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

Friday, January 6, 2012

Green Lantern- No, not a good film. But you already knew that. Which is probably why you didn't watch it. I, on the other hand, feel the need to watch all superhero films (even Electra! *Gasp) which is why I took the time to watch this one. Overall, 'Green Lantern' is nothing special. But it is edible in that way like when you try to cook something new. It could use work, but if given time and respect, who knows? Plus, it's always entertaining watching Peter Sarsgaard, but especially so if he has a giant forehead that pulsates. Yummy. I never enjoyed first parts to superhero films (with a few exceptions, duh, i.e. 'Iron Man', 'Spider-man', etc.) since it's all about backstory and each has the same structure as any normal hero myth with "Departure, Initiation, and Return". So predictable and cliche at this point, that 'Thor' was actually kind of a relief in all its oddness. Despite complaints of the film being overlong, I think the biggest problem was that the film actually wasn't long enough. There's a whole lot of ground to cover in the mythos of the "Green Lantern Corps." and it really doesn't leave the film with a whole lot of time to build a good villain (Sarsgaard was only good for show (oh that forehead!)) and because of it, the final battle at the end of the film was fairly rushed and slightly mundane. I didn't feel any stake in the characters because there was no time to build on them with so much backstory. Maybe if it were three hours, it could have better developed some characters and actually done the actors some justice (especially Blake Lively, who I actually think is quite good… just not in this). Honestly, that kind of seems amusing. A 'Lord of the Rings' length superhero film, with tons of backstory, plenty of time for character development (which means lengthy convos in Critic Talk), and brilliant special effect (it actually was quite dazzling, even if the imposed suit on Ryan Reynolds (Hal Jordan) was a little wonky, at best.



- Jeff Bassin

Sunday, January 1, 2012

The Adjustment Bureau- I welcomed in the new year with the classic fate vs. free will debate. Technically with an anti-religious answer too. But don't let that spoil the film if that doesn't sound like an appealing concept for a hollywood film. Matt Damon and Emily Blunt have nice chemistry, have interesting banter, and the film is surprisingly light and comedic. But if you are worried, I ought to let you know, the message of not allowing a group of suit dressed men, all working for a mystery (never seen as well) chairman boss, put us on a defined path through life, despite the comfort of having the path, is certainly nailed into the brain. But I enjoyed it. Like I have said before, I love a nice romantic comedy with a winning couple. I wanted them to get together. I didn't care if that meant his and her fame filled careers would be damaged. That's a good love story. Even if they did a few fairly long time cuts like "Three Years Later" and "Eleven Months Later", I was entertained by the antics of the film. Definitely a under-seen film this year, and it deserves viewers, so I'm glad I gave it a shot. It's not a classic, but it's certainly good. THIS REVIEW HAS JUST BEEN ADJUSTED. See it. Love, Love, Love. Instant Classic. WINNING.



- Jeff Bassin

Friday, December 30, 2011

The Devil's Double- Yes, comparisons to 'Scarface' are almost certain, but overall, it's a fairly unique film. Dominic Cooper does a good job portraying the psychopath of Saddam Hussein's son Uday, which makes most of the film. It's an intriguing concept. A look-alike type 'Prince and the Pauper' story cept' it never truly goes where you want it to go (I'm guessing that's because it's "based on a true story", though it obviously takes quite a few liberties). Throughout the film, Uday is sadistic human being, killing, raping, and pillaging in any which ay he wants to, while Cooper's better-half character, Latif Yahia, basically just sits there with his arms crossed and goes, "I don't like it". I mean, it's nice that we have such a protagonist in a film that mainly focuses on its antagonist, but honestly, it might sound wrong, but I would have been more interested in Latif slowly becoming Uday, the man he hates but must act like, over just hating him the whole movie. I mean, if you are going to take liberties with history, might as well, right? Not to say it's bad, I actually liked this one quite a bit. I just wish there was more conflict in the hero's mind than "this is right, this is wrong".



