Monday, December 29, 2008

What we will see in 2009

Push
Release Date: February 6, 2009
Push might seem like Heroes for the big screen, but instead of the characters' powers being dictated by an eclipse, it's a clandestine government agency called "The Division" that calls the shots. The organization has toyed with the genetic makeup of the characters to engineer warriors that can see the future, move things with their minds, create new realities and kill victims without touching them. Those who don't cooperate are hunted down and killed. If the F/X are as well done and the story is as fast-paced and coherent as it appears from the trailer, this flick could put the small-screen heroes to shame.


Watchmen
Release Date: March 6, 2009
Forget Spider-Man and Superman—2009 is the year of the Watchmen. This highly anticipated film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's groundbreaking 1986 graphic novel is such a hot property that two studios are squabbling over who owns it, which could delay its release (perish the thought). Director Zach Snyder has copped to amping up the action and removing The Black Freighter vignettes (a pirate aside that weaves throughout the graphic novel) to cut run time, but the 20 minutes of footage we screened in October was almost reverentially faithful to the source material—a fact that leaves us hopeful that the rest of the film will receive an equally great treatment. Whether the giant squid ending makes the cut remains to be seen, but based on Dr. Manhattan's CG rendering alone, this movie will still deliver thrills for diehard fans of the novel as well as for the uninitiated.


X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Release Date: May 1, 2009
What do filmmakers do when they finish a mega-successful trilogy about mutants-turned-heroes known as the X-Men? Figure out where those mutants came from—and start with the most mysterious mutant of all, Wolverine. The trailer for this first Origins film (a Magneto-based film is also in the works) details Wolverine's tragic childhood, his experience in various wars, the slaying of his true love and his involvement in (and subsequent rebellion from) the Mutant X program. The introduction of a slew of other mutants—Gambit, Silver Fox and Deadpool among them—as well as the fight scenes between Wolverine and his nemesis, Sabretooth, are enough to make this a hotly anticipated movie for any comic fan. And Wolverine taking on a helicopter? We're so there.



Star Trek
Release Date: May 8, 2009
Director J.J. Abrams's decision to initiate a Star Trek reboot was controversial among fans; so were his casting choices (lead actor Chris Pine, in particular). But Abrams has said he hopes this origin story will appeal to more than just Trekkies. The fast-paced action of the trailer, particularly that Cloverfield-esque beast and a newly developed Spock/Kirk rivalry, promise that even if Abrams hasn't made the next Wrath of Khan, he'll at least have made something better than Final Frontier—and that's something everyone can support.


Terminator: Salvation
Release Date: May 22, 2009
In Salvation, set in post-apocalyptic 2018, John Connor leads the resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators as they attempt to wipe out the last survivors of the human race. Thanks to his tortured portrayal of Batman, Christian Bale as John Connor would have been enough to convince us to see Salvation, the fourth installment in the Terminator franchise. The blistering human-on-robot action from the trailer is an added bonus that will no doubt have film fans lining up around the block to see how the human race survives this time.

UP
Release Date: May 29, 2009
The premise of Up, Pixar's latest offering, speaks to the limitless imagination the studio continues to tap: 78-year-old Carl, a curmudgeonly old man who wants to visit the wilds of South America, attaches thousands of balloons to his house to get there. Take an enthusiastic 8-year-old wilderness explorer along for the ride, and you've got a quirky, loveable adventure story. It may not include robot love, but we have high hopes for this digitally animated kids' flick.


Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen
Release Date: June 26, 2009
Laugh at explosion-happy Michael Bay if you must, but it's undeniable that the guy knows how to bring the fun along with the dynamite. The first Transformers flick was a great popcorn movie with incredible special effects that have helped create buzz for the next in the series, Revenge of the Fallen. Speculation is running rampant about just what the title means. (Is Megatron coming back from his watery grave?) And details on the plot are scarce. But Bay's own personal tagline seems to be go big or go home. Expect cooler robots, crazier F/X sequences and, yes, bigger (and more!) explosions. The combination will, no doubt, create lines at the megaplex for a midnight showing, whether or not Bay makes it one explosion too many.


