New Moon begins where Twilight left off, with Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) starting another year at her Forks, Washington high school replete with its share of fair-skinned, emotional and all-around depressing beauties, and oh yeah, vampires. The film opens with Bella dreaming the night before her eighteenth birthday of herself at a much older age with her immortal beau and ever-youthful Edward (Robert Pattinson). Her birthday is a reminder of her age, a concern she voices to Edward, who reminds her he’s 109. That’s the classic problem of a mortal-immortal couple, dammit. One’s much older, but looks much younger. The other will just grow old and die. Unless…?
Anyway, the plot of New Moon really starts when Edward leaves. He says that his family must relocate because they’ve been there a bit too long without aging and people are starting to notice. “I don’t want you to come,” he tells Bella, as if we believe him. He’s trying to protect her from his family, one of which attacked her when she cut herself unwrapping her birthday present (a symbol of her life and aging!). The Cullens are a nice family of vampires, but they’re still vampires, and you never know what could happen.
Bella falls into a state of depression for months after Edward leaves, doing little more than sitting in her room and going to school. This portion of the film is actually an astute look at the pseudo-depression that inflicts so many high school kids. It’s real because it feels real, and the film does a fine job of relating Bella’s state of mind. She shuns her friends until finally she reaches out to Jacob (Taylor Lautner), a Native American who lives on the reservation near Forks. They begin to fix up motorcycles together, and it’s obvious that while Bella likes Jacob, he likes her a bit more. Another common high school problem.
From there, the film plays out in your typical not-so Romeo & Juliet sort of way, bringing the supernatural back to the forefront of the story. The scenes with the Volturi (aka vampire royalty) are entertaining, with Michael Sheen and Dakota Fanning portraying some powerfully scary vamps. All together, New Moon is a sold achievement. It’s an improvement over Chris Weitz’s last film from a popular book series, The Golden Compass, and with a bigger budget than the first Twilight movie he was able to achieve a bit more visually. Of the three lead actors, Lautner’s performance is the weakest, but it seems to matter little to the tweens in the audience who hoot and holler for his killer abs and biceps. On its surface, New Moon is PG porn for pre-teen girls and their moms. But it’s also a relatively well crafted special effects film.
2012 ***
The first half of 2012 has the makings of a typical disaster movie: warning signs, character introduction, and then characters in peril. This is the fourth big-budget disaster movie directed by Roland Emmerich, whose Independence Day was brilliant and whose Godzilla I’m convinced was released unfinished. 2012 is good but not great, almost serving as an improved remake of his last foray into the genre, The Day After Tomorrow.
This time around we get John Cusack (score!) playing Jackson Curtis, the ordinary man who finds himself in extraordinary times. Jackson is a writer and divorced father of two, and when he gets the opportunity to take his kids camping in Yellowstone, he learns some key information. First, he stumbles onto some restricted grounds and meets Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a geologist working for the federal government who has already discovered that the world is quickly coming to an end. Coincidentally, Dr. Helmsley is reading Jackson’s book Farewell Atlantis. Second, Jackson meets Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), a crazy radio broadcaster living in the park who tells him about how the Mayans predicted the end of the world in 2012. And the government knows, Charlie says, “they’re building spaceships.” Yeah, right.
After the setup, the movie kicks into high gear as Jackson races back to his southern California home to rescue his ex-wife (Amanda Peet), kids, and “the other guy.” The special effects are some of the most impressive in film, though the movie relies almost completely on green screen instead of a healthy mixture of models and sets. After narrowly escaping certain death by only fractions of a second about a half dozen times, the main characters find themselves in a third act that’s too isolated. The first two thirds of the film are a joy to watch, but the last third drags a bit. After what we’ve seen, we just don’t believe that the characters are in danger, especially when it seems like the impending doom is moving in slow motion.
The filmmakers could have shaved twenty minutes off the nearly 2 hours and 45 minutes running time and nobody would have complained. But as disaster movies go, Emmerich likes them big and bold, and 2012 does not disappoint.
