Archive | May, 2011
The Hangover Part II – Film Review
26 May
Watching the textural possibilities of a “Hangover” sequel, the thought that comes to mind is how do you capitalize on the notion of lightning trapped in a bottle. With Las Vegas and committing to that experience that everyone has had at one time or another, where do you go that pushes the envelope even farther.
Bangkok is indeed the perfect spot, added to the fact that many people have heard its stories but few have been there. Interesting enough in researching and placing together this idea, writer/director Todd Phillips knows enough about the area and its intensity to both highlight, tempt and resolutely disgust at the same time. What is exceptional is that what comes through at times, which was there in the last one, and upon first viewing, very much so in this one, is simply the character tones inherent in all of the participants.
Zach Galifianakis as Alan accessorizes this notion of a man child who feels truly alive when he is around these friends. Ed Helms as Stu is stuck in his own world of trying to live up to notions of being a man but only releases his demon upon said blowouts. Bradley Cooper as Phil simply goes with the flow although his chastising of Alan shows a very human perception of Zach. It works because they are so disimilar. One never feels as if they don’t get each other. Alan just doesn’t understand what he is doing.
While the first “Hangover” had some cinematic moments, the one that truly stands out here is not the pictures (which are still funnier than hell at the end) but rather Stu singing a new version of a Billy Joel song called “Alan-Town”. It is very unassuming as the three of them travel down a waterway on a longboat. It just seems so effortless and yet almost real. Plus the song’s rewritten lyrics encapsulate the movie at that moment. You get that the actors sense it too.
Moving back from that sense of the movie (which I never quite thought at times Todd Philips would do ten years ago) the simple laugh-out loud possibilities are there in terms of physical comedy but it is Mr. Chow (played with unrepentant energy by Ken Jeong) along with Monkey that truly steals the show. Jeong was good in the last one but now that we know what he is capable of, it is just like music. He and Monkey could do a movie on their own.
Even the car chase through old Bangkok which could have been old hat works because of the set up. The plot importance is there but Chow keeps it like he is going to the store to pick up bread. When he utters the line, when they are almost done with the deal, “maybe get bump”, the whole theater cracked up. From then until the end of the chase, it is bedlam like the old screwball comedies with the Wolfpack simply along along for the wild ride with Chow.
The resolution at the end keeps the structure open and brings the characters back from the brink without too much damage. Again, also showing that Philips knows his landmarks or, at least his location scout connections are killer in Thailand, alot of the third act takes place on top of the LeBua Hotel At State Tower which is one of the coolest hotels in Bangkok which has a Roman temple on top of it with an open air roof that looks like something out of Sodom & Gomorrah. Alot of the high Bangkok shots are shot there as well as some fly by helicopter bits but the place, having been and stayed there, is dope beyond measure.
Thailand, despite any shall we say alternative elements, is painted as beautiful with the opening shots capturing what the country is capable of and is. The first “Hangover” was a postcard of Las Vegas as it really is in all its glory and motivated many people to come back (even in harder economic times) to Sin City. “The Hangover Part II” does the same for Bangkok. Having been there it shows the real side of the city but also the beauty and fun of what makes it a jewel in Asia.
“The Hangover Part II” lived up to the original for me because it took what made the first one exceptional, didn’t lose any of the possibilities and proceeded on. People are who they are and the Wolfpack are no different. No matter what they do, they will end up in these situations again and again. That is what makes them relatable. It’s because their fallible and not dumb, just party animals who happened to hit odd luck twice. Like this movie.
And stay for the pictures again. It is just makes the whole thing funnier.
The Hit List [SPHE/Stage 6] – DVD Review
25 May
“The Hit List”, as a conceptual thriller, introduces the ideal of a reverse “Collateral” where the assassin, tired of his rigamarole, decides to take a down-on-his-luck schlub and attone against people for his sins. Cuba Gooding Jr. as the hitman has that darkness and yet a sense of intelligence down pat. While his selections of the past couple years reflect a lack of great roles that reflect his interests, the idea of these types of people obviously fascinates him.