2012
Release Date: July 10, 2009
In Roland Emmerich's upcoming film, 2012, it's the end of the world as we know it—again. From the aliens in Independence Day to a wrathful Mother Nature in The Day After Tomorrow, Emmerich has made a name for himself directing F/X-laden films about mankind's demise. 2012 is the last year in the Mayan calendar, which some believers say signals the apocalypse. Say what you will about the quality of Emmerich's films, but his effects are always topnotch—check out the flood in the trailer—and geeks will certainly line up to see how he chooses to end it all this time around, and, of course, how the survivors triumph over catastrophic forces.


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Release Date: July 17, 2009
By the time Half-Blood Prince hits theaters, rabid fans will have gone two years without a film adaptation of the spectacularly successful Harry Potter book series. (Warner Brothers cited the writer's strike as the reason it pushed the film from its original November 2008 release). This action-packed sixth film marks, among other things, another major character death, the beginnings of young love and the return of Quidditch. Fans are especially focused on seeing how director David Yates creates the Inferi—corpses reanimated by a Dark Wizard's curse—in the pivotal cave scene, where Harry and Hogwart's Headmaster Albus Dumbledore fight them with fire. If the creatures are anything like Prisoner of Azkaban's creepy, soul-sucking Dementors, viewers will be in for a treat.


G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
Release Date: August 7, 2009
G.I. Joe has been an action figure and the star of a cartoon series—and now the soldier will attempt to conquer the multiplex in what many assume will be the first film in a franchise. As the title suggests, Rise of the Cobra is an origin story that centers around the formation of the nefarious Cobra Organization. Stephen Sommer—who directed The Mummy and The Mummy Returns—is at the helm, so expect killer action scenes and explosions truly befitting these Real American Heroes.


Avatar
Release Date: December 18, 2009
Technology has finally caught up to James Cameron's brain, and that's reason enough to be geeked out over the release of the 3D mega-project, Avatar. The director, who had the idea for the film in 1996, couldn't begin working on it until 2007 because the technology to fulfill his vision—photo-realistic CGI renderings of people, created using motion-capture technology—simply wasn't advanced enough. The shoot was more live action than previous mo-cap films, but now thanks to a new virtual camera, Cameron can observe on a monitor how the actors' digital characters interact with the movie's digital world in real time. Avatar was originally scheduled for a May 2009 release but was pushed back to allow more time for post-production and for more theaters to convert to 3D. Here's hoping it doesn't get pushed back again.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The 10 best of 2008

10. Hunger



Remember what I said about emotionally positive movies in my introduction? Forget that for just a little bit. Steve McQueen's stunning dissection of the human power to choose the mental or even the spiritual over the physical is one of the most riveting films of the year. Almost dialogue-free except for a 17-minute, unbroken conversation that sets up its final act, Hunger is the story of IRA prisoners led by Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbinder) and their decision to go on a hunger strike. The first half of the film ping-pongs protagonists from a cop in the prison to one of the physically-abused inmates to eventually Bobby himself. Seemingly disjointed but stunningly photographed scenes like the cop washing the wounds on his hands (from beating prisoners) to an amazing sequence visualizing the physically violent way the inmates are cut and cleaned add resonance to Sands' decision, which takes center stage in only the final act. But McQueen isn't mythologizing Sands or hunger strikes. Hunger may not be thematically "positive," but in seeing the striking visual sensibility of one of the best directorial debuts of the year, I certainly felt something close to elation at the use of the form.



9. Let the Right One In



Speaking of debuts, Tomas Alfredson made one of the best of the year with his riveting tale of vampire in love, Let the Right One In. I mistakenly gave the film only three-and-a-half “bones” the first time I saw it. Watching it again and letting it sink in from the first viewing, it deserves four. One of the things that struck me most both times I saw Let the Right One In is the way Alfredson and his cinematographer turn their snow-covered setting into a character in their brilliant blend of adolescence and blood-lust. Who's more emotionally isolated than the awkward pre-teen? The awkward, pre-teen vampire who literally can't be close to anyone. And the isolation of puberty is amplified by a cold, snow-covered setting that forces everyone indoors. Oskar is drawn to Eli partially because she's the only other child on the playground. Their love story is one of the best of the year, a beautiful tale of how much we are willing to forgive to keep the one person (or vampire) who has ever loved us close.



