white noise

Leading up to Halloween, we had zero time to take in any movies, but with the festivities past we’re doing our best to catch up. Here’s a few of the best we’ve seen lately.

Zombieland

The first order of business right after the party was the horror-comedy, Zombieland. It’s pretty much a mashup of Natural Born Killers and Shaun of the Dead with certainly more comedy than horror in the mixture. There aren’t any great surprises to the movie, but it’s a pretty fun romp of head smashing and double taps. Stylized graphics and narratives add some unique flavor (similar to Max Brooks’ book “The Zombie Survival Guide”) and edge it past run of the mill zombie flicks.

Paranormal Activity

A lot has been said about this $11k movie which has raked in millions. I went in with little knowledge of the plot and relatively low expectations (despite the word mouth raves), and I was really impressed. I don’t think there is necessarily a huge, continuous market for flicks shot in this style, but there’s definitely more of a market than what’s being fed, and Paranormal’s success is proof. It’s hard not to like the big budget popcorn munchers, but after too many movies drenched in sweet CGI, it sure is refreshing to cleanse the palate with a film shot with single $4k camera, a couple unknown actors, and good creepy suspense. And, oh heck yeah, it’s creepy.

This Is It

Most recently we caught a midweek showing of MJ’s final opus, This Is It. Between all our recent focus on Thriller for Halloween and the good reviews I’ve been hearing, I was anxious to see this. As you’d expect from how the movie was assembled, it’s really a collection of glimpses of the prep for their massive stage show. A moment from the dancer auditions, a few moments of Michael working on arrangements and choreography, moments of stage effects and CGI work, and of course many moments of onstage rehearsal. Footage is cobbled together from different days and different cameras with varied levels of quality (sometimes near HD, other times relatively fuzzy), but the clips are well edited and seamless. No song is complete or quite polished yet. Michael holds back on his vocals, sometimes singing every other line. It certainly isn’t the spectacle that MJ would have wanted us to see, but it’ll have to do. This Is It, is all we have.

As everyone has said, there’s nothing in the film to suggest MJ was sickly or frail. You see him very involved in the whole production, and physically, even in rehearsal, it was tough to remember he was 50 years old. His glides were as smooth as in the 80s. His voice, restrained, but spot on. If Jackson was ailing he sure hid it well (or the editors did). So you can really understand the blindsiding shockwave the news of his death surely sent through every member of the production. Feverish rehearsal one day, then nothing.

The best thing about This Is It is, of course, the music. Most songs are brought to life just as they sounded originally, while a few others are updated with new grooves or breaks. And all of it booming through the theater’s surround sound was pretty sweet. The second best thing about the movie, is that they keep it about the show. It’s not a movie about Michael’s death, and not even his life. Just the show. Which, you gotta figure, is just how he always wanted it.

I was really looking forward to seeing the latest film in the Terminator series, Terminator Salvation. Dating back to ’84, the first film, and the second in ’91, put lasting stamps on sci-fi history with a memorable take on the theme of machine over man. The third movie 6 years ago, didn’t do much to extend the lore, but I cut it some slack and enjoyed more than many other viewers. Now, 25 years later, we’re taken (in almost real elapsed time) into the future to see John Connor fighting his war against the machines. This is what all the other movies were leading up to – what Skynet and the terminators were trying to prevent.

Unfortunately, Salvation isn’t really about John Connor or his war. It’s more about some new character, played by Sam Worthington, who is brought into the future (no spoilers). Worthington is a surprising bright spot acting-wise, but I didn’t want to see a movie about him because it doesn’t really connect to anything we’ve seen before. I was hoping to see a movie showing Connor’s rise into leadership of the Resistance, rallying survivors to fight the machines, but this movie never delivers. Instead, we get a war led by some government coalition in hiding, which just happens to be getting help from Conner. This movie fits into the correct timeline, but just seems to be telling the less interesting tale.

It’s ironic then that this movie’s at it’s best early on, when it’s not about Connor at all. Once Worthington’s character meets up with Kyle Reese (Anton Yelchin) in post apocalyptic LA, the movie hums along nicely. As far as action goes, there’s plenty here and it’s shot well enough to make you not regret the money you spent on tickets. The sound effects are thunderous and menacing robots large (no, huge) and small might beat the other summer robot movie at their own game. As the movie spirals along it gradually loses personality. Christian Bale as Connor, doesn’t help. His portrayal is so one-dimensional that he’s barely different then the cybernetics he’s fighting.

