Fantasy – Page 5 – Splatter: on FILM

INTO THE WOODS (2014) movie review

January 12, 2015October 25, 20159 Comments

I’m not sure why I felt slightly unprepared to see this film. I had seen the play. My friend Steve played one of the princes when we were in high school. It was so funny. The show is meant to be overdone and overly dramatic. This film did achieve that properly over-the-top flair with wild vaudevillian acting, hard singing, and full-blown costumes and effects.
There were, however, those elements that would make anyone agonize wondering how much longer it could possibly go on. It’s an operetta, meaning they sing almost every line and the songs rarely find resolve. So, it feels like one very long song. So, in that vein, I attempted to write new lyrics to the film’s soundtrack below, expressing my disgust at points and over all true feelings for this film:

It’s too dark.
It’s one long song.
The themes are pushed.
What themes are those?
The themes of love conflicting with independence;
The theme of wishing for dreams but dealing with consequences.From bloody toes, to moments with Johnny Depp.

They turned him from wolf… to zuit suited pedophile. He’s a zuit-suited pedofile.

Yes.

Then Emily Blunt.
She sings so well,
but who could believe she’s a pauper’s wife.
She’s baking and singing, the baker’s wife.
The one whose attractions, temptations could end her life.
But oh, Chris Pine, I’d fall hard too.
I’d fall for you.
I’d bake you a cake, be the baker’s wife,
if it wasn’t for Anna Kendrick.

The film was set on just one set.
I can see right now how they could afford the make-up alone for Meryl Streep.
In so many scenes and always the same,
Yes, but she’s Meryl Streep.
She’s a wunderkind.
Agony.

HOBBIT Part 3: The battle of the five armies

January 4, 2015October 25, 20152 Comments

Think what you will about Peter Jackson and the Hobbitization of our current Middle Earth. He has Tolkeinized, making the author a current household name. His final final installment is so very…full. Mr. Jackson has been carrying the Ring for quite a while now, and all viewers, no matter how devout, can see that it’s begun to overtake him. It’s become a bit too precious to him and he…how can I say it delicately?…he Jar Jar’d the last Hobbit. It hasn’t been so terribly long since Hobbit the 2nd, and I kept wondering why Gandalf was caged like he was in Rings and how he got there and when the eagles would show up to save him. How much did we miss that there was suddenly “real love” between the dwarf and Kate from Lost? Why is Bilbo never hungry? And why didn’t we “desolate” Smaug in the 2nd by that title rather than pick up with the grimacing dragonslaying dad in prison and the town on fire. In the last year, I’ve had time to forgive Benedict Cumberbach. Sure, he played a mean Kahn, but he did win the 2nd world war with his math skills. Wait…

Despite the anticlimactic opener and Jackson’s forgivable faux pas(s), the wonderment and fantasy remained. The harmony of nature- it’s beasts of the realm and the dominion of Elves and Dwarves and Men. All rage and thirst and crave. All wield and sway and fight with proper swagger. All align forces to dispell and dissuade the Orc evils and their foes.

One of my students recently told me he has trouble ending his stories. My mother can never wait out the suspense; she reads the endings first. All stories must come to an end. And, Peter Jackson is a man who loves endings and resolve so much that he often offers twelve or more. You will feel the need to dust off the old LOTR extended editions.

Stories like Tolkein’s Hobbit allow each of us to become a dragonslayer in our own right. I want to live a good story and write stories with worthy endings. I like to think that all endings deserve the poetic excitement that Peter Jackson is so very famous for. If you saw the others, you must finish the saga which Jackson attempted to wrap up with a bow of Elvish rope carried atop a reindeer steed…just in time for Christmas.

