V-Knowledge

Lost in Translation

2011-05-05T00:00:00.003-04:00

Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Directed & Written By: Sofia Coppola
Release Year: 2003

There are two scenes in Lost in Translation that delightfully bookend the relationship between its two main characters. In both scenes, Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray meet at a bar in the hotel they are staying in. They sit at opposite ends of the frame, leaving empty space between them. She sits on the left, and he on the right. However, there is a difference in mood and feeling that they experience in the two scenes. When they have their first conversation, they ask each other what brought them to Tokyo and where they are at in their lives. Johansson’s character Charlotte nurses her glass of vodka tonic while Murray’s Bob Harris casually sips his cup of Suntory whiskey. Behind them reveals the nighttime Tokyo skyline from the window. The empty space between them conveys the gulf in age and experience between the two, as well as their mutual emptiness. The dim, cool lighting articulates their initial lack of knowledge of each other; their relations have yet to warm.

Near the end of the film, Bob and Charlotte are at the same bar again, but by this time, they have developed a deeper connection. As with their first conversation, they occupy the same edges of the frame, but the space between them is much smaller. The lighting is warmer from the golden glow of the light bouncing off their table, and Bob gently holds Charlotte’s hand. Bob isn’t eager to leave Tokyo behind, and Charlotte suggests that he should stay. Most other movies would use this exchange as an opportunity for predictable romantic proclamations and sentiment, but it is obvious from the film’s first moments that melodrama is not in this story’s nature.

Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation was one of the most critically lauded films of 2003, earning much deserved accolades in several awards circles, including the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, BAFTA awards for Best Actor and Actress, four Independent Spirit Awards for Actor, Director, Film, and screenplay, and the César Award for Best Foreign Film. Coppola’s achievement is made with an ingenuous and perspicacious sensibility, working as an exploration in matters of loneliness, listlessness, finding one’s purpose in life, and cultural/lingual isolation. This is not a film driven by grandiose plot contrivances or scene-chewing performance pieces. Instead, it is a film driven by and about feeling. Certainly, the results are not for everyone, and some may even write Coppola’s work of art off as high-brow pretentious twaddle. These people would be grossly mistaken, though. All of us, regardless of perpetual confidence levels, have felt lingering and heavy loneliness many times. Lost in Translation enables us to recall our sense of lonesomeness with an introspective lens.

Arriving in Tokyo to film advertisements for Suntory whiskey, Bob’s life is in a period of uncertainty; a “midlife crisis” as Charlotte puts it. Despite getting paid a handsome $2 million to hock booze, Bob finds himself emotionally separated from his wife Lydia and their children. After 25 years of marriage, the energy in their marriage has long since dissipated. Career-wise, Bob perceives his status as a star equally diminished, lamenting that he could be “doing a play somewhere” instead of having his face plastered on Tokyo billboards with hard liquor – though the product does make things relatively bearable for him.

Meanwhile, the younger and also despondent Charlotte accompanies her celebrity photographer husband John (Giovanni Ribisi) to Tokyo, though they spend far more time apart than not. A Yale Philosophy graduate, she spends much of her time in their hotel room, sitting on the windowsill overlooking the city skyline. She wanders through the bustling streets and subways, swept in the rush of residents while being unable to form any human connections. Charlotte feels stuck; she does not know what she wants to do or what she is “supposed to be.”

Bill Murray’s role as dejected movie star Bob Harris is a shimmering example of perfect casting. Operating in deadpan mode for the majority of the film, Murray derives more smiles and outright laughs from a staid glance and forlorn frown than some comedians do in exhausting physical routines. Portraying the detached seriousness of deadpan in a magnetic way is an acting challenge, requiring innate charisma for the performance to be truly effective. This is why Murray makes Lost in Translation so downright captivating.

Two small but pretty amusing instances in particular demonstrate Murray’s subtle yet striking appeal. Take a look at the scene where Bob is shooting the first of two Suntory whisky commercials. The Japanese director is blustering at Bob with long-winded commands for the actor to follow, and the interpreter reduces his diatribes to “Slower, more intensity.” (Perhaps this is a rib at George Lucas’s directorial style)? In the second take of the commercial, as Bob is in the middle of delivering his line, he pauses and his eyes dart around as if to say, “What is this? How did I get from shooting movies to shilling Suntory?” The moment is so small that one would probably not notice it at first. It is a genuinely funny moment that communicates Bob’s amusement and perhaps incredulity.

One other instance occurs when Bob meets Charlotte in her hotel room as they prepare to hit the city nightlife. He notices one of her self-help CDs entitled “A Soul’s Search: Finding Your True Calling.” She asks Bob, “Did it work out for you.” Bob, appearing stunned by the question, replies, “Obviously.” Here, his startled pause and response implies his current outlook on his own life. On one hand, he has achieved his calling as a successful actor, yet the tone in his voice when he says “obviously” also sounds defensive and wry. He is proud of his accomplishments, though the satisfaction from his career pales in comparison to the joy he used to gain from his own family. This tiny moment along with his first commercial shoot are just tiny flashes that we would normally not dwell on in any other film, yet it is these brief instances that sum up the essence of Bob’s personality.

The title Lost in Translation also refers to the miscommunication and lack of understanding between Bob and Charlotte’s partners. Charlotte’s husband John is entirely ignorant of his wife’s loneliness. His mind is focused on pressing matters like photographing vapid celebrities, as evidenced by Anna Faris’s ditzy blonde starlet Kelly who gives inane, empty-headed answers at a press conference for her latest movie. We do not get the impression that John is a jerk – on the contrary, he does seem polite and well-intentioned. The responsibilities of being an empathic romantic partner are totally lost on him. He tells Charlotte not to smoke cigarettes without any conviction, sounding instead like an annoyed father reprimanding his child. She replies with apathy, “I’ll stop later.”

Even Charlotte’s intelligence acts as a barrier between her, John, and his own buddies. While John is enraptured at Kelly’s sincere yet shallow tales of personal tragedy, Charlotte tries to feign interest in her husband’s friend’s discussion about hip-hop production. She shuts the conversation down when she tells him that she doesn’t understand what he means. To summon a clichéd yet apropos saying, it is only Bob that legitimately “gets” her.

Bob and his wife Lydia, unseen yet heard via telephone, deal with emotional translation issues of their own. We are not made privy to the full history of their marriage, yet from what we are shown, Lydia sounds insensitive and even uncaring towards Bob’s literal and figurative distance. He tries to explain his desire to become healthier, referencing Japanese food as an example. All she does in response is shoot him a terse wisecrack about him just staying in Japan instead. Bob definitely loves their children, and maybe they are the only reason why Bob and Lydia are still together in the first place.

Lost in Translation is a thing of beauty, not only thematically and emotionally, but especially visually. Cinematographer Lance Acord presents the magnificent urban sleekness of Tokyo with an appreciative and reverent eye. He employs repeat shots in a few occasions to convey the deepening connection between Bob, Charlotte, and the city itself. One of the earliest shots in the film sees Bob staring out in awe at the neon lights of the buildings illuminating the nighttime as he rides in a cab. Later, Charlotte also looks out of a cab window with a newfound appreciation for Tokyo, in contrast to her tearful frustrations from earlier. Prior to their cab ride, Bob and Charlotte hang out with some acquaintances of hers and rock out to some karaoke. Bob, clearly having more fun than he has ever had in who knows how many years, sings to Charlotte, “There’s nothing more than this.” And it is true. After their karaoke session, they chill outside in a quiet, narrow hallway. She rests her pink-wigged head on his shoulder as they cigarette. Words aren’t exchanged. There is no need.

Since the release of the film, a slew of questions have been raised about what Bob whispered in Charlotte’s ear before his departure. Whatever they have said is irrelevant to the rest of us. It is for them and them alone. Besides, after all the time we have spent empathizing with Bob and Charlotte, we can and should allow them one shared moment of “privacy”, even if it is on screen. Their presence in the moment articulates everything that words would only make redundant. We are left with the feeling of their goodbyes, and we won’t forget the impression they leave on us as they have made on each other.

Finale

2011-03-07T11:47:00.005-05:00

UPDATE 5/3/11: The blog is not dead! More writings will soon follow.

31st Golden Raspberry Awards Results!

2011-02-27T19:02:00.003-05:00

The 83rd Academy Awards are tonight, the results of which will be on the tips of many tongues in the succeeding weeks ahead. However, let us take some time to highlight the results of an equally esteemed ceremony: The Razzie Awards! Now 2010 was not a totally strong year for the art of cinema, though there have been several quality films as evidenced by this year’s batch of Oscar nominees. But leave it to the fine folks of the Golden Raspberry Awards to pick up the rest of the slack. Raise a toast to the following “champs” below.

WORST PICTURE
The Last Airbender
The Bounty Hunter
Sex and the City 2
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Vampires Suck

I have only seen one of the above nominees, and the award is sweet vindication for me. M. Night Shyamalan’s botched retelling of Avatar: The Last Airbender takes the cake of his quality-challenged post-Unbreakable filmography, bereft of convincing acting, a gripping plot, semi-decent visual effects, and entertainment value. This celluloid stain is the type of flick that ends careers. Utter garbage well deserving of its “accolade”.

As for the other nominees, a friend of mine told me that The Bounty Hunter was so awful that he shut it off 10 minutes in. Because I’m not a teenaged girl lacking taste, the third addition to the popular vampire/werewolf romance series missed my purview. At this point, nominating a Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer movie (Vampires Suck) is par for the course.

I have no idea what this “Sex and the Townspeople” movie is.

WORST ACTOR
Ashton Kutcher – Killers and Valentine’s Day
Jack Black – Gulliver’s Travels
Gerard Butler – The Bounty Hunter
Taylor Lautner – The Twilight Saga: Eclipse and Valentine’s Day
Robert Pattinson – Remember Me and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Noah Ringer’s star debut as Aang in The Last Airbender was an egregious snub, to say the least. Seriously, I’m wracking my brain as to why his plywood performance went unnoticed by the Razzie committee. The boy was a sure lock for this category! Then again, it's possible that not nominating him was a way to push him out of memory. I can certainly appreciate that.

WORST ACTRESS
Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis & Cynthia Nixon – Sex and the City 2
Jennifer Aniston – The Bounty Hunter and The Switch
Miley Cyrus – The Last Song
Megan Fox – Jonah Hex
Kristen Stewart – The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

I couldn’t tell you what my thoughts are of any of these actresses since I haven’t seen any of the aforementioned movies. I wonder, though, is The Bounty Hunter as awful as critics say it is? I’m intrigued by the fact that my friend stopped the flick 10 minutes in. Perhaps I should Netflix it and see if I can surpass the record. Hmmm…on second thought, I should heed the 7% warning on Rotten Tomatoes instead.

WORST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jackson Rathbone – The Last Airbender and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Billy Ray Cyrus – The Spy Next Door
George Lopez – Marmaduke, The Spy Next Door and Valentine’s Day
Dev Patel – The Last Airbender
Rob Schneider – Grown Ups

Jackson Rathbone scored a double whammy with his Supporting Actor “victory”. Look at just one episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender and watch how the character of Sokka is presented. Full of personality, vibrant, jocular, always armed with a snappy one-liner or two, right? Then look at Mr. Rathbone’s live-action interpretation. As you may no doubt concur, he earned his award with flying (into a flaming ditch) colors.

As for Dev Patel, he of Slumdog Millionaire fame, I’m pretty sure he would have done a stellar job had he worked under a much more competent director. Still, getting a paycheck never hurts. Lord knows I need one. Fraking economy…

WORST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessica Alba – The Killer Inside Me, Little Fockers, Machete, and Valentine’s Day
Cher – Burlesque
Liza Minnelli – Sex and the City 2
Nicola Peltz – The Last Airbender
Barbara Streisand – Little Fockers

Aside from Miss Peltz’s efforts as Robo-Katara, I have no opinion on the other nominees. I'm sensing that Valentine's Day is one to avoid, though.

WORST SCREEN COUPLE/SCREEN ENSEMBLE
The cast of Sex and the City 2
Jennifer Aniston & Gerard Butler – The Bounty Hunter
Josh Brolin’s face and Megan Fox’s accent in Jonah Hex
The cast of The Last Airbender
The cast of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

How about M. Night Shyamalan and a screenplay? Oh you’re so fresh, Victor…

WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF OR SEQUEL
Sex and the City 2
Clash of the Titans
The Last Airbender
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Vampires Suck

Alright, why have a category such as this when it’s a carbon copy of your Worst Picture roundup? Bit of a waste there, no? Crap is crap, I suppose. In any case, Clash of the Titans was a remake that nobody was clamoring for in the first place. The original 1981 version was no world-shaker itself, primarily beloved by nostalgic fans for the great Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animated creatures. All the 2010 edition gave us was shoddy post-converted 3-D and another stankified movie-based video game to boot.

WORST DIRECTOR
M. Night Shyamalan – The Last Airbender
Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer – Vampires Suck
Michael Patrick King – Sex and the City 2
David Slade – The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Sylvester Stallone – The Expendables

Nominating Sly for Worst Director? Really? That’s just mean. The Expendables was dumb 80s action for the new millennium, and it had no aspirations beyond machismo, machine guns and Eric Roberts. Plus, it featured five minutes of honest-to-goodness acting from the awesome Mickey Rourke (Youtube his monologue if it’s there). In short, it was fun.

You know what isn’t fun? Witnessing the decline of a once-promising talent in Mr. Shyamalan. Comebacks have been made before, and maybe one day we’ll see his. In the meantime, Shyamalan’s Razzie win acknowledges past failures such as the diabolical foliage horror The Happening, the self-indulgent Lady in the Water, the idiocy of The Village, and the three-quarters-good-until-the-bollocks-ending Signs.

WORST SCREENPLAY
The Last Airbender – M. Night Shyamalan
Little Fockers – John Hamburg & Larry Stuckey
Sex and the City 2 – Michael Patrick King
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse – Melissa Rosenberg
Vampires Suck – Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer

In a just world, Friedberg & Seltzer would be scrubbing toilets and Port-A-Johns. Because money speaks louder than quality in Hollywood, however, they remain gainfully employed and unreasonably rich. You know what; maybe I’ll throw my hat in the scriptwriting arena so I can strike paydirt and rid myself of these damned student loans. *sigh. Now that I think about it, perhaps the writers of Avatar were trying to tell us what to expect from Shyamalan…

Four Sterling Best Picture Oscar Winners

2011-02-24T12:33:00.006-05:00

With the 83rd Academy Awards just around the corner, it has been customary for film blogs and other cinema sites to post lists of their “tops”, “favorites”, and “best of’s” of Oscar-winning flicks and latest predictions. In that spirit, I’ve chosen four Best Picture winners that are among the true jewels of the category. Cop ‘em or Netflix ‘em if the films below haven’t shown up on your radar for some reason.

1. The Apartment (1960)
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, Naomi Stevens, David Lewis, Joyce Jameson, Johnny Seven
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond

Billy Wilder has crafted plenty of terrific films in his day, such as Double Indemnity, Sunset Boulevard, and Some Like it Hot. His 1960 Best Picture winner The Apartment ranks as my favorite Wilder work. Jack Lemmon stars as the affable CC. Baxter, a lowly office grunt who, with promises of bigger promotions, rents out his apartment to his bosses and their mistresses. Meanwhile, he has his eyes and affections set towards Fran Kubelik (MacLaine), a pretty elevator operator who happens to be seeing head honcho Jeff D. Sheldrake (MacMurray).

I.A.L. Diamond and Wilder’s screenplay is a thing of beauty, providing abundant wit and genuine emotion to the comedic drama. The Apartment earned 10 Oscar nominations, winning for Best Director, Original Screenplay, Art Direction and Film Editing.

2. Casablanca (1943) Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Dooley Wilson
Directed By: Michael Curtiz
Written By: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch & Casey Robinson

Casablanca is so deeply ingrained in American popular culture, that one may be inclined to feel as though one had already seen it considering its countless references in other movies and TV shows. After watching the film itself, one will come away knowing that this Bogart & Bergman-powered noir is a perfect picture. Putting aside the film’s myriad of unforgettable quotes, one will find that Casablanca stands the test of time. Nominated for eight Oscars, winning three for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay.

3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Ted Levine, Scott Glenn, Brooke Smith, Anthony Heald
Directed By: Jonathan Demme
Written By: Ted Tally

This absorbing horror-thriller is currently the last film to win in the top five Academy Award categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay. FBI agent Clarice Starling (Foster) seeks advice from the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins) to capture the enigmatic killer known as Buffalo Bill (Levine). The Silence of the Lambs is an achievement on all levels, from Demme’s choice of close-up compositions, the efficiency of the storyline, to its fascinating study of its indelible characters.

4. In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Starring: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oats, Lee Grant, William Schallert
Directed By: Norman Jewison
Written By: Stirling Silliphant

Upon his arrival in a small Mississippi town, Philadelphia detective Virgil Tibbs (Poitier) is reluctantly called upon to assist in a murder investigation alongside Bill Gillespie (Steiger), a bigoted police chief whose incompetence in the case threatens to get the better of him. Sidney Poitier is a commanding presence in the film, adamant in his refusal to buckle underneath the rampant prejudice that surrounds him. Rod Steiger’s nuanced performance and the gripping script by Stirling Silliphant lend power to this 1967 Best Pic victor. Nominated for a total of seven Oscars, including Best Actor (Steiger), Editing, Sound, Adapted Screenplay, Directing, and Sound Editing.

Fifteen Favorite Films of 2010

2010-12-28T16:10:00.011-05:00

Presenting my 15 favorite films of 2010, in alphabetical order. Why not ranked order? Because it’s just an exercise in hair-splitting and needless kvetching. “Why come is X film number one, but Y film number 7, and Z 13, huh? HUH?” Recognizing quality movies is not a competition; here, these films deserve equal appreciation. Happy New Year, peeps!

127 Hours
Starring: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Clémence Poésy, Lizzy Caplan, Treat Williams, Kate Burton
Directed By: Danny Boyle
Written By: Simon Beaufoy & Danny Boyle

In 2003, mountain climber Aron Ralston trekked alone in Utah’s Robbers Roost canyon when he became trapped by a boulder for over five days. Having told no one else where he would be beforehand, his right arm pinned underneath a rock too heavy to budge and limited provisions, Ralston faces only one option for possible survival.

127 Hours is not only a harrowing tale, but also a challenge in filmmaking. Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle and his Slumdog Millionaire collaborator Simon Beaufoy transform this one man, one location story into a visually vivacious wonder, smartly edited and briskly paced. James Franco’s amazing performance commands attention. As Ralston, he runs the emotional gamut of incredulity, fear, optimistic flashes and resigned gallows humor. Boyle’s lens is so keen that during the moment of Ralston’s grisly escape, the little of it he actually displays is enough to generate blood-chilling responses. Coupled with A.R. Rahman’s exciting score and 127 Hours is an ebullient endurance test.

Black Swan
Starring: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied, Ksenia Solo
Directed By: Darren Aronofsky
Written By: Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John McLaughlin

Darren Aronofsky’s doleful retelling of Swan Lake is very much an ideal companion piece to The Wrestler. Like Mickey Rourke’s Randy “The Ram” Robinson, Black Swan’s ballerina Nina Sayers (Portman) etches every fiber of her identity with her chosen craft, and journeys on a self-destructive path toward perceived perfection. A dark parable of repression and vicariously influenced pressures, Black Swan is the year’s most haunting film. Natalie Portman gives the strongest performance of hers to date, and her character’s arc from start to its brilliant finish will glue itself into one’s memory for years to come.

Buried
Starring: Ryan Reynolds
Directed By: Rodrigo Cortes
Written By: Chris Sparling

After being attacked and kidnapped by unknown forces in Iraq, truck driver Paul Conroy (Reynolds) wakes up bound and gagged in a wooden coffin buried underground. With a zippo lighter, glow sticks, a flashlight, flask, knife and a half-charged cell phone, he must do whatever he can to get rescued before he runs out of oxygen.

Buried is in some sense a complimentary relative to the non-fictional 127 Hours, but it is as every bit as edge-of-your-seat gripping. Unlike Boyle’s film, Rodrigo Cortes employs no flashbacks or visual trickery; it is 90 minutes of Reynolds and disembodied voices on the other end of his phone. The inventive screenplay by Chris Sparling deserves major kudos for its creative efficiency, and Ryan Reynolds formidably carries the film. Buried is a thriller with no fat to trim.

Exit Through the Gift Shop
Directed By: Banksy

Exit Through the Gift Shop does not ask the question, “What is art?” but rather “What makes an artist an artist?” If anyone has the capacity to create art, does it necessarily mean that they should? And even if one’s work receives acclaim, does one have the right to call oneself an artist if there is no artistic history to speak of?

These are questions that were at the forefront of my mind when I watched this quasi-documentary of Thierry Guetta, a Los Angeles clothing store owner and avid amateur videographer who documented hundreds of hours of footage on graffiti art. After meeting with the popular British street artist Banksy, Guetta’s aimless project leads to his own transformation into Mr. Brainwash, the overnight talk-of-the-town on the LA art circuit. Questions have been raised about the authenticity of the Banksy-handled documentary, but whatever the case may be, Exit Through the Gift Shop is a fascinatingly subversive query into the various dimensions of the art world, targeting both artists and connoisseurs alike.

The Fighter
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Jack McGee, Frank Renzulli, Mickey O’Keefe
Directed By: David O. Russell
Written By: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson

Three Kings director David O. Russell presents the utterly magnetic biopic The Fighter with some of the year’s best performances. The real-life drama of Lowell, Massachusetts-bred prizefighters and brothers Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and Dicky Eklund (Bale) is a redemption yarn that satisfies. As charming as Mark Wahlberg is, The Fighter is bolstered by its pedigree supporting players. The always fantastic actresses Amy Adams and Melissa Leo serve as the antagonistic yet mutually influential forces behind Ward’s march to success.

The showiest but mightiest acting effort belongs to Christian Bale. A part of me thought that Bale was overplaying his role with his hyped-up Massachusetts accent, but after watching the real Eklund in the end credits, Bale actually does channel Eklund with uncanny precision as a cracked-out has been ne’er do well.

I Am Love
Starring: Tilda Swinton, Flavio Parenti, Edoardo Gabbriellini, Alba Rohrwacher, Pippo Delbono, Maria Paiato, Diane Fleri, Waris Ahluwalia, Marisa Berenson, Gabriele Ferzetti
Directed By: Luca Guadagnino
Written By: Luca Guadagnino, Barbara Alberti, Ivan Cotroneo & Walter Fasano

Picturesque and enthralling, the Italian feature I Am Love is wonderfully led by its centerpiece performance by Tilda Swinton. In Milan, the Recci family begins to undergo some significant changes that affect each of its members in unforeseen ways. The love in Emma Recci’s (Swinton) marriage has cooled to uneventful space-occupying, and her grown children collide with the generational issue of change versus tradition. A synopsis of the film’s narrative is unnecessary, as it is better to allow yourself to be swept in by its energy and its excellent score composed by John Adams.

Inception
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao, Michael Caine, Peter Postlethwaite
Directed & Written By: Christopher Nolan

Christopher Nolan is a master at weaving multiple complex narrative structures in a way that is deeply engaging without being obtuse. Inception is another masterwork in science fiction filmmaking, remixing the enthralling heist genre with a layer cake plotline that guarantees and rewards multiple viewings. Dreams, memory, hazy boundaries between reality and the subconscious, unresolved guilt made manifest – all weighty themes that the film juggles without convolution. Other revolutionary sci-fi films, such as The Matrix in particular, have often seen its elements imitated time and again. Inception is a film with an approach that will be very difficult to replicate.

The Kids Are All Right
Starring: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Yaya DaCosta, Kunal Sharma, Eddie Hassell, Rebecca Lawrence, Lisa Eisner
Directed By: Lisa Cholodenko
Written By: Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

The Kids Are All Right centers on an unconventional family with traditional family trials, filled with genuine heart and humor. Annette Bennig and Julianne Moore are remarkable, and Mark Ruffalo’s go-with-the-flow charms are fun to see. Lisa Cholodenko’s film doesn’t try to make any political statements, though some pundits would accuse her of doing such a thing. What she delivers is an intelligent comedy-drama that goes for the head and shirks the easy jokes.

