Blood and Chocolate (Katja Von Garnier, 2007) - C
Von Garnier's werewolves don't transform with screams of pain and grotesque morphs; nor do they become gangly, ugly human-canine hybrids; nor are they hampered by such niceties as the lunar cycle. They leap into the air gracefully in the heat of the hunt, and transform into real, gorgeous wolves in a flash of light that may have been used to reduce the effects budget, but ends up being perfectly appropriate to illustrate something that need not really be all that technically impressive. They're hardly monsters at all, really, and the point is that irrational fear "of what we're not" is what turns them into objects of horror. Could have been tragic, except Von Garnier insists on turning the movie into a rejected WB-pilot, with weirdly dull-eyed Agnes Bruckner running off with plucky, unsuspecting Hugh Dancy, their love proscribed as bad for the werewolf community. The film is so invested in this that it forgets about the damn werewolves, who wind up pretty much incoherent: it's suggested that they have some level of superhuman strength and prowess, but all we see is Bruckner skipping off walls Little-Red-Riding-Hood-style, and later Dancy starts dispatching the creatures with a butter knife (albeit a silver one). Also goes on several climaxes too long, mistaking itself for a competent action film. The kind of movie that seems interesting for a while, before you realize it's totally clueless.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Catch and Release
Catch and Release (Susannah Grant, 2007) - C
The kind of movie where all plot progression depends on characters' stunning and improbable lack of tact, or alternatively on characters overhearing insulting things about themselves (the film even comments on this: "It's a small house, everyone hears everything"). Glaringly artificial, in other words, full of awkward screenplay-isms (e.g. people starting conversations with a nonsense line, only to reveal [after the other person says "What?"] that they were making an oblique reference to something that happened earlier -- does anyone actually do that?) and contrived, arbitrary twists; it's all unbelievably manipulative and fundamentally boring despite some nice performances by Kevin Smith (!), Fiona Shaw, and sporadically Timothy Olyphant. Jennifer Garner does a lot of pouting and shocked indignation, making her character more self-important than sympathetic, and Juliette Lewis has what might be the most thankless and impossible task of all time: trying to be shrill, deranged and likable at the same time. But it's Grant's screenplay that's the basic problem -- sickly sweet and clumsy, it never manages to convince us that the dead character at its center actually existed. And the fishing metaphor is retarded.
The kind of movie where all plot progression depends on characters' stunning and improbable lack of tact, or alternatively on characters overhearing insulting things about themselves (the film even comments on this: "It's a small house, everyone hears everything"). Glaringly artificial, in other words, full of awkward screenplay-isms (e.g. people starting conversations with a nonsense line, only to reveal [after the other person says "What?"] that they were making an oblique reference to something that happened earlier -- does anyone actually do that?) and contrived, arbitrary twists; it's all unbelievably manipulative and fundamentally boring despite some nice performances by Kevin Smith (!), Fiona Shaw, and sporadically Timothy Olyphant. Jennifer Garner does a lot of pouting and shocked indignation, making her character more self-important than sympathetic, and Juliette Lewis has what might be the most thankless and impossible task of all time: trying to be shrill, deranged and likable at the same time. But it's Grant's screenplay that's the basic problem -- sickly sweet and clumsy, it never manages to convince us that the dead character at its center actually existed. And the fishing metaphor is retarded.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Venus
Venus (Roger Michell, 2006) - B+
I was ready to be the voice of backlash on this, but I must admit it's a lovely send-off (?) for O'Toole, who proves equally adept at heavy drama and slapstick at the formidable age of 74. I could say it's about Dying With Dignity, but that makes it sound more boring and clichéd than it is, and The Sea Inside this ain't: it's more about rising above the depressing situation where death is the default position and anything more than that is gravy. What struck me was the inconsiderate nonchalance of the doctors and the nurses, who seem to think that O'Toole's elderly thespian should leap in the air with glee at any suggestion that he's not about to keel over: one attempts to engage in idle chit-chat while administering a prostate exam; two gossip among themselves while sticking him with needles; a fourth curtly pronounces that though impotence and incontinence are sure to follow the operation, Maurice will emerge alive. It's a nightmare of indifference, which is what all the film's characters seem to be struggling with -- but love is the answer, as it usually is, and the early description of Venus as love and temptation that brings with it despair and foolishness turns out to be way off as to the latter. The movie starts out off-kilter, with an oddly jerky rhythm, but then settles into a tone of wry amusement, cheerfully lingering on the unpleasant details of growing old (toenail clipping, colostomy bags) and then, in a touching display of optimism, turning them into jokes. Sweet, sad, and funny too: "Not yodeling! Yodeling? Modeling!"
