Seems like a lot of thinking for a bear...

I wanted to go see a movie this past weekend but I couldn't decide if I wanted to go see Inglorious Basterds again or check out The Informant! which I only had become aware of probably a couple weeks ago, but was curious about nonetheless. We could only find Basterds playing at like 10pm, which isn't too bad but considering how long it is we didn't feel like being at the theater all night, so we opted for The Informant! I'm really glad we did.

Let me first just say how happy it makes me that the title has an exclamation point. It makes every sentence like you're so excited about talking about The Informant! It's the little things. That's kind of the thing about the whole movie. The little things all seem to add up to create a really fun, interesting experience. My first gut reaction to the trailer sort of brought to mind a Coen brothers-lite film. It seemed to have that same quirky, smart, kind of awkward look and feel to it. My initial assumption proved to not be that far off actually.

There is a lot going on in this movie. In the kind of way that if you stop paying attention for a little bit you get completely lost and forget who people are, partly because of a lot of the people look the same and have impossible-to-remember names. The random cameos break that up pretty well. Scott Bakula and Joel McHale, while not technically cameos, always provide some good laughs simply for being on the screen. The meat of the film, though, comes from trying to unravel this twisting tale of backwards dealings and cover-ups and kickbacks and other such business espionage words. A lot of times dense political or business-oriented movies can go right over my head, but in the end it's up to the characters and the actors that portray them to keep you interested enough to want to figure out what's going on, and then wonder, even after the film, exactly what happened and what the motivation behind it all was. I like movies that make you really want to have a conversation about them afterward.

Although there are many fine performances in he film, the two that seem to matter the most are director Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon. Soderbergh makes all the right moves to really move the story along and keeping you interested with little tidbits along the way but still keeping you engaged almost annoyingly wanting to figure out what's really going on with this Mark Whitacre character. I've always been a big Damon fan, so it's really no surprise that I'd like him in this film, but still...he really carried it. Once again, it's in the little things. His mannerisms just add so much detail to his character, who is a chubby, confused business man who seems to think he's much smarter than he is and that he is always doing the right thing. The writing is phenomenal, and his delivery is even better. One of my favorite aspects of the film are the little narration interludes where he gives his musings on life and such things. Usually they tend to parallel what's going on which just adds depth to the story, but then he keeps going and ends up rambling (usually hilariously), which adds more depth to the character.

According to the beginning of the film, it's based on a true story (although all the dialog has been dramatized "...so there"), and I have to say that even though I'm sure they embellished a good bit, it is a fantastic story. I haven't had a chance to research it at all yet, but I plan on it. I'd be very interested to read some interviews with the real Mark Whitacre (if that's his real name) or something...just to see if he's really that fascinating or if it was just all Hollywood. It was real nice to go to the theater and see something that didn't fall kind of flat to me or not live up to my expectations. I went in not knowing much of anything about it and was pleasantly surprised. That's definitely a good feeling.

We had such potential, such promise...

This is the first movie I think I've seen in a bit that has actually suffered from my high expectations. I usually try really hard to not get too excited about things because it only ends up setting myself up for disappointment, but this one just really got me going for some reason. I mean, did you SEE those trailers? Epic!

Let me go ahead and say first off that the movie is awesome. It really is. Shane Acker did a fantastic job of creating this whole world with its own sort of mythology that is hinted at throughout the film, and the world is very engaging. Also the characters are great. On the surface one could say that the characters are all very one-dimensional, but that's kind of the point. They are all parts of a whole, each representing one aspect of a persona, so it's reasonable to expect that they wouldn't break out too much from their defined roles. The voice actors did a great job furthering the characters as well. No one really stole the show per se but that's ok, as the whole film was sort of about working together, so it's only fair that no one would step up too terribly much above the rest.

The problem with Mr. Acker creating this awesome, engaging world is that he never gives a satisfying explanation behind some things. Now keep in mind that i LOVE unanswered questions. They keep the mystery and the fantasy alive, and keep you interested. See: Lost. But you have to give me something. I thought not knowing the full history of each of the ragdolls was fine, because it's fun to speculate as to how they got to where they are now. I thought explaining the machine takeover through a few snippets here and there of old news reels was awesome rather then just giving it to you up front. The one thing that bothered me though, was the scientist. Where did he find out about this "dark science?" What IS "dark science?" It seemed that he was a highly respected scientist inventing machines and such, so I just don't see why he would turn all voodoo on us. I get the why. He saw what his creation had become so in order to preserve what was left of mankind he left parts of his soul in his little ragdoll dudes. That's fine. I just want to know more as to how he found out that he could do this. I'm harping on it, but its such a critical basis for the film that I feel like just giving a bit more back story on how he came to find this and know that it would work would completely satisfy me. It's even more frustrating since the movie clocks in at just barely over an hour in running time, so there was no reason to rush things and leave important things out.

