Drive (2011)

One more from SDCC.

Drive is the newest film from Nicolas Winding Refn, director of the awesome  Bronson (about Charles Bronson the British convict, not the actor), and soon to be helming the remake of Logan's Run. It features Ryan Gosling, who seems to be all over the place lately, Carey Mulligan, and Ron Perlman, along with a whole cast full of great actors in secondary parts.

Drive is about a movie stunt driver (Gosling) who, until now, I hadn't noticed is never named in the film. Hmm... well, anyway, he uses his driving skills to pull off heists for criminals. His system is that he is responsible for the safety of the crew for the five minutes immediately following the heist, during the getaway. Anything before or after is solely on them. To that point, he's never been out-driven, his crew always getting from A to B safely.

However, despite the excitement of crime and stunt driving, Driver's life is empty. His apartment is plain, his nights quiet and alone, his day job isolating. This all changes when he meets, literally, the girl next door. Irene (Carey Mulligan) is a young mom who's husband is in jail. Driver helps her out while hubby is in the slammer, and soon the two have developed a deep affection for each other, if not a relationship. When hubby gets out, he tries to reform, but his old gang isn't hearing it. Driver wants nothing more than to keep Irene and her kid safe, and takes on the responsibility of getting hubby out of hot water with his old gang.

Of course, that's when things get complicated...



Sometimes you get treated with a movie that's full of awesome stuff that you somehow haven't heard a damn thing about. Sadly, it means that the studio probably just isn't promoting the thing, but hey, bonus for me.

Anyway, went to the theater knowing nothing about this flick, my roommate suggested I go after seeing a clip for it at a panel earlier in the day. In the lobby I was grabbing popcorn, and happened to run across the cast and director who were coming in to introduce the show. Great bunch of people, very friendly. Mulligan and Perlman are both very, very quiet. Its almost off-putting. But, hey, they seem modest and polite, can't complain about that.

Socializing aside, I enjoyed watching this flick. Drive opens with an incredibly intense heist sequence that doesn't for a moment feel far-fetched or reaching. The Driver sets his watch and waits patiently while his clients knock off their target. The seconds tick by as client #2 gets held up inside grabbing the cash. As he finally reaches the car, the police scanner alerts them that the cops are in the area, and their car has been tagged as a vehicle of interest. The Driver's got five minutes to outrun, out think, and generally hide from the cops, on the streets and in the air, the tension never letting up. Engines blast through the speakers, as an idiosyncratic Atari-Fire-like score and credits written in 80's-style pink text chop up the style.  By the time the job is done, I couldn't help but find myself rooting for our silent, bad assed protagonist, the perfect opening.

The rest of the film is actually very slow by comparison, a long, tense character drama, it focuses on the relationship between the Driver and Irene, and the development of the Driver's sense of self, his goals, and a bit of heroism to boot. The scenes are all incredibly well directed, with some very unique styles making a story that has familiar beats feel very new. The drama is broken apart, at times, by stunningly violent, visceral action sequences, sure to make some wince.

My one complaint with the otherwise awesome film? A sheer lack of dialog. Now, I'm glad the film isn't exposition heavy, and it does at least avoid many movie cliches by skipping past the dialog, but those interactions between characters are still there, and those moments aren't filled with any sort of action. What results is a movie where most character interactions are simply two people on either side of the screen, staring at each other for painfully long moments.

Used sparingly, this could have been considered brilliant. "Oh, look at how much they convey just by looking at each other." But Drive uses this slow, plodding communication so much that by the end of the film its simply an exercise in self-parody.

"Would you like some water?"
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"Sure."
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"So, who's that?"
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"My husband.......................................................................he's in jail."
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"Oh............................................................I gotta go."
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"Sure. Well thanks."
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"Yeah...................................................................................thanks for the water. Later."

I'm really not exaggerating. That's a real conversation from the movie, and it takes about five or six minutes to get there, I swear to God.

A few others I pulled into the theater with me found the long, plodding line delivery grating, and spent the rest of the night mimicking it by staring at each other and refusing to answer each others' questions at dinner afterward. Others found the extremity of the violence hard to match up with the subtle-beyond-reason performances of the drama.  So, there may be some complaints.

But, hey, you've been warned. So far, most have been blown away by Drive, at film fests and such, and while I do try to avoid hyperbole, I can say its a quality flick with a lot of interesting bits, and I recommend it to ya.

Griff the Invisible

At SDCC this year, I got the chance to preview Griff the Inivisible, a little indy film, the first from director Leon Ford.

Super, Special, Paper Man, there have been many indy superhero movies of late, trying to examine the psychology of the hero, and likely, ride the wave of hero-movie popularity. The latest among these is Griff the Invisible, which differs from the others on this list in that it lacks most of the melancholy they contain.

Griff is a young man living alone in the city, a city which he prowls through at night, fighting crime. He has a powerful fighting suit, a great martial prowess, a crime lab, and a hotline direct to the mayor... or does he? Griff also has a new job where he is tormented by co-workers, a history of losing jobs to his daydreaming nature, and a bit of a checkered past.

Griff's newest challenge comes not in the form of a super-villain, but from a young woman. Griff's just an ordinary guy trying to fight crime, believing he has super powers, and when he meets a young woman who shares his beliefs, his world takes a startling turn.

The two of them battle against their most hated foe, banality.

