Movie Reviews

[Wyvern]

I checked out the new Coen Brothers movie "A Serious Man" today (yeah, I get out to the theatres a bit more these days now that I have a free pass to certain spots). The film had its moments and demonstrated some traditional Coen Brothers quirks, but left me feeling a little unexcited and disappointed. The movie is very overtly Jewish and pokes fun at Judaism in a number of funny ways, but at the same time it's so filled with Jewish references that it feels a little forced and overdone at times to me. People frequently criticize the Coen Brothers for being very emotionally detached from their characters, and though the approach generally hasn't bugged me I did feel it a bit more in this film than in their others. It's a movie where bad things happen to characters relentlessly, yet at no point did I truly sympathize with any of the characters, and that kind of detracted from the film as a whole. "A Serious Man" is not without it's merits - there's a pretty interesting direction taken for the finale and an hilarious scene involving a Rabbi relaying a story about a Jewish dentist. Still, this movie is nowhere near the top of the Coen Brothers' body of work, and I can't help but feel that I'll probably forget about it in a year's time. Average flick.

[Wyvern]

So lately, I've been checking out some films by a very talented director who somehow managed to slip under my radar till now: Lars Von Trier. The movies I've seen of his thus far strike me as bold, uncompromising examinations of the ways that people act and treat one another. I appreciate the interesting choices of stories and situations in his movies, as they always seem layered and complex to the point of being all too real. Here are some thoughts on a few flicks of his, in the order that I watched them in:

 

"Dogville" - When I started watching this film, I was immediately thrown off by its choice of setting. The quiet backwood town of Dogville is represented by a single soundstage, with chalk outlines on the ground representing houses and no background scenery whatsoever. The movie borders on 3 hours in length, and this stage never changes, giving the film the feel of a recorded arthouse play of some sort. I was uncertain of whether I wanted to continue watching it after the 20 minute mark when I realized that the set would never change, but decided to give it a shot and found that the characters and story really took over and actually made the simplistic visual setting kind of admirable in an artistic way. And speaking of the story and characters of this film, they really do pack a punch. The tale of Dogville involves a woman on the run from the mob (played by Nicole Kidman, who's in top form here) who stumbles upon a quiet little backwood town where maybe 15 families reside. The residents of the town agree to let her hide there, in return for a few favors. But as her status as a missing person becomes more apparent and the police come searching for her, the town begins demanding more and more of her, until its residents start showing their true colors. I found it a very thought-provoking film, with a great supporting cast of actors including Ben Gazzara, Chloe Sevigny, Paul Beteny and James Caan. John Hurt also provides an odd narration for the film that sounds like it wouldn't be out of place in a Charles Dickens adaptation, and his voice works wonders in both providing some comic relief and making some acute observations. The ending of this movie is the most memorable I've seen in some time, and had me thinking about it for days until I just caved in and bought the DVD. There's a huge amount that one can draw from the ideas and moral conflicts that "Dogville" presents, and it can't be widdled down to one specific theme. Apparently, this movie angered many US critics when it came out for what they described as "Anti-American" sentiments, which is odd to me because I thought it covered a much wider ground than that and dealt with the universal flaws in people's characters. I guess it says something about American critics who can read themselves into it though! Really excellent movie, my favorite Lars Von Trier film to date.

 

"Dancer in the Dark" - Quite possibly THE most tragic film I've ever watched. The movie was just brutal at times, emotionally painful in a way beyond evoking tears... the sort of emotional pain you experience deep in your gut, the kind that makes you angry and frustrated. I didn't cry, but boy was it ever tough to watch. The film stars Bjork, who plays a Czechoslovakian woman living in the US who's slowly going blind due to a hereditary condition, and who has a son with the same condition who doesn't know about it yet. She's saving up money from her minimum wage factory job to give him an operation to treat his eyes, but things go awry when a neighbor she trusts betrays her. Bjork's character is a huge fan of Hollywood musicals, and the movie occasonally goes into very modern and original musical numbers. pairing things like the clanging of factory machinery or railroad train pistons with Bjork's strange and often beautiful voice. It's definitely an original take on the musical genre, though the musical numbers were not quite as captivating as the tragic events that transpired in the film. Overall, "Dancer in the Dark" is definitely a powerful movie not short on dramatic performances, but probably not something I'd subject myself to more than once because of how painful it is.

 

"Breaking the Waves" - Another very complex tragic drama, this one starring Emily Watson who is terrific in her role as a mentally unstable newly wed Irish Catholic woman. The story revolves around the new husband of Emily Watson's character becoming paralyzed, and her grievances over it. Understanding her instabilities and not wanting her to waste her life waiting for him to recover, the paralyzed husband requests that she find new men to sleep with and then to describe her experiences to him to keep him alive, but the plan drives her further off the deep end than he could have imagined. The film presents some interesting moral ambiguity in the choices of Watson's character under her very strict religion, as she must love and obey her husband but mustn't sin in the process. In many ways the character is frail and easily brought to tears or rage, but at the same time she almost displays a greater love and devotion than any of the other Catholics in the movie. Anyway, it's an interesting story with lots of great scenes and good imagery, as well as some sparse uses of awesome music to introduce each chapter of the story. And a knock-out performance from Ms. Watson as well, I've gained a new respect for her as an actress after seeing this. I liked "Breaking the Waves" slightly more than "Dancer in the Dark," though it's only marginally less tragic, so be prepared for some pretty tough emotional distress should you subject yourself to it.

