Man of Steel

General: What are you smiling about, Captain?
Captain: I just think he’s kinda hot.

Henry Cavill certainly looks like Superman. He’s handsome, almost distractingly so, sports a ripped physique that adheres closer to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine than any previous incarnation of the role. The Brit even speaks the part affecting a perfect American accent with the necessary gravitas to make everything he says sound meaningful. But that’s where compliments end for Man of Steel.

Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster’s iconic superhero is given the bigger is better treatment in this updated version for moviegoers raised on Transformers films. Zack “I directed 300” Snyder has taken courses at the Michael Bay school for directors where spectacle is key and damn any coherence or dialogue that gets in the way. Loud noise is more important than the story. Millions of dollars gloriously spent to envision beautifully designed worlds of breathtaking 3D graphics only to be obliterated in some fantastic assault of bombs, explosions and mayhem. A bombastic excess where even Superman’s cape is digitally animated. Snyder’s aesthetic is money and spend lots of it

Man of Steel is an overinflated packed to the rafters display of computer generated imagery (CGI) that makes Transformers seem like Forbidden Planet by comparison. The CGI is ridiculously wild and unchecked. A full third of this film is fight scenes. Not exciting ones, but blurry, relentless onslaughts that are hard to follow. I think I counted three epic battles but honestly one conflict blurs indistinguishably into the next. Their sole purpose exists so Snyder can blow stuff up. The wanton annihilation of buildings in the climax doesn’t even appear to be Planet Earth anymore. At one point Superman wrestles with tentacles in the center of the globe as some rocket machine deconstructs the earth’s atmosphere to that of an alien planet. The whole spectacle is so removed from anything organic, it doesn’t even exist as a live action movie with human actors. More like a virtual 3D universe populated by automatons rendered by a computer program.

The obscene amount of CGI-enhanced activity might’ve been tolerable if it served a coherent story. Unfortunately following the haphazard chronology is a task in itself. Good luck figuring out what time period we‘re in. The films was apparently edited in a blender. First we’re on Krypton, then we’re on an oil rig with an adult Clark Kent, now Clark is a kid in school overwhelmed by his powers, suddenly he‘s older rescuing his classmates from a bus. Now he’s Superman in the Arctic. Now back as a child again with his parents near a tornado. The script flash forwards, then back, then forward and back again, back and forth, back and forth over and over to the point of complete incoherence. The movie is an attention punishing 143 minutes and you feel every single one of them.

Part of the reason the story is so mind numbingly long is because the plot spends an inordinate amount of time delving into Kryptonian society, and explaining the sociopolitical and ecological situation before the planet’s destruction. Just what I want to see in a Superhero film. How about some scenes inside the Kryptonian Senate while they vote on various bills and legislation? Last time I checked this was called Man of Steel but it’s a full hour before he even dons the suit and near the very end before someone clearly calls him Superman. Even then it’s used as more of a throwaway joke.

There are moments where the script attempts to convey Superman’s inner conflict. The narrative tries to present Superman’s undying love for the people of his adoptive planet earth. But his devotion never makes sense. He experiences overwhelming rejection from the faceless masses his whole life. We’re given infrequent glimpses of his interactions with the human population. School bullies tease him as a child, a bar patron humiliates him (shades of Superman II), the military wants to give him up to uber villain General Zod. This is predicted in early scenes by his father (Kevin Costner) who warns him: “People are afraid of what they don’t understand.” We comprehend why Superman isn’t accepted, but not why he still cares for the citizens of this foreign world called Earth. The population disregards him so thoroughly. We have no reason to sympathize, to care, or even to watch.

The movie is the creation of sterile perfectionism. The actors are pretty, everyone hits their marks, says their lines and does exactly what is asked of them. It exhibits slick professionalism but not art. The picture has no essence. There is no warmth, no wit, no humor, no joy. The only thing more offensive than the vulgar reliance on special effects in this flick, are the product placement deals. Word has it that it earned $160 million even before it ever played in a single theater due to all the advertising negotiations made. It doesn’t come without a cost. Superman literally has a fight that starts at 7-Eleven, heads over to IHOP afterwards, then wraps at Sears. All the while the aforementioned businesses conspicuously pop up in scenes where the action is a muddy blur but their beaming signs are clear as day. There is no spark of life to be found in Man of Steel. It is a soulless product bought and paid for by the Hollywood machine.

