The Dark Knight Rises. Or not.

Batman is my favorite comic book hero, I think because despite his character's great financial wealth, he still risks life and limb to help others. Bruce Wayne could easily rest comfortably in his fortunes, as most rich people do, and yet he feels compelled to personally battle the worst villains among us. However fictional the comic may be, the idea is very inspiring, and thus a powerful draw. Indeed, I could not wait to see The Dark Knight Rises. I went to the midnight screening at the AMC Loews Waterfront theatre in Pittsburgh, which was PACKED with young people dressed in Batman merch and homemade costumes. Many of the scenes in the movie were filmed in Pittsburgh, which created massive local enthusiasm. Simply put, there was great anticipation for this movie.

Still, I had skepticism that it would meet expectations, mainly because of what I consider to be the cinematic rule of 3's. If you look at any movie series, the third installment is usually the worst. Godfather part 3. Alien 3. Matrix Revolutions. Austin Powers in Goldmember. All blah. Granted, there are exceptions, like Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. But in general, I think what happens is the story loses steam. The first part is always new and exciting, and then the sequel tries hard to outdo the first. By the time you reach the third part, the spirit of the series is tired and worn out, like the last leg of a long race.

Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Batman series is a perfect example of this. In Batman Begins, we were given a cool fresh look at the origins of Batman. The sequel, The Dark Knight, had an unrelenting pace, as Batman fought with every last ounce of strength to catch an insane Joker and save his friends and Gotham City. And now, in The Dark Knight Rises, things slow down big time. [SPOILER ALERT]. The audience is sitting in excitement to see Batman, only to learn that he has retired?! And years have passed in the story's timeline? Talk about losing steam! We are introduced to a big and scary villain named Bane, whose brute strength and armed rebel fighters allow him to take control of a nuclear weapon and hold Gotham City hostage. But how much time is allowed its prisoners? 5 months! How's that for suspense?!


I'll also give The Dark Knight Rises demerits for the political message it conveys, which I believe run contrary to what Batman stands for. [SPOILER ALERT]. During the second act, the Gotham police force are led underground into a trap, thus plunging the city into presumed mob rule. Bane leads a sort of proletarian revolution, with the poor taking from the rich the wealth that has been denied them, and public executions of the aristocracy are held, much like the guillotines of the French Revolution. So when Batman comes to Gotham's rescue, though he defeats Bane and his minions and restores order, he in effect supports the inequalities that pervade the city. At a time when our nation is plagued by unprecedented inequality of income and opportunities, this idea is anathema.


Still, The Dark Knight Rises is an entertaining movie with impressive visual effects, surprising plot twists and strong acting performances by all, especially Michael Cain. But when heroes and their movies are held in such high regard, it's all the more disappointing when they miss the mark.

Moonrise Kingdom rules

When you hear that Wes Anderson has a new movie coming out, what sort of things come to mind? What might you expect? Let's break it down by category.
Genre: Comedy.
Cast: Large and ecclectic.
Characters: Melancholy or exuberant.
Dialogue: Witty
Mood: Bittersweet
Soundtrack: British invasion rock, Mark Mothersbaugh.
Cinematography: Long tracking shots.
Editing: Slow motion.
Props: Artfully detailed.

The end result is a style of movie entirely unique and familiar. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Many great directors from Woody Allen to Stanley Kubrick to Alfred Hitchcock have made excellent films that all had similar characteristics. But I think with Wes Anderson his movies share less variety, and after six films (seven if you count the short Hotel Chevalier) there's a risk of cliched predictability. Look at Kevin Smith, that man-child keeps remaking the same dick joke movies over and over!

Thankfully Anderson's newest movie, Moonrise Kingdom, feels fresh and thoroughly enjoyable, I think in large part due to the cute story of an innocent first love between two adorable (but not wretchedly so) adolescents. Also, the movie is set on a picturesque undeveloped island in New England during 1965, harkening back to simpler times when boy scouts were unpoliticized by homophobia and telecommunication relied on phone operators at switchboards. As for the soundtrack, I think Anderson breaks form here and features a lot of classical music, all quite beautiful.

Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzmann, both Anderson staples, appear in the movie and are mildly funny. The real stars are the children, who are just hilarious. Edward Norton and Bruce Willis give great supporting performances as earnestly dim authority figures. Harvey Keitel, who is never not awesome, makes a brief appearance, first as a quicky glimpsed photo in a scout magazine and then later as a supreme troop commander.

In summary, if you love Wes Anderson movies, check it out. And if you don't, well, this one might change that.

