The Lego Movie

Everything about this film was pretty awesome.

The Lego Movie
2014, 100 minutes, directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller

Realiti

This film is a head trip.  Vic (Nathan Meister) is a former journalist and up-and-coming junior executive at Tri Media Corporation.  They're involved in something - Realiti - a drug in development - secret trials - espionage - consumer manipulation - hallucination.  The story feels like Descent Into Madness, but maybe that depends on where it picks up...

Realiti

2014, 95 minutes, directed by Jonathan King

Resident Evil: Retribution

OMG there's so much explanation to establish backstory and bring in the characters.  Alice used to be a genetically-engineered killing machine, one of Umbrella corporation's tools to combat the T-virus infestation that has destroyed the world.  Or maybe she was just another experiment as they perfected the virus, the world be damned anyway.  But then she lost her powers and was just a woman who can do mid-air somersaults while shooting weapons in both hands.

She's met a lot of people along the way, many of which she's cared for, a subset of which make appearances in this film (though some as clones, not the original people, which is a convenient way to bring back a few who died).   In this film, she'll meet a few more, deal with some former friends turned enemies, and dutifully advance the plot along to the next sequel.  It was very perfunctory, and in that, not interesting.  My only other notes on the film are:

• Undead Russians can't shoot, even at point blank range
• Stargrazing as an awesome name for a craft services company

And with that, I guess I'll wait for the next sequel to be churned out sometime in 2014.

Resident Evil: Retribution
2012, 95 minutes, directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Johnny Mnemonic

Here we are, a few weeks after the end of Fantastic Fest, and I'm finally able to stomach watching a movie again.  This week's Netflix special is Johnny Mnemonic, a not-so-futuristic look at data smuggling in the head of one serious and pissed Keanu Reeves.  Overloaded with a whole 320 gigabytes of data (oh my!), Johnny has to find the pass code and get it out before it leaks into his brain, bursting it.  Meanwhile the Yakuza and various local scum (including a cyborg street preacher) a trying to hunt him down to "retrieve" the information, guillotine-style.

It's funny watching old sci fi action films try to be futuristic, but still mess up so many key things.  The sad part about this one is that it didn't come out in the 80s when such things were forgivable - it came out the year I graduated high school.  They should have known better and I feel old.

Johnny Mnemonic
1995, 103 minutes, directed by Robert Longo

Antiviral

Well, here it is, the end of another film festival.  This is my 34th screening including shorts series; it's my 35th event including the awards ceremony.  With a last-minute change to my planned film, I'm walking in mostly blind to Antiviral.

This film focuses on the cult of celebrity.  We (as a culture, not me) follow every moment of their lives, good and bad, desperate to grab at shoestrings and remnants of their lives.  Is celebrity mania so strong that people would pay to get celebrity diseases?  Would you eat celebrity cell steaks?  It's an interesting topic, and one delved into whole-heartedly by this story.  I find it refreshingly different that the lead actor must act sick for the entire film, as he falls deeper into the underworld of society.

Antiviral
2012, 108 minutes, directed by Brandon Cronenberg

Flimmer (Flicker)

The hapless employees of a remote Swedish electric and communication company try to live their lives amidst the local 4G roll out and a band of anti-EM terrorists.  I think it has a very subtle, very northern sense of humor, meaning most people won't find it funny at all.

Flimmer (Flicker)
2012, 100 minutes, directed by Patrik Eklund

Prometheus

The interstellar ship Prometheus arrives at its destination and a long, cryo-sleep journey: a planet indicated on maps of every major prehistory civilization on Earth.  Perhaps this is the home of our progenitors, our Gods.

As it happens, though, it's not.  Instead it's the home of a living goo that, in the correct circumstances, breeds in the right kind of human to become an Alien of the franchise.  This is a prequel, sort of, but not really.  It's sort of a horror film, but no, not that.  There's some action, but it's certainly not an action film.  Maybe it's a survival film, but that's not really it either.  And since I've never given a reason to develop an emotional attachment to the characters, there's no possibility of suspense.  I wanted spine-tingling insight into the backstory of the Aliens; I got something bland and rambling on screen.

Prometheus
2012, 124 minutes, directed by Ridley Scott

The Game

Michael Douglas stars as wealthy financier Nicholas Van Orton, given the ultimate birthday gift: a real-life mystery game starring him.  How far does the game go, or is it a game at all?

I kept trying to predict the ending, and kept getting it wrong.  But still I'm not sure I'm happy with how it turned out.

