Since January is pretty much a wasteland in the movie theaters (except for J. J. Abrams' ripoff of The Host), I usually dedicate it to catching up on the things I missed the previous year on DVD, at least while I impatiently wait for There Will Be Blood and Persepolis to come to the midwest.
The first up was Len Wiseman's entry into the storied Die Hard trilogy. It's certainly a slick action film, and much less bogged down by exposition than his Underworld movies (although it's still all silvery-looking for some reason), but it cerainly has little to do with the first three installments in John McClane's life. This time, he has daughter issues instead of wife issues, but Live Free jumps haedlong into bullets and explosions after about five minutes.
The villain this time is Timothy Olyphant's uber-cyber-hacker terrorist, who brings nearly the entire country down by messing with the infrastructure. For some reason, this means he must kill freelance hacker Justin Long, who Willis ends up shepherding around.
Gone is any sort of gritty, human action hero sort of John McClane- instead he's a bald, shiny, indestructible force of nature that bounces between flying cars, semi-rigs, and fighter jets like a human pinball in the biggest Rube Goldberg machine of a film ever. Justin Long is mostly there to incredulously comment on the impossible things that Willis does, from "You just killed a helicopter with a car!" to "Shouldn't you go to a hospital or something?"
One part that annoyed me (beyond the sheer ridiculousness of some action set-pieces) was the Kevin Smith cameo as Justin Long's hacker friend that does other hacker things that aren't really explained. We get it. There is a computer subculture in this country that is extensive, and contains eccentric minds and colorful characters. Can we just tone it down some maybe? (Although at least Long and Smith are semi-nerdy looking white guys, though- Transformers was asking for even more crazy hackerness believability with Rachel Taylor and Anthony Anderson).
In a weird way, this film is sort of a mindless counterpoint to No Country For Old Men- both have aging law enforcement officials that are relics from an older time, doing business with grit and dignity, who are forced to confront an entirely new sort of villainy. But Tommy Lee Jones' Sherrif Bell plaintively despairs at the horrors of the new drug trade in the Coen's masterpiece, while John McClane just head-butts cyber-terror into complicity.
In the end, Live Free or Die Hard winds up right where you expect it to, and it's a pleasant enough time waster. But it won't crack my Top 30 films of the year.
Also, there wasn't anything that really had to do with living free, although plenty of people certainly died hard.
When you go to IMDB.com and search “Christmas” as a keyword for a movie, you get over 1,000 results. However, when you type in New Year’s Eve, you get 164 results. In honor of the holiday that is the second most disrespected holiday in Hollywood (Behind Arbor Day), here are the Top Ten New Year’s Eve Movies and who can enjoy them to celebrate the upcoming year:
Honorable Mention: When Harry Met Sally, Entrapment, and Sleepless in Seattle
10. Assault on Precinct 13 (2005): I know this is a remake of a very good John Carpenter film, but this version is slicker and has a lot better casting. Ethan Hawke plays a precinct sergeant watching the city’s most notorious gangster, Laurence Fishburne. Gabriel Byrne leads a group of corrupt police officers, hell bent on killing Fishburne’s character before he can turn over evidence to implicate Byrne and his men. The action pieces are a visceral experience as it is contained – for the most part – in a police station, before turning to the city streets. The story is set on New Year’s Eve, which sets up your next year with a bang and for those looking for an exciting New Year.
9. The Time Machine (1960): Growing up, this was my favorite movie. It had awesome stop-go animation and it held true to the H.G. Wells story. It starts with a bunch of colleagues gathering at Robert Taylor’s house. The clock strikes twelve and Taylor stumbles in to deliver a story of a fantastic adventure. Before his audience can digest the story, Taylor vanishes again with his machine. The film starts on New Year’s Eve, which gives way to achieving new goals and going to new places for the New Year. Avoid the horrid 2005 remake with Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons, both of whom are just working for a check on that film.
8. Rosemary’s Baby (1968): Roman Polanski’s 1968, Academy Award winning film is an intense psychological thriller about paranoia, and the realities / supernatural elements that surround it. Mia Farrow and her husband move into the historic Dakota building in New York’s Central Park District. Soon, Farrow falls ill, blaming her illness, nightmares, and paranoia on her pregnancy. However, Farrow soon discovers that her pregnancy may not be normal, nor of this world. Not for the faint of heart, but this is a good New Year’s Eve film for those welcoming additions to their family in the New Year. Trust me, your child and family situation cannot be any worse that Farrow’s.
