American Hustle's charms are numerous, from lavish comb-overs and 70's Cadillacs to striving DA's and con artists. Everyone's on the make, highborn or low. The actors seem to be having so much fun, I wanted to throw on some polyester and join them. That's the good and the bad. The movie is fun, but ultimately you remember the wigs, not the plot. David Russell's film makes a halfhearted point about American's striving and hubris, but it doesn't commit. The mood is too frothy for pathos or satire and you're left just chuckling at the clothes and the shenanigans.
And the acting. Christian Bale's pudgy Bronx conman in wide lapels and cravat is sumptuous, as is Jennifer Lawrence as his hot, layabout, drama queen wife. Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper have nice turns, but I particularly like Jeremy Renner's big hearted Mayor of Camden. The comedian Louis CK plays the only seemingly normal character in the film and is cudgeled for his trouble.
One thing that's beginning to irritate me about Russell's films, at least this one and The Fighter, is a tendency to be voyeuristically looking at lower-middle and middle class characters. Almost as if the director were winking at us as we laugh at the poor striving schmucks. It's less of a problem here because the mood is so light, but I found it deeply unpleasant in The Fighter.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Blind Detective
Yippee Ki Yay for the 14th San Diego Asian Film Festival. An awesome variety of styles and content stretching from the Phillipines to India.
Film trailers often, and often purposefully, obscure the nature of a film by cherry picking the best scenes. The trailer for Blind Detective describes a straightforward thriller, but this mad concoction comes from Hong Kong where they excel at mashing genres. Sharply directed by Hong Kong mainstay Johnny To, Blind Detective delivers an irresistible hybrid of slapstick, screwball comedy, thriller and supernatural mystery. The closest thing in Hollywood are tongue-in-cheek Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis films, but those offer an anemic version of Hong Kong flavor for US cineplex audiences. Blind Detective takes delight in it's sharp turns of tone, contrasting ghostly flashbacks with romantic bickering, interspersed with slapstick and real bloodletting.
While both leads are superb, Sammi Cheng, as a kung fu-fighting, lovestruck Dr. Watson to the eponymous Blind Detective (Andy Lau) constantly amazes with lightning-quick changes between melodrama, comedy and outright tomfoolery. A lovely, bemused sense of humor hovers over the film and the writing crew is due credit for the wit and restraint, as is the masterly direction. Oddly, the cinematography varies from excellent interiors to some drab location shooting. A tiny bit long at 150 minutes, Blind Detective is still wildly entertaining and much of that credit is due the editor.
If Hong Kong filmmaking in all it's riot of fusion appeals to you, you'll savor Blind Detective.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
The Counselor
First, a disclaimer. I viewed this film under duress, not as a first on my list. Hope to put up something more interesting soon. SD Asian Film Festival begins early in November and includes the promising Hong Kong thriller Blind Detective.
The script for The Counselor is direct from Cormac McCarthy and many of the tropes from No Country For Old Men resurface. Fate and Greed trudge mercilessly through the film. I guess No Country worked because McCarthy wrote the book, but the Coens wrote the script and the pretensions were minimized. The Counselor is sharp in fits, but the rhythm stutters badly as the actors choke on portentous sawdust. I'm also going to mark McCarthy an old school sexist, whose female characters hew to the virginal or the viperous. Cameron Diaz, wearing overtly sinister makeup, gets the unpleasant task of embodying the highly sexual and (coincidentally) scheming female lead. Javier Bardem as a mellow, reflective drug dealer achieves the only human, and humorous characterization in the film. Michael Fassbender is sadly wasted. Wait for Netflix and then be sure to be multitasking.
The script for The Counselor is direct from Cormac McCarthy and many of the tropes from No Country For Old Men resurface. Fate and Greed trudge mercilessly through the film. I guess No Country worked because McCarthy wrote the book, but the Coens wrote the script and the pretensions were minimized. The Counselor is sharp in fits, but the rhythm stutters badly as the actors choke on portentous sawdust. I'm also going to mark McCarthy an old school sexist, whose female characters hew to the virginal or the viperous. Cameron Diaz, wearing overtly sinister makeup, gets the unpleasant task of embodying the highly sexual and (coincidentally) scheming female lead. Javier Bardem as a mellow, reflective drug dealer achieves the only human, and humorous characterization in the film. Michael Fassbender is sadly wasted. Wait for Netflix and then be sure to be multitasking.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Moonrise Kingdom
I always want to like Wes Anderson's films. And there are often aspects that I appreciate. The humor is dry, the mis-en-scene is lovingly detailed. But those aspects are also part of the problem. The films are often crafted into oblivion and the detached tone of the films can turn stale. You almost root for someone to flub a line or break character. One positive is the performances he elicits. Here Bruce Willis plays nicely against type as a weak-kneed policeman and Edward Norton does a nice turn as Boy Scout leader. There are funny, absurdist moments, but I ended up exhausted by the effort of trying to like a film that's overdetermined. It's a whimsical film without whimsy.
