Movie Review: The Brothers Bloom

Pick a genre of film – any genre at all. Horror, fantasy, drama, thriller … pick one, and when you’ve got it, proceed to name every movie in that genre. Not easy, right? Here, let me try.

Bottle Rocket. Rushmore. The Royal Tenenbaums. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. The Darjeeling Limited. Hmn … One more in there …. Oh yeah! The Brothers Bloom.

While not a classically established genre, this list represents films from a new grouping for cinema: the Wes Anderson film. While some of them are a bit iffy, especially those at the beginning of the list – you know, the ones by Wes Anderson – the one at the end is really, really great. And, it’s the only one not by Wes Anderson.

Second time filmmaker Rian Johnson’s new film, The Brothers Bloom, does something very odd – it created this new genre. All of Anderson’s films have a very distinctive quirkiness to them, and when you watch one, you know the film is by him. Johnson obviously liked them so much, that he decided to write and direct one, himself. So … when you take established parameters, create art within them, and by adding your own voice improve upon them … and not maliciously – there is nothing in Johnson’s film that feels like he is “ripping off” Anderson’s ideas – doesn’t that mean that a new genre has been created for artists to work in?

Well, whether it does or it doesn’t, The Brothers Bloom is one hell of a great film. Basically, it’s the story of two brothers who, after a life of moving from foster home to foster home perfecting scamming people, are con men grifting their way through life. Stephen (Mark Ruffalo), the elder, dreams up the cons and writes them thematically with his brother Bloom (Adrian Brody) “starring” in them as the subject of each tale. With their partner Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), a Japanese explosives expert who is silent by choice and a scene stealer by nature, they try for “one last con” on Penelope, a rich shut in played by Rachel Weisz.

The dialogue flows beautifully; the sets and locations are exquisite and exotic; and even when the situations are at their worst, the characters are simply delightful to watch. Weisz is the best example of this – her Penelope is one of the most instantly lovable characters I’ve ever seen on screen. From her entrance in the film (a car crash of habitual routine), to the montage of her showing off all her home-learned skills (such as juggling chainsaws while riding a tall unicycle), to her blossoming romance with Bloom (containing the funniest make-out scene I’ve seen in a long time), every second of her screen time made me smile and just say “Awww …” When I last saw her in a movie, it was in My Blueberry Nights, and her supporting role helped me to me fall in love with star Norah Jones (if I ever meet her, I WILL propose to her) - but her role here was unlike any other I’ve seen her play. Innocent, childish, energetic and wildly cute, she is the movie. As it stands, the film is an excellent character piece, with great comedy, drama, action and thrills to keep a smile on your face from beginning to end.

I strongly recommend that you see this when it opens – if you like laughing and have an imagination. It is delightful, it is extremely well crafted, and best of all – it is pure fun.

+ The Brothers Bloom Review [Movie Moron]

- Goodchild

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Reflect and Review: Adventureland

Adventureland is one of the films we covered last week, and I got a chance to catch it in the theaters. This is a film written and directed by Greg Mottola who was also the director for Superbad. I was expecting a laugh-out-loud kind of comedy and although there are some good laughs in there it was a bit more serious. In that respect it wasn't really marketed that well, and I can see people being disappointed.

Set in the 80's this film was a rather authentic reflection of just everyday life and situations, and the comedy wasn't over the top. I think a lot of people are going to be able to relate to this film which I feel is it's best attribute. The performances are great and you can't help but feel connected or even fall in love with the characters.

It gets a little slow at times, but it's definitely a good one to catch.. just don't go in there expecting Superbad.

+ Adventureland Review [Twitch]

- Sonic

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Reflect and Review: Monsters vs Aliens

DreamWorks Animation

(Spoiler Alert)

I figured if I was going to see movie, I might as well see it at the theaters in 3D. I was skeptical at first with all this 3D hype but the technology has really come along, and it really adds another dimension to the movie going experience. So anyway, Monsters vs Aliens boasted a talent voice cast which include Hugh Laurie, Reese Witherspoon, Seth Rogen and Stephen Colbert to name a few. With a cast like that I was expecting it to be super funny, but I was slightly disappointed. Some parts made me laugh but for the most part it was a miscue.

The story is very basic and predictable: Girl mutates and becomes 50 ft. tall, befriends funny monsters, government sends them to fight an alien invasion. The only beef I have with the story is that they weren't really fighting aliens. They fight one alien, his robot and a bunch of his clones. I can live with the mediocre story line, but damn it, you have Seth Rogen and Stephen Colbert, at least make me LOL!

