Documentary Review Metal A Headbanger's Journey

Metal: A Head banger's Journey (2005) 

Directed by Jessica Joy Wise, Sam Dunn, Scott MacFadyen 

Written by Sam Dunn

Starring Documentary 

Release Date 2005 

Published October 19th, 2005 

Sam Dunn is an Anthropologist from Vancouver British Columbia and a huge fan of Heavy Metal music. These two disparate parts of Sam's personality collide in the documentary Metal A Headbangers Journey. An astute and insightful look at the music, the musicians and fans of metal music. In 1986 Sam Dunn discovered heavy metal music with his first glimpse of his favorite band Iron Maiden. That group's dark, screeching lyrics and crunching guitar noise struck a chord with the then 16 year old Sam and that fascination became a lifelong obsession. In A Head bangers Journey Sam attempts to legitimize his beloved musical genre with more than just metal fans.

Assembling interviews with metal artists is a small part of this journey, including talking head moments with Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, Lemmy from Motorhead, and the oddly fascinating Dee Snider. These rockers speak to why they love the music, the rapport they have with metal fans and some of the odder social concerns of metal such as the oddly homoerotic nature of much of the heavy metal scene.

On the other and far more interesting side of Headbangers Journey are sociologists, musicologists, and journalists who offer humorous, insightful and intriguing outsider perspectives on the culture, history and art of metal. Most interesting among the outsider talking heads is UCLA musicologist Robert Walser who introduces us to the tri-tone aka the devil's note. It's that awe inspiring low chord guitar sound that is the backbone of much metal music. The tri-tone has its roots not in metal music but in fact in classical music where Wagner pioneered this bass heavy note in his composition to the consternation of many classical purists of the 1800's.

Touching on opera and classical music in its examination of metal the outsiders of A Headbangers Journey does more to legitimize the genre's artistry than many of its purveyors. Though guys like Rob Zombie and Ronnie James Dio come off as earnest and forthright lovers of the music and of the fans, other interviews with the likes of Vince Neil and the members of the oddball group Slipknot only serve to reinforce the metal image that Dunn seems intent on reversing.

That childish sex, drugs and rock n' roll image of debauched woman and drunkenness is fun to watch and I'm sure was often fun to experience but is also as shallow as that now coopted phraseology. Sex, Drugs and Rock n' roll. Sex, Drugs, and Rock N Roll is nice in theory but when it is the backbone of your philosophy it comes off less rebellious than childishly petulant. Legendary groupie Pamela Des Barres joins in the fun of A Headbangers Journey and while she is a lot of fun and clearly someone who made the most of her life, she introduces the sadder side of the groupie life that is something akin to Girls Gone Wild only sadder and slightly more pathetic.

Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden sets the cause back with his honest assessment of metal and its fans. To quote the Iron Maiden frontman "The music appeals to everyone's inner 15 year old". That isn't necessarily a bad thing Bruce, but it's a little new agey for the genre that brought us WASP's "F**k Like Beast". The inner child as the rallying point of metal? Hmm... 

One of the more touchy subjects in A Headbanger's Journey is the genres homoerotic imagery. All of those guys in tight leather grinding their hips in front of crowds made up of 90% men is bound to bring about this type of analysis and Sam Dunn is relatively forthright about this topic, though he confines it mostly to talk of the metal sub-genre known as glam. In this section a reporter who covered LA's sunset strip in the 80's recounts a favorite story about the number of times a fan told him 'I would love to f!&k those chicks in Poison'. A funny and uncomfortable quote for childhood Poison fans like myself.

Sam Dunn's aim in A Headbanger's Journey is I believe to bring a new respect and acceptance for Metal fans to mainstream audiences and while he is successful in pointing out the highly artistic roots of the music and the talent inherent in many of its creators the film does little change the image of metalheads from shirtless, long haired guys you would not bring home to mom. Not all metalheads are as scary as say Lemmy from Motorhead but the stereotype is unchanged by A Headbanger's Journey.

The film overall is charming, often fascinating and insightful. It won't change many preconceived notions about metal or its fans but while it's on you will find much to enjoy about the journey.

Movie Review Men in Black International

Men in Black International (2019) 

Directed by F. Gary Gray 

Written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway 

Starring Tessa Thompson, Chris Hemsworth, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Rafe Spall 

Release Date June 14th, 2019 

Published June 13th, 2019 

Men in Black International stars Tessa Thompson as Molly. As a kid, Molly witnessed the mythic Men in Black neuralyzer her parents after their home was invaded by an alien. Molly avoided the mind erasing and developed a single-minded obsession with finding aliens and becoming part of the Men in Black. Cut to adult Molly and she is still seeking the Men in Black. She has dedicated her life to finding her way into the super-secret secret agency and her opportunity has finally arrived.

Molly uses her computer hacking skills to locate an alien that is returning to Earth, with a nod to the Weekly World News tabloid, a callback to the original 1997 movie which posited tabloid alien stories as real stories. Molly's investigation stumbles over the MIB HQ and she invites herself inside. Once inside, after a chat with Emma Thompson’s MIB boss, a character introduced in MIB3, she gets Molly a probationary gig as an agent.

As Agent M, Molly is assigned a task in the London office where she will be partnered with long-time agent, Agent H (Chris Hemsworth). Agent H is a bit of a washout. Something happened the last time that he saved the world and he’s never really recovered. Since then, he’s bounced around from case to case, narrowly avoiding being killed and generally being a pain in the backside for his boss and former partner, Agent T (Liam Neeson), cheekily referred to as High T.

Together, Agents M and H go on a worldwide whirlwind that takes the duo from London to Morocco, to the lair of a criminal dealing in Alien technology, Riza, played by Rebecca Ferguson, and to Paris where the Eiffel Tower serves as a bridge for the worst aliens in the world to attempt an invasion that is being coordinated by a rogue MIB agent. M and H must find the rogue Agent and prevent the alien invasion while overcoming M’s inexperience and H’s broken spirit.

The story I have described for Men in Black International sounds like a story that should work. The arcs are clear with M pursuing her dream and overcoming her inexperience and H seeking redemption while not being sure of what needs redeeming. It’s not a special story but if you build in good gags and solid action and effects, this is a good enough structure to support them. Sadly, director F Gary Gray brings absolutely nothing new or fresh or funny to his take on MIB.

Men in Black International differs from the original, 1997 Men in Black by not being particularly funny. Neither Thompson or Hemsworth appears interested in being funny, each appears to be waiting for the movie around them to be funny and it never happens. Kumail Nanjiani, playing an alien, nicknamed Pawny, is the closest thing to a character that is genuinely funny but the laughs remain few and far between.

The only innovation that the makers of Men In Black International bring to bear on the MIB franchise is moving the action from New York City to London and several other international locations. Beyond that, the aesthetic of Men in Black has not changed much in 22 years. The ending of the first Men in Black had more innovation than this modern sequel and all that did was update the suits to high fashion and put Will Smith in a more modern car.

If anything, Men in Black International is a step backward for the franchise. That’s odd since the MIB3 literally traveled into the past and felt more modern than International. Men in Black International looks like Men in Black in every way which is fine for a sequel but the movie doesn’t innovate on the franchise in any way. Without bringing something fresh to the franchise and without being funny, Men in Black International struggles to justify its very existence.

Men in Black International is a bizarre failure. We know that Tessa Thompson and Chris Hemsworth are funny, we saw that in Thor Ragnarok. And yet, there is no evidence of their humor in Men in Black International. Thompson is remote and occasionally withdrawn, delivering a perfunctory approximation of the uninspired script. Hemsworth meanwhile, rehashes pretty boy cliches that weren’t all that funny in Ghostbusters or the Vacation reboot and certainly don’t feel fresh here.

Men in Black International is professionally made. The film looks as if it should be entertaining. There is nothing wrong from a cinematography or design perspective and yet the movie is lifeless. The cast is going through the motions of a story that isn’t anything special and without any big laughs, Men in Black International just lingers on screen going through the motions of a very average action movie.

A good example of the failure and lack of inspiration in Men in Black International are the film's villains. Les Twins, Laurent and Larry Bourgeois play characters literally referred to as Alien Twin 1 and 2. The pair is known for their innovative dance videos on YouTube and yet we get barely a sample of what makes the twins special. A scene in a nightclub is intended to give them a showcase but the scene is clumsily shot and the dancing is blink and you will miss it. 

The twist is that a rogue MIB agent is the true big bad which explains why the Twins have no real characters to play but then why include them at all? The inclusion of Les Twins in Men in Black International is further evidence of the mercenary, marketing driven motivation behind this lifeless, soulless rehash of a well known property. The makers of Men in Black International hired Les Twins for their high social media profile and not to actually use them to serve a story being told. 

