February 17-March 15 Recap

Wow, where did the month go? I got so far behind that a lot of these entries are barely reactions at all. I'll try not to let that happen again!

Films

The Lego Movie

Director: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Genre: Animated
Source: USA (2014)
Rating: PG
Location/Format: Georgia Theater Company
Grade: A

Yep, everything really is awesome.

I had absolutely zero interest in seeing The Lego Movie. I hadn't seen a preview, but I had seen the poster, and the fact that a Lego movie existed at all was just ridiculous, right? I mean, it's a 90 minute commercial for a toy--a beloved toy from my childhood perhaps, but a toy all the same.

And The Lego Movie is that, for sure. But it's also a movie about creativity, about thinking outside the box, about being original. And it didn't have to be that at all.

I spent this past Christmas at my brother's house, and when his five year old son opened boxes and boxes of Legos, he was thrilled. For the next few days, despite illness and with no help from adults (who offered several times, only to be turned down), my nephew put together Lego set after Lego set after Lego set.

And then he put them away, not wanting to ruin the sets he had made. Not because anyone told him too, but because that's where the fun stopped.

The Lego Movie reminds children--and parents--that creativity is good. That cool sets and buildings and spaceships are great, but using your own brain to come up with something new is even better. That even the worst ideas have some value if they are your own. Heck, I feel like I should show this to my English classes and remind them about this philosophy when they're writing their essays. I'd much rather have you write a bad original paper than a great copy!

It helps that the movie is hilarious. Chris Pratt's naive but well-intentioned idiot is a variation on his Parks and Rec character Andy, but that's just what the film needs. Someone who's dumb enough to surprise the people around him, but good enough and enthusiastic enough to win them over anyway. Will Arnett's Batman, Morgan Freeman's wizard, Elizabeth Banks' Wild Style, Will Ferrell's Lord Business, and Charlie Day and Nick Offerman and Jonah Hill and Allison Brie--the small but enthusiastic performances just keep on coming, and both my wife and I (who by the way have no kids of our own to worry about) were dying laughing throughout the film. Little touches--the Kragle, the Piece of Resistance, Batman--were so smart that it hearkened back to the days when a movie like Toy Story could come out of nowhere to surprise you with its wit and cleverness for both children and adults. 

The Lego Movie may be a commercial, but beyond the branding it's a commercial for problem solving with your own brain, your own sense of humor, your own happiness. It's authentic in a way the recent spate of "Buy my iPad/car/whatnot because of this profound quote about poetry I'm reading" commercials never can be.

I'll buy into that.

A Hijacking

Director: Tobias Lindholm
Genre: Drama
Source: Denmark (2012)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Netflix Instant Watch
Grade: A-

If you took the Hollywood out of a film like Captain Phillips and replaced it instead with the slow boil and suffering that days under pressure can produce, you'd end up with a film like A Hijacking. When Somali pirates take over a Danish cargo ship, the ship's cook is forced into playing a pawn to the high stakes negotiations going on with the company's headquarters. Meanwhile, the CEO back home decides that he will personally do the negotiating. As both men struggle to keep control of their emotions and not come apart under the pressure, the film becomes increasingly tense, bleak, and aggravatingly claustrophobic. Whether the small room the negotiating team uses as a headquarters or the cramped cabin the crew is forced into, as time passes the walls in both locations seem to get closer and closer.

Director Tobias Lindholm is expert at allowing silence and waiting to blossom into frustration and agony, and as the hijacking goes from hours to days to weeks to months the dilation of time becomes both jarring and natural. These people have nowhere to go. They can only play this out to the end, whatever that end will be.

In the style of many foreign films, not everything is said aloud. We are allowed to see Peter Ludvigson (the executive) lose control through the tension rising in his neck, through his mouth dropping open just a little in surprise. Mikkel, the cook, wears his emotions much more on the surface, and when a gun is jammed into his neck or he realizes he's missing his daughter's birthday, the reactions are bigger but still subdued by Hollywood standards, and it is this smallness that makes the film so intense. 

