At the Movies – August 2010

Must See in Theatres:

The Other Guys (Adam McKay) – Comedy – Aug 6

The film is about two mismatched NYC detectives living in the shadow of the city’s top-cop duo who finally get a chance to seize an opportunity to step up – problem is, things do not turn out quite as they planned. When friends writer-director Adam McKay and Will Farrell get together funny happens. Their last three films together were Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Step Brothers. And while Farrell’s always the same guy comedy has worn a bit thin, he usually steps up his game when working with McKay. The crew on the film features McKay production designer Clayton Hartley and Bourne series cinematographer Oliver Wood, working on his third film with McKay. Staring with Farrell is Mark Wahlberg and the film has a great supporting cast with Samuel L. Jackson, Dwayne Johnson (but you can call him The Rock), Michael Keaton, Lindsay Sloane, Ray Stevenson (mandatory Rome plug), Eva Mendes, Steve Coogan, Paris Hilton (what, wait, really), Anne Heche, Rob Huebel, and Rob Riggle. So why is this the ‘Must See’ of the month (especially with not only Step Up 3-D but also Piranha 3-D coming out too!!!)? Well, because this film looks to be a great mix of action and comedy (yeah I know the summer is overloaded with action-comedies, but how many of them have such a good comedy pedigree and perfect genre mixing cast?) that should provide a very enjoyable and entertaining cinema experience. Check out the trailer.

Worth Checking Out (if not in theatres then at home):

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (Edgar Wright) – Action/Comedy – Aug 13

The film, based on the comic, is about Scott Pilgrim, a young man who must defeat his new girlfriend’s seven evil exes in order to win her heart (for some reason that the film will probably explain). Comedy writer-director extraordinaire Edgar Wright seems like the perfect person to helm this film (he did Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).  And to make the behind the camera crew even better, Wright has his production designer Marcus Rowland, composer David Arnold and super action cinematographer Bill Pope (how super? He shot The Matrix and Spider-Man 2) on the film. The cast is also perfect for the material. (While I am a bit sick of his shtick) Michael Cera seems like a great choice for the lead, and the supporting roles are equally well cast with Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans (that’s right Captain America), Anna Kendrick, Brandon Routh (and Superman too), Alison Pill, Jason Schwartzman, Ellen Wong, Satya Bhabha, Mark Webber, Mae Whitman, Bill Hader, Aubrey Plaza, Brie Larson, Erik Knudsen, Johnny Simmons, Abigail Chu, Nelson Franklin, and Ingrid Haas all co-starring. The film looks to be a lot of stylistic fun, and with all involved there is almost no chance of it not being entertaining. Check out the trailer.

Good for Dates:

Eat Pray Love (Ryan Murphy) – Drama – Aug 13

The film is about a happily married woman trying to get pregnant who realizes that her life needs to go in a new different direction. So, after a painful divorce, she takes a round-the-world journey. Director Ryan Murphy’s last feature film Running with Scissors was not all too great, but he is the creator of Glee and Nip/Tuck so he has some leeway. The crew on the film is great, headlined by wonderfully talented cinematographer Robert Richardson and featuring production designer Bill Groom and composer Dario Marianelli. The cast is also great. The film stars Julia Roberts who has been getting a little Oscar buzz for her performance. James Franco, Javier Bardem, Billy Crudup, Richard Jenkins, and Viola Davis co-star. The film has an odd release date for something that could otherwise be considered an Oscar contender, which casts some suspect questions over it. From a cast and crew standpoint, it looks top-notch, but if it were really good it would be coming out in November or December like other Oscar contenders (and of course there are exceptions like last years The Hurt Locker). Check out the trailer.

Going the Distance (Nanette Burstein) – Romance – Aug 27

The film is about a couple who goes through the trials and tribulations of a long-distance relationship. Documentary director Nanette Burstein makes her narrative debut. Her documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture about producer Robert Evans was good. The film features a fantastic crew with production designer Kevin Kavanaugh (art director on The Prestige and The Dark Knight), cinematographer Eric Steelberg (Juno and Up in the Air) and composer Mychael Danna (Dollhouse and (500) Days of Summer). The film stars Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, co-stars Christina Applegate, Ron Livingston and Kelli Garner. But what makes the cast more intriguing than its stars is all the comedians it also features: Kristen Schaal, Charlie Day (whose menace on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia is brilliant), Jason Sudeikis, June Diane Raphael, Natalie Morales, Rob Riggle, and Jim Gaffigan. The film has a lot of talent in front of and behind the camera, so theoretically it should turn out well, and funny, again it has Charlie Day and Kristen Schaal, not to mention Ron Livingston, in it. At the very least it should have some amusing and entertaining parts. Check out the trailer.

