Paul (3/5 Stars)

Paul isn’t a rip-off of every other science fiction movie. Every other science fiction movie is a rip-off of Paul…according to Paul that is.

Well it didn’t take long to find an exception to my “Ripoff/Homage” theory. A full week. “Paul” is an exception to that rule mostly because of the odd way that it uses its references. For example, the Alien in “Paul” has most of the same special abilities of classic movie aliens. He can heal people like E.T. and he can mild-meld like Spock. But this movie isn’t simply taking undue credit for coming up with these abilities like an ordinary rip-off; it goes even further than that. It declares that Paul the Alien is actually the inspiration for E.T. and Spock. There’s even a flashback scene where Paul, in the warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark, counsels Steven Spielberg over the phone and gives him the idea for E.T.’s healing power. Such is one of the most interesting conceits of this movie: the Alien didn’t just crash land here yesterday. He came over forty years ago right about before “Star Wars” came out. He’s been kept secret at Area 51, but the government has allowed him to counsel movie producers in an effort to ease the general public to the idea of alien life through cultural osmosis. So Paul may look like an unimaginative stereotypical Alien, the small green type, but that’s only because the government has been secretly brainwashing you the last 40 years that Aliens should look like that so when you finally see one you won’t be so freaked out. So “Paul” relies heavily on its references, but in a way it has too. I’ll get back to this.

“Paul” is directed by Greg Mottola and constitutes the reunification of Team Pegg and Frost, who wrote and star in this movie, their first collaboration since “Hot Fuzz.” Frost is an unpublished science fiction writer. Pegg is his illustrator. They hail from England and are visiting the United States for the first time on their dream trip. First, Comic Con in San Diego followed by a road trip through the American Southwest with stops at all the famous UFO sites (Area 51, Roswell, etc.). Some of this borders on the absurd. One stop is something called “The Black Mailbox.” It looks just like a mailbox in the middle of a barren desert. The only odd thing is that it is covered with fanboy graffiti and is actually white. Pegg and Frost stand across from it, stare at it for a while, and agree that it is awesome. They must know something I don’t know. (Actually I’m assuming that they saw it in a really good movie or something. If so, then I understand the interest. Ever since I saw “Being John Malkovich” I’ve always wanted to visit that one spot on the New Jersey Turnpike and take pictures. I can’t explain it. You would have to see the movie.) Then in the middle of the night, the car in front of them runs off the road and crashes. They stop, get out, and find that the driver is an alien on the LAM who needs their help getting to a rendezvous point. Frost faints and pisses his pants.

The Alien is voiced by Seth Rogen, perhaps the last person you would think an alien would sound like. It’s odd for the first minute or two and then I got to liking it. Paul acts like Seth Rogen. He’s a laid back and comfortable alien, quick to make immature gestures and amusing jokes. Pegg and Frost are endearing good sports that take a liking to the little guy. In fact, everybody here gets along fine. Everything is all like cool and mellow and because Paul has already been on Earth for so long, nothing has to be explained to him. So I wasn’t hearing worn out explanations of stuff like food and love. Instead Paul explains things to Pegg and Frost. (Actually this is stuff I’ve heard before because I’ve seen most of the movies that Paul is taking credit for.) Anyway, the movie settles into a comfortable tone. There are plenty of campfires with beer and brats and just a little bit of weed. It wasn’t all that funny, but then again it was never annoying. I wouldn’t mind having a beer with these guys.

Then the movie makes a strategic mistake. It gets violent in a not funny way. Some serious Men in Black are tailing the trio. The lead guy is Jason Bateman and two ordinary policemen, Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio, help him along. These are all gifted comedians and that’s a problem given what the movie eventually makes them do. It really is imperative that a villain who meets an untimely demise be unlikable. A huge problem here is that Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio spend most of the movie being funny and then right about the third act, they take out their guns and start shooting with intent to kill. When a movie casts likable comedians in violent roles it is a tactical error. Especially in a movie that has as its best quality a laid back comfortable feeling to it. I didn’t want to see anybody here put in mortal danger. Buzzkill, man, Buzzkill. Either they shouldn’t have cast Hader and Truglio at all or they should have reworked the story.

But how would you rework this story and keep the conflict. Here’s a suggestion: find someway to get rid of the guns. Violence is funny up to a certain line, and guns, once they start firing with any realism, cross it very quick. Without guns, violence is physical comedy. For one thing, a person with a gun is stationary, and a person who is shot with a gun stops moving very quickly. This literally kills the kinetic momentum of good physical comedy. For a second thing, a wound from a gun is a serious wound, emphasis on the word “Serious.” Here, they should have ditched the guns and had everyone fight with fake light sabers or something.

There’s an impressive cast in this movie. In supporting roles we have Jane Lynch (used well), David Koechner (used not so well), and Jeffrey Tambor. Most importantly the inimitable Kristen Wiig joins the RV crew along the way. Wiig runs an RV camp and is what you would call a Jesus Freak, a firm believer in Creationism and not in aliens. This leads to arguments between her and Paul. It’s a bit of an unfair debate. Perhaps in somebody’s next movie an arcangel will come down from heaven and explain to some UFO enthusiasts the unlikelihood of a government conspiracy. But anyway, shaken in her belief of God, Heaven, and Hell, Wiig decides to let loose. She spends the second half of the movie cursing like a sailor. In any other actor’s hands this wouldn’t be nearly as funny, but Wiig is a wizard at line delivery. I keep seeing her in small parts in the movies of lesser comedians (Will Forte in Macgruber anyone?). This May we will finally see what she can do with a lead role. That’s when “Bridesmaids” comes out. She writes and stars in it. It’s about time.

