Just saw Tron: Legacy...

Thought it was rather average and kinda bland besides the impressive visuals. I just couldn't help feel that if the film had embraced the silliness of it all it would have been much more entertaining. In fact the scenes that worked were really the ones that shifted to a more camp tone (basically any scene with Michael Sheen), and when Jeff Bridges was coming accross as a kind of Obi Wan Lebowski. The rest of the film took itself way too seriously for this kind of material.

I appreciated some of the visuals, though they lack the charm of the original. And whilst the 3D was well done, and initially quite impressive, I found that my vision soon adjusted and I barely noticed the effect. Though it didn't have a negative impact on the film, I couldn't help but wonder 'what's the point?'. So far Avatar is the only film I've seen that truly benefits from being seen in 3D.

And I'm probably the only one, but the Daft Punk score did nothing for me. I didn't hate it, but I couldn't see what everyone was raving about. Then again I've never been huge of their style of music. Personally I found The Social Network to have a much more impressive score.

In the end, there wasn't much that I disliked about the movie, but not much that I truly liked either. It left me cold, and I feel that it should have been more 'fun'. Keep the story, the effects, and most of everything else, just let the actors loosen up, add some much needed humour and playfulness and there'd be a much better film. **1/2

After The Lady Eve I had a gigantic crush on her. She always comes across as intelligent, which I find very attractive.

Big topic--I'm thinking about doing for Serenity what Ebert did for Citizen Kane. But to be rather brief re: Serenity:
* The characters are exceptionally well-drawn, 3d characters each of whom has their own story--nobody is around just to be a sounding board or any other plot device.
* This extends to the villain, who is completely different than the standard sci-fi villain. You could make a movie just about The Operative, and it would be fascinating--few other onscreen antagonists are at that level. It's very tough (but not impossible) to make a great sci fi film without a great villain (think about the most revered sci fi movies of the last thirty or so years, and Darth Vader, Agent Smith, and the aliens in Dark City spring to mind), and Serenity does this and then some.
* The movie is actually about something, and it has a rather profound message. In the end, Serenity is not about the action--it's about all the stuff underneath the action.
* The dialog is wonderful--relentlessly clever without being too cheeky, funny without losing the serious aspect of the film. It puts 90% of its contemporaries to shame. Most moves are lucky to have one or two quotable lines, Serenity has dozens.
* The story arc is close to perfect--this is great dramatic storytelling.
* The cinematography has some rather brilliant aspects to it (I have an article ready on one specific reoccuring visual theme and there are one or two more that I hope to write on).
* The climax is masterfully written and executed.

I gave it the same rating and made mention of the "Air" line as well though it was so bad that I expect most everybody would have cringed there. Slant Magazine named the movie as one of the greatest of the last decade which just goes to show that, like Cahiers, they'd like to fluff De Palma too.

I'm interested to hear what JJoshay has to say about this one since it was his suggestion and he's hinted that the film deserves to be re-appraised.

The Kids Are All Right ***
Annette Bening is an angry lesbian. Well, in this movie anyway. There are some sitcomy moments in this one, which drags it down, but I think it also nails the characters pretty well--a lesbian/bisexual couple whose relationship is disrupted by the arrival of the sperm donor for their children, one of whom is having a bit of an identity crisis. I don't think this movie is quite as good as some people have made it out to be, and while Bening is very good in the AL role, I can't imagine that I'll find her performance as good as Natalie Portman's, and I don't find it as good as Noomi Rapace's iconic work in the Millenium Trilogy.

Here's the weird thing

My database says that i gave Serenity *** or 7/10 when i saw it in January 2006
Yet I have no memory of it at all.

I'm curious - on a scale of 1-10 where do you sit on Serenity?

Weird
Rob

Ten out of ten--dwarfed on my decade list only by United 93 and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

Alright I spent much of the weekend in Bethesda and Annapolis, and took advantage of the cinematic offerings afforded by such cities to watch a lot of end-of-the-year type films.

The King's Speech (2010) ***1/2

Marred only by Timothy Spall's distracting turn as Churchill and the occasional formulaic note, this largely wonderful movie will deserve the praise showered over it by the Oscars (including an almost-certain Best Picture nod) because it's well-made, well-acted, and incredibly satisfying from start to finish. Highly recommended

I Love You Phillip Morris (2009) ***1/2

There aren't many movies that show their major star (Jim Carrey in this case) engaging in loud, sweaty, anal sex with another man, but then again there aren't many movies like I Love You Phillip Morris, which is a very enjoyable comedy/romance/con-game of a film which benefits from a terrific performance by Carrey and some genuinely hilarious scenes. Not quite as good as the King's Speech, but unfairly underseen.

