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Archive for May, 2008

A Review of A Star is Born (1937)

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

As part of the joint venture Millionaires, Moguls, and Movie Stars, headed at the Huntington by USC and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, a brand-new print of the first take on this often remade story was prepared.

Underdog stories are practically ingrained in the American conciousness. We all love the story of average Joes and Janes rising from obscurity to become powerful, famous people in this nation. Whether it be Rocky or this early Technicolor film from David O. Selznick and William A. Wellman and its remake from 1954 (not so much the 1976 version). However, while Rocky remains a rousing piece of American culture, I’d argue this early film, suffering from Selznick’s gaudily literary excess, emerges more an entertaining relic of its time than a truly emotionally involving film that leaves any sort of impression. There are certainly elements in this film that work wonderfully, such as outstanding performances from Fredric March and May Robson in her small role. Unfortunately, all the flaws of the work of both William Wellman and David O. Selznick are present here, namely Wellman’s typical failure to connect a series of impressive scenes into a truly compelling whole and Selznick’s aforementioned problem. It all adds up to a work that is more tolerable than Selznick’s bloated, unpleasant Gone with the Wind, but seems to bear a prophetic stench that heralds the arrival of that antichrist of the cinema.

Janet Gaynor plays Esther Victoria Blodgett, a small-town girl with big-city dreams of stardom and glamour. Unfortunately, in order to obain her goal, she must deal with impossible odds, a disapproving mother, and her own plainness in face, backround, and name. Yet, with the encouragement (emotionally and financially) of her grandmother, she gets to Los Angeles anyway. She winds up stuck without a job in a rundown hotel with only two neighbors, one of which runs the place. The other is Danny McGuire, played by Andy Devine, a bumbling, generally kind-hearted man who nonetheless makes a poor first-impression when Esther asks about work. Despite this, the two of them make friends and Danny gets Esther her first job, that being waitressing for a crew of important film personalities. From this point on, Danny is dropped almost completely. He is one of the most crucial characters in the film, yet, besides popping up in a few sequences to add some comic relief, he’s abandoned completely as an integral character and turned from a person of depth into a plot device.

But enough about that debacle, for there’s another supporting character who winds up becoming one of the most interesting in any Selznick production. Frederic March gives one of his very finest performances as Norman Maine, the star whom Esther idolizes and later falls in love with. Before the waitressing gig, the two of them encountered each other at a concert, where Norman nearly started a drunken brawl and rudely hushed Esther. They encounter each other again at the party, where a fabulously drunk Norman (drunk due to his having recently finished an apparent flop) falls in love with the pretty waitress and runs away with her, leaving his girlfriend behind (though not without physical repercussion).

Norman wants to help Esther become a star, but there’s still the matter of her “plainness” to address. And, so, Esther Blodgett becomes Vicki Lester, a name I find to be equally terrible if not more so than the first. No matter, because all that counts is the public’s reaction to her, which is both stunning and stunningly more positive than Norman’s. The rest of the film deals with her love for him growing at the same time that Norman’s star is falling. It’s a fascinating story idea that could lead to a poignant statement about the ephemeral nature of fame.

But there’s a problem: all this weight is relegated to Norman, while absolutely nothing rubs off on Esther. In fact, I’m almost convinced that Norman’s fate is blown-off as an obstacle for Esther rather than a tragedy for Norman, and rather than making a truthful statement about fame we end up with a conclusion that struggling will end in triumph. It’s as if Madame Bovary was told from Charles’s point of view, and the novel ended with a bright future ahead. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy underdog stories, but when the supporting player is an infinitely deeper and more fascinating character than the one you’ve spent the entire first act setting up, it means you’re trying to tack a a character study inside a popcorn melodrama. It’s a shame Douglas Sirk never remade this film, for he would have pulled it off with greater ability than Wellman could.

And don’t me wrong, for this is clearly a Selznick picture, but Wellman does have a story credit after all. It’s not clear what part of this picture is Wellman, what part is Selznick, and what part belongs to the throng of credited and uncredited screenwriters who contributed to the picture (Selznick among them). What can be figured out is what part Wellman plays in the visual direction, which is rather small for the director. Of course, the technicolor is among the finest of the thirties, and it carried over to Gone with the Wind without any recorded help from Wellman. It masks the unimaginative simplicity of the direction of most of the sequences, and amplifies those that do happen to be visually compelling. This is a common problem for Wellman’s sound films, which are anything but consistent despite a minimum of two or three classic sequences. Considering his poor use of audio, I don’t think the invention of sound was kind to the director.

