The Tall Man

THE TALL MAN (Pascal Laugier, 2012)

Recent years have not treated the mining town of Cold Rock, Washington well in THE TALL MAN.  The area is economically devastated, but the frequent, unsolved disappearances of the town’s children deliver the most significant blows to civic morale. With town and federal law enforcement no closer to solving the mysteries, local legend pins the abductions on The Tall Man, a shadowy presence who emerges from the forest to take the kids.  

By continuing to run the community clinic her husband once oversaw, widow and single mother Julia Denning (Jessica Biel) tries to do all she can for the townsfolk.  She is concerned for the welfare of Jenny (Jodelle Ferland), a mute teen whose sister was impregnated by her mom’s boyfriend, and makes the extra effort to extend kindness to one missing child’s distraught mother.

One night the racket of a radio preacher spouting hellfire and brimstone awakens Julia. Downstairs she discovers that the live-in babysitter Christine (Eve Harlow) has been beaten and tied up.  Then she realizes that her son David (Jakob Davies) is missing. She makes a valiant attempt to chase down the hooded figure in a long coat but is ultimately unable to retrieve her son and passes out in the middle of the road.

THE TALL MAN comes as close as anything in recent years at matching the better monster-of-the-week episodes of THE X-FILES, although here the mystery is approached from the inside rather than through a federal investigation.  (The connection to THE X-FILES also comes, perhaps incidentally, with the series’ Cigarette Smoking Man, William B. Davis, playing a sheriff.)  The secluded Pacific Northwest location and periodic child narration enhance the film’s fable-like tone as a regional cautionary tale. The authority of legend weighs heavily whether humans or supernatural forces are responsible for the missing kids.

Approximately the first half of THE TALL MAN plays out as a conventional suspense film, but writer-director Pascal Laugier has a couple tricks up his sleeves that transform the otherwise familiar notes into something surprising and provocative.  Genre gives Laugier the freedom to delve into a perspective on child welfare that a social issue drama would likely never dare to consider with any seriousness.  Naturally, the example provided herein is taken to an extreme, but the go-for-broke philosophical determination and ambiguous stance on what transpires make for a potent conclusion.

While THE TALL MAN’s success can be attributed to the execution of its twists and subversive core idea, Biel’s performance as a loving and fiercely protective mother amplifies the power of the narrative turns.  Feeling the depth of her character’s sacrifice is the difference between sustained dread and a jump scare.  Both tactics accomplish the task, but the former is more satisfying in the long run.

Grade: B

Sinister

SINISTER (Scott Derrickson, 2012)

True-crime novelist Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) has a habit of getting on the bad side of local law enforcement wherever he goes.  In SINISTER his latest project does little to endear him to the community.  Ellison is researching the case of a girl who went missing after her parents and two siblings were hanged from a tree in their backyard.  In a ghoulish decision, the out-of-town author moves his family into the victims’ home, although his wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) and two kids are unaware of the house’s recent history.

In the attic Ellison finds a box of 8mm home movies. The labeled cases feature innocuous titles for the films, but when Ellison fires up the projector to watch them, he discovers horrifying documentation of the murders he’s investigating as well as footage of other ritually slaughtered families.  The deeper Ellison sinks into his work, the more he struggles to shake the horrible images he’s witnessed.  Eventually he turns to a starstruck deputy (James Ransone) for assistance in gaining information about the larger story he’s stumbled upon.     

SINISTER functions as an unnerving testament to the power and pull of the moving image.  Ellison obsessively watches the home movies, poring over every frame for clues regarding the location and people involved in the killings.  Although he’s doing a careful reading of the text from an objective distance, he is still susceptible to being affected by what passes before his eyes.  Ellison is not a film critic in that he is not rendering approval or disapproval on the movies’ aesthetic values, but he is practicing the kind of dedicated engagement with the work that marks the cinephile.

Analytic interpretation aside, it’s a scary movie.  Director and co-writer Scott Derrickson mixes in a modicum of jump scares while maintaining an enduring state of uneasiness. The horror doesn’t come from anticipating a supernatural being leaping out of dark corners or seeing graphic violence.  For Ellison and the audience the terror comes in having what’s suggested in the flickering images seared into one’s consciousness. Swaying bodies dangling from a branch and the hint of mutilation are hard to shake from the mind’s eye.  Even when what’s depicted is not especially vivid, the persistence of the visions are.

SINISTER isn’t to be mistaken for a novel entry in the genre.  It owes more than a debt of gratitude to THE SHINING and THE RING, among others, but Derrickson processes the chilling influences into an eerie experience mindful of the significance of projected images watched alone in the dark.

Grade: B

Seven Psychopaths

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS (Martin McDonagh, 2012)

In SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS screenwriter Marty Faranan (Colin Farrell) is struggling to come up with a script for a film of the same name.  His creative block might be related to the alcoholism that his friend Billy Bickle (Sam Rockwell) suggests he has.  Then again, Billy can’t exactly be trusted completely.  The temperamental aspiring actor is hellbent on finding some way to collaborate with Marty on the screenplay.  While Billy is a good friend, he doesn’t make the wisest choices.

For instance, Billy is involved in a dog abduction scheme with Hans (Christopher Walken).  Billy takes the adored pets, and Hans returns them to the grateful owners for the reward money.  It looks to be an easy and risk-free method of lining their pockets until they take the beloved Shih Tzu of organized crime boss Charlie (Woody Harrelson). He doesn’t take kindly to news of his dog’s disappearance.  Charlie and his men don’t have to search long before they are chasing Billy, Hans, and a guilty-by-association Marty.
 
As a mash-up of ADAPTATION and ‘90s Tarantino-inspired films, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is either too clever by half or not clever enough to fulfill all of its ambitions.  Like Charlie Kaufman, writer-director Martin McDonagh loads the film over capacity with ideas and structural complexities.  McDonagh zigzags plenty, sometimes to the film’s detriment, but he provides plenty to chew on among the ample laughs and bloodshed.  

On one level the existential comedy is about the process of filmmaking.  On another it’s concerned with what makes a man a man and the social expectations of how machismo is expressed.  Ultimately SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS is most interested in exploring the need for dreams, be they reflected in the movies or offered through religious promises about an afterlife.  Is what we do in our lives meaningless or the basis for the potential earning of some greater reward?  Are we even in control of writing our own life scripts, or is another screenwriter--the Almighty Creator, in fact--determining how the narrative develops?

SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS doesn’t knuckle down and decide how to answer everything tossed out for consideration--how could it?--but even when it feels like little more than intellectual, postmodern spitballing, it satisfies as an exercise in storytelling.  It helps that McDonagh employs a who’s who of character actors to flesh out a rogue’s gallery worthy of living up to the film’s title.  As a foil to Farrell’s straight man, Rockwell is amusingly unhinged as a wild card of a friend.  Walken brings gravitas and soul to an eccentric man who knows all too well the tension between faith and despair in the face of the seemingly random.  Harrelson is a fearsome and humorous study in the film’s clash between violent and loving impulses.  Tom Waits and Harry Dean Stanton are plugged into the lineup for good measure.  SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS doesn’t reach the high bar McDonagh sets for it, yet he distributes a good number of pleasures with the film’s wit, contemplative offerings, and unpredictable nature.  

