RETREAT! RETREAT!

My Couples Retreat review?

Meh.

No it's not the worst comedy in the world.

But it certainly is lame.

Lame, predictable and with about as much bite as a Friends sitcom.

Surprised? I doubt it, but I was disappointed considering the talent available for this one.

As I've being talking about on air, Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughan made a big splash with Swingers in '96. They put their heart on their sleeves, poured their own money into it and made something real, something funny and touching.

You may not have liked the guys hitting the clubs in Swingers but I think you believed them. Do you believe Vince Vaughan as the henpecked husband? Not for a second. It's because Swingers came from a place of truth. Couples Retreat? The place of "Wouldn't it be flash to shoot a film in Bora Bora?"

Alack and alas.

Although I do want to draw your attention to one of my particular hang ups. Trailers That Don't Match Their Movies. If you watch the trailer to Couples Retreat you'll see some shots making it incredibly obvious Jon Favreau and his wife Kristin Davis are cheating on each other.

Now, unless I dozed off it seems those two little moments of infidelity are missing from the movie. Gone. Deleted.

The not-so-happy-couple still act like a couple of cheaters, so why snip out the evidence?

My theory is that when they tested the film audiences didn't like the couple's behaviour. So, bam, it's gone. Although most of us saw it in the trailer anyway. Silly and gutless.

And what about Vince Vaughan? Remember when he first burst on the scene? Sure there was the swagger, but there's was also an edge there. An actor not afraid to push the audience.
So what happened? Well here's his buddy Jon Favreau with the answer. This is from the great show Dinner for 5. It starts with Tony Shalhoub talking about actors who take risks.

(Follow the link or skip ahead to 1.42 in the video below.)

There you go. "Protecting the franchise." Now, of course Favreau wasn't talking about Vaughan there, but it's perfectly applicable. And we all know what the Vince Vaughan franchise is: The smart-ass friend. The angry tall dude with a penchant for put downs. What kills me with something like this is I know Vaughan can be funny. I watched him joshing with the cast during the promotional interviews. He's a naturally charming guy. But not the best choice for a puffy comedy about husbands and wives.

Standing Up for Funny People

I' m talking about Funny People on air today. All in all I'm recommending the film. It's not without some faults, mainly the length and a distracting subplot about a failed relationship.


I say distracting because the best stuff of Funny People comes from the comedy. The craft of comedy. A love letter to the dented souls that decide to get up on stage and make other people laugh. This is director Judd Apatow's most personal film because a lot was taken from his own path. He was the guy, trying to break into the biz. And it was another famous name, Roseanne Barr, who gave him a leg up.





For comedians there's a smorgasbord of stuff here. The cameos are endless. At times it feels like the movie The Artisocrats . Sarah Silverman, Andy Dick, Ray Romano, Norm MacDonald, Paul Reiser (remember him?) and a even a blistering Eminem. No he's not a comedian, but he has one of the funniest moments in the film.


Now the movie is being advertised as an Adam Sandler film. There he is in the middle of the warm and fuzzy poster. But for me this was a Seth Rogen film. Yes, he's funny. There's a scene in a restaurant, where he tries to stop crying, scrunching up his face in a way that had me crying with laughter myself.


But it's also Rogen's mix of vulnerability and intelligence. He comes off as a smart but decent guy. Watching him slowly find his voice and grow as a performer is the best part of the film. Compared to that, Adam Sandler's bitter old rich guy falls a little flat.


One more thing, don't be fooled by the title or trailer, this is a movie with a serious side. With a soundtrack featuring Neil Diamond and James Taylor, you feel Judd Apatow is getting a little melancholy. With my preoccupation with trailers I find it interesting how the original trailer featured Sandler's character jamming with Wilco. The feeling is joyous and celebratory. In the movie we learn Sandler's character has actually paid Wilco, effectively renting them for a couple hours. It's small moment, but heartbreaking and a hint of the some of the darkness hiding under these Funny People. (By that way, the song Sandler's singing in the trailer is actually "Photograph" by Ringo Starr.)


