Inherent Vice

Inherent Vice is a film, that at some level, defines definition. The Wikipedia blurb calls it a "2014 American stoner crime comedy-drama film." An adaptation by Paul Thomas Anderson elusive picture comes from a similarly elusive author, Thomas Pynchon. It was rumored Pynchon had a cameo in this winding film starring a hippie named Doc, portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix. However it's unclear where the cameo comes in as nobody knows what Pynchon looks like in 2014.

     Shot by Robert Elswit, who collaborated with Anderson on Boogie Nights and Punch Drunk Love among others, creates a beautiful and elaborate  aesthetic that matches the flow of Pynchon's prose.

The plot is entirely convoluted and complex, but the story is pretty simple. Doc's ex girlfriend, Shasta Fey, is mixed up with some bad people. Doc, a private eye, tries to crack the case. All under the constant supervision of the straight-laced hippie hater Lt. "Bigfoot" Bjornsen breathing down his neck. All while Doc is really, really high. Which is a lot of fun.

 Vice could be a straight laced drama if it weren't for the lyrical prose of Pynchon. The difference between comedy and drama is surprise, which Anderson works with well. Whether it's Doc's reaction to the stillborn baby of heroin addicts or it's Owen Wilson coming out of the fog or the fact that Benicio Del Toro plays Doc's lawyer who is an expert in maritime law.

Paul Thomas Anderson leads us to the resolution of the case. But like the novel, the film is more about the journey than the destination. The case falls by the wayside as the story shows more of Doc's struggle with finding love. Shasta Fay is a catalyst for the mystery but also for Doc's regret. Anderson does a masterful job of portraying all this complex human emotion while surprising the audience.

Surprising and beautiful enough for this to be the best stoner crime comedy-drama of 2014. 

Hail, Caesar!

    This last spring I was lucky enough to sit in for a Q&A with Joel Coen. The Coen Brothers are one of my favorite directors and I reference them often in this blog. So when asked about his next project and Joel described a movie called Hail, Caesar! about George Clooney being abducted by a group of extras, I was thrilled. I finally saw Hail, Ceasar! last weekend on a Valentine's date with my Mom. I was not thrilled.

    So let's get this clear. The movie is not awful. It's not Battleship or some other Hasbro garbage. But is not a good movie for them and is one of my least favorites by them. I like the visuals, the jokes, and the acting. But there were some key story elements that did not happen. For example, there's a plot line that involves a dastardly act George Clooney's character did on his first Hollywood film. The act was revealed at the end of the movie in an offscreen conversation and written out quickly. Additionally a lot of the characters don't have purpose or a desire, other than create work for Josh Brolin's character Eddie Mannix.

                                                            Mannix is the protagonist of this twisty, seemingly meaningless comedy-drama. That description in itself shows how scattered the characters are. Huge stars like Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton, and Scarlett Johansson pop in and out of the story with very little to do and loose ends that get tied up by a simple walk and talk with Eddie Mannix in the last five minutes.

The only actor who is given any other meaningful screen time is Alden Ehrenreich who gives a marvelous performance as country good ole boy Hobie Doyle. Hobie is a stud with horses but is brought into a adapted play directed by Ralph Fiennes' Lawrence Lawrence. The scene provides the only true moment of comedy of the whole film with an endearing Hobie and the artist Lawrence. 

  

     Now at the Q&A I learned about Hail, Caesar! before while it was shooting. This could be me only hearing what I wanted to hear but I could have sworn that Joel Coen said that Hail, Caesar! was going to be a musical.

     It fits with the current cut of the movie. There are large musical interludes with Channing Tatum, Scarlett Johansson, and Alden Ehrenreich and music and old Hollywood is a big theme. Additionally the explanation of major off screen plot points through dialogue would make sense if these were originally supposed to be shown in a musical number. Channing Tatum's character is given a full length musical number and then has no dialogue until what seems to be the climactic scene. And this climactic scene has absolutely no context. 

     I think Hail, Caesar! was supposed to be in a musical and somewhere in the production that was cut. What was left was a hodge podge of actors, characters, and story lines tied together by Eddie Mannix and Roger Deakins.

The Dude Who Abides

    The Big Lebowski, labeled a cult classic, is a comedy crime film written and directed by the Coen Brothers team.

    The film centers around a character known as The Dude. The Dude doesn't do much. When police ask him what he does for a living he responds that he's currently unemployed. He mostly lays in the bath tub and gets high. And he goes bowling.