This is a pretty good film, one finished last year, and probably only seeing release thanks to the young star, Ryan Kwanten of True Blood fame. He plays a dramatically different character, the sheepish Griff, afraid of everything in life. His neighborhood, his job; and his one relief from the torment is his time in costume, behind his mask, battling against rabble in the neighborhood.

The characters are all weird and delightful, quirky like so many other indy casts. They really pull it off, though, the love story is bizarre and sweet. I don't use the word often, but, this movie is cute.

Definitely check this one out if it comes your way. A good date movie for superhero fans.

Cowboys and Aliens

I got a chance to check out Cowboys and Aliens at the press screening at Las Vegas's Rave theater tonight (and thanks to my buddy Roland for the hook-up on that one. I totally missed out on registering for passes thanks to SDCC).

Happy to report that its pretty good.

The story is easy to surmise from the trailer. Jake (Daniel Craig), wakes up in the desert with amnesia, and a strange metal device strapped to his wrist. After taking out a small band of bounty hunters, Jake steals their gear and wanders back into town, only to find he's a wanted man, and Dolarhyde (Harrison Ford), a rich, mean, retired military man, wants the gold he had stashed on the train that Jake robbed. The two powerful men are the center of a conflict in town, fists flying and guns drawn, when...

Aliens attack.

In a turnabout that makes me wish I'd never seen the trailer and didn't know the name of the movie, aliens come from nowhere and abduct about half the town, taking them off to some secret base for experimentation. During the scuffle, the mysterious bracelet Jake has on his arm activates, and he's able to shoot down one of the alien spacecraft. The humans have a fighting chance, at least.

Luckily, the bracelet seems to not only shoot big lasers, but also produce plot contrivances, as the aliens only take the weakest members of the town. All the remaining gun-toting badasses form a posse and hunt down the space-faring varmints. Jake tags along, hoping to recover his lost memory.

So, yeah, the movie was a lot of fun. There wasn't a lot of originality to be had, other than the really unusual genre mash-up. The story is more Western than Sci-fi, with all of the protagonists coming from a Western world. And within that world, we cover just about every Western trope you could imagine. Because of that, the story is rather predictable. "Hey, Harrison Ford hates Indians. What do you bet we'll see him working together with those Indians to save the day later?", Indian ambushes, bandits, shoot-outs. All that's really missing is a duel at high noon and you'd pretty much have every event western ever trapped in this film.

While the film is predictable, its also very comfortable, and funny when it remembers to poke some self-aware humor at itself.

So, while nothing 'new' in terms of characters or events, we do have a pretty unique mix of movie elements here, and all of those elements are done very well. You've got all the ingredients of a solid traditional western here, and you've got some basic sci-fi, and Favreau does service to both genres, compiling great action scenes, some witty banter, and a decent score.

What could have been a complete goof-fest, however, is really pulled through by a strong cast. Daniel Craig is great as the perpetually dirty tough-guy, and Harrison Ford is wonderful as ever. Its great to see one of my all-time favorites in a movie that doesn't make me want to stab my eyes out; Harrison, I've missed you. The supporting cast are wonderful as well, a huge upgrade from the throwaway extras of most movies. Sam Rockwell, Clancy Brown, Paul Dano, Abigail Spencer, they all flesh out the town, and make the absolute most of their roles. Favreau really cashed in those Iron Man chips to get a cast full of people who have lead films before as his extras. Plus, that drunk guy who's taking a shit early on in the film is none other than Artie, the strongest man in the world, of Pete & Pete fame. 

So, its not perfect. The story is pretty paint by numbers and has few surprises. In a film like this, though, I really don't need a lot of new character elements or meta-textual writing. I just need cowboys doing cowboy stuff to aliens. Hey, do we see some aliens get lassoed and maybe have Indian spears chucked through their chest? Yeah? Awesome!

Popcorn movie extraordinaire. If you want some lighthearted fun, Cowboys and Aliens is offering it up. And unlike this summer's other big popcorn movie, it doesn't open with over an hour of Shia LaBeouf trying to get a job. A vast improvement.

The Dire Digest Cometh. Looking for Backers.

Heeeeeey kids! PMP Productions is looking for some finishing funds while we put together some of the more FX intensive scenes in our new anthology horror.

If you're interested in donating to the cause, gaining some Producer credit, and helping along an awesome movie, click on over to Kickstarter to pledge!

Have you had a look at your Padinga lately?

Hey. Wow. Its been forever since I've posted in this thing. Like 2 months or so.

Well, let me tell you, I've hardly been resting on my laurels.
...maybe just a bit...

Its convention season, and already I've been tearing it up around here. I finished a short shoot in Portland, a script to shoot with Vegaswood Studios, and PMP Productions about to shoot in August, another part of the Dire Digest. PMP also just received an award for Affection/Affectation from last week's Las Vegas Film Fest. This week I'm at the San Diego Comicon, diving head-first into the creative community.

My writing time was basically split, however, between the script (which you can't yet enjoy the fruits of) and Padinga.com. For Padinga, we went to E3, covered the living shit out of that convention, and also established a weekly writing schedule, so you've got new content every day.

Check HERE for all the E3 goodies collected in one spot. Its a pretty comprehensive guide to all the good stuff coming out this upcoming year.

On the front page, you'll find new articles every day, so keep coming back!