Man with the Iron Fists

        There are a certain group of directors. whose love of 70’s karate and grind house B movies, have spilled over into their film making.  In some cases, they base their entire film making style in paying homage to these films that they loved so much in their youth.  Quentin Tarantino, the most notable in this fraternity (who once famously wanted to release rats during a premiere to recreate the feel of a grind house movie theatre), describes them as a group of ‘unique individuals’.  Others, such as Robert Rodriguez and Eli Roth, have achieved their own levels of success by somehow elevating this horrible movie style beyond just nostalgic reproductions to a true art form.  Making his directoral debut and anointed by this exclusive club, is RZA.  I really admire RZA as an artist.  He is the front man for the hip hop group The Wu Tang Clan.  He came from an impoverished inner city background to become one of the foremost hip hop producers of the 90’s.  In a hip hop world that glamorizes shallowness and image, RZA’s work is reflective and spiritual.  He is a thinker and writer who dabbles in Buddhism.  He has sought to expand his art beyond hip hop and ‘The Man with the Iron Fists’ marks his first foray into Hollywood.

For all the respect I have for RZA, I will say that, where his peers have transcended the B-movie format, he embraces it.  This film is a flashback to my early childhood of watching dubbed kung fu flicks on the late night TV movie shows or on the network Sunday matinees.  The acting is poor, the plot  basic, and the special effects and wardrobe are cheesy at best.  In this world, knowledge of different exotic types of kung fu is what is necessary to win battles.  Chop house films were like the Asian version of American superheroes and I loved them despite their poor quality.

The plot involves the pursuit of a caravan of gold by rival Chinese gangs and an English adventurer (a paunchy Russell Crowe) in feudal China.  A treasure chest of gold escorted by the imperial guard settles in a small town for a night of rest. The local blacksmith (RZA) is in high demand as the interested parties need weapons to prepare for the upcoming violence in order to capture the gold.  The side story of how an african-american ends up being a blacksmith in feudal China was improbable, but so was the plot of this movie.  Throw in a brothel run by the beautiful Madame Blossom (Lucy Liu) because you had to find some way to have sex in the midst of all this violence and you have all you need to know about this movie.

You can appreciate RZA’s love of this genre.  The film does not try to be anything that it’s not.  It’s a retro throw back and you can tell that as a boy RZA probably wanted to be in a kung fu film.  Given this low bar of quality, i will still say that I had things about the film that could have been better given it’s limitations.  The movie couldn’t decide what it was about.  I think if it would have focused on RZA as the blacksmith and how he became the ‘Man with the Iron Fists’, it would have been much more coherent.  Separate plot lines seemed to take the story in different ways.  Russell Crowe, as the English adventurer Jack Knife. was one of the film’s high points despite the distraction of his girth.  He brought a level of class to this cheese fest, but even his story was underdeveloped and confusing when it occasionally came to the forefront.

. This movie was bad, but in many ways it was meant to be bad.  I enjoyed it the same way I enjoyed those movies as a kid, so in that regard; mission accomplished.  Even the film credits were done in the 70’s fashion which caused pleasant nostalgia.  I enjoy seeing artists like RZA extend themselves beyond their comfort zones and take a risk in their expressions.  In the parlance of the film: “His Tiger style kung fu is strong”.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3669665049/

I give this film * star (but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it)

Argo

       As the years go by, I gain more and more respect for Ben Affleck.  Initially, I thought he and Matt Damon got lucky with ‘Good Will Hunting’ (the film that launched their careers), but as time passes, I realize that many times people make their own luck.  Affleck has proven himself a good actor and, now as he transitions into the director role, he has proven himself a more than a capable director (‘Gone Baby Gone’ and ‘The Town’).  In ‘Argo’ he takes on both the lead acting and directing roles and produces a thoroughly riveting human story based on the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979.

Suspenseful docudramas are tricky for a variety of reasons. For one thing, for anyone alive at the time or knows history, we know the resolution.  Suspense is strongest when one doesn’t know the outcome.  Also, it’s difficult to tell a political story without the prism of your political beliefs seeping through.  I feel Affleck succeeded in traversing both obstacles.  His ability to create suspense and tension so thick that you could cut it with a knife was impressive. In regards to politics, Affleck is a well-known Hollywood activist, but he managed to stay fairly objective with only a few moments of his personal bias showing through.  It was a well crafted and informative tale about a CIA mission to secretly rescue hostages that has since been declassified.

