05.22.07
Posted in Movies, Books at 5:57 pm by Joe Blubaugh
Yahoo! has a full page up, including a theatrical trailer for The Golden Compass. It’s funny to see Eva Green and Daniel Craig in another movie together so soon. This book was so, so good, but I find myself worrying just what they’ll cut out. It’s likely that the subtleties of adolescent sexual awakening will be largely subsumed by the adventure story, but that’s a shame. The whole series hinges on sexual awakening, the concept of sin, individualism, and authoritarianism.
If they make it through the series-as-movie run, here’s hoping that they let the small, sweet moments of the books make the large impacts they’re supposed to.
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01.14.07
Posted in Personal, Movies at 10:15 am by Joe Blubaugh
Or: What happened to Cuaron?
The movie critics are slobbering all over themselves to praise Children of Men, and it’s being hailed as “The best movie of the year,” and “A heartbreaking valentine to what keeps us human.” The type of movie is right up my alley - dystopian sci-fi is the bread and butter of my fictional existence. Why, then, was I so unimpressed with this critical hit?
The movie is gorgeous. Set pieces, composition, shot selection is simply superb. The action choreography is damn impressive, as well. Technically, this film is great, as are Cuaron’s other picture, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Y Tu Mama, Tambien.
Unlike those pictures, though, the plot for this movie is old, it’s warmed over sci-fi schlock, and not terribly thought-provoking. Maybe I just was not impressed by the supposedly profound insights of Cuaron into government: governments torture people into catatonic states, round up and deport illegal immigrants, are more interested in preserving the status quo than solving problems. Oooh, like this is anything new - see Jose Padilla, the ICE raids, and Congress for the last, oh, 45 years.
It didn’t help that the good guys were such dippy hippies - the girl’s guardian clumsily attempts Tai Chi and is completely unaware of what’s going on in her own group. She’s also completely useless. Michael Caine was the only protagonist that I genuinely cared for. Even Chiwetel Ejiofor, who I’ve loved in films before, is such a two-dimensionally two-faced radical that I just rolled my eyes when I learned about his double-cross. I just don’t see how Clive Owen can position himself so well from the get-go to learn what’s up, yet no suspicions have been raised among other members of the Fishes.
Cuaron also seems to think that he’s got some great allusions to modern life in the film: Christian preachers telling people that this is God’s punishment upon them, Muslims marching through the streets chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’ and carrying AKs, detainees on boxes with ponchos and wires strapped to them. They come across as over-obvious, ranting speeches, like that guy you know who won’t stop telling you about Mumia over and over again.
Even though I agree with Cuaron about immigration, religion, and government totalitarianism, I couldn’t help but yawn and roll my eyes throughout the film. I’m going to retch if this gets an academy award.
Another statement I’ve heard is that Children of Men succeeds where V for Vendetta failed. While V had its own problems, including the ludicrously cheesy speech by Natalie Portman at the end of the film, V also presented a world I think we’re much more likely to slide into - one where we submit willingly to a horrible system because it’s comfortable and easy.
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10.25.06
Posted in Movies at 10:34 pm by Joe Blubaugh
but I just wanted to say that Jonestown: Life and Death of People’s Temple is a phenomenal film. It does a great job portraying how good people, caught up in the excitement and charisma of a great cause can be quickly betrayed and led astray. This is one of those movies that I think I’ll be talking about for months. See it if you get the chance.
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10.23.06
Posted in Movies at 10:16 pm by Joe Blubaugh
Or: Never steal a dead man’s things.
Beware, reader, it’s the beginning of the Milwaukee International Film Festival for Joe. I still have five films slated for the next three days, so prepare for an onslaught of cinematic opinion.
13 Tzameti is a French film written and directed by Géla Babluani. It’s a straightforward thriller about a roofer who blindly follows some cryptic instructions and lands hard in a bad scene. Sebastien (the roofer) overhears his latest client discussing a deal with his friend, telling him he hopes to make enough money to escape his current troubles. After the man OD’s in his bathtub, Sebastien takes the man’s train ticket and hotel accommodations, hoping to secure the money for his impoverished family. He follows a set of cryptic phone instructions, and winds up in the middle of a lethal underground gambling ring.
The setup is great, ripe for the sort of self-discovery that directors and authors have always told us happens in life-and-death situations. Unfortunately, Babluani remains fixated on Sebastien and only gives us the briefest of glances at the other members of the twisted roulette circle that Sebastien finds himself in. Perhaps Babluani wanted everything to remain as mysterious and confusing to the audience as it is to Sebastien. I felt a little cheated, though, since I never learned why any of the other competitors wound up playing for their lives. If Babluani’s goal was to leave me mystified, he succeeded.
The cleanup after the game, such as it is, drags the film along behind it. There’s an unnecessary police investigation and revenge killing, but it all feels tacked on. American films never have this much denouement, but it is a French word, after all.
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