Extended Movie Weekend.

In an attempt to catch with all the movies I have missed so far this year and last year and as a way to get my mind off my current job situation, expect a whole plethora of reviews. The following films will be included in this barage. 21, This is England, Stop-Loss, The Fall (can't wait), Baby Mama (lol..well it's only fair), The Great Debaters, Recount (I know not technically) and Grace is Gone. Other films may include Starting Out in Evening, 2 Days in Paris and Fall From Grace. And maybe I should watch a another comedy. Maybe also Kung Fu Panda. And I need another comedy. So maybe another comedy.

Review: Gray Matters

.....When you watch enough films a majority of them fall into the category of just okay. I sort of expected the 2006 film Gray Matters to fall into this category. Unfortunately it falls even lower. Into the category dangerously close to loathing, but not quite. Actually the best word to describe it is probably annoying. Annoying as hell.
......The story is of a young women, named Gray (Heather Graham) and her surgeon brother, Sam (Thomas Cavanaugh). Sam and Gray are as close as they can be to one another. They dance to old movies together, live together and as the film’s central plot, fall in love with the same women together. That woman’s name is Charlie (Bridget Moynahan.) Does the superfluous use of gender neutral names bother anybody else?
Ultimately Gray’s coming to terms with her sexual identity is one of the dumbest, most naive representations of the “coming out” story I have ever seen. It is as if writer/director Sue Kramer has never met a gay or lesbian person in her life. To her sexuality is something that just happens one day on the way to work. And I suppose because sexuality is different for different people this is possible. But the feelings she struggles with are so artificial and disingenuous to what “coming out” is really like for most people, that the film is almost insulting to this important struggle.
.......Of course the film’s worse sin is not its ideology, but its basic attempt to call itself a comedy. Comedies are by rule supposed to have in them at least one joke or comical experience. The movie is as devoid of humour as it is of life.
........I could go on. The script is so damn after school special I could hardly take it. The camera work was shoddy. The acting was lame and wholly unconvincing. And frankly the majority of the time I watched the film I kept thinking about one sad reality. And that, dear friends, is that cinema geared to toward gay and lesbian audiences generally sucks. I know that sounds cold and there are many wonderful expectations. But films like this fuel the stereotype that self deemed “gay cinema” is really awful. I think you could argue that the film is more user friendly than other gay fare and may fit more firmly in the “quirky indie” world, but still it helps naysayers prove their point. And while it is not in the job description of the film’s artists to fight naysayers, Sue Kramer and this stupid little film sure are helping their cause.
.........Wow, sorry Sue. I promise I will watch your next film and wish you the best of luck.

Review: Sex and the City: The Movie

Jack Smith is an avant-garde filmmaker best known for his short film “Scorpio Rising.” We discussed the film in a class once in relation to a variety of concepts within the avant-garde filmmaking process. One the most crucial concepts was called “camp.” Most of us are familiar with this concept from a variety of sources. However what made Jack Smith different was his theory on why camp exists. His theory is that the artificiality of camp is a comment on the artificiality of heteronormative society. And perhaps you may accuse me of being an apologist, but to me Sex and the City: The Movie celebrates this artificiality and materialism to in some way note the artificiality and the “labels” of expected polite societal constructs. In other words in the places where Sex and the City is somewhat shallow it is being no more shallow then society as a whole. Yes every scene of the film was an advertisement for some product, everything from cars and water to of course the fancy shoes and dresses, but it does this without irony and without apology and in some crazy and decidedly capitalist sense of the word embraces its own nature admirably.

Now that that serious part of the review is over, let’s wallow like a pig in the entertainment that this glorious film truly is. I am a fan of the show and if you are not a fan of the show two things are likely to happen. One, you fall in love with these amazing women and their men and you are forced to run out and buy the seasons. Or, two you’re confused, scratch your head and wonder if that Hancock flick will be any good.

