Darkman

Unable to secure the rights to The Shadow or Batman, director Sam Raimi combined the two into a film that sparks of those inspirations along with Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the yet to be made Face/Off.  Coming off of the first two Evil Dead movies, it is difficult to tell whether Raimi was bringing his cheesy graphic horror sensibilities to play with a grittier character driven super hero tale or vice versa.  Either way, the result has become a cult classic, as has pretty much everything else he's done.

Liam Neeson plays Peyton, a scientist working on a revolutionary artificial skin.  When his girlfriend (Frances McDormand) stumbles across a memo she shouldn't have seen, Payton finds himself caught in the middle as the Mobster mobster Durant (Larry Drake) and his goons come looking for it.  Peyton is apparently killed in the explosion that the mobsters inflict on his lab, but miraculously survives.  Disfigured inside and out, Peyton uses his technology to exact revenge and win back the girl as the vigilante Darkman.  Colin Friels also stars and longtime Raimi friend Bruce Campbell cameos.  Darkman also features one of Danny Elfman's earlier scores.

This film certainly shows its age.  Green screen scenes are laughable and the CG is rudimentary.  The special effects overall are a combination of coming from 1990 and Sam Raimi's stylistic approach, featuring lots of double exposures, crazy flashbacks, mirrored camera work and explosions.  The character of Darkman is interesting, though Neeson portrays him in some sort of overacted style that is half appropriate and half jarring.  In many ways this is not what you would call a good movie.  The plot is ridiculous, the acting cheesy along with the special effects, and the cinematography is outdated, even for the 90's.  There is something oddly compelling about the characters and story though.

The characters all take themselves much more seriously than we do, which is, I think, something of a trademark of Raimi's.  He's come a long way since Darkman, as evidenced by the more recent Spider Man films.  Though he still likes to include Bruce Campbell.

*** (3/5 stars)

Megamind

Megamind, in theatres November 5th is Dreamworks' answer to Despicable Me.  Will Ferrell  voices the titular likable villain and Brad Pitt is Metro Man, the Superman-esque guardian of Meto City (or Metrocity, rhymes with atrocity) according to Megamind's charmingly unique diction.

Megamind and Metro Man have both grown up on Earth as rivals, having been sent away from dying world's at the same time.  Things are pretty predictable as Megamind comes up with some devious plot to kidnap the Lois Lane type - Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) or undermine his nemesis in some other way and Metro Man saves the day with ease.  David Cross is Megamind's faithful fishbowl minion, Jonah Hill is more or less himself in the form of Hal, the lovestruck camera man boy, and Ben Stiller, who executive produces makes a cameo as Bernard, the librarian.

It's looking to be another day of trickery and Roxanne Ritchi rescuing for the two rivals until it appears that Megamind has inexplicably and unexpectedly succeeded in eliminating Metro Man from the picture.  To say more would be to ruin some of this film's fun surprises.

In some ways, this film has a lot in common with Despicable Me.  The villain is the likable star of the show, with possible redemption on the plate.  Make no mistake, however, this is it's own film in every way, satirizing the super hero / super villain genre in a rollicking funny adventure set to 80's rock.  When I first saw the casting choice of Ferrell, I was dubious.  When Will Ferrel is Will Ferrel, he is immature in a way that I don't often find funny in the least.  Thankfully, here, he is 100% Megamind, eccentric alien genius villain who occasionally has bouts of melonkalee.  Brad Pitt exudes cheesy all American hero from outer space, Tina Fey plays the female reporter in distress-but-not-really role perfectly and Jonah Hill is Jonah Hill.

Thanks to some very selective trailers (though there are some new ones surfacing that you should avoid at all costs) there are plenty of clever twists.  Not so much unforeseeable as just unexpected due to the expectations built up from what little Dreamworks has said about the movie up until now.  Even having known about some of them before hand, I still found plenty to enjoy here.

While no one has yet come close to touching Pixar, in my opinion, it is gratifying to see animated films worth seeing come out of other studios lately.  See it in 3D if you can - it adds to the fun.

***** (5/5 stars)

Hereafter

Despite the trailers - which are entirely made up of cliches by the way - this film is not the new Sixth Sense with Matt Damon.  It is, instead, three interlaced vignettes that gently converge by the end, telling the story of three people and their experiences with death and the beyond.

Cécile de France is Marie, a French television journalist (a third of this movie is in French by the way) who barely survives a tsunami, having a near - or slightly beyond near - death experience.  Marcus (Frankie McLaren) is a twelve year old British boy whose twin brother Jason (George McLaren) is suddenly killed, leaving him feeling utterly alone.  Matt Damon is George, just a guy trying to live a normal life after spending years as a successful psychic, having the gifted curse of connecting to people's passed relatives.  Jay Mohr is oddly cast as George's brother and Richard Kind appears as well.

