Sugar - "Baseball Uncoated"

Check out my newest DVD review for Chud.com!


**** Four Stars - Definitely see this film

Sugar is available now on DVD and Blu-ray Disc

9 - “Denyin’ 9”

Screenplay by Pamela Pettler
Story and Directed by Shane Acker


The humans are all dead. Life on planet Earth is over, destroyed by an uprising of intelligent robots. All that remains are nine small sackcloth people, each numbered and given distinct personalities. Their origin is somewhat a mystery, and the lives of the first eight consist mainly of trying to avoid death at the hands of a cat-like robot creature. 9 (Elijah Wood) suddenly awakens after a long dormancy to find himself flung into this world, being brought up to speed by 2 (Martin Landau), who he meets first but is quickly captured by the creature and 1 (Christopher Plummer), an old grouch who leads the rest of the group. 9 doesn’t play by 1’s rules, and at every turn follows his own instincts about how to improve their lives and ultimately make life safe for them.

The world they occupy is a bombed out war zone, seen from their six inch tall point of view. All kinds of mechanical pieces of the world and rubble from buildings make up the dangerous world they live in. The church used as a home base is like a football stadium to these tiny numbered men (and woman). The small details and inventiveness of these backgrounds are some of the best aspects of the film. No wonder someone with a passion for production design like Tim Burton would attach himself to the project as a producer.

At its best, 9 is a film that has thrills. The adventures that these sack-people go though are engaging and never dull. The camera often sweeps around the action in such a whirly-bird way that any notions that such a tale would be better served in another animation medium (like stop-motion) are dashed quickly (though Coraline does achieve one or two of these camera moves- tremendously more difficult when not done in CG). Whether it be running from one monster or chasing another, on the whole the fight scenes are well choreographed. That is, except when too many characters are involved, and the film purposely chooses to forget a few of them for a moment. It is these conveniences that help move the plot along at its fast clip, but also contribute to a lot of plot holes and moments when the audience is expected to simply go along with it all because that is what is happening now. Ultimately too many of these scenes with “subtle” gaps in them occur, to the point of becoming the dominant form of storytelling throughout the film.

Dialogue in the film is used frustratingly in a simple manner, where it only occurs to give us a simple line to explain what is going on now. Things along the lines of:
“I’m going to go there to rescue someone now.”
“No, I don’t want you to go.”
“But I have to go to find the thing we are searching for to help rescue life as we know it.”
“Then I will go with you to help, but only so I can serve a plot device later.”
Of course, this is exaggerated. But it really feels like this is what is being said at almost every turn and it hampers the movie from achieving any cohesive emotional impact every time. You get so used to it as an audience member that when a moment comes late in the film where a moment of important planning is completely understated, you get confused. 9 hints a plan to 5, without telling him a single thing. 5 then naturally understands the entire plan, to the point where you question if 9 intended that at all in the first place. And it turns out he did. Oh well. The (almost mandatory at this point for an animated film) celebrity cast that also includes John C. Reilly and Jennifer Connelly is wasted on such dialogue.

There is a certain technological or political lesson lurking below this world, that machines will one day destroy us, or that our government will betray us and get everyone killed. Yet it is a Computer Graphics animated film. Again, why I would make a case for why this film may have otherwise been made with stop motion animation. But like the rest of the story, it is best to not think too hard about that. The film’s ending kind of makes sense, but not really. Somehow 9 knows the secret way to redeem the entire situation through a ritual that he was never shown nor was hinted at (I guess it’s just another of the instinctual gut feelings he has). In the end we kind of get a sense of redemption, an uplifting moment for the human soul, but is it really? Some of the nine sack-people have gone on to another place and we leave our remaining characters alone in this shell of a lifeless world. What do they have? What will they do with their lives from this point forth? Seemingly nothing.