The story is simple and cliché. Carrie Bradshaw, our love writer, hero superwomen is about to write a book about what happens after you find the person that is supposed to be the love of your life. And that theme, of looking beyond the fairy tale endings is a prominent feature in all of the story lines. For Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) it is about reconciling between expectations and reality. For Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) it’s about dealing with a loss of trust with your fairy tale prince, Steve (David Eigenberg.) For Samantha (Kim Catrall) it is about embracing her “inner princess” and deciding to live honestly. And for Charlotte, well she doesn’t do much, but live the dream and suffer one embarrassing moment in Mexico. Of course I will let you discover that scene for yourself.

Ultimately the film breaks no cinematic ground, says nothing new about society or in fact serves any purpose other than to entertain us. And ultimately is that not what we fans kind of wanted anyway? Perhaps we can lament the fact the television show did break ground, where the movie does not. The show was a groundbreaking, frank depiction of sex and the single women, but the movie is something we have seen before. This fact and the fact that Anthony (Mario Catone) is in the film are the only negatives that come to mind.

Before I leave this review I want to make mention of one more thing. The idea that your gender or sexuality should be responsible for deciding whether or not you are allowed to enjoy a film is stupid. I know it makes for a good joke, but there are most assuredly straight men everywhere who will find something to enjoy in this film, even if it is only boobs.

Oh and one more thing. I freaking’ love Jennifer Hudson’s performance. I know there are many people who did not, but I quite liked it and look forward to whatever else she may have planned in her acting or singing future.

Review: Lars and the Real Girl

Lars and the Real Girl is a fine film. It really is. The screenplay by Nancy Oliver is top notch. Ryan Gosling’s performance as Lars, a man who has fallen in love with a doll used for less than savory purposes, is fantastic, as is the exquisite and refined supporting cast. So I guess the only thing keeping this “fine” film from advancing to the level of “genius” is its style.

On one level there is something compelling about making any film directed in cinema verite style. In the beginning its visual minimalism denotes Lars loneliness. And as the film progresses this style fades away with the use bright colours and other things which denote Lars’ increased happiness, yet artificiality. And while I understand and like this all very much, there is something about this style that seems too on the nose for me. It’s as if the director, Craig Gillespie, is trying to trick us all into feeling one way or another. All directors do this, but there something indefinably underhanded about this move. Lars and the Real Girl is completely believable and utterly, devastatingly honest, yet the director insists on emotional manipulation, which is unnecessary and wholly superfluous. The performance and the screenplay are strong enough that cinema verite style throughout the whole film would seem, to me at least, a more organic approach to the subject matter.

To the film’s credit and to my unexpected delight, it is funny, without being stupid. It is funny more in the way that when something is so awkward you have to laugh than beat you over the head with a joke kind of funny. With the potential to be turned into some soulless, heartless dribble all credit goes to those involved who saved this story from being turned into a star vehicle for Ben Stiller or Will Ferrell.

In conclusion, Lars and the Real Girl is a fine admirable film, but I would never wish to see it again and I am no better off or worse off for having seen the film. The praise it garnered last year is certainly understandable, but I am sort of glad it didn’t win any Oscars.

Speed Racher versus Indiana Jones

Somehow or other the critical lambasting of Speed Racer continues, as the bulk of the critical community comes to praise last week’s number one film Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. Speed Racer is an imaginative and fun romp that utilizes CGI to its maximum potential, while remaining faithful to its source material and creating one of the most purely enjoyable and creative films I have seen in some time. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull is the opposite of this. It is merely nostalgia for three much better films. Its use of CGI is not only out of place, but plain stupid. Ending one of the coolest fight scenes I can recall from recent history with a Donkey Kong like sequence is one of the more stupid scenes I can recall from the film. But it doesn’t end there. There is not a part of this film that is really all that fun or interesting; with the noted exception of a fight scene that involves a sword fight from trucks. It may be pretty absurd, like the rest of the movie, but at least it’s still “cool.”

