The Director Is In

The Move

2011-05-13T23:59:00.001-07:00

Hey folks. The Tumblr move is happening. I will be resuming this blog at directorisin.tumblr.com. With luck, posting will resume this weekend.

I hope to see you there!!!

Blade Runner

2011-05-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

There have been so many versions of Blade Runner throughout the years, that it’s hard to accept that the Final Cut is the final cut. I’ve seen so many of them it’s also hard to keep them straight in my head. What I can and will say about the Final Cut is that like all of the other cuts, it points out that Blade Runner is simply one of the best crafted films ever made.

That and I really want to steal Ridley Scott’s lighting to use in one of my own films. I was struck this viewing with how stunningly beautiful Blade Runner visually is. It’s no wonder this film has been an inspiration for so many filmmakers.

FYI

2011-05-05T11:52:00.001-07:00

This blog may be moved to Tumblr. Posting keeps failng for me here. I will announce if this happens.

Thanks!

Scream 4

2011-04-18T17:32:00.000-07:00

Perhaps I should open this with a disclaimer; most people are shocked when I say this, but the Scream franchise is my favorite horror franchise and I’ve seen every one of the films in the series – I count Scream itself as a film that has one of the biggest influences on my path as an artist. So, when I tell you that I greatly enjoyed Scream 4 you’ll understand that while I’m slightly biased to like the film, I come from a background that actually understands and loves what Craven & Williamson have done to the genre with the franchise.

There has been what I think is an unjust amount of critic hate for Scream 4; frankly, when your original film is incredibly strong, even ground-breaking for the genre any film that follows it is going to be harshly judged and people will be looking for chinks in the armor with each passing film – so by the time you get to number 4 many people are going to be going into the theatre expecting to be disappointed. I was not disappointed.

While I think Scream 4 suffers some from having the inevitable weight of 3 previous films on its shoulders, it plays very well at its new concept and keeps it scary; in a day of horror reboots and remakes, the Ghost Face killer has decided to create a real life reboot and the cast of victims even resemble the victims of Billy & Stew’s original killings. This is a new generation that Sydney, Dewey & Gale must combat – one that has turned the horror story of their life into a parody, spends 24/7 updating each other on their lives and blames Sydney for turning their town into a living horror story. To them the original Woodsboro murders are a joke until the masked killer begins to come after them.

Craven and Williamson play beautifully with the horror clichés that have e3xisted for years as well as the ones they changed in the original Scream making Scream 4 one of the most reflexive films I’ve ever seen. I do have to say that my personal favorite moment in the film would probably be the conversation two of the characters have in the opening film about how horror films now aren’t scary, just gory – something Craven has refused to do in this film. He’s made a film that has jumps, screams and mystery – it’s actually scary.

If you haven’t jumped on the Scream wagon with the original films, I doubt you’re going to with Scream 4; but if you’re a fan of the originals, or want to be, Scream 4 is a fun ride.

Pi

2011-04-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

There is a kind of beauty in a film that isn’t meant to be fully understood by the audience. A truly talented director can take a film, knowing it will be more than the audience can handle and make it entertaining regardless. Pi is such a film.

Perhaps, Pi eludes me somewhat as I fail at anything mathematic, but it was nonetheless arresting. What draws me in to Pi is what draws me into every Aronofsky film – he’s making a film without concern that the viewer may not understand, he simply wants us to be drawn in and to experience.

Every Aronofsky film is unique and worth whatever effort you have to put in to finding it.

Battle: Los Angeles

2011-03-16T12:15:00.000-07:00

I agree with the reviews of this movie only in saying it almost doesn't feel like science-fiction. This is a war movie that simply happens to have the enemy be aliens. Yet this film is dang entertaining. In fact, the only think that could make it better would be if Hicks was in it. I left the theatre feeling the need to watch Aliens and wondering if this is how we got Colonial Marines.

The Third Man

2011-03-15T12:13:00.000-07:00

Film noir at its best. Orson Welles in a role he was meant to play.

Primer

2011-03-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

I know I said I wasn't going to be reviewing for awhile, but I saw a few awesome movies this weekend that I just had to share. The first of these films is Primer.

I don't even know what to fully say about this film yet, partly because I think it will take several viewings for my to fully absorb it, but WHOA. This is a FANTASTIC film. See it. Love it. See it again.

Hiatus

2011-02-26T14:39:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to pop in a moment and let you all know that I need to take a brief hiatus from my movie reviews here. I love reviewing what I watch, and it's been a great two+ years doing it, but right now I'm working on a screenplay, holding a desk job, and basically working really hard.

So for the time being I have to take a break here. Until then you can also catch me at The Director's Narrative blogging about random film related things.

I will be back!

The Lookout

2011-02-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

There are some obvious things that Memento & The Lookout share: a main character who can’t retain new memories, a sense of guilt that plagues him about a woman, and a desire to retain his old life. However, these films are actually wholly different, and entertaining in their own rights. Even though The Lookout had Memento to look back on, it’s obvious that Scott Frank didn’t intend to crib anything Christopher Nolan had already done, he intended to tell his own story, his own way.

Gilda

2011-02-03T16:02:00.001-08:00

Gilda
Originally uploaded by Plumas de Caballo

Johnny is a con man new to Argentina when his luck changes and he talks his way into a job for Ballin, a crime boss who runs an illegal casino. Over the years Johnny rises to prominence and helps Ballin both alike in their philosophy that gambling comes first and women don’t mix with it. When Johnny is left in charge of the casino he thinks he’s finally made his way into the top run he should be, unitl Ballin returns home later with something Johnny never predicted - a new wife, Gilda. Not only does this throw Johnny into a strange terriroty with his relationship with Ballin, but Gilda & Johnny must hide from the ever jealous Ballin that they once knew each other and were in love.

Gilda is one of the most biting love triangles I may have ever seen on film, mostly because the emotions involved don’t seem to be love. Gilda & Johnny hate each other because of their past love, and betrayals; Ballin treats gilda as an object to be desired and lord jealously over others; Gilda seeks to push herself into the arms of any man that shows her attention; and on top of all this Johnny & Ballin jealously continue to test their relationship by using Gilda as their leverage. It’s a heck of a thing.

This is one of the characters that defines the way we look at Rita Hayworth and now that I’ve seen the film I can see why. Gilda is a bundle of contradictions – she is one of the single best film noir women that I’ve seen, and I’ve seen a lot of noir. Hayworth is stunning, provocative, feminine and weak or strong when she needs to be, the perfect vixen with a soul.

The only downside I see in Gilda is perhaps how neatly it ends. For a story that has so much, greed, jealously, and double-crossing the resolution seems to come about in a manner too simple for how complex the rest of the story has been. Due to the era in which Gilda was released I don’t know how much of that was the filmmaking team making decisions versus the censorship of the day taking over and mandating what kind of stories and events the audiences could handle. I would be quite interested to see if perhaps there had been another, or at least more extended ending written for this film.

Director: Charles Vidor

Obregon: You two kids love each other pretty terribly, don't you?
Johnny Farrell: I hate her!
Obregon: That's what I mean. It's the most curious love-hate pattern I've ever had the privilege of witnessing.

Eclipse

2011-01-27T12:21:00.001-08:00

Eclipse Movie The Twilight Saga
Originally uploaded by Jessalyn118

It’s been no secret that I disliked the other Twilight films, so you might ask why I decided to Netflix Eclipse. I have a two word answer for you: David Slade. That’s right, somehow the Twilight franchise stumbled upon a director who has genuine style and the ability to create character and tension. I am still in shock that the director of Hard Candy was attracted to this franchise.

That being said, I still didn’t like Eclipse. It’s much better in terms of visuals, and acting but…the lead characters are still weak and aimless – the plot is lacking. Bella’s decisions, and the drama of this supernatural world just seem petty in comparison to the worlds of True Blood, Supernatural, or even Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Unless you’re a Twi-hard, I recommend staying away from this film.

Director: David Slade

The King's Speech

2011-01-26T16:06:00.001-08:00

The King's Speech
Originally uploaded by Naír la jefa

I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about British history. I guess I have a good excuse for it as I’m a citizen of a country that revolted from British control and won. However, because of my father’s obsession with WWII I have a more than healthy knowledge of the war and rather enjoy movies about it.

Set as England was on the verge of entering the second world war, The King’s Speech follows the man that will eventually become King George VI as his brother is made king, knowing that his brother may be forced off the throne and he would be the next in line. Known as Bertie to his family, the prince has no interest in becoming king, but also knows that he may not have a way to avoid it and since the “wireless” has changed how the monarchy must interact with the people Bertie is forced into constant speech therapy to attempt to lose his stammer. However, as he walks out on lesson after lesson, Bertie finally ends up with an unconventional speech therapist in Lionel Logue.

I did not expect to love this movie, but I did. From the direction and cinematography to the two leads I found it absolutely flawless. Geoffrey Rush & Colin Firth are perfect and I am glad that Firth is finally getting some acting love after his work the past few years. I also quite enjoyed how the camera angles and shots would get tighter and more exaggerated as Bertie’s tension level would raise – its’ a bit stylized but truly adds to the feel of the film and Bertie’s emotional state.

This film just won the PGA award, and while I’m not sure that will garner it Best Picture at the Oscars this year, I do think it speaks very well of the diversity of films released this year. I’ve never seen another WWII film take quite the angle that The King’s Speech Does, and the only other film I can think of that takes a raw look inside the monarchy is The Queen - it could be my love of Firth or WWII history, but I rather think that The King’s Speech will remain much more relevant to audiences than The Queen.

Director: Tom Hooper

Elizabeth: My husband's work involves a great deal of public speaking.
Lionel: Then he should change jobs.
Elizabeth: He can't.
Lionel: What is he, an indentured servant?
Elizabeth: Something like that

The Kids Are All Right

2011-01-26T12:12:00.001-08:00

vlcsnap-6743467
Originally uploaded by no i'm not, i'm very married

Nic & Jules are a same sex couple whose teenage children Joni and Laser throw a wrench in the family dynamic by deciding to contact the sperm downer who is their biological father, Paul. What no one expects is how attached the children become to Paul, or how opposite the reactions of Nic & Jules will be. Jules bonds with Paul while Nic sees him as a danger to the family. What should be a calm and wonderful transition before Joni leaves for college turns into a tumultuous summer as teenage rebellion and marital problems rise to the surface.

If all melodrama were as interesting and well made as The Kids Are All Right I don’t think I’d have the involuntary habit of rolling my eyes when the term melodrama is used. This film is a drama, one that at first glance may seem that the entire gimmick or buzz around the film lies in the fact that it is about a same sex family; however, in the long run The Kids Are All Right doesn’t rely on the fact that Laser & Joni refer to their parents as “Moms” or anything having to do with the sex of their parents, it has to do with a family that has to embrace difficulty, evolution of their family unit and ultimately change they can’t avoid. These are the things we encounter in every day existence with our families, just more beautifully told by Lisa Cholodenko.

While all of the performances in Kids shine, Annette Benning stands out as she always does. Nic is closed off, distracted and afraid of losing her family and Benning plays her as if it were completely natural and unforced. She is a master at what she does. The entire cast is phenomenal as well, folding together in a genuine feeling, contemporary family unit.

I’ve never seen any of Choldenko’s previous work, but I have to say after Kids I am interested in seeing more. This film was handled with such a delicate touch that it makes the lives of Nic & Jules seem so real that it feels like we’re voyeurs looking in on their life. I do think this film deserved the Oscar nominations it received.

Director: Lisa Choldenko

Jules: ...marriage is hard... Just two people slogging through the shit, year after year, getting older, changing. It's a fucking marathon, okay? So, sometimes, you know, you're together for so long, that you just... You stop seeing the other person. You just see weird projections of your own junk. Instead of talking to each other, you go off the rails and act grubby and make stupid choices...

Exit Through the Gift Shop

2011-01-25T14:25:00.001-08:00

Paranoid Pictures
Originally uploaded by Peter Gasston

Exit Through The Gift Shop has been described as a street art disaster movie, something I didn’t understand until I watched it. I was under the common misconception that Exit was about Banksy. Now that I’ve seen the film I completely agree with calling it a disaster film.

More than just being a cut and dry documentary, Exit is at first a tale of a man (Thierry) who finds and falls in love with street art and falls so hard for it he decides to do a documentary on it. However, Thierry’s documentary is so incoherent that his friend Banksy convinces him to drop the camera and attempt making street art himself – something all of the street artists later regret as he becomes Mr. Brainwash – in essence a street art sell-out.

What I question about Exit Through the Gift Shop, and not in a way that should imply I didn’t love this movie, is how much of the end is real or if it was staged. The entire theme of the film is about how the pure form of street art was corrupted and commercialized over time, and Mr. Brainwash fits that so perfectly it makes me wonder if he was either invented or exaggerated for the sake of the film. Granted, my entire education in street art comes from this film and a Banksy blog so I have no authority when questioning this, but it seems to be so perfect that it makes the writer in me wonder.

Whether Mr. Brainwash is fact or fiction, I know one thing – this film deserved it’s Oscar nomination.

Banksy: Uhmmm... You know... it was at that point that I realized that maybe Thierry wasn't actually a film maker, and he was maybe just someone with mental problems who happened to have a camera.

Inception

2011-01-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

If I could only choose one movie to take away from 2011 Inception would be the clear winner. It’s not often that I watch a movie that fulfills me 100% creatively, artistically and as an audience member but with Inception Christopher Nolan did all of that for me.

I am a Christopher Nolan junkie. Now and forevermore, I will see any movie he makes. I can’t think of a bad one in the lot, and in fact with each film I think he improves - and since square one he’s been amazing. I’ve said it before, but if I could apprentice to any director working today I would want to apprentice to Christopher Nolan. I can’t think of any contemporary director that can pull of the perfect mesh of creativity and box office appeal - a mix that would make any studio salivate at the thought of making your movie.

Inception is a movie that makes me want to make movies. That is a powerful thing, and something I am incredibly grateful for.

The Hangover

2011-01-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

The Hangover does not lose it’s funny factor the more I see it. I still love this movie. It’s kind of amazing, and frankly, I can’t wait to see the followup. What was quite enjoyable about watching it this time was that I watched it with someone who’s never seen it before. She loved it too.

Phil Wenneck: Would you please put some pants on? I feel weird having to ask you twice.

Going the Distance

2011-01-22T18:20:00.000-08:00

Going the Distance had me at the trailer. I first saw the trailer before Sex & the City 2 and myself, and the entire audience were laughing so hard (and long) that we missed the opening credits - not that seeing the credits would have made SitC2 any better. However, I didn’t get to see Going the Distance in the theatre, I had to wait for netflix.

Erin is a grad student majoring in journalism and working at a summer internship in NYC when she meets Garrett at a bar the night he breaks up with his girlfriend. The two go in their relationship with a devil may care attitude knowing that Erin leave for California in a few weeks and that they don’t want anything serious - that is until they fall for each other. In a desperate move not to end the best relationship they’ve ever had Garrett and Erin decide to be long distance and make their bi-costal relationship work. What neither of them expects is for the job market to be as big an issue to them as the distance and their friends and family to be able to interfere so much.

I know I am a Barrymore fan, but I downright loved this movie. While it doesn’t reach When Harry Met Sally greatness, this is a romantic comedy that doesn’t try to be typical - it decides to populate itself with great characters, and genuinely funny actors to create a real comedy that just happens to be romantic.

Bottom line is if you’re looking for a fun romantic comedy to netflix this Valentine’s Day, I think this is the movie for you.

Director: Nanette Burstein

The Fighter

2011-01-21T16:01:00.001-08:00

The fighter
Originally uploaded by Naír la jefa

The Fighter isn’t just a boxing movie, it’s a story about two brothers. These two brothers love each other but their relationship is weighted and tainted by older brother Dickey’s past fame. The problem is Dickey lost his chance, and Micky can’t get out from Dickey’s shadow long enough for anyone to see his merit.

I saw this movie the morning of the Golden Globes, and I have to say I’m glad I did as it made my enjoyment of Christian Bale’s win even better. Bale disappears into every role he takes on, and has probably deserves accolades before, but I am glad he’s getting recognized for Dickey. However, no one in this cast is a slouch. From Melissa Leo to Mark Wahlberg the entire cast delivers.

