4/5 stars
This film is reverent of the original A-Team while doing new things. I'm pretty sure the director saw Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on UFC and thought, "I need to do an A-Team remake so he can play B.A."
There's some questionable similarities between this film and "The Losers": the final actions scenes at the Port of Los Angeles and the vilifying of the CIA. Each are definitely doing different, fun things, but the bag of tricks for action movies isn't too deep.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, June 7, 2010
The Graduate (1967)
4.9/5 stars
Important themes in The Graduate (1967) include freedom, the generation gap, isolation, and ambition. All these tie into the two most prevalent meanings in the film: self-knowledge and temptation. Ben is hemmed in by his parents’ and society’s expectations, but has the awareness to realize how unsatisfying the middleclass suburban life would be despite the ease in which he could settle into it.
Society is represented by a fish tank. The viewer continually sees Ben surrounded by or through the fish tank in his room. The symbolism is particularly explicit at his twenty-first birthday when he is wearing scuba diving equipment (provided by his father), and cajoled into the pool, and then pushed under the water by his parents. Ben goes under and stays in the pool because it was expected, just like he tempted to fall into the life laid out by his parents because it is the path of least resistance. It is made obvious though that Ben would ultimately be unhappy in that life. Roger Ebert says that The Graduate “is funny… because it has a point of view…it’s against something.” The film is against being a follower; it is about discovering and being true to one’s self.
Ben says that he wants to do something “different,” and having a secret affair with an older married woman at first seems like rebellion. However, Mrs. Robinson is trapped in the fish tank with no way out. Ben and Elaine can still see the glass walls and the possibilities beyond them, but for Mrs. Robinson it is too late. Mrs. Robinson’s role as antagonist ties in with the 60s and 70s ideology that was heavily influenced by the enormous generation gap between the Baby Boomers and their parents. Rosenbaum points out that “‘don’t trust anyone over 30’ is the only 60s counterculture motto honored in The Graduate, though the picture has only two under-30 characters of any importance, neither of them particularly well defined.” The reason Rosenbaum states that Ben and Elaine are not well defined is because both struggle with words.
The over-30 people around Ben are constantly interrupting him, and outsmarting and manipulating him with words. Mrs. Robinson simply says that she is not trying to seduce Ben and that makes it reality for Ben, even though he knows better and she is asking him to help her undress. Joan Didion said in her essay “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” that the discomfort with words was typical of Ben’s generation. “They do not believe in words…their only proficient vocabulary is in society’s platitudes…the ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language” (123). Ben is most affected when Elaine cries, and kisses her to show the sincerity of his apology. Elaine accepts and understands Ben, and that is when Ben falls in love with her. Elaine screams to show her frustration and anger rather than talking, and Ben is unable to convince his landlord with arguments that he is trustworthy. Ben is so accustomed to apologizing and taking direction that he has no way to express himself in words, he can only act to show his determination to marry Elaine.
Important themes in The Graduate (1967) include freedom, the generation gap, isolation, and ambition. All these tie into the two most prevalent meanings in the film: self-knowledge and temptation. Ben is hemmed in by his parents’ and society’s expectations, but has the awareness to realize how unsatisfying the middleclass suburban life would be despite the ease in which he could settle into it.
Society is represented by a fish tank. The viewer continually sees Ben surrounded by or through the fish tank in his room. The symbolism is particularly explicit at his twenty-first birthday when he is wearing scuba diving equipment (provided by his father), and cajoled into the pool, and then pushed under the water by his parents. Ben goes under and stays in the pool because it was expected, just like he tempted to fall into the life laid out by his parents because it is the path of least resistance. It is made obvious though that Ben would ultimately be unhappy in that life. Roger Ebert says that The Graduate “is funny… because it has a point of view…it’s against something.” The film is against being a follower; it is about discovering and being true to one’s self.
