Out of the Past. OUT OF THE PAST! Virginia Huston has a small role, lines-wise, but it’s our identification with her that’s the heart, the emotional pivot for the whole thing. Sigh. Why can’t we be better?
Tag: film
Stoker
Stoker. When it comes to character and plot stuff, this didn’t seem very good. I got over the (I’m assuming intentionally) stilted dialogue. The problem for me was that I didn’t care what the truth was. I don’t need to like any characters, but I need to have a reaction to whatever the story reveals and develops. It kinda lands with a thud.
I wonder again how I would have liked the movie if the story were told linearly, instead of turning to distant flashbacks that cut into the movie after 80 minutes. There’s a distinct fun to the style of suspense where instead of feeling in the dark and curious, you’re in the loop, but powerless. It’s “Uh oh! I don’t know what’s going to happen!” vs. “I have a pretty idea what’s about to happen, but alas I am powerless to help anyone involved! Don’t go down that hallway! No seriously don’t open that door!”. It’s the shouting-at-the-screen instinct. When they withhold explanations for a long time and keep you out of the loop until the flashbacks, you end up as more of a spectator, less complicit.
So I have those complaints. But–and this is a big but if you like moving pictures for other more mechanical reasons–this movie was pretty engaging for its photography and editing and sound. I love how Park moves the camera around, all the blocking and pivots. Such a clever momentum with the timing. There’s a delightful climactic scene with parallel cuts between three locations. I had more or less the same reaction to Park’s movie Oldboy.
Magic Mike
Magic Mike. Soderbergh! Best movie ever about the economy and strippers. I’d rank this one behind only Haywire and Out of Sight. You’ve got Tatum’s stripper-slash-roofer-slash-artisan muddling through, but it’s hard to change course when he’s great at something he doesn’t love that’s still addicting in its own way. You’ve got Pettyfer’s teenage socially-tone-deaf bro drifter who’s having a great time being showered with money and attention–at long last! You’ve got McConaughey’s (too?) serious entrepreneur-impresario-emperor. There’s the promise of Miami as the great mythical somewhere else where things are different, some future day. Just a few more nights and then…? Contrast these three with Horn, who takes a more cautious, realist, rooted approach to every day’s compromise. She’s awake in daylight, she works and reads and goes out to dinner and enjoys a glass of wine at home. Hard and boring is okay. Pairs well with Spring Breakers.
Spring Breakers
Spring Breakers. Great movie. Surface appeal is dangerous, no? It feels a little exploitative sometimes, but then again our protagonists have such undeniable agency that you wonder whose fantasy(-ies) you’re watching. So now what creeps you out? The movie repeats itself over and over. It’s the promise of spring break and sunshine and fun and release and anything but this, but looping to exhaustion. Interesting also that the movie borrows a contemporary sun-drenched/lens flare/desaturated/neon/present-tense-nostalgia fun aesthetic to undermine itself. Some dialogue I didn’t love, but maybe it was better for efficiency’s sake. Franco’s Alien and Gomez’s Faith are great. I watched this as a belated double feature with Magic Mike. Florida: Where the American Dream Confronts Itself!
Warrior
Warrior. I’ve raved about this movie before. A few things I appreciate on third viewing… 1. The efficiency of the startup. A few bits of dialogue, usually barbs hinting at old wounds. Some are too vague to be effective (“That shit you pulled”), but some are so wincingly perfect for character and delivery (“Must be tough to find a girl who could take a punch nowadays.”) 2. Shot, reverse-shot. Sports movies have to deliver on dialogue when you’re not at the relevant events. This is why you care about Rocky or Rudy. Style-wise, these shots reminds me of Michael Mann, peering over the shoulder. 3. Obstructing the shots. I’m thinking of the husband-wife conversation in the bathroom and the father-son scene in the hotel room. Doorways and bodies block the view, so you instinctively want to tilt your head a bit. It also works in the fight scenes cage, where you’re trying to peek through the fence to get closer to the action. In a way, those shots feel more like you’re “there” in the arena than when you get the clean close-ups. 4. This movie is now 3-for-3.