Why was this movie made? If the makers of Men in Black International had nothing new to say with this inventive premise then why did they make this movie? It appears to have been a purely mercenary effort on all sides. Everyone in the cast and crew appears to have been on hand solely to pick up a paycheck and deliver the absolute minimum effort with the only goal being to capitalize on a well known intellectual property.

Movie Review Men in Black 2

Men in Black 2 (2002) 

Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld 

Written by Robert Gordon, Barry Fanaro 

Starring Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Rosario Dawson, Lara Flynn Boyle, Johnny Knoxville 

Release Date July 3rd, 2002 

Published July 2nd, 2002 

The original Men In Black was a fresh and funny surprise. The film came out of nowhere and based on its charm and its appealing stars, the film scored 600+ million dollars at the box office. Charm, however, can carry a film only so far and it is no match for the disease known as sequelitis. If you think about it I bet you could count the number of good sequels on one hand. Sequelitis is why almost all sequels suck. Even the great Will Smith seems no match for it.

MIB2 has Smith and Tommy Lee Jones back in their black suits and Ray Bans. Of course if you recall the original, Jones' agent K was neuralized and returned to a normal life. Smith as Agent J is investigating the murder of an alien by another alien who has taken the form of Lara Flynn Boyle. Only K knows the secret to stopping this new alien threat. 

So J and his new partner Frank the Dog go to a small Massachusetts town where K is now a postal worker, a situation ripe for comedy but not taken advantage of in this film. Once K is returned to headquarters he is to be de-neuralized, but once he gets his memory back he still can't remember what happened to the object that the bad guys are looking for. K's memory block is the film’s only clever subplot as the duo search the clues K left for himself in case of such an emergency.

Where the original MIB had a bouncy pace with a new surprise around every corner MIB 2 has just the opposite; dull, lifeless transitional scenes that lead nowhere. There are no surprises in the alien creatures created by the effects team and the legendary Rick Baker. It's probably George Lucas's fault, his aliens are so visually interesting that most everything else pales in comparison. Lucas's Star Wars creatures make MIB 2's aliens look like the work of amateurs.

The biggest disappointment about MIB 2 is director Barry Sonnenfeld who directs the film with a dull cynicism. The film is constructed of dull transitory scenes broken up every 5 or 10 minutes by a special effect, probably to keep the audience from falling asleep. The film plays like a commercial for itself. The few laughs of the film are easy to cut out and put into a commercial or a trailer, with no need for context or much of a setup.

The film is well crafted but not memorable. MIB 2 is the kind of film that five years from now will be airing on TBS Superstation; you’ll stop for a moment then change the channel when a commercial comes on and maybe flick back later to see if it's still on.

Movie Review Memoirs of a Geisha

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) 

Directed by Rob Marshall 

Written by Robin Swicord 

Starring Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Michelle Yeoh, Koji Yakusho

Release Date December 9th, 2005 

Published February 4th, 2006

Perceptions are often fascinating. Take the perception of the Geisha in America. Because of American soldiers who occupied Japan post world war 2, we perceive a geisha to be a Japanese prostitute. That is not true. A geisha is an artist, a trained entertainer and conversationalist whose time is purchased by clients in need of a business facilitator. A geisha provides companionship of the highest order. Another interesting perception involves the movie Memoirs of A Geisha. When Steven Spielberg was attached as the film's director, Memoirs of A Geisha was perceived as a massive romantic epic that would no doubt compete for the highest honors in the film industry.

When Spielberg stepped aside for director Rob Marshall the perception became smaller in scale and the film felt lacking in grandeur and epic scope. This is despite the fact that Mr. Marshall is an Oscar nominated director whose Chicago won Best Picture. Rob Marshall simply isn't Steven Spielberg and because of that the perception of Memoirs of A Geisha is as a film that Steven Spielberg could not find the time to direct. It's a pity because Marshall's Memoirs of A Geisha, while slick and stylized, is also heart-rending and sumptuously beautiful, framed by a lovely and compelling performance by star Ziyi Zhang.

Chiyo (Zhang) was not born to be a geisha. Born in a fishing village in a rickety shack on the edge of a cliff, she was destined to be a wife and mother to a fisherman husband. However, when her mother became ill she and her sister were sold and Chiyo ended up in a geisha house. A spirited child, Chiyo was not willing to simply accept the life of a geisha. It is not until she experiences a rare act of kindness from a stranger known as The Chairman (Ken Watanabe) that the life of a geisha becomes a real possibility. 

One day while Chiyo is crying over the loss of her sister, who was sold into prostitution and soon after disappeared, she meets the Chairman who dries her tears and brings the first smile to her face since the loss of her parents. Seeing the chairman is accompanied by a pair of beautiful geishas, Chiyo decides that she will one day become a geisha so that she may win his heart.

Soon Chiyo has become Sayuri and under the guidance of Mameha (Michelle Yeoh), a legendary geisha, Sayuri becomes the most celebrated geisha in all of Japan. This happens at the expense of  Hatsumomo (Li Gong) who Chiyo had been a servant to throughout her childhood and now had become her chief rival.

Adapted from the best selling novel by Arthur Golden, Memoirs of A Geisha is a story rich in characters and settings. Rob Marshall and writer Robin Swicord craft a loving portrait of the geisha that serves at once to correct misperceptions of the geisha and tell the story of a spirited girl who becomes a fierce, intelligent and beautiful woman.

The key is Zhang Ziyi's performance which fleshes out a character that in the wrong hands could have been carried away by the currents of such a broad character arc that covers more than 30 years of life. Zhang brings a depth of emotion to the character that is more than palpable, it comes off of her in waves. Even as the sociologist in me was questioning the films feminism, I was carried away by Zhang's performance. The performance does not quiet all of my questions of this story's worthiness of being told, but it goes a long way toward making me forgive many of my problems with it.

Here are my issues with the story. Despite the beauty and emotion brought about by Ziyi Zhang's performance I cannot escape the films many anti-feminist underpinnings. Sayuri is never the equal of any man in the film. Everyone from the chairman to his partner to the lecherous American army colonel played by Ted Levine are always seen as superior to Sayuri because she must always do as they say. This is a societal thing, the film is of its time in which women were all considered second class citizens in Japan. 

The problem is that the film offers no critique of this situation, it merely presents it as a framework for the romance between Sayuri and the chairman. A more feminist take would rage against this inequity, in the very least it would offer veiled, sub textual criticisms. But the film remains historically remote in deference to the romance which I'm sure director Rob Marshall and writer Robin Swicord likely felt was what was most important. Therein however, lies another problem for the film. This is not that great of a romance. 

This could be meant as a tragic romance and in a better film that tragedy would be presented and it would be heartbreaking. However, in Arthur Golden's novel and in the film, the choice to be client and geisha is seen as a proper romantic compromise. A loving business arrangement between two friends, not exactly the stuff of romantic legend if you ask me.

I must add one final issue I had with Memoirs of A Geisha. Rob Marshall's choice to shoot the film in English instead of Japanese. This controversial choice was lost in the shuffle early on in the film's life, subsumed by the controversial choice to cast Chinese actresses in Japanese roles. The choice to shoot in English instead of Japanese is an offensive choice creatively because it was not a natural choice or one of necessity but a commercial choice.

Fearing that an audience would not come out for a subtitled film, Marshall and company forced their cast to learn English, thus constricting many of the performances behind thick accents. Then, from time to time, Marshall chooses to lapse into Japanese, such as in the opening scenes which are shot for no particularly good reason in Japanese. Why not just make the whole movie that way? 

Memoirs of a Geisha is set in Japan with Japanese characters, culture and history. It should have been shot in Japanese. That said, as many problems as there are in Memoirs of A Geisha there are plenty of good things. John Williams' score for one, which features the stirring work of both Yitzhak Perelman and Yoyo Ma, is exceptional. This is some of the great composer's best work. It may never be as iconic as his Jaws or Star Wars, but may yet be his best work ever.

The Oscars affirmed that the production design and costumes of Memoirs of A Geisha were its true stars. Colleen Atwood rightfully won an Oscar for her beauty period costumes and John Myhre's set design was also rightly awarded. If the story told in Memoirs of A Geisha were as compelling as the music, sets and costumes, we would be discussing a historic, epic film that would be revered for ages. However, such beauty in service of something so unfocused and lacking, creates a film that will fade from memory far too soon.

