Feb182012

Star Wars Episode I – The Phantom Menace

By EJ Lee | February 18, 2012 | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled Oscar nomination review to bring you a special report on Star Wars Episode I.  Wait don’t stop reading yet!  Give it a chance. Oh and the reason this is happening is because it’s been re-released in theaters in 3D.

Alright, it’s been almost thirteen years since Episode I was released in theaters.  Depending on how old you were at the time (context: I was nine), your opinion on this movie is either that it was great, or that it was terrible.  If you were under twelve at the time I’d wager that you loved it.  Why?  Because it was perfect for kids.  It had a hero our own age, a cute girl, childish humor, amazing effects, and tons of action.  And the reasons everyone over twelve hated it?  Jar Jar Binks, Anakin Skywalker, and how it’s at least half an hour too long.

Now you’re wondering, why on earth should I consider seeing this again?  Well that’s what this review is for.  Quick plot refresher first: The movie is set before the original three, when Darth Vader was little Anakin Skywalker, a slave boy on the planet of Tatooine.  We first meet Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) in an attempt to negotiate with the Trade Federation, who have launched a hostile takeover of the planet of Naboo.  The two Jedis meet up with the young Queen of Naboo, Amidala (Natalie Portman) and they escape the planet together in a ship, but not before taking on damage.  They’re forced to land on Tatooine to fix the ship, where they meet Anakin.  Oh and before leaving Naboo they pick up an annoying character named Jar Jar Binks, who is one of the main reasons everybody hated this movie.

So that’s the plot, or at least the general plot (I realized as I was typing how complicated it is).  Let’s talk positives first.  If you remember seeing this movie in the theater, you probably remember how amazing it looked.  The effects at the time were revolutionary, and I was very pleased to see that they don’t look dated even thirteen years later.  It’s a credit to Industrial Light and Magic, the effects company, that their work still inspires awe and appreciation after all this time.  Every aspect of the film, from the thrilling speeds and terrain of the podracers, to the rooms of the palaces, the space battles, and even the CGI aliens, still look absolutely incredible.  The 3D really enhances it even further, and was never too distracting.  Another thing that never fails to impress are the lightsaber duels.  The finale of this movie was just incredible.  I remember watching it as a kid and being completely in awe, and that same feeling returned again upon watching the re-release.  Lucas’s world is still as visually stunning as ever, and is in fact even more so because of the 3D.

The catch, as usual, is the horrendous writing.  Lucas has never been able to write dialogue.  The conversations were painful to watch, as the actors struggle to do their job because of the terrible lines.  Watching it as a kid, you don’t really notice that stuff.  I have to wonder now whether the kid who played Anakin (who was probably around seven at the time of filming) would have been less over-dramatic if he’d gotten some good lines and better directing.  As is he’s kind of funny to watch now, the things they make him say are rather ridiculous, but it could have been an entirely different movie if his character had been well-acted.

So, why should you see this movie?  Well, it’s fun.  I had a really good time seeing it, and remembering when I saw it as a kid.  If you’re an adult now, you may want to skip this one and wait for next year when Episode II comes out.  If you’ve got young kids though, I’d highly recommend taking them to see it.  There’s really nothing like seeing a movie in theaters, and Star Wars is meant to be viewed on a big screen.

My Londonderry NH net rating, 3 seeds.  

Images Star Wars Episode I a 20th Century Fox (c) courtesy

Visit the Star Wars Episode I website for trailers and promotions.

 

Share
By EJ Lee | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)
Feb112012

Midnight In Paris

By EJ Lee | February 11, 2012 | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comment (1)

“Midnight in Paris” surprised me.  From the previews I was expecting some sort of fantasy romantic comedy.  What we got was a surprisingly profound story about a man struggling to fit in to his own world.  Obviously from the title, the film is set in Paris, which looks absolutely lovely.  The first two minutes is a series of shots of Paris just to make sure we fall immediately in love with the city.  It works.

The main character, Gil (Owen Wilson, in the only role I’ve ever not found him annoying), is a successful screenwriter who longs to “really” write, so he’s working on a novel.  He’s not arrogant about his work or success, and it’s clear that he has a real passion for writing, and doesn’t want to keep writing for Hollywood just to pay the bills.  His fiancée, Inez (Rachel McAdams, who hasn’t been given enough to do), is clearly not very interested in him, which was one of my main criticisms of the film.  I wanted to sense some kind of love and respect – even fleetingly – between them that would convince me that they were a real couple instead of just a “movie couple”.  Inez’s parents are with them and it’s clear that they don’t like Gil and he doesn’t like them.  It’s hard to see why they’re together at all.  Inez runs into old friends, a woman and her husband, and suddenly the two couples are spending all their time together.  Gil is endearingly awkward at trying to get out of plans to spend time with Inez alone.  Pretty soon he’s getting out of plans just to be alone.  That’s where his adventure starts.