Director Clint Eastwood tries to weave a thought provoking, introspective drama about dealing with death and what happens afterward that is marketed as an action packed paranormal party.  If ever there was an example of deceptive marketing, this is it.  There is nothing in the trailers to give you any clue that Matt Damon is on screen for less than a third of the movie and there are other characters just as important, and possibly more interesting.  Other than the gut wrenching opening, there is also very little action here.  This would be forgivable if the viewer is being happily tricked into seeing something much better than what they expected, but alas, this is not so. 

Hereafter is more or less a solid film that plays very flat.  It's like a straight stone hallway with four walls.  You can see the ends quite clearly and there isn't anything in between.  It is a nice walk though, and there are some interesting pictures hanging on the walls to look at along the way.

There are sure to be a few people that adore this film, and I could probably concede to a good argument on it's merit, but it was much less than promised and not even as much as it should have been.

*** (3/5 stars)

Date Night

Steve Carell and Tina Fey are Phil and Claire Foster, an average couple who never has time for anything particularly exciting in their lives any more.  In this movie, something "exciting" happens.

After learning that their friends, played by Mark Ruffalo and Kristen Wiig, are getting a divorce, Phil and Claire try to spice up their own life in various ways, culminating with leaving their children with the sitter at their New Jersey home and venture into Manhattan to have dinner at an exclusive restaurant.  When they're denied a seat because they didn't have a reservation, Phil claims to be the Tripplehorns (later to be seen as James Franco and Mila Kunis), a couple who has not shown up. Things are working out fine until a couple of thugs (Common and Jimmi Simpson) show up looking for the Tripplehorns, thus launching a mistaken identity night of car chases and Mark Wahlberg's abs.  Ray Liotta, will.i.am, and Olivia Munn also appear.

This movie would have been a lot better if Phil and Claire from Modern Family had replaced Carell and Fey.  As funny as the two of them can be, I didn't see them as anything but Steve Carell and Tina Fey - their characters never came through and it felt more like an extended SNL skit with a big budget.  Half the jokes revolve around people being appalled that the couple took someone else's reservation and not being concerned about the fact that the mob and crooked cops are chasing a couple around the city.  The other half of the jokes were already in the trailers.

There were a couple chuckles here and there, but a comedy needs more than a couple of laughs.  It seems like the actors were having a lot of fun - off screen.  I get the feeling that there were a lot of inside jokes and out takes that made what they were doing and saying seem a lot funnier at the time, but none of that made it into the final cut.

Date Night is not funny and borders on tedious - sad to say.

** (2/5 stars)

Animal Crackers

Adapted from an earlier broadway musical by the same name, Animal Crackers, from 1930 is one of the many comedies filmed by the Marx Brothers.  The film stars the four of them - Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, and Zeppo Marx, as well as Lillian Roth and Margaret Dumont.

Groucho is Captain Spalding, returned from an African exploration, and entertains Mrs. Rittenhouse (Dumont) at a party with such classics as "One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know."  Zeppo is Spalding's assistant, Horatio Jamison.  Chico is Signor Emanuel Ravelli, who is apparently in charge of the music at the party, along with The Professor (Harpo).  Lillian Roth plays Mrs. Rittenhouse's niece.

The plot, as much as there is one, revolves around a valuable painting being unveiled at the party and various people stealing/swapping the painting for various reasons that don't always make sense.

I seem to remember the Marx brothers being funnier than this movie was.  Maybe it's just this particular movie, but most of Animal Crackers was just not funny.  It suffers from scenes going on for far too long, something which many comedies of the time seemed to.  I don't know if we just don't have the same attention span anymore or if comedic timing has just evolved successfully, or perhaps a bit of both.  I'm sure many of the jokes were much funnier for people alive in the 20's, but if you're not a history buff, they probably won't do it for ya.

The Marx Brothers had some smarter humour than, say, the Three Stooges, but that is their downfall as it dates them terribly.

**(2/5 stars)

Let the Right One In

Let The Right One In is a Swedish vampire film based on the novel of the same name by John Ajvide Lindqvist and is currently in American theatres in the form of the remake Let Me In which stars Chloë Moretz.

Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) is a twelve year old boy who is something of a nobody.  He is bullied at school constantly.  He fantasizes about standing up to those who push him around, but can't actually do anything when it comes down to it.  He meets a girl,  Eli (Lina Leandersson), who is apparently his age and also lives in his building.  A unique friendship and young romance begins to form.  Oskar has no idea how unique it is going to  be, however, until he realizes that his new friend is a vampire who needs to kill for human blood in order to survive.

