That teaser packs a wallop and reveals nothing while doing so.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Tintin is a creation that has largely not made an impact on this side of the Atlantic, but the beloved creation of Hergé has been critiqued, studied, and read in Europe for the better part of several decades. In adapting the series into a new trilogy for modern times, the Holy Trinity of geek writers (Edgar Wright, Steven Moffat and Joe Cornish) have been brought in. The three very clearly hold the source material dear and what most moviegoers aren't familiar with could become a kid-Indy for future audiences.
After journalist, Tintin (Jamie Bell), purchases a model ship his life suffers a quick upheaval. His refusal to sell the ship to Sakharine (Daniel Craig doing his dastardly best) results in several murders and his kidnapping. Tintin awakens on a ship set for Morocco and finds that the ship that he has purchased is actually contained a map that could lead to untold fortune.
The crew of Captain Haddock (the inimitable Andy Serkis) have been paid handsomely to mutiny against Captain Haddock and his young boarders. Fortunately, Tintin's quick wit and talented dog Snowy manage to escape with Haddock in tow. As the two banter about Haddock's drinking and Tintin's slim resume on sailing, Haddock reveals to Tintin that his family shares history with the Sakharines. A combative history.
Over three hundred years ago Sir Francis Haddock was forced to abandon the Unicorn when attacked by a Sakharine, but before the ship was lost forever he managed to leave three scrolls throughout the world. If Tintin, Snowy and Haddock are to save the fortune and restore the Haddock family name, they must beat Sakharine to the locations of the three scrolls.
The trio's arrival in Morocco marks one of the most ingenious action sequences captured. It plays out like a Steven Spielberg Rube-Goldberg machine where wonder is freely flowing. This could never happen with the benefit of CGI or in a live-action film and it makes the one-shot all the more exciting.
A concern during pre-production of The Adventures of Tintin was the dead-eye that plagues all performance capture. Of course Spielberg and Peter Jackson addressed most concerns when Serkis was cast. A brilliant, if not mandatory, choice to play Haddock, hiring the most talented man in the field was a decision that must be made.
Fans of the source material may feel slighted as some of Tintin's characteristics are toned down to meet PG guidelines and series regulars like Thomson and Thompson (Nick Frost and Simon Pegg) aren't featured to a great extent in the film. That's okay given how little they provide to the stories they are featured in. Whether the story succeeds in the U.S. is anyone's guess, but for the gifted animation and skilled cast, Tintin more than meets expectations.
***/****
Since J.J. Abrams took the reins of the Mission: Impossible franchise, there has been a sense of fun and exhilaration unmatched by other action series. The tone for the films prior to the 2006 release was an evolving one: Mission: Impossible played it dark and had very little room for laughs of any kind, the sequel dialed back the seriousness, but not enough to translate to a good time. Placing Abrams in the director's chair was a good start to revitalizing the series and once it was announced the Pixar's Brad Bird would helm the fourth film, anticipation went sky-high.
Ghost Protocol opens with Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) breaking out of a Russian prison to the tune of Dean Martin’s “Ain’t That A Kick In The Head”. From the opening on, the audience knows it is in the hands of a director who can compose action sequences cleanly and competently.
Newly named field agent Benji (Simon Pegg, one of two IMF holdovers from MI: 3) and Jane Carter (Paula Patton) await Hunt outside the complex. An extremist with nuclear arms is intent on starting the world anew and Hunt has the inside track on catching him. The only problem? To the world it appears that Hunt, acting on behalf of the IMF, just blew up the Kremlin.
With the IMF shut down and the Secretary murdered, Hunt and his new team must act alone to clear their organization's name. With Jane, Benji and the reluctant William Brandt (Jeremy Renner), Hunt must save the world one more time.
First and foremost, if possible, the Burj Khalifa sequence must be seen in IMAX format. The scene is a testament to the wonders of movie wizardry and what happens when a truly talented director is behind the camera. That Cruise was just as game to film climbing the world's largest tower himself adds to the visceral thrill of it all. Those who suffer from vertigo may just be best to close their eyes.
