Tag: Movies

Rango

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

I thought that trailers for kid’s CG movies was something that I was completely immune to, but all of the trailers for Rango have completely charmed me. I love just about everything that Johnny Depp is in, but I don’t think he’s distinguished himself as a voice actor. Part of the fun of watching him is the different physicalities that he brings to every role*.

It also might be that it reminds me of a childhood standby, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

*though the only other voice acting movie I can think of is Corpse Bride.

Inception

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

I saw Inception at a midnight showing, and really liked it. I really enjoy the way that Christopher Nolan puts together a script as a writer, and the way that he emphasizes narrative structure as a director. He’s very good at creating stylized realities, whether that’s the grimy 19th century cities of The Prestige, the run down bleakness of Nowheresville, CA in Memento, or the logical unconscious of Inception. Rarely do the conflicts of the characters make his movies compelling to me; I’m much more hooked by the construction of the plot and the puzzle.

That perspective has made the critical dialogue around Inception very interesting to me. Two of the reviews that are drawing a lot of attention are David Edelstein’s review for NPR and A.O. Scott’s for the NYT. Edelstein is directly negative, calling it “lumbering and humorless and pretentious, with a drag of a hero.” Scott’s review is not negative, but makes a distinction between Nolan’s blockbusters and the arthouse movies that they get confused with.

I’m with Scott on this one. A movie that I’ve been mulling over recently is Tarkovsky’s Solaris. It was filmed before there were such things as blockbusters, but it was a big budget movie that matched interesting visual effects with heady dialogue, and presumed a curious and adult audience. Solaris and Inception couldn’t be more different. Solaris is not so ideological that any one character clearly speaks for the filmmaker, however ideas are given a gravity that conveys to the audience that they are important, and they are spoken with conviction. Inception has the trappings of an ideas movie–what could be more high concept than questioning the nature of reality itself?–but really just uses these as dressings for a much more conventional and familiar story.

This is not a bad thing. Christopher Nolan’s films are extremely well crafted, and he knows how to manipulate an audience into having a good time. He’s managed the trick of having a mainstream career with arthouse cred.

Not every movie needs to have a “message,” and not every director needs to work with big ideas. But I would like to see a Christopher Nolan movie with an idea or a perspective to match his strengths in plotting and production design. I don’t need for movies to be ideological, but I do like to get a sense for what the director or screenwriter thinks are important issues or how they see the world. Nolan has made many good movies, but he’s a cipher. He’s proven that he can fluidly transmit complex settings and situations, and he’s proven that he can work with big themes in a way that adds to a plot without obstructing it. Now I’d like for him to use those talents to say something.

Black Snake Moan

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

  • Black Snake Moan (2006). Dir. Craig Brewer, with Christina Ricci and Samuel L. Jackson.
  • This movie is for: people interested in a vibrantly colored, delightfully weird take on the Southern Gothic.
  • This movie is not for: anybody, and I mean anybody, that is uncomfortable with sleaze. Or is uncomfortable with a plot that centers around the reformation of a disease-ridden nymphomaniac. Or anybody that doesn’t like movies that sensationalize domestic violence, racism, and child abuse for entertainment.

Quick plot summary: Samuel L. Jackson is an old blues man who hasn’t played in public for many years. His wife is in the process of separating from him, and things are kind of at a low point. Christina Ricci is a nymphomaniac that’s fucked just about everybody in the shitty small town where she lives. Justin Timberlake is a soldier that’s been in love with Ricci forever, but has anxiety issues. Ricci turns down Timberlake’s best friend, who’s a big douche, and he beats the shit out of her and dumps her on the road near Jackson’s house. Jackson nurses her to health, and chains her to the radiator while he tries to get her “demon” out. Then some Hollywood bullshit about them healing each other happens.

There are many reasons not to like this movie. Even now, I’m conflicted by how good it is and how bad it is at the same time. It’s a movie that exists in its own universe, and behaves by its own laws. You have to look at it like a Tarantino movie: you have to accept that it’s valid to think that a movie is good, while rejecting the juvenile mindset of its director and some of its sequences. Tarantino movies are so interesting, even threatening, because they’re good. If they were shitty, we’d either watch them because they’re so-bad-it’s-good, or we’d dismiss them entirely. Instead, we’re forced to be a little more nuanced.

Because it’s more fun, let’s start with the bad. First off, almost all of the elements are presented in a sleazy, exploitative manner. Revelations about child sexual abuse are tossed around as plot elements, the version of the South presented is a grab-bag of backward Southerner cliches, the director/production designer revels in presenting an unvarnished and grotesque look for their characters. Christina Ricci’s character is pushed around by everyone: her “solution” to her nymphomania is a symbolic gold chain that she uses to restrain herself and remind her of the time spent chained to Sam Jackson’s radiator. Enlightened sexual politics, it ain’t. It’s a movie that takes an unashamedly backwards look at some of the things (race, gender, disability) that we’ve tried to become more enlightened about–a movie that tries to push political-correctness buttons. Depending on how much of a stake you have in those issues, this movie goes from great fun to unbearable.

There’s an equal amount of good. These days, Samuel L. Jackson specializes in performances that range from known quantity to self-parody, and yet he’s really good in this movie–self-referential “motherfuckers” notwithstanding. As regressive as Christina Ricci’s character is, she puts everything in the role, and manages to put a little class into a decidedly un-classy role and movie. The soundtrack, and the way that the music is incorporated into the music, is first-rate, using blues music as old-time music was in O Brother, Where Art Thou?. The movie is slick and stylish in all the right ways. Jackson’s and Ricci’s relationship is beyond fucked up, but their dynamic at the end of the movie is touching, and weirdly sincere. The whole thing kind of works.

I was talking about the movie to one of my oldest movie watching partners, and he said that he’s always been curious about the movie, but has always felt too embarrassed to check it out from a video store or Redbox. That’s kind of the space that the movie operates in. There  are some people that are never going to enjoy this movie, but if you give it a shot, it just might surprise you.

John Waters – This Filthy World

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

  • This Filthy World (2007) With: John Waters. Directed by Jeff Garlin.
  • This movie is for: Lovers of filth, people who enjoy a good yarn, fans of Waters’ films. Those who love bad films, and those who hate film clubs that show Star Wars.
  • This movie is not for: People who are squeamish, people who don’t like profanity or frank discussions of piss, shit, and come, those who know Waters only from Hairspray.

A couple nights ago, I revisited one of my favorite movies, This Filthy World. It’s not a movie in the conventional sense; it’s basically a stand-up concert film from a tour of colleges and theaters that Waters did 5ish years ago. It’s ostensibly a lecture about Waters’ films–and he does talk about them–but has an element of theater (it has a set) and meanders like stand-up comedy.

I would imagine that this film is only entertaining if one of these things are true: you love John Waters’ movies and are interested in hearing about his influences, his early films, and what it was like working with Divine; or you revel in filth, love hearing people talk about filthy things, and laugh out loud at the idea of “a watery load from Michael Jackson’s flaccid, polka-dotted dick.” Or both.

Billy Elliot

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

I was rewatching Billy Elliot last night. It’s one of my favorites. Michael’s call to Billy as he tries to catch him before Billy goes off to dancing school, “Oy! Dancin’ boy!” might be the most romatic line in the history of cinema.

Which probably says more about me than the history of cinema. Also, I love that the above image of Michael is from http://www.joyofcrossdressing.com.