This film will probably be up for many accolades this awards season and I’m excited to see where it goes.

Director: David O. Russell

Mickey Ward: I'm the one who's fighting. Not you, not you, and not you.

True Grit

2011-01-11T22:07:00.001-08:00

This is not John Wayne’s Rooster. True Grit is a film that is completely Coen. This is the reason that films get made. It is a pristine example of all that is wonderful and inspiring with the art and craft of film.

Like I said, this is not a John Wayne movie; though both of the True Grit films are based off the same source material the Coen’s version is like a rouge wave washing away the softer edges and homey feel of the classic. This film is rough, gritty, dirty and tough – much like what I imagine the reality of that day was. Mattie Ross is determined to get justice for the death of her father, and Rooster is the tool that she uses. It’s a wild world, and definitely not a safe one.

Unlike the original, in this film Mattie Ross is played at her true age – 14. Taking the mantle this time is newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, and I have to say the power of this performance reminds me very much of Anna Paquin’s burst into the acting scene with The Piano. For such a young talent, the maturity of her skill is evident and startling. Steinfeld holds her own against Damon, Brolin & Bridges, usually stealing the scene and is undoubtedly the most memorable character in the film.

If I had a vote in the Oscar nominations I’d throw my hat in for Jeff Bridges again. I know he won last year for a fantastic performance in Crazy Heart but I have to say that his turn as Rooster Cogburn is one of my favorite performances of the year. This Cogburn is rough, anti-social and has a wicked sense of humor. Bridges & the Coen’s bring out the changes in Cogburn very subtly as he goes from grumpy old marshall who cares about no one, to the man willing to risk anything to help Mattie.

There’s really nothing I didn’t like about this movie. With every Coen film that comes out I can see their talent growing – something that shouldn’t be possible for two people that are already some of the finest artists working today. True Grit is a masterpiece.

Directors: The Brothers Coen

Mattie Ross: You must pay for everything in this world, one way and another. There is nothing free except the grace of God.

Brick

2011-01-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

I praise this movie a lot. Seriously, I love it. I would have loved to be at Sundance and have seen this movie with the first audience. I am sure it rocked some worlds. This is the kind of movie that is so powerful the first time you watch it that you just don’t have the words for a little while after the credits roll, and I do know that, because the first time I watched those credits roll by I remember being glued to my seat in awe of what had just passed.

Part of why this film has such power for me is because it’s the kind of film that I want to make. Not just because it’s a noir, but because it takes something familiar and flips it on it’s head a bit. It changes things. It has the mark of people who love the craft and a director with a very clear style and vision.

I’m still hoping that someday someone will be saying that about a film of mine.

Brendan: No, bulls would gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we're doing this I want the whole story. No cops, not for a bit.

The Big Sleep

2011-01-09T11:38:00.001-08:00

The Big Sleep was my first Raymond Chandler book and it’s a pretty amazing one at that. Chandler has a voice that captivates you and I can understand why his first novel was made into a film with none other than the enigmatic Humphrey Bogart playing Marlowe.

While I knew The Big Sleep was going to be a difficult adaptation because of the time in which it was made, I do have to say that the film was slightly dampened for me because I felt like I could see the censorship board all over it. Bogart was great as Marlowe, and Bacall was ravishing as his clients daughter, but there was too much changed from the book and the bite was taken out. An audience in 1946 may not have known the difference as very few hard hitting films were around in that day, but I can tell you that I’ve seen enough hard edged noirs in my time that I wanted the edge there.

One of the biggest changes script to screen was in Bacall’s character, Vivian Rutledge. In the book Vivian flirts with Marlowe, but is a scandalous spoiled woman, several times divorced and married to the man Marlowe is helping to hunt down. In the film Vivian is single and shares much screen time with Marlowe – not that I could blame the studio for making Bogey and Bacall an onscreen pair, the duo had so much onscreen chemistry a blind man could see it.

All in all, The Big Sleep is an enjoyable noir, but very ripe for a faithful-to-the-book remake.

Director: Howard Hawks

Vivian: You go too far, Marlowe.
Marlowe: Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom.

Christmas Vacation

2011-01-08T23:21:00.003-08:00

And so the holidays rolled around again and I had to watch National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. While this movie may have lost a little of it’s magic for me over time, there is still nothing like watching the Griswald’s attempt to have an old fashioned family Christmas. I do think this is a Christmas classic the likes of the claymation Rudolph videos and frosty cartoons.

Clark: Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny fucking Kaye. And when Santa squeezes his fat white ass down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of assholes this side of the nuthouse.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

2010-12-30T15:39:00.000-08:00

If I had to choose my favorite entertainer from my childhood I’d have a lot of trouble choosing between Dick van Dyke & The Muppets. Strictly speaking, I <3 Jim Henson and still miss him. So it should be no surprise that The Muppet Christmas Carol is one of my favorite holiday films. How could it not be? I mean, Michael Caine plays Scrooge and Gonzo is Charles Dickens.

What makes this movie so special, is the same thing that makes any Muppet movie so special – the Muppets. These characters are serious, quirky, grumpy, hysterical and perfect in the extremes each one represents and even though they are inanimate objects, they feel as though life has been breathed into them and they would exist on their own outside of the worlds they inhabit despite what logic would tell you. The Muppets have a humor and method of storytelling that is uniquely their own and I want desperately for it to be presented to a new generation who can treasure them the way my siblings and I do.

Director: Brian Henson

Rizzo the Rat: Boy, that's scary stuff! Should we be worried about the kids in the audience?
Gonzo: Nah, it's all right. This is culture!

Elf

2010-12-30T14:14:00.000-08:00

Elf is rapidly becoming a holiday tradition, even for me. As Christmas season dawns I can’t seem to resist the urge to just pop Elf into the DVD player. Buddy and his antics make me smile and feel like a kid again.

It’s no secret that I’m trying to become a film director, and I greatly enjoyed watching Jon Favreau react on twitter as everyone shared their Elf love this holiday season. I can’t imagine that there could be much cooler things in the world for a director that realizing that your film is beloved, and fulfilled the purpose you had for it.

I’d like to have that feeling some day.

Buddy: I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Die Hard

2010-12-30T11:29:00.001-08:00

Machine Gun Ho Ho Ho
Originally uploaded by Seven_Hundred

I worked at a video store for over three years. Working at a video store with people that love movies as much as you do, you learn plenty of stories about other people’s favorite (and least favorite) experiences with the movies. One of my favorite stories involves an old manager telling me about seeing Die Hard in the theatre.

I’ve grown up with Bruce Willis as an action star, but apparently, to my manager and everyone before me Bruce Willis pre-Die Hard was only known as the television star. My manager even talked about that when he and his friends went to see Die Hard they expected it to be dumb – that they couldn’t understand why Willis was cast. By the end of the movie, my manager, like the rest of the viewing audience was converted.

Now, I live in a world where I can’t imagine Bruce Willis not being an action star. It seems to go with him like peanut butter goes with jelly. And I am glad to live in that world. Where would action movies be without John McClaine?

Director: John McTiernan

Supervisor: Attention, whoever you are, this channel is reserved for emergency calls only.
John McClane: No fucking shit, lady. Does it sound like I'm ordering a pizza?

The Dark Knight

2010-12-29T17:52:00.000-08:00

It’s impossible to watch The Dark Knight and not miss Heath Ledger. The man was absolutely brilliant in this film and it makes me a bit sad that they won’t be able to continue his character’s storyline in the franchise. They may recast eventually, but whoever takes that role will be measured against his Oscar winning performance.

In this film Bruce Wayne begins to think that he wants to give up the bat and hand this job of saving Gotham over to someone else but he discovers that it’s a mantle he can’t shake. Batman & Bruce Wayne learn a great lesson in this film, one that comes at a price.

The theme of this film is stated by one of the characters – “It’s always darkest just before the dawn” – it’s a theme that I am hoping will influence the next installment as well. Perhaps, a glimmer of light will begin to break on Gotham again.

Batman Begins

2010-12-29T10:57:00.001-08:00

Batman Begins (Christopher Nolan, 2005)
Originally uploaded by puppetmister

So you know by now, that I think this is the movie that re-invented the hero movie. There’ just no way around it; Bryan Singer started to make the comic book film legit with X-Men but Christopher Nolan made the genre solid, and realistic in Batman Begins.

Even if I wasn’t a rabid fan, I don’t think many people could disagree with me that Christian Bale is the perfect choice to play Bruce Wayne. In the prior Batman film incarnations Bruce Wayne was played by good actors, but many had issues with the dual role; Michael Keaton played a great Batman, but didn’t look the part of Wayne, Val Kilmer looked great in the suit and as Wayne but just lacked a connection with either, and George Clooney Played a great Wayne but didn’t connect with Batman – not that the latter two were helped by the stories they were given. Bale however, connects with the entirety that is Bruce Wayne and Batman. He manages to pull of the two faces of Bruce Wayne – the batman, and the billionaire forced to live outside the batsuit. The difficulty with playing this character lies not in his dual identity, but the fact that if Wayne had his way, he’d never take off the suit; once he creates batman he becomes batman, and Bale captures that process in a very graceful way.

Christopher Nolan is living proof that creativity and studio blockbusters can go hand in hand.

Seven Samurai

2010-12-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

Akira Kurosawa is a master at his craft and Seven Samurai is a definite masterpiece. I can’t imagine what it would be like to watch a three and a half hour tale about a group of samurai and a small farming village if it weren’t handled by Kurosawa. If this film were made today, I can guarantee you the amount of action would be increased from about the hour it takes up in the original to a large portion of the film; yet the reason Seven Samurai has endured is not the epic samurai battles, it’s the heart behind the film.

Seven Samurai is not a small story by any scope. A small farming village uncovers that they’re going to be raided and rather than lay down and die, they decide to see if they can enlist the help of samurai – the only problem is they only payment they have is food. Due to this they can only seek out samurai of the more desperate kind instead of what they view as the cream of the crop. They end up with seven of the most noble, forthright samurai they can find, who return to the village to attempt not only to protect the village itself but attempt to teach the villagers how to protect themselves.

What makes Kurosawa’s film so significant in my opinion, is the closing lines of the film. The battle has been fought, the samurai have won, and as they prepare to leave samurai reflect on the battle and the victory that was “won”. It’s poignant, and a moment that both the characters and the audience must think about.

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Kambei Shimada: Go to the north. The decisive battle will be fought there.
Gorobei Katayama: Why didn't you build a fence there?
Kambei Shimada: A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.

When Harry Met Sally

2010-12-27T23:07:00.001-08:00

One of the first film papers I ever wrote was about When Harry Met Sally. I remember distinctly that I wrote about the fact that Harry and Sally were the ying and yang of each othere, perfect opposites that fit together perfectly – their names even show it. Harry Burns is dark and brooding, and Sally Albright is bright and chipper – together they complete each other’s outlook on life.

When Harry Met Sally is a perfect commentary on male/female relationships and as I grow older this becomes ever more true. Women are from Venus, men are from Mars and Ephron & Reiner figured out how to capture this long before the mass population put it into pop culture. Harry & Sally are the perfect couple, the only problem is that like as in the case with more perfect couples – they’re the last ones to realize it.

I consider this a New Year’s movie because several of the key scenes take place on New Year’s Ever, so if you get the chance please check this out this New Year.

Harry Burns: And was it worth it? The sacrifice for a friend you don't even keep in touch with?
Sally Albright: Harry, you might not believe this, but I never considered not sleeping with you a sacrifice.

The Holiday

2010-12-27T13:50:00.000-08:00

Somewhere between holiday movie and guilty pleasure lies The Holiday. The tale of two women from opposite continents who escape to each other’s homes & lives to escape their own at Christmas is much more fun and touching that you might think.

What I like most about The Holiday is that this is the film that made Jack Black more than a crazy comic to me; here he plays Miles, a nice guy and a film composer who gets cheated on but ends up rescued by Kate Winslet. And who would have ever thought Winslet and Black would be a cute couple? Nancy Meyers scores points for that one.

Perhaps what makes the LA portion of the story all the more enjoyable is the addition of Arthur Abbott – a writer from the golden age of Hollywood afraid to venture back out into the world. He manages to reset Iris’s world view and in the process resets his own.

This might be a chick-flick, but I do enjoy this film.

Iris: Well, I just wanted to get away from all the people I see all the time!... Well, not all the people... one person. I wanted to get away from one... guy. An ex-boyfriend who just got engaged and forgot to tell me.
Arthur Abbott: So, he's a schmuck.
Iris: As a matter of fact, he is... a huge schmuck. How did you know?
Arthur Abbott: He let you go. This is not a hard one to figure out. Iris, in the movies we have leading ladies and we have the best friend. You, I can tell, are a leading lady, but for some reason you are behaving like the best friend.

Memento

2010-12-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

Memento is not Christopher Nolan’s debut film, but it is the film that rocketed him into the consciousness of the film world at large – and for good reason. Memento might be a simple detective tale, a man avenging his wife’s death, but what makes Memento incredibly unique is the way it’s told, and the way it’s told is uniquely Christopher Nolan.

If you haven’t seen Memento before, stop reading this review now and go find the film and watch it – just make sure you’re alert and pay attention or you’ll be lost within the first twenty minutes.

Now, those of you that have seen the film, I’m sure you can agree with me that what makes the murder/revenge tale of Memento so engaging is that it’s told backwards. Normally, if watching this kind of tale, we wouldn’t care that Shelby Leonard can’t remember more that five minutes at a time and keeps notes on what happens as the people around him double cross him. However, instead of letting us watch Shelby’s lement stage by stage as it progresses to it’s ultimate end, Nolan puts the viewer into Shelby’s confusion by telling the story backwards – starting at the end and progressing to the beginning. Doing this makes the significance of what would have otherwise been at the end of the film (but is instead at the beginning) so much more potent – Shelby doesn’t understand the true meaning, and neither do we until we reach the beginning and see the event that led us there.

Memento also has something else that is the hallmark of a Nolan film – three incredible performances. Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss & Joe Pantoliano each give amazing performances in this film, which is an astounding thing. Guy Pearce has to master the art of approaching each scene as though he doesn’t know why his character is there, Carrie-Anne Moss is deceptively innocent until she briefly reveals her true nature, and Joe Pantoliano manages to play the line between smarmy and trust-worthy as though it were second nature.

While Memento isn’t a perfect movie, it excels because of it’s handling. A simple story told well, is always better than a complex story told poorly. Memento is proof of that.

Director: Christopher Nolan

Leonard Shelby: I always thought the joy of reading a book is not knowing what happens next.

The Wedding Planner

2010-12-26T21:58:00.000-08:00

I think I’ve stated it before, but The Wedding Planner is seriously one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies – I just think that with a little tweaking you could take out Matthew McConaughey & Jennifer Lopez and drop in Rock Hudson & Doris Day – it’s that kind of movie. I think if you combine this with Never Been Kissed and perhaps He’s Just Not That Into You a group of girls could have a nice, man-free Valentine’s Day.

So watch this movie, preferably with a glass of your favorite girly drink and some chocolate and just think about the career Jennifer Lopez could have had if she hadn’t decided to sing.

Mary: Y'know, "those who can't do, teach"? Well those who can't wed, plan.

Tron Legacy

2010-12-21T17:10:00.000-08:00

I’ve been seeing pieces of Tron Legacy for three years – I can’t tell you how excited I was to finally see the pieces put together in finished form. I remember all the milesetones for this films production – most of them happened at Comic-Con: when they did test shots to show to see if the audience even had interest in a sequel to Tron, when they changed the name from Tr2n to Tron Legacy, when Daft Punk was announced as doing the score, and when the cast was revealed to include Bruce Boxleitner and a 35 year old Jeff Bridges. The point is, Tron Legacy had big shoes to fill for me, and I am happy to say that it succeeded.

This is a pretty similar to the original but adds to the mythos nicely. This time it’s Kevin Flynn’s son Sam that gets beamed onto the grid, after spending a lifetime wondering why his father disappeared. What he finds is that the world his father once told him bedtime stories about is real, and that his father’s creations have gone haywire – revolting against the users they once adored.