The Men Who Stare at Goats **
The Men Who Stare at Goats is littered with top name actors, each of whom have too little to do in a film that lacks a coherent story. The primary character is Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor), a journalist working in Ann Arbor who decides to go to Iraq to cover the war after his wife leaves him. It’s not so much a death wish or a journalistic ambition as it is a foolhardy gesture to prove to his wife that he’s worth a damn. When Bob arrives, he’s stuck in a hotel in Kuwait for over a month. While sitting in the bar one night, he strikes up a conversation with a man. He quickly finds out this is Lynn Cassady (George Clooney), a name he recognizes from an interview he did with Gus Lacey (Stephen Root) back in Ann Arbor. Lacey told him all about a program in the Army where they were training psychic soldiers—Jedi Warriors—and that Lynn Cassady was one of the best. That’s pretty ironic, though. Bob came halfway round the world and met Lynn by chance?
So Bob and Lynn embark on a journey across the border and danger and hilarity ensues. This story shares equal screen time with a copious amount of flashbacks of how the New Earth Army (Jedi school) came to be in the first place. We meet many strange characters, including the founder of the psychic warriors, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges channeling The Dude). Lynn became Bill’s best student. But there is also Lynn’s nemesis Larry Hooper (Kevin Spacey), an arrogant and ambitious Jedi (basically a Sith). The dynamic of the characters are traditional, but the structure often convolutes the primary plot with Bob and Lynn in Iraq. The filmmakers wanted everything to neatly converge in the end, but it doesn’t really work. This structure is more fitting for a book, so it’s no surprise the film is based on one.
While everything we learn about the program is interesting, it doesn’t make for a particularly engaging film. There is not much to invest in, character, plot, or otherwise. Sure, there is a handful of laugh out loud moments, but these are few and far between. More often than not, I found myself distracted by Jeff Bridges playing such a similar character to The Dude; I kept chuckling every time the word Jedi was mentioned in front of Ewan McGregor, an actor who played an actual Jedi in three films; and I kept thinking how that other George Clooney movie that takes place during the other Iraq war is much better. I’d rather watch The Big Lebowski, Star Wars, or Three Kings any day.
The Box **1/2
The Box is a big, silly film that deals with so many issues I don’t know where to begin. For starters, let’s try the plot. One early morning, a married couple is awoken by someone at the door. The couple is Arthur and Norma Lewis (James Marsden and Cameron Diaz), your typical 1976 Virginia twosome, happily married with a son. When Norma rolls out of bed and down the stairs, she finds only a box sitting on the porch and a black sedan pulling away. Very ominous. When Arthur and Norma open the box they find another box, this one locked, with a button on top. An enclosed note reads that Arlington Steward (Frank Langella) will return later to explain. When he does, with half his face missing, Norma is alone. Arlington says that if she and her husband push the button, two things will happen: 1) someone they don’t know, somewhere in the world, will die; and 2) they will be given one million dollars cash. Even more ominous.
We have already learned that the private school at which Norma teaches is ending the tuition discount for her son. In addition to this, Arthur (who is a scientist with NASA) has been denied entrance into the Astronaut program because he failed the psychological test. “We’re already living paycheck to paycheck,” Norma tells her friend. Wait, what? They both still have their jobs, a big house, their son attends private school, and Arthur drives a brand new Corvette. Not exactly slumming it. Either way, I’m not spoiling much to say that they push the button.
The rest of the film deals with the consequences of this action. There are many subtle moments throughout the movie that we think will become important later, climaxing in one grand sequence. The film’s main problem is that this doesn’t really happen. As we learn different aspects of what might be going on, we are intrigued. But the parts never really add up to the whole. The strengths lie in the setup of the story, which is based on “Button, Button” by Richard “I am Legend” Matheson. Who is Arlington Steward? If the button works, then how? Why? The decision to set the film in 1976 works well. The set design and costumes are great, and the look of the film is very 70’s—muted pastel colors and a good use of lens filters. I was surprised to learn that director Richard Kelly shot digitally, as it would make sense to shoot a period piece on film (I’m looking at you, Michael Mann).