I always want to like Wes Anderson's films. And there are often aspects that I appreciate. The humor is dry, the mis-en-scene is lovingly detailed. But those aspects are also part of the problem. The films are often crafted into oblivion and the detached tone of the films can turn stale. You almost root for someone to flub a line or break character. One positive is the performances he elicits. Here Bruce Willis plays nicely against type as a weak-kneed policeman and Edward Norton does a nice turn as Boy Scout leader. There are funny, absurdist moments, but I ended up exhausted by the effort of trying to like a film that's overdetermined. It's a whimsical film without whimsy.
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Prometheus
How does Ridley Scott fall so short of the mark set by Alien?
The original was written by Dan O'Bannon, who also wrote Total Recall, and it featured a gritty, realist view of space travel. The ship oozed grime and the crew were clearly disgruntled hired help working for a sinister corporation. The cast was seamless with great American character actors Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton, British stars Ian Holm and John Hurt, all led by Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. The plot hummed with tension as the characters slowly succumbed to the nearly invincible creature.
Prometheus boasts an almost equally fine lineup with Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace (Girl/Tattoo), Charlize Theron and the amazing Michael Fassbender. But here the action doesn't hum, it drones. My sister complained that Ms. Rapace wasn't up to Sigourney Weaver's toughness in the original, but Rapace was plenty tough in Girl w/Dragon Tattoo. As the role is written, she simply isn't viable as an anthropologist who conveniently morphs into an action hero. Bad directing and writing. Charlize Theron seems to be typecast as the cold bitch here, more or less the same role she has in Snow White and the Huntsman. Her part in the movie is extraneous, as are those of most of the crew. There are too many plot points stolen from the original - landing on a dangerous planet, infection, betrayal by android, corporate skullduggery - undercutting the possibility of suspense. Bad writing. And the brief but powerful use of bodily gore in Alien becomes over-the-top horror in Prometheus. Bad writing and directing. Horror doesn't equal tension. The film is undeniably gorgeous on the big screen and it has moments, but it's a sadly pale companion to the beauty of Alien.
How does Ridley Scott fall so short of the mark set by Alien?
The original was written by Dan O'Bannon, who also wrote Total Recall, and it featured a gritty, realist view of space travel. The ship oozed grime and the crew were clearly disgruntled hired help working for a sinister corporation. The cast was seamless with great American character actors Yaphet Kotto and Harry Dean Stanton, British stars Ian Holm and John Hurt, all led by Tom Skerritt and Sigourney Weaver. The plot hummed with tension as the characters slowly succumbed to the nearly invincible creature.
Prometheus boasts an almost equally fine lineup with Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Noomi Rapace (Girl/Tattoo), Charlize Theron and the amazing Michael Fassbender. But here the action doesn't hum, it drones. My sister complained that Ms. Rapace wasn't up to Sigourney Weaver's toughness in the original, but Rapace was plenty tough in Girl w/Dragon Tattoo. As the role is written, she simply isn't viable as an anthropologist who conveniently morphs into an action hero. Bad directing and writing. Charlize Theron seems to be typecast as the cold bitch here, more or less the same role she has in Snow White and the Huntsman. Her part in the movie is extraneous, as are those of most of the crew. There are too many plot points stolen from the original - landing on a dangerous planet, infection, betrayal by android, corporate skullduggery - undercutting the possibility of suspense. Bad writing. And the brief but powerful use of bodily gore in Alien becomes over-the-top horror in Prometheus. Bad writing and directing. Horror doesn't equal tension. The film is undeniably gorgeous on the big screen and it has moments, but it's a sadly pale companion to the beauty of Alien.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Goodbye First Love
Another meandering, talky and pretentious film (France) about a young woman's first love affair. I rarely like French films for these very reasons. At one point in this film, the two lovers go to the cinema; she loves it, but he says it was talky and complacent. Oh, the irony.
There's a bit of tasteful nudity and idyllic French countryside.
Another meandering, talky and pretentious film (France) about a young woman's first love affair. I rarely like French films for these very reasons. At one point in this film, the two lovers go to the cinema; she loves it, but he says it was talky and complacent. Oh, the irony.
There's a bit of tasteful nudity and idyllic French countryside.
Headhunters (3 subjective stars)
Taken from the crime novel of the same name by Norwegian Jo Nesbo, Headhunters is a slickly paced thriller about a high-living corporate headhunter with short-man complex. To make up for his lack of stature, he feels he must shower his supermodel wife with constant luxury. Maintaining this lifestyle requires a second job as a thief.
Nesbo's books excel both in plotting and pacing and the screenwriters have done an excellent job of carrying this over to the film. It's beautifully shot and well-acted. There is some violence. My only quibble is the ending, which doesn't do justice to the whole. It's meant to be heartwarming, but it doesn't mesh with the black comedy tone of most of the film.
Taken from the crime novel of the same name by Norwegian Jo Nesbo, Headhunters is a slickly paced thriller about a high-living corporate headhunter with short-man complex. To make up for his lack of stature, he feels he must shower his supermodel wife with constant luxury. Maintaining this lifestyle requires a second job as a thief.
Nesbo's books excel both in plotting and pacing and the screenwriters have done an excellent job of carrying this over to the film. It's beautifully shot and well-acted. There is some violence. My only quibble is the ending, which doesn't do justice to the whole. It's meant to be heartwarming, but it doesn't mesh with the black comedy tone of most of the film.
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