Almost 4 years ago I wrote a short overview of Steven Seagal’s film career, but that effort now looks pretty thin now that somebody has edited together every broken bone in Seagal’s filmography.
I guessed 25 broken bones – how I underestimated the man!
Hollywood often takes flak for needlessly rushing out sequels and remakes of perfectly good films, which is why I applaud the recent trend of producing bewilderingly belated remakes (Clash of the Titans) and sequels (this) to frankly terrible films.
Tron certainly didn’t need a sequel. But what it lacked in plot and characterisation (and pacing, and coherence) it made up for with a strong visual and audio aesthetic. Nothing looked and sounded like Tron, it struck out in its own direction and its subsequent lack of commercial success ensured that nobody bothered to follow it. It stood proud and alone, an all-but forgotten time capsule of early CGI and 80′s computer slang.
Tron Legacy is not a great film, but is does have some of the same styling has the original, perhaps wisely watered down for more popular appeal. It certainly looks fantastic, with sleek lines and imaginative action sequences. The characters are weak and the plot is simplistic, with an ending that is not so much telegraphed from the first act as teleconferenced with a detailed powerpoint presentation. But plot is not why people go to a Hollywood blockbuster, and Tron Legacy’s 2 hours feel like the drumsticks in KFC Quarter Packs – tasty and they pass quickly.
The credits say that the producers commissioned Daft Punk to write the soundtrack for Tron Legacy, but honestly it could have been other way around – Daft Punk’s whole career was basically an audition tape for this job. The traditional Daft Punk sound is augmented with an orchestra and it sounds great. Or maybe GREAT!, it sure is LOUD but a film this visual needs a strong soundtrack to go with it.
One of the things I am most enjoying about the recent crop of 3D movies is that directors are finally being forced to hold shots steady for more than 3 seconds. Action movies were becoming almost impossible to watch due to the incredibly fast cutting that seemed to be mandatory for any fight scene, it was bad enough in 2D but positively nauseating in three dimensions as audiences’ eyes struggled to keep up. Despite the excellent special effects, Tron Legacy looks very old fashioned in terms of shot length and placement, with all the action happening safely mid-field, something that my middle-aged eyes find refreshing.
According the the IMDB, the same director is readying a remake of another terrible film with a strong visual flare, The Black Hole, for deployment in 2012. I am almost looking forward to it… (hopefully they manage to recreate the insane original ending.)
Tron Legacy : Recommended if you can see it in 3D
World War IV blasted the surface of the Earth to a barren wasteland across which roving bands of scabby bandits compete for sparse food supplies. Vic (Don Johnson!) is a young man who has teamed up with a telepathic dog to survive – Vic finds food for them both while the dog make itself useful sniffing out women (in short supply) for Vic to rape.
Yes, rape. What is it about 70s Science Fiction and rape? I have noticed this trend – up until the late 60s scifi was all space ships and aliens with heroic main characters. Not that they all portrayed woman as equals and complex characters in their own rights, but the protagonists at least had good intentions.
Then sometime just before 1970 somebody decided that scifi had to be all dark and twisted and a lot of stories started to appear where the main character basically rapes people. Sometimes this can work as social commentary but often it just comes across as exploitative and nasty. Was this a reaction to feminism? I don’t know, but it sure is irritating. Thankfully, not too many of these stories got made into films.
A Boy and His Dog almost gets away with the rape device since Vic is not very successful and is eventually taken advantage of by his supposed victim. A second point in the film’s favour is the humorous script and a light touch. Nothing is treated particularly seriously as the gormless Vic gets into one bizarre predicament after another in his quest for sex. Indeed, the general plot of the film and particularly the closing scene point to the whole exercise being conceived as the world’s most elaborate shaggy dog story, with the joke being on the audience. The second male lead actually being a shaggy dog may also point to this interpretation being correct.
What could have been a horrific and repellent story is redeemed by a well realised film that is a ropey in some places but pitched so perfectly that its flaws can be overlooked.
Recommended, but only if you like this sort of thing. Otherwise avoid.
Mr. Fox was a world class chicken thief but gave it all up years ago for a quiet middle-class existence when his child was born. He still yearns for some old-time larceny and naturally jumps at the chance for one last big score. Things do not go entirely to plan and Mr. Fox’s grand schemes may have grave consequences for his family and friends. Is Mr. Fox as fantastic as he believes himself to be?
Fantastic Mr. Fox is on the surface a fairly straight-forward children’s tale of talking animals vs mean humans. But director Wes Anderson infuses the story with his own brand of obsessive observation and the result is a mixed if enjoyable bag. The stop-motion animation is a throwback to the stiffly animated kiddy shows of the past such as the old Wind in the Willows show – it makes Wallace and Gromit look positively realistic. I found this to be charming, but heaven knows what anyone born after 1990 would think of it.
Some of the scenes may be a little talky for young children and a lot of the humour is wry rather than slapstick gags. Also, identifying with the main character is fairly hard, the film does not shy away from showing Mr Fox’s flaws. This makes for an interesting plot, but I doubt we will see Mr Fox’s face showing up on kids lunch boxes.
