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Dragonball Evolution (2009)
H O R R I B L E . Wretched. Deplorable. Tasteless...
I don't have the words.
There was a kid about three rows up from us that threw his popcorn at the screen and walked out. Five minutes later, I was following him.
This is the first movie I walked out on since Batman and Robin. Seriously. And no, I am not a Dragonball fan boy.
I applaud the efforts of the dozens, sometimes hundreds of people who work in film. I adore you. Swear to Christ I do. I love to see film work. I love to do it. I love to feel the energy.
Unfortunately, I'm rattled by this flick. How does something like this get a green light? Yet there are thousands of top notch specs sitting on someone's desk begging to be read by someone, anyone.
This is not Dragon Ball in any sense of the word. Matter of fact, anybody involved in this thing should be smacked in the face. From Chow to Wong to Chatwin. And I like these guys for what they do. I sat through The Invisible just to see Chatwin do his thing. He's good. Chow Yun-Fat seems to find solace pissing on his own legacy. Anyone who seen The Killer knows this.
And Ben... Ben Ramsey how dare you... I KNOW you know better than that. I know you have talent. Being one of the few to make it out of The Burgh you have a responsibility to do better. The Big Hit was goofy guilty pleasure fun but this... after all these years... this...
I can't even...
I'm done.
Watchmen (2009)
A - for effort but really...
What did you expect to see? It's just a movie.
There are some major quotes gone. No Kitty Genovese. No Hollis murder. No book stand and comic book kid. No Black Freighter. No minute long Ozy monologue. No homo reference neither (I like the idea of Ozy being a gay bad guy and the baddest prettiest mother on the team.) No real Rorshack/ Doctor Long exchange. No Manhattan tech-no-babble. Oh yeah and no squid. Get over it, I like this ending better, save for Ozy's final scene.
We all need to remember the ground rules.
1.A hero is not a superhero.
This ain't the book. It's that simple. It's damn good but not great. Somehow this work straddled the fence on what it wanted to give us. The film was not enough like the comic yet as faithful to the source material as any work I've ever seen.
Watchmen was a story I hadn't been witness to before a month ago. I had no idea. The fan boy neurotic exam that envelopes every fine step of Zack Snyder's effort has eluded me. I'm a newbie here. What I've seen in the book and in the motion comics (put out by Warners prior to this) was simply... beautiful. There is a complex, layered story. There is a pacing issue. There is a lot of talky talk. There is also clear cut and dried differences between the characters and an ambiguity of various moral, legal, and consequential dilemmas that sit with us long after our trip with the book is over. I read it and felt... dirty.
The film reveals each character in his or her own world, sets their stories in a swift effortless motion and keeps it moving. Almost in a paint by numbers manner but still good nonetheless. It felt like rolling thunder. You could feel the power, the build up and... and then... something stalled, plodded and choked the pace. That's when you realize -
2.A superhero is not a vigilante.
The attention to detail, the subtle character nuances, the voice work, the staging of scenes and arrangement of establishing shots is incredible. The costumes, the props, the production design, the slime and grit and filth on the streets. Like the city was sweating with anxiety all the way through. It's all there.
There are exact panels, full tilt, that are transferred onto film and laid out here. Indeed, this maybe the corrective nature of a story that seems to dip and dive through it's own plot and double back. Hollywood screenplay structure is null and void here. That's okay, there are moments of greatness that stride through the imagery and presentation. This is something special here. No doubt.
The Comedian was spot on, even through the two main (curiously) over-lit scenes of rotten sick indulgence he performed in. I say performed because he KNEW the futility of his will, their work as "superheroes" and everything they stood for.
Most other characterizations were (choose one) lost/ edited/ joined/ switched, ad libbed to screen - but non more so than Rorshach. Walter Kovacs IS NOT Rorschach. Kovacs is Rorschach's disguise, not the other way around. In the book that was the gospel... in the film, not so much. Everything looks swell and engaging but let's face reality here: Nite Owl was a loser, Laurie was a poser, Ozymandias was hanging with village people, arrogant, rich and sick with an accent (yeah, he must be the bad guy) all the while Dr. Manhattan could give a crap less. Oh yeah, and the world is on the brink of nuclear war, so...
