Forgive my absence, but I've been literally out of the country for three weeks. I have returned just in time for another edition of Whiplash Cinema. This week's offerings are The Valet, a French comedy, and Ratatouille, a Pixar animated feature set in France.
The Valet (La Doublure), is a competent, pleasant farce about Francois Pignon(Gad Elmaleh), a valet who wants to marry Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen), the girl he has known forever. Meanwhile, Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil), big-shot CEO and husband of Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) is having an affair with Elena (the radiant Alice Taglioni), a supermodel who believes the cad Pierre will leave Christine, who is the majority shareholder in the company he runs (ain't it always the way?), and marry his mistress. Yeah, right. Pierre convinces Francois and Elena to pose as a couple. This will prevent his wife from leaving him and taking all that tasty, tasty money with her. Hijinks ensue.
The Valet is a movie that could be transported straight to Hollywood. You could plug in John Krasinki as Francois and cast Rob Schneider as his pal Richard and you wouldn't miss a beat. The only actor without a Hollywood analogue (that I can see) is Taglioni, who is beautiful and sweet and makes Elena the most sympathetic and empathetic character in the film. It has some amusing sequences and a few chuckles, but it's nothing special. It's the sort of movie that someone who "doesn't like foreign films" can view and enjoy.
Ratatouille is the third film by Brad Bird. His first was The Iron Giant, a criminally underviewed masterwork of 2D animation. His second film did better. You may have heard of it. It was called The Incredibles.
Ratatouille is the story of Remy, a rat voiced by Paton Oswalt, who wants to be a chef. When his rat clan is evicted from their home, he makes his way to Paris and the famous Gusteau's restaurant, buuuuuuttttt he's a rat, remember?
I won't go into any plot specifics of the movie. The story is fine, but you can see the beats coming miles away. What elevates Ratatouille is the animation, the voice casting, and Bird's huge, expansive heart. This movie looks incredible; sometimes it contains more than the eye can behold. The cast does yeoman work. Oswalt, a gifted stand-up comedian and in-demand writer, is perfect as Remy, Brad Garrett and Janeane Garofalo are almost unrecognizable (and I mean that in the good way) as the ghost of Gusteau and Colette, and Brian Dennehy is spot-on as Remy's dad, but the crown must be reserved for Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego. O'Toole gives a breathtaking performance using only his resonant, perfectly pitched and intonated phrasing. It's a tour-de-force from an actor whose physical beauty has always been one of his most bracing characteristics.
Bird seems to have found his perfect working environment at Pixar. Ratatouille isn't as all-around great as The Incredibles, but that seems like nit-picking. It's very, very good, and isn't that a nice criticism to level in this day of rampant mediocrity?
Showing posts with label whiplash. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whiplash. Show all posts
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Whiplash Cinema 2
This week's mismatched movies were Zwartboek (Black Book) (I use the Dutch title to increase my pretension quotient) and Knocked Up. Not too many similarities between those titles.
Black Book is directed by Paul Verhoeven. It has been hailed as a return to his early form, when movies such as The 4th Man and Soldier of Orange made him seem like a promising auteur. Well, it didn't really pan out. He started with Robocop, a fine film, but he was soon directing Total Recall, Showgirls, and Starship Troopers. I think the last one may have been his Hollywood high mark; many have derided the movie, but I think that Verhoeven got at the heart of Robert A. Heinlein's novel in a way few could. The movie is a $100 million joke--it's Verhoeven saying "I can make you cheer for the Nazis."
Black Book has been cheered as a return to form, but it's not. It's Showgirls with swastikas or, as a friend of mine said, "WW2 mit boobies!" It's a preposterous mess, but it is entertaining. It's a movie ripe for MST3King. If that's your thing, Black Book is worth a look.
I loved Freaks & Geeks, Judd Apatow and Paul Feig's brilliant, short-lived TV series. Apatow gave TV another shot with Undeclared, which was basically the sequel to F & G. It went down in flames. So now Apatow's workin' in the movies and he's already had success as a producer (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) and as a writer/director (The 40-Year-Old Virgin). He's gathered something of a repertory company around himself and many of those players are on display in Knocked Up.
