I Am Legend & Juno

Among all the cheery crap of the holiday weekend, I finally made it to a few other movies. First, the overblown The Omega Man remake: I Am Legend and second, the wickedly funny coming-of-age story: Juno.

I, like millions of American movie junkies, was initially impressed by the sleek marking of I Am Legend. (Remeber the tagline: "The last man on earth is not alone".) The trailer consisted of 29.9 seconds of setup: Dr. Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the last man on earth. He’s hunting in an abandoned Times Square, etc. Then night falls, and for a tenth of a second we see a monster dash across the screen and hear a creepy howl. Now that sounds like a movie I want to see! Right?

Well, get to the movie and get one look at the “monsters” (which, incidentally happens way too early in the story) and suddenly it’s not so exciting anymore. It’s the classic “fear of the unknown” affect. Once you know what’s there, the fear is cut in half. And like the trailer, 99% of the movie’s runtime is devoted to exposition and only in the final minutes do we dispense with pesky things like plot.

Juno, on the other hand, was quite a refreshing change of pace. As I may have predicted, I was already exposed to some of the best jokes from the 30 or 40 times I watched the trailer online. However, the rest of the film kept up pretty well. Director Jason Reitman worked some world-class talent and Diablo Cody’s a witty back-and-forth dialog, littered with pop-culture references, into a very unlikely contender for major awards.

Ellen Page (Juno MacGuff) really deserves all of the credit she’s already gotten for her slice-of-life portrayal of a teenager who uses a smart-ass attitude to detract attention from the very real difficult decisions she is faced with. Not to mention, she not only held her own but sustained subtle onscreen chemistry in scenes with her co-star and rising comic-heavyweight Jason Bateman. And probably a less-mentioned, but equally endearing performance was delivered by Allison Janney as Juno’s step-mom, Bren. OK, so I might be a bit biased because: Damn I love Allision Janney! Juno makes me wish she was my mom.

But, by all accounts, this is a hell of the weekend to get to the movies.

I Am Legend

(2/5)

Juno

(4.5/5)

From the 50 Yard Line

The Columbus International Film Festival is taking place this week. Somehow, I’ve never made it to the festival before; so this year I made every effort to get there. It probably helped that I have a personal interest in one of the screening films, a documentary called From the 50 Yard Line.

From the 50 Yard Line is a documentary on marching band. Primarily, it follows The Centerville Jazz Band (the marching band for Centerville High School in Centerville, OH) through their competitive season. Because, I grew up in Columbus and was very involved in marching band (and its big brother Drum Corps), I actually marched with/was instructed by several of the subjects of the film. That being said, I could go on and on about it, but I’ll try to be brief and objective.

First time director Doug Lantz, himself an alumnus of the Centerville Band program, was on hand to introduce the film. The film began with the marching band auditions at Easter and followed the band all the way through their culminating performance at the Bands of America Grand National Championships. The primary intent was to expose the often unrecognized impact of instrumental music education on the development of American high school students.

Stand out segments included deliberately understated interviews with politicians and academics on the unintended effects of “No Child Left Behind” on education, and a recurring man-on-the-street segment called “Bandology 101” which tested average people on their knowledge of marching band lingo. In what seemed like an attempt to even out the piece, the filmmakers spent some time with the Fairfax High School Marching Band (Hollywood, CA) which was restarted this year from an anonymous donation after an 18-year hiatus from instrumental music at the school. Perhaps analogous to the disparities in the programs’ budgets and community support, Centerville dominated the screen time 10:1.

During the Q&A following the film, Lantz acknowledged that “there is drama that happens in high school…but we made the decision that we really wanted to focus on the band experience.” By choosing to include several students (rather than following the more personal stories of one or two members) the film really does emphasize the communal experience. However, at some points these efforts were taken to the extreme: scenes from the “share session” at the end of band camp (in which each band member was given an opportunity to address the entire group) felt more like a lengthy emotional montage than an image of a group united by their goals. However, the film is still being edited giving it a chance to work out some of the “thematic sticking points”.

Most of all, I was impressed by the progress you could see in individuals. A rookie tuba player was featured at the beginning and end of the film with not only a noticeable improvement in his marching and playing skills, but a real transformation from an insecure high school freshman to a confident and coordinated young adult.

