A 'Carol' for Everyone

'A Christmas Carol'

Review: 4/5

Charles Dickens' classic tale is familiar to anyone who's been witness to countless sitcom and filmic adaptations. Themes of greed, generosity, compassion, and humanity permeate the adage rendering it a universal account of man's deepest and most potent tendencies toward materialism and warns of the remorse initiated by such acquisitive inclinations. That a modern, cinematic telling of 'A Christmas Carol' may seem to be a bit of a superficial undertaking could not be more amiss. The world today stands on the brink of chaos triggered precisely by the fondness for monetary gluttony that Dickens' tale distinctly foretells, and director Robert Zemeckis acknowledges this reality with a visually untamed jolt of 3D fascination, executed with a virtuoso knack for such a groundbreaking technology and a kind of innate aptitude for infusing charm and benevolence into the nucleus of his films' sincere spirit. His version of 'A Christmas Carol' is as true to his voice as any film he's directed, and it boasts not only a thrilling ride through a harsh wintry landscape, but an incredible performance from Jim Carrey as the universally detested Ebenezer Scrooge.

Everyone knows the story. A greedy man is haunted by three ghosts, and offered an introspective evaluation of his life's choices. You know how the story turns out. But that's not the point here. This contemporary remake of such an eternal narrative is timely both technologically and culturally. Never has a 3D film been carried out with such arduous devotion to precision. The camera soars eagerly through Scrooge's past, ducking underneath oak trees, and darting toward and through the starry night sky. A brilliant opening sequence has the spectator dodging Christmas reefs and chestnuts on a busy avenue corner only to swing inside Scrooge's office and land gently on a medium shot of the old hag scribbling away on Christmas Eve, and ignoring his nephew's request for him to join his family for Christmas dinner. Another sequence, featured in the film's trailer, has Scrooge gripping tightly to a brown top and flying, literally, in front of full moon. It's an immediately classic scene that will be remembered for years to come.

Culturally, I cannot stress the relevance of this film. It pleas sincerely for humanity while vehemently renouncing greed and maliciousness. In a country inundated by two partisan media outlets, each verbally assaulting one another in the guise of patriotism, there is not a better cinematic reminder that we are, all of us, easily susceptible to one of the greatest sins known to man, and that we can conquer this propensity with personal reflection, and a firm belief in hope.

 

Clooney and 'Goats': The Only Two Worth Watching

'The Men Who Stare at Goats'

Review: 3/5

It's a bit of a disappointment to label 'The Men Who Stare at Goats' a mediocre outing for director Grant Heslov. The trailers looked promising, the story wildly original, the cast impeccable, so what happened? Subjectively, here are a few theories: 1. the voice-over narration robs the film of its absurdity and relies on such a conventional plot device to further the unusually thin narrative, 2. the script could have used a few revisions - 'Goats' plays like a cliffs-notes version of a film that would have benefited from less montage and narration, and more attention to the bizarre central characters, and 3. the film was rushed into production mainly due to its innovative, satirical interpretation of the contemporary Iraq war. All this aside, the film is enjoyable as it stands, and boasts a hilariously compelling performance from George Clooney.

The film documents 'Daily Telegraph' reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) and his search to find a gripping story in Iraq to prove to his ex-wife that he's worth being with. By kismet, he meets Lyn Cassidy (George Clooney) who he persuades into allowing him on a very, very secret mission: to locate psychic-spy founder of the New Earth Army, Bill Django (Jeff Bridges). What is the New Earth Army? What are psychic spies? Cassidy lets Wilton in on this information, and the film plays intermittently by Cassidy's memories, which are narrated by Wilton, and are far, far too short. The comedy never elevates beyond its one-joke premise. Good thing for the filmmakers: that one joke is hilarious (look for a defining scene involving a manipulated Cassidy, and a harmless goat).

Coated in thin yellows, tans, and oranges 'Goats' clearly aims to be lighthearted fare, which, at its core, it's not. This is an unfortunately gentle comedy masquerading as an acerbic social satire - an exceedingly conflicting hybrid that lacks a finite identity. It plays less on the execution of the absurd, and more on the minimal observation of the ridiculous. Comedic timing is replaced with an air of misplaced quandary - jokes fall flat. Good thing Clooney can win a staring contest. 

Look Around: 'Box' is Everywhere

'The Box'

Review: 3.5/5

Writer/director Richard Kelly's films seem to exist in isolated expanses of time and space. They are a caustic expose' on characters with odd jobs and an all encompassing adoration for cosmology and quantum gravity. 'The Box' is no different, focusing attention on a school teacher, Norma Lewis (Cameron Diaz), her husband, Arthur (James Marsden), and an ominous man with a terrifyingly unusual scar, Arlington Steward (Frank Langella). He shows up at the doorstep to the couples' unadorned suburban home, and offers them a box with a foreboding red button inside. If they are to push it, they receive a million dollars. The catch? Someone will die. "Is this something we can live with?" Arthur asks his wife tentatively. Such is the premiere question that dictates the film's tightly-woven narrative arc.

So as not to give away spoilers I will not elaborate on the plot further, though it is by no means preposterous, as a majority of critics assert. Rather, the film is an inspired, high-concept parable that infuses a stark reality with supernatural accoutrement that only adds to the enthralling nature of the film's quasi-science fiction nucleus. Observing elements of suspense and harsh social commentary, the overall drab, muted atmosphere is at both times heightened and subdued - a vicious hybrid of realism confronted with the unexplainable. Why is the menacing, yet oddly polite, Steward so casual in his presentation of such a morbid catch-22? Maybe it's because he's wise enough to know that, especially in a time of recession, materialism is an unfortunate primordial value.

Shot in bleak whites, greys, blacks, reds, and browns and lensed with a keen adherence to the sense of dread and unease, which manifests in obscenely long-shots interspersed with rapid editing, Kelly formally suggests that the monotony of suburban life exists on the relative edge of unforeseen disorder, very much like chaos theory itself.