movies

January 23, 2012

“…they left behind these amazing shadows for us to enjoy.”

When I first heard about These Amazing Shadows from a coworker, I didn’t exactly know what to expect. While most everything he’s recommended to me in the past is something I’ve enjoyed, a documentary about the United States’ National Film Registry didn’t exactly sound sexy right off the bat.

A few evenings later as I was browsing through Netflix, I came across it, and decided to give it a whirl based on Craig’s (the coworker) suggestion.

I’m glad I did.

As mentioned, These Amazing Shadows introduces us to the National Film Registry and its mandate: to preserve films of culturally, historically or aesthetically significance. The registry includes American films of all types: Hollywood productions, indie films, home movies, everything.

The documentary is, essentially, 90 minutes of film archivists, directors, critics, producers, etc. talking about the magic of movies. Their passion for film is undeniable, and it’s actually quite beautiful.

These Amazing Shadows is an enchanting little love letter to cinema. If you’re a filmmaker or film lover, take 90 minutes and sit down with this movie. It’s available on Netflix Canada, if you’re a subscriber.

January 16, 2012

And now, the feel-good movie of 2011.

I went into The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo knowing that it was a “hard R” adaptation of a Swedish novel directed by David Fincher, and left with three things on my mind: the film certainly earns its R rating, it was obviously based on a book, and I believe that this is one of Fincher’s lesser films.

“Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Title Sequence by Blur from Motionographer on Vimeo.

First of all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is violent, though what it lacks in gore it makes up for in sexual and psychological violence. The film deals with rape throughout, and although it’s certainly never glorified, Fincher doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to the main two or three overtly violent scenes. No one left the screening I was at, though I did hear about people walking out at other showings. Personally, I think I was sitting sideways in my seat for at least the most disturbing of these, with a fairly disgusted look on my face. If you’re thinking of seeing the film, be prepared. That said, there’s only a few scenes like this, and they are all within the first hour or so of the film.

Secondly, this movie plays very much like a book adaptation. The story is a bit complex, the names and characters can be tricky to follow, and just when you think the film has reached its climax, there’s another 30 or 40 minutes. This last point, of course, is never an issue when you’re reading a book. You can hold it in your hands and see that you still have 20% of the pages left. But when you’re in a dark theatre and you think the movie should be wrapping up aaaaaaaaannny time now, it throws you off.

The story was good, but I had issues with a few things, particularly the relationship between the two main characters.

Finally: Fincher. I love David Fincher films, and I think he’s one of the best directors working today. However, I just don’t think that The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is one of his better works. When it comes to the film’s mood, he nails it. It’s dark and cold and menacing. Every frame, although shot in colour, is filled with black and white. However, in a film that’s almost three hours long, I shouldn’t be walking out of the theatre a little uncertain with how things ended up. I dunno. Maybe I’m just slow, but I did have to confer with people who’d read the novel on a couple of issues.

It’s also not nearly as visually interesting as many of his other movies. The Social Network, for instance, is a perfect example of Fincher taking a screenplay made up of people talking around tables, and managing to make it an incredibly stylish film.

It sounds like I’m bashing this movie, and maybe I am. However The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is not a bad movie. I liked it. It’s just one that I expected to like a little more.

January 3, 2012

Light the fuse.

At the end of the first of the action sequence in Mission: Impossibe—Ghost Protocol, just before the opening credits roll, Tom Cruise yells at his teammate to “light the fuse.” The command is as much an order to her as it is a warning the audience. This movie is about to explode. And it does.

Mission: Impossibe—Ghost Protocol (M:I-GP henceforth) is one of the most exciting action films I have seen in a long, long time. It’s high-energy and high-tension from start to finish, and director Brad Bird has made the fourth film in the franchise (generally reserved on the sequel ladder for money-hungry targets of mockery) my favorite.