Anyway let’s go all the way back to the beginning. This movie relies on plenty of references. Some work much better than others. So let’s put down a few rules that will clarify Ripoff/Homage does and don’ts. First Rule: Jokes cannot be retold. A reference can be used as a joke, but you can’t use a joke from a reference. A bunch of times in this movie, characters will actually quote jokes and catchphrases from other movies. Jason Bateman at one point while talking on a car radio, disagrees with the person on the other side, takes out his gun, shoots the radio, and says “Boring Conversation anyway.” That’s a direct rip-off from “Star Wars.” It was only sort of funny when Han Solo said it. It’s less funny now. Any pleasure I get from that line will come directly from my experience of watching “Star Wars.” It makes no sense to put a line into a movie that will only make the viewer want to watch something else that did it better. Second Rule: References can be used to create a mood or character for a scene but they can’t make the scene. A great use of this in “Paul” was the casting of Sigourney Weaver as the head bad guy. A viewer with knowledge of the Aliens franchise will know that Weaver is the ultimate merciless alien killer. It helps create suspense in the scene just by having Weaver show up. BUT, that doesn’t mean the scene is going to be any good. The maker still has work to do.

The main problem with this movie about fanboys is also the main problem with fanboys in general. They will quote movies without adding anything to the conversation about them (i.e. they keep telling you things you already know.) It may make sense that this movie does that because the characters are fanboys, but that doesn’t make the movie any better. Ask yourself this question as you watch the movie: Would you rather see “Paul” or any of the movies it alludes to like “Star Wars,” “Aliens,” “E.T.,” etc again? “Rango” was an affirmative to that question. I can’t say the same about “Paul.”    

Rango (4/5 Stars)

Alright all you cinema lovers you’ve got a Netflix assignment before watching “Rango.” Knowledge of the following should enhance your viewing enjoyment ten-fold: Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now,” Sergio Leone and Clint Eastwood’s “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” at least the first chapter of Hunter S. Thompson “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” the chapter “Red Queen” from Marc Reisner’s “Cadillac Desert,” and most importantly Roman Polanski’s “Chinatown.” It also wouldn’t hurt if you’ve familiarized yourself with the walking style of John Wayne, the Indian from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," the Eye of Mordor from “The Lord of the Rings,” the wheelchair movement of the Big Lebowski, cursory knowledge of desert flora and fauna, Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” and any and all Looney Tunes parodies or something to do with a “New Sheriff in Town.” You don’t need to have seen any of these to enjoy “Rango,” but then again you won't be in on some of the jokes. Unlike most movies that dumb themselves down to the lowest common denominator in order to appease the ignorant, “Rango” has absolutely no shame for looking peculiar, channeling classic movies, and counting on the audience to appreciate the quirky references not to be turned off by them. Overall, “Rango” is a good movie that was made by people who love great movies for people who love great movies.

“Rango,” is about a pet chameleon wannabe thespian that spends his days in his glass case acting out Shakespeare with inanimate props. Then a crisis occurs, the speeding convertible transporting his case hits an armadillo, and he is thrown out of the back where he subsequently almost hits a red shark and lands in a desert wasteland in the middle of nowhere. Actually circumstantial evidence suggests he is somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert on the road to Las Vegas. We don’t know the chameleon’s given name although again circumstantial evidence suggests he’s one of those “Goddamn Animals!” Anyway in search of water, he comes upon a town aptly named Dirt. The place looks like a Spaghetti Western inhabited by Ralph Steadman drawings. The characters are various desert animals dressed in western attire, all of them looking like there hasn't been enough water for showers in years. The amount of detail that went into the visual aspect of Rango suggests somebody put a lot of love into this thing. Gore Verbinski, who previously directed the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, is at the helm here. It may be a few movies too soon to say this, but I think one day he may be regarded as an equal among such other great artistic directors like Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, and Guillermo Del Toro. Animation in general has reached such a level of sophistication that I wonder if movies like this will ever be recognized by the Academy for Art Direction or Costume Design. I mean most of the design in last year’s “Alice and Wonderland” was entirely CGI. Why wouldn’t “Rango” be considered?

 Johnny Depp continues his career long quixotic quest to not look attractive by voicing the odd-looking chameleon with different size eyes and a potbelly. Upon coming to the town, he decides to put his acting skills to the test. Instead of simply admitting he’s lost, he calls himself “Rango” and tells a far out story about how he killed seven members of the same family with one bullet. He must have seen “True Grit.” I liked that movie too. This chameleon has good taste. Unfortunately for him, the town is in an enormous water crisis and actually needs a really good sheriff, what with the last one getting killed and all. So you can see where this is going.

The dialogue in “Rango,” is verbose and witty. The level of vocabulary in “Rango” is on the level of “Pirates of the Caribbean.” It should be. John Logan (Aviator, Gladiator) wrote the screenplay but Gore and James Ward Byrkit both straight from “Pirates” also get story credit. The Pirate accents have been switched for Western accents, but everything is still gruffly poetic delivered in a slurred multisyllabic rough and ready converse. Isla Fisher voices a lizard named Beans, giving us the least romantic name for a love interest ever. Abigail Breslin provides the voice of Priscilla, who I think might be some sort of Jewish possum. Bill Nighy is Rattlesnake Jake with suspiciously familiar eyes. Ned Beatty continues his dominance in evil cartoon voices (see Toy Story 3) with the Mayor. This time he's channeling John Huston in “Chinatown.” The Spirit of the West also shows up to counsel Rango in the form of Clint Eastwood in his Man-with-no-name garb driving a golf cart with a bunch of Oscars in the carriage. It’s a scene on par with Ed Wood getting advice from Orson Welles in “Ed Wood.” Unfortunately Eastwood didn’t voice himself. It was Timothy Olyphant. That’s too bad. It would have been so cool if he did.