Favorite films of 2011

Another year has passed, so let's review. My favorite three:

1) Moneyball: Growing up, I loved baseball and I was a huge A's fan. Ricky Henderson, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire were my heros. I collected and traded albums full of baseball cards; Topps came with stale and delicious chewing gum, while Upper Deck were high-end, glossy and valuable. The 1989 World Series A's vs Giants was so epic that the ground shook with a 6.9 earthquake. Of course the mighty A's swept the series. Then, in 1994, players went on strike, and all that love and enthusiasm died. I stopped collecting cards, stopped watching games, stopped rooting for the A's, or any team. In my mind, if the players cared more about money than playing ball, why should I care to watch them play at all?

So perhaps it is because of this background that I loved the film Moneyball so much. The movie, based on Michael Lewis' book of the same title, tells the true story of the 2002 Oakland A's and the supposed re-invention of baseball. Billy Beane, played by Brad Pitt, is general manager of the team, whose glory days from '89 have long since faded, and with them its coffers. Beane, with the help of nerdy assistant Peter Brand, played by Jonah Hill, must seek talent for cheap in order to create a winning team. But instead of using traditional tactics based on appearances, they use scientific metrics to identify undervalued yet skilled ball players. In medicine, we call this "evidence based practice" as opposed to "anecdotal bullshit." Moneyball essentially turns the role of money in baseball on its head, and for me, reawakened a love for the game. All this, in addition to a pitch-perfect script by Aaron Sorkin (who I think may be a genius writer) and awesome performances by Pitt and Hill, made this my favorite movie of 2011.

2) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy: This spy film, based on the book by John le Carre, is a fictional story of a mole hunt at the highest levels of British intelligence during the Cold War. Now there is another spy movie in theatres, the 4th Mission: Impossible movie, which I haven't seen. According to the billboards, Tom Cruise climbs the Burj Khalifa in Dubai for some reason, and I'm sure it's all very enthralling. TTSS actually takes place in reality, so no, Gary Oldman doesn't climb Big Ben, though that would be pretty funny. Nevertheless, TTSS is incredibly suspenseful, a real palm-sweater. The movie captures the paranoia of the Cold War, a time when no one could be trusted and the threat of nuclear war with the Soviets loomed large. The movie features a brilliant British cast including Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Ciaran Hinds (probably underused in this movie) and Benedict Cumberbatch, heretofore unknown to me but with a performance like this one and a name like that will surely go places. And keep an eye out at awards season for best costume, the suits in this movie are sharp.

3) Drive: See my previous review. This movie kicked a lot of ass.

In case this list seems excessively masculine, let it be known that probably #4 and #5 would be Jane Eyre and Bridesmaids, respectively. I just don't have the time right now to write about how great they are. :)

Finally, the fail of 2011.

1) Tree of Life: This movie was beautifully unwatchable, extremely disappointing. The premise of the film (I think there is one) is that the intimate drama of a white American nuclear family in the 50's in Texas is every bit as powerful and meaningful and sacred as the creation of the universe and the evolution of life on Earth. Which may be true, I don't really know, but if it is then that's either incredibly profound or depressing. But, ugh, this movie, despite its breathtaking imagery/nature porn and graceful score, is made painful to sit through by its total absence of any narrative. It plays like a twisted music video mashup of a National Geographic documentary, the 50's sitcom Father Knows Best and one of my wife's Anthropologie catalogues set to a Bach symphony. If you're curious enough to see this movie, maybe try some mota beforehand.

2) Battle: Los Angeles: This movie looked like an exciting sci-fi romp through my new home town, with scenes of aliens storming Santa Monica beach where I go running on weekends. Which is all fun for a little while, but then actually gets boring. It turns out the movie I think is propaganda for recruitment to the Marines, as there is a ridiculous amount of attention to military detail, such as the names of weapons and tools used and war strategy etc.

Thanks for reading. Here's hoping 2012 is a good year at the movies. Can't wait for The Dark Knight Rises!

"Drive." To the theater and see it now.

2011 has been a slow year for movies so far. It's already September and I've only been a few times, and the movies I did see were meh (X-men: First Class) or bleh (The Tree of Life). Seriously, don't get me started on The Tree of Life. Even Sean Penn, who starred in the movie, thought it sucked*.

Things did get interesting in May during the Cannes Film Festival, when a movie about a stunt driver/getaway driver starring Ryan Gosling received great acclaim and a Dane named Nicolas Winding Refn won best director for it. IMDB featured a short clip from the movie, and it looked great.

Drive, the aforementioned movie, finally opened last Friday and I went to see it with much enthusiasm. And it didn't disappoint. Drive is a gourmet action film, with surprising, intense, well-crafted scenes. The cast is near perfect. Gosling is captivating as a soft-spoken yet brutal and exact criminal, similar to Jean Reno's Leon in The Professional. Albert Brooks steals scenes as a witty but equally vicious boss. And Bryan Cranston's kindly inept character is endearing.

