John Ford's Cavalry Trilogy

Yesterday I slummed it on the couch and gazed at (among other things) two-thirds of John Ford's well-known cavalry trilogy, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon ('49) and Rio Grande ('50). 
-
With this week or two of relative downtime, I'm working hard to get my definitive "Best Westerns" list together, which was partly spurred on by my dalliance (good or bad) with The Coen Brothers' True Grit and that interesting, highly combative Playlist article. 
-
Truth is, with a few notable exceptions, I've never been really big fan of John Ford's westerns. Stagecoach ('39) and My Darling Clementine ('46) are pretty great and Fort Apache ('48) and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance ('62) are pretty stirring for the way they demythicize the Old West.
-
His so-called masterpiece, The Searchers ('56), is a confounding American classic with an astonishing closing shot and numerous vistas of wide-screen mastery that somehow mask what a mess it is. 
-

With She Wore a Yellow Ribbon and Rio Grande, Ford's trademark Monument Valley wide-angles, service reverence and goofy camaraderie take center stage on equal footing with his sloppy continuity and errant grasp of time and space. In short, they're beautiful, strangely watchable calamities. 
-
Which isn't to say they aren't worthy of a viewing or in any way bad films (the visual craftsmanship on display is head-and-shoulders above anything of the time period), but for this viewer anyway, the roll call, hoo-rah narrative, dusty outpost conflicts and cloying humanism frankly border on tedium. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon: [C+] Rio Grande: [B-]

Quick Review: Rabbit Hole (2010)

John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole is a bald-faced, gut-wrenchingly honest marital drama, not just about the grieving process, but about faith, cruel fate and our place in what is an unpredictable, highly enigmatic existence. 
-
Nicole Kidman's by turns touchy, boiling and solemn powerhouse effort is the anchor, but Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest and the debuting Miles Teller all bring genuine human emotion to a film that can at times feel too carefully arranged - emphasizing scenes of importance rather than scenes of observance.
-
Overall, it's just a touch too pat and assertive, but the truth here isn't necessarily in the actions but in the feelings, for Rabbit Hole captures the confused, combative and unshakeable affliction of grief like no other in that it offers no easy answers. [B+]

You're Only a Day Away

So tomorrow I'm off to see Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's True Grit - again. I saw the film last week and I was severely underwhelmed. Is it an exceptionally polished production? Unquestionably, that wasn't the issue. 
-
My problem stemmed from the fact that it was entirely too content to hem and haw and spout its admittedly glorious old-West dialogue without ever going anywhere. In the end it's too folksy and sentimental and I desperately needed just a spark of that Coen Brothers hard-edged cynicism. 
-
I'm giving it another shot tomorrow (perhaps my over-laughing audience I saw it with initially was ticking me off to its charms), so we'll see. One things for sure, though, this certainly isn't No Country for Old Men and it sure as hell isn't A Serious Man, this is a straight-up twelve-to-six curveball. 

Blu-ray Round-Up: Jonah Hex, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Last Airbender

"JONAH HEX" (2010) d: Jimmy Hayward
-
What's to say? It's an unmitigated disaster in every possible way, starting and ending with Josh Brolin and that severe, grotesque grill. The script, based on the DC Comics character, is a threadbare revenge tale that can barely sustain itself for 80 minutes and even the design elements are badly misguided.  
-
It's essentially Wild Wild West without the whimsy and The Punisher without the grit, what that leaves us with, I'm not really sure. [D-]
-
-
"THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE" (2010) d: Jon Turteltaub
-
Using a segment from Fantastia and turning it into a full-length feature hardly seems like a good idea and, truth be told, what's contrived here is hardly loftier than a second or third-rate young adult novel, yet miraculously, The Sorcerer's Apprentice actually manages to squeak out some goofy fun. 
-
The colorful cast is generally the reason why, mostly because this is the most fun Nicolas Cage has been having on screen since the seldom mentioned Bad Lieutenant. Not to mention the amusingly gangly Jay Baruchel and Toby Kebbell who do all they can to make this wizarding hoopla go down a bit easier. [C+]
-
-
"THE LAST AIRBENDER" (2010) d: M. Night Shyamalan
-
Aside from a few distinctive visual flourishes and an overall luscious production design, The Last Airbender remains relentlessly silly and fatally self-serious. 
-
And the young cast certainly can't carry this kooky material with its barefaced dialogue and cluttered storytelling. Shyamalan directs with flair, but this dopey fantasy didn't deserve its live-action jump. [C-]

