Release date: July 20, 2007
Genre: Comedy
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Jessica Biel, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Dan Aykroyd
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Screenplay by: Barry Fanaro and Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor
Produced by: Jack Giarraputo, Tom Shadyac, Michael Bostick
Executive Producer: Barry Bernardi
Adam Sandler (Click) and Kevin James (Hitch) team as two straight guys who stumble down the aisle with the best of intentions in I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. Chuck Levine (Sandler) and Larry Valentine (James) are the pride of their fire station: two guy's guys always side-by-side and willing to do anything for each other. Salt-of-the-earth widower Larry wants just one thing: to protect his family. His buddy Chuck also wants one thing: to enjoy the single life.
Grateful Chuck owes Larry for saving his life in a fire, and Larry calls in that favor big time when civic red tape prevents him from naming his own two kids as his life insurance beneficiaries. All that Chuck has to do is claim to be Larry's domestic partner on some city forms. Easy. Nobody will ever know.
But when an overzealous, spot-checking bureaucrat becomes suspicious, the new couple's arrangement becomes a citywide issue and goes from confidential to front-page news. Forced to improvise as love-struck newlyweds, Chuck and Larry must now fumble through a hilarious charade of domestic bliss under one roof. After surviving their mandatory honeymoon and dodging the threat of exposure, the well-intentioned con men discover that sticking together in your time of need is what truly makes a family.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
"I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry"
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"
Photo: left) (L-r) RUPERT GRINT as Ron Weasley, DANIEL RADCLIFFE as Harry Potter and EMMA WATSON as Hermione Granger in Warner Bros. Pictures' fantasy "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." Photo by Murray Close
In "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts and discovers that much of the wizarding community is in denial about the teenager's recent encounter with the evil Lord Voldemort, preferring to turn a blind eye to the news that Voldemort has returned.
BBBBBBBBBBBBB
"Georgia Rule"
Release Date: Friday, May 11, 2007
Genre: Drama
Cast: Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan, Felicity Huffman, Dermot Mulroney, Cary Elwes, Garrett Hedlund
Directed by: Garry Marshall
Written by: Mark Andrus
Produced by: James G. Robinson, David Robinson
Executive Producers: Guy McElwaine, Michael Besman, Kevin Reidy
Three generations of top actresses unite in a film from director Garry Marshall (Beaches, Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride) about the power of redemption, freedom in forgiveness and unbreakable bonds of motherhood--Georgia Rule.
Rebellious teenager Rachel (Lohan) screams, swears, drinks and is--in a word--uncontrollable. With her latest car crash, Rachel has broken the final rule in mom Lily's (Golden Globe winner Huffman) San Francisco home.
With nowhere else to take the impulsive and rambunctious girl, Lily hauls her daughter to the one place she swore she'd never return...her own mother's Idaho farm.
Matriarch Georgia (two-time Oscar® winner Fonda) is not your typical sweet and doting grandmother. She lives her life by a number of unbreakable rules, demanding anyone who shares her home do the same-- God comes first and hard work comes a very close second.
Now saddled with raising the young woman, it will require each patient breath she takes to understand Rachel's fury.
But as Rachel succumbs to her summer of misery and shakes up the tiny Mormon town, Georgia notices something is changing within her granddaughter. Given structure and responsibilities, Rachel is letting her guard down and learning compassion...especially for her mother.
Her journey will lead all three women to revelations of buried family secrets and an understanding that--regardless what happens--the ties that bind can never be broken.
"SPRING BREAKDOWN"
April 13, 2007
(Warner Bros. Pictures)
Director: Ryan Shiraki
Writers: Screenplay by Ryan Shiraki, Story by Rachel Dratch & Ryan Shiraki
Producers: Larry Kennar, Rick Berg
Executive Producers: Mike Rachmil, Ryan Shiraki, Rachel Dratch
Cast: Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch, Amber Tamblyn, Seth Meyers, Sophie Monk, Missi Pyle, Jane Lynch
Becky St. Germaine (PARKER POSEY), Gayle O’Brien (AMY POEHLER) and Judi Joskow (RACHEL DRATCH) in Warner Bros. Pictures’ comedy “Spring Breakdown.” Photo by Peter Iovino
Comedy. "Spring Breakdown" follows the vacation adventure of Gayle (Amy Poehler), Becky (Parker Posey) and Judi (Rachel Dratch), three thirty-something best friends who’ve always dreamed of being fabulous, but never grew out of being geeks.
So when Becky gets the opportunity to unofficially chaperone her boss’ daughter, Ashley (Amber Tamblyn), to the college spring break destination of South Padre Island, the ladies decide to try and turn their tragically un-hip lives around and party with the beer and bikini set.
Through keg-stands, hook-ups and foam parties, Becky, Gail, Judi and Ashley are about to discover that it’s better to stand out, than to fit in.
"MR. WOODCOCK"
Release Date: Coming soon, 2007
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, and Susan Sarandon
Ethan Suplee, Melissa Sagemiller, with Amy Poehler
Seann William Scott stars as “John Farley” in New Line Cinema’s release of David Dobkin’s MR. WOODCOCK. Photo Credit: ©2007 Tracy Bennett/New Line Cinema
Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, and Susan Sarandon star in the outrageous comedy Mr. Woodcock.
Scott stars as John Farley, a self-help author who returns to his hometown only to discover that his mother (Sarandon) has fallen in love with his old high school nemesis, Mr. Woodcock (Thornton) – the gruff, no-nonsense gym teacher who had put him through years of mental and physical humiliation.
Billy Bob Thornton stars as “Jasper Woodcock” in New Line Cinema’s release of David Dobkin’s MR. WOODCOCK.
Determined to prevent history from repeating itself, John sets out to stop his mother from marrying the man who had made life miserable for him and his classmates. Mr. Woodcock also features a strong supporting cast including Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live) and Ethan Suplee (My Name Is Earl).
The film is directed by Craig Gillespie, produced by Bob Cooper and David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers), written by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert.
Spider-Man 3 : Spiderman 3 featurette
Columbia Pictures’ Spider-Man™ 3 reunites the cast and filmmakers from the first two blockbuster adventures for a web of secrets, vengeance, love, and forgiveness that will transport worldwide audiences to thrilling new heights on May 4, 2007.
In Spider-Man™ 3, based on the legendary Marvel Comics series, Peter Parker has finally managed to strike a balance between his devotion to M.J. and his duties as a superhero. But there is a storm brewing on the horizon. When his suit suddenly changes, turning jet-black and enhancing his powers, it transforms Peter as well, bringing out the dark, vengeful side of his personality that he is struggling to control. Under the influence of the suit, Peter becomes overconfident and starts to neglect the people who care about him most. Forced to choose between the seductive power of the new suit and the compassionate hero he used to be, Peter must overcome his personal demons as two of the most-feared villains yet, Sandman and Venom, gather unparalleled power and a thirst for retribution to threaten Peter and everyone he loves.
Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, and Topher Grace
Fracture (2007)
Synopsis:
When Ted Crawford discovers that his beautiful younger wife, Jennifer, is having an affair, he plans her murder--the perfect murder. Among the cops arriving at the crime scene is hostage negotiator Detective Rob Nunally, the only officer permitted entry to the house.
