Review "Gravity"

Okay, I just have to start by saying "Holy Crap!" Believe everything everyone has written or said about this movie. No, seriously. The critics are not being being hyperbolic in the least. Director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men), using a script he co-authored with his son Jonas, has crafted an exceptionally intense thriller which zooms along for 90 minutes of truly exceptional and groundbreaking film making. 

Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) is the seasoned veteran astronaut on his last mission and Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) is the still nauseated newbie on her first. They are adding an improvement to the Hubble telescope when word comes from Mission Control (voiced by Ed Harris) that the Russians have blasted one of their old satellites, the debris from which causes a chain reaction, hurtling debris from all sorts of other satellites their way. With almost no time to react, Stone is sent hurtling away from the shuttle and the race is on to get her and Clooney to safety. I won't go into any more detail, because I don't want to spoil a second of it but it is squirm-in-your-seat intense. Clooney is at his charming best, ably maintaining his cool under the worst possible circumstances while Bullock gives another amazing performance as a woman dealing with almost incomprehensible terror. Gravity, indeed.

All of that is all well and good, but when a terrific script with terrific performances is enhanced by technical wizardry that seems so effortlessly real (K and I turned to each others several times to ask "How the hell did they do that?") it's... truly unlike any other movie you've ever seen. And for the first time ever, I am going to insist that you see a movie in 3D. In fact, I feel sorry for the people who don't, because they can't possibly have the experience that I and four of my six companions had (the fifth thought it was "okay" and the sixth, poor thing, was bored - though I don't see how that was possible). Q, Dale, Mike, K and I all loved Gravity and were in awe of its FX; stunning visuals and cinematography (so many amazing shots and moments, including an exceptionally gorgeous homage to Kubrick's space masterpiece); intense script and fine performances. Even Steven Price's magnificent score -- punctuated by long silences -- is perfect.  GO SEE THIS MOVIE! NOW! IN 3D! ON THE LARGEST SCREEN POSSIBLE!  

**** (Four Out of Four Stars). Not only the best movie I've seen this year, it may very well be the best I've seen in many. Cuaron has set the bar higher than ever with this one.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go! I'll be talking about this movie for weeks, to anyone who will listen.

More, anon.
Prospero

Gorgeous George

When I reviewed Up In the Air back in 2009, I likened George Clooney to a modern-day Cary Grant. He's devilishly handsome, very smart, very hip and very talented. He's already won the Golden Globe this year for Best Actor in a Film Drama for The Descendants and is likely to be nominated for an Oscar for the same role. An infamous practical joker and lifelong bachelor, Clooney at 50 is sexier and hotter than ever. 

A known straight ally in the fight for LGBT equality, Clooney was recently asked his thoughts on Mitt Romney's anti-gay stance. My sweet friend Stephen in Portland posted George's response today over at Post Apocalyptic Bohemian:

“Well, I’m not much concerned until there’s an actual nominee… but I think it’s the wrong side of history. I think everyone sort of understands it might be the last leg of the civil rights movement. I do believe that. So I think that at some point, It’s certainly not the wedge issue it was in 2004, so that’s a good sign. So those are important things to me.”

Sigh... Like his good friend (and often the target of his practical jokes) Brad Pitt, who has said he won't marry Angelina Jolie until all U.S. citizens have the right to marry the person they love, Clooney gets it. As do all intelligent and moral straight people. They know that there is no such thing as the so-called "gay agenda." They also know that gay people aren't out to recruit their children; destroy the fabric of society; put an end to traditional families or traditional marriage. They are smart enough to recognize that LGBTQ people are in fact, born the way we are and that we all share the same fundamental rights and that among them is the right to marry the person we love. 

Here's the thing: How can someone like Newt Gingrich, who has been married three times and carried on an extramarital affair of his own while leading the charge to impeach Bill Clinton for doing the same, have the audacity to cite morality and the sanctity of marriage as part of his virulently anti-gay Presidential platform? At least the idiot Rick Santorum, despite being wrong about everything he thinks he knows about gay people, has only been married once and cites his strict Catholic upbringing as the basis for his homophobia. And yes, like Gorgeous George, I believe history will prove both of these men (along with people like Maggie Gallagher, Bryan Brown, Bryan Fischer and Tony Perkins) very, very wrong. 