Instead of going dancing with Inez and the couple, he walks home alone, drunk, and is picked up by an old fashioned car.  He soon realizes, as he’s introduced to Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, that he’s somehow travelled back to the 20’s – the era he always wished he lived in.  Gil falls in love with the people and the lifestyle, and we’re introduced to a number of familiar names, including Hemingway (who’s got some of the best dialogue in the movie), Gertrude Stein, T.S. Eliot, and Pablo Picasso.  English majors and artists will love this movie; there are little lines thrown in here and there just for them.  The recreation of that decade is wonderful and made me wish I could join them all.  But the point of the movie is that we can’t.

Gil mentions to Inez and her parents a couple of times that he wishes he lived in the 20’s in Paris.  And then he gets to Paris and people tell him they wished they lived at the turn of the century, or the Renaissance.  Every generation things the previous one was more talented, had it easier, had more fun, was more successful.  The movie makes the point that there is no perfect decade or era that existed, we just romanticize them and make them seem that way.  Every present could be, and is, as good as the last generation’s was for them, if we could just stop wishing we lived in the past and start living in the present.

This is a good one.  Rightfully nominated for Best Picture.  It’s got some fantastic writing, great directing, and good enough acting.  It’s not in theaters anymore, but I’d recommend it on DVD!

My Londonderry NH net rating, 3 1/2 seeds. 

Images Midnight in Paris a  Sony Pictures (c) courtesy

Visit the Midnight in Paris website for trailers and promotions.

 

 

Share
By EJ Lee | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comment (1)
Feb042012

The Descendants

By EJ Lee | February 4, 2012 | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Before watching “The Descendents”, it’s interesting to keep in mind that it’s been nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Director.  The movie takes place in Hawaii, and we are introduced to Matt King (George Clooney), who is a very rich land-owner and lawyer.  He’s a few weeks away from closing a deal worth billions of dollars.  The story begins right as his wife Elizabeth is severely injured in a boating accident, resulting in a coma.  The Kings have an eleven year old daughter named Scottie (Amara Miller), who, Matt admits in a voice over, he has no idea what to do with.  He hasn’t had to take care of her by himself since she was three.  Once it becomes clear that Elizabeth’s health is failing, we also meet Alex, Matt’s seventeen year old daughter, who is a bit of a rebel.  The movie then takes an interesting turn.  (This is not a spoiler, it’s in the trailer) Alex reveals that her mother had been cheating on Matt.

What was a good but unremarkable story about a family trying to deal with the probable loss of a parent and wife suddenly becomes complicated.  The characters are forced to ask themselves how this knowledge about Elizabeth affects their memory of her, and their relationships with each other.  Alex and Matt begin to work together to find the man Elizabeth was seeing, while still trying to keep the whole thing a secret from Scottie.  The dynamic between Matt and his oldest daughter is unusually realistic for a movie.  It helps that the girl playing Alex, Shailene Woodley is an extraordinary actress.  George Clooney finally gets a chance to really act as well, for which he’s been nominated for Best Actor.  It’s been a while since we’ve seen Clooney in such an emotionally charged role and he pulls it off well, without any over-acting.  In the second half of the movie the three main characters are joined by Alex’s friend Sid, who didn’t seem to have any real purpose.  He seemed unrealistically unintelligent, and had a true effect on the main characters in only one scene.  His presence took me out of the story and made me very conscious of the fact that I was watching a movie, because he was so implausible as a “real person”.

Overall “The Descendents” was a well-written film that made great use of its beautiful setting.  For me though, it didn’t seem like anything extraordinary.  Yes, it had a good story, good characters, and it was well directed, but I felt no connection to it when watching.  In fact, I would say that I was very conscious of the fact that I was watching a movie; instead of drawing me in to the story it kept me at a distance.

My Londonderry NH net rating, 2 1/2 seeds.  

Images The Descendants a  Fox Searchlight Pictures (c) courtesy

Visit the The Descendants website for trailers and promotions.

 

Share
By EJ Lee | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)
Jan282012

The Help

By EJ Lee | January 28, 2012 | Posted in Around Town, Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (4)

This is a repost, because the movie was nominated for several Oscars, including Best Picture. This begins our annual winter series of reviews of Oscar nominated movies, to be continued with new reviews in the weeks to come.

