Great Films: Disney & Pixar’s Wall-E

July 13, 2008

Disney and Pixar's Wall-E

Quite Simply, A Beautiful Film Told Extraordinarily Well

I know this is a few weeks late but cut me some slack, there was this small grass court tennis tournament that was taking quite a bit of my attention.

Wall-E accomplishes quite a few things that range from pretty cool all the way up to down right amazing (warning spoilers — although I’m probably the last person to watch this movie by now):

1) Great inside shilling jokes. I don’t know about you, but all the cool geeks in my theater collectively chuckled every time that familiar Mac start up chime played or when they first saw the HAL reference. Wall-E, true to Pixar’s mischievous / geek traditions, are chock filled with many more references like this, most of which I’m sure I’ve missed.

2) It’s primarily a silent film. This is something quite extraordinary in this day and age. True and pure motion pictures should be just that, a streaming line of pictures in motion. That’s what makes the best films universal and transcend time and place. Though there is a bit of dialogue once we get well into the second act, it’s still quite minimal. In a time when our lives are already filled with enough noise and plenty of other awful ear pollutants, it was quite a pleasant surprise to be told a fantastic story through great images.

3) An old fashioned, simple love story told well. Boy lives to work… until one day a girl enters boy’s world… boy falls for girl… girl resists… girl realizes much later on that boy is exactly what she wanted all along. All of girl’s problems are solved once she discovers that all her worldly problems could be solved by boy’s phallus. Except in the case of Wall-E, I think that Pixar subtly made both robots androgynous. You couldn’t tell which was which, kinda like if Ryan Seacrest dated Chyna.

4) There is no controversy. In regards to all this hoopla about brainwashing young kids and adults alike about how it portrays us Americans as a fat, lazy, wasteful, consumerism bunch, I don’t think it really holds much water.

As a native resident of Los Angeles all my life I don’t see the fat, lazy, wasteful “human” characters of Wall-E as all Americans but rather as just the fat, lazy, wasteful Americans that live primarily in the midwest and much of the southern states.

And Rosie O Donnell.

And Star Jones.

The cast of Celebrity Fit Club. The cast of The Biggest Loser. And anything Eddie Murphy does for a cheap laugh.

And Mama from Mama’s Family.

And Shirley from What’s Happening and What’s Happening Now. Re-run from What’s Happening and What’s Happening Now. Louis Anderson. Homer Simpson. Peter Griffin (Come the F on, guys! Even our cartoon characters are overweight diabetics!).

The entire subject of Morgan Spurlock’s Supersize-Me.

Shit, who am I kidding? We got some fat mofo’s up here in the states guys. It has to stop.

5) Great teary eye material. It made this hardened bloke use all his might to hold back tears in a fully packed theater.

I just realized that this was too much to share and that’s usually a good place to end. Is it the US Open yet? Anyone?

cap

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Random Shots: My DVD Library

May 19, 2008

My DVD Library

You see all those gaps in the shelves? Yeah, you can thank my ex-girlfriend for those. The thieving brat!

A couple weeks ago I started posting my top ten favorite films and I got a few emails with some great feedback. But I also received a few that kinda irked me. I had both friends and strangers call me something to the effect of a “cinephile elitist”

Say what now?!?

So I feel a responsibility to defend myself here with another set of random shots.

My DVD Library 2

Who’s a film elitist now?

You see that copy of Mean Girls side by side with Nashville, There Will Be Blood, Titanic? My tastes can be just as mainstream as the next geek!

DVD Library 3

And a few other must-haves in any DVD library.

DVD Library 4

Shopgirl is sort of a guilty pleasure.

DVD Library 5

Okay, so I have a few not so obvious choices. What do you want, huh?

cap

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Great Films: #1 - The Godfather II

May 12, 2008

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Al Pacino as Don Michael Corleone

Al Pacino as Don Michael Corleone in The Godfather II

The Godfather II is perfect. It’s the perfect film. The fact that Francis Ford Coppola took the greatest film of all time in The Godfather and somehow not only did it again but added another wealth of life to the legend — this wholly unique accomplishment alone was the tipping point for me to pick this film over the first.

