TWO major candidates are vying for your vote, America! It's up to you to decide! Which one of these talented crooners is going home with the gold? Let's take a look at our first contender:
Barack, your voice is so sweet that it just melts my heart. You have the Reverend Al running through your veins. But why only two lines? Where's your confidence? Can't you take credit for all you accomplished in those first two lines and use it as momentum to propel you into a few more verses? Hint, hint?
I'm sorry Mitt, but I'm going to have to stop you right there. You certainly have control over your captive audience, but Mitt, buddy, where's the soul? Ray Charles injected a more-than-modest share of oomph into that song, and you seem to have removed it surgically. And speaking of the song choice, "America the Beautiful" seems a little bit pandering to me. Usually it's a desperate performer who tosses out an inevitable crowd-pleaser like that. And in the public domain, too? Are you low on funds?
All I'm saying is, why not take a risk on something new, like oh, "Fortunate Son"? Or "Taxman"? Or something with heart, perhaps dedicated to a family member, like "Up on the Roof"? Anything with pep!
So which one will it be, America? ORPERATORS ARE STANDIMG BY.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
AN OKAY YEAR AT THE MOVIES 2012 - Week 4: Money's Ball
Last year Bill Maher gave a closing monologue about the fundamental difference between football and baseball: that football is socialist, and baseball is capitalist. The NFL splits all TV revenue evenly among its teams, while Major League Baseball does not. That's why super-rich teams, like the Yankees, usually have the leg up, while not-so-rich teams, like the A's, do not.
If Moneyball does not quite represent a movement of baseball toward the even-handed conventions of football, it is the story of a true game change, in which the general manager of a lesser team figured out that throwing a pile of money into your team is not necessarily how to win. It's less a David-and-Goliath sports story than it is the legend of a financial hero. He doesn't revolutionize the system, but he does revolutionize how to work within the system. Billy Beane took a $40 million team to a 20-game winning streak, against teams that were spending upwards of $100 million per year.
It's a fascinating film, but in the same way that The Social Network lost to The King's Speech, I have a feeling that the "game change" movie will once again lose the Best Picture nod this year. Though I previously predicted that The Help would win, I think I'm changing my vote to The Artist. Though I haven't yet seen it, it seems to be making an unexpected splash and is now the favorite.
17. The Golem (1920): Jan. 22
18. Apollo 18 (2011): Jan. 23
19. Moneyball (2011): Jan. 28
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
APOLLO 18 (2011): Two spacemen go astro-nuts
While no one in Apollo 18 utters the immortal line to Houston about having a problem, the notion is certainly implied. When Ben Anderson and Nathan Walker land on the moon, they’re immediately confronted with a situation they weren’t expecting, though just how much Houston knows is a different story.
While profoundly silly, Apollo 18 is an effective little thriller in the “Twilight Zone” fashion. I can imagine Richard Matheson writing something like this back in his prime, under the premise that it was compiled from the recovered diaries of the two astronauts. The movie is supposedly edited together from 84 hours of found footage from a secret NASA mission in 1974, taking on the same motif that propelled Paranormal Activity.
The motif is put to good effect, and veteran editor Patrick Lussier does a good job of keeping the film tight while shifting points of view: from the stationary camera outside, to the stationary cameras inside the lander, to a handheld used by the two astronauts, to the camera inside the orbiting shuttle.
Director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, in his English-language debut, effectively captures the stark emptiness of the moon. Especially as communications with Houston begin to reveal the truth, the feeling of abandonment persists throughout the film, as the bleakness takes its toll on the characters. This emptiness makes it all the eerier when the astronauts begin to suspect they are not alone.
It also helps that the film looks like a 1974-era recording. While its cousin Paranormal Activity 3 tried to masquerade obvious HD digital video as VHS, Apollo 18 appears authentic. Though the premise requires that the camera be held by the characters most of the time, rather like the first Paranormal Activity, the film is skillfully photographed so that the movie shows us all we need to see while appearing spontaneous.
I won’t reveal just what happens on the moon, but it is at the same time predictable and unpredictable. Predictable, because what they find is not a world away from what any audience would expect. Unpredictable, because the movie mines most of its suspense from the characters and how they react to their situation. No matter what is out there, it’s the onset of madness that is more threatening.
The three actors--Warren Christie and Lloyd Owen as the two moonwalkers, Ryan Robbins as the man in the orbiting shuttle--give believable performances. That they are relatively unrecognizable helps the film’s premise (though if you caught the 2 episodes of “Viva Laughlin,” as I did, the image of Owen awkwardly dancing and singing along to Elton John tracks is likely etched permanently in the dark recesses of your mind).
Though the movie has its flaws--for one thing, it’s never made clear how the footage made it back to Earth, particularly from the handheld camera--it’s a short, sweet, and welcome entry in the found footage subgenre. It may not bring many surprises, but it’s well-made and quietly suspenseful.
*** out of ****
Monday, January 23, 2012
JAY LENO FINALLY OFFENDS SOMEONE, or: Why I’m Starting to Believe All That Mayan Crap
The New York Times: ArtsBeat: Indians Offended by Jay Leno Joke About Sikh Shrine
I’m no lover of Jay Leno. I have never voted Leno in any election, and you will always find me registered officially as a Team Coco member (unofficially as a Team Dave volunteer). I’ve been a staunch boycotter of The Show Formerly Known as The Tonight Show ever since Mr. Leno swooped in and snatched it away from the rightful hands of Mr. O’Brien. Conan’s Tonight Show may not yet have been a blockbuster in the ratings, but Conan did in his seven months what Leno had failed to do in his previous 16 years: he made the Tonight Show his own.