I was ready to be the voice of backlash on this, but I must admit it's a lovely send-off (?) for O'Toole, who proves equally adept at heavy drama and slapstick at the formidable age of 74. I could say it's about Dying With Dignity, but that makes it sound more boring and clichéd than it is, and The Sea Inside this ain't: it's more about rising above the depressing situation where death is the default position and anything more than that is gravy. What struck me was the inconsiderate nonchalance of the doctors and the nurses, who seem to think that O'Toole's elderly thespian should leap in the air with glee at any suggestion that he's not about to keel over: one attempts to engage in idle chit-chat while administering a prostate exam; two gossip among themselves while sticking him with needles; a fourth curtly pronounces that though impotence and incontinence are sure to follow the operation, Maurice will emerge alive. It's a nightmare of indifference, which is what all the film's characters seem to be struggling with -- but love is the answer, as it usually is, and the early description of Venus as love and temptation that brings with it despair and foolishness turns out to be way off as to the latter. The movie starts out off-kilter, with an oddly jerky rhythm, but then settles into a tone of wry amusement, cheerfully lingering on the unpleasant details of growing old (toenail clipping, colostomy bags) and then, in a touching display of optimism, turning them into jokes. Sweet, sad, and funny too: "Not yodeling! Yodeling? Modeling!"
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Miss Potter
Miss Potter (Chris Noonan, 2006) - B
"To love and be loved in return," etc., but the movie nicely integrates that into the much more interesting question of whether the relationship of an artist with her art can substitute for meaningful human interaction and other more traditional means of personal fulfillment. Answer: probably not, though the bottom line seems to be that true happiness, at least for Beatrix Potter, requires ruffling some feathers, be it of her churlish socialite mother and kind failed artist father, some greedy land developers, or even just an innocent guy strolling in the park as her carriage speeds by, with her insisting that they go faster, faster! The even, almost deadpan tone (it's just as earnest pushing Emily Watson's feminist posturing as it is predictably undercutting the same later) and exaggeratedly genteel dialogue give the movie a stifled air that (unlike its protagonist) it never quite manages to break through, but it's genuinely amiable and nice -- the perfect Sunday-afternoon senior-citizen-cinema, really -- and more thoughtful about the title character than all the clichéd Don't-Bring-Tradespeople-Into-the-House-They-Bring-Dust stuff lets on. If someone can explain to me why Renée Zellweger insists on constantly scrunching her face together in that grotesque way, though, I'd be grateful.
"To love and be loved in return," etc., but the movie nicely integrates that into the much more interesting question of whether the relationship of an artist with her art can substitute for meaningful human interaction and other more traditional means of personal fulfillment. Answer: probably not, though the bottom line seems to be that true happiness, at least for Beatrix Potter, requires ruffling some feathers, be it of her churlish socialite mother and kind failed artist father, some greedy land developers, or even just an innocent guy strolling in the park as her carriage speeds by, with her insisting that they go faster, faster! The even, almost deadpan tone (it's just as earnest pushing Emily Watson's feminist posturing as it is predictably undercutting the same later) and exaggeratedly genteel dialogue give the movie a stifled air that (unlike its protagonist) it never quite manages to break through, but it's genuinely amiable and nice -- the perfect Sunday-afternoon senior-citizen-cinema, really -- and more thoughtful about the title character than all the clichéd Don't-Bring-Tradespeople-Into-the-House-They-Bring-Dust stuff lets on. If someone can explain to me why Renée Zellweger insists on constantly scrunching her face together in that grotesque way, though, I'd be grateful.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Steve Irwin was wrong
Primeval (Michael Katleman, 2007) - C+
A message movie about Africa: Gustave the enormous crocodile is (or is engendered by, if you prefer) the evil in the hearts of men that turns "the cradle of all mankind" into a famine-ravaged warzone where, as the film helpfully points out, "people shoot at each other" -- the title isn't arbitrary, and nor is the fact that the fearsome local warlord is monikered "Little Gustave." Our protagonists -- a news production team -- come in for the same reasons and with the same attitudes that most westerners have when they turn their attention to the continent: Gustave has just claimed a white victim and thus made it to American tv sets, exasperation quickly outs as characters start saying things like "the more you help, the worse it gets," and their plan to take the croc alive (lasso human nature?) is mysteriously devoid of any inkling of what to do afterward. The movie doesn't know what to do with the enormous crocodile either, shoehorning in occasional horror sequences but forgetting about him altogether for long stretches. The horror stuff doesn't really work, since it's mostly dark and murky and the special effects suck, but Primeval is surprisingly sincere about its subtext (so much so that it repeatedly turns subtext into text), and the degree to which it takes the time to stop and admire the scenery -- literally and figuratively -- is surprising. Had this actually functioned as a genre film, we might have had something; still, I'm intrigued by its notion that the place where humanity began is not coincidentally also a hellish pit of despair.
