hoobits Reviews

The International (I) (2009)

Pretty to look at / Bland taste

[7/10 · 12 February 2009]

Tom Tykwer is one of my favorite filmmakers... I know I am in a small camp of people who declare this. Having said that, The International, an exposition heavy conspiracy thriller, is Tykwer's weakest film since 1997's Wintersleepers; it is his least personal and ethereal undertaking yet, not the sum of it's parts, but even so it is still an arguably better film than most wide releases on the American Market right now.

Starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts as well... workaholics who happen to be a Interpol agent and DA who want to take down a naughty, naughty bank, Tykwer has assembled his usual crew and post collaborators; cinematographer Frank Griebe, production designer Uli Hanisch and editor Hanne Bannefoy. This is a team that has worked together for years and they all have moments to shine under TT's competent direction. Location work is superb, the film globe trots from Berlin to Milan, NYC to Istanbul. Griebe knows how to shoot bustling cityscapes, seaside vistas and temples, with an almost heavenly eye, while Bonnefoy helps string the image along with an undercurrent of paranoia, leading to a few wonderfully tense moments that do hearken back to the thrillers of the 70s. Hanisch manages to make a full scale replica of the Guggenheim for the film's only action set piece. The set is a marvel to behold as is the action, a true sign that if Tykwer were given a better script he could hold his own with contemporaries such as the Scott brothers and Paul Greengrass. He's also got a lick on the run and gun Hong Kong beat of the 80s.

And so, Eric Warrner Singer's script (surprise, surprise) is where the film flounders. There is that old film school saying - "You can't make a great film out of a mediocre script" - that is all too true here, with the themes and concerns of the piece being explained away in such generic expository metaphors as "we're slaves to debt" or "to get justice you have to go outside the system." While Singer certainly seems to get the procedures of international investigation right - at least in principle - he has left himself no time nor room to sculpt breathable dialog and characters you care about or at least find interesting. Outside of a few scenes, Singer can't figure out compelling plotting or pacing, leaving Tykwer and Bonnefoy to shape and tighten as much as they can as the script just begins to untangle from lack of focus and cheap, lazy story choices.

Owen and Watts are good enough actors, as is their director, to carry their wafer thin agent and attorney through to the end, while Armen Mueller-Stahl also delivers his "old world communist soldier under bank control" with some low level melancholic gravitas, but none of it helps push a film that is trying to explore the twisted minutia of global business, illegal dealings and bureaucratic red tape out of a sodding, soulless place. Then again maybe making a film about such tricky gray areas with a clear message other than "you lose" is damn near impossible.

Tykwer has wanted to do a conspiracy thriller along the lines of "The Parallax View" and "Marathon Man" for years, and while "The International" is relevant today with bank collapses, debts and third world conflicts rising, it is ironic how the man who made "Run Lola Run", clearly an inspiration for Doug Liman's first Bourne film, which launched us into the current globe trotting thriller phase, has ended up making a sub par wannabe.

Children of the Damned (1964)

Superior pseudo-sequel

[8/10 · 3 January 2009]

With a dash of German Expressionism, a pinch of Italian Neo-Realism, a streak of BBC docudrama and American anthology series' like Twilight Zone, Children of the Damned is a far superior sequel to Village of the Damned. In fact calling it a sequel is rather silly as it shares little from the original, which is an excellent thing. The title even manages to hold far more significance as the plot thickens and we come to understand the possibilities.

Politically and morally layered, draped in the fears of the cold war, the film sheds its predecessor's country attire and enters the labyrinthine London streets for what is essentially a chase and standoff film. Though somewhat episodic (director Alan Leader primarily directed TV) the film offers some great set pieces and scientific and moral quandaries. The handling of the children as something other than the evil little beings of the first film is a testament to screenwriter John Briley. The sci-fi elements are kept to a bare minimum though are used in far more creative and exciting ways than VotD, which heightens the terror and curiosity until we reach that inevitable question of "why can't we all just get along?" to startlingly effect.

