Duncan Jones’ Moon is a science fiction story in the purest sense of the term. It concerns the plight of Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) working alone on the moon running a facility that mines Helium-3 for an energy company back on Earth. Inside of the first scene the audience is crushed by the sense of isolation shown to us as Sam has only GERTY (voiced by Kevin Spacey) the station Artificial Intelligence with whom to communicate. Through the simple premise of a man alone on the moon, this film explores speculative technology that leads Sam and the viewer on an emotional and introspective journey of what it really means to be human.

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Here we are at one hundred reviews on Movie Scum and I thought it fitting for the honor to go to a Christopher Nolan film. Don’t like Christopher Nolan? Go away now. Anyway, we may actually be over that number due to dual reviews and other posts that may have been mislabeled but it is the thought that counts. And what a film to be at such a milestone as just like every other Nolan film I have watched, The Prestige is expertly put together and a thought provoking tale that demand multiple viewings to get a sense of the care taken in creating the story.

As it stands currently on IMDB’s Top 250 at #72, Prestige is a movie far better than I would have expected the story to allow. Based on the novel of the same name by Christopher Priest, the script is adapted by Christopher and his frequent collaborator, brother Jonathan Nolan and features many traits common to other Nolan films, most notably the lack of linear storytelling. I have found that normally filmmakers use an abnormal structure to hide deficiencies of the story but all of the films by Nolan that I have seen (which is all but Insomnia) use this technique as a way to enhance the story. The underlying narrative deals with two magicians, who previously had a cautious friendship, in their constant endeavors to outdo each other with their illusions in 20th century England.

After a trick goes bad, Angier (played by Hugh Jackman) blames the death of his wife on Borden (Christian Bale) who tied a knot she was unable to slip in an underwater escape on display. Her death acts as a catalyst for Angier, who is full of rage and willing to stop at nothing but to destroy the relatively happy life Borden lives with his wife and daughter. When Borden develops a groundbreaking trick not based on handkerchief-swapping or bird-vanishing, Angier is determined to find out the secret of Borden’s ability to throw a ball on one side of the stage, step into a box, and come out on the other side to catch it in time. As most magic appears to have at least a passing element of misdirection (at least based on those Magic Exposed! TV programs), Angier is unwilling to accept a simple explanation and sets out on a journey across the ocean to discover the truth.

Even with its high ranking on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, you do not have to look hard to find a negative review of the film, even by Roger Ebert. Much like Angier, it seems that some critics disliked the film as they were searching for an extraordinary explanation to the film when the simplest answer fits the best. It seems almost foolish to watch into a Nolan movie with the expectation that the next thing to come is easily predictable. Although I must say that even I had figured out the ending just after the halfway point but dismissed it as too obvious. The beauty here is that the too obvious explanation is also the one you do not expect, especially after that too obvious explanation is further complicated and expanded upon. If this does not make sense, it shouldn’t until you have seen the movie.

The non-traditional narrative structure also works here as the best portions of the film are of the two leads trying to uncover each others’ secrets through their diaries. The bifurcation of the story leaves more to be unknown by the two men of each other and their secrets longer as compared to how it would have unfolded in a conventional tale. Much like Inception, certain shots and sequences are shown and then quickly passed along resulting in a sense of confusion and lingering until you gain the necessary context. And just like Memento was enhanced by its narrative, the random and seemingly unrelated shots and scenes in Prestige converge which only add to the misdirection undoubtedly intended by the filmmaker. Not to mention the same misdirection that sets us up to hate one of the characters from the first few frames is able to instantly turn the tables and make the evil doer the sympathetic of the two as another of the Nolan-trademarked themes (other than guilt and dead wives) of moral ambiguity is exhibited. I think others who do not like the movie were simply upset because it was not as complicated as they hoped it would be.

