The Hurt Locker (2008)

18 Wednesday Dec 2019

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Another morn, another day,
Another chance I’ll pass away
With sudden boom or bullet swift.
Another day, another shift.
I should be scared; indeed I am,
But danger doesn’t give a damn.
I still have work for others’ sake
That fools and heroes undertake,
And if I die before it’s done,
I pray the Lord will say we won.
___________________

MPAA rating: R (for much language and violence)

The Best Picture race for 2009 had some stiff competition, especially since it was the first year the Academy switched from having 5 nominees to 10. Granted, I haven’t seen most of them yet – it was only ten years ago; give me more time! – but I was still curious to see the ultimate winner, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker. Sure, it was satisfying when she beat her own husband James Cameron’s juggernaut Avatar, becoming the first female director to win Best Picture, but as it turns out, The Hurt Locker is a solid war film that thrives on tension and committed performances from Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie.

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Most of the war films I’ve seen have been set during World War II or the Civil War, so, for me, this was a new foray into modern cinematic warfare, specifically the high-tension job of an American bomb squad in the Iraq War. After a nerve-racking opening scene that demonstrates how dangerous the job can be, we’re introduced to Sergeant First Class William James (Renner), who is placed in charge of an Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unit. It doesn’t take long, though, for his fellow soldiers (Mackie and Brian Geraghty) to realize that their new team leader is on the unconventional side, disregarding safety precautions and sometimes acting like he has a death wish.

The plot is rather episodic, as captions count down the number of days left in their tour of duty. Each instance of tense bomb hunting or sudden combat adds to the tone of danger, while having more impact on the characters than the storyline as a whole. The three men bond as soldiers do, while James’ recklessness strains that very bond as the days of constant life-and-death strain take their toll. One detour of James hunting for the truth behind someone he believes to have been killed ends with an odd lack of resolution, though, and ultimately the film’s greatest strength is the individual scenes of unbridled tension as bombs are being discovered and defused.

It did seem to me that James’ cavalier attitude seemed like the kind of behavior that would get reported and disciplined, so it made sense when I read afterward about the many veterans who complained about the film’s unrealistic portrayal of EOD soldiers, among other inaccuracies. Plus, it would have been helpful if they explained the title: “the hurt locker” refers to a soldier being injured, but I don’t recall anyone actually saying that.

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The Hurt Locker presents the stresses of the war in Iraq with a visceral candor that helped me as a viewer feel close to the action while not relying on in-your-face gore. It was also nice to see not one, not two, but four members of the MCU in one movie several years before their franchise days (Renner and Mackie, as well as Evangeline Lilly and Guy Pearce). I can’t really compare it to other Iraq War films, since this is the only one I’ve seen, but this certainly sets a high bar to which any others may aspire. Deserving of its six Oscars, it’s equal parts war movie and thriller and does both parts well.

Best line: (opening quote) “The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
656 Followers and Counting

 

The Farewell (2019)

12 Thursday Dec 2019

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Farewell, farewell, dear love of mine.
How radiantly you did shine
When this dull world had access to
The gift of heaven that was you
Before our parting closer drew,
Propelling you into decline.

My heart already mourns within
To see your light begin to dim,
For more dynamic days than these
Are now resigned to memories
While your concessions to disease
Convince me now of who will win.

I grieve the thought of such a day
When sounds of you have waned away,
The house too quiet in the wake
Of tears that fall and hearts that ache.
Yet while you’re here to still partake,
I’ll love you long as you will stay.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG

I feel like the timing of this movie made it more impactful than it might have been some other year, for me personally anyway. The last few months have been rough for my family. My dad has been on chemo for about a year and has been in a steep decline recently, and our family cat was also diagnosed with a tumor, forcing us to put her to sleep soon. So maybe watching a movie about a cancer diagnosis wasn’t the best idea, but The Farewell proved to be a sweet sleeper film, highlighting both cultural differences and universal themes of family.

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Based on the true story of first-time director Lulu Wang, who originally told it for an episode of This American Life on the radio, The Farewell features Awkwafina (now Golden Globe-nominated) in a far more serious role than something like Crazy Rich Asians. As American-raised Billi Wang, she is heartbroken to hear that her grandmother, Nai Nai, has been diagnosed with lung cancer, as well as bewildered that her family has decided to keep the news from her, sparing Nai Nai the fear and worry that goes with it. They arrange a rushed wedding for Billi’s cousin as an excuse for the family to get together and say goodbye without raising Nai Nai’s suspicions, but Billi wrestles with the morality of this white lie.

Above all else, The Farewell felt real, like I was watching authentic family dynamics in an actual family crisis, the bickering among in-laws, the happy moments both forced and sincere, all the performances genuine and not too quirky to take me out of the story. The film is billed as a comedy/drama, but I question the comedy part. Aside from an occasional funny line or bit of irony, it’s a largely serious tale respectful of its weighty themes, at times reminiscent of the Chinese masterpiece Yi Yi. (Based on its Globe nomination, it’s also technically a foreign-language film, despite having a perhaps 70%/30% mix of Chinese and English.)