 Jeff Bridges' character, who gets confused with a businessman also named Lebowski, is given a desire. He wants to fix his rug. It's one little want. It's one little need. The Dude is mostly propelled through the movie by the plans and schemes from business men to nihilist. But the promise of the rug, the one that pulled the room together, that keeps The Dude moving. It's relatable. Viewers are lazy. We don't want to do things.

    I added The Big Lebowski to my lookbook for a few different reasons. Firstly I love Roger Deakins and think he creates beautiful images out of simple character placements. Secondly, The Dude doesn't do a whole lot. Rather, like Andrew, things are mostly done to him. And for whatever reason this tires him out. Even though he's along for the ride he hates the journey. 

     Plus the Dude learns from his surroundings. He repeats the things other characters say. And he the solution to his problems come in a drug laced dreamed sequence. Which is an effective form of visual storytelling.

The Big Lebowski is a cult classic because each time you watch it there's a new joke. The high stakes create a lot of tension and juxtaposition of the calmness that often follows. The Coen Brothers show us a dramatic money hand off that failed. They ostensibly cut from John Goodman jumping out of a moving car to Steve Buscemi bowling. The Dude's enemies include nihilists and Jesus the bowler. The movie sets up and deceives are expectations, the hallmark of comedy.

    The Big Lebowski is about a man just trying to get vengeance for his rug. He's The Dude.

Thoughts on Bones

So my girlfriend has been wanting me to watch Bones for a long time, probably about a year. So I started watching the show about a month ago. I'm currently towards the end of Season 2 and having watch this much so far I've got a few thoughts on the show that I've observed.

The first is that Jack Hodgins is the man. If you haven't watched the show then I recommend it solely because of him. Hodgins offers a bit of comic relief for the show, which in dealing with grizzly murders can get a little serious at times. With his sarcastic demeanor, Hodgins lightens the mood in the lab. He counters this sarcasticness with his obsession of bugs and soil, which he specializes in to help solve crimes.

The second is that you just absolutely want Booth and Brennan to get together. (SPOILER) I know they do get together in the series, but already in the first two seasons I keep asking myself why they aren't a couple yet. It drives me nuts seeing them with other people when you just know that the two are perfect for each other. Oh, and theres also the fact that Booth went to Ithaca, so maybe thats why I love Booth so much.

The last thing, and I can't find a picture of it currently, is that every episode ends with a bloom effect that transitions between two shots. Just something I've noticed.

Death in Paradise

I first started watching Death in Paradise after reading the series description on Netflix. I was expecting a kind of crime sitcom show but it actually turned out to be a serious show filled with murder and deception. I watched the entire episode regardless and I was pleasantly surprised to find a well developed twist ending. Before I knew it, I had finished the entire first season and moved onto the next. The characters are likable and deliver strong performances in crucial scenes as the plots of each episode develop very smoothly.

The series begins with British detective Richard Poole as he travels to Sainte Marie in the Caribbean to solve the murder of a fellow policeman. He is introduced to the local police force and investigates the body, interrogates suspects, and discovers clues as he progresses through the first episode. At the climax of the episode, it is revealed that the policewoman who worked alongside Detective Poole was actually the murderer all along. Until this point, I wasn't very impressed with the show so far but I did enjoy how they fooled the audience into thinking one of the characters would continue to be there throughout the series.

After the first episode, I continued to the next episode and then throughout the first season. While some episodes did turn out to be suspenseful duds, others lead to shocking twists that didn't seem out of place or to unreasonable. There are charming consistencies and running jokes throughout the series that make it worth watching through each episode, although anyone trying to get into the show can pretty much start anywhere. The acting is good, the plot delivers most of the time, and the tropical environments and beaches definitely make this show worth trying out.

I would recommend Death in Paradise to long time crime show fans and to people who are interested in getting into the genre. Overall, while it might not be on the same complex level as Criminal Minds or NCIS, but it is entertaining and definitely gripping at some points.             

Se7en

When I first saw Se7en, I was blown away by how dark the ominous the story had become. By the end, the plot and characters were so intense that it was truly captivating. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman pull off their best performances in this mystery thriller.

The story centers around Detectives Mills (Brad Pitt) and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) as they investigate a trail of murders. The crime scenes are always very strange and seem to resemble one of the seven deadly sins. With these clues, the detectives track down the real killer but he gets away in a gripping chase. Throughout the sequences, Mills and Somerset build on the relationship between one another and there are some heart warming moments to balance out the horrifying ones. Eventually, the killer reveals himself to the police covered in blood. Can the two detectives survive the killer's final trap? I won't spoil the ending but it is definitely worth watching and is considered a classic in shocking endings.

