Tag: film (page 10 of 20)

Movie Review: Dredd (3D)

In Mega-City One, the population is astronomical and crime is rampant. The people are represented by one group, and one group alone: the Judges. They locate and investigate crime; they prosecute and punish the offenders on the spot. They are the law. These are their stories.

Going back to the well of an established intellectual property can be risky business. If it’s a long-running story, die-hard fans will be frothing at the mouth not just to see this new take on their beloved worlds, but tear the storyteller to ribbons over anything they might get ‘wrong’. So it was in the first movie based on Judge Dredd, the central character of the ultra-violent, subversive, and even satirical 2000 AD Comics. It was… well, not great, but amusing and even entertaining in its own way. They went back to the well for a 2012 remake, and fans held their breath. I hope they let it out shouting for joy, because this new Dredd is ultra-violent and subversive – not necessarily satirical, but considering how stripped-down the film is, it’s clear something had to go.

Courtesy Lionsgate

We join Joe Dredd at the start of an average day as a Judge in Mega-City One, a final bastion of teeming humanity on the edge of a nuclear wasteland. You know how it goes – get up, put on the armor and helmet, get the Lawgiver ready, chase down some thugs on your kickass bike, same old same old. Today’s different, though. Dredd’s been saddled with a psychic rookie named Anderson, and heads out with her to investigate a triple homicide at the mega-block known as Peach Trees. The mega-block is a miniature city in and of itself, 200 floors housing 80,000 people, and the drug queen Ma-Ma is in control of it all. She doesn’t like Judges poking around in her business. So she locks the place down and calls for their heads. She thinks she’s the law in Peach Trees. Guess who disagrees.

Right from the start, seasoned readers and watchers can tell this is not the same Dredd as before. Unlike the previous film’s predilection for overwrought bombast, bright splashy colors, and a leaning towards camp that didn’t quite hit Flash Gordon levels but came pretty close at times, Dredd plays things closer to the vest. I’d say it’s more subtle, but that seems a disingenuous word considering how violent the movie is. People are shot, stabbed, skinned alive, even set on fire – when it comes to ‘inventive law enforcement’, the Punisher and the Boondock Saints have nothing on Dredd. But under all of the bloodshed and gore is an undercurrent of reflectiveness, a dark mirror of our own modern society, steeped in the glorification of carnage and the acknowledgement that, when the corrupt will stop at nothing to accomplish their goals, there are times when you need someone of such deep-rooted and nearly fascistic righteousness to step in who is willing to stop at nothing to punish the aforementioned corrupt.

Courtesy Lionsgate
If you see this scowl, RUN.

The sort of person who personifies this mentality is not bombastic. They don’t like a lot of attention and they’re not given to grand shows of power to demonstrate how awesome they are. Hence why Karl Urban is superior in the role of Judge Dredd to Stallone. Where Stallone shouted, Urban growls. Where Stallone emoted with his weird-ass contacts, Urban scowls. He moves with a purpose at all times. He appears long enough to do his job, brutal as it might be, then moves on. He keeps his own counsel and demonstrates that absolute adherence to the law does not mean unreasonability. And he never, ever takes his helmet off.

This is, of course, the result of many galvanizing years on the mean streets of Mega-City One. In order to fully demonstrate the hidden depths of the character, rather than just tell you “there’s a lot going on under that visor,” the audience benefits from a surrogate. Enter Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson, the rookie with whom Dredd has been saddled. There are a lot of directions a writer can go with a character like this – a wide-eyed questioner, a cheerleader for the protagonist, and so on. Anderson, however, is not just there to be a pretty face. She’s being tested, and not just by Dredd. It’s a testament to Thirlby’s acting chops that we feel, rather than hear about, her mix of respect and fear for Dredd, her uncertainty at the situation in front of her, and her determination to prove herself and not back down no matter what challenge presents itself. Even when things go bad for her, she retains a measure of control, never gives up hope, and never betrays her fears in full. She’s one of the best female characters I’ve seen on screen in a while, especially in a movie based on a comic, and I’d pay money just to see another story with her in it.

Courtesy Lionsgate
She’d make a fantastic Samus Aran.

The supporting cast, while decent, never really rises to the level of the two leads. Lena Headey is always good in whatever role she takes, from Queen Gorgo of Sparta to Cersei Lannister, but Ma-Ma has little in the way of range. She’s tough and brutal, of course, but there’s really nothing to her other than ambition and those overlying traits. The rest of her forces are pretty interchangeable mooks, and we only get bits and pieces from others to really show us what life in Mega-City One is like. Given that the film is only 95 minutes long, a little more fleshing out here and there would have been fine, without having too much negative impact on the pace of the action. Finally, as bleak as the setting is, I never got the feeling that Mega-City One was as oppressively crowded as it might seem given the numbers. But that’s a minor quibble with an otherwise overwhelming success in going back to the well, and coming back with something that not only sustains, but delights.