Aaron’s Pick:

From the 50 Yard Line

(4/5)

Wristcutters: A Love Story

I just got back from seeing Wristcutters: A Love Story at the Drexel Gateway with Brett. I was really looking forward to seeing this because ever since I saw Brick last year, I’ve been waiting for another quirky film to explode out of Sundance. And this year Wristcutters: A Love Story and Teeth seemed like the most likely candidates.

Wristcutters definitely had its share of quirk, but I have a feeling it’s not going to find the cult following that fuels an indie hit. I just don’t think it’s accessible enough.

The story follows Zia (Patrick Fugit) in his quest through a bizarre afterlife occupied only by suicides to find his ex-girlfriend, Desiree (Leslie Bibb). This was obviously a difficult and controversial premise to approach, and that may have been why I had such high hopes for it. To deal with the dark subject matter, director Goran Dukic necessarily took a comic approach. However, the humor imitated the stale ambience of the film’s setting. Although it had its moments, the audience I saw it with seemed to reach only sharp chuckles rather than roll-on-the-ground laughter.

It was difficult to judge performance when, as part of the films premise, the characters don’t smile. But I was impressed by newcomer Shannyn Sossamon who plays Mikal, a hitchhiker who joins Zia and his “sidekick” Eugene (Shea Whigham) on their odyssey.

Overall I did enjoy Wristcutters. I can’t say it was all that I hoped for though: as the story progressed it just got more bizarre where I thought it should grow funnier. The ending, however, was stellar. I don’t want to give it away, but I’ll just say that somehow in the last scene two characters poured out their souls without ever saying a word. If you can do this, as a filmmaker you must be doing something right.

Wristcutters: Not the breakout indie I was hoping for, but one of the most original films I’ve seen lately.

Aaron’s Pick:

Wristcutters: A Love Story
(3.5/5)

Gone Baby Gone

I was excited to see Ben Affleck’s first crack at being behind the camera and finally got around to seeing Gone Baby Gone on Friday. He made some smart decisions that led to a very fine first film: (1) He stayed behind the camera (2) He worked with a veteran writer and chose source material that was not only great but he had a personal connection to (Boston). Dennis Lehane wrote the novel on which the film was based and I’m a big fan of one of his previous adaptations: Mystic River (directed by Clint Eastwood). Based on this and my understanding of the plot from the trailer and reviews, I was expecting something similar to Mystic River. In some ways the films are similar, but they differed more than I expected. Gone Baby Gone was much more personal and much less stylized as compared to Eastwood's neo-mobster thriller.

Just a note: the marketing for this movie was very interesting. The trailer (see below) made the story seem much more straightforward than it actually was. The film revolves around the abduction of Amanda, the three year old daughter of coke-addict Helene (Amy Ryan), and the private investigators hired to augment the police investigation: Patrick (Casey Affleck) and his girlfriend/business partner Angie (Michelle Monaghan). For the first half of the movie, it was a simple whodunit that had a sudden and premature “fake-out” ending. At this point, the story slipped into a strange purgatory focusing mostly on the dectective, Patrick. Then suddenly, it came back to Amanda’s case and we started to see that all the facts weren’t as they first seemed. There was a potential for losing the audience with the unconventional structure (and I should probably go see it again), but it paid off in the end.






As far as the portrayal of Bostonians, Ben Affleck was definitely going for “photo-realism”. It was clear that many of the incidental characters and extras were actually people from “the neighborhood”. My one complaint was for as real as the film felt, looked, and sounded, some of the plot points seemed a little outside of my suspension of disbelief: specifically, a sequence when Patrick executes an unarmed child molester after discovering a child’s body in his home and seems to bear no judicial recourse. Not that I’m defending the rights of child molesters, but I think that if something like that actually happened, the officer (or PI) involved would be looking at criminal charges or at the very least be arrested.


All in all this was a very strong ensemble cast and a tight story with a succinct theme of “black-and-white” morality. Gone Baby Gone was not just a strong start for an emerging filmmaker, but an extremely entertaining movie in general.

Gone Baby Gone

(4.5/5)

"Darjeeling" article in today's USA TODAY

Check out this article in today’s USA Today. It talks about the mysterious people and events in the film and their artistic interpretations.

The inclusion of plot elements open to each viewer’s interpretation is what really convinces me that this film will one day be labeled as one of Anderson’s “classics”. It’s these unformulated details that will make audiences revisit the piece over and over. (Look at Donnie Darko, a film full of open details, and how it still resonates with an audience.)

