Category: Reviews

Review: ‘Mirrors’

[[[Mirrors]]] are a reflection of reality or can be twisted into something that reveals another way to look at the world.  Ever since they were invented, the Greeks first thought your soul might be trapped within.  Through the years, stories have been told about what mirrors do or do not reveal.  Demons were thought to be revealed by mirrors while vampires do not cast reflections. It’s a rich subject that can make a wonderful thriller or horror movie.  The summer 2008 Mirrors, directed by Alexandre Aja, is not a worthy addition to the sub-genre.

Largely based on 2003’s [[[Into the Mirror]]] from South Korea, the movie involves a mirror universe, a demon, a divided family, and lots of ominous music.  Keifer Sutherland stars as Ben Carson, a New York police detective currently on suspension and taking a job as a night watchman at an abandoned department store to support his family.  Carson’s a mess.  He’s defined by his job and without it, he began drinking which led him to be thrown out of his home by his loving wife Amy (Paula Patton), deprived of access to his two children.  Instead, he’s sleeping on his sister Angela’s (Amy Smart) couch and ripe for a mental breakdown.  As a result, he’s slow to accept that he’s seeing things in the mirrors that remain remarkably clean.

Over the course of nearly two hours, he learns that there’s a malevolent spirit trapped in the mirror world and has been accessing the real world through mirrors to manipulate various people to try and free it.  Being the good cop that he is, Carson traces the building’s history and learns it was once a psychiatric hospital, and its unique treatment room remains intact.  He then traces the key patient who was treated there and learns she had been possessed by the spirit but it was cast into the mirror and others will continue to suffer and die until the demon is vanquished.

Over the course of nearly two hours, the audience is treated to a tremendous amount of unexplained characterization and world building.  Carson’s predecessor sends him a box of clippings that provide a key clue, but since it was shipped after his death and to someone he never met, we’re never told how that worked.  We know little of this mirror world and how some they move through space and time, which becomes a vital plot point towards the climax. The police investigations into some of these incidents, including Angela’s death, never seem to be carried out.

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Review: ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ Centennial Collection

Paramount Home Video concludes their Audrey Hepburn review with the fifth entry in their Centennial Collection, the classic Breakfast At Tiffany’s, on sale today.  It’s interesting that they’re celebrating a century but the first five releases are all from the same era, the 1950s and while this was released in 1961, still has that same look and feel.

The film has withstood the test of time very nicely given the loving touch of director Blake Edwards who oversaw this adaptation of Truman Capote’s novella and made it uniquely his own.  In the prose, Holly Golightly never sang “Moon River” nor did she really have a happy ending.  Characters differ between story and screenplay and by now, most people know Capote always envisioned Marilyn Monroe in the lead. He was crushed when Hepburn was cast.

While Monroe would have been good in many ways, this was all about style and elegance, the upper crust of Manhattan society and as a result, Hepburn was a better pick.

Making the movie was a challenge for Hepburn, playing the extroverted socialite escort (not a call girl) who ran away from her “hick” life and husband (an underrated Buddy Ebsen).  Instead, the social whirl of Manhattan at its finest was seductive and she wanted to live life to its fullest.  The pinnacle for her was Tiffany’s, the legendary jewelry store. Naïve in so many things, her actions are not always conscious ones and she pulls new tenant Paul Varjak (George Peppard) along in her wake. Her life is filled with fascinating people and annoying ones, such as the Japanese photographer, buffoonishly played by Mickey Rooney. The film is filled with terrific character actors including Martin Balsam but it’s also Peppard’s best role.  He is earnest and cool at the same time, working to craft a character, rather than easing his way through later roles as Banacek and Hannibal Smith.

Blake Edwards showed what he can do with comedy and subtle character interplay here, a visual style that became his signature for years to come, capped by [[[Victor/Victoria]]].  He’s accompanied by composer Henry Mancini who made his name with the score plus earning an Oscar for “Moon River”, which had lyrics from Johnny Mercer.  As we’re told at least twice on the extras, a Paramount exec felt the movie ran long and wanted to cut the song until Hepburn effectively said, “Over my dead body.”

The love story is a valentine to a time and place that no longer exists although the hopes and dreams of those escaping their homes for the City That Never Sleeps remain the same.

