One-Two Punch: Sherlock Holmes and Frog Princess

SHERLOCK HOLMES (2009)

Well, its time for the Christmas weekend (or Festivus, if you like) and that brings the last big blockbuster of the year. Here comes Sherlock Holmes, set to dominate the box office and... come in #2 to Avatar on opening weekend? What? Amazing the positive word of mouth that film's gotten.

Yet, despite the awesome spectacle that is Avatar, Sherlock Holmes may well be the better movie.

Its amazing this thing even got made, really. Guy Ritchie directing? Wha? Oh, sure, we all remember Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch fondly, but those movies were sooo ten years ago. What's this acclaimed director done since those two big debuts? RocknRolla and Revolver to name a couple, both financial and critical failures. Or how about Swept Away, a vehicle for his wife Madonna, one of the biggest bombs and most hated movies of the modern age? With those as his last three films, its amazing to think that Warner Brothers and five production companies would throw $120 Million at the man and say "Hey, hope you do better than Young Sherlock Holmes/ Great Mouse Detective."

But, hey, once in a while a Hollywood gamble pays off. Sometimes they get Nine (same opening weekend, $80 Million spent, $5 Million Return) and sometimes even a one-trick pony manages to pull off a blockbuster. Well, I guess I can't give Ritchie TOO much shit. I mean, he did make a very good movie this outing... though his one-trick still makes an appearance; super-slo-mo fight scenes? Oh yeah, they're in there. In fact, I'm sure they used the same building and spectators from Snatch. But, while the fights don't add anything to the picture, and could be excised and the film still be just as good, they are entertaining and add a certain flare to this new, rough and tumble Holmes. Ritchie's 'Dirty London' makes a perfect backdrop for Downey's take on the character.

In this particular outing, we find Holmes right in the thick of his career. We aren't forced to see some sort of coming of age or origin story, nor a tale about an aged Holmes coming back into his prime. If anything, this adds to the strength of the movie. Far too often have we been forced to watch the origin of already established characters. Cool as it is, I hope I never have to sit through Superman's origin ever again. Ever. Instead, Holmes is already established (which is good, with Downey being 40, believable) he's about to meet his greatest nemesis in Professor Moriarty, and he finds himself increasingly isolated from society by his rampant intellect. Richie took the far too often neglected path of giving us exactly what we like about a character shoved right in our faces. Delicious.

And Holmes is faced with two particular problems this time around, first off is his nemesis, Lord Blackwood, who has seemingly been captured, executed, and mysteriously revived from the dead. Blackwood seems to have some sort of mystical powers, creating death by fire and water, seemingly by the flick of his wrist. With this new, strange power, Blackwood manages to infiltrate and control the Illuminati-like group of London's finest for his own ends. Meanwhile, closer to home, Doctor Watson finally tires of Sherlock's eccentric behavior, and looks to marry and move out on his own, threatening the bromance. In the shadows, all the while, the shadowy Moriarty manipulates all the players to his own end.

What in the film doesn't work? For the particular, perhaps the more muscular version of the titular Holmes. For fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's intellectual hero, this might be too much liberty with the character. Also, there's some odd anachronism in the film, both in the language of the characters, and Blackwood's ultimate device.

And really... that's about it.

For those who can get past a new take on an old favorite, they'll find that Ritchie's take is very suitable. While Holmes' intellect now include martial arts, and comes with a certain degree of agoraphobia, if you have a look at the subtle motions, Holmes still uses his incredible intelligence in every scene, though you might not see it until everything is revealed at the end. In fact, a few saavy viewers may even guess what Blackwood's game is. Its an intelligent and fun script that doesn't disappoint, delivering comedy, action, and mystery to the end. And there's a drugged up Bulldog. Bonus.

Of course, what really pulls off the whole thing are the performances. Jude Law is a delightful straight man as Watson, Mark Strong's Lord Blackwood is perfectly diabolical, and of course Robert Downey Junior dominates the screen as Sherlock. We are living in his world right now, it seems. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Iron Man, Good Night and Good Luck, Tropic Thunder, everything this guy is in right now is gold, pure and simple. In fact, I think I have a little bromance of my own going. RDJr, if you're out there and you need another guy for your entourage, look me up. I'd like to party with you.

All that said, its a nearly flawless film to finish off the year. 2009 nine had a lot of disappointments on the screen, but Sherlock Holmes prevails. Elementary, dear reader.

PRINCESS AND THE FROG-

This one's a bit older now, and I just got out to see it. A shorter review then, as most of you who have any interest have already seen it.

The thing is, I really didn't have any interest in the story. Even just the trailers let me know that the story would be kind of bland, and the jokes weren't really going to work. Often, things like Kung-Fu Panda and How to Raise your Dragon, I can see the trailer, and get a few laughs, but it wasn't so with Princess and the Frog. But, I've often lamented the loss of Disney's hand-animation department, so I had to see it, just to give my support.

Its not bad. Not bad at all. But really, it isn't great either. Its a bit on the bland side, all around. There are a few really good laughs, to be sure. But those are too few and far between. I can only think of maybe two moments where the whole audience laughed, and most of the time, even the kids weren't making any sounds of glee. They weren't bored and screaming either, but there was certainly no laughter or dancing or 'YAAAY's to be heard as the heroes made their journey.

The one thing I will applaud is Shadow Man. I had a lot of fun with this villain. For one thing, he's voiced by Keith David, best known as Goliath from Gargoyles, or as that guy who got head from Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream. While his singing could use some work, his bad guy vocals were spot on, and I loved the look of his voodoo musical number and Papa Shango makeup. Add in some really creepy demon shadows to do his dirty work, and you've got the making of a really memorable Disney Villain. Its just too bad he's fighting such a forgettable heroic cast.

One thing I found interesting, though, is the way the princess, Disney's first black princess, to be more specific, found her happy ending. She gets help from white people.

There's all kinds of strange little social images that kept popping up in Princess and the Frog that I was surprised to see get included and then glossed over. The Princess, Tiana, and her mom work as seamstresses for a very wealthy white man. When their work is done at the end of the day, they go home to a little shack in the black neighborhood of town. There it is, right there, segregation and classism. Of course, that's never mentioned. Nor is it really mentioned why it is that Tiana's father worked so hard doing double shifts all of his life, and then served in the military, earning a Congressional Medal of Honor, only to die penniless and unfulfilled in his modest goal of opening a restaurant.

And then, of course, despite all of Tiana's hard work, which is a central focus of the movie, and despite all of her wishes, and despite her finding the man of her dreams, her equally simple goal of opening a restaurant and honoring her father would have been completely unfulfilled if it weren't for a big gob of money given to her by the same white family she'd been servicing since she was a little girl.

Hey, white family, how about giving Tiana some of that money to help her out, just for being a friend to your daughter? Or did she have to save her from a sham marriage to earn that pittance?

Ah well, the kids won't notice this for years, if ever. They might enjoy it. If nothing else, Charlotte, voiced by Jennifer Cody, is pretty effing hilarious, and the source of most of the laughs in the movie. While this kind of character can be annoying, she pulled off the debutante quite well.

Check it out for a cold afternoon's matinee. Its great to see Disney come back to hand animation, but they can do better.

External Linkage

My review for The Road is up: http://www.brutalashell.com/2009/12/film-review-the-road/

1st Annual Aristocrat Awards (AAA- Not Cars)

Well, its awards season. Golden Globes have already put their list out, and soon the Oscars will release theirs. So, I thought I'd share some of my faves from the year with you guys by presenting my own version of Hollywood's big night.

Not quite 100% complete, but gettin' there, here's the list of nominees for the Aristocrat Awards, 2009 edition.

You'll note that a few of the categories are pretty sparse. Well, in those categories, I didn't really think that there were a ton of exceptional happenings, or at least I haven't seen any movies with them. I hear Sandra Bullock was good in Blindside but, ya know, nothing has motivated me to see that movie. It looks totally bland and forgettable from every trailer, and even every positive review I've heard. It'll be on the $5 shelf by this time next year.

