New Review: Battle: Los Angeles

Alien Nation

It used to be that the genre of alien invasion films could be a little more varied than it is now. It seemed like in the past people were willing to mix he genre from other elements, whether that be polished studio product (Independence Day) or campy cheese-fest (Mars Attacks) or gritty docudrama (District 9). Lately now, they all seem to be produced in one huge gelatinous mass, most of them indistinguishable from the next. Hot off the heels of last years dud from the Brothers Staruss’ Skyline comes this film, which despite an intriguing ad campaign can’t live up to a fraction of what it seemed to promise.

You all know the familiar premise. One day, the people of earth are having an ordinary, nonchalant day that gets interrupted by some pesky extra-terrestrials that have a real anger management problem. Aaron Eckhart headlines a group of mostly void marines to stop the alien menace as best they can. There’s some half-assed attempt to explain why these aliens are invading (something about colonizations and water supplies), but who cares.

I would admit that the movie does make an attempt to establish some credible sort of character moments that feel real enough to maintain some genuine emotion throughout. It doesn’t always work, but I’d be lying if I felt something for these stock characters in the beginning. Director Jonathan Leibsman even does a decent job at crafting the rising tension and hectic action in the beginning of the film. However, soon the film just becomes redundant, and the chaotic action scenes no longer have any gravity to it. It all just becomes a relentless cacophony of loud explosions, hailing bullets and death of characters whose emotional attachments are very fleeting. It’s pretty much a one trick act that is used all the way through, and it runs out of steam way before the end comes.

Eckhart is a talent actor, but there’s nothing at all for him to grab onto in this role. There’s some lackluster attempt to give him some emotional backstory, but it mostly feels flat and without too much effort. The other cluster of of marines fail to have any significant emotional resonance, all of them pretty much as expendable as the next. That’s always the downfall about films that center on soldiers: the uniform is supposed to dissolve personality, and the film is nowhere near clever enough to conquer this problem.

There are some good alien invasion films out there, but this is not one of them. There’s some talent on display, but most of it gets lost in a deafening soundtrack, wooden acting and relentless action that just becomes stiff and monotonous by the conclusion. Sadly, expectations are not appropriate for the film, and in the end it becomes another reason to never trust March outside of Zack Snyder.

C

New Review: Rango

Hazing Saddles

The state of animation is in an exciting place right now. It’s expanding far beyond the strictly family friendly fare that it was restricted to for so many years. Not to say that sticking with more wholesome themes and issues is necessarily a bad thing, since as much as Pixar shows its matured soul, there still remains an innocence that keeps the whole family interested. Many other studios have been trying endlessly to rival Pixar’s hold on quality animation, and while I give high marks for Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, Dreamworks hasn’t had the best track record. For this particular film, this is the first movie to be produced by George Lucas’s visual effects company Industrial Light and Magic. While there are a few chinks in the armor of the film’s story and quirkiness, this is without a doubt a very strong and impressive start to some competition to the Pixar behemoth.

Johnny Depp has the title role (which is actually a pseudonym acquired later in the film) as a quirky little lizard who gets stranded in the desert after getting separated from his owners during a car incident. He winds up in the town of Dirt, an out of the way place that’s populated by critics that dress and behave like out of a Spaghetti western. The main problem the town is facing is a lack in the water supply causing the residents to flee and panic. When Rango accidentally kills the feared hawk, he is propelled as a hero and made sheriff, but soon the mystery starts to unravel and bigger tests are at Rango’s door.

The visually exciting palette of the film is brought about by the exquisite attention to design and detail in the world. While I normally don’t care for heavily detailed animal animation, like the kind on display in Happy Feet, it somehow works here because the tone is far more serious. Even though this is being marketed as a children’s movie, the target audience here is certainly an older audience who will understand and appreciate the film’s off-beat sense of humor and collection of cinematic references ranging from Sergio Leone to Apocalypse Now to Chinatown. Gore Verbinski has tackled the live action world with much success (he helmed the Pirates trilogy) and he infuses the a manic and crazy energy that cannot help but be enjoyed to the fullest extent.

The script by John Logan is an interesting sort of beast. For all the film’s ambition in style, the story is actually pretty pedestrian. The tale of the stranger that wins the heart of the locals by accident, then has to face his lies only to test himself by the climax is a little worn at this point, and despite many attempts to feel fresh with its quirky humor, it never quite breaks free from predictable chains. That in turns leads the film to believe it’s a little smarter and cleverer than it actually is. Fortunately, those cringey moments don’t last too long, and before long they are replaced by an inventive homage to a cinematic idea and that pushes it back to such an enjoyable level.

At this point, if Johnny Depp wasn’t playing a computer animated reptile with a fondness for Hawaiian shirts, thespian acting and Hunter S. Thompson tendencies, then we would consider that a problem. Depp always has an interesting take on any character he plays, and while Rango has some difficulty shedding his annoying mannerisms, Depp makes it work in the end. The supporting cast is pretty impressive as well, which includes Isla Fisher as a gung-ho potential love interest, Ned Beatty as the seedy mayor of Dirt, Abigail Breslin as the wise-cracking young possum girl, and Bill Nighy as the notorious gunslinger Rattlesnake Jake. What elevates them is that this cast actually interacted with eachother on a set in order to get a better performance instead of recording voice sessions by themselves. The animators take that as a reference point for the characters (more Where the Wild Things Are, less like Zemeckis). The results are positive, and I’d hope this process gets used more often.

