I just don't know about this one. It's too big and too self-absorbed, like it thinks there's nothing silly about a galactic fleet of green superheroes who have a super ring but talk about their lanterns they keep at home in the closet. And it stars Ryan Reynolds, who simply lacks any facial expression that hints at depth of character. I understand that the "Lanterns" operate through force of will, and that humans are special because they can act despite fear, but the constant breaks from action to talk about with his friends made it even harder to not notice how hard they tried to push against the inherent cheesiness of the story. It just doesn't work for me.
And yes, they set us up the sequel.
Green Lantern
2011, 105 minutes, directed by Martin Campbell
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Super 8
J. J. Abrams decided to make an homage to the 1980s kid-adventure genre. I think he did a pretty good job. Other than the occasional wink to the audience of the future (the Walkman, film develpment, and drug jokes), it stays pretty firmly rooted in its time and place. Sure, there are stereotypes aplenty, but that's what an homage is.
Keep in mind that there's some bad language and a selection of body-poppin' brutality. One difference between now and then: in the 1980s this would have been rated R.
Including the completed home movie in the credits was brilliant. Make sure you stay for it.
Super 8
2011, 112 minutes, directed by J. .J. Abrams
Keep in mind that there's some bad language and a selection of body-poppin' brutality. One difference between now and then: in the 1980s this would have been rated R.
Including the completed home movie in the credits was brilliant. Make sure you stay for it.
Super 8
2011, 112 minutes, directed by J. .J. Abrams
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Exiled
This 1998 made-for-TV film (often titled Exiled: A Law and Order Movie in reruns) picks up the story of Detective Mike Logan, Chris Noth's character previously written out of the series. It's purely cop drama, on a film scale; the only DA presence is a cameo by Sam Waterston as a (relatively) young Jack McCoy.
Given how old this film is on my first viewing, it seems more like a Law and Order All-Stars show than anything else. Detective Logan, "exiled" to Staten Island after punching a politician in Manhattan three years prior, is trying to get transferred back. He thinks the most likely way to do this is to solve a high-profile case, so he snags a floater from the river and makes the case his own.
Together with new partner Frankie Silvera (ably performed by Dana Eskelson), the case takes him back into Manhattan and directly to his old precinct, the 2-7. Here they find legendary Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe, with his then-partner Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) in a cameo role. This makes sense, though, because there has to be space to fit in two brand-new 27th precinct detectives, one of which is pretty clearly established (by parade-of-stars-member Dann Florek as Captain Donald Kragen) to be the mob's inside man. Detective Logan has to figure out who it is, all while wooing the dead girl's sister and keeping his captain (and S. Epatha Merkerson's Lieutenant Van Buren) off his back.
Some of the action and dubbing effects have not held up well, and the film clearly has a made-for-TV feel with too many actors seeming unpolished in their lines, like it's just another episode-of-the-week. And the bad guys are totally predictable, really, no suspense there at all. The presence of Ice-T as a pimp is also incredibly jarring; I kept thinking that they were going to reveal him as undercover on the vice squad since he's about to transfer to SVU. (I know, I know, L&O frequently reuses actors in new roles.)
Still, together with the later Law and Order: Criminal Intent season with Noth, this does bridge the gap and create the Story of Mike Logan, one of the big arcs of L&O's long and successful story. It's also apparently the first meeting between Captain Kragen and Lieutenant Van Buren, which honestly seems strange as she took over his old job. (You'd think they would have met at a fundraiser or something.) So, as part of the L&O lore, I recommend it. Just watch it in line with the 1998 show, not on its own merits.
Exiled
1998, 120 minutes, directed by Jean de Segonzac
Given how old this film is on my first viewing, it seems more like a Law and Order All-Stars show than anything else. Detective Logan, "exiled" to Staten Island after punching a politician in Manhattan three years prior, is trying to get transferred back. He thinks the most likely way to do this is to solve a high-profile case, so he snags a floater from the river and makes the case his own.
Together with new partner Frankie Silvera (ably performed by Dana Eskelson), the case takes him back into Manhattan and directly to his old precinct, the 2-7. Here they find legendary Jerry Orbach as Detective Lennie Briscoe, with his then-partner Rey Curtis (Benjamin Bratt) in a cameo role. This makes sense, though, because there has to be space to fit in two brand-new 27th precinct detectives, one of which is pretty clearly established (by parade-of-stars-member Dann Florek as Captain Donald Kragen) to be the mob's inside man. Detective Logan has to figure out who it is, all while wooing the dead girl's sister and keeping his captain (and S. Epatha Merkerson's Lieutenant Van Buren) off his back.
Some of the action and dubbing effects have not held up well, and the film clearly has a made-for-TV feel with too many actors seeming unpolished in their lines, like it's just another episode-of-the-week. And the bad guys are totally predictable, really, no suspense there at all. The presence of Ice-T as a pimp is also incredibly jarring; I kept thinking that they were going to reveal him as undercover on the vice squad since he's about to transfer to SVU. (I know, I know, L&O frequently reuses actors in new roles.)
