Bill Condon’s first post-Twilight film bites off more than it can chew, but it’s difficult to say whether that’s because of the subject matter – being the origins and rise of both Wikileaks and its controversial founder, Julian Assange – or because of the production’s unavoidable biopic bent; even at the tender age of only seven (which amounts to light years on the web), Wikileaks can already claim a rich, storied, complex history, so much so that two hours feels scarcely enough to scratch the surface of its conception or paint more than a sketch of Assange. So where, then, does The Fifth Estate go wrong? Like so many biopics,…
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Off the Shelf…’Drug War’
Should Johnnie To’s name hold no special meaning for you, consider correcting that immediately by introducing yourself to the veteran Chinese filmmaker’s work through Drug War. Apart from being handily available through Netflix’s Instant service, the film happens to be great, so strong in fact that it arguably holds a position of high honor in his decades-long career; it’s a combined symbol of his talent and vitality, and one of the most ruthless films of 2013 that you probably missed. (In the interest of full disclosure, I only caught up on Drug War myself following New Year’s, but man do I wish I’d seen it before December’s voting deadline.) Drug…
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Off the Shelf…’Starter For 10′ (Not-So-Secret Santa Edition, #2)
(Note: as with my vicious, no-holds-barred takedown of the appallingly bad Showdown in Little Tokyo, this Off the Shelf entry is extra special. That’s because it’s also part of the Cinematic Katzenjammer’s Not-So-Secret Santa Swap blogathon, which this time around is a bit more seasonally appropriate. For my swap, I was given the chance to talk about Starter For 10, a movie which did not make me want to pour boiling gravy into my eyes; it’s charming and fun, plus it has all the British people in it. Thanks to the illustrious Nick Powell for setting this whole thing up.) You’ve probably seen Starter For 10 before. By that I…
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Off the Shelf…’Frances Ha’
Culturally, Frances Ha almost feels like Noah Baumbach issuing a challenge to all listless twenty-somethings stubbornly fixated on spending their time finding themselves: get found already, dammit. Throughout his career, Baumbach has showcased a knack for capturing the unbearable sensation of being emotionally unmoored, and across his entire filmography, Frances Ha – lyrical, succinct, rapturously authentic – may display that talent better than the rest. Think of it as a quartet of Girls episodes mashed together into an eighty minute bonanza of comic incident, if you must; the film is set in New York, and focuses on the travails of a young, white, up and coming female struggling to make her dreams come…
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Off the Shelf…’Monsters University’
In the prequel to Pete Docter’s monster hit (yes, pun very much intended) Monsters, Inc. this new story takes us back to the beginning, to a time before Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan were the very best of friends. It’s an interesting decision to take to expand on the mythology of this world but also one of the smartest moves the studio could have made. Going the prequel route (the first for Pixar) allows them to expand on and explore more of the film’s most lovable characters. Now for a studio devoted to and known for innovation and originality to take a step back might seem odd or like they’ve…
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Off the Shelf…’The Little Mermaid’
Walt Disney Studios can stake their claim on a myriad of things, one of which is having some of the very best Blu-Ray transfers out there. Adding to their growing list of re-released classics getting the HD treatment is The Little Mermaid. This adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen‘s iconic and timeless story is one of the studio’s gems and nearly defines what it means to be Disney – it’s colorful, creative, engaging, emotional, funny, fanciful and perfect for fans of just about any age. Many times, Disney pics are near Herculean productions that necessitate the skill of not one but a duo of directors at the helm. Enter Ron Clements…
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Off the Shelf…’Dredd’
The list of rules set in place for rebooting bygone films is relatively anemic; general wisdom dictates that such practices should be verboten, but movie studios rarely allow little niggling details like hindsight and foresight get in the way of a quick buck. So the reboot machine churns, plopping recycling garbage onto a conveyor belt that empties straight into your local multiplex year after year, producing little of interest or note and giving audiences very little reason to leave their homes and attend the theater. Wonder why VOD has become so popular? Wonder no longer. Yet even in the realm of rebooting – not quite the same as “remaking”, be assured,…
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Off the Shelf…’Showdown In Little Tokyo’ (Not-So-Secret Santa Edition)
(Note: this Off the Shelf entry is a little bit extra special. That’s because it’s a part of the Cinematic Katzenjammer’s Not-So-Secret Santa Swap blogathon. For my swap, I have the dubious honor of tearing up the Dolph Lundren/Brandon Lee buddy cop film, Showdown in Little Tokyo, which I can’t describe succinctly here except to say that I hated it in the best way possible. Thanks to maestro Nick Powell for setting this whole thing up.) This probably outs me as an apostate of 80’s and 90’s schlock, but I’ve never been a Dolph Lundgren fan. Color me a member of the zeitgeist; he really is the poor man’s Arnold in every…
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Off the Shelf…’The Ghastly Love of Johnny X’
Where do you start with a charmingly bizarre Frankenstein’s monster like The Ghastly Love of Johnny X? There needs to be a better word for “weird” only because films like this exist, and at the end of the day that’s the best word to describe them, even if it’s a bit limiting. “Weird”, in the case of Johnny X, is good; Paul Bunnell’s off-kilter creation calls on a number of references and influences ranging from Flash Gordon to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and despite the clear connection to the B-movie cult icons of decades past, it winds up playing very much like its own (occasionally uneven) beast. That’s something of an achievement on its own,…
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Off the Netflix Queue…’Upstream Color’
Shane Carruth makes double-edged films. They’re the sort of art-oriented enterprises that utterly thrill me on spiritual, emotional, and intellectual levels, movies that confound, enlighten, dazzle, and bewilder all in equal turn; they’re also frequently cryptic to the point that articulating my feelings on them proves excessively difficult. Put more simply, Carruth’s cinema wows me and I can’t easily convey why, which puts me in a difficult position as somebody whose purpose is to distill his feelings on the movies he watches into precise essays measuring between eight to nine paragraphs in length. As a cinephile, filmmakers like Carruth validate my love for the medium; as a writer and critic,…
