Alice in Wonderland

June 18, 2010

Alice in Wonderland (2010) **1/2
Directed by Tim Burton

My tweet:

Alice in Wonderland (2010)- Stale and technologically dull. Depp needs to calm down & Wasikowska needs to cheer up. **1/2 out of 5

Other thoughts:

For a good time, call on Johnny Depp to make crazy faces and say things in silly ways. This seems to be Tim Burton's mission statement for much of this past decade. Sometimes it works--see Sweeney Todd. Sometimes it doesn't--see (or don't see) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Alice in Wonderland falls squarely in the later category since it's a monumentally dry re-imagining of the tale of Alice falling down the rabbit hole into a world of magic and frustration. Johnny Depp's role as the Mad Hatter gives him free reign to do whatever he wants on screen, and the result is...ummm... there. Depp does nothing beyond his quirky line delivery and facial contortions which come nowhere close to anything even remotely resembling character development.

This is my introduction to In Treatment actress Mia Wasikowska as the title character who's a young woman instead of a little girl as in Lewis Carroll's book. This time around, Alice doesn't remember that she saved Wonderland years ago, and it's foretold that Alice will defeat the Jabberwocky on Frabjolus Day. Thus, when she takes a moment to decide whether or not to marry a lord, she falls into the rabbit hole and learns of her abilities, which helps her decide about her own future as a woman. Wasikowska may very well be a good actress; however, she's not good at all as Alice. She delivers every line with a kind of bored annoyance, which may be explained by the fact that Linda Woolverton's screenplay is quite boring and frequently annoying. Woolverton's previous credits include contributions to Mulan and The Lion King, though this is the first time she's penned a film of this caliber on her own. Maybe she should go back to contributing because the script gives the actors on screen absolutely nothing to do that's remotely nuanced or interesting.

Burton's direction couldn't be more disappointing. Too often, his visual style, which is virtually unmatched by any director in Hollywood, takes a backseat to fairly lame computer generated effects. The sword fight at the end is so flat that it probably wouldn't get an A if it was submitted as a final project for a CGI course in film school. There are moments of fun and charm, most notably Helena Bonham Carter's wonderful performance as the Red Queen, but they're too few and far between to make this endeavor rise above a cynical exercise in selling Happy Meals and action figures.

Youth in Revolt

June 17, 2010

Youth in Revolt (2010) **1/2
Directed by Miguel Arteta

My tweet:

Youth in Revolt (2010)- A wet noodle of a coming of age tale. Misses opportunity to comment on teenage angst. Not that funny. **1/2 out of 5

Other thoughts:

I've heard great things about C.D. Payne's novel, though I've never read it myself. Never have I seen a mediocre film that almost oozes the wasted potential of its source material. Youth in Revolt could have been a film about sexual awakening and teenage rebellion. Instead, it's simply one film among many other better films sitting on Blockbuster shelves and Netflix instant viewing queues. Arteta and Cera turn a potential voice of a generation into a cookie-cutter coming of age comedy which grasps at whimsy through the main character's dual personality and a couple of animated sequences, but fails to capture any sort of memorable charm or kitsch. I think about the provocativeness of something like Where the Wild Things Are, and I can't help but shake my head at this lukewarm attempt at capturing the psychological turmoil of adolescence.

Michael Cera, an actor I've loved in everything I've seen him in up to this point, does not embody the kind of charisma needed to pull off the dual role of Nick Twisp and Francois Dillinger. He's almost too charming and likable as Twisp, and he's not at all believable or funny as Dillinger. On a scale from 1 to 10, Nick should have been a 1, and Francois should have been a 10. Instead, both characters fall somewhere between 4 and 6.

There are a few fun cameos from talented actors bringing their A game like Jean Smart, Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Zack Galifianakis, Fred Williard and Justin Long, and newcomer Portia Doubleday is pretty great to watch in the first half before her character becomes a complete bore towards the end. There's nothing terribly offensive or awful within, and I admittedly laughed out loud about six or seven times. Yet, this all simply isn't good enough when it's so very obvious how amazing an adaptation of Youth in Revolt this film could have been.

There's a moment when Nick, goaded by Francois, takes advantage of the insecurities of a bulimic in order to get her to put sedatives in another girl's morning coffee so she'll be forced to drop out of school. This one dark moment feels incongruous to everything else. Youth in Revolt ends up a pleasant, forgettable little film when it should have been the kind of artistic statement that could have had those of us that are part of the establishment concerned for the moral standing of the next generation. Too damn bad.