Cole Hauser, who most remember from the Vin Diesel sci-fi picture “Pitch Black”, plays Allan who has been continually passed over for promotion as well as cheated on by his wife because he has no will or drive of his own to speak of. Life hasn’t treated him badly. He simply has not taken advantage of it despite his lofty ambitions. While people begin dying close to him as a result of the erstwhile killer Jonas, it creates the necessity of him to take action. There are glaring plot holes and functions in logic but playing to this notion of a genre film within a made-for-a-price formula, the personalities are allowed a bit of leniency in their approach for their crimes. While the central car chase of the film offers a stunning bit of stunt work with the flipping of a police car, the rest of the film fails to live up to the cinematic structure of that (which is played tongue-in-cheek directly after its occurrence). The final storming of a police station (not unlike “The Terminator”) has been seen in films before and the reveal of the assassin’s real identity does not provide any awe.
No extras placate the disc and the trailers promote the element of Stage 6 which is Sony Home Entertainment’s low-budget genre division which, considering its straight-to-dvd sequels such as “Sniper: Reloaded” and “SWAT: Firefight” promoted here, understands the necessities of its audience. That said, out of 5, I give “The Hit List” a 2.
Genre Stylings & Provoking Musings: The 2011 Hola Mexico Film Festival LA – Feature
24 May
The Hola Mexico Film Festival, examining new and interesting trends in Mexican cinema, both from a commercial and artistic point of view, works because it melds different genres together to give an interesting diversity, even within a one day personification at the central Teatro Montalban in the heart of Hollywood.
“Tin Tan“, a documentary on one of Mexico’s comedy film legends from the 1950s, is an exceptional journey of music and mambo. While the fawning over the late star can get a little bit too one-sided, the interrelation of all the films clips and access to co-stars and families, as they are now as well as then, provide an ample view. The most interesting time during the early 50s shows the Latin influence that permeated through places like Cuba and gives a view into that time. More specifically it brings the camera crew briefly into Cuba today (with the blessing of the government) to give a faded glimpse of what it once was. While the later aspects, including retreating to Acapulco and making light comedies, is reflective of great performers growing older, it doesn’t take away from the obvious talent of the man balancing somewhere between Desi Arnaz and Jerry Lewis.
“Presumed Guilty” takes the angle from the complete other end of the spectrum in a fairly substantial way in questioning the errant legality and “gulity until proven innocent” precedent of the Mexican justice system using the example of a convicted murder named Tono who was arrested “because they picked him” even though the place where he was working was impossible to get back and forth from to commit the crime. The throughline basically works on the point that once you are accused, you are guilty. The perception comes from a pair of Mexican-born lawyers who challenge the system and get the ability to shoot in the courtroom. While the prosecutor and judge seem to be smiling (as if not getting it), the detectives who continually say they “don’t remember” disregard the actual fairness of what the system could be. After the guilty charge is maintained, the lawyers/filmmakers actually cross the line and join the defense side after they finish law school at UC Berkeley. They overturn the aspect in appeals court but, from what was heard at the festival, the entire overview has become a headache for them in terms of the politics of working in the country. While apparently akin to professional harm to this husband and wife, it provides a fascinating look inside a flawed bureaucracy.