9 Came out in a tough year. Not only is it unfortunately now part of the 2009 “nine trilogy” (with District 9 and the musical Nine), but it also faces stiff competition from more animated films this year than any this reviewer can recall. In any other year, 9 might be a welcome change of pace to the Disney and Dreamworks dominated animation scene. But instead, this inventive and fairly independent (Tim Burton and Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov threw their weight behind the project as producers) CG animated film is merely another one on the pile, held back by a weak script.


** Two Stars – Watch it if you Must

9 was released last week and is now available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Up in the Air - “Grounded, With Its Head in the Clouds”

Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
Directed by Jason Reitman


Jason Reitman makes films about modern people. There is a common theme to his work that focuses on the slight outsider, the one who is living life as we now begin to define it, making their own rules in the ever evolving landscape of American life. His third and latest film, Up in the Air, follows Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), a man who fires people for a living. He lives city to city, flight to flight, frequent flier mile to frequent flier mile and enjoys every moment of it all. He is great at his job and resents the presence of a young upstart named Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) who is trying to restructure the way his business works. Along the way Ryan also meets Alex (Vera Farmiga), another perpetual plane-dweller who sparks a casual love interest and is a partner in getting laid over in any random city.

Timeliness seems essential to this film. Unlike many films which strive (and fail) to remain timeless, ‘Air’ is rather proud of steaking the ground and claiming itself as a reflection of the current economic and social climate of the U.S.A. Post-9/11 difficulties in air travel (and how to avoid them) are something that few films have addressed with such skill. When Natalie shows up at the airport planning to travel like a person would have ten or twenty years ago, she is scorned. Natalie also brings a major theme of modern technology to the table in pushing for webchat-enabled remote firings which would slash the company’s travel budget and Bingham’s hopes to stay airborne for the rest of his life. Bingham, who is oft-reminded of his being old in the film, represents a level of face to face interaction that can never be replaced. While the rest of the world might cling to their wife or kids for their few minutes away from a screen, he is happy to actually be surrounded by people all day (even if they have a fake level of courtesy or are complete strangers). As much as he may use his smart phone or laptop, he has no cubicle or office to be stuck in.

The first act really flies. The editing is quick paced and top notch as we are acquainted with the single serving life that Bingham leads. This sets up a recurring theme throughout the film where “baggage” is used both literally and metaphorically. He preaches this level of solitude in a traveling seminar where he tells you to not carry the weight of anything in life that can’t fit in your little backpack. Bingham only owns one set of clothes which come with him at all times in his durable, precisely laid out suitcase. He has estranged himself from family, shows no signs of having friends, and seems quite happy to be at a loss of all the things people complain are depending on them when they get fired.

There are three sequences with real laid off workers throughout the film (telling their horror stories, not being fired on camera). The first two of these are fairly seamlessly cut together with a scene of an actor (Zach Galifianakis, J.K. Simmons) interacting with Bingham and the events at hand. The performances of the actors shown against real people are strong enough that they flow without a hitch, a credit both to the director and these two fine character actors. The third sequence is the same people we have seen previously discussing how their lives really did get a positive new focus after being fired. The real reactions being given by those interviewed give an authenticity to the proceedings that the film seems to strive for.

THESE REST OF THE REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS
Bingham’s one relationship that almost convinces him to forego his life as a baggage-less person is with Alex, who as she says, should be imagined as Ryan Bingham “but with a vagina”. The life they have together meeting up whenever they can is too good to be true and is ultimately built on a superficial idea of status cards. When Bingham seems to reach a point of willingness to give up his job, effectively his life, and leaves the conference where he is speaking in Las Vegas to see her in her home in Chicago, he (somewhat predictably) only finds disappointment in learning she has a husband and family. The life Alex lives on the road is not the one she has at home. What’s more, the film fairly clearly suggests that Alex is a nymphomaniac. The way she has adventurous sex with Bingham is one thing, but you get the feeling that he is not the only one she has this relationship with. Additionally she mentions having joined the mile high club on a domestic regional flight during the day, and masturbates before she even texts Ryan to talk one night. These are signs of a woman who is not only adulterous, but obsessively so.

