The Brother's Bloom

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...

Predators

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?

The Brothers Bloom

The Brothers Bloom
Originally uploaded by AsceticMonk

Brother’s Bloom and Stephen lived a rag tag life of floating from foster home to foster home never finding their role in the world until they discover the art of the con. Stephen and Bloom rise to the top of the con echelon with Stephen as the master architect and Bloom as his main player; the con is their work of art with actors, themes and over-reaching ideas. Their schemes are things of beauty. Soon, Bloom grows tired of having no life but the ones Stephen writes for him, but before he can quit Stephen talks him into one final con, to take bored heiress on the adventure of a life time and relieve her of part of her fortune. What Bloom doesn’t count on is that Penelope could be the one thing he’s always wanted in his life.

What I love most about Rian Johnson’s movies is that they surprise me. From the opening frames right until the end credit scroll beings I don’t know what is going to happen or how Johnson is going to take me there. This alone would gain Johnson credibility in my book simply because of the amount of movies I see, but the fact that his movies are astoundingly complex and beautiful on all levels makes me wish The Brother’s Bloom was a movie that could get remembered come Oscar nomination.

Most of the critics out there have universally declared that Rachel Weisz steals the film. I do not disagree with this. She is funny, charming and all together irrepressible. However, I have to say that Rinko Kikuchi who barely speaks a word in the film as pyro expert Bang Bang steals a bit of the film herself.

I won’t say much to spoil Johnson’s latest tale here, but what I can say is that The Brother’s Bloom is not a movie that should be missed. It should be praised, re-watched and added to DVD collections everywhere. If it can garner an award or two that would be even better.

Penelope: Rachel Weisz
Bloom: Adrien Brody
Stephen: Mark Ruffalo
Bang Bang: Rinko Kikuchi
The Curator: Robbie Coltrane

The Singing Detective

Dan Dark is a novelist trapped in a clinic treating his severe case of psoriasis which leave shim unable to move almost any part of his body without severe pain. The disease has made Dan true to his name; he is mad at the world, thinks his wife is cheating on him and trying to take him for his money, and suffers from intense paranoia. In an effort to escape the prison of his body Dan’s imagination has taken over and he see’s the fantasy of what he thinks is going on in his life with his wife and doctors, and in his imagination he is the fictional persona from his book, the singing detective.

One of my favorite things about The Singing Detective is the visual style of the film. There are three separate worlds in the movie and Keith Gordon creates a distinct style for each yet somehow manages to stitch them all into one cohesive whole. The colors and lighting in The Singing Detective are a thing of beauty.

I must also complement Robert Downey Jr. Keith Gordon came to my class in college and spoke about working with Downey in this movie; The Singing Detective was Downey’s first starring role in a film since his jail sentence and producer Mel Gibson and Gordon had to fight to get Downey cast as the lead. However, their insistence paid off and Downey gives a memorable and moving performance as the paranoid Dan Dark.

The Singing Detective is a multi-layered movie, and is very different. Keith Gordon made a quirky film about a man trying to figure himself out and it is quite the experience to watch.

Director: Keith Gordon
Writer: Dennis Potter
Dan Dark: Robert Downey Jr.
Nicola: Robin Wright Penn
Dr. Gibbon: Mel Gibson
Mark Binney: Jeremy Northam
Nurse Mills: Katie Holmes
First Hood: Adrien Brody
Second Hood: Jon Polito
Betty Dark: Carla Gugino

Dan Dark: Are you pretending to be an oddball or are you actually nuts?