The Reel World

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Every Star Trek fan has had that phrase beaten into their brain about as many times as Uncle Ben's mantra about great power and great responsibility. Who knew that the tagline was appropriate to filmmaking? When J.J. Abrams signed on to direct the reboot/remake/reimagining/rehash (insert your own word here) of Star Trek he quickly made it known that he was not really that into the franchise. He considered himself a Star Wars man, and a chill went through the spine of every Trek fan on the planet. I approached the 2009 effort with dread.

I still remember reading “The Great Gatsby” in my high school English class and dissecting its many themes, including the corruption of the American Dream. “One day, someone should make this into a big-budget 3D movie,” said Absolutely No One. When this project was first announced, it seemed more like a commercial parody on Saturday Night Live than a real movie. I mean, what other high school English staple was Hollywood going to co-opt next? Maybe next summer will bring To Kill a Mockingbird: Die Mockingbird Die! (in IMAX 3D, of course). It’s not that I believe 3D should be confined to cartoons, cheesy horror flicks or anytime James Cameron decides he actually wants to make a movie. The absurdity of the 3D tag for The Great Gatsby had less to do with the film’s literary origins — the extra dimension was used to stellar effect in the adventurous Life of Pi — and more to do with feeling totally unnecessary when applied to such rich source material.

My fears that the book’s substance was going to get buried under a mountain of excessive style were heightened when I found out Baz Luhrmann — most famous for the audacious, gaudy “Red Curtain Trilogy” comprised of Strictly Ballroom, Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge! — would be adapting the novel. But as the film’s release date grew closer, got pushed back, and then grew closer again, something strange happened. Something even more unlikely than Jay Gatsby cranking a Jay-Z track from his iconic yellow roadster; I actually started to warm up to the idea of The Great Gatsby 3D.

The first question you have to ask: “Was Stanley Kubrick a genius?" There are those who assert his IQ was ridiculously high (200+). Kubrick himself replied that he was below average. I tend to agree with the former rather than Kubrick himself. Kubrick is a monumental legend in film history. I personally think he is the single greatest director of all time, but I say that with a little reservation. There are hundreds of directors who I admire and think are deserving of high praise, but Kubrick's incredible mystique is what raises him above the rest. You can question his shifting subjects and styles as well as his sporadic output, but he is ultimately a source of endless discussion. That is the ultimate test of greatness. How long can you talk about someone? If you take the example of Room 237, you can talk about Kubrick endlessly.

Room 237 is the in-depth examination of Kubrick's 30-year-old film The Shining that has received rave reviews. Why would a documentary of a 30-year-old film get so much attention? Because it's fascinating, fun, mystifying and a clear example of the mystique of Kubrick. Room 237 is basically six well-educated but somewhat obsessive commentators outlining and diagramming minute details to reveal hidden messages.

It’s easy to forget how important it was for 2008’s Iron Man to be great. After all, the film was only asked to A.) properly introduce a B-list comic hero to the movie-going masses and B.) successfully kick off what turned out to be Phase One of Marvel’s March Toward Global Domination Cinematic Universe. “Good” would’ve been a letdown; Iron Man needed to be great. Fortunately, it delivered in spades; its critical and commercial success paved the way for an unprecedented run of films that culminated with The Avengers last summer. With a release date for the Avengers sequel already on the horizon, Tony Stark and Co. have once again been asked to set the tone.

“I’m different now. I’m…well, you know who I am.”

"Somebody somewhere knows something. And somebody's going to talk."

At the age of 76 many might consider The Company You Keep as a kind of swansong for Hollywood's original pretty boy, Robert Redford. It has all of the earmarks of a grand finale. Redford plays the star role and directs the film as well. It plays out like a message film with the grace of not overplaying its hand. And so, while the film brings up the activists morality of Vietnam-era America, it never becomes preachy or too obvious. In almost every sense of the word this is about as picture-perfect a goodbye as Redford might have asked for.

People have used a lot of different words to describe Michael Bay and his films: “loud”, “blockbusters”, “mindless”, “soulless”, “Hitler” and, of course, “awesome.” One of the words you don’t normally associate with Bay’s undeniably successful output is “clever.” I daresay Pain & Gain is the most interesting movie the action auteur has ever made; the film is both seriously silly and surprisingly smart in how it presents its stupid characters.

“Unfortunately, this is a true story.”

Ever wonder what would happen if you took all the best or most memorable parts in a sci-fi film and cut them all together?  What you get is the hodgepodge mess that is Oblivion, which unless I’m mistaken or blinked a bit too long and missed it, doesn’t have an original bone in its already weak story.  Though they say if you’re going to steal, then steal from the best; the problem is that when you play it off as your own, please be able to give us a refreshing twist on a classic scene, not just make it cool.  Sure people will say the same about Tarantino, but he owns up to it and puts a spin on it that is undeniably his own.  In the case for Joseph Kosinski (the writer and director) I look at Oblivion and feel he gave the entire sci-fi genre the finger and took all the cool great moments to play with at will.

(If you’ve never seen The Matrix, Moon, Blade Runner, Independence Day, 2001 Space Odyssey or numerous others, well, then perhaps you may be in the dark as to what I’m talking about.)

 "If you ride like lightning you're gonna crash like thunder".

The best film that you may not get an opportunity to see this year is The Place Beyond The Pines. The film has already scored great buzz at a few film festivals and is about to see a very limited theatrical release. It's one of those films that absolutely deserves better, but somehow as you watch it you realize that this limited environment is a perfect match for the movie. This is not because the film isn't good enough for wide release. It is. It's because the movie is a rather intimate experience that just doesn't seem like it belongs at your noisy cineplex where it must compete with the barrage of explosions and terrifyingly loud musical score. There's a place for everything, and perhaps The Place Beyond The Pines has found its place beyond the pines and away from the hustle of the big box office world.

The power is in the mind, or at least it is in Trance, the latest psychological thriller from Academy Award winning director Danny Boyle. From the original trailer I saw of this film, I had the wrong impression of this film completely; I was intrigued by the film, but I just expected it to be another heist film. Now, for the record, I love heist films; I love the watching the thieves plan the heist, I love watching them execute the theft, and I even love the eventual double-cross that everyone always sees coming. To call Trance simply a heist film is to severely undersell its value.

Trance wastes no time getting into the action. From the opening bell we are introduced to Simon (James McAvoy, X-Men First Class), a fine arts auctioneer at a prominent auction house. Simon then proceeds to break the fourth wall and explain the evolution of art heist. “Back then all it took was a bit of muscle and a lot of nerve.” Simon then commences to instruct the audience on procedure in the event that a heist should be attempted, which immediately leads in to an actual heist occurring at the auction house. A four-man team led by Franck (Vincent Cassel, Black Swan) storms the building with guns, smoke grenades; the whole she-bang. As Simon tries to secure the painting in the vault, he is confronted by Franck, and while trying to protect the painting, suffers a blow to the head.