Archive for the 'Movies' Category
11-26-2008
Rachel Getting Married
Last week, I finally got out to see “Rachel Getting Married.” I’d been intrigued by the movie ever since I found out it was directed by Jonathan Demme and had Anne Hathaway playing a train wreck recovering alcoholic/drug addict. I didn’t really know what to expect, but saw the movie had gotten good reviews in it’s initial limited release. Of course, reviews don’t mean squat to me; that’s why I go.
What to say about this movie? It’s paced very strangely. Hathaway plays Kym, a troubled young woman just released from rehab so that she can go home for her sister’s wedding. Early in the movie, allusions are made to Kym having been part of some dreadful family trauma, but it is not explained till later in the movie.
First and foremost, Hathaway is brilliant. She displays a tough exterior hiding a touching vulnerability. Returning to her family brings out all sorts of buried issues, and she isn’t sure how to cope with being thrust back into her family life again.
The family, including sister Rachel, played bewitchingly by Rosemarie DeWitt, is torn between wanting Kym back and unsure of how to cope with all the drama that she brings. Right from the start, Kym causes difficulties for her sister when she learns that Rachel has chosen her friend Emma to be her maid of honor instead of Kym. The scenes between Kym, Rachel and Emma are fraught with tension, with Emma feeling that Kym is a self-centered bordeline sociopath and Rachel feeling love for her sister yet hatred at the way Kym’s pathos monopolizes the family.
Special mention needs to be made of Debra Winger as Rachel and Kym’s mother Abby. Winger brings a cool detachedness to the role, reflecting how her influences on her children have long-suffering consequences. Winger is brilliant as ever. She displays an awkwardness around her children, suggesting that Abby has never been comfortable with the title “mother” and all it brings.
As a movie, “Rachel Getting Married” suffers from pacing issues. The rehearsal dinner drags for way too long, and there is a 5-10 minute sequence of the reception showing music and dancing a little else. Demme appears to want to suggest how life goes on despite the chaos and pathos around the family, and while that’s an admirable thing to portray, in the context of a movie it means that the movie derails because these sequences drag away from the characters and the plot.
Despite those issues, the movie is worth seeing for the performances of Hathaway, DeWitt and Winger.
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11-12-2008
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The last movie of the summer I saw was Woody Allen’s “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” I’d read a little about it and was curious. Scarlet Johansson is one of my favorite actresses currently. She brings passion and humor to most of her roles, and Penelope Cruz is almost always brilliant.
Allen himself tends to stick to what he like: neurotic characters in love or criminals. “Annie Hall” and “Manhattan” are both brilliant. I saw “Match Point” in the theaters and found it brilliant but disturbing. Allen’s output got more erratic after he ditched Diane Keaton as his muse for Mia Farrow. Now Johansson seems to serve as his inspiration, and he’s made some interesting films with her, including the aforementioned “Match Point” and “Scoop.”
At movie’s opening, Vicky and her friend Cristina have journey to Barcelona. Vicky is working on her dissertation on Catalan Identity. Vicky seems very set in her ways, is engaged and ready to be married. Cristina is more free-spirited, uncommitted to anything but trying to “live for art.”
Of course, upon exploring Barcelona, Vicky finds she isn’t nearly as settled as she thinks, as she falls into a torrid one night stand with Juan Antonio, played well by Javier Bardem, who I liked in “Love in the Time of Cholera.”
Allen sets the movie at a languid pace, as Vicky has tremendous guilt feelings over her brief dalliance with Juan Antonio and then Cristina starts to have an affair with him.
Things get really interesting when Juan Antonio’s wife Maria Elena, played by Penelope Cruz with wild abandon, shows up. A love triangle between Maria Elena, Cristina and Juan Antonio emerges as Allen probes what it means to be an artist.
In many ways, the central character is Barcelona itself, which Allen films with the reverent love he showed for New York in his 70s movies. Allen films the architecture and scenery in vivid colors, and always makes them central to the important scenes of the movie.
Yet for all that, the movie seems to drift a lot. I found the constant voice-over narration a cheap device. I’d rather see the actresses and actors develop their feelings and wonder what is burbling beneath the surface than have a voice tell me what they are feeling.
For those who like their movies tied up in neat little bows, this is probably not the film for you. It doesn’t really resolve. Allen probably was trying to reflect on real life and how events sometimes seem to overtake us without our really planning them, and how they may leave us feekling lost and unsure. That is certainly the implication of the last shot of the movie, of Vicky and Cristina in an airport.
While I wouldn’t say this is a triumph like “Manhattan” or “Annie Hall”, Allen has succeeded in creating another strange study on the heart and how it affects our lives.
