Brave - good for the whole family

Brave is the latest collaboration between Disney and Pixar – once again proving to be a match made in heaven.  I’ve now seen it twice – yes, I did enjoy it very much but the real reason was to take other family member who missed our first outing.  The whole gang enjoyed the show – although I think my 6 year-old niece was the most spell bound.  Some people still equate animation with just children, but Pixar always delivers a good movie for everyone.

The basic story is a common one – as a child grows up, he/she is confronted with the harsh realities which will end their idyllic childhood.  Princess Merida is that child.  Faced with the prospect of marriage, she rebels.  As have many a teenager, she makes poor choices.  The consequences of her choices define much of the movie.  While it may sound like a story you have heard before, I assure this one has a few twists, turns, and laughs to make it all worthwhile. Some of you may even find you are fighting back a tear or two, remembering your own battles to grow up. 

 The actors voicing the characters handle the material deftly.  Kelly Macdonald – best known to American audiences as the servant girl in Nanny McPhee – is the young princess Merida.  The always funny Billy Connolly brings his talents to King Fergus.  Academy Award winner Emma Thompson is touching as the mother, Queen Elinor.  The 3 clan leaders are voiced by an amazing trio – Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, and Craig Ferguson.  Talent is not lacking in this movie.

Go see the movie, and take your mom.

The Dark Night Rises

No review of this movie can begin without first pausing to remember those harmed in Colorado and the impact on our nation.  This movie will forever have an asterisk next to its name.  Sadly… not unlike its predecessor.  … … … …

A little history, in the late 1980s, the Batman franchise at DC Comics was floundering.  The storyline – which stretched back to the 1930s had been everywhere and done everything.  The concept of Batman had evolved and changed with the times (hence the campy Batman of the 1960’s – a truly guilty pleasure).  Frank Miller, a talented and opinionated artist brought a new life to Batman in the form of The Dark Night.  Over next few years he released new story lines in serial comic books and graphic novels.  This Batman explored human psychology – why we do what we do.  Batman was always a different kind of hero, one with a troubled past yet an enviable life.  Batman sometimes made mistakes.

In recent history we saw Tim Burton recharged the story with two fabulous adaptations with Batman played by Michael Keaton (a nice surprise I might add).  The two that followed, well let’s just say they have their place…just not high up on the list.  Christopher Nolan’s reboot of the movie franchise clearly owes much of its life to Frank Miller and those who followed him. Chris and his brother Jonathan have written a marvelous screenplay to bring this tragic trilogy to its rightful conclusion. Nolan’s vision pops off the screen, a thrilling ride of emotions and powerful images.

Christian Bale does a phenomenal job once again in the cowl.  Bale's talent was first obvious in 1987, when at only 12 he impressed Steven Spielberg enough to win for the pivotal role in Empire of the Sun.  However, he is not alone.  Christian Bale’s performance is enhanced with one of the most talented casts Nolan could dream to assemble.  Gary Oldman – perhaps our best character actor ever – returns as Commissioner Gordon. Michael Caine is subtle yet indispensable as Alfred.  And of course, Morgan Freeman reprises his role as Lucius Fox.  A new addition includes Anne Hathaway as Selina aka Catwoman.  There have been too many screen version of Catwoman to discuss at length in this review, but let’s just say they each brought something unique to the role (and just scrap the whole Halle Berry movie).  Hathaway is strong, beautiful, and yet still vulnerable – just as she was in many versions of the comic books.  I think she does a very good job.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt – another former child actor who has been making a lot of noise on the big screen over the last few years – plays Blake, the cop how never gives up.  Then there is Bane, played so well by actor Thomas hardy, I could not see the man who played the frail Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis.  He so transformed himself (the costume helps) that I could see him as the devil himself.  I loved him in this role.  Yes, there are many other amazing actors but simply not enough time to discuss them all.

 The wrap-up: if you liked the first two Christopher Nolan Batman movies, you will like this.  I recommend it for fans of action movies, comic books, and big explosions.  But this movie is not for everyone.  It may be too violent for some people, and too loud. 

Mothers

As May is for celebrating mothers and as Prometheus will open June 8^th, I thought a discussion of Alien (the first movie) is in order.  You didn’t know Prometheus is a prequel to the original Alien movie? That’s because they give a handful of clues yet never directly say that in any of the marketing.  Two hints – directed by Ridley Scott and a 2-second shot in the trailer (a creature in a chair is seen which resembles the dead creature found by Nostromo crew). Dum, dum, duuuuum.

