This is one of the best books I have read lately and now it is a movie starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana(?). I have no idea if it will be a good movie, but I’m looking forward to finding out. In the meantime, I recommend the book highly.
The Brothers Bloom, the second film of writer/director Rian Johnson, is a near perfect, immensely entertaining, beautifully written and well-acted movie. It’s no an exaggeration to say that I liked it. A lot. Together with Johnson’s first movie, the pitch-perfect high-school noir Brick, Johnson has begun to build a body of work that establishes him as one of the best working filmmakers.
In this international con-man caper, the character Bloom (Adrien Brody) describes his con-artist brother and partner Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) as creating his long cons “the way dead Russians write novels” filled with metaphor and internal symbolism. On a meta level, the same thing can be said for Johnson’s movie: on its surface, it’s a rollicking genre film, filled with sight gags, snappy dialogue and plenty of gun shots and explosions, but barely beneath the surface lies a philosophical movie about creating one’s own reality and the meaning of authenticity. Yes, it’s also intricate and filled with metaphor and internal symbolism. And did I mention that stuff blows up?
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Saw it today. I was a little surprised that I didn’t hate it. In fact I not only didn’t hate it, I discovered that it made me laugh on more than one occasion.
This movie serves its purpose well I thought. It is a silly family film sort of like the silly Disney family films I used love as a kid in the 70’s. We went as a family and everyone enjoyed themselves. My nearly-5-year-old did crawl onto my lap as the action heated up but it was tame enough for her not to be traumatized. The plot is sort of moot so I won’t bother recapping it. Suffice it to say museum stuff comes alive again and hilarity ensues while reality is permanently suspended. The little kids loved the slapstick scenes like the ones with Ben Stiller and monkeys slapping each other. I laughed out loud at the conflict scene between Stiller and Jonah Hill as Brandon (or Brundon) the security guard midway through the movie. Hank Azaria was pretty funny throughout as the lisping villain and there was an especially funny improv bit between with Azaria and Stiller where they bickered like school children near the end of the film. Owen Wilson was his regular affable and fairly amusing self throughout.
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OK, based upon that other thread I have to ask. What are your top 5 westerns? I’ll make it 5 rather than 10 to keep it simple. For those on the other side of the horror/western debate recall we already did a top 10 horror list plus the related but not identical best scary films.
OK no director is perfect. And even directors with films that were popular upon release don’t necessarily end up with films that age well. And most directors (like musicians) have maybe a few good films under their belt and that’s about it.
But who are the most consistently good filmmakers and who are the most uneven ones? Brian, over in the DTRT thread suggested Spike Lee was as consistent as Spielberg, Lucas, Scorcese, and Lynch. What do you think?
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I can’t believe we haven’t talked about this yet, so I’m going to kick it off. (more…)
OK, I won’t call this a review. More of a discussion. I’ll not put any spoilers in here but I’d lay good odds as the discussions in the comments get going there will be a few.
Here’s my thoughts:
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So I have to ask. Are you excited about next week’s A Quantum of Solace? I was, although my excitement has been tempered somewhat by the lukewarm reviews that have come out. (Basically saying there’s almost too much action and not enough charm) There’s also a worry that they are doing too much Bourne aping.
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The Passion of the Christ (2004), written and directed by Mel Gibson
I tried to watch it last night, in high-definition on Showtime. I couldn’t make it through the first flaying. Instead of presenting Jesus as the Prince of Peace, I couldn’t help but notice a slant toward the serious sadistic side of normal Christian movie watchers. More blood! yeah, that’s the ticket. And by the way, Jesus in this movie seems to be super blood man, able to regenerate gallons of blood in between each torture session, making it better for the bloodlusting audience. This is the grindhouse version of the Passion.
This movie is merit-free.
Thoughts?
I can’t believe it’s Halloween and nobody posted this one. Come on guys. Get in the spirit of things. (No pun intended)
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Tim mentioned an L A Times story that that quoted Christopher Nolan asking, “How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?”
So let’s put it to you. How many threepeats are there? I don’t necessarily mean a trilogy. But ones that had at least three solid films in a row.
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Speaking of the 80s, you will all remember a certain filmmaker from that time period who made mostly teen movies and was very successful in representing teens and their lives in what was considered at the time to be a new, more realistic way. (more…)
OK, I’m poaching off of Armchair Commentary. But someone sent me this link and I had to raise it here. These are ‘bad movies’ in that they usually got two stars or less; they haven’t achieved cult like status; but you think they are enjoyable or even good on their merits movies.
Here’s mine:
Best film I’ve seen in ages. (more…)
OK, we’ve been talking Coen brothers. So what do you guys think about the AICN suggestion to have the Coens take over the Superman franchise.
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The latest Coen brothers movie is a throwback to an earlier Coen era. (more…)
I’ve been buying DVDs lately. I mean, stuff I want to see, not just stuff my kids want to see. Most of them are music DVDs. The latest:
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Before Christopher Walken danced on the ceiling, there was Fred Astaire:
(The dancing starts about a minute in, feel free to skip that far).
Well into the story of Space Chimps, one of the eponymous primates, a stuffed-shirt, by-the-book, NASA-trained chimp named Titan, expresses his doubts about whether a makeshift spaceship rigged together from a planetary rover by three apes and a host of primitive aliens can really make it back to earth. Our protagonist’s glib reply: don’t overthink this. That may be Space Chimps defining moment; if you can avoid overthinking it, this movie’s third-rate animation and first-rate casting make for an enjoyable diversion.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Lost Boys.
Pixar’s movies have all revolved around a single idea: the fish out of water who learns to grapple with a new situation. Woody is displaced by Buzz in Toy Story, Flick the unconventional ant trying to fix his mistakes, Mike and Sully trying to get rid of the dreaded Boo, Mr. Incredible forced to live the life of a normal human, Lightening McQueen stranded in hick-ville, Remy a rat in the kitchen, and of course Nemo and Marlin each take the idea of the fish out of water literally. Despite this seemingly repetitive simplicity even their two weakest films don’t come across as recycled despite the fact that both are remakes (Bugs Life is Seven Samuri and Cars is Doc Hollywood). What is behind this ability to make simple concepts entertaining? It seems to me that the answer is craftsmanship. Pixar puts an amazing amount of work into each picture. Unlike other CGI houses they aren’t just churning this stuff out for a quick buck. They’re in the business of crafting classics.
On the surface Wall-E is just the next variation of the theme: an outdated, quirky robot taken out of his element and placed in a situation that he doesn’t even understand. Yet the difference here is that Wall-E doesn’t grow so much as find what he’s looking for. It is everyone, both man and machine, that he comes into contact with that must now rise to the occasion and defy their programming.
Brilliant. Slapstick.
Great story up at Wired on Nolan shunning digital effects for doing it for real. The Dark Knight is sounding better and better each week. Especially after having to deal with Lucas (yet again). (Although truth be told there were only a few places where the CGI bugged me in The Hulk and Iron Man)
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I’m horribly unqualified to do a tech review, but I have to tell you I love this thing. (more…)