Metropolis at The Texas Theatre

I drove to sunny South Dallas today for a 3:00 screening of Fritz Lang's Metropolis at the historic Texas Theatre. 
-

 Now The Texas Theatre has a rich history given that it was originally owned by Howard Hughes back in the late 30's before becoming most well known as the house where Lee Harvey Oswald hid out and was eventually arrested on November 22nd, 1963.

The theater was just recently bought by Aviation Cinemas (a nod to Hughes) and restored for repertory screenings about two months ago, so when given the chance to head out there, I couldn't resist taking in a Dallas landmark and a classic silent film on the big screen. 
-
Also, before Metropolis got going, a Buster Keaton/Fatty Arbuckle short entitled The Cook was played with a live piano accompaniment - very cool. 

Review: The King's Speech (2010)

So much has already been said about Tom Hooper's The King's Speech at this point that writing a formal review feels rather perfunctory, so I'll just keep things simple. 
-
What we have here is a very classy, very warmly-made British drama that because it's exceedingly well-acted and delivers emotionally in the closing moments is a surefire Best Picture nominee, and you know what, I don't have a problem with that.
-
I would, however, take offense to the film actually taking the Oscar back home across the Atlantic, because as easy as it is to slip into and admire, it's too dapper and antiquated - gently amusing and affecting, yes, but it's aspirations are modest, just like Hooper's previous film, the intelligently crafted footballer, The Damned United.
-
However modest the film may be, Colin Firth is anything but. His stuttering and hesitant King George VI is a very mannered but intelligent and compassionate performance that deserves recognition - delivering that acceptance speech might be a bit tricky, though. [B]

The Rest

The year is winding down, but now comes that painful process of waiting out the remainder of the awards-season layabouts well into January. 
-
The must-sees before even considering putting together a Top 10 list are Sofia Coppola's Somewhere, Derek Cianfrance's Blue Valentine, John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, Mike Leigh's Another Year, Claire Denis' White Material, Olivier Assayas' Carlos, etc, etc. 
-
I hate this waiting game, I really do. 

White Christmas

The Shops at Legacy, taken at about 6:50pm.

The Angelika Film Center in Plano, Texas.

Auditorium #5, just before a 7:30 showing of Michael Curtiz's White Christmas ('54).

Review: The Fighter (2010)

As mentioned previously, David O. Russell's The Fighter really bristles with that Massachusetts blue-collar toughness and tenacity - its real and rousing and its more about learning how to balance your family and your loved ones with what you do and in that way, much more than just a flimsy boxing biopic. 
-
It's mostly about how Mark Wahlberg's Micky Ward is trying to avoid falling victim to the same letdown achieved by his older brother (Christian Bale) and how his brother, in turn, tries to reclaim that dream and that passion that he couldn't get back or live up to through his own mistakes.
-
The wild, carnivorous Ward family constitutes the majority of the drama and handles it quite well, but Christian Bale's path to redemption from crackhead to ringside supporter is the real meat of the film and his performance is unquestionably raw and bony and magnificent. 
-
Russell shoots the boxing scenes in highly digitized mid-90's HBO fashion, feeling for and accomplishing urgency and authenticity in a film that has plenty of it. Gone are the days of Ron Howard's sepia-drenched "cinderella" stories, The Fighter is as ugly and redemptive as they come. [B+]

Buttons and Belated Prints

Yesterday my originally planned 10:40am showing of The King's Speech was cancelled - not by me, but by the Angelika Film Center in Dallas - who said that the prints had not arrived on time due to inclement weather up North - Chicago, in fact. 

-

It was certainly a new one by me, but luckily I ended up squeezing it in yesterday, along with The Fighter and Tron: Legacy. 

-

While there, I found these buttons which are a brilliant marketing ploy by Fox Searchlight that just might be a month too late. The buttons read: "I kept my eyes open for 127 Hours". Now this is how you turn a negative into a positive. I've already seen banner ads on Oscar blogs with this same tagline on it.