I really should not have to say much about the cast as (other than some stray accents here and there) everyone pulls off their roles superbly. Jackman and Bale each act as a foil to each other with Angier being the fancy-looking performer with minimal talent in illusions while Borden has the skills but lacks in the presentation department. Each actor portrays love and guilt with the underlying sense of childishness which drives the film and the competition between the two. Michael Caine is spectacular as always (Jaws The Revenge notwithstanding) as the sage manager with an answer to everything who is at times duped as much as the audience. Piper Perabo and Rebecca Hall play the magicians’ wives both with a sense of heartbreak (for differing reasons though). It even features David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, the enigmatic inventor who helps Angier get the upper-hand on Borden (well, sort of.)

The only main issue I really had with the film was that of the underlying story. As I said before, I did not have an expectation that The Prestige would be all that entertaining due to the period setting and the focus of illusions (two things that I have less than a fleeting interest in) but I knew if anyone could do it, Chris Nolan could. However, at the core, this movie is not quite as satisfying as Inception or Dark Knight as the story itself is built around lies and fabrications with the main goal to beat another man at an endless game through deception. While it is not quite as noble as defending a populace against a madman or coming to terms with the loss of a loved one, the ending does feature a heart-warming reunion between a father and child so it is not all dark and gloomy (is this another future Nolan theme in the making?).

So even though things end up a bit more pessimistic than I would have preferred, The Prestige is another Nolan masterpiece with all of the same elements that make you love the rest of his movies.

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If you read this site or have watched any of our episodes, you will know the level of respect and … love we have for Chris Nolan. Yes, PBF may have a sick fascination with Weekend at Bernie’s but even he does not particularly laud Robert Klane because WAB does not equal Dark Knight, Batman Begins, Memento, and now Inception on any level. Here we have a rare movie from a gifted filmmaker that is able to transcend multiple genres and their corresponding cliches and deliver one of the most intellectual films to overshadow anything else this year and probably many years’ films to come.

Even after watching the damn thing, the plot of Inception is rather dense but it boils down fairly simply even though it strips out the very nature of the film. Cobb is a theif trained in the art of extracting thoughts and ideas from a person’s head while they dream. However, he is tasked with a job that even many on his team describe as impossible: implanting an idea into one’s head that is conceived to be genuine by the subject. As a much more complex task than simple extraction, Cobb and his team go to great lengths to create multiple landscapes to coerce the subject into accepting the notion and considering it one of his own.

Like Nolan’s previous film, Dark Knight, Inception works on a great number of levels. The casting is spot on with each member of the principals bringing a grounding seriousness which normally is desperately needed in a film as ambitious as this. Leonardo DiCaprio portrays Cobb as a man who is both confident and broken, a teacher and yet still a student when it comes to affairs with Mal, his wife played by Marion Cotillard. They have a complicated relationship to say the least but the two exert a fierce chemistry as they mingle in the dreams. Everyone else including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Ellen Page, and Tom Hardy play their respective roles with poise and confidence that truly sell their characters and the skills they bring. The one thing that Nolan can be faulted for here is the utter lack of development that the characters receive other than Cobb and Mal. We see the inner workings of the group and how they react to each other but Cillian Murphy as the main target for their job receives far more heavy-lifting in the way of depth than the rest of the crew.

That does not really matter much as even though the film is billed as a tale of thievery, it is mostly about Cobb and his redemption. Cobb wants nothing more than to be reunited with his remaining family after a terrible incident and planting a seed of thought inside Murphy’s head is the only way to achieve that. DiCaprio superbly manages the barrage of emotions needed to sell this point of the story in his quest. Very subtle lines of dialogue that seem superfluous at first glance become very telling of Cobb and his guilt of the consequences of previous journeys into this world.

