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WALL-E?
And I'm still waiting for the Waiting for Guffman review
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This movie is either really held up and dragged to respectability by Michael Fassbender and to a lesser extent James McAvoy or its held back from greatness by the rest of the cast.
X-Men: First Class
Directed by Matthew Vaughn.
2011. Rated PG-13, 132 minutes.
Cast:
James McAvoy
Michael Fassbender
Kevin Bacon
Jennifer Lawrence
Rose Byrne
Jason Flemyng
Zoë Kravitz
Oliver Platt
January Jones
Nicholas Hoult
Laurence Belcher
Bill Milner
Morgan Lily
Despite the fact there are very few people willing to admit they like either movie, both X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine made goo-gobs of money. Logically, this means the franchise can’t die. Instead, we get another prequel. This one explores the reasoning behind the paths chosen by Professor X (McAvoy) and Magneto (Fassbender).
Let’s take a quick moment to fill in the non-geeks and those who’ve never seen an “X-Men” movie. If you don’t fall into either category, skip the rest of this paragraph. In the world of Marvel Comics and, of course, this franchise of movies, mutants are people who’s genetic mutations give them superpowers such as flight, telepathy, shapeshifting, etc. Regular humans, particularly those in government, have a fear/hatred relationship with them. Our two heroes, as we know them from previous installments, are the leaders of two opposing factions of mutants. Both want fundamental changes in society and how it views and treats mutants, but have very different approaches. Professor X is a work within the system, Martin Luther King Jr. type while Magneto is a ‘by any means necessary,’ Malcolm X type. This is way over-simplifying, but you get the idea. This movie explains how that happened.
We pick things up in the midst of World War II, when our heroes were wee lads. The professor, then only known as Charles Xavier, is a poor little rich kid living in a huge mansion with absentee parents. He’s also a telepath. He can rather literally get inside your head and do all sorts of Jedi mind tricks. One day, he finds Raven, soon to be known as Mystique (Lawrence) in his kitchen. She’s a shapeshifter with nowhere to go, so he takes her in. Magneto, then Erik Lehnsherr has the misfortune of being a young Jew in a Nazi concentration camp. The German doctor Sebastian Shaw, played by a delightful Kevin Bacon, uses a little unfriendly persuasion to draw out the kid’s power which is Erik can control anything made of metal with just his thoughts.This is pretty much all you need to know. When they become adults, the boys finally meet and soon fid themselves working for the CIA. The Marvel Universe version of the Cuban Missile Crisis ensues.
As implied earlier, the last two films in the X-Men canon are failures. The Last Stand just keeps throwing things at you, all of them half-baked. It hopes the constant barrage of noisy, shiny objects is enough to distract you from the fact that the story is haphazardly slapped together. The Wolverine movie is better, but feels overblown and hokey. First Class, however, is comfortable enough in its own skin to let things, characters included, develop. It doesn’t feel the need to rush us along from one action scene to the next. There is action, of course. After all, this is a comic book movie. The point is, we get it when the movie is actually ready to give it to us, not every few minutes because the filmmaker has, or fears we have severe ADD. We get to know our three main characters pretty well and care about the decisions they make. This is key for Magneto. Throughout the other movies he is, without doubt, the villain. Here, he’s a sympathetic figure. The same goes for Mystique. We also get to know a few of the others. Perhaps because it is an origin movie, it has no choice but to do things this way. Still, it works.
Overall, First Class is a very enjoyable popcorn movie. Like the best of X-Men, it has slightly more on its mind than most films of its ilk. It’s also a bit subtle for a superhero flick. With that in mind, if you’re looking for wall-to-wall action don’t look here. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll find action, but it’s spread out and not really the focus. Die hard comic book fans may complain about liberties taken with the source material. However, it’s well done and translates nicely to the big screen.
MY SCORE: 7.5/10
Not sure which is appropriate here, to be honest.Comment
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There Will Be Blood
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.
2007. Rated R, 158 minutes.
Cast:
Daniel Day-Lewis
Paul Dano
Dillon Freasier
Ciaran Hinds
Plot: Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) is an oil tycoon who gets alerted to a small town that has a veritable ocean of oil flowing beneath its grounds. He sets out to purchase as much land in the area and begins drilling to get the oil out.
