Movie Minds

Being a movie director can be a pretty thankless job. Overbearing producers, prima donna actors, studio interference, it just doesn’t seem worth the hassle. Of course, directors are artists, attempting to rein in their cast and crew to produce a staggering work of heartbreaking genius. Every so often, a director comes along who really creates a brilliant piece of work. Sometimes they manage to follow it up with another. Sometimes they have a run of sheer brilliance, creating films of amazing depth and emotion, eliciting beautiful performances from their actors. Unfortunately, sometimes these auteurs get a little over their heads and descend into hubris. Every director makes a bad film, that’s a fact. Not everything committed to celluloid will be a masterpiece. But these directors have released such crap in recent times, it’s hard to believe they were once considered the cream of Hollywood.  The first to make this most dishonourable list: Barry Levinson.

Seriously, what happened to this guy? I mean, he won an Oscar for Christ’s sake. I know that’s not saying much now, but gimme a break. He should be doing better.

Starting with Diner, Levinson released several films in the 1980s that seemed to capture the sense of the decade. Diner was a beautifully composed little film, focusing on a group of friends who help each other through that difficult passage from carefree youth to responsible adult. That it starred future Hollywood luminaries like Kevin Bacon and Mickey Rourke showed what an eye for talent Levinson had. He followed this up with The Natural, a decent baseball flick with an iconic final scene. He seemed to hit his stride a little later, teaming up with Robin Williams for Good Morning Vietnam, harnessing the talent of Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman for Rain Man, and making what is arguably Warren Beatty’s last great film with Bugsy.

The first misstep was Toys, a giant mess of a film. Robin Williams, high on a string of hit films, seemed out of control. LL Cool J was a seriously miscast. Joan Cusack was delightful, and the only shining light to be found. It rightfully bombed. Then there was Jimmy Hollywood, an attempt at satirizing Hollywood. Unfortunately, the comedy fell flat, despite Joe Pesci giving a very funny performance.

Levinson seemed to bounce back a bit with a decent adaptation of Michael Crichton’s novel Disclosure. He followed that with one of my favourite films of the 90s, Sleepers. Here was the Levinson of old, complete with a compelling story, flawed characters, and a bittersweet ending.

He’s made nothing as compelling since. In 1998, Levinson attempted to make another movie based on a Crichton novel, Sphere. It really sucked. Ten years later, the film is utterly forgettable, complete with lacklustre special effects. Bandits, in 2001, was another disappointment, wasting the talents of Cate Blanchett.

Of course, these cinematic disasters were nothing compared to Envy.  I’ll admit to being particularly intrigued by the trailer. I still wasn’t tired of Ben Stiller’s whiny mensch schtick just yet and I really liked Jack Black a few months earlier in School of Rock. My fascination with Amy Poehler was still in its infancy. I dragged a friend of mine to it a few days after it opened. Suffice to say, I was embarrassed. I was expecting something silly, but smartly written. What I got was an incredibly stupid comedy that reduced its characters to caricature and concluded with an insultingly preachy ending. Fun Fact #1 about Envy: Its release was delayed almost two years because of poor test screening results. Fun Fact #2: Jack Black publicly apologized for the movie a few months after it was released.

Levinson has been pretty quiet since then, releasing only Man of the Year in 2006. A very unfunny movie starring Robin Williams as a Jon Stewart-esque late night funnyman who wins the US presidency by a fluke, it was out of theatres just six weeks after its release.

Where did Levinson go wrong? Who knows? Maybe it was leaving Baltimore, the city where he shot and set a lot of his films. Baltimore isn’t the prettiest city in the U.S., but Levinson made it look good. Maybe it was taking on projects that moved him away from the intimate character-driven pieces that made his early films so good. Sphere was a horrendous cacophony of special effects and not much else.

If you look at Diner or Rain Man, you see what Levinson did well. He created great moments between his characters. The football quiz in Diner. Ray and Charlie dancing in their Las Vegas penthouse in Rain Man. These are classic scenes in the Hollywood canon. I haven’t had a chance to see What Just Happened yet, but I am hoping it will be a return to form.

Coming up next: John McTiernan and how he went from action movie visionary to hack.

