July 29, 2008
Andrew
Film Diaries - Andrew, Reviews, Film Diaries - Libby, Kid Stuff, Animation, Science Fiction
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2008 (USA)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Viewed: July 27, 2008
Format: Theatrical Print
WALL•E delivers to the anemic landscape of science fiction cinema a much-needed shot of vitality and depth. This is especially the case for that rare subspecies of sci-fi film that WALL•E delightfully embodies, one that is at once engaging, challenging, and appropriate for children. If the film has a flaw–and its flaws are rare indeed–it is the filmmakers’ dogged insistence on exploring a proflieration of ethical and philosophical quandries when a sublime little allegory might have sufficed. Lest I damn with faint praise, let’s be clear about one thing: WALL•E is simultaneously the best animated film, children’s film, and science fiction film of the year. The electricity that tingles within its comfortable tropes signals a turning point in Pixar’s oeuvre, not to mention Disney’s. Although it lacks the virtuosity that made the studio’s Ratatouille one of the best films of 2007, WALL•E has an ache of grand ambition in its bones, one that bodes well for the potential of “children’s entertainment” to still take people of all ages to undiscovered worlds without and within. (Minor spoilers follow…)
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July 21, 2008
Andrew
Film Diaries - Andrew, Reviews, Film Diaries - Libby, Film Diaries - Roland, Action, Science Fiction, Film Diaries - Beth, Film Diaries - Mark
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2008
Director: Christopher Nolan
Viewed: July 20, 2008
Format: Theatrical Print
Indulge me for a moment, as I’m going get effusive right off the bat (pun intended). With The Dark Knight, writer-director Christopher Nolan sets upon the “comic book film” with sledgehammer and napalm, and delivers the sort of sorely needed genre reconstruction that occurs once in a generation. Here we have, at long last, a film that winnows away the limitations of comics, distills their strengths, and emerges as a work wholly cinematic in character, leaving its ancestral medium far behind. The Dark Knight is a noir action epic of the grandest, bleakest, most exhilarating sort. It is not a flawless film, nor is it a masterpiece. However, it is a wonder to behold. It is a film so ambitious, so dizzying in its lofty heights and abyssal depths, I suspect that it was only the appealing Batman branding that permitted Nolan to create it at all. This is Hollywood film-making as bloodless revolution. As Heath Ledger’s terrifying Joker observes, “You’ve changed things. There’s no going back.”
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July 14, 2008
Andrew
Film Diaries - Andrew, Reviews, Action, Science Fiction
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2008
Director: Peter Berg
Viewed: July 8, 2008
Format: Theatrical Print
In the abstract, Will Smith’s reluctant, negligent superman, John Hancock, is a comic hero with an admittedly cunning twist. And Smith, to his credit, uses his own boundless charisma to nicely affect the mysterious messiah’s transition from sophomoric alcoholic to godling with a conscience. In the end, however, the Idea and the Star alone cannot elevate Hancock when the filmmakers have relatively pedestrian ambitions. The film’s best moments are also its nastiest–such as when Smith flings a little bully a few thousand feet into the sky to put the fear of Krypton into him. Too often, however, Hancock lunges for cheap sentiment or weak laughs. Berg’s camera captures the distinctive glaze of modern Los Angeles, but also insists on a style that consists primarily of constant, distracting jiggling. I wasn’t bothered by the out-of-left-field revelation in Hancock’s third act, but its poorly conveyed implications and the confused, tension-free climax ensured that the “surprise” was wasted. The early glee at watching Hancock’s disastrous attempts at heroism (and Smith’s “Fuck Y’all” attitude) just barely make up for the generally limp storytelling, or the discomfiting subtext in a black man–even a black superman–who needs to go to prison to learn a lesson.