Grade: B

Taken 2

TAKEN 2 (Olivier Megaton, 2012)

After rescuing his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace) from human traffickers in TAKEN, former CIA operative Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) dedicates himself to being there for her, whether she needs him or not, in TAKEN 2.  Given what they went through in Europe, he’s justified in playing the role of the overprotective father.  These days he’s overseeing her driving lessons and, at the drop of a hat, tracking down Kim to her boyfriend’s place despite having been unaware that she’s dating anyone.  

Bryan’s heroics in the previous film appear to have improved his relationship with ex-wife Lenore (Famke Janssen), who’s now on the verge of a split from her wealthy husband.  When a tearful Lenore tells Bryan about her crumbling marriage, he asks her and Kim to join him for some rest and relaxation in Istanbul after he’s done with a job there.  

They accept his invitation, but Albanian toughs interrupt the Mills family vacation.  Led by Murad Krasniqi (Rade Serbedzija), they seek revenge on Bryan for killing their kin, friends, and colleagues when he rescued Kim in Paris.  Before Bryan and Lenore are abducted, he calls his daughter with instructions for how she can get to safety and help her mom and dad escape their captors.

Like the TV series 24, the attraction of TAKEN and its sequel are heroes who can brush aside bad guys with ruthless efficiency and display crack improvisational skills to wiggle out of any number of jams.  24 and the TAKEN films envision a hostile and untrustworthy caricature of a world that is best protected by a paternal figure with government connections and extralegal means at his disposal.  Both Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer and Neeson’s Bryan even have daughters named Kim.  The disappointment of TAKEN 2 is how long it takes to wind up and deliver Neeson in all his throat-punching and arm-breaking glory.  Enough with all the family theatrics already.  Let’s see Neeson bring the pain.

Maybe the unexpectedness of watching Neeson be so merciless has worn off because TAKEN 2 plays as though it’s going through the motions when he finally gets to take on his enemies.  Director Olivier Megaton competently captures the action and fight scenes, but the results bear little difference from dozens of similar films producer and co-screenwriter Luc Besson’s production company has churned out.  Neeson is a charismatic actor who cuts an imposing figure, but this repeat lacks the vitality and novelty.

In its best scenes the sequel briefly reverses Bryan and Kim’s roles. The security expert becomes someone who needs to be found, and the daughter turns into the rescuer, even if she’s merely following her dad’s detailed guidance.  The clever, if dubious, method of helping to pinpoint one’s unknown location with a hidden cell phone, a city map, a marker, a shoelace, and a few grenades brings a pleasing MACGYVER-like touch, although the achievement is also due to some of the least attentive abductors ever.

The problem in making Bryan the abducted is that TAKEN 2 lacks the immediacy and dramatic stakes of the rampage he goes on in TAKEN to save his daughter.  Obviously Bryan is more than capable of taking care of himself.  His ex-wife needs to be saved this time around, but her plight does not seem urgent for any significant stretches.  With lowered concerns, TAKEN 2 is content to play out as a familiar and lesser version of its predecessor.

Grade: C-

What to Expect When You're Expecting

WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING (Kirk Jones, 2012)

The prenatal comedy WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING provides a snapshot of contemporary anxieties about imminent parenthood, but it may be more worthwhile as a document for future pop culture scholars to use to understand what was trendy in 2012.  Reality TV shows in the forms of a weight loss program and a celebrity dance competition, Auto-Tuned YouTube videos, and food trucks play prominent roles in the loosely intersecting plots of five pairs expecting babies.  Whether the film is analyzed for the attitudes and fears particular to this time for parents-to-be or what captured the mainstream’s attention, there are more valuable details found in the margins than in the dull and fragmented story.

The sets of expectant parents cover the spectrum.  Celebrity fitness trainer Jules Baxter (Cameron Diaz) thinks she can keep up her rigorous schedule while pregnant and doesn’t need to consider the input of Evan (Matthew Morrison), her partner in the relationship and on the TV dance contest where they met.  Holly (Jennifer Lopez) stresses over impressing adoption officials so she and her husband Alex (Rodrigo Santoro) can get a child from Ethiopia while he is wary of the major changes that may be forthcoming in their lives.  Alex is encouraged to hang out with a dad’s group that is intended to allay his fears but may reinforce them instead.

Food truck operator Rosie (Anna Kendrick) is upset  to discover that she got pregnant from a one night stand with Marco (Chace Crawford), a rival cook she knows from high school.  He commits to being there for her, but they struggle with a relationship started out of a sense of duty.  Baby store owner and children’s book author Wendy Cooper (Elizabeth Banks) and husband Gary (Ben Falcone) have been trying hard to get pregnant and are elated when it happens, but the nine months aren’t as smooth as they would hope.  It’s all the more aggravating for them because Gary’s young stepmother Skyler (Brooklyn Decker) and his dad Ramsey (Dennis Quaid) are regularly one-upping them with the ease of her pregnancy.

Based on a pregnancy guide, WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING ticks off boxes on the checklists of things to be aware of as parents anticipate the arrival of their babies.  The four stories set in Atlanta and single one based in Los Angeles reflect the diversity of experiences but play out as perfunctorily told, mostly meaninglessly connected tales.  All but one of the subplots come straight off the romantic comedy assembly line, reducing this major life event to strings of wacky hijinks and dodged conversations by people who seem as though they’d be challenged bringing a puppy into their homes, let alone a newborn child.  The scenarios didn’t need the gravity of educational role playing, just more emotional heft, especially in Kendrick and Crawford’s unusually featherweight section, and less broadly contrived nonsense.

The one thread that feels the most honest centers on Banks learning that being armed with information and the best laid plans doesn’t mean everything will happen easily or perfectly.  Her scenes, particularly a conference presentation, touch upon the range of emotions and complexity of the challenges during pregnancy that the rest of the film tends to gloss over.  

Grade: D

Compliance

COMPLIANCE (Craig Zobel, 2012)

ChickWich manager Sandra (Ann Dowd) is already on edge at the start of the work day in COMPLIANCE.  The previous night an employee left a freezer door open, resulting in nearly $1500 in spoiled food and leaving the fast food restaurant short on bacon and pickles.  A secret shopper may be visiting to assess how well the store is performing. Then comes a call from a police officer.

The caller identifies himself as Officer Daniels (Pat Healy) and asks for Sandra’s help. A woman has come to the police and is accusing a female ChickWich employee of stealing money from her purse.  The policeman states that their surveillance unit also backs up the claim.  Officer Daniels requests Sandra’s assistance with the suspected thief until he can arrive on the scene.