This Is the End

A group of revelers party hard at a luxurious home in Los Angeles, oblivious that the end of the world is happening while they enjoy themselves inside. Six friends find safety in the modern mansion after a series of apocalyptic events lay waste to the planet outside the protective shelter of their confinement. Writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg expand on the short “Jay and Seth vs. The Apocalypse.” This writing team has been responsible for amusing highs (Superbad, Pineapple Express) and at least one crushing low (The Watch) so I approached this with guarded expectations. I’m happy to report, This is the End sports a hilarious script packed with laughs. It’s likely to become the comedy hit of the year.

One of the ingenuities of the script is that the stars are in fact playing James Franco, Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson, or rather an alternate reality version of themselves. The riffs on their own personae is a smart idea. The cast encompasses virtually anyone who has ever appeared in a Judd Apatow production. There’s also a few new additions to keep things fresh. I suspect there is more accuracy to some characterizations than others. Michael Cera for example spoofs his timid nice guy image as a cocaine snorting, sexually preoccupied creep. It’s absolutely bonkers. On the contrary, Jay Baruchel’s insecurity as a lesser star, that prevents him from bonding with Seth Rogen’s celebrity buddies has a ring of truth to it.  The screenwriters aren’t afraid to make fun of themselves or their own bad movies (The Green Hornet, Your Highness) either. It’s self depreciating in other ways too. The very plot condemns our heroes as unfit for heaven. While the devout are beamed up body and soul, everyone at the party is left behind to fend for themselves.

The set up of This is the End is brilliant. The plot exists as sort of a series of comedy sketches. The script pays homage to movies of the past. Clever send-ups abound for knowing film buffs including The Exorcist, Ghostbusters and a scene from Rosemary’s Baby that’s mostly a shot for shot copy with one slight modification. Poor Jonah Hill. By fashioning the majority of the satire inside an LA home, it gives our 6 stars the opportunity to monologue on a variety of subjects. Much of their interactive banter is side-splitting. Franco and McBride’s verbal sparring over the mishandling of an adult magazine devolves into a conversation of unbalanced insanity. It’s refreshing that while their conversations are frequently accusatory they never devolve into mean-spiritedness. As they exhibit a jovial camaraderie in the face of mounting danger, you always get the feeling these guys still like each other. Their 6 personalities give the audience someone with which to identify and /or appreciate. However that doesn’t mean everyone behaves with the best of intentions. Danny Mc Bride basically becomes the worst person who ever lived.

Stoner movie, slacker comedy, the arrested development of grown men in their 30s. It’s a tradition that perhaps started in 1978 with National Lampoon’s Animal House and has continued with last year’s Ted.  This is the End compares favorably with those works. No this isn’t highbrow stuff.  Admittedly, it can be puerile and jejune at times. All the soporific humor gets a bit excessive. And the running time could use the benefits of an editor. It drags for about 20 minutes before the final act (which is thankfully inspired). But the overall theme promotes a redemptive heart. After all, these people were forsaken when the faithful were being taken up into heaven during the rapture. There’s brilliance in its simple truths. For example — James Franco attempting to explain the mystery of the Holy Trinity to his confused friend. “It’s like Neapolitan ice cream.” More often than not this riff on the end of the world is a funny, and even insightful, sketch comedy. A model of the genre that deserves to be the most quotable film of 2013.

The East

Sarah (Brit Marling) works for a private security firm in Washington DC that gathers intelligence against eco-terrorists. Her agency is employed by big corporations under fire for endangering the health of people and/or the environment. This includes industries like oil refineries, pharmaceuticals, etc. Sarah is selected as an undercover agent to infiltrate an anarchist group known as The East. Posing as one of them she endeavors to gain knowledge and report back to her bosses at the bureau. The subsequent information will be used to make arrests.

