Recommended Reading (The Fox & The Road)

Variety is the name of the game this week as I take on The Road and Fantastic Mr Fox.

Both are based on beloved books. Of the two I think Fantastic Mr. Fox is more successful.
From the beginning to the end this is a movie brimming with life. Even though the characters are animated, the little fur-covered marionettes dance and sing, laugh and smirk. Like the best kind of kids film Mr. Fox doesn't condescend to his audience. Director Wes Anderson treats all his characters with respect and that gives them a depth we don't often see in the genre.

You may remember there was a bit of ruckus a while ago about the production. Some folks in the animation studio were annoyed about the auteur directing the action "via email." While that may be true the fact is much of what makes Fox so charming is due to Anderson's insistence; His directing style, his focus on old-school animation techniques, even down to the way they recorded the voice actors. If you want to see more watch this clip from makingof.com.

As far as The Road goes, let me say this. Viggo Mortensen is amazing as the Father. One of the great actors of his generation I think. The movie is as stark as the source material but seems to lack a little of the poetry of the novel. Part of the problem may be the power of the images. How can author Cormac McCarthy's dialogue compete with those pictures of the crumpled hydro towers and ash-covered highways?

Before you go see The Road may I recommend you read this fantastic interview with author Cormac McCarthy and director John Hillcoat. You'll learn where the relationship between the father and son began and that not even the McCarthy knows why the world ends.

Also, before John Hillcoat took on The Road he gave us one of the decade's best westerns: The Proposition. An Aussie tale of rough justice set in the outback. Highly recommended.

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.)

Sympathy for the Devil

Antichrist by Lars von Trier opens today. It's obvious from the interviews that the director was in a disturbed state when he made this film. A nervous breakdown perhaps.

This is certainly a shocking film filled with moments of horrific violence and yes mutilation. Let me just say this poster is a good hint of things to come.

Antichrist may be a lot of things, but it isn't mindless. Instead of gore for gore's sake, there is a seed to the sickness. A monster driving the mutilation. I won't call Antichrist a masterpiece, but it is art. Art can be disturbing, unsettling and at times even repulsive. Although it can be difficult to watch, Lars von Trier deserves credit for seeing his demented vision through. This is story about sickness told by an auteur in full command of his medium. (And for the guy who gave us the Dogme movement this is filled with lush luxurious cinematography.)

I would never, never recommend this to a broad audience, and if you are the squeamish type stay far far away. But there are some rewards there for those who enjoy bold filmmaking. Just don't say I didn't warn you.

You Should See

I'm waiting for a study that shows the impact that twitter has on blogging. Needless to say things have been sparse at GOF central. But there's a bounty of beautiful, moving films out there for those who want them. Here's a rundown of some fine films in theatres.

* * *

A Christmas Carol: Jim Carrey is great as Scrooge and the animation is amazing. A surprising faithful and dark morality tale updated with spine-tingling visuals. A little overboard in the thrill-ride department, but worth it for the dose of Dickens.

A Serious Man: See it now so you wont be surprised when it cleans up at the Oscars. The Coen Brothers best film in years. A return to the absurdity of Barton Fink. A movie that takes no prisoners.

An Education: It's hard not to watch Carey Mulligan and not think of Audrey Hepburn. She has the grace and maturity of woman beyond her years. A great little time capsule of Britain before the Beatles.

The Damned United: Michael Sheen scores again as Britain's much loved footie coach Brian Clough. Script by Peter Morgan who gaves us The Queen and has another winner here. Don't be put off if you're not a soccer fan, this is more about buddies than sports. Clough is a classic character, brilliant, cocky and fatally flawed.

Good Hair: Chris Rock brings us a surprisingly honest conversation about being Black in America and it all starts with hair. Plus, why is Ice-T so funny?

Enjoy!

(Not recommended would include Amelia & The Men Who Stare at Goats.)