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08-23-2008
Hellboy 2
So, in an act of semi-desperation, ie get me out of the apartment, I went to see “Hellboy 2.” That and “Sex and the City” are at this point the only two big movies of the summer I haven’t seen. Now “Sex” reigns alone in that category. I was going to see that with a friend, but when she moved to Chicago for her residency, it fell by the wayside, especially since I’ve never really watched the TV show.
OK, on to “Hellboy.” I saw the first one in the theaters and enjoyed it. It was a little weird, but just sort of dark enough with enough humor that anyone could really enjoy it. Also, quite frankly, Selma Blair is the bomb. I watched “Feast of Love” just to see her play the lesbian softball player. OK, I know it’s cliche, but I couldn’t resist.
“Hellboy 2″ finds our demon-hero being outed by the press when he crashes through a window while on assignment for whatever supernatural agency he works for. I know the agency is named, but it in the long run doesn’t seem to matter so much, because what “Hellboy” is about is alienation.
Our hero, and his girlfriend Liz and fellow agent Abe, are, depending on your viewpoint, gifted or dangerous. There is a fantastic scene in the movie where Hellboy rescues a baby who is danger of being killed by an elemental. Hellboy keeps the baby close while doing battle with the elemental and debating whether or not to kill it, since it doesn’t seem to Hellboy that it is dangerous.
After Hellboy reunites the babe with its mom, instead of being showered with adoration, he is greeted with fear and revulsion, even by the mom of the rescued baby. Liz comes to Hellboy’s defense, saying “He’s only trying to help; that’s all we ever try to do.” Yet you can see that the crowd, while perhaps appreciating Hellboy’s heroics, are not ready to accept him.
The whole scene reminded me of a line from one of my favorite book series, the Kim Harrison Hollows series, where Ivy tells Rachel that she can find redemption among her strength-crippled kin, because regular people, even Inderlanders, will always fear her because of her strength.
That strikes me as a perfect allegory for life. It may not necessarily be strength, but there is always something it seems that makes people feel apart, and this is a theme that “Hellboy 2″ explores well.
The rest of the movie is a standard fantasy-action picture. It’s interesting to see the elves portrayed as more complex, darker than the goody-two-shoes version in Tolkien’s universe. Elves seem to attract a variety of portrayals, from those who show them as evil baby-snatchers to those, like Tolkien and Gael Baudino, who show them as saints. I’ve always felt it should be more in between, and in “Hellboy 2,” you have the elves in full-blown civil war, fighting over their destiny and, by extension, the destiny of humanity and the earth.
Of course, this being a movie based on a comic book, our hero and his fellows will be involved in the denouement, and it is handled well, even if the CGI is at times a little too over the top and distracting as a result.
Still, “Hellboy 2,” much like its predecessor, is a fun romp, and worth a trip to the theater.
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07-28-2008
The Dark Knight - review
So, yesterday, after playing some tennis with Elizabeth, I decided to go and see “The Dark Knight.” I had hoped that waiting a week might make the theater a little less crowded, but such was not the case. It was completely packed. However, the crowd wasn’t peppered with screaming children, unlike some movies I’ve been to this summer, so it wasn’t bad.
I didn’t see “Batman Begins” in the theater, but did catch it on DVD. I had no idea that R’as al Ghul was actually a character from the comics until I did a little research, since I am, as mentioned before, not a comic girl. I enjoyed the first one, though I felt Christian Bale was a little wooden at times, but I got that he was trying to project gravitas and pathos, both weighing him down at the same time.
You can’t talk about “Dark Knight” without talking about Heath Ledger. This was one of Ledger’s last films that he made before his untimely death. Ledger was a gifted actor, and I can honestly say, his complete hotness aside, that I enjoyed him in everything I saw him in. Whether it was the earnest young knight-to-be of “A Knight’s Tale,” the wildman courting Julia Stiles of “10 Things I Hate About You,” or the closeted cowboy of “Brokeback Mountain,” Ledger consistently found new emotional depths and made you like him.
What then, to make of his performance as the Joker, perhaps the most iconic villain of the Batman universe? From the moment he steps onscreen at the start of the movie, Ledger’s Joker projects more darkness, more menace, more evil, than any villain in any previous Batman movie. There is a scene very early on involving a pencil and a mob henchman that made me, as well as several people around me, jump. The casual brutality, the joy that Ledger’s Joker takes in creating chaos, is terrifying and almost too much to take.
The performance is all the more brilliant because you don’t really see Ledger. He completely disappeares into the role, and his haphazard clown makeup adds even more to the craziness he inhabits.
