http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587707/

Quirky. Strange. Engaging.

EXIT offers up a documentary experience that will hold your attention even if you are not familiar with its subject matter. It tells the story of Thierry Guetta – family man turned videographer – and his journey from video hobbyist to celebrity street artist. His story is amazing. He ventures into the world of street art and hooks up with Shepard Fairey. He video tapes night art raids and documents the life of street artists in California, London and France leading all the way up to the street art God himself, BANKSY – the director of this very film. Guetta changes from the viewer to the viewed as his manic efforts drive him to make art himself.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1084950/
Directed by Jonathan Demme

When I watched Rachel Getting Married the first time, it ran over me like water. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, it was just a little more than I thought it was going to be and, frankly, it bummed me out a bit. I thought I was in for a comedy. Something along the lines of Father of the Bride that would have me giggling, laughing, and a little misty at the end as the syrupy sweetness dripped from the screen. But, RACHEL is not that film. When you are expecting big laughs and giggles,  chuckles, tension and good drama can be a bit of a downer at first. But, after sitting with it a while, it’s grown on me a lot.

While the movie does have some funny moments, it’s a real look at a family with some troubles in their past presented in a real, almost documentary style at times. Rachel is getting married, her sister Kym is coming back from a rehab facility to attend, and there are some skeletons in the family closet that are definitely getting ready to fall into the open.

Rosemarie DeWitt is both charming and horrid as Rachel. Not quite “bridezilla”, but not a saint either, she plays the character well and managed to illicit both contempt and sympathy from the audience.  It a hard role to play and she does a great job riding the thin line between wanting to pity her and wanting to slap her.

Debra Winger is back as the estranged mother of Rachel and her sister Kym and is fantastic. I had not seen her in a movie in a very long while and she rolls right into this part with a fury. She’s absent and distant and all together bitter – removed from her daughters and their lives.

And, last but certainly not least – Anne Hathaway is amazing as Rachel’s sister Kym. She has come a very long way from The Princess Diaries, making the role of the rehab sister hers completely. She does a fantastic job and is believable as she tries her best to give her sister her day in the sun, but fails at several turns. She’s hard to love, but she had my sympathy by the middle of the film and I was pulling for her to snap out of it, come to her right mind, deal with the serious issues at hand, and prevail.
What I liked most about the film is that it didn’t fall back on familiar cliches – something it could have with this content in a heartbeat. It dealt with some major issues and came close to the “über-drama”, but skimmed across it with a balance and maturity that made it a well rounded and real drama with some cute comedy and romance dashed over it here and there.

Well worth checking out.  It was a very touching and interesting film on many fronts.

Match Point (2005)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0416320/
Directed by Woody Allen

When I saw MATCH POINT originally, I didn’t know it was a Woody Allen film. I’m a huge Woody Allen film fan             ( “especially his early funny ones”   ) , but managed to miss that this was his film. We arrived late when we saw it and I didn’t catch the opening credits. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that he was the Director when the movie ended.

MATCH POINT is a romantic drama with a twist. The writing is tough and solid and the characters fall into the usual Allen arena. They are loving, cheating and angry when things don’t go the way they hope. The tension runs high as things spiral into a climax that I really wasn’t expecting. The film is shot in color and tends to leave out a music score, so the viewer is allowed to take things in as they come. MATCH POINT has some great performances by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, and Emily Mortimer and plays as a serious examination of money, relationships (as usual for an Allen film) and what people are willing to do to keep them.

Dark and delicious.

“Dude! It was a rad year! No DUH! I feel like such an airhead sometimes, but this list will TOTALLY help me remember stuff BIG TIME. These are some of my fave films, homefry. Bitchin’!”

Ah, the 80’s. These films are like a time capsule of my high school years. The music, the times, and the clothes.

Weird Science (1985) Two teens create a woman one night. Go figure.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) Matthew Broderick talks his best friend and girlfriend into taking a well deserved day off from high school.

