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Hellboy II: The Golden Army: I'm not sure what about this film didn't work for me. It wasn't the acting -- Perlman and Tambor and even Selma Blair were pretty decent, and Doug Jones continues to work wonders in terms of body language and the positive side of mime (though I missed David Hyde-Pierce's voice, Jones's take was perfectly acceptable). Maybe it was Nuada -- you could certainly make a case for his vindictiveness toward humanity, but maybe for fear of graying the spectrum of the conflict too much, the film doesn't go there. Maybe I wanted more of the Abe/Nuala connection, maybe a bit less bickering between the supposedly OTP in the BPRD, because that just made it harder to connect with either Liz or Red, when it was so much easier to relate to them in the first film. Krauss didn't even annoy me, even though I'd rather stab myself in the throat with a knitting needle before watching a non-Star-Wars episode of Family Guy (but I'm getting ahead of myself here). It wasn't the effects -- it was as if Hellboy did slam into the FX trailer for Pan's Labyrinth, not unpleasantly, but a bit visually overwrought. Maybe that's a stylistic choice rather than an outright mistake, I dunno.
It wasn't bad, but it was somehow incomplete -- I didn't think it was nearly as good as the sum of its parts, and I can't put my finger on why. Enjoyable, and recommended if you're at all a fan of the genre or the original.
Tropic Thunder: Here was a film I'd have ignored utterly if it weren't for positive word-of-mouth -- I've seen Zoolander and Dodgeball, so I think I've got a good handle on the Ben Stiller approach to mockworthy moviemaking. And yet this film surprised me in more than a few places -- not Grossman nor the actor playing him (that'd been spoiled for me a long time ago), but the secondary cast -- the not-Chris-Tucker character and the not-Justin-Long character were surprisingly engaging -- moved the film along rather efficiently. Robert Downey Jr., of course, took what looks on paper like a suicidally-stupid role and made it hysterical -- even if I did need subtitles to get some of his better lines.
I could've used about 75% less Grossman (pun unintended), but the Method-acting-skewering was pitch-perfect. Entirely more fun than it had any right to be.
The Happening: Hoo-boy. Yes, I have finally seen it. It hurts, across the board. And what's worse, I saw it after seeing Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals, so my mind kept retreating into that sketch as its happy-place while watching the most dispassionate near-apocalyptic event I think I've seen on film. Premise interesting, execution regrettable, characters unsympathetic, dialogue unfortunate, scenes laughable, tension nonexistent.
Maybe my favorite part of the film is that Shyamalan's requisite cameo is audio-only -- I'm all for indulging a director's quirks, but at least he's not a pivotal character this time out. Then again, there are no pivotal characters this time out. I remember watching Starship Troopers and rooting for the bugs -- I couldn't even muster enough enthusiasm to put myself on either side. It's like a decent movie exploded on the shelf next to this one and tiny pieces of it embedded itself into The Happening -- there are bare glimpses of interest, but they don't stay on the screen for long.
I don't know where I'd start to fix this film. Casting? Script? Direction? Even the makeup of Betty Buckley bashing her head through multiple windows seemed tragically inept. It's an interesting puzzle, but with so many fail points, it's not one I'd wish on anyone, even Les Grossman. There are flawed films and there are bad films -- The Happening is solidly one of the latter. But odds are you already knew that.
It wasn't bad, but it was somehow incomplete -- I didn't think it was nearly as good as the sum of its parts, and I can't put my finger on why. Enjoyable, and recommended if you're at all a fan of the genre or the original.
Tropic Thunder: Here was a film I'd have ignored utterly if it weren't for positive word-of-mouth -- I've seen Zoolander and Dodgeball, so I think I've got a good handle on the Ben Stiller approach to mockworthy moviemaking. And yet this film surprised me in more than a few places -- not Grossman nor the actor playing him (that'd been spoiled for me a long time ago), but the secondary cast -- the not-Chris-Tucker character and the not-Justin-Long character were surprisingly engaging -- moved the film along rather efficiently. Robert Downey Jr., of course, took what looks on paper like a suicidally-stupid role and made it hysterical -- even if I did need subtitles to get some of his better lines.
I could've used about 75% less Grossman (pun unintended), but the Method-acting-skewering was pitch-perfect. Entirely more fun than it had any right to be.
The Happening: Hoo-boy. Yes, I have finally seen it. It hurts, across the board. And what's worse, I saw it after seeing Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals, so my mind kept retreating into that sketch as its happy-place while watching the most dispassionate near-apocalyptic event I think I've seen on film. Premise interesting, execution regrettable, characters unsympathetic, dialogue unfortunate, scenes laughable, tension nonexistent.
Maybe my favorite part of the film is that Shyamalan's requisite cameo is audio-only -- I'm all for indulging a director's quirks, but at least he's not a pivotal character this time out. Then again, there are no pivotal characters this time out. I remember watching Starship Troopers and rooting for the bugs -- I couldn't even muster enough enthusiasm to put myself on either side. It's like a decent movie exploded on the shelf next to this one and tiny pieces of it embedded itself into The Happening -- there are bare glimpses of interest, but they don't stay on the screen for long.
I don't know where I'd start to fix this film. Casting? Script? Direction? Even the makeup of Betty Buckley bashing her head through multiple windows seemed tragically inept. It's an interesting puzzle, but with so many fail points, it's not one I'd wish on anyone, even Les Grossman. There are flawed films and there are bad films -- The Happening is solidly one of the latter. But odds are you already knew that.
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Happy New Year!