KU passes the first rule of comedy; it's really, really funny. Katherine Heigl plays Alison Scott, who works at E! and celebrates her promotion to on-air status by clubbing with her sister Debbie. Alison gets drunk, meets unemployed slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) and, after a sloshed one-night stand, winds up pregnant. She decides to keep the baby and contacts Ben. That's as far as I'll go in plot summary. Like all the best comedies Knocked Up does not derive its humor from twists and story machinations, but from character. Rogen and the actors who play his stoner friends (Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, and Martin Starr) are Apatow alumni and much of their banter feels as though Apatow just tossed out an idea and turned on the camera. I've never much cared for Katherine Heigl, but her Alison is both beautiful and believable.
Two topics arise when discussing this movie. The first is the, shall we say, pulchritude gap between the leads. The second is Alison's choice to keep the baby and then contact Ben.
As to the first, I'm usually not much for "chemistry" between actors. If you're a professional, you should be able to manufacture it for the camera. That said, Heigl and Rogen project such an easy rapport with each other that it was easy for me to accept them as a burgeoning couple. Also, the idea that Rogen is a gargoyle and Heigl a goddess just ain't so. Heigl's a good-looking woman, but not unattainably pretty. Rogen is not ugly so much as badly-dressed (even then, he's Hollywood's idea of "badly dressed"; he wears a collection of vintage T's that would cost you $80 bucks a throw). If you still can't get over the gap, Google or IMDB Leslie Mann. Now do the same for Judd Apatow. Leslie Mann is Mrs. Judd Apatow. I think it's possible that Judd's writing what he knows.
The second point is thornier. I agree that most young women in Alison's position would end the pregnancy. That's just the way it is. For the movie to work, though, I only have to be convinced that this young woman would make this particular decision within the context of the film. It's true that the movie doesn't spend much time on Alison's decision, but at 129 minutes it's pretty long for a comedy already. Maybe Apatow didn't believe that he could write convincingly about such a decision.
This is a creative work, not a sociological text. The writer, director, and actors all have to make choices. That's one of the things that makes the movies way different than real life. In real life we can dither about decisions for days/weeks. That's a luxury a storyteller can't afford. I think that in the context of the film, Alison's decision works and doesn't seem forced.
But go back a couple of paragraphs. This is a comedy and I want to emphasize this-- it's funny. Most purported comedies today are tired, sagging retreads of TV shows, other movies, or high-concept, one-joke, no-character trials. I say, whatever it's shortcomings, we need more movies like Knocked Up.
Black Book is directed by Paul Verhoeven. It has been hailed as a return to his early form, when movies such as The 4th Man and Soldier of Orange made him seem like a promising auteur. Well, it didn't really pan out. He started with Robocop, a fine film, but he was soon directing Total Recall, Showgirls, and Starship Troopers. I think the last one may have been his Hollywood high mark; many have derided the movie, but I think that Verhoeven got at the heart of Robert A. Heinlein's novel in a way few could. The movie is a $100 million joke--it's Verhoeven saying "I can make you cheer for the Nazis."
Black Book has been cheered as a return to form, but it's not. It's Showgirls with swastikas or, as a friend of mine said, "WW2 mit boobies!" It's a preposterous mess, but it is entertaining. It's a movie ripe for MST3King. If that's your thing, Black Book is worth a look.
I loved Freaks & Geeks, Judd Apatow and Paul Feig's brilliant, short-lived TV series. Apatow gave TV another shot with Undeclared, which was basically the sequel to F & G. It went down in flames. So now Apatow's workin' in the movies and he's already had success as a producer (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) and as a writer/director (The 40-Year-Old Virgin). He's gathered something of a repertory company around himself and many of those players are on display in Knocked Up.
KU passes the first rule of comedy; it's really, really funny. Katherine Heigl plays Alison Scott, who works at E! and celebrates her promotion to on-air status by clubbing with her sister Debbie. Alison gets drunk, meets unemployed slacker Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) and, after a sloshed one-night stand, winds up pregnant. She decides to keep the baby and contacts Ben. That's as far as I'll go in plot summary. Like all the best comedies Knocked Up does not derive its humor from twists and story machinations, but from character. Rogen and the actors who play his stoner friends (Jason Segel, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, and Martin Starr) are Apatow alumni and much of their banter feels as though Apatow just tossed out an idea and turned on the camera. I've never much cared for Katherine Heigl, but her Alison is both beautiful and believable.
