Mud Songs

From the DVDTalk review of Charade: “Possibly the slickest and most commercial romantic thriller of the 1960s… The movie is a perfect entertainment machine for its time…” The story has Audrey Hepburn chased by some bad guys after a fortune her murdered husband stole from them. Cary Grant befriends her, but is he one of the bad guys? It’s fun to wonder what’s really going on and to take in all the witty dialogue between the two leads. Charade is somewhat dated but always entertaining because it’s impossible to take any of it seriously.

I saw Kung-Fu Panda last night and I regret not seeing it while it was still in theatres. It’s easily the most entertaining animated movie I’ve seen in 2008. My brother said something like this about it: “Kung-Fu Panda is an animated film about a panda who loves Kung-Fu and has to learn it in a hurry to save his village from his master’s nemesis. I recommend it for kids and adults. The story is simple but engaging, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. The action scenes are incredible, intense, fast, and fun — it could make you dizzy. The animation is well done. I took my seven-year-old daughter who laughed out loud at parts, as I did (although different parts). She wasn’t scared during the intense, dark scenes. We both recommended it.”

Touching the Void is a documentary about a mountain climber who breaks his leg on a frozen mountainside and has to find his way back down to a base camp where he hopes his friends haven’t already left him for dead. It’s intense. Some may argue Touching the Void is not a documentary because it makes extensive use of recreations, but if the recreations are more affective in telling the story, then so what. James Berardinelli writes, “[It] doesn’t take long for suspension of disbelief to kick in with a vengeance. In fact, the recreations are done so well that we often forget we’re not watching a filmed chronicle of events…” We know the guy lived to tell the tale because the film incorporates present day interviews with everyone who was there, but that does nothing to ease the tension of watching it unfold. Touching the Void is immediate and perhaps even profound because I don’t know how anyone can watch it and not wonder what the hell they’d do in the same situation. I’m fairly confident most of us would be dead.

I watched the middle section of Mr. and Mrs. Smith on commercial TV at a friend’s house a few weeks ago and enjoyed the shoot-em-up action sequences. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have chemistry and Pitt isn’t a bad comic actor. I rented the DVD last night thinking I’d see more of the same, but I didn’t. I had to shut it off about 20 minutes before the end. The best part is when the two of them start shooting at each other and destroy their house. Otherwise, Mr. and Mrs. Smith is in the same class as Ocean’s 12.

Jean de Florette was originally 4 hours long. Instead of cutting essential scenes, the director, Claude Berri, split off the second half and called it Manon of the Spring (a.k.a. Jean de Florette - Part 2). But he didn’t have to. Anyone who watches the first part of the story will want to go on to the second part immediately. Fans of Cinema Paradiso or Antonia’s Line will love it. I can’t say much more without giving it away, but it is a gorgeous film, full of engaging characters and a story that builds in its intensity and doesn’t let up until the very last scene. I wanted to go back to the beginning and watch it all over again as soon as it was finished. (Read the reviews I’ve linked to if you want to know the story, but don’t read too much. It’s best to go in just knowing you’re going to see a wonderful film.)

Click the image to view trailers for each film.

James Berardineilli’s review of Hancock cuts to the case: “Hancock is a hodgepodge of intriguing ideas that, if developed further or presented as more than throw-ins to a confused production, might have made for a unique superhero film… Hancock is sometimes funny, sometimes clever, and occasionally involving, but it’s never brilliant and its edge is compromised by the neutering that accompanies the teen-friendly PG-13 rating.” Will Smith plays a homeless, alcoholic, belligerent super hero who grudgingly hires a PR man to improve his public image. So it’s a comedy, right? Or maybe an action movie? Maybe it’s a modern day Greek tragedy (I’m serious). Hancock had the potential to be a great movie in a class of its own, but it doesn’t know what it wants to be. So it’s a mess. It’s almost worth watching just to think about how good it could have been.

Choke tells the story of a guy, Sam Rockwell, who goes to Sex Addicts Anonymous meetings to hook up with other sex addicts. He also visits his free-spirited but crazy mother, Angelica Huston, in a hospital where she is slowly dying from dementia. The movie starts off as a comedy and gradually eases into a more dramatic (but still entertaining) mode as we learn why this guy became a sex addict. That may not sound like a fun movie, but it made me think about all the crazy stuff people deal with as children who are then expected to grow up and be “normal” functioning adults. You might like this one if you’re a fan of an obscure 1996 movie called Box of Moon Light. Not everyone will go for it, though. It’s not exactly mainstream, which is probably the reason I like it so much. I’m beginning to think if a movie gets anywhere between 50 and 60 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, it’s likely to be something I’ll appreciate. (This has been an extremely informative commentary. I know.)