7. Trading Places (1983): Eddie Murphy, when he was still doing adult fanfare that was funny. Dan Aykroyd, when he was still doing adult fanfare that was funny. Throw in Jamie Lee Curtis, a bear that really loves mankind, and the principal from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – BAM! Comic gold. This 1983 comedy romp features the wealthy Aykroyd losing it all because of a bet between Ralph Bellamy and Dom Ameche. To further humiliate Aykroyd, the bet between Bellamy and Ameche plants a hapless Eddie Murphy in Aykroyd’s position. A stock scheme between Aykroyd and Murphy unfolds as a way to revenge against Bellamy and Ameche’s initial wrong. A great New Year’s film for those looking to gain fortune and prosperity in the coming year.
6. Forrest Gump (1994): Yes, this movie covers roughly forty years of an individual’s history. More over, the few New Year scenes are allocated to Lieutenant Dan being mocked by two prostitutes and Jenny wanting to throw herself off a hotel balcony. However, there are New Year’s Eve moments. This is a good film for those wanting the fantastic in the coming year because if you ever thought the movie was too far-fetched, read the book to be even more stunned.
5. The Poseidon Adventure (1972): This movie won an Academy Award for Best Song in 1972. That same year, Cabaret won eight Oscars, but was not even nominated for Best Song. However, that is neither here, nor there. This film depicting a cruise ship that encounters disaster on New Year’s Ever is renowned for its Special Effects and heavy handed acting. Gene Hack stars as a priest leading survivors through the overturned ship. This is a great New Year’s movie for those who are looking to take charge of their life in the upcoming year… And for anyone who does not like Shelley Winters.
4. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994): The Coen Brothers comedic genius emerges through this heartwarming and hilarious romp through the fast talking 1930’s business world. Tim Robbins stars as a mailroom clerk who comes up with the idea for the Hula Hoop, while the company’s board supports the toy as a front for their stock scheme. A hilarious romp that is a sure throwback to Billy Wilder and Howard Hawks, which highlights an era that is gone from Hollywood. A great New Year’s film for anyone looking for career success in the next year.
3. The Shining (1980): Nobody does crazy like Nicholson. Kubrick’s methodic film depicts a man and his family keeping watch over a secluded hotel that has supernatural happenings. Heralded as one of the scariest movies ever, the psychological tension is as engrossing as any film ever produced. The film’s New Year’s festivities take place during a blizzard as Nicholson’s insanity has overwhelmed him. This is a great New Year’s message to anyone looking to escape the past and go towards a new future.
2. The Godfather – Part II (1974): Ordinarily, this would be number one, but we will get to why it is not later on. Coppola’s darker sequel is arguably a better successor than its predecessor. The Corleone Family is at the height of their power, which makes their internal fall that more devastating and harrowing to watch. The betrayal and intrigue emerge at a New Year’s Eve party in Cuba as Michael discovers a horrific secret about his brother, Fredo. The scene culminates with one of the most memorable movie lines as Michael kisses Fredo and says, “I know it was you Fredo. You broke me heart. You broke me heart!” This is the perfect New Year’s film for someone going through family dysfunction and possible Congressional hearings.
1. Strange Days (1995): James Cameron was white hot. Come to think of it, Cameron has not been white hot from 1999 to 2006, and that was because he was not making movies. This film is based on a James Cameron script, directed by his third ex-wife – Kathryn Bigelow, and produced by his second ex-wife – Gale Anne Hurd. Basically, an awkward family reunion for Iron Jim. The story focuses on Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), a dealer of a psychedelic drug and a murder conspiracy he finds himself in as the end of the Millennium draws near. Angela Bassett plays his love interest, confidante, and security as he searches the streets of Los Angeles amidst the chaos. Tom Sizemore, Juliette Lewis, Vincent D’Onofrio, William Fichtner, and Kelly Hu all make appearances in this neo noir / sci-fi film hybrid.
Nobody saw this film upon its release, but it has found new life on cable television and developed a minor cult following. Overall, it is an overlooked gem from the 1990’s that features excellent performances, a well paced plot, and some interesting portrayals of the then near future. The perfect film for anyone looking for new adventures and truth in the upcoming year.
The trailer for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street makes the film look like a grim tale of revenge directed by the master of the melancholy, Tim Burton. However, the film is a hybrid of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Kill Bill, and – one of Burton’s previous films – Sleepy Hollow. It embodies Sleepy Hollow through its style, Kill Bill through its depiction of violence, and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg because about 90% of the lines in the movie are sung.
This works to a dazzling effect that will treat the viewer to a film experience unlike any other in recent memory.
The titular character, Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp), is a man named Benjamin Barker, who is sent to prison on a falsified charge because a judge coveted Barker’s wife. Barker, now Todd, returns fifteen years later as a shell of who he once was and thirsty for revenge against Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman). Todd returns to his old haunts to form a partnership with Mrs. Lovett (Helen Bonham Carter), which becomes a twisted collaboration of murder and bakery as they move towards Todd’s ultimate plan against Judge Turpin.
