You Say My Kisses Are Not Like His, But This Time I'm Not Gonna Tell You Why That Is

Whatever Works (Allen, 2009)

I've only seen two Woody Allen films, Annie Hall and Vicky Christina Barcelona. The first gets better with each viewing while Allen's first film in Spain had me rather enchanted upon an initial viewing. I have seen every episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, so the inclusion of Larry David had me ready to partake in some of the year's best comedy courtesy of one of my favorite funny men currently working. The inclusion of what I hoped would be trademark Allen dialogue only strengthened my determination to enjoy the film.

Luckily, I was not disappointed as the laughs are plentiful and David proves to be almost as capable of handling Woody's dialogue as Mr. Allen himself. The inherent cynicism that Allen displays in Annie Hall is all here, perhaps even more so, and is delivered pitch perfect by David, who even puts his own comedic spin on the character to keep him unique and interesting. The supporting cast is decent as well, though no one brings the laughs quite like the leading man, so when David is not on screen the film usually falls flat. However, Evan Rachel Wood is great as Melody, though she's also a blonde from the South who spouts off depressing, mostly nihilistic musings about life, so I may just be in love with the character.

The story here does not take many twists or turns, and the end is rather generic, but the real surprise for me was that Allen's camerawork, which was fantastic in VCB, is not only standard here, but mostly as generic as the script. The visual aesthetic was so bland and lifeless that I can see this aspect being the alienating factor capable of keeping people from enjoying what is otherwise a pleasant comedy that does not outstay its welcome. Allen's camera does not enhance any themes found in the film, it does not humanize or dehumanize any of the characters, it simply exists, which is odd when one factors in the idea that each of the characters here do have a unique story. I can see people having problems with the fourth wall breaking, but unlike the camera those portions of the film are usually used to enhance the comedy or to provide some insight into Boris' character.

While Larry David is great, the real star of the film is the dialogue. Personally, I think the writing here is just as sharp as what is found in Annie Hall and I think as a pure comedy there are more laughs to be found in Whatever Works than there are in either VCB or Hall. The film is not much more than a pleasant distraction, and neither the comedy nor the narrative are fleshed out enough to sustain even the lean 90 minute run time, but David knows how to handle Woody's words and the laughs are plentiful, so there is definitely enjoyment to be had here, even if the insight of Allen's earlier films is not as present.

B+ or 3.89437248132752389156182

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/FLYmeatwad.

We'll Stick Together Forever, Stay Sick Together, Be Crazy Forever

The Informant! (Soderbergh, 2009)

So Steven Soderbergh has already made one of the year's most interesting films in the form of The Girlfriend Experience, and now he has returned with a more mainstream entry in his yarn about Mark Whitacre, famous corporate whistle blower. Starring Matt Damon as the lead, my excitement for the film was fairly high since, recently, I have been a fan of both Damon's and Soderbergh's work. However, the trailer told me that it the film would visually be in a style similar to his underwhelming Out of Sight. So I went in with little knowledge about the story, slightly hesitant that I would be in for something fairly light and comedic, and hoping to see one of the year's best films. In many ways none of those thoughts remained constant for very long after the film started rolling across the screen.

The Informant! is in no way a bad film, but these is certainly something off-putting about the whole affair, though I have to be slightly wary that, at least to an extent, much of that style is by Soderbergh's own craft. The score and style, both carefree and highly polished, are completely at odds with the incredibly dark overtones in the film's narrative such as the severity of the price fixing and, ultimately, the motivations for the Whitacre character. Unsettling is likely a more proper word used to describe my time with the film as even the casting choices are apparently meant to be at odds with viewer expectations. Matt Damon, a man I have known mostly as a 'serious' actor, easily slides into a comedic role while known comedians like Joel McHale and Tony Hale are given so little comedy to work with during the entire film. Perhaps Soderbergh wants the audience to make note of the foolish business practices and government actions through the supporting cast while still reminding the audience of the sincerity of the Whitacre character despite the surface comedy. Whatever his intention, he is clearly toying with preconceived ideas, which he also did in Out of Sight to similar success.

So I suppose the question is does the comedy work and, ultimately, is does the film succeed as a unique telling of this fascinating tale? The answer is not incredibly simple. While the comedy is usually not overt, Damon brings everything he can muster to the character and the dialogue, while a bit overt in some places and rather subtle in others, is simply superb. However, the film does not really have many big laughs, but the film does not really seem to be a straight comedy in the same sense that something like I Love You, Man attempts to exist as a comedy. The more apt comparison, as far as I am concerned, is to Observe and Report. While the audience may laugh with Damon, or perhaps even at him, I think the comedy, to an extent, comes to the hypocritical nature of man in addition to the constant idea to plan and progress. The film, in many ways, is about Whitacre's unraveling, but also about simply presenting the good and the bad, the serious and the comedic, aspects of the man. Nothing in the film is a definite, and I think Soderbergh does a nice job of presenting that idea through the portrayal of the Whitacre character and the constantly conflicting styles.

