Drive Angry 3D

Under the best of circumstances driving angry is bad advice.  In the case of the latest Nicolas Cage vehicle it's advice doubly worth heeding.  Cage plays Milton, a father who's escaped from Hell itself to avenge his daughter's death and save her baby from a satanic cult.  Having died some time ago he's been watching earth from the hereafter where catching up on his daughter's trials and tribulations is woven into his punishment.  When the cult leader plans to sacrifice his granddaughter he's had to much and busts out of the fiery pits to kick some ass while driving some cool cars.  Along the way he meets Amber Heard who provides the eye candy and spunky heroine any solid B-movie needs.  She's the best part of the film, but not given nearly enough to work with to save it. 

Things start out with what appears to be a high school students computer graphics project (or maybe a machinima scene from a video game) as Cage escapes Satan's Hollow by car.  He's pursued by "The Accountant" (William Fichtner) a cold, mean and deadly machine whose character seems to have been ripped off from the liaison to the Senior Partners in the last season of Angel.  Cage chases the cult, Satan's minions chase Cage, gunplay ensues, yada yada yada.  There seems to be clear attempt to make a dumb, fun b-movie filled with gratuitous nudity, trashy language, etc.  That was what I was hoping for, but the makers of this film fall short of that mark.  Failing where (at least for me) the recent Piranha 3D was much more successful.  I do have to say the filmmakers certainly tried everything in the b-movie playbook.  They've got women beating the bejeesus out of naked women, hot cars unveiled with a flourish not to mention Cage engaging in a slo-mo gunfight while fornicating AND drinking. All with Ms. Heard appearing in what seems like increasingly skimpy shorts over the course of the film.  Not that there's anything wrong with that last part.  Though I suspect I speak for most viewers when I say that no matter how cool it's supposed to look no one needs to see Cage having sex onscreen. 

There are moments where things click briefly - the cars look nice, The Accountant has a few decent lines,  it's just that nothing in the film every really engaged me in a particularly visceral way.

I'm sure you won't want to poke your eyes out if you see it on cable or streaming Netflix someday.  But it's just so consistently meh that the only rating I can give to it is "whatever..." Unless you've got a huge fetish for woman being smacked around.  In which case you may find something extra in the film I missed - though if true please do seek some professional help as soon as possible.

Below is the trailer which I assure you contains the vast majority of the good parts in the film:

Nuremberg: Its Lesson For Today

Nuremberg: Its Lesson For Today isn't really a movie I feel I can "review" in the way I normally think about such things.  Far more a historical artifact it as much belongs in a museum as in your local theater.  If you have an interest in the Nuremberg trials as a touchstone point in international justice, the Nazis and their reign of terror, or archival footage of the era it's certainly something you might want to catch. Those seeking a deep analysis of the trial likely should look elsewhere.  But I'd imagine anyone looking for such would fall into one of the categories of folks who would want to see this previously unavailable film.  One of the principals of the restoration will be at the Landmark Varsity Friday evening to chat with the audience at the 7pm screening - so that's likely the best time to catch it this weekend if you'd like to delve deeper into the material

My fuller review can be read over at Three Imaginary Girls.

Cedar Rapids

Cedar Rapids is a positive story about a good man from a small town who comes to the big city. He leaves changed forever with many a life bettered for his troubles. It has notes of a Jimmy Stewart sort of affair, if Stewart was making movies in an age where dick jokes, banging married women and smoking crack with prostitutes were acceptable ways for a wholesome dude to roll.  Hmmm ... maybe I’d better back up.  Fear I may be overselling the film a smidge. It definitely has it's charms but it's not quite as compelling as the trailer could lead one to believe.  Light and enjoyable, with more heart than one would expect.  But one that left me feeling is was a solid “OK” on a scale from one to awesome.  My fuller review of the film appears over at Three Imaginary Girls.

While Director Miguel Arteta was in Seattle I had the chance to interview him for Three Imaginary Girls.  If you'd like to read about our discussion of Sundance, the film and how the Omar Little of The Wire was written before Isiah Whitlock Jr. was cast here's a link to that back and forth.