Fun Movies:

Step Up 3-D (Jon Chu) – Dance – Aug 6

The film is about a tight-knit group of NYC street dancers who team up with an NYU freshman as they compete against the world’s best hip hop dancers in a high-stakes showdown that will change their lives forever (are you serious, high-stakes dancing! And in 3-D! This is going to blow my mind! High-stakes dancing, lives are on the line, they literally hang in the balance, kids are not just going to be served, oh no, in 3-D it is dance or implode, which is way worse than exploding, surveys say so, 3-D is all or nothing). Director Jon Chu is back because clearly he did not say all he needed to say with Step Up 2: The Streets. Though, kidding aside, the movie has tested reasonably well and the score should be good with work from composer Bear McCreary who scored Battlestar Galactica and Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles. The film stars lesser known actors Alyson Stoner, Harry Shum Jr. (from Glee), Rick Malambri, Adam G. Sevani (yup this kid has a Thriller remix video), Ally Maki, Stephen Boss, Sharni Vinson, and Christopher Scott, presumably favoring actors with dancing talent as a higher priority to a good acting resume. Really this film should be considered a spectacle rather than narrative cinema, sure it will have a plot of some sort, but that is not the point. Fans of dancing and the past two films will probably find this just as fun. Check out the trailer.

The Expendables (Sylvester Stallone) – Action – Aug 13

The film is about a team of mercenaries who head to South America on a mission to overthrow a corrupt evil dictator (sidebar, does it even matter what this is about with the names in the cast? Also, who else is shocked this does not also have ‘3-D’ in the title?). Sly Stallone, creator of Rocky and First Blood, is back and he brought a few friends with him for the ride: Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews (this dude is in everything this month), Mickey Rourke, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis (as awesome as this cast is, I still cannot help but wish Steven Seagal, Kurt Russell, Chuck Norris, and Maximum Van Damage were in this too.) The film also stars David Zayas, Giselle Itie and Charisma Carpenter. Stallone also has a good crew with him – production designer Franco-Giacomo Carbone and composer Brian Tyler worked with him on his last film, and he also has action cinematographer Jeffrey L. Kimball (who shot Top Gun and True Romance). This is almost a must see for 80’s and 90’s action movie fans. It will probably be along the lines of The Magnificent Seven, The Wild Bunch and The Dirty Dozen, just with more graphic violence. Check out the trailer.

Piranha 3-D (Alexandre Aja) – Horror – Aug 20

The film (much like My Bloody Valentine taking full advantage of the 3-D stupid craze) is about scores of prehistoric man-eating fish that are set free on spring-breakers after a sudden underwater tremor (so my first question is how did these ‘man-eating’ fish survive in the rock below the water for thousands of years without food, cannibalism? Wait, wait, its not important). An unlikely group of strangers on holiday now must band together to stay alive and not become fish chum (it’s a modern retelling of the classic tale: Piranha, only this time it is even more awesomer because your mind will be blown by crazy razor man-eating fish teeth in crazy-awesome 3-D, YEAH!). Horror veteran, who had hits directing the remake of The Hills Have Eyes and High Tension, Alexandre Aja, takes the reigns here. The film’s crew has done their fair share of horror films in the past and seems, with director Aja, to be a good fit. The cast features a somewhat random ragtag bunch, but all in all actually seems kind of perfect for the film – Elisabeth Shue, Adam Scott, Christopher Lloyd, Richard Dreyfuss, Eli Roth, Dina Meyer, Ving Rhames, Jerry O’Connell (has he made anything good, other than season 1 of Sliders and Stand By Me?), Kelly Brook, Steven R. McQueen, and Jessica Szohr among others all star. With a name like Piranha 3-D (I wonder, if ‘3-D’ is in the title, can they also exhibit it in 2-D?), the viewer pretty much knows exactly what they are walking into, this film really does not even need a trailer, the name is enough. (But just in case) check out the trailer.

Vampires Suck (Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer) – Comedy – Aug 20

The film is a spoof on all the vampire-themed movies and TV shows that seem to be constantly coming out recently. The story itself is about Becca, a young girl who finds herself torn between two boys. Spoof masters (if you can call them that) Friedberg and Seltzer are back to make jokes on Twilight, True Blood, The Vampire Diaries, and other vampire-infused pop culture items. The writing and now directing team got their start with Scary Movie. The film stars newcommer Jenn Proske and has an overall lesser known cast, aside from Ken Jeong. Like most of the ‘fill in the blank’ Movie movies, this will probably be awful and mostly not funny (but hey, sometimes I am wrong). Check out the trailer.