Review: Tron: Legacy (2010)

Joseph Kosinki's Tron: Legacy is essentially a techno-musical action film - a pulsating dance-wave soundscape surrounds, engulfs and influences the movements of everyone involved, whether it's a program or a user. Most films use music to accent or enhance the scene, but here, it's the other way around.
-
Of course, the French electronic duo Daft Punk deserve the credit as they supply the booming sonic synths (and their traditionally helmeted appearances in a brief, humorous cameo) to a film that's helplessly indebted to their musical bass-line. Heck, they're the beating heart to this thing, can't you hear it?
-
For the rest of the film is a jumble of tired and inept storytelling (father-son melodramatics, murky backtracking, wayward, senseless digital buffoonery) that tries to put a stranglehold on the world's first cinematic dance-rave, yet luckily takes enough of a backseat to keep from wearing off this killer buzz.
-
Ultimately, the effect of the film's glassy, neon-piped atmospherics and the throbbing, bassy electronics is quite often transfixing and addictive. Like what Arthur said to Ariadne earlier this year in Christopher Nolan's Inception, there's just nothing quite like it. [B+]

The Fighter Instant Reaction

Taken at 11:05am this morning, just before an 11:15 showing of The Fighter.

I'm sitting here eating lunch having just seen David O. Russell's The Fighter and my gut-reaction is that it's tough, it's gritty, it's real and it's rousing. Although the film is a boxing movie and it predictably climbs that mountain in the end, the emotional connection comes from the relationship between Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, and the latter really knocks it out of the park - he's stunning. 

Review: True Grit (2010)

Having just sauntered out of Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's True Grit, I can say that it's certainly a traditionalist western in many ways - elegant, wide-angled, reverent - yet the result is confoundingly disappointing, essentially a series of saucy, slick verbal volleys set against the breathtaking New Mexico landscapes (substituting for the river valleys of Arkansas).
-
There are flashes of brilliance in the zingy, period dialogue and in the exquisitely rendered lensing by Roger Deakins, but while the film bears the humor, craft and language of your typical Coen Brothers outing, that's all it is. The Coens make their actors snarl, spit and swig but the rest they leave to Charles Portis.
-
Jeff Bridges' Rooster Cogburn is a carefree drunkard with a quick trigger and Bridges plays him with an exaggerated growl, a weary limp and a comedic stare. All things considered, he holds up pretty well to the iconic role, if not quite matching the Duke than giving us something worthy of his imitation. 
-
Matt Damon, as the well-dressed and haughty Texas Ranger La Boeuf, is pretty much a hoot while Hailee Steinfeld, as the wise-beyond-her-years Mattie Ross gives, if not the best performance of the three, certainly the most surprising. (Although I'll be damned if Barry Pepper, as the jagged-toothed Ned Pepper doesn't threaten to walk away with it in his brief moments.)
-
It's just a shame to see the Coen Brothers abandon their tenacity and hard-edged cynicism in favor of folksy charm. With True Grit, they've made an accessible, spunky little western-comedy that's as beautifully composed and formally presentable as they come - it's also about as empty as those glass whiskey bottles that a scruffy Rooster Cogburn so casually discards. [C+]

Short Review: Tangled (2010)

Nathan Greno and Byron Howard's Tangled is pretty much as close to a throwback animated film as you can get. Refreshing the classic German fairy tale, Disney has crafted a beautiful and exemplary insta-classic that's a bit too sickly sweet, but inevitably, irresistible. 
-
Emphasizing its characters as more than their blatant archetypes (the dashing hero Flynn Rider is, rather contradictorily, a nobody and an egomaniac), the film has a wonderful simplicity about it that's lacking from the more schizoid, modernized animated films of recent memory. (The dopey science-fiction spoof Monsters vs. Aliens comes to mind).
-
And even if there is an air of disappointment at the film's relative comfortability (or the muffled, half-hearted musical numbers) we must remind ourselves that this type of romanticized animation is a dying breed - and that, my friends, is just as sad as Repunzel's lofty imprisonment. [B+]

Golden Globes Bend Over Backwards

I'm not going to bother posting all of the Golden Globes nominees which were announced this morning (you can check them out here if you want), but isn't it time that the Hollywood Foreign Press just gets rid of this whole Comedy/Musical category altogether? 
-
It's always been pretty laughable the five films that they manage to scrounge together every year, but this year's slate takes the cake:
-
Alice in Wonderland
The Tourist
The Kids Are All Right
Burlesque
Red
-
The sad thing is The Kids Are All Right isn't the best film of that bunch.