Visually it is quite stunning, likely even more so if any of you are lucky enough to see it in IMAX. Though the majority of the movie takes place either in the real world or in a dream state designed similarly, various effects infiltrate the dream world with pretty spectacular results, a good deal of which have been shown in the previews. The grounding of the dreams in reality makes for pretty cool effects as buildings crumble, water rushes through, and Gordon-Levitt has a zero-G fight with a henchman. Each of the stages of dreams are filmed in stark contrast with one another which not only alleviates any confusion that might be had but also gives a stark contrast between a metropolis during a storm, a swank dimly-lit hotel, and a vast snowy outpost, each populated by minions of the subject’s unconscious who act as our disposable bad guys trying to stop the team.

Unless you are in a Nightmare on Elm Street film, moving through the dreamworld does not often pose many risks. This is even acknowledged early on as one of the characters is killed in the dream only to wake up unharmed in reality. However, during the task as the characters are heavily sedated to prevent the destruction of the fragile dreamscape, they face an eternity of solitude in limbo if something bad should befall them. This clever workaround elevates the story from the simple failure of a mission to a lifetime of abstract despair as the unnamed thugs lurk with large caliber weapons. This as well as many other facets of the script show the care in which it was created, not only to create a fantastic sci-fi concept, but to move beyond a simple tale of dreaming to one with a true emotional core for our main protagonist.

I was worried that the narrative would be dense and as hard to crack as your normal David Lynch film called Lost Highway. However, the story is relatively easy to follow throughout with a nice dash of flashbacks and recollections to further develop the Cobb and Mal relationship. This is not however a film that you can check your brain at the door as elements are introduced, observed, and then jettisoned as the complexity of the storytelling increases. Of course, this is one of the smartest high-concept summer blockbusters in years so you should not dare miss a minute for fear that a key element will be shown which will change the outlook of the film.

Is Inception a perfect film? Not at all but Nolan’s biggest strength lies in creating an engrossing tale that will make you forget about any shortcomings during the picture as you are too damn entertained to care. I worry that, just like Dark Knight, subsequent viewings will show the cracks in the foundation and oversights in the story. These things though will not stop you from enjoying the film. Really, Inception really does not need validation of its efforts by random people on the interwebs like myself. The caliber of everyone involved should seal the deal.

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***THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS***

Let’s do some math. View Askew + clown = funny,  right? Not really.

Vulgar is the story of Will (Brian O’Halloran), who is having a rough time of it in life. He lives in a crappy house, has a crappy car. His neighbors throw bottles at him. He is a clown for hire named Flappy, that makes birthday party appearances. While this is not paying very well (or sometimes at all) he loves it. His mother also lives in a rest home, which is yet another bill that he has to foot. Needing money badly, he comes up with an idea. In addition to being Flappy, the birthday party clown, he will become Vulgar, the bachelor party clown. An idea that would have immediately come to anyone’s mind, he will dress up as a clown, but wear lingerie. As a gag, he will come in to a bachelor party, tricking the groom-to-be in to thinking a gay clown stripper was hired instead of a whorish woman stripper. Obviously hilarity would ensue as all of the party guests would be in on this, and then a whorish stripper would really come in and the planned debauchery would go on. Unfortunately, his first gig does not go as planned and he is sexually assaulted by a man and his 2 adult sons, and the incident is video taped.

The story of this film is rather unique and interesting. However, it is almost unbearable in some scenes to watch, but not because of the depravity. Brian O’Halloran is just not a good actor. He really tries, and sometimes, he does deliver a good line, but he just really sucks. I am all for movies that don’t require decent acting, and this is certainly one of them, but he can’t pull it off. And I will tell you another thing, the scenes with him and the film’s writer/director Bryan Johnson are painful.  In one of them, they are spouting off out of place faux clever dialogue back and forth like they’re reading lines off the walls behind each other. Thankfully, that Mallrats-esque banter is only in one or two scenes, but the poor acting continues throughout. Jerry Lewkowitz, who plays Ed, the father and sexual deviant, gives a fairly decent performance. One problem with his scenes however, is that most of them are with his two sons, who are idiots, and the scenes take a somewhat comical tone. While this may take the edge off a scene where 3 guys are raping a clown, it also kind of makes it less realistic. I would blame that on the way the two sons were written, and not on Lewkowitz’s performance. The film was also directed fairly well, if you’ll excuse a scene were a dead man is obviously breathing. And, again, ignoring some bad dialogue, the script is not bad either. It isn’t a bad little film, but in the Viewaskewniverse, it is near the bottom.