The King’s Speech
Starring: Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon, Jennifer Ehle, Derek Jacobi, Eve Best, Timothy Spall, Anthony Andrews, Ramona Marquez
Directed By: Tom Hooper
Written By: David Seidler

Colin Firth is on a bit of a hot streak at the moment, previously earning praise for his effort in 2009’s A Single Man, and now with the excellent period drama The King’s Speech. Firth stars as King George VI, who must overcome his lifelong stammer with the aid of his unorthodox speech therapist Lionel Logue (Rush). Tom Hooper brilliantly brings to life the sharp script of David Seidler’s, and manages to direct a richly funny biopic that bounds with as much delight as it has pomp. Grade-A turns from Helena Bonham Carter, Guy Pearce and Michael Gambon add to the flavor.

Leaves of Grass
Starring: Edward Norton, Keri Russell, Tim Blake Nelson, Richard Dreyfuss, Susan Sarandon, Melanie Lynskey, Steve Earle, Lucy DeVito, Lee Wilkof, Ken Cheeseman, Josh Pais, Maggie Siff
Directed & Written By: Tim Blake Nelson

This under-the-radar feature by director and co-star Tim Blake Nelson is a whip smart and outrageous romp that echoes the feel of a Coen Brothers production. Ivy League professor Bill Kincaid (Norton) is called back to his rural hometown in Oklahoma upon news of his twin brother Brady’s death. As it turns out, however, the hash harvesting Brady (Norton) plans to hatch a scheme to get even with a rival drug lord.

Leaves of Grass shifts its tone in ways that may seem haphazard, but the film manages to keep the proceedings grounded through its dabblings in straight comedy and shocking violence. As a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Nelson avoids shaping his characters as typical dumb okie stereotypes, and their perceptions are more discerning than at first sight.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Starring: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Satya Bhabha, Chris Evans, Brandon Routh, Mae Whitman, Shota Saito, Keita Saito, Jason Schwartzman, Alison Pill, Mark Webber, Johnny Simmons, Anna Kendrick, Brie Larson, Aubrey Plaza, Tennessee Thomas
Directed By: Edgar Wright
Written By: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright

More than enough mainstream action movies and comedies exhibit style over substance. For Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, the style is the substance. Edgar Wright’s adaptation of the Scott Pilgrim comics is a wild smattering of genres that takes a step further than his zombie-rom-com Shaun of the Dead and the buddy cop homage Hot Fuzz. If anything, it is the definitive video game movie.

Michael Cera is the self-absorbed, mincing, indecisive douchebag title character who falls in luuuuv with Ramona Flowers (Winstead), and subsequently becomes the target of her seven deadly ex-boyfriends – her emotional baggage in the flesh. Pilgrim is a straight up riot, from the spot-on comedic timing of the cast to its numerous video game references from the 8-bit era to the present (there’s a duel that parodies Soul Calibur). The movie is definitely not for all stripes, but as a piece of entertainment that knows exactly what it is and is damn proud of it, big ups to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

Shutter Island
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Mark Ruffalo, Michelle Williams, Emily Mortimer, Max Von Sydow, Patricia Clarkson, Jackie Earle Haley, John Carroll Lynch, Elias Koteas, Ted Levine
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Written By: Laeta Kalogridis

In 1954, U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and Chuck Aule (Ruffalo) investigate the disappearance of a mental patient at the secluded Ashecliffe Hospital on Shutter Island. Head psychiatrist Dr. Cawley (Kingsley) suspiciously appears to impede their investigation, and Daniels’s own traumatic history begins to bubble to the surface. Dennis Lehane’s novel Shutter Island is proficiently realized by the great Martin Scorsese, and its numerous twists reel you in from scene to scene. A fine noir thriller.

The Social Network
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Rooney Mara, Brenda Song, Joseph Mazzello, Rashida Jones
Directed By: David Fincher
Written By: Aaron Sorkin

Aaron Sorkin’s gift for quick-witted dialogue combines with David Fincher’s sleek cinematic flair to produce The Social Network, the dramatized account of Mark Zuckerberg and his creation of Facebook. Adapted from Ben Mezrich’s non-fictional The Accidental Billionaires, the film depicts Zuckerberg (deliberately played mechanically by Jesse Eisenberg) and his ingenuity in developing the world’s premier social networking website. His success in bridging millions of gaps online belies his inability to fundamentally connect with others personally, unless they possess expertise he can use to his advantage.

This year has delivered a breadth of tip-top soundtracks, and Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross add to the mix. Critics have declared the film as “Definitive of this current generation,” or something to that effect. Personally, I would not go so far as to make or agree with such a bold claim, but overall, The Social Network cleverly creates a compelling narrative in its 120-minute runtime.

Toy Story 3
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Ned Beatty, Michael Keaton, Don Rickles, Wallace Shawn, John Ratzenberger, Estelle Harris, John Morris, Jodi Benson, Emily Hahn, Laurie Metcalf, Blake Clark, Teddy Newton, Timothy Dalton, Bud Luckey, Jeff Pidgeon
Directed By: Lee Unkrich
Written By: Michael Arndt

Pixar’s Toy Story 3 is the perfect conclusion to the 15 year-old series that put the animation studio on the map. Michael Arndt’s incredible script frames the film as a prison tale, paying homage to classics such as Cool Hand Luke. The film’s eye-opening third act and closing moments leave the proceedings on the finest note possible. Toy Story 3 is further evidence as to why it’s always wise to bet on Pixar.

Winter’s Bone
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, John Hawkes, Lauren Sweetser, Garret Dillahunt, Dale Dickey, Shelley Waggener, Kevin Breznahan, Ashlee Thompson, Tate Taylor, Sheryl Lee, Cody Shiloh Brown
Directed By: Debra Granik
Written By: Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

When her missing father puts their house up as his bail bond, 17 year-old Ree Dolly (Lawrence) is forced to track him down through the bleak highlands of the Ozarks. With her mother incapacitated and two younger siblings to care for, Ree has no choice but to tangle with the region’s most dangerous and hostile inhabitants that no one else would dare encounter.

Winter’s Bone is a stone cold trial of resilience, driven with confidence by Jennifer Lawrence’s stoically heroic portrayal. Co-star John Hawkes is startling as Teardrop, a hard-hearted piece of work who could scare the black off of a raven. The rural setting of the film is also alluring in a disturbing sort of way, resembling a post-apocalyptic landscape that time forgot.

2010 Honorable Mentions

2010-12-28T16:02:00.004-05:00

Six films that are worth your time and consideration.

Boy
Starring: James Rolleston, Taika Waititi, Te Aho Aho Eketone-Whitu, Moerangi Tihore, Cherilee Martin, RickyLee Waipuka-Russell, Haze Reweti, Rachel House, Waihoroi Shortland
Directed & Written By: Taika Waititi

This sweet New Zealand film centers on 11 year-old Boy (Rolleston), whose absent father Alamein (Waititi) makes a sudden visit to his family. Having long imagined his dad to be a rock star hero on par with Michael Jackson, Boy instead sees him for what he really is: a two-bit criminal looking for some money he buried in their backyard some years ago. Boy is a lighthearted flick which is gorgeously shot, having filmed near the coasts of Waihau Bay. Like the 2003 feature Whale Rider, Taika Waititi’s movie possesses its own magic.

The Ghost Writer
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, James Belushi, Robert Pugh, Jon Bernthal, Eli Wallach, Tim Preece
Directed By: Roman Polanski
Written By: Robert Harris & Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski directs this Hitchcockian mystery/political thriller smartly scripted by himself and co-writer Robert Harris. An unnamed ghostwriter (McGregor) is commissioned to write the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Brosnan), but soon finds that the politician has buried some incriminating secrets that would forever tarnish his legacy.

Night Catches Us
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Jamie Hector, Jamara Griffin, Amari Cheaton, Wendell Pierce, Tariq Trotter
Directed & Written By: Tanya Hamilton

The past inevitably catches up to the present in Tanya Hamilton’s debut drama Night Catches Us. Years after the height of the Civil Rights Movement, former Black Panther Marcus (Mackie) returns to his Philadelphia neighborhood to iron out some unresolved tensions. His friend Patricia (Washington) continues to carry their old party’s banner by fighting instances of injustice in their community. Hamilton’s film is a subtle story powered by measured performances and a boss soundtrack by The Roots.

Somewhere
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning
Directed & Written By: Sophia Coppola

Sophia Coppola’s fourth feature is a spiritual successor of sorts to her critical darling Lost in Translation. Hollywood star Johnny Marco (Dorff) shuffles through a pampered existence at the Chateau Marmont coddled by publicists and numbed by meaningless sex and prescription drugs. Due to some issue from his ex-wife, Marco’s daughter Cleo (Fanning) visits him, and from there his attitude begins to see some much needed changes. Somewhere is an observant film that takes an un-relatable character on the surface and spotlights his humanity within.

The Town
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Blake Lively, Slaine, Peter Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper
Directed By: Ben Affleck
Written By: Peter Craig, Ben Affleck & Aaron Stockard

The Town is an entertaining crime flick, marking Ben Affleck’s second directorial effort after the superior Gone Baby Gone. Quality characterizations, kick-ass action and “Bahston” accents galore.

True Grit
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, Elizabeth Marvel
Directed & Written By: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

A remake of the 1969 film of the same name, the Coen Brother’s version of True Grit is a very fine straightforward Western carried by hefty performances. Hailee Steinfeld is absolutely impressive as the stubborn-minded heroine out for justice and revenge. I enjoyed the film, though I found it to be a mite overpraised by critics. Apparently, seeing the names “Joel & Ethan Coen” cause some to go bananas just a little bit. Still, True Grit is worth a look-see.

2010 Great Performances, Directors and Screenplays

2010-12-28T15:56:00.002-05:00

GREAT PERFORMANCES

James Franco (127 Hours)
Natalie Portman (Black Swan)
Ryan Reynolds (Buried)
Christian Bale (The Fighter)
Melissa Leo (The Fighter)
Amy Adams (The Fighter)
Thandie Newton (For Colored Girls)
Kimberly Elise (For Colored Girls)
Anika Noni Rose (For Colored Girls)
Phylicia Rashad (For Colored Girls)
Tilda Swinton (I Am Love)
Julianne Moore (The Kids Are All Right)
Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right)
Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right)
Colin Firth (The King's Speech)
Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech)
Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech)
Edward Norton (Leaves of Grass)
Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole)
Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network)
Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit)
Jeff Bridges (True Grit)
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone)
John Hawkes (Winter's Bone)

GREAT DIRECTORS

Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan)
David O. Russell (The Fighter)
Luca Guadagnino (I Am Love)
Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right)
Tom Hooper (The King's Speech)
Christopher Nolan (Inception)
David Fincher (The Social Network)

GREAT SCREENPLAYS

Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours)
Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz & John McLaughlin (Black Swan)
Chris Sparling (Buried)
Luca Guadagnino, Barbara Alberti, Ivan Cotroneo & Walter Fasano (I Am Love)
Christopher Nolan (Inception)
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg (The Kids Are All Right)
David Seidler (The King's Speech)
Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island)
Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network)
Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3)

2010 Cinematic Clunkers

2010-12-26T13:32:00.005-05:00

Another year has come and gone, and the annual supply of “Best of/Top” movie lists are making the rounds once more. There is no question that 2010, like any of the previous years, has hosted a trove of top-flight filmmaking. Nevertheless, the majority of the year felt strangely underwhelming, with knockout releases spaced few and far between and a glut of statuette contenders crowding the marquee in December. Even this year’s summer movie season underachieved to a degree unseen since 2003 (who remembers the summer champions of that year)?

Since I do not earn an income for this blog of mine, I am fortunate to not have to go out of my way to watch asstastic flicks on a regular basis. Essentially, the flicks below may not be the worst of the worst compared to many other releases, but by stealing time from my day, they have ended up on my hit list. So here they are, ranked from absolutely horrible to the least-terrible-yet-not-let-off-the-hook worthy.

1. The Last Airbender
Starring: Noah Ringer, Dev Patel, Nicola Peltz, Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Toub, Aasif Mandvi, Cliff Curtis, Seychell Gabriel
Directed & Written By: M. Night Shyamalan

Entrancing characters, a wonderfully visualized world, and fine writing that vaulted over expectations combined to position Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender among the upper echelon of stateside animated shows.

Then M. Night Shyamalan came along and decided to flip the bird to the fans by writing and directing a live action adaptation which woefully lacked the awe and intrigue of the series. Just about every element of The Last Airbender (and I hope it lives up to its title) careens head-first into a ravine of wrong. You know you are in for a treat when you cringe at the awkward and charisma-averse performances just two minutes into the film. Noah Ringer, the portrayer of Avatar’s hero Aang, was cast solely for his martial arts acumen…and boy is that obvious. Ringer plays the role with such staidness that it borders on sedate, and his co-leads Nicola Peltz and Jackson Rathbone perform as if they made a bet on who can act with the least amount of conviction possible.

Then there’s Shyamalan’s script which condenses the entirety of the show’s first season into a two-hour film. Subsequently, we’re left with a live-action highlight reel which offers a slew of undeveloped characters, an unintelligible plot, and atrocious dialogue that would make you want to Vincent Van Gogh yourself for being within earshot of it all.

With the casting of The Last Airbender, Shyamalan chose to practice Ethnicbending when selecting his actors. Disregard the fact that the TV series unfolds in an unmistakably East Asian influenced world, and that all of the main, supporting, and peripheral characters are subsequently Asian and Inuit inspired. Let’s Caucasianize ‘em up so us ethnically-ignorant Amurricans can muster up the interest in watching the damn movie. Oh, and let’s make all of the villainous antagonists Southeast Asian, since brown skin is pretty scary to look at nowadays. And as another example of Miscasting 101, we get Aasif Mandvi as the film’s arch villain. Yes, because when I think of tyranny and destruction, I automatically picture The Daily Show’s Aasif Mandvi.

The Last Airbender is shameful on all levels. The days of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable are a long time ago, and after a streak of awful films, it is evident that Shyamalan does not have what it takes anymore. M. Night, you embarrass me. You embarrass yourself.

2. Monsters
Starring: Scoot McNairy & Whitney Able
Directed & Written By: Gareth Edwards

I have an idea for a cool monster picture. Picture an alien invasion with the extraterrestrials looking like ten story tall octopi with bioluminescent qualities. You barely get a glimpse of these creatures, and they don’t do much of anything except make strange whale-like noises and flip over pickup trucks. Set the film in Mexico and follow two of the dullest protagonists we can find to carry this story. Make sure the both of them lack any speck of chemistry or appeal.

Why Mexico? It’s allegorical; you know, illegal immigration, aliens, commentary on humanity’s inhumanity to each other, all that. Think District 9 with a dash of Cloverfield minus the entertainment value…or the “Monsters” for that matter. How does Monsters end? I’ll put it this way: it’s an ending that is difficult NOT to dislike. That’s something, right?

3. Kick-Ass
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Nicholas Cage, Chloe Grace Moretz, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Lyndsy Fonseca
Directed By: Matthew Vaughn
Written By: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn

Who hasn’t at one time or another pictured themselves as a superhero, donning a flashy costume, wiping the floor with dastardly reprobates and saving the world in style? Kick-Ass, based on the comic series by Wanted creator Mark Millar, should have worked in theory. Instead, we are left with a disappointing hero flick full of missed opportunities. It has an intriguing setup, briefly highlighting the influence of Youtube as a tool for instant celebrity fodder, for instance. There could have been some wild thematic directions that the film could have traveled, but it’s too content with settling for the low-brow. The film is never as funny as it pretends to be.

As the film blazes toward its final act, the story strays so far away from its original premise that it winds up as being yet another outrageous live-action cartoon, and a bland one at that. Plus, the idea of a foul-mouthed 11 year-old girl who racks up more murders than The Punisher is not as cool and entertaining as it sounds. Mix that with a complete tool shed of a main hero and a love interest of his that might as well be a sex doll, and you’ve got a time waster on your hands. Remove the word “Kick” from the title, and you’ll understand the movie’s level of quality.

4. The American
Starring: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Paolo Bonacelli, Johan Leysen, Irina Björklund, Thekla Reuten
Directed By: Anton Corbijn
Written By: Rowan Joffe

I wanted to appreciate Anton Corbijn’s The American, but I found it to be too minimalist. Minimal engagement, minimal storytelling, minimal value beyond aesthetic pleasures. As a piece of art cinema, there are much more compelling like-minded films in circulation. There are only three scenes in the entire film that show any signs of life, and the effect is jarring in light of the relative aimlessness of the overall plot. It may have functioned better as a short feature as opposed to a near two-hour slog. The American is a bore – a pretty looking bore – but a bore nonetheless.

5. For Colored Girls
Starring: Kimberly Elise, Janet Jackson, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Loretta Devine, Phylicia Rashad, Kerry Washington, Whoopi Goldberg, Tessa Thompson, Macy Gray, Michael Ealy, Omari Hardwick, Richard Lawson, Hill Harper, Khalil Kain
Directed & Written By: Tyler Perry

Full disclosure: I am not a Tyler Perry fan. Even though I understand the popularity of his movies and ghastly sitcoms (if you can sit through two episodes of House of Payne without unplugging your TV in anger, you are a trooper), his works are way too cloying, melodramatic, and JAYZUS-preaching for my tolerance. So for Mr. Madea to deliver the least bad film on this list is saying quite a bit.

For Colored Girls, adapted from Ntozake Shange’s 1977 Obie-winning and Tony-nominated play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, is easily the best film Perry has ever produced. This is a backhanded compliment because Perry’s best is a good director’s mediocre, and a great director’s autopilot.

The film spotlights the lives of nine black women and their heart-wrenching and spirit-tearing emotional trials, touching on issues ranging from domestic abuse, to prostitution, to rape, to abortion, love, and relationships. Because the original play is structured as a tone piece with separate poems, Perry enfolds Shange’s poetry into an interconnected narrative, and the end result feels forced. The women mix the play’s soliloquies with their regular dialogue, but unlike a musical, the handling is too clumsy to fully invest in.

It is a testament to the abilities of the film’s actresses that they still manage to convey wonderful performances in spite of Perry’s direction. Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise, Anika Noni Rose, and the renowned Phylicia Rashad provide incredibly moving characterizations that are the stuff of awards recognition. Watching these actresses and the others in the film reinforce the ignominious truth that even today, vast numbers of talented black actors are still not granted an equal amount of quality roles as their white counterparts.

Perry’s handling of black males is, typically of him, one-dimensional and nonredeemable to the point of parody. With the exception of Hill Harper’s role (who is ineffectually milquetoast), all of the men in For Colored Girls are either Palpatine Evil, trifling tail-chasers, down-low brothers, or well behaved gentlemen seeking to get their rape on. Michael Ealy’s role as a troubled war veteran is unsettlingly absurd; he has the tendency to slap objects out of people’s hands. Because he is ANGRY AT HOW THE WORLD WRONGED HIM! Perhaps Perry is trying to say that, as a black man, I am supposed to hate myself for my abhorrent nature. Should I don a fat suit, a sun dress and a tacky wig to excise my personal demons?

Perry’s take on Shange’s play feels like an extended elegy, unconcerned with uplift or inklings of brightness. According to reviews from those who have seen or read the original play, it provided a sense of optimism for audiences to take away with. In For Colored Girls, we are left with a Deborah Downer. When the credits roll, I get the impression that Perry is saying, “Look at these black women and how they suffer…so…nobly. *cue tears.”

If there is one positive I can ascribe to For Colored Girls, it’s that I am eager to read Shange’s play as intended. The film could have functioned more naturally as a series of vignettes instead, perhaps with Shange herself in the director’s chair. At the end, Perry’s film has good components (performances and Shange’s prose), but the whole is deficient.

You know what this film needed? Muppets.

Blu-Ray Highlight: Broken Embraces

2010-12-24T01:46:00.004-05:00

Starring: Penelope Cruz, Lluís Homar, Blanca Portillo, José Luis Gómez, Rubén Ochandiano, Lola Dueñas, Angela Molina, Rossy de Palma, Carmen Machi
Directed & Written By: Pedro Almodovar
Release Year: 2009 (BD March 2010)

The visually resplendent Pedro Almodovar reunites once again with his muse Penelope Cruz in 2009’s Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos), a melodramatic paean to the art of filmmaking wrapped in a twisted tale of forbidden love. Blind writer Harry Caine (Homar) is paid a visit by a mysterious young filmmaker Ray X (Ochandiano) who wants to employ him to write a screenplay based on X’s life. Caine soon realizes exactly who X is, and his recollections lead him to revisit his glory days of years past when he was known as Mateo Blanco, cocksure and celebrated film director.

An illicit tryst between Blanco and his star actress Magladena Rivas (Cruz) while filming his awaited feature “Chicas y Maletas” ushers in a torrent of regrets, long-ignored yearnings, anger, and enough emotion-wrangling drama for the soapiest of operas.

Almodovar’s latest is a thoroughly entertaining picture, brush-stroked with lively humor and engaging feeling. The ensemble cast of Broken Embraces is nothing short of splendid, and the story’s audacious eccentricity reels one in as only Almodovar’s projects can.

Bonus materials for Broken Embraces include:

The Cannibalistic Councillor, a short film by Pedro Almodovar
Pedro Directs Penélope, a behind-the-scenes featurette
On the Red Carpet: The New York Film Festival Closing Night
Variety Q&A with Penelope Cruz, an interview with Cruz by film critic Todd McCarthy
Three deleted scenes

Blu-Ray Highlight: Sugar

2010-12-24T01:40:00.004-05:00

Starring: Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino, Andre Holland, Michael Gaston, Jaime Tirelli, Ann Whitney, Richard Bull, Ellary Porterfield, Alina Vargas
Directed & Written By: Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
Release Year: 2008 (BD September 2009)

Rags-to-riches stories are as predictable as the day and night cycle, but Sugar inhabits a far superior class. One of the most criminally overlooked films of the last couple of years, this affective drama centers on an up-and-coming baseball player Miguel Santos (Soto), better known as “Sugar” to his friends and family. Earning notice from professional baseball agents, Sugar is transplanted from his native Dominican Republic to the baseball fields of Midwestern America, striving to achieve success in the minor leagues.

Enormous pressure strikes Sugar from all conceivable angles. Culture shock, high hopes from his family and native community at large, expectations from his coach and handlers, and never being completely certain of his security on his American team are intimidating barriers the upstart must deal with alone. Directors and writers Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, originators of 2006’s indie drama Half Nelson, present Sugar with raw honesty and true humanity. Algenis Perez Soto leads the film in his first-ever acting opportunity, and his inexperience is masked with a magnetic charisma and earnestness that makes his character’s journey all the more engrossing.

Extras include:

Making 'Sugar:' Run the Bases
Play Béisbol! The Dominican Dream, explores the significance of baseball in the Dominican Repulic, with interviews from MLB players Pedro Martinez, Sammy Sosa and others.
Casting 'Sugar:' Interview with Algenis Perez Soto, a screen test with the lead actor.
Deleted scenes.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

2010-12-12T19:26:00.003-05:00

Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, David Cross, Jane Adams
Directed By: Michel Gondry
Written By: Charlie Kaufman
Release Year: 2004

Picture in your mind all of the people you have ever met and known. Among all of the relatives, friends, classmates, co-workers and casual acquaintances, recall the specific ones with whom you share a close connection. Think of the most wonderful, happiest, and most exciting times you have shared with this person. How do you truly feel about this him or her? What effect did he or she have on you? Consider what measure this person has had on your maturation, emotionally, intellectually or even physically. Would you say that this he or she is special?

With this special somebody in mind, shift your focus onto the more unpleasant and unfortunate instances between you and they. It could be a myriad of things; an argument here, a violent fight there, the utterance of words better left unsaid. You could wonder who started what while regretting whatever might have happened. Eventually, your mind would instinctively return to the shinier and cheerful times you shared with her or him. Perhaps this someone hurt you so deeply that if it were up to you, you would not hesitate to purge the lad out of your consciousness forever. “If I never met this person, my life would have been so much better,” you’d declare.