The Breakfast Club (1985) Saturday detention. A mix of high schoolers. A whole day to themselves in a library. Discuss. The beginning of the BRAT PACK years.

Better off Dead (1985) John Cusack fails at killing himself, but succeeds in falling in love.

One Crazy Summer (1986) Cusack is back and falling in love with Demi Moore in this wacky comedy.

Pretty in Pink (1986) I think he loves her, but she loves him, and he wants her, but isn’t nice, but this guy is super nice…but…she doesn’t notice him…and…um…wrong side of the tracks…uh…clothes?  Something like that. Oh, and there’s a duck boy in it….I think.

16 Candles (1984) Who will remember Molly Ringwald’s birthday when her sister is getting married?

Real Genius (1985) Val Kilmer classic about a genius high school kid who skips to college. He meets the other genius’ and comedy ensues!

I heard a lot of buzz about SPIRAL. So much that I avoided it like the plague for a while. I had heard that the less you know about it, the better it is and I wanted to hold to that just to be safe. I have spent too many sad times watching films that I had too much knowledge about. The height of this being the film WHAT LIES BENEATH where a major plot point had been reveled in the trailer ruining what would have been a great film experience. Still love the movie, but it wasn’t what it could have been. I went into SPIRAL with a blank slate save a few Director interviews on DREAD CENTRAL. (No spoilers)

I have to say that I am glad that I went into the film knowing little about it. I won’t be a spoiler-sport and blab about it here. This is a spoiler free environment.

The movie is about a man named Mason ( Joel Moore ) and the life he leads. He’s a sad soul and basically friendless except for an old school friend named Berkeley ( Zachary Levi ).  He’s a socially awkward painter stuck in a sad, gray little job working the phones at an insurance agency. He meets a girl named Amber ( Amber Tamblyn ), but can he work through his awkwardness to make something of the relationship?

Yeah, that’s all ya get! Go rent the film if you’re a fan of the socially awkward worlds of socially inept folks who like to paint.

Adam Green’s other effort HATCHET left me wanting a bit more, but it was fun and entertaining. It was a simple horror film and was very light on character development and story. It was fun, but like cotton candy – you won’t survive on it. SPIRAL has much more character development and story and was a great social interaction piece. Now, it can be somewhat slow at times, but I see this as a good thing. Spiral is a film where you can see the time the writers took in crafting the story. The film lets you meet the characters and understand who they are. You grow to like some and to dislike others. This film does have a slightly strange edge to it and isn’t a horror film, but does have horrific moments too it. (Mainly poor Mason’s difficulty holding his life and social interactions together.)

Joel Moore is given the chance to break free of the slapstick world of Grandma’s Boy here and it’s grand. He really sinks his teeth into the part and makes it believable and sometimes painful to watch. This might be due to the fact that he was one of the writers and directors. :::grin:::  He does a great job here either way. He shows a lot of depth and acting talent.

Subtle nuggets, like seeing everyone who works at the gray office wearing white shirts and dark pants, lend real depth to the film. I think everyone has had a hard time fitting in at one point during their lives. The edge of feeling like a social outcast makes Spiral more believable and  easier to buy into.

I enjoyed this film immensely and was happy that it held up to some of the hype I heard about it. It’s independent gold and is a must see for Indi Film fans. Check it out.