I’m not a huge believer in the sophomore slump (ever hear of Pulp Fiction or Boogie Nights?), but Richard Kelly’s last film Southland Tales would certainly qualify. His first was Donnie Darko, which is a good movie that has earned a solid following. The Box falls somewhere in between. Most of all, it shows that Kelly can be in demand technically. But it also proves for the third time in a row that he loves to tell a story with detours that dead-end.
A Christmas Carol ***1/2
A Christmas Carol is Robert Zemeckis’s third motion-captured animated film, and it is his best. This time around he takes another classic Christmas tale (his first being The Polar Express) and transforms it into the most visually dazzling adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel. During the opening title sequence, the camera soars above mid-nineteenth century London, weaving over rooftops and around buildings. It’s a marvelous showcase for the film’s visual style, and Zemeckis has learned how to take full advantage of the burgeoning technology he continues to champion.
Everybody knows Ebenezer Scrooge, the iconic old grouch who wants nothing to do with holiday merriment. Even with the character’s numerous incarnations, Jim Carrey brings something new to the portrayal, aided by character-driven computer rendering that allows the actor to dictate the character’s full performance. But Scrooge is also animated, so when the feeble old man falls flat on his face, we know he’ll be okay.
As the story goes, Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by three spirits: the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. The lessons of the spirits are clear enough and well known by all. In the past, Scrooge sees himself as he once was—a lonely child, a jovial young man, and as a businessman that becomes increasingly crotchety with increasing age. In the present, he sees how his behavior adversely affects those around him, and in the future he sees his grave and how he will be remembered. That is, of course, only if the path he’s set before himself remains unaltered. The moral of the story? Alter the path.
In most of these sequences, we also see life in cold, old London. We see how thrifty Scrooge is with his coal, and we are so convinced by how cold the streets look, how dark and frozen, that we feel the coldness of a pre-industrial city. We see the want. Juxtapose this with kids running and playing, the warmness and love in many of the homes, and the all around cheer of the holiday, and we understand the general tone of the film. Scrooge is left cold and lonely because he rejects what Christmas represents to so many people. We know how the story goes, Tiny Tim and all, but it’s still great to see the old man’s transformation, and the city’s by extension.
As for Robert Zemeckis, he has always been a frontiersman when it comes to advances in filmmaking, and he always will be. While he is able to do more with motion-captured animation, I fear he will lose sight of what he’s done so well in the past, including not only conventional filming but also producing original stories. It has been almost ten years since Cast Away was released, and that’s far too long.
The Fourth Kind ***
It’s difficult to review The Fourth Kind based on how much of it is “real.” While viewing the film, I was amazed at the lengths the filmmakers went to convince us that not only was the story based on actual case studies, but that much of the film had actual audio and video recordings from the supposed real-life cases.
At the beginning of the movie, actress Milla Jovovich addresses the camera, insisting that what follows is all based on archival footage and testimony. She plays Dr. Abigail Tyler, a psychologist living in Nome, Alaska who discovers haunting similarities in her patients’ cases pertaining to owls and repressed memories. In addition to this footage, we see an interview the director taped with the “real” Dr. Tyler that is interspersed throughout the movie, as well as “real” footage of the actual patients during taped therapy sessions and through police video cameras.
The film feels like an episode of 48 Hours Mystery meets 24. Whereas movies like The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity claim to be real, no one actually believes that they are, largely because it is quickly revealed that they are actors playing a part. It’s a different story with The Fourth Kind. Not only is the “real” footage ultra-realistic, but it’s also based on UFOs and alien abduction theory, phenomena that have hordes of believers worldwide. Plus, neither the director nor the studio admits that the footage is bogus. I viewed the film before having read any reviews of it, and I was easily convinced that the footage was genuine. Does this make me naïve? Perhaps.
After doing a little investigating (what most people say when they mean “googling”), I found several articles that discredit the film’s authenticity and several more that defend it on the basis that it changed both names and locations, and that is why skeptics could not find any evidence of a real Dr. Tyler. Regardless of its validity, the film is still intriguing. There are some very scary moments—especially if you believe that the video you are watching is real—that include domestic violence and what appears to be some sort of alien possession. It contains at least three sequences I found more disturbing than anything in Paranormal Activity, and they all involved “real” footage. What came to my mind about 10 minutes in was that if what I am watching is a real interview; if these are real therapy sessions; if that is a real police video camera, then why are there actors in this film at all? Shouldn’t this be a thoroughly researched documentary? In my mind, that is probably the best evidence for filmmaking chicanery. But it still entertains.