A message movie about Africa: Gustave the enormous crocodile is (or is engendered by, if you prefer) the evil in the hearts of men that turns "the cradle of all mankind" into a famine-ravaged warzone where, as the film helpfully points out, "people shoot at each other" -- the title isn't arbitrary, and nor is the fact that the fearsome local warlord is monikered "Little Gustave." Our protagonists -- a news production team -- come in for the same reasons and with the same attitudes that most westerners have when they turn their attention to the continent: Gustave has just claimed a white victim and thus made it to American tv sets, exasperation quickly outs as characters start saying things like "the more you help, the worse it gets," and their plan to take the croc alive (lasso human nature?) is mysteriously devoid of any inkling of what to do afterward. The movie doesn't know what to do with the enormous crocodile either, shoehorning in occasional horror sequences but forgetting about him altogether for long stretches. The horror stuff doesn't really work, since it's mostly dark and murky and the special effects suck, but Primeval is surprisingly sincere about its subtext (so much so that it repeatedly turns subtext into text), and the degree to which it takes the time to stop and admire the scenery -- literally and figuratively -- is surprising. Had this actually functioned as a genre film, we might have had something; still, I'm intrigued by its notion that the place where humanity began is not coincidentally also a hellish pit of despair.
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Annual Counterprogramming
Black Christmas (Glen Morgan, 2006) - C-
The key was to invert the holly jolly Christmas signifiers into portents of doom, but the movie is sloppy and impatient -- it's on to something with the persistence of blinking lights (though those are kind of like clowns, in that it takes but a minor tweak to take them from cheery to eerie) but most other attempts to toy with the iconography backfire, largely because every scene quickly devolves into either typical horror violence or over-the-top baroque absurdity (e.g. the cannibalistic Christmas cookies). The tone is all wrong, too: Morgan goes for sarcasm when he needed solemnity, even if it was of the self-conscious variety; little things like the faux-Christmas font in the title cards give the film the impression of being delivered with a sneer. Worse, it's mostly tension-free, since Morgan is weirdly committed to his silly backstory, leaving the terrorized present-day characters to be interchangeable and irrelevant. I thought Glen Morgan was promising after the lithe, beautiful Willard, but he seems to be joining James Wong and Rob Bowman on the list of "X-Files alums not worth a whole heck of a lot." Shame.
The key was to invert the holly jolly Christmas signifiers into portents of doom, but the movie is sloppy and impatient -- it's on to something with the persistence of blinking lights (though those are kind of like clowns, in that it takes but a minor tweak to take them from cheery to eerie) but most other attempts to toy with the iconography backfire, largely because every scene quickly devolves into either typical horror violence or over-the-top baroque absurdity (e.g. the cannibalistic Christmas cookies). The tone is all wrong, too: Morgan goes for sarcasm when he needed solemnity, even if it was of the self-conscious variety; little things like the faux-Christmas font in the title cards give the film the impression of being delivered with a sneer. Worse, it's mostly tension-free, since Morgan is weirdly committed to his silly backstory, leaving the terrorized present-day characters to be interchangeable and irrelevant. I thought Glen Morgan was promising after the lithe, beautiful Willard, but he seems to be joining James Wong and Rob Bowman on the list of "X-Files alums not worth a whole heck of a lot." Shame.