Surprisingly, Crawford readily admits to shooting his wife, but Nunally is too stunned to pay close attention when he recognizes his lover, whose true identity he never knew, lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Although Jennifer was shot at point blank range, Nunally realizes she isn’t dead. Crawford is immediately arrested and arraigned after confessing--a seemingly slam-dunk case for hot shot assistant district attorney Willy Beachum, who has one foot out the door of the District Attorney’s office on his way to a lucrative job in high-stakes corporate law. But nothing is as simple as it seems, including this case. Will the lure of power and a love affair with a sexy, ambitious attorney at his new firm overpower Willy’s fierce drive to win, or worse, quash his code of ethics? In a tense duel of intellect and strategy, Crawford and Willy both learn that a “fracture” can be found in every ostensibly perfect facade.
Lucky You (2007)
In the world of high-stakes poker, Huck Cheever is a blaster--a player who goes all out, all the time. But in his personal relationships, Huck plays it tight, expertly avoiding emotional commitments and long-term expectations. When Huck sets out to win the main event of the 2003 World Series of Poker--and the affections of Billie Offer, a young singer from Bakersfield--there is one significant obstacle in his path: his anger toward his father, L.C. Cheever, the poker legend who abandoned Huck's mother years ago. As these two rivals progress toward a final showdown at the poker table, Huck learns that to win in the games of life and poker, he must try to play cards the way he has been living his life and live his life the way he has been playing cards.
Production Status: In Production/Awaiting Release
Genres: Drama
Release Date: May 4th, 2007 (wide)
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some language and sexual humor.
Distributors:
Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution, Village Roadshow International, Warner Bros. Pictures International
Production Co.:
Village Roadshow Pictures Entertainment, Deuce Three Productions, Di Novi Pictures
Studios:
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Filming Locations:
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
Produced in: United States
Superman: The Movie—Warner Brothers
Amazingly, the first time I saw this movie was just a few months ago. What can I say? I’m a Batman kind of guy. Superman is campier than many of the more serious comic-book adaptations of late, but, compared with other comic-book movies of the time (and for many years after), it’s downright somber. It holds up well and is still the quintessential Superman movie. Covering the last days of Krypton to the time when Superman saves Earth from a toupeed Gene Hackman, it’s quite a film. It’s not least recognizable for its excellent score, which earned John Williams one of his 4,383 Oscar nominations.
The 2.40:1 picture is fairly detailed, but it has an inconsistent amount of grain. Some scenes look OK, but others (often, and not surprisingly, the special-effects shots) are very grainy. In all, the picture quality isn’t as good as I’ve seen on other HD DVDs, even of movies from the same era. The only sound option is the standard Dolby Digital Plus. There’s a lot of surround use, but the overall sound quality is rather thin, especially in the music tracks.
The extras include commentary by Richard Donner and Tom Mankiewicz, plus Christopher Reeve’s screen test. The only other two extras are two documentaries, one a making-of and the other on the development of the movie.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest—Buena Vista
And so the pirate saga continues. Johnny Depp boards the Black Pearl once again in Dead Man’s Chest, taking the ever-flamboyant Jack Sparrow on a soul-searching journey…literally. As the legendary Davy Jones resurfaces, it seems our favorite cap’n has a huge debt to pay. Jack may be good, but his pirating skills won’t be enough unless he finds the fabled chest and barters its contents with the formidable Jones, brilliantly portrayed by Bill Nighy, who takes villainy far above sea level. Orlando Bloom also returns as the virtuous Will Turner, offsetting his pretty-boy charm by adding a bit more ruggedness to the character this time around.
If Depp’s impeccable performance doesn’t impress you, the 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer will. The image leaves little to the imagination, exhibiting lush color, opulent textures, and stunning detail. The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is equally notable, with excellent sound and fidelity. Hang on to your hats and glasses…oops, wrong ride. Nevertheless, the bass will shiver ye timbers.
Like many seafaring tales, it’s never just a three-hour tour. This 2-Disc Special Edition boasts over five hours of special features, including “Bloopers of the Caribbean,” “Captain Jack: From Head to Toe,” and “Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend.” Featurettes like “Charting the Return—A Preproduction Diary” and “According to Plan—Journal of Filming the Movie” bring the audience closer to the moviemaking experience. After all, part of the thrill of watching a blockbuster like Pirates is discovering what goes into creating such a masterpiece. Many Disneyland fans are sure to enjoy “Dead Men Tell New Tales: Re-Imagineering the Attraction,” which takes you through the revamping of the ride that inspired it all. The movie references that have been newly installed into the attraction are reason enough to make the trip to Anaheim, California.
Even before Shiloh, Suri, and the Spears boys, Hollywood had already set the birthing trend, conceiving blockbuster triplets, each one progressively louder and ready for sibling rivalry. This middle child of the Pirates trilogy does not disappoint, bringing nearly double the adventure and enough twists to surprise even the most seasoned of celluloid sailors. Dead Man’s Chest is an excellent sequel, and it makes a nice segue for the final installment that you’re sure to travel to the world’s end to see. Avast, matey. This be one treasure you won’t want to bury.
Lord of the Geeks
By David Kushner
Although Joss Whedon lost his sci-fi television show "Firefly," the fans he won have since made him a success in movies, games, and other media
PHOTO: Interfoto USA/Sipa
The mainstream world may have missed writer/director Joss Whedon’s sci-fi TV series, “Firefly,” and the movie it spawned, Serenity. But for a rising generation, he’s the new lord of the geeks.
Whedon outdoes his predecessors by truly living and preaching the underdog gospel. In addition to the “Firefly” mythology, his cult hits—TV shows “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel”—still earn him raves. “His characters have significant flaws, but they can overcome and surpass those flaws through force of will,” says über-fan Scott O. Moore, “Fans love to believe that about themselves.”
Now, in this burgeoning You Decade of Hollywood, Whedon’s acolytes are paying the ultimate tribute by re-engineering their hero’s defeated shows into new online series. “It means they care about the work, that I’m asking the right questions,” Whedon says. “I found a way to their collective hearts.”
Spoken like a gentleman, one might say, given the sensitivity artists normally show when others make use of their work. Lawyers have threatened to sue girls for singing songs around a campfire without first paying royalties to the copyright holders. Whedon, however, takes a longer view of fans who base their fiction on his own. “I’m sure there’s bad work out there,” he says. “But ultimately, if someone’s taking it to their heart, that’s why I’m here. I make a living; I made sure that I do. All they’re doing is spreading the word. It would be both stupid and selfish to try to quash it.”
This isn’t the usual fan fiction. Moore has dumped tens of thousands of dollars into his online Angel parody, “Cherub.” A 17-year-old high school girl makes “Forgotten Memories,” a series of trailers for imagined episodes of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”; it’s a hot download on YouTube. “Into the Black” is a coming Web drama, complete with professional special effects, set in the Firefly universe.
“The fandom is rabid,” says “Into the Black” cocreator, Damien Spracklin, “because Joss’s stuff always gets canceled.” Next month, Whedon’s troops—some of whom call themselves Browncoats, after the independent army in “Firefly”—are convening for their first-ever convention.
