Sally Menke b. Dec 17, 1953 d. Sep 27, 2010

But, first thing’s first. A moment of recognition for one of the movie magicians that got me interested in how movies are put together. Film editor and long-time Quentin Tarantino collaborator Sally Menke has died. On Tuesday September 28, Menke was found dead in Bronson Canyon in Los Angeles County, California after having taken her dog out running during an extreme heat wave. She will be remembered for her artful ability to give structure and sensibility to Tarantino’s sprawling stories and will be missed.

Rainn

And second thing’s second. There are plenty of examples where movies get undercut by a similar motion picture releases. There are races to get your idea out first, but dammit, you got tooken, or another film with the same idea had a much higher profile. Sort of like Repo Men vs. Repo: The Genetic Opera. We‚Äôve talked about this before. And the ordinary dude becomes superhero story is now entrenched in our post-modern Hollywood world. And that‚Äôs cool, ‚Äòcause there are some cool stories out there, maybe the best of which is Special starring Michael Rapaport (an awesome take on the story). But, it was indie, and went without notice. Enter Kick-Ass and everyone thinks it‚Äôs so inventive, and I can‚Äôt help but feel sad for Special directors Hal Haberman and Jeremy Passmore. Not too bad though, as Kick-Ass currently sits at the top of the list of my favorite movies of 2010. But the thunder has officially been claimed, and James Gunn (the evil genius behind the amazing horror/comedy Slither), with his own ordinary-dude superhero movie, will have to hope people don‚Äôt see him as a copycat (especially since he got the green light before Kick-Ass was finished).

Super stars Rainn Wilson (whom I love from House of 1000 Corpses and The Last Mimzy) as Frank D’Arbo (by day) and The Crimson Bolt (by night). Frank’s lovely wife Sarah (Liv Tyler of Plunkett and Macleane) gets cozy with a drug dealer Jacques (Kevin Freaking Bacon), and Frank, being that he is, as it were, PISSED, decides to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Also starring is Ellen Page as the kinda stupid sidekick Boltie, along with Slither alums Nathan Fillion (as The Holy Avenger), Gregg Henry and Michael Rooker. Level of psyched? SUPERpsyched (cue the trombones).

Hey Phil. Do we have a clip? No? Did they bring… ok yeah. Yeah. Here’s a clip.

And as the movie industry mines the comics vein dry, I get capsules and a shitload of pictures!!

Xerxes

Xerxes – Frank Miller’s companion piece to his Snyder-directed 300 gets the nod. Probably to be directed by Zack Snyder with similar styling.

Wanted 2 – Production is still up in the air as Jolie has said she would not return for a sequel, McAvoy is currently working on the new X-Men movie, and Timur has moved on to direct Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. But a sequel has been written, and will most likely get made one way or another.

Dredd

Dredd – Judge Dredd reboot. 2 names: Karl Urban / Alex Garland. Boom. Urban brings his toughguy grimace and Alex Garland brings his incredible screenplaying (see also Sunshine and 28 Days Later. And do not see The Beach)

IN 3 - D !

Heavy Metal – a 2012 version of the decreasingly popular animation/hard rock/sci-fi mashup. But with directors like David Fincher, Zack Snyder, Gore Verbinski and James Cameron lending their hands, this one could actually be interesting.

Who knows?

The Shadow – I don’t know much, but that Raimi’s understudy, David Slade is directing. Raimi Slade. Sounds like a private eye. Awesome.

Earp: Saints for Sinners – And if I’m getting in line just because Raimi’s producing a movie, you can be damn sure I’ll be first up for when he actually directs one. The legendary American lawman, Wyatt Earp has time-traveled to a post-apocalyptic future world, and he has to kick some ass … in Las Vegas.

There can be only one

The Goon – An animated early 20th century period piece starring Clancy Brown as an over-the-hill brawler  and Paul Giamatti is his buddie Frankie. The premise? The Goon goes around kicking the shit out of zombies, vampires and the like.

