Moview Review Monsters

Monsters (2010) 

Directed by Gareth Edwards

Written by Gareth Edwards

Starring Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able 

Release Date December 3rd, 2010 

Published March 11th 2011 

To the list of the great overlooked movies of 2010 add “Monsters” a clever sci fi affected romance come road movie; a first feature from British director Gareth Edwards. With elements of “District ..9,”.. “Cloverfield” and “Jaws,” “Monsters” is the kind of first feature that ensures a long and fruitful career for its creator.

Set in the future, in Mexico, “Monsters” tells us that a NASA probe seeking proof alien life forms on a planet called Europa, crash landed on its return to earth and spread debris over Northern Mexico. Amongst the debris apparently was the alien life form which spread over a wide area that has become the infected zone.

In Mexico, Caulder (Scoot McNairy) is an American photographer on assignment from a major news organization. His goal is to capture on film one of these amazing, allegedly destructive alien creatures. However, Caulder's assignment is interrupted when his boss forces him to accompany his daughter Sam (Whitney Able) to the coastline where a boat will take her back to America.

Naturally, these two will bond but as played by newcomers McNairy and Able the romance evolves in subtle and natural ways. Director Edwards, who wrote the script and handled the special effects, takes great care to give equal weight to the burgeoning romance and the sci-fi plotting and each serves to give weight to the other.

Shot on a budget of around 500 grand, “Monsters” has surprisingly strong special effects. The creatures glimpsed mostly at night, glimmering like the floating creatures in Cameron's “Avatar” and walking with a realistic feel of the Prawns in “District ..9.”.. It's a remarkable achievement and one that deserves more acclaim than the film has thus far received.

At heart, “Monsters” is an exceptionally human story. Caulder and Sam are archetypes of characters we've seen before but director-writer Edwards gives his unknown actors enough room to move within these characters that they become real and highly sympathetic. The love story is underplayed yet quite compelling as the obstacles that emerge between the two are overcome by circumstance and real emotional bonding.

”Monsters” has an ease to it that other similar films fail to create. By forgoing the need for gratuitous carnage, a temptation most other films cannot escape, “Monsters” feels more genuine and the little carnage there is has meaning and sorrow attached to it.

It's a shame that “Monsters,” along with another film arriving on DVD the same day, also with a very different approach to a sci-fi plot, “Never Let Me Go,” was so badly overlooked. These are the kinds of daring approaches to genre movies that need our encouragement and reward our investment of time and money.

Movie Review Monsoon Wedding

Monsoon Wedding (2001) 

Directed by Mira Nair 

Written by Sabrian Dhawan 

Starring Naseeruddin Shah, Lilete Dubey 

Release Date November 30th, 2001 

Published November 30th, 2002 

For those who don’t know what Bollywood is, you're not alone. Until last year's Oscars when the film Lagaan received a Best Foreign Film nomination and news organizations began running news stories about India’s filmmaking machine, I thought Bollywood was a misprint. In reality, Bollywood is the name of India’s film industry which turns out more films every year than even Hollywood. Most Bollywood movies are musicals, in which characters and dialogue are secondary to lavish production design and bring-down-the-house broadway style musical numbers.

Indian director Mira Nair bucks the musical trend of her Indian brethren with American style narrative-based films that allow Indian actors to carry the day. Her most recent film, Monsoon Wedding is a joyous tribute to her family and heritage that combines classical Bollywood elements with her Americanized narrative style.

Monsoon is the story of an arranged marriage between Aditi (Vasundhara Das) and Hemant (Parvin Dubas) and the chaos that surrounds it. Aditi’s father Lalit (Naseeruddin Shah) is attempting to plan the wedding in the midst of running out of money and dealing with an incompetent wedding planner named Dubey (Vijay Raaz), who has no idea what anything actually costs until he finishes doing it. 

Dubey is also involved in a romance with Lalit’s maid Alice (Tilotama Shome), a romance that must be kept quiet out of fear of being fired. Aditi has even more problems having only agreed to the arranged marriage because her current lover won’t leave his wife. Aditi still has feelings for him even as her wedding is only two days away. Drama also surrounds Aditi’s cousin Ria (Shefali Shetty) and a family friend who, it is inferred, may have done something to Ria when she was a child.

As the film goes on music is weaved throughout, but not Broadway style sing and dance numbers, rather a heavy dose of Indian pop tunes which are surprisingly good even if you don’t understand the language. The songs are as much a part of the film as the actors, and while they don’t tell the story, the songs give the film its light airy tone.

While Nair focuses on storytelling, she does indulge in classic Bollywood production design. Bright lavish colors and even a dance number. These things are not out of character, they are a traditional part of an Indian marriage.

I am curious about how much of Monsoon Wedding is an insight into the real lives of Indian people. As I previously mentioned, Nair has an Americanized way of telling a story, which some Indian critics say doesn’t reflect real Indians. Rather odd criticism from critics who most often enjoy lavish musicals where characters break out in song for no reason. Somehow I doubt Lagaan or any other traditional Indian film is a real reflection on Indian life.

The same criticism was leveled by French critics towards the French romance Amelie. French critics felt that Amelie was too American to be a real French film. Accurate or not, Monsoon Wedding does at times feel a little Hollywood, or as Indian critics politely put it, too westernized.

Monsoon Wedding is very reminiscent of another wedding-based movie, Nia Vardalos My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Both films share the themes of marriage and family, though in Greek wedding the bride and groom choose each other, in Monsoon Wedding the marriage is arranged. Surprisingly though, the arrangement of the marriage isn’t much of an issue. Both Aditi and Hemant accept that this is part of their heritage and while the lives they have lived to this point have been entirely separate they see a future together. Arranged marriage or not you can see through pride and cooperation that this marriage has as much a chance at lasting as any. It may not be sexy, but what tradition is.

