Category: Reviews

#140RVW

I haven’t seen them all, so I’m not saying the other nominees shouldn’t win Best Picture, I’m just saying that this one should. Masterful…

What’s more:

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: this is an amazing film that deserves all of its praise. It is a captivating story with emotion and feeling and it is a pleasure to watch.

Filmmakers historically have fallen in love with the midwest, and it’s no secret why. The wide-open vistas and endless horizons provide the perfect backdrop for long shots and artsy photography. It’s an instant movie set; just add a few solitary cars and play some atmospheric music and you’ve got a metaphor for life and an “important film”.

So I’m torn; while the black & white photography of cinematographer Phedon Papamichael is unquestionably beautiful, I’m not entirely convinced it couldn’t have been achieved by any DP alive with a wide lens and grainy film stock. The first thing I thought when leaving the theater was “if that was shot in color we wouldn’t have even heard of this movie”. I don’t know what that says exactly. The use of black & white is always subject to some criticism and claims of pretentiousness, and it generally deserves it. It can be a beautiful art form and design choice, but it can also be a calculated, even cynical attempt to elevate the perceived “arty-ness” of a movie by pompous auteurs. I truly don’t know which one this film is.

I can tell you that the original screenplay by Bob Nelson is truly inspired and excellent. The dialogue is consistently fantastic and engaging, and nicely balances the drama and comedy. Story took some unexpected turns that kept it fresh, just as I was wondering how they were going to keep the movie engaging. Oscar worthy.

In terms of the acting, Bruce Dern is exactly as good as you’ve heard, but it’s June Squibb who should really walk away with a statue. Will Forte is really solid in his first dramatic role, far better than expected, and Bob Odenkirk is his usual great self.

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Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

Main Cast	Bruce Dern Woody Grant, Will Forte David Grant, June Squibb Kate Grant, Bob Odenkirk Ross Grant
Rating	R
Release Date	Fri 24 Jan 2014 UTC
Director	Alexander Payne
Genres	Adventure, Drama
Plot	An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
Poster
Runtime	115
Tagline
Writers	Bob Nelson (written by)
Year	2013

#140RVW

For all of us who rocked the mullets & banged our heads, “Stand Up And Shout”. Vanilla but tons of fun from the director of Bill & Ted…\m/

What’s more:

Broadly based on the experience of Tim “Ripper” Owens, lead singer of a Judas Priest tribute band who was hired by Priest as their new singer to replace Rob Halford. It’s a fantastic story that really tells itself. There are also plenty of Spinal Tap moments, thankfully.

The execution is nothing spectacular, but it’s pretty solid. Stephen Herek directed Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, so he pretty much gets a free pass for the rest of his life from me.

The music is solid; if you like hair metal, of course. But who doesn’t, right? Steel Dragon is made up of  real-life rockers Jeff Pilson, Zakk Wylde, and Jason Bonham. Watch for a quick part from Myles Kennedy. Marky Mark’s singing voice is overdubbed by Steelheart frontman Miljenko Matijevic.

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Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

Main Cast	Mark Wahlberg Chris ‘Izzy’ Cole, Jennifer Aniston Emily Poule, Dominic West Kirk Cuddy, Steel Dragon Guitarist, Jason Bonham A.C., Steel Dragon Drummer
Rating	R
Release Date	Fri 07 Sep 2001 UTC
Director	Stephen Herek
Genres	Comedy, Drama, Music
Plot	Lead singer of a tribute band becomes lead singer of the real band he idolizes.
Poster
Runtime	105
Tagline	The story of a wanna be who got to be.
Writers	John Stockwell (written by)
Year	2001

#140RVW

Underrated comedy with heart. Frears is very heavy-handed in presenting Peoples’ excellent screenplay, but it mostly works. Ripe for remake.

What’s more:

Having a very clear inspiration as your guiding star is a dangerous road for a filmmaker. While nothing is truly original, you have to walk a fine line when your vision is too specific. This is the problem faced by director Stephen Frears with Hero. An obvious attempt to make a Frank Capra fairy tale like Meet John Doe, this movie succeeds at it quite well.  Possibly too well, as it wears this inspiration on its sleeve and occasionally in your face.

Dustin Hoffman relishes the opportunity to play a really bad guy, although this characterization is itself one-sided. A flawed man, he hustles and small-times his way through life, but of course the film shows his bruised but not broken humanity and decency when most needed.

Andy Garcia and particularly Geena Davis round out the main players very well. Amazing how Garcia once seemed a lock for greatness; still don’t know what went sideways. Davis lacks subtlety here, but really provides a ton of energy and clearly gets the tone right.

The tone, however, is erratic. There are great quiet moments, but too few of them. Everyone seems to do a lot of shouting and yelling. The whole 1940’s nostalgia thing plays with mixed results; the snappy newsroom dialogue won’t replace His Girl Friday, but it plays. The patriotic music and fascinated crowd shots don’t. It’s all just a bit much.

I’d love to see this re-edited. Although I don’t think that’s possible – the physical source material may not be salvageable. I don’t know if it’s the vision of Frears or his frequent DP Oliver Stapleton, but the movie just kind of looks crappy. It may of course be the home video transfers, but I sort of doubt it; there’s a very dark, bluish tone to the whole thing that makes it very cold. I think you’d need to reshoot.