And finally…

Michel is a man's name

The Green Hornet – Starring Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz, Christophe Waltz, Jay Chou, Edward Furlong, Edward James Olmos and Tom Wilkinson (awesome line-up), and I’m not thinking it’ll be the greatest superhero movie ever, but if anyone on the planet can show me something amazing in 3D, it’s going to be Michel Gondry (director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep). While it’s still only a 2D to 3D conversion, I have high hopes that Gondry will find a way to show me something I’ve never seen before.

The product of Ziggy's starudst

Other cool news! Mediabreach favorite Duncan Jones (writer/director of Moon) is back at work! While his initial follow-up Mute has been shelved, the new project is Source Code starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Jake G actually convinced Jones to join the project. Ben Ripley wrote the script back in 07, and it had attracted a few other directors in the past, but this time, it‚Äôs for real. The story: a military man wakes up on a train in someone else‚Äôs body with no idea how he got there and no idea¬†whether or not everything is¬†… real. And it‚Äôs a science fiction. And it’s a dark comedy. Sold? YES. Co-starring are Michelle Monaghan (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Vera Farmiga (The Departed) and Jeffrey Wright (Felix in the new James Bond movies). Duncan Jones said of the script, ‚ÄúWhen it was brought to me it was serious, quite cerebral, dark and depressing. My take was, ‚ÄòThis could actually be quite fun‚Ķ‚Äô‚Äù and thus was injected what has been termed ‚ÄúHitchcock-style‚Äù humor. And if you care about this kind of thing (which you should), Source Code is edited by the legendary Paul Hirsch ‚Äì editor of the first 2 Star Wars films as well as Ferris Buehler‚Äôs Day Off, Footloose, Steel Magnolias, Falling Down, Lake Placid and much much more! PSYCHED.

CRUSH

And very quickly, Haywire is set for a 2011 release. Directed by Steven Soderbergh (whose movies like The Good German and Traffic I generally hate) and written by Lem Dobbs (whose screenplays like Dark City and The Score I generally love), Haywire stars former American Gladiator, first lady of mixed martial arts and Red Alert 3 model, Gina Carano as a black-ops badass who’s been double-crossed and, must, whup, ass. Also starring (are you ready?) Michael Douglas, Chater Tanums, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Mathieu Kassovitz and Bill Freaking Paxton. DAMN.

And let me rep Total Film magazine (the bestest ever) for a minute. Check out these mini-bonuses:

As though there weren’t enough awesome things to waste money on
www.tinyurl.com/100starwarsts

And there’s proof. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the man. And he dances!
www.tinyurl.com/joeglyt

And in honor of her new movie Stone with Edward Norton and Robert De Niro, a celebration of one of my favorite favorite actor/celebrities!
Milla Jovovich.

Stone's girl

Here’s an awesome clip from Dummy

And an awesome song from Carson Daly (which you MUST watch all the way to the end)  …

The ads for this film would have you believe this is some sort of True Lies / Mr. and Mrs. Smith-type copy cat film. ¬†Kind of, but kind of not. ¬†A chance encounter in a Wichita airport finds June (Diaz) and Roy (Cruise) flying on the same plane. ¬†Turns out that Roy is an exiled FBI or CIA agent (they never really clarified) and he’s on the run trying to protect a scientific wunderkind (Paul Dano) who has developed a new form of energy the bad guys desperately want. ¬†Roy finds himself in protector mode for June and then shit gets real.¬† The story acts as a loose frame for a couple of great action set pieces and a lot of humor.¬† There is almost nothing that occurs here you haven’t seen or experienced before, but it is a pretty fun ride.

For the most part…

You see, everything kind of falls apart towards the end.¬† I’m not exactly sure what it is, perhaps pacing or character relationships that just don’t gel, but somewhere around the time the third act starts up, I just lost interest.¬† I guess the good thing is that I wasn’t exactly loving the film to that point so I can’t say I hated the film’s last third.¬† It bears noting regardless so be aware if you plan to check out the movie.