The story of “Rango” is a movie cliché and one well-versed in movie knowledge will perhaps guess all the plot points before they happen. That didn’t bother me at all really because the movie itself is counting on me knowing everything anyway and instead spends its enormous energy in making all the old memories fresh and new. This movie is a great example of what the difference is between rip-off and homage. A Rip-off is a cynical attempt to capitalize on a popular trend. Homage is a nostalgic callback to something remembered fondly. Actually in practice they are exactly the same thing. What makes a movie one or the other is how deserving it is to be in the same class as that it is imitating. If a movie is lazy and dumb, then it is almost an insult to the classic to see itself in the inferior product. However, when the movie is creative and smart, as is Rango, a callback can be a compliment between artists who are on an equal level. “Rango” does not rely on its references. Take out every homage and it still would be funny and look great. That’s why it is full of homages and not rip-offs. Depp and Verbinski aren’t riding any coattails here.

Oscar Picks 2010

The great thing about being a movie critic is that you’re never wrong. A movie is good precisely because you think it is. It is bad for the same reason. People may disagree but they are always wrong to suggest you liked something you disliked or disliked something you liked.

Given that reasoning, the Academy, though always reasonably close, is wrong on a consistent basis. Thus, when I pick my Oscars I don’t particularly care to choose amongst the nominees. In other words, I do what I want. Neener neener. Bold indicates a winner.

I haven’t seen any of the Documentary or Live Action Shorts so I won’t bother saying which one I like best.

Animated Short

Day & Night by Teddy Newton from Pixar

I only saw one animated short this year but it was certainly good enough.

Original Song

???

Oddly enough, even though I saw both 127 Hours and Toy Story 3, I don’t remember the nominated songs from either of them. This has always been a throwaway category. Unfortunate because it would be nice to here some good music for a change performed at the Oscars themselves. 

Original Score

Inception

The Social Network

Trent Reznor’s “Hand Covers Bruise,” though simple was the year’s most memorable theme. Of course, “Black Swan” had the best score, but that doesn’t count because Tchiakovsky composed it over a 100 years ago.

Sound Mixing

The Social Network

What is Sound Mixing? I confess I don't know exactly how to notice it within a movie. But there was a good amount of talk about the club scene in “The Social Network.” Apparently the way the two people talking seemed to realistically hear each other in a nightclub was movie magic. 

Sound Editing

Inception

Same level of confusion here, but the consensus seems to think that the difference between the noises in all the dream levels was an exemplary use of this. Was it?

Makeup

127 Hours

Alice and Wonderland

The Wolfman

It sure looked realistic to me when James Franco hacked off his arm.

Costume Design

Alice in Wonderland

Black Swan

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

No real contest here. A Tim Burton movie will win this category for the zillionth time. Honorable Mentions go to the Black Swan Costume and Lisbeth Salander’s Gothic attire.

Art Direction

Alice in Wonderland

Black Swan

Inception

MicMacs

True Grit

Again, the best thing about a Tim Burton movie is the visuals. They make the movie worth seeing even if it is a completely misguided interpretation of one of my favorite books.

Visual Effects

Alice in Wonderland

Inception

Iron Man 2

TRON: Legacy
Shutter Island

Plenty of movies blow up buildings. Inception designed great architecture, folded it onto itself, and then blew it up. That’s what separates the men from the boys. I did not see Harry Potter or Hereafter.

Animated Feature

Toy Story 3

It’s an insult to Pixar for this category to even exist. As if it was sitting at the kiddies table or something. Oh well, maybe yet another Oscar will cheer them up. I did not see any other animated movies this year.

Best Documentary Feature

Casino Jack and the United States of Money

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Inside Job

Restrepo

“Exit Through the Gift Shop” is a cool movie to see. “Inside Job” needs to be seen.

Foreign Film

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

MicMacs

I didn’t see any of the nominated foreign films but I have trouble imagining any of them being better than “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” That omission of that movie is one of the biggest snubs of the year.

Best Film Editing
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
The Social Network
Shutter Island

The Social Network cut between two deposition hearings and a main storyline told from several Points of View. Were you ever confused? That's good editing.

Cinematography

127 Hours

Black Swan

Inception

The Social Network

True Grit (Roger Deakins)

I will be thrilled if Roger Deakins wins his first Oscar for “True Grit.” It is a great looking movie and an Oscar for that man is way overdue. This is his 9^th nomination. He has yet to win.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams (“The Fighter”)

Helena Bonham Carter (“The King’s Speech”)

Anne Hathaway (“Alice in Wonderland”)

Mila Kunis (“Black Swan”)

Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”)

This is decidedly a weak category with no clear deserving winner. I’ve chosen Amy Adams because she has done great work in the past and the good job she did here looked like nothing she had done in the past. I am not of the opinion that Hailee Steinfeld was an actress in a supporting role.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale (“The Fighter”)

Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”)

Rob Corddry (“Hot Tub Time Machine”)

James Marsden (“Death at a Funeral”)

Justin Timberlake (“The Social Network”)

Christian Bale should be getting his much-deserved Oscar this year. For those of us who thought he was incredible in “American Psycho” over a decade ago, it has been a long wait. And yes, I do think it is commendable that James Marsden spent half a movie freaking out on LSD buck-naked on a roof during a funeral. That was hilarious. Same goes with Rob Corddry. He gave the 2010's Best Comedic performance in what somehow turned out to be 2010's Best Comedy, “Hot Tub Time Machine.” They are definitely more deserving than Geoffrey Rush, who I believe did better work as a pirate. (Not that he was bad in “The King’s Speech.” I just really liked him as a pirate.)