Ben says that he wants to do something “different,” and having a secret affair with an older married woman at first seems like rebellion. However, Mrs. Robinson is trapped in the fish tank with no way out. Ben and Elaine can still see the glass walls and the possibilities beyond them, but for Mrs. Robinson it is too late. Mrs. Robinson’s role as antagonist ties in with the 60s and 70s ideology that was heavily influenced by the enormous generation gap between the Baby Boomers and their parents. Rosenbaum points out that “‘don’t trust anyone over 30’ is the only 60s counterculture motto honored in The Graduate, though the picture has only two under-30 characters of any importance, neither of them particularly well defined.” The reason Rosenbaum states that Ben and Elaine are not well defined is because both struggle with words.
The over-30 people around Ben are constantly interrupting him, and outsmarting and manipulating him with words. Mrs. Robinson simply says that she is not trying to seduce Ben and that makes it reality for Ben, even though he knows better and she is asking him to help her undress. Joan Didion said in her essay “Slouching Towards Bethlehem” that the discomfort with words was typical of Ben’s generation. “They do not believe in words…their only proficient vocabulary is in society’s platitudes…the ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language” (123). Ben is most affected when Elaine cries, and kisses her to show the sincerity of his apology. Elaine accepts and understands Ben, and that is when Ben falls in love with her. Elaine screams to show her frustration and anger rather than talking, and Ben is unable to convince his landlord with arguments that he is trustworthy. Ben is so accustomed to apologizing and taking direction that he has no way to express himself in words, he can only act to show his determination to marry Elaine.
Prince of Persia (2010)
4/5 stars
Even though this is another movie based on a video game and they’re coming out with another video game based on the movie, there’s nothing gamey about this film. Mike Newell (director) successfully creates a context for the character development and plot twists, despite the time travel element.
Jake Gyllenhaal was an interesting choice for the lead, Dastan. He brings just the right amount depth to the character. The major theme in the story is nobility. The king, Sharaman, says that though Dastan had no noble blood, he had a noble spirit. Between Robin Hood (2010) and Prince of Persia (2010), even Avatar (2009), Hollywood seems to be trying to remind us that it’s not about where you were born, but the standards you hold yourself to.
Even though this is another movie based on a video game and they’re coming out with another video game based on the movie, there’s nothing gamey about this film. Mike Newell (director) successfully creates a context for the character development and plot twists, despite the time travel element.
Jake Gyllenhaal was an interesting choice for the lead, Dastan. He brings just the right amount depth to the character. The major theme in the story is nobility. The king, Sharaman, says that though Dastan had no noble blood, he had a noble spirit. Between Robin Hood (2010) and Prince of Persia (2010), even Avatar (2009), Hollywood seems to be trying to remind us that it’s not about where you were born, but the standards you hold yourself to.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
4.5/5 stars
If you’re in a good mood, this movie will kill it. The story is about two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides of the evolving war between the Catholic Irish and their English Protestant rulers, kind of like the old stories about brothers who ended up on opposite sides during the American Civil War, except this one includes finger nails being pulled out with pliers.
When I traveled to Ireland in 1999, the question about whether you were Catholic or Protestant was simple: “Are you black or are you white?” I’m thankful now we were able to say were Irish American, and that made us somehow exempt from the violence portrayed in this movie that continues today. Many people I talk to, including myself, weren’t even born when John F. Kennedy was elected president. It seems bizarre that the hate between Catholics and Protestants spilled over into America clear through the 1960s, especially when such bigotry is seen as so backwards now. As Americans, we’re used to hearing about racism and homophobia, not whites hating whites.
Cillian Murphy’s acting makes this movie worth watching. The development of his character and character’s brother into two violently opposed directions is heartbreaking. An incredible film with an emotional intensity that is not let down by a typical Hollywood ending. The methods of the IRA reflect its roots: utterly brutal.
If you’re in a good mood, this movie will kill it. The story is about two brothers who find themselves on opposite sides of the evolving war between the Catholic Irish and their English Protestant rulers, kind of like the old stories about brothers who ended up on opposite sides during the American Civil War, except this one includes finger nails being pulled out with pliers.
