I reach 2013's finish line with 42 of this year's movies under my belt, a number that, while low, is still better than what I had accomplished at this time last year. (28 movies? In all of 2012? For shame.)
More notable than the movies I have seen are those that I haven't: "12 Years a Slave," "Captain Phillips," "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Her," "Dallas Buyers Club," "Nebraska" and "Inside Llewyn Davis" are just a few of the critically acclaimed films I still need to see. Most, if not all, of those films will be nominated for multiple Academy Awards, and I'm sure I'll see them before the March telecast.
But that's a little over two months away. Today is Jan. 1, and these are the ten best films I saw in 2013, presented alphabetically:
"American Hustle," director David O. Russell — Early in this incredibly entertaining, sometimes euphoric film, combed-over con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and stripper-turned-partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) are lustily looking into each others' eyes as plastic-covered garments spin around them on Irving's dry-cleaning carousel. These two low-rent bottom-feeders are headed for the big time, but they'll always be cheap cons at heart. That, for me, will be the lasting image of "American Hustle," a romanticized depiction of the FBI's Abscam operation that was the most complete, most joyous moviegoing experience of 2013. All of the actors are absolutely perfect, from Bradley Cooper's fledgling FBI agent to Jennifer Lawrence's boundary-free housewife. The script is unbelievably funny. The filmmaking, which obviously owes much to Martin Scorsese, is exhilarating. The music choices, including a scene with Tom Jones' "Delilah" that nearly had me singing out loud in the theater, are familiar and fun. The smile on my face lasted the length of the film.
"The Conjuring," d. James Wan — I finally watched this last night and spent most of its 110 minutes hiding behind a pillow, yelling at the TV, and laughing and clapping after the biggest scares. That happened while I was sitting on my couch, alone, at home. I can't imagine what seeing this relentlessly scary movie was like with a packed theater. Wan, who also directed 2013's "Insidious: Chapter 2" and began the "Saw" franchise in 2004, may never top this '70s tale of a home besieged by demons and the paranormal investigators (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) who drive them out. It's like watching "The Exorcist," "Paranormal Activity" and "The Amityville Horror" all at once, with a terrific performance by Lili Taylor as the mother who wakes up with mysterious bruises all over her body and hears phantom clapping in her hallways. This feels like an instant classic.
"Drinking Buddies," d. Joe Swanberg — In a summer ruled by big, bombastic fantasies, this film made an impact with its realism. Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Ron Livingston star in a Chicago-set tale of two co-workers who long to be more than friends despite their significant others. It's light on plot and heavy on talk, which is just right — as someone who has had more than one hopeless crush on a co-worker in years past, I was touched by "Drinking Buddies," and found myself laughing and tearing up in equal measure. (Plus, the first shot of the film is Johnson wearing an Old Style cap while brewing beer at Revolution, so it was basically love at first sight.)
"Escape From Tomorrow," d. Randy Moore — A black-and-white indie shot surreptitiously within Disneyland and Walt Disney World, "Escape From Tomorrow" puts a dark, surreal spin on places that are surreal to begin with. Where many saw a cheap film full of cheap shots at the Disney theme parks, I saw a daring, multi-faceted examination of an American rite of passage. The script knows far too much about the Disney parks and the people who visit them to be a full-on slam — one of the film's biggest laughs comes early on when the protagonist's boss gushes over the Soarin' ride, because OF COURSE some square's favorite ride would be Soarin' — and plays, for me, as a dead-on satire of the parks and the people who visit them. As we've learned from Twitter and message boards, you don't have to hate Disney World to be a harsh critic of it; I think the same applies here. This is an essential film for any fan of the parks. (And the payoff of the son's unfulfilled desire to ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin is one of the funniest scenes of the year.)
"Frozen," d. Chris Buck & Jennifer Lee — Elsa (Idina Menzel), queen of Arendelle, sings about who she is, not what she wants, in the most memorable scene of any movie I saw all year. "Let It Go," Elsa's anthemic display of confidence, is the best song in a Disney animated feature since the days of Howard Ashman, and the movie is perfectly entertaining even if the narrative is decidedly imperfect. This is one of only two movies in 2013 that I saw twice in theaters. (The other may involve stars and/or treks.)
"Gravity," d. Alfonso Cuaron — Definitely a film I admire more than one I genuinely like, but there is so much to admire. It is a leap forward for CGI, obviously, but "Gravity" wouldn't work without the strong performances of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, or the emotional music by Steven Price. This is the rare movie that can move you with images alone; my tears flowed near the end as Dr. Ryan Stone's capsule re-entered Earth's atmosphere among the burning embers of space debris. Can you believe that some brave souls have actually seen something like that in real life?!
"Room 237," d. Rodney Ascher — Five insane theories about Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining," presented in a trippy kaleidoscope of film clips free of talking heads. This film isn't notable for the content of the theories themselves — though I do find the one about Native American genocide to be awfully convincing — but for how it puts our collective obsession with movies on display. Surely any hardcore film buff has a crazy theory about one of his or her favorite movies, right? (Mine is about Spielberg's "A.I.," which I implore you to watch again.) Available for streaming on Netflix.