Carnival of Souls (1962)

Pure Cinema

[10/10 · 28 December 2008]

This is not a great film by most means of deduction, but when witnessing something that transcends deduction, the idea of great cinema flies out the window and is replaced with pure cinema. And there is a difference... that critical, logical filter is shattered by a quiet, ethereal something... and you are whisked away into another world. Vast segments of Herk Henry's low budget horror film are just that. Its genuine veracity into realms explored so little by so many filmmakers, is not only admirable but inspiring, haunting; A film that sparks your mind with a flurry of a thousand thoughts, that charges your own creative batteries, and yet simultaneously quiets it into a place devoid of time and the necessity to think or process. While watching this I couldn't help but remember a piece of myself I had never recognized. I say this because essentially CoS is a less abstract, feature version of my own film school thesis. Now had anyone ever talked about this film in class? No. Had I ever heard of it before? Sort of... Once, long ago I recall seeing something of it (the beginning?) on TV, and then being brisked away for some reason or another. Could I have been affected that much as to store a very short but still powerful moment with me well into the next decade of my life? Perhaps it came from that collective ether of nightmare and imagination we all drown in from time to time.

Drawing inspiration from Ingmar Bergman and Jean Cocteau, and perhaps the macabre short fiction of Ray Bradbury, Henry's film is truly something special even in its uneven acting and sometimes cheap production value, there is an immediate care and devotion to it all. The small dedicated crew who crafted this film loved cinema, and dared to dive into its depths. And rarely is that so apparent in film.

Cría Cuervos (1976)

To hate yet desire growing up.

[8/10 · 18 August 2008]

With this and "Spirit of the Beehive", Ana Torrent is the poster child for childhood in cinema. Not as compelling as "...Beehive", but infinitely fascinating in it's own right, "Cria Cuervos" explores a sad and lonely childhood landscape. One of death and oppression, which leaves many deep scars and a little hope. Depending on how much you know about Franco and Spain, you'll see come political undertones, particularly with scenes of oppression within this disintegrating family. I recognized the stuff but I'm not familiar enough with that era to pinpoint who, what why. It seemed fairly general though and beside the point in a lot of ways.

Torrent plays Ana, a middle child. Her mother has recently died of a long drawn out unexplained illness, and now - apparently - under her own hand, for she blames him for her mother's death, her father passes, leaving the girls in the charge of a strict, uppity but well meaning aunt. Ana is obsessed with death, sees it as a way to get rid of people she doesn't want around, and also to help. But as most children of about 8 she does not fully understand the qualities of it.

Through memories and fantasies, the mother played by Geraldine Chaplin - director Carlos Saura's muse - and the father return, acting out the missing pieces of this family. Some of it is a bit melodramatic and tired, and when the movie shifts away from the children - which does not happen often and usually briefly - it is far less engaging.

The film has an ethereal eroticism and sensuality to it. The mother is very flirtatious in the way she asks Ana for kisses. And in particular the dance scene between the sisters holds this disturbing but natural desire to become adults in the way the girls dance together. To hate yet desire growing up.

Tropic Thunder (2008)

So whip smart it is dumb.

[8/10 · 13 August 2008]

A movie so whip smart it is dumb. So good at mocking these excessive Michael Bay, Tony Scott type action flicks that it is one unto itself down to the cinematography, the editing of picture and sound with those "emotional" choirs and slow mo death falls, to blowing the flip out of everything.

Tropic Thunder is one of the better comedies I've seen in a long while and I don't like Ben Stiller much, and here he is writing, directing and starring. And doing a bang up job in two out of those three departments. Performance wise he feels a little off, doesn't fit in with the rest of the gang as well, in terms of "are the actors fitting these kinds of roles, these stereotypes? Are they believable?". Stiller isn't a Stallone action guy, nor a Tom Cruise. In fact I would have preferred Cruise in Stiller's role, though he is very good (I mean evil) in the role he does play.

Still... Stiller is decent and funny as action door knob Tugg Speedman. If it weren't for the way Stiller plays him, which is goofier than everyone else, the film probably would be very misunderstood, and not play as much of as a broad comedy as it can be. But the operative words are "can be" because Tropic Thunder is a focused film in many ways, despite it being loud and all over the place (For that is one of the satirical points it is making). The characters arcs of shedding tired stereotypes for quite possibly just as stereotypical ones is great.

People are talking about Downey Jr. a lot, as he's playing a white dude who is playing a black dude in the movie within the movie. And he is amazing, playing up tired images of black people, pointing at the utter ridiculousness of it all and channeling some Russel Crowe and Daniel Day Lewis to boot. But this is rally an ensemble piece. Everyone plays their part, has their say, and never are they better when all together as a team (hey it's like a lesson they have to learn in the movie!)

