Movie Review Asphalt City

Asphalt City (2024) 

Directed by Jean Stephane Sauvaire 

Written by Ryan King, Ben Mac Brown

Starring Tye Sheridan, Sean Penn, Mike Tyson, Kali Reis, Michael Pitt 

Release Date March 29th, 2024 

Published March 28th, 2024 

Asphalt City is the kind movie that mistakes wallowing in misery for drama. The film about a rookie EMT in New York City wallows in the bleak misery of suffering that, I am sure, will feel like gritty drama to some but felt punishing for this critic. I don't mind a good wallow, I was a big fan of Scorsese's similarly themed Bringing Out the Dead years ago, but I have my limits and Asphalt City pushed well past my limit for desolation that borders on post-apocalyptic. I realize New York City can be an angry and dark place but this borders on pornographic in terms of misery. 

Asphalt City stars Tye Sheridan as Ollie Cross a wide-eyed medical student whose paying his way through med-school by working as an EMT in New York City. Struggling with a terrible partner who hates rookies, Cross's spirits are buoyed when he's reassigned to work with an aging veteran, Gene 'Rut' Rutkovsky. Rut takes pity on the kid and sets about teaching him the job instead of just screaming orders at him. Where his previous partner, played by Michael Pitt, appeared intent on running Cross out of the job, Rut seems to take to being a mentor. 

This doesn't however, give the movie a boost in terms of the pitch black ugliness at play. Even as Rut proves to be kind, the runs they make in their ambulance are unendingly grim. EMT's deal with a lot of horrors but Asphalt City makes the job appear like the seventh circle of hell at all times. It's to the point that I just can't believe anyone would be able to do this job and since we have EMT's currently working in New York City, I can only imagine that they have found some way to preserve their mental health. This movie makes being an EMT akin to trying to survive Cormac McCarthy's The Road. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review The Dreamers

The Dreamers (2004) 

Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci 

Written by Glibert Adair 

Starring Michael Pitt, Eva Green, Louis Garrel 

Release Date February 6th, 2004 

Published August 1st, 2004 

Bernardo Bertolucci is unquestionably a master behind the camera. He has a painter’s eye for spectacular visuals. Despite that the appeal of his provocative, sex soaked movies has escaped me. As lovely as Last Tango In Paris, and more specifically Maria Schneider were, I fell asleep during that film. There’s something about French politics (For the record I know Bertolucci is from Italy but he made his best known films in France), I find tremendously dull and their sullen attitude toward sex less than exciting.

For his latest film, Bertolucci adapts a novel by Gilbert Adair that takes place in a time and place that Bertolucci is quite familiar with. Paris, 1968. As cinema'de art and the cahiers du cinema were breaking ground, the French government sought to fight back against revolutionary filmmakers and what began as the simple closing of an influential theater turned into a political revolution.

Set against this real life background in The Dreamers is the story of three cinema-loving teenagers who are completely swept up in the art, politics and especially the sex all around them. Michael Pitt is Matthew, an American in Paris for a year of studying, or more often watching movies at the legendary cinematheque where Henry Langlois programmed any and every movie imaginable from Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause) to Jean Luc Godard (Breathless).

When the cinematheque is shut down and Langlois fired, Matthew meets a pair of fellow cinemaphiles and protestors, non-identical twin brother and sister Theo (Louis Garrel) and Isabelle (Eva Green). The sheer force of their attitudes draws Matthew to them. They share his passion and knowledge of film and they are drawn to his wide-eyed naivete. Before long, Matthew is completely away from his studies and living with his new friends.

While revolution rages outside, the kids, whose parents have taken leave for vacation, stay locked up in their apartment testing each other's limits in film knowledge, musical taste and sexuality. As Matthew quickly learns, the twins have a strange bond. They sleep in the same bed nude and when Theo loses a trivia challenge Isabelle has a punishment that would make even the most maladjusted dysfunctional think twice. It isn't just the twins testing their boundaries, when Matthew loses a trivia challenge Theo has him make love to Isabelle while he watches.

This I suppose is meant to be edgy but it's more uncomfortable than anything else. Michael Pitt is a terrific actor who has greatness in his future but there is an aimlessness to this role. Eva Green is a bold newcomer with a terrific presence but she is unable to sustain the sexual energy her character radiates in her first few scenes. Louis Garrel, who's father is a well known director in French cinema, has that spiky French attitude and his love of film is well conveyed. However, when it comes to politics, sexuality and otherwise, he seems nothing more than a petulant child. Maybe that was the intent.

