Zoolander

2001

2.5/5 Stars

“Mermaaaaaaaaaan…. Mermaaaaann!”

Ben Stiller acts as writer, director, and star of this silly and irreverent lampooning of Hollywood, the fashion industry, and the celebrities therein. The plot is intentionally absurd – something involving the none-too-bright male model Zoolander (Stiller) being suckered into an international conspiracy to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The story takes a back seat to the opportunity for Stiller to fill the screen with his countless celebrity friends and family members (his mother, father, and wife all have speaking roles in the film).

This is generally a fun experience, as the audience feels a part of the joke. Good performances by Owen Wilson as Zoolander’s arch-rival Hansel, Will Ferrell as the evil fashion designer Mugatu, and David Duchovny as a retired hand model all help to keep the movie afloat for what can - at times - feel like a long 89 minutes.

Cameos from David Bowie, Winona Ryder, and Billy Zane, along with the “mining sequence” featuring Jon Voight and Vince Vaughn are also fun and worth noting.

The movie is slowed down by the flat performance of Christine Taylor (Stiller’s wife), as the straight-laced reporter Matilda Jeffries. Playing the only “normal” character in a movie made up of cartoon characters might not have been easy, but I came away feeling like she should have had more fun with the role nonetheless. Her speech on bulimia and obesity three-quarters to the movie felt out of place in this setting and the performance as a whole seemed one-note and a drag.

Overall though, a light and harmless comedy with lots of quotable nonsense (“I feel like I’m taking CRAZY PILLS!”), some fun characters, and not much else.

Walk the Line

2005

4.5/5 Stars

Most of James Mangold’s 2005 biopic of Johnny Cash takes place as a flashback. The opening shots frame Folsom Prison, with its high fences and armed sentries. As the camera takes us past the perimeter and the viewer draws nearer to the main building, a swell of rhythmic foot stomps and hand clapping can be heard. This noise gets louder and louder until we are inside the prison and we get our first glimpses of “the man in black” himself, resting a moment prior to resuming his legendary concert at the prison. One can’t help but get sucked in to the air of excitement leading up to this pivotal moment- and then, as Cash examines a table saw, we pull away from the anticipated crescendo and find ourselves in rural Arkansas, where Cash’s story began.

What follows is a brutally honest story of the rise, fall, and ultimate redemption of Johnny Cash. There is a great deal to love about the film. The music is central and treated brilliantly, the acting- especially from Joaquin Phoenix as Cash and Reese Witherspoon- is outstanding, and a number of the set pieces are exciting and believable. A personal favorite of mine involved an unknown Cash stumbling into Sam Phillip’s small SUN Studio. The tone of this sequence is pitch perfect and a delight for any fan of the genre and the legendary music that came from that label.

For fans of the music, there is much to take in. Phoenix and Witherspoon perform all of the (Cash/Carter) songs themselves while there are a number of other strong musical performances from actors emulating Elvis, Jerry Lee Louis, and Roy Orbison (I also could hear Wanda Jackson’s “Fujiama Mamma” offscreen at one point). The music is appropriately accorded the central role it deserves and it makes watching the movie a joy.

Perhaps even more impressive than the quality of the musical performances is the acting performance delivered by Witherspoon. From the moment she is introduced on screen, she is electrifying. Rarely does a character “pop” from the screen with as much fire and sheer likeability as Witherspoon does here. For his part, Phoenix keeps pace and the performers seem to play off one another, resulting in a love story that keeps the viewer engaged throughout.

What struck me most on re-watching the film for the first time since I had seen it in the theater back in 2005, was how human both Cash and Carter seemed. They are never put on a pedestal that makes their experience seem alien. Even when Cash is at the height of his success, he is portrayed as a person with real problems - not as a legendary musician beyond reproach. Cash’s ultimate recovery from substance abuse is the result of personal growth and the gentle guidance of a strong companion.

The movie runs a little bit long at points, but this is a very minor quip. In total, Walk the Line is a fantastic biopic of an American icon.

The Bourne Ultimatum

2007

2/4 Stars

The third and final (for now) part of the Bourne trilogy picks up immediately where the second part left off. Jason Bourne is in Moscow and seriously wounded. Plagued by flashbacks, he must determine his origins and what happened to turn him into the super-assassin he is.

Once again, this is a globe-trotting picture, going from London, to Spain, to Italy, Morocco and to New York City. The on-location shots are great.

The action is more furious than ever and does not pause or let up at all throughout. This turns out to be problematic in this film as it begins to feel like an unending chase that lacks depth of story. The scenes of Bourne jumping from balcony to balcony and through countless windows in Morocco felt overdone by the end.

The Pam Landy CIA war room cliches are back in this film and feel stale-- "No time for introductions people! Let's get to work!" An expanded role for Save the Last Dance's Julia Stiles is also disappointing.

