The Reel World

With the Marvel universe taking off and scoring at the box office for many years now, studios are digging for franchises they can start up or reboot to cash in on the craze.  Warner Brothers is stumbling a bit with DC comics, but Universal has remained quiet, that is until someone in the creative department realized they own the properties to the greatest horror characters of all time.  When Dracula, The Wolfman, and The Mummy were in their heyday, actors like Karloff and Lugosi became instant icons of cinema.  Now when special FX have never been better and makeup has come along so far, it seems there could be no better time for Universal to open their vaults of horror and unleash their monsters upon the masses where we can witness Dracula and the Mummy sharing the screen together with Frankenstein’s Monster.

Dracula Untold is supposed to be the first film of this monster revival, and the film’s success could determine the fate of these future monster films.  I’m not sure if it’s a sign of confidence or a red flag when the man you have helming your film is a relatively unknown director, but it seems Universal has a lot of faith in their man Gary Shore.  Sure, finding a director is crucial to making your film, but finding the right actor to fill the shoes that so many legends have filled before in the role of Dracula can make or break your film, and in the case of Dracula Untold we have Luke Evans stepping in as the infamous vampire.

"I like your dolls."

The Conjuring was one of the best horror movies to come along in years. Why? Because it was a good scare with a story that didn't totally insult our intelligence or leave us scratching our heads too many times. The movie also dealt with its own red herring of sorts in a possessed doll kept under wraps by that film's hero couple. We're treated to a tease of her story before we move on to other matters. It was used more or less to establish the expertise of Ed (Wilson) and Lorraine (Farmiga) Warren, who would play a central part in the film. After a rather chilling tease and more than enough establishing shots of the doll in a case with all sorts of ominous warnings, we moved on to the story that film was setting out to tell. No question James Wan delivered yet another frightening film that did not really involve the Annabelle doll at all, as it turned out. For the next 90 minutes we forgot about Annabelle, but after a while we went home, and the creepy image of the doll wouldn't shake from our slumber. There was really only one thing for a studio to do, either to exorcise the distraction from our minds or mine a little coin in the doing. The result is the highly anticipated Annabelle.

In 1987 Fatal Attraction was released, and now decades later it is the go-to movie when discussing classic scorned women in cinematic history.  Now a new film is about to take the mantel for the greatest scorned female character, Amy Dunne in Gone Girl. Based off the widely successful novel by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl is perhaps the most haunting film about marriage to ever hit the screen. Director David Fincher is no stranger to directing strong, self-sufficient women on the big screen; look at Panic Room and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo -- but Gone Girl is the closest he’s come to filming his masterpiece.

It’s on the day of his fifth wedding anniversary that we meet Nick Dunne (Ben Affleck), and it’s on this day he discovers that his wife, Amy Dunne (Rosamund Pike) has gone missing.  What’s interesting about this film is that the opening moments aren’t necessarily the beginning of the story; the film takes a very non-linear approach to telling the story, and we see the events unfold through the eyes of both Nick and Amy.  You know how they say “there are always two sides to every story, and the truth is somewhere in the middle”?  Gone Girl takes that precise approach, and what we get is something unique and terrifying.

Stop-motion animation remains a rare treat, but your appreciation of the new film, The Boxtrolls, will likely fall into an either love-it or hate-it camp. I will tell you which camp I fall into shortly. Laika Entertainment Studios produced Coraline and Paranorman, which were both oddball stop-motion fun that I enjoyed immensely. The stop-motion process is a dying art that is only rarely attempted any more, but it is widely beloved by film fans. The stop-motion work in The Boxtrolls is excellent. The cast of voice-over actors are excellent as well. The roster includes Sir Ben Kingsley, Jared Harris, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Elle Fanning and Tracy Morgan.

The setting is probably some alternate reality where people dress like it was the start of the 19^th century England, but machines of all sorts exist. Boxtrolls are very shy and much smaller than regular trolls, which is why they wear cardboard boxes as clothes, also useful as a hiding place when the need arises. A small boy lives down in the depths of the sewers and has been adopted and fitted with his own cardboard box so he will fit right in with the loony, goofy trolls. The boy also eats little creepy crawly bugs like the rest of the trolls. I'll stop right here to say that things only get weirder from there. The people above street level are crazy and distastefully off center, so as to make the trolls seem normal by comparison. The Boxtrolls is based on an illustrated novel by Alan Snow called Here Be Monsters. The novel is much more detailed and part of a series of books called The Ratbridge Chronicles.
As I said before, I think most people will either love it or hate it. I hated it. I think it is too disturbingly bizarre for most kids, and you'd have to be a pretty weird adult before I would recommend it to you. I already said that the stop-motion work is excellent, but it is in aid of a script that is odious, unpleasant and dimwitted. One could make a case that the story is a satire on class struggle and oppression of minorities, but I say they are not doing anyone any favors including minorities and the oppressed.