Sure, Leno did have some particular bits that he brought with him: the Headlines, Jay Walking, and such. But his main appeal seemed to be that he was universally watchable and nothing more. So naturally, having no real identity, he appealed blandly to the masses and usually eked out better ratings than Letterman. But he will never have cemented a time in TV history as “Leno’s Tonight Show” in the same way that there was “Carson’s Tonight Show” or “Jack Paar’s Tonight Show.” Even with at least 18 years under his belt, he will merely be remembered as the guy who hosted between Carson and whoever comes next.
That is not to say that I’ve never laughed at one of Leno’s jokes. Before the Conan scandal I’d occasionally tune in. I even watched his 10pm show, which, despite the awful buzz, was no worse than his 11:30 show. What makes Leno so annoying is not that he isn’t funny; it’s that he’s a little bit funny sometimes. Leno is a talented comedian, but his show is so dumbed down in order to appeal to everyone that he loses all identity. He’s the Nickelback of comedians (or, to be more accurate, Nickelback is the Jay Leno of bands).
Leno’s main goal is to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, rather than to a somewhat smaller, more committed audience that identifies with him. Conan may not have scored the same numbers, but he had people tuning in specifically to watch him. Is there anyone who turns on their TV at 11:30, excited to watch Jay Leno? His Tonight Show is exactly what NBC wants it to be: something unobtrusive that people can turn on while they’re getting ready for bed. He’s not meant to have an identity. He’s bland. Affable. Inoffensive.
But it had to happen sometime. Somebody in Leno’s photo department slipped up, and oops! Someone got offended. For the first time in his non-contiguous 18 years as host, Leno told a joke that made someone mad!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
AN OKAY YEAR AT THE MOVIES 2012 - Week 3: Don't Mess with Liam Neeson
Much like Christopher Walken, Liam Neeson seems to have carved himself a second career as a character actor. While Walken is now the go-to eccentric, Neeson has of late been mostly limited to the role of the family man who's transformed into a killing machine. Kind of like Bruce Willis, but less schlubby and more skilled. The runaway success of Taken proved that Neeson could so convincingly play the combination of an ordinary middle class schmoe and an unstoppable, brilliant black ops agent that he may be pigeonholed into that character forever. He appears to be doing much the same thing in the upcoming The Grey (and in Taken 2), and that's what he does in Jaume Collet-Serra's Unknown.
Though the movie has its flaws, no one does this sort of thing better than Neeson. He plays Martin Harris, a college professor visiting Berlin with his wife (January Jones). After a car accident leaves him in a coma for 4 days, he awakens to find that no one recognizes him. He finds his wife with another Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn), and all evidence seems to implicate him as the impostor.
Since the movie is not supernatural, there is naturally an explanation for everything, which turns out to be more predictable and less compelling than it fancies itself. But Collet-Serra, who directed the underrated remake of House of Wax as well as the top-notch horror flick Orphan, keeps things clipping along briskly, and even finds time for two excellent supporting performances from Bruno Ganz and Frank Langella, each playing a key character who may not be as he seems. Diane Kruger is also steadfast as always as a cab driver who becomes Martin's lone confidante.
At the center of it all is Neeson, who takes a virtually unplayable role and makes it believable. Faced with a seemingly otherworldly situation, he always behaves the way a human being would. Similar to his performance in Taken, he plays a character that's forced to do things that would make Superman queasy, and makes us believe that a normal guy could do them.
Gentlemen Broncos, the much-maligned most recent feature from Napoleon Dynamite creator Jared Hess, turns out to be a wickedly funny character movie. Like Napoleon, it isn't quite realism, but realism plus: its characters are perfectly normal, with just a hint of exaggeration. It's centered around a young writers' camp, at which a homeschooled boy (Michael Anganaro) turns in his own fantasy novel ("Yeast Wars: The Bronco Years") to his favorite novelist (Jemaine Clement, fantastic). Clement, a has-been with writer's block, steals the book and rewrites it as his own.
Hess populates the film with fascinatingly weird people, from Jennifer Coolidge's oddball hippie mom to Hector Jimenez as an off-putting student filmmaker who wants to shoot Anganaro's novel. Anganaro is likable as the taciturn hero, and Sam Rockwell appears in two hilariously polarized visualizations of "Yeast Wars": first Anganaro's, then Clement's.
By far the most bizarre film I've seen in a long while is Rubber, about a spare tire that kills people. The premise is irresistible, and the introduction is perfect: we see the tire awaken and learn to roll, then in full Nietzschean fashion, it discovers it can kill and so it does. This would have been enough, but director Quentin Dupieux insists on weighing the film down in more meta than it needs. He throws in a framing device about a captive audience watching the murders from a hillside, hammering into us the point that there will always be violence in entertainment as long as people are watching... yawn. If Rubber had just committed to its silly premise, and been less hamfisted about its symbolism, it might have been a nice smarter-than-average horror flick.
