Archive for April, 2005
200 – The Forgotten
Telly Paretta (Julianne Moore) is having trouble dealing with the death of her eight-year-old son Sam. She’s seeing a therapist, Dr. Munce (Gary Sinise), but both the doctor and Telly’s husband Jim (Anthony Edwards) believe she’s completely delusional, and they insist Sam never existed.
But Telly happens to run into another parent whose child died in the plane crash that claimed Sam – Ash, the hunky ex-hockey player (Dominic West). Now, two people can’t both be delusional about the same thing, can they? (Well, they can, but let’s not let that get in the way of our logic.) So, it’s why-won’t-anyone-believe-me Telly and walking-distillery Ash to Solve the Mystery.
Moody and brooding, the movie tosses no curveballs at the viewer; you’re going to have a pretty good idea of how things’ll turn out. As intriguing as the premise is – can a forgotten child be remembered? – the script doesn’t really do a heck of a lot with the concept, opting instead to try to wow the audience with wacky (and sometimes irrelevant) CGI effects. There are car chases, things crashing, shots fired, people rising, and people falling. This is all done to distract you from the fact that the plot really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Some of the things that the characters do will make you scratch your head a little, even if you grant them some leeway for their being in mourning.
Movies like this bug me a little. If you want to be a psychological mystery/thriller, then your plot ought to be strong enough to hold up under close examination. If you just want to be a brain-dead action movie, then the plot part won’t matter – but you should have a simplistic storyline, not a complicated one.
The Forgotten should be interesting to conspiracy enthusiasts, since it ties together a couple popular ones to the theme of a mother losing her child. I can see how the premise would have made a good movie, but the film suffers from a propensity on the part of the screenwriter to toss in some action where a furthering of the plot would have served the movie better. Things aren’t helped by director Joseph Rubin, who brings the same somber and hopeless tone that he brought to the equally forgettable (pardon the pun) The Good Son (pardon that pun, too, come to think of it).
As for the acting, this also should have been a strength, what with such reliable pros as Julianne Moore, Alfre Woodard, Gary Sinise, and Anthony Edwards on board. But Moore seemed even hammy at times, basking in the glow of above-the-title stardom, and the others were nothing more than decorative wallpaper, offering little with the few lines they were given.
The Forgotten misses the mark, although not by a whole lot. As far as contemporary thrillers go, it’s best not remembered.
The Forgotten: **1/2
199 – Saw
There has been a recent surge in horror movies lately, from remakes of classics to supposedly original films. Most of these are hissably enjoyable – that is, one can think of them as flights of fancy, whimsical farces that deserve to be laughed at, not with.
Saw, however, fits under a different category: movies that grab you from the get-go and never let go, relentless keeping you on edge, so much so that even after you’ve turned off the TV and are safe under the covers in your Happy Spot, the unease sticks with you.
Two men, Lawrence (Carey Elwes) and Adam (Leigh Whannell, who also co-wrote the story with James Wan, the director), wake up in an abandoned public bathroom. Stuff is oozing along the walls. There’s a foul stench. BOth men are chained by the ankle to huge, imposing pipes. And there’s a dead man in the middle of the room, laying face down in a pool of slowly drying blood. Neither man knows how he arrived in his present state. Then an unseen killer informs them that one must kill the other by 6 pm that evening – or Lawrence’s family will be murdered.
Lawrence and Adam figure out that they’ve been placed there by a notorious serial killer nicknamed Jigsaw, a psychopath who manipulates his victims into killing each other. The movie dances back and forth in flashbacks to explain what the killer’s done in the past (but not, of course, what he plans to do with Lawrence and Adam), which only heightens the suspense.
See, this isn’t a typical serial-killer movie, wherein your garden-variety Serial Killer Dude picks a theme (Ten Commandments, Seven Deadly Sins, zodiac symbols, alphabet, what have you) and then the scriptwriters get creative with the gore. Uh-uh. Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s gore in this movie – so shoo the kids and make sure the dog’s looking the other way – but so much of the horror is perceived, rather than presented. And that’s what I love about Saw. At times, it’s inventively icky, but it never dwells on the sicko aspect of the killer’s machinations. What it does particularly well, I think, is that it constantly keeps you wondering what’s going to happen next – but never satisfying, never letting you settle into a comfort zone. Good horror films make your skin crawl not by how many buckets of blood they can spatter across the screen but by the mere anticipation of them; what’s more, the best horror films make you honestly and unequivocally believe that what’s happening to the protagonists could happen to you, too.
I mentioned there’s been a surge in horror films, but it’s more of a glut of mediocrity. Saw rises far above its brethren.
Saw: ***1/2
198 – Robots
Robots is a familiar story (young outcast struggling against the odds to prove self-worth and help like-minded outcasts), with two variations: cutting-edge animation and Robin Williams. So it’s sort of a high-tech FernGully, or a poor man’s Aladdin.
