Archive for August, 2005
223 – The Brothers Grimm
Posted by frothy in Brothers Grimm on August 31, 2005
Like most people who grew up on stuff like The Minister of Silly Walks and Crunchy Frog, I like Terry Gilliam, and I appreciate his colorful imagination. I enjoyed Baron Munchausen and The Fisher King. Even when his movies haven’t been terribly good (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), they were interesting, to say the least.
I really can’t say for the unfortunate Brothers Grimm, a movie that simply has an identity crisis. Does it want to be a purveyor of broad (Pythonesque) comedy? Or subtle, sophisticated wit? Or maybe a melodrama, or a romance? I was never sure how to take the movie. And that’s fine if the movie in question can pull off being in several genres at once, as with some of Gilliam’s earlier works, but that’s really not the case here.
Jacob and Will Grimm (Heath Ledger and Matt Damon) are con artists in the 18th century; they take advantage of local legends and fairy tales, swooping in to save the day and make a boatload of money in French-occupied Germany. But then their scam is discovered by the French, in the person of General Delatombe (Jonathan Pryce) who says he’ll spare the lads’ lives if they rid a village of a REAL problem, the disappearance of several young girls.
But the village’s forest, it turns out, really IS enchanted, and events that closely resemble folk tales (including the Gingerbread Man, Hansel and Gretel, and Little Red Riding Hood) unfold around the hapless con artists. They can’t flee, because the French army wants to capture and torture them, and of course there’s a love interest (Lena Headey) to keep them around.
Gilliam’s sets are, as always, quite inventive and fun to watch, but it appears he forgot about such nuances as plot advancement and plausibility. The Brothers seem about as intelligent as the Duke boys, if you catch my drift, except without any of the gregarious appeal. This is at least partly due to the ambiguity of the lead characters – are they supposed to be lovable buffoons, hoisted by their own petards, or all-around jerks only in it for themselves?
Ledger and Damon seem to be miscast, as neither supplies the gravitas that the movie sorely needed. It’s like watching a buddy cop film while heavily sedated; at nearly two hours, the movie plods along as if terrified of a denoument, even though the ending (and all secrets contained therein) were painfully obvious after the first hour).
I think it would have been fun to see this movie as more of a Holy Grail homage, complete with toothless old hags declaring curses and such. But somewhere between that 1975 opus and this dreadful, toothless waste, Gilliam lost his sense of humor.
The Brothers Grimm:*1/2
222 – The Jacket
Jack (Adrien Brody), a near-casualty in the Gulf War, returns home a shell of his former self and is accused and convicted of murdering a police officer, which he doesn’t remember. Remanded to a sanitarium, Jack undergoes an unusual type of therapy at the hands of Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson) that involves being strapped inside a straitjacket and tossed into a morgue drawer for hours, even nights.
During his time in the drawer, Jack – mostly deprived of his senses – finds he has the ability to time travel some 15 years into the future, where he sees some of the consequences of the actions of the past. Does he risk changing the future to protect the present?
Alternately turgid and creepy, The Jacket relies a little too much on Brody’s expressive, elongated face to move the story along. His work here isn’t bad at all, really, but the plot doesn’t always hold up to close scrutiny.
Before his arrest, Jack had encountered a woman and her young daughter alongside their disabled truck. Jack gives his dog tags to the girl and fixes the vehicle, receiving no thanks for his aid. But while in the jacket, Jack encounters a sad, disillusioned diner waitress who just happens to possess his old dog tags.
Luckily for Jack and the audience, it doesn’t take long for him to figure out what’s happening when he’s put into the drawer; the question is how he can use the information he’s gleaned to make things better for the girl and her mother. Thrown in for good measure are the requisite Convincing a Good Doctor (a bespectacled Jennifer Jason Leigh) of His Time Traveling and Confronting the Not-Bad-but-Misguided Doctor. Oh, and figuring out who really killed the cop in the first place.
