Tag Archives: Comedy

About Time (2013)

30 Sunday Apr 2017

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(Today’s final NaPoWriMo prompt of the month was for a poem about something that happens over and over. Following the theme of this time-travel charmer, I applied that to the hypothetical potential of living life repeatedly.)

 

Days and weeks and months repeat,
The same in name but each one new,
But wouldn’t it be quite the treat
To start them over and redo?

When in the mood for favorite foods,
Just think back to your grandest meal,
And when your second course concludes,
You’re free for thirds whene’er you feel.

When life becomes mundane or glum,
Just jump back to your fondest thrill,
A theme park ride or concert’s thrum
Or Wordsworth-worthy daffodil.

And how sought-after to rewind
To change regrets to words unsaid,
Slips untripped and frauds declined,
And dominoes unplummeted!

The twists and weaves of life one-way
Are seldom smooth to navigate,
But wouldn’t life, upon replay,
Have less distress to complicate?
___________________

MPAA rating: R (except for 5 F-words, there’s little reason this couldn’t be PG-13)

Rachel McAdams must have a thing for time travelers. Only four years after playing the titular Time Traveler’s Wife opposite Eric Bana, she again fell in love with a man possessing inherent time-traveling abilities, this time Domhnall Gleeson, in 2013’s About Time. Whereas the first film was bittersweet drama, About Time takes its subject in a lighter rom-com direction; for instance, the time-jumping ability that was random and uncontrollable in The Time Traveler’s Wife is little more than a super-powered perk in About Time, an inherited trait for only the men in the Lake family.

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When Tim Lake (Gleeson) is called into his father’s study on his twenty-first birthday to be told a family secret, I can think of many worse revelations than being told you can now travel back along your own lifetime. Being rather awkward, one of Tim’s first thoughts is to win himself a girlfriend with his newfound ability, and after a less than successful attempt with the lovely Margot Robbie, he moves to London and seeks out his soul mate. All of this is done with a delightful comedic touch that makes Tim and his eccentric family feel real and lovable, and when Mary (McAdams) comes on the scene via a winsomely literal “blind date,” it’s clear from the first moments that love is inevitable…as long as time travel doesn’t get in the way.

I can’t remember the last time I was so thoroughly charmed by a movie. Well, maybe I do; it was probably La La Land, which is a more prestigious film all around, but both of them left me smiling and touched in a way most modern films don’t anymore. The repartee and chemistry between Tim and Mary put them up there with my favorite screen couples, even apart from the time travel aspect, which often adds some comedic wish fulfillment, undoing those little gaffes we all want to live over. In addition to Gleeson and McAdams, Bill Nighy delivers both warmth and pathos as Tim’s more experienced father, and his fellow Pirates of the Caribbean bad guy, Tom Hollander (almost unrecognizable with a beard), is likably sardonic as Tim’s first London friend.

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As much as I loved it, I won’t claim that About Time is without flaws, such as a poorly explained revision that Tim performs when one of his time-altering good intentions goes awry. Likewise, I’ve heard a common complaint that the film doesn’t follow its own time travel rules and pays less attention than others of its genre to continuity and the butterfly effect. Yet, even these issues that would normally annoy me (like in The Lake House) couldn’t detract from a highly enjoyable romance or its bittersweet denouement. It’s a smartly written and delightful story worth going back in time to watch all over again.

Best line: (Tim) “There’s a song by Baz Luhrmann called ‘Sunscreen.’ He says worrying about the future is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life will always be things that never crossed your worried mind.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
477 Followers and Counting

 

Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)

29 Saturday Apr 2017

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(For today’s NaPoWriMo prompt, we were to take a specific noun from a favorite poem and write a new poem inspired by it. I decided on Bliss Carman’s autumnal “A Vagabond Song,” specifically the word vagabond in the final line.)

 

We vagabonds sadly are rarer these days,
And nature’s beseeching has grown ever thinner.
She prays the same plea that once clouded men’s gaze,
But now only coaxes the set-in-their-ways
And the restless, romantic, unruly beginner.

The vagabonds dare where the rest stay at home,
For all the wide world is their chosen abode.
In life, let their hearth be wherever they roam;
In death, let the sea be their vast catacomb,
For no destination is end to the road.

The world calls us fools from their stolid safe spot,
But valleys and hills are the best way to cope
With life’s many miseries. I hear them not
When a waterfall’s all that’s within my earshot.
They may mock our style, but envy our scope.

