Archive for October, 2003
150 – Scary Movie 3
Posted by frothy in Scary Movie 3 on October 29, 2003
Scary Movies 1 and 2 had more Wayanses than you can shake a really big stick at. Scary 3 forgoes the Wayans factor and instead employs the Airplane! factor, as it’s directed by David Zucker, part of the creative team behind Airplane!, Hot Shots!, The Naked Gun!, and other exclamatory titles. (Even Leslie Nielsen, who appeared in Airplane! and has made a career out of similar roles, turns up here as well.)
So with that pedigree at work, it would be understandable if expectations were a little high for this movie. Let’s check the scoreboard. Scary Movie 1: a lot of fun, did a very good job spoofing self-serious horror movies. Scary Movie 2: same crew, awful result – totally immemorable. Scary Movie 3, then, should be as good as if not better than the first movie, if only for the fine comedic chops of the director.
SM3 parodies three movies, for the most part: The Ring, 8 Mile, and Signs. There’s also some Matrix tossed in for good measure – these movies are known for their kitchen-sink approach. From The Ring, you have the whole bit about the tape that kills those who watch it and the bit about the girl down the well; from 8Mile, you have the I-wanna-be-a-white-rapper bit, with Simon Rex perfectly pantomiming Eminem; and from Signs you have that whole aliens-are-coming-see-the-crop-circles bit. There are plenty of pop culture references, including an eerie stand-in for Michael Jackson.
The problem is that the jokes are scattershot, as if someone loaded a BB gun full of humor but removed the casing, thus causing quips and pranks to hit some targets but miss others by a long shot. Movies like this that rely on a fast pace, physical comedy, and a script full of everything the writers can lay their hands on. And because of this reliance, these movies tend to be – exactly like their jokes – hit or miss. For every Hot Shots!, there’s a Top Secret!. This is because the law of averages catches up to the screenwriter – not every joke can be funny, and the more jokes are tossed around, the higher the risk that they won’t be funny. This doesn’t mean it’s impossible to have a rapid-fire funny movie – see the aforementioned Airplane! and, for you older-film buffs, movies like His Girl Friday that lived off the rapid-fire humor.
The basic plot has bright-eyed TV reporter Cindy (Anna Faris) breaking a story about mysterious crop circles on a farm outside Washington. The owner of the farm, Tom (Charlie Sheen), is a former minister whose wife died in a tragic accident. Meanwhile, people die a week after watching a particular weird videotape. Somehow, it all ties in together.
Sheen seems to be making a living out of lampooning himself and anyone else, and he turns in his usual good work here. At this point in his career, you know what you’re going to get from Charlie Sheen. Faris is appealing as the intrepid reporter, exuding both charm and cuteness in equal amounts – but not so much that you’ll go into a diabetic shock.
Besides Nielsen, among those who show up for small (or even cameo) roles include Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Jeremy Piven, Camryn Manheim, Darrell Hammond, Simon Cowell, Denise Richards, Queen Latifah (one of the few who rose above her material), Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley, George Carlin, Ja Rule, and a host of rappers, including Macy Gray, Redman, Method Man, Master P, and Raekwon. With all those recognizable, you wind up with a mishmash; the actors and rappers are overwhelmed by their celebrity (except for Latifah, who is clearly slumming) and are nothing more than distractions, for the most part.
But even without the myriad celebrity cameos, this is just not a winner. It’s not as bad as the second Scary Movie, but it pales in comparison with the first – and it’s leagues worse than most of the previous Zucker comedies. There are some funny moments (including a hilarious wake!), and some fine physical comedy, but the film mostly falls flat.
Scary Movie 3: **
149 – Kill Bill Vol. 1
Posted by frothy in Kill Bill Vol. 1 on October 23, 2003
Quentin Tarantino’s fourth movie (and first in five years) is one of the most entertaining movies I’ve seen in years. It’s also the most violent.
It’s not just violent. It’s Violent with a capital V. You could even capitalize the entire word, and you still wouldn’t be scratching the surface of its violence. You thought Pulp Fiction was violent? Think again, brother. Kill Bill does for bloodletting what Jaws did for shark attacks, what Citizen Kane did for sleds, and what E.T. did for Reese’s Pieces. It’s so violent, it makes Night of the Living Dead look like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, even if Fred Rogers donned a ski mask and went psycho with a meat cleaver in the Land of Make Believe.
