More food movies this week. The ridiculous Woman on Top seems to take place in an alternate universe cause I don’t understand any of the characters or their actions and behavior. Tortilla Soup is a passable remake of the excellent Eat Drink Man Woman. Waitress is charming and Ratatouille once again demonstrates that the people at Pixar are master storytellers. Step Up 3D also takes place in an alternate universe where people “dance battle”, but it is fun to watch for some amazing dance choreography.
Salt – Written by Kurt Wimmer. Current revisions by Brian Helgeland. Jan. 19, 2009.
Whip It – Screenplay by Shauna Cross. Based on her novel.
Films
Solitary Man
Solitary Man (written by Brian Koppelman, and direct by Koppelman and David Levien) is a great character study of a sleazy character. It’s a character almost tailor made for Michael Douglas who has a knack of making unpleasant characters watchable. I can’t wait to see Wall Street 2.
Dick
Dick is one of the most imaginative, funny and smartly written teen movies I have seen in a long time. The fact that it is a teen movie set against one of the biggest political scandals is clever (and daring) enough. The two actresses (Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams) play dizzy brilliantly. Dan Hedaya plays a hilarious Nixon.
Ne te retourne pas (Don't Look Back)
Kudos to a fresh and daring execution of a tried concept. Ne te retourne pas (Don’t Look Back) features two of the most beautiful European actresses, which is reason enough to see it. It is more of an experiment, which means that there are flaws. But there is enough intrigue in the set up to last most of the 110 mins. The score and some of the atmospheric shots , however, maybe a bit overdone and forced.
Diner
I really like the natural dialog in Diner. Barry Levinson’s now iconic first film is a slice of life ensemble piece, which is always difficult to pull off. Hollywood is usually more at ease with a single protagonist because they like to believe that average viewers would have a hard time following more than one main character. Come on viewers, let’s show Hollywood we’re smart enough!
The Secret of Kells
The Secret of Kells was nominated for an Oscar in the animation category, but it was up against some stiff competition (Pixar pretty much owns the category). The film has some gorgeous and inventive 2D graphics, which is very different from the computer generated animation we see in most films today. The story and characters are a bit underdeveloped, perhaps due to the the short 75mins running time.
Ip Man 2
Despite its cliché superhero (and a bland one at that) formula, the first Ip Man was enjoyable for its accurate (well, a bit more than your average martial arts film anyway) depiction of the Wing Chun style of martial art. This sequel has an even more flawed plot, more forced conflicts and shameless and simpleminded patriotism, but without the authentic martial arts.
2012
2012 was so long that I was pleasantly surprised that it’s still 2010 when I finished it. I actually finished reading a screenplay while watching it. Every once in a while, a pretty cool destruction of Earth scene would make me look up and go whoa, but the ”story” part of the movie is still dreadful. Not that I was expecting anything better from the maker of Independence Day and Godzilla.
Screenplays:
Salt - Written by Kurt Wimmer
This version of the script (January 16, 2009) is still a draft and is still quite different from the movie. The protagonist in the final version is better defined. I like reading this kind of “action” script just to learn the rhythm of writing actions scenes.
Whip It - Screenplay by Shauna Cross
I really enjoyed Whip It the movie. The script is written by Shauna Cross, adapted from her own novel. This draft is quite close to the movie version. Now I want to read her book.
The Losers – Screenplay by Peter Berg. Revision by James Vanderbilt. Based on the comic created by Andy Diggle and Jock. Feb., 2007.
The Crazies – Screenplay by Scott Kosar. Revisions by Ray Wright. Based on the film by George Romero. Draft: 20, Feb., 2007.
The Ghost (aka The Ghost Writer) – Screenplay by Robert Harris and Roman Polanski. Based on the novel by Robert Harris. Draft: 26, Feb., 2008.
Films:
The Crazies (2010)
The Crazies (a remake of the 1973 George A. Romero film of the same name) is a terrific B-movie, which means that it is a genre film with a simple premise delivered creatively. It doesn’t rely on gore (well, much less than an average modern horror movie anyway) or cheap gimmicks to effectively create a tense and scary atmosphere. It gets the job done.
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
With an unbroken streak of critical and commercial hits, and an organizational culture that lets creativity flourish, it is fair to say that Pixar Studio is one of the most admire companies in the world. And it all started with Toy Story. While their ahead-of-its-time animation should be rightly lauded, the biggest strength of any Pixar movie is always its storytelling. Their non-human characters have more humanity than most human characters in most films.
Toy Story was Pixar’s first feature film, in which they were just forming their visual and narrative style. It’s a fantastic film, but it was just a warm up act. Because as good as Toy Story is, Toy Story 2 is even better. A lot better in almost every way. And then comes Toy Story 3. It may not have surpassed Toy Story 2 (I wasn’t sure about the prison war part in the middle, but when the 3rd act kicks into gear, I was completely gripped and moved) but it provides a very satisfying conclusion to an incredible trilogy.
Inception
Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite filmmakers today (and The Prestige is my favorite Nolan film). His Inception is hailed as an instant masterpiece by many people (btw, how many “instant classics” have actually stood the test of time?). I hugely admire the construction of the narrative, especially when all four levels of different space and time are going on at the same time, it’s an ingenious piece of story engineering. However, I can’t say the same for the content of the story or the characters. Inception engages me on an intellectual level but not nearly as much on an emotional level. The supporting characters are all underwritten. The gun fight/action scenes do not match up to the originality of the story (for example, the first Matrix is groundbreaking in both visual and concept). Though I complain, I still like the film very much. It may not be an instant classic, but the filmmaker’s desire to do something different should be applauded.
