Oldies Spin: Alien 3

Alien 3 (1992)

There are some franchises out there that always manage to give back something with each new viewing. In terms of this one, I am continually amazed at how Ridley Scott manages a mysterious mood of suspense and tension with the first outing, James Cameron created a great standalone sequel filled with exciting action, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's sensibilities were wasted on a needlessly violent and unnecessary film. However, when it comes to this outing, I tend to be at a loss. There's good elements and bad elements, and combined with some devastating background information, make this a somewhat indecisive film.

I guess I should offer apologies if you haven't seen the first or second film, but by the simple fact that there were three sequels, I'm guessing you've already figured out that Ripley makes it in the end of them. At the end of the second film, Ripley, her Marine friend Hicks, the little girl Newt and the robot Bishop escape the aliens and drift away once again in hyper-sleep. Too bad they didn't know facehuggers were on board, breaking into the pods, causing damage to the ship which leads it to crash on a prison colony. Hicks and Newt are killed, leaving Ripley to fend for herself among the male dominated prison. Matters only get worse when an alien is born from an animal on the planet that was met with another facehugger.

In order to fully understand this film, it is important to know some of the backstory behind the film. This was a movie that was born out of a release date even before a script, leaving the production to be pressured underneath scheduling, studio interference and creative differences. This was the feature film debut of the now legendary David Fincher, and when you watch the film, you definitely pick up his dark nihilism that has perpetuated his entire career. In his early stages, Fincher does find the right amount of beautiful bleakness, impressive art design and a sinister score from ace composer Elliot Goldenthal.

Unfortunately, you can't help but imagined a compromised vision here, leading the plot to veer on a meandering path, the tone become muddled and the action to be a chaotic mess with no motivation behind it. The alien this time doesn't have the same menacing premise and instead feels like a generic movie monster. The story sucks out any emotional impact that could have been had since all of Ripley's companions are dead. We are instead forced to make bonds with a group of men who all carry the same bald, grimy look with English accents. The only man who does have somewhat of a connection to Ripley is killed quite early on in the film. It's bad storytelling from top to bottom that squanders all good will that came before it.

It's also apparent that Weaver is phoning it in here. She looks bored in this movie and doesn't present any energy or fascination with this character. Even in the abominable fourth entry she tried something different to distinguish herself. Here, there's nothing of the sort, and the support players are just as bland. Everyone is playing a character type and none of them are memorable in the least. This could have been a beefy ensemble, but instead they're as dull as the film's color pallet.

I love the first two films and hate the fourth one. When it comes to this one, it's hard to say. That's because, in actuality, there is no Alien 3. The film that everyone initially set out to make does not exist. What does exist is a visual representation of all the high emotions, ill feelings, fatigue and studio pressure to hurriedly complete a film in order to turn a profit. Fincher has since disowned the film, and it's easy to imagine why. The making-of documentary on the "Alien Quadrilogy" offered a comprehensive look on this film that is much more interesting than anything that was filmed. It's a shame, considering that the potential for this film could have only been seen in hindsight.

C

New Review: The A-Team

B-Roll

This weekend, audiences finally get a bit of diversity in their summer movie going schedules. That is they will be able to choose between two different films based on property released in the 1980s. Audiences today will have the option of choosing between the remake of many childhood's classic The Karate Kid (though now relocated to China and practicing kung fu), and this film, the feature length adaptation of the, admittedly, campy television series. Depending on your childhood, you might find either one intriguing. Not being born in the '80s, neither one is greatly appealing to me. I choose this one, and immediately after it was done, I regretted it.

For those who don't know, the A-Team is a renegade unit in the military that is used for out-of-the-box situations. The leader is the towering Hannibal Smith (Liam Neeson). The rest of the team includes the suave ladies man Faceman Peck (Bradley Cooper), the muscle man with a fear of flying B.A. Baracus (UFC's Quinton "Rampage" Jackson), and the flying expert with an apparent mental problem Murdock (District 9's Sharlto Copley). During one mission involving the retrieval of counterfeit money plates, the team is framed for incompetence and wrongfully sentenced to jail. They break out to seek justice for the wrongdoers.

Director Joe Carnahan is not particularly a name that attracts me in the first place. His last movie, Smokin' Aces, is a chaotic mess that was high on its own nonsense. This time, the style is toned down a bit, but most of the action sequences still retain such a frantic tone that the scenes are indiscernible. Not only that, but this film goes on and on and on; every action scene is endless in its depiction of mindless, head-numbing action. The credit sequence of the film is dedicated to the formation of the group, and it feels like the entire film. Then, after fast-forwarding eight years, you get endless scenes of their mission in which they're framed, their eventual escape, their plan to clear their names, their plan to get revenge, and so on. This is a never-ending movie, and all of it drags on the attention span. Adding to it, the horrible script indulges on bland humor, manufactured tension, wildly shifting paces and jumbled timelines that all add up to suspense-less, poor storytelling.

