Thoughts on Some Movies (1/15/2015)

I'm still catching up on some movies released last year. The Academy Award nominations were released earlier today. The list confirms my belief that 2014 was a pretty shitty year for the types of films that get nominated for Academy Awards - but an otherwise solid year overall if you explore the places where the old white men of the Academy do not often play.

Thoughts On Some Movies (12/13/14)

Interstellar (2014)

Interstellar generated a great deal of excitement from movie fans prior to release, only to land with a bit of a thud as it gets celebrated by some for its visual treats but picked apart by many for logical lapses and a problematic third act. I'm not here to defend the third act - it is a stinker. The stinky third act is also one that you can see coming if you are paying attention both because it is a fairly conventional and familiar sci-fi "surprise" and because the film is larded with relentless hinting. The third act, however, only wounds and does not fully kill the experience of what was, for the nearly two hours that preceded it, one of the most entertaining movies I have seen this year.

Fright Night (1985)

Revisiting films from childhood carries risk - a lot of it. A film that you loved as a child and now remember fondly as an adult can be ruined when you screen it again and realize just how cheesy or dumb the movie really was all along. On the other hand, sometimes you can watch a movie that you have not seen since childhood and now, as an adult, realize there was a level of depth and symbolism that went completely over your head the first time around. The latter is the case of Fright Night - the 1985 original - a movie that still works quite well on the surface as a fun, comedic horror film but that also  explores themes of sexual angst that seem obvious now but did not register with my childhood self.

From Gone Girl to The Guest: Some Thoughts On Some Recent Movies (10/9/14)

Some thoughts on some recent movies (warning: some mild spoilers):

Capsule Reviews - Girl Most Likely (2012), Clerks II (2006), and Galaxy Quest (1999)

Galaxy Quest (1999) - It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years since this outstanding entertainment was released. It remains remarkably fresh and, given the budget even for the time, looks pretty darn good - of course smartly using the fact that some of it is supposed to look cheap. While the film doesn't exactly spend a lot of extra time fleshing out the character backgrounds, if you're at all savvy about film and TV it won't matter. A fun story with hints of wit dropped throughout, this is an outstanding comedy well worth a refresh for those that haven't seen it in a while.

Girl Most Likely (2012) - If this were intended as an experiment in seeing what happens when filmmakers mash up a Todd Solondz film with a Farrelly Brothers movie, it might be interesting, if only to prove it doesn't work. Wild tonal inconsistency and characters that don't add up in the least are problems, but the cardinal sin is that it isn't funny - either as a dark comedy or as a broad one. I suspect part of the problem is that the filmmakers intended satire but really didn't have a clear sense of what they wanted to satirize. It also has a really mixed message - suggesting that the lead character, played by Kristen Wiig, needs to stop believing she's entitled to her princess fantasy, only to kind of let her have it anyway. Just go watch the superior Muriel's Wedding instead.

Clerks II (2006) - The sequel to Kevin Smith's DIY indie classic keeps the amateurish direction and poor acting but loses the original's chaotic, punk sensibility and sharp sense of humor. Most of the bits fall flat here and the story feels really forced. There's actually a bit too much story here, departing from the original's slice-of-life feel. Even Smith's stand-up tour videos work best as the witty raconteur delivering unstructured, off-the-cuff anecdotes that are more or less Smith going off on tangents about things that have happened in his life. That doesn't come through here. Because this one is packed with more by-the-books plot drama, it needs actors that can sustain it and that can provide depth beyond just reciting the (amply packed) words. Rosario Dawson mostly gets that done, but that is, unfortunately, about it, and she is really a sideline player here. It just doesn't work, although perhaps Kevin Smith die-hards will disagree (and it is really only for them).

All three were screened on Amazon Prime Instant.

LA Film Festival - Supremacy (2014) and Joy of Man's Desiring (2014)

The Los Angeles Film Festival is back in town. The festival has developed a reputation as solid, albeit definitely a big tier below the big boys. There aren't many big buzz premieres or a big market at this festival, and so there isn't a ton of glitz, glamour, or buzz surrounding the festival.

I think the festival is caught in something of a tweener position - it has bigger aspirations than just being a roadshow for favorites from other bigger festivals, or being a niche genre/experimental festival, but it lacks the cachet to score big name competition entries or buzz-heavy premieres. The lack of a robust market also means even up-and-coming filmmakers tend to prioritize other festivals first for their films in need of distribution. That in turn helps sustain the lack of a robust market because the more marketable indie films tend to go to other market-heavy festivals first. It doesn't help that the festival is known to struggle getting people to even drive downtown from the film-industry-heavy westside (disconnected from downtown thanks in part to Westside NIMBYs that stand in the way of subway extension).