The film does have some issues in its pedestrian storytelling and it’s not quite as clever and hip as it thinks it is, but in the end, I just had an enormously fun time with it. It’s a movie for movie lovers, and the fact that an animated film can be for a maturer crowd without going a Heavy Metal route is a nice thing to see. The voice acting is great, the style and look is fantastic, and the countless callbacks to older films delights me to no end, particularly when a very special “cameo” appears in the last act. This won’t top anything from Pixar, but right now it’s a great example of the evolving world of animation, and I’m eager to see where it goes in the future.

A-

New Reviews: The Adjustment Bureau & Ceremony

Choice Words

The realm os science fiction literature has generally had good fortune in films. This is particularly because the rules of this genre can be bent in all kinds of directions, leading to stories that range from epic ambitions like Ridley Scott’s classic Blade Runner to quiet, subdued tones like last year’s Never Let Me Go. There’s a rich field of stories that are available with the genre, and while not all of them are hits, a lot of them make good use for their tales of existentialism and thoughts on humanity. This particular film certainly tries to make the most out of those suggestions, and until about the last twenty minutes, it actually succeeds at exploring these ideas.

Speaking of Blade Runner, this film also comes from a short story from the legendary Philip K. Dick. This one has Matt Damon as David Norris, a young Congressman whose political ambitions to become a New York senator are dashed one evening. While practicing his concession speech, he gets inspired to speak from the heart by Elise (Emily Blunt), who he eventually falls for. The problem with that is it isn’t according to plan: a plan that is determined by a group of mysterious men sporting long coats and grey fedoras. They monitor the world under “The Chairman” to make sure people are on the path of their own fate. David discovers them, and battles with trying to create his own destiny against their own.

For most of the film, there’s a great exploration on the messages of fate vs. free will, as well as lofty philosophical ideas of humanity, existentialism and even religion. First time director George Nolfi does a capable job of taking these high minded topics and laying them out in a genuine way. It never really becomes convoluted, and I was along for the ride. However, the film eventually runs out of smart things to say and devolves into a chase movie in which mountains of explanatory dialogue begin to cheapen the excitement of the film. It’s understandable that it couldn’t have ended on a more nihilistic note, but as it is, the ending lets out a lot of the steam the earlier parts built up.

Still, another saving grace for the film is the authentic chemistry between Damon and Blunt. Both are well cast in their roles, and are positively charming. Both of them also working exceedingly well together, and you are able to buy the relationship between the two of them. This is far beyond the best work the two of them have done, but they are quite fine in these roles and do their jobs to sell the premise. Other supporting turns from John Slattery, Anthony Mackie and Terrence Stamp as the “Observers” are good additions to a well rounded ensemble that continue with an entertaining film.

There are issues with this film, particularly in the last act that suddenly becomes a dumb, mainstream chase film. However, most of the film doesn’t indulge in such territory, and is actually pretty smart in its storytelling and tender character moments, particularly between Damon and Blunt. In the end, it’s another example of why I love science fiction so much, and while it may not be on the epic scale as something that Ridley Scott could pull off, I still enjoyed enough of it to recommend.

B

Wedlock

Early in the year, it can be quite difficult to find quality films to see. It’s no secret that most studios consider these first few months of the year a general dumping ground and refuse to release decent movies into the marketplace (however, thanks to Zack Snyder, March is starting to look a little better). Still, even the good movies that come out are usually few and far between the mediocre ones. So then you have to start an active search to find the films out there that are worth seeing, and trust me they are out there, it’s just that some of them are difficult to find. That is why I am so grateful of the “On Demand” option part of digital cable. It allows for hard-to-find movies available to the general public, something I’m very grateful for. In this case, it’s especially true because the movie actually has yet to be released theatrically. Whenever you can see it, I hope you can because it’s a nice little film.

The always reliable Michael Angarano stars as Sam Davis, an arrogant and full-of-himself author of children’s books who only has time for himself. On a dreary New York weekend, he and his emotional best friend Marshall (Reece Thompson) take a trip out of town for a few days. Unbeknownst to his friend, Sam is actually crashing the wedding of Zoe (Uma Thurman), a woman he met in the city who he has refused to let go, even with her boorish fiancé Whit (Lee Pace) getting in the way.

I have to admit that I wasn’t totally on board with the first half of the film. At first, writer-director Max Winkler (son of Henry Winkler, by the way) creates a rather rushed and awkward tone and not all of it really works. There’s talent on display, but he doesn’t really let it play out in an authentic way, and everything feels rather forced. Then the hectic tone starts to calm down, and characters start becoming a focal point. By the end, I completely bought into almost all of these characters, and credit should be given to how Winkler manages to mature this material as it goes on.

Even though Angarano is relatively young, he’s been an actor that has shown up in enough projects to leave an impression. I was worried at first that his age might have been a problem with buying into this premise, but Angarano makes it work in the end. He can be rude in the beginning (he might even be too good at it), but he handles the change in his character very well. As the film goes on, the more emotional side is brought out and he’s fantastic at revealing the layers that are being pulled back. Thompson accomplishes a similar set of circumstances, only in a smaller scale. Still, it’s a joy to watch him interact with Angarano, and they create a believable friendship. Thurman could have used a little more emotional meat to work with, but as is, she services the story as much as needed. I think Pace steps close to overacting, and Jake Johnson just feels unnecessary as the erratic, drug addicted brother of Zoe who unjustly chews the scenery whenever he can.

The film hits some rough territory in the beginning, particularly with an over-the-top tone that makes all the emotions and situations feel forced and false. However, soon the story matures and the characters start to feel real and the tenderness feels genuine. Because of that and some stellar performances, I got into the film despite the shortcomings in the first half. I’m thankful that there’s a decent smaller film in the beginning of the year, and it is one that is certainly worth checking out.

B+