Anyway, from my own tastes, here's the current list:

Best Picture (Drama or exceptional Genre):
Star Trek
Hurt Locker
District 9
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
The Road
Up in the Air

Best Director:
James Cameron- Avatar
Cohen Bros.- Serious Man
Tarantino- Inglorious Basterds

Best Actor
George Clooney- Up in the Air
Michael Stulbarg- A Serious Man
Viggo Mortensen- The Road
RDJr- Sherlock Holmes
Sam Rockwell- Moon

Best Actress
Gabourey Sibide- Precious

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz- Inglorious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress
Vera Farmiga- Up in the Air
Mo'Nique- Precious

Best Comedy:
A Serious Man
The Hangover


Best Animated:
Up
Coraline

Best of Horror:
Paranormal Activity
Zombieland
House of the Devil
Drag me to Hell
Thirst

Best Screenplay:
District 9
Sherlock Holmes
Inglorious Basterds

Check back tomorrow, also, for my review of this weekend's Sherlock Holmes.

Avatar

James Cameron, after a 12 year absence, has returned. He has proved, once and for all, that White Guys are the coolest thing in all the universe... EVER.

Let's look back:

Forbidden Kindgom (Ancient China)- A modern day white kid mysteriously appears in ancient China, and is found and trained by Jackie Chan and Jet Li, Li playing the legendary Monkey King, the most bad-assed martial arts thing ever. Yet, in a matter of weeks the white kid has surpassed the kung-fu of Chan and Li's lifetimes, and gone on to destroy an ancient evil. White guys are better than the Chinese at their own Wu Tang.

Last of the Mohicans- 1826- Daniel Day Lewis is brought in to the Mohican Tribe during their tumultuous final days, where he learns to love their ways. Ultimately, he outshines and outlives every one else in the tribe, proving that he is the most talented and worthy, and that white guys make the BEST Mohicans.

Glory-1862- Matthew Broderick leads the first platoon of Black soldiers through the Civil War, the fightin' 54th. Despite an all-star cast of amazing black actors, the movie feels it needs to focus on Broderick, who is the core of the group's survival. Most of the movie's pathos is focused on him being a social outcast for leading the black soldiers, portrayed as perhaps the only thing worse than BEING a black soldier. An important movie, this shows that not only do white guys make better black guys AND better soldiers, they also make more important actors.

Dances with Wolves- 1863- Taking a page from DDL, Mohican Master, Kevin Costner infiltrates a tribe of Lakota Indians, learns their ways, shows his wisdom, and then goes on to lead them against the encroaching White man, and to their survival. Again, white is the new red.

Last Samurai- 1876- Tom Cruise travels to Japan where he is the first white guy to ever make the Emperor cry, and he fights off an army of chain gun wielding Japanese who have turned against his friends, the samurai. Cruise survives and is dubbed 'the last samurai' solely because he is white. Many Japanese on both sides of that battle were wiped out. Cruise then goes on to master Bushido, the Five Elemental Rings, and later will create Cancer... just so he can cure it later in his spare time.

Lawrence of Arabia- 1935- Despite getting raped in the butt by an enemy General, Peter O'Toole leads the united armies of Arabia, crushing the Arian invaders in a way no Arab ever could. His presence in the desert also brings about the longest period of peace and unity the modern Arab world has known. He goes home and takes the white away, and fundamentalist governments start cropping up everywhere.

8 Mile- 1995- Eminem out-raps black people at their own game. Also, bangs pre-death Brittany Murphy in a steel mill. Hot.

Avatar- 2134- After over 100 years of silence, white people come back with a vengeance! They find a new group of people in a shade they've never seen before... Blue!... and seek to learn their ways. One soldier does, and in doing so, within months he has become one of the greatest Na'vi that has ever lived, bangs the chief's daughter, leads a war, defies death, and is generally the most bad-assed thing to ever come to the planet.

WHITE PEOPLE RULE!

Okay, Avatar is nothing new for story. It, like so many others, has a very similar story idea. Where did it come from? I dunno. But it goes like this: Someone from 'Us' (you know he's the good guy because he's from 'Us') finds a group of Outsiders, joins them and learns their ways, and then when danger strikes he teaches them our ways, and fights beside them, usually against the home he left behind.

In this case, Jake Sulley, played by Sam Worthington, is the legendary white guy. His brother is dead, and the military needs to use his genetic code to continue an experiment of his brother's. A paraplegic ex-marine, Jake jumps at the chance to do something big with his life.

Jake is swifted off to a planet called Pandora to help a huge industrial/para-military group to move all of the native Na'Vi off of the largest mineral deposit on the planet. He does this by taking control of an Avatar, biological constructs that look like the Na'Vi, but are controlled by the human mind, a perfect synch of mind and body.

Jake finds himself invited amongst the Na'vi, being the first Soldier or Warrior that has approached them. In time, he will need to submit his findings to the powers that be so they might launch a full assault on the Na'vi. But, Sam has fallen in love with these beautiful people.

All of the places are set for a gigantic battle, and which side will Jake choose?... well, if you've seen any of the other movies I mentioned, you already know the answer, really. And make no mistake, had this Uber-white guy not showed up to help, the Na'Vi would have totally been blown away by the army of not-as-cool-as-Jake white guys.

One interesting thing about Avatar is that, for all of these things moving around and setting up this huge battle... there's surprisingly little action in the movie. In this 2 and a half hour movie, there's maybe 30 minutes of real punching and gunfire. Of course, that's probably for the better. What action IS there is really solid, and Cameron's goal of making an immersive, believable alien landscape is only helped by the investigations made into the flora and fauna, and the many explorations of the culture of the Na'Vi.

While all of the film is solid, all good, I don't know that its necessarily exceptional. Yet, I would recommend that everyone go see Avatar, for the sheer spectacle of it. After all, as much as James Cameron would love to convince everyone that complete immersion in an alien landscape was his goal, ultimately Avatar is all about the spectacle. But, oh, that part is so well done.

First off, special effects work is top-notch. Weta totally outdid themselves on creature creation, Mo-Cap animation, ship design, and just making an incredibly lush and detailed CG world, that blends well with practical effects. I'm still not completely sold on how much GC is needed, especially for the Na'Vi. These 10-foot tall blue kitty-people are some of the best CG done to date, yet they still look a bit cartoony. Good as they are, and detailed as they are, you sit one next to a real human actor, and it is obvious to all but the near-sighted that they are an illusion, not part of the real-world image. One has to wonder if forced-perspective and blue make-up might not have been more convincing. Still, these aliens do showcase the technology in the way they were supposed to, and some great physical performances from Zoe Saldana, amongst others, make them the most believable artificial creations created yet.

Little side-note here, anyone else just floored by how quickly WETA has come in the FX department? They're the big-dogs of Hollywood now, and its amazing to think where they came from. Their first movie, FIRST!, was The Frighteners back in 1996. They went from that, which looked ok, but is really terribly dated by this point, to Lord of the Rings. No real mid-point, in fact, Peter Jackon talks on the Frighteners DVD about moving on to Lord of the Rings. What a jump! That's like the Wright Brothers building the first airplane, followed by the first orbital satellite, its just such a leap. Frighteners, LotR, King Kong, District 9, and then this, the largest digital showcase of all time. Crazy. But I digress...

Beyond just the good CG and general effects work, there's the 3-D aspect. For this, if nothing else, you need to see Avatar in the theater. At home, on the Blu Ray, there will be a 3-D option. And it will require those red and blue glasses, and it will discolor the picture and look all crappy. If you haven't seen what a theater can do in 3-D these days, you need to go experience it. The new stereoscopic images pop out at you, it really does seem like you're a part of the movie, and there's no red/blue discoloration, its a perfect image, its in your face, and while I know Hollywood is going to beat it to death in the next few years, for now it feels really fresh and fun. And the movie was filmed with this in mind and layered for it appropriately; computer monitors pop up displays for the images, creatures leap off the screen, landscapes have true depth... its a great addition in the hands of a storied craftsman like Cameron, and it'll never be the same at home. If you miss it on the big screen, you've essentially missed Avatar all together.