"Star Trek Into Darkness," d. J.J. Abrams — Yes, I know (and mostly agree with) all the arguments against this movie. And yes, I was "in the tank" for this movie the moment it was announced, as I am not only A) a Trek fan but B) an unapologetic fan of Abrams and co-writer/co-producer Damon Lindelof. Feel free to discount my opinion of this movie, but consider this: If you can accept the idea of "Star Trek" as a thrill ride, can that thrill ride get much better than the two films Abrams has given us? As in the 2009 film, Zachary Quinto (Spock) and composer Michael Giacchino are the MVPs, though baddie Benedict Cumberbatch all but steals the show.
"Upstream Color," d. Shane Carruth — A sci-fi mystery with an indie spirit from the genius who made "Primer," "Upstream Color" is nearly indescribable. Its pleasures are best to be discovered by open-minded, adventurous moviegoers who don't need everything spelled out for them. Available for streaming on Netflix.
"The World's End," d. Edgar Wright — Wright and Simon Pegg close out their informal "Cornetto Trilogy" with a film about growing up and moving on — and alien robots. The true revelation of this film is Nick Frost, Pegg's constant co-star, who gives a nuanced, funny and brutally physical performance.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Thursday, September 26, 2013
RogerEbert.com's "Movie Love Questionnaire"
In which I reappropriate RogerEbert.com's "Movie Love Questionnaire" as a writing exercise for myself. I haven't written anything aside from tweets and my weekly newspaper column in a long while, and felt like taking a stab at this.
Where did you grow up, and what was it like?
Wheeling, Illinois, in a subdivision of townhomes called Lakeside Villas. In the grade school days, it felt like I knew everybody in the neighborhood. There were a lot of all-day bike rides with friends, long summer afternoons and evenings at the clubhouse pool, and NES sessions in the finished, wood-paneled basement.
What if anything did your jobs contribute to your sensibility as a moviegoer?
I worked for Suncoast Motion Picture Company at Randhurst Mall in Mt. Prospect for a stretch of five years, including summer, winter and spring stints when I was home from college. This is when watching movies went from an enthusiasm to a lifestyle. The need to own every movie I liked on VHS (then DVD, then Blu-ray) started here, as did my massive amount of credit card debt.
Was anyone else in your family into movies? If so, what effect did they have on your moviegoing tastes?
Everyone in the family is into movies. It is not uncommon for the immediate family to carry on entire conversations in movie quotes. I didn't have to beg my parents to see stuff like "Return of the Jedi," "Aliens" or "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" — they wanted to see them just as much as (if not more than) I did.
What's the first movie you remember seeing, and what impression did it make on you?
"Raiders of the Lost Ark," at Wheeling's Twin Drive-In. Seeing Toth's face melt at the end of the movie is my earliest memory — not my earliest memory of seeing a film, my earliest memory, period. If that's not a lasting impression, I don't know what is.
What's the first movie that made you think, "Hey, some people made this. It didn't just exist. There's a human personality behind it."
Definitely the "Star Wars" trilogy. We had a hardcover copy of "The Art of Return of the Jedi," and I remember seeing a behind-the-scenes special about "A New Hope" at a very early age. I probably knew who George Lucas, Dennis Muren and John Williams were before I entered the first grade.
What's the first movie you ever walked out of?
Against my will, it was Disney's "The Jungle Book." My mother took my sisters and me to see it, and she got sick about a half-hour in. I later walked out of Soderbergh's "Solaris" because the picture quality was atrocious; we got free passes for a later date and decided to see a different movie. (I still haven't seen it.) The only movie that I would truly categorize as a walk-out was "Starsky & Hutch," a painfully unfunny experience. Thankfully, the Rohirrim were about to charge the Orcs at Pelennor Fields across the hall.
What's the funniest film you've ever seen?
I'm not sure, but I do know that, while the film (and its filmmaker) has faded for me since, my first experience with "Clerks" was a watershed moment. I had read about it in Rolling Stone months earlier, and Dan Benes and I spotted it in a Blockbuster on a Saturday night when we were tasked with babysitting his brother. We watched it twice, back-to-back, and started spreading the gospel at school the following Monday. When I went off to Eastern Illinois University in 1997, I made friends with the entire 7th floor of Carman Hall that first weekend by inviting everybody over to watch this crazy black-and-white movie I had that nobody had ever heard of.
What's the saddest film you've ever seen?
Two movies left me crying, drooling and pounding my fists into the floor: "Dancer in the Dark" and "House of Sand and Fog." I've seen the former four or five times since; I've never watched the latter again.
What's the scariest film you've ever seen?
"Poltergeist." Not even close. And it just keeps getting scarier. If we ever have kids, I imagine it will be damn near unwatchable.
What's the most romantic film you've ever seen?
"Once" feels like the right answer.
What's the first television show you ever saw that made you think television could be more than entertainment?
The first show that became a full-on obsession for me was "The X-Files." It was perhaps the first show that truly felt cinematic, which seems laughable now in the age of "Game of Thrones" and "Breaking Bad."
What book do you think about or revisit the most?
"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton, which is a bit of an embarrassing answer — but an honest one.
What album or recording artist have you listened to the most, and why?