Now getting back to the positive, the visuals...very very nice. The overall style was very interesting, especially in the characters. Acker mentioned at Comic-Con that some people have started calling it "Stitchpunk" which is a pretty cool name and I think pretty accurately describes the style. There are a few effects that you can tell could have been better and bring out the fact that it was a low-budget animated movie, but I only notice those because I look for them. Stuff like fire and smoke especially. That being said though, they did an amazing job with what they had. The textures on the ragdolls are great, and their movements are impeccable. It's very interesting too since their eyes are in fixed positions, they rely on body language and subtle eyebrow animations to show emotion, and those are done to a tee. You can really tell that Acker was a very talented animator (since he was directing this, and it was feature-length, I seriously doubt he animated the whole thing, or any of it) because the attention to detail is brilliant. The creature models are great too, like the mother-brain, and the crazy flying thing, and the "seamstress" which is just downright creepy as hell.

All said and done, it was a very enjoyable and very entertaining movie. I just think I expected too much and wanted more. I'd be very interested to see what people who didn't have crazy high expectations for it like me have to say about it. I do think we'd immediately be in agreement on the ending though...just a bit much.

I am not proud of you tonight...

I saw Extract a few days ago, but I didn't get a chance to write anything on it until now because my weekend was pretty much taken up by Dragon*Con, so here it is now.

Mike Judge has always been great at delivering very interesting characters along with relatable situations ripe with satire. In his latest outing, he delivers both but doesn't quite stitch them together as masterfully as before.

The characters themselves are brilliant. I love Jason Bateman anyway, but he does a fantastic job playing a very believable entrepreneur American-dream-having everyman, Joel, who lives in his McMansion in the suburbs with a quirky neighbor. It's not exactly a standout role or anything, but he still does a fantastic job with it. I think he's at his best when the character is out of his element, like when his buddy accidentally gives him horse tranquilizers, or when he's smoking FAR too much pot at his buddy's friend's place. Basically whenever he's on drugs. Speaking of drugs, Ben Affleck really shines as Joel's buddy Dean. I've actually always really enjoyed Affleck as a supporting character. I don't think he's got the chops to support a whole movie, but in a supporting role he can really let loose and get those short, snappy lines out and then disappear back into the shadows. For a perfect example, check out Boiler Room and obviously pretty much any Kevin Smith movie.

You'll notice that I didn't mention Mila Kunis, who is the other sort of top-billed person in the movie. This isn't because she wasn't good, because she was (also, on a side note, I didn't realize just how hot she is until this movie...wow). Her character, Cindy, just got no real explanation. She was just there to randomly steal stuff for some reason, and use her hotness to try to swindle some money out of one of Joel's employees, Step. We never really figure out why she's on her own, stealing things and that's fine, but I just felt like they made her too important to not have ANY back story on. And that was the main problem I had with the film as a whole. There was no clear focus throughout the entire film. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be following...Joel's quest to get laid by his wife, the fate of the factory and its employees, the pending lawsuit from Step, the random thievery that Cindy's up to, what the hell Gene Simmons is doing in this movie, etc. Too much going on! And I'm fine with a lot going on, as long as there's something that ties them all together. The problem here is that the only thing tying them together is that they're in the same movie.

I think what bums me out about it is the individual scenarios were fantastic. There were really some hilarious moments...any scene with "gigolo" Brad was killer, and the bits that did focus on the factory workers were classic, Office Space style relatable job site comedy. I just think there was a lot of fat that could have been trimmed. For instance, the neighbor was really funny, but completely unnecessary except for a few throwaway jokes and in the end a macguffin for getting Joel and his wife (played by Kristen Wiig, who was great but again...no real story as to why she acts the way she does) to start talking again. Also all this buildup of one of the employees, Rory, constantly talking about his band, then Joel shows up to his concert for about 5 seconds and leaves...it served no purpose other than to show that Cindy was at the show, which could have just been mentioned. If the movie could have been tightened up a bit it could have been just as memorable as Office Space. Instead we got some funny moments and a string of good scenes, but they just seemed to be aimless.

I'm being a bit harsh on it because I guess I had high expectations (however unfairly) based on Office Space, and how it was the perfect combination of social commentary and just outright funny. I don't want that harshness to come off as saying it wasn't good, because it was. It just wasn't as good as it could have been or, really, it SHOULD have been. I'm definitely not sad that I saw it, or that I spent the money on it in the theater because I still had a good time, but I think that's probably the only time I'll see it and it didn't really leave a huge lasting impression on me.