Stuff I Liked: There’s very little fat on this movie; it moves at a great pace and is very goal-oriented. Its rather straightforward story lends itself well to character examination through action. The small scale of it and the lack of any overarching compulsion to save the world, or the girl, or the Law, makes it a much tighter and more substantive story than you get in most movies based on comic books. Even some Marvel ones. And the predominance of practical effects makes the action even more visceral and concrete.
Stuff I Didn’t Like: I don’t like the idea of this being the only story I’ll see with these actors as these characters. I would have liked to see a bit more backstory and characterization with Ma-Ma, even though what we get is perfectly adequate.
Stuff I Loved: Let’s just say “everything about Dredd and Anderson” and leave it at that. And considering how we’re with them every step of the way in this story, there’s plenty to love.

Bottom Line: There are a lot of reasons to see Dredd. See it for the tight, intimate story. See it for the extremely well-shot and visceral action. See it to enjoy a rendition of Judge Dredd that feels authentic and real, not campy and bombastic. See it for a growly voice that puts Bale’s Bat-voice to shame without being as ridiculously over-the-top.

Crank File: The Fall Movie Review

Every now and again, life catches me off-guard. It’s times like these I need to turn to contributions from you, the audience. If you’ve ever read the Opinions section of the local newspaper, or the comments of an article on the Huffington Post, you know that sometimes the readers contribute just as much as the established writers. Thus, I present to you the Crank File.

Today’s Crank File entry comes to us courtesy of Monica A. Flink. Enjoy!


Which is better? Telling a good story with boring visuals, or telling a simplistic, boring story with beauty? For director Tarsem Singh, it is generally a question of telling a somewhat interesting story that has plot holes and little merit, and adding in Academy Award-worthy sets, costumes, and cinematography. Examples of this include the pretty but laughably written The Cell, the insipid and sometimes confusing but charmingly pretty Mirror Mirror, and the panned but visually stunning Immortals.

Courtesy The Fall
This entire movie looks like a perfume advertisement, maybe “Confusion” by Jennifer Lopez.

Yet, with a track record of decent box office receipts and crappy reviews, Tarsem did manage to make something worth watching for both story and eye candy. The Fall is considered by critics and fans alike to be more than just something nice to look at. It combines storytelling and visuals in a way to that makes it the only Tarsem movie to get decent to mixed reviews, which was enough to encourage me to see it.

The most attractive part of this movie is that none of the scenes are shot on sound stages or are digital backgrounds. There are no matte paintings or boats floating in fake pools. In an age where an actor can spend an entire movie acting in a green suit to become a CGI copy of him or herself, Tarsem presents a movie shot entirely on location. Locations which include: Italy, Turkey, Argentina, India, Fiji, South Africa, Namibia, Czech Republic, and France. All for one movie.

Courtesty The Fall
Even the movie poster looks like a piece of art you could find on some yuppie’s wall.

Our story opens on a movie set in 1915, the era of silent film. We discover that the main character, Roy, played here by a limpid eyed and bed-ridden Lee Pace, has been injured in the course of his job as a silent movie stuntman and may never walk again. We also meet a precocious child, Romanian-born Alexandria, who wanders around the hospital freely, arm in a cast, charming the staff and peering in at Roy, who caught a letter she had tossed from a window to her favorite nurse.

Roy begins telling Alexandria about her namesake, Alexander the Great, until she is told to leave the ward by a grumpy patient. When she returns, Roy begins telling her another story, one about a masked bandit with a group of warriors, all trying to kill the same man. The story within a story is told through Alexandria’s point of view, with people she knows as the six heroes, and this is where the movie truly shines.

Courtesy The Fall
Note how the guy who is supposed to be Charles Darwin is dressed like a fantasy-land pimp. Because evolution is that awesome.

During the story about the bandit, we get the location changes, the beautiful sets, the vibrant costumes. It is almost impossible to describe how watching this film immerses you in the story, but you forget that you are watching a film that has any other plot to it. The only part about The Fall that ruins the ambiance that Tarsem creates is the jarring returns to the prosaic real story.