And remaking it would be an effort that I’d highly support, because I absolutely love this movie. I really do. The message is a nice mix of optimism and cynicism, I like the dialogue, the actors, the story. It’s a flawed gem, but one I unhesitatingly recommend.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

Main Cast	Dustin Hoffman Bernie Laplante, Geena Davis Gale Gayley, Andy Garcia John Bubber, Joan Cusack Evelyn
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 02 Oct 1992 UTC
Director	Stephen Frears
Genres	Comedy, Drama
Plot	A not-so-nice man rescues passengers from a crashed airliner, only to see someone else take credit.
Poster
Runtime	117
Tagline	One selfless act of courage can really mess up your whole day.
Writers	Laura Ziskin (story) &, Alvin Sargent (story) …
Year	1992

#140RVW

I don’t get the whole zombie thing, but this movie is so damn funny that it overcame all that. Single-handedly justifies Harrelson’s career.

What’s more:

The obsession with zombies completely eludes me. I can’t think of a monster movie concept that I have less interest in. I grew up on local channel 38’s Creature Double Feature on weekends. I like my monster movies plenty, although I’m admittedly old school; I prefer that Lugosi or Lon Chaney be in most of them. But I can go in for vampires if done well, and I love the Alien series. Dinosaurs? Love dinosaurs. Frankenstein monsters of any type. I’ll even stop for a giant octopus or two-headed shark if I’m just after fun.

But my science teacher father, who loves all of these,  raised me right and taught me to look for the underlying logic behind the admittedly ridiculous and fantastic. These things didn’t have to be brilliant, but there had to be some sense behind the fantastic. And zombies are bad science. There is so circumstance in which the logical outcome of an infection would lead to eating brains. I can’t get past it.

But the opening sequence of Zombieland is a grabber. Instantly sets the pitch-perfect dark comedic tone for the movie. I caught the first minute while flipping one night and never looked back. This is a star-making role for Eisenberg, and his quirky character and his rules give the movie a great, funny start. Once you get to Harrelson’s Tallahassee you’ve got enough fun to run all night, but don’t forget how important those opening minutes are.

Because the movie is so funny it gets a lot more leeway in the blood and gore department than I usually have stomach for. Don’t be misled: this is a gory, brutal, violent movie. It just doesn’t feel like one. Just stick it out, faint-hearted, time to “nut up or shut up”.

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Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

Main Cast	Jesse Eisenberg Columbus, Emma Stone Wichita, Woody Harrelson Tallahassee, Abigail Breslin Little Rock
Rating	TV-14
Release Date	Fri 02 Oct 2009 UTC
Director	Ruben Fleischer
Genres	Comedy, Horror
Plot	A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, and a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the Last Twinkie and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.
Poster
Runtime	88
Tagline	Our land is their land.
Writers	Rhett Reese (written by) &, Paul Wernick (written by)
Year	2009

#140RVW

Slow, deliberate pace works; until it doesn’t. Redefines overlong. Pitt great when they let some menace show. Could’ve been something more.

What’s more:

Before you start getting fresh, remember – this is Martin Brest; he directed Beverly Hills Cop, Midnight Run & Scent of a Woman. Then he did this; then he did Gigli. Hmm. I forget my point…

Oh, right. The thing is that there’s a really good movie in here. Two movies, actually (and that’s not a crack about the insufferable run-time). Originally an Italian play, it was first made as the film “Death Takes A Holiday” in 1934. I tried it once and it didn’t grab me – I’ll give it another shot at some point.

You see, I simply love the concept; Death takes an interest in people. You can’t get more high-concept than that. You can run with it for days. There is almost limited potential for humor and perspective. My favorite author is Terry Pratchett, and Death is one of the most fascinating recurring characters in his Discworld series.

In this telling, Death shows up for an extended stay in the world in the body of Brad Pitt. And Pitt does a good job of it; he’s got a nice quirky humor that he isn’t frequently called on to display. And he has a few moments where he displays some of the genuine threat underlying that mortal coil. But there’s not enough of it. This Death is weary and looking for meaning and connection. But he’s toothless, and that just feels off. Yes, go for the laughs, go for the romance, but burying an ultimate power in a borrowed body, no matter how hunky, is not going to hide that supreme force and I think there was a missed opportunity to show Death as more prideful and menacing.

The real killer, though, is the length of this movie. Three hour movies should be the exclusive province of war pictures and the occasional biopic, and even then you better earn it. What’s amazing is when you think back on where exactly those 3 hours went, it’s hard to recall. I can name maybe a dozen distinct scenes in maybe 10 locations. Mostly there are just very slow, very long dialogue-heavy scenes of two varieties – plain speak and “no one talks like this”.

Now I understand where they went wrong with this movie. In the most innocent way possible; they just started with a simple plan (“let’s really let this story breathe, let the scenes find their pace”) and never looked back. And I can see the appeal; the scenes do breathe; there is a nice feel to things as they are introducing the principals. It’s not a race, it’s like a nice walk – let’s enjoy this. You’re feeling good. And then you look up and realize that it’s getting dark and you’re not only nowhere near home – you’ve barely started.

And it really is too bad. Because there are some great moments and acting, the music is beautiful, it looks good. It’s just too damn long. And slow, did I say slow? It’s slow.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Pass

Main Cast	Brad Pitt Joe Black/Young Man in Coffee Shop, Anthony Hopkins William Parrish, Claire Forlani Susan Parrish, Jake Weber Drew
Rating	PG-13
Release Date	Fri 13 Nov 1998 UTC
Director	Martin Brest
Genres	Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Plot	A media mogul acts as a guide to Death, who takes the form of a young man to learn about life on Earth and in the process, fall in love with his guide’s daughter.
Poster
Runtime	178
Tagline	He’s Expecting You.
Writers	Ron Osborn (screenplay) &, Jeff Reno (screenplay) …
Year	1998