Month: May 2010

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Alfred Molina and Ben Kingsley
Directed by Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action
Appropriate for ages 10+

    Based on the best-selling video game, Prince follows the story of a young boy from the streets of Persia who is adopted by the king.  Years later, and upon sacking the Holy City of Alamut, the young prince discovers a dagger with the power to reverse time.  During the course of the movie he must keep the dagger away from those that would attempt to do evil with it.

    Ever since the mad success of Pirates of the Caribbean, Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer have been looking for a way to recapture that money-making magic with a new franchise and Prince of Persia seemed like the perfect vehicle.  After all, the game was hugely successful and as long as they got a big star in the title role and spent a ton on special effects, the results should be pure gold. 

    As far as the basic elements for success, they are all there.  Jake Gyllenhaal makes for a great lead due to his obvious good looks and charisma.  Ben Kingsley can always play the perfect villain and this film is no different.  Gemma Arterton is beautiful and not too annoying, although she comes close.  I will admit that the leads are a bit too pretty throughout the film though, but I guess it is the movies.  As far as Alfred Molina is concerned, he is funny at times, but his Sheik Amar is not really a great character.  What this film needed to propel itself into Pirates of the Caribbean territory is a Johnny Depp-like co-lead thrown in and Molina is certainly not it.  In fact, none of the characters are really big or over-the-top enough for a film such as this which really hurts it’s chances of being more than just a simple summer popcorn flick.

    What Bruckheimer brings to the table is a world-class production and while the characters aren’t that big, the film certainly is.  The filmmaking is done on a grand scale with huge battle sequences, great stunt work and nifty special effects.  I will admit, though, that the climactic sequence, which I’m assuming took up a major part of the effects budget, was so confusing to watch that I’m still not sure what I was seeing.  Maybe they thought if they just popped a lot of great images on screen, the audience won’t ask questions, but to create an Escher painting out of sand is confounding and should have been better thought out and much better directed.

    Still, the film is for the most part entertaining and you can tell they tried really, really hard to give you your money’s worth.  B-

Shrek Forever After

Starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas
Directed by Mike Mitchell (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo)
Rated PG for mild action, some rude humor and brief language
Appropriate for all ages

    In this fourth and final installment of the Shrek series, Shrek finds himself a husband, a father, and stuck right in the middle of a mid-life crisis.  After all, he used to be a fierce ogre, and now no one is the least bit scared of him anymore.  But when a mischievous wizard named Rumplestiltskin offers him the chance to be feared for a day in exchange for something inconsequential to Shrek at the time, he gladly accepts the bargain.  Unfortunately, the contract he signs throws him into an alternate universe where his very existence may be in question at the end of the 24 hour period. 

    It’s hard to believe that the first Shrek came out in 2001, but that being said, Shrek the franchise has matured with the years.  Very fitting for a movie about an ogre that feels that his best years are behind him, for in a way they are.  The first two films were wildly creative, full of invention and irreverent humor that was unlike what we had ever seen in an animated film before.  The third film was, well, let’s try to forget about the third film.  And now this movie shows an ogre that wants to go back to the beginning again. 

    As a movie, it’s actually a great tale about growing up and accepting responsibility for not just your life but for your family as well.  I’ve never thought these films were meant for children, although they can certainly be enjoyed by them, but rather they are adult in nature, and this new addition proves it grandly.  There are some nice moments throughout and much more drama than comedy.