8. The Visitor




Walter Vale is one of the most full-realized, believable characters of the year and it's in the way that writer/director Thomas McCarthy and actor Richard Jenkins bring him to vivid life that gives The Visitor its beating heart. The Visitor is as full of life as any film in 2008, partially because it's about a man who discovers the passion for his own in the most unusual of places - his own apartment. I hate it when people try to classify The Visitor as a movie about our nation's ignorant and stupid immigration laws. Yes, that's part of the fabric of the story, but The Visitor is a much more complex film than that. It's a beautiful, heartwarming story of a man who opens his closed heart to music, friendship, and love. When Walter plays his drum in that final scene, he does so with anger at what happened to his friend Tarek, but also as a tribute to the man who changed his life by merely being a visitor to this country.


7. The Wrestler



The Wrestler is almost more remarkable for what it's not than for what it is. A film about an over-the-hill wrestling superstar who can find no happiness or stability outside the ring - and increasingly less inside of it - it could have been a melodramatic, soapy mess. There's even yet another stripper with a heart of gold, one of the most overdone clichés in movie history. But Darren Aronofsky, Mickey Rourke, and Marisa Tomei take the stereotypes and make them genuine again. The physical and emotional pain of Randy "The Ram" Robinson feels completely real in every single scene of The Wrestler. Rourke has been praised for giving one of those soul-baring, physically demanding performances that you only see every few years, but it's a part of the realism that Aronofsky is going for in the entire piece. Even the emotional confrontation with his estranged daughter, an underrated Evan Rachel Wood, which would have been pure


6. Happy-Go-Lucky




I can't shake Poppy. I think about her back story, what happens to her in Happy-Go-Lucky, and I wonder what she's up to now. Maybe she's been so memorable in part because I think she's been so miscategorized by people instantly turned off to a character whose main goal in life seems to be to try to make everyone happy. But Poppy is not naive. She's not blissful in ignorance. That's a misreading of the film. When she encounters the abuse of one of her young students, she doesn't ignore it. She doesn't believe in blind love with her new beau. She even knows that Scott, her sometimes violent driving instructor, is a little crazy. Like Walter and Randy, Poppy is fully three-dimensional and, in bringing her to life, Sally Hawkins gives the most memorable performance of the year. Happy-Go-Lucky is a hard movie to define. It has its comedic moments but also goes to some dark places. And what's the message of Mike Leigh's movie? I'm not sure there is one. I think it's just a classic character study and the one this year



5. Rachel Getting Married




Jonathan Demme's best film since Silence of the Lambs is one of his most personal. Surrounded by musicians, multi-cultural artists, and good friends, Rachel Getting Married is like Demme's dream wedding. How better for a filmmaker to capture what thematically needs to be an overwhelming declaration of love than to do so with music he loves (it's no coincidence that the groom sings Neil Young) and people he honestly cares about? Into this atmosphere of overpowering warmth comes a woman who can no longer feel love. She doesn't even think she's worthy of God's love. Hathaway's award-winning portrayal of Kym, the deeply damaged sister of the titular Rachel, provides the perfect counter-balance to the cinematic wedding of the decade, but the entire ensemble excels in Demme's creatively rewarding environment. Rachel Getting Married is one of the most unique movies of 2008 because it's filled with dichotomies. Slowly paced yet riveting. Painfully emotional yet not melodramatic. Loving and filled with self-loathing. And brilliant in every scene.



4. Slumdog Millionaire



When I was writing the introduction to this piece, I was looking for a word other than "triumph" to describe Slumdog Millionaire but nothing seems nearly as appropriate. Danny Boyle's best film is about the human will's ability to triumph over any kind of adversity. It's turned into the sleeper hit of the year because of its power to inspire every audience that sees it. Don't trust anyone who doesn't leave the theater for Slumdog Millionaire with a smile on their face. Simon Beaufoy's Oscar-worthy screenplay distills a book full of what were basically short stories into a study about the importance of life experience over purely intellectual pursuit. And with Boyle's masterful direction, they turn the story of a lucky young man on a crash course with destiny into an inspirational film that everyone can relate to around the world. We'd all like to think that the ups and downs of our life have an end-goal and that, even though we may not know every answer on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, our life experience has led us to where we are for a reason. Slumdog Millionaire is one of the best films of 2008 because it takes the amazing and makes it relatably inspirational.