John Williams, because he is the filmmaker (yes, composers are filmmakers too) most responsible for my love of movies. Metallica, because "Enter Sandman" came out when I was 12, so why wouldn't I be a Metallica fan?
Is there a movie that you think is great, or powerful, or perfect, but that you never especially want to see again, and why?
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is one of the best movies I've ever seen, but I have never been able to make it through a home viewing. It's just too painful an experience, and I'm not sure I can even articulate why.
What movie have you seen more times than any other?
Whatever it is, it has the word "star" in the title, I'm sure. In recent years, the answer is definitely J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek." I suspect that the answer is actually "Return of the Jedi," aka "Star Wars: Episode VI."
What was your first R-rated movie, and did you like it?
My dad showed me "The Blues Brothers" when I was 4 or 5 years old, and it has always been a family favorite. I loved the musical numbers when I was young. The first R-rated movie I saw in a theater was "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," with my dad and our neighbor, Bob.
What's the most visually beautiful film you've ever seen?
I am tempted to say "Avatar," but then most of you will stop reading this and never again take me seriously. The real answer is probably "Pinocchio," which I finally saw on the big screen in college. It was a breathtaking experience.
Who are your favorite leading men, past and present?
Tom Cruise. Leonardo DiCaprio. Jimmy Stewart.
Who are your favorite leading ladies, past and present?
Kate Winslet. Cate Blanchett.
Who's your favorite modern filmmaker?
This question is harder than I thought it would be. The easy answers would be Paul Thomas Anderson or David Fincher, but then I remembered that I didn't bother to see either of their latest films in the theater. (I would eventually be baffled by "The Master" and electrified by the American remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.")
Steven Spielberg seems like another obvious choice, but I still haven't slogged through "War Horse," and I think "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" ruined an unprecedented streak of risk and creativity for him that began with "A.I."
Right now, amazingly, the answer might be Gore Verbinski, even though I wouldn't call any of his films a truly great film. (I mean, he's made three pirate movies and a Lone Ranger movie, fer cryin' loud.) But I like him and the people he's chosen to be his constant collaborators, and he's certainly never made a boring film. I'm sure this answer will change once I see the Coen brothers' next movie.
What film do you love that most people seem to hate?
"Avatar."
What film do you hate that most people love?
"Sideways."
Tell me about a moviegoing experience you will never forget—not just because of the movie, but because of the circumstances in which you saw it.
The third or fourth time I saw "Titanic" was at the Randhurst General Cinemas 16. A big group of us arrived more than an hour before showtime and were queued up in the hallway. With about 20 minutes to go, someone pulled the fire alarm, which delayed everything by another half-hour. We stuck it out and saw the movie anyway. A classmate of mine, Elizabeth Severson, started crying about halfway through the film and, as far as I know, never stopped — she was still sobbing when I dropped her off around 2 a.m.
What aspect of modern theatrical moviegoing do you like least?
Talking patrons.
What aspect of moviegoing during your childhood do you miss the most?
Going with my mom, who hasn't been to a theater since "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005. Her MS makes it hard to sit still for prolonged periods, so uncomfortable theater seats are a no-go. I would take my mom to the movies all the time, even in high school.
Have you ever damaged a friendship, or thought twice about a relationship, because you disagreed about whether a movie was good or bad?
Nothing comes to mind.
What movies have you dreamed about?
One of the most vivid nightmares of my life came after watching "Dazed and Confused," believe it or not. Ben Affleck and his pals were hunting me down, paddles in hand.
What concession stand item can you not live without?
I can live without all of them. I never eat at the movies.
Where did you grow up, and what was it like?
Wheeling, Illinois, in a subdivision of townhomes called Lakeside Villas. In the grade school days, it felt like I knew everybody in the neighborhood. There were a lot of all-day bike rides with friends, long summer afternoons and evenings at the clubhouse pool, and NES sessions in the finished, wood-paneled basement.
What if anything did your jobs contribute to your sensibility as a moviegoer?
I worked for Suncoast Motion Picture Company at Randhurst Mall in Mt. Prospect for a stretch of five years, including summer, winter and spring stints when I was home from college. This is when watching movies went from an enthusiasm to a lifestyle. The need to own every movie I liked on VHS (then DVD, then Blu-ray) started here, as did my massive amount of credit card debt.
Was anyone else in your family into movies? If so, what effect did they have on your moviegoing tastes?
Everyone in the family is into movies. It is not uncommon for the immediate family to carry on entire conversations in movie quotes. I didn't have to beg my parents to see stuff like "Return of the Jedi," "Aliens" or "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" — they wanted to see them just as much as (if not more than) I did.
What's the first movie you remember seeing, and what impression did it make on you?
"Raiders of the Lost Ark," at Wheeling's Twin Drive-In. Seeing Toth's face melt at the end of the movie is my earliest memory — not my earliest memory of seeing a film, my earliest memory, period. If that's not a lasting impression, I don't know what is.
What's the first movie that made you think, "Hey, some people made this. It didn't just exist. There's a human personality behind it."
Definitely the "Star Wars" trilogy. We had a hardcover copy of "The Art of Return of the Jedi," and I remember seeing a behind-the-scenes special about "A New Hope" at a very early age. I probably knew who George Lucas, Dennis Muren and John Williams were before I entered the first grade.
