is sadly not that interesting as a lead. He's fine, but you could put anybody in that role. Seyfried needs to age a little, she still seems like a tween to me.

It's uneven. There are gangsters, time keepers (Cillian Murphy), boring references to Will's dead father, and some stupid form of fighting where two guys grab each other's forearms and whoever can twist harder wins the time. Boo. Also the design of the future isn't as complete nor as stimulating as it was in Gattaca. It still feels too much like present day LA despite the electric powered muscle cars. I think this may be a case of a writer/director whose best work was in the beginning of his career (Shyamalan). I know you will be tempted to rent it. Don't.

300 2 stars Leonidas is screaming, "Ahhhh! I'm chaffing from my leather underwear!"

20 Things I learned from 300 (mostly written when I first saw it in 2006)
1. Persian women have no problem with hunchbacks.
2. Spartan warriors have no need for food, water, or supplies. However they must have pockets in their capes to hold fresh apples.
3. They also have no need for horses or modes of transportation. Forget it. We’ll just walk.
4. Ancient Persians love gaudy jewelery. They especially love nose rings with chains. Must be hard when you have to sneeze.
5. The chrome mask business is booming. Never go into battle without a chrome mask.
6. If you’re the god-King of Persia, act crazily with your hands. Words are not enough. Swivel your arms constantly to distract your enemy.
7. Don’t bring your son to battle with you. And if you do, never call out his name in post-battle relief. He’s gonna die.
8. Like baseball is to America, ab crunches are the pastime of Sparta. Don’t worry, son. When you grow up, you’ll have a 6-pack just like your papa.
9. Oracles love to do strange underwater dances before they talk about the future.
10. Also, hot girls are really Oracles. Who knew?
11. Always talk to your husband in overly poetic dialogue. “Let your lips finish what your fingers have started.” Honey, I love it when you talk dirty.
12. Never offer your Queen body to your enemy. He won’t respect you in the morning. And he’ll reneg on the deal.
13. But if you do, make sure you do it in a public courtyard where everyone can see.
14. Never bring your enemy’s bribe money to the counsel chamber. Oops, is that Persian money I dropped? Excuse me.
15. When you give a speech to the Spartan army of 10,000, don’t worry. The guys in the back have no problem hearing you.
16. There’s no sun in Sparta. Forecast says cloudy.
17. Make sure your narrator has an annoying accent and a nasal condition.
18. No need for interesting characters. Just a lot of one-liner ping pong. “Then we’ll fight in the shade!” ZING!
19. There’s never enough slow-motion. Can we do the dialogue scenes in slow-mo? We’ll go close on their mouths. We can see the spit spew out of their mouths. Then we’ll do the credits in slow-mo. It’ll be awesome. If the movie ran at normal speed, it would be an hour shorter.
20. This is actually a strange remake of The Ten Commandments. King Leonidas replaces the Moses role (with similar beard) and Xerxes is the transvestite descendant of Pharoah. When Xerxes was in Egypt land, let my Spartans go.

Once

2012-01-21T01:00:00.000-08:00

4 stars Once is the best movie about music I've ever seen. I sent it to a friend recently, and hearing how much she liked it, I saw it myself again.

Once is about a busker (Glen Hansard) who sings and plays guitar in a Dublin shopping area. One night a young Czech woman (Marketa Irglova) comes by and listens to him. She sells various things in the shopping area during the day as well, but what she really does is play the piano. They go to a music shop during a lunch break and they sing one of his songs. It's "Falling Slowly", the song everyone should know, the song that won the Oscar, and they sing the entire song together. The movie may not have choreographed dancers, but this is a musical. The story is told through the songs. Just thinking about that scene brings up a lot of emotions. It's a beautiful sequence. They get to know each other more in those 4 minutes than if they had been talking for an hour.

Much of the movie is this. They do talk, and they do get to know one another. She lives with her mother and her daughter in a tiny apartment surrounded by other immigrants to Ireland in tiny apartments. He lives with his father and works in his vacuum repair shop at night. He has someone in London he loved. She is separated from her husband who is still in the Czech Republic. But for all of these conversations, and the dialogue is surprisingly good, it's the songs that matter.

"Say it to Me Now" opens the film. When he breaks into that chorus I remember sitting up very straight in my chair and taking notice. "Lies" is sung over montage of video footage of an ex-girlfriend. "If You Want Me" is sung in a long shot as the girl walks home carrying a Discman. A favorite is "When Your Mind's Made Up", which is the song they record in the studio. I think I've watched that performance over 50 times. I don't think I've seen a better depiction in a movie of a group of musicians coming together, singing a song, and we feel how much joy they feel just playing music. I mean that's special. The song is good, but they love playing music and that's what moves me. It doesn't hurt that Glen Hansard has a monster voice and he belts his songs out with passion. If you possibly don't know, the two are not actors, they're musicians, and they composed and performed all of the songs themselves. Irglova was a shocking 17 when she did the film. She seems as if she's lived so much life, I thought she was 10 years old than that. Director John Carney put this film together. It was his idea, he wrote it, and he decided to cast these two non-actors. He deserves a lot of credit.

I saw it in the theater in 2006 and proceeded to evangelize it to anyone who would listen to me. It's one of those movies you have to share with someone else. You want your friends to see it right away, right now. It was shot on camcorders you could buy in a store, and no one knows any of the people in the movie, but it is too powerful to ignore. He walks in the airport smiling, then we cut to her playing piano, she stops playing, and then she looks out her window. We don't know exactly what she's thinking about, but at the same time we do know. It's maybe a once in a lifetime film (no pun intended). I don't think it can be copied or repeated. I really love Once, and I think a lot of you do too.

Weekly Recap 1/20/12

2012-01-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Immortals, 50/50, Timecop, Bloodsport, Warrior, lots of AVGN
The Bad: Pulling John, Nowhere to Run, Sudden Death
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: Timecop/Bloodsport Action Double Feature, The Angry Video Game Nerd Volumes 1-5

Trips to the Theater: None

Actors of the Week: Anna Kendrick, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jean-Claude Van Damme
Director of the Week: James Rolfe

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
Angry Video Game Nerd videos

Jean-Claude Van Damme!

2012-01-19T16:00:00.000-08:00

It was $9.99 for the Bloodsport/Timecop Action Double Feature on Blu-ray and I bought it. I have to be honest and say that I enjoyed it way more than I was supposed to. Watching the movies inspired me to write this post about the legendary Jean Claude Van Damme as I did with Stallone and Arnold. Out of the non-Asian martial arts guys that came out of the 80s and 90s, I think he’s my favorite. A lot of it is because he’s so unintentionally funny.

Dull Chuck Norris could never make that awesome face. Steven Seagal is fat and generally an a—hole in his movies and in real life. There were guys like Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon) and Michael Dudikoff (American Ninja 1-1000), but I like JCVD.

Sorry, but I haven’t seen Kickboxer in a long time and I barely remember Lionheart or Double Impact. I do enjoy Universal Soldier and Sudden Death (sorry again) but there's not enough to write about them. Btw, his real last name is Van Varenberg. He changed it to Van Damme. He said like Wham Bam Van Damme! How could you not laugh.

Bloodsport 3 stars It’s still fun. It’s late 80s action fun. I think it’s still enjoyable since the concept is still enjoyable. Different fighters from across the globe fight in the Kumite, full contact. Street Fighter had to have been inspired by this movie. There’s a Sumo guy, and a guy who fights like Dhalsim, some Muay Thai fighters. No green monster like Blanka though. What really helps is that the movie doesn’t take itself too seriously. There’s a lot of humor, particularly from Frank Dux’s (Van Damme) friend Jackson played by Donald Gibb who was Ogre in the Revenge of the Nerds series. He’s so likeable in the movie. He has some great line readings like “What the hell is a Dim Mack”? I even like his fighting style which seems to involve just grabbing guys and clobbering them over the head. Also very funny is their handler Victor who is that classic Asian guy who learned all of the American slang before actually learning the language. “What's the difference if Bruce Springsteen is his shidoshi?” “I got a rep to uphold you know!” Every time he comes on screen I laugh.

The fighting for all its silliness is shot pretty well. There I said it. No hand held, not too many cuts. Things are clear and I still enjoy the slow mo shot of Van Damme going into the splits and rocking that guy in the groin. Van Damme is good in his first lead role. He’s stiff, his English isn’t great, but he has a good guy charm and is pretty believable as the best fighter in the Kumite. I like it when he goes kick to kick against Paco. Although I could’ve done without his sad, reflective montage before the last fight against Chong Li who has man boobs. And yes that’s Forest Whitaker in a supporting role as a cop trying to bring Frank back to America. What the hell is he doing in this movie? Lastly, it's apparently based on a true story and is the only movie I can think of that ends with martial arts records i.e. Fastest Kick with a Knockout 72 mph. Now that's a LOL.

You have to watch this.

