Movie Review: How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

by Tony Dayoub

Its poor box office returns are by no means an indication of the quality of How to Train Your Dragon 2, a worthy sequel to its high-flying predecessor. Like the first, this follow-up is the rare movie actually worth seeing in 3D because of its plenitude of dynamic point-of-view shots. You're continuously immersed in the action, often seeing things from the same vantage point as Dragon's underdog hero, one-legged Hiccup (Jay Baruchel). Hiccup is the resourceful dragon rider of Toothless, a rare Night Fury with his own handicap in the form of a mutilated tail.

Movie Review: The Monuments Men (2014)

by Tony Dayoub

Not long after the start of The Monuments Men, George Clooney's elegiac tribute to the dwindling Greatest Generation, it becomes clear why its release date was changed from 2013's exceptionally busy awards season. Spare, subdued and not the least bit flashy, The Monuments Men is a classically structured World War II drama about a group of middle-aged art historians enlisted by Lt. Frank Stokes (Clooney) to reclaim a fortune in looted art from the Nazis. Adding some urgency to the matter at this stage of the war is Hitler's inevitable defeat and his "Nero Decree" calling for the destruction of all of the Reich's property before the Allies acquire it. As critical as this might sound, the crux of The Monuments Men is whether the destruction of some of the world's greatest works of art justifies even one life lost in preventing it. It's a philosophical dilemma that, by its very nature, makes Clooney's film a contemplative exercise more than a thrilling dramatic one.

Movie Review: Hanna (2011)

by Tony Dayoub

One online review compares Hanna, the new actioner by Joe Wright (Atonement), to the story of "Little Red Riding Hood," a rather facile analogy based on the appearance of a giant Big Bad Wolf's head at a Grimm's Fairy Tale-themed amusement park in the film. But one need only look at the film's eponymous albino heroine to see that the more apt analogy is to Grimm's "Snow White." Like in that story, a heroine must initially depend on the protection of a huntsman in order to evade an evil stepmother who plots to kill her. Where it differs is that the self-reliant Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) never needs a dashing prince to rush to her rescue. She, instead, capitalizes on the survivalist education imparted to her by a rogue spy, Erik Heller (Eric Bana), in order to outmaneuver her pursuer, Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), a lethal CIA operative who holds the key to Hanna's genesis.

Movie Review: Robin Hood (2010)

by Tony Dayoub

Ridley Scott's Robin Hood opens the Cannes Film Festival today (out of competition, of course). I must admit I went into its screening skeptical that I would find anything to enjoy in yet another visit to Nottingham. My favorite film critic, the estimable Glenn Kenny, often generous with praise for at least some aspect of most movies found little to like in this one (read his review here... I'll wait). That, director Scott and actor Russell Crowe's increasingly poor track record, and the fact the film gives in to the annoying trend to "reboot" a heroic tale à la Casino Royale(2006) and Batman Begins (2005) fed my doubt there would be anything redeemable left to appreciate.

A Dozen Characters for the Ages

My friend MovieMan0283 over at The Dancing Image recently suggested I take part in the ongoing film blogger conversation regarding favorite film characters. Normally I'd call this a meme. But it seems everyone is being a tad mindful of each other's schedules and avoiding any application of pressure by skipping the usual, "...here are the rules... and you must select five other bloggers... blah, blah, blah..." So in that spirit, I will do the same because it seems so much nicer. After the jump, I've listed a dozen of my favorite movie characters in chronological order. With each, I've included a pivotal quote which is either character defining or somehow seals their celluloid fate. I encourage all of you to come up with your own, and list them in the comments section or your own blog. Enjoy! Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer in Kiss Me Deadly (1955) She told me if I dropped her off at the bus station, I could forget her. But if she didn't make it, she said, "Remember me." Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection (1971) All right! You put a shiv in my partner. You know what that means? Goddammit! All winter long I got to listen to him gripe about his bowling scores. Now I'm gonna bust your ass for those three bags and I'm gonna nail you for picking your feet in Poughkeepsie. Pam Grier as Coffy (1973) It was easy for him because he really didn't believe it was comin'. But it ain't gonna be easy for you, because you better believe it's comin'! Gene Hackman as Harry Caul in The Conversation (1974) I'm not afraid of death. But I am afraid of murder. Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: Part II (1974) If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone. Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in Alien (1979) Wait a minute. If we let it in, the ship could be infected. You know the quarantine procedure. Twenty-four hours for decontamination. James Caan as Frank in Thief (1981) You are making big profits from my work, my risk, my sweat. But that is okay, because I elected to make that deal. But now, the deal is over. I want my end, and I am out. Michael Douglas as D-Fens in Falling Down (1993) I am not economically viable. Al Pacino as Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way (1993) Who the fuck are you? I should remember you? What, you think you like me? You ain't like me motherfucker. You a punk. I've been with made people, connected people. Who've you been with? Chain snatching, jive-ass, maricón motherfuckers. Why don't you get out of here and go snatch a purse? Cate Blanchett as Elizabeth (1998) I have rid England of her enemies. What do I do now? Am I to be made of stone? Must I be touched by nothing? Terence Stamp as Wilson in The Limey (1999) You tell him, you tell him I'm coming. Tell him I'm fucking coming! Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007) I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.

Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - For Your Consideration, Meet Joe Gump?

Was there a more eagerly anticipated post-summer movie than David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button? Your intrepid writer was himself caught up in the emotional trailer, set to the strains of Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saëns. Never mind that its evocation of one of my favorite films, Malick's Days of Heaven (1978), makes me an easy mark. Or that it is based on a short story by one of my favorite authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Or that Fincher is one of my favorite directors. The film seems to be tailor-made to appeal to the cinema cognoscenti. And is it any coincidence it was released on Christmas Day, allowing it to play for the requisite week in 2008 for it to be nominated come Oscar time? I was crestfallen after reading Glenn Kenny's review of the film, especially because of the close association he makes between this film and Robert Zemeckis' detestable Forrest Gump (1994). Then it all came flooding back to me. The last time I was this bowled over by a trailer, it had been the one for Gump. I finally saw the movie, despising its facile look at history through the eyes of a dim-witted, folksy, ping-pong champion. But most especially I hated Zemeckis' use of flashy, self-conscious visual effects in scenes like the ones where Gump interacts with JFK or John Lennon. Just hire a frickin' actor for Pete's sake. His insertion of actual footage of these legends actually pulled one out of the film, not into it. The trailer for Button was designed in much the same way as the one for Gump, spotlighting much of the same emotional drama and visual spectacle. Compare both below: As Mitch Lewis, points out in a comment posted after Kenny's review, Eric Roth's screenplay even seems like an attempt to rework his own previous script for Forrest Gump. Benjamin (Brad Pitt) is a man aging in reverse, born old, getting younger over the course of the film. He falls for a childhood sweetheart, Daisy (Cate Blanchett), who he leaves behind for adventures on a tug boat in the high seas during the war. But with Fincher's usual touch of darkness, the film works to transcend those limitations. While cockeyed optimism is the flavor of Gump's outlook, Button has a melancholy pessimism enshrouding it, a certain inevitability if you will, that is haunting. Death and the respective shape it takes for each character hangs like a spectre over the film. Whether it is Daisy, on her deathbed, telling Benjamin's story in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina rages outside; or the tugboat's Captain Mike (Jared Harris) defiantly driving his vessel into the rapid-firing shells launched by a German U-boat, Button's unasked question concerns how one faces certain death with dignity. In fact, Fincher's often fog-shrouded images usually underscore the serenity of a peaceful death, echoing another iconic Pitt-starrer, Meet Joe Black (1998). Here are some examples: Like Joe Black, Benjamin is a cypher, a receptacle for all the lessons he gathers on his journeys from the many lonely travellers on their personal journeys to their end. Pitt's portrayal of Benjamin is wonderful, capturing the poignancy of old age and fusing it with the vitality of youth, in much the same way he did in Joe Black. He beautifully projects childlike wonder when he first joins the tug; at the loss of his virginity in a brothel; at the deep connection he makes with a diplomat's wife (Tilda Swinton) while on his journey. But there is a certain cover-boy quality of blankness he is also able to tap into as the youthful-looking Benjamin rapidly declines towards his cruel death, so effective in a scene where he reunites with Blanchett late into the last third of the film. Benjamin's ultimate fate, performed by a mere infant (with the help of some stunningly subtle visual effects) is most unkind to this gentle sojourner. I repeat, the visual effects are subtle. Unlike Gump's intrusive depictions of real-life figures, the magical disappearance of wrinkles on Pitt's face (and the careful preservation of his real-life scar) are easy to overlook. Similar effects of youth have been misused by lesser directors such as Brett Ratner, in the opening scene of X-Men: The Last Stand (2006). Fincher wisely uses this effect only in low-lighting situations that both add to the mood and help diminish the dissonance of the effect itself. Yes, there is the generous use of fanciful-looking CGI to create fake landscapes. But it seems to fit within the confines of the tone Fincher is trying to set with this modern fable. If the film has a fatal flaw it is that it seems a little too calculatedly mindful of Oscar. Like the Frankenstein monster that was Forrest Gump, Button sews together all the qualities that usually appeal most to the Motion Picture Academy: epic scope and length; life-spanning story; protagonist with a disability; unrequited romance; heartfelt reunions, etc. This gives the film a certain polished sheen that somehow renders it a bit hollow. But Fincher's visual artistry, and Pitt's impressive range serve to lift The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, if not to the level of a cinematic crown jewel, then at least to that of a minor gem.

