My Favorite Movie This Year

Friday night, Danny and I decided we wanted to go see a movie, something light and silly. After watching Liam Neeson pronounce the releasing of the Kraken for several weeks during TV commercials, we decided to give Louis Leterrier's Clash of the Titans remake a go.

Oh. My. Goodness.

It's tricky, pulling off a decent, silly popcorn flick. There's a fine line between silly and stupid. Many start strong and get snoozy in the second act.

I am thrilled to tell you that Clash of the Titans has it all, except I don't think the Titans ever make much of an appearance. Whatever. We've got a Demigod who'd rather be fishing, an assortment of scarred, well-meaning military men, hunters who can kill anything - anything! There's a princess who's about to be sacrificed to a hideous monster (an age old tradition), an a mysterious cloaked woman. Oh, and kindly people with a short lifespan. And a Kraken. And jinn.

Yeah, Jinn. Because it's important to be multi-cultural in movies about Greek Mythology. Nothing says white bread like many men in mini-skirts.

Yes, mini-skirts. Before William Wallace, there was Perseus. And Perseus wasn't afraid to show more leg.

Where was I? Oh, yeah - the fact that Clash has everything. I saved the best for last.

It's Liam Neeson. And he's glowing.

So. The Plot. We've got Perseus (Sam Worthington, of Avatar fame), who was found as a baby by a friendly fisherman. Raised a fisherman, he leads an idyllic life on a boat with his foster family until...well...

Let's just say the idyllic existence ends. Through a series of unfortunate events. Perseus makes it into Argos, barefoot, and is trotted into the palace. This is a palace of depravity, but we know it won't stay that way! We meet the princess, who's the original rebellious child, annoying her parents by feeding starving children and giving water to strangers.

She's a real pill, the princess.

Anyway, Hades (Ralph Fiennes) comes in, spoils the party, and figures out that Perseus is no just a fisherman, but a Demigod. Wow! But Perseus is told to lay low for the time being by Io, The Mysterious Hooded Woman (Gemma Arterton, Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia)...

...who has pretty good advice. Next thing he knows, Perseus is shipped off with the remaining troops to perform a series of tasks designed to save the Princess from being sacrificed to the Kraken.

Perseus learns to fight like a man from Draco (Mads Mikkelson, the top-notch Danish actor from Casino Royale and After the Wedding) in a sequence that may remind you of the "Be a Man" song from Mulan. It might not. But if it does, you'll enjoy it that much more.

Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy, A Single Man) also has a role, with the Band of Courageous Soldiers, and a bunch of other people who are tricky to place because, you know, they've all got names like "Eusebios" and "Kepheus."

We also see Danny Huston (Marie Antoinette, The Constant Gardener) briefly as Poseidon.

The adventure takes us across deserts, up mountainous crags, and into the underworld (and when the ferryman pulls up, don't you half expect it to be Johnny Depp? At least a little?). It doesn't mean much, but it's great fun. There are lengthy battles with very large mythical creatures. The plot progresses, and it's Time to Release the Kraken (believe me, this is so not a spoiler, at least not if you own a TV). Liam Neeson is so good at what he does, that we can watch him say the line in an edited snippet for weeks, and it doesn't take away from the moment.

Maybe even made it better. Who knows. Neeson is also able to make Zeus (did I mention he plays Zeus? No? Sorry.) likable, which if you're familiar with the character, is really something. He is able to release the Kraken with an impressive amount of dignity, considering that Krakens (or Kraki?) don't actually exist in Greek Mythology (read about it here), but neither do jinn, and it doesn't matter, because we're in this for a good time.

And it is. It's a good time, guided by fresh young newcomers in Sam Worthington and Gemma Arterton, and a supporting cast of actor's actors. Everyone is dead serious about their work, and their stiff upper lips pay off. The movie looks great, the effects are top notch.

Who's the audience for the movie? People who like taking their adventure films with a grain of salt. Adults who enjoyed the animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Movie goers wanting to see Liam Neeson looking more radiant than ever.

Did I mention there's a happy ending? All's well that ends well. And starts with a Kraken.

Thoughts on and for Oscar Whiners

There's a lot of Oscar hate floating around. I don't get it.

I've watched the Oscars faithfully ever since I attended my aunt's Oscar Party while in Maui. My attendance was a forgone conclusion, since we were staying in her condo. I was sixteen. I wasn't into film, not yet, but I loved watching movies.

And I loved clothes. Loving the Oscars was a natural development.

I grew up, some. I went to college. A multi-media course introduced me to foreign and art films. The public library circulated DVDs for free. I got hooked on film.

In my mind, to love film is to love the Oscars. They're a celebration of the silver screen, of the best of Hollywood, of movie making.

No, they're not fair. The award of "Best Film" isn't necessarily for the best film of the year, but the best buzz, the best momentum. The best out of five (now ten) films, but not necessarily the best overall.

Whatever. To the people who beef about the unfairness of it all, I have three words.

Get. Over. It.

Award unfairness is nothing new. They were unfair when Judy Garland lost to Grace Kelly in 1954. Accept it. Deal with it. Move on.