When I traveled to Ireland in 1999, the question about whether you were Catholic or Protestant was simple: “Are you black or are you white?” I’m thankful now we were able to say were Irish American, and that made us somehow exempt from the violence portrayed in this movie that continues today. Many people I talk to, including myself, weren’t even born when John F. Kennedy was elected president. It seems bizarre that the hate between Catholics and Protestants spilled over into America clear through the 1960s, especially when such bigotry is seen as so backwards now. As Americans, we’re used to hearing about racism and homophobia, not whites hating whites.
Cillian Murphy’s acting makes this movie worth watching. The development of his character and character’s brother into two violently opposed directions is heartbreaking. An incredible film with an emotional intensity that is not let down by a typical Hollywood ending. The methods of the IRA reflect its roots: utterly brutal.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
2/5 stars
Mr. Scrap (Morgan Freeman) opens the brutal and bloody Million Dollar Baby (2004) by describing the connection between a trainer and his fighter, how everything in boxing is backwards, and the strength and heart it takes to savagely beat another human being senseless. This movie is a plethora of contradictions, the major one being the statement that Hilary Swanks’s character is a fighter boxing aside – Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) tells her mama on an unpleasant and, the audience senses, typical visit, “I’m a fighter, mama”– a statement tragically unsupported by her actions and attitude toward the end of the movie.
The main characters, Frankie (Clint Eastwood) and his lady boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank), who he was at first unwilling to train because she’s a girl and too old at 31to break into the sport, are on a journey towards fulfilling Maggie’s dream of becoming a professional boxer. Maggie is from the epitome of a white trash family. She grew up in southwestern Missouri in the tiny town of Theodosia, where her 312 pound mother still resides along with her sister who cheats on her welfare by pretending one of her babies is still alive, where her daddy died, and where her brother will return once he gets out of prison.
Frankie owns a boxing gym and trains fighters. He has a questioning, if not angry, relationship with God. He goes to Mass everyday and receives every letter he sends to his estranged daughter back in his mailbox labeled “return to sender.” Maggie walks into Frankie’s gym just after his latest protégée has left him for a manager who will get him a title fight, and though he at first refuses, he begrudgingly starts training her with the gentle prodding of Mr. Scrap, who recognizes a little bit of himself in Maggie.
Predictably, Maggie turns into Cinderella, the underdog who knocks out fighters in the first round and makes it all the way to a championship fight with Billie the Blue Bear (Lucia Rijker), a former prostitute and the East German champion. Blue Bear is a reputed dirty fighter in the ring, and in the pitch of the fight, with a single cheap shot, takes away Maggie’s dreams and ability to box. The rest of the movie is a deteriorating of Maggie’s and Frankie’s lives.
It is in this last third of the film that everything that is built up in the beginning is completely torn down. Mr. Scrap says that “boxing is fighting beyond endurance” and in boxing “instead of running from the pain, like a sane person would do, you step into it.” Maggie thinks that because she can no longer pursue her passion, life is no longer worth living, even though she is still alive and in control of herself. She draws a parallel between her situation and her daddy’s dog. Axel, a German shepherd, loses the use of his hind legs and even though Maggie’s daddy is so sick he can hardly stand, he takes the dog out into the woods, the two of them singing and howling, then presumably shoots him, and comes home alone. Even though Frankie tries to convince her to go back to school and tries to find another path for her, she refuses and puts a burden on him that destroys what emotional sanity he had left.
Besides having the two halves not quite coming together, the film is filled with every worn out stereotype a sports movie could offer, from the underdog who’s a natural talent, to the compassionate, quiet friend who seems to have deeper insight into the lives of others than anyone in real life. Freeman’s Mr. Scrap is a transplanted Red from in The Shawshank Redemption, but when one has played God and the president of the United States, one already has all the credibility one needs. Working with seemingly worn out genres – the Western his most notable, and the other recent film Mystic River that takes on the murder mystery – is no great feat for Eastwood. Million Dollar Baby, like the others, is filled with great acting, cinematography, and directing. If only this film didn’t have the plot holes, then maybe it could live up to the hype of it being Eastwood’s masterpiece.
