Oz the Great and Fake

Posted on March 10, 2013 by

1. Ryan Gosling in Blue Valentine (2010) with Michelle Williams
2. Michelle Williams in Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

oz

First, I would like to apologize to Sam Raimi and the entire state of Kansas (holla) for what I’m about to say about Oz the Great and Powerful. This prequel isn’t an awful movie: there are some truly amazing visuals going on here. But in all honesty, I don’t know if I would call this a movie all. It’s just one big set up after set up after set up with no real story arc or point at all.

It doesn’t start off that bad. I enjoyed the first 20 minutes or so, which is shot all in black and white. It was simple and charming and actually interesting. By the time James Franco, who seems checked out and dead-eyed in this movie as Oz, makes it to Oz (can it be called Oz if he just arrived in Oz?), everything seems so rushed and inauthentic that I just didn’t care anymore.

Oz immediately meets Theodora the witch (played by Mila Kunis) and spend one minute around a campfire together before, apparently, they fall madly in love with each other, or at least her with him. The whole movie hinges on this romance and the (SPOILER ALERT) fallout from this romance, but never bought. Maybe I would have if Franco had the effervescent personality that Oz supposedly has.

Now about those visuals. Yes, some of the landscapes of Oz look amazing in 3D. But Raimi seems so set on using CGI for every landscape possible that, after a while, everything seems insincere and fake. This becomes clear during an absurd chase sequence that involves flying baboons, cliffs that are straight out of a Dr. Seuss story and magical bubbles. Some of Raimi‘s trademark dark humor and horror elements briefly make an appearance, but he seems so obsessed with 3D CGI visuals here that it gets lost, leaving no real layers or complexity at all. The movie left me longing for the still amazing sets of the 1939 original.

The one person who seems 100 percent committed here is Michelle Williams, playing the angelic Glinda. She really is wonderful and you can’t help but smile when she’s on screen.

In an age when there’s Wicked: The Novel, Wicked: The Musical, Wicked: The Movie (in development), The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz and Dorothy of Oz, the biggest question I had when leaving this movie was “why?”

I’m all for a fun fantasy adventure set in the land of Oz, but not when it’s handled like this. I think I’m going to go watch Drag Me to Hell now.

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The House of Cards Experiment

Posted on February 24, 2013 by

1. Ryan Gosling in The United State of Leland (2003) with Kevin Spacey
2. Kevin Spacey in House of Cards (2013)

Well, that was easy!

When the first trailer for Netflix’s House of Cards arrived around three months ago, I was surprised to find myself… bored. Maybe it’s because the tone of a series is hard to capture in a 2.5-minute trailer, but the preview really lowered my expectations for this David Fincher-produced series. I knew because of Fincher‘s involvement that I was going to get a great-looking series, but I didn’t want to be bored out of my mind for 13 episodes. Luckily, my gut was wrong. House of Cards is far from perfect “television” (what are we supposed to call this?), but I was definitely not bored by it.

If you have any desire at all to check out the series, please do not click on its IMDb page, which I’ve already linked to three times (whoops). The pleasure from this series comes from the slow unravel of Francis Underwood’s “revenge” plan after he fails to secure a nomination for Secretary of State, and the description on the IMDb page reveals a little too much.

Speaking of Underwood, one of the main talking points of many critics is Kevin Spacey‘s performance. Though he’s had several lazy performances in the past couple of years (i.e. that mess 21), you can’t say that he’s not *on* here. The question is whether or not it works for you (or whether or not you hate him). I thought that Spacey effectively walked the fine line of hamming it up and showing restraint in quieter moments. Will Spacey get awards attention for this role? How does that even work? I’m excited to see how this plays out.

But the real breakout role of the series is Peter Russo, played here by Corey Stoll (previously known for playing Hemingway in Midnight in Paris). It’s hard for me to imagine anyone else in the part, and he hits it out of the park. In fact, I’d rather Stoll get awards attention than Spacey.

