Crouching Tigers, Orchids, Rappers and Astronauts

The great gap of silence between posts is not an indication of sloth or a lack of movies to watch. Oh, contraire, I've had a lot to watch.

I spent a whole week or so, watching some of my favorite British detective/mystery series. I highly recommend the Inspector Lewis series, which picks up a few years after the Inspector Morse series, with the beloved Lewis as the Chief Inspector and his new right-hand man, Detective Sergeant Hathaway. It is still set in Oxford and Hathaway is almost more erudite than Morse, while Lewis still relies on old fashioned detective work. There are currently seven series available. I always liked Lewis, he brought an earthy humanity that complemented Morse's often uncomfortable human interactions. If you liked Morse, but have not seen Lewis, what are you waiting for? Closely related to Inspector Lewis and Inspector Morse is Endeavor, a look at the young Morse, when he was just a Detective Constable; you can see his love of crosswords, opera and Jaguars and how he never really fit in with his colleagues or superiors. Last, but not least, is a recent favorite of mine, Inspector George Gently, which is set in northern England, Durham, in the mid-1960s to the late 1960s. It's not really a time period or location that gets a lot of attention, so I found that very interesting (love the music they include and the different settings). George Gently is a transplant from London to the north, and he has a lot to learn, so of course, he has to have an eager sidekick, in the form of Detective Sergeant John Bacchus. Both men have their share of personal and professional challenges that slowly evolve over the course of the series. Gently can be incredibly hard-assed when dealing with the baddies or incompetent police offices, but shows a very sensitive and caring side when dealing with victims, families or fragile witnesses. Bacchus, is, well, a little rough and not quite up to the very high standards that say a Detective Sergeant Lewis or Hathaway possess. Bacchus is from Durham and is familiar with the culture and the language and guides Gently (or not, depending). What I enjoyed watching was how Gently and Bacchus's relationship developed; they're combative, competitive and can sometimes have different ways of getting the same result. Occasionally Bacchus seems like he's a Neanderthal and Gently is very enlightened, which may be a little odd because Bacchus could be Gently's son; but Gently served in World War II, and that has influenced much of how he thinks now. I don't know if Gently has been on PBS, but I found the series (all of them actually) at my library.

5/24/2014, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Best Foreign Language Film, Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, 2000

Unusual for a foreign film (although it has happened), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon won several awards in additional to the Best Foreign Language Film. I think when watching Crouching Tiger you have to keep in mind that it is not real (that probably sounds really stupid and painfully obvious), that it's not just a martial arts movie, there is a great deal of fantasy incorporated, I mean, people really cannot run straight up walls and fly among the trees. Every once in a while, this was disconcerting to me, I think I was expecting more realism (I don't know why, I just was), but even saying that, I really enjoyed it. There was something very balletic about the fight scenes. Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Hulk, The Life of Pi) directed, and while The Life of Pi annoyed me, it was a beautiful film, and so is Crouching Tiger, the colors, the costumes. I'm not sure I can really explain the story, because it got a little convoluted for me; there are two love stories at the heart of the movie, unrequited, mostly; the desire to preserve honor, avenge fallen loved ones. Chow Yun-fat (Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Bulletproof Monk) and Michelle Yeoh (Memoirs of a Geisha, Kung Fu Panda 2, Tomorrow Never Dies) are probably the most familiar to US audiences. I cannot believe that we have not seen more of Michelle Yeoh, but I think we should. If you are afraid to see a foreign film after my review of The Great Beauty, try this one, it's got action, love stories, and gorgeous scenery.