In this era of cinematic recycling, has there been a more ambitious rehash than JJ Abrams latest, Star Trek? I mean it’s one thing to make another Summer popcorn muncher about robots from the future trying to destroy humanity (wait, which one?), but to take on the roots of a forty year old Sci-Fi universe…that’s gutsy.

Then again, it’s not like there haven’t been a history of Trek clunkers on the big screen, so despite the hype, fans wouldn’t be surprised to see another miss.

Still, this is not just another Trek movie with better CG than the last. It’s one that reboots all the best known, and most loved, characters – all with shiny new actors, of course. And it weighs heavy on those actors, because for all the battles and jumps to warp speed, this is just a character pic.

It’s with these new actors that this movie succeeds, so I’ll spend some time on them. The new lead, for example, Chris Pine, manages to embody the swagger and machismo of James T. while leaving out some out of Shat’s more parodied mannerisms. Qunito does a surprisingly good job with the challenging role of playing a young Spock. Then there’s Karl Urban, who plays Dr. ‘Bones’ McCoy and nails so many classic lines pitch perfect it really saves him from coming off as a shticky impersonation. Speaking of classic lines, they’re all pretty much here, delivered well and in the right situations. Sure, a couple maybe be a little forced, but I still loved every one. Zoe Saldana (who?) does a killer job as razor sharp Uhura. Simon Pegg (always Shaun to me) was a clever choice for Scotty. I’m really happy they cast a Russian-born actor (Anton Yelchin) to play Chekov, since I’m so critical of Russian accents. Unfortunately the “w” for “v” substitution he portrayed was really annoying (albeit humorous at times) since it’s a more Eastern Europe thing. And then there’s Sulu, played by Harold of and Kumar fame. While I like the actor (John Cho), this is the one character who took me out of it. The physical resemblance wasn’t there, nor was the odd aloof demeanor; but at least the sword play was true to form.

Unlike the throngs of harder core aficionados, the movie wasn’t going to be made or broken for me on styling alone, but I saw more kind nods to the past than away from it. Yes, I’m not a huge fan of the white and translucent Apple-esque Enterprise bridge. Yes, the curvy lines of the Enterprise looked Romulan-ish while the Romulan craft looked all spiky like it escaped from the new Transformers flicks. And yes, it took a damn long time to hear the familiar soundtrack strains. But on the other hand, most of the sound effects were there – right off from the start with the instrumentation warbles of the USS Kelvin. The uniforms stuck to simple untucked shirts and black pants, and even skirts and tall boots for the female crew members. And gosh darn it, Uhura still had that big silver dongle stuck in her ear!

Maybe best of all is just the lightness that they maintained with this reboot. Sure, there are serious moments and lots of action-packed sequences, but the healthy dose of humor throughout ends up sealing the movie with the same levity as TOS. While all the other blockbusters are going darker and grittier, this flick stays true to Roddenberry’s optimism (even if there is a lack of the usual underlying social commentary).

I have to give Abrams some due credit here. I haven’t been a fan of his previous work (gasp). Alias, nope. Lost, nope. Cloverfield, not really. I think in general I like his concepts, but not his results. Maybe he’s a better director, than producer. Maybe his writers have improved. In the end, watching this Trek was just fun, like sitting down with old friends reliving old tales, and telling a few new ones.

As the first of the highly anticipated films for 09, I was very excited to catch Watchmen this weekend. And being a rather important release for all of geekdom, we went with a group of 15, nearly enough to command an entire row. I’d spent the last week re-reading Alan Moore’s book cover to cover, totally engrossed, and very curious how certain bits would translate to film. Besides a lot of crazy sci-fi imagery, Watchmen includes an interesting narrative, often layering different dialogs or rapidly jumping through different timelines. The visuals by Dave Gibbons, are cinematic – panning, zooming – and often brutal.