The Darjeeling Limited & Into The Wild

It was a good weekend for film. I’ve had a hell of a couple weeks at work and it’s been hard to keep caught up with my movie watching. However, because four films that I wanted to see went into wide release on Friday (or at least wide enough for me to see them in Ohio), I made time between work and a short film shoot to see get out to the theaters, twice. On Friday, I saw Wes Anderson’s The Darjeeling Limited and then on Saturday I made it to Sean Penn’s Into The Wild. (By the way the other two films I’m saving for later are: Lust Caution & Gone Baby Gone, so expect to see write ups for those coming soon).


I have to say I was very pleased with both films. I’m a big Wes Anderson fan—and like most of his “mainstream” fans I probably relate most to films like The Royal Tenenbaums and even Rushmore. 2004’s The Life Aquatic was a bit lost on me. Althouh, I have to say that I’ve come to enjoy the film more with time, at first it seemed like a cartoony, border-line indulgent sequel to The Royal Tenenbaums. And because of this, I had my doubts about The Darjeeling Limited.

I expected Anderson’s signature emotionally-damaged characters dealing with a complex family of clashing personalities. His characteristic sarcastic, dry humor was even more potent and polished. However, the principle cast of characters—the Whitman brothers, played by Anderson regulars Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson and newcomer Adrien Brody—were a departure when compared to the menagerie of characters in his other films. The simplified bill, simplified plotline and simplified production style really made for a tighter and more accessible film that I suspect will one day be regarded as one of Anderson’s “classics”.


If you do check out the The Darjeeling Limited, go to www.hotelchevalier.com and check out the short film Hotel Chevalier. It is a standalone prequel to Darjeeling. It complements it well and gives necessary insight into one of the Whitman brothers. And oh yeah, it’s one of the finer short films I’ve seen in the past year.


While The Darjeeling Limited deals with the spiritual journey of three characters, Into The Wild follows just one man on his journey of self-discovery. Based on the Jon Krakauer novel by the same name, the film tells the real-life story of Chris McCandless’ (Emile Hirsch) bizarre journey across America and eventually to the Alaskan wilderness. What amazed me most about this film was that while touching on all sorts of heavy philosophical issues like: purpose, achievement, family, love and even religion; and making use of extensive voiceovers and quotations from writers like Tolstoy and Thoreau, it still manages not to be terribly pretentious. (But you’ll have to judge that for yourself.) I attribute this to the excellent writing and direction as well as Hirsch’s engaging performance. The themes (pretentiousness and all) were necessary pieces of the character.

I found as the character flipped between delusional and enlightened (and likewise gained and lost the audience’s sentiment) the story maintained an objective point of view. As you would expect from a story that takes place almost entirely in the wilderness, the cinematography was breathtaking. I was surprised by the spectrum of techniques that Penn and French cinematographer Eric Gautier used: the timbre changed frequently from handheld to steadicam to complex crane and aerial work. Much of the film was designed to feel extremely real, but during some of the more “turbulent” pieces of McCandless’ adventure, a much more impressionistic aesthetic was employed.

Into the Wild did move a bit slow at times, but I felt that the audience was always involved in McCandless’ progress and this kept us in the story. This, along with The Darjeeling Limited, represent two American directors at the top of their game.

The Darjeeling Limited

(4.5/5)

Into The Wild


(4/5)

Looking ahead...

It’s been difficult to post this week as I’ve been traveling for work and I literally have been on the jobsite for the past 24 hours. Sadly, I haven’t had time to see many movies (rented or theatrical) lately. And there are a few movies out that I do need to get to: especially 3:10 to Yuma.

So, with the Oscar push right around the corner there’s plenty of buzz about some movies coming out in the next few weeks. So, I’m going to pick a few movies that I’m really excited to see.

First, “Popcorn”. Ok, so these aren’t really “popcorn”; these films are the artsy side of the studios, strategically released a few months before the Oscars.

4. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Brad Pitt (playing Jesse James) has been getting good reviews for his performance, but the real stand out seems to be Casey Affleck for his portrayal of Robert Ford. Looks like some more great Roger Deakins cinematography too.

3. Atonement
I haven’t read the book, but the trailer (and plot synopses that I’ve read) make the story look very intriguing. When it premiered at the Venice film festival several critics predicted that it would be an “instant classic”[i]. It may be too early to say that, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this film does pretty well come February.