The Good: The first thing that jumps out at you is the look of the movie. The cinematography is top-notch. The wide panoramic shots give us some really nice images that don’t seem forced while the tight or in-close shots always come at the appropriate time to crank up the tension. Story-wise, it tactfully avoids giving us a hero and villain by substituting people with two opposing viewpoints. That, along with the ample symbolism helps the movie work in multiple layers. It’s fine on the surface level. Watched that way, it’s a decent but slow movie about a crusty old man dealing with some local yokels and has a peculiar ending. Dig a little deeper and that ending becomes an extremely powerful and ambiguous result of the conflict. That conflict appeared to me to represent the current war in Iraq this country is embroiled in. To clarify my thoughts for you, Daniel represents the United States, Eli and the townspeople represent the religious extremists and other natives of the Middle East. Of course, that makes the land so rich in oil as Iraq itself. Now back to that ending. The way the movie struck me as a whole its an ending that’s very fact of the matter without judging which side is right or wrong. Though, it could be seen as siding with Lewis. Then think about what has happened to the town and what will likely happen to it after the credits have rolled. Without giving too much away, I’m reminded of a quote from Gen. Colin Powell speaking about our going into Iraq: “If we break it, it’s ours.”
The Bad: For some viewers, it will move a little slow. For those that don’t make the same connections to current events that I make, the ending will just remain odd, over the top and lack meaning. The biggest problem is the character Paul who’s played by the same person that plays Eli, Paul Dano. Paul is never sufficiently explained and we only see him once. Still, he’s referenced constantly throughout the movie. I’m just smart enough that it took me ľ of the movie to decide that Paul was definitely maybe not the same person as Eli. It’s an odd distraction to have watching a movie not based on whether he is or isn’t. Luckily, there’s symbolism to be had there as well. I see him as those natives who actually asked the U.S. to help them.
The Ugly: We get to see how one of Daniel’s guys gets killed while he’s down in the well. Ouch.
Recommendation: For me, it’s an absolutely great movie. However, I have to be careful making a recommendation for it. Like I felt with 2006’s Children of Men and ‘07’s No Country for Old Men the more you get into the symbolism and metaphors the better it gets. If watched just on a surface level, you’ll probably just wonder what the big deal is and have a little less trust in my judgment.
MY SCORE: 10/10Comment
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I think I am going to watch that next Dell, damn fine review. Gotta ask as well, did you review The Assassination of Jesse James before?Comment
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Wall-E
Directed by Andrew Stanton.
2008. Rated G, 98 minutes.
Cast:
Ben Burtt
Elissa Knight
Jeff Garlin
Fred Willard
Plot: WALL-E is a sanitation robot who sets out everyday to clean up the abandoned Earth. One day a ship appears and drops of another robot, EVE, and WALL-E falls head over heels for "her." As her purpose for being there becomes clear, it leads to an adventure of monumental importance and way more than either bargained for.
The Good: The typical characters for the genre are all there: the clueless hero, the not so interested at first love interest, the funny sidekick. However, the way they're represented here is far different from what we're used to seeing. For instance, the funny sidekick isn't some mile-a-minute talking semi-cute furry animal, it's a cockroach. Better yet, even though their intents are always clear, the robots still communicate mechanically so "spoken" lines by them are minimal at most. It's not until we meet some real humans well into the movie that we actually get any semblance of "regular" conversation. This gives the humor a subtle touch. The filmmakers showed real trust in their material and confidence in their audience by going this route instead of hitting them over the head with the repeated slapstick. And it NEVER loses anyone. There may be a thing or two parents might have to explain to kids but if you don't they'll get the overall idea just the same.
The Bad: There were a couple of plot-holes that reared their ugly heads when it came time for the "exciting conclusion." Yes, I picked up on them but they're not game-changers. Also, the animation didn't "wow" me. It was actually sort of uneven because every now and then there's an absolutely photo-realistic looking shot followed by some rather cartoonish ones. Again, that's just nit-picking and most people probably won't notice.
The Ugly: WALL-E loses to the shopping carts.
