Halloween Time

So like many of you, I love Halloween. I love it so much, I'm still dressing up and that fact makes me proud. I'd like to do a top 10 or 20 Halloween blog but I want user input. So please post in the comments your favourite Halloween movies in the comments, feel free to discuss and I'll perhaps gather some inspiration from my faithful readers. All like, 5 of you.

Cheers!

Going Ape

I've had a fairly stressful week at work, which means my movie-seeing ratio is up and I'm being far less discerning. Which explains how I was convinced to see Rise of Planet of the Apes. I'm generally not into unnecessary sequels, let alone unnecessary prequels. So with my expectations set reasonably low, my friend and I grabbed tickets and had the theatre to ourselves, save for two weirdos in the back.

The film that played was entertaining, surprisingly touching, and quite simply...good. 

I KNOW! I'm surprised too. But seriously, it's a solid film thorugh and through. It revolves around a young scientist (Franco) testing apes to cure Alzheimer's. He saves/adopts a baby chimpanzee whom he names Caesar. Caesar's genetic code contains the smart-drug Franco was working on and so the ape has advanced intellect. But raising a really smart chimpanzee has it's issues. This gave the writer two choices - slapstick comedy a la Space Chimps or go more hard-hitting and dramatic.

Now having seen it, I can guess that good writing initially attracted Franco and Serkis to the film. Also, Andy Serkis has a copyright on all monkey roles. From there, Rupert Wyatt and the cast do wonderfully understated jobs at allowing the film to unfold through the characters. The post-production work is spectacular, just downright amazing. Mo-cap has seriously come leaps and bounds in the last few years.

In fact, let's just talk about the role of Caesar for a moment and the work that went into creating him. So not only does Andy Serkis portray him, but you've got so many people working to make this character multi-dimensional, likable, and realistic. If even a handful screwup it's a lot of time and money and then it looks like shit on screen. But what a great job! I don't want to give too much away, but Caeser's humanity is not just about intelligence, it's portrayed in an emotional aspect as well - you watch his growth as a person, made possible by Serkis and the FX teams. 

Serkis doesn't overshadow anybody though. James Franco gives a solid performance and John Lithgow captures the heartbreaking state of Alzheimer's patients perfectly. The movie also references the Heston original in passing at a few locations. Keep your ears open for a "Bright Eyes" a "Cornealia" and that one super famous line. 

The film has a few weakspots and could've perhaps shaved 15 or 20 minutes off the runtime, but it's moving and entertaining with solid monkey action and it sets up the original film nicely (which any real prequel should). However, don't be surprised if some kind of "War for Planet of the Apes" or equally horribly titled se-pre-quel comes out because there's definitely room to do it.

7.5/10

September 2011 Film You Should Know But Probably Don't

Barry Lyndon

Yes, the secret is out. I'm a Stanley Kubrick fan. And fuck everyone who says Ryan O'Neil's accent sucks in this. There is so much more to enjoy about this movie! 

The main thing you should incredibly impressed by is how freakin' gorgeous the cinematography is. The entire film looks like a damn oil painting. This was achieved through the use of natural light and ONLY natural light. Kubrick had to design/steal from NASA/request a special camera lens just in order to pull off shooting with such low light (candles don't exactly stand up to your 10k lamps). There are a lot of fun Hollywood rumors and theories as to where the lens came from and how he got it. As best I understand it, there was a bit of construction by Kubrick himself using NASA lenses. But my favourite is my old cinematography teacher's theory:

"NASA gave Kubrick the lens in exchange for shooting the moon landing."

I absolutely love the idea behind that but let's all face reality. The moon landing footage would look so much better if Kubrick had made it. It was probably Roger Corman. 

Back to the film. For those of you who don't know, Barry Lyndon is the assumed name of a drunk Irish asshole who keeps getting himself into duels and other types of trouble. He's forced out of his Irish village in the beginning and slowly makes his way to France where he tries to squeeze every penny out of anybody he can.

There's a rather fantastic use of narration - the narrator gives away everything before it happens. Kubrick played with narration similarly in his earlier film The Killing (featuring Sterling Hayden). It's that kind of self-awareness and utter command of the film medium that lifts this film from being merely good and nice looking to truly great and utterly stunning. 

