The Orphanage

I was channel surfing Italian TV in Milan. My first hit was a typical RAI variety

  program featuring Amazonian women showing more leg than talent and some old guy with bad dye job hosting. My next hit was a news format with six intense journalists seriously discussing the history of Dragon Boat Racing (what the …..). Fortunately I found a foreign language (English among others) channel. The feature movie was “The Orphanage” which I never heard of. It was in Spanish without subtitles. What caught my attention was Guillermo Del Toro’s name. He was not the director but the producer. Del Toro is a great director and writer. His credits include Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devils Back Bone and the Hell Boy series. I decided to watch the film. It was 11pm and past my bedtime but what the hell let’s get wild.

Even without subtitles the movie was intriguing. The acting was so good you had a basic idea of what was going on. A family took over an abandoned orphanage and were living there. There was a mother a father and their beloved son Simón. Flashbacks showed the original orphanage with the orphans happy and running around in play.  Later you find out something terrible happened to the orphans. In the present Simón befriends one of the orphan ghosts. Simon has a bad fight with his mother and runs away and disappears. The rest of the movie focuses on the parent’s efforts, especially the mother’s, to find Simón.

Basically this is a ghost story. The atmosphere of the movie is more sad than gloomy. The ghosts are not the main focus rather it is the parents efforts to find their son and their crushing heart breaks. Even in disappear some parts are touching and tender. This film definitely has a Hitchcockian feel. It has consistent style but when it wants to scare you it does so effectively. In one scene the mother is pushed into the bathroom by a ghost and tumbles into the tub ripping a shower curtain as she falls; sound familiar?

After the movie, which ended at 1am, I looked it up on Wikipedia.  What I found out made the movie even more interesting. I am ordering the movie on Netflix with subtitles. This was a gem of a find which I highly recommend it. Maybe I will stay up past 1am more often.

A Most Wanted Man

When the movie ended I suspected it could be based on a John le Carre novel; it was. For me reading a le Carre novel is like jogging in wet cement. It is ponderous and has little forward motion.  This movie follows suite. It is a spy movie but not one shot is fired, never mind gratuitous sex. The heart of the plot is a mysterious and very dirty refugee from the East comes to Hamburg to claim an inheritance. American and German secret services seek to claim him and the money.

The movie went on for two hours but felt longer. There were more business meetings than car chases. Not to give too much away, the apex of the movie was signing a critical legal document; very un-Bondish. If this sound base, I plead guilty.

What this movie will be remembered for is not its scintillating plot but rather as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s last film (far as we know). He looked terrible, overweigh (more than usual), puffy and tired. His incessant cigarette smoking was real. He played the role as the German agent Gunther in his trademark languid manner. His drawl was not quite like Capote’s, but still unhurried with a soft spoken mumble.  His skills as a great actor was evident and he fully inhabits his character, but this is not the best vehicle for his final journey

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There other fine actors in this movie. Rachel McAdams plays an idealist lawyer aiding the refugee from the East. She is very sweet and earnest. Her legal skills are sharp, and yes there are more meetings.   At one point she and the refugee tumble into each other’s arms but alas no lip lock.

William Defoe is the slimy bank president. Defoe has a wonderful demonic face which portends evil, but here his dark side is relegated to being a German bureaucrat. He played a vampire once before.

The last notable star is Robin Wright (Buttercup from “The Prince Bride” and Mrs. Frank Underwood from the “House of Card”). She plays the CIA officer liaising with the German investigation team.  There is nothing soft or warm about her; she can chill a bottle of wine by just holding it. Her performance in the film is limited but important.  Detached heatless women seem to be a natural for her, hopefully only in films.

I apologize for being so catty. With all the ballyhoo about the film I expected more or a least a pace faster than a tortoise’s.

Get On Up

For a movie with fancy choreography, there are some missteps. However, Chadwick Boseman was fabulous. To go from the stoic and reserved Jackie Robinson role to the extroverted James Brown is the ultimate definition acting range. Boseman’s embodiment of Brown was so complete his mimicked speech pattern made it difficult to understand him. His role is more than just an impression but is rather very challenging and encompasses the spectrum of Brown’s life from the back woods shack of his birth to the private jet of the Godfather of Soul. The hardest working man in show business had a very hard life and as a result was not the nicest person. James Brown constantly uses the first person to describe himself. In this a way he reaffirms his success and keeps the ghosts of his past at bay. James Brown was a force of nature and his signature showmanship defined him.

