More Mel

This week's radio/podcast review is Edge of Darkness.

In short it's a mess. Cramming the plot from the original BBC miniseries (right) into a 2hour flick just doesn't work.

The big question of course is just how Mel would do, returning acting after an 8 year absence.

I have to say the results are disappointing. The new Mel just seems angier. It's Mel against the world, nothing new.

If you're looking for a little more context on the return of Mel, let me suggest two links.

This is an interview with Mel done by a local entertainment reporter who had the temerity to bring up the whole racist drunk driver episode. The results are uncomfortable and I'd suggest illustrative.

The Shadow in his smile, is an excellent article by Geoff Boucher of the LA Times. He actually got to spend some time with the man and gets a sense of how he's struggling to put the past behind him.

As for reasons to watch Edge of Darkness? Danny Huston plays a great piece of corporate scum. Ray Winstone is fine, but really why wouldn't you just rent Sexy Beast instead?

Yay for Yuri (2012)

So I liked 2012. (mild spoilers follow)

I know it's disaster porn of the highest order, the characters are as paper-thin as the buildings appear to be and the dialogue is atrocious. But come on... no one's going to this one for memorable moments. We're going to watch big things fall down and go boom.

And measuring 2012 on the boom-a-meter it gets an 9.5 out of 10. Until someone makes the movie where Earth goes kablooey Emmerich takes the prize for mind-numbing spectacle.

And as is the disaster-film tradition there are a couple campy performances to savor.

Yes there's John Cusack, who does the usual Cusack. It was kind of the producers to allow him to play a writer who wears black the entire time, thereby allowing us to believe in someway he's still the guy from High Fidelity/Say Anything.

But a little-known Croatian actor steals the show. His name is Zlatko Buric and he plays Yuri, the Russian billionaire Cusack's character just happens to work for. Zlatko has a voice like a bass woofer with a vodka-soaked accent to match. Lots of fun.

Also hats off to Tom McCarthy. You know when you're playing the guy competing against John Cusack you're not long for this earth. But considering he's playing a plastic surgeon from Los Angeles he's surprising likable. (If you're trying to place Tom, think of The Wire and don't forget he directed The Visitor.)

Recovering from The Hangover

The Hangover is your raunchy comedy of the week.

From the guy who brought you Old School is a Vegas road movie gone wrong.

I'll say this, they cut a fine trailer for this film. Unfortunately when you see the full version, there's a lot of dead spots between some comic scenes. The tiger, Tyson...it's all there. But the film takes a long time to find its groove. Plus the humour is, well a little to ripe for my tastes. Getting laughs with jokes about the Holocaust and swinging a baby around tend to put me off.

But... and there is a but, two of the players in this are much more interesting than the film itself. Zack Galifianakis has been described as an an alt-comic. What he is, is weird in a good way. Even a Andy Kaufman way. He's been through the crucible of stand up. He's done some TV stuff. Now he's just doing his own thing. It's not funny in a Will Ferrell pratfall way, but it is interesting. Normally I don't go for comedy that comes from an uncomfortable place, but there's a amazing sense of vulnerability with Galifianakis. Certainly someone we'll be seeing more of. Check out this long nytimes profile for starters and here's a hilarious music video he and Wil Oldham did for Kayne West.

(love the jumping tractor)

Another actor that deserves a mention is Ed Helms. You might know him from The Office. He does a nice turn here as the typical henpecked husband. It's time for some new faces in these frat boy movies, and Helms does what he can with this paper-thin part. Great suffering and energy. I hope we see more.

Milton Lives! (Spolight on The Soloist)

I'll be talking about Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx's new movie The Soloist on the ray-dee-oh this Friday. Short version. Liked it. Much better than the trailer suggests and extra point to director Joe Wright for trying a couple new ideas there.




Right from the first scene of this film I got the sense this is a quality movie. Again we're in a newsroom. This time it's the Los Angeles Times. But Wright has this place down. They shot on location, in the newsroom and the atmosphere, the crosstalk sings.