3. Milk



Speaking of inspirational, just as you shouldn't trust anyone who's not smiling at the end of Slumdog Millionaire, stay away from anyone unmoved by the best film of Gus Van Sant's career and the best performance of Sean Penn's. Milk is a masterpiece. It's easy to write a movie about a martyr and, in lesser hands, that's exactly what Milk would have been. But Harvey himself would hate a movie that turned him into a martyr, so Van Sant and should-be-Oscar-winning writer Dustin Lance Black did something a lot more complicated and made a movie about a movement. Milk is a movie about the painful steps that the homosexual community has had to make just to be seen as equal. Black and Van Sant film every element of Harvey Milk's life in that context. So, we see the impact of his drive for gay rights on his lovers, most notably in performances by James Franco and Diego Luna. We see him run repeatedly for office, picking himself up and trying again when he loses. And we see the impact of Milk's movement on the damaged soul that would take this inspirational man's life because he couldn't get a grip on his own in Josh Brolin’s incredible portrayal of Dan White. As 2008 has painfully taught us, the gay rights movement is far from over, but no film has ever captured the importance of the continued struggle as vibrantly or brilliantly as Milk.


2. The Dark Knight


What more is there to say about The Dark Knight? Is it the best superhero movie ever made? There's no contest. Seen outside of the blurry haze of the summer movie season, The Dark Knight looks even more accomplished than it did earlier this year. So much has been written about Heath Ledger's riveting portrayal of The Joker - and I'm certainly a part of the chorus calling for him to win Best Supporting Actor - but he's just one piece of the amazing puzzle that director Christopher Nolan put together for The Dark Knight. It's one of the most technically accomplished films in YEARS from Wally Pfister's gorgeous use of shadow and light in his award-worthy cinematography to the spectacular score by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer to the editing, costume design, etc. Leave Ledger's performance aside and The Dark Knight would still make this list. Perfectly conceived, paced, and executed, The Dark Knight not only raises the bar on superhero movies - that's a given - but it also raises the bar on what we should expect from our entertainment.



1. Wall-E


Believe it or not, even a critic as cynical as I am is really just looking for that theatrical experience that transcends what we do. The movies that I find most notable are almost always the ones that simply make me forget about the review I inevitably have to write. It's the rare film that a critic can just let wash over them and take them away from their profession. Most of us are sitting there in the dark taking notes, trying to grab quotes or ideas for our inevitable review. But when a movie can make a critic stop pre-planning their review and just enjoy the experience, well, that's rare indeed. Pixar has that power and never more so than in their best film, the masterpiece that is Wall-E. Director Andrew Stanton and the team at Pixar proved yet again that they are filmmakers truly willing to take the biggest risks that reap the biggest rewards. A movie with almost no dialogue, references to Hello Dolly, and set in the overdone genre of science fiction? Wall-E was a HUGE risk. They swung for the fences and they hit a home run for the ages, a movie that people will be watching for generations to come. It's one of the few films from 2008 that I can guarantee you will last throughout the years. The little robot that could is the star of not just one of the best movies of the year, but one of the best of the decade. 2008 may not have been a good year, but any that gives us a movie as treasured as Wall-E isn’t half-bad either.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Worst of 2008

"The Love Guru" : Religious groups were worried about Mike Myers' film about a guru who helps a troubled hockey player, even before it opened. Don't bother - this film was so bad that people wisely stayed away. Besides, it wasn't offensive on religious grounds. It was offensive on comedy grounds. How bad? Elephant sex. That bad.

"Untraceable" : Diane Lane starred in what could have been a decent social commentary - a serial killer streams his deeds online - but is instead a nitwit caper film so ridiculous it makes CSI look like high art.

"Leatherheads" : Turns out George Clooney CAN do wrong. Certainly directing and starring in this madcap would-be comedy about the early days of professional football certainly did him no favors. A waste of John Krasinski, as well.


"Speed Racer" : If looks were all it took to make a movie great, this would be in the top 10, not the bottom. Unfortunately, there's a little more to it than that. The Wachowski brothers bring all the visual magic you'd expect from the Matrix guys, but things like acting and story got left by the side of the road.