Although it's lopsided, Funny People is worth seeing. For a big Hollywood release Judd Apatow has snuck in a lot of his own life on screen. Talking someone to sleep. A brush with death. The cruelness of crowds. All based on Judd Apatow's own experiences.

Hopefully the fans fall for Funny People the way I did.

Wild About Harry

Yup, it's Harry Potter week here at G.O.F. The poster to the left features the lovely Luna Lovegood. A sadly wasted character in the new film. I hope she gets a bigger part in the final two flicks. (Does she? Tell me, no wait, don't tell me.)


So the movie that's smashing box office records is Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. It's pretty good overall. This is a high quality series, as Nikki Fine put it, it's better than it has to be. Meaning that there's a quadrillion or so Potter fans out there, box office potency is pretty much guaranteed . But regardless, the HP crew go out and do their best to make solid, entertaining movies.



Set design? Lovely. Costumes? Enchanting. Does anybody not believe Hogwarts is a real place? Maybe if we found the right train we could be walking those hallowed halls.



The acting is top notch, someone give the casting director who found Daniel, Emma and Rupert a bonus will ya? My MVP for this movie is Rupert Grint, maybe it's because he was set up to be the odd fish, but seeing Ron Weasley coming into his own is very satisfying. Grint's a great comic actor, able to be goofy and ground the magic wunderkinds at the same time.


My only quibble with the new movie is that ... well it doesn't feel like a movie, more just an installment. Following the outline of the book, the entire film has the feel of an extended set up. The story lacks a true villain, instead of battles there are skirmishes. I can't help but feel the more satisfying way to enjoy this series would be as a mini series or waiting for the Hagrid-sized box set.

Still, for fans, this is a good film, filled with the type of craft we just don't get consistently in the film biz anymore. It'll do, as Farmer Hoggett once said.

Oh, and about that record breaking midnight screening? Well that's what happens when a generation of kids, grow up reading the series. They were 8 or 10 years old when they first cracked open the first book. Now they're certainly old enough to enjoy a late night screening. So it's not that surprising HP raked in 22 million in one night. How many Potter readers are there anyway?


The challenge going forward will be make the next two movies in a way that satisfies the maturing audience. The final two films will screen in late 2010 and 2011! It will be an audience of 20 year olds watching those. Chaste kisses in school hallways and scary spells wont cut it. But I'm looking forward to seeing how the filmmakers raise their game.

THE BEST POTTER SO FAR?

As I had to refresh my memory, it's been so long since the last Potter pic, so I've been thinking about what's my favourite film in the series.


In the end I'll have to go with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Alfonso Cuarón only directed one film, but he was able to push the series to the limit. It was darker and stranger. Gorgeous, gloomy and truly gothic. Remember the triple decker bus? Remember the cast? David "Naked" Thewlis as Prof. Lupin. And Gary Oldman as Sirius Black. Oh, and I almost forgot Emma Thompson.

POST-POTTER BLUES

So what to do now that's you've seen the Half Dead Prince and it's over a year until the next film.
We'll here's a couple suggestions to tide you over.


If you like Rupert Grint. Look for lovely little film called Driving Lessons.

It's about a quiet boy who befriends a retired actress (Julie Waters channeling Katharine Hepburn)…quite charming.

If you like Alan Rickman, and come on, who doesn't? Look for Snow Cake. A Canadian/UK co-production starring Rickman and Sigourney Weaver. A small town story about loss and lust.
If you want to see Prof. Snape caught off guard, this is the one.

(WARNING, TRAILER CONTAINS A SPOILER)

And finally, as always the Potter pics are a smorgasbord of talent. The newest recruit is the droll Jim Broadbent who plays Prof. Slughorn, an expert on potions. If you want to see more of him, in a less fidgety roles, try, Topsy-Turvy. There he plays Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan. Directed by British treasure Mike Leigh in one of Leigh's most accessible and colourful films. You can find that trailer HERE. "Laughter, tears, curtain." as one character says.