Visionary director Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman – an incredibly gifted screenwriter in a class of his own – put the above declaration to the test in their inventive magnum opus Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Each of Kaufman’s equally ingenious scripts ask a brain-massaging question: How and why do we choose to define ourselves? In 1999’s Being John Malkovich, John Cusack’s melancholy puppeteer and others confronted perceptions of self-actualization and intimacy through the eyes and ears of the iconic actor. Adaptation (2002) saw Nicholas Cage’s creatively difficult struggle in creating a screenplay that reflected his sense of artistry. Kaufman’s first-time directorial effort Synecdoche, New York (2008), meshed life and art to such a degree that made both indistinguishable. With Eternal Sunshine, Kaufman and Gondry explore the question of self by utilizing the often-worn form that is the love story, though the path the film takes is anything but typical.

As standard procedure with romantic narratives, the film starts off with the him meeting the her. The “him” in this case is Joel Barish (Jim Carrey), a withdrawn and gentle man who impulsively skips work to take a train to Montauk, New York. He soon encounters the “her” named Clementine Kruczynski (Kate Winslet), a very animated bookstore employee whose hair color changes as often as one’s mood. We learn later on that this is not the first time they have met, for Clementine and Joel was once a couple, but neither is aware of this because they both have had their memories of each other wiped. Thanks to a radical neurological procedure invented by Dr. Howard Mierzwiak (Tom Wilkinson), anyone can elect to literally change their past by erasing undesirable memories of specific people or traumatic events.

When their relationship nosedives into disarray, Clementine in her anger undergoes the thought-nuking treatment. Angered at this discovery, Joel decides to be subjected to the same. In the course of the memory erasure, however, he realizes that he wants to preserve his link with Clementine after all. For the majority of the film, Joel desperately tries to cling onto his memories by retreating into various corners of his own mind, concealing Clementine in his own childhood recollections, for example.

Watching Joel’s frantic quest through his fragmented mindscape, we witness the evolution and breakdown of his relationship with the colorful Clementine as the film spills out into a jumble of unsorted non-chronological sequences. Describing their relationship, the clichéd phrase “opposites attract” readily applies. Yet as outwardly different Joel and Clementine are in personality, their inner natures are intrinsically similar. Near the end of the film, their first chronological meeting occurs at a beachside cookout thrown by Joel’s friends. Obviously not the social butterfly type, Joel quietly sits on the stairs alone. The sight that catches his eye is a lone Clementine, standing at the mouth of the beach looking out into the sea, dressed in her comfortable orange hoodie. Joel and Clementine are both lone souls by nature, the difference being that Clementine could socialize with anyone on a whim, a venture a bit too risky for the safe sad-sack guy.

Both Joel and Clementine are also shown as having an affinity for the artistically offbeat. Clementine houses a display of potato figurines clad in various outfits, from doctors to policemen and maids. As potatoes are customarily peeled, she peels back the layers of Joel’s reserved demeanor as their romance grows. Joel draws sketches in his little notepad, and appears to have a fascination for the dead as shown by his skeleton costume and artwork. The skeleton expresses Joel’s morose disposition and his lack of a compelling background. Even by his own admission (or modesty), he apprehensively tells Clementine that his own life is relatively uninteresting; he wakes up, goes to work, and does the same from one day to the next. He is basically a walking stack of bones in a way, with little to no interesting muscle persona-wise. Clementine’s energy and forthright outspokenness gives Joel real shape and confidence.

Kaufman also uses the colors of Clementine’s hair to signify the status of their relationship. When Joel and she meet in the start of the film, her hair is blue. In this context, blue signifies mystique. She is an unknown to Joel at this point, and he to her, even though they have met before. Even though their initially unstated attraction towards each other is hinted at, Joel sees a woman unlike any he has spent time with before. Their real first meeting at the beach cookout sees Clementine with green hair, which communicates life and growth, as well as the start of something new. In sports, calling someone “green” denotes one’s inexperience, and for Joel and Clementine, their relationship will yield significant lessons. The orange hair she wears during their romance not only displays her forceful attitude, but is also seen as a warning signal that problems will rise and come to a head between the two.

Supporting characters in the film also lend thematic weight. A subplot in the film involves Patrick (Elijah Wood), the pathetically creepy assistant of Mierzwiak’s engineer Stan (Mark Ruffalo), who is the boyfriend/co-worker of Mary the secretary (Kirsten Dunst). Patrick’s own issue with what he considers himself to be via an inappropriate relationship imparts the fact that there are no easy shortcuts when it comes to love. Actions and intent cannot be pantomimed carelessly when dealing with matters of the heart. As for Stan, Mary and even Dr. Mierzwiack, they eventually have to face a roadblock that neither one wants to fully acknowledge.

What makes Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind such a robust film is that its grasp on love and romance is affectingly perceptive and utterly frank in a way that countless other love stories fail to be. All couples, regardless of how adoring and caring they are for each other, eventually reach the point in their relationship where the sheen of passion becomes dull. What was once fascinating is now an irritation, what was considered fun now rote. Dissatisfaction evolves into outright loathing, even hatred.

Some couples decide to split up and never look upon the other again. Others might do the same, then after some time return together with stronger and more realistic feelings and judgments. For Joel and Clementine, their erased memories of each other yield a most reflective lesson: that it is only through enduring and overcoming mutual animus can the true value of a relationship be evident. Since we are molded by our experiences, what we learn about our personal notions of self cannot be thought of as complete without equal amounts of both the positive and the negative. Joel’s final response to Clementine’s outcry about who she is and how much of herself she can bring into a relationship is well earned and brilliant in its simplicity.

Admirers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind have wondered about the meaning behind the very last shot of the film. Some have opined that it implies that Joel and Clementine are doomed to repeat a vicious cycle of breakups and reconciliations. This may be true on one hand, but the more likely and sensible conclusion is that Joel succeeded in protecting one sliver of his memory of Clementine against all odds. So long as the seed of their former love is planted somewhere in the recesses of his subconscious, Joel will want to continue cultivating his connection with her. One would also be rightly inclined to believe that Clementine’s wiped recollection of Joel missed one tiny shred of her aw-shucks boyfriend, although we can never know what her own procedure was like. Memories frozen in time.

DVD Highlight: Life

2010-11-28T13:21:00.004-05:00

Starring: Eddie Murphy, Martin Lawrence, Nick Cassavetes, Obba Babatunde, Heavy D, Bernie Mac, Anthony Anderson, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Bokeem Woodbine, Ned Beatty, R. Lee Ermey
Directed By: Ted Demme
Written By: Robert Ramsey & Michael Stone
Release Year: 1999

Ray Gibson (Murphy) and Claude Banks (Lawrence) are two New Yorkers in 1932 that are framed for a murder in the Deep South. As a result, they end up serving life sentences at a prison camp. While watching their lives ebb away as days turn into years into decades, the reality of getting stuck with each others company digs deeper underneath their skins.

Life effectively serves up laughs and drama in equal portions, with Murphy and Lawrence displaying remarkable chemistry in their performances. It’s pretty strange that this film is not often mentioned in discussions about Murphy and Lawrence’s best works. While the majority of their individual film choices since this flick haven't exactly been superb (e.g. Norbit and Big Momma's House), Life remains a shimmering gem through the sludge.

Disc Features include an audio commentary by director Ted Demme, an "On Location" featurette, some outtakes, and music highlights from the film's soundtrack.

DVD Highlight: La Vie En Rose

2010-11-28T13:18:00.004-05:00

Starring: Marion Cotillard, Gérard Depardieu, Sylvid Testud, Jean-Pierre Martins, Emmanuelle Seigner, Pascal Gregory, Catherine Allegret, Jean-Paul Rouve, Clotilde Courau, Marie-Armelle Deguy, Marc Barbe
Directed By: Olivier Dahan
Written By: Olivier Dahan & Isabelle Sobelman
Release Year: 2007

La Vie En Rose tells the story of legendary French singer Edith Piaf, portrayed stunningly by young actress Marion Cotillard. Cotillard’s Oscar-winning portrayal is utterly incredible as she depicts the singer’s rise and tragic, drugs-and-alcohol-induced downfall. Gorgeous cinematography and deft direction by Olivier Dahan further contribute to the biopic's richness.

The DVD contains only one featurette titled "Stepping Into Character" which focuses on Cotillard's impressive transformation as Piaf.

Ikiru

2010-11-21T16:47:00.003-05:00

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Miki Odagiri, Yunosuke Ito, Nobuo Kaneko, Kyoko Seki, Yoshie Minami, Kamatari Fujiwara, Shinichi Himori, Nobuo Nakamura, Seiji Miyaguchi, Daisuke Kato, Ichiro Chiba
Directed By: Akira Kurosawa
Written By: Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni & Akira Kurosawa
Release Year: 1952

Akira Kurosawa, one of cinema’s most exalted filmmakers, discussed his motivations for creating Ikiru in the documentary series It is Wonderful to Create. “The thought of my eventual death pops up in my mind occasionally. I feel that I am not ready to die just yet, and I become restless. There are many things I must accomplish before I die.” Kurosawa, 42 at the time of the film’s release, had already gained stature as a director with works such as Stray Dog, The Idiot, and Rashomon. Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Red Beard and his trove of other masterpieces would gestate in following decades. With Ikiru, Kurosawa conceived his most profound film, a contemplation of a life that has never experienced the zest of life itself. Death ironically becomes the lesson of discovering the difference between living and merely existing.

The first few minutes of the film introduces Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), the paper-pushing Section Chief of the Public Affairs Office. His lofty title exaggerates the importance of his job; he is one of many office drones who stamp meaningless forms to add to the towering stacks of neglected papers that sit behind his desk. So drab and ambition-crushing is his profession that when a bubbly young co-worker bursts out into sudden laughter, the rest of the poker-faced office zombies glare at her with silent disapproval. Their work is much too serious for such aberrant displays of personality, or even addressing the concerns of citizens.

Everything changes when the veteran government employee learns that he is diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. Given only less than a year to live, the elderly Watanabe realizes that for thirty long and uneventful years, he had built his life on a foundation of meaningless busy work. Even the film’s narrator chimes that Watanabe had been “dead” for over 20 years. Bemoaning his wasted years, the old man decides to make his life actually meaningful by taking on the very bureaucracy he has devoted his existence to.

A frequent collaborator of Kurosawa’s, Takashi Shimura demonstrated his range in a breadth of roles from the collected detective in Stray Dog, to his droll supporting appearance in Sanjuro, among many others. In Ikiru, Shimura bestows a poignant lead performance that imbues the story with such affecting strength that the film would be impossible to imagine with any other thespian in his shoes. Observe the way in which Watanabe hangs his head in the foreground, shoulders hunched over with a forlorn frown on his face, eyes on the verge of tears. The cogs in his mind are clearly turning as he ruminates over how he can figure out what his own purpose should be. This image of the moribund protagonist is a recurring shot in the film, almost as if to invite the viewer to ponder similar questions that Watanabe asks himself.

Watanabe revisits three different phases of the life journey after his diagnostic death sentence. Alcoholic refuge in the form of some expensive Saki is the first option for the old bureaucrat. He gains the attention of a drifting novelist (Yunosuke Ito) who pities Watanabe and takes him along for a tour of the nightlife. Striptease dancers, dance floors with swaying waves of young twenty-somethings, and prostitutes are all fleeting pleasures that have long passed Watanabe by.

The novelist brings Watanabe to a nightclub full of vivacious young couples dancing to some upbeat piano riffs. The old man requests an old song, “Gondola no Uta”. As the pianist begins to play the melody, Watanabe sings along in a mournful and haunting voice that affects all of the youthful clubgoers so deeply that their fresh-faced smiles and giggles vanish almost instantly. All of them are transfixed upon listening to the lyrics of Watanabe’s song, which serves as a precautionary message to the rest of them:

Life is brief/ Fall in love, maidens/ Before your raven tresses begin to fade/ Before the flames in your hearts/ Flicker and die/ For those to whom/ Today will never return.

Watanabe’s face is framed in close-up, the lights reflecting off of his glossy teary eyes. Even though he is singing to himself while wallowing in his self-pity, he is also fulfilling an unspoken duty: to encourage others to make the most of their lives however they can.

The second phase of the life journey is the sky-is-the-limit optimism of youth, when all manner of possibilities lay within one’s reach. Living vicariously for a time through his younger co-worker Toyo (Miki Odagiri), Watanabe derives feelings of vitality from spending time with the perky young lady. He is delighted when she tells him that she quit working at the Public Affairs Office because of the repetitive boredom it breeds. Surely, this energetic girl must hold the answers that Watanabe seeks. Funnily enough, Toyo’s new job is in a factory making wind-up toy rabbits, a stressful line of work which is not only repetitious but physically demanding as well.

In a conversation between the two at Toyo’s home, Watanabe explains that he remained in his dull job for his son’s sake. He felt that he was obligated to his work so that he could adequately provide for his family, therefore justifying his lack of initiative to strive for something much better personally and professionally. Toyo chastises him for being so hard on his son, then instantly lightens up the tension upon her amusement of seeing the “old mummy’s” crestfallen stare. While he is telling his story, the camera pulls back into a wide two-shot of both characters, which not only gives Toyo stretching room within the frame, but conveys the sense that Watanabe definitely needs to rise above his myopia. He cannot remain trapped in his own narrow box of self-loathing and regret, and he cannot continue to rationalize away his unspent days.

In their final conversation together at a festive restaurant, Toyo vocalizes her mounting frustrations with being followed around by Watanabe. Subsequently, he receives an epiphany and rushes out of the restaurant, leaving Toyo behind at her table. A crowd of students in the background sings “Happy Birthday” to one of their own who arrives at the moment of Watanabe’s departure. The students are also commemorating Watanabe’s rebirth, his rediscovery of purpose.

Ikiru breaks its narrative about 90 minutes into the story, this time visiting Watanabe’s purpose-driven crusade post-mortem as his fellow bureaucrats gather at his wake recalling and questioning his last days. Via flashbacks, we witness Watanabe’s third and final phase of the life journey: that the meaning of life is the creation of meaning itself, not finding it.

At the beginning of the film, we watch as a group of indignant mothers complaining about a nasty sewage pond in the middle of their neighborhood. They wish to have a park and playground built on the grounds for their children. Watanabe indifferently tells an aide to shuttle them off to another department, and we see a montage of useless public servants give them the runaround. Understandably angry, the mothers deride the Public Affairs officials as “time killers.” Watanabe’s true objective, after finding no depth in ephemeral joys of the nightlife and vicarious youth, is to improve the lives of his own community…the very job that he was employed to do but flat-out refused to do anyway out of complacency.

The film’s deepest and most vivid scene briefly places Watanabe and the community women standing in the mucky cesspool under heavy rainfall. The wide telephoto shot captures the deep puddles as miniature lakes, with debris and trash forming tiny islands. Watanabe steps into the water towards the camera with one of the mothers following suit with an umbrella over their heads. This wasteland, representing not only the old man’s existence, is where he will festoon his legacy. With his health declining with each passing day, Watanabe intentionally subverts the bureaucracy by using obsequiousness and flattery to appease his good-for-nothing colleagues. It is incredible to consider what lengths some would take to compel others to actually do what they are paid for.

Throughout the duration of Watanabe’s wake, the perceptions of the man by his co-workers gradually morph from skepticism, to open derision, and finally into tearful and highly inebriated wails of agony and celebration. They are perplexed at how Watanabe could soldier on his feverish quest knowing that he has terminal cancer, and they mutually conclude that they could not have one iota of the fortitude of a dying man. Now, other films would have seen these government officials actively changing their business procedures, but on the following day after the wake, their declarations of change are found to be nothing but the product of loose-lipped booziness. One particular worker by the name of Kimura (Shinchi Himori) stands up in outrage when a fellow worker gives a lowly citizen the runaround, but he is instantly silenced when the new Section Chief Ono (Kamatari Fujiwara) stares him down with extreme disapproval.

The concluding shot of the aforementioned scene finds Kimura sitting back down on his desk, with the camera moving down as his head is obscured from the tall stacks of documents situated in front of him. Here, Kurosawa suggests a social message to the audience: that tangible change is born only from interpersonal efforts, not by societal measures. Steven Prince, author of The Warrior’s Camera: The Cinema of Akira Kurosawa elaborates in the DVD commentary of Ikiru, “The world is a dark place if [Watanabe’s] dedication is pointless…there is no hope in redeeming or reforming the larger context. The only hope lies in small acts of charity, which isn’t enough to transform the structural problem that defines people’s lives.”

Such assessments of Ikiru speak to the film’s unsentimental nature, but the important distinction to understand is that Kurosawa’s film is not cynical. If this were the case, then the film would have lacked its emotional power and insightfulness. The narrative is not one of constant complaint and bitterness under the guise of cynical “that’s-just-the-way-it-is” resignment. Watching the film in preparation of this essay, a part of me believes that Kimura, the lone office drone opposed against the ineffectual societal machine, would perhaps one day assume the mantle of Watanabe. The concluding scene in the film gives me encouragement. In the final scope of things, Ikiru teaches us that whatever meaning we discover in our lives is primarily determined by what we do. Everything else is just background noise.

The Wrestler

2010-11-21T16:00:00.004-05:00

Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Ernest Miller, Todd Barry, Mark Margolis, Judah Friedlander, Wass Stevens, Dylan Summers, Tommy Farra
Directed By: Darren Aronofsky
Written By: Robert D. Siegel
Release Year: 2008

Standing behind the curtain, you can feel the electricity. The rocking guitar riffs of your entrance music blares through the arena speakers, and the crowd roars in anticipation of your appearance. From the moment you step through the curtain and walk down the aisle towards the ring, the fans become unglued from their seats, clapping and shouting with feverish praise. You put on a solid match, working your opponent with powerful clotheslines, dropkicks, hammerlocks, and finally your finishing move: The Ram Jam. One, two, three, and another pinfall victory. The crowd goes wild, chanting your name as you triumphantly make your way back up the aisle and into the locker room. For you, professional wrestling is not just a career; it is life.

Regardless of all the adulation and career successes, the reality of Randy “The Ram” Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is a far cry from the in-ring glamour of his heyday. A top tier star in the 1980s, the present-day Ram has only a broken-down body to show for it, and no family or real friends to turn to. Twenty years past his prime, Randy wrestles on the independent circuit in various school gymnasiums and works at a local supermarket to support himself. After suffering a near-fatal heart attack, Randy is motivated by aging stripper Cassidy (Marisa Tomei) to reconnect with his estranged daughter Stephanie (Evan Rachel Wood). The allure of a long-desired rematch with his old in-ring nemesis The Ayatollah (Ernest Miller) also hangs in the back of Randy’s mind.

Darren Aronofsky’s fourth motion picture The Wrestler is one of those films that remains ingrained in my mind for two reasons. Growing up, I used to follow professional wrestling religiously, keeping up with nearly every weekly telecast of World Wrestling Entertainment (nee Federation) and its former competitor World Championship Wrestling. Personalities such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle, and Dwayne Johnson a.k.a. The Rock made the uniquely weird circus of the squared circle endlessly watchable, especially during the titular WWE/WCW Monday Night Wars from 1996 to 2001. Although The Wrestler solely showcases independent wrestling leagues, both Aronofsky and screenwriter Robert Siegel exhibit a great deal of respect in portraying the wrestling business with serious accuracy.

Most of all, the film is so penetrating because it is a sobering tale of self-destruction, and how it comes about by refusing to relinquish past glories. Phrases like “tour-de-force” and “comeback” are tossed around when referring to Mickey Rourke’s impactful performance. Certainly, it cannot be described any other way. Rourke pours some serious pain and passion into Randy Robinson that could only come alive by someone who has endured many real-life hurts. Shredded biceps, cracked clavicles, deep cuts & lots of blood spilled: all in the name of the game for The Ram. Rourke makes Randy the Ram feel like an actual person every step of the way, and it is quite plain to see why Randy describes himself as a “broken down piece of meat”.

Randy’s lonesome lifestyle leads him to seek company in any form; he invites one of the neighborhood kids to play an old NES wrestling game in one instance. The boy gets into a discussion on current video games by mentioning Call of Duty 4, which is lost on Randy’s old-school sensibilities. He does his best to grow closer to Cassidy, who makes a staunch point of not getting attached to her customers. Unfortunately for the grappler, the 1980s only had a shelf life of ten years, and he is an old relic that time simply forgot about.

In another depressing instance, Randy sets up a table in a hall alongside other retired wrestlers and sells autographs and pictures to fans. He realizes the bodily toll his former peers have taken; one is wheelchair bound, and another frail faded star wears a catheter. Here, Randy sees pieces of his present and hints of his possible future should he continue to beat himself up. Moreover, this scene depicts what many pro wrestlers tragically find themselves in after so many years in the business. The past decade alone hosted a surge in pro wrestler deaths, from “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, to the “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, Eddie Guerrero, and too many others to mention. The business may be “fake” when one considers the pre-determined outcomes of matches, but suffice it to say, a whole lot of realism must be poured into the unreal.

Cinematographer Maryse Alberti lends the visual look of The Wrestler its cinéma vérité aesthetic, which enables one to forget that they are watching actors on screen. Occasionally, the camera follows Randy around from behind as if it were held by a stagehand trailing The Ram backstage. The most idiosyncratic example of this camera usage is when Randy walks from the main offices and stockroom of his supermarket to the deli counter. Uncomfortable with being seen by customers as “Robin” (his real name) and not The Ram, the camera stays on his back as the sounds of a cheering audience swell louder and louder. He is once again in the public spotlight yet not in the ring. It’s showtime.

Cassidy’s (“Pam” outside of the strip club) own conflicts parallel Randy’s. Like The Ram, she finds herself as an over-the-hill performer when patrons gloss over her due to her age. The sultry charms she pulled off with ease in her yesteryears seem pathetic in the modern day. However, Tomei never plays the role as such. Rather, she preserves her cool-headed pride and refuses any attachments except the one she has for her nine year-old son. Cassidy is cautiously skeptical about brewing a relationship with Randy, as she is a single mother who was scorned once. In one of the film’s sublime moments, the two reminisce about the good ol’ days of the 80s, citing popular rock bands of the era while mutually declaring, “The 90s f-ing sucked.” Nostalgia always seems to have the greenest grasses.

Evan Rachel Wood’s role of Stephanie is not as fully formed as Randy and Cassidy, but she also turns in a good effort as the understandably angry daughter of The Ram. We do not get to know Stephanie very well, which is appropriate considering Randy himself knows so little about her. The time they spend together is the happiest and brightest period in The Wrestler, and Randy’s choice of location is an inspired one: an abandoned seaside park. They come across a derelict and disheveled hall where they playfully ballroom dance. Like the rustic building, Randy and Stephanie’s relationship is in ruins, but here they have an opportunity to renovate their broken bond. When Randy tells his daughter that, “I just don’t want you to hate me,” we are not watching a deadbeat father making an empty promise. He means every word.

Rourke had burned a lot of bridges in the course of his career, and for a time it seemed that his personal and professional issues would become his undoing. Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City in 2005 featured the bravura actor’s actual comeback, and The Wrestler three years later proved that he can still dish it out as a headliner. The BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and the Independent Spirit Awards responded in unison.

The final shot of The Wrestler, followed by Bruce Springsteen’s same-titled song, perfectly sums up everything about the film and Randy the Ram himself. Perhaps it would have hit much too close to home if Sprigsteen’s song doubled as The Ram’s entrance theme, but the chorus explains completely what his devotion is:

Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?

The Dark Knight

2010-11-14T00:09:00.002-05:00

Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Chin Han, Eric Roberts, Colin McFarlane, Cillian Murphy, Nestor Carbonell, Monique Gabriela Curnen
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan
Release Year: 2008

Atypical of superheroic good-versus-evil narratives, the story of The Dark Knight is defined not by the successes of its valiant protagonist, but by his critical failures. Just one cursory glance at many popular superhero films affirms do-gooders triumphing over the forces of villainy, with boy-scout virtues such as valor touted as the ultimate weapons against injustice. Such stories condition us to perceive the hero as the most powerful figure in the final analysis. The world that Christopher Nolan and Jonathan Nolan exhibit in this film is far too insidious to guarantee victorious outcomes by sheer gallantry. All parties involved in The Dark Knight are pushed to their breaking points, physically, emotionally, morally, and ethically. Heroism and evil become murky platitudes.

