The Amazing Spiderman 2 (2014)

Often sequels do not deliver, this one does but not all the way. Spiderman still swings from building to building and is dishing out a continuous banter of wise cracks and anemic jokes. He still lives in Astoria Queens with Aunt May, who is still a darling but with a few more wrinkles but boundless charm. Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy has those sparkling eyes and brings a lightness to the film.

Luckily we have a new villain in the person of Electro played by Jamie Foxx. Guess what his super power is? Jamie’s portrayal is part Jerry Lewis and part Von Doom. Before his transformation he has this nutty professor look with a bad comb over and a sad loner manic depressive personality. After his transformation he is wearing a hoody and so much make up that anyone could play him even Kevin Hart (scratch that, Hart is too short). The ultimate battle scene seems to short, it’s like a first date that goes nowhere.

Then there is Harry Osborn, again. The same cycle is resurrected; friend then enemy. You would think Peter Parker would catch on. Harry menacingly comes towards the end of movie and battles Spiderman on the Goblin sledge. Instead of resurrecting Harry in every film they should have a fight to the death and get over with it.

What was enjoyable in the film was the non-Spiderman scenes with Peter and Gwen. The sub story works here. Maybe this worked well because they are a couple in real life. Many of the super hero movies have a love interests but this should be secondary to the action (see Man of Steel).

This movie is for the Spiderman fanboys, for the rest, you may want to wait for Time Warner on demand.

Madama Butterfly

Thanks to our good friend Lorenzo, Lilia had an extra ticket for Madama Butterfly. I volunteered to go (not the whole truth). You may not believe this but this is not my first opera but neither will it be my third.

This review is a bit of a departure from my usual cinematic critiques. I will be talking about the plot so I do not want to hear the usual wimpy compliant “Oh, he’s giving away the plot”. Opera plots tend to be a bit simple: someone falls in love, lots of happy singing; someone falls out of love, lots of sad singing; someone dies, usually the chick. To put some meat on the bone, Madama B was an ex Geisha who was married to Lieutenant Pinkerton, an American. They have a child. For Pinkerton this is a marriage of his convenience. When he sails away Madama B is filled with anxiety, and with good reason. When Pinkerton returns after three years he comes with a blond American wife intending to take away his child. Consumed with sadness and shame Madama B commits seppuku.

I feel woefully inadequate to comment on the singing, but what the hell. I did not think the tenor who played Pinkerton had a strong voice. He was no Domingo and the role of Pinkerton may have been too demanding for him (he is from New Jersey, that bastion of operatic excellence). As for the soprano, Kristine Opolias, she was great. Her arias were well suited for the role.  Her arias were not the thunder clap of Brunnhilde, rather they were proportionate to the role. Some guy screaming BRAVA behind me, gave her a resounding endorsement. So much for decorum. From a picture in “Play Bill” she looks like a hot babe. I can’t wait for the next issue of Maxim Does Opera.

The set production was outstanding. The set was minimalist in keeping with the Japanese motif. White shoji paper screens were effectively used to move actors and change sceneries. They could have used some color to break up the blandness of the white paper. Paper lanterns were used to change locals from the harbor to the village. A shower of cherry blossom petals rained down from the rafters creating a dream like effect.

A wonderful treat was the Bunraku puppeteers. This is a very old Japanese puppeteering tradition. The puppeteers wear black, like Ninjas but without star daggers. They manually manipulate the puppet on stage without strings. You are not supposed to see them, but I did. The child puppet was handled in this manner and in a dream sequence and so was a mini Madama B.

That’s it, feel spent. I think I maxed out on culture for 2014. See you at the movies.

Noah

This film is a mish mash of movie genres; fantasy, sci-fi, adventure and Bible stories. The problem is which reference point do you use? In a sci fi movie like Star Wars you have no problem accepting a Wookie, a Death Star or a guy with a fish head playing a clarinet in a dive since your reference point is sci fi. In Noah, no matter how hedonistic you may be, your reference is the Bible. When fantastic creatures are on screen they are just incongruent. Bible stories themselves have elements of fantasy but there is a commonality to them. The fantasy in this movie falls outside of that commonality. When I saw the Watchers (fantasy creatures), I sat up and said “what the heck” (I did not say heck, I said something else). I guess the writers could not get beyond spit balling the script.

Russell Crowe does not look like a 500 year old pre flood patriarch, rather he looks like He-Man. He has on going battles with the bad guy king Tubal-Cain played by Ray Winston; a British actor who is basically a thug with an Equity card. All the actors are very good. This is about the third time Jennifer Connelly is married to Russell Crowe on screen. Antony Hopkins, Methuselah, is Noah’s grandfather and does some wizardry with Emma Watson (go figure) who is Noah’s adopted daughter. Methuselah gives Noah magic beans (sounds familiar) to get the Ark started.

The Ark looks like a failed wood shop project. It is a long tar covered rectangular box of logs and timber. The animals came two by two, or so they say. Then Noah’s family goes throughout the Ark with incents putting the animals to sleep. Fortunately humans are not affected. This biblical anesthetic is complemented by iron, bamboo, tea, gun powder and iron pipes all in the same time line. Even fantasy needs some rationale and order. The writers never heard of PBS.

Towards the latter part of the story the film focuses on solid dramatic acting without gimmicks. It is a key climatic moment and very well done. Is it that well done to carry the film? I would not go so far. In the end to legitimize the film the writers steal two sub plots directly from the Bible. Noah is seen picking grapes and getting drunken from his five day old wine. In the Bible Noah is the first drunk. The script alludes to the Curse of Ham (Ham is Noah’s son) but it needs to be more revealing (see Genesis 9:20). It is odd that a movie so divergent wants to end on the right side of God. May be sacrificing the writers is justified?