That is the problem with The Dreamers, we aren't sure what Bertolucci's intent is with these characters. Are we to admire the adventurousness of their experimentation as his camera seems to or are we supposed to feel sorry for these children when they are exposed for the underdeveloped personalities they are? The problem with feeling for them is that there is little depth to their psychology beyond “I blame my parents” pop psychology. Mommy and Daddy are never home, no one loves me, wah wah wah.

I admire this film for its beauty. Bertolucci paints a spectacular canvas of visuals both outside and in the sprawling apartment which is filled to overflow with cinema history. I also admire the film’s love of cinema, a literal worship of filmed art that pours out of the screen, especially when Eva Green's Isabelle imitates her favorite films. Educated filmgoers will get a real thrill recognizing the many cinematic homages throughout the film.

It's just a shame that Bertolucci and writer Gilbert Adair did not put more thought into forming their characters into something more than petulant children, whining and screwing while history unfolds around them.

Movie Review Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) 

Directed by John Cameron Mitchell 

Written by John Cameron Mitchell 

Starring John Cameron Mitchell, Michael Pitt, Andrea Martin, Miriam Shor

Release Date July 20th, 2001 

Published November 27th, 2001 

One of my favorite shows is VH1's behind the music and my favorite part is usually about 30 minutes in when the announcer intones "Fame came with a price." For Hedwig the genderless protagonist of Hedwig and the Angry Inch the price is one I know I could not have paid.

You see Hedwig used to be Hansel an earnest faced gay teen living in communist East Germany who decides to attempt to become a woman after falling in love with an American GI. I say attempts to become a woman because poor Hansel's operation went awry leaving him with an angry inch get it. Penis or no penis Hansel marries the GI, changes his name to Hedwig and moves to a Kansas trailer park. All of this is enough material for a fascinating offbeat comedy but this is merely the back-story to Hedwig. John Cameron Mitchell writes directs and stars as Hedwig, which he created in an off Broadway theater.

The music is the real star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch; it is brilliant rock music like nothing that's been heard in years. The music emulates Bowie Iggy Pop and the New York Dolls with only slightly more accessible pop edge. There is a great deal of Ziggy Stardust in Hedwig and thank God, if your gonna steal steal from the best.

Oh how nice it is to see a film that is surprising, that is not bound by the rules of genre or conventional filmmaking. Hedwig is a breath of fresh air and one of the best films of the year.

Movie Review Murder by Numbers

Murder by Numbers (2002) 

Directed by Barbet Schroeder

Written by Tony Gayton

Starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Gosling, Michael Pitt, Agnes Bruckner, Ben Chaplin, Chris Penn

Release Date April 19th, 2002 

Published April 18th, 2002

Director Barbet Schroeder began his career as one of the leaders of the French new wave in the 1960's. Writing for Cahiers Du Cinema, Schroeder expounded a style-over-substance approach, a free form of filmmaking that was about artistry more than story and character. Since coming to America in the early 70’s, Schroeder's style has become much more generic. It’s been mostly straight thrillers with conventional thriller plots and characters that, while proficient, weren't the genre busting style he had developed early in his career. Murder By Numbers is Schroeder’s latest by-the-numbers thriller that, while proficient, isn't Earth shattering.

Sandra Bullock stars as a hardass detective investigating an unusual murder that seems to have no motive. What Bullock and her partner, played by the personality challenged Ben Chaplin, don't know is the murder was committed as part of a suicide pact between two overpriveleged teens who thought it would be fun to try to commit the perfect murder. The teens, played by Ryan Gosling and Michael Pitt, gorge themselves on forensic science books and the study of investigation, careful not to leave any clues. Of course what fun is committing the perfect crime if you can't take credit for it, so the boys begin to tease the detectives by dropping little hints, all the while setting up someone else to take the fall. Gosling's character, while not wanting to go to jail, still would like to be acknowledged for his brilliant scheme while Pitt quarrels with his own guilt.