    Here’s the problem.  Shrek is right in not being satisfied with his life in a way.  His coolness and creativity have kind of been stripped out of him by now.  This new film, while telling a clever story, is not funny nor hip in any way (aside from a few chuckles at an overweight Puss in Boots).  In fact it feels tired.  Maybe it’s because there is a brand new writing and directing team and they were wrong for the project.  But any way you look at it, the story is the very definition of irony.  And while they could have left the theme the same, they should have reinvented Shrek in a way that wouldn’t have made him so stinkin’ lame.  C+

Robin Hood

Starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, and Max von Sydow
Directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator)
Rated PG-13 for violence including intense sequences of warfare, and some sexual content
Appropriate for ages 13+

    Loosely based on the what we wish would be the current situation in California, a soldier comes home from fighting in the war only to find his countrymen being overtaxed by the tyrants who run the land, so using his skills as a leader and his abilities as a fighter he leads a revolution.  Oh, wait, that was the Robin Hood we used to know.  This Robin Hood tells the tale of the man that would later become that famous man that steals from the rich and gives to the poor.  It tells the origin of how Robin Longstride went from being a soldier in the King’s army to being a champion of the people.  And if the film makes enough money, perhaps we can watch him become a champion of the people some day too. 

    This is a difficult film to review because while watching it I knew I wasn’t enjoying it, but I couldn’t figure out why.  The directing by Ridley Scott was tremendous.  He really knows what he is doing with films like this.  It is his calling to produce magnificent period pieces. 

    And the acting is really great as well, Especially by Crowe and Blanchett.  Crowe gives everything he has to a role and this intensity is truly admirable.  He is  still one of my favorite actors even though he just made another movie I didn’t care for too much.

    After much careful thought, it really does come down to the script.  The original concept of the film, where the Sheriff of Nottingham was the hero and Robin Hood the villain was scrapped for this more traditional idea and the spec script sale which was handsomely paid out to Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris was switched out to writer Brian Helgeland (Mystic River) where I’m assuming the story took on a completely new life.  It makes me wonder why Universal bought the original script to begin with, but we’ll never know that one. 
   
    What we do know is that the point of the film is to put the story of Robin Hood in complete historical context.  The filmmakers wanted to ask the question of “why does Robin Hood need to steal from the rich to give to the poor?”  They needed a script that gave a really strong political answer and the only way to do that was to bog the whole film down with detail after detail which made the movie so very boring.  Another thing that leads the film to slow down is that Robin gets his way too easily.  Everything is too convenient.  He escapes from his shackles to find the right uniforms to get on a ship to get back to England where he is openly accepted as a member of Maid Marion’s family.  It’s almost silly, and unfortunately not Men in Tights silly. 

    Also, one thing that every successful Robin Hood film to date has had in common is that they have all been fun.  This one strips the fun right out and converts it into a historical war drama.  But then the big historical war drama gets stripped of most of its violence.  While I don’t think a film like this needed blood and guts everywhere, I do think that if you are to create this kind of movie, it needs to be R-rated.  PG-13 doesn’t cut it.  This looked like the airplane version of the movie and not the epic it could have been. 

    But I still don’t think the added violence could have helped the much needed script problems which I think will ultimately lead to a distracted and uninterested audience.  C-

The Secret in their Eyes

Starring Soledad Villamil, Ricardo Darin, and Pablo Rago
Directed by Juan Jose Campanella
Rated R for a rape scene, violent images, some graphic nudity, and language
Spanish with English subtitles

    This winner of the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film tells the story of an Argentinean Federal Agent that returns to the city he used to work in so that he can write a book about a rape/murder case he worked on that was never truly solved and brought to justice many years earlier.  As he begins to unravel the clues of what he had previously uncovered mixed with new findings, he discovers secrets and revelations that could be even more enlightening and disturbing.

    As with any year of Oscar-nominated foreign films, many of them you don’t get to see until the middle of the next year so you can’t gauge how something could have beat out a film that you thought was far superior.  In this case, I was in awe that this film beat The White Ribbon, which I thought to an amazing contender from Germany.  But sure enough, this film proves itself as a worthy enough contestant with quality at all levels.

    First and foremost is terrific script that twists and turns and really keeps you guessing throughout.  It’s just over two hours long, but keeps your brain busy the entire length wondering what is going to happen next and what each subtle clue really means. 

    And most of those subtle clues come from very fine acting by an extremely talented cast.  While you may not know any of the faces or names, that won’t matter because the performances will blow you away.

