Grade 'A' Summer Action

'The A-Team'

Review: 4/5

Director Joe Carnahan isn't one for idiosyncratic, quiet moments of human drama. He doesn't purport to study or understand the psychology of a team of wrongly accused war veterans, but instead prefers to focus on their unusual, often times flippant camaraderie, generated out of a devotion to fanatic, impractical military undertakings. That these tasks are highly implausible in reality is of unjust critique. Take note of Captain Hannibal's advice: "Sometimes overkill is underrated." - Carnahan's 'A-Team' adheres to a frenzied, mad-dash day-to-day, and he's fully aware, pushing the 'ridiculous' factor to a frenetic maximum.

The players in this gleefully unhinged, sky-high pageant of merry destruction give the film a stable foundation for the plot's dismissive flaws. Bradley Cooper as the charismatic 'Face' brings charm and humor to each absurd situation the team finds themselves in, and Sharlto Copley (the manic 'Wikus' from Neill Blomkamp's 'District 9') as the literally insane, helicopter flying 'Murdock' are the film's standouts; though Liam Neeson's 'Hannibal' does share a striking demeanor with his own 'Bryan Mills' character from the adrenaline-fueled 'Taken.'

All together, between Neeson's firm and calculating nature, Copley's hyper-inane antics, and Carnahan's assured direction, 'The A-Team' is definitely grade-A.

SNL + Lonely Island = One Demented 'MacGruber'

'MacGruber'

Review: 3.5/5

Who knew MacGruber was so wildly unpredictable? His idealistically humane methods during combat, while conceptually praiseworthy, never seem to manifest in a diplomatic manner. Instead, enemy-goons are shot, run-over, and de-throated. In the meantime, Grubes expresses his passion for male genitalia, has nauseating interactions with make-believe ghosts, and displays a disturbingly odd obsession with road rage. Each of these traits subvert his supposed humanity, most times in amusingly bizarre and off-putting ways (you'll never look at a celery stick the same way again).

Recognizing wholeheartedly that the 'SNL' branded film could be doomed to scathing reviews and poor box-office numbers, director Jorma Taccone wisely chooses to abandon all logic in favor of letting the seemingly manic 'MacGruber' sprint madly from scene-to-scene, spouting off absurd platitudes doused in misplaced adrenaline. Interestingly enough, (and not timely whatsoever) Taccone makes the decision to satirize 80s B-Movie action flicks, utilizing Grubes as the air-headed captain of all things nonsensical.

As an homage to the 'Dumb Bad Guy with a Silly Accent' cliche', Val Kilmer delivers, ponytail and ominous one-liners intact. SNL teammate Kristen Wiig wears a placid look of worry and confusion throughout the 90-minute running time, occasionally pausing to sing (!?), and Ryan Phillipe plays the straight man believably enough, but the stage belongs to Will Forte's 'MacGruber' and his demented machismo.

World Peace Secured? Summer has Arrived.

'Iron Man 2'

Review: 4/5

Although it may appear to be a cheap, candy-coated excuse for ludicrous action sequences (many of them either overly long, or unusually short), director Jon Favreau's 'Iron Man 2' bypasses the narrative purgatory many movie sequels unfortunately find themselves stuck in. Picking up exactly where the original left off, the indelibly narcissistic playboy Tony Stark gloats endlessly (and hilariously) through the film's first act, ranting and defending his newfound legacy as a worldwide savior and sole securer of world peace. The problem? He owns the 'Iron Man' technology, and is unwilling to relinquish it to the hands of the American government (take a few shots of Patron, a sip of champagne, and cue a rich bad guy, a vengeful Russian physicist, Stark's rising blood toxicity, and the cryptic S.H.I.E.L.D. clique, and you've got yourself an exciting, psychologically complex story). Oh, and Samuel L. Jackson wears an eye-patch.

Battling both praise and accusations with vanity and egotism, Robert Downey Jr.'s 'Tony Stark' is, this time, more of an unrelenting nuisance than he was in the original (this is a good thing). Yet this veneer is used not merely for spectators' entertainment, but to mask the hero's emotional and ethical crises, which writer Justin Theroux details with equally distributed doses of compassion and crippling honesty. Stark, who can spout sarcastic one-liners with ease, is far too afraid to confront an ominous childhood and a possible quasi-philanthropic future.