Lottery Ticket (Erik White) – Comedy – Aug 20

The film is about a young man who lives in the projects. One day he wins the $370 million lottery. Now he must survive a three-day weekend after his opportunistic neighbors find out that he is holding the winning ticket. Music video director Erik White makes his feature debut with this film after working with B2K and Soulja Boy Tellem and it is executively produced by Ice Cube. While the film stars Bow Wow, it features supporting performances from Terry Crews, Keith David, Brandon T. Jackson, Mike Epps, Bill Bellamy, Loretta Devine, Ice Cube, Ghenga Akinnagbe, T-Pain, and Naturi Naughton. The film may not be great cinema, but the premise seems like it could make for a funny and escapist form of entertainment. Check out the trailer.

The Switch (Josh Gordon and Will Speck) – Comedy – Aug 20

The film is about an unmarried woman who wants to have children, so she turns to turkey baster insemination. Seven years later she reunites with her best friend who has a big secret: he switched his sperm with the donor that she selected. The film is directed by the comedy minds that made Blades of Glory and a few episodes of the short-lived (and awful) Cavemen TV show. The crew is good with production designer Adam Stockhausen (whose background includes art direction on The Darjeeling Limited and Synecdoche, New York), cinematographer Jess Hall (who shot Hot Fuzz and Son of Rambow) and comedy composer Alex Wurman. The main aspect of a comedy, especially with suspect directing, is the cast – this film stars Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, with supporting work from Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Juliette Lewis, Caroline Dhavernas (her TV show Wonderfalls in amazing), and Todd Louiso. All in all, a decent cast. (While I may not have high hopes for this, the tagline is ‘The most unexpected comedy ever conceived’ after all) the film may turn out to be funny based on strong comedic work from its actors. Check out the trailer.

Takers (John Luessenhop) – Crime – Aug 27

The film is about a group of bank robbers who have their plan to steal twenty million dollars interrupted by a detective set of catching them. Director John Luessenhop returns to make his second film after a ten year gap. His last was a similarly urban crime capper. Luessenhop has put together a pretty good crew with lower budget production designer Jon Gary Steele, talented cinematographer Michael Barrett and action composer Paul Haslinger. The film seems like a synergy/tie-in experiment though with T.I. and Chris Brown executively producing, staring and providing singles from their new albums to the soundtrack. The rest of the ensemble cast is made up of Zoe Saldana, Hayden Christensen (will we get good acting Hayden from Shattered Glass or bad acting Hayden from Star Wars Ep II), Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Matt Dillion, Jay Hernandez, and Michael Ealy. One potentially troubling aspect of the release of the film is that it was delayed from March/April to August (where bad movie go to die). Though, it looks like a decent crime film and should be entertaining to some extent. Check out the trailer.

The Last Exorcism (Daniel Stamm) – Horror – Aug 27

The film is about a troubled evangelical minister who agrees to let his last exorcism be filmed by a documentary crew. Director Daniel Stamm wanted the film to feel real, so he cast relatively unknown actors throughout, though some may recognize lead Patrick Fabien from reoccurring parts on Big Love and/or Veronica Mars. The film features a score from True Blood composer Nathan Barr. The film is targeted at a very specific audience, those that like horror thrillers, especially lower budget realism centric ones. For those fans, this will probably be entertaining, for everyone else, probably will not be missing much if it is not seen. Check out the trailer.

Art-House Watch:

Middle Men (George Gallo) – Drama – Aug 6

The film is about the chronicles of Jack Harris, a pioneer of internet commerce (aka internet porn), as he tries to keep his head on straight amidst struggles with his morals, conmen, mobsters, drug addicts, and pornstars. Writer-director George Gallo has not had a successful career directing, in terms of producing quality work, but he did create the story for Bad Boys and write Midnight Run. Maybe this film, which has received mediocre buzz, will be a breakout for him. It certainly has an interesting character and story to explore. The film stars Luke Wilson but features a fantastic group of supporting actors: Terry Crews (this guy is hilarious in his bit parts), Giovanni Ribisi, Kelsey Grammer, James Caan, Laura Ramsey (love her episode of Mad Med), Gabriel Macht, Christopher MacDonald (who eats pieces of shit like you for breakfast), Kevin Pollack, Robert Forster, Rade Serbedzija, and Jacinda Barrett. The film does not have a great director and has sort of a ‘B’ crew, but the cast as a whole is pretty great and the subject matter seems like something that would make an entertaining film (this sort of reminds me of Breast Men). Check out the trailer.

Flipped (Rob Reiner) – Romance – Aug 6 (limited)

The film is about two eighth graders who begin to fall in love with each other even though they are total opposites and do not seem to be consciously looking for love. Rob Reiner made a bunch of great films in the 80’s and early 90’s (like The Princess Bride and When Harry Met Sally) but his recent track record is not too great., though he did have a hit with The Bucket List. While the film is about young love, it seems to be targeted more towards adult viewers – sort of a nostalgic feel to it. Reiner has put together a solid crew to work on the film including production designer Bill Brzeski, TV cinematographer Thomas Del Ruth and composer Marc Shaiman. The film stars Callan McAuliffe and Madeline Carroll and features Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards, John Mahoney, Penelope Ann Miller, and Aidan Quinn in support. The movie looks to be a bit like Little Manhattan and if it is close to as good it should make for a nice youthful romance. Check out the trailer.

