Category: well, okay

elektra

despite beginning like a bad comp paper–“since time began there has been a battle between good and evil”; yes, even in the proterozoic era cyanobacteria were divided into these two camps–elektra is not at all a bad way to pass 97 minutes and is certainly better than the piece of crap (daredevil) it derived from. very little backstory, and what little we get is incomplete, incoherent and best of all, highly silly. but somehow i didn’t care that none of it made much sense–it felt like picking up a superhero comic in the middle of a story arc, not knowing what had come before or why people were fighting each other. jennifer garner is adequate as some super ninja assassin who from time to time fights in red bondage genie garb that must surely make twirling through the air a dicey proposition–then again she probably gets her underwiring from the same shop that makes her cool long daggery thingies. terence stamp shows up as a blind super ninja assassin trainer, but mostly looks like he is auditioning for the role of a vampire elder in the next underworld movie. (yes, this film continues the tradition of western action movies in which white people are generally better at eastern martial arts than people actually from the east, who are naturally villains.) and there are some cool action scenes. and a lesbian life-sucking death-kiss from an arch villainess named typhoid. and the dialog is so generic that at key moments i was anticipating exact lines. in short, good fun.

yes, yes, i know i should have put this under “enjoyable crap”.

enjoyable crap

another catch-all thread–this time for disposable entertainment that goes down easy but doesn’t warrant much analysis. recently in this genre for me: the flight of the phoenix via hbo ondemand. apparently, this is a remake of some b-movie from the 60s. i don’t know if i would have been happy paying $8.50 for this but free it was worth every cent. a bunch of people crash-landed/stranded in the gobi desert (which looks suspiciously like the sahara) rebuild their plane and fly out (what? did the name of the film not already give this away?). dennis quaid as a bit of an arrogant jackass whose arrogance causes the crash (but no one seems too upset when they find out); giovanni ribisi having a very good time as a fop of uncertain origin (in the role originally played by hardy kruger!); and a lot of sandstorms. in many ways this was like a slimmed down version of “lost”: a bunch of people stranded in the middle of nowhere with no one coming for them, danger both from nature and from “others”, one passenger who reveals remarkable hidden abilities; but most importantly: no stupid backstories. unfortunately, also no evangeline lilly. but you can’t have everything.

as homer would say, “i didn’t learn a thing”–except maybe to not go out alone to pee in the dark in the middle of a sandstorm–and thank god for that.

A History of Violence

This isn’t a great film. The dialogue is stilted, the tone of certain scenes feels forced (particularly in the first half hour), many of the performances are excrutiatingly one-dimensional, and the film is visually flat (lacking the strong compositions and use of shadow and light in Spider and Crash, for example). What exactly did I expect from another graphic novel adaptation? But as a particular kind of American allegory, A History of Violence makes for an extremely potent piece of cinema (and there are scenes and moments that are just about as good as it gets). I can see why this was such a hit at Cannes. As I was watching, however, I wondered what David Lynch could have done with this material, and I guess that’s not such a great endorsement of Cronenberg’s work.

the battle between good and evil

i watched constantine last evening. anyone seen it? keanu reeves as an exorcist/occult ins officer trying to do his bit to maintain the balance between the forces of heaven and hell on earth. not a bad way to pass two hours. actually the first half of the movie is pretty good: you’re mostly kept in the dark about what’s happening, the film doesn’t seem to be going anywhere–just enjoying being atmospheric. it does get very silly towards the end but peter stormare as satan is a hoot, as is tilda swinton as mick hucknall, i mean gabriel. but i don’t really want to say much about the film. if like michael and me you watched all the “prophecy” movies you’ll probably like this one. if not, not. (why is gabriel so often an asshole in these movies?)

i am interested though in movies about this general theme of balance between good and evil/light and dark that don’t rely entirely on catholic mythology/iconography. i remember reading recently about a russian movie called “nightwatch” which seems like it might be one (it apparently outgrossed both “lord of the rings 3” and “spiderman 2” in russia–which may or may not be a big deal; i’m guessing many indian movies outgrossed both of these in india as well). these catholic movies are all so deeply religious they become a little boring. and the world of vampires and werewolves (underworld etc.) are mostly superhero movies masquerading as something else. okay, i’m rambling.

