Quarantine (dvd review)

I’m not going to lie, I was one of those suckers who bought into every single minute of hype behind the train that was Cloverfield.  Maybe it is because of my overwhelming love for everything J.J. Abrams touches.  Maybe it was the idea of a movie shot entirely on a single camera.  Maybe it was those cool viral marketing vids.  Whatever it was, the movie ended up being a huge letdown and left a dirty taste in my mouth for the entire affair.

That being said, it’s easy to understand why I was a skeptic when the trailers for Quarantine hit. 

I knew it was a remake of the foreign film REC., but it also looked so eerily familiar.  I stayed away from it in theaters, not because it looked bad but because of the mess which was Cloverfield. 

Thankfully, this film is far more engaging and rewarding.

To fully understand my enjoyment of Quarantine, it might help to better discuss the problems with Cloverfield.  If anything, Quarantine is a huge improvement of, and succeeds in nearly every way in which Cloverfield failed.

I must say, first, that Quarantine is not necessarily a good film.  It’s a film which succeeds at what it is trying to do, but it still is full of all kinds of problems. 

The first thing it gets right is its characters.  There is no silly love story here, though there are only slight hints at an attraction.  In fact, it’s overwhelmingly fantastic that this film has no love story going on in it.  There is an obvious relationship going on between Angela (female reporter) and Scott (her cameraman), though it is unclear if it’s a friendship between them or one between her and the camera.  Either way, this isn’t a love story and that’s fantastic.

The next thing it does is the excuse for the camera.  Sure,  the argument about whether or not ‘the people need to know’ may get overplayed a bit and become questionable in parts, but for the majority of the film the filming makes a lot of sense.  We aren’t in the hands of a stupid, ignorant, bumbling fool ala Cloverfield.  Here, we’re in the hands of a more than qualified and clearly dedicated professional.  This makes all the difference in the world and is brilliantly handled here.

Another great success is in the creepiness of each scene.  The building and its residence are far more suspenseful than running around an alien-filled New York.  The subtly of each may not be terrifying, but it is effective.  In comparison, there are only a handful of scenes from Cloverfield which really stuck with the viewer.  Here, however, there are dozens of suspenseful scenes which succeed to a high degree.  There is no doubt a level of weakness involved, but it is the filming which makes it all worthwhile. 

John Erick Dowdle, the film’s writer and director, really should be recognized for his strong work here.  It’s clear that his direction and style save the film from being just another fluff piece of horror porn, and his ideas (even if it being a remake) certainly work well here as a whole.

The film is laden with all kinds of problems, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that its entertaining parts are more than worth the price of admission.  It isn’t a perfect film, but it is most likely as close as we’ll get with these kind of onetrickpony flicks.  The film is certainly worth a rental, though some of its elements may be worth the price of the bluray.  

Choclate (dvd review)

When I saw Ong-Bak in theaters back in ’03, I was blown away by what I was watching onscreen.  Tony Jaa is simply amazing to watch perform.  His acting may be questionable at best, but his martial arts skills are comparable to none.  He is, by far, the best martial artist/actor working today.  Whether he’s kicking or punching someone, jumping through plate glass, or sliding under a car while doing the splits – you can’t possibly be disappointed while watching.

Sadly, the same cannot be said for Jeejaw Yanin’s performance in Choclate.  Choclate is Jeejaw’s first feature film and while she is clearly quite the skilled martial artist, she is just unbelievable in the role.  She spends the majority of the movie beating up thugs upon thugs, but never once delivers a kick or punch that one could believe to be strong enough to knock someone out.  While ‘flashy’, her performance comes off as all style and no substance.  To be honest, I don’t think it is Jeejaw’s fault.  Prachya Pinkaew may have directed the awesomeness that is Ong-Bak, but he followed it up with the less-than-thrilling The Protector.  To rebound from the atrocity that was, Chocolate would need to succeed on several levels.  Unfortunately for Pinkaew, it doesn’t.  In fact, the fall from grace somewhat reminds me of Tom Tykwer.  Tykwer directed the mindblowing Run Lola Run, then followed it up with the incredibly messofafilm The Princess and the Warrior.  However, he eventually rebounded with Paris, je t’aime, and then with Perfume (one of my favorite movies – ever).  Chocolate is no Paris, je t’aime and it is certainly no Perfume.  At this rate, Pinkaew still has a lot of growing to do.

The Movie:

Chocolate is the story of a girl, Zen, who is the special needs daughter born from two very dangerous people.  Zen grows up with her mother, who soon develops cancer.  Moom, Zen’s friend, discovers Zen has amazing reflexes and uses her gift to help generate family income.  Soon Zin becomes deathly sic, and Moom and Zen set out to collect from Zin’s past debtors in hopes of earning enough money to pay for chemo.