“The Help”, based on a book by the same name, is set in 1960’s Jackson, Mississippi.  The upper class side of Jackson, to be exact.  We’re introduced to Skeeter, a 23 year old college graduate who just got a start-up job as a newspaper columnist, writing about housekeeping advice.  All of the girls Skeeter knows are married and have babies, but they don’t raise them themselves, just as they were not raised by their own mothers.  They were all raised by black maids rather than their own mothers, maids who also cleaned and cooked, for less than minimum wage.

This story is told both through the eyes of Skeeter – who out of all the white characters is one of the few who isn’t racist – and also through the eyes of Aibileen (Viola Davis) and Minny (Octavia Spencer), maids in the houses of Skeeter’s friends.  Skeeter’s family has a maid as well.  It’s apparent from the start that Skeeter doesn’t have the same feelings about the help (as everybody calls their maids) as everyone else does.  She doesn’t appreciate the efforts of her peers to have legislation passed to make it so any white home employing a black woman to provide a separate bathroom because it’s not proper for her to use the one in the house.  Skeeter decides to write a book from the perspective of the help (a dangerous thing to do for everyone involved, not to mention being against the law), and begins to interview all of the maids in town.

It’s never clear why Skeeter is sympathetic to the hardships these women had to go through on a day to day basis; that is one of the few flaws this movie had.  The few white characters who weren’t racist didn’t have any obvious motives as to why.  I found myself wondering how these few people could see what every other character couldn’t; I’d have liked a bit more background on that, but I suppose it is probably in the book.

Skeeter’s book is only one portion of the movie’s plot.  Minny has a side story about a new family she works for, the only other two white people in the movie who treat the black characters equally, but again without an obvious motive. I realize that they shouldn’t need one, but I just needed a reason why these people weren’t acting the same way as what was considered normal in that time period.  The scenes Minny and her new employer Celia share are some of the funnier ones in the movie.  There is also of course, Aibileen, who’s got a story of her own, and who narrates the movie.  Both of these characters are acted wonderfully, helped by the writing.  Those two women, and Skeeter, are the most well written and well acted of the characters.  Skeeter is played by Emma Stone, who never ceases to amaze and delight.

I could tell that this movie was based on a book because there were some portions that weren’t as fleshed out as others.  I’ve heard nothing but good things about the book and intend to read it myself, and I would recommend it to all of you if you go and see this movie.  I have to say that both my dad and I thought this movie was rather difficult to watch at times; it’s incredibly sad to be reminded how we once treated other humans, or still do in parts of the world.  If you see it, remember that this took place within the lifetimes of people we know, or are (something I was rather shocked to remember).  We may have come a long way since it happened, but we still have a ways to go.  Anyway, this movie was worth seeing, and I’d say it’s one of the best I saw this summer.

My Londonderry NH net rating, 3 seeds.  

Images The Help a Dreamworks Pictures (c) courtesy

Visit the The Help website for trailers and promotions.

 

Share
By EJ Lee | Posted in Around Town, Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (4)
Jan212012

The Dark Knight

By EJ Lee | January 21, 2012 | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

I realize that a lot of people have already seen this movie, but as someone who’s seen it about 10 times and still spots new things with each re-watching, trust me when I say, this movie gets better, not worse.

“The Dark Knight” is a tightly wound story, and the Joker is the one holding the ends of the rope.  The strings holding it together are pulled tighter and tighter with each passing minute, until they finally snap and the whole thing unravels into chaos.  The opening scene of this movie kicks this off; we’re introduced to the nature of the Joker.  He’s ruthless, pitiless, but altogether fascinating in his ability to create a plan that is driven by chaos.  This is not your old cartoon Joker; he’s terrifyingly insane and even just watching him on screen makes you feel defensive and unsettled, because it’s so hard to predict what he’s going to do from one second to the next.  Heath Ledger gives what might be the greatest performance in any super-hero movie that’s been made.  That’s a big statement, but just look at what he did with this character: make him frightening, the right amount of insane, and even funny?  It’s absolute genius.

It’s all well and good to have a great villain but then pair that with a great story.  The idea is that The Joker has come to Gotham to help the Mob – who Batman has recently scared into hiding – to kill Batman and retake control of the city.  Batman and the police force are now racing against The Joker’s persistent attempts to destabilize the public opinion of Batman, whom they had come to accept.  But after several deaths of public officials and cops, the tide begins to turn, and the city begins to panic.  There’s also the matter of Harvey Dent, the first trustworthy politician in Gotham, who had just started to clean up the streets legally.  The Joker makes it his mission to take him down as well, in a plan that would throw Gotham into anarchy by destroying their only symbols of hope: Batman and Harvey Dent, Gotham’s White Knight.