I would not mind seeing a second attempt at this movie, just with some recasting. This film barely had a budget, was written in less than a month, and shot in less time than it was written. Now that there is a lot more money in these people’s bank accounts,  I would like to see what could be done with this story to make it better on film. Interesting bit of trivia: Vulgar is the clown logo of View Askew.

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Film series typically do not get better over time. I could point to any collection of recurring films but you can draw your own examples of multiple movies that fall victim to the effect of diminishing results. The Twilight series is possibly an exception as it is based on a series of books by a first-time author, which as you might be able to attest from reading this site, who could only get better over time.

The story of Eclipse falls within the same awkward teenage love-fest between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, a person’s person and a vampire respectively. After the events of the last film (review forthcoming), Edward and Bella are back together while Jacob is immersing himself in whatever shape-shifter tribes do. Whereas this would be an appropriate summary for the film if it were in the same vein as the last two, something else actually happens other than Bella lusting for Edward and/or Jacob and the convoluted love triangle between them. There seems to be some disturbing behavior happening in nearby Seattle with the rising of a vampire army, the reasons of which are supposed to be unknown but really are apparent if you pay attention. With the army heading for Forks, the Cullens and the wolfish tribe work together to battle them.

The primary complaint that I, and many others, can fault the Twilight series for is the importance of an otherwise inconsequential teenage relationship drama taking center stage in a story about freaking vampires! In Eclipse however, there is an actual plot other than horny young adults and it is in fact quite good. Other than the threat of physical violence from the aforementioned vampire army, Bella has been elevated into a character that actually has thoughts of her own to deal with the consequences of turning into a vampire while in the midst of a love struggle. As such, the conflict between Edward and Jacob seems a bit more serious this go around as time grows short with regards to Bella’s future.

In fact, this is more of a grown-up film compared to the previous two. Here we see and learn of the consequences of Bella’s decision to join the vampire clan and the impacts it will have on her friends and family. Compared to previously, Bella is not merely contained within a fantasy with her actions as she is told the real consequences of her decision. This counters greatly to the graduation speech given by the lovely Anna Kendrick which embraces the gift of mistakes and bad decisions. Bella instead has chosen with reservations a future to which there is no turning back from much to the chagrin of others.

With a grown-up movie comes a grown-up director (not to say anything about the ages or maturity of the previous two directors) as David Slade comes to rescue the material from the ire of cinematic fans everywhere. While it is still painfully present, the Bella/Edward/Jacob cluster takes a back seat for a good portion of the film as the threat of the vampire army ramps up as compared to the last film where almost nothing went on outside of the love triangle. The bad vampire clan is real and dangerous and that escalates the story in this film far beyond what the previous movies could have accomplished with just a trio of misfit blood-suckers. I was a bit disappointed that this element of the story was not more front and center as the previews may have otherwise lead us to believe. Regardless, these tense moments of actual fear as the vampires grow in numbers and make their way to our protagonists, while seemingly minimal in the actual film, are the best this series has offered in the form of real horror and conflict. The score by Howard Shore (yeah, of Se7en) also has more gravitas than previously making this seem like more of a typical film, less of a teenage girl’s fantasy.

In an about-face, almost everything has improved in this film over the previous installments. While the previously mentioned outside threat has a great deal to do with this, the existing characters are expanded in ways not realized before. Previously a source of my distaste for the franchise, Kristen Stewart has either aged quite a bit in the past two years or grown more accustomed to the character as she delivers a fairly good performance as Bella. Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, while I did not have a problem with them before, have settled into their characters leading to much less awkward moments other than what the script calls for. Even a chunk of the largely ignored supporting cast, especially Jackson Rathbone and Nikki Reed as the prime examples, are given far more weight in the story than they were previously afforded. Even while Billy Burke, sidelined from the last film, is back with a vengeance as one of the sources of humor, there are other moments of self-reflection from the characters that are worth a chuckle.