Selznick’s imput wasn’t negative when it came to sound. For the first time, the audio in a Wellman film wasn’t dull. Thank Max Steiner. Widely considered one of the greatest early composers, he puts in yet another solid score for this film. Unfortunately, as with his Gone with the Wind score two years later, included are mind-numbingly trite, vomit-inducingly cliche popular tunes that add nothing to the scene and only served to distract me, though these don’t pop up so much that they ruin the score.

That’s one good thing Selznick does for Wellman, but it doesn’t entirely negate the bad things he does for this picture. His sense of acting is far more bombastic and ham-fisted than Wellman’s more tolerable, honest sensibilities. Janet Gaynor, that wonderful actress from films such as Sunrise, still manages to put across a considerable amount of genuine emotion despite the frequent sequences calling for overwrought hysterics, making her work infinitely more compelling than Vivien Leigh’s in Gone with the Wind (made up of nothing but hysterics), but it’s still a shame that Selznick forced his skewed acting sense upon her.

His skewed sense of storytelling is even more irritating. It begins with the bookending sequences of the opening and closing sections of the original script. What does it add to the film? Nothing. Why is it present? I honestly don’t know, but this thankfully isn’t a big issue. Bigger at stake is an old Selznick stand-by: mind-numbingly overlong monologues. I don’t know if Selznick really liked movies, but he most certainly liked books and plays, and seeked to equal their word count. Again, this is a problem that doesn’t make the film intolerable, but prevents it from being any more than a decent relic of its time and something easier to respect than to truly enjoy.

I don’t regret seeing A Star is Born, because there are some truly brilliant elements at play in the story. However, I don’t know if I will ever watch it again because it falls prey to so many classic Selznickian traps. Luckily, it’s not nearly as insufferably self-indulgent as Portrait of Jennie or, of course, Gone with the Wind, and the positives do make for some truly classic elements. However, anyone without quite a bit of patience would be better off sticking to the 1954 remake.

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Speed Racer: A Review

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

What I’m about to tell you may shock you. It may cause you to rub your eyes in disbelief before taking a second look to make sure I actually wrote what you just read, leading to an overwhelming moment in which you realize that, yes, I wrote that and meant every word. If you’re an obsessing dweeb, you’ll display your irritation in a visual manner, breathing heavily and bringing the frown to new levels of facial distortion, only to accidentally breathe-in cheeto dust and doom yourself to a well-deserved weekend in the emergency room with tubes jammed down your nostrils. Have you composed yourself? Alright.

Beyond Iron Man, beyond Cloverfield, beyond Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Speed Racer is the single best movie I’ve seen all year.

But you may point out that Speed Racer, being an adaptation of a cheesy cartoon and a critical whipping boy, must obviously suck. And you would be the same as the majority of Americans, but you would be dead wrong. See, Speed Racer is some of the best entertainment of the year, displaying superior craftsmanship and dedication from everyone involved, from the directors and writers to the production crew to the cast. It’s their dedication that makes Speed Racer more than a cynical corporate cash-in like the other adaptations of television shows, and it pains me that people will lump this in with those disgraces.

Let me indulge in nostalgia for a moment. As a kid, Speed Racer was one of the things I grew up with. Speed and his Mach 5 were the epitome of cool for me, with its crazy gadgets and slick design and his curiously fast-paced speaking style. Sadly, as with many childhood favorites, Speed has dulled in my mind over time. The animation was cheap and the voice-acting legendarily wonky…yet…There was something heartfelt in the family dynamics, and that’s what makes this movie work so well. It taps into the elements of Speed Racer that were great while tweaking what wasn’t so good without delving into self-parody. Everything in the execution is completely respectful toward the source material. In many ways, this is what I wish the Transformers movie had been; retaining a sense of fun while exploring what was good about the original cartoon and improving it into a legimately good piece of entertainment. I enjoyed Transformers regardless, but Speed Racer is undeniably better.

Speed Racer’s plot deals with a predictable plot arch for anyone who’s seen the show, that being Speed’s attempt to make an important Grand Prix despite facing an onslaught of corporate sabotage. There’s nothing particularly original in the overall story. It’s in the execution that this movie becomes an example of excellent storytelling.

We kick off with some scenes addressing Speed’s childhood. What shocked me was the honesty with which the movie kicks off. Young Speed isn’t a cartoon character, he’s an actual human being who could exist in the real-world, and he happens to be the kind who is so passionate about a particular subject (in this case racing) that he lets his studies falter and is looked down-upon by his teacher and fellow students. But not his faithful girlfriend Trixie (played in glorious adult form by Christina Ricci), and not his loving family that includes Pops Racer, (John Goodman in one of his best non-Coen Bros. roles) Mom Racer, (Susan Sarandon) and big brother Rex Racer (Scott Porter). It’s Rex who cultivates Speed’s passion the most, taking him out on the track many-a-time and becoming Speed’s role model.