Movie Review Melvin Goes to Dinner

Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003) 

Directed by Bob Odenkirk

Written by Michael Blieden 

Starring Michael Blieden, Melora Waters, Stephanie Courtney, Matt Price 

Release Date January 2003 

Published May 19th, 2003 

Bob Odenkirk is best known as half of the comic team behind HBO's cult comedy Mr. Show. With his partner David Cross, Odenkirk created some of the funniest sketch comedies ever on television. Now Odenkirk is venturing out into unknown territory directing his first feature film, and like Mr. Show, it's a risky comic sketch.

Melvin Goes To Dinner is a single, handheld camera following the twists and turns of a conversation between four semi-strangers. Like the classic My Dinner With Andre, Melvin is a fascinating experiment in comic dialogue and the ability of a director to hold your attention without resorting to trickery.

The Melvin of the title is Michael Bleiden, who wrote the script and performed the show as a stage play in Los Angeles. In the film, he and the original stage actors from the LA production, Annabelle Gurwitch as Sarah, Stephanie Courtney as Alex, and Matt Price as Joey, reunite in an LA restaurant. What unfolds is an hour-long conversation that twists from mocking discussions of ghosts in Alex's apartment to intriguing takes on religion, infidelity and strip clubs.

Alex is friends with Joey from business school. She is a man's woman, the type who will join the guys for a trip to the strip club. Joey, who fell into dinner after an accidental phone call, is also old friends with Melvin but they haven't seen much of each other recently. Alex has been friends with Sarah for years and just happened to bump into her on her way to dinner with Joey, forcing her to join them. That explains how everyone got there but there are deeper connections that are revealed during this marathon dinner conversation.

It is so rare to hear great dialogue in the age of Jerry Bruckheimer and Michael Bay. This makes Melvin a welcome change of pace from the majority of modern scripts that merely lend context to action scenes or gross out comedy. Melvin is the extremely rare film that doesn't just feature great dialogue, it is about great dialogue.

This material would be difficult for any director, especially for a first time director, yet Odenkirk manages the material very well. His observational, voyeuristic camera quietly shifts from shot to shot never getting in the way, never tipping off the story’s twists, never leading the audience by using tricks of perspective or showy camera movement.

As I mentioned earlier, the actual conversation is only about an hour long. The remaining 23 minutes of the film is made up of well-done flashbacks. Featured in cameos are Odenkirk cohorts like Jack Black as a mental patient and David Cross as a motivational guru to Odenkirk as one of Sarah's ex-boyfriends, a surprisingly poignant and revealing cameo that helps deepen Sarah's character. Maura Tierney also appears as Melvin's sister, and Melora Waters rounds out the cameos as Melvin's married girlfriend.

The script mines its best material from infidelity. Melvin is dating a married woman and has done it before. Joey is married and admits that he often considers cheating on his wife. Sarah, like Melvin, has been on the cheating side of a relationship while Alex admits to having been the victim of cheating boyfriends on more than one occasion. She claims to have come out unfazed, due to distractions at work.

The stories they relate about their relationships are funny, smart and touching. Not touching in that cloying movie way but in a more real human way that isn't with a major dramatic flourish or revelation but just comes from shared experience. This is a terrific movie, witty and smart with four very likable actors, well-timed cameos and flashbacks and well directed by first time Director Bob Odenkirk. The DVD for Melvin, courtesy of Sundance Home Entertainment, is in the style of Odenkirk's irreverent Mr. Show sense of humor. 

The DVD features two commentary tracks, including a very funny two-man commentary by Bleiden and Odenkirk and one with Odenkirk, Bleiden and Michael Penn who performed the film’s elegant film score. The DVD's best feature is a mock documentary about "The Frank Film Festival", a film festival put on by a guy named Frank in his basement with just one film. It is as much of a must see as the film itself.

Movie Review Melancholia

Melancholia (2011)

Directed by Lars Von Trier 

Written by Lars Von Trier 

Starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsgard, Kiefer Sutherland 

Release Date May 18th, 2011 

Published October 22nd, 2011 

"Melancholia" is a typically divisive film from director Lars Von Trier that will bore and aggravate as many people as it moves and fascinates. You'll find me in the latter category. This moody meditation on life and death, meaning and the lack of meaning, is enthralling in its beauty and heartrending in its sadness.

"Melancholia" is a two part story following the lives of sisters, Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). We begin with Justine's story. It is Justine's wedding day and she and her new husband, Michael (Alexander Skarsgard, "True Blood") are late to their reception. Justine's sister Claire and her husband John (Kiefer Sutherland) have gone out of their way for this wedding in hope that it will free Justine from a lingering depression. Justine and Claire's parents are certainly no help.

Their father (John Hurt) is a drunkard carrying on with a pair of women half his age. Their mother (Charlotte Rampling) is bitter and not making any attempt to hide her loathing of the institution of marriage.

Lingering over Justine's new marriage is her husband's father, Jack (Stellen Skarsgard), who is also Justine's boss. He wants an ad tagline from her so badly that even on her wedding day he persists with work going as far as hiring a man to follow Justine in hopes she will be inspired. By our account Claire is unusual but she's making an effort. Nevertheless, both Claire and John can sense her beginning to slip back toward despair.

Claire's story picks up sometime after the wedding. A planet called Melancholia is approaching earth and while John predicts it will pass while creating a spectacular show in the sky, Claire is uncertain. Claire is terrified that Melancholia is going to collide and destroy the earth. If you haven't guessed that Melancholia is a metaphor for impending death then you aren't really trying. That's the simple metaphor anyway. I suspect something deeper if I were to probe it further but my mind lingers on death and how it haunts everyday life.

Depressing? Maybe, but I actually find comfort here. I think that I find comfort in the same way Von Trier does, with art. Death has a way of focusing the mind and when focused my mind turns to beauty and art. There is great beauty in "Melancholia." Von Trier along with cinematographer Manuel Albero Claro and art director Simone Grau collaborate to create images of ruin and sadness that are achingly beautiful and likely to win "Melancholia" awards for their stunning beauty.

"Melancholia" won't work for most audiences. The film is meandering and humorless and does not move to the beat of the average mainstream American movie. If you are someone who enjoyed Von Trier's previous work or contains the patience and observation needed for this experience, you will be rewarded. "Melancholia" is a work of art.

For the record; I am aware of what Lars Von Trier said about Adolph Hitler. My review of his film in no way demonstrates that I agree with or even understand what Mr. Von Trier was attempting to say about Hitler.

Movie Review Megamind

Megamind (2010) 

Directed by Tom McGrath

Written by Alan Schoolcraft, Brent Simons

Starring Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, David Cross

Release Date November 5th, 2010 

Published November 4th, 2010

2010 is the year of the bad guy in animation. In “Despicable Me” a mad genius named Gru, voiced by Steve Carell, became a good guy when he was faced with three lovely little orphans who warmed his villainous heart. Now comes “Megamind,” voiced by Will Ferrell, an evil genius who has grown used to being beaten by his nemesis Metro Man but finds himself unfulfilled once it seems he’s actually won.

Megamind (Ferrell) escaped a dying planet and was sent to earth destined for…. Something, he didn’t catch that part of his parents’ farewell speech. On the way to earth Megamind is bumped off course by another escapee from a dying planet, a handsome, dynamic little boy known as Metro Man (Brad Pitt). Metro Man arrives on earth landing under the Christmas tree of a wealthy family, Megamind crash lands in the yard of a prison where he grows up tutored in the ways of villainy.

Metro Man and Megamind went to school together and while Metro was the big man on campus with his charm, good looks and super powers, Megamind and his big blue head and prison-issue jumpsuit became an outcast. Getting picked last and picked on leads Megamind to embrace his bad guy side and with the help of his childhood companion, Minion (David Cross), Megamind determines to become a Super Villain.

The battles between Metro Man and Megamind, often centering on Megamind’s kidnapping of local reporter Renee Richard (Tina Fey), are epics of destruction that always end the same way with Megamind beaten, captured and imprisoned. However, when Megamind crashes the dedication of the Metro Man museum, takes Renee hostage, and sets up his evil death ray, he actually manages to defeat and seemingly murder Metro Man.

With the city now under his command and no one to stand in his way; Megamind should be ecstatic. Instead, he’s bored. Only Renee gives him a hard time but he doesn’t mind, in fact he discovers that he really likes her and maybe that is why he’s always taken her hostage. They get a chance to explore this when an evil even more destructive than Megamind arrives in Metro City and forces Megamind to go from bad guy to good guy.

There is a heady ideal at the heart of “Megamind.” Can evil exist without good or can good exist without evil? The creators of “Megamind” come down whole-heartedly on the side of both being necessary in order to exist. It’s a big topic for a kiddy flick but not one that “Megamind” lingers on more than it has to.