Movie Review Kingdom of Heaven

Kingdom of Heaven (2005) 

Directed by Ridley Scott

Written by William Monahan

Starring Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton, David Thewlis, Liam Neeson

Release Date May 6th, 2005

Published May 5th, 2005 

When Ridley Scott announced he was taking on a crusades era epic, red flags went up all over the world. Given the current sensitivities in the middle east and the constantly inflamed situation on the border of Israel and Palestine specifically, a film about the crusades made by westerners seemed like a bad idea. That film, Kingdom Of Heaven, is now complete and it is indeed controversial, but not in the way we thought it would be. Instead of offending believers in Islam, the film goes out of its way to be fair to all sides which actually worked to offend many christians. You just can't win.

Orlando Bloom is the star of Kingdom Of Heaven as Balian, a blacksmith who we meet at the lowest point in his life. His son died shortly after birth, which led his wife to take her own life. His own priest is quick to remind him that because his wife committed suicide she will not go to heaven. It is at this lowest point that Balian's father Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson) returns with an offer of salvation, comes to the holy land, inherits his kingdom and helps King Baldwin maintain the tentative peace that has followed the third Crusade.

Balian is reluctant but eventually circumstances conspire to send Balian to the holy land. Along the way Balian's father is mortally wounded leaving Balian his title, Lord of Ibelin, and the charge to defend the people of the kingdom at all cost. Balian soon arrives in the holy land after surviving a nasty shipwreck, and is taken to meet King Baldwin (Edward Norton, hidden behind a metal mask) who immediately recognizes the good in Balian and entrusts him with defending the kingdom alongside his chief military officer Tiberius (Jeremy Irons).

The biggest threat to peace in the holy land is not the Muslim leader Saladin (Ghassan Massoud), who is portrayed as a reasonable and peaceful leader. The threat comes from inside King Baldwin's court, his sister Sybilla (Eva Green)'s huband Guy De Lusignan (Martin Csokas) commander of the Knights Templar, the Vatican's own order of Knights, intent on forcing all non-christians out of the holy city of Jerusalem. King Baldwin has managed a shaky peace but he is dying, the king has leprosy, when he is gone Sybilla will be queen and De Lusignan king.

This is the point in which the plot takes a disastrous turn. Balian is given an opportunity to kill Guy De Lusignan and marry Sybilla. The two have, by this time, fallen in love but Balian chooses not to and thus dooms the kingdom to a war with Saladin and his army of more than 200,000 soldiers. Though Balian, Tiberius and the soldiers in their charge refuse to fight, De Lusignan goes ahead with the attack and it is left to Balian to defend the innocent people left behind when the new king's army is destroyed.

One of my biggest pet peeves about movies is when the entire film rests on one obvious decision that if made correctly would negate the rest of the film. Balian's decision not to let Guy De Lusignan be hanged as a traitor, which he is, is the single dumbest decision he could possibly make. He knows that by deciding to spare him he is making him the new king and that thousands will die because of it. Balian's decision only offers the film the opportunity to continue, if he makes the right decision, the movie is over.

Is this linked to historical accuracy? No! In reality Balian never fell in love with or had an affair with Sybilla. The romance is a construct of director Ridley Scott and screenwriter William Monahan and they nearly try to pin the entire plot of the film onto one. The romance crumbles under the weight of the plot that hangs on it. Neither Orlando Bloom or Eva Green sparks in the subplot.

What is worse is that the romance is clearly a marketing decision and not a creative decision. The only reason Sybilla and Balian get together is because all ancient epic movie hero's have doomed romances. Brad Pitt's Achilles in Troy had Polydora, Russell Crowe's Maximus had Connie Nielsen's Lucilla and most recently Colin Ferrell's Alexander had Jared Leto's Hephaistion.

As for the action, I was one of the rare detractors of Ridley Scott's Oscar winning epic Gladiator, and the same problems that plagued that film plague Kingdom Of Heaven. CGI Hordes clashing on the battlefield gets real old real fast without a compelling story and dialogue as a backup. Gladiator, however, did have one thing going for it and that was the magnetism of star Russell Crowe, Kingdom Of Heaven is not as fortunate.

Surrounded by an extraordinary supporting cast, Orlando Bloom fades into the background never emerging as a believable action hero. When called upon to deliver a rousing speech near the end of the film, he sounds more like the petulant child he played in Troy than the inspiring hero that Russell Crowe brought to Gladiator. Bloom may have packed on 25 pounds of muscle for this role but nothing can make this guy look tough.

Liam Neeson in particular makes Bloom look bad. Neeson blows the kid off the screen with his stature, gravitas and poise. When Neeson leaves the movie you are sad to see him go. Jeremy Irons and the voice of Edward Norton are equally more compelling than Mr. Bloom. Finally putting his blustery scene chewing to rest, Irons delivers a weary but knowing performance and Mr. Norton though hidden behind a horrible metal mask cannot mask his natural actorly charisma.

With its plot construction problems and desperately inept lead, the least Ridley Scott could do is deliver on the controversy we were promised when the New York Times began floating the script around to religious experts and historians. Instead the film is even handed to a fault. There is the minor matter of the Vatican's own army portrayed as thuggish glory hounds fighting for riches instead of god, that is a little controversial but it's too weakly played to really resonate in the kind of controversy you remember and talk about after the movie.

No, in fact there is little to remember or discuss about Kingdom Of Heaven, another mundane exercise in Hollywood spending and marketing.

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