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Zhao Shuzhen is a warm, good-humored, grandmotherly presence, chiding Billi as a “stupid child,” which I understand translates to a Chinese term of endearment. And Awkwafina is clearly the standout role, eager to do what’s best for her Nai Nai, but wary of being dishonest in the face of a terminal illness, which is apparently a widely accepted option in China. This conflict between individual rights and family values becomes a key example of the cultural disparity between East and West, which pops up elsewhere to challenge Billi and her parents on how Chinese vs American they really are.

The pace was a bit slow for my liking, but the main change I would have liked would be a closer look at the other family members, especially Billi’s cousin Hao Hao (Chen Han) and his Japanese bride Aiko (Aoi Mizuhara), whose wedding is used as a cover for the family reunion. Aiko, in particular, who doesn’t speak Chinese, just awkwardly follows her fiancé’s lead the whole time and only gets to speak once; I would have liked some insight into how she felt about her wedding being more or less a ruse, since she and Hao Hao don’t seem very close. Is the practice of lying to a sick family member common in Japan as well, making her more willing to go along with it?

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Yet by the end, the emotion of Billi’s farewell is well-deserved, as a goodbye to both her Nai Nai and, in a sense, a part of her heritage. For such a culturally specific setting, the relationships feel universal, and that’s something any foreign-language film (or rather film in general) should strive for.

Best line: (Nai Nai, to Billi) “I’ve walked the path of life, and I must tell you, you’ll encounter difficulties, but you have to keep an open mind. Don’t be the bull endlessly ramming its horns into the corner of the room. Life is not just about what you do; it’s more about how you do it.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
655 Followers and Counting

 

Toy Story 4 (2019)

08 Sunday Dec 2019

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The life that you pour into somebody else’s
Is just as much fuel as a life for one’s self is,
A reason to get up each morning, assured
That you have a purpose by which you are spurred.

But what of the time when the mission is done,
The journey completed, the races well-run?
When nobody needs you and life seems bereft,
What purpose remains here? What journeys are left?

Such crises are normal for those left behind,
But purpose is everywhere. Those who seek find.
_________________

MPAA rating: G (the highest grossing G-rated movie ever, in fact)

I’m sure I wasn’t alone in my groan when Toy Story 4 was announced. Toy Story 3 ended the series with such a definitively satisfying conclusion, being handed off from college-bound Andy to little Bonnie, that I just wanted Pixar to leave it there. A cute little short would pop up occasionally, and I kept wishing they would leave the characters alone. No more sequels, or, Lord help us, a remake! Yet Pixar has pulled off the unlikely so many times before that there was no way they were going to screw up their best franchise. Toy Story 4 still feels unnecessary, but it’s a sweet epilogue to Woody and Buzz’s story.

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The Toy Story films have always thrived off their diverse cast of toy characters, and Toy Story 4 still does, joined by a collection of hilarious and welcome additions, but this particular tale is clearly meant to offer full-circle closure for Woody (Tom Hanks). The cowboy doll was always Andy’s favorite, and it’s no surprise that he’s lost that status in Bonnie’s room, yet he finds new purpose in protecting her newest friend, a googly-eyed spork she crafts and names Forky (Tony Hale). Being made of trash, Forky only sees himself as something to be thrown away, yet Woody strives to get the cobbled-together toy to see his own value, running into more than their fair share of trouble when the two are separated from Bonnie during a road trip.

In addition to new characters ranging from a Canadian stuntman plagued by self-doubt (Keanu Reeves) to a pair of plush carnival toys named Ducky and Bunny (Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key), Woody is reunited with Bo Peep (Annie Potts), whom we get to learn much more about than in the first two films. The main change, which is practically a retcon, is that she’s a natural, daring leader who’s grown beyond needing the love of a single child. (I also learned she and her sheep were part of a lamp. Did I just not notice that before?) Also new to the cast is the genteel doll Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks), whose deep-seated neediness casts her in the role of villain, though the movie presents her with far more empathy than the other films’ antagonists, to the point of offering her redemption without so much as an apology to earn it (something I only realized after reading another review).See the source imageBo offers Woody an alternative to his desperate attempts to stay relevant, and I felt like this conflict resulted in some mixed messages. There’s a clear parallel between the toys watching their kids outgrow them and the empty-nest anxiety of parents, so it’s a worthwhile lesson that life doesn’t have to end once “the mission” is complete, that one can find another purpose. Yet with Woody’s repeated pleas throughout the series that “Andy/Bonnie needs us,” it vaguely feels by the end that he’s contradicting the loyalty he’s instilled in everyone else. My VC was more bothered by the end than I was, but it is a complication worth pointing out.

Yet for all these philosophical holes poked in the plot, the world and players of Toy Story never fail to entertain and remain as lovable now as they were back in 1995. With the spotlight so much on Woody, much of the extended cast, like Rex, Hamm, and Slinky, don’t get much screen time, but that doesn’t diminish the entertainment factor. (P.S. Ducky and Bunny are hilarious.) In some ways, the plot mishmashes elements from the other three films, yet it still bears that Pixar polish and lump-in-throat sweetness that never gets old.

