So I was going to write about Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher Trilogy but I am insanely tired, and the AV Club has an excellent article about it anyway. I am the Angel of Death: Pusher 3 is undoubtedly the best, but they're all great. I was hoping to also watch Refn's new Viking film Valhalla Rising but something's up with Cox's On Demand service.
No. Today I will tell you a bit about Troy Duffy's second attempt at a masterpiece, The Boondock Saints II: All Saints' Day. It's a real piece of work. What at first glance is a simple recreation of every memorable scene in the first stupid movie but now with a super hot female FBI agent, quickly reveals itself to be a simple recreation of every memorable scene in the first stupid movie but now with a super hot FBI agent with scary amount of racism, homophobia, and fear of short people. But what's really offensive is just how stupid it is. I mean, holy fucking stupid.
Disclaimer: I was Drinking
The saints and Billy Connolly have fled to Ireland to lead "pure", minimalist lives. But now some short guy is killing people in Boston, using their double gun, penny prayer M.O. to get their attention and bring them back. They come back, inexplicably with a mulletted Clifton Collins, Jr., and they kill more people. Things from the past come back and are meaningful. Yadda yadda yadda it's stupid.
Troy Duffy is truly out to embarrass everyone who's done him a favor. Judd Nelson needs no help embarrassing himself, but Duffy makes him use a ridiculous Sicilian accent. It does no favors. The same goes to Peter Fonda. Julie Benz is magnificently attractive, and the cowboy hat works in her favor, but the on-again/off-again unbelievable Southern accent almost kills the whole movie. Which is already dead. But worst off is Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flanery, who've not aged wonderfully over these 10 years, as the titular saints. Their performances seem more rote and one note and totally forgettable than the first film, which is saying a lot. A lot.
That's about it. We could get into how Troy Duffy rips off every superior action movie he's ever seen and calls it style, or how the film's plot falls apart and becomes senselessly convoluted in it's back half (or was I finally drunk?), but such things are pointless to discuss and certainly should have been expected anyway.
The good news: (lots of colons today)
Pusher: 8.0/10
With Blood on My Hands: Pusher II: 7.7/10
I am the Angel of Death: Pusher 3: 8.4/10
The best news: (because we all wanted to hate it)
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day: 1.3/10
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Seriously, don't fuck my mom
My expectations for fellow New Orleanian (well, Metairie) filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass are pretty astronomical. This is totally irrational and unfair, but what can they expect from me, you know? After two such incredibly accomplished films as The Puffy Chair and Baghead, I find it hard to expect anything less than great. And hearing that they'd be distancing themselves even more from their mumblecore peers and making a film with such fantastic actors as John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei, and with a slightly increased budget, I could only get more excited for their next film.
So now we have Cyrus. Is it good? Definitely. Could it have ever met my monumental expectations? Absolutely not. I wanted a small, funny movie with a big heart, and it delivered just that.... only not as well structured and satisfying as it should have been.
First, the good stuff. The Duplass brothers assembled quite a dream team here with John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill. Reilly is a sad-sack editor still getting over the divorce with Catherine Keener that happened seven years ago. They're still good friends even as she's about to be remarried. Marisa Tomei is a beautiful, fun-loving woman who sees something better and attractive in Reilly. She also has a grown son who still lives at home, and Reilly's entrance into his and his mother's lives is threatening to rip his "perfect" life apart. Jonah Hill.
Hill owns his role and this movie from the moment he's introduced calmly catching Reilly sneaking around his house. His concentrated, unmoving intensity as he plays his synthesizers is easily the film's best sight gag. His character houses a large amount of mental issues, but Hill plays up the funny to great success.
John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei are also great. Reilly is at his most emotionally vulnerable, and transitions well into the more competitive and nasty scenes between him and Hill. Tomei is, as always, beautiful and the uncomfortable love between her and Hill's character is very believable. But her performance does lead me into things I found less successful about Cyrus.
Jonah Hill's character is creepy and weird, but John C. Reilly's isn't all normal. He's desperate and finding love for the first time in a long while. This explains why he sort of stalks her, but that doesn't make it normal behavior. His relationship with his ex-wife is still more than a little clingy and weird. These character traits aren't a problem, in fact their subtlety is handled excellently by Reilly. The problem is that Marisa Tomei's character seems completely oblivious to his unattractive quirks that he's displaying right in front of her. Her being blind to her son's behavior is more believable as they seem to have never spent more than a few hours apart in 21 years. I blame this more on script than Tomei, as this was most likely just a way to keep them together while keeping Reilly's character rounded and weird.
