Reel To Real (March 10, 2010)
Alice in Wonderland, Brooklyn’s Finest, The Ghost Writer, North Face, Nollywood Babylon , Ponyo
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| 3 stars |
Alice in Wonderland
Starring Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska and Helena Bonham Carter. Written by Linda Woolverton. Based on the books by Lewis Carroll. Directed by Tim Burton. Rated PG.
by Kirk Vanderbeek
Note that by RDW’s rating standard, three stars denote that a film is “passable.” And there is not a finer word one could choose to pluck out of the ether with which to describe Tim Burton’s revision of Alice in Wonderland. It would appear as though Burton is fresh out of original ideas, and really has been for quite some time. Considering that he’s the once-brilliant man who brought us the bombastic Batman and Batman Returns, the emotionally resonant Edward Scissorhands and the fascinatingly involving Ed Wood, the shame of his downward spiral is that much more disheartening. He limped the snoozy Sleepy Hollow across the finish line, terraformed the Planet of the Apes into a natural disaster and took a dump in the “chocolate” river of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And now, thankfully, he hasn’t exactly destroyed Alice’s once-wonderful land, but neither has he made any improvements with his remodeling of the beloved landscape.
Alice has once again fallen down the old rabbit-hole (this time in 3D) and is going through the familiar motions … although she’s now been prophesied as the savior of Wonderland (having been there before — an event she doesn’t recall) and must slay the Jabberwocky in order to end the evil Red Queen’s (Bonham Carter, who turns in the film’s most inspired performance) reign of beheaded terror. But the problem with this new narrative thrust (which ends up having more of a Wizard of Oz/band of friends kind of feel to it) is that it detracts from the purity of the fevered dream confusery that was the story’s original structure. I don’t need the Mad Hatter (a lisp-laden Depp, who is rapidly running out of stupid voices to affect for Burton’s flicks) to be Alice’s sidekick — just let him talk his crazy shit at the tea table and be done with him. Yes, the film does look pretty, but to make a movie look lovely with the money Burton is given to play with is a no-brainer — imbuing it with tangible magic is the real trick, and it’s there that Burton unknowingly shows us the cards he has hidden up his sleeves. He’s like a kid with far too many toys. His unlimited access to anything he wants has killed the imagination he once had with his spare few; and oh, what an imagination it once was … | RDW
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by Kirk Vanderbeek
Alice in Wonderland (1933)
If you’re interested in giving your kids, your nieces, your nephews, the kid you babysit (just about anyone) a good old case of the night terrors, pop in this 1933 version of Alice in Wonderland. Hell, the disgusting costumes these actors are plastered in gave even me the damn chills. W.C. Fields voiced Humpty-Dumpty (who is fucking gross) and Cary Grant, in a decided low point in his illustrious career, voiced the blubbering Mock Turtle — and his scene is a nightmare.
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Here’s the quintessential take on Lewis Carroll’s drug-induced fantasy, in my humble opinion. This one simply never grows old. Though I have a word of warning for any of you fellas out there who think it’ll be cute to give your girlfriend an Alice in Wonderland themed cake (and I know you were thinking about it) for a special occasion: don’t write “Eat Me” on it. If they don’t understand the reference it won’t go over like you planned for it to. Trust me.
Alice (1988)
This take on the tale is even more bizarre than Carroll's original — though whether or not it is successfully pulled off is very open for debate. Live action mixed with eerie stop-motion, Alice comes from the twisted mind of avant-garde filmmaker Jan Svankmajer, and is sure to make devotees out of fans of the outlandish, and enemies out of anyone who prefers clear-headed, non-abrasive, non-repetitive (oh boy is it repetitive) storytelling. The creepy creatures steal the show, fo sho.
| 3½ stars |
Brooklyn’s Finest
Starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Wesley Snipes. Written by Michawl C. Martin. Directed by Antoine Fuqua. Rated R.
by Kirk Vanderbeek
From the man who brought you Training Day comes a gritty cop film featuring persistent violence, copious corruption and Ethan Hawke. Wait … isn’t this Training Day? Well, not exactly. This ensemble story tells three main tales: Eddie (Gere) is a jaded and suicidal cop with seven days left on the force; a man who starts his morning off with a (clichéd) shot of whiskey and a quick kiss to the barrel of a gun. Jaded indeed. There’s also Tango (Cheadle), an undercover cop who’s been working the drug scene for a long time; a man who feels used by his superiors when asked to bring down Caz (Snipes), a drug dealer to whom he owes his life. And lastly, there’s Sal (Hawke), a cop struggling to provide for his growing family; a man finding himself driven to desperate and corrupt measures in order to keep a roof over his wife and children. And eventually, in a rather explosive climax, all three of these stories will interweave.