Rodney Copperbotton (Ewan McGregor) is a enterprising young robot who heads to Robot City to seek his fortune – namely, to meet Mr. Bigweld (Mel Brooks), who runs an entrepenurial robot think-tank where inventors can pitch and eventually follow through on their ideas and visions. But Rodney quickly learns the bad side of good business when he’s abruptly shown the door by the company’s interim head, Ratchet (Greg Kinnear). Rodney learns that Ratchet plans to make all of the robots in Robot City choose either to buy expensive new upgrades or become…. outmoded. As in turned into scrap metal and then melted down. Which kind of begs the whole issue of reincarnation, since these are walking and talking robots. But since this is for a kiddie audience, the movie skirts that all-important issue.
Will Rodney find redemption? Oh, it’s possible. This is from the same fine folks who brought you Ice Age. Think of it as more like Toy Story, with the motley band of loveable personalities banding together to survive and beat the bad guys. But there’s a crucial difference between the films: Toys are cute and cuddly, and robots are not. No knock against the animation process used in Robots, but I’ve had Legos that had more character than some of these bots.
A notable exception is Williams, doing what Robin Williams does best. Even if everything he said wasn’t ad libbed, he makes you feel as if it is – and that’s part of his charm. His extroversion wins you over in the part of Fender (“I used to be Bumper, then we moved to the city”), the robot who’s slowly falling apart and is set to be outmoded.
When movies such as Toy Story and A Bug’s Life came out, we were wowed by the technologically wonderful animation. But audiences are notoriously fickle; we’re now used to computer animation being this good, and so we’re not as easily distracted by the effects. The “sets” on Robots – especially the elaborate transportation found in Robot City – are fantastic, but it seems they would have been even more impressive if they’d been in a short cartoon. The domino sequence was particularly marvelous to behold.
As with most kidlet-appeal movies, Robots tugs hard on your fragile heartstrings. I mean, you know darn well how it’s going to end, and you still can’t help but feel good when it’s over. So the film is successful in that regard. The kids in the theater in which I saw the movie seemed to like it well enough, based on their laughter, but I didn’t get a sense that they thought it was as awesome as, say, Toy Story, which probably spoiled everyone for a long while.
Robots isn’t terribly charming or creative in its storyline or characterizations, although the animation is top notch.
Robots: **1/2
197 – Shark Tale
Posted by frothy in Shark Tale on April 8, 2005
Oscar (Will Smith) is a young bottom-feeding fish who wants to make it to the top – the top of the reef, that is – but is stuck with his dead-end job on the assembly line at a whale wash. His best friend is Angie (Rene Zellweger), an angel fish with the typical heart o’ gold. Angie loves Oscar to death, but he’s too dopey and blind to figure that out.
But Oscar’s the fishie on the spot when he’s witness to a descending anchor that kills a shark that was chasing him. Aha, problem solved! You bet it is, especially when Oscar sort of takes credit for the death, proclaiming himself “Sharkslayer.” Top of the world, ma!
Will Oscar finally realize that Angie is his One True Love, or will he fall to the considerable and formidable charms of the lovely and mysterious Lola (Angelina Jolie)? And will he figure out his romance situation before he’s iced by the local Mob boss Don Lino (Robert DeNiro), who happens to be the father of the shark who was killed by the anchor, the shark everyone thinks Oscar killed?
Charming, whimsical, and fulla heart and moxie, Shark Tale tries – and succeeds – to do for fishfolk what Antz did for insectfolk. Both, incidentally, were Dreamworks creations, and it’s somewhat assuring to see a company other than Disney consistently turn out fun, high-quality animation.
For once, Smith is perfectly cast. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve liked quite a few Will Smith films, but most of the time he’s an entertainer and showman, not an actor. There’s plenty of showmanship in his performance here, but for some reason the animation comes across as completely sincere. So it’s the Will Smith show again, but against the animated backdrop of the briny deep, it somehow works wonderfully.
Bearing in mind that during the making of animated films, the actors providing the voices often do not work simultaneously (although they did do so a few times for Shark Tale), I thought the vocal chemistry between De Niro and Smith was excellent. Strong performances abounded, from a fairly disparate selection of actors: De Niro, Smith, Zellweger, Jolie, Peter Falk, Jack Black, Ziggy Marley, and Doug E. Doug.
So all in all, a whole lotta fun. You might say the movie has teeth, but you’d be wrong – it’s an innocuous PG-rated movie, so rated merely for its mild cartoon violence. Your kidlets will probably love it – or at least they will if there’s a Happy Meal involved, which I’m sure there was.