Teenage cashier Becky (Dreama Walker) fits the description of the guilty party, so Sandra pulls her from her register and brings her into a back office.  Officer Daniels asks Sandra to search Becky’s pockets and take Becky’s phone and purse.  When that fails to turn up the stolen money, he persuades Sandra to conduct a strip search and Becky to submit to it.  As he explains, it’s in Becky’s best interest.  Either they can clear up the matter of the alleged theft in the moment or Becky can be taken downtown for processing and potentially spend the night in jail.

The strip search is also unsuccessful in producing evidence that Becky took any money, but Officer Daniels is not willing to let the charge drop or let Becky put her clothes back on.  Still on the phone, he guides the manager through how he’d like for her to detain Becky while Sandra attends to her job over the next several hours.

If the situation in COMPLIANCE sounds fishy, that’s because it is.  Writer-director Craig Zobel possesses something of a free pass in the fact that the film is inspired by true events.  No matter how unbelievable the escalation of personal violation in the scenario may seem, it sticks closely to the documented report of a specific incident in which a man making a prank call convinced others to victimize an innocent employee.  (This was one of over 70 similar scams in 30 states.)

That COMPLIANCE has facts to support even the most outrageous actions cuts both ways in terms of its success as drama.  To its advantage, anyone with foreknowledge of this story will be inclined to accept everything at face value.  Any other film trying to pass off some of the developments as believable would face more viewer skepticism, yet awareness of the truth in what’s being depicted drains COMPLIANCE of the shock value it is trying to capitalize on.  The film’s primary weakness is in letting the facts do the heavy lifting in what can be little more than a dramatized police report.

A better film would have dug into the psychological complexity behind the decisions the characters make, especially the most implausible ones.  Nevertheless, COMPLIANCE functions as a fascinating and mortifying glimpse at how readily and illogically people will submit to authority, whether it’s law enforcement or a boss.  From the outside looking in it seems preposterous that a situation would get this out of hand, but COMPLIANCE’s best scenes show how a series of small steps can get folks to walk over the edge rather than requiring a single big jump.  It also demonstrates the perceptual leaps people will make when provided with vague bits of information.  Dowd excels at conveying the struggle of not really wanting to go forward with what Sandra is asked to demand of Becky but doing so anyway.  After all, the man on the phone sounds official and gives her the confidence to act in a way that she likely wouldn’t if she took a couple moments to assess what is happening.    

Healy’s performance is mostly in voiceover, making him like a devil on the shoulder using firm speaking and the power of suggestion to convince people to do what deep down they know they shouldn’t.  Without setting foot in that small back office he materializes a complicitous and taunting presence that allows the unthinkable to be done.  What people do in COMPLIANCE is troubling.  That it ultimately requires so little to take them to that point is more disturbing.

Grade: B-

Hit & Run

HIT & RUN (David Palmer and Dax Shepard, 2012)

The choice Charlie Bronson (Dax Shepard) faces in HIT & RUN is tough but simple. He can support his girlfriend Annie (Kristen Bell) and move with her to Los Angeles, where she is virtually assured of getting her dream professorial job if she makes the scheduled interview, or Charlie can let her go and end a meaningful relationship so he stays safe and secure 500 miles away in witness protection in Milton, California.  She’s willing to sacrifice the opportunity to remain with him, but he can’t allow that to be an option.

While Annie knows her boyfriend is under the watch of bumbling U.S. marshal Randy Anderson (Tom Arnold), she doesn’t know the extent of Charlie’s past.  He was a getaway driver who testified against his friends and accomplices.  He’s been away from L.A. for four years and now goes by an assumed name, but returning to his old stomping grounds could still be dangerous.  Charlie throws caution to the wind, eases his 1967 black, custom-built Lincoln Continental out of storage, and sets out for the big city with his best gal.  

The car is in impeccable condition.  It’s also the one thing that can connect Charlie to his history.  Annie’s jealous ex-boyfriend Gil (Michael Rosenbaum) has long been suspicious of Charlie, so when he sees him leaving town with her in the Continental, he calls in the license plate number to his police officer brother Terry (Jess Rowland). From the license plate Gil learns Charlie’s real name, which he uses to dig up news of his old partners in crime and inform dreadlocked Alex Dmitri (Bradley Cooper) that his turncoat pal is coming their direction.  What was to be an inconspicuous return trip becomes a chase, with Gil, Alex and associates, the police, and exasperated fed Randy on the lookout for Charlie and Annie.

There’s no mistaking HIT & RUN as a showcase piece for co-director, writer, and co-lead Shepard, but it’s not the one expected from its set-up.  He’s made a chatty romantic comedy with bitchin’ cars and coarse humor rather than the action movie it might be mistaken for at face value.  Shepard grants equal respect to the mechanics of relationships and automobiles in accommodating the unknown history that comes with being involved with a new person or a used vehicle.  Unlike a lot of relationship-based films, this one understands the need for accepting the mileage that can’t be rolled back.

While the discursive nature of the screenplay can stall HIT & RUN a little too often, the conversational detours often rate as the best parts.  Charlie and Annie’s pillow talk in the opening scene performs spectacularly in establishing their personalities and vulnerabilities.  While on the road their discussion about what he considers an inoffensive use of a slur and her objection to it beautifully and humorously dissects language and intention.  Alex’s shared opinion and object lesson on dog food stands among the comedic highlights while giving shading to the film’s ostensible villain.

Shepard has consistently proven to be a funny but often underappreciated contributor in supporting roles.  His performance ought to draw attention to the appealing, offbeat actor he is.  As a writer and director Shepard proves to be generous with the other actors. (Co-director David Palmer surely deserves credit in this area too.)  Bell, his off-screen partner, receives one of her best roles since VERONICA MARS ended.  HIT & RUN’s Annie is more than a stock girlfriend who needs to be saved or is holding back the male protagonist.  Bell’s timing is sharp in the comedic give and take, and she sells the equality and emotional stress in her relationship with Charlie.  Cooper does weird and funny work without running wild.  HIT & RUN isn’t always a smooth ride, but the quirks and misfires make it as distinctive as the actor behind many of the film’s creative choices.      

Grade: B-

360

360 (Fernando Meirelles, 2011)

360 is predicated on the idea that everyone is connected in the circle of modern life, but the shape it calls to mind is the triangle in a pyramid scheme. Above the title on the poster are a lauded director, screenwriter, and international cast to serve as the lure. What appears to be a worthy investment of time and money yields nothing but the realization of being hoodwinked.

The drama opens in Vienna with a Slovakian woman getting her profile photographs taken for a website offering high-end prostitutes. Mirka (Lucia Siposová) is looking to earn a lot of money in a short period of time and has decided that this is the best way to do so. Although her bookworm sister Anna (Gabriela Marcinkova) disapproves, she still accompanies Mirka on the bus rides from Bratislava to the Austrian capital when work beckons. Mirka’s first client is supposed to be London businessman Michael Daly (Jude Law), but before he can approach her, a fellow salesman (Moritz Bleibtreu) points out the woman of ill repute in the hotel bar.