Movie Trailer: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

by Tony Dayoub



This is probably the best trailer I've seen for a movie since the one for Forrest Gump. Don't take that to mean anything. I ended up passionately hating that film. But I do know many out there that consider it their favorite movie.

I have high hopes for this one. It reunites Brad Pitt with his greatest director, David Fincher, who directed him in Se7en and Fight Club. Based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, click on the picture above for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - The Return of Harrison Ford

by Tony Dayoub

He's back! Not Indy. We've been expecting his return for 19 years. I refer to that other guy we haven't seen for so long. Harrison Ford is back! A little grayer, and a little more wrinkle-lined, he still displays the same twinkle-in-the-eye he always has when rendering Indy, his best-loved character. I thought that twinkle died right around the time he did Air Force One. The actor most closely associated with the mega-blockbusters of recent times had been phoning in his performances ever since then. I'm not sure if it was deliberate, but anyway... whatever the case... Indy seems to have lit his spark again in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. And to their credit, the creative team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have made sure that the character has evolved even if the B-movie-like story hasn't, at least not by much.

The story: It's 1957, and the Red Scare wave of paranoia is cresting. Kidnapped by Soviets led by a psychic Stalin-ite (Cate Blanchett), Indy is forced to help them find a mysterious corpse, in Nevada's infamous Hangar 51, that may or may not be an alien. He foils them, of course, but not before giving us another great opening sequence. What does he get for his trouble? The FBI investigates him as a person of interest, calling his World War II military exploits into question. Into this comes a young greaser named Mutt (Shia LaBeouf), with news of the disappearance of a couple of mutual friends tied to the mythological crystal skulls of the title. And spearheading the race for the skulls on the side of evil, is Blanchett's Irina Spalko.

The movie has the requisite acknowledgements to past adventures, including a quite funny one to Raiders of the Lost Ark in the opening sequence, and thematic references to The Last Crusade's young-vs.-old humor in the relationship between Indy and Mutt (sorry, Temple of Doom fans, no references to the underrated redheaded-stepchild of the franchise). The same way Connery (cinema's original action star in his 007 franchise) figuratively passed the action-hero torch to Ford in the last film, Ford seems to be doing the same to The Transformers' LaBeouf in this one. But wait a second Mr. LaBeouf. I like you and all, but you are no Harrison Ford. And the movie's epilogue has a gag that confirms Spielberg and Lucas' reluctance to bestow the young actor with the crown too quickly.

Rooted in the B-movies of the fifties, the way the earlier ones were in the thirties, the film's plot is not original, but there are plenty of surprises and treats along the way. Spalko is a formidable adversary, and probably Indy's best since Raiders. Karen Allen's return as Marion, gives the film some of the heart that had been missing in the last two films. For fans of the Young Indy TV show who hoped that the series would not be brushed under the carpet, don't worry, it's not. Aside from the rather oblique references to the show in Indy's references to his exploits as an OSS spy in WWII (he had also been a spy in WWI in the TV series), there is a more direct reference to one of the episodic adventures midway through the movie. And don't ask me why, but I was impressed by the minimal supporting part that Igor Jijikine plays as Spalko's henchman, Dovchenko. Maybe it's his resemblance to Lawrence Montaigne (The Great Escape) on steroids.

Of course, it's Ford that carries the movie. And though he actually looks a little creakier when cracking the whip, he looks like he's having more fun. Indy's physical ability has always been secondary to his charm. Maybe the increasingly morose roles he has chosen in the intervening years haven't given him the same opportunity to display the roguishness he did as Indy. But Crystal Skull allows him to while still accepting that Indy is much older. He falls a little faster when punched by the Soviets. He's a little more wistful when he sees Marion for the first time. And he is much more his father's son than he used to be, going into scientific explanations about their predicament while sinking in quicksand.