Ok, so here's a few Spoilery nit-picks, so if you don't want the surprise to be ruined, then just make do with this: Long, but fun, movie romp, flawed but overall excellent, and you do yourself a disservice by not going to the movies to check it out.

Okay, so for the rest of you, here's something that took me out of the movie right away: Unobtanium. That's the name of the mineral the military group is after. Unobtanium. What the Hell? I realize that there are some chemists who have tried to use this term seriously in the past to describe 'X' compounds that are yet to be discovered, but once Futurama used it, I just lost the ability to take the term seriously. Maybe Professor Farnsworth can replace Giovanni Ribisi in the director's cut.

I know a lot of people had called it Dances with Wolves in space just off the trailer alone, but I was prepared to ignore that, and enjoy the film on its own merits. But, man, when the Na'Vi come riding in on space-horses, wielding space-spears, and yelling "yi yi yi yi yip-yiiiaa"... just about lost me again. This movies isn't just LIKE Dances with Wolves, it IS Dances with Wolves... with space Indians. Luckily, I regained my composure, due to the sheer awesomeness of the spinning glowing flying lizards.

Cameron, like so many other film legends, we've studied all your old tricks so much, your moves have just become predictable.

"What was that thing that attacked us?"

"Its a... big effing dragon or something. My Grandpa rode one."

"No shit?"
"Yep, only 5 people EVER have. Everyone respects those that do."

*Male Na'Vi walk by and disrespect Jake*

"Aww, I wish I could ride one."

Man, do you think he'll end up riding one and uniting all the tribes?

And speaking of really, really projected story points, how about Jake ultimately getting his brain transferred into the Avatar permanently? Now, I for one thought that the idea of a living biological computer making up Pandora was pretty awesome. The idea that the native race could plug their brains into the animals to make them more docile, or plug into the plants to hear downloaded memories from their ancestors was very cool, and very good sci-fi. But why would that ever work with Jake's human body? The Na'Vi and all the other creatures of Pandora have evolved together over billions of years; humans lack their specialized pony-tail plug, so how do the plants read us? It seems like this was an add-on to the otherwise good idea as a way of getting around the blaring question, "If his control pod is owned by the military, why don't they just unplug him? Or might it run out of batteries?" Bit convenient?

3-D is pretty cool and all, but some of the shots made to utilize it are just ridiculous. Giovanni putting a golf ball right at us into the cup... twice. Gotta roll my eyes at that one. It reminds me of Lonely Island's The Bu, and their send-up of lame and obvious 3-D work in film.

Lets get back to this giant red dragon-thing. Ya know, the one Jake beats on and rides to unite the tribes? How lame is it to not see that battle at all. I know, I know the movie was getting on by then, and you really just needed to stop delaying the big battle anymore. But seriously, they keep talking about how awesome the big red dragon is, and Jake decides he has to capture it because no one has in 3 generations... and then he just does off-screen somewhere. Was it really that easy? Seems like if you can just jump on its back and ride off, that other natives would have done so, or maybe one of their elders would have clued them in.

Wait, I'm sorry, Jake is white, of course its easier for him.

Okay, okay, I'm done gripin' about it for now. These are things that bugged me, but obviously they don't really stand out to a majority of the film-going world, and they certainly don't make Avatar a bad movie. It's made in Cameron's traditional style, with great visuals and bold direction, but with plotting a dialogue that's full of jokes that are just a little too cute, and a lot of action-movie contrivances.

But, that doesn't stop the film from being visually spectacular and a lot of fun to check out. I don't know if it'll hold up 30 years from now as a sci-fi benchmark; so much of it relies on FX, and the story is obviously only average, but for the next few years, it'll be the sci-fi film to beat for most audiences.

50 Movies for 50 States Part 4, Pennsylvania

So, its been a while since I continued this feature. Need to get back to writing my screenplay before another workday pops up and ruins all my time for writing. You know, the important thing.

If only I weren't so addicted to things like rent and food.

Anyway, the Union just wasn't looking strong enough with only 3 states, so here's a fourth. In recap: Kansas- The Wizard of Oz, New Jersey- Toxic Avenger, Deleware- Fight Club.

Okay, so as before, a look at a couple of Runners-Up before announcing the winner.

First off, Groundhog's Day. After a couple of off turns (re: What about Bob?), Bill Murray returns to form with this movie set in snowy, small-town Pennsylvania. The whole town is in arms to see Punxsutawney Pete, the Groudhog that 'predicts' the weather. Murray is there to cover the event for his news station, and feels trapped by his lackluster life. This becomes literal as he becomes trapped in an endless time-loop, reliving the same banal day over and over again until he learns to 'get it right', appreciating all the little folk around him.

In a way, Groundhog's day is a typical 'Scrooge' story, where a miser, only concerned with his own success, learns the value of human life through supernatural interference. What we're treated to, though, is a comedy where Bill Murray at first revels in, and then is horrified by, the repetition of each day, and the way that he abuses his knowledge of its events.

While the supernatural element is one of this movie's great strengths, it actually ended up knocking it out of the running. Its still a portrait, though absurd, of Pennsylvanian life, and the story requires the state for its setting, I just couldn't pick if over these other two stories of pain and triumph in Penn State.

Next Runner-Up, Slap Shot.

Now, I honestly have a real deep knowledge of this film like I do the others, but I had to put it up here based on strength of reputation.

Slap Shot is a Paul Newman film that is kind of reminiscent of the Bad News Bears. You know the story, washed up coach with major league talents inherits team of losers. Together they reveal each other's hidden talents and overcome their weaknesses and go on to defeat a superior, but ultimately soulless champion-level team. Except, this one is a little different. And this one's Hockey, not Baseball.

Two things make Slap Shot stand out from a Mighty Ducks or a Major League. Firstly, its set during the recession of the 70's and uses actual Pennsylvania crises as the basis for its stories. In this case, the team is about to be disbanded because of the closing of many area wood mills, and so the nearby towns are falling apart.

Secondly, this movie isn't so much about a bunch of lovable losers getting their stuff together as it is about the power of lying.

Throughout the entire picture, Paul Newman struggles to find ways to get his team to play, to fight, to work together. He can't find anything in the truth to get them to play, so he finds stories that will. There's a buyer for the team, there are NHL scouts in the audience; couple that with the team's near homicidal play style and they find themselves the match of almost any team in their league. Almost.

Not really in the running, but worth mentioning that all of Romero's original 'Of the Dead' films were in Pennsylvania.

Ultimately, though, had to lean towards the film with not only cultural reflection, but impact. And none from Pennsylvania have more than that Philly wonder himself, Rocky.

Despite its lackluster sequels, if you haven't watched Rocky lately, you need to go back and see it again. When people tend to think back on it now, they think of Rocky as a ridiculously long franchise of films, sucking the merit out of the Sports genre. Really this is unfair, all of the Rocky movies are ok. 2-5 are not bad, but nothing spectacular, with 4 being one of the great guilty pleasures of the 80's, basically an 80 minute music video about the Cold War. Seriously, its 5 minutes of Apollo dying, 5 minutes of Dolph Lundgren and Bridgette Neilsen looking better than they ever would again in their freakish Hollywood lives, and 70 minutes of training montage. The sixth film, Rocky Balboa, is a heartfelt, if overlong, nostalgia piece.

Bastardized by Hollywood, you can't ignore how quality a film the first Rocky is. People forget, too, that this film won 3 Academy Awards, including best picture in 1976, was the highest grossing picture of '76, and was written by Sylvester Stallone himself.

Stallone plays his greatest role here. Rambo was a good character (at least for one film) and, of course, who can forget Demolition Man and Judge Dredd... but Rocky was his first and best starring role. And why not? He was a low class slob from Philly with high aspirations. He was in a porn. And so, this role of mook, of small mob enforcer, a man trapped in ignorance and poverty, with dreams of being a prize fighter.

What makes Rocky work is its feeling of authenticity and empathy. Stallone put a lot of himself, a lot of the common man, into his character. Due to its tiny budget, a lot of family members and other small film producers gathered together to help create the film. A lot of effort, and a lot of love went into its creation, and it shows. There's also a well-crafted, inspiring love story that helps bolster the climactic battle at the end.