No one has done it since. The way the film business and industry has been going since the 80’s leads me to believe it probably will never happen again. I hope I’m wrong.

Robert DeNiro as young Vito Corleone

Revenge of the Don: The Birth of Don Vito Corleone

How do you make God laugh? Tell Him your plans.

Kay: It made me think of what you once told me: “In five years the Corleone family will be completely legitimate.” That was seven years ago.

Michael: I know. I’m trying, darling.

The first time we meet Michael Corleone, he’s a wide eyed kid just out of the military, beautiful fiancee in hand, ready to begin a successful career in the United States government, away from the family business.

In The Godfather II Michael couldn’t be further from his once meticulously laid out life plan. The irony is best laid out early in the film between Michael and Sen. Geary where Michael’s stone cold character is fully established in dealing with someone from a powerful and “legitimate” industry.

The Corleone son who once wanted nothing to do with the family business is not only the head of the family but now more cold hearted than could have ever been imagined. This is all exhibited throughout the film in all the choices Michael makes to consolidate his power. And it culminates in the ultimate choice that forever seals the fate of his soul.

“You broke my heart. You broke my heart!”

The Godfather II is everything America is about. The land of opportunity. The melting pot. The land of self. The land of family. The land of rebirth. The land of blood, sweat and tears.

The Godfather Saga is also about choices. The choices we make in life today may carry the most significant weight in the outcome of our futures. It happens to us everyday. It’s the thought process in how we deal with these decisions I find fascinating and see over and over again in my favorite films as in life. It’s really the greatest and most unique challenge about our lives. Everything else is just filler.

I don’t usually care for award shows but this is The Godfather II!

The only true sequel better than the original.

Thanks for indulging my blatant need to extrapolate on a very selfish endeavor. This is something I discuss with just about anyone who becomes important in my life and I’ve always wondered how my list (and my arguments for it) would play out in the written form.

I could finally put this thing to rest and get back to business at hand. There are some cool things cooking down the pipeline and I can’t wait to share so keep checking back.

Cheers.

cap

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Great Films: #2 - The Godfather

May 12, 2008

The Corleone Men

The Men of The Corleone Family

What can I say about The Godfather that hasn’t been said before?

As far as movies, films, art, story, screenplay, directing, casting, photography, editing, soundtrack and every other filmmaking element that goes into making a movie, The Godfather is about as close to perfection as it gets.

This is the Mona Lisa, the Sistine Chapel, The Sergeant Pepper’s, The Twilight Zone (the original Serling hosted ones), the Tiger Woods, the Roger Federer, the hamachi nigiri and just about every other superlative ever all rolled into one.

I believe in America. America has made my fortune. And I raised my daughter in the American fashion. I gave her freedom, but I taught her never to dishonor her family. She found a boyfriend, not an Italian. She went to the movies with him. She stayed out late. I didn’t protest.

Two months ago, he took her for a drive, with another boyfriend. They made her drink whiskey. And then they tried to take advantage of her. She resisted. She kept her honor. So they beat her, like an animal!

When I went to the hospital, her nose was broken. Her jaw was shattered, held together by a wire. She couldn’t even weep because of the pain. But I wept. Why did I weep? She was the light of my life. Beautiful girl. Now she will never be beautiful again.

(chokes up; coughs)
Sorry.

I went to the police like a good American. These two boys were brought to trial. The judge sentenced them to three years in prison, and suspended their sentence. Suspended sentence! They went free that very day! I stood in the courtroom like a fool! And those two bastards, they smiled at me.

Then I said to my wife, ‘for justice, we must go to Don Corleone.’

The Most Memorable Opening Line Since: “In the beginning…”

The themes are not only timeless, but as you age, the film begins to mean something different than it did before. More accurately, it continues to develop and add more layers of everything about life as you revisit it again and again. It grows with you.

That is one of the most distinguishing characteristics of anything that transcends the upper echelon of any great group or list and becomes something wholly unique. Something that isn’t just a fad or a “right time, right place” sort of thing but rather something that grows as you do. Think about it. There’s really not much out there that you can make such a claim about. 99.9% of just about anything and everything is mediocre at best.

The Godfather.

“Be my friend? Godfather?”