Kevin Spacey plays the murder and, in my opinion, it was his greatest role in a long time. He was calm, cool, and collected which made him absolutely terrifying whenever he had something to say. You'll really learn to hate this guy quickly, and Spacey does such a good job of achieving it. The twist was good upon itself, but Kevin Spacey definitely made in ten times better.    

I always end up watching this movie a few times a year to refresh myself in a deep and compelling narrative. However, I definitely won't recommend it to anyone with a weak stomach.    

Sons of Anarchy- Season 1, Pilot

Sons of Anarchy is an American crime drama television series created by Kurt Sutter, about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in California's Central Valley. The show focuses on protagonist Jackson "Jax" Teller (Charlie Hunnam), initially the vice president of the club, who begins questioning the club and himself, especially after reading a book his father wrote and left for him in a storage unit.  

Sons of Anarchy premiered on September 3, 2008, on cable network FX. The series' third season attracted an average of 4.9 million viewers per week, making it FX's highest rated series ever, surpassing FX's other hits The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and Rescue Me. The season 4 and 5 premieres were the two highest-rated telecasts in FX's history.  The series finale premiered on December 9, 2014.

During the first episode of the show, a rival gang steals the Sons' stockpile of assault rifles, while Jax's ex-wife's drug overdose leads to an emergency c-section and life-threatening surgery for their baby.  This is already an action packed show within the first 15 minutes.  Jax grows weary of the increasing lawlessness of the motorcycle club.  His life becomes more unstable when he discovers his late father's true vision for the Sons of Anarchy, and his crank-addicted ex-wife gives birth to his son.  He begins to realize that there might be more peaceful ways to handle the gang's affairs and to avoid conflict.  His stepfather disagrees and believes in the violence.  We find that our characters have a lack very soon in the show.  Jax needs to find a way to make the gang his father's vision and also find a way to help his poor son that was born in very serious conditions.  

In November 2013, Kurt Sutter indicated that he was in talks with FX to make a Sons of Anarchy prequel set in the 1960s.  I hope that this comes out soon, I miss watching this amazing show! I would encourage anyone that likes action, drama, and badass Californians to watch this show! Conveniently, it is available right on Netflix! 

Batman vs. Superman: not just a 2015 event

There's been a lot of buzz going around recently about the new 'Batman vs. Superman' movie coming out in 2015. Much of it has been directed at Ben Affleck, who was just confirmed as the new Batman. These two characters are getting a lot of attention right now with the Dark Knight series well on their way and the Superman series just starting up again. Their history goes far beyond the last 5 years though, and I'd thought it'd be fun to take a quick peak at what these characters have gone through in the past.

Firstly, let's go back to the dinosaur ages of 1966. Phrases like "gee wiz" were actually said, as you'll notice only 4 minutes into this episode from the Batman TV series:

The series was never viewed as especially good though, and they clearly had a struggling budget. 

Okay, maybe they were struggling with a little more then their budget. But before this show even existed, there was the "Adventures of Superman" TV show that started back when the pyramids were being built. AKA 1952. 

Moving way ahead in time though, this cartoon was released just last year and features an epic battle between Batman and Superman. I feel like this may give us a good idea of what to expect from the new movie coming in 2015, except instead of a cartoon it's real people and a sh*t load of special effects. 

The Untouchables: Classic

-->

This week I re-watched one of my all-time favorite movie, The Untouchables. This Brian De Palma crime classic centers on the effort to arrest the notorious gangster, Al Capone. The movie takes place in the beginning of the 1930’s at the height of the prohibition in Chicago, Illinois. Eliot Ness and his gang of “Untouchables” must bend the rules of the law in order to capture the heavily influential criminal. 

The film stars Kevin Coster as Eliot Ness, Sean Connery as Jimmy Malone, and Robert De Niro plays Al Capone.  The film takes advantage of several engaging shots that really bring the viewer into the retro setting of this film to life. One thing I noticed this time watching it that I had not noticed before is that the clothing was all chosen and designed by Giorgio Armani. I am not really a fashion buff, but I know the significance of Mr. Armani’s name and I believe he did a really good job. The music in the film is entirely done with a full orchestra and it really lines up to the time period and the subject at hand.

The acting is superb. All characters shine especially De Niro’s interpretation of Capone. De Niro, known for his mobster roles, does the part great justice and really helps you understand how sick he really was.

I recommend the film to all.