What I love most about the Tron films is that they are richly layered with a subtext that enhances what’s happening about the story – and in the case of these films that is a religious subtext about God and his creation. In the case of Tron, Kevin Flynn is an accidental God, but he attempts to step up to his duties nonetheless. This is why I love science fiction, the power of metaphor exists in this genre in a very unique way.

Jeff Bridges returns to Tron Legacy in two roles – Kevin Flynn and CLU, the villain of the piece. CLU is a much lauded visual effect as they managed to make him look like a 35 year old version of Jeff Bridges. While this was much needed for the story to work, and a rather cool gimmick, the effect didn’t thrill me. CGI is still not at the place where we can replicate the natural, involuntary things that human skin or eyes do; CLU’s skin doesn’t wrinkle correctly by the eyes, or pull quite right over his cheek bones and his skin is just a tad too cgi-looking. However, CLU is a fine villain and works perfectly as the opposite of Kevin Flynn.

Kevin Flynn is much matured in this film, something that makes sense as he’s been trapped inside the grid for twenty years. While Flynn is still free-wheeling and gifted he’s finally learned the price of being a creator, and what the price of perfection truly is. Bridges is in fine form and obviously enjoys playing the character he originated at another stage in life. Despite re-embodying Flynn, what stands out to me every time post-Lebowski that I see Bridges is how much Jeff Bridges truly is the Dude and Tron is no exception – Flynn has pieces of the Dude in him. He’s a great actor, and his own person, but I see the Dude come out somehow in every performance.

While I think that Tron Legacy is much more accessible than the original, I do think it may end up suffering the same fate as the original and in the long run, confuse the masses. However, I don’t think that a cult following, and geek worship is a bad thing…

Director:: Joe Kosinski

Kevin Flynn: The Grid. A digital frontier. I tried to picture clusters of information as they traveled through the computer. Ships, motorcycles. With the circuits like freeways. I kept dreaming of a world I thought I'd never see. And then, one day... I got in.

Black Swan

2010-12-20T18:27:00.000-08:00

Trying to describe an Aronofsky film can be almost as difficult as explaining a Pollack painting to someone who’s expecting a Monet – artists that think outside the box have a way of affecting their viewer more than any description can accurately portray. Black Swan is definitely one of those films, a story that might be as simply described as the tale of a ballerina who is pushing herself so hard towards perfection that she loses her grip on reality around her, and yet Aronofsky artfully layers the film to the extent that no simple description can capture the true beauty of this film.

Natalie Portman plays Nina, the lead role in Black Swan and though she’s been amazing me with her performances since Leon, she reaches new depths in this role; it’s one of the most devastating and brutal performances I’ve seen on screen – but that’s something Aronofsky seems to excel at fostering in his films. Portman literally breaks the boundaries of sanity before the audiences eyes as she transforms from shy core member, to dual-hearted lead.

Mila Kunis also stars as Lily, the free-spirited dancer who Nina envies as she outwardly embodies everything that Nina wishes to become. Over the past few years I’ve gained great respect for Kunis as an actor, as she seems to have grown with every role I’ve seen her in. In Black Swan she manages to be both daring, brash and domineering and yet she holds your attention on screen just as thoroughly as Portman.

Black Swan owes something very specific to Hitchcock – the ability to lie to the audience. Perhaps what makes Black Swan so tense and thrilling is that as the film progresses you are never sure if what is happening on screen is real, or if it is happening in Nina’s mind; it’s a powerful tribute to the director that we stay intrigued by this, because it brings us into Nina’s plight, we can’t trust what’s going on any more than Nina can. However, when the credits finally roll all that matters is that you’ve been pinned to your seat for the better part of two hours, anxious to see what will happen to Nina.

What I love about an Aronofsky film, including Black Swan is that you can tell every inch of every frame matters to Aronofsky. The smallest details are added together to be the most important, from the textures of fabric in wardrobe, to small visual effects that may go unnoticed by most of the audience. Aronofsky has as way of melding fantasy and reality in a way that makes the fantasy look absolutely real, and when necessary makes the reality look like the dream. Aronofsky has never done a film that hasn’t been powerful and dynamic – he’s a director with a clear voice and style, one that firmly belongs in cinema and I am sure his films will be some of the many that film scholars discuss for years to come.

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Nina: I had the craziest dream last night about a girl who has turned into a swan, but her prince falls for the wrong girl and she kills herself.

Home for the Holidays

2010-12-20T10:49:00.000-08:00

I think it’s not becoming a yearly tradition for me to watch Home for the Holidays. Seeing as this movie isn’t as cheery or bubbly as White Christmas or A Charlie Brown Christmas, it may seem odd that I look forward to watching this movie during the holiday season. However, I think part of what I like so much is that this is a very realistic look at a normal, though slightly exaggerated family and how most people view the stress around the holidays.

Claudia: Nobody means what they say on Thanksgiving, Mom. You know that. That's what the day's supposed to be all about, right? Torture.

While You Were Sleeping

2010-12-17T15:19:00.000-08:00

I’ve no idea why I love While You Were Sleeping so much except for the fact that it almost feels like a twist on Cinderella. The big difference in this story is that while the princess is pining over the sleeping prince, she realizes she’s in love with the prince’s brother. So maybe it’s a fairy tale that’s the product of the women’s lib movement…think about that one for awhile.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve blogged on this one a few times, so I’ll leave you with that.

White Christmas

2010-12-16T14:47:00.001-08:00

Day 6- A Favorite Christmas Movie
Originally uploaded by NewGirlonPost

White Christmas has been one of my favorite Christmas films since I discovered it a few years ago. It doesn’t matter to me that the musical number Wallace 7 Davis are rehearsing makes no sense, or that these couples fall in love in only a few days time, I just love this film. It has a magic about it that can only be attributed to the scope given it because of the era in which it was made.

This was a time where movie stars were truly stars, bigger than life and flawless. You watch White Christmas and you think of the decade it portrays, and how uncomplicated life must have been for our parents and grandparents; a time when the movies were grand, girls got dolled up every day, and men opened doors. It’s a film that’s big, bright and above all else – happy.

So this holiday I recommend pouring a cup of hot chocolate, starting a fire, and snuggling up with White Christmas.

Phil Davis: How can a guy *that* ugly have the nerve to have sisters?
Bob Wallace: Very brave parents.

Pride & Prejudice

2010-12-11T13:05:00.000-08:00

I used to think that I wouldn’t like any version of Pride & Prejudice more than the BBC version. But Joe Wright is amazing. I think I’ve read Pride & Prejudice at least once a year since high school and passages from that book are burned into my brain. When watching the images alone in Wright’s Pride & Prejudice I can almost hear Jane Austen’s prose describing the scenes – the way the house is situated, how the characters move, even the way the Bennet’s are viewed; it’s an accomplishment on the part of Wright – he’s let Austen seep into the core of this film and it shows.

I would be remiss not to mention Keira Knightly’s performance in this film. I think she embodied Lizzie and brought an era to life. If I had been born in the era of Austen I have a feeling I would have been very much like the Lizzie Knightly portrays in this film.

Joe Wright is an amazing director and he’s proven it even with his short filmography. I can’t wait to see where he goes in the years to come.

Mrs. Bennet: Have you no consideration for my poor nerves?
Mr. Bennet: You mistake me, my dear. I have the utmost respect for your nerves. They've been my constant companion these twenty years.

Manic

2010-12-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

I will admit that I went into Manic only because I’m trying to fill in the gaps I have in the filmography of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Lyle, a misfit teen who is sent to a junivile mental health institution after he beats another teen with a baseball bat. It is there that he meets a group of other angry, abused teens who have the same issues he does and is faced with a choice – learn to deal with your past or let it control your future. Despite the obvious Cuckoo’s Nest overtones, and general bleakness of the subject matter I quite enjoyed Manic, this is due in large part to the caliber of the acting talent in this film.

Manic was made before Zooey Deschanel or Joseph Gordon-Levitt were stars, so the big name in this movie at the time was Don Cheedle and rightly so – this is a performance that Cheedle hits out of the park. Cheedle plays shrink to the teenagers at the facility and his constant battle with himself at the teens mental state and attitude is captivating; at points I forgot I was watching Cheedle and began to think of him as Dr. Moore. This role could not have been an easy one, as the character is placed in the difficult position of having a natural state of pity for the events that caused these teens to become who they are, and facing the reality that they are still dangerous, damaged individuals.

Gordon-Levitt plays the main character in this piece, and watching him do his thing is pretty fascinating as well as Lyle expresses himself and his anger at life in largely non-verbal ways. While Lyle may scream, hit things, and do other attention getting stunts, more often than not Lyle speaks few words and says volumes with his actions. Gordon-Levitt seems to be acting right down to his very bones.

I have to give props to director Jordan Melamed. To get performances like these out of actors, even the great actors he has here, takes a talented hand. Without the guidance of a good director these performaces could stand alone as the only memorable points of this tale, but instead they blend beautifully into a larger picture and create a cohesive character piece. I’d love to see Melamed direct again.

Director: Jordan Melamed

Iron Man 2

2010-12-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

While the original is still my favorite, I love that this expand the universe so much more. I can't wait to see what Marvel is going to do. It's unprecedented.

Agent Coulson: Good luck! We need you!
Tony Stark: More than you know.
Agent Coulson: Not that much!

Iron Man

2010-12-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

A brilliant hero film. A brilliant character piece. The movie my Superman movie will have to live up to one day.

Sunshine

2010-12-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

This is a visually stunning film with fine acting, another worthy effort from Danny Boyle. However, you have to be fully prepared to just go with what happens in the third act.

Director: Danny Boyle

Pinbacker: At the end of time, a moment will come when just one man remains. Then the moment will pass. Man will be gone. There will be nothing to show that we were ever here... but stardust.

Trick 'R Treat

2010-11-30T11:25:00.000-08:00

To be completely honest, I'm not sure I "got" this movie. I'm all for creating a new horror idea, instead of just freshing up the existing fracnhises, but I felt like this would almost have been better handled in a anthology film style with different directors at the helm for each story.

Director: Michael Dougherty

Whip It

2010-11-29T11:17:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite recent directorial debuts. This movie makes me happy.

Dangerous Crossing

2010-11-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

This was a noir I chanced upon, and I am glad I did. A young bride, a missing husband, a trans-Atlantic journey and an entire ship that thinks the bride is slipping into insanity.

Director: Joseph M. Newman

Brick

2010-11-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

As always, I give this movie two thumbs up, and I'd probably give it more if I had more than two hands.

Kara: You better be sure you wanna know what you wanna know.

Date Night

2010-11-26T11:01:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, Date Night is yet another film that's funnier in the trailer than the actual finished film.

Director: Shawn Levy

Phil Foster: He turned the gun sideways! That's a kill shot!

Behind...by a lot

2010-11-25T22:55:00.001-08:00

Howdy Dear Readers,
I'm WAY behind in my reviews...yet I keep watching movies and I know I'm not going to stop. In an effort to cut my losses I'm going to do some unconventional posts, that will more show you what I've been watching than go into detail about them.

I hope to return to my somewhat-traditional format soon!

Thanks!

Megan
a.k.a. The Director

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows part 1

2010-11-21T17:18:00.001-08:00

Harry Potter Part 7.1
Originally uploaded by mynx-chan

David Yates has beent he unifing balm the Harry Potter franchise needed. The story of Harry, Ron & Hermionie is vastly unique in the realm of franchise films, as the films were being adapted before the series of books was finished, and though the films have always been entertaining, they suffered from a lack of continuity early in the series. With Order of the Phoenix Yates stepped up to the plate and hit the hardest book in the series out of the park, securing his place for what would turn out to be the remaining 4 films in the series.

As an avid fan of the books, when watching The Deathly Hallows Part 1 feels like the best adaptation of the books so far; Yates, Kloves and the cast are obviously benefiting from the added screen time that breaking Deathly Hallows into 2 parts allows them. I am thankful for that. This is a complex series, and the last chapter in the tale truly shows how proflic our villain is and how much our heroes have changed since they met as 11 year olds.

I will freely admit that this is the tale in the series that made me cry – many times – and the filmed version is no exception. What makes JK Rowling a great writer is that she did not put the “safety” of her characters above the end goal of the story she was telling. No one in Harry’s world is safe, and a good many beloved characters die in Deathly Hallows - every death is hard, as it should be.

What stands out the most about The Deathly Hallows is how good these child actors have become. When they were cast as 10 & 11 year olds it was a great gamble for many reasons. It was quite possible that through the years their talents wouldn’t progress, or perhaps it would turn out that they were just cute kids. Luckily, that is the one thing Chris Columbus got right. Rupert Grint, Emma Watson & Daniel Radcliffe have grown into phenomenal actors each in their own right, and I desperately hope that they can all find success after Harry Potter is gone and hopefully gain the needed distance from their characters.

I loved this movie. When it ended I wanted to stay in my seat and watch it again. I am both excited and sad as I wait for the summer to come. Because I truly believe that the series will be beautifully handled in it’s final episode, yet I will be sad to see it go.

Director: David Yates

Bellatrix: How dare you defy your master!
Dobby: Dobby has no master.

500 Days of Summer

2010-11-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

500 Days of Summer. I am slightly obsessed with this movie. Not because I’m some girlie girl who wants to marry a Tom or Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Not because I think it’s funny.

I am obsessed with this movie because it’s so artistically original that I want to pick the brains of the filmmakers and see how this entire project sprang to being frame by frame.

It’s beautiful. It’s original. It’s the best “romantic comedy” since When Harry Met Sally.

Rachel Hansen: Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate.

Iron Man 2

2010-11-18T09:23:00.000-08:00

Those of you that thought I was going to plaster this blog with Iron Man 2 posts when it came out on DVD can breathe easy. I’ve been far too busy to watch the movie as much as I want, and I’m so far behind on blogging this is a micro post.

I love this movie. I love Robert Downey Jr. I love Jon Favreau. I think this film is an amazing follow-up to the original, and I am excited to see where Marvel goes from here.

Soon I will be getting my Joss Whedon fix in the form of The Avengers. Can’t wait.

Tony Stark: My bond is with the people, and I will serve this great nation at the pleasure of myself. If there's one thing I've proven it's that you can count on me to pleasure myself.

Black Widow

2010-11-17T21:23:00.000-08:00

I’m going to be honest. I’d never even heard of this movie before I bought the Fox Studio Classics Noir set. But I enjoyed it. Black Widow is about a murder. The murder of an upstart writer who seems to go after men, and no one knows who killed her, or why, or even clearly who she really is.

In my personal opinion, I think this film isn’t the most thrilling film noir I’ve ever seen, mainly because it was towards the end of the period, it was in Technicolor and it was a tad disjointed. While Black Widow had a definite point and edge to it, it lacked the willingness to truly go gritty – something the best noirs do. It’s something I can definitely learn from as I work on my own noir.

Director: Nunnally Johnson

Due Date

2010-11-15T10:00:00.000-08:00

Peter Highman just wants to get back to LA in time to be there for the birth of this child, but meeting Ethan Tremblay throws that plan out the window. Through a series of unfortunate events Ethan and Peter end up on a no fly list and decide to road trip together to LA. What ensues is a road picture that would make Bob Hope & Bing Crosby die laughing; Todd Phillips does not disappoint with his follow-up to The Hangover as Due Date does not disappoint.

The best thing about Due Date is the interaction between Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. Comedy chemistry can’t be faked and these two actors have it in spades. While I am partial to the talents of Downey, I have to say that this film would be nothing if Galifianakis couldn’t match him turn for turn. My single favorite scene in the film would have to be the acting exercises Downey’s Highman puts Galifianakis’s Tremblay through to prove his chops; it’s the kind of scene that you know the actors had to loose it in more than once during filming.

The one thing that Due Date suffers from is that it is Phillips follow-up to The Hangover. Too many critic’s and audience members have gone in expecting The Hangover 2 instead of this film, and that’s affected how they viewed it. Due Date presents a whole new sets of scenario’s and jokes than The Hangover and is proof that Phillips can turn out comedy, and not just one comedic film.

Director: Todd Phillips

127 Hours

2010-11-14T21:19:00.001-08:00

Originally uploaded by myETVmedia

If you’ve ever had the urge to become a canyoneer or mountain climber and just haven’t acted on it, 127 Hours will stop that urge cold. It is a PSA for safe extreme sports and avoidance of the desert.