Sorry Spike

I’m sorry Spike.
You see I really want to like Where the Wild Things Are.
The idea of matching skater-boy genius Spike Jonze to the beloved kid lit classic seemed the perfect collaboration. Those monsters were like the grubby teddy bears we all shared. And who better to direct then Spike Jonze? He who taught us to how to be John Malcovich. He who predicted the hipster moustache, when Mike D and the boys shot Sabotage.
So I really wanted to like it.

But, I can’t.
Yes it’s beautiful. The monsters loom large and lovely. It is exactly as I imagined it, well that is until the monsters open their mouths. Suddenly these mud-caked mascots sound like the cast of Felicity. Carol doesn’t like Bob and Ted. K.W. spends too much time with her friends. Judith is always picking on Ira and no one listens to Alexander.

Is this really the fantasy world we envisioned? Where the Wild Things Are author Maurice Sendak anointed Spike Jonze because he seemed so boyish himself. Certainly watching Spike and his young surrogate Max get along I can see there’s a part of the director that’s still hiding under the bed with his flashlight.

Childhood is a beautiful thing. But we’ve been living the past for so long Hollywood should be charged with smothering its inner child. You know before Jonze inflated the 20-page book into a blockbuster he’d been working on an adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon?.
And heck, why not?. The past couple years it feels like we’ve done nothing but playing in the past. GI JOE, Star Trek, Land of the Lost. How did we get here where nearly every piece of mainstream entertainment is a version of something else?

I remember a number of years ago when I was running a film club for a group of high school students. After watching a couple clips one of the students remarked how lucky I was to have grown up in the 80s when all the great movies were made.

It’s hard to look at the decade that brought us Police Academy 1 to 6 as a renaissance, but then again as least the good filmmakers were making something out of nothing. E.T. Back to the Future. Ghostbusters. All classic, entertaining films with inspiration to spare. What can we look forward to now? Ghostbusters 3 . Fantastic. Flabby phantom versions of the original.

Time to stop looking backwards.
I think I can survive without the next remake of Clash of the Titans, Thundercats and whatever else is in the pipe.
It’s time to see something new at the movies again.
As the boy king says, "Let the Wild Rumpus Start!"

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.

Garden State + Slap Shot

Roller Derbies!

Who knew they were such fun?

The past couple days I've been spending a serious amount of time reading up on the skater-gal subculture. I've been learning the lingo (fresh meat = new recruits) and making a list of my fav derby names. (Axles of Evil, Nutcracker, Mack Truck Mel & Vega Vendetta)

The new movie WHIP IT, starring Ellen Page, is the reason for my new-found obsession. I liked Whip It when I saw it and I'm liking it more as time passes.

Part of my hesitancy was when I first watched Whip It was I focusing perhaps a little to much on Drew Barrymore's directorial debut. Was the music mixed too low? Should she have gotten better coverage of the action scenes? Why did you bother to set this in Texas when the actors sound as Southern as Woody Allen? All true, but those are small quibbles.

As I've had some distance, I'm growing impressed with what Drew was able to do here. Here's an actress that is no Megan Fox. Her look is a little more off-kilter, and that's a good thing because it forced her to develop other talents. Comic chops. A unique voice.

Then Drew finds this screenplay based on a book about RollerDerby gals, written by someone who put on skates herself. Drew tells the screenwriter, keep it messy, keep it raw. The result, a grrl power movie with some guts. The mother character isn't a total caricature. The loose ends are left hanging.

In a world of crappy remakes like FAME and plastic preachy flicks ala HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL, Whip It is a rallying cry, filled with real gals who are strong, smart and happen to look fine in fishnets.

By the way, keep an eye out for Ellen Page's teammates in the Hurl Scouts. Seems Drew called in a lot of favours for this film.

Zoe Bell stuntwoman/actress is there, as it SNL's Kristen Wiig, R&B star Eve and Andrew Wilson is their coach Razor. He's the bearded brother of Luke and Owen Wilson.

See you out on the rink!