MOCKINGJAY PART ONE (2014) movie review

December 8, 2014October 25, 2015Leave a comment

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as the truism states. I’m starting to understand the genius and momentum of the Hunger Games series. Suzanne Collins’s art does imitate life in that the reign of the Capital and it’s king mimics most historically dogmatic despotic dictatorships. “Moves and counter moves.” I’ve been told that her stroke of brilliance in the books was her use of first person narrative. Every reader’s point of view is through the eyes of Katniss making each reader the hero or heroine of the story. She is the symbol as Mockingjay, but is she savior or pawn? Well titled, well layered, well played. James Newton Howard’s score in this sets the tone, pacing it out to steady build and crescendo. Effie’s delightfully upbeat ignorance mirrors Haymitch’s comical cynicism – both necessary relief in a film about a holocaust which leads to civil war. Once again, these are not lightweight kid flicks. Children should not see them. No one should feel comfortable in theater seats as witness to mind control and murder. The scenes with Peeta are shocking and heartbreaking.This film is a mere echo of true historical events. Life, and art’s echo. No character demonstrates this more beautifully than Plutarch, played by Philip Seymor Hoffman, who has posthumously released a succession of brilliant performances. His premature death reeks of tragedy. Hoffman’s talent was a gift. He is uniquely comfortable on screen. Immersed in his broken characters, he always stole the stage, so to speak. The people he brought to life in his performances were so often weighed down by choice, response, and duty. Yet, watching his characters, you feel he has dice in his hand. At any moment he could throw and redirect course. He is flawed, unsafe, and somehow paradoxically both calculated and flippant. And Katniss, (and subsequently the audience) is caught in the balance of his imbalance. In Mockingjay, he plays cupbearer, navigator, first mate to the President of the future Panem, Julianne Moore. Is she untrustworthy? Perhaps. Unstoppable? No doubt. The stage is finally set. The first two arenas were literally child’s play. The Capital is the true arena, and the real game is afoot.

POMPEII (2014) movie review

November 3, 2014October 25, 20151 Comment

My ritual theater attendance has been hindered by life events and lack of interesting plots of late, so I offer a shredding of a recent rental: Pompeii.

If the sci-fi network and the movie Gladiator had a love child it would be Pompeii 2014. It is the exact story set in a new location. Perhaps plagiarism is excused when hot people reenact epic film moments. Not really.

This film stars many models who try to act and Kiefer Sutherland as …well Jack Bauer dressed like Julius Caesar. You’ll also recognize Moriarty from the RDJ Sherlock 2 & Mr. Eko from the show Lost. Some have British accents, and many have 8-pack ab muscles...if these abs could speak.

Tons of killing…but no blood. Well, okay a little blood. The city of Pompeii burns at the height of its power and glory. And they never saw it coming…despite the ash falling from the sky and constant earthquakes throughout. Also, despite the lava flow. The giant volcano erupted …out of nowhere, destroyed everything …literally everything.

If there is nothing left to watch. If it’s this or Sharknado 3. It’s still a tough call.

THE GIVER (2014) movie review

October 2, 2014October 25, 2015Leave a comment

It is usually considered better to give than to receive. In this 2014 film, the man known as the Giver must bestow on his new Receiver the entirety of humanity’s hurt, fear, and sorrow as well as its love, joy, and peace. An emotionless society, set apart (but never really explained), lives in safety, secure from all issues brought on by squeamish emotions or daily discomforts. Climate controlled, policed, and vaccinated from human emotion, this society employs the keeper of memory, Jeff Bridges, to provide the wisdom of the ages when necessary. He is the only one capable of empathy, also the only one who lies. He is the one who can see through the thin veneer of the “perfect” society, run by evil silver-fringed Meryl Streep who organizes the ceremony of selection which allows for each member of the community to be selected for his or her . Of course, when the memory is passed on and the younger, hotter Giver knows the truth and is brave enough to follow his convictions, he seeks to end the cycle of servitude and drone work by dispersing the kept memories of the ages to the whole community.

The sheer innocence of these characters makes world peace seem possible and the film feel implausible. Disappointing. Jeff Bridges, illustrious talent, co-produced this film. Perhaps this is why the film feels overly emotional and forced…he was too close close to it. Bridges wanted this film to be made. It meant something to him. He is the Giver, the mentor, the bleeding heart, the true hero.

Accepting this film as a faithful adaptation would require more than “precision of language.” The Lois Lowry novel, written post “1984,” the novel, but pre-Hunger Games and Diversion is the original Gattica. The book is beautiful, subtle, disturbing, intense, mysterious. Jonas is 13. He is gifted. His “stirrings” are only ever hinted at and not the essence of a budding romance but of puberty. There is no boundary. The memories, once given, cannot be retrieved, so the Giver shares once then loses them. Jonas becomes a Giver as he transfers memory to the child. The ending is illusive, questionable, fearful, precious, unresolved. The book is a Jackson “Lottery”-esque thinker left open-ended allowing the reader to imagine a hopeful ending despite the very few vague hints at hope.