Darren Aronofsky: "It's just The...Wolverine"

"We're definitely gonna make something great, it'll be very different...it has nothing to do with anything in that franchise or whole universe."
-
-Darren Aronofsky talking about The Wolverine.
-

-
This one-on-one David Poland/Darren Aronofsky interview is pretty captivating. Of course, the majority of the time is spent talking about the beautiful and sublime Black Swan, but I really loved the way Darren talked about his upcoming venture into true Hollywood filmmaking with The Wolverine.
-
It's been well-documented that Darren hasn't been comfortable filming his last two features (The Wrestler and Black Swan) because of extremely limited funding, short shooting schedules, etc. and it's been widely accepted that the confounding announcement that the Brooklyn-born auteur would be directing the next Wolverine film was a clear and well-deserved paycheck gig.
-
But listening to the way he discusses it, I think we can expect something pretty special. He seems generally really excited about it, citing his freedom with the project, the comfortability with his crew (who will be working with him again) and, more importantly, completely disassociates the film from any X-Men or Wolverine franchise before it. 

Review: Valhalla Rising (2010)

Those expecting high-octane Norse axe-wielding will be discouraged by the lyrical and rhythmic Valhalla Rising, a hushed, minimalistic viking travelogue from Danish provocateur Nicolas Winding Refn, who seems to be channeling Terence Malick here with his primal, uncharted landscapes.
-
Split into six "parts", it charts the journey of an enslaved fighter named One-Eye (Mads Mikkelson) from his initial escape to his partnership with a pack of Christian crusaders bent on retaking the holy land before becoming hopelessly sidetracked.
-
The film jolts with startling outbursts of brutality juxtaposed against the seemingly peaceful, motionless terrain, and the journey - a desperate, contentious half-quest - is certainly not for the faint of heart, but by its prophecy-fulfilling conclusion, the mood it manages to evoke more than makes up for its middling prophecies and philosophical quandaries. It's frequently dazzling filmmaking. [B+]

Boston Film Critics Awards

Nothing earth-shattering, David Fincher's The Social Network runs the table again, which is perfectly fine by me, especially if Jesse Eisenberg is going to turn himself into a serious contender in the Best Actor race - probably not, but surely a nomination is all but in the bag.
-
Natalie Portman for Black Swan (well deserved) and Christian Bale for The Fighter (he's got all of the momentum).

Review: Black Swan (2010)

Having just seen Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan again, I can say that it's just as ludicrous, lurid and frantic as it was the first time - which is to say that I can't wait to go back for thirds. I need to sit through those ghastly hysterics and on-stage transformations again and again. 
-
Black Swan is a film that exudes craft, authorial ownership and exquisite design, even as the film's erotic, surrealistic undercurrents begin to overwhelm the screen and our unexpecting young dancer, Nina Sayers (a battered and marvelous Natalie Portman). 
-
The backstage melodramatics, chilly atmosphere and post-adolescent awakenings are reminiscent of early Roman Polanski or Dario Argento, but the massive, soaring musicals cues and psychological nails-on-a-chalkboard unravellings are pure Aronofsky.
-

And oddly enough, this ends up being the perfect companion piece to The Wrestler, continuing with the director's current fascination with grainy 16mm stock, over-the-shoulder tracking shots and professional self-abuse.

-

The biggest influence here, however, is the way Aronofsky has taken his swiftness in the ring and brought it to the stage. The ballet scenes here are simply stunning in their choreography and complexity, swirling and prancing to the powerful swells of Tchaikovsky and never far from the gaze of its star performer, who is more than up for the moment.
-
But the film wouldn't work without Aronofsky's whole-hearted commitment to his world - from spotlight to pointe, he's given us something grandly operatic, concentrated and sublime - something befitting for the stage. [A]

Tree of Life Revealed Friday

It's all over the place, but in case you didn't know, Terence Malick's Tree of Life is getting a trailer and you can see it if you go to the theater for Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, which hits Friday.
-
It'll be very odd experiencing a two-minute promotional reel for a film in which we know so much - and yet so little - about. 

