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.

Celeste and Jesse Forever

        ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever’ is a small film that I thoroughly enjoyed.  It deals with modern marriage in probably the most mature way that I have seen in recent memory.  It’s a contradiction as the characters are humorous, yet the film has a bittersweet sadness to it.  Celeste (Rachida Jones [daughter of Quincy Jones, but an up and coming artist in her own right]) and Jesse (an uncharacteristic dramatic role for Andy Samberg) are two high school sweethearts who have known each other their whole lives.  They married young and have grown apart.  Celeste wants a baby and doesn’t think Jesse is grown up enough to be a father. Now at the age of 30 they decide divorce is the best way to go, yet they are determined to keep their friendship.  It’s not as easy as they thought it would be as they are so ingrained in their lifestyle that nothing really changes with their separation.  

Each encourages the other to go out and find someone else, but nothing compares with the fun they have together.  Each is frustrated with the other, but at the same time you can sense their affection.  Celeste is having moderate success in her career, but is frustrated by Jesse’s slacker ways.  She wants someone whom she considers will grow with her.   Jesse doesn’t really want to move on, but knows he isn’t making Celeste happy.  For 6 months, he has been living in the studio garage behind the house and the dynamic with each other never changes.  They give each other a peck every night before they go their separate ways and say ‘I love you’ as if the separation never happened.

Celeste goes out on numerous dates at the encouragement of her gay best friend Scott (a subtle yet hilarious performance by Elijah Wood).  Each date is more disastrous than the last and at the end of each she returns to Jesse for support.  It’s a nice arrangement for Celeste and interesting to see how the man that causes her so much frustration is the man she finds the most comforting.

  Celeste likes this as she feels in control, but Jesse surprises her that he has met someone new.  Celeste has confused feelings as she always thought she would be the one to move on first.  She’s not sure whether it’s her ego, or jealously, or just insecurity about the one constant in her life seeming to slip away.  Jesse is confused as well as he still loves Celeste, but cannot deny his new feelings for a Belgian woman named Shira (interestingly enough Shira Lazar playing herself).  In a typical romantic comedy, Shira would be the villain and all sorts of caddy situations would follow that would reveal how evil Shira would be and the original two love birds would realize they were meant for each other.  Not the case here.  Shira is beautiful, sweet, elegant, and impossible to hate.  

Rashida Jones is known for her comedic acting (The Office, Parks and Recreation), but as she knows she is losing Jesse, the wide array of emotions she is able to portray with just facial expressions is amazing to watch.  She has a talent that I would compare to Steve Carrell where she can portray humor and pain simultaneously with her expressions.  I’m glad to see her making a name for herself on her own merits.  In fact, she co-wrote this film, so she is not just some vacant actor.  She has ability and depth.  I can’t wait to see what else she can do.  Andy Samberg also shows he is more than just a sketch comic on Saturday Night Live.  While I wasn’t as impressed with his performance as I was with Rashida’s, it was definitely respectable and it shows he will have options going forward in his movie career.

I’ve read a lot of reviews that compares this to ‘When Harry Met Sally’ as they both question whether men and woman can truly be friends.  I didn’t find this to be true, as ‘When Harry Met Sally’ struck me as a fairy tale of what women wanted to happen (a friendship turning into a romance).  This film struck me as closer to the reality with no neat and happy bowtie at the end of the story.  It was a mature and interesting examination of the complexities of relationships.  It was a small film, but that made me enjoy it all the more.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3405489433/

I give this film *** 1/2 stars

The Expendables 2

The Expendables 2 reunites Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, and all the aging action stars of bygone decades and provides everything you would expect and less.  It is a generic paint-by-the-number plot, featuring wooden characters taking on a one dimensional bad guy who is attempting commit the standard global crisis crime.  Throw in a generic female eye candy martial artist for no good reason and you have the most typical action movie ever made. The only thing that keeps this film from being completely embarrassing is the fun at seeing all these aged action stars assembled in one place and the heavy doses of self deprecating humor and nods to the audience of their past glories.

        This time around they seem to have gathered more of the relics from the 80's and 90's.  Most notably being Jean Claude Van Damm and Chuck Norris.  In fact, the only one I thought was missing was Steven Segal.  Sylvester Stallone returns as world weary mercenary Barney Ross (did anyone even remember his name from the first movie?).  The mysterious government agent Mr Church (Bruce Willis) calls in a debt and demands that Ross and his team help recover something or other to prevent nuclear annihilation.   For some reason, Church demands that a woman named Maggie (played by an ordinary Nan Yu) accompany them as, apparently, she is the only one who is qualified to break into a safe.  The young blood of the group named Billy the Kid (Liam Hemsworth) meets an untimely death by the hands of the generically villainous Vilain (yes, Jean Claude Van Damm plays a villain named Vilain).  This sets up the film to be, as all great action flick plots are, Personal.

The body counts are massive as the team massacres soldiers with seeming impunity.  None of the good guys ever get a scratch even though countless  minions continuously fire automatic weapons at them.  Stallone and team never seem to miss though. In these types of movies, that’s how you tell who the good guys are:  They never miss where as the bad guys can’t hit the side of a building if they are standing next to it.  Each scene is an excuse for mass carnage that somehow gets them closer to Vilain.  However, their real goal is revenge and saving the world is just a nice addition.

The plot throws in saving some villagers to make it seem more noble, but these guys still kill rather indiscriminately to accomplish their goal.  Chuck Norris makes a glorious entrance where the cheesiness of his entrance makes it all the more glorious.  They make not so subtle references to his Lone Wolf McQuade character (my favorite Chuck Norris movie btw) and Chuck once again proves he can’t act.  It’s hard to believe he’s 71 in real life and still kicking major bad guy butt in film.  His massive (yet groomed) beard hiding the effects of time.  Although all of them are showing their age, I thought Schwarzenegger is looking the worse for wear.  A Governorship and marital scandal can do that to a man.

The film culminates with all of the characters coming together in one big shoot-out (amazing as the whole movie was one big shoot-out).  The one liners and sly quips coming out as rapid as the gun fire.  Of course it all culminates in the Stallone-Van Damm show down.  I’ll let you guess who wins.

This is an awful awful film that was absolutely fun to watch, just by the nature of the concept.  No apologies made and no pretensions that it was anything other than what it was.  A celebration of past glories all assembled together in one place.

I rate this film ** stars (I’m being generous too)