Beyond that, Rocky has a lot of civic pride for the city of Philadelphia. Now, that might seem odd, since the movie does focus on crime, poverty, mob bosses, and abuse within the city. But at no point does it try to denigrate the city. Rather, it shows that despite the hardship of the city, and the horrible way urban life can treat people, you can still find love and happiness, and achieve your goals.

For a long time, Rocky inspired Philly to greatness, unified them, and turned the eye of the country onto the city through its iconic images of the titular character jogging across its landmarks. It may be a little dodgy now... again... but there was a time when a movie could work wonders, even on so large a community.

Up in the Air, Early Review

I had the pleasure tonight of attending an early screening of Up in the Air, the new film from Jason Reitman, director of Juno and Thank you for Smoking, and starring George Clooney.

The film follows the life of Ryan, an agent who excels at two things: talking to people and traveling. He lives a life of solitude and personal enjoyment as he does his job, firing people on behalf of corporations and essentially running damage control. On the side, he is a motivational speaker and book writer, encouraging people to find freedom by leaving behind their homes, their possessions, even their personal relationship that keep them tied down to one area.

Ryan's life is turned upside down by a series of concurrent events, a new romance, a marriage in his family, but mostly by a most ironic threat to his own job from within his company. In the midst of the economic recession, his company should be thriving, but they are seeking to find ways to cut costs, such as the cost of travel. A young recruit to the company has proposed that all terminations be done online from the central office via video servers. If this plan is implemented, Ryan is grounded. He and the new recruit travel together testing his very personal method of termination against the cold efficiency of computer termination.

At the same time, Ryan's ideas of relationships and a lifetime of constant motion are challenged by the more traditional values of the young recruit, his new found doubts presenting more of a threat to his jet-set lifestyle, even, than the encroaching technology.

If you've seen Juno and Thank You for Smoking, you kind of know what to expect. No, this doesn't have the more slapstick or peppy dialog driven laughs of Juno, but it still has the mix of drama and humor. Up in the Air is much closer to Thank You, in its tone, its examination of the corporate world, and the way in which it challenges the views of its main character. This time, the film focuses more on love and adventure and how the two seem mutually exclusive; it questions whether settling is the end of life, as Ryan suspects, or its true beginning.

The humor here is dry, but spot on. There are a lot of great gags, many of them dialog or situationally based, but you get a few well-timed masturbation jokes in there as well, just for spice.

Of course, Reitman is no slouch when it comes to drama, either, and Up in the Air shows packs a very real emotional punch. There is a real sense of loneliness about all the characters, a longing that comes across in every moment from the screen.

Up in the Air's real strength is in its cast. None of the humor, nor the drama, would work if it weren't so convincingly delivered by the quartet that make the main cast. George Clooney continues to show why he's Hollywood's most trusted and prolific leading man. His character is intelligent, charming, and charismatic in a way only Clooney could pull off. His delivery is typical of most of his characters, but it works for his character, always believable . Even as he continues to age, Clooney's characters continue to be smart and dignified, unlike those of, say, John Travolta or so many other older leading men who have sold out to family fare with no gravitas.

Jason Bateman plays a role more serious than usual, his role as Clooney's young hot-shot boss giving him little chance to crack jokes. However, he plays the yuppy well.

Nothing would have worked were it not for the strength of the leading ladies, neither of whom was I very familiar with before Up in the Air. Young Anna Kendrick plays Natalie, the girl who would threaten Clooney. Before this, I only knew her from the unfortunate Twilight series, so its fantastic to see her get to test her acting chops. Well, I say its fantastic only because she delivers so well. She remains cute and funny through most scenes, but collapses under pressure in a very real-to-life manner.

The real gem is the smaller but important role of Alex, played by Vera Farmiga. Vera has not gotten a lot of recognition for her roles, but she's been in a lot of great movies in the past, The Departed, Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and others. If this doesn't garner her some notoriety... well, it'll be typical, but a shame. Her verisimilitude is second to none, even as a spectator in Clooney's scenes, Vera never falters, never breaks. At 35, Vera also brings a sex appeal to her role as leading lady that is rare in a lot of films now. It seems Hollywood only accepts sexy leading ladies ages 18-25 anymore, but Vera is a bold exception. Her one nude scene literally made the male portion of my audience gasp with delight. You could practically hear the girlfriends punching them in unison a second later.

So, generally you know what to expect, dry wit, good drama, fantastic performances (thumbs up, also, to JK Simmons who continues to deliver fantastic supporting characters). If you like intelligent humor (think West Wing) you'll really get into this.

My one personal problem with Up in the Air is this: despite being very good at telling us its moral message, this is a message we've heard over and over again. In other words, you must submit to normal goals about relationships and family in order to be happy.

Clooney's character begins as a perfectly happy, if a little self-centered, traveler. Inevitably, his notions about this are challenged, and he must confront his loneliness and lack of solidarity, the usual. The problem with this being that at the beginning of the film, Clooney is happy. When he questions this happiness, he becomes distraught. But, it seems that Clooney isn't really lonely, so much as he is told he is lonely and acts accordingly. But, by the end of it, and though it goes against the messages of the film, I felt that had Clooney just stayed in isolation, he would have been happier.

There are those of us out there who prefer isolation, and don't mind having the ability to move through life unfettered. Its not a perfect lifestyle, but neither is marriage and kids. Its not for everyone, but it is for some people. This seemed to be conveyed by Up in the Air early on, but by the end of the film, it began to preach that if you didn't give up your personal freedom for the company of others, life can never be complete for you, a point I can't entirely agree with.

In fact, it seems to contradict an earlier scene, where Clooney fires a man, and finds that he had once dreamed of being a chef. Why did he stop pursuing his dream? Because he had kids and wanted a stable paycheck. But now, says Clooney, you should pursue your dream, because your kids can't admire a man who doesn't pursue his dreams. Doesn't that seem to encourage a life without personal bonds? A life in the pursuit of personal ambition? Enough talk is made of working 9 to 5 in crap jobs and being unhappy until you die, that it seems the attainment of goals is also a big part of the movie's message.

Regardless, its a fun feature that is well crafted, and obviously thought provoking. If you like smart comedy, check it out.

External Linkage

New issue of BthroughZ.com is out. Therein you'll find my new review for B-movie London Betty. Its not a horror flick, but a horror director was nice enough to send it our way.

Its a short issue this month, but always fun.

Of Balls and Men

MD Geist is on the TV right now. Its dubbed, but the dubbing crew didn't feel it necessary to subtitle any of the numerous expository texts at the beginning of the movie, so, no idea what's going on. Guts be flyin', and robots be blowin' up... but there's a wicked 80's soundtrack goin' on, and that's all that really matters.

Oh, and the main character just spoke. He sounds like an 18 year old kid doing a Barry White impersonation. Awesome.

This blog has been awfully sleepy lately. Black Friday crushed my soul. Apologies.

But this week, I finally saw something worth blogging about: Robin Williams' stand-up. Vegas was his last stop on his Weapons of Self-Destruction tour. Well, he was scheduled for Vegas like a year ago September, but emergency surgery postponed the act till now.

The good news is that the man is still funny after all these years. Worth noting, however, its a different kind of funny. His delivery is something a bit more like Lewis Black than old Robin Williams. The manic, hectic running about the stage has faded with Williams' coke problem. Now he's more political, but the jokes are a bit dated... its a really strange act in some ways. I never thought I'd hear Robin Williams say 'dude', as in "what the fuck, dude?" But he says it a lot. Dude?

But after a few, he's back on the body humor, comparing scrotums to turkey necks and getting a good laugh from the lowest common denominator.

Aw, hell, its good dirty fun. The man's far past his prime, but the show's still a lot of fun.

In other news, I was reminiscing about Planetnamek.com this evening. That DBZ fansite is long gone, but I do remember fondly how I wasted the hours away, obsessively absorbing the Dragonball universe, laughing at all the arguments about arbitrary power numbers... hell, Planet Namek is how I got my first writing gigs.

