Johnny Depp, Deneuve in a tracksuit & a Buddhist Sasquatch
Rango blends in.
I'm combining two weeks worth of DVD releases again today as there weren't enough releases this week to warrant a separate post. These titles then cover the DVD releases for July 12th & 19th.
I'll start with 'Rango' a new animated kids movie from Nickelodeon/Paramount. I'm basically suspect of most kids movies not made by Pixar as adult entertainment, but I really dug this movie. Rango is a terrarium-living pet chameleon who finds himself stranded in the middle of the desert. After receiving cryptic advice from a philosophical armadillo, he ends up in the tumbleweed town of Dirt, populated by gun-slinging reptiles, amphibians, rodents and birds. The town's water is mysteriously drying up and they're in need of a hero, so Rango ends up becoming town sheriff despite his complete lack of experience or bravery.
The animation is pretty amazing. Apparently, unlike in most animated films where they make the film and then add voiceover on top, in this film they had the voice actors act the lines while they spoke them, filmed them acting and then animated their actions. Maybe that's why the voices seem to match the characters so well. The voice talent is really great, which helps. Johnny Depp is Rango and the rest of the cast includes top notch actors like Alfred Molina, Bill Nighy, Harry Dean Stanton, Ray Winstone, Timothy Olyphant & Abigail Breslin. It's directed by Gore Verbinski of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise, but don't hold that against him. He's obviously a big fan of Westerns because this film lovingly references many of the great films of the genre. A really fun film.
I'll move now in the opposite direction from kids to thriller/horror films. 'The Lincoln Lawyer' is a tidy little thriller starring Matthew McConaughey ('Time to Kill'), Marisa Tomei ('Cyrus') and Ryan Phillippe ('Cruel Intentions'). McConaughey plays a sleazy LA defense attorney who works out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car (hence the title) and who is thrilled to land a case with a rich boy accused of rape & murder (Philippe). Philippe, back from a long absence, is great as the creepy client and McConaughey seems to be trying to actually act again instead of just smirk & look good with his shirt off. Marisa Tomei plays his ex-wife and it's nice to see her back on casting directors' radar again. I have not a lot of interest in McConaughey, but I was actually pretty gripped by this movie.
Creepy makeup's a dead giveaway when it comes to demonic possession.
The only horror film of the day is 'Insidious', directed by James Wan ('Saw') and starring Patrick Wilson ('Little Children') and Rose Byrne ('Suckerpunch'). It's a demon possession movie about a couple whose kid falls into a mysterious coma when they move into a new house. Can't say I know anything about this one, but the kid looks spooky enough.
Three TV shows released new seasons last week. HBO's 'Entourage' presents its seventh season, FX's 'Damages' has its third season and the British spy series 'MI-5' has its 9th season - guess the terrorists just won't give up.
The biggest comedy title of the day is a modern remake of the classic 80s comedy, 'Arthur'. This one has British rake Russell Brand ('Get Him to the Greek') taking on the Dudley Moore role and Helen Mirren ('The Queen') as the lovably snooty butler. Jennifer Garner ('Alias') is the rich businesswoman his mother wants him to marry and Greta Gerwig ('Greenberg') is the working class gal he loves (played by Liza Minnelli in the original). It's pretty much a straight remake, almost line for line, until the end. They do recognize that in the year 2011 it's not really cool to be a profligate, alcoholic billionaire with no regard for the little people, so the filmmakers make him do volunteer work and join AA before the girl will agree to be with him. I do like Brand (even if he did marry Katy Perry), but I can't really say this was a hilarious movie. If you've seen everything else and really need a few chuckles, it'll probably do.
Remember video stores? Topher Grace does.
'Take Me Home Tonight' is an enjoyable if forgettable 80s nostalgia comedy. Topher Grace ('That 70s Show') plays an MIT graduate turned video store employee (sounds familiar) in 1988 who runs into his high school crush. As it happens, that night, the popular jock guy from school (played by the always great Chris Pratt from 'Parks & Rec) is throwing a massive reunion party and Grace's crush (played by Teresa Palmer of 'I Am Number Four') invites him to attend. Determined to finally win the girl of his dreams, he makes the fatal mistake of lying about his current job and life to impress her. Having apparently never seen a romantic comedy before, he doesn't realize that this tactic always backfires. Anna Faris ('House Bunny') is underused as his Oxford-bound sister and Dan Fogler ('Fanboys') is the luckless best friend. The movie is mostly about 80s longing, so there are lots of acid washed jeans, big hair and shoulder pads. There's even a break-dance off. It was fun, but these films always just look like a bunch of kids playing dress-up - the 80s weren't nearly as fun as it seems in the movies.