National Board of Review Winners

The Social Network dominating the National Board of Review's awards announcement today doesn't really help its cause against the British invader, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech, but it doesn't hurt, either. 
-
I would be lying if I said I didn't feel a strong backlash just stacking up against it, though - there's the stuffy English aroma, the god-awful marketing (including that disastrous poster) and the simple fact that it's a film that will carry a stronger impact overseas. Plus we've seen this story before where the odds-on favorite in October eventually stumbles into March as a non-factor. Atonement? Up in the Air, anyone?
-
David Fincher also took home Best Director today with Jesse Eisenberg (yes!) taking home Best Actor. Lesley Manville won Best Actress for Another Year and Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor for The Fighter while Jacki Weaver won Best Supporting Actress for Animal Kingdom (I love the film, but come on...)
-
Rounding out the NBR's Top Ten (or Top Eleven if you count out The Social Network), are Another Year, The Fighter, Hereafter, Inception, The King's Speech, Shutter Island, The Town, Toy Story 3, True Grit and Winter's Bone.
-
Couple more things. First off, Christian Bale (The Fighter) will take down Geoffrey Rush (The King's Speech) for Best Supporting Actor, I'm convinced. Bale is a guy who's ripe for some recognition, he's a major movie star of the now and Rush has already had his fun in the sun. 
-
And Ben Affleck's The Town is getting nominated, no question. I'm kind of lukewarm on it myself (it's a really solid meat-and-potatoes crime movie with no nourishing vegetables), but not only do people of all shapes and sizes seem to really like the film, but people really like Affleck and this would be a nice pat-on-the-back for the transition from actor-to-director. (Plus, keep in mind the actors make up the biggest % of the voting body and this will help it immensely.) 

True Grit Mini-Reactions

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen's True Grit is getting seen by more and more people these days, including an SAG screening on Saturday night, but with embargoes and the like in place until this Wednesday, December 1st, we'll have to go by short-burst reactions from Twitter.
-
Steve Pond's 11.28 article covers the various knee-jerk reactions from around the blog-o-sphere and the consensus is that it's (unsurprisingly) pretty damn good. I know for a fact that Hollywood Elsewhere's Jeff Wells is seeing it tonight in a New York City media screening, so I would expect that anybody worth their salt on either coast will have an opinion on the matter by the end of the week - should be exciting. 

Gelato and Bali

I resentfully submitted myself to a post-Thanksgiving viewing of Ryan Murphy's Eat Pray Love and it was even more insipidly callow than I had imagined - a woe is me middle-aged tour of religious counseling and cultural identity - but more importantly - about delectable cuisine and sweeping far-world landscapes.  
-
It's bad enough that the film is languorously motivated and rigidly performed, but with the projection to the visual medium, Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir is eventually revealed to be both frivolous and selfish. [D]

Review: Love & Other Drugs (2010)

What's most surprising about Ed Zwick's Love & Other Drugs is just how fatally bland it ends up being. I mean, the film is quite literally a disease and a few sex scenes away from starring Gerard Butler. 
-
The workmanlike Ed Zwick puts down his race-relations historical dramas for the time being, but Love & Other Drugs is nothing more than a sporadically amusing romantic comedy-turned-weeper that uses the guise of the mid-90's pharmaceutical sales revolution and the melodramatics of impending disability to conceal a film that's hopelessly middle-brow and restrictively platitudinous. 
-
Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway elevate the material as best as they can (plus Steven Fierberg's intentionally drab 90's lensing grants the film a period-appropriate visual identity) but ultimately there are just too many musty old hats in this bag (the token fat guy roomie, the climactic confessional speech) that the film quickly takes on the appearance of a conveniently-written piece of fluff.  
-
The irony here in a film that rather boldly and explicitly features its two stars without the benefit of clothing is that, in fact, the most shocking thing about Love & Other Drugs is just how utterly uninspiring it manages to be. [C-]

Tourist Season

Where is the buzz on Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's The Tourist? I haven't heard a thing about it one way or the other and it's hitting theaters in twelve days hence.
-
I never thought The Tourist looked like anything more than a classy, upscale Knight & Day, but with all of the talent involved, the lack of coverage is certainly a bit troubling. 