The other thing you need to be prepared for is some of the really mediocre CGI effects you’ll have to sit through.¬† None are worse though than the horrible computer animated bulls during the climactic chase.¬† What’s really heartbreaking is they are used in a couple of really clever ways but it’s all a bust as you know that no bull was even there.¬† There’s a weird thing in movies where they feel the need to computer animate animals that could easily be done with a mixture of real and puppet versions.¬† The best example is the crazy-ass deer sequence from The Ring 2.¬† Although that scene is a little more convincing (at least it was when I last saw it in the theater) there was just no life behind the eyes of these things.¬† Even worse, I group up in a town overpopulated with deer so I knew what these things are supposed to look like.¬† Now the bulls may be justified since they can’t have Tom Cruise on a dirt bike being charged by cows but I would much rather take a stunt driver over the absurd visuals in this film.¬† It doesn’t completely ruin the film since, as I stated, the effects are a little questionable as it is.¬† But it doesn’t help either.

Given the film has been out for a while, I’m sure you made up your mind long before coming upon this review.¬† I would give this one a very tepid recommendation, and really only in a home video environment.¬† I got to see it for free because of¬† promotion that came with the new Blu-ray of Predator, so I feel as though it was worth the trip.¬† But if I was seeing this at a Drafthouse and paid $10 a ticket for me and the wife along with $25 in food, I may have had a meltdown.¬† Bottom line- level set your expectations and it will be enjoyable.

A Life Less Ordinary isn‚Äôt the TYPICAL, typical sleeper; it was heavily publicized and highly promoted by the studio, including even a pretty brilliant Michel Gondry music video for the original Beck song “Deadweight.” It‚Äôs a less typical, typical sleeper; people just didn‚Äôt like it very much. I maintain it‚Äôs because it was aimed at the wrong market. The movie was originally billed as a Tarantino-style hipster romance. It‚Äôs nothing like that. It‚Äôs more a feel-good fantasy that should grab fans of movies like The Fifth Element or the aforementioned Jean-Pierre Jeunet‚Äôs Amelie. It‚Äôs a goofy, happy, comedy love story. NOT Pulp Fiction.

But this article isn’t a referendum on studio decision-making. I hate to use words like “charming” or “delightful” when describing a love story, because they seem to come pre-charged with undertones of “underwhelming” and “don’t-expect-too-much.” So let’s go with “funny-as-hell” and “awesome.” 1997 gave us the Star Wars Special Edition reset alongside other blockbusters like The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Men in Black. All in all, it was a pretty good year for movies, Con Air notwithstanding. So who the hell knew what to do with a movie about 2 matchmaker angels threatened with earthly transfiguration if they failed in their assignment to get the recently laid-off janitor and the billionaire heiress to fall in love.

So … About that…

The two angels, (Holly Hunter and Delroy Lindo) whose job it is to introduce future spouses to each other, have had a bad run of divorces. They are heaven-sent from a retro 50s/60s style police station by Chief of Police, Gabriel (played by Cheers fan-favorite Dan Hedaya who, coincidentally, is also in Alien 4). Their new case is a toughy, and if they fail, they will be punished by being forced back into mortality.

The couple?

Ewan McGregor is the happy-go-unlucky janitor, Robert, who is replaced by a floor-sweeping, (coincidentally R2D2-looking) robot janitor. Later that same day, he’s dumped by his girlfriend in favor of her aerobics instructor, and for the coup de grace, the angels show up incognitus to repossess his car and home and couch and, well all of it.¬†Cameron Diaz is the billionaire’s malcontent daughter, Celine Naville, complete with zebra print gloves and blue cashmere blazer. She resents her father (as all billionaire children should) and just recently (though probably accidentally) shot her latest suitor in the face with a .44 caliber revolver.

Other electro-job theft:
With the increasing use of home robots like automatic vacuums, the soon-to-be-popular automatic lawn mower, and the dramatic rise in production-based robotics (especially in relation to oceanic oil platforms), more and more jobs are being taken from humans and given to machines. While it may be more ideal to give war-specific duties to radio controlled robots (i.e. the Predator drones in Iraq and Afghanistan), the idea of the world envisioned by Kurt Vonnegut in his prophetic 1952 novel Player Piano still strikes most people as just plain creepy.

