The Adjustment Bureau
Crit
Free will and determinism face off, with a literally bureaucratic hierarchy representing heaven on the Calvinist side. Writer-director George Nolfi (right: who?), starting with a Philip K. Dick story (usually a pretty good place to start a mindfuck movie), steals from some hall-of-famers: It's a Wonderful Life bigtime, Heaven Can Wait, a sweet little poem name of Paradise Lost, a sizable chunk of Eternal Sunshine (golly, is it really 3 years since I've watched that?), even a hint of Casablanca, and then of course Matt Damon running from god-knows-who-or-what conjures Jason Bourne (Nolfi was a writer on Ultimatum); I'm sure you'll find your own resonances. It also has much of the look and feel of Inception, though the chronology is such that that seems likelier to be Zeitgeist than direct influence. Anyway, it's not just a mishmash; there's a compelling logic to it all, and even if the essential logic is the old amor vincit omnia, it works just fine, thank you.Other pluses: a deep affection for New York City, including places there that rarely get movie roles, like Red Hook; lots of fun cameos by media people and pols, including the mayor; and Emily Blunt, about whom I've long been saying "huh?" finally making me get her, with some beautifully written and delivered getting-to-know-you flirtation w/ Damon's character.
A really smart, really romantic film, and how often do those come along?
Rango
Crit
Another kitchen sink of allusion, starting with Chinatown and every Western ever made. One death-from-the-sky sequence cites not only the obvious Apocalypse Now but also the monkey-harpies of The Wizard of Oz, the Death Star raid of Star Wars, the Ark chase sequence of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and one or two others I can't remember now.There's a lot of that can't-remember-now, because the smarts and the quotes just fly by so fast; I can't imagine that young children would get more than 5% of what I loved about this, but clearly, love it they too did: one large group down front was literally dancing in the aisles during the psychedelic end credits (a couple of them doing the devil-horns hand gesture), the conclusion of which prompted one to voice his sadness and another to demand that they go to another movie right away. This film may singlehandedly birth a whole new generation of babies who love nothing more than being in a dark room with a flickering image in front of them. So by all means take your kids--but go once by yourself, too, because you need to see it with completely undivided attention (if only for the payoff of the Eastwood [voiced, it turns out, not by the man himself, as I rather expected, but by Timothy Olyphant] sequence).
Trailers
- Fast Five--First image of the trailer is of Corcovado Jesus, but the presence of Rock and Diesel make it clear that this is not what I'm watching tonight.
- Arthur--If this is not the Bad Idea that it immediately seems like, it's because of the casting: Russell Brand in the Moore role, Greta Gerwig pinch-hitting for Minnelli, and especially Helen Mirren as Gielgud. Sadly, except for the final gag, the trailer suggests that no one can save it.
- Paul--Another guy's-first-name flick about an irresponsible dude who isn't on the same wavelength as most of us, this one 'cause he's an alien. That Simon Pegg plays one of the Earthlings who befriends him gives me some hope, but not much.
- Puss in Boots--Oh, right: you go to an animated film, you gotta sit through these, don't you? Unlikely.
- Hop--Recalcitrant Easter Bunny-apparent. Unlikely.
- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides--Two was too many, but this actually looks like it might be OK, w/ Rob Marshall directing and Penélope Cruz and Ian McShane joining the cast.
- Rio--Completely missed the title, but it makes sense, since this one opens with (cartoon) Corcovado Jesus, too, which is a lot more noteworthy coincidence than the fact that two trailers I saw today depicted the comic sure thing of scrotal abuse.
No comments:
Post a Comment