Mao’s Last Dancer (Bruce Beresford) – Drama – Aug 6 (limited)

The film is based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, a ballet dancer who was taken from home at age eleven and brought to Beijing to study. Then in 1979, during a cultural exchange in Texas Li feel in love with a woman he meets. Li now plots to defect to get back to his love and out of China. Director Bruce Beresford is sort of hit or miss, he works a lot (having directed around 29 films), but not too many are good (his best films being Breaker Morant and Driving Miss Daisy). However, the early buzz from this film has been generally positive. The cast includes Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, Joan Chen, and Amanda Schull. Newcomers Chi Cao, Chengwu Guo and Wen Bin Huang play Li at different stages of his life. The film seems to be a feel-good drama along the lines of last year’s The Blind Side and should appeal to fans looking for that type of movie. Check out the trailer.

Tales from Earthsea (Goro Miyazaki) – Animation – Aug 13 (limited)

The film is about strange events that start happening around the kingdom. People are starting to see dragons, which should not be in the human realm. A wandering wizard makes it his mission to investigate the cause of these bizarre happenings. It is the debut film by writer-director and artist Goro Miyazaki (he is the son of Hayao Miyazaki) and is touted as a potential best animated film nominee at the 2011 Oscars. The film that is being released in the U.S. has been redubbed into English with Willem Dafoe and Timothy Dalton, among others, providing voice work. The film features art direction from Yoji Takeshige, who worked on Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke. The film should appeal to fans of Hayao Miyazaki’s films and animation style. Check out the trailer.

Centurion (Neil Marshall) – Action – Aug 27 (limited)

The film is about a small group of Roman soldiers who fight for their lives in a foreign land after their legion is ambushed and decimated. Writer-director Neil Marshall, best known for The Decent, is back with another action based thriller. However, the setting, England during the Roman invasion, is new as he has not done anything period before. The film has a solid cast including Michael Fassbender (who is turning his acclaimed role in Inglourious Basterds into lots of staring film parts), Dominic West, Olga Kurylenko, and David Morrissey. Marshall is again working with production designer Simon Bowles and cinematographer Sam McCurdy, who both worked on his last three films. Talented composer Ilan Eshkeri is providing the score. The film looks like a more violent rougher version of some of the scenes of HBO’s Rome series, but not quite as stylized as Starz newish Spartacus: Blood and Sand – fans of those will probably like this to some extent. Check out the trailer.

Movie of the Week - Evil Dead II

This week’s movie is Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987).

The horror film is about a man, Ash, who takes his girlfriend to a cabin in the woods for a romantic weekend. Things go astray when evil forces in the woods take possession of his girlfriend turning her into a demon. Now Ash must survive the night, not only from evil spirits but also from his own mind. The film is the middle child in the Evil Dead trilogy by Sam Raimi. It is considered to be the best of the trilogy as it is scary like the first and funny like the third. The film stars the wonderful Bruce Campbell in a schlock, cult film career-making performance. It is the first feature film for cinematographer and frequent Raimi collaborator Peter Deming, and features work from Raimi’s producing partner Robert Tapert, his acting brother Ted Raimi and composer Joseph LoDuca, who scores most of Raimi and Tapert’s TV and horror projects. What makes it great is Campbell’s offbeat and wacky performance mixed with Raimi’s stylistic camera that is constantly interacting with the audience to influence the impact of the narrative. The film is a must for fans of Raimi and Campbell and horror fans in general. It is a perfect mix of comedy and horror. Check out the trailer.

Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn [Blu-ray/DVD]