The Great Beauty

Is Felliniesque a real word?  Many critiques have compared The Great Beauty to Fellini, but given my limited knowledge of Fellini’s films I will not be one of them.

I understand what the Great Beauty is, by what it is not. It is not Cinema Paradiso, ILPostino or Malena. These films have directness, transparency and familiarity. They are as sophisticated and rich as the Great Beauty but their feet are on the ground.

The Great Beauty mocks superficialness. Jep (Tony Servillo) who is a successful upper class journalist lives life without attachments; no wife or children.  He goes to bed in the morning rises in the afternoon and in the evening goes to baccnal parties with blaring techno music and frenetic dancing by over aged people who should know better. Good life right? So why does he look unsatisfied? His life is filled with emptiness. At a point in life you look over your shoulder to see life lived, and at sixty five Jep hopes he sees something worthwhile.

He mocks members of his own class. For most of the film he wears a mask of disdain and when he laughs it is not clear if it is at others or himself. He carries himself with glib casualness. His loneliness is evident when he asks a magician to make him disappear. The closest he comes to a familial setting is sharing a bowl of soup at night in his boss’s office who is a female dwarf (Felliniesgue?). He also reflects on a love lost. This is a guy who you assume had copious conquests but he still fondly remembers a bare breasted beauty fifty years ago.

The film does not specifically identify the Great Beauty. Another wonderful Italian film gives some hint, Life is Beautiful.  Life is beautiful and full by loved ones and family.  Unfelliniesque, yes?

Philomena

This movie lives up to its billing. It is simple, moving with outstanding acting. This is basically a two man play (ah, woman and man). Julie Dench and Steve Coogen are the protagonists. Dench is a Dame, after this performance she should be a Gran Dame.

Her performance is nothing short of a master class in acting. She can come off as an old ditty delighted in reading tear jerker pulp novels and next she is a strong willed mother researching for her son after fifty years. Even her wrinkles give a great performance. As with great acting it is the small nuances that leave their mark. Her held back tear is a door to her grieving heart. This soft old woman is made of iron.  We all think we would suffer the tribulations she endures for her child; keep that though.

One can argue Steve Googan is her straight man, but he is more than that. He is the Oxford educated journalist to her retired simple nurse. There are endless jokes to be made and there are tender and funny moments between them. Along their journey they form a bond of respect and affection.

This is a true story and if you leave the theater without shedding a tear either you were asleep or dead. I do not have much to say about excellence, it speaks for itself. See the movie.

Spoiler alert- The bad guys wear black and white and walk like penguins. 

The Monuments Men

With his mustache George Clooney looks a bit like Clark Gable. The retro look is appropriate since the movie harkens back to the war movies of the 60’s and 70’s such as the Longest Day and The Guns of Navorone.  At its core this is a buddy movie of a bunch of guys looking for stolen art. The buddy part makes this movie watchable since just looking for stolen art would make it like a PBS special (just like the real PBS special).

The casting makes for good humor and their chemistry is genuine. Clooney is the leader, behind and in front of the camera. Always dapper, he wore a tie during the whole war. Matt Damon is a curator from the Met cris-crossesing Europe looking for the art. He is so neat and clean not even in the field or in the mines does he get dirty (so how did Private Ryan get short changed?). Damon’s liaison in Paris is Cate Blanchett, a pinch faced marginalized curator (yikes!).  Rounding out the cast is John Goodman as a sculptor. I could not get the image of Goodman as Fred Flintstone working in the rock quarry out of my mind; type casting.  Bill Murray did a Bill Murray. Then there is the ubiquitous Jean Dujardin, who plays a French solider (Viola!!). He is dashing in a beret.

Chasing and finding stolen art is the back bone of the movie. Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child of Bruges and Van Eyck’s Ghent Triptych were costars of the movie. Other luminaries mentioned were Veneer, Vazquez, and Frans Hal (Picasso didn’t make it, he was torched). Passing Art History 101 is not a prerequisite but it don’t hurt.

The Nazis were there but not there. They were like a bad order in the background. One scene was ironically humorous. Question, what does a Nazi officer hiding as a farmer in the country side do with priceless works of art? You will not believe it.

No one’s acting is outstanding or memorable, but as a group they make an enjoyable and watchable movie. It is worth the price of a movie, but if you want to splurge go to the Met and visit the rest of the caste.

P.s.-There is a very nice surprise in the last scene.

The Lego Movie

Me and my inner child went to see the Lego Movie. This is a funny and very clever movie. For bits of plastic these characters have distinct personalities. The script is excellent and the voice actors bring the Lego pieces to life. Morgan Freeman is the Gandalf dude. Chris Pratt plays Emmitt a clueless, not too bright, proto-hero who is guided and protected by Lucy, played by Elizabeth Banks. Will Farrell plays evil President Business with uncharacteristic restraint (he mercifully keeps his shirt on). The focus of the movie is Emmitt’s journey of transformation and pitted against the perils of President Business.

The movie is a mélange of genres and characters. There is the Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Cowboys and Indians and super heroes (all DC). A lot of the jokes had to do with what these characters traditionally do. A character specific to the movie is Bad Cop, played by Liam Neeson, who is the enforcer for President Business.

The plot is not simple and keeps your attention. The ending is a bit unexpected. The animation is outstanding. The movie incorporates the different Lego building sets as part of the movie and the combination of characters makes the movie funny.

This movie does not have the high adult crossover appeal like Toy Story. Toy Story appealed to children and adults with the kids oblivious to the double entendres of Woody and Bo Peeps. For kids and young adults, the Lego Movie is a home run. For the rest of us, tap into your inner child.