In between all the story, this movie is riddled with amazing action sequences.  Christopher Nolan outdoes himself with each one.  They’re each incredibly well orchestrated. One in particular is a high speed chase that occurs in a tunnel underneath the city.  Explosions and rollovers occur every minute, and when the left-over cars finally surface, the grand finale is the flipping of an 18 wheeler which actually happened.  This is not some Michael Bay CGI explosion fest; Nolan actually pulls off all of these stunts, and that is clearly the only way to go.  And that isn’t even the last action sequence.

If you haven’t seen this movie then I would strongly urge you to do so; it’s without question the best super-hero/action movie that’s ever been made.  I can’t say enough about Heath Ledger’s performance, but add in the amazing direction and writing, and you’ve got yourself a brilliant movie.  If you have seen it, then I would still recommend seeing it again; like I said above, you still catch things that you missed the first time around even after several viewings.

My Londonderry NH net rating, 4 seeds.

Images The Dark Knight a Warner Bros. Pictures (c) courtesy

Visit the The Dark Knight website for trailers and promotions.

Share
By EJ Lee | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)
Jan142012

Contraband

By EJ Lee | January 14, 2012 | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

It doesn’t feel right watching Mark Walburg in a movie that’s not based in Boston.  Actually it took me until twenty minutes from the end to figure out what city this movie was based in.  It’s New Orleans.

So, Chris Farraday (Walburg) is a former smuggler who got out of it and has a wife and two young sons.  His wife’s younger brother, Andy, (who’s in his late teens/early twenties) gets into trouble with a drug lord after messing up a smuggling run.  Chris knows the drug lord, but can only guarantee Andy – and his own family’s – safety by paying the drug lord back in full.  So Chris has to go on one last run to Panama and pick up a ton of counterfeit bills in order to earn enough money to pay for Andy’s mess up.  A smuggling run involves a crew of a cargo ship, you’ve seen them in movies, they carry hundreds of those big metal containers.  At least part of the crew is in on it, and the trick is getting through customs on the way back.  That was Andy’s problem that started the whole mess.  Chris and Andy become part of the crew and prepare to hide the money for when they encounter customs police.

Sounds simple.  It is for the most part.  Chris’s childhood friend and former smuggler Sebastian is also involved, which gets complicated in ways I can’t reveal.  Chris’s wife plays a part as well, as she’s threatened by the drug lord while Chris is on the ship.  This movie is good, but the problem is, it’s nothing special.  Yeah, it’s entertaining, and I wasn’t often bored.  But I didn’t leave thinking about it, or feeling like I’d watch it again.  One of the things I disliked was that Chris’s wife was threatened one too many times.  It was obvious that we were supposed to be switching back and forth between Chris in Panama and his wife, Kate (Kate Beckinsale) in New Orleans in order to both keep us interested in her safety and to change it up from focusing on Chris.  Honestly I could have used some more of Chris, he was all action, little character development.

Meanwhile, Kate is attacked three times.  One too many.  We came to expect it every time we saw her, and it became less powerful.  Again, Kate’s character is good but we know little about her other than that she keeps getting attacked by the drug lord trying to send Chris a message.  Speaking of the drug lord, he’s just a little guy named Tim Briggs who seems nuts.  I was immediately annoyed at him because I felt like he was trying to channel the unhinged, unpredictable effect of Heath Ledger’s Joker.  Doesn’t work here, doesn’t work anywhere but in its original form.  Briggs didn’t seem competent or mentally stable enough to be running this sort of crime ring, or to pose such a huge threat to Chris and his family, which in turn didn’t give me confidence in any other character’s motive throughout the movie.

As far as how this movie looked, it was just fine.  Wasn’t anything remarkable, just your run-of-the-mill action movie.  There’s a big shootout in Panama that made me wonder why it was so long; it was between Panama police and the guys Chris is buying the counterfeit bills from – who were about to kill him less than two minutes previous.  There was little drama to the shootout because both sides posed a threat to our “heroes”.

My favorite parts of the movie was a running joke about a Jackson Pollack painting that actually ended up being taken a bit too far, and the actual science Chris uses to his great advantage towards the end (revealing it’s details would give it all away).  I’d rent this movie if it interests you; there’s better stuff in theaters right now.

My Londonderry NH net rating, 2 seeds. 

Images Contraband a Universal Pictures (c) courtesy

Visit the Contraband website for trailers and promotions.

 

Share
By EJ Lee | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)