The Reel World

"Let me tell you a story."

Remember the tagline in Alien? "In space no one can hear you scream". Gravity begins, appropriately enough, with complete silence. We're treated to a rather spectacular view of the Earth from orbit. Eventually chatter begins to intrude upon our revelry. We soon meet the crew of a space shuttle mission to do repair work on the Hubble telescope. We quickly learn that this is the final mission for retiring astronaut Matt Kowalski, played by George Clooney, although I certainly consider it a bad sign when he's told to enjoy his last walk. He's acting as a mentor of sorts to younger astronaut Ryan Stone, played by Sandra Bullock. There are others on the mission, but we're treated to very little time with them. In a short time, they won't really matter.

"This is your job. You want a safer job, go work at the post office. You want a clear conscience, go start a charity. But if you want your own island and your boss says you gotta go out there and take a beating, you go out there, take it and come back to work and say, 'do you need me to do it again?'"

This may just be me, but any job that requires me to happily take a beating simply isn’t for me, and no matter how much money is on the line. A movie about a bright kid from a broken family, down on his luck getting taken in by a charismatic wheeling-dealing/sociopathic businessman, and before long finding himself in over his head, sound familiar? I’m sure it does, but what I have come to learn in recent years is just because it has been done does not mean that it still can’t be entertaining.

“There are only a few things I really care about in life: My body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my boys, my girls, and my porn.”

I have to say, I didn’t see that last one coming the first time I saw the trailer. Another thing I didn’t see coming when I first heard about the film, that it was the feature film directorial debut for actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Quite the illustrious career Gordon-Levitt has had; I knew he had been around the block as far as acting goes, but I had no idea of his list of accomplishments until after I consulted IMDB; the man has over sixty acting credits to his name and has been part of some of the biggest and innovative films in recent years. So it would seem that the only viable question about him taking on the responsibility of the director’s chair is, why didn’t he do it sooner? I suppose the correct answer to that question would be he was waiting for the perfect script to make his debut. Well you know the old adage, if you want something done….

After first seeing the trailer for Rush the first thing that came to mind is how the film looked like nothing director Ron Howard (Apollo 13, Backdraft, Parenthood) had done before.  Set in the world of Formula 1 racing where everything was about speed, style and sex, this seems like a world far removed from the wheelhouse we expect from Ron Howard.  But upon watching the film, beyond the tremendous visuals on the track we are given a story that is more than just a simple rivalry, but a story about the drive to succeed at any cost whether it be by skill or obsession and envy; what matters to these men is to be number one.

Chris Hemsworth buckles into the driver seat as James Hunt, the English driver who plays the part more as a rock star of the track than your typical driver. He parties, he drinks, and he thrusts himself between the sheets of nearly every beautiful woman who crosses his path.  He knows every lap around the track comes with the risk of certain death, but this only pushes him to enjoy life to its limits when he is off the track.  But Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl of Inglourious Basterds fame) approaches the track with respect and is methodical with every step towards getting behind the wheel and racing.  Where Hunt simply lets the mechanics do their job to deliver a car for him to race, Lauda is there helping design the car and giving his input to ensure his car is the fastest one on the track.  It’s these obsessive personalities that collide on and off the track that deliver the real drama of the film.

I honestly expected to be bummed watching Enough Said. The film marks the penultimate screen appearance by Sopranos icon James Gandolfini following his untimely death from a heart attack in June. So while I always looked forward to watching Gandolfini, there was an undercurrent of sadness in knowing this was one of the last new performances we’d ever be getting from the immensely talented actor. Thankfully, Gandolfini’s work here is as lively and funny as the rest of this romantic comedy, so you’re more likely to walk away with a smile on your face than a tear in your eye.

Enough Said is the story of a masseuse named Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who begins dating likable, low-key TV historian Albert (Gandolfini) after meeting him at a party. Eva and Albert bond over their shared status as lonely, divorced parents whose daughters are about to head off to college. Meanwhile, Eva’s new favorite client is Marianne (Catherine Keener), a poet she met at the same party who appears to be perfect in every way…except that she can’t stop ragging on her ex-husband. So imagine Eva’s horror when she realizes the “loser” and “slob” of an ex-husband Marianne has been mercilessly slamming is actually “Fat Albert.”

“You made me feel so safe. You told us that you could protect us from anything.”

Prisoners poses a lot of provocative questions. Chief among them is, “Who ultimately bears the responsibility of protecting one’s family?” Is it enough to leave these matters completely in the hands of dedicated, but hopelessly overwhelmed law enforcement officials? And, in a life or death situation, would you ever take the law into your own hands to save someone you love? My favorite thing about Prisoners, one of the best movies I've seen this year, is that the film respects its audience enough to withhold any easy answers.

I always have a problem when a comedy involves a lot of people getting killed, but there are always exceptions. Mob comedies are rarely completely satisfying, but there is one exception, and that is The Freshman with Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick, which was completely inspired and hilarious, mostly because it defied expectations at nearly every turn. The new mob comedy, The Family, stars Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer, who have both made OK mob comedies before, Analyze This and Married to the Mob respectively. Almost any other mob comedy you can mention falls flat (including Analyze That).

Two of the interesting distinctions are the inclusion of Martin Scorsese as executive producer and Luc Besson as the writer/ director. Executive producers generally don't do much except contribute early on; there are some very obvious moments that show Scorsese's influence, but this more Besson's show.

“Personally, I prefer the ghosts to people.”

The biggest reason Insidious became a surprise smash was because of its astoundingly straightforward and effective approach to delivering scares. The 2011 film came at the height of the "found footage" craze (and counted Paranormal Activity mastermind Oren Peli as one of its producers), yet it managed to resist the gimmick. It was also released less than six months after the Saw franchise limped to its bloody conclusion, so the fact that Insidious had a grand total of one fatality made it seem downright revolutionary. Unfortunately, the sequel doesn’t seem nearly as interested in standing out from the pack.

Vin Diesel. He is a man. A character who doesn't seem real. He is an actor who seems like an artificial creation. He seems to be all brawn and Cro-Magnon heft with just a tiny spark of sensitivity and some sense of inherent intelligence. It turns out Diesel started out making small independent films like Multi-Facial and Strays which led to Hollywood calling for the films Saving Private Ryan and The Iron Giant,which then led to Pitch Black and a TV movie called The Chronicles of Riddick: Into Pitch Black with Diesel playing the Riddick character. Diesel went on to be identified with two other characters, Dominic Toretto (Fast and Furious) and Xander Cage (XXX) but soon bridled at being typecast, and then his career stalled. The sequel, The Chronicles of Riddick (not to be confused with the previously mentioned TV movie), had a much bigger budget with too many new plot lines, but, more importantly, too much pretension. But Diesel loved the Riddick character and got to buy the rights in exchange for a cameo in Fast and Furious 3: Tokyo Drift.

Riddick definitely drops the pretension of the second Riddick film, and the new film more closely resembles Pitch Black. The difference is that he winds up on a totally different planet. Now Riddick is a Furyan, so he wanted to go back home, but no such luck. He has to make do with a barren, unfamiliar and inhospitable world. He also has to self-heal a broken leg. No big deal.

What makes a bad movie? What makes a good movie? The standards are getting lost in murky waters, because many of the critics have no interest in film history and the clear record of what is great and what is garbage. That goes for many filmmakers too. Their standards are what works in the last 12 months and how to try out the latest technology. Unfortunately they often forget the tried and true basics like good writing and good acting.

Getaway is getting dumped on by the critics, but is it really fair? I don't think so.