The Happening

More like "Nothing Happening", this movie starts out moderately intriguing, and then lapses into silliness, maudlin attempts to engage the audience emotionally, lame attempts to engage intellectually, and then just becomes ridiculous. A scene that is supposed to be tense/scary involves Mark Wahlberg talking to a plant, trying to convince it that mankind is no threat. Despite his earnestness, and the director's attempts at building some kind of tension, the scene is more funny than scary, hardly what one wants from a suspense thriller. How reassuring that the threat to the world is abated by a bad science teacher with only a thin understanding of the scientific method, who's best advice to people is to "stay ahead of the wind" (surely it would be better to be behind the wind rather than in front of it).

M. Night Shyamalan should not go gently - he should just go.

Post Oscar Reviews

The winners, the dresses, the show - it was all good. I was a bit sad that Julie Christie didn't win for Away from Her (she was awesome), but Marion Cotillard was also excellent so that was okay. Was glad that Diablo Cody won for Juno - what a great movie that was. Best dresses - Cate Blanchett, Julie Christie, Diane Lane. Worst looks - Cameron Diaz (buy that girl a hairbrush), Rebecca Miller (what was with the buttons on that dress?), Renee Zellweger (never wear a skirt slit all the way to the waist - it looks bad when you have to walk across the stage and everyone can see your undies).

Robyn's top 10 of 2007: Michael Clayton, Across the Universe, Away from Her, Once (I haven't seen this, but I've heard it is good), Juno, Eastern Promises, Into the Wild, Bourne Ultimatum, Transformers (yes, I really liked it), and La Vie En Rose (which I also haven't seen but anticipate liking based on the bits I've seen and what I've heard). Shocking statement: I think both No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood are over-rated.

A flurry of viewings and some hasty reviews

Who would have thought that travelling would actually be a great way to catch up on movie viewing? With the advent of in-flight entertainment systems and hotel movie channels that include current theatre releases, I've been able to see 3 and a half movies in the past week while on the road. Here are some quick reviews of what I've seen:

There Will Be Blood Wow - a long and dark and winding road. And yet at the end of it, I still felt there were things missing. While there are some scenes and segments that go on in excrutiating detail, there are others that are missing altogether, and so the story, like the soundtrack, end up being disturbing and in the end unfulfilling. In the midst of all that darkness and discomfort, there is Daniel Day Lewis, transformed into Daniel Plainview in a way so remarkable you can't take your eyes from him. You can see and feel the coil of rage and hate in him, and keep expecting it to explode, but even the outbursts there are seem to be unsatisfactory, feeding back on him and adding fuel to his angry fire. The film also looks good - you want to sneeze from the dust in the air and the feeling of dryness and desolation, and you can almost feel the rough stone underfoot, and the horrible cool of the pools of oil at the bottom of those wells. Can't say I'd recommend this film to anyone, but it will be one I likely revisit some time to try to figure out a bit more.

Into the Wild Saw this on the airplane and really wish I'd seen it in the theatre, mostly for the sense of freedom and adventure and solitude that Chris/Alex found on the road. Another in the recent trend of physically transformative portrayals (something I thought was the sole domain of Christian Bale until now), Emile Hirsch is the current champion in the skeletal category. Even without that, Hirsch is completely enthralling as the almost angelic Chris, embracing adventure, eschewing comforts (as well as rules) and living beyond the edge of society while taking only what he needed and giving back what he could in the form of his wisdom, friendship and love. His tragic end was made so poignant here, one can only hope the real story ended so lovely. Also tragic is that this film did not enjoy more popularity, as it was truly enjoyable and moving. I'd been led to believe that the ending was somehow unbearable to watch, but I found it a fitting conclusion to the story, and a beautiful tribute to a life lost in our world. Major kudos to Sean Penn for a wonderful film. Not sure I understand what the nomination for Hal Holbrook was for - no matter, he is no match for Javier Bardem!

In the Valley of Elah A kind of Courage Under Fire meets CSI, this is one of the first stories about soldiers returning from Iraq since the current invasion began 6 years ago. And yet the story isn't about that so much as that simply establishes a backdrop for the story that actually takes place. The soldiers here could have just returned from Vietnam, Grenada, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Somalia or any of the modern-day zones of quasi-war that soldiers now work in. They come back from those places with warped senses of identity and morals, and so the strange events that take place in this world feel seems perfectly alright to them (well, almost). Its just what they do. Charlize Theron is excellent in an understated role as a fairly novice detective taking on a lot all at once. Tommy Lee Jones is good, but I had a hard time distinguishing between his character here and the one in No Country for Old Men, so I don't understand what made this performance nomination worthy over the other, or at all for that matter. The film is written and paced very well, so it made for an enjoyable and interesting 2 hours, but in the end didn't really come up to the heroic proportions promised by the title.