Heed not the vain whispers of schedule and stress
When catching the call of the wilds beyond.
The creeks and cascades, while awaiting a yes,
Will yet preserve peace for the wide wilderness,
For the lucky old fool and the young vagabond.
_____________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

Based on the book Wild Pork and Watercress, Hunt for the Wilderpeople from New Zealand director Taika Waititi is an excellent example of one of those hidden gem movies that you might only learn about from a movie blogger singing its praises. It’s a quirky little film that more often than not allows “quirk” to equal absurd charm rather than mere weirdness, and not since Up has the kid/old man dynamic worked so well. (There’s even a scene where a boy calls “ca-caw” to an old man on a porch. Coincidence?)

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The film starts out suspiciously like an obscure Irish film I saw a while back called A Shine of Rainbows. Like the orphan boy in that movie, young troublemaker Ricky Baker (Julian Dennison) is taken in by a remote couple made up of a doting “Auntie” (Rima Te Wiata) and her surly and distant husband Hec (Sam Neill). After his new mother helps him feel at home, she sadly dies, leaving Ricky to form a grudging relationship with “Uncle” Hec instead. Beyond this point, though, the film goes in a wholly different direction from A Shine of Rainbows, sending Ricky and Hec out into the wooded wild, where a misunderstanding makes them fugitives and subjects of a national manhunt.

It’s a fine line between Ricky being obnoxious or just a normal kid rebelling against an unforgiving world, but Julian Dennison treads it quite well, especially with someone of Sam Neill’s caliber to rebel with. Neill elevates the whole movie, despite having undergone a Jeff Bridges-style transformation into a grizzled mountain man, and the development of the mismatched pair from tolerating each other to respecting and even loving each other is entirely natural and endearing (and uses haiku). Rima Te Wiata is also a great presence early on as Ricky’s foster “Auntie,” whose forced attempts at making him feel comfortable pay off with time.

The film’s offbeat sensibilities extend to its cinematography and music as well. The soundtrack blends folk, electronic, and even some kind of strange opera, and the camerawork is exceptional, as when a time-lapse is replaced by a spinning continuous shot that seamlessly switches from scene to scene while musically backed by Leonard Cohen. As we all know from The Lord of the Rings, New Zealand also boasts some truly spectacular scenery, which the film flaunts in glorious fashion. I was reminded too of Babe in how events were labeled like storybook chapters. Its unique style certainly made me wonder how Waititi will shake up the MCU by directing Thor: Ragnarok later this year.

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With the sweet satisfaction that this film left me, I struggled on how exactly to rank Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Ultimately, it does have its downsides, mainly in its quirkiness not always working to its advantage. Several scenes meant to be funny just come off as odd, such as a man’s obsession with selfies or a priest’s rambling sermon, and I can see its style not being for every taste. Yet much of the humor did make me laugh, such as the Terminator references and Rhys Darby’s backwoods nutcase Psycho Sam, and I still found Hunt for the Wilderpeople to be a rewarding experience and very close to being List-Worthy, a hidden gem that deserves to be found.

Best line: (Ricky, reading his uncle’s wanted poster) “’Faulkner is Cauc-asian.’ Well, they got that wrong because you’re obviously white.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
477 Followers and Counting

 

Starter for 10 (2006)

28 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to employ Skeltonic verse, or short lines with rapid-fire, tumbling rhymes, which are always fun.)

 

A know-it-all
With quick recall
Will stand tall
Next to egos small
Because he knows
The stuff that goes
Toward beating those
On trivia shows,
Like sporting pros
And ratios,
Obscure logos
Of studios,
And poems and prose
And names of clothes
And things that few
Would say they knew
Unless they too
Enjoyed a clue
Or fact review
Like me and you;
At least I do.
__________

MPAA rating: PG-13

Every now and then, there’s a movie that just appeals to your interests specifically, and Starter for 10 appealed to mine. I had heard this British film starring James McAvoy had something to do with trivia, in this case the University Challenge TV show of the 1980s, and within the first few minutes, I felt this was a film for me, thanks to my personal love for shows like Jeopardy! Now I just had to hope the rest didn’t ruin it, and despite some inconsistencies along the way, it was an enjoyable little film all the way through.

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Many people have fond memories of those ‘80s films full of stars before they were famous, you know, Stand By Me, The Outsiders, Taps, Red Dawn, and the like. But it makes sense that other generations would have the same kind of films, and Starter for 10 is one for the 21st century, even if it’s set in the 1980s. As McAvoy’s trivia-crazed freshman Brian goes off to college for the first time, I was surprised at how many actors I recognized. His two mates at home are Dominic Cooper and James Corden, while his two potential love interests at college are Alice Eve and Rebecca Hall, not to mention Benedict Cumberbatch as the uptight captain of the University Challenge team, again playing someone who believes himself to be the smartest person in the room. I was actually chuckling at their very presence together after seeing them all in the franchise films that have since earned them greater recognition (Eve and Cumberbatch in Star Trek into Darkness, Cooper and Hall and Cumberbatch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Cumberbatch and Mark Gatiss in Sherlock). I never expected to see a fight between Howard Stark and Doctor Strange, much less for Stark to win while Professor X watches in horror. It’s like a huge retroactive crossover! Or not.