For all the praise I can give this movie about its momentum beyond a romance saga, there are plenty of reasons to deny me from doing so. While the romance is somewhat sidelined here, when it does appear, it runs on the field in an inappropriate display forcing the game to be significantly delayed. The most obviously scene to this effect is while Jacob, Edward, and Bella are camping at the top of a mountain in snowy terrain and Jacob is compelled to cuddle with Bella to preserve her body temperature. While this is going on Jacob and Edward talk man-to-man about who Bella really loves and why. In short bursts, this sort of thing is tolerable but this scene goes on approximately a billion times too long as the two Alpha-males argue over who is better for Bella. (Sigh) Movie, you almost had it right.

So, Eclipse is not a perfect movie. If you want a love story, then watch a romance. If you want a horror movie, then watch a slasher. Eclipse is a remarkably good combination of all the things a typical rom-com has with the trappings of a decent horror flick. If this forward momentum keeps up, I have somewhat high hopes for the next two installments.

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Twilight is one of only a few movies that I like in spite of the underlying story. As I am not a seventeen-year-old girl or a woman-of-a-certain-age or any other female in between, the bulk of the movie just does not appeal to me in the same fashion as other forbidden-romance movies do not. I watch movies to see things I cannot see otherwise and an angst-ridden love story can be found many times over without the fawning of females or the ire of everyone else in the middle.

If you have not been living under a rock, you might know that the Twilight series is a very divisive body of work. The series of novels feature Bella Swan, a recent transplate from sunny Phoenix to rainy Washington state, as she attempts to integrate while smitten with a boy from a local clan of vampires. The main point of contention for many is this classification of the Cullen family as vampires as they bear only slight resemblance to the bloodsuckers of old. These beings are not killed by sunlight or silver, they do not have visible fangs, but apparently they ooze sex appeal as most everyone with female bits thinks Robert Pattinson walks on the water reserved solely for the gorgeous.

The changes in the vampiric behavior does not bother me as much as vampires are not the focus of the movie. The Cullens could really be lepers, circus-midgets, or the mutant family from The Hills Have Eyes and it does not change the underlying structure of the film which is primarily concerned with the budding relationship between Bella and Edward, her sparkling vampire beau. Just like other classic characters, Bella and Edward are determined to be together but destined to be apart due to their … differences. In and of itself, this is a fine plot for a movie but that means that just like many other sappy romance movies (of which I will not deny that I have no interest in), very little happens. We see as Bella fawns over Edward, Edward pulls away from Bella, Edward rescues Bella, Bella embraces Edward and his differences. Again, there is nothing here that you have not seen in another romance movie between two people from different sides of the tracks.

Now I will say there are elements of this movie that I like. Regardless of the fact that he has been thrust upon a pedestal by millions of fans everywhere, Pattinson does a pretty decent job with the character of Edward, heavy makeup job aside. From his glares and his withdrawn personality, you can feel the sense that Edward is either a really disturbed boy or a pseudo-vampire running in the woods hunting elk or water buffalo or whatever. But, as much as she may be the most perfect actress for Bella, Kristen Stewart did not fare as well as her other cast mates here. While I am willing to accept that the character is written with weird looks and stuttering, Stewart delivered one of the most awkward and cringe-inducing performances I have seen in a professional film.