Timecop 3 stars Still my #1 guilty pleasure. Guilty because it’s very not cool to like Timecop. I mean, the movie is named Timecop. And it has some lame opening titles which is just green font over black. Van Damme plays a Time Enforcement Agent named Walker, part of an agency who polices any alterations to history as time travel has become possible. The time travel is pretty ridiculous (why do they travel back in time in a little pod and where does the pod go once they get there? And then when they come back they’re back in the pod?) Somehow it's palatable and believable because of good character actors like Bruce McGill and others who make the techno dialogue seem better than it is. I think for a Van Damme action movie, the dialogue is actually pretty good, with a lot of surprisingly witty moments. A scared rookie asks Walker what he thinks about during a launch. He responds, “Not swallowing my tongue”. Also the special effect of going back in time is well done with the image stretching like a fun house mirror. Director Peter Hyams (2010: The Year We Make Contact) is a great shooter as well, and the movie is probably the best looking of Van Damme’s illustrious career. I also enjoy JCVD’s performance. I don’t know how many wives have died in movies so that the hero can have something to feel, but he plays it well. He’s low key in the movie and has some amusing one liners after the guy has been either kicked or killed. Dare I say it’s his best performance? Haha, not saying much but it is. I like the fight scenes, the late Ron Silver is great as a baddie Senator, and Mia Sara from Ferris Bueller is a teenage crush I’m always glad to see again. “Are we gonna blast to the past? Yee haw!”

Hard Target 2 ½ stars John Woo’s first American film and it stars the Muscles from Brussels. Certainly the most stylish of the Van Damme oeuvre. If I have a movie weakness, it’s for action involving guns. Guns, guns, guns. I love it, and Hard Target is packed with good action sequences with guns. Woo brings his signature shooting style of slow motion, dissolves and always strong editing. The story is ok and it involves rich men hunting people. Lance Henriksen from Aliens gives a good performance. Also good is Arnold Vosloo from the Mummy movies as his right hand man. Van Damme is a bit too sullen with his hardcore mullet but Woo was smart enough to put him in a trench coat so that when he kicks it looks cool. Lol. Sorry for the thoroughly in depth film criticism but what can you say about a movie titled Hard Target.

JCVD 2 ½ stars The movie doesn’t work as a whole. In the movie, Van Damme (as himself) goes back to Belgium to visit his family and recharge as his career is dwindling. He stumbles into a bank that happens to be in the middle of a robbery and he gets stuck in there. Somehow the people outside believe that he is the one holding up the bank and a crowd of police and onlookers forms outside shouting JCVD! The bank robbery material is not good. There have been too many bank hostage movies and this is nothing special. What does work is when we see Van Damme in scenes that must've been inspired by his current life. He’s on a set with a 20 year-old Chinese director making some crappy action movie. He’s in his agent's office lamenting that he’ll never be in another studio movie again and is relegated to shooting low budget movies in Bulgaria. I even like his monologue toward the end where he talks about where’s he at in his life, his drug problems, and how he feels like he hasn’t done much good in the world. He’s a fading 50 year-old action star and that’s interesting to me. Even a subplot involving his custody battle (another thing taken from his life) is very effective. He’s a real guy and I felt for him. I hope he does well with The Expendables 2. And JCVD has a great trailer.

Street Fighter: The Movie No stars Oh my word this movie is terrible. After watching and surprisingly liking the Mortal Kombat movie when I was in junior high (a recent viewing showed me how really bad it is), me and some friends went to see Street Fighter: The Movie in 1994. It was and is awful. Campy and silly and an offensive, angry waste of time. Van Damme is Colonel Guile (so clever!), part of some UN military force who is trying to stop M.Bison (the late Raul Julia) from taking over the world. They try to get every character in there, and their special moves, and it’s so stupid. Ryu does a Hadoken at one point after a “meaningful” moment of separation with Ken. And I think Balrog fights E.Honda in full cartoon costumes. What a POS mess. A video game movie so bad it made me like the game less. One of my worst movie experiences of all time.

And some of his terrible rest. There are even more than these! I would like to see a poster where he isn't so hilariously serious. The tagline to Second in Command is "It's Time to Take Charge!"

Angry Video Game Nerd

2012-01-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks I've been been thoroughly enjoying watching the Angry Video Game Nerd. James Rolfe did a video game review of Castlevania 2 for his friends back in 2004. They wanted more and eventually he gained a huge fan base over these past 8 years. He does a lot of NES reviews, but my favorite are his game system reviews. I never knew how bad those old ones were. The videos may not be of high production value, but I think they're great. Creative, intelligent, and hilarious. He's a good writer and I remember how much I hated games like Top Gun and Back to the Future, which I still think is the worst NES game ever. I love these trips back in time to 8 bit, 16 bit, and the Atari which I never owned. Language is NSFW.

Check out his other videos: http://cinemassacre.com/2007/04/08/full-list-of-avgn-videos/#comments

Atari 5200. The original 2600 is a classic. This next one is not.

Nintendo Accessories. I knew someone who had that stupid Roll & Rocker.

Street Fighter 2010. The Nerd goes over the history of the franchise (even discovers Street Fighter I!) and some bizarre NES version set in 2010. And he talks about the TurboGraphx 16!

The Wizard and Super Mario Bros. 3

Nintendo Power Magazine. Oh man, every new issue was heaven.

Star Wars Games

Sega CD. I also knew someone who owned this. We thought it was cool. We were wrong.

NES Collection

Banners 2011 Part 4

2012-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

(Click on the images for the larger versions)

Tombstone

Sweeney Todd

Warrior

Sherlock Holmes

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Rushmore

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Super 8

The Muppets

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

Pirate Radio

Blue Velvet

Captain America

Annie Hall

Moneyball

Before Sunset

W.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Banners 2011 Part 1
Banners 2011 Part 2
Banners 2011 Part 3

50/50

2012-01-15T21:00:00.000-08:00

3 stars I personally think making a good movie is more about taste than skill. Taste will dictate choices from the earliest conception of a movie. Sentimental or realistic. Heart warming or cynical. While watching 50/50, I thought a lot about the choices the filmmakers were making and the ones they weren't.

Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is 27 year-old and learns that he has cancer. And from here the movie could really go anywhere. It could be some broad comedy about a guy who wants to do a bunch of crazy things because he might die. It could be a very serious drama about the brutality of cancer and what it does to your life and your body. 50/50 is a good title because it's right in between. Adam hears it and then he has a calm but dramatic conversation with his girlfriend Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard). Then he talks to his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) and then there's some funny lines about what kind of cancer it is and whether or not Adam has photos to help narrow down the name. Adam starts seeing a therapist Katherine (Anna Kendrick) and the joke is that she's very young and inexperienced. And his mother (Anjelica Houston) is a smothering worrier.

For all of these characters and the storylines that could come out the material, I felt like the movie plays it too safe. It doesn't make a strong choice about what it wants to be, it just seems to make choices about what it doesn't want to be. It doesn't want to be sentimental, or sappy, or overly dramatic or too broad. But by not being any of these things, there's not too much left it can be. Rachael ends up cheating on Adam, and it's good that he doesn't flip out or get furious about it. He probably acts like someone would in that situation. He's stunned and disappointed, but he kind of understands. However watching that doesn't do much for me. It doesn't tell me anything more about him or what he's going through. It's too normal. Maybe there have been so many TV shows and movies that already have dealt with cancer. And if you're going to make a movie about cancer, you probably should have a very specific take on it. Adam is not a specific guy. He's nice and likeable enough but we need more. He has a job at a radio station where he's a journalist but that goes nowhere. He befriends some older guys in chemo but that subplot has no resolution. He doesn't seem to have much going on in his life. He's concerned he'll die, but he doesn't seem that emotionally affected. And we haven't seen the reasons why he should so want to live. He doesn't seem to learn anything or grow. Perhaps learning and growing is cliche in a movie like this, but having him not change isn't a better choice.

This being said, the movie is still entertaining and enjoyable. Seth Rogen is limited in a supporting role but he's funny as always. I think the role is beneath him at this point, the kind of lazy buddy who smokes pot and wants to get laid. Joseph Gordon-Levitt gives everything he's got to an underwritten role. Seriously, why are there so many shots of Adam sitting on a bus thinking? He's too passive, and there aren't enough scenes where we get to see how he's really feeling. Is he scared? Is he regretful? We see so little of this. The genuine warm bright spot is Anna Kendrick. The relationship between the two is kind of unbalanced as they start as doctor/patient and then transition to people who could like each other. It would help if they weren't so similar. They're both hesitant and awkward and circle back on their sentences. It may be more realistic, but it's not the greatest on screen romance dynamic. Still, she has some scenes toward the end where she is just spot on. She is doing so much great acting, reacting to Adam on the phone or moments where she obviously crosses the professional line and shows him real kindness. She is one of the best young actresses around and I think she's the best part of the movie.

Director Jonathan Levine's previous film was The Wackness, a film a tremendously disliked. The film was based much on the experiences of screenwriter Will Reiser, but sometimes the truth is just not as interesting as fiction. A much better film this year about terminal illness is Beginners with Christopher Plummer. Still, for all of the things I think were missed opportunities, I did enjoy it. I mention the negatives because it settles for being just good, when I think it had a potential for being great. In terms of which side of the 50 I'm at, I think it's 70/30 you should see the film.

Tarantino's Top 11 of 2011

2012-01-14T11:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.tarantino.info/2012/01/14/exclusive-quentin-tarantinos-favorite-films-of-2011-more/

His Best List
1. Midnight In Paris
2. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
3. Moneyball
4. The Skin I Live In
5. X-Men: First Class
6. Young Adult
7. Attack the Block
8. Red State
9. Warrior
10. The Artist / Our Idiot Brother (tie)
11. The Three Musketeers

His Worst List
Sucker Punch
Potiche (Trophy Wife)
Miral
Insidious
Rampart
Straw Dogs
Paranormal Activity 3
Meek’s Cutoff

Moonrise Kingdom Trailer

2012-01-13T10:30:00.000-08:00

The next film by Wes Anderson.
Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, and Frances McDormand. Very excited.