M:I-GP is pure entertainment. Not only is it full of chases and stunts and spy-gadgetry, but it’s also the funniest film of the lot, thanks to Simon Pegg. Pegg’s comedy brings a much needed infusion of humor in the film and series. Brad Bird, who earned his director cred at Pixar, knows how to make a motion picture. The cinematography is gorgeous, and I was blown away by the shots of Cruise scaling the Burj Khalifa. I wish I’d seen it in IMAX.

M:I-GP is Tom Cruise’s movie, and even starts off with “A Tom Cruise Production” in the opening credits. It’s as if he’s 16 years old and made this movie to show off to his friends. Know what? I don’t care. As crazy as the man is often said to be, he definitely earns his keep in Hollywood, and I will see almost anything he does.

If you have the chance to see Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol in theatres, take it. Your television, no matter how big you think it may be, cannot contain this movie.

January 2, 2012

Hit or Mist.

When it comes to movies, I’ll watch just almost anything. There are some genres I’ll gravitate towards and others I generally stay away from, but just about anything is fair game.

Horror films would fit into that “others I generally stay away from” group, so when I started hearing about The Mist—a monster movie adapted from a Stephen King novella—a few years ago, I didn’t take much pass of it. But then after hearing about how interesting the movie was and coming across it on Netflix in the same week, I decided to give it a shot.

The Mist, directed by The Walking Dead‘s and The Shawshank Redemption‘s Frank Darabont, is overrated. The film centers on a group of townsfolk who barricade themselves in a grocery store after a thick mist—filled with deadly creatures—covers the surrounding area. I liked the concept, and the screenplay isn’t terrible (save for the last page), but the majority of the performances and visual effects are.

The movie is largely about the group’s dynamics, particularly as the local cat lady/religious zealot (played wonderfully by Marcia Gay Harden) starts to convince some of the crowd that what they are experiencing is the wrath of God. The best horror in the film comes from this, and a few of these scenes were truly chilling. Unfortunately, too many of the nasty-creature moments were laughably bad to save the movie.

To top it all off, The Mist slaps you with an ending it doesn’t earn, and it left me feeling very unsatisfied.

For fans of The Walking Dead, you’ll find at least three stars from that show in this flick. The funny part is that they all essentially play the same characters.

Like I said, The Mist is available on Netflix Canada. I know a lot of people really liked this movie, particularly for its ending that I hated, so if you think I’m wrong tell me so.

December 31, 2011

You go, Hugo.

Every year, our office opts for a “Christmas movie” instead of a Christmas party. While watching a movie instead of having a typical office party means that we don’t have the opportunity to walk into work the next day shameful of the antics that played out the night before, it does mean that we get to eat popcorn for lunch. Normally, we’d rent a DVD and watch it on one of large screens we have access to, but this year, we decided we’d try going to the theatre instead, and got our mitts on tickets for a 11:50am showing of Hugo a few days before Christmas.

Hugo is not your standard talking-dog-playing-hockey family film. There is excitement, adventure, and slapstick humor, but there’s also a lot of time spent on character development, particularly in the second half. This makes Hugo a family film that the younger part of the family is probably going to be a bit bored of at times, but one that mom and dad will hopefully like quite a bit.

This is also the first time I saw a 2D version of a film and wished I’d seen it in 3D. I heard a lot about the great use of the gimmick effect before seeing the film, and once it started, I was imagining the snow flying out at me and the enormous clockwork turning right in front of my nose. Even in 2D, however, Hugo is a beautiful film, and while it’s not set in 1970′s New York City, director Martin Scorsese obviously feels right at home in 1930′s Paris.

Ben Kingsley is great here, and Sacha Baron Cohen is (surprisingly) perfectly cast as the Station Inspector bent on sending the title character to an orphanage. The young actors in this movie certainly hold their own, especially Chloë Grace Moretz, who after Kick Ass, Let Me In, and now Hugo, is well on her way to being a leading lady despite only being fourteen years old.

Hugo is a lot of fun, and if you’re film and film-history fan, there’s a lot here to enjoy.

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