I’m harping on the violence here; can you tell? I’m mentioning this because extreme violence is one of those qualities in a film that can divide the audience neatly: those that are repulsed by it, and those who are attracted to it.
Uma Thurman plays a flaxen-haired assassin who’s bent on avenging her near death and the murder of her unborn child by the hands of her former elite-assassin teammates. Her story is told out of chronological order, a la Pulp Fiction, but not so jarringly; the audience is helped by onscreen titles explaining what time frame we’re in.
Her character is one of an select group of killers that includes O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu), Vernita Green (Viveca A. Fox), Budd (Michael Madsen), and Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah); each member goes by a nom de guerre relating to a snake. Thurman’s character is Black Mamba. Her mission is simple. Find and kill each person who had left her for dead, leaving for the last their ringleader, Bill (David Carradine). Bill does not appear onscreen in this movie, but we do get to hear his voice, like Bosley on Charlie’s Angels.
But as with most Tarantino films, including those he’s influenced, the plot sometimes takes a back seat to style. That doesn’t mean there’s no substance at all, but with scenes as eye-popping (literally, in one case) as these, it’s easy to lose oneself in sheer awe. From the very first scene – a real shocker – to the final, set-em-up scene, you just can’t peel your gaze from the machismo and panache being exhibited onscreen.
The entire cast is incredible. Thurman’s practically an old hand at this, having had a prominent role in Pulp Fiction; here, as the focal point of the movie – the heroine, sort of – she is more than up to the task. I saw nuances in her work here that I’d never seen before. And Lucy Liu? I must come clean and admit I’ve carried a torch for her for years, but this is easily her best work. Heavily layered, very finely characterized work. (She plays a part-Japanese, part-Chinese, part-American ruler of the Tokyo underworld, and she’s damn good with cutlery, too.)
Now, as you may have guessed, this is not a movie for children. It’s also not a movie for pregnant women, people with bad backs (the sudden moves you make when you jump out of your seat might make you slip a disc or two), people with weak hearts, the elderly, and Nervous Nellies. It’s for everyone else, though. Boy, is it ever for everyone else! It’s a potpourri of balletic swordsmanship, a feast for the eyes (there’s that word again). Forget about the violence for a minute – this movie just plain rocks. And Sonny Chiba has a big role, too! You remember Sonny from his 1970s Street Fighter kung fu movies, right? He has a great role here, as the creator of the sword Black Mamba uses against her many enemies.
You’ll notice the title implies this is not the last we’ll see of Black Mamba, and you’re right. Yes, it’s a movie so big they had to split it in two, and Vol. 2 is due to be released in 2004.
But unlike, say, Back to the Future II, which existed purely as a setup for Back to the Future III, this one absolutely stands on its own. And that final scene, which I mentioned earlier, packs one hell of a wallop. I didn’t see it coming, although looking back it’s not an illogical surprise. (You can predict almost anything in movies if you really think about the movie, but who wants to? You’re supposed to experience it as it’s played out, not try hard to be three steps ahead
of the characters.)
Tarantino’s a connoisseur of genre films: caper films, blaxploitation films, martial arts films. His highly stylish touches and imaginative direction place this movie on a pedestal far higher than others of this type. Like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. 1 is in a league completely different from any other film.
Kill Bill Vol. 1: ***1/2
148 – Phone Booth
Posted by frothy in Phone Booth on October 20, 2003
It was quite a intriguing premise, really. A man answers a ringing phone in a booth in which he’s just made a call. A man’s voice promises that if he hangs up or leaves the booth, he’ll be shot dead. If you were that man, would you have the nerve to hang up?
What if you further found out what the potential killer wanted, and it wasn’t money or anything on your person? What if he wanted you to apologize for something?