“Megamind” is first and foremost about jokes and the creators could not have assembled a cast more adept at delivering their punch lines. Will Ferrell has the uncanny ability to project a pratfall with words. His voice characters stumble and bumble in the fashion of his live action characters and that is strong testament to the comic brilliance of Ferrell’s persona and “Megamind” bumbles with the best of them.

Tina Fey’s genius is sarcastic apathy; her voice communicates brilliant comic exhaustion. In one of “Megamind’s” best scenes, Renee Richards boringly recounts the number of times Megamind has kidnapped her and the predictable ways in which he plans to torture and kill her: “Shark tank? Seen it. (Chainsaws) Seen it. (Lasers) Seen it.” Each line delivered with a tart, sarcastic assuredness that drives Megamind nuts.

Brad Pitt, David Cross and Jonah Hill round out the cast of “Megamind” and bring wit, energy and surprising warmth to their highly unusual characters. Pitt’s Metro Man is a rather obvious send up of Superman but you have to love the energetic pandering and insatiable ego that Pitt brings to the character. David Cross is known for being a caustic stage comic but his Minion is a loving companion to Megamind and Cross’s warmth sells Megamind’s change from villain to hero. Jonah Hill meanwhile goes for something close to what Will Ferrell brings to Megamind, a sense of the typical Jonah Hill character we know but with a touch more anger, his Hal the cameraman is funny because Jonah Hill is funny.

There isn’t much to “Megamind” that you haven’t seen before yet it succeeds. This terrific voice cast takes some familiar characters and predictable situations and turns up the charm and energy to keep us interested and laughing; even at jokes we likely could have predicted in the parking lot on the way into the theater. Voice acting is a unique talent and not everyone has it. Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, Brad Pitt and David Cross have that talent and “Megamind” is funny because they are funny.

Movie Review Meet the Spartans

Meet the Spartans (2008) 

Directed by Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer

Written by Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer

Starring Sean Maguire, Carmen Electra, Ken Davitan, Kevin Sorbo

Release Date January 25th, 2008

Published January 25th, 2008

Say, did you hear the joke about the movie 300? ? ? That's the joke. I mentioned the movie 300. Why aren't you laughing? I said the name of a movie that you likely saw in the past 2 years. According to the creators of movies like Date Movie, Epic Movie, Meet The Spartans and the upcoming Disaster Movie, merely saying the name of a popular movie and dressing characters to look like people from those movies is the height of satire.

Let's try it again: Stomp The Yard? Are you laughing yet?

Is Meet The Spartans a movie or just a really bad costume party? I guess since they filmed it and edited it, they can call Meet The Spartans a movie but when they call it a comedy, that is where I draw the line. No. To call your movie a comedy, it must elicit laughter and not one singular moment of this alleged spoof elicits even a chuckle. Not a titter or even a modest half smirk. This witless movie karaoke comes from creators who must feel that just mentioning a movie made in the past 2 years is funny. I have an idea, let's try this... Spiderman 3.

Anyone laughing? I said Spiderman 3? Nothing? Not funny? If you don't laugh at my writing the words Spiderman 3 I doubt you will laugh during Meet The Spartans which dresses up like the characters from 300 and then names off a number of other movies expecting us to laugh, I guess, because they mentioned these other movies and maybe offered a minor exaggeration of a scene from that movie. They don't always offer the exaggeration.

Oh, it's not just the witless mentions of other movies that supplies the supposed humor of Meet The Spartans, also add a copious amount of gay jokes, vomit jokes and fart jokes, all just under the wire of the PG 13 rating. Meet The Spartans is the ultimate in teen focus group marketing "Say you know what kids like, let's put all of the movies they saw in the last year in the same movie and then add gay jokes. Brilliant!".

No, not brilliant. Not even remotely clever. Brutal comes to mind. Offensive? Definitely. But not brilliant. Not by a longshot. If last year's Date Movie and Epic Movie were the bottom of the barrel in terms of spoof movies, Meet The Spartans is an example of what happens when someone lifts up the barrel and scrapes out what is underneath into a film can.

Movie Review Meet the Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons (2007) 

Directed by Stephen Anderson 

Written by Jon Bernstein, Don Hall, Nathan Greno, Aurian Redson, Joe Mateo 

Starring Daniel Hansen, Jordan Fry, Wesley Singerman, Angela Bassett, Tom Selleck

Release Date March 30th, 2007

Published March March 29th, 2007 

Walt Disney was a visionary of great imagination and boundless enthusiasm. While many biographers have pointed out his flaws, some very dark flaws that some quite fairly point out. But the wonder of his creations is still undeniable and is recreated with loving care with the release of the new CG cartoon Meet The Robinsons.

This high tech time travel cartoon is so good hearted and sweet, in the great tradition of Pinocchio et al that it's darn near sickening. Thankfully some smart scripting by John Bernstein adapting William Joyce, and strong direction by Stephen J. Anderson, who hasn't worked in animation in nearly a decade, keep Meet The Robinsons pointedly away from treacle.

The story of an orphan taken into the future to chase down a bowler hat wearing villain who intends to change the past to change the future, Meet The Robinsons tells the story of Lewis whose wild imagination and crazy inventions have kept many couples from adopting him. Lewis's inventions tend to blow up as he demonstrates them for potential parents.

Lewis's latest invention is one that he hopes will help him find the mother that gave him up when he was just a baby. It’s a memory retrieval device and eventually; we learn, it’s this invention that will change the world in the future. But first, Lewis has to stop the bowler hat guy and meet the Robinsons, a wacky inventor clan and the owners and inventors of time travel.

The story is actually quite complicated, in the tradition of the space time continuum and the mind bending space and time anomalies at home in classic sci fi prose from Ray Bradbury to Star Trek The Next Generation. The story twists and turns back on itself, teasing what happens in the past and how it plays in the future. However, the story is not so hard to follow that the small children will be confused by it.

Meet The Robinsons is colorful and imaginative with a big heart and a few big laughs, more than enough to keep kids in rapt attention, enjoying every candy coated minute. Meanwhile, mom and dad can marvel at a story that is at once awash in childlike wonder and smart enough to grasp the concept and inherent tragedies of classic sci fi.

Based on the imaginative writing of children's author William Joyce, Meet The Robinsons crafts a wondrous fantasy of the future that is grounded in this loving eccentric family where grandpa wears his clothes backwards, Aunt Billie has a life sized train set, and mom trains frogs to sing like Frank Sinatra. A future where time travel has been conquered but is not prevalent.

It's a utopian future where family is the true utopia. Being loved and accepted for your failures and what they teach is the most valuable currency. A future filled with lessons that hopefully will resonate with young audiences. It's okay to be wrong sometimes, failure teaches.

The movie is dedicated to Walt Disney whose imagination and life force is why movies like Meet The Robinsons exist today. Put aside the various stories of Disney's personal life that may have some dark edge to them and look at his legacy in animation and this dedication rings wonderfully true. The Walt Disney of his prime would have loved Meet The Robinsons; the rare non-Pixar Disney project to deliver on his legacy of wondrous imagination and a big heart.

Movie Review Meet Bill

Meet Bill (2008) 

Directed by Bernie Goldman, Melisa Wallack 

Written by Melisa Wallack 

Starring Aaron Eckhardt, Timothy Olyphant, Logan Lerman, Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Banks

Release Date April 4th, 2008

Published July 10th, 2008 

The male midlife crisis has inspired many Hollywood writers. The twist in the new to DVD movie Meet Bill starring Aaron Eckhart is that it was written by a woman. Melisa Wallack wrote the script and was co-director of Meet Bill with veteran producer Bernie Goldmann and her gender doesn't really matter. Like most male midlife crisis movies Meet Bill has little to add in terms of any new insights from men, women or anyone else.

Living off of the wealth and generosity of his wife's family, Bill (Aaron Eckhart) has come to hate his life. With the stomach paunch that seemed to come out of nowhere and his lazy, floppy haircut; Bill looks as sloppy as he feels. At work he is a lackey and a joke as the guy whose job is to be the boss's son. At home, his wife Jess (Elizabeth Banks) is cheating on him with a local news talking head (Timothy Olyphant).

Bill's life changes for good when he is teamed with a teenager (Logan Lerman) who does what he wants when he wants. The kid, as Bill calls him, adopts Bill whether he likes it or not and soon Bill is living life the way he always wanted. As he decides what to do about his wife, the Kid introduces him to a lingerie shop clerk, Lucy (Jessica Alba), who becomes his friend and offers to help him with his marital issues.

