Europa Report (2013) a (mildly) belated review

Heard about this low budget thriller a while back and was intrigued by what critics said, specifically that this was a “realistic” thriller involving an expedition to Europa.  For those unfamiliar with Europa, it is one of Jupiter’s moons and a source of great scientific curiosity.  The moon has ice on its surface and liquid water below and, therefore, may well have some kind of life forms within.

Anyway, I was intrigued.  Would the film live up to the critic’s kind words?

To this I would say yes.  For the most part.

Europa Report is a “found footage” type film.  We watch the story unfold in “real” time (to a degree) via cameras positioned within the spacecraft as well as “contemporaneous” statements by the people behind the mission, one that we are clued in from the very beginning met a very bad end.

The ship features an international crew (the best known of the actors playing the crew, to me at least, is Michael Nyqvist, who made a villainous turn in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol and was Mikael Blomkvist in the European version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy).

The group’s trip to and eventual arrival and exploration of Europa -and the mysteries they encounter there- form the backbone of the story.  I don’t want to get into too many spoilers, but suffice to say the mission encounters plenty of problems on their way to discovering if Europa contains life forms.

The film is a very low budget affair but manages to get a maximum for its money, at least in the early going.  The effects are way more than adequate for the space flight and even the arrival on Europa.  Unfortunately, as the movie closes in on its climax the small budget hurts the film’s revelations.  I suspect the screenplay asked for more than the budget could effectively show, and while director Sebastian Cordero did a pretty good job with what he had, there came a time when the movie demanded more spectacle and it simply couldn’t deliver.

It was also during the later half of the the film that I realized…well, this might get into SPOILER material, so I’ll get into it after the trailer below…

Still there?  SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Ok, so after the astronauts reach Europa I come to the realization that this film, like The Blair Witch Project and a few other “found footage” thrillers I had seen before, was building up to a final, shattering image as its conclusion.  I was even more certain I knew what that image would involve.  And, when it came, I was disappointed.

That final image, meant to fill us with equal parts awe and terror, was simply…ordinary.  The image wasn’t bad, mind you, but I’ve seen far more chilling and startling effects in many movies and video games.

Too bad.

In the end, I do recommend the film, but with the caveat that this is a low budget affair and that low budget does hurt the overall product.

The pressure was getting to them…

…all of them apparently.  An apparently well known and liked Stenographer on the House floor snaps and rants on the floor following the vote to finally fund the government and raise the debt ceiling:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/10/17/stenographer-snaps-rants-on-house-floor/

Nothing much to add here but say that there obviously was plenty of pressure on everyone up there.

Iron Man 3 (2013) a (mildly) belated review

Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark/Iron Man in Iron Man 3 (I’ll refer to it as IM3 from here on out).  After the general disappointment with 2010’s Iron Man 2 and the euphoria over 2012’s The Avengers, would this film be a keeper?

To my mind, yes…and no.  No, no, no.

Robert Downey Jr. remains an absolute joy to watch and absolutely commands the screen and our attention with his continuing quirky characterization of Stark/Iron Man.  This alone makes the film worth watching.  Then again, Mr. Downey Jr.’s take on Tony Stark made the far more meandering Iron Man 2 eminently watchable as well.

While Iron Man 2 was meandering and felt out of focus, IM3 moves like lightning, hitting us with something new and interesting every few seconds while giving us plenty of Mr. Downey Jr.’s characterization.  Thing is, as great as the ride is, the moment IM3 was over and you find yourself thinking about the story that just play out…the more of a mess you realize it is.  Ironically enough, IM3 wound up hitting me almost the same way as fellow 2013 summer blockbuster Star Trek Into Darkness did:  I enjoyed it while it played out, but afterwards was left decidedly less impressed.

Now, in the interests of not spoiling anything, I’ll stop here and get into story details in a second.  The short review is this:  Iron Man 3 is an incredibly entertaining “popcorn” film that most people should enjoy.  Just don’t think -or focus!- too much about the story.

SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Still here?  Ok, let’s get to this.

The movie begins with a flashback to 1999 and a science convention where a then much wilder/partying Tony Stark simultaneously meets up with an off-putting (and geeky) Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and a beautiful Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall).  Stark ditches Killian, who wants investors for some high tech he’s developing, while one-night stand bedding Hansen.  But not before she reveals she is working on a formula to re-grow plant limbs.  Naturally, these two elements are important for what follows…

Fast forward to today and a mysterious terrorist named the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) appears on TV claiming credit for several mysterious -and gruesome- explosions he claims to have set off around the world.  He is now targeting the United States and it is increasingly clear the Mandarin’s endgame involves the President of the United States himself.