Weekly Recap 1/13/12

2012-01-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Tomorrow Never Dies, lots of Enterprise
The Bad: None
The Ugly: Killer Elite
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: Moneyball, Good Morning Vietnam

Trips to the Theater: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (third time)

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
Battle Royale. Going to be released for the first time in the U.S.
http://rolandchang.blogspot.com/2011/01/january-2011-reviews-3-battle-royale.html

The Best and Worst Posters of 2011

2012-01-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

The lists are based solely on their posters. I refused to see Fast Five, but the poster made me want to. I loved Super 8 but that poster is terrible. Also, what the hell is going on with Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close? All I think about is an extremely loud number of fingers. There's Beastly with the tagline, "Love is Never Ugly". Oh that makes me laugh. And I put Water for Elephants there because Robert Pattinson's hand is so blatantly on Reese Witherspoon's ass. Lastly, don't you remember the good old days in high school when you use to slide down a skyscraper while holding a gun? Abduction, I never tire of writing about you.

The BEST

The WORST

Will Ferrell: You're Welcome America

2012-01-07T23:30:00.000-08:00

I put You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush on my iPod for my flight to Chicago on Christmas. I've been watching part of it every day since. I don't know what it exactly is about Will Ferrell as Bush that I find so amusing. It's not even that technically accurate an impression. And Ferrell's 6'3. But somehow the performance becomes so much greater than that. It really is special to see him do Bush.

During the last year of W.'s 2nd term, Will Ferrell came to director Adam McKay (Anchorman, The Other Guys) and said he would like to do a 90 minute one man show of George W. Bush on Broadway. He had only done Bush for maybe a max of 10-12 minutes during a SNL sketch so this sudden jump to something almost 10 times as long was pretty wild. Ferrell proceeded to write and came back with this show which broke house records during its run in New York and is one of HBO's highest rated specials ever.

You're Welcome America is an overview of the history of Bush as we know him, starting from his early years all the way to the end of his Presidency. The great thing about it being so recent is that we're so aware of many of the incidents the show goes over. Like that time a journalist started throwing shoes during a press conference. Or the fact that Morocco offered to donate a group of trained monkeys to help the war effort in Iraq. What happens here is not some simple bashing of Bush, it's more of a ironic commentary on some of the absurdity that occurred during those 8 years. As much as there are shots taken at the former Pres, there is also a ton of silliness that can't possibly be taken seriously. When he comes out in that flight suit during "Mission Accomplished", he says to the audience, "Remember this outfit? Remember this moment? Landing on a carrier in a jet fighter plane. Highway to the Danger Zone playing in my helmet". LOL. During one infamous sequence, Condoleezaa Rice comes out and does an exotic dance to Michael McDonald's "I Keep Forgetting". Eventually W. gives into temptation and dances along. His stiff white man dance makes me fall on the floor laughing.

Will Ferrell's performance is near perfect to me. His timing is unbelievable. I'm sure it was different night to night on stage, but this taped performance is something he should be so proud of. I think it's the best performance I've seen him give. Two favorite sequences. One involves a most probably fictional story of him and the other Bush men getting trapped in an abandoned mine shaft near his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Bush Sr. gets so fed up with his son and screams, "Why are you the only one in this family that speaks with a Texas accent! It makes no sense!" His brother Jeb tells them to stop talking to conserve oxygen and he responds, "I don't give a s--t!" The other one is toward the end when Ferrell actually calls out people in the audience, asks what they do for a living, and then he gives them a nickname. My favorite was "Nerd Alert", which he gave to a software engineer. Another was a seventh grader who he nicknamed, "Pubes".

It's a hilarious show and I wish I could somehow go back in time to see it live. Ferrell turns out to be great on stage, by himself, in what is truly a one man show. He is a totally different person when he's playing Bush. He's unlike any of the other characters Ferrell has played, if in fact you consider this character a character. Pro or anti, it doesn't matter. It's a ridiculously funny show. Don't blink or you'll miss a lot of celebrities in the audience including Edward Norton, Common, Serena Williams, and Kevin Kline. I hope you go to whatever online queue you have and rent it. It's a favorite.

Weekly Recap 1/6/2012

2012-01-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: W., ESPN 30 for 30: Unguarded, The War Room, lots of Angry Video Game Nerd
The Bad: ESPN 30 for 30: Charismatic
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: None

Trips to the Theater: None

Actors of the Week: Josh Brolin, Toby Jones, James Cromwell
Director of the Week: Oliver Stone

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
The Grey. I like director Joe Carnahan.

10 More Thoughts about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

2012-01-04T10:30:00.000-08:00

(SPOILERS. If you haven't seen it, absolutely do not read)

1. I could not watch the Swedish film again after seeing this one. Fincher’s film dominates my mind now and as much as I enjoyed Noomi Rapace in 2010, I think that movie pales in comparison to this one. The production design, the camera work, the editing. They had $90 million and one of the strongest visual directors out there now so of course it’s going to look better. There is barely any snow in the Swedish movie. Thankfully I remembered very little of the Swedish version. I did not even remember what role Martin played. Stellan Skarsgard was awesome btw. A long time since Good Will Hunting.

2. After spending the last 2 weeks pouring over the novels (I’m about halfway through book 3), I can say that Rooney Mara’s Lisbeth is much closer to the Lisbeth in the book. The visual description, the body type, it’s so much closer. Even her age is just right. The choice of less make-up is right. I realized also that her eyebrows are blonde because Lisbeth is Swedish. She dyes her hair black, but probably wouldn't dye her eyebrows. Also Daniel Craig is so on the money as Mikael. He’s even more of a ladies man in the book and that fits a slimmer, trimmer Blomkvist. I think Craig was perfect casting.

3. How great are those opening titles. To Fincher they were a way to prepare the audience for what was to come. In case anyone had any delusions about the movie being some nice, safe thriller, their expectations were going to be set. He did this with Se7en as well, which has its own classic title sequence. Also great to hear the Karen O and Trent Reznor’s cover of “The Immigrant Song” actually used in the movie. Speaking of music, Martin plays “Orinoco Flow” by Enya in the basement. A great moment. I thought later that if they played Ace of Base it would’ve been fall on the floor hysterical, and probably too much. “All that she wants, is another baby…”

4. All of the little moments with Lisbeth stick with me. She goes to a vending machine in the archives and she flips her hoodie on so the security guard won’t look at her. How she crams her mouth with fries. How she softens so much toward the end when she asks Mikael to borrow that money. It is one of the best performances by an actress I have ever seen. It’s complete immersion into another person. Also great touches from the filmmakers. Wasn’t her fight in the subway just sick? That is the real Lisbeth. She’s not a victim who allows herself to get beat up. When you provoke her she’s fast and will make you pay.

5. I did not miss seeing her mother, and I enjoyed her few extra moments with her first guardian Palmgren. Notice she brings him a gift as well? The movie focuses much more on her relationships with men and I think that’s right. Her hacker friend, the tattoo artist, the debriefing with Frode and Armansky, they’re all men. I think the only two moments she has with women are with the girl she picks up at the lesbian bar and the librarian at the archive. She has no dialogue with Harriet or Erika. I loved it when Lisbeth saw Henrik hug Harriet and she has to turn away.

6. The rape itself, the act, I think is less overt than in the Swedish film. However, the before and after are what really made it horrifying. Lisbeth’s screaming her head off for a long time, and that’s what was just awful. Then that brutally sad walk home and then her clean up in the shower, which is the oddly the first time we really see the dragon tattoo. Subsequently her revenge against Bjurman was sweet. Fincher does love lamps knocked over on the floor. Lisbeth must’ve loved Blade Runner since she blackens her eyes out like Daryl Hannah. And I loved that she saw him again in the elevator. This tiny girl pointing her finger in the face of this huge man. Stop looking at tattoo removal websites Bjurman!

7. Strange how much Sweden has infiltrated American culture. Volvo, H&M, Ikea. None of their words though. Everyone knows a few words of French or German, but not Swedish. I will try to start using Fröken which is a proper word for “Miss”. Fröken Salander.

8. With this and The Social Network I believe these are characters Fincher relates to. Zuckerberg, a 20 year-old intellectual phenom who adults did not take seriously. He had talent, incredible technical abilities, and was maybe a bit antisocial. Fincher got beat up by older executives on Alien 3. They didn’t take him seriously. Possibly the same with Lisbeth. Great with technology, maybe not the most personable person. She’s a loner and always the smartest person in the room. Someone said almost all his movies are about outsiders. Probably why I like them so much.

9. I was blindsided by how much the movie affected me. I thought it was going to be a good thriller from one of my favorite directors, but it turned out to be so much deeper and shockingly personal to me. The Swedish movie does not contain this movie’s last 15 minutes with Lisbeth’s mini mission. How could they not put that in? It says so much about who Lisbeth is. It says about who I am. A friend and me talked about the movie at length and we both said separately, “I am Lisbeth”. If there is a magnet or a sticker or something saying that I will buy it. Like I said in my review, this personal connection to a movie happens so rarely. I’m going to remember this one.