“The Cinema Hold-Up”, which made its debut at the Sundance Film Festival this year, does retain formulaic aspects but pushes the notion of what life means to youth in Mexico while structuring it within a thriller structure of sorts. What makes it different is its ability to leave the flaws of its characters open, despite any problems they have created. The central plot ploy revolves around staging a hold up at the local movie theater but the film is truly about each of the three central characters and their one girl friend watching their reflective points of life. The lead, who looks like the Mexican version of Milo Ventimiglia (of “Heroes”) is trying to deal with life away from the gang. He’s kicking rock but still indulges in weed. His brother is a crackhead and his mother doesn’t understand him. The quieter, more sensitive one of the group doesn’t have as many problems. He is just unlucky in love, especially when an older woman leads him on and he gets the crap kicked out of him. The last guy, a black kid, has the most diversity. His brother was run out of town so he has to make his bones or check out. He tries to put up a brave front but modulates between this and self-loathing. He is intimidated and he tries to push back but he is not that type of guy and he falters. The girl simply likes the boys, especially the lead, and seems akin to experiencing this sense of danger until her mother realizes the problems are mounting. Ultimately the resignation places the three boys back on their hidden stoop again. The humor in these their daily life, and their obviously good qualities, like buying mom a television or even treating a would-be mugger (who isn’t very good at his job) to tequila shots, give the film a brevity that makes you relate to these kids in a more real way.
“We Are What We Are” is not necessarily clear in its ability to dictate what it is doing but obviously creates a style and a structure that comes off with dexterity. When the patriarch of a family dies, the ritual of what they must do to keep alive is argued and must be kept active. The idea of who must be the leader structures back and forth. The most dynamic and thereby the maestro of the scenario is the younger sister who understands what must be done and ultimately how to survive. While the way that they select their prey balances on notions of social exclusion and/or conformity, the dynamic of familial power and emotion ultimately plays into the ritual. The mother would have them shrivel and die per se because the father would kidnap whores but would have his way with them before he killed them for the family to eat. The dichotomy of that versus the wife working with herbs and then killing a whore her boys bring home with a shovel provide a definite paradox which is only helped by the continually moving camera, exceptional editing and dexterious shots which both draw the characters out and keep the audience at bay.
A secret screening was announced just the day before for midnight the following day. What offered itself was a glimpse into new Mexican comedy mainstream cinema as it is happening which is an interesting experiment in Los Angeles. “Saving Private Perez“, an obvious play on “Private Ryan” takes an interesting road with Don Julian, who is supposedly the most powerful underworld figure in Mexico, who must undertake a rescue operation to save his brother who has been captured while serving in the American Army in Iraq. The film plays for laughs while trying to balance some human drama which is undeniably a hard mix but has resounded in the Mexican cinema since it has become the biggest of the hit down there so far this having just been released 9 weeks ago. It resounds with “The Dirty Dozen” tendencies but with “Naked Gun” and “Top Secret comedy” to boot. One of the funniest additions within the film is their contact in Instanbul who has pink sunglasses and blonde hair along with his machine gun. The character simply provokes laughter especially when their truck hits a landmine going across the Syrian desert because his hair becomes one large frizz. While definitely not highbrow, like “Austin Powers” “Perez” knows its genre providing enough fun while still retaining a slight emotional connection.
The Hola Mexico Film Festival, which itself as a traveling film festival, understands that not all films need be utterly dramatic but work well with both a sense of purpose, history or genre that makes them both thought reflecting as well as entertaining.
Brief Quips & Incessant Laughter: The 2011 LA Comedy Shorts Festival – Feature
22 MayComedy in short form is a peril of riches. The effectiveness is a pay-or-play moment which defines a select voice and whether or not an audience can gauge and assume the intent from the get-go. Some work with intentional means while others fall by the wayside.
Entering its 3rd year, the LA Comedy Shorts Festival, which knowingly mixes the possibilities of new voices with established industry credentials, understands that the key in making new stars is by building a bridge between new ideas and the ones that came before it.
Each block made of a co-dependent theme ranges from web created on-offs to functional short tomes exploring the inherent timing of both life and bowel movements.
“Male Pattern Baldness”, which also included shorts from Atom.com featurinh a new production starring Anthony Anderson called “Matumbo Goldberg” simply misses the mark. In making many of the short films, some of the filmmakers forget that “cinematic” is different from “viral”. “Matumbo” is a comedy sketch of SNL variety extended but with a lack of comedic timing. “52″ which was written and stars Scott Thompson of “Kids In The Hall” fame fares better simply because it knows its subject matter and exacts to the punchline. The best in the block was “The Future-er” which, due to its complete indie roots, seemed to embrace its inner-idiot with a sense of knowing. Problem became that in meeting the director, the apple did not fall far from the tree.