What makes Drive stand apart is its tone/pace/atmosphere. It feels like a mashup between the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City & Steven Soderbergh's The Limey. The soundtrack's 80s-synthesized songs, the text/font during opening credits, the horrific violence and suspenseful chases, all seem right out of GTA:VC. The movie's patient pace and laconic dialogue, all set by an unrelenting protagonist, as well as thin plot, resemble that of The Limey, and make the film all the more powerful. During a time when the movie theaters are filled with three-dimensions of superfluous cacophony, Drive demonstrates that less is more. Think Haagen Dazs.

That's it for now. The fall movie season looks promising, but I probably won't be back in theaters until after the pediatric board exam in October. Wish me luck!

*http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2011/08/22/2011-08-22_sean_penn_complains_about_final_cut_of_tree_of_life_says_it_lacked_emotion_and_i.html

"Exit Through the Gift Shop": Vandal with care

One of the original goals of this blog was to highlight films that may have otherwise been overlooked. Exit Through the Gift Shop is a case in point. Fresno Filmworks actually brought this documentary to the local Tower Theater for a one-night screening. But having never heard of the movie, it didn't really catch my attention. Plus I was probably on call.

So I didn't actually get around to seeing it until I started a one month Netflix free trial and saw it on Watch Instantly (I haven't formally joined Netflix because it would probably turn me into a hermit since I'm such a movieholic, addicted to moviehol.)

Anyway, Exit Through the Gift Shop is an excellent documentary, the best I've seen in a while. It begins as an exploration into the clandestine world of street art, as seen from a very curious observer, Thierry Guetta. Guetta, a clothing vendor and amateur video recorder, finds himself intrigued by the unusual artwork momentarily displayed in various public locations, and seeks to understand how and why these images are created. He meets and follows Shepard Fairy, the creator of the Obey stencils. But Guetta's ultimate goal becomes finding the elusive Banksy, one of the most infamous street artists in the world. The documentary then takes an unexpected twist when Banksy, once befriended by Guetta, then turns the camera around and makes Guetta the subject of the documentary. What ensues is a hilarious and ridiculous look into Guetta's life, as he himself attempts to become a street artist and draw fame and fortune from the phenomenon.

A word about documentaries themselves. What are they exactly? The documentary was originally a category of film in which a particular event was documented for posterity. An excellent example would be The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, in which the coup that overthrew Hugo Chavez in 2002 was incredibly captured by Irish filmmakers. But documentaries today seem to have moved on from this key, and instead become a medium for talking heads, reenactments and archived footage. An Inconvenient Truth, for example, didn't really document anything, rather was a mouthpiece for Al Gore to educate audiences about global warming. Which is fine. But the power of the documentary lies in the incontrovertible evidence of the real images and sound presented, as compared to the staged fictitious scenes of a movie. Errol Morris' The Thin Blue Line is a great example of this power. In this documentary the director so eloquently presented the evidence behind the murder of a police officer that the man who had been convicted of the crime and sentenced to death was later absolved and released from prison!

What's great about Exit Through the Gift Shop is that the street artists' creative production process is captured so well on film. We see the artists cutting stencils, copying at Kinko's, scaling buildings, spray painting, and fleeing the police. Because this art form is so covert, the film is all the more illuminating. We also develop an appreciation for the artworks' messages of rebellion, creativity and irreverence.

The movie is nominated for the Oscar for best documentary. I think it deserves to win. It will be interesting to see if the mysterious Banksy will show up and, if he wins, what he will say. Or spray.

Favorite films of 2010

There's a lag time between the calendar year and the movie year. Films that were officially released before the end of December often don't find their way into mainstream (i.e. Fresno) movie theaters until January. This means I can't put together my list of my favorite movies of the year until around now. Anyway, here were my favorite movies of 2010. And the worst movies of 2010? Well there weren't many BAD movies that I saw, but definitely some that were disappointing and could have been avoided.

Favorite films of 2010

1) The Social Network. See my previous review for details. Epic. Must see.

2) Somewhere. This is Sophia Coppola's latest movie, a limited release but a real gem. Stephen Dorf plays Johnny Marco, a movie star drifting through Hollywood (and life) alone in a black Ferrari, and later reacquainting with his lovely daughter, played by Elle Fanning. I loved the pace and tone of this movie. Very patient, warm and touching but not sticky sweet. Also a cool Phoenix and Strokes soundtrack.