Ok, why mother’s day?  Well, the alien queen has often been referred to as the mother of all mothers (I know, bad joke).  So, here is my (hopefully brief) review of the first Alien movie.  First disclaimer – I don’t even consider the 2 Alien vs. Predator so-called prequels (they have nothing really to do with the series although the first one was surprisingly penned by the original writer.  Second disclaimer – I really like the first two and kinda iffy on the last two.

Alien was released in 1979, during the rebirth of Sci-Fi.  Thanks to the success of Star Wars, fantasy movies moved out of the b-movie graveyard and into first class hits.  The story came from the brain of Dan O’Bannon, a writer, director, and so much more.  He worked on the special effects for Star Wars, wrote Dark Star, adapted Total Recall, and directed Return of the Living Dead (just to name a few credits).  His vision was then shaped by meeting H.R. Giger. Today most people know the name, even if only for his design work on Alien.  It was coming together…

Ridley Scott (now Sir Ridley Scott) was still a relatively new director.  He wasn’t even the first choice for director. Nearly a dozen names were tossed into the ring until he finally got the job.  Now he is famous, but he hadn’t yet directed Blade Runner, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise, Legend or Black Hawk Down.  It was his idea to move the story more towards the horror side of sci-fi.  He made bod choices, including selecting a woman to be the central character.

The characters as sketched out by O’Bannon were never assigned a gender (he was busy fleshing out the alien character and the story).   Thanks to that quirk of fate, we have Sigourney Weaver as Ripley, the Warrant Officer and central character.  She was primarily a theatre actress before Alien so she was unknown to most movie goers.  She is joined by Veronica Cartwright as navigator Lambert.  English actor John Hurt (known to today’s audiences as Mr. Ollivander in the Harry Potter series) plays Executive Officer Kane.  Another English actor, Ian Holm (Bilbo Baggins in the Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy) plays science officer Ash (who has a secret).  Yaphet Kotto – fresh off a villainous role in James Bond’s Live and Let Die – joins as Chief Engineer Parker.  The cast is rounded out with Tom Skerritt as Captain Dallas and Harry Dean Stanton as engineer Brett.

Our story begins when the crew of the Nostromo is awakened by the ship (Mother) to investigate a ship nearby.  It begins deceptively slow – banter among the crew, nothing exciting.  Now I don’t want to give away too many spoilers – it doesn’t help that many bits have made their way into popular culture.  I will say that if you are squeamish, don’t watch this movie.  It you dislike being scared or having creepy aliens stalk you, avoid this movie.  However, compared to today’s horror films, this is so tame. But the one scene I must talk about…THE scene.  The crew is enjoying a meal when suddenly Kane goes into convulsions.  Now Kane had just been released from sick bay…but no one realized he been impregnated by the alien.  The forced cesarean delivery (eruption?) is a shock – and not just to the audience.  I’ve heard a story where Ridley Scott gives the cast a basic run down of what is going to happen…but leaves out a lot of details.  So when you see Veronica splashed with blood and screaming her head off, that is more real than you might think.  On one hand – wow he really captured one hell of a performance; on the other hand, what a cruel trick.  However, from that point on the roller coaster has begun.  It is a very freaky ride. I personally don’t think I could ever watch it at night again (and I know what to expect).

So, if you haven’t seen the original Alien movie yet, consider this…do you like sci-fi? Do you like other Ridley Scott films?  Do you like a good scare?  Then you just might like this ride.

Vampire Movies and Anne Rice

While flipping through the channels today, Spike was playing “Interview with the Vampire” while SyFy had “Queen of the Damned” on.  I would recommend the first movie, but not so much the second.

First disclaimer, I am a fan of Anne Rice.  I have read most of her books, from every genre – enjoying the emotion she puts into her stories.  Second disclaimer, I have an avid interest in the vampire genre: legends, books, movies, comics, etc. I find the stories fascinating: as a Slav, a history buff, and a sci-fi/fantasy fanatic.