3.A vigilante is not a hero.
Really. There's a difference. He's not a cop or a fireman or a doctor. Vigilantes rough people up, enjoy it for the most part and move on. That's what this film does. There are bone splitting, hacking brain, blood splattering moments that gut you like a fist BUT... to some, it may be too much. When you come to the realization that NO ONE could undoubtedly conjure the souls of mystic Moore past to indulge us with the girth and filth and fornication of Watchmen. It's too much like a good bottle of wine bred and strewn like a classic vineyard fine wine, aged twenty three years that has been sipped and savored by millions before. It's just not as good as the original.
But it never claims to be. This is an homage. There's no preliminary excuses or demoralizing analysts or deconstructing anecdote's to moan about. Snyder knows that. We all do. A lot more is done with a lot less in our own imaginations when we take in the book. What a mind screw for a comic book story? Even comparing the odd music cues, running inside jokes and many lost opportunities against the haunting score, stilted animation and scene editing of the motion comics is a task. So enjoy this for what it is - a movie.
Watchmen is supposed to be a character study/ deconstruct of the modern day superhero and it destroys our childish fascination with men and women in tights.
For the most part, Snyder gets it right. The meat of the tale is there. The psychological gray of what they believe and what we see them as filters through every scene. Inevitably some of the mud and filthy disgust is lost in translation but it sure is fun to look for it.
A hero is not a superhero.
A superhero is not a vigilante.
A vigilante is not a hero.
Religulous (2008)
Anakin Skywalker is... Jesus?
Yeah, that's right.
At some point in this streamlined, bullet riddled would be documentary/ commentary, some kid at a Jesus play and theme park? (I know, right) alludes to Anakin Skywalker. Bill Maher was comparing the story of Jesus to childhood fairy tales and somehow, Star Wars rears it's head. You know that thousand year old story about a savior born of a virgin, healing the sick, walking on water and dying for our sins... yeah that one. Well, it threads to many different religions.
Maher's point was lost in the cuff of carbonated spittle, dropped popcorn and laughter that hit the crowd right after the kid utters "The Phantom Menace". We all knew where he was going.
We all knew that Anakin Skywalker = Jesus and The Emperor = Bush. Yoda is still Yoda... anyway that heft of cultural insight translated well into our socially apathetic and inept neurological misfires and Bill plays on or off them in this film. No finger pointing, just ask hard questions and let interviewees hang themselves with their own answers. To note - one money grubbing black pimp of a pastor and one ex-gay, reformed, lesbian loving married pastor who ignores the fact that yes... he's still gay. And he has great hair.
This film is a spoof of religious extremism across the globe. To cut religion and faith out of spirituality becomes a matter of splitting hairs as applied to the irrational, sometimes erratic behavior (see: Vatican priest with no collar) of the folks in this film. All religions take a hit, even Maher's own family gets some with a catholic past life that voided his own Jewish mother. Maher labels himself apatheist (a mix of apathy and theism/atheism) which alerts one's mind to apathetic agnosticism, pragmatic agnosticism and practical atheism. Not to be confused with anti-Catholicism or scientology. Yeah, it got a little heavy handed but Larry Charles manages to reel it in.
I expected Maher to browbeat the audience with a rabid stream-of-consciousness rant of indifferentism as if he had an infection of "Dennismillerism". But, much to my surprise - he steered clear of that. And it works.
Indeed, somewhere Dennis Miller sits in a dark and lonely room, suffering from conservative pumping chagrin and right-wing ascension depression. He has to be innately bitter about his hip laden social quasi-political rhetoric going into the ears of 10 million dumb ass Americans (specifically football fans just didn't get it) and thinking... screw Bill Maher. I'm better than Bill Maher.