Meanwhile, Tony Stark is an emotional mess and is experiencing anxiety attacks -or perhaps even post traumatic stress- related to his experiences in The Avengers movie.  At one point, he tells his lover Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), he’s a “hot mess”.

Past and present collide when Killian reappears, much handsomer than before, still seeking an investment in his company.  Meanwhile, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is nearly killed in another of the Mandarin’s explosions while following one of Killian’s henchmen.  This leads Tony Stark to personally call out the Mandarin through the media.

That day, Hansen shows up at Tony Stark’s home to warn him that she thinks her boss -Killian- works for the Mandarin.  Stark’s home is assaulted at that moment and Potts, Stark, and Hansen barely make it out alive while the home is destroyed.

Ok, so the plot is a little convoluted to this point but it makes a certain logical sense.  It is roughly after this opening that things start to go a little…bonkers.

I don’t want to go over every beat and element of the film that follows and assume those still reading have already seen the film.  Thus, the problems start:

Why exactly were the badguys in that small town where the mysterious (apparently non-Mandarin) explosion took place?  Didn’t the explosion happen a long while before?  And if so, why didn’t they take away all evidence beforehand and not the very moment Tony Stark is there?

While in that town, Tony Stark winds up downloading some incriminating video over the net.  Were the badguys really stupid enough to leave material accessible -though granted thanks to high level encryption- over the net showing their criminality?

While I don’t mind the reveal of who the Mandarin really was -on the contrary, I think it was a very clever bit- it also is hard to believe that there could be someone that dumb out there willing to go along with that plan, knowing their face would subsequently be public enemy number one.  Seriously?

Then there’s the character of Maya Hansen.  She’s good, she’s bad, then she’s good again.  I don’t mind shifty characters, provided their allegiances/betrayals make sense.  Hansen’s first “modern” time appearance, however, involved her almost becoming a victim of the Mandarin’s attack on Tony Stark’s home.  But if, as we later find, she was bad all along (and was aligned with the Mandarin), why would she choose to endanger her life that way?  Likewise, why did the Mandarin’s forces attack knowing she was there?  Couldn’t they have timed the attack for the moment after she left the home and was away from mortal danger?

But all these above problems pale compared to this:  Pepper Potts being kidnapped by the villain who sadistically shows off this fact, via video, to Tony Stark.  Instead of simply torturing and/or killing Potts before Stark, the villain instead injects her with his formula…which makes her, like the other villains, a superpowered creature capable of kicking major ass.

Seriously?!

Can you not see the…uh…wrongheadedness of doing this?  Can the villain not see how a superpowered Pepper Potts just might –might!!!!– come back to bite him in the proverbial ass?!  (Note: She does)

I could go on (trust me, there’s more!) but I really don’t want to engage in overkill.

My initial comments remain:  IM3 is a fun “popcorn” film that whizzes by and entertains…provided you don’t think about it too much.  Otherwise, your opinion may suffer.

Reelin’ In The Years…

Fascinating book review/overview of one Donald Fagen, of the band Steely Dan, whose memoir Eminent Hipsters was released:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/books/2013/10/donald_fagen_s-eminent_hipsters_reviewed.html

Author Seth Stevenson goes beyond simply reviewing the memoir to talking about being a fan of a now aging musical artist…and the feelings entailed in this as well as the artist’s interactions with his fans.

Though I’m no fan of Steely Dan and their music (there may have been a time long ago when I could tolerate -perhaps even appreciate- their music, but the seemingly constant overplaying of Steely Dan hits on the radio have long ago burned me out of any desire to hear any of those songs ever again), I nonetheless am fascinated with the article.

I’ve long been fascinated with the way fans view their favorite artists and the levels of “hero worship” sometimes given.  I realize I’m not making any huge, earth-shattering revelations when I say this, but the artists we admire are people just like us.  More talented, certainly.  Perhaps more outgoing.  Perhaps more driven.

But human nonetheless.

I love the music of Jim Morrison and The Doors.  However, almost everything I’ve read about Jim Morrison the person makes me cringe.  I do note, however, that a large part of the mystique built around Mr. Morrison’s life revolve around his -let’s put it kindly- indulgences and therefore its hard to judge him unless you were there and saw it yourself.  Sinner or saint, Jim Morrison was a very talented musician, and in the end that’s all that matters to me.