Of the four members of the team, only Copley manages to make it out of here somewhat intact. He's pretty much the only source of humor and fun in the entire film, and he scores enough laughs to make himself justified in this picture. Cooper has some charm here and there, but I certainly wouldn't call him a selling point. Neeson is at the point in his career where all he has to do is show up, and he can look like a badass (i.e. Taken). Jackson, though, is just downright terrible. He's a horrible actor, apparent from the get-go, and he poorly handles a character that is uninteresting when he's killing people and boring when he's spouting phony wisdom against non-violence, which then gets turn around when Gandhi is used as a motivation for violence (I'm not kidding). Patrick Wilson is one of the stupidest, annoying villains around, and I honestly do not know why Jessica Biel is in this movie. If it was for sex appeal, it failed because her character is not used for very sexy or appealing ways.

I suppose if you liked the show, you might like the movie. But as far as I'm concerned, this carries just as much cheese as the show did. The plot is ridiculous and poorly drawn, the acting for the most part is mediocre at best, and the endless action just feels too much like a hammer to the brain. I didn't set out to hate this movie, but by the end I had no choice. I contemplated leaving halfway through, but decide to stay like I always do. I stayed in my seat, unfortunately. Congratulations Wolfman, you are no longer the worst film of the year so far.

D+

New Review: Get Him to the Greek

Broken Record

I know that I must be getting a bit repetitive by now, but everywhere I turn I keep getting reminders about what a lackluster year 2010 has turned out to be, despite the strong promise it showed in the beginning. Still, I admit that there have been some quality entertainment now and again. As the summer gets into full swing, I've already said that I found the best film of the summer (Please Give). However, I'm quite happy to report that while this may not be the replacement for the best film of the summer so far, it is most certainly the funniest.

If you saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall, then you'll recognize the name of rock star Aldous Snow, played by Russell Brand. After celebrating his sobriety in the previous film, Snow has now taken a nosedive as the relationship with his pop-star wife (Rose Byrne) starts to go south. Snow enters into a mutually beneficial agreement where he will perform at the Greek Theatre as part of an anniversary concert for music mogul Sergio (Sean Combs). Jonah Hill plays Aaron, an up-and-commer at Sergio's record label who is charged with bringing Snow to the concert, and there is when the mishaps ensue.

If you compare this film with Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the first film is better. This film never really matches up to the sharp wit and engaging characters that Jason Segal managed to create, but this film still manages to provide enough on its own terms to be considered funny. Writer-director Nicholas Stoller (who directed Sarah Marshall) actually creates a film that's a lot smarter than the ads make it out to be. Some of the humor even aspires to be a witty indictment on the entertainment industry and entertainment journalism. Most of the film does also aspire for the low brow, broad comedy with the drug related material and the double-entendre songs that are just as funny as the first time.

I do have to say, though, that some of the drug humor stretches a little bit into the ridiculous territory. Most of it manages to be funny, but more than enough times it feels like the film is feeling a bit tired. That is combined with a plot that meanders wildly all over the place and features some pretty weird tonal shifts. By the time the film starts to get to the end, you can tell that it ran out of steam about fifteen minutes ago. Still, the majority of the film finds the right pace to strike, even though towards the end it isn't always consistent.

Even though not every movie Hill has been in is a winner, he still manages to bring that shy and nervous energy to score some hearty laughs. This film is no different, and as the film's anchor he's touching and hilarious in all the right places. Fortunately, the spotlight is shared with Brand, meaning we can get all the humorous and poignant moments from his character without having to suffer through all the annoying habits that would have made his character unbearable, and Brand does an able job of keeping up. The supporting work from Combs (surprisingly funny here), Byrne, Elizabeth Moss and Aaron's girlfriend, and Colm Meaney as Snow's surly father are also fun in their roles as well and bring another light of humor.

It's not the best thing to come out of the Apatow factory, as the plot slows down in some places, the humor tries too hard, the tones are not consistent. But in the end, the film finds enough laughs to keep the interest intact, and the great performances from most of the ensemble work with the rather smart wit. I'm always glad when a comedy can put a smile on my face, and this one is no different. If this film finds success, I suppose the countdown starts to see that McLovin' movie.