Brooklyn’s Finest functions at its finest when delivering its few sweeping montages of powerful catharses in each separate storyline strung together with a dramatic score and quick cutting — and it encounters quite a few lulls during the rest of its runtime. The actors all display true prowess here (with Snipes proving himself particularly potent in his role), but you can’t shake the feeling you’ve been on this beat before. There’s an interesting theme of “righter and wronger” that threads itself through everything, and when the film gets a sequence right it feels really right — it just doesn’t happen nearly often enough for Brooklyn’s Finest to overcome its pervasive feeling of familiarity. | RDW
| 3 stars |
The Ghost Writer
Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Timothy Hutton and Tom Wilkinson. Written by Roman Polanski and Robert Harris. Directed by Roman Polanski. Rated PG-13.
by Kirk Vanderbeek
Former British Prime Minister Adam Lang’s (Brosnan) ghost writer has just drowned. Maybe he committed suicide; maybe he was drunk and fell from the boat; or maybe something more sinister occurred. Now it’s up to “The Ghost” (McGregor), as the script refers to him, to step in and finish documenting Lang’s memoirs. So it’s off to Lang’s isolated beach house for The Ghost, amidst much turmoil over people’s vehement hatred of Lang for his supposed crimes against humanity (in the form of torturous acts against terrorists). But there’s much more bubbling under the surface of this job than The Ghost is initially aware of — and the secrets Lang is hiding could put his very life in jeopardy.
This Hitchcock-ian effort from the ever-controversial Polanski does a wonderful job of setting up a looming ominousness, using the location’s isolation to great effect, but the promised suspense ends up being rather absent for the rest of the proceedings. The Ghost’s investigation, though beautifully presented, grows increasingly tiresome, constantly peaking at something just ever so slightly registering above a whisper on the tension scale. The Ghost Writer’s beautiful score, both stirring and striking, often steals the show — which isn’t the greatest sign for the rest of the film’s components. Perhaps if it were a bit shorter it would have held my interest with a firmer grasp, but by its end I had slipped ‘tween its fingers into the weary abyss. | RDW
Kirk ain't afraid of no ghost! Email him: Kirk@realdetroitweekly.com.
| 4 stars |
North Face
Starring Benno Furmann, Florian Lukas and Johanna Wokalek. Written by Cristoph Silber, Philipp Stolzl, Rupert Henning and Johannes Naber. Directed by Philipp Stolzl. Not rated. Playing at the Detroit Film Theatre, 3/12-14.
by Kirk Vanderbeek
Despite the lives it had already claimed — or perhaps because of them — the push to be the first nation to stand atop the summit of The Eiger, a perilous peak of The Alps, became of great national importance to Nazi Germany. And Kurtz and Hinterstoisser seemed likely to achieve this feat. And climb they did; though what was a race to the top quickly becomes a rescue mission back to the bottom …
It must first be said that the cinematography that composes North Face’s many climbing sequences is breathtaking — literally. The beauty of it all will arrest your breathing cycle, and the tension will have you hitching even more oxygen into your already over-inflated lungs. There’s no shitty green-screening going on here; this ain’t the Aggro Crag — there are no foams boulders or Mo back at base camp with the results. But it’s not all just eye candy; the story proves to be rather gripping (bad mountain climbing pun ... deal with it), as well. There's romance, danger, adventure — what more could you want? Dick jokes? Well you’re free to craft your own bratwurst innuendos on the ride home. Despite potential historical inaccuracy, this is an easy ride to get invested in. Too bad the heroes had to be Nazis. | RDW
| 3 stars |
Nollywood Babylon
Written and directed by Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal. Not rated. Playing at the Detroit Film Theatre, 3/13.
by Kirk Vanderbeek
Lagos, Nigeria, is home to the third largest film industry in the world, producing around 2,500 films a year. This documentary, while addressing the Nigerian film industry as a whole, focuses quite a bit on Lancelot — one of Nigeria’s most successful filmmakers. When we first see Lancelot, he is holding his hand atop a video camera and exclaiming: “You will function above your limit, in the name of Jesus Christ.” Whether or not he exorcised any debilitating demons is up for debate, but you gotta admire the man’s enthusiasm.
In fact, that’s the most interesting thing about Lagos at large: the people’s enthusiasm. I’ve worked on many film sets and I’ve never seen the level of camaraderie these people show. If we’re being honest, Nollywood’s films are generally crap — you can’t crank out that much quantity without sacrificing quality — but damn they’re having fun doing it. One could easily contend that this is as much the death of Nigeria's culture as it is a rebirth, but the film only glances upon this topic (as well as religion’s pervasive presence in the industry), which is kind of a shame. | RDW
dvd in play
by Kirk Vanderbeek
| 3½ stars |
Ponyo
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
Disney has just released a handful of Hayao Miyazaki’s films onto Special Edition DVDs (My Neighbor Totoro, Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service), which is good news for anyone who numbers among his many fans. And this beautiful Blu-Ray/DVD combo of his latest, Ponyo, should be enough to give some of you wet dreams … (That’s an aquatic reference — scoop your mind from the gutter!)
With this latest filmic dreamscape, Miyazaki tells the tale of Ponyo, a goldfish (though she looks much more like a little Louie Anderson dressed as Alvin the Chipmunk) who falls in love with a human boy named Sosuke. This has Ponyo magically transforming herself from a goldfish into a spazzy little girl, sending her and Sosuke on a magical journey through the aftermath of a vicious tsunami — which is actually about the closest thing this film has to an actual antagonist (which is quite refreshing).
If you had/have a thing for anime, you’ll likely enjoy this film (it is, after all, super easy on the eyes and the heart), but if you’re new to the genre this might not be the place to start. And kids will need patience; this isn’t paced like an in-your-face American kid’s flick. But children with the proper attention span will fall completely in love with Ponyo. | RDW
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