Review: Faster (2010)

George Tillman Jr.'s Faster is a sexy, alluring and sprightly-shot piece of junk - an unrelentingly messy and diffusive revenge thriller that's so fundamentally and structurally incompetent that it saps nearly all of the bite and snarl out of Dwayne Johnson and his mainline quest for brotherly vengeance. 
-
The script by brothers Tony Gayton and Joe Gayton, which seems to be stuck somewhere between bare-knuckled 80's vigilante thriller and 21st-century post-Tarantino pulp, relies heavily on all manner of senseless flashbacks, needless characters and foolhardy plot twists (including a true laugher in the final reel.)
-
As the aptly named Driver (Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) muscles through his first few hits on his neatly-typed list of names, he's pursued by the rugged, drug-addled Cop (Billy Bob Thornton) and the dapper, egomaniacal Killer (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who, when he isn't shooting guns with his blushing bride (Maggie Grace) in the desert seems to be simply searching, gun in hand, for a reason for his character to exist.
-
And as the hitlist shrinks, Driver's trigger-finger loosens and Faster takes a turn for the serious, a gross miscalculation in a film that begs to be to anything but. It's a sad state when a simple revenge-thriller can't even stay on task. [C-]

Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)

David Yates' Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I is a drastically unique entry into the franchise with its narrow focus and steady, persistently moody atmospherics - yet ultimately, the decision to split the epic finale into two films leaves this initial installment feeling like a rather perfunctory, anticlimactic setting of the table.
-
For what its worth, the rather meager and trifling first half of author J.K. Rowling's finale is somewhat miraculously transformed by screenwriter Steve Kloves into something resembling compelling drama - an almost motionless transition piece with a drastic emphasis on character moments that luckily (and surprisingly) carry the film through its many slack, fickle downturns. 
-
Of course the series still exudes the technical mastery and British class acting that we've come to expect, but this is perhaps David Yates' most composed and relaxed work to date and that includes the central performances from our three leads who do most of the heavy lifting. (On a side note, let's forget about that unfortunate "Three Brothers" animated sequence, which looked like a cut-scene from Okami.)
-
In fact, the film's overriding emphasis on the transformation of Harry, Ron and Hermoine from Hogwarts troublemakers to real-life survivalists provides the stark backdrop for this beginning of the end, a transformation that not only occurs on paper but on the screen, as Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint show the same sudden maturity and resolve as their wizarding alter egos. 
-
But this sullen, grittier Harry Potter unfortunately has its drawbacks - chief among them that the magic of Hogwarts seems to have apparated from sight. I'd imagine that taken on the whole, this bisected cinematic experiment will turn favorably towards this initial installment, but as it stands, this is the rare Harry Potter entry that feels helplessly undernourished and glaringly irresolute. [B-]

"All Right" Doesn't Even Cut It

If there's one film I've really soured upon over the last several months, it's been Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, the well-publicized smash-hit out of Sundance and a sure-fire lock for one of the ten Best Picture slots this January. I originally gave the film a B- back in July, but dare I say I might have been far too forgiving.
-
Now the film is very sprightly amusing and masterfully acted by all involved - there's no denying that for the first 60-70 minutes or so that you're watching a top-shelf entertainment that's about relatable, fully-formed and authentic characters that each have their good and bad moments.
-
But alas, I was absolutely appalled by the last ten-fifteen minutes or so in which, yes, Mark Ruffalo's earthy, vegetable-growing biological father is just kicked to the curb so that Choldoenko's timely, liberal-minded message can take center stage. (By the way, the film's politics are not the issue - I agree with them - it just seemed drastically short-sighted and self-indulgent in those final scenes.)
-
That scene has been kicked around quite a bit around the blog-o-sphere since it's release over the summer, and I'm certainly not the only person who feels this way. Nominate the performances all you want, nominate Mark Ruffalo, please - but this is a lame duck.  

