A History of Violence

Anyone who sees this film, I would directly refer to the greatest article on it I could have imagined could have been written. It is by Roger Ebert, and is available on his website. The review itself, enhanced my view of the film. However, here's my shot at it: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE is a film by David Cronenberg. Dark as one would imagine coming from Cronenberg, it is surprisingly reflective on his own body of work. The film concerns a man named Tom (Viggo Mortensen) who may or may not be who he says he is. He works at a small town diner, has a loving wife, son, and daughter, but contains an ounce of deception that might be essential to his survival. One day at work, two evil men walk in and attempt to rob him. Just as they threaten to rape one of his waitresses, he takes the coffee in his hand, smashes it over one man's head, and proceeds to brutally kill both men. Everyone considers Tom a hero, reporters come to his door, and even his son finds a newfound courage. Tom, however, seems a reluctant hero: camera shy. As the days pass, Tom and his wife (Maria Bello) begin to notice a trio of odd men following them in a shiny black cadillac. These men, led by a frightening Ed Harris, believe Tom to be an old mobster named Joey. They want him dead apparently, but Tom persists that he is Tom, not Joey. Truths come out, but it is the perfect title to Cronenberg's film that is the key to the mystery. Cronenberg stated that his title had three parts to it: 1) The history of violence in Tom's life. 2) The history of violence as a reconciling tool. and 3) The darwinian aspect of violence: using violence to survive. How this unfolds into the narrative is brilliant, Cronenberg's actors handle it deftly, and the direction itself is impeccable. REAR WINDOW was probably the last film I saw that affected me as deeply as this film. It's a masterpiece.
A History of Violence: ★★★★

Being John Malkovich

Puppets are an odd form for art to manifest. But for Craig Schwartz (John Cusack) they are his livelihood. He has no job, but carries out his obsession with puppets dancing to sad music on the streets of the city. His puppets are too dark for passerby to enjoy very much, and he is eventually convinced to take up a filing job at a strange company. His girlfriend Lotte (Cameron Diaz), a lover of animals, aids him in this reluctant decision. She herself is a strange woman with hair that looks like it has seen too much wind. Craig, on his first day of work, looks for the 7 1/2 floor where the company is, and is forced to stop the elevator between floors 7 and 8 to find it. At work, he encounters a sexy, but cruel woman named Maxine (Catherine Keener). He pines for her, but she is content with toying with him. Amongst this situation, Craig discovers a portal in his office that leads directly into the head of John Malkovich. The snide Maxine takes this as a business opportunity, and soon she and Craig are at the head of a secret, middle of the night company that allows people to be inside of John Malkovich's head. Here, Craig's obsession with puppets comes through, for he has a sneaky idea that as a puppetmaster, he might be able to control Malkovich in the same fashion. Business, however, is good, but Lotte becomes obsessed with being Malkovich. Besides this story, there are many subplots and oddities along the lines of a 7 and a half floor in a building. This can be attributed to the odd, occasionally pretentious writing of Charlie Kaufman. Kaufman's ideas, which are wonderfully original and creative, are handled deftly by director Spike Jonze. Despite quite a few unlikeable characters, the ideas the film puts forth slides it through. Although, perhaps, the filmmakers should have made some solidly likeable character, or at least finished the film of nicely to support the joy I felt at the ideas presented. Still, this is a worthy film.
Being John Malkovich: ★★★1/2