In Paris a 36-year-old Algerian widower (Jamel Debbouze) stalks a woman in a red beret. He’s smitten with her but doesn’t dare share his feelings because she is a married co-worker. While he knows how he must act, the lovestruck man speaks to a psychologist and his imam about the dilemma.

In London Michael’s wife Rose (Rachel Weisz) breaks off an affair with Brazilian photographer Rui (Juliano Cazarré), who then learns his girlfriend Laura (Maria Flor) was wise to him cheating on her. Laura chooses to return to their native country. On a leg of her trip going to Denver she befriends an older man (Anthony Hopkins). With nasty weather delaying all outbound flights, they intend to meet up for dinner. Also at the airport is Tyler (Ben Foster), a newly released sex offender bound for a halfway house in Louisville.

Hopkins’ character travels on to Phoenix and ends up at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. There Valentina (Dinara Drukarova), who has come from Paris to visit her sister, shares her story and begins the film’s path back to the city where the whole thing started.

Most of the vignettes in 360 might have made compelling features on their own if expanded. Except for the lousy, weirdly resolved sections with Law and Weisz, the scenes don’t flounder in miniature but feel incomplete. It’s as though notable plot-divulging portions have been plucked from other films and linked by director Fernando Meirelles and screenwriter Peter Morgan making like the insistent drive-thru order taker in DUDE, WHERE’S MY CAR? And then? And then? And then?

Even when 360 happens upon some strong moments, like Hopkins and Flor’s sweet interactions as strangers and the pay-off for him, they are mucked up by another thread spliced into the proceedings. Interrupting their time together for the struggles of Foster’s ex-convict suggests the possibility that he could be responsible for Hopkins’ lingering pain. Luckily 360 doesn’t fall victim to the all-caps irony that such a development like that would be. Unfortunately it converges Foster and Flor’s storylines in a most thoroughly unconvincing fashion.

As much as these tales of injured souls are bungled, 360 holds some interest because it posits that the road less traveled doesn’t necessarily lead to better destinations. Falling for someone new and taking a particular risk could be big mistakes. 360 doesn’t possess the conviction to follow through all the way on such an anti-romantic notion. At best Meirelles and Morgan soft sell it, but the flirtation with the idea is contrary to the norm.

According to 360 the world is united in broken dreams and wounded hearts. It’s too bad that playing R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” on a two-hour loop could have expressed the sentiment more effectively.

Grade: D+

The Expendables 2

THE EXPENDABLES 2 (Simon West, 2012)

When the stars of yesteryear lose their luster, it’s common for them to keep working and try to remain relevant by parodying themselves, sometimes to the point of debasement. The faded action heroes in THE EXPENDABLES 2 aren’t making mockeries of themselves for the general public’s amusement, but they’re toeing that line when Chuck Norris turns up essentially to play along with his own meme.

The group of mercenaries led by Sylvester Stallone’s Barney Ross are persuaded once again by CIA operative Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) to do a job for him and to include Maggie (Yu Nan), one of his own personnel, on their crew.  This time the Expendables, including Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Gunnar Jensen (Dolph Lundgren), and newcomer Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth), are dispatched on a recovery mission in Albania’s Gazak Mountains.  

They retrieve the desired item but are forced to hand it over when Jean Vilaine (Jean-Claude Van Damme) and his men intercept them.  Vilaine gives them reason enough to want to hunt him down before Maggie reveals that they’ve given him a map to the hidden location of five tons of plutonium.

The makers of THE EXPENDABLES 2 can claim to have given audiences what they want.  You want action stars, you got ‘em.  In addition to the primary cast of Stallone, Statham, Lundgren, Terry Crews, Randy Couture, and young blood Hemsworth, also on hand to get their hands dirty are Willis, Norris, Van Damme, Jet Li, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Scott Adkins.  Looking for numerous action scenes?  Here you go.

At issue, though, is that most of the biggest names are present for what amount to glorified cameos.  Schwarzenegger and Willis get to do more than they did in the first film, but they’re hardly reliving their glory days in the genre.  Director Simon West doesn’t skimp on shootouts, which would be all well and good if they weren’t spatially incoherent and nonsensically cut.  A brief sequence of Jet Li battering baddies with pans is more pleasing to follow than all of the time in which shots are held for about as long as heavy artillery can fire off a few rounds.

THE EXPENDABLES 2 isn’t a parody, yet it doesn’t help its cause naming the villain Vilaine.  The oldies on the soundtrack are reminiscent of what scores erectile dysfunction pill ads.  One-liners like “rest in pieces” and “I now pronounce you man and knife” are artlessly added and overused.  The movies that many of these guys made in the 1980s and ‘90s were hardly bulletproof, but this is a cynical exercise in settling for what is expected to be passable. THE EXPENDABLES 2 doesn’t give the impression that anyone is making a serious effort, not when they can coast on nostalgia.

Grade: C-

TIFF12 schedule

The good news about the new package redemption system TIFF put in place for this year’s festival is that it is easy to use and didn’t crash or get bogged down. I also suspect that the opportunity to pick the films one wants, assuming they’re available, keeps films on-sale longer than under the previous system. Previously you submitted your first and second choices, hoped you snagged a good draw in the lottery, and then received an e-mail listing what tickets you got.

I was shut out of four picks on my shortlist, which is a much better percentage than last year’s process turned out for me. If monitoring an unofficial festival blog’s commenter reports are accurate, Michael Haneke’s AMOUR went off-sale an hour or two before I took my place in the virtual line. Derek Cianfrance’s THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, Joss Whedon’s MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, and Ramaa Mosley’s THE BRASS TEAPOT were also unavailable. For now I’m planning to rush or redeem vouchers for the last three if the opportunity presents itself, although I do have a ticket for something else during THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES screening.

You may notice some tweaks to my original shortlist. I was stunned that the first non-premium screening of the new Terrence Malick film was still available. (I assumed I’d need to purchase a ticket for the premium screening when single tickets go on-sale.) I read a less-than-encouraging tweet about FOXFIRE: CONFESSIONS OF A GIRL GANG that led me to drop it. I added the new Rob Zombie film mainly because I am working with 23 or 24 tickets to redeem and needed to fill the slot. By the time I leave, I should have seen 25 or 26 films.