Divine Il Divo

A car falls silently into a gravel pit.
The only sound, the chirping of birds.

Cut to: The face of Giulio Andreotti, impassive, frozen, his eyes hidden behind his massive glasses, like two flatscreens tuned to a dead channel.

This is the glory of Il Divo, opening in Toronto today, rolling out across North America.

Il Divo is one of the best films I've seen this year, if not the best. An energetic mix of politics and crime, it has the nerve of a Guy Ritchie film, but the maturity of a mafia classic, such as, yes, The Godfather.


It's a fitting comparison because Il Divo is equally epic in scope. Spanning decades, it follows the life of Giulio Andreotti, who served as Italy's Prime Minister for seven terms. For about as long Andreotti has been dogged by claims of mafia connections, charges of corruption, political assassinations and worse.



The filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino digs into this, not in a linear fashion, but jumping about, bouncing from the streets where killers roam, to corridors of power. Much time is spent in Italy's parliament, where Andreotti's circle of friends, (who carry nicknames like The Shark and The Lemon) ensure the country runs they way they want it to.


It's a fascinating portrait of power, much of it a mystery because the lead actor Toni Servillo gives away so little. Andreotti is an enigma. A face like Henry Kissinger, all jowls and forehead, but behind the accountant's facade, is a monster. The man they call the Black Pope. At a party during one scene, one of the pretty young things asks Andreotti, "Have you ever danced Prime Minister?" "My Whole Life." is the answer.


This is a movie, where the filmmaker is bending the entire medium to his will. The music, motion, acting, even the title credits, all combine to create something thrilling. There are no easy answers. This is not a rant, it's a mystery. Only once does Sorrentino play his hand, allowing Il Divo a peel-the-paint-off-the-walls monologue with a bloody body count.

Winner of the 2008 Jury Prize at Cannes. Watch the trailer here if you need more convincing. Enjoy.

Fireball-Free Films (summer preview)

I know I spend a lot of time raging against the excesses of Hollywood, but a little looking ahead to the movies coming soon gave me cause to hope.
So here's a little list of some (hopefully) smart summer flicks on the way.

MOON

As I said before, this is the Sam Rockwell pic we've been waiting for. That mess called Choke? Forget about it. Never happened. This is some prime stuff coming down the pipe. Sam plays an astronaut running out the end of his three year stint on a lonely lunar base. Then strange things happen. Talking computers & mysterious clones? Sounds good to me. Directed by the freakin-son-of-David-Bowie? Fingers crossed, looks promising.

Open in Toronto on June 3rd.



Il Divo

I recently had the pleasure of seeing this amazing movie and I now understand why Variety called it a masterpiece. Honestly. This is an amazing flick, surely to be one of my top ten of the year. An ambitious tale about the life of seven-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti. This is a pop-opera of crime and corruption, blood and ambition. It has the sizzle of Guy Ritchie at his best, but the stillness of classic mafia tale...(dare I say...Godfather?) Tony Servillo plays Andreotti. With a face like Henry Kissenger it's easy to underestimate the round man with the gentle voice. But behind the billboard-sized glasses is an equally oversized body count.
Do not miss this one.

Opens July 3rd in Toronto.

The Girlfriend Experience

One word. Soderbergh. The director with the limitless range is returning to his experimental roots with this one. A week in the life of a high-class escort as Wall Street starts to fracture. Starring actual porn star Sasha Grey as the escort in question. Is Soderbergh having his way with the audience again? Most likely. Will it be thought provoking? Surely.
And if you think Miss Grey is just a flesh peddler check this top 5 list out. Is she putting us on, or is she smarter than she seems?

Opens June 26th in Toronto and Montreal.

Away We Go

Directed by Sam Mendes this laid-back road trip seems to be hitting the hipsters in the right spot. It's a beautiful trailer but can Mendes deliver? Early reviews are lapping up The Office's John Krasinski's feature role. And it's co-written by some guy named Dave Eggers.

