The Rock

The Rock was one of the first films I remember going and seeing with friends when I was in high school and of course as a high school male I absolutely loved it. More importantly I got a free VHS copy a few years later and probably watched it at least once a year through college (I had a lot of free time and no cable). To be fair this was well before Michael Bay had become as annoying as he is now and I was at the age where the film's blend of machismo, slow-motion, and Nic Cage was right in my wheelhouse (of course as you well know Nic Cage is always in my strike zone). Anyway its been probably a decade since I last saw it and when it turned up for free ONDEMAND I couldn't resist seeing if it still held up.

Now let it be said that this is not what would be conventionally called a 'great' film, but I'll be damned if it still isn't entertaining in its own way. Believe me, it still has enough Bay-isms and plot-holes to potentially kill it (constant edits, military action being shot as lovingly as a porn film, and all non-military black people talking with 'sass') but he was still early enough in his career where at least his more annoying tendencies were somewhat in check. More importantly the cast is just solid and they carry the film through its more ludicrous moments (which is appropriately most of it). I'm not just talking about the three leads (Nic Cage, Ed Harris, and Sean Connery) who go a long way to making you care, but the supporting cast is loaded with 'those guys' (John Spencer, John Morris, Michael Bien, John C McGinley, Vanessa Marcil, Claire Folriani, and the black guy from the Practice) that I couldn't help but smile.

Look the film is overwrought, illogical, and doesn't really hold up to scrutiny, I admit all that. But it still remains one of the three Michael Bay films I can actually tolerate (the others being Armageddon and Bad Boys), and the only one that I can say I enjoy even a bit un-ironically. Whether this has to do with the fact that I have such a history with the film, or an unnatural obsession with over-the-top Nic Cage (who am I kidding that's entirely natural) is tough to say, but I can't deny that almost fifteen years after its release its still reasonably entertaining.

'We got Green Smoke'

Waiting for superman

Wow, three in a row and not one Jackass, I must be slipping. Anyway Waiting for Superman is a documentary about the decaying school system in our country, and follows around five students who are trying to get win a lottery to enter high performing charter schools. Let me say upfront that I think the film does a decent job laying out the big issues in education right now, and I think it'll be an important conversation starter. I also generally agree that many of the problems described are valid (tenure starting to early, no way to pay teachers base don merit, union and bureaucratic inflexibility, etc) but there big solution of expanding the charter school model around the country has one big flaw the film doesn't acknowledge. Basically all the schools they hold up as models suffer from self-selection bias. Basically since its so hard to get in all the students there (and more importantly the parents) are motivated to do the work and succeed. Therefore its unsurprising that the test scores are higher since these are precisely the students that were probably going to be higher achievers regardless of situation. Now I don't doubt at all that the innovations at the schools help them channel their efforts more effectively, and could no doubt help other schools. I just think its dangerous to assume something is the magic bullet when it succeeds with a very select sub sample. I know this is somewhat missing the point, and obscures my general agreement with the film's message. But it is not an immaterial concern and one I think the filmmaker should have acknowledged more explicitly.

Important Annoucement

I just found out the director/writers of Crank 2 will be directing Nic Cage in Ghostrider 2. Also Cage will probably play two roles (one of them a demon Zarathos). Excitement. Level. Growing.

Easy A

After another ten hour day writing about deferred taxes and seeing presentations about the variance decomposition of stock returns, I decided to burn an hour and a half, and Easy A happened to be starting in 10 minutes. Of course being a Wednesday night (and the film has been out for a few months) I was the only one in the theater. Now even though it has been very well reviewed, I won't deny that it felt a little odd sitting alone watching what was ostensibly a teen comedy. Though a lot of the discomfort might have come from the fact that my pants were off. What do you want me to say, it was no pants wednesday. Hate the game not the playa.

Anyway, as I mentioned earlier the critical reception for the film has been generally positive and I'd say that overall I agree. The supporting cast is absolutely loaded (Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Malcolm McDowell, Thomas Haden Church, Lisa Kudrow, Fred Armenson) and Emma Stone gives a really enjoyable performance as the lead character. The film also manages to play with the familiar tropes of the genre and maintain a suitably irreverent tone as it went through a story that could have very easily been an incredibly conventional comedy starring the cast of Gossip Girl. This isn't to say everything's perfect. The character played by Amanda Bynes is too much of a caricature, and the film stumbles a bit as it approaches its resolution and has to play things more conventional. Still, overall its enjoyable and the performances carry it a long way. Now I have to go find my pants. That's what She Said. There's no Time.