Script accounts for other issues as well. The film takes too long to get all of its pieces together and for the love triangle to get nasty. Then it doesn't happen for a long enough time. And it goes into a very talky ending that wraps things up, again, much too quickly. The film is only 90 minutes, something I'd often appreciate. Unfortunately I really appreciated the slow and deliberate way the Duplass brothers put everything together. It was often hilarious, and involved some heartbreakingly vulnerable and awkward scenes from John C. Reilly. I just wish the rest had flowed at a relative pace.
As for the quick ending.... not good enough
Still a very enjoyable film from some very talented dudes. I'm looking forward to their next, the Louisiana-filmed Jeff Who Lives at Home.
7.6/10
Also watched: I've Loved You So Long
I don't have much to say about besides Kristin Scott Thomas is incredible in it. The movie didn't really hold me, and I found myself drifting in and out. Kinda sucky of me, I know. Hopefully I'll find time at some point to revisit something I'm sure deserves better than I gave it.
So now we have Cyrus. Is it good? Definitely. Could it have ever met my monumental expectations? Absolutely not. I wanted a small, funny movie with a big heart, and it delivered just that.... only not as well structured and satisfying as it should have been.
First, the good stuff. The Duplass brothers assembled quite a dream team here with John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill. Reilly is a sad-sack editor still getting over the divorce with Catherine Keener that happened seven years ago. They're still good friends even as she's about to be remarried. Marisa Tomei is a beautiful, fun-loving woman who sees something better and attractive in Reilly. She also has a grown son who still lives at home, and Reilly's entrance into his and his mother's lives is threatening to rip his "perfect" life apart. Jonah Hill.
Hill owns his role and this movie from the moment he's introduced calmly catching Reilly sneaking around his house. His concentrated, unmoving intensity as he plays his synthesizers is easily the film's best sight gag. His character houses a large amount of mental issues, but Hill plays up the funny to great success.
John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei are also great. Reilly is at his most emotionally vulnerable, and transitions well into the more competitive and nasty scenes between him and Hill. Tomei is, as always, beautiful and the uncomfortable love between her and Hill's character is very believable. But her performance does lead me into things I found less successful about Cyrus.
Jonah Hill's character is creepy and weird, but John C. Reilly's isn't all normal. He's desperate and finding love for the first time in a long while. This explains why he sort of stalks her, but that doesn't make it normal behavior. His relationship with his ex-wife is still more than a little clingy and weird. These character traits aren't a problem, in fact their subtlety is handled excellently by Reilly. The problem is that Marisa Tomei's character seems completely oblivious to his unattractive quirks that he's displaying right in front of her. Her being blind to her son's behavior is more believable as they seem to have never spent more than a few hours apart in 21 years. I blame this more on script than Tomei, as this was most likely just a way to keep them together while keeping Reilly's character rounded and weird.
Script accounts for other issues as well. The film takes too long to get all of its pieces together and for the love triangle to get nasty. Then it doesn't happen for a long enough time. And it goes into a very talky ending that wraps things up, again, much too quickly. The film is only 90 minutes, something I'd often appreciate. Unfortunately I really appreciated the slow and deliberate way the Duplass brothers put everything together. It was often hilarious, and involved some heartbreakingly vulnerable and awkward scenes from John C. Reilly. I just wish the rest had flowed at a relative pace.
As for the quick ending.... not good enough
Still a very enjoyable film from some very talented dudes. I'm looking forward to their next, the Louisiana-filmed Jeff Who Lives at Home.
7.6/10
Also watched: I've Loved You So Long
I don't have much to say about besides Kristin Scott Thomas is incredible in it. The movie didn't really hold me, and I found myself drifting in and out. Kinda sucky of me, I know. Hopefully I'll find time at some point to revisit something I'm sure deserves better than I gave it.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Folklore
Neil Jordans latest, Ondine, uses an Irish folklore myth to tell a beautiful story of finding new love. When Colin Farrell's down on his luck, recovering alcoholic fisherman pulls a beautiful young woman named Ondine (Alicja Bachleda) onto his boat with his net, it sparks new life in his downtrodden soul. She sings in a strange language and all of a sudden he's catching more fish. His young daughter, bound in a wheelchair waiting for an unlikely kidney transplant, starts to believe she's some sort of mermaid. A selkie, to be precise. A mythical seal creature which can come to land and strip its seal skin for a certain amount of time. Selkie women are beautiful and often take a husband on land, but their selkie husband will always come to find them. As Colin Farrell's fisherman falls more and more in love with Ondine, what she is starts to become less apparent, and his surroundings again start to fall apart.