By the hour mark, Maher makes me forget he's a comedian. He knows the word restraint... sort of. This film was cerebral pushing, no abstracts allowed so every Maher nonresponse to his on screen foes yanked a big response from the audience I sat with. A lot of liberal freebase independents, curiously quiet religious zealots, some cute chubby lesbians and left-wing, new wave Obama lovers sprinkled with a gay guy here an there. There was one lone black guy and he laughed his tail off.
Yeah, that was me.
The Express (2008)
This ain't Brian's Song but ...
Based on the non-fiction book Ernie Davis: The Elmira Express, by Robert C. Gallagher, The Express: The Ernie Davis story seems to lose itself in it's own title. The name change signifies a young culture and generation completely unaware of the legend of Ernie Davis. Wait a second... there's a good title.
Off the bat, I have to credit Rob Brown. At 16 years old this kid was squaring off impressive verbiage with Sean Connery and held his own. Now, his confidence shines even more. As Davis, Brown emotes without saying a word and strides through a script that tries but sheds little light into Davis's mind.
Coach - er, Dennis Quaid disappears into the father role, replacing Davis's grandfather Pops (Charles Dutton) and polarizing every scene.
God, I wish they had more for Clancy Brown to do. I mean, come on - it's Clancy Freakin Brown.
So anyway, with most sports films, we get the basic hero plot wrapped around big game action scenes and the occasional fistfight. By the third act, the protagonists/ pioneers have broken through barriers, stumbled through plot twists and plot holes like a paint by numbers series and after winning the big game, celebrate - with hands high, flashing Colgate smiles and cheer into the epilogue.
The Express follows the same formula until one remembers the nose bleeds. Wait a sec, it happens more than once? Yeah. That a loose plot? Not really. That was the relationship between Davis and Jim Brown or Davis and his girlfriend. What's her name? Sarah. There's just not enough depth invested into these relationships. So anyway, the nose bleeds are symptoms of acute monocytic leukemia. The hints are there like after-school special bookends and we, like Davis, have no clue what's happening. We want to dismiss it and move on - just like he does. That's the inspiration in this film. And it feels good.
Overall, this is a film for the masses. It's strength is the push of a young man who was unaware of his own limitations in any event. Be it secure confidence or misguided pride, without that awareness - Davis could proceed and achieve to no end. The filmmakers stretch what they have to cover what they don't. All the facts are here. The history is too. But I wanted more. I wanted to see his struggle with the Big L - the unseen antagonist we waited for. Arrogant teammates, West Virginia racists, or even the slew of em in Texas (before the seemingly rushed ending) are nothing comparable. We move past it, onto the big night in Cleveland. But, that might be the writer's intention.
I didn't have any sense about this film other than football. I had heard of Ernie Davis however I couldn't recall any significant details of his life to save my own. The details of Jim Brown and the Heisman Trophy are lost on non football fans. Even the fact that Davis led Syracuse to it's first national championship becomes a mute point. This film is about a man... not a football star.
Brown and Quaid shoulder this film. The performances are so strong and touching... how Davis infects his weary eyed coach with his wisdom is a joy. The whole student teaching the master cliché is good. Oh yeah, there was this whole white/ black racial politic thing and everything (and anything) racist hits the front burners. Still, the meat of what drove Davis is key here. What caused this man to tick? What kept him focused and determined? When did he forget he was black?
I have to big up Mark Isham's tender, yet powerful score. There were cues in this film that bring tears to one's eyes. Other good notes are any scenes with the wonderful, fresh faced Nicole Behaire as Davis's wife Sarah and Darrin Henson as a firm, but less formidable looking Jim Brown and again... Clancy Brown.
Ernie Davis's story is remarkable to discover. The Express does it's best to give us the stuff of this young man's legend. Even through the gloss and shine of Hollywood's spin... it just feels good.
The Dark Knight (2008)
Amazing... no... intelligent... no...
Brilliance...
I know everyone uses that word. I know what you're thinking. Yes, it is that good. Someone will find something they didn't like but The Dark Knight is... simply... brilliant.