Burn After Reading is the kind of movie I pick up at the video store when I can’t decide on anything else. It’s full of quirky, crazy characters who are fun to watch, and the last scene is hilarious. So it’s not a complete waste of time. But the story of a CIA agent who loses some classified files — and that’s a condensed version of the absurdly convoluted storyline — is simply a vehicle for a cast of A-list actors to have fun and go nuts. It’s deliberately inconsequential. You’d have to be a fan of the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou to appreciate this one.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona is Woody Allen’s most satisfying movie since 2005’s Match Point. It’s an enjoyable and thoroughly entertaining story about two young women (Rebecca Hall and Scarlett Johansson) on vacation in Barcelona who become involved with a local painter (Javier Bardem). The painter also has a love-hate relationship with his ex-wife (Penélope Cruz) that creates a dynamic tension within all their relationships. Scarlett Johansson plays a Barbie doll again, which is passable for her role. Rebecca Hall, Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem (the psycho killer from No Country For Old Men) give performances that are solid, right on the mark, energized but nuanced in a manner makes their characters seem like real people. Well-acted and well-written, Vicky Cristina Barcelona is neither an outright comedy or drama. Neither is it a masterpiece, but it’s fun.

Searching for Bobby Fischer became one of my favourites when I first saw it in a theatre in 1993. I was hooked after the opening narration by 8-year-old Max Pomeranc that recounts Bobby Fischer’s rise to fame as one of the best chess players in the world and ends with the whispered words: “He disappeared.” Then we discover the narrator is a child prodigy, a genius chess player who some call a young Bobby Fischer. But where Bobby Fischer was a nut, this kid stays on a path that keeps him sane. He plays baseball and goes fishing and doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. It’s a good story.

Whenever I put on just about any Krzysztof Kieslowski DVD, it becomes apparent, usually within the first 60 seconds, that I’m watching an exceptional film. The way it looks, the rhythm of the shots, the way it sounds, the natural look in the actors eyes — the attention to the details of every facet of the filmmaking process creates a feeling like a symphony of 50 different instruments playing a melody in perfect pitch and perfect time. It moves you. And you know that wherever the journey takes you, you’re in good hands. It doesn’t happen often because Sturgeon’s Law holds true in movies too. But when it does happen, you sit up and take notice because you don’t want to miss anything. You’re no longer a passive viewer. You’re engaged. You’re paying attention. Vera Drake is that kind of film. It tells the story of a woman in England after World War II who performs illegal abortions for poor people who can’t afford the medical procedure themselves. It’s not a pro-choice or anti-abortion film. It presents the situation, draws you into the thoughts and feelings of all the people involved (Vera’s close-knit family) and allows you to make your own judgements. None of it is black and white, though. When the end credits start rolling, you’re left with a lot of feelings to sort through and plenty to think about. It’s not an overly-serious downer film, though. Yes, there is drama, but it’s a pleasure to be with these characters because they’re so genuine and kind. It’s just solid filmmaking all around. At any rate, I’ll keep an eye out for anything directed by Mike Leigh for now on. He definitely got my attention with Vera Drake.

I tried watching Woody Allen’s Scoop last night but only managed to get through the first 30 minutes. The script has (had) potential: A reporter dies, meets someone in the afterlife who gives him the scoop on a great story, and then he comes back down to earth as a spirit to give the scoop to another reporter. Unfortunately, the other reporter is Scarlett Johansson, who is a painfully non-comedic actor. Woody Allen’s comedic acting isn’t getting much better with age either. I heard recently that he’s decided to only make dramatic films for now on. Good. He should also avoid acting in his movies himself, give up on trying to write dialogue for young characters and stop casting actresses who look like Barbie dolls.

I’m talking about the original 1933 version of King Kong. It is a great movie and a hell of lot more violent and gruesome than I ever thought. It must have shocked and scared the crap out of audiences in 1933. I never realized what an incredible movie it is. There isn’t much of a story until Kong comes into the picture — and then you can watch the movie with the sound down if you feel like it because everything unfolds in broad strokes: 1) Island natives capture Fay Wray for sacrifice to Kong; 2) Kong runs into the jungle with Ms. Wray, protecting her instead of eating her; 3) A rescue party runs into the jungle and are killed off one at a time by Kong; 4) Kong is captured and brought back to the US… and so on. Although King Kong is sometimes considered a B-quality monster movie, it’s operatic and poignant as well. I’d love to see it in a theatre someday.