May 22, 2008
Andrew
Film Diaries - Andrew, Reviews, Action, Science Fiction
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2008
Director: Andy and Larry Wachowski
Viewed: May 21, 2008
Format: IMAX Theatrical Print
[Full Disclosure: Although its trailers had intrigued me, the overall critical drubbing that Speed Racer has received (35% on Rotten Tomatoes, 37 on Metacritic) dissuaded me from seeing the film in its first week. However, a beautifully written and overwhelmingly positive review by Dennis Cozzalio re-piqued my interest, prompting me to catch Speed Racer at a late IMAX showing. In most cases, I avoid reading reviews for films I know I’m going to see, lest the reviewer’s impressions creep into my own. I violated this rule of thumb for Speed Racer, and I will acknowledge up front that Dennis’ work likely lent a positive bias to my review, in that he helped me see the virtues of this apparent flop.]
Right out of the gate, let me lay out some facts about Speed Racer: 1) It is absolutely batshit crazy. By this I mean that it refuses to play by the rules and exhibits abnormal, even alarming, behavior. 2) It is not, despite initial appearances, an empty vessel of day-glo gloss and digital mayhem. 3) It is an ideal family film for parents to share with older children and preteens. 4) It is a work of ambitious filmmaking, and in the final analysis, it succeeds more often that it stumbles. 5) Did I mention that it’s CRAZY?
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May 6, 2008
Andrew
Film Diaries - Andrew, Reviews, Film Diaries - Libby, Film Diaries - Roland, Film Diaries - Lara, Action, Science Fiction
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2008
Director: Jon Favreau
Viewed: May 4, 2008
Format: Theatrical Print
Entries in the superhero genre have been coming fast and furious lately. Lamentably, for every adaptation that conveys thrills, humor, and heart in an artful way, a slug of forgettable nonsense or outright dreck comes down the studio pipe. Arriving at the bleeding edge of a densely packed summer action film season, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man is the latest attempt to breathe twenty-first century cinematic life to a seminal character. The film certainly hits all the right notes for its source material, but it occasionally stumbles into the usual action film sins: predictability, ridiculous dialogue, and trite character development. Yet despite these flaws, Iron Man emerges as a delicious work of modern techno-fantasy, and reveals Favreau as an action director of generous skill.
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January 23, 2008
Andrew
3-Minute Intros, Foreign, Science Fiction
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Screened: January 22, 2008
Format: DVD - Madacy Entertainment (1998)
Selected By: Eric
Few filmmakers have had such a profound effect on the look of cinema as Fritz Lang, and that influence is almost wholly contained within the frame of his sprawling 1927 silent science fiction epic, Metropolis. At the time, it was the most expensive silent film ever created, and every Reichsmark is apparent in the film’s stunning production design. Initially released in Berlin, alternate versions of the film were screened in Europe and America in subsequent years, although these versions were edited and re-titled to the point of incoherence. Reception of the film was mixed, especially outside Germany, but in the eight decades since its release Metropolis has wielded a tectonic power over film history, and over science fiction in particular.
The screenplay, co-written with Lang’s then-wife Thea von Harbou, is a typical example of early twentieth-century fiction, combining dystopian speculative science fiction elements with leftist political commentary. The film features a stock of archetypical characters, whose roles and motivations vary depending on the version of the film: a power-hungry captain of industry, a charismatic oracle, an idealistic prodigal son, an obsessed scientist, and a robot that threatens society. What makes Metropolis an achievement is Lang’s uncompromising ambition to knead together the artistry of German Expressionism, an Art Deco-inspired visual design, and familiar science fiction conventions.
In contrast to his literary antecedents, Lang was less concerned with scientific plausibility and technical exposition than with conveying an evocative vision that served the story’s themes. With distinctly German gravitas, Metropolis tackles the frightening power of technology to oppress, segregate, and distract. (Although for years Lang actually regarded the finished film as too uplifting and sentimental!) It was Metropolis’ novel visual design, however, that would eventually reverberate through cinema. Although they are now familiar futurist landmarks, the film’s towering skyscrapers, monorails and airships, and nightmarish industrial underbelly had never been realized on such a scale. The laboratory of Doctor Rotwang in particular established the lasting look for mad scientist lairs in the pop culture imagination. For better or worse, Metropolis’ legacy has been a filmic language for science fiction. Lang’s passion and innovation have been matched by others in the genre, but his foundation he laid has never been overturned.
2008