The plot itself isn’t terribly complicated, which is certainly a relief, but it moves so slowly at times that such a benefit is rendered moot. As good of an actor that Brody (and the disheveled, gothlike Keira Knightley) is, all the clever emoting in the world can’t make up for a pace somewhat akin to jogging in mud.
One major saving grace, though, is the ending, which feels very sincere and is in fact quite heart rendering. Very well played, even if the rest of the film isn’t terribly rewarding.
The Jacket: **
221 – The Aristocrats
Posted by frothy in Aristocrats on August 24, 2005
The Aristocrats is about a old joke told almost exclusively among stand-up comedians. It’s so filthy, so heinously disgusting that it’s simply not for general public consumption.
The premise of the joke, which has been around since vaudeville days, never really changes: “A guy walks into a talent agent’s office and says he has a great new act.” And the punchline never changes: “The Aristocrats!”
Ah, but what happens in between! There’s the fun. As Penn Jillette (of Penn and Teller; he coproduced the film) notes, it’s the singer, not the song. When you hear a note of John Coltrane, you know it’s John Coltrane – doesn’t matter if he’s playing a complex piece or “Happy Birthday.” In other words, each artist has his own inimitable style.
A joke like The Aristocrats exists to allow comics to show off their style and their ability to ad lib. Each comic takes the joke and makes it his or her own, tossing in all kinds of flowery, naughty descriptive debauchery to draw out the joke’s length and effectiveness. The joke lets the comedian explore the limits of his or her own talent; how much can they improv? For, you see, no one scripts what they’re going to say during a performance of the Aristocrats joke – it’s mostly done off the cuff.
About 100 comedians show up in this film, from such oldtimers as Phyllis Diller and Don Rickles to Robin Williams, Martin Mull, Howie Mandel, and even Emo Phillips. The background of the joke – that is, the performing family act that appears therein – is analyzed: Wouldn’t the family have been in jail for the unspeakable acts they commit on stage in this joke? The comics also discuss how the amount of raunch in the joke has changed over the decades, as the social mores of the country as a whole have evolved. It’s really quite fascinating stuff, and it never moves so ploddingly as to bore the viewer.
One of the biggest highlights of the joke comes when Gilbert Gottfried retells the joke during a recent Friar’s Club roast of Hugh Hefner. Bear in mind that this is not a joke that’s told in public – ever, mostly because of its highly offensive nature. The roast occurred shortly after September 11, 2001, and Gottfried tried to tell a joke about the terrorist attacks, something about having a connecting flight later that night with the Empire State Building. He got booed by a few people, and one guy yelled, “Too soon!” So after a moment’s pause, Gottfried launched into The Joke, and soon people – remember, it’s an audience filled with comics – were rolling in the aisles, wondering how far he’d take the joke. (Literally, in Rob Schneider’s case – he was laughing so hard he fell out of his chair a couple of times.)
We also get to see the boys from South Park (meaning Cartman telling the joke to Stan, Kyle, and Kenny, not Trey Parker and Matt Stone telling it), and we get to witness the darker side of Bob Saget.
The Aristocrats is not rated, although it’s tough to see it getting anything less than an NC-17 simply for the vulgar content. You really, REALLY don’t want to see this if you get offended easily, or even not so easily. Mentioned therein are incest, fecalphilia, bestiality, and all sorts of bodily fluids and functions.
The Aristocrats: ***1/2
220 – The Skeleton Key
Posted by frothy in Skeleton Key on August 16, 2005
A pretty, young woman is hired as caregiver to an elderly man who’s just suffered a stroke. She’s given a key by the man’s wife, a key that opens every door in the old Bayou mansion in which they live, except one: the attic door.
What lies within the walls of the attic? This creepy supernatural thriller works on many fronts, beginning with the brilliant casting of Gena Rowlands as the enigmatic, fearsome Mrs. Deveraux and the lurid, vivid atmosphere, courtesy of cinematographer Daniel Mindel.
Kate Hudson plays Caroline, who takes the job as caregiver to the invalid Ben (an unrecognizable John Hurt) partly out of a disillusionment with the professional caregiver industry. Someone has to take care of old Ben, and it can’t be his equally ancient wife Violet (Rowlands), a tried-and-true Bayou queen who at first sniffs haughtily at Caroline that she’s not from the area and “won’t understand the house.”