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Salt (2010) – Review

Salt is a fun, exciting action film, wholly ludicrous and lacking real emotional depth, but quite entertaining none the less. For this film to work, the viewer must suspend their disbelief, even within the world that the film has created, as the action and plot, while visually stunning and exhilarating, are substantially farfetched (especially the action). There is a place for exaggerated action (see screenwriter Kurt Wimmer’s Equilibrium), but it does not play nearly as well in a thriller supposedly based in reality. What holds the film together is director Phillip Noyce’s ability to tell a good story amidst lots of explosions and chases and other actiony things. And, Angelina Jolie is cast perfectly for the role and is able to carry it (thankfully Tom Cruise dropped out, as this is much better than it would have been with Cruise). Noyce is able to keep the film flowing and moving forward keeping the audience engaged in the story by not letting it repose or linger too long in one spot. His management of the narrative structure is top-notch and the pacing of the film is one of its strongest attributes, something that is rarely mastered. Jolie is very good dramatically and in her ability to pull off the stunt work (doing most of her own stunts), but a major flaw in the film, damaging the emotional core, is that she seems to have no chemistry with August Diehl (who is also a good actor in other films). The lack of chemistry and the film not really giving enough time to the relationship between Jolie and Diehl’s characters leads to the audience not buying into the emotions and thus not investing in the characters – which in turn makes the movie about seeing how the story turns out and not about the characters, hampering it from being anything more than a fun action movie. It is a shame that the casting in this instance was not better suited as it would have made the film have a much bigger emotional impact making it more powerful for viewers and ultimately a better film. On the technical side, Noyce delivers another good action film, which is not surprising given his track-record. Wimmer writes another high action thriller with twists and turns abounding, but like some of his previous work, the emotion is lacking. The score is quite good from composer James Newton Howard drawing the viewer in (which the film needed without real emotion coming from the characters). Robert Elswit, as always, shoots the film beautifully and Scott Chambliss provides fitting production design to the atmosphere of the film. While Jolie is good and Diehl is not given enough depth, the other principal supporting cast is adequate in their roles, though the issue with all the characters, really, is lack of emotional depth (the viewer does not care about any of them, aside from actor allegiances brought into the movie). The film was truly built as a star vehicle. Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor (who is wonderful in many other films) are decent, as is Daniel Olbrychski, but none of them is given anything dramatically interesting to do. Salt makes for a great thrilling story and medium for Jolie, but not much else. 6/10

Movie of the Week - The Sound of Music

This week’s movie is The Sound of Music (1965).

The film is about a young woman who leaves an Austrian convent and becomes the governess to a naval officer widower. The family becomes attached to her, and she to them, but they are all caught up in the conflict of Nazi rule in Austria and must find a way to escape (all while singing about this and that). The film is based on the musical stage production by Oscar Hammerstein and Richard Rodgers (based on the book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse). Robert Wise, who also directed The Day the Earth Stood Still and West Side Story, helmed the project, having experience with both musicals and large productions. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman (who wrote a number of very good films) was also hired on due to his prior work with Wise and success with musicals in the past. Production designer Boris Leven and composer Irwin Kostal also, along with Lehman, worked with Wise on West Side Story (winner of ten Oscars including Best Picture) and 20^th Century Fox wanted the same team in place for their next big musical production (as they were the thing in the early 60’s). The film stars Julie Andrews who was just coming off a number of hit stage musicals (including The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady) and her breakout, Oscar winning, film role in Mary Poppins. Christopher Plummer co-stars. What makes the movie great is Andrews and the wonderful songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Wise also shoots the film with wonderful craning shots and gives such a sense of beauty to both the characters and the world they inhabit. The commentary on and struggle with the Nazis gives the film an added depth and historical context as well. This is a must of fans of musicals and film. Check out the trailer.

The Sound of Music (Blu-ray/DVD)