Well, little did I know that they've been making new Dragonball lately. Kinda.

In 2008, and never scheduled to release stateside, came a Dragonball reunion show, marking the 10 year anniversary of the show's completion. It takes place between DBZ and DBGT, and is pretty well put together, more on the comedy side than the faux drama of DBZ. Despite being a present for Japan only, the whole thing is on Youtube. Enjoy.

In addition, someone out there in the world heard my ideas for one of my dream projects. I love Dragonball Z, but its so long, and repetitive. The comic book its based on is very fast-paced. But the show, pacing itself to not outrace the comic, is loaded with filler fluff material.

I've often wanted to go back and edit out the filler to make the show worth rewatching, but now i don't have to.

Dragonball Kai is the original show, but sliced down so that the filler is gone. Its also getting the HD treatment, and is being converted to widescreen. Some new animation was made to replace scenes that weren't up to snuff.

The original 291 episode run is being converted down to 100 episodes, which sounds about perfect. No word on whether or not this 'director's cut' will still include Buu, but its a good idea regardless. If I ever buy a DBZ animated collection, it'll be the Kai version. Who's got 145 hours to watch the show? 50? more doable.

Dragonball, now with 66% less standing and screaming. Check out that opening sequence up there!

We gotta powa! Afterall...

External Linkage

Yep, there's the rest of it. Coverage for the Trinity of Terrors is up, including reviews for four movies, including the already posted Survival of the Dead.

http://www.brutalashell.com/2009/11/weekend-wrap-up-fangorias-trinity-of-terrors/

External Linkage

Review for Surival of the Dead, George A Romero's newest, up at BrutalasHell.com. Get ready for a heartache. Aw, shit, you're used to this by now.

http://www.brutalashell.com/2009/11/film-review-survival-of-the-dead/

I expect the rest of the con's info to follow.

(Images courtesy mPRm)

Sweet Christmas!

A quick venting:

I was contemplating today, Powerman and Iron Fist.

This thought process was brought on, I should add, by the forthcoming Heroclix set, Hammer of Thor. I'm excited as Hell to see Heroclix return after a one-year hiatus and changing of corporate masters. Even though Thor isn't exactly my bag, new clix, new excuses to hang out with my nerdy compatriots... delicious. Thinking of team concepts, I began to ponder how awesome Iron Fist is in that game, and how great he and Luke are together on their Heroes for Hire piece... but how poor Luke is on his own.

Furthermore, I started thinking about how much I like Iron Fist as a concept, even if his book has never been consistently worth buying. The white guy learning martial arts secrets, the focusing of his spirit into his hand... knowing a few martial artists, and how much racism there actually is in those traditions, and how hard it is for white guys to learn the most venerated techniques... well, either way Iron Fist has some story potential and is a cool idea, if not perfectly executed.

Of course, one can't think of Iron Fist without thinking of his unlikely brother-in-arms, Luke Cage, the Hero for Hire, Power Man. For years, he's been a joke of a character; yellow, flowing blowse and tiara for a costume, strange 'black' eumphemisms, and he's pretty far down on the power totem pole, strictly street level. It wasn't until the 90's Cage series that he got a decent make-over, and even then the writing wasn't anything to shout about.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I also enjoyed Luke Cage as a concept. A man done wrong by the legal system. A hardened man with a chip on his shoulder, and yet a heart of gold. A man selling his power to those who can afford it, yet refusing to serve evil masters. A man who fights to protect neighborhoods most of the Marvel-verse never even visit. Recently, Luke has become the leader of the New Avengers; here's a C-list hero, not terribly powerful, not formally educated, not experienced with team-play, suddenly being forced to step up to helm the Earth's Mightiest because only he had the Chocolate Salty Balls to do it. He's a guy who never realized he even had the potential, and he's forced to re-examine himself daily as he steps to up plate, swinging away at one of the biggest jobs in the Marvel U. None of these concepts are poor.

And yet, I can barely stand to read the character.

I have to figure, it must be because white guys write him.

Luke has always been Black. I mean, that's obvious from the colored pages of the funny books; I mean that his being black has always been the selling point of his magazine. Luke is one of the few black characters to headline his own book, he fights in the ghetto, he's an ex-con, he talks 'like a black man'. Basically Luke has always been there to fill the role of the American black man in Marvel. He's the token. Black Panther doesn't really count because he's an African citizen, Luke is America's black man.

But has a black guy ever written Luke Cage? Research tells me that his initial Inker was Billy Graham, one of the few black men wroking in comics at the time, initial writing and pencils done by the decidedly white Archie Goodwin (who's name could NOT be more white) and George Tuska. Later Roy Thomas and John Romita Sr. would assist in the book's creation. Why not Ron Wilson on pencils? One of Marvel's most prolific artists of the 70's, a black creator, and a pretty cool guy, I'm sure he could have added a little more pathos to Luke Cage.

Instead, we got a guy with a decent conceptual creation, someone beat on by 'the man' who is looking to clear his name and lives in the shitty part of town, given the power to do something about it thanks to a freak accident, (Hell, some real social commentary could have been dropped here, much like the 30's Superman who went around beating up drunk husbands and dead-beat bosses.) who basically lives his life like he's perpetually in a blaxploitation movie. The cookie phrases, the Foxy Brown ladies of interest, the ridiculous street-pimp super villains... its no wonder Luke's book faded with the glory days of Shaft, and needed to be teamed up with a white Bruce Lee.

The problem remains today. I appreciate that Brian Bendis has put Luke into a position of power, where he has to reexamine himself and his potential to reshape the world, but still, Luke comes off as a white guy trying to sound like a black man. That is, disingenuous. The fake slang, the hokey tough-guy act, the attempt to try to deliver pathos at being one of Marvel's 3 or 4 black characters (two of which were married simply because there were no other black characters for them to hook up with) without actually knowing what it is to be black, it all rings false.

Now, I realize that comics are an industry predominantly controlled by whites and Asians, but there are plenty of really creative talents from all ethnic backgrounds out there; so why can we not see Luke Cage in the hands of a black writer with some real writing chops?

I, for one, would like to see what story potential Luke REALLY has, rather than being a flavor of the week parody of Blaxploitation, or some sort of Kanye video reject. Spidey seems fleshed out because all of the writers have been in his shoes before, lets get someone behind the wheel of Luke's book who knows what it is to live in his world.

Above: Marvel's depiction of a heroic, modern black man. I guess I shouldn't expect much from a company who's depiction of Europe still revolves around Gypsies, wooden cottages, and villagers in leder-hosen chasing monsters with pitch-forks and torches.

External Linkage

Woot! The Halloween edition of BthroughZ.com '09 is out in full force! We've got reviews and an interview, featuring the complete works of Hack Films, interviews with horror starlet Samantha Eggar, and a retrospective for the family favorite Ernest: Scared Stupid.

Amongst my own works, you'll find reviews for

- Dead Shit

- Trick R Treat

- Paranormal Activity

Go. Read. Enjoy. And a Happy Halloween to all!

External Linkage

Woah, after a flurry of updates, its been almost two weeks since my last post!

In the interim, I managed to finish a 4th, more screen-format friendly version of my script Bloodline that, after some peer edits, will be added to the linkable download section for reading enjoyment.

In the meantime, you guys can check out some more review action, beginning with my look at The Stepfather . In a word, ugh.

I do love, however, how 80's the poster is. Not as good as Stepfather 2 (87?) where he's intensely stabbing the wedding cake, but still pretty solid retro.

External Linkage

BrutalasHell is hosting my review for next year's The Wolfman. Get an early inside pic at this work in progress!

http://www.brutalashell.com/2009/10/an-early-look-at-the-wolfman/

50 Movies for 50 States Part 3, I Am Jack's Swollen Prostate

First off, a little side-note. I like Google Maps, and I use it to search out all kinds of things, especially in Las Vegas. The grid-like form of Vegas streets, while easy to navigate, means every street is packed full of little businesses. Between that and the tourista nature of the city, each block is packed with little franchise shops easily recognized by travelers and immigrants, and so it makes finding cool indy businesses a difficult task.