The hype reached fever pitched when trailers were released for Ghost Protocol and fortunately the finished product more than satisfies what the hype promised. The fourth installation of the Mission: Impossible franchise soars to new heights as director Brad Bird infuses the film with a spectacle that can usually only be found in animated features. If a season full of Oscar-bait leaves you a little bored, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol will gladly clear the doldrums.
***1/2 out of ****
David Fincher doesn't need great source material to turn in celluloid excellence: The Social Network proved that if one does than something great will occur, but the original Dragon Tattoo novels are not such material.
The Swedish adaptation left me feeling cold back in 2009, but given Fincher's track record, I felt like I owed this film a shot. When the opening scene of the film opens with Vanger's phone call, I started to get antsy, is this going to be a shot-for-shot redux? No. No, it's not, the pulsing opening credits scored to Karen O's "The Immigrant Song" made me quite aware of that.
Harriet Vanger has been missing for the better part of forty years, given that piece of information the fact that Henrik Vanger (Christopher Plummer) keeps receiving portraits from his niece is disconcerting. Enter Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig). Facing a major libel suit and perhaps jail time, the last thing the journalist wants to do is add another opportunity to be wrong again.
Before Vanger hands the investigation over to Blomkvist to find out why Harriet may have disappeared—or who made her disappear—he needs to have the disgraced man thoroughly vetted. Enter Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). Her collection of piercings, mohawk, and goth attire may suggest she is not capable of such a profession, but she is the most successful investigator of the firm.
Mara's Salander is entirely composed of scar tissue. Don't get too close, or the urge to run becomes too much for her to resist. When Blomkvist offers her a chance to catch a "killer of women" the layer of tissue is torn again, but this time she doesn't run. She fights.
Noomi Rapace was good, but without her the rest of that cast could effectively be used to move furniture. The problem with Rapace's turn as Lisbeth is we are left behind the curtain as her transformation is unfurled. Here she is playing the victim, but it never seems in Rapace's milieu. The transformation is easier to accept with Mara. Seemingly demure, when Lisbeth finally snaps it shakes the audience. Watching, you think to yourself, "I never thought Mara could be this woman!"
In Seven, Fincher keeps evil faceless as to suggest that around any rainy street could lie a psychopath. Sweden's landscapes may not provide an abundance of rain, but the eerie feeling is similar. Whoever killed Harriet Vanger could very well be mere steps behind Blomkvist or Lisbeth. Fincher is a man of craft and by this point of his career he knows exactly what gears to put in rotation as the haunting score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross gently invites your paranoia to take control.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo presents an antithesis of Fincher's last genre outing, Zodiac. That 2007 opus illuminated that no matter the lengths men go to search for answers, they appear forever out of reach. Here, the chilly atmosphere of muted Sweden would suggest that with any digging at all, the answers lie just below the surface of the ice.
***/****
Monday, December 19, 2011
Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) doesn't take anything off of anyone. Her befuddled father Mac (J.K. Simmons), her sometimes prickly stepmother Bren (Allison Janney), or the jive-talking convenience store clerk (Rainn Wilson). Her buddy Leah (Olivia Thirlby) is a girl turned on by corduroy jackets and bald patches. Her unique lifestyle implies a snarky teen, but the truth is much different, she's ironic but insecure.
Paulie (Michael Cera) is enlisted in an experiment involving a life experience and a comfy chair that, of course, results in Juno's pregnancy. Pondering her options of whether or not to keep the child, Juno visits to the local clinic and changes her mind about aborting the child (and keeps the movie rolling along).
With a full head of steam, Juno embarks on carrying the child and remain a full-time high school student. First things first, she needs to find adoptive parents for the child. Cue best friend Leah with a copy of the PennySaver and a quick comment to go along with it "desperately seeking spawn." Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) seem like the perfect couple to raise the child. Mark is the laidback composer for commercials and Vanessa is the career-oriented "adult" in the relationship. Her visits to the Loring household create fissures and things with Paulie have gotten more intense than she anticipated.
While the dialogue for teenagers and parents is distinctively "indie", but the characters are treated authentically as expected by Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. Juno's revelation to her parents that she is pregnant could have turned into a snipe match, but instead Simmons and Janney infuse the scene with warmth and some unexpected laughs.