Friday, January 5, 2007
You Smell Funny
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (Tom Tykwer, 2006) - A-
Some fierce religious overtones here, to the point where I think it might just be allegory. It's suggested that Grenouille has no soul (no scent of his own), and thus spends his time collecting others'; once he's put together the right "formula," he commands absolute power, or at least influence, over the public; at one point, he's excommunicated, in absentia, from the Catholic Church. Everyone he encounters on his journey dies immediately after sending him on his way. Tykwer shoots Grenouille's victims brightly and him in shadow. He turns bloodlust into beauty. Is he the antichrist? The Great Deceiver? Others prefer to interpret the ending as a metaphor for the relationship of an artist with his audience, though that has the unfortunate side effect of rendering the rest of the film irrelevant. And I dare you to look into Grenouille's eyes when he's reciting perfume formulas for Dustin Hoffman's Baldini and not feel an otherworldly chill. Tykwer's film is elegant, unnerving storytelling; Ben Whishaw will have a long and bountiful career.
Code Name: The Cleaner (Les Mayfield, 2007) - D-
I really should know better than to waste my time like this. Too irritated to write anything substantive; suffice it to say this is the sort of incoherent comedy-of-idiocy I can't stand.
Some fierce religious overtones here, to the point where I think it might just be allegory. It's suggested that Grenouille has no soul (no scent of his own), and thus spends his time collecting others'; once he's put together the right "formula," he commands absolute power, or at least influence, over the public; at one point, he's excommunicated, in absentia, from the Catholic Church. Everyone he encounters on his journey dies immediately after sending him on his way. Tykwer shoots Grenouille's victims brightly and him in shadow. He turns bloodlust into beauty. Is he the antichrist? The Great Deceiver? Others prefer to interpret the ending as a metaphor for the relationship of an artist with his audience, though that has the unfortunate side effect of rendering the rest of the film irrelevant. And I dare you to look into Grenouille's eyes when he's reciting perfume formulas for Dustin Hoffman's Baldini and not feel an otherworldly chill. Tykwer's film is elegant, unnerving storytelling; Ben Whishaw will have a long and bountiful career.
Code Name: The Cleaner (Les Mayfield, 2007) - D-
I really should know better than to waste my time like this. Too irritated to write anything substantive; suffice it to say this is the sort of incoherent comedy-of-idiocy I can't stand.
Thursday, January 4, 2007
'Breaker' Morant
'Breaker' Morant (Bruce Beresford, 1990) - A-
This one's all about rhythm, consisting of a lengthy military court-martial sequence punctuated by constant, short, often staccato interruptions, some expository, some rueful, others sarcastic. Seems to settle down a bit toward the end, at least insofar as the chronology becomes more or less straightforward, but the editing continues the disorienting sensation, eliding time and skipping over key revelations only to announce them later with three bitterly shouted words ("Same as Morant"). It's a tension-builder, and an effective stand-in for the film's overwhelming cynicism -- men's fates are decided by the pettiest of political considerations (e.g. Australia not wanting to appear "colonial"); much is made of the execution of POWs without a "fair trial" but the court-martial is obviously a kangaroo court -- and it turns the movie into a shot to the heart rather than simply maudlin moral condemnation. The ending is crushing.
This one's all about rhythm, consisting of a lengthy military court-martial sequence punctuated by constant, short, often staccato interruptions, some expository, some rueful, others sarcastic. Seems to settle down a bit toward the end, at least insofar as the chronology becomes more or less straightforward, but the editing continues the disorienting sensation, eliding time and skipping over key revelations only to announce them later with three bitterly shouted words ("Same as Morant"). It's a tension-builder, and an effective stand-in for the film's overwhelming cynicism -- men's fates are decided by the pettiest of political considerations (e.g. Australia not wanting to appear "colonial"); much is made of the execution of POWs without a "fair trial" but the court-martial is obviously a kangaroo court -- and it turns the movie into a shot to the heart rather than simply maudlin moral condemnation. The ending is crushing.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Unoriginal Bastards
Night at the Museum (Shawn Levy, 2006) - D+
Who wrote this? I really frickin' hate this movie -- it makes no sense, tries to wring laughs out of things that aren't even jokes, and has the most ridiculously abortive romantic subplot ever. Worse, it's directed with zero sense of comic timing, and gags that could potentially have been funny are utterly botched: witness the scene in the employment agency, which has several amusing zingers but is edited so horrendously that the lines just sit there as we stare at Ben Stiller's weirdly inexpressive face. Awful, awful, awful, and it only gets worse once we get to the museum and the movie just starts throwing money at the screen. The worst is the dumbass explanation for why every exhibit comes alive at night: there's this mysterious Egyptian tablet, you see, and it guards this mummy of an ancient pharaoh, but it also gives anyone in the museum eternal youth... Ricky Gervais is solely responsible for the +.