Oscar Nominated Shorts 2011

I'm almost always a big fan of short film programs. Like our weather they're a "don't like it? just wait fifteen minutes..." sort of situation that almost always gives you a little treat at some point in the afternoon. Hence, I was pretty excited to screen the films nominated for the short film Oscars (animated and live action). I've seen a pretty broad set of shorts over the past year from solid youth shorts at NFFTY to the SXSW Midnight series, including the memorable Eagles are Turning People into Horses. For whatever reason, the latter didn't make it into the final five nominations for Best Live Action Short.

That Academy failing aside, over the next week we'll all have the opportunity to have our own little mini film festival at the Varsity theater (or on our iphone, via iTunes) - putting you in-the-know during the part of the Oscars when too many folks are grabbing a snack. All the nominated films are very solid examples of the short film form if a tad darker than I tend to remember things being in past competitions. So if you're all caught up on the major Oscar categories, this might be a nice way to mix things up cinematically speaking this weekend.

A brief writeup of each of the films and my thoughts can be read over at Three Imaginary Girls. A trailer for the packages themselves and snippets of two of the strongest shorts follows below.

Another Year

From friends to directors I've recently interviewed, everyone seems to dig Another Year. I guess I can see why some like it. It's a painfully realistic portrayal of people dealing with the fact that for many life is pain.  But to me it was a well made, endless feeling slog through the lives of depressing people. And not to me in a "wow I learned something new" way. Don;t think I'm entirely alone in this viewpoint.  Set over the course of a year the picture is demarcated by text onscreen noting the passage of each season. When they hit the fourth and final one the entire audience gave a collective (and audible) sigh of relief.

Personally I think some of the "you must see this" reviews come from a place similar to Stockholm Syndrome. But that's just me.

Another Year is the most recent film from director Mike Leigh.  His last, and more positive film was Happy-go-Lucky.  Though there as in this one I didn't quite feel connected to the characters. The picture centers around the couple Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) who are getting towards retirement age and have a strong seemingly perfect relationship with each other.  Around them float a constellation of fucked up friends and relatives who are dealing with issues ranging from loneliness and loss to what's arguably significant drinking problems.  In theory it's a way to explore people like their friend Mary (Lesley Manville) who's alone, unfulfilled professionally and likes her wine a bit too much - without being unrelentingly depressing.  Though in the sense of not being a near constant downer, for me at least, the film was a near complete failure.

That's not to say everyone in it doesn't do a great job.  Lesley Manville in particular is gut-wrenchingly real as Mary.  In truth almost everyone on screen delivers a strong performance.  This just isn't a film that gave me something back for the emotional pain - as opposed to Biutiful. Which was very, very sad  but pulled me into the story and made me feel for the characters.  There are a few lighter moments in the writing, and I'll admit I laughed out loud at least a couple of times.  More often though it's just watching people in moments that one really wouldn't want to share with them in real life.  Even while recognizing many of us have lived some similar moments (though hopefully not as many as this crew).  I know this comes off as shallow, but I can do sad, but this literally felt like I was in the theater for five hours, even though I'm sure the actual running time can't possibly be more than three or four.

I'm going to mainly leave well enough alone at this point.  Except to say that while most reviews mention how wonderful Tom and Gerri are as a couple, I had a slightly less glowing take on them.  While their relationship within their family works, I think their dealings with others is less positive.  In fact they interact with their troubled friends largely by purposeful ignoring of the problems around them.  The constant pouring of wine for their over-indulging friends is just one of I felt quite a few examples.  Though on reflection perhaps Tom and Gerri's marital bliss was at least fueled in part by their non-stop consumption of vino.  Ignoring things until they come to a head may be my personal life policy, but I'm not sure it's really the brightest of strategies.  And given that Tom and Gerri seem pretty guilty of it I wasn't able to see them as the angelic relationship model I think we're perhaps supposed to take them for. 

If you'd like to see a rather different opinion - here's one from my friend Amie who saw the film in a much more positive light.  As always, I hope your viewing experience with the film is wonderful.  I definitely seem to be in the minority on this one.