Inception (2010) – Review

Inception is an extraordinarily well made and acted heist film. The narrative structure is layered with multiple realities happening simultaneously and multiple dramatic threads being interlaced through each of these realities. Yet, master director Christopher Nolan is able to weave his seemingly complicated tapestry into a straightforward and easy to follow narrative only asking (must like the opening line of The Prestige) for the audience to pay attention. And while the narrative is straightforward, the film nonetheless encourages, if not mandates, speculation and debate. There are not too many blockbusters that are able to achieve this task – keep the viewer thinking not only throughout the film but long after the credit roll. And make no mistake, this is a blockbuster – there is action, adventure, exotic locations, everything a viewer could want from a big summer film. At times, the film almost plays like a James Bond film – the way the action beats are taken – as an exaggeration of what big action set pieces should be like, yet still anchored in reality (to an extent – given the rules of the film world). This is the rare blockbuster that has the viewers on the edge of their seats not only due to the fantastic action pieces but more so as the audience cares about the outcome for the characters. Nolan’s dramatic threads connect with the viewers as they are eloquently unraveled – each decision made has an emotional resonance which the audience picks up, drawing them deeper into the film – the stakes of the characters are therefore meaningful to the audience. This is not just about wowing them, which the film certainly does; it is about the emotional journey.  The film has a lot of exposition to get through, as this world is foreign to the viewer, which in most cases can cause films to drag, but Nolan is able to lay out the exposition in such a way that not only does it draw the audience in more, as the viewer is intrigued by its visual representation, but it also builds upon the structure that is already in place – raising the emotional stakes. Though, the film is rather long, and can at times feel long, as this is a film that is constantly moving and engaging and that can be tiresome, but this is a minor flaw. The supporting characters are also not given a lot of background and business, and are thus expressed to the viewer through know archetypes. Yet this film focuses on and through its main character, thus the supporting players are merely there to aid in the journey of the main character, and therefore do not need be more than they are – plus, the film is so packed with information, there really is no time or room for multiple deep characters. And, they are so fantastically played by the cast and fit into the narrative Nolan is telling so well that their lack of depth is almost unnoticeable in the grand scheme of the film, and in as much is irrelevant to the film as a whole. But it is the fact that these characters are so great that the viewers want more. On to the technical side, Christopher Nolan once again makes a strong argument for his place among the great auteur directors not only of this generation but of all-time with this film. Nolan is one of the few today who makes wonderful films for the Hollywood audience (much like the great directors of old, like Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock). His aptitude at producing stunning films again and again is due to two key aspects: his screenwriting ability is astounding, as this script is quite monstrous in its scope yet easy to follow in its visual presentation, and he has developed a perfectly complimentary group of collaborators to work with him (again much like the other master filmmakers) and yet again they provide strong output. Nolan is a master at structuring his narrative; while often disjointed and nonlinear the films are still clear (from a plot standpoint, as the underlying concepts are left for interpretation). Hans Zimmer’s work stands out the most among his collaborators behind the camera. His score featuring Johnny Marr is massive in its emotional depth and flow – being both beautiful and full of tension. It is magnificent. Wally Pfister’s cinematography is typically superb and emotionally provocative, eliciting viewers to succumb to his visual fest. Editor Lee Smith must have had a tough job with the film, so much detail and business going on, but pressure to tell the film as efficiently as possible. He did impeccably. Newcomer to working with Nolan, production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas brought his expertise in big adventure action sets to the film and provided his best work to date. As well directed, written, shot, edited, scored, and designed as the film is, it is equally well acted with numerous performances worthy of acclaim. Leonardo DiCaprio has well established himself as an elite talent among actors, but his performances continue to get better. In Inception, he is the point of reference for the whole film – the emotional journey for the audience lives and dies with his performance. To say the least, he is perfect in the part. The supporting cast is just as great. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is cool and confident. Ellen Page is sweet and intriguing. Ken Watanabe is powerful and endearing. Cillian Murphy is eager and hesitant. Tom Berenger is tough and understanding. Michael Caine is sophisticated and warm. All wonderful performances, but it is Tom Hardy, in a breakthrough type performance, and Marion Cotillard who stand out. Hardy commands the attention of the audience, while Cotillard beautifully plays the emotional center, yet with an air of mischievousness. Dileep Rao, Pete Postlethwaite, Lukas Haas, and Talulah Riley are also good in smaller roles. Nolan has a fantastic ability to cast his films and garner perfectly suited performances. Inception is a unique film, to be both an exciting adventure-style film and thought-provokingly deep. It is the first masterpiece of the new decade. 10/10

Movie of the Week - The Fifth Element

This week’s movie is The Fifth Element (1997).

The sci-fi film is about a retired policeman, now driving a cab, who gets mixed up with a girl. Only, this girl is different and may be the salvation for humanity as an evil force approaches Earth. Now the he must help her save humanity. The film is directed by Luc Besson, amidst his string of quality adult action films before focusing on terrible films aimed at children (please come back to directing good films Luc, please). Starring Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich, the film also features a great supporting cast with Gary Oldman, whose turn as the villainous business mogul Zorg is brilliant and one of the best and outlandish performances of the decade, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker, Tiny Lister Jr., Luke Perry, and Brion James. The crew is also fantastic with music by Eric Serra, cinematography by Thierry Arbogast and production design by Dan Weil. All three collaborated with Besson on his best works. What makes the film great is that it is a very fun film, mixing sci-fi, adventure, action, and comedy seamlessly. Oldman’s show stealing performance is also a must for fans of his work (like me). Besson gives fans a little bit of everything with this film on a large scale making it very enjoyable. It is a must for sci-fi action fans. Check out the trailer.

The Fifth Element [Blu-ray/DVD]

Christopher Nolan – Movies Spotlight – July 2010

Christopher Nolan has established himself as one of the best (if not the best) working director in today’s cinema. Few directors’ names bring with them such hype and implied quality as Nolan’s. His new film, the widely anticipated Inception, opens this month.