B

New Reviews: Splice & Please Give

Dicey Science

Every once in a while, there comes along a film that seems to gather admiration simply because it is very different from the rest of the films out in the marketplace. There's a lot of people who think that a film's attempt to go against the grain is something so rarely seen that it should be treasured. I do believe that when a filmmaker attempts to address some issue in a provocative and extraordinary way, he or she should be given that credit. However, I do not aspire to the belief that just because something is different, that automatically means it's good. This film sure is good, but is surely also far away from good.

Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley play a pair of couple scientists on the verge of a breakthrough in their field of genetic engineering. After making a purely animal hybrid, they want to go to the next step with human testing. But their funding gets cut so the current specimens can be analyzed. Instead of taking the sane approach, these two geniuses decide to go rouge and inject human DNA into the equation anyway. What is born is a mutated animal that starts looking like a girl and given the name Dren (Nerd spelled backward). And Dren is not all she seems to be.

Director and co-writer Vincenzo Natali has been praised for his personal style of filmmaking, and he does give a promise at the beginning of the film to create an eerie mood that also manages to get the audience invested into that atmosphere. However, that peaks at about five minutes in, and it's all downhill from there. There is blame to go for a meandering plot, manufactured tension, little attempt to even comprehend the ridiculous science and the plot's odd catalyst. But in actuality, it is these poorly sketched out characters that is the real downfall. It's not only that these characters make one idiotic decision after another, it's that they aren't even consistent in their stupidity. Halfway through the film, these characters start behaving like different people, betraying what had been built up before and still causing them to be dumb. Such character types make it extremely difficult to buy into the atmospheric elements that Natali creates. By the time we get to a ridiculous final act, that feels like it's somewhere out of Rosemary's Baby, we're ready to give up at the point when it all dissolves into standard horror movie fare.

The cast is minimal, and with that the performances aren't very outstanding. Because you can never understand why these characters would make such stupid decisions, it makes it even harder to buy into the performances. Brody is still on probation in my book, so his phoned-in performances neither impresses nor disappoints. Polley does her best to carry most of the film's emotional anchor, but even that is spoiled by a bad character and conflicting emotions that she has to juggle. The verdict is that this is not the finest hour for either of these actors. And Delphine Chanéac, who plays the more grown up Dren, does well in her mostly mute role, but it's not a role that becomes anywhere fascinating until near the end of the film; too little, too late.

The best thing I can say about this film is that it's an interesting failure. You can certainly see a good deal of craft and creativity that went into the film, but it all gets buried underneath a ridiculous plot, mediocre acting, a muddled pace and characters that epitomize stupid with a capital dumb. It's a noble effort that comes up short, though I will give them credit for thinking outside the box on this one. What I can't give them credit for is a film that's worth seeing despite itself.

C-

Courtesy Fall

As the summer stands right now, there hasn't really been anything noteworthy to recommend. Up until this point, the only thing I good halfway recommend was Prince of Persia, and that was still a non-outstanding film. It just feels like the summers lately don't start producing until we get over the May slump and into the full swing of things. This movie is certainly evident of that. Although I can't technically call it a summer film since it was released in many other parts of the country months ago. But hey, what the hell. This is the best film of the summer so far.

The film chronicles a close knit group of dysfunctional people in a small radius in New York City. First there's Kate (Catherine Keener), an entrepreneur whose practice of buying and reselling the furniture of the recently deceased has led her into a life of warped guilt. Her mid-life-crisis husband Alex (Oliver Platt) and teen-angsty daughter Abby (Sarah Steele) add to her frustration. The family also is hovering over the apartment of an elderly woman (Ann Morgan Guilbert) who gets visits from her bickering granddaughters: the doting Rebecca (Rebecca Hall) and the antagonistic Mary (Amanda Peet).

If you're familiar with the work of Nicole Holofcener, whose last film was Friends with Money, then you'll have an idea of what this film emphasizes. Mid-life crises are abound in everyone's life as the characters humorously deal with their own quiet self-destruction set against yuppie anti-social behavior. Not every element in Holofcener's screenplay works; I think the weakest elements would be the forced and conventional sister dynamic and an eventual affair between Alex and Mary that feels like a bit of tacked on fake tension. However, there are enough times when her screenplay bursts in sprints that give way to satisfying humor and revealing drama. Fortunately, these bursts add up throughout the film, and the off story elements and flat direction eventually get a past.

