Filed under: Action, Drama, Thrillers, New Releases, Universal, War
Delivering big entertainment value has become a hallmark of the collaboration between Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass. The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum were intelligent, high-flying thrillers that were grounded in reality. That reality came about, in part, thanks to Greengrass’ docu-drama touches, notably the jittery, nervous, sometimes out of focus photographic technique known as “shaky cam.” Green Zone, the latest team-up between star and director, stretches beyond pure popcorn in its ambition, becoming as much an unambiguous message movie as an action drama.
The blurry-eyed shaky-cam, however, remains, to the point that some folks might become a little nauseous from watching the action scenes. Admittedly, I haven’t always been the biggest fan of shaky-cam; over the past 10 years, it’s become a crutch for directors who don’t know how else to imply a sense of “reality” (hello, Cloverfield! See image above, at right.) Used judiciously and skillfully, however, as a technique that fits the story, it can be terrific. Really, it’s no more artificial than other methods and techniques that lend verisimilitude to a narrative feature, similar to the use of non-professional (or little-known) actors side by side with well-known stars like Damon, Greg Kinnear (as a self-righteous government official), and Amy Ryan (as a reporter forced to search her soul for the truth).
The shaky-cam reminds us of documentaries and reality TV shows, yes, but that’s not really cheating, is it?
Filed under: Animation, New Releases, Disney, Exhibition, Movie Marketing
There are two things that I feel I must share up front, in the spirit of full disclosure. The first is this: I consider myself a fan of Tim Burton. Every time I hear that the frazzle-haired aging Goth crackpot is releasing a new film, I feel an undeniable frisson of excitement, sure that this one will be on par with Big Fish, or Mars Attacks!, or (oh pleasepleaseplease) Ed Wood. And so I eagerly anticipate every new Burton film — up until that point when I’m trapped in a theater with Planet of the Apes or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, weeping sadly into my popcorn. Every time.
Secondly, while I’m as technologically savvy as I need be (considering that the majority of my work and leisure time are tied to the Internet, that all my life’s pertinent contact info is stored in my phone, and if my laptop failed right now I would turn into a useless, neurotic pile of fail) I’m also a late adopter when it comes to tech trends. I still have a normal-sized TV, for instance. My cell phone is just a phone. That sort of thing.
All of which I share so that you’ll understand my reaction to Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland remodel. Putting aside any considerations of what’s good or bad about the movie as art, I couldn’t get past one huge stumbling block — once the opening credits had finished, I spent every moment of Alice wishing desperately that it wasn’t in 3-D.
Filed under: Horror, New Releases, Remakes and Sequels
Supporting good-guy roles in horror movies are notoriously thankless: you generally get to hang around and make wisecracks until it’s your turn to kick it so that the actual heroes can live to fight another day. The biggest surprise in The Crazies, Breck Eisner’s remake of the 1973 low-budget classic by George A. Romero, is that its highlight turns out to be not the murderous pseudo-zombies or Eisner’s many horror set pieces, but the dude who plays the affable sheriff’s deputy. The movie isn’t actually bad, per se, just been-there-done-that tiresome in a way that makes the 101-minute running time seem quite a bit longer. What almost saves it is a surprising attention to detail, much of which is embodied in Joe Anderson’s unexpectedly touching performance as the unassuming — but increasingly crucial — Deputy Russell Clark.
To this point, Anderson hadn’t made much of an impression in his short career. I vaguely remember him in The Ruins, playing another supporting character fated for a quick death. The IMDb informs me that he was also in Control, which I loved, and Across the Universe, which I did not, but I’ll be damned if I can recall his role in either.
Continue reading Bad Movies, Great Performances: Joe Anderson in ‘The Crazies’
Filed under: Animation, Classics, New Releases, Disney, New in Theaters, Remakes and Sequels
The original Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a delicious Victorian oddity, a children’s book whose bizarre dream world, unforgettable word play, and young heroine have captured the imaginations of artists as diverse as James Joyce, Dali, Jefferson Airplane, Jan Švankmajer, and, of course, Tim Burton.
It was only a matter of time until Burton tackled this classic, a dive into the subconscious littered with nonsensical rhymes and literally crazy characters. As the wonderful Annalee Newitz points out, “As [Carroll's] protagonist Alice moves from dreamy encounter to dreamy encounter, watching nursery rhymes coming to life and fighting bloodthirsty monarchs made of cards, we witness something that for the Victorians was just as stunning as a giant dynamo. Psychiatry was in its infancy in the 19th century, and this brave new science suggested there was a method in madness. The muddle of our dreams might illuminate the truth about human consciousness; the murmurings of madwomen could shed light on how so-called sane people think.”
Sounds like perfect fodder for Burton and his misunderstood oddities and lovable outsiders, right?
Oh, so wrong.