After the dissolution of his relationship with Alex everything in Bingham’s life takes on a different light. The ending, which is somewhat open ended, can be translated three-fold as I see it. One is the happy ending. Ryan has ended up exactly where he was when we met him, and after everything he has gone through he decides to leave that baggage behind (literally) as he lets go of his bag and looks up at the big board of flights to take Natalie’s advice to just fly anywhere you want once he has reached his goal of elite status as only the seventh person to ever accumulate 10 million frequent flier miles. Cut to the clouds, and he is off on his journey to anywhere.

The second ending is the mundane ending. Bingham has been reinstated at his job and everything is right where he wanted it to be before Natalie started messing things up for him. He goes back to following his own advice to shed everything that didn’t fit in his backpack. Alex is gone, Natalie is too. He recommends her for her new position in San Francisco because he is showing he is right about how you have to leave everything but the job behind. He has lost his second career as a motivational speaker but that was extraneous and had to be cut. He is the Ryan Bingham we met before, once again suppressing the bad things that have tried to sidetrack him throughout life and continuing to be an excellent fire-for-hire.

The third ending is the dark ending. His willingness to extend himself to Alex ended in failure. In the process he realized the status card lifestyle has lost its’ luster. When Bingham achieves his goal of ten million miles, the moment is utterly futile and as he states, he has gone through this so many times in his head but now he doesn’t know what to say. He is back in the job exactly where he was at the beginning of the entire ordeal, and the distance with his own family has finally come to a place where he understands that he will never be close with them (even if he wanted to be) because of his own coldness. He gets asked by his boss (Jason Bateman) if he remembers a woman who threatened to jump off a bridge during a firing. He says no, but of course we know he does. This puts a seed into his mind. He ends up at the airport, lets go of his bag, effectively his life, and looks up at the meaninglessness of the big board and its’ endless flights around the country. We see his face one last time realizing this, and then we cut to an extended shot of floating through the clouds in silence. Ryan Bingham has committed suicide.

END OF MAJOR SPOILERS


**** Four Stars - Definitely see this film

Up In the Air is now playing in theaters everywhere is has been nominated for six Golden Globe awards.

Black Dynamite - “Black Gold”

Screenplay by Michael Jai White & Byron Minns & Scott Sanders
Directed by Scott Sanders

Black Dynamite is hilarious. Anything you've heard about any other movie being the funniest film of 2009 is pure lies. It's a little bit Enter the Dragon and a little bit Shaft by way of something like Young Frankenstein, where the films being made fun of are both shown respect and ripped to shreds. It is the mid-1970's and Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) is a former CIA operative and Vietnam veteran who just wants his streets cleaned up. For too long 'the man' has been pushing drugs and guns on his people (including orphans!) and to end it, he'll go to any lengths necessary. This of course means shooting a whole bunch of people (in amazingly fake ways) and using kung fu (at which he has no equal). Needless to say, the plot hardly matters but it is refreshing to find an absurdist comedy that doesn't just ignore plot, but uses it as a tool for comedy.

Where films like Undercover Brother and Kung Pow: Enter the Fist failed in capturing a mix of humor and the blaxsploitation / kung fu cinema style, this one succeeds. It is the best period-parody film since 2001's Wet Hot American Summer. When Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez made their 2007 Grindhouse project they focused so much on the scratches and lost reels of film that they lost what made those films fun- bad acting and genuine errors from filmmakers just trying to make the best film they can with the budget they have. 'Dynamite' understands this and knows how to let the joke be the sincere attempt at greatness. One scene which has the only boom-mic in shot joke in the film succeeds because of the actor's uncertainty whether to continue after it hits his afro. Within a beat he looks around and then gets back in character and delivers the scene. It's a quick moment and is relatively subtle as far as boom-mic jokes go making that much funnier.