Jacob's Ladder

JACOB'S LADDER is a brilliant film. It is one that is consistently riveting and contains an ending that is perfect. The film stars the innately likeable Tim Robbins as Jake Singer. He's a Vietnam veteran who experienced a particularly hazy near-death experience, and who lives in a quasi-hell of fate's making. We gather through flashbacks that something funny happened in Vietnam, and that even Jake doesn't know what exactly that is. His circle of close friends, including a chiropractor and a post-office worker girlfriend, continually support Jake, but his Vietnam baggage is heavy, and he consistently falters. We also gather from flashbacks that Jake once had a loving family: a beautiful wife and three glowing sons. Now, however, Jake lives in a shoddy apartment, works a bad job, and sees demons all around him that are trying to kill him. He sinks into insanity: slowly. This is a testament to the films worth. At no single point is it apparent that Jake has lost his mind, but the gradual descent becomes clearer and clearer. The plot also does this, as we learn more about what may have happened to Vietnam, and what happened to the happier also post-Vietnam times. There is a craft in the film that is admirable, but also an intelligence about the created situation. Jake's descent is never nonsensical, but rooted in a specific statement about Jake Singer's condition. There is a statement within about the worthlessness of a stupid war, a statement about perseverance, and even a critical one of the government. What JACOB'S LADDER achieves is a sad dignity within a proclaimed horror film. It is not only good at getting this point across, but at creating an aura of horror, paranoia, and finally entertainment.
Jacob's Ladder: ★★★★

A Halfway Point (2011)

Halfway through 2011. I've missed somewhere around 50 films so far, and as I learned from 2010's experience, there are many treasures to be found past the ones critics or sites would deem 'important'. Despite this, a halfway point marks a chance to reflect. Like my revised "best of 2010" list, some of the films I had previously enjoyed, have been realized as minor trifles that were little more than killing two hours.

THE BEST:
13 Assassins
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Certified Copy
Heartbeats
Meek's Cutoff
Midnight in Paris
Rango
The Sunset Limited

THE WORST:
Cowboys & Aliens
Limitless
Sanctum
Scre4m

Cowboys & Aliens

A Candidate for Most Disappointing Film of 2011

Recalling the surprisingly good IRON MAN and it's decent sequel, I went into director Jon Favreau's COWBOYS & ALIENS expecting quite a bit. With IRON MAN, he took a plot I considered unredeemable past its title, and created one of the more entertaining films of the year. I would love to be able to deem Favreau a master of the ridiculous but, alas, this is not to be. For, with his new feature, another film with a ridiculous title / plot, another chance to make another great film, instead, with COWBOYS & ALIENS, Favreau has exhibited his immaturity as a director, an inability to direct actors, and video-game-esque action-film spectacle. The film began well enough: a weathered Daniel Craig awakening with a gunshot wound and a strange metal bracelet on his arm. Craig is a good actor, and in his early scenes has a physicality about himself that is superhuman but routed in a "Man Without A Name" Eastwood tradition of dignity. Craig's unnamed amnesiac walks into town after proving his presence on the screen, scouts the town out, gets into a few more fights, meets a beautiful girl named Ella (Olivia Wilde) and searches his pockets for clues to his identity. It turns out that Craig's character is Jake Lonergan, a crook of the old west. Jake, however, cannot remember his past, and thus acts with civility. The local sheriff (Keith Carradine), however, still considers Lonergan a hefty reward possibility, and takes him captive along with a snotty rancher boy (Paul Dano). The rancher boy's father, however, rushes into town to collect his son from the sheriff. His name is Dollarhyde and he's played here by Harrison Ford. Just as this appealing western is getting interesting though, aliens attack, rushing towards the town in dragonfly-like ships with bright lights. The aliens take many prisoners, and shoot up the town like a gang of ornery rustlers who happen to have lasers. This was the first clue that COWBOYS & ALIENS was to be anything but a great film. For, as the aliens attack, they shoot in ridiculous areas, oddly harming nobody. As a few tonally awkward scenes pass by, Lonergan eventually concedes that he should join up with Dollarhyde and the rest of the townspeople to find the aliens and rescue their kin. Favreau here attempts to imitate many better and appropriate scenes from better westerns. Like a checklist, this film has every aspect of other westerns: a boy (Noah Ringer) who learns to be a man, the awkward dandy (Sam Rockwell) who also has to become a man, the befriending of indians, sacrificial characters to further the plot, and it goes on and on. These scenes all feel forced, and Favreau is only adept at setting them up. His payoffs are often ridiculously stupid. Music swells and hats and belts rustle as everyone gets ready to battle, but when the battle comes, it's anticlimactic and badly choreographed. Favreau's too-omipresent aliens look a meld of the monster from SUPER 8 and gorilla-lobsters (as Roger Ebert described perfectly), and when they fight the townspeople, there's only two or three of them fighting at a time, while the rest take coffee breaks. Olivia Wilde is criminally underused and then deemed important and otherworldy. The alien motive is apparently to take gold from the townspeople for the simple reason that "it's just as rare for them as it is for us". (Gold isn't that rare. Also has no practical use). Olivia Wilde remarks: they're here! when the aliens are right in front of her face. The actors in Favreau's film are good because the actors behind the characters know what to do, with the exception of Olivia Wilde who is confused at how to play her character because her character in nonsensical. I could go on and on. This is essentially an immature film because it knows how to create hype for itself (the film) and even for upcoming scenes within itself, but it isn't any good at actually creating those scenes. This furthers the disappointment that the film isn't any good, and the potential the film had is also visibly squandered.

