short film reviews, criticism, and occasional musing.

Monday, March 31, 2008

Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006, USA/UK)

In many ways, Wristcutters: A Love Story is just that - a pretty conventional love story. The good stuff is in the details. After his girlfriend dumps him, Zia (Patrick Fugit) kills himself by - you guessed it - slitting his wrists. Once he's dead, he finds himself in an afterlife that is entirely populated by suicides. He gets a crappy job, an even crappier apartment, and tries not to think too much about his ex-girlfriend. After randomly discovering that she killed herself not a month after he did, Zia enlists his only friend, Russian punk rocker Eugene (a hilarious Shea Whigham), to go on a road trip in search of her. On the way, they pick up Mikal (Shannyn Sossamon - perhaps the only role I've never disliked her in), a sign-defacing hitchhiker who's convinced that she's not supposed to be dead. What happens from that point is in some ways quite obvious, but it's the execution that's novel. The suicide afterworld is a fascinating construction, with its own set of rules and its own grim, grey desert look. The dialog is charming, the players often more so, and there is a host of excellent cameos by the likes of Tom Waits, Will Arnett, and John Hawkes.

It's a shame that Wristcutters never got the theatrical release it deserved, as it's certainly a better indie film than many I've seen in the last few years, especially the romantic comedies. I suppose the premise of a movie built around suicide made most distributors think twice. It's off-kilter without being cloyingly so, and I hope it picks up a cult audience on DVD. I also hope that first-time director Goran Dukic doesn't find his career stunted before it really begins; he's a talent to keep an eye on.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007,

I find Shekhar Kapur's films to be a fascinating, if not entirely successful, melding of Indian and Western stylistic sensibilities. Elizabeth: The Golden Age and its predecessor embody this union perfectly - two histrionic and tone-deaf films that are, shot for shot, utterly gorgeous. Sadly, the sequel suffers wild changes of mood even more than the original did. The bulk of the film is divided between two plots, the conflict between England and Spain that culminated in the defeat of the Spanish Armada (hope that didn't spoil anyone), and the love triangle between the queen, her primary lady-in-waiting, and Sir Walter Raleigh. The former plot has some excellent aspects, utilizing the power of Cate Blanchett's Elizabeth, great Armada setpieces, and the always-welcome Samantha Morton as Mary, Queen of Scots*. The love story is ridiculous, laughable at points. I've never quite seen Clive Owen so out of his depth as Raleigh, and poor Abbie Cornish fares even worse - I feel bad for the girl when she's up against Blanchett in a scene. But even Blanchett's performance suffers from the yo-yo nature of the film, losing the careful modulation of the original and devolving into occasional hysterics. I'll watch pretty much anything Kapur makes just to watch it, as so few filmmakers in the West have such a glorious and colorful visual style, but I can't say that I've seen a film of his that I could call an unquestionable success.

*During the execution scene, Morton looks exactly like Bjork. No lie. I was half expecting a music video to break out before the beheading was through.

The Number 23 (2007, USA)

Watching The Number 23, I can't help but think of the A.V. Club's new feature, I Watched This On Purpose. I feel I must give some sort of justification for deliberately spending an hour and a half of my life on this movie. Perhaps we should call this review, "I Watched This On Purpose - And It's All Your Fault, Danny Huston," or maybe, "I Watched This On Purpose Because Jim Carrey Is Just So Damn Annoying And Who Doesn't Want To See His Career Crash And Burn Already?"

In any case, The Number 23 has to have one of the most preposterous premises I've seen committed to film. And I've seen The Day After Tomorrow. Walter Sparrow (Carrey) finds a book featuring a character who is EXACTLY like him - only he's a cool saxophone-playing detective, not a loser animal control technician - who in the course of his detecting becomes obsessed with the number 23. Just like the title! In turn, Sparrow develops the same obsession, as one would expect a grown man with the native intelligence of an 8-year-old to do. There's much talk of "the number did this" or "the number did that," which naturally adds a great deal of suspense to the proceedings, because, clearly, rogue numbers destroy the lives of perfectly happy people on a regular basis. I myself am persecuted by the persistent attentions of 16.

After a certain point, the film switches gears from a completely ridiculous meditation on the activities of evil numbers to a completely ridiculous murder mystery. With a twist! A twist so completely transparent that you can see it from the get-go, but still - a twist! The Number 23 is not nearly as entertaining as Mr. Brooks or The Wicker Man remake, but it certainly has its very own deranged sensibility, at least until it goes all emo at the end. Don't watch sober.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Summer! Movie! Preview!

I know - it's only March! But the summer movie season apparently starts at the beginning of May these days, so you'd better get ready for yet more science fiction, a couple of action sequels, and the usual run of cookie-cutter comedies. Is it just me, or does this year's slate look worse than usual?

The Incredible Hulk - I actually liked Ang Lee's version, and think it's silly that a "revision" is being made only 5 years later. The cast is like a roll call of "where the hell have you been?" - Edward Norton, Tim Roth, Liv Tyler and Tim Blake Nelson. The trailer and Louis Leterrier's pedigree give me some hope for a good action film, on the condition that Norton puts his massive ego aside long enough for it to be released on time. Norton angry! Norton not feel artistic vision is served! Norton demand final cut!

Speed Racer - Nothing about this project interests me. I never watched the cartoon, and the Wachowskis haven't made a watchable movie since the original Matrix. The trailer is epilepsy-inducing, and I feel like it'll be a 90-minute version of the highway chase in Matrix Reloaded. Pass.