Based on a true tale, 127 Hours is very nearly a one man play held together by the talents of James Franco and Danny Boyle. It’s the story of Aron Ralston, an adrenaline junkie who goes out for his usual weekend of canyoneering and rock climbing when suddenly the weekend takes a tragic turn as during a climb down into a deserted crevice Aron falls, followed by a boulder that pins Aron’s had to the canyon wall. What follows is a grueling, tense, and occasionally gory tale of one man’s survival instinct that ends with the headline that made the news – desperate and out of options Ralston cuts off his own arm using a Leatherman in order to escape.

This is a film that is truly helmed by one actor. Sure, there’s a beginning and an end with the people in Ralston’s life but the majority of this film is Franco, alone with nothing but a boulder and a camcorder to keep him company. It’s a tribute to Franco and Boyle that this film sucks you in and doesn’t let you go until the very end.

While I don’t expect 127 Hours to light up the awards this season, I do think that Franco could come out with more than one acting nomination. Boyle chose and directed his leading man right, helping him to navigate the waters from cocky adrenaline junkie, to desperate being and all the while the audience is never pulled out of his peril.

Director: Danny Boyle

RED

2010-11-10T15:44:00.001-08:00

RED at San Diego Comic-con 2010
Originally uploaded by Arrow of Apollo

I learned awhile ago that a good panel at Comic-Con does not always mean a good movie; so when I sat through the panel I tried not to get my hopes up, because when Helen Mirren & Bruce Willis make their first Comic-Con a panel will be fun no matter what. I am stoked to say that RED is by far one of the funnest action comedies I’ve ever seen, driven in part by a superb cast – most of which you would never have thought you’d see in an action comedy.

For me Helen Mirren stole this movie. Perhaps, it’s because at Comic-Con she actually said she was having fun using bullets instead of words, but her hardened ex-MI 6 assassin was the standout. Frankly, if Mirren did a few more of these, I might be afraid to run into her in a dark alley.

I know there are a number of people out there that will be turned off when I say that the best part of this movie is that it’s fun, but that isn’t a slam to it’s craftsmanship. This film is filled with Oscar caliber (and a few Oscar winning) performers who made an action movie and are having fun doing it. From Karl Urban to Bruce Willis this film bristles with charisma, action and talent. I spent the majority of this film laughing – and that’s a good thing.

Director: Robert Schwentke

Marvin Boggs: I remember the Secret Service being tougher.
Victoria: Me too.

Call Northside 777

2010-10-29T15:04:00.001-07:00

Call Northside 777 is a noir based on the true tale of Frank Wiecek, who was wrongly convicted for the murder of a police officer in Chicago. After nearly a decade in jail, his mother placed a classified ad in the local papers promising a reward for anyone who could provide evidence that would overturn her sons conviction. When reporter Jim McNeal is given the assignment of checking on the human interest side of the story, he ignites all of Chicago and begins quest to clear Wiecek while being opposed by the entire Chicago police force.

The only downside to Call Northside 777 is the confusing title. The phone number seems to have little to do with the movie, and been slapped on as a remnant of an era where titles didn’t always relate to the films they belonged to (I Wake Up Screaming is another film that comes to mind in terms of titles). This film is a gem – fantastic performance by Stewart, a inspiring true story I’d never heard of, and a marvel of writing and line delivery that was an identifier of the era in Hollywood. Needless to say, from start to finish, I was impressed.

I could immediately tell that I am a child of technology, as when I was watching this film, taking place in the 1940’s the thought of doing investigative reporting where your most high tech tools were a lie detector test and photo enlargement was confounding. All that popped into my head was the wonders of DNA testing and how the invention of photoshop could have killed McNeil’s new evidence. It was much harder to be an investigative reporter before the internet and cell phones.

Based purely on the fact that I didn’t know this film existed before I purchased it as part of the Fox 75th Anniversary lineup, I’m guessing it’s quite under viewed by today’s audiences. I think that should be changed. And so, I encourage you, give Call Northside 777 a watch.

Director: Henry Hathaway

Laura: What's the matter, won't the pieces fit together?
McNeal: Some of them, but they make the wrong picture.
Laura: Pieces never make the wrong picture. Maybe you're looking at them from the wrong angle.

The Loveless

2010-10-28T18:00:00.000-07:00

As I’ve stated before, every biker film made since 1969 suffers from the curse of being compared to Easy Rider no matter how different the films may be. The Loveless suffers from this comparison. I’m not normally one to watch a mortorcycle film, but seeing as Kathryn Bigelow just became the first female to ever win the best director Oscar, I thought I’d like to see where she started and I am glad I did.

The Loveless is co-directed by Bigelow and Monty Montgomery and I have to say that it proves that from the get-go Bigelow didn’t concern herself about being a female director who should be concerned with woman’s issues – a rhetoric I hear quite a bit once the gender of a director is discovered by a critic. Instead, Bigelow concerns herself with the stuff of human emotion, namely conflict, rebellion, adversity and the hard to love hero. These are things normally placed within male protagonists and male-centric films, but the theme is universal to all.

In The Loveless, like The Wild One, the conflict comes from a group of bikers that head into town and stir up the prejudices and fears of the residents. The bikers are all ex-cons, unafraid of the locals disdain and willing to use the few residents who find them appealing, creating an end for their journey that ruins the town in a way The Wild One could not and the nomadic journey of Easy Rider didn’t allow.

This film is an exercise in the study of a rebellious character, but for those who want to see how Bigelow became who she is, or want to watch Willem Dafoe shine in his first major role this is a definite film to see.

Directors: Kathryn Bigelow & Monty Montgomery

Vance: You never can tell on a day like this- things could be goin' jake one minute, then, presto- before you know it, you're
history.

Laura

2010-10-28T09:16:00.001-07:00

Laura_035Pikturz
Originally uploaded by Pikturz

There are great film noirs and there are imitations of great noirs - Laura is not an imitation. This is a mystery that works hard at what it gives the audience, and if the viewer is willing to uncover the layers of plot the payoff is worth it. I love a complicated film that keeps me guessing. I see so many movies, that seeing a film that keeps me guessing (and makes sense in the end) is a rare thing. Laura is nothing, if not complicated.

What keeps Laura fresh, and easy to follow despite it’s complicated tale of murder and betrayal are the characters. Each character from minor to major all have a distinct voice and purpose in the tale that unfolds, right down to Laura’s housekeeper.

If I had any complaint about Laura, it would be that it ends too abruptly. The killer is revealed, and then the end credits immediately roll. I can attribute that to a style that fit the films of the era though and remember that after seeing the original The Italian Job - any ending is less abrupt.

Waldo Lydecker: Love is eternal. It has been the strongest motivation for human actions throughout history. Love is stronger than life. It reaches beyond the dark shadow of death.

The Wild One

2010-10-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Wild One was made a bit more than a decade before Easy Rider and yet I can’t help but compare the former to the latter. That’s the curse of making the definitive counter-culture movie – you even overshadow Brando.

The Wild One is about a bike gang in the 50’s that roll into a small town out of boredom and discover the divisive nature of the town. Within 24 hours they manage to overrun the town, getting neighbor to turn on neighbor until they inspire a modern day mob ala Frankenstein out to get Johnny and his gang to either kill them or get them out of town. The films really as simple as that, it feels as though it was trying to do for leather jackets and motorcycles what Reefer Maddness did for MJ.

As always, the one saving grace of this film was Brando. That man could light up a silver screen when he turned it on, and even in a very Rebel Without A Cause kind of phase, he ignites here. Brando was a man that could do and would do anything he wanted in the industry and it’s evident here that he was a cinematic force to be recokened with.

Director: Laslo Benedek

Mildred: What're you rebelling against, Johnny?
Johnny: Whaddya got?

On the Waterfront

2010-10-18T21:51:00.001-07:00

Waterfront_077Pikturz
Originally uploaded by Pikturz

On the Waterfront is one of the films that’s bandied about on critic’s top 100 lists, when artists and historians talk about the career of Marlin Brando, and even in the dialogue about unions or the mob. Why? Because the story of Terry Malloy is just as relevant to the American spirit of rebellion and perseverance today as he was when the film was first released.

Let me start by saying that Brando is amazing in this film. What should have been a really simple character is given depth and a soul by the life Brando breathed into him and I can’t imagine how gleeful that must have made the director during filming.

However, the single favorite element in this film for me had to be Father Barry; the priest moved out of the abbey and into the streets because of some harsh words from a parishioner is a picture of the church that I rarely see in the movies. Father Barry gets shaken out of apathy, thinking he can only work God’s work inside his four walls only to remember that God and His people exist outside those walls too, and perhaps he can help them. Barry becomes a champion for the dock workers, taking on their challenges and their dangers in the hopes that he can make a difference.

There is a reason this film is lauded by historians and critics alike as one of the best. It simply is. On the Waterfront is a film that has a soul that’s lived on long after it’s initial audiences sat in a darkened theatre and watched 24fps go before their eyes.

Director: Elia Kazan

Behind

2010-10-18T11:51:00.000-07:00

I'm seriously behind in reviews by about 10-ish movies. Work has been a bit draning and I've been here way too long. I will be updating ASAP but a lot of micro-film reviews could be in the future just to catch up!

Pickup on South Street

2010-10-10T15:06:00.001-07:00

Pickup on South Street poster
Originally uploaded by jon rubin

Things go awry for a pickpocket when he picks the purse of a woman on the subway. Soon the cops are tracking him down, the woman has fallen for him and it’s possible that they have been unknowingly involved in a plot to get information to the communists. The kicker is that if he’s brought in, this would be his third strike, and that means they’d throw away the key…

Pickup on South Street is a classic noir crime tale, but mixed with the paranoia of the Cold War – a brilliant idea. Instead of the local crime lord or good guy gone bad, we get cops and communists and the American fear of the unknown enemy. What makes the fear, the item stolen, so daunting in this movie to all of our players is that none of them know who the enemy is or who to believe.

While Pickup on South Street is a great noir, it is not a traditional one. However, for any noir lover it should be on their list of movies to see.

Director: Samuel Fuller

Skip McCoy: You boys are talking to the wrong corner. I'm just a guy keeping my hands in my own pockets.
FBI Agent Zara: If you refuse to cooperate you'll be as guilty as the traitors who gave Stalin the A-bomb.
Skip McCoy: Are you waving the flag at me?

Mean Streets

2010-10-04T16:30:00.001-07:00

meanstreets_5
Originally uploaded by janvaneyck

Let me emphatically say the I love Mean Streets. The very first time I saw this film was in a 70’s film genre class and I remember being riveted to my seat, but when the lights came up it was apparent that I was one of the only people of the 30+ film students that were.

This still mystifies me.

Mean Streets is a different Scorsese than we would get if we walk into a theatre today. It’s more raw, chaotic and carefree – yet it is in essence the very thing that led up to Travis Bickle and even the men of Scorsese’s modern work. This is a film about a New York that’s crumbling but loved, affluent but poor, artistic yet visceral, masculine and familial. All of these things are the very essence of what makes a Scorsese film Scorsese.

As you would imagine, the real standout element to Mean Street is the element that most people remember Scorsese for in his films even now – his leading man. Scorsese’s muse may now be Leonardo DiCaprio, but DiCaprio’s way was paved by none other than Scorsese’s original muse Robert DeNiro. Mean Streets was the first collaboration between Scorsese & DeNiro and it’s immediately evident why they worked together for so long. In a film where Scorsese knows exactly what he’s doing, DeNiro is the one element that absolutely shines as though he were made for that world.

I really can’t say a lot about Mean Streets because I truly believe it’s a film that should be discovered by the viewer. It’s a film that helped define one of the most prominent directors of the Hollywood pantheon and a film that entices you to see more.

Director: Martin Scorsese

You Again

2010-10-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

Marni now has a successful career in PR, but like so many people high school was her own hell – presided over by the head cheerleader Joanna. When Marni returns home for her brother’s wedding she quickly discovers that her soon-to-be sister-in-law is Joanna. While Marni tries to cope with this her mother discovers that Joanna’s aunt is her old high school rival Ramona. What ensues is a cat fight through the generations.

I wish I could praise You Again because the cast is one I adore – Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigorney Weaver, Kristen Bell and Victor Garber – but I can’t. There was very little in this film that worked…in fact, as I’m trying to come up with things to say about it, I’m blanking badly.

Perhaps where this film suffers the most is somewhere between the writing and editing. I do believe that this film was cut down for a rating. For some reason, because the trailer wouldn’t leave you to believe this, the film is PG and I don’t think the film was shot PG. Yet it was edited that way. The jokes end up feeling truncated, watered down and more than anything there’s no flow to the entire film.

The saving grace of You Again, the only good thing I can say about the movie, is the cast. Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis & Kristen Bell are wonderful leading ladies and they try very hard to knock this film out of the park.

This is a film that needed to be let loose, and it suffers because it wasn’t. But that’s okay, at the end of the day this is a pretty generic film – someone else will make it again in the next decade.

Director: Andy Fickman

The Social Network

2010-10-02T13:37:00.001-07:00

Social 6
Originally uploaded by heit007

Now, I will be the first to say that when I heard there was going to be a Facebook movie helmed by the writing of Aaron Sorkin and the directing talents of David Fincher I didn’t know wether to laugh or wait with anticipation. I chose the later – and it paid off. It’s been far too long since I’ve seen a really good movie in the theatre. I think the last time I left the theatre artistically charged, and aesthetically blissful was Inception - it’s been a pretty dry summer otherwise. Then came The Social Network.

The hardest challenge with The Social Network is the fact that these events all transpired starting only seven years ago. Most of us in our twenties remember accepting myspace, then slowly hearing about this other site that was catching on like fire called Facebook and slowly adopting to that as we were granted access and hearing all these rumblings of the young creative genius and his lawsuits – but most of us were too busy enjoying the site to care. Thanks to Aaron Sorkin, we care now.

Rather than turn The Social Network into a run of the mill rags to riches story, Sorkin, Fincher and the cast create a story of young people struggling to matter for a variety of reasons – Zuckerberg wants to fit into a world he feels outside of, Saverin wants to be a successful business man with his best friend, and Parker wants revenge on the older generation that brought him down. The Social Network is a tragedy of being careful what you wish for, and a beautiful commentary about the ongoing society we are all apart of that seeks instant gratification and has replaced physical contact for electronic voyeurism.

Jesse Eisenberg gives a performance worthy of recognition as Mark Zuckerberg. He’s keeps Zuckerberg on the precipice of intellectual headcase, ass, and confused, innocent savant. Never once can you blame Zuckerberg for the issues that surround him, but instead you see him as a victim to the tragedy he may have helped create.

However, the real revelation in the film is Justin Timberlake. I’m beginning to never care if Timberlake records another album as long as he continues to act. Timberlake plays Sean Parker, the genius madman behind Napster who latches on to Zuckerberg and if anything is the one who can be blamed not only for the radical success that Facebook enjoys, but the troubles that will eventually enfold Zuckerberg. Placing Timberlake in the role of the man who helped begin the death knoll on the pre-digital music industry is a brilliant and gutsy choice on the part of Fincher and I would be interested to know who approached who in the casting process.

The only problem The Social Network may suffer from is the mere fact that it is too current. Like Up In The Air last year, the issues being dealt with in this film are a part of the current American psyche and while for a few months they may be very relevant, the film will likely not fully be praised for the true beauty and message it holds until a decade or two has passed.

Director: David Fincher

Lawyer: Okay - no. You don't think I deserve your attention.
Mark: I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try - but there's no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention - you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing. Did I adequately answer your condescending question?

Easy A

2010-09-29T14:16:00.001-07:00

Easy A
Originally uploaded by Andrew Ng Images

Olive Penderghast is your average Jane in high school, sweeping by under the radar – that is until she agrees to help her gay friend have an imaginary tryst so the jocks and rest of the school will stop picking on him for being gay. This one act transforms Olive into the school’s super-skank as the rumor mill goes active. What happens from there is a comedy of errors as Olive agrees to help fellow student after fellow student, letting them have imaginary flings with her as long as they provide the gift card of her choice. When her status becomes negative Olive takes a stand inspired by Hester Prinn and dons a scarlet A, making a statement about the way people choose to see her.