Well, the summer movie season is over. Honestly, I was quite impressed with this year’s crop of movies. Some, like the Dark Knight and Wall-E were genuinely brilliant films. Unlike last year, where we all suffered the one-two combo of suck that was Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean At World’s End, I found that most of the over-hyped blockbusters met my expectations, for the most part. So here’s what I thought of this summer’s movies. Beware, there may be spoilers below.

The Dark Knight

Without a doubt the best film of the summer, as my previous post states. Christopher Nolan put together a near perfect movie, with excellent performances by the cast and and a tremendous script. Visually and sonically stunning, especially the IMAX sequences. I particularly enjoyed the Hong Kong sequence, when Bruce Wayne jumps of the building and glides across the Hong Kong skyline. The quiet of the skyscraper roof tops only slightly disrupted by the flapping of Batman’s glidercape was truly a captivating for me while I was watching the film. How Nolan can ever top this film is beyond me.

Iron Man

The film that officially kicked off summer, I was unsure whether it would be any good. I’d seen the same trailer about 500 times, and was beginning to think that maybe they just put all the good things into it. Boy was I wrong. Jon Favreau (whose films I never really liked) knew exactly how to treat the material, and cast a pitch-perfect Robert Downey Jr. as his lead. Downey played the character to the hilt, capturing the charm and pathos of the comic book character. The supporting cast didn’t slack off either. Jeff Bridges (who gets no respect in Hollywood) was great as Obadiah Stane. Gwyneth Paltrow played Pepper Potts just as I imagined, the put-upon assistant who puts up with her bosses crap because she genuinely cares for him. My favourite was Terence Howard as James Rhodes. I’m looking forward to the sequel with the hopes that Rhodes gets to put on the suit and become War Machine.

WALL-E

Perhaps the most mature kids movie I have ever seen, Wall-E was truly something to behold. While I figured it would be great from the trailers, I wasn’t expecting to be as moved by the story and it’s plucky robotic character. Truly an exercise in pure cinema, where the filmmakers had to rely almost solely on images to move the story forward, Pixar triumphed. They really made me believe two robots could find love amongst the stars.

Young People Fucking

I caught this little Canadian flick on a whim after hearing some good word of mouth from friends. The trailer had run with Harold and Kumar, so I was aware of it, but on the fence about seeing it. I’m glad I did. The title might seem a bit crass, but the movie was a gentle, funny take on relationships. Never was it exploitative or rude, but it certainly pushed the envelope in some regards.

The Strangers

I’m not much of a horror fan, but some friends convinced me to check this out. Ostensibly based on a true story, I found myself jumping out of my seat almost immediately. First time director Bryan Bertino creates the right mood, putting us into a house out in the middle of nowhere, complete with creepy barn in the backyard. Unlike the torture porn so prevalent these days, this movie dials down the gore and lets the atmosphere play on your sense of dread. That we never see the killer’s faces only adds to the horror.

The Hulk

Five years removed from Ang Lee’s attempt, this reboot was only marginally better. The thing is, I liked Ang Lee’s take on the Hulk. Ed Norton is certainly better cast as Bruce Banner, but I thought Jennifer Connelly was a better Betty Ross. Tim Roth is a hoot as Ivan Blonsky. I’m pretty sure he tapped into his past roles as a junkie to play a man who becomes obsessed with a serum that returns him to his former glory. Too bad the CGI still makes the Hulk like like a rubber chew toy.

Sex and the City

I’ll admit that I was a fan of the show. I saw the movie almost out of loyalty. It was exactly what I fan of the show wanted to see. That is all.

Get Smart

This movie avoided being the crapfest I thought it would be thanks to Steve Carell’s total commitment to playing the boneheaded Max Smart. Anne Hathway made for a lively Agent 99. I’m kinda hoping for a sequel, actually.

Speed Racer

I really liked the summer’s biggest bomb. Maybe it was my low expectation going into the theatre, but I found the Wachowski’s kinetic kaleidescope to be genuinely entertaining. May I just like the flashing colours.

Pineapple Express

Seth Rogen and James Franco swing for the fences in the stoner buddy action flick. By no means great art, Rogen and Franco, who co-starred in the ill-fated Freaks and Geeks TV show, play off each well. Franco especially plays his character with no fear, garnering the biggest laughs. The movie descends into a bizarre mash-up of action movie shoot-out and platonic man-love, but the movie never seems to lose its sincerity.