As in the video game American McGee’s Alice from 2000, a much-older Alice returns to Wonderland. In McGee’s version, Alice is returning to a terrible place in shambles which she must fight through in order to get to the bottom of why it’s falling apart in the first place. I’m not going into more detail here on the plot in McGee’s Alice because there is a nice little twist that makes it a much more compelling story than Linda Woolverton’s poorly paced script. Woolverton’s script feels like an afterthought to Burton’s desire to make a 3D Wonderland loaded with CG creatures. In actuality, the 3D effects were added later, making it a less authentic 3D experience than, say, Avatar. The AMC/Odeon squabbles might have been for naught, since Alice would be best enjoyed on the big screen, if only because there’s so much going on, it’s almost impossible for the human eye to keep up. And as wondrous as the talking animals are, as fabulous as the costumes are, as huge as the Red Queen’s head is, it’s nothing but a house of cards.
Filed under: Action, Drama, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews
According to the ads, the major selling point of Brooklyn’s Finest is that it’s from the director of Training Day. This is true! They are not lying about that. His name is Antoine Fuqua. He also directed Tears of the Sun, King Arthur, and Shooter, but never mind that. It’s Training Day that Brooklyn’s Finest most closely resembles, insofar as it’s about rogue cops driven by personal agendas, and Ethan Hawke is involved.
What it also resembles, though, is a lot of other movies about rogue cops driven by personal agendas. Written by first-timer Michael C. Martin as an entry in a screenplay contest (here’s a New York Times story about him), the film makes almost no effort to stand apart from its genre brethren, but it does benefit from solid casting and Fuqua’s gritty, no-nonsense style. It even benefits a little from Ethan Hawke, which is somewhat rare these days.
Hawke plays Sal, one of three Brooklyn police officers who walk separate paths before converging later in the film. Sal, a plainclothes detective, has a family to support, including a wife (Lili Taylor) who’s pregnant and in poor health. Sal has already reached the point of desperation when the movie starts, stealing money from drug busts and confessing to a priest, “I don’t want God’s forgiveness. I want his [expletive] help!” The priest is noncommittal on the subject of God’s assistance in the commission of felonies.
Working out of the same precinct is Tango (Don Cheadle), currently deep under cover to infiltrate a drug ring run by a smooth crime boss named Caz (Wesley Snipes). Like Sal, Tango is desperate, but for different reasons: He wants to be promoted to detective, get out of the undercover line of fire, and sit behind a desk for a while. He wants to be a good cop, but this assignment is killing him. It’s already ruined his marriage.
Filed under: New Releases, Fandom, Newsstand
With the spectacle of cinema, it’s easy to forget a story’s roots. That’s especially the case when it’s the story of a girl who slides down a hole, shrinks and grows due to magical food, has magical adventures with strange creatures, and sees the royalty of playing cards brought to life. But, as fans of the source material know, Alice in Wonderland isn’t a complete fabrication. Just like Peter Pan, there’s a real story behind the mystique.
To give you some background before diving into Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland tomorrow, Life has a great gallery that digs into the real-life Alice, and how the story became what it is today. As they write: “On July 4, 1862, Carroll took the girls on a rowboat trip to a picnic in a nearby town, telling them a story about a girl named Alice and a magical rabbit hole. Alice Liddell, then 10, begged him to write the story down for her.” He wrote a story, and bit by bit it morphed into Alice in Wonderland. After getting published, new editions featured new characters, some of whom seem like an essential part of the story, whether we’re talking about the Mad Hatter’s tea party, or that grinning Cheshire Cat.
Check out some images of the real-life Alice below, courtesy of Time.
Gallery: The Real-Life Alice in Wonderland
The gallery also talks about the subsequent productions of the novel, and the behind-the-scenes turmoil, from the many links between Lewis Carroll’s work and Alice Liddell, questions of pedophilia, and what ultimately happened to the girl who slid down that hole.
Filed under: New Releases, Fandom, Newsstand
With the spectacle of cinema, it’s easy to forget a story’s roots. That’s especially the case when it’s the story of a girl who slides down a hole, shrinks and grows due to magical food, has magical adventures with strange creatures, and sees the royalty of playing cards brought to life. But, as fans of the source material know, Alice in Wonderland isn’t a complete fabrication. Just like Peter Pan, there’s a real story behind the mystique.
To give you some background before diving into Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland tomorrow, Life has a great gallery that digs into the real-life Alice, and how the story became what it is today. As they write: “On July 4, 1862, Carroll took the girls on a rowboat trip to a picnic in a nearby town, telling them a story about a girl named Alice and a magical rabbit hole. Alice Liddell, then 10, begged him to write the story down for her.” He wrote a story, and bit by bit it morphed into Alice in Wonderland. After getting published, new editions featured new characters, some of whom seem like an essential part of the story, whether we’re talking about the Mad Hatter’s tea party, or that grinning Cheshire Cat.
Check out some images of the real-life Alice below, courtesy of Time.