The film is at times terrifying and at times shocking, but it's not going to try and tell you everything to see or think or feel, and it's not going to explain to you exactly why this is happening so slowly or why the company allows this to drag on so long. And that's why it works. Because it keeps its focus tight on these two men and the incredible toll the situation takes on both of them.

It's a solid piece of film-making.

Gimme the Loot

Director: Adam Leon

Genre: Comedy 

Source: USA (2012)
Rating: NR (R)
Location/Format: Netflix Instant Watch
Grade: B

There was a naturalness and spiritedness to this story of two graffiti artists trying to get through a couple of days in New York, trying to get some money, and trying to "Bomb the Apple"--a kind of graffiti-based Holy Grail quest that serves as the film's MacGuffin. The film is full of energy and a shagginess that makes it impossible not to enjoy, even if at times it veers off course a little.

The film takes some unexpected turns, such as when Malcolm, the male of the film's comic graffiti duo, runs into a rich white girl who wants to buy some weed from him. Is their spark love? A chance for each of them to use each other? Just that momentary flash that sometimes throws two people together for a time? Director Adam Leon explores such questions naturally and easily, and it makes me excited to see what he (and the two great leads) will do next.

Cape Fear

Director: Martin Scorsese

Genre: Thriller

Source: USA (1991)
Rating: R
Location/Format: On Demand
Grade: C+

I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Scorsese's love of old movies is on full display here, as is Robert DeNiro's full on lunatic mode. That's a great thing to see, since so often these days I feel like DeNiro is basically just mailing it in, but it's not enough for me to love the movie.

Maybe it's Juliette Lewis's fault. Her character seems at times brain damaged. Really, I don't know exactly what she's going for here: mentally handicapped Lolita, I guess.

The film's climax is a bit of a mess, with a boat that seems both out of control and weirdly stable. 

It was fun, and I'm glad I saw it, but it won't be high on my personal Scorsese rankin.

The Bling Ring

Director: Sofia Coppola

Genre: Crime Drama

Source: USA (2013)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Amazon Instant
Grade: C

Clearly 2013 will be the Year We Made Movies About The Problems Of Rich White People. From The Great Gatsby to The Wolf of Wall Street to movies that don't stare Leonardo DiCaprio, everybody seems to have something to say about our obsession with money and excess and its corrupting nature. This was one of those movies, only also about beautiful teenagers and the beautiful people they beautifully stalk and try to mimic.

Sofia Coppola is hit-and-miss for me, often remaining so detached from her subjects that I have a hard time connecting. I felt that here, and though there were moments of brilliance, on the whole I found the movie to be very much like the characters: a bit vacuous, a lot two-dimensional, and much less interesting than it thinks it is.

Broken City

Director: Allen Hughes

Genre: Drama

Source: USA (2013)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Netflix Instant Watch
Grade: D

Perhaps the truest thing I can say about this movie is that I don't remember much of it.

I mean, I remember that there was a lot of plot "twisting" and "turning"--much of it telegraphed and obvious.

I remember that both Mark "Marky Mark" Wahlberg and Russell "Rusty Russ" Crowe were chewing some scenery (and in Crowe's case, a LOT of scenery).

I remember that I lost interest part way through, and then spent a while wondering if Alona Tal was Jennie Garth circa 1995.

But as for the movie? Don't have much to say. I watched it. That's about it.

The Iceman

Director: Ariel Vromen

Genre: Crime Drama

Source: USA (2012)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Netflix Instant Watch
Grade: C-

Joyless, bleak, ultimately somewhat flat, I mostly watched this for Michael Shannon, because I'll watch him in pretty much anything. And it's a good thing I say that, because otherwise I probably wouldn't have sought out this film about real life hitman Richarc Kuklinski. He seems like a terrible person pretty much from beginning to end, though I guess the fact that he loves his family makes him . . . what, complex?

I mean, what are we supposed to see here: guys that kill people for a living may have a little bit of hidden depth, even though they're really bad dudes still?