The Iranian hostage crises was not the first major news event I remember, but it was the first one I remember following with interest.  Night after night, the saga of American citizens being held hostage in a foreign land captured the attention of our nation like nothing else I had remembered before.  It spawned entire news shows (Nightline started because of the crisis) and it ultimately was one of the major factors of Carter’s defeat in the Presidential elections.  It was a different time that had a different national mood and Affleck did a superb job at capturing the feeling of the era.  The country was demoralized after the Watergate scandal, rocked with a gas crisis and a floundering economy, and for the first time America began to have a sense of feeling they were declining as a world economic and political power.

The story of six hostages who escaped the siege was one I vaguely remember.  At the time, credit was given to the Canadians, and while they were definitely a huge factor, it was a CIA operation hatched by one agent that ultimately was the blueprint that rescued them.  Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) was tasked with coming up with a way to rescue the hostages as their time was running out.  The hostages had taken refuge at the Canadian embassy and the Canadians were getting ready to recall their ambassador.  The hostages were about to be stranded and at the mercy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Out of a sea of bad idea’s, Agent Mendez’s plan to go in as a Canadian film crew and incorporate the hostages as part of his film crew seemed to be the least ridiculous (not that it didn’t sound ridiculous).  This was a plan that had to be completely plausible and able to hold up to scrutiny, so Agent Mendez went to Hollywood to find a movie to start up that would be printed in all of the industry publications.  Alan Arkin and John Goodman play Hollywood insiders who sign on with Affleck to help him with his plan.  Half the fun of this movie was seeing the process of how a movie gets backing in Hollywood (even if it’s an imaginary one).  After leafing through endless scripts, the team settles on a Sci-fi movie called ‘Argo’.  Their logic was that Iran offers exotic cityscapes that would be plausible for a movie company seeking it out for a film.  Hopefully, the Iranian government would accept this logic as well.

As I stated earlier, we all know the outcome, but Affleck did a great job in illustrating the emotional trials of six people who know they may be discovered and hanged at any moment.  The dynamics of the group interaction was the heart of the film and we lived their fears and pressures right along with them.  It also painted a picture of another part of the world very different than our own.  A modern world, yet one where people are still hanged in public for political beliefs.  A world where rule of mob is stronger than rule of law.  It’s a sobering reminder of the liberties we enjoy even while we sometimes complain about the lack of them.

This is a good piece of docu-history.  It takes those of us who remember back in time to see a story that was not commonly known and it would be a good education for those too young to remember  exactly what the nation went through.  Affleck is evolving as a director and I would be surprised if this isn’t nominated at Academy time.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1537319449/

I give this film *** 1/2 stars 

Cloud Atlas

       Cloud Atlas is a film that defies adequate description.  I can’t say whether one will like or dislike it as it is beyond the goal of approval.  Without trying to sound overly dramatic, it is one of the most incredible epic spectacles I have ever seen.  That being said, I’m not even sure if I will ever see it again. It’s not a film that requires a second viewing as I think one will become more lost as they try to figure it out further.  I’m not even sure if my review will do it justice, because it is like nothing I have ever seen produced.  I now view the Wachowski brothers (well brother and sister) and Tom Tykwer, who all directed this film, as true artists and genius visionaries.  

If you read the various audience reviews, you see a lot of anger.  Confusion breeds frustration.  This is not a film for someone going in expecting a nice understandable linear story.  It is a non-linear 3 hour epic pondering on the nature of karmic existent or in other words; the Meaning of Life.  I say this knowing full well how pretentious that sounds.  This film reminds me of the intellectual version of those 3-D computer generated images where you can’t see the form until you stop trying to see the picture and just let your eyes go.  Once you are able to do that the picture begins to appear, but always seems elusive.  Apply that same concept to one’s attempt to understand this film.  Just let go and enjoy the ride.