So with his review of Mr. Fagan’s memoir, Mr. Stevenson, who clearly loves the works of Fagan and Steely Dan, relates his difficulty in realizing his idol is…human.  And aging.  He notes his discomfort in reading Mr. Fagan’s journal entries at the end of the book, which state the following:

In the final chapter of his new quasi-memoir, Eminent Hipsters, Fagen reprints the personal journal he kept while on that Dukes of September tour. It paints a less electric portrait of his night at the Beacon, concluding with a harrumph: “Hometown gigs are a drag.” Fagen was still reeling from the suicide of his wife’s son, about a week before. He was cranky onstage, thrown off his game by all the “friends, relatives, doctors, etc.” dotting the crowd. Much of the rest of his tour diary is consumed with complaints about health problems, travel snafus, and the spotty acoustics in the venues. Some representative lines:

 “Ah, waking up in Tulsa on a midsummer morning with a wicked sinus headache.”

“I guess some Snapple leaked onto my MacBook Pro keyboard so that now some keys are sticky and make a disturbing sucking noise.”

“I’m hoping that Richard can get someone to do a CAT scan of my kidney. It still hurts.”

I’m amused by Mr. Stevenson’s passage and the notes he reprints because though they may surprise and (perhaps) depress Mr. Stevenson, these entries are probably representative of exactly the type of things that go through many artist’s minds.  Creating works of art is…work.  Performing in front of crowds, while fun for the crowds, is also work.  Nowadays many musical concerts are carefully planned and choreographed and therefore feature precious little spontaneous actions on the part of the performers.  If this is the case and the artist performs them many, many, many times in their current concert tour, the artist must at some point view the concert as something done on “auto-pilot”.

You hit your notes and you sing your songs and when it is over you get off the stage and on with your life.

So it isn’t surprising the artist may view a particular show through the prism of things that went wrong…both within the show and outside the show (sinus headaches, sticky MacBook keyboards).  And if the show went smoothly, then the artist did what s/he set out to do and its on to the next show.

Bumps in the road are inevitably more memorable than smooth sailing.

Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) a (incredibly) belated review

There are certain movie posters from the past that have stuck with me.  The poster for Jaws is certainly a classic…

Jaws

Though I’m not huge fan of the film (one of the very few, I admit), this one is pretty memorable, too (I know, I know, I’m a master of understatement)…

Star Wars

I could go on and on, but I’ll get to the point:  There is another movie poster that is perhaps not as memorable to the general public yet has stuck with me for many years, and that is the one of the (for the most part) forgotten 1978 Faye Dunaway starring film The Eyes of Laura Mars

Eyes of Laura Mars

Unfortunately, the graphic above doesn’t quite do the poster justice as it looks way too dark.  Other images I’ve found online (check them out here) tend to overly lighten up Ms. Dunaway’s face, so this is about as close to the original piece as I could find.

I first saw the film many moons ago, probably right around the time it was released in the late 1970’s or shortly thereafter in the very, very early 1980’s.  There were bits and pieces of the movie I remembered, the bloody murders, the sleazy kinkiness (this movie, to my then very young mind, featured an awful lot of nudity!), and the general dreaminess/nightmarish tone.  Other than that, the image of that movie poster was what I recalled the best.

Until yesterday, when I gave the film a whirl for the first time in over thirty years.

The movie’s story (brought to you by John Carpenter!) involves controversial fashion photographer Laura Mars (Faye Dunaway) “seeing” crimes as they are committed through the eyes of a serial killer…a serial killer who is targeting her friends and associates.

The movie starts with just such a killing as “seen” through the killer’s/her eyes.  In this scene the killer looks through an advanced copy of a book featuring Mars’ work and finds his target, the publisher.  She is killed with an ice pick and Laura Mars is introduced, waking up from a sleep with those violent images going through her mind.

Unsure what if anything they mean, she heads out to a well attended, glitzy art gallery showing off her latest work and promoting this upcoming book.  Here we find that Laura Mars’ photography is very controversial as it includes very sexy images merged with very violent images.  Laura Mars wanders the floor of the gallery and bumps into John Neville (Tommy Lee Jones in one of his very early movie roles), a New York detective who, she will find out shortly, is investigating the death of the publisher of her book.  We are also given a glimpse of the many people in her life, all of whom could be the mysterious killer…

Shocked that her publisher is indeed dead, Laura Mars abruptly leaves the show.  Shortly afterwards and during a wild daytime photography shoot on the streets of New York, Laura Mars has another vision.  She rushes away from the shoot and arrives at her friend’s house…but it is too late.  Her friend becomes another victim of the serial killer Laura Mars can “see” through.

