Review PLUS: "Captain America: The Winter Soldier"

Up to the point of Thor: The Dark World, the current incarnation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been, almost entirely, pop entertainment. Awesome pop entertainment, yes, with some wonderful character arcs and relationships, but anything that transcends beyond? Not much. 

The one aspect of the series that has been challenging with regards to modern society and politics has been S.H.I.E.L.D. - the organization that out NSA's the NSA. The organization's director, Nick Fury, is so shadowy and ethically questionable, he rides the fascism line HARD. Dealing with such a group must be a trial even for someone as strong as The Hulk.

The star spangled hero Captain America, a man left over from the WW2 generation, is especially uneasy with this group, and even more so with a world that accepts it as necessary. THIS is what he fought for?

Review: "Tennessee Queer"

The more things change, the more they stay the same. I’ve heard and used this phrase more times than I care to count, but, much like its meaning, it never gets tired despite the more it’s used. And yet, the lessons that can be learned from it often go in one ear and out the other. Repeating a phrase over and over to people who are constantly repeating the same actions over generations makes me ask; Is an uphill battle worth fighting?

With a sense of humanity and an optimistic radiance, Tennessee Queer says yes.

@Twitter #Thoughts: "Dredd"

I wasn't able to include Dredd in my Best of 2012 list, but, if it means anything now, I should have seen it much sooner. Here are my live tweets of my first viewing of this awesome flick:

Review: "Evil Dead"

It doesn’t take much to impress me, but it does take a lot to scare me - when it comes to movies, I mean. At my most recent outing, a colleague teased me a bit about my lack of interest in watching horror flicks. Then, just prior to the movie starting, a security woman yells at us all, “If we catch you with an electronic device, you WILL be escorted out by the police!” For me, real instances like this are much scarier than anything that flickers on a screen.

After being bombarded for years by trailers and DVD’s for movies that offer nothing but jump scares and familiar killers, I’m kinda lukewarm towards this genre. Reviewers like The Cine-Masochist make me feel a bit picky and unfair, but it’s just how I feel.

That being said, I should re-state that it doesn’t take much to impress me. All I need is something fairly clever, easy to follow and very fun to watch; if the cast and crew are having a blast, so am I (Troma is great at this).

And watching a demon vomit vibrant, non CGI blood on a woman, only to be chainsawed in half later on, is indeed “a blast” and “fun to watch”.

@NOFS Review: "True Family"

Cross posted from the MoviePass blog:

When you think of New Orleans, what comes to mind? Food for some. Hurricanes for others. Movies for me. And, of course, no thought about the city should be without the most obvious answer - music. You don't even have to leave your stoop to hear a juicy tune playing. Without that element, this city wouldn't be as alive as it is.

And which performer best represents this?

Meschiya Lake is a sort of revivalist style jazz singer, belting out wonderful notes on street corners for tourists and city dwellers alike. She has a background in circus acts, a plethora of tattoos and looks/sounds dynamite. She bikes around town, joyfully training her voice for the next song. She is strong, fun and very talented. Alive is the perfect word to describe her.

Before watching "True Family", I had never heard of Meschiya (I ought to be shot). I knew of bands like Tuba Skinny (who were nice enough to let me use their music for my #TeamNOLAFilm podcast), but that was about it. Knowing what I know now, I'm hit with a wave of sadness that there was a whole musical community in the area that I was unaware of - This was followed by absolute happiness when I discovered her album on Spotify. But what really impresses me here is how, through this singer, we are given a novel glimpse of a thriving young creative crew.

You see, this is really more a profile on an artistic circle - one that works with one another. Musicians help each other out, floating from band to band, getting the word out and improving the culture. Others like dancers and designers get in on the act, contributing their talents not so much for the money (the little that is available), but for the joy of expression. This look at the New Orleans music culture makes my heart flutter. 

Recently, there was a tiny spat that spilled onto social networks between two local film organizations, with one accusing the other of monopolizing venues. Ironically, both groups encourage teamwork from everyone involved in the movie community, from directors to critics. Can we call the NOLA film community a true family? Well, sometimes families do argue...

3/5 *'s

"True Family" will be showing at this years New Orleans Film Festival on October 15th. Buy your tickets here.

Solo Thoughts Episode 3

Watched "Batman Forever" and "Iron Sky" yesterday. Didn't care for either of them.

Solo Thoughts Episode 2

Adrien Brody, bruised and bleeding, pees on himself? I HAVE to stop the movie to talk about it...

A full written review to follow.

Review: "Hot Cakes"

Cross posted from InvadeNola, where this will be appearing on June 16:

On the first episode of the #TeamNOLAFilm podcast, we discussed the need for a real investment in local filmmakers and their projects. We have so many out of town productions coming IN to the area which is great, but not enough local projects coming OUT. Do producers need a good example of what New Orleans talent can make?

"I have been waiting all morning for a man with half a heart."

Marty, fresh out of prison, visits his regular post jail release diner.  His body language says he's yearning for a calmer future, but the scars on his face suggest something different; something deeper. Two other ex cons see this as well, and soon the three men are conversing over plates of pancakes. But there is more to their encounter than just short stacks...

Described as a sort of neo noir / urban western, "Hot Cakes" has a surreal nature to it; at times like Lynch, other times like Aronofsky. The appropriately timed music, the cryptic at times dialogue, the interesting framing (there is a Knight suit behind Marty in some shots) and even the setting - which comes off like a purgatory type meeting place for these characters - all makes the audience ask "what's this all leading to?" and "what does this all mean?".