Actress in a Leading Role

Dakota Fanning (“The Runaways”)

Natalie Portman (“Black Swan”)

Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”)

Noomi Rapace (“The Girl who Played with Fire”)

Michelle Williams (“Blue Valentine”)

I honestly thought it would be impossible to witness a better performance than Noomi Rapace gave in “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” this year, but pleasantly surprised I was. Natalie Portman gets the top prize by a nose simply because she had to learn ballet to create the role, which by the looks of the movie is not the easiest art form to master. Unfortunately I never saw Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone.” I’m not too disappointed I didn’t see Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole.”

Actor in a Leading Role

Jim Carrey (“I Love You, Phillip Morris”)

Leonardo Dicaprio (“Shutter Island”)

Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”)

James Franco (“127 Hours”)

Ryan Reynolds (“Buried”)

Okay, I enjoy Oscar bait like everyone else. Colin Firth gets the top prize. Just as important though is the number of snubs in this category. For instance Jim Carrey was completely forgotten again. Something should be said of roles that only one person in the entire world can pull off. You tell me who else could have done a better job in “I love You, Phillip Morris,” or for that matter “Dumb and Dumber,” “The Mask,” “Man on the Moon,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” or even “Lemony Snicket.” Whatever Academy. Also I bet if Shutter Island came out in December instead of February than Dicaprio would have been nominated. Of course, the toughest role of the year belonged to Ryan Reynolds. People probably noticed him for the first time this year. Watch out if he ever gets another Awards-worthy role in the future.

Best Adapted Screenplay:

127 Hours (Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg)

The Social Network (Aaron Sorkin)

Shutter Island (Laeta Kalogridis)

Toy Story 3 (Michael Arndt)

This is an easy one. Aaron Sorkin made the real life geniuses sound like geniuses. You would have to be some sort of genius to pull that off. I’m not sure exactly what Toy Story 3 was adapting but hey if they want to put it in this category that’s their business.

Best Original Screenplay

Black Swan (Mark Heyman, Andres Heinz, John J. McLaughlin)

Blue Valentine (Derek Cianfrance, Cami Delavigne, Joey Curtis)

Inception (Christopher Nolan)

Inside Job (Chad Beck, Adam Bolt)

The King’s Speech (David Seidler)

A tough choice here, made even more so because of the very different stories in “Blue Valentine” and “Inception.” Still “Inception” may have had a very good screenplay but still, that isn’t the movie's best feature. Whereas “Blue Valentine” derives its power from the almost poetic parallel storylines of an early romance and a breaking marriage. You normally wouldn't think of documentaries as having screenplays but what else would you call the clear and comprehensive explanation of a massive financial disaster. This is what “Inside Job” achieves.

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”)

Derek Cianfrance (“Blue Valentine”)

David Fincher (“The Social Network”)

Christopher Nolan (“Inception”)

Martin Scorsese (“Shutter Island”)

Far and away, Christopher Nolan is the most deserving of the Oscar. His absence in the category is indeed the snub of the year. The Academy has a hole in its head.

Best Picture

127 Hours

Black Swan

Blue Valentine

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Inception

The King’s Speech

Shutter Island

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

True Grit

It may be true that “The King’s Speech” is a good movie but my main beef with that movie is that it could have been the Best Picture Winner like fifty years ago. Something like “The Social Network,” a movie just as good could only have been made now or sometime in the future. It defines a year. The Academy really has to get over its Nazi thing.

Unfortunately nobody thinks “Inception” will win. That’s okay. Neither did “Citizen Kane,” or “Apocalypse Now” or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” A movie like “Inception” suffers come awards season because the sheer originality of it makes it hard to compare or judge. You can watch “The King’s Speech,” and easily see how well it correctly complements all our knowledge of World War II, the English Monarchy, and Speaking Disabilities. How do you judge “Inception?” What will you compare it too? Did it get “Extraction” or “Inception” correct? If you could build dreams, would that be what it should be like? There really has been nothing quite like this movie before. Anyway it was the movie experience of the year for me. I didn’t think I was going to see a better movie this year than “Inception.” I didn’t.

Having said that, I believe there were three must see movies that came out this year: “Inception,” “Black Swan,” and “The Social Network.” Have fun with those. I’ll see you next year at the movies.  

There isn't a category for Best Scene of the year, but this was mine from "Shutter Island." 

Cedar Rapids (4/5 Stars)

What happens in Cedar Rapids, stays in Cedar Rapids.