Hausu (aka House)
I am not sure what Nobuhiko Obayashi was smoking when he made Hausu, but he’s made one of the most innovative films I have ever seen. It’s not necessarily a great film (in fact, the story is all over the place and there are many other flaws in a traditional sense), but Obayashi almost invented a new language of film in the ways he plays with visual effects and genres. It’s like giving a special effects machine to a kid who is determined to try every single effect. I dare not look away from the screen, as I was afraid I might miss some cool.
La fille coupée en deux (The Girl Cut in Two)
Claude Chabrol, the French master of cool suspense, again shows his assured craft in this tale of a triangular romance. As with most of his other films, what appears to be lust, passion and romance turns into something more dangerous and sinister. He understands the art of “not showing”, and by not showing us some of what’s going on, he keeps us guessing, off-balance and curious all the way.
Fargo
Fargo is close to being perfect in every way. Like the best Coen Brothers films, there is a sense of suspense and menace in almost every scene. I like that not everything is explained, or even directly relevant to the immediate story, e.g. her pregnancy or her old classmate. This makes the world authentic, and the characters real and unpredictable.
Screenplays:
The Losers - Screenplay by Peter Berg.
This draft of The Losers is quite different from the movie. The movie eliminates many of the exposition scenes in the script and increases the pace of the story, which is a smart move as this type of movie really should move along briskly.
The Crazies
What I liked about the movie version of The Crazies that is not in this draft of the script is the opening and closing government satellite shots. It’s a simple and effective way to establish the facelessness and the cold-bloodness of the military. While this draft is already quite good, I have to say the changes made in the movie are all for the better.
The Ghost - Screenplay by Robert Harris and Roman Polanski
I am very interested in the novel to screenplay adaptation process, and I feel that The Ghost would be a great case study as the novelist co-adapts his own novel with the director in this case.
Trucker begins with such promise – A short opening scene of Michelle Monaghan’s character having a one night stand sets up an intriguing character by efficiently establishing her disdain of relationships. Who is she? Why is she a trucker? Why is she scared of commitment? Unfortunately, we never really find out because the movie goes downhill fast soon after her kid shows up (around the 10 min mark – the inciting event). The mother/son scenes are never convincing, especially the on-the-nose dialogue out of the kid’s mouth. I’d like to get to know more about her (without the kid). In the end, I found myself rooting for her to ditch the kid. On a fashion note, Ms. Monaghan looks very trucker chic.
The Princess and the Frog
The Princess and the Frog is a typical Disney fare, which is actually a compliment. The music is nice. There are some colorful sequences. It’s a decent family movie that doesn’t take any big risks, which is exactly the kind that parents like to take their kids to.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginairum of Doctor Parnassus is all over the place narratively. But that’s kind of expected of a Gilliam film. Heath Ledger passed away in the middle of filming, so Gilliam rewrote it and we now have Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell playing the Ledger character in the imaginary world. That’s not the confusing part, in fact I think it actually works out quite well. Colin Farrell has the most substantial part and steals the movie. The confusing part is the rest of the movie, where it’s quite obvious that more attention was paid to creating the CGI than to developing the story.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a remake of a 1934 film of the same name.
What I really like about The Man Who Knew Too Much is the interactions between the husband (James Stewart) and wife (Doris Day). It is great writing that the couple’s actions and reactions to each other supply so much backstory – about their relationship, about perhaps even problems or arguments in the past – without ever directly mentioning any of it.
Our Man Flint
Derek Flint is the original “International Man of Mystery”, and James Coburn plays the character absolutely straight, which is exactly the correct approach to this absurdly funny satire of spy movies.
Our Man Flint has inspired numerous other spy parodies, most notably the Austin Powers series, which uses the exact distinctive ringtone of the “presidential hotline” telephone.
Australia
I’ve to admit I tend to be quite forgiving with any film that has Nicole Kidman in it. That being said, Australia is a mess. There are just too many stories to form a cohesive narrative. Director Baz Luhrmann tries a bit too hard to make an epic in the vein of Titanic. I think he tries too hard to please too broad a spectrum of viewers. As a result, it’s a melodrama full of cliché characters. Sure, the Outback scenery is amazing to look at, and with all those aerial shots, they look almost too unreal and too overwhelming, like they’re computer generated graphics. Luhrmann uses the same approach to shooting his two beautiful leads. At times, they look like they are in a Vanity Fair photo shoot. When they’re in one of the many slow-motion running scenes, they remind me of those Lurhamnn directed Chanel commercials.
Ponyo
Inspired by Han Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, Ponyo is a delightful film. The story has a magical quality to it. Miyazaki still refuses to use computer animation, so he and his team at Studio Ghibli hand drew every frame of this dreamlike, and at times trippy film. It’s a feast for the eyes.
It’s a mystery to me why Ponyo wasn’t nominated for an Oscar in the animation category. Up (this year’s winner) is a very good film, but even those guys at Pixar practically worship Hayao Miyazaki.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
The first 2 acts of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are uninspiring. Most of the jokes do not really work for me. Eating food fallen from the sky just isn’t that appetizing. But the surreal 3rd act, where everything that the first two acts set up manages to come together, saves the movie. The scene with the chickens, and the one with the gummy bears are the highlights of this otherwise rather lame animation feature.
Book:
A Single Man (1964) - A novel by Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood’s A Single Man is an intriguing account of a day in the life of a college professor who has a lost his partner a few months ago. He makes connections with different people throughout the day, but none could fill his void. Isherwood’s prose is poetic, subtle, and vibrant; the ending enigmatic. A beautiful piece of literary work.