Opens in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal June 12th.
Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Victoria, Ottawa and Halifax June 19th.
(UPDATE: Saw it. Loved it. Smart, sweet and goofy. I can't believe the same man that directed Revolutionary Road did this film. Some touching moments, a lot of cringe-worthy moments, a couple killer lines and a great breakout performance by both leads.)


Whatever Works


A new film from Woody Allen. Say what you will but at this point you have to admire his sheer endurance. I'm not a Larry David fan, so I'm hedging my bets. But I did swoon over Vicky Cristina Barcelona so here's hoping Woody's still got it.


Opens June 26th.



And of course...then there's Transformers 2. Heh. No really folks, lots to look forward to. Enjoy.

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.

Films for a Blue Planet

Ah Earth Day, when Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore and Mother Nature all join hands and dance the dance of melting ice caps, global warming and drinking our coffee in reusable travel mugs.
Let's be honest, with all the green stuff being pushed at us, sometimes Earth Day can feel a little ... artificial.
So if you're looking for some real inspiration, a trip to the video store might be in order...

(As long as you bus, bike or walk there.)

I'm reviewing the new Disneynature film Earth on CBC Radio today. (Dumbed down and Disney-fied but boy it sure is pretty.)

And I'm also offering a list of alternatives. Some green themed movies to get you in the right frame of mind.

So without further ado here are four Earth-friendly films.



Manufactured Landscapes






Canadian Photographer Edward Burtynsky takes photos that are uniquely human and yet alien at the same time. In the documentary Manufactured Landscapes Burtynsky follows the trail of our stuff.
From our marble quarries and mines to tire dumps with mountain of unrecycable black rubber. Nickle tailing mines where a sickly red sea of lava appears to cut across a black empty moonscape. The images are as poetic as they are disturbing. And when you see what happens to junked computer parts in China you'll think twice about putting your monitor on the curb.



Microcosmos





A year in the life of meadow somewhere on Earth. The story is told through amazing marco photography where caterpillars are the size of water buffaloes and falling raindrops burst on the ground like cannon shells. The visuals take the everyday events of insects and give them a heroic narrative. This is movie where you cheer for the dung beetle....now that's a shift in perspective.



Princess Mononokee





One of my favs is actually an animated movie but this is NOT for kids.
Princess Mononoke is a film by Japan's master animator Miyazaki
Set in feudal Japan the movie tells the tale of a princess raised by wolves.
She and her furry friends are fighting off the villagers from an iron mine who want to raze the forest.
No Disney movie, this is a ful- blooded tale of courage and human greed. And if you want to see what happens when Mother Nature turns on you, wait until the end where the forest spirit is unleashed as a headless pool of black bile. The Moral: Don't mess with the Earth Mama.



Waterworld





It's not that bad.

Really.
Alright this isn't the smartest environmental film..but it is fun and it has moments of sparse strong set pieces. (Tip of the hat to my buddy Derek who put me onto this one.)

In 1995 people gasped at the budget of 172 million.
People called it Fishtar, a soggy bomb...but in the name of reuse and recycle go back and give it a chance.

The idea of melting icecaps and world covered by water might have seemed like science fiction, but sadly it's not as laughable now.
And all the Earthiness aside...the movie is better than you thought.
A man, a girl and woman, alone on a boat, in world where soil is worth more than gold.
Yes it features Dennis Hopper as a crazy despot named The Decon...but the best stuff is without dialogue.
Shot in the real ocean, not a pool on a Hollywood parking lot, it's a great yarn, one of the better Kevin Costner hero movies and a nice change from re-watching An Inconvenient Truth.

(Got a green fav of your own? Add it in the comments!)

I Guess "A Bunch of Guys in a Steel Box" Didn't Work Either...

Ladies and Gentlemen....I give you the lamest title of 2009 (So far.)

Coming next September.

Prepare your self for Armored.

And the trailer which you can see by clicking above is equally lame.

Strange choice of music for the end don't ya think?

And here I thought Matt Dillon's career was turning around...