Who wrote this? I really frickin' hate this movie -- it makes no sense, tries to wring laughs out of things that aren't even jokes, and has the most ridiculously abortive romantic subplot ever. Worse, it's directed with zero sense of comic timing, and gags that could potentially have been funny are utterly botched: witness the scene in the employment agency, which has several amusing zingers but is edited so horrendously that the lines just sit there as we stare at Ben Stiller's weirdly inexpressive face. Awful, awful, awful, and it only gets worse once we get to the museum and the movie just starts throwing money at the screen. The worst is the dumbass explanation for why every exhibit comes alive at night: there's this mysterious Egyptian tablet, you see, and it guards this mummy of an ancient pharaoh, but it also gives anyone in the museum eternal youth... Ricky Gervais is solely responsible for the +.
Friday, December 29, 2006
OFCS Nominations
Below, if anyone's interested, is a copy of my ballot for the Online Film Critics Society annual awards. This is at the nominations stage, which is the only time I choose freely from the year's releases. The choices for each category are listed in order of preference, with more points awarded to the films nearer the top of the list.
Best Picture
Best Actor
1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brick
2. Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
3. Ken Watanabe, Letters from Iwo Jima
3. Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
4. Edward Norton, The Painted Veil
Best Actress
1. Ellen Page, Hard Candy
2. Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
3. Gong Li, The Curse of the Golden Flower
4. Rosario Dawson, Clerks II
5. Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil
Best Supporting Actor
1. Richard Griffiths, The History Boys
2. James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland
3. Steve Carell, Little Miss Sunshine
4. Kazunari Ninomiya, Letters from Iwo Jima
5. Sergi Lopez, Pan's Labyrinth
Best Supporting Actress
1. Luminita Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2. Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
3. Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion
4. Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson
5. Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Original Screenplay
1. Brick
2. The Fountain
3. Monster House
4. Hard Candy
5. Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay
1. The Departed
2. The Prestige
3. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
4. Marie Antoinette
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
Best Cinematography
1. Children of Men
2. United 93
3. Running Scared
4. Pan's Labyrinth
5. The Black Dahlia
Best Editing
1. United 93
2. The Descent
3. The Prestige
4. Children of Men
5. Stranger than Fiction
Best Score
1. The Fountain
2. Lady in the Water
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Brick
5. Rocky Balboa
Best Documentary
1. The Heart of the Game
2. Street Fight
3. Jesus Camp
4. Deliver Us From Evil
5. Why We Fight
Best Foreign-Language Film (non-English)
1. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. The Curse of the Golden Flower
4. Water
5. The Lives of Others
Best Animated Feature
1. Monster House
2. Happy Feet
3. A Scanner Darkly
4. Renaissance
5. Flushed Away
Breakthrough Filmmaker
1. Rian Johnson, Brick
2. James McTeigue, V for Vendetta
3. Neil Marshall, The Descent
4. Gil Kenan, Monster House
5. Ryan Fleck, Half Nelson
Breakthrough Performance
1. Ellen Page, Hard Candy
2. Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson
3. Kazunari Ninomiya, Letters from Iwo Jima
4. Jodelle Ferland, Tideland
5. Rudy Youngblood, Apocalypto
Best Picture
1. Brick
2. Children of Men
3. United 93
4. Letters from Iwo Jima
5. The Departed
2. Children of Men
3. United 93
4. Letters from Iwo Jima
5. The Departed
Best Director
1. Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men
2. Martin Scorsese, The Departed
3. Wayne Kramer, Running Scared
4. Paul Greengrass, United 93
5. Rian Johnson, Brick
1. Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men
2. Martin Scorsese, The Departed
3. Wayne Kramer, Running Scared
4. Paul Greengrass, United 93
5. Rian Johnson, Brick
Best Actor
1. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brick
2. Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
3. Ken Watanabe, Letters from Iwo Jima
3. Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
4. Edward Norton, The Painted Veil
Best Actress
1. Ellen Page, Hard Candy
2. Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
3. Gong Li, The Curse of the Golden Flower
4. Rosario Dawson, Clerks II
5. Naomi Watts, The Painted Veil
Best Supporting Actor
1. Richard Griffiths, The History Boys
2. James McAvoy, The Last King of Scotland
3. Steve Carell, Little Miss Sunshine