Aside from the pleasure of seeing these young stars in their early roles, there are a lot of worthwhile themes here, ranging from infatuation and responsibility to academic honesty and learning from personal mistakes. Brian’s experience at college felt very realistic, both for good and ill, such as how he suddenly absorbs all manner of liberal causes and how the drama of college itself can often get in the way of one’s education.  The humor can be hit-and-miss at times (one “meet-the-parents” scene was very awkward), but it made me laugh more than most comedies these days, further helped by a strong ‘80s soundtrack, most of which I’d never heard before. (I’m not too familiar with The Cure; sorry, Britain!)

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I suppose I especially identified with Brian himself, and along with Shizuku from Whisper of the Heart, he’s probably the movie character in which I most see myself. He’s committed to being as clever as he can, learning things like literature, history, and why people like jazz. (Just watch La La Land for that answer.) He finds more excitement in the mental stimulation of a trivia challenge than a pointless drinking party, and through his interactions with his mother, friends, and girlfriends, he’s still trying to figure himself out and overcome his mistakes. McAvoy is a great fit for him, even if he desperately needs a haircut, and the rest of the cast help give potentially shallow characters more depth than expected and match the early talent that would eventually make many of them household names. Similar to 2015’s Paper Towns, Starter for 10 has its imperfections and clumsy moments, but it’s a charming film that I connected with and which left me smiling by the end.

Best line: (Brian’s mom) “The people who really care about you don’t mind if you make mistakes. It’s what you do next that matters.”

 

Rank: List-Worthy

 

2017 S.G. Liput
477 Followers and Counting

 

Chocolat (2000)

27 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to focus on the sense of taste, so I had to go with one of the greatest foods known to man.)

 

Dear Chocolate, Chocolate, friend of mine,
How sweetly do you intertwine
With fruit or nuts, desire or fear,
A comfort in my worries drear,
A flavorful apotheosis
Of the highest form of sweet!

From pickiness when I was young,
I never spurned you from my tongue.
At holidays made consummate
And in between, dear Chocolate,
Your need’s my daily diagnosis,
My closest friend that I can eat.
_____________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

By all accounts, Chocolat is a film I should love. I am an admitted chocolate addict, and I love lighthearted romances with its kind of charm, especially when they have the added emotional depth this one retains. Yet for all its strengths and five Oscar nominations, I was more annoyed than charmed by Chocolat.

The story centers on a wandering chocolatier named Vianne (Juliette Binoche) and her young daughter, who move to a quiet and staunchly religious French village to open a chocolate shop. The problem is that they do so just as Lent begins, and Vianne’s atheist disregard for this traditional season of self-denial inevitably draws the ire of the town’s mayor Reynaud (Alfred Molina). Yet nothing can halt the power of chocolate, and Vianne’s natural charisma slowly wins over many of the town’s residents, as well as a member of a visiting gypsy band (Johnny Depp).

Image result for chocolat filmThere’s much to enjoy about Chocolat, not least its whimsical tone and Rachel Portman score, and the full appeal of a mostly excellent cast. Binoche is infectious with her passion for chocolate and catering to others’ unacknowledged needs, while Depp displays a sweet and romantic allure he doesn’t usually get to show off in his weirder roles. Best of all is Oscar-nominated Judi Dench as Vianne’s landlady and first chocolate convert, whose cynicism and desire to reconnect with her grandson make this among her best roles and certainly worthier of an Oscar than her short appearance in Shakespeare in Love. Chocolate itself is also very much a star, and Vianne’s creations should make any chocoholic’s mouth water, which is why it placed #7 on my Candy in Movies list.