Instead, revel in the good moments. Halle Berry's win over Sissy Spacek and Nicole Kidman in 2001, Marion Cotillard beating Julie Christie in 2007. Glen Hansard and Market Irglova (now the band "Swell Season") winning best song, "Falling Slowly," from Once. Jennifer Hudson winning Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls. Roberto Benigni, Best Actor for Life is Beautiful (and the leaping that ensued, now classic footage). Adrian Brody for The Pianist. Shakespeare in Love for Best Picture.

The Oscars aren't perfect. But they're a lot of fun.

Still not feeling the love? Click away -

From the Vault

A Comedian at the Oscars

Hugh Jackman's 2009 Opening (with Anne Hathaway)

Some Swell Season Love

2009 Best Song Medley

Roberto!

For my sister

A presenter with a reputation

For the DWTS fans out there

Avatar: Paint With all the Colors of the Wind, Marine

I had my doubts about this movie. I'm not a Titanic fan, although I've never seen it. Never felt the need. And the trailers were pretty clear that that there were some fairly strong political undertones. People said the plot was kind of like Dances With Wolves, and if anything sounded like a film disaster, it was Dances with Blue Aliens. Really.

We saw it on Saturday, and I was frankly a bit cranky about it. I was still tired from our whirlwind Portland trip and wanted to spend a day being agoraphobic. We debated over seeing the 2D version over the 3D; I thought better to see it in 2D first to see if we wanted to shell out the extra for 3D. Danny agreed.

But when the film started, things changed.

I don't impress easily. Really, I don't. I was impressed by Avatar. This was how I wanted to feel about Star Trek and couldn't, not quite. A few notes:

1.) Cameron may have intended certain political messages, but they're not wholly successful. Better still, it's his own fault. He's so effective at creating this world that it's more difficult for parallels to be made.

2.) The plot shows resemblances to not only Dances With Wolves, but also Disney's Pocahontas (bear with me) as well as The Matrix. Obviously, the Matrix similarities lie in the whole plugged-in-Avatar concept. Pocahontas? Stay with me on this. There are seriously spots where you're half expecting Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) to turn to Jake (Sam Worthington) and say, "You need to learn to paint with all the colors of the wind, moron!" Also times when she looks at Tsu'tey and thinks to herself, "should I marry Kocoum?" Somehow, though, it all works. Probably because there are no cute little animal sidekicks.

3.) Disney references aside, there are certain brilliances to the plot. First, that the Jake Sully character is paraplegic. His disability is part of what makes his character work. Secondly, unlike Dances With Wolves, not only is Jake vulnerable because of his attachment to the people he was supposed to spy on and influence, but he's also got it rough because either his actual body or avatar body is unconscious at any given time. When the bad guys are out to get you, this is not advantageous.

Now, understand the plot doesn't take you anywhere unforeseen, but that's partly because Cameron loves his set-up/pay-off's. Just about everything that happens has been set up earlier, so the plot has a very organic flow.

On the subject of the film's appearance:

1.) It's breathtaking. Cameron creates a complete and inhabited world you want to be in the middle of, with incredible detail. The night scenes were my favorite. I was totally ready to move there.

2.) All that motion-capture stuff? Totally works. It's funny - we've seen a fair amount of Zoe Saldana's films - she does this thing with her eyes, looking downward while flitting her eyelashes. Well, so does her animated Na'vi character.

3.) What's also striking are scenes where the military-esque vehicles are invading on the Pandora landscape. There's a very interesting juxtaposition on the harsh, dusty colorations of the military equipment in comparison to the jewel-toned Pandora jungle.

4.) A bunch of critics have criticized the Na'vi ears. Sure, they twitch. It didn't bother me. I think there's just disappointed they couldn't laugh and point at the film as much as they wanted to. You'd think they'd have it out of their system since this summer's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra.

5.) Let us hope that nerdy teen boys will not try to learn the Na'vi language. Please. No. That's what Swahili is for.

Overall:

1.) See it. See it on the big screen, and honestly I'd spring for the 3D. I really would.

2.) It is a long movie. Good, but long. Keep your theater fluids low, if you catch my meaning.

3.) The main part I thought was dippy was the sitting together, swaying and chanting while connected to the earth parts. But it's such a fraction of the movie (truly, since it's about three hours), I suggest you shake it off and think of the pretty glowing flowers.

Because they're just that cool.

P.S. Danny read in his Popular Mechanics magazine that James Cameron is the product of an artist mother and engineer father. We now know what our children will turn out to be like, and that we will be well supported in our old age.

It's called "picking your battles"

Warning: This is a rant.

I read this article on an author's page the other day. Inside the piece is a a petition to essentially throw out the MPAA rating system. And, I think, the MPAA all together. The catalyst of this seems to be the film Bruno. Christians, apparently, are shocked and horrified at the fact that this movie was rated "R", and further horrified by the graphic content.

Okay people.