The plot is strong but the characterizations are a little thin, especially Bullock who delivers a good performance but her character seems somewhat hard to believe in the muddled narrative. She's supposed to be this tough cop who other cops think is one of the guys yet at the same time she is intimidated by Gosling, who is not exactly menacing. The motivation for her being intimidated is explained later but by then it has already disrupted the characterization and rendered her unbelievable.

The standout is Michael Pitt who is on his way to an Oscar nomination with previous performances in Hedwig & the Angry Inch and Bully. He is building quite a resume with Murder By Numbers, an effective foray into the mainstream. The film itself could have benefited from being a little less mainstream, a little darker. As it is, it comes off a little too slick and somewhat shallow. Murder By Numbers is an okay film but it’s best to wait to be seen on DVD.

Movie Review Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell (2017) 

Directed by Rupert Sanders 

Written by Jamie Moss, William Wheeler, Ehren Kruger 

Starring Scarlett Johannsson, Takeshi Katano, Michael Pitt, Juliette Binoche 

Release Date March 31st, 2017 

Published March 30th, 2017 

Is “Ghost in the Shell'' offensive? It’s certainly tone deaf and in poor taste but offensive? That depends on your perspective. I wasn’t offended by “Ghost in the Shell'' per se, though I oppose the white washing of the casting, I am also practical and cynical enough to understand it from the perspective of a profit driven business. That the film is the subject of such controversy only shines harsh light on the film’s artistic failures, even if better art would not negate the controversy. 

“Ghost in the Shell” stars Scarlett Johannsson as Major, a secret agent with a not so secret super power. Major is mostly a robot but with a human brain. She is relatively invincible, impervious to most things, but with human intellect and instincts. Major was the subject of an experimental surgery undertaken by a secretive organization for which Dr. Ouelet (Juliette Binoche) serves as the public face and the seemingly benevolent doctor who saved Major’s mind, if not her body.

Major is tasked with tracking down Kuze (Michael Pitt), a hacker/terrorist who is targeting the scientists and doctors who created the Major. Kuze claims to have a secret about Major that is being repressed in her mind through drugs the company claims she must take in order for her mind not to reject her cybernetic shell. It’s a secret that the filmmakers hope will cure them of white washing allegations, even as it only serves to make things worse in the eyes of many.

“Snow White and the Huntsman” director Rupert Sanders helmed “Ghost in the Shell” and he has certainly created a feast for the eyes. The futuristic Asian setting is rich with glittery, bright colors and tech similar to other sci-fi visions of the future such as “Minority Report,” minus that films’ visual wit. “Ghost in the Shell” is quite pretty with star Scarlett Johansson only adding to the visual delights.

That said, the spectacular visuals do serve to underline the emptiness at the core of the story. While the original anime “Ghost in the Shell'' was about identity and what made someone human, the live action “Ghost in the Shell” has been sheared of the subtext in favor of more of a revenge movie in which Major eventually begins to seek vengeance against those who kept secrets from her related to how she ended up a cyborg.

The change dumbs the movie down into a more mainstream action movie because hey, audiences don’t like to ponder existence when there are simple thrills to be had. This is not the fault of Johansson who seems to want something deeper in her performance but it’s just not there onscreen. This could also be the function of multiple screenwriters culling the deeper themes through series after series of rewrites, the film has three credited screenwriters including the subtext challenged Ehren Kruger.

I don’t hate “Ghost in the shell.” It’s not poorly acted and the visual splendor is undeniably fun. I must admit, I am knocking “Ghost in the Shell” for the most part, for not being the movie I wanted it to be and not for the movie that it is. The movie that “Ghost in the Shell” is is a shallow yet dazzling action movie that will satisfy the base action movie audience with their brains turned off.

I’m also reviewing the film’s politics which isn’t really fair either. From a business standpoint casting Scarlett Johansson makes more sense than casting a more appropriate Asian actress with less name value. From that very base, cold, cynical perspective I can’t fault “Ghost in the Shell,” I can only ask why it had to be “Ghost in the Shell?” Why go for the full Asian aesthetic and then cast white people, the setting has no impact on the story and could be transported anywhere. 

Why not rip off the concept, move it to New York and abandon the burden of white washing accusations in favor of the much easier to deflect cries of ‘rip off?’ The controversy only harmed the film which otherwise would have likely skated to modest success as a standard, simpleminded action movie instead of being pilloried on its way to underperforming.