4. Kazunari Ninomiya, Letters from Iwo Jima
5. Sergi Lopez, Pan's Labyrinth
Best Supporting Actress
1. Luminita Gheorghiu, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2. Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada
3. Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion
4. Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson
5. Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Best Original Screenplay
1. Brick
2. The Fountain
3. Monster House
4. Hard Candy
5. Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay
1. The Departed
2. The Prestige
3. A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
4. Marie Antoinette
5. Letters from Iwo Jima
Best Cinematography
1. Children of Men
2. United 93
3. Running Scared
4. Pan's Labyrinth
5. The Black Dahlia
Best Editing
1. United 93
2. The Descent
3. The Prestige
4. Children of Men
5. Stranger than Fiction
Best Score
1. The Fountain
2. Lady in the Water
3. Pan's Labyrinth
4. Brick
5. Rocky Balboa
Best Documentary
1. The Heart of the Game
2. Street Fight
3. Jesus Camp
4. Deliver Us From Evil
5. Why We Fight
Best Foreign-Language Film (non-English)
1. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu
2. Pan's Labyrinth
3. The Curse of the Golden Flower
4. Water
5. The Lives of Others
Best Animated Feature
1. Monster House
2. Happy Feet
3. A Scanner Darkly
4. Renaissance
5. Flushed Away
Breakthrough Filmmaker
1. Rian Johnson, Brick
2. James McTeigue, V for Vendetta
3. Neil Marshall, The Descent
4. Gil Kenan, Monster House
5. Ryan Fleck, Half Nelson
Breakthrough Performance
1. Ellen Page, Hard Candy
2. Shareeka Epps, Half Nelson
3. Kazunari Ninomiya, Letters from Iwo Jima
4. Jodelle Ferland, Tideland
5. Rudy Youngblood, Apocalypto
The Spy Who
The Good Shepherd (Robert De Niro, 2006) - B-
Tries to take you through two decades of CIA history as seen through the eyes of the Agency's chief of counter-intelligence from World War II through the Bay of Pigs invasion and beyond, but though the running time pushes three hours, its trek through the 40s and 50s is depressingly cursory. There's not enough detail to really engage us in any of the spy stuff, and the characters' tragically repressed personal lives can't carry the film. Maybe there's an argument that the obsession with secrecy that is The Good Shepherd's thematic core makes the relative sparseness of the narrative more appropriate, but that doesn't make it any more interesting. (This is not to say that the plot is uneventful -- it certainly isn't that -- but more that not enough information is given to make it satisfying -- maybe I don't know my history well enough?) Matt Damon is characteristically superb, and I can't say I was ever bored, but honestly this is more interesting on paper than on screen.
Tries to take you through two decades of CIA history as seen through the eyes of the Agency's chief of counter-intelligence from World War II through the Bay of Pigs invasion and beyond, but though the running time pushes three hours, its trek through the 40s and 50s is depressingly cursory. There's not enough detail to really engage us in any of the spy stuff, and the characters' tragically repressed personal lives can't carry the film. Maybe there's an argument that the obsession with secrecy that is The Good Shepherd's thematic core makes the relative sparseness of the narrative more appropriate, but that doesn't make it any more interesting. (This is not to say that the plot is uneventful -- it certainly isn't that -- but more that not enough information is given to make it satisfying -- maybe I don't know my history well enough?) Matt Damon is characteristically superb, and I can't say I was ever bored, but honestly this is more interesting on paper than on screen.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Blank of the Blank Blank II
Curse of the Golden Flower (Zhang Yimou, 2006) - B
Adultery, betrayal, and plots for the throne in Imperial China -- you couldn't tear me away from this stuff. Zhang's film is in the best costume melodrama tradition, with unrelenting formal courtesies concealing enough cruelty and misery to fill up a year's worth of soap opera plots. Those expecting another Hero or House of Flying Daggers should know that the focus is largely on the royal family's sordid affairs, though Zhang does occasionally, and almost as an afterthought, drop in a martial arts sequence of the kind that's become his calling card. Interestingly, there's more of a physical presence to the fighting here -- metal grinds against metal, shoes scrape the floor, and it feels like people can actually get hurt. The movie concludes with a stand-off between opposing armies that almost reaches a Kurosawa scale. I'm not sure there's enough depth to the characters or the story to make this a classic, in the end, but it sure is a lot of fun.