This is where the action begins, as Zen quickly learns that in order to get money from each of the debtor’s, she must use her ‘mad martial arts skills’ to do so.  And sadly, it’s here where the film really takes a turn for the worse.  Clearly the premise is unique, autistic girl who uses a unique ability to whoop ass.  Sure, clever.  However, I’m a little unsure of the overly complicated premise, which seems poorly designed to serve only as an excuse for Jeejaw to show off her talents.  And, as previously stated, while she may be talented, there’s no belief here that she is actually beating these guys up.  That’s what is so overly frustrating about the film.  At not one point do I believe the scenario I’m watching unfold, nor do I believe that what she’s doing is actually registering on any level.

That’s not to say that Jeejaw couldn’t kick my ass.  I’m sure she could.  But if she’s doing it with the ferocity shown here, it would take her a solid hour before I would eventually  give up.  There’s just no power behind anything going on onscreen.  All of it looks completely scripted, and that is the film’s major flaw. 

The story is completely out of leftfield, and the longer the film went on, the more complicated and ludicrous it became.  So much so, that the main antagonist in the film has cross-dressers as his main hired goons.  That’s not to say that cross-dressers can’t be hired goons, I’m just not sure why these are.  Added to the fact that they seem so completely out of place, well, it was just frustrating. 

In my Let the Right One In review, I commented on how foreign directors have been picking up the slack where American directors have left off.  Sadly, this theory does not apply to Chocolate.

 

What a Week...

Wow.  

This has been one crazy, intense week for movie trailers.  Generally, when movie trailers release they're not really _that_ big of a deal.  However, when one of those trailers happens to be for the yearsinthemaking Quentin Tarintino World War II flick, it sorta shakes things up abit.  Especially when the film looks as mindblowingly good as it does.  

Check it out here:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/inglorious-basterds/teaser-trailer

I've watched the thing about four times now, and I get more and more excited with each viewing.  I remember the first time I saw the Kill Bill trailer.  My immediate thoughts were, "well, it's QT so you know it will rock...but that looks.....odd'.  Happily, I couldn't have been more right.  Kill Bill is a true homage film, and has since become a classic around these parts.  What I see in this Inglorious Basterds trailer is that same director (QT), taking something you know he loves (violence) and putting it in a realistic setting.  I feel like this will be the first time QT has made a violent movie in the 'real world' - yet, if you watch the trailer, that ain't no 'real world'.  That is QT's version of Hitler, Germany, and what happened in the aftermath.  He's taking six Jews and dropping them behind enemy lines to, literally, 'go kill some Nazi's'.  And, in all honesty, no one could film it better.  The style, the sense of despair, and the overwhelming acts of brutality shine in almost every tiny scene.  Heck, even Brad Pitt calls for scalps!  Bring it on, QT!  And keep bringing it on!

Next up is Travolta and Denzel's newest:

http://www.catchthetrain.com/

There's a few things that REALLY bother me about this trailer.  First off - watch closely the opening scene with Travolta and the beard and the glasses and the hat.  THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE TRAVOLTA!  And I LOVE it!  But, obviously done for recoginition - they have Travolta take the hat and glasses off once aboard the train.  Painful, because in those moments as he walks aboard, he truly looks like one scary, badass dude.  Which Travolta can't really pull off being Travolta.  It's like Wesley Snipes in the Blade series.  As soon as the sunglasses come off, he's just Snipes again and he looks out of place.  The audience recognition kicks in and we're immediately taken out of the context of the film.  Now, I won't be watching this scary, intimidating hostage taker taking over the subway line.  I'll be watching Travolta.  This film looks mostly decent and I'm willing to forgive some of the problems with the trailer simply because it's directed by Tony Scott, who last collaborated with Denzel on Man on Fire.  That film is one of my favorite films in the last ten years, so it's nice to see them working together.  However, Denzel is certainly no Creasey here, which is highly disappointing.  I'm looking forward to seeing a second trailer for this, in hopes it will explain 1)why Travolta took over a subway train (seems stupid and easy for the cops to solve) and 2)why Denzel needs to get on it.  Other than those things, it looks entertaining..  Oh, and please, Travolta, stick with the R.  You're so much better in R...

And lastly we had this show up:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/observe-and-report/red-band-trailer

I still have no idea what to think of this movie.  The Pineapple Express trailers is historic as is, and this is a bit of a let down in comparison.  However, Pineapple Express was a film that was mediocre, better upon additional viewings, so maybe this will be the opposite of that.  I'm not really a big fan of Anna Farris, but she looks somewhat funny here.  I'm much more excited about I Love You, Man - but Seth Rogen certainly makes a darn funny trailer.

