Tuesday Two-Fer, Part 2

Well this was certainly not what I expected. The trailers initially piqued my interest a few months ago because it looked like they were going to take a serious, moody look at the classic Wolfman story. It seems almost like they tried to do that but then somewhere along the line they decided it was way more fun to watch a Wolfman kill some folks. And oh does he kill some folks.

With such a great cast you wouldn't think director Joe Johnston could go wrong, with Benicio Del Toro as Lawrence Talbot, apparently the only non-British member of the Talbot clan. He does a good job brooding and scowling (the two things Del Toro is best at) while he Tries to figure out what caused the mysterious disappearance and eventual death of his brother. Some random old drunks in town apparently have deduced that it was probably some sort of beast that transforms from a man during a full moon, because that's the only logical explanation. Talbot's dead brother's widow, Gwen Conliffe (played by a gorgeous Emily Blunt), seems to take a liking to this stranger who apparently has been away for years and "missed [his brother's] entire life." Talbot's father, played by an always awesome Anthony Hopkins, is just kind of a weird guy who apparently never really cared for...well anybody really, not even his awesome Siek servant. To round out the cast, Hugo Weaving (also always awesome) plays detective Abberline (who you may also remember from From Hell), who, while a great character played by a great character actor, doesn't do a whole lot in the way of plot development other than being frustrated by not catching the "lunatic."

Whilst visiting a Gypsy camp trying to figure out what the deal is with this transforming beast thing, Lawrence has an inevitable run-in with the thing and is bitten, thus setting the rest of the film up for Wolfman mayhem. Everybody knows pretty much how werewolves work considering how hot they are right now, and the movie is called The Wolfman, so it's not like it comes as a surprise when we find out what lycanthropy is. It does set up some very well done transformation sequences though. Also, when we get into the thick of the Wolfman killing sprees, it's almost like the film turns into Final Desination, only this time Death is a werewolf. The violence get's so ridiculous that honestly I have to applaud them for it. They're not afraid to tread that line between gore and just right out cheese, and sometimes cross it. But it works as a great homage to classic horror movies.

I was a little torn on the actual reveal of the Wolfman, though. On the one hand, they do a very good job making paying homage to the original design of the Universal Wolfman without going all out, crazy-CG, Underworld werewolf. On the other hand, the design is dated. The make up is excellently applied, but it's hard not to keep thinking it's just a really good halloween costume. Contrast that with how excellent the bit of CG they did use to make him go from running upright to running on all fours which was just fantastic. Speaking of CG, I think the Wolfman is the only "animal" in the film that isn't fully CG. Seriously, can someone explain why they couldn't get a bear on a leash for one shot and a deer on a leash for another shot?

Back to the point of not developing quite enough in the way of story, we are given little trinkets here and there pointing to the fact that the father Talbot is kind of an asshole. It's obvious from the get-go that he himself is a werewolf, but we never really get any explanation as to why he doesn't care for his son, thus making the moments between them a lot less tense than they should be. Well, there's one exception: the giant father/son all out werewolf battle royale at the climax of the film. And as awesome as that whole fight is, it just doesn't fit at all with the mood of the rest of the movie. I had heard that there were some studio-imposed reshoots having to do with the end of the movie, and this has to be it. I imagine they had sort of a slow-burn ending with some sort of mild square-off between father and son, but the studio said "no way! We need a werewolf brawl! With fire!!" and it was so.

All in all the whole experience is just confusing. It's definitely a far cry from director Johnston's Jumanji days, and it's very predictable and completely ridiculous at a lot of times, but it's still somehow a whole lot of fun, and the good, somewhat serious parts are still very well done. It makes you wonder how it would have turned out had the studio not gotten too much involved, or hell, maybe Johnston really likes those Final Destination movies.