Eastwood successfully builds up the notion in the audience’s mind that Maggie has truly lost everything and that Frankie is being selfish by not doing what she asks of him. There is a fall out with the family, not a great loss, and Frankie, her father figure, is the only thing she has left. Frankie, an apparent Catholic, though an unhappy one, does not let his spiritual life or the advice of his priest get in the way of his definition of compassion. The resolution is disappointing in its betrayal of the heroine’s much talked about strength, though the decision is understandable.
Mr. Scrap draws the parallel that people who watch car accidents wanting to see bodies are the same people who claim to love boxing. It must be the same with boxing movies, especially the female version. It shouldn’t be pleasant to watch people destroy each other. Million Dollar Baby is hopeless in its message and its characters’ actions. Mr. Scrap says, “Everything in boxing is backwards”; yeah, so is everything in this movie.
Mr. Scrap (Morgan Freeman) opens the brutal and bloody Million Dollar Baby (2004) by describing the connection between a trainer and his fighter, how everything in boxing is backwards, and the strength and heart it takes to savagely beat another human being senseless. This movie is a plethora of contradictions, the major one being the statement that Hilary Swanks’s character is a fighter boxing aside – Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) tells her mama on an unpleasant and, the audience senses, typical visit, “I’m a fighter, mama”– a statement tragically unsupported by her actions and attitude toward the end of the movie.
The main characters, Frankie (Clint Eastwood) and his lady boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Swank), who he was at first unwilling to train because she’s a girl and too old at 31to break into the sport, are on a journey towards fulfilling Maggie’s dream of becoming a professional boxer. Maggie is from the epitome of a white trash family. She grew up in southwestern Missouri in the tiny town of Theodosia, where her 312 pound mother still resides along with her sister who cheats on her welfare by pretending one of her babies is still alive, where her daddy died, and where her brother will return once he gets out of prison.
Frankie owns a boxing gym and trains fighters. He has a questioning, if not angry, relationship with God. He goes to Mass everyday and receives every letter he sends to his estranged daughter back in his mailbox labeled “return to sender.” Maggie walks into Frankie’s gym just after his latest protégée has left him for a manager who will get him a title fight, and though he at first refuses, he begrudgingly starts training her with the gentle prodding of Mr. Scrap, who recognizes a little bit of himself in Maggie.
Predictably, Maggie turns into Cinderella, the underdog who knocks out fighters in the first round and makes it all the way to a championship fight with Billie the Blue Bear (Lucia Rijker), a former prostitute and the East German champion. Blue Bear is a reputed dirty fighter in the ring, and in the pitch of the fight, with a single cheap shot, takes away Maggie’s dreams and ability to box. The rest of the movie is a deteriorating of Maggie’s and Frankie’s lives.
It is in this last third of the film that everything that is built up in the beginning is completely torn down. Mr. Scrap says that “boxing is fighting beyond endurance” and in boxing “instead of running from the pain, like a sane person would do, you step into it.” Maggie thinks that because she can no longer pursue her passion, life is no longer worth living, even though she is still alive and in control of herself. She draws a parallel between her situation and her daddy’s dog. Axel, a German shepherd, loses the use of his hind legs and even though Maggie’s daddy is so sick he can hardly stand, he takes the dog out into the woods, the two of them singing and howling, then presumably shoots him, and comes home alone. Even though Frankie tries to convince her to go back to school and tries to find another path for her, she refuses and puts a burden on him that destroys what emotional sanity he had left.
Besides having the two halves not quite coming together, the film is filled with every worn out stereotype a sports movie could offer, from the underdog who’s a natural talent, to the compassionate, quiet friend who seems to have deeper insight into the lives of others than anyone in real life. Freeman’s Mr. Scrap is a transplanted Red from in The Shawshank Redemption, but when one has played God and the president of the United States, one already has all the credibility one needs. Working with seemingly worn out genres – the Western his most notable, and the other recent film Mystic River that takes on the murder mystery – is no great feat for Eastwood. Million Dollar Baby, like the others, is filled with great acting, cinematography, and directing. If only this film didn’t have the plot holes, then maybe it could live up to the hype of it being Eastwood’s masterpiece.
