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The Boxtrolls (2014)

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Funny & visually astonishing picture. Well-realized world is quite ugly, though. Lacks visual & musical punch of Burton’s stop motion work.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of The Boxtrolls:

Based on the children’s book Here Be Monsters! by Alan Snow, The Boxtrolls is a solid, meticulously made film that I really enjoyed. Not sure of its rewatch appeal, however.

While the titular characters are unique and interesting, the story is neither. In a grubby world, a shady and deceitful pest exterminator is using a manufactured crisis to make people fear Boxtrolls and gain power. If the story is familiar, reach for Grimm’s Fairy Tales on your bookshelf and look under Pied Piper. Better still, read Terry Pratchett’s Carnegie Medal winning The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents, which sends up the fairy tale to better effect and is strikingly similar enough to this picture that I’d probably lawyer up.

That’s not to say that the story isn’t entertaining, it’s just not horribly original. The enjoyment of the picture comes almost completely from the Boxtrolls. The human characters are so cookie-cutter and archetypical that they provide few laughs. (With the exception of the troll-catcher assistants Mr. Trout & Mr. Pickles, voiced by Nick Frost and Richard Ayoade, respectively. Tracy Morgan also voices a third, Mr. Gristle, but he’s not all that enjoyable.)

The film is only 97 minutes, but frankly overlong at that. There are far too many characters and they really just spend a lot of time reinforcing the characterization that was immediately evident at their introduction. I mean that the characters are well-defined right at the start, so more time with them should be spent on developing them further – but that doesn’t happen. The bad guy is bad right away – he doesn’t get more bad or less bad. But he has a TON of dialogue and scenes. The whole power conceit involves this idea that the people in charge of the town wear white hats and sit around eating cheese. They are led by Lord Portley-Rind (Jared Harris), father to a girl named Winnie (Elle Fanning). He is pompous self-obsessed and non-involved in his daughter’s life. She is upset that he ignores her. They do this dance through the whole picture – it never develops. Neither seems to realize that there is a Mrs. Portley-Rind. According to the credits by the wonderful Toni Collette, but if she spoke in the entire movie I missed it.

The reason that I quite enjoyed this movie despite the aforementioned shortcomings is the trolls – they are wonderful, possessing all of the depth and character development that the humans lack. The entire picture in a way revolves around these creatures. Not simply the story, but the look of the film. The Boxtrolls look wonderful and set the tone – unfortunately this leads to a production design that is in a word ugly. It really just looks unpleasant, while at the same time being wonderfully realized. I haven’t seen Laika’s other films, Coraline & ParaNorman, but from the footage I’ve seen they share a design sensibility so I guess that’s the studio’s look. It doesn’t work for me.

But while the aesthetic leaves something to be desired, too much praise can not be heaped on the animation. I have always been amazed at the dedication, patience and hard work of stop-motion filmmakers and marveled at the incredible results produced but this effort is really something else. Absolutely breathtaking stop motion – head of the class.

The voice talent is predictably top shelf and I very much appreciate the fact that it is equally populated by professional voice actors and “name” talent.

This review has turned out a bit more negative than I intended and that’s too bad, because I really did enjoy The Boxtrolls. The creatures themselves absolutely make this movie – and make it fun. I wish that the humans were a bit more developed and the story could use a bit more complexity, but it’s a good picture and recommended.

Poster:

Trailer:

Bechdel Test:

Fail

The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)

(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)

[schema type=”movie” url=”http://www.theboxtrolls.com/” name=”The Boxtrolls” description=”A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow.” director_1=”Graham Annable” director_2=”Anthony Stacchi” actor_1=”Ben Kingsley” actor_2=”Isaac Hempstead-Wright” actor_3=”Elle Fanning” actor_4=”Toni Collette”]

Main Cast	Ben Kingsley Archibald Snatcher (voice), Jared Harris Lord Portley-Rind (voice), Nick Frost Mr. Trout (voice), Richard Ayoade Mr. Pickles (voice)
Rating	PG
Release Date	Fri 26 Sep 2014 UTC
Director	Graham Annable, Anthony Stacchi
Genres	Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy
Plot	A young orphaned boy raised by underground cave-dwelling trash collectors tries to save his friends from an evil exterminator. Based on the children’s novel ‘Here Be Monsters’ by Alan Snow.
Poster
Runtime	97
Tagline	Heroes come in all shapes and sizes…even rectangles.
Writers	Irena Brignull (screenplay), Adam Pava (screenplay)
Year	2014

September 28, 2014

Brilliance (2013)

Brilliance by Marcus Sakey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Less science fiction than a thriller with a “what if” premise, Marcus Sakey’s Brilliance is a well-written and engaging novel that nevertheless makes you eager to get on to the next book in the series.
The concept is as simple as it is good: since 1980 1% of new children are born “brilliant” or “abnorm” – they have unique talents and abilities, almost superhuman in nature. The story, set in an alternate history, picks up during the current time, when this first generation of abnorm children have grown up and are impacting daily life.