Black Swan (2010) ****

My first four star rating (of a theatrical film) of 2010, Black Swan is an intense experience. A psychological thriller that had my wife covering her eyes for half the time whose most apt descriptor might be "unsettling," this is not a movie like The King's Speech that makes you walk out feeling happy. It's a punishing movie about the self-destructive nature of performance and performers that dwarfs the other films of 2010, and will be my number 1 of the year. I doubt it'll win Best Picture, but it'll deserve to.

Tower of Evil

It's a pretty good grindhouse film with lots of blood and gratuitous nudity. And outside of that it even starts off pretty good with a discovery of a bunch of dead bodies and what happened. However, it quickly jettisons the more interesting plotline for the real plot! A bunch of museum people think that's there's lot of treasure on the evil island with the evil tower and the filler plot is barely mentioned again.

But it will scratch any Grindhouse itch you might have.

6/10

Two films recently. Fun fare; I haven't been in the mood for arty stuff lately. Maybe I'll get back to the artier films in a week or so.

Tremors

Worms under the ground, and they eat everyone! You all should know this movie; it's fun, funny, and contains great creature effects and tongue-in-cheek performances by the entire cast. Kevin Bacon has some awesome one-liners as well. Tremors is a winner all the way through.

The Thing

John Carpenter's version. This is how a horror movie should work, through a steady building of atmosphere and tension instead of quick, cheap scares. Researchers discover an alien life form at the South Pole, and the alien, able to take the shape of any other life form, begins to wreak terror on the entire outpost. Kurt Russell gives a gritty performance, and this is one of his best films. Carpenter has made four or five movies that are essential viewing. This is one of them.

The Kids Are All Right

This is in the same boat as Please Give: a human drama that's involving and observant, but not terribly challenging or insightful. A nice little movie.


Tron (1982)

Wow. Talk about a nice little movie. This sci-fi adventure story makes some strong suggestions about the symbiosis between our "real" and "virtual" lives, something that must have left people scratching their heads for years until the reality caught up with the fiction. There are moments when live footage, undoctored but presented very carefully, bears a strange resemblance to the conceptual realm of the digital. At the conclusion of the journey, it is difficult to think of the two as discrete.

While this is one of the earliest films to feature the extensive integration of live footage, traditional animation, and computer graphics, it rarely looks hokey and stubbornly carves a stunning and unique design aesthetic into the face of cinema. When blazing new trails in visual storytelling, innovative technology is nothing without the imagination to use it in an original way. The techniques are now utterly commonplace, yet, there is no movie that looks like Tron.

Had a very similar take on it.

The World's Fastest Indian ***
Awfully agreeable biopic with a terrific performance from Anthony Hopkins about an eclectic New Zealander who embarks on a journey to the US to race his old motorcycle. Much of the film is spent with him encountering various characters--a crossdressing motel clerk, a soldier on leave from Vietnam, etc. which gives it more of an episodic feel. Not all that consequential but certainly enjoyable.

Got in two quickies before things get movieless.

Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010, Banksy) -- I love how the critics are debating the veracity of this project when the whole point, the entire fucking endeavor that is ETTGS, is to get people to debate the veracity of the project. Alright, not the whole point -- Banksy goes Wellesian in his too-good-to-be-true documentary about camera-wielder Thierry Guetta (whom, since he learned of his mother's death through word-of-mouth, documents everything and then never revisits his videos) who becomes an overnight sensation thanks to the incredibly complex workings of the art world, pop culture, Banksy, Guetta's own talent, a brilliant advertising campaign... it's not entirely clear. The film is a critique of those who critique, the nature of art, the nature of truth, the nature of the nature of art and truth and the process of filming a documentary about a man named Thierry Guetta. It's the best documentary (?) I've seen since My Winnipeg. You need to check this out and one quick word of advice: listen carefully to Banksy's intro to the film. The entire lesson is laid out in a few short sentences and then it's off to the hilarity. I particularly liked how Thierry Guetta managed to convince people, through tenacity and hard work, that he was "mentally ill" and, later, "mentally retarded". Suffer for the art! Or, well, don't suffer and reap the rewards. Guetta pulls prices right, right the fuck out, of his ass when it comes to selling his unseen works. And the media? Like the elephant in the room. Covered in finger paint. Let's do a second take.

The Fighter (2010, David O. Russell) -- Good! Ordinary, though. Christian Bale does some good work as the crack-addicted ne'er-do-well and Wahlberg does his typical thing. This guy! Why does he insist on making anything other than comedies and Boogie Nights? He's not cut out for drama. Part of it is in the writing: the story really is totally standard stuff (this is basically Invincible with boxing gloves and a crack addict) and the material never rises above the Script By Numbers treatment. That said, it's watchable/entertaining thanks to the performances and Russell's ability to work the drama as organic. That is, it might look and feel exactly like the movie you expect it to be but you don't really care. I didn't care.

"The Naked Kiss" (Fuller, 1964) ** out of **** [5/10]
There could have been great movie in here somewhere, but Fuller and his actors sure as hell didn't know how to find it.