If I must condense this film to a description, I will say that it is an examination on how we are all connected and the actions of kindness or menace by an individual will cause ripples that can be felt across generations and impact lives in the past, present, and future.  It is also an exercise in Karma as it shows that we are destined, across lives, to repeat mistakes until we make the choice to learn from them even if we aren’t conscious of the lesson.  The film features 6 intertwined vignettes starting from the 1800’s and going so far into the future that we can barely understand the concepts being discussed.  We witness everything from a dying man on a frigate in the South Seas to a reporter uncovering a story in 1970‘s San Francisco.  We witness a servant clone who yearns for freedom in a japanese anime style version of the future in a place call neo-Seoul.  We view even farther into the future where mankind has reverted back to savagery and speak of things we barely understand.  What they all have in common are people seeking to escape oppression and having their lives profoundly affected by acts of kindness.  Even when we don’t understand the nature of what they are talking about, we understand the universal yearning for freedom and kindness.

Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Jim Sturgess, and Xun Zhou appear as people of different races, ages, nationalities, and even sexes (sometimes they are not even human) as we see them in their different incarnations across time.  The make up special effects are so incredible and the acting is so good that one doesn’t always realize which actor is which.  We see the soul of one man transformed across time from a killer to a man who finds salvation through his choices.  He reaches a symbolic Nirvana as the film progresses.  Others have their own spiritual journeys, both positive and negative, and it is up to the viewer to determine what it means.  I was not always sure what the commonality or connecting thread was, but there were deja-vu moments and connection throughout, whether it’s a reoccurring birthmark or a melody that strikes a chord of recognition.

I think the worst thing a viewer can do is go in and try to figure the film out.  Much like the 3-D images, you will only become more frustrated the harder you concentrate.  Let go and live the film moment to moment.  I was never once bored during the 3 hour marathon. I was riveted as each scene unfolded and just enjoyed the spectacle as it revealed itself.  Go to a coffee house afterward and try to piece the meaning together.  Don’t worry, the film will be mulling in your head for hours if not days afterward.  This is why philosophical art house discussions were made.   You will be able to endlessly quote any philosopher you want as I’m sure something they said will apply to this meditation on the meaning of life.

I’m not going to recommend this movie to anyone as I understand why this would not be many people’s cup of tea.  If you think you can intellectually let yourself go over a course of 3 hours without an obvious path for your mind to travel down, then you may be profoundly affected by this film.  I truly believe you have to see this in a theatre as it is the only way to become lost in the spectacle.  Regardless, it is a magnificent piece of film making.  One that has moved me more than any film in my recent memory.

I give this film ***** stars (the most I’ve ever given).

Seven Psychopaths

      Seven Psychopaths is my kind of film; weird, twisted, and thoroughly entertaining.  Writer and Director Martin McDonagh, who brought us ‘In Bruges’, returns to bring us this quirky film about  psychopaths and... dog kidnapping??

Drunk and perennially writer’s blocked Marty (Colin Farrell) has a life that is going no where.  His career is stalled and his girlfriend is at her wit’s end with him.  His eccentric friend Billy (the always delightful Sam Rockwell) comes up with an idea for a script called ‘Seven Psychopaths’.  Marty likes the idea, but wants to do a different type of psychopath film.  He wants to do a non-violent film about psychopaths.  The brain storming is hilarious as they explore different types of characters from the Buddhist psychopath before finally settling on a Quaker psychopath.  The movie melds back and forth between what is really happening and the stories that Marty is trying to flesh out.

Things are looking up for Marty as his creative fires have been reignited, until Billy’s side job of kidnapping dogs and collecting reward money goes astray.  Billy and his elderly friend Hans (played equally delightful by Christopher Walken) make fairly good money scouring the parks for unattended dogs and kidnapping them.  They collect reward money from the grateful owners and judging by the amount of dogs in their warehouse kennel, they make more than a fair amount.  As bad luck would have it (or is it bad luck), they kidnap the dog of a deranged mobster named Charlie (Woody Harrelson).  