The Jessica Alba subplot doesn't go where you think it will. In fact, like a couple of subplots in Meet Bill, it doesn't really go anywhere. Meet Bill is a movie filled with characters and actors who seem like they should be more important than they end up being. Alba is moved about the plot like nice looking furniture. Character actor extraordinaire Todd Louiso plays Bill's brother in law and despite a couple of awkward scenes he barely registers.

Craig Bierko plays Bill's brother and though he is given something of a back story, some kind local sports star or war hero or something, he is shown and shuffled off the mains stage with little notice. I like that the character is gay and that it doesn't seem to be any kind of issue, but it is yet another strand of plot that is left dangling in the end.

There is a certain charm to the fact that the movie Meet Bill is nearly as much of a shambles as Bill himself, but by the end, the film is an even bigger mess than Bill ever was. I had hoped the story would pull together the same way Bill the character seems to pull himself together but it never happens. Writer and co-director Melisa Wallick just doesn't know what to do with all of these characters she introduces and by the end she even loses her grip on Bill.

Even the history of the making and release of Meet Bill is a mess. A Canadian production, Meet Bill was briefly released in theaters and dumped. It made it onto the internet and now it arrives on DVD with little fanfare. Especially little fanfare considering a cast that includes Jessica Alba, Hitman star Timothy Olyphant, 40 Year Old Virgin star Banks and Eckhart who has been a well known presence in a number of movies and will soon be seen in the next Batman.

With a cast this big and talented the only way Meet Bill could fail this miserably is to stink up the joint. It did, so it failed.

Movie Review Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) 

Directed by Quentin Tarentino 

Written by Quentin Tarentino 

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbe, Al Pacino, Margaret Qualley 

Release Date July 26th, 2019 

Published July 25th, 2019 

Quentin Tarentino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a masterpiece of mood, tone and directorial command. The film is at once a classically Quentin Tarentino style fetish film, a film that explores and lives within the things that Tarentino has long shown an obsession for and a much looser, more relaxed movie than what Tarentino has made before. Yes, the characters are still whip smart and the dialogue comes in bursts of wordy pop aphorisms, but the mood is much more subdued than we are used to with QT and it works really well for this story. 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton. Rick is a former television star, the star of the NBC series “Bounty Law” on which he played famed bounty hunter Jake Cahill. However, since the series went off the air several years before the story we are being told here, Rick has struggled to get parts, settling most often to play bad guys to a new generation of Jake Cahill’s eager to get a shine off of punching Jake Cahill in the face. 

This new reality for Rick is brought home in a conversation with an agent played by Al Pacino who does not mince words. The agent is trying to seduce Rick into using what is left of his star power to make several Italian spaghetti westerns, a move that would force Rick to move to Rome for six months. Rick doesn’t like the Italian westerns, he feels they are beneath him. The offer is an indication to Rick that his career has truly hit the skids. 

Keeping Rick from a full on meltdown is his best friend and stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Cliff is a pragmatist who points out that spending six months in Rome making westerns is better than sitting at home doing nothing, something that he’s been forced to do more often of late since his stunt career hit the skids. There is a rumor about Cliff that has made the rounds in Hollywood and his work as Rick’s stunt double has come to halt. 

Now, Cliff works as Rick’s driver and Man Friday, someone who handles tasks that Rick has no time for. Being that Cliff doesn’t have much to do, and because he genuinely does like Rick, Cliff actually appears content to live on this way, running errands for his friend, driving him around and generally just hanging out at his modest trailer with his dog, drinking beer and watching Mannix. It’s not much of a life but it is Cliff’s life. 

Running parallel to the stories of Rick and Cliff is the story of Sharon Tate. History tells the tragic tale that Sharon Tate, the bright, young rising starlet, married to the hottest director on the planet, Roman Polanski, is best remembered for having been murdered. Sharon was one of the victims of The Manson Family, another thread moving through the background of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Margot Robbe plays Tate at her most breathtaking and youthful. Her beauty and effervescence underlines the tragedy of what is to come. 

The Manson Family provides one of the most unique and fascinating sequences of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a brief mini-movie within the movie. Cliff becomes enamored of a young Hollywood hippie hitchhiker named Pussycat (Margaret Qualley). After offering Pussycat a ride, Cliff finds himself at Spahn Ranch where he and Rick had filmed many episodes of Bounty Law some 8 years earlier.

Arriving at the ranch, Cliff is surprised to see the former film lot is now the home of a large group of hippies. The place is a full on commune but with a palpable sense of cultishness. Cliff was once familiar with the much older owner of Spahn Ranch, George Spahn (Bruce Dern) and is curious to find out if the old man has truly allowed this mob of young people to live on his ranch. You will need to see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to see how this plays out but the tension and the tight, well held mood of this sequence is riveting. Brad Pitt’s movie star charisma carries the scene and I could not take my eyes off of him. 

The Spahn Ranch sequence is part of the remarkable second act of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood which separates our three leads into their own mini-stories. For Sharon Tate, she is in downtown Hollywood and decides to go see herself on the big screen in her first major role, opposite Dean Martin in one of his Matt Helm adventures. Here Tarentino crafts a breathtaking sequence where his Sharon Tate is watching the real Sharon Tate on the big screen and it is magical. There is something so innocent and beautiful in the way Robbe’s Sharon delights in the antics and acting of the real life Sharon. 

As for DiCaprio’s Rick Dalton, he’s on the set of yet another younger star’s television series. Timothy Olyphant plays James Stacy, a long time fan of Bounty Law who is excited for the chance to best Jake Cahill on his show, Lancer. Rick is anxious and struggling with deep angst about his place in Hollywood when he encounters Trudi (Julia Butters), an 8 year old who practices in Method Acting, insisting on being called by her character’s name, Marjabelle. 

Through his emotional encounter with Trudi, Rick will have a breakdown and breakthrough moment that is an absolute must see. DiCaprio is incredible in this sequence in ways that must be seen to be believed. DiCaprio has always been a terrific actor and movie star but here, in this series of scenes, we are watching some of the best work of DiCaprio’s career. DiCaprio has presented Rick as a star beset by anxiety and vainly concerned about his star status and DiCaprio makes him vulnerable and even likable in these moments even as he is also an arrogant, self-obsessed, over-privileged actor. 

I won’t talk about anything regarding the third act of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood other than to say it left me floored. It’s Tarentino in all the best ways and you need to see it for yourself. Mind you, it’s not for the squeamish, but it is incredible in the most unexpected and exciting ways. It must be experienced to be believed. The last act of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood brings the fairy tale of 60’s Hollywood to a close in remarkable fashion. 

I completely adore Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. The film is deeply compelling, remarkably cool and filled to the brim with those classically Tarentino moments. If you have loved Tarentino’s previous films, as I have, you are going to adore this one just as much. It’s a success of brilliant pace and unusual moments of ingenuity. The mini-story structure is perfect, each little story within the larger, overarching story works brilliantly into a whole movie that could not be more compelling or entertaining. 

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is one of the best movies of 2019. 

Movie Review Once

Once (2007) 

Directed by John Carney 

Written by John Carney 

Starring Glen Hansard, Marketa Irglova 

Release Date May 22nd 2007 

Published May 25th, 2007 

There is a moment in the movie Once so touching and so simple it aches with true beauty. The main characters, a street musician and an immigrant girl, having bonded over his music, sit in a piano shop and he teaches her a song he is working on. She is a surprisingly good piano player who learns the song quickly and soon they are in a magical duet that lilts and twists with deep meaning. It's one of a dozen or so stunningly small moments of beauty, insight and joy in director John Carney's magnificent, Once. 

Once, from writer-director John Carney is a revelation. A musical so subtle that you may not realize it's a musical. The characters are musicians who fall in love with their very own soundtrack as the girl pushes the boy to get it together and record his music. As they move from strangers to friends to two people clearly meant for one another the soundtrack acts, not so much as a Greek chorus but as a catalyst for their feelings. His songs are heartbreaking paeans to a lost love. Her contributions are the cries of a woman confused about love, she is married and has a child with a man she isn't sure she loves anymore.

As they perform together their mutual heartache bonds them further. My description however, does not do justice to the simple, eloquent beauty of Once. The subtlety and elegance of this combination of romance and music makes the heart leap and your breath catch. The music comes from the film's star Glen Hansard, lead singer of the band The Frames, and Marketa Irglova is the girl, a fellow musician from the Czech Republic.