Major

I'm dying to talk about this film

I thought you were on vacation, so lets all do it when you're back

Have fun!
Rob

Exit Through The Gift Shop: I don't know. To me, this feels like one half of an interesting film. The film is much more effective when focusing on the street art scene as a whole; the first 45 minutes are very enjoyable. In the second half, when it starts to focus almost exclusively on Banksy and Thierry, I lost interest almost immediately.

The turning point for me came at the Disneyland scene. It's one thing to put up art on random walls; that's not hurting anybody. It's something completely different to bring a terrorism-connected symbol into a major public place, causing panic and forcing the park to shut down. For me, that crossed over the line from art into something much more sinister and inappropriate. I'm not sure what the message of that was supposed to me, and I hated the jokey way that they described the Disneyland security, and how they were able to get away with it. I wanted to see them get jail time for that stunt.

After that scene, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was a large amount of smug pretentiousness to it all. Certainly, the film is making a comment on the commercialization and commodification(?) of art, which is a legitimate subject if not really the most groundbreaking. I couldn't help comparing it to Orson Welles' F For Fake, which focused on a similar subject, but was much more playful without ever coming across as patronizing. Also, in a strange way, this felt similar to I'm Still Here, where a practical joke is played on the viewer by someone who considers themselves morally and intellectually superior. This is nowhere near the disaster that I'm Still Here was, but the interesting ideas, and there are plenty, wee lost on me because of the smug, pretentious overall tone. Sorry, but I'm not drinking the Kool-Aid. 5/10.

Restrepo: Now this is a documentary. The film follows a platoon of American troops in the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan, considered to be an extremely dangerous assignment. Throughout the film, we watch as both the troops and the filmmakers risk their lives in an hostile environment, attempting to negotiate with locals while clearing out the Taliban hiding in the mountains. The film is named after a soldier killed early on in the deployment, whose name is eventually used for an outpost. Not only does the film have moments of great tension as the troops go out on missions, but there's also a strong emotional center to it all when it focuses on the friendship and brotherhood of these people. The film doesn't resort to preaching about politics; it's simply a story of men attempting to survive in a dead-end situation. By the end of the film, you really have an appreciation for what these men went through, and a sense of pity when you realize that the memories they have of this time will haunt them for the rest of their lives. This is the best documentary of the year. 9/10.

Also, I caught a showing of

A Film Unfinished: This is a documentary I'm not sure many people know. I only was aware of its existence through a friend who told me about a limited screening. The majority of the film consists of footage from the Warsaw ghetto during WWII, shot by Nazi filmmakers for a propaganda film that was never completed. The first hour or so of the film details life in the ghetto. In the last half-hour, however, the film reveals an additional reel of outtakes, recently discovered in the past few years. The outtakes show how a number of the scenes shown in the first three reels were in fact staged by the filmmakers. There is an especially harrowing sequence where the filmmakers are shown to be forcing an audience of Jews to laugh at a performance in an auditorium, in what would have been a sign to the world about the positives of ghetto life. The footage from the propaganda film is shown to four survivors of the ghetto, each of whom struggle to watch as they remember. Out of all the films this year concerning the subjects of what exactly constitutes a documentary, and how easily footage can be reinterpreted, this film is far and away the most effective. 8/10.

The Fighter
~My thoughts are more or less in line with Mark's, though I think David O. Russell deserves way more credit for making the bad material better. The performances are great all around. Mickey O'Keefe plays himself, that's interesting. Yeah, the film's not particularly spectacular in any way, shape, or form. It's just good. Goes down easy. B

Harlan County, U.S.A.
~I skipped class a few weeks ago during this movie, so this was my attempt to watch it. Its style, unfortunately, combined with my preoccupied mind prohibited me from getting into it fully. I like bits and pieces of it a lot and other pieces are some kind of forgettable. I'm more than willing to give this film another look, just not now. B+ for what it's worth?

Putney Swope
~That film's about an advertising firm that accidentally elects a black man as chairman. What follows is the shenanigans of a drug-fueled Robert Downey, Sr. The commercials are crude, the filmmaking process is bastardized, and the attitude of Swope gets increasingly bitter. Very funny in parts, Putney Swope ultimately becomes amateurish and worthless. I wonder what Arnold Johnson's real voice sounds like, on a side note. A very generous C.

Hi there

Very keen to see A Film Unfinished
have you seen the doc about the sheep herders?
Resrepo rocks but it's not the best this year

Chill out man - who caes about Disneyland - it's hell on earth?
Rob

Bah. I love Disneyland. That whole scene felt very weird to me; there was a sense of dread to it that almost seemed like a videotaping of a terrorist act. I just didn't find it amusing. At all.

I'm watching Sweetgrass in the next day or so. Looking forward to it.