Thursday, September 6

*6:15-8:05 p.m. TABU (Miguel Gomes, 2012) (Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France) TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

*9:15-11:30 p.m. DIAL M FOR MURDER (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) (USA) TIFF Bell Lightbox 4

Friday, September 7

*12:00-2:30 p.m. RUST & BONE (DE ROUILLE ET D’OS) (Jacques Audiard, 2012) (France/Belgium) Ryerson Theatre

*3:00-4:35 p.m. THE GATEKEEPERS (Dror Moreh, 2012) (Israel/France/Germany/Belgium) Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

*5:30-7:29 p.m. KON-TIKI (Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, 2012) (Norway/Denmark/United Kingdom) Winter Garden Theatre

*9:30-10:56 p.m. FRANCES HA (Noah Baumbach, 2012) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

Saturday, September 8

*7:30-9:40 a.m. ANNA KARENINA (Joe Wright, 2012) (United Kingdom) press screening

*12-15-2:09 p.m. THE END OF TIME (Peter Mettler, 2012) (Canada/Switzerland) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 2

*3:15-4:55 p.m. JACKIE (Antoinette Beumer, 2012) (The Netherlands) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 7

*6:30-8:03 p.m. THE LEBANESE ROCKET SOCIETY (Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige, 2012) (France/Lebanon/United Arab Emirates/Qatar) TIFF Bell Lightbox 3

*9:00-11:02 p.m. SOMETHING IN THE AIR (APRÈS MAI) (Olivier Assayas, 2012) (France) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*11:59 p.m.-1:25 a.m. NO ONE LIVES (Ryûhei Kitamura, 2012) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

Sunday, September 9

*9:00-10:49 a.m. LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE (Abbas Kiarostami, 2012) (Japan/France) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 7

(*12:30-2:17 p.m. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Joss Whedon, 2012) (USA) Isabel Bader Theatre--currently planning to rush or redeem voucher)

*3:30-5:43 p.m. THE LAND OF HOPE (KIBÔ NO KUNI) (Sion Sono, 2012) (Japan) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 3

(*6:45-8:25 p.m. THE BRASS TEAPOT (Ramaa Mosley, 2012) (USA) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 5--currently planning to rush or redeem voucher)

*9:00-10:58 p.m. BYZANTIUM (Neil Jordan, 2012) (United Kingdom/Ireland) Ryerson Theatre

Monday, September 10

*11:00 a.m.-12:50 p.m. THANKS FOR SHARING (Stuart Blumberg, 2012) (USA) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*3:00-4:36 p.m. WRITERS (Josh Boone, 2012) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

*6:00-7:32 p.m. BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO (Peter Strickland, 2012) (United Kingdom) Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

*9:00-10:45 p.m. IN THE HOUSE (DANS LA MAISON) (François Ozon, 2012) (France) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*11:59 p.m.-1:40 a.m. THE LORDS OF SALEM (Rob Zombie, 2012) (USA/United Kingdom/Canada) Ryerson Theatre

Tuesday, September 11

*12:00-1:43 p.m. THE ICEMAN (Ariel Vromen, USA) Ryerson Theatre

*3:00-4:52 p.m. TO THE WONDER (Terrence Malick, 2012) (USA) Princess of Wales

*8:00-9:38 p.m. PASSION (Brian De Palma, 2012) (France/Germany) Winter Garden Theatre

TIFF12 schedule, first draft

With the help of tiffr.com--an invaluable site--I’ve scraped together a tentative schedule for the Toronto International Film Festival 2012. The hours of work that went into planning it are likely to be destroyed once it’s time for me to redeem my package tickets and find that half of my preferred choices are off-sale, but it’s a starting point. I’m publishing the schedule here because I thought it might be of interest, especially to fellow TIFF-attending friends, and to help me keep everything straight.

I’m sorely tempted to see Paul Thomas Anderson’s THE MASTER, but with it scheduled to open in Columbus on September 21, it’s hard for me to justify doing so, even if it will be projected in 70mm. Among those films of interest screening after I will have departed are Marco Bellocchio’s DORMANT BEAUTY, Hong Sang-soo’s IN ANOTHER COUNTRY, LEVIATHAN, MOTORWAY, and ROOM 237. While they aren’t currently on my schedule, I may--so help me--check out the new films from Harmony Korine and Rob Zombie.

Even if each ticket redemption were to fall in my favor, which it surely won’t, I’m likely to tweak this schedule, be it due to not being committed to all of these or hearing festival buzz. For now, these are the tickets I’ll be pursuing.

Thursday, September 6

*6:15-8:05 p.m. TABU (Miguel Gomes, 2012) (Portugal/Germany/Brazil/France) TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

*9:15-11:30 p.m. DIAL M FOR MURDER (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) (USA) TIFF Bell Lightbox 4

Friday, September 7

*12:00-2:00 p.m. RUST & BONE (DE ROUILLE ET D’OS) (Jacques Audiard, 2012) (France/Belgium) Ryerson Theatre

*3:00-4:35 p.m. THE GATEKEEPERS (Dror Moreh, 2012) (Israel/France/Germany/Belgium) Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

*5:30-7:29 p.m. KON-TIKI (Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, 2012) (Norway/Denmark/United Kingdom) Winter Garden Theatre

*9:30-10:56 p.m. FRANCES HA (Noah Baumbach, 2012) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

Saturday, September 8

*7:30-9:40 a.m. ANNA KARENINA (Joe Wright, 2012) (United Kingdom) press screening

*11:00 a.m.-1:20 p.m. THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES (Derek Cianfrance, 2012) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

*3:15-4:55 p.m. JACKIE (Antoinette Beumer, 2012) (The Netherlands) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 7

*6:00-8:07 p.m. AMOUR (Michael Haneke, 2012) (Austria/France/Germany) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*9:00-11:02 p.m. SOMETHING IN THE AIR (APRÈS MAI) (Olivier Assayas, 2012) (France) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

11:59 p.m.-1:25 a.m. NO ONE LIVES (Ryûhei Kitamura, 2012) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

Sunday, September 9

*9:00-10:49 a.m. LIKE SOMEONE IN LOVE (Abbas Kiarostami, 2012) (Japan/France) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 7

*12:30-2:17 p.m. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Joss Whedon, 2012) (USA) Isabel Bader Theatre

*3:30-5:43 p.m. THE LAND OF HOPE (KIBÔ NO KUNI) (Sion Sono, 2012) (Japan) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 3

*6:45-8:25 p.m. THE BRASS TEAPOT (Ramaa Mosley, 2012) (USA) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 5

*9:00-10:58 p.m. BYZANTIUM (Neil Jordan, 2012) (United Kingdom/Ireland) Ryerson Theatre

Monday, September 10

*11:00 a.m.-12:50 p.m. THANKS FOR SHARING (Stuart Blumberg, 2012) (USA) VISA Screening Room (Elgin Theatre)

*3:00-4:36 p.m. WRITERS (Josh Boone, 2012) (USA) Ryerson Theatre

*7:00-8:52 p.m. TO THE WONDER (Terrence Malick, 2012) (USA) Princess of Wales

*10:00-11:43 p.m. THE ICEMAN (Ariel Vromen, USA) Princess of Wales

Tuesday, September 11

*1:00-2:40 p.m. TAI CHI 0 (Stephen Fung, 2012) (China) TIFF Bell Lightbox 1

*3:30-5:53 p.m. FOXFIRE: CONFESSIONS OF A GIRL GANG (FOXFIRE, CONFESSIONS D’UN GANG DE FILLES) (Laurent Cantet, 2012) (France/Canada) Cineplex Yonge & Dundas 7

*8:00-9:38 p.m. PASSION (Brian De Palma, 2012) (France/Germany) Winter Garden Theatre

TIFF11 schedule review, a year later

The time is upon me to set a wish list for my Toronto International Film Festival 2012 schedule. Of course it’s filled with many tough choices, a matter made all the worse because, like last year, I drew a lousy time in the lottery for getting my selections fulfilled. I got just eight of my fifteen first choices, a percentage I’d like to improve on this September. Nevertheless, it ended up working out fairly well in 2011. I saw most of the films that were top priorities for me.