10. Playroom (1990): Jan. 15
11. Caddyshack II (1988): Jan. 15
12. Unknown (2011): Jan. 16
13. Carnage (2011): Jan. 16
14. Rubber (2010): Jan. 17
15. Gentlemen Broncos (2009): Jan. 17
16. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009): Jan. 19
Though the movie has its flaws, no one does this sort of thing better than Neeson. He plays Martin Harris, a college professor visiting Berlin with his wife (January Jones). After a car accident leaves him in a coma for 4 days, he awakens to find that no one recognizes him. He finds his wife with another Martin Harris (Aidan Quinn), and all evidence seems to implicate him as the impostor.
Since the movie is not supernatural, there is naturally an explanation for everything, which turns out to be more predictable and less compelling than it fancies itself. But Collet-Serra, who directed the underrated remake of House of Wax as well as the top-notch horror flick Orphan, keeps things clipping along briskly, and even finds time for two excellent supporting performances from Bruno Ganz and Frank Langella, each playing a key character who may not be as he seems. Diane Kruger is also steadfast as always as a cab driver who becomes Martin's lone confidante.
At the center of it all is Neeson, who takes a virtually unplayable role and makes it believable. Faced with a seemingly otherworldly situation, he always behaves the way a human being would. Similar to his performance in Taken, he plays a character that's forced to do things that would make Superman queasy, and makes us believe that a normal guy could do them.
Gentlemen Broncos, the much-maligned most recent feature from Napoleon Dynamite creator Jared Hess, turns out to be a wickedly funny character movie. Like Napoleon, it isn't quite realism, but realism plus: its characters are perfectly normal, with just a hint of exaggeration. It's centered around a young writers' camp, at which a homeschooled boy (Michael Anganaro) turns in his own fantasy novel ("Yeast Wars: The Bronco Years") to his favorite novelist (Jemaine Clement, fantastic). Clement, a has-been with writer's block, steals the book and rewrites it as his own.
Hess populates the film with fascinatingly weird people, from Jennifer Coolidge's oddball hippie mom to Hector Jimenez as an off-putting student filmmaker who wants to shoot Anganaro's novel. Anganaro is likable as the taciturn hero, and Sam Rockwell appears in two hilariously polarized visualizations of "Yeast Wars": first Anganaro's, then Clement's.
By far the most bizarre film I've seen in a long while is Rubber, about a spare tire that kills people. The premise is irresistible, and the introduction is perfect: we see the tire awaken and learn to roll, then in full Nietzschean fashion, it discovers it can kill and so it does. This would have been enough, but director Quentin Dupieux insists on weighing the film down in more meta than it needs. He throws in a framing device about a captive audience watching the murders from a hillside, hammering into us the point that there will always be violence in entertainment as long as people are watching... yawn. If Rubber had just committed to its silly premise, and been less hamfisted about its symbolism, it might have been a nice smarter-than-average horror flick.
10. Playroom (1990): Jan. 15
11. Caddyshack II (1988): Jan. 15
12. Unknown (2011): Jan. 16
13. Carnage (2011): Jan. 16
14. Rubber (2010): Jan. 17
15. Gentlemen Broncos (2009): Jan. 17
16. Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009): Jan. 19
Monday, January 16, 2012
CARNAGE (2011): A Children's Spat and Four Parents' Curse
Roman Polanski's Carnage, adapted from Yasmina Reza's uproarious play "God of Carnage," makes a remarkable transition from stage to screen, given its restriction mostly to one room. Polanski has a knack for giving a cinematic touch to chamber pieces; just look at his magnificent Death and the Maiden. He applies the same approach here, in taking a one-set play and translating its staginess into claustrophobia. While the play was a hilariously chaotic farce, Polanski's film--no less hilarious--stakes darker territory and turns it into a Sartrean fable in which four tunnel-visioned characters are beholden to each other and eerily forbidden from leaving.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
THE CINEMASOCHIST: Caddyshack II (1988)
The Cinemasochist takes a look at movies that have been notoriously rejected by the mass populace, and tells you if you might perchance be missing a classic. Or not.
Harold Ramis's Caddyshack was a unique occurrence. It was less a cohesive film than it was an experiment to see what happens when you throw ten or fifteen of the world's best comic actors in a room and see what happens. Nobody remembers it for its plot or its screenplay, or its perfunctory love story, or even the adorable puppet gopher who dances over the opening music. It was for the manic comic explosion that happened when Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, and Ted Knight occupied the same movie. It wasn't a smart bomb by any stretch--more of a comic splatter--but there were more hits than misses. And the actors--even Murray and Chase, who hated each other--improvised together to make it work.
Caddyshack II, perhaps inevitably, followed eight years later. Though unable to rekindle much of the original cast, it supplies a surprisingly strong road company. Chase returns as the inimitable Ty Webb. Jackie Mason steps into Rodney Dangerfield's shoes as the rich rabble-rouser who actually cares about the non-rich community. Robert Stack plays the Ted Knight role, as the upper-crust patrician who opposes him. Dan Aykroyd plays the Bill Murray role as a shady diner cook. Jonathan Silverman, Dyan Cannon, Jessica Lundy, Chynna Phillips, Dina Merrill, and Randy Quaid also step in. Ramis wrote the screenplay with Peter Torokvei, and veteran Allan Arkush (of Rock and Roll High School) takes the director's chair.
The problem? The film plays as the exact opposite of the original. While the original was an improvised masterpiece, the sequel seems meticulously planned. Nothing about it seems spontaneous. Though by no means horrible, and sometimes even funny, all the actors seem restricted, as if they're more closely scripted this time.