If there is only one thing you can love about this movie, it would have to be Christopher Doyle's beautiful photography. His moody lighting and visually astounding underwater sequences leave a lasting impression. And there is apparently something inherently photogenic about small-town Ireland. Between this and Eclipse from a few months ago, it's amazing I haven't just bought a plane ticket already.
Luckily there's more to Ondine than just the visuals. Colin Farrell comes out with an extremely affecting performance. He balances the mix of love-induced joy and prolonged inner sadness very admirably later in the film. Unfortunately, Alicja Bachleda's performance doesn't match Farrell's. It's her first feature film, and she's not too bad, and she's very beautiful, but I really struggled with her towards the end of the film when the intensity really amped up but her performance didn't so much.
But that's not all the bad. Despite the promising setup and overall beautiful story, Neil Jordan's script tends to sag a bit in the middle. And as striking as Doyle's cinematography is, I don't think Jordan can match his talents. Parts of the film feel only adequately directed. But minor setbacks aside, Ondine really is a satisfying and beautiful love story.
8.1/10
I happened to watch another film based in folklore the same day I watched Ondine. Catherine Breillat's Bluebeard is an adaptation of Charles Perrault's famous 17th century story of a monsterous lord whom habitually marries and then murders his young wives exactly one year later. A young woman put against the impossible power of a colossal man seems like it could be right up Breillat's ally. Her films I've seen have involved some form of this theme in some way.
A newly poor family is forced to marry their young daughter (Lola Creton) to the firghtening lord Bluebeard (Dominique Thomas), even though everyone knows his wives always disappear after one year. After the marriage, Creton does her darndest to stave off the fate she knows is coming. Weaved into this is a two sisters reading the story of Bluebeard in an attic in the present day. Fears and emotions begin to sync up and foreshadow each other in a fantastic climax I wouldn't dare spoil.
The bride constantly trying to get one over on the monster is one of the more interesting games of cat and mouse I've seen. It's all very quiet and subtle, as Thomas plays Bluebeard with supreme patience and gentle menace. I also loved what went unsaid throughout the movie. Creton's family gives her away for a marriage they all know will kill her, and the silent knowing is very powerful.
Just like she did with her last film The Last Mistress, she films her period piece the opposite of what almost every other director does. Bluebeard is made to look very plain. She has no interest in beautifying anything in her frame. This isn't say it's not well directed, because it is, impeccably so even. She exerts great control over her compositions.
Bluebeard is special also because it marks the first Breillat film that I've all out enjoyed. I respect the craft and depth of The Last Mistress and Fat Girl, but their emotional coldness has kept me at arms length. I wouldn't call Bluebeard radically different, but the combination of the familiar story, the present day tie-in (which is very emotional), and the great performances make this work on a higher level for me.
8.5/10
Ondine is currently on Cox On Demand
Bluebeard is currently on Netflix Instant.
If there is only one thing you can love about this movie, it would have to be Christopher Doyle's beautiful photography. His moody lighting and visually astounding underwater sequences leave a lasting impression. And there is apparently something inherently photogenic about small-town Ireland. Between this and Eclipse from a few months ago, it's amazing I haven't just bought a plane ticket already.
Luckily there's more to Ondine than just the visuals. Colin Farrell comes out with an extremely affecting performance. He balances the mix of love-induced joy and prolonged inner sadness very admirably later in the film. Unfortunately, Alicja Bachleda's performance doesn't match Farrell's. It's her first feature film, and she's not too bad, and she's very beautiful, but I really struggled with her towards the end of the film when the intensity really amped up but her performance didn't so much.
But that's not all the bad. Despite the promising setup and overall beautiful story, Neil Jordan's script tends to sag a bit in the middle. And as striking as Doyle's cinematography is, I don't think Jordan can match his talents. Parts of the film feel only adequately directed. But minor setbacks aside, Ondine really is a satisfying and beautiful love story.
8.1/10
I happened to watch another film based in folklore the same day I watched Ondine. Catherine Breillat's Bluebeard is an adaptation of Charles Perrault's famous 17th century story of a monsterous lord whom habitually marries and then murders his young wives exactly one year later. A young woman put against the impossible power of a colossal man seems like it could be right up Breillat's ally. Her films I've seen have involved some form of this theme in some way.
