What's on DVR?--In Bruges

Ever since “Pulp Fiction” the seemingly average hit-man who talks about everyday things and over-analyzes his surroundings seems to now be a hallmark in gangster/hit-man movies.  Rarely is it done well, with style and profound impact on character.  Even rarer is the high quality and great visual style of a first-time director.  Writer/Director Martin McDonagh’s film “In Bruges” is a fantastic little film about hit-men and the baggage they carry because of the horrible things that they do.

Ray (Colin Farrell) and his partner Ken (Brendan Gleeson) are hiding out in Bruges, Belgium after a hit went bad.  While the elder Ken wants to sight see in the “fairy tale” like little town, the young Ray wants to know what the next move is and is in no way swayed by the beauty of Bruges.  The pair walk around, take a boat, see the sights, annoy tourists, and as it would happen end up in a hotel with two hookers, drugs, and a dwarf played by Jordan Prentice, whose career began in 1986 when he played the role of Howard the Duck.

Things eventually get intense when Ray meets a girl and Ken discovers why they were sent to Bruges in the first place.  After a call he receives from their boss Harry (Ralph Fiennes) who feels a little like a caricature of a British villain, but still manages to pull it off.  Watching it you can still see why Farrell is a really good actor dispite some of the roles he takes, and Brendan Gleeson is magic in every scene he is in, which is most of the movie.  The film has tremendous heart, it nails the emotional beats, and has a great ending so while I didn't catch it back in ’08, that is the power if DVR, you get to see those little gems you missed.  If you can catch it on cable, give it a view.  Also come back soon for a review of McDonagh’s latest flm “Seven Psychopaths”

 --Robert L. Castillo    

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

 

         Everyone remembers the awkwardness that is High School. While being there you think they are the worst days of your life, but when you leave you realize that they may have been your best. So many people have written stories about what it is like to be in High School. Everything from what it takes to be popular to what it is to be the school loser, but what if no one notices you at all?

   That is what “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is about. Charlie (Logan Lerman) is about to start High School and he is more than a little nervous. Charlie’s best friend committed suicide which has left him entering that world alone and confused. For the first few months of school he is invisible to everyone. Charlie finds a kindred soul in Patrick (Ezra Miller), who he meets at a football game. With Patrick, Charlie meets his sister Sam (Emma Watson), who Charlie is enamored with. When they are apart they are misfits, but together they can do anything. Charlie is happy that he has finally found someone he can fit in with, someone who notices him. The three friends go through their ups and downs throughout the school year and Sam and Patrick get close to graduation. As they leave Charlie behind, Sam and Patrick are changed as well as Charlie, with relationships what will last a lifetime.

    The film is written and directed by Stephen Chbosky who adapted it from the novel he wrote. Chbosky seems to understand what it means to be a part of that “island of misfits” that Charlie and his friends are part of. Logan Lerman plays Charlie perfect as you travel through the first year of high school through his eyes. Emma Watson in her first role outside the ‘Harry Potter’ universe shows that she will not always be known as Hermione. I really enjoyed this film, but also think that most teenagers would enjoy it more. Mainly because it is kind of a roadmap of what one can expect in high school. It is real easy to look back on life and see the things that help define us and we all know how important high school was in doing so. If you have a teenager, take them to see this movie and enjoy it together. If you don’t have kids, still see this film, because maybe, just maybe, you’ll find out that you really miss something you didn’t know you lost.  Youth.

 Brian Taylor

                                                            

Criterion Corner--Stranger Than Paradise

          If “Seinfeld” was the show about nothing, then Jim Jarmusch’s 1984 film “Stranger Than Paradise” is the film about nothing.  Filled with moments of silence, and white noise, with characters literally sitting doing nothing, not speaking, or doing anything to progress the non-story forward.  They all seem to walk aimlessly and with no clear direction, and speak in half-conversations.  All this and I have to be honest, I kinda dug it.

Willie (John Lurie) is a slacker New Yorker, before slackers were cool.  He is forced by his estranged family to put up his cousin for ten days who is coming in from Hungary.  Eva (Eszter Balint) travels with a suitcase and a bag and a tape recorder that only plays ‘Screamin Jay Hawkins “I Put a Spell on You”.  When she firsts plays it, it is eerily appropriate and is probably my favorite moment of the film.  Eva is as quiet as Willie with as much zest for life as him (meaning none). 

Filmed in black and white it is the hallmark of minimalist filmmaking.  You don’t get any more independent film than this.  Even the locations that are traveled to, from New York to Cleveland to Florida which had to all be the same location that it’s even called out in the film by Eddie (Richard Edson) who you may remember from his role in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” as the garage attendant.  “What country do you think this is?”  That guy.  His character Eddie provides the comic relief to the film along with Aunt Lotte (Cecillia Stark) who like a lot of older foreign woman you may know, speaks in her native tongue, except when cursing in American.

Over all “Stranger Than Paradise” is a quiet, charming film, that is worth a watch if you want to see how an independent film from the 80’s looked and sounded.  And as obvious as the message at the film’s end is, I really liked it.  Give it a watch.

 

--Robert L. Castillo    

The Master

                 

      Everyone has heard the saying “Absence makes the heart grow fonder”.  Well that is how some people feel about the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Every three or four years PTA puts out a new film, and every year that film he puts out, ends up being one of the best films of the year. Well with “The Master” he continues his run of new American classics.

        Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) is a drifter in life after serving in the Navy during WWII. He travels around always running from something or someone. That changes when he happens on a boat where a party is taking place. Freddie has a love for alcohol, especially his own home made brews. When he awakens he meets Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), who introduces himself as a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a theoretical philosopher, but above all, “I am a man, just like you.” Freddie starts to open up to Lancaster Dodd about his past, and Freddie seems to inspire Dodd in his writings. Dodd is the leader of a group called “The Cause”, either a belief or a cult, depending on your point of view. As time passes Freddie becomes Dodd’s right hand man as he takes a journey of self discovery. It becomes about how far Freddie will follow Dodd and his beliefs.

     Paul Thomas Anderson can seem to do no wrong. “The Master” is just another film that will be on top of many people ‘best of’ list for 2012. The way the story and the visuals keep your attention is something very few films can do. Anderson shot the film to be seen in 70mm, and if you can there is no better way to see it. There are scenes that will visually leave you speechless. If you cannot see it in 70 mm because it is not showing in that format near you, the beauty of the film is not lost on a regular digital projector. When it comes to the religion of film there are not many more films more sacred than Paul Thomas Anderson’s, but why not find out for yourself. I know after seeing this you might just call him a master as well.

Brian Taylor

                                                   

Looper

 Director Rian Johnson has directed two films, being his tremendous breakout crime thriller “Brick” and the great con-man movie “The Brothers Bloom”.  In both films Johnson has given us something we are familiar with in film, solving a murder, and coning the rich out of money.  Then twisting it a little to make it fun and interesting.  In his latest film “Looper” he gives us a genre we are all familiar with since H.G. Wells made it popular.  Time Travel.  And he makes it his own.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt who is amazing as the lead in Johnson’s first film “Brick” is Joe a hired killer whose job is simple in the year 2044.  Gangsters from the future where time travel is invented and illegal send guys to get wacked back in time where Joe and his fellow Looper’s are waiting to shot-gun blast them and dispose of the body and collect their silver.  No mess for the future if the body is in the past.  But the kink in Joe’s perfect lifestyle is that their loop can be closed, meaning they can send you your future-self back to get killed by you.  This is what happens to Joe, when his older-self is sent back to be killed.  Bruce Willis plays the old Joe and gets away from Levitt and has a plan to keep the future that has played out for him for the last 30 years.  He will not let anything get in his way, including himself.

If all of this sounds a little confusing, don’t worry, you will be enjoying the movie way too much to notice any flaws in the time logic.  Rian Johnson has crafted a fantastic futuristic tale that perfectly blends sci-fi, drama, action, humor, and an awesome moral dilemma that I have never seen played out on film before, and the dude totally nails it.  Wills hasn’t been this solid in a while and Levitt coming off of “Dark Knight Rises”, “Premium Rush” and the soon to be released “Lincoln” is phenomenal in both his performance and his transformation into a young Bruce Willis.  The makeup helps and only has moments where is mildly distracts.  But his mannerisms and little ‘Willis’ quirks sell it throughout the film.

Aside from the great story and fascinating concepts the supporting cast is stellar, Jeff Daniels as the future boss in the past, works really well, Emily Blunt is flawless, and the new comer Pierce Gagnon as Cid is amazing.  It really feels like nothing is wasted and that Johnson is saying something with every frame, I hope this movie brings more people to his work and I’m glad that after the summer we’ve had that there are still reasons to go to the movies.  In short, go see “Looper” it is one of the best movies of the year.

 

--Robert L. Castillo   

The Corners of Criterion

I always knew that the library lent out movies as well as books, but what I didn’t know is that they have Criterion films.  Which if you don’t know what Criterion is it’s a distribution company that sells classic and contemporary films from around the world.  They range from classics like “Brazil”, “Seven Samurai”, and “Citizen Kane” to modern classics such as “Halloween”, “Robocop”, and “The Rock”.  So I wanted to start a new segment on the blog where we watch and review some of these films and maybe talk about some of the special features as well.  Warning I will be letting out my artsy side, so most of them will be foreign or art house films.  Here’s a glimpse of what’s to come...

 

 

 

 

End of Watch

                                                               
       

        Most people enjoy familiarity; they enjoy it because it brings comfort. The good stuff though, comes when you do a fresh take on something you have seen a million times. “Found footage” films are still riding high, some are good and some are bad.  “Cop” films usually follow the same path every time, with rare exceptions.  Lucky for us there is David Ayer who decided to combine the two sub-genres.  Having already brought us “Training Day” Ayer brings a new and great take on police dramas.

       Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal), (and before you ask I wish I was writing a review for a movie I was starring in) is doing a project for school and decides to take a camera on his nightly patrolling of South Central Los Angeles. With his partner Mike Zavala (Mike Pena), they are in the hot shots of the L.A.P.D. With the camera rolling, we get to see what a day in the life of cop really is like. They are heroic, and they also get scared, they are just normal people who have to do extraordinary things sometimes. We see Officer Taylor and Zavala do everything from car chases, to rescuing three kids from a burning house. They are on top of the world, even turning over some rocks that they shouldn’t. There is a real sense of brotherhood between these two, and you know they would each take a bullet for the other.

   “End of Watch” is what all cop movies should strive to be. You finally see what it feels like to be a man and women in blue. With the handheld camera approach that Ayer decided to go with, you get the complete sense of realism.  Gyllenhall and Pena are amazing to watch, with a chemistry that is perfect for what they are going for. The scenes with them two riding around in the car are priceless, just normal everyday talk while they protect us from crime.  I really enjoyed this movie and the approach it took on Police dramas. David Ayer knows what he is doing when it comes to these movies, and I can only hope he keeps doing them. This is what going to the movies is all about, having fun and being entertained. So do yourself a favor and go and see “End of Watch”, something any fan of cop dramas will enjoy.

 Brian Taylor