In fact, knowing that Ledger, a meticulous method actor, died shortly thereafter, it is hard not to wonder whether the depths he must have plumbed to convincingly portray such manic evil didn’t somehow affect him.
Michael Caine, as Alfred, says to Christian Bale, “Some men just want to watch the world burn.” It is clear that Ledger took this part of the script to heart. Ledger’s Joker likes to set up no-win situations, trying to bring the entire city down to his level of gleeful anarchy.
I won’t talk too much about the rest of the movie. Christian Bale was good again, though I don’t know why he speaks so differently when he is in costume than when he isn’t. Maggie Gyllenhaal is much better than Katie Holmes as Rachel, Bruce Wayne’s childhood friend, and Aaron Eckhart is great as Harvey Dent. Supporting players Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman are also excellent.
There is one very poignant moment which shows how different Batman is from his fellow superheroes. Waking up in bed when Alfred brings him breakfast, Bale’s Bruce sits up, and the camera pans over his back, covered in bruises. Bruce Wayne is not endowed with super powers. He is a man, fighting crime with all the technological prowess he can.
I definitely recommend this film. It is much grittier, more real feeling than most “superhero” films.
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07-05-2008
Hancock
So, in between playing tennis and going to Blues Traveler, I went and caught Hancock yesterday. It was, overall, an entertaining 100 minutes or so. I laughed a few times, appreciated the action sequences, and found it a fun mindless popcorn movie.
Will Smith is completely playing against type in this movie, and to me he doesn’t quite pull it off. He’s supposed to be completely unlikeable, but I think, in a too heavy-handed attempt at foreshadowing, they make it too obvious that he is just misunderstood.
The opening sequence where Hancock stops a getaway car while drinking straight from the bottle, then flips the car onto a building antenna, is hilarious.
I thought the most poignant moment came when Hancock, in jail at the suggestion of his new PR agent, played well by Jason Bateman, is playing basketball and shooting long range shots. The ball goes over the fence on a rebound and rolls away. Hancock looks at it for a few moments, then jumps over the fence to get the ball. When he does that, the guards radio in a security breach, and while the sirens go off, Hancock holds the ball and looks back at the jail, clearly debating whether to ditch the jail and go his own way. It’s a very suggestive moment, because it clearly encapsulates the superhero pathos; if you can do anything, what’s to stop you from doing anything?
Charlize Theron is also in the movie as Jason Bateman’s wife. There is a twist associated with her character; in fact, she is quite crucial to the movie as a whole. Whether the twist makes sense or not I’ll leave to you. I actually kind of liked it, the usual critical snarkiness aside. Besides, Charlize totally rocks. I fell in love with her in Italian Job (if I ever win the lottery, I’m getting a mini-Cooper for sure!).
There’s nothing earth-shatteringly good about Hancock, and nothing really earth-shatteringly bad about it either. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what it is: summer escapism. At that, it succeeds beautifully. It’s fun and holds together in its own narrative.
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06-29-2008
WALL-E
So, today I went and saw “WALL-E,” a movie I’ve been looking forward to since I saw a preview of it in the spring. I was curious to see what the folks at Pixar had come up with this time.
First, the obvious. The design of the robot is COMPLETELY ripped off from the movie “Short Circuit,” one of my all-time favorite movies. If the person who designed Number Five isn’t getting royalties, they are getting screwed. In fact, at times they even copied Number Five’s mannerisms, as during the beginning of the movie when WALL-E is shown sifting through various bits of trash and seeing what looks interesting, or they way WALL-E cringes in fear at various points during the movie.
Having said that, “WALL-E” COMPLETELY rocks! You’ve got to give the creators props. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when they proposed this movie to Pixar. “Yeah, we want to make a movie about a robot in the future, and it won’t talk. It’s set on Earth and in space, and Earth is completely vacated by humanity and overwhelmed with garbage. It’s gonna be great.”I imagine the executives would have wondered what the creators at Pixar were smoking.
In the first 40 minutes of the movie, I doubt there are more than 100 words of dialogue. In fact, WALL-E basically says his name and EVE’s name. Yet these first 40 minutes are completely arresting, even more so because of the lack of dialogue. WALL-E compacts junk, then stacks the crushed junk to form skyscrapers of it, skyscrapers that have a path around the outside so WALL-E can go up and down them. At the end of the day, WALL-E goes back to his little home, stashed with random things he has collected, and watches an old videotape of “Hello, Dolly,” searching for some understanding about himself and the world. WALL-E’s only companion in this desolate wasteland is a cockroach.