3) Winter's Bone. Again, see previous review. This movie felt very original, with an unfamiliar setting and relatively unknown cast. Creepy as hell.

4) True Grit. Coen brothers (probably my favorite filmmakers) come through with another winner. What I've always liked about the Coen brothers' movies was their defiance of convention. The unpredictable twists, surprises, outlandish characters and dialogue have made their movies stand out among the rest. True Grit is probably their most straightforward/crowd-pleasing movie, with the biggest surprise being the amount of humor for a revenge western.

5) 127 Hours. As a Danny Boyle fan (28 Days Later, Slumdog Millionaire, Shallow Grave are my favorites) and an outdoor enthusiast, this movie was pretty well suited for my tastes. James Franco was awesome, plus the Clemence Poesy cameo and Sigur Ros song at the end were nice bonuses.

Stinker films of 2010.

1) Biutiful. A film set in Barcelona, starring Javier Bardem and directed by Iñaritu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams). Recipe for a great movie right? Wrong. This was the most depressing movie I've seen since Requiem for a Dream. Absolutely no redeeming qualities. Seriously, who wants to watch hematuria, asphyxiated immigrants washing up on a beach, exhumed corpses, and most disturbing of all, boob butts?

2) Inception. See previous rant for further ravings. This movie was visually spectacular but stupidly complicated. If you want to see an excellent mind-bending movie, I highly recommend Charlie Kaufmann's Synecdoche New York. FYI Christopher Nolan's third and final batman movie The Dark Knight Rises is reportedly starring Anne Hathaway as Catwoman and Tom Hardy as Bane, to be released July 2012!

3) Scott Pilgrim vs the World. Sorry but this movie was not funny, and for all it's flashy effects and sound, pretty boring after a few minutes, not unlike the 8 bit graphic video games the film so lavishly glorifies.

4) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, part I. As far as I'm concerned, the only Harry Potter movie that came close to being as good as one of the books was Alfonso Cuaron's Prisoner of Azkaban. Granted this latest installment had the impossible task of adapting the best book of the series. Still, somehow the movie just doesn't quite capture the sense of terror I felt while reading the book. When I read the scene of Harry's escape from Privet Drive (photo below), I was really horrified, but in the movie, it was just another chase. Also, the scene where Hermione is tortured? To me that was probably the most atrocious part of the series, but in the movie almost unnoticeable. The best part of this movie was Hermione's animated narration of the story of the deathly hallows. And the worst part? Definitely the dancing scenes. Potter has no moves!!

"The Social Network": a movie about a website for friends, created by a nerd who has none

Let me begin by saying David Fincher's The Social Network, is thus far my favorite film of 2010, granted I've only seen five flicks this year. Now it may come as a surprise that the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the creation of Facebook should be told by the director of such gruesomely violent films as Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac. But as it turns out, the film is no less vicious.

See back in 2004, Harvard computer nerd Mark Zuckerberg, with some help from his "friends", launched a fun little website called The Facebook (you might have heard of it), which allowed people to make online profiles and keep tabs on others. To everyone's surprise, it eventually exploded into a multibillion dollar enterprise and cultural phenomenon that continues to transform the modern landscape of social interaction. The Social Network shows how all this came to pass. The suspense of the film comes from watching the creators battling to ride the technological tidal wave to fame and fortune, resulting in lawsuits, arrests, and friendships rent asunder.

The movie is surprisingly good for a number of reasons, probably the most important of which is the script. Virtually every scene in this movie is constructed with a conflict, the result of which drives the setup for the next scene. There is no lag in this movie, every conversation, every action has a purpose. Also the dialogue is fast and sharp, with some good lines like "You better lawyer up, asshole" or "Dating you is like dating a stairmaster" or "My Prada is at the cleaners, along with my hoodie and my 'fuck you' flip-flops."

There are also many interesting characters and themes in this movie. Zuckerberg is portrayed as a genius computer geek with Asperger syndome-like social skills. That such an awkward person could create a website designed to allow friends to socialize online seems bewildering, but in fact makes perfect sense when you compare computer message posting to actual face-to-face conversation. His counterpart, Sean Parker, is a flamboyant technological visionary played by Justin Timberlake. Parker captures the spirit of Silicon Valley, California creation and he invigorates the narrative upon his entry halfway into the film. Parker is a foil to the Winklevoss twins, two wealthy Harvard students with the weakest of ties to Facebook's creation who strive bitterly to mooch off the website's success.

There is plenty more to write about, suffice it to say that The Social Network is a timely, thought-provoking film actually worth the now ridiculous price of theatre admission. It's one of those movies that you leave discussing with friends, maybe on Facebook. Whoa.