previewbox

Lions for Lambs

rocketman — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:00:44 +0000

To borrow the opening from the PreviewBox.com review of ‘The Kingdom‘ . . . “Welcome to Hollyweird’s not-so-new cash cow . . . the mid-east war movie” - though we’ll call this the executive version since MGM and Mr Redford made the decision to focus more on the diplomacy of the war rather than the soldiers.

That glittering generality aside, what is this movie about? Lions for Lambs has tossed out big names and familiar faces (Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep) posturing in some very serious scenes, though no one says anything that alludes to a plot - or even to the existence of a script. To be fair, clips are available online that depict Mr Redford making a few pseudo-political comments, so perhaps this is simply a poor attempt by big-budget Hollyweird to make a relevant, gritty, political commentary. Barring that remote possibility, in essence, for ninety minutes, we see very big, important-looking but irrelevant actors, playing very big, important-looking but irrelevant characters, in a very big, important-looking film where basically nothing happens.

On second thought, it’s a lot like actual politics. That being the case, this is an accurate but boring film that for once proves that film shouldn’t be like real life.

Technorati Tags: Lions for Lambs, The Kingdom, MGM, Tom Cruise, Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, irrelevant, political, boring, real life

Share This

Wristcutters: A Love Story

rocketman — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 05:00:18 +0000

Finally, suicide is funny. In the most hilarious derivative of emo-kid indulgence since the ‘It’s down the road not across the street’ t-shirt, Patrick Fugit (of Almost Famous fame) plays Zia, a fairly happy kid who kills himself after a melodramatic breakup and suddenly finds himself in a bleak world exactly like the one he left - except that it’s populated entirely by the spirits of discontented suicide victims. Oh - and love. Seriously.

The fantasically funny film comfortably straddles a line somewhere between Dogma’s irreverence and Dazed & Confused’s pointless charm. If you’re fortunate enough to be in a limited release area, see this film.

Technorati Tags: Wristcutters: A Love Story, suicide, comed, Patrick Fugit, Almost Famous, Dogma, Dazed and Confused, limited release

Share This

30 Days of Night

rocketman — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 05:00:53 +0000

With Halloween approaching and graphic novel adaptations being all the rage this year, ‘30 Days of Night’ seems an obvious release in the current Hollyweird climate. Interestingly enough, this one also promises to be a good film.

To a thinking person, the plot is a welcome homogeny of ‘duh’ moment and pure genius - vampires who hunt in the northern hemisphere where a fortunate geographical orientation keeps the sun from rising for a full month of each year. It’s an easily referenced, readily assimilated world, perfectly suited to what we already know about vampires . . . and an ideal scenario in which to teach us what we don’t . . . all while playing on existing fears of isolation and desolate, naturally bizarre environments.

Paramount for a potentially familiar film is a unique vision, and to build a non-traditional horror flick from traditional elements, you’d be hard pressed to name a better producer than Sam Raimi (whom we’ll forgive for the Spider-Man faux pas). Also vital for a film of this variety is a solid cast without a clear headlining star begging for screen time and stealing the scene. The listed cast is populated with faces you know but names you likely don’t recognize - including Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, and Mark Boone. It’s a smart move, casting accomplished actors while insuring there’s not a Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt in the bunch.

Assuming Mr Raimi will bring the same gritty, simplistic, bleak realism to this piece that we’ve seen in his Asian adaptations, ‘30 Days of Night’ will send traditional poseur scream-and-ream films marching into the sunlight and slashing their own wrists in shame. To be fair, it’s not likely to break the box office, but it’s certainly positioned to become a cult favorite among lovers of vampire lore who like a bit of brains in their gore.

Technorati Tags: 30 Days of Night, vampires, Sam Raimi, Josh Hartnett, Melissa George, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, Mark Boone

Share This

Control

rocketman — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 06:00:52 +0000

Featuring an appropriately ironic title for a film focused on an intentionally ironic band, ‘Control’ sets the bar for a new wave of mortalizing rather than iconizing rock star biographies. Chronicling the rise and subsequent decomposition of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, ‘Control’ manages to capture the humanity of the artist without glamorizing. Do we need another film about music icons? If you refer to Hollyweird iconography, the answer is no. However, the unpolished, realistically rendered matte finish of this production is appropriate and even appealing for the sake of telling the story of an influential artist less concerned with his own importance than with creating something that felt right in spite of the trends of an era.