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I hope that Pixar has now finally gotten the need for an epilogue out of their system and can let Toy Story rest in peace. Toy Story 4 is easily the least of the bunch and not quite as good an ending as the third film, but it still satisfies, as well as dwarfs most other animated fare these days. All good things come to an end, or should, Toy Story included.

Best line: (Trixie) “I have a question. No, wait. I have all the questions.” [As someone with a reputation for asking questions ad nauseum in any class, this line spoke to me.]

 

Rank: List-Worthy (joining its forebears)

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
655 Followers and Countin

The Majestic (2001)

04 Wednesday Dec 2019

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There are people who thrive in the hustle and bustle
Of populous cities that never slow down.
The traffic and masses sustain like a muscle
That can’t stand the thought of a do-nothing town.

Yet others, like me, prefer tapping the brake.
For us, the slow motion is no handicap.
I’ll visit a city, but home I will make
In a place that’s not easily found on a map.

Such do-nothing places do more than their share,
Preserving the values that all nations need.
We listen and learn more in quieter air;
We merely must slow down enough to take heed.
_______________________

MPAA rating: PG (has occasional language but pretty clean overall)

Why have I not seen this movie sooner? The Majestic has been in my Netflix queue for a while now, but it feels like the kind of movie I should have seen when I was 12, largely clean and with a valuable message that has only gained in social importance. As a fan of The Truman Show, I was mainly curious to see Jim Carrey in another serious role, and, as with the other film, The Majestic ranks among his very best, making it a shame that its poor box office likely turned him and director Frank Darabont away from developing similar movies.

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The year is 1951, and Hollywood screenwriter Peter Appleton (Carrey) is dumbfounded when his promising career is stalled by the Second Red Scare, leaving him blacklisted and expected to testify before Congress as a potential Communist. In his despair, he has an accident, waking with amnesia near the small town of Lawson, California. There, he is mistaken for Luke Trimble, the war hero son (thought to be dead) of the local theater owner (Martin Landau), who welcomes his long-lost boy home. Over time, he bonds with the town, grows closer to Luke’s girlfriend Adele (Laurie Holden), and helps breathe life back into the family theater, the Majestic, yet you know it is not meant to last. (I can’t help but mention David Ogden Stiers, whose presence in the small town visited by a humbled would-be hot shot immediately brought to mind the similarity with Doc Hollywood.)

Throughout The Majestic, I was trying to figure out how I felt about it and kept settling on “it depends.” It depends how the lie/mistake is revealed. It depends how all this Communist finger-pointing plays out. I just wasn’t sure where the film would ultimately end up, so I couldn’t decide if I truly liked it or not, wavering on the edge between List-Worthy and List Runner-Up. By the end, though, I was sure. Despite my unease, it definitely stuck the landing. The climax, a culminating speech before the House Un-American Activities Committee clearly echoing Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, is an absolute standout scene, made even more powerful by its extreme timeliness. At a time with so many fingers being pointed and voices being silenced, it’s a cinematic plea for Constitutional truth, tolerance, and patriotism that should be seen by every American.

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Frank Darabont was clearly channeling Frank Capra with this movie, and just as Capra’s movies were derided at the time as “Capra-corn,” The Majestic didn’t fly with critics wary of anything remotely sentimental, which is a crying shame. I’ll admit it’s a bit too long and predictable, but it’s also an endorsement of nostalgia, decency, and the magic of movies, with emotional performances and strong direction throughout. It’s modern Capra-corn, and, when it’s done this well, there’s nothing wrong with that.

Best line: (Peter, speaking to Congress) “That’s the First Amendment, Mr. Chairman. It’s everything we’re about if only we’d live up to it! … It’s the most important part of the contract every citizen has with this country. And even though these contracts – the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights! – even though they’re just pieces of paper with signatures on them, they’re the only contracts we have that are most definitely not subject to renegotiation… not by you, Mr. Chairman… not by you, Mr. Clyde… Not by anyone, ever. Too many people have paid for this contract in blood!”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
655 Followers and Counting

 

2019 Blindspot Pick #11: Run Lola Run (1998)

01 Sunday Dec 2019

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(Best sung to “Lola” by The Kinks)

I’m not the world’s most observant guy,
So I lost a lot of money, and I’m gonna die,
But for Lola, Lo-lo-lo-lo-lola.

She ran across town to fix my mistake,
Since I dropped about a hundred thousand, give or take,
Lots o’ moolah, moo-moo-moo-moo-moolah.

Only twenty minutes left to recover it,
So we might have had a better chance surviving spit
With ebola, bo-bo-bo-bo-bola.

Luckily for me, she can run really fast,
And possibly replay what happened in the past,
That’s my Lola, Lo-lo-lo-lo-lola.

