Juvenile Cinephile

HANNA

Directed by Joe Wright

Joe Wright finally found his escape from the period piece adaptations and had a lot of fun doing it.  The whole set-up and synopsis for Hanna may evoke Kick-Ass or the Bourne films, and certainly to a degree there is truth to both of those comparisons, but I got a Coen Brothers and Tom Tykwer feel to this film, and not just because Tom Hollander’s character looked straight out of The Nihilists from The Big Lebowski. 

The first 30 minutes of Hanna with The Chemical Brothers alluring soundtrack and cinematography is like an extended music video mixed with awesome action sequences.  Once Hanna gets to the outside world the whole tone of the film changes to the Aryan-looking Hanna being a fish out of water in the real world and conveniently meeting a very progressive yippy family.  Hanna had been raised as a trained assassin with the level of skill, strength, and stamina well beyond her years.  She memorizes legends to maintain once she sets out but has no idea what she is in for and really, you just want her to get into more conflicts with Euro-Trash associates of the CIA agent Marissa (Cate Blanchett hamming it up with southern drawl and loving it) than see yet again Hanna’s “quirks” be accepted. 

Saoirse Ronan as the title character makes this film an enjoyable ride, even when your patience on the plot situations are tested more than once.  Ronan conveys a girl who is both damaged and innocent, estranged from reality yet full of intellectual curiosity and wonder.  Eric Bana as Hanna’s father is limited in screen time but has a warmness and calm collective awareness that helps him milk all of his time on-screen.  Some characters you wished were a little more fleshed out than they were beyond passing figures in Hanna’s journey but Wright’s eye for action, space, and artistry, especially in the final act, makes this film deceptively a very pretty, off-beat B-movie.  This is in no way the best work for anybody involved, but it is a very watchable film that you know there was a lot of fun had by its cast and crew.

RANGO

Directed by: Gore Verbinski

I dare Disney animation, Pixar, Nickelodeon Movies, and Dreamworks to make a better animated film than this incredible surprise by Gore Verbinski.   Not only is this Wild West set-up enjoyable but it is a surprising adult animated film that was perhaps misdirected in its advertising.  Rango ain’t Fritz the Cat but it is certainly not a kids movie. 

Rango offers itself closer to Mel Brooks, Chuck Jones, and Tex Avery than the standard animated fare out today.  I lost track of all of the Western references and how surprisingly not out of place the non-Western references were cleverly included.  John Logan’s script is such a labor of love to the genre and films, clearly he got the importance of Warner Bros. cartoon shorts where pop culture references do not have to spelled out to its audience but infused within the plot as the best kind of homage. 

The voice cast up and down is top-notch led by the incomparable Johnny Depp voicing the title character who gets to go into places where in an otherwise live-action film would limit him, and that is saying something.  He is clearly having fun with this character in a way that I have not seen on screen like many of his other movies in years. 

I am glad this film exists.  Gore Verbinski making a kids movie (Did I mention I saw the rather too hot for children Mousehunt as a wee one?) would have just felt wrong and no way should a script this tidy, fresh, and intelligent be made toothless to get more tickets at the box-office.  This is a film made for teens up to the elderly who appreciate a film that clearly loves its genre, characters, setting, and set-up.   I cannot help but wanting to thank Gore Verbinski and John Logan for making it okay to make an animated film where adults are more in on the joke than the kids. 

AKIRA

Directed by: Katsuhiro Ohtomo

“DUNNNNNN……. DUNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

This film.  This film.  Damn!  First off, it has aged quite well.  The animation of Neo-Tokyo is stunning and awesome cyberpunk.  Secondly, Akira features some of the best post-apocalyptic sensibilities where groups of characters are all living within the same universe vicariously when a contact between Tetsuo and an Esper (such tragically beautiful characters) changes the whole landscape of a city racked with gang violence, bureaucracy, militarized police, and guerrilla capitalism.  Tetsuo assumes the position of Akira in power, ability, and more controversially, in messianic terms for everyday citizens of Neo-Tokyo. 

Tetsuo in a way reminds me of the equally tragic anti-hero Rorschach in Watchmen.  Hear me out before you scream at your computer how could that Nietzschean nihilist sociopath could compare Tetsuo.  How do they compare?: You understand why he is angry and why he continues to go down his path that it is not all too surprising he is beyond redemption but then suddenly…… I will not go any further. 

Now I will say that I cannot fathom making a live-action version of this movie, even beyond the absurd white-washing aspect being kicked around Hollywood (by the bloated hack Leonardo DiCaprio no less).  Tetsuo’s transformation rivals Jeff Goldblum in The Fly, Natalie Portman in Black Swan, The Blob, and that giant Marshmallow in Ghostbusters all combined.  I am not even including how violent it already was up to that point but the death of one of the characters at the hands of Tetsuo is one of the more disturbing I have ever seen, yet, it could only work with animation (not unlike how what made the Animatrix work was because there was no way in hell you could have gotten away with that in live-action). 