Easy A sets out to crib John Hughes in a very obvious way. Not only does Olive mention Hughes and the most popular teen films of the 80’s, but Will Gluck seems to be intent on cribbing Hughes in every way possible…and it works. While Easy A may not be a blow-for-blow Hughes film, the viewer is left with the same feeling they would be in a Hughes film – the feeling that these characters are really human, and the story has a heart.

Emma Stone is no Molly Ringwald, but by this I mean no disrespect. Ringwald grew to fame by playing the delicate, pretty girl that was either too popular (Breakfast Club) or overlooked (Sixteen Candles) but no matter what character she was, she was always delicate and understated. Emma Stone is not. Emma Stone is the Huges character for a modern generation – when situations arise that challenge her, Stone’s Olive makes the situation more obvious and pushes it to the next level attempting to throw her peers folly back on them.

What struck me most after watching Easy A was something I didn’t expect; I was struck by how Easy A could be a commentary for how a generation of teenagers is so vastly different from the teens of the 80’s. While our parents always tell us the differences between our struggles and theirs is only circumstantial, this film proves that wrong. In Sixteen Candles the worst thing that can happen to Samantha in Sixteen Candles is that a freshman pays five bucks to see her underwear, but in Easy A the worst thing that can happen to Olive is that men pay money to date her.

Director: Will Gluck

Olive: Whatever happened to chivalry? Does it only exist in 80's movies? I want John Cusack holding a boombox outside my window. I wanna ride off on a lawnmower with Patrick Dempsey. I want Jake from Sixteen Candles waiting outside the church for me. I want Judd Nelson thrusting his fist into the air because he knows he got me. Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life.

Coming Soon...

2010-09-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Work and life have caused me to fall really behind on reviews lately. I will be catching up as soon as I can. Here's what you have to look forward to.

A Decade Under the Influence

2010-09-09T15:29:00.001-07:00

mean streets
Originally uploaded by Raid71

Thanks to some amazing film professors, a 70’s Film Genres class and Easy Riders, Raging Bulls I have a love and affinity for the films that came out of the 1970’s that is second only to my love of noir. The 1970’s truly invented what would become modern American cinema and produced some of the best artists in the history of the medium, which is exactly what A Decade Under the Influence seeks to show.

A Decade Under the Influence is a must-see for anyone that has a love of the films from the 1970’s; the documentary is told in three parts, but could easily have been stretched to many more by IFC as the pool of talent and films they have to draw on is seemingly endless. The 1970’s are the years that gave us Scorsese, Spielberg, Bogdanovich, Coppola, Dennis Hopper, Clint Eastwood, George Lucas, counter-culture in film, the first summer blockbuster, the decline of the dying studio system, the rise of the independents and more than can possibly be covered in just three hours.

One thing that A Decade Under the Influence covers beautifully is the story behind the rise of the great filmmakers in the decade, and how they ended up becoming the establishment they were fighting against. So many of the artists working in the 1970’s wanted to tell stories that were avoided by the studios, and to be allowed to do it on their own terms. When their films proved to be viable the artists were granted slow access to the studios, until the “gritty” way they made films ended up becoming a studio norm and the anti-establishment became the establishment. While none of this discounts their artistic credibility, it does explain how after a decade of turbulent fighting for the art of filmmaking the artists managed to win the battles but loose the war.

Perhaps what makes A Decade Under the Influence so memorable is that the people whose works are lauded in the series are the ones that populate it – there are interviews with Scorsese, Coppola, Dennis Hopper, and anyone that would get in front of the camera and talk about what they remember from their filmmaking experiences in the 70’s. It’s in their own words and you can feel the passion and the vibrance they remember experiencing as it was all happening for them.

Watching A Decade Under the Influence makes me hope that we will currently be undergoing another succession of artistic change in the film industry; one that doesn’t care as much about numbers as it does about viable art and the long haul process to get an audience to accept it.

Directors: Tedd Demme & Richard LaGravenese

The Expendables

2010-09-07T14:32:00.001-07:00

expendables_ver3
Originally uploaded by @my_cine

If you’ve been missing action movies the likes of Running Man, Commando and Rambo, then The Expendables is right up your alley. Helmed by a cast of the most widely known action stars of now and the past twenty years, and anchored by Sylvester Stallone both in front of and behind the camera, The Expendables is a series of action scenes and explosions thinly veiled by a plot that substitutes a military dictatorship on a small island for Castro and the CIA.

Now, when I tell you The Expendables is thin on plot, I mean it. The actors move around and interact as if there is a plot, but in fact all there is to this is one script page after the next that must be played out in order for the action sequences to evolve in grandeur and eventually reach their denouement. I don’t mean this as an insult, in fact this is probably why the film works in the manner it intends – it’s a fun romp of gunfire, fist fights and explosions provided by people that the audience wants to see do what they do best.

What doesn’t work so well is the random bits Stallone throws in there to try and give these action stars a chance to act…most of them are action stars for a reason… The most legit actor of the bunch, Mickey Rourke, even has a scene where he manages to squeeze out some tears, despite the ham handed dialogue that accompanies it. Perhaps, I’d see more merit in the acting segments if the dialogue were given another pass – but again that’s not what you see a movie like this for.

The Expendables really settles into its groove in the final act of the film. Why? You guessed, because the last act is nothing but car chases, fights and explosions –one exhilarating romp after another. It’s so fun to watch you cease to care that the coup Eric Roberts character helped fun was apparently for profits from cocoa beans, or that the General/Dictator has made all of his soldiers wear face paint to show loyalty (seriously?), or that Stallone and Li manage to survive and Bonnie & Clyde style ambush in their car – it looks good on film and so begins a sequence of activities where every one of the stars gets their moment.

If you’re looking for an action movie that has it all from this past summer then you should see Inception. However, if you’re looking for a throw-back from the good old days when explosions ruled action films, see The Expendables.

Director: Sylvester Stallone
Writers: Dave Callaham & Sylvester Stallone
Barney Ross: Sylvester Stallone
Lee Christmas: Jason Statham
Ying Yang: Jet Li
Gunner: Dolph Lundgren
James Munroe: Eric Roberts
Toll Road: Randy Coture
Paine: Steve Austin
Gen. Garza: David Zayas
Sandra: Giselle Itie
Lacy: Charisma Carpenter
Hale Caesar: Terry Crews
Tool: Mickey Rourke
Church: Bruce Willis

Lee: What's he sayin'?
Hale: He said we're dead, with an accent!

Brick

2010-09-01T12:07:00.001-07:00

Brick (2005)
Originally uploaded by ∆P

So apparently, while I’m working on my own film noir I’m going to be watching Brick on a regular basis. It just doesn’t seem like I can avoid it. I keep wanting to revisit it, and have it feed the pool of inspiration.

Thank God for the films of Rian Johnson.

I realized part of what I love about Brick, part of what makes it so real and visceral is the sound design. This is a film that is visually sparse and distinct, and the sound design matches that in every way possible. There is little to no background noise that can’t be called “generic”, the only things you hear are what you see, and yet everything is distinct and clear. That may not sound like a lot to those of you that have ever thought about sound, but if you’ve ever been subjected to a film that has had the sound over designed or under designed I am sure your brain picked up that something was very off – even if you couldn’t figure out what that was. Never assume that what you’re hearing along with the picture, was simply what the sound peeps recorded while filming.

My favorite random bit about the sound design of Brick? [Yes, I am a geek that has a favorite part of the sound design in this film.] I adore the fact that everyone’s run/footsteps sound distinct. I remember reading an article that Rian Johnson had taken his characters shoes into account when plotting what they would be like, and I think this extends right down to how they sound. Normally, this is the kind of thing that isn’t readily apparent, but where I noticed it the most was the sequence where the thug is chasing down Brendan at school. Ws they run through the corridors Brendan’s step is lithe and quick and the thug is heavy and significantly slower – the sound comes more into play when Brendan realizes he can be heard running and discards his shoes to double back on the thug as he hears him approach.

My point is, from script, to production to post every element of something as “simple” as how the shoes would work in this film was fully planned, thought out and executed to maximum effect.

I am both astonished and inspired by this. This is the kind of craftsman ship I aspire to, and while I know I subconsciously do add touches like this to my works, I’m still working to make it a conscious effort. I would love to one day be compared to Rian Johnson, the Orange County director with an eye for artful details.

The Brain: See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin. But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
Brendan: You think The Pin's just a tale to take whatever heat?
The Brain: Hmm... So what's first?
Brendan: Show of hands.

The Other Guys

2010-08-27T14:51:00.001-07:00

The Other Guys Movie Poster #2
Originally uploaded by flickposter

The Other Guys is the second buddy cop comedy to come out in 2010, and despite the coolness of Bruce Willis in Cop Out, The Other Guys can claim victory. In this odd couple pairing, Terry Holtz is a detective taken off the streets of NY because while working security at a Yankee game he accidently shot Derek Jeter… His new partner Allen Gamble is a laced up former accountant for the force, who spurns all of Holtz’s attempts to get back on the street. As odd a pairing as Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell may seem on first glance, let me tell you they work together wonderfully as tough cop, wimp cop in this film.

Ever since The Big Hit I’ve loved Mark Wahlberg, and I would love for him to get more screen time. However, he does seem to play the same characters over and over again. The only thing that makes hardened cop Terry Holtz any different than the hardened cops he’s played before is the comedy in the film. Holtz is repressed not because of the pressure put on him by mob bosses and political figures but because of the absurdity of his partner, and the cases he’s willing to pursue – because of this he becomes prone to illogical outbursts and tantrums in the middle of the office.

This is also the first movie in a long while that Eva Mendes hasn’t driven my nuts. She was again cast as the “hot chick” but playing opposite Will Ferrell her exotic beauty becomes an interesting, odd foil to his quirkiness. Her character is funny and memorable as the last in a string of super-hot girlfriends that Alan Gamble became entwined with.

However, in my opinion what The Other Guys does best is a running gag. It’s a joke that evolves several times in the film, and with each step it becomes funnier – like comedy should! Without trying to spoil the joke, it involves Allen’s gun and Capt. Gene.

The only thing that really bothered me about The Other Guys was the needless politics tacked on to the end credits. Republican, democrat, or anarchist – I don’t care – I just don’t like to see my movies with needless political statements tacked onto the films. I dislike message movies, and I desperately dislike simply throwing a message in at the end. That’s what short films are for. Do it funny and quirky, like the latest Pixar short Night & Day about equality. That works. Financial and legal news animated to credits – not so much.

However, I think that The Other Guys is a movie worth seeing. The cast contains some of the best character actors working today, the jokes are well placed and run the gambit of style and the film will make you laugh and take your mind off things for awhile – until the end credits hit.

Director: Adam McKay
Writers: Adam McKay & Chris Henchy
P.K. Highsmith: Samuel L. Jackson
Christopher Danson: Dwayne Johnson
Capt. Gene: Michael Keaton
Terry Hoitz: Mark Wahlberg
Allen Gamble: Will Ferrell
David Ershon: Steve Coogan
Shelia Gamble: Eva Mendes

Allen Gamble: I was so drunk, I thought a tube of toothpaste was astronaut food.

To Have and Have Not

2010-08-17T15:52:00.000-07:00

If you at all have an affinity for screen writing or classic cinema you know the line “You know how to whistle don’t you? You just put your lips together and blow.” Lauren Bacall uttered these words in To Have and Have Not and the popularity of this line is why I had to finally see the film.

To Have and Have Not is a World War II film, but it’s a peculiar one at that. The closest film to it would be another Bogart classic, Casablanca. On the French island of Martinique the Germans have arrived and there is the beginnings of tension between the French resistance and the foreign power. Harry Morgan is a small fishing boat captain that rents his boat and skills to tourists with extra spending money. The first thing that blows into his life is another American runaway in the form of Marie Browning, a young, attractive woman who happens to be a pick-pocket. However, what really turns the tables on Harry is his landlord, who gets Harry and Marie pulled into business with the resistance. When the Germans catch wind everyone is under suspicion and it’s only a matter of time before the two American’s have to choose sides.

As good as Bogart is in this film, the standout is Lauren Bacall. This is her first film role and she sizzles on screen as the sultry young American that isn’t as naive as she seems. It’s obvious from her first lines why and how this woman went on to be one of our industry’s biggest stars. However, what’s so formidable is how she could hold her own against Bogart – a man with whom she would share the screen many times, and eventually marry.

To Have and Have Not is another example of an incredibly well written film. There is a verve and zest in the dialogue that too many films do not have today and that makes the film come alive even when the style of shooting may not fit what a modern audience is used to. The pace never ceases, and to the very end you are left wondering where times that like have gone.

Director: Howard hawks
Writers: Jules Furthman & William Faulkner
Harry “Steve” Morgan: Humphrey Bogart
Eddie: Walter Brennan
Marie “Slim” Browning: Lauren Bacall

Slim: Who was the girl, Steve?
Steve: Who was what girl?
Slim: The one who left you with such a high opinion of women.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

2010-08-16T15:46:00.001-07:00

_1281916217
Originally uploaded by Skyle.com

Despite having never read the source material, I spent my Friday night seeing Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and let me tell you, that is one strange head-trip of a movie. It’s enjoyable for sure, but I think my best friend put it best when she told me afterwards she thought that watching that movie might be the same as a mild acid trip.

The only real beef I have with Scott Pilgrim is that for the first act of the film, Scott is kind of an unlikable douche. He’s dating a minor, taking advantage of his friends, and soon cheats on his young girlfriend with his new “love” Ramona Flowers. It isn’t really until the oddness of the story starts that I could really get into Scott Pilgrim as a character – before he was just Scott Pilgrim, loser.

However, once the movie gets going it is a ride to be had. Ramona is a fiercely independent and reserved character, but Scott compliments her nicely as he matches her spontaneity with timidity. Scott is completely unprepared for the fact that out of nowhere he has to battle her seven, evil exes if he wants to continue seeing her and the audience is glad he has to get beat up because he was being such a douche earlier in the film. So it all equals out. The film itself is a trip, emulating a video game whenever possible, even redoing the Universal logo as though it were going to be for the original Nintendo system.

What makes the film are the evil exes, each one completely different from the last. My Superman obsession aside, I have to say that my favorite evil ex is Todd Ingram played by Brandon Routh. Todd is the new boyfriend of ex that broke Scott’s heart, and he has super vegan powers. You heard that right. Vegan powers. Their battle is epic and humorous, with a special appearance by the vegan police at the end.

I’m not sure I’d get long term enjoyment out of this film, but I did like it and I appreciate that it’s a film that didn’t try to be normal, or normalize the source material upon which it was based. This is a movie that’s meant to be wacky and a story that’s meant to be off beat. However, I like so many others am ready for Michael Cera to no longer be typecast as the lovelorn nerd.

Director: Edgar Wright
Writers: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright
Scott Pilgrim: Michael Cera
Kim Pine: Alison Pill
Stephen Stills: Mark Webber
Young Neil: Johnny Simmons
Knives Chau: Ellen Wong
Wallace Wells: Kieran Culkin
Stacey Pilgrim: Anna Kendrick
Ramona Flowers: Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Matthew Patel: Satya Bhabha
Lucas Lee: Chris Evans
Roxy Richter: Mae Whitman
Todd Ingram: Brandon Routh
Gideon: Jason Schwartzman
Kyle Katayanagi: Keita Saitou
Ken Katayanagi: Shota Saito

Out of the Past

2010-08-13T11:42:00.000-07:00

I’m pretty sure that by the end of my life I will be a hard-boiled expert on noir. I can’t get enough of it. I love discovering it. I love pouring over it. I love being immersed in these films. With as many as I’ve already seen, I can identify some of the best pretty quickly. It is without a doubt that I would make anyone wanting to discover American film noir watch The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity and Out of the Past.

Now I’ve blogged about Out of the Past before, I believe I raved about it. Thank God my second viewing confirms what I thought the first time, Out of the Past is a prime example of the visceral and emotional story telling that can make noir such a powerful genre.

Watching Out of the Past is a riveting experience, partly because the dialogue in that film downright crackles. These are smart, dangerous, witty, sassy characters that won’t be duped and have been handled with finesse by an equally smart writer. Lines like “You can never help anything, can you? You're like a leaf that the wind blows from one gutter to another” are thrown around with ease and make me wish that I could talk like that and have my peers actually follow the conversation.