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Billy as placed an advert in the paper asking for psychopaths to show up at their apartment and tell their stories in order to inspire Marty.  Seemed like a good idea at the time.  Collin Farrell is known for comedy, but his reactions to Billy’s antics are priceless and I’ve gained new respect for his ability to stretch himself as an actor.  The film is rated R graphic, but I wouldn’t necessarily consider it violent.  It has a goofiness to it in the midst of some dark and somber story telling.  It’s an odd mix.  Part of the joy of this movie is trying to realize what is actually happening and what is part of the script that Marty is try to flesh out.

The movie is a mish mash of plot lines that constantly interconnect, but never trip over themselves.  Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, and Woody Harrelson almost play their roles to parody level, but not quite.  There is enough weight to their quirkiness where the audience is laughing, albeit uncomfortably at times.  It was also engaging how the film treated itself as a storyline as well.  It often telegraphed what was going to happen through Marty’s screenwriting.  It’s something you have to see on screen to understand as I am challenged to describe exactly how they did it.

This is a fun small film.  You have to like quirky independent films, but if you liked ‘In Bruges’ then this is right up your alley.  Great job to Martin McDonagh on another one of his films that I thoroughly enjoyed.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1273668633/

I give this film *** 1/2 stars

Looper

       Looper is a solid and intense science fiction film with equal parts action and mind bending plot; just the way a good science fiction film should be.  In the year 2074, because of technology, it is extremely difficult for the mob to get away with killing people.  The solution is to send a mark 30 years into the past where a hit man is waiting.  Clean and efficient with no traceable evidence.  Of course the mob hates loose ends, so they ‘close the loop’ by eventually sending the hit man back in time where their earlier selves kill them.  Since the marks are hooded, the hit men never know it’s their future selves they are killing until they see the big gold payout attached to the body.  The hit men know that their services are no longer required and they will have 30 years to enjoy their wealth until the mob sends them back to be murdered by themselves.  Sounds complicated?  It is.

We are introduced to Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who lives a fairly successful life of a mob hitman.  He is professional and dispassionate in his killing assignments and at night he lives a life of fast cars, night clubs, and drug addiction.  All is going as well as expected until one of his marks arrives from the future without a hood.  Joe recognizes the mark as his older self.  Old Joe (Bruce Willis) uses young Joe’s hesitation to escape.     Fearing time paradoxes and mob retribution, Joe scrambles to find his older self in order to kill him.  I’ve probably lost most of the readers at this point, but for sci-fi lovers, this is as cool as it gets.

Abe (a haggard Jeff Daniels) is the mob boss during young Joe’s time, who has been sent from the future to oversee the Looper program.  He considers his assignment to be slumming it in the past.  Once he realizes the entire program is in jeopardy by the escape of old Joe, he turns the pressure on young Joe in heavy mob fashion.  Everyone is out to get old Joe including young Joe.  The stakes have been raised as the amount of ‘closing the loop’ hits have dramatically increased due to someone in the future named ‘The Rainmaker’. This mysterious figure singlehandedly is wiping out the entire  Looper program.

Through a series of accelerated flashbacks (or are they flashforwards), we see the arc of Joe’s life that leads to the point where he is sent unhooded into the past to face his younger self.  We see that he has been redeemed by the love of woman (Quing Xu) and has transformed from a drug addicted mafia thug to a purposeful man who wishes to preserve the life he has made for himself.  Of course this brings a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘your past catching up with you’ as he struggles to find a way out of his inevitable death by his own hand.
For two men who don’t look that much alike Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon Levitt are made up to be plausibly the same person at two different stages of their life.  We sympathize with Old Joe as he appears to be a man redeemed, but when Old Joe starts to systematically track down children born on a certain date and kill them, we start to wonder who is the good guy and who is the bad guy.  The young Joe who we revile is suddenly  thrust into the role of protecting these kids for reasons even he doesn’t fully understand.  

Young Joe eventually finds the pattern of Old Joe’s killing spree and locates the final intended victim on a farm.  Suffering from injuries and drug withdraw, a young Joe is confronted with obvious suspicion from a woman named Sara who owns the farm (an enchanting Emily Blunt trying her best to channel an American redneck accent.  I won’t say she failed as I definitely bought her being American, but there was something slightly off with the accent).  Sara is fiercely protective of her young son, who Joe is convinced his older self is coming to kill.  As Joe grows closer to the boy, he realizes the true scope of who and what the boy is and the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together.