For Whedon, 43, TV geekdom is in his blood. His dad wrote for such shows as “Benson,” “Alice,” and “The Golden Girls,” and his grandfather was a writer on the “Andy Griffith” and “Donna Reed” shows. However, Whedon’s innate appreciation for the craft of screenwriting has a decidedly high-tech twist. “I was a lonely sci-fi fan boy growing up,” he says. “I would write science fiction and draw and mostly read voraciously and see movies and hang out with my best friend. We were a fan base of two.”
Unlike his fans, Whedon didn’t attend “Star Trek” conventions, but he got into the fold soon enough. After studying at Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn., he made the rounds in Hollywood, sharpening his nerd king chops on standbys including Alien: Resurrection, Titan A.E., and X-Men. His big break came in 1997, with “Buffy,” a TV series that chronicled the adventures of a young woman fighting an underworld of vampires. The show’s strong female characters and campy sense of fun made it a cult hit and spawned the spin-off, “Angel.” It also ensconced Whedon in the new pantheon of Hollywood heroes.
“All you get with Star Wars is the Empire versus the Alliance—black versus white,” says Moore. “With Joss, you get so many shades: the vampire down the street is evil, but he’s also sexy; slaying demons is important, except when the demons are on your side; the Reavers are horrifying mostly because they’re just inevitable versions of us. Joss always has his eye on how the situation can instantly change, suddenly putting all the audience’s preconceptions up for grabs. That feels fundamentally realistic, even if the trappings are fantasy or science fiction.”
Eric Tong, cocreator of “Into the Black,” agrees. “I think Joss attracts such passionate fans because he is a fan himself,” he says, “He knows what people love and want to see. One thing common to all Whedon TV shows (and to Serenity) is that they are a mix of all genres. Each show is part comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi, western, action, etc. Not only do his shows appeal to those kinds of audiences, but he and his team combine all those elements well.”
Like the computer-game modification community—also known as mod makers—Whedon’s fans became active participants in extending his mythology. Any kid with a computer and an Internet connection can pick up where he left off and create something new. Such interaction is inherently changing the rules of the industry. Fans don’t have to sit back and passively watch a show run its course. They can just fire up a digital video camera, shoot a sequel, upload it to the viral video hub, YouTube, and keep the flame alive.
Whedon isn’t alone. New serial dramas—such as “Heroes,” “Lost,” and “Battlestar Galactica”—are breeding new communities of passionate followers online. Some of those fans are hosting online radio shows, creating graphic novels, and screen art.
Chalk the explosion of interest up to two converging trends: a richer, more complex variety of screenwriting and the boom of so-called Web 2.0 user-created content outlets, such as Second Life and MySpace.
The acolytes speak to the bold new power of fandom in the digital age, Whedon says, “The point of any great fiction is to make you want to live there. Now fans can live there with other people. This is something I encourage and nourish as much as humanly possible.”
He had good reason. When “Firefly” got canned, the Browncoats lobbied Universal Studios to put out Serenity, a “Firefly” movie. It’s a pattern that dates back a long way, to when fans of the original “Star Trek” television series, angered by its cancellation, lobbied for its continuation by another means—the movies.
Now, in addition to blogging on Whedonesque.com, a hub for all things Joss, Whedon’s giving followers the ultimate Mana: continuations of the “Buffy” and “Serenity” sagas in comic books. “There is no bigger Buffy geek than me,” he says.
CHUD GOES TO THE ATLANTA FILM FESTIVAL
04.20.07
By Russ Fischer
The 31st annual Atlanta Film Festival starts tomorrow night, April 19, and runs through April 28th. The fest has steadily been growing over the past few years, and for 2007 features probably the most diverse line-up ever. To prove it, we’re sponsoring two of the weirder films in the fest, and even have 40 seats for each screening to give away.
Want in? Write to us using the email link below! We've still got a few tickets left, but the lists have to go in today.
Princess
Raised in an environment saturated with prostitution, drugs and other deviance, it’s no surprise that the young girl at the center of Princess is a little messed up. Reclaimed by her clergyman uncle after her mother’s death, young Mia might just be too far gone to live a normal life.
Animated in a crisp, simple style, Princess is an off-kilter revenge movie appropriate for a month stacked with high-profile oddities like Grindhouse and Hot Fuzz. As Mia’s uncle learns the truth about her young life and mother’s death, he goes on a murderous rampage to cleanse the sins of those who have soiled his family…or to remove them from the earth, at least.
SCREENS SATURDAY, APRIL 21 at 10:45 PM
(Official site with trailer)
Taxidermia
I ran a trailer for this, seemingly ages ago, and when I finally caught the flick I wasn’t let down. This is a massively bizarre collection of bodily fluids, family politics, fantasized history and competitive spirit. Three successive male generations engage in sexual proclivity, grandiose over-eating and obsessive artistry, each visualized in a way that’s like watching the fever dreams of Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
I could say that Taxidermia is not for the faint of heart, which is certainly true, if only because of the way characters tend to expel things from their bodies. But more to the point, it’s like no form of typical story you’ve ever seen. Fans of Gyorgy Palfi's predecessor Hukkle will have some idea of what’s about to unfold, but newcomers should simply relish the chance to slip into a seasick family history that reflects an uncomfortable alternate timeline.
HAIRSPRAY LOOKS OKAY
04.20.07
By Jeremy Smith
Colorful, perky, unabashedly campy... this is precisely the vibe I expected to get from a well-cut theatrical trailer for Hairspray, the movie musical based on the Broadway musical based on the 1988 John Waters feature - which was noteworthy at the time of its initial release as the Baltimore maestro's first PG-rated effort. Interestingly, when Waters did return to his lewd-and-crude ways, the pop culture had caught up with him; the sight of male strippers tea-bagging their customers or Tracey Ullman sitting on a coke bottle elicited not a single howl of outrage (though, to be fair, Tracey Ullman eating freshly evacuated dog shit might've stirred up a juicy MPAA imbroglio).
I'm doing my best to avoid discussing this latest iteration of Hairspray because I don't want to acknowledge that its director, Adam Shankman, might've made a watchable movie. Actually, going on the trailer (god, I hate to say this), Hairspray really does look like a good deal of fun, some of which is probably owing to Shankman's choreographer background. Y'know, had Shankman made a concerted effort to, I don't know, try as a director, maybe he wouldn't be roundly dissed by anyone who cares about movies; as it stands, this is the first time one of his films appears to have a personality. It might be the collective personality of Waters, composer Marc Shaiman and writers Thomas Meehan, Mark O'Donnell and Leslie Dixon, but it's there and it kinda leaps out at you. Some of that's gotta be Shankman.
Don't take this as an about-face on the man; we won't know if he's finally cast off his lowest-common-denominator ways until July 20th. Until then, I'm going to be cautiously optimistic, and that's mostly based on my affection for Waters.
HOSTEL II: DISTURBIA
04.19.07
By Dan Vinton
So Hostel II's got another poster out (see a larger version here). And this one got to me. Not in the way naked beheaded lady tried to both titillate and disturb you, or even the way adiposed meat tested the gag reflex of vegetarians everywhere. No, this one's relatively benign-- but its subtle implication is what's most disturbing.