Cameos abound in the film; Arsenio Hall, Cedric Yarborough, Richard Edson and Brian McKnight all make appearances. Forgotten comedian Tommy Davidson also has a role in the film as “Creamed Corn”, a pimp who assists Dynamite. Davidson may be the weak link in the bunch, but each is obviously enjoying their chance to chew scenery and make a dedication to the films they (probably) grew up watching. Everyone involved was clearly approaching the film from a place of love, especially Jai White, who carries the film. He is clearly following the lesson of original blaxsploitation filmmakers like Melvin Van Peebles that if you want to make a movie you just make the damn movie. If one was not in on the joke, they could take the film as a serious attempt at this type of cinema.

The Kentucky Fried Movie may have been first in parodying this entire genre of film, but Black Dynamite has become a welcome addition. The movie actually includes the line “First Lady, I'm sorry I pimp slapped you into that china cabinet” and a shootout in a donut shop. A few people have talked of how the joke stretches a bit long and that the film has effectively outstayed its welcome by the time Black Dynamite leaves Kung Fu Island. But I would say the joke going further is necessary to truly capture the laborious experience of watching one of these films. It is at this point that the film does have it's one “out of character” effects shot, but I'm willing to forgive it for the ridiculous way they cheat their filming locations in the final sequence and the final battle that takes place afterward.

This reviewer is a tough sell for comedies- a smirk or chuckle one will normally get out of me. Here there was no shortage of genuinely laughing out loud. To ruin the many gags (often as subtle as a certain look or line delivery) would be a sin so let's leave it at “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Black Dynamite are a double feature made in heaven”. The rewatchability of the latter may even come close to the former. For fans of both Bruce Lee and silly.


**** Four Stars - Definitely see this film

Black Dynamite will be released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on February 16th, 2010.

Extract - "Do Yourself A Flavor"

Written and Directed by Mike Judge

‘Extract’ tells the tale of Joel (Jason Bateman), the owner of an Extract company that produces the flavors we all know and love for vanilla, cherry, root beer and the like. It’s not a big operation, but Joel built it up himself out of his love for engineering tastes. He knows everyone in the company, unlike his business partner Brian (J.K. Simmons, hilariously flabbergasted as always) who simply refers to all the employees as “dinkus”. The manufacturing floor is filled with colorful characters as Mike (Office Space, Beavis & Butthead) Judge is known to do, usually people at differing levels of idiocy. There is the thrash metal-loving fork lift operator, the woman who blames everyone else for her problems, and of course the one dude who unquestionably loves his job, Step (Clifton Collins, Jr.). One day a series of accidents transpire that lead to Step losing his nuts (well, one gets reattached) and a sexy con artist Cindy (Mila Kunis) moves to town to try to take advantage of the situation.

This is only one of the many problems that are now plaguing Joel. He hasn’t slept with his wife (Kristen Wiig) in months (once 8 o’clock arrives and the sweatpants are put on, he has no chance), his annoying neighbor (David Koechner) won’t leave him alone, and he may have the chance to sell the company to General Mills for a huge profit if only he can settle the nut-losing issue. Of course, along the way he falls in love with Cindy but won’t cheat on his wife unless she was cheating first so his best friend Dean (Ben Affleck) convinces him to hire a gigolo to trap her into it. All of these balls go up into the air and play out in a hilarious manner that marks Judge’s return to the style of his cult-classic ‘Office Space’ after the abysmal ‘Idiocracy’.

Much like a well-made modern sitcom, this film is low on technical savvy and heavy on great delivery of a hilarious script. Each role is well cast (even if it is at times typecasting), and the hijinks ensue in a way that doesn't insult your intelligence (because it's insulting the characters). Koechner stands out as the type of guy who is just realistic enough that his annoying habits could be understood. And yet we cringe- knowing that such a person exists is so much worse than a cartoon of the neighbor who won't leave you alone.

The problem is that everything wraps up in such a neat package in the end. Lessons may have been learned and the status quo has returned like in an episode of “Andy Griffith”. In ‘Office Space’ there was a certain urgency to try and reverse the computer virus that ultimately culminated in burning down the building (Spoiler?). Here, we get a sort of tacked on situational ending with a happy ending where everything is tied up nicely. The momentum of the whole thing breaks as soon as Joel has finally solves his sex issue.