5/25/2014 Adaptation., Best Supporting Actor, 2002

I don't even know how to describe Adaptation., maybe a story within a story? Nicholas Cage stars as twins Donald and Charlie Kaufman (Charlie is real, Donald is fictitious); Charlie is a screenwriter in Hollywood and the movie opens with scenes from Being John Malkovich, a film written by Charlie. Donald is trying to find his life path, and decides he wants to be a screenwriter like Charlie. The film follows the story of Donald and Charlie's relationship, the differences in their two personalities: Donald is very outgoing, seemingly totally unaware of any social flaws or perceptions that others have of him; Charlie is insecure, awkward and not happy with himself. The other part of the movie is the story that Charlie is struggling to write based on a book (a real book, to make things even more confusing) about, and called, The Orchid Thief. The orchid plot involves Meryl Streep as Susan Orlean, a writer for The New Yorker and Chris Cooper as John Laroche, a new type of Renaissance man, who is happy to try his hand at procuring rare flowers and plant life or pornography on the Internet. Cooper, who also starred with Streep in August: Osage County, won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Cooper was good and he is such a versatile actor, but I think Paul Newman would have been a valid choice for his role in The Road to Perdition, Ed Harris was very strong in The Hours, but I hated that movie, so, Newman it is. Spike Jonze directed (Her, Where the Wild Things Are). I was happy when the movie was over, I didn't care about anyone or anything; I certainly don't think this was one of Streep's best roles, and I'm just not a big Nicholas Cage fan, I don't know why, he hasn't made many movies that I like. This is a movie that I probably would have happily ignored if it wasn't on my damn list.

5/26/2014 8 Mile, Best Original Song, 2002

According to Netflix, I had already seen 8 Mile and rated it two stars. I didn't remember anything, so I watched it again. If I could have rated it 2 1/2 stars, I would have, I didn't like it, but I didn't hate it either. Rap really isn't my genre, I don't get it, I try to know a little bit so I can converse with the young people (or my brothers, as I like to say), but nothing sticks. And besides, after all the negative press that Eminem has received for some of his comments, I wasn't all that keen on watching this movie. I'm not going to make out like I had some kind of grand epiphany or anything, but watching the whole movie and keeping the comments in context, I am not as 'against' Eminem as I might have been. 8 Mile refers to a main road in Detroit (I have actually driven across it) and it is the boundary of the city limits of Detroit; make no mistake, Detroit is a character in this movie, gritty, dirty, crime-ridden, but still possessed of some kind of civic pride in the Motor City's contributions to music. B. Rabbit (Eminem) is under-employed at a local stamping plant, struggling as a rapper (a white rapper, no less) and dealing with his mother's haphazard lifestyle. Rabbit is surrounded by four friends who stick by him, tease him and care about him; probably the closest thing to brothers, and family, he will ever have. Rabbit competes in free-styling (I think that's the term) where you rap against someone, usually slinging insults about their family, sexual proclivities, talent, or whatever comes to mind, while rhyming. Rabbit is in a contest where he just freezes and walks offstage, earning a reputation as a quitter and a coward, not cool when you need to be tough. The rest of the movie seems to involve his redemption in his own eyes and his rap community. Brittany Murphy stars as Rabbit's 'girlfriend' (although I didn't know that stand-up sex in a stamping plant made you boyfriend/girlfriend, but then I'm old-fashioned), and she seemed way out of it, maybe that was her character, maybe it was her, but she was annoying. According to Wikipedia, 8 Mile has been called a "hip-hop movie masterpiece" - it's so beyond my knowledge, I'll defer to others; I thought it was okay, I have certainly seen worse movies recently. If you are a fan of hip-hop, you have probably already seen it, if not, but you're interested in the Motown music scene, check out Standing in the Shadows of Motown about the musicians who played on the Motown music label.

5/26/2014, Gravity, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Visual Effects, 2013