Wanted - I have NEVER seen a plot description that long on the Apple trailers site. Angelina + James McAvoy = Pretty, but the the preview made me laugh in a very unkind manner. However, that does not mean I won't watch it. But probably not in the theater. And hasn't Jolie made this film at least three times already?

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - No. Nonononono. And by no, I mean yes, I will watch it against my own better judgment. Because who doesn't want to see Cate Blanchett in Tom Cruise's Valkyrie getup? Honestly, that's about all that passes muster for me here. Harrison Ford is old and drunk, Shia LaBeouf is overexposed, and aliens? Really, Steven? Aliens? AGAIN?

The Happening - HAHAHAHAHA! Someone gave Shyamalan money to make another movie! HAHAHAHAHAHA! I never thought I'd say this, but Mark Wahlberg could do better - even when totally and completely miscast as a junior/high school science teacher. I don't think he's necessarily a bad actor, but most kittens have more gravitas than he does.

The Midnight Meat Train - Finally! A straight-out horror film! And finally! Someone cast Bradley Cooper in a leading role! Looks like some potentially solid b-movie action. I'm there. Plus, the same director made the totally insane Versus, the movie where zombie samurai fight zombie yakuza. For two hours. Straight. No, really - that's all that happens. It's awesome.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall - It's only been a week, and I'm already hating the "viral"-style advertisements for this. And though I like Kristen Bell, the Apatow comedies are really wearing on me.

You Don't Mess With the Zohan - Oh. My. God.

Sex and the City - Yeah, I watched the show. I even watch the reruns sometimes. It's kind of like a really big horse tranquilizer for my overworked brain, especially seeing that at 29 years old, I seemingly have my shit together better than a bunch of wealthy women a decade+ older than I am. All of this is to say that going to a movie theater and paying money for 90+ minutes of what I believe a Television Without Pity writer once called the adventures of a badly-dressed shrieker-monkey . . . kind of defeats the purpose. No doubt I will watch it one day when I'm really hung over and have run out of bad action films at the video store, and no doubt that it will end up being the film equivalent of eating an entire bag of those really awesome El Ranchero tortilla chips together with a sub-par bottle of red wine. Which I would not recommend doing, by the way.

Hancock - Will Smith continues his Independence Day barrage on American movie theaters, but the buzz surrounding this one is terrible. Could it be? Has the mighty one finally stumbled? Is Hancock the first flop of Smith's career? And will no one give Jason Bateman anything worthwhile to do?

Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - Yes, please. Bring on the supernatural forces of good and evil! And Ron Perlman!

Mamma Mia! - If I had to choose between this, Zohan, or death . . . wow, I don't even know how to finish that sentence.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian - I thought the first film was pretty meh, despite the lovely presence of James McAvoy and the awesomeness of Tilda Swinton. Neither plays a big role or indeed any role at all in the second film. Removing the few actors of presence from the cast and adding yet another virtual unknown as Caspian doesn't bode well.

The Dark Knight - I thought the casting of Heath Ledger as the Joker was a misstep until I saw the first trailer. I can't remember the last time a preview was all it took for me to completely reverse my desire to see a particular film, but the Joker-centric one for Dark Knight did the trick.

Get Smart - I'm starting to feel about Steve Carell the same way that I do about Apatow comedies - that he's entirely overexposed right now. But Terrence Stamp? Alan Arkin? The Rock? Yay! I love it when the three of them do comedy, particularly Stamp, as it's such a rare treat. However, I am not buoyed by the fact that this is directed by the man responsible for multiple sub-par Adam Sandler films AND The Nutty Professor 2.

Lust, Caution (2007, USA/Chinese)

I find it so odd that Ang Lee's Lust, Caution came out in the same year as Paul Verhoeven's Black Book, as the two feature such incredibly similar stories - during the tail end of World War II, a young woman must put her body on the front line of her nation's resistance movement in order to keep both herself and the revolution alive. I'm more partial to Black Book - despite being Lee's most controversial film (even more so than those gay cowboys!), Lust felt somewhat bloodless. It's gorgeously put together, but I could never quite put my finger on what motivates the heroine through the story's many twists. This is no fault of actress Wei Tang's, as she's truly a magnetic presence and a fantastic discovery. But, particularly when compared (perhaps unfairly) with Book's Rachel, it's difficult to understand exactly where Tang's character is coming from, or where she might be going. Is she motivated by patriotism? Familial abandonment? Love for a fellow revolutionary? None of these ideas are ever really explored, to the film's detriment.

As for the much-discussed sexuality on display . . . again, I have to go back to Book, which I felt owned a sense of sensuality and, frankly, smuttiness, that Lust lacks. Lust feels more clinical, despite the sex serving the story well. Verhoeven understood the pulp aspect of his story and played to it, while Lee took a more distanced approach. For a movie with Lust in the title, distance isn't necessarily a good thing. Too much Caution here.

Monday, March 17, 2008

30 Days of Night (2007, USA)

Danny Huston, Ben Foster, vampires, Alaska - what's not to love? Hm. Josh Hartnett as a law enforcement official? A complete and utter lack of perspective? In order to have a decent action movie or horror film, both of which are generally built on some sort of chase, it really, really helps if the audience is able to distinguish point A from point B. Without a sense of location or any activity that flows across a defined space, is there ever really any feeling of urgency? People just show up in one place, then pop up somewhere totally unrelated in the next scene. Scenes themselves run into one another incoherently. This lack of focus distracts from a generally very cool concept and a few other positive points - Foster's brief performance, Huston's creepiness (though why his character speaks in Yoda-like parables is beyond me), the effect of blood spatter on the snow, and the animalistic nature of the vampires. It's a mess of a film, not really worth a cheap thrill.