Tropic Thunder

Ben Stiller still riffs on the same insecure mensch looking for approval. Thankfully Robert Downey Jr is there to smack him around. Tom Cruise was great as the movie mogul, but I really liked Matthew McConaughey’s agent character, Pecker. I thought it was totally apropos in a film that sends up Hollywood cliches.

Wanted

A decent action movie with some truly amazing visual effects, this one kept me in my seat, but I found it a bit too long for my liking. However, the scene where the main character played by James MacAvoy tells off his passive-aggressive boss and then takes a computer keyboard across his asshole best friend’s face was perfect. Having the keyboard letters and a stray tooth spell out “Fuck You” in mid-air was just genius. Now let’s examine the physics of bending bullets around corners…

Jack Brooks Monster Slayer

Another home-grown movie, this low budget monster movie played a Fantasia. I’ve already raved about it here, so I won’t say too much other than I hope to see more of Jack’s adventures. Seriously, this movie reminded me how much fun watching a movie can be.

Step Brothers

An uneven, truly bizarre bit of cinema, I’m still trying to figure out what was going on. I thought Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly were great, but there was too much of a mean streak running through the movie for me to really get into. Seeing Mary Steenburgen yell “What the Fucking Fuck?” was almost worth the price of admission though.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan

I’m usually pretty lax with Mr. Sandler. His comedies are never meant to be great cinema, and even I found something to like in Mr. Deeds, but I just couldn’t get into this. The hummus joke was beaten to death and then shot in the head. The other jokes just weren’t that funny. The only thing I liked was watching John Turturro chew the scenery everytime he appears onscreen. Kudos to Mariah Carey for most awkward cameo of the year.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

I had so much hope for this movie and was so let down when what I saw was a warmed-over, extra-long episode that would have fit well into the non-sensical ninth season. While it was nice to see Mulder and Scully back together, Chris Carter and his crew could have done so much more. Bring back the aliens, dammit!

Traitor

I thought this might be an interesting film about a potential CIA rogue agent turned terrorist bombmaker. It was interesting at some points, especially when we got to know the actual terrorsists, but the movie quickly became a by-the-numbers political thriller, complete with the moralistic ending. Don Cheadle was great, and it was nice to see Jeff Daniels back on the big screen.

Hamlet 2

South Park writer Pam Brady takes another crack at writing a movie, after co-writing last year’s underrateed Hot Rod. Steve Coogan is a hoot as the failed actor turned failed teacher, but the writing is too uneven and many of the jokes fall flat. The bits of the play we get to see are pretty funny though, especially the “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” musical number.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I really wanted to like this movie. I really did. I even saw it twice. Maybe I was hoping for too much. Maybe I was too attached to the original three movies. But I couldn’t help but feel let down by this one. The Indy series has always been a bit far-fetched, but nuclear explosions? Magnetic crystal alien skulls? I just couldn’t buy it. Sorry Harrison.

Sorry for the delay between posts, folks. Busy times have come and gone, though there are more on the horizon. I’ve been pretty delinquent in my posting, but I haven’t seen any films in a little while either.
The last film I did make it out to see was The X-Files: I Want To Believe. I must say, after almost two weeks of reflection, I was terribly disappointed by the film.

I need to preface what comes next with this: I was a huge X-Files fan when it was on TV. I watched the show religiously from 93-97 and then watch every episode I could while a college student. Thankfully, this meant I missed most of the crappy seasons. Over the past year, through the magic of DVD, I re-watched the whole series. I rediscovered my love for the show. The early seasons had some great stories, from Flukeman to chupacabra sightings. The conspiracy arc was still a brilliantly devised bit of story-telling. I lamented the fact that Chris Carter and Co. let things go so horribly wrong in the last two seasons. I even re-watched the first X-Files movie. While no great piece of cinema, that movie stands head and shoulders above the latest outing we’ve been treated to.