After having seen the trailer (which I was along for the ride with until the last few seconds), the image holds an extremely uncomfortable context and is why I've checked out on Hostel II. As distasteful (and creepy as hell) as I find the movie's "sell", the art they're putting out is incredibly powerful. Whether that's a good thing depends on which side of the fence you're on and I'm kind of pissed I'm falling into what's sure to be a bandwagon camp full of people I think are knee jerk reactionists. Up to now, I've been impartial, but this simple image has me slipping toward "not a good thing". The poster portrays a victim. She's naked. She's helpless. She's crying. I can't stomach that. Not when I perceive it as holding no value other than the tantalization of an exhibition of human destruction.
What seems ironic is the big fat crapfest everyone took on the People Under the Stairs rip-off Chaos (which tried to justify its meanness through serving as a "warning"--Bullshit, I say), yet mainstream Hostel seems to have slipped through. Is that because amidst the grue there was a dose of subtle messaging? Or was it because pain was being inflicted on a bunch of dudes who happened to be obnoxious assholes? I'm leaning toward the latter.
I'm not attempting to make this a treatise on gender, but seeing an asshole being drilled, while uncomfortable, pales to the sympathy and sadness I felt at the last pleading few seconds watching even the full trailer. I can't justify watching helpless, terrified young women being hurt and maimed for entertainment while trying to sift through the violence (of which the film is being marketed on its violence, not context) for some meaning, regardless of how naughty they may have been.
There's been a lot of dialogue recently about the whole "Torture Porn" genre thanks to Captivity, etc. Whedon's weighed in on it. Darabont's weighed in on it. CHUD's weighed in on it. I'll never go to the point of saying "don't make these movies" or "you're sick" for enjoying it-- enjoy away. Personally (which probably isn't what you were asking for when you clicked to see the poster), I'm just struggling to find any good this material does for its audience.
REVIEW: HOT FUZZ
02.11.07
By Devin Faraci
Note: Technically, this review is for the UK release of Hot Fuzz. This technicality is meaningless, as both the UK and US cuts are identical. UK Chewers can see Hot Fuzz opening this week. US readers will have to wait until April 20th. We'll have another review, by one of the other writers, at that time.
AAAAAAAAAAA
Expectations can be a bitch, and not just for filmmakers. Sure, it’s tough to follow up a movie like Shaun of the Dead – a movie that is, in my experience, almost universally loved across age, gender, race and class lines – but it’s even tougher sitting in the seat to watch that follow-up. You have expectations based on the previous work, and based on the advertising for the current film. You’ve built a movie in your head that can’t possibly be topped on screen.
I’m here to raise those expectations a little higher.
Yeah, I said higher. That’s one of the worst things I – all of us who write about movies on the web – tend to do: raise expectations to impossible levels. And no, I won’t compare Hot Fuzz to a sex act or anything, but I will tell you that this movie is every single bit as good as Shaun of the Dead, a movie that I consider, without hesitation, a modern classic. And Hot Fuzz is actually bigger and yet tighter than Shaun – it’s a step forward in every way for the team who made it.
Where Shaun was an honest to God zombie movie with character-based comedy in it, Hot Fuzz is an honest to God British murder mystery gene-spliced with an American buddy cop movie… with character-based comedy in it. The movie, in many ways, is Agatha Christie getting triumphantly buttfucked by Michael Bay (OK, I’ll compare it to a completely absurd sex act). With jokes.
Simon Pegg shakes off Shaun in the first few frames of Hot Fuzz – the opening shot is the longest shot of the movie, and it has Pegg walking down a long lobby towards the camera. He’s Nicholas Angel, London cop, in every way – you won’t be thinking about slackers at all while watching Pegg’s performance.
Angel lives in an action world – car chases and run-ins with stabby Fathers Christmas included – and he’s great at his job. Too good, it turns out. His arrest record is 400% higher than anyone else’s, and he’s making the rest of the department look bad. The solution that the Powers That Be find is to ship him out to the country, where he can work in the least crime-ridden town in Great Britain. If I have any complaints about Hot Fuzz it’s these opening scenes – the basic conceit here is far sillier than the rest of the film, and almost feel like a parody. But co-writers Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright just need to get supercop Angel out of London, and they wisely move past this section (which has most of the major cameos, including Martin Freeman, Bill Nighy and Steve Coogan) quickly, getting to the heart of the film.
Angel relocates to sleepy Sandford, a countryside town built around an ancient church. The first act is mostly Angel meeting the locals – an impressive cast that includes the likes of Billie Whitelaw (Mrs. Baylock from The Omen), former Bond Timothy Dalton, original Wicker Man victim Edward Woodward, Paul Freeman (Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark), Spaced’s landlady Julia Deakin, and many more. Together they make up the local community group, which liases with the police department.
As difficult a time as Angel has getting into the swing of village life (his first night in Sandford he busts half the town for minor infractions like peeing in public), he finds the police department twice as baffling. These cops are never without a dessert near, and they are overseen by the genial and gentle Inspector Frank Butterman, wonderfully played by the great Jim Broadbent. The local team includes Doris, the dirty-minded lady cop, mumbling old timer Karl and the police dog Saxon, and Kevin Eldon as Tony Fisher, the sergeant with a negative attitude. Rafe Spall and Paddy Considine come dangerously close, time and again, to stealing the whole film away from the stars – they play The Andys, two leather jacket wearing, mustachioed and chain-smoking detectives. I would line up for a spin-off with these two in a heartbeat – there’s something about their weird relationship and their schoolyard put downs of Angel (they write “Twat” inside his hat) and Angel’s partner, Danny Butterman (they call him “Cuntstable”) that entranced me. We knew that Considine could be menacing, creepy and dramatic – he can also be incredibly fucking hilarious.
Nick Frost’s Danny Butterman rounds out the crew. He’s the son of the Inspector, and he’s only on the force (or rather the service, as per recent vocab guidelines) because of his dad, and because of his affinity for American cop and action films. If anybody owns this movie, it’s Frost. He plays Danny as a little bit dimwitted but hugely tenderhearted – it sounds like a cliché character, but Frost brings a lot of nuance and humanity to the role. You heard me: nuance and humanity. This character is the polar opposite of Shaun’s Ed, and his enthusiasm and love for Angel make him the most endearing character to appear in any of the Pegg/Wright/Frost oeuvre to date.
I did not use the word love lightly, by the way. While the main story of Hot Fuzz ends up being a murder mystery lurking just below the surface of the seemingly idyllic village, the real heart of the movie is the love story between Angel and Butterman. Every buddy movie has homoerotic tension underlying the central relationship, but Hot Fuzz brings it to the center stage. And sort of does away with the tension and just makes it tenderly romantic. For the homophobes in the audience, no, the characters do not get it on (although there’s one scene where you might think they’re about to) – the love here is more like that Sam/Frodo love from Lord of the Rings. No less a love than the Brokeback Mountain kind, but nobody is spitting on their hands for lube purposes.