In anticipation of learning what I’ll be able to secure tickets for and what vouchers I may have to parlay into desired picks, I thought it would be interesting to examine how I did last year in terms of seeing what films have been accessible to me between festivals. There’s no single correct way of choosing films, but for the expense involved, it makes the most sense to me to catch movies that won’t be showing up in local theaters in the following couple months, if not before the end of the year. After all, without accounting for travel and accommodations for those who don’t live in or around Toronto, festival ticket prices are higher than regular admissions.

To my surprise, a majority of what I viewed at TIFF11 have still not hit Columbus screens. Ten of the twenty-three films I saw in Toronto have opened here:

-MELANCHOLIA (December 2, 2011)
-CRAZY HORSE (February 17, 2012)
-INTO THE ABYSS: A TALE OF DEATH, A TALE OF LIFE (February 24, 2012)
-RAMPART (March 2, 2012)
-THIS IS NOT A FILM (IN FILM NIST) (March 30 & 31, 2012 only)
-THE RAID: REDEMPTION (SERBUAN MAUT) (April 13, 2012)
-DAMSELS IN DISTRESS (May 4, 2012)
-YOUR SISTER’S SISTER (June 29, 2012)
-I WISH (KISEKI) (July 27, 2012)
-KILLER JOE (August 24, 2012)

Of these ten, only one (THE RAID: REDEMPTION) enjoyed a wide local release. DAMSELS IN DISTRESS, KILLER JOE, and YOUR SISTER’S SISTER played on two screens at their peak. The others appeared on just one Columbus screen.

Here’s the status of the other thirteen films:

In limited release - no Columbus screenings scheduled
-GOODBYE FIRST LOVE (UN AMOUR DE JEUNESSE)
-OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (OSLO, 31. AUGUST)
-TRISHNA

Scheduled New York City/Los Angeles release date
-FROM UP ON POPPY HILL (KOKURIKO-ZAKA KARA) (2012 Academy Awards qualifying run; March 2013 - limited)
-GIRL MODEL (September 5, 2012 - limited)
-THE LONELIEST PLANET (October 26, 2012 - limited)

Unscheduled New York City/Los Angeles release
-OUTSIDE SATAN (HORS SATAN)
-TWIXT
-YOU’RE NEXT

Available on DVD
-LIFE WITHOUT PRINCIPLE (DYUT MENG GAM)
-MISS BALA

No U.S. distribution
-FAUST
-TWIGGY (LA BRINDILLE)

For comparison’s sake, here’s what happened with the first choices I didn’t get or received and traded in for something else:

Opened in Columbus
-MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (November 11, 2011)
-LE HAVRE (January 13, 2012)
-A DANGEROUS METHOD (January 27, 2012)
-PINA (February 17, 2012)
-TAKE THIS WALTZ (July 13, 2012)

Scheduled Columbus opening
-360 (September 7, 2012)
-SAMSARA (October 12, 2012)

Available on DVD
-EXTRATERRESTRIAL (EXTRATERRESTRE)

I don’t suppose that knowing this will make missing out on something I really want to see at TIFF12 any easier, but it shows that not getting every top choice won’t ruin the festival experience either.

Skuriels 2012: The Greatest Films Ever

Following in the tradition of Sight & Sound’s Greatest Films poll and recent announcement of its decennial results, participants in the year-end film polls the Muriels and the Skandies combined forces as the Skuriels to determine what these cinephile communities consider the best movies ever.  The results can be found on the official awards site.

As a voter in the Muriels, I was invited to make twenty unranked selections.  I did not have time to contribute any commentary on the individual films in the group’s top 20 or my picks, so I thought I’d use this space to talk a bit about my methodology.

The task at hand was to name the twenty movies that best represent to me the greatest that cinema has to offer.  It probably goes without saying, but trying to winnow the history of cinema down to a list of twenty feature-length films is a foolhardy assignment.  On top of that, how do I distinguish between greatest films and favorite films?  Should I?  And how much consideration should I give to post-1968 films that have had a hard time making inroads in the S&S Top 10?

Although there’s no shortage of certified masterpieces, I decided that my list should be an accurate representation of my tastes and not merely a rubber stamping of canon.  I could have easily voted for twenty films made before I was born, but how interesting would that be?  (As it turns out, nine of those making the cut have been made in my lifetime.)  I made a conscious effort to put all decades on relatively equal footing.  Ultimately I selected the films that have made the biggest impressions on me and that I couldn’t bear to cut from the list.

I’ll note that, for all intents and purposes, BEFORE SUNSET represents it and its predecessor (BEFORE SUNRISE) and THREE COLORS: RED stands in for the trilogy.  Except for CHUNGKING EXPRESS, which I’ve only seen once, I’ve seen these listed films at least twice and count many of them among my most meaningful moviegoing experiences.  These aren’t merely films I like a lot; these are films that have left marks.  This unranked list isn't comprehensive--how could it be?--but it should provide a snapshot of the movies that matter deeply to me.

-The 400 Blows (Les quatre cents coups) (François Truffaut, 1959)
-2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)
-After Life (Wandâfuru raifu) (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 1998)
-Annie Hall (Woody Allen, 1977)
-Before Sunset (Richard Linklater, 2004)
-Chungking Express (Chung Hing sam lam) (Wong Kar-wai, 1994)
-Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
-Man with a Movie Camera (Chelovek s kino-apparatom) (Dziga Vertov, 1929)
-Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927)
-Mulholland Dr. (David Lynch, 2001)
-Playtime (Jacques Tati, 1967)
-Rear Window (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)
-The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948)
-Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, 1952)
-This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984)
-There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007)
-Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge) (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
-The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)
-The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Les parapluies de Cherbourg) (Jacques Demy, 1964)
-Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

Under African Skies

UNDER AFRICAN SKIES (Joe Berlinger, 2012)

By most measures of success, Paul Simon’s 1986 album GRACELAND counts as a smash hit.  It has sold over 14 million copies and continues to enjoy a sterling critical reputation.  The album and title track won Grammys.  GRACELAND also was something of a career rebound after the disappointing commercial performance of his previous record, HEARTS AND BONES.

To others, hailing the album’s creative achievements in blending American pop and rock with South African musical styles was secondary to the political questions surrounding its creation.  Going against advice, Simon did not seek the approval of the African National Congress to collaborate with South African musicians and violated the cultural boycott the United Nations placed on the country during apartheid.  The documentary UNDER AFRICAN SKIES marks the 25th anniversary of GRACELAND’s release by revisiting the making of the album and the controversy associated with it.