The other members of the Cullen pride do well to sell the absurdity of the existence of vampires while still embracing the fresh-blooded with Peter Facinelli, Ashley Greene, and Nikki Reed all having similar, somewhat off, qualities as they try to pass as normal. Of the real normal characters, my Up In the Air favorite Anna Kendrick is entertaining as the somewhat vapid best friend while Billy Burke threatens to steal the show as the obtuse, yet endearing father to Bella. Even the real vampires are cast well to the point that they look and act dangerous but I would have much preferred if their introduction to the core cast was not in the final thirty minutes of the film. This is somewhat rectified in the later stories but the random thrust of action-like characters in this lovey-dovey romance story was quite awkward even if they did lead to a fairly satisfying finale.

While it is unfortunate that director Catherine Hardwicke could not have infused a bit more life into the romance angle (as that does take up about two-thirds of the film), she certainly created a distinct looking movie with an almost depressive atmosphere in this rainy town. I really dug the blue hues that a good portion of the movie is shot in, certainly fitting to a town bombarded with precipitation more than any other in the country. If it were really direct sun rays that killed vampires, Forks would most definitely be the town they would flock to as portrayed here. Also the original music from composer Carter Burwell as well as the random sampling of pop songs from various genres were not only excellent but fit the mood of the film well.

In any case, if you are reading this review you have likely either decided that Twilight is the devil or Twilight is God’s work and my random thoughts will not change much there. But while I was fully expecting to hate this movie, I did not. Story-wise, I was quite ambivalent as this is not my cup of tea in any stretch. But film-wise, I have certainly seen better but seen much, much worse. Surprisingly to some, there are some things to like in Twilight as long as you can get past the emptiness of the story and the sparkliness of the leading villains.

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Um, yeah. So, Gummo sure is a movie. If you got 100 people drunk to the point where they became “philosophers,” and then showed them this film, then allowed them to discuss it with one another, World War III would erupt. People seem to either violently like it or violently hate it.

Gummo implants you in to a town called Xenia, Ohio after a tornado has devastated it, killing a lot of the residents (and their pets according to the half assed narration).  We watch several different characters as they meander through life, and I assume dealing with their losses, some more outwardly than others. These people are poor, filthy and some demented, the latter possibly a result of the aftermath of the tornado. The film is a bizarre mix of “home footage,” live action, and some folks even directly addressing the camera. There really is no plot as such; we are simply taken for a ride through this miserable existence, and left to glean whatever we like from it.

The global conflict mentioned in the first paragraph would stem from some people’s inability to derive some kind of entertainment from a movie with no kind of structure. In addition to that, there is a fair amount of depravity and disturbing behavior that some people cannot enjoy. I wouldn’t call it shocking to a seasoned movie goer, but if your idea of a good time is 13 Going on 30, you would be on the “against” side of the war. I get the “point” of this film. Showing us a side of America that is quite uncomfortable in a fashion that attempts to pull you in despite that discomfort is fine. And I was pulled in to an extent, but a lot of things bothered me. I had a huge problem with the multiple methods of shooting I mentioned. The film will switch back and forth from 3 or so small groups of friends or families, but is interrupted by home video footage which I assume was shot before the tornado. Not only that, but some of the characters that we are following address the camera, and some actors actually mistakenly look at the camera. All of this sort of made the documentary feel of the handheld camera less effective. The photography of the film was done quite well. The look of it was just as grimy and dirty as these people’s lives and added that much more depth. There were some scenes that were clearly improvised, but the improv had died and then some awkwardness ensued. Despite this and the questionable acting, if the film had simply been a stream of consciousness thing that did not alternate camera style, I would have enjoyed this film a lot more.  Harmony Korine, who wrote and directed this, also wrote Kids. Kids was a fine film and quite shocking. It also, was a glimpse in to a small part of the life of some disturbing characters. It however, stayed on the course it opened with, spanning the events of one day, never leaving the characters and focusing on the narrative as we were following it. While the “point” of that movie was quite a bit more obvious, Gummo would have been far more effective if it followed that same formula. Now, I have no problem with a director doing what was done here. I just don’t think it worked for this movie in particular. This movie had a very relevant story to tell and it was buried in flashy (albeit seamless in some spots) scene transitions. The movie is “good,” but I am also going to have to call it sloppy (who knows, that may have been the point).