Gotta say, I was very happy with the movie. Watchmen has gone from graphic novel to a film which is quite graphic. It shares the dark and gritty atmosphere of Nolen’s Dark Knight, but with more sex and violence. I think most fans were worried that the adaptation would be toned down to maximize the marketability of a “comic book movie”, but gladly they kept it fully an adult movie. There plenty of adult themes (like the nihilist outlooks on one’s own life and career and the world at large) and plenty of adult scenes (lots of nudity, mostly male, and some brutal fight scenes). Visually, as most people expected, the movie rocks. Director Zack Snyder really stayed true to the book’s look of each scene – in fact his trademark slo-mo created moments with an amazing resonance to the original cells. The casting was really good (though I would’ve preferred an Ozymadias a bit older looking), and even characters with small parts were spot on.

I really appreciate the thought that went into the soundtrack as well. I’m not a fan of Bob Dylan, but it was a perfect backdrop to the almost-still frame retrospective sequence in the opening titles. The result is a beautiful five and a half minutes of film. Later, 99 Luftballons was as fitting as could be both chronologically and thematically. Leonard Cohen’s dark and jaded tone in a couple of songs was also a perfect compliment to a world on the brink of nuclear armageddon.

For all the exact similarities though, the movie is unique from the book in a few ways. The most striking to me was a new take on the ending – and I’m glad. The original ending was fine in the book, but wouldn’t have played well on screen…at all. Besides that, most of the differences were just omissions in order to restrain the movie to its already massive running time. As I think through all the cuts, however, I can’t think of any that really weaken the story. Of course I’m coming in with all the detail provided in the book. I wonder if non-readers would feel that there were things unexplained. Or maybe less than that, perhaps without all the detail of the original, viewers just might not really “get” the characters or their alternate version of our world. Reading the book first will “spoil” key plot points, but I believe it makes the movie even better.

Despite the fact that I think The Dark Knight was dissed with the nominations, I’ve once again caught up with a few of the films that the industry’s elite are calling the year’s best.

Slumdog Millionaire

With small budget comparisons to Juno and Little Miss Sunshine I was very curious whether this movie would live up to the hype. Turns out it does for the most part. I think it was a very smartly made movie. There’s the excellent plot device in the game show, which propels the story along and connects an otherwise jagged connection of memories. There’s the smart use of language – primarily English throughout, but enough Hindi to keep it real. Plus there’s some nice camera work and editing – especially in the depictions of the Bombay to Mumbai transformation. On the weak side I thought the characters were simple dimensionally – maybe a lot of that you can explain away as being the impressions of a young boy. So, I’d say it was an OK story told very, very well. It didn’t blow me away, but it was a solid couple hours of entertainment. Plus, the closing credit sequence was nicely done!

Milk

This movie, about the first (openly) gay elected official, is a difficult one to form a fair impression of. With little to no knowledge of Harvey Milk going into the movie, I was as engrossed in the historical events as I was with the portrayal of it. Looking back, it’s difficult to separate the gravity of the real events, from the film itself. Without a doubt Sean Penn is deserving of the Best Actor nod. There’s not a moment you don’t believe him as a gay man, and Gus Van Sant makes sure of it by including plenty on onscreen intimacy. I found Josh Brolin on the other hand to be very flat and wooden and leagues less interesting than Heath Ledger’s Joker. As for Best Picture, it’s probably finishing that race in second.

Frost Nixon

Here’s another historical movie, but I was fearing this one would be more subtle and analytical. Turns out, this was pretty much the case, too. The acting in the film is great, but everything hinges on dialog – scene after scene. It doesn’t help that the two title characters, by nature, are pretty reserved, buttoned-down types. There are some nice moments where things get tense and bit fiery, but things quickly cool off and get buttoned-down again. It’s interesting, just not all that entertaining.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This was maybe the largest budget flick up for Best Picture (between Brad Pitt and all the CGI) and was probably the front runner until the Slumdog hype ran it over. Unfortunately, the movie just isn’t that great. In the center of the premise there’s an interesting idea of a man aging backwards. Just around that there’s an interesting potential for what sort of relationships that would lead to. But then this movie gets a lot wrong. If Slumdog was a mediocre story told very well, then this is a good story told very poorly. From the slow pacing to the mostly worthless narrative framework this movie struggles to build any momentum. A lot could be salvaged by the romance between Pitt and Blanchett, but here too are so many starts and stops. Also, if there’s any meaning behind putting Katrina into the movie, that’s lost on me as well. I can only imagine it was used as a ploy to up the emotional gain, but it fails at even that. Worst of all, I think the progression of Button as he approaches death is so inconsistent and misconceived I’m amazed it made it into the movie.