10. The T-shirt still rules. If you don't think so, F you, you F-ing F.

My original review http://rolandchang.blogspot.com/2011/12/girl-with-dragon-tattoo-2011.html

The Worst Movies of 2011

2012-01-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

The list is cut in half this year because I haven't watched a lot of the really bad ones. They're not worth the time, and if a movie is bad during the first 20 minutes, I usually just turn it off. No movie recovers to suddenly become something good. The Change-Up, The Smurfs, Real Steel, I am Number Four. They would probably be on the list, but I couldn't bring myself to watch/finish them. In any case, the Five Worst Movies I saw in 2011. Check out the reviews for more fun.

1. Sucker Punch
In a class of its own. If you tried to make a movie this bad, you couldn't possibly succeed. A colossal clusterf--k failure of bad taste. I was trapped in a junior high kid's wet dream that made no sense. The more I thought about it, the more it hurt. Action has never been so irritating, like someone force feeding you bullets and explosions. You vomit and then they start feeding you again. I hate you for being born into this world. One of my worst movie watching experiences ever. (review)

2. Green Lantern
Planet OA? 3600 sectors? Abin Sur? About 2 minutes into the never-ending opening narration, I threw up my hands and said, "I give up!". Sometimes everything just goes wrong. Every choice here is wrong, including Ryan Reynolds who I cannot take seriously in this role. He's a comedy actor from Canada in a green bodysuit. This belongs on the shelf next to that Super Mario Bros. movie. A $300 million embarrassment. (review)

3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon It's not very original to put a Transformers movie on a Worst List but I can't get around it. Transformers reinforces the fact that I am an intelligent adult. There is a young, stupid audience for this movie and I'm not it. The most unintentionally funniest line of the year, "We were once a peaceful race of intelligent mechanical beings... and then came the war." I laughed very hard when I heard that one. A question though, is this a movie? It was filmed with cameras and people are talking, but is it just a long trailer? Unrelenting music, all the characters are screaming, and there is rarely a quiet moment which would've been a relief. Terribly edited and lots of ugly robots who despite advanced technology still just wrestle with each other. No more. I'm done. (review)

4. Shanghai
John Cusack, Gong Li, Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun-Fat. This was supposed to be Oscar bait for the Weinstein Company, but the director of 1408 does not know how to make this kind of movie. The worst kind of period movie. Dull and stuffy and excruciatingly boring. (review)

5. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
A tedious fourth sequel that makes you like the previous movies less. That's an accomplishment. There are boats and pirates and Penelope Cruz, but it feels like an episode of some Pirates of the Caribbean TV series. Disney, please stop. (review)

The Worst Trailer of Most Any Year

The Adventures of Tintin

2012-01-02T01:30:00.000-08:00

2 stars The Adventures of Tintin is based on a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist Herge. They are enormously popular in Europe. Tintin is as famous as Batman or Superman is to us. Strangely enough, the books never quite hit in the U.S., but Spielberg had known about the material since the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. European journalists had compared the movie to Tintin, he at the time had no idea who Tintin was, and so he started reading. Cut to 2007, Peter Jackson talks to Spielberg about using new motion capture technology to make the film, and 4 years later it's complete.

Tintin (Jamie Bell) is a young journalist with his faithful dog Snowy and one day in an outdoor market, he discovers a model of the sailing ship The Unicorn. Tintin simply admires the model, but Ivan Ivanovitch Sakharine (Daniel Craig) wants it for different reasons. The model ship contains a secret, and it starts Tintin off on an adventure. Along the way, Tintin teams up with Captain Haddock (Andy Serkis), whose ancestor was the Captain of the real Unicorn. There are other models, with other clues, to a possible treasure.

This is really the meat of the plot and it's odd to say this, but the movie needed to be longer. I am an American, and I am completely unfamiliar with Tintin, and I needed more time to get to know him. We don't really get a sense of who he is. He's kind of a bland, nice guy. He's a journalist, but he looks like a kid, but nothing's really explained in detail. I was curious about his life (his parents, where he works, some backstory) but the screenwriters aren't. The adventure begins so quickly that it was hard to get my bearings, and later on it honestly hurt my investment as I ended up not really caring about this boy with red hair and his smart dog. A lot of the movie I didn't care about. The importance or emotional urgency of discovering the secret of The Unicorn is unclear. Tintin seems uninterested in the treasure, but wants to solve this mystery despite being in danger of death in every scene. But why? Why is this so important? What is at stake here? These little screenwriting holes add up and by the end it didn't really matter. Ivan Ivanovicth is a weak villain, and sadly Captain Haddock did not make me laugh once. He's a drunk that looks like the brother of Bluto from Popeye and that's about it.

I'm admittedly not the biggest fan of animated films, and I always expect (almost demand) that I laugh during them. The movie is not funny and I rarely laughed. Even Thompson and Thompson, the bumbling Interpol cops are pretty unmemorable. The script lacks real wit. The beautiful animation runs by, but I don't care about the characters and I don't care about the story. Spielberg is still a gifted director and there are of course great touches. The best is the insanely entertaining unbroken action sequence toward the end of the film with Tintin on a motorcycle, then zip-lining down a wire, then a hotel is brought out of the ground by a tank and on and on. It's a fantastic scene, the kind of scene only animation can do, but the movie doesn't have enough of them.

The film is a juggernaut overseas, already taking in $240 million without even including North America. Maybe we don't get it. I certainly didn't get what the big deal was. You know, it felt a lot like watching that last Indiana Jones movie. There are some bright spots, there is action, but by the next day you'll have forgotten most of it, if not all.

3 Years!

2011-12-30T00:01:00.000-08:00

Happy 3 Year Anniversary to Roland Chang's Movie Blog

Weekly Recap 12/30/11

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Moneyball, The Game, The Social Network, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Informant!, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009), Public Enemies, The King's Speech, The Bourne Ultimatum, Will Ferrell: You're Welcome America
The Bad: None
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Trips to the Theater: None

Actors of the Week: Marion Cotillard, Jesse Eisenberg, Matt Damon
Director of the Week: Fincher

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
Prometheus Teaser

My Top Ten of 2011

2011-12-23T01:30:00.000-08:00

26 trips to the theater (down from 34 last year). 440 rentals.
Let's celebrate the best movies of the year. Ironically 2 remakes of Swedish films are on this list. Also 2 sports movies. And some Muppets.

10. Contagion
A fantastic, scary, thriller about science from director Steven Soderbergh. It plays at a high level of intelligence and craftsmanship. One of the best shot movies of the year. Certainly the best edited. He’s on a great run. (review)

9. The Muppets
As I wrote in my review, it's a big warm hug of a movie. Tons of heart and wonderful songs written by Flight of the Conchord's Bret McKenzie. Am I a man or am I a Muppet? I've got everything that I nee-eed, right in front of me. (review)

8. Midnight in Paris
At 75, Woody Allen wrote and directed this magical, often hilarious journey into 1920s Paris. With Owen Wilson of all people as the Woody Allen lead. “You can fool me, but you cannot fool Ernest Hemingway!" (review)

7. Moneyball
A movie that champions intelligence and doing things differently. A sports movie about statistical theories and economics. Completely engrossing from start to finish. The smartest movie of the year. (review)

6. Trust
Director David Schwimmer took a difficult and terribly uncomfortable subject (online pedophilia) and made a great and thoughtful movie. I don't think you could make a better film about this material. Tasteful, dramatic, and heartbreaking. (review)

5. Super 8
JJ Abrams does it again. For all of the business with aliens and government conspiracies (which is very good), the movie is best when it’s just Joe and his friends. One of two great films this year about being a kid. I’d put it in the small club of movies that include Goonies, E.T., and Stand By Me. (review)

4. Catfish
No other movie like it that I’ve seen. A remarkable, once in a lifetime documentary that took me down story paths I had never been down before. The joy about the possibility of love, then seriously scary, and then it ends with such poignancy. An amazing achievement from directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Not to mention Yaniv (Nev) Schulman who lived this story. (review)

3. Warrior
A sports movie, a family about to lose their home, estranged brothers, a father trying to make amends. These are bad elements to create a film, but director Gavin O’Connor and this cast made something far greater than the sum of its parts. I saw it twice in two days. The film I was most emotionally invested in this year. The best ensemble of the year which includes Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Jennifer Morrison, Nick Nolte, and Frank Grillo as Brendan's trainer. If you weren’t moved, check your pulse because you may be dead. (review)

2. Let Me In
Technically it was released late last year, but I did not see it until January 2011. Let Me In is a deeply moving horror drama with two incredible characters in Owen and Abby. Their relationship is very, very special, and one of my favorite friendships in a lifetime of watching movies. Written and directed with pitch perfect tone by Matt Reeves, it’s a beautiful and haunting movie about adolescence. A horror movie at #2. I’m just as surprised as you are. (review)

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The technical skill alone makes the movie worthy of being on this list. It's a masterfully told, hypnotically engaging genre film that any director would envy. But the choices made toward the end, they take it to another level. Those images are embedded in me. I cannot forget them. It's one of those films that no matter what I may write, it won't truly express how I feel about it. How I feel about Rooney Mara's performance as Lisbeth Salander and director David Fincher's presentation of her. There are extremely few times in my life when I've watched a movie and said, that's me. How he/she feels, I feel that way too. "That character is me". With Fight Club and now The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher has done it twice. And I am very grateful to him. (review)

Honorable Mentions: Jane Eyre, Pearl Jam 20

A Great Year for Documentaries: Exit Through the Gift Shop, Waiting for Superman, Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Picture Me, Bobby Fischer Against the World, The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, Picture Me, Tabloid, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop

Best Trailers http://rolandchang.blogspot.com/2011/12/best-trailers-of-2011.html

Best Actors
Owen Wilson in Midnight in Paris
Will Ferrell in Everything Must Go
Brad Pitt in Moneyball
Joel Edgerton in Warrior
Daniel Craig in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Actresses
Kristen Wiig in Bridesmaids
Rooney Mara in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Liana Liberato in Trust
Chloe Moretz in Let Me In
Keira Knightley in A Dangerous Method

Best Supporting Actors
Jonah Hill in Moneyball
Andy Serkis in Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Frank Grillo in Warrior
Michael Fassbender in X-Men: First Class

Best Supporting Actresses
Elle Fanning in Super 8
Jennifer Morrison in Warrior
Amy Adams in The Muppets
Shailene Woodley in The Descendants

Best Ensemble: The cast of Warrior

Best Directors
Bennett Miller for Moneyball
Matt Reeves for Let Me In
JJ Abrams for Super 8
David Fincher for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Cinematography
Greig Fraser for Let Me In
Adriano Goldman for Jane Eyre
Steven Soderbergh for Contagion

Best Score
Cliff Martinez for Contagion
Mark Isham for Warrior
Michael Giacchino for Super 8
Mychael Dyanna for Moneyball

Disappointments: Hugo, The Next Three Days, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Never Let Me Go, Hanna, The Tree of Life
Guilty Pleasures: Tangled, William & Kate (so embarrassing)

Avoided like the Plague: Fast Five, The Smurfs, Just Go with It, Zookeeper, Beastly, The Change-Up, Real Steel, Battle: Los Angeles, Abduction
Missed, Will See: Shame, Carnage, The Artist
I saw, no one else saw: Mesrine: Public Enemy #1, The Beaver, Kill the Irishman, The Housemaid, Super
Everyone Liked, I Didn't: Source Code
Best Rentals: 13 Assassins, Cedar Rapids

Great Titles: Crazy Stupid Love, Drive, Midnight in Paris, The Future
Terrible Titles: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Unknown, The Ides of March, Jumping the Broom, Mars Needs Moms, What’s Your Number?, Take Me Home Tonight, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Art of Getting By, Cowboys & Aliens

Best Song: Karen O and Trent Reznor's cover of The Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin
Best Kill: Magneto putting a coin through Kevin Bacon's head in X-Men: First Class
Best Surgery: Gwyneth Paltrow getting her head sawed open in Contagion
Best T-Shirt: Lisbeth's, which has written on it: "F--k You, You F--king F--k"

My Top Ten of 2010

Weekly Recap 12/23/11

2011-12-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Contagion, The Hunt for Red October, Veronica Guerin, more TNG
The Bad: The Ides of March, Star Trek: Insurrection and Nemesis
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: Warrior

Trips to the Theater: A Dangerous Method, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo x2

Actors of the Week: Keira Knightley, Brent Spiner, Rooney Mara
Directors of the Week: Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
The Hobbit.

The Best Trailers of 2011

2011-12-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Captain America: The First Avenger. "And they, will personally, escort Adolf Hitler, to the gates of hell."

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo Full Trailer. Almost 4 minutes long and I still want more.

Carnage International Trailer. "Wow!"

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy International Trailer. The song used is actually from another film on this list.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II.

X-Men: First Class. Beautifully cut together.

The Raid. Women don't seem to understand why we love this one so much. And that's fine.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

2011-12-21T00:30:00.000-08:00

4 stars I don't know how to start this review. The movie ended 2 hours ago and I'm still pretty stunned by the experience. I think we have to start with Lisbeth. What is it about Lisbeth Salander that has captured the interest of millions of people? It's not the piercings, it's not the wardrobe, it's not the dragon tattoo. That stuff is external. They protect her from the world that she believes rejects her. I think it's because we all are Lisbeth Salander. At least part of us feels that way. Hurt too much, hurt too often in the past so we do things to protect ourselves from people. We might not be as extreme as she is, but we all have our personal armor.

The Swedish version of the Stieg Larsson novel was released in 2009 and that's a great movie. It was #10 in my top ten that year. People were wondering why they should even make an English language version and I think Fincher has answered definitively. With his formidable skill and talent, David Fincher has made a very different movie, which is among the best of the year.

Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) is a publisher and part owner of a Swedish political magazine named Millenium. He's just lost a libel case involving his allegations against billionaire financier Hans Wennerstrom and although he will face no jail time, it takes his legs out financially. Because of this, he is much more willing to take on an assignment from a rich, elderly man, Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer). Henrik wants to hire Mikael to find out what happened to his niece Harriet who was murdered 40 years ago. The Vanger family is an assortment of wealthy and despicable people. Some of them were even Nazis, and Mikael moves up to their private island in northern Sweden to begin his investigation. Parallel to this is of course Lisbeth, who initially did a thorough (and illegal) background check on Mikael for the Vanger family and who Mikael decides to bring into the investigation as his research assistant.

That's the gist of the story, and I was concerned with having watched the original, would I be as invested in this mystery. I was, wholeheartedly, but what takes this film beyond the previous is that it is not just about that mystery. The murder of Harriet Vanger is a big part for sure, but there is a lot more here, and I don't believe I can write further without writing spoilers so scroll down past this part.

**SPOILERS BEGIN
The fourth act, the events that take place after the car explosion and the last scene with Henrik, they really took the film into another level for me. It is an odd section, and part of my own screenwriting knowledge initially wanted to reject the last 15 minutes. The murder is solved, why bother showing us Lisbeth on this mini mission? I think it's brilliant. The movie is not simply a murder mystery. It's not just about finding a killer. The scene with Henrik and Harriet should not be the last scene of the movie. It's not about them, and it's honestly not even that much about Mikael Blomvkist. This movie is about a girl with a dragon tattoo named Lisbeth Salander.

Her life is what Fincher cares about more, and I don't know the man personally, but I imagine he relates to her as he has related to so many of the outsiders in his films. Rooney Mara has a different spin on the role than Noomi Rapace. Lisbeth is much more wounded here. I felt so much for this 24 year-old girl (and she is a girl not a woman) who lives a sad life of microwave noodles in her crappy apartment and the occasional casual sex with someone she meets at a lesbian bar. She has some great moments of force, particularly in her revenge on her new guardian, but look at all she does for Mikael during those last 15 minutes. The costume, the fake passport, flying to another country. It's not about a sense of duty. I don't think she's even bothered by what Wennerstrom's done. She has a friend. She trusts him, she likes him, both are extremely rare things for her, and look how much she will do for someone she considers a friend. This is a girl who wants to care about someone, but the world has said F you to her too many times. It has rejected and dismissed her so often. Then this man enters her life. He's honest and straightforward with her, he's intelligent, he earns her respect. He really is one in a million to her. She actually says, "I'm happy". Even writing this, I feel so deeply sad for Lisbeth. When she throws away that leather jacket, I think she's not going to try again with a person for a very long time. There's a small scene you might not care about when she asks Mikael what he's doing that night. Asking that question is a huge, enormous thing for her. For her it's like proposing. But now she's going to close up and will never again ask Mikael what his plans are, and there is tragedy to that. It's the first and only time in the movie when she cries and she's all alone. No one is there to even witness it. I would love to know Lisbeth Salander and be her friend.
**END OF SPOILERS

Daniel Craig turns out to be a fantastic choice as Mikael Blomkvist. I always thought the Swedish actor Michael Nyqvist was too old, and Craig is utterly believable as a professional journalist with this searing investigative intelligence. When he's just looking at photos on a Mac, we are engaged with him. He's working things out in his head, and I'm leaning forward in my seat anticipating what he might do next. It's a great, natural performance. Rooney Mara is quite spectacular in the movie. I write about her in the spoiler section above, but let me say that her performance is very different than Noomi Rapace (who was also great) Rooney's choices made a deeper emotional impact with me. Lisbeth is not just a badass ultra goth. She's still a prodigy when it comes to technology, but I think she's much more complex here, much more is going on inside, and this 26 year-old actress in her first lead role gives a performance of a lifetime. There's a look on her face late in the film after she witnesses a car accident that really blew me away. At that moment, I saw an actress who had completely embodied another person. Some credit should go to Fincher who probably worked her to death, but goodness she's powerful in this film.

Fincher himself shows his power. Lightning quick pacing, so much information, so many characters, so much for us to keep track of, and it's all there. Along with the always stunning Fincher visuals. A lot of credit should go to screenwriter Steven Zaillian as well for crafting a great script, with wonderful economy of dialogue. I always think it's his choices that make David Fincher special. The costume design, the production design, even the choice that Lisbeth eats Happy Meals. There are of course department heads, but the choices are directed by him. Also certain images continue to stay with me. A close-up of a leather jacket, the long drive up to the Vanger mansion, a point of view shot of Mikael and Erika Berger (Robin Wright). These images mean a lot to the characters. They are images they will remember maybe for the rest of their lives, and so he wants us to remember them too. Another beautifully shot film from cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club, The Social Network).

It's not gonna be for everyone. It's surprisingly not all that violent, but there is one horrifically brutal rape scene that most people are aware is coming, yet seeing it with your loved ones around Christmas may not be such a good choice.

Lastly, this is how I know a movie is really special to me. I don't want to talk about it with anyone. I'll write my review, but I don't want to hear anything remotely negative about it. It has its flaws, but I don't want anyone taking away the personal impact it had on me. You watch hundreds of movies to find this feeling and no one is going to spoil that. I think it's a decision Lisbeth would agree with.