A newly poor family is forced to marry their young daughter (Lola Creton) to the firghtening lord Bluebeard (Dominique Thomas), even though everyone knows his wives always disappear after one year. After the marriage, Creton does her darndest to stave off the fate she knows is coming. Weaved into this is a two sisters reading the story of Bluebeard in an attic in the present day. Fears and emotions begin to sync up and foreshadow each other in a fantastic climax I wouldn't dare spoil.
The bride constantly trying to get one over on the monster is one of the more interesting games of cat and mouse I've seen. It's all very quiet and subtle, as Thomas plays Bluebeard with supreme patience and gentle menace. I also loved what went unsaid throughout the movie. Creton's family gives her away for a marriage they all know will kill her, and the silent knowing is very powerful.
Just like she did with her last film The Last Mistress, she films her period piece the opposite of what almost every other director does. Bluebeard is made to look very plain. She has no interest in beautifying anything in her frame. This isn't say it's not well directed, because it is, impeccably so even. She exerts great control over her compositions.
Bluebeard is special also because it marks the first Breillat film that I've all out enjoyed. I respect the craft and depth of The Last Mistress and Fat Girl, but their emotional coldness has kept me at arms length. I wouldn't call Bluebeard radically different, but the combination of the familiar story, the present day tie-in (which is very emotional), and the great performances make this work on a higher level for me.
8.5/10
Ondine is currently on Cox On Demand
Bluebeard is currently on Netflix Instant.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
I'm gonna suck your brain dry!
The above line is shouted by Michael Ironside in the final moments of Scanners, David Cronenberg's telepathy/body horror nightmare from 1981. The film concerns a piece of cardboard (Stephen Lack) with telepathic abilities, called a scanner, who is forcefully recruited by a mysterious corporation to hunt out others like him. Michael Ironside happens to be one of these scanners, but he's bad. He can make people's heads explode into ketchup with his scanner powers. Plot things happen.
Scanners is fun and often effectively gross. The problem is with the characters. As I said, Cameron Vale is as expressive as cardboard. Thankfully his co-stars act circles around him. Ironside is menacing and creepy, and the corporation's scanner psychopharmacist, played by a loopy Patrick McGoohan, is entertaining as well. But even these and other good performances can't make me care about these characters. Even as the plot got more thrilling and more people's heads started exploding, I was struggling to pay attention.
I'm having trouble mustering up anything else for this. I've never loved Cronenberg as much as I should, loving only Videodrom (1983) and Dead Ringers (1988), but I certainly appreciate him and see why he has such a following. And I'll continue to watch his films hoping to find another classic. Scanners certainly wasn't it.
6.8/10
The Brood, anyone? Is that what I should try next? I feel like I should keep moving backwards in his filmography.
And here's how I rank the Cronenberg films I've seen. From best to worst:
1. Videodrome (1983)
2. Dead Ringers (1988)
3. M. Butterfly (1993)
4. Naked Lunch (1991)
5. The Fly (1986)
6. Scanners (1981)
7. Crash (1966)
8. Eastern Promises (2007)
9. A History of Violence (2005)
Scanners is fun and often effectively gross. The problem is with the characters. As I said, Cameron Vale is as expressive as cardboard. Thankfully his co-stars act circles around him. Ironside is menacing and creepy, and the corporation's scanner psychopharmacist, played by a loopy Patrick McGoohan, is entertaining as well. But even these and other good performances can't make me care about these characters. Even as the plot got more thrilling and more people's heads started exploding, I was struggling to pay attention.
I'm having trouble mustering up anything else for this. I've never loved Cronenberg as much as I should, loving only Videodrom (1983) and Dead Ringers (1988), but I certainly appreciate him and see why he has such a following. And I'll continue to watch his films hoping to find another classic. Scanners certainly wasn't it.
6.8/10
The Brood, anyone? Is that what I should try next? I feel like I should keep moving backwards in his filmography.
And here's how I rank the Cronenberg films I've seen. From best to worst:
1. Videodrome (1983)
2. Dead Ringers (1988)
3. M. Butterfly (1993)
4. Naked Lunch (1991)
5. The Fly (1986)
6. Scanners (1981)
7. Crash (1966)
8. Eastern Promises (2007)
9. A History of Violence (2005)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
To Infinity...
So I saw this pretty cool action movie last night. You might have heard of it. A little film called Toy Story 3.