Michael Clayton In what is becoming an annual tradition, I was able to watch only half of this film on the plane, and so am left dangling as to how it will end. The half that I've watched is excellent, and I'm very hopeful that I won't be disappointed like I was last year with my Departed experience.

And just a note about watching films on the plane (other than the obvious "make sure you have time for the whole thing" warning) - check all the lists before making your selection. I was 3/4 through Into the Wild (which I don't regret watching) when I noticed the woman next to me was watching La Vie en Rose, another that I would have dearly loved to see. That film was listed (for some reason) under the HBO options, and so I didn't see it in my perusal of the Movies list. So be sure you know all your choices before you pick (especially when you have to pay) so you don't get screen envy on the plane.

Charlie Wilson's War

This movie was better than I expected, but overall still just okay. A very interesting story about the legendary but not well known role of the US in the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan in the late '80s, it timely cautionary tale for our current times. Sadly, I don't think anyone learned anything from the earlier experience in Afghanistan, and we will go on paying the price for "fucking up the end game", as Charlie Wilson himself said. Best performance in this film goes to Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the CIA agent. For the other leads, there were some strange elements that never seemed to gel for me in their characters. For Charlie Wilson, the party animal persona that is supposed to be exemplified in the opening hot tub scene never really works for me; I never got the sense that he was reckless in his social life, and felt that the Las Vegas scene was included only to make the pending indictment later in the story make sense. For Joanne Herring, her relationship with Charlie Wilson was confusing - did somebody love somebody? was there real sadness when she married someone else? - and her role in the story similarly undefined; I found her condemnation of Charlie's office staff as "sluts" in the bar celebration scene to be very strange, as it did not fit in with either her role or their position. Despite appearances, Charlie's staff of buxom women were all smart, assertive go-getters, and whether he had them around for his own enjoyment or not, it appears from the story that he gave opportunities for women to be players on Capitol Hill at a time when it would have been challenging for women (especially beautiful ones) to get in the door legitimately. The best feature of this film is the screenplay and dialogue, and at the closing credits I was not at all surprised to see Aaron Sorkin as the responsible party. The smart, witty and fast dialogue is reminiscent of his previous work on West Wing and on The American President, and he shines again on this film.

Last minute memo to the Academy

Although prospects for the Oscars are looking grim, given the demise of the Golden Globes this past week, hopefully Academy members (include the writers) are still taking their responsibilities seriously and conscientiously completing and mailing in their nominations for awards. For those who have left it to the last minute (Sean Penn and Meryl Streep, you know who you are), here are some reminders of things worthy of consideration:

• What a great year for American films. The pool of contenders this year is fairly full of films from the good ole USA, with few of the esoteric foreign language films or English period pieces taking up space in theatres. Not that Americans come across as particularly nice in No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood (indeed, the Oscars may actually need an R rating to show clips from some of these), but there should be minimal whining this year about number of American films eligible for nomination and promising as contenders.
• Just because Denzel Washington had 2 films of note this year does not mean he has to be nominated for Best Actor.
• Just because Daniel Day-Lewis had 1 film of note this year does not mean he has to be nominated for Best Actor. He should be nominated for Best Actor because he is scary good - just the trailer gives me the willies.
• Speaking of scary, nominate Javier Bardem or he might get mad. Ditto Viggo Mortensen. Maybe they can have a fight on stage at the awards show, a true Alien vs. Predator.
• Like last year, the actress catagory is flush with good choices, so have at it here.
• Juno was a fantastic film that likely no one thought would be as good, popular or entertaining as it is. Particularly in the screenplay category, this film is extremely worthy.
• Similarly, Julie Christie made Away From Her incredibly powerful and poignant, and the cinematography of the Great White North perfectly reflected the bereft husband's feelings of loss and loneliness.
• If you saw Across the Universe and liked it, give it a nod. Julie Taymor deserves at least a nomination for being brave enough to tackle the Beatles and for being so damn good at creating visual spectacles with minimal silliness.
  

Now go make your nominations!