Kiss Me Deadly

June 17, 2010

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) ***1/2
Directed by Robert Aldrich

My tweet:

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)- Slick, dark, entertaining noir with one of the trashiest and most audacious endings in all film. ***1/2 out of 5

Other thoughts:

Kiss Me Deadly works as a campy film noir. Its chilling opening sequence involving future Oscar winner Cloris Leachman in her film debut sets the stage for what will ultimately play out as a hackneyed procedural where private eye Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) tries to solve a crime which resulted in Leachman's character's murder. Mike himself was also supposed to die in the car crash, but he survived, and he'll keep on surviving everything from knife wielders to opera singers to truth serum pushers to gun toting dames to the contents of a box... a box which contains in it something so evil that the devil himself can't stomach it. I'm paraphrasing a character in Kiss Me Deadly who warns another character not to open said box. When she does, OMG!!! The final scene mirrors the chaos in Ghostbusters when the ghosts are let loose into the city, which on the page might come off curious considering that it's just a couple of people in a beach house dealing with the contents of an open box.

The ending is one of the craziest, most unfathomable, and I think hilarious I've ever seen. There Will Be Blood's bowling alley scene doesn't even hold a candle to what happens right before the credits roll. For the first hour and a half, the plot comes across as an exercise in masculinity disguised as a seedy crime thriller. Nothing that precedes prepares the viewer for the forehead-smacking audacity of the havoc of what's in the box. I'd find it hard to believe that audiences could ever have taken this film seriously. That being said, it's a whole lot of fun, and I have to give props to the fact that it's not afraid to ride the story completely off the rails.

If I had to judge the film on face value, I'd say that the pacing of the mystery moves at dramatically differing speeds. As pieces are revealed, it's not easy to place them within the puzzle. Eventually, you almost have to give up trying to follow the semantics and just go along for the ride. Ralph Meeker has no screen presence whatsoever, underplaying Mike Hammer to the point that I'd have to think twice before giving him a paycheck for this performance. The direction and soundtrack are pretentious and suffocating, though there are a handful of stylistically impressive moments. Some of the supporting turns, especially by the women who Mike Hammer fatally underestimate, add some depth and life to a plot that runs the risk of disengaging its audience entirely.

However, all of these criticisms take a back seat to that ending, and again I'll say it--it's one for the history books. It's completely satisfying when you allow yourself to experience it on that visceral gut level. Just don't try and rationalize it at all. Kiss Me Deadly provides one of the most wonderfully pulpy film going experiences I've ever had, and for this, I'm in awe.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

June 13, 2010

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) *****
Directed by Banksy

My tweet:

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)- Works on every single level. Frustrating, funny, fascinating. Blows the mind. ***** out of 5

Other thoughts:

There's not a single discernible fault within this strange documentary which starts out showcasing the movement of "street art" through the lens of Thierry Guetta, a Frenchman who's obsessed with filming everything in his life. The film then takes a dramatic turn towards the end which aims the whole project in a completely different direction which I won't give away because I desperately want as many people to experience this film with the same delightful surprise that I did.

It's hard to think of a trickier film considering that Exit Through the Gift Shop is trying to do so many things, and there's no question that the filmmakers are toying with the audience. Questions are raised and then answered, but we're left wondering whether or not we can trust the answers given. For that matter, is there anyone involved in this whole project that we can trust at all? After all, Banksy the director, who also appears in the film, refuses to have his face photographed, and the whole concept of "street art" is that it's meant to break convention and buck authoritative mandates. Therefore, Exit Through the Gift Shop may itself be a type of "street art," except there's a lot that can be verified considering that the accomplishments of many of these artists are well documented, even going as far as appearing on the cover of LA Weekly. So there is reality within the lie, or there's a lie within reality, or there's no lie at all, or there's clear cut lines between what's true and what's not, or there are no clear cut lines at all and the whole thing is an amalgamation of truth, lies and reality. Perhaps we'll never know what's true and what's not.

My hope is that this film forever remains enigmatic, because as such, it's truly a masterpiece precisely because each viewer can take away from it what he or she wills. Even if one doesn't choose to meditate on the value and meaning of art, at the very least the viewer will undoubtedly be entertained. The structure of the two main plot lines are impeccably crisp. Early on, we're given a completely satisfying overview of the "street art" movement, and then later, when Thierry and Banksy join forces, there's a breathtaking sequence in Disneyland, which stems from a profoundly stupid idea, that's almost terrifying to behold. When the film ultimately changes direction completely in its final act, the whole crazy ordeal is presented so well, and we're left smiling as we puzzle over the freak show that ensues.

I'm not sure exactly what Exit Through the Gift Shop was trying to do to me, but I loved that it did what it did. The film is catching on, and I'm worried that there may be copycat films of this sort. I can almost promise that there will never be as successful a documentary that blurs the lines between truth and lies as this original, perfect mind game. Yet, a copycat film almost fits within the "street art" milieu, so perhaps the next of this type is an inevitability.