Movies to Watch on Halloween

Happy All Hallow's Eve, everyone. In honor of my favorite holiday, a brief list of the films I enjoy watching.

Before we begin, though: I am not a horror fan. At all. I've seen The Exorcist, and I appreciated the artistic qualities of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later, but that's about as far as it goes.

1. Shaun of the Dead

A film of many faces. A standard slacker-loses-girl, slacker-grows-up-and-gets-girl-back romantic comedy, a horror film, a parody, and really just all around clever.

My favorite aspect of the first Edgar Wright/ Simon Pegg film is that the screenplay wraps back in on itself in so many fun ways, from "you've got red on you" to the word "exacerbate." And it has a much better cast than a straight-faced zombie film normally would, inlcuding Bill Nighy and Lucy Davis (of British "The Office" fame).

2. Donnie Darko

Beyond it's great high school elements, Donnie Darko also happens to be set around Halloween. And while that's no more than mild related to the story in a thematic way, it does provide for everyone to be in costumes on the day that the world ends.

And, thanks to time travel, Donnie gets to spend a month with the creepiest bunny ever.

3. The Frighteners

This pre-Rings Peter Jackson film holds a special place for me as one of the first films that I ever paid for with my own money, and bought of my own accord: a used copy for $3.99 from the bin at Randall's.

And no matter how creepy the hologram cover was, it's mostly just funny. I mean, if I could see ghosts, I would just use them for a scam too.

Also, what does Trini Alvarado do for work now that she can't coast on her amazing ability to look like Andi McDowell?

Michael Clayton Review

Tony Gilroy, screenwriter extraordinaire of the Bourne movies, opens his directorial debut with an odd sort of tension: off screen, Tom Wilkinson rambles through a manic, rapid monologue about corruption and greed, while the camera lingers on scenes from an empty office building: boardrooms, florescent lights, and blinking phone lines.

It's spare, but it's moody and atmospheric- an encapsulation of the artful tension the rest of Michael Clayton maintains so well. A few minutes after the plot proper starts, George Clooney's titular hero is driving along a wooded road when he sees something, and gets out of his car too look. He walks up a hillside to approach three horses, standing idly by the highway, for no apparent reason.

The music hums to an autumnal swell, and you wonder, briefly, if this is a movie about the power of nature to enrich our lives.

Then his car explodes.

It's a punch to the gut, and it's a great moment to involve you in a legal thriller that on paper is pretty standard: A class action lawsuit is being filed against a mega-corporation for causing health problems with some sort of pesticide (or something)- Wilkinson is the head of the defense who buckles under the strain of fighting on the side of true villainy, and Clooney the shadowy "fixer" from his firm assigned to reign him in.

Tilda Swinton delivers a strong turn as the nervously ruthless legal head of the evil corporation, who must decide how far to go to protect her company. All three performances are stellar, but Clooney especially shines as he shuts down his breezy persona to exude weariness and anger: anger at compromise, anger at his thankless job, and anger that his life might have to be in danger before he considers doing the right thing.

After a tense climactic confrontation, the film ends with a uniquely perfect credit sequence: a single, minutes long shot inside a taxicab that allows everyone to relax, finally. It isn't until everything is over that you realize you've been holding your breath the whole time.

When to See it: As Soon As Humanly Possible.

The Netflix Diaries: Banlieue 13

So for me, beyond Daniel Craig's all around badassery, the coolest part of Casino Royale was the elaborate chase at the beginning, with Craig pursuing a fast, jumping bad guy, played by Sébastien Foucan.

This reminded me of a French movie I'd heard about a couple years ago, released here as District B13- it's a film starring David Belle, the founder of "parkour." Parkour is basically the art of running around and climbing things- using an urban environment to move in the quickest, most efficient way possible in an emergency. Foucan is actually Belle's childhood friend, and founded the practice of "freerunning," which is pretty much the same as parkour but more flashy.

Anyway, I assumed that Banlieue 13 would be as fascinating to watch as the chase sequence in Casino, and parts of it were. But mostly it's just another over-stylized piece of fluff from producer/writer/French ADD sufferer Luc Besson.