The murder mystery takes shape in the second act, as Angel realizes that bucolic Sandford has a shockingly high accidental death rate. A shockingly high accidental gory death rate, to be specific. Edgar Wright shows where his loyalties lie with some very graphic, very great kills. There is one death in particular, which I will not spoil, which I believe will go down in history as the single best kill of 2007. It’s bold to make that statement so early, but I can’t imagine this being topped – and it’s so good you won’t even have a question what death I mean once you’ve seen it. They mystery itself is a fun one, even if shocking you with the solution isn’t what Wright and Pegg were going for in the script.
What they were going for was the third act blow out, a completely glorious running gun battle through the town of Sandford. It is a carnage-laden climax worthy of a Michael Bay or Tony Scott, only it’s in the town square and supermarket of a small British village. Wright hasn’t exactly held back thus far – the film is filled with the trademark rhythmic transitions from Shaun of the Dead – but it’s in the shoot out that he gets to have the most fun, nodding and homaging films and styles while never losing sight of his own story and characters. And in the tradition of the best action films, the movie ends in a thundering mano y mano bout of fisticuffs in the pouring rain. At a location so perfect and hilarious that I cannot reveal it here.
The brilliance of this film in a nutshell is that as a film buff you’ll see this movie on a completely different, deeper level, but even if you didn’t know any of the films that were touchstones for Hot Fuzz you would find a hilarious film filled with wonderful characters and topped with great action. The two films that you need to know the most – Bad Boys II and Point Break –are actually referenced and shown within the film, setting you up for the very explicit homages later. But even without that knowledge, Hot Fuzz works completely.
Part of what makes it work is how the great script. The late, great Mr. Beaks always said that the script for Shaun of the Dead deserved an Oscar nomination for its immaculate structure and style. I’d say the same of Hot Fuzz, except that this time the script is tighter, and the set ups are a little less obvious – which makes the pay offs later on down the line all the more delightful. It’s this style of writing, where Pegg and Wright don’t waste a word and always bring things back to established jokes, concepts and set ups, that give these movies almost infinite rewatchability. I honestly can’t imagine how long it must take them to hone the script into this form, but it’s worth it – while Shaun had a very manageably sized cast of (living) characters, the scope of Hot Fuzz is more ambitious. It would be easy to get lost amid the dozens of characters, but between the expert casting and the script you’re always in good hands.
I don’t want to get into the game of placing a movie I saw in January in a “best of the year” position, but it is hard to imagine seeing another movie that will be half as enjoyable and wonderful as this one. I found that Shaun resonated a little more with me, mostly because I am a die-hard, life-long zombie fan, while I still haven’t even seen Bad Boys II (although good news, Mr. Bay – Misters Wright, Pegg and Frost have convinced me to do a blind buy), so the buddy cop genre isn’t as near and dear to me. But I still sat enthralled with a smile on my face for the whole running time. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, I actually considered going back to see the movie again the same day I first saw it. The movie is just that good, and that funny – the message boards of geek sites like ours will be drenched in Hot Fuzz quotes quite soon enough.
And what's great is that there's plenty in Hot Fuzz to fuel a hundred quote-offs, and a hundred jokes that are like time bombs, waiting to be detonated on a future viewing. I could write ten pages on some of my favorite gags alone, and I would just be scratching the surface. And it wouldn't be doing the rest of the film justice - Hot Fuzz isn't a parody or an absurdist riff, it's exactly what it's advertised as - an English murder mystery with an American action sensibility. With jokes. And more than a dash of genius.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Gone With The Wind (1939)
An original 1939 release poster (left) and the more famous poster from the 1967 re-release (right). In perhaps the most fabulously fruitful of all years to date for the silver screen, 1939, GONE WITH THE WIND was nominated for an incredible thirteen Academy Awards and took home eight statuettes including Best Picture.
GONE WITH THE WIND's two lead stars, Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara and Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, both received nominations for their performances. But while Leigh took home the Best Actress statuette, Gable lost to Robert Donat's performance in GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS at the 1939 Academy Awards.
Music Clip:
Click here"Tara's Theme" from Max Steiner's Oscar-nominated original score of GONE WITH THE WIND (a .WAV file).
Memorable Quotations:
* Click here"Quittin Time!" --the foreman (a .WAV file).
* Click here"Fiddle-dee-dee!" --Scarlett (a .WAV file).
* Click here"Lawd have mercy!"--Mammie (a .WAV file).
* "Sir, you are no gentleman."--Scarlett.
"And you Miss, are no lady. Don't think that I hold that against you. Ladies have never held any charm for me." --Rhett.
* Click here"He looks as if... as if he knows what I look like without my shimmey!" --Scarlett (a .WAV file).
* Click here"It ain't fittin'. It just ain't fittin'." --Mammie (a .WAV file).
* Click here"No. I don't think I will kiss you-- although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed and often-- and by someone who knows how." --Rhett (a .WAV file).
* Click here"Oh! If I just wasn't a lady! What wouldn't I tell that varmint!" --Scarlett (a .WAV file).
* Click here"Lordy, we got to have a doctor! I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies!" --Prissy (a .WAV file).
* "As God as my witness they're not going to lick me. I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folk. If I have to lie, steal, cheat or kill; as God as my witness, I'll never be hungry again." --Scarlett.
(For help opening any of the multimedia files, visit the plug-ins page.)
Casablanca (1942)
CASABLANCA (1942) is the ultimate classic movie. It may not be the most moving or meaningful, but it has something for everyone, and it's one of those films you can watch over and over again, and every time find something you hadn't noticed before. In fact, I'm one of those people who not only thinks that everyone should see it, but who is also of the opinion that the more times you see it, the better it gets.
Music Clip:
Click here"Main Title" (clip) by Max Steiner (a .MP3 file courtesy Rhino Records).
(For help opening any of the multimedia files, visit the plug-ins page.)
A Belgian poster for CASABLANCA
The love story between Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart has already gone down in history, and will probably end up being as eternal as Romeo and Juliet. At the same time, CASABLANCA is filled with colorful supporting characters who make it humorous, melodramatic, and even adventuresome all at the same time. If you only intend to see one classic movie in your lifetime, this is probably the one-- and please, if you're going to make the effort, don't waste your time with the colorized version; it simply isn't the same.
The 50th Anniversary poster for CASABLANCA A German poster for CASABLANCA
Above are just a few of the many posters that have been printed up for CASABLANCA over the years: At top, a window card from the original 1943 release. Next, a reprint of the poster from the original Belgian release of the film. At left above, a poster from the 50th Anniversary re-release for which Ted Turner and company issued a restored and remastered print of the film that is simply spectacular. And finally, a poster from the original German release, though I'm not sure when exactly they finally got to see it.
The South rises again
The Economist, March 7, 1998 page 89
Believe the Hollywood publicists and "Titanic" is taking more money at the box office in America than any other film in history. It is mostly just hype. When ticket prices are adjusted for inflation, Leonardo DiCaprio's and Kate Winslet's blockbuster, with a projected domestic take of about $600 m[illion], cannot hold a candle to Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh in "Gone With the Wind" (pictured here) or, indeed, to Grumpy, Dopey and company in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." On the same basis, "Bambi" beats "Home Alone" (number 35) and "The Sound of Music" beats "Jurassic Park" (number 25).