This film is a cinematic marvel. I can’t believe I didn’t discover it until this year. I want to prevent others with a love of noir from suffering the same fate. So go. Rent it. Buy it. See it.

Kathie Moffat: Oh Jeff, you ought to have killed me for what I did a moment ago.
Jeff Bailey: There's time.

The Lookout

2010-08-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

There’s a little movie I saw awhile back that impressed the heck out of me called The Lookout. I’d been in the mood to watch it again for a few months now and I’d wanted to buy it instead of Netflix it, and yet for some reason I couldn’t find a single store that carried it. This is a travesty. I ended up having to track it down at a specialty DVD store, the kind where if they don’t sell it then it doesn’t exist. Thank God they had it, but I think it’s a travesty that stores like Target & Best Buy don’t seem to carry it.

I digress. What impressed me the most about The Lookout is the fact that even though it’s a heist movie that’s centered around a man with a brain injury, the film is never cheap, clichéd and comes off 100% authentic. That is a beautiful thing.

The main character is Chris Pratt, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I found an interview while I was looking for the film where Gordon-Levitt stated that part of what he loved so much about The Lookout and playing Chris is that in the end Chris doesn’t suddenly get better because you know, somewhere along the line some exec had the brilliant idea that as part of a nice happy ending Chris sound be healthy again, and that Gordon-Levitt loved that the film doesn’t do that because that would have been disrespectful to anyone suffering from a brain injury. I have to say that I agree.

Part of what makes the film feel so authentic is that Chris struggles. One day it may be hard for him to pick up a beer bottle without shaking, or he may forget where the can opener is kept, or he has sudden mood swings – and that doesn’t go away, even when he has to become the hero of the piece. The entire film Chris has to struggle with his injury, his past and how it all affects his present and future. There is never a moment where everything just gels and Chris carries on a quasi-normal existence.

As fantastic as Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in the role of Chris, it would be a crime not to mention that he is perfectly matched by Jeff Daniels in the role of Lewis – his blind roommate who helps him cope with life. To say Lewis is the comic-relief in this film would be to cheapen his performance or character, but Lewis is the one that provides many grins and laughs for the audience through the film. Lewis is in the place with his disability that Chris can’t be in yet, and Lewis’s ability to carry on with the lightness of life next to the darkness is a perfect complement to the still fresh way Chris is dealing with his disability. Daniels plays the character as if being a blind hippy is a natural act for him and it makes me wish he got more roles like this.

The single reason I think I’ve fought so hard to find this film is not my obsession with the acting work of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but Scott Frank. Frank has written some of my most loved films of the past decade and his directorial debut is a perfect match to his body of work. It’s tense, funny, original, and complex yet for the first time I’ve gotten to see the world as Frank sees it instead of through the filter of another director.

Chris Pratt: I started skating again. I'm not as good as I used to be, but I'm okay. What happened that night along Route 24 is a part of me now. I just hope that one day Kelly will be ready to see me again and I can finally tell her what I've only been able to say in my dreams. Until then, all I can do is wake up, take a shower, with soap, and try to forgive myself. If I can do that, then maybe others will forgive me too. I don't know if that will happen, but I guess I'll just have to work backwards from there.

The Thin Man

2010-08-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

I really wanted to like The Thin Man; not only is it a basis for an entire series of films, but I just finished reading the novel and Dashiell Hammett wrote one heck of a novel. Yet, I couldn’t like The Thin Man. Typically, I have no problem at all with classic cinema being dated or different, but leaving the book out of this I just didn’t find W.S. Van Dyke’s version of The Thin Man interesting at all.

I think my main problem with The Thin Man, whether it be a result of the censorship board at the time, or the result of what the audiences wanted themselves, the film is just far to light and glib for the subject matter it’s trying to present. This is a story of a crazy family, murder, double crosses and all that goes with a modern Scorsese film but instead the film is 95% screwball comedy with some crime thrown in. Nothing really makes sense, and scene after scene just seems to lead into each other simply because that’s how it was written. There is no sense of an organic world existing beyond the locations the characters are inhabiting.

However, perhaps my greatest issue with The Thin Man is the leading couple. Not only do William Powell and Myrna Loy have less than no chemistry as Nick & Nora Charles, Nick does nothing but insult and badger Nora the entire film. Where the book has witty banter the film has downright chauvinist tendencies. At one point when Nora wants to accompany Nick somewhere he even goes so far as to hail a taxi, let her get in then shut the door behind her and tell the driver to take her to an entirely different local while she protests from the backseat.

I actually think the blatant chauvinism was my biggest issue with the film, I just can’t get past it. I think that might be a modern hang-up I’m bringing into a classic film, after all this film was made less than fifteen years after women gained the right to vote – it was a very different time than the one I live in now.

Next to the treatment of women in the film, my least favorite element in the film would probably be the dinner party at the end. Nick decides the single best way to catch the real killer to so have the BYPD round up all the suspect – and throw a dinner party for them where he logically works through each piece of the puzzle until he unnerves the killer into revealing himself. I’m sorry. This is far too over the top, even for the screwball gangster flick The Thin Man is trying to be.

Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Writers: Albert Hackett & Frances Goodrich
Nick Charles: William Powell
Nora Charles: Myrna Loy
Dorothy Wynant: Maureen O’Sullivan
Lt. Guild: Nat Pendleton
Mimi Wynant: Minna Gombell
MacCaulay: Porter Hall
Chris Jorgenson: Cesar Romero
Julia Wolf: Natalie Moorhead

Alphaville

2010-08-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

I don’t know why I didn’t realize Jean-Luc Godard had made a sci-fi while the French New Wave was going on, but somehow they skipped over Alphaville when I was in film school, and I’m very sad they did. I do believe that Alphaville is one of those films that I would have a much greater understanding of if I knew more about the cultural climate of the time, or could actually understand the language.

Alphaville is to French science fiction, what 1984 was to literature. It paints a bleak story of a society that has let itself be overrun by a dominating power. In the case of Alphaville that’s a professor who seized control when he was exiled from another land and a computer system he implemented called Alpha 60. In this tale secret agent Lemmy Caution has been sent into Alphaville to assess the situation and take out the professor. Even though this sounds like a pretty straight-forward science fiction tale to anyone with knowledge of the genre, you have to remember to put this through the filter of Jean-Luc Godard which very simply means, this is anything but straight-forward and part of the reason I feel like I am missing a lot of the relevance by not knowing or being a part of the culture.

The one thing I can say that translates no matter what culture or time you are a part of are the visuals. Perhaps I have a tendency to like stark & sparse black and white, but I found Alphaville to be visually stunning. Sure sometimes what the characters were doing was a little wonky, and staring into the camera would never fly in an American studio film, but Godard is a master of story, concept and movement and all of that translates into a beautiful tale unlike any American science fiction film you’re likely to see – especially anything from the 1960’s before Kubrick came into play.

Alphaville is a film that must be experienced through to the end, because until the third act you’re not quite sure what’s going on in this strange world. All I could think while watching is a former pastor of mine that while he was talking on difficult concepts would always tell us to just go with it because “relevance is coming” and that is quite true for Alphaville; by the end of the film relevance has come in a very beautiful conclusion and Godard proves again that he had an imagination like no one else.

Director & Writer: Jean-Luc Godard
Lemmy Caution: Eddie Constantine
Natacha von Braun: Anna Karina

Alpha 60: Once we know the number one, we believe that we know the number two, because one plus one equals two. We forget that first we must know the meaning of plus.

Inception

2010-08-04T15:19:00.001-07:00

INCEPTION in UAE theatres on 15 July
Originally uploaded by WarnerBrosMovies

While I may never be a fan of 3D, let me just say that Christopher Nolan is making me a fan of IMAX. Inception was made for IMAX. By saying that I don’t just mean that Nolan shot it in IMAX, which he did, I mean that it is a film that is so rich visually and aurally that it screams to be witnessed on as large a screen as possible.

This film is simply stunning.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I would LOVE to sit at the feet of Christopher Nolan. The sheer volume of things I could learn from that man would probably astound me. He makes movies on a filmmaking scope that is beyond definition – whether his films are big or small he makes them with an intelligence and commitment that emanates from the screen and Inception is no exception.

He's Just Not That Into You

2010-07-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

He’s Just Not That Into You is an odd movie for me. I love it, and yet there are things about the film I dislike. For instance, any scene with Anna & Ben I skip through on DVD, and I cannot watch half of the scenes with Gigi without being embarrassed.

I think what it comes down to is not that I dislike the film, but it’s actually well enough made that certain things the characters do actually activate parts of my personality. For the storyline between Anna & Ben that means the fact that I can’t tolerate people that cheat on their significant others gets kicked in and I can’t stand to watch their scenes – it literally makes me mad at Ben that he would cheat on his wife, and upset at Anna that she would be okay with taking a married man away from his wife.

The case of Gigi isn’t as severe. What resonates with me about Gigi, is that though she is much bolder than I there are parts of her character that I see so clearly in my personality that I literally become embarrassed for her. While I can watch all of her scenes, I literally become emotionally tense as she goes through situations with men. When she finally hits on Alex after the party I usually talk to the screen and tell her just to “leave!” – of course I know she won’t listen, but I swear to you my brain just wants her to avoid embarrassment.

You’d think as He’s Just Not That Into You isn’t really a relaxing film for me to watch, I wouldn’t enjoy it enough to watch a lot. Truth is, I do love watching it. I think it’s a well made film, and there are parts of the film that don’t make me embarrassed or upset. I think one of the best, most heartfelt stories about love is in the film between Beth & Neil. Theirs is a story line I would actually watch more of, but their place in the film helps to round out everything else that may make the film an “interactive” home viewing experience for me.

What can I say, this is one “chick flick” that I like.

Alex: I dunno... I like you
Gigi: You do?
Alex: Well, yeah, okay, don't start doodling my name on your binder, okay.

The Brother's Bloom

2010-07-30T13:45:00.001-07:00

Rian on board the S.S. Delphine
Originally uploaded by tara holland

I think I’ve raved about Rian Johnson a lot, but that won’t stop me from raving about him again. The man may only have two feature films to his credit, but they are damn good ones. Brick and The Brother’s Bloom have secured his spot on my list of favorite young directors.

Simply put, I think the man has one of the most unique visions out there and I cannot wait to see what leaps from his brain, to page to screen next.

One of my professors once said that you could tell a directors talent by watching their second film; if their first film was fantastic and their second film lacking, it usually meant that the director was overwhelmed and didn’t truly understand how they put the first film together and made it what it was. Well,Brick was always going to be a tough act to follow, but Johnson hit his second film out of the park with The Brother’s Bloom.

This is a film where every visual is calculated to give maximum impact, color is used to create whimsy in what should be a dark world, and again, the writing shows the unique mind of the creator behind it. The Brother’s Bloom is a unique world or quirky characters, real danger, whimsy and intrigue. This is a film where gentlemen thieves exist and there is no damsel in distress, a witty narrator helps tell the tale, and when the credits roll none of the characters will ever be the same – yet it can still end on a hopeful note.

If you haven’t seen this gem of a film I emplore you to see it. You’ll be ushered into a world unlike any other, and at the end of the day I hope you’ll be awaiting Johnson’s next film as well.

Penelope: This was a story about a girl who could find infinite beauty in anything, any little thing, and even love the person she was trapped with. And i told myself this story until it became true. Now, did doing this help me escape a wasted life? Or did it blind me so I didn't want to escape it? I don't know, but either way I was the one telling my own story...

NewsRadio: Seasons 1 & 2

2010-07-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

NewsRadio has been one of my favorite sitcoms since I first discovered it as a teen. It’s the story of a New York news radio station that is filled with eccentric characters as they go through the running’s of their studio and they are owned by the eccentric billionaire, Jimmy James.

This is a show made by its characters. Dave Foley plays the stations new News Manager, who has to fire the man he’s replacing as his first act of business. Stephen Root is Jimmy James who you’ll find more often in the mens room or behind Dave’s desk than crunching numbers. Andy Dick plays Matthew, the reporter who apparently has no skill whatsoever besides annoying his coworkers. Maura Tierney is Lisa Miller, the straight edged reporter who though she was a shoe-in for Dave’s job and ends up entwined in a relationship with Dave. Vicki Lewis is Beth, the world’s most memorable secretary who would rather skip out on a bonus than get Dave coffee. Joe Rogan is Joe the handyman who makes things out of reclaimed parts and without an instruction manual instead of making a trip to the hardware store. Khandi Alexander is Catherine Duke, regal news anchor and office spitfire. And rounding out the cast is Phil Hartman is Bill McNeal the stations egotist news anchor.

This show makes me miss Phil Hartman in a way I haven’t since he first died. This man was a comic of unparalelled skill and his star was only starting to shine when he was murdered. The only issue I have is that in hindsight the first Christmas episode, where Bill has a stalker that is trying to kill him is very hard to watch knowing how he actually died. When the stalker finally cuts his brake line and the episode ends with Bill unable to stop his care I was unable to laugh knowing that Phil Hartman was murdered.

Even with that tragedy hanging over the show, it’s impossible not to fall in love with NewsRadio. This show is one of the best written sitcoms that may have ever been on the air, and the fact that it was cut down in its prime still makes me a bit sad.

Dave: Have you thought about how this will make you co-workers feel?
Bill: Actually, one of the great things about the cubicle is not having to think about my co-workers at all.
~ The Shrink

Brick

2010-07-28T09:05:00.000-07:00

Brick scares me in a way I cannot describe to you unless you too are a young director looking to make their mark on cinema. Rian Johnson managed to make a low budget feature so awe inspiring that I cannot stop watching it as I think of what my next project might be. I can only hope that my next feature directorial effort will land somewhere in the ball park that Brick occupies, and yet the film intimidates me enough that I’m not sure how to pull something like that off on a lack of a budget.

If you haven’t seen Brick here’s why I think it’s so awe inspiring.

I’m going to start with the visuals, the cinematography. This film is fully planned visually, somehow balancing an Orange County setting with dirt and grit. As I live in Orange County, not too far from where Brick was filmed, I know what this local looks like and somehow Johnson and DP Steve Yedlin managed to make San Clemente look like a place I’d never seen before. On as meager a budget as they had, the duo put a consistent color scheme, texture and feel into their film that set it apart from so many low budget films. The cinematography tells the story as the characters go through it.

You can’t talk about Brick without talking about the cast. This is the film that helped launch Joseph Gordon-Levitt into the realm of a hard core indy actor and shake loose from the mantle of television he’d had on him. In a career that’s since spanned some of the richest roles in recent cinema, Brick still stands as one of his best performances. Getting that kind of performance out of your lead actor, and achieving riveting and genuine performances out of everyone else onscreen is a thing to be envious of. As a director it’s hard enough to get one outstanding performance out of your cast, but to get every actor to appear onscreen as if they were born into the roles they are playing is a thing of downright beauty.

One cannot watch even the trailer for this film without noticing the writing, again by Rian Johnson. The dialogue that drips off the characters tongues seems ripped from Dashiell Hammett and the plot could easily fit within any noir made in the era of Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder. This is a film so intricate that the audience gets lost with the characters and if any one element were out of place the entire film would come crashing down around us all.

Every single element that awes me about Brick comes back to one central element – Rian Johnson and his directorial style. Johnson manages to hit it out of the park from the opening shots of Brick; for a first feature he artfully merges tone, acting, dialogule, the visuals and the plot in such a way that his directorial stamp is clearly seen. Along with the story of Brendan Frye you can see the hand of Rian Johnson, and that is an incredibly difficult thing to achieve on a first feature.

Rian Johnson is someone I am both humbled by and inspired by because we’re young directors from the same county, and yet I have yet to be able to achieve what he has already artfully succeeded at doing.

Brendan: No, bulls would gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we're doing this I want the whole story. No cops, not for a bit.

Inception

2010-07-27T16:05:00.001-07:00

INCEPTION
Originally uploaded by WarnerBrosMovies

Going into Inception a second time I was afraid the complexities of the film would not hold up now that I’d experienced the film once and would have time to think as I watched. I was genuinely surprised to find the exact opposite happen to me. Watching the film for a second time you begin to notice even more intricacies of what Christopher Nolan has done, and how finely polished it all is because it fits together so tightly. This film isn’t a rubik’s cube that’s been twisted out of shape, it’s a labyrinth that has been artfully carved with great detail.

