"Of all the arts, movies are the most powerful aid to empathy, and good ones make us better people."
-- Roger Ebert, The Great Movies

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Inception


  • Title:  Inception
  • Director:  Christopher Nolan
  • Date:  2010
  • Studio:  Warner Brothers
  • Genre:  SF, Action, Thriller
  • Cast:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine
  • Format:  Color, Widescreen
  • DVD Format:  R1, NTSC
"What is the most resilient parasite?  A bacteria, a virus, an intestinal worm? ... An idea. Resilient, highly contagious. Once an idea has taken hold in the brain - it's almost impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully formed, fully understood, that sticks."  -- Cobb

"Do you want to take a leap of faith? Or become an old man - filled with regret, waiting to die alone?" - Saito

"It's the chance to build cathedrals, entire cities, things that never existed, things that couldn't exist in the real world." - Cobb

Inception is a film about dreams, but it is not the typical film about dreams - such as the person who dreams of being a famous musician then becomes one, or the young man who dreams of becoming a professional sports player - then makes his dream come true.  This film is literally about dreams, and as such, the entire film is a commentary on films themselves.  But for all the meta implications, it's not a nod-nod-wink-wink type of film that pokes fun at anything.  Rather it suggests a type of caper film, though the caper doesn't take place in the physical world at all.

Cobb (DiCaprio) and Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are professional extractors - men who, for a price, will enter a person's dreams to steal information, often as a form of corporate espionage. However, in this case, when their plans don't quite work out, the man they are trying to steal from instead hires the two for Inception - the concept of planting an idea in someone's head, so that they themselves believe that they came up with the idea - themselves.  Like many other caper films, after some debate among themselves, Cobb and Arthur agree to perform the crime - Arthur, because he knows the corporation that hired them in the first place will kill them for being unsuccessful, and Cobb because he's a wanted man - and Saito has promised to make his charges go away so he can return home and to his own children, if he's successful.

Cobb and Arthur to find their crew for this special job:  a chemist - to create a special sedative to put the victim under during the crime, Eames - a spy and con-man - to gather information on the victim, an architect - to build the triple-layered dream world, Arthur, and Cobb.  Their architect is Ariadne, a young student of Miles - Cobb's old teacher, and the grandfather of his children - Phillipa and James.  Arthur and Cobb train Ariadne in shared dreaming.  Cobb finds the chemist and an old friend who becomes their spy and investigator.

The "heist" involves getting Fischer - the victim - on a ten hour flight, slipping him a mickey, then entering his dreams.  The dream will be three layers or levels deep, and at each stage, the crew - specifically Cobb and Arthur (with some assistance from Eames) work different angles into their con to convince Fischer Jr that he should break-up and sell his father's near monopoly energy company so he can become his own man by building something new.  In the end, Cobb and Ariadne end-up going to a fourth level - Limbo, or the subconscious - for two reasons, for Saito - who was shot in the first level of the dream, then died in the third level (normally dying in a dream would wake up the dreamer - but not when under sedation) and so Cobb can confront his dead wife, Mal - who's been haunting him throughout the film.  In fact, as the film goes on - it becomes less about the plot to convince Fischer Jr to break-up his father's company, and more about the question of Mal and Cobb and just what happened between them.

Inception is also circular in nature. The film opens with Cobb washed up on a beach, captured by Asian gunmen, and taken to a wealthy, older Asian man. We will learn this is Saito, who has lived for years in his subconscious world, because time moves differently in the dream world as to the real world. The film, at the end circles back to Cobb on the beach, and Cobb confronting the Asian man. But then the film adds a couple of scenes at the end that leave the film mysterious and open-ended.

The second major point about the film, Inception, and the reason I can watch it over and over again, is it is visually stunning.  Where else would you see roads folding in on themselves? An endless staircase? A freight train moving through a crowded downtown city street? Or the vanishing point of a set being revealed as a mirror, then being moved by a character to form an infinity box?  Yet these impossible scenes, rather than breaking the fourth wall in the traditional sense, are used to clearly show that a particular moment which seemed "real" is actually part of a dream - so they fit into the larger world of the film.  It is truly a visual masterpiece of film.

