Click's Flick on a Stick

Traffic presents the multi-faceted angles of the drug business, from the Mexican police (Benico Del Toro) who try to stop the trade, to the dealers wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who must step into her arrested husband’s footsteps in order to sustain her lifestyle and the safety of her family, to the teenage friends of the addict-daughter (Erika Christiansen, Topher Grace) of a State Supreme Court Judge (Michael Douglas) who’s about to step into a special job fighting drugs for the White House, to the undercover agent (Don Cheadle) trying to sting a dealer-witness (Miguel Ferrar.)  Every level is shown and and connected in one way or another.

The beauty of this film is the clear cut location photography and color correction: grainy gold for Mexico for the Mexico Police story; hazy blues and out-of-blance colors for the teenage daughter’s; documentary grays and pinks for the DEA Agents and their Dealer Target, soft colors for the wife’s story and the judge’s story is colored depending on the setting, but he travels through all of them.  It’s very clear who’s story it belongs to whenever the scene changes, regardless of whether or not their presence on screen.  The photography is static, even when the scene takes place in an automobile granting the package a disorienting atmosphere, sometimes feeling as if waking suddenly from a deep sleep.  It almost feels unscripted, reality show-like, requiring a bit more concentration and elevates the intelligence of the piece.  This reality-check filmmaking style puts us on the front lines of the drug business and amps up the viscerality, causing the audience to think about the subject matter a litter deeper.

HBO’s Masterpiece The Wire handled the drug business in a similar fashion with little flash, little stylistics and sharp edges.  From the hardened teenager who’ll do anything (including breaking out of rehab) for her next fix, to the father desperate to find her despite the consequences to his political career, to the man who looks the other way too frequently and has his eyes opened, down to the housewife who puts away her apron and picks up a new trade and a gun.  It’s a beautiful study in layers and rising to meet a challenge, one way or another.  And it pulls very few punches, which I applaud.

****

In: Dennis Quaid

Out: Michael Douglas

Coming Soon: Wall Street

Stacked or Not Stacked?  Stacked

The Alamo tells the story of the legendary battle against the armies of Mexico featuring legendary warriors Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton,) James Bowie (Jason Patric) and Lieutenant Colonel Travis (Patrick Wilson) in 1836.  It is this battle that inspires Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) to retake Texas and make it part of the United States.

I grew up watching the John Wayne version of the tale of the battle.  It has a grand scale with thousands of extras and a stale feeling to it which tends to follow most of The Duke’s pictures, but it doesn’t make the tale less heroic.  It only comes from a time which men were portrayed as tough and women were portrayed relatively flat and the opposition to film heroes had little to no depth.  Development was spent on the action and scope and general flavor; emotional growth, character and acting flavor.  However, for nostalgic reasons, John Wayne’s film still holds a toasty place in my heart because it reminds me of my Grandpa.

This version still has appropriate character, proper dramatic development, personal scale and good pacing.  Santa Anna is portrayed as a person, a man with personality and flair, not a faceless facade.  We get to know him, know that he is not evil, just driven in his quest to conquer.  He’s traditional, proud and charismatic, not the flat persona portrayed in the Wayne version.  It’s important that the antagonist be realistic, especially in a bio-pic-type film, because this is a real person portrayed. 

Unlike The Duke’s version, this one has a more fluid action including cannon-ball point of view crane shots, push-in’s, and curved tracking shots.  The static of the other breaks the attention span of the audience and makes the characters less personal and harder to connect with.  The use of dream-sequences and flashbacks creates a warmth of character which also engages the audience.

Another job well-done is the development of the famous trio (Crockett, Bowie and Travis) and their relationship to each other.  In Wayne’s version, the only character they give much time is Crockett, due to him being played by The Duke.  But here they are a triune hero set, like Star Wars’ Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo, given equal care and development and portrayed equally as memorable.

The chemistry between Thornton, Patric and Wilson is appropriately adversarial, rich and balanced. Thornton presents a wise, philosophical, yet reluctant warrior whose morals cause his actions haunt him, but who finds a cockiness within him to not go quietly into death. Patric presents an experienced, broken and sardonic man whose cocky nature keeps him fighting to the end.  Wilson presents a textbook, educated and almost naive battle ethic, but is not unyielding enough to not learn.  These three personas and portrayals give us a look at the multi-facets that make up the soul of every soldier.

A different version, a better package perhaps, than the one I grew up watching.  But that one is no less noble a telling of that hopeless battle and of the noble warriors who died.  Perhaps this one will grow on me eventually, and I look forward to the day when it does, because this is a fine film.

****

In: Jason Patric

Out: Dennis Quaid

Coming Soon: Traffic

Stacked or Not Stacked? Not Stacked

A tragic childish prank lands Four Hell’s Kitchen Friends in a juvenile criminal facility where they are terrorized and abused by the guards led by the sadistic Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon.)  Fourteen years later, still living with the horrors inflicted on them at their time there, Johnny (Ron Eldard) and Tommy (Billy Crudup,) now feared gangsters, come upon Nokes in a diner and gun him down in cold blood in front of a room of witnesses.  Now a district attorney, Michael (Brad Pitt) has been stewing for fourteen years waiting for a chance to take any kind of revenge, arranges to prosecute his friends while Shakes (Jason Patric) and King Benny, the local boss, arrange for comeuppances to befall the rest of the guards.  Aided by their friends, Carol (Minnie Driver) and Father Robert Carillo (Robert De Niro,) step by step, Michael’s plan unleashes revenge upon the evil that haunts them.

Like Dead Poets Society, Charlie Bartlett and other “coming-of-age” films, this one starts bright and dips sharply into the real horror behind growing up.  This one, however, takes a separate tack and drives swiftly downhill into the juvenile correction system that the tweens and teens of HBO’s masterpiece The Wire might have tried.  The photography brilliantly tells the story from the brilliant golden years of the boys’ youth, sobering to earthy tones, diving into grays and greens, highlighting the evil wrought upon the quartet as the end of their childhood fades to black as their innocence dies and their screams fade into the night.