So, I search on Google Maps for little shops off the beaten path. Everytime a new biz opens, its certainly added to the map. Today, my quest was to find a local movie rentals so I could get a copy of Trick R Treat to review. Blockbuster is too expensive... and I have late fees there... so I quested to find a little shop run by some college drop-out with a movie fetish that might be able to feed my hunger for lesser known, high quality cinema.

After browsing around, I find only one that exists on my side of the strip, and I go. After about an hour of cruising around, I discover the fault of Google maps: they put up every business as it opens, but dont' remove any of them when they close down. The once frequented Pacific Video has been replaced with an Indian Supermarket, run by a family that was probably confused by the cursing white man who kept circling their building. Interesting point, though, they also have a tattoo shop in the back of their grocery.

Damn you, Blockbuster, damn you to Hell.

Anyway, next on the list.

3. Delaware- Fightclub

I think Delaware might have set this up. It seems to be an obvious trap that one of the coolest (and as a result, over-quoted by people who probably really don't get the context or agenda of the work) movies ever takes place in Delaware... and is pretty much the ONLY movie that takes place in Delaware. If you go to Wikipedia and look at their list of movies from Delaware, all they have is the recent Triggerman.

In fact, before my research pointed me to Fight Club, my initial choice for the state was Waynes World for this telling sequence:

So, why Delaware? The state is never explicitly mentioned in Fight Club, though street names that are mentioned point to Wilmington.

Fight Club is more than just a ode to brutality and anti-consumerism. Fight Club is about one man's schrizophrenic attempt to find man's true nature, believing it to be anarchy, the state of nature. Tyler Durden's snide attitude may seem funny and quirky, but the overall message he, and Chaos, Inc. seem to be spreading is that man is becoming weak. We're sick. Capitolism is a disease that threatens to wipe out mankind, and the primary symptom is debt. Brainwashed into buying, into needing, the many and fit are sickened, tricked into pouring the fruits of their labors into the pits belonging to a few weak-yet-dominant individuals. of course, in Fight Club, the cornerstone of this fallicy lies squarely on the shoulders of Credit Agencies.

And that's why Delaware is so important. It seems almost symbolic that the first state of the American Union is the cornerstone for all of the credit card and consumer credit agencies, the five or six entities that control the lives of over 200 million individuals... and more, if you consider how Mastercard and Visa are now must-have items in foreign nations. Control of the world's financial markets lie in Delaware, and Fight Club asserts that the first step to personal freedom is to bring those companies to the ground.

Whether you agree with this message or not, people seem to have found a lot of appealing ideas in this Palahniuk adaptation. There are many themes of personal pride, integrity, and independent thinking that stand out in this vision of a world buried in muck and detritus.

So, Delaware, there you have it. Your defining moment: home to a group of organizations that threaten to enslave mankind through a series of imaginary numbers and arbitrary scores. Throne of the devil. But still, a nicer place to live than Detroit.

External Linkage

And the world responds! Or rather, 3 people from the world... but regardless the answer is a unanimous yes, Flo, the Progressive girl, is unconventionally hot, but hot nonetheless. Check her out without the over abundance of make-up. A cutie.

Anyway, the real point of this post was to let you know my review for Zombieland is being hosted over at Brutal as Hell. Check it out HERE.

Also, THIS amused the hell out of me. Mostly for the grammar, but made all the funnier by the subject at hand. (Vaginas)

A Matter of Vital Importance

Finished a couple new reviews tonight, sending them off to various editors. Suddenly, like a flash from the Wizard Shazam, it struck me.

Ye Gods, why had this question not come to me before? I was forced to ponder.

For all of you out there, I ask... Would you shag the Progressive girl? I think I would. Give the world your answer, yea or nay.

External Linkage

My review for House of the Devil is up at Brutal As Hell.



http://www.brutalashell.com/2009/10/film-review-the-house-of-the-devil/

50 Movies for 50 States Part 2, The First Super Hero from New Jersey

Last week, Conan O'Brien made a joke about New Jersey. Nothing new, he's always cracking about New Jersey. This time, he stated that the Mayor of Neward was introducing a new state health-care bill (true). Conan's version of said theory? Buy everyone a bus ticket out of New Jersey. Well, that seemed to be the final straw, and now Conan is banned from the state.


I guess I'm looking to have my turn as well.

Before announcing my winner for New Jersey's movie mascot, lets look at the two runners up. The list of films set in New Jersey was surprisingly long, but not particularly remarkable. An obvious candidate from the list would be Garden State. This film was Written, Directed by, and Starring Zach Braff of Scrubs who, for a first timer all around, pulls of a remarkably impressive film. I grant you, none of the direction is particularly challenging, but it is all around competent. Also, it features a remarkable soundtrack. If you ever watched the Star Wars prequels and thought Natalie Portman couldn't act, just watch Garden State and be proven wrong. She's remarkable here, served up believable with a side of cute and fun. **


Garden State is a wonderful little romantic comedy about generation Y and how we don't know where we're going, probably because of all the meds we're on. Despite those troubles, there is love and there is hope.

But it didn't ring my bell as the most representative of New Jersey, though its probably the BEST set in New Jersey as it doesn't really utilize the state very well. In fact, it has a few fantasy elements, such as the crevasse that goes to eternity, that seem to take it out of the otherwise grounded setting.

Second on the list was Clerks, and the whole Kevin Smith universe of films. While mostly a fine group of raunchy comedies, and surely something New Jersey is proud of, I'd totally forgotten about this movie being set there. The convenience store Dante works at could be set anywhere. Other than a few throwaway references to local hockey teams, the universal appeal of Clerks makes it a bad choice to represent any one location.

So, there was only one real choice for what film represented New Jersey. The REAL New Jersey.

2. New Jersey- The Toxic Avenger

Oh I know, a few of you are rolling your eyes at just how 'Dustin' a choice this is. Fuck you.

Right off the bat, this movie addresses its inspiration. Toxic Waste. New Jersey has 108 Toxic Waste dumps, and is the dumping capitol of the US. This film, started back in '83, addresses peoples' fears about Nuclear Waste (still a pretty new concept, at the time), and the corruption of politicians who had sold the land.

There's also a kid getting run over by a car. And a lot of bad boob jokes.

Yeah, you can't really take it seriously. Troma makes B movies, they always have and proudly always will. This schtick has made them the last truly independent film producer in the country, without any funds or distribution help coming from one of the big 5. They use a lot of actors and extras from the New Jersey area, film in the area , set their films in the area, and generally show a lot of love for Jersey, even as they lampoon it.

But when they take shots at the state, they dont' hold back any punches. A couple of fun facts: New Jersey has the highest population density of any state, New Jersey has an incredible crime rate, with the number of cars stolen in Newark being more than in New York and LA combined, New Jersey is the largest industrial and chemical producing state in the nation (likely the world). Yes, its true, Jersey IS New York's armpit. And it cries stinky tears.

So, while on the surface, Toxic Avenger may be an incredibly violent, slapstick exploit about a nerd who falls into toxic waste and mashes the heads of every bad person he meets, set to a load of dick and fart jokes... and it is that... but at the same time its the reflection of the fears and pride of the people of New Jersey. The state is nothing but a web of cities and highways, people staring longlinly at the glimmer of the New York skyline. The cities are crowded and dirty, crime is rampant, and the pollution from all the industry that is shoved into Jersey from the rest of the nation takes its toll. At the same time, there is a sense of community and civic pride, the idea that individuals banding together can solve problems and defeat evil... and if not, you can always just hope a radioactive monster rips out their stomachs.

...Lloyd Kaufman, director, has never been one for subtlty.

So, New Jersey residents, this may not be the most beautiful depiction of the state, but it seems to be the one that takes place in your home and calls it as it is. Dirty as it is, there's always a glimmer of hope. And you know what? Its because of a film like this that I can say for a fact I'd rather live in Jersey than in Detroit. If nothing else, Toxic Avenger will likely have a cult following as long as Clerks will (already proven over 25 years!), and far, far beyond the time when Garden State is forgotten. Toxic Avenger truly is Troma, and Jersey's, finest moment.