These scenes are scattered about an early set-piece race in which Speed clobbers his opponents in a minor race, only to be beaten by a ghostly representation of his brother that marks where he stood during the race where he set an old record. All through the film, Speed is chasing the ghost of his brother, who seems to have had been killed years earlier in a cross-country race. He haunts Speed’s every action, and Rex’s apparent mistakes are always at the back of Speed’s head when he’s forced to make a decision.

The first thing you may notice when watching Speed Racer is how excellent the action sequences are. People claim that the action scenes are incromprehensible and full of vapid spectacle, yet, I found these to be some of the most carefully structured action sequences in years. Despite the chaos on screen, the actual geography is always crystal clear, and they build and release like all great action scenes should and the multitudes of mediocre ones fall at. In this sequence, Speed’s goal is to match Rex’s track record. You’re always sure why a particular action sequence is happening, and, more importantly, each one tells story and develops character at the same time that it pumps up the adrenaline.

Speaking of story, despite what prior reviews have led you to believe, this has one hell of a yarn. Knowing what a close-knit family the Racers are, we can come into the story with an understanding of the conflicts Speed has to face. One day, a private jet lands in the street in front of the Racer household (this isn’t a realistic movie, you see) and a man named Royalton hops out with an offer for Speed: drive for his company and join the corporate elite of racing. He even brings the entire Racer family for a private tour of the facilities that will be at his disposal. Over time, the offer becomes more and more tempting, but Pops is clearly ill-at-ease. As he describes to Royalton, he’s not approving of corporate machines such as these, but he still leaves the decision to Speed. Ever loyal to his family, Speed ultimately decides to remain independent, but the cost is that his next race is sabotaged, his family is sued out of its credibility, and Speed is left with his image of racing being destroyed.

He does what anyone loyal to his family would wish to do: Get back at the people who are hurting them. The mysterious Racer X shows up at his front door with a very different offer to race in the very cross-country rally that killed his brother. Racer X is a character anyone remotely familiar with the show knows about. Without spoiling anything, the Wachowskis throw in a few twists to his character that prevents him from being altogether predictable.

I’m going to leave the plot at that, but the characters deserve discussion. The Wachowski brothers really deserve credit for taking a cheesy, underwritten show and turning it into a heartfelt film about relationships. Speed is played by Emile Hirsch, who previously impressed me in Into the Wild. I might like this performance a little more than that (I know I prefer this movie in general). Of course he plays it kitschy, but he never overdoes it. He’s as excellent in conveying Speed’s emotions. John Goodman has been in some bad movies and roles, but this is some of his best work. His action style is completely straight, and he never fails to take the character of Pops Racer completely seriously. Susan Sarandon actually underplays her role, and feels like a completely real person as a result despite the cartoon backdrop. Kick Gurry is fine as Sparky, Pops’s assistant. Matthew Fox plays it cool as Racer X, and turns what could have been a ridiculous charicature into a confident, likeable enigma. The only characters to play their characters as complete kitsch are Christina Ricci as Speed girlfriend (understandably, and with quite a bit of ability actually) and Paulie Litt as Speed’s younger brother Spritle. He and Chim-Chim provide much of the comic relief, and to my own personal relief the two of them are actually quite funny. That’s right, a chimp in a movie that is ACTUALLY FUNNY. Disney, you no longer have any excuse.

This kind of attention to character is rare in today’s blockbusters. Character depth seems to be something that has died out since the days of superior storytelling as practiced by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas (a long time ago in a mindset far, far away). These guys knew great action scenes were not enough, and there is as much character work in Raiders of the Lost Ark as action. Speed Racer does the same thing, bringing us memorable characters and a riveting storyline that echoes the hayday of pure entertainment. It’s better than Iron Man, it’s better than Cloverfield, and it’s even better than the latest Indiana Jones movie. I honestly cannot imagine anyone who doesn’t concern themselves with appearing “cool” or “intellectual” (depending on your age and favored community) disliking this film. If you have any shread of appreciation for superb entertainment, please, forget what you’ve heard about Speed Racer. I’m almost certain this will remain in my top ten of the year, and I sincerely hope the fast funds accrued from the Matrix series will allow the Wachowskis to continue working in Hollywood despite the financial failure of this film. If it’s still playing near you, please, go see it before it leaves theaters. I can’t imagine any more fun being had than here. Only the Dark Knight and Hellboy II stand any foreseeable chance of being better entertainment this summer. This is a movie that reminds us of how great it is to be a kid again.