Time travel movies are inherently flawed as changes in the past will affect the future in ways that we are not able to comprehend (aka The Butterfly Effect or Chaos Theory or whatever you want to call it).  This film tackles these complexities as well or better than any film I have seen.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt solidifies himself in my estimation of  being one of the best actors of the new generation of actors coming forward. Not only does he capture a mob persona realistically, but he is able to mimic Bruce Willis, a man he looks nothing alike, well enough to suspend our disbelief. If he is not A-list yet he soon will be.

This is just a good science fiction movie through and through.  It probably won’t win any awards, but Sci-fi geeks will have a great time and spend days trying to unravel paradoxical events with their other geek friends at the next Star trek convention.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi481994009/

I give this film *** 1/2 stars (really enjoyed it)

End of Watch

End of Watch is arguably one of the best cop buddy movies I have ever seen.  A raw, gritty, and emotionally charged ride along with two patrol cops in one of the roughest precincts in Los Angeles.  The film is more about the bond between the two officers than the action that surrounds them.  It is simultaneously intense and touching and impossible not to walk away from this film emotionally drained.

The style of this film is interesting as it is shot all through hand held cam corders and dash board cams.  An interesting (and inexpensive) movie effect started by “The Blair Witch Project’ and one I thought lost after the annoying and vertigo inducing ‘Cloverfield’.  In this film it works surprising well, giving an air of real time urgency.  The story follows the lives of hot shot patrolmen Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Zavala (Michael Peña) who are living a life of young gun glory in the mean streets of Los Angeles.  Their modest fame takes a sinister turn when, after a routine traffic stop, they run afoul of a Mexican drug lord who puts a contract out on their heads.

Again, the plot is definitely riveting and intense, but the true draw of this movie is the relationship of the two cops.  Some of the most meaningful dialogue is shot through the patrol cruisers dashboard cams (facing inward) and much of the conversation is bickering.  Despite all the fighting and insults, you can sense the deep fraternal love they have for each other and you know each would die for the other.  It takes skilled actors to strike the right balance and both of Gyllenhaal and Peña deliver.  I have been a fan of Peña since the dark comedy ‘Observe and Report’.  It’s nice to see him starting to get top billing and showing that he can do a variety of roles.  I predict he will be a major player in the future.

A shorn Gyllenhaal plays the tough cop Taylor convincingly (much to my surprise).  He and Zavala’s friendship transcend their diverse racial backgrounds.  Their cultural differences are a source of friction and amusement and provides some of the film’s best dialogue.  There is nothing more uniting than when we can enjoy and laugh at our differences instead of trying to ignore them in a politically correct world.  The two friends are unfiltered in their mocking of each other and constantly try to one up each other to the point of friction, but just as quickly as the irritation builds it burst with fits of laughter when one or the other realizes he has been bested.

However; don’t expect a light hearted cop buddy movie like ‘Lethal Weapon’.  The scenes of violence are intense and terrifying (given gritty realism and horror by the filming technique).  We get insight into the lives of gang members who are  directed by the drug lord with killing the two hero cops and instead of humanizing them, it leaves us feeling dirty with the evil in which they live their lives.  It’s also interesting to see how different law enforcement agencies operate in silos and they don’t always know what the other is doing.  Federal authorities are portrayed as mysterious and enigmatic.  The relationship dynamics with other policemen are the same as you would find in any work place environment.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1050649881/

Overall, I highly recommend this film.  It’s an intense an powerful movie that works more due to the relationship between the two buddies than as an action film.  Well done and performances to be proud of.

I give this film *** 1/2 stars.

Dredd

        Dredd is a movie,  when I saw the trailers, I thought there is no way this could be good.  Dredd was a cult comic book series here in the States based on the British book of the same name and in the publication 2000 A.D.  John Wagner and Brian Bolland’s dark vision of a future world, where most of the Earth is an irradiated wasteland and the remaining inhabitants live in a sprawling megalopolis called Mega City 1, was a great piece of graphic science fiction as well as a great action series from my childhood.  In the future, the police have the authority to act as judge, jury, and executioners.  These elite law enforcement officers are trained from birth and the best of the best is Judge Dredd.  His form of lone cowboy justice appealed to testosterone raging adolescents everywhere.  