Eastwood successfully builds up the notion in the audience’s mind that Maggie has truly lost everything and that Frankie is being selfish by not doing what she asks of him. There is a fall out with the family, not a great loss, and Frankie, her father figure, is the only thing she has left. Frankie, an apparent Catholic, though an unhappy one, does not let his spiritual life or the advice of his priest get in the way of his definition of compassion. The resolution is disappointing in its betrayal of the heroine’s much talked about strength, though the decision is understandable.
Mr. Scrap draws the parallel that people who watch car accidents wanting to see bodies are the same people who claim to love boxing. It must be the same with boxing movies, especially the female version. It shouldn’t be pleasant to watch people destroy each other. Million Dollar Baby is hopeless in its message and its characters’ actions. Mr. Scrap says, “Everything in boxing is backwards”; yeah, so is everything in this movie.
Secret Window (2004)
4.5/5 stars
This is what all horror movies should be: psychologically thrilling without torture porn. Johnny Depp is amazing, as usual, and he definitely has some Jack Sparrow channeling going on. The interplay between characters is tense, but Mort’s (Depp) dialogue with his soon-to-be ex-wife and her boyfriend adds comic relief.
David Koepp (director) uses sound intelligently in this film. It’s how he builds the creepiness without overusing the dramatic base that so many horror movies use to show you it’s a scary part; if you turned the sound off, the camera angles and characters’ expression would still communicate the creepiness.
A must see for writers and not just because it’s based on a Stephen King short story.
This is what all horror movies should be: psychologically thrilling without torture porn. Johnny Depp is amazing, as usual, and he definitely has some Jack Sparrow channeling going on. The interplay between characters is tense, but Mort’s (Depp) dialogue with his soon-to-be ex-wife and her boyfriend adds comic relief.
David Koepp (director) uses sound intelligently in this film. It’s how he builds the creepiness without overusing the dramatic base that so many horror movies use to show you it’s a scary part; if you turned the sound off, the camera angles and characters’ expression would still communicate the creepiness.
A must see for writers and not just because it’s based on a Stephen King short story.
Friday, May 21, 2010
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
3/5 stars
I’m not sure what just happened. This story seems like something Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, and director Terry Gilliam cooked up while baked, wrote down and, the next morning, put verbatim into a movie script. The cast, especially those playing the many faces of the Hanged Man, is incredible. The combination of Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp and Jude Law in one film is what attracted me to the movie. It’s unfortunate that Colin Farrell got the most screen time.
At first, this story seems like Across the Universe (2007) without the pretense of a discernable narrative and twice the drugs. The film teases at an underlying intelligence, perhaps literary references to Dr. Faustus or a clever combination of the Bible and Eastern philosophy. Dr. Parnassus seems to be a man selling the story of Jesus (though that’s not directly stated) with love and the imagination at the center of the universe, but he has a problem: gambling. He can’t resist when the Devil proposes a bet. This escalates into a race for who can gather five souls first; however, what those souls are being converted to is lost between the gondolas and a large Russian mother.
I’m not sure what just happened. This story seems like something Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, and director Terry Gilliam cooked up while baked, wrote down and, the next morning, put verbatim into a movie script. The cast, especially those playing the many faces of the Hanged Man, is incredible. The combination of Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp and Jude Law in one film is what attracted me to the movie. It’s unfortunate that Colin Farrell got the most screen time.
At first, this story seems like Across the Universe (2007) without the pretense of a discernable narrative and twice the drugs. The film teases at an underlying intelligence, perhaps literary references to Dr. Faustus or a clever combination of the Bible and Eastern philosophy. Dr. Parnassus seems to be a man selling the story of Jesus (though that’s not directly stated) with love and the imagination at the center of the universe, but he has a problem: gambling. He can’t resist when the Devil proposes a bet. This escalates into a race for who can gather five souls first; however, what those souls are being converted to is lost between the gondolas and a large Russian mother.
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