Truly, this cast is terrific, and since it is vast enough, many are able to make up for some of the lack in character. The best is obviously Keener, who continues to impress me with her subtle magic that continues to make her an underrated actress. And she's able to work well with the entire cast, creating a mutual beneficial relationship. The same is said for Platt who sustains a good report with his co-stars. I admit that some of the other supporting players embody flat or one-note emotions, but these actors manage to embody them so well that I didn't even care. In fact, if you watch carefully enough, the caricature outlines around Hall, Stelle and Guilbert eventually fill out and offer a bit more to exercise.

The film does suffer from some slow spots, some ramblings in the last act, and some characters that fall flat. However, the great performances and smart writing help to elevate the film beyond the shortcomings that it offers. I was starting to write off the year as one disappointment after another, but this film gives me promise. Hopefully the rest of the year can live up to the promise.

B+

Behind the Scenes: Sean Penn

SEAN PENN

Born: August 17, 1960

Occupation: Actor

Best Work: Dead Man Walking

Other Highlights: Milk, Mystic River, The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Sweet and

Lowdown, 21 Grams

Upcoming Films: Fair Game, The Tree of Life

It’s very easy to quickly reserve a hyperbole when referring to someone with a gifted talent. Particularly if we admire them, then we can frequently give the highest of praises to their work without really meaning all that we say. However, in the case of Sean Penn, this statement I believe is undoubtedly accurate: he is perhaps the greatest actor of his generation. Penn possess a talent that so many actors try to obtain, and even the most gifted ones still can’t manage to grasp it. He is able to completely disappear into role, an act that is can be taken for granted at face value.

You can find evidence of this even in his first breakout role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. I don’t think Fast Times is necessarily a good movie, and even in terms of the genre, Dazed and Confused did it much better. But one look at Spicoli, and you immediately buy this guy as the stoned, surfer dude with the laid back attitude that gave a strong prelude to the career of Matthew McConaughey. Looking back on it now, it’s almost a comic caricature, particularly because we know that this young man will go on to win much more acclaim for much more serious performances, but it’s still amusing to believe that even in such a broadly drawn character at such a young age, Penn was still able to convincingly inhabit this character that defined a particular generation.

From then on, Penn seemed fixated on the rebellious, young anti-hero role, almost like Spicoli grew up, learned that the oceans would be affected by global warming, and stopped smoking pot. Roles in films like Colors and Casualties of War have helped to fuel Penn’s bad boy image, but given these films were transitional pieces leaving Fast Times behind him, he still manages to keep his integrity. His nearly unrecognizable supporting role in Carlito’s Way gave a stepping stone to the role that really let you know Penn was going to be a force was in Dead Man Walking, considered by many to be his second breakout role. Penn has a tricky role to pull off here: he has to make this convicted death row inmate seem sympathetic all while the character doesn’t want sympathy. In every scene, he makes it work, delivering depths of complexity to a character that usually defies it. His outstanding work brought Penn his first Oscar nomination, and if it were up to me, he would have won.

Almost like a response to all the attention, Penn didn’t seem to take such notable, worthy roles for a while. To be sure, he got to show off, but nothing seemed to approach the power he able convey in such restraint. Then came Mystic River featuring a great performance. Though I will admit Penn swaggers close to histrionics, the pain and torture of his character is sincerely felt. Many agreed, and it earned Penn his first Academy Award.

Following that, he gave another great performance in The Assassination of Richard Nixon, an internet favorite that showcases his quiet mannerisms that lead to a slow and softly spoken self-destruction. And And Penn of course topped off the decade with a big highnote with Milk, the biopic of gay politician Harvey Milk. After decades of carrying that somber frown, it was just nice to see Penn be joyful in a role. But he also makes Milk a real person, believing every second of this man’s ideals and passionate support. Penn doesn’t give an impersonation of Milk, and within ten minutes of watching the film, you immediately believe that you’re watching a ghost come alive on screen.

Like any other actor, Penn is not immune to the occasional bad film. However, even the films that aren’t necessarily good are aided by his abilities as an actor. I Am Sam is horrible in its sentimental manipulation, but Penn is able to ground as much as he can, though Dakota Fanning feels more real than his character. While everyone in the remake to All the King’s Men is so dreary and dull, Penn, in an over-the-top Southern accent and a poorly made fat suit, injects some passion and energy into a film that desperately needed it. He even has some fun in his bit role in Before Night Falls. No matter what the role, I never see Sean Penn; I only see the character. That is a statement that many take for granted. It’s hard to see beyond the actor and completely buy into the magic of the movies. But time and time again, Penn manages to make it work. Every performance, no matter how small or insignificant, feel genuine and sincere. He’s a very talented actor, and his directorial career feels just as developed, which is another commentary itself. Wherever Sean Penn goes, I’ll be anticipating another astounding performance from one of the greatest actors to have ever been seen.