Big Miracle

In the footsteps (fin strokes?) of movies like "Free Willy" comes this "inspired by a true story" tale of three California gray whales trapped by ice in upper Alaska.

Yes, it's largely predictable as far as outcome. Yes, the all-star cast (John Krasinski, Drew Barrymore, Ted Danson, Kristen Bell, Stephen Root, Time Blake Nelson, Dermot Mulroney and more) and the varied storylines (environmentalism, professional aspirations, tribal allegiance, mass media, unbridled capitalism, cold war politics--oh, and the aforementioned trapped whales) muddy the water, but all in all this was one of the more satisfying movie-going experiences I had lately.

There's plenty of tearjerking potential (this time I was prepared with tissues--yay!) and while a (somewhat) happy ending was a forgone conclusion, there were enough twists and obstacles to keep me engaged in the unfolding drama. Although the true story this film was based on didn't have the solid, upbeat resolution that its movie version did--but then that's Hollywood for ya.

The Artist

This film by French director Michel Hazanavicius starring French actors Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo is up for Best Picture as well as nine other Academy Awards. It's a black and white silent movie about a silent movie idol.

Talk about meta.

Those who have fallen under the spell of the recreation of this long past era are effusive in praising the film (see TEN Academy Award nominations). And then there are those who aren't impressed--like film critic Jeffrey Wells who said of the movie:

"The Artist is all about re-creation, backward visitation and reflective surfaces. It possesses and radiates nothing that is truly its own, except for a desire to give entertainment-seekers a nice pleasant time."

I wouldn't be quite as dismissive of The Artist's charms as Mr. Wells--but he certainly has a good point. There's nothing new in the film: its plot borrows heavily from the far superior and more charming depiction of the advent of talkies, Singing in the Rain as well as the already multiply-remade A Star is Born. Indeed, one of the minor characters in The Artist is a definite Lina Lamont ripoff.

As baffled as I am about all the buzz surrounding this "re-creation" (Gus Van Sant did a shot-for-shot remake of Hitchcock's Psycho some years back which definitely did NOT receive the adulation afforded The Artist...), I'm more puzzled by the why of it all.

Why would protagonist George Valentin jeopardize his thriving career by refusing to do talkies? Did he think his French accent would put off the audience ('cuz we all know that American women are completely immune to sexy accents...)?

What was the point of having a stellar supporting cast including John Goodman, Malcolm McDowell and James Cromwell whose combined screen time was less than Uggie the dog?

Why the need to tell this story--to recreate a bygone film genre--at all? Mel Brooks did it over 30 years ago--and far more successfully and charmingly than this venture.

The movie felt long and at 100 minutes it's certainly no Lord of the Rings endurance test, but it's a good fifteen minutes longer than the films it's trying to emulate. And while the acting in silent films focuses on emotive facial expressions, Bérénice Bejo crosses the line into the realm of "mugging" for the camera. As the plucky heroine, she's perky and spunky and completely lives up to her aptly annoying name, Peppy Miller. She reminds me of the forced exuberance of Shelly Hack in Charlie perfume commercials.

Bejo did have a nice moment in the film when she crashed Valentin's dressing room and pantomimed caressing herself via his jacket. But overall she gave off a smug vibe and I wanted to smack her. I thought it would have been more entertaining if the beauty mark Valentin gave her to make her stand out among the competition moved around her face--maybe jumping from the right side to the left or something.

Like Hugo, The Artist is a love letter to the film industry. But while it's a lovely little film, it falls in the "Good, not great" category for me.

I Can't Believe It's Not Battlestar Galactica

I'm newly addicted to the sci-fi series compliments of its playing on BBC America (that channel has also got me hooked on the British version of "Being Human"). We're up to season four now and I'm totally engrossed in the tale of the 30+ thousand survivors of the Cyclon wars searching for Earth.

But this post isn't about Starbuck, Apollo, Admiral Adama or President Roslin. It's about this commercial for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter:




Does the narrator's voice sound familiar to you? I could swear it's James Callis aka Dr. Gaius Baltar.

Anyone know for sure?

Signs of the Impending Apocalypse

2012 marks the end of the Mayan calendar and I appropriately rang in the new year watching a marathon of The Walking Dead.

Okay, I'm not one to put stock in apocalyptic superstitions -- after all, by all accounts the world was supposed to end in the year 1000 according to Rodulfus Glaber, in 1843 according to William Miller, in 2000 (according to Prince...), twice in 2011 according to Harold Camping and now in 2012 according to the Mayans (although to be fair, they weren't accurate in predicting their own end--why should we trust them to predict the end of mankind?).

Even though Isaac Newton gives us a reprieve until 2060, Jezebel has pulled together a list of apocalyptic signs

To which I would add this:

The "LazySuit." This appeared on a late night infomercial and I was sure it was really a SNL sketch. Taking the Snuggie one step further is this one piece sweat suit with strategically placed zippered opening for easy access.

Living in L.A. where everything is California casual, it's typical to see people wearing Juicy Couture track suits or pajama bottoms--but this bit of fashion takes the cake. The commercial showed grown men and women hanging out in their LazySuits while tailgating.

I can't imagine anyone wearing these out in public--even if they came in NFL-approved team colors instead of lagoon blue, plum, half lagoon blue and half plum, light gray and white striped, fuchsia, sage and berry.



According to the site: "LAZYSUIT is all about a comfy and loose fit, and it is perfect for both genders. When you put your LAZYSUIT on, you will feel how soft and comfortable the material is, so you would want to keep it on at all times."