The singing in this film is better than Chicago. While the cast of Chicago had the better voices, the nature of the songs here require a particular realism to them. Depp’s gravely voice, Bonham Carter’s seductive whispers, even Sacha Baron Cohen’s over-the-top opera voice is welcome and greatly satisfying. The songs stick with the audience long after they have left the theatre.
The most engaging element in this movie is Depp. The camera is on him for the majority of the film, but the viewer never tires of him. The make up, the outfits and even his singing make the viewer sympathize with this man’s plight. Years of collaboration has allowed Depp to be comfortable and roam within a character under Burton’s deft and subtle direction. The harrowing portrayal of this man allows Depp to work beyond the role of Captain Jack Sparrow. He is haunting, lustful, and lethal.
The other performances in the film are excellent too. Freddy Highmore and Timothy Spall show up in small roles, while Alan Rickman makes a nice return to villainy. Bonham Carter is whimsical as the want some Mrs. Lovett. She evokes the memory of Angela Lansbury’s heralded Broadway performance.
The gothic, monotone setting is subdued as Burton – per his usual – utilizes a muted color palate to place more emphasis on the character’s faces. The camerawork and set production are also limited in order to keep with the theme of a staged musical.
Though a musical, there is a substantial amount of violence. Blood flows like the Thames, but not in a graphic, sickening fashion. The blood sprays enormous amounts inviting the audience to laugh at the moment’s ridiculousness. This was one of the fantastic parts of the night, as the elderly couple in front of me flinched and winced at this rather comical site. While this aspect may have made marketing this film a difficult task, it offers the audience a chance to view pessimistic reality.
While this film may not be the exact picture that is portrayed in trailer, it is still one of the best films of the year. The film floats along like a dream, as the viewer will leave the theatre singing the songs of the film, wishing that there was more to take in.
Reverse Shot is officially back online! This most recent hiatus is due to me graduating college, moving, and then being without internet for several days.
So thanks for your patience in the meantime. Regular features will resume, but this blog is no longer for college credit, so it'll only be as good as I want it to be. Although I did get a 97 in the class it was for, so hey...
For starters, Dave got to Sweeney Todd well before I did, so his review will be up soon. (He sent it to me days ago, but I've been lazy).
Another day, another literary adaptation. This time it's Joe Wright, late of new Pride and Prejudice fame, taking on Ian McEwan's Atonement. This I have not read, but I will soon, and I hear it's a good book.
Wright's film does it's best to remind us that there are things movies can do that books cannot: It takes the click-clacks of young writer Briony Tallis's typewriter and weaves them into a frenetic, pulsating score. It follows the wrongly convicted soldier James McAvoy around devastated WWII Dunkirk, France, in an impressively expansive and detailed setpiece that is almost a world in and of itself. Shots are framed with dynamic panache and symmetry. It's a beautiful film.
And a powerful story- Briony's (Saiorse Ronan) lie concerning McAvoy, the lover of her older sister (Keira Knightley), is built up to with patience and tense scenes of misinterpretation and dread (the trailer makes it seems as if it takes two minutes. Just saying). The fallout of the lie, name McAvoy's imprisonment and choice to enlist rather than serve his term, and Knightley's estrangement from her younger sister and family, get skipped over for the drama to play out in letters to and from the three concerned, as an aging Briony (played by Romola Garai, and eventually Vanessa Redgrave) searches for the titular atonement for her misdeed.
It's a story that beyond the central incident, could have played out in a predictable, melodramatic way, that would have made left novel and filmmoving enough, but ultimately forgettable. But there's a turn that is unexpected, and takes the story to a new place, that asks questions about the nature of writing, and the fulfillment of the audience it's intended for, as well as the writer. Redgrave shows up briefly to pose these questions, as a much older Briony Tallis, and does a grand job as ever.
It's impossible to talk more about why I like the ending scenes without giving too much away, but I couldn't recommend Atonement any higher, and I'm more than excited to read the novel that inspired it.
When to See It: ASAP
Leftover Thoughts:
Knightley and McAvoy do fine jobs indeed, but I can't really see the dual Golden Globes nominations. Maybe it's because their roles are straightforward ones of heartbreak, relatively speaking.
Redgrave, Ronan, and Garai are all meanwhile garnering supporting Actress buzz (with Ronan getting a GG nod) for playing the same character, which is neat.
I feel like this is a lock for a BP nomination, but I don't think it can beat out the juggernaut that No Country For Old Men is becoming. But it could lead the field with 10+ nominations all the same, since it's much more sonically complex than No Country (which has next to no score).
This movie also features a very dirty word typed out on a typewriter, and I'm no longer six years old but I giggled every time.
McAvoy has a fevered dream at war that trippily merges several images from earlier in the film. It's a great artistic way for the cinematography to replicate the way the score uses those typewriters, slamming doors, and footsteps through wide, empty halls to build something.