Stu Shepard (Colin Farrell) is a hotshot New York publicist who systematically walks over everyone he meets and lies to those who can help him. He’s been carrying on an affair with a struggling actress named Pam (Katie Holmes, looking cute as a button as always) while married to Kelly (Radha Mitchell). In fact, he’s just gotten off the phone with Pam when the phone rings ominously. “A ringing phone must be answered,” we’re told as the movie opens, although I’m not so certain that’s true. I myself feel no strong urge to answer a ringing pay phone, as it’s generally not for me.
But Stu does answer it, and the voice on the other end (Kiefer Sutherland) has him in his trap. Hang up, you die. But it’s not long before other people are involved – otherwise, it’d be a quick or at least awfully dull movie – and sure enough a group of prostitutes wants to use the phone. Only Stu can’t hang up, so they get their pimp Leon to take care of things. Leon smashes in the side of the booth, and the killer – provoked according to his own code of what is bad and what is not – shoots him down from above, although we never know quite where.
And that’s what really gets things going. Soon the prosties are getting the cops, and there’s a big standoff, with Stu still clinging to the phone, refusing to give it up. Of course, the killer is telling him what to say to the cops, warning him that if he doesn’t comply, Stu will be killed. In the interests of self-preservation, Stu does comply.
Interestingly enough, the killer’s complaints about Stu center around his perceived selfishness, his look-out-for-number-one attitude. And yet it’s that very attitude that keeps Stu alive. If he were the Good Boy that the killer wishes he were (he wants Stu to atone for his past transgressions, such as lying to his wife), then Stu would have been dead. Life’s funny sometimes, ain’t it?
Of course, the police have no idea there’s a killer on the other end of the phone. They’re operating under the assumption that Stu killed the pimp, and that he’s armed. In most movies where there’s a police standoff, the cops might act a little differently, choosing instead to rush the phone booth. But the cop contingent is led here by Captain Ramey, played by an earnest Forest Whitaker. Whitaker is always a treat to watch, with his hangdog eyes and self-serious expression. He’s easily the best part of this otherwise tepid film (much as he was in last year’s Panic Room). Ramey instead chooses to talk Stu down, to discern what the actual threat is. His character is thoughtful but tough, choosing to place himself in danger.
The movie runs only 81 minutes, but it’s still too long and probably would have been better served as an episode of an anthology series, like the old Twilight Zone or Outer Limits series. It’s interesting to see the character development of Stu Sheperd, but in the end the viewer still doesn’t care too much about him.
Phone Booth: **
147 – Solaris
Based on the novel by Stanislaw Lem, this cerebral sci-fi yarn has psychologist Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) being sent to investigate strange happenings on a remote space station orbiting an odd planet. Kelvin has ghosts of his own to deal with, as he is haunted by memories of his wife, a suicide victim. His mission is to find out why the crew members have not come home and to explain their bizarre behavior (as evidenced by their plaintive messages imploring Kelvin to visit).
There have been many movies that depict what happens when strange happenings are investigated, and as in most of those movies, nothing here is really as it seems. The tone for the tension and suspense is set almost immediately, as Kelvin awaks onboard the station next to his dead wife!
Who is she? What is she? Is she really his wife, returned from the grave? What affect does Solaris the planet have on this…. this entitity? Is Kelvin turning as nutty as the remaining crew members? Is he hallucinating his wife? Is he even on the space station – is this a bad dream?
Devoid of outlandish special effects and with a threadbare cast, the movie must lean on the solemn plot and the stoic acting of Clooney. This is his show all the way – his is the flawed hero and the willing victim combined into one multilayered character. It’s some of Clooney’s best work; he cannot rely on his whiplash smile or suave charm. Neither of those qualities, although surely valuable in other films, can help his character here.
Like the best thinking-man’s sci-fi, Solaris doesn’t answer every question. It’s mystical without being too abstract, and its quiet strength lies in what one doesn’t see.
The only drawback is that it’s often tough to understand the actions of the crew members, including Kelvin. Are they insane, or merely acting? Hamlet himself may not have been able to discern the truth here. Compounding this is the sometimes unlikeability of Kelvin himself. It would be taking the easy way out, however, to have made him into some sort of superhero. Therefore even though it’s tough at times to relate to Kelvin and consequently to root for him to succeed, this is a successful, well-made film, thanks to its complexities and multilayered main character.
Solaris: ***
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