Yet all these positives only make the film’s religious vilification more frustrating. Perhaps it’s because I do fast for Lent every year, but I couldn’t root for Vianne’s campaign to make the townspeople yield to their temptations. I was hoping instead her business could survive until Lent was over, but no, Lent and fasting are seen as obstacles to be overcome, repression to be vanquished. The film’s characters, writers, and probably Joanne Harris, on whose novel the film is based, clearly misunderstand sin and the meaning of Lent, that personal abstinence is meant to bring its adherents closer to God by their sacrifice. There should be no conflict here if Vianne had not come during Lent, but instead, the people of the village seem to view any and all pleasure as a sin, whether it’s during Lent or not. Their indulgent awakening would have been more heartening if Lent and the Church weren’t scapegoats to spoil everyone’s fun. Molina’s Reynaud is the embodiment of the town’s religious stricture, even if he does have a rare humanizing moment or two. The turning point of his own surrender to “temptation” is a wholly ridiculous scene that most reminded me of a SpongeBob SquarePants episode called “Just One Bite,” where Squidward yields to his craving for Krabby Patties, a scene which (now that I think about it) was probably inspired by Chocolat. Yet what’s funny in a cartoon just felt strange and absurd in a film like this.

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Chocolat would have been better as simply a Mary Poppins-ish tale of Vianne helping the town, such as how she inspires an abused wife to escape from actual oppression, but its antagonism was misplaced. Every time I started enjoying Chocolat, it kept reminding me that “chocolate good, religious oppression bad,” and while I wholeheartedly embrace the former point, the latter kept spoiling it for me. The fine acting and passion for one of the best foods ever invented are clearly key to Chocolat‘s appeal, but it could have been so much better if religion and tradition weren’t depicted as such finger-wagging killjoys.

Best line: (the village priest, giving a sermon) “I’d rather talk about [our Lord’s] humanity. I mean, you know, how He lived His life, here on Earth. His kindness, His tolerance… Listen, here’s what I think. I think that we can’t go around measuring our goodness by what we don’t do. By what we deny ourselves, what we resist, and who we exclude. I think… we’ve got to measure goodness by what we embrace, what we create… and who we include.”

 

Rank: Dishonorable Mention

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
475 Followers and Counting

 

Ghostbusters (2016)

26 Wednesday Apr 2017

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was to suggest how future archaeologists would look back on us today.  I applied my movie theme to the concept and even worked in a little of the biology class I’m taking right now.)

 

Welcome to my lecturing on modern archaeology:
Today the ancient world before the 22nd century,
A cruder, ruder, desk-computer chapter in our history.

Just recently, our diggers found a reddish box interred in rock
And found within it simple disks that once were sold and kept in stock,
A kind of visual entertainment certain players could unlock.

Some were future sci-fi stories, which weren’t right on anything;
Some were labeled “Oscar winners,” which we’re still deciphering;
And one about pursuing ghosts was worth the price of tunneling.

As some may know, an older fossil from the Reagan-lithic zone
Had a concept similar and yet was not a perfect clone.
This proves the theory that some artists used ideas that weren’t their own.

It seems some stories were remade in efforts to indulge consumers,
Many of which found them lacking, but just why is up to rumors.
Though we can’t be sure since men evolved and lost our sense of humors.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

When the latest all-female version of Ghostbusters was announced, I was never among the crowd that condemned and ranted against it. I was more in the eye-rolling crowd because remakes of classic movies always turn out well, right? Still, I decided to check it out with an open mind, and my opinion seems to match the general consensus:  it’s not terrible, but it’s not great either.

Instead of a sequel, this Ghostbusters is a reboot, treating the profession of paranormal poaching as an unexplored field, as if the original never happened. After an initial haunting that’s actually much scarier than the library beginning of the first film, Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) is asked to look into it, even though she has tried to distance herself from her ghost-studying past. Soon, however, she’s back into the paranormal game with her old colleague Abby (Melissa McCarthy) and the Egon-esque Jillian (Kate McKinnon). Along with a street-savvy subway worker (Leslie Jones), they team up just as an occult weirdo (Neil Casey) tries to cause the apocalypse. Good timing, eh?

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I’ll start out by saying that this Ghostbusters wasn’t entirely “meh.” There were even ways I thought it offered an improved story, mainly in providing a reason for all the ghost sightings rather than the original’s relative lack of explanation. The villain is fairly forgettable, but his actions indirectly bring about the Ghostbusters themselves, who rise to the occasion to stop him. I also liked the two-faced response from the governor’s office, secretly supporting the Ghostbusters while publicly denouncing them, which I found funnier and more believable than the initial outright denial of the government in the first two films.

The biggest problem with this Ghostbusters is a problem I have with the majority of modern comedies: it simply didn’t make me laugh very much. Oh, I chuckled in spots, snickered at the occasional clever joke or recognizable reference, but shouldn’t a comedy elicit more of a reaction than that? Far too often were moments I could tell were meant to be funny but just weren’t, and part of it may stem from my natural indifference to Wiig and McCarthy. McKinnon and Jones had stronger humor than the other two, but the film’s best surprise was Chris Hemsworth’s gender-swapped role as the ditzy receptionist Kevin. While the women were focused on the ghost-hunting plot, Hemsworth provided some needed laughs and was clearly enjoying himself, even without his hammer.