And if I get to live to see another dawn,
I’ll let her handle all the money from now on,
Good ol’ Lola, Lo-lo-lo-lo-lola!
_______________________

MPAA rating: R (mainly for language in the subtitles, other content is more PG-13)

I didn’t realize when I chose both Mr. Nobody and Run Lola Run as Blindspots this year that they would end up having so much thematic similarity. And they’re both German, the former an English-language co-production while this film is actually in German. Both have to do with how people’s choices can result in vastly different outcomes, which are presented in an impartial, what-if manner. Yet, whereas Mr. Nobody explored huge, cosmic potential across a lifetime, Run Lola Run deals with a crucial twenty-minute window in the lives of red-haired Lola and her boyfriend.

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At the most basic level, the events of Run Lola Run (or Lola Rennt in German) are fairly straightforward: Boyfriend Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) loses 100,000 marks earned from a drug deal and is a goner if he and Lola (Franka Potente) can’t deliver the money within twenty minutes. Yet, as evidenced from the imaginatively animated opening credits sequence, this isn’t your ordinary thriller. While Lola’s running is a constant across each of the three timelines presented, the events play out with vast differences, sometimes based on something as small as distracting a driver at just the right moment. Whether it’s robbing a store or begging Lola’s banker father (Herbert Knaup) for the money, their efforts rarely work out as planned, but it’s as if fate is driving the story at times, allowing the interaction of side characters to determine how everything will play out.

I usually love this kind of butterfly-effect conceit, and I enjoyed Run Lola Run for that aspect, but it felt like something was missing for me. It might be that I didn’t really have a reason to care about the characters except for their desperate circumstances. The plot’s divergences don’t really explain themselves either; each time events start over, there’s some existential pillow talk between Lola and Manni that lets things momentarily slow down, and then it all begins again. In addition, Lola frequently passes people, and a series of still images shows either their past or future. That’s the thing, though; I didn’t know for sure, and it wasn’t clear what changed for that person between the timelines to get such different outcomes.

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Such complaints are probably no big deal for people who like to ponder a film’s deeper meaning, but Run Lola Run works better as an inventive thriller than a philosophical treatise and would have benefited from more clarity, like why Lola kept breaking glass with her screams. The finer points aside, though, this film was still a fun ride, and, with its riffing on fate vs. individual choice, I can see why director Tom Tykwer was drawn to co-direct Cloud Atlas fourteen years later. The later film had far more to say and a wider scope to say it, but Run Lola Run felt like an indie step toward bigger things.

Best line: (unseen narrator at the beginning) “Man… probably the most mysterious species on our planet. A mystery of unanswered questions. Who are we? Where do we come from? Where are we going? How do we know what we think we know? Why do we believe anything at all? Countless questions in search of an answer… an answer that will give rise to a new question… and the next answer will give rise to the next question and so on. But, in the end, isn’t it always the same question? And always the same answer?”

(I still don’t know the question, but, as we all know, the answer is 42… of course.)

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
654 Followers and Counting

 

Aladdin (2019)

27 Wednesday Nov 2019

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There once was a popular tale
That viewers would watch without fail.
So Disney said, “Wait,
Let’s remake and update
A classic that never was stale.”
Despite the naysayers
And unanswered prayers,
That’s just what they did for resale.
And we, the civilians,
Still offered them billions
And all the support they entail.
__________________________

MPAA rating: PG

Like so many others, I rolled my eyes when I heard Disney was continuing their trend of recycling their animated hits into live-action by setting their sights on 1992’s Aladdin. Even so, I thought Aladdin at least had plenty of additional story material in the 1001 Arabian Nights to draw from, so it could potentially be not terrible. Even the Internet freakout over Will Smith’s blue CGI genie didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me. (I swear, people judge movie effects far too quickly, whether it’s Alita’s eyes or photorealistic Pokemon, and usually it turns out fine once you get used to it.) So despite Disney’s so-so track record with these films, I guess I was optimistic but not exactly excited about another Aladdin, and now that I’ve seen it, my opinion hasn’t changed much.

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The biggest weakness of these live-action remakes is that they repeatedly tread the same ground, replicating entire scenes and musical numbers that were already perfect in the original and cannot help but pale in comparison. It’s why I despised 2017’s Beauty and the Beast, yet Aladdin somehow seems more forgivable and entertaining, even if it does suffer from the same fault. I think the actors help immensely in this regard: Mena Massoud is a spot-on charming Aladdin, sporting great chemistry with Naomi Scott’s equally well cast Jasmine, who now champions some non-subtle feminism. And while Will Smith as Genie is no Robin Williams, he isn’t really trying to be, instead replacing some of the frenetic jokes with more of a hip-hop swagger. Plus, he even gets his own love interest in Jasmine’s handmaid, a welcome addition played by SNL’s Nasim Pedrad.

Director Guy Ritchie doesn’t really bring much of his unique action style to the proceedings, but it’s all still competent, fast-paced, colorful, and just different enough from the original to make you say, “Hey, why didn’t Jafar fool Aladdin by dressing up as a little old crazy man?!” Honestly, Jafar is the main weak point. Marwan Kenzari does fine with the role, playing him with more of an inferiority complex, but he’s missing so many aspects that made Jafar an iconic villain – Jonathan Freeman’s deep voice, the imposing stature, the goatee – and Iago and the snake staff don’t make up the difference to make him particularly memorable. The musical numbers are similarly not quite as vibrant as their animated counterparts (although the effects team did better with “Friend Like Me” than I was expecting), and Jasmine’s added girl power anthem is lovely but awkwardly placed as far as pacing.