The plot is pretty much the same. The aristocrats of Bushwood Country Club are shaken when philanthropist Jack Hartounian (Mason) joins up. His company is in the process of building a block of low-rent apartments for low-income people, which threatens the property value of the nearby rich, notably Chandler Young (Stack). Meanwhile, Jack's daughter (Lundy) really wants to be part of the upper class, and finds herself being courted by Young's son (Brian McNamara), though a bumbling caddy (Silverman) has his eye on her.
Mason's character is one reason the movie isn't as potent as the first. Though Mason is often funny, he's far too polite to take on the Dangerfield role. His character is unimpeachable and nice; though Rodney was the hero of the first film, the funniest moments came from his crudeness in the face of the prim and proper atmosphere of the country club. Though he gets off a few one-liners, Mason is far too pleasant.
Stack is fun to watch as the straight man; though he'll never have a moment as laugh-out-loud funny as when he took off his sunglasses in Airplane!, he wisely takes the role as seriously as possible and makes a convincing punching bag. Chase also remains effortlessly funny.
Not a whole lot can be said for the rest of the film. Cannon and Silverman are wasted. Quaid mugs interminably as Jack's assistant. Aykroyd is a sorry replacement for Bill Murray; his answer to Murray's unforgettable character from the first film is to affect an irritating falsetto and act goofy.
Some of the set pieces in Caddyshack II get good laughs; others don't. But what pervades all of them is a sense that it's all been planned. Gone is the improvised atmosphere of the original, and in its place is an average '80s comedy.
** out of ****
Is it really that bad?: Well, no, but why bother with this film at all?
Pain level: Most of the time, intermediate. When either Randy Quaid or Dan Aykroyd is on screen, sharp.
Harold Ramis's Caddyshack was a unique occurrence. It was less a cohesive film than it was an experiment to see what happens when you throw ten or fifteen of the world's best comic actors in a room and see what happens. Nobody remembers it for its plot or its screenplay, or its perfunctory love story, or even the adorable puppet gopher who dances over the opening music. It was for the manic comic explosion that happened when Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, and Ted Knight occupied the same movie. It wasn't a smart bomb by any stretch--more of a comic splatter--but there were more hits than misses. And the actors--even Murray and Chase, who hated each other--improvised together to make it work.
Caddyshack II, perhaps inevitably, followed eight years later. Though unable to rekindle much of the original cast, it supplies a surprisingly strong road company. Chase returns as the inimitable Ty Webb. Jackie Mason steps into Rodney Dangerfield's shoes as the rich rabble-rouser who actually cares about the non-rich community. Robert Stack plays the Ted Knight role, as the upper-crust patrician who opposes him. Dan Aykroyd plays the Bill Murray role as a shady diner cook. Jonathan Silverman, Dyan Cannon, Jessica Lundy, Chynna Phillips, Dina Merrill, and Randy Quaid also step in. Ramis wrote the screenplay with Peter Torokvei, and veteran Allan Arkush (of Rock and Roll High School) takes the director's chair.
The problem? The film plays as the exact opposite of the original. While the original was an improvised masterpiece, the sequel seems meticulously planned. Nothing about it seems spontaneous. Though by no means horrible, and sometimes even funny, all the actors seem restricted, as if they're more closely scripted this time.
The plot is pretty much the same. The aristocrats of Bushwood Country Club are shaken when philanthropist Jack Hartounian (Mason) joins up. His company is in the process of building a block of low-rent apartments for low-income people, which threatens the property value of the nearby rich, notably Chandler Young (Stack). Meanwhile, Jack's daughter (Lundy) really wants to be part of the upper class, and finds herself being courted by Young's son (Brian McNamara), though a bumbling caddy (Silverman) has his eye on her.
Mason's character is one reason the movie isn't as potent as the first. Though Mason is often funny, he's far too polite to take on the Dangerfield role. His character is unimpeachable and nice; though Rodney was the hero of the first film, the funniest moments came from his crudeness in the face of the prim and proper atmosphere of the country club. Though he gets off a few one-liners, Mason is far too pleasant.
Stack is fun to watch as the straight man; though he'll never have a moment as laugh-out-loud funny as when he took off his sunglasses in Airplane!, he wisely takes the role as seriously as possible and makes a convincing punching bag. Chase also remains effortlessly funny.
Not a whole lot can be said for the rest of the film. Cannon and Silverman are wasted. Quaid mugs interminably as Jack's assistant. Aykroyd is a sorry replacement for Bill Murray; his answer to Murray's unforgettable character from the first film is to affect an irritating falsetto and act goofy.
Some of the set pieces in Caddyshack II get good laughs; others don't. But what pervades all of them is a sense that it's all been planned. Gone is the improvised atmosphere of the original, and in its place is an average '80s comedy.
** out of ****
Is it really that bad?: Well, no, but why bother with this film at all?
Pain level: Most of the time, intermediate. When either Randy Quaid or Dan Aykroyd is on screen, sharp.
FORGOTTEN HORRORS: Playroom (1990)
I came across a VHS of Playroom at a thrift store and was immediately compelled to buy it. Though it appeared to be your average run-of-the-mill straight-to-video horror flick, three things made it stand out. One: the director, Manny Coto, is a veteran of TV and went on to contribute to "Tales from the Crypt" and "24." Two: the presence of Vincent Schiavelli, recognizable as the gangly helpful ghost from Ghost as well as the methodical hit man from Tomorrow Never Dies, is always welcome. Three: close examination of the back of the box reveals that the film was written--no lie--by Jackie Earle Haley.