- Jeff Bassin

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Drive- I won't lie to you, I had high expectations. When this film came out, it was most certainly that movie where everyone said "Hey, have you seen 'Drive' yet? This is my second time, it's so goooood" (Feel free to reread that statement over and over again in the condescending tone it applies) and all the reviews from critics screamed Nicolas Winding Refn's film was the most original thing they have seen in the action action genre in years. Luckily, my expectations were mostly met. Drive, while not being the most character driven film ever, fulfills both the viewer's need for an ominous dark neo-noir tone, and crazed ultra violence that one would ask for in a crime film. It's one of those odd circumstances where if I analyzed most things individually, it would only end up with okay as an average, but together, it's quite magical. Gosling delivers a mostly quiet performance, as does the film itself, keeping moments of silence and long european styled takes before pumping up the action and soundtrack to 80s style music and the ominous score by Cliff Martinez. This film certainly original, especially when it makes use of slow quiet moments more often to create tone rather than using extensive dialogue. I wish we saw a bit more of his life as a stuntman driver moonlighting as a getaway driver before we got into the big story, but overall, it's well worth the view.



- Jeff Bassin

Monday, December 26, 2011 - Tuesday, December 27, 2011

American Horror Story Season 1- The first season, completed in a 24 hour period. Saw the first 4 one night, and spent the next day finishing the 12 episode season. Yes. This is an accomplishment. A perfectly fine day wasted on some mindless television. Worth it. Sure, the show essentially is horror cliches molded in a 'Dark Shadows' formula with not so unique ideas, then pop in all the sexual and violent nature that Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk brought to 'Nip/Tuck' (Not 'Glee', silly!) and there was season one of 'AHS'. While the show didn't hook me from the pilot episode, I was hooked by the series' best episode 4 and 5 'Halloween, Part 1 and 2'. If you don't enjoy the show at that point, I would give you free range to quit watching.


The performances where all quite good, with the most notable ones being from Jessica Lange (the crafty and nefarious neighbor),


Kate Mara (the crazed ex-lover),

-She's usually so much hotter.

Evan Peters (the psychopath boyfriend)… I'm noticing that the most memorable performances came from the show's villains.

- I saw never back down, and lets just say, this is different.

Not to say that it isn't nice seeing Dylan McDermott again (since I haven't seen him in anything since Bobby Donnell in 'The Practice'),


or Denis O'Hare (who is slowly winning me over in the unknown character actor category with his performances on this and 'True Blood' as Russell Edgington),


or how about the edgy and emotional performance by Taissa Farmiga (this is the first most, including myself have seen of her, and I can tell she has talent),


and Connie Britton (I haven't watched 'Friday Night Lights', I know that's her claim to fame, but I have been meaning to and will certainly get to it faster now).


Jeez, all the performances were great so I want to just go over them all. How about the altered perception thing they did with Frances Conroy/ Alexandra Breckenridge (hot or not?). Either way it was effective and shocking.



But I'll stop now.

On the note that the series will be continuing season 2 with a different story completely, I'm actually glad. Not that this story was bad… just completed. It ended. I don't need to watch some of supposed "To Be Continued…" type stories they set up. Those sound boring to me. I think the season ended fantastically, going from it's typical overbearing soap opera drama, to a lighter tone with a slight homage to the movie 'Beetlejuice'. If you watch the season, which you should in my opinion, you will know what I mean. No, it's not the greatest thing on television. No, it's not unique. But yes, it is consistently interesting.



- Jeff Bassin

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work- One of the better expose documentaries I've seen, which is the reason I've watched it for the second time. Rivers is more than just marvelous comedienne (I didn't realize that is what you call female comedians until I saw this film). She's a tragic figure, a workaholic, a constant genius, and a real interesting person. You could learn a thing or two from this woman and her life.



Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010 Remake)- Interesting fairy tale horror film that spooked me quite a bit, but would have instilled great fear in me if I were younger. This is a creepy film. First time feature director Troy Nixey is an expert at mood, especially with his experience on his short film 'Latchkey's Lament' (which I also enjoyed when I saw it a bit ago) and with the help of the academy award nominated writer/director Guillermo del Toro as Producer. Nixey also has an eye for good visual art, clearly from his experience as a comic book artist. While the performances were nothing to special, Bailee Madison (the child in the film) is fairly believable and it's nice to see Katie Holmes doing work again (I still sigh when I watch her missing from 'The Dark Knight'). Certainly good for a nice scare, even if it's not perfect.



- Jeff Bassin