Despite my disappointments at the simple-fixes of the film, I still liked it. I liked the characters, the transfer from black & white to color, the stories created, the happy ending. I liked that. It was too easy to fix the whole world. The transition to color was brief. The long slide down the banister was a hard to connect with moment, obviously meant to make more impact. Jonas has innocence and power. Idealistic. Taylor Swift’s overacted cameo makes her portray, well, a dramatic musician. Stretch.

EDGE OF TOMORROW (2014) movie review

June 30, 2014October 25, 20152 Comments

Groundhog Day gets an action makeover with Tom Cruise. It’s about time a sci-fi alien-fighting action film got its epic day in eternity. This film is pure action, but paced well. It’s never Cruise ad nauseam.

Emily Blunt, no longer the frail secretary from Devil Wears Prada (2006), has turned in her stilettos for a pair of army boots and a hard to maneuver 100 lb metal weapons suit. The suit is much smaller than those circa Avatar (2009) and Matrix 3 (2003), but a little more throwback to Sigourney Weaver’s in Aliens (1986).

Tom gives his character the necessary arc beginning as the cowardly recruiter with no field experience and ending as…well as Tom Cruise. Audiences will love the mirror throwback moments ala Top Gun, Cocktail, Jerry Maguire. Less shake it crazy on Oprah’s couch, more show-me-the-money.

Very violent, but not a ton of blood. Though summer has just begun, I will dare to call Edge of Tomorrow the best action film of the summer.

DIVERGENT (2014) movie review

June 23, 2014October 25, 20154 Comments

One of my favorite people from my old clutch and brake days, Ellie, said of this movie’s book starter, “On a scale of Twilight to Harry Potter, it’s a Hunger Games.” – E.R.

Having seen the tween-focused trailer, I went into this film hesitantly with expectations of overplayed high school romance and war game whimsy. To my surprise, the story works, the actors act, the romance is underplayed, and I got sucked in by it all. I should’ve known that I could expect A-games from this cast. Ashley Judd and Kate Winslet don’t really make movies now unless they want to. They’re no slouches. In my opinion, they can wait to play great parts in potentially epic films with heart. Shailene Woodley first impressed the world as the anxty teen with Daddy Issues in The Descendants (2011). She’s not so far from that role in this film, but she starts soft and gains intensity as her character attempts to blend into a group that she was not born into. If actors in these films believe in the story enough, we believe in them. Then, voila’. Audience hooked.

Spielberg set us up with his film Minority Report (2002) to believe that the future is blue. This film caps the blue hue almost to colorlessness. Daunting as battle may be for a girl raised to be empathetic, her blood runs to courageous team Dauntless and therefore daily beatings and senseless seeming violence become routine. Take the hint. This film is too violent for children.

The army sector, though bold, does not allow for the bravery of critical thinking or selflessness. Once again, the post-apocalyptic scenario cannot seem to factor in faith. Why, with all of the Districts laid out by the Capital and the Factions divided by virtues and allegiance can writers never quite add more than the threat of the “human spirit?” Even the poverty laden and less civilized portions of our world nominate or relegate to a higher power either by choice or tradition. The set of “virtues” that each Faction bows to in this fictional fantasy are not enough to maintain allegiance. One group will seek the domination and worship of the rest. It is inevitable.So, a hero must rise up, mustn’t she? She begins as underdog, but fights to fit in and finally to find freedom. That is the essence of story. I see this story paralleled so often in the Bible as David fights Goliath and becomes King, as Daniel faces the lions and gains position in the kingdom, as Joseph is sold into slavery and eventually becomes second to the Pharaoh. I am always challenged when I read the Bible.

I am a Christian. By choice. And, it is not always a popular choice. At the heart of Divergent is the desire we all share: to be known and appreciated for our uniquenesses. Yet, culture too often demands elements of uniformity. The divergent is dangerous to the despotic. When humans are forced to agree and to lose anonymity, choice, diversity, we must recognize the potential for the power-hungry to abuse their power using fear as a weapon. Then, watch for the retaliation of inevitable revolt from those who value individuality. It is, as always, A Tale of Two Cities.