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Review: ‘Twilight Zone’ Graphic Novels

twilight-zone-walking-distance1-4166348Rod Serling’s [[[Twilight Zone]]] remains one of the brightest spots of television history.  The teleplays were inventive, occasionally funny, often thrilling and always thought-provoking.  In thirty minutes, he managed to tell a story with relatable characters and situations then twist things and entertain you through surprise.

Most attempts to revisit the zone have met with mixed results.  There was the prose magazine that was quite good but the 1980s revival, not so much.  And of course, there was the cursed feature film version which was all right, but not worth losing Vic Morrow for.

The latest people to visit are the students at the Savannah College of Art & Design.  The faculty there has licensed from the estate of famed TV writer Rod Serling the rights to adapt the original scripts.  The school then partnered with Walker & Co. to release eight graphic novels between now and 2009.  The first four are currently out,, adapted by Mark Kneece, who has written for DC Comics and elsewhere.  The art, lettering and coloring are handled by the student body, one team per book.

They wisely led off with “[[[Walking Distance]]]”, the most personal of Serling’s scripts, inspired by growing up in Binghamton, NY. A man mysteriously finds himself transported back to the days of his childhood and he seeks out his younger self to warn him of the perils of being an office drone.  Things happen and lessons are learned.

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Review: ‘Ghost Town’

There is something seemingly irresistible to combining romance with ghost stories.  Since the talkies began, moviemakers have told stories of lost-loves as either romantic comedies or dramas.  Every few years you get one that works on every level and becomes a popular classic such as [[[Ghost]]].  When they don’t work, you get [[[City of Angels]]].

[[[Ghost Town]]], the first significant romance since that latter film, falls somewhere in between.  Co-written and directed by David Koepp, this is a creative stretch for a man best known for his work on [[[Indiana Jones]]] and [[[War of the Worlds]]]. His premise, co-written with John Knapps, is a good one.  Dentist Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) goes in for a routine colonoscopy but insists on general anesthesia and during the procedure he died for seven minutes before being revived.  Upon leaving the hospital, Pincus suddenly can see the ghosts who still walk the streets of Manhattan, ghosts with unfinished business.

Pincus, someone who generally has withdrawn from human contact after a disastrous romance gone bad years earlier, is suddenly besieged by the spirits begging for his help.  The only one who successfully gets through to him is Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), who lived in the apartment directly below Pincus and is worried about his wife, Gwen (Tea Leoni), about to marry another man.  The budding antagonistic relationship between spirit and misanthrope forms the spine of the film as Pincus slowly learns to re-engage with the world.

Gervais, as usual, is a delight to watch being uncomfortable in his body and dealing with others.  Kinnear treads a fine line between being sympathetic and unlikeable (his character, after all, cheated on Gwen).  And Leoni softens at all the right times but her character doesn’t feel full formed and three-dimensional.

That’s the problem with the film.  There are lots of little bits to like but so much of this becomes predictable so you can see what happens long before it unfolds on the screen. The ghosts who all want his help have way-too-easily solved problems although one who has a surprising connection to Pincus offers a nice touch.

Koepp brings on the Greek ghost chorus to make Pincus feel overwhelmed or guilty or for cheap laughs.  Then they vanish for long stretches so we can focus on Pincus and Gwen.  These people seem so desperate, you ask yourself why did they back off and let just Frank get through to the dentist?  Questions like that rob the film of its ability to become truly entertaining.  It’s a fine date flick and certainly plays well on television but it’s eminently dispensable.

The single disc, on sale today, comes with a handful of perfunctory extras including commentary, a Making Of, and a set of bloopers that shows how much fun everyone had making the film.  It also shows how hard Gervais has to work to pull off his deadpan persona.

Movie Review: ‘The Spirit”

spirit-posterIn the past, the holiday season is a time for at least one big box office hit, and while the period between 2001 and 2005 may have been taken over by Peter Jackson’s army of Orcs and giant gorillas, the pattern has been consistent. This year, however, you shouldn’t expect to be blown away, or even spend the money on admission with an adaptation of a literary or Hollywood classic, as Frank Miller and his motley crew try to pass off a remake of Will Eisner’s classic “middle-class crime fighter” comic. The film, as a whole, makes very little sense and will bring mostly heartache to fans of the source material, and on an original level, the movie jumps around both in mood, story, and even dialogue so much that it makes it feel like you’ve been watching [[[Sin City]]] fan film for over 90 minutes.