Recommendation: This is one fam-friendly flick I recommend even if you don't have children. It's funny but doesn't have nearly the amount of slapstick of other kiddie flicks. It also manges to leave out the ultra-annoying characters and will even require viewers touse their brain a little!
MY SCORE: 9/10Comment
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Some spoilers about Wall-E:
I loved the mood and how well done the themes were in the first part. The 2nd part of the movie though, was kind of a let down. They threw in all these annoying useless human characters and now all of a sudden I'm suppose to be rooting for them? After spending the first 45 mins watching nothing but the 2 robots(and the roach), I couldn't care less about the human condition.
I know it's probably just me, but I wish they would've left some of the human part to the imagination. A ton of the focus got taken off of Wall-E and his main goal that they spent the entire 1st half focusing on.Comment
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What were the plot holes Dell?
Just curious because I usually always zone out and miss that stuff.
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For me, the big one is...
There are others...
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How to Be a Serial Killer
Directed by Luke Ricci.
2009. Rated R, 88 minutes.
Cast:
Dameon Clarke
Matthew Gray Gubler
Laura Regan
George Wyner
Mike Wilson (Clarke) is a serial killer and proud of it. So much so, he doesn’t mind sharing his knowledge of the ins and outs of recreational murder. While perusing the aisles at the local video store he meets Bart (Gubler) who works there. When he sees Bart getting berated by a customer, Mike decides to help out the best way he knows. A short while later, the rude patron is dead and Mike takes Bart on as his protégé.
Bart asks tons of questions while tagging along on Mike’s excursions and Mike is only too happy to share. He answers his trainee’s inquiries in two ways. The first is simply him answering in the most obvious way: face to face. The other way is more geared towards us, the viewers. To this end, the movie is broken up into 10 lessons. Each lesson is given by Mike standing on a stage. Stylistically, this is a straight rip from Bronson, another movie about a career criminal. However, just like it does there, it works. After his little spiel, we switch back to “the real world”.
Speaking of “The Real World,” we’ve arrived at my chief gripe with this movie. Ever since that show first became a hit on MTV roughly two decades ago television, particularly reality TV has been littered with people speaking directly to the camera about their feelings on what we’ve just seen or what we are about to see. How to Be a Serial Killer utilizes this tactic, as well. It’s a tired gimmick that only serves to repeatedly stop the flow of what is otherwise a morbidly enjoyable dark comedy.
Thankfully, through it all we have the gleefully insane performance of Dameon Clarke in the lead role. His character is not one we should like, but has a personality we’re drawn to. Clarke balances this very nicely. Of course, since it looks like the whold movie was made for roughly five bucks and very few of us know anyone who’s even heard of it, his work has gone completely unnoticed. As Bart, Gubler holds his own and has managed bigger and better things in his career (he plays on TV’s “Criminal Minds”). The two of them, plus the Herculean effort their characters put forth to keep all this a secret from Mike’s girlfriend Abigail (Regan) keeps us intrigued. The movie has its shortcomings, but it’s still low-budget, twisted fun.
MY SCORE: 7/10Comment
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The Mechanic
Directed by Simon West.
2011. Rated R, 92 minutes.
Cast:
Jason Statham
Ben Foster
Tony Goldwyn
Donald Sutherland
Jeff Chase
Mini Anden
Bishop (Statham) is a gifted hitman specializing in unconventional kills. He’s also all business. So when his next target is his only friend in the world, he only raises a small fuss before doing the job. As expected, this is only the tip of the iceberg. Bishop finding out what’s below the surface by accident ensues. The main thing that happens isn’t quite an accident, but definitely not a planned event. Bishop meets his buddy’s estranged son Steve (Foster). Yes, the same buddy he just killed. By what can’t be considered good logic, he takes Steve under his wing, training him in the ways of assassination. A remake of the 1972 film starring Charles Bronson.
For whatever problems this movie has, and it does have problems, time is not among them. It’s a brisk ninety minutes that feels like sixty. Like it, or not, sitting through it doesn’t feel like a chore. You hit the close button on your DVD player and a few moments later, the credits are rolling. In an era where lots of movies stretch themselves out to well over two hours for no good reason other than justifying their bloated budgets, this element is refreshing.