It's clever, funny, entertaining all around. So why did I not fall in love with like I did with its two predecessors?
I honestly can't say. Maybe it was just stacked with too many characters. Maybe it was a bit heavy on the plotting, and light on the great character moments between our main squad of toys. There definitely wasn't enough interaction between Woody and Buzz, or enough Buzz in general.
Like most Pixar films, it was paced and plotted so there was never a dull moment. But did it have to feel so slight? Maybe a second viewing will change my attitude. Who knows.
I can say for sure that I had issues with its ending. Not the garbage dump climax, which was maybe the film's best sequence, but the closure. As Andy gives his final farewell to his beloved toys, I shed a tear. A tear I knew the film hadn't earned, but the characters had. I've loved Woody and Buzz since I went to the theater opening weekend in 1995. Having to say goodbye wasn't so easy, even though it happened at the end of a movie not up to the standards of what came before.
7.5/10
I give everyone permission to hate. I know most people felt much differently about Toy Story.
It's clever, funny, entertaining all around. So why did I not fall in love with like I did with its two predecessors?
I honestly can't say. Maybe it was just stacked with too many characters. Maybe it was a bit heavy on the plotting, and light on the great character moments between our main squad of toys. There definitely wasn't enough interaction between Woody and Buzz, or enough Buzz in general.
Like most Pixar films, it was paced and plotted so there was never a dull moment. But did it have to feel so slight? Maybe a second viewing will change my attitude. Who knows.
I can say for sure that I had issues with its ending. Not the garbage dump climax, which was maybe the film's best sequence, but the closure. As Andy gives his final farewell to his beloved toys, I shed a tear. A tear I knew the film hadn't earned, but the characters had. I've loved Woody and Buzz since I went to the theater opening weekend in 1995. Having to say goodbye wasn't so easy, even though it happened at the end of a movie not up to the standards of what came before.
7.5/10
I give everyone permission to hate. I know most people felt much differently about Toy Story.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Mystery Team and the case of the Slammin' Salmon
Silly titles. I live for 'em.
Broken Lizard returned last year with The Slammin' Salmon, a strikingly unfunny film about the craaaazzzy going-ons of an upscale seafood restaurant in Miami. It's owned by a maniacal and mentally challenged boxing champion (Michael Clarke Duncan), with the Broken Lizard guys working as servers along with How I Met Your Mother's resident Canadien, Cobie Smulders. That's about it. Don't bother. The only film from the group I've enjoyed without any reservation was Beerfest, but Club Dread and Super Troopers have revealed more value in repeat viewings. I can't see that being the case here. The others at least had some funny elements the first time.
Hopefully Broken Lizard can find some of the stupid genius once again and deliver something as flat out hilarious as Beerfest. 3/10
Mystery Team is another stupid comedy, but works rather magnificently. I understand that it's based on series of web videos from the sketch group Derrik Comedy. I know nothing of those sketches or the group,but I can say that based on the film it's all really the Donald Glover show. The Community co-star is all over the place with funny in this film. Not all of the gags from his co-stars work, but their obvious devotion to their characters save them from harming the film. I don't know. Maybe Mystery Team isn't very good. There are more spotty performances than good, and the narrative is pretty thin. But it was incredibly funny and a joy to sit through.
7.8/10
Broken Lizard returned last year with The Slammin' Salmon, a strikingly unfunny film about the craaaazzzy going-ons of an upscale seafood restaurant in Miami. It's owned by a maniacal and mentally challenged boxing champion (Michael Clarke Duncan), with the Broken Lizard guys working as servers along with How I Met Your Mother's resident Canadien, Cobie Smulders. That's about it. Don't bother. The only film from the group I've enjoyed without any reservation was Beerfest, but Club Dread and Super Troopers have revealed more value in repeat viewings. I can't see that being the case here. The others at least had some funny elements the first time.
Hopefully Broken Lizard can find some of the stupid genius once again and deliver something as flat out hilarious as Beerfest. 3/10
Mystery Team is another stupid comedy, but works rather magnificently. I understand that it's based on series of web videos from the sketch group Derrik Comedy. I know nothing of those sketches or the group,but I can say that based on the film it's all really the Donald Glover show. The Community co-star is all over the place with funny in this film. Not all of the gags from his co-stars work, but their obvious devotion to their characters save them from harming the film. I don't know. Maybe Mystery Team isn't very good. There are more spotty performances than good, and the narrative is pretty thin. But it was incredibly funny and a joy to sit through.
7.8/10
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