Extended List of Players:
Robert – Ewan McGregor (The Island)
Celine – Cameron Diaz (The Mask, Very Bad Things)
O’Reilly – Holly Hunter (Thirteen, The Incredibles)
     Matchmaker Angel #1
Jackson – Delroy Lindo (Congo, Romeo Must Die)
     Matchmaker Angel #2
Mr. Naville – Ian Holm (Alien, Bless the Child)
     Said billionaire
Mayhew – Ian McNeice (Top Secret!, White Noise)
     Said billionaire’s butler/assistant
Elliott – Stanley Tucci (Maid in Manhattan, The Terminal)
     Celine’s most recent suitor and one hell of a good dentist
Todd Johnson – Maury Chaykin (Blindness, Harriet the Spy)
     A “regular man” who befriends Robert (also has a barking best friend who hasn’t been the same since the war)

The romantic plan? A kidnapping!

Stockholm Syndrome:
Named after a 6-day bank robbery/hostage situation in August 1973 in BINGBINGBING! you got it: STOCKHOLM, Sweden. This syndrome is characterized by victims of hostagery becoming emotionally attached to their captors. Though rare, afflictees display defensive attitudes when their captors are punished. In the extreme case of Jaycee Lee Dugard, after having been raped and held captive for over 18 years, Dugard described her assailant as good with kids. Jaycee Dugard was just rescued this past August after her 1991 abduction and though she was held in a so-called “secret backyard” surrounded by a privacy fence and tarp, referred to the kidnapper as a “great man.”

So Robert storms back into the offices of Mr. Naville with an attitude and no plan at all. Naville is having a talk with Celine, informing her that she will have to work for her money now. Robert bursts through the door carrying a jani-bot. He demands his job back, and is immediately dealt with by a pack of fatty security guards. In the office melee that ensues, Celine kicks a gun to Robert who uses it to get away from the guards and then to shoot Mr. Naville in the leg. He kidnaps Celine and drives away with her into the countryside to try and figure something out while the line between who is directing the kidnapping begins to blur. And as the 2 angels (again, in disguise in disguise in disguise) are hired by Naville to track down Robert you wonder, is their plan working ingeniously or failing spectacularly.

Top 5 Wacky Syndromes!! (these are all real by the way…)
5 – Exploding Head Syndrome
Sufferers hear intermittent explosion-like noises in their heads, usually just after having fallen asleep.
4 – Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (aka Micropsia)
Sufferers will see people and objects as being much smaller than they actually are. So named because of the belief that Lewis Carroll may have been afflicted.
3 – Walking Corpse Syndrome
Sufferers believe they have lost body parts or are in fact dead and can feel and smell their flesh rotting; has been linked to schizophrenia and cocaine use.
2 – Genital Retraction Syndrome
Sufferers believe that their genitals are either shrinking or being retracted into their bodies; more common among cultures with widespread belief in witchcraft.
#1! – Jumping Frenchmen of Maine Syndrome
Sufferers react violently to loud noises by screaming, jumping, and wildly gesticulating. Even more interesting, sufferers seem compelled to obey loudly spoken, authoritative commands, going so far as to attack loved ones if sternly directed to do so.

This week’s underappreciated actor of the week:
Maury Chaykin!
One of my personal favorites. For his portrayal of the first town sheriff in the great SyFy series Eureka to his great character work in Cutthroat Island and Mousehunt. And his role in the standout episode of season two of Boston Legal, I salute him for being Chaykin, not stirred. (ouch)

Memorable Line:
“Oh, and that’s all I am to you, isn’t it? The latest kidnapper. A lifestyle accessory. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter, ‘cause you can always get another one.”   – Robert

Standout Scene:
The angels are doing their best to put Robert and Celine into situations that might spark that initial bit of love-ness, and have come to a point of desperation – the plan is to put one of them into a deadly situation in the hopes that the other will abandon logic and attempt a rescue. I hate to give anything away (to the point where I’m hopelessly vague), but set to the incredible song “Leave” by R.E.M. and featuring the equally incredible trademark camera work from The Genius Danny Boyle, the “Jeopardy Scene” stands out as the kind of movie-making that belongs in an Oscar montage reserved for the dead-guy part of the Oscar telecast.