With every film Leonardo DiCaprio seems to be getting better, and Inception is one of his finest performances to date. I heard someone compare Leo’s character in Inception with his character in Shutter Island stating that the two were far too similar; despite the fact that both characters are fathers separated from their families I really see no further similarities. While it’s coincidence that both films came out in the same year, Cobb is a very sane man wanting desperately to be a father again and Teddy Daniels sole goal is to break the case and exact revenge.

One of the most stunning things in this film is still the sequences with Arthur and the rotating corridor. The sheer skill and coordination that went into the scene is mind boggling and the visuals are flawless. Nolan created an action sequence that I think will be imitated in the years to come, the same way that other filmmakers stole bullet time from The Matrix.

With Inception Christopher Nolan manages to make a film that is both thought provoking and action oriented. It’s a story that sparks of craftsmanship and I will be quite interested to see if it remains on everyone’s radar when awards season approaches.

Cobb: Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

Inglourious Basterds

2010-07-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Knowing the kinds of films Quentin Tarantino makes, it still shocks and stuns me on a few levels that the masses adore Inglourious Basterds. Watching it again, I have to say that this is the WWII fantasy film that every Jew in Hollywood has wanted to make since the war ended. Because while we may have defeated Hitler in the actual war, but there is nothing as cathartic as eviscerating him and the entire Nazi regime in fiction.

What I really love about the directing of Inglourious Basterds is that there are no lost performances. When I watch the film, every character that makes it on screen is memorable, rounded and worth paying attention to – with an ensemble cast as big as this, and numerous notable cameos that’s quite a feat for Tarantino to pull off. However, right down to Samuel L. Jackson’s voice over, there is nothing throwaway in this film.

I wish I could rave, rant and write about my favorite things in this film, but as I love this film enough that I want to keep the readers that haven’t seen it in the dark I won’t. Instead I will keep this short and say one thing: Inglourious Basterds is a film that you need to experience for yourself, so please, go experience it.

Lt. Aldo Raine: You didn't say the goddamn rendezvous was in a fuckin' basement.
Lt. Archie Hicox: I didn't know.
Lt. Aldo Raine: You said it was in a tavern.
Lt. Archie Hicox: It is a tavern.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Yeah, in a basement. You know, fightin' in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you're fightin' in a basement!

Blood Simple

2010-07-19T14:51:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite young directors tweeted once that “Memento is a pretty goddamn humbling movie” and he’s right. Well, I just watched Blood Simple for the first time and I have to say that what the Coen’s did is pretty damn humbling as well. While the film may have “simple” in the title, the film is anything but; Blood Simple is a stark noir, filled with characters we can’t trust and is a downright exercise in minimalism.

I know that the Coen’s got Blood Simple made because of sheer determination. I’ve heard stories of where they showed clips of test footage in people’s living rooms as fund raisers, taped Frances McDormand into camera rigging for special shots, and just generally did everything short of selling their souls for their first feature.

The effort paid off.

I watch Blood Simple and I miss the days when independent film wasn’t its own market. When determination, style and talent could get your farther than a budget and a known cast. While that’s not completely gone from the indy market of today, the indy market is much more main stream now than it is independent. Watching Blood Simple reminds me of a much more pure way of making your passion films.

The single thing that characterizes Blood Simple more than anything else is how stark the film is. The setting are bleak, empty and harsh as is the situation they are all thrown into. While the plot may revolve around Abby having left her husband Marty, we never wonder which one of the two is more at fault for their rift – Abby is the adultrus wife, but Marty is the crazed, abusive husband and no one around them is clean.

It’s plain and simple to see watching this film how the Coen’s turned into Oscar winners. Their imagination and vision has always been unique and different. They are filmmakers that from the very start had great stories to tell.

Directors & Writers: Joel & Ethan Coen
Ray: John Getz
Abby: Frances McDormand
Marty: Dan Hedaya
Private Detective: M. Emmet Walsh

Private Detective:The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else... that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here... you're on your own.

Inception

2010-07-16T09:59:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by there'snotime

For me, there are few things like the experience of a good movie in the theatre, it’s one of the reasons it’s my desire to make films for audiences. A great film is hard enough to do, but if you as a filmmaker can make a great film and suck the audience into its world to the point that the theatre comes under the films control – well there’s nothing like experiencing that. To this day I still remember what it was like when I first watched Jurassic Park and felt that dinosaurs were real, sat in Seabiscuit and realized audience members around me were cheering for a horse onscreen, and I know that the collective gasp and gleeful astoundment that came with the credits of Inception will stay with me as well.

I can’t tell you much about the actual plot of Inception, both because it’s so beautifully complicated I wouldn’t know how to begin, and because the film deserves to be watched for the first time with the freshest eyes you can, so that you too can be completely caught in the wonder. By saying the film is beautifully complicated does not mean it does not make sense, this is a film that is the complex, exquisite brainchild of master craftsman Christopher Nolan.

I do not throw the word auteur around much as I believe film is a collaborative process and auteur limits the results to one man’s contribution, but upon seeing this film I believe Christopher Nolan deserves the title of auteur. Inception could not be made without him completely involved in every aspect of the film – it reeks of an auteur’s hand.

With every film Christopher Nolan seems to be getting better. Even though the man makes giant films that make money hand over fist, I would in no way call him a commercial director, and I mean that as a compliment. Nolan makes films that achieve worldwide attention, steal the top stop at the box office, and gain critical recognition, yet they are by no means simple. Christopher Nolan has mastered the art of being able to tell a worthy, intricate tale in a compelling and entertaining way, getting the best performances possible out of his actors, and trusting the audience to come into his world instead of making his films fit into theirs. This is a balsy approach in a filmmaking era where tentpole films are generally more flash than substance and the audience leaves happy, but rarely thinking about what they actually watched for anything more than the adrenaline that it pumped through them. This is the reason it’s my desperate dream to have Christopher Nolan as a directing mentor – there could be no better hands to sit under and study.

Inception is worthy of all the critical praise it has received and I hope that it continues to surmass more critical and audience praise as it continues down it’s theatrical journey. I for one and excited to see what the visuals will look like on the IMAX screen, as they are already astoundingly visual on the standard screen. I can’t wait to go down the rabbit hole again and begin dreaming with Christopher Nolan one more time.

Director & Writer: Christopher Nolan
Cobb: Leonardo DiCaprio
Arthur: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Ariadne: Ellen Page
Eames: Tom Hardy
Saito: Ken Wantanabe
Yusuf: DiLeep Rao
Robert Fischer Jr.: Cillian Murphy
Browning: Tom Berenger
Mal: Marion Cotillad
Maurice Fischer: Pete Postlethwaite
Miles: Michael Caine
Mash: Lukas Haas

Cobb: You're asking me for Inception. I hope you do understand the gravity of that request.

Predators

2010-07-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

Alien rocked what we knew about science fiction films, and when it came time to release the sequel James Cameron added an “s” to the title and Aliens proved to radically reinvent what we already loved in a spectacular way. With Predators Nimrod Antal adds an “s” to Predator but don’t expect the same results.

This has been an odd summer for me and the movies, there are far too few films I am excited about and very few of the films I have seen do I end up genuinely loving and excited about. Predators falls into the former category; while I genuinely like Arnold’s original, I can’t recall much about the sequel and wouldn’t touch the Alien vs. Predator films with a ten foot pole. However, knowing Robert Rodriguez was involved with Predators and the pretty slick trailer made me interested in Predators. I can’t say that Predators is a lackluster film, but what I can say is that Predators doesn’t deliver everything you would want it to deliver.

Set on a kind of alien game preserve, Predators follows a group of mercenaries and con’s who have been kidnapped off Earth without their knowledge – waking up only to find themselves parachuting through the sky and landing in a jungle. They eventually find each other and team up, discovering they are not in Kansas any more, and in fact they are being hunted by forces they can’t seem to find.

The concept is right out of The Most Dangerous Game but is nowhere near as well executed. Perhaps what’s the biggest issues for me is that Predators falls into the modern action film trap where many things are brought up, but apparently for no reason. Exhibit A would be when Isabelle recalls the CIA report about the special ops force that was ambushed by an unknown predator in the jungles in 1987 and only one member of the team survived, blocking the aliens infared by covering himself in mud. You’d think this would come in as useful information that perhaps the characters would file away for future use seeing as they get mowed down one after another but nope. It’s a throwaway.

However, possibly the strangest thing EVER is the sudden appearance of Noland, played by Laurence Fishburne, who appears to “help” our team of prey for no apparent reason besides the writer got tired of having the Predator’s randomly attack. The character is a mcguffin, in the film only to reveal one tidbit of information but take up fifteen minutes of screentime.

What makes the film a letdown as an action film is that even though the film has a R rating instead of PG-13 I watched the action sequences feeling like they were missing any substance that should make them R rated. It was as if Antal and clan assumed they’d have to be slapped with the PG-13 rating and shot some very simplistic action sequences because all the good parts would have to be cut for rating anyway. It’s either that or Antal has no idea how to either shoot effects or action.

What did surprise me about Predators is that I believed Adrien Brody as an action star. He was actually quite good in the role of a hardened mercenary who’s only out for his own skin. I would actually like to see him do something hard and action-like again.

While Predators is a decent watch, I think it’s going to end up like the rest of the Predator sequels – forgotten when the next installment comes out.

Director: Nimrod Antal
Writers: Alex Litvak & Michael Finch
Royce: Adrien Brody
Edwin: Topher Grace
Isabelle: Alice Braga
Stans: Walton Goggins
Nikolai: Oleg Taktrov
Noland: Laurence Fishburne
Cuchillo: Danny Trejo
Hanzo: Louis Ozawa Changchien
Mombasa: Mahershalalhashbaz Ali

Isabelle: We need to work as a team.
Cuchillo: Does this look like a team orientated group of individuals to you?

Coming Soon

2010-07-14T10:33:00.000-07:00

Jaws

2010-07-09T16:10:00.000-07:00

The fact that Jaws used to scare me so much I couldn’t watch it is funny now that my film vocabulary and appreciation has grown to the point that I count the film as one of my favorite of all time. I can’t get through a 4th of July weekend without watching it.

If I were to teach a film class, and show examples of films that could be counted as “perfectly made” I know I would show Jaws & Annie Hall. Jaws may have had continuity issues once they got to looking through the footage, and the mechanical shark rarely worked, but Jaws is a lesson in suspense, good acting, story and the fact that less really is more.

As the sequels prove, in the hands of lesser directors, ones who aren’t afraid of showing us the big bad wolf or don’t concentrate on the emotions other than fear, a story about man v. shark is not all that appealing.

I’m glad Spielberg got the first go.

Brody: It doesn't make any sense when you pay a guy like you to watch sharks.
Hooper: Well, uh, it doesn't make much sense for a guy who hates the water to live on an island either.
Brody: It's only an island if you look at it from the water.
Hooper: That makes a lot of sense.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2010-07-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Half-Blood Prince just might be the most emotional film in the Harry Potter series. Not to say that the joys, triumphs and tragedies of the other films aren’t emotion filled, but The Half-Blood Prince is the first time the characters we’ve grown up to have truly become adults themselves and realize all that this means.

While the entire school suffers at the death of Cedric Diggory during the Tri Wizard Tournament, and Harry is devastated by the death of Sirius Black, Dumbldore is the first real death of all hope for the entire wizzarding world. On top of an already bleak new war against Voldomort, this is a crushing blow and one that sets the entire last chapters of Potter, Granger & Weasley into action – a trio that won’t stop fighting because that’s what Dumbldore would have wanted them to do.

I have no idea how the scale of The Deathly Hallows will translate into a film. However, if the teaser and poster are any indication the films will leave audiences pinned to their seats and in the end, probably wiping away tears. If you thought The Half-Blood Prince was gut wrenching, just wait to see what lies in store in The Deathly Hallows.

Harry: Did you know, sir? Then?
Dumbledore: Did I know that I just met the most dangerous dark wizard of all time?

The Searchers

2010-07-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

Spielberg once said that before he begins to direct a film he watches four movies: Seven Samurai, Lawrence of Arabia, It’s a Wonderful Life and The Searchers. Since Spielberg is one of my idols, and it’s only four films, I figured I should see the ones that I’ve never seen. Even thought, The Searchers was referenced many times in film school, I’ve never seen the full film, so it had to be netflixed.

If anyone ever doubts that an epic film can be a character piece, I would tell them to watch The Searchers. While at just about two hours, the film does not have an epic length it has all the epic trappings – it’s a period piece with high drama, a central actor that’s bigger than life, a visual scope that’s unparalleled and a director that was in his day, one of the best of the business. While The Searchers may concentrate on the arduous, extended search for a young girl who was kidnapped by the Comanche’s, but the real tale is about Ethan Edwards, played by the formidable John Wayne in one of his best performances.

Ethan Edwards is a character that’s been hardened by life; he’s just returned to his family in the west, a decorated veteran of the Civil War, but he’s bitter about the war as he was a soldier for the confederacy. Edwards doesn’t like the armed forces, the north, or the Indians and makes no bones about it. The only thing that Edwards seems to like at all is his brother and his family so when the family is killed by the Comanche’s and Debbi is kidnapped something in Ethan breaks and a relentless hunt for her begins with pits and falls as the years stretch by and Ethan realizes if Debbi has survived at all, to him she will now be more Comanche than blood family.

The last shot of the film with Ethan Edwards framed in the dark doorway, looking into the house of his family, before slowly turning around and walking away is one of the most iconic shots in cinematic history and the perfect end note for the character of Ethan Edwards. Edwards has spent the better part of a decade tracking down his niece, after being first broken by the Civil War; even though Ethan is now victorious, his dedication to hunting down Debbi and making the world pay for the loss of his family has stripped the last vestiges of humanity away from Edwards, the last bits that would let him remain a part of society and his community. Edwards knows the darkness in him exists and he has no part in returning to a life he long ago left.

I can see why Spielberg would watch this movie for inspiration. The Searchers is a masterpiece of directing. John Ford knows that the power of this movie is not in the star power of Wayne, but the performance and delivers. Not only is this film visually stunning, but compelling on a story and character level in a way modern epics are still trying to emulate.

Director: John Ford
Writer: Frank S. Nugent
Ethan Edwards: John Wayne
Martin Pawley: Jeffrey Hunter
Laurie Jorgensen: Vera Miles
Rev. Capt. Clayton: Ward Bond
Debbie Edwards: Natalie Wood

Ethan: Injun will chase a thing till he thinks he's chased it enough. Then he quits. Same way when he runs. Seems like he never learns there's such a thing as a critter that'll just keep comin' on. So we'll find 'em in the end, I promise you. We'll find 'em. Just as sure as the turnin' of the earth.

Gun Crazy

2010-07-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bart Tare was a good kid that got sent to reform school because of his love of guns. As an adult he returns from the army ready to start life clean until he meets Laurie Starr a carnival sharp-shooter, and the only gun as good as he is. When Bart & Annie eventually flee the carnival and marry they can’t make ends meet, and Annie’s dark nature comes out as she convinces Bart to pursue a life of crime with her.

Gun Crazy comes near the end of the classic noir period and it shows. While the film is enjoyable and intriguing, there is something about it that is not as purely noir as a film like Double Indemnity or Out of the Past. For lack of a better way to say it, Gun Crazy is a noir that feels like it’s trying to be sensational and dark; in earlier noirs this simply was an intrinsic part of the film, not the reason for which it was made. It is this reason that Gun Crazy isn’t as easy a watch as other noirs, simply because you feel as though you are being forced into the world of Bart and Annie.

From the opening frames I was immediately struck with the fact that Gun Crazy was shot primarily on a soundstage, something earlier noirs broke out of, and it adds an artificial feel to the shots onscreen – the depth of field is too shallow, the rain too intense, and the lighting too pretty. Then there is the fact that we are forced into the back story of Bart, a back story I feel like I could have done without – he would have been a stronger, more mysterious character without it. Perhaps, the films only real flaw is that it tries to focus on Bart, when the real fascination of the piece is Laurie.