If you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve seen all there is worth seeing in this movie. Any 3 minutes of Flight of the Conchords has 10 times more laughs than Tropic Thunder. Normally I’d stay clear of anything with Ben Stiller’s name on it (he wrote and directed this one), but I heard good things about Robert Downey Jr. playing a black guy that made me think, “Okay, maybe it’s alright.” But it’s not. I admit I laughed out loud maybe 3 times after some of Downey’s lines, but the rest of it was like every other Ben Stiller so-called comedy: a waste of time. He doesn’t make me laugh.

WALL-E is one of the most imaginative stories I’ve ever seen. It’s also proof to me that if Pixar wanted to, they could make an excellent adult science fiction film. They have conceptual artists who can create creatures and landscapes as impressive as anything put on film. They have writers and directors who know how to develop strong characters and a good story. They know what they’re doing. Everybody loves them. They can’t do wrong. They’ve found a winning formula making CGI family films, but I’d still love to see them take a crack on at some hard science fiction. Instead they give us WALL-E, a touching, entertaining and engaging story of a little robot left behind on a post-apocalyptic earth where everything is so polluted that humans can’t live there anymore. He eventually meets up with another robot that sort of looks like an iPod, and things take off from there. It’s a nice, harmless kids movie with an environmental message: don’t pollute.

A big ominous ugly truck comes barrelling down the highway and makes life difficult for a lonely businessman in a car on his way to a meeting. Duel is like Jaws on wheels. Directed for TV by Steven Speilberg in 1971, this 90-minute theatrical cut is nothing but entertainment. There’s no moral to the story. It’s just one long chase scene that keeps you wondering, “How the hell is he going to get away from that truck?” Speilberg takes that simple concept and milks it to the hilt. Well done.

Brief Encounter is a 1945 film about two people who meet, have strong feelings for one another, toy with the idea of taking their brief encounter to another level and then… I won’t tell you want happens. My initial feelings were, “I’m not in the mood to watch some stiff British actors sit around a table with their cups of tea and say la-dee-da back and forth for an hour and a half,” but I’m glad I stuck it out. Over looking the film’s dated qualities is a small price to pay for a love story that rivals anything out of Casablanca. And what an ending!

Once is a unique film about a singer-songerwriter in Dubln who works at his dad’s vacuum repair shop and spends the rest of his time busking on a street corner with his guitar. He eventually meets a girl and tries to make more of his music, and that’s pretty much the whole story. The film has been described as a musical because whenever the guy sings a song, we hear the whole thing. If you like the music, the full songs will work for you. I’m not going to go out and buy the soundtrack, but I still got into everything about this movie because it looks and feels like a documentary with characters who seem like real people. The plot (if you want to call it that) doesn’t feel contrived. You meet these people, you like them and you want find out what happens to them. It’s a simple equation that works on a nice, quiet, genuine level. It’s not a visually spectacular movie, but it doesn’t need to be. Once — once it gets noticed — is likely to become a favourite of independent singer-songwriters everywhere.

The Blue Planet and Planet Earth are BBC documentary TV series — and they are without question the most spectacular, incredible documentaries about the natural world I have ever seen. They could easily play as a series of films in a theatre — and it would be fantastic. At times it’s like watching science fiction with creatures that seem unreal, landscapes and geological formations even the most imaginative artists couldn’t conceive, and shots of animals up close that turn into wide shots so wide you’d think the camera was fired into orbit. (I would love to work on these kinds of documentaries.) It’s not only a mind-blowing visual feast. It’s informative and dramatic. The narration reveals just enough to make you move in for a closer look — and it may transform your perception of the planet and the natural world. (My comments refer to the original BBC editions, not the US editions narrated by Sigourney “Ripley” Weaver.) I’ve spent plenty of time living on the land away from the noise and pollution of human activity. I’ve been able to feel a connection to natural things that is generally impossible to approach while living in the suburbs or a city. But watching The Blue Planet and Planet Earth comes pretty damn close to it, possibly closer than most people stuck in front of the boob tube will ever get. My highest recommendations.

Death at a Funeral is the funniest movie I’ve seen since Shaun of The Dead. It’s about a funeral that goes horribly wrong, wrong and wrong. Once it gets going, it never lets up. It’s all about letting the actors do their thing — reacting to events and situations that, even if these things happened in real life, you’d have to laugh. By the time I got to the end, I missed half the jokes because I was laughing too hard.

Oct. 21/08 post script: I tried watching it again tonight and couldn’t get into it. It takes about 20 minutes for things to kick into high gear, anyway, but it didn’t work for me even after waiting out the 20 minutes. Still, it’s worth taking a chance on. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw it.

It’s best not to read any reviews or watch any trailers for this movie. They give away too much.