At the height of Hollywood's Golden Era, in the 1930s, about 90m Americans went to the cinema each week compared with about 25m a week now. But as ticket prices have soared in the intervening years-- from an average of 25 cents a seat in the 1930s to 42 cents immediately after the second world war to $1.10 in the mid-1960s to close to $5 today-- box-office records continue to be broken when measured in current dollars.
Such records are illusory. Variety, a Hollywood trade magazine, has recalculated the receipts on the basis of admissions. It has done this by assuming that yesterday's audiences paid today's prices-- ie, that it cost the same to see "Snow White" in the 1930s or "E.T." in the 1980s as it costs to see a film today.
With Emphasis on Bonnets
by Thomas M. Pryor
The New York Times, October 12, 1941 page IX 5
Milady's hat has long been a source of vexation for the male animal who likes to see what's going on upon the screen, particularly when he's paying Broadway prices. Once frowned upon, a fellow hesitates somewhat before making a second request that the offending headgear be removed. Ladies, by and large, are touchy about this matter and a certain amount of testiness is understandable considering the effort expended in adjusting the coiffure to the mold of the hat. But common regard for one's neighbor is a cardinal rule of etiquette that should be observed in a crowded motion picture theatre, where one's acrobatic prowess is naturally limited.
Time was when the management used to lend a helping hand-- remember the "Ladies, Please Remove Your Hats" era? But nowadays the poor abused male has to shift for himself. And should a controversy develop over the offending hat, mere man is likely as not to be unceremoniously ushered out into the street by a couple of unsympathetic fugitives from a muscle show and threatened with arrest for disturbing the peace should he demand a refund.
Yes, moviegoing is becoming increasingly perilous for a male under 6 feet on Broadway. (Strangely the hazard is not so great in neighborhood cinemas, where the females are unaccountably different, almost diffident, in fact, in this respect.) So it was that this observer stood transfixed gazing into the window of a millinery shop in West Fourteenth Street the other day at an assortment of cellophane-brimmed hats. "Novelty Movie Hats" is what the sign called them, but it was the supplementary legend which had our eye-- "You do not have to remove this hat in a movie, because the person in back of you can see the picture through the brim." Naturally, we haven't the slightest notion how the fashion experts would regard such a creation, but no matter, it may have a certain unilateral value at that.
© 1941 The New York Times
Defining "Classic" Movies
by Elizabeth, ReelClassics.com
April 4, 2003
Reel Classics has been online for over six years now, and it is probably somewhat surprising that in all that time I have never put forth any definition or criteria for the "classic movies" I purport to be writing about on this site. The question of "What makes a movie classic?" is a frequent one however, and after years of considering the subject, I now feel comfortable enough with what I'm doing to attempt to answer it.
I like the word "classic" because the term is broad enough that I can tailor my own prejudices into its definition. In general, I use it to mean "embodying high qualities" with a touch of "famous in the sense of long-established." A classic also usually either serves as a model or adheres to certain established standards. Classic movies aren't so much defined by a specific time frame (although the Hollywood studio system that existed from the 1910s into the 1960s and produced the majority of the films I consider classics certainly lends a temporal prejudice to my definition). Rather, classic movies embody a method of storytelling that leaves something to the audience's imagination. When, in a classic movie, the leading man and leading lady kiss and the screen fades to black, the older members of the audience know what that means. The younger members of the audience don't know what that means, but their ignorance doesn't hurt their enjoyment of the film. As a result, the whole family can watch the same movie together and get different things from it depending on their stage of life and the experiences they bring to the theatre with them. By leaving graphic depictions or descriptions of sex and violence and moral corruption to the audience's imagination through suggestion and innuendo, classic movies make these themes more powerful in the minds of those old enough to understand, yet without destroying the innocence of those on whom these subtleties are lost.
An example: A PLACE IN THE SUN (1951).
I first saw this film when I was about twelve years old and thought it a compelling, tragic romance. I knew enough about sex to know that if Shelley Winters was unmarried and pregnant, she had done something she wasn't supposed to do, but I didn't know enough about life to really understand her scene at the doctor's office. At age twelve, I thought, "Okay. She's pregnant and she goes to the doctor. That makes sense." It seemed a little odd that she was talking to the doctor about her financial situation instead of her health, but not too odd, so I left it at that. A few years later however, when I watched the film again, I suddenly realized what this very cryptic and carefully worded conversation between Shelley Winters and the doctor was really about: abortion. By telling the doctor that she and her husband couldn't afford the baby, she was trying to get him to perform an abortion. At seventeen, that scene in the film took on a whole new meaning for me, and it was because of the expanded life experience which I brought with me into the theatre, not because of anything that had changed in the filmmaking.
To me, this is what classic movies are all about. They are films that can be watched on many different levels, and as a result, enjoyed again and again over the years in new ways. Because they adhere to certain standards of discretion and use established cinematic devices to imply what they cannot say explicitly, they also can't rely on sex or violence to hold the audience's attention. Rather than resorting to the use of blatant sensorial stimulations like explosions, nudity and flashy editing, classic movies use compelling stories and characters, or snappy dialogue, or high production values (cinematography, editing, shot composition, scoring, sets and costuming, etc.), or good acting, or some combination of the above qualities to attract and entertain the audience. The Production Code, which governed Hollywood filmmaking during the days of the studio system and censored the depiction of sex, violence and immoral behavior on the screen, played a major role in establishing the framework within which filmmakers were forced to find creative ways of subtly suggesting themes and plot elements which they weren't allowed to show explicitly. But just because those rules existed then and don't exist any more doesn't mean there aren't still filmmakers who adhere to them. Because today it is easier and more common to show two people in bed together than to imply it, modern films don't often meet my classic movie standards of discretion. There are still classic movies being made however.
An example: LA VITA E BELLA (1997) (LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL)
To me, this Italian movie embodies the creative suggestiveness and subtly that classic movies are all about. Instead of relying on special effects to create graphic scenes of the violent indignities suffered by Jews in the concentration camps of World War II, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL implies the horrors which surround its characters by showing their reactions to what they see and hear. When filmmakers choose to show these atrocities outright, as has been done in SCHINDLER'S LIST (1993) and THE PIANIST (2002), they shock, but the images are never personalized. When films don't leave anything to the audience's imagination, there is no room for the audience members to extrapolate scenes in their own minds according to their own experiences; no room to personalize the characters' experiences by imagining what these people must be seeing or hearing or feeling that could make them react like this. But the subtleties of LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL don't limit themselves to the horrors of the concentration camp. In one of the film's most romantic sequences, the leading man follows his leading lady into a greenhouse. Rather than show what they do there, the scene slowly dissolves to a shot of the same greenhouse, only this time, a little boy is playing there. The implications are obvious, the device serves to advance the plot a few years without restoring to a "Five Years Later..." inter-title, and the love scene is left to the audience's imagination. Beautiful.
Thus, to sum it all up, although most of the films featured here at Reel Classics were made under the Hollywood studio system and similar regimes in other countries, it is not the time period or conditions under which they were made that make them classics –- it is the films themselves and the approach to storytelling they embody.