So should you devour all 13 episodes of House of Cards in one sitting (like Frank Underwood eats his ribs)? Obviously that’s the model that Netflix is encouraging. If the show was on HBO or another premium network and I had to watch the show week-by-week, I would’ve found the experience a little less rewarding. I wouldn’t mind being able to binge watch more shows as soon as they came out. I might actually find myself enjoying certain shows more (Once Upon a Time and The Following come to mind). Though the last few minutes had me rolling my eyes, I’m curious to see where season 2 of House of Cards goes.

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21 and Hangover

Posted on February 17, 2013 by

1. Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) with Joey King
2. Joey King in Battle Los Angeles (2011) with Aaron Eckhart
3. Aaron Eckhart in Rabbit Hole (2010) with Miles Teller
4. Miles Teller in 21 and Over (2013)

21 and over

The directorial debut from those dudes who wrote The Hangover (Jon Lucas and Scott Moore) has about everything you’d expect: penis jokes, b00bs and a zany quest. I caught an advance screening earlier this week, and I have a feeling that this movie is going to be a big hit.

The first 30 minutes or so had the entire audience (me included) stitches. I’m a sucker for on-point pop culture references, and throwaway jokes like one about “Jason Gordon-Levitt” really got me. It’s actually a really solid comedy until the script gets bogged down in a few too many side adventures and weirdly racist gags.

Without the right cast, this movie would’ve fallen apart. Luckily, the two main leads (Miles Teller and Skylar Astin) have great a rapport. As the laid-back slacker, Teller hits all the right notes in a breakout performance. He’s never over the top, and there’s just something endearing about his character. Teller is going to have a big year, too, with this movie, a big Sundance flick (The Spectacular Now) and a romantic comedy with Zac Efron (Are We Officially Dating?). As the straight man of the duo, Astin doesn’t shine as much as Teller, but he’s always giving his co-stars something to play off of.

Toward the end of the movie, the script briefly touches on truly sobering subjects (I don’t want to spoil anything), and then doesn’t even explore those ideas. If the movie actually went there, I would be impressed, but I was disappointed that the filmmakers chickened out. I wouldn’t recommend this movie to someone looking for anything mildly intellectual, but there are worse movies made for teens than 21 and Over. The movie will never be looked at as a new classic along the veins of the terrific Superbad, but who cares. I laughed. A lot.

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Gangster Squad and Delayed Gratification

Posted on January 13, 2013 by

Welcome to my first review of 2013! As I said in my post on January 2, I was pretty excited for Gangster Squad. I was left mostly satisfied. For the first official post of the new year, I’m taking it pretty easy.

1. Ryan Gosling in Gangster Squad (2013) with Ryan Gosling

At one point, Gangster Squad was one of the hottest scripts in town. It attracted director Ruben Fleischer, coming off the success of Zombieland, and a cast with names like Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie and (of course) Ryan Gosling. Then, because the original cut included a climactic shootout in a movie theater, the release was delayed this summer in the wake of the Aurora shooting. Now it’s six months later, and Gangster Squad is finally released, but it’s getting beat at the box office by awful-looking spoof movies like A Haunted House.

The final cut feels a little disjointed, but somehow I still enjoyed the movie. If you’re crazy enough to walk into this movie thinking it will win awards, let me stop you now. It’s a 2-hour long, strange-feeling video game of a movie. But it kind of works. The movie has Fleischer written all over it, with slo-mo and zoom flourishes featured in many of the kinetic action sequences (reminiscent of his last feature, 30 Minutes or Less). It doesn’t always work, but I give it to Fleischer for trying something different.

The heart to all of the action scenes is Josh Brolin, who seems to be the only actor in the film taking the material seriously. In a weird way, he probably walks away with the best performance. Without that heart that Brolin injects into the story, the action scenes would mean nothing. Brolin’s performance is juxtaposed by Sean Penn‘s Mickey Cohen, who might as well be Daniel Plainview chewing on a piece of steak, and Ryan Gosling‘s “cool” softspoken cop with a mysterious accent.