Looper
Looper. Solid scifi. Just take a nugget of a concept and let it spool out around a handful of people. It makes movie sense in the moment even if it doesn’t later. I love this vision of a possible future. Dystopic, but not totally dire. Just worn out. Good job with the makeup, and especially how Gordon-Levitt takes on some Willis mannerisms. I love Jeff Daniels’ character. There is some violence that a certain demographics won’t take to very well, but I appreciate that he did it anyway, it fit the story, and that it wasn’t over-the-top exploitative. It was sad. I also liked some of the audio editing and they he played with the sound stage. There’s too much leeenns flaaare. But good movie! Rian Johnson knows his craft. Makes me want to watch Brick again.
Killer’s Kiss
Killer’s Kiss. Pretty conventional noir with beautiful photography. The ax stuff at the end make me think of The Shining and the mannequins, A Clockwork Orange. I think I’d rank it #5 of the Kubrick films I’ve seen so far. Short and to the point.
The Master
The Master. Phoenix was robbed, right? Where DDL takes an amazing script written for a national hero we love to love and embodies it just like we imagined, Phoenix plays a dummy the likes of which we’ve never seen. Maybe the awards don’t capital-m Matter, but man, I can see how it would sting. But the movie: I liked it, but I didn’t really feel it. I felt the same with There Will Be Blood. Like, I didn’t want to blink for 3 hours but I haven’t wanted to see it again, either. Impressed, hell yes. But maybe this is exactly the kind of movie I should be re-watching though. Who knows. Greenwood’s score is fantastic. Hoffman is good at smug and speeches and he does the smile-with-closed-lips-audibly-breathing-out-of-the-nose thing. And his group is like a peripatetic band of gypsies, eking by at the fringe. They get an introduction to NYC high society, but that goes sour. They later run the business out of a patron’s house in Philadelphia. Their big annual conference is rather sad, and I don’t think that’s just my post-TED/Apple keynote perspective talking. Why did the whole gang pick up and leave SF, in the first place? And why is Dodd totally okay with a self-destructive stowaway? Take what you can get, I suppose.
The Fountain
The Fountain. The score is such a big part of the emotional impact here that it almost hurts the movie’s case. In other words, I found it distracting. Absolutely beautiful to look at, though. I like Aronofsky’s restrained sepia/golden/silver palettes, and smart use of the macro lenses. I wonder how it would have turned out if the first, fully-budgeted version had gone to completion. I liked Black Swan just a bit more. Pi and Requiem for a Dream are also good, but The Wrestler is the best. I think it’s fair to say I respect his work more than I enjoy it. But he makes movies you should watch. Can’t say that about many.
The Queen of Versailles
The Queen of Versailles. Change is hard. I was ready to settle in for some good, smug hate-watching, but this family won me over, all of them. Yeah, they’re ridiculous, but still. They couldn’t have cast it better with auditions.
The Talented Mr. Ripley
The Talented Mr. Ripley. I had to re-watch after reading the appreciation in Bright Lights. Like Drive, this is one of those movies where I go in thinking, “I’ll just watch the opening 20 minutes or so, then skip around a bit”, and then an hour later I haven’t moved… Tom is even more pitiful than I remembered. Dickie is even more of an asshole. I can’t help but find Marge adorable–such a sunny, blank foil to the other two. Freddie is one of those characters you root for and also find kind of insufferable (Hoffman!). I still think Plein Soleil is a bit better.
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Nemesis. I can see why they put the brakes on the movies for a while. This one might be too blockbuster for it’s own good. It lost some Trekkiness. A very safe film. Definitely better than Insurrection, though, and I think the better production values are a big part of it. As you might suspect from the title, there’s some identity issues explored here. The Picard/Shinzon relationship feels a bit portentous (although one of the saving graces is that young Tom Hardy shows he’s had that incredible screen presence all along, even though his villain is one we’ve seen before: smart, pale, bald, leather.); it’s the relationship between Data and B4 that’s really cool. It’s sort of a Ship of Theseus problem–if you give a physically identical android the same memories, is it the same android? Brent Spiner is a life-saver for all the TNG movies, which seem like they give their supporting cast a lot more screen time. I admit that I enjoyed the dune buggies.