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It’s hard to judge these movies on their own merits since it’s hard not to compare them to the original, but if the original Aladdin didn’t exist, I think this one would be an amazing and innovative family film. As it is, it’s a pretty entertaining if uninspired family film with a laudable message, which still isn’t a bad thing these days. It’s at least not the kind of remake that does a disservice to the original, and since Disney insists on making more and more of these, that might be the best case scenario.

Best line: (Jafar) “Steal an apple, and you’re a thief. Steal a kingdom, and you’re a statesman.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
653 Followers and Counting

And a very Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

Jojo Rabbit (2019)

24 Sunday Nov 2019

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Prejudice is a peculiar emotion,
The product of bitterness, pain, or devotion.
No one is born with it right from the start,
And no one desires it deep in their heart.

And yet it takes hold and is likely to grow
Through dubious facts people think that they know:
A rumor that no one can track to its source,
An outrage that should have long since run its course,
A fact or a fiction passed on by those who
Just don’t care enough to find out if it’s true.

It’s no surprise then, in this world of pretense,
That people believe things that strain common sense.
And once it digs deep, ‘tis not easy to loose,
For bias breeds bias in search of excuse.

Don’t think it’s impossible, though, to break free
Of such silly cycles that plague history.
It takes a rare person, both brave and sincere,
To listen to someone they don’t want to hear.
__________________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

I was skeptical when I first saw the trailer for Taika Waititi’s latest film Jojo Rabbit, what with its jokey Nazi satire. Waititi’s humor has been hit-and-miss for me with films like Thor: Ragnarok, so I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect. Luckily, I’m pleased to report that Jojo Rabbit is easily my new favorite of his movies, a triple threat of humor, heart, and pathos that didn’t disappoint at all.

Set in the latter days of World War II, Jojo Rabbit follows young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), a devoted young boy who is excited to go to a Nazi youth training camp, with the encouragement of his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler (Waititi himself). After an accident, Jojo is forced to stick close to home, where he discovers that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) has been hiding a teenage Jewish girl named Elsa (Thomasin McKenzie of Leave No Trace) in their house, prompting him to reconsider his preconceived prejudices.

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It may sound like a cliché, but this movie is one of those rare full-package films: you’ll laugh, you’ll feel your heart break, you’ll hold your breath at tense moments. The amazing thing is that there are scenes where all three happen in quick succession. Waititi’s sense of humor can be an acquired taste, but here he brilliantly plays up the absurdity of Nazism, from the blind loyalty to the exaggerated picture of Jews promoted by Jojo’s training officers (including Sam Rockwell as a washed-up soldier and Rebel Wilson as a gung-ho instructor). He even manages to make the repeated use of “Heil Hitler” increasingly hilarious.

Yet, unlike the similar irreverence of The Producers, the comedy isn’t just for shock value laughs, instead being accompanied by some surprisingly profound statements challenging how Jojo sees the world, Jews, and himself. Young Davis does a wonderful job as Jojo, both as a naïve Nazi boy scout and a more world-weary doubter later on, and McKenzie brings a ferocious defiance to Elsa, bitter to the cruel world and far from the shrinking victim she could have been. Likewise, Johansson exudes warmth and good humor in her maternal role, and she finally gets to hit Sam Rockwell, where she never got the chance in Iron Man 2. And as for Waititi, he really hams it up as the imaginary Hitler, acting as Jojo’s friendly shoulder devil as the boy deals with Elsa and bristling at the wavering of Jojo’s loyalty.

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It’s not often I say this, but Jojo Rabbit really felt to me like an instant classic, a perfect blend of irreverent tragicomedy that confidently overcomes its own weirdness to be both memorably entertaining and affecting. I loved the bright, meticulous set design, sometimes reminding me of a less pedantic Wes Anderson movie, and a spinning tracking shot over time echoed a similarly impressive scene from Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople. The film’s main fault for me was some unnecessary profanity, but otherwise, it’s definitely one of the best movies I’ve seen this year and further cements Taika Waititi as a filmmaker of unique vision, which just happens to include Hitler eating a unicorn.

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
653 Followers and Counting

 

2019 Blindspot Pick #10: Mr. Nobody (2009)

17 Sunday Nov 2019

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This poem is a couplet, a two-liner rhyme,
For readers and poets who haven’t much time.

Or rather it could have been, if I’d decided,
But maybe I’ll make it a villanelle instead.
Which bears repetition by which it is guided.

You ask who would make such a change? Answer: I did.
So this is a villanelle now, as you’ve read,
Or rather it could have been, if I’d decided.

Let’s not be verbose.
A haiku might be better
To save syllables.

But then again, a sonnet I’d allow.
For fourteen lines in length would be provided
If only I would end this poem right now.