From my Top 10 List:

1. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
The technical skill alone makes the movie worthy of being on this list. It's a masterfully told, hypnotically engaging genre film that any director would envy. But the choices made toward the end, they take it to another level. Those images are embedded in me. I cannot forget them. It's one of those films that no matter what I may write, it won't truly express how I feel about it. How I feel about Rooney Mara's performance as Lisbeth Salander and director David Fincher's presentation of her. There are extremely few times in my life when I've watched a movie and said, that's me. How he/she feels, I feel that way too. "That character is me". With Fight Club and now The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Fincher has done it twice. And I am very grateful to him.

The Dark Knight Rises Trailer

2011-12-19T12:30:00.000-08:00

Annie looks like she can handle herself. I had my issues with The Dark Knight, but I'm properly excited.

Contagion

2011-12-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

4 stars It saddens me, yet I so respect Soderbergh for saying he needs a break from directing. A brief sabbatical he says. Because what I see with Contagion is a director in total command. Contagion is about a virus that hits across the globe. It is transferred by touch and is spreading like a motherf----r. This thing is aggressive, and in Hong Kong, Minnesota, Chicago, and many other places, it's taking out a lot of people. And with this large cast, we see what this virus does at every level of life.

We see Laurence Fishburne and Kate Winslet in the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta as they discover it, hope to contain it, and they estimate its rate of growth. We see Matt Damon and his daughter couped up in their home as his wife played by Gwyneth Paltrow came home from HK and within a day she is dead and their son (his stepson) is dead. Marion Cotillard is part of the World Health Organization in Geneva and Jude Law is a blogger in San Francisco, ranting against the government and it's lack of progress with this virus, and some of what he's saying may be true.

It is a large canvas and technically this is a "disaster" film, but you've never seen an epidemic epic played so intimately. There are no action sequences. There are no soapy scenes of letting go of a loved one. Everything is played very real, very serious and calm, even as these intelligent professionals desperately try to stop this thing. The heroes aren't the guys with guns, the heroes are the scientists in labs trying to understand the virus and create a vaccine. It may not sound exciting, but it is. The movie builds and builds in this momentum of dread. A news report, then army trucks drive toward downtown Chicago, then a grocery store is empty and being looted, and later Damon steals a shotgun from a neighbor's home as suburban Minnesota is growing out of control. As the days tick off we are very aware that the number of deaths is multiplying and the longer it takes to find a cure, the more destruction there will be.

More than anything, the film is so incredibly edited. Soderbergh is one of the best technical directors out there, he's just not talked about in that way because he doesn't make movies about robots or cars going very fast. The pace of Contagion, the camera angles, the transitions, they're just immaculate. There's no fat in the movie. There are no scenes that could've gone. It doesn't seem like it, but the movie is rushing forward at a blazing high speed. Everything fits, every actor in this gigantic cast fits. It's a remarkable achievement. Standout actors include Fishburne, Damon, and Jennifer Ehle who was last seen as Geoffrey Rush's wife in The King's Speech.

Second thing that is stunning is how much this scared me as I watched it. I went to the bathroom midway and not only did I wash my hands thoroughly, but I used a generous amount of hand sanitizer. And I'm just alone in my own home. It's a scary movie about germs and contamination and the idea of something biological killing us is very 21st century. The 80s have nuclear warheads, we now get SARS, H1N1, and Avian Influenza. A virus has no judgment. It just wants to grow and live and doesn't care about who it's destroying in the process. That's a great movie villain.

After The Informant! and The Girlfriend Experience, Contagion is the third great Steven Soderbergh film in a row. He's on a hot streak, and has somehow made a hyper intelligent thriller about science. It's science and story that feel totally authentic. It also has more Oscar nominated actors than any film in most any year. Contagion makes Outbreak look like a comedy.

A Dangerous Method

2011-12-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

3 ½ stars I love David Cronenberg in this later period of his career. He established himself with films like Scanners and The Fly, but now with these last three dramas (that include A History of Violence and Eastern Promises), I think he's entered the elite. A craftsman filmmaker, he is so control of what he is doing.

A Dangerous Method follows psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) as he establishes his particular method of psychotherapy in Zurich in the early 1900s. He has a patient Sabina (Keira Knightley) a Russian woman struggling with deep seeded trauma from her abusive relationship with her father. At the same time Jung starts a correspondence with Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) as they try to move their theories forward as a more prestigious method of care. Jung is quite successful in helping Sabina, but in that they have begun to be attracted to one another.

I wouldn't call this a biopic. It's not about the life of Carl Jung. It's a fictionalization of a particular time in his life and his relationship with Freud. I'm not sure if any of it is accurate, but what is interesting is going back and hypothesizing about what may have happened between these two men. Part of your enjoyment of the film will be affected by how much you believe in psychotherapy. I do, and the arguments that happen between the two men are stimulating. Should the therapist simply diagnose or does he have a role in helping that person become a new person. Where does instinct end? How much should be repressed? There's even a notion that sex is the destruction of one's own ego as you are giving yourself to another person. This was 100 years ago and these must have been such radical ideas. Freud is older, a father figure to Jung, and is maybe growing closed-minded in his age. Jung is not as confident, unsure of what is exactly the answer, but he stays in the struggle to find it.

But for all the analytical talk about analysis, the movie is most potent during scenes between Fassbender and Keira Knightley. I've said it before, but she is simply one of the best actresses we have. She's not in the gossip mags, we don't know who she's dating, so maybe people find her less intriguing. But movie after movie she gives wonderful performances. She's rather fearless. Not only is the emotional territory very difficult here, but there are also the technical things she's doing with her body and her voice. Her character changes so much through the course of the film, and she never misses a beat. A stunning performance.

Jung is married and their affair doesn't come without complications. The choices they make cannot help but be analyzed by themselves and make them question themselves. Jung says at one point, "Sometimes you have to do something unforgivable just to be able to go on living". There are a lot of possibilities of what his unforgivable act was, and the power of that ambiguity is very dramatic. Life is not as simple as we'd like it to be, even for those whose very profession is to examine life.

The movie has some problems though. I think Jung's relationship with Sabina and its consequences are more interesting than his relationship with Freud. Their professional drift doesn't have the emotional impact and it does take up much of the film. I wasn't that impressed with Viggo as much here (he replaced Christoph Waltz). All I think of when I think of Freud from this film is thick cigars. Fassbender is solid in the fourth film I've seen him in this year (after X-Men, Fish Tank, Jane Eyre). What I will remember though is Sabina in that carriage as she is being driven away toward the end. The look on Knightley's face, and the subsequent epilogue about what happened to her character is terribly moving.

Again, all of this may be uninteresting to you. A drama about the birth of modern psychiatry? Certainly not to everyone's liking. A drama about adults, for adults. However, when a director like Cronenberg makes a film, it's really something to see.

The Ides of March

2011-12-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

2 stars "The Ides of March" is a reference to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. It's a foreboding statement of his eventual assassination, but what a terrible title for a movie.

Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is the junior campaign manager for Governor Mike Morris (Clooney) who is running for President. Above Stephen is Paul Zara (PS Hoffman) and there is an intern named Molly (Evan Rachel Wood) who begins a sexual relationship with Stephen and becomes entangled in this story. Gov. Morris is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination against Senator Ted Pullman but the race is close. The one who wins Ohio, wins the nomination.

The Ides of March is Clooney's inside look at political campaigns, but it sadly doesn't feel that inside. We've seen this material before, and the best version I've seen it in is in the great documentary The War Room. Also it was better done during seasons 3-4 of The West Wing and Primary Colors with John Travolta. Of course there are spin doctors and handshake deals and media offensives and moral compromises but it's all very familiar. What the movie hopes will grab us is a storyline involving sexual dirt on Gov. Mills and how that affects Gosling's character and the campaign as a whole. It fails to hold interest. Real life political scandals are much more interesting than what goes on in this plot.

The movie can be two things then. A thriller involving a campaign manager who knows a secret about his candidate. Will he maintain his idealism? Will he let the secret out? Or, it can be a tragedy about what political campaigns do to the players in it and who these players have to become to win. It's half of each and it's not enough. The emotional journey Gosling goes on and the moral choices he has to make are not dramatic. And the sensational stuff isn't played for any thrills. It's a half movie. Also one big problem, I wasn't even for Gov. Mike Mills. I didn't care if he won. He's a background player in this film who occasionally makes speeches. We see him ever so briefly behind the cameras and even then we barely know him.

Clooney is a good director (Good Night and Good Luck) but I have to say I've disliked the majority of the films he's directed - Leatherheads, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and now this. The very strong cast of actors elevate the material but it's ultimately forgettable stuff. Check out the much better political thriller State of Play with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck.

Weekly Recap 12/16/11

2011-12-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Warrior (review), Let Me In, The Road, more Star Trek
The Bad: Drive, The Muppet Movie (1979), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: Glory, Eastern Promises, The Firm, Public Enemies

Trips to the Theater: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Actors of the Week: Chloe Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Owen Wilson
Director of the Week: Wes Anderson

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
The Adventures of Tintin. That last shot gets me excited.

The Dictator.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

2011-12-12T00:30:00.000-08:00

2 stars Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is an absolute throwback. A meticulously made old fashioned spy thriller that is ultimately too old fashioned for me. This is a sad disappointment since you won't find a more prestigious cast of actors in one film this year.