My Name Is Earl

Around 15 million people tuned in last night for this new NBC comedy. I liked its Coen Brothers-lite charm and Jason Lee makes an engaging lead character. With 246 people to cross of his list, the network certainly has a long run on its hand if America keeps watching. Nothing remarkable but amusing nonetheless. The second season of The Office was also fun to watch (if a little bit more mainstream than the first few eps) though it lost 6 million of Earl’s viewers.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ opened in France this week (it is pretty rare for an American film to open abroad before it does in the US; I don’t what that says about the marketing strategy). I saw a dubbed version rather than a subtitled one, so it is possible that the dialogue sparkled in ways that my French was not able to appreciate. With that caveat, I found the movie disappointing though definitely watchable.

First the good. Robert Downey Jr. And Val Kilmer were a pleasure to watch, and Kilmer really seems to be happier not trying to carry the movie on his own. His Gay Perry has a nice deadpan quality, and he avoids playing up the arch homosexual. What with this and ‘Spartan’ Kilmer may finally have lived down his role in ‘The Saint,’ probably the worst film of the post-Watergate era. Downey is always fun to watch, and here he has a charm that he just about pulls off without looking too goofy. There are lots of nice touches to the movie, involving urination, severed fingers, dogs, coffins and corpses falling into, or onto, dumpsters. They just depart enough from convention to offer a little jerk of surprise and pleasure.
Continue reading Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

The Five Year old Darwin & March of the Penguins

I took the kids to see March of the Penguins yesterday. I have no freakin’ idea why I didn’t realize Bad Things were going to happen in a Nature Documentary, and I’ve scarred another five year old for life. (The 4yo was more freaked out by the trailer for Corpse Bride, and I cannot for the life of me think why the MPAA thinks that trailer is “approved for all audiences”.)

The movie moves at a glacial pace. The penguins trek to their mating spot 70 miles from the sea, often staying awake for two weeks to make the hike. I felt like I had stayed awake watching for two weeks. Of course, all drama is provided by mother nature. Freeman’s voice is soothing, but not comforting enough that the kids Continue reading The Five Year old Darwin & March of the Penguins

Broken Flowers

Nothing revelatory here. Jarmusch’s trademark minimalism without the visual flair his previous collaborator, Robby Muller (with an umlaut), brought to Dead Man, Ghost Dog, Down By Law and Mystery Train (as well as Until the End of the World, Barfly, Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark) . Then again Flowers‘s cinematographer, Frederick Elmes, shot Blue Velvet, The Hulk and Kinsey so the production team must have been working on a low, low budget as the film just doesn’t look good (perhaps it was the Landmark Cinema I visited). It has also been lauded about that Jarmusch wrote the screenplay in two weeks, but to me the film feels underdeveloped and tossed together (straining for poignancy without really achieving anything). Bill Murray has certainly been riding a fine wave over the last couple of years and he has lovely moments in this film, but if he keeps stripping away the artifice from the craft of screen acting he’s going to altogether disappear from view (perhaps that’s his plan). Broken Flowers, however, does come to life whenever a woman enters the frame. And what women: Jessica Lange, Sharon Stone, Francis Conroy, Tilda Swinton, Julie Delpy and Chloe Sevigny (who deserves special mention as she accomplishes the most with her character in the least amount of screen time). Not bad but nothing to drive out of your way to see.

Lemony

Got around to watching Lemony Snicket’s long title. Did someone post about that previously?

Well…. I am not going to hash around much with the film overall; it sort of works, sort of doesn’t. I think at age 12 I’d have been in love, but I’m not sure at 37 I could get past the crude stitching of slapstick to dry bitter irony.

But my god it looked good. Without aping Gorey, the film’s production (and the animation on the dvd, and in the film’s credits) was equally baroque, brutal, wondrous. I think it’s worth seeing if just to revel in that look ….