So what kind of poem was this one?
All four that I’ve named, or else none?
You can only decide
Once you’ve finished and tried
Looking backward when all’s said and done.
________________________

MPAA rating: R (mostly for sensuality and 2 F-words, seemed closer to a PG-13)

Well, this movie was a trip. I’ve been curious about Mr. Nobody for a while now, based on what I’d read about its unusual nonlinear story, and I can confirm it’s certainly unique. On one level, it’s a mind-bending, provocative tale of the potential directions life can take, which is exactly the kind of story I love, but it also is a bit too abstract for its own good.

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The title character is Nemo Nobody (Jared Leto), a man born in 1975 who ends up living till 2094 as the oldest and last mortal in a world that has achieved quasi-immortality through science. Plagued by memory loss, he is interviewed on his deathbed by a tattooed psychiatrist (Allan Corduner) and a journalist (Daniel Mays), both of whom are perplexed by the unusually disparate histories he recounts, lives that split at major crossroads in his life, particularly a train station when he had to choose which divorcing parent to stay with at the age of nine.

To call Mr. Nobody peculiar is an understatement; it’s a full-blown experimental film. It’s amazing to me that such a film was made at all, and even more amazing that it was made three years before Cloud Atlas, which is the closest film I can compare it to in terms of cosmic ambition and madcap editing. Due to Nemo’s ability to see possible futures, it swings back and forth between Nemo’s potential lives: the three women he could marry, the jobs he could have taken, the mistakes and accidents he endures or avoids. Also interspersed are more fantastical detours, such as a future journey to Mars that doubles as a story written by a teenage Nemo and a surreal argyle-themed dream world that may or may not be part of Nemo’s subconscious.

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Sometimes, these various storylines seem designed to confuse: The beginning shows bits and pieces of all the timelines in quick succession, like a sneak peek that leads to moments of revelation but is bewildering in the moment. In other cases, it gives a particular story more time to develop emotions, such as a romance between a teenage Nemo (Toby Regbo) and his stepsister Anna (Juno Temple; Diane Kruger as an adult) or the mental illness of one of Nemo’s other wives (Sarah Polley). Most of these timelines end in tragedy, yet others retain a sense of hope that one of Nemo’s decisions could lead to happiness.

At a certain point, the journalist interviewing the 118-year-old Nemo asks what the truth is, since not all of these lives could have happened, and Mr. Nobody’s answer extols the endlessness of possibility without providing a real answer. In that vein, one of Nemo’s professions is as the host of a TV science show, which allows him to ask big cosmic what-if questions that some might consider deep but ultimately boil down to “No one knows,” to the point that they’re almost meaningless, which may excite philosophers but can be frustrating to viewers who desire concrete answers. Plus, there’s uncertainty about whether some timelines are “real” at all, like the Mars mission that doesn’t always seem like something Nemo made up. Likewise, the ending is a strange mix of long-awaited satisfaction, pseudo-science that I at least didn’t fully understand, and a sweet conclusion undercut by a lack of context.

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So, while Mr. Nobody frustrated me more, I suppose my final opinion is the same as for Cloud Atlas: a magnificent mess that individual viewers must decide whether it’s a masterpiece or a trainwreck. It certainly never fails to enchant visually, particularly several sequences that depict the butterfly effect (reminding me of similar scenes in Ink and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), and the special effects, cinematography, and Pierre Van Dormael’s score are exceptional. At times, it seems to borrow individual motifs from the likes of Forrest Gump, When Harry Met Sally…, and Harold and Maude, yet all of the ingredients come together to form something wholly distinctive and idiosyncratic, for good or ill. It’s a film like no other, featuring Jared Leto’s best performance I’ve seen and individual scenes I loved, and, though its complexity and length will not be for everyone, it’s an experiment worth experiencing.

Best line: (Nemo Nobody) “At my age the candles cost more than the cake. I’m not afraid of dying. I’m afraid I haven’t been alive enough. It should be written on every school room blackboard: Life is a playground… or nothing.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
652 Followers and Counting

 

Glass (2019)

10 Sunday Nov 2019

Posted by in Movies, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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We live in a world in which evil and good
Are warring in hopes that each be understood.

The good share a dream in which righteousness reigns,
Dispelling all ignorance, chaos, and chains,
And could be considered one-note or naïve
In hoping for changes no man can achieve.

But evil, for lack of a worthier word,
Is interesting in how it seeks to be heard.
It pleads its own case, it redirects blame,
It covers its face, it covets more fame,
It craves vindication, it bristles at scorn,
It scatters temptation, it toots its own horn,
It seeks self-redemption and curses regrets,
It wants an exemption that no one else gets.

It does entertain, but does it satisfy?
The good know the answer, and Goodness knows why.
_____________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

I feel like Unbreakable has grown in reputation over the years. Its unconventional take on the superhero genre predated the majority of big-budget comic book films, and the decline in M. Night Shyamalan’s output quality afterward made its excellence stand out even more. Naturally, it was a surprise when 2017’s Split made a post-credits revelation that it was set in the same universe, prompting speculation on what the inevitable third film would do to bring the characters together. Now that Glass has finally answered that question, I doubt I’m the only one thinking that we might have been better off not knowing.