Naturally, it isn’t long before Caroline’s found a way into the attic, and the ease with which she’s able to enter it probably should have given her some pause. I won’t give away what’s in there – though you find out fairly early in the film – but I will mention that it has to do with hoodoo. Yes, I said hoodoo. The film, you see, makes the distinction between voodoo and hoodoo. In the film, it’s explains that voodoo is a religion and hoodoo is just magic. Hoodoo, it turns out, is a real term, something I didn’t realize while watching the film. Just throwing out that little factoid to enrich your viewing experience.
Caroline quickly figures out something’s amiss when the wheelchair-bound Ben tries to kill himself by crawling to a window on the second story in the middle of the night and jumping to the ground. Unfortunately for him, he survives – but what would drive him to such an act? Is Ben trying to tell her something? She’s learned Ben suffered his stroke while in the attic – could what’s up there have caused his predicament?
Rowlands is fantastic as Violet Deveraux, a woman steeped in tradition and clinging to old values; she even honors the former tenants of the house by displaying their photographs. But even so, Violet is mysterious and formidable, and tries vainly to keep Caroline in mind. Gena Rowlands has always been a pretty underrated actress, but if she continues to shine in showy roles such as this, perhaps some awards will be tossed her way; she been twice nominated for Oscars, but has not won. Rowlands effortlessly rises above the material, which in some respects is forgettable.
Hudson is a surprise as her equal. Her Caroline is never cowed, but never bratty. Strong, resourceful, but ultimately believable, and that’s the crux of Hudson’s performance. Some may view this as the latest in young-blonde-in-peril films (see Watts, Naomi; and Geller, Sarah Michelle), but Caroline is a meatier role and acts as an excellent showcase for Hudson’s yet-untapped (save for Almost Famous) range and talent.
The downside to a movie like The Skeleton Key is that it often sacrifices a little in plot to gain in atmosphere and name recognition. In this case, the ending might well be guessed well in advance. But it never gives you reason to stop and consider what happen next; in fact, it hardly ever gives you time to do so, thanks to rapid but even pacing.
The Skeleton Key: ***
219 – Cursed
Ellie and Jimmy, driving late at night in the Hollywood hills, strike an animal and then crash into another car, which goes tumbling down the embankment. After freeing the woman inside, the trio is attacked by something that ultimately slices the woman in half and bites both Elly and Jimmy. Later, they notice their senses have been supersized and they’ve gotten stronger. They might be … Cursed.
Cursed is a good tale of Bad Things happening to Goodish People. It’s directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, so expectations that this would be a cut above your standard teenagers-in-peril slasher pic were well founded. However, dialog that’s meant to be ironic comes off as uninspiring and third rate. Craven’s overall direction of the film is adequate, though, lending an appropriate dose of spooky atmosphere.
Christinia Ricci plays Ellie, the protagonist in the film, as she juggles boy troubles, job troubles (she works on the Craig Kilborn show), and lycanthropic troubles. She’s a disbeliever at first, but naturally she has her younger brother Jimmy (Jesse Eisenberg) to believe the hell out of the werewolf angle, especially since he’s the proverbial nerd without friends of any shape, save Zipper the dog.
Ricci is quite good, as usual, although Eisenberg and all the other youthful thespians in the cast (such as the terminally wooden Joshua Jackson) shamefully overact, although they’re somewhat restricted by the script. Williamson likes to deal in stereotypes, as he showed in the Scream movies, and most of the characters are so written in Cursed. Ellie is an exception, but the others are so broadly drawn that when they do something somewhat unexpected, you think it’s a come on for something else that really is expected.
You might stop and ask yourself questions along the way, such as why would anyone have an opening to a horror memorabilia museum, let alone Lance Bass? Okay, maybe that one answers itself somewhat. And how come the duo – bitten by a werewolf, purportedly – sometimes have powers and sometimes don’t? Oh, wait, that’s also answered: The powers come and go. Got it.