The movie should have simply been called a faux sequel to Sin City, because that is what it felt like. Gravely voices, over-the-top villains, and women in leather should just be what was written on the poster for this film, because those elements just about sum up what to expect. There are a few twists and turns, mostly in the tone of the film and how it jumps from a high-paced action film to a slapstick comedy around every turn. The inconsistency alone is enough to deter most of the audience, let alone the campy dialogue or ridiculous plot devices that would have Eisner spinning in the grave.

Those who were/are a fan of Eisner’s original story or even the later retellings know the basic story behind the hero: Denny Colt, a middle-class rookie cop in Central City is presumed killed, but actually goes into suspended animation, only to come back and create the identity of The Spirit, a man who is able to fight crime in a way local cops can’t, all while wearing a blue suit, red tie, domino mask, and a fedora. [[[The Spirit]]] never had super powers, but still had the same mystery as rival character Batman to the in-book villains. This new representation has The Spirit as a man who was killed, and brought back to life by a serum that gave him super powers, allowing him to recover from fatal wounds quickly and run across telephone lines. He now must take down The Octopus, his archrival who mysteriously has the same powers as our red-tied hero.

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Review: ‘The Dark Knight’ DVD

The Dark Knight stunned movie audiences by taking the mature themes and tone of its predecessor, [[[Batman Begins]]], and amping things up by a factor of 10. The movie was hailed by critics for around the world and theatres packed in the crowds to the tune of $1 billion in box office (or thereabouts).

In rewatching the film on DVD, now out from Warner Bros., the film remains very strong thanks to terrific lighting, set design, and riveting performances from Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart.  Yet, the story doesn’t hold together as well. 

First of all, Gotham looks and feels different from the first film from director Christopher Nolan. The city had been a character all on its own, with the architecture and monorail but now it just looks like, you know, Chicago. We don’t know how long its been since the first film, but since it ends with the Joker’s calling card, it can’t have been that long for a remake, and yet Batman’s legend is such that people are already out there being bat-masked vigilantes.

We know [[[Batman]]] is a presence, so much so that the criminal operations are suffering.  Enter, the Joker, a force of nature. The performance by Ledge is riveting because he makes you forget all about Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson and creates something totally fresh. His desire to spread chaos in opposition to Batman’s sense of order becomes the film’s spine.

But, once you examine what happens next, things take an odd turn.

As the UK’s [[[Guardian]]] put it, when they named the film as having the most ridiculous plot of the year: “Wait, so the Joker really orchestrated that big truck chase just so that he could get caught and go to prison, then he could kidnap that guard and grab his phone to make the call to set off the bomb he’d previously sewn inside the henchman in the next cell? That would kill the guy who stole the mobsters’ money, thus enabling him to … er, what? Heath Ledger’s Joker may have been a psychopath, but he had a nerdish capacity for forward planning.”

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Review: ‘Lost Season 4’ on DVD

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Serialized television has seen a decline in ratings after becoming all the rage, ignited largely by the originality and quality of Lost.  Created by J.J. Abrams, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, the series had an intriguing premise, an intricate mythology and a sprawling cast, but they never took the focus off the characters.  We got to know them, one by one, and came to care what happened. As several regulars died off, we were repeatedly told, this is a dangerous situation and everyone was vulnerable. This season, more favorite characters are wiped away in dramatic fashion and helps inform those who survive.

Of course, the fun of the series is also seeing the dead come back to appear in flashbacks and hallucinations so no one stays away from the show for good.

The third season was accused of losing that tight focus and its audience began to dwindle.  In spring 2007, ABC and the producers agreed to an end date for the show, spring 2010, and that freed the producers to finish plotting out the series in broad strokes.  We go the first hint of that in the season finale which had the first flash forward, showing us a suicidal Jack insisting he and Kate have to return to the island.

As a result, we were eager for the fourth season, the six-disc DVD collection, which goes on sale Tuesday and were not disappointed.  The freighter that has arrived proves not to be from Desmond’s beloved Penny but on behalf of Charles Widmore, who seems to be out to control the island and its secrets.  From that point, we delve into sixteen episodes which furthered everyone’s character arcs while introducing new wrinkles and new cast.

As one would expect, Jack and Locke are at odds as Locke’s spiritual side says they have to remain on the island while Jack remains committed to getting everyone off.  The cast splits and we follow both sides with Locke’s crew taking over the compound used by The Others, who have fled.