Early Career:

Nolan began his film career, in a sense, making short films for his University College London film society in the late 80’s and early 90’s. These films were later screened on a showcase feature on PBS. The last of his short-films, called Doodlebug, starred Jeremy Theobald who he would again use for his feature debut, Following, and later in a small role for Batman Begins. Following features many of the same narrative elements that would make Memento (and much of this other work) such a breakthrough hit, including scenes shown out of chronologic order – leaving the viewer, much like the protagonist, disoriented and having to deduce what is going on from the clues shown. The film was shot for about six thousand dollars on the weekends with friends from the film society. Nolan took the film on the festival circuit, receiving notice and acclaim after premiering it at the 1998 San Francisco Film Festival, even leading to a small limited distribution deal. Due to the notoriety of the film among the festivals, Newmarket Films purchased the script for Memento and put it into production. The film became one of the most talked about films of the year 2000 leading to Nolan receiving an Academy Award nod for best screenplay. The film’s successes also managed to get Nolan a distribution deal with Warner Bros., a deal which would later lead to him helming the Batman franchise. Memento made Nolan a filmmaker to watch and follow and a favorite among film fans. Nolan’s first Hollywood film was a bit of a letdown for fans (but not so much for critics, who generally like it), mainly due to all the hype and love for Memento. While not a bad film (as it is actually decent), it did not live up to the quality of Memento. Insomnia is different from all other of Nolan’s films in that he did not write or work on the script – it is a remake of the 1997 Swedish film of the same name – Nolan’s version was scripted by Hilary Seitz. But, the film did reasonably well in at the box office and showed Nolan’s ability to not only gather a fine cast but to garner wonderful performances, even in a Hollywood setting with egos abound (as Guy Pierce in Memento, an indie film, is quite amazing).

Batman and Warner Bros. Darling:

Warner Bros. put its Batman franchise on indefinite hiatus following the epic critical failure of Batman & Robin, a film equally loathed by critics and fans. But, due to Nolan’s relationship with Warner Bros. and his partnership with David S. Goyer, who had success with Warner Bros. as the screenwriter of Blade, produced by one of their subsidiaries, he was able to convince Warner Bros. to let them reboot the series, which at the time was risky, considering Nolan was a relatively unknown director, at least among mainstream audiences. But, it is likely that Warner Bros. was looking at the recent trend of quality lesser known directors taking big films and producing both critical and box office successes (like Peter Jackson with The Lord of the Rings, Sam Raimi with Spider-Man and Alfonso Cuaron with Harry Potter). Batman Begins returned the Batman franchise to the upper echelon of comic based films, and the film itself, along with Spider-Man 2, to a different level of comic book films in terms of caliber surpassing all the previous Batman films. The film was a box office success, but nowhere near Spider-Man numbers, but more so it was a critical and fan success. Batman Begins also established Nolan’s production team, so to speak – most of which he would continually work with over his next three films to date: producer (and wife) Emma Thomas (she has produced all his films), cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, editor Lee Smith, composer Hans Zimmer, writing partner (and brother) Jonathan Nolan (whose short story Memento is based on), and actors Christian Bale and Michael Caine. The acclaim that the film garnered gave Warner Bros. the belief that Nolan was indeed the right director to finish the new Batman trilogy. But first, Nolan wanted Warner Bros. to fund his script and next film The Prestige. The film again reinforced that Nolan was and is one of the best working in the business, but also that he had a knack for complex narratives (much like with Memento). The Prestige seems like a straight-forward film about rival magicians at first, but Nolan is able to weave in almost Sci-Fi aspects to the film. Though, the film did underperform a bit at the box office, likely due to the complex nature of the story. With The Prestige finished, Nolan went back to work on Batman, many speculating, as they are now for the next Batman film, if the sequel could live up to the last. The Dark Knight opened to a huge success, both at the box office and among critics and fans alike. It was such a good film, grossly snubbed by the Oscars, that the Academy of Motion Pictures changed the format from five best picture nominees to ten the following year. It also features one of the most mesmerizing performances of all-time in Heath Ledger’s Joker. It is the kind of film and performance that makes audience members wish they had not seen it, so that they could watch it again for the first time and be absolutely astounded and blown away. The film’s utter triumph has made Nolan the king of Warner Bros. And again, before making the last of his Batman films, Warner Bros. is releasing his next Sci-Fi action spy film Inception. It will be interesting to see how the film does; it like The Prestige has a complex narrative structure. But with a credit like ‘From the director of The Dark Knight’ it is thought to do well.

Future Projects:

Nolan is expected to begin shooting the third of his Batman films, The Dark Knight Rises, in April of next year with the release date of July 20, 2012. It is likely that some details about the production, cast and characters, will be released at Comic-Con later this month (I hope). Also scheduled for 2012 is Superman: Man of Steel, which Warner Bros. has entrusted Nolan to executively produce and oversee. It is a retooling of the franchise, much like Batman Begins. David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan have been working on developing a script. Nolan has also stated that he would be interested in directing a James Bond film in the future, Bond films being a major influence for Inception.

Christopher Nolan Career Highlights:

1)      Following (1998) – director (DVD, Streaming)

2)      Memento (2000) – director (Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming)

3)      Insomnia (2002) – director (Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming)

4)      Batman Begins (2005)* – director (Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming)

5)      The Prestige (2006)* – director (Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming)

6)      The Dark Knight (2008)* – director (Blu-ray, DVD, Streaming)

7)      Inception (2010)* – director (Blu-ray, DVD)

* Editor’s picks.