John Carney created Once as a romance with well known stars in the lead. It began life as a studio project and evolved from there. At one point 28 Days Later star Cillian Murphy was seen as the lead with Hansard on board to write the music. When Murphy fell out, Carney pushed for and got his old friend Hansard the job as his singer, composer, and lead actor. Soon after, the two found Irglova and the film was set.

Using a DV camera Carney creates a low budget documentary feel for Once that adds to the real chemistry of the two leads. We are kept at such unique angles and distances that at once we are voyeurs on this relationship and also treated as old friends invited to hang out as they create wonderful music together. It is the astonishing simplicity of it all that makes Once so ingenious as not just a showcase for great music, but a great movie.

The best soundtrack of 2007 combines with a pair of lead actors with exquisite chemistry to make a movie of near perfection. I cannot say enough good things about Once.

Movie Review On_Line

On_Line (2002) 

Directed by Jed Weintrob 

Written by Andrew Osborne, Jed Weintrob  

Starring Josh Hamilton, Harold Perrineau, Vanessa Ferlito 

Release Date June 27th, 2002 

Published August 15th, 2002 

While I have never been one for the chat rooms or webcams, I am an online animal of a different stripe, I still feel that I can relate to the lonely, late-nite web surfers of Jed Weintrob's On_Line. Waiting for Homer Simpson to announce a new email has arrived in my box is a nightly waiting game that I devote maybe a little too much time to. My list of email friends is longer than my list of actual friends. However I have never and will never do the online dating or sex things that are the subject of most of On_Line, a witty and unique comedy.

Josh Hamilton stars as John, the proprietor of two very different websites. One is a personal webcam where he unloads his feelings at regular intervals. The other website is Intercon X, a sex site where people pay to have cybersex via webcam. John runs Intercon with his roommate Moe (Harold Perrineau), who implores his recently dumped roomie to step away from his webcam and meet people in real life.

Moe himself has no trouble meeting real live girls, rolling an assortment out of his bedroom nightly. His latest tryst might be a little more serious than usual; a coffee shop waitress named Moira (Isabel Gillies). She too has a life lived online where she spends her time visiting a website dedicated to suicide webcams. People log in to see people kill themselves or in Moira’s slightly more healthy way, try to talk others out of doing it. She has made good friends with a suicidal gay college student Ed (Eric Milligan). Ed also happens to be a frequent visitor to Intercon where he is in a torrid affair with an older man played very well by character actor John Fleck.

Moe finally does get John away from the computer for a date with Jordan (Vanessa Ferlito) who happens to run a webcam through Intercon where she has cybersex with strangers for money. She and John have an intense encounter online but in person, they have nothing in common and their date is an absolute disaster. They do have one thing in common, though they don't know it, they both obsess over the same oddball webcam chick named Angel.

The film was written and directed by a terrific up and comer Jed Weintrob. Weintrob has a superb visual eye using both the webcam aesthete and the flash cutting of a handheld digital camera between the two as characters chat via the webcams. The cuts are quick and timed to the beats of the conversations taking place. The script has a good sense of our ever-fracturing relationships with real people. As this technology evolves, it plays well into Generation X's numerous neuroses that make meeting people in person a form of torture. The technology allows people to hide behind a persona that, if punctured, can merely be deleted.

There are some troubles in the script however, such as a scene early in the film that tips the story's hand in regard to Moe and Moira’s relationship. Also, the relationship between Ed and Al unfolds in a way that some might find touching but that parents of gay teens might find disturbing.  Those problems aside, I liked On_Line a lot. The film is smart, sexy and humorous. It's very modern and well acted, especially Josh Hamilton who doesn't get enough attention. The guy consistently does good work but hardly anyone ever sees it. Director Jed Weintrob has a bright future and I can't wait to see what he does next.

Movie Review Soldier's Girl

Soldier's Girl (2003) 

Directed by Frank Pierson 

Written by Ron Nyswaner 

Starring Troy Garity, Lee Pace, Shawn Hatosy 

Release Date May 31st, 2003 

Published January 21st to coincide with Sundance Film Festival debut

"Based On A True Story" does not induce the confidence in the moviegoer that it used to. More often in modern Hollywood the "true story" is merely a skeleton from which to hang melodrama and conjecture. Some, not as many as in the past, are honest attempts to retell history and the Showtime television original picture Soldier’s Girl seems to fall into that category. It's not a perfect retelling of the tragic relationship between a closeted Army Private and a transgender club performer but it is effective in communicating some of the emotion of the tragedy.

In 1999, PFC. Barry Winchell was asleep in the hallway of his army barracks when a fellow soldier, a troubled seventeen-year-old kid on a drinking binge, took a bat and beat Winchell to death. Another soldier who spread rumors that Barry was gay put up the kid to it. Troy Garity (Barbershop) stars in the retelling of the events that lead to the death of Barry Winchell, including his doomed affair with Calpernia Addams (Lee Pace).

Calpernia used to be a young male marine before she began taking hormones to become a woman. A very attractive woman. So attractive that when she first met Barry Winchell, the young Private wasn't sure if she was really a man or a woman. They met when Barry accompanied some friends to a drag club just a few miles from their base, Fort Campbell in Kentucky. Why a group of army guys would go to a drag club is anyone's guess and the movie provides no motivations. This begins a tentative, sweet and unusual relationship, also a dangerous one as history tells us.

Garity and Pace have a terrific romantic chemistry. In a pair of difficult roles, these two very talented actors shine with two complex and fascinating performances. It's tempting to call them brave but we should be beyond the time when portraying relationships such as this is considered brave. Then again, we probably aren't that far along. The performances are magnetic despite the rather mundane surroundings. Director Frank Pierson and writer Ron Niswaner, both veterans of TV movies, can't seem to escape the melodramatic trappings of TV movie conventions. The romantic situations are rather tepid as written. Thankfully, Garity and Pace give them life.

For your information, Lee Pace is a man. The actor underwent four hours a day of makeup work to develop his breasts and feminize his facial features. It's an amazing transformation that will have men who aren't comfortable with their sexuality squirming in their seats. It's impossible to deny Pace makes a very attractive woman. The makeup artists deserve some accolades for their terrific work.

Shawn Hatosy has the film’s third lead performance as PFC Justin Fischer, the friend whose rumors lead to Barry Winchell's death. It was Fischer who gave the alcohol to seventeen year old Private Calvin Glover (Phillip Eddols). It was Fischer who gave Glover the bat that was used in the attack and Fischer who challenged Glover to take back his manhood. Fischer can't be entirely blamed for what happened, he had no idea that Glover would go through with it. Fischer essentially loaded the gun and Glover went off.

Soldier’s Girl is quite reminiscent of Boys Don't Cry, the "true story" of Brandon Teena that won an Academy Award for Hillary Swank. This film isn't nearly as accomplished, it's too wrapped in conventional TV-movie storytelling to reach the same level of compelling drama. Soldier’s Girl is however almost as heartbreaking because Garity and Pace are so good. The relationship is so well played by these two terrific actors that you can forgive the film’s repetitions, stops, starts and lack of style. The actors make you feel the weight of the tragic end of the film.

Movie Review Tears of the Sun

Tears of the Sun (2003) 

Directed by Antoine Fuqua

Written by Alex Lasker, Patrick Cirillo 

Starring Bruce Willis, Monica Bellucci, Cole Hauser, Tom Skerritt

Release Date March 7th, 2003 

Published March 6th, 2003 

In researching Tears of The Sun I came across the strange revelation that the film was initially founded as a vehicle for Bruce Willis' Die Hard series. It began its life as Die Hard 4:Tears of the Sun. You think I'm making that up, and I wish I were but no. Thankfully, someone figured there was no plausible reason for John McClain to be in Africa during a tribal civil war so the storyline was changed to have Willis play a different fictional tough guy. The film still has the action flourish of a Die Hard movie but the character’s name is different.

In Tears Of The Sun, Willis is LT Waters, a special forces leader assigned to drop into the middle of a country in the midst of a civil war to rescue a missionary and her staff. Of course if it were that simple there wouldn't be much of a movie. The missionary is Dr. Lena Hendricks (Monica Bellucci), the wife of a murdered American doctor. When Waters and his crew arrive in her camp to rescue her the doctor refuses to leave without her people, forcing Waters to accept a compromise. Anyone who can walk can come with her. The doctor’s staff of two nurses and a priest decide to stay behind and care for the remaining patients.

Despite his promise, Waters has no plans to break from his mission and when they arrive at their exit point the doctor’s patients are left behind while the doctor is forced onto a helicopter to be taken to an awaiting aircraft carrier. Intent on simply accomplishing his mission Waters’s conscience is tested when the helicopter passes back over the hospital and finds it in flames with the bodies of its remaining patients strewn over the ground. Knowing that the same fate awaits the patients he left behind, Waters turns the helicopter around, determined to help the remaining patients to the border of a friendly ally.