Well, my semester is 87/88ths done, so I can return for a moment to the blogosphere. Kudos to Dave for sending us on the holiday track with a Christmas movie feature that kicked the hell out of my half-assed Halloween themed one.
Last week at some point (it's a bit hazy) I saw Chris Weitz's adaptation of The Golden Compass, about a week after I'd read the book- not such a great idea, it turns out, since the book almost always wins in that scenario. It's stunning to behold, with CGI armored polar bears and extended Lord of the Rings inspired battles, but ultimately loses the depth and darkness of Phillip Pullman's book in favor of family-friendly fuzziness.
There's been plenty of religious controversy surrounding Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, and to be honest I wasn't clear about the furor after reading the first book- it's the next two which make the whole revisionist Paradise Lost theme explicit. The Golden Compass the film, however, one-ups the book to piss off the church, in a way- instead of morally ambiguous hero-figures and no clear nemesis, the film invents some black-clad, deep voiced evil "Magisterium" members to look menacing (played by the always menacing Derek Jacobi and Christopher Lee's evil voice (featuring Christopher Lee!)). In the books, the Magisterium is indeed a shady branch of the church, but it isn't directly seen being evil until book three.
It's not that any changes from book to film are bad- they're pretty much inevitable, unless you're the Coen brothers. But there are some major ones here that are inexplicable, like moving a chunk of the ending to the next film for no good reason, and minor ones that just keep adding up until you feel like they've missed the point. It has a lot to do with New Line Cinema, I suspect, trying to protect their $180 million dollar investment and make it safe for the whole family. This makes me doubt the next two films will ever be made, because what do kids care about John Milton?
And I'm not sure if New Line understands that you can't replicate Lord of the Rings success just by making other things look similar. But you can practically hear the executives making little "cha-ching" noises behind the scenes in this trailer, when the One Ring transmorphs into our titular Golden Compass. The movie even starts with a similar exposition-y voice-over from witch Eva Green, explaining exactly what's important and what we need to know.
And I'm not saying the Cate Blanchett monologue from Fellowship doesn't do the same, but at least she's actually telling a story about Isildur, Sauron, and the like. Eva Green is basically just listing things that will be important later: Hey, people in this world have animals called daemons that are their souls, isn't that crazy? Also, there's this sentient stuff called Dust, watch out for that later! Plus there are these golden things that sort of resemble compasses which are totally going to be important (not that the title wouldn't have tipped you off).
It's a bit too condescending. What am I, ten? And even though this film might be aimed at the younger set, I bet there are even some ten-year-olds saying "What am I, four?"
All that being said, it was still fun to see some of Pullman's ideas depicted on the screen (like the Polar Bear fight, and the daemons themselves), and this movie also had Sam Eliot at his Sam Eliotiest, which is always cool (Actually, if he had done the opening monologue in the voice of The Stranger I would have loved it). So it's only downgraded by the relative awesomeness of Pullman's trilogy, which would've been hard to match anyway (or at least to secure $180 million for).
When to See It: On DVD
Leftover thoughts:
Kidman and Daniel Craig are actually really good, and well cast for their roles, but don't have much screen time because of the ending shift.
Dakota Blue Richards was awesome, but even she couldn't sell the Pollyanna-ish monologue she was given at the film's abbreviated closing- it just wasn't Lyra to me.
There was one scene the film had that the book didn't that was pretty cool: a short bit where Kidman slaps her own monkey daemon. Otherwise The Golden Compass was pretty light on deft character touches like that one.
If you haven't read the books, you should. End of story. I finished The Amber Spyglass last week and I am mesmerized still.
When you are done eating your Christmas feast with your family, and all the gifts have been opened, do you and your loved ones sit down to watch a Christmas movie? A lot of families do, but most of the time you are stuck with It’s a Wonderful Life on NBC or National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation for the more risqué. However, fear not, I have an alternative. These are films that have Christmas in them, but are not necessarily about giving and family hi-jinx. Plus, four of them have nudity in them. Here are the Top Ten (though I really give you sixteen) Alternative Christmas Movies of all-time:
Honorable Mention: American Psycho, The Apartment, Cobra, Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and The Ref.
10. Batman Returns (1992) – Tim Burton’s dark, dark, dark adaptation often gets overlooked with the revisions that Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins presents. However, this is actually a very good movie. You have Michael Keaton, Danny Devito, and Christopher Walken incredibly overacting and munching on all the scenery they can get their hands on. You have the Penguin actually being closer to a Penguin than you do a mobster. Not to mention Michelle Pfeiffer in black leather. Plus, the movie’s backdrop falls against the ultra-chic 1992 Christmas setting of Gotham City.