Director Joe Berlinger organizes the film around Simon’s 2011 trip to Johannesburg to perform a concert celebrating the landmark album.  The singer-songwriter is reunited with those who played on the record and the tour and sits down to talk with Artists Against Apartheid co-founder Dali Tambo.  Although equal weight isn’t quite shared between Simon’s recollections and opinions and Tambo’s perspective, UNDER AFRICAN SKIES wrestles with the issues that differentiated these recording sessions from any other cross-cultural musical efforts.

Whether through naïveté or arrogance--or, more likely, some combination--Simon traveled to South Africa to work without accounting for the political consequences of his actions.  The points in contention are not minor.  Although he was not expressing support for racial segregation by going to South Africa, his critics suggest that ignoring the cultural boycott signified tacit approval of the National Party government.  Questions are also raised if he exploited South African musicians who made integral contributions to the songs.

UNDER AFRICAN SKIES is inclined to side with Simon’s view that as an artist he should not be required to submit to the disagreements and decisions between politicians and that he gave credit where it was due.  Short of parsing the liner notes, the archival footage of energetic recording sessions goes a long way in clarifying how important these hired musicians were in forming the songs’ foundations.  His justification for not following the cultural boycott is exceedingly idealistic, but it leaves open a topic that remains worthy of discussion.  South African music producer Koloi Lebona mentions that this album gave them a chance to make their music mainstream rather than keeping it confined to the Third World.  Does that make defying the boycott a nobler cause?  The lyrical contents of Simon’s songs were not at all political.  Should that matter?  

Berlinger tends to go over a lot of the same ground in UNDER AFRICAN SKIES in a bid to be thorough.  The repetition bolsters Simon’s defense while demonstrating that objections were also valid.  Even though, to some degree, the debates about Simon and South Africa are moot on this side of history, UNDER AFRICAN SKIES takes what could have been a puff piece glossing over the protestations related to GRACELAND and teaches the controversy.

Grade: B-

The Queen of Versailles

THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES (Lauren Greenfield, 2012)

The numbers for the Orlando, Florida home of David and Jackie Siegel are astounding:  26,000 square feet, seventeen bathrooms, and a staff of nineteen employees, which includes more than one nanny.  More unbelievable is that the wealthy couple don’t think it is large enough.  The documentary THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES begins as the Siegels are building what is reported to be the biggest home in America.

The gargantuan house is inspired by the royal Palace of Versailles during the Louis XIV period, albeit with many modern amenities.  The 90,000 square foot home will feature thirty bathrooms, ten kitchens, a bowling alley, health spa, two tennis courts, a full-size baseball field that can also be used as a parking lot, and an ice rink.  Versailles practically makes their current residence seem like a studio apartment.

Constructing a $100 million home just seems like the natural progression for the Siegels, for whom money is seemingly no concern.  74-year-old David is the founder, president, and CEO of Westgate Resorts, the largest privately owned timeshare company in the world.  43-year-old Jackie spends as if hundred dollar bills grow on trees and they own millions of acres of large denomination currency-yielding groves.

Then the September 2008 banking crisis hits.  As David explains, his business depends on easy access to cheap money.  The Siegels’ finances are intertwined with the company, so when the banks stop making loans, the impact on Westgate Resorts and the family’s fortune is severe.  The company lays off thousands.  The Siegels slash their house staff to four, move their eight kids from private to public schools, and look to sell $350 million in assets.  The unfinished Versailles, which they’ve already invested $50 million in, is placed on a market that essentially has no prospective buyers.

Considering the subjects and the wealth they flaunt, THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES could have easily become SCHADENFREUDE: THE MOVIE. With their vulgar displays of moneyed privilege, the Siegels aren’t exactly going to win sympathy points from viewers who may earn less in a month than a financially pinched Jackie spends on a caviar treat for herself.  A former model and Mrs. Florida 1995, Jackie looks and plays the part of a trophy wife, an observation even one of her children makes.  David comes off as a loathsome person whose purpose in life is to accumulate as much cash as he can.  To top it off, the timeshare industry in which he made his riches seems particularly scummy.  Who wouldn’t take pleasure in seeing these people taken down a peg or ten?

Complicating the desire for the well-off to get their comeuppance is Jackie.  The initial impression is that she could be the template for any number of the horrid socialites and fame seekers with reality television shows.  Still, having once been a computer engineer, she’s likely smarter than her aging beauty queen appearance lets on.  While she comes from humble roots, she’s lost touch, as is in evidence when she goes to rent a car and asks the stupefied sales clerk who her driver will be.  Despite her witnessed shortcomings, Jackie cannot be effortlessly dismissed, especially when her generosity seems to come from a genuine place.  Jackie isn’t a blameless victim of circumstance.  She’s just been susceptible to the funhouse mirrors of extreme wealth around her.

Although director Lauren Greenfield documents several instances in which it’s apparent that the Siegels’ lifestyle is so alien from the vast majority that they might as well call Mars home, she hasn’t set out to eat the rich.  Like it or not, the Siegels are symptomatic of a culture at large that defines worth and happiness through consumption.  The difference between them and the rest of western society is a matter of proportion.  It’s easier to spot the motes in the Siegels’ eyes, but they are certainly not the only ones afflicted with chasing the idea that too much is not enough.  In the end, being forced to live paycheck to paycheck may provide more trappings of comfort in their surroundings, but the mental toll of financial distress is just as costly.

Grade: B+

Total Recall

TOTAL RECALL (Len Wiseman, 2012)

In TOTAL RECALL factory worker Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell) has a vivid dream in which he and a woman are being pursued by synthetic soldiers.  He wakes up to remember that he doesn’t live the thrilling life of a spy and that the beautiful woman beside him in bed is not the one which he fantasizes spending adventures with.

Quaid lives in The Colony, which used to be called Australia and is essentially the rundown home for the blue collar laborers in the United Federation of Britain.   A global chemical war has left much of the planet uninhabitable at the end of the 21st century, so working stiffs like Quaid must take an elevator-like transport--a sub-subway, if you will--that passes through the Earth’s core to the more affluent territory.  Times are tough in The Colony as the UFB’s Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) seeks to crack down on terrorists fighting back on the downtrodden’s behalf.

Feeling as though his life is missing something, Quaid eventually decides to visit Rekall, a company that can implant memories as if one actually experienced them. The only caveat is that customers cannot select memories that overlap with their real lives.  Quaid chooses the spy package, but things go wrong almost immediately.  The Rekall employee (John Cho) accuses Quaid of lying about his past, and next thing he knows the room is surrounded by law enforcement.  Through an exceptional display of physical skill and mental calculation, Quaid escapes and returns home to his wife Lori (Kate Beckinsale).