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Ghostbusters didn’t deserve the instant hate it got and knowingly cracks a few jokes aimed at those nasty comment sections, but I would have hoped for a stronger return for the classic franchise. Perhaps the most wasted element was the cameos of the original cast members, all of which depend solely on “hey-it’s-that-person” appeal rather than being funny or important to the plot. (Dan Aykroyd’s was probably the best, but they couldn’t come up with something better for Bill Murray?) Whereas the original two are classics, this one settles for mere entertainment and so-so CGI, though the big battle at the end has its fun moments. It may yet get a sequel itself, but if not for the original’s reputation, I doubt this film would have fostered the same fondly regarded franchise.

Best line: (Patty, when a ghost escapes on a subway train) “I guess he’s going to Queens. He’s going to be the third scariest thing on that train.”

 

Rank: Honorable Mention

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
475 Followers and Counting

 

The Good Dinosaur (2015)

22 Saturday Apr 2017

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a georgic, which I may have confused with a pastoral, but both have to do with agriculture or country life. It may have only a thin connection to the film reviewed, but this is what came to mind.)

 

It’s easy to forget the joy
Of life dependent on my touch,
Of plants that never would have grown,
Sprouts that might have bent to stone,
Animals safe in their zone,
Pride in lifetimes all my own,
Though they don’t know it much.

So many want adventurous
And thrilling lives at large,
For every sight to be unseen,
Nothing staid or too serene,
Changed before it feels routine,
Nothing but a glowing screen
To be within my charge.

Adventure, danger have their place,
But when the thrill is gone,
They too will wish for their homestead,
Fruitful loam and flower bed,
Trust in what yet lies ahead,
Smaller lives now comforted
By one to rely upon.
________________

MPAA rating: PG

The Good Dinosaur is quite the mixed bag for Pixar. If DreamWorks or Blue Sky had made it, I might rank it among their best work, but for Pixar, it’s a weak entry in a filmography full of instant classics. There’s nothing especially wrong with this story of a timid young Apatosaurus named Arlo who is separated from his mountain farm and forced to survive and eventually bond with a human “pet” he names Spot, but like Brave, it’s Pixar at its most unoriginal. The plot borrows heavily from the likes of The Land Before Time, The Lion King, and Ice Age, and yet it still has moments of wonder, pathos, and heartwarmth (that’s a word now) that are staples of Pixar’s brand of storytelling.

I suppose my biggest beef with the film is the creative choices of its animators. On the one hand, the scenery clearly modeled off Wyoming’s Grand Tetons and Yellowstone is absolutely stunning, perhaps some of the most gorgeous animated landscapes ever; and on the other, the dinosaurs themselves are as cartoonish and unrealistic as possible. Nothing’s wrong with the animation quality, and a closer look at the dinos reveals more detail than is seen at first glance; but their general design looks like Play-Doh next to the realism of the backgrounds. It looked suspect in the trailers, and as good as Pixar’s animation is, I feel it was just a bad creative decision, making me miss the realism of Disney’s Dinosaur.

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On top of that, The Good Dinosaur really is a missed opportunity. The stated premise is that the meteor never wiped out the dinosaurs, so millions of years later, it’s dinos that have risen to the point of an agrarian/herding society. I suppose their presence is meant to explain why humans never got past the caveman stage, but is that really the best that the creative minds at Pixar could come up with? Based on the description, I was imagining a modern-day world with humans and dinosaurs living side by side in some kind of fusion civilization, but there’s nothing here that couldn’t have feasibly happened millions of years ago. I feel like the “millions of years later” aspect was included just so that Pixar could put a dinosaur and a human together without drawing the ire of evolutionist date critics. A movie can suspend the disbelief of a dinosaur family farming, so isn’t the human-dinosaur pairing within the realm of credibility for a cartoon? For the world to be like this millions of years later is kind of a letdown.

Wow, two whole paragraphs of gripes might make you think I hated this movie, but I did enjoy it. The overall story may be simple and unoriginal, but Arlo’s journey to gain courage fosters a familiar kind of inspiration. The comedy is hit-and-miss, but there are a few dramatic moments that resoundingly hit home, whether it be the beyond-words stick-figure bonding between Arlo and Spot or the ghostly dream Arlo has at a crucial juncture. I also loved some magical scenes with fireflies and Sam Elliott’s role as a T. Rex cowboy, even if the dynamics of this dino-world remain underdeveloped. By the end, The Good Dinosaur may be disappointing by Pixar’s standards, but by anyone else’s, it’s a decent animated coming-of-age story that, like Arlo, proves stronger than its failings.