© 2003 Reel Classics, LLC
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
STEPHANIE DALEY (2007)
STEPHANIE DALEY FACTS
A teenage girl, Stephanie Daley (Amber Tamblyn), is accused of murdering her newborn baby even though she insists she didn't even know she was pregnant and that the infant was stillborn. Lydie Crane (Tilda Swinton) is the forensic psychologist assigned to find out the truth behind Stephanie's story. Lydie becomes overly involved in the case due to the fact that she's pregnant herself and fears her condition is breaking up her marriage.
Photos
Trailers & Clips
Cast Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy Hutton, Jim Gaffigan, Denis O'Hare, Neal Huff (more)
Director(s) Hilary Brougher
Writer(s) Hilary Brougher
Status Upcoming (limited)
Genre(s) Drama
Release Date April 20, 2007
MPAA Rating R - for disturbing material involving teen pregnancy, sexual content and language.
Web Site Official Site for Stephanie Daley
Portions of this page copyright 2006 Muze, Inc.
For personal use only. All rights reserved.
HOT FUZZ (2007)
HOT FUZZ FACTS The team that created the outrageous horror/comedy Shaun of the Dead have teamed up again for this action/comedy about small town cops. Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) may be London's best constable, but after getting on his superiors' bad sides they have him transferred to the sleepy village of Sandford. Partnering there with an oafish lout (Nick Frost), Angel is initially bored solving inane "crimes." But he's able to get his groove back when he figures out that a series of accidents may have a sinister connection to them.
N THE LAND OF WOMEN (2007)
IN THE LAND OF WOMEN FACTS
Carter Webb (Adam Brody) gets dumped by the love of his life, Sophia (Elena Anaya), leaves Los Angeles, and escapes to suburban Michigan to care for his ailing grandmother. There, he befriends a single mom (Meg Ryan) and her two daughters (Kristen Stewart, Makenzie Vega) and gets caught up in their complicated family that make his own seem so small and inconsequential.
PERFECT STRANGER FACTS
Desperate to solve the bizarre murder of a childhood friend, an undercover reporter (Halle Berry) creates several online aliases to lull the killer out of hiding. With her new identities in place, the nosy newswoman's Internet snooping leads her straight to the powerful CEO (Bruce Willis) of a major advertising agency.
MEET THE ROBINSONS FACTS
Twelve-year-old Lewis (voice of Daniel Hansen),
a born inventor,is also an orphan who desperately wants to find his birth family.
A mysterious stranger, Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman),
claims he can take Lewis to meet them. The only catch: They live in the far-flung future where Lewis meets an oddball group of characters who get him into all sorts of bizarre predicaments.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
FLANNEL PAJAMAS (2006)
Stuart and Nicole hit it off on a blind date over the course of a romantic dinner and rainy walk. Oh, and they have great sex, too. But as they get to know each other, their different family backgrounds and some disagreements about religion threaten to break them apart for good.
BOBBY (2006)
Directed by Emilio Estevez, this historical drama revisits the night Robert F. Kennedy was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968. The film follows 22 individuals who are all at the hotel for different purposes but share the common thread of anticipating Kennedy's arrival at the primary election night party.
VACANCY (2007)
A young married couple (Kate Beckinsale, Luke Wilson) are hoping to spend a romantic getaway together, but instead they find themselves trapped in a creepy motel room and the stars of a soon-to-be-made snuff film.
DISTURBIA (2007)
Distressed by his father's untimely death, a teenager (Shia LaBeouf) begins acting out and soon finds himself under house arrest after getting into trouble one too many times. To help pass the time stuck indoors, he begins spying on his neighbors, only to become convinced that the guy living across the street is killing young women.
BLADES OF GLORY (2007)
Will Ferrell and Jon Heder play two disgraced Olympic ice skaters who were banned from the sport because of fighting at an awards ceremony but have found a way to sneak back into the competition.
ARE WE DONE YET? (2007)
Who's in It: Ice Cube, Nia Long, John C. McGinley
The Basics: After I saw Are We There Yet? I screamed in anguished, Ice-Cube-filled devotion as that movie's credits rolled. I remember sobbing, "It's over ALREADY?! That can't be the end! I have to know what happens next!" I'm just like you, reader. I feel pain when movies I love say goodbye. So it's with newfound reason-to-live that I happily (scoff) report: The sequel has arrived. In this one, Ice Cube builds his dream house for his new wife and her bratty kids. In the process, people get bonked on the head. (Translation of all that: It's a big bucket of stupid, and unless you're an eight-year-old, you'll want your money back.)
What's the Deal? It's been a long time since Mr. Cube billed himself as the "[N-word] you love to hate," or led Lollapalooza crowds in gleeful chants of "[F-bomb] you, Ice Cube!" I don't miss those days. Someone needed to replace Bill Cosby eventually as the surrogate father of us all. So I vote Ice Cube. It's not like Tim Allen's interested in the job anymore. And Ice Cube would look superamazing in those sweaters. Anyway, it's a thankless job — being warm and dull and trite, but somebody's got to do it.
One Beef I Have … OK, Truthfully I Have Many, But Here's My No. 1: Are animators that hard up for work that one of them convinced the filmmakers to eschew an actual trained raccoon for one made of pixels and air? I realize that fake animals are usually way more entertaining than real ones (Apocalypto's black panther puppet comes to mind), but I get annoyed quickly when they're so fake they don't even exist. Add that one to the movie's weirdly insistent belief that people falling down is the most uproariously funny thing there ever was … and you get the picture.
Who Deserves Better: Long, for starters. Yes, a job is a job, but decent roles for African-American actresses that don't involve time-traveling back to a walk-on in Killer of Sheep are as rare as a unicorn sighting, and this one is no exception. Then there's McGinley, a character actor you may remember as the freaked-out, way-too-handsy gay cop in Wild Hogs. And this movie is actually a step up for him.
Points For: Having the nerve to give this movie the film-critic-and-audience-heckler-taunting title of Are We Done Yet?. They could have just stuck another long car trip in this movie and called it Are We There Yet-Yet, New, Former NWA-Member Stepdad?. Or just tacked a "2" on the end or something. But no. They dare you to make the obvious joke.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
AMAZING GRACE
OUR REVIEW
by Dave White
Who's in It: Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Romola Garai, Toby Jones, Rufus Sewell
The Basics: It's about the British abolitionist William Wilberforce and how he talked and talked and talked Parliament into ending slavery. He talked for years until he made himself sick, this saintly fellow. But it's kind of difficult to feel the suspense of "Wow, how's this all going to turn out?" when the ending — they got rid of slavery eventually, FYI — is this clear-cut.
What's the Deal? Hey, history teachers everywhere, do I have a movie for you. It's full of extensively researched details, doesn't go off on fictional tangents, is morally upstanding, contains no extraneous Schindler's List-y explicit sex scenes, is as bone dry as a textbook and, best of all, to make it even more classroom-friendly — it's British. It's the kind of thing you can spend three full class days showing to your students while you grade papers you should have done during your lunch hour. The perfect slacker's lesson plan.