I won’t go into too many more details of the plot, but suffice it to say that some of the shocks I felt upon first seeing this film way back when are much more muted today.  Upon re-seeing it I realized the movie was very much an American version of the Italian Giallo horror/thriller.  This definition, presented in the Wikipedia, effectively defines The Eyes of Laura Mars:

Giallo films are generally characterized as gruesome murder-mystery thrillers that combine the suspense elements of a Hitchcock film with scenes of shocking horror featuring excessive bloodletting, stylish camerawork, and often jarring musical arrangements. The standard plot, used in countless films, involves a mysterious, black-gloved psychopathic killer who stalks and butchers a series of beautiful women. The killings are invariably violent and gory, including throat-slashings and decapitations. These murders often occur when the victim is most vulnerable (showering, taking a bath, or scantily clad). The literary whodunit element is retained, while being filtered through Italy’s longstanding tradition of opera and staged grand guignol drama. There are also stories that involve supernatural forces, ghostly spirits, etc. Giallo films often include liberal amounts of nudity and sex, with several actresses becoming strongly associated with the genre such as Edwige FenechBarbara BachDaria NicolodiBarbara BouchetSuzy KendallIda Galli, and Anita Strindberg.

Gialli typically introduce strong psychological themes of madness, alienation and paranoia.

Check…check…and check.

The Eyes of Laura Mars is all that, though in comparison to some of the better Giallo films out there, isn’t quite on their level.  Nonetheless, it is a stylish film that is very much of its time, offering an intriguing look at a far more sleazy New York than most may find today.  And because the film is about fashion, we also get to see plenty of late 1970’s fashion trends, and they’re a hoot!  The music is also very much of its time, featuring some memorable disco songs, including “Let’s All Chant”.

As for the plot and the identity of the mysterious killer, it is pretty easy to figure out.  With the very second killing most of the suspects are at Laura Mars’ side when she experiences her “vision”.  Given that her “visions” are concurrent with the actual crimes, all those around her are thus eliminated as suspects in one quick swoop and we are left with only two possibilities…and one of those suspects is so strongly presented as likely to be the killer that you immediately discount him for that very reason…and therefore all is revealed.

The Eyes of Laura Mars was directed by Irvin Kershner and his work here apparently so intrigued George Lucas that it is rumored he hired him to direct The Empire Strikes Back on the basis of this movie.  Mr. Kershner manages to retain a good level of tension but sometimes the acting is really over done to an almost comical soap opera level.  Still, despite its age the film is very watchable if not a “classic”.

In the end, The Eyes of Laura Mars is what it is, an American Giallo complete with blood, murder, sex, and psychology, along with a delicious late 1970’s visual vibe.  If those elements alone intrigue you, you could do far worse than spend a bit of time with Laura Mars.

One little note:  Actor Tommy Lee Jones, intriguingly enough, has appeared in two films written, but not directed, by John Carpenter:  The Eyes of Laura Mars and the 1986 thriller Black Moon Rising.  He has yet to appear in any film John Carpenter has directed!

5 Movies that Cut Insane Twist Endings…

…at the last minute:

http://www.cracked.com/article_20637_5-movies-that-cut-insane-twist-endings-at-last-second.html

Interesting list and I was familiar with several of the examples.

Of the ones presented, I was most drawn to the alternate ending of Die Hard With A Vengeance.  I know there are plenty of people who view that film as the only Die Hard film that stands up with the classic original..but I’m not one of them.  I have the “Special Edition” version on DVD, but haven’t looked at it and didn’t realize that among the bonuses was the alternative ending presented in the article above.  Now having seen it, I can agree with the reasoning for not using that ending.  It’s rather downbeat and confusing…the whole spinning the rocket launcher on a table thing was odd and didn’t exactly build up the suspense as I’m certain the director hoped.  Ah well!

One film not mentioned is the James Cameron directed The Abyss.  While I suppose one can’t view the theatrical or director’s cut ending as a “twist”, it was strange enough in either version to perhaps qualify.