Haley was predominantly known at this point for playing the rebel Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears, and his screenplay for Playroom portrays a similarly dastardly view of childhood. Treated as a hindrance by his archaeologist father while staying at an excavation site, young Chris wakes up one night to find his entire family murdered in their sleep. Years later, Chris (now played by Christopher McDonald) heads back to the same Croatian castle to finish his father's job of discovering an ancient catacomb. He brings along his girlfriend (Lisa Aliff), as well as a photographer (James Purcell) and his wife (Jamie Rose). But Chris soon becomes haunted by the same spirits which may have visited him in his childhood.
Though it doesn't tread any new ground, Playroom is briskly paced and has a surprising sense of humor. Much of the humor is provided by Schiavelli, who plays the man accused of killing Chris's family, now confined to an insane asylum. His hulking physique makes his character immediately imposing, yet Schiavelli plays him as a personable, practical gent, lending the movie some class. Some of his dialogue is so funny that he seems to sit at a right angle to the film, much in the same way that Christopher Walken does. His reading of the line, "Okay, enough fooling around," is one of the biggest laughs in any horror movie.
McDonald is also a welcome presence as the haunted protagonist. He makes a believable transition between ambitious archaeologist and loony madman. Though he's given the impossible task of playing a convincing man-child, he pulls it off without seeming silly. Well, he's a little bit silly.
Playroom is a surprising delight for horror fans, and even delivers a few unique moments yet unseen in a horror movie (Ever seen a maniac killer eat his own boogers?). It rises far above the average low-budget scare flick, thanks to good performances and exceptional writing.
*** out of ****
NOTE: Though Playroom is not currently available on DVD, someone has made the entire film available on YouTube. I've linked to it above and I'd recommend any horror fan take a look.
AN OKAY YEAR AT THE MOVIES 2012 - Week 2: The Perpetual Runner-Up
Even nowadays, it always seems to be the traditional movie that wins the Oscar. Even when the challenger is a uniquely American story of an American kid who invented the website that revolutionized world culture from an American point of view (The Social Network), the Best Picture Oscar goes to the more traditional underdog-makes-good story of the British king who overcomes his speech impediment. The same thing will happen this year. Though the better, more moving, more surprising film of the year is The Descendants, the top Oscar will likely go to The Help.
The Descendants, like much of director Alexander Payne's work, is the story of an unexceptional man who is nonetheless a good person, trying to do the best he can. George Clooney plays Matt King, a Hawaii lawyer who's actually a rich landowner, but insists that he and his children should work for their money anyway. However, thanks to his work ethic, he hasn't gotten much of a chance to be a father to his two daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller). When his wife goes into a coma after an accident, a ton of responsibility falls into his lap. When he finds out that his wife was cheating on him, things become tougher.
Clooney channels Jimmy Stewart, proving himself adept at playing an ordinary schmoe with real problems, even as one of the World's Biggest Movie Stars. The movie also has star-making performances from Woodley and from Nick Krause as her friend Sid, whose job it is to keep her company at the most awkward times. Robert Forster, Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer are also very good in crucial roles. Like Payne's previous films Sideways and About Schmidt, The Descendants accompanies complex characters in a story that has no easy solutions.
This is why The Help will likely win the Oscar. In addition to having more of a clear-cut story arc, it's a Hollywood success story: dumped in August, it became one of the highest-grossing and most-talked-about films of 2011. The Academy loves surprise success stories: who knew that The Hurt Locker would come from behind and beat out Avatar?
5. Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000): Jan. 10
6. Water for Elephants (2011): Jan. 10
7. The Descendants (2011): Jan. 11
8. The Help (2011): Jan. 13
9. Super 8 (2011): Jan. 13
The Descendants, like much of director Alexander Payne's work, is the story of an unexceptional man who is nonetheless a good person, trying to do the best he can. George Clooney plays Matt King, a Hawaii lawyer who's actually a rich landowner, but insists that he and his children should work for their money anyway. However, thanks to his work ethic, he hasn't gotten much of a chance to be a father to his two daughters (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller). When his wife goes into a coma after an accident, a ton of responsibility falls into his lap. When he finds out that his wife was cheating on him, things become tougher.
Clooney channels Jimmy Stewart, proving himself adept at playing an ordinary schmoe with real problems, even as one of the World's Biggest Movie Stars. The movie also has star-making performances from Woodley and from Nick Krause as her friend Sid, whose job it is to keep her company at the most awkward times. Robert Forster, Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer are also very good in crucial roles. Like Payne's previous films Sideways and About Schmidt, The Descendants accompanies complex characters in a story that has no easy solutions.
This is why The Help will likely win the Oscar. In addition to having more of a clear-cut story arc, it's a Hollywood success story: dumped in August, it became one of the highest-grossing and most-talked-about films of 2011. The Academy loves surprise success stories: who knew that The Hurt Locker would come from behind and beat out Avatar?
5. Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys (2000): Jan. 10
6. Water for Elephants (2011): Jan. 10
7. The Descendants (2011): Jan. 11
8. The Help (2011): Jan. 13
9. Super 8 (2011): Jan. 13
Friday, January 13, 2012
THE HELP (2011)
The Help is not a great film, but it is an important one. To be sure, it's not a hard-hitting or complex picture of racial relations, nor does it seek to be. It chooses to be a Hollywood movie, with clear-cut heroes and villains, comic relief and drama. Though it doesn't cut as deep as we've come to expect a film about racial tension to do, it is nonetheless a jarring reminder of the relative youth of the Civil Rights Movement. It takes place in 1963 Mississippi--less than fifty years ago and in a recognizable America--but considering the racial relations it may as well have been Civil War-era. Black people were still bullied out of the voting booth, sent to separate schools, even forbidden from talking to white people at times. Again: less than fifty years ago.