At least with Fight the Future, the makers realized they needed to break out of the confines of television. What we got was a building blowing up in the first 15 minutes, a helicopter chase through a cornfield and a giant alien spaceship hidden in the ice below Antarctica. Projected onto a giant silver screen, it was a sight to behold. None of those images would have had the same impact on TV in 1998, before the advent of widescreen and HDTV.

Sadly, I Want To Believe never reaches the same scope. As many critics I read noted, this movie seemed to be TV writ large. While some shots try to emulate what Fight the Future, it just doesn’t have the same impact. A row of FBI agents trudging through a snowy meadow is not the same as a huge spacecraft rising from the Antarctic ice. In fact, I felt the shot would have had the same impact were I to see it on a TV screen.

When I first heard that the movie would be a one-off, standalone story with no ties to any story arc from the movie, I was pretty happy. The conspiracy arc became too mired in its own convuluted twists, and the ridiculous super-soldier arc from the last two season was just stupid.  That this was going to be a monster-of-the-week story made me hope for something really good, like the Flukeman episode. I thought Carter, with six years removed from the quagmire of Season 9, would go back to the show’s roots and give us a creepy freak of nature as the villain. Sadly this was not the case.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe never had me on the edge of my seat. The villains turned out fairly ordinary, if severely twisted. The big twist is so preposterous, it had me chuckling in my seat.

It’s a shame, really. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are still pitch-perfect together as Mulder and Scully. Seeing them together again was like meeting up with two old friends. Amanda Peet, who is either incredibly charming or insanely grating depending on what I see her in, does a decent job as Agent Dakota Whitney (terrible name), a quasi-Mulder disciple at the FBI. I particularly enjoyed Billy Connolly and the psychic paedophile priest. I thought he played the character perfectly. I never got the sense I could trust the character completely, I always had the inkling he was part of the villain’s gallery. I also really enjoyed Callum Keith Rennie turn as a villainous character. Everything he does is performed with cold-blooded ruthlessness, it’s chilling.

So there you have it. A potentially great film filled with actors at the top of their game, brought down by a lacklustre story. I hope that Fox will give Carter another crack at the can but the poor box office performance of the film makes me pessimistic. At least there’s the TV show and the memory of what was.

With The Dark Knight poised to rock the North American box office for a second straight weekend, I thought I’d find a movie that wasn’t sold out or packed tight with fanboys. I checked out Step Brothers. That seems unfair. I enjoyed Step Brothers, but it doesn’t hold a candle to The Dark Knight. But I digress.

Step Brothers is both the funniest movie I’ve seen this summer and the most bizarre piece of cinema I’ve seen in a long time. It’s also incredibly crass and tasteless with lots of bad language and toilet humour. The trailers that have been running since February don’t really give too much away. In fact, had I not been warned beforehand I would have been more shocked at some of the gags executed in this movie.

With all the marketing behind this film, the premise is fairly well-known by now. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly play Brennan and Dale, two middle-aged men who still live at home. When their respective parents marry, the two become step brothers. Forced to live together, they initially hate each other but become fast friends fairly quickly. Hi jinks and hilarity ensue.

The story and screenplay was written by the two stars and director Adam McKay, who directed the pair in Talladega Nights.  It seems the trio decided to come up with the most awkward scenarios they could think of and film them. The two characters seem to be stuck in some sort of extremely arrested adolescence, with Dale still rocking out on a drum set and playing Guitar Hero and Brennan content to coast of his mother’s support. The two continue this, acting like children trying to adapt to a new family situation. I think this where the film gets bizarre. The movie asks you to suspend your disbelief at the idea of two adult men still living and acting like they’re 13-years-old. That’s a pretty tough spill to swallow. That they continue to act like children for the rest of the film kept the film firmly in the bizarre category.

Increasing the bizarreness is Brennan’s brother Derek and his wife, Alice. Played by Adam Scott, Derek is, for lack a better word, a giant douchebag. Condescending, patronizing, smarmy and extremely cruel, there is little to like about Derek. Kathryn Hahn plays Alice as a defeated woman, stuck in a loveless marriage, unable to get out. Hahn doesn’t get maudlin, but she dials up the desperation to an eleven. An encounter between Dale and Derek where Dale takes Derek down a few pegs brings this poor woman to life and she begins to pursue Dale. Their encounters are so painful and awkward, you can’t help but laugh. It helps that Hahn is a talented comedienne who plays well off of Reilly.