Recommendation:  Must see!
Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Memento

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

The Prestige


  • Title:  The Prestige
  • Director:  Christopher Nolan
  • Date 2006
  • Studio:  Touchstone, Warner Brothers
  • Genres:  Drama, SF, Historical
  • Cast:  Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johansson, David Bowie, Andy Serkis, Mark Ryan, William Morgan Sheppard
  • Format:  Color, Widescreen
  • DVD Format:  Blu-Ray, R1
"But you wouldn't clap yet, because making something disappear isn't enough, you have to bring it back.  That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call... The Prestige." - Mr. Cutter, narrating

"I love you." - Alfred Borden
"Not today.  Well, some days it's not true, and today you don't mean it.  Maybe today you're more in love with magic than me.  I like being able to tell the difference, it makes the days it is true mean something." - Sarah Borden

"I don't want to kill doves." - Robert Angier
"Then stay off stage.  You're a magician not a wizard.  You gotta' get your hands dirty if you're going to achieve the impossible." - Mr. Cutter

"I can recognize an obsession, no good will come of it." - Nikola Tesla

"The truly extra-ordinary is not permitted in science and industry.  Perhaps, you'll find more luck in your field - where people are happy to be mystified." - Tesla

The Prestige is a film about envy, jealousy, and obsession. But rather than jealousy over someone else's relationship with a third person; or obsession with a person, The Prestige is about professional jealousy and obsession with an idea. Add to that it's unusual structure, and it's a fascinating film, that's intriguing to watch.

This is the story of two stage magicians in the 1890s. They start off as friends, working with an ingenue (or magic trick designer) and a female magician (Julia, played by Piper Perabo) who is married to one of them (Angiers, played by Hugh Jackman). Bordan (Bale) seems to be jealous of Angiers relationship with his wife, though this is not obviously stated. And when Julia dies performing a water-tank trick, after Bordan tied her hands - Angiers becomes angry and blames Bordan for the accident. However, this definitely doesn't become your cut-and-dried "you killed my wife - I'm going to get revenge" film. Even by the end of the film, we don't really know if Bordan deliberately tied the wrong knot or if it really was an accident. However, the death of Julia is the spark that turns a friendship into a rivalry - and then into professional jealousy, and finally into obsession. As the film unfolds Angiers and Bordan both one-up each other, and both simply do horrible things to each other - physically harming each other, undercutting each other's stage acts, and simply just not letting the rivalry rest but escalating it with each act of the film.

The structure of the film is also different.  It starts with the end, then tells the story through a series of interweaving flashbacks that tell the story in short scenes that not only move forward and back in time, but change point of view as well.  The film begins with Angiers dying in a stage magician's trick and Bordan being arrested and charged with his murder.  The flashbacks explain their history, their rivalry, and Angiers growing obsession with Bordan's trick:  The Transported Man. Angiers follows his obsession to Colorado where he meets Nikola Tesla (David Bowie) and his assistant Alley (Andy Serkis), whom he convinces to build a special machine for him. Angiers both gets what he wants and gets much more than he bargained for. But, as the story unfolds - and different parts of the story are told first from Angiers point of view and then from Bordan's, the audience learns more and more about these characters - the doomed characters.

Because the flashbacks are interweaving, as an audience member, not only is one forced to pay very close attention in order to follow the film - but one is also, constantly rearranging the scenes in one's head.  Especially the first time I watched this film, as I watched it, I found myself thinking, "OK, so this goes before that, and this goes before that, etc."  But unlike other films with a lot of editing and scenes that aren't presented in chronological order - with The Prestige, that the film's story is essentially presented in reverse order before returning to the present and then again turning on a dime, everything in the story is crystal clear.  You will not be confused by the story - at all, once you get used to the style and concentrate on the plot.

I'm determined to not spoil this excellent film, but it is also very dark and even somewhat disturbing. To explain just what is going on, and how, would destroy the experience of seeing this film.  It's excellent, with an excellent cast, incredible direction, and it's very thought-provoking. However, it is very, very dark.  I mean, I've seen film noir before, but the final implications of this film really push the envelope into disturbing territory. Oh, and by disturbing - I do not in any way mean "gross" or bloody, or any of the typical tropes of horror. I wouldn't even call this a horror film. Do not avoid this film simply because of a prejudice against horror - that is not what it is at all.