I don't often regret seeing movies on television (even my 1996 Panasonic) versus the big screen, for most of the movies that I like to watch, it really doesn't matter, but for Gravity I am so disappointed that I could not get my life together to see it at a theater (although I don't think I could have handled it in 3D). Gravity picked up the top technical awards at the Oscars as well as Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron, and I can't quibble with any of those. The movie is an astronomical feast for the eyes; Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are really the only characters we meet (one other astronaut becomes fodder space debris hurtling past the space station), but it's really Sandra Bullock's show. I don't want to give too much away in case you haven't seen it yet, but here's a little bit. Dr. Stone is a space rookie, while Matt Kowalski is a veteran astronaut, space-walker who brings a little wit and wisdom to the party, he tries to get to know Stone a little bit; she clearly seems like she has hardened a part of herself. The action starts when the astronauts are told about a Russian missile strike on one of their own satellites that has a terrible ripple effect on everything else that is out in orbit, including sending large chunks of debris flying towards the spacewalking astronauts. Chaos ensues. What happens next can be imagined, but what shows up on screen is incredible, Stone and Kowalski fighting to get back to safety, being flung about like rag dolls, Earth in the distance. Bullock really did an incredible job, especially considering she was alone on the screen for a large part of the movie and had to act with green screen technology, but I don't think there was any way she was going to beat Cate Blanchett. Technically, this movie broke a lot of new ground, using new and different technologies and was really beautiful; I don't recall anything about the musical score, nothing that made me think, 'ooh, ah', I was partial to Philomena and Saving Mr. Banks, and All is Lost, which wasn't nominated for an Oscar. At first I was convinced that Steve McQueen should have won for Best Director, but after seeing Gravity, I could be persuaded that Cuaron deserved the honor for using the technology but still keeping the human element very much a part of the story (it did not seem that it was only about the fancy visual tricks). If you have not seen Gravity, you should, and you probably have a better screen and picture quality than I do, so feel free to invite me over.

As a post-script, I was lucky enough to see Rodriguez, who was the featured in the documentary Searching for Sugar Man, who played a concert in Minneapolis. It was an amazing performance, and his voice sounded as good as it does on record. The crowd was atypically rowdy and obnoxious, although I read a review of his Detroit performance and the crowd was the same. Perhaps it was their unbridled joy at this long-hidden American treasure playing in their city. He handled it quite well and even interacted with the crowd. He's a lot older now and who  knows how long he'll be touring, but if you have a chance to catch him in your city, make the investment and get a ticket.

Rodriguez, May 17, 2014 State Theater

Coming up: X-Men: Days of Future Past

A movie so bad it had me begging for mercy - The Great Beauty

5/5/14 The Great Beauty Best Foreign Film, 2013

 What.A.Piece.Of.Crap. I have no idea, none, zero, nada, of how this movie won the Best Foreign Film this year. Unless 1) the voters didn't watch all the movies and it was like a mid-term election 2) the people who watched it were so confused and perplexed they thought it must be brilliant. THEY WERE WRONG. Seriously, it just seemed like a lot of nothing, supposedly all connected to the main character hitting a milestone birthday. This may have been worse than The Tree of Life, which was at least visually beautiful. There was some good music in the score, otherwise, it just seemed self-indulgent, pretentious and pompous. At least with Broken Circle Breakdown and The Hunt there was some kind of story and characters that you could care about, unlike here. I'm not sure if it was surrealistic with a splash of nihilism thrown in, but I don't care. The thing that REALLY annoys me is that I had that dumb movie sitting in my house for over a month and a half, totally messing up my rotation.

I have tried to convince people to see foreign films, but stay away from this one. If you are looking for a good or even great foreign film, here are a few:

Departures, Japan, 2008, Best Foreign Film
Nowhere in Africa, Germany, 2001, Best Foreign Film
The Grandmaster, Hong Kong, 2013 nominee for Cinematography (the action is great and the film is beautiful)
Monsieur Lazhar, Canada, 2011, nominee for Best Foreign Film
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico/Spain, 2006, Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography - great fantasy and story
My Life as a Dog, Sweden, 1985, nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay - I saw this movie seven times in the first year it was released if that gives you any indication of much I loved this movie. Lasse Hallstrom directed.

There's more, but I think these are pretty accessible and these are all WAY better than The Great Beauty.

A smorgasbord of cinema: Peter Gabriel, Grand Budapest, Dune and Spider-Man 2

Peter Gabriel, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 2014

It was not a typical week or so of cinematic viewing, but extremely satisfying nonetheless. It started with a concert film of Peter Gabriel and ended with Spider-Man 2. Oh, I did manage to squeeze in a 2013 Oscar-nominated film in there as well. So, here we go.