I‚Äôll admit, it can be hard to pump up a romanticomedy, but some of them just do it different. From the great off-pitch but honest actor-sung musical number to the love-poem-writing angels, A Life Less Ordinary definitely does it different. There are a few romaticomedies like John Wayne’s The Queit Man, Adrien Brody’s Dummy and Keir Dullea’s 2001: A Space Odyssey that leave the rom-com genre behind and are just great movies. A Life Less Ordinary is that kind of movie.

I really enjoyed my time in The Box. Sometimes, I’ll just sit around and think, “man, being in The Box was really sweet!” I wish the wife had come with me to The Box. For some reason, she’s just not into The Box. I’m sure some guys’ chicks are way into The Box. I wonder what that must be like…

Still there? I’m spent, here’s the review-

A word of caution- knowing practically anything about this film beyond what the trailers have already told you will diminish your viewing experience. For the sake of not ruining anything, here are my thoughts- the film works and the more I think about it the more I like it. It’s far from perfect and if you’ve not liked director Richard Kelly’s other films (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales), you’re going to find more of the same ambiguity and head spinning plot twists. But at the end of the day, it’s certainly one that could spark some conversations and kept me engaged from start to finish. For those of you who have already seen this movie or just don’t care about spoilers, read on for further analysis.

So the trailers show what looks like a Saw-esque scenario- normal people (played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) make selfish decisions and are then put to the test for not only their survival but that of their loved ones. A couple is presented with a box that has a single button. The man that presents the box, Arlington Steward (Frank Langella), is horribly disfigured but gladly offers the consequences of pushing the button- they’ll recieve $1 million dollars with the only catch being that someone they do not know, somewhere in the world, will die as a result of the button being pushed. The button is pushed and the slow burn begins.

The first thing I’ll say is that if you have no patience, move along. This movie is very methodical and will even force you to infer most of the plot points along the way. I mean hell, at one point the main characters talk to each other, trying to determine what the fuck Steward actually meant. While I hate that sort of thing in giant summer blockbusters (I’m looking at you Pirates of the Carribean: At World’s End), it really works in a thriller. I’ll be honest, I spent some time after the film trying to piece shit together. So I don’t feel like a total dumbass since even Cameron Diaz was lost.

But along with all of that, the film really kept me guessing. I think it’s safe to say that what plays out in the final 30 minutes would be rather difficult to ascertain from the previews. Yes, we know that Cyclops will be driving around with someone that knows what’s going on but the commercial wisely doesn’t tell us neither what’s going on nor what relationship that character has to our leads. I have to applaud the marketing team for creating an intriguing premise with the trailers without giving too much away. I’ve griped enough about film advertisements this year, I’ll move on.

One thing you can’t really glean from the promos either is the fact that the film is set in 1976. I won’t give away why but I thought it was very clever. It also made the vintage sheen applied to the film seem more authentic. And the whole thing starts off with this Hitchcockian feel , which slowly build into a Body Snatchers style paranoia. The setting and time period both help to authenticate these techniques and were very effective.

I couldn’t help but feel that one of the film’s stronger points not only works against it but will likely turn away a lot of potential fans. ¬†As I mentioned in the opening paragraphs, you really don’t get a flat out statement regarding what the fuck is going on. ¬†I’m still not exactly sure, but I think I have a pretty good idea. ¬†But I could tell that the crowd I watched the move with was just not buying it. ¬†So while I enjoy the occasional movie that doesn’t spoon feed me the script while I shovel popcorn into my belly, I can certainly see an argument made to the contrary. ¬†At least for me, it causes the film to stay with me longer. ¬†I thought about it for a good hour, trying to dissect everything. ¬†I dig shit like that. ¬†You may not.

So in the end, it’s a pretty cool flick that just misses the mark from being great. ¬†I quite liked it but I think for general audiences, they may be turned off by the slow paced nature and the fact that not everything is revealed. ¬†It’s been a good year for Science Fiction and this film continues the trend that¬†Moon and District 9 and started.