Belle plays a tough guy vigilante who partners with a tough guy cop (Cyril Raffaelli) to rescue the film's titular crime ridden barrio from a gang lord who's stolen a nuke. Also he's trying to rescue his sister. That's pretty much it. Of course the nuke is on a timer, and the shady looking government dudes who conscript our heroes for the job have predictably shady intentions.

The film's biggest claim to fame is that the action sequences are all done with no nets, wires, or stunt doubles, and considering that fact they're pretty impressive. But the rapid-cut, MTV-on-crack visual style of Besson's team makes it easy to forget that anything we're seeing is real- we may as well be watching a video game.

Add in what's either a very clunky script or a very clunky translation, and it adds up to a pretty underwhelming experience. In the right hands, a unique form of physical stuntwork can really add something to an action movie (like the aforementioned Casino Royale), but in the middle of a shoddy film it's wasted.

There is an interesting subtext to the film: it was released in a Paris less than a year before the riots of the impoverished youth in real-life ghettos. But Banlieue 13's particular vision of urban Paris of the future is surprisingly white-washed, between the two leads, which leads me to think that the filmmakers didn't really have the majority of the Arab and black Paris ghettos in mind.

30 Days of Night Review

(editor's note: The first post from my friend Dave! Enjoy.)

30 Days of Night is the latest entry into the storied vampire sub-genre. Adapted from a graphic novel, the film tries to establish its own edginess by re-imaging the vampire figure, a la Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later zombies, and putting a new restriction on the characters the vampires terrorize in the film: this haunted house is hundreds of miles wide, with no hope for escape.

In Barrow, Alaska, vampires eagerly descend when the sun sets for 30 days, as happens in the Arctic Circle. It’s up to a team of locals to fend off the slaughter until the sun’s rays can come to the rescue.

David Slade, the latest music video director turned Hollywood film director, makes his feature debut with 30 Days of Night, and brings a deft visual touch. He creates a dark, stylish and oddly claustrophobic environment, and he saturates the screen with a muted color panel- allowing the viewer to feel the cold.

Josh Harnett, playing the town’s heroic sheriff (Interesting Fact: Alaska does not have sheriffs: they have state troopers. This is also inaccurate in the graphic novel and really bothers me for some unusual reason), is blasé and his estranged wife, played by relative newcomer Melissa George, offers very little as well. The two real stars are Ben Foster in a cameo role and Danny Huston as the head vampire. Huston, who has made a career out of playing off-the-wall supporting roles, is legitimately menacing- the audience in the theatre actually screamed at him during appropriate moments.

The technical aspects of the film are where the money and work seemed to go. The cinematography, make up and special effects are very finely crafted. The music is unobtrusive and dissonant, a must for horror films.

But there are noticeable problems: The dialogue is not terribly crisp and leaves the viewers incapable of completely identifying with the townspeople. The script, written by Steve Niles and Stuart Beattie (Who has achieved a lifetime free pass in my book because of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Collateral), also creates more questions in the plot than it answers. And the film’s final scene will incite laughter from many people in the theatre, no matter what arresting visuals preceded it.

A valiant effort from Slade, who tries to emulate David Fincher to a varying degree of success, in crafting 30 Days of Night for the big screen. It’s just a shame that the film’s villainous undead have more life than Hartnett’s usual blank-eyed stare.

When to See it: On DVD

Trailer Report: Lars and the Real Girl, The Kite Runner, Juno

The trailers in front of The Darjeeling Limited: a mixed bag.

Lars and the Real Girl



Meh. I was most interested to see how often the crowd laughed at this one- there was a chuckle when the doll first appears, another one at "she loves kids," and that was it: the joke gets old before the trailer is over.

Add in the unrealistic behavior of the townspeople, the not as poignant as they think it is dialogue with the brother, and it all looks very beige to me.

The Kite Runner



Haven't read the book, but I have this theory: reading an English novel about foreign cultures is all right, because words on a page don't take you out of anything. But a movie about a foreign culture where everyone speaks English all the time is distracting: they can be middling like Memoirs of a Geisha, or terrible like K-19: The Widowmaker.

And with all the slow fades, sweeping shots, gratuitous slow-mo, and music swells in this trailer, it really looks like they've Frank Capra-ized Khaled Hosseini's novel. And that title graphic looks like a Hallmark Original movie title.