The Sam Rockwell Movie We've Been Waiting For..

Choke was a mess. But this looks gooooooooood.

Wildlife Sighting

I gotta say, that looks damn good.

3, 2, 1, Go, Boom

This is a lot more entertaining than you'd expect for an interview between a wrestler and an action director.
Possibly the most amusing trailer of the year. Doubt that reflects on the explosions-aplenty final product, but still fun.

(click on featurette)

What. The. Hell.

Liam Nesson is not the action hero you're looking for

Did you see what I did there with the title?
That somewhat subtle Star Wars reference?

Sorry, I have young Jedi apprentice in my house, there's a lot of that floating around.

Anyway....the movie Taken.
File this under the "Could have been" tab.
When Nesson fans like myself saw the trailer to this we were justifiably excited.
Nesson's had a long career, playing Jedis, Sex Doctors and Saviours of one kind or another.
On screen he's rarely boring and always watchable...

Until Now.

In Taken Nelson plays Bryan. Once he was a covert "preventer" for the CIA. He stopped bad things from happening. But in the process he lost his wife (divorce not death) and grew apart from his now 17 year old daughter, Kim.
Now Bryan's playing it safe. He's hanging up his gun and moving back to the States to reconnect with Kim.
Now let me save you 20 minutes of your time by summing up the first part of the movie.

Bryan is an ex spy.
His ex-wife thinks he's an a-hole.
His daughter still loves him.
But her new Dad bought her a horse for her birthday.

So there we are. As you may have seen in the trailer...things get going when Bryan gets a terrifying call.
Kim is being kidnapped and sold into sex-slave ring.
Of course Bryan does what any reasonable ex-spy would do.
He gets on the phone, tells the bad guys he's dangerous and he's coming for them.
Ahhh...now we're in business.

Unfortunately what follows it a series of uneven confrontations as Bryan, who appears to be a combination of James Bond and MacGyver, plows through the competition.

Yes we get he's determined. He'll do anything to save his daughter. But watching Nesson take down baddie after baddie gets....tiring. Can no one stop this guy? In the age of The Borne Identity and Casino Royale we want our heroes to a little more human.

The director here is a same fellow that gave us the watchable martial arts movie District 13. (Beautiful poster there.) But with Taken director Pierre Morel serves up nothing new. The only thing that distinguishes Bryan from the other men-on-a-mission movies is just how far he's willing to go. For me a spy that's willing to go Guantanamo on the bad guys doesn't quite cut it. Take a pass on Taken.

Don't Believe the Hype (Film Marketing)

Must read article about film marketing over at The New Yorker.



Much of the story comes from following around Tim Palen, Lionsgate's co-president of marketing.




Some choice points from the article:

• Average cost of marketing film - 36 million for big studios, that's one third the budget kiddies.
• From a trailer cutter, "We're in the business of cheating...We give push up bras to flat-chested girls, take people's eyes and put them where we want them. And sometimes it works."
• Titles matter. The Devil Wears Prada caused some people to expect a horror movie. The movie New in Town was once "Chilled in Miami."
• And finally, it's bad enough the current obsession with how movies perform on opening weekends. But in the studios, they begin making estimates before the end of Friday about whether it's a winner or loser. It's all about the numbers baby. (Roger Ebert has a great post about the pitfalls of judging films by their box office here.)

Geeks Are Giddy...

...because the new Star Trek trailer is online.

I'm more of an Star Wars fan than Trek. But I gotta say. It looks gooooooooooood.
I predict the problem will be the villain. Lots of fun doing a Star Trek reboot. But most of the villains are cheeseorama. Prove me wrong Abrams!

Before Sunrise for Adults

Sometime a trailer comes along and it just works.
Take the case of Last Chance Harvey, starring Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. It starts simple. A couple quick cuts and we meet Harvey, frumpled and fumbling. Soon the song comes in and we're in rom-com movie montage heaven. Who needs 2 and half hours? I've seen all I need to in 2 minutes and 20 seconds.