Sylvester Stallone tried to make a film version in the late 90’s and it was a catastrophe.  Mostly because Stallone’s ego would not allow his face to remain hidden behind the famed  helmet.  Part of Judge Dredd’s mystique was that you never saw his face.  Stallone also tried to soften Dredd’s edge as the whole concept of Judge Dredd is that he is part of an uncomfortably fascist police state where he is the hero.  The comic book made no apologies for what it was and the sheer visceral entertainment of the stories was enough to overcome any philosophical objections readers would have.

So when I saw that Dredd had returned with little fanfare and an off peak season release spot (in the dreaded 3-D no less), I feared the worse, but my inner comic book geek made me go see it.  I have to say I was pleasantly surprised.  Dredd captures the essence of the book in all of its’ rated-R ultra violent glory.  In addition, Director Pete Travis takes some daring artistic leaps in visual effects that is only enhanced by 3-D.  It gives me hope that 3-D will evolve into it’s own art form as opposed to just a crutch to increase the ‘cool’ factor of sub-standard films.  

An unrecognizable Karl Urban takes on the helmet of Dredd and does a fantastic job channeling a Clint Eastwoodesque version of the future super cop.  While one can definitely see some of the low budget shots that could have been enhanced by a bigger budget, it really does not stand in the way of the story.  The future is dark, crowded, and on the verge of chaos.  Judges are the only line between order and total anarchy.

The plot is minimalist, but effective for the nature of a Dredd story.  In a mega apartment slum that holds 80,000 tenants, gangs strive for control.  One mob boss, a former prostitute named Ma-ma (Tamar Burjaq plays the disfigured villain frightening, yet seductive), has risen to power and taken control of the entire block.  Her drug empire is fueled from the profits of a drug called Slo-Mo (a substance that slows down the users perception of time).  Judge Dredd is assigned a rookie Judge named Anderson (perfectly cast Olivia Thirlby) and asked to stop Ma-ma’s plans.  Anderson is deemed too soft to be a Judge, but she has a mutant psychic ability that the government feels would be an asset to the Judge corps.  Dredd is asked to determine if she can hack being a Judge.  A reluctant Judge Dredd accepts the assignment.

Dredd and Anderson stride into the hostile tenement to investigate a gang related triple homicide.   Soon after entering the mega apartment building, Ma-ma seizes control of the building from Mega-city 1 and seals it off from the outside.  Dredd and Anderson are trapped inside and Ma-ma puts a bounty on their heads.  With a building of 80,000 tenants against them, Dredd determines their only chance of survival is to take out Ma-ma.  Let the fun begin.

The film is a heavy R rating  (unusual for a super-hero movie as it limits it’s target audience of adolescents) and it makes no apologies for the ultra violent and graphic gore fest as Dredd and Anderson make their way to the top floor to confront Ma-ma.  Tamar Burjaq’s interpretation of Ma-ma is spot on.  Even with her face scarred and disfigured, she rules her gang with diva like imperialness and shows no mercy to her foes (nor bystanders for that matter).  Despite her alluring femininity, she is hard and ruthless and determined to rule.

As I stated earlier, I admire how Travis kept the flavor of Dredd while adding his own artistic flare.  The sequences are highly stylized and original.  In many cases beautiful to watch despite the violence being depicted.  Full use of 3-D was utilized and I found myself mesmerized many times by the artistic canvas used.  The pacing of the movie reminded me of John Carpenter’s ‘Escape From New York’, which I’m sure many liberties were taken, but Travis’s vision was all his own in this more than respectable version of the great British series.

I would be interested to hear from my British friends who remember the series from their childhood if Travis captured the essence of Judge Dredd.  I feel unqualified being a Yank.  Regardless, even if they don’t feel it does Dredd justice, I feel the film stands on it’s own and can be enjoyed by an audience who knows nothing of the character.

I give this film *** stars for style and daring.