Gary Oldman is George Smiley, part of the old guard in British Intelligence who has been given the assignment to find a mole who is apparently at the top of MI6, which they call "The Circus". There are a lot of those great little code words and spy innuendo. However the fact of the matter is, The Cold War is over. The threat of Soviet Red has no weight anymore. And whatever the mole may be doing in this film, there doesn't seem to be any significant damage or consequence. Nothing seems currently at stake in this game of espionage. There's simply a bad egg and they have to find it. But we the audience need more urgency. We need more at stake to get us invested in this investigation. Sadly there really isn't anything at risk, it's just a mole hunt. This also excludes the film from having any strong thematic material. It has nothing really to say about the older generation vs. the new. It has nothing really to say in depth about what it means to be a spy. It has nothing to say about patriotism and oaths to one's country. This could've been an interesting character study of Oldman's character, but he's so silent in the film. One wonders why Smiley is even bothering to do this.

Most of the characters sit and glare. They smoke and wear thick wool three piece suits and seem more like corporate board members than people dealing with the fate of their country. I'm sad to say none of the actors have much to do, other than Tom Hardy who creates a lively performance with his more modern field agent. I did want to know who the mole was, but when I found out, I realized that it could've been any of them and I don't know if it would've made any emotional difference.

This remake of the 1979 British mini-series starring Alec Guiness (based on the novel by John le Carre) was directed by Swedish director Tomas Alfredson who directed Let the Right One In. It's underwhelming. It's too restrained, too much is held back, and we are robbed of possibilities of suspense. There should be tension but there isn't. I remember a scene with Oldman and Benedict Cumberbatch sit in a car and talk about information. I think it is indicative of the style of the film. People are sitting, information is coming at us, but none of it really matters. I had the same feeling after seeing The Good Shepherd with Matt Damon. These are supposed to be spy thrillers, but they aren't thrilling. They don't deliver the goods.

Also sad because the trailer is so good.

The Max Fischer Players

2011-12-11T17:00:00.000-08:00

Serpico. Max must've loved Heat.

Heaven and Hell. "Best play ever, man." -Mr. LittleJeans

The 1999 MTV Movie Awards. The Truman Show, Armageddon, Out of Sight.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou

2011-12-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

3 ½ stars I think time has shown The Life Aquatic to be a very good film. Wes Anderson had come off Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums, both beloved, and people were suddenly dubious when they heard he had spent so much money (around $55 million) on a comedy about an oceanographer. This always happens to independent directors. If people feel they are going Hollywood, they start to turn. What they missed in their bias is a hilarious film that once again creates a complete Wes Anderson world of its own. If it wasn't for his previous work, they would have championed this as daring and bold, simply based on its visual design.

Bill Murray is Steve Zissou, an oceanographer and a documentary filmmaker whose last film fell flat with critics and audiences. It involved the death of his best friend Esteban who Steve claims was eaten alive by a Jaguar shark. People don't believe him. They think he's old, that his best films are behind him, and that he's pretty much washed up. After the screening, at the after party, Steve meets Ned Plimpton (Owen Wilson) who believes Steve is his father. Steve is not that surprised, but he's definitely affected by this news, and he invites Ned to join Team Zissou on their next expedition. Steve hopes to find the Jaguar shark that killed his best friend and kill it.

This plot synopsis, if tweaked, could fit an action movie about fathers and sons and hunting sharks. It is not that. It is mostly about Team Zissou, an eccentric group of crewmen who all wear red caps and baby blue matching uniforms and are required to carry around Glocks. We see where they live, which is on Steve's private island. We see them train and hang out. But mostly we see them working as a team on Steve's boat The Belafonte. Frankly all of these descriptions are pretty meaningless. You have to see these things. You have to see the production and costume design. You have to see the short moments of their camera team checking colors in one room while someone else records ADR in another. The boat is a film studio and as much as the movie is about life at sea, it is so much about making movies. Klaus (a hilarious Willem Dafoe) complains that Ned doesn't even know how to use a boom, and in the same conversation Steve makes it clear that no one stops filming until he says cut. In the business, you are as good as your last film, and Steve is desperately trying to make a hit.

The rest of the cast is wonderful starting with Owen Wilson as a pilot and a Southern gentleman from Kentucky who is trying to connect with his father. He's so sweet and earnest in the movie. I loved Ned Plimpton and was saddened when Steve changed his name to Kingsley Zissou as he would've named him that if he had a say in it. Cate Blanchett is warm and sharp as Jane Winslett-Richardson, a reporter doing a story on Zissou that may not be the most flattering. Most of the crew are unknowns and you have to know films to be aware of a great actor like Noah Taylor. They also have a script girl who very casually is topless for most of the film.

One person everyone remembers is Seu Jorge, a Brazilian musician who starred in City of God. They remember him because so much of the score is comprised of his Portuguese acoustic covers of David Bowie songs. They are fantastic, my favorite being his version of Ziggy Stardust. Apparently Jorge has a huge career now, touring with his own music and these Bowie songs. Murray though is king as a director with a big ego who is aware that the last decade hasn't been too great. Bill Murray is a comic genius and I don't use the word genius very often. No one says lines like he does. No one has that ridiculous pitch perfect timing. It's a great performance.

And it's a funny, funny film. Favorite moments include two action sequences. One where Filipino pirates take over The Belafonte, only to be thwarted when Steve takes one of their weapons and starts firing away to Iggy Pop's Search and Destroy. "Those f---ing amateurs. You forgot your dog you idiots!" The other is the big sequence on Ping Island where they go rescue their bond company stooge. At some point Steve gets covered in swamp leeches but no one else has. "Nobody else got hit, I'm the only one, what's the deal?" Also any moment with German Klaus complaining about feeling left out really makes me laugh. "Thanks a lot for not picking me."

The Royal Tenenbaums is still my favorite (it was in my Top 10 of the last decade), probably followed by Fantastic Mr. Fox, but this one is pretty great too. And it's surprisingly heartfelt. I had a Wes Anderson week as I also watched Tenenbaums and Rushmore again (which you should too). I want to be in the Zissou society. Hopefully someone will send me a red cap and a Speedo.

*This was one of the first movies I saw when I moved to LA. Henry Winkler (The Fonz) was in the crowd, as well as Adam Brody and Rachel Bilson when they were dating.

Weekly Recap 12/9/11

2011-12-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Star Trek Deep Space Nine
The Bad: None
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: Rushmore: Criterion Collection, The 40 Year-Old Virgin

Trips to the Theater: Moneyball, The Muppets (2nd time)

Actors of the Week: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Jason Schwartzman
Director of the Week: Bennett Miller

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
The Secret Life of Arrietty. Studio Ghibli!

The Five-Year Engagement Trailer

2011-12-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

I loved director Nick Stoller's first two films, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Get Him to the Greek.
This is a great trailer and not just because I love Emily Blunt. Looking forward to this one in April.

Moneyball

2011-12-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

4 stars After seeing Drive in mid-September, I had a movie theater drought of over 2 months. I didn't go see anything, it was all just at home. Now in the last 3 weeks, I've been to the theater 5 times, and I've been seeing a lot of good movies.

Moneyball is one of the best of the year. A wholly engrossing drama, directed with a high level of intelligence by Bennett Miller. With this and his first film Capote, he's now a major player.

Moneyball is about Oakland A's General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) who after losing to the Yankee's in the 2001 postseason wants a major change. The Yankee's player salaries total over $100 million and the A's have around $35 million. How do you compete with that? He's surrounded by old scouts who use the same age old methods to pick players and he wants to change. During a trip to Cleveland, Billy meets 25 year-old Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a Yale graduate with a degree in economics who has a radical idea.

The trailer gives the idea away a little but what counts is that the idea is a smack to the face to old fashioned baseball. It takes away the value of intuition and gut feelings and replaces it with a lot of numbers. In a game that may have the most die hard tradition, this approach may as well be from Mars to the old timers. But that's what hooked me in. Billy is an individual, it's him alone mostly, and he tries to change all of it. He doesn't do it out of spite or ill will, he just knows that there is a better way to do this. And your enjoyment of the film may depend on how much you believe that too. I really believe that as a life philosophy. Challenging the old guard, seeing if there is something different and better. Not just different, but better.

I was scared this was going to be a sentimental journey of a divorced father risking his security and his daughter and there would be big scenes of desperation and then later cheering. It avoids all of that. All of the cliches are stripped away. It's a movie about thinking differently. Brad Pitt is fantastic as Billy Beane, who remains a private guy throughout the entire film. I wondered why he would be so gung ho about this role (even after original director Steven Soderbergh dropped out), but I can see why. Billy is a different guy, and Pitt has a great history of playing different guys. Tyler Durden, Mickey the Pikey, Jesse James. Billy doesn't have huge flaws that need to be solved. He has a healthy relationship with his daughter and his ex-wife, he isn't grossly in debt or in some sort of desperate life struggle, he's just put his mind to doing this new thing. He wants it to work, and man is that something that gets you emotionally invested. I wanted it to work too. So very badly. One thing I really loved, Billy doesn't watch the games. He drives around occasionally turning on his radio for the play by play. I completely get that. It's too freaking stressful to be there all the time, especially when by then it's out of your hands.

Jonah Hill is a standout in this movie. Peter Brand is a young kid compared to all of these guys but he isn't geeky comic relief. He's a smart guy who is learning to work in a world of adults and mercifully he isn't given one awkward or embarrassing scene. What a relief. Jonah Hill is so good in the film, worthy of a best supporting Oscar nod. He plays so well with Pitt. They have great chemistry, and one scene in particular on a back and forth conference call brings a huge satisfying laugh with its final moment. 6 years ago Jonah Hill did his first movie, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, and look at him now. It was so smart to cast someone who himself is a smart guy making non-traditional choices.