Despite the off-centre humour, Ferrell and Reilly are great together. At times I wondered how much of the script was actually written before shooting and how much was just improvised on the set. The nighttime scenes of Brennan and Dale talking in bed, describing how one will harm the other, are actually pretty funny. Most of the dialogue between the two seems like a game of oneupsmanship, with the actors trying to top each other by saying the most outrageous thing possible. I’d say the outcome was a tie.

The best part of the movie is the series of job interviews the two men go through, on orders from their father. Wearing tuxedos, insisting on being interviewed in tandem, the sequence left me in stitches. Seth Rogen pops up as a sports store manager and the three actors riff masterfully. Of course, it’s crude as hell, but by that point in the film, it’s pretty much expected.

Leaving the theatre, I didn’t know what to think. It was a funny movie, yes, but it also seemed to carry no point. It was almost like a collection of vignettes with a common story thread. But that seems a little simplistic. Part of me wants to think it was a brilliant comment on how parents are raising their children in today’s society, with more and more adults moving back in with their parents and several never leaving home at all. Then again, it was all a little silly for that. I guess even after a day of reflection, I’m still not sure what to think.

So the movie everyone wanted to see this summer finally came out. After all the buzz, all the hype, the tragic death of one of the stars, fanboys drooling over every photo and plot point, was it worth it? I think the answer on most people’s lips is HELL YES.

Honestly, I though Batman Begins was a great reboot of the franchise. Batman and Robin was such a colossal blunder, I thought what Chris Nolan and his cast pulled off was nothing more than miraculous. But what he did with this follow-up is almost inconceivable. Nolan didn’t take the Batman mythos and turn it on its ear. That would have been too easy. No, Nolan took Batman to a far darker place than ever before, staying within the established limits of the mythology. I don’t want to give too much away for those who may not have seen the movie yet, but suffice to say, GO NOW. Go see it as soon as you can. Just get up now and go see it. Don’t wait.

Christian Bale returns, of course, and once again pulls off both Batman and Bruce Wayne masterfully. He also seems to have mastered the voice, something I thought sounded a little forced in Batman Begins. Michael Caine is still a hoot as Alfred, and grows in his role as the emotional tether to his volatile employer. Morgan Freeman, who I think could play opposite a brick wall and still be interesting, adds more layers to the character of Lucius Fox, fleshing out a character that seemed pretty one-dimensional in the first flick. Gary Oldman gets a bit more of a work out, which suited me just fine. I thought he was criminally underused in Batman Begins. Yeah, I know he got to drive the Batmobile, but he didn’t get to do much else.

The newcomers do an excellent job holding their own as well. Aaron Eckhart plays Harvey Dent as a gallant noble hero, making it easy to understand why he is the “white” knight. He and Bale have some great scenes and play off each other nicely. His transformation into Two-Face isn’t as smooth as I would have liked, but Eckhart does a far sight better than Tommy Lee Jones did in Batman Forever. He brought a lot more menace and a lot less camp. Unfortunately for Maggie Gyllenhaal, she takes on the formidable challenge of Rachel Dawes, perhaps the most undeveloped and annoying character from Batman Begins. Played by Katie Holmes, I found Rachel to be shrill and self-righteous, and overly dramatic. I also don’t think Holmes is that great an actress. Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, has a lot of talent and does a great job with a role that is still underwritten. Gone is the shrillness, replaced with the conflict between her love for Bruce and her feelings on his actions.

Then there is Heath Ledger. Whether he deserves some kind of recognition with an Oscar or not, I can’t say. His family should be proud their son accomplished so much in such short time. They should be proud that he made this movie. The people I saw the movie with seemed a little underwhelmed regarding his take on the Joker. After all the hype and stories, I think that was inevitable. Still, I was amazed at the transformation. He seemed so natural in his performance, like he really had gone through whatever trauma sent the Joker over the edge. Do I think another actor could take his place? Yes, I do. But it wouldn’t be quite the same character. Ledger didn’t overplay the character’s little twitches and tics, but incorporated them subtly. What really got me was the laugh. The Joker’s laugh left me a little nervous, a little scared. It made me believe that this person was far beyond salvation, that he had found the darkest corner of his soul and started digging even deeper. With his bare hands.