[Wyvern]

I went and saw "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" today at the excellent Grand Lake theatre in Oakland, and am pleased to announce that the film more than lived up to my expectations. :-) Superbly animated, funny in an original oddball kind of way, packed with great music and not without its touching moments, this flick pays such loving homage to Roald Dahl's novel that you practically feel the painstaking effort that went into making every second of it. It boasts an excellent cast of voice actors, including George Clooney (perfect as the smooth-talking Mr. Fox), Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, Michael Gambon, and the list goes on... The real star of the show here is Wes Anderson though and his meticulous attention to quirky detail, which really excels in this story and medium. It's not just the hand-crafted stop-motion animation, but also the way he details every little object of Dahl's work while taking the artistic liberty to add certain elements. For all its excellent deadpan humor, the film also has the sad and melancholic moments we've come to expect from Wes, and the amount of emotion and drama he can sum up in the face of a talking fox is amazing. A very fun and artistic movie that stands next to "Where the Wild Things Are" as one of the best of the year.

 

And speaking of the year's best, it's been a really excellent year for films in my opinion. "The Limits of Control", "Inglourious Basterds", "Where the Wild Things Are" and "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" are all better than pretty much any movie released last year (I can only really remember "The Dark Knight" and "Be Kind Rewind" from '08), plus there've been other great ones as well. Still haven't had a chance to check out "Antichrist", "Black Dynamite", or "The Road" but definitely need to see those three as well!

[Preprise]

I too loved The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

 

My biggest laugh:

 

"That's just bad songwriting. You wrote a bad song Peter!"

[Wyvern]

I recently saw the film "Antichrist" courteousy of the internet, where I found a DVD-quality version of it to stream and watch (never underestimate the web and its countless resources!). Starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, this piece by Lars Von Trier is the morbid tale of a grieving couple who are mourning the loss of their 4 year old son, who fell out of a window while they were in the middle of intercourse. The movie is divided into chapters that cover the different stages of grief, but it turns out that grief is a mere facet of the things darkening the lives of the characters, and events move from psychological pain to something closer to the genre of horror. "Antichrist" is about as jarring and unsettling as they come, not to mention one of the most graphic films I have seen, so it's no surprise that many offended critics have condemned the movie for being pure shock value. Personally, I thought that "Antichrist" was a strong exploration of evil and the effects of grief on the human psyche, and it cements itself as a rather daring piece of art. If nothing else, there is some tremendous imagery threaded through this movie, much of it involving nature and the characters' perceptions of it. Whether it be a slow motion close-up shot of the dirty stems of cut flowers floating in water or a deer with a stillborn baby hanging from its rear stunning Willem Dafoe, this film contains images that will stick with you long after the credits have passed... and that's not counting the more grisly and violent imagery of the last two chapters, which also stands out regardless of how hard you may want to cleanse it from your system. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg are the only two actors in the movie (with the exception of a young child playing the son, who we see images of) and do a stand-up job with the difficult events, particularly Dafoe whose face fits that of a mourning father so perfectly. Thematically, this movie bothers me in certain ways, as it seems to be about how women are evil and drive men to be evil... only to find that men are twice as evil as they could have imagined. Bleak stuff from Von Trier, but memorable nonetheless. One of the more interesting movies of the year and probably the best horror flick, but maybe not quite up to par with the other films I listed... I'm not sure if it's entirely settled in my system, though.

[Wyvern]

There are two interesting movies I watched recently on DVD that I feel are worth touching upon: "The Element of Crime" and "Ellie Parker"

 

"The Element of Crime" is the 1984 debut film of Lars Von Trier, and is quite an interesting spectacle. One thing that really stands out to me about the movie is the use of color, as it's shot in a dingy shade of sepia with occasional flashes of blue thrown in, usually coming from electronic devices like television sets or police sirens. The use of colors and contrasts makes it feel like a very dark take on classic film noir, and sets a great mood for the movie's seemingly futuristic setting. We see images of dead horses floating in water, and thrill-seekers tossing themselves off buildings against police protests to see if they'll survive or not. The story is also interesting, dealing with an ex-cop who is re-hired to track down a serial killer who is killing young girls in a systematic way. The story explores criminal psychology, and the way that tapping into the criminal psyche can ultimately lead to acting on criminal impulses. It's a damn impressive film if you're into the more artsy stuff (aspects of the setting reminded me of "Eraserhead"), well worth checking out.