+ Another DreamWorks Blunder [First Showing]

- Sonic

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Reflect and Review: Tokyo!

Tokyo!, as you might have recently seen on our super awesome site here, is a recent foreign release that might currently be playing in an indie / art house movie theater near you. It is a compilation of 3 short films, by three different directors, all taking place in Tokyo.

(SPOILER ALERT!)

Interior Design

Being an avid follower of Michel Gondry’s work, and knowing he did one of the three short films that Tokyo! is comprised of, I was down to see the flick from the word Go. Now, if you know Gondry, you know to expect quirkiness, high imagination, maybe some good laughs, and a visual style sure to make anyone smile. To be honest, I was a bit surprised to find an engaging drama about a young couple who are down on their luck and move to Tokyo, crashing with a friend until they can get on their feet. The sheer simplicity, unabashed realness and the raw emotion of such cramped quarters entranced me in a way I just wasn’t ready for. I was really getting into it – and, thusly almost forgot who had made the film until it had about 5 minutes left and the female lead slowly started turning into a wooden chair.

Right. Gondry.

This was a bit jarring at first, but in retrospect I think it fits. The film showed the story of this woman growing further from all she knows – her boyfriend, the friend she stays with – as she feels useless, accidentally getting their car towed and not being able to get a job. Then she turns into a chair, and is able to support people that need to sit, and she feels useful for the first time. Weird, but I get it, and it was well done.

Merde

The second film, Merde, was by Leos Carax. I’ve been thinking for a while now how to say this, and I can’t think of a better way, so here it is: This film was not very good. And yes, that’s being nice. Well, the cinematography was actually pretty excellent, but that’s all I can say here as a positive.

It opened with a pretty cool crane shot of Tokyo, which eventually zooms in on a manhole on a crowded sidewalk. It is opened from underneath, and Merde himself (merde is French for shit) climbs up. He is filthy, one eye has no pupil, and his beard pulls off to one side in a manner I wouldn’t be surprised to see catch on in Williamsburg, just so the hipsters could be … well, hip. It’s not hip. It’s stupid. Anyone, Merde walks up the street in this cool long take, essentially freaking people out and at one point licking a young girl’s armpit before finding another manhole to disappear into. After his escapades make the news, we see him back in the sewer where he stumbles on to a long forgotten WWII weapons cache. He obtains a satchel filled with live grenades (it made no sense to me either), and proceeds to climb up onto the street in the middle of Tokyo that I recognized from the Jet Set Radio level, it’s like a bus depot with these big walkways going over it … He blows a bunch of people up, and is later arrested for this. Ok, so now the film can get good, right?

Well, turns out he only speaks sewer mutant, and the only person who can communicate with him is a French lawyer who has the reverse look going on (his opposite eye has no pupil, and his beard flips the other direction). The lawyer visits Merde in his cell, and they have a 5 minute conversation in sewer mutant language with no subtitles.

What.

The.

Fuck.

Now, this is bad, but it begins a series of scenes where the Japanese people want to ask Merde things (in his cell or at his trial), but can’t communicate directly with either Merde or the lawyer, so you have one character speaking in Japanese, a translator says it in French (this is when there are subtitles), the lawyer repeats it in sewer mutant, Merde responds in mutant, lawyer repeats it in French (subtitles), translator gives the answer in Japanese. Sound tedious and annoying? Imagine an entire courtroom scene of this. We find out ( if we’re still paying attention and haven’t gouged our eyes out) Merde hates the Japanese because “Their eyes look like a woman’s sex.” Wow. So, they hang him, but it doesn’t take, he disappears and then it says he’ll be back to terrorize New York City.

Merde. Goodchild here. Just want to let you know. You come to my city, I’m going to kill you myself.

Shaking Tokyo

The third film was called Shaking Tokyo, and was by Bong Joon-Ho, who you might know if you like kick ass monster movies (he directed a film in his native Korea called The Host a few years back – if you haven’t seen it, do so. It’s awesome). It was about a hikikomori, a Japanese man who never leaves his house and has not made eye contact with another human for over 11 years. He receives money in the mail from his father and orders food and groceries to his house. Every Saturday he orders pizza, and one day he makes eye contact with the girl delivering the pizza. As he does, there is a slight earthquake, and the girl collapses into his “perfect” home. This rocks his world – he hasn’t had contact with the world in so long, and no it’s in his house. The girl leaves a lasting impression on him, and he finds out the next week that she has quit to become hikikomori like him. This shakes him, and he finds the strength to leave his house to find her. He does, and along the way he sees that she is not the only person who has recently decided to never leave her house again. When he finds her, there are another series of quakes which shake Tokyo to its core. The message here might have been a bit heavy handed, but it was quaint and cute, and well made and thought out enough that I liked it.