There are a ton of people who dislike this movie for it’s subject matter alone. Do not buy in to that shit. If J Lo isn’t in the picture, then those people can’t be bothered to watch it.  It is a decent attempt to tell an interesting story, but I feel that it falls just short of the mark.

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The title of this film coupled with my categorization of  ”horror” might throw you off a bit. Those two words in reference to a film may conjure up images of really horrible acting and demons killing priests or something. You will not find that here. This, in fact, is probably not comparable to any other film you have seen.

Here is the basic plot of Antichrist, as there is a lot going on. A married couple, whose names are never revealed, are making passionate love, when their young son Nic, falls out of a window to his death. The wife, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, is incredibly grief stricken, and spends a month in the hospital. Her husband, played by Willem Dafoe, is a therapist and decides that she is not getting the help she needs and takes her home and makes her his “patient.” She acts out violently through sex, is generally inconsolable and has sudden attacks of anxiety. Her husband decides that she must face fear and be exposed to it directly and asks her what place frightens her the most. She tells him the woods that surrounds Eden, their cabin. She spent the previous summer there writing a thesis about Gynocide, touching on the theory that women are inherently evil. We learn that she originally rejected this theory, but later came to subscribe to it. At the cabin, the husband administers psychotherapy to the wife, through various exercises. Their stay at the cabin becomes increasingly bizarre (perhaps more for us than them, as I seemed more puzzled than they did) and the wife’s condition turns into something that may be more deep than severe depression. This film was written and directed by Lars von Trier.

I will tell you that I probably did not understand the “point” that this film was trying to make, if indeed it was trying to make a specific one. The film is beautifully shot; almost every scene a work of art. Both Defoe and Gainsborug are superb, and other than their child at the beginning (and other blurred faced characters) they are the only ones in the film. The film is segmented by a Prologue, 4 chapters: Grief, Pain, Despair and the Three Beggars (referring to an animal in each of the previous 3 chapters: a deer, a fox and a raven, in that order), and then an Epilogue. The Prologue is quite a wonderfully shot opening. Black and white slow motion against what I believe is a Handel aria. Shower water and snow are shown in individual drops and flakes. The Epilogue is also shot in black and white and uses the same music. The tagline of this movie, as well as several other sources that reference it state that nature, the entity (or Satan’s church as the wife calls it), turns “evil” which I hesitate to tell you, as I fear you may then flashback to The Happening, which is pain that I do not wish to inflict on even my enemies (I have no enemies). Also, I may have to disagree with that. I feel like it may be suggested that nature has something to do with the wife’s behavior, in the sense that there is a belief that women are inherently evil. But I don’t think there was any strong emphasis placed on nature being the “villain” in the film.  Regardless, there were several instances of sudden breeze, very much like that piece of shit Shayamalan film, but instead of people freezing and killing themselves or each other, one of the Three Beggars presents them self, and in the case of the Fox, exclaims, “Chaos reigns.” The shock referenced in the title that appears when you hover the pointer over the poster in this post, stems from the violent sex and masturbation scenes that occur regularly in this film. The horror, from scenes such as the one involving a hole being drilled in to a leg and a grindstone being attached to it. There really is not that much gore at all, rather violence that (mostly) isn’t directly shown on camera. I will tell you, however, there is one scene in which a particularly brutal act occurs off camera, but was still wildly uncomfortable. Whatever the cause, the depiction of the wife’s migration from grief to “evil” is fascinating to watch, due to Gainsbourg’s performance. Defoe, while great, pretty much remains the same intrigued husband slash psychoanalyst determined to fix his patient until the very end.