“Armageddon Hungry”, as the secondary program block, takes a more genre-based approach with mixed reactions. “A Chicken Commercial” solidifies the one note wonder but has the balls to show for it while “You Move Me” takes the buddy movie to the lesbian level with some interesting diatribes to show for it. The most egregious and cinematically engaging short of the block resided in “Zoltan: Hungarian Gangster Of Love” which like “Absinthe” in Las Vegas realizes that knowing your character and playing his reality with a sense of the absurd mixed with humor and a cameraman’s eye results in ridiculous wonder.
“Better Than Birth Control” takes its block as a procreation superlative with different possibilities in the arena of what it takes to gain a family or simply the motivation of being born. “Boffin & Boffin” approaches the act of babymaking with a little more intellectual styling while adhering to an almost Sonnenfeld melancholy. The husband and wife offer a miracle to their clients but misunderstand the readings of each other getting to their own endgame. “What Up Little Kid” is bombastic as a music video but derails as a short film simply because it becomes like “Killer Giraffes”: fun with a sense of style but no depth to speak of. “The Unborn Identity” is the stand-out in this block because it follows the aspect of unborn consciousness in the womb and the different decisions made in identity as to who the inherent idea of a person will be. The ruminations play wordy with a tongue-in-cheek motif but ultimately a sense of self.
“Shut Your Wormhole” understands its bipolar regularity with a little bit more intention because the characters are involved in situations of emotional aptitude which requires a bit more subtlety even if their ideas are a bit obvious. “The Antagonist” ranges out of a growing-up girl who feels like the odd woman out without any children but she plays it against a different motif as if she doesn’t want to let on to her true feelings. The reflection of what she really believes is what makes it work while “Sudden Death” knows its “Glee” personification to a T, even if it is wrongly placed. The four remaining shorts in the block show different sides of beauty with different resolutions. “Six Nine” features a woman who thinks that she is out of her league with the man she is dating and proceeds to tell him all the reasons they won’t work together. It shows that overthinking the situation too much backfires in perpetuity. “Douglas”, at two minutes, blazes its point with a man who oozes a good guy vibe in every way cannot speak without his flatuence mirroring his emotion. Simple but effective. “When The Wind Changes” takes a more surreal and metaphorical approach to the notion of friendship and how it changes on the wind. Combining cinematic motifs with a sense of distance, it works because it understands its characters’ weaknesses. “Time Freak” works best while not being exuberantly unique about a man who invents a form of time travel but becomes bogged down in the minutae of his personal feelings.
“Stone Cold Busted” attacks the idea of when one is caught or simply in the balance of racing against the clock. While shorts like “Winking Boy” and “Inside Out”, as seen at other festivals, recollect secrets being kept that ultimately are doomed to failure, the other two films of note use both old school methods and new thinking to propel their narratives in different directions. “Sugar”, from the Czech Republic, captures the viewer’s interest with a secret of their own which the rest of the world inside the movie doesn’t realize which, like Hitchcock, is always the basis of hooking the audience along with a tad of titilation. While funny in its irony, “Sugar” works on mutiple levels because the director understands how to modulate the tone. “Appy Ever After”, by comparison, realizes that the psyche game can run in two directions with the possibilities of misdirects to an ominous end. For inventive nature, as a footnote, “With Or Without U2″ as a simple film is fairly banal but when the group U2 refused use of their song with the short, the filmmakers recruited a local chorus group in Los Angeles to sync their actual voices which changed the basic ethereal nature of the piece.