A majority of the cast have fully developed personalities. What makes The East so captivating is the perceptive screenplay.  Credit  star Brit Marling who co-writes and produces with director Zal Batmanglij, the same duo responsible for 2011’s Sound of My Voice. As our lead protagonist Sarah, she’s an appealing presence, smart and attractive, capable of handling herself in rough situations . She prays for guidance to do what is right and acts with her conscience. We experience the faction through her eyes, judging everything she experiences. It’s a carefully modulated window into a world not many have experienced. As she extracts information / develops friendships, these characters become complex individuals. Alexander Skarsgård is their cultish leader. To emphasize the point, he sports Jesus-like hair and beard. We’re first introduced to him at a dinner scene involving straitjackets. It’s a memorable introduction to his methods. He has earned a dedicated loyalty from his followers. These include Doc (Toby Kebbell) and Izzy (Ellen Page), both of which offer detailed backstories to explain why they’re part of this collective.

When I originally saw the trailer for The East, I figured it would be a “horror” film recounting violent revenge “The East” exacted on evil companies they determined should be taken to task. But the way the plot unfolds it’s more of a character examination balancing the principles of environmental terrorists with those of a corporate spy concerned about their “eye for an eye” mentality.  It’s natural to champion the environment, but hardly anyone would go to the limits of these radicals.  We see these activists operate on the far end on the protester spectrum. They break into a gasoline mogul’s mansion and dump crude oil through the air-conditioning vents. Later they lace the champagne of employees at a drug manufacturer’s party with their own questionable medication. Their extreme behavior is not something most people would advocate. Yet we grow to understand their motivations and their viewpoint. On this converse side, we also appreciate Sarah’s dilemma as she starts to sympathize with her criminal zealots and their alarming objectives. There are some issues. You might say that Brit Marling as Sarah ingratiates herself into the group a bit too easily. Also, the narrative is tidied up at the conclusion in a couple hastily presented scenes that don’t do the nuanced story any favors. But more often than not this portrait is a brilliant study that handles multiple characters with deft and precision. Few films have accomplished this so skillfully in 2013.

Epic

I have officially reached my limit of dull computer animated films. There needs to be more than just pretty CGI to hold my attention. Epic is the latest from the “creative” minds at Blue Sky Studios who brought us Ice Age.  A questionable achievement, but a downright masterpiece when compared to this utterly nondescript piece. The plot concerns an ordinary-size teen girl who is magically shrunken down into a secret world when she grabs a hold of a magical leaf pod. She’s subsequently thrust into an ongoing environmental conflict amongst various forest creatures who struggle to see who can become the most forgettable. Sorry sarcasm.

An hour after watching Epic, it was already fading from memory. The cast is made up of famous actors that turn in vapid voice work in exchange for a paycheck. Colin Farrell and Beyoncé Knowles are major stars. They charm in real life, but their voices are so bland here. The leader of the Leaf-Men and Queen of the Forest should be captivating, but their personalities only cause drowsiness. Don’t drive or operate heavy machinery under the effects of this movie. Aziz Ansari and Chris O’Dowd are a slug and snail respectively, but they should’ve been listed as hackneyed sidekick characters #1 and #2. They’re the comic relief but I didn’t hear a single child laugh in my theater. I suppose the script is the actual culprit.

This generic tale of good vs. evil  has been done countless times with more innovation and appeal. The story is lackluster in the extreme. Couldn’t the screenwriters have tried a little harder to come up with something interesting? The best lesson they can come up with is: “Many leaves, one tree; we’re all individuals, but we’re still connected.” Zzzzzzzz. It’s a shame because what the film does have going for it is gorgeous computer graphics. The animators have done a beautiful job giving zest to a script that has none. Epic won’t entertain adults and will leave kids wanting more. Children know a quality adventure when they see one and this ain’t it. You cannot foist a subpar saga on them and expect a hit. Not surprisingly, out of 8 productions, this became Blue Sky’s worst performing feature by a wide margin. It didn’t even recoup its $100M production budget in the U.S. Epic is neither majestic nor grand. It’s about as far from the word’s connotation as you can get. The most glaringly mistitled movie since The LAST Exorcism Part II.

