Cowboys, Blogs, and Bees...More Mini Reviews!!!

Alright, I’m back for some more mini-reviews. I’ve noticed that so far all of the reviews have been positive with the grading easily all being in the 7-9 range. At first this concerned me as it felt I may be just too generous of a reviewer---However, I’m now convinced that I’ve just been lucky enough to find films over the past month that really appeal to me and have managed to avoid those that didn’t.

The Darjeeling Limited
After the mis-step of The Life Aquatic (which, admittedly, greatly improves with subsequent viewing) Wes Anderson is back in my good graces with his latest, a colorful road movie that adheres to his strange-family-dynamics mixed with quirky humor/art direction formula.

Anderson alumni Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman, and newb Adrien Brody are well cast as a trio of estranged brothers who meet up on a train in India for a deliberate soul-searching journey. The film manages to be funny, touching, and surprising through its course—with Anderson’s usual flair for colorful visuals and exquisite musical choices.

However, I think it may be time for the director ...(read more)to retire the slow-motion walk signature shot before it degrades into self-parody---since I believe his next film is a stop-motion adaptation of The Fabulous Mr. Fox, that shouldn't be a problem.
9/10

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Here is a film that has actually benefited greatly from the 20+ day separation of my viewing of the film and blogging about it.

Here is a note I wrote on Facebook immediately after returning from the theater:

“The first and last half hours of this revisionist western (aren't they all nowadays) are some of the best you're likely to ever see in the cinema. The other hour and a half, while absolutely gorgeous, suffers whenever the electric Pitt and Affleck a...(read more)ren't sharing the screen.”

I gave it a rating of 4.5/5 stars and with the added distance of time, I’m willing to concede the final half star and give it the highest rating. The pace and additional side-journeys the film decided to take have only endeared it to me in retrospect and I wouldn’t be surprised if this film is sitting near the top of my Top 10 of 2007 list (in six months, when I finally get to catch the films I’m going to miss due to my Eastern Iowaness on DVD).
10/10

American Gangster
When I did the list of ten films I was psyched for earlier this year, I mentioned that the marketing for this garnered the reaction 'Now THAT looks like a movie..." out of me. I’m glad to say the film wasn’t a disappointment and Washington, Crowe, and Scott all delivered the goods that are now expected from them.

Denzel is such a likeable actor the film really has to choice but to, in a way, glorify the drug trade, reminding me of Brian DePalma’s Scarface at times (a film I’m admittedly not a fan of). A few shots addressing the sickly effects of drug use are probably meant to counter this, but I still got the bad feeling that 15 years from now the fashion of choice for aspiring rapper wanna-bees will be three-piece suits. Well, at least they’ll look presentable.

With its populist appeal and big-names, I wouldn’t be surprised if American Gangster was this year’s The Departed come Oscar time.
8/10

Bee Movie
As a fan of Jerry Seinfeld’s stand-up and sitcom, I was really hoping Bee Movie would prove to be a true classic of the talking-animal CGI animation genre. Instead, it’s a likeable enough entry that will probably appeal to adults a bit more than it will their children. There are a handful of good laughs and the character designs are cute, but ultimately it suffers from a bit of identity crisis regarding who its target audience should be. The humor is at its best when it’s slightly dark (which is surprisingly often) and the plot, centering on one bee’s quest for legal compensation for the human race’s use of beekind’s honey, will probably go over most kids’ head.
6.5/10

There are a couple of other recent movies I’ve seen that I wish to write about, but those will have to wait for another day. Is there any film that you’ve enjoyed in the theater lately? Please share in the Comments section!!!

Such a Bad Blogger….

So I haven’t been contributing to the blog very much for the past month or two, and I apologize for that. I had some good excuses ready to write down for this entry, but I’ve since forgotten them. Even if you, gentle reader, are not disappointed in me and my failure to contribute even weekly to this endeavor—I assure you that I have disappointed myself.

For one thing, I went to many movies over the past number of weeks with expressed interest to rant about them in this forum and get other people to rush out and see them in the theater. At this point most of those films have since disappeared from all but the most-behind second run movie house. Still, I hope you seek some of the movies I feature in these mini-reviews on DVD when they eventually become available. This entry will feature solely recent theatrical releases---I hope to address my TV and DVD viewing habits in future upcoming entries.

Rendition
While I wasn’t as ecstatic over this film as H-Dogg was in his recent review, I did enjoy this film quite a bit. While it appeared to be a quite straight-forward message movie for the first hour, it managed to surprise in the second half and left me quite impressed.