Director Antoine Fuqua packs the film with action flourishes and a cast of recognizable supporting players including Cole Hauser, Isaiah Washington and Tom Skerrit as Willis' commanding officer. The casting is excellent and the recognizable character actors earn our sympathy simply through familiarity. This however is Willis' show and the action star hasn't been this good since The Sixth Sense. Stoic and studied, Willis has not only the look of a tough guy marine but the fighting spirit that one would hope to find in all of our soldiers.

That's not to say Tears of The Sun doesn't have its troubles. Where the action scenes are exciting and well staged, the surrounding scenes are a little thin. When bullets aren't flying the film stalls, and when a twist is thrown in about half way through, it does little to change that. Nevertheless, with Fuqua's sure handed direction and Willis' fine performance, Tears of The Sun has just enough action to hold the audience's attention from beginning to end.

Movie Review Tart

Tart (2001) 

Directed by Christina Wayne 

Written by Christina Wayne

Starring Dominique Swain, Brad Renfro, Bijou Phillips, Mischa Barton, Melanie Griffith

Release Date June 15th, 2001 

Published June 22nd, 2001 

In 1997, at the age of 17, Dominique Swain made an amazing film debut in Adrien Lyne's remake of the Vladimir Nabakov classic Lolita. Swain's performance was universally praised with many critics stamping her as a star of the future. What happened since is anyone's guess, be it poor management or the feeling she has to accept every role she's offered. Since Lolita and her follow up role in John Woo's Faceoff, Swain has been relegated to the straight-to-video market. Her latest straight-to-video feature, Tart, should have gone straight to the garbage.

Swain stars as an outcast girl whose best friend, played by Bijou Phillips, is getting her in constant trouble. After her friend is kicked out of school, Swain befriends a British girl played by Mischa Barton, who is her ticket into her elite private school’s popular clique. Once she begins hanging with the popular kids she gets her dream guy, the big man on campus, played by Brad Renfro. From there the film turns into a community theater version of Cruel Intentions with “too smart for their own good” teens bedding each other, drinking and drugging and generally annoying the hell out of anyone with a brain.

Tart is a mess that makes Rollerball look coherent. Characters appear and disappear and then do things with absolutely no motivation that in the end have no payoff. There are so many pointless scenes that have nothing to do with anything, one being a scene with Swain and Barton sharing a bath together. The scene is all of 20 seconds long and is apparently in the film to appeal to the same dirty old men who rent Tart merely for its video box cover art. The title of the film is absolutely superfluous, there is no reason to call this movie Tart. The only reason the movie is called Tart and Swain is on the cover box with her skirt in the air is to appeal to dirty old men looking for naked teenage flesh. Guess what, there isn't any. HA!

The film's disgustingly exploitative marketing is just that, marketing. The film itself is actually quite tame in the sex department. Why am I spending so much time complaining about the film's marketing and title, because there isn't anything else to talk about. Tart is simply horrid. Bad acting, bad direction from first timer Christina Wayne, bad cinematography, bad sound. The sound is atrocious, there is more dubbed dialogue in the first hour of Tart than in the dubbed version Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

Memo to Dominique Swain, you can turn scripts down, it's not illegal. There is still time for you to turn your career around. So the next time some first time director calls offering you a role opposite Eric Roberts or Craig Sheffer or some other straight-to-video superstar, just say no and then pick up the phone and call John Woo, or Adrien Lyne. I'm sure they have room in their next picture for a prep school daughter in a tiny tartan skirt that you would be perfect for.

Movie Review Tangled

Tangled (2010) 

Directed by Nathan Greno, Byron Howard 

Written by Dan Fogelman

Starring Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy 

Release Date November 24th, 2010 

Published November 23rd, 2010

In their 50th original animated feature Disney has once again hit a home run. “Tangled” is a joyous musical treat for the ears and the eyes as even in 3D Disney's classic hand drawn style manages to shine. Re-imagining the fairy tale Rapunzel as romantic musical adventure directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard and writer Dan Fogelman have reinvigorated the tale for a new audience to love.

Mandy Moore offers the voice of Rapunzel. Trapped in a tower by Mother Gothel, the woman she believes is her real mother, Rapunzel spends her days reading, painting and singing with her chameleon pal Pascal, who thankfully cannot duet, he's not a talking chameleon. One day, while indulging her usual pursuits, Rapunzel finds a man in her tower; Flynn Ryder (Zachary Levy, NBC's Chuck) is on the run from the kingdom having stolen a precious royal heirloom.

Rapunzel may have spent the last 18 years trapped in a tower but that doesn't stop her from whipping pretty boy Flynn's butt with her magical long blonde hair. Using her enchanted tresses to toss, trip and tie up Flynn, Rapunzel quickly realizes that what her 'mother' told her about the outside world being dangerous might be true but that she cannot take care of herself is completely false. Once Flynn is subdued Rapunzel decides that the rakish thief would be the perfect guide to the outside world. She will hold his stolen goods until he shows her the kingdom's annual Lantern Festival, up close. If you cannot guess where this is heading, a few songs, romance, more cute animals and eventually a happy ending, you aren't trying.

”Tangled” is not about the preordained outcome thankfully. Rather, it's about a joyous musical journey where the gorgeous music of composer Alan Menken and the perfect Disney Princess voice of Mandy Moore takes hold of you and elevates you to a state of blissful happiness. In all seriousness, “Tangled” is one of the happiest, most joy filled movies ever put to the screen.

Tangled is the rare movie that manages to be happy and joy filled without being cloying or too cute. Mandy Moore and Zachary Levy strike just the perfect chords as the spunky Princess and the suave yet goofball rake. Director's Nathan Greno and Byron Howard create a gorgeous world for these characters to inhabit and while there is darkness on the edges, a pair of twins is known as the Stabbington brothers, the focus is on the warm, the fuzzy, and the fun.

The music of Alan Menken may not hold a standout single, nothing that could become a hit beyond the movie, but he nails the joyful tone and Moore seems born for Menken's spunky lyrics that she delivers with effortless, honest delight without ever becoming excessively sweet or sentimental.

There is a simple, honest excitement that radiates from every inch of “Tangled.” The film is a complete delight, a near overdose of fun. Even in 3D, which I mostly loathe, “Tangled” manages to shine. Great songs, great characters and even a touch of chaste romance combine with classic Disney animation to create arguably the biggest surprise of 2010. “Tangled” may be one of the best movies of the year.

Movie Review Taking Woodstock

Taking Woodstock (2009) 

Directed by Ang Lee 

Written by James Schamus 

Starring Demetri Martin, Emile Hirsch, Eugene Levy, Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Groff

Release Date August 28th, 2009 

Published August 28th, 2009 

The cultural touchstone that is Woodstock has been examined and reexamined in many different forms. Books, TV shows, movies, documentaries, records, have been used to cover every possible angle of this iconic moment in recent American history. So, it is quite notable that director Ang Lee and his writing partner James Schamus have found something of a new angle for their take on Woodstock.

In Taking Woodstock the festival of peace, love and music provides the background for the self exploration of Elliott Teichberg, played by comedian Demetri Martin. Using the concert as the backdrop for a character based story isn't new but the character and the approach to him is something kind of revelatory.

In early August 1969 the organizers of Woodstock found themselves run out of Wallkill New York. Locals pulled the group's festival permit. Luckily for them a young man named Elliott Teichberg happened to have a festival permit and as chairman of the chamber of commerce in tiny Whitelake New York, he had the power to keep it.

A partnership was forged that would change history. Elliott was not meant to be in Whiteside. His parents Sonia (Imelda Staunton) and Jake (Henry Goodman) have run a failing resort in the area for years while Elliott has moved to New York City. When it looked like the place was finally going under, Elliott moved back home.

He became a part of the town and the youngest chamber of commerce chairman in history when he took the risk to bring Woodstock to Whiteside and with it a life changing experience that he could never have envisioned.

I am making Taking Woodstock out to be a little bigger than it is. It's big for Elliott but the story's scale is exceptionally small. Tiny, well observed moments of Elliott Teichberg finding out little things about himself, taking small but escalating risks and dragging his parents, especially his stingy, entrenched mother, along as well.

Some, maybe most, will find Taking Woodstock to be slow, even meandering. For me, the pace was slow but my interest never seemed to wane. Taking Woodstock is a gentle, immersive experience that floats along on a cloud of marijuana smoke and good vibes.