What's the first movie you ever walked out of?
Against my will, it was Disney's "The Jungle Book." My mother took my sisters and me to see it, and she got sick about a half-hour in. I later walked out of Soderbergh's "Solaris" because the picture quality was atrocious; we got free passes for a later date and decided to see a different movie. (I still haven't seen it.) The only movie that I would truly categorize as a walk-out was "Starsky & Hutch," a painfully unfunny experience. Thankfully, the Rohirrim were about to charge the Orcs at Pelennor Fields across the hall.
What's the funniest film you've ever seen?
I'm not sure, but I do know that, while the film (and its filmmaker) has faded for me since, my first experience with "Clerks" was a watershed moment. I had read about it in Rolling Stone months earlier, and Dan Benes and I spotted it in a Blockbuster on a Saturday night when we were tasked with babysitting his brother. We watched it twice, back-to-back, and started spreading the gospel at school the following Monday. When I went off to Eastern Illinois University in 1997, I made friends with the entire 7th floor of Carman Hall that first weekend by inviting everybody over to watch this crazy black-and-white movie I had that nobody had ever heard of.
What's the saddest film you've ever seen?
Two movies left me crying, drooling and pounding my fists into the floor: "Dancer in the Dark" and "House of Sand and Fog." I've seen the former four or five times since; I've never watched the latter again.
What's the scariest film you've ever seen?
"Poltergeist." Not even close. And it just keeps getting scarier. If we ever have kids, I imagine it will be damn near unwatchable.
What's the most romantic film you've ever seen?
"Once" feels like the right answer.
What's the first television show you ever saw that made you think television could be more than entertainment?
The first show that became a full-on obsession for me was "The X-Files." It was perhaps the first show that truly felt cinematic, which seems laughable now in the age of "Game of Thrones" and "Breaking Bad."
What book do you think about or revisit the most?
"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton, which is a bit of an embarrassing answer — but an honest one.
What album or recording artist have you listened to the most, and why?
John Williams, because he is the filmmaker (yes, composers are filmmakers too) most responsible for my love of movies. Metallica, because "Enter Sandman" came out when I was 12, so why wouldn't I be a Metallica fan?
Is there a movie that you think is great, or powerful, or perfect, but that you never especially want to see again, and why?
"Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is one of the best movies I've ever seen, but I have never been able to make it through a home viewing. It's just too painful an experience, and I'm not sure I can even articulate why.
What movie have you seen more times than any other?
Whatever it is, it has the word "star" in the title, I'm sure. In recent years, the answer is definitely J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek." I suspect that the answer is actually "Return of the Jedi," aka "Star Wars: Episode VI."
What was your first R-rated movie, and did you like it?
My dad showed me "The Blues Brothers" when I was 4 or 5 years old, and it has always been a family favorite. I loved the musical numbers when I was young. The first R-rated movie I saw in a theater was "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," with my dad and our neighbor, Bob.
What's the most visually beautiful film you've ever seen?
I am tempted to say "Avatar," but then most of you will stop reading this and never again take me seriously. The real answer is probably "Pinocchio," which I finally saw on the big screen in college. It was a breathtaking experience.
Who are your favorite leading men, past and present?
Tom Cruise. Leonardo DiCaprio. Jimmy Stewart.
Who are your favorite leading ladies, past and present?
Kate Winslet. Cate Blanchett.
Who's your favorite modern filmmaker?
This question is harder than I thought it would be. The easy answers would be Paul Thomas Anderson or David Fincher, but then I remembered that I didn't bother to see either of their latest films in the theater. (I would eventually be baffled by "The Master" and electrified by the American remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.")
Steven Spielberg seems like another obvious choice, but I still haven't slogged through "War Horse," and I think "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" ruined an unprecedented streak of risk and creativity for him that began with "A.I."
Right now, amazingly, the answer might be Gore Verbinski, even though I wouldn't call any of his films a truly great film. (I mean, he's made three pirate movies and a Lone Ranger movie, fer cryin' loud.) But I like him and the people he's chosen to be his constant collaborators, and he's certainly never made a boring film. I'm sure this answer will change once I see the Coen brothers' next movie.
What film do you love that most people seem to hate?
"Avatar."
What film do you hate that most people love?
"Sideways."
Tell me about a moviegoing experience you will never forget—not just because of the movie, but because of the circumstances in which you saw it.
The third or fourth time I saw "Titanic" was at the Randhurst General Cinemas 16. A big group of us arrived more than an hour before showtime and were queued up in the hallway. With about 20 minutes to go, someone pulled the fire alarm, which delayed everything by another half-hour. We stuck it out and saw the movie anyway. A classmate of mine, Elizabeth Severson, started crying about halfway through the film and, as far as I know, never stopped — she was still sobbing when I dropped her off around 2 a.m.
What aspect of modern theatrical moviegoing do you like least?
Talking patrons.
What aspect of moviegoing during your childhood do you miss the most?
Going with my mom, who hasn't been to a theater since "Revenge of the Sith" in 2005. Her MS makes it hard to sit still for prolonged periods, so uncomfortable theater seats are a no-go. I would take my mom to the movies all the time, even in high school.