The whole movie is non-traditional. It's a sports movie where the players and coaches are in the background. It's a sports movie about economics and upper management. The wins aren't about the glory of the team, it's not even about the fans, it's about Billy and Peter proving something right. Sure the screenwriters Steven Zailian and Aaron Sorkin stack the deck sometimes. Brad Pitt is the star so the emphasis is a lot on the GM and I'm sure the manager Art Howe (played by PS Hoffman) will be unhappy with how powerless he seems in the movie. The old scouts do look very old and I honestly couldn't remember the last time I saw a hearing aid in a movie. The movie wants us on Billy's side and it gets us there. There are also wonderful visual touches, and I don't remember a baseball film ever being shot like this one. It's all very subjective, with strong use of shadow and lighting and unusual camera angles. It's pretty exhilarating. And yet, despite all of the fantastic intellectual stimulation, the movie does build a strong amount of emotion. How did they do that? Being moved by the implementation of a new scouting strategy? Now that's an accomplishment.

It's probably too late to catch Moneyball in the theater but it comes out on Blu-ray and DVD on January 10th. It is one of the best movies of the year. I love smart films, they come out so rarely, and this is one of them.

Dec 2011 Reviews 1 (The Debt, Mission: Impossible)

2011-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

The Debt 3 stars The Debt is actually a remake of a 2007 Israeli film of the same name which was widely praised and very popular. John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) directs this remake starring two sets of casts. The older cast includes Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, and Ciarin Hinds as ex-Mossad (Israeli intelligence) operatives who were part of a mission 30 years ago to find and capture a Nazi war criminal named Vogel. The film begins with them, and then the middle third involves the younger cast. Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life), Sam Worthington and Marton Csokas. We see the younger group on their mission in East Berlin as they hunt "The Surgeon of Birkeneau."

I'm sure there are other movies involving Mossad agents tracking down old Nazis, but I can't think of any. This is extremely interesting territory to set a movie in. The good thing about the Nazis in movies is that they are so certainly evil. They can be out and out bad men and anything done toward them seems perfectly fine because of the sins they've committed. And the idea of hunting them years later in foreign countries is very appealing. However as strong as the first half of the movie is, the second doesn't maintain. There is a secret among the team, that the older characters have kept for 30 years, and that is intriguing. But sadly the younger cast and their story isn't as compelling. Sam Worthington is dull and uninteresting as a brooding, nearly silent agent. Marton Csokas continues to be an actor I find underwhelming. The only standout is Jessica Chastain. The idea of a Jewish woman in the 1950s being put into the field as a secret agent is rife with inherent drama, and she plays her scenes well. All in all though, the past isn't as interesting as the present.

The story then comes back 1997 and takes a bold turn that ultimately can't hold water. I won't give it away, but it stretches credibility, and the thematic lesson that the movie is professing loses its power because of this. It gets drowned out in scenes of action and suspense. I wanted to dispose of the action and get to the drama. I felt the movie should've ended with characters making choices rather than characters trying to kill and survive. It's a mixed movie, but enough for me to give it a positive review despite its flaws.

Mission: Impossible 3 ½ stars In light of number 4 coming out this Christmas, I thought I would review the first three. The first Mission: Impossible is still the best Mission: Impossible. Brian De Palma directed the hell out of the movie, and it continues to be so stylish and iconic. First of all, the movie is about a team, not just about Ethan Hunt. The opening scene has them working together in sync, and the team happens to be filled with very good actors like Kristin Scott Thomas, Emilio Estevez, and Jon Voight. These aren't young 20 year-olds, they are experienced professionals which one would imagine a high level covert operation would prefer. Later more good actors like Ving Rhames and the great Jean Reno show up. It also has French actress Emmanuelle Beart who is gorgeous and very good in the movie. It's one of her few American films. I love how the team works together. I like how the screenplay refers to the cloak and dagger aspect of their jobs like disappearing into different countries with numerous aliases. They're spies in this one, not action figures.

More than anything, the movie is beautifully shot. No hand held, no finding it in the editing room, these sequences are meticulously designed by De Palma. Each shot connects to the next, and the high level of suspense created in so many sequences doesn't just happen magically. They are crafted and executed with precision. The sequence on the bridge with the team going after the disk, the magnificent scene in the aquarium restaurant which ends with the tanks blowing, and of course the one everyone remembers with Cruise hanging upside down on a cable in a CIA vault. The restaurant water sequence may be the most visually stimulating. Look at the angles, the compositions, the building to high speed slow motion. You just realize how boring movie conversations are usually shot. As for the vault scene, I remember how insanely quiet it was in the theater. This is a big summer tent pole and its major set piece involves minutes of near silence. It's an amazing scene, inspired by an old French heist film called Rififi.

The plot may be a bit muddled, but that's the great thing about subsequent viewings. You can just enjoy the good stuff and skip through the bad. I hope you watch this one again. I think it's one of Cruise's best films, although it sadly began his career shift into action movies. His three previous films before this one were A Few Good Men, Interview with the Vampire, and The Firm.

Still a great trailer. Up the resolution to 720p.

M:I 2 3 stars A totally different film than the first, but somehow connected in the series because it's so director driven. De Palma is an auteur and John Woo is as well. Their signatures are so immediately apparent. There's not much to say about a plot involving a chemical virus or a ho hum relationship with the beautiful Thandie Newton, but the action sequences are so creative. Forget reality, look at the choreography, particularly in the last 30 minutes. The gunfight on motorcycles, the knife in the eye, the mano a mano on the beach. The movie seems to be made so that John Woo could show his stuff. Even his directing during the opening rock climbing scene is so specific. One thing I realized though, Ethan Hunt is a pretty bland guy. He doesn't seem to have any issues or much depth. He's the epitome of the classic Tom Cruise character. He's driven, set on a goal, and determined to win.

Mission: Impossible III 2 stars Watching it again, it's not very good. JJ Abrams' first feature film and it was just Cruise's attempt at a safe comeback after he jumped the couch. A lot of choices aren't good. No one wants to see James Bond get married, why would we want to see this top covert agent settle down in the suburbs? His relationship with Michelle Monaghan is a snore anyway. Why is he suddenly so disdainful of his job? Cruise shows his age in the film, particularly next to Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, yet Ethan Hunt hasn't matured. He's not any more interesting.

The action is wall to wall and some of it is good, and some of it is confusing. There is a lack of a pre-production plan here and sometimes you get lost in the chaos. There is way too many big close-ups and shaky hand held. Also the story is a who cares about something called the Rabbit's Foot and Philip Seymour Hoffman being given very little to do as the movie's villain. He's good in the movie, but the character is way underwritten. All of the characters are underwritten. Is anything distinctive about Maggie Q's character? I don't even remember her name. Simon Pegg, Laurence Fishburne, Billy Crudup. These are good actors who seem to be forced to act in a lame story with big fireworks. It's the most expensive of the movies and the least memorable. The best thing about it is the trailer. Btw, I probably will see Ghost Protocol because it has Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) and is directed by Pixar director Brad Bird whose previous films were The Incredibles and Ratatouille. The choice of him is so bizarre that I hope something different comes out of it. Those posters though, with Cruise in a hoodie, who approved that?

Weekly Recap 12/2/11

2011-12-02T00:00:00.000-08:00

Watched this Week
The Good: The Debt, I'm Not There, The Aviator, Star Trek II IV VI Generations First Contact and a lot of the Next Generation series
The Bad: None
The Ugly: None
Didn't Get Past 20 Minutes: None
Blu-Rays Bought: The Hangover, Brokeback Mountain, Crimson Tide, The Bourne Supremacy, Mission:Impossible I-II

Trips to the Theater: Hugo, The Muppets

Actors of the Week: Patrick Stewart, Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett
Director of the Week: James Bobin

Trailers/Clips of the Week:
"Life's a Happy Song" performed by Bret McKenzie and Kermit

The actual video Jason Segel sent to Amy Adams, asking her to be in the movie.

The Muppets

2011-11-30T01:15:00.000-08:00

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!

Hugo

2011-11-28T00:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Nov 2011 Reviews 2 (Cowboys & Aliens, The Future)

2011-11-25T00:01:00.000-08:00

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.

Capote 4 stars 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 4 stars A 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.

Weekly Recap 11/25/11

2011-11-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

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.

The Descendants

2011-11-22T21:00:00.000-08:00

3 stars Alexander 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.

Woody Allen Cello

2011-11-22T02:00:00.000-08:00

Why does this clip make me laugh so hard?

The Hangover Parts I & II

2011-11-20T20:00:00.000-08:00

The Hangover Part II 3 stars It 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.

The Help

2011-11-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

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.

Weekly Recap 11/18/11

2011-11-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

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.

2009: A Great Year for Movies

2011-11-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

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

I was kidding!

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Scarface (1983)

2011-11-13T23:00:00.000-08:00

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."

Up in the Air (Re-post)

2011-11-12T12:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Weekly Recap 11/11/11

2011-11-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Nov 2011 Reviews 1 (Tabloid, The Terminal)

2011-11-09T00:00:00.000-08:00

Tabloid 3 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 Terminal 4 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.

Less Reviews in 2011

2011-11-07T13:30:00.000-08:00

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!

Avoided...