Well, what DOES it all mean? What IS it leading to? A fortune teller in the diner is drawn to Marty, and makes a startling prediction for him; will it turn out to be correct? Will Marty be forced into a compromising position? His new friends certainly wish to pull him back into his harsh past. Will they succeed? The film's aesthetic gives everything - including eating breakfast - a sense of impending doom. And by the time the end credits roll, this sense still lingers; things just don't look good for Marty, in OR out of the diner. Is he in trouble no matter what? I absolutely loved this.

"No one should ever come here. I had teeth when I came here."

My only complaint is that it ended. I would like to see what the director Jo Custer could do with a feature length script. She's an example of the kind of local talent who deserve a shot. For Hollywood South to move forward, out of town producers bringing projects to the area need to make a meaningful investment in local filmmakers. Is an example of good local work needed? I just provided one.

4/5 *'s

@NOFS Review: "A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie"

My grandfather’s name was Willie Laurendine, but we called him Paw Paw. He was a bus driver for the city of New Orleans. In Ghana, there is a style of music played by a union of bus and truck drivers known as Por Por, which is pronounced Paw Paw. This music is only performed by them at the funerals of fellow workers – funerals that share similarities with the jazz funerals of New Orleans.

Despite this almost Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon style connection I had with “A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie”, there was little else for me to latch on to.

It’s not the fault of the subject matter – a variation of a jazz funeral, performed with antique car horns and played exclusively by an African driver’s union – which I was excited to learn more about; it was the presentation. There is no attempt to tell the audience about the history of this music, its importance in the area, or even who Nelson Ashirifie Mensah (this was his funeral) was as a person. We are only treated to what has to be at least 45 minutes of nonstop horn honking and street dancing (the movie is just under an hour) and a few title cards that describe the upcoming action. That’s it. Were they just dead set on making this almost feature length?

I know it’s easy to just point your one camera and shoot, but if you’re making a documentary about a little known subject, you HAVE to give the audience some information outside of a few words on a screen; interviews, historical archive materials, narration and editing are all helpful tools. Most audiences aren’t interested in the raw footage of a trip you once took.

The Por Por music reminded me of the wonderful intrusiveness of the whistle tip craze (google it); both are loud and proud. When a member of this union dies, the whole town knows, and – at least for the rest of the day – the noise will not let anyone forget. That I like.

The filmmakers are coming to New Orleans on March 23 to screen the film, and will be accompanied by a live demonstration and panel discussion. This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about this unique culture. I guarantee it’ll be more informative than the movie itself.

1/5 *'s

Why Did Roger Ebert Spoil "Super"?

SPOILER ALERT: I reveal a spoiler originally spoiled elsewhere.

For film buffs, the decision to read a spoiler can be a difficult temptation to overcome. With high ticket prices for movies, and even higher anticipation for popular movies, spoilers can provide certain audience members with the insight they need to decide whether or not they'll be catching a flick. But for most moviegoers, having a film's ending revealed unsolicited can ruin their theatre experience. Knowing this, reviewers do their best to avoid making any startling revelations.
Image by rexb via Flickr

In his review of "Super", Roger Ebert let slip the fate of the character played by Ellen Page. In the first two paragraphs. Filmmaker James Gunn immediately took to twitter, and started hashtag jokes at Ebert's expense. While a spoiler notice has since been attached to the review, I wonder - why did Ebert write the spoiler in the first place?

Personally, I disagree with his take on the movie. At the end of the review, He writes "'Super is a film ending in narrative anarchy, exercising a destructive impulse to no greater purpose than to mess with us." To me, this is a positive and is what makes the film great - it being emotionally intense and challenging (a nice way of saying that it "fucks" with you). Ebert is no stranger to emotionally challenging films, but maybe this one scene went too far in his mind. 

Image via Wikipedia

Ellen Page, as an actress, is easy to fall in love with. I can't say that I've disliked any of her performances, whether they're in low budgets like "Hard Candy" or big budgets like "Inception". And, judging from his reviews, I'd say that Ebert feels the same way. I think that when He witnessed what happened to Libby (Ellen Page) in "Super", He felt offended - how could they do such a thing to such an actress? He practically expresses this with SPOILER "when Ellen Page of 'Juno' stars in a movie, we don't much expect to see her brains dripping." END SPOILER This reminds me of the dust up He had with "Kick Ass" (another "real world" super hero flick) - how could they put that little girl in such extreme action scenes?

I don't want to suggest that He always disregards an entire movie because of one scene, but I have seen this happen before. I once showed "Storytelling" to fellow college students, and I'm convinced that if they hadn't witnessed a specific graphic sequence, they would've liked the film. I wonder if Ebert's thoughts on "Super" might change a little if graphic sequences were excised or rewritten. Seriously, one scene could make all the difference (kind of a compliment to the film, that one scene could make such an impression).  

Of course, Ebert's revelation didn't completely ruin the movie, nor did it ruin my opinion of him. Personally, I usually agree with him maybe 80% of the time (though I'm not sure how to accurately determine that). In this one case of disagreement, I find something to agree with - Ellen Page is wonderful, and seeing her in such a sequence is a shock.

Should critic's be so chivalrous in their reviews? Spoiling a movie in an effort to warn others? I dunno. That's a topic for a blogger more articulate and better disciplined that myself. Certainly, some audiences don't mind knowing a little extra about what they're gonna spend their money on. Just be sure to attach a notice BEFORE posting the review. Might save yourself from a nasty hashtag or two.