The B.A.N.G Show

Arcturus, The Beast and Mark Hobin recap last week’s box office (May 24–26).  We discuss Fast & Furious 6, The Hangover Part III and the rest of the Top 10 on both sides of the Atlantic.  We also consider upcoming movies and give our own irreverent take on what to see and what to skip.  Fast, fun and informative!  You won’t want to miss this!

MGCTv – The B.A.N.G Show

Also Available on iTunes‎!

Now You See Me

Perhaps it was the wonder of magician Doug Henning’s TV specials that I saw at an impressionable age or maybe because I was given a Presto Magic Show Set (complete with magician’s performance table! ) when I was 5. Whatever the reason, I am sort of predisposed to enjoy films about magicians. Not since 2006 have we had such an influx of movies regarding the profession: both The Prestige and The Illusionist came out. That was a banner year. I keep hoping another will live up to that high standard. 2013 isn’t that year, but it’s the closest we’ve come since. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone debuted back in March and Now You See Me was released in May. While I thought the Steve Carrel film was acceptable, this one is even better.

A super-team of illusionists are brought together by a mysterious manipulator who dubs them The Four Horsemen. This unseen entity gives them the blueprints for an elaborate stage production. Then one day after performing successfully for over a year, they’re playing to a packed house in Las Vegas. For their grand finale the magic group seemingly robs millions of Euros from a bank in Paris. Now it’s up to an FBI officer and his squad to solve the mystery of what happened to the missing cash.

A star-studded cast and captivating plot highlight this entertaining escapade. The appealing premise had me instantly hooked. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco are charismatic magicians each with different specialties. Arrogant and smug their personalities mesh together well into a slick show. Yet they’re apparently merely the puppets in an intricate scheme to mask the real crime. Mark Ruffalo plays FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes who joins forces with Alma Vargas (Mélanie Laurent) to get to the bottom of this conundrum. Michael Caine is the wealthy benefactor that funds their successful theatrics and Morgan Freeman is the skeptic who debunks magicians on his reality series. Just who is behind the very real disappearance of the money? As the chronicle evolves, the action displays The Four Horsemen’s humorous ability to always stay one step ahead of the FBI and his team. The U.S. agency begins to look kind of bumbling.

Now You See Me has a brilliant set up. Over time that semblance of sense gives way to a pretty convoluted third act that will require a willing suspension of disbelief in order to swallow all that came before it. For example the clarification of what actually happens during a car crash is completely ludicrous. The details don’t hold up, but that still doesn’t mean the picture isn’t fun. For a good while, the developments are fast paced and lively. There’s CGI galore to emphasize the style of their illusions. The cinematography is a bit dizzy. A little less spinning camerawork would’ve sufficed. I suppose that’s the art of misdirection at work, but it also imparts a lighthearted panache that never allows the audience to take this subject too seriously. There’s no way anyone could possibly explain the ‘how’ or ‘why’ until the very end, but it’s still interesting enough to hold your attention.

Addendum: I was captivated by the premise enough to see this. So were a lot of other people. Only $7M kept Now You See Me from being the #1 movie opening weekend in U.S. That was against Fast & Furious 6 in it’s 2nd week and After Earth in its 1st. I like surprises….especially ones involving magic.

Frances Ha

Greta Gerwig, star and co-writer of Frances Ha, is a good influence on Noah Baumbach. They met when she co-starred in his 2010 film, Greenberg and their collaboration has now yielded something I can actually recommend. I have always had difficulty warming up to the director’s misanthropic view on life. Except for his work with Wes Anderson, his characters have largely been rather repellent. That’s what makes Frances Ha such a nice surprise. Our lead is a comparatively upbeat oddball, albeit infused with an undercurrent of woe. Baumbach’s pessimistic attitude is still there, but you have the feeling that there’s a light at the end of this tunnel.

Frances is a 27 year old living in Brooklyn. She’s an apprentice for a dance company but hasn’t accomplished her dreams to become a full blown dancer. She has a boyfriend, to whom she cannot commit. Conversely she has a very close relationship with her best friend Sophie. However Sophie has recently gotten engaged and is moving out. Now Frances has an apartment which she cannot afford on her own. She attempts to rectify these setbacks with little to no success. Gentle and self-effacing, she charges ahead undaunted by all the curve balls thrown her way. The story is made up of fragmented pieces that yearn to create a fully formed whole, much like our protagonist.

