Reviews for 2010
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Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams.
Directed by Roman Polanski.
Rating: 7/10
I'm guessing most of the political concerns expressed in The Ghost Writer are more attributable to its writer, Robert Harris, than to its director, Roman Polanski. Harris wrote the novel, The Ghost, on which the movie is based, and co-wrote the screenplay with Polanski. The story of a ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) assigned to the life story of a former British Prime Minister, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), gives ample opportunity to riff on the career of real-life former B.P.M. Tony Blair and his willingness to share the bed with the United States in matters of unsavory foreign policy in regards to the Middle East. The movie's criticism implies that the U.S. may have had a little too much control, and that Blair was too willing to follow along.
Whether or not this reflects the view of Polanski is arguable, since he seems to have stepped into what I sometimes call "exercise mode." The Ghost Writer is a polished mystery thriller, where the title character (whose name is never given) discovers there may be political intrigue behind the career of his subject, then suddenly believes his life may be threatened due to his getting too close to the truth -- after all, his predecessor was found dead on the beach. Polanski grinds the gears to entertaining effect, never losing pace from beginning to end, while not necessarily offering anything new. I would have expected a swipe at the U.S., given his legal history with the country, but the closest the movie gets is the idea that the U.S. would harbor Lang, who has been accused of war crimes in his own country, and that might seem, well, hypocritical. The only other interesting nugget for thought may be the device of placing great importance on a typed manuscript -- literally, a big pile of paper -- in a world where computers, GPS navigators, and the ability to Google prove all too useful. The reason the manuscript is typed is to protect its privacy -- it can't be easily copied and stolen that way -- which figures to give analog methods in general a significance, proving to be more secure and valuable, almost sacred, than their technologically-advanced counterparts. At the very least, this opens the path to an amusing observation -- The Ghost Writer is an old-fashioned thriller, after all, and weren't stories like these much easier to write in the old days when documents had to be physically shuttled around and no one could just use a cell phone to easily call for help? (added 8/17/2010)
Starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber, Lena Endre, Peter Andersson, Ingvar Hirdwall, Björn Granath, Ewa Fröling, Marika Lagercrantz.
Directed by Niels Arden Oplev.
Rating: 7/10
The Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was met with much success throughout the world, and one must wonder if its rather old-fashioned mystery feel had something to do with it, for despite its occasional extreme touches -- evidence of cruel murders, an unabashed sex scene, and one particularly discomforting rape scene -- what one might take away is the coziness of watching the investigation of an old unsolved crime. The story involves a falsely disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), being asked by an old island-dwelling mogul (Sven-Bertil Taube) to give a final stab at solving the '60's disappearance and apparent murder of his favorite niece. It sounds old-fashioned already, but an injection of modernity is given by the presence of a young punk/hacker girl named Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), who is at first observing Blomkvist but then later joins him in his case. Her inclusion provides some extra intrigue, since she seems to be hiding a troubled past, which only adds to the inherent enjoyment one gets from watching smart, observant, and resourceful people figuring out clues and possibly uncovering a killer amongst several given suspects. All that was missing was a scene where people are gathered in a drawing room while the detective points a finger and reveals the truth.
However, the story does have a little more on its mind, as evidenced by a concern for the plight of victimized women. The original title of the film and the Stieg Larsson novel it's based on is Män som hatar kvinnor, translated as "Men Who Hate Women," and indeed there seem to be many of them here. The central mystery is based on the possibility of a young woman's murder; the investigation leads to the revelation that there have been a series of murders of other young women in the area; and Salander is seen early on as a sexual victim of a lascivious probation guardian. And that isn't the end of it when you also include the third act revelations. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo doesn't take an exploitative tone with this subject, as most of the dreadful acts are discovered after the fact; rather, it spotlights how pervasive this blight of society is -- how easy it is for men not only to possess the desires to harm women, but also to be able to act upon them and get away with it. The movie makes the case that, for as prevalent as the crimes and the attitudes that spawn them are, expressed in the film from beginning to end, they somehow remain invisible, and, by extension, passively acceptable to even the modern-day civilized world, and that is lamentable. (added 9/8/2010)
Starring Matt Damon, Greg Kinnear, Brendan Gleeson, Amy Ryan, Khalid Abdalla, Jason Isaacs.