Ultimately, The Informant! is another interesting experiment from a director who, like one of my personal favorite filmmakers, Gus Van Sant, has a knack for bringing his own definitive perspective to even the most mainstream and conventional of films. Soderbergh does not hit this one out of the park in the same way that he does with The Girlfriend Experience, but he crafts a film that is a fun enough ride the first time through and probably will benefit from a second viewing. I have compared the film to Out of Sight throughout most of this review, and I will continue to do so here. Like Out of Sight, Soderbergh takes an interesting cast, anchors it with a fantastic lead performance, throws in an engaging story, adds a dose of flashy camera moves, a spiffy soundtrack, and toys with audience expectations to make an entertaining product that, like Out of Sight, does little more than serve as a mildly amusing way to spend a couple hours.

B-/B or 3.47483295634275163924561439

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/FLYmeatwad.

They Came In By The Dozens

So, I have been getting back into college routine again, so my reviews have slowed down slightly. As such, I'm going to attempt to do some quickie reviews and, when a film warrants it, give a full review. Also, I encourage that all readers check out my work, and the other contributor's works, over at The Reelists.

Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009)

While I have already engaged in a round table chat about Inglourious Basterds here, I feel compelled to talk about the film a little more. Little can be said about how great both Brad Pitt and Waltz are in their roles, so I am going to instead focus on some interesting aspects of the film. The choice to break the film into five parts pays off excellently, as it allows Tarantino to only use about 16 scenes or so over 2 and a half hours, without any of the parts ever dragging. The dialogue is gripping and keeps the film engaging throughout, which is good since the violence, which the trailer touts, is really not a huge part of the film. A truly amazing character study, Tarantino's latest is a love letter to cinema and a thrilling re-imagining of history. Not the year's best film, but it is right up there.

A or 4.647832946231756123956129

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (Spiro, 2009)

As a fan of the show, I was pretty excited to have a chance to sit down and see if any of the magic would carry over to the film. Sadly, I did not find myself as enchanted with the Russo family vacation as I would have enjoyed. However, as a coming of age story the film works decently enough and the scenes with Jake T. Austin are absolutely hypnotizing. Golly, I am a pun machine today, I'll try to stop myself. David Henrie is, as expected, quite the talent and his performance here further cements him as a name to look for in the future. Selena Gomez is incredibly engaging as well, as she is on the show, and manages to hold up a film with a fairly flimsy plot. The ending is frustrating, but the direction is decent, the humor mostly hits, and some of the set pieces are truly spellbinding. Damn it, I'll stop here before I pain you any more. Could not say that I would like the film to disappear as it is a fairly successful extension of the show, but the film does not have enough extra going on to make it much more than casual escapist cinema with simplistic themes.

C+/B- or 3.192372148732804517358

Extract (Judge, 2009)

Let's get this out of the way first, despite any similarities that the trailer may imply, this film is not Office Space. Nor is the film the simplistic romantic comedy with a twist that the trailer implies. Extract is a film is a solid cast of comedians, headlined by Jason Bateman in a thrilling performance where he channels his Michael Bluth, and supported by the surprising Ben Affleck, always funny Simmons, and stunningly attractive Kunis. The Whig character could have been more fleshed out, and I could probably have used more Brad, but the story here is engaging and the laughs are pretty plentiful. Mike Judge has a knack for taking the mundane and making it comedic, and his style of humor comes shinning through during this film, but I will need another viewing to accurately comment on how deep the humor digs. I could probably see this becoming another 'cult classic,' and I may like it even more than Office Space, as this film gets a bit darker towards the latter half. Plus I think the driving force of the plot is more interesting on a base level, though it is not given all the attention it needs. Still, it's a film anyone with a dry sense of humor can love while also containing enough big laughs to entertain any dinkus who may tag along.

B+ or 3.878264872316549837561

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/FLYmeatwad.

