WALL-E (2008)

Pixar’s streak of movies that are both innovative and commercially successful is unreal. They are the Beatles of animation and WALL-E is their Sergeant Pepper’s. Like that defining concept album, WALL-E experiments with narrative and point of view in ways you have never seen in computer animation. The film operates with very little dialogue; visual clues, and clever slapstick fill in where exposition and fast talking celebrity cameos were before.

But mainly, it’s a movie about adorable robots in love. The treatment of animated characters as emotionally complicated beings is Pixar’s gene for success and WALL-E is no exception. WALL-E collects trash from an abandoned world and through his curious interactions with everyday items, we know him. Its hard to resist a robot who uses a film canister as a top hat and dances along to a discarded Barbra Streisand musical. Most importantly, the love between WALL-E and the i-podesque EVE is unorthodox and touching.

Ok, so I know I’m gushing a bit, but this movie makes you feel great. I guess if I really thought about it hard, I might complain that the themes of environmentalism and anti-wal-martism were a little simplified but this is an unabashedly romantic film and hell, maybe love is all you need.

Grade: A+

Be Kind Rewind (2008) or Anand has a fight with Ali part one

Expectations are a funny thing. When we see a comedy, Judd Aptow's films come to mind, we don't feel betrayed when the dim protagonist bumbles through the film only to miraculously transform into an intelligent, emotional human being. But when we are presented with similarly non-dynamic characters in Michel Gondry' Be Kind Rewind, we feel cheated. Gondry is supposed to be an artist! But the thing is Gondry has never promised to present fully realized characters or a plot grounded in reality and the sort of film making he celebrates in Be Kind Rewind, both hollywood and backyard productions, don't either. So this is a flawed film but the flaws are forgivable if you accept that Gondry's creations come with their own style of camp.

Of course, Gondry's considerable knack for imaginative shots and homemade sets makes forgiving him particularly easy. And this film was built to show off Gondry's DIY genius. The protagonists hastily recreate classic blockbusters like Robocop with homemade sets and slap dash special effects that are as inventive as they are charming.

And ultimately, Gondry's thesis about cinema absolves him. For Gondry, movies are more then just the characters and plot which inhabit them, they exist in the viewing public's memory and communities of experience are formed around them. Sweding itself is central to this celebration of collective memory. Sweded films are not shot by shot remakes of their sources but rather 15 minutes of what everyone involved remembers about the film and then some stuff that the creators just made up ( hilariously shown by Jack Black's mangling of the Ghost Busters' theme song). This is why Rush Hour 2 can play an equally important role in community building as the protagonist's Fats Weller documentary and why this film, with it's two dimensional characters and fantastical plot, can make an important and artistically justified statement about movies. Is Be Kind Rewind's final scene whimsical and unrealistic? Yeah, but so is a robotic super cop with the soul of a human trapped inside.

Grade: B+

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

THE INCREDIBLE HULK!

I have to admit, I had low expectations for this movie. It had so many things potentially going against it: it was a remake of a movie made a mere five years ago, it was written by Zak Penn (the guy who wrote "X3"), and, most ominously, its star, Edward Norton, was refusing to promote it. So by the time the opening credits began over an expository sequence of pictures and events (never a good sign), I had emotionally prepared myself for pretty much any level of badness that didn't dip below the "The Punisher" mark.

But the unexpected happened: the movie started to be pretty good. As it happens, "The Incredible Hulk" is not a remake at all, but a sequel; the expository sequence at the beginning serves to pretty much sum up the events of the first movie, albeit in a slightly altered and significantly less confusing manner. "Hulk" was an origin story; "The Incredible Hulk" feels more like what I imagine the TV show felt like (and having never seen said TV show, I am obviously a credible source on the subject), wherein we get to follow Edward Norton on the run in Brazil in what turns out to be a fairly interesting story. Superhero movies tend to be most compelling when the superheroes are at their least super; running from the law, living off of cash... Bruce Banner's is an incredibly compelling story to watch, a story that allows one to connect to the character on a human level. Also, he's played by Edward Norton. That helps.

So in conclusion, "The Incredible Hulk" is highly enjoyable so far, and three-fourths of the way into the movie I feel confident in saying that I would recommend it.


THE INCREDIBLE HULK!

What the hell?

