Summer Movie Reviews, Part One

Look, I intended to write about many many movies this spring and (now) summer, but things just didn't go that way. I will be writing about Under the Skin and Noah as promised, but not right now. Why? Well first off, they aren't summer films. Secondly, the former is so good (and strange) and the latter is so off the charts weird (and at times good) that they deserve their own posts. So keep watching for them. Also not included in this batch is Muppets Most Wanted, because there's little to write about it save for it being a very light, mostly forgettable, but still enjoyable adventure with the old familiar Muppets.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Grand Budapest Hotel

The general understanding about Wes Anderson films tend to focus on the precise nature of his scenes. There is rarely any prop, any background, or any actor in the wrong place. The dialogue is written precisely, the music is perfectly chosen, and even the text on the screen is rendered in just the right font. The "Wes Anderson style" is distinct and instantly recognizable, as can be seen in this fake movie trailer from Saturday Night Live.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Wind Rises

I must admit that I am a late-comer to the Miyazaki appreciation club. You have to look at the other writer on this blog for a more in depth and well thought out overview of his work, as she has seen many more of his movies than I have. I suppose it is fitting that The Wind Rises is supposedly his last work, as it is the first one I've had an opportunity to see in a theater. And let me tell you, it was well worth it.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Nebraska

Some people say that Alexander Payne tends to treat his Midwestern characters condescendingly. Whether it is Election, About Schmidt, or his latest film, Nebraska. They lament that he laughs at, and not with, the good, simple folk of the Heartland.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Frozen

Once upon a time, there was an animated film released by the venerable Walt Disney Animation Studio. The name of this film was Frozen, and it was indeed one of the finest films of that year, and one of the finest the studio had released in many years. It featured beautiful animation, plenty of humor and heart, and songs that few in the realm could resist singing along with.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Blue is the Warmest Color

Blue is the Warmest Color* is a very good film. It is a heartbreaking coming of age story about a young woman who finds her soul mate, and what happens after that. It's a beautiful film, and it features great performances by two young actresses. It's a film that I strongly recommend, although one of those that might be a bit awkward to watch with your family during the holidays.

Assuming you can find it near you. It's a three hour long film in French with English subtitles, so that's already two strikes against it. On top of that, it's rated NC-17, which means some theater chains won't even consider showing it.

OK, here is where I discuss the elephant in the room.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Confession time: I did not see The Hunger Games in theaters when it came out. Having graduated high school in the previous century, I am not the target age demographic for most of the YA titles that seem to be making their way to the theaters these days. This, combined with the mixed reviews for the first film, pretty much kept me away. It wasn't until this month that I even bothered to watch it, and only then because I had heard some good buzz about Catching Fire, and because it was streaming on Netflix.

I liked the first one well enough, although it wasn't without its problems. The sequel, while still with some flaws, is much better. Like all sequels, everything seems to be bigger. The contrast between the privation and misery of the districts and the oblivious extravagance of the Capitol is greater, the stakes are higher, and the obstacles found in the arena more terrifying. Too often this can lead to a franchise getting overblown and creatively empty. In this case, however, it helps the movie.

Also helping the movie is the introduction of Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the new game master, a character who is all about "moves and countermoves". His icy gamesmanship plays well with Donald Sutherland's wrathful dictator President Snow, so much that I would have probably enjoyed a version of the movie that was just them sitting around a table, watching monitors and discussing what to do as the rebellion started by Peeta and Katniss' defiance in the previous Hunger Games slowly builds.

Alas, that is not how the movie actually is, but there is still plenty of good things going on. I like the twist of the Quarter Quell, bringing previous winners of various ages into the mix. Not only does it reduce some of the squickiness of teenagers fighting each other to the death, it also creates a situation where more excellent ringers (such as Jeffrey Wright, Amanda Plummer, and Jena Malone) can be plugged in. It also creates a way to return our main characters to the arena of the games that actually works in the context of the story.

The biggest problem I had with the movie is the "love triangle" that seems tacked on just because it's expected of YA series, particularly those with a female protagonist. While nowhere near the awfulness of the Twilight series*, it just feels tacked on and unearned. It somewhat distracts from the performance of Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson as Katniss and Peeta.

That being said, it's just one part of a film that is pretty entertaining. Like many middle segments of franchises, it doesn't really have an independent beginning or end. This isn't really a detriment to the movie. However, I would recommend watching the first one before seeing this if you've never seen or read anything from the series, otherwise you may get lost. Haters of cliffhangers beware, as this one ends on a cliffhanger that sets up the next two films based upon Mockingjay, the third and final book in the series.

Verdict: Strong Recommendation, if you liked the first one or the book series. If you've never seen the first one, watch it and then watch this.

*Very few things reach the awfulness of the Twilight series

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: All is Lost

The cast list of All is Lost makes Gravity look like Cleopatra*. There is only one character, known as "Our man", played by Robert Redford. We don't know why he is out on a yacht in the middle of the Indian Ocean, or what he regrets so much in the note he is writing at the beginning. We don't even know the events that led to a floating modal container full of shoes crashing into his boat, which is the start of his mostly continuous problems. Beyond a few garbled voices over the radio that he temporarily gets working, we don't meet anybody else. The film is a stripped down story of a man and his boat, a story boiled down to the age old conflict of man versus his environment.