The Help tells the story of the beginning of the turning of the tide. While segregation still holds and the community of Jackson, Miss., still suffers under Jim Crow, Martin Luther King is marching on Washington and planting the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement. In the meantime, a plucky young college graduate named Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns to Jackson hoping to become a journalist, though she settles for a job as housekeeping advice columnist for the local newspaper.
Not knowing much about housekeeping, she asks her friend's housemaid Aibileen (Viola Davis) for help. Stricken by how Aibileen is treated, Skeeter soon wants to know more about her side of the story: something which most of the white community of Jackson could not care less about. She begins to compile Aibileen's and other black women's stories into a book, "The Help."
Critics of the film have written it off as a white-woman-saves-all-the-black-people story, as though all the black community needed was one nice white person to lead them to victory. This is missing the point. The movie is more about the beginnings of change in America; Skeeter's interest in the "help's" side of the story parallels the nation's gravitation away from casual ignorance and toward equal rights.
Viola Davis owns the film as Aibileen. The movie's biggest discovery--which not many movies have touched on before--is that black housemaids were often more than simple house help, but also mothers to the children of their employers. Davis perfectly captures a woman disenchanted by her mistreatment, but torn by her genuine love for the little girl she's been taking care of. Octavia Spencer is also dynamic as fellow housemaid Minny, and her scenes with her new employer, an outcast socialite named Celia (Jessica Chastain), are quite moving.
The movie's Hollywood conventions do get the better of it at times. Though Stone is very good, the movie poses too much interest in her character; though her relationship with the maid that raised her (Cicely Tyson, who's magnificent) is central to the story, I have to confess I didn't much care about Skeeter's romantic sub-plot. The movie continues to reintroduce a boring love interest (Chris Lowell) when he might just as well have been dismissed.
The movie's arch villain, a snippy little housewife named Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) is so dastardly as to be inhuman. Hilly is nasty to her maids, nasty to her friends, and does everything short of twirl a mustache to signify that she is evil. It's to Howard's credit that the character is chilling rather than silly. Sissy Spacek gives a good performance as Hilly's senile mother, though in an otherwise highbrow movie her character seems to have graduated from the Adam Sandler School for Funky Grandmas.
Though it has its shortfalls as a major studio release, The Help is still an honest and affecting film. As a Hollywood film, it's less daring than an independent film might have been, and falls easily into convention. But the movie still has a compelling story to tell, and the performances by Davis, Spencer, Tyson, and Chastain are completely authentic. It was a crime that Davis did not win the Oscar for Doubt, and if she does not win this year, it will be a crime again.
*** 1/2 out of ****
The Help tells the story of the beginning of the turning of the tide. While segregation still holds and the community of Jackson, Miss., still suffers under Jim Crow, Martin Luther King is marching on Washington and planting the seeds of the Civil Rights Movement. In the meantime, a plucky young college graduate named Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns to Jackson hoping to become a journalist, though she settles for a job as housekeeping advice columnist for the local newspaper.
Not knowing much about housekeeping, she asks her friend's housemaid Aibileen (Viola Davis) for help. Stricken by how Aibileen is treated, Skeeter soon wants to know more about her side of the story: something which most of the white community of Jackson could not care less about. She begins to compile Aibileen's and other black women's stories into a book, "The Help."
Critics of the film have written it off as a white-woman-saves-all-the-black-people story, as though all the black community needed was one nice white person to lead them to victory. This is missing the point. The movie is more about the beginnings of change in America; Skeeter's interest in the "help's" side of the story parallels the nation's gravitation away from casual ignorance and toward equal rights.
Viola Davis owns the film as Aibileen. The movie's biggest discovery--which not many movies have touched on before--is that black housemaids were often more than simple house help, but also mothers to the children of their employers. Davis perfectly captures a woman disenchanted by her mistreatment, but torn by her genuine love for the little girl she's been taking care of. Octavia Spencer is also dynamic as fellow housemaid Minny, and her scenes with her new employer, an outcast socialite named Celia (Jessica Chastain), are quite moving.
The movie's Hollywood conventions do get the better of it at times. Though Stone is very good, the movie poses too much interest in her character; though her relationship with the maid that raised her (Cicely Tyson, who's magnificent) is central to the story, I have to confess I didn't much care about Skeeter's romantic sub-plot. The movie continues to reintroduce a boring love interest (Chris Lowell) when he might just as well have been dismissed.
The movie's arch villain, a snippy little housewife named Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) is so dastardly as to be inhuman. Hilly is nasty to her maids, nasty to her friends, and does everything short of twirl a mustache to signify that she is evil. It's to Howard's credit that the character is chilling rather than silly. Sissy Spacek gives a good performance as Hilly's senile mother, though in an otherwise highbrow movie her character seems to have graduated from the Adam Sandler School for Funky Grandmas.
Though it has its shortfalls as a major studio release, The Help is still an honest and affecting film. As a Hollywood film, it's less daring than an independent film might have been, and falls easily into convention. But the movie still has a compelling story to tell, and the performances by Davis, Spencer, Tyson, and Chastain are completely authentic. It was a crime that Davis did not win the Oscar for Doubt, and if she does not win this year, it will be a crime again.