The book cover prominently features a quote from Lee Child that boasts, “The Kind of Story You’ve Never Read Before”. Nonsense. The story completely echoes the X-Men series of comics and novels. Even if you’re not a reader you can’t have failed to notice they’ve made like 10 movies about them. And there are plenty of other stories that have trod on this ground. The quote doesn’t do the novel any favors. But if you put aside this pre-conceived idea of the incredible originality that was thrust upon you, you can appreciate the book for what it is – a very solid thriller that examines the real-life issues that would necessarily arise from such a seismic shift in the makeup of the human race.

Despite the obvious parallels to X-Men and other superhuman fare, the brilliants of Sakey’s series don’t vary in appearance from the “norms”. Their gifts don’t allow them to fly or change the weather or shape-shift or anything like that. Many of them have natural abilities supernaturally enhanced: being able to “read” thoughts by body language; recognizing intent in other so as to see the areas where one can move undetected; accurately interpreting the patterns of the stock market to the extent that they have to shut it down.

A most common trait is pattern recognition and this is the one possessed by protagonist Nick Cooper, a brilliant who has chosen to become a federal agent uniquely skilled at finding the more dangerous abnorms. He has dedicated his life to hunting terrorists and his gift has helped him to become very good at it. But predictably the narrative will find him seeing things from the other side and question which side he’s on, yada yada…

As I said, it’s not groundbreaking stuff, but that doesn’t detract from the enjoyment of it. The quality of the book lies in the telling. Sakey does a great job positing the necessary changes that these gifted individuals have affected upon the world and placing realistic human characters (whether brilliant or norm) in believable situations. The political realities, the social and personal elements are all well represented and examined here and it makes for good storytelling.

I enjoyed the author’s style. It does read a bit like a movie – it comes as absolutely no surprise whatsoever that this story has already been optioned for film – but I accept that as a reality of thrillers, which often feel aimed for the screen. The adjective cinematic is not supposed to be a criticism – I want to feel swept away. Brilliance mostly achieves this.

The book suffers a touch from being the first in a series – just in that you’re sort of anxious to get on with it – but I think that speaks more to the quality of the overall story than it suggests dissatisfaction with the novel itself. I’m writing this review after reading the first two books, so my perspective is necessarily skewed; I enjoyed the second novel heaps more and so I may be downgrading my assessment of Brilliance accordingly. It was a great book and obviously made me snap up the second in the series, so mission accomplished.

[schema type=”book” url=”http://marcussakey.com/bk_brilliance.php” name=”Brilliance” description=”In Wyoming, a little girl reads people’s darkest secrets by the way they fold their arms. In New York, a man sensing patterns in the stock market racks up $300 billion. In Chicago, a woman can go invisible by being where no one is looking. They’re called “brilliants,” and since 1980, one percent of people have been born this way. Nick Cooper is among them; a federal agent, Cooper has gifts rendering him exceptional at hunting terrorists. His latest target may be the most dangerous man alive, a brilliant drenched in blood and intent on provoking civil war. But to catch him, Cooper will have to violate everything he believes in – and betray his own kind. From Marcus Sakey, “a modern master of suspense” (Chicago Sun-Times) and “one of our best storytellers” (Michael Connelly), comes an adventure that’s at once breakneck thriller and shrewd social commentary; a gripping tale of a world fundamentally different and yet horrifyingly similar to our own, where being born gifted can be a terrible curse.(” author=”Marcus Sakey” publisher=”Thomas & Mercer” pubdate=”2013-07-16″ isbn=”1611099692″ ebook=”yes” paperback=”yes” ]

September 24, 2014

All of Me (1984)

140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW

Fun, screwball physical comedy is slightly more mature than what Martin had been doing, but not much. Dated but leads are still very funny.

Spoiler-free Movie Review of All of Me:

In 1984, Carl Reiner and Steve Martin teamed up for the fourth and final time with All of Me, a slight body-swap comedy based on an unpublished novel (Me Two by Edwin Davis) and titled after the 1930’s jazz hit.

Millionaire Edwina Cutwater (Tomlin) has been sickly and bedridden all of her life, and now that she’s dying she’s arranged to have her soul transferred into the body of a beautiful young woman named Terry Hoskins (Victoria Tennant) so that Edwina can get another chance at life. She enlists the help of attorney Roger Cobb (Martin) to amend her will, making Hoskins the sole heir so that the Cutwater fortune will be awaiting her in her new body. Through a chain of events that would be unlikely anywhere but in a screwball comedy, Edwina’s soul ends up in Roger’s body – and he’s still in there. The two must work together to exist in one body until they can get Edwina back where she belongs. Of course, it isn’t going to be easy…

The physical comedy of Martin is top-shelf, right up there with his other 80’s hits, but the dialogue and interplay between the stars is even better. In some ways this is a somewhat insubstantial picture, but the pairing of Martin & Tomlin is comedic gold. The filmmakers utilize a device in which Edwina’s visage is visible to Roger in mirrors, allowing the actors to play directly off of each other, making for great interaction.

Further comedic excellence is delivered by Roger’s blind friend Tyrone Wattell (played by the always enjoyable Jason Bernard) who nearly steals the picture with his deadpan deliver of lines like “Well, if I can be of any help at all, you are in worse trouble than I thought.”.

While not one of his more famous pictures, All of Me was a solid hit for Martin, who has the perfect foil in comedy superheroine Tomlin. They are sadly, if predictably, planning a remake, but the original still plays.