I Feel Like I’ve Caught Up With Things

Finally saw the Star Trek reboot, finally saw Inglourious Basterds.

The movie that opened this summer alongside the film that closed this summer, seen in one weekend. Both are excellent films, but for extraordinarily different reasons.

Inglourious Basterds will be the classic, while Star Trek will probably become the next dull movie franchise  in the coming summers. But as summer movies, these both succeeded at what the movie market needs right now, which is damn good entertainment.

On Star Trek:

Art by my Friend Natalia! You should check out here gallery!

(Um… in case the link with the picture doesn’t work, http://theartslave.deviantart.com )

1) Has anyone else noticed that we can’t have straight-up action movies anymore? It’s all action movies-cum comedies. Of course, I couldn’t figure out if we were laughing because it was funny or we were laughing because it was Star Trek.  The thing is, this is happening in a lot of movie franchises, such as Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and, well, Star Trek.

2)The Fandom, She Grows. From my own reaction, but also from my friends, the Reboot has created so many new trekkies. It helps that the Original Series is now on Youtube and SyFy has been showing some of the various series as well. I can’t speak for what the fandom was like before, because I never had personal friends who were trekkies, but it seems to have grown a little.  Who knows, maybe I’m just seeing people who have always liked Star Trek before really freaking out over this?  But I think not, or at least, not entirely.

Is this important? It depends on who you are. Obviously to my Trekkie friends, yes, it’s all really important. To me? It’s interesting, but because the end of the reboot is entirely cruxed on the belief that we’ll be getting a sequel, this isn’t going to be a classic. Outside of the new trekkies, there will be those who will love it now, hate it six months from now. That’s sad because it’s excellent, but movies don’t have as much staying power in the public psyche as much as we might like.

Inglourious Basterds

From http://www.screenhead.com/reviews/tag/inglorious-bastards/

1) It flails around and screams “TARANTINO!” from the top of its lungs. But it works, because that’s how Tarantino movies work. I really liked it. I feel like it’s one of his strongest films to date. Everything ties up in a very bloody, historically inaccurate way, but it has that possibility of existing in the future as a classic.

2) Staying power: Not a movie you forget easily.  Again, pretty much a trademark of Tarantino projects.  The staying power reflects with, a) me waking up this morning and remembering some Brad Pitt’s dialogue from the last scene, but also b) this is a movie that can have people still talking about it ten years from now.

3) It’s shot beautifully.  There were a few great scenes where I was dragged out of the story going “That looks really cool. Most of the time I don’t notice these mise-en-scenes unless they are really eye-catching, so worthy of note.

4) Yes, I am a language nerd: When the characters were French, they spoke French!  The German soldiers spoke German!  The English and Americans… well, so it follows.  I love that the languages were matched for once.  It was important to the plot and it worked and damn it, things like having people speak their own language makes me happy!  Word to those with bad-eyesight though: because of this, it’s very subtitle heavy.

5) Why I liked it: It’s fun.  It’s World War II, but it’s a revenge story– unlikely, coincidence prone, but good to watch.  Funny in parts, an example of shock-value in others.

So the door opener and door closer for summer movies are worth a watch if you haven’t seen them, especially if you feel like autumn has come too soon.

Mastering the Art of French Blogging: Julie & Julia

Alongside mon amie Rachel (frequent commenter, trusted grammmarian, and bosom buddy) I indulged in the gourmand’s movie: Julie & Julia.  Don’t go to the theaters hungry kiddos.

Poster courtesy of: http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/julie_and_julia.jpg

The best way to describe this film was a movie for the Food Network lover and the wayward blogger.  While watching the growth of the Julie/Julia blog and Julia Child’s development of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, we are ingulfed in exquisite food porn.

I loved Meryl Streep as Julia: Absolutely stunning as a happy, exuberant student (then teacher) of French cuisine.  But while fun to watch her shop the food markets of Paris and charm the French, I felt more interested in Julie Powell (Amy
Adams) as she struggled with her job, her marriage, and her blog.  It came from that blogging sympathy– watching as she gets her first comment (albeit, from her mother) then struggling to kill lobsters for her 30th birthday party, eventually celebrating the comments from her readers.

They re-created 1950s Europe and post-9/11 New York so beautifully.  I wouldn’t have thought that I would care so much about the subtle differences between 2009 and 2002, but I adored the attention to detail.  And well, cringed a little when I saw the ugly decor of 1960s households (sorry Julia… sorry 1960s housewives).

It’s a movie of hero-worship really.  Julie creates this grandiose idea of Julia Child while writing her blog, working through  burning beouf bourginon and missing her chance at meeting Child’s editor, then never giving up on this idea.  She wears the pearls and learns the craft of cooking, going through her ups and downs and fear of boning an entire duck.  It’s fun to watch her successes, and hard to watch her failures.