Adultery, betrayal, and plots for the throne in Imperial China -- you couldn't tear me away from this stuff. Zhang's film is in the best costume melodrama tradition, with unrelenting formal courtesies concealing enough cruelty and misery to fill up a year's worth of soap opera plots. Those expecting another Hero or House of Flying Daggers should know that the focus is largely on the royal family's sordid affairs, though Zhang does occasionally, and almost as an afterthought, drop in a martial arts sequence of the kind that's become his calling card. Interestingly, there's more of a physical presence to the fighting here -- metal grinds against metal, shoes scrape the floor, and it feels like people can actually get hurt. The movie concludes with a stand-off between opposing armies that almost reaches a Kurosawa scale. I'm not sure there's enough depth to the characters or the story to make this a classic, in the end, but it sure is a lot of fun.
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
We Are! Kind of Retarded!
We Are Marshall (McG, 2006) - D
I was SOL on this one from the get-go, since there are few people I'd like to watch for two and a half hours less than Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox. And they're both just terrible here, McConaughey trying mightily to create a unique character and coming up with nothing more than hemming, hawing and frantic gestures, and Fox recreating his tortured soul from Lost and calling it a day. As if throwing up its hands in futility, the movie around them abandons all pretense of storytelling and attempts to get by on a constant stream of speeches, heart-to-hearts and dramatic confrontations. It's all so stupid, both scene-by-scene and on a fundamental level: it was never clear to me why the hell the Marshall University football program couldn't "rise from the ashes" by taking a year off to properly reconstitute itself, and thus why all this ado was necessary.
On the bright side, I got to play the Nintendo Wii for the first time before heading out to see this disaster, so I broke even for the day.
I was SOL on this one from the get-go, since there are few people I'd like to watch for two and a half hours less than Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox. And they're both just terrible here, McConaughey trying mightily to create a unique character and coming up with nothing more than hemming, hawing and frantic gestures, and Fox recreating his tortured soul from Lost and calling it a day. As if throwing up its hands in futility, the movie around them abandons all pretense of storytelling and attempts to get by on a constant stream of speeches, heart-to-hearts and dramatic confrontations. It's all so stupid, both scene-by-scene and on a fundamental level: it was never clear to me why the hell the Marshall University football program couldn't "rise from the ashes" by taking a year off to properly reconstitute itself, and thus why all this ado was necessary.
On the bright side, I got to play the Nintendo Wii for the first time before heading out to see this disaster, so I broke even for the day.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Dragons and Self-Mutilators
Eragon (Stefen Fangmeier, 2006) - C+
I do understand the virtually unanimous complaints -- it kind of sucks, trite and hokey, to be compared to Dungeons and Dragons while ripping off Star Wars. At the same time, I think these sorts of Lord of the Rings-lite movies are productive in that they introduce young'uns to the archetypes of the genre in a PG-rated setting they can appreciate. For that, Eragon serves -- everything is here, from fearsome dragons to magic swords to resistance armies setting off to fight an evil king (played by a hilarious John Malkovich, no less) -- and really, it's far from repulsive for a fleeting 90-minute adventure. I don't think I can recommend the movie on its own merits (especially not during this busy season, filled with truly fine films), but if kids can engage with this sort of mythology, so much the better.
In My Skin (Marina De Van, 2002) - B+
This is extremely disturbing. I'm not sure what else I expected from a movie about a woman who develops a deep psychosexual obsession with her wounds, to the point of auto-cannibalism, but there it is. That said, after you come to terms with its demanding gruesomeness, and the fact that shouting "see a psychiatrist, lady!" at the screen will not be productive, you ought to be able to settle in for what's really a compelling exploration of (hackneyed as it sounds) what it means to be human -- to be stuck inside a body made of flesh, skin and bone, which isn't something one tends to think about existentially, but something De Van (who wrote, directed, and stars) nonetheless manages to make jarring. The film avoids reductionism at every turn, and Esther's obsession emerges and progresses organically, almost logically, as she succumbs to her urges while trying to maintain her middle-class existence. The ending is as ambiguous as possible, lending itself to two diametrically opposed and equally plausible interpretations. Rent it if you're feeling adventurous.