Cursed is a decent film that should have been much better, given its architects. Ricci, at least, gives a nuanced and flavorful performance as the strong female lead. You might laugh intermittently, but rest assured it wasn’t really the intention of the movie to make you do so.
Cursed: **
218 – Hostage
A burned-out hostage negotiator, who on his last assignment saw a child and his mother die at the hands of their captor, resigns and becomes sheriff of an upscale suburb in California. Where, of course, the tranquility is disturbed by (wait for it) … a hostage situation.
Bruce Willis is the negotiator, and that’s about all you need to know about this sorry film, which manages to toss hardly any curveballs the viewer’s way. You can easily imagine Willis’ Jeff Talley muttering under his breath, “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” Can the state cops handle the case? Naw, it has to be Talley and his crack band of Keystone Kops.
Young ne’er-do-wells Mars, Dennis, and Kevin have followed the Smith family home to their seemingly impenetrable fortress. They plan to steal the family’s SUV for a joyride, but then Things Happen, and patriarch Walter (Kevin Pollak) is smacked around. Tensions rise, and Talley hands control over to the staties. Oh, but then he’s pulled back in, owing to a story contrivance meant to advance the plot and keep Bruce Willis onscreen at all times.
And that’s a pretty good idea, all things considered. The kids in the movie are below atrocious; it’s really as if there was a general casting call for child actors who’d never acted before – and then the worst of that lot was selected. When we’re supposed to feel pathos for the captive son and daughter of Walter Smith, we instead feel scorn. Heck, let them get killed, if it’ll end the movie that much more quickly.
The direction is particularly ham handed, with zero finesse applied. Points are hammered home with the subtlety of a Gallagher performance. Everything’s in black and white, from the characters to the decisions each makes. Come to think of it, the movie might have been improved had it been shot in black and white.
Willis is the saving grace, the only reason this mess didn’t rate any lower than it did. He’s playing a retired John McClane, for the most part. In fact, they really should have just changed his character’s name and former vocation and titled this Die Hard with a Pension Plan.
Hostage: *1/2
217 – Be Cool
Chili Palmer (John Travolta), the wiseguy who joined the movie business in Get Shorty, decides in Be Cool that he’d rather have the freedom of creativity of the music business. But alas, it seems he’s constantly surrounded by reminders of former vocation. First his pal Tommy Athens (James Woods) is gunned down at a roadside cafe, and then a crooked producer (Harvey Keitel) refuses to let Chili have the contract of an up-and-coming, naive singer (Christina Milian).
Be Cool is a bit better than your typical sequel and is aided immeasurably by a game and able cast. Refreshingly, Travolta’s Palmer hasn’t changed much since the previous film – no character development here – he smiles a lot, hardly ever raises his voice.. Why, he’s practically a New Age Bad Guy. Although in this film, he’s clearly the Good Guy, since there are badder fish out there. Particularly Nicky Carr (Keitel), and I say that merely because Harvey Keitel almost always looks sinister right from the git-go. He doesn’t even have to say anything.
The plot’s pretty simple – while all those around him are losing their heads, Chili’s keeping his. And gets to dance with Edie Athens (Uma Thurman), the widow of the recently departed Tommy. Edie runs a record company (small label, natch), and Chili is able to help her steer things while Nicky Carr, hip-hop producer Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer), and the Russian Mafia all try to kill him. Oh, and help jump start the careers of Linda Moon (Milian) and Elliot Wilhelm (The Rock).
The Rock’s a true find here. He’s not only not playing the Toughest Guy in the Room, he’s playing a gay chauffeur/bodyguard. The toothsome Rock is really fantastic in the role, certainly much better than his previous/current vocation of pro wrestling might indicate. Elliot’s supposed to be a gullible, flamboyant gay male, and a guy with such a strongly identifiable hetero image like The Rock shouldn’t be able to pull it off – and yet he does. Even so, Elliot’s not some wussy twit; he’s a bad guy, too.