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Now nineteen years after the events of Unbreakable and three weeks after the events of Split, David Dunn (Bruce Willis) has become an experienced vigilante called the Overseer with the help of his son (Spencer Treat Clark) and sets his sights on Kevin Wendell Crumb (James McAvoy), whose murderous Horde personalities are running amok. However, both David and Kevin are soon captured and imprisoned in a mental hospital, alongside Elijah Price/Mr. Glass (Samuel L. Jackson), where psychiatrist Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson) seeks to convince them their superhero/villain abilities are merely figments of their imagination.

I wanted to like Glass, and in some ways, I did. Like Unbreakable, it’s a rare slow-burn superhero film, where the action is infrequent but scrappy, and the psychological questions raised are given just as much time (or more) than the plot. I certainly can’t fault the performances, particularly Jackson and McAvoy. The former lets Mr. Glass’s cunning bubble under the surface for most of the film and later revels in his mastermind status, while the latter continues the bravura flurry of performances that made Split such a showcase of acting skill. Paulson also does well in making her psychiatrist a seemingly sympathetic mystery, with intentions you can’t help but suspect.

Some might complain that Glass takes too long to get to the showdown to which it is clearly building up, but that’s not the extent of the film’s problems, which also include the outcome of said showdown. Of course, Shyamalan has to pull out a last-minute twist to subvert expectations, but, despite some intriguing implications, it’s far from a satisfying one. Bruce Willis may have the least charismatic character, but his David Dunn, in particular, deserved so much better than this film. With time to think about the ending, I’ve come to appreciate its attempt at refocusing the narrative on side characters, but it still left a bitter taste in my mouth.

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So, I suppose you could say that Shyamalan strikes again. It’s neither his best nor his worst movie, but it’s the least of this comic-themed trilogy and had so much potential to be more. It’s still very well-produced and directed and worth watching for Jackson and McAvoy’s performances, but it only works as a where-are-they-now story (I liked the continuity of Shyamalan’s cameos), not so much as a conclusion. The next time I watch Unbreakable and Split, I might just pretend they’re stand-alone films.

Best line: (Glass) “There are unknown forces that don’t want us to realize what we are truly capable of. They don’t want us to know the things we suspect are extraordinary about ourselves are real. I believe that if everyone sees what just a few people become when they wholly embrace their gifts, others will awaken. Belief in oneself is contagious. We give each other permission to be superheroes.”

 

Rank: Honorable Mention (on the edge of Dishonorable)

 

© 2019 S.G. Liput
652 Followers and Counting

 

My Top Twelve Movie Villains of the 21st Century

04 Monday Nov 2019

Posted by in Movies

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During the early 2000s, I loved the 100 Years… series of movie lists released by the American Film Institute, counting down film’s top Laughs, Thrills, Passions, and such. They served as a great introduction to the cinematic highs of various genres, some of which I knew and others I got to experience vicariously for the first time. It’s really a shame that they stopped after 2008; I would have at least liked another ten-year update of the Top 100 Movies list.

Yet one list seemed like it could particularly use an update. In 2003, the AFI counted down the top 50 heroes and top 50 villains, and I couldn’t help but notice that the only villain from the 21st century was Denzel Washington’s crooked cop in Training Day at #50. Over the last 19 years, though, there have been plenty of other villainous characters that I think could have earned placement on that villain list. Therefore, I thought I’d do my own updated villain countdown for the current century, leaving heroes for another time.

I’m not necessarily in favor of celebrating evil, but a memorable villain can make a good movie great and a bad movie watchable. One villain I do think should be on the list is Mr. Smith from The Matrix series, but he’s technically ineligible since the first film was released in 1999. And sidenote: I’m ignoring TV, as much as I’d like to include Ben from Lost, Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls, or Kyubey from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Thus, with consideration for how iconic each has become, here are my own picks for the top villains of the 21st century:

 

  1. Mr. Glass from Unbreakable/Glass

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Unbreakable was an unconventional superhero movie, and true to M. Night Shyamalan form, its villain proved to be a surprise. Samuel L. Jackson’s brittle-boned antagonist seemed so harmless at first, yet his role as a mastermind and the unhealthiness of his comic book fascination became clear by the end. I laughed during a recent rewatch of Parks and Recreation where they ask what Mr. Glass is up to and “Why no sequel?” Of course, we did get one this past year, with mixed results, but the “strength” of the character remains.

 

  1. President Snow from The Hunger Games series

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A mere vaguely threatening presence in the first Hunger Games film, President Snow proved just how ruthless and dastardly he was in the next three. From blackmailing Katniss to ordering the deaths of countless citizens, he became an increasingly dangerous mastermind, and Donald Sutherland played him with an icy pragmatism right up to the very end.

 

  1. Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2

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I think it’s telling that of the original Spider-Man trilogy villains, only Doc Ock hasn’t had some kind of “reboot” in the Spider-Man films since. (Well, at least in live-action; Into the Spider-Verse went a little different with its version.) I think that’s because of how perfectly Alfred Molina became the character, brought to life with an awesome mix of CGI and puppetry. Uniquely sympathetic due to his Jekyll-and-Hyde complex with his robotic arms, he remains one of the franchise’s best villains.