I guess that's a message, or a theme, or whatever, and yeah the film is pretty stylishly made, but mostly I just didn't feel like I got anything out of the experience of this movie.

Pretty good supporting cast, though: Chris Evans, Winona Ryder, Ray Liotta: All pretty solid. 

Seven Samurai

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Genre: Action

Source: Japan (1954)
Rating: NR
Location/Format: Blu-ray
Grade: A

It's easy to say why this is a film that influenced so many filmmakers. It's like the perfect blend of action, comedy, pathos, contemplation, and everything else, wrapped up in Kurosawa's perfect cinematography and pacing. It's a long film, and I think I will need to watch it a few more times (and spend some time with Criterion's epic special features) to really appreciate it, but there was still so much to sink my teeth into that it's hard not to think about how much Kurosawa impacted filmmakers for generations to come with this movie.

Much of the credit for the film's power has to go to the cast. Takashi Shimura as Kanbei, the leader of the group, holds the film together with equanimity and compassion, and he's balanced out for me by Seiji Miyaguchi's Kyuzo, the consummate professional who may not crack a smile but never bows his head either. And of course, Toshiro Mifune as the wild, passionate, Kikuchiyo, the heart and soul of this band of seven, is unforgettable.

I feel as though the length of the film was a bit of a stumbling block for me, in part because the length causes me to lose track of the many small moments that work so well. Still, it's powerful and tragic, exciting and funny, dramatic and rich in turns. It's a classic for a reason, from the care of the film's cinematography to the "team of professionals" thread that so many other movies would draw from.

I'm looking forward to watching it again.

The Act of Killing

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer

Genre: Documentary

Source: Denmark (2013)
Rating: NR (R)
Location/Format: Netflix Instant Watch
Grade: A

This is one of the hardest movies to sit through I have ever seen. It boggles the mind in some ways to see men like Anwar Congo seem to celebrate and be celebrated for one of the most horrific acts in history that I'd previously never heard of. As Oppenheimer's camera traces Anwar's celebrity, his impact, and eventually his crisis of identity, it becomes some of the more disturbing yet compelling cinema in some time, in large part because it is real.

The film's climactic scenes, which I won't go into here, are as enthralling, as human, as tragic, and as horrifying as anything I've ever seen. Part of that comes from the seeming insanity of what has come before. As Anwar and his friends make a movie to celebrate their acts, the bits and pieces--behind the scenes and in front of the camera--that we see seem to make no sense: the frightfully huge-bellied Herman dressed as a woman, the celebration in front of a waterfall, Anwar acting out his own crimes but this time taking the role of victim. It's like a fever dream, and it contributes to the sense of unreality that Oppenheimer captures in this Indonesian corner of the world with which Western audiences are mostly unfamiliar.

It's inconceivable to me that this didn't win an Oscar. Perhaps it is too much, too weird for Academy audiences, but it's some of the most jaw-dropping narrative I've ever seen on film. Humanity's capability for justifying its own evil acts continues to astound me.

The Devil's Backbone

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Genre: Drama

Source: Spain (2001)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Blu-ray
Grade: A

What a great film. Another blind Criterion buy that I'm excited to have in my film library. Guillermo del Toro's 2001 feature may not get the love that Pan's Labyrinth does, even though it's exploring very similar themes (the horrors of the Spanish Civil War as filtered through the eyes of a child) but it is just as powerful and shows flashes of the same visual mastery that would continue to thrive in that later film.

Part ghost story, part morality play, part children's folk tale, The Devil's Backbone is uncanny and powerful in its depictions of buried sins and open defiance, as character after character is put through a moral crucible of sorts in deciding what they will give up and what they will hold onto in the fight against evil forces of all shapes and sizes. Again and again figures innocent and not-so-innocent are taken down by a variety of forces: random chance and chaos, deliberate acts of cruelty, time and fate. And each time those characters must choose to act with heart and boldness or with fear and selfishness. 

The film is beautiful, made even more so with a beautiful Criterion transfer, and as with others in my collection I look forward to delving into the special features. For the first time through, however, The Devil's Backbone is immensely compelling and watchable.