Gallery: The Real-Life Alice in Wonderland
The gallery also talks about the subsequent productions of the novel, and the behind-the-scenes turmoil, from the many links between Lewis Carroll’s work and Alice Liddell, questions of pedophilia, and what ultimately happened to the girl who slid down that hole.
Filed under: New Releases, DVD Reviews, New on DVD, Home Entertainment
Where the Wild Things Are
Spike Jonze’s ambitious feature, based on the Maurice Sendak classic, led Todd Gilchrist to write: “Where the Wild Things Are is most effective because it faithfully recreates the dimensions of childhood experience, but it filters them through the realities of adulthood. As an understated work of spectacle, or maybe a spectacular work of understatement, Jonze’s latest film is not only his best to date, but a monstrous achievement in its own right – with or without the big furry creatures.” Buy it.
The Blu-ray disc includes a bonus film: the too-adorable and super-cute adaptation of Sendak’s Higgelty Pigglety Pop! — the latest short from Madame Tutli-Putli filmmakers Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski. Meryl Streep voices a dog who leaves her master to find a new life and become a star for the World Mother Goose Theater. (Spike Jonze and Forest Whitaker also lend their voices.)
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
2012
That old Mayan prophecy finally gets realized, at least on the big screen, with Roland Emmerich’s apocalyptic thriller. In his review, Peter Hall wrote: “what some fail to understand is that even with the brain turned off, even with disbelief firmly suspended, some movies stink so ferociously that the stench wafts off of the screen, snapping even the most resistant critic to full alertness like a slap in the face by a glove spiked with smelling salts. 2012 is not immune to analysis simply because it is an openly absurd movie.” Skip it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
Continue reading Spin-ematical: New on DVD and Blu-ray for 3/2
Filed under: Documentary, Independent, New Releases, Trailers and Clips
Even though I grew up in New York City, I was always surrounded by beloved family pets that ranged from big to small. There was Gypsy, our German Shepherd and the kitty gang, Stinky, Spooky Skeezer and Louie (formerly Lu Lu before “she” grew noticeable boy parts), along with a Russian Dwarf Hamster named after a character from one of my favorite childhood books, Emmylou Tittlemouse. One of the pets I still miss to this day was a rabbit named Pierre, who was a black, miniature something-or-other breed and lived in the bedroom my brother and I shared at the time. Our big orange cat, Louie, would torment Pierre by camping out on top of his cage and glaring at him for hours on end. You can’t underestimate nature.
Filmmaker Amy Do understands that that this notion is true, among all creatures — the idea that humans can’t fight their natural instincts and will always feel the need to connect with something much bigger than themselves. The former Lucasfilm videographer has created her first Independent feature-length documentary about five teenagers from different parts of the US who journey to the National American Rabbit Convention — an event that draws up to 25,000 rabbits. Watching the trailer for Rabbit Fever was somewhat shocking — in particular, seeing that many rabbits in cages, in one space. Equally bizarre is the coveted title of National Rabbit King and Queen that the teenage enthusiasts are fighting to win. But as Do points out, what seems unusual really isn’t that strange after all: “You can replace the teens’ love of rabbits with any other hobby or sport, and empathize with their motivation and goals.”
Rabbit Fever will be hitting the festival circuit (just in time for Easter), so stay tuned to the film’s website for screening locations, or find Amy on Facebook and Twitter. Hop past the jump for that trailer.
Continue reading ‘Rabbit Fever’ Isn’t the Coming-of-Age Story You Might Think
Filed under: Action, Drama, Romance, New Releases, Scripts
As a general rule, I just can’t get into 17th century swashbuckling movies. It surprises me in some ways; I’m interested in swords and the rich costumes from an aesthetic viewpoint, but all the classic weaponry and elaborate getups aren’t enough to overcome my disdain for the foppish characters who seem to populate these films. Give me Clifton Webb’s dandy in Laura, or Daniel Day-Lewis as the pompous and self conscious Edwardian “gentleman” in A Room With a View; or even the sometimes dandy/sometimes fop-psycho Patrick Bateman, but don’t ask me to find the fun in The Three Musketeers’ frocked and feathered Charlie Sheen. Knights in shining armor? Yes please. Celtic warriors in kilts? Rock. Oversized feather hats? Just doesn’t have the same badass ring to it.
Call it a duel: Paul W.S. Anderson wants to modernize the story in his 3-D version, while keeping “…eye-popping action, romance and adventure” in the mix and Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes producer, Lionel Wigram, is looking for a helmer on the Warner Bros. adaptation. The studio is eyeing up both Marley & Me director David Frankel and Doug Liman (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) for the position. Liman seems the more likely of the duo to adapt the swordplay story, but for me it’s not the director I have an issue with, it’s the nagging question of why are they bothering with this in the first place?
Continue reading ‘The Three Musketeers’: Do We Really Need Another Feather in the Hat?