Given Robert Redford's notorious history as a person that is difficult to work with, it seems fitting that his latest role is one where he is the only character, and as such the focus of the entire film. Also, given Redford's reputation as pretty damn good actor, he gives a great performance. As he faces each obstacle, from the relatively small to the absolutely terrifying and life threatening, he mostly keeps his cool, using ingenuity and a strong will to survive to keep moving forward. Whether it is patching up the hole in his hull, making it through a gut wrenching storm, learning celestial navigation on the fly, or coming up with a way to use condensation to get fresh water, he is bound and determined to survive as long as he has air in his lungs.

This is not a film for those looking for a light-hearted escape from the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Things just keep getting worse as the movie goes along, even as "our man" overcomes everything in front of him. Some of the obstacles are scary, others are absolutely heartbreaking. By the end of the film it is skirting close to survivalist "porn", but thankfully never goes over that line. The visual effects, primarily the storm that tumbled the yacht around, are mostly flawless, a mixture of practical effects with CG where necessary. The trend of returning to more practical effects, while still improving CG and using it to support real effects, is very welcome to me.

Some people may get angry at the ending. I'm pretty sure the two other people in the large theater I watched it in did not like it. However, I can't think of any other way it could have ended. If this is playing near you, go see it and make up your own mind.

Verdict: Strongly Recommend, unless you are incredibly sensitive to watching movies that take place on the ocean or tense survivalist situations.

*This might be a bit of an exaggeration

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Twelve Years a Slave

I seriously considered not using my regular title for this feature on this one. The juxtaposition of the lighthearted Futurama reference with a film like Twelve Years a Slave is awkward and unintentionally humorous. However, I've used it for every one of my previous reviews, some of which were of fairly serious films, so it stays nonetheless.

So what do I mean by that clunky introduction? Just that Twelve Years a Slave is a great film, but also a very serious film. At times it feels like you are watching a contest to see which recognizable actor can be the most awful to the protagonist, or to his fellow slaves. Whether its the casual sleaziness of Paul Giamatti's slave trader, the cowardly bullying of Paul Dano, or the jealous rage of Sarah Paulson to one of her husband's favored slaves, a young woman named Patsey, it's hard to watch. Even some of the less terrible characters, such as Benedict Cumberbatch's gentle and relatively fair slaveowner, are awful in a completely different way, simply because they are willing participants in the "peculiar institution" of slavery.

Of course, the worst of the bunch is Edwin Epps (Michael Fassbender). The drunk, lecherous, and generally cruel man is terrifying, mainly because you are not sure what he is going to do. Granted, as I was familiar with the story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor, in a brilliant performance), I realized that he was going to survive whatever misfortunes he would have. That doesn't change the fact it was tough to watch him go through the indignities of the situation.

There are many painful scenes to watch in this film, scenes that make the pain and cruelty of slavery so vivid, despite the fact that it's constitutional legitimacy and legal standing have been gone in the United States for over 150 years. In fact it feels right at home with the oratory and literature put forth by the abolitionists during the run up to the Civil War. If there was some weird world where cinema and the Antebellum United States coexisted, I could see outraged southerners burning this film and threatening to destroy any theater willing to show it, while the abolitionists from Boston to Lawrence proclaiming its God-given virtue.

I highly recommend that you go watch this film, if it is playing somewhere you can watch it. If not, I recommend you rent it, stream it, or buy it as soon as it comes out on DVD, Netflix, etc... It's a film that should be watched by everyone to not forget the horribleness and degradation of both slave, master, and those who were willing to support, or at least unwilling to stand up against, this most undemocratic of practices.

* For more cinematic information on this story, you can make a decent trilogy out of this film, Glory, and Lincoln.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Captain Phillips

So Fall 2013 is shaping up to be a pretty great time to go to the movies. Opening a week after the tense, gripping, and highly recommended Gravity, Paul Greengrass' Captain Phillips is almost as tense and gripping, and just as good of a movie.

I have to be honest that I wasn't looking forward to this. Frankly, I was kind of underwhelmed by the trailer. I guess it really wasn't so bad of a trailer, but considering it was the same exact trailer played before most of the movies I've watched since May, it grated on my nerves after a while. Still, I changed my mind about seeing it after reading some good reviews.

And I'm glad I did.

Dispatches from the Popcorn Stadium: Gravity

Look, I understand why people don't go to the movies these days. With DVRs, Netflix/Hulu/Amazon, iTunes Season Passes, and many other ways to get our entertainment at our fingertips, a trip to the local cineplex seems less essential than ever. Even a non 3D ticket often pushes $10 these days, especially when you are in major metro areas. And those 3D tickets cost a couple dollars more, even more for an IMAX showing. Why blow a month's worth of streaming on a ticket to a movie, particularly when it's Clash of the Beige Generic Monsters, or Jack and the Beige Giants.

And frankly, who could blame you? For the most part, movies have failed to figure out how to use 3D. It isn't that it is impossible to use successfully, Avatar showed how well it could be used to enhance the experience, and Pixar and Dreamworks Animation has used it to add depth to their movies. Still, many movies, whether filmed for 3D, or done in post production, have failed to take advantage of it.