And that’s that. I’ve seen every Star Trek film. Here’s how I rank them:
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek: Insurrection. There are a couple of main themes here that I really like. One, aging and youth. And two, the forced relocation/Lebensraum/irredentist refugee thing, with the Federation getting involved in some less obviously noble politics. But these themes come up in a pretty ho-hum story that never breaks the TV feel like First Contact does. Even the opening titles are kind of cheap. Add in some truly stupid moments (the beaded headdress; the Gilbert & Sullivan; the life raft), and some good drama that starts and ends too abruptly (Geordi and the sunrise; the slow-time moments). Missed opportunity. Riker kicks ass on the bridge, though. One more to go!
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact. I hear this is the best of the TNG cast, and it is good, but doesn’t measure up to the best of the original cast. Definitely darker. Some of that innocence and optimism is gone (which makes some of the humor and goofiness just… awkward), though thankfully the special effects are finally worthy of the setting. Highlights? I loved the editing and cuts between the scenes on Earth and the various ship scenes–so fluid. Patrick Stewart breaks out of Shatner’s shadow at last. The scenes with Data and the Borg are really good. The spacewalk scene is one of the most typically movie-theater-type fun set pieces in the whole series. There’s also a thematically appropriate opera reference in the solid soundtrack. I liked it.
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: Generations. It is simply not as good as the others, and Shatner’s exit is woefullly mishandled. What a shame. Three more to go. Rankings so far:
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. This one is intense! Such a good way to close out with the original stars. It seems to have the most traditional blockbuster feel: political intrigue, betrayal, blatant emotionalism, heroes in peril, a mad dash to prevent calamity, last-minute rescues, one-liners and philosophical banter. I think this one also built up the biggest sense of dread and risk out of the series. Also a nice thematic change, rather than exploring the frontiers of space and encounters with strange beings or energy forms or whatever, they’re easing into universal civics, basically, and trying not to let their baggage screw it all up. Same director as the excellent Star Trek II… and I think this one gives it strong competition.
Repo Man
Repo Man. So lively and fun, and it gets more demented the further you go. I loved this one, especially all the side laughs they threw in – just little gems of gesture (e.g., the wrapped gift) or background noise (the TV in the hospital) or the way a scene closes (behind the counter after buying drink at the convenience store) or a character detail (the cop knitting; the kindling for the kooky fireside conversation). A solid cast across the board, with lovely typecasting. One character is an obvious ancestor of Napoleon Dynamite.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The star trio is reunited! Kirk is also more bad-ass than usual. Director’s privilege? A good bit of the humor attempts fall flat, but I think the story is decent overall. The camera in this one is definitely more fluid than the previous entries in the series. Lots more long, arcing movements and mobile in-your-face stuff. I think the soundtrack was influenced by Scheherazade. If I had to describe the Star Trek films in one word, it would be idiosyncratic. The changes in tone, the weird plotlines, the ambivalence toward traditional villains… there’s a lot you don’t see in other movies. Star Trek rankings so far? Tough call, but maybe:
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Star Trek
- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Yeah, the one with the whales. The plot is loony, funny, and it’s a great change of pace from the previous three. The fish-out-of-water scenes are a nice chance for the lead actors to separate and shine a little bit. This film also has some of the most trippy visuals out of the Star Treks I’ve seen so far. Highly recommended.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. The team goes rogue! But there is a pervasive sadness here. Even the end of the mission is bittersweet. I enjoy more and more how much conversation there is in Star Trek, even when it’s super-explanatory. Christopher Lloyd as a dramatic Klingon is awesome.
Mark Larson 