A modern classic.

GI Joe: Retaliation

Director: Jon M. Chu

Genre: Action

Source: USA (2013)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Blu-ray
Grade: C

This is what happens when my wife leaves town and I have nothing to do, don't have the energy to watch anything that requires brain power, and then make the mistake of stopping by Redbox on my way home. I mean, at a certain point there is a line of people behind you waiting for you choose something, and in the awkwardness of the situation you end up choosing a sequel to a movie you didn't really like based on toys you stopped caring about twenty years ago, except for that little spark of nostalgia that the past has.

Anyway, this is the movie I chose and watched. It did actually remind me (more than the last one) of the G.I. Joe cartoon show, from Cobra Commanders melodrama-villain voice to the absurd gadgets and machinery that the whole series was known for. While the "feel" takes a step back in time, the cast takes a step down in talent, trading in Channing Tatum and Sienna Miller for The Rock and Adrianne Palicki. I'm guessing the budget took a hit just like the Joes from the last movie did. Bruce Willis is here, for some inexplicable reason, but basically this is just an excuse for nostalgia among 30-year-olds. And not very good nostalgia at that.

Non-Stop

Director:

Genre: Action/Thriller

Source: USA (2014)

Rating: PG-13
Location/Format: Georgia Theater Company
Grade: B-

Liam Neeson has carved out a whole little genre for himself as a middle-aged man pushed to the edge and forced to risk everything for . . . his daughter (Taken), his wife (Taken 2), his will to live (The Gray), or in this case, a plane full of people.

Most of the film is silly and implausible, and I find it funny that apparently standard operating procedure for Air Marshals is to break every single rule we're supposed to follow as passengers, but still, I had B-movie fun pretty much the whole time, even as the plot got more and more absurd. Liam Neeson does good stressed out, and though Julianne Moore doesn't have a whole lot to do, she's still always a pretty compelling presence on screen. It was weird to see Lady Mary from Downton Abbey in modern dress, even if she didn't have much to do either. In all, an odd but entertaining enough experience, which I probably won't bother watching again when it inevitably airs on FX in like six months. Wasn't expecting much more than that.

Killer Joe
Director: William Friedkin
Genre: Drama/Black Comedy
Source: USA (2012)
Rating: R
Location/Format: HBO On Deman
Grade: B

What the what? I feel like I'd heard a few random rumblings about this movie, but it kind of slipped my radar. And I know there's an NC-17 version of this, to which I say, this version on HBO was already pretty incredibly graphic. 

But it's also surprisingly funny and anchored by some really great performances from Matthew McConaughey, Emilie Hirsch, and Juno Temple. The film's dark sense of humor and willingness to laugh at the depravity and the stupidity of its characters makes it hard to look away from even when what its showing is horrible. 

But for all the inappropriate comedy and violence, I kind of enjoyed it.

Books

Doctor Sleep (by Stephen King)

You know, I don't think that prior to this picking up this book I ever once thought, "Gee, The Shining sure could use a sequel." Fortunately King got some pretty good mileage out of it. Doctor Sleep picks up decades after the events of The Shining, where a grown up Danny Torrance has to decide whether he will drink his life away to quiet the demons that he found at the Overlook Hotel and that come on strong thanks to his shining. (Spoiler: Like his author before him, whose drunken antics in part inspired Jack Torrance's alcoholism in The Shining, Danny gets sober. Don't worry, though. That's an early plot development). 

As he puts his life back together, Danny finds himself teaching another young person who herself is blessed with the shining: Abra Stone. As something hunts Abra, Danny must learn how to defend her, even as he realizes she is much more powerful than he ever was.