"Jumper" : Decent premise - Hayden Christensen can "jump" from one place to another and finds out there are others like him who are hunted - that comes to nothing. The story doesn't make much sense, and, as it turns out, Christensen isn't much of an actor. Bad story, bad acting: bad combo.



"Street Kings" : Keanu Reeves stars as a detective mourning the death of his wife who must unravel all manner of police corruption, mostly by killing people. Violent, loud, stupid.



"Max Payne" : Maybe basing movies on video games isn't such a good idea? This would be Exhibit A. Mark Wahlberg plays a cop who runs afoul of just about everyone after his wife's death. All sorts of hallucinogenic images, very little else to care about.


"Death Race" : Could have been big dumb fun, in the manner of "Wanted" or the remake of "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Instead, it's just dumb, period, and a waste of Ian McShane, as well.

"What Happens In Vegas" : Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz play a couple who drunkenly marry in Vegas, win millions and promptly hate each other (each wants all the money). A judge orders them to live together; yes, it's that stupid. And predictable. Whatever the opposite of chemistry is, it's on full display here.



"Rambo" : Why? Really, that's all this comes down to. Why would Sylvester Stallone co-write, direct and star in a fourth installment of his angry-vet films? There's just no telling. John Rambo helps rescue missionaries in Burma, killing whoever gets in his way. You expected anything less (or, maybe, more)? Scariest news: HE MAY MAKE ANOTHER.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Nights in Rodanthe

If you look at this movie for nights in Rodanthe you will certainly be deluded.
I remember one and not so much of it.
What you will find is the perfect example of the perfect mother who sacrifices her private life and love for her children to the point that life will sacrifice her.
All movie is in waiting for the Real Love, which looks close, but will never realize.
Real Love is what makes you waiting for it.
Too bad sometimes is just that: waiting...
But then, it is much better a dream of a reality than the reality of a dream...
What is better and more pure, more sublime, than a love that dies before it becomes reality?

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The Duchess

Women's only I would say.
But I bet most women will just love it.
Gorgeous clothes, mansions, love, intrigue, maternal love, all in one and doesn't last as long as a woman would like.
It could go on with grandchildren and be a saga.
But this great woman who even loves the children her husband fathered with other women, the children she cannot bring up, the friends who cheated her, is the hero (and she is not even unattractive, on the contrary).
I hardly believe that she is a little bit human, I mean the usual humanity, not what we would like humanity to be...

Friday, December 12, 2008

Mamma Mia

If you are a nostalgic of old faces and old songs, this is the movie for you.
Without forgetting the incredible blue of the Greek sea and the charm of a wonderful Greek island, with its simple life, primitive plumbing and shabby chic buildings.
They have it all: love, past, present, future, sex, nostalgia, typical American wedding.
At the end the only one who doesn't get married is the only one who is supposed to, for whom the wedding is planned.
Happy and I would like to say unexpected end, but I was sure it would have finished that way: three middle age men and three middle age women...

Monday, December 8, 2008

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

An old movie (1975) that, thanks to a magnificent (and quite young)Nicholson, you can still enjoy (a lot) looking at.
Crazy is all what doesn't comform to our actual view of what is being sane.
We are Nuts and so we can do what we like...
And he really does, whatever he can, in his limited way, what he likes...
At the end of the movie one could think that he has a much better way to treat nuts than doctors and nurses.
McMurphy (Jack Nicholson )is the false crazy who believes in himself (and he succeds in making the others believe in him too)and in life.
His optimism is contagious and probably the best cure against any illness of any kind, including mental illness.
A great movie, because of the main carachter, who conveys the essence of McMurphy to perfection.
A story which is so close to reality you do not believe it is a story anymore...

Saturday, December 6, 2008

The Graduate

I guess yesterday wars the third time I have seen it...
The film is always the same, but it looks different to me.
It is a forty years backward look.
It is "How we were" and what we "hoped" and how we saw the "future".
Luckily it is ages apart from what we are and what we hoped to be.
It is a society that has grown a lot, not always in the right direction, but in many ways yes.
It is a society that has widened its view of life and the part that has not will have to in a very near future.
How much easier life looked then, in that movie at least.
No worries for a job.
Richness and a granted future, so that the main concern is who am I going to marry and what is going against my will...
Love, of course, wins, but leaves quite a few unanswered questions.
And a few quite granted answers.