Movie Journal: Last Life in the Universe (Ruang rak noi nid mahasan)

’m not going to even try and offer a review of this movie. It’s touching, sad, funny and unique. Eric Campos sums it up best in his review so check that out instead.

Movie Journal: Batman Begins

Warner Bros. certainly had their hands full in relaunching the Batman franchise. Overcoming so much ill-will was not going to be easy. And, I’m happy to report, they succeeded.

Batman Begins is not meant to be an extension of the series, first directed by Tim Burton and then by Joel Schumacher, that ran from 1989 to 1997. It ignores all the plot points set up in those films and starts Batman off from scratch to great effect. Jettisoned are nipples (aside from those sticking out from under Katie Holmes’ shirts) and neon facades. In their place are dark brown rusty tones and serious psychological issues. Most reviewers, including Pete Vonder Harr, have made note of fear being the central theme of the movie. I don’t have anything to add to his or other comments on this point so I’ll leave it to you to read them and get the point.

What I thought was the best part of the movie was the performances from all, save Holmes, the lead actors. Not only does Christian Bale acquit himself more than adequately as a wayward spoiled rich kid who eventually finds some measure of tranquility in donning a bat’s mask but everyone else is just as strong. Michael Caine pulls a Harrison Ford and gets more out of the role than might have been on the page. Cilian Murphy is incredibly believable as a doctor gone psycho. Gary Oldman plays a very believable good Chicago cop without allowing in any of the cliches that so often dominate these types of roles. Liam Neeson especially shows what a great job he might have been able to do as Qui-Gon Jinn if it weren’t for an awkward script and almost no direction. It’s an incredible cast and you can see why they were able to get past whatever trepidations they might have had about being in a comic book adaptation.

My main thought after coming out of hte theater: I can’t wait to see it again.

Movie Journal: Audition (Odishon)

Holy shit. A mild tempered drama about a middle-aged man who holds a phony movie casting call in order to screen for a new wife goes from 0 to 60 in, literally, nothing flat. There are a couple weird moments before the grisly conclusion but nothing that prepares the viewer for what’s to come. This movie just defies easy description but is worth checking out.

Movie Journal: When Will I Be Loved

The biggest surprise to me about this Neve Campbell flick was not all the sex. There was plenty of that and, unlike most mainstream movies, the scenes weren’t edited to within an inch of their lives. Instead they’re done almost completely in single takes to convey the impression the viewer is right there in the room, a feeling which adds to the vague discomfort in watching them.

No, the biggest surpise was how quickly the movie moved. So many movies, even good ones, seem like they could lose 20 minutes and not sacrifice any of the story. How Will I Be Loved was over almost before I knew it. At some point I realized all the plot threads were about to come together and I didn’t realize where the time had gone. That’s a good thing.

I thought this was a much better exploration of sexuality as a means to the end of finding one’s place in the world than The Dreamers. That seemed overly stilted and not realistic at the end. Campbell’s portrayal here of a young woman who really feels that experiencing all she can sexually can lead her to a better understanding of herself feels genuine. It’s good stuff. Plus, you get to see lots of Neve Campbell naked. That’s never a bad thing.

Microsoft blah, blah, RSS, blah blah, Longhorn…

So everyone’s atwitter with news Microsoft’s IE 7 or Longhorn or whatever this is called will integrate support for RSS. You’ll please excuse me if I’m underwhelmed by this. After all it’s been at least six months since I started using RSS and I’m not exactly what you’d call an early adopter. Since then I’ve embraced the delivery format completely and use it for 98% of my web-surfing.

Why is anyone caring what Microsoft does these days to begin with? Here are some of the areas they have lagged in over the last few years:

• Search (got smoked by Google and Yahoo)
• RSS (got smoked by BlogLines, Newsgator and just about everyone else)
• Music (got smoked by Apple, which just has to sting)
• Browser (got smoked by Mozilla’s Firefox)

So why is everyone still tracking what comes out of Redmond? Because they still dominate the operating system. Windows complete reign of the OS market is unquestioned and, despite some companies moving to Linux and such, is unthreatened for the foreseeable future. If it weren’t for that we would have relagated Microsoft to the dustbin along with other companies whose monolithic status has hurt their agility.

Sorry, but I just don’t get it. Time to cut the cord, people. Or at least ease up on the rhetoric. That might get Gates and Co.’s attention.