Some people knock the acting. I say they probably have an extra chromosome. Ryan O'Neil is fantastic and I won't believe otherwise. Also, a very young Leon Vitali pulls off an extraordinary performance as the slighted step-son. Vitali would go on to become Kubrick's personal assistant through the rest of his film career and play the Red Cape in Eyes Wide Shut.

Remember to keep a sharp eye out for some of Kubrick's favourite players who tend to appear in his films time and time again such as Steven Berkoff and Patrick Magee. Make sure you aren't watching it on some 2-inch screen off your iPhone - it's probably best if you have the lights off as well, really get that full effect. Right. Enjoy.

Why My Labour Day Was Better Than Yours

And here's a hint: it's not because I spell labour correctly. Though you're getting warm. I spent my labour day night in an IMAX theatre watching the latest Harry Potter in 3D. I know it came out in July, and that this review is therefore two months late, but whatever, it was awesome and I feel the need to share this.

Enjoy that picture. I had written a fairly lengthy review talking about how awesome the cast was, the director, the DP and the movie in general as well as the significance of the scene in white at the end and the deaths of certain semi-major characters. But then my save failed and erased it all and I'm too annoyed to rewrite the whole thing.

10/10

For a treat, check out David Yate's first few films, among them The Girl in the Cafe and Sex Traffic.

You Gave Me Such a Fright Night!

Shall I start this by saying I was not going to review this film. No intention whatsoever. I mainly planned on seeing it to celebrate David Tennant's first major Hollywood role and so I dragged along a good friend and off we went, donning our "Real-D" glasses. It soon became apparent that not only was I going to review this film, but I am duty-bound to do just that.

For those of you who didn't see or ever hear of the first one, this is a vampire movie! Spoiler. The vampires are not very nice. And head vampire Jerry (Colin Farrell) has moved in right next door to our hero, Charlie (Anton Yelchin). To save his mother (Toni Collette) and girlfriend (Imogen Poots), Charlie seeks the help of Peter Vincent (David Tennant), who is sort of a Criss Angel parody. And so the match is set, the war waged, and off we are on a lovely little adventure!

Every film starts with a script, and the writing of Fright Night is tight knit and funny. On more than one occasion I found myself first stricken with laughter and then suddenly heart all a flutter in suspense in a lovely sort of dance. Pacing was right on and everything fits tidily into 106 minutes. 

The actors fully absorb the words and make them their own; not a bad performance out of the lot. And keep your eye open for a certain Franco's younger brother and the original Jerry. The characters aren't exactly multi-dimensional, but they're nicely fleshed out for the genre. Yelchin constructs a strong but sensitive kid trying to define who he is and is opposed nicely by Farrell's self-centered, creepy vamp-tramp king. 

Supporting cast are all a riot - Christopher Mintz-Plasse makes an appearance as Ed, a childhood friend Charlie left behind, and David Tennant is endearing and pretty hilarious as the scallawag with a haunted past. And a shoutout for my ladies! Toni Collette is lovely as usual portraying a mother who refreshingly pays attention to her son and Imogen Poots takes what could have been a standard "oh I'm a frightened teen girl" to the girl you want her to be.

All in all, this is a nice little feather for director Craig Gillespie's odd hat. And this brings me to why I'm reviewing this. I wrote this film off for a few reasons. First of all, it's been released at the end of the summer against no real competition. Second, it was not released at Halloween. Third, given both those things, the film hasn't done well. And what a shame! I think the distributors made a real mistake not holding out for a Halloween release. What fun it'd be to stay up late and go get scared with this movie in the autumn frenzy of All Hallow's Eve! This is my attempt to save this movie - GO SEE IT!

8/10

Who Are You (Who, Who)

So I'm breaking from the normal critique to give you folks an editorial tonight. With the second half of series six of Doctor Who premiering this coming Saturday on BBC America, I thought it'd be fun to share my thoughts on the different Doctors. For the sake of brevity, we'll just be focusing on the two most recent.

There's the constant question. Which Doctor is better, best, more likable. They are constantly being compared to each other. I don't think that's the right way to look at it. When the Doctor regenerates, yes he changes physically, but there's very clearly psychological change that takes place. And let's think about it this way - if you died, something would change about you too. You might be grateful, pissed, resentful, overjoyed, relieved. About a million different emotions go into it.