While Roy is telling Alexandria his tale, we discover other parts of their lives that make them tragic characters. Young Alexandria broke her arm working in an orchard with the rest of her family after her father was murdered and their home burnt to the ground, leaving them with nothing. Roy’s accident was not an accident at all, but a suicide attempt after his girlfriend left him for a famous actor on set. We even discover the story that has been captivating Alexandria is nothing more than Roy’s attempt to gain her trust so that she might use her ability to walk through the hospital freely to get him morphine.

The story culminates in Alexandria going to get Roy morphine for another attempt to take his own life, and falling from a precarious ledge, getting injured. Roy, sorry for what has happened but still suicidal, tries to finish the story for her tinted with his own depression, five of the six heroes dying before getting to the villain, the bandit himself getting beaten by the nefarious Odious in front of the only character Alexandria made up for the story on her own.

As she sobs in her hospital bed, begging him to give the story a happy ending, Roy comes to realize that he not only has learned to care for her, but to care for himself again. He finishes the story with a victorious ending, and we see scenes of hope in the aftermath. Alexandria getting well and enjoying a movie with the other hospital patients. Roy bringing in silent movies for them to watch, including his first movie. And then scenes from other movies that he went on to make that inspired his story of the masked bandit, the two of them parting ways having learned courage and compassion on both ends.

Courtesy The Fall
They’ll bake cookies and do each other’s nails some other day. Today it’s just about courage and compassion and not offing yourself.

Truthfully, this is an okay movie, at best. What is the true draw is the fact that it just needs to be seen. To be experienced. Because movies are not made this way any more. Gone are the days of casts of thousands and shooting on location for technology that is cheaper and easier. But Tarsem’s The Fall throws aesthetics in the face of that, and comes out with something truly spectacular.

If you want to sit down and watch this, which I highly recommend, I suggest getting the Blu-Ray version, and the best television you can find. You will only enjoy it more.


Got something for the Crank File? Email me here.

Movie Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien, is a far more filmable piece of work than his larger work, The Lord of the Rings. It has a more simple narrative, its plot is contained to one volume, and its themes remain focused on the character of Bilbo Baggins and how he deals with his adventures. Yet, according to interviews and as evidenced in works such as the Unfinished Tales and the Silmarillion, Tolkien knew there was more going on than a hobbit coming out of his hole, and the intent was to embellish this work. Director Peter Jackson has taken it upon himself to do just that, adapting the story into three films, the first of which is sub-titled An Unexpected Journey.

Courtesy New Line Cinema

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit. He is concerned with remaining a respected member of his community and not inviting any sort of trouble to his doorstep. Unfortunately for him, the wizard Gandalf has the exact opposite in mind. Thirteen dwarves show up at Bilbo’s house, and while they are certainly capable of troublemaking, they’re also personable and companionable. The leader of the company, Thorin Oakenshield, is a dwarf prince bent on reclaiming his homeland from the evil dragon Smaug, and to do that he needs the help of someone who can sneak into the dragon’s lair undetected. Gandalf has chosen Bilbo for this task, in spite of Thorin’s reservations and Bilbo’s own reluctance. The hobbit does come around to the idea of at least leaving his home – and a good thing too, otherwise we’d have no story.

The term ‘reluctant hero’ has never been more apt than in describing Bilbo Baggins. Neither a great warrior nor unflinchingly brave, there’s something very charming and telling about the hobbit in a very fashionable jacket and waistcoat following the heavily armed and armored company of dwarves. And when trouble does find Bilbo, he does not immediately seek a violent solution for the problem at hand; more often than not, it’s his wits and fast talking that saves him. It means a lot, in this day and age, to see a protagonist who does what he can to get himself out of trouble without violence.

Courtesy New Line Cinema
Does the contract also protect the dwarves from liability related to addiction to magic rings?

This isn’t to say that The Hobbit is devoid of action. In fact, many of the scenes from the book have been embellished with Jackson’s trademark adeptness with epic action set pieces. We even get flashbacks to epic battles of the past. The tale tends to feel even more fantastical than The Lord of the Rings, focused as we are on non-human races and characters. And while accusations have been leveled at the film calling it too long or too padded, the moments of expanded lore and the occasional cameo are actually welcome moments to catch one’s breath between all of the fighting and survival. In spite of the film’s length, it’s paced quite reasonably and does not overstay its welcome.

Martin Freeman absolutely nails the affect of a fussy, emotionally exasperated hobbit far out of his depth. Richard Armitage brings a sort of haunted nobility to Thorin Oakenshield, who is clearly cut from a different cloth than most of the other dwarves. Boisterous and personable as they are, it can be difficult to keep track of all of them. Sir Ian McKellan makes a welcome return as Gandalf the Grey, and I was very pleased with the expanded role given to Radagast the Brown, played by Sylvester McCoy. And rather than being part of a monolithic evil as they were in Lord of the Rings, the foes faced by the company vary wildly from three culinary connoisseur trolls to an orc with a grudge against Thorin. All of this makes for great storytelling and a fine film just in time for the holiday season.