Movie Journal: In Good Company

Decent movie. A solid double. Reinforced my opinion that Dennis Quaid was on the wrong end of a deal somewhere about 15 years ago and hasn’t had nearly the career success he deserves and that That 70’s Show is justified because it gave us Topher Grace. He’s an actor I look forward to watching develop over the course of the next few years. Also convinced me that, as cute as Scarlett Johansson might be (and that is considerable) she needs to learn there’s more to acting than just holding your mouth open slightly.

The story of a middle-aged ad salesman who has his life thrown into disarray by three very drastic roadbumps is good but could have been better. I keep thinking about it though and I can’t figure out how. Quaid’s salesman is honest and just the kind of general “good-guy” that is the very definition of the term. He’s loyal to his people, he recognizes the good aspects of just about everyone and, most of all, loves his family.

Check it out.

–Chris

[Buy In Good Company at Amazon.com and support the Madness.]

Movie Journal: The Door in the Floor

Very disturbing movie, especially for parents. As much as you want and try to protect your kids you just can’t. Even if you’re standing right beside them or in the back seat of the car with them they are still vulnerable to the dangers of this world and can be taken from you at any moment.

The Door in the Floor tells the story of Ted and Marion Cole, played by Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger, and the sad state of their marriage. Many years before we join them their two sons were born in an accident which thankfully isn’t recounted until the very end of the movie. Why do I say thankfully? Because it doesn’t insult the audience by thinking we need to see what happened in order to understand the present state of the relationships between the characters.

Anyway, Ted and Ruth are just kind of living past each other. Ted is a womanizer who seems to justify his actions as fulfillments of his artistic muse. Marion has shut down emotionally after losing her sons and is ignoring both Ted and their young daughter (born out of a desire to start fresh after the accident) Ruth. Ted hires Eddie, a student and aspiring writer, as an assistant for the summer. Eddie will become a pawn as well as actor in the manipulations and trials of Ted and Ruth as the summer progresses, all while struggling for his own writerly voice.

I have a thing for relationship dramas and this one does that very well. In fact, I’d say it’s one of my favorite in the genre. It never takes cheap dramatic routes and instead portrays everyone as having their own well-defined motivations for their actions. Bridges has long been one of my favorite actors and he brings Ted just the right amount of arrogance, insecurity and world-weariness the character needed. I was a little bothered by some of Basinger’s line readings, though. They seemed a bit too staged or lifted straight from John Irving’s writing to sound genuine, like she just read them without doing any thinking on phrasing or drama. Good performance but could have used a bit more direction.

Overall The Door in the Floor is recommended.

Movie Journal: Team America, World Police

Very funny movie but I didn’t think it went for the jugular often enough. I’m so used to Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s biting social commentary on South Park that this felt like a bit of an understated message.

Yes, there is comedy inherent in puppets performing stunts and being in an action movie. One of my favorite scenes is of a fight scene between one of the Team America members and a terrorist which looks like a slap-fight because they’re, you know, puppets and can’t do much. So the filmmakers achieved their goal of letting the movie just be funny because it was puppets and not trying to do too much with the script. The problem though is that this mission statement was constantly undermined by the script, which occasionally stopped playing it straight and tried to be a comedy.

It’s like Parker and Stone couldn’t resist putting jokes in the movie and not going with their stated intention of not doing so. That’s what weighed the movie down for me more than anything. Still pretty funny but nothing revolutionary or particularly noteworthy.

–Chris

[Buy Team America at Amazon.com and support the Madness]

Quick Takes: 6/22/05

• Is the press release dead?: No, but it is on life-support. In an age of communication directly with the consumer – be they individuals or companies – feeling the need to go through established media should be lessened. Media are looking for stories that will be of interest to current/new readers/viewers. If you have an effective communications tool that bypasses the gatekeepers (blogs,RSS etc) you don’t need to worry about how many times your press release was picked up.
• Marketers make a stand for marketing!: How does your company define the differences between advertising, marketing and public relations?
• PRSA goes RSS. Improvements needed : Cool. Now all they need to do is take Constantin’s suggestions as well as but general information out there for those not looking for media-centric information.

Trust is a good thing

Beyond PR points us to this survey on journalism and trust.

I think it’s good that journalists have a healthy distrust of blogs and corporations. We need more of that skepticism to be brought to all aspects of reporting, especially on TV, in order to see the king has no clothes. Reporters and writers should be the first ones to call “bulls***” when it’s shown to them. That helps the entire citizenry.

It’s also something that PR folks should remember when dealing with the media. Assume that the reporter is going to question everything you tell them. If you’re paranoid about giving them a half-truth and them finding out about it later you should be less likely to give them that half-truth. It’s all part of building a relationship. Being honest and open about things helps both parties.