The Godfather not only stands the test of time, culture, gender, age and all other demographics, it continues to steer itself further away from anything that remotely tries to share it’s status and legend.

From the opening note of the score to the very first spoken line, The Godfather commands your attention.

Star Wars is great. Nashville is great. Amadeus is great. 2001 is great. Citizen Kane is great. Battleship Potemkin is great. The Birth of a Nation is great pretty long and whatever. They’re all great films and movies.

“Don’t ask me about my business, Kay.”

The Godfather is something more. The Godfather is the peak of the mountain. The Godfather is the creme de la creme. The Godfather is quite simply… The Godfather.

The Original 1972 Trailer for The Godfather

As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one film that could possibly be better than The Godfather.

Come back soon to find out.

cap

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Great Films: #3 - Magnolia

May 9, 2008

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Magnolia Film

“But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite your whole territory with frogs.”
Exodus 8:2

This film changed my life. Before Magnolia, I didn’t quite understand film. I loved movies. I was a fan of movies. High concept movies. Simpson / Bruckheimer type movies. Mindless, loud, obnoxious movies with little to no value other than to pass time. The kind of movies I can’t stomach very much now.

Then came Magnolia.

From the first frame (after the New Line logo) to the very last credit, I was frozen in awe. There is no traditional Syd Field three act structure (although I can imagine a lot of university screenwriting professors arguing otherwise). It’s over three hours long. No gratuitous violence or sex. Swearing wasn’t used for shock or comical value. Yet despite the lack of these elements I was completely breathtaken by every moment of this masterpiece.

When it was over, I fell silent. It was like everything I made judgments about the world and about what I thought I knew was completely turned upside down. I couldn’t believe something so not me could mean so much more to me than every Star Wars movie, every Indiana Jones flick and every piece of crap, usually associated with Michael Bay, that came before it. I had an epiphany.

Tom Cruise and Jason Robards in Magnolia

Father and Son relationships are very much a recurring theme in all of PTA’s films.

Magnolia is about people. It’s about relationships with our parents. It’s about our relationships with our lovers. It’s about our relationships with ourselves. It’s about our relationship with memories, our past mistakes and successes, our future hopes and dreams, our self images. It’s about our relationship with God.

It’s about all this and so much more.

Pay close attention. How many times can you see (or hear) a reference to 8’s and 2’s in this sequence?

To further elaborate on the technical and artistic genius of Magnolia would require an individual post for each element. But know that PTA has the complete and defining grasp of both the traditional and wholly unique filmmaking techniques. He owns modern day filmmaking. Even if the acting, story or music doesn’t grab your attention, the encyclopedic display of his techniques most certainly will.

Like Lars Von Trier, PTA has been called many less-than-stellar things: control freak, insolent, brat, difficult, etc. But like Von Trier, Anderson’s genius not only warrants any and all professional leniency but also receives it from anyone who experiences his films. Before the birth of his daughter, I have no doubt that PTA lived solely for films. It shows in every frame of anything he’s ever been involved with. Since the majority of people involved in this business is in it for the absolute wrong reasons, it’s not only refreshing and admirable but utterly integral to see someone love the art and science of filmmaking for all the right reasons.

Shame on you if you don’t check this film out.

No matter our stations in life, there are challenges to living well and happy every day. It’s not always easy but we manage. We manage and we cope. Some days are more difficult than others. But some days are so bad, so challenging and so cruel, it makes about as much sense as frogs falling from the sky.

Be sure to check out the “That Moment” documentary here. Priceless stuff!

cap

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Great Films: #4 - Lost In Translation

May 8, 2008

Scarlett Johansson looks outside st Tokyo

Scarlett Johansson + Tokyo, Japan = Perpetually Lost

Lost In Translation is a film about a very specific mood and tone. It captures both of these aspects beautifully and that is the truly amazing achievement this film accomplishes.

From the simple (and Oscar award winning) script, to the muted look of the film, to the quiet characters, to the incredible soundtrack, everything in and about Lost In Translation is all perfectly picked to fit the mood and tone of this specific emotion… a specific mind set… all created and realized by Sofia Coppola.