 

"Ellie Parker" is a fairly odd movie starring my favorite actress, Naomi Watts. It's a frustrating film in the sense that the quality is pretty terrible: it's shot on grainy digital video, like a college movie class project, and seems somewhat aimless in terms of its direction. The story, which deals with an actress searching for work in Hollywood, is full of eccentric details but is not terribly interesting in the long run. Regardless of the movie's many shortcomings, however, Naomi Watts delivers another outstanding performance, and almost seems to carry the movie on her own. In some ways, "Ellie Parker" is a minor success in the way it shows off Naomi Watts' acting abilities... I could see it being used as a sort of audition tape when directors are searching for samples of acting. Not very good as a movie, but clearly a shining example of Naomi Watts' abundant talent.

 

Having touched on those, I want to hear more people's thoughts on films! I'm curious what movies Pen folks loved in 2009, please list'em here along with any thoughts you might have about'em!

[Wyvern]

I recently finished watching the anime series "Eureka 7" in all its 50 episode glory, and my final verdict for the series is: lame.

 

Granted, I did watch the entire 50 episodes, so it's only fair to note that the anime does have its strong points. The animation of the series, for the most part, is fluid and excellent. Of particular note is the character design, as each character has very colorful and distinctive clothes and features that make them stand out from each other and gives the anime some style. The music of the series is also superb, pairing exciting symphonic adventure music with the occasional bout of pounding techno, not to mention four different catchy intro and outro themes spread over the course of the show. While there were a few lame episodes scattered around the first season, it still got me involved for the most part and had me looking forward to the development of the characters and plot in the second season.

 

Unfortunately, the second season quickly devolved into a disgustingly sappy love story, ripe with cliches and over-amplifications of emotions. The fate of humanity and the universe as we know it rests in the love between characters Renton and Eureka... but that doesn't make us any more interested in whether Renton will like how Eureka looks wearing make-up or not (there is an ENTIRE EPISODE that revolves around this "conflict." An ENTIRE EPISODE, I kid you not). Several episodes continue in that vein, largely abandoning the wide cast of cool characters to focus on the least interesting of the bunch. As if that weren't bad enough, "Eureka 7" is also a mech anime, meaning that we have to deal with those corny giant robots... extra-corny, in this case, since in "Eureka 7" they fly around using giant surf boards and even have their own special moves, complete with unecessary exclamations like "Baruka Berserker!" or "Seven Swell!" It really is ridiculously corny, and it seems like the few dramatic moments that work right in the series are eclipsed by some mecha nonsense. So strained is the mecha aspect of this anime that it blatantly bites concepts (and occasionally, scenes!) of other mech animes, including several bits from "Neon Genesis Evangelion" (which, to date, is the only mech anime that I've loved). After about 18 lame episodes, the series does manage to deliver a few great scenes in its last 8 episodes, mainly thanks to the relationships of some of the suffering opposing characters like Dominic and Anemone coming to the forefront... but even these episodes had a good deal of cheese. I should also note that I'm disappointed that the series completely overlooks the fates of all but the central characters, as there were some interesting relationships between the supporting characters that could have panned out or at least been touched upon at the end.

 

Anyway, more lame mechsploitation to avoid. I'm sort of surprised at how much critical praise "Eureka 7" has recieved in the anime community considering how annoying it gets and how predictable it ultimately is. Blegh.

[Wyvern]

Yesterday, I went and saw "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" at a theatre in Berkeley.

 

This much-hyped Terry Gilliam film features the final performance of Heath Ledger, who passed away before the movie was completed. In order to make up for his absence in the latter half of the movie, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Collin Farrel offered their help with the role, and all three make appearances as different variations of Heath Ledger's character when viewed through the magical looking glass that the film centers around. Overall, I didn't think "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus" was all that great. The story was fairly good, but was shot and told in a scatter-brained sort of way that made for more confusion than intrigue. Some of the imagery was outstanding, but there were also moments when the images got a little too loaded to really work effectively. I really liked the performances from Heath Ledger and Tom Waits (who is particularly good as the Devil), but some of the other actors didn't grab me quite as much. Not bad, but certainly not essential viewing or worthy of the hype.

[Snypiuer]

O.K., as everyone should know by now - Snypiuers' critic skills BITE!!!

 

BUT, I have FINALLY seen 'Kick-@ss'.

 

Is it 'The Godfather' or any NUMBER of great movies anyone may be able to name? No.

 

It's a comic book movie.

 

It's not 'Spiderman' or 'Iron Man', but it's also not 'Daredevil' or 'Cat Women'.

 

Simply, it could have been better.

 

All this said, I liked it and HAVE to reiterate my LOVE for Hit-Girl!

 

She made me want to go out and adopt my own little girl and train her to be a non-stop killing machine - the adoption idea came to me after my sister (for SOME unknown reason) said I wasn't allowed to watch my 7 year-old niece anymore. You try to order a bullet proof vest for a 7 year-old ONCE! And people get the strangest ideas about you - go figure!

 

Can't wait for the UNRATED DVD!!!

 

*DISCLAIMER: Snypiuer tends to enjoy movies others may not (such as: 'Attack of the Killer Tomatoes', 'Pink Flamingos' and 'Silent Running' along with various other B-Movies and straight to DVD schlock) and his approval of ANY movie is, therefore, not intended to imply that said movie is ACTUALLY good.*