And to those who cannot see it, I pity you. I truly do.

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls

Friday, May 23rd, 2008

In my youthful days of imitating cowboys and watching Ninja Turtles videos in my pajamas, I had my lineup of favorite movies on VHS for my frequent indulgence just like most kids. My shelves were lit up by the likes of Star Wars, James Bond, and, yes, the Indiana Jones trilogy. Many a night I would escape into the riveting adventures of this iconic film character, with its deservedly idolized score, strong performances, and timeless sense of adventure.

Time has dulled my opinion of this trilogy somewhat. Raiders of the Lost Ark is every bit the masterpiece I remember it being, and I still quite like Temple of Doom despite the general opinion that this is the trilogy’s Return of the Jedi. Unfortunately, despite the presence of Sean Connery, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has not aged well for me. The humor that worked so well in the first two films is made painful self-aware in this film, and the sense of fun has given way to a self-parody that borders on shame. Of course, I was rather sceptical when I heard the long-awaited fourth film was going to be closest in tone to the third.

Many people will go to this film and search for extremes of quality. You’ll see long arguments on the internet about how it’s either a terrible disappointment or brilliant when it’s actually a bit of a mixed-bag. There are two halves fighting each other here, most likely as a result of years spent arguing over where the story should go. The ultimately chosen plot was hated by Steven Spielberg, and there is a noticeable confidence that is missing in this episode of the Indy mythos. Yes, it involves aliens, and it does stoop to silly levels, but there are myriad elements also borrowed from the number of other scripts that have been written for this film, which makes the whole film a slight mess despite David Koepp’s skill with drawing fragments into a cohesive but uninspired whole.

Our fourth adventure with Indiana Jones opens rather lamely. Spielberg’s skill with composition and camera movement are apparent here, but what he’s shooting is an inconsequential race between annoying teenagers and what seems to be a military driver near Area 51. There are also CGI prairie dogs. Yeah.

Soon, we learn that these trucks belong to a KGB force led by a psionic communist played by Cate Blanchett (who behaves suspiciously similar to Natasha from The Rocky & Bullwinkle Show). Compared to the nazis from Raiders of the Lost Ark, these guys nail the camp but forego any of the sinister qualities, thus coming off as a generic cartoon. Soon enough, they’ve penetrated the curiously underprotected compound and drag two Americans out of the trunk of the leader’s car, one of which is archaeologist Mac and the other of which is our old buddy Indiana Jones.

If you’re wondering how they got here, don’t worry. David Koepp tells us with pages of exposition. This is easily the talkiest of the movies, and it seriously hurts the film. Another unfortunate noticeable flaw is that John Williams’s score is almost completely forgettable, which is strange considering even his work on the generally inferior Star Wars prequels was still rather good. Here, it’s barely more memorable than a Marco Beltrami score.

Overall, this opening set-piece is a dud compared to previous opening sequences in the other entrees. Constant dialogue grates on the ears as we wait impatiently for Indy to start kicking some butt, and Mac decides to tritely switch sides (which he does constantly in the course of the film) until we finally see Harrison Ford make his escape. Action is what makes this film worth watching, as we see Spielberg being endlessly inventive despite working with a story George Lucas essentially whined for. Sequence gives way to sequence as it builds to a climax, always putting geography and character action before flashy camera tricks (which proves why Spielberg is still the king of spectacle). It’s at this point that the film takes a turn for the better, and we start to have some fun despite the storytelling issues.

In the course of this sequence, we get a glimpse of what the KGB is after, which just seems like a mutilated corpse at first. We follow a search for a hidden kingdom of gold, the key to which is a misshapen skull of crystal (hence the title) and the guidance of an insane archaeologist played by John Hurt. Over the course of the film, various disconnected strands are brought together, and it’s clear a number of them were meant for completely different stories. We meet a character named Mutt Williams, played by Shia LaBeouf, who actually works surprisingly well thanks to LaBeouf’s performance. Without spoiling anything, I object to the very nature of his character, which can be predicted by most people themselves. Yet, shockingly, his character works. LaBeouf has become a favorite of the industry executives, but it’s easy to see why. He has charisma and an unpretentiousness that makes him a solid anchor for this and last summer’s Transformers.