Are Quaid’s experiences part of what he purchased, or is he really a secret agent?  The appearance of Melina (Jessica Biel), the woman from his dreams, further confuses Quaid as to what is real. Director Len Wiseman’s remake doesn’t have much interest in the thematic questions the premise raises.  This TOTAL RECALL is less humorous and contemplative than Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 adaptation of the Philip K. Dick short story that is the basis for both films.  Nevertheless, it succeeds on the modest aims of a self-contained action/science fiction film.  The action scenes mostly work, particularly some chase sequences, although Wiseman thoroughly botches the spatial element of a fight in an elevator.

While clearly inspired by other films--BLADE RUNNER is liberally borrowed from--the production and art design are quite beautiful.  Considering that Wiseman utilized an almost monochrome palette for the two UNDERWORLD films he directed, it’s nice to see him utilizing more color in the noir-like gloom of TOTAL RECALL’s dystopia.  

Wiseman is better off when he frees himself from the strictures of replicating Verhoeven’s version.  The obvious nods to the other film are more distracting than anything.  The hat tips feel less like homage and more like dutiful item box checking. While Wiseman’s slick update probably has no good reason for existing other than a rights owner wanting to cash in a chip that takes advantage of today’s special effects, this TOTAL RECALL is a solidly entertaining blast of summer movie spectacle.

Grade: B

I Wish (Kiseki)

I WISH (KISEKI) (Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2011)

Like many kids whose parents have separated, brothers Koichi (Koki Maeda) and Ryunosuke (Ohshirô Maeda) would like to reunite their family.  Twelve-year-old Koichi, the older and more serious of the siblings, believes he’s found the solution in I WISH (KISEKI).  He overhears classmates saying that whoever sees two high-speed trains pass each other for the first time will get their wishes granted.  New bullet trains are scheduled to begin service across the island of Kyushu in two months, so the boys work on plans to meet halfway in Kumamoto prefecture to get their dreams fulfilled.

Koichi, who lives with their mother Nozomi (Nene Ohtsuka) and her parents in the island’s southern prefecture Kagoshima, is pushed into action by hearing his mom being encouraged to move on.  She’s already taken a job as a cashier at a grocery store.  A boyfriend could soon follow.  Knowing the importance of the mission, Koichi prepares with an explorer’s thoroughness.  He and his friends examine maps to determine where the trains are most likely to pass, calculate a budget for the trip, and scrape together the money by looking for spare coins and selling some toys.

Ryunosuke doesn’t seem to mind the new arrangement as much as Koichi.  Certainly he would like for everyone to be together again, but he doesn’t worry about whether or not their parents will reconcile.  Since choosing to stay with their musician father Kenji (Joe Odagiri) in the island’s northern prefecture Fukuoka, he’s taken to tending a garden and surrounded himself with many friends.  For Ryunosuke the trip seems more like a chance to see his brother for the first time in six months and a fun day away from home with his pals.

As noisy as two trains passing each other at 160 miles per hour is, the disruption to the surrounding environment is fleeting.  The same can’t be said for the effects on children of divorce or a parent’s gambling problem, but in I WISH such disturbances don’t necessarily need to be ruinous either.  Writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda studies the resiliency of children in the face of life transformations large and small.  He tracks these adaptations with plenty of charm and wit, making this observational look at the kids closer to Francois Truffaut’s SMALL CHANGE than his own harrowing NOBODY KNOWS.

The great pleasure of I WISH is Kore-eda capturing kids being kids instead of the little adults many films mistake children for.  Sometimes they can be very funny, like when they talk about crushes on teachers and what they would wish for if they could be guaranteed to have one dream made real .  At other points watching them can be heartbreaking.  For instance, Koichi is more tuned into his mother’s fragile emotional state than anyone else realizes.  I WISH excels at evoking a child-like state of mind in all of its wonders and concerns because of Kore-eda’s astuteness in following how kids make sense of the world and change their perspectives.

I WISH retains Kore-eda’s gift for empathetic scrutiny of daily life and ordinary people while also delivering miracles of a kind.  Hurl prayers for momentous change if one will, but don’t forget that answers and greatest blessings can come in the form of chance encounters and common pleasures.  I WISH feels slighter than Kore-eda’s best work, such as AFTER LIFE and STILL WALKING, but it’s a warm effort that finds through the tough times the kids can be, and often are, all right.

Grade: B+

A Cat in Paris (Un vie de chat)

A CAT IN PARIS (UN VIE DE CHAT) (Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli, 2010)

By day black cat Dino is the best friend of Zoe, a small child who has lost her voice since the murder of her father.  The companionship Dino provides is ever so important with Zoe’s police superintendent mother Jeanne wrapped up in the hunt for her husband’s killer, Victor Costa.  With the art treasure The Colossus of Nairobi scheduled to be moved, Jeanne expects the gangster to be flushed out.

By night Dino is the accomplice of cat burglar Nico.  No one is the wiser to the cat’s double life in A CAT IN PARIS (UN VIE DE CHAT) until one evening when Zoe slips out her bedroom window to follow him.  During this nighttime adventure she stumbles upon Costa and his hapless underlings.  Nico and Dino come to Zoe’s rescue, but her safety is temporary.  The police, now wise to the burglar’s activities because of the telltale paw prints at the crime scenes, take him away and unwittingly place the girl in the care of one of Costa’s associates.

In two of the last three years Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members have thrown a few curveballs in the Best Animated Feature category by nominating small, largely unknown films alongside the products from industry heavyweights.  A CAT IN PARIS was one of two foreign-language animated features nominated for the 84th Academy Awards.  While the fluid hand-drawn animation provides a pleasant stylistic alternative to the predominance of 3D computer animation in the marketplace, the story leaves a lot to be desired.

Deceased or absent parents are not new to children’s stories, but the casualness with which the information of Zoe’s murdered father is introduced comes across somewhat distressingly.  His death haunts Jeanne, per her nightmarish visions, and has turned Zoe mute.  A CAT IN PARIS doesn’t dwell on these details, but for such a slight film in narrative terms, it carries excessive psychological weight.

A CAT IN PARIS gets bogged down in the middle section with the bumblings and strained jokes of Costa and his goons.  Even at a lean 70 minutes, the film feels padded out and unfocused.  When the low-key vibe works, it’s during Nico’s jazz-accompanied rooftop wanderings and thefts, in part because these scenes bring grace and humor mostly lacking in the other parts.

The titular cat is granted the full range of reactions and is good for some laughs, especially when he goes on the offensive in face-hugger mode.  Meanwhile, the human characters are given simplistic personalities that aren’t helped by the energy-deficient vocal performances.  (The English-language dub of the film adds celebrity voices [Marcia Gay Harden, Anjelica Huston, Matthew Modine] with little to no benefit.)  The thin characterization is especially problematic with Nico and how his storyline develops.  Although he hints at motivations beyond mere self-enriching thievery, A CAT IN PARIS never follows up on the matter and leaves big questions with how his arc resolves.

By the end A CAT IN PARIS feels like a film split in its priorities and satisfactorily achieving none of them.  It misses as quality children’s entertainment through a self-serious, downbeat story without an engaging main character. Nods to film noir detective stories aside, the flimsy story doesn’t give adults much to latch onto either.

Grade: C