Still, together with the later Law and Order: Criminal Intent season with Noth, this does bridge the gap and create the Story of Mike Logan, one of the big arcs of L&O's long and successful story. It's also apparently the first meeting between Captain Kragen and Lieutenant Van Buren, which honestly seems strange as she took over his old job. (You'd think they would have met at a fundraiser or something.) So, as part of the L&O lore, I recommend it. Just watch it in line with the 1998 show, not on its own merits.
Exiled
1998, 120 minutes, directed by Jean de Segonzac
Saturday, June 11, 2011
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Somewhere out there is a Fisher-Price My First Sequel workbook diligently filled out by this film's screenwriter. I'm amazed at just how many clichés they can squeeze into a two-hour film.
So this time it's revealed that there's a second island filled with dinosaurs. Old John Hammond, recently removed as Ingen's CEO, says this was the "breeding" or "B" island conveniently unmentioned in the first film. (Later, though, there's some indication that this was the first attempt at a park, which likely went even more horribly wrong than the park from the first movie.) Ever the optimist, Hammond thinks a team should be sent in to document the creatures, and Jeff Goldblum's Dr. Ian Malcolm is a perfect fit. Oh, and Hammond has tricked him into going by sending his girlfriend, Julianne Moore's Dr. Sarah Harding, along first. Did I mention that there's a stowaway and a secret second mission by Ingen's new CEO, Arliss Howard's Peter Ludlow? Yeah, they brought a huge team, all of which, with the exception of the stereotypical hunter (Pete Postlethwaite's Roland Tembo), are complete idiots, hellbent on bringing the creatures back to San Diego and completely unable to take any reasonable means of precaution.
Hilarity ensues, which by hilarity I mean waiting inevitably for each and every one of them to be picked off and eaten. Some go quick, some stay surprisingly long (and a few do walk away), but in the end it's down to Malcolm and Harding to save the city of San Diego while the entire U.S. military, coast guard, and local SWAT remain completely helpless.
While I've seen the first film several times (having, I presume, more appeal for TV networks and their viewers alike), this was the first time I'd seen the sequel. I won't say it will be the last; next up on my Netflix queue is Jurassic Park 3, and as far as I know it's a clichéd clone again.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
1997, 129 minutes, directed by Steven Spielberg
So this time it's revealed that there's a second island filled with dinosaurs. Old John Hammond, recently removed as Ingen's CEO, says this was the "breeding" or "B" island conveniently unmentioned in the first film. (Later, though, there's some indication that this was the first attempt at a park, which likely went even more horribly wrong than the park from the first movie.) Ever the optimist, Hammond thinks a team should be sent in to document the creatures, and Jeff Goldblum's Dr. Ian Malcolm is a perfect fit. Oh, and Hammond has tricked him into going by sending his girlfriend, Julianne Moore's Dr. Sarah Harding, along first. Did I mention that there's a stowaway and a secret second mission by Ingen's new CEO, Arliss Howard's Peter Ludlow? Yeah, they brought a huge team, all of which, with the exception of the stereotypical hunter (Pete Postlethwaite's Roland Tembo), are complete idiots, hellbent on bringing the creatures back to San Diego and completely unable to take any reasonable means of precaution.
Hilarity ensues, which by hilarity I mean waiting inevitably for each and every one of them to be picked off and eaten. Some go quick, some stay surprisingly long (and a few do walk away), but in the end it's down to Malcolm and Harding to save the city of San Diego while the entire U.S. military, coast guard, and local SWAT remain completely helpless.
While I've seen the first film several times (having, I presume, more appeal for TV networks and their viewers alike), this was the first time I'd seen the sequel. I won't say it will be the last; next up on my Netflix queue is Jurassic Park 3, and as far as I know it's a clichéd clone again.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park
1997, 129 minutes, directed by Steven Spielberg
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Exit Through the Gift Shop
That was totally not what I expected to see. I had understood that this was a documentary about Banksy, where perhaps he turned the tables on the filmmaker with his own brand of humour. That didn't happen.
This was about Thierry Guetta, French camera man and pseudo filmmaker, artist, sudden millionaire. How can someone survive on a decade-long manic high? How can he be such a large part of the street art scene while making no effort to hide the meaningless commercialism of his work?
And yet, it's all just a little bit too fanciful. Could he really take a simple request to go away and turn it into the biggest art show of the year? Would his colleagues really say those things? And when Banksy would never help with a documentary about street art again, why did he direct this one?
I think there's more scripting than appears on screen. And yet I just can't be sure. It's that mystery, that sense of marginal disbelief, that makes the film so appealing.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
2010, 87 minutes, directed by Banksy
This was about Thierry Guetta, French camera man and pseudo filmmaker, artist, sudden millionaire. How can someone survive on a decade-long manic high? How can he be such a large part of the street art scene while making no effort to hide the meaningless commercialism of his work?
And yet, it's all just a little bit too fanciful. Could he really take a simple request to go away and turn it into the biggest art show of the year? Would his colleagues really say those things? And when Banksy would never help with a documentary about street art again, why did he direct this one?
I think there's more scripting than appears on screen. And yet I just can't be sure. It's that mystery, that sense of marginal disbelief, that makes the film so appealing.
Exit Through the Gift Shop
2010, 87 minutes, directed by Banksy
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