Without giving away the film's major plot developments, suffice it to say newly reinvented actor Mickey Rourke (a Russian physicist and man of few words in this film) won't be leaving the silver screen for a good while. Sam Rockwell is awesome, as, well, Sam Rockwell. Leave the rest to Downey's 'Stark,' and Favreau's favoring story over style.

Despite the film's 'sequel' status, 'Iron Man 2' appears to emphasize all the trappings of a new-age 'hero' saga.

Oscar Picks '09

My picks for the main 5 categories (these are not based on Oscar predictions, but my own general opinion):

Best Picture:

Avatar

Up in the Air

The Messenger

A Single Man

A Serious Man

Invictus

Where the Wild Things Are

The Hurt Locker

An Education

Inglorious Basterds

Best Actor: 

Colin Firth - A Single Man

Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart

Morgan Freeman - Invictus

Ben Foster - The Messenger

George Clooney - Up in the Air

Best Actress:

Emily Blunt - The Young Victoria

Meryl Streep - Julie and Julia

Helen Mirren - The Last Station

Carey Mulligan - An Education

Arta Dobroshi - Lorna's Silence

Best Supporting Actor:

Woody Harrelson - The Messenger

Matt Damon - Invictus

Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds

Alfred Molina - An Education

Brian Geraghty - The Hurt Locker

Best Supporting Actress:

Julianne Moore - A Single Man

Vera Farmiga - Up in the Air

Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air

Zoe Saldana - Avatar

Melanie Laurent - Inglorious Basterds

Luminescent 'Pandora:' A World 14 Years in the Making

'Avatar'

Review: 5/5

Over a decade ago, writer/director/FX mastermind James Cameron proposed a highly ambitious undertaking: a $400 million film about an ex-marine sent to a distant planet to help humans harvest 'Unobtanium,' a lucrative, jagged crystal. Studio execs scoffed, and with good reason: Cameron wanted to shoot the epic narrative in 3D, and with motion capture as opposed to animation. Fourteen years ago, 'Avatar' was an overly audacious visual composition. Today, Cameron's magnum opus stands complete as a monolithic visual achievement in the 21st century, infusing an extraordinary neon radiance into the stagnant collection of stale aestheticism that's been plaguing the film industry for some time. And that's not to say attention to story detail was abandoned. In fact, this high-concept ode to pantheism and environmental panic is founded in the classic 'hero-narrative' structure, pitting crippled ex-marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) against a warmongering human entity - a timely American allegory with virtuoso technical execution. 

Understanding many 'blockbuster' filmmakers' propensity for roaring action sequences, it may be a bit of a surprise to some that, while Cameron has infused his melodrama with a thoroughly extensive, action-drenched third act, it's not without motivation. At it's heart, 'Avatar' is an examination of humans' propensity for infinite freedom, inspiring Worthington's 'Sully' to make profound moral modifications. It's a melodramatic opus worthy of each mesmerizing battle, all of which soar with an explosive visual and emotional intensity: it's everything we go to the movies for.

If there is one area that lacks an 'A+' mark, it's the individual performances, which are often times overly histrionic to the point of satire. But this is a minor criticism of a film that will be exalted as a defining cinematic landmark in this generation. It's an incomparable visual odyssey, a humbling, grand-scale work of cinema magic, and is this year's best picture.

'Globes' Honor Vengeful Jews, War Dramas, Technological Breakthroughs, and Jason Reitman

Not much respect is given to the Foreign Press. Somehow by considering musicals and comedies in a separate category altogether, the general value of films released within the year are eclipsed by a horde of what seem to be unnecessary nominations (Nine, Rob Marshall's newest musical is currently being lambasted by critics everywhere and yet is nominated for various awards). So did the Press get it right this year? In my opinion, yes. 