Steven Spielberg is a great filmmaker. A filmmaker who has in the past directed some of the highlights of American cinema, (e.g. E.T.) but who now can’t seem direct anything that doesn’t annoy me. Worry not, the film is fun and superior to Spielberg’s War of the Worlds and of course a million times more compelling than the insipid The Color Purple, but it’s simply not that damn good, and really really not as fun Speed Racer.

I hope that when the dust clears critics and fans will come to realize what a gem Speed Racer really is. So far, and I am pretty positive that this will change soon as more films fill our cinemas, Speed Racer is my hands down favorite film of the year. But, then again Cloverfield and Iron Man are both still on that list. I need to be seeing more films. I am full of excuses for why this is the case, but I spare you all. Sorry once more for the delay in posting.

Review: Margot at the Wedding

Nicole Kidman could make any movie she wanted to. She could make a film about the inner world of a paint mold and we would all probably watch it and admire her performance. Admire it not so much for its worth, but because Kidman could chose to make anything she wants and she continues to make films which are passion projects, instead of blockbusters. Perhaps The Golden Compass is a recent exception to this rule, but even that film wasn’t without controversy and her performance was pretty spectacular.

One of the films I failed to see last year (yes I am ashamed) is Margot at the Wedding. The sixth feature of one the best American directors alive, Noah Baumbach. His previous film The Squid and the Whale was a fantastic, comical and very real film about a family dealing with the effects of a divorce. Margot at The Wedding is also about family, but unlike The Squid and the Whale, it is less appealing, decidedly darker, but, to me at least, way more funny.

Margot at the Wedding tells the story of Margot (Nicole Kidman) and her son Claude (Zane Pais) as they attend Margot’s sister, Pauline’s (Jennifer Jason Leigh) wedding to the unemployed artist Malcolm (Jack Black.) Margot is over simply described as a heinous witch. With a different actress she may well have been just that, but Kidman gives her a bit of humanity, where even if we don’t like her, we still care what happens to her. The rest of the cast gives pretty solid performances as well, even Jack Black, who usually just annoys me to death. There are too many subplots to mention them all here. In fact there may just be too many subplots.

Perhaps the most compelling component of this film was the relationship between Claude and Margot. In fact the film spends more time on this relationship than the relationship between Margot and her sister. I can simply describe it as one the most intriguingly creepy relationship dynamics I have seen it quite awhile. And, for this reason alone, the film is worth a look.

I am going to cut this review short as the joy of Margot at the Wedding is discovering its idiosyncratic nature. However, I will say the film is not your normal run-of-the-mill comedy and it also not the Wes Anderson copy that some have called it. Wes Anderson is a fine director, sometimes, but Baumbach is in another more compelling league. Anderson if the flashy, silly side of family relations and Baumbach is the soul of them.

Also on purely technically note the sound mixing in the film annoyed me. However, the rest of the film was good enough that this very small, very particular issue is best left ignored.

Coming Up Next: Speed Racer Review, Trials of Darryl Hunt Review and Overated films.

Thoughts on Speed Racer

Film is without a doubt an art form. However at its most basic level film is tricks with light. Like the vaudevillians of old, film was, first and foremost, a means of entertaining the masses. And more than any other film I have seen recently, Speed Racer is an unabashed celebration of the eye popping power of tricked up light schemes. Many of the complaints against the film seem to be from a feeling that the film is all style and no substance. But with this film style is substance and the Wachowski Brothers have crafted not exactly a profound piece of art, but a testament to the power of movies and to why most of us love movies in the first place. Speed Racer may not move us tears, it may not make profound social statements (though it does make a few), it may not change the course of film history, but it does something more simple that. It gives a wink and a nod to pure gee golly gosh entertainment and for that it ranks high my book. It feels good to be nine again. Full review of Speed Racer and Margot at the Wedding coming soon.