Paranormal Activity **1/2
By the end of Paranormal Activity, it seems that half of the audience will be terrified and the other half utterly disappointed. I fall somewhere in the middle, giving the movie due credit because while not particularly scary, it held my suspense for an hour and a half, even if those last five seconds were more fleeting than frightening. The film is primarily shot by the actors using a handheld video camera, following the Blair Witch model of faux-documentary (“thanks to the police and families, blah blah”) filmmaking. For Paranormal in particular, the filmmakers stretched their microbudget to the max, utilizing simple effects only a handful of times to build suspense.
As for the story, twenty-somethings and boyfriend-girlfriend Micah (Micah Sloat) and Katie (Katie Featherston) have moved in together and begin to experience strange occurrences in their new San Diego home. After calling in a psychic to investigate, we learn that these sorts of things have been happening to Katie since she was a little girl. The psychic thinks they’re not just dealing with a ghost, but a demon—a non-human entity that has been following Katie throughout her life for one reason or another. Micah has bought a camera to catch the happenings on video, but this seems to exasperate the situation (aka piss off the demon). The paranormal activity increases—more sounds and noises, fires, cracked pictures, etc.
Because of the style of storytelling, Micah and Katie must constantly appear natural and comfortable within their home and genuinely perturbed at the activity, and both actors suit their roles well. The handheld camerawork is generally shaky and uninspired (as it should be), but the night sequences have a distinct look. The camera is positioned in the corner of the room facing the bed and door, and this shot has already become synonymous with the movie and will probably become more iconic as the film continues to be successful (as did the over-parodied snot-shot in Blair Witch).
When the end does finally arrive, the viewer may be taken aback, but I found the last image more irritating than scary. Whereas throughout the movie, all of the phenomena took place in the real world, the last shot of the film is more effects-laden, and the increasing activity eventually reaches a point of diminishing returns. Indeed, on my drive home from the theater, I was not at all scared (and I get scared), and I had little to no trouble sleeping that night. Until I heard a noise.
This Is It ***
Michael Jackson’s This Is It is a strange experience. Given the entertainer’s untimely death earlier this year, the film stands as a last vestige of his performance—a capstone to his life he would unknowingly bequeath to the world. As a film, it is a combination of some documentary-style interviews and concert rehearsal footage, though the latter is more apt to describe the film’s feel, and it is the vast majority of what we see on screen. Because it is generally rehearsal footage from his last scheduled tour, the film lacks the punch of genuine insight into the man. It’s hard to complain, however, because it rarely fails to entertain.
Throughout the movie we see a strong and healthy Michael. He appears fit and much more active than most fifty year olds I know, which helps explain why his death was such a surprise to so many that were close to him. He is in top form vocally and physically; he is in control, but we never hear much more than a minor complaint or suggestion. More often than not, he retorts “this is why we rehearse,” revealing that his perfectionist personality is paved with soft-spoken poise.
The most satisfying sequence for me was the filming of the footage to be used during his performance of “Smooth Criminal.” Michael is integrated into some 1930s and 40s gangster films, running from the mob before jumping through a window. Its camp value is enough to give you a chuckle, but it's also very apropos—very smooth—and the editing of the sequence is marvelous, intercutting between the filming, the rehearsals, and what appears to be the finished product.
In the end, true Michael Jackson fans (and I cannot claim to be in their ranks) will love the film if only because it is layered with so many of his most treasured hits. For casual admirers and those interested in the human condition, it leaves some to be desired. But like I said, I can’t complain. As a love letter to Michael; the final goodbye, if you will, the film can be moving. It’s clearer than ever that the man was one of a kind—he did things his way—for better or for worse. And it’s a testament to him that when his director asks him how he will know the timing of a video cue he will not be able to see, Michael says, “I’ll just feel it.” And we believe him.
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