Carrie 2013

Carrie 2013

This movie seems to be more violent and vengeful than the original 1976 Carrie film. With better special effects and new technology the blood fest has a bigger splash. The 2013 Carrie uses social media, cell phones and digital recorders to persecute Carrie augmenting  vicious and humiliating gossip. Aside from these technological embellishments the movie is basically unchanged. In the modern context this is the ultimate bully revenge movie. 

Julian  Moore plays the fanatical ultra-religious mother, Margret, who wants to keep her daughter from worldly contact, including boys.  Moore is an excellent actress and convincingly plays the role of a woman consumed by guilt for a sin that torments her. The dynamics between daughter and mother are in transition where the dominance of the mother is supplanted by the growing telekinetic powers of the daughter.

Chloë Grace Moretz plays Carrie White. She is the scared girl who is brutally abused by her classmates.  Some scenes were uncomfortable to watch.  In the film Carrie’s abuse is caught on a digital recorder and posted on the internet. The callousness of her classmates drives Carrie to revenge. There is no pity for the bad girls.

The 2013 Carrie was true to the story adding only with some current gadgets which are superfluous. This is a very good story and a good movie. This redux adds little new. Save a few bucks and go to Netflix.

Gravity

Gravity relies heavily on CG, green scenes and copious use of NASA space shots. Sandra Bullock, as Dr. Ryan Stone, and George Clooney, as Matt Kowalsky, are encased in their space suits for most of the movie while floating in space. These two super stars have almost no physical contact, which is a unique approach for this movie.

This is a story of survival. The American astronauts are repairing the Hubble Telescope when they are bombarded with space debris from a shattered Russian satellite destroying the space shuttle and hurling them untethered into space. The roles of Clooney and Bullock imply sexism. In the face of catastrophic failure Clooney’s character is calm, soft spoken and knows what every knob and flashing light mean.  Bullock’s Dr. Ryan is panicking and tumbling out of control physically and mentally. I believe our female astronauts have more of the right stuff than Dr. Ryan.

 What makes this movie different from other classic space movies such as 2001 Space Odyssey, The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 is the majority of the action occurs outside of the space ship. Bullock and Clooney are literally marooned in space. The shots of Earth are stunning. The movie’s visual impact alone is justification to see it. I begrudgingly admit 3D works here.

Bullock has the main role. This is probably the greatest range of emotion she has displayed in a movie to date. She goes from very scared to being very very really scared. This was a physically challenging role for the actors since for the majority of the movie they were suspended with wires off the ground.

There were two other actors. An Indian astronaut who bought the farm in the very beginning of the film (I saw that coming). Also Ed Harris, who played John Glenn in the Right Stuff, is the voice of Houston Mission Control (he never appears on screen). Ironically a real astronaut is Earth bound.

For the most part the hardware and equipment looked authentic (yeah, like I would know), but there was one totally BS scene that belonged in a Looney Tunes cartoon rather than in this movie. It was a lazy way to solve a problem. Interestingly, the movie ran for only 90 minutes which bucks the new trend of three hour movies. I think there is only so much 3D tumbling an audience can take without getting motion sickness.

The movie is worthwhile seeing, I just do not buy into all the ballyhoo the movie has engendered. In Gravity acting is secondary to the green scene.

The Butler

Outstanding movie, go see it.

This is a tale of two stories. One story focuses on the embryonic Civil Rights movement and the other is about a boy’s journey from the cotton fields of Macon Georgia to the back door of the White House. The stories are separate but connected.  Cecile Gaines is the Butler who is very content with the status quo because he knew how hard and dangerous life was before arriving in DC. One of his son’s, Louis, becomes a Freedom Rider against his father’s wishes. This situation creates bitterness and anger between the two. In his quite way Cecile was advancing the cause by giving a better life to his family and the ability for his sons to move forward.

This role was perfect for Forest Whitaker. He has played the quite confident character in other roles (OK, he was not that quite as Idi Amin). Whitaker’s role requires a range of emotions from the invisible butler to the agonized father estranged from his son. The transitioning of emotions is what makes him a great actor.