Let The Right One In has enjoyed an incredibly positive critical reception, as evidenced by the fact it had a limited US release and was quickly optioned for an American remake.  Visually, this is a beautifully created film, utilizing a lot of geometric scenery and snowy settings that enhance the off balance melancholic mood.  Unlike many vampire stories, especially as of late, this is a very realistic representation of the mythical beings.  The supernatural/magical qualities of the vampires are seriously underplayed with the focus on the fact that here is a being who just wants to live, and can't unless she continually takes other lives.  There is a disturbing blend of innocence and the macabre between Oskar and Eli and the other kids at school.

There is a mostly consistent feeling and pace throughout the whole thing that keeps it believable and the viewer attached.  There was one scene, the one with the cats, that almost worked wonderfully, but didn't quite succeed because of the lower quality of the effects.  Instead of being super disturbing it was a little distracting and just a lot disturbing. 

The two kids are amazing as they capture the young nature of their characters in a mature fashion beyond what most their age could.  In the same way it takes a genius to really successfully portray a fool, usually it takes an older person to really pull off a younger character.  The actors here are the age of their roles, adding so much realism, believability, and genuineness.

Some foreign films feel a lot like a Hollywood flick, with perhaps the language giving it away.  This is not one of them.  There is that edge to it that says "I'm not from around here," and that works to the film's advantage from the point of view of an American audience.  It will be interesting to see if that feeling can be replicated in the remake.

I'm not a fan of vampires, which does taint my view of this film, but I hope it also adds credence to how good this movie really is that I enjoyed it as much as I did, despite the subject matter.

**** (4/5 stars)

Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers is something of a cult classic, very loosely adapted from the 1959 novel.  In a controversial militaristic world that could be interpreted as satirical, a group of high school graduates enlist in the military to join the fight against a barrage of alien bugs.  Doing so ensures their place as citizens.

Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien) follows his girlfriend Carmen (Denise Richards) into the military, along with their psychic friend Carl (Neil Patrick Harris) and end up as an infantryman, pilot, and secret service operative, respectively.  As they start their new lives, each goes their separate ways.  Johnny ends up with Dizzy (Dina Meyer), and old classmate who is in love with him and is at the mercy of Sgt. Zim (Clancy Brown) who drills like no other.  Carmen falls in love with flying while working with Johnny's old rival Zander (Patrick Muldoon).  Carl disappears into the secrecy of his position.  Their paths are sure to cross again.  Michael Ironside and Jake Busey also appear.

The special effects are top notch for 1997 and still watchable today.  The acting is nothing special by any count.  The story is surprisingly bland for everything it has to work with.  The thing I found hardest to figure out was what audience this was made for.  There are gruesome deaths, explicit nudity, and a bit of language.  It apparently only narrowly avoided an NC-17 rating, yet it lacks the gritty realism of an adult action movie.  It also doesn't have the humour of a teen flick.  It's hard to tell if it is taking itself seriously or not, and how much is supposed to be satire.  There are some seemingly obviously satirical parts, such as how their uniforms (especially Harris's) resemble those of German Nazis, but there is never that moment when consequences of this way of life are shown in a way that says, yes, this is satire.  There are, in fact, no negative consequences of kill first, never ask questions, other than some friends getting lost along the way, but such is life.

Overall, it is watchable and not disenjoyalble.  There are some interesting parts, but is mostly offbeat in a way that it probably should not be.

*** (3/5 stars)

It's Kind of a Funny Story

It's Kind of a Funny Story is based on Ned Vizzini's 2006 novel of the same name.  Craig (relative new comer Keir Gilchrist) is 16 and depressed.  His parents (Lauren Graham and Jim Gaffigan) want him to excel and the stress from that, along with everything else in a 16 year old's life leads him to a point where he starts thinking suicide.  Seeking a quick fix, and not really wanting to end it all, he checks himself into a psychiatric ward looking for help.  What he finds are some really unique people including Bob (Zach Galifianakis) who is a longtime patient, and Noelle (Emma Roberts) who's teenage depression is a bit worse than his own.  Zoë Kravitz, Aasif Mandvi, and Jeremy Davies add to the cast.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but I didn't think it would end up being such a heartfelt tale with a delightful sense of humour.  Having been severely disappointed by The Hangover, though I am apparently in the minority on that one, I didn't have much reason to think I would enjoy seeing ZG (as I hope he will become known as very soon and save some pronunciation and typing difficulties) again.  Surprisingly I found him to an extremely likable, believable character that had real heart and a wit sharpened with an unusually shaped blade.  He pretty much stole every scene he was in.