This film was in the theatre at the same time as the dreadful-looking sports movie parody The Comebacks which, among it’s assumingly numerous crimes against the cinema, featured a parody of the sports movie parody Dodgeball.
This is far from relevant other than that I had the million dollar idea while watching Rendition that the next dumb parody movie needs to actually parody things that aren’t funny in the first place. How great would it be to create a farce involving several self-righteous mouthpieces for issues such as racism, drug trafficking, the lack of human communication, etc. whose stories entwine and intersect in contrived and interesting ways. The jokes would be the most obvious, ham-fisted form of comedy since the Naked Gun series: pies in the face, characters with big butts, and lame celebrity impersonations of topical figures/easy targets like Michael Vick and Kevin Ferderline.
From 0 of the 12 writers of Epic Movie I bring you Important Movie.
8/10

Gone Baby Gone
A great noir thriller that proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the Affleck Bros actually have talent, Gone Baby Gone follows two detectives (Casey Affleck and -Iowa-Represent!- Michelle Monaghan) who are hired to track down the missing daughter of a dead-beat druggie mother. The key to the film is that our two lead characters are far from cool gumshoes—they’re young and, while street smart, relatively inexperienced. This leads to some butting heads with the local authorities, portrayed in the film by the Ed Harris and Morgan Freeman.

The film offers some pretty good twists (some of which sat better with me immediately after seeing the film than they do now, a month later) and great performances from Affleck and Amy Ryan as the self-destructive mother. Expect a best-supporting actress nomination for Ryan’s memorable turn.

After what could only be considered media overexposure, I could honestly care less if I ever see Ben in front of the camera again. However, after this strong debut outing, I'm excited to see what his next project is behind it.
8.5/10

30 Days of Night
One of the ten films I was most excited to see for this last quarter of the year, this graphic novel adaptation more or less lived up to my expectations for being a fine-enough time waster. To stand out in this current horror-movie market, a film needs to have a pretty good high-concept. In this case, vampires take over a town in northern Alaska where the sun doesn’t shine for the entirety of thirty days. Josh Hartnett and Alias’ Melissa George play the chief run-away-ers.

By applying a lot of the recent zombie movie characteristics to vampires (who, as much as I love zombies-make better monsters because they can, well, think) 30 Days helps make this the best vampire movie of recent memory. The movie remains faithful to the source material while not being hampered to the comic’s two main faults—interesting, but hard to follow art and a rushed story.
7/10

Michael Clayton
Tony Gilroy, the writer of the three Bourne films makes his directorial debut with Michael Clayton, an intelligent legal thriller that-much like the Bourne series-refuses to play by (most) of the rules inherent in its chosen genre.

George Clooney is the title character, an attorney who plays a ‘fixer’ role with his law-firm: someone who works to resolve problems while working out of ‘the system.’ When a personal friend of Clayton’s has a mental breakdown in the middle of a deposition, he finds himself in both physical danger and moral uncertainty.

For those in the market for an intelligent, adult film that doesn’t spoon-feed its audience, Michael Clayton will be a rewarding movie-going experience. The fact that it did so poorly at the box office says more about the American movie-going public than it does about the film’s quality.
The film is deliberately paced (the critic’s code for ‘a bit slow in places’), but the performances are great and the dramatic pay-off much worth the wait.
9/10

That took longer than I thought, more films to be reviewed soon.

Rendition One of 2007's Best

In the turbulent post-9/11 world we live in it is not surprising that so many films speak the issues and problems of our time, including terrorism, torture, war, etc. The list gets longer and longer with each passing year and 2007 is no different with films such as The Kingdom, Rendition and Lambs For Lions all hitting theaters this Fall.

To date I have seen two of these three films (with Lambs releasing next week) and they could not have been more different. The Kingdom was an action driven film that felt very heavy handed, yet "pop culture" with its presentation. (see review here) Directed by Gavin Hood, Rendition is a wholly different viewing experience that presents a stellar cast who deliver excellent performances all around and makes for an engaging, thought-provoking drama.

Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Douglas Freeman, a junior CIA officer assigned to a North African post (Egypt). When his bureau director dies in his arms after a suicide bombing, Freeman is given a field promotion taking over the post and because a US government official was killed, an investigation is launched. At the same time Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally), an Egyptian national and chemical engineering specialist, is concluding a business trip to South Africa. He is headed home to his family... but he doesn't arrive sending his wife Isabella (Reese Witherspoon) into a panic.

