Saturday, January 7, 2012

Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World- Now, I could say that this film is crap. It's the combination of gross-out humor, physical humor (lots of ouchies), and tons of puns. But II lost my watch, so I don't have the time for all of that discussion. I'll name positives since the film is comprised of mostly negatives. Let's be honest, films like this, 'Shorts', and 'The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl' are the price of being a fan of director Robert Rodriguez (despite that Taylor Laughtner a.k.a. Sharkboy). For every 'El Mariachi' or 'Sin City', there's always a 'Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over' (in my head, the first subpar Family film Rodriguez directed). On the bright side, Rodriguez has always given fairly nice messages, especially in this one with the idea of the importance of time with your family (seems kind of like a personal point, judging by how he runs his career). He also, with his former career as a cartoonist, creates creative and imaginative gadgets and locations, something that has sadly worked less and less since the original 'Spy Kids'. Sure, it's easy to pick on this film. After all, it was the film that recently contained the marketing strategy of smell-o-vision to be tacked on to 3D. But I saw its merits. Especially in the campy performances. Jeremy Piven sure looked like he had a good time on this one. It was also nice to see Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara (the original Spy Kids) playing adult spies. Even Joel McHale has an obnoxiously happy smile on his face for the first half of the film like he's been taking too many "happy" pills, which is nice, I guess. Here's hoping the next one is better, cause I'm tired of defending this talented one-man-show director. He works on pretty much everything on his films, from the score to even shooting it with a camera himself. He seems to do better putting his creative ideas into stylized action films, so hopefully we'll see more of those in the future. Especially since I can't in all good conscious, I can't wholly recommend this one.



Crazy, Stupid, Love- I can't remember if this is the second or third time I've seen this film, but I'll admit it, I enjoyed it the most this time. I'll tell you why. Originally, I was disappointed by the idea that the film convinced me it was being brave but eventually cowered behind hollywood's shining bright and happy ending. The film begins with moments of true comedic honesty, brutal, but very funny, only matched by Christopher Beck's Devotchka styled score (Devotchka did the score on 'Little Miss Sunshine'). But as the film comes to a close, it ends with the same big romantic gestures of typical romantic comedies, and closes with everyone happy. Except for Marisa Tomei and Kevin Bacon. They get nothing. Nothing, dammit! Anyways, here's why I enjoyed it this time. I looked at it from a new perspective. Now follow what I'm saying. The film is a poem. It's not about happy ending, sad endings, whatever. It's about that crazy, stupid little thing called love. Ah, love. Short and sweet, and most importantly, transcendent. The film wants to show us that love has no bounds. It can be found in a bored marriage, a womanizing rich SOB, and it can even be found in a young child (this film is "Pro" Bieber). The reason it chooses to be happy isn't really to be hollywood and happy, but to make a thesis. It wants to show its audience that love is a undefined concept, and one that can be explored from the oddest places as well. Also, Ryan Gosling is just too cool in this film. I couldn't stand how awestruck the girls were in the theater, but let's be honest, I understood. Gosling is confident, rich, and sharply dressed in this one. This, along with 'Drive' and 'The Ides of March' (the latter I haven't seen… yet) is pointing to him as one the smoother operators working in hollywood today. He also did 'Blue Valentine', which killed me on the insides. Sure, 'All Good Things' was bad, but let's face it, the man knows how to pick his roles. Honestly, the film was a good move on every actor's part. I mean, Josh Groban is in it. And even for Bacon and Tomei.



- Jeff Bassin

Sunday July 31, 2011

A Serious Man- Coen brothers at their finest. But not really. Still great though. Just underwhelming. It's a movie that builds up so much electricity, but refuses to shock the audience with it. Don't blame the bros. for doing a movie their way. After all, "True Grit" ends with the chick losing her leg and feeling "sad" about stuff, and "The Big Lebowski" ends with his friend dying, him having a possible kid on the way, and bowling. The whole film interests you with the misfortune of its protagonist, but it ends with something that amounts to nothing so it really is just a religious metaphor. It presents us with the question, but leaves us completely answerless. It's a movie that ends right before its climax, so the audience wishes they could have saw more, or that the brothers are just to lazy to work their movie another 20 minutes more. It poses the same example that it points out in the beginning. The protagonist professor tells his failing asian student, that although he understands the pictures and fables that he presents to describe physics, without understanding the mathematics, the picture is meaningless. So too is the religious questions posed. 'A Serious Man' is a fable, one with only the picture, but no mathematics behind it. I enjoyed the questions it poses, because as religion is as a concept, each individual must decide on their own.



Crazy, Stupid, Love- An ensemble film piece with great chemistry between Steve Carell (the normal suburban divorcing father/husband) and Ryan Gosling (GQ styled and womanizer extraordinaire). Everybody else does their part and they do it fine, but it is these two men, that truly shiny. Yes, a corny rhyme. So too, does this film present a background of reality, but is cushioned by a foreground of cliche and happiness. The true love/ soul mate schlock is fine… but the real problem is the ending that chooses to give everybody their soul mates, which ruins the illusion of reality. At least one couple shouldn't have survived this film's cycle. But no, even the 13 year old boy gets with the 17 year old girl, at least eventually he will. But if you look at it from a different angle, one ignoring the ending, this film is very enjoyable and lasting, and vastly different in comedic style from 'Friends with Benefits', which will pay off in years to come for viewing. Because, after all, love, is the most powerful story of them all. So, for a funny, but more dramatic version of the latter described, this one is the way to go.



- Jeff Bassin