I actually wondered whether the film would have worked better as a TV show and decided that there wasn’t longevity to the concept. But on the other hand, I could see it happening- the weekly adventures of a small extract manufacturing plant, where everyone is such a character. Twelve years of working on ‘King of the Hill’ must have nurtured Judge’s mindset for this sort of TV-ready style. Either that or it’s a direct reaction to the high concept failure of ‘Idiocracy’, which despite its budget, reached for the stars. As much as I may compare it to television, there is still a crackling wit throughout and some of the funniest lines I’ve heard in 2009. I would recommend renting this at least once, definitely.


*** Three Stars – Take it or leave it

Extract is available this week on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

Earth - "Our Planet, In Short"

My complete Blu-ray disc review is available at Chud.com

My first official review as staff!

Inglourious Basterds - "Who's The Bastard?"

Written and Directed by Quentin Tarantino


Inglourious Basterds was not what I expected. Walking into the film, I was expecting a film (as advertised) about a group of rag tag Jewish American soldiers, hacking their way through Germany under the leadership of Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). In truth, they play only a small part in the film. In fact, I would suggest that despite referring to themselves as such, they aren't even really the inglorious bastards of the film. That award belongs to Christophe Waltz's Col. Hans Landa, who rules every scene he is in with a charismatic fist. One could also make the case that the title refers to every central character of the film, who as much as I hate to admit it, is portrayed as both inglorious and bastardly at times.

The Jew who truly attacks the Nazis is Shosanna Dreyfuss (Melanie Laurent), a Jewish survivor of an attack in France, and now owner of a movie theater in Paris under the name Emmanuelle Mimieux. The Nazi war hero and film fan Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) is enamored with her and arranges to have the film premiere of Joseph Goebbel's next “masterpiece”at her theater. Shosanna decides that she will destroy the theater and everyone inside or die trying. It's hard to say who the true protagonist of the film is- Raine, Landa or Dreyfuss. But Shosanna certainly takes center stage for conceiving of the plot that the Allied forces then involve themselves (and specifically the Basterds) in that they dub “Project Kino”. The problem here is that we never see any indication of Shosanna getting the word out about her plan to the Allied forces, so either they conveniently come up with the exact same plan on their own or it's a plot hole.

Like most Quentin Tarantino films, this is sectional. Each chapter is essentially one long scene with brief intercutting. When each play out in a similar way there is a certain monotony to it, but never lethargy. What this accomplishes is probably the film's greatest feat- a dramatic tension that continually builds, usually ending in quick moments of tragedy. This is a direct nod to one of Tarantino's idols, the great Italian director Sergio (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Once Upon A Time in America) Leone. The opening scene, where Col. Landa visits a dairy farm in the French countryside, plays out (and is shot like) a combination of the second scene of TGTB&TU (Lee Van Cleef's the intimidating villain, visits a man's home), the scene from Orson Welles' Citizen Kane where a young Charles Foster Kane is essentially sold by his parents to a rich man, and a bit of the John Ford classic The Searchers thrown in for good measure. This is a tremendous feat, combining such masterstrokes of cinema and creating a new one in the process.

The serialized aspect of the film gives us many opportunities to see different aspects of the action from different characters points of view. Unfortunately, I was also left wondering where in the hell the other four Basterds (the most notably being Samm Levine) disappear off to while we follow the story of everyone else. Why have these missing men around in the first place? They serve little to no purpose and their assignment to collect the scalps of 100 Nazi soldiers given to them by Lt. Raine never really comes to fruition. One can assume that they were quite successful off-screen in this regard, but in a film that draws heavily on “ragtag soldiers with a mission” films, you would think that they could at least off handedly mention the whereabouts of the missing Basterds. I guess since every other character is given such a key role that is never wasted, why even include those that are in the first place?

(THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPHS CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS)
Once Landa's presence and renown as a “Jew-Killer” is established, any time he reappears the tension follows. His story is odd though, because we never truly understand his motivation for making a deal to end the war and let his superiors be killed. The first indication we get of a weakness is that after he kills the Jewish family hiding in the farmer's house, he allows the daughter, Shosanna Dreyfuss, to run off into the hills making a conscious decision to not shoot her. Previously in this scene Landa explains his appreciation for the nickname he has been given, but then we never see him personally kill any Jews at any point in the film. In fact, holding himself from shooting Shosanna implies he isn't what he makes himself out to be. Later, he and Shosanna, as Emmanuelle meet again at Goebbel's table. Landa orders milk with the strudel for Shosanna, a nod to his knowledge of her secret dairy farm past. And yet, again allows her to go. He allows the plan to kill all the high ranking officials of the Third Reich to go through, apparently with his full knowledge. But still, he murders Bridget von Hammersmark with his bare hands for being a double agent and for trying to do exactly what he allows to happen. Why murder von Hammersmark only to soon after become a double-crosser himself? And why would he trust himself to the hands of Aldo Raine, whom he knows to be a savage? The “twist” of Landa betraying his fatherland seems to come from nowhere. He does admit a different feeling toward being referred to as the “Jew-Killer” when speaking with Raine at the climax of the film, shrugging it off as a nickname he never asked for. But this doesn't explain why he would simply give up on the life he built for himself in Germany, a life he seems otherwise quite proud to live.

Much has been said about the film being a “Jewish fantasy” film, reclaiming the notion that Jews can in fact fight back (an absurd notion in some ways), and in this case, indulge in wish fulfillment like personally killing Hitler and his ilk. I don’t really think the film actually is successful at this for several reasons. One, only one Jew in the whole film survives the ordeal. Two, the film dances with dangerously iffy political notions in having so much Jewish self sacrifice going on. Sgt. Donny Donnowitz (Eli Roth) A.K.A. “The Bear Jew” (and also the weakest actor in the whole film, who because of his terrible accent ends up as more of a cartoon than Hitler is portrayed as) and Pfc. Omar Ullmer (Omar Doom) end up firing round after round of ammunition into a screaming crowd that will die in a fire anyway with a look of haunting look of glee on their faces. But that’s not the worst part- the fact that they decide to remain there, blowing themselves up with dynamite instead of setting the bombs and leaving- can’t help but draw a connection to the ongoing suicide/homicide bombings of horror that continue to plague the state of Israel. Whether the filmmaker intended it or not, he is paralleling Jews attacking Nazis and Palestinian attacks on Israel, something that takes the notion of a Jewish revenge fantasy that Tarantino talked up in interviews into a dangerous opposite direction.

Also heartbreaking is the death of Shosanna, who is taking the most direct revenge of all. She is the true hero of the film and to see her taken down in such a way is painful. If it wasn’t for the glee shown in the violence throughout the film, I would say that the film was trying to show the futility of getting back at those who wronged you. Yet again we are left with the feeling of what did it all add up to in the end? Sure the war is over, but why does this revisionist take on history have to show us the continued death of Jews, especially ones we have become attached to for their vigilance in standing up against those that wronged them and their families.
(END SPOILERS)


Tarantino’s formula for filmmaking is out in full force here. References to an endless array of world cinema (love the nods to Bavarian mountain films, an oft forgotten era of German cinema), long speeches that take on different dramas the longer they continue, Mexican standoffs, close-ups of women's feet, it's all at play here. This may be his best film to date, because it mixes the stage play-like drawn out scenes of Reservoir Dogs with the serialization of Pulp Fiction with the complex combination of his influences into a cohesive animal that is Kill Bill, without resorting to cartoonishness. When he does break the carefully woven universe the film occupies, it stands out negatively. There is no reason to stamp the screen with a grindhouse-eque name plate for Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) and the narration by Samuel L. Jackson, whose voice is jarringly out of place in this film. Yet he holds to the period more often than not, and seems to be having fun in the process.


**** Four Stars – Definitely see this film

Inglourious Basterds is available now on DVD and Blu-ray disc.