Following the events of Nolan’s franchise reboot Batman Begins, which laid the foundations of the titular hero’s origins and motivations, the sequel finds Gotham City facing the rise of a new dawn. Thanks to the efforts of the newly minted District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), the city’s mob empire begins to fill up the prisons by the dozen. Bruce Wayne a.k.a Batman (Christian Bale) continues to clean up the streets at night, and occasionally works in tandem with his assistant inventor Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman) and Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), the dedicated veteran of Gotham’s police department.

In the face of Batman’s hard-fought endeavors, his very presence in Gotham appears to attract a certain class of criminal, along with a slew of Batman imitators who poorly emulate the Caped Crusader’s example. Enter the Joker (Heath Ledger), an amalgamation of all the worst traits of humanity whose brand of criminality infects the city to an unprecedented degree. As The Joker plunges Gotham into complete disarray, Batman, Dent, and Gordon must wrestle with upholding the law and taking drastic measures to protect the city.

Power dynamics in the film upend our perceptions of who is ultimately in control. The central theme in Batman Begins revolved around fear and the channeling of it to one’s ends. Batman transmogrified his childhood fear of bats and was able to strike terror in the criminals he battled. This time around, the fear that previously served as his most formidable weapon is rendered moot when confronted with the Joker. Utterly void in conscience or empathy, the Joker operates without a scheme for widespread domination or a profit motive. His goals instead are to simply tear down society’s pretense of rules and civility, to prove his twisted belief that the real nature of all human beings is fueled by corruptibility and a cannibalistic dog-eat-dog ethos.

The Joker’s malevolence is also conveyed in his disheveled visage. Clad in an unwashed custom-tailored purple suit and green vest, and donning a disturbing Glasgow-smile mask of cracked white clown makeup, black eye makeup and green-dyed hair, the self-proclaimed “agent of chaos” is the perverted antithesis of Batman’s heroic image.

Three prominent elements of the Joker’s character crown him as the film’s most powerful figure: his aforementioned unconcern for the law, his alarming skill in manipulation, and his mysterious background. After apprehending the madman, Jim Gordon remarks that the Joker’s history is so untraceable that the closest points of any verification are the knives and lint that occupy his pockets. When Batman interrogates the Joker for the first time, he insanely laughs hysterically as he is beaten and thrashed about, shockingly unfazed by the Dark Knight’s brawn. Most unsettling yet equally correct is Joker’s point that, “you have nothing you can threaten me with!” With no backstory, the Joker is perceived as not only a horrifying individual but a metaphysical force of dread, akin to the esoteric Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men. He is an “absolute”, as Christopher Nolan describes. The Joker’s promotion of absolute anarchy makes him even more dangerous because Batman is not only fighting a sick man, but an idea. How can one even begin to battle something so nebulous?

So adroit is the Joker at manipulating others that he is able to eradicate the boundary between average citizens and fellow felons alike. He commits irreparable damage to Batman’s reputation when he issues an ultimatum to Gotham that he will kill civilians every day until Batman reveals his identity. As a result, prominent city officials are subsequently murdered, and the people foist the bulk of blame onto Batman’s shoulders. Law abiding residents turn against one another like rabid beasts after the Joker makes a target out of an impudent yet incognizant Wayne Enterprises employee. But the lunatic’s pièce de résistance is the thorough moral degradation of Gotham’s respected civic leader Harvey Dent.

Dent’s descent from the inspirational “White Knight” of Gotham to the malformed and vengeful Two Face is the film’s pivotal tragedy. We lament his fall into madness because we witness how effective and fearless he is in saving Gotham City early on in the story. While Batman’s vigilante justice is vital in restoring the city’s reputation, Dent’s achievements in the public arena are precisely what Gotham City needs. People are proud to proclaim, “I believe in Harvey Dent,” as he requires no masks or theatricality to affect positive change. One also cannot ignore the contributions of his assistant D.A. Rachel Dawes (Maggie Gyllenhaal), the mutual love interest of Dent and Wayne.

A trademark token of Dent’s confidence is the two-headed coin he carries around. It represents his personal philosophy: that he creates his own luck and that chance does not dictate the outcomes of his actions. This outlook contrasts the Joker’s chaotic let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may worldview, and in the wake of a horrific incident that Batman is unable to prevent, Dent’s stalwart veneer is figuratively – and especially literally – torn apart. Dent embraces his new identity as Two Face, carrying the torch of Joker’s ugly doctrine and sullying Batman’s vigilante justice by killing lawbreakers in cold blood. One side of his two-headed coin is now blackened by fire, and Dent indifferently extinguishes the lives of others by letting pure chance determine the verdict.

As for the title figurehead of the film, Bruce Wayne/Batman is by and large the least powerful player in The Dark Knight. Even with his remarkable tools of the trade, the Caped Crusader’s endeavors are not enough to impede the injury to the general morale of Gotham City’s populace. Not only are his tactics astonishingly impotent in intimidating the Joker, but he also makes the serious mistake of underestimating the vise grip his wild adversary has on the entire city. Wayne states that criminals aren’t complicated, to which his ever faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth (Michael Caine) respectfully responds, “Perhaps it is you who doesn’t fully understand…some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Batman’s one unshakable tenet carried over from the previous film disavows the killing of others, regardless of reasoning. The Joker’s crimes indeed comprise a compelling argument for a justifiable compromise of Bats’s one rule, and he inevitably drives his chiropteran avenger to an ethical impasse near the film’s conclusion. Using the technological resources at his disposal, Batman violates the very civil liberties of his fellow citizens to acquire the Joker’s location. The principled Lucius Fox declares his resignation in light of this, but also aches to bring the anarchic reign of the clown-faced criminal to an end. We are aware of Batman’s effectiveness outside of the law, yet we give a moment’s pause when his autonomy interferes with our personal rights. Then again, there was no other recourse Batman had given the circumstances.

The final confrontation between Batman and the Joker brings the Dark Knight’s anti-kill stance to the fore as he ultimately spares his archenemy. He could have easily left him to fall to his death like Michael Keaton’s Batman did to Jack Nicholson’s Joker, but allowing his demise would have validated the villain’s belief that even the most virtuous can become the vilest. Because Batman is a hero untethered by legalities, snuffing out the Joker would send a dangerous message to the people of Gotham; that it is perfectly okay to skip due process and eliminate wrongdoers. Soon, any indiscretion committed by someone could be grounds for “condonable” bloodshed, and the ghoul-faced agent of chaos would become triumphant.

The very last shot of the Joker dangling upside down off of a high-rise scaffolding after he is saved by Batman is chilling. The camera turns upside down to face the cackling villain right side up as he waves back and forth towards the center of the frame. Batman may have proved the Joker’s worldview wrong, but his machinations have not been completely overturned. Harvey Dent’s downfall is all the evidence needed to assert the Joker’s thesis.

A tenacious cast, a perfectly paced screenplay, and expert filmmaking uplifts The Dark Knight into the stratosphere of cinematic comics-based adaptations. The Nolan brothers have undertaken a risky project of reconfiguring the power dynamics we are so comfortable with by presenting Batman as the least effectual character in the plotline. Nevertheless, we continue to support the black-armored protector because his will in the face of impossible odds is just what we need to be inspired by.

Dark Days

2010-11-14T00:04:00.002-05:00

Directed By: Marc Singer
Release Year: 2000

Near the beginning of the extraordinary documentary Dark Days, there is a conversation between two men that perceptively illuminates the severity of their situation. Tommy, the younger and ardent of the two, discusses with the older and wizened Henry his feelings about the word “homeless”:

Tommy: I don’t consider myself homeless because a homeless man ain’t got a home.
Henry: Then you ain’t ready to cope with this, then.
Tommy: Then what’s the purpose of me building this place, man?
Henry: So you won’t consider yourself helpless. That don’t mean you ain’t homeless.

As they are talking, Tommy is redecorating his claustrophobic sardine can of a room, repainting his graffiti-tagged walls while Henry relaxes on his bed covered with discarded blankets and pillows. There is a small TV with a stand underneath and even a small couch in the foreground. His living space is certainly not luxurious by any means, but for Tommy, it sure beats struggling to stay warm on the frigid streets at night.

Released in August 2000, Dark Days was the first and only feature from documentary filmmaker Marc Singer, who lived among the film’s subjects for nearly three years in the late 1990s. His film is a stunning verite-style work that showcased the lives of a homeless community that dwelled in the Freedom Tunnel, an abandoned underground section of the New York City railway system. The lives of these tunnel dwellers directly debunk our prejudices and preconceived notions of homeless people. They are not beggars desperate for the pocket change of passerby, or lazy neer-do-wells who just need to “get a job.” Their extreme circumstances are not a lifestyle choice. What we see is subsistence living in its rawest form.

Singer introduces the tunnel dwellers one by one, each of whom stamp their ineffaceable mark on the viewer. We meet Tito and his friend Ralph, a mellow-mannered gentleman whose companion is a mangy stray canine. Dee is the only female tunnel denizen seen in the film, a former mother whose only outlet is the crack pipe. The spirited Greg is a traveling hustler of sorts, scraping up whatever currency he can get by selling useable goods he comes across on the street. Julio and Lee proudly display their most favorite pets, ranging from a couple of cats to a gerbil named Ms. Peaches. The rugged and enduring sense of community all of these individuals share is deeply felt. They have their quarrels like any tightly knit group or family, but their mutual tribulations preserve their unity.

It is absolutely fascinating what the human mind can become accustomed to, no matter how dire and deadly the conditions may be. Carefully composed footage of the Freedom Tunnel records shopping carts strewn about the railroad tracks, shacks and ramshackle dwellings cobbled together with wood, steel girders and other scrapped materials, mountainous garbage piles housing rats that have long since made the tunnel their home for generations, and the ubiquitous murals of graffiti alongside every wall and column. Prolonged exposure to such a dank environment ushers in hazards such as the trains that rush through periodically, and ailments including respiratory illnesses and diseases. Amidst such squalor, they manage to eke out a semblance of livability. Several are resourceful enough to tap into the city’s power supply for electricity and even devise methods for obtaining clean running water. Ingenuity keeps them alive from one day to the next.

The tunnel residents were not strictly relegated to on-camera subjectivity; many of them proactively tell their collective story by doubling as the film’s crew. Several of the residents applied their technical expertise to the production. For instance, Singer wanted to achieve dolly and tracking shots, so one of the residents made a makeshift dolly from parts of a shopping cart and placed it on one of the abandoned tracks. Another tapped into the city’s electrical grid and put together lighting rigs made out of wood and other available materials. Because the tunnels were pitch black, a single light bulb would provide ample amounts of sufficient light required to shoot. The very fact that the documentary was constructed with such shrewd craft by an entirely non-professional crew is nothing short of admirable.

A few of the residents recall their past experiences that led to their dreaded present. Ralph battled a drug problem that led to his wife issuing him an ultimatum: keep abusing drugs, or stay with her and get clean. The former option was too hard to shake, and he served time in prison for several years, unable to raise his young daughter. While she was in jail, Dee heard about the death of her two sons in a house fire. Through streams of tears, she wonders aloud, “I liked that responsibility of being a mother…sometimes I ask, ‘why couldn’t it be me’?” She proceeds to numb her pain by repeatedly lighting up a crack pipe, while the roar of a passing train is heard in the distance.

Dark Days was shot on 16mm black and white film stock. This was not an artistic decision; Singer stated that a friend had told him that shooting on color could prove disastrous if one didn’t know how to handle it properly. This wonderfully works to the film’s strengths, as black-and-white in the picture’s context accentuates the rustic dreariness of the residents’ setting. Sparse amounts of lighting that penetrate the deep blackness of the Freedom Tunnel create sharp and imposing shadows. Orson Welles considered black and white to be “the actor’s best friend”, and in Dark Days, it enables us to concentrate squarely on the subjects themselves. A standard color stock would have perhaps been unwise, and Singer’s inexperience is a fortunate factor in the overall power of the documentary.

Dark Days is also marvelous because of how Singer managed to produce the film despite having no prior filmmaking experience whatsoever. Singer originally had no intentions of creating a film until a fellow tunnel resident suggested that someone should make a film about their experiences. Deciding to bring the idea to fruition, Singer’s primary goals were to make sure that the documentary raised awareness about homelessness, and to get the tunnel residents off the streets & into better, safer lives.

Singer’s own journey in how he filmed and completed Dark Days is an equally astounding tale in its own right, especially the editing process. Working with over 50 hours of footage, the laborious editing task took 15 months to complete. Singer cut the film on an old flatbed machine until a friend of his hipped him to the Avid editing system. Adding to the challenge the lack of a script and edit decision list to construct the film. Editor Melissa Neidich managed to construct the cohesive & seamless 87 minute final cut.

Ten years after the release of Dark Days, I find myself wondering where the film’s subjects are at in their lives today. The DVD of the documentary includes a coda of what each of the residents were doing shortly after the debut of the film. I would love to learn new stories about Ralph, Dee, Greg, Tommy and others if there are any at all. Be that as it may, what we witness in Dark Days is simply unforgettable.

The Truman Show

2010-11-07T13:03:00.003-05:00

Starring: Jim Carrey, Laura Linney, Ed Harris, Noah Emmerich, Natascha McElhone, Brian Delate, Holland Taylor
Directed By: Peter Weir
Written By: Andrew Niccol
Release Year: 1998

“This was a dangerous film to make because it couldn’t happen. How ironic.” – Peter Weir

Watching The Truman Show today, it is apropos to consider the film as a prophetic precursor to the glut of reality television that has bombarded the airwaves since its release in 1998. Shows such as Big Brother, the United Kingdom’s I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, and Survivor have patterned their formats after elements from the film, cinching the voyeuristic appetites of audiences with the presumably unscripted antics of its participants. We are told that the people in these shows are everyday blokes whose responses to the artifice they partake in are not determined by scriptwriters, that their actions on camera and off are legitimate.

Unlike Jim Carrey’s unwitting protagonist Truman Burbank, however, these reality show contestants are entirely conscious of the camera, and it would be almost naïve to assume their conduct as removed from the gaze of the lens. Essentially, they are actors in a small sense. The Truman Show, intelligently directed by Peter Weir and thoughtfully written by Andrew Niccol (who astutely explored identity and legitimacy previously in Gattaca), is a piercing indictment on the nigh-insidious influence of media and the entertainment industry.

Truman Burbank is a genial and clean-cut 30 year-old insurance salesman, a resident of the aesthetically sitcom-esque town of Seahaven. Married to his college sweetheart Meryl (Laura Linney) and best pals with his childhood friend Marlon (Noah Emmerich), Truman’s life is quaint yet ordinary in most respects. On the other hand, the truth is rather extraordinary. Since birth, Truman has been the star of a reality television program broadcast to billions worldwide; his public and private moments serving as the sole fodder for his unknown fans in the real world. His ongoing life story, a TV spectacle known as “The Truman Show”, is a fictitious construct, populated by a cast of thousands as the citizens of Seahaven, and economically driven by copious amounts of product placement. The show’s creator, a puppeteer of sorts known as Christof (Ed Harris) oversees every day, hour, minute, and second of Truman’s existence via the show’s capacious network of hidden cameras.

When asked about Truman’s obliviousness to his situation, Christof calmly replies, “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.” A young woman by the name of Sylvia (Natascha McElhone), playing the role of “Lauren”, captures Truman’s adoration, but is written off the show before she can reveal the unreality of his world. The seeds of Truman’s disquiet of his surroundings would be planted years later when a spotlight from way above crashes onto his picket-fence adorned street.

What I find most fascinating about The Truman Show is the level of irony that is so pervasive in the film’s construction, especially when perceived in today’s real-world context. As viewers, we are appalled at the notion of having one individual’s life on clear and candid display for all to witness, yet we are thoroughly entertained by Truman’s quest as he gains self-awareness. We cringe at the lack of privacy that he had no reason to believe he didn’t have at first, yet thanks to the emergence of social networking websites and services, we not only view the erosion of our privacy as a norm, but we are willfully complicit in it. Many individuals salivate at the thought of attaining instant celebrity by exposing their own private business at their own expense, but so long as they generate hits and viewership, no notoriety is negative.

One particular shot in the film subtly encapsulates the gravity of Truman’s plight. On his way to work, Truman comes across a very familiar looking vagrant from his past, but the man is whisked away by a cadre of well-placed suited guards onto a bus. Truman pursues the bus until he is stopped by another well-timed vehicle exiting a lot. Above Truman in the background is an archway with the Latin phrase “Omnes Pro Uno” sprawled across it. The phrase translates to “All for One”, which alludes to Christof’s world of Seahaven specially created for and revolving around his main attraction Truman. The complete phrase is the motto for The Three Musketeers, “Unus Pro Omnibus, Omnes Pro Uno”, meaning “One for all, all for one.” The show’s viewers in the film, who are enraptured with every second of Truman’s screen time, follow Truman with adoration and reverence, even though he is just a generic being. Because the viewers accept the reality that is broadcast to them, his personhood is “one for all” to emulate and catch up to.

Names also hold enormous significance in The Truman Show. With the exception of Truman and Christof, the rest of the supporting cast is all named after silver screen legends. Hanna’s Meryl is taken from Streep, Marlon’s from Brando, Sylvia’s Lauren references Bacall, and Truman’s faux-parents are named after Kirk Douglas and presumably Angela Lansbury. A couple of street names mentioned in the film are Lancaster Square and Barrymore Road. Since the world that Truman inhabits is literally a stage, it is perfectly par for the course that the townspeople and their community superficially echo their Tinsel Town counterparts.

Beyond the novelty of assuming the names of notable performers, the central cast of the film embodies the meanings behind their names in very intriguing ways. For Truman Burbank, one could easily glean the irony behind his first name; he is a “true man” in a false, constructed reality. His very emotions, thoughts, and feelings are authentic despite the fact that the actions of others around him are completely scripted. The world is his cradle, and as he gains awareness throughout the film, he becomes more and more of a true man as he questions his world.

Equally poignant is his last name “Burbank”, which is no doubt a reference to Burbank, California, billed as the “Media Capital of the World.” It would be logical to assume that “The Truman Show” is funded partially from the media corporations that are situated in that area, such as Warner Bros., NBC Universal, the Walt Disney Corp., Viacom, and PBS. Perhaps some of their television programming and movies happen to be favorites of Truman, which in turn would be watched by his fans. Oh, he watches NBC sitcom X, so it’s gotta be cool, right?

Hannah Gill, the real actress portraying Meryl, is also an inspired moniker. “Gill” is a sly dig at Truman’s strong aquaphobia, which stemmed from the drowning of his faux-dad at sea. “Hannah” means “Grace of God” or “God has favored me,” a doubly twisted name in the context of the film since Christof benevolently (or rather, malevolently) supervises Truman, yet Hannah/Meryl herself can barely tolerate his existence. Truman’s best friend Marlon is played by Louis Coltrane, a nod to two of jazz music’s titans, Louis Armstrong and John Coltrane. The name “Louis” is the English form of the German name “Ludwig”, which translates to famous (Lud) warrior (wig).

For Sylvia, the etymological meaning behind her stage name “Lauren” refers to the word “laurel”, which bears the definition of “honor”. Unlike the rest of her on-screen denizens, “Lauren”/Sylvia consciously refuses to deceive Truman, choosing instead to nobly inform him of the truth. Sylvia, as her name suggests, is Truman’s silver lining; the first glimpse of the real world that he is so blissfully ignorant of.

Peter Weir chose to film The Truman Show in the community of Seaside, Florida. Some members of the crew were reportedly unnerved by the town’s appearance and overall vibe, which eerily resembled a soundstage for sitcoms akin to Ozzie and Harriet and Leave it to Beaver. Picture-esque as Seaside/Seahaven may be in the film, there is certainly an almost unsettling quality to the fictional town, with its perfectly paved streets, manicured lawns, brightly-painted white fences, and the cool-toned grey suburban homes that line up nearly every square inch of the coastal community. Seahaven is a town both frozen in time, and removed from it as well; the manifestation of the American suburbia that has been long touted as the model standard for affluence.

Many great works of fiction that deliver ruminative commentaries on our ever-changing world accumulate increased significance overtime as our culture becomes more like its make-believe representations. The Truman Show earns its staying power not just by its prime entertainment value, but also by its perceptive and creative critique on media control and their cultural sway. Christof argues that there is no more truth in the real world than there is in Truman’s. In what ways is he wrong, and in what ways is he right? Look around.

The Hustler

2010-11-07T12:55:00.002-05:00

Starring: Paul Newman, Jackie Gleason, Piper Laurie, George C. Scott, Myron McCormick, Murray Hamilton, Michael Constantine, Stefan Gierasch, Clifford A. Pellow
Directed By: Robert Rossen
Written By: Sidney Carroll & Robert Rossen
Release Year: 1961

Two men, presenting themselves as traveling salesmen, casually enter a local bar. The younger of the two, a boyish-looking charmer, finds himself on the losing end of a poorly-played pool game against his partner. After tipping back a few swigs of his favorite bourbon, the charmer gains the attention of the other patrons by making a seemingly-impossible trick shot. The customers want in on the action, placing bets against the young fellow who drunkenly fails another attempt to execute his shot. The bartender puts up – and loses - $105 dollars when the charmer pulls off his trick shot again.

The true partnership between the two men is revealed when they exit the bar. Charlie Burns (Myron McCormick) is the older manager of small-time, smooth-talking pool shark “Fast” Eddie Felson (Paul Newman). Just another quick hustle on the way to their desired main event: a match against the pocket billiards juggernaut Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason).

Robert Rossen’s The Hustler is a distinct cinematic classic. It elevated the status of Paul Newman from noteworthy star to Hollywood luminary, embedding his immensely talented-yet-troubled “Fast” Eddie Felson in the pantheon of film’s most indelible characters. Moreover, the film does not hinge exclusively on the competition between Eddie and Minnesota Fats, but centers on the ugliness of Eddie’s competitive drive and how it twists and transfigures himself and those around him.

After the snazzy opening credits (scored by Kenyon Hopkins), we see Eddie and Charlie walk through the doors of the capacious Ames Billiards Hall in New York. The clanking of pool balls and barely-audible muttering from the patrons are the only noises that cut through the thick silence. An opaque haze of cigarette smoke and the palpable odor of hard liquor add to the flavor. Charlie quips that the pool tables, evenly arranged all across the morgue-like hall, are the “slabs they lay the stiffs on.” It is a sure bet that those green-felted tables have seen their fair share of men’s ambitions laid to rest at the hands of every pool shark and champion ever known. Eddie is coolly confident that it will be Minnesota Fats’s time to lie down on the pocketed slabs.

A few hours later, Minnesota Fats arrives on cue, and squares off against the competition-starved Eddie in a staggeringly long contest. Jackie Gleason earned a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for his performance, an impressive fact considering his absence from the majority of the picture. One look at the posh-tailored Fats is all it takes for us to realize that the man is gravitas personified. He makes no proclamations of his prowess because he has reached the point where he doesn’t even have to. His presence says what words would make redundant. Pool for Fats is but a hobby at this point, and throughout his 36 hour-long games against his boastful opponent, Fats never breaks a sweat. On the other hand, Eddie combusts into a drunken mess who loses everything but the shirt on his back, a far cry from the smooth-sailing hotshot we watched pre-credits.

George C. Scott leaves a staunch impression in the film as the hawkish gambler Bert Gordon. In some respects, the rapacious Bert epitomizes the film’s title just as much as Eddie, if not more. Behind the dark sunglasses that conceal his serpentine gaze, Bert is constantly scheming, never missing the opportunity to exploit the weakness of others. He acknowledges Eddie’s talent as a pool player, but also brands him as a born loser lacking character, referring to his loss against Fats. After he puts an order to some thugs to break Eddie’s thumbs, Bert cannily goads Eddie into a shady business “partnership” in which he would rake in 75 percent of Eddie’s pool winnings. Resigned but too headstrong to turn tail, Eddie concedes that “a 25% slice of something big is better than a 100% slice of nothing.”