The movie itself doesn’t feel like the 2.5 hours it’s advertised to be. Maybe it’s because Nolan paces the film so well, you never have reason to look at your watch. Maybe it’s because, at any time during the movie, what’s on the screen is so compelling, you can’t help but watch.

A little heads up to movie buffs, keep an eye out for character actor Nicky Katt in a cameo as a SWAT team member.

Also, I’d just like to put in a special mention to the Studio Cinema in Belmont, MA. I saw the film there while visiting friends. I thought it was a great place to see a film. It may only have one screen, but it’s a charming little cinema house and if you live in the area, I suggest you check it out.

First post in two weeks. I’m the man. Okay, so not really, but I had to get this out before the weekend. The same day I got to meet Gordon Liu at Fantasia Fest, I also got to meet three young filmmakers from Ottawa. Trevor Matthews, Patrick White, and Jon Knautz were at the fest to present Jack Brooks, Monster Slayer. I actually got to have dinner with them prior to the screening. They were nice guys, anxious to see how their film would play to a Montreal crowd. I was tagging along with a friend who had actually press credentials to the festival, so I was happy to just be there.

What a movie. Made on a tiny budget ($2.5 million Canadian dollars someone told me), these guys paid homage to 80s horror films in style. A very funny horror comedy, Jack Brooks is the sort of film big-name Canadian producers have failed to make for years. Eschewing CGI for practical effects, the film thrives in its gory glory. Not that things go too far. The story is fairly straight forward. As a boy, Jack Brooks watches as his whole family is devoured by a forest monster. Now an adult, Jack has anger management issues that cause him to lash out violently at the drop of a hat. His science professor at the night school he attends becomes possessed by the heart of a demon. Horror and hilarity ensue. Jack must face his fears to save the day. But can he?

Far from the ridiculous teen sex hijinks of Going the Distance or the just plain awful Foolproof, this homegrown flick plays to its audience without pandering to it. There are obvious nods to films like The Evil Dead and its sequels and Friday the 13th and less obvious nods to films like The Terminator. Most of the cast is Canadian, with a few Montreal actors popping up in supporting roles. The most delightful part of the film for me was seeing Robert Englund as the science teacher, Prof. Crowley. He plays the role for laughs and scores several. That he agreed to make the film was a casting coup for Matthews, White and Knautz. The fans at Fantasia were certainly thrilled to see him in another horror film. They cheered every time he was on screen.

It’s pretty obvious that I like this movie. I’d like to see it do as well as another certain Canadian film, Bon Cop Bad Cop, another film that shrugged arty pretension for fun entertainment. Certainly, with quality movies like this being made in Canada, maybe we’ll see more entertainment films coming out and less art films.

That said, I should note that the filmmakers have managed to secure an independent theatrical release of the movie Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal on July 25. It’ll be playing at the AMC Forum 22 in Montreal. I’ll be going back I think.  As well, for my readers down in the USA, the film is getting a limited release through Anchor Bay Media, opening in Chicago on August 1, LA and NY on August 8, and more cities after that. I’ll try and keep you updated.

Seriously, go see this film. It’s got thrills and chills but enough laughs to make sure you don’t spend the night scared some one-eyed jungle monster will come bursting through your window.

I’m all about the cheesy headlines, so get used to it. This weekend, I got to meet a true living legend in the world of Hong Kong movies. Gordon Liu, who most North American movie goers will remember as Pai Mei in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 2, was in town this past weekend to present a digitally-restored version of Disciples of the 36th Chamber at Fantasia Fest. The print looked gorgeous and the stunts were immaculately choreographed. Liu introduced the film and then held a lengthy Q&A session with the audience. We were even treated to a brief kung fu demonstration. Afterwards, fans lined up in the lobby of the Hall building to meet the man, who graciously posed for countless photos and signed several autographs. Thanks to Chris Bumbray for the photo.

Hi.

This is, I hope, the start of something big. I love movies. I watch ‘em all the time. Now, I want to share my thoughts on them. Hopefully, you’ll like what I have to say. Even if you don’t, I hope you’ll take the time to express your opinion in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by.

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