Working chronologically, when David Tennant's Doctor arrives, we find him re-awakened. Christopher Eccleston's portrayal is sardonic, angry, and in a lot of denial about the events of the Time War. By the time he regenerates to Tennant, we find that he's moved on to deep sorrow balanced out by a brilliantly curious quirkiness. This is a Doctor who grins like he means it. He says things like "alonzi," eager for plain fun adventure. He handles his foes with less anger and more of a controlled contempt for violence than anything.

Through three seasons, we peel away the layers of this Doctor who thoroughly enjoys life. We find that beneath his jovial exterior beat two very feeling hearts. By making himself more amiable, more accessible to love, he's made himself more open to heartbreak as well. He constantly must tear open the wounds in order to save the people he loves, right to the very end. And that's the kind of thing that changes a man...or Time Lord. Towards the end, we see the Doctor trying to figure out exactly who and what he is, and in one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the show, he's not ready to leave when it's his time to go. He's not done; but it's time.

And so Tennant's Doctor dies and Matt Smith's Doctor is born from the ashes. (This is also the point when the Doctor Who torch is passed on from Russel T. Davies to Steven Moffat, so obviously writing styles are different and things will change. I do not wish to compare these writers; I think they're both great and accomplish(ed) different things with their work.) Right away, there's something a bit mad about him. It's no longer quirky, it's aloof bordering on insanity. And then there's the anger. I personally think the madness is a defense mechanism, hiding the anger deep away inside. If he can deflect long enough, maybe he won't think about all the pain he endured so recently to save his beloved planet Earth. But that anger sits just below the surface - do anything to make it bubble through and instantly regret it.

A line Matt Smith repeats, "Never had that before," seems to be apt for the changes present in this Doctor. He's never been quite this angry, quite this vengeful, or confrontational. He's lost the people he loves before and now heaven help anybody who comes between him and his companions. I think if this wasn't balanced out with Matt Smith's incredible ability to act like a six year old and nine hundred year old at the same time, we'd lose our affection for him from time to time. He pushes the limits sometimes, but hey, the best heroes do.

So for all those imdb message board trolls going, "Tennant is way better, bring him back," or "No, you suck monkey brains, Matt Smith is the best ever," let's all try and remember that you're basically trying to compare performances of two different characters. And that never really works. So just enjoy them both and get on with enjoying this fantastic show.

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Thursday turned out to be a lovely day to roll out the very tiny red carpet and check out The Help at the local theatre. I won't say I was chomping at the bit to see this film, but I was very intrigued. The film, set in 1960's Mississippi, centers around a young writer nicknamed Skeeter (Emma Stone) and her series of interviews with the black maids in her town. She and he co-conspirators (Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer) meet in secret to reveal the horrific racism of the white housewives in Jackson. Despite this, its clear these maids truly love the white children they care for as much as their own children, for whom they desire only better than they had.

The film is built on strong female characters, from lead to supporting. Emma Stone embraces this dramatic role with maturity and a healthy amount of sass. It's definitely a new page in her book, which up until now has been primarily comedic. The relationships between her and the other women of the film  bind the main story to its subplots, so it's important that they work. The hint of a good friendship going slowly sour with her and Bryce Dallas Howard, the sense that she never quite pleased her mother, and the building of trust between her and Viola Davis - it all builds and builds the film and fleshes out even the minor characters.

The supporting cast charms their way through the film. Octavia Spencer is absolutely hilarious as Minny and Sissy Spacek is lovable as Bryce Dallas Howard's mother. Everyone seems to 'fit' in the world - it's all very real and embedded.

From a production standpoint, the film was very well done. Solid editing, beautiful photography, and great production design. All of these things being said, there is still something holding the film back from being truly amazing.

It's a good film, even a great one perhaps, garnering it's strength from its subtlety. But it's almost a little too quiet, too reserved. I wanted these women to really conquer and conquer something evil. I am not a fan of meaningless violence, but when it serves the story, especially when that story is historical fiction, I think violence has it's place. These people actually suffered. A lot. And most of us watching this film aren't really going to understand what they went through and what they overcame. You can hint at it and talk about it, but the only way to draw a truly powerful emotional response is to show us, without shame.

7.5/10