The Last of the Contenders

After being slightly disappointed by Danny Boyle's poppy, existential survival story 127 Hours, there are just a handful of films left to be seen before we can lay all of the chips down on the table and let the games begin. 
-
Personally, I can't wait for Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan or the Coen Brothers' True Grit, then there's David O. Russell's The Fighter, which is building up strong buzz following its LA premiere last week (especially for Best Supporting Actor nominee in the making, Christian Bale). 
-
But everyone's (or so it seems) Oscar leader right now is the obligatory British prestige film of the year, Tom Hooper's The King's Speech, which I won't be able to see until around Christmas. 
-
And then there are pockets of strong-to-intermediate contenders like John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, Nigel Cole's Made in Dagenham and Peter Weir's The Way Back.

The Art Behind Criterion's Cover-Art

Designer Sam Smith has been asked by Criterion to take the daunting and prestigious task of tackling the cover art duties for the Blu-ray/DVD releases of both Nobuhiko Obayashi's House and, more recently, Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times.
-
This post on his blog, Sam's Myth, dated yesterday, details the fascinating journey from the sketchpad to store shelves. There's tons of great concept art, the path of the creative process, etc. 
-
As a designer-in-training (I'm trying to pursue a degree in Comm Design as we speak from the University of North Texas), this stuff is fascinating to me as I consider movie-related design (posters, advertising, cover art, etc.) to be the ultimate dream job. 

Trailer: Cowboys & Aliens (2011)

I like it. Jon Favreau needs a refresher after the misguided and ultimately careless Iron Man 2 and this has a unique feel to it - a genre-blender with a surprisingly stoic personality. Daniel Craig looks terrific. 

Trailer: Green Lantern

Well, I don't think the nerds are gonna be happy about this one. Martin Campbell's Green Lantern (Warner Bros., 6.17.11) looks, quite frankly, dreadful. 
-
Even the production values looks sub-par, with Hal Jordan's suit a post-production nightmare. (Looks like those Comic-Con worries are becoming more valid by the minute.) You can get by with the whole "here we go again" superhero formula, but when you botch the execution and your cast is just fair, things could get rough - look out below.
-

Review: Red (2010)

An experienced, veteran cast saves Robert Schwentke's Red (yet another rogue spy-ops action comedy) from its lesser ambitions and doughy underbelly. The result is an agreeable, perfectly enjoyable product seemingly stuck in neutral in which the action doesn't quite thrill and the punch-lines don't quite snap. 
-
It's more of a shuffling, laid-back and under control kind of film, much less endowed to its comic-book origins than Sylvian White's The Losers and far less exertive than Joe Carnahan's The A-Team.
-
Of course, fundamentally, the films are the same - a tactical group of ex-spies are back in action against their former employers, dead set on revenge or immunity and perfectly willing to doll out the brutality in the most excessively wildish ways - usually in a shipping yard.
-
Red operates on this same plane, but it's approach is much more patient and laissez-faire and very infrequently does it devolve into inordinate bouts of cartoonish gunplay and loopy theatrics. (Although don't misunderstand me, that stuff is there, just not in any egregious quantities.)  
-
No, it's more of an amusing, chuckle here-and-there action movie log-ride, which turns out to be an endearing quality with the talent in front of the camera, including terrific turns by Bruce Willis, Karl Urban and specifically, Mary Louise-Parker. 
-
I'm not sure I cared one bit about the team's outlandish plot to kidnap the Vice President, but at times, I'm not sure I was even aware of the plan's implementation. If nothing else, Red proves that sometimes starpower, charisma and a few guns can go a long way, or rather, a long-enough way. [B-]

Review: Unstoppable (2010)