While the film has potential for limited appeal due to the cult following of the group, in truth, the relative fandom shouldn’t matter. The music is little more than a backdrop that chronicles the life of man - mistakes, successes, dreams, and all. And the appeal of that story is universal.

Technorati Tags: Control, Joy Division, Ian Curtis, drama, rock star, biography

Share This

Sleuth

rocketman — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:00:37 +0000

A rule of thumb . . . always, always, always see anything written by Harold Pinter.One rarely expects such stable and innovative fare from a major Hollyweird studio, but Sony seems to have come through in spades with a big budget film that has the depth of a major indie.

Sleuth, written by the aforementioned Mr Pinter, plays as a lighthearted and dark dramatic comedy. (Yes, that dichotomy is intentional and accurate . . . trademark Pinter, in fact.) Should unpredictable plot twists, depth of character, and off-kilter perspectives be even remotely appealing to your intellect, Jude Law and Michael Caine should prove worthwhile in this particularly satisfying storytelling event.

Should you prefer not to think or enjoy your films, go back and watch The Game Plan again.

Technorati Tags: Sleuth, arold Pinter, Michael Caine, Jude Law, Sony

Share This

My Kid Could Paint That

rocketman — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:00:16 +0000

‘My Kid Could Paint That’ . . . or could she?

This phrase - uttered by countless parents with regard to the seeming racket of modern, abstract, impressionist art - is actually explored in this documentary of Marla Olmstead - a controversial child prodigy in the world of the abstract.

If a child truly can paint it, is it high art? Is this child’s success proof that the genre is a pretentious fluke? Or is Marla truly a genius?

Of course, answering these questions wouldn’t be relevant or interesting, so the film doesn’t directly explore them. Instead, it focuses on the controversy of whether or not Marla - who was four when her popularity climaxed - actually produced the work. While this angle makes for a better story on film, it makes no headway with regard to the idea that highbrow finger painting might actually be a scam. And that’s precisely the point.

While the story of a child prodigy is always of interest, as is the social study of the public’s fickle reactions to something as simple as a child’s love of making a mess on canvas, the real story lies beneath the relatively shallow analysis of the work. Is it art? In the context of this story, who cares, really? More important is a simple fact . . . Marla is a kid who paints, has little concept or concern for the ramifications of the popularity of her work, and who cares little if people like it or not, because producing it simply makes her happy.

Go see this film. Not for the controversy. Not for the culture, not for answers to questions of authenticity, not for social commentary, and not for the potential insight into an est-filled wonderland of muses and faeries. See this film to enjoy the purity at the heart of a child, and to be reminded what sentiment should reside beneath any individual’s motivation for expression if it is to be deemed worthy of humankind.

Technorati Tags: My Kid Could Paint That, Marla Olmstead, modern art, abstract art, prodigy, child prodigy

Share This

Seeker: The Dark Is Rising

rocketman — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 05:00:03 +0000

If Harry Potter had been a character in a Disney version of Lord of the Rings directed by Michael Bay, theatre goers would have seen ‘The Dark Is Rising’ nearly a decade sooner. In much the same way ‘Stardust’ tried too hard to combine every garish cliche of modern-period piece and magical folklore, this film thinks far too highly of its less-than-lavish sets and self-impressed story concept.

The time-travel effect, created by something akin to spinning the camera on axis while tossing handfuls of glitter and twittling fingers in an act reminiscent of the Wayne and Garth’s ‘doodeleee-doo doodelee-doo’ multiple endings, is especially distracting.