9. Gremlins (1984) – This movie was released in the summer of 1984 because the studio feared it would not sell. It went on to become on of the box office smashes of 1984, alongside Ghostbusters. Who doesn’t like the idea of like creepy, green monsters emerging from the boiling back of a cute, huggable creature? Plus, Gremlins dressed up as Santa? Check. Family hysterics? Check. A movie that probably should have been rated PG-13, but got a PG rating? Check. Pop this one in, but do so before midnight.
8. Eyes Wide Shut (1997) – Stanley Kubrick’s final film portrays a man shopping around for hookers at Christmastime; after his wife reveals longing thoughts about a man she had several years ago. Kubrick’s film was a tough sell, and it still is. It’s very atmospheric with a dissonant score that becomes more terrifying than anything else. The movies ubiquitous sexual overtones help drive a plodding plot that makes the film go on about twenty minutes too long. However, this movie does take place at Christmas. It does have gifts to be opened, along with a message that all can relate to: Nicole Kidman naked and lots of full frontal nudity can warm anyone’s heart. 7. Cast Away (2000) – Everyman Tom Hanks is thrust into extraordinary circumstances when his Christmas flight crashes in the Pacific Ocean, stranding him on a deserted island for four years. This movie is heartbreakingly beautiful, even if the ending is a bit over-the-top. It does offer a true Christmas message that you should never give up and always battle through things.
6. Catch Me If You Can (2002) – Two Tom Hanks’ movies in a row? What am I? TNT? This is a more lighthearted affair as Tom Hanks plays a square FBI Agent tracking down a fresh-faced fraud artist played by Leonardo Di Caprio. The film bookends itself around the Christmas Holiday and features a story about family and a story that makes you shake your head at what went on in the United States during the 1960s. Catch Me If You Can makes for a great Christmas movie that everyone can enjoy, and it allows you to prove to your twenty-something-year-old sister that Di Caprio made another movie after Titanic that was called The Departed.
5. Love Actually (2003) – This is another feel-good movie by the lovely British people who make all those sappy Hugh Grant romantic-comedies. I actually enjoy this one though as stories of togetherness and love emerges all around you. Plus, Bill Nighy is in Oscar form as a rock star way past his prime. Put this one on the DVD Player for a good laugh, a touching tale, and the hotness of Laura Linney.
4. Go (1999) – This is a Doug Liman film before Doug Liman got too big for his britches. This tale focuses on three plotlines that intersect one another at Christmastime. Think of it as Crash, but without the racial theme and a lot of great one-liners. Oh yeah, there is nudity here too.
3. L.A. Confidential (1997) – Matt Damon said in an August issue of Entertainment Weekly that Hollywood should award the Oscars ten years after a movie comes out. He states that 1997’s L.A. Confidential would win today over James Cameron’s Titanic. It is hard to disagree with Damon as this is perhaps one of the best crafted crime movies ever. A tale of three cops on a collision course in a corrupt Los Angeles Police Department. The film is bleak, relentless, and always entertaining. The Christmas element emerges from a riot that breaks out in a Hollywood jail, while Guy Pearce is night watch commander. Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey, James Cromwell, and Kim Bassinger – in her Academy Award winning performance – all light up the screen. Personally, I would watch this film anytime of year, but avoid watching it with your grandparents.
2. Black Christmas (1974) – It’s a horror movie. It has a bunch of girls. It has a sadistic killer. It’s revolutionary though.
Bob Clark (The same Bob Clark who directed A Christmas Story) produced this low-budget slasher film in the mid 1970s. It is the blueprint for most modern slasher films in its depiction of its villain, the ineptitude of the police department, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. This falls into the horror canon with The Exorcist, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Alien as horror/suspense movies that shaped the mold for decades to come.
1. Die Hard (1988) – How often has this happened to you? You fly across the country on the red eye. You're from New York, you hate the Los Angeles heat, but your wife is here. You are going to accompany her to a pretentious Christmas Party at her banking firm’s headquarters. You arrive, she’s rude, her colleagues are coke addicts, and you’re a hung over cop looking for a forty ouncer. All of this becomes irrelevant as German terrorists take hostages, commandeer the building, and are trying to steal a ton of money from the nearly impenetrable vault in the building. This happens all too often if you’re John McClane. Jon McTiernan’s masterpiece is the ultimate Christmas movie. It has action, romance, the fat guy from Family Matters, and Alan Rickman as the best movie villain in the history of cinema.
I hope that you enjoyed this list of movies and consider them as alternate viewing entertainment this holiday season.
Many reviews have been citing the Coen brother's latest film, No Country For Old Men, as a "return to form" from recent lacking efforts, but personally, I never got thrown off- why can't they make a madcap romantic farce (Intolerable Cruelty), an oddball southern crime caper remake (The Ladykillers), and a sparse neo-noir (The Man Who Wasn't There) without people complaining that they've lost their "form"?