So, there it is. Two out of three isn’t bad, right? While the two films I liked were good enough to recommend for people to go see, the middle film is so poor, boring, vapid and full of itself that I can’t in good faith recommend this as a must see in the theater – wait until it’s on dvd, and then you can skip the shit. Which means Merde.

- Tokyo! Trailer

+ Tokyo! Review [Spout Blog]

- Goodchild

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Reflect and Review: Watchmen (Part II)

continued from Part I:

One of the things I really liked about Snyder’s remake of Dawn of the Dead was the soundtrack. To be honest, I really don’t like the band Disturbed, but when I heard the lounge version of their big hit in the mall, it was great. A montage with the characters getting used to life trapped inside a mall while besieged by legions of undead set to “Down with the Sickness”? Perfect. And the movie was pretty damn cool, to the point where, at the end of the movie when the real version of the song came on, I didn’t mind hearing it. The soundtrack was great here again, taking cues from the book, and finding ways to bookend the film with Bob Dylan songs. Bob opens the movie, Hendrix has his take on Watchtower, and then My Chemical Romance covers Desolation Row during the closing credits. Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel … great songs we’ve all heard a plethora of times, but their usage here makes them poignant again.

As for the look of the film, I loved the use of slow motion to illustrate the exact translation of panels from the book. Snyder used this technique a lot in 300 as well, a film also based on a graphic novel. I hope, as cool as both these films look, he finds a way to break out of this if and when he ever makes an original movie.

All in all, I really felt this flick – it’s quite the spectacle and should not be missed in the theaters. But as good as it is, and as much as you should check it out – you should still read the book!

Reflect and Review: Watchmen (Part I)

Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part I)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part II)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part III)

+ Watchmen Reviews [Rotten Tomatoes]

- Goodchild

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Reflect and Review: Watchmen (Part I)

So, Watchmen released last week, and after my previous rant (that was posted in three separate parts!) talking about my excitement and openness for the film, I thought I’d post some of my thoughts on the film.

First off, Let me just say that I really liked it. Was it the book? No. But, as I stated in the aforementioned rant, I was and still am alright with that. All of the Tales of the Black Freighter pirate comic was removed, and that was ok since the squid attack at the end was changed (though, when Jon transports the device to Antarctica, the scientist collective there is called S.Q.U.I.D., as can be seen on a sign quickly before the device arrives). A lot of people I know who read the book did not like the new ending because it was too vague and ambiguous. I had to point out that that makes it just like the original ending! Basically, Snyder (Zack, the director) and company just managed to find a different means to the same end.



What was important to me was if the backgrounds to the characters came across well. Some were, of course, lighter than I wanted. The film tells us that Dan is the second Owl, but never gets into us why he got into it. Rorschach calls him flabby at one point, but to be honest he’s not nearly as out of shape as his counterpart in the book – it would have been nice to see how much he had to go through to get back into the game, instead of just waking up after almost having sex and deciding it was time. I feel they did a pretty good job with both Laurie and Jon – I truly felt for Laurie, almost directly from the beginning. And, by the time Jon is narrating his linear history in what us mere mortals perceive as non linear storytelling, I felt his alienation comparably to how I did while reading the book. Time spent on Sally Jupiter was perfect, and Carla Gugino was just as hot, if not hotter, than Malin Akerman in any time period.

And then, there was Rorschach. Everyone’s favorite gruff, rough and tough bad ass vigilante – and Jackie Earle Haley played him the exact way I envisioned him. Most of my friends who had not read the book but have seen the movie flat out loved him. So, Snyder and Haley had obviously nailed the feel of his character, but I felt it a bit lacking in certain areas – almost no connection is made between the unmasked Kovacs who carries the “The End Is Nigh” sign around New York and the masked Rorschach. In fact, most people I know who didn’t read the book didn’t realize the early shots of him with the sign were actually of Rorschach. Also, why not explain his mask and how it changes its appearance?

While Rorschach was lacking just a bit from what I’d hoped for, the only real disappointment was Veidt, or Ozymandias. Almost no time was spent on him, and what little was was only shown to show his detachment from those around him, and to vilify him. Before he is “attacked” in his lobby, it’s almost as if he’s about to tell the world leaders he is going to take them all on himself. Thankfully, respite from this was found in Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s take on The Comedian. He was excellent in the role, and in many scenes just stole the show.

(to be continued)

Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part I)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part II)
Lengthy Litigation: Fan Boys, Shut Up (Part III)

- Goodchild

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