Then there is Oprah. The woman is a billionaire but she still knows how to work. Oprah must have had real life experience to play Gloria Gaines so well. The part was more than a dutiful wife; she had her own demons and transgressions she had to battle. Her acting chops are still sharp. Oh, one other thing, Oprah has a mean back hand and I do not mean tennis!

I am not sure if the director meant to have the US Presidents as humorous as they were. Some characterizations were better than others. Here are the Presidents in no particular order: John Cusack, Robin Williams, James Marsden, Live Schreiber and Alan Richman. None were an encore performance, but with little imagination they pulled it off.

I am going out on a limb, but I think Forest Whitaker will get an Oscar nomination. As for Oprah, regrettably she has too much bling already.

Elysium

Hi, I’m back from vacation.

I wanted to see Elysium because I like sci-fi and this was the same director who did District 9, Neil Blomkamp. I liked District 9 very much. It condemned Apartheid, and the orchestrated evacuation of the “prawns” was symbolic of genocide. I had high expectations for Elysium, which regrettably were not met.

Elysium is a simple story of the have and have not’s.  The movie sets vividly depict the contrast between the two societies. Los Angles of 2154 is all squalor and over populated while Elysium is a giant sleek space station of prosperity spinning above the Earth fiercely protected against any intruders. Aside from the opulent life style no one on Elysium gets sick. They have machines that cure all, from caner to a shot gun blast to the face (yuk!).

Matt Damon is the protagonist. He is a former criminal eking out a living working in a factory that OSHA would have condemned. Damon is wasted here. Any mid weight actor could have carried off this part since action is more important than acting. What was interesting in the movie was the use of Spanish. I didn’t get it at first, but of course this Los Angles. Even Matt gets to speak some Spanish,”Hola me llamo es…Thank God for subtitles.

Jody Foster players the Über bitch as Elysium’s Secretary of State. Foster plays these roles very well, but here she over does it. Her words were like venom spiting from her lips and veins popping on her neck. She got to the point where her character looked cartoonish.

The most entertaining part of the movie was played by the South African actor Sharlto Copley. He played the nebbish administrator in District 9 who in the end was transformed into a prawn. In District 9 he seemed to be five feet two inches weighting about one hundred and two pounds. In Elysium he is a giant! He looks six feet two inches weighing about two hundred and thirty pounds, all muscle.  He beats the crap out of Damon and you can tell he enjoyed his role.

This is a B movie, more worthwhile on DVD. For all its sleekness it lacks gravity.

Pacific Rim

Ladies you can skip this review. This is for the man-child or man-children or whatever.

This movie is homage to those cheesy Godzilla movies cranked out by the Japanese in the 1960’s. Godzilla was some guy in a rubber suite flaying around killing Mothra or destroying office buildings. This movie is a bit of an upgrade influenced by the Manga culture (Japanese comic books). Kaijus monsters, the size of buildings, attack the planet destroying cities bent on world domination. To battle the Kaijus human depend on Jaegers (not the drink) which are robots the size of buildings also. The Jaegers are so large they need two pilots operating the machinery in unison from the inside (just like old Godzilla). It was very silly to see how the pilots maneuvered the Jaegers. For the Jaeger to walk the pilots actually move their legs and to fight they move their arms inside the Jaeger. I guess these guys never heard of hydraulics.

The director Guillermo del Toro, is one of the best Sci Fi/ fantasy directors around. He directed Pan's Labyrinth  and the Hell Boy movies among others. Visually this film is full of action and epic battles. The film is like an expensive version of the cartoon show Dragon Ball. The actors are grade B, which is good enough. A recognizable actor is Charlie Day. This is the dental hygienist  from Horrible Bosses who refused to be sexually ravished by Jennifer Ashton (schmuck). Charlie plays a scientist who is an expert on Kaijus anatomy. Idris Elba is the guy who played the captain in the movie Prometheus and had a go with Charliz Theron (Yes!). He is the very serious chief of the Jaeger operation. He is so stiff he can imitate a 2 x 4. Rinko Kikuchi is the gender breaker female pilot. I have no idea who she is but she is easy on the eyes. Ron Perlman (Hell Boy himself) has a small role as a black marketer in Kaijus carcasses as Aphrodisiacs, yuk?