Courtesy New Line Cinema
“You did remember the Old Toby, didn’t you, Bilbo? We can’d do this without the proper pipeweed.”

Stuff I Liked: The White Council. The antics of the dwarves. The pacing of the story and the ways in which it kept moving without feeling rushed. The detail given to each of the dwarves even if they were hard to keep track of. The new look of the wargs.
Stuff I Didn’t Like: After two and a half hours, the 3D glasses really started to hurt.
Stuff I Loved: Dwarven song. The connection between Gandalf and Galadriel. Radagast the Brown. Bilbo’s affectations and tics. The perfect ominous atmosphere of Bilbo encountering Gollum in his cave. Just about everything related to Erebor. The scene with the trolls. The way Bilbo faces his problems – he’s usually pretty scared, but he steps up anyway, and that’s what makes him heroic.

Bottom Line: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey not only works excellently as a tale in and of itself, but bodes quite well for the next two films to come. It is a welcome return to Middle-Earth, with the same high quality in performances and production as Jackson’s previous fantasy trilogy. It is clearly a labor of love for everyone involved, and you can lay any suspicion of it being a blatant cash-grab to rest. It is definitely worth your time to go and see.

Movie Review: Wreck-It Ralph

Courtesy Disney

It’s only recently that video games have come into their own in terms of storytelling. Certainly there have been some diamonds in the rough, but back when that form of entertainment was just getting started, story would at times extend only as far as the mechanics of the game. “Shoot the invaders.” “Defend the cities from annihilation.” “Eat pills, avoid ghosts.” “Save the girl from the ape.” That sort of thing. And in the fictional game Fix-It Felix, Jr., the designated villain, the Wreck-It Ralph for whom this film is named, sums up the story in one sentence: “I’M GONNA WRECK IT!”

Courtesy Disney

‘It’, in the context of the game, is the apartments built by the people of Niceland on what was once Ralph’s home. He wrecks the building, and the player of the game, controlling Fix-It Felix, Jr., fixes it. This has been going on for around 30 years, Ralph figures, every time a kid drops a quarter into the game. And now, Ralph wants to wreck something else: the way things are. Tired of being the bad guy all the time (despite the admonition of his support group that being bad is, in a way, good), he sets off through the arcade’s surge protectors and electrical cords to the shooter Hero’s Duty, to earn the sort of medal never given to bad guys like him. But what becomes of his game without its villain? What effect does he have on Hero’s Duty and, later, the saccharine kart racer Sugar Rush? And if your very nature, your very programming is to wreck things, can you really be heroic?

Parallels can be drawn between this movie and the seminal Pixar entry Toy Story: both involve playthings that are self-aware and define their worlds around the world outside inhabited by us human beings. Wreck-It Ralph goes a step further as it becomes clear that these characters have programming that they cannot escape. Ralph is a chaotic, destructive force by nature; Felix is a stand-up, white-bread, do-gooder no matter what; Sergeant Calhoun kicks ass and takes no prisoners; Vanellope von Schweetz can’t help but be a mix of annoying and endearing. Given this knowledge, it may seem on the surface that Ralph’s quest is doomed to fail, but the complexity of the character means that he’s just stubborn enough to go through with it despite the warnings and cautionary tales all around him.

Courtesy Disney

One of the things you may not expect about Wreck-It Ralph is that, for all of its surprise cameos and wonderful send-up moments, it is ultimately about not just identity, but truth. The truth, for example, is that there is no Fix-It Felix, Jr without Wreck-It Ralph, no matter how much the Nicelanders may fear or despise him. I can think of more examples, but I don’t want to venture into spoiler territory, so I will say that just as much as Toy Story is about the inevitability of time, Wall-E examines the lengths to which we go when we love each other, and Up deals with the human capacity for ongoing adventure, Wreck-It Ralph tackles the pursuit of personal truth in each of us. The video game setting is perfect for this: just like Ralph feels he can’t escape his programming, we often feel we can’t escape our own circumstances.