It’s the warm feeling of being awake at 4:00AM with the people you trust most with just enough wine in you to not be quite drunk but still maintain that perfect buzz.

It’s making a genuine connection with a complete stranger who is exactly what you need at the exact right time.

It’s about reaching a worry-free calmness you desperately needed after a chaotic week, month, or year.

It’s rare but when it happens, we never forget it. We desperately try to search for it again, usually for naught. But we know, to actively look for it already places us in a position to not find it.

We’ve all given and received the advice: “Don’t look for it and it’ll just come to you“. That’s what a lot of Lost In Translation is about.

Scarlett Johansson stares out a lot of Japanese windows

Nothing really happens in this film but it’s really a film about some of the most important things in life.

The average movie going audience don’t go to the movies looking for “mood films”. That’s their loss. Like the perfect song, it could be very theraputic.

Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray in Lost in Translation

Beautifully Photographed

The other thing I admire about this film is the honest and sincere message that Sofia Coppola communicates through the film (it’s my favorite type of communication). The legend goes that while Sofia was working on Marie Antoinette, she hit a wall. In an effort to get her head out of the Antoinette space, she took a quick detour writing about her past experiences in Tokyo while simultaneously exorcising a few internal issues about her marriage, her relationship to the world and her place in life. I feel all this comes out beautifully in the film.

Sofia Coppola is a talented filmmaker. There is a cohesive uniformity in all her films. But Lost In Translation is the one film where it seems like she wasn’t actively searching for anything… and the right film just came to her.

Get Lost.

You can watch Lost in Translation here.

cap

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Great Films: #5 - Dancer In The Dark

May 6, 2008

Bjork as Selma

Bjork’s film debut is more impressive than most actors’ careers.

The website to Dancer In The Dark is still up and it does the best job to brace you for how this film will effect you. You will love it or you will hate it. There is little to no room in between.

That’s only one of the reasons THIS FILM IS SO GREAT. It’s an unapologetically selfish exercise in filmmaking and storytelling. It’s insanely uncompromising. It’s undeniably genius.

Completely shot with 100 mini DV consumer grade camcorders (from 1999 no less!) with special cinemascope-like lenses attached, Lars Von Trier made what may be his most personal masterpiece as well as an early blueprint for how to produce a gorgeous film shot entirely on consumer grade video.

At some point I’d like to digress further about the infamous “Golden Heart Trilogy” Von Trier created with this film, The Idiots and Breaking The Waves. But this is about this one film for now.

Bjork and Catherine Deneuve

Selma and Cathy begin their day at work.

Bjork pulls off a performance here that makes the show and breaks your heart. She pulls off a performance in this one film that’s better than anything any one of these “serious thespians” have pandered to in a desperate cry for awards and recognition. Yes, Dancer is a melodramatic musical but the suspension of disbelief is never broken.

I’m not a big fan of Bjork’s music. In fact, I feel it generally goes over my head. But I do know films and great acting when I see and feel it and she is incredible in this film. The music of this film is equally unforgettable.

The music of Dancer in the Dark is haunting and beautiful. You must experience it.

I’ve read from several sources that Von Trier and Bjork could not get along. He notoriously demands too much from his actors (usually females) well beyond the breaking point and he doesn’t seem to care. It probably was too much for Bjork to have to deal with. After her experience with Von Trier, Bjork vowed to never act again because of the less than good experience she had with Von Trier (I think she was recently in another film). But the results are great and undeniable. I hope she sees it in a similar way now years removed.

Shatters your heart.

A little side note about Lars Von Trier: he’s been called many awful things. Uncompromising. Self-masturbatory. Torturous. Perfectionist. These are all the exact same reasons why his films are so unique and great. I probably would be very intimidated to have a conversation with him, and I don’t get intimidated very easily. His films are genius, straight up. End of story.

How much leeway should be allowed for genius? No one forces anyone to work with him. They actually search him out. His follow up: USA - Land of Opportunity trilogy is two thirds complete and it’s every bit as genius thus far.

That’s it. There’s no other point in the last two paragraphs. I just wanted to wax this guy’s car for a hot minute.

Wholly deserved all the accolades it received at the 2000 Cannes. Get it.