In the end, this felt like a movie that was moving so quickly that it lost its purpose. The sense of excitement that was created in the first film is missing here. This is not a bad film, it still has entertaining moments, but fails to measure up to its predecessors.

The Bourne Supremacy

2004

2.5/4 Stars

The Bourne Supremacy is a strong follow-up that picks up right where the first Bourne movie left off. The story begins with Jason Bourne and Marie having found a resting spot in India. When an assassin comes to kill Jason, the film is off and running, taking the viewer from Berlin to Moscow and a variety of other places.

Joan Allen enters the film as Pam Landy, a CIA agent who is responsible for tracking Bourne. The film's "war room" scenes suffer a bit from cliches. "You want to go home? FIND JASON BOURNE!" The fast pace of the film generally covers up for this.

The film also has an overly long ending-- not Return of the King overly long, but long nonetheless. This is the only point in the film where things slow down.

Overall, a solid sequel that falls just a little short of measuring up to its predecessor.

The Bourne Identity

2002

3/4 Stars

Doug Liman's "The Bourne Identity" is the first part of a compelling spy trilogy. The pacing of the film is fast and furious, the action is intense, and the acting is pretty good too.

Matt Damon is Jason Bourne, a super-spy assassin who has lost his memory. The movie opens with Bourne's body floating in the ocean- unconscious and possibly dead. After a small group of fishermen recover him and nurse him back to health, Bourne makes it his mission to figure out who he is and how he ended up lost at sea with two bullets lodged in his back.

Franka Potente (Run Lola Run) joins in the action, putting in a good performance as the love interest and heroine.

The action spans across Europe and beyond, with highlights including a Paris car chase and a duel between expert assassins in Bourne and Clive Owen's "The Professor".

This is a good to very good action movie that is fun to watch and keeps the viewer on the edge of his/her seat.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

2008

1.5/4 Stars

The sequel to 2004’s Hellboy, Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army is a disappointing follow-up after a promising start to the series. To be sure, the visuals are fantastic and del Toro’s distinguished fantasy sensibilities are on full display here. This said, this is far from his best work and the film suffers from a few too many deficiencies to overcome.

From the opening moments of the film, which shows an awkward Hellboy as a teenager, one is reminded that this is a comic book fantasy movie that takes place in an alternate reality from ours. As the film progresses though, the characters start to resemble the aliens from Men In Black in scenes like the “Troll Market”- they seem more like comical cartoon characters and less like dark fantasy creatures.

While it is nice to see Jeffrey Tambor, the film is missing the vocal talents of David Hyde Pierce, who did such a fine job as “Abe” in the first film. The lack of Pierce, coupled with the poor acting of actress Selma Blair, make for a mediocre cast that Ron Perlman alone cannot overcome.

Some characters are stronger than others, such as Prince and Princess Nuada. The elven Prince makes for an excellent villain (at one point he fights with two swords in an obvious nod to the dark elf Drizzt Do’urden). Perhaps if the film had centered more upon him and his motives, it would have been a better overall product.

Unfortunately, the outstanding visuals cannot compensate for a mediocre and shallow story. It was also disappointing that “The Golden Army” doesn’t appear until there are 20 minutes left in the film, and of the 49,000 soldiers of the Golden Army, only 7 or 8 see actual combat. This alone felt like an opportunity missed. Perhaps things will improve if and when they come out with Hellboy III. Until then, del Toro’s other films, such as “The Devil’s Backbone” or “Pan’s Labyrinth” are well worth watching.

The English Patient

1996

3.5/4 Stars

Anthony Minghella’s interpretation of Michael Ondaatje’s novel is a moving, if somewhat elitist, piece of art. The film has an epic, sweeping scale that takes the viewer along for a ride filled with breathtaking visuals of rolling deserts, beautiful bodies, and Italian scenery.

Themes of death, war, and loss play heavily here, as do love, lust, and infidelity.

The plot is twisting, but revolves largely around an affair between a Hungarian Count and a married English woman who meet on a map-making expedition in Egypt. Set against the backdrop of the Second World War in North Africa and in Italy, these powerful historical events enhance a dramatic love story.

Minghella goes to great lengths to capture a variety of shots in telling his story- ranging from the aerial shots of the Egyptian desert, to the horrors of a Nazi prison, to a simplistic scene in which Hana plays Hopscotch. All of these combine for a moving story that is artistically presented.
The dialogue is often poetic- I particularly liked Madox’s assessment of nationalities (another major theme in the film) when he speaks of transcending these boundaries in search of a common goal. “We didn’t care about Germans, Hungarians, British- it was something finer than that-“ Katherine’s call for an “Earth without maps” echoes this sentiment.

The film has been often criticized for taking itself too seriously and being humorless. The endless stream of good looking people, dramatic dialogue, and epic visuals do create a sense of elitism to the film. “The Toy Patient” on YouTube does a fine job of lampooning all of these elements and is worth watching after seeing the film to lighten the mood (apparently Ralph Fiennes loved this parody).