So back to the movies.  Movies are never a faithful representation of a book, but Interview is one of the better one (duh, Rice had a hand in screenplay).  This is the story of Luis, a 200-year old vampire and former plantation owner.  He is elegant and thoughtful, not a brainless beast.  Brad Pitt does gives one his best early performances.   He tells this story to a young Daniel Mallory, played by Christian Slater.   Luis struggles with his metamorphosis – he cannot accept what he must do to survive.  He hates his life –actually before and after his turning.  His despair is born of tragedy - one many can understand.  Can it be of any surprise to hear how Anne Rice wrote this story – almost in a frenzy – right after losing her little daughter to leukemia?  But it is the strong character of Lestat which drives this story and that of the series.  To this day, I am not completely satisfied with Tom Cruise’s performance.  I do not believe he has the acting skills to pull off this character and is not the vibrant creature I found on the pages of the book.  However, the movie over all is interesting.  We meet the child vampire of Claudia (played by the very young Kirten Dunst) who is reminiscent of Rice’s own daughter Michele.  The characters becomes creepy as we realize the person inside is grown up but in the body of a child, doomed.  We also meet the interesting vampires of Santiago (Stephen Rea) and Armand (Antonio Banderas).  The coven is full of petty vampires - no better than the humans they look down upon - infighting, back stabbing, vindictive.  We circle the globe in 200 years and see the world change though Louis’ eyes.  It is an interesting tale.  So if you enjoy vampire tales, I would recommend “Interview with a Vampire” for a screening.

Queen of the Damned is a different story.  First it is a horrible adaptation – borrowing fragments from Rice’s two novels, the Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned.  It leaves so much out, and not just to fit within the time frame.  It screws with characters and their motivations.  It takes a fascinating tale and squeezes it into a bowl of crap.  About the only thing I liked in this movie was Stewart Townsend as Lestat.  He has the emotional range and charisma to play this complex and ever-changing character.  Unfortunately the gimmicky choice to have a pop-star – Aaliyah – play Akasha is sad, made more tragic by her death before the release.  A talented signer, she was way out of her league and showed no understanding of the character or the history.   Frankly, read the books, great story.

Dark Shadows - fun, fun, fun not in the sun, sun, sun

Dark Shadows

I truly enjoyed this movie.  As a huge fan of the original series, I found Tim Burton and his cast captured the essence of this over the top soap opera.  First aired in 1966, we meet the Collins clan, Elizabeth (the matriarch), her daughter Carolyn, Roger (Elizabeth’s brother), and Roger’s young son David.  They are joined by orphan Victoria Winters – who turns out to be a surprise key.  Nearly a year later we meet Barnabas, the cursed Collins ancestor…and a vampire.  So fast forward 1,500 episodes later and you have a cult hit with everything you might want (werewolves, zombies, ghosts, time travel, and of course the vampire).

I felt this movie was a synopsis of the many story lines found in the original - many episodes were rolled up into one movie.  Yes, Burton makes a few changes, but it works.  Barnabas (Johnny Depp) Collins tells us his life story.  He shows us how he once had everything and lost it all because of one woman’s need for revenge.  Then fast forward 200 years to 1972 where we meet Maggie Evans/Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote), a girl with a secret.  She is traveling to Collinsport to be the governess for the Collins family.  There we meet Elizabeth (Michelle Pfeiffer), who oversees a very dysfunctional family.  Her daughter Carolyn (Chloe Moretz) is a typical teenager full of angst and a bit mouthy (and another secret).  Elizabeth’s worthless brother Roger (Johnny Lee Miller) lives with them and his son David (Gulliver McGrath) who sees ghosts.  Helena Bonham Carter plays Dr. Julia Hoffman (the family shrink) in typical over the top fashion.  Barnabas’ foil is Angelique (Eva Green) the serving maid/witch who was dumped 200 years earlier by Barnabas.  Her revenge is complete; she ruins the Collins family for years – both personally and professionally.

There are plenty of laughs - it is a comedy.  There are even some inside jokes for fans of the series. Original cast members Jonathan Frid, Lara Parker, David Selby and Kathryn Leigh Scott all make an appearance. Frid recently passed away, so it was a moment to smile and reflect. Other cameos include Burton favorite Christopher Lee and Alice Cooper as the 70’s iconic performer…Alice Cooper. The end result is a good tribute to the original for us fanatics and a hoot for newbies.  Yes, you will have to like campy movies and Tim Burton’s quirkie-ness.  This movie is not a romantic comedy, action adventures, or thought provoking epic.  Go see it and just enjoy the ride.