With that previous stuff said, it can move a little too fast. Another ten or fifteen minutes wouldn’t have hurt anything. In fact, it would’ve helped things develop into something approaching logical. Bishop continually and willfully breaks his own rules for no apparent reason. Meanwhile, Steve almost magically becomes an expert “mechanic” (that’s the slang here for hitman). The overall effect is that the story is strangely more preposterous than the action. By the way, the action is very well done. The movie is also predictable. It pretends we don’t know who’s who. However, within five seconds of him appearing on the screen we know the identity of the villain. This robs us of intrigue and possibly having empathy for our heroes. The very end throws us a nice curveball, but its not quite enough to save the whole thing. That’s because instead of being engrossed in the story, we’re merely watching things happen in front of us.
MY SCORE: 5.5/10Comment
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Yogi Bear
Directed by Eric Brevig.
2010. Rated PG, 80 minutes.
Cast:
Dan Akroyd
Justin Timberlake
Anna Faris
Tom Cavanagh
T. J. Miller
Andrew Daly
Nathan Corddry
Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you should. If I so choose, I can walk up to any or all of my three children and beat them mercilessly. I think we can all agree that I shouldn’t. Sure, the technology exists to make a live-action movie about a computer generated talking bear and his sidekick based on a late 1950s/early 1960s cartoon. That doesn’t mean it should be done. It should be done if you have an interesting and/or funny story to tell or at least an updated take on the characters. It should not be done if you’re just going to recycle the same garbage from thousands of other crappy movies in an apparent cash-grab. Guess which approach is taken by the full-length feature film Yogi Bear?
If you must know, the plot really is the same as countless other movies. It’s so derivative, to call it paint-by-numbers would be insulting to people who paint by numbers and consider themselves real artists. Step 1: Introduce lovable, but dopey and mischievous protagonist. Of course, that’s Yogi (Akroyd). Step 2: Put said character in an environment he or she loves so much they couldn’t imagine life without it. Often, this is a house or a rec center or something that can reasonably be considered a landmark. In this case, it’s Jellystone Park. Step 3: Put said landmark in such financially dire straits it’s in danger of being foreclosed upon and/or destroyed at a fast approaching deadline. Here, it’s a week. Step 4: Have the effort to take away the landmark spearheaded by a greedy bank executive or a greedy politician. We get Mayor Brown (Daly). Step 5: Have the protagonist band together with his or her friends to either enter a contest and win or otherwise raise enough money just in time to save the landmark. Yogi and his cohorts opt for the latter. Don’t even try to tell me you haven’t seen this movie already. Just in the last six months or so I’ve seen it at least three times. It was billed as Step Up 3D, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 and Stomp the Yard: Homecoming. It sucked each time. I can assure you this keeps the streak alive.
You know what? All might be forgiven if this were funny. Sadly, it’s so far from funny, well, it’s not even…funny. The extent of the humor here is Yogi steps on, touches or leans against something and gets hit in the face, knocked down, flung through the air, etc. Verbal jokes are boiled down to him saying “pic-a-nic” instead of “picnic” over and over and over…and over again. Occasionally someone farts, references farting, or makes a farting noise. To be blunt, this movie thinks kids are dumb. Sure, some will laugh at first. However, after about ten minutes they will realize the well is dry. I’ll give the slow ones fifteen before the chuckles stop.
Believe it, or not, this could’ve still been salvaged. Had there been some real nostalgic value or the kids in the target audience already had a connection with the characters that might’ve been enough to save the day. The problem there? We’re talking about a 50 year old cartoon that’s been largely forgotten! Most of the kids this flick is aimed at never heard of Yogi Bear until they started seeing commercials for this…this…this odious pile of digital excrement! Most of their parents are too young to be Yogi fans! Because of this trash and Marmaduke and the Garfield movies and the Alvin and the Chipmunks movies I am dreading the day when morbid curiosity gets the best of me and I just have to see for myself exactly how bad the movie for one of my favorite 80s cartoons, The Smurfs turns out. Trust me, it’s going to be bad. You heard it here, first. And just in case we’re not clear on this, the fact that this Yogi Bear movie exists makes the world suck just a little bit more.
MY SCORE: 0/10Comment
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