The real heart of The Hustler is Sarah Packard (Piper Laurie), a crippled alcoholic whose misfortunes have made her resolutely jaded with the world. When she is not attending college classes twice a week, she spends the rest of her days in a drunken stupor. Like Eddie, she is a lost soul, and the two eventually become lovers despite her better judgment. She tries to warn Eddie away, exclaiming that since they both have troubles, the best thing would be to leave each other alone. Nonetheless, Sarah becomes the impetus for Eddie to finally develop a measure of the “character” he is void of.

One keen observation about the relationship between Sarah and Eddie is that the only instance when they deeply connect emotionally is when Eddie is recuperating from his injuries. Before his encounter with Bert’s goons and after his healing, Eddie’s one-track stubbornness fixates on how to scrape up enough money to face Fats once again. But during his recovery, his hands plastered up and no pool cue within reach, he finally opens himself up to Sarah at a picnic lunch. He enthusiastically extols the virtues and joys of real pool playing, untainted by the allure of money and fast hustles. His passionate soliloquy inspires Sarah, as she sees a mutually beat-down but no-less fiery spirit that she could somehow “fix” as well as herself.

Sadly, Sarah’s rising spirits were not meant to endure, for she finds herself as a direct competitor against Bert in the battle for Eddie’s very character. She is perceptive of Bert’s wily weaseling and manipulations, but Bert’s penchant for using the shortcomings of others as his personal tools seem to make their struggle over Eddie a one-sided bout. Sarah’s sobriety is shattered when she hits the bottle again, much to Bert’s inner delight. If Sarah’s self-destruction is what it takes for Bert to enable Eddie to gain “character”, then so be it.

On that note, just what is the “character” that Bert claims is missing from Eddie? It is pretty unlikely that he is referring to stand-up qualities like honesty, class, humility, poise. If he is referring to Eddie’s hunger to win regardless of the costs, then Bert is exacerbating what is Eddie’s most prominent flaw from the start. We see just how far Eddie’s character drives him towards the film’s conclusion when he and Fats engage in a rematch. By this time, the Eddie Felson on display is not a man whose “win-no-matter-what” tenacity is at the forefront, but a man whose character is forged by maturity and a lack of arrogance. We see an Eddie Felson who has paid a woeful price for gaining “character”. His victory over Fats is a hollow one and he knows it.

The repulsiveness of victory and the sobering purity of defeat are matters that The Hustler shrewdly scrutinizes. Twenty-five years after the release of The Hustler, Newman scored a Best Actor Oscar for his return as “Fast” Eddie Felson in 1986’s The Color of Money, directed by Martin Scorsese. While it certainly is not a bad film, it pales in comparison to Rossen’s shadowy production. The Hustler is a reflective tale with tremendous staying power.

Chasing Amy

2010-11-07T12:45:00.004-05:00

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jason Lee, Joey Lauren Adams, Dwight Ewell, Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes
Directed & Written By: Kevin Smith
Release Year: 1997

Chasing Amy, Kevin Smith’s third feature after his critically lauded 1994 debut Clerks and cult-beloved sophomore misfire Mallrats, is perhaps the New Jersey-bred director’s most urbane work in his View Askewniverse filmography. Smith crafts a snappy commentary on the sexual double standards perpetuated by a patriarchal society, sexual insecurities, and the expectations borne from gender stereotypes. Characters laced with rapid-fire wit and Smith’s trademark piquant dialogue lends Chasing Amy a surplus of hilarity and veritable insight.

The film introduces us to comic book artists and lifelong friends Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), co-creators of the smash-hit “Bluntman & Chronic” series. They meet fellow artist Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) at a comic book convention, who is attempting to sell her female-oriented tome “Idiosyncratic Routine”. Holden is immediately attracted to her, but soon finds out that she is a lesbian. He is initially uncomfortable with this fact, but Holden and Alyssa become friends and their relationship develops into a romantic one. Bothered by their relationship, Banky later reveals certain truths about Alyssa’s past to Holden, and the relationship between the three characters begins to deteriorate.

Smith was inspired to create the film by his one-time relationship with Joey Lauren Adams, and his own hang-ups regarding her sexual past forced him to reflect on his callow misgivings about his perceived personal inadequacies. Holden embodies the director’s (formerly) socially conservative leanings, and Smith once noted that the role is the closest to himself that he has ever written. As open and tolerant as he projects himself, Holden hails from the school of thought that teaches that love is an exclusive bond between a male and female, and that virginity is only lost via intercourse. A racy exchange between Banky and Alyssa trading stories about their oral sex wounds cleverly parodies the shark tales of the men in Jaws, which doesn’t assuage Holden’s discomfort in the least.

In their first one-on-one meeting together after Holden discovers that Alyssa is a lesbian, the two have a conversation on what constitutes as “normal” sexuality. Casually debunking Holden’s patriarchally informed assessments, Alyssa corrects him by stating that that when two people have sex for the first time, regardless of gender, virginity is lost. She also takes it a step further by saying that virginity is lost when one makes love with someone. The frankness of their exchange is refreshing. Alyssa is evidently bemused at Holden’s comparative inexperience yet she is far from patronizing, and like her would-be suitor, one cannot help but become pulled in by her one-of-a-kind allurement.

Adams is a genuine delight as the scintillating Alyssa. A free-spirited woman who does not adhere to the socially constructed norm of heterosexuality, she is a proud lesbian. Alyssa’s look in the film also alludes to her nonconformist nature. She has blond hair (because they have more fun) and in several scenes, she wears a black leather jacket, two symbols of rebelliousness. Of course, the fun she has had is comprised of her past sexual escapades.

Alyssa wishes to expand Holden’s views on sexuality, but her chief motivation is to find a person who encapsulates the things she is looking for in a relationship. She discovers that person to be Holden, whom she falls in love with. At first, she feels repulsed at the notion of being with a man romantically, but she allows the opportunity to let her friendship with Holden flourish. Following a rain-soaked confession of her attraction to Holden, Alyssa expresses her reasons for choosing him, stating that it is rare for someone to find another individual who understands him/her, and that she became a lesbian because she wanted to keep every possible option open to find such a person. She also stresses that she did not choose Holden in order to conform to the standards of heterosexuality.

Alyssa’s choice of words in that scene is rather curious when considered in the context of “nature versus nurture” debates regarding sexual orientation. Did she really decide to “become” lesbian, or does what she say signal the first clue of a broader past? For some, this ambiguity of her character could be construed as a blatant plot hole, but Alyssa’s choice to identify with lesbianism reflects her unique complexities. Does everyone else truly pattern themselves lock-step with a particular ideology, belief, or in Alyssa’s case gender-specific roles? Her presence in the film conveys that most humans, if not all, are not so ideologically inflexible 100-percent of the time.

Banky’s caustic attitude towards Holden and Alyssa’s relationship also hints at his own duplicity. Behind his unabashedly macho male bravado and acerbic homophobic jabs is a dude whose worries conceal underlying and unspoken pathos. He is angry at the possibility of his friendship with Holden fading away as he grows closer to Alyssa, a natural concern for any long-established camaraderie when a romantic prospect claims mind share. Holden reassures Banky that he needn’t not worry about their life’s work, to which Banky replies, “I wasn’t talking about the comic.” Later on, their fellow comic author chum Hooper X (Dwight Ewell) informs Holden that, “[Banky] loves you in a way he does not know how to deal with.”

Albeit his shorter screen time compared to the rest of the main cast, Hooper X is as animated and adroit as his peers. Garbed in a black leather jacket and army fatigues, Hooper publicly depicts himself as the Angry Black Man archetype made flesh and bone, armed with anti-Caucasian rhetoric. He employs his infamous public persona to sell copies of his ethnically inflammatory comic “White Hating Coon”. Behind the spotlight, on the other hand, Hooper is an openly homosexual man who is close friends with Holden, Alyssa, and Banky (whom Hooper takes pointed pleasure in antagonizing given the man’s anti-gay stance). Hooper vocalizes the political irony of his being, exclaiming that, “I gotta deal with being a minority in a minority of a minority, and nobody is supporting my ass.”

Hooper’s personal situation of being an outcast within a minority culture is demonstrated by Alyssa in an earlier moment when she lets her lesbian friends know about her new beau. Upon hearing this news, they look at her with derision and heartbreak, echoing instances when a gay individual is coming out in front of his or her straight peers. A nonconformist who, quizzically enough, shuns nonconformist conventions.

Intriguingly, Alyssa’s biggest mistake is that she is not as completely forthcoming of her sexual past as she portrays. She leads Holden to believe that she had never been with a man before, but Banky delivers the truth to Holden by relaying a story about a tryst she had with two men years before. When Holden confronts Alyssa with this revelation, she defensively confirms that she has been with several other men and women over the years. The main reason why Alyssa doesn’t disclose her real past to Holden is because she wanted to make him feel special. She withholds the truth out of her love for him.

Alyssa’s withholding of her true past is ironic because she unintentionally perpetuates the societal idea of the dominant male who conquers his sexual territory. Society perpetuates the myth that males are the Marco Polos of a woman’s erotic journey, and that they are the ones who make women feel complete through sex, not the other way around. Holden is insulted to find that he is not the first man to give Alyssa that sense of worth, which is a major blow to his ego. Banky also makes note of Holden’s egoism as well, stating that “everything has to be a challenge for [Holden] because he is the most persistent traveler on the road that’s not the path of least resistance.” The last confrontation between Holden, Alyssa, and Banky is comical, ludicrous and woebegone all at once.

In his essay for the Criterion Collection DVD of Chasing Amy, Smith states that his film “was conceived as a sort of penance/valentine for the woman who made me grow up, more or less – a thank-you homage that marked a major milestone in my life, both personally and professionally.” His gained awareness is flourishingly conveyed in every scene, and while he doesn’t steer totally clear of the easy dick and fart joke (it wouldn’t a Kevin Smith film otherwise), Chasing Amy is as guileless as romantic comedies get.

DVD Highlight: Closely Watched Trains

2010-03-28T14:05:00.004-04:00

Starring: Václav Neckár, Josef Somr, Vladimír Valenta, Jitka Bendová, Vlastimil Brodsky, Ferdinand Kruta, Alois Vachek, Jitka Zelenohorská, Nada Urbánková
Directed By: Jirí Menzel
Written By: Bohumil Hrabal and Jirí Menzel

One of the signature films of the 1960’s Czech New Wave, Jirí Menzel’s first feature Closely Watched Trains is a buoyant and observant tale of maturation. Milos Hrma (Neckár) is a young teen who hails from a family of slackers. His great-grandfather lived off a nice pension after sustaining a work-related injury, only to be killed by the very workers he mocked. His grandfather became a hypnotist so he could avoid real labor, and his father enjoys an obligation-free retirement in his late 40s by lounging on the couch all and every day.

Naturally, Milos snags the boring, minimally demanding job of a train dispatcher at a remote rail station, inhabited by an assembly of peculiar fellows. Max Lanska (Valenta) futilely projects an aura of regal superiority as the uptight stationmaster, tending joyfully to his flock of pigeons while he isn’t judging his colleagues. The bespectacled Dispatcher Hubicka (Somr) takes the naïve Milos under his stead, flirting with any cute woman within proximity.

While World War II rages on, Milos’s sole worry in his life is losing his virginity, for only then would be become a “real man” in his mind. The pretty young conductor Masa (Bendová) has her sights trained on the hapless boy, whose attraction to her is the force behind his frustrations, eagerness, and building boldness.

Closely Watched Trains is an unusual concoction of glib comedy, bleak tragedy, and subversive political proclamations that revels in its cleverness. Menzel populates his film with a bevy of unsubtle images that directly reflect the film’s erotic allusions. From a casual close-up shot of a secretary’s blouse, to an old woman stroking the neck of a goose, the film appears to mock and sympathize with the sexual hang-ups of its well-meaning protagonist. Even the film’s concluding moments are tinged with hilarious irony.

Expertly crafted and skillful enough to avoid getting lost in pretentiousness, Closely Watched Trains is a truly observant picture of human idiosyncrasies.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

2010-03-15T13:41:00.008-04:00

Starring: Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Cliff Gorman, Henry Silva, Gene Ruffini, Frank Minucci, Tricia Vessey, Richard Portnow, Isaach De Bankolé, Camille Winbush, Damon Whitaker, Victor Argo, Joseph Rigano
Directed & Written By: Jim Jarmusch
Release Year: 1999

Eccentricity seeps through each passing frame in Jim Jarmusch’s modern-day samurai tale Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. On paper, the film’s concept sounds so strange that it almost seems to be a daft dare that Jarmusch created for himself. You have Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker), a huskily-built man of solitude who lives his life by the ancient Japanese code of the Bushido. He is an extremely efficient hitman employed by a small gang of Italian mobsters, and he communicates primarily by homing pigeon to his sole contact Louie (John Tormey), a fairly unassuming mobster who had saved Ghost Dog’s life eight years prior. And when he isn’t dispatching his targets or tending to his pigeon coop, Ghost Dog shoots the breeze with his best friend Raymond (Isaach De Bankolé), a Haitian ice cream salesman who only speaks French.

The above description of the film would lead some to assume that the film is a comedy of some sort, and they would be partially correct. Ghost Dog is certainly rife with quietly riotous moments that belie its fundamentally serious tenor. Jarmusch’s weird mixture of Eastern philosophy, cross-cultural motifs, and urban criminality result in an accomplished and demiurgic work of art. Forest Whitaker is a rather inspired choice for the film’s title protagonist, yet his quiescent demeanor and slow-boil intensity enables him to be very well-suited for the contemporary warrior. It is difficult to imagine what shape Jarmusch’s film would have been if another actor assumed the part, and even the director remarked once that he would not have made the movie if Whitaker turned down the role.

In the very first shot of Ghost Dog, a lone pigeon flaps its wings against the muted, blue sky as a sparse instrumental begins to play in the background. The camera soars in the air, exhibiting a sweeping overhead shot of a cold, half-blighted industrial yard. Its lens now approaches a dingy wooden rooftop shack with a small pigeon coop outside of it, and inside, we watch Ghost Dog immersing himself in the 18th century text Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo. He reads a passage that details his central philosophy, the first of several excerpts interspersed in the film:

“The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day, when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate on being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords…And every day without fail, one should consider himself as dead.”

Aside from a small shrine and a row of books, Ghost Dog’s means are utterly void of opulence, restricted to the deadly tools of his specialized trade. In his mind, his existence is absolutely purified, his old-world code of conduct governing his body as he applies his knowledge with strict precision. His skills and philosophy would shortly face its greatest test from the moment he arrives at the home of his first mark. In a quick establishing shot, the front gate of the mark’s home displays a “For Sale” sign by Alighieri Properties, a tiny bit of foreshadowing into the hell that Ghost Dog will unknowingly enter.

If Ghost Dog’s ancient influences maintain an organized balance for his own life, then the very mobsters he works for serve as a paltry contrast. Because of murky reasons that they are not even completely sure of, the gangsters mark their shadowy assassin for death after he kills one of their own in front of their boss’s daughter Louise Vargo (Tricia Vessey). The poker-faced ringleader Ray Vargo (Henry Silva) and his right hand Sonny (Cliff Gorman) order their goons to hunt down Ghost Dog, yet they show an appalling lack of intelligence by storming random pigeon coops around the city, never sure if their owners are the Ghost Dog. When they arrive at one that belongs to a hulking Native American man (Gary Farmer, in a cameo that appears to transplant his role from Jarmusch’s Dead Man), the portly, balding henchmen squabble over the real identity of their newfound target. “He isn’t black, but he’s big”, they surmise as the man angrily deems them “Stupid f’ing white men.”

Cross-cultural signifiers are embodied and expressed by the majority of the film’s oddball personalities. Louie and his mafia partners have a sit-down in the backroom of a Chinese restaurant in one of the film’s priceless scenes, where he is awkwardly pressed to describe the exact identity of their unknown and bizarre hitman. Upon hearing the name “Ghost Dog” – Louie says, “These black gangster-types always have crazy names for themselves” – Sonny elaborates further by surprisingly dropping names of noted rappers, particularly Flava Flav when he raps a few lines from the Public Enemy track “Cold Lampin With Flavor”. Ray Vargo recalls Native American names like “Crazy Horse” and “Black Elk”. They deride such unique names, yet they also have colorful names among their thugs such as “Big Angie” and “Sammy the Snake”.

Ghost Dog’s friendship with Raymond is another distinct example of cross culture, as their relationship depicts a simultaneous camaraderie and distance. Both men cannot understand what the other is saying, as they only know their native tongues, yet they unknowingly state the exact same observations. On one hand, Ghost Dog and Raymond suggest an unspoken yet seamless bond between themselves from an ethnic standpoint (except for Louie, the rest of the figures in the film who show common respect to Ghost Dog are also black men).

On the other hand, their friendship is one example of selective cross-culture co-opting, as Ghost Dog lives by past Japanese ideals (and makes no effort to learn Raymond’s dialect), and Raymond chooses to speak only French (he says that learning English was impossible). Sonny identifies with the hard-hitting sounds of Public Enemy – though most likely not their socio-political messages – and Louise reads Rashomon, a story that is subtly alluded to via the altered flashbacks of the main character and Louie.

The subdued, raw score of the film is provided by RZA, the architect behind the production of the Wu-Tang Clan’s records. His contributions to Ghost Dog is yet another representation of cultural intermingling, as Wu-Tang’s sound and imagery is chiefly influenced by Eastern teachings, Asian literature, and kung-fu movies.

Nobility is all but an obsolete concept in the world of Ghost Dog. While Whitaker’s urban samurai endeavors valiantly to uphold his ideals, they are incompatible in the rough, fend-for-myself world he inhabits. He is a man who was born in the wrong era. In an encounter with two bear hunters, Ghost Dog does demonstrate that the instincts of violence and a respect for the natural order of things remain unchanged. During the following scene, a wounded thug is awed at Ghost Dog’s ruthlessness, (paraphrasing) “He’s taking us out old school, like real f’ing gangsters.” His choice of words are notable, as the criminals he works with are small-time, disorganized neighborhood grunts a step below the main figures in Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas. Louie’s stakes are torn between saving himself and lending his self-proclaimed retainer a helping hand without explicitly doing so.

Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai weaves its cultural and genre-mixing elements into a tough tapestry of cheeky inventiveness. Jarmusch’s confidence in the film’s absurd-on-its-face premise is validated by his sharp writing, directing, and hip sensibilities.

82nd Academy Awards Results

2010-03-08T11:53:00.005-05:00

Note: Greetings, faithful readers. Your eyes are not deceiving you, for this is a brand-new, factory-fresh posting on this blog of mine. With the doldrums and obligations of non-blogosphere life, it has been somewhat difficult for me to keep up with my writing. Starting today, I will endeavor towards writing and posting new reviews more consistently, so that all five of you (yes, YOU, dear sir or madam) shall go without want. Now, onwards to the major categories in Issue 82 of the Oscars!

The Hurt Locker (6 wins, 9 nominations)

Best Picture (Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier, Greg Shapiro)
Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow)
Best Original Screenplay (Mark Boal)
Best Film Editing (Chris Innis & Bob Murawski)
Best Sound Editing (Paul N.J. Ottosson)
Best Sound Mixing (Paul N.J. Ottosson & Ray Beckett)

Kathryn Bigelow earned her place in Oscar history by becoming the first woman to win a Best Director Academy Award (as well as the Director’s Guild of America award), and what a deserving victory it is. The 58 year-old filmmaker directed such cult fare as Near Dark and Point Break, the 1990 action thriller Blue Steel, and the science-fiction film Strange Days. Bigelow’s previous film before The Hurt Locker was the mildly received submarine tale K-19: The Widowmaker (2002), starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson.

Originally released via limited distribution during the summer, Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal’s taut war drama garnered and maintained strong critical buzz throughout the awards season. The $15 million film managed to gross $14,700,000 domestically, and over $600,000 internationally, possibly making it the lowest grossing Best Picture winner to date. Certainly a far cry from Avatar’s $2 billion, though money has never been an accurate barometer of quality (see Bay, Michael).

Not since 1943 has the Academy recognized ten motion pictures (Casablanca won that year), and among 2009’s selections, the five pictures that also scored Directing nods are what I consider the true Best Picture lineup. Avatar is an excellent production by all measures, but a Best Picture/Director victory would have been entirely unnecessary. Up in the Air was my second favorite to earn the top honor, and I was surprised to see that it did not earn a single win considering how much it was embraced by critics’ circles at the end of last year. Perhaps its recession-themed framework struck voters and viewers a little too close to the heart.

To everyone’s shock and surprise, Avatar took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Like the outcome in Cameron’s Oscar juggernaut Titanic, nobody ever saw that coming.

Best Lead Actor

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
George Clooney (Up in the Air)
Colin Firth (A Single Man)
Morgan Freeman (Invictus)
Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

Veteran actor Jeff Bridges earned his fifth Oscar nomination and first victory for his awards-winning performance in Crazy Heart. Bestowed with Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, and Independent Spirit Award honors for his turn as the down-and-out country singer Bad Blake, Bridges was positioned as the frontrunner for the Academy’s Lead Actor category. Regrettably, I have yet to see Crazy Heart, Invictus, or the critically-respected A Single Man. I will eye those films for review once they enter the DVD/Blu-Ray market.

Best Lead Actress

Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Helen Mirren (The Last Station)
Carey Mulligan (An Education)
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

First of all, let me say that I admire Sandra Bullock. She is the type of performer whose genuine wit and self-effacing charms compliment the humorous roles she usually portrays. Demolition Man, Speed, and Miss Congeniality are entertaining flicks that did not strive to be mind-blowing fare. Her contributions in the ensemble Oscar winning Crash is also commendable. What is mind-blowing to a degree, however, is her Lead Actress win for The Blind Side. Granted, I have chosen not to watch that film because of its cringe-inducing trailer that is just redolent of racial paternalism (even though the film is based on a true story). In fairness, every film deserves their due process, and I will judge the film and Bullock’s performance on their merits.

Gabourey Sidibe was my number one choice for her stunning debut performance in Lee Daniels’ Precious. Sidibe’s portrayal of the constantly abused title role was a showcase of internal emotional compression, an expression and feeling that is far from easy to convey on screen. The 26 year-old newcomer won for Lead Actress at the Spirit Awards, and she unquestionably has a bright career ahead of her.

Carey Mulligan earned her spot for her first-rate work in An Education, and I would have been pleased to see her win the statuette if not Sidibe. The Last Station is on my radar, and no one can ever question the greatness of Meryl Streep, setting an Academy precedent by scoring her 16th Oscar nomination for her role as the famous chef Julia Child.

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Matt Damon (Invictus)
Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)
Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)
Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)

Christoph Waltz’s Oscar win was a certified lock. After receiving the Best Actor Award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, there was scant doubt about his then-seemingly inevitable Academy prize. Waltz’s Colonel Hans Landa, a.k.a. “The Jew Hunter” ranks high among the indelibly twisted characters from the mind of Quentin Tarantino.

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique (Precious)
Penelope Cruz (Nine)
Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)
Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)

This was Mo’nique’s award, period, point blank, case closed, the key is discarded. If you are among those who are wondering what the hubbub is about concerning her monstrous performance in Precious, then you need to make the time to see Lee Daniels’s film, post haste. The comedienne reaped top merits at the Screen Actors Guild, The BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, and not the Oscars for great reason. Upon receiving her Oscar, Mo’nique said to the attendees and millions watching that her award “is proof that it is about the performance, and not the politics.”

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)
James Cameron (Avatar)
Lee Daniels (Precious)
Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

Bigelow was my prime choice, and I would have been equally ecstatic to see Lee Daniels become the first black filmmaker to earn the Best Director golden man. To date, just two black auteurs have been nominated in this category, beginning with John Singleton in 1991 for Boyz n the Hood. Astonishingly, Spike Lee has never received a Director’s nomination; only an Original Screenplay nod for Do the Right Thing, and Best Documentary Feature for 4 Little Girls.

Best Original Screenplay

The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)
The Messenger (Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman)
A Serious Man (Joel Coen & Ethan Coen)
Up (Bob Peterson, Pete Docter & Tom McCarthy)

Apart from A Serious Man (also in the unseen films queue), the other four nominees were equally deserving of recognition. Glad to see Mark Boal’s hard and risky work rewarded with this honor.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)
District 9 (Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell)
An Education (Nick Hornby)
In the Loop (Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche)
Up in the Air (Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner)

I fully expected Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner to win this one at least, but alas it did not come to pass. Congratulations to Geoffrey Fletcher for a pleasant surprise victory. District 9 took its nomination on the strength of its original premise, and while it was well-warranted, the film’s portrayal of its Nigerian villains is an ugly and distracting pustule on an otherwise outstanding feature. Nick Hornby’s An Education is nothing short of splendid, and I have heard nothing but praise for the political satire In the Loop.