Directed by Paul Greengrass.
Rating: 5/10
Green Zone is the latest entry in the genre of movies that seeks to educate the public about an issue while still delivering as a cinematic entertainment. Success in one goal or the other might mark a success in general for one of these movie, but in the case of this Paul Greengrass-directed Iraq War thriller, its primary weakness contributes to crippling both goals. Matt Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer Roy Miller, who, during the 2003 taking of Baghdad, leads teams in search of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD's) only to come up empty time and time again. Leading his own personal rogue investigation, he finds the intelligence on the WMD's may be suspect, and, worse yet, may have been allowed to give the U.S. a pretext for invasion. Frankly, for anyone who had been paying attention, this is either old news, an overly simplistic rendition of events, or both. Green Zone seems to be directed at an audience who has avoided news of the war, and yet if they had to watch a movie to get informed they would still be better off viewing Charles Ferguson's documentary No End in Sight.
Meanwhile, Green Zone wraps its information within a plot that has Miller ultimately seeking to apprehend an Iraqi general whose knowledge can expose the U.S. government in its willfulness to run with false information in order to justify an invasion. However, since the general is a military target for death, Miller must get to him before the U.S. special forces do. But again, because we're aware of what has transpired regarding WMD's since that time, it's easy for us to realize that the story is generating a cardboard suspense, and thus the stakes feel rather low. If we view the movie more in terms of action thrills, it's competent, but we know Greengrass has done better, as with his Bourne movies.
The film tries to pique our outrage, but then does so by painting with broad strtokes, to the point where the CIA members Miller allies with might as well be wearing white hats and the hold-the-line Pentagon official played by Greg Kinnear might as well be wearing a black hat. It's an angry, critical movie, but in the name of accessibility it foregoes complexity and depth in a subject that requires it -- a compromise that ends up yielding very little, and might actually be doing a disservice to the truth it alleges to expose. (added 7/31/2010)
Starring Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Directed by Noah Baumbach.
Rating: 7/10
Director Noah Baumbach finds yet another way to explore his favorite topic -- human monsters, what makes them tick, and the damage they do to others -- with Greenberg. This time Ben Stiller plays the "monster," Roger Greenberg, a recent nervous breakdown survivor from New York who stays at his brother's Los Angeles home for some downtime while the brother is away on vacation. Like the corresponding characters from The Squid and the Whale and Margot at the Wedding, Roger is intelligent and creative, but also self-absorbed and extremely defensive -- and, as we get to know him, we see that his horrible behaviors stem not from a sense of snobby superiority but from personal psychological wounds and a badly cross-wired defense mechanism which uses ego as a shield and belittlement as a sword. Baumbach's movie once again walks a fine line between being off-putting and being fascinating in its character study, and for me the positives win out, with help from Stiller in a strong, controlled performance outside his usual schtick, and Greta Gerwig as a kind but passive love interest who gives the film's key line, "Hurt people hurt people." It's interesting to see how Baumbach can extract so many shades of his favored particular character type, but I'm starting to wonder how long he can keep this up and hold our attention, because we now know fairly well what to expect (also, in the arc of characters from his three last films, each successive character gets closer to a subtle sense of redemption -- actual redemption would be the arc's logical and least informative endpoint). I, for one, would be curious to see what he could do with a different kind of realistic, damaged personality. We all know there's plenty to choose from. (added 8/17/2010; edited version featured at ReelTalk Movie Reviews)
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine.
Directed by Christopher Nolan.