Gilchrist played the introspective indie character role well, not drifting into the somewhat annoying loser territory perpetually inhabited by Michael Cera.  His narration felt genuine and his fantasies were enjoyable.  This is Scrubs, if Scrubs took place in a mental hospital with younger characters and a little bit more seriousness.

I wish Roberts' character was more developed.  She really was important, yet lacked a bit of depth that the other two main players were given.  Nothing against her performance, it seems to be more of a writing thing.  I know this is not her story, but for how important she becomes, not much is said about her.

The supporting cast all does a great job, though I'm not sure why Davie's had the part he did.  I have a feeling it might have been a bigger role that ended up on the cutting room floor.

I really enjoyed this movie, much more than I expected.  I've heard some talk about how it is a bad representation of depression, but I found it to be a positive look at one.  At the same time, it expresses how our problems are not as big as we think - it's all about perspective, while allowing that just because someone "shouldn't" be depressed, it can still become a serious burden.  This movie is probably going to be overlooked by many movie goers and critics, but it shouldn't be.

**** (4/5 stars)

Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

As the title so blatantly tells it, Precious is based on the novel Push by Sapphire.  From the summaries, the movie seems to follow the novel very closely, though apparently did leave out a few aspects of the story near the end.

Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe is Claireece "Precious" Jones, a 16 year old black girl living in Harlem with her vocally and physically abusive mother (an award winning Mo'Nique) who only keeps Precious around for the welfare money.  Pregnant with her second child, both times the product of her father (Rodney 'Bear' Jackson) raping her, she finds herself kicked out of school, her only other option being Each One Teach One, an alternative school where she meets her teacher Blu Rain (Paula Patton) who is the first person she's ever known who actually seems to care about her.  Sapphire, Lenny Kravitz, and Mariah Carey appear as well.

Precious is not based on a true story but it still rings true as I'm sure there are more than one Precious out there.  It may be a work of fiction but its base in reality is what makes this film really work.  It employs multiple cinematographic techniques that are not usually seen together.  On one hand it is filmed docu-style.  Not quite Cloverfield, but the hand-held work is similar to something like Modern Family or The Office.  There are certain stylized shots in slow motion though, there are flashbacks as well as daydreams that are far flung from reality.  It's rather bizarre when you think about it, yet makes sense.  Life is not so straightforward as a documentary.  It has parts that feel like they're going at different speeds than others, and people drift into their imaginations all the time.  The unrealistic aspects actually make this a more realistic experience.

The acting, no surprise given the attention that has been brought to it, is admirable.  The performances given by Sidibe and Mo'Nique are raw, cutting, and powerful.  These are not actors, they are these people.  The chillingly emotional scenes and harsh language define their lives and are enough to make even the least compassionate person wish they could at least do something for these people whose lives seem like an impassable thing.

I'm not sure what was missing from the end, but it felt slightly unfulfilled.  Other than that, superb.

**** (4/5 stars)

Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso was the only Miyazaki film I had not yet seen and is probably the most different from all his other tales.

Porco (Michael Keaton), originally Italian ace pilot Marco, is a bounty hunter in the Adriatic Sea in 1929.  Through events that are never definitively explained, Marco has been transformed into a pig, leaving Marco behind and becoming Porco Rosso (The Red Pig).  In a world where sea planes rule, he protects others from air/sea pirates including the Mamma Aiuto Gang whose boss is voiced by Brad Garrett.  Even though they are rivals, there is a certain understanding between Porco and the pirates that allows them to co-exist.  Some of the pirates tire of this, however, and contract American flying ace Curtis (a southern accented Cary Elwes) to shoot him down.

There's also a love interest, Madame Gina (Broadway star Susan Egan), and a young mechanic girl named Fio (Kimberly Williams-Paisley) who is mature beyond her years.

Despite starring a flying pig, this could pretty much be classified as historical fiction.  There's commentary on Italian fascism and flashbacks to WWI.  It is easily one of Miyazaki's most realistic films despite Porco's condition.  In some ways, this works, but at the same time it means that there's a certain magic that usually embodies a Miyazaki film that is just not here.  Magic, literallys, is present, obviously, but the charm of his other tales isn't.

It is a very interesting and different anime, but it's just not all that great.  It is an odd mashup, sometimes feeling like an old Popeye cartoon, at others, like a hardboiled detective film melded with a war flick.  It does gel, but what it gels into I can't be sure.  I can't quite put my finger on what made this less enjoyable.  It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't recommend it over any of his other movies.


*** (3/5 stars)