Elliot’s boss is Raji, played by the ubiquitous Vince Vaughn. Raji’s schtick is that he thinks he’s black, so every word out of his mouth is supposed to be urban slang. Raji has the moves down pretty good, but he’s still quite clueless about the culture and history of blacks. Mister the Entertainer finally gets a meaty role, and it’s thankfully not a stereotypical bad-black-man-with-a-gun part, either. His Sin LaSalle is whip-smart and – get this – a bit of a thug pretenda. Chili at one point pokes fun at Sin for thinking that wearing a throwback jersey gives him street cred.
Thurman, as the love interest, is solid – and looks great – although her role’s not particularly well developed. Her Edie is also smart – she, Sin, and Chili kind of counterbalance Raji and Dabu, played by Andre3000 of Black Eyed Peas, who’s Sin’s cousin or nephew or something – but she’s also a little insubstantial. One scene with her that really does work is at the concert when she dances with Chili, shades of Pulp Fiction.
As sequels go, Be Cool is pretty good indeed, maintaining the original’s quality – with a mostly new cast and jokes. It doesn’t lampoon its predecessor as much as simply follow it, and that’s really all an action comedy sequel needs to do.
Be Cool: ***
216 – Constantine
Posted by frothy in Constantine on August 2, 2005
John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) can see things, you know. Demons, angels, stuff like that. Oddly enough, though, people believe he can – mostly because he moonlights as an exorcist, trapping demons – who shall not stay in his plane! – in mirrors and smashing them to teeny bits. World weary and constantly sucking on a coffin nail, Constantine is beleaguered and burned out, a noir detective for the afterlife, if you will. But he’s alive; he’s just cursed with the gift of seeing demons and angels. And he’s a suicide, having been clinically dead for two minutes once upon a time, a time during which he literally saw Hell.
Cop Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) just lost her sister, a patient who jumped off the top of a mental hospital; Angela thinks her sister also Saw Something, and so she goes to John for help. Did Isabel know something? Where is she now? Can Angela see, too? Well, she can, actually, because Isabel was her twin sister, and as we all know twins share everything. So, using Angela, Constantine learns that the Bad Guys (demons), who are supposed to stay in Hell, have been crossing over to the plane of the living, presumably to raise hell. But Constnatine knows there’s something else afoot, something only witchcraft, voodoo, and other otherworldly things can uncover.
If there was ever a role that the adult Reeves was born to play (besides that of Neo), it’s that of John Constantine. Constantine wanders hither and yon, doing good deeds and helping with crimes involving the occult, and so forth, all with a resigned and – pardon another pun – rather soulless attitude. Constantine knows he’s doomed to a lifetime of doing this, partly because he tried to kill himself and partly because he has The Gift. It’s this kind of dispassionate nihilism that plays perfectly to Reeves’ own dull, emotionless acting range. He’s perfect for the role, based on a comic book called Hellblazer.
Weisz is pretty good – believable, at least – as the clumsily named Angela, but the real standout among the supporting cast is Peter Stormare as Satan himself. Incredibly creepy; he looks like a kindergarten teacher but behaves like a pedophile. The hair on the back of your neck will rise when Stormare enters the picture about three-fourths through.
Two other things the movie has going for it are a rather simplistic plot and some fantastic special effects (for example, a demon made up of bugs). Movies based on comic books tend to overburden themselves and the viewer with far too many plot twists. It’s not tough – you have a good guy, you have a bad guy, and the first must defeat the second. Throw in some ethical and moral conflicts, give the good guy a power of sorts, and you’re off and running. Constantine does this pretty well.
The atmosphere of the film is riveting as well, with effects special and otherwise transporting the viewer to Right There, whether it’s a voodoo bar, Hell, or the mean streets of the city.
If you watch the movie with the idea that it’s a filmed comic book, you shouldn’t be dissatisfied with the result. John Constantine lives in a world in which he sees unspeakable evil on a daily basis, and he himself has literally been to Hell and back on more than one occasion. His lot is to suffer for his sin; can he find redemption in a cutie named Angela?
Constantine: ***
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