This is one of the few revenge plots where it doesn’t ascribe to Confucius’ cautionary proverb, “before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”  I haven’t seen anything of ABC’s new show Revenge, so this plot is rare in my experience where the revengers all survive and the good side mops the floor clean without consequences.  But it is a brilliantly written chess game, and is a good study in revenge plots.   Its period-piece flare, taking us back in time to the 1960′s and the 1980′s is subtle and well researched from the clothes and hairstyles to the music selections.

The employment of tension is what shines here, the slow shutter, the minimalist, loud sound effects (trains, gunshots, wind), and deliberately slow, and emotional pacing.  That and the stale chemistry, whispered dialogue, and John William’s ebbing, rich score.  This leads the audience to listen, watch and egg on the quartet as they carry out a mission with the brilliant tenor of a british spy film, brilliantly acted by Bacon, Patric, Pitt, De Niro and Hoffman.  The plot is tight and the film-craft well done.  This one’s still one of my favorites.

****

In: Dustin Hoffman

Out: Jason Patric

Coming Soon: The Alamo

Stacked or Not Stacked?  Not Stacked

Albert, an activist (Jason Schwartzman) is on a quest to explain the meaning of several seemingly unrelated happenstances involving a mysterious man, so he hires a pair of existential detectives (Lily Tomlin, Dustin Hoffman) to make sense of it all.  Meanwhile, Tommy (Mark Wahlberg) is having another existential crisis and is searching for the meaning of life and in danger of losing his family, and the kicker is that he doesn’t know how to stop.  And the spokesperson (Naomi Watts) for the store that the activist is protesting is having an identity crisis, too.  And Brad (Jude Law) is oppressing Albert’s success while destroying his own.

I must admit the hysterical oddness, as well as the high-concept, both fascinates me and flies by my head: all the “dismantling my reality” and stuff.  When I was in college, a number of my fellow students talked just like some of the characters, making the smallest of literary devices, characters or settings larger than they should be.  I suppose to most people who just read books or watch TV of Movies without being super analytical, I may sound just like them, describing the genre formulas I look for.  Perhaps, like the concept of the blanket in this film, everything is related: I may sound to others the same way my over-intellectual college friends sound to me.  Strange world.

As far as technicality and performance…this movie does work well, as a package, but the story is not accessible to all who engage, therefore not for everyone.  Tracking the different philosophies, as well as all the existential issues each character suffers from, is not simple.  Therefore the target audience appears very narrow and alienates anyone else from understanding the plot, which is something a writer should never do: a good rule of thumb for creating a good story is to not offend your audience, to consider them smarter than your material.  This one, despite its A-List cast, credible mechanics, and well-executed package, kind of does. 

Anyways, I Heart Huckabees is a strange, trippy movie and I honestly don’t remember why I bought it…but feel free to try it on, if you wish.

****

In: Naomi Watts

Out: Dustin Hoffman

Coming Soon: Sleepers

Stacked or Not Stacked? Stacked

During the Great Depression, jobs are scarce, except if you’re an entertainer.  But eventually, even entertainment starts shutting down.  Carl Denham’s (Jack Black) latest film is lacking a leading lady, mostly a crew and the final part of the script when he runs into Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) whose down to her last straw.  Reluctant to star, until she hears her favorite writer, Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) is writing it.  Hastily setting sail on the Venture, the cast and the crew learn that the adventure is far from what they were told.  Arriving on a remote island, they are attacked by the indigenous people, who offer Ann to the island’s creature, a giant gorilla who takes a liking to her.  Denham sees a money-making opportunity and, along with the Captain (Thomas Kretchmann) captures the beast, naming him King Kong (motion captured by Andy Serkis).  Returning to New York, Denham exploits King Kong and has him star in a stage show that tells of his capture.  During the first show, he escapes and begins to hunt her down, creating chaos in New York.

Lord of the Rings taught Peter Jackson the art of compelling episodic filmmaking.  Every step of King Kong is captivating: from the journey to the fog-covered waters which surround Skull Island, the adventures on the island and the ballistic pursuit of King Kong through the streets of New York all the way to the end on the spire of the Empire State Building.  Reaction shots, silent expressions with sparse, restrained dialogue and poetic voice-overs with brilliantly constructed sets and epic locations add a breathless tone which is cerebral, connecting to the audience so effortlessly.   Even in the more visceral parts with the natives (remember that Jackson got his start as a horror director?) are intelligent and thought-provoking, adding a very realistic portrayal of native ritual and ritualistic sacrifice.  The entrance of King Kong alone is stunning.  The coloring and camera-work make each frame a beautiful picture.

The cast, also including Colin Hanks, Kyle Chandler, a live-action Serkis and Jamie Bell, each provide quality screen-time and fill their characters with life and realism and the chemistry is so well-balanced.  The relationship between Darrow and Driscoll is subtle, warm and sensual balancing out the epic nature of the picture with its multiple dinosaur attacks and high-speed chases and larger-than life creatures, a credit to Brody and Watts’ brilliance.  Most surprising is a fully-serious Jack Black whose portrayal of fierce ambition and madness is quite mesmerizing, his subtle intensity reflecting Denham’s maniacal work-ethic which will not be deterred from his goal.  Overall, I can’t find a weak link in the cast.

My only problem, in the long-haul, is the multiple creature attacks.  Having one unnatural creature is enough.  But WETA had to flex their muscles and make the film too much about the effects.  I’m impressed, like everyone else: the innovations cinema has made in my lifetime are incredible.  Effects are great, but there is such thing as too much and here is a prime example.  If it weren’t for the beautiful human story inside this big-effects film, the emotional connection would fail because spectacle is not what I’m interested in engaging with, the emotional story is what we’re supposed to connect with.  However, all the spectacle in the mid-section throws the emotional action off-kilter, causing that connection to sour just a bit.

That all said, this film displays all the examples of fine film-craft and is a teachable tool in cinematic storytelling.  The story is well-divided into episodes; it’s presented with appropriate action, suspense, style and tightly-woven.  The performances are spot on: subtle, personal and well-balanced against the other performers.  The music and score are era-appropriate and appropriate to the plot and the action on-screen.  The editing is action-appropriate and seamless.  The film is smartly produced and doesn’t offend the viewer.  All over, well done.

****

In: Adrien Brody

Out: Naomi Watts

Coming Soon: I Heart Huckabees

Stacked or Not Stacked? Not Stacked

After returning from the Middle East, Jack Starks (Adrien Brody) is hitch-hiking towards Canada.  After fixing young Jackie (Keira Knightly) and alcoholic Jean’s truck, he is picked up by a mysterious stranger.  During a routine traffic stop, his host guns down the officer and flees the scene, leaving Starks holding the bag.  He’s found not guilty by reasons of insanity, due to his war experiences and is sentenced to be committed to a mental institution for the criminally insane.  As part of his treatment, he’s given a cocktail of drugs, strapped into a straightjacket and locked inside a drawer down in the morgue for unknown amounts of time.  During one of these sessions, he’s mysteriously transported several years into the future where he meets Jackie again, all grown up.  She’s become an alcoholic after her mother dies falling asleep smoking.  He learns from her that he’ll die in less than a week.  Enlisting the aid of another patient, Rudy (Daniel Craig,) and his group therapy doctor, and eventually Jackie, he investigates the circumstances behind his death in order to prevent it.  Also wanting to change Jackie’s future, he tries to save her mother from dying.

I’m not really a fan of Keira Knightley, despite the high quantity of her films that I own.  But this one has a brilliant performance on her part.  Her alcoholic slur and volatility and neediness is far beyond her typical role, I’m surprisingly impressed.  The casting for The Jacket is brilliant.  Kris Kristofferson’s Dr. Becker is a perfectly balanced character and antagonist, but he’s not the villain of the piece.  He honestly believes in his treatment, and believes it will help his patients; so he’s not evil, just a pressure against the protagonist.  And he’s comprehensively well written and performed.  Also memorable is Craig’s Rudy as the token inside-man lunatic, like Brad Pitt’s Goynes in 12 Monkeys.  Rudy’s group session confession on his recruitment to “The Organization for the Organized” and the corral of chaos that ensues afterward is nothing short of brilliantly played between Kristofferson, Craig and Brody’s Starks.  But most impressive is Adrien Brody, harnessing an emotionally raw and chilling delivery cementing him on my list of fantastic performers.

The story plays out like a crime story: there’s a mystery, a death (actually two if you count Jean’s death,) and the clues needed to find the solution.  And the brilliant thing: the solution chosen isn’t the most obvious, but it is the most satisfying and cathartic.  And the story is a brilliant thinking film, questioning how someone chooses to see life when confronted with the knowledge of their own death.  A truly wonderfully made film; it hits a certain spot, and all I can say is it’s quality storytelling.

*****

In: Kris Kristofferson

Out: Adrien Brody

Coming Soon: King Kong

Stacked or Not Stacked? Not Stacked

In the seedy underworld of cities worldwide, a carnivorous culture thrives on the life-force of their former selves.  Vampires rule the planet, contrary to popular belief.  A virus carried by Dracula near the beginning of the world was passed down from human carrier to human carrier creating the vampire race.  Some are born vampires, while others are turned by being mildly bitten.  And there’s a third caste, the familiar: a human enslaved and loyal to a certain vampire, hoping to be turned someday by his master.  But a baby, born in 1967, lives in stark contrast: he was born human, but with all the strength and speed of a vampire and capable of surviving exposure to garlic, silver and sunlight.  His only weakness, he thirsts for blood.  He fights alone, supported and equipped by his mentor, Abraham Whistler (Kris Kristofferson,) and is the scourge of the vampire race, and they call him Blade (Wesley Snipes.)

The Blade Trilogy is a brilliant study on continuity of tenor in a series.  Tenor, defined, is the general meaning, sense or content of something.  In a film series, tenor refers to production design, cinematography, casting, direction, editing, acting or anything that contributes to the essence of the piece.  For instance, Blade, has a tech-no-punk feel to it contributed by the soundtrack choices, time-lapse editing, wirework and shutter speed.  Blade II has a hip-hop feel with slow-motion action set-ups, almost dance-like fight scenes and smooth pacing.  Whereas the feeling behind Blade Trinity is sorrowful trance-like tech-no due to the story-line and is evident in longer takes, wider angles and an almost-orchestral score with little shutter speed changes.  As far as individual tenor is different, the series has many things that keep the tenor of the trilogy consistent: color scheme, Snipes and Krisofferson as main cast members, some props and costumes and production design.  The series has an almost musical feeling to it and an industrial flare.  Together, they run smoothly and almost fluidly; nearly seamless in style and it’s very clear from any three frames from the trilogy that they relate.

Blade is the first of the series and presents the style and substance of the series, as well the wit and character of the series both in Blade himself and in the tenor of the trilogy.  And as a first installment, it has its awkward moments.  Particularly the design for La Magra, Deacon Frost’s (Stephen Dorff) mutated creature.  The blood effects are not mature enough to last and come off cartoony, leaving the ending a bit immature and campy.  The other is the casting of N’Bushe Wright, who plays Dr. Karen Jensen.  Her delivery comes off a bit childish as well; without the medical and scientific jargon to protect her performance, she is just not a credible scientist.  Besides Snipes, Dorff and Kristofferson, the rest of the cast leaves little to remember about the personnel in front of the camera.  Most memorable is Steven Dorff’s Frost and his subtle, darkly comedic and unpredictable delivery left me, when I first encountered this film in my early college years, with an interest in his resume.  Other than the three key players, the package is damaged by the lack of attention to credible cast members.  However, the action, which is really what matters in this series, is top notch.

The sequel, which takes place a handful of years from the action of the first, adjusts the casting issue.  Spattered with great chameleons like Norman Reedus, Ron Perlman, Thomas Kretschmann, Karl Roden, Matt Schulze and Tony Curran.  Each performer brings his A-Game and enhances the package, stepping up the quality of the series.  The design behind the Reapers is a brilliant mix of makeup and CGI.  My biggest concern is that the sound mixing for the “jump moments” is too loud, so it ruins the subtlety that existed in the first.  However the photography, sets and coloring retains the design from the first, keeping with the overall world design.  And the story reminds us that this series comes from the Marvel comics universe, a sort of palace intrigue story with sibling jealousy and prejudice.  Almost Shakespearian!!  This plot enhances the understanding the audience has with the world in which the story takes place.  This is the mark of a good sequel or segment in a series.  And I have to agree, this one’s actually okay.  The action kicks up a notch and the story’s all right, so not bad!!

The other end of the series has out hero fighting against his progenitor, Dracula (Dominic Purcell), in a fight that promises to be an end of the species.  Blade, in keeping with the tradition set down in the “hero’s journey” literary model, faces fighting the fight alone when Whistler is killed in a raid by the police on their waterfront headquarters.  However, Whistler has left a fail-safe behind: The Nightstalkers, led by his illegitimate daughter, Abigail (Jessica Biel) and her partner Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds.)  They become the final line of defense and close the series by ridding the world of the overarching threat lining the series.  The youthful flare added by Biel and Reynolds isn’t enough to rejuvenate the plot-line.  The pacing creeps along in a slow-ish pace, almost tired, like its lead character, weary in its fight.  But the production design and color scheme and action style is all the same, so it does fit inside the series, but the series just feels tired.  At least the story-line has closed, with all the questions answered.

Overall the series is well developed on a production scale alone.  However, the story could have used a bit more work, perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes on each installment.  Well produced, regardless, but lukewarm nothing too impressive, unless you count the stunt work.  However, a good study in tenor.  And if you study vampire slayers like I do, it’s a good genre case study…but we’ll cover that at a later date.

****

In: Karl Roden

Out: Kris Kristofferson

Coming Soon: The Jacket

Stacked or Not Stacked?  Not Stacked.

When ten-year-old Oleg (Cameron Bright) attacks his abusive stepfather (Karl Roden) using a gun involved in a cop-killing which his neighbor, Italian Mob soldier Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker,) is responsible for hiding after the incident.  Knowing his crew will kill him if he can’t find Oleg and the gun, a manhunt for both ensues as the clock spends time he doesn’t have.  Hunted by dirty cops and two mob houses with an entire city to canvas, the seedy underworld hides secrets and vile deeds, but Gazelle harbors secrets of his own.

Desperation as Oleg is passed from nightmare to nightmare is brilliantly captured with brilliant acting by Roden, Chazz Palminteri, a beautifully menacing performance by John Noble and brilliant paranoid energy from Paul Walker.  Also by hyperactive editing and hand-held shooting.  The writing was simplistic leaving room for the film-craft, which brilliantly captures the soul of the film.  However, it could have used some time spent in the drawing room, because the at the mid-point the nightmare takes a turn for the “huh?” when Oleg runs afoul of a couple who happens to be serial killers who target children.  A tight story cannot have anything that can be removed, and that scene could go and tighten the plot down to a rampage throughout the city’s underground without going to a place that doesn’t belong.  Although, it does highlight one of the themes, that of the primal nature which surfaces during heightened levels of stress.

The twist that plays at the end is a brilliant twist that throws a wrench in understanding the whole film.  It almost makes the film worth the child-killer nightmare worth it…but not quite.

****

In: Paul Walker

Out: Karl Roden

Coming Soon: Blade Trilogy

After turning himself in and being sentenced to twenty-five years to life, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) is broken out of his prison transport by his friend, Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) and his sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster.)  Now on the run, they are wanted fugitives.  Landing in Brazil, Brian and Mia accept a job proposed by an old friend, Vince (Matt Schultze,) but the job goes south when the cars they’ve stolen turn out to be seized by the DEA, resulting in three agents being murdered.  An elite fugitive recovery team led by DSS Agent Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) is dispatched to find them and bring them back to US to face charges.  Sensing that their lifestyle will either kill them or land them all in prison, the trio decides to put the local cartel out of business by stealing all the money from ten stash houses found while investigating the GPS listings in one of the cars they stole.  But the job is more complex and, between them, Dom and Brian round up everyone they trust to pull off a final heist and retire for good.  But can they stay ahead of Agent Hobbs and the cartel and still get out alive?

Departing from the formula of the previous four, this installment in the Fast & Furious series almost lacks the culture of its parent and sister films.  For instance, the street-racing element is treated like a vending machine for some of the tools needed for the heist, and not the main element needed to solve the problem at hand.  Like the ensemble cast Ocean’s trilogy, this is a heist film and is treated as such with complete honesty, without pretense.  Have no fear, F&F fans, there is a fair helping of vehicular action; in fact, the final third is worth the wait.  Number Five does not pretend to harbor a deep meaning, or any great philosophy, she’s just pure action with great faces; for this reason, she shines.

Choosing from the best people in each installment, the cast is stocked with performers that gel so smoothly, the conclusion leaves the audience thirsting for another installment: the very definition of success.  Confident in their swagger and comfortable in the roles which kicked off their careers, Toretto and O’Conner are as comfortable and right as your favorite shirt and Diesel and Walker wear them so well.  For the women, Mia is tough, but tender and on the other hand Giselle is as tough as the rest of the boys, so the girls are evenly balanced, with space still left for newbie Elena who rides the middle.  Sung Kang’s Han has returned before he heads to Tokyo and shows Kang’s skill as an actor in that he’s done research on this one, perfecting a quirk that relates to his character’s backstory and also reminds us that he’s hardcore and truly cocky.  Tyreese Gibson’s Roman Pierce and Ludaris’ Tej balance the heart, emotion and action with some genuine comedy.  And Johnson’s Hobbs applies the perfect amount of action-filled counter pressure to Joaquim de Almeida’s usual seething menace in Reyes.  The cast impregnates the film with exactly the right flavor for what I call a “potpourri film” in that it has a bit of this and a bit of that and it smells really, really good!!

The cosmic event that had men everywhere punching the air comes at the mid-point, when Johnson (remember he got his start in WWE?) and Diesel (whose resume includes the occupational title of Bouncer) pull no punches and have it out after Hobbs comes upon the team’s safe house and Toretto refuses to come quietly.  Should have lasted just a bit longer, I think.   (*sigh*)

Like the rest of the Fast & Furious family, this film is all fun all the time and has some great fan moments including the only street race in the entire film which pits the drivers from each installment against each other (Dom from the first, Roman for the second, Han from #3 and Brian from the fourth) racing in identical police cars.  But it’s the final twenty minutes which snaps the tension full throttle to the end with a twist that leaves all, including Agent Hobbs, smiling.  Fun is the whole point; nothing else!!  And that is the reason this film is a complete success!!

****

IN: Vin Diesel

OUT: Paul Walker

Coming Soon: Running Scared

After an unspecified time, Riddick (Vin Diesel) and the two remaining survivors, Jack and Imam (David Keith,) are picked up by a passing mercenary ship who intends to take Riddick in for the reward he’s worth or add to the owners’ perverse collection of cryogenically preserved murderers.  After a struggle, he escapes and is pursued by Toombs (Nick Chinlund) and his team for five years intent on collecting the biggest reward for him.

The interim film is a short called Dark Fury.  Very different from its parent film and sequel film, Dark Fury is animated a la Anime and is appropriately written as an interim installment for the series.  Allowed to be more violent than its sequel film, due to the extreme nature of the animated violence, also because it’s shorter than the other two, it’s allowed a bit more artistic than its parent film and it’s successor in the story-line.  The story-line is intact and the spirit is very much alive.  It’s worth a look if you’re going to watch the series as a whole.

For the final chapter, the universe is in peril as an extremist crusade led by the Lord Marshal (Colm Feore,) head of the Necromonger Army, whose goal is to convert or kill as many worlds as they can while they search for their holy land, The Underverse.  Faced with no other choice, Aereon (Judi Dench,) an elemental being hires Toombs (Nick Chinlund) to track Riddick down in order to recruit him in order to “Fight Evil with Evil.”

Far more epic, spanning adventures on three separate planets with the desperation of an apocalyptic universe, The Chronicles of Riddick has something which its sibling installments lacked…a bigger budget.  Performed by heavy hitters Judi Dench, Colm Feore, Thandie Newton and breakout star Karl Urban, The Riddick Trilogy shed its childhood and it’s independent status and graduated to blockbuster rank.  Cloaked in a grander effects scope and an in-demand cast, the final chapter proves it no longer hungers for the “big shot” because it already stands in the light.  The problem with feeling satisfied is that the desperation and forced creativity are absent.  But, as Diesel’s more well known series, Fast and Furious, this film is about the action, not the story nor the practice and sculpting of fine film-craft.  But no matter, this film has other qualities that make it excellent.  This film has wit, character and credibility in each facet of the production design, acting and story.  Nothing is out of place, nothing can be removed…the story is tight and the production fits.  All together just right.

****

In: Colm Feore

Out: Vin Diesel

Coming Soon: Fast Five

In deep space, a freighter crash-lands losing over half of their 40 passengers.  Making camp on a on a desolate planet, they discover they’re not the first humans to visit the planet, and they’re not alone on the planet.  But the natives aren’t the only dangers to the crew.  One of their own, Richard B Riddick (Vin Diesel,) is an escaped convict and bad to the core.  When darkness falls, due to an eclipse which occurs every twenty-two years, the native creatures come out of their underground caves to feed from the surface.  Due to a medical procedure procured in prison, Riddick is able to see in the darkness and is tasked with leading the survivors from their crash site, to an abandoned village in order to fix an abandoned shuttle and fly it to safety; leaving one question: can he be trusted?

Production design and the feel of each installment is very different.  Pitch Black is clearly an independent film, cast with no A-Listers or, at the time, known actors.  Vin Diesel, himself wasn’t widely known then.  Claudia Black, Radha Mitchell, Keith David and Cole Hauser were independent stars, as well.  The small-scale struggle is also a staple of independent films, due to the low funds available.  Independent films have a different power over blockbusters; their thirst for the “big shot” drives the excellence to a higher level, because they can’t afford to lose a step in order to achieve that push through to the mainstream.  The writing here is simple, low-scope and basic enough to apply some extremely beautiful film-craft, which is where this film shines.  Seemingly written just for him, Vin Diesel’s Richard B Riddick is worn by his performer with excellent swagger, mystery, quiet fury and attitude.  The power of this portrayal makes the audience love a truly bad boy.  And his character: not a soulless brute, nor is he highly emotional; he’s cool, calculating, tactical presence.  Very cleanly written and comprehensively created, leaving Riddick memorable.

What is striking and breathtaking is the cinematography.  The planet was created to have dual suns and the effects department and camera crew chose that they’d be different colors beginning on each side of the planet, so the location with the crashed ship was backlit by one sun and the settlement back lit by the other.  The opposing suns give a clash of colors to go with the clash of ideals, ethics and tactics.  The framing and camerawork are effortless and invisible keeping us raw just like the unforgiving planet’s wasteland.

Pitch Black is a stunning piece of cinema whose cinema landscape, flawless film-craft and raw story create a truly beautiful package.

****

Coming Soon: The Chronicles of Riddick

Ever wondered who might have lived, or died, in the place where you live?  Century Hotel‘s Room 720 is rich with history from a honeymooning couple whose marriage ends in a bang, a gangster’s mail-order bride, a prostitute and her John, a scandalous liaison, a paranoid man looking for his wife, two computer hackers contemplating suicide and a stoned, arrogant musician and the maid who cleans his room.  From the hotel’s opening in the 1920′s to its reopening on the eve of the millennium, Room 720′s guests provide decades of tales about their time inside its walls.

Each era has their own production design and color scheme to go with each story.  Sylvia (Lindy Booth) and her new husband, George’s (Eugene Lipinski) color scheme is deep red to display passion and wealth.  Michael (David Hewlett) and Danny’s (Joel Bissonnette) color scheme is sepia, yellow and brown, just like their military uniforms.  The story of Sebastian (Colm Feore) and the hotel detective are set in a dismal time, so the colors are charcoal and purple.  The Musician and the Maid’s colors are psychedelic and resemble that of a lava lamp as the lens keeps the picture soft.  The colors for the bride and the manservant are oriental with yellows, greens, blues and a splash of red when the bride asserts her freedom.  Dominique (Mia Kirshner) and her John, Nicolas (Tom McCamus), whose story starts smokey and mysterious in dark and soft blue and ends up clearing the haze as their relationship becomes more clear as each encounter makes their connection clearer.  Whereas Supergirl (also Lindy Booth) and her penpal’s scenes are romantic and candlelit, like a crypt, softly glowing welcoming them both to a gentle death as the birth of a new century dawns.

And the storytelling becomes stronger and the passion of the decades inside Room 720.  The first half introduces us to each story and how each of the characters relate to each other, concluding with the peak of the emotional action.  The second deals with the main issue and climaxes with the tragedy and sadness that comes from the emotional high toward the end of the story.  And all of them display somewhat  of a tragic end from the end of a life, the end of marriage, of a relationship, a job or a beautiful moment.  Each is intimate and so beautiful, except for the two stories of murder.  I especially like the bride and the manservant, despite that their intimacy lasts a few minutes as he helps her, blindfolded, to put on her wedding dress.  Also Dominique and Nicolas’ love story is an honest affair and their confession of love exposes them more than their mutual nakedness ever could, everything’s out in the open and its heartbreaking.  The soul of the film is loneliness and how a room hides all secrets to the outside and exposes all within.

The film is also an interesting collage of the past ten decades of American History.  From the roaring twenties to Y2K, each story features a great snapshot of the taboos, headlines and the texture of the times.  And its a testament to great film craft  that this, an obscure film that I hadn’t heard of until I purchased it at my small home town’s local grocery store for $3.99, is one of my favorite independent films and it captivates me every time.

****

IN: Eugene Lipinski

OUT: Colm Feore

Coming Soon: Pitch Black & The Chronicles of Riddick

When her boyfriend, Jack Chase (Philip Winchester,) disappears, karate instructor Alice (Caterina Scorsone) pursues his kidnappers through an abandon warehouse and falls through an abandoned mirror into a world that’s a little strange.  Trapped by an old man, particular about the time and crated off into a casino run by the King and Queen of Hearts (Colm Meaney and Kathy Bates,) she escapes and finds her way into The Hatter’s (Andrew Lee Potts) Tea Room.  Agreeing to help her find Jack, they team up with Charlie The White Knight (Matt Frewer) and embark on an adventure somewhere down the rabbit hole andAlicebecomes Alice of Legend.

Syfy’s Alice is a fascinating re-imagining of the world set down in Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland.  Where the house of cards is akin to a mob-like family whose interest is exploiting human emotion for their own satisfaction in bottle’s like liquor in a lucrative drug trade.  The “cards” are enforcers, soldiers carrying weapons.  And The Hatter runs The Tea House, a place which trades emotions like the stock exchange, moderated by a narcoleptic Door-mouse. The caterpillar (Harry Dean Stanton) is an old man afloat in a rowboat in a swimming pool. It’s all quite trippy!! The energy flows as trippily as the subject matter.  However, a touching story of true human emotions such as love, friendship and bravery, ensues as Alice goes on her quest to find her true love and he is not who she thinks.  True family loyalty is tested as The Queen of Hearts uses fear and ruthlessness to ensure loyalty, but Alice and her friends learn true friendship, love and real family.

As sluggish as the energy is, the humor is rich and strange in a quirky way that is endearing, mostly card related (“touch the lady and I’ll shuffle your deck,”) aided by great chemistry between Andrew Lee Potts’ Hatter and Caterina Scorsone’s Alice with juicy performances by Meaney and Bates as the King and Queen of Hearts, as well as a truly over-the-top performance by Frewer.  But the package is a sort of acquired taste, sort of like craving a pumpkin latte in November.  It’s not something watched all the time, but it does hit the spot when needing a trippy, geek-ish adventure with a touching ending and some genuinely cute British guys!!

****

IN: Tim Curry

Out: Eugene Lipinski

Coming Soon: Century Hotel

When young Louis XIII, King of France, naively allows his musketeers to disband, his chief advisor, Cardinal Richelieu (Tim Curry) embarks on his plans to take the throne, assassinating the king and seducing his queen.  Meanwhile, D’Artangnan (Chris O’Donnel,) son of a slain musketeer, has arrived in Paris to follow in his father’s footsteps and, hotheadedly finds himself thrown into fighting the Cardinal when he picks a fight with three of the king’s musketeers: Porthos (Oliver Platt), Aramis (Charlie Sheen) and Athos (Keifer Sutherland.)  He quickly befriends the trio and the group endeavors to re-assemble the musketeers and thwart the Cardinal’s plans.

Disney’s version of Dumas’ classic is safe, bright and fun for the whole family with popular faces from the 1990′s.  Heartthrobs Chris O’Donnell, Keifer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen and comic Oliver Platt each offer solid and balanced performances which enhance the story and bring an air of realism to the characters.  Disney has always presented quality filmmaking craft for the era in which the story is performed, this is the first movie I remember having credible action scenes and realistic acting from the studio.  Then again, I was thirteen in 1993 when it came out; so what did I know?  I remember being quite smitten by O’Donnell, Sutherland and Sheen, as I was meant to.  And this was before Sutherland’s iconic performance as Federal Agent Jack Bauer.  This memory is why The Three Musketeers joined Clicks Flix in the first place, which only proves one thing: Platt, Sutherland, O’Donnell and Sheen did their jobs well and the writers provided them with credible material and the performers rose above the occasion.  Not every film which professes the banner “safe for the whole family” can demonstrate the quality film-craft necessary to leave an impression on this jaded film-watcher; this one does, purely for how much fun it is to watch.

Contrasting the cautious nature of the Disney film, the continuing story is much darker, full of betrayal, greed and debauchery.  Many decades later, after King Louis XIII has died and the surviving of his twin sons Louis XIV (Leonardo DiCaprio) has assumed the throne.  Porthos (Girard Dipardieu,) Athos (John Malcovich) and Aramis (Jeremy Irons) have finished their service as Musketeers and each retired.  D’Artangnan (Gabriel Byrne) is captain of the Muskteers and the king’s most trusted advisor.  Unknown to the world, the King’s brother, Phillipe (also played by DiCaprio,) survives as a prisoner deep in the bowels of The Bastille, his face enclosed by a mask made of the strongest steel.  All is not right with France, as the king is selfish, cruel and decadent, and his people hate him.  After the king sends Athos’ son to the front lines to be killed and steals his fiance, Athos, Aramis and Porthos believe he’s gone too far.  Because of this, the Three Musketeers hatch a plot to free Phillipe and place him on the throne and place the king in the dungeon to wear the mask.  But D’Artangnan vows to remain true to his oath and friends are pitted against each other.

This story, like it’s parent story, is about friendship, loyalty and the power of a legacy of honor.  Whereas the previous tale’s draw is action, wit and very real characters, this one’s draw is the deep passion and the emotional connection; operatic, almost.   The ties binding the four friends together is strong, and, as with the previous film their portrayers handle their characters well and the writers have done well.  The pacing is not as fast as the previous, but the beats pulse appropriately and the film doesn’t lag.  I’m struck by the dual portrayal Mr DiCaprio presents of the King and The Man in the Iron Mask…the two characters are twins, but very different to each other: brilliant!!  And Malcovich, Irons and Byrne display a deepness that reflects the theme of honor, loyalty and legacy.  The pivotal scene, which gives me goosebumps every time, is one where The Three Musketeers, D’Artangnan and Phillipe are boxed in by the king’s guard and they decide to charge them, having faith that their legacy will protect them.  It reminds me to live life so fully, with honor, justice and humility that I may be an example to all those who follow.

The two films are strikingly separate from each other, but each is well executed and the film-craft is beautiful.  Each inspires change within their viewers, each allows an effortless connection which comes from realistic characters and each stays true to themselves, not striving to be anything beyond its own conceit.  However, as a pair they don’t relate whatsoever besides having some of the same characters and a slightly similar timeline.  But it matters not; they are a pair of fine examples of film-craft, excellent, each in their own way.

****

IN: Hugh Laurie

OUT: Tim Curry

Coming Soon: Alice

Broken hearts and broken fortunes guide the Dashwood sisters and their mother after the death of Mr. Dashwood whose fortune must go to his son.  When the desperate family move to the cottage on Sir John Middleton’s estate, they are thrust into the impossible task of remaining proper while pursuing their hearts desires while employing separate methods.  Maryanne (Kate Winslet) is overt and opnionated and Eleanor (Emma Thompson) is reserved.  Their finances and fortunes depend greatly upon the men they marry and they are obstructed by friends, family and deep secrets.

Pacing, important in applying suspense and drama, is a vital component in storytelling.  A good story is interesting, capturing our attention through suspense and action.  We never go to or rent movies to be bored.  Suspense, a state or feeling of excited or uncertainty about what may happen, is employed to tease emotion in order to heighten interest in the story.  Pacing informs how fast or slow a story progresses and how keenly the time spent involved in the plot is felt.  When a film fails to employ proper care to the pacing, the film’s minutes are felt and the audience disengages in their emotional connection with the characters and the story.  Pacing is often the burden of the performers, composer and editor.

 Sense and Sensibility is a brilliant episodic series of plots that feels much longer and richer in its two and a half hour time span due to the care spent on the pacing in the piece.  Kate Winslet and Emma Thompson employ such rich subtlety and deep passion that it’s nearly an impossibility not to travel the story of their sisterhood together.  My favorite performance is Thompson’s Eleanor’s emotional plea for Maryanne to hang on throughout a devastating illness; something her character grows into through the plot.  It’s this scene which sold me from the beginning and I enjoy the rich characters leaping from the pages of Jane Austin’s classic brilliantly performed from Robert Hardy, Elizabeth Spriggs, Imelda Staunton, Hugh Laurie, Hugh Grant and the intoxicating Alan Rickman.

 ****

 IN: Emma Thompson

 OUT: Hugh Laurie 

Coming Soon: The Three Musketeers & The Man in the Iron Mask

At Christmas time, while the season builds in busy-ness, romance is in the air for many people in England and other places.  And in some places, heartbreak is in the air as, for some, romance is dysfunctional, but love still is in the air even if their romantic intentions are dead.  From a writer (Colin Firth) escaping his cheating girlfriend and stumbling into the arms of his escape house’s new housekeeper, to a pair of body doubles and the new bachelor Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) and his personal assistant.  And there are other stories, such as Sarah (Laura Linney) who cannot hook up with her intended, Carl (Rodrigo Santoro) due to her time spend with her mentally challenged brother; or the story of Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) and his life-long friendship with his manager.  Also, the story of a stepfather Daniel (Liam Neeson) and his stepson (Thomas Sangster) dealing with their recent family loss and the son’s unrequited love for the popular girl at school.

Love stories usually deal with a guy and a girl and their realization that he’s a he and she’s a she and they look real good. But this film, in addition to the romance angle, touches on the love between fathers and sons, brothers and sisters and long-life friends. I personally enjoy the story between Sam and his father as they try to snag the love of the popular girl at Sam’s school. The setup for it is done brilliantly as the father believes that his stepson is deep in his grief for the loss of his mother, but it turns out comically that he’s really in love (“the total agony of being in love”) rather than doing drugs to hide his pain. Also one of my favorites, the undeclared love triangle between Peter (Chiweitel Ejoifor) and his new wife, Juliet (Keira Knightley,) and his best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) who’s always been harboring a secret passion for Juliet.  Beautifully set up and executed.  The writing in this film is beautiful and deeply emotional, leaving the audience (which, as we recall, for all intents and purposes, is me) helpless, forcing an emotional connection with one of the multi-threaded story lines.

This film, along with Gosford Park, is a “who’s who” of great performers from the UK including Keira Knightly, Colin Firth, Martin Freeman, Bill Knighy, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Chiweitel Ejoifor and Andrew Lincoln (of AMC’s The Walking Dead.)  I particularly love the slow reveal of Mark’s love for Juliet, as their watching the wedding video he shot.  His horror, as he wishes he could tell her, has brilliance in the fact that it’s done entirely in silence up until his dash out into the street to hide his feelings.  And Music Supervisor Nick Angel’s choice of Dido’s melancholy strains (“Here with Me”) is a fantastic boost to the scene. The chemistry between all involved is perfectly performed, from the equally comical sequences between the lost in translation couple and the equally touching scenes between Sam and Daniel, and heartbreaking scenes during a down-spiraling marriage between Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman’s Karen and Harry.  Each of the players inside this multilayered love story is the reason I come back to this film over and over and over again, because they bring it every time and I fall in love several times over.

****

In: Bill Nighy

Out: Emma Thompson

Coming Soon: Sense and Sensibility

In secret, a war has been raging for the better part of two millennia.  It’s combatants rule the night, where the absence of the sun and the rise of the full moon bring out the beast within each, culminating in a supernatural battle which has been portrayed in the annals of literature, cinema and pop culture throughout modern fiction.  The Underworld series tells of the emancipation of werewolves, led by Lucian (Michael Sheen) from the services of Viktor (Bill Nighy,) the ruler of the vampire nation.  The war is savage and fierce, and the grinds to a halt when Lucian is finally killed by a vampire warrior named Kraven (Shane Brolly.)  When it is discovered that Lucian lives and has entered into a truce with him, a fellow warrior named Selene (Kate Beckensale) uncovers a plot within the Lycan (werewolf) nation to combine the bloodlines using a bystanding human, Michael (Scott Speedman.)  Combining the bloodlines is radical, in fact it’s taboo, and Viktor refuses to allow it, causing Selene and Michael to turn on Viktor and go on the run.

The unease of canine and vampire relations has played out since Bram Stoker’s Dracula with the wolves of the Transylvanian woods surrounding Dracula’s castle.  It continues throughout literature, novels and cinema for the better part of the last 300 years.  The rivalry is at the crux of the hybrid horror conglomeration Van Helsing and an identifying feature for the Alpha Vampire of the 80′s pop classic The Lost Boys.  It’s noticeably absent from the universe surrounding Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it’s spin-off Angel.  Currently, the teenage population is involved with this great rivalry in the Edward vs Jacob madness of the Twilight Saga, despite the fact that it is revealed that Jacob isn’t really a werewolf at all.  The crux of the matter classically is that the wolves are enslaved to the vampires and forced to do their master’s will, in some lore, like Underworld, the wolves escape and are free to use their power for their own purposes.  But, for the most part, like Underworld and The Twilight Saga, the wolves are in bitter conflict with their enemy with all prejudice.

Unlike the usual lore, Underworld’s two sides are actually kin to each other.  They are related down the bloodlines from Alexander Corvinus (Derek Jacobi) whose exposure to a devastating plague render him immortal (as long as his blood remains within him) and is passed along to his decedents who are exposed to a wolf virus and a bat virus and one who remained immune to both, but mortal.  It’s an  interesting twist to a quintessential rivalry, something Stephanie Meyer might have taken into account…would have made the lore for Twilight a bit more interesting.

And in keeping with this rivalry, the set design reflects these extreme differences.  With the Vampires, as the “ruling class,” displaying a decadence with mansions, castles, private trains, and safe-houses.  Their Victorian style furniture, and all the trappings of blue-blooded high society estates, but with the modernization of computers, clothing, weapons technology and synthetic blood.  The Lycans, on the other hand, live as slaves in Rise of the Lycans, imprisoned in the dungeons of Viktor’s castle condemned to an eternity of servitude.  In Underworld, they live below ground in the sewers, using outdated equipment for their research and stealing or trading for weapons.  Their clothing is inelegant; tattered and pieced together, like the homeless of any era, reflecting their low beginnings.  However, we barely see them in Evolution, outside their wolf form.

Like their common ancestor, the photography for this series inflects something the two races share: moonlight.  The blue hues and hard edges reminds us of something they both claim: we own the night!!  Even the human side, with Corvinus’ commando headquarters, the blue tint stays.  The blue tint is absent three times and all have human overtones: Michael’s human life (at the hospital, before he’s thrust into the war,) when he and Selene consummate their relationship and near the end of Evolution, when Selene steps into the sunlight for the first time in several hundred years.

The Underworld Trilogy is brilliant in depicting the classic Vampire/Werewolf feud in whichever facet it’s shown.

***

IN: Wentworth Miller

OUT: Bill Nighy

Coming Soon: Love Actually

Months after the events of Resident Evil: Extinction, Alice (Milla Jovovich) assaults Umbrella’s Tokyo facility with the help of her clones.  Her target, Chairman Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts,) sets a trap for her and resets her body back to “factory settings,” removing everything Umbrella did to enhance her.  She, somehow, survives his ambush and decides to go looking for Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) in Alaska.  Finding no one for days, she finally locates Claire, but she’s been altered by a mind controlling device.  Overcoming the device, she and Alice travel to Los Angeles and join a small group of survivors, including Claire’s brother, Chris (Wentworth Miller,) but she can’t remember him.  Finding the source of the transmission that led Claire to Alaska, the three prepare to have one last confrontation with Wesker.

The style has changed for this installment of the Resident Evil series.  Alice spends a considerable time outside the infection zone and it presents a fresh, untouched landscape which freshens the setting and gives it a post-apocalyptic feel that hints at a second creation and renaissance for the human race.  The decay seems gone when she’s in Alaska, especially when she’s in the field of planes from the people who have been lured there.  Her fight with Claire is, unlike the usual fighting style, almost caveman-style, hinting at the beginning of a new civilization.  As is the final room on Arcadia: white, pure, sterile and clean to hint at rebirth and a fresh start.

The sisters-in-arms chemistry between Claire and Alice is back and beautiful.  Even during their feral fight, they show a bond, as if Alice knows all her moves.  Also, the acting styles between Jovovich and Larter are so similar, that their verbal exchanges flow very smoothly, very fluid.  Similar in fluidity is Wentworth Miller’s Chris Redfield.  The subtle, soulful, playfully menacing and husky delivery of Miller’s performance matches the two ladies, balancing the scales for the women viewers, as we are still mourning the loss of Carlos (Oded Fehr) from the previous installment, and we need some good eye candy who can still fight and be the envy of the guys too.

The photography, at points, has been designed to emulate the game and does so brilliantly.  This one has soft edges to contrast the harsh, dry edges from Extinction, the dark, glistening urban streets of Apocalypse and the industrial and mechanical design from Resident Evil.  Especially notable is the Tokyo Facility, the field of planes in Alaska, the Prison Cell Block and the Clean Room in the finale, displaying a smooth, artificial look which matches the filmy animation of the video game.  It really is beautiful.

A great installment to the Resident Evil series, Afterlife shines just like the rest of its sisters and brings a fresh take to balance the brilliance of the family.

***

In: Milla Jovovich

Out: Wentworth Miller

Coming Soon: Underworld: Vampires vs. Werewolves, a classic rivalry