Another Morning, Another Opportunity To Do Something Progressive, To Prove That He's Worthy

Observe and Report (Hill, 2009)

I recall when this film was first released, I was interested in checking it out but never had the chance to getting around to the theatre because school was pretty hectic at the time. Upon finally getting around to the film I find myself pretty disappointed that I did not get out earlier and actually support it during the theatrical run. In many ways Observe and Report is far from a perfect film. Hell, it's far from a great comedy. Still, I could not help but being fascinated by the entire implications of releasing this major Hollywood film on unsuspecting audiences. Obviously following the release of Paul Blart: Mall Cop a few months earlier the initial comparison is to think this film will be a slightly more mature, in terms of humor, film that operates on a similar premise. Now while I have not seen Paul Blart, I feel mostly confident in saying that the similarities between these two films are likely very minimal. Observe and Report is a black comedy that breaks so many conventional rules of standard Hollywood comedies that I am practically obligated to at least respect the film, but thankfully it also works as a film incredibly well. Also, I should state before getting into my review, that the film has drawn criticism for a 'sort of date rape' scene. I'm not going to talk about that because the scene is used very nicely in the film's context and the real problem people should be having with the depiction is not the sex, but rather the fact that Seth Rogen had a huge glass of beer during the date, yet he still drove Brandi home. Buzzed driving is drunk driving!

By this point in his career Seth Rogen has started establishing himself as a talented actor. While many would likely point to the recently released Funny People as his coming out party, those who watched Kevin Smith's Zack and Miri Make a Porno from last year should already know of his acting abilities. That being said, Observe and Report is likely Rogen's best performance to date. Ronnie gives Rogen a character that experiences and expresses a range of emotion while remaining distinctive enough that Rogen must make the character his own. Not surprisingly, Rogen approaches the role with a certain amount of respect and hits all the major aspects of the Ronnie characters perfectly. As for the supporting cast, Anna stands out because she is pretty funny and mighty pretty, while Michael Pena and Ray Liotta turn in two really great performances as well. Actually, next to Rogen I would have to say that Liotta provides the second best performance, both dramatically and comedic.

Of course the film's strength is not really in the actors themselves but really in the writing and the different characters on screen. Faris, for most of the film, plays the perceived 'love interest,' but Hill makes it clear from the very beginning that she is, despite being physical beautiful, one of the least attractive people in the entire film. Similarly, Ronnie plays the protagonist, but he is so deluded and misguided that any perceived positive qualities are constantly underscored by the obvious negatives. Mixed in with some genuinely funny comedic writing, Observe and Report is set to be decently successful from the start; however, the film always seems to be self aware as well, which actually enhances the entire experience instead of detracts. The line that stands out to me is uttered in the police station by Ben Best, "I thought this was going to be funny, but it's actually kind of sad." The film shifts from humor to drama at the drop of a hat, and instead of feeling disjointed or out of place it actually meshes nicely simply because it is so off putting. Hill seems to know what he is doing with the writing and the film does not feel manipulative just to elicit a response, it seems to directly mirror Ronnie's character. Not to mention that, in a genius move, the film takes a pseudo-There Will Be Blood approach and has a finale that is cleverly shot as realistic but actually is a fabrication in the mind of the main character.

Thankfully the writing here is so strong because, sadly, the technical aspects are nothing worth mentioning in any detail. The direction is mostly solid, but very few shots actually stand out as definitive marks of Hill's style. The film does have a nice sequence where Dennis and Ronnie are going around the mall causing havoc which is shot wonderfully though, and is also really funny. The lack of definitive direction is made up for with a pretty stellar soundtrack that features a ton of perfectly used songs. Still, the one that stands out the most is the song that is used in conjunction with the finale, the tipping point that solidifies the sequence as one of Ronnie's creation rather than any sort of reality. Next to Adventureland and Hannah Montana: The Movies, Observe and Report probably has the best soundtrack of the year, unless I am overlooking an obvious choice to two, which is fairly likely.

On the whole, Observe and Report is much more than the sum of its parts. The film is not side splittingly funny throughout. The movie is not a revolutionary drama. It is not even the most in depth or amazing of character studies. Still, Observe and Report is one Hell of an experience that proves to be both casually entertaining and deceptively complex, depending on how a viewer decides to approach the film. There is a certain genius in the way the film is constructed and the way it was marketed. It is hardly a typical comedy, much like the year's stand out gem Adventureland, but it can exist as a fairly typical comedy. I am a sucker for these multi-layered films and Observe and Report is no exception. Now it looks like I need to go back and check out Hill's previous works since he apparently deals with similar ideas in both his television series and The Foot Fist Way.

A- or 4.1892342748213750213760572348

Comments are welcome and, for anyone with a literary mind, I encourage checking out my poetry blog filled with all original works for your reading pleasure.

Also I am on the old Twitter thing so I guess you can follow me at twitter.com/FLYmeatwad.