You stand to be disappointed if you go into this movie expecting the second coming of Raiders, as many in the press seem to have. After all, Raiders is arguably the best film that Ford, Spielberg or Lucas have EVER done. This is just a fun little gem more akin to The Last Crusade. Catch it at a matinee, the way you were meant to.

DVD Review: I'm Not There - Bob Dylan... Chameleon or Cipher?

by Tony Dayoub

Look up the definition of a cipher. The first definition on Dictionary.com for cipher is simply the word zero. Singer Bob Dylan has been anything and everything but a zero. However, as Todd Haynes illustrates in his paean to Dylan, I'm Not There, Dylan viewed himself as somewhat of an empty receptacle. As he used his chameleon-like abilities to create new personas he could hide behind, friends, fans, and particularly the press, would fill that receptacle with their own preconceived notions of who Dylan really was. Haynes found it so difficult to present Dylan in a straightforward manner, that he instead chose six actors to interpret many of his adopted personas. And if much of the stories told about Dylan or by him are apocryphal, then Haynes found the best way to tell the story. He took the advice of a character in John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Among the personas appearing in the movie are the poet-like Dylan known as Arthur Rimbaud (Ben Whishaw), Rimbaud being the poet whose quotation, "I is the other," is the central thesis of the film. Young African-American actor, Marcus Carl Franklin, plays the Woody Guthrie persona. Dylan had fashioned a background story for himself as a young folk-singing hobo, who spent his youth jumping on trains to travel cross-country, a story later found out to be false. Haynes casting of the 11-year-old Franklin is a wink to viewers, making it obvious that this kid could not possibly be a surrogate for Dylan despite his stories leading one to believe it so. Jack Rollins (Christian Bale) is the Greenwich Village folkie that we closely associate with Joan Baez (or in this movie, Julianne Moore's Alice Fabian). Bale also reappears as Pastor John, the born-again Dylan of the late seventies. Jack Rollins (Heath Ledger) is the self-absorbed movie star Dylan, who's crumbling marriage is symbolized by the trajectory America takes during the Vietnam war. Richard Gere is Billy the Kid, the Dylan that retreats from public view to live a quiet life in Riddle, a town populated by characters from his songs.

The most iconic and spot-on performance, in fact, almost a transformation, is Cate Blanchett as Jude Quinn, the defensive Dylan facing rejection from his folk fans after going electric. Her nomination for an Oscar is well deserved, for at no time are you consciously aware that this is Blanchett acting. You are transfixed by her charisma as the androgynous rock star at the height of his sixties-era confrontational posturing towards the press. Blanchett captures the Dylan that sees himself as a cipher, "One having no influence or value; a nonentity."

Haynes shoots each story in the style of cinema suited to the period and story being covered. For example, Blanchett's segment is reminiscent of Fellini's 8 1/2, and Gere's evokes the westerns of the seventies, like Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller or Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (which Dylan appeared in).

I was enthralled by the enigmatic film on a level that I can't quite explain. It certainly has an emotional effect on the most visceral level. But the enigmatic film resists any intellectualizing. Much of the explanations above were derived from a thorough survey of the special features included on the DVD, in stores now. I am a casual Bob Dylan fan so I did not have any reference points to lean on when watching the film. But the wealth of extras on the disc can serve as a crash-course on the singer's life and work. Special attention should be payed to the writings on the film collected under the title "An Introduction to the Film" on Disc 1. The point is that none of this should hinder enjoyment of the film, as long as you can accept its perplexing metaphorical nature.

"I is the other." As Dylan would say, I is not me... I'm not there. Haynes fractured biopic depicts the nonentity that characterizes Dylan. And perhaps his film consciously exemplifies yet another definition of a cipher, "[a private mode of communication] contrived for the safe transmission of secrets."

Still provided courtesy of Genius Products and The Weinstein Company.

Movie Trailer: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

by Tony Dayoub



Click on the picture above to be directed to the trailer.

Let me know what you think of it.

DVD Review: Elizabeth: The Golden Age - Brightness Uncovers Its Flaws

by Tony Dayoub

New on DVD this week, Elizabeth: The Golden Age lacks the rough, violent heart of the first Elizabeth. The first one had a darkness creeping in on the edges of both the story and the cinematography that evoked the intrigue of the Godfather films. Shekhar Kapur's sequel shuns the darkness in favor of the light, obviously illustrating the progress made since the dark ages of the first film's setting. However, save for Cate Blanchett's performance as Elizabeth I, it only serves to uncover the film's flaws.