This is, of course, all relevant in hindsight, but don’t let the deeper or broader meanings of the film put you off from taking your kids to see it, or seeing it yourself. Wreck-It Ralph moves very well without sparing story points, even if at times some of the dialog can get a bit expository. The fact that it’s being delivered by a talented and well-chosen cast really helps in this regard. John C. Reilly is no stranger to hapless guys who get in over their heads (Chicago, among others) and gives Ralph enough charm to make him likable without detracting from the inherent streak of destructiveness that’s right there in his name, while Jack McBrayer conveys the goodness of heart necessary for a tireless fixer like Felix while betraying some hidden depths of his own (“Why do I fix everything I touch??”). Sergeant Calhoun is uncompromising, even when it comes to herself, and as much as she might be representational or a parody of characters from Gears of War or something, Jane Lynch makes her come to life as far more than just an armored pin-up. And as much as some may not like Sarah Silverman, her normal attitude disappears into Vanellope, and all we see is a glitchy little girl with big dreams.

Courtesy Disney
“I’m bad, and that’s good.
“I will never be good, and that’s not bad.
“There’s nobody I’d rather be than me.”

We are talking about a Disney movie, so while it takes off from an interesting premise and has plenty of depth and jokes to pull in the grown-ups, there is a through-line of identity and independence that’s pretty much the hallmark of Disney. However, the message it conveys is still relevant, and having Ralph be the main vehicle for it instead of a princess is an interesting change. That said, Calhoun and Vanellope are both solid female characters, ensuring there is literally something for everyone. With top-notch animation, fantastic set pieces, and yes, a slew of great send-ups for both my generation and those coming into gaming recently, Wreck-It Ralph is easily on par with the aforementioned Pixar entries.

Stuff I Liked: Plenty of cameos and shout-outs for fans of video games old and new. The consistency of characters’ animations, based mostly on their games. The use of the surge protector as “Game Central Station” complete with discernible sockets in the place of platforms & tunnels.
Stuff I Didn’t Like: As necessary as it was, the frequency with which the story had to stop to explain another aspect of the rules by which these characters exist bothered me a bit. It’s a minor nitpick, as the world-building worked and the story was still quite effective, but it’s the only one that really sticks out in my head.
Stuff I Loved: All four leads are fantastic, well-rounded, strong, and brilliantly voiced characters. The story works on multiple levels without any of the aforementioned expository dialog weighing it down. And is it odd that I want to play all of the games we saw in the film now?

Bottom Line: Wreck-It Ralph is a very well-balanced story that has just enough positive message conveyance for kids as well as jokes and moments of contemplation for adults, all wrapped up in an appealing retro arcade aesthetic that remains consistent and charming throughout. It’s worth your time to check out, even if you don’t have kids, and especially if you’re a kid at heart.

Movies as Meta-Humor

Courtesy 20th Century Fox

I love mixing things up, in a literary sense. Fairy tales with superhero flavor? That’s my jam. Greek myths in space? Been there, wrote it. Norse gods in the Wild West? Saddle up. But what I haven’t quite gotten into yet is the meta-humor powering such novels as Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, and the movies that seem to be emerging from such things. Yes, they’re humorous storytelling endeavors. But rather than being straight-up joke-fests, the joke is that the joke behaves like something that isn’t remotely funny.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with absurdism or surrealist takes on the classics, and as I said, mixing things up can be both fun and interesting. However, I feel the mix should result in some tangible changes other than simply having additional elements tacked on. This is why the aforementioned PPZ never quite “clicked” for me: I got the gag, but the gag really only served itself, rather than fundamentally changing the story. Elizabeth was a pretty kickass slayer of the undead but that didn’t seem to alter her relationship with Darcy in any meaningful way.

On the other hand, consider Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The fact that Abe sought revenge for the death of his mother isn’t just an anecdote in his life. We learn that the real motivation behind the entire Civil War was to prevent the creation of a vampire nation, where slaves are used as food supply. It’s just as much a gag as the aforementioned zombies, but the way it alters the inner nature of the character and informs his motivations throughout his life makes it more effective both as meta-humor and as a readable or watchable story.

That said, it is entirely possibly to go too far in the other direction. As much as I like Jeremy Renner and Gemma Atherton, the upcoming Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters feels like the sort of fundamental change to characters aimed at increasing their broad appeal but likely to leave the characters bland and ultimately uninteresting. Van Helsing in a good example of this. There is so much just from the trailer of this new H&G that feels similar to that older, rather bland movie, and I’m not sure if it’s going to work the way it seemed to for Abe.

As with many things in writing, it’s all about balance. You can’t have the joke be too blatant and unrelated, and you can’t make the narrative all about the somewhat amusing change in character motivations or genre. Go too far one way or the other and the endeavor just falls apart. Strike the right balance, though, and as much as we’ll laugh at the concept, we’ll also be interested enough to see the narrative through to the end.

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