Have you ever damaged a friendship, or thought twice about a relationship, because you disagreed about whether a movie was good or bad?
Nothing comes to mind.
What movies have you dreamed about?
One of the most vivid nightmares of my life came after watching "Dazed and Confused," believe it or not. Ben Affleck and his pals were hunting me down, paddles in hand.
What concession stand item can you not live without?
I can live without all of them. I never eat at the movies.
Friday, June 14, 2013
My immediate reaction to "Man of Steel"
"Man of Steel" is a pretty damn good alien-invasion movie. I'm not sure how I feel about it as a Superman movie.
Now wait a minute, you may be thinking. The guy who loves J.J. Abrams' blasphemous "Star Trek" movies has qualms with a reimagined "Superman"?!?!
Yes, and it comes down to character. The loudest detractors of J.J.'s "Star Trek" films don't like his manipulation of the canon, his emphasis on action over intelligence, or his screenwriters' penchant for ignoring (ahem) logic. What Abrams has absolutely nailed, however, is a cast of characters that we not only like, but love. Those characters have always been my chief attraction to the franchise, and I would gladly watch another twenty years' worth of movies starring the actors chosen to carry on their legacy.
So what's wrong with the characters in "Man of Steel"? Nothing for which I can fault the actors. You like Henry Cavill the moment you see him. You detest Michael Shannon the moment you see him. Amy Adams defies her super-sweet image and delivers the best Lois Lane I've ever known. Russell Crowe is so good as Jor-El, he nearly steals the whole movie.
The chief problem I have with Superma — er, excuse me, Kal-El — is that he comes off more like Bruce Banner than Clark Kent. When Kal-El needs to fight, he suddenly has little concern for human life. The civilian body count racked up in the last 45 minutes of the movie has to be astronomical, and Clark is responsible for a lot of that as he tosses General Zod and his minions through office buildings, storefronts, cars, trains ... you name it, it gets destroyed in "Man of Steel."
Then there's Jonathan Kent, played perfectly by Kevin Costner. He is barely in this movie, and the film's structure, which tells young Clark's story in flashbacks, keeps us from ever really connecting to Pa Kent emotionally. This film is far more interested in Jor-El, whose consciousness is kept alive in a Kryptonian ship, much like the crystal recording of Marlon Brando that appeared in "Superman: The Movie." That focus on Jor-El does yield some very good things in the film, but I don't think the audience is (or even should be) emotionally invested in Jor-El. He's not the man who raised Clark to be the good — no, super — man he would become.
But for everything "Man of Steel" does that I didn't like — including some of the most intrusive, obvious product placement EVER — there's something else it does that is extraordinary.
The most obvious place to begin is with the action sequences, which are so overwhelming that I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. This, perhaps, isn't the preferred reaction — it is better to be exhilarated and/or delighted, no? — but there are sights in "Man of Steel" that simply have to be seen by any and every moviegoer. You may not respond to them emotionally, but you will be awed all the same. (I especially enjoyed any sequence involving Zod's henchwoman, Faora-Ul, who is more magnetic and seems more deadly than her master. I've never seen German actress Antje Traue before, but I hope to see her again.)
The absolute best thing about "Man of Steel," the one thing I will tell all my friends about when they ask me my opinion of the film, is Lois Lane. Hands down.
I've never thought much of Lois Lane. I've never been a reader of the Superman comics, so my opinion of Lois has been forged by the flighty, feisty Margot Kidder, and by Kate Bosworth, who was so flat and uninteresting that she almost single-handedly killed "Superman Returns." In "Man of Steel," Lois Lane is not just a big-city reporter — she's a world traveler who has been embedded with soldiers. Lois is no damsel in distress — she's been in the shit, as Max Fischer would say, and she doesn't suffer fools gladly. She figures heavily into my favorite scene in the film, a tricky little action scene with Russell Crowe that reminded me of "Minority Report."
In fact, "Man of Steel" reminded me of a lot of other movies that don't have "Superman" in the title, especially "Independence Day," the "Star Wars" prequels, and the "Matrix" trilogy. (The final, cartoonish fight between Clark and Zod was more satisfying the first time I saw it in "Matrix Revolutions.") That's not a knock on the movie; in this age of superhero movies, it's refreshing to see one that doesn't feel like one.
As I alluded to in my first paragraph, this is an alien-invasion movie more than anything else, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't burdened by the Superman legacy. That being said, I feel like I need to see it again — this is not a movie you can easily dismiss.
Now wait a minute, you may be thinking. The guy who loves J.J. Abrams' blasphemous "Star Trek" movies has qualms with a reimagined "Superman"?!?!
Yes, and it comes down to character. The loudest detractors of J.J.'s "Star Trek" films don't like his manipulation of the canon, his emphasis on action over intelligence, or his screenwriters' penchant for ignoring (ahem) logic. What Abrams has absolutely nailed, however, is a cast of characters that we not only like, but love. Those characters have always been my chief attraction to the franchise, and I would gladly watch another twenty years' worth of movies starring the actors chosen to carry on their legacy.
So what's wrong with the characters in "Man of Steel"? Nothing for which I can fault the actors. You like Henry Cavill the moment you see him. You detest Michael Shannon the moment you see him. Amy Adams defies her super-sweet image and delivers the best Lois Lane I've ever known. Russell Crowe is so good as Jor-El, he nearly steals the whole movie.