The question for Isabella is "what happened"? People simply don't vanish on an overseas flight and the records show he boarded the plane home. The truth - he did board a plane, but he ended up in Egypt at a secret CIA interrogation facility run by an Egyptian official named Abasi Fawal (Yigal Naor). Ibrahimi was on a terrorist watch-list because of his background and profession and Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep), a high up in the CIA, gave the order to nab him for questioning or "extraordinary rendition"... something the government patently denies.

Freeman, now in his new position in Egypt is allowed to observe the interrogation, personally handled by Fawal. It soon becomes clear to him that Ibrahimi is simply a victim of torture and knows nothing about the bombing or anyone involved even though everyone around him, so long a part of the "system", disagree and believe Ibrahimi should be held indefinitely until he gives the answers they wish to hear. Ironically, the answers they seek are to be found in the least expected place. And while a determined Isabella does an investigation of her own back in Washington using a college friend (Peter Sarsgaard) who is an aide within prominent senator's office, Freeman begins working out a plan to free Ibrahimi and return him home.

This story examines so many themes central to current world affairs (radical Islam, terrorism, torture, civil liberties, CIA tactics and family) and expertly weaves them together in a taught drama that drew me in from the first scene and held my attention until the credits rolled. Hood does a masterful job directing and his cast gives performances of the highest caliber! For me, the most noteworthy performance came from Yigal Naor as Abasi Fawal and I can very easily see him as a Best Supporting Actor nominee come Oscar time. Gyllenhaal may also be in the awards picture for his performance as well.

In stark contrast to The Kingdom, Rendition is a much slower paced film that is more thoughtful, dramatic and far less self-conscious, something I appreciate. It is less showy and more substantive resulting in a film that has more impact, feels more relevant and entertains on a higher level. This film is certainly one of the year's best! 10/10

"Next" Not Strong, But Concept Thrills

In a movie world where the sea of DVDs is growing larger by the minute, and where most of the titles are throw-a-way fare, it grows increasingly difficult for movies to stand out on the shelf. This was true for Next as a few friends and I wandered through the video store. In fact, it was our complete state of indecision that forced us to pick up Next out of complete desperation and morbid curiosity; it looked laughably bad. It didn't help that my recent viewing of the second half of The Wicker Man didn't have me excited to watch Nick Cage either. That movie is terrible! (see the laughably bad, yet accurate YouTube summary here)

It wasn't far into Next when I realized that, despite its obvious deficiencies, it was surprisingly compelling in its concept. The plot centers around "Frank Cadillac" (Cage), a Las Vegas magician who possesses the ability to see two minutes into the future, thus allowing him to alter the outcome. His unique ability is more or less unknown, but the FBI catches on to him after a strange security incident at a casino. As it would turn out, he is the man they need to help them in a matter of national security. It's getting to him that poses the problem - how do you get to a man who knows when you're coming two minutes in advance?

The national security problem is the matter of a small nuclear device that has been smuggled into the US by Russian terrorists (who speak French?). The FBI has no idea when or where it will be detonated and they want Frank (actual name Cris) to help them find the device before it is. Of course, two minutes doesn't really seem all that helpful when dealing with nukes, but I suppose you'll take anything you can get.

Enter Liz (Jessica Biel), a woman who for reasons unknown allows Cris to see even farther into the future. He knows this because he has foreseen his first encounter with her an extremely long time in advance, but he doesn't know why. Evidently they are linked somehow, but it is never explained. The compelling aspect of Cris's ability is demonstrated when we see him play out various scenarios in his mind of how to introduce himself to Liz and impress her. Six or seven hypothetical versions are played out on screen before we see the final, correct rendition take place.

From this point on Next is a high energy, mind-bending chase as we watch Cris play out scenario after scenario as he first avoids the FBI and then frantically helps them search for the nuke in order to save Liz. We are never sure what is real and what is merely possibility and he uses his ability at every turn. It is, however, really fun to watch play out.

Next is the latest in a series of Phillip K. Dick stories to be adapted to the big screen, following the likes of Total Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck and Through a Scanner Darkly. As usual, his concept is entertaining even if the rest of the adaptation leaves a lot to be desired. The performances in Next are nothing special from stars Cage, Biel and Julianne Moore. With a two minute lead on the world, Cris is virtually invincible and can only really be caught when he allows himself to be. This is one of the most powerful abilities I have ever come across! Combine that with the ability in the upcoming Hayden Christiansen film Jumper and you have an unstoppable human being!

Next isn't an incredible film, but it was a surprise on par with Deja Vu. Science fiction fans should consider this film if you have an evening to kill or if you appreciate Phillip K. Dick. It was entertaining, if only for the concept. 7/10