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Great Films: Extra - Taxi Driver

May 5, 2008

DeNiro in Taxi Driver

Robert DeNiro is Travis Bickle

I don’t have a Martin Scorsese film in my top ten. I’ve struggled with this decision. I mean I don’t have any films in there by Lucas, Spielberg or Cameron but those guys are more about spectacle and even though I love a lot of their work, I’m not really about that. I guess I’m more about working from the inside out and less “act first and ask questions later” which is more of a Western approach. I guess I’ll expound more on this later but right now I want to take a few moments to discuss my favorite Scorsese flick.

Before Billy Costigan, before Sam “Ace” Rothstein, before Howard Hughes, Amsterdam Vallon, Rupert Pupkin, Paul Hackett, Jake LaMotta and certainly before Henry Hill, there was Travis Bickle.

Taxi Driver is my favorite Scorsese film because to me, it’s Scorsese playing “in the pocket”. Maybe he was more raw with Mean Streets. Maybe he had more money with The Aviator. He was certainly more commercial with The Departed. But to me Taxi Driver was Scorsese at his creative best with the ability to maximize on every last bit of resource he had with pure Scorsese genius. The jump cut used as Bickle addressed “the people” while slowly turning towards the mirror — that personally clinched it for me.

Of course he didn’t do it alone. The Yang to his Yin was Bob. Without Bob there would be no Travis Bickle. But this is more of a wax job for filmmakers rather than actors so I’ll stick to that.

Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver

If you see this poster in some guy’s bedroom and he’s over 25… run.

From the ominous Bernard Herrmann score to the dirty seventies film look all the way down to the crazy tension build-up throughout the film, Scorsese made a damn near flawless film.

My only gripe with Scorsese over the years has been that he didn’t write more. I remember an old interview with Paul Thomas Anderson and in it he talked about how prior to filming Magnolia, he had a chance to visit Kubrick’s set of Eyes Wide Shut and how stodgy old Kubrick wouldn’t and didn’t pay PTA any mind until he learned PTA wrote his own scripts. Then he paid a lot more attention and respect to Anderson’s questions and work. Maybe I’ll turn stodgy in my later years but that PTA story always made perfect sense to me.

True, great filmmaking is communication between the filmmaker (the giver of information) and the audience (the receiver of information). For every different key member of this information train, the information gets more diluted and less pure. It becomes a weird game of telephone. When the film turns out great, everyone says it’s because of them. When it’s not, everyone blames the other guy. When the writer and director are the same person, there is far less chance of this happening.

Don’t get me wrong. Obviously this is not a technique for everyone. But someone of Scorsese’s caliber and legend… I only wish.

But then his films wouldn’t be the same. I get that.

Anyway, I own tons of Scorsese films and I’ll continue to revisit them from time to time as I do others. But in the end, if I had to pick only one, Taxi Driver would be it. It’s not a big film, it’s not glossy and it’s not a polished looking piece like his later works. But it’s pure and it’s true to Scorsese at his peak. And that’s what makes it so great to me.

The original 1976 trailer! You gotta love Youtube!

The countdown continues later…

cap

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Great Films: #6 - Leon (The Professional)

May 5, 2008

Leon Production Still

The film that discovered and first introduced us all to Natalie Portman.

It would be easy to dismiss Luc Besson’s modern day classic as just another revenge flick. That’s merely a side note.

It would be easy to call it another buddy action movie. That’s selling the film way short.

No, the true genius of Leon (AKA The Professional) is how it takes a subject matter that could be pretty disturbing (or pretty lame) and make it plausible. Not only that, but near the end of the film, you begin to hope that Leon and Mathilda behave well enough to maybe see her 18th birthday.

Then after a couple of hours since the end of the movie, it suddenly dawns on you: “Did… did I just silently root for statutory rape to occur on film?”

Then you realize some French guy made Leon and instead of dealing with your own obvious psychological issues, you begin to project your misguided anger towards the French. Screw them and their baguettes. Freedom fries forever! Hey, didn’t their president recently dump his second wife soon after taking office and married some former supermodel-turned-singer who used to sleep with half the Stones? I mean, would you really not mind if say Barack took office next year and quickly divorced Michelle to marry Hannah Montana? Is that really how you want our country to be run after the last eight years? This is why you should vote for Hillary. Because, if nothing else, none of us want our country’s first lady to be Billy Ray’s daughter. Am I right?