In fact, I'd argue that beyond meticulous storytelling and a general black humor sensibility, the Coen brothers don't really have a "form" you could pin down. But No Countryis a worthy companion piece to their debut Blood Simple and 1996's Fargo, in that they both concern crime and money in rural towns.
No Country For Old Men is adapted from Cormac McCarthy's artful 2005 thriller, and it's literally shot by shot, line by line from the book. A welder (Josh Brolin) finds a satchel full of cash at the scene of a drug deal gone wrong in the plains, while out hunting. He takes the money, but returns to the scene to bring water to a survivor of the fracas-big mistake. Soon he's running from both sides of the botched exchange- one represented by a truckfull of gun toting Mexicans, and the other by a singularly psychotic villain in the form of Javier Bardem.
Tommy Lee Jones attempts to give the film a soul as the local sheriff, always a step behind the action, who despairs at the type of lunacy the drug trade is bringing to his part of the world. McCarthy's book has more passages of narration from the sheriff than the film, and sets him up as the thematic and moral center much easier than the film does. It might also be that Bardem's utterly serious but darkly hilarious demeanor (and his haircut) steals the show. Either way, it's compelling viewing.
I'd read the novel a few weeks ago, so I knew precisely what would happen as the film came to head- which is to say, it really doesn't. A climactic confrontation happens "offscreen" in both the book and film, leaving the sheriff to put together the pieces, and ruminate on his dreams as the narrative draws to a close. It's a poetic counterpiece to the beginning: Jones gives us some voice over about putting a psychopath on death row while the sunrise illuminates the spare, but beautiful Texas countryside- a juxtaposition of grisly reality and majestic landscape that the entire film embodies.
At Milwaukee's prestige Oriental, I got a trifecta of trailers for movies I am really, really excited about, in front of an awesome, awesome, film: No Country For Old Men. It made for a complete film-going experience.
There Will Be Blood
Oh man. Daniel Day-Lewis makes it count. This movie on paper- a period piece based on Upton Sinclair's book "Oil!" directed by P. T. Anderson, with music by Radiohead's guitarist- sounds sort of odd. But DDL in this trailer is cooler than the other side of the pillow.
Who else can act so much with a pause, when he says: "I can't keep doing this on my own with these...people."
Persepolis
When people saw Pixar return to form with Ratatouille this year, they naturally assumed yet another "Best Animated Feature" Oscar was in the cards.
Now? Not so much. Enter Persepolis, a film based on the best-selling graphic novels by co-director Marjane Satrapi that tell her life story. It looks delightful, and refreshing different than most of the animated fare from this country.
That being said, it sort of floors me that France chose it as their official entry for the "Best Foreign Film" Oscar, because that means there's no chance for this next film to win it.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I'm not familiar with the other films of Julian Schnabel, but this film looks transcendent.
It may just be a case of a perfectly cut trailer- this one even has three distinct acts to it, perfectly set to three different snippets of music. The raucous wildlife of "Chains of Love" by the Dirtbombs, then the indie rock rush of "Don't Kiss Me" by Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle, and finally the wistful "Your Hand in Mine" by Explosions in the Sky (music originally from the Friday Night Lights soundtrack, but it instantly sounds more meaningful in this trailer).
In any case, just thinking too long about the true story this movie is based on is enough to summon deep emotion, and a phenomenal trailer has me itching to experience this film.
Stephen King adaptations are a tricky task for any filmmaker. King’s long, vivid descriptions and inner-psychologies often get lost in their translation to the screen. Few King film adaptations have every really captured the horrifying, or uplifting, nature that his works provide. However, Frank Darabont is a champion at it, having crafted The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile to great critical acclaim. When Darabont and Dimension Films delivered The Mist, I was curious about what it was going to offer.
Darabont’s film takes a different turn then his previous King Adaptations. While the previous two were interested in the studies of men, The Mist expands that study with frightening imagery and a dense claustrophobic atmosphere. While it is likely to draw comparisons to other films like Alien, Poltergeist, and The Haunting, The Mist creates its own formula – and outcome – to decidedly wonderful effect. The sparse camera-work, wonderful sound effects, campy (at times) special effects, plot-driven story are incredible in a horror film. All of this works to dazzle, frighten, and impact the viewer.
A small town in Maine experiences a massive storm which leaves people’s homes shattered, cars crushed, and – strangely – family pets missing. David Drayton (An underutilized Thomas Jane) takes his son into town with his annoying neighbor to pick up supplies at the supermarket. However, they quickly become trapped inside, with a bunch of other shoppers, when the titular mist sweeps down upon the town.