4/23/2014 Peter Gabriel - Back to Front, 2014
 I love Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Genesis and pretty much every associated act, and I have traveled several times in the past couple of years to see Peter and Steve Hackett and even one of the many Genesis tribute bands. So, it might seem unnecessary to pay more money to see a filmed version of a concert that I have already seen (or it totally makes sense, it probably depends on your perspective). The movie was presented as part of the Fathom Events shows that you might see in movie previews. Normally, I love to be alone in the theater, but I was kind of hoping for a better turnout (it was early, 7:30, but on a weeknight), but I think there were only 10 people in the theater. This helped to confirm my belief that Minnesota, while home to great alternative rock, Prince, etc., it is not a big place for Progressive Rock. That sad realization aside, I enjoyed the movie, directed by Hamish Hamilton, who has directed many concert films. This footage was taken from the Back to Front Tour concert in London in October 2013. It reunited the players from Gabriel's watershed album, "So" (Manu Katche, Tony Levin, David Rhodes and David Sancious) plus Jennie Abrahamson and Linnea Olsson on backing vocals. The film intercuts commentary from all the musicians and some vintage footage from past concerts. I enjoyed the film, but having actually been to the concert, it didn't capture the energy and crazy passion that Gabriel fans have for his music. It will be released on DVD, so you can check it out for yourself. There was a big deal made of the film techniques (the ratio, high-def, blah blah), honestly, it didn't look any different than other films I have seen on the big screen. (Peter Gabriel picture courtesy of Cris).

4/26/2014 Jodorowsky's Dune, 2013

I was back at home in Cleveland last week and so of course I had to go to my theater, The Cedar-Lee, for at least one movie. I usually go by myself, but my little brother said he would go with me. I wasn't sure he would be up for Jodorowsky's Dune, but he said it sounded interesting. Well, alrighty then. I'm not a huge science fiction fan or of surrealism, but I love documentaries. This was a documentary about a film that never actually got made. Alejandro Jodorowsky is a Mexican filmmaker who had made a few very 'out there' films in the late 1960s and early 1970s when he decided he wanted to tackle Frank Herbert's Dune. The movie gives us a little background into Jodorowsky's style and then his grand plan to assemble his 'warriors' to create Dune. He was crazy ambitious, and I don't know if other movies get the same kind of prep work that Dune did, but wow, what a lot of effort was put into just the drawings and story boarding. Jodorowsky gradually assembled three artists to put his (and their) concepts onto paper: Jean Giraud (Moebius), Chris Foss and H.R. Giger came from different art backgrounds, but I was extremely captivated by their artwork, especially Giraud's. Dune came after 2001: A Space Odyssey but before the universe of Star Wars, and Jodorowsky had very ambitious ideas for the film, and as it turned out, too ambitious and way ahead of its time. Ultimately, the rights to the film were sold to Dino DeLaurentiis and eventually Dune, with Sting and Kyle MacLachlan, was released to much hilarity but not much success.At the end of movie, Jodorowsky mentioned that perhaps Dune could be made into an animated film using the artwork from Giraud, Foss and Giger, and I think that would be SO cool; or at the least, I would love a book with some of the prints. They are so visually impactful. If you are a science fiction fan or a fan of the visual arts, I highly recommend this movie. It's also a great 'prequel' to so many of the science fiction films that came after, and it's interesting to see some of the motifs and how other directors used Jodorowsky as an influence, especially since Dune was never released.

4/27/2014 The Grand Budapest Hotel, 2014

As luck would have it, my brother mentioned that he really wanted to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, and I really wanted to see it AND it was at The Cedar-Lee. I think it was a sign. I really loved Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, the dialog, the performances and the artwork, and I couldn't wait to see The Grand Budapest Hotel after seeing the previews. We were not disappointed, Ralph Fiennes was perfectly cast as Monsieur Gustave H. and Tony Revolori held his own as Zero, the lobby boy and the Robin to Gustave's Batman. The story is told in a kind of flashback, with F. Murray Abraham and Jude Law telling the story that is set in the early 1930s during the grand era of hotels and pre-World War II. Gustave H. is the concierge at the Grand Budapest and is known to go to great lengths to make sure his elderly female clientele is especially taken care of. One of them leaves him a valuable painting which incurs the wrath of the woman's family and so begins the adventure. There are a lot of actors that pop in and out of the story very quickly, and if you blink, you may miss them (the makeup is quite good - Tilda Swinton is barely recognizable). I'm not even really sure the plot is all that important, at least not to me. I just loved the characters and the action, some of it reminded me of something from a silent movie. I don't know if the chase scenes are an Anderson motif, but there were some similar scenes in Moonrise Kingdom, and I thought they were so well done, very classic. What surprised me was how much my brother loved the movie, so much so that he got Moonrise Kingdom from the library that afternoon. I will be very disappointed if The Grand Budapest Hotel is not nominated for at least a couple of awards in the technical categories (art direction, cinematography, make up).