(beat; clears throat)

Mathilda sits by the windowsill

She just wanted to avenge her brother’s murder. He never hurt anybody.

Okay, so this movie also introduced the American audience to not only Natalie Portman but also the fantastic Jean Reno as well as an incredible scene stealing performance by Gary Oldman.

This movie is really about two people who find each other under some unique circumstances. It’s a true unrequited love story that could never be realized. Cause if it did, people would go to jail. The same jail guarded by the villains of the same movie. Then people would die. In an uninteresting way. Then the movie would suck. And we don’t want that.

Shape of my Heart by Sting to capture the film’s bittersweet tone.

I feel like it’s about time Portman and Besson take an afternoon together to discuss a possible sequel to this flick. Yes, there’s no Reno or Oldman but there is something there left in Mathilda’s future as a young lady. La Femme Mathilda, perhaps?

Check it out, homes.

By the way, make sure you check out the Director’s Cut which contains a great restaurant scene with Mathilda and Leon that Sony deemed too risque to include in the American Theatrical release.

cap

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Great Films: #9 - Y Tu Mama Tambien

May 2, 2008

Y Tu Mama Tambien Production shot

La Boca De Cielo

I remember reading an interview with Alfonso Cuaron on the genesis of Y Tu Mama Tambien and in it he said something to the effect of:

I was watching American Pie and was turned off by the way teenage sex was being portrayed. In reality teenage sex is uneasy, sloppy, very quick, not really comical, embarrassing, and a dozen other things that American Pie got wrong. I wanted to make a movie that kinda told how it really is. I don’t want my kids watching American Pie and think this is how sex was going to be like.

It’s a loose paraphrase but the jist of the message was that Hollywood movies have had a long standing reputation of overexaggerating and down right lying about real life rites of passage in order to make a quick buck. Hollywood will make movies about wallflower girls who turn out to be hotties just by taking off their glasses and letting down their hair. Hollywood makes movies about a bunch of oil drillers who get rocketed into space to drill asteroids before they reach Earth. Hollywood makes movies about the hilarious follies that arise when an untalented Puerto Rican meets her ignorant Caucasian mother in law to be.

In reality, a lot of our real lives are usually so much more interesting when put under the microscope in an honest manner. The nuances of our everyday decisions and the variable factors that contribute in how we make very mundane decisions that may become the catalyst for huge life changing choices in the future is truly amazing. Curb Your Enthusiasm without the hyper neurosis.

Y Tu Mama Tambien is a teen drama but so sO SO much more than that. It’s really a dramatized version of a very important chapter in life. The chapter of your life where many of us can look back and pin point the exact moment you grew out of your best friends from high school. The chapter of your life where you realize you can’t let people down and take others for granted without real consequences. The chapter in your life where you reached the first (of many) significant forks in the road and the choice you made which lead you to where you are now.

Since it’s release in 2001, I must’ve watched this movie about 25 times (probably much more than 25 but nothing I care to admit now). Each time I watch it, something different catches my attention a little bit longer than before.

One of too many incredible sequences. One shot.

Alfonso Cuaron is one of my top five favorite modern day directors. Between A Little Princess, Great Expectations, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Children of Men, you’ll be hard pressed to find any other director who can address such big ideas in such a beautiful manner. Y Tu Mama Tambien was shot entirely hand held with several long takes (a Cuaron trademark). This combined with the greenish fluorescent tint look of the film, the heavy use of real people and real locations bring on an eerie hidden camera documentary tone to the film that is just stunning to watch over and over.

This is a movie about nothing but it’s really a movie about everything that’s important in life (I’m going to use this line again and again when describing films because I find many of my favorites all have this common theme, but it fits so well that I’m going to take the liberty).

If you find yourself a little down, maybe a little confused, or just need to not think about your life for a little over 90 minutes, check out this movie. You’ll leave it feeling a little bit healed.

If this movie was a person, it’s one of those people who you never want to lose contact with and become friends for life.

cap

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