There’s a tendency to think of insurance sales as a nondescript profession and insurance salesmen as stereotypical nondescript people. There’s also a tendency to think of Iowa as a nondescript state. Besides political primaries and corn what else is there? Cedar Rapids happens to be the second biggest city in Iowa. Des Moines, the capital, is top dog. (Although according to inside information I have from a Cedar Rapids native, it is definitely the better city as Des Moines is full of pretentious d-bags.) Enter Tim Lippe, played by Ed Helms, an insurance salesman who has never left his even smaller Iowan town of Brown Valley but is attending for the first time the big insurance sales convention in Cedar Rapids. His excitement is palpable. The hotel the convention is being held in has a pool inside of it. Wow! The best thing about this movie is that it takes all these people that we tend to have a preconceived notion of plain vanilla boringness with and crafts funny, likable, but nevertheless believable characters. I’ve always known in some vague speculation that there are insurance salesmen in Iowa. Well here they are cracking jokes, drinking in excess, and having sex. You know just like real ordinary people. Who knew?

What this movie is, above all, is a Coming-of-Age story. Forget that Tim Lippe is middle-aged; he has spent his entire life in the small town of Brown Valley and is experiencing the big city for the first time. He’s never been on a plane and takes it very seriously that he is in the emergency exit row. When the city’s sole prostitute, Bree (Alia Shawkat), approaches him outside the hotel, asks him for a cigarette, and lets him know that she is down for a party, he thanks her for her friendliness, explains he doesn’t smoke, and offers her a butterscotch candy instead. When he meets his roommate, Ronald (played by Isaiah Whitlock Jr.) he is legitimately surprised that he would be black. He also happens to be completely oblivious that most of the other conventioneers view the experience as a chance to take a vacation and let loose for a change. Tim Lippe on the other hand has a mission. He is on direct orders from his boss to give a presentation that will win the coveted Two Diamonds award. This award stands for ethics, good work, and godliness. In order to accomplish this, his boss gives him one more direction helpful direction: Stay away from Dean Ziegler. A glitch in the hotel room accommodations however allows Tim and Ronald to upgrade to a Junior Suite on the condition that they get another roommate. That third roommate is Dean Ziegler.

The “Deansy” (an affectionate nickname self-given), played by John C. Reilly, is a welcome invasion of constant one-liners and crass buffoonish behavior. You know this person from somewhere. He’s the type of immature loudmouth who makes up for his impolite garish persona with an extremely egalitarian view of friendship. Namely, he’s the type of person who will be friends with anyone who will take shots with him. These types of people, though immature and reckless, happen to lend life a certain sparkle. Who else will convince you to take a swim in the indoor pool (which closed at 11pm) at 3 am in the morning? This complete lack of self-consciousness is on full display in one great comedic scene when The Deansy decides to have a serious heart to heart with Tim and it never occurs to him to think of putting on a shirt first. As he is describing how to dance with the tiger (a loose metaphor for the insurance business) his ample gut his is in full view swaying as it were quite noticeably during his remarkably physical explanation. Here is a man eminently comfortable with himself. John C. Reilly should be commended for his self-less virtuoso performance. Rounding out the gang is Joan, played by Anne Heche, a married woman who is intent on letting what happens in Cedar Rapids stay in Cedar Rapids and Ronald, played by Isaiah Whitlock Jr. who is quite conservative but does have his guilty pleasures. For instance he collects antiques and does a pretty good impression of “Omar” from his favorite TV show HBO’s “The Wire.” Guess which one you get to see him do when the shit gets real.

Movies that employ a good amount of believable, funny, and likable characters tend to attract an accomplished list of supporting actors. This movie is no different. Here we have Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3), Kurtwood Smith (Red from That 70s Show), Alia Shawkat (Maybe from Arrested Development), Rob Corddry (Daily Show, Hot Tub Time Machine), and Stephen Root (No Country for Old Men, Dodgeball) filling in the background of the scenes. All of them have their moments. Nobody in this movie is a huge star but that’s almost required given the subject material. A-list stars don’t really look like insurance salesmen. This you can verify for yourself during the many funny scenes of bare-ass nudity in the picture. Even Anne Heche has some curves where Hollywood Producers usually don’t allow them to be (still good looking). The director Miguel Arteta doesn’t even seem to have any qualms about shooting Ed Helms in a way that captures his double chinniness. That too is kind of a rare thing in movies.   

One strength and weakness of this movie is that it never gets too wacky or surreal. Nothing happens during the weekend of craziness that couldn’t actually happen at a convention. In this way the Comedy never rises to that level of ecstasy, which occurs only when watching the truly ridiculous or shocking things happen. So even though the laughs are consistent, this really isn’t a top-tier comedy. However, because Comedy never overtakes Reality, the characters and story are granted a certain amount of gravity. The screenplay, written by Phil Johnston, is not a satire. The writer actually seems to know a good deal about insurance and Iowa and declines to directly make fun of either. One scene deals with Joan subversively signing up Tim to do karaoke. He decides to sing an insurance sales parody of ‘O Holy Night.’ It’s full of inside jokes and technical language that I’m sure only insurance salesman would fully understand and enjoy. But you should get the jist of it and it should still be quite enjoyable. (Ed Helms: not a bad singer by the way). Tim Lippe may be naïve but the movie is on his side and his Coming-of-Age is infused with a sort of simple dignity. I was reminded about all the best characteristics of “The Office,” and especially that one scene where Michael Scott comments on Pam’s painting at her first art show and simply states, “That is our building…and we sell paper.” Tim Lippe is from the small town of Brown Valley. He sells insurance.