From the moment we meet Annie she is fascinating; a carnival cowgirl in her costume, shooting blanks at the audience with a manic look in her eye – that introductory shot is actually the entire reason I put Gun Crazy in my Netflix queue, it’s that strong. Annie is a dark tangle of a woman, a femme fatale who for a few brief moments tries to be the angel of the piece only to discover she’s better at being tarnished. What never becomes clear, and perhaps makes Annie most fascinating is that you can spend the whole movie wondering if she truly loves Bart or is simply manipulating Bart using his love for her.

Gun Crazy may not be the best noir I’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t discount it’s place in the genre. This is one heck of a tale, one that undoubtedly inspired Bonnie and Clyde and a slew of crime films since. It’s a pretty striking view of the era, and how women were looked upon and I would say that Annie herself is a rejection of the female norm. And now that I’ve gone all film scholar on you, I’ll come back out to the real world and say this: Gun Crazy is a pretty entertaining film, even if it’s not pure noir.

Director: Joseph H. Lewis
Writers: MacKinlay Kantor & Dalton Trumbo
Annie Laurie Starr: Peggy Cummins
Bart Tare: John Dall

Annie: Bart, I've been kicked around all my life, and from now on, I'm gonna start kicking back.

Knight and Day

2010-07-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

I’ve been in love with the Tom Cruise in movies since I fell in love with Top Gun years ago, and it broke my heart while I was in college and in star began to tarnish. Thankfully for me, his star has been glowing a little more in the past few years, first Les Grossman and Valkyrie and now it can continue with Knight and Day. Knight and Day is the kind of Tom Cruise movie that I adore watching, and for the life of me I cannot figure out why this movie is not burning up the box offices. Knight and Day is a spy romantic comedy for lack of a better description of the genre, and it works on every level.

June Havens accidently gets caught up in the path of government agent Roy Miller, who is trying to protect young genius Simon from a rogue agent – a rogue agent who has pegged Miller as the bad seed and has the agency tracking him, and now June, down. While June is the resistant passenger on Roy’s journey she begins to fall for Roy even though she’s never sure if his tale of conspiracy is a lie or the truth.

The reason this film works so well is because of James Mangold. This director has put to huge stars together with Cameron Diaz and Tom Cruise and yet neither outshines the other, and their chemistry is fun to watch whether they are sparring verbally with one another or being attacked.

I’ve complained a great deal about directors that can’t handle tonal shifts in their films, and Mangold deserves praise because the tonal shifts in Knight and Day are imperceptible. As a viewer you go from laughing to anticipating onscreen gunfire without ever noticing that the mood suddenly changed in the film, simply because the writer, actors and Mangold did their job well – so well it looks easy and forgettable.

This movie is built around the chemistry between Cruise & Diaz. As a director I don’t know if I would have put the two onscreen together simply because I would have been afraid one star would eclipse the other, but thankfully that doesn’t happen here. Even though the tale is told from June’s perspective Roy is never sidelined or forgotten, and Roy’s character never makes June’s seem less important. This is a marriage of perfect characters and actors and the film is much better for it.

As I stated, Knight and Day is a movie that makes me happy to be a Tom Cruise fan again. This film is a throw-back to adult comedies, action films and stories. It’s a good film that masquerades as a popcorn film and the best part about it is that Knight and Day is fun, and makes you want to spend another two hours at the movies just so you can see it again.

Director: James Mangold
Writer: Patrick O’Neill
Roy Miller: Tom Cruise
June Havens: Cameron Diaz
Fitzgerald: Peter Sarsgaard
Antonio: Jordi Molla
Director George: Viola Davis
Simon Feck: Paul Dano
Rodney: Marc Blucas
April Havens: Maggie Grace

June: The pilots are dead.
Miller: Yeah, they've been shot.
June: By who?
Miller: By me. No, actually, I shot the first pilot then he accidentally shot the second pilot. It's just one of those things.

Double Indemnity

2010-06-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

What do you get when you throw Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler on the same film? You get lines like “How could I have known that murder can sometimes smell like honeysuckle?” and one of the most compelling film noirs ever to grace the screen.

Set in Los Angeles, Walter Neff is a niaeve insurance sales man who calls on the wrong house. When he makes his call to the Dietrichson residence to try to talk Mr. Dietrichson into renewing his auto policy he encounters Mrs. Dietrichson and becomes enamored, soon the two create a lovers plot to murder Mr. Dietrichson and scam Walter’s company, by taking out accident insurance and utilizing the double indemnity clause on it, getting paid twice the normal policy amount after Dietrichson’s death. However, murder is no easy game and before long the coconspirators find themselves embroiled in a plot they can’t see an escape from and begin to do anything to keep from ending up in a gas chamber for their crime.

Double Indemnity is one of the finest films Billy Wilder, or anyone in the cast ever made. This film is pitch perfect from the ghostly opening credits to the very end and delivers every twist, turn and foul move with the deft and confidence only a premiere director like Wilder could deliver.

This film speaks to Wilder’s skill because no single major character in this film is remotely sympathetic, and yet you end up caring about their fate. Walter Neff is a good guy gone bad for a dame, a sin he can’t be forgiven for, and from the moment you see Phyllis Dietrichson walk into frame you know that she is Eve’s sin wrapped up with a bow. No one is innocent in this film.

I believe I’ve said it before, but part of where the magic of a Billy Wilder film lies is the timelessness of his stories. Even though this film is set in post-war Los Angles, the script could be taken, set in any major city in a contemporary setting and could work nearly verbatim as a modern picture. Wilder made stories whose plots didn’t revolve on technology, politics or personalities specific to his era; he made stories that were based in universal human emotions – love, greed, lust, wealth and relationships – the rest was incidental.

It’s said by Wilder himself that Chandler had problems adapting to screenplay writing. However, I cannot emphasize enough that the dialogue in this screenplay drips of the tongues of the actors in a way only the writing of Raymond Chandler could. It is lush, fast and complicated forcing the viewer to pay as much attention to the nuances of what the characters are saying as they are to the actions the characters are performing.

Double Indemnity stands high on the list of films I want to aspire to. If I could capture the artistic verve that Wilder & Chandler put into this film, I could put a story on screen that audiences wouldn’t be able to rip their eyes away from. That my friends is a lofty directorial goal.

Director: Billy Wilder
Writers: Billy Wilder & Raymond Chandler
Walter Neff: Fred MacMurray
Phyllis Dietrichson: Barbara Stanwyck
Barton Keyes: Edward G. Robinson
Lola Dietrichson: Jean Heather
Mr. Dietrichson: Tom Powers

Walter Neff: That was all there was to it.Nothing had slipped, nothing had been overlooked.There was nothing to give us away. And yet, Keyes, as I was walking down the street to the drugstore, suddenly, it came over me that everything would go wrong. It sounds crazy Keyes, but it's true, so help me, I couldn't hear my own footsteps. It was the walk of a dead man.

(500) Days of Summer

2010-06-24T11:06:00.001-07:00

(500) Days of Summer
Originally uploaded by swingcopate

Let me start by saying I totally didn’t mean to watch all of (500) Days of Summer again. Really. I didn’t. It’s just that the movie kind of draws you in. You see, I wanted to reference something from the opening of the film, so I popped it in, watched what I needed and started to work on something else while it will still playing and the next thing I knew I was multi-tasking: watching (500) Days of Summer and working. I fully intended to stop the film and put in another movie on my list and suddenly I was more than half-way through the film and you can’t just stop the movie after you’ve invested all that time. You just can’t.

Marc Webb. What have you done to me?

Tom: Did you ever do this, you think back on all the times you've had with someone and you just replay it in your head over and over again and you look for those first signs of trouble?

Uncertainty

2010-06-23T14:01:00.001-07:00

IFC FILMS: UNCERTAINTY
Originally uploaded by funkybrownchick

Uncertainty is a film that I shouldn’t have liked, it’s a film that shouldn’t have worked – but it does. It’s the kind of film a film professor of mine would have yelled at us for trying to make, he would have told us it’s too conceptual, too vague and lacked creativity. I hope he saw this film and ate his words.

The reason this film shouldn’t work & I shouldn’t like it is that it’s one of the most conceptual films I’ve ever seen. The premise of the film is in the name - Uncertainty. This is a film about a young couple, Kate & Bobby, who at the beginning of the film stand on the Brooklyn Bridge debating what to do on their fourth of July holiday. They can’t decide and so they flip a coin. What follows is two distinctly different films merged into one – in one scenario Bobby & Kate stay in the city, find a stray cell phone and end up running for their lives; in the other scenario they go to see Kate’s family and encounter the family dynamic that involves.

After seeing the second season of Project: Greenlight I was not a fan of directing teams, but for Uncertainty the pair of Scott McGehee & David Siegel works beautifully. As there are two completely different stories, the pair each tackles one series of events. The result is two plots that visually exist in the same story but each have a defined color palette, style and signature. It’s visually arresting and fun to watch how the two stories are cut together into one cohesive film, a film that is at once an interesting story on the surface and a metaphor for choices and the internal battle we go through in making them.

I can’t imagine how this was to conquer as actors for Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Lynn Collins. While Kate & Bobby are still the same characters – a young couple struggling with life decisions that will affect their relationships – the stresses each plot puts them under is entirely different. It’s a testament to the actors and directors that what ends up on screen is distinct and blended into a film that ultimately leaves you thinking about the characters future as the credits roll.

I don’t know a lot about the production of this film, so I don’t know if McGehee & Siegel intend to continue working together in the future, but Uncertainty intrigued me enough that it will likely be added to my collection before long and I will definitely see any projects they put out in the future.

Directors & Writers: Scott McGehee & David Siegel
Bobby: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Kate: Lynn Collins

Vanishing Point

2010-06-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

As Vanishing Point drew to a close the first thought that struck me is that this movie is Easy Rider with a car. The story of an ex-cop/pro-driver who for no reason is in process of a car delivery and decides to piss off the law and run the police all over the desert, uniting the outcasts of society on his way – it’s counter-culture a few years post it’s death, a death that was shown in Easy Rider.

The character that makes the whole movie work is Super Soul. He’s a DJ out at a desert radio station, and he becomes the unofficial narrator of the piece. He discovers Kowalski’s flight from the police via an illegal scanner and begins to broadcast Kowalski’s progress to all his listeners. Super Soul turns Kowalski into the last heroic soul there is, escaping the law, searching for the last vestiges of freedom in the west and gets the remaining dregs of counter-culture, hidden throughout the desert on Kowalski’s side.

If you’re looking for a deep plot, layers of metaphor and a full-fledged character arch Vanishing Point is probably not the film for you. Easy Rider does a lot more of that than this film. However, Vanishing Point does have its place among films from that influential decade of the 1970’s. This is one of the first macho car films. This is a loving whisper to the faded adventure of the golden west.

What Vanishing Point did for me more than anything is make me want a Dodge Challenger. This car is put through hell and back in Vanishing Point and I swear, by the end of the film the car achieves sex symbol status. Anything that can take a beating like that and keep on ticking is worth driving.

Director: Richard C. Sarafian
Writer: Guillermo Cabrea Infante
Kowalski: Barry Newman
Super Soul: Cleavon Little

Super Soul: And there goes the Challenger, being chased by the blue, blue meanies on wheels. The vicious traffic squad cars are after our lone driver, the last American hero, the electric centaur, the, the demi-god, the super driver of the golden west! Two nasty Nazi cars are close behind the beautiful lone driver. The police numbers are gettin' closer, closer, closer to our soul hero, in his soul mobile, yeah baby! They about to strike. They gonna get him. Smash him. Rape... the last beautiful free soul on this planet.

Women In Trouble

2010-06-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

Women In Trouble is an interesting little film by Sebastian Gutierrez. It’s the interwoven tale of several groups of women having a bad day in the Los Angeles area; porn star Elektra Luxx finds out she’s pregnant and ends up stuck in an elevator during a heat wave with Doris who is struggling with her sister Addy & niece Charlotte; Charlotte is seeing her mother’s shrink and Addy is seeing the shrink’s husband; two prostitutes run into the distraught shrink and help her get drunk to drown her sorrows; meanwhile in the air two flight attendants deal with Nick Chapel – Elektra’s boyfriend & a high profile rock star.

The obvious comparison here is to Perdo Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, but I don’t think this was Gutierrez’s full intention –his film may be more homage than American remake. While the cast of distraught female characters is there, and a bit of a quirky artistic flare, I do think that Gutierrez was trying to make a artistic statement about a day in the lives of these women in a difficult environment.

I’ve read a few reviews that based Women In Trouble for being a horrible depiction of women – hookers, porn stars, victims & dumb blondes. While I do agree that these women are all an extreme I didn’t find this offensive and I am a woman. To serve this film justice the characters in this film needed to be pretty extreme – otherwise it would have to be a serious drama like Far From Heaven or Revolutionary Road instead of being quirkily upbeat. Besides, if you’ve spent any time at all in LA – you’ve seen plenty of women like all of these women – even the naive shrink and too world-wise child.

All in all I enjoyed the quirky pace of this film. I’ll probably check out the sequel Elektra Luxx when it makes it’s way to me. Gutierrez painted a unique enough world that I would not mind visiting it again and finding out what happened to Elektra after the credits rolled.

Director & Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez
Elektra Luxx: Carla Gugino
Holly Rocket: Adrianne Palicki
Doris: Connie Britton
Addy: Caitlin Keats
Charlotte: Isabella Gutierrez
Travis McPherson: Simon Baker
Maxine McPherson: Sarah Clarke
Bambi: Emmanuelle Chriqui
Cora: Marley Shelton
Nick Chapel: Josh Brolin
Bert Rodriguez: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Toy Story 3

2010-06-21T11:59:00.001-07:00

Toy Story 3 (2010)
Originally uploaded by chicofireman2

As an adult I feel a bit silly saying that Toy Story 3 made me cry, but as a fan of the films since I was a child it’s completely understandable why Pixar would be able to tap into my emotions and use a product and characters I had grown up with in a poignant way.

This adventure for Andy’s toys revolves around the fact that Andy is no longer a child, he’s going off to college in a week and though Buzz, Woody and most of his childhood toys are still around they don’t know what their fate will be. When Andy’s Mom accidently donates the toys instead of storing them in the attic they assume Andy wanted to throw them out and refuse to follow Woody home in time to see Andy leave. Buzz, Sally & the rest end up trapped at the Sunny Side Day care Center under the eye of Lotso – a toy bear who rules the day care with an iron fist.

What I appreciate about the Toy Story series as an adult is that each film is a metaphor for a stage of life. The first film was about accepting a new member of your family, the second about a midlife crisis, and the third installment is about aging – they’re a beautiful message about family and love. I could write pages about the layer of meaning and metaphor in the films, and I do believe Pixar is able to pack so much meaning, fun and emotion into every film simply because of the way they make their films – doing draft after draft of visual and story before the final animation process ever begins.

While Toy Story 3 didn’t make me emotional the same way the story of Ellie & Carl did in Up there were two definite moments in the film that got me. The first was near the beginning when Woody and the toys discuss their missing friends; Woody claims they’ve gone on to new homes at garage sales, but any viewer who’s paid attention knows they are actually characters whose voice actor has died. The second emotional moment, that did make me tear up, occurs in the last scene of the film. I won’t discuss it here as it would be a spoiler but it has to do with Andy not being a kid any more.

I still can’t believe that I’ve literally grown up with Toy Story. It seems like just a few years ago I was a kid going with my brothers to see the first movie, but here I am now, a young director trying to make movies that impact others they way movies like Toy Story have impacted me.

Director: Lee Unkrich
Writers: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
Woody: Tom Hanks
Buzz Lightyear: Tim Allen
Jessie: Joan Cusack
Lotso: Ned Beatty
Mr. Potato Head: Don Rickles
Ken: Michael Keaton
Rex: Wallace Shawn
Hamm: John Ratzenberger
Mrs. Potato Head: Estelle Harris
Andy: John Morris
Barbie: Jodi Benson
Bonnie: Emily Hahn
Andy’s Mom: Laurie Metcalf

Sergeant: We've done our duty. Andy's grown up.
Soldier: Let's face it. When the trash bags come out, we army guys are the first to go.
Buzz Lightyear: Trash bags?
Woody: Who said anything about trash bags?
Sergeant: It has been an honor serving with you. Good luck, folks.