More importantely, he’s a link to a character who we haven’t met for quite some time, an integral one from Indy’s past. I’m grateful Spielberg and company found room for this character, especially considering how inconsistent the new characters are. As previously mentioned, Blanchett, despite her immense talent, plays a dud villain. I’m not sure why she’s psychic, as it adds nothing to the film. Ray Winstone plays an old buddy of Indy’s who constantly changes his allegiance for the sake of advancing the plot. I could never develope sympathy for him when I was supposed to, nor could I hate him enough to consider Winstone a compelling villain. However, John Hurt plays the traumatized archaeologist Professor Oxley, and this was the best new character here. Hurt has always proven to be one of the most versatile actors in the world, disappearing into his characters with ease, and he has a heavy load playing this psychologically handicapped character with the key to the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls that he lifts with an Atlas-esque ease. Jim Broadbent also puts in solid work as a college dean that Jones teaches under, though he doesn’t appear enough to instill any more than a mildly positive boon.

As mentioned before, where this film really excels is in the action sequences. His escape features ideas stacked upon ideas, making it clear that Spielberg still has some of the spark of his early days. Besides this, we get a car chase through the jungle that I feel ranks among the very best moments of the trilogy. It takes up a considerable amount of the film’s runtime, and features an RPG, swordfighting, vine swinging, and driving on-the-edge-of and off cliffs. And also giant killer red ants. That’s awesome.

Unfortunately, the ending is the worst of the quadrilogy, and it’s one of the most bizarre in any Spielberg film. I don’t think anyone will object to my saying that it involves a CGI alien and what seems to be an attempt to bring together the endings to Raiders of the Lost and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, complete with melting people. I’m not sure who convinced the makers that this would be a good ending, but it most likely involved questionable substances slipped into their club sandwiches. It’s that weird and surreal, and I think George Lucas got the biggest dosage considering the amount of computer generated images involved. I won’t deny that one of the most bombastic images is visually impressive, but I wish they had made it happen to someone whose image is less ingrained in our minds than Indiana Jones.

My last complaint is with the cinematgraphy, which is overlit and doesn’t even come close to the look of the first three films. It contributes to a lightweight entree that I can’t imagine becoming half as iconic as Raiders of the Lost Ark or even Temple of Doom. I understand that Mr. Lucas bafflingly released a statement asking film fans to lower their expectations, but that’s no excuse when it would be far better to actually strive to meet them. Mr. Lucas damaged this film and prevented it from becoming even close to what it should have been.

But, despite my many complaints, this is not a worthless film. As a matter of fact, it’s worth watching for the entertainment value and for simply seeing Harrison Ford in one of the roles he made his name with one last time. It actually ties the films together in a way that was far more satisfying than in the Last Crusade, and I’m glad it was made. I doubt I’ll watch it again, but I think it’s motivated me to seek out Raiders of the Lost Ark again. There’s a reason it’s iconic and beloved, and no matter how much George Lucas insists on ruining my childhood, I don’t think he’ll ever touch that masterpiece.

Thank God.

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Hello Youth Cinema Society!

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

My apologies for not writing anything in a while. I had testing season for a while, which gave way to a six-day trip through Sante Fe and the Grand Canyon, (in which I tasted buffalo and rattlesnake, both of which were delicious) which, thence, gave way to illness. I haven’t completely recovered, but I’m well enough to post some new impressions.

Last night, my family attended the discussion of the technical and special effects wizardry involved with the production of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hosted by SFX maestro Douglas Trumbull and Tom Hanks, the presentation featured looks at freshly uncovered photos featuring such sights as the “Sausage-machine,” the inner-workings of which I haven’t the faintest comprehension. Trumbull was the straight-faced anchor and commentator of the event, while Tom Hanks mainly poked fun at all the dated company logos and asked Buzz Aldrin (who was in the audience) for input. Quite an eye-opening experience, I might say. Thank the heavens for CGI.

As one or two of you may know, there’s a new Indiana Jones movie out. I’ve left my scepticism behind me, as this could be my chance to relive my childhood memories of humming the Indiana Jones theme everywhere. I don’t care if it isn’t as good as Raiders of the Lost Ark. I just want to see Harrison Ford kicking butt for a good two hours, though it would help if it’s better than Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The reviews have been mainly positive, which suggests that we’ll all be in for a good experience.

I’m not sure what else to write, other than Man of the West came out on DVD and you all should go rent it if you can. I’ll be organizing my comments better in the future, but to end this entree, I’ll list some movies I saw this week:

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia - ****

Peeping Tom - ***

3 Women - ****

Platform - ***

A good week, in my opinion. I’ve got nothing but titles and stars this week, but I’ll try to update movies I watch from now on with short reviews.

That’s all I have for now. Until next time.

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