Tony Scott's Unstoppable pretty much delivers the accelerated thrills and blue-collar uprising that you would expect from this kind of film, which is made very much in the same spirit as Speed, or any number of mid-90's thrillers.
-
Better yet, Scott's instantly identifiable shooting style - full of whirling dervish conversations and rapid-fire snap-zooms and quick-cuts - is less of a problem here than in his woeful remake of last year, The Taking of Pelham 123. (The absence of the over-cussing John Travolta helps considerably, as well.)
-
But what regrettably remains is his penchant for lazy, hoary character-building and family relationships, resulting in countless reaction shots of daughters, wives and friends all viewing through clenched fists the heroics on their television sets at, among other places, Hooters. Yes, occasionally, the effect of Unstoppable is akin to witnessing a football watching party.
-
Yet Denzel Washington and Chris Pine as the two unlikely heroes provide enough material to overcome the film's more queasy details and watching the two of them bicker and banter and finally unite to take on the speeding iron horse is a sporadically stimulating experience, the kind of which was absent throughout Scott's previous railway dabble. 
-
Just remember, there's no better (or cheaper) way to fix a marriage than to chase down a runaway train on television. [B-]

Review: 127 Hours (2010)

Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, the much-publicized new film chronicling the five-plus day entrapment of real-life climber Aron Ralston, is a restless, intensified and semi-grueling display of inventive close-quarters filmmaking, the kind of which Mr. Boyle thrives on. 

-

But a film like this shouldn't merely be measured by and judged upon its technical affluence as a genre piece, but rather on its success as a work of considerable emotional impact dealing with not only the inspirational triumph of the human will, but a lonely 27 year-old's refusal to be left unheard.

-

Yet where the film thrives (and Mr. Boyle's touch is most evident) is in its numerous pockets of split-screen sensory fulmination - the sandpaper terrain brushing against the fingertips, the gargling of an ever depleting water supply, the sharpness and shock of pain, etc. - rather than in its start-and-stop, time-sifting segments of self-critique and remembrance. (In these moments, Boyle's reality-altering images flirt with both poignancy and cliché.)
-
But even with a performance of significant warmth and aloof wild-man intensity from James Franco (and a refreshingly great deal of comic relief), the film remains mostly successful in its stinging survivalist details and desperate daily routines rather than in its psychological viewpoints and near-death premonitions. 
-
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (credited as co-writers) do a nice job of building up Aron's self-image as he moves from hapless climber to social outcast, but even with a great deal of man vs. nature symbolism and supernatural overtones, the film remains too mechanical and muffled to be truly felt.

-

And thus, something is amiss here between the liberating self-discovery at hand and Mr. Boyle's deafening sensory amplification (including that unfortunate guitar-riff soundtrack) to the point where the two eventually butt heads, in effect dulling and diluting the spiritual resonance of Aron's miraculous survival story.

-

All I know is what I feel and after the brief amount of time that has elapsed since leaving the theater, the only images and feelings that indelibly remain are that of a mutilated right arm and the lingering quotient of queasiness. [C+]

Again With the Aliens

I assume I'll be seeing this trailer for Jonathan Liebesman's Battle: Los Angeles (Sony/Columbia, 3.11.11) today in front of Tony Scott's Unstoppable. I would hope it wouldn't be shown before Skyline, you might have people just skip out. 
-
But seriously, this is about as well-cut a trailer as you'll find for this type of stuff. Roland Emmerich just bought his tickets. 
-

Review: Monsters (2010)

My gut reaction to Gareth Edwards' Monsters was that it was complete shit, but perhaps that was a slight overreaction. I have to give credit where credit is due and the fact that the film tries to be more than meets the eye should be commended, but it's a slippery slope and ultimately, it succumbs to its lofty, ever-changing motivations - it's more of an "okay, I get what you're doing, but no thanks" kind of thing.
-
Monsters is never the creature-feature genre film that most people will be expecting when they dive into it. As it evolves, it flips the switch from a hazardous road movie to slow-burning love story to U.S.-Mexico border-trafficking political allegory.
-
The problem is that it speaks too loudly and arrives too late on the heels of James Cameron's Avatar and Neil Blomkamp's District 9 - both message-laden science-fiction efforts that used colonization and alien invasion respectively to paint portraits of man's primal nature of domination. (Here, the U.S. soldiers hum "Ride of the Valkyries" in their humvee - how barbaric!) 
-
It does become clear that Edwards has a keen visual eye and is working from a good place (his clever, out-of-focus cinematography is used well, especially in the final shot), but the film ultimately can't balance both its obvious political and ecological undertones with its science-fiction setting. To put it plainly, those out for blood will be thoroughly disappointed - and who can blame them? [C]