*** 1/2 out of ****
Monday, January 9, 2012
THE CINEMASOCHIST: Leonard Part 6 (1987)
The Cinemasochist takes a look at movies that have been notoriously rejected by the mass populace, and tells you if you might perchance be missing a classic. Or not.
On second thought, the only person who could have possibly conceived this movie as a star vehicle for Bill Cosby is Bill Cosby. No outside person would have ever looked at his standup, looked at his popular sitcom, looked at his place in the pantheon of comedy history, and reached the conclusion that the perfect role for him would be as a slapstick James Bond-style spy/action hero with barely any dialogue. Critics are quick to point out incredulously that the great Cosby was co-writer and producer of this gargantuan mess. That isn’t the unbelievable part; what’s incredible is that he found someone else to collaborate with him on it.
On second thought, the only person who could have possibly conceived this movie as a star vehicle for Bill Cosby is Bill Cosby. No outside person would have ever looked at his standup, looked at his popular sitcom, looked at his place in the pantheon of comedy history, and reached the conclusion that the perfect role for him would be as a slapstick James Bond-style spy/action hero with barely any dialogue. Critics are quick to point out incredulously that the great Cosby was co-writer and producer of this gargantuan mess. That isn’t the unbelievable part; what’s incredible is that he found someone else to collaborate with him on it.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
AN OKAY YEAR AT THE MOVIES 2012 - Week 1: Master of Horror (Fmr.)
It’s not easy to admit it when one of your favorite directors is inexorably past his prime. That’s why it’s pretty painful, albeit true, that John Carpenter hasn’t really done anything of note lately. The closest he’s come to making a decent film in the past fifteen years is his first episode of “Masters of Horror,” Cigarette Burns, which echoed Lovecraft and was reminiscent of Carpenter’s own underrated In the Mouth of Madness. But aside from that gem, Carpenter’s work has just not been up to snuff: Vampires was a bore; his attempt to enter the abortion debate in Pro-Life was confusing; Ghosts of Mars was flat-out awful.
Though The Ward promises to be a return to form for the Halloween creator, it ultimately fizzles. It could simply be that after several lackluster films in a row, Carpenter just can’t get a good screenplay. All the pieces are in place for The Ward to be a perfectly acceptable shocker, except that the writing is terrible, and the movie has one of those endings that makes you roll your eyes with the velocity of a jet engine.
Still, Carpenter does his best with it. He especially makes a believable environment out of the Ward itself: a typically drab, confining psych ward at an industrial-looking hospital. Kristen (Amber Heard) has been sent there after burning down a house, and along with several of the other inmates (Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Lyndsy Fonseca, Laura-Leigh) begins to suspect that there is a supernatural presence lurking there.
Carpenter uses the building to its full effect, and stages a number of neat chase sequences. The cat-and-mouse game between Kristen and one of the orderlies (Dan Anderson) is so much fun that you wish the movie had ditched the whole ghost thing and been about the two of them. The supernatural being haunting the ward seems to follow no rules and can appear at any place and any time, which means that its only goal must be to sneak up on the characters and go “Boo!” This becomes tiresome after a while.
Though the screenplay by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen doesn’t give them much other than stereotype to work with, the cast is exceptional. Heard is very good as the strong-willed Kristen. Gummer, the daughter of Meryl Streep, takes a fairly one-note character and makes her likable.
Though The Ward doesn’t come remotely close to Carpenter’s early work, the shades of the old master still show. With a better screenplay, he may have come closer to making one more truly unique Carpenter film, but as it is, he’s still in a slump.
On the other side, one pair of directors who—though also past their prime—are still doing some pretty decent work is the Farrelly Brothers. Though it’s been a while since their blend of sweetness and vulgarity has been the rage, their most recent film, Hall Pass, is a surprisingly endearing and often laugh-out-loud funny exploration of the male ego.
The Farrellys have often centered their films on some kind of human disability or detriment and explored how their characters deal with it, whether it be obesity in Shallow Hal, conjoined twins in Stuck on You, or just plain absent-mindedness in Dumb and Dumber. Here, their disability of choice is maleness.
Like many other Farrelly films, it is a Premise Movie: a couple of sexually frustrated, testosterone-fueled middle-aged guys (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) get permission from their wives to take a “week off” from marriage, in hopes that their relationships will be stronger afterward. There is essentially one joke in the movie—that Wilson and Sudeikis are so far out of touch that they don’t have the slightest idea what to do with their newfound freedom—but because of an exceptional cast, the one joke is able to sustain itself.
In less capable hands, the movie might have seemed lame; the two gents’ frequent use of dated pickup lines seems a little extreme, even for them. But Wilson and Sudeikis are completely believable as the two goofs, and we’re with them all the way. Stephen Merchant (Ricky Gervais’s collaborator on “The Office” and “Extras”) is also very funny as one of their friends, as is the irreplaceable Richard Jenkins as a rich playboy who takes them under his wing. Yes, you read that right.
1. Hall Pass (2011): Jan. 2
2. The Ward (2011): Jan. 2
3. The Muppets (2011): Jan. 2
4. The Maid (2005): Jan. 6
A weak start, I know. But I’ll pick it up as we go along.