Ip Man 2 (5/5 Stars)

The British Boxer has thrown down a challenge. In an “apology,” to the Chinese people of Hong Kong for having killed one of their grandmasters during a Chinese-Western Boxing Match, he announces in a brash snarling voice that he allow any yellow man with a wish of revenge to step into the ring with him. Be warned though he declares, he will not hold back as he did when he killed the first man. The British Boxer is a daunting physical specimen. He has the type of body that you would think is impossible outside of a video game or a comic book. He fights in boxer garb. Large gloves exaggerate his fists and advertise the power of his haymakers. Shirtless, he confidently tromps around the ring showing off to the audience that he is indeed the strongest man in the room. With a condescending glint in his eye he pulls out a very large incense candle. In accordance with Chinese culture, he mockingly explains, the challenge will be open for as long as the candle burns. And that is where he makes his first mistake. From the back of the room we hear a calm unassuming voice. It is of a man, certainly not the biggest in the room, dressed only in a simple full-length black robe. He respectfully explains that the candle is not used or meant to tell time. Instead, it is a symbol of the inherent modesty in Chinese Culture. And with nothing more than that, the Ip Man solemnly accepts the challenge. He will fight the British Boxer.

We have a tendency in our Western Culture to categorize people either as Jocks or Nerds. You’re one or the other (and according to nerds there are plenty of clues as to which one you are). To those of us who would rather not be either, the lure of Eastern Culture is a strong one indeed. The Kung Fu master combines the best of both worlds. He is intelligent, educated, and polite, but not a pushover. He is strong and confident but not a dumb asshole. “Ip Man 2,” directed by Wilson Yip, is a biopic of sorts that heaps praise upon the real Ip Man, the guy who started the “Wing Chun” Martial Arts school in Hong Kong in the 1950s. You may not have heard of him or his school exactly, but you probably are familiar with his most famous pupil, Bruce Lee. Anyway the real Ip Man must have been one hell of a guy. He has almost certainly been exaggerated (especially his fighting skills) in this movie as the actor Donnie Yen has decided to portray him not merely as a great man, but as the Ideal Man. Whether this was true in real life is anyone’s guess, but I think this much we can assume: He probably was a really nice guy and he probably could kick your ass.

The story is very simple. Ip Man moves to Hong Kong with very little money and opens a Martial Arts school. He gets push back from other Martial Arts schools in the area and has to pass a test in order to teach. Then there is a subplot with a British Army Officer who is bullying one school in particular into providing a free boxing match. He gets very irate very quickly whenever the Chinese ask if they will get paid. He threatens to shut down the fish market if they don’t do it. The British Champion Boxer, played by Darren Shalavi, then insults Chinese Martial Arts (he describes it as weird dancing) and to save the pride of Chinese Martial Arts, the master of that school fights the boxer and is killed. That will take us to the beginning of this review. This may have been inspired by something in real life. What probably didn’t happen was how it happened in the movie. There are plenty of fight scenes and they are all ridiculously creative, elaborate, impressive, and spectacular. The exceedingly talented choreographers are the same guys who designed the kung fu from “The Matrix.” There is a scene where Ip Man takes on ten men with knives and poles in a fish market. Then there is a scene in which Ip Man has to accept challenges from the other grandmasters in order to open his own school. This fight takes place on top of a wobbly circular table. It gets really interesting when the fattest and oldest grandmaster jumps onto the table and it starts getting really wobbly. That fat old dude can really move. The last two fights take place in the ring with the boxer. Each subsequent fight is better than the last. There are about six main fights and they come at regular intervals. This is an exemplary Kung Fu movie. The best I’ve seen since “Ong Bak.”

There seems to be a large disconnect between movie critics and regular moviegoers when it comes to action movies. For instance, Transformers 2 was aggressively panned but made a huge amount of money at the box office. I would suggest that movies like “Ip Man 2” are the reason for this discrepancy. As movie buffs, movie critics see lots of movies. Every now and then they will see a movie like “Ip Man 2,” which raises their standards and expectations for action. I’m sure it was surprising to many people who saw Transformers 2 and loved it to then read numerous reviews that complained about how boring the fight scenes were. You wouldn’t understand why a Michael Bay movie is boring if you haven’t seen a great movie like this one. It’s like putting on glasses for the first time. You really have no idea how bad your eyesight is until you actually get a glimpse of how good your eyesight can be. In my review of “Tron: Legacy” I suggested that they should have gotten rid of the whole evil person taking over the world subplot and just focused on small motivations that made sense. Watch this movie and see what I mean made manifest. The final two fights are much more exciting and suspenseful than anything in Tron because the emotions behind them are based on not vague plans to take over the world but merely something as fundamental as an insult towards one’s culture and country. A disparagement directed at a person’s sense of identity is perhaps the most provoking type of insult there is. You don’t have to be Chinese to understand why it is so important for Ip Man to win the fight.

As it usually is in most movies, the bad guy has a tendency to steal the show. Here, Darren Shavali puts in what should be one of the great performances of the year. He’s got a screen presence (not to mention serious boxing chops) that is on the level of Al Pacino in “Scarface.” Surprisingly, this is his first main role. He’s been in other movies like “300” and “Watchmen,” but always as an unnamed extra in the background. I hope to see more of him in just as good movies in the future.

This movie is playing in only one theater. City Cinemas on 2^nd Avenue near 14^th Street. The original “Ip Man” is instantly streaming on Netflix.

Blue Valentine (4/5 Stars)

You always hurt the one you love,

The one you shouldn’t hurt at all.

You always take the sweetest rose

And crush it till the petals fall.

You always break the kindest heart,

With a hasty word you can’t recall.