The film actually has a plot, but I will not to spoil it for you. I am not sure if there will be a Pacific Rim 2. But if you are nostalgic for Godzilla flicks or collected Dragon Ball trading cards go see the movie. This may be the latest in kitsch. 

The Lone Ranger

I try not to read reviews of films I plan to see. Regrettably when I heard about the low opening weekend box office I knew things were bad. This was another Disney home run that went foul. The movie was also guilty of false advertising. The trailer showed exciting scenes with the sense the film was going to be a light hearted buddy movie. Trailer speaks with forked tongue, Kemo Sabe.

Johnny Depp narrates the story as an old Indian in San Francisco in 1933 talking to a nebbish kid with a cowboy hat and mask. Depp is part of a diorama tilted the Noble Savage. It’s kind of weird, is Johnny real or part of the kids imagination. It was not that complicated in Night at the Museum.

The script is a mess. The impression is that the writers made up the story as they went along. It was a car wreck. There was the cannibalistic villain, a homicidal megalomaniac railroad executive, a corrupt whinny cavalry officer, a one legged madame with an ivory scrimshaw left leg prostheses that shoots bullets and the Comanches (or what was left of them). Strangest of all were these razor sharp tooth attack bunny rabbits that had no compunction of eating their own. They were on scene for about ten seconds and served no purpose to the plot. These diverse elements never congealed. This divergence failed the film.

This movie did not have the light hearted spirit of the Pirates of the Caribbean. Evil in Pirates was more suggested. In the Lone Ranger some parts are grim and even too brutal to watch. However, there were a few scenes that made you smile. Johnny Depp’s make up with a dead crow on his head and his deadpan persona is funny. Armie Hammer had a huge white hat the size of a toilet bowel. Even Silver had a few funny scenes (this horse was whiter than Lady Gaga). Johnny and Armie had good chemistry, which was wasted.

Basically the Lone Ranger is a buddy movie. During the movie the buddy and the lead switch. Sometimes Tonto was the sage, at other times he was the comic relief. Arnie was mostly stiff faced and strangely reluctant to shoot the bad guys. This is a Western, everyone ever one gets shot!

The railroad special effects are impressive. Silver running on top of moving railroad cars is exciting. The William Tell Overture made its debut towards end of the movie.  The TV Lone Ranger show only used a few hallmark bars of the overture. The movie played the whole megillah. I guess the bigger the score the bigger the tie in to the legend of the Lone Ranger.

The last time of the Lone Ranger was on TV was about 45 years ago. Enough time has elapsed that the slate is clean (the millennialismists don’t have a clue about history anyway).The producers could have made any movie they wanted, they picked wrong one.

World War Z

World War Z

Brad, dude, we need another zombie movie like we need another Kardashin. For all its sweeping cinematography, worldwide locations and FX this is just another zombie movie. The undead have the same generic traits: bad posture, a jerky spastic gate and a nasty biting habit. Once bit you become a zombie. In this movie it takes 12 seconds to become a zombie, they actually have a countdown, cool. As opposed to other zombies these guys move fast, very fast. They use their bodies like weapons hurling themselves at cars and helicopters. They make a mountain of human bodies which is impressive to see. This is like Johnny on a Pony from hell.

Brad is a retired UN inspector called back because of the zombie crisis. He reluctantly leaves his wife and two daughters and starts his global trek hunting zombies trying to root out the cause of the pandemic. In all the mayhem that ensues he is as always cool and in control. One piece of advice, Brad loose the long hair it’s not the 70’s and it contrasts with your crow’s feet.

This movie is not very scary, there are no flesh eating scenes you see in other zombie films or jumping out of your seat scenes in movies like 24 Hours or I Am Legend. Most of the action was during daylight; so how scary is that? My problem is I do not see what makes this movie unique, what is the hook? There are some leaps of faith in the movie testing its credibility. They had some script problems and had to reshoot some scenes and the band aides are visible.

For a multimillion dollar movie, Brad is the only star with name recognition. I am not familiar with the rest of the cast. Except for the female Israeli soldier, the rest of the cast do not do have significant roles. For good or bad this movie is on Brad’s shoulders. 

The movie is doing well and Brad Pitt is pulling in big audiences. Should you see it, sure it’s a spectacle. Just remember this is not the type of movie your date leaps on to your lap and all the good things that can follow.