Initially, the terror is created by the unknown elements of the mist. Shadows swirl about, loud noises are heard, but it comes to a head when one brave soul ventures outside only to be torn apart by an otherworldly creature. At this moment, the film shifts from a creature feature to an intense human social drama. Allegiances are formed in the store with the most vocal being a religious zealot portrayed by Marcia Gay Harden. This role could have delved quickly into campy and cliché, but Harden’s performance makes it more terrifying than anything that could be out in the mist. Chaos breaks out in the store to match the chaos that is ensuing in the outside world.
There are creature attacks as the store’s internal pressure rises. While the effects may lack the “special” at times, they are used convincingly enough. However, the sound effects are the true selling point of the creatures. Similar to The Exorcist, Darabont likes to conceal his evils until the last possible moment, building tension through the noises instead.
The best element of Darabont’s film though is the ending. Darabont wrote an ending that does not coincide with King’s novella, but King excitedly approved. In recent years, this is the most spectacular and surprising ending that I have seen. It will leave you shaken for days and raise interesting internal questions.
Overall, journeying into The Mist is worth your time, if you’re up for the adventure.
Dave and I were discussing his upcoming review of Stephen King's The Mist the other day, which essentially adds an M. Night Shyamalan type twist to the original story, and we started to compile a list of the best films that depart from the end of their source material.
This includes films that added new endings, completely different endings, or just took it that extra step further to give it that extra oomph it needed.
Needless to say, this list contains MAJOR SPOILERS for all the movies involved, so tread carefully.
Additions
Out of Sight
The first of many successful Soderbergh/Clooney, team-ups, and the only Jennifer Lopez movie I like enough to own. Elmore Leonard's novel ends when Karen Sisco (Lopez), does the right thing and shoots bank robber Jack Foley (Clooney) in the leg and arrests him, despite their romantic involvement.
The 1998 film has the same scene, but adds one more: Karen arranges for Jack to be transported back to prison with Hejira Henry, an uncredited Samuel L. Jackson playing a nine-time prison escapee. "Maybe she thought we'd have a lot to talk about," smirks Clooney, and then the film fades out to "It's Your Thing" by the Isley Brothers.
The Mist
I haven't actually seen or read this, so I'll paraphrase briefly here without giving much away: Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's novella is pretty faithful in depicting a group of terrified people in a supermarket during an unnatural mist, filled with terrifying creatures. The novella ends, after tensions escalate to killing inside the supermarket, with a group of the remaining sane survivors heading off in a car into the mist-covered land, uncertain of the future.
So The Mist just goes a couple of steps further, examining the survivors' dilemma when the car runs out of gas, and then breaking out a devastating revelation. The bonus ending even got King's total seal of approval- he says "The ending is such a jolt—wham! It's frightening. But people who go to see a horror movie don't necessarily want to be sent out with a Pollyanna ending."
The Departed The Hong Kong film last year's Best Picture was based on, which had the unfortunate US title of Infernal Affairs, is pretty much step by step the same as Scorsese's adaptation, although Marty and screenwriter William Monaghan added a few new subplots to flesh their story out.
The point of all those subplots becomes clear at the conclusion. In the original, the undercover good guy (Tony Leung), and the mole in the police department bad guy (Andy Lau), eventually come to a rooftop confrontation, and another police department mole shows up and kills Leung, and is then killed by Lau to hide everything.
And that's where Infernal Affairs pretty much ends, with the hero dead and the corrupt cop alive, but determined to change his ways. The Departed follows the same steps, and pretty much the same climax- good guy (DiCaprio) gets killed, corrupt cop (Damon) kills everyone else to cover things up. But it has two different threads going for it- one, Damon is way more unlikeable than Andy Lau, pretty much sealing his fate when he accidentally stabs a bystander in an alleyway chase that is not in the Hong Kong version. Two, Oscar-nominated Mark Wahlberg is an original character, and after a leave of absence, shows up as the hand of justice at the end of The Departed and shoots Damon in the head.
So this way, everyone's dead, but it feels more satisfying. Infernal Affairs eventually spawned a few sequels or prequels (or something), but The Departed made sure it ended as a singular acheivement.
Being There
Jerzy Kosinski adapted his own 1970 novel for the 1979 film version, but added a perplexing and mysterious scene to the end to capture the surreal nature of the book's prose. Peter Sellers plays Chance, the simple minded gardener catapulted to national fame by a series of misunderstandings: his simple gardening tips are taken for brilliant metaphors for politics and economics by the Washington elite, and soon he's being discussed as a potential Presidential candidate, instead of the sitting president.
The novel ends with Chance wandering away from an important political advsior's funeral, and peacefully observing nature about him. In the film, Sellers wanders outside to enigmatic quotes read at the funerals eulogy, and then right as one of the quotes is read- "Life is a state of mind"- he walks across a lake. And to make it clear that it isn't stepping stones, or a shallow bank, he playfully pokes his umbrella downward into the water, and the continues.