And if I broke

Your heart last night,

It’s because

…I love you…

Most

Of

All

One of the most memorable descriptions of divorce I’ve heard is that it’s like a death in the family. The twist is that it’s you who has died. All the memories, all the moments, they are all part of some past life distantly remembered. You’re dead and the one you loved has moved on.

“Blue Valentine,” documents the death of the marriage between Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cynthia (Michelle Williams) over a particularly blue weekend. This is interspersed with poignant scenes from their early love six years before. Little by little things are revealed, stuff is said, and mistakes are made until finally it’s all over. Both Dean and Cynthia are decent people so it is fair to ask why this isn’t working. They ask themselves the same question. The structure of the story has many layers. At times we like one person more than the other. Than something happens. We switch sides. Something else happens. We oscillate back and forth. And then finally there are just so many things that it becomes impossible to tell who exactly is at fault. In the end, everybody and nobody is to blame. It’s just sad, that’s all. 

The Writer and Director of “Blue Valentine,” is Derek Cianfrance. This is his debut feature film. He has a talent for natural yet articulate dialogue. The movie tends to enter Terrence Malick territory at times. The words sound like things that people would ordinarily say but at times they float above the scenes, the sounds and mouths don’t exactly match, creating this ethereal poetic quality. At times the movie is more a meditation on love than a story about it. And then at other times the realism is truly cutting. Fights between parents are inherently disturbing. Cianfrance presents them at a distance usually behind windows, doors, and shades, almost as if the camera is a child who is afraid to watch. There is a particularly perfect scene that should be instantly recognizable. It contains the sort of argument where the people endlessly repeat themselves at successively higher volumes. The problems aren’t getting worked out. They’re just sort of exploding everywhere. Thankfully there are other moments that take place in the past which are just as nice as the bad things are bad. At one point Dean serenades Cynthia with the above song. (An odd song choice but still a good one.) And at another time Cynthia has a particularly good joke about a child molester and a kid who go for a walk in the woods. There’s a discussion over whether it is funny or not. I thought it was.

The performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are both great and equally matched. They are two of the best actors of their generation. Michelle Williams in particular is always interesting to watch. She is one of the most tragic actresses out there. I don’t believe I’ve seen her in a movie without some sort of unrequited love going on. (Shutter Island, Synecdoche New York, I’m Not There, Brokeback Mountain). This goes all the way back to “Dick” when she had the misfortune of developing a major crush on Richard Nixon. Talk about a curse. It’s been over a decade and her characters haven’t seemed able to ever get over it yet. Congrats on the Oscar Nomination. What with this movie and “Shutter Island," earlier in the year, she has earned it. 

p.s. The fact that this movie initially got an NC-17 rating I find rather insulting. Sure there are sex scenes but it should be obvious to anybody with a working sense of empathy that they are neither intended to be nor in actuality are prurient. Logically, you would think the rating system for movies would have something to do with morality, but really it seems to be based solely on mathematical measurements of the amount of skin showing or seconds of heavy breathing. This is decidedly not pornography. It is a genuine and sincere movie about a serious subject and everyone involved deserves an apology. 

  

Buried (4/5 Stars)

Six Feet Under the Ground and Dealing with a Bureaucracy. The Horror.

The first thing we see is nothing. Just a black screen and some breathing. It sounds like a person sleeping. Then it sounds like that person has waken up. And then the person seems confused. And then very worried. And then frantic. And then finally terrified. Then a glimmer of light from a Zippo Lighter is set off and we see a close-up of Ryan Reynolds face. He is bound, gagged, and bleeding. Worse, he has been encased in a box of wood with no latch or lid. Nobody can hear his screams. He has been buried alive. Why? We aren’t sure yet. We know only as much as Reynolds knows, and right now, he doesn’t know anything. This movie, directed by Rodrigo Cortes, is told entirely within the point of view of the prisoner. There is no score. There are no scenes that take place above ground. There isn’t even any lighting. When the Zippo lighter goes out, the screen goes entirely black. For all intents and purposes, Ryan Reynolds is the only cast member. The movie is 95 minutes long and played in real time. What this means is that we, the audience, are essentially stuck in the box with Reynolds for the entire movie with absolutely no distractions. If you’re claustrophobic then maybe you should skip this one. Unless of course you’re claustrophobic but also like to get the shit scared out of you. Than this is a must see. It sort of proves the old maxim that the better a horror movie is made the less enjoyable it is to watch. This is a very good horror movie. Having said that and I don’t ever want to see it again.

Because the movie’s limited pov basically constrains the suspense to come solely from plot development, an extensive review of the plot will essentially ruin the movie. Therefore, I will only briefly describe things that are in the first fifteen minutes. The Ryan Reynolds character finds a cell phone (not his) that was placed in the coffin with him. He starts calling people up and informs them that he was a truck driver working for a contractor in Iraq delivering kitchen equipment when insurgents attacked his convoy. He was knocked unconscious and woke up in the coffin. He doesn’t know where he is or whether there are any other survivors. Then the bad guys call him up and demand ransom money by a certain time or they will leave him to rot there. Without giving too much up, here are also three general things I learned. First, navigating a government bureaucracy in order to get in contact with the appropriate rescue personnel is a lot more aggravating than usual when you are buried alive. Being put on hold and having to listen to elevator music doesn’t help. Second, depending on the context, trick answering machine messages are not as funny as people think they are. Third, even if you happen to be buried alive, things can always get worse. Much. Worse.