When Do They Get to the Part About Amazing Grace? I did, in fact, doze off twice while watching this — I blame the overheated screening room, the fact that I had just eaten lunch and the additional problem of the movie being superboring — so maybe I missed the whole "and then they wrote the song, 'Amazing Grace' " subplot. But it was only for a couple of minutes at a time, I think, because I checked my cell-phone clock, and it didn't seem like I'd been away for very long. OK, wait, I just looked it up online. It turns out that Finney's character, who's a former slave-ship captain (the one who spends the whole movie weeping in a sackcloth and mopping a church), wrote it as a form of penance. Could have fooled me, though. One minute they're arguing in Parliament, and the next, there's a band of bagpipers playing the song over the end credits. Maybe I was asleep for longer than I thought.
Who's (and What's) Good: Gruffudd as Wilberforce wrings as much sweaty anguish out of the guy as he can, so he gets points for trying hard. Also watchable is the always cool Gambon as a member of Parliament who has a change of heart about slavery. Meanwhile, it's also one of the rare movies that accomplishes making religion look like something smart people might want to participate in. So if you're one of those folks who got all bent out of shape about Jesus Camp making Christians look bad, then check this out.
The Movie I Wish I'd Seen: The one about the former slave who wrote his memoirs (played by musician Youssou N'Dour) and who is just a supporting character here. I already know what the white people did. I want to hear about this guy.
AFTER THE WEDDING
by Dave White
Who's in It: Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgård, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Stine Fischer Christensen, Christian Tafdrup
The Basics: Jacob (Mikkelsen) runs an orphanage in India that is about to close down, and he goes on a fundraising mission to his native Denmark. It turns out that the superrich guy who Jacob wants funding from is the husband of his old girlfriend. Meanwhile, the ex-girlfriend's grown daughter is Jacob's child she never told him about. Danish anguish ensues.
What's the Deal? There's a subplot here about an eight-year-old Indian boy that Jacob has raised from a baby, and it's more or less dispensed with once the problems of the rich, white people take center stage. Not that rich, white people aren't allowed to have problems in movies, but the whole time I kept thinking, "OK, I know that all of you are bummed out about the secrets and lies and whatever, but there's an eight-year-old orphan about to be turned out onto the street into child prostitution that everyone's sort of forgetting about here." It kept nagging at me and made me annoyed at most of the characters.
Otherwise It's a Decent Movie Really: The performances are moving, especially Lassgård as the rich patriarch who decides to play God with Jacob's life. And Mikkelsen is fascinatingly angry throughout. He is, after all, the guy who weeps blood tears in Casino Royale, so he's already earned his coolness points.
Number of Tissues You'll Need: Several, depending on how soft-hearted you are, because the continuing revelations and emotional meltdowns, plot surprises, reconciliations and partings may make you somewhat teary-eyed. Not me, mind you. I only cry at stuff like Charlotte's Web.
Disco Means Something Else to People in Denmark, I Suppose: The song "It's Raining Men" somehow appears on the soundtrack — not once — but twice. Now, in the United States, song would usually only wind up in something like Boat Trip and when you first hear it playing on Lassgård's car stereo, you assume he's the gay uncle coming to visit the family. Then you realize that, no, he's the dad, and he just likes the song "It's Raining Men."
ADAM'S APPLES
OUR REVIEW
by Dave White
Who's in It: Ulrich Thomsen, Mads Mikkelsen, Nicolas Bro, Paprika Steen, Ali Kazim
The Basics: It's easy to make an unrepentant Danish neo-Nazi see the error of his ways. All you have to do is sentence him to community service at a wacky little rural church run by a comically delusional and upbeat pastor and make it the bad skinhead's job to tend to the parish apple tree. Then he'll bake a pie of multicultural togetherness as the church bell's loud clang shakes the portrait of Hitler from his bedroom wall. Oops! God is the one knocking down that picture! Like a mischievous scamp!
What's the Deal? Welcome to the Book of Job. How do I know that this movie is like that Bible chapter's story about a long-suffering man's test of faith? Because there's a Bible that co-stars in this movie, and every time it falls off its resting place onto the floor, it flips open to the Book of Job. Then the camera makes sure you see it and go, "Oh, wow, the Book of Job! I get it now!" It's great when a movie does all the work for you.
I Have a Short List of Grievances:
1. See, at one point, the tree gets attacked by birds and maggots, symbolizing the struggle of the faithful and decent against the outside force of hate. And symbols that aren't part of an obtuse and weird movie by Matthew Barney starring a glob of Vaseline and Björk turning into a whale can bite me.
2. Kooky, laugh-at-them-not-with-them characters like the fat, sweaty, slovenly, always-drunk sex addict and the Muslim convenience-store robber and the frail, emotionally wrecked, knocked-up woman who gets convinced not to have an abortion and the tell-it-like-it-is doctor who says things like, "You won't live past today" to his patients. These are not characters — they're the result of some stupid build-a-loon, independent-film-character construction tool.
3. "Black comedy" needs to find humor in the blackness instead of see-sawing back and forth between brutality and simpering adorability.
The One Thing About This Movie That Isn't Annoyingly Snuggle-Bunnies: OK, it's actually two things. The performances by Thomsen and Mikkelsen (who seems to be turning into Denmark's breakout star in films that get released over here because he was also the star of After the Wedding and appeared as the guy who weeps blood in Casino Royale) as the Nazi and Minister, respectively, are deadpan enough to keep you from walking out.
Who Should, Instead, Be in Charge of Directing Black Comedies About Spiritual Warfare: Lars von Trier, Ingmar Bergman, the ghost of Flannery O' Connor or Andrei Tarkovsky
300 (2007)
OUR REVIEW
by Dave White
Who's in It: Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, David Wenham, Vincent Regan, Rodrigo Santoro
The Basics: Spartans, after a long day at the gym blasting protein and Creatine shakes to make themselves hugely muscled and eight-packed to outer space and back, enjoy nothing more than waxing their chests and backs, oiling up their pecs, lats, triceps, biceps, quads and glutes, then stripping down to loincloths and capes and chopping off the heads of their enemies.
What's the Deal? Look, I'm just reporting the facts here. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with strutting around going "GRRR" and "ROAR" all day and continuously talking about what a real man you are. It just seems like a lot of compensation for something else that the movie will never specify.
Other Film I Couldn't Get Out of My Head While I Watched It: The amazing drag-ball-and-voguing documentary Paris Is Burning, especially the part where the contest is devoted to "Butch Queens, First Time in Drag at a Ball."
Setting Aside the Whole Alpha-Dog Masculinity as Performance Paradigm for Just a Second: You should also know that this movie is a total blast of cool fighting and superviolence. I'm a huge fan of wickedly graphic bloodshed in action/adventure movies like this, and it doesn't disappoint at all on that level. It's pretty much about nothing else, really, which makes it the most pure movie I've seen so far this year.
What Else Is Great: It looks amazing and comic-bookish because it was all done against a green screen. See it in IMAX unless you're one of those people (like me) who get terrible headaches in IMAX movies. I know, I know. If I were tough like a Spartan that wouldn't happen to me.