Rating: 9/10
Previous to Inception, Christopher Nolan has directed six films, none of which I dislike, and three of which I outright love, including his last two, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. His movies are often puzzle-like and require great cerebral attention, which is part of what makes his works so rewarding to watch. But one might hesitate to call them "entertaining" in the common sense of the word. Nolan's films often reach into the dark recesses of men's minds, and the view there is so pessimistic and gloomy that it wouldn't be a stretch to say his movies are missing a "feel-good" quality. They're cool, even slick, but could they be called fun?
With Inception, Nolan finally lets loose that fun side. Let's not be mistaken -- the seriousness of tone still remains, and the main character, Cobb (played by Leonardo DiCaprio; the character's name refers back to Nolan's first film, Following), is haunted throughout by the death of his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) -- but the draw of this movie involves its realization of concept. Simply put, the world of Inception is one where people have found ways to visit and infiltrate other people's dreams; thus, much of the movie takes place in dreamscapes, and, as we know, inside the mind anything goes.
Nolan thus takes the opportunity to give us his version of dream worlds, and it's actually quite unique. He resists random disorientation, preferring to place his dreamers in fabricated, but mostly grounded, worlds. Once inside such a space, everything that happens appears relatively believable, but shifts in reality can occur, and it's the shock of those shifts that provide the impact to the dreamer -- and the audience. Inception's dream worlds are tightly wound, and when shifts happen, they are intriguing, anticipatory. They can lead to bursts, which are cathartic, thrilling. And just getting to play around with such a set up provides a lot of, yes, fun.
The movie features many moments of build-up which find their payoffs in some wonderfully playful visuals. Most of the time, the dream worlds are destroyed through spontaneous bursting, as objects and buildings around the characters pop, crumble, and explode. There are moments of controlled surrealism, such as when the populace in a dream all at once decide to look at the dreamer, or when the landscape visually defies normal physics. I think the most entertaining set piece involves gravity changes in a hotel corridor. Watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt battle an opponent hand-to-hand while walking up walls, falling on the ceiling, and being hurtled towards the elevator might easily be one of the coolest movie scenes of the year.
If Inception feels slightly lacking in anything, Nolan would have no one to blame but himself. His previous movies appealed greatly to me because they were about men making choices, breaking moral codes, and dealing with mostly internal consequences. In comparison to his past works, Inception's main story is pretty straightforward. The external story involves Cobb and his team of dream infiltrators working on a job to get inside the head of the heir of a powerful businessman, but the internal story is about Cobb's dealing with the loss of his wife. The danger here? His unresolved feelings have a way of intruding in the dreams he visits, manifesting themselves as antagonistic entities. Although this part of the story falls in line with some of Nolan's usual themes of men willfully deluding themselves, and of the relativity of guilt, it was better explored in Memento and here seems more casually employed as an emotional anchor for the main character (on a side note, poor DiCaprio -- that's two movies this year in which he plays someone crushed by the tragedy of losing his wife).
However, I think we can forgive Nolan for being more interested in exploring cool effects and inventive visuals this time. It's the first of his films that I would call flat-out fun, from the tricky opening to the coolness of the cast (a great group of actors including Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, and Cillian Murphy) right down to the smile-inducing teaser ending. The movies have a proud line of dream explorations and unreal worlds, from Spellbound to Dreamscape, Dark City and The Matrix, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to almost anything by Luis Buñuel, David Lynch and Satoshi Kon. Now Inception can be proudly added to this list of places we might never have been able to go to, but are now privileged to be able to revisit again and again, thanks to the dream-like imaginations of intelligent, creative directors like Nolan. (added 7/16/2010; edited version featured at ReelTalk Movie Reviews)
Starring Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Fan Siu-wong, Lynn Hung, Lam Ka-tung, Hiroyuki Ikeuchi.
Directed by Wilson Yip.