The chief problem I have with Superma — er, excuse me, Kal-El — is that he comes off more like Bruce Banner than Clark Kent. When Kal-El needs to fight, he suddenly has little concern for human life. The civilian body count racked up in the last 45 minutes of the movie has to be astronomical, and Clark is responsible for a lot of that as he tosses General Zod and his minions through office buildings, storefronts, cars, trains ... you name it, it gets destroyed in "Man of Steel."
Then there's Jonathan Kent, played perfectly by Kevin Costner. He is barely in this movie, and the film's structure, which tells young Clark's story in flashbacks, keeps us from ever really connecting to Pa Kent emotionally. This film is far more interested in Jor-El, whose consciousness is kept alive in a Kryptonian ship, much like the crystal recording of Marlon Brando that appeared in "Superman: The Movie." That focus on Jor-El does yield some very good things in the film, but I don't think the audience is (or even should be) emotionally invested in Jor-El. He's not the man who raised Clark to be the good — no, super — man he would become.
But for everything "Man of Steel" does that I didn't like — including some of the most intrusive, obvious product placement EVER — there's something else it does that is extraordinary.
The most obvious place to begin is with the action sequences, which are so overwhelming that I found myself shaking my head in disbelief. This, perhaps, isn't the preferred reaction — it is better to be exhilarated and/or delighted, no? — but there are sights in "Man of Steel" that simply have to be seen by any and every moviegoer. You may not respond to them emotionally, but you will be awed all the same. (I especially enjoyed any sequence involving Zod's henchwoman, Faora-Ul, who is more magnetic and seems more deadly than her master. I've never seen German actress Antje Traue before, but I hope to see her again.)
The absolute best thing about "Man of Steel," the one thing I will tell all my friends about when they ask me my opinion of the film, is Lois Lane. Hands down.
I've never thought much of Lois Lane. I've never been a reader of the Superman comics, so my opinion of Lois has been forged by the flighty, feisty Margot Kidder, and by Kate Bosworth, who was so flat and uninteresting that she almost single-handedly killed "Superman Returns." In "Man of Steel," Lois Lane is not just a big-city reporter — she's a world traveler who has been embedded with soldiers. Lois is no damsel in distress — she's been in the shit, as Max Fischer would say, and she doesn't suffer fools gladly. She figures heavily into my favorite scene in the film, a tricky little action scene with Russell Crowe that reminded me of "Minority Report."
In fact, "Man of Steel" reminded me of a lot of other movies that don't have "Superman" in the title, especially "Independence Day," the "Star Wars" prequels, and the "Matrix" trilogy. (The final, cartoonish fight between Clark and Zod was more satisfying the first time I saw it in "Matrix Revolutions.") That's not a knock on the movie; in this age of superhero movies, it's refreshing to see one that doesn't feel like one.
As I alluded to in my first paragraph, this is an alien-invasion movie more than anything else, and I think I would have enjoyed it more if it wasn't burdened by the Superman legacy. That being said, I feel like I need to see it again — this is not a movie you can easily dismiss.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Five reasons why I loved "Iron Man 3"
1. "Iron Man 3" brings a sense of realism back to the Marvel Universe while also raising the stakes.
"The Avengers" ends with a cataclysmic battle between superheroes and alien invaders over, around and through the city of New York. Oh, and a nuclear missile thrown through an interstellar wormhole by a billionaire playboy wearing a flying robotic suit of armor.
"Iron Man 3" shows a hero still reeling from the effects of that experience, and pits against him (and the world) a very real, relatable threat. Americans were recently reacquainted with the spectre of terrorism on our home turf, so The Mandarin — with his slick propaganda videos, Bin Laden-esque visage and determination to kill innocent people — doesn't feel like a ludicrous supervillain. We know that real people are capable of such horrors.
Tony Stark's crusade against The Mandarin begins, sans suit, in a small town in Tennessee, where he sees the aftermath of one of the presumed attacks. Here we see Tony Stark stripped of his power, his allies and his enormous mansion, and for the first time in a long time the Marvel Universe feels like it exists in ours. Tony has to rediscover the ingenuity he once had in that cave in Afghanistan, resulting in two wonderful action scenes that dazzle us even though that iron mask is nowhere to be found.
Bringing this superhero back down to Earth could have worked against the film's third act, when the action rockets way over the top, but the story and characters build in such a way that the film's pyrotechnics feel like the natural outcome. This is no small feat for director Shane Black, who is as essential to this film as Joss Whedon was to "The Avengers."
2. The screenplay by Shane Black and Drew Pearce is truly funny.
"Thor" mostly didn't work for me because the jokes fell flat. (And Kat Dennings was interminable, and the product placement was really distracting, and Tom Hiddleston hadn't quite found his groove ... but enough about that.) "Iron Man 3" of course benefits from Robert Downey Jr.'s effortless charm and natural good humor, but the script seemingly goes out of its way to give us moments of levity amid a film full of pretty grim stuff.
Improbably, it works. The biggest mistake "Thor" made was to rely on pop culture references in telling fish-out-of-water jokes. "Iron Man 3" has its share of pop culture jokes, yes, but the bulk of the humor grows organically from the characters or informs us about them in some way.
