Ikiru (1952)

Some masterpiece films evoke life-affirming lessons by taking us inside the mansion of a media mogul, to the vast Arabian Desert, to the confines of a Vietnam War madman or to the far reaches beyond Jupiter’s moons. Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” does so by introducing us to a sad and lonely old man dying of cancer.

Akira Kurosawa is one of the most famous of all Japanese directors. However, he is so legendary because unlike his colleagues Ozu and Mizoguchi, Kurosawa was considered the most Western of all the Japanese auteurs. Recognizable to the public mostly thanks to his samurai epics and tales that later became spaghetti Westerns, Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” in 1952 was a human drama near the middle of his career. It is radical in the way it speaks so simply and with familiarity and yet so broadly about universal topics.

“Ikiru,” which in English means “to live,” finds a reason to live life when so many others are doing nothing more than trying to survive it. Kurosawa’s catalyst is Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura), a man who, when we first meet him, is virtually dead, only to discover he will be literally dead very soon. He’s the head bureaucrat in a dead-end office of the public services department, and he’s stayed in that position for 20 years by essentially not doing anything. “I was always busy, but I can’t think of a single thing I’ve done,” he later realizes. Continue reading “Ikiru (1952)”

Horrible Bosses

Sometimes I wonder how anyone actually writes a comedy like “Horrible Bosses.” Who has the thesaurus that helps find smutty replacements for perfectly normal words? Sometimes the unrealistically raunchy factor in a movie like this serves as a disconnect from the otherwise witty and creative screenplay at hand.

At times, “Horrible Bosses” seems dirty for the sake of achieving an R-rating. Despite being about three guys plotting a way to kill their boss, the gratuitous language and casual discussion of rape make the material mature. For instance, somehow I question the ability of the word “dickswath” to come up in conversation naturally, and it makes me realize how contrived the rest of their dialogue appears.

It all subtracts from an otherwise darkly clever revenge comedy. Nick, Dale and Kurt (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) each have sadistic bosses controlling and ruining their lives. For Nick, he’s worked to the bone and denied a corner office promotion by his boss Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey). Kurt is left at the mercy of an uncaring coke addict Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell). And Dale is sexually harassed by his boss in the dentist office Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston), although only Dale really sees her as a problem. Continue reading “Horrible Bosses”

Casting ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ movie

Image courtesy of papertrailbooks.blogspot.com

“The Catcher in the Rye” is a masterpiece of a book. Having just finished reading it, I tweeted that I feel as though I’ve “grown as an intellectual and a person after this truly amazing book.”

And for as good as it is, the book’s reputation precedes it possibly more than any other work of fiction. I don’t mean to refer to the book’s popularity, which surely pales in comparison to Harry Potter if the buzz for this eighth movie is any evidence.

Rather, its reputation is notorious. Few books are such a cult staple. No book has been as censored. And no novel as influential as “The Catcher in the Rye” has ever gone without a proper film adaptation for this long. Continue reading “Casting ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ movie”

Rapid Response: The Asphalt Jungle

John Huston’s “The Asphalt Jungle” is not as tightly wound of a thriller as say, “Dial M for Murder” or countless other Hitchcock classics, but it revels in its characters and its story to make a gripping noir.

It follows a group of burglars attempting the perfect robbery, one that will score a payoff of $1 million. But everything slowly goes wrong, as it must in a noir. No character trusts one another and no one can be trusted, so everything is destined to fall apart. The interesting part is in discovering how. Continue reading “Rapid Response: The Asphalt Jungle”

Rapid Response: The Naked City

“The Naked City” is an early movie by a lesser-known legend of film noir. Jules Dassin, an American director of Greek descent, is best known for his similar films “Rififi” and “Topkapi,” but those were both made after the genre’s height on the movie history timeline.

“Naked City” on the other hand was made in 1948, and like many A and B movies like it, it boasted that it was unlike any film you had ever seen before. It’s big selling point was that it was shot on location in New York, and the film practically makes the city it’s main character.