Rating: 8/10
My immediate impression of Wilson Yip's Ip Man was that it felt very similar to Ronny Yu's Fearless. It occurs to me that martial arts movies all feel of a certain piece these days -- they used to feel "dirty" and low budget, even when the fighters were enhanced by wires. Now they feel quite slick, polished, very produced. The fighting scenes are very conscientiously set up and then shot in a way to really show off the main character, and I suppose this makes sense in the case of both Fearless and Ip Man, since both movies are about rather legendary real-life figures. They lived in times close to each other and their stories follow similar paths, featuring a set-up which introduces us to their skills, a middle section presenting an introspective conflict, crises of foreign nation origins, and then a final battle showcase. And both men are renowned primarily for boosting the morale of their fellow countrymen, showcasing the strength of the Chinese people.
In the case of Ip Man, the titular hero, played by Donnie Yen, may be best known to Western audiences as the man who trained Bruce Lee. The movie tells the story of his life through the 1930s in the city of Foshan, where he is a local celebrity due to his unparalleled skill in martial arts. He's very wealthy and self-sufficient, taking on no students (unlike his friends and peers in the city), preferring to spend his days training. When the Japanese invade in 1937, he comes to realize that, despite all his skill, he is powerless to help his fellow countrymen while they are under the grip of their occupiers. Opportunity arrives and forces his hand when the stationed Japanese colonel shows great interest in martial arts, pitting the local Chinese fighters against his own Japanese martial artists for his personal interests.
The movie is clearly hagiographic, but this aspect and its general function as a martial arts movie are supported greatly by Yen. I still wonder how Yen hasn't managed to become as internationally recognized as Jet Li -- he's a pleasure to watch, and his fighting comes off as smooth, expert, efficient, and crisp. Ip Man has become perhaps his most prominent showcase after a career that mostly saw him playing martial arts antagonists; and yet the movie hasn't seen a U.S. theatrical release, instead making its stateside debut on video. In any case, his Ip Man is revealed to be something of a fresh change after all because unlike many movies about a fighter, his challenge doesn't lie in realizing maturity (this was indeed the route taken by Fearless); instead, it's one of self-realization and honor. When the movie begins, no one is more accomplished and more mature than Ip; but when the greater forces of war come crashing, he evaluates himself to find his proper place in the national destiny. The calm and affable Yen makes Ip Man easy to root for, both as a fighter and as a man with an adult dilemma that tests his ideals. This combination of personal journey, some eye-popping fight sequences, and the right star to deliver them allows Ip Man to rise to a satisfying height. (added 8/9/2010; edited version featured at ReelTalk Movie Reviews)
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke, Samuel L. Jackson.
Directed by Jon Favreau.
Rating: 6/10
In 2008, Iron Man, about one of the lesser-known Marvel superheroes, surprised many by becoming a smash hit. The secret to its success could be found in its bright atmosphere and its adult yet humorous tone, given full life by its star, Robert Downey Jr. It struck a delicate balance by being just serious enough -- it was about an irresponsible man coming to terms with the consequences of his behavior -- but always making sure it was at a level of pop fun.
Now its sequel, Iron Man 2, tries to maintain this same atmosphere and tone, and for the most part it succeeds. But here the main difference is there isn't much compelling that's driving the story. The first movie dealt with a man, Tony Stark (Downey Jr.), who had the means to compose his own redemption; in the second movie he finds that he is dying due to a flaw in the technology that is actually keeping him alive, and since he can't seem to find a solution he pretty much just gives up. In other words, there's a reversal of the personal journey this time -- where before he was the complete master of his fate, now he is completely helpless, and while he responds to his situation with some erratic behavior, the movie doesn't explore much beyond that. Frankly, there's too much other stuff going on, not the least of which is the arrival of a new adversary, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke), who is determined to destroy Stark's life one way or the other.
Another subplot has to do with the U.S. government adamantly trying to get Stark to surrender the technology of the Iron Man suit to them for the purposes of military superiority. There's the potential for an interesting theme here about how once an idea is out there, it's out there, as Stark is convinced no one can duplicate his technology, only to find that this may not be entirely true. But the movie settles for something more plain, as one of Stark's competitors, Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), somehow successfully gains the technology and simply wants to sell it to the bidder Stark is unwilling to entertain. It's corporate war dynamics viewed at face value as opposed to exploring the ethics behind the dangers of new inventions being brought into the world.