Also puzzling about the film is the far too obvious attempt to bridge the gap between serious fantasy and children’s entertainment. While positioning itself with serious supporting actors and valiantly attempted larger-than-life set pieces, the film undermines its own intent with a wisecracking kid who’s clueless as a hero and is a perfect caricature of every attention-deficit diagnosed pre-teen with an attitude problem on a Nickelodeon diet.

In short, this film is a spectacular . . . as a culture study with regard to why the human race will become extinct within the next fifty years if left in the hands of the average modern youth as educated by the average modern film maker . . . but as a film . . . not so much.

Technorati Tags: Seeker, The Dark Is Rising, Wane’s World, Stardust, Harry Potter, Michael Bay, Lord of the Rings, Nickelodeon, extinction

Share This

Michael Clayton

rocketman — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 05:00:32 +0000

Who is Michael Clayton?

After reviewing this trailer, the answer is conclusive. Michael Clayton is George Clooney, masquerading as Michael Clayton, nancing about in a prehensile parody of a melodramatic widescreen presentation designed to save the thespian vocation of George Clooney.

Once you get past that, there’s the genuinely intriguing character of Arthur Edens (played by Tom Wilkinson), unceremoniously splooged into the sparsely stitched tale of his sudden attack of conscience over a moral issue in the legal world. If suspension of disbelief may be maintained for the duration necessary to dispel the preposterous intimation that an attorney may be in possession of a conscience, the fact that a brilliant legal mind would take ethical objection to the plight of those less epicurean than himself in the course of a lawsuit propagated by the attorney in question may actually prove an interesting story.

That is, of course, if that pesky George Michael Clay-Tooney isn’t too much of a distraction.

Technorati Tags: Michael Clayton, George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, attorney, legal, conscience, melodrama

Share This

The Game Plan

rocketman — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:00:48 +0000

Following the same sulfur-smoked path blazed by (former) greats such as Vin Diesel, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson marches his career boldly into oblivion by signing on the dotted line with the action star’s Great Satan . . . Disney.

This time Dark Lord Disney stages an unholy trinity of travesty by insulting the intelligence of the movie-going public with kitschy banter, offending the sensibilities of the entire sporting world by intoning that an athlete is incapable of balancing a family and a competitive entertainment profession, and decimating the career of a headlining superstar in the name of comedy.

Again, the descendants running Walt’s wicked whimsy machine seduce and derail a promising talent with dollar signs.

Bad, bad Disney. Poor, poor Dwayne.

Technorati Tags: The Game Plan, Disney, evil, Satan, Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson, The Rock

Share This

Lust, Caution

rocketman — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 05:00:23 +0000

Ang Lee - how dare you so brazenly bring a quality story from the East to an unwitting Western audience! Subtle human interactions? Emotive non-verbal passages of (gasp) acting? Where are the dramatic explosions? Where are the multi-billion-dollar pixelated feats of geek-tastic grandeur? And who are these actors? Where’s Tom Cruise? Where’s Cameron Diaz?

What’s that? You actually want us to concentrate on a quality story? With all due respect, sir, you do realize the hemisphere in which you’ve landed, don’t you? Just whom do you think you are, Mr Lee?

(end sarcasm here)

Set in a convincing WWII Shanghai, this not-so-subtle conspiratorial love story centers around a young woman drawn into the Chinese resistance and trained for a single mission - gain the affections of a high-ranking official and kill him. In the course of baiting her prey - using every soft, surreptitious curve and coy, furtive fancy at her disposal - the protagonist gains an honest affection both for and from her target, and therein will lie the tension . . . to murder or not to murder her lover.

The trailer promises to deliver on the NC-17 rating, though in conjunction with the stark realism of the presentation, the alluded content hardly seems gratuitous. The culture and atmosphere of the era play convincingly on screen, the cinematography is smooth, and the acting solid. So solid in fact, the characters are engaging, substantial, and laden with intrigue in spite of the lack of dialogue in the trailer. That’s right . . . it’s another film you’ll have to read . . . but it’s worth it.

Technorati Tags: Lust, Caution, Ang Lee, WWII, SHanghai, foreign film, subtitles, Chinese, love story, drama, period, NC-17

Share This