2. The Darjeeling Limited
It could have a fair shot at a Best Original Screenplay nomination. However, no critics seem to like this movie which is exactly why I think it will find an audience. Even though Wes Anderson has been criticized for revisiting the same themes in each of his films, they are all unique stories and have all found unique audiences.

1. No Country for Old Men
People are calling this one of the Coens’ best films ever. If that’s true—I shutter even thinking about it. Sounds like the Coens are coming out swinging for the Oscar and Tommy Lee Jones is in two films that could get him a nomination: No Country and In the Valley of Elah. (And oh yeah, Roger Deakins again).


"Indies". Two of the “Popcorn” titles (No Country for Old Men and The Darjeeling Limited) are probably considered independents; however, they are relatively mainstream and will no-doubt get wide releases in the Oscar push. The following, are truer independents that probably won’t get nominated, but will definitely push the artistic envelope.

3. Wristcutters: A Love Story
In case you are wondering what kind of movies I like, this looks like it. It’s the darkest of dark comedies that take place in a special purgatory reserved only for those who have taken their own lives. It’s gotten some buzz after premiering at Sundance, and from what I can tell, has some potential. However, it sounds like a concept that would be way too easy to botch. I’ll have to wait and see.

2. Margot at the Wedding
Initially, The Squid and the Whale (director Noah Baumbach’s first film) didn’t sound like a movie I would like. But when I finally saw it, it was a little hard to swallow but none-the-less a brilliant dramatic-comedy. Margot at the Wedding has a concept that I’m much more receptive to, so hopefully Baumbach will exceed my expectations.

1. Be Kind Rewind
Last year, I attended a lecture by Cinematographer Ellen Kuras at Ohio State in which she spoke about a film she had just wrapped with director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep) called Be Kind Rewind. I was excited about it then. Now, I can’t wait until its January 2008 release. Check out the trailer, it looks funny: like “Jack Black at his best”-funny. And Gondry is great at true comedies that avoid being trivial.


[i] Read Ray Bennett’s review at Reuters or IMDb’s Studio Briefing

Booze and Boosters

Two regular contributors to the Meister Boo blog were caught throwing back some cold ones at Miani's. See more here.

In the Shadow of the Moon

When I was sixteen years old, I read Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff and a few months later the HBO mini-series From the Earth to the Moon premiered. From that point on, I was hooked. Since then I’ve always been a Space Race and Cold War junkie. I could even make an argument that the 5th episode of the aforementioned mini-series, which focuses on the engineers at Grumman Aeronautics who built the Lunar Modules, influenced my decision to become an engineer. Not to bore you with my life story, but it’s important to be straightforward about my bias when discussing In the Shadow of the Moon—the latest documentary on the Apollo Program.

Taking a different approach than some other Apollo documentaries, like the History Channel’s The Race to the Moon, this film was not focused on how we made it to the moon. No engineers or flight directors were featured. Only the astronauts who went to the moon were interviewed; all of those who are still living participated except the legendarily reclusive Neil Armstrong. Rather than just recounting the story we already know, the astronauts reflected on their thoughts and feelings during their historic flights. One of the most interesting pieces was Gene Cernan’s admission that he felt guilty for being labeled a hero while his “buddies” were flying the “difficult missions” in Vietnam.

My only complaint was that while a great deal of narrative was devoted to Apollo 11, the following five missions were reduced to a montage. This was forgivable because even though Apollo 11 dominated the narrative, the screen time was still relatively balanced among all the crews. If nothing else, this was a great opportunity to feature the personalities of the astronauts. Alan Bean and Michael Collins especially came across as very congenial. Perhaps to highlight that they are still the same fun-loving daredevils they were forty years ago, some of interviews were shown split screen with stock footage of the same astronaut.

All in all, I was very satisfied with In the Shadow of the Moon. The astronauts were entertaining, sincere and even meditative and the historical footage blows the socks off of anything you’ll see on the Discovery Channel.

Aaron’s Pick

In the Shadow of the Moon

(4/5)

The Kingdom & In the Valley of Elah

So, I live next within walking distance of an AMC Theater and it’s definitely the end of me. Wednesday night, I took a walk after dinner that turned into a double feature. Actually, it started off we me just thinking, “I’ll catch a movie real quick. Don’t have anything else to do tonight.” However, the first film I saw left me with such a bad taste in my mouth, I just couldn’t go to sleep without finding something to cleanse my cinematic palette.