In many ways this is a stunt movie. The makers are betting that they can realistically tell a feature length story completely within a coffin without the audience getting restless or bored. It’s a pretty big leap of faith (the upside is that there was probably a very low budget), which essentially relies entirely on a creative screenplay which gives the prisoner logical and creative things to do for the entire running time and a performance good enough to pull off what is essentially a one man show. It works. Chris Sparling wrote a watertight screenplay and Ryan Reynolds has never been better. Normally you would think a role like this should get a lot more award buzz than it has. The reason it hasn’t probably has to do with the fact that James Franco plays a very similar type of role in “127 Hours,” and he is getting the entirety of the buzz instead.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean that James Franco did a better job. They both did very good jobs. When it comes to this sort of thing you really start to see the subjectivity of an awards season. For instance people may feel that only one “stuck and unable to move for the entire movie,” performance should be nominated in a given year even if they think both are worthy. Or they may take into consideration that Franco has had very good performances before (Pineapple Express, Milk) and Reynolds, best known for “Van Wilder,” and “The Proposal,” hasn’t and conclude that Reynolds can wait until next time. Or it could have simply been because Franco’s performance is more memorable because “127 Hours” is a better movie. In that case some of the credit for Franco’s superiority should be attributed to the director Danny Boyle and crew and all the special effect they employed to help the story along. As far as I know there aren’t any complicated special effects in “Buried.” (There are always some performances that get nominated simply because the movie is good, not because the performances are all that great. What’s the name of that one woman who was nominated for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Oh that’s right, I didn’t bother to remember her name.) It’s too bad. This role looked like it must have been a very rough thing to pull off what with the whole being buried alive thing. That sucks. I'm sorry Paul, I'm sorry.

True Grit (4/5 Stars)

Papa Ross must have been one hell of a man.

It’s a good thing. Joel and Ethan Coen have now made four movies in as many years. Earlier in their career it always took them two or three years to string together a movie. This was because they always insisted on Creative Control and made movies that never made a lot of money. But that has changed. The word has gotten out that the Coens make good movies. They may be oddball at times but always good. I would suspect that people going to see True Grit (which is the Coens highest grossing movie ever) aren’t going because they fondly remember the original 1969 version or the book it was based upon or even the stars (Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon). I would suspect they are interested because it is a Coen Brothers movie. There are some filmmakers that plain don’t suck. The Coen Brothers are a couple of them.

It is an unwritten rule of the Coens that each movie they do should be unlike any movie they’ve already done. “True Grit” is no exception. It is purely Coenesque in that it isn’t. Get it? It’s an outright Western. It stars Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl out to avenge the death of her father by the hands of an outlaw named Tom Chaney, played by Josh Brolin. She sets out to hire a U.S. Marshall to go after Chaney. Given a list of names, she decides upon the roughest one, a man by the name of Rooster Cogburn, played by Jeff Bridges. He is a man of True Grit, a whiskey guzzling grizzly bearded cantankerous itchy-trigger fingered old fool. A real character as they say. Jeff Bridges, aka The Dude aka the most comfortable actor in the world, is the perfect casting choice for the role. Also on the trail of Chaney for a completely different murder is a Texas Marshall named LeBeef, played by Matt Damon. Damon plays the role as if he's never seen a Western. Here, he’s striking surprised and neurotic nuances that rarely come from cowboys. Then again his character has to deal with Mattie Ross, one of the smartest and most confident girls ever to exist in a western. She’s throwing everyone for a loop here. That includes the bad guys too, both Tom Chaney and the Pepper Gang, led by none other than Mr. Pepper, played appropriately by Barry Pepper with the help of a really nasty set of dentures. Chaney by the way is one of this year’s stupidest sounding bad guys. Brolin plays the guy as if he’s more likely to use a book as toilet paper than read it. He murdered Papa Ross for the stupid sum of two gold pieces. There are no qualms about going to kill him.

“True Grit,” is true to its name in that it has a lot of grit, but let it be known that this movie is also very funny. It’s not a Comedy mind you, but most of the characters are what you would call witty and their different styles make conversation a minefield of quick insults and comedic insights. Cogburn is blunt, abrasive, and clumsy. Mattie is saracastic and a smart-aleck. Damon seems to have self-esteem problems, which regularly pokes holes into his Texas Ranger Pride. They spend most of the time on the trail arguing with each other. Mattie regularly gets the best of Damon. Damon picks on Cogburn. And Cogburn, well he’s got a bottle of whiskey and will not be ashamed.  All of this is done in 19^th Century Western talk, which is different but still decipherable if you listen closely.

Here’s a good question: Is the character Mattie Ross realistic? Forget that she’s a girl. What fourteen year old do you know, boy or girl, can intelligently discuss areas of the law with adults, negotiate deals with horse traders and bounty hunters, or have the confidence and wherewithal to hunt down their father’s killer upon their own initiative. What were you doing at the age of 14? Parents back then must have expected a bit more pluck and self-reliance from their kids, that and Papa Ross in particular must have been one of hell of a educator. Give credit to her church as well. Most of her righteous confidence comes straight from the Bible, which she quotes many times. Anyway, someone somewhere did something right.

“True Grit” isn’t one of the best movies of the year, but it is a good one and may get some Oscar nominations simply because it does an extremely competent job at being good. It would not surprise me if the Coen’s longtime cinematographer Roger Deakins got his 9^th Oscar nomination or if the movie itself got a Best Picture nomination. Don’t ask me if this is better than the original movie because I haven’t seen it.