It is actually quite hard to see who Fantastic Mr. Fox is aimed at – it doesn’t have the universal appeal of Wallace and Gromit, nor can I imagine teenagers really liking it. If I was paranoid I would suspect it was aimed directly at me.
Recommended if you like this sort of thing.
Following up on the epic 10 minute rap summary of Robocop, the same team has released Aliens:
Watching this reminds me what a great film Aliens turned out to be and how Avatar (by the same director) pales in comparison. It’s not that Avatar was terrible but nobody is going to be making 10 minute rap songs about it in 25 years.
quick update: Hey, they’ve done Terminator 2 as well!
James Cameron has always been an interesting film maker. Although on one level most of his films could be classified as pulpy genre-related fare, they usually have a more interesting subtext lurking below the explosions. Previous Cameron films have investigated such themes as mother/daughter relationships, humanity’s fear of the unknown, musings on fate and predestination, and whether it is morally acceptable (and perhaps even admirable) to slum it with a good looking lower class boy for a few weeks before you get married even though an ocean liner might not be the best place to do so. So it is with a heavy heart that I have to say Avatar is a slight disappointment.
The planet of Pandora (Who names these planets? What were they thinking?) has some stuff that humans want to mine. Unfortunately, the best place to get it is right on top of where the indigenous population (8 foot tall skinny blue people called the Navi) live in harmony with their world. The Navi are distrustful of the humans, so in order to investigate the Navi a bit more, the humans create the titular avatars – mindless Navi bodies that certain individuals can “drive around” remotely. The main character is just such an individual, and he (or his avatar) quickly becomes involved in the local tribe. Although the humans would prefer that the Navi move on without violence, it is clear that a military solution, led by a crazed marine, might be more expedient…
It is almost impossible to spoil anything about Avatar’s plot, no doubt you have already guessed the direction it which it unfolds. It is a shame that for all the risks involved in making what is apparently the most expensive movie ever made (it certainly looks like it), the story is as safe as an after-school special. The film could have made some interesting points about colonialism, or environmentalism, the military, or even feminism, but instead chooses to unspool a conventional yarn where the good guys are selfless and the bad guys are crazy and evil. It is not that is it a bad story per say, just something we have all seen many times before.
I saw Avatar in 3D, it is by far the best 3D experience so far. The lush jungles and mist-shrouded peaks of Pandora look amazing – Avatar is simply the greatest visual treat I have ever seen. The contrast between the sharp grey lines of the human base with the colourful, glowing environment outside is very well rendered. James Cameron has always been interested in portraying technology and Avatar is no exception – a nice touch is that all of the displays that the humans use during the movie are also in 3D. There are a thousand little details like that I loved about Avatar, it is just a shame that the whole thing isn’t as great as the sum of its parts. However, anyone who shares Cameron’s love for helicopters and giant robots and things being blown up by helicopters and giant robots will be thrilled.
Highly recommended if you can see it on the big screen in 3D. Otherwise only recommended if you like this sort of thing (but who doesn’t?)
I own all of the Star Wars DVDs except for one – The Phantom Menace. Even the weakest of the others have a certain charm, but TPM was stupid through and through. Even the title is stupid! I have yet to work out exactly what the titular menace actually was. Although the story includes several menaces, none of them seem particularly phantomastical. Unless the menace was supposed to be Palpatine’s amazingly convoluted plan, but that plot point doesn’t really bear fruit until the second film.
Anyway, I haven’t given The Phantom Menace much thought since it first came out but this guy certainly has:
Even if you ignore the affectations of the reviewer, he has some pretty insightful points about how TPM fails as a movie.
The New Zealand Film Festival is on at the moment, giving us all the chance to see exciting, stimulating cinema from around the world; and also this film.
Paper Solder is a Russian production set in the weeks before the launch of Yuri Gagarin’s famous day trip. The story focuses on Daniel, the medical officer in charge of monitoring the cosmonauts as they prepare for the launch. The stress of the job (and a complicated personal life) is getting to him and he grows erratic as the big day approaches.
The big problem with Paper Solder is that it has no defined plot. Events occur, but there is no sequence to them. In fact for the first half hour I thought that the film was setting up the story with a series of lengthy non-linear flashbacks before I realized I was mistaken. I found myself wondering if the English translation was a rush job. A lot of the conversations (Paper Solder is a talky film) seem kind of pointless, but that may just be me. It doesn’t help that the English subtitles are often unreadable against the wintery Russian landscapes.
I think the film is actually about the state of Russia during the 60s (which to be fair probably did suck), and a lot of the plot is metaphoric. But that doesn’t make it any more interesting to watch. The one good thing about Paper Solder is the photography and direction – the film looks amazing. Its just a shame that the clever camera isn’t pointing at anything interesting.
Not really recommended except for dedicated followers of Russian history.