'Peep World' is a weird one. It's got an all-star cast including Michael C. Hall ('Dexter'), Rainn Wilson ('The Office'), Ben Schwartz ('Parks & Rec') and Sarah Silverman. Schwartz plays a novelist who found fame by writing a tell-all novel about his siblings' quirks. As the book gets made into a movie, the family members start to panic about their newfound fame. It's really trying to be a film version of 'Arrested Development', but doesn't seem quite as funny or as clever. In fact, it gets kind of heavy toward the end and turns into an American indie version of 'The Celebration'. Super low budget, but director Barry Blaustein ('The Ringer') must be a popular guy to get this many stars.
Next up dramas and 'Limitless', the new film from 'The Illusionist' director Neil Burger. Bradley Cooper ('The Hangover') plays a wannabe novelist and perennial underachiever who stumbles upon a pill that allows you to access the full potential of your brain. He remembers every piece of information he's ever seen or heard, he's able to do complex calculations in seconds, he's able to learn a new language fluently after only hearing a few words (not sure how that one works) and he's able to channel Bruce Lee when encountering some baddies just from having watched his films. Of course, with great power comes great responsibility, right? Unfortunately, he doesn't use his pills responsibly and quickly gets caught up in some very nasty business involving investment bankers, arms dealers and Russian mobsters. The film is really flashy, with lots of 'Matrix-y' special effects, but it felt a little empty. His magical superpowers make it feel like one of the 'Bourne Identity' movies, but in those films, Matt Damon is a likable badass who only uses his skills reluctantly. In this film, Bradley Cooper is just kind of a jackass, so it's hard to sympathize. It's got lots of bells and whistles, though, so makes for a decent late night watch.
Peter Stormare contemplates murder in a small town
The other drama of the day is a really interesting one. 'Small Town Murder Songs' is a Canadian film from first-time director Ed Gass-Donnelly. It's a murder mystery set in a remote Mennonite town in Ontario, Canada. A small town sheriff struggles to solve the first murder case in his career while balancing the complicated relationships that come from growing up in such a close-knit (or claustrophobic) community. It's a very quiet movie and very stark, reflecting the insularity of the residents, but it has a really striking soundtrack and a great cast. Peter Stormare, a great Swedish character actor from the Coen Brothers films, is excellent as the cop trying to distance himself from his past and build a new life around his new girlfriend and faith. Martha Plimpton (a bunch of 80s movies) plays the girlfriend. I really liked this film and actually wanted a little more from it - it's a spartan 75 minutes long. It's kind of like a cross between 'Fargo' and 'Winter's Bone'. Pretty cool.
'Miral: Is This the Face of a Terrorist?' is the new film from painter/director Julian Schnabel ('Diving Bell & the Butterfly'). Schnabel is 2 for 2 with his previous films - both 'Diving Bell' his other film 'Before Night Falls' were outstanding - so it's weird that this film came and went without much notice. It's based on a semi-autobiographical novel about coming of age in Palestine in the 1970s. Miral (played by Freida Pinto of 'Slumdog Millionaire') is a young woman who grows up in an orphanage that serves as an oasis from the conflict. When she "ages out" of the orphanage, she's confronted for the first time with the dire situation in the outside world. She's torn between the peaceful values learned from her mentor in the orphanage and the militant views of the man she falls in love with outside. Haven't seen this one so I don't know if it's any good.
Moving on to documentaries, the first title is 'Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy'. It's about a skateboarding commune in the Ohioan Appalachians run by self-described skateboard cult leader Brewce Martin. Martin's not really so much a cult leader as a skating obsessed lifelong adolescent living out every teenage skater's dream. Martin and the CIA (Citizens Instigating Anarchy) Collective have built indoor & outdoor bowls, ramps and pipes across their 88 acres. They also have a skating museum with more than 12,000 decks. Anyone can stay as long as they do an hour of volunteer work and the commune has had problems with income as a result. It seems to be mostly a bunch of teenaged to 40-something guys drinking beer, setting things on fire and and grinding. Seems like it'd be fun for awhile, but then there probably aren't any womens' bathrooms and I'd probably break my arm on my first attempt.