Everything is wrapped in a nice bow at the end of the movie, but after all the shootouts it felt like a weight lifted off of my chest. I know it sounds like I didn’t enjoy the movie, but I really did. But Los Angeles-set movies are always better when you watch them in the City of Angeles itself.

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Most Anticipated Movies of 2013

Posted on January 2, 2013 by

Happy 2013 to my three readers! One of my New Year’s resolutions is to start blogging again. So here I am. These are the movies I can’t wait for in 2013, in no particular order. And since three star Baby Goose himself, there’s no need for any six degrees here.

Only God Forgives

Only God Forgives
Pros: Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling
Cons: Will it be too violent for mainstream audiences?

Star Trek Into Darkness
Pros: I have a crush on the entire cast, benefits from a great predecessor
Cons: Nothing?

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Pros: It’s the weakest book in the series
Cons: I still don’t buy Sam Claflin as Finnick, Francis Lawrence steps in for Gary Ross

Girl Most Likely
Pros: Kristen Wiig and Darren Criss
Cons: The fact that it hasn’t been released yet

The Place Beyond the Pines
Pros: Gosling and Derek Cianfrance rekindle their bromance
Cons: The trailer incorrectly sells it as Drive 2

Gravity
Pros: A killer premise, Alfonso Cuarón
Cons: It’s been on the shelf for a while

The To-Do List
Pros: A buzzy script, that cast (Rachel Bilson!)
Cons: It might be a little too raunchy for its own good

Man of Steel
Pros: Fantastic, chill-inducing trailers
Cons: Zack Snyder

Gangster Squad
Pros: The cast yay!
Cons: An unfortunate release date

Labor Day
Pros: Jason Reitman gets dramatic
Cons: It might be a little too grim

The Counselor
Pros: Cormac McCarthy‘s first screenplay
Cons: Is the cast too flashy?

White House Down
Pros: Channing Tatum saving the world, Jamie Foxx riffing on Obama
Cons: “Directed by Roland Emmerich,” second White House invasion-themed movie of the year

The Wolf of Wall Street
Pros: Leonardo DiCaprio and Jean Dujardin, 80s clothes
Cons: 80s clothes

One Direction Concert Movie
Pros: One Direction’s irresistibly catchy music!
Cons: Concert movie fatigue?

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Hey Google, where’s the Gosling number?

Posted on September 14, 2012 by

Amirite?

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The Dark Knight’s Score Rises

Posted on July 29, 2012 by

1. Ryan Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) with Steve Carell
2. Steve Carell in Get Smart (2008) with Anne Hathaway
3. Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

A lot could be said about The Dark Knight Rises, but I don’t think anyone could say that it isn’t ambitious. Wrapping up one of the most successful trilogies ever, Christopher Nolan creates a third installment filled with action, social commentary and a multitude of storylines. Though the movie is sometimes muddled, by the end of the 164 minute running time, Nolan somehow sticks the landing.

I’m not going to mention Christian Bale‘s performance or Bane’s voice here because I feel like those topics are tired by now, but I wanted to mention the aspects that stood out to me. Newcomers to the franchise Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt really breathe new life into the story, in particular Hathaway. Her “Catwoman” (though she is never referred to as Catwoman) is sleek, smart and one of the most engaging parts of the movie. Everyone had concerns when Hathaway was cast, but Nolan & Co. really got this casting right. Really right.

Many kudos go to Nolan for completing the trilogy his way, but at times I wished he would’ve gone a different route. The story hits a lot of the same notes as The Dark Knight (cool villain “heist” opening, and by the end of the movie the people of Gotham have to make a choice to save themselves or each other). Then we get what seems like an hour of the movie devoted to Bruce Wayne in prison and a confusing war-like Gotham City scenario, and in general it left me scratching my head.

I guess I wanted a more straightforward final chapter, but by the last 10 minutes of the movie, I didn’t really care. Everything wraps up nicely in the best possible way, with Nolan literally “passing the torch” of the franchise onto the next person. And when the music rises along with a certain character in the final shot, it truly is special. And chill-inducing. So I’ll stop complaining.

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