And then there are the nominated movies I’d previously seen (and loved):

• The Dark Knight: It really should have been in the Best Picture running, but awarding Ledger with Best Supporting Actor will have to do.
• Ironman: I think it was every bit as strong as The Dark Knight as far as Visual Effects go, but it won’t see any Oscar love.
• Wall-E: It’ll runaway with Best Animated Feature by a mile, and really could have been in the Best Picture club.

Bullets being sweated. Halloween is coming and I gotta lot of work to do! This is going to be one sweet party, though.

I’m also excited that with Halloween (specifically the 31st) comes the release of Kevin Smith’s latest flick, Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I’ve been following the back story of this one from when Kevin was working on the script, to casting, to shooting, to the appealing the MPAA for the R rating, to the US ban on the original theater poster. Even got to exchange some words with Kevin about it back at the poker game in Jersey. All of that amounts to some serious cinema foreplay, so I’m really dying to see it (after rigorously staying spoiler-free all this time), and I’m really happy for Kevin to have a what should be a big hit on his hands.

“Some men just want to watch the world burn.”

Has Ironman been knocked off from the best movie of the year? Yes, I believe so. The flick is not without its flaws, but there is SO much bad-assery to be had. Bravo!

Pros:

• It’s Indiana Jones
• Campy 50s schtick (when it works)
• Constant action (motorcycle chase, jungle chase)
• A few comedic bits that work

Cons:

• Aliens, WTF!
• Campy 50s schtick (when it doesn’t)
• Where are all the cool traps?
• Cate Blanchett’s terrible Russian accent
• Tarzan vine swinging
• CGI overkill

The verdict: Entertaining, but…weird. As they say, it’s the journey not the destination. It’s a good thing the journey in this flick is decent enough because I hate where it ended up.

Last weekend was pretty active for watching movies – which means I was largely inactive. Here’s a quick rundown:

Iron Man
Exceeded my expectations! Not a thinker’s flick by any means, but finally a comic conversion I actually enjoyed, a lot. Granted, I’ve always like the idea of this billionaire inventor who actually engineers his way to super herodom, instead of all the freak cosmic ray mishaps that transform your usual caped/web throwing reluctant hero (thinking about it now, I guess Bruce Wayne is similar to Tony Stark, but Stark’s stuff is way better). Nice post-credits teaser, too.

An Inconvenient Truth
D and I finally sat down to watch this and it was very interesting. Like any docu, I suppose the info presented can be debated, but it is well done and engaging and the data depicted (and in particular the rate of change in the data) is alarming. We followed it with watching an update Gore gave at a recent TED talk. Who’s ready for solar panels and a hybrid? This guy. Heck, you can even get both in one.

Good Luck Chuck
Just like Dane Cook’s comedy – brash, crude, and at times, so much so to a fault. There’s some genuine laughs in there, but there’s a ton of in your face lowbrow gags as well. Not even Jessica Alba can make up for vision of Dane with the penguin in the closing credits.

Like last year, the nominees for the Academy Awards were announced and there were plenty of movies I hadn’t yet seen. Not that I really care about the Oscars or anything, but I find it to be an excellent opportunity to catch up on the year’s critical best.

Atonement
This movie is up for seven Oscars, which confirms that the Academy and me don’t see eye to eye. From the silly (and eventually annoying) typewriter-sampled score to the retelling of multiple scenes, this drawn out story of a confused girl and the lives she ruins just didn’t do it for me. Somehow the movie just doesn’t seem to cover much ground in the 2+ hours runtime. The little bit of humor and intrigue with the mistaken letter at the beginning was a promising start, but the relationship everything hinges on just wasn’t given time to materialize and that leaves the rest of the film rather pointless. The only kudo I can give is to the awesome filming of the long continuous steadicam shot through the vast beach of Dunkirk. But shame on the movie for losing me to recognize those technical achievements. My pick for: Achievement in Cinematography.