Drama with an edge

~

DISTRICT 9 (2009)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/

Neill Blomkamp

DISTRICT 9 was spot on on so many levels that it’s hard to keep track of for me. There is the technical side of the film and how it was made with the script, acting and technology playing key roles. Then you have the social messages about human beings and how they treat and mistreat each other. Then I think there is another very interesting aspect of the film – the polarization of it’s audience which, in it’s own way, shows how humans function overall.
The technical side of DISTRICT 9 is easy to praise. Ever since I saw the short film this movie was based on (Alive in Joburg 2005) I’ve been fascinated with it. The concept of aliens being treated like we treat so many of our own kind and the fact that humans seemed to have no problem banding together against them really struck home for me. The 3D elements sold the story and were used as seasoning for the story, not the main course which was another huge selling point for me. After seeing DISTRICT 9, I was very happy to see that they kept that feel going with the larger budget and Peter Jackson backing. DISTRICT 9 is a testament to the value of story over explosions.
The acting was fantastic and helped to sell the amazing story and special effects work. After about 15 minutes of watching the film, I stopped thinking about the hours spent on the effects and started focusing on the intense storyline and characters.
The social message of the film is simple and doesn’t get preachy or heavy handed at all. This helps drive the main point home without building a wall of soapbox preaching between it and it’s audience. And I think people will get it’s message if they think about what is being said for a moment or two. We treat people like the characters treat the aliens in the film. When there’s something we want, we’ll take it and will not think twice about an area, it’s inhabitants, or the conditions we force them into.
As for the film’s effect on people, I was shocked that I had talked to people who loved the film whole heartedly and people that hated the film and thought it to be silly and a waste of time. In tonight’s showing alone, there where people like my wife and I that sat speechless as the credits rolled and contemplated what they just saw while others laughed and talked about falling asleep because it was such a bore. Quote: “I didn’t fall asleep in ALIEN! Man….” She liked ALIEN – go figure.
This goes back to my point about people and the way they treat each other.
DISTRICT 9 was an amazing film that I highly recommend seeing in the theater on the big screen. Do you best to look beyond the cool special effects, wondrous acting and positive message…and think about what it really means to be a human being.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Creative Screenwriting Podcast – fantastic podcast about District 9. Creative Screenwriting from Jeff Goldsmith is one of the best movie podcasts around.

Peter Jackson – District 9 Comic-Con Q&A (mp3 file)

The District 9 panel at 2009’s Comic-Con featuring; producer Peter Jackson, writer-director Neil Blomkamp and star Sharlto Copley

The Fall   2006
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460791/
Tarsem Singh (The CELL)

The tale of stuntman Roy Walker (Lee Pace) telling a story to a little girl (Catinca Untaru) while they recover from their falls in 1920’s LA is pretty interesting in and of itself. Introduce the story the man weaves and its stunning visuals and it becomes a real treat.
Tarsem Singh has a real knack for luscious visuals and amazing colors. He directed THE CELL and managed to amaze me despite the wooden acting of Jennifer Lopez.  THE FALL kept me locked into the story all the way through. The drama that surrounds the hospital and the adventure of the tale being told created a fantastic balance and kept the movie rolling along all the way through. The look and feel was bewitching and spellbinding. The spoken tale contains Dali-like delicacies that are fun, beautiful and truly enchanting. The cinematography is breathtaking and eye catching – drifting through a glorious, fairytale world.   The story being told changes depending on Roy Walker’s mood and is fascinating and sometimes tragic. The idea of what is real, what is imagined, and what lays between is explored in very subtle ways. I thought it worked very well. When people remember things, they have a tendency to spin little tales themselves. What really happened sometimes gives way to what we wished for.
The chemistry between Pace and Untaru was fantastic. They worked together very well and their dialogue seemed very real and natural. Catinca Untaru’s performance was absolutely endearing and fabulous. The little actress seemed like she really believed everything she was doing in the film.
If you are a fan of fantasy and real human drama, you’ll want to check out THE FALL. It’s a lost gem that not even the involvement of David Fincher and Spike Jonze could help when it was released.
THE FALL is a beautiful film.