MALEFICENT (2014) movie review

June 20, 2014October 25, 20153 Comments

Maleficent is a fairy tale in the truest form of the word. It is about a fairy, one lone fairy whose heartbreak allows bitterness to rule her until protecting and mothering a young girl teaches her to love again. For, true love does conquer all.

I loved the parallels to the original Disney Sleeping Beauty: the costuming and casting, the bumbling three fairies, the lines from the old film, the power in Jolie’s voice and presence. Elle Fanning, favorite lovely of the fashion duo Rodarte and no longer known as Dakota’s sister, stepped easily into the sweet princess Aurora role.

The film is perhaps a tribute to the selfless love of sarrogate mothers or mothers’ hearts. Perhaps this was the carrot dangled before Jolie who was allowed to have all of her children in the film. Most played cameos, but her little “Viv” got to play tiny Aurora. Either way, it’s an inverted villain story. Maleficent is Disney’s Despicable Me. The villain is not cruel, just misunderstood.

My mother always said, “We all have two dogs inside us. The one that wins is the one we feed the most.”

I’ve been fascinated by the concept of writing the villain lately. A study of the film 3:10 to Yuma (2001) offered much insight. In the director’s commentary, James Mangold discussed the role of the villain as hero in their version of the story. They are equally as cause-driven. They share a path with the hero, but not the identical vehicle. A villain must believe that he or she is doing the righteous right thing for the sake of furthering what they care about. This is Russell Crowe’s role in 3:10 to Yuma. This is Redford’s character in Captain America: Winter Soldier. This is Magneto and Mystique and… Maleficent. The true villain of the film Maleficent appears to be the average Joe who lets greed consume him. The message continues: we all must choose which dog to feed.

Maleficent, too, gives in to the pain and vengeance and turns to the dark side, much like Anakin. But like Elsa in Frozen, her heart melts for the motherless girl in her sphere. She lashes out in helpless throttle allowing her control over nature to envelope and enthrone her. Parallels abound. True wickedness waits to be seen. Speaking of Wicked…perhaps all villainy eventually goes green.

HOBBIT 2: The Desolation of Smaug (2013) movie review

January 11, 2014October 25, 20152 Comments

Peter’s pet project is a bit too precious to him, but who can complain…it’s Peter Jackson.

He makes big movies worth every lingering glance over every centimeter of middle earth.

We may presume that we would have removed those extra elfin arrow shots or that half of the dwarf scowls on the multiple could have been edited out. Jackson has built the mansion of the Hobbit trilogy, and despite it’s penchant to extended editioning, this second in the series is lovely indeed and feels more accessible than the first with the additions of human and elf characters in new locations like Laketown.

Hobbit 2 swings out from systematic book adaptation and includes information from other Tolkien books like The Silmarilian, and it adds a new character: Tauriel. This female elf heroine, a Jackson original, raises the standards as Kate from Lost glistens and fights and alights from tree to boulder with ease wielding weapons and sassing her companions. She asks pivotal questions of Legolas that will direct his future course and lead him, no doubt, on his road toward war between Middle Earth and Mordor.But nothing trumps the dragon. Bets are off. Dinosaurs no longer frighten. Monsters look like house pets in the fiendish glow of the heated snarky Smaug the magnificent and terrible.

THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE (2013) movie review

December 16, 2013October 25, 20152 Comments

So far, both fans of the first film and book fan purists that I have spoken to agree in favor of Catching Fire.

No spoilers here. You’ll have to see it for yourself. Avoid bringing kids. The violence is overwhelming and the storyline intense.

Finally heroism is about sacrifice. Finally mercy trumps judgement.
Finally a film allows its heroes to fight for a cause bigger than personal survival.

The build up intensifies to climax AND payoff.

Jennifer Lawrence inhabits our Katniss as bow dragging, ugly crying, Liam kissing arena queen.

Welcome new characters. Fall hard for the old. Find yourself trying to choose between team Peeta or Gale. Enjoy the fancy friend to popular book-to-film adaptations, Jena Malone.

For a while, it seems that film writers hit a dry spell and the best writing went to television. If films keep this up, there just might be a revolution, a new dawn for good films with solid characters in the writing. I like it.

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