Shark Tale: ***
196 – Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle
Posted by frothy in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle on April 8, 2005
Harold (John Cho) and Kumar (Kal Penn) are a couple of college-educated smart dudes who also happen to love the wacky tobacky. But they’re not typical stoners, either; Harold is an investment banker, and Kuman is a medical whiz whose father is trying to get into med school. So although they’re lovable losers who just wanna get high, the boys aren’t complete slackers, either.
The movie deals with the duo’s journey one evening to White Castle and the various wild (and increasingly unlikely) events that befall them during their travels. Funny thing is, most people can probably relate to this, putting aside the drug portion of the program. You remember your college years, right? Didn’t you ever take a road trip somewhere, just on a whim? You could, back then. Sure, you’d think nothing more of trekking up to Niagara Falls, 14 hours away, for a weekend. You didn’t have responsibilities back then, so it was cool.
Anyway, when Harold and Kumar discover that the White Castle burger joint they thought was nearby has been gone for five years, they decide to drive 45 minutes to lovely, elite Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where the closest WC resides. Along the way, they stop off at Princeton University to try to score weed and hot babes, run into surf punk jerkos who harass them at every opportunity, take the police on a wild chase, get incarcerated, bust out of jail, and even meet Neil Patrick Harris, he of the long-gone Doogie Howser show.
All in one night.
It’s a justifiably ludicrous scenario, and yet its implausibility is what works so strongly for it. For crying out loud, they ride a cheetah! They hang glide! Just the anticipation of What Might Happen Next is enough to keep all but the most apathetic of viewers from giving a rat’s buttocks.
Through all the chaos, Harold and Kumar don’t always see eye to eye – just like in real life. Each fights the other from time to time, with blame for their current predicament being concentrated like rage in an anarchist. But though they’re bickering and sniping, we know that Harold and Kumar will be there for each other through it all and will – we fervently hope – survive the night to feast on White Castle hamburgers and fries.
There are a few reasons that this movie might not appeal to everyone. There are drug references. There’s nudity. There’s profanity. And there’s the fact that zillions of people have never even heard of White Castle, let alone had one of its famous (infamous?) burgers. White Castle burgers are known for their small size and affordability, making them favorites of college kids. Hey, you can buy a SACK of White Castle Sliders. How cool is that? A sack of burgers!
Cho and Penn are appealing as the titular duo, charming but not self-aggrandizing. Doubtless a lot of people watched the movie and said to themselves, “Dude! I know that guy!” And indeed I did. I knew a guy who’s a dead ringer for Kumar. Absolutely down to every fiber of his personality. So for me, the movie was pleasantly familiar.
Do Harold and Kumar make it to their Shangri-La, their Mecca, their holies of holy lands, White Castle? Well, maybe. But as perhaps they could tell you, it’s the puff that’s the most fun, not the exhaling.
Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: ***
195 – The Grudge
Karen Davis (Sarah Michell Gellar), an American nurse working in Tokyo, is hired to cover for a caretaker who had not shown up to work. When Karen arrives she finds the house in total disarray and her patient in mute shock. Unwittingly, Karen discovers the presence of murderous, vengeful ghosts, bent on destroying anyone who enters the house – and then passing along their plague to their loved ones.
There’s a legend in Japan, you see, that says that when a person dies in a state of sorrow or rage, that emotion remains behind to haunt others. Can Karen escape the curse and prevent it from ensnaring her boyfriend Doug?
Whoa, not so fast, there. This is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, here, true, but she’s not Superman. Surely Karen can’t topple an ancient curse, right?
Horror movies are all the rage now, which is good. Even better, the emphasis seems to be on suspense as much as it’s on gore and whatnot. The Grudge trucks with the former much more than with the latter, which is also a good thing. It’s an amusing, entertaining little film, and there’s no slight intended. Rather than overwhelm the viewer’s senses with loud noises and blood, director Takashi Shimizu opts instead for what lurks around the corner and under the bed. Yes, you do see some gross things (including an undead being that looks like it walked off the set of The Ring), but watching the movie isn’t like
stepping into a house of horrors in which what you see is what’s scary. As with the scariest movies, what you don’t see can kill you.
Gellar is pretty good, considering she’s been in movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer. The Grudge is leagues ahead of crappy teenyboppers-in-peril movies like that one (and Scream 2, in which Gellar also appeared), in terms of both style and story. Really, it’s like the difference between Scooby Doo and Columbo. Sure, it’s a fairly easy gig, playing a victim in a horror movie. And, of course, if you’re pretty much the only “name” actor in the movie, chances are pretty good that your character is going to survive it, in one form or another. Even so, I was pleasantly surprised at how well Gellar essayed her character’s abject terror, so kudos to her.
Really, if I hadn’t already seen The Ring, I might have thought this was even better than it turned out to be – although I did think it turned out better than I had anticipated. It might seem a little derivative of The Ring to folks out there, but it seems to have derived only the good stuff.
The Grudge: ***
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