4/30/2014 Broken Circle Breakdown, nominated for Best Foreign Film, 2013

For some strange reason, I cannot bring myself to watch the winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, The Great Beauty (which I have sitting on my television), but I did get in Broken Circle Breakdown, the nominee from Belgium. The movie is not told in straight chronological order, and sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn't, and I think this is a case of the latter. I say 'thinks' because I'm still not sure how I feel about the movie. I think a chronological telling of the story would have given us time to know the characters and really feel with them. We meet Elise and Didier; Elise is a tattoo artist and Didier lives on a farm and is in an American-style bluegrass band. They fall in love and eventually Elise gets pregnant. At first, Didier is surprised and upset at this development, but he loves their little girl, Maybelle. The movie features several performances (eventually Elise joins the band) and as with Inside Llewyn Davis, I thought the music was a highlight of the film. Maybelle gets sick and her illness takes a toll on the relationship. There were moments I thought they could survive, that their love was stronger than outside forces, and then my hope was dashed. One of the 'conflicts' of the film seemed minor in the beginning, but seemed to be what brought everything down, and that was the Elise and Didier's differing opinions on religion versus science. Didier is very matter of fact when it comes to life and death - you die, it's over. Period. Which, as Elise tells him, and he kind of realizes, you can't really say to a child. Towards the end of the film, Didier has an outburst, ranting against religion and the role it has played in hindering scientific research on illnesses, like the one that Maybelle suffers from. This seems to be the end for Elise, who does hold religious beliefs, but I think she also doesn't feel like it's productive to be so hateful and angry. I was not totally shocked by the way the movie ended, but I somehow felt let down, I had more hope for the two of them, and I thought their love would get them through the difficulties of Maybelle's illness. I'm not really a romantic, but I guess in this case I am. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea, but I am glad I saw it.

5/4/14 The Amazing Spider-Man 2, 2014

(sigh) I live in hope and die in despair. I'm a Cleveland fan, I'm used to disappointment, but a mere 8 hours after seeing Spider-Man 2, I am more than disappointed, I'm annoyed. Since the movie just came out, I don't want to give away any spoilers, but what I will say is wait until it comes to your cheap theater, and maybe try an evening show so some idiot parents don't bring their chatty children and sit right next to you (although in fairness, they didn't sit next to me, but next to my friends). I do like Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man, he brings the right amount of smart aleck, much more to my liking than Toby Maguire. The special effects for the webslinger to swing from building to building are so much better, and that really was a highlight. the storytelling is very weak, and I don't like bringing in Peter Parker's parents and this weird all encompassing conspiracy theory with Richard Parker and Oscorp. And can we please stop tapping the Green Goblin well? There are plenty of bad guys in Spider-Man's arsenal. But please do not mention Rhino, that was so superfluous and just a lame attempt to bring in more villains, but the connection was so tenuous, it was stupid and I said a bad word, or two at the end. Jamie Foxx was not terrible as Electro, there seemed to be a lot of questions as to whether he could pull it off; I just don't think the storyline was very good. My brother sent me a text after he saw it on Friday and saw it was 'pure awesomeness'. I sent him a text today saying we would have to agree to disagree, because I did not think it was awesome at all. I will also say that people are stupid and if you must send texts throughout the whole 2 1/2 hours of the film, maybe your dumbass should have stayed home. Oh yes, the movie was 2 1/2 hours, not including trailers. And if you think it's okay for you and your child to chat through the movie - STAY HOME. We are not amused, nor do we think that your child is cute. I can't wait for the next X-Men movie, but I hope I'm not disappointed or annoyed. Fingers crossed.