And hey, Robert Downey Jr. doesn't even get the funniest line in the movie.
3. S.H.I.E.L.D. is out of the picture.
My main problem with the Marvel Universe films prior to "The Avengers" was how concerned they were with selling "The Avengers." "Iron Man 2" was particularly guilty of this, handing large sections of the film over to Agent Coulson, Black Widow and Nick Fury instead of trying to make us care about Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer. (I mean, did you ever care about those characters? I sure didn't.)
"Iron Man 3" puts the focus right where I wanted it, on Tony and those close to him. Those high stakes I mentioned before are also very personal — the way the film plays out, we feel like anything could happen to anyone. Everyone knew the superfriends would triumph in "The Avengers," but there are moments in "Iron Man 3" that test our confidence, and that's a very good thing.
I really can't think of a good reason why Tony didn't enlist S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help to fight The Mandarin, but I also can't think of a good reason why I should care, given how good the movie is without them.
4. I found myself humming the theme on the way out of the theater.
For years, I have bitched and moaned about the lack of rousing, recognizable musical themes in superhero movies. I was baffled by Danny Elfman's score for "Spider-Man" — the guy who gave us the iconic Tim Burton "Batman" theme couldn't give us anything to grasp? — and Hans Zimmer's "Dark Knight" scores, while effective, certainly aren't hummable. Alan Silvestri had a near-miss with "Captain America: The First Avenger," and his perfectly wonderful theme for "The Avengers" was woefully underused.
Then there's the music for the first two "Iron Man" flicks. John Debney gave us a score as bland as "Iron Man 2's" villains, but even that was light years better than Ramin Djawadi's downright offensive efforts in the first film. Crunching, tuneless rock guitars interspersed with AC/DC songs do not an effective score make.
But Brian Tyler, of all people, comes to the rescue in "Iron Man 3," giving Tony Stark the melodic and anthemic music he deserves. (And AC/DC? Nowhere to be heard. Unless I'm forgetting something.) Tyler's previous work had not impressed me, but he gets a tip of the cap for this one.
5. The movie isn't afraid to take risks. (This section contains A VERY BIG SPOILER.)
In conclusion
"Iron Man 3" is not a perfect film. I thought it was a bit dodgy until The Mandarin's assault on Tony's home, and that some of Black's more unsavory tics were on display. Rhodey gets marginalized again, and I found myself wishing that it had been a Downey/Cheadle buddy pic or that Cheadle had been cut altogether. And clearly, those infected with Extremis should have burned through all their clothes. (Right???)
But I don't demand perfection from my superhero movies. I do demand that, in this age of superhero saturation, they try to surprise and delight us. "Iron Man 3" certainly did that.
"The Avengers" ends with a cataclysmic battle between superheroes and alien invaders over, around and through the city of New York. Oh, and a nuclear missile thrown through an interstellar wormhole by a billionaire playboy wearing a flying robotic suit of armor.
"Iron Man 3" shows a hero still reeling from the effects of that experience, and pits against him (and the world) a very real, relatable threat. Americans were recently reacquainted with the spectre of terrorism on our home turf, so The Mandarin — with his slick propaganda videos, Bin Laden-esque visage and determination to kill innocent people — doesn't feel like a ludicrous supervillain. We know that real people are capable of such horrors.
Tony Stark's crusade against The Mandarin begins, sans suit, in a small town in Tennessee, where he sees the aftermath of one of the presumed attacks. Here we see Tony Stark stripped of his power, his allies and his enormous mansion, and for the first time in a long time the Marvel Universe feels like it exists in ours. Tony has to rediscover the ingenuity he once had in that cave in Afghanistan, resulting in two wonderful action scenes that dazzle us even though that iron mask is nowhere to be found.
Bringing this superhero back down to Earth could have worked against the film's third act, when the action rockets way over the top, but the story and characters build in such a way that the film's pyrotechnics feel like the natural outcome. This is no small feat for director Shane Black, who is as essential to this film as Joss Whedon was to "The Avengers."
2. The screenplay by Shane Black and Drew Pearce is truly funny.
"Thor" mostly didn't work for me because the jokes fell flat. (And Kat Dennings was interminable, and the product placement was really distracting, and Tom Hiddleston hadn't quite found his groove ... but enough about that.) "Iron Man 3" of course benefits from Robert Downey Jr.'s effortless charm and natural good humor, but the script seemingly goes out of its way to give us moments of levity amid a film full of pretty grim stuff.
Improbably, it works. The biggest mistake "Thor" made was to rely on pop culture references in telling fish-out-of-water jokes. "Iron Man 3" has its share of pop culture jokes, yes, but the bulk of the humor grows organically from the characters or informs us about them in some way.
And hey, Robert Downey Jr. doesn't even get the funniest line in the movie.
3. S.H.I.E.L.D. is out of the picture.
My main problem with the Marvel Universe films prior to "The Avengers" was how concerned they were with selling "The Avengers." "Iron Man 2" was particularly guilty of this, handing large sections of the film over to Agent Coulson, Black Widow and Nick Fury instead of trying to make us care about Ivan Vanko and Justin Hammer. (I mean, did you ever care about those characters? I sure didn't.)