Best Animated Feature

Up (Pete Docter)
Coraline (Henry Selick)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)
The Princess and the Frog (Ron Clements & John Musker)
The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Always bet on Pixar. Coraline would have been a lovely selection not only because it would have given a non-Pixar feature the award, but because it is one of the finest examples of animation in the past decade. As for the other three nominees, I look forward to watching them, and I also hope for more productions featuring more traditional techniques as exhibited from these films.

Best Foreign Language Film

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina) – Juan Jose Campanella
Ajami (Israel) – Scandar Copti & Yaron Shani
The Milk of Sorrow (Peru) – Claudia Llosa
A Prophet (France) – Jacques Audiard
The White Ribbon (Germany) – Michael Haneke

Best Documentary Feature

The Cove (Louie Psihoyos & Fisher Stevens)
Burma VJ (Anders Ostergaard & Lise Lense-Moller)
Food, Inc. (Robert Kenner & Elise Pearlstein)
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich & Rick Goldsmith)
Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

Other Interesting Facts:

Geoffrey Fletcher became the first African American to win an Academy Award for screenwriting. Five other black writers earned writing nominations previously: Lonne Elder & Suzanne de Passe for Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Charles Fuller for A Soldier's Story (1984), Spike Lee for Do the Right Thing (1989), and John Singleton for Boyz n the Hood (1991).
Sandra Bullock became the first actor to win an Oscar and a Razzie award in the same year. She won the latter on the previous night for Worst Actress in All About Steve, and even accepted the award in person!
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber sadly did not receive a nomination for their fresh screenplay for (500) Days of Summer. C'est la vie.

Collateral

2010-01-24T16:00:00.004-05:00

Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill, Irma P. Hall, Barry Shabaka Henley, Javier Bardem, Emilio Rivera
Directed By: Michael Mann
Written By: Stuart Beattie
Release Year: 2004

“Most people, ten years from now, same job, place, routine. Everything the same. Just keeping it safe over and over. Ten years from now. Man, you don’t know where you’ll be in ten minutes. Do you?”

These are the words spoken by Vincent (Tom Cruise), a nihilistic gray-adorned hitman whose unwilling chauffeur, taxicab driver Max Durocher (Jamie Foxx), shuttles across nighttime Los Angeles in Collateral. What sets Michael Mann’s crime narrative apart from its genre contemporaries is that its central conflict pits two personal philosophies against each other: improvisation versus routine. Vincent embraces spontaneity, as evidenced by his affinity for jazz music; “It’s off melody. Behind the notes. Not what’s expected. Improvising.” Contrarily, Max personifies personal and professional stagnation. Taking chances isn’t something that is within Max’s nature, or at least, that is a belief he internalizes. The film’s affray between these ideals is a paramount reason why Stuart Beattie’s perspicacious screenplay functions as smoothly as it does.

Collateral opens with a scene of Vincent coolly walking through the crowded terminals of Los Angeles International Airport, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, attired in a plain gray suit and sporting a head of prematurely graying hair. He is clearly in town for yet-to-be specified business. The second and key introductory sequence brings us to Max, polishing his red & yellow cab for the night shift. After a few fares, he picks up a woman who also has business of her own. The passenger is Annie (Jada Pinkett Smith), a federal prosecutor who is gearing up for a high-profile case. She dictates to Max what route to take, and he replies with a faster route suggestion of his own. They make a bet: If Max is wrong, Annie’s ride is on the house.

What is presented as a casual interplay between both characters is rather crucial in defining who Max actually is. Max instinctively knows what streets will bring him and his latest fare in the quickest time possible. He accepts the bet because he surmises that there is no risk involved, so he is content in his own comfort. Along the way, Max shares his dream goal of starting his own limousine company while “temporarily” paying the bills with his current job. Temporary, however, turns out to be twelve years. He has shelved his goal for so long that it became a distant, vague fantasy; almost as if it were designed solely to impress others. Annie, of course, does not sense this at all, though the subtext is present.

When they finally arrive at their destination, Annie reveals her fears and self-doubts regarding her upcoming case. Half-jokingly, Max gives her his own object of Zen: a photograph of the Maldives, which he uses as a daydream escape to trudge through his workdays. They share a lingering look before she exits the cab, but Max regrettably misses his cue to capitalize. Fortunately for him, Annie returns and gives him her card, much to his surprise. Considering the scenes that follow afterward, the moment Max passes his island photo to Annie alludes to his yielding of his unrealized ambitions, the squandering of his own potential, and most significantly his safety net. Even the song that plays during their cab ride (“Hands of Time” by Groove Armada”) hints at Max’s station in life:

I never really felt quite the same,
Since I've lost what I had to gain
No one to blame, no one to blame
Seems to me, can't turn back the hands of time

From the instant Vincent takes a seat in his cab, the perdurable dreamer that is Max no longer has an imaginative “la-la land” to revisit. Nothing about Vincent screams “out-of-the-ordinary” at first. One could easily assume he is just another corporate employee on his way home. That is until they arrive at his stop, and flashes $600 cash money to retain Max’s service for the rest of the night. Five locations and six crisp Benjamin Franklins is an offer too tantalizing for Max to refuse. And then, a bullet-tagged body crash lands on the roof of his cab.

The film’s formative handling of Vincent’s development as the prime villain is acutely moderated. There are a handful of moments where the hitman espouses his cynical indifference on the lives of regular individuals. For him, life has no inherent meaning or grand purpose, thus eliminating any moral consequence in his line of work. He sees absolutely no value in a 9-to-5 lifestyle with barbecues and ballgames, and even less in a life marred with unachieved ambitions. The latter is expressed in the scene where Vincent and Max have a relaxed chat with Daniel (Barry Shabaka Henley), the owner of a jazz nightclub. Daniel shares a story about the time he met Miles Davis in his youth, and what could have been for him should he have succeeded in reaching his musical goals. We get the sense that a part of Vincent is fascinated by the jazz man’s tale, but his polite grin and the manner in which he replies, “What a great story,” barely veils his derision and misanthropy.

Beginning with the aftermath of the aforementioned scene, the film very deliberately lifts the lid that conceals the brimming tension boiling underneath Vincent’s cavalier façade. There are very slight instances of vulnerability behind his presence. He recalls his bleak upbringing, though he verbalizes it in a jocular manner in order to further disturb Max. When Max exasperatedly replies how sorry he is to hear that, a twinge of bitterness is felt behind Vincent’s nonchalantly terse, “No, you’re not.”

Despite Vincent’s entrenched nihilism, he does see something about Max that subconsciously intrigues him. Examine the part where Max commits an act so irrational that it would normally seal his own fate. Vincent, in the perfect position to kill his hired driver, instead seeks to test Max’s mettle even further in a subsequent nerve-wracking sequence. In an earlier example following Vincent’s first victim, the assassin prods Max to discover his own chutzpah when his dispatcher attempts to dock his pay.

These cogent moments and more are designed to ensure that their inner philosophies converge in the film’s most critical sequence at the start of the final act. Max openly criticizes his passenger’s amorality, while Vincent defensively and correctly deconstructs the pathetic mediocrity that is Max’s entire life. Close-ups of their faces indicate that the gears are turning in their minds as they weigh each other’s words. As Max mentally confronts his self-deception, the camera becomes less stable and more erratic, pulling away from his insular stability towards legitimate action. It is possible that Vincent is fully aware of how devoid he truly is, but pushes back with cold disinterest partly to convince himself. Neither Mann nor Beattie provides unambiguous answers, which is the correct choice.

The intelligent buildup of Collateral allows the film to earn its action-thriller styled final act. Mann chose to shoot the majority of the film on digital video by employing the Thomson Viper FilmStream High-Definition camera, and cinematographers Dion Beebe & Paul Cameron are responsible for the film’s visuals. In the October 2004 issue of Sight & Sound, Mann stated that he utilized the Viper’s ability to shoot in low-light conditions, saying, “I like the truth-telling feeling I receive when there's very little light on the actors' faces - I think this is the first serious major motion picture done in digital video that is photoreal, rather than using it for effects.”

Indeed, there is an abundance of raw honesty expressed through the performances of Cruise and Foxx. In the DVD commentary of Collateral, Mann refers to Foxx’s portrayal of Max as a challenge, noting that the hardest feeling for an actor to convey is indecision. Seeing Max contending with the fearsome presence of Vincent, his own failings, and finding his own nerve amidst everything is quite spellbinding. Collateral resides far and away from other rank-and-file crime dramas with its serious regard for its themes of coincidence, convergence, and confrontation.

Favorite Films of 2009

2009-12-31T21:15:00.007-05:00

The year 2009 and the aughts have drawn to a close, and in the spirit of tradition, I present my favorite motion pictures of the year. Honorable mentions are first on deck: Away We Go, Coraline, Drag Me to Hell, An Education, Goodbye Solo, Inglourious Basterds, The Messenger, Sherlock Holmes, Two Lovers, and Tyson.

Cheers, everyone!

(500) Days of Summer
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moretz, Mathew Gray Gubler, Clark Gregg
Directed By: Marc Webb
Written By: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

This effervescent boy-meets-girl story is one of 2009’s finest treats. The screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber is cleverly constructed, and leads Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are delectably simpatico.

Avatar
Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, C.C.H. Pounder, Laz Alonzo, Wes Studi, Peter Mensah
Directed & Written By: James Cameron

Hype can potentially cripple a film before it leaves the starting gate, especially if it has a decade to foster. James Cameron soared above his initial promises with his sci-fi opus Avatar. Though its storyline is anything but unique, the film’s execution certainly is.

Black Dynamite
Starring: Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson, Tommy Davidson, Kevin Chapman, Arsenio Hall, Obba Babatunde, Byron Minns, Kym Whitley, Mykelti Williamson, Bokeem Woodbine, Cedric Yarbrough, Roger Yuan, James McManus, Nicole Sullivan, Buddy Lewis, Richard Edson
Directed By: Scott Sanders
Written By: Michael Jai White, Byron Minns & Scott Sanders

The mob wanted the streets back, and they’ve got Black Dynamite (White)…up to here. Black Dynamite is made in the same spirit as the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse, relishing its pulp influences with unabashed pride. I can’t help but love this gleefully outlandish homage/send-up of the blaxploitation genre. The deliberate continuity errors, the humor, the bizzaro characters and plot, and the class-A soundtrack; Black Dynamite delivers on all counts. Michael Jai White rocks the screen with kick-ass charisma, and Salli Richardson winsomely channels the visage of a 1970’s era Pam Grier.

The Girlfriend Experience
Starring: Sasha Grey, Chris Santos, Peter Zizzo, Timothy J. Cox, Timothy Davis, Jeff Grossman, Ted Jessup, Kimberly Magness, Bridget Storm, Glenn Kenny
Directed By: Steven Soderbergh
Written By: David Levien & Brian Koppelman

Intimacy is nothing more than a disposable commodity in Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience, one of the year’s small surprises. Porn star Sasha Grey plays an upscale escort balancing her job and her relationship with her surprisingly understanding boyfriend (Santos). A very interesting feature.

The Hurt Locker
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ray Fiennes, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, Christian Camargo, Christopher Sayegh
Directed By: Kathryn Bigelow
Written By: Mark Boal

If war is a drug, then what does that make peace? The Hurt Locker is a gripping study of one man and his importunate craving for chaos, in which he finds his true calm. Kathryn Bigelow’s direction is mighty.

Medicine for Melancholy
Starring: Wyatt Cenac, Tracey Heggins
Directed & Written By: Barry Jenkins

Barry Jenkins’ Medicine for Melancholy is an acute indie flick featuring keen dialogue and cool-tempered acting from its two central leads, Wyatt Cenac and Tracey Heggins.

Moon
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario, Benedict Wong, Matt Berry, Malcolm Stewart, Robin Chalk
Directed By: Duncan Jones
Written By: Nathan Parker

The scope of Moon is comparatively smaller and quieter than its larger-budgeted sci-fi peers Star Trek and Avatar, but it is no less enthralling.

Precious
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz, Stephanie Andujar, Chyna Lane, Amina Robinson, Xosha Roquemore, Angelic Zambrana, Nealla Gordon, Grace Hightower
Directed By: Lee Daniels
Written By: Geoffrey Fletcher

Lee Daniels’ Precious has been getting positive buzz all year round, and with great reason. Gabourey Sidibe and Mo’Nique pour everything they have into their heart-wringing performances, illuminating lives wracked with abuse and brutality to harrowing effect.

Sin Nombre
Starring: Paulina Gaitan, Edgar Flores, Kristian Ferrer, Diana Garcia, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Luis Fernando Peña, Gerardo Taracena, Guillermo Villegas
Directed & Written By: Cary Fukunaga

The trains of the Mexican countryside lead to a promised land of better lives, but many succumb to the threats on and beyond the rails. Sin Nombre is a stalwart directorial debut from Cary Fukunaga, wonderfully filmed and strengthened by its skilled young cast.

Star Trek
Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Simon Pegg, Eric Bana, Bruce Greenwood, Ben Cross, Winona Ryder, Leonard Nimoy, Clifton Collins Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Jennifer Morrison, Jimmy Bennett, Jacob Kogan
Directed By: J.J. Abrams
Written By: Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

J.J. Abrams sets phasers to stun audiences with his rollicking reboot of Star Trek. Petty nitpicks of the story notwithstanding, the film strikes a successful balance of introducing new and old fans to the hallmark Trek universe.

Up
Starring: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, Christopher Plummer, Bob Peterson, Delroy Lindo, Jerome Ranft, Elie Docter, Jeremy Leary
Directed By: Pete Docter & Bob Petersen
Written By: Bob Petersen

Pixar’s Up is the studio’s most emotionally affective film to date, and the introductory scenes that introduce Carl Fredricksen (Asner) are utterly moving. One more triumph for the house that made Wall-E, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Toy Story.

Up in the Air
Starring: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Amy Morton, Melanie Lynskey, Sam Elliott, Danny R. McBride, J.K. Simmons, Zach Galifanakis
Directed By: Jason Reitman
Written By: Sheldon Turner & Jason Reitman

Ryan Bingham (Clooney) is a corporate downsizer whose job involves firing employees of other business on behalf of their spineless bosses. While others fall into the miserable abyss of unemployment, Bingham’s success grows further. Commercial flights, airports, hotels and rental cars are the Zen of his life. His livelihood is challenged when young upstart Natalie Keener (Kendrick) introduces a new e-firing system, which puts his jet setting in jeopardy. All the while, Bingham finds a spicy love interest in Alex Goran (Farmiga), a shark of a lady who mirrors him in bravado and charisma.

Up in the Air is an earnest-yet-light dramedy that speaks directly to the current era of economic uncertainty, but its qualities extend well beyond topical themes. Jason Reitman’s third film – after the witty Thank You for Smoking and the grating Juno – approaches clichéd territory and circumvents it at every turn.

Blu-Ray Highlight: Drag Me to Hell

2009-12-30T18:38:00.002-05:00

Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, Adriana Barraza, Reggie Lee, Chelcie Ross, Molly Cheek, Bojana Novakonic
Directed By: Sam Raimi
Written By: Sam Raimi & Ivan Raimi

Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots in top form with Drag Me to Hell. Christine Brown (Lohman) has a sparkling future ahead of her. A nice job, a good boyfriend (Long), a fine house; everything is sunshine and daffodils. Subsequently, Christine’s life takes a dire turn when she denies an elderly woman (Raver) a third extension on her mortgage. The woman takes the rejection rather personally by cursing the hapless young woman, dooming her to hellish torment by demonic forces beyond her control.

Drag Me to Hell is a wickedly intense and darkly uproarious flick that is as entertaining as all…guess. The brothers Raimi bring on the fright factor with slick style, and there is plenty of gross-out moments that will have you squirm as much as the story’s foreboding tone. Those with an appetite for a fun genre piece should not sleep on Raimi’s latest.

The disc houses the theatrical and unrated versions of the film, though there is scant difference between the two presentations. The chief feature is a 35-minute “Production Video Diaries” supplement which explores the on-set events of the film.

Blu-Ray Highlight: Inglourious Basterds

2009-12-30T18:33:00.001-05:00

Starring: Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, Mélanie Laurent, Jacky Ido, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, B.J. Novak, Gedeon Burkhard, Omar Doom, Samm Levine, Paul Rust, Michael Bacall, Carlos Fidel, Dennis Menochet, Christian Berkel, Jana Pallaske, Sylvester Groth, Martin Wuttke, Mike Myers, Rod Taylor
Directed & Written By: Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino captures Nazi-occupied France with staggering historical accuracy in Inglourious Basterds. Well, perhaps not, but the auteur’s off-kilter ensemble picture is certainly an inspired piece of cinema. Though the title refers to Brad Pitt-headed team of American Nazi killers, it also extends to the rest of the players and their own particular stakes in the grand scope of events. Heaps of praise has been thrown on Christoph Waltz, who stars as the film’s prime villain Colonel Hans Landa, a.k.a. The Jew Hunter. Apart from the efforts by his talented cast mates, Waltz’s salacious take on the beguiling yet merciless SS officer is one potent reason to see what Basterds holds in store.

Disc features include the following:

Roundtable Discussion, an interview with Brad Pitt, Quentin Tarantino, and Elvis Mitchell
Extended & Alternate Scenes
Nation’s Pride, the film-within-a-film as seen in the final act of the film, starring Daniel Bruhl
The making of Nation’s Pride
The Original Inglorious Bastards, a short look at the original 1978 film
A Conversation with Rod Taylor
Hi Sallys, a series of cast & crew greetings to editor Sally Menke
Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel
Film Poster Gallery Tour, a look at the film posters featured in the film
Killin’ Nazis Trivia Challenge
Trailers and poster gallery for the film

Film Review: The Messenger

2009-12-26T11:00:00.002-05:00

Starring: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Steve Buscemi, Eamonn Walker, Lisa Joyce
Directed By: Oren Moverman
Written By: Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman

Fresh out of a tour in Iraq, Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Foster) is assigned to what is, in some respects, the worst duty in the armed forces. Now serving under the Army’s Casualty Notification service, Montgomery is tasked with delivering the tragic news to families of fallen soldiers. He is partnered with Captain Tony Stone (Harrelson), a surly commanding officer who carries out his job to the last letter of the book.

Stone gives Montgomery the brusque rundown of their assignment. Avoid physical contact with the next of kin. Never use euphemisms; say their son/daughter is “dead”, “killed in action”, etc. Always address the deceased by rank and name. Only speak to the next of kin listed. If a friend or another relative opens the door, wait for the listed family member to arrive or leave after a minute. Do not display any emotion or reaction. Stick to the prepared script when delivering the news. Above all else, never become emotionally or physically involved with the notified.

Such rigid guidelines are second nature to Captain Stone, but the job only exacerbates Montgomery’s inner turmoil. Matters begin to take a highly dubious path when the young soldier becomes drawn to Olivia (Morton), a widow and single mother whom he has delivered the grim news to.

The Messenger is a penetrating film directed and co-written by Oren Moverman, a veteran of the Israeli army who also co-wrote the screenplay for I’m Not There. His film is shot plainly and efficiently, allowing for the richness of his cast’s performances to be completely absorbed. The military context of the movie is undoubtedly timely, but its core themes resound on an all-inclusive level. Everyone deals with the hardest of news concerning their loved ones, and shouldering one’s grief is all we can manage to do.

Ben Foster’s Will Montgomery is a wounded, raw soldier whose newfound assignment is painful irony personified. The reasons behind his reassignment leaves him wracked with anger and regret, and his notifying families while dealing with his own personal drama almost seems cruel. Foster’s portrayal is a nuanced tightrope walk between passivity and unhinged rage. He is a shattered man quietly trying to find the scattered pieces of his psyche.

Woody Harrelson gives his Captain Tony Stone a distant wryness. His hard-assed nature acts as a carefully-built shield against his own deficiencies. The protocol-following Stone by day is cast aside by a different persona after hours: a tail-chasing boor teetering off the cliff of sobriety. Stone’s relationship with Montgomery develops organically, as their stoic professionalism on the job accommodates their growing camaraderie. However, an undercurrent of bitterness and resentment also slithers beneath the surface of their friendship, and not just because Montgomery is breaking protocol.

Samantha Morton is effective as the widowed Olivia, and her tenuous relationship with Montgomery is sensitively handled. They both feel a heavy sense of guilt when they continue seeing each other, but their collective agony pushes them closer together. One lingering long take conversation between Montgomery and Olivia is compassionately acted, and their reasons are understandable.

The Messenger is a necessary and poignant story tactfully told. Moverman and his cast carefully examine the direct effects of war in a manner that reaches all, irrespective of one’s political or personal leanings.

Film Review: The Road

2009-12-24T14:28:00.002-05:00

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Michael K. Williams, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce
Directed By: John Hillcoat
Written By: Joe Penhall

The sole law of the land in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is that every man must fend for himself. In a world where pervasive fears include starvation, sickness, and becoming a four-course meal for roving cannibals, trust in others is an ill-afforded luxury. Morals are about as forgotten as the world that existed before the post-apocalyptic winter.

In this blighted landscape, a man (Mortensen) and his young son (Smit-McPhee) strain themselves to eke out a livable existence. They wander the ashen-gray wastelands of cities and rural towns towards the coast, vaguely hopeful to find any kind of long-lasting retreat from the dangers they encounter. Apart from obvious needs such as food and shelter, the man’s biggest worry is failing to instill a sense of humanity in his son. He occasionally tells the boy that they are the good guys “carrying the fire”, suggesting that they are not as corruptible as everyone else. The grim circumstances of their vagabond lives also call for the harshest of choices when death seems certain. The man carries a revolver with two bullets, reserved for himself and his son should escape become impossible.

I have never read McCarthy’s novel, so I cannot judge the faithfulness of director John Hillcoat’s adaptation. In any case, The Road is a thoroughly sparse film that does feel as cold as its hopeless setting. The blunt, matter-of-fact minimalism of the story may feel directionless and perhaps pointless to those expecting a more actively paced picture. The entire film appears to be a collection of violent vignettes from the father & son’s day-in-the-life. Development-wise, the plot offers little in the way of character arcs.

With all of this said, I still found The Road to be strikingly intriguing. Although we are presented with next to no information on the central duo (except for flashbacks during the early days of the unexplained catastrophe), their ordeal remains utterly moving thanks to the power of their respective performances. Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee sink into their characters, caked in grime and ash. Mortensen’s penetrating gaze is that of an individual who has been long accustomed to unspeakable horrors, communicating rage and a stubborn willingness to keep living.

McPhee capably matches his on-screen father, serving as the film’s brightest moral compass. Their relationship experiences a very subtle shift in their shared outlook of their world. The father’s own words of carrying the fire begin to sound like empty platitudes to his ears. Distinctions between enemy and innocent slowly merge, prompting the son to hurriedly preserve their sense of righteousness. This makes for quite a thought-stirring dynamic between the two leads.

Cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe provides the film’s severe, color-void imagery. Abandoned vehicles strewn about deserted highways, long-deceased trees, and dull rain-washed homes and buildings call to mind the nuked-out scenery of Fallout 3. The persistently depressing tone of the film’s appearance and intentionally languid pace will feel suffocating to some. The Road is not a film that I embrace fully enough to revisit again, but as it stands, it is a well-built effort replete with intensity.

Film Review: Avatar

2009-12-19T19:10:00.003-05:00

Starring: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez, Joel David Moore, Dileep Rao, Matt Gerald, C.C.H. Pounder, Laz Alonzo, Wes Studi, Peter Mensah
Directed & Written By: James Cameron

In the months leading up to the release of Avatar, anticipation for James Cameron’s decade-long science fiction production was engulfed in a thick cloud of skepticism. The trailers and extended preview footage of the film met with divided reception, even to the point where some folks were predicting a commercial failure. Doubters questioned if the self-proclaimed “King of the World” could reach the film’s years of anticipation and put his $237 million budget where his mouth is.