I don't know how to review this film. There's too much to talk about without a spoiler. The screenplay is haunting and malevolent without Bale and Ledger even tasting a word. The score wowed me unawares. But, I'm not going into specifics or tech stuff. I'm not a fan-boy or a screenwriter right now. No way. I'm soothing in the uncomfortably sexy, priming charge of Nolan's work. It takes a day to settle.
Watching this film had me in a soft and surreal, pleasurable state of excitement and anticipation for an outcome I already know but, in a way, can't predict. I squirmed for two and a half hours. There's your normal story plot and structure but no rules or limits. Anything could happen. You know what's coming but you don't know how. Like trying to get to home plate on a first date with a model. Yes, it can happen.
The Dark Knight is a sprawling epic. However, it's not complicated or cliché at all. The premise is as pedestrian as can be. Bad guy destroys and kills and plunders until good guy stops him.
This is no comic book movie. This a crime story. A detective story. This is LA Confidential with a cowled hero... Heat with two freaks in the lead... Seven without the blood.
The world that this film lays out is intricate and layered and everyone crosses paths in some way or another that completes the tragedy of their own individual tales. Gotham feels alive, real and visceral. This could easily be any real city in the US. The chaos and murder that envelopes here, feels sincere with it's choices and consequences that are, surprisingly, even beyond Batman's grasp. That's where fantasy hits the wall and reminds you reality is steering the ship.
People die. A lot. Some are important to the plot and Gotham itself. Others for no reason at all. This is terrorism at it's best. This is psycho-babble struggling to analyze itself. It doesn't apologize either. No one seen this coming. It's just a comic book movie. Yet another one. It's for kids. It's dumbed down for the masses. Jack is The Joker anyway. Heath Ledger is just a wannabe.
No I'm not. No... I'm not.
THE JOKER has at least ten relevant quotes in the first hour alone. In their context, they are impossibly evil - and yet funny. Somehow, somewhere, someone is making a T Shirt with every fantastical one liner Ledger spat as The Joker. He spits and slobbers through his lines with such quirk and filth you feel nasty watching him. There are evil, little sadistic moments that tinge and stain this film, dramatically stirring discord, melancholy, and angst inside of you until the credits roll. Yes, Ledger is that good.
HARVEY DENT is the hero here, not Batman. Batman is still, very much an outlaw. He is a conflict crash of doubts and hopes, struggling to endure the constant pressure of justice vs revenge. Batman is human, he makes mistakes, has bad choices - a work in progress. Dent is already there. Dent is as selfless, noble and heroic as can be. Eckart's playing his Wyatt Earp/ John Wayne card but Dent is so much more than that. He's a symbol of faith and hope and change. Almost beyond a man. The story pushes the lust of anger, fear, and weakness to whomever who might succumb to it, so much in fact, that even the fearless DA - THE WHITE KNIGHT fights to resist.
BATMAN is the star of the show. He can stand in the background, not utter a single word and still own the scene. To describe Bale's performance is a waste of time. You already know how good he is. If you don't, the world pities you. Batman grows into another type of hero here. The kind we don't really know, or like as much or see as often. He does what is needed for the greater good, effortlessly sliding into the antithesis of everything bright and just that Dent represents. He is now THE DARK KNIGHT.
Gordon, Fox, Rachel and of course Alfred are all so fitting and well balanced that you forget their real names. Alfred is really Michael Caine? You don't say. Who is Morgan Freeman? I dunno, but I can tell you how brilliant Mr Fox is. I can't even reference their latest work in effect to what I've just seen here.
The Dark Knight is (in a lot of ways) similar to The Prestige. It's asking you to look. But not too close to miss the heft of this thing. It's giving you the magic trick and you spend two hours trying to figure it out as The Joker spits all logical reason back in your face.
The trick is to ask someone to describe The Dark Knight in one word. That becomes a ten minute game in figuring terms from eviscerating to riveting to anti whatever - a suspense of diction, inducing fits and chills and lapses in thinking so you can determine what exactly you are processing. To note anti whatever ain't applying here but you don't know that until the end of the game. That is exactly what The Dark Knight gives us. All these plots and spins and what ifs and then erases it all with a question... wait. Wait. What exactly did I just see?
Brilliance...