Cowboys & Aliens: ★

Captain America: The First Avenger

A Prelude

Like IRON MAN, John Favreau's surprisingly good superhero film, Joe Johnston's CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER, has a sense of respect for its subject. Rather than condescendingly pandering with overlong montage, quick and lazy action, and a stupid lead character, the hero Captain America is endearing rather than mechanistic. Beginning with a scrawny Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, a wannabe soldier, CAPTAIN AMERICA slowly builds an environment around its lead, exhibiting Rogers as a feisty but muscle-weak 1940's kid who'd never spoken to a girl. Just as it is with all origin stories, Rogers is picked up by luck by a strange scientist who vows to get Rogers into the army. Despite being previously rejected for his asthma among other ailments, Rogers finds himself in training camp underneath a wonderfully curmudgeonry Tommy Lee Jones, failing every test of brawn, but winning every in brain. The strange scientist handpicks the weakling Rogers for his experiment, and scientifically, by way of Thor's father's magical power on earth (which Iron Man also uses for sustenance), Steve Rogers is transformed into Captain America. At first, he is put aside as a rallying figure for the war, but later he is used in the war with a motley crew of excitingly offbeat characters. CAPTAIN AMERICA is often pretty stupid, but only willingly so: for example, having a Nazi nemesis named the Red Skull who forces his stormtrooper-esque followers to chant: Heil Hydra! However, despite its falls into goofiness, CAPTAIN AMERICA is often fun in a traditional way which it knows it is trying to evoke. It's not great cinema, but it's fine summer entertainment / Avengers movie prelude.
Captain America: The First Avenger: ★★★

Miami Vice

Digital Night Sky

Images in MIAMI VICE (a 2006 film by Michael Mann) often appear as paintings or elaborate compositions of contrasting images of the same tonality. Consider Mann's dark, navy pasted cops on the top of a bridge against the night sky. Both planes of vision are dark, but Mann's heroes appear starkly against their also-dark-counterpart: the Miami skyline. As a feat of digital photography: MIAMI VICE is a masterpiece. The film, although apparently based on a 1980's tv series that can only inspire visions of corniness, is about two laconic policemen in the modern day. We rarely even hear their names, although viewers of the tv show would not require any introduction, and the cops stand out based on their respective traits. Jamie Foxx (Mann's collaborator on the great COLLATERAL) plays Rico, a stern, cool balance to the recklessness of his partner Sonny (Collin Farrell). Neither men talk very much, and when they do it's in quick, cool phrases rather than full sentences or coherent lay-it-out talk. We gather that both men are on a job to go undercover and reveal how a crime syndicate is discovering undercover cops. The task is dangerous, but the men are both obviously excellent at their work. Sonny gets pulled into the crime crowd, falling for the boss' financial advisor Isabella (Gong Li), and thus complicating his connection with Rico, who is trying to maintain his own marriage. Both men on either planes of relationships fail because of their occupation: inevitability is brought up by Mann with his MIAMI VICE players using primarily subtle actions. The story could be straightforward, but it is instead complicated to allow for nuance to flesh out Sonny and Rico. MIAMI VICE is a pretty great film, different perhaps from high-octane fare like HEAT, but more complicated to evoke the underlying points in COLLATERAL.
Miami Vice: ★★★★