Best line: (Poppa) “Sometimes you got to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side.”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
473 Followers and Counting

 

Blast from the Past (1999)

18 Tuesday Apr 2017

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem featuring neologisms, or made-up words, many of which I tried inventing for whimsical effect.)

 

The heretoformer days of yore
Were full of quagdaries,
Of warnage, gorenage, carnivornage,
One or all of these,
And outsurvivors just assumed
They’d die from some disease.

They had no Twitterbook or texts
Or cell addictophones,
Or paramiscellania
Composed of silicones,
And no one knew of superstuds
Or Indiana Jones.

But if, from previosity,
By tempochronic means,
One telebeamed to present day
With us and all our screens,
They’d probably scramaddle back
To centuries with teens!
_________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

At the height of Brendan Fraser’s golly-gee persona fostered by the likes of George of the Jungle and Dudley Do-Right, he put that image to good use in the thoroughly amusing Blast from the Past. When overly paranoid genius Dr. Calvin Webber (Christopher Walken) builds a super-stocked bunker at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a freak accident makes him and his wife (Sissy Spacek) believe that nuclear war has broken out, and they wait through the fallout for, oh, about 35 years. Of course, life goes on above them, and when they venture out into the depraved new world, their 35-year-old homeschooled son Adam (Brendan Fraser) gets to see the world for the first time.

Granted, it’s a silly concept and treats themes like cabin fever and social change with a decidedly blithe mood, but if you can accept the overlooked-for-decades bunker idea, the comedy never becomes too absurd or unbelievable. Perhaps the best aspect of this fish-out-of-water generational satire is that it doesn’t portray the Webbers and their early ‘60s values as backwards or outdated (like Pleasantville, for example), not even their Christian faith and righteous indignation toward profanity. Instead, most of the humor comes from the contrast between their wholesome naiveté and the big, bad modern world of 1999, like when Calvin’s first encounter with a street walker makes him think the earth is overrun by mutants.

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Fraser plays Adam with happy-go-lucky gusto, finding a much-desired girlfriend in Alicia Silverstone’s cynical Eve. The film’s respect toward nostalgia for the good-old days is plain in Eve’s gradual transition from thinking Adam’s crazy to admiring his sense of chivalry and innocence. As a whole, the film entertains by finding the humor in how things change over the years without mocking the past or present too harshly. I was also thunderstruck by the sudden appearance of a very young Nathan Fillion, three years before Firefly, making me wish for a less under-played showdown between Mal Reynolds and Rick O’Connell. While a sheltered boy locked in a room for years has dramatic potential (as in Room), Blast from the Past makes the situation consistently funny; it’s a refreshing and clever trifle of a comedy, one that made me miss the good-old days of Brendan Fraser’s heyday.

Best line: (Eve’s friend Troy, of Adam) “You know, I asked him about that. He said, good manners are just a way of showing other people we have respect for them. See, I didn’t know that. I thought it was just a way of acting all superior. Oh, and you know what else he told me?”
(Eve) “What?”
(Troy) “He thinks I’m a gentleman and you’re a lady.”
(Eve) “Well, consider the source! I don’t even know what a lady is.”
(Troy) “I know, I mean I thought a “gentleman” was somebody that owned horses. But it turns out, his short and simple definition of a lady or a gentleman is someone who always tries to make sure the people around him or her are as comfortable as possible.”
(Eve) “Where do you think he got all that information?”
(Troy) “From the oddest place: his parents. I mean, I don’t think I got that memo from mine.”

 

Rank:  List Runner-Up

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
471 Followers and Counting

 

The Lego Movie (2014)

07 Friday Apr 2017

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(The prompt for Day 7 of NaPoWriMo was to write a poem centered around luck or fortuitousness, such as finding something you didn’t know you’d lost.)

 

I found a lonely Lego head
That rolled out when I moved the bed,
A static smile on its face
And of his body not a trace.
What toys I’d played with in his stead—
He did not care, his smile said.

Where he was from, I could not say,
Nor what I’d used him for that day—
What worlds and exploits I’d created
Before he was decapitated,
Perhaps a knight as dragon prey
Or zombie falling to decay.

Though gone was every fellow piece,
His smile never seemed to cease.
Alone no more on outcast ground,
His hopes were met, and he was found.
His smile chides my lack of peace.
I wait, as well, for my release.
________________

MPAA rating: PG

When The Lego Movie burst on the scene in February of 2014, it’s safe to say that it surpassed expectations. Many smaller and lamer Lego animations had preceded it on television, and mediocrity seemed to be its destiny. Then lo and behold, the reviews came back positive, and directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, also behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, proved they could breathe hilarious life into the most unlikely subjects. I can’t wait to see what they do with the upcoming Han Solo spinoff.