The book is pretty solid overall, though after falling for King's son's novel Nos4a2 just a couple of months ago, the old man's prose seems to be hitting the same notes that it always does, whereas Joe Hill's writing felt a little more lively and vivid. (Hill's book gets a nod here, with a passing reference to bad guy Charles Talent Manx.) And there's definitely a sense that King is desperately trying to rewrite the shadow cast by Stanley Kubrick's film version of The Shining, which King notoriously hated for its denial of Jack's redemption. Here Dan frequently muses on how his father--you know, the guy who tried to butcher them all back in Colorado--really was a heckuva guy and actually loved him. It's a little heavy handed.

I don't want to sound too negative, because I did enjoy it. There's adventure and some nice characterization, even if the "bad guys" here are a little flat and never all that menacing. Still, Abra Stone is a character I wouldn't mind spending more time with; she seems pretty interesting. Maybe a book that never needed a sequel will end up being a trilogy?

Grade: B-

Every Day (David Levithan)

So you were hoping for a young adult Quantum Leap inspired love story with a whole lot more sappiness and a bit of a heavy handed "accept everybody, because if you were walking in their shoes you'd see them differently" message (with apparently the exception of fat people, whose chapter is weirdly filled with loathing) and an ending that is either romantic (for 16-year-old girls) or supremely creepy (for rational beings)? 

Then have I got a book for you.

A group of students at my school started a Book Club, and since I wanted to support them I read the first selection (this book). Yikes. While Levithan does get some good empathy mileage out of the concept of a being that wakes up in new a new body every day and lives that person's life for 24 hours, as a whole I found this wholly unsatisfying. There were subplots that didn't really go anywhere and relationships that never felt authentic. Not great. Fortunately YA reads tend to speed by, so the boredom ended quickly.

The upside? I convinced them to do Eleanor & Park for the next book. Now there's a YA love story I can get behind.

Grade: D

Penpal (Dathan Auerbach)

If I understand correctly, Dathan Auerbach originally posted this story in installments on Reddit, that website where you can find pretty much anything. I think if I had encountered it in that context, I might have enjoyed it a little more.

Instead, my introduction to the novel came from finding it on a website of "the scariest novels of the past thirty years" or something, so I was anticipating a lot of thrills and chills.

There are a few creepy passages here and there, mostly having to do with discovering you're not alone in a place where you thought you were alone, but mostly I found it to be overwritten, entirely too self-serious, and a bit of a snore. The whole "I finally put the pieces together" mystery seems pretty obvious from the beginning, and Auerbach needs to wheedle down some of his more long-winded passages to something more natural-sounding.

Not really my cup of tea.

Grade: D+

A Tale for the Time Being (Ruth Ozeki)

Oh man, this novel was right in my wheelhouse. 

From the opening lines by Naoko (one of two narrators communicating across time and space), I really felt like Ruth Ozeki had crafted something remarkable. And when I finished the novel I felt the same.

In a French Maid club in Tokyo, teenage Naoko sets out to record the life story of her grandmother, a one-hundred-and-four-year-old Buddhist nun who lives in a monastery in northern Japan. Naoko keeps getting sidetracked by her own life, however: bullying at school, a father who is suicidal, and a longing for Sunnyvale, California, where she'd lived for much of her life. On the other side of the Pacific, a novelist named Ruth finds a Hello Kitty lunchbox on the coast of the British Columbian island where she makes her home. Inside the lunchbox she finds a watch, some letters, and a diary being kept by a Japanese teenager named Naoko. Where did the lunchbox come from? How did it get to Ruth? And what will happen to Naoko and her father? Some of these questions will be answered, and some of them won't, but along the way Ruth and Naoko's stories and their voices get stronger and more profound.

It's hard to say what I loved most in A Tale for the Time Being. Naoko's sense of humor? The spot-on descriptions of Japanese culture? The slow reveals of everyday tragedy? The blending of quantum physics and Zen buddhism? The idea of time as a being and a state and a flexible fabric that enfolds us all? Ozeki's voice is enthralling and invigorating, and her characters stayed with me long after I closed the cover. This is the kind of book I want to lend people--not everyone, just the people who will "get it"--to let them into the secrets of the lives of these two women.

It all worked. Perhaps in a few years I will embrace my time-being-ness and travel back to read it again.

Grade: A