Then there is the ending that has a Tarkovskian and Kubrickian hybrid level of mindfuckery going on.  Tetsuo also has some existential crisis episodes going on earlier in the film. What does Akira even mean to represent?  How they idealized future encapsulated in a living being caused catastrophe and untold destruction?  Does Hollywood really want to tell this story?   I would rather let the mother country of Akira fuck up a live-action adaptation because it is just too easy to be cynical about a Hollywood adaptation of this scale, influence, importance, and intelligence and also too hard to throw out praise.   When Spielberg and Lucas called this film unmarketable in the US, how can a live-action version of yet another post-apocalypse film with a jaded fan base due to a whitened cast be considered more marketable? 

Count me in as one of the people hoping for any adaption of this film to die. 

RESCUE DAWN

Directed by Werner Herzog

What does it say about me when this is the first non-documentary Werner Herzog film I have seen the whole way through?  Well now after that anecdotal confession, I will say that I was impressed with how organic this film was and completely in tow with Herzog’s reputation. 

Christian Bale plays the real POW Dieter Dengler who finds himself among a group of other POWs under the thumb of the Pathet Lao in Laos.  He manages to escape with a plan years in the making that Herzog presents in a very blunt, honest, and workmanlike way. 

Bale arguably gives his best pre-The Figher performance and not just with his now very predictable losing weight act.  Yeah, he does not sound like Dengler at all but his survival and determination is so insisting and real that you not only want to throw him a cheeseburger but also want to shake his hand. 

The rest of the cast is game though Jeremy Davies falls somewhere in between his usual drugged out loser disposition and Dennis Hopper in Apocalypse Now as DeBruin, which angered the family of the MIA Gene DeBruin.  Herzog apologized after learning more about the real man.  I will say that DeBruin is at worst very ambiguous and at best the case of an over-extended damaged man in wartime.  The latter is something not a lot of people like to see, especially in the case of an American soldier for a still controversial war.  I would like to think Herzog’s portrayal of DeBruin with more knowledge would not change the film at all but I cannot really speak for the people offended by that portrayal.

Rescue Dawn is an oddly beautiful film to look at despite the obvious contrast of the harrowing story and testimony of this film.  The landscape is vibrant and colorful (shot in Thailand) which is in contrast to the rapidly deteriorating POWs.  It encapsulates how seductive a Vietnam War movie is, entirely jungle, with how the jungle becomes a character in the film right there with Apocalypse Now and Platoon.  

I really thought this film was an incredible cinematic presentation of survival and this movie could have only been told by Werner Herzog. 

“First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that Shit. I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.”

-Tina Fey

A Happy Mothers Day to all yooz.

P.S. I did get my mother Bossypants, but only after imploring my father that Black Swan was not an appropriate Mothers Day gift. 

Let’s cut to the chase. The main reason why there is a Thor movie is to service The Avengers movie to make Marvel Comics lots and lots of money. With Captain America coming out later this summer, a third actor stepping in for The Incredible Hulk, and Iron Man 3 locations already being scouted, this is really going to happen. Understanding that Thor, the movie, is a part of the puzzle for that all-star superhero film to happen is to temper your expectations in thinking this is going to be an epic of the Norse myth or just a stand alone movie of the character. However, Thor has fun with the limited run-time of just Thor’s story as it is being strategically plotting as a steppingstone.

Thor is banished to Earth after betraying and disrespecting his father, Odin, the ruler of Asgard. Thor is rendered powerless and banished to Earth until he is worthy to wield his power that comes from his hammer. Thor’s first contact is with scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) and the hammer quickly comes under the possession of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Meanwhile back in Asgard, Odin has gone into a coma leaving Thor’s very underestimated brother Loki in power who wants to make sure Thor never returns to become ruler of Asgard. A lot of the film is a bit cramped with a lot of exposition in the dialogue and in narration by the great Sir Anthony Hopkins. Thor probably out of the Marvel titles that have come out thus far is the most niche and attached to the S.H.I.E.L.D. subplot that includes a post-credits ending with a twist.

What makes Thor work is Kenneth Branagh (best known for his Shakespearean epics of Henry V and Hamlet) directing the film. He is completely aware of how pulpy and operatic Thor’s whole background as the God of Thunder in the parallel universe of Asgard. Branagh’s direction encourages the actors to have fun and the sense of bravado like a stage actor performing Shakespeare despite the clunky dialogue of the script sometimes hindering the effect. Branagh grows comfortable directing an action film despite some missteps early on, such as the over-saturating use of the Dutch angle shot. But the action is often in lockstep with the father-son and Cain and Abel relationships between Thor (Chris Hemsworth), his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins), and the mischievous brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston). Hemsworth as the title character does a pretty good job holding his own against Anthony Hopkins in the Asgard scenes and while on Earth in the predictable humorous play of Thor as a fish out of water does a pretty solid job in physical humor. Hopkins as Odin is predictably ideal in this role that he has sort of played dozens of times before but the real find is Hiddleston as Loki who nearly takes the film from Hemsworth who takes a part that could have been very one-note and campy into a conniving, scheming, but also complex character who figures way more into Thor’s life than family relations.

Overall, Thor plays off being a pseudo-Shakespearean piece in an alternative universe, a stranger in a strange land piece, and a pure tie-in into a larger franchise. Thor could have been way less interesting and engrossing but with Kenneth Branagh’s direction, a solid ensemble (Natalie Portman and Stellan Skargard are very good believable as scientists), the typical Easter eggs and cameos you expect from a Marvel Studios production, and some gorgeous set designs that completely blend in with the CGI, Thor has me even more excited for The Avengers film.