The movie made me want to write on here and eat at a French cafe all at once.  Sad to say, I don’t have the plane tickets to do both.  I will, however, wear pearls to work tonight.  And with that, bon appetit!

Roarin’ Racecars: Easy Virtue

One of those movies where the orchestration between casting, scenery, costuming, and soundtrack was absolutely perfect.

I had some fun at the movies this week.  Easy Virtue is British Wit, but also Brideshead Revisited-lite, for your consideration.

John (Ben Barnes) is bringing home his American wife, Larita (Jessica Biel) for the first time after their affairs and such on the Cote d’Azur.  The Matriarchal area (Kristin Scott Thomas) of his family is greatly displeased with his floozy and spends the rest of the film trying to convince them to get a divorce.  What adds a dramatic layer is the Whittaker father, Jim (Colin Firth) who deftly proclaims himself as part of the Lost Generation from World War I and who never wanted to return to the family estate.  While the rest of the family is putting Larita in the deep freeze, she hits it off with Jim who understands what the outsider position in that family really means.

The whole thing screams “BRITISH!” from the rooftops, from the setting to the British Wit dialogue.  I don’t know why, but the Butler character, who is hilarious in dry humor, also seems very British to me.  Dry humored butler character… anyone see where I’m coming from with this?

The entirety of the film is about stagnation versus change during the tumultous 1920s.  While Larita and Jim represent changing attitudes and moralities, the rest of the Whittaker family represent the old norms, going as far back as using marriage to save the family lands.  This comes to a climax at a New Year’s Ball and a sensual tango between Larita and Jim.

I think my only problem during the film was that I got distracted by myself.  Drinking coffee during a movie is not the best of ideas, the caffeine leaving me scatterbrained.  Whenever another member of the audience did anything, my attention shifted.  So here’s a lesson, ladies and gents: Caffeine and focus during a movie are not mutual acquaintances.

In terms of cast, I really liked everyone.  Except for Ben Barnes as the clueless Whittaker son/recent groom.  I don’t know why, but his performance was kind of take it or leave it, most likely just the fault of his character.  I came for Colin Firth, but was really impressed by Jessica Biel.  She gives a great perfomance throughout the film, funny and tragic in all of the right points.

One Last Note:

Love the motorcycle scene during the Hunt.

An Unwritten Life: The Brothers Bloom

Directed by Rian Johnson

Starring: Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel Weisz, Rinko Kikuchi

Simultaneously a movie I love, but I’m afraid to see again.

Premise: Stephen and Bloom (his first name) have been grifters since they were children, but Bloom (Adrien Brody) wants out, in order to drink by himself in Montengro.  But his brother  convinces him to do one last con.

I’m paraphrasing this, but it’s an important quote: “My brother writes cons like a Russian writes novels… and I’m the vulnerable anti-hero,” Bloom says at one of their usual haunts in Berlin.  Stephen creates plans for their jobs that are so complex, they couldn’t work in real life.  The relationship between the brothers seems almost crafted by Stephen as well, since he knows Bloom well enough to predict his every move and every motivation.

Their last job: Swindle the inheritance of an eccentric heiress, Penelope(Weisz), by letting her have an adventure.  This becomes a wonderful trip to Prague, all scenes and score reminiscent of old French films we sometimes dream about, but find they never really existed in the morning.

All of the dialogue seems as stolen as the rare prayer book they’re after in Prague, but delivered with a light humor that’s juxtaposed with the near-mute Bang Bang (Kikuchi), the Brothers’ assistant and explosive expert.

As my first summer film (it only just made it to my local theater), it matched the great film cliche: It had everything in it that is looked for in a film.  There was action, romance, humor, a heist, travel… Bloom falls for Penelope, seeming to almost sabotage himself in the process.

There’s a lot to love from this film: Thematically black and white costumes, watching Bloom steal a brilliant red apple then run dizzingly down a hill, blowing up a castle in Prague, Bang Bang singing karaoke in Tokyo, card tricks, the brother’s mentor Diamond Dog who Stephen took his right eye out with an antique sword in St. Petersburg, and the achingly adorable relationship between Bloom and Penelope.

And from all of the brother’s lies, the ones that seem the most unbelievable are really the truth.

What I’m afraid of when it comes to this film is whether I would like it the second time around.  A lot of the joy comes from the surprises that wait, hiding in the plot, the twists and turns, and the great final scene.  After seeing it once, how could I possibly recreate that feeling again?  Short of mild amnesia, that is.