Tony Leung  and Wei Tang are on fire in this period drama about an attempt to assassinate an important official in Japanese-ruled Shanghai. To capture the official, the would-be student assassins need bait – a beautiful woman to snare him so they can get close enough to do the deed.
While the main plot involves the planning and work involved to get close to the official, the real story involves the relationship that develops between Leung and Tang while all around them Shanghai is on fire with an atmosphere of political unrest and high tension. Tang walks the line between love for the man she was asked to seduce and  the need to follow through on her part of the bargain to make sure her friends are kept out of danger.
The film is filled with tension and high emotion. The story is somewhat simple, but the acting, costumes and cinematography is amazing. And, of course, there is the somewhat lurid draw of which version to see. I purchased the R rated version at Best Buy for a mere $4.99, but was told later on that I SHOULD have purchased the UNRATED cut which boasts more of the sexy scenes that had audiences gasping. The R rated one is far from tame, so I can’t imagine what the UNRATED version shows. ::blush::
Sex aside, the movie is beautiful and classic. Fantastic.

The Jin-Roh music video, circa 2007

I think this is still one of my favorite little projects. Jin-Roh is such a dramatic film to begin with that it only seemed right to use the dreamy LOVELY HEAD by Goldfrapp as the music bed for it. Created with After Effects. JIN-ROH is an amazing film. If you’re a fan of anime, you need to find it at once.

]]> http://amoreeroma.com/jin-roh-music-video-romance-version-2007/feed/ 0 http://amoreeroma.com/the-sky-crawlers/ http://amoreeroma.com/the-sky-crawlers/#comments Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:50:05 +0000 malcolm http://amoreeroma.com/?p=419 Sky Crawlers (2008)    Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1056437/

First, let me say that this is not your usual, giant robot anime. There are no monsters. There are no powerful and magical battles being waged between tall haired tweens. While it does fall into the  fantasy and science fiction genre, it approaches it with a real world flair and concentrates on people more than just amazing flying machines.

Enter the world of THE SKY CRAWLERS – an alternate timeline in another world. A battle is being fought between two factions and children-beings called Kildren fight within it. They may live forever – no one knows. They know that each day may be their last. And, they don’t care. They fight when called on and spend the rest of their time waiting to fight again. Grim, indeed.

But, there’s more.

If you are a fan of GHOST IN THE SHELL, PATLABOR or JIN ROH, you already know about Oshii and the deliberate pacing of his films. He takes time with them and lets the viewer take everything in. Sounds and interactions take on a quiet strength that makes you take stock in what’s really going on.  The characters wander through their world and take on a realistic and sometimes fatalistic quality that strikes a chord when watching.

But, it’s not all character and plot development. It’s dogfights and amazing design. The propeller driven fighters the Kildren fight in are based in a real world design and are very believable. This isn’t X-Wings and things of fantasy. These machines look like they could be built and flown today. The vehicles are rendered in 3D while the characters are drawn (a style I love!) and the blend works very well. This is something Oshii does in many of his films and it works really well. The dogfights are amazing and choreographed very well.  They could hold their own in the world of cinematic air battles.

Fans of Oshii are also familiar with something else as well. The feeling that you missed something somewhere along the line. You follow MOST of the plot, then something that is introduced somehow misses the thought process and you find yourself thinking, “I don’t get it.” And, a second later, you shrug and think, “Yeah, but, I don’t really care. This is really cool,” and move along.  If you’ve seen GHOST IN THE SHELL, think about long strings of dialogue about th “Puppet Master” and his plans and ghosts and the meaning of life. Yes, now you get it. It never reaches THOSE proportions, but prepare for that watching CRAWLERS – it’ll happen, I’m sure, but you won’t care because it’s so much fun to watch.

Oddly, the folly work and sound design on this film struck me as well. I found myself wondering if Oshii had players acting out each scene so he could get the proper sound for the scenes. It was real and well done and really helped to lock me into a real world feeling even though the film was animated.

Half way through the film (rented through NETFLIX) I muttered, “That’s it, I gotta buy this film,” out loud. I think that sums it up rather well. If you’re a fan of Oshii, real world anime, World War II dogfight films, or alternate time line fantasy, you’ll love THE SKY CRAWLERS.

Special SKY CRAWLERS Promo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfmSZPrcudc