What Doesn't Kill You

What Doesn't Kill You is an actors' showcase for it's stars and a fine drama for any interested in honesty over style (or honesty as style). Their isn't much pizazz to the way the filmmakers tell this story, but there is plenty to love about writer-director Brian Goodman's autobiographical tale of men making or avoiding the tough choices that make good men just that. I get a sense this is how "organized" crime really works. Strip away the style and larger than life characters of The Sopranos or Goodfellas and I suspect you'll get WDKY - mid-level lackeys miserable and depraved with only the notion that it's supposed to be better to move them on to each new day.

Ethan Hawke has never been better. The twitchiness to his "method" is toned down and instead of the sniveling loser or dreamy eyed slacker, Hawke becomes a witty, dangerous man with vague ambitions and no smarts to achieve more than he's already know. Lead Mark Ruffalo is excellent as well, lending an intensity and vulnerability to his character. Goodman has an ear for authenticity and a no-nonsense sensibility, but he needs to learn dramatic pacing, editing, and develop a more captivating aesthetic to match his actors' skills. I'll say this - he can cast like a crackerjack. The child actors who play Ruffalo and Amanda Peet's (solid as usual in a supporting role) quietly suffering offspring. They don't show off. They're not playing at anything (over-thinking, over-physicalizing, etc.), they're just being real kids in a rotten situation.

WDKY hit me like a ton of bricks, but it's dramatic finale was stale - a kin to a Movie of the Week. It's as though Goodman, in wanting to avoiding a Hollywood ending, didn't know how to provide any sense of closure to match everything that came before it. Still, for the performances and the real dramatic heft to it's story, WDKY (kudos for ending the title at that) is one of my favorite films from 2008.

***1/2

Rachel Getting Married

Be prepared for heaps of praise. I've been overusing the term "organic" lately, but Rachel Getting Married is certainly worthy of such a designation. There is not one false note in this film (perhaps to a fault). It is filled with lived in performances from an excellent cast deserving recognition come awards season. Chief among the standouts is Anne Hathaway. She stunned me with her vulnerability and willingness to leave her character to be interpreted and felt by the audience. Her character is not immediately likable, and she is certainly the catalyst for poking of the raw nerve of the family. She reveals her character slowly. I thought I had her pegged within the first 15 minutes, but there's depth to her and her relationships with her immediate family. Rosemarie Dewitt, as the title character, offers up a great supporting performance full of honesty, hurt, love, and tenderness that notes the breakout of a wonderful new talent. Family tragedy plays a large part to the raw nerve, but director Jonathan Demme and writer Jenny Lumet allow for the details to reveal themselves in fresh, real ways culminating with Anne Hathaway's Kym's harrowing confession to a support group. There's much to rave about when considering this film, but perhaps the biggest praise I can offer is that I not only watched this film but also felt every moment caught in the camera's grasp. Rachel Getting Married is a bare bones indie. There's not much style to it visually, though it certainly isn't bland. Rather, Demme allows the camera to be an unobtrusive voyeur in this family's intimate moment. The wedding rehearsal dinner might have gone on too long, but I chalked up its length to the revelation of these characters through unknown eyes and histories. And you better believe that there was a horror in my heart the moment Kym reached for the microphone. The wedding reception, also, may have run a bit long, but by that point in the film I had given myself over completely to these characters and their moment. I also was wonderfully aware that it was the coolest wedding I have ever seen. Rachel Getting Married understands and portrays the great complexity of familial love, resentment, regret, and heartache like no other film this year.

****1/2

The Pineapple Express

I got a chance to see an early screening of this movie at the Landmark. It was a blast. It's really what you'd expect when the writers of Superbad decided to make a stoner action/comedy. Zany, irreverent, goofy, and outlandish with just a smidgen of duder love. James Franco, Seth Rogen, and hilarious, but once again the writers have set up a scene-stealing role. It was McLovin in Superbad, but the most memorable part of The Pineapple Express is Danny McBride as Red. Gut-busting funny.

There is a lot of riffing going on and it can be a bit over done sometimes. I imagine the run-time will be reduced when it's released in theaters in August, and these riffs could be the starting point as could the uneven and awkward scenes between Gary Cole and Rosie Perez as the bad guys. It's not like I expect stand out realistic performances from comedies like this one, but each time they were on screen, I was annoyed and wanted to get back to the heroes. The heavies (including Craig Robinson from the American "The Office" and Kevin Corrigan) don't really hold a candle to Rogen, Franco, and McBride's antics.

It's strange to think I could find people being high so entertaining on screen and be utterly unamused when people do drugs off screen. Keep the screw ups screwing up on screen and not in my backyard.

***1/2

Trainspotting

I must start off this review with a disclaimer:
I am a huge fan of Danny Boyle's work. I tend to use hyperbole when criticizing his work. I am able to find flaws. I don't like The Beach or a Life Less Ordinary.
And so I begin.

Trainspotting is a revelation of sorts for me. I realized I can see a movie in my youth as a disappointment and rewatch it as a treasure. Trainspotting is just such a movie.

I've complained about Ewan McGregor before on this site. I think it started when I reviewed Stay. I claimed he's too over-expressive. In Stay, he certainly was. But he really delivered an amazing performance in Trainspotting as Renton. I think what impressed me was that he was able to play the contradiction of the character so well. Renton is smart enough to see through all the glossy glamor of the drug world and the smiles and cheers of his mates, but he sticks with both. He leaves each. He comes back. Or sometimes each comes back to him. There's a loyalty to the character that can be almost maddening at times. Yet, he is prone to steal, lie, and curse his mates. He knows what he should do. He rattles off a list of answers to his dilemma in a short spark of dialogue at the beginning of the film. All are good reasons to "shape up" (as my mom used to say), but as Renton states, "Who needs reasons when you've got heroine?"

That's kind of the duality of the film. On the one hand, it portrays witty, rag-tag characters enjoying the high life, drugs that is, brick, scag, what have you. Sure, it's hard to watch them stick those needles in their arms, but they sure seem to be having a blast. I laughed. I've been trained to. Stoner comedies are run-of-the-mill now. If movies have taught me anything, it's that stoned people are funny. Trainspotting plays that up for almost half of the movie until the wages of sin become much, much clearer.

Characters talk about how getting high is better than sex. Their reactions don't deny this idea. But it is when they're getting high as a infant crawls around a floor covered in needles that you start to get the point. It's not funny. Even when the most famous scene takes place (where Renton emerges from inside a disgusting toilet triumphantly because he's found the drugs he shat out, I cringed. I really did. I got a bit sick to my stomach. I love the scene. Visually, it's unforgettable. I laughed. It's absurd. But the point of fact is the guy dived into the worst toilet in Scotland to fish out drugs that had been up his bum. Disgusting. The point where the film really switches gear from good times to bad times is when the same infant who had been crawling through trouble dies of neglect. What is the first reaction they all have. Horror. Intense fear. Then they shoot up. No calling the cops, an ambulance, their moms and dads, or a shady alleyman who can dispose of the body. They just sit on the floor waiting for the heroine to cook.

Even though the film portrays this depravity, it never really completely lets go of its humor. Horrible visions are counteracted with laughs in later scenes. I'm not sure whether to applaud or admonish that, but I do know I would have cried myself to sleep without it. And like Danny Boyle is prone to do, the film manages to end on a lighter note than the misery that proceeds it. A character promises he's going to be better, stop messing up, and make things right. I smiled, but all along I knew he'd be right back at square one soon enough. So, the movie provides the smile, but doesn't trick anyone. I don't think it tries to.

I enjoyed the acting. McGregor, Johnny Lee Miller, and Ewen Bremner have never been better. I also enjoyed seeing Kevin McKidd as Tommy. His character begins saying that a high is better than sex, but later in the movie his eyes betray his words as he becomes stricken with AIDS. Watching Robert Carlyle at work as Begbie is exhilerating mostly because he was shocking, crazy, interesting, scary, and funny at alternating times, though I never knew which Begbie would jump out at me at any given second. It's a performance that is ripe for showboating. I can't really excuse Carlyle from falling into that trap, but he can be brilliant in the role when he wanted to.

And ole' Boyle. Now I shall praise in hyperbole. The man knows how to carry humor into the depths of despair and fear. Visually, he always makes interesting movies. Trainspotting is no expception. Fans still talk about dozens of shots for a reason: the cinematography and creativity visually are stunning and instantly memorable. As far as handling his actors, he let Carlyle go a bit too much, as evidenced in his interview on the DVD. I also think he found a good tone with the humor. I laughed a lot out of nervousness, and I think that's a hard reaction to earn justly.

I'm a fan. It's an excellent movie. Cheers, mates!

****

The Perfect Score

Ah, the SATs. How can a group of teens with different dreams for the future band together to steal the answers and beat the system? Humorlessly.

I caught this movie Friday night on TBS. I should have gone to bed. Somehow I excuse myself from putting the movies I watch on late nights on the weekend through the same standard set I employ during the week. I'll sit through much worse films at 2 am on a Saturday morning than I would at 7:15 pm on Friday night. And I don't know why. It's almost always a mistake.

One such mistake was watching The Perfect Score. It had a lot going for it. Scarlett Johanson (who has been good in movies such as Lost in Translation, Ghost World, and Match Point), Erika Christensen (who was good in Traffic), and Chris Evans (who surprised me with solid work in Sunshine) all have major roles. Well, okay. That's pretty much all it had going for it.

The scheme is lame and would never work, not even in my wildest dreams. The cast of misfits and popular kids never gel as a acting team. In fact, three of the performers should be ashamed of their performances in the film. Bryan Greenburg, Darius Miles (who, granted, is not a professional actor), and Leonardo Nam are awful. Everyone else is bad, but Greenburg, Miles, and Nam are truly awful. Nam in particular is all bravado and hi-yucks as the stoner of the crew. He sets the tone for the movie. Any easy joke available will be made. The movie is as smart as a stoner in the middle of a long day of bong-induced pleasure.

Even though the movie hints at the desire to look at the complexity of those high school-types that we know all too well, it fails. Everyone ends up being the sum of what we already know about them. Even as the characters change near the end (which they do all at the same time oddly enough), they still remain the products of the writers' memories of high school and certainly movies set in high school (they reference The Breakfast Club). But rather than exploring teenagers through in-depth conversation as in TBC (except maybe a few on rooftops or in the woods), we learn of these students' "complexities" through this hair-brained scheme.

Ah, the scheme. Even though the writers' put forth a lot of effort into making the heist of the answers exciting with close calls, alarms, and setbacks, I was bored. When they decide to steal the questions and complete the test as a team after a setback, I cringed. They'll beat the system by taking the test? Yahoo!

And you know some of these teens have to hook up! It wouldn't be a teen movie if nobody kissed or tightly embraced each other. Even The Breakfast Club fall into that mold.

Do they take their team answers and "cheat" on the test? Do they realize their dreams? Does anyone care? Not me.

P.S. - this movie is the perfect example of the misuse of voice over...

*1/2

Requiem for a Dream

I felt like I needed to see this film, like I was supposed to see it. So I did. And it was good. Almost great. Maybe great. I don't know. I'm still turning the film around in my head. And that's a very good thing. I felt like I discovered talent: one from long ago but new to me (Ellen Burstyn), some I've seen before but never better (Jennifer Connelly), some who I don't have too much respect for as performers but did admirable work (Marlon Wayans, Jared Leto), and one visionary talent learning magic and pathos (Darren Aronofsky).

I loved The Fountain, but I can't really say it's an important film. But there is no denying Requiem for a Dream is. I can't say it'll transform lives. I can say that it not only means something, but gets it across somehow with a subtlety tempered with what at times can be like a shovel to the face. But unlike other shovels to the face, Requiem is calculated, it is constructed like a work of art that is supposed to convey meaning to all those who see it. And I got it. I don't know that I can explain to you or myself, but I got the movie the way I got that the sky is blue and the grass is green. It just works out that way.

I must admit, it seemed like a little too much hocus pocus visually at first, until the action onscreen truly melded with the meaning, the feeling, and the story. And the performances always grounded the visuals. There was reality in the surreality all around it. It helped me believe and experience a taste of something I haven't actually experienced: drugs and the depravity of man trying to do right, but always messing up because something worse always seems so much better.

I loved Burstyn in the movie. There was a bit of hoopla surrounding her performance in 2000, but she lost the Oscar to Julia Roberts for Erin Brockovich (in which she was good). I used to prefer Laura Linney for You can Count on Me, but I have to say Burstyn was a revelation. That word gets thrown around a lot in movie reviews, and I'm reluctant to use it here, but Burstyn was like a profound discovery to me. She was new. I had never seen what she did on the screen from anyone before. Not that I can remember. She somehow found a way to make a character that could have been too-over-the-top real in a harsh way. It hurt to see her hurt herself in the way that she did. I can say the same for all of the other characters. They earned (or deserved) their fates, but I couldn't help wishing for something better than the disasters of the lives they made.

****1/2

A Scanner Darkly

I had mixed emotions when deciding whether or not to rent this movie. I had heard a very small number of critics praise it and a horde of others condemning it as an indie that could not live up to its own ambition. I'm glad I rented it. I've watched it twice now. It looks as though it will sneak into my top ten favorites of 2006 easily. I was pleasantly surprised to feel myself entranced in this head trip of a movie. The film is far from perfect, the mark of any movie featuring Keanu Reeves in any capacity. But this is easily Keanu's best performace since The Matrix and perhaps since the beginning of his career. He is able to convince me he's a conflicted drug addict/undercover cop. That isn't necessarily a stretch for his talents, but he fills the role quite well. The real strength behind the movie is its ability to shift from its dark/stoner comedy scenes to its sci-fi cop story. It struggles a bit to keep the authenticity in its sci-fi cop scenes, but the lacking in that area is only apparent to me because the dark/stoner comedy scenes stand out so well. The melding of the two elements makes for an interesting story that I had no trouble surrending my attention to. There are is a lot of talk in the extras from those involved in the making of this movie that speaks of the source material's prophetic nature. Indeed, the paranoia that once was left primarily to the drug addicts and mentally deranged has found its way into reality. There is also an attmept to come up with some sort of condemnation of the costs we pay to try to win the unwinable war against drugs. But I didn't latch onto these themes. The proof was in the pudding. I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. I may have used that idiom wrong. But the fun and entertainment is following the lead character and his merry band of addicts around as they lose their minds over and over again. The substance to the film, the sacrifice of Keanu's character, only holds together the other elements. The twist near the end is not surprising, but rather the kind of odd shock when you realize your guess is correct. It also fit the work. I felt the film could have ended on the zoom in on Keanu's coffee near the end (you'll see), but I am not opposed to the end the story presents in the film. I also want to point out how much I enjoyed Robert Downey, Jr. in this movie. It's a piece of loose cannon acting where you can tell Downey really committed to the eccentricities of his character and just ran with it like a sprinter. The animation truly suits the movie, though at times the effect of the beautiful look in some scenes is lessened by the animation's use in drives in the scenes where everyone is just acting stoned and crazy (barring the hallucinations, which really come alive). Linklater crafts a dreary cautionary tale with some old tricks and some new.

***1/2

Brick

Brick was one of my highest anticipated films of the year. It's trailer was dynamite, a gasoline soaked rag waiting for a match. And the movie's pretty good, too. I guess the question with this film is whether its viewers will be able to suspend disbelief long enough to really enjoy the noir dialogue pouring out of high schooler's mouths. I was able to. Once I did, I had a grand time. The twisty mystery is pretty confusing, to the point where I'm not sure the explanations offered actually satisfy my curiosities. But it's a highly sylized, well made film with good performances and creative cinematography and direction. Joseph Gordon Levitt isn't the most talented actor of his generation, but darnit if he's not the most charismatic.

***1/2