Image result for the lego movie 2014 couch

The Lego Movie is hard to sum up because it’s a lot of things at once. At one level, it’s an ultra-fast-paced adventure about a normal nobody named Emmett (Chris Pratt), drawn into a larger world of Master Builders to thwart the evil plans of a tyrant (Will Ferrell). You know, typical hero journey stuff. Yet, at the same time, it’s an ironically self-aware multiverse of franchise crossovers, a stimulating commentary on specialness and self-invention, a critique of the extremes of both conformity and anarchy, a cornucopia of parody opportunities, and even a transcendently sweet example of the value of playtime. You know, not so typical animated stuff.

With its constantly frenetic pace designed for short attention spans, it’s not always easy to keep up, but there’s literally something for everyone to enjoy and laugh at. The characters are as diverse as they come: you’ve got instruction-following everyman Emmett, who discovers the Piece of Resistance and is suddenly labeled “the Special”; love interest Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks), who’s an obvious imitator of Trinity from The Matrix; Batman himself (Will Arnett), whose eccentricities are raised to jerk levels; the wizard Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), whose prophecies are true because they rhyme; and ever-joyful Unikitty (Alison Brie) from Cloud Cuckooland, who for some reason is my favorite of the bunch. Not to mention the enormous supporting cast of foes and friends from franchises only a Lego movie could mash together.

Image result for the lego movie 2014 master builder meeting

Overall, The Lego Movie is a good amount of fun with some surprising depth for those looking past the vibrant colors and manic action. It’s not quite as funny as it tries to be or as sensational as its biggest fans treat it, but the sheer number of jokes and themes on display manage to hit more than they miss. The computer animation is unique in how it appears as stop motion, and this visual distinction heightens the sense of watching Lego creations that could actually be built if they moved with the imagination-directed smoothness of those microbots in Big Hero 6. The film’s hyperactivity would be harder to watch in larger doses (which is why my VC didn’t care for it), but the sharp social satire and brilliant cacophony of spoofs distinguish The Lego Movie as “special” among modern animated films.

Best line: (Emmett, upon being told of the villain and his evil corporation) “President Business is going to end the world? But he’s such a good guy! And Octan, they make good stuff: music, dairy products, coffee, TV shows, surveillance systems, all history books, voting machines… wait a minute!”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
464 Followers and Counting

 

The Visit (2015)

06 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(Today’s NaPoWriMo prompt was for a poem that looks at something from different viewpoints, such as how differently children view their grandparents.)

 

A visit with grandparents can be generous and merry;
Depending on the child, though, reactions often vary.

I.

Eager meeting, cheers of greeting,
Warm embraces, tender faces,
Cookies, pies, and counsel wise,
And cash they share for being there.
The rarity of reprimand
Will make you wish all parents were grand.

II.

Cheeky pinching, optic squinching,
Cling embraces, wrinkled faces,
Jell-O, prunes, and no cartoons,
And elder smells from creams and gels.
You wipe off lipstick with your sleeve
And count the minutes till you leave.

III.

Basements dreary, habits eerie,
Laughs as cackles, rules as shackles;
Attempts at cheer inspire fear,
An aged nightmare to keep you there.
Although dread comes with every visit,
I’m sure it’s nothing to fear, or is it?
_________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

After a string of films that ranged from poor to terrible (The Last Airbender being the absolute worst), M. Night Shyamalan gave his fans hope of a comeback with The Visit, a small but effective found-footage horror for everyone who was ever afraid of their grandparents. (Not me, of course.) Becca (Olivia DeJonge) and her younger brother Tyler (Ed Oxenbould) finally get to meet their grandparents, who reach out to their estranged daughter (Kathryn Hahn) and propose a five-day visit. While Mom is off on a cruise, the kids enjoy quality time with Nana (Deanna Dunagan) and Pop Pop (Peter McRobbie), a week that slowly takes a turn for the weird.

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I’ve never been a fan of the shaky-cam found-footage style, except for Lunopolis, but The Visit finds a decent reason for everything to be caught on tape, namely Becca’s attempt to help her mom and grandparents reconcile through her recordings and interviews. Plus, she’s an aspiring filmmaker, and she and her brother apparently enjoy filming everything. At first, they record the quaint pleasures of meeting new family members and good-natured sibling bickering, but soon Pop Pop and especially Nana begin showing signs of bizarre behavior, particularly after dark. The first-person perspective does lend itself to some genuinely creepy moments, from an intense game of tag in the house’s crawlspace to slow reveals as the camera-holder approaches something eerie. In true horror fashion, Shyamalan imbues tension into seemingly ordinary things, like cleaning the oven, and in true Shyamalan fashion, there are clues dropped that don’t make total sense until a certain twist.