So The Kingdom started off promising. The title sequence was actually pretty unique. In a history channel meets MTV kind of montage, the filmmakers managed to set the stage for the story quickly without bombarding the audience with information—well, you do have to read pretty fast.

The first twenty minutes developed an interesting “political thriller”-esque plot with the State Department and FBI in a power struggle over how to deal with a terrorist attack on American civilians in Saudi Arabia. However, things deteriorate once the FBI team, led by Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx), lands on Saudi soil. The plot quickly transgressed to gratuitous car chases and gunplay. I really can’t complain about a little bit of action thrown in to step up the third act, but I was really disappointed with the level of gratuitousness. The Saudi characters had no depth or motivation. At times I was reminded of the one-dimensional Russian villains of Cold War-era Bond films or even the mysterious terrorists of the first Die Hard movie. This comparison was especially true in the offensively predictable outcome of the final battle. The story would have been better served by more complex characters that could communicate the human motivations behind the violence.

The very last scene was actually a bit redeeming with a somewhat insightful “comparison of the bloodlust of the American FBI agents and the Saudi terrorists,” as noted by the LA Times.

All in all, the second film was much more satisfying. In the Valley of Elah tells the story of a father’s search for his son who is AWOL from the Army after returning from Iraq. Unlike The Kingdom, it never pretended to comment on the politics of the American presence in the Middle East. Although, it is technically a whodunit, In the Valley of Elah was much more character focused. As the plot unravels, it paints a gut-wrenching image of how war irreversibly changes young men.

Private Deerfield disappears just before the movie begins. And throughout the film, the character exists only in the corrupted video retrieved from his cell phone viewed through the rose-colored glasses of his father, meticulously played by Tommy Lee Jones. For a crime drama, the crime is solved with very little flash; it is the subtle change of the father’s image of his son that drives the true climax.

Although moviefone has picked In the Valley of Elah as an early Oscar pick, Jones’ character is a little sterile to gather widespread praise. Charlize Theron’s lead detective could get her nominated for best supporting actress, but it’s still pretty early. Paul Haggis may stand the best chance; his direction was definitely superior to his Oscar-nominated effort for Crash.

Aaron’s picks:

The Kigdom

(2/5)

In the Valley of Elah

(4/5)

The Top 100 Foreign Films

Hey. I just found this list of the 100 top foreign films complied by Edward Copeland. I’m a relatively big fan of French cinema, so I was excited to see that Amélie, Jules et Jim and a bunch of others made the list.

Actually, just the week, I NetFlix-ed a French new-wave classic: Breathless. Great stuff. If not just for the sharply written romance, watch it because it’s one of many films that gave a generation of independent filmmakers an artistic identity.

Obviously, all of the staples made the list Fellini’s: 8 ½, Kurosawa’s Seven Samauri as well as some of my personal favorites, like the more recent Run Lola Run and Y tu mamá también by Mexican Director Alfonso Cuarón of Harry Potter and Children of Men fame. If you haven’t seen Y tu mamá también, of any of the films on the list I might recommend this one. It’s an excellent coming-of-age story with a twist-ending that was as believable as it was surprising.

Popcorn Meets Indie

Hey All. So welcome to the Meister Boo blog. We’re all pretty new to this thing, so let me tell you how this is going to go down.

This blog is loosely connected to Meister Boo Imagination, a film production company that was created in 2002. While we’re not making movies we really enjoy watching them. All of them. Sometimes 3 or 4 a day. In fact, I can’t speak for every booster, but I consider myself a downright cinefile.

So here’s the deal: I’m a bit of an indie-film snob. Any movie with an unconventional plot or made by an unheard of director on a shoestring budget gains points in my book (and any $70 Million summer shoot-em-up by Brett Ratner—we’ll lets just say I’m not the first in line for these). And, at the risk of making generalizations, the Conroy Brother’s (co-founders of Meister Boo) have a bit of a pension for the “bigger” films. But, being independent filmmakers we all have an appreciation for a very wide variety of films. And that’s why we decided to start this blog.

Our aim is to look at “popcorn” flicks from the perspective of a film connoisseur and look at indies like everyday Joe-consumer.

So, I’ll let the Conroys introduce themselves. Come back soon for the first reviews. We hope you enjoy.