The eyes are the window to the soul, or so we have been told. I Origins is about a scientist studying the evolution of sight in organisms. Part of his research seems to be focused on countering creationists who claim that eyes are an obvious indication of a creator in life on this planet. The scientist, Ian Gray (Michael Pitt) is working on proof that the development of eyes is a process of evolution. His new research assistant, Karen (Brit Marling) surprises Ian with intuitive brilliance and fanatical commitment to the task. They find a species of worm that is an origin species which might be able to prove his theories and make his career. He becomes somewhat distracted by a mysterious woman at a masquerade Halloween party. They have sex in the bathroom and she disappears, but not before he has taken pictures of her eyes, which is an obsession as well as part of his research.

Through a series of almost otherworldly coincidences, he is led to a billboard featuring eyes identical to the ones he photographed. He has become obsessed with that encounter on Halloween and manages to hunt down who he believes is the woman. The mysterious relationship blossoms into a full-blown courtship that leads to going to the courthouse to get married. It turns out they have to wait 24 hours. His impetuousness and fascination is tempered by the fact that they seem to be polar opposites in many ways. It culminates in an argument in a broken-down elevator. He pushes the door open halfway between floors and climbs out. He wants her to climb out as well, but she is nearly hysterical in fear. He thinks she is acting like a child. She agrees to take his hand and climb out. What happens next changes everything.

“Odds against you? Need help? Call the Equalizer.”

That familiar classified ad — which receives a clever update toward the end of this film — and a hero named “Robert McCall” are about the only things this bloody, big-screen adaptation has in common with the TV show that (allegedly) inspired it. And that's fine, especially when you consider a large portion of this movie's audience is probably not slavishly devoted to a CBS crime drama from the 1980s. (Assuming they've seen it at all.) The bigger issue is that, beyond it starring one of the world's best and most charismatic movie stars, there's not a ton that's new or particularly interesting about The Equalizer.

What if two radio guys sat around and made up a movie on the air? In this case, it actually wasn't radio guys, because they weren't broadcasters, but podcasters. I guess the fine distinction between broad and pod is that pod goes out to the world through the internet. It's kind of like Indie radio. Kevin Smith is a very indie guy and even calls his podcast a smodcast. Smith and his buddy, producer Scott Mosier, were doing their smodcast and talking about a post on GumTree.uk about roommate advertisements. It evolved into crazy talk about what might happen. The guy in one ad said he would like his roommate to wear a walrus suit from time to time.

Kevin Smith is synonymous with the advent of the modern independent film movement since his film Clerks opened 20 years ago. Smith has always been a clever writer and an interesting geek/nerd hero deeply immersed in all things lowbrow and counterculture. He runs a comic book store among other things and even had a reality series based in the store. He does seem to be going a bit crazy over the last few years, and part of that seems to be his dive into heavy marijuana use. I believe he wasn't always a heavy user. I don't mean to imply that marijuana makes you crazy, but in his case it led him down some strange and paranoid roads. Smith did a movie a few years ago called Red State which was part of a rant against Hollywood. He was taking that movie on the road and releasing it by himself. With Tusk, Smith is going back to normal, but only in the broadest sense of that word.

Martin McDonagh is an extremely important and respected playwright. He is also a pretty good filmmaker. His films are In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths. His plays have won too many awards to mention, but some of the titles are The Beauty Queen of Leenane, The Lonesome West, The Pillowman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, The Skull of Connemara and others. His brother is John Michael McDonagh, the writer/director of The Guard and Calvary. All of these works are very good. Calvary might be my favorite. The word Calvary (also known as Golgotha), not to be confused with cavalry, is the place where Jesus dragged the cross to his final execution. In Calvary, a modern day Irish priest is informed in confession that he will be shot dead in a week. This opening scene is shocking in many ways, so if you are not interested in being challenged, do not bother going to see this film.