**edit: you can tell it was 5 am when I wrote this by the number of times 'remarkable' appears in this paragraph. 'Remarkable' is to me what 'Decadent' is to Lovecraft. And if you get that reference, you're a remarkable, decadent person.

50 Movies for 50 States Part 1, We're Not in Kansas Anymore

I had the idea for this well over a year ago, and I see Rotten Tomatoes has beaten me to it. Well with them, I'll just have to make my list better.

My goal is to pick one movie for each state in the US. These can't just be any ol' movie, either. I want to pick 50 movies upon which their placement in that state is a definitive factor, both for the movie and for the state itself. You might be surprised, when reading it, just how much impact a film can have upon the culture of an area, and how eager we are, as individuals and groups, to be identified with celebrity by our peers and fellow nationals.

Despite the lame Toto jokes that come about everytime I left my home state of Kansas, there was always some bit of pride, or at least interest, that everyone everywhere new a few lines from the Wizard of Oz, and its pertinence to my residence.

Anyway, it was my viewing of the Wizard of Oz approaching 2 years ago now that inspired me to begin creating this list. I figure the release of the 70th Anniversary Blu Ray was a good a time as any to start the list officially. So here it goes:

1. KANSAS- The Wizard of Oz

Well, sitting and watching the movie now, I can't help but marvel at how wonderfully silly the whole thing is. Glenda the good witch floats down in a big pink bubble, her plastic crowd covered with gaudy glittery baubles and springy-things, and singing in her chirpy voice, a cavalcade of midgets in flower-festooned Swedish clothes and clown make-up come out to begin a six-minute barrage of song and dance.

Dreadfully, dreadfully silly. I can see why the studio sweated when this was released. Even for a kid's movie, the Wizard of Oz is full of amazingly bizarre, childlike images and an unparalleled naivety. Somehow shinging through that is a lot of heart and a lot of fun that has made Oz one of the most successful family movies of all time (perhaps THE most successful, in syndication).

I have no doubt that the puzzle piece that most led audiences to allow the story to have weight, and allowed them to accept all the bizarre midget fun in good stride and spirit was the opening song, Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Two different institutions, The American Recording Industry and the American Endowment for the Arts, have voted it the greatest song of the 20th Century, and the American Film Institute has proclaimed it the greatest song that has ever been in a movie. Most would agree; for decades after, Judy Garland could not finish a performance without the audience demanding to hear her perform it live. It is a beautiful, lilting song, to be sure. Without it, Oz would likely have been dismissed by its audience; but its message resonated then with its small audience, and through the war years that followed with a weary, beleagured American populace awaiting the end of dark days. For years, it became a quiet anthem for Americana.

And then, BAM! Midgets dancing in your face for a full six minutes. And flying monkeys. This movie has everything.

I do have to wonder, sometimes, how long this picture will remain an American classic. Will the younger generation be able to appreciate the songs and simple fantasy, the innocence? Will they continue to love the movie for something other than watching it with Dark Side of the Moon, or to watch for suicidal midgets hanging from the set (its a bird, btw)?

I guess time will tell. Even to a stone-hearted bastard like myself, The Wizard of Oz represents childhood and better times. But then, movies and television presentations were different when I was little. Its well known that Wizard didn't do terribly well in its first theatrical run, though it did better in re-release from the strength of the soundtrack. Its real success came from television airings and, later, VHS sales. But once, it was a big event to watch Wizard of Oz. It was played once a year on the network, in a time when VCRs were still pretty scarce. Much like Ten Commandments at Easter, it was something you looked forward to. I recall dropping my Star Wars figures and running into the living room to watch Wizard with my grandma. Screw whatever else you were doing, it was Wizard of Oz night. Does anything on TV now still hold that kind of power?

Well, we can hope that generations to come will recognize the craftsmanship of Oz. The Blu Ray is the pefect showcase to bring out all of the meticulous details that cast and crew worked so hard to create. Big music numbers with hundreds of extras, intricately textured make-up, and 90-foot tall backdrop paintings and sets. The setting may seem ridiculous, but the makers of the movie didn't seem to care. There's a lot of love and hard work put into this film, skill and craft that dwarfs a lot of current films. The interior of the Emerald city is made almost entirely of blown glass. Balls, that's impressive.

If there's any film to be associated with, you could do much worse than Wizard of Oz. And the state's embraced it with pride. There are Oz museums, parades, and merchandise all across the state. In fact, there was supposed to be an Oz amusement park built as well, something to rival Disney, but the ground chosen, near the DeSoto Munitions Plant, was found to be contaminated.

Just as Kansas defined Oz's bleak grey landscape, Oz then brought new color and life to the state, a bright new identity.

...Midgets...

External Linkage

Had a review for American Werewolf in Lodon go up at BrutalasHell.com. Check it here.

This Week in Pop, 9/27/2009

A few new movies this week, and you've already got my feelings on Pandorum, which appears to be the one to see this week. The runner-up is Surrogates, a movie with a cool premise that has a way to go before I can begin to reccommend it.

SURROGATES (2009)

On paper, Surrogates works. This only makes sense, as the movie is based on a graphic novel. But stories that work in comics don't usually work on film unless certain liberties are taken with the story. Only natural, its a different medium, with its own set of conventions and pacing.

While Surrogates swapped a few elements around from its comic predecessor, becoming more grounded, believable, and in many ways palatable, it also lost all of its imagination.

Stemming from the idea that prosthetic technology will one day become advanced enough to create a full robot controlled by human brainwaves, the movie supposes that our vanity and need for anonymity would cause people to hide themselves away from the real world, and forget what it was like to be truly human. Essentially, the whole world becomes an internet chatroom. In that world, there are all kinds of questions to be answered about the nature of individuality, the need for a fleshy physical body, or 'natural state', and about the possibility of stealing a person's identity in a much more complete manner.

Despite gasps by the general populace at the originality of this premise, its nothing new to the serious movie-goer or sci-fi buff. These very ideas were brought up in 1996's Ghost in the Shell anime where people use prosthetic bodies, and the greatest crime isn't murder, but identity theft, hacking peoples' cybernetic bodies to commit crime, or erasing the memories of those you've hacked. But hey, that was thirteen years ago, who cares if the premise has been done. Technology has evolved since then, and so have our perceptions of it. Surely, there's new concepts to explore in Surrogates, right?

Nope. Despite over a decade of technological development and creative think-time, there's almost no new ideas to be found here. How odd is it, in a world supposedly populated, publicly, by a population made of 98% synthetic people, to see those people carrying cell phones or using keypads and headsets, or looking through paper filing cabinets? Surely, those would be built right into the synthetic, right? I want to make a call, so my brain jacks into the nearest wi-fi unit and makes the call for me. I need to use the internet, ditto the wi-fi, and the cup info is projected over the vision of my computer eye-balls. My work files are available with a hard-wire jack port that loads into the back of my skull. Everything should be the speed of thought.

Not only is the production not this ballsy, its just not that thought out. 98% of the world's population carries out their job at any time using a synthetic. Yet the story would have me believe that all 7+ billion surrogates are controlled by a single computer in the hands of a single fat guy in the San Francisco Bay area? In the trailer, we see every surrogate on Earth collapse simultaneously. We're led to believe this results in no deaths or injuries as, 'its all just surrogates outside' right? Except all the planes in the air on the Earth are being piloted by surrogates. Every nuclear power plant is run entirely by surrogates. All those plane crashes and potential power plant meltdowns have to result in a death somewhere, right? A plane somewhere landed on a school, or a farmhouse, or something. Its just not well thought out.

Add to that some inexplicably bad acting (if the surrogates are supposed to talk like you, and be just like you, why do all the secondary characters talk like robots? I don't think those actors quite got the synopsis), plodding and dull action sequences, and the ridiculousness of Ving Rhames in a rasta wig, and you've got a movie that can only be described as disappointing. It was done better over a decade ago.

Bruce Willis, however, always a pleasure. Except, maybe, in Hudson Hawk.