The movie benefited from other great actors. Viola Davies plays his mother and even in her brief appearance gives a touching and forceful performance. The movie would have been stronger with her character longer on screen. She is very influential in the development of Brown. Octavia Spencer played a warm comforting auntie type. She is a proxy mother, but she too is relegated to a brief appearance. Dan Aykroyd is a national treasure. He has the acting range of a pimple, but you gotta love him. Nelsan Ellis plays James Brown’s wingman, Bobbie Bryd. This is a classic love hate relationship engendering pity, arrogance and resolution. Ellis was perfect for the role.

The dancing is signature James Brown. I hope Boseman already has children, since those splits are lethal. Boseman lip syncs the songs but he does it with such bravado, sweat pours down his grimacing face. Boseman’s make up is dead on.

The movie has some problems; flash backs and asides. Flash backs are valuable if used sparingly. In this movie the flash backs give you motion sickness and are very distracting. They bounce back and forth in a non-liner manner. Asides are annoying. If the actor has to tell the audience what is going on followed with a big wink, something is lacking. If the script is written correctly the audience gets it. Another sore point is the use labels in the movie.  They looked like exit signs on a highway and were silly for a drama.

This movie is imperfect. Boseman’s chameleon performance of James Brown deserves at least an Oscar nomination. All round there are wonderful acting gems, but sometimes the settings are not quite good. Go see it, but bring Dramamine.

Lucy

In “Lucy”, Scarlett Johansson’s mental capacity is expanded far beyond human limits. This plot line is nothing new to Sci Fi movies. Usually the person with the jacked up brain can levitate, stop bullets in midair, suspend time and look through people’s clothing (whoops, that’s my wish). In Lucy, Luc Besson, the director and writer, brought a fresh interpretation to this genre. Besson has directed some excellent Sci Fi and action movies such as the “Fifth Element”, “District 13”and “Nikita”. Lucy is fast paced and has a multiple plot points. There is much going on in the movie: time travel, drugs, Chinese triads, dinosaurs, scientists, the French and a sprinkling of Italians. However, this mish mash work together.

Johansson is an unwilling drug mule who after a beating is contaminated by the drugs she is carrying. This triggers her transformation to a super human. Johansson is an established dramatic actress, but of late she is also a sexy action star (The Black Widow in the Avengers). She is credible handling a gun and shows no compulsion committing mass killings. As super Lucy she walks around in a semi daze and is mechanical in delivering her lines. This is all part of her transformation. The film actually shows percentage clips indicating her mental growth (2%, 10%, 20% etc…).These sign posts are meant to heighten our expectations, but are more funny than effective.

The other leading actor is Morgan Freeman as the distinguished university professor specializing in the human brain. For the most part Freeman is the narrator explaining the power of the brain and the possibilities of expanding those limits (humans use 1% and dolphins use 2%, yeah but we have legs). When he interacts with Lucy it is with amazement as to what she can do. By the time they meet she is beyond his neurological knowledge.

The rest of the cast is multinational. The Chinese triades own the drugs and to get them back they unleash a torrent of violence. The drug lord did not speak English so he always needed an interpreter, even by phone. Seeing new international actors in familiar roles makes the movie interesting. The French cops were the good guys, but they spoke English with a Pepe Le Pew accent.  The Italians cops did not speak English but they looked really cool in their Bottega leather jackets.

Some parts of the movie were prone to excess. To give a sense of what hyper Lucy was experiencing there was a flood of images from dinosaurs to cells splitting rapidly. The terrestrial scenes looked like National Geographic on speed. As Lucy reaches higher levels of brain capacity her human form becomes unrecognizable.

I may go see it again, but where did I leave my wallet?

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

This was a very good movie. However the acting, the human acting, was not a significant contribution to the film. It was not bad, but not memorable. Even Gary Oldman, who had marquee billing, did not do much for his role. The quality elements of the movie are the script, the direction, the special effects and the CG.

The story is rich with different levels. The themes are universal and go beyond just sci-fi. There is the father/son story; alpha ape dilemma; humans versus apes’ dynamic. Survival of the fittest is the goal, but who is the fittest? Essentially the story is about prejudice and tolerance (or intolerance).