Brenden Gleeson is our priest, and he deserves an Oscar nomination. If nothing else materializes between now and the end of the year, he should win. Father James (Gleeson) is in charge of the souls of this pleasant seaside town. The problem is that most of the people he ministers to are not exactly pleasant. They are challenging, difficult, weird or completely out of control. It's not what you would expect from a quiet and picturesque corner of the world. It's also not what you would expect a parish priest to have to deal with. Father James doesn't exactly shake the threat off, but he does go about his business in what may be his last week on Earth. He has many people who need him, and he is being targeted despite being innocent. In fact, he is being targeted because he is innocent. The potential executioner was abused by a priest for many years, but that priest is dead. The soon-to-be possible killer thinks it would be more noteworthy to kill someone who is innocent for the crimes of others. If you happen to be Christian, you know that that is what Jesus Christ did. This analogy is not belabored, but it should definitely be noted. There are many good men who truly follow in the footsteps of Jesus. The movie makes it clear that Father James is not perfect, but he is a good man who makes every effort to face his many challenges with good humor and good grace.

The pleasure of The November Man is seeing an ex-James Bond come out of retirement being all cool and mean and efficiently lethal. The ex-James Bond is Pierce... Pierce Bronson. He's not as old as Sean Connery, but he's pretty old, and too old to look this good killing people. The November Man is nothing but a cheap and easy, end-of-August bit of popcorn fodder, but it works well. It works so well it already has a sequel planned. I don't think the budget on this is very large, so it probably was a no-brainer. The locations are all over middle Europe and Russia, but I think that's cheaper than New York City or London. Pierce is clearly enjoying doing all his old Bond tricks, except this time he's Patrick Devereaux, which really isn't as cool a name as James Bond, but we all know that this all about Bond. We like to see Pierce bash guys with lead pipes and shoot henchmen, because we know he's getting too old for this stuff. But truthfully, Devereaux is not Bond. He's a different character with a completely different set of motivations for his actions. Bond seems to have suppressed nearly all human emotions; Devereaux knows he shouldn't care about people, but for reasons I won't mention, he does care. He even tells a young protege not to care, and then Devereaux doesn't follow his own advice. So Devereaux  isn't James Bond, but don't tell Pierce that, because he's bringing back the famous squint with every fiber of his being.

There are lots of familiar faces supporting Pierce in this movie, but not necessarily familiar names. Will Patton (Falling Skies, The Postman) and Bill Smitrovich (Without A Trace, Life Goes On) are high-level CIA managers who are both closely associated with former field agent Devereaux. Olga Kurylenko is probably best known as Vera from the TV show Magic City but was also a Bond girl in Quantum of Solace. Olga plays Alice and is the woman that everyone wants in the movie, because she has some information. Devereaux needs to protect her so no one gets the information. Luke Bracy is fairly new on the scene and will soon be playing Johnny Utah in the Point Break remake. Luke plays the young protege who screwed up a mission and got on Devereaux's bad side. When that mission went bad, Devereaux quit. Now a few years later, things are getting personal. There are many twists and turns and double-crosses and triple-crosses. There are many bad guys and even more henchmen. All of this would play like a spoof if Pierce wasn't so darn serious. It's a little reminiscent of the recent Kevin Costner crazy spy movie Three Days To Kill, but not as over-the-top goofy. Spy movies are either pure entertainment or super-serious. We've had some of the serious kind recently, like the two recent John Le Carre adaptations, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and A Most Wanted Man. The November Man is safely in the middle.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For marks the return of the iconic graphic novel since it first splashed across the big screen in 2005.  Sin City set out to make the ultimate comic book adaption in which the audience would see the panels move directly from the page and onto the screen.  For me Sin City was a celluloid masterpiece that blended the Noir stories beautifully with all the Hollywood tricks that were at Robert Rodriguez’s disposal.  Frank Miller’s beautiful black and white imagery was more striking than I could have imagined, and it was the film that had me rooting for the big lug Marv (played by Mickey Rourke who seems to have been born for the role).

Nearly a decade later, Rodriguez and Miller have finally gotten back together to create the long-awaited followup and in the process take on my favorite graphic novel story, A Dame to Kill For.  For those unaware about the graphic novel but who saw Sin City, some of the imagery may be confusing, since certain characters who died in the previous film have managed to re-emerge for this prequel/sequel.  Though the story does tie together more tightly this time around with its characters, the sequel just isn’t as much fun this time around.