Once again Hollywood dredges up the corpse of a much-loved TV show to desecrate with a pointless remake that misses the whole point of wha….Hey wait a minute! My brain just typed that automatically. Even now I have trouble gathering my wits to write the truth, so shocking and unbelievable it is! Give me a minute and I will try again…
Watchmen is a difficult movie to categorize. As an adaption of an existing work, it is excellent. The attention to detail is amazing, the cast all fit well with their characters and an impressive amount of the plot is exactly the same. A for effort.
As a stand-alone work, Watchmen is less of a success. It is very, very long and filled with talky scenes whose purpose only becomes clear later and sometimes not even then. It’s not that it is a terrible movie, just that a viewer not familiar with the source material might easily lose track of what is going on. So much of the plot hinges on the motivations of the characters – the book provides extensive back stories that the film cannot linger on, leaving the story feeling a little flat.
The production values are first rate, with excellent special effects. The actors are all look the part and for the most part are pretty good, except for guy playing Rorschach, who is excellent. Watchmen is an ensemble piece and the fact that none of the characters are played by major stars works to its advantage. The R rating is very well deserved, the film is quite gory in places and there is a lot of nudity. Watchmen may be the first mainstream film to have more male than female nudity, which I guess could be called some sort of landmark.
On the whole, I would recommend Watchman to anyone who enjoyed the book. I would still recommend it to others that enjoy the odd superhero film, but others will probably be bored.
Here endeth the review. The following section contains spoilers and crowing about how smart I am. Discerning readers may want to stop here – you have been warned.
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A man reluctantly lets his teenage daughter take a trip to Paris. As soon as she arrives she a kidnapped (or taken, if you will) by an evil white slavery ring. Luckily she was on the phone to her father at the time and manages to scream out a description of her attackers. Even more lucky – her father is a retired “fixer” for the US government with the skills to take on a small army. He quickly flies to Paris and sets about finding his daughter using the time-honored shoot-everything-in-sight technique.
A bog standard revenge film, Taken does little to distinguish itself except by being a little more brutal than average. The hero kills and tortures dozens of nameless people to get his idiotic daughter back. Sure, “dey were all bad” (read the previous phrase in an Austrian accent) but half the people killed were only tangentially involved. Of course, the police are no help and are actively working against him – the city of Paris should sue the producers for defamation.
In short, not one of Stephen Seagals best films.
What did you say?
It’s a Liam Neeson movie?
No way!
Not recommended unless you really, really like this sort of thing.
I have just finished rereading the comic book graphic novel Watchmen. It’s a cracking read, filled with Big Ideas and it uses the comic graphic medium to great advantage – telling the story in a way that really wouldn’t work in a traditional written novel. The artwork is visually stunning with many pages containing no dialog, content to just let the pictures tell the story.
The producers of the upcoming movie will have had some hard choices to make. It is the density of little details that makes Watchmen so interesting, and any film will have to cut a lot out. I find filmed adaptions of novels interesting for their own sake so I have decided to take a stab taking note of what I would change if I were in charge of production (the following paragraphs contain both plot information and uninformed speculation – avert your eyes now if you don’t want to be spoilt and/or bored.)
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Apple has finally gotten its act together and added movies to the New Zealand iTunes store. Most older films are available to both rent and download outright, and the selection seems pretty good if not totally complete. The prices are not too bad either, you can definitely do better but they are not outrageously high.
Still no TV episodes though – what’s up with that?
I didn’t make this, but I thought it interesting enough to steal.
For the record, I quite liked the first Rambo film, it is almost a “proper movie” about a man who no longer fits into the society that sent him away to war. Rambo II was a sharp right turn into war porn, but well made and exciting enough that you can almost forgive its distasteful aspects. Rambo III was more of the same except boring and is probably best forgotten, especially by the producers – a story about Rambo going into Afghanistan to help out the plucky tribesman in their struggle against the Russians has, shall we say, not dated well.
I have not seen Rambo IV but since it was made 20 years after number III I think I can guess why he doesn’t take off his shirt.
Director Paul Verhoeven is a complicated man, whose interests include violence, sex, robots, dismemberment, breasts, violence, explosions, resurrection imagery, and breasts; a set that broadly mirrors my own. So of course I have been a fan of Verhoeven’s films ever since Robocop.
Black Book is a WWII resistance movie about a Jewish woman in Nazi occupied Holland who becomes a resistance spy by seducing the local Nazi commander. However, nothing is quite what it seems and she faces betrayal from all sides as the Allies draw closer and the Nazis get more desperate.
The film has a kind of gritty beauty about it and the recreation of The Hague during war time is very well done. Like Verhoeven’s other films, even the good guys have serious flaws and some of the Nazis are more than the slavering monsters they are usually portrayed as.
Unfortunately the Black Book is let down by a few unbelievable plot contrivances and Verhoeven’s trademark lack of subtlety. One character screwing down a coffin lid using a locket containing pictures of her dead family was a particularly eye-roll-inducing example. Another is the nigh-mandatory comment on the current American War on Terrortm, but since that is mostly deserved so I am prepared to let it slide. Having said that, Black Book is still a “serious” film, nowhere near as over the top as the director’s Hollywood productions.
Highly Recomended