Movie of the Week - L'Auberge Espagnole

This week’s movie is L’Auberge Espagnole (2002).

The film is about a Parisian student who goes to Barcelona for a year to study. Once there, he decides to live in a shared apartment with exchange students from across Europe. The film looks at the relationships between these people and their cultures. Writer-director Cedric Klapisch brings his unique fresh style to the film, having the main character’s imagination at time project itself into reality. The international cast is headlined by Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Cecile De France, and Kelly Reilly – but the whole cast is fantastic. What makes the film great is its cinematic style, the overall enjoyable experience of watching the film and interesting meshing of cultures that takes place. The sequel, The Russian Dolls (2005), is just as good, if not better. The film is a must see for fan of French cinema and comedies. Check out the trailer.

L’Auberge Espagnole [DVD]

Cyrus (2010) – Review

Cyrus is a tale of two movies, one is funny and well acted and the other is awfully directed and shot. Sadly, these are the same movie. The film is very awkward and will makes some viewers feel as uncomfortable as its characters, but this humor works well in the story and with the characters presented. They are all a bit off center in their own ways (but aren’t we all). The scenes that work the best are those that are meant to play as comedy. The more serious scenes do not play as well, partially due to the tone of the piece but mostly due to the director’s inability to visually connect the audience with the characters. The directorial style is so clumsy and goes so far out of its way to be ‘indy’ and noticeable that it works against the rest of the film. The viewer must like the film in spite of its visual style. While some directors can make very stylistic movies that are overly noticeable to viewer that completely succeed in connecting with the audience (like Wes Anderson or Steven Soderbergh for example), here the style just looks amateurish and so unpolished that is really takes away from the good film underneath. The director’s sole job is to connect the film to its intended viewers, the Duplass brothers have failed to do that utterly (unless the intended audience is only the select few that enjoy a certain ‘indy’ style of filmmaking that breaks filmmaking rules merely for the sake of it, rather than for the emotional impact that some of these techniques can add to the piece, this film uses them to no effect and to no emotional need or gain, purely because it can). Aside from the visual style, the film does work well and has a number of good scenes, which is a credit to the fine work of the actors. This is what makes the visuals more infuriating. It is not like they ruin some already bad film. They ruin what could have been a very good film. But alas, a film is the combination of everything seen and heard and here they do not compliment each other, rather they conflict. Jay and Mark Duplass do not add anything to the film as directors; they do provide a good script to start, but they must be able to hone their skills visually if they are to succeed as quality filmmakers going forward. The primary production team did not do great work here either, possible hampered by the style set forth by the Duplass brothers. Jas Shelton’s cinematography looks like it was shot with an iPhone camera and really brings nothing to the film. Annie Spitz’s production design does a good job making the viewer believe they are just watching average people living their average lives in average places. Michael Andrews’s score is mostly in the background and does not play a prominent role in the film, which is too bad as the right music could have helped viewers emotionally connect despite the style (and he has done good work in the past). But, the score is in line, like the rest, with the overall style, so the main complaint for the film is on style and with the directors. However, they were able to garner fine performances from their cast. John C. Reilly gives a great performance in the film and his interplay with Jonah Hill creates some of the most funny and best stuff. The film is saved in terms of being enjoyable by his work. Marisa Tomei and Catherine Keener are also good in their roles, but it is Reilly’s movie. Cyrus is disappointing because there is a lot to like, but the film’s style alienates its viewers and leaves them feeling empty. 6/10

Movie of the Week - Spellbound

This week’s movie is Spellbound (1945).

The film is about a psychiatrist who falls in love with the new head of the clinic that she works at, but not all is what it seems with this man. He is hiding a murderous secret. The film is directed by Alfred Hitchcock and features a fantastic score from Miklos Rozsa, masterful cinematography from (possibly the greatest D.P. of all time) George Barnes and abstract design from artist Salvador Dali. It is also one of the films Hitchcock made with famous producer and personal antagonist David O. Selznick. Hollywood legends Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck star in the film and both give good performances. The film is a bit dated now and its look at psychotherapy seems odd to present viewers, but Hitchcock’s approach to the material rewards viewers with a good drama/mystery that really gets good in the second half and Hitchcock uses some interesting shots to heighten the tension and suspense. What makes the film great is Hitchcock’s collaboration with his actors and crew resulting in an interesting visual film that while socially and culturally out of touch with current audiences still has the ability to draw them in and have them hooked through the last shot. It is not Hitchcock’s best work, but it is a solid film and a must of fans of his films. Check out the trailer.

Spellbound [DVD]