But at the center of it all is Downey Jr. once again in the role he was born to play, making this fluffier movie watchable. His character's intelligence and irreverence join with the movie's technophilia to create a sexy combination. The movie shows the appeal of bright lights and shiny metal, delivered without much irony, and worn by a guy who's credibly yet vulnerably cool. It's pretty much James Bond without the sheen of invincibility -- we even have Bond girls (Stark girls?) in Gwyneth Paltrow and Scarlett Johansson.
To reiterate, Iron Man 2 does maintain its pop fun and is reasonably entertaining, even though, in terms of story, it's mostly just treading water. It doesn't dive deep into its human concerns, only touching upon its plateful of potential interesting dilemmas, and frankly it spends a little too much time in setting up the imminent arrivals of other movies (the upcoming Avengers movie and, in the post-credits stinger, the Thor movie). Bent on escapism and content to stay on the surface of the issues it presents, it at least does its best to give that surface a pleasing, gleaming polish. (added 5/11/2010)
Starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Mark Strong, Nicolas Cage.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn.
Rating: 6/10
Kick-Ass is odd in that it starts out by appearing to aspire to be one story, only to give up about halfway through to fully adopt a subplot that would contradict its original aspiration. To detail it briefly, it begins by positing the possibility and general real-world improbability that the popularity of comic book characters might inspire someone to don a costume in real life to go and fight crime. It proceeds to show how foolish this idea would be, given that no one has superpowers, especially not the main protagonist Dave (Aaron Johnson), a teen who decides for no real good reason to become the costumed "Kick-Ass" -- but then goes on to give us a couple of very well-trained characters who also fight in costume. If the movie began as satire, it ends up negating itself; some might call this a simultaneous satire and love letter to the comic book genre, but I don't quite buy it -- this isn't like Adaptation, where the movie "giving up" is part of the joke. Kick-Ass gives up because it loves to indulge in what it's satirizing more than it cares to satirize it.
My question then becomes: why approach it this way in the first place? Why set out to demythify something when you clearly prefer to add to the myths? Kick-Ass, in effect, feels like two parallel movies -- the story about Dave and his learning the hard way why normal schmoes can't just become superheroes; and the story of Damon Macready (Nicolas Cage) and his 11-year-old daughter Mindy (Chloë Grace Moretz), aka "Big Daddy" and "Hit Girl," seeking vengeance against the city's powerful mob boss. One might observe that the second story is quite effective, mainly because director Matthew Vaughn overplays Hit Girl -- she's an instant shortcut to ironic humor in that she's not even a teenager, yet can murder mobsters in mere seconds, and often with a profane quip on her lips. Moretz deserves credit for creating instant rooting interest by being both sweet and jaw-droppingly deadly, a real kick-ass fantasy if there ever was one, and one that entirely contradicts the groundedness established in Dave's world. The movie pops so much when Moretz is on screen that you might realize there's no need for that original first storyline. By the time Dave learns his personal lessons (and the whole bit about YouTube fads is played out), you don't have much reason to care for him anymore; his further involvement happens against his will, and his life is endangered, but by that point the movie is no longer really about him.
Kick-Ass could've functioned perfectly well if it was called "Hit Girl"; I would go as far as to say the praise it has received would be identical if it had fully focused on Moretz's pint-sized assassin, effectively becoming a junior version of "The Bride" from Kill Bill. As it is, to say the movie is a high-concept analytical exploration (of why comic book characters don't inspire real-life costumed vigilantism) in an already over-analyzed genre would be totally insincere -- it's no such thing. It's really just another superhero movie, with no real commentary, ironic, meta, or otherwise; it's actual selling points are intensified injections of violence and profanity in an otherwise PG-13 genre. It's a bait-and-switch movie that lucks out because its switch is so much more appealing than its bait. (added 8/13/2010)
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©Jeffrey Chen, 2010
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