This movie is the second installment of “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. Caesar is still the alpha male leading his troop who live well in an arboreal condo, al fresco. The human population has been decimated by a simian flu, concocted in human labs. The apes are ascending and the humans putting back the pieces of their broken world. This sets the tension of the movie and makes it watchable. Do not assume who wins.

The special effects are incredible. They mastered the graphic challenges of fur, skin and the occasional tear drop, but the real achievement is how the apes interact with the human actors; their timing is seamless. With the range of emotion’s Caesar displays his acting is on par with the human actors, sans the ego. I would not be surprised if this film is nominated for an Oscar for special effects.

The movie is not all kumbaya, there are some serious battles. The CG battles are massive and impressive. It is very disconcerting to see a gorilla riding a horse.

I think a sequel has a good bet, given this film’s box office. Anyway, monkeys do work for peanuts.

Snowpiercer

Snowpiercer

This is one of the strangest scfi movie I have seen in a while. This is a South Korean scifi action film based on a French graphic novel, well that explains part of it. It is an apocalyptic film where in an attempt to reduce global warming the clouds are seeded with a chemical that catastrophically causes the earth to freeze killing everything, except the inhabitants on the train, the Snowpiercer. The train is the ark for those lucky and wretched few who survived. There is a strict caste system on the train which frames story.

This movie has its own unique climate. It takes place almost entirely in the train. It is gritty, violent with non-stop action. Tension is constant between the good guys and the bad guys. The film in part feels like Terry Giliam’s movie “Brazil” because of its bizarre nature. It does not have the ultra-violence “Of a Clock Work Orange”, but there are similarities in the brutal gang battles and cult alliances.

It has a rich cast. Chis Evans is the protagonist. He is venturing out of his comfort zone as a super hero. However, with the bread, grime and knitted cap he was hardly recognizable. His acting arch ranged between a scowl and a grimace. This is not a break out role for him but it is a few steps away from tights.

John Hurt is the senior leader of the great unwashed. Hurt delivers one of his stock character roles of a feeble sage. His acting is beyond reproach and his wrinkles continue to multiply. Ed Harris is Wilford, the inventor and keeper of the train. His performance is cold, detached and disturbing.  

Tilda Swinton is totally unrecognizable in the film, which may not be a bad thing. As a hint she has a fierce overbite and she is playing a woman, sort of. Rounding out the American crew is Octavia Spencer, she is one of the great unwashed. She gives a wonderful  Oprah impersonation from “The Color Purple” complete with girth and blown out hair.

The international crew includes Song Kang-Ho and Go Ah-sung. Song is the drug addicted electronic technician who plays a key role in the movie and Go is his mischievous out of touch daughter. The film is directed by Bong Joon-ho who is Korean. He has his own approach to fantasy and scifi. The movie gives a welcomed a new vision to an old story line.

Edge of Tomorrow

This movie is a combination of “Ground Hog Day” and “The Expendables”. It is a fun summer movie. Tom Curse and Emily Blunt are futuristic soldiers battling an invading alien force. The kicker is that Tom Curse keeps repeating the same day. How he restarts the same day is cruel but funny. The karma shtick works well from being to end and gives the film a holistic feel.

Acting is not a big concern for this film, this is an action flick. In contrast to his bravo performance in “Cocktail”, Curse is once again “Tom Terrific”. Curse is more light hearted here than the grim Ethan Hunt persona in “Mission Impossible”. Returning to yesterday is fraught with problems least of all convincing people you were already there.

Emily Blunt is a Special Forces bad ass (Ha Ha Ha!!). I like Emily Blunt, she is a good actress, but she is more suited to afternoon tea than storming the beach in full Lululemon black body armor. She and Tom are a team, unequal in the beginning but they catch up. Rather than a sex object Blunt is a highly trained killing machine. Tom starts out as a slacker and Emily whips him into shape (whipping is the least of his problems). This dynamic makes for good chemistry between the actors.

The aliens were quite different. They looked like chrome covered Ramen noodles with a bad over bite. It is not clear why they are invading the Earth, the problem is how do you get rid of them?

Two other likable character actors are Bill Paxton and Brendon Gleeson (“The Guard” and “In Bruges”). Paxton is the hard charging Master Sargent who is mustering his troops for battle. This is a departure from his more sedate roles, but he pulls it off with mustached gusto. Gleeson plays a general and he has really put on the pounds. Mercifully the only action he sees in the movie is diving for a box of cookies.

This is a safe movie for the whole family. No sex, no mindless gore, no cursing…and no kids.