nevermind the bricolage

Beautiful Freak

I don't really need to hear Beautiful Freak by Eels in a movie about strange creatures, but it a nice touch, in a blockbuster movie and goes a long way in helping to explain why HellboyII is such a fun ride. It also helps that the movie is directed by Guillermo Del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth), who brings a magical realism to the screen. HellboyII doesn't take itself too seriously, there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek humour throughout, and lots of in-jokes. The story is wonderfully preposterous--a strange creature, Hellboy, bright red, long pointy tail, huge horns on the forehead, is found during the Second World War and becomes part of a secret government team of paranormal crime-fighters.

Wanted

A bullet emerges in slow-motion from the forhead of a man who has been double-crossed and explodes out of his skull, others move in slow-motion through doughnuts, energy drinks, cars, windows... Bullets feature heavily in Wanted, the assassins who form The Fraternity, a 1000 year-old organiztion of weavers, who carry out world-saving murders, based on a secret code that emerges from the Loom of Fate (no I'm not kidding!!), can manipulate bullets, causing them to bend around things that stand in the way of targets, bullets, bullets, and more bullets. To say Wanted thrives on violence would not be too much of an over-statement, and it is the particular, over-stylized and choreographed violence that has been around since movies like Fight Club and The Matrix.

Shoes of the Fisherman

The year 1968 has been attracting a lot of attention in various media lately--the Paris Student protests, Prague Spring, etc. It was one of the seminal years in a turbulent time in Western culture. 1968 also saw the release of a movie, The Shoes of the Fisherman, a strange film on many levels. SoF is the tale of a Russian Catholic Bishop, who after serving more than 20 years in a labour camp, is released and sent to Rome where he is made a Cardinal? The stroy is set in the Cold War years, and apparently food shortages in China are threatening to erupt into a global conflict. So the world is teetering on the brink and then the Pope dies, throwing the world into even more turmoil?! And surprise, surprise, our recently freed Cardinal becomes the first non-Italian Pope.

Mods and Rockers

LA's hippest film festival kicks off again--rock and roll culture in a rock and roll town.

Sex and the City

So there I was, sat in the back row of a crowded cinema, just me and pretty much a room full of women, waiting for the big screen version of SATC (as it is affectionately termed by it's most ardent fans). And? I liked it, a lot. No big surprise to me, I liked the television series as well. It is easy to dismiss this movie, as some have, as simply being a lengthened version of a tv episode, but that was sort of the point I think, a little closure, and a little bit more of SATC, because the investment many people made in these characters was deep. The clothes were more over-the-top than ever, a bit much at times, some of the storylines were a bit weak or uneventful, but the main point of the film--friendship, deep and true, came across loud and clear. This was what made SATC great for me--the depth of relationships, friendships made over time, over differences of opinion about pretty much everything, true, loyal, real friendships--there aren't many films that applaud virtues like this, in very real world ways. There were some moving moments, and I left the cinema satisfied--I think the movie delivered on its promises, which is more than can be said for some of the other films I've seen lately.

Indiana Jones and the Crystal Cash Machine

I don't know why it is that Mr. Spielberg always feels the need to put some unnecessary cuteness in his movies, but he always does, and it drives me nuts. This time it is gophers, I can't imagine how much of the reported $185 million budget went towards making those little creatures so cute, but it must have cost a pretty penny. I think we all know by now that I am not the biggest fan of summer blockbuster movies, but I keep going, what's my problem? Maybe I'm hoping for a revelation. We shouldn't expect too much of Indiana Jones, it is meant as a homage to Saturday morning adventure movies of the 40s and 50s, and as such it is not rocket science. The latest installment, a resurrection of the franchise (and it is first and foremost a branded product with multi-level marketing capabilities), is set in the 50s--partially to account for Harrison Ford's natural aging. This film swings from one big, over-the-top special effects piece to another for what seems like an eternity, but it is an interesting film in terms of story content, which, much like Japanese superflat art, collapses about 40 years worth of pop culture into 120 minutes.

Lumiere et Compagnie

David Lynch and a number of other film makers were invited to particpate in a tribute to Lumiere. The films could be no longer than 52 seconds, no synchronized sound was allowed, and only three takes. Attempting to use the limitiations of Lumiere's early forays into cinema has brought about some pretty interesting little films. This will take you to Lynch's film.

Smart People?

Against my better judgment I allowed myself to be carted off to see, Smart People, an indulgent piece of drivel starring Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker. It would have been more apt to call this film, Smug People, because that's what the main character were, not smart, smug, and there is a huge difference. Apparently Dennis Quaid's character, whose name I don't remember, and won't Google to discover, is an intellectual curmudgeon made even more

Better Than Ten

Martin Scorsese knows his way around a rock documentary. From his editing role in Woodstock to The Last Waltz (hailed by many as the definitive rocumentary), to his later work on Dylan and his PBS series on the Blues, and now The Rolling Stones. Shine A Light is a collaboration between a legendary director and a legendary band that explores a two-night stint at New York's Beacon Theatre in 2006. It is also a meeting of legendary control freaks, Scorsese and Jagger, and I'll leave the viewer to decide who wins. The film opens with the usual preparatory shots, conversations, set-lists, rehearsals, camera crews and equipment etc., but this is first and foremost a concert movie and what you get is The Stones in performance, and it's quite a performance.

The Bank Job

A bank is robbed in Baker Street, London, in 1971. The vault is looted and personal items are stolen. No money is ever recovered and no arrests are made. The case was mysteriously put under a D-Notice (a gag order preventing media outlets from broadcasting certain subjects said to be related to issues of national security), and only recently did the events of the case come to light. This is a caper movie, and a really good one. Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows and a gaggle of usual British actors flesh out the cast. Everyone is strong, even when the role is somewhat stereotypical--corrupt cops, East End tough types, Government peers with a taste for kinky sex, hookers, yobs and the like--they are all here, think Guy Ritchie meets the Krays and you can work out the style--but it works.