Enjoy!!

The Godfather Part 2 (bluray)

As I previously mentioned, I was able to pick up The Godfather Trilogy on bluray for nexttonothing, and was also able to convince a certain, special someone to give it a gander with me. 

I’ve always enjoyed Part 2 more than Part 1, and I was very eager to give both a spin.  Maybe it was because it had been so long since I had seen them.  Maybe it was because I would be watching them with someone who had never seen them before.  Or maybe it’s because they are two of the greatest films ever made.

One thing that I truly enjoy about both of them, and I may be alone in this, but I love watching the young Robert Duvall act.  I think it’s because my generation has gotten to know ‘old’ Robert Duvall, as opposed to the ‘young’ Robert Duvall.  We’re familiar with his work in things like Days of Thunder, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Open Range, Kicking and Screaming, and Lucky You.  While I’m a fan of some of those films, they hold nothing to his work here in The Godfather (both parts).  I find it disheartening that he was not hired to take part in the third installment.  I recently read online that his role was set to be significantly larger in the third film, with the story line focusing on him and Pacino.  However, the studio refused to pay him any more than he was paid for Part 2, even though his role would have obviously been much larger (not to mention the years apart…).  He bailed on the project as a result, and thus we have the somewhat lackluster Part 3.  Either way, he’s great to watch here in his last Godfather performance.

And of course, how could I not mention the amazingness that is Robert De Niro.  Though it seems insignificant now, as De Niro has become one of the largest sellouts in recent memory, he puts on a true tour de force here that should not be missed.  If, for some reason, you’ve yet to see Part 2, stop putting it off.  I eat up each and every scene De Niro is in, which is more than I can say about his last…oh…twenty films.

The Movie:

Part 2 is, in essence, a very damning film.  I’ve always viewed The Godfather Part 1 as essentially ‘The Rise of Michael Corleone’.  That being said, Part 2 is certainly ‘The Fall of Michael Corleone’.  Though Michael doesn’t necessarily lose in the long run of things here, everything he’s established by the end of the first film is in somewhat of a downward spiral.  Where we spent the first film watching him create a name for himself, here we get to see him struggling to keep that name respected.  As if to compliment this notion perfectly, we’re given the ‘rise’ of young Vito Corleone (played by De Niro here) in jumps back to New York in the early 1900s.  Here we’re given glimpses of each of the children, as well as scenes where we get to see Vito becoming the man we know well (I find it fascinating to know that De Niro had a smaller, similar device constructed for his mouth to match the one Brando wore in Part 1). 

Each of the returning actors are fantastic, with the exception of Diane Keaton (Kay, Michael’s wife).  I hate Mrs. Keaton as an actress, for obvious reasons, and I feel like her role here has been my reason for that for quite some time.  Every bit of her character is hated here.  So much so, that I’ve never fully understood why Michael would waste his time on such a heinous woman. 

I have to say, unfortunately, that after watching both parts back to back, that I now prefer Part 1 over Part 2.  Maybe I was too young to notice so many of the transition problems which plaque this film.  While it’s still great, and still a classic, it just doesn’t hold up to Part 1.  Each of the scenes with Vito are fantastic and serve to set the back story perfectly, especially as we watch Michael fail to be the man his father was, but in contrast, almost each of the scenes with Michael fails miserably.  I still don’t have a thorough understanding of what exactly was going on with the trial, nor how that even started.  And don’t get me started on the outofleftfieldness that is Hyman Roth (I won’t even try to explain this character here). 

The film, even with these small issues, is still better than 90% of films released in the last twenty years.  And I’m honestly not sure if that’s a compliment to Coppola, or an insult to films over the last two decades.

The Presentation:

There’s not really a lot to say here that I didn’t say about Part 1.  They look nearly identical in cleanliness, both looking better than ever before.  There is a lot more violence throughout Part 2 and the surrounds get a bit more of a workout than before.  However, there still aren’t a whole lot of non-dialogue scenes, so the film will never really serve as reference material.  The look is fresh, crisp, and clean, and will certainly leave you satisfied with your bluray purchase.  I was fortunate enough to pick it up for under $50, though they are easily worth the retail $80.

Final Thoughts:

This film, like Part 1, is a masterpiece.  While it may not be as solid as Part 1, it is still an amazing piece of classic cinema sure to entertain both laidback and hardcore movie goers.  If you’re a fan of the series, these are easily recommended.  If your bluray library includes Meet the Spartans, Little Man, or Norbit – you may want to pass.