At any rate, after working my way through the awful traffic, figuring out where everything was located, and standing in some lines, I actually had the opportunity to watch a couple films.

Cold in July (2014) - Brief Review

There isn't much one can say about the details of Cold in July's plot without giving away a lot of what makes this film so interesting and, despite the darkness, fun. What helps the film to work so well is that, just when you think you've got it all figured out, filmmaker Jim Mickle (along with co-writer Nick Damici) tosses a curve ball or ups the ante to take things in a different direction. The film is adapted from a book by Joe Lansdale.

A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014) - Brief Review

If you've seen the trailer to A Million Ways to Die in the West, run, don't walk, to some other movie, because you have already seen every marginally worthwhile joke in this dreary little film (and if you've seen the inexcusable follow-up trailer, then you've seen the film's big cameo moment).

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) - Review

Edge of Tomorrow is getting a lot of play from critics as a kind of  Groundhog Day for the CGI, all-tentpole-all-the-time era. And in terms of the way Edge is constructed, that fits quite well. Of course, even more than Groundhog Day, Edge of Tomorrow is styled as a Call of Duty type videogame. It is littered with production design that calls to mind past wars (and, more particularly, World War II movies) and built on the premise that has informed video games since the 80s, when home video games gave players the option to continue restarting their games and to start from a particular endpoint.

While Edge doesn't break a ton of new ground, it bogs down a bit late, and the love story gets crowded out, it is also terrifically entertaining and about as good as these big tentpoles tend to get these days. Edge also accomplishes something that is quite rare in a star-driven action movie, and that represents almost the brass ring of tentpole filmmaking: introducing a shred of doubt about the outcome in a jaded audience that knows full well that the good guys are going to win (aren't they?).

Emanuelle Around the World (aka Confessions of Emanuelle) (1977) - Brief Review

In Emanuelle Around the World (wink, wink), our libertine heroine discovers social justice - armed apparently with a bigger budget, although they should have spent a bit more of it on the script and dubbing.

The Last Dragon (1985) - Brief Review

Julius Carry as Sho'nuff in The Last Dragon

The Last Dragon isn't technically perfect, by any means, but it is a deliriously good time, elevated by the supporting cast, production design, and its refusal to take itself seriously amid an absurd plot-line.

Escape From New York (1981) - Brief Review

Harry Dean Stanton and Donald Pleasence in Escape From New York

Escape from New York is an iconic comedy-action film featuring the second of what would become a five film collaboration between director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell. The film has well-deserved status as not just one of the top cult action films of all-time, but one of the most enjoyable action movies, period.

Let The Fire Burn (2013) - Review

On May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia police executed an order to evict the tenants of a townhouse on Osage Avenue. By the end of the day, 11 people (including five children) were dead and more than sixty homes were burnt to the ground. The even-handed but strong documentary Let The Fire Burn, directed by Jason Osder, tells the story of those fateful events and what led up to them.

The Lone Ranger (2013) - Review

Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger has some moments, and will assuredly achieve some rescue in later years as many box office bombs do. Of course, the rescues later on, rather than being limited to "not as bad as it was made out to be," will likely go overboard with praise. For, in the end, even if you set aside the box office story or the absurd amounts of money spent on an homage to TV westerns, this is still an over-long, over-cooked movie with a dud of a performance in the hero role and wild tonal shifts that suggest two versions of the script fighting with each other for control over the movie's soul. In summary, while it may not be as bad as its reputation, it still isn't good.

Inequality for All (2013) - Brief Review

Charismatic economist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich brings us a documentary lecture on income inequality in America and the need to fix a brutally unequal and unfair system.

Nice Dreams (1981) - Brief Review

According to legend, when comedy duo Cheech and Chong started filming Nice Dreams, they didn't really have a script - they just had a three and a half page long treatment. It would have been very easy for a film based on such thin material to have turned disastrous. In the comic minds of Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong (who also directed here), however, what we get is an absurdist picaresque that nearly borders on genius.

Brief Reviews (5/29/14)

          

Hugh Jackman Thursday! Check out after the jump for very brief reviews of X-Men: Days of Future Past and Prisoners.

Chef (2014) - Review

I mentioned earlier in the week about how there were two films that I had seen this past weekend that seemed to be invoking old-time Hollywood emotional filmmaking, perhaps as a response to the present Hollywood of sensory spectacle. The mold obviously fits for Jon Favreau's Chef.

The Stepmother (1972) - Brief Review

File The Stepmother under "I watch it so you don't have to." What a waste of time.