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Review: ‘Batman’ #681

batman681-22-6520554The nature of super-hero comics (and serial storytelling in TV as well) has become an incestuous thing, one that feeds on its own cast of characters, no matter how wrongheaded it might seem. In any given story arc, the reader (and the viewer) has been trained to expect The Last Person You’d Ever Expect (fill in the name of your favorite Beloved Supporting Character) to be revealed as the villainous mastermind. And/or salacious details about Our Hero. Dark secrets that threaten the very underpinnings of the lead characters’ being. The promise of certain death for players who’ve existed for decades. (No, really. We mean it!)
 
The pleasure in last week’s wrap-up to [[[Batman R.I.P.]]] was in the way Grant Morrison mocked all that. Consider yourself under a Spoiler Warning for the duration of this column.
 
At its best, the story was a love letter to Batman as he ought to be — prepared to a degree that anyone else would find ludicrous (as in a terrific flashback sequence) and uncompromising in the face of threats against the reputation of his family name. Watching him emerge from an inescapable deathtrap and wade through all comers was quite satisfying after months of questioning whether Batman had lost it.
 
Just as 1993-1994’s [[[Knightfall]]] arc gave us the ultra-violent Batman that a fringe of fandom imagined they wanted, R.I.P. delivered the story formula that readers have been conditioned to expect. And then, in the final act, Morrison pulled the rug out from under them. Think that the Black Glove was going to stand unmasked as Thomas Wayne, the father of Bruce who’d faked death and became a criminal mastermind? Lies. All lies. Waiting for the culmination of Batman’s mental breakdown? Didn’t happen (at least not to the degree it seemed). He was acting! (Thanks, Alfred!) And that caped-and-cowled, ready-for-slabbing corpse? No body.
 
I can’t help but think, too, that Morrison’s treatment of the Joker reflects a bit on the villain’s usage in the wider DC Comics line. In Morrison’s first issue (#655), the character was casually defeated by a nut in a Batman costume who shot him in the face. And in this climax, his fate was even more dismissive: He was accidentally run off the road and killed (yeah, right) by a speeding Batmobile driven by the deranged Damian. The two scenes struck me as a statement of sorts on the sheer over-saturation of the Joker, a villain who’s appeared in 44 comics in 2008 alone! A character that almost anyone in the DC Universe can hold their own against is a character who can be sucker-punched by nutty Batman wannabes. Couple that with his ubiquitous presence in Bat-books proper and the persistence in characterizing the Joker as the biggest and most unstoppable mad-murderer in history and you have a Batman who’s rather ineffectual, too. But I digress.

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Review: ‘Einstein and Eddington’

44821884-einstein1-226-9721103[[[Einstein and Eddington]]] is a story about the pursuit of truth against a background of war, violence, nationalism, subterfuge, and prejudice during World War I.
 
David Tennant, widely known as the latest incarnation of [[[Doctor Who]]], admirably plays Arthur Eddington, hailed as the “best measuring man in England.”  Appointed as the Director of the Cambridge Observatory, the ninth since Sir Isaac Newton held the position, he is charge with maintaining the truth of Newtonian physics against all comers.  Sir Oliver Lodge, another keeper of the Newtonian faith, is portrayed by the wonderful Jim Broadbent and assigns Eddington to investigate an up and coming German scientist, Albert Einstein whose work appears to question certain aspects of currently accepted physics.  Lodge wants Eddington to prove Einstein wrong, demonstrating the superiority of “British science” over “German science.”
 
Andy Serkis’s portrayal of Albert Einstein is heartwarming, funny, and frustrating, all at the same time.  Serkis is best known to audiences for his work as Gollum in [[[The Lord of the Rings]]] trilogy , but here we can see him as a flesh and blood actor. The character appears to be incapable of relating to most people, much to his estranged family’s dismay.  He is offered a much needed job at the University of Berlin, the heart of the think-tank for developing better ways of making war.  He cannot understand why they want to use science to build things and kill people, rather than simply love science for the sheer joy of figuring out how thing work, not bend it to their destructive will, and he is quite vocal about his position.
 
This is the situation when, much to Eddington’s dismay, he discovers that Einstein may indeed be right about flaws in Newton’s laws.  Having never met the man, he writes Einstein a letter which is simply a page of equations.  Einstein responds in kind.  Eddington, a Quaker and pacifist, had found a balance in his life between science and faith, finding room for both Newton and God.  Until he receives Einstein reply.
 