The Avengers - best Comic Book Movie EVER

The Avengers

Disclaimer: I read comics as a kid…I love comics…I love movies based on comic books. But you don’t have to love comics to love this movie.

The Avengers was a Marvel comic book began in the early 1960’s, bringing together many of the great Marvel characters.  The early years included Thor, Ironman, Hulk, Ant-Man and Wasp fighting Thor’s brother Loki.  Over the decades the line-up changed and at various times also included well-known names such as Captain America, Hawkeye, Spiderman, Captain Marvel, She-Hulk, and the Black Widow.  The comic is still in circulation today with new episodes.  I see a rise in sales after the world enjoys this movie.

This movie brings together some big names…Roberty Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (Iron man), Chris Evans as Steve Rogers (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton (Hawkeye), Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, and Scarlett Johannson as Natasha Romanov (Black Widow).  Stark is the perfect hot-shot ego-driven billionaire.  Captain America is still sweet and drool-worthy. Bruce is intelligent and the hulk is great with some very cool moments, Thor is still a walking Shakespearean moment of epic proportions.  Hawkeye is an interesting character, but I don’t want to add spoilers.  Nick Fury is very complex, never quite sure what he’s thinking, or plotting.  I like the character of the Black Widow (even though I am not a fan of the actress).

This movie tells why and how the group comes together.  Their focus is Loki, played splendidly by Tom Hiddlestson, who is again trying to find a kingdom for his ego.  There is action, humor, a couple of teary-eyed moments, and one hell-of-a end battle.  I loved every second of the 2 hours and 23 minutes.  My whole party was pumped by the end (and you must stay for the tag after the credits).  I don’t wanna give many details because simply it would spoil it for you.  Go see it.  If none of the above is enough, the writer and director is Joss Whedon – yes, the one of Buffy/Angel/Firefly fame.  His touches can be found in every line and every laugh.  OMG – just go see it.

John Carter - bad title but a good movie

John Carter

The movie John Carter is based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs serialized stories on Barsoom (his name for the Planet Mars).  During the 19^th and early 20^th Centuries, it was common to publish your stories in weekly magazines or newspapers.  Only upon completion is the book format released.  ERB’s first Barsoom story – published in 1912 – was called the “Princess of Mars.”  Why Disney did not select that name is up for debate.  Unfortunately, their choice of title and insufficient marketing are two prime reasons it is not doing well at the box office.  Regardless, I would recommend any fan of science fiction to take the time to see the movie.  ERB, better known these days for his Tarzan stories, was a prolific American science fiction writer who has influenced many of today’s film makers (including a young George Lucas) and science fiction writers (such as Ray Bradbury and Arthur C. Clarke).

This movie is not a faithful representation of the book, and for the most part, this is good.  ERB, like many of the white upper-class of his time, could be patronizing and racist. As those views are thankfully no longer main-stream, they will not fit in a theatrical version released in 2012.

We learn the story of John Carter through his nephew – Edgar Rice Burroughs – and the diary he left behind.  The basic story (without giving too much away) is John Carter, a Confederate Captain, is transported to Mars where he encounters tall green creatures, warring factions of humanoids, and god-like entities called Therns.  John Carter is played well by Taylor Kitsch.  However, I would never believe he was from Virginia for one moment.  While Virginians do not have a thick drawl like Texas, they are still Southerners.  Once I could get based that idiosyncrasy, he was fine in the part.    Lynn Collins (Silverfox in X-men Origins: Wolverine) did a good job as the intellectual Princess, Dejah Thoris.  She also was very good with a sword – would give Xena a run for her money.  Willem Defoe and Thomas Haden Church voice the rival Tharks (green martians).  The cast also includes Ciaran Hinds (Dejah’s father), Dominic West (the would-be ruler of Mars and groom to Dejah), and Mark Strong (as the manipulative thern).  Daryl Sabara – best known as Juni in Spy Kids – plays ERB. 

The effects are fabulous.  CGI characters, such as the Tharks, fit smoothly within your frame of vision.  The story is a nice mix of action, adventure, love, and loss.  I’ve read some complaints about the story being “too old” suggesting something written a hundred years ago would have no relevance.  If that were true, why do we still perform Euripides or Shakespeare?  In this movie, the themes of self-destruction, greed, love, and war are still relevant. So, if you enjoy sci-fi stories, go, watch this movie, have fun.