Jack Black, Jay Baruchel and Brandon T. Jackson in fact fit their roles perfectly, so effortlessly. Baruchel, basically playing himself (if you know his previous roles) ironically stands out as the young unknown geek actor who is kind of supposed to be in the background. And finally a role has been written for Black that really does something for him. Yes he is the annoying, loud, fat drug addict, not too far fetched for someone like Black, but it works playing to his strengths. Jackson, while not as a standout for his humor, is almost the moral compass of the group, and here is the rapper turned actor who markets an energy drink called Booty Tang. And you gotta love Matthew McConaughy as the agent for "Tuggernuts".

While the film is incredibly successful at mocking everything within Hollywood and thus our culture at large, (and offending many I am sure) there are no real clear standout moments for me. Odd I know, but again the film is so good at being what it is spoofing that it is kind of not funny at times, looking so sleek and being so loud and even "Oscar bait-y", and in a way that is kind of awesome.

WALL·E (2008)

the perfect marriage between art and technology.

[10/10 · 13 August 2008]

An absolute masterpiece. It is that simple. Here's a story about a country boy who falls for a city girl, and follows her back to the city. Oh but they're robots. And it's also about sustainable living. It's Chaplin's City Lights, 2001, Early Disney, Silent Running, anything, everything, something completely new. And that is just it. The people at Pixar love stories so much, love cinema so much, you can see they eat and breath it to no end. Andrew Stanton directs a near countless dedicated, passionate crew of artists and crafts people. Every fiber of their beings went into this, you can see it clear as day up on screen. A film so equally sad, thrilling, joyous as this. It's one of the best love stories ever, one of the best adventure stories ever, one of the best cautionary sci-fi stories ever (you get my drift). Like I said of their Ratatouille last year, WALL * E too is the perfect marriage between art and technology. We talk about symbolism and metaphor in a film, but rarely does it live so effortlessly in the very core of the story and the characters, in every ship design, every robot, apparatus, junk item, action, re-action, no action. Not only did I get teary eyed on an emotional level, but as a storyteller myself, I teared up at the sheer ingenious tapestry the film weaved. Like being there first hand, marveling at the technique, the instinct, the gusto, as Da Vinci painted the last supper or Michaelangelo sculpted David. I know that might sound ridiculous to say, but I don't care. It's no use saying anything more, because I'd have to say everything. I'm just ready to rush out and see it again.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Indy 4 is a product of its era trying to escape back to another one.

[8/10 · 22 May 2008]

I am actually going to write about this film on here! Wow... what a surprise. OK, here we go...

"Raiders" was lightning in a bottle, I don't think anyone really denies that, even if they don't care for the film. It was made at a time when magic was in the air, it was a time of discovery and development in advancing entertainment, finding a formula that worked... and people had fun doing it. There was an innocence and an exuberance to it all.

And so now here we are in 2008 where the blockbuster film has become a bloated, convoluted, soulless or near soulless amusement park exercise with little to care about beyond "in the moment" entertainment. Ironic in my opinion that "Raiders" helped get us here, a film that so gets that entertainment formula right, with sequels, THREE sequels that try to, and both succeed and fail. Seeing another Indy flick is making comparisons to the others, so when it gets down to it this is how it goes:

Indy 4 matches up about the same with Temple of Doom and Last Crusade, when it works, it works like gangbusters, when it doesn't it gets boring or has no sense of peril or flow. Crystal Skull has a stellar opening third setting a firm and fun foot in welcoming us to 50s Indy and stumbles up and down a sometimes sturdy, sometimes shoddy set of stairs after that. My main issue is the script itself, not the story which is a good idea... There is just not as much of a dynamic between its characters. There are moments but they are sparse. Nearly zippo snappy dialog. More flat exposition. Ford, LaBeof, Blanhcett and Allen are all good. They sometimes just don't get that much to play with and end up going on a sort of Raiders/Last Crusdae combo amusement park ride in the third act that throws any idea of a character arc or participation in solving/saving the day/lives out the window, which in turn cuts any sense of peril and that hurts the film. Indy getting dirty, making mistakes then getting it right is what is so much fun about the other films, it happens here too, but more times than not he just kind of plods along. Big action sequences get tedious, loud, just barely holding together, but the smaller, more practical ones work. The one thing that would have helped the film in these regards is to scale it down a bit, Indy films are over the top for sure, but not Loony tunes physiques over the top

A lot of practical effects work still thrives and the CGI is used fairly well until the big numbing finale. Ants are good. Tarzan Shia not so much.