WALL-E’s world is shaken up when EVE arrives. WALL-E is instantly smitten. However, after WALL-E shows her a plant he has found, EVE scoops up the plant and shuts down, providing the intro to the second half of the movie, when WALL-E follows her into space to find the surviving remnants of humanity, who exist as a blobs catered to by robots. Humans lie on floating chaise lounges all day, and talk to each other on holographic video screens projected inches from their eyes.
When WALL-E arrives, in between trying to find, court and save EVE at the same time, he starts mini-revolutions wherever he goes, introducing himself with his high-pitched mechanical voice, shaking hands and saying “WALL-E.” Both the robots who cater to humanity’s every wish and the humans themselves seem not to know what to make of the diminutive little WALL-E.
“WALL-E” contains some interesting tributes to sci-fi films. The villain of the movie turns out to be the autopilot Otto; with a red eye, it is a clear tribute to HAL from 2001. There’s also a scene when you first meet the captain and “The Blue Danube” is playing, another reference to 2001.
I’d have to say, this is probably my favorite Pixar movie yet, maybe even better than “Monsters Inc.” and will be a definite DVD buy later this year. In the meantime, run to your nearest theater to see this gem of a movie about a sweet little robot seeking love.
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06-17-2008
The Incredible Hulk
So, over the weekend, after playing tennis, I decided to go catch the Hulk. The only other movie I want to see right now is Sex and the City, and I’m waiting to see it with a friend when she gets back from Canada.
I’m not one of those geeky girls who read comics growing up, though I have to admit I want to read the Season 8 Buffy comic. My brother however, loved Hulk growing up, so I have a soft spot for it, and I have vague memories of the TV show.
I saw Ang Lee’s version a couple of years ago, and it seemed mostly blah. This one pretty much picks up where that one left off.
The good: Edward Norton projects pathos very well. Norton’s always been a great character actor. He was fab in “Fight Club,” and I loved him in “The Italian Job” as the double-crossing thief.
The bad: too much CGI. I don’t know if this is a legitimate complaint or not. After all, we are talking about a comic book. However, the battle scenes really had no element of realism to them. It’s also hard to believe the CGI Hulk. He doesn’t seem human at all. I’m not going to get into the sloppy science; it wouldn’t be a comic without ridiculous runaway science causing all sorts of mayhem. However, the Hulk stands probably 10-12 feet, and has insane muscles.
Liv Tyler is so-so channeling the “Arwen in love look” she perfected in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. As a girl with father issues herself, I certainly sympathized with her battles with her dad in the movie.
Perhaps I’d have enjoyed this movie more if I hadn’t seen “Iron Man” earlier, which certainly tops “The Hulk” in its complexity and plot. Robert Downey Jr. is a more complete character. How much so becomes apparent at the end of “Hulk,” when Downey does a brief scene as Tony Stark, apparently setting up the Avengers. After two hours of “Hulk,” Downey virtually steals the movie in five minutes. If they do make and Avengers, Downey and Norton could work very well together.
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05-28-2008
Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull
So yesterday, on my last day off for the next eight days, I went and caught Indy 4 while my car was getting fixed. I had studiously avoided reading any reviews or comments on it, so as to not have any prior expectations going into it.
What did I think?
It was a fun romp overall, really no more than I was expecting. It was great to see Karen Allen reprise her role as Marion Ravenwood, even if she was only in the last third of the movie and her role was dumbed down a little bit. Marion was always the best heroine by far in the any of the Indy movies.
The plot obviously strained credulity, but if you go into the movie expecting realism, you’ve obviously missed the point. I could see everything coming a mile away, so the writers weren’t subtle at all.
However, when I think about the first three, not much was left in the dark in those either. ALL of the Indy movies have been completely over the top. I mean, in the second one, they jump out of a plane on a raft and slide down a mountain, yet survive. So is the refrigerator scene really any more over the top than that? I don’t think so. Likewise, the twist at the end of this one, which, as I alluded to earlier, isn’t really a twist, because you could see it coming a mile away. I mean, is it any more silly than a 1000 year old knight guarding a roomful of grails with no food or water? Or the guy in the second one who chants to Kali, then reaches into someone’s chest and yanks out their heart?
I think this Indy movie is in line with the rest of them. It’s a fun romp and a tribute to the movies Spielberg and Lucas watched as kids. Harrison Ford looks to be having fun, Shia LaBeaouf plays well as usual, and Karen Allen, despite her limited screen time, rocks.
If you want high art, go see something like “Atonement.” Indiana Jones is a popcorn movie and rollicking ride, and doesn’t try to be anything else.
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