It adds a very metaphysical tone to the events that have come before- is Chance a ghost? A Christ figure? Or is he just so blissfully unaware that he doesn't sink? It's a great addition to a film with great performances, and arguable Sellers' best film entirely.
Excisions
A Clockwork Orange
Kubrick, according to legend, got the American copy of Anthony Burgess's novel, which did not contain chapter 21, in which the uber-violent and sociopathic young Alex grows up and changes his ways, completely reversing the rest of his character's development.
He did become aware of the last chapter before finishing the screenplay, but decided it was too optimistic and unrealistic to be plausible. And thank goodness he did- most of the controversy around A Clockwork Orange is about whether we're supposed to be condemning Alex's (Malcom McDowell) activities whole-heartedly, or voyeurisitcally following them. But nobody would buy the abrupt reversal at the end, especially not after McDowell's frighteningly intense portrayal.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
I'll start by saying that I read the trilogy once a year, and I don't think I could have handled the Sophie's Choice of what to leave out of the film adaptations myself. But for the most part, Peter Jackson and company did a phenomenal job of parsing down Tolkien's world for the screen, the most wise of which was leaving out the last bit of the final installment, the "Scouring of the Shire" chapter, in which the Hobbits have to fight a decrepit but still dangerous Saruman, who's taken over their home.
A brilliant move for us fanatics was to include many deleted scenes and extended ones on the Special Edition DVD's, but the Scouring of the Shire was never filmed. As much I could envision watching an entire day's worth of LoTR (next Thanksgiving I'm so going to Austin, TX for this), but you don't want the public massaging their asses as they walk out.
Revamps
Fight Club
Chuck Palahniuk's debut novel was brilliantly adapted into a film by David Fincher, but the finale departs from the book slightly, making a more unique, and purely cinematic finale. As the narrator (Edward Norton in the film) finally does away with his psychotic alter-ego Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt), in the novel, the bombs Durden has set in the building fail to go off, and the narrator is rescued by Marla and a group of people from the support groups he attended early in the novel. The final lines of the book find him in a mental institution of some kind.
The film Fight Club has Durden place bombs not in the building he's inside, but in all the surrounding ones. And even though the narrator takes Durden out, he reaches a weird acceptance, and watches the buildings fall with Marla as The Pixies' "Where is My Mind" wails, and the film slows down for one frame of porn.
The Natural
One of the most famous sports movie endings of all time is actually a complete fabrication. Malamud's novel about Roy Hobbs, the phenomenal baseball player with the magical bat, approaches its climactic scenes in the same exact way: The Knights have a chance to win the pennant, and Hobbs is up with a chance to win the game, and he decides to give it his all, despite pressure and money from the Judge to throw the game.
In Barry Levinson's film, Robert Redford hits a home run that wins the game, explodes the spotlights, and catapults the film into a euphoric ending. In the book, Hobbs strikes out on three pitches, is exposed as a cheater, and retires from baseball a failure. There's even a little boy who approaches him and pleads "say it ain't so!" much like the legendary scene with Shoeless Joe Jackson.
So why are they both good? Sometimes life is bitter, but we go to the movies for exploding lights, triumph, and Randy Newman scores. Sorry, literary bitterness.
The Prestige
Christopher Priest's 1995 novel involves a modern-day framing device that Christopher Nolan's film ditches, but the stories are relatively faithful, to a certain point. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman both play turn of the century stage magicians that perform a trick where they transport instantly across the stage. Bale is revealed to actually be twins, while Jackman uses a machine that Nikola Tesla built for him on commission.
Both tale's involve a key scene where Bale's character sneaks backstage to discover the secret of the Tesla machine, and the way it works in the novel leads to a finale involving ghost-like apparitions, and cold shells of human beings- ideas easier to imagine than portray cinematically. In the film, the machine works in a more straightforward way, but it forces Jackman's character to make horrible choices to perform his trick.
It's a rare case of both versions working equally well, and I honestly enjoy both the book's end and the film's end equally.
Metaphysical self-parodies
Adaptation
I couldn't resist including this one. The great Charlie Kaufman was hired to adapt a screenplay from Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief," got frustrated (or inspired), and wrote a movie about himself adapting it instead. Nicholas Cage plays a balding and neurotic Kaufman, and his fictional twin brother, who eventually take Orleans' simple account of her interviews with an eccentric flower collector (played to an Oscar by Chris Cooper), and add a romance, a car chase, and a man-eating alligator to it.
It's both the least faithful, but best film adaptation ever.
I'm not sure how this simple list grew to over 1600 words, but thanks for reading if you made it all the way. Any other obvious ones I missed?
Since January is pretty much a wasteland in the movie theaters (except for J. J. Abrams' ripoff of The Host), I usually dedicate it to catching up on the things I missed the previous year on DVD, at least while I impatiently wait for There Will Be Blood and Persepolis to come to the midwest.