Recommendation:   See it
Rating:  5 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  Inception

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Justice League War

  • Title:  Justice League War 
  • Director:  Jay Oliva
  • Voice Director:  Andrea Romano
  • Date:  2014
  • Studio:  Warner Brothers Animation
  • Genre(s):  Action, Fantasy, Animation
  • Cast:  Sean Astin, Christopher Gorham, Justin Kirk, Michelle Managhan, Shemar Moore, Jason O'Mara, Alan Tudyk, Ioan Gruffudd
  • Format:  Color, Widescreen
  • DVD Format:  Blu-Ray
"They don't like us much!" - Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
"The world's afraid of us." - Batman
"You say that like its a good thing." - Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
"It's necessary." - Batman

"Superman's close, I've been tracking his flight path." -Batman
"Pfft, on what?  Your own satellite?" - Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
[pause, as Batman checks an electronic gadget]
"I was kidding.  You have a satellite?!" -  Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)

With Justice League War Warner Brothers Animation moves from creating animated DC Comics films based on classic Silver Age (and early modern age) DC Comics, to making films based on the New 52.  Justice League War is a perfect case in point, as it is based on the graphic novel Justice League Volume 1 Origin (which is, in turn, really just a compilation of issues 1-6), written by Geoff Johns, penciled by Jim Lee, and inked by Scott Williams.

The first time I watched War I was impressed, the animation is good, and I felt the story did what it needed to do - introduce a big enough threat to bring together all seven superheroes who, until that time, had only been working in their own respective cities. These heroes, including new hero, (Victor Stone) must over-come their distrust and fear of each other and learn to work together to overcome Darkseid, his Parademons, and his lieutenant, Desaad.

However, the second time I watched this, last night, I was considerably less impressed. Yes, the animation is gorgeous.  And it's nice to see older DC elements, like mother box and boom tubes, brought back.  And if one needs a really big threat, it doesn't get much bigger than Darkseid. Yes, this is essentially a re-boot.  And, DC Comics, has rebooted it's universe before.  They're somewhat famous for it, actually.  Personally, I actually started reading DC Comics when they re-booted the universe after Crisis on Infinite Earths.  That was a great time to start reading comics - everything was new, you didn't need to know the long complicated history, even the books started at number 1.  I imagine, now, there are people who did the same thing for New 52 - they started there, and don't know (or care) about the Silver Age and post-Crisis on Infinite Earths books I read and loved in college (just like when I started reading DC I didn't care if a story was set on Earth 16 or Earth 2 or whatever).  And that is perfectly OK.  I see no need to rain on their parade.

But, as a fan of the Post-Crisis on Infinite Earths era, I really don't like New 52.  There, I said it, I don't.  Justice League War, especially on repeat viewing, is a perfect example of why I don't like New 52.  War, is, as the title suggests - full of battles and wisecracks.  I've watched other DC animated films (Justice League:  Doom is a perfect example) where I also felt there was too much of an emphasis on fights and not enough on character - but at least in Doom, there is character.  And, it's the flaws in the characters that are exploited and must be overcome that are central to the plot.  That keeps me riveted to the screen.  But in Justice League War, not only is the majority of the film fight scene after fight scene, but the characters are pretty much stereotypes - not the DC characters we know and love.  Hal Jordan, rather than being a man who knows no fear (and intergalactic police officer for the Green Lantern Corps) is reduced to "the one with the funny quips and lines".  Barry Allen, the Flash, is "the one who's the nice guy next door".  Wonder Woman is the overly naïve "little girl" type.  Superman is "the angry one"; I mean, seriously - Was that even supposed to be Clark Kent?  Because he sounds like Young Justice's Conner Kent.  Billy Batson (Shazam), well, actually, he's got the same "little kid in a big body" quality he's always had - but then, that is what he's supposed to be.  Cyborg is"'the new guy".  And even Batman is "the only one who knows what's going on / the parent".  These aren't our much-loved characters - they are stereotypes. Even in the last line of the film, Wonder Woman describes her fellow heroes as iconotypes by comparing them to the Greek gods.  (Jung would call these archetypes and it is a fair and valid comparison.) But I found the lack of real character a major disappointment. Creating great characters, not only the major characters, but the minor characters, has always been a strength of DC Comics.  I feel New 52 falls short of the mark.  Though this is an origin film, and it's always possible that there will be improvement as the series develops.

Justice League War also cuts frequently from scene to scene as the various heroes fight Parademons in whatever city they happen to be in, before joining together to fight Darkseid, Desaad, and more Parademons.  And in fighting together, the seven Justice League (a term never used in the film) founders, do learn to work together.  They do learn that cooperation is very important, as is teamwork.  Perhaps the series will improve.

Recommendation:  See it, if you want to stay up to date with New 52
Rating:  3 out of 5 Stars
Next Film:  The Prestige