The Game
1997, 129 minutes, directed by David Fincher

Carré Blanc

What a surprise.  Another slow-burning story of dystopian future.  And yet this one just works.  The style is excellent, as is the film's overall tone.  Croquet-based humor at its best.  This film might be up there with The City of Lost Children as one of my favorite films of the genre.

Carré Blanc
2011, 77 minutes, directed by Jean-Baptiste Léonetti

Alas, the director couldn't make it.  He was literally in the airport in Paris when his coat was stolen along with his passport.  I would have liked to see him talk about his film.  I think you have to be a pretty interesting guy to be able to put humor in a film like that - and pull it off so well.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold

I admit, I'm a Morgan Spurlock fan.  I understood and agreed with his point of view in Super Size Me.  I enjoyed his brief television series 30 Days.  With that full disclosure out of the way, I really enjoyed his latest film, POM Wonderful Presents the Greatest Movie Ever Sold.

Honestly the product placement isn't any more obtrusive than typical television.  If anything, it's better.  TV shows usually have one or two product sponsors, and those items stand out in a show otherwise devoid of specifics and filled with prop vendors and conspicuous black tape.  Here, the film was filled with advertisements, some subtle and some not, but that represents real life.  Just looking for corporate logos in my point of view right now, I see logos for: Texas Instruments, Seagate, LG, Dell, LEGO, Logitech, Optek, National Instruments.  I tune them out in life; make them prevalent enough in film and I'll tune them out there as well.

Morgan doesn't go into this film with a cause to bash over our heads.  Yes, there's some commentary about advertisement directed toward children, especially advertisement at school, but overall he takes the view that it's part of life, always there, and something you might as well use when offered.  It's a very reasonable position, something I admire from a documentary filmmaker.

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
2011, 90 minutes, directed by Morgan Spurlock

Extract

I'd heard so many good things about this film.  Funny, quirky, enriching.  But it's not.  The lead is gullible and stupid - barely less so than the gigolo he hires to seduce his wife - who quickly and repeatedly falls for it.  Mila Kunis might act as instigator, but her part is completely secondary.  And the ending is contrived and, frankly, disappointing.  I regret seeing this and won't do so again.

Extract
2009, 92 minutes, directed by Mike Judge

Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Meh.  All I could think was "transition film".  The introduced Sienna Guillory as Jill, complete with kick-ass action and a custom outfit (presumably from the games), only to have her quickly take the back seat to a more-awesome more-ass-kicking Milla Jovovich as Alice.  I can only assume this was to ensure that, were Ms. Jovovish to bail on the series, the next sequel could retain some semblance of continuity.

Stay tuned; the next sequel is coming up in my Netflix queue.

Resident Evil: Apocalypse
2004, 98 minutes, directed by Alexander Witt

Erasing David

It's SXSW again, and while we had every intent to skip this year due to whatevers, a pair of badges landed in our laps earlier this morning.  After a flurry of organizing it up and amazingly being denied at the Paramount for the opening night film, my wife and I ended up at the cozy little Hideout for the U.S. Premiere of this British documentary.

Filmmaker David Bond, having been notified that his government lost information about him and his daughter, starts to wonder just exactly what part of his life is out there to be discovered.  Each piece of information shared with the government or a business becomes part of a collection, one that when compiled can reveal far more than desired.  Putting this to the test, he chooses to disappear for 30 days.  Meanwhile, he has hired two private investigators to track him down, starting with only his name and face.  Can he last the month, or is there already far too much out there waiting to be found?

The film jumps between David alone on the run, his investigators as they gather up his life and try to predict his moves, and interviews and research on privacy conducted before the adventure began.  I thought it was a well-edited, solid documentary, very well suited for the blend of film and interactive content that is the first weekend of SXSW.  Privacy has become a choice of how much you are willing to reveal to get the services you desire.

Erasing David
2009, directed by David Bond and Melinda McDougall

Edit 3/22/10: It's rather hilarious that this story came out just a week later:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/facebook-finds-mafia-boss/story?id=10124958

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

"Funnel Chinese goods directly to the American public."

Why? Why would people rather have one big store funneling foreign goods - no matter how cheap they are or their quality - as the entire life supply for their town? And when there's nothing left, the Wal-Mart employees have to take their paycheck and walk right back into the store. Cheap foreign goods from Wal-Mart are the only thing they can afford.

And it's not like Wal-Mart is helping out those foreign workers, either.

It's an over-the-top documentary styl that I don't appreciate, but looking past the method of delivery, the truth behind it is compelling.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price
2005, 95 minutes, directed by Robert Greenwald