Two topics arise when discussing this movie. The first is the, shall we say, pulchritude gap between the leads. The second is Alison's choice to keep the baby and then contact Ben.
As to the first, I'm usually not much for "chemistry" between actors. If you're a professional, you should be able to manufacture it for the camera. That said, Heigl and Rogen project such an easy rapport with each other that it was easy for me to accept them as a burgeoning couple. Also, the idea that Rogen is a gargoyle and Heigl a goddess just ain't so. Heigl's a good-looking woman, but not unattainably pretty. Rogen is not ugly so much as badly-dressed (even then, he's Hollywood's idea of "badly dressed"; he wears a collection of vintage T's that would cost you $80 bucks a throw). If you still can't get over the gap, Google or IMDB Leslie Mann. Now do the same for Judd Apatow. Leslie Mann is Mrs. Judd Apatow. I think it's possible that Judd's writing what he knows.
The second point is thornier. I agree that most young women in Alison's position would end the pregnancy. That's just the way it is. For the movie to work, though, I only have to be convinced that this young woman would make this particular decision within the context of the film. It's true that the movie doesn't spend much time on Alison's decision, but at 129 minutes it's pretty long for a comedy already. Maybe Apatow didn't believe that he could write convincingly about such a decision.
This is a creative work, not a sociological text. The writer, director, and actors all have to make choices. That's one of the things that makes the movies way different than real life. In real life we can dither about decisions for days/weeks. That's a luxury a storyteller can't afford. I think that in the context of the film, Alison's decision works and doesn't seem forced.
But go back a couple of paragraphs. This is a comedy and I want to emphasize this-- it's funny. Most purported comedies today are tired, sagging retreads of TV shows, other movies, or high-concept, one-joke, no-character trials. I say, whatever it's shortcomings, we need more movies like Knocked Up.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Whiplash Cinema 1: When Irish Eyes Are Smilin'
I suffered from severe whiplash last week. I wasn't involved in a car accident or anything. No, I went to the movies. Twice. To see Shrek the Third and then The Wind That Shakes The Barley. Perhaps you now see why I'm dizzy and disoriented.
The original Shrek was a decent adaptation of a children's book by William Steig. Sure, the movie cleaned up Steigs's truly ugly ogre until he was just movie ugly, which is actually kinda cute. (It's the same standard that television uses when the terminally adorable Alyson Hannigan is given a bad haircut and we're supposed to believe that she's ugly, or that Sarah Michelle Gellar is an unattractive outcast ((sue me, I've been watching Buffy on DVD with my daughter))). The movie was a funny and mildly subversive take on fairy tales, almost like a family film for parents who loved The Princess Bride when they were dating or without child.
Shrek did very well at the box office, so it was written in the stars that Shrek II would come to be. Surprisingly, it did not come out as a crass grab for cash. It was a breezy, zippy trip that was elevated by the decision to treat the land of Far Far Away as an ur-Beverly Hills/Vegas. Antonio Banderas came aboard as Puss-n-Boots, a welcome counterweight to Eddie Murphy's braying ass... I mean, Donkey. The genuinely witty jokes blended rather well with the fart jokes and the whole enterprise was so well-cast and done with so much obvious affection that it was one of the better sequels in memory. It made piles of gelt. Would there be a third installment? Need you ask?