I could go on and on and on... in the end I loved it one moment then I was mixed about it but I never hated it. But really after so many years what would one expect? Yes, they should have made this thing back in the early 90s but Spielberg had to go all "Schindler's List" on us so there ya go...

In the end Indy 4 is a product of its era trying to escape back to another one. It almost succeeds in this but can't quite escape, the numbing, convoluted action/adventure films of the 21st century. Technology changes art and thus audiences as there is a resonance and effect to everything, so what is demanded (whether it is wanted or not) nowadays is certainly a former shadow of what once was. We are too aware to the point of not being. Our senses have been fried and it seems the only way to try and get through is to fry them again and again until one is numb. Where is that spark? That whiz-bang pizazz that'll really get things in motion with soul, flow, peril... Indy 4 reminds us that it is all still out there we just need better screenwriters to help us find it.

The Mist (2007)

Classic Horror in a Post Modern age

[10/10 · 25 November 2007]

Let me take a breath... Never have I had such a visceral physical reaction to a film... ever. Not even with Elem Klimov's Come and See. In the last fifteen minutes I was nearly physically paralyzed, and then started shaking, realizing how numb my body was... and I am dead serious. Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's novella goes heads above a 50s/60s monster movie homage. This is grade "A" chilling, terrifying, unsettling and utterly hopeless cinema in line with the most cynical and depressing classics from the 70s. The Mist itself and the monsters it brings are just the appetizer here. As all good horror should be, this explores the ultimate enemy, ourselves. In short one of the most beautiful, thrilling and terrible times I've had at the movies.

To elaborate, it isn't a pitch perfect film... Some of the CGI at the beginning is weak, and there are a few lines that can't escape the genre, but other than that this is a home run in every department - The performances (especially from Toby Jones and Marcia Gay Harden), the ingenious hand held camera, which is never used as a gimmick. The sound design, the lack of an underscore... This lends to the great atmosphere and tension Darabont builds. I'm sure you can guess by now this isn't schmaltzy, sentimental Darabont here; this is an angry, maniacal man that rears his head and shouts, "Everything is lost!" and then shoots you in the gut. Any fan of Stephen King, The Twilight Zone or Ray Bradbury, will greedily devour this with a great big grin on their face, then feel very sick but so damn happy and then throw up. Best film of the year yet.

The Commissar (1967)

This is cinema

[9/10 · 19 August 2007]

A film on the same echelon as Kilmov's Come And See, Jancsó's The Red and The White, Shepitko's Ascent and the great Russian silents as well as the vanguard 60s cinema. This is one of those films where image and sound form a perfect marriage committing to screen an onslaught of ingenious, uproarious and emotional imagery marred with wonderful sound design and score, all strung together by ingenious editing. This is cinema.

The story is one of a Red Army woman officer during the Russian civil war, who ends up pregnant and is forced to live with a Ukrainian Jewish family, who has been used and abused countless times by the red and the whites. This is a story of humans coming together and setting aside their differences and understanding each other amongst suffering and strife. It is a test of loyalty to one's self, one's family, one's country.

Commissar was banned on its initial completion and writer/director Aleksandr Askoldov was kicked out of the Communist party and not allowed to work in the film business in any form again. It wasn't until 1988 that the ban was lifted and the soundtrack remastered/re-done along with a reconstruction of the picture, which was fairly intact. But not until now has it been wildly available so I really would urge anyone who enjoys Kurosawa, Tarkovsky, Tarr or any of the before mentioned films to seek this one out. The US DVD from Kino is probably their best transfer yet; very pristine and sharp with no a lot of dirt or scratches, although it is from a PAL source so there are some ghosting effects on large movements, making the picture look simultaneously in slow mo and normal frame rate

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)

Best film of the year so far

[10/10 · 30 September 2006]

In May I got to see the first US test screening of the film. I had seen the teaser trailer earlier in the year, and that prompted me read the book, which I enjoyed but was not in love with. I loved the premise and the first and last half of the book was phenomenal but I felt the middle dragged in unnecessary ways.

