War Horse opens with a man buying a horse at auction for more than it's worth, and more than he can afford, because his foolish pride won't let him lose. This, despite the fact that the sum he puts down is likely to cause him to lose his home and farm. It ends with a man buying the same horse at auction, and declaring that he will not lose, even if he has to sell his house and farm to keep … [Read more...]
As I walked out of the theater, my son (10) asked if The Muppet Show really used to be on TV, and you could see in his eyes that he was hoping it did, because then he could ask if we could get the DVDs. I told him it was, and recounted some of the memories of watching it every Sunday night. I could tell that I lost him somewhere along the way, as I tried to put together the idea of the weekly … [Read more...]
When undertaking the task of translating the life of a famous historical figure for the purpose of cinema, discounting adventurous "left field" attempts such as Todd Haynes's Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There, there are basically two approaches to take: the micro and the macro. The micro approach selects a defining moment in the said protagonist's life and puts it under close scrutiny, so that we … [Read more...]
Margin Call is a night in the life of a group of poor schmucks who work at multi-billion dollar investment firm. Set in the early stages of the 2008 crisis, the film revolves around the events following the discovery of an error in a predictive algorithm (or whatever) the company has been using to package stocks to trade as a single entity (or something). We enter the film on a downsizing day, … [Read more...]
The Big Year is the sort of vehicle that will cause critics and audiences alike equal difficulty in discerning why and how it ever got made in the first place (which is not necessarily a bad thing). An indie film in all but budget, stars, and well... 20th Century Fox, it's a slow, meandering "comedy" that isn't exactly funny, and doesn't offer much insight when it comes to what it thinks you ought … [Read more...]
The Help is one of those films that rolls out every so often with the idea of reaffirming a generalized point of view that no one can possibly deny having anyway... now, in any sufficiently large public forum. It's the 1960s, we're in Jackson, Mississippi, and there is some technical sense in which people of color are no longer slaves. The film lays out the conflicting attitudes of white … [Read more...]
The romantic-comedy genre takes a beating like nothing else, with the possible exception of horror, but we all know that it's a genre that not only must exist, but must churn out titles at an incredible rate. There simply has to be a date option at the theater. So far gone is the genre in the collective psyche, that when something comes along that we find ourselves loving - let's say When … [Read more...]
Even in the midst of our current acceptance of reality, which leads us to the conclusion that theaters will be plagued with remakes and there's little use in griping, there are still those willing to shake a fist in the air when things go too far. Remaking True Grit is the sort of enterprise that causes, at least among some, such fist-shaking. I am not such a naysayer, speaking in general … [Read more...]
Surprisingly, one of my most popular articles here is Why the Voyage of the Dawn Treader will work and Disney is stupid. The key idea in it is that abandoning the franchise after Prince Caspian is simply a mind-boggling decision. Whatever the bottom line might say, the only reason to move beyond the first film and make Caspian at all is so that you get to make Dawn Treader. While all the books in … [Read more...]
Boxing movies have a certain advantage over other sports-related films, both in getting people who aren't necessarily interested in the sport to watch them, and in terms of metaphoric ease, and The Fighter takes advantage in every conceivable way. The story of an immense struggle, somewhat obviously, The Fighter focuses on half-brother boxers Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) and Dickie Eklund … [Read more...]
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that few among the most serious of cinephiles are huge fans of ballet. More important than the truth of this statement (which I'm not really committed to) is the fact that it seems to be true. The arts in question are not even particularly relevant. What is important is that, whether we're talking opera, oil painting, or concert pianists, moving to the … [Read more...]
Harrison Ford's character (Mike Pomeroy) in Morning Glory is a veteran newsman who despises "Morning News Shows," and his viewpoint is difficult to reconcile with the idea of watching the film in which it exists. Considering himself among the most serious of journalists, and he has the awards to prove it, entities like Today, Good Morning America, and the fictional Daybreak irritate him to no end. … [Read more...]
Of all the films making their way to theaters by way of the '80s, Predators is perhaps the most confusing. A pseudo-sequel to the 1987 schlock nonsense Predator, the films are only loosely related, and unnecessarily so. Moreover, the movie has no plot by design, and its curious delusions of grandeur render it impotent in all areas that might be put forward as the excuses for its existence. A … [Read more...]
Megamind is one of those Hollywood numbers that comes along, with ever-increasing frequency, born more of a quick excuse and an ability to contract talent than any overwhelming interest in creating a great movie. We can get a lot of names on our poster, and... well, no, that's it really. It has the kind of plot that has existed for decades at every college in the country, anywhere you find a … [Read more...]
The combined resumes of the cast of RED is staggeringly impressive, and having Bruce Willis lead a crew not particularly known for lighter fare drives the feel and flavor of a film that might easily have had no ability to find footing. Yet another graphic novel translation, this one brings us an older collection of action heroes, branded Retired Extremely Dangerous, and the mix of "changing of the … [Read more...]
Remakes are always tricky efforts, and ones that, for good or ill, add a new level of expectations to the difficulties of film releases. Even apart from the obvious comparisons, there will be those who are opposed to a remake on principle, depending on the film. There may be low-budget, horror icon purists out there, but I don't recall a lot of theoretical negative talk when A Nightmare on Elm … [Read more...]