Between the lines of equations the two men share, they continue to pursue the truth behind the physics and develop an unusual friendship.  Their work continues through a series of personal trials: Einstein ’s affair which leads to a divorce, Eddington’s loss of a dear friend at the Battle of Ypres where he is killed by mustard gas, developed by the same institution employing Einstein, and both of them coming into conflict with the demands of their respective employers.
 
Something of a recluse, Eddington was never comfortable with being the focus of public attention so it was fortunate that his work brought more attention to the work of Albert Einstein and his Theory of General Relativity.
 
Einstein and Eddington is a fine introduction to these two geniuses and the science they both loved so dearly.
 
This period piece was filmed on location at Cambridge University, with Croatia and Hungary standing in for Germany and West Africa. It was written by Peter Moffat and directed by Philip Martin, the team behind the acclaimed [[[Hawking]]]. The BBC production was filmed in association with HBO and debuted on November 22 in the United Kingdom.  An American airdate on the premium channel has not been announced.

Review: ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ DVD

The very best science fiction comments on today’s problems wrapped around a provocative story involving characters and situations that people can relate to.  They are also snapshots of moments in time and The Day the Earth Stood Still is a wonderful look at America between the end of World War II and the Cold War that gripped the world for decades.

There are few genre films of this era that hold up today and if you have never seen it, this two-disc commemorative set, on sale today, is well worth your attention.

The film is loosely based on a Harry Bates short story but thoroughly rewritten by Edward North and directed with a documentary and film noir feel by Robert Wise.  The tale of first contact is nothing new, but it’s all in the telling.  In this case, the film and its characters take matters very seriously. Wise is to be credited for giving us a culturally diverse montage of reactions throughout the movie, so we’re reminded that the arrival of the flying saucer affects everyone living on Earth.

Wise and Fox’s executives were smart to cast newcomer Michael Rennie as Klaatu since audiences had no preconceived notions when they see him, as opposed to Spencer Tracy, who we learn in the extras, wanted the role.  His lean figure and serious demeanor made him appear otherworldly and human at the same time. He’s paired nicely with Patricia Neal as a widow raising her young son, Bobby (Billy Gray).

So typical of mankind, no sooner does Klaatu emerge from the starship than a nervous G.,I. fires and wounds him, activating his security robot, the mammoth Gort.  When Klaatu asks the President’s secretary to arrange a meeting with world leaders, we get a little political satire as leaders of state put ego ahead of statesmanship. Klaatu decides to go out among mankind and find out something about the people of Earth and there he takes up residence at the boarding house where Neal lives.

The scenes of Klaatu and Bobby touring Washington are nice as we see things through fresh eyes which leads Klaatu to find Prof. Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), the stand-in for Albert Einstein, the era’s recognized smartest man alive. Fear wins the day as Klaatu is shot once more but miraculously survives in time to deliver a warning.  Mankind’s use of atomic weapons must never expand into space, threatening the galactic peace.  If they cannot do this, the planet will be reduced to a cinder. And then he leaves, mission accomplished.

Sure it’s a cautionary tale and far more simplistically told than the remake coming December 12 which changes fear of warfare to fear of ecological disaster.  Still, for its time, the movie is quite sophisticated in its script, direction, acting and message.  There’s an ironic moment as we see medical staff marvel over Klaatu’s prolonged lifespan as they light up cigarettes.

The first disc opens with Exclusive First Look At The New Movie [[[The Day The Earth Stood Still]]] which probably should have followed the feature.

The extras put the film into context starting with archival commentary from Wise (who died in 2005) and Nicholas Meyer (who followed his footsteps as a Star Trek director). The Making of The Day the Earth Stood Still does a nice job telling you the basics behind the film’s history but it’s the second disc that gives you “Decoding ‘Klaatu Barada Nikto’: Science Fiction as Metaphor” giving you the historic perspective.  The first disc also offers up “The Mysterious, Melodious Theremin” which even puts Bernard Hermann’s haunting score into perspective.

On the second disc there’s also a fairly rote look at the history of flying saucers plus bio pieces on Bates and North.  North made an anti-atomic bomb documentary, [[[Race To Oblivion]]], starring Burt Lancaster, this is also included.  Original trailers and a 1951 Fox Movietonews  round out the visuals. Still galleries including lobby cards, one sheets and the complete shooting script.

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