The plot moves along as expected, but the real insight of Juno is the actress playing her. Ellen Page is a relative newcomer to lead parts (Hard Candy) and proves to be a lead with the comedic timing of an actress twice her age. Outside of the bravado she exhibits in her spit-fire retorts, she is still a teenager with child. Yet she proves that she is more grown up than most of those around her.
At the end of the day the casting of the unblinkingly naive Michael Cera, the snap, crackle and pop of Cody's original dialogue, or the opening music by Barry Louis Polisar all could have collaborated into a mix of disgust toward the film, but it all blends refreshingly well.
Paulie (Michael Cera) is enlisted in an experiment involving a life experience and a comfy chair that, of course, results in Juno's pregnancy. Pondering her options of whether or not to keep the child, Juno visits to the local clinic and changes her mind about aborting the child (and keeps the movie rolling along).
With a full head of steam, Juno embarks on carrying the child and remain a full-time high school student. First things first, she needs to find adoptive parents for the child. Cue best friend Leah with a copy of the PennySaver and a quick comment to go along with it "desperately seeking spawn." Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner) seem like the perfect couple to raise the child. Mark is the laidback composer for commercials and Vanessa is the career-oriented "adult" in the relationship. Her visits to the Loring household create fissures and things with Paulie have gotten more intense than she anticipated.
While the dialogue for teenagers and parents is distinctively "indie", but the characters are treated authentically as expected by Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody. Juno's revelation to her parents that she is pregnant could have turned into a snipe match, but instead Simmons and Janney infuse the scene with warmth and some unexpected laughs.
The plot moves along as expected, but the real insight of Juno is the actress playing her. Ellen Page is a relative newcomer to lead parts (Hard Candy) and proves to be a lead with the comedic timing of an actress twice her age. Outside of the bravado she exhibits in her spit-fire retorts, she is still a teenager with child. Yet she proves that she is more grown up than most of those around her.
At the end of the day the casting of the unblinkingly naive Michael Cera, the snap, crackle and pop of Cody's original dialogue, or the opening music by Barry Louis Polisar all could have collaborated into a mix of disgust toward the film, but it all blends refreshingly well.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
A street-fighting man who can perceive and analyze events with the speed and precision of a bullet. This may not match what most conceptions of Sherlock Holmes are, but this is the detective we have. No deerstalker cap, no fifteen minute scenes featuring meditation with opiates, Robert Downey Jr. and Guy Ritchie's interpretation does not insist on strict adherence to adaptation.
Guy Ritchie's passive aggressive bromance was in its newlywed stage in 2009, but the central mystery at the heart of the film left a lot to be desired. Lord Blackwood was clever, but undoubtedly no match for the legendary Sherlock Holmes in a battle of wits.
Enter Professor James Moriarty. Jared Harris may not have sat atop the list of Holmes' mortal enemy cast choices, yet we have a worthy foe of the man on Baker Street. He seemingly does not provide a physical match for Holmes, but he more than makes up for that deficiency in malice. His prim appearance and cerebral manner masks a delight in blowing up heads of state across the globe.
The explosions throughout the Old World are being blamed on anarchists, but Holmes suspects a velvet glove drawing up these schemes. In the meantime, no one is safe until Holmes has his partner to bounce theories off of.
The good doctor John Watson (Jude Law) and his wife may have to suspend their honeymoon in the meantime while the "partners" find out. Holmes will be pleased to interrupt their marital proceedings as he is really the only company Dr. Watson should ever need. John may need some time to himself after finding out that Sherlock threw his wife off the train though, even if it was for her own safety. Yes, Holmes still lacks that charismatic touch when it comes to others.
Ritchie notches up the stylistic tone for Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows and while a majority of it works, a few notable scenes detract attention away from the characters to satisfy the obligatory explosion here and there. Rest easy, the repartee between Downey Jr. and Law is more than satisfactory.
However, the final match between Holmes and Moriarty—you knew it was coming—is resplendent. Very few actors can pull off any emotional intensity during the course of a chess match, but for every parry Downey offers, a pugilistic blow is landed by Harris. For our benefit, Holmes may very well have the case of his career on his hands.
***/****
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