"Iron Man 3" puts the focus right where I wanted it, on Tony and those close to him. Those high stakes I mentioned before are also very personal — the way the film plays out, we feel like anything could happen to anyone. Everyone knew the superfriends would triumph in "The Avengers," but there are moments in "Iron Man 3" that test our confidence, and that's a very good thing.
I really can't think of a good reason why Tony didn't enlist S.H.I.E.L.D.'s help to fight The Mandarin, but I also can't think of a good reason why I should care, given how good the movie is without them.
4. I found myself humming the theme on the way out of the theater.
For years, I have bitched and moaned about the lack of rousing, recognizable musical themes in superhero movies. I was baffled by Danny Elfman's score for "Spider-Man" — the guy who gave us the iconic Tim Burton "Batman" theme couldn't give us anything to grasp? — and Hans Zimmer's "Dark Knight" scores, while effective, certainly aren't hummable. Alan Silvestri had a near-miss with "Captain America: The First Avenger," and his perfectly wonderful theme for "The Avengers" was woefully underused.
Then there's the music for the first two "Iron Man" flicks. John Debney gave us a score as bland as "Iron Man 2's" villains, but even that was light years better than Ramin Djawadi's downright offensive efforts in the first film. Crunching, tuneless rock guitars interspersed with AC/DC songs do not an effective score make.
But Brian Tyler, of all people, comes to the rescue in "Iron Man 3," giving Tony Stark the melodic and anthemic music he deserves. (And AC/DC? Nowhere to be heard. Unless I'm forgetting something.) Tyler's previous work had not impressed me, but he gets a tip of the cap for this one.
5. The movie isn't afraid to take risks. (This section contains A VERY BIG SPOILER.)
The fine web-based film critic @scottEweinberg tweeted this earlier today: "Congrats to @marvel, not for the opening weekend, but for making a good film despite knowing it would be a smash hit anyway."
Marvel and Jon Favreau made a risky bet in casting Robert Downey Jr. for "Iron Man," and it paid off handsomely. That spirit continues in "Iron Man 3," which enlisted the services of Shane Black, a writer/director not known for crowd-pleasing kiddie movies. The result is an unlikely success that is very much a Shane Black movie, but also very much an Iron Man movie.
But perhaps the biggest risk taken in "Iron Man 3" is the subversion of The Mandarin, Tony's biggest villain in the comic book world. The film's big twist reveals that The Mandarin is just an actor, and that the Extremis-producing scientist Aldrich Killian is pulling the strings.
Turning The Mandarin into a boogeyman played by a desperate addict is a crazy idea that works for a number of reasons: The ads never hinted at it, the casting of Ben Kingsley doesn't suggest it (and pays off in big laughs), and Aldrich Killian turns out to be a very formidable foe indeed. I'm sure hardcore fans of the Iron Man comics are upset with this twist; as someone who is strictly a fan of the films, I have no problem with it.
In conclusion
"Iron Man 3" is not a perfect film. I thought it was a bit dodgy until The Mandarin's assault on Tony's home, and that some of Black's more unsavory tics were on display. Rhodey gets marginalized again, and I found myself wishing that it had been a Downey/Cheadle buddy pic or that Cheadle had been cut altogether. And clearly, those infected with Extremis should have burned through all their clothes. (Right???)
But I don't demand perfection from my superhero movies. I do demand that, in this age of superhero saturation, they try to surprise and delight us. "Iron Man 3" certainly did that.
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Three magical days
In July of 2011, I decided I'd had enough of being a sad, frustrated man who pined for women he couldn't have, and I created a profile on OK Cupid. Minutes after doing so, I got a DM from a young woman I hadn't heard from in a long while: "I know you from Twitter :)"
That woman used to go by a Twitter handle that used her full, real name; I knew she was a film student at Columbia College, and that she had a cute and kissable face. When she messaged me on OK Cupid, she went by the name @LostOnTheFringe, which explained why I hadn't seen her online in a while.
Soon after that message, we were IM'ing each other. Then calling each other. And then, on July 30, we were sitting next to each other in a D-BOX theater watching "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" in 3D. The rest, as they say, is history.
I had always wanted to go to Disneyland for my birthday. In February 2012, that dream came true -- and @LostOnTheFringe was right alongside me. Here are some wonderful highlights from that trip, which happened to be her first to the Happiest Place on Earth:
We arrived in Anaheim on Jan. 31. We stayed at the Holiday Inn on Walnut Street, which is my favorite hotel in the area. It's quiet, it's clean, and it's a 15-minute walk away from the esplanade. We could have walked underneath the monorail tracks that run along the backside of Downtown Disney, but we opted to walk through the Disneyland Hotel campus every morning. On our last day, we had brunch at Tangaroa Terrace. Yum!
Here we are with our 3-day Park Hoppers. We look ridiculously happy, don't we?!?
We had breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace the first two days of our trip. The Mickey Mouse Pancakes are irresistible, mostly because they provide you with a photo-op :)
Look who we ran into just outside of Star Traders! This seems like an awfully random place for these three characters to show up, eh? (Not that I'm complaining!)
@LostOnTheFringe poses with her new friends!
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