Tuesday Two-fer, Part 1

So it's been a couple weeks since I've done anything here, and I'm kind of ashamed. It's also been a couple weeks since I've seen anything to write about so there's also that. However I realized the other day that I left something off of my previous post. We actually made an unauthorized double-feature out of Dr. Parnassus and Up In the Air, and I never actually wrote anything down about Up In the Air. Travesty!! So anyway, today here's a couple reviews of two movies that couldn't be more different if they tried. Or could they....(Part 2 to follow)

Up In the Air was one of those movies I had to see, if nothing else, just because of the buzz around it. It was already sweeping awards shows and picked up a few Oscar nods, and since it wasn't a Victorian period piece or some other obviously-fishing-for-an-Oscar-looking movie I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Not to mention my fanboyism for George Clooney that I've addressed here before.

Let me go ahead and say that, as sort of a whole theme for the film, it just feels real. Nothing is ever sugar-coated, and bad things happen...just like in real life. I mean when your main character (Clooney) is a corporate axe-man you know you're not exactly in for a trip down gumdrop alley. As expected, Clooney plays the part of Ryan Bingham to near perfection and really draws you in to sympathize with his character. This is no small feat considering Bingham basically makes his living being a professional asshole. But almost immediately after we see what he does for a living we see that he could be facing the same fate as the people he so elegantly fires every day.

This is the part that is immediately sympathetic. Bingham and all his axe-man buddies have been in the industry for years and have a very established way of doing things, when in comes this young fresh-out-of-college girl with big ideas to revolutionize the whole firing industry! It's very interesting because this type of thing has been happening all over the country in real life for years now. Young people with big ideas going in and revolutionizing their fields (for less money than the established older guys are asking for), usually ending up with a lot of good people losing their jobs. Anyway, I digress.

Our plucky new girl, Natalie Keener (Anna Kendrick) has this idea to for the firm to start doing their firings over the computer, thus eliminating the need for so much travel. A good idea in premise, but just seeing the firings on the screen you already get a feel for just how personal an event that really is, and doing it over the internet just makes it incredibly impersonal. Bingham obviously raises a big stink over this, also because he's become very accustomed to his no-strings-attached life on the road (he even does a speaking tour basically about not weighing yourself down with too much "baggage"). The big bossman (a rather interesting role for Jason Bateman) somewhat agrees, but he charges Bingham with taking Keener out on the road in order to give her some perspective, to which Bingham begrudgingly agrees. Oh the adventures they'll have!

Unfortunately, Keener is the weak link in the film for me by no fault of her own. Her character is great, but we just don't get enough development for me. She has this almost robotic delivery which goes well with someone just coming out of school learning how to fire people, and there's so much potential to watch her character grow in different ways after witnessing first hand how bad firings can go. Her personal relationship situation is ripe with ways that she and Bingham can learn from each other as well. Unfortunately though, when push comes to shove at the end it's like she didn't learn anything and continues on with her flowchart way of dealing with people. We get some flashes of humanity in her, but I just wanted more.

The other woman in Bingham's life is Alex Goran (played by the lovely Vera Farmiga). She is a fascinating character in that she is basically the female version of Bingham; always on the road, not interested in a "real" relationship, all that good stuff. It's just fantastic watching her and Bingham, over the course of the film, seemingly get closer and closer. There is a moment where it looks like Bingham is having his big Hollywood-style revelation that he just has to be with her, and instead of them living happily ever after he is swiftly snapped right back down into reality. Honestly, I don't know if this makes me a sadistic person, but that is my favorite point in the film. Not because I enjoy people's dreams being crushed, but because life doesn't happen like that. People never (ok fine, RARELY) get to change their outlook on life that drastically and get away with it.

Although I don't agree with both the females in the film being nominated for Academy Awards (Vera Farmiga I just feel like simply didn't get enough screen time to warrant it, and Anna Kendrick just didn't do it for me), George Clooney is phenomenal as always. And while this was a very ambitious project for director Jason Reitman, and a huge departure from Juno, he hits it out of the park. It's very interesting how he adapted his style to fit the mood of the film. Looking at this film and Juno side by side, you'd never know they were directed by the same person, and that's awesome. And the genius move of getting real people that had been fired to air their grievances for the camera really just drives home the reality of it all. It's always nice to see a film with such lofty acclaims and expectations, and have it live up to every inch of them.