Why did they do that? The movie seemed like it was going so well... is this New York's fault? Everything went to shit when they got to New York. Maybe Bruce Banner is allergic to New York? Yes, that's the explanation! Bruce Banner is allergic to New York, so every time he goeaaargh no who am I kidding? I know why this happened. We've seen this a million times before...

hello studio executive how are you todayHELLO WRITER HULK SHOULD FIGHT HIMSELF ...what? no that's notYES HE SHOULD FIGHT HIMSELF OR MAYBE AN ORC ...i don't thinWAIT YESSSSS HE SHOULD FIGHT A CROSS BETWEEN HIMSELF AND A ORC OH MY GOD I AM A GENIUS ok, i know that sounds cool, but it'll probably actually be kind of boring. NO IT WILL BE COOL TRUST ME WRITER I AM HELLA AWESOME yes... sir... but don't you think mayOH AND FUCK LETS DROP HIM OUT OF A HELICOPTER ...that ...why? BECAUSE WHAT OBVIOUSLY ITS FRICKING THE COOLEST THING EVAR

I'm legitimately disappointed. I felt like this movie had so much going for it: it was a well-thought-out sequel, it was written by Zak Penn (the guy who wrote "X2"), and, fuck, Edward Norton was in it! Now I know why he refused to promote it. I guess I really don't like Bruce Banner when he's angry; action alone is not suspense: obviously Hulk is going to win (SPOILERS). Superhero movies tend to be most compelling when the superheroes are at their least super, and there is little that is super-er than the Hulk fighting another the Hulk, nor is there much that is boring-er. Honestly, I preferred the ending to "Hulk," in which (as my friend so aptly puts it) the Hulk and some guy explode into a cloud of nonsense (SPOILERS). That ending was ridiculous, but this ending was weak, as weak as the exact opposite of two Hulks beating the shit out of each other. And, of course, there's the reveal at the very end (with a cameo, and who doesn't love cameos) that this movie was essentially made for the specific purpose of allowing the studio to turn The Avengers into a movie which will suck (SPOILERS). I suppose it could be worse, though. They could try to make another sequel. And, at the rate they're going, "The Absolutely Ridiculous Hulk" would've been downright terrible.

No, I believe the Hulk franchise is dead, and it must let the world think it is dead until it can find a way to control the raging morons that dwell within it.

DUN DUN DUHN, DUHN, DUHHHHN!

Mission Impossible 3 (2006)

Despite Tom Cruise’s deeply disturbing smile (the same vein pops out of his forehead whether he is smiling or crying) this was a solid action movie. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was a terrifying villain and director J.J. Abrams was able to shoot action clichés in innovative ways. Also the message of the movie, that Tom Cruise’s loved ones will be punished for associating with Tom Cruise, retains relevance.

Grade: B+

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Jesus. Shia Labeouf was so bad. He was supposed to Marlon Brando or James Dean maybe but instead he just combed his hair a bunch. It definitely seemed like about 8 scripts were written and then cut up and put in a hat and then the hat was burned and they said, “fuck it, lets make a shitty movie.” I appreciated that maybe in the back of their minds they tried to continue the father-son themes which were moving in “The Last Crusade” but, just like the cold war theme and the fear of age and vulnerability theme, it was abandoned so that we could see a psychedelic alien.

Grade: D

The Fugitive (1993)

Before allowing you to play the movie, the DVD of “the Fugitive” forces you to watch a five minute reflection on the film which was mostly the director struggling to talk to a senile Tommy Lee Jones over speaker phone. An excerpt:

Director: Tommy…Tommy can you hear me?

TLJ: (mumbles)

Director: I’m calling about “The Fugitive”

TLJ: what?

Director: The movie. That we did together. Remember?

TLJ: (silence)

Did Harrison Ford jump off that dam? Yes. Did Tommy Lee Jones’ police crew each have a distinctive sassy personality? Yes, and there were like five of them.

Grade: B

Girl Sparks (2007)

An overlong surrealist Japanese teen comedy about finding happiness while feeling insignificant. There is some funny and touching stuff here: A stumbling pair of male teens who both start the same sentences at the same time and then giggle at each other, a father who is desperate to connect with his daughter and through his failed attempts to do so connects with all the other male characters in the film (all of whom end up living at his house and working at his screw factory). Unfortunately, these characters are not the focus and are forced to take a back seat to a whiny, unlikable protagonist who kicks the wall a lot. At one point though, the director asks her from behind the camera if she would like to star in porn later which was a pretty interesting move, so its not like this was a film without merit, you just have to wade through some infantile ranting to get there.

Grade: B-

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Shane Black’s “fuck you” to Hollywood could have easily been indulgent and unwatchable. Instead, sharp dialogue and an attentive plot make it a pretty funny commentary on what makes misogynistic action movies fun to watch. The self-aware narration gently mocks the protagonists and even the most ridiculous action (the protagonist shooting the villain while hanging off a bridge clutching the arm of a corpse) is justified through “Adaptation”-style meta joke. Plus Robert Downey Jr. is so charming! You want to kiss him on the lips even though you know where those lips have been.

Grade: B+