And while I know George is straight, I will continue to lust after him, along with millions of gay men and straight women all over the world who know they will probably never get within ten feet of him, let alone actually have him for themselves. But mostly, I will admire him for telling the truth about the bullies who want to continue to oppress the single most hated minority on the planet. Thank you, George. You just keep on giving me more and more reasons to love you. And I don't mean in a gay way (though actually, I kind of do).

More, anon.

Prospero

Dead: Part 3

In the fall of 1984, my sister and I attended our one and only fan convention, the Fangoria Horror Convention in NYC. It's there that we met horror icons Tom Savini and the very sweet Michael Berryman. And it is also where we saw a sneak preview of George A. Romero's third entry in his "...of the Dead" series, Day of the Dead. We were freaking out over what we saw and what promised to be the best "dead" movie, yet.

The movie was released the following summer and we went, anticipating nothing less than an amazing horror experience. We got... well, we got a decent zombie movie that, truth be told, could have been better.

In an underground military facility, a group of soldiers and scientists try to find a cure for the zombie apocalypse which has taken out most of the world's population. There's Sarah (Lori Cordille); John (Terry Alexander); Bill (Jariath Conroy) and Miguel (Anthony Dileo, Jr); Captain Rhodes (Joe Pilato) and Dr. Logan (Richard Liberty). Rhodes and his team have been rounding up zombies for Logan's experiments, which are kept in pens far from the group's living quarters. Logan, known as "Dr. Frankenstein" by Rhodes and his team, is ostensibly working on a cure, but is actually working on domestication of the zombies. His 'star pupil,' a former soldier Logan has named 'Bub' (Howard Sherman) can speak; remembers how to use a phone and even salutes a C.O. 

You have to love the inclusion of Stephen King's "Salem's Lot" in that scene. I'm sure he did.

While gathering more 'specimens' for Logan's experiment, one of the zombies breaks free and bites both Private Miller and Miguel, causing Rhodes to call an official halt to Logan's experiments. Sarah amputates Miguel's bitten arm and cauterizes the wound in an effort to prevent him from becoming a zombie. While searching for painkillers for Miguel, Sarah and Bill discover Logan's private recordings along with the head of the recently bitten Pvt. Miller. Sure that both Logan and Rhodes have gone insane, they begin to plot their escape. Rhodes discovers their plan and sends them to the zombie pen. Eventually, all hell breaks lose and the facility is attacked by zombies from both above and below. Bub gets a hold of a pistol and shoots Rhodes in the back and as the zombies tear Rhodes in half and make off with his legs, he croaks "Choke on em!" as Bub salutes (language and gore may be NSFW):

After fighting their way through hundreds of zombies, Sarah, Bill and John make their escape in the helicopter. We next find them on a beach of a secluded island where John and Bill fish in the surf as Sarah crosses off another day on a calendar.

From those clips, one might think Day of the Dead is an exciting and relentless thriller but in reality, it's a talky treatise on morality, interspersed with scenes of zombie mayhem. Romero had begun to take himself, and his genre, too seriously for his own good. While better than the three "Dead" films he would make later, Day... is a rather disappointing entry in the series. Muddled by philosophical questions which one might think would add gravitas to the concept, Romero's dialog heavy script actually gets bogged down over-serious concepts and Act II simply drags by as the characters debate, argue and complain about their situation. It doesn't help that most of the movie is confined to a single location. A mere six years after his brilliant Dawn of the Dead, Romero gets too caught up with social commentary, forgetting what made the first two movies so compelling - the smart balance between horror and commentary.

While certainly a worthy entry in the series, Day of the Dead lacks both the terror and the intelligence that makes his first two entries so horrifying. And even though both Night and Dawn are both primarily set in a single location, the claustrophobic underground facility in Day comes off as rather stagnant. And while that may well be what Romero was going for, it just doesn't work as well as it does in the first two films. And I'm not sure why. If you have any insight, I'd be glad to hear it. Still, Day of the Dead is certainly worth seeing, especially for the sub-genre's fans. 

More, anon.
Prospero

Mini Review: "Up In the Air"

It's officially Sunday, so here's the first of my Holiday Reviews.