And for making such a bold claim upfront, the film rightfully won that year’s Oscar for best black and white cinematography. There is a chase that spirals through the Brooklyn Bridge at the film’s finale that must have been a groundbreaking visual for its time and still looks pretty impressive. Continue reading “Rapid Response: The Naked City”

Rapid Response: Being John Malkovich

Few films are as wistfully inventive, bizarre and darkly silly as “Being John Malkovich.” Surely there is something else like it that hasn’t been directed by Spike Jonze or written by Charlie Kaufman, but then, I’m at a loss to say what. Yes, there have been movies that have incorporated puppets into their movies before, but to the balletic and elaborate extent that even goes as far as opening Jonze’s film? I think not.

When I first saw the film about a year ago, I thought of it as something of a mini-masterpiece. I mean, I had never seen anything like it. I’m not sure I loved the entire movie as much as I once did, but there are segments in this movie that have enchanted me and taken my mind to new places like never before.

It’s also really friggin’ funny and weird. This is the type of movie with cerebral and odd sight gags and mind-trip themes that beg to be analyzed, but you’ll have more fun if you don’t. Jonze is a pro at coyly amusing you with one of his visual tricks and then shocking you with the next. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Being John Malkovich”

Rapid Response: The Truman Show

“The Truman Show” doesn’t seem to really be about the philosophical ideas of fate vs. choice or the conflicting concepts of reality vs. artificiality. It’s also a weak jab at Hollywood and reality TV obsessions and becomes almost exclusively about itself, an elaborate exploration of its “what if” scenario.

I watched the critically acclaimed cult film for the first time last night, despite how often it’s on TBS, and found it to be somewhat overrated. It was cute in its tongue-in-cheek, sitcom-y sort of way that included product placement and continuity sight gags, but all the questions that it left me with were more problematic than they were intriguing. Continue reading “Rapid Response: The Truman Show”

Rapid Response: Sid and Nancy

“But Sidney’s more than a mere bass player. He’s a fabulous disaster. He’s a symbol, a metaphor, he embodies the dementia of a nihilistic generation. He’s a fuckin’ star.”

This sad truth about Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious also serves as a wonderful metaphor for Alex Cox’s biopic on Vicious’s tragic life, romance and legendary death. Like the performers on stage, “Sid & Nancy” is loud, wild, antagonistic, trippy and aimless.

This film is a fabulous disaster. It is so gritty, tough and in-your-face that it renders it almost impossible to watch. Yes this is a powerful film and a great one, but to say I “enjoyed” it would be an overstatement. Continue reading “Rapid Response: Sid and Nancy”

Rapid Response: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

In honor of this 4th of July holiday that just passed, I’ve watched a patriotic, political thriller classic, John Frankenheimer’s “The Manchurian Candidate” from 1962.

Really, the movie isn’t patriotic at all, but it’s about the Cold War and a Communist conspiracy theory and Presidential hoohah. And it has Frank Sinatra in it, who of course is as American as apple pie. Rather, it’s a carefully drawn and ultimately tragic thriller that seems to have not aged a day (although there is maybe one silly reason why it has), least of all in its engaging cinematic style.

Most thrillers like this, or specifically ones made around the early ’60s and moving into the ’70s, are strictly business in their story, building layer upon layer of complication and tension without leaving much room for character. That’s not necessarily a slam on those films, many of which become careful studies in exactly the diligent style they take. But “The Manchurian Candidate” is such a complex thriller, and yet the character back stories are key to the plot’s unraveling. Continue reading “Rapid Response: The Manchurian Candidate (1962)”

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

“Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is a mind-numbing, relentless, annoying, incoherent, bloated and overall poorly made film that only surpasses the abominable first sequel to this franchise possibly for the reason that it is less racist. This series’ enduring popularity is evidence that the blockbuster crowd has become no less robotic and drone like than the monstrosities on screen.

Michael Bay’s second “Transformers” film, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” left me immensely angry, with myself for having sat through it, with so many others for having enjoyed it and with Bay for having ever made it. I had never seen a film as long or as overstuffed, and it earned a place in bad movie history since.

Now here we are two years later. “Dark of the Moon” was not enraging but depressing in its repetition of the same scatterbrained sense of humor, inconceivable plot, cinematography that blatantly defied cinematic staples and worst of all, tedious, unmemorable, bombastic and endlessly long battle sequences. Continue reading “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”