Now that Avatar has finally entered the theatrical circuit, I can say with full confidence that Cameron triumphantly squelches all uncertainties. The film not only represents a quantum leap in computer-generated artistry and filmmaking but is also an incredibly efficacious tale that, while familiar, is brilliantly executed.

Set in the year 2154, humanity makes its massive mark on the moon of Pandora, a lush jungle habitat that is twice as deadly as it is enchanting. It is inhabited by the Na’vi, a blue-skinned alien race whose members tower at an average of three meters and share a symbiotic bond with the native flora and fauna. The Earthlings have been engaging in a long process of colonization, familiarizing themselves with the Na’vi while gradually stripping Pandora of its natural resources. The moon is rich with a valuable mineral called unobtanium, which humanity endeavors to steal for the restoration of their dead planet.

Because the Pandoran atmosphere is not breathable for humans, scientists utilize avatars – genetically-engineered Na’vi-like bodies forged from Na’vi and human DNA – to interact with the indigenous species. Via a mechanized sarcophagus, humans can transfer their own consciousness into an avatar and enjoy all the physically-superior endowments of the sentient inhabitants.

The avatar program is a welcome boon for U.S. Marine Jake Sully (Worthington), the paralyzed twin brother of a recently-killed scientist. Through his Na’vi shell, Jake infiltrates the natives on behalf of his military/corporate handlers. Over the course of his mission, he develops an affinity for Pandora’s people, steadily gaining trust from them with the assistance of a female Na’vi warrior named Neyteri (Saldana). Jake’s rapport with the natives eventually clash with his objectives, and he is faced with the choice of ensuring or preventing the destruction of the Na’vi and their home world.

For the past 40 years, viewers have witnessed the evolution of CGI in film and television. Akin to its visually groundbreaking forbearers A New Hope, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Avatar writes a whole new chapter in visual special effects. The Na’vi beings are believable and extraordinary creations. Each of them possesses distinct personalities of their own, and the motion capture performances used to breathe life into these Amazonian creatures more than match their human counterparts. Gollum set the standard for CG performances, and the Na’vi in Avatar continues to uphold it.

The photorealistic environments of Pandora are staggeringly beyond belief. Every tree, blade of grass, cascading waterfall, dewy mist and vast green vista are entirely artificial constructs. One would be inclined to believe that the film’s CG figures were simply mapped onto live footage, but this is far from the case. At times, it felt as if I was watching stretches of the BBC program Planet Earth. It really is that incredible.

WETA Digital’s time and care into the masterfully-created visuals are further enhanced with the film’s calculated use of 3-D. I usually avoid watching films in 3-D because I find it to be an unnecessary distraction. A film should be strong enough to carry itself without employing any ocular trickery. Fortunately, Avatar never leans on three dimensionality like a crutch. Rather, the 3-D functions as an immersive tool to place viewers right into the thick of the film’s exotic settings. Never is there an instance where some object lunges at you just to provoke an involuntary jump from your seat. Cameron’s 3-D method is stereoscopic, meaning that it simulates human depth of perception. I am positive that the film looks astonishing sans 3-D, but seeing it in IMAX is an entirely different beast. Subtle yet noticeable details such as the graphical data seen on holographic displays used throughout the human headquarters reinforce the film’s sense of tangibility.

I have spent three paragraphs discussing the technical feats of Avatar, but when the majesty of the technology is set aside, where does that leave the story? Again, the plot of the film is nothing that has not been explored before. The Last Samurai and Dances With Wolves retell the similar plot of a protagonist who learns and gains respect of the colonized community, and must answer the call to defend his adopted culture against his own. Cameron’s movie is an example of how it is not the type of story you wish to tell, but it is all about how you wish to tell it. Avatar runs at 161 minutes yet it never feels arduous. Even at that length of time, I still wanted to see more of its world and characters. The story is substantially developed, providing enough time to buildup the key players and conflicts all the way towards the climactic full-scale assault.

The film’s themes of the destructive side of human nature and pro-environmentalism are anything but obscure. Economic avarice is symbolized by corporate administrator Parker Selfridge (Ribisi), and unchecked military might is backed by the steely Colonel Miles Quartich (Lang). I think of Agent Smith’s soliloquy from The Matrix when he describes humanity as a virus, consuming everything within reach until we have to spread to another area, repeating the same cycle.

A universally wonderful cast powers the engine of the film, beginning with Sam Worthington as the heroic and easily relatable Jake Sully. The actor illustrates a natural blend of audaciousness and candor which also radiates through his animated Na’vi avatar. Sigourney Weaver, a lifelong favorite actress of mine, is great as the assertive scientist Grace Augustine. Giovanni Ribisi and veteran actor Stephen Lang portray two of the film’s prime villains, and they are very well suited in their roles despite their simple characterizations.

Zoe Saldana is superb as the main Na’vi character Neyteri, pouring tremendous amounts of emotionality into her CG persona that magnetizes us into the struggle of her character. C.C.H Pounder, Laz Alonzo, and Wes Studi are fantastic as the prominent leaders of the Na’vi.

Avatar holds a little something for every segment of the moviegoing populace. Action-craving fans are sure to embrace what is in store, and those desiring a thoughtfully told tale will have plenty to absorb. Science fiction buffs and students of animation will enjoy the sheer level of imagination that the film is bestowed with. James Cameron is still polishing his crown.

Favorite Films of the Decade: 2008

2009-12-19T18:54:00.003-05:00

Looking back at my original Champion Films of 2008 list, not much has really changed. With only a couple of new additions, the selections remain the same albeit with several omissions. I decided to narrow my ’08 list down to the movies I am most fond of. As always, feel free to check out these solid recommendations as well: Cadillac Records, Frost/Nixon, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Milk, Rachel Getting Married, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, and Wendy and Lucy.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Jason Flemyng, Julia Ormond, Jared Harris, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Phyllis Somerville, Elias Koteas, Elle Fanning, Madisen Beaty
Directed By: David Fincher
Written By: Eric Roth

David Fincher’s third Brad Pitt-starred project is unlike any of his other films, but The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is perhaps his best directorial work to date. The film’s use of computer-generated visual effects is boundary pushing (best of all represented in the various stages of Benjamin’s aging process), and the performances are universally fine. It is 15 minutes shy of three hours, but the film never feels overlong or rife with filler. Comparisons have been justly made with Forrest Gump, but I feel that Benjamin Button is the better of the two.

The Dark Knight
Starring: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Written By: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan

Christopher Nolan’s masterfully made sequel to 2005’s Batman Begins soared beyond everyone’s general expectations, both critically, artistically, and commercially. The Dark Knight invigorated the superhero genre by bringing it to places long unrealized by previous comics-to-film works, depicting a thoroughly realistic world which speaks to very tangible themes.

As Nolan once stated during the making of the film, the core theme of The Dark Knight is “escalation”. The very dynamics of heroism are openly questioned as characters are forced to ask themselves how far they will go to save others. Through Harvey Dent (Eckhart), the film asks if virtue is a necessary prerequisite for justice. With the anarchistic bent of The Joker (Ledger), the film also comments on the inherent flaws of the system, and dares to ponder if it’s even worth protecting.

The Dark Knight conveys much more than just whiz-bang action scenes for the popcorn eaters. It rises above the almost patronizing labels of “comic book movie” and “genre picture”. Every second, every minute & every frame goes unwasted. Without pretense or any hint of “fanboyism”, The Dark Knight is a masterwork.

Doubt
Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis, Joseph Foster, Lloyd Clay Brown, Mike Roukis
Directed & Written By: John Patrick Shanley

Accusations abound in the halls of St. Nicholas Church School, but who knows the real truth? As you might have noticed, the theme of truth recurs in several of my selections, but it remains virtually unknown in John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt. Featuring four powerhouse performances & exquisite writing, this film undoubtedly (ha) leaves an unshakable impression.

Frozen River
Starring: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham, Charlie McDermott, Michael O’Keefe, Mark Boone Junior
Directed & Written By: Courtney Hunt

Two destitute mothers risk their lives by smuggling illegal immigrants through the U.S./Canadian border in Courtney Hunt’s unforgettable Frozen River. Melissa Leo delivers the most powerful performance of any actress in the ’08, playing a resolute woman whose sole goals are to keep her kids alive and above the poverty line. Misty Upham’s efforts have not received as much press as her cast mate, but her role is every bit as strong as Leo’s. The awards buzz Courtney Hunt’s under seen film has received is most welcome and earned.

Happy-Go-Lucky
Starring: Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan, Alexis Zegerman, Kate O’Flynn, Samuel Roukin, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Caroline Martin, Oliver Maltman, Karina Fernandez, Andrea Riseborough, Sinead Matthews, Sara Niles, Nonso Anozie, Stanley Townsend
Directed & Written By: Mike Leigh

Sally Hawkin’s breezy and endearing performance combined with the powder-keg volatility of Eddie Marsan makes Happy-Go-Lucky a charming recommendation.

In Bruges
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, Jordan Prentice, Thekla Reuten, Jérémie Renier, Eric Gordon
Directed & Written By: Martin McDonagh

Hitmen, redemption, off-kilter characters, and tight dialogue. These are the ingredients of In Bruges, one of 2008’s pleasant little surprises. Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson play off each other so smoothly that their roles wouldn’t have the same energy with any other pair. Ralph Fiennes is equal parts terrifying and comical as the duo’s killer arch nemesis. Martin McDonagh’s consummate crime movie leaves me eager for his subsequent projects.

I’ve Loved You So Long
Starring: Kristin Scott Thomas, Elsa Zylberstein, Serge Hazanavicius, Laurent Grévill, Frédéric Pierrot, Olivier Cruveiller, Jean-Claude Arnaud, Lise Ségur, Liliy-Rose, Mouss Zouheyri
Directed & Written By: Philippe Claudel

Kristin Scott Thomas leads this excellent story of one woman’s struggle to shape a new world for herself underneath the shadow of a terrible transgression.

Let the Right One In
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl, Karin Bergquist, Peter Carlberg, Ika Nord, Mikael Rahm, Patrik Rydmark
Directed By: Tomas Alfredson
Written By: John Ajvide Lindqvist

Twelve year-old Oskar (Hedebrant) befriends Eli (Leandersson), a strange young girl who has an insatiable thirst for blood. Outcast and isolated, the two kids are hypnotically drawn to each other. But when the girl’s violent killings ripple through their snow-covered town, Oskar & Eli do not know what to expect. Let the Right One In is a horrifying and tender film that does away with predictable scary movie clichés, and solidifies itself as one of 2008’s most distinctive features.

Iron Man
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Sayed Badreya, Leslie Bibb, Clark Gregg, Paul Bettany
Directed By: Jon Favreau
Written By: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum & Matt Holloway

Marvel Studios ignited an outstanding round of comics-to-screen adaptations last year with the awesomely produced Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr. owns the role of armored-clad industrialist Tony Stark, and Jon Favreau efficiently captures the hero with aplomb. This film is just what Marvel Comics needed after a consistent stream of wackness ranging from the poor (Fantastic 4) to the merely disappointing (Spider-Man 3). We’ve got a lot to look forward to in the upcoming sequel.

Slumdog Millionaire
Starring: Dev Patel, Madhur Mittal, Freida Pinto, Anil Kapoor, Irfan Khan, Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, Tanay Hemant Chheda, Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, Ashutosh Lobo Gajiwala, Tanvi Ganesh Lonkar, Rubiana Ali, Mahesh Manjrekar, Saurabh Shukla
Directed By: Danny Boyle
Written By: Simon Beaufoy

Millions of rupees on the line, the whole of India watching and supporting you, and the hope that your lifelong love is watching. The high stakes of one Jamal Malik are the center of Danny Boyle’s sensational Slumdog Millionaire. A rich love story with dynamic cinematography, a vivacious score & neat acting from its youthful leads, Slumdog is a wonder of a film pulsating with creative stylishness.

The Visitor
Starring: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Jekesai Gurira, Hiam Abbas
Directed & Written By: Thomas McCarthy

A socially poignant film sans preachy proclamations, The Visitor deserves your attention.

Wall-E
Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy
Directed & Written By: Andrew Stanton

The ladies and gentlemen at Pixar are legitimate masters of storytelling, and Wall-E is further evidence. In the department of animated films, this robotic love tale was simply without peer in 2008. What is the story really about? Is it an impassioned plea for us to seriously care for and protect our deteriorating environment? Is it a statement on the ills of hyper consumerism? Isn’t it just a star-crossed lovers’ story? Yes, yes, and yes. What else is Wall-E? A classic.

The Wrestler
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, Ernest Miller, Tommy Farra, Dylan Summers
Directed By: Darren Aronofsky
Written By: Robert D. Siegel

Mickey Rourke’s performance as washed-up pro wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson is one for the ages. Darren Aronofsky’s realistic tale of a man damaged and beat down from the business that came to define his being is moving to the nth degree. Bruce Springsteen’s song, entitled “The Wrestler”, perfectly sums up Rourke’s lone wolf character as well as the film itself.

Favorite Films of the Decade: 2007

2009-12-18T20:29:00.007-05:00

2007 was such an excellent year for movies, that there were more than enough films to fill a Top 10 or even a Top 25 list. Audiences had their lion’s share of great films to choose from. Narrowing down my favorite flicks of ’07 was a little tricky, but here it is, live and in living color.

Par for the course, here are some more great films for your viewing pleasure: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead, Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, I’m Not There, In the Valley of Elah, La Vie En Rose, Lars and the Real Girl, Sicko, The Simpsons Movie, Starting Out in the Evening, and Zodiac.

American Gangster
Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Josh Brolin, Ruby Dee, Common, Chiwetel Ejiofor, T.I., Roger Guenveur Smith, RZA, Lymari Nadal, Cuba Gooding Jr., Idris Elba, Clarence Williams III
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Written By: Steve Zaillian

This film is based on the true-life story of Frank Lucas (Washington), the 1970’s Harlem drug kingpin who rose to prominence through sales of his brand of heroin, Blue Magic, which was stronger than the competition’s with half the price. New York detective Richie Roberts (Crowe) eventually takes down Lucas and his empire. Ridley Scott’s directorial effort is a well-crafted crime epic. Each of the performances are amazing; from the main cast to the supporting players, everyone definitely stepped their game up in American Gangster. With a slick 70’s visual style and a great score to match, this film ranks among the classic crime dramas of yesteryear.

Atonement
Starring: James McAvoy, Keira Knightley, Saoirse Ronan, Romola Garai, Vanessa Redgrave, Harriet Walter, Juno Temple, Benedict Cumberbatch
Directed By: Joe Wright
Written By: Christopher Hampton

Based on the novel by Ian McEwan, Atonement is a love story that takes you places that you wouldn’t expect. This is the second directorial effort from Joe Wright, who directed the 2005 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice. This film follows two lovers (McAvoy and Knightley) who are separated from the revelation of a terrible secret by a young & naïve girl (Ronan). An excellent film with outstanding cinematography, a powerful score and terrific performances, Atonement is a film that will stick with you long after the credits have rolled.

The Bourne Ultimatum
Starring: Matt Damon, Joan Allen, David Strathairn, Julia Stiles
Directed By: Paul Greengrass
Written By: Tony Gilroy, Scott Z. Burns & George Nolfi

The excellent conclusion to the Jason Bourne trilogy, The Bourne Ultimatum is a very well-crafted and intelligent action/espionage thriller. Taking place exactly where The Bourne Supremacy left off, this third installment finds amnesiac CIA operative Jason Bourne (Damon) finally coming closer to the truth of his past. This was definitely the best action movie of 2007, in my view, as it brings the smarts along with the white-knuckle action sequences that fans have come to expect and enjoy.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Isaach de Bankolé, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Patrick Chesnais, Niels Arestrup, Olatz Lopez Garmendia, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Marina Hands, & Max Von Sydow
Directed By: Julian Schnabel
Written By: Ronald Harwood

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a vivid and inspiring film based on the real-life account of Jean-Dominique Bauby (Amalric), former editor of Elle Magazine who suffered a debilitating stroke that left him fully paralyzed for the rest of his life.

Grindhouse
Starring: (Planet Terror) – Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Naveen Andrews, Bruce Willis, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey
(Death Proof) – Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell, Vanessa Ferlito, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Rose McGowan, Tracie Thoms, Jordan Ladd, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Marcy Harriell
Directed & Written By: Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino

Robert Rodriguez! Quentin Tarantino! Fly honeys! Gory violence! A homicidal Kurt Russell! Shotgun-wielding hobos! If that’s not a recipe for greatness, then I don’t know what is! This double feature is one hell of a thrill-ride, starting with Rodriguez’s Planet Terror and followed by Tarantino’s Death Proof. I enjoyed the hell out of these movies, especially Planet Terror (which is my favorite of the two). You can’t say no to a machine gun-legged vixen and zombie action, unless you’re a hater. Death Proof features some heart attack-inducing stunts and car chases, as well as a slick performance from Kurt Russell, who plays the creepy and charismatic villain Stuntman Mike.

Hot Fuzz
Starring: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Timothy Dalton
Directed By: Edgar Wright
Written By: Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright

A spoof/homage on the buddy-cop/action film genre, Hot Fuzz is another high-quality effort from the creators and collaborators of the 2004 zombie/romantic comedy, Shaun of the Dead. Diligent police officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is forced to work for another police department in a small rural town due to his impeccable track record (which makes the rest of his squad look bad). Things aren’t as they seem in the rural town he patrols, as he soon finds out. Hot Fuzz is a terrific spoof that lampoons and pays homage to all of the ordinary conventions of the classic buddy-cop & action flicks that came before it. Also adding to the fun is Timothy Dalton’s hammy portrayal of character Simon Skinner.

The Lookout
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher, Sergio Di Zio, Bruce McGill, Alberta Watson, Alex Borstein, David Huband, Greg Dunham
Directed & Written By: Scott Frank

This under-the-radar crime thriller is ceaselessly entertaining, with a unique framework that grabs your attention with no effort.

Michael Clayton
Starring: George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, Sydney Pollack
Directed & Written By: Tony Gilroy

Tony Gilroy, the screenwriter of the successful Jason Bourne trilogy, makes his directorial debut with Michael Clayton, an engaging legal thriller. Michael Clayton (Clooney) is an attorney/fixer tasked to deal with a colleague’s mental breakdown and the corruption within his own law firm. Gilroy’s script is an intelligent, well-paced story that does not hold the viewer’s hand. You have to pay close attention to the events in the story, and the film rewards those who do so. Clooney delivers a great performance here; he is no magnificent hero who holds all the answers. Michael Clayton is a highly recommended mystery thriller that anyone should check out.

No Country for Old Men
Starring: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones, Kelly Macdonald, Woody Harrelson
Directed & Written By: Joel & Ethan Coen

No Country for Old Men is the Coen Brothers’ greatest film in their 25 year-long catalogue of efforts. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, No Country is a multi-layered tale that works on several different levels; as a tense thriller, to a metaphoric fable of the senselessness and inevitability of violence, greed and death. The basic plot of the film follows Llewellyn Moss (Brolin), a man who discovers a satchel full of money in the midst of a grisly murder scene. Unfortunately for Moss, a sociopathic hitman, Anton Chigurh (Bardem) is hunting for him and the money. Meanwhile, a retiring sheriff (Jones) is tracking down both men. This film is certainly a masterpiece, from the cinematography, to the overall mood and tension throughout the piece, to the effective performances (especially from Bardem, who exudes a disturbing degree of menace).

Much ado has been made by audiences and some critics about the film’s ending, and while I won’t spoil it here, I must say that it does take time to marinate in your mind and it does fit the film’s overall themes and the title itself. No Country for Old Men is an exceptional film that demands repeat viewings.

No End In Sight
Directed By: Charles Ferguson

This documentary takes a comprehensive & revealing look at how the Bush Administration had bungled the current war in Iraq from 2003 to today. The film features interviews from several former Bush Administration officials who were involved in the initial invasion of Iraq. What these individuals and others reveal is just shocking; the overall incompetence and mistakes made by the U.S. government should make anyone upset.

Ratatouille
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Janeane Garofolo, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O’Toole, Brad Garrett
Directed By: Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava
Written By: Brad Bird

Brad Bird does it again with another magnificent work in Ratatouille. This charming film follows the story of Remy, a rat who desires to be a renowned chef. He eventually teams up with Linguini, a young man who stumbles into a career as a chef by accident. Ratatouille is a charming, well-written and smart tale that is a fine addition to the long list of Pixar classics.

Stardust
Starring: Charlie Cox, Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, Sienna Miller, Jason Flemyng
Directed By: Matthew Vaughn
Written By: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn

Stardust is an imaginative, vibrant and entertaining fantasy film. The film follows the story of Tristan (Cox), who must protect a fallen star (Danes) from the evil clutches of the witch Lamia (Pfeiffer) and the sons of a diabolical king. This film was highly slept on in theatres and I was among those that ignored this movie when it was first released. Fortunately, I caught it on DVD and was quite impressed. Frankly, if Stardust was directed by someone along the likes of Steven Spielberg or Peter Jackson, this film would have received a LOT more hype and success. An exciting adventure story with amazing visuals and a charming story, Stardust is a film that you should NOT sleep on.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Coen, Timothy Spall, Laura Michelle Kelly, Jayne Wisener, Jamie Campbell Bower, Edward Sanders
Directed By: Tim Burton
Written By: John Logan

The latest collaboration between Tim Burton and Johnny Depp is a wonderfully-macabre musical. Depp plays the title role of the homicidal barber who seeks revenge on the man who stole his wife & child and forced him into a 15-year prison sentence. With Burton’s trademark dark, gothic set design and cinematography and juicy performances from its cast, Sweeney Todd is a movie that will have you grinning from ear to ear, just like Sweeney Todd’s shaves. Care for a meatpie?

There Will Be Blood
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Dillon Freasier, Ciarán Hinds, Kevin J O’Connor, Russell Harvard
Directed & Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson

In the early 20th century, silver miner Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) discovers oil, becomes a successful oil tycoon, and morphs into a cold-blooded, soulless bastard. There Will Be Blood is an extraordinary epic that is a unique & powerful tale of greed, ambition, lies and the loss of one’s humanity at the cost of success. Daniel Day-Lewis shows why he is an actor’s actor, as he delivers an outstanding performance that is at times downright scary. Paul Thomas Anderson does a magnificent job at directing this loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!.

Favorite Films of the Decade: 2006

2009-12-18T19:23:00.003-05:00

By all accounts, 2006 was a very good year for all things celluloid. Honorable mentions of the year are in abundance: Apocalypto, Babel, Casino Royale, The Departed, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, The Illusionist, The Last King of Scotland, The Prestige, Silent Hill (yes, a video game-based movie that is legitimately good deserves recognition), Thank You For Smoking, V for Vendetta, and United 93.

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Ken Davitian
Directed By: Larry Charles
Written By: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anthony Hines, Peter Baynham & Dan Mazer

Borat is the funniest comedy of 2006, delivering scathing insight into the prejudices of American society. Borat (Cohen) takes the viewer through a hilarious road trip of sorts across the country, coaxing out the various forms of ignorance among many of the people he encounters. Of course, as a racist and sexist pig himself, nothing is sacred or taboo to this fearless Kazakhstan journalist.

Children of Men
Starring: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine
Directed By: Alfonso Cuarón
Written By: Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby

In a dystopian future where women are no longer able to bear children, disillusioned bureaucrat Theo Faron (Owen) must protect humanity’s last beacon of hope: a young pregnant woman. Based on the novel by P.D. James, Children of Men is a suspenseful, gripping cinematic adaptation. This film also features some of the most amazing jaw-dropping cinematography I’ve seen in any film, courtesy of Emmanuel Lubezki.

Dreamgirls
Starring: Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose, Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, Danny Glover
Directed & Written By: Bill Condon

Dreamgirls is truly an amazing film. Everyone in this cinematic adaptation of the classic 1981 Broadway musical brings their A game to their individual performances. Two performances in particular stand out: Eddie Murphy (in his career best as James “Thunder” Early) and Jennifer Hudson (as Effie White). Hudson’s performance is no joke. When she sings “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going”, she PUTS. IT. DOWN! Dreamgirls is certainly a film for the ages.