So it was that I went in to the movie with a little doubt but a lot of excitement. I love Tom Tykwer's body of work and I was hoping fro a true Tykwer film (Moody, intimate, epic, meditative) and I absolutely got it, and then some!

I was swept up in the film! Every move made was breathtaking, exciting, interesting and oozed the essence of what great cinema can be.

This is Ben Whishaw's film through and through. The other three "named" actors don't get enough screen time to warrant anything grand. Whishaw carries this film nearly silently, and like the Grenouille from the books, speaks only when he finds the need to. Now many people have complained about the differences between the Grenouille in the film and the book, saying how the film version is not grotesque enough. That is so, but I find the Whishaw's version to be just as interesting. he is as much a naive little boy as he is a monster. Grenouille in the film wants to be loved pure and simple. He has never known someone to care and look at him just for him, which is a little different than how he is in the book (he sees love as a way to control people to gain power) but this does not detract from the film's exploration of his inner workings.

So my suggestion to anyone planning on seeing the film is to go in with an open mind. It is not the book, word for word, scene by scene, but it does retain the spirit, the essence of the book, and for me is far more rewarding than the book was in the end. But that is more due to my love of Tykwer films. So if you're a fan of his work (Particularly "Princess and the Warrior" and "Heaven") then see "Perfume".

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003–2010)

Turtle Power!

[24 May 2003]

Being a longtime TMNT fan, I was more than psyched for the new show. And let me tell you- It does not dissapoint.

The animation is simple and clean, but at points can give off some really dynamic aspects IE some very cool Jack Kirby style shadowing. The stories are in fact well written and though targeted towards kids, teens and adults should like it too.

The action is well rounded with story and most of the time makes heaps more sense than any other cartoon on the air right now. At times it might be a little too violent for the under 8 crowd, thus making it even more of a grown up cartoon.

The voice acting is well done and far better than most cartoons. Though some of the characters are stuck with some of their old stereotypes from the previous cartoon, it is still a diverse and emotionally deeper voice cast.

So all in all, the new TMNT show is the best cartoon on air now and most likely the best saturday morning cartoon to come along since the original X-men show. This one is a great, all ages, fun action romp.

10:30AM on FOX Saturdays

Spirited Away (2001)

Flawless

[10/10 · 2 April 2003]

My first encounter with the director Hayao Miyazaki was 7 or 8 years back when Anime burst onto the American scene. That first encounter was the horribly butchered version of Miyazaki's "Nausicaa of the valley of wind", re-titled in the states as "Warriors of the wind"

It was not until a few months ago, upon the initial release of Spirited away, did I realize I had seen one of his films (albeit terribly cut)

So this brings you up to date with my new appreciation of Miyazaki and Spirited away. Upon the lack-luster release that Disney did in fall 2002, I was unable to see the film before it disappeared from my local market (I came so extremely close several times)

So thank god for the Academy awards!

Because of it's win at the Oscars for best animated feature I was able to finally take witness to this oddity of a film. And I use the word in the best sense. The very best, indeed. To an American audience it most likely feels very strange, but incredibly familiar at the same moment. It is routed in the deepest and oldest places of, not just Japanese mythology, but all old world stories.

This is where we find the very human story of Chihiro, a ten year old girl in the midst of a move to a new home. For almost any kid, it is a real bummer. Old friends gone, new and scary things ahead. And this is in the most literal and metaphoric sense of the word. The world that Chihiro ends up traveling to is a full of spirits, witches, and other silly creatures, feels like any old fashion fairy tale. But amidst the magic there are strong messages of self-discovery, friendship, love, greed and acceptance among other things. The film runs deep and should require at least one repeat viewing for every one who sees it. As was the case with me, the film grows on you.

The animation is quite possibly the best in years coming from any country. It looks very different from your run of the mill Japanese Anime. The thoughts that had gone into all this detail is amazing and it is quite breathtaking.

Thus it is a film that will stand up to the test of time with an ardent air about it. Defiant, magical, interesting, dramatic, funny and flawless...

Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001)

So bad it's good!

[1/10 · 19 February 2002]

The above title says it all. Brotherhood of the wolf is so ridiculous that it is actually fun to watch. I payed good money for a bad film and I am not disapointed. There is probably not one thing in this movie that makes sense. If you want a good laugh then see this movie!