The one thing that I can’t quite reconcile is the description of The Visit as a horror comedy. I suppose it’s laughable that the kids and their mother at first blame the grandparents’ abnormalities on just being old, but there’s little here that I would consider funny, unless you’re amused by intense weirdness. In addition, the final explanation for everything has some shock value at first, but how it plays out is rather conventional, detracting from all the buildup. I did admire the fine performances and some subtle themes of forgiveness and letting go of resentment, especially at the end, but, even if it’s a step in the right direction, The Visit is still a far cry from Shyamalan’s early successes.

Best line: (Becca, explaining away a midnight snack) “I can’t sleep. I need Nana’s cookies. I’m gonna turn a personal addiction into a positive cinematic moment.”

 

Rank:  Honorable Mention

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
463 Followers and Counting

 

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

01 Saturday Apr 2017

Posted by in Movies, NaPoWriMo, Poetry, Reviews, Writing

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(For Day 1 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was to write a poem in the style of former U.S. Poet Laureate Kay Ryan, which might be summed up as short lines, tight rhymes, and deep thoughts.)

 

The urge to run,
To risk and dare
With the nerve to splurge
Is a powerful one.
Why stay put
With an itchy foot
When fun is
To be had out there?
A still life is fine,
Nothing bad, no offense,
But I swear
Between me
And life checked by design,
The difference
Is the same
Between watching a film
And a frame.
___________________

MPAA rating: PG-13

Back when Leonardo DiCaprio still had his Jack Dawson boyishness about him, he starred in Catch Me If You Can, Steven Spielberg’s con artist lark based on real life forger Frank Abagnale. This story of a man who impersonated an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer and stole millions of dollars back in the 1960s isn’t nearly as heavy as the actual consequences of those actions, but Spielberg hits a good mix of tone and style.

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The trickiest part of this kind of story was making Frank likable enough for the audience to sympathize with him, despite the wanton fraud he commits, and it’s done rather effortlessly by DiCaprio’s natural appeal and a look into his childhood. Following the example of his cajoling father (Christopher Walken), Frank enjoys misrepresenting himself and pushes to see how far his fibs can go, especially after his family is torn apart by financial trouble and divorce. Once he runs away, he becomes a master of forging checks and bluffing his way through any obstruction; his schemes soon catch the notice of FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks, less likable than usual), and the chase is on.

Catch Me If You Can presents its subject with some subtle skill. On the one hand, there’s the risky romance of Frank pushing every boundary he can, fueled by the thrill of the chase and an unwillingness to give up. Plus, it’s just fascinating to watch feats of duplicity from the ‘60s that I doubt anyone could get away with nowadays. Yet at the same time, Frank is something of a tragic figure as well, deprived of a normal family or love life. His early failed fraud attempts show he’s a fallible kid who simply got better with practice, and at the end of the day, he can’t escape the loneliness of his rootless impostor existence, especially when the only person you have to call on Christmas Eve is the FBI agent hunting you.

As well as it handles its subject matter, the film can’t quite escape the fact that its protagonist is a criminal, an objection that is probably personal on my part since I’ve never been a fan of heist films. It’s entertaining to watch his devil-may-care adventures, but it’s still wrong, especially how he dumps a would-be fiancée (very young Amy Adams) for the sake of escape, an offense the film never revisits. Thankfully, the final ten minutes or so vastly improve and redeem the true-crime narrative by utilizing Frank’s experience and attention to detail and bringing some constructive good out of it all.

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Spielberg’s version of events apparently changes some aspects of the history, but the real Abagnale didn’t mind the embellishments (which isn’t surprising) and approved of the finished film. Catch Me If You Can serves as an entertaining outlet for Spielberg, Hanks, and especially DiCaprio and Walken, and while it proves crime can pay in the end, the life of a fraud can be deeper than it looks.

Best line: (Frank, finally telling the truth) “Brenda, I don’t want to lie to you anymore. All right? I’m not a doctor. I never went to medical school. I’m not a lawyer, or a Harvard graduate, or a Lutheran. Brenda, I ran away from home a year and a half ago when I was 16.”   (Brenda) “Frank? Frank? You’re not a Lutheran?”

 

Rank: List Runner-Up

 

© 2017 S.G. Liput
460 Followers and Counting