This movie may give you a lot of things to figure out, and a shit load of religious references to figure out the symbolism of, but I honestly don’t think all of it has any deeper meaning. And in fact, I as I recall the movie while writing this, you may not even find it that  shocking. It certainly ignores any formula or “rules” that other movies employ, so in that respect it is shocking. von Trier does basically whatever he wants, but it fits within the context of the film. I will recommend it to folks who want to see something that strays from the norm, and even call it “good” in that capacity. I certainly do not think it was bad, but it is not something to just sit down and watch to kill time. Dedicate the entire 108 minutes to this film, with no distractions.

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A few episodes ago, PBF and I talked about movies inspired by true events and I was rather dismissive of this film. Yes, The Blind Side is at its core a film more oriented towards female viewers that goes over the top with sentimental gestures of faith and love. But it does feature football and statistics have shown that approximately 94% of men either love or are interested in football. So, how does a sure-fire date movie turn into a Best Picture nominee?

Michael Oher is a wayward young who has bounced from home to home after being separated from his mother several years earlier. He comes to study at the Wyngate Academy, a private Christian school attended mostly by the families of upper crust in society. His presence is an annoyance to his teachers due to his academic challenges and he stays mostly isolated from his affluent, caucasian classmates. After Michael is befriended by her young son, Leigh Anne Tuohy realizes that Michael has nowhere else to go and brings him home. Over time, the Tuohys and Michael become a close-knit family while Michael makes a name for himself on the school’s football team.

Normally these types of movies are not my bag as there seem to be dozens of uplifting, sports-based movies with any conceivable combination of elements (wimpy kid/underdog team/etc. seeking redemption or validation of their efforts). While you might believe (that is unless you have never read up on any other movie inspired by true events) that everything here is totally factual, it seems that there was some tomfoolery played with the narrative and the events themselves. This is not a bad thing necessarily as films exist to make money and the truth may not always be as compelling as what these facts can be spun into. Just a cursory glance at the film’s and the main character’s Wikipedia pages though indicate that some things did not play out as displayed in the film such as the real Tuohys took Michael in after he had started playing football. Again, there is no real problem in changing events and dressing them up for film but it is worthwhile to note at least.

The general consensus regarding Sandra Bullock’s Best Actress nomination and subsequent victory was primarily that it was undeserved for this film in particular but more of an award for her achievements over the past fifteen years or so of her career. I agree with that line of thought, not because Bullock did not perform well but she did not perform well enough here to warrant those accolades. Overall, the bulk of the performances were good but nothing to shower with praise compared to some of the other nominated pictures from last year. Mostly Quinton Aaron as Michael and Jae Head as SJ have the best performances as often times they are playing off of each other to which you can sense a natural relationship between them. Bullock has her moments of greatness though, particularly with Michael as she and the rest of the family push him towards greatness.

I will not lie and say that this is not a heart-warming and inspiring tale even though that might hurt any street cred I have for being cynical and sarcastic. Some of the things in this movie would seem outlandish if they were not based on reality (some form of it at least). But as many times as we see the fish-out-of-water-with-significant-economical-and-societal-obstacles tale told with the backdrop of sports, the film works by creating realistic and sympathetic characters that you invest in throughout. The drastic change from a homeless kid with one solitary polo shirt to a renowned student on the football field while improving his demeanor and academic performance is done well so things do not seem forced or unrealistic. The one element common to this genre I was happy at its exclusion was the evil human interference. We had a bit of this with the teacher and the NCAA official but I expected either the husband or the daughter over time would have a change of heart and push for Michael to leave only to later embrace him and his struggles. Again, this may or may not have happened in the real events but it is not only a clichéd point of conflict but it would have also brought down this otherwise universally positive tale.

The film does manage to touch on topical issues such as racism and poverty but these were fleeting glimpses, not plot points driven too much into the story. Mostly it boils down to one young man’s struggle in life and the love and support that he received from virtual strangers to succeed. Is it sappy? Absolutely but the end result is a good movie about incredible events and the strength of conviction. Is it Oscar-worthy? I say not but movie-goers cannot live on a diet of overblown, depraved horror movies forever.

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