I wasn't planning on seeing Up In the Air in a theatre until dear friends suggested we see a movie at their local cinema, an ancient multi-screen theatre with a raked floor and seating for about 150 per auditorium. We (K and I) were meeting them for our Boxing Day gift exchange and dinner at their house anyway and since we all agreed on seeing it and it isn't the kind of movie that has to be seen in IMAX 3D, we went to the 70's relic for their $7.00 matinee. I love director Jason Reitman's first film, Thank You for Smoking and despise his second film, Juno, so I had no qualms about seeing it in a theater whose big claim was "Enjoy our State-of-the-Art Dolby Surround Sound System!" (meanwhile, the only sounds we were surrounded by were the rush of the rainwater through the roof's drainage system and the bleed--through of the explosions from whatever was playing next door.

I'm going to keep this one short, because it is late, so I'll borrow liberally from my friend and fellow blogger Sean with a 5 For/5 Against List:

5 For:

1. Clooney. Handsome, charming and a fine actor, George Clooney really is the Cary Grant of our generation. One can easily picture Grant in the role of Ryan Bingham, a professional "Fire-er," who spends all but 40 some days a year traveling; going from company to company and doing their dirty work for them. Clooney builds in so many layers to what on the outside seems a callously detached outsider, we honestly almost forget it's him. But, just as in Grant's finest roles, we always know it's George. Still, its possibly his best screen performance to date.

2. Vera Farmiga. Funny, charming and everything that makes experienced women so sexy; Farmiga's relaxed performance is a wonder to behold.

3. Anna Kendrick. As the uptight Ivy-Leaguer out to revolutionize the business by eliminating travel, Kendrick rises above her Twilight role and takes a step towards becoming a fine comedic actress. Her speech on the dock is amazing.

4. J.K. Simmons; Jason Bateman; Melanie Lynsky; Zach Galifanakis; Sam Elliot and Danny McBride, all in smaller roles which left us hoping to see more of them

5. The ending was perfect and would have been wrong had it gone any other way.

5 Against:

1. The pacing was a bit off and I thought it could have been 10 to 15 minutes shorter. The wedding sequence goes on for far too long.

2. Not enough Chris Lowell. The "Private Practice" hottie has a brief appearance early on as Ryan's assistant, but is never seen again.

3. Not enough Zach. It would have been funny if his character had later confronted Ryan again.

4. The music. Not as bad as in Juno (worst film soundtrack, EVER - don't argue, you won't win), but still too hip for it's own good and something that will make the movie feel dated in 10 years.

5. It felt kind of wrong to laugh at a movie about people losing their jobs, especially in the current job crisis. Made even worse by one particularly dark event.

The Movie: Three Stars (***); Clooney: Four Stars (****)

More, anon.
Prospero

More New Movies

This is director Christopher Nolan. He's made a couple of little films you might have heard of: Memento; The Prestige (one of my favorite recent films); Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. His next picture, Inception stars an actor of whom I have never been particularly fond, Leonardo DiCaprio. He's always just given me the creeps. I hated Titanic (a titanic snore-fest) and The Beach was just plain stupid. But I must admit he's finally maturing into his looks and the upcoming Martin Scorsese horror movie Shutter Island certainly looks promising.

Inception also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt; Ellen Page; Marion Cotillard; Micheal Caine; Ken Watanabe; Tom Berenger; Lucas Haas and Drag Me to Hell's Dileep Rao. That's quite an impressive line-up of talent. Of course, working for a director of Nolan's reputation is probably incentive for a lot of terrifically talented folks.

The good folks over at Trailer Addict have just added the teaser trailer for Inception and it looks like another mind-bending psychological thriller from Nolan:

And though I posted it before, here's the trailer for Shutter Island:

Come on. Patricia Clarkson's presence alone makes me want to buy tickets now. Add Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Jackie Earle Haley and Michelle Williams to the mix and I have to see it.

Finally, also from Trailer Addict, comes this very amusing trailer for George Clooney and Ewan McGregor's psychic-soldier comedy with unlikely title, The Men Who Stare at Goats. Actor turned director, Grant Heslov has assembled an amazing supporting cast which includes Kevin Spacey; Jeff Bridges; J.K. Simmons; Robert Patrick and Stephen Root. This one looks like it could have come from the Coen brothers:




Rehearsals for "A View From the Bridge" kick into high gear next week, so I probably won't be posting as regularly as usual, but I'll do my best to keep you informed and entertained. By the way, you can see my most recent headshot at that link, if you are so inclined. I'll leave it to you to figure out which one is yours truly.

More, anon.

Prospero