The real tragedy this weekend is that so many decidedly average and forgettable movies have been taking the spotlight, while Paranormal Activity, being described over and over again as one of the scariest movies in forever, is on like 8 screens this weekend, after being held back by the studio for almost 2 years. 2 Years! Hollywood, do you just have something against releasing good movies? PA is getting nothing but positive reviews by people who pooped their pants at film festival screenings. Hunt down a showing, if you can.

While I'm waiting for that, I'm also stoked by House of the Devil, soon to be released by my new heroes Magnet Distribution. Somehow these guys keep finding great horror and foreign gems. Ong-Bak 2 is also theirs.

Anyway, thi

s one's by the same crew who did the fantastic The Signal (review soon on bthroughz.com), and its a tribute to 70's horror, this time. Check out that great retro poster. Another cool one popped up on BrutalasHell.com recently.

I managed to find the trailer for embed too, and I'll close this week's entry with that. Check it. Acting is a little off, but looks creepy, well put together and genuinely LOOKS like a film from the 70's, which was my favorite time for horror. Keep an eye on these guys.

Movie Sneak Peek: Pandorum

Last night, I managed to get out to a sneak preview of the new horror film Pandorum at The Rave here in Vegas.

September, like February, is a notoriously bad month for movies. Trapped somewhere between the Summer blockbusters and the Holiday family features, Hollywood throws out the movies that haven't done as well at test screening, or are generally hard to market. Not to say there aren't some gems, however.

This week features Surrogates, a sharp looking sci-fi feature starring Bruce Willis, which wasn't screened for critics but had a big media push, meaning studios expect one big weekend driven by Willis and then a slew of negative feedback to bomb all subsequent weeks. Fame also opens, and while it might do well for those who were dying for a remake of the 80's musical, I can't say I'm part of that demographic. Brief Interviews with Hideous Men also comes out on the indie scene, a film written and directed by John Krasinski of The Office.


For myself though, the one that raised the most eyebrows (and questions, thanks to its muddy ad campaign) was...




PANDORUM (2009)


Look at that poster, doesn't it just tell you everything you need to know about a movie? The other 4 one-sheets produced do no better.


Well, sometimes it IS better to walk blind into a movie, and for those bold and curious movie-goers, they'll find a film that is generally full of good scares and jumps, but has a little too much going on for its own good. Pandorum could have been a mini-series and filled about five hours with all the concepts it tries to explore.


The film takes place in the future in about 150 years, when the human race's population has grown to about 24 billion. Not unrealistic, seeing as IRL it has doubled in the last forty years. The ensuing resource shortages inspire Earth to build a vast cargo ship and send it into space to colonize a new planet. Good thing, too, as the first words spoken in the film are a final transmission from Earth. "You are all that is left of us. Good Luck, and Godspeed." Some catastrophe has destroyed Earth, and this ship has become the new Noah's Ark.

So, of course, everything gets fucked up.

Cut to an indeterminate amount of time later, Bower (Ben Foster) wakes from a prolonged hyper-sleep to discover that the ship is in terrible shape and probably on the verge of a reactor explosion. He, guided by Payton (Dennis Quaid), a CO trapped in a computer room for most of the film, has to get into the ship's belly in order to get the power back on and stop the ensuing explosion. Unfortunately, between him and the reactor is a swarm of nasty-looking monster things that have taken to booby-trapping the ship and eating the crew.



What ensues is two hours of tributes to various other science fiction movies. The ship design and its dark interiors are akin to Alien's Nostromo. The crew, constantly running for survival from the creature hunting parties, have become a Road Warrior band of rag-clad fighters wielding fantasy blades. The creatures themselves bear no small resemblance to the Orcs of Moria. The general plot, and the eventual reveal as to the identities of the creatures, is reminiscient of Robert Heinlein's story Orphans of the Sky.


Oh, and while all of this is going on, Bowers and Payton both fear that they might be suffering from Pandorum, known to Ren and Stimpy fans as SPACE MADNESS, a condition which tricks those who suffer from it to sabotage their own ship in order to escape its confines.

Pandorum is weak in a few regards, all stemming from its writing. Technically, the film is polished and proficient, and we'll come back to that. But the writing... oh, the devil is in the details, isn't it?

First off, you have to know or be into sci-fi to keep up with this movie. For me and many other genre fans, this is no problem. But if you're trying to get a wide audience, then when the show opens with Bowers and Payton talking about warp core break-downs and particle accelerators and vector correction and blah, blah, blah you've just lost everyone who isn't into Star Trek. So, if you're looking for a good horror flick to bring a date to, this isn't the one.

Secondly, the movie has at least one concept too many. It starts simply and effectively, with a great horror element, and builds perhaps too quickly. Bowers wakes up on a derelict ship, got it. Oh shit, there are monsters, okay. Oh, and the other crew members are fighting for food. Oh, and there's space madness, here's a brief history of that. Oh and the ship is going to explode. And you have to protect this huge ark of genetic material. And there's a mystery about where the monsters come from. And one of the crew members may just be an illusion. And there's a mystery about Bowers' wife. And there's this whole thematic thing about there beign no morality in space. Here's some more crazy space-madness fighting. Hey, we're all pumped full of genetic-enhancement sauce and evolve crazy fast, weird. And no one knows how long the ship's been flying itself, there are no stars, and everyone's lost.

Now, I'm always down for a complex story. But it just seems like none of the concepts really had time to simmer, as about every concept from every space story Heinlein or Ellison ever cooked up made some sort of appearance.

Lastly, it gets kind of silly at some points. Design in the movie is generally good, but why did the ship survivors all make knives from scrap that look like Klingon war blades? Did you know that if you're a farmer or a biological egineer, and you're trapped on a ship for a few months, you develop ninja-like flipping, fighting, and rope trick powers? Its takes two hours to get down to the reactor when its going to explode, but about 30 seconds to get back to the bridge when its no longer a plot point. And, for me, the whole thing came apart when they introduced the Deus Ex Machina of The Cook. The Cook is the old black chef who as been out of hyper-sleep for years, wandering the ship. He's crazy, and speaks in rhymes and riddles (I hate when writers do that. I'm not sure which I hate more, harlequinn rhyming characters, or obligatory twins), and somehow knows everything that happened on the ship years and years and years ago, despite being a COOK and probably having no access to any sort of records. Other than why he knows everything every other character doesn't, he'll explain everything to the crew in big blocks of sing-songy exposition.

Despite my complaints, I liked Pandorum. Didn't love it, but enjoyed it. And the audience I was with did too, there were some applause during a particularly brutal fight between the ninja-farmers and a Moria Orc.

Its well directed. This is Christian Alvart's first major US release, and he's put together a very slick-looking, dark and creepy movie. Especially at the start of the movie, where atmosphere is most critical, he's done an expert job of making the ship feel cramped, dark, and uncomfortable. Bower's trip through the pipe-lines of the ship feels truly claustrophobic, even to the audience. And when the Orcs come out to play, the cuts come fast, the sound is tremendously loud and unsettling. The audience gets drawn in. Off to a great start.



You could almost play a drinking game to Pandorum, one shot every time Bowers gets knocked down or falls down. He hits the ground probably 20 times. Regardless of his time spent lying prone, Ben Foster puts in a great performance, and I'm glad to see him finally take the lead in a movie. Don't listen to the poster, this is Ben's movie, not Dennis'. After Foster's turn as the 2nd in command crazy from 3:10 to Yuma, it seemed only a matter of time before he got tested in a leading role, and he comes through admirably. Veteran Quaid does come through as well, having saved all his acting for this movie, it seems, as it was definitely missing from GI Joe.



Pandorum, ultimately, is a great looking sci-fi horror film that doesn't hold back at any point. Its gory when it needs to be, fast-paced, its sounds are intense and jarring, with a decent score. The writing could have used a bit of a tweak, or else it could have used another hour in a director's cut to really explore all of its themes. But, if you're a fan of sci-fi, and you're no stranger to the genre and its conventions, then you'll have no problem weaving your way through the complexities of this story, and undoubtedly you'll find a lot to enjoy.