Frances Ha is an amiable slice of life drama detailing a totally realized personality. Baumbach has decided to shoot the action in digital black and white. It lends a picturesque polish to an unforgiving portrait of New York. Her daily frustrations take on a whimsical quality. These problems almost seem like fantasy. At times Frances is endearing, and at others, you just want to shake her until she finds some focus. She exists passively going through life with a certain fatalism that can occasionally grow a little annoying. But on the flip side, there is an awkward charm to Frances. Her conversations defined by the actress’s effortless delivery as if she’s making up her dialogue on the spot. Her date Lev, whom she is treating to dinner, asks what happened when she disappears to get cash from an ATM after her credit card is declined. “I’m so embarrassed; I’m not a real person yet,” she sheepishly replies. She is still a child flirting with adulthood, but at least she is forging an attempt. For once Baumbach offers us a sympatric individual. Greta Gerwig has everything to do with Baumbach’s kinder, gentler direction.  I give my stamp of approval on this romantic and creative partnership.

Fast & Furious 6

If Fast & Furious 6 could be encapsulated by a song title it would be Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” Well better than parts 2-4 anyway. We’re a long way from the simple charm of the 2001 original. No longer content to limit the vehicles to just automobiles, this installment has got planes, tanks and yes cars too. The Fast and the Furious franchise is about raising the stakes. The series’ somewhat stale preoccupation with street racing was re-invented into a heist film in installment 5. The latter Fast and the Furious sequels have morphed into the Ocean’s Eleven of chase movies. Fast 6 continues that camaraderie by re-assembling Dom and his crew of experts to do another “job,” the takedown of a rogue team of drivers led by a British (natch) Special Forces soldier.

The old gang is back including expanded roles for more recent additions to the party. The cast has grown exponentially since the first installment. The script takes for granted you know these characters so it doesn’t waste time trying to define them. You are expected to have seen parts 1-5 and adore these people the moment they appear. An overused narrative shortcut is the obligatory European as the bad guy, Luke Evans as a generic terrorist named Owen Shaw. I guess Mark Strong was busy. Dwayne Johnson shows up wearing a t-shirt purchased at BabyGap. He’s Luke Hobbs, the preening CIA operative who apparently has a lot of free time to spend working out at the gym. How else to account for his absolutely ridiculous pumped up physical frame? Johnson is so seriously inflated he looks as if he were punctured by a pin, he’d just pop. He only recently became part of this franchise with Fast Five, but has since become a key component. Conversely Paul Walker (remember him?) blandly fades further into the background. Oops I almost forgot to mention this boasts the return of Michelle Rodriguez as Letty who died in Part 4. If that sounds impossible, please read on.

Fast & Furious 6 is not a movie to think about. It’s for people who want familiar characters, lots of cool stunts, and a few jokes tossed in for good measure. On that front, this delivers. The WTF quotient is incredibly high. But that’s par for the course. This series has never involved sense. Fast Five‘s dragging a cumbersome bank vault through the streets of Rio at high speed is more an affront to physics than anything in this production. Still 6 pushes the envelope once again and tries to outdo that ridiculousness. The most explosive spectacle has our team zooming down an airplane runway on a jeep chasing an Antonov An-124, a massive Russian airplane, at over 100mph for about 15 minutes. don’t think too hard, but yeah that would make the runway at least 25 miles long. Of course none of this will matter to steadfast fans. It’s one of those films whose adherents decry such critiques with “Quiet! Your intellectualization is my buzzkill!!”