Juno



The final entry in the trilogy of pregnancy movies about progressively younger people: first the late twenties country pregnancy Waitress, then the early/mid-twenties LA pregnancy Knocked Up, and finally the teenage pregnancy Juno.

And this looks good. The trailer does anyway, because it relies on the film itself to do the talking, not the Voice Guy or music. The only way to justify the feel-good montage at the end of the trailer is to make us care about the characters in the minute and a half that comes first, and they nail it.

Also, "shenanigans" is a funny word.

The Darjeeling Limited Review

I’m a Wes Anderson fan. As I already mentioned, I wouldn’t be out seeing Wes Anderson movies if I didn’t think I would like them, so of course I loved The Darjeeling Limited.

Critics say he makes the same movie every time, but so what if he does? The one movie he makes is visually dynamic, has great music, deadpan humor, and gets better after multiple viewings. And there’s only five of them, so in the face of multiple action blockbusters, crappy teen comedies, and torture-porn horror movies among a billion different easily recognizable Hollywood tropes, five of them isn’t enough, if you ask me.

As to the specifics of this one: if you’ve seen any of the trailers or tv spots, then you know pretty much the entire plot: Jason Schwartzman, Adrien Brody, and Owen Wilson play three brothers reconnecting on the titular train in India, a year after their father’s funeral. That’s pretty much it- the plot takes many different soap opera like reveals and twists, but the usual disaffection keeps the tone of the movie more dark comic than maudlin.

Schwartzman and Brody deliver similar brooding turns as men getting over a breakup and dealing with impending fatherhood, respectively. But Wilson is the best as the oldest brother, who deals with a motorcycle accident by taking fastidious control of their trip, with a laminated itinerary and asking for control over their personal decisions.

The near-OCD of Wilson’s character is an obvious surrogate for Anderson’s detail-oriented, precise directorial style: Wilson even holds onto his brother’s passports for safekeeping. In a telling scene near the film’s conclusion, he offers them back, but they smile and say it’s all right if he holds onto them- Anderson giving himself tacit approval.

And why not? The basics of the film are a little sparse and simple, but any lack of subtext is made up by the backdrop. Darjeeling is a wonderful land’s-eye view of India, better than a tour guide and full of tourists’ awed reverence. The high point of the film is an encounter with The Namesake’s Irfa Khann and the rest of a small village, which plays out for ten full minutes with no English dialogue, and no subtitles.

It would be fascinating enough on the travel channel. So while the film itself, at least after one viewing, is arguably Anderson’s least complex (there’s a lot of obvious metaphors, from the several pieces of the father’s luggage they carry around to Wilson’s character removing his wound dressings and saying “I guess I have a lot of healing left to do.”), the feel of the film is deep and meditative.

So definitely try to catch this one.

But if you didn’t like Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, or The Life Aquatic, then I don’t know what to tell you.

When to See It: As Soon As Humanly Possible

Descisions, descisions

So as you may have noticed, I never made it to see Michael Clayton this whole week- that's how busy it's been.

So after most of September and early October, I find myself with a wonderful conundrum: so many movies to see, so little time (and limited means, for that matter).

Milwaukee's Landmark Theater branches finally got their prints of The Darjeeling Limited and Lust, Caution, so those are high on the list. And then there's the aforementioned Tony Gilroy legal thriller, and the brothers Affleck's effort, Gone Baby Gone.

Four movies, only one me. At least I know what I'm not seeing: Things We Lost in the Fire looks bland, 30 Days of Night involves Josh Hartnett, and Rendition isn't holding up under the critic's scalpel.

Here's the plan, I think- Darjeeling tonight at 9:30, and then possibly the two major releases (Clayton, Baby) on Sunday. Lust, Caution might have to wait until later in the week, as it only plays at 8:00 pm and is two hours and thirty nine minutes long- that's three hours plus with previews.

What will everybody else see this weekend? Who knows? Consensus seems to be that 30 Days of Night will top the charts with $20 million or so, but then nobody saw Why Did I Get Married? coming last week (including yours truly. I thought people liked fat-suits?).