More Movies So Far for 2011

WoS Reviews: More Movies So Far

It would seem that I am on a lucky streak of really good movies of late. Not too shabby for starting into the 2011 Movie game a bit late. Here are more quick reviews of the last three I’ve seen. I have to admit, that they were all pretty damned good. Take a look:

13 Assassins: Takeshi Miike’s take on “Seven Samurai”, a bloody, action-filled romp through 18^th Century Japan, never made my 2011 Want to See list, but through strong word of mouth, here we are. It is a basic plot; samurai of a certain shogun must assassinate the shogun’s psychotic brother lest he assume a seat of power and turn the hard-earned peace back into warring chaos.

It presents many complex themes within this simple plot, such as a samurai’s duty to the master against the duty towards the people and the act of brutal war to maintain a time of peace, mix that with a samurai’s feeling of obsolescence in this new era and the stage is set for one of the strongest samurai flicks to come around since that golden era of the chambera.

I read that all of the actors, including the older ones, had to be taught bushido, the art of samurai swordsmanship, when back in the days of Mifune, every studio put their contracted actors through this training as a given that they would have to perform in samurai films. Ah, the bygone era.

This movie is filled with manly men saying manly things, followed by brutal actions, but never shied away from the questions of violence. Still, the last 45 minutes was one of the best action sequences I have seen this year.

High recommendation.

X-Men First Class: I have heard nothing but doom for this pre-boot to the X-Men series ever since it was announced. It didn’t even make the annual Want To See list on my Year End WoS Reviews. But Producer Bryan Singer and Director Matthew Vaungh put together a well-crafted piece of genre. Steeped in both the 60’s atmosphere and politics of the times, this film followed the Sophoclean friendship of Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr, whom become the godly Professor X and the evil Magneto, respectively. It balances their relationship and conflicting points of view with an assembly of young mutants to battle Sebastian Shaw, NOT overplayed by Kevin Bacon as he seeks to widen conflict between the US and USSR by diverting nuclear missiles to Cuba. Yep, you read that right.

To see the emotional pay off of this story, as it both pays homage to the earlier films and sort of reboots them was what made it enjoyable for me. People will complain that the original “first class” of the comics was not featured will see (SPOILER) that the Xavier School for the Gifted was established at the end of the film, so that first class can still happen. I just may see this one again.

High recommendation.

The Tree of Life:

This was the very first Terrence Malick movie I ever saw. And it was pretty damned good. Now, it will not register with the “I hate to stop and think about it” crowd, but I found the imagery mesmerizing and the central story, that of a man remembering his youth and the parental forces that shaped him, compelling and well-acted.

It is awash in self-reflective sequences that depict the origins of the Universe and follows that through to the time of the rise of man, which becomes philosophical once the story of the man and his remembered father enter the film.

It is unique and beautiful. To be honest it could have gone either way for me as sometimes there seemed to be random shots of “things” in the film just to have random shots of “things” in the film. But, what finally clenched the film for me as something I liked are twofold, first, there needs to be a Native American version of this made, and two, the shot of the bridge near the end. After all that nature created, here was this glorious shot of this huge, beautiful bridge, something manmade. I looked at that accomplishment and many thoughts raced through my head; I was taken back to Orson Welles meditation on Chartres and how man will leave these unsigned works of art to show we were hear past our time on earth and also how these works are a sign of our own mortality.

Looking at the shot of the bridge, I thought, “Yeah, we made that. As a human species, we made that.”

And it was good.

High recommendation.

© 2011 Ernest M. Whiteman III

WoS Reviews: 2011 So Far

Wisdom of the Sages Reviews

So Far for 2011

I have only seen six movies so far this year. I know, I am way behind. But of course, Hollywood makes it so easy to skip the theater with all the nonsense they put out these days. So, in an effort to catch up, I will quick review all the movies I have seen this year.

Rango – I believe was the first movie I saw this year. A great animated effort with the voice of Johnny Depp as a misplaced Lizard trying to help a small town of animals in the desert. A very funny and loving homage to the spaghetti westerns, in a more sound example than Tarantino’s efforts. Also, the first animated film from ILM with design by the great cinematographer Roger Deakins. Well worth the viewing. High Recommendation.

The King’s Speech – I know this is a carryover from 2010 but it took me a while to see it. Luckily, since winning Best Picture, it stayed in theaters. Colin Firth plays the heir to the throne of England with the disability of a vocal stutter, which greatly compromises his regal station. Geoffrey Rush plays the speech therapist that must not only help the heir overcome his speech impediment, but his fears of his true duties to the throne. This won Best Picture, so who am I to tell you to see this or not? Still: Recommend.

Battle: Los Angeles – I really enjoyed this one. I really did. More than just a slate of mindless action set pieces, here Aaron Eckhart plays a just-retired Marine Corps Staff Sergeant shouldered with a staggering past wartime failure which cost lives that other soldiers blame him for, as he must find his way through his grief and shoulder the new responsibility of helping his team and civilians through a massive alien invasion. The battles are fast and chaotic as I imagined a battle would be. But he relies on his experience and skills to get though and find a way to fight a seemingly undefeatable enemy. Awesome action flick. High Recommendation.

Hanna – I was interested in the story about a young girl trained as an assassin by her father for some nefarious reason. I love the idea of a young girl empowered with deadly skills as they remind me of my Charlotte. This was not as action-packed as I had hoped and the turn toward sci-fi felt out of place but overall a small, quiet flick. The main thrust of the narrative is the young girl’s exposure to civilization after a rough existence in the isolated wilderness. Recommend.

Pom Wonderful Presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold – I would very much recommend this one. A very fun and eye-opening documentary from Morgan Spurlock, the director of “Super Size Me” and the excellent FX series “30 Days”. Here he explores the industry of product placement in the media and how it affects both opinion and art, by infecting commerce. A concept all artists should be aware of, in my opinion. Here, Spurlock tries to get this very documentary funded through product placement. Again, fun and very eye-opening at how marketing has seeped into almost every aspect of our society, including the vaunted arts. High recommendation.

Thor – I have never been a fan of the Marvel Comic. But I am a fan of Kenneth Branagh since his feature-film directorial debut “Henry V” which remains my all-time favorite movie. KennethBranagh, as a film director, while not without his failures, has struck me as a fearless director. Even though he found huge success as a Shakespearean film adapter, he has not strayed from tackling other genre of films. He has done everything from mystery/suspense (Dead Again) to horror (Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein) to comedy (A Midwinter’s Tale) to musical (Love’s Labour Lost) to opera (The Magic Flute) and now to comic book adaptations with Thor, the latest in a string of interconnected movies from Marvel Entertainment.

So, as a fan of Branagh I plucked down my $$ to see this. It was funny and engaging and action-packed. There was also space for drama and romance. It is very much a Kenneth Branagh film. I was not disappointed with this, as I never read the comic. And from the looks of it, a lot of people were not disappointed either. Some could argue the success of Thor is due to fans of Marvel comics not wanting it to fail so they cannot see the collapse of “The Avengers” movie due next year. Still, a fun movie. Recommend.

As you can see I still haven’t seen that movie yet that has risen to the top of my favorite of the year, like “Inception” or “Red Cliff”. But there is plenty of 2011 left. So, we’ll see and keep watching.

Until next time...

© 2011 Ernest M. Whiteman III