Though The Ward promises to be a return to form for the Halloween creator, it ultimately fizzles. It could simply be that after several lackluster films in a row, Carpenter just can’t get a good screenplay. All the pieces are in place for The Ward to be a perfectly acceptable shocker, except that the writing is terrible, and the movie has one of those endings that makes you roll your eyes with the velocity of a jet engine.
Still, Carpenter does his best with it. He especially makes a believable environment out of the Ward itself: a typically drab, confining psych ward at an industrial-looking hospital. Kristen (Amber Heard) has been sent there after burning down a house, and along with several of the other inmates (Mamie Gummer, Danielle Panabaker, Lyndsy Fonseca, Laura-Leigh) begins to suspect that there is a supernatural presence lurking there.
Carpenter uses the building to its full effect, and stages a number of neat chase sequences. The cat-and-mouse game between Kristen and one of the orderlies (Dan Anderson) is so much fun that you wish the movie had ditched the whole ghost thing and been about the two of them. The supernatural being haunting the ward seems to follow no rules and can appear at any place and any time, which means that its only goal must be to sneak up on the characters and go “Boo!” This becomes tiresome after a while.
Though the screenplay by Michael and Shawn Rasmussen doesn’t give them much other than stereotype to work with, the cast is exceptional. Heard is very good as the strong-willed Kristen. Gummer, the daughter of Meryl Streep, takes a fairly one-note character and makes her likable.
Though The Ward doesn’t come remotely close to Carpenter’s early work, the shades of the old master still show. With a better screenplay, he may have come closer to making one more truly unique Carpenter film, but as it is, he’s still in a slump.
On the other side, one pair of directors who—though also past their prime—are still doing some pretty decent work is the Farrelly Brothers. Though it’s been a while since their blend of sweetness and vulgarity has been the rage, their most recent film, Hall Pass, is a surprisingly endearing and often laugh-out-loud funny exploration of the male ego.
The Farrellys have often centered their films on some kind of human disability or detriment and explored how their characters deal with it, whether it be obesity in Shallow Hal, conjoined twins in Stuck on You, or just plain absent-mindedness in Dumb and Dumber. Here, their disability of choice is maleness.
Like many other Farrelly films, it is a Premise Movie: a couple of sexually frustrated, testosterone-fueled middle-aged guys (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) get permission from their wives to take a “week off” from marriage, in hopes that their relationships will be stronger afterward. There is essentially one joke in the movie—that Wilson and Sudeikis are so far out of touch that they don’t have the slightest idea what to do with their newfound freedom—but because of an exceptional cast, the one joke is able to sustain itself.
In less capable hands, the movie might have seemed lame; the two gents’ frequent use of dated pickup lines seems a little extreme, even for them. But Wilson and Sudeikis are completely believable as the two goofs, and we’re with them all the way. Stephen Merchant (Ricky Gervais’s collaborator on “The Office” and “Extras”) is also very funny as one of their friends, as is the irreplaceable Richard Jenkins as a rich playboy who takes them under his wing. Yes, you read that right.
1. Hall Pass (2011): Jan. 2
2. The Ward (2011): Jan. 2
3. The Muppets (2011): Jan. 2
4. The Maid (2005): Jan. 6
A weak start, I know. But I’ll pick it up as we go along.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
AN OKAY YEAR AT THE MOVIES 2012: One man. One year. 366 movies. Approximately 732 minutes. No mercy.
With all the New Year's resolutions flying about, we at Torturously Okay have one of our own.
This year, the Year of Our Lord (or lack of Lord, depending on your background) 2012, Torturously Okay will watch a movie a day.
All movies that we have never seen. And we'll write about it each week.
Naturally, since we at T.Ok. have a job and a personal life, there will be some days where no movies will be watched. There will be some days where more than one will be watched. But at the end, 366 movies will have been viewed.
It can be done. In 2007 we performed a similar experiment, and got up to 379.
Here are the rules:
This year, the Year of Our Lord (or lack of Lord, depending on your background) 2012, Torturously Okay will watch a movie a day.
All movies that we have never seen. And we'll write about it each week.
Naturally, since we at T.Ok. have a job and a personal life, there will be some days where no movies will be watched. There will be some days where more than one will be watched. But at the end, 366 movies will have been viewed.
It can be done. In 2007 we performed a similar experiment, and got up to 379.
Here are the rules:
- All movies must begin after 12:00am on January 1 and be finished by 11:59pm on December 31. The date listed on each entry is the date of completion. No movie can have been viewed in any significant amount by T.Ok. before January 1 of this year. For example, I've gotten through about an hour of Red Riding Hood (by the grace of God). Although I will technically finish watching it in 2012, it will not count.
- All movies will be feature-length (at least 40 minutes).
- All movies must be cinematic releases (theatrical, DVD, on-demand); no TV movies or miniseries, unless they were slated for simultaneous or eventual theatrical release (e.g. Carlos or the Red Riding trilogy).
- To see every film by the following directors: Martin Scorsese, Orson Welles, Michael Haneke, Robert Altman, Brian De Palma.
- To have seen at least one film by each of the following directors: Robert Bresson, Satjayit Ray, Yasujiro Ozu, Emeric Pressburger, Lindsay Anderson, Jean Rollin, Atom Egoyan, Kenneth Loach, Jean Cocteau, Douglas Sirk, Wim Wenders, Luchino Visconti, Alejandro Jodorowsky.
- To watch both Cannonball Run movies and the remaining Smokey and the Bandit films, as well as Stroker Ace.
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