The narrative has been structured in such a way that the action sequences are the film. In between we get a lot of blah-blah-blah that is a comparative bore to endure until the next assault, These vehicular feats have continued to explode with each successive entry in a seemingly never-ending pursuit to top the last. Physics be damned! Applying logic or sense to any of these pictures is kind of irrelevant but the characters should at least involve our concern. Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) cannot die. We’re never even remotely worried our hero could be finished. At one point Letty is flung off a tank, Dom leaps, no FLIES through the sky, catches her in mid air then travels to the safety of a second moving car. It’s a display that looks more like CGI than actual stunt work but it also creates a problem. His ability to cheat death kind of removes any tension you might feel. We should be on the on the edge of our seat but we’re no longer concerned. It just feels like routine now. A formula that eschews sophistication in the name of “mindless entertainment.” Should we cheer? My theater did. Most loudly at the end when the entire production builds to the reveal of yet another character – a certain shaved head action star. It’s as if to say, this was all just a tease to the real movie. Now go watch Fast & Furious 7…in 3D no doubt.

Kon-Tiki

Kon-Tiki, the Inca god of Sun and storm, was the name of the balsa-wood raft used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. The primitive vessel was instrumental in his 1947 expedition across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. The purpose was to show that the South American people could have settled Polynesia in the pre-Columbian era using only the simple materials and technologies available to them at the time. I kept thinking that just because they could doesn’t necessarily mean they did but that’s never addressed. Incidentally most anthropologists now believe they did not but that‘s another discussion entirely. There’s no denying that Heyerdahl was a brave and admirable trailblazer who basically just wanted to prove that you couldn’t rule the possibility out. Their mission was presented in a non fictional account in 1950 that actually won the Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature the following year. Now it’s been made into a historical drama, which was subsequently nominated for Best Foreign Language Film (Amour received the award).

Kon-Tiki is a pleasant but very conventional movie. The plot is mostly made of the 4,300 nautical mile-journey from Peru to Polynesia aboard a flimsy raft. Heyerdahl is a tall blonde tanned Norwegian. His staff is also made up of the same, well four Norwegians and a Swede, but they all posses the same handsomely pale features, indistinguishable from each other. These characters are really generic. That even includes the intrepid star who should’ve been more exciting. Over three months, the team’s scientific voyage is met with a few small setbacks but it’s largely uneventful. Oh there’s storms, a shark gets on the boat, a whale almost topples the raft. Those developments are gripping so those moments engage. The cinematography is pretty too. But more often than not, the action focuses on the humans. Unfortunately their humdrum conversations are boring. The occasional infighting amongst the team does not a film make.

Car Wash

Car Wash belongs in a time capsule. It perfectly captures a moment for posterity never to be repeated again. Probably the lasting contribution from the 1976 comedy is the energetic title track, written and produced by Norman Whitfield. As performed by Rose Royce it‘s a spirited ode to (what else?) the joys of working in a car wash. It was an across the board smash going all the way to #1. But the entire soundtrack is a funky discofied slice of heaven that perfectly complements the action on screen. The movie wasn’t particularly successful initially but has since grown into a cult film with a devoted following. It’s sort of the spiritual progenitor of later flicks like House Party, Friday and Barbershop.

Who knew that working at a car wash could be so much fun? Directed by Michael Schultz (Cooley High, The Last Dragon) from a screenplay by Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever, A Time to Kill), this one day in the life of an L.A. car wash is a buoyant episodic comedy. It’s hard to say who’s odder, the employees or the customers. The multi racial cast has a relaxed, friendly presence that really serves these lighthearted shenanigans well. Most of the actors are not widely known but a couple big names do pop up. Richard Pryor appears briefly as Daddy Rich, a colorful reverend of The Church of Divine Economic Spirituality. He’s supported by the Pointer Sisters, who break into a joyous song that almost has you wishing this was an actual musical. Comedian George Carlin has a running bit as a cabbie looking for the woman who stiffed him of his fare. The meandering storyline has no real focus, but it is a carefree diversion. This tone is decidedly upbeat. The writing is amusing and there are several hilarious lines sprinkled throughout. Many belong to actor Antonio Fargas as flamboyant Lindy who delivers his every line with a lot of sass. Want an example? When put down by militant black nationalist Duane, er uh excuse me, Abdullah Mohamed Akbar, he shoots back with one of the most memorable lines in the film: “Honey, I’m more man than you’ll ever be and more woman than you’ll ever get.”