Shrek the Third does feel like a cash grab. It's not horrible. It doesn't blatantly insult the audience. It does lay there like a day-old fish, something once sleek and shiny, now cloudy and dull and starting to smell just a bit. The sense of enjoyable daftness that propelled the second movie is utterly absent. This is big-budget, lowest-common-denominator Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking at its most depressing--talented people doing a workmanlike job with zero inspiration or joy. C'mon, your movie involves a quest for the young King Arthur and you can't even making a frikkin' sword in the stone joke? The Third is a Shrek too far.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley on the other hand, is a movie that could never be a commercial hit. There are reasons for this. The theater where I saw it has an intermission in the middle of every film (it's a small indie theater and the owner has to change the reels by hand.). This is actually a nice chance to visit the snack bar and the bathroom and chat with other audience members. One fellow kept complaining that the film needed subtitles. He couldn't understand the Irish accents. So, the vast majority of the Deal or No Deal masses probably couldn't understand the actors. The film is also set in 1918 in Ireland. It doesn't explain what's going on; it assumes that you, by virture of your presence, either know something about "The Troubles" or that you'll be able to catch on. It's also unrelentingly intense and packed with passionate people taking opposing sides of a complex issue. Cillian Murphy, an actor both pretty and simian, and Padraic Delaney play the O'Donovan brothers and both actors are fantastic as they portray two characters who start out in very different places and travel the same path to arrive at two (tragically) altogether different endings.
The movie is directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty. It is gorgeous; the beauty of the Irish countryside makes the violence and bitter anger that occurs even more heartbreaking. At the end of the day, The Wind That Shakes the Barley couldn't be a box-office smash because it has no hero and no real villain. It only has people; flawed, miserable, lovely people who want something noble and who do things both great and awful to achieve it.
The original Shrek was a decent adaptation of a children's book by William Steig. Sure, the movie cleaned up Steigs's truly ugly ogre until he was just movie ugly, which is actually kinda cute. (It's the same standard that television uses when the terminally adorable Alyson Hannigan is given a bad haircut and we're supposed to believe that she's ugly, or that Sarah Michelle Gellar is an unattractive outcast ((sue me, I've been watching Buffy on DVD with my daughter))). The movie was a funny and mildly subversive take on fairy tales, almost like a family film for parents who loved The Princess Bride when they were dating or without child.
Shrek did very well at the box office, so it was written in the stars that Shrek II would come to be. Surprisingly, it did not come out as a crass grab for cash. It was a breezy, zippy trip that was elevated by the decision to treat the land of Far Far Away as an ur-Beverly Hills/Vegas. Antonio Banderas came aboard as Puss-n-Boots, a welcome counterweight to Eddie Murphy's braying ass... I mean, Donkey. The genuinely witty jokes blended rather well with the fart jokes and the whole enterprise was so well-cast and done with so much obvious affection that it was one of the better sequels in memory. It made piles of gelt. Would there be a third installment? Need you ask?
Shrek the Third does feel like a cash grab. It's not horrible. It doesn't blatantly insult the audience. It does lay there like a day-old fish, something once sleek and shiny, now cloudy and dull and starting to smell just a bit. The sense of enjoyable daftness that propelled the second movie is utterly absent. This is big-budget, lowest-common-denominator Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking at its most depressing--talented people doing a workmanlike job with zero inspiration or joy. C'mon, your movie involves a quest for the young King Arthur and you can't even making a frikkin' sword in the stone joke? The Third is a Shrek too far.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley on the other hand, is a movie that could never be a commercial hit. There are reasons for this. The theater where I saw it has an intermission in the middle of every film (it's a small indie theater and the owner has to change the reels by hand.). This is actually a nice chance to visit the snack bar and the bathroom and chat with other audience members. One fellow kept complaining that the film needed subtitles. He couldn't understand the Irish accents. So, the vast majority of the Deal or No Deal masses probably couldn't understand the actors. The film is also set in 1918 in Ireland. It doesn't explain what's going on; it assumes that you, by virture of your presence, either know something about "The Troubles" or that you'll be able to catch on. It's also unrelentingly intense and packed with passionate people taking opposing sides of a complex issue. Cillian Murphy, an actor both pretty and simian, and Padraic Delaney play the O'Donovan brothers and both actors are fantastic as they portray two characters who start out in very different places and travel the same path to arrive at two (tragically) altogether different endings.
The movie is directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty. It is gorgeous; the beauty of the Irish countryside makes the violence and bitter anger that occurs even more heartbreaking. At the end of the day, The Wind That Shakes the Barley couldn't be a box-office smash because it has no hero and no real villain. It only has people; flawed, miserable, lovely people who want something noble and who do things both great and awful to achieve it.
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