Hereafter

I'm beginning to think Clint Eastwood is a bit overrated as a filmmaker. I'm not saying he's worthless, or the films are without merit, but maybe we should just step back and stop acting like everything he pumps out is a national treasure. Lets take a look at his recent filmography shall we:

Invictus - Not bad, but a little full of itself and formulaic

Gran Torino - Great lead performance from Clint, rest of the film pretty uneven

Million Dollar Baby - Again great performances, but I'm unsure how I feel about the ending and the way that Hilary Swank's family is portrayed borders on mencia level subtlety

Mystic River - I think this is one of the stronger ones, but overall I can't shale the feeling that it feels its a little more important than it actually is

Space Cowboys - Gold, exception that proves the rule

Unforgiven - I'll admit I've only seen this once and it was over a decade ago, but I remember feeling severely underwhelmed when all was said and done. Whatever

Anyway this brings us to his current offering, Hereafter, which I found to be tedious as all get out. The film's pace is languid to say the least, and I found myself paying a lot of attention to how much time was spent following people walking, or doing other similiarly mundane tasks. Never a good sign. The film reminded me a lot of the Brad Pitt vehicle Babel, in that it follows multiple 'seemingly' disconnected stories only to bring them all together in as contrived manner as possible at the end to make some grand point that it didn't earn. In Hereafter's case we have three different storylines, only one of which is even remotely interesting (Matt Damon as a legit psychic who really doesn't want to be). The other two (a boy who lost his twin in a car accident, and a french reporter who had a near death experience in a tsunami) just never connected with me, and for all the film's ruminations on what happens after we die nothing ever feels particularly profound. Really there's not even any debate that there is an afterlife as they make it perfectly clear that Damon's character can communicate the dead.

So yeah, the whole thing just didn't connect with me on any level. However if Clint decides to pony up for the Expendables sequel I'm there. Also I'm fully aware that when I see JAckass 3-D in a few weeks and give it a positive review it will confirm everything you ever thought about me.

The Social Network, Anvil

This is very much an Aaron Sorkin film, and how you feel about that is going to determine how much you enjoy it. For me its a positive, and had anybody else written it I probably wouldn't have been that interested about seeing a film framed around two intellectual property lawsuits. In Sorkin's hands though the story has the brisk, wordy, pacing of a Woody Allen film. I had a lot more to say about this earlier, but its been two weeks since I've seen it and now I don't feel like dancing for you guys. Its good, I'm sure the veracity is questionable, and its really annoying that Justin Timberlake is enjoyable. Can't that guy suck at something? Wait he wrote Sexy Back, so I guess he sucks at music. Nevermind.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil

This documentary follows a real canadian heavy metal man, Anvil, 25 years after they had their brief brush with notoriety. The film itself isn't really that well made (its pretty obvious where certain scenes have been replayed for the camera), but the two main guys aggressively trying to still make it as rock stars when reality is abviously against them are so compelling that the films shortcoming almost don't matter. Seriously these guys are such true believers that it took me a few minutes to realize that this wasn't a parody. If you see it playing on VH-1 between replays of Rock of Love check it out.

Get Low

I'm in the middle of bunkering up on a project and as a result I decided to go see a film and try to not think about valuation allowances for a few hours. Of course I chose one about a 1920's hermit (Robert Duvall) who decides he wants to have a living funeral so he can finally reveal the dark secret he's held for the past 40 years. Needless to say the film didn't feature enough shiny objects to complete enrapture me so its entirely possible that my entire reaction to was driven by my inability to focus.

All that said, the film didn't do much for me. Don't get me wrong the performances are generally solid (it would be surprising if they weren't given that the cast featured Duvall, Sissy Spacek, and Major Dad himself gerald McCraney) and I kind of liked its understated approach, but ultimately I couldn't help that feel the film felt it was much more profound than it actually was. The big denoucement actually didn't feel that shocking, and I never got that involved in Duvall's predicament (such that it was). Also the film features Bill Murray as the funeral director organizing the party and the casting ends up feeling generally distracting. Not because he does a bad job, he probably does as much as is possible with an underwritten part, but given his stature (and billing) you keep expecting much more to happen with a character that is essentially the fourth lead. I think the story would have been better served casting someone with less juice that I wouldn't have been distracted by waiting for something more to happen with the character.

Anyway, it could be that Get Low is truly a classic and my project induced ADD kept me from realizing it. I guess the lesson is when distracted go see something that doesn't require a lot of concentration like say...your mom.