Comic Demetri Martin perfectly captures Elliott's lost soul innocence and longing. He has a wonderful playful spirit hidden behind a nebbish reserve. When he lets loose it's a gentle catharsis perfectly pitched to Ang Lee's waves lapping against the shore pacing.

Yes, Taking Woodstock is slow but it is intended to be slow. It's intended as a gentle study of a gentle man. In that it is highly successful and for me a warm wonderful moviegoing experience. I don't recommend this one to fans of Transformers 2, but for those who enjoy their movies with a little more leisure, Taking Woodstock is the movie for you.

Movie Review Lords of Dogtown

Lords of Dogtown (2005) 

Directed by Catherine Hardwicke

Written by Stacy Peralta 

Starring Emile Hirsch, Victor Rasuk, John Robinson, Heath Ledger, Michael Angarano 

Release Date June 3rd, 2005 

Published June 2nd, 2005 

If there is one character trait that defines the southern California surf kids turned skateboard legends profiled so memorably in the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys and now in the film Lords of Dogtown it is an uncompromising will to do whatever they want. However, compromise is exactly what Lords of Dogtown is. Compromised to achieve maximum mainstream appeal at the expense of the colorful characters that so obviously populate its cast.

Lords of Dogtown is the autobiographical account of the rise of skateboard culture in Southern California in the 1970s and the leaders of this new sport's aesthetic. Written by Z-Boy Stacey Perralta we know the story is authentic but it's also obviously compromised for mainstream appeal by director Catherine Hardwicke and a glut of suits from Columbia Pictures eager to tap the rebellious cool of skateboard culture for a quick buck.

John Robinson, so memorable in Gus Van Sant's indie flick Elephant, plays Peralta as a straight arrow kid whose only personality seems to come from his skateboarding. With his friends Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch; Secret Lives Of Altar Boys) and Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk; Raising Victor Vargas), Perralta grabbed his skateboard just to have a good time after school and ended up finding a calling that would last the rest of his life.

It is the life arcs of these three characters that are the thrust of the drama of Lords Of Dogtown, unfortunately scenes that might expand and deepen those arcs are left on the cutting room floor seemingly to give the film a more marketable run time of just under two hours and to make room for more skating scenes, also a nod to the marketing department.

It's a shame because anyone who saw the documentary Dogtown and Z Boys Directed by Mr. Perralta knows that these kids' lives were just as fascinating as their athleticism. In Lords Of Dogtown there are a number of nods in the direction of these characters and the moments that would change and define their lives but they too often get cut short.

I do not blame director Catherine Hardwicke entirely for the compromised nature of Lords of Dogtown. It seems all throughout the film that she is trying to dig deeper but is constantly being undermined by the studio and its final say in the film's cut.

Everything from the look of the film-- this gorgeous amber hue that captures the heat of the streets of Santa Monica-- to the casting of hot young indie talents like Hirsch and Rasuk to even the hiring of Ms. Hardwicke has the feel of indie barbarians crashing the gates of corporate Hollywood. Sadly you can't fight city hall and you damn sure can't fight the marketing department of a major corporate studio.

Jay Adams' story is the kind of tragedy that great drama is made of. While Stacey Perralta and Tony Alva traveled the world on their skateboards, Adams stayed behind in Dogtown, the nickname for the shoreside ghetto of Santa Monica California, and fell into all of the typical traps: gangs, drugs and violence. Watching the impetuous and impish Adams in the person of the terrific Emile Hirsch go from beach blonde skateboarder to bald headed tattooed gangster and eventually on to prison is a very dramatic arc that gets merely glossed over in the film so that we can get to see more skateboarding.

Perralta and Alva get equally glossed over treatments. The only impression the film leaves of Stacey Perralta is that of a straight arrow, almost nerdy child saint who is about as rebellious as a Hanson concert. As for Alva, his legendary ego is well played by Victor Rasuk but that seems to be his only character trait aside from his astonishing skills on a skateboard.

Skateboarders and fans of the sport will find a lot to love about Lords of Dogtown. The skateboarding is pretty spectacular and terrifically filmed. Though it's not nearly as breathtaking as it is in the documentary footage in Dogtown and Z Boys, it's still quite good and will appeal to fans of the sport.

The film also features a very entertaining performance by Heath Ledger as the skate shop owner and Z-Boys guru Skip Engblom. Ledger does not nearly get the screen time he needs to fully flesh out this character but fans of the actor may find this to be some of his best work.

Lords of Dogtown is a disappointment for fans of the documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys who realized while watching the doc what an extraordinary story could be told about these characters. It would have to have been a sprawling three hour multi-character piece in the Paul Thomas Anderson spirit to work, but it definitely could have worked. Instead, Lords Of Dogtown is yet another compromised product of the Hollywood corporate mindset. Well acted and professionally directed but nearly as shallow as the swimming pools where the Z-Boys polished their aesthetic.

Documentary Review Lost in La Mancha

Lost in La Mancha (2002) 

Directed by Terry Gilliam 

Written by Documentary 

Starring Terry Gilliam, Johnny Depp, Jean Rochefort

Release Date August 30th, 2002 

Published September 25th, 2002 

It's said to be the project that consumed Orson Welles. The dream project of directors as far back as the dawn of cinema. The legend of Don Quixote, the Man of La Mancha. The legendary novel by Miguel De Cervantes has been adapted as a musical, a ballet, and a straight retelling on TV starring John Lithgow as Quixote. But it was Terry Gilliam who had the grand vision of a theatrical Don Quixote. For more than 10 years he had the story in his head, and with the right cast, budget and location it looked like his vision might come about. As the documentary Lost In La Mancha details, Gilliam had the vision, but vision and reality can collide in the most all consuming ways.

In August of 2000, Terry Gilliam arrived in Spain to begin pre-production on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, his grand reimagining of The Man From La Mancha. With a budget of $38 million, all raised from foreign investors, the film would be entirely non-Hollywood and the largest European financed film ever. However with Gilliam's unique vision, it was also about half the money the production needed.

Production pressed on with costumes, sets and location scouting as problems emerged. One problem, the film had no stars. Though Johnny Depp and French actor Jean Rochefort had signed contracts, neither actor had found time to come to Spain for rehearsal. A bigger problem loomed with actress Vinessa Paradis who had verbally agreed to play the female lead. She had not signed a contract for some two weeks until shooting was to begin.

In Gilliam's story, Johnny Depp played Toby, a man who by some quirk is sent back to the time of Don Quixote who then mistakes him for his colleague Sancho Panza. Toby joins Quixote for a uniquely Terry Gilliam adventure through the book’s many wildly romantic adventures, tilting at windmills and such. It certainly sounds fascinating on the page, and with Gilliam's visionary resume (Brazil, Fear and Loathing Las Vegas and The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen), it was certain to be like no retelling of the legendary story ever.

Early on, even as shooting began, the clouds of doom hung over the production. Sometimes literally clouds hung over as a massive thunderstorm washed out two full days of shooting. The film's biggest tragedy however wasn't strikes from Mother Nature. Seventy year old Jean Rochefort, who was Gilliam's ideal choice for Quixote, who had taken 7 months to learn English for the film, fell ill. Before shooting began, Rochefort had a scare with a severe prostate problem. Once shooting began, the problem was made worse by the requirement that Rochefort ride a horse. As it turns out, Rochefort had two herniated discs in his lower back, which prevented him from riding a horse.

Because Rochefort was signed as a principal cast member, insurance contracts prevented the role from being recast without shutting down the production. Shut down the production and you lose your investors. You can't make Don Quixote without Don Quixote and so despite the visionary director and his talented crew The Man Who Killed Don Quixote was repossessed by the insurance company where it remains in limbo.

The story is somewhat small for a big screen rendition, essentially boiling down to a battle with an insurance company who aren't portrayed as bad guys, merely as realistic businessmen. The film’s foreign producers, Bernard Bouix and Rene Cleitman, are also not the bad guys, though somewhat unrealistic in their expectations of the production. They nevertheless seemed to have the best interest of the film at heart.

The one element that makes Lost in La Mancha a fascinating story is Gilliam. The few scenes where the visionary filmmaker is actually working are mesmerizing. Gilliam clearly has an amazing idea he wants to communicate. The film he wants to make would no doubt be brilliant if he could realize it.

Much like Orson Welles, whose vision of Quixote never made it to the screen (His was completed by another filmmaker after his death but not to Welles' specifications); the outsized romanticism of the project eluded Gilliam. Though if the elements could just come together as he sees them in his head, you know from Lost in La Mancha that it could be brilliant.