If you're interested in a one piece sweatsuit, they're on sale for $69.50 with free shipping!

Bring on the apocalypse!

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

Despite the low Rotten Tomatoes rating, this flick ended up as a Best Picture nominee--so of course I had to see it. The movie is about Oskar Schell (who may or may not have Asperger's or autism) and his journey to find what the key found in his beloved dead father's personal effects unlocks.

The close-to-saintly dad is played by the eminently likeable Tom Hanks and his death in the World Trade Center collapse on 9/11 already is a set up for tugged heartstrings (Note to self: Bring TISSUES to tearjerker movies!!!). Given the premise, it would seem certain that one would be in for a maudlin melodrama. But Thomas Horn as the precocious kid and Sandra Bullock as his mother convey the pain of the loss in a way that's raw and palpable.

The film not only features the top caliber talent of Oscar winners Hanks and Bullock, but Viola Davis, Max von Sydow, John Goodman and Jeffrey Wright contribute nicely as well. The story, however, belongs to Thomas Horn--who possesses one of the most astonishingly beautiful faces I've ever seen.

Yes, the set up is contrived to be an emotional sucker punch. (What in the world is the owner of a small, independent jewelry store doing in the World Trade Center on 9/11?) Yes, it's an unabashed tearjerker. But for emotional resonance (which I've found sadly lacking in most of the movies I've seen of late...), it delivers.

Hugo

Upon the recommendation of Martin as well as its nomination for Best Picture, I went to see Hugo. I would have preferred the 2D version as I find 3D to be gimmicky and intrusive, but 3D was pretty much my only option. The 3D glasses needed to be in place for the trailers because they were all for 3D movies. I've no interest in seeing a mustachioed Lorax popping out of the screen, but I have to say the 3D effects for Titanic looked pretty spectacular.

Speaking of looks, that's something Hugo had going for it in spades. It's visually stunning. The intricate set design was reminiscent of a Tim Burton movie. And the self-contained universe of the train station had echoes of Steven Spielberg's "The Terminal." I was somewhat surprised that it was a Scorsese movie--it's not exactly his oeuvre.

As far as performances go, Ben Kingsley gives his usual excellent performance as George Méliès. Sasha Baron Cohen plays the station inspector with broad strokes but never over the top and Chloe Grace Moretz did a fine job as the adventure-loving Isabelle--even tackling a British accent with aplomb. (Her accent was even better than Gwyneth Paltrow or Renee Zellweger.) Why everyone in Paris had a British rather than French accent is a mystery to me...

Asa Butterfield as the orphaned Hugo Cabret was probably the weakest link. He was decent for most of the film, but as the central character whose journey the audience is following he didn't evoke much empathy. I was expecting that Hugo would have some Dickensian connection to George--or to the bookstore owner who seemed somewhat startled to hear his name when Isabelle introduced them. As it turned, there was no real connection between the orphaned boy living secretly in the train station and anyone else in the film. Nor was there much connection to the character for the audience. That combined with the overall detachment of the film (gorgeous on the surface, not much substance underneath) puts it in the "good, not great" category for me.

I did appreciate the film history lesson the movie provided by way of the character of Méliès. Much of what was portrayed in Hugo was accurate: Méliès was a magician turned filmmaker in the early days of movie making. He accidentally discovered the optical illusions created by stop action and became a master of early special effects. He did stop making movies working selling candy and toys at a shop in a Paris train station. Méliès, however, was "rediscovered" and honored in the late 20s rather than the early 30s as depicted in the movie--but that's a small quibble.

As an homage to early filmmakers and film making, Hugo has a lot to offer. But although 3D and the visual effects in Hugo are a natural update to Méliès movie making magic, I would have preferred a film that had more depth than dazzle.

Alcatraz

When I heard that J.J. Abrams, creator of LOST, was executive producing this new series, I immediately scheduled it on my DVR. Of course, there will be many drawing parallels to the intensely-dissected cult favorite--after all, the show is also set on an island, operating under mysterious circumstances including possible time travel and features Jorges Garcia (formerly "Hugo/Hurley") as one of its stars. But so far the new series appears to be a fairly standard crime procedural drama with the mysterious underpinnings as an overarching theme.

The show seems to take notes more from The X-Files and Fringe with the plot following one person each episode. In the case of Alcatraz, that person is one of 260-some prisoners who poof! disappeared when they were due to be transferred to other facilities after Alcatraz was shut down in 1963. 260 prisoners divided by a standard 22-24 episodes per season equals 10+ years to tell all their stories.

I think J.J. may be a little overly optimistic here, don't you?

Apparently these prisoners disappeared and have been in some sort of suspended animation for 40 years. There's a whole secret FBI operation dedicated to tracking down these prisoners and, more importantly, finding out who or what took them and why. It's headed by one of the former guards tasked with transporting the prisoners to their new residences by the name of Emerson Hauser, played by Sam Neill.

The problem is that when these vanished prisoners pop up again, they tend to go on murder sprees. Some are motivated by past grudges, some are motivated by psychotic tendencies, some are motivated by both. But some are apparently motivated by whatever forces abducted and held them for the past decades.

I'll keep watching to see if the series lives up to the promise of LOST (without devolving into a clusterfuck of a unsatisfying finale), but I hope the series gets more Fringe-y and less Law & Order.

We already have four Dick Wolf shows on TV--there's no need for another!