The Fountain
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Patrick Thomas, Mark Margolis, Stephen McHattie
Directed & Written By: Darren Aronofsky

Darren Aronofsky’s metaphysical sci-fi picture focuses on three stories: a Conquistador assigned to find the Fountain of Youth for his queen, a brain surgeon racing to find a cure for his dying wife, and a man who is trying to restore a dying tree. Much of what is to be extracted from the film’s meaning is beneath what is shown. Aronofsky’s screenplay drives the viewer to actively engage the themes presented in the film, and the results are quite rewarding.

Half Nelson
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps, Anthony Mackie, Karen Chilton
Directed By: Ryan Fleck
Written By: Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden

Ryan Gosling earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his understated yet wrenching turn as Dan Dunne, a crack-addicted high school teacher. After getting caught in the act by Drey (Epps), one of his students, Dan agonizes to work through his own contradictions. Even though he is an addict, Dan attempts to steer Drey away from his own failings when a drug dealer (Mackie) enters the picture. Half Nelson is worlds apart from the inspirational teacher-as-hero stories audiences have been accustomed to for decades, and is painfully truthful.

An Inconvenient Truth
Directed By: Davis Guggenheim

It is a crystal clear fact that global warming is the biggest threat to our planet, yet the issue has become so politicized that even undisputed facts have been reduced to Left and Right talking points. It angers me to the core when I see those naysayers attempt to mythologize the debate of climate change. Before I continue on a harangue, let me say that An Inconvenient Truth is urgent viewing for those serious about the fate of our planet. Al Gore’s traveling lectures on global warming offers some hope to what could devolve into a hopeless situation if we keep hoping for climate change to resolve itself.

Inside Man
Starring: Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, Jodie Foster, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Plummer
Directed By: Spike Lee
Written By: Russell Gerwitz

Dalton Russell (Owen) and his crew stage a major bank robbery with several hostages. Detectives Keith Frazier (Washington) and Bill Mitchell (Ejiofor) are sent as negotiators to address this crisis. Meanwhile, mysterious power-broker Madeline White (Foster) arrives at the scene for reasons of her own. More than just another heist film, Inside Man transcends its own genre’s conventions and offers a fresh, gripping and relevant approach to viewers.

Letters from Iwo Jima
Starring: Ken Watanabe, Kazunari Ninomiya, Tsuyoshi Ihara
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Written By: Iris Yamashita

Clint Eastwood’s companion piece to Flags of Our Fathers is a cinematic masterpiece. The film is told from the perspective of the doomed Japanese troops during the World War II battle of Iwo Jima. It is an exceptional tale of common struggles, fears and duty to one’s country during war. Excellent performances, stunning cinematography and a resonant sense of humanity make Letters from Iwo Jima my ultimate selection of 2006.

Notes on a Scandal
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Andrew Simpson
Directed By: Richard Eyre
Written By: Patrick Marber

Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench are incredible scintillating in the provocative Notes on a Scandal. Blanchett is Sheba Hart, a schoolteacher involved in a sexual tryst with a 15 year-old student (Simpson). Dench is icier than liquid nitrogen as the crotchety spinster Barbara Covett, who discovers the young teacher’s illicit affair and threatens to reveal her secret. Patrick Marber’s sharply written screenplay based on Zoë Heller’s novel is quite the tantalizing treat.

Pan’s Labyrinth
Starring: Ivana Baquero, Ariadna Gil, Sergi Lopez, Doug Jones, Maribel Verdú, Álex Angulo
Directed & Written By: Guillermo Del Toro

Pan’s Labyrinth is a haunting yet captivating tale about Ophelia (Baquero), an eleven-year old girl who accompanies her mother to reside with a sadistic military captain named Vidal (Lopez) in war-torn 1944 Spain. Amidst the violence, she discovers an imaginary world where she encounters a faun, who claims to know how to save her. Del Toro’s film is as interesting as it is brutal, wondrous as it is violent. It is a unique film which is open to interpretation on several different levels.

Favorite Films of the Decade: 2005

2009-12-17T22:46:00.004-05:00

Before we jump into my favorite selections for the sixth year of the 2000s, allow me to make the following recommendations for your viewing enjoyment: The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Batman Begins, Capote, Grizzly Man, Pride & Prejudice, Sin City, and Walk the Line.

Brokeback Mountain
Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid
Directed By: Ang Lee
Written By: Larry McMurty & Diana Ossana

Some people dismissed Brokeback Mountain upon its release as “that gay cowboy movie,” subjecting Ang Lee’s brave film to torrid jokes and snipes. Those people need to get over themselves. Heartfelt as well as heartbreaking, the film centers on two men who cannot openly express their mutual love for fear of violent retribution. Ignorance drives a wedge between them, yet they cannot deny their innermost selves. Fearless turns by Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger bestows the film its bold and resilient strength.

The Constant Gardener
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Hubert Koundé, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy
Directed By: Fernando Meirelles
Written By: Jeffrey Caine

When his wife is mysteriously and brutally murdered, British diplomat Justin Quayle (Fiennes) doggedly pursues the truth that leads him to a giant, terrifying conspiracy. Fernando Meirelles post-City of God follow up is never short on intensity, keeping viewers on edge until the final frames of the film.

Crash
Starring: Don Cheadle, Jennifer Esposito, Ludacris, Larenz Tate, Brendan Fraser, Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon, Ryan Phillippe, Terrence Howard, Thandie Newton, Michael Peña, Shaun Toub, Bahar Soomekh, William Fichtner, Loretta Devine, Keith David
Directed By: Paul Haggis
Written By: Paul Haggis & Robert Moresco

Over four years after its wide release, a torrent of opinions and critiques have been directed at Paul Haggis’s polarizing ensemble drama Crash. While the film employs a heavy-handed, in-your-face approach to its race-relation themes, this thematic decision works to outstanding effect. When it comes to racism – especially nowadays in “post-racial America” – some people will not understand its effects until it is drilled into their heads, either by firsthand or indirect experience. The message of Crash is clear, and it remains a potent discussion starter for those willing or unwilling to listen.

Good Night, and Good Luck
Starring: David Strathairn, George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr., Patricia Clarkson, Frank Langella, Jeff Daniels, Ray Wise, Tate Donovan, Alex Borstein, Reed Diamond, Matt Ross, Dianne Reeves
Directed By: George Clooney
Written By: George Clooney & Grant Heslov

David Strathairn channels the essence of Edward R. Murrow with startling urgency in Good Night, and Good Luck. Switch out the film’s depiction of anti-Communist sentiment in America with present day fear mongering and bullish partisanship, and you’ve got one of the decade’s most timely motion pictures.

The House of Sand
Starring: Fernanda Montenegro, Fernanda Torres, Seu Jorge, Ruy Guerra, Stênio Garcia, Luis Melodia, Enrique Díaz, Emiliano Queiroz, João Acaiabe, Camilla Facundes
Directed By: Andrucha Waddington
Written By: Elena Soarez

Some films are so visually tantalizing that you are swept underneath their spell. The little-known Brazilian film The House of Sand possesses this kind of power.

Hustle & Flow
Starring: Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Taryn Manning, Taraji P. Henson, DJ Qualls, Paula Jai Parker, Ludacris, Isaac Hayes, Elise Neal
Directed & Written By: Craig Brewer

Terrence Howard is DJay, a lowly Memphis pimp with a talent for rhymes and rap-star aspirations. Craig Brewer’s sizzling underdog story is sturdily carried by its unlikely empathetic protagonist, remarkable supporting roles, and incredibly catchy soundtrack.

Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, Alexander Siddig, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Edward Norton, David Thewlis, Michael Sheen, Ghassan Massoud, Jon Finch, Iain Glen, Kevin McKidd
Directed By: Ridley Scott
Written By: William Monahan

My goodness, talk about a film that was criminally shafted by studio interference. When Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven was first released, it was mismarketed as an action-stuffed historical epic ala Gladiator. The initial theatrical version was heavily neutered to the point of it becoming a completely unengaging snooze fest.

Thankfully, the 3 hour and 10 minute Director’s Cut of the film rectifies all flaws of the original version by reinserting all of the scenes that were cut out to appease 20th Century Fox’s desire for a two-hour runtime. Sequences that establish character and plot development restore the cohesion that was all but absent in the old, critically panned edition. Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut is a thinking-man’s equivalent of Scott’s Russell Crowe-headlined spectacle, examining the pervasive religious conflicts at the time of the Crusades.

This Director’s Cut deserves full recognition among filmgoers, and the tainted shadow left by the original version should not detract those who felt burned by that film. I believe that Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut is Ridley Scott’s grandest achievement this decade. Set aside time in your schedule to watch it.

Lord of War
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Bridget Moynahan, Jared Leto, Ethan Hawke, Eamonn Walker, Sammi Rotibi, Yevgeni Lazarev, Ian Holm
Directed & Written By: Andrew Niccol

Yuri Orlov (Cage) is an illegal arms dealer who profits off the death and destruction his products cause. His personal sense of morality, if he has one, does not enter into the equation. Profit is paramount, plain and simple. Nicholas Cage delivers an eerily fantastic performance, which should have received much more notice than it did. Lord of War is unsettlingly cynical, and it highlights the stark effects of the arms trade in distinctive fashion. I highly recommend this overlooked slice of filmmaking.

Munich
Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz, Hanns Zischler, Geoffrey Rush, Michael Lonsdale, Mathieu Amalric, Ayelet Zurer
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Written By: Tony Kushner & Eric Roth

Munich depicts the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes by terrorists known as Black September, and the Israeli government's secret retaliatory assassinations. The film focuses on a covert group of assassins who are assigned to kill those responsible. Although it was nominated for five Academy Awards, it is puzzling as to why Spielberg’s 2005 picture is underrated by audiences. Munich stands among Spielberg’s finest works.

The New World
Starring: Q’orianka Kilcher, Colin Farrell, Christopher Plummer, Christian Bale, August Schellenberg, Wes Studi, David Thewlis, Yorick van Wageningen, Raoul Trujillo, Irene Bedard, Jonathan Pryce
Directed & Written By: Terrence Malick

As with the earlier-spotlighted The House of Sand, Terrence Malick’s The New World is also a hypnotizing tapestry of pulchritudinous imagery. This ruminative movie is an artful retelling of the Pocahontas/John Smith story, and it is guaranteed to leave a lingering impression.

Serenity
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Krumholtz
Directed & Written By: Joss Whedon

Serenity is the cinematic conclusion to Joss Whedon’s awesome (and short lived) television series Firefly. The unstable River Tam (Glau) is tormented by a major secret that would have severe consequences for the Alliance if publicly revealed. Consequently, Captain Malcolm Reynolds (Fillion) and the rest of the Serenity crew find themselves the targets of a deadly Alliance operative (Ejiofor). Grand in scope and quality, Serenity is sci-fi excellence that is sure to convert non-fans into Browncoats.

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid, Frank Oz, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Jimmy Smits, Christopher Lee, Silas Carson, Temura Morrison, Peter Mayhew, Genevieve O’Reilly
Directed & Written By: George Lucas

The third and final episode of the Star Wars prequel trilogy is an endlessly exciting swan song to the film saga that reshaped the cinematic landscape in 1977. Revenge of the Sith is stuffed with unforgettable moments, from the downfall of the Jedi Order via Order 66, to Yoda’s Galactic Senate duel with Palpatine, to Anakin Skywalker’s fall from grace into the dark side.

Favorite Films of the Decade: 2004

2009-12-17T09:04:00.007-05:00

Quality was in plentiful supply in 2004, somersaulting over the paltry pickings of the previous year. Apart from my favorites, some noteworthy recommendations are in order: The Bourne Supremacy, House of Flying Daggers, Kung Fu Hustle, Kill Bill: Volume 2, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Maria Full of Grace, Ray, and Shaun of the Dead.

The Aviator
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Cate Blanchett, John C. Reilly, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin
Directed By: Martin Scorsese
Written By: John Logan

The gifted Leonardo DiCaprio conveys all of the impassioned candor and eccentricities of Howard Hughes in an impressive effort in The Aviator. Martin Scorsese’s second collaboration with DiCaprio is a gorgeously shot period piece graced with a high-caliber cast. Cate Blanchett, one of this generation’s finest actresses, stuns audiences as the legendary Katherine Hepburn.

Collateral
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Irma P. Hall, Barry Shabaka Henley, Javier Bardem
Directed By: Michael Mann
Written By: Stuart Beattie

Collateral is Michael Mann’s last great film. The director’s 2006 follow up adaptation of Miami Vice was a creative failure, and his most recent Public Enemies was not as special as it could have been. Jamie Foxx is Max Durocher, a Los Angeles cab driver with a small dream but no inner drive to pursue it. Tom Cruise is Vincent, a harbinger of death who forces Max to be his one-night chauffeur as he dispatches his unsuspecting victims. In its own austere fashion, Collateral affirms the point that merely existing is not enough. One must desire to live life.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Wilkinson
Directed By: Michel Gondry
Written By: Charlie Kaufman

If given the opportunity, would you have your memories of a painful relationship or of someone erased? The reserved & unassuming Joel (Carrey) decides to have his memories of his vivacious girlfriend Clementine (Winslet) wiped from his mind, only to realize that he wants to keep them after the fact. Charlie Kaufman, writer of the brilliantly bizarre films Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, produces his most genius work in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The film essentially expresses what relationships are primarily about, which is taking the bitter with the sweet. It is the only way relationships can grow and flourish. Within and apart from the romance category, Eternal Sunshine is a groundswell of originality.

Hotel Rwanda
Starring: Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonedo, Nick Nolte, Joaquin Phoenix, Desmond Dube, Hakeem Kae-Kazim
Directed By: Terry George
Written By: Keir Pearson & Terry George

During the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle) sheltered and protected over a thousand Tutsi refugees from Hutu extremists. Hotel Rwanda is a harrowingly cogent film led by the incredible Don Cheadle and the adept Sophie Okonedo. Not to be ignored.

The Incredibles
Starring: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Spencer Fox, Sarah Vowell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Brad Bird
Directed & Written By: Brad Bird

Brad Bird can do no wrong in the animation realm, and it is difficult to prove otherwise with such career-defining works as The Iron Giant and Ratatouille. Stepping into the costumed crime fighting universe of superheroes in The Incredibles, Pixar succeeded in giving all of us the Fantastic 4 movie we’ve yearned for.

Million Dollar Baby
Starring: Hilary Swank, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Written By: Paul Haggis

Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank) does not have much beyond an abysmally-low paying waitressing job and a pathetic, gutter trash family. What she does have, however, is a thirst and talent for pugilism. Under the reluctant guide of old boxing trainer Frankie Dunn (Eastwood) and his friend Eddie “Scrap Iron” Dupris (Freeman), Maggie’s life begins to see a legit turnaround. Million Dollar Baby is a victorious sports drama on all levels, from the dramatis personae, Eastwood’s handsome direction, and the sharp writing talents of Paul Haggis.

Sideways
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church, Virginia Madsen, Sandra Oh
Directed By: Alexander Payne
Written By: Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

Have a taste for wit-laced dialogue, first-rate characters, and dry hilarity? Then by all means, seek out Sideways.

Sky Captain & the World of Tomorrow
Starring: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Giovanni Ribisi, Angelina Jolie
Directed & Written By: Kerry Conrad

Kerry Conrad’s directorial debut is an amazing throwback to sci-fi action serials of the 1930s ala Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. Ace fighter pilot Joe “Sky Captain” Sullivan (Law) and spirited newspaper reporter Polly Perkins (Paltrow) must work together to stop a world-threatening plot by the mysterious Dr. Totenkopf. The film employs the “digital backlot” technique in which live actors perform in entirely computer generated environments. It is a real shame that this movie was overlooked by audiences (and still is). Exciting action, outstanding visual effects and art direction, and very cool performances make Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow a must-see.

Spider-Man 2
Starring: Tobey Maguire, Alfred Molina, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Rosemary Harris, J.K. Simmons
Directed By: Sam Raimi
Written By: Alvin Sargent

Spidey 2 follows the blueprint of X2: expanded themes, greater plot and character development, and heart-racing action. Tobey Maguire simply put IS Peter Parker. Alfred Molina also delivers a solid and empathic performance as Dr. Otto Octavius.

The Terminal
Starring: Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Stanley Tucci, Chi McBride, Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, Barry Shabaka Henley, Kumar Pallana, Eddie Jones, Jude Ciccolella
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
Written By: Sacha Gervasi & Jeff Nathanson

The Terminal is a delectable little tale about Viktor Navorski (Hanks), a foreigner who winds up stranded at JFK airport when his home country is seized in a coup-de-grace. Prohibited from leaving the airport and barred from returning home, Navorski makes due by living in an unused closed-off waiting area until his situation is resolved. This type of material could have easily dissolved into a puddle of manipulative maudlin melodrama, but Spielberg and company succeed in developing a sterling and smooth character piece.

A Very Long Engagement
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Dominique Pinon, Chantal Neuwirth, André Dussollier, Ticky Holgado, Marion Cotillard, Dominique Bettenfeld, Jodie Foster, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, Clovis Cornillac, Jean-Pierre Becker, Denis Lavant
Directed By: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Written By: Guillaume Laurant & Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Mathilde (Tatou) is a young woman who embarking on a journey to discover the actual whereabouts of her lover Manech (Ulliel), who had disappeared during World War I. A triumphant war film doubling as a robust love story, A Very Long Engagement is a masterful effort.

Favorite Films of the Decade: 2003

2009-12-13T14:44:00.009-05:00

2003 was certainly not a knockout period for cinema, as there were fewer films that I gravitated towards than any other year. Nevertheless, there were some top-quality productions to be had by all. A “thanks for playing” goes out to these films: Fog of War, Hulk, Kill Bill: Volume 1, Seabiscuit, and Tupac: Resurrection.

American Splendor
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Hope Davis, Harvey Pekar, Joyce Brabner, James Urbaniak, Judah Friedlander, Toby Radloff
Directed & Written By: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini

A witty and unique biopic/adaptation of the American Splendor comics, Paul Giamatti delivers an excellent performance as underground comic book writer Harvey Pekar. Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini co-direct and wrote the film's magnificent script.

Big Fish
Starring: Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Perry Waltson, Jessica Lange, Alison Lohman, Billy Crudup, Marion Cotillard, Helena Bonham Carter, Robert Guillaume, Matthew McGrory, Danny DeVito, Steve Buscemi, Ada Tai, Arlene Tai, Loudon Wainwright III
Directed By: Tim Burton
Written By: John August

After years of estrangement, William Bloom (Crudup) tries to mend his strained relationship with his dying father Edward (Finney). Edward’s penchant for tall tales about his own life causes much anger and scorn from his son, who wonders why his dad relishes in exaggerations instead of the straight truth. Tim Burton’s Big Fish an inspired and vividly-poetic filled with outlandish characters and a sweet-tempered charm. The film isn’t talked about as much since its release, but Burton fans and others should give it their attention.

Finding Nemo
Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush, Stephen Root, Vicki Lewis, Joe Ranft, Allison Janney, Andrew Stanton, Barry Humphries, Eric Bana, Bruce Spence, Elizabeth Perkins
Directed By: Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich
Written By: Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson & David Reynolds

Movies like Finding Nemo are the answer as to why Pixar is so very much beloved among audiences. This tale of a clownfish (Brooks) on a desperate search for his son Nemo (Gould) is a buoyant and affecting story that I consider to be Pixar’s finest film (tied with Wall-E).

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, Hugo Weaving, Ian Holm, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys-Davies, Karl Urban, Miranda Otto, Paul Norell, John Noble, Brad Dourif, Bruce Spence, Thomas Robins, Bernard Hill, David Wenham
Directed By: Peter Jackson
Written By: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens & Peter Jackson

The Return of the King is the grand-scale culmination of Peter Jackson’s triumphant translations of Tolkien’s classic trilogy. The film’s multi-chaptered epilogue (a source for several jokes and criticisms) serves as the perfect summation of the landmark series.

Lost in Translation
Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Directed & Written By: Sophia Coppola

Two strangers besieged by different levels of loneliness meet and spend their time together in the city of Tokyo. Simple and distinctive in mood and sights, Sophia Coppola’s Lost in Translation is a wholly rewatchable piece of moviemaking.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
Starring: Russell Crowe, Paul Bettany, James D’Arcy, Edward Woodall, Billy Boyd
Directed By: Peter Weir
Written By: Peter Weir & John Collee

The true core of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World revolves around the friendship between brash naval captain Jack Aubrey (Crowe), and Stephen Maturin (Bettany), a scientist/naturalist. Leading the British man-of-war HMS Surprise, Captain Aubrey and his loyal crew prepare to square off against the French warship Acheron. Peter Weir’s bold and spirited take of author Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander novels is populated with noteworthy supporting characters and bookended with two booming action sequences.

Mystic River
Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney, Emmy Rossum, John Doman
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Written By: Brian Helgeland

Childhood friends Jimmy Markum (Penn), the deeply scarred Dave Boyle (Robbins), and detective Sean Devine (Bacon) reunite after many years when Markum’s daughter is murdered. Sean Penn and Tim Robbins deliver stalwart performances, both earning well-deserved Academy Awards.

Oldboy
Starring: Choi Min-sik, Yu Ji-Tae, Kang Hye-jeong
Directed By: Park Chan-wook
Written By: Hwang Jo-yun, Lim Chun-hyeong & Park Chan-wook

Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy is a seriously deranged film that is impossible to forget after you have watched it in its entirety. This South Korean picture saw a stateside DVD release in 2005. Choi Min-sik stars as Oh Dae-su, a once-ordinary man who is abducted and imprisoned in a rundown hotel room for 15 years. After being released for unknown reasons, the sanity-deprived Oh Dae-su ventures on a path of revenge, determined to meet his mysterious captors. Oldboy is a violent and fearless, and is a beast of a movie from a narrative and filmmaking standpoint. One should review the film’s signature sequence, which is a long-take fight scene pitting the protagonist against a cavalry of thugs in a secluded hallway.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Starring: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, Geoffrey Rush, Jack Davenport, Jonathan Pryce, Lee Arenberg, Mackenzie Cook, Zoe Saldana, Kevin McNally
Directed By: Gore Verbinski
Written By: Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio

The two Pirates of the Caribbean sequels turned out to be rather disappointing affairs that failed to continue the standards set by its 2003 debut. The Curse of the Black Pearl still stands firm as a rollicking adventure flick, making it easy to ignore its follow ups. The charismatically-bizarre presentation of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow seized universal praise, turning the role into one of this decade’s most premier pop-culture icons. Geoffrey Rush also has the time of his life as the despicable Captain Barbossa.

Shattered Glass
Starring: Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chlor Sevigny, Steve Zahn, Rosario Dawson, Melanie Lynskey, Hank Azaria
Directed & Written By: Billy Ray

Hayden Christensen is Stephen Glass, a journalist for The New Republic who rose to the top of his publication by writing fabricated stories. His world starts to unravel when editor Charles Lane (Sarsgaard) begins to smell the BS emanating from Glass’s writings. Shattered Glass is but another journalistic-themed movie that caught my eye in the ’03, and Christensen’s efforts here are creditable.

Whale Rider
Starring: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis, Grant Roa
Directed & Written By: Niki Caro

Whale Rider is an uplifting and moving film that addresses universal themes of leadership, family, tradition and change. While its themes may be familiar, the film’s approach is joyous to behold. Keisha Castle-Hughes’s leads the way with a terrific, nuanced performance. A wonderful tale of perseverance, director Niki Caro’s adaptation of Witi Ihimaera’s 1987 novel of the same name brilliantly captures Maori culture in rich, fine detail.

X2: X-Men United
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, James Marsden, Famke Janssen, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Rebecca Romijn, Shawn Ashmore, Aaron Stanford, Kelly Hu, Bruce Davidson
Directed By: Bryan Singer
Written By: Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris & David Hayter

X2 is a sequel that is even better than the first film, expanding on the themes and motifs established in the 2000 predecessor and the comics it is based on. Marvel dropped the ball majorly with The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, two movies that lack the polish and care evident in the first two films. Hopefully Marvel will reach or surpass the craftsmanship of Bryan Singer’s productions in the future.