    And here is something you won’t hear me say often, but the slow, methodical pacing makes the film that much better.  Campanella has made a fine career of directing American television shows such as House, SVU and 30 Rock, but given the reigns of a suspense thriller such as this, he proves himself to be a master.  That slowness of pacing he employees allows your brain to run through scenarios, figure things out, get things wrong, and fully appreciate the art being put on screen.

    Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the haunting piano-heavy score by Federico Jusid and Emilio Kauderer.  Had it been available widely to voters towards the end of 2009, we might have seen some tougher competition for Michael Giacchino’s Up during the awards season.   

    Finally, I have to admit that I’m a sucker for a great ending and this ending will shake you to the core and leave you questioning your own morality and sense of justice in the process.  A   

Iron Man 2

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, and Scarlett Johansson
Directed by John Favreau (Iron Man)
Rated PG-13 for sequence of intense sci-fi action violence, and some language
Appropriate for ages 13+

    Now that the world is safe from terrorists due to the invincible Iron Man/Tony Stark (Downey Jr.), the U.S. government wants the suit, and they want it bad.  With other countries and even U.S. defense contractors hard at work to duplicate it, Stark won’t give it up, but is happy to keep defending the U.S.  Little does he know that there is a crazy Russian named Ivan Vanko, A.K.A. Whiplash (Rourke), that wants to kill him and a competing weapons manufacturer lead by Justin Hammer (Rockwell) that wants to hire the Russian to do just that very task. 

    With the first film, the origin story is very important, and they did a tremendous job of bringing it to the screen.  There was great action, humor, and a couple of decent battles.  But what the first film lacked was a great villain.  Iron Man 2 has such a villain in Whiplash.  Mickey Rourke brings just enough creepiness into the role to provide a villain that is not only terrifying but brilliant at the same time which is worse.  He just might be the only person on the planet as smart as Stark and his only motive is senseless revenge.  When he makes his move you just know things are going to get bad and fun at the same time.

    Writer Justin Theroux (Tropic Thunder) did an excellent job of providing loads of excellent characters.  It helps when you have a terrific cast like this, but you can only attract a cast like Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson, John Slattery, and Gary Shandling when you have such juicy parts for them to play.  Even director Jon Favreau was able to steal his own stage several times as Stark’s driver/assistant Happy Hogan. 

    So without a knock on the first film, I will say that this one is better, but that doesn’t really matter because it’s just a second great addition to a terrific franchise.

    Spoiler Alert:  While I really liked the film, I was deeply disappointed with one aspect of the final battle scene where Iron Man is being chased by a group of drones through a crowded fairgrounds.  He is dodging bullets left and right, but I question why Favreau or Theroux wouldn’t have taken this scene off sight to avoid collateral damage.  It almost appears like Iron Man is trying to get civilians everywhere killed.  If it was just a quick shot (no pun intended), it would be forgivable, but this was a lingering scene and stuck out severely.  A-

Babies

Rated PG for cultural and maternal nudity throughout
Appropriate for all ages

Babies is a documentary that takes a look at the first year of the lives of four children from around the world including one each from Mongolia, Tokyo, Namibia, and San Francisco.  

Perhaps the cutest movie ever made, Babies is stuffed full of some of the greatest images you will ever see of the most adorable kids a camera could capture.  If you thought the film was going to show you that although our worlds are far apart, our love for children is something we all have in common, then you have it partly right.  The film also does a terrific job at showing how culturally different our worlds truly are.  Through pieces of their lives, we see what it is like to grow up in each of their respective countries and speaking as someone who is about to have his own baby any day now, there are pieces of each of their worlds I would like for my first baby.  OK, maybe not Namibia.  It was pretty primitive.  But I really did love seeing these children age a year over ninety minutes and was as entertained as could be.  

The one thing you won’t really get here that might have been interesting was a story.  The filmmakers chose to use images and sounds rather than story, which will probably work out fine for them financially, but a narrative here with these amazing pieces of imagery could made for a more compelling movie.  B