'The Third Wave' was made by a group of young aid volunteers who rushed to Sri Lanka after the 2004 tsunami despite their lack of experience or money. It's about the complicated relationship that develops between the volunteers and the villagers they're attempting to help as international aid money dries up. It seems to be making a statement that you don't need training or institutional support to make a difference, though that seems to run counter to what the big aid organizations say when disaster strikes. Who knows? Sounds like these guys made it work.
Catherine rocks the track suit in 'Potiche'.
I haven't seen 'The Life and Work of Claude Chabrol', but it looks like a straight-forward documentary about the also amazingly prolific (nearly a film a year for 50 years) and long-lived French director. Chabrol started making films around the same time as the other great French directors of the era (Truffaut, Rohmer, etc.) and specialized in thrillers. He died last year, but not before the director of this film was able to sit down and discuss his life's work with him.
Next, three foreign films. The first is 'Salt of the Sea', another film about Palestine, this one about a Brooklyn girl who decides to move back to the homeland. She discovers that her parents' savings were confiscated when they left in the 50s, so she crafts an elaborate heist scheme with her lover to get what's owed to her. It's the first film directed by a woman to come out of Palestine and a heist movie sounds like a nice change of pace from the usual films about the conflict.
'Potiche' is the new film from the always wacky and very prolific Francois Ozon ('Swimming Pool'). This is the third film released by him in the last few months - I'm not sure how he does it. Catherine Deneuve plays the "potiche" (trophy wife) of the title, being married to an unpopular and tyrannical owner of an umbrella factory in the late 70s. She's forced to take over the day-to-day management of the factory when the workers go on strike and unexpectedly thrives in the role, learning that brains are as useful as beauty. She also finds new love in an old boyfriend now representing the union (played by French legend Gerard Depardieu). Ozon's films are always colorful, witty and wacky and this one's more of the same. The bright colors and umbrella factory setting are a nice homage to Deneuve's 60s classic, 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'. Enjoyable, war-of-the sexes comedy.
The last foreign title today is the film I've been most excited about seeing this year. 'Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives' also is certainly the best-named film of the year. It's directed by the amazing Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul. In the film, Boonmee, facing death, spends his last days visiting relatives in the countryside, consulting with ghosts and reflecting on his past lives. He meets his dead wife and his long lost son (represented by a mysterious Sasquatch-type jungle creature) as he journeys toward the afterlife. Weerasethakul's films aren't the most linear and this one takes that to the extreme. If you want a straight narrative that moves from A to B to C, you won't get it here. The filmmaker uses Boonmee's journey to reflect on Buddhist concepts of karma, reincarnation/transformation and reality vs. illusion. If nothing else, his films are always beautiful to watch - even if you don't understand what's going on. Absolutely can't wait to see this.
Just one Criterion release and it's 'The Music Room' ('Jalsaghar'), a 1958 film by renowned Indian director Satyajit Ray. Ray's films are notoriously difficult to find on DVD in the US, so it's a real treat when a proper version of any of his films comes out. This one's about an aging aristocrat living in his crumbling mansion and reflecting on glory days gone by. It's supposed to be particularly great because it showcases some of the most popular traditional Indian musicians of the era. The second disc is a documentary about Ray's life and work.
Lastly this week, Kino Films presents two late 70s/early 80s films released for the first time on DVD. 'The Romantic Englishwoman' is a 1975 comedy directed by Joseph Losey ('Eva', 'Boom!') and starring Michael Caine ('Harry Brown') as a novelist convinced that his wife is fooling around with a young man she met on a "getting her groove back" holiday in Baden Baden. Things get complicated when the young man shows up at their house in England claiming to be a fan of Caine's work. Worth it if only to see Caine and the excellent Glenda Jackson ('Women in Love', 'Sunday Bloody Sunday') as a couple.
The other title is 'Priest of Love' - a biopic about controversial author D.H. Lawrence. Ian McKellan (Gandalf) plays Lawrence as he infuriates the British government with his novels 'The Rainbow' & 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' and as he travels the world in the 1920s from the US to Mexico and finally to Italy (where his erotic escapades inspire him to write 'Lady Chatterley'). Ava Gardner ('The Killers') and Janet Suzman ('Singing Detective') also star.
OK, there's enough variety this week for there to be something for everyone in this list. Enjoy your flicks!
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