Below is a list of the nominees for this year's Golden Globe Awards:

BEST MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

• Avatar
• The Hurt Locker
• Inglourious Basterds
• Precious
• Up in the Air

(films snubbed: The Messenger, A Serious Man, Where the Wild Things Are, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, An Education, Star Trek)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

• Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
• Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
• Helen Mirren, The Last Station
• Carey Mulligan, An Education
• Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

(actresses snubbed: Arta Dobroshi, Melanie Laurent)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, DRAMA

• Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
• George Clooney, Up in the Air
• Colin Firth, A Single Man
• Morgan Freeman, Invictus
• Tobey Maguire, Brothers

(actors snubbed: Ben Foster, Sharlto Copley, Johnny Depp, Jeremy Renner, Nicolas Cage, Max Records)

BEST MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• (500) Days of Summer
• The Hangover
• It’s Complicated
• Julie & Julia
• Nine

(this is pretty accurate)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
• Marion Cotillard, Nine
• Julia Roberts, Duplicity
• Meryl Streep, It’s Complicated
• Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

(actresses snubbed: Zooey Deschanel)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE, COMEDY OR MUSICAL

• Matt Damon, The Informant!
• Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
• Robert Downey Jr., Sherlock Holmes
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
• Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

(actors snubbed: Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, Jesse Eisenberg, Sacha Baron Cohen, Adam Sandler)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Coraline
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• The Princess and the Frog
• Up

(looks good)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Baaria (Italy)
• Broken Embraces (Spain)
• The Maid (Chile)
• A Prophet (France)
• The White Ribbon (Germany)

(films snubbed: Lorna's Silence, Let the Right One In, Coco Before Chanel, The Damned United, An Education)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

• Penélope Cruz, Nine
• Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
• Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
• Mo’Nique, Precious
• Julianne Moore, A Single Man

(actresses snubbed: Natalie Portman, Maggie Gyllenhaal)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE

• Matt Damon, Invictus
• Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
• Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
• Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
• Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

(actors snubbed: Richard Kind, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, James Gandolfini, Brad Pitt)

BEST DIRECTOR

• Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
• James Cameron, Avatar
• Clint Eastwood, Invictus
• Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

(directors snubbed: Spike Jonze, J.J. Abrams, Michael Mann, Marc Webb, Wes Anderson, Robert Zemeckis)

BEST SCREENPLAY

• Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, District 9
• Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
• Nancy Meyers, It’s Complicated
• Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
• Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

(screenplays snubbed: Lorna's Silence, Invictus, Up, Public Enemies, Funny People)

Suffice it to say, themes of post-war survival, economic stability, underdog glorification, and environmental concern (see: Avatar) are wholly relevant in a year dominated by recession and socio-political commentary. Will the Oscars offer a different outlook? Perhaps, but this year's 'Globe' nominations, I'd say, are an accurate prediction of what's to come in February.

'Fox' is 'Fantastic'

'The Fantastic Mr. Fox'

Review: 5/5

Wes Anderson should have made an animated film years ago. His penchant for carefully drawn, introspective caricatures is all the more fascinating with a camera that self-reflexively dollies left and right, up and down, in a calculated whimsy that is an exquisite fit in the animation realm. The fact that Anderson chose to use an archaic, stop-motion style of animation that seems entirely out of place given Pixar's ridiculous monopoly on all things cartoon, should be a credit to the auteur's innate directorial sensibilities. He's a well-regarded eccentric, and is one of the best working American directors today... oh, and have I mentioned his new 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' is the most exuberant of all his work? 

The plot and essential themes are those that are familiar to Anderson, given his wholehearted embrace of 'outsider' protagonists who often find themselves alienated from respected social cliques. They also maintain an unusual desire to execute grandiose, hair-brained undertakings that always go awry. 'Fox' is no different. Mr. Fox, voiced by George Clooney, finds himself aging faster than he would have liked, and convinces an Opossum friend of his to burglar a few of the nearest entrepreneurs, Boggis, Buntz, and Bean. Of course, things don't go as planned, and hilarity ensues... I don't mean that in a sarcastic way. I'm being completely literal. It's hilarious.

With original music by Alexandre Desplat (a perfect compliment to Anderson's decidedly idiosyncratic world), glowing cinematography by Tristan Oliver, proficient stop-motion animation, and, of course, a perfectly formatted script that caters to all things divinely atypical, and with a fitting sense of unity and togetherness, 'Fox' is one of the best films of the year. Animated or otherwise.