I do understand the virtually unanimous complaints -- it kind of sucks, trite and hokey, to be compared to Dungeons and Dragons while ripping off Star Wars. At the same time, I think these sorts of Lord of the Rings-lite movies are productive in that they introduce young'uns to the archetypes of the genre in a PG-rated setting they can appreciate. For that, Eragon serves -- everything is here, from fearsome dragons to magic swords to resistance armies setting off to fight an evil king (played by a hilarious John Malkovich, no less) -- and really, it's far from repulsive for a fleeting 90-minute adventure. I don't think I can recommend the movie on its own merits (especially not during this busy season, filled with truly fine films), but if kids can engage with this sort of mythology, so much the better.
In My Skin (Marina De Van, 2002) - B+
This is extremely disturbing. I'm not sure what else I expected from a movie about a woman who develops a deep psychosexual obsession with her wounds, to the point of auto-cannibalism, but there it is. That said, after you come to terms with its demanding gruesomeness, and the fact that shouting "see a psychiatrist, lady!" at the screen will not be productive, you ought to be able to settle in for what's really a compelling exploration of (hackneyed as it sounds) what it means to be human -- to be stuck inside a body made of flesh, skin and bone, which isn't something one tends to think about existentially, but something De Van (who wrote, directed, and stars) nonetheless manages to make jarring. The film avoids reductionism at every turn, and Esther's obsession emerges and progresses organically, almost logically, as she succumbs to her urges while trying to maintain her middle-class existence. The ending is as ambiguous as possible, lending itself to two diametrically opposed and equally plausible interpretations. Rent it if you're feeling adventurous.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Yo Adrian
The History Boys (Nicholas Hytner, 2006) - B+
The reason I love British humor is that it sneaks up on you from around corners rather than announcing its presence from miles away. This wordy and intelligent film is filled with wordy and intelligent characters, and consequently jokes (and insights) that come from nowhere and quickly disappear into the ether. It's unforgiving to those who don't hang on the screenplay's every word, and rewarding to those who do. There is sometimes the sense that this worked better on the stage, but no matter the medium, it's a frank and engaging look at education in general, and British education circa the mid-80's in particular, latent homosexuality and all. I do wish that Nicholas Hytner, whose "The Crucible" was one of my favorite films of the 90's, would start making actual movies (rather than direct stage-to-screen translations) again.
Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006) - B+
Contender for movie moment of the year: finally, nearly 90 minutes into "Rocky Balboa," we hear the triumphant strains of Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" as Rocky, now nearing 60, hoofs it laboriously along a snowy Philadelphia expanse. (Philly looks terrific here by the way.) I loved seeing this story on screen again in all its schmaltzy, underdog glory. Stallone directs and, god help us, writes with a sure hand and impressive attention to detail; those who expected the 60 year-old actor and his film to look ridiculous are eating crow about now.
The reason I love British humor is that it sneaks up on you from around corners rather than announcing its presence from miles away. This wordy and intelligent film is filled with wordy and intelligent characters, and consequently jokes (and insights) that come from nowhere and quickly disappear into the ether. It's unforgiving to those who don't hang on the screenplay's every word, and rewarding to those who do. There is sometimes the sense that this worked better on the stage, but no matter the medium, it's a frank and engaging look at education in general, and British education circa the mid-80's in particular, latent homosexuality and all. I do wish that Nicholas Hytner, whose "The Crucible" was one of my favorite films of the 90's, would start making actual movies (rather than direct stage-to-screen translations) again.
Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone, 2006) - B+
Contender for movie moment of the year: finally, nearly 90 minutes into "Rocky Balboa," we hear the triumphant strains of Bill Conti's "Gonna Fly Now" as Rocky, now nearing 60, hoofs it laboriously along a snowy Philadelphia expanse. (Philly looks terrific here by the way.) I loved seeing this story on screen again in all its schmaltzy, underdog glory. Stallone directs and, god help us, writes with a sure hand and impressive attention to detail; those who expected the 60 year-old actor and his film to look ridiculous are eating crow about now.
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