“Mo’ Money Mo’ Ninjas” works a bit against the grain using unconventional perceptions of modern day situations with a bit of digression. “Love Is Retarded” works at a snail’s pace but interweaves a sense of despondency with an aura of hope which offers a balance that plays both unnerving and tender. “Cover Me” shows that ready made visual FX software can be used in dexterious violent confrontations without causing harm to anyone involved. “Ninjas In The Shed” as a thesis project from AFI plays a little too soft despite an overarching political structure. Ninjas will, of course, be true to their nature. The final two of note within the block take aim at amoralistic perceptions of current events. “Boom Boom” ventures in on a conversation between two would-be suicide terrorists arguing over who gets to set off the bomb first to reach their harem in the afterlife while “Humane Resources” speaks of corporate greed overtaking and pandering down the human toll of business as long as those committing the crime don’t have to hear of it.
“Fish & Chicks” wants to create a sense of fun in otherwise off-putting situations. “Hold-Up”, as seen at a previous festival, offers a misdirect in correcting who actually plays the hostage in most planned heists. “Men At Work” shows the imbalance between flattery, harrassment, ego and self esteem as only work-shopped textures within sketch comedy can show featuring a sense of comeuppance on both sides of the equation. “Cataplexy” takes it one step further in adding a segment of personal knowledge to the proceedings by taking the wants and needs of two people, whatever the situation, and placing them in an emotional nexus they can’t control despite their best efforts. “The Rooster” in adhering to its Lebowski roots understands the importance of an object of affection. In that film it was a rug. Here it is a Rooster. The use of music is dexterious (from The Carpenters on – though the debate on their clearance beyond festivals is of question) but perfectly pushes the comedy and timing with undeniable speed.
“Liars & Tigers & Bears” closes the block with a different perspective of animal interaction. While “Practical” takes a joke to the random extreme with emotional consequences, “Food Chain” uses a more metaphorical approach but fails to rely on subtlety in its execution. “Bear Force One”, by comparison, is simply a trip-based nightmare with an ADD perspective that takes the basis of the 90s actioneer and turns it into a bear fueled rampage with nary a claw unturned. The most effective of the block was “Guaranteed Sex” which took a web posting and made it into a modern vision PSA where everything goes wrong, and yet right as a matter of principle.
In terms of parties and panels, the fest realized that both intimacy and the optimization of the downtown area provided innate aspects to shine. Aside from the hospitality which bathed with Pop Chips and Revel Stoke and the fizzy splendor of Izze, viewing maintained on a consistent level throughout the days. A late night party at ESPN Zone co-sponsored by Atom.com brought out the kid in all with mini-bowling and race gamew galore while the party atop the Kyoto Grand Hotel bathed with a sense of fun with a mashed potato bar inherent as shots poured. The Kyoto, literally caddycorner to the Downtown Independent Theater (where all of the screenings were held), is the easiest and coolest way to fest without having to drive or worry. Its Asian motif plays to the zen focus looking out over the landscape of Los Angeles.
The Closing Night in the Elevate Lounge above Downtown LA, reveled in a kind of cool, Blade Runner sedateness as the sun set. The awards show, emceed by Chris Garcia (of “Reno 911″) played to the idea that the host can never be as good as the honorees. Balancing that motivation out with presenters like Lynne Stewart (the original “Mrs. Yvonne” from “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse”) cracked the audience silly. Earlier in the weekend at the “Rich People Talking ^&!#%” panel, Stewart literally had Jeff Garlin from “Curb Your Enthusiasm” on the floor while fellow speaker Wayne Brady tried to keep a straight face. The beefcake trio that adorns the front of program performed in paradox to Bollywood dancers right before the ceremony. Another highlight post-dance was comedienne Judy Tenuta, who brought one of the would-be male models back on stage and proceeded to ride him, not unlike a horse. Wendi McLendon-Covey received the Commie Award in dexterious style while she spoke of “fierceness” in bringing new voices to comedy.
The 3rd incarnation of LA Comedy Shorts recognizes that the key to an exceptional film festival is keeping the audience engaged and connected. While not all the films were stellar, some were definitely exceptional and their diversity and adherence to a certain level of dexterity provided some interesting prospects with certain ones blending cinema and comedy like “Zoltan” and “The Rooster” standing above the rest.