Now..to the point of this post. Remember Milton from Office Space?

Of course you do.

He, meaning Stephen Root makes a great little appearance in the movie as a reporter called Curt.

He's not on screen for long, but it's quality stuff.
Root is one of those actors that's always fun to watch so keep your eyes open.

All in all the cast for The Soloist is quite deep, lot of choice small roles here, this one is recommended.

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Slow Dancing With the Suits (Dissecting Duplicity)

If you’ve seen Michael Clayton you’re ready for Duplicity. Same smart director/writer. This time zooming in on the world of corporate espionage. And as you may have gathered from the trailer this is a much lighter touch than Michael Clayton. What it shares is the same smarts. Director Tony Gilroy has a great eye for casting and rounds out each of the players nicely. There isn’t a throw away part in this film. (Keep your eye out for Thomas McCarthy. He played the reporter with the moral blind spot in The Wire.)

And speaking of small parts and big players, let’s talk about Paul Giamatti. The man can do no wrong. And here he steals the show as one of the two corporate titans facing off against each other. Paul pays Richard Garsik the CEO of a Proctor and Gamble type company. Tom Wilkinson plays his counterpart, Howard Tully the CEO of another similar company.

Needless to say they are at war. Which brings us to The Scene.

In a rainy, blustery day the two CEOs meet on the tarmac of a private airfield.
Jets are parked facing off against each other. Each company, a tight tussle of trench coats and yes men and women surrounding their chief.

Conferring with their subordinates, the two (Paul and Tom) begin to walk towards each other. They meet, they talk. At some point something goes astray. It starts with a poke to the chest. A feeble pushing match begins. Feeble because it’s obvious these two men are used to having others do the pushing. But the shock of physical contact quickly gives way to fury, as the two executives wrestle around in the rain like fifth graders squaring off at recess.

And it all happens in glorious slow motion with nary a single word of dialogue. It’s brilliant, it’s effective and it tells us absolutely everything we need to know about these two characters. Show Don’t Tell indeed.

The best micro moment of this might be the reaction shots of all the yes men and women realizing their bosses are actually touching each other. Gilroy catches the ripple going through the crowd, the split-second hesitancy, the flunkies starting at each other, then sending, pushing one of their own into the breech to pull the two soggy opponents apart.

Love it.

Mad Men (and Women)

Some pre-Oscar cramming going on in G.O.F.land.
This week it's Revolutionary Road.
There's a number of things working for this picture.
Casting for one thing. Leonardo DiCarpio sometimes comes across a little too impish, too baby-faced.
Here it works for him, this sad-sack tale of a married couple who can't sit comfortably in the 1950's conformist lifestyle.
To see Leo sitting in his suit and fedora, it seems big on him. Awkward, but perhaps that's the point. The lifestyle doesn't fit right.
The Titanic duo are back with Kate Winslet playing April, the long-suffering wife straining to find the man she loved when she met him.

Based on the novel by Richard Yates and directed by Sam Mendes the movie is American Beauty-esque. This is about the tyranny of conformity. The dark side of the suburbs, this time with more smoking and hats. And speaking of hats, the art direction and cinematography is impeccable. The movie has a suffocating feel of neatness. Every house looks like the perfect 1950's pad. There are many memorable shots, my fav may be a long shot, the camera staying on the married couple as they silently clomp down an empty school hallway. The click clack of their hard-soled shoes on the linoleum says a lot.

This is not a happy movie. But the filmmakers should be applauded for going as dark as they do. There are also some standout performances. Leo and Kate are great. I found Kate's intensity here terrifying, an intelligent woman, horrified with her lot in life and refusing to settle.

Also another actor to keep an eye out for is Michael Shannon. He plays John, the son of the couple's real estate agent. John is a mathematician but he's having trouble and spent some time in the local sanitarium.

When John drops by the couple's house (on Revolutionary Road, hence the title) he's the voice of reason, spitting and sputtering the truth that few care to admit. It's an amazing, scene-stealing performance. One that's Heath Ledger-like in it's intensity.