 

  1. The Babadook from The Babadook

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Few horror films have genuinely scared me like The Babadook, thanks largely to its titular creature. This Australian scarefest features a picture book that described the top-hatted terror in detail, letting people’s fear and suspicion make it real and inescapable. As movie monsters go, it’s definitely up there with the most chilling, even more so due to what it represents psychologically.

 

  1. Voldemort from the Harry Potter series

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Granted, I haven’t seen any of the Harry Potter films, but the reputation of Ralph Fiennes’ Voldemort precedes him. The very name of He Who Must Not Be Named has become synonymous with villainy, so even if I only know him by cultural presence, the significance of that presence deserves placement on any list of cinematic villains.

 

  1. Captain Barbossa from The Pirates of the Caribbean series

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I had considered putting Bill Nighy’s Davy Jones on the list, but in the end, Geoffrey Rush’s Captain Barbossa won out. With his smarmy dealing and sneering delivery, he’s just the perfect pirate antagonist, whether as a skeleton or less-than-trustworthy ally, and Rush always looks like he’s having a blast. Plus, he’s got one of the best surprise entrances in movie history.

 

  1. Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds

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Another film I haven’t actually seen all of, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds nonetheless delivered a villain for the ages in Christoph Waltz’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Hans Landa, the wicked Nazi “Jew Hunter.” Able to shift easily from casual courtesy to racist murder, he’s a true psychopath, and his opening scene alone was enough to convince me of his placement here.

 

  1. Magneto from the X-Men franchise

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As far as which version of the character, take your pick. Whether played by Ian McKellen or Michael Fassbender, Magneto is the ideal archrival to Charles Xavier, bitter enough about his traumatic past to hate all non-mutants. He’s suffered so much that you can’t help but sympathize with him, even as he uses his power over metal to cause havoc. Plus, he’s not too different from Charles in his end goals; he’s just far more ruthless in his means of achieving them.

 

  1. Pennywise from It and It Chapter Two

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I still haven’t gotten around to watching the latest version of Stephen King’s It, but I must give props to Bill Skarsgård for helping this incarnation of Pennywise the Dancing Clown rival the great Tim Curry’s. His frightening painted face has become an instant icon of scary clowns (just look at the Halloween costumes), so that makes him the most recent entry on the list.

 

  1. Joker from The Dark Knight

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“Why so serious?” Speaking of clowns, we mustn’t forget the other Oscar-winning villain role on this list. You’re welcome to include Joaquin Phoenix’s most recent version of the Joker here, but I have Heath Ledger in mind. I can’t help but wonder if the darkness required to personify the Joker contributed to his death, but he certainly made the role his own and, in effect, his legacy. Edgy and grimy to match the underworld of Gotham, his Joker is a compulsive liar and a true criminal mastermind, a man whose goal is simply, in the words of Michael Caine’s Alfred, “to watch the world burn.”

 

  1. Sauron – The Lord of the Rings films

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Few villainous images are as iconic as the Eye of Sauron. Watching from atop the tower of Barad-dûr, it’s an all-watching representation of evil, especially the evil of the One Ring, the source and reason for Frodo’s quest across Middle-earth. I could easily have sided with Saruman, the Ringwraiths, or Gollum as well, but Sauron is the big bad to end all fantasy big bads.

 

  1. Thanos from Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame

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Yet when it comes to big bads, who can question Thanos, the final boss of 20+ films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? No other villain has achieved his goals as successfully as did Thanos in Infinity War, and it has to be a new height in villainy to wipe out half of all life in the universe. Marvel has often been criticized for its weak villains, but Thanos blew them all away (literally) and may well be the best villain of the new millennium.

 

And here are some other contenders that could deserve placement on a list of 21st-century villains, a list of nefarious runners-up, so to speak:

 

Loki – Thor, The Avengers, etc.

Red Skull – Captain America: The First Avenger

Ultron – Avengers: Age of Ultron

Killmonger – Black Panther

Severus Snape – Harry Potter series

Syndrome – The Incredibles

Davy Jones – The Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3

The White Witch – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

No-Face – Spirited Away

The Green Goblin – Spider-Man

Other Mother – Coraline

Eris – Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas

Kylo Ren – Star Wars: Episodes VII-IX

The Armitage Family – Get Out

Daniel Plainview – There Will Be Blood

Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) – Star Trek into Darkness

Raoul Silva – Skyfall

Owen Davian – Mission: Impossible III

Solomon Lane – Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation and Fallout

Bane – The Dark Knight Rises

Smaug – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Immortan Joe – Mad Max: Fury Road

Annabelle / The Nun – The Conjuring franchise

David – Prometheus and Alien: Covenant

Anton Chigurh – No Country for Old Men

Patrick Bateman – American Psycho

Jigsaw – Saw franchise

Kevin Wendell Crumb – Split and Glass

Wilson Fisk/Kingpin – Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

 

So do you agree? What cinematic villains would you suggest are worthy of such a list? I’d love to know what you think!