What part of Sacha Baron Cohen said "family-friendly" or "date night" to you? This is the guy who brought us Borat, also not family movie-night viewing. There is a track record here. Did you see the posters? Why the heck would you have stepped into the theater long enough to be horrified? And while, sure, you could sit and argue that the film ought to have been rated NC-17, clearly this is not a film Christians are interested in, clearly this is not a film made for believers, so why are Christians taking up a battle that really shouldn't concern them?

Furthermore, why are they horrified when non-Christians make non-Christian movies? Why are they dismayed when non-Christians rate movies according to non-Christian standards?

What drives me crazy is when people poing at films like Bruno and say that Hollywood is evil. They all missed Up, is all I can guess. And a lot of other movies. If you don't do movies, fine, just say so. But don't say there isn't anything good out there. It's just not true.

Christian media groups beg for Hollywood to take their preferences seriously, refuse to take any part of Hollywood seriously, and then wonder why they aren't getting anywhere. Dale Carnegie is rolling around in his grave.

Want to make a difference in Hollywood? Attend the good movies. Attending them opening weekend is even better - if a film surpasses box office expectations, ad money will come out of nowhere (well, not really nowhere) to continue to promote it. Go ahead. Cast your vote in a language Hollywood understands.

Or another idea - get involved yourself. There are missionaries in Hollywood. Organizations like Act 1 train Christians to work in the film industry. And I'm sure Michael Apted could use some prayer. I'll bet Sacha Baron Cohen could stand to be prayed for too.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, we were told to go and tell people the good news. But we've spent so much time shouting about the things we're against that it amazes me when anyone has a voice left to share the Truth.

Note: By and large, the really gross movies don't actually do that well in the box office. Bruno's cumulative box office so far is $49,533,475. Compare that with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs at $151,865,987.

Both films opened the same weekend in roughly the same amount of theaters, but Ice Age won out by far. Coincidence? Not really.

Iron Man and a Shift of Focus

Until now this blog has been pretty focused on writing and whatnot. Well, writing is the slowest business on the planet. And when it's not slow, it's dragging you through Dante's sixth or seventh level because things aren't going the way you wanted them to.

I have a hard time writing riffs on the subject. Unless there's really something going on, it's not a lot of fun. I find little joy writing about editing.

I do find great joy in writing things like my opinion on Iron Man and my personal trepidation for the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Golden Wheelchair. And because it's my blog, I make the rules.

So, back to Iron Man. Director Jon Favreau set out to make "a kind of independent film-espionage thriller crossbreed; a Robert Altman-directed Superman (1978), with shades of Tom Clancy novels, James Bond films, RoboCop (1987), and Batman Begins (2005)." (Thank you imDb). And after watching, I can say, "yeah, pretty much." Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark knows how to take a shot, scotch in particular. He's a self-depricating, boozing, womanizing genius.

Of course he's a genuis, there aren't that many good-guy dummies in the stable of superheroes. Peter Parker is brilliant and fueled with a spider-bite, Bruce Wayne with money and anger. Clark Kent's motivations lay somewhere in another galaxy, which may be why the latest installment didn't go so well.

You get the feeling Tony Stark and Lex Luther could hit it off discussing single malts, which may be why his character feels so fresh. He starts out as more of an anti-hero, smacked between the eyes with a sudden realization of personal responsibility for the world.

Working at his side is the efficient Pepper Potts. Now, let's face it. Comic books have not been kind to women. We have the scrappy girl reporter (hello Lois Lane), who really should look before she leaps. We have the girl-next-door (Mary Jane), whose primary goal is to bug Peter about their relationship before finding something really tall to be dangling from. Rachel Dawes, I think, is in the same category as Lois Lane; same attitude, different job description.

Then there's Pepper Potts. Pepper is the Girl Friday, and she can get it done. Remove paramours? Check. Steal files? Check. Insert Arc Reactor into Tony's chest? Double check, and all in stilleto heals. Mary Jane, eat your heart out.

Characters aside, the plot works as well as a comic book movie plot needs to. Tony introduces "ultimate war weapon" and is captured by terrorists shortly after. Tough luck. They tell him to replicate aforementioned weapon for them (thus enabling world domination); Tony agrees and begins work on a different project. Because of the language barrier and possibly too much vodka, the terrorists do not catch on until Tony has finished his wearable bat-mobile.

Tony's feet barely touch ground on the US of A before he makes it clear that he's had a change of heart in the realm of his business practices. Events unfold; his business partner, Obadiah Stane, does not entirely approve of Tony's decisions, Tony makes a shinier Iron Man suit, flies, saves the world, and occasionally utters some Transformers-esque dialogue. All in a few day's work, all enjoyable. And who knew Jeff Bridges had such a good looking head?

In other news, Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Holy Compression Stockings looms ever nearer. I mean, look at this guy.

Poor Indy. He's saved the world and it's best antiques so many times - and he looks exhausted. Yet here they're trotting out the latest installment of the Jones series. And there aren't even any Nazis!

To give credit, though, the supporting roles are packed with great names. When is Cate Blanchett not pitch-perfect? And Marion is back, presumably to find out why Indy hasn't returned her calls for a while.

Yes, I'll probably see it. Just never said I wasn't going to mock it.