Across the Universe
This movie is only up for an Oscar in Costume Design (and will likely lose to Sweeney Todd), but I viewed this in the middle of the other flicks so I thought I’d throw it in the wrap up. Across is a musical set against a soundtrack of greatest hits from the Beatles. It follows a young Englishmen who comes to the US in the 60’s and his group of friends and their varied experiences. To me, musicals are always more about telling the music than a story, and this film isn’t really any different. Essentially it’s a two hour music video (and maybe 2 songs too long), but that’s not to say it isn’t fun. Most of the songs are covered well in new and interesting ways, and there are a couple great cameo performances by Joe Cocker, Eddie Izzard, and Bono. Toss in some imagery that ranges from psychedelic to disturbing and you’ve got a fun ride.

Sweeney Todd
Coming in with three nominations including Best Leading Actor is this musical centered around revenge, blood, and tasty meat pies. How could you go wrong with another Depp/Burton collaboration with more blood and gore than ever? You make everyone sing everything, that’s how. Ok, yes this is a film adaptation of a musical and I pretty much got what I expected. It isn’t a bad movie by any means, but it isn’t the high water mark for either Depp or Burton either. As expected, Burton’s visuals are excellent, Depp’s acting (and singing!) very good, and the pace of the film moves well. The supporting characters are well cast, too; it’s hard to imagine the movie without Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman. But in common musical form, the characters are really all flat and predictable. And then there’s the music. Although some of the songs have entertaining lyrics, I really thought too many were musically written in exactly the same fashion. I don’t mean that in the sense of reprisals of themes, but the actual composition. For example, almost all the songs end with a traditional huge build up and an extended high note. You can almost sense the subsequent pause for applause in a live performance while the set is changed. I guess that the music should have be reworked a little more to suit the medium. In the end I’d award the movie Best Art Direction and Costume Design, but sadly I need to snub Depp for Best Leading Actor. The nature of the film just didn’t let him exercise his acting chops to the extent of some of the other nominations.

There Will Be Blood
With eight Oscar nominations you’d expect a lot of this movie. Unfortunately I just ran out of time to watch this pre-awards…I’ll come back and update this in a day or two.

No Country For Old Men
Here’s another potential powerhouse coming in with eight nominations. In the supporting (but I’d say heavily supporting) role of the cold blooded pycho killer, Javier Bardem deserves the Oscar in my book. The rest of the movie was pretty enthralling – despite the feeling that you walk in and out in the middle of a bigger story with loose ends on either side. It’s got a sense of the Cohen brother’s quirkiness darkness, but with little humor this time. Yes, it’s a grown up drama, but not a boring one at all. Actual the story looks and feels like a traditional western, but redone is a more modern timeless setting. I think it’s also a contender for Best Film Editing and Adapted Screenplay, but the Oscars for Best Directing and Best Picture are probably a tad out of reach…at least in my book.

Juno
And lastly that brings me to the little film that could. Juno may come across to some like a ton of indie film bricks, but I don’t mind being smashed under the weight of its cuteness. After a year of Transformers, Pirates III, and all the other formula blockbusters, this flick chock-full of originality hit the spot. Sure, maybe the dialog (more in the beginning) is a little heavy handed in the hipster department, but there were a few gems in there, too (like, “He is the cheese to my macaroni”). Ellen Page did a great job with the title character; she was smart, cute, and really delivered the lines on point. Kudos to Jason Bateman, a character who I first thought was hurting the story, but in the end really deepened it. Michael Cera didn’t do much to carry the film, but he didn’t drag it down either. I feel he’s really just the same character as in Superbad, which was another movie with him as the ancillary straight man. What impressed me the most was how adeptly the film steered clear of being just another raunchy teen comedy or a preachy after-school special. Instead we get a fun, but not frivolous, and warm, but not sickeningly sweet, look at making the most from of a shitty situation. A realistic candidate for Best Picture? I doubt it, but it’d get my vote. Above all the other films, this would be the one I’d most likely watch again. As for Best Leading Actress, I haven’t seen any of the other nominees, but Ellen’s got this one in the bag. Best Original Screenplay has a strong shot, too, with “orignal” being the key word. And Reitman may be in the running for Best Director, but I’m not sure there’s enough here to get him the win.