Thing is, I feel both endings were terrible.  Then again, there are plenty of people who defend the film, so your mileage, as they say, may vary…

Vintage mugshots…

There’s a certain nostalgic fascination -at least to me- in seeing things like this, mugshots from the 1930’s and early 1940’s:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/vintage-mugshots_n_4044666.html

The very first presented image was especially fascinating:

2013-10-04-Lot59A.jpg

This young lady was 17 years old when the mugshot was taken in 1942, meaning that if she’s still alive today, she would be 88 or so years old.

Which makes one wonder:  What was her life like?  Did she continue to engage in these petty crimes (she was arrested, as noted in the mugshot description, for Shoplifting) or was this one of those silly teenage activities she did only this one time and learned her lesson?  Conversely, was this just one example of her criminal activities and spent the rest of her life in and out of correction facilities?  Could she have “moved up” to more serious crimes?

I’d like to think the rest of her life was far more pleasant than that particular moment in October of 1942…

6 Famous Television Gags…

…we’ll never see again:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-famous-television-gags-well-never-see-again/

Pretty funny stuff…and very truthful.  Time marches on and what was once acceptable or maybe even possible can become obsolete or very politically incorrect.

I recall watching the DVD of John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 a few years back and listening to the director’s commentary.  When we reached this sequence presented in the first minute twenty seconds (which, in the clip below, features another person’s take on the chilling music originally created by Mr. Carpenter):

…Mr. Carpenter noted that the sniper scenes could not be used today as they were a little too strong for the current moral/movie standards.  I suspect this has changed as I recall a similar sniper type sequence in the recently released Tom Cruise film Jack Reacher.

Hmmm…having listened to the “remade” music above, I had to listen to the original from the movie:

This is perhaps my second favorite John Carpenter music theme, coming damn close to the one found on Escape From New York:

Pardon the thread drift within my own blog! 😉

Gravity (2013) a (right on time!) review

One of the most anticipated films, post-summer, has to be the Alfonso Cuaron directed, Sandra Bullock and George Clooney starring Gravity.  My own interest was high following seeing a few of the released clips from the film, depicting a mind-boggling amount of space destruction.

By the time the film was released a couple of days ago, the reviews were incredibly good.  As of today, Gravity is scoring a remarkably high 98% positive among critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a slightly lower -yet still quite impressive- 90% positive among audiences.  Yet I’ve noticed rumblings in various sites from people who felt the movie was a let down, a beautiful visual spectacle that featured a decidedly less impressive story.  Are they being contrarians…or do they have a point?

To begin, Gravity’s effects are among the very best I’ve ever seen in film.  The movie is, if nothing else, a visual spectacle and if you’re going to see it, please go see it in the largest available movie theater screen possible (I caught it on IMAX 3-D, but unfortunately not at the biggest IMAX theater screen around these parts…for whatever reason, that particular theater chose not to air the film).

The movie’s opening sequence, approximately thirteen or so uninterrupted/uncut minutes showing us Earth, then the shuttle and its astronauts -and our introduction to Ms. Bullock’s Ryan Stone and Mr. Clooney’s Matt Kowalski- achieves what it sets out to do: Give us a sense of the wonder of being in outer space.  This one long sequence concludes with one of the two biggest effects showpieces of the film: High speed debris hitting the shuttle and sending Stone flying away, helpless and lost in the cosmos.

Stone is soon rescued by Kowalski and the film follows the two as they try to make their way back to some kind of safety.

I’ll stop there because I don’t want to get too spoilery.  However, I will say this:  Not all those who criticized the film’s story were simply being contrarian.  The fact is that in the end Gravity features a very simple story which some people far more clever than me noted was little more than “Open Water in space”.

Does that make the film bad?  Not really.

However, the simplicity of the story eventually made me realize the movie is -let’s face it- all about those wonderous effects.  Yes, there are some very tense sequences and both Ms. Bullock and Mr. Clooney acquit themselves very well in the film (Ms. Bullock in particular took on a dramatic role the likes of which I’ve never seen her do before, and she’s quite terrific).  Yet there isn’t all that much there there and that fact was bound to impact my overall feelings for the film.

That is not to say Gravity is a high-tech visual “bust”.  It is an exciting and interesting -if mildly limited- film that nonetheless is very worthy of your time…even if one could have hoped for perhaps a little more meat on those terrific visual bones.  On a scale of one to five stars, with five stars being a bonafide classic, I would easily give Gravity 4 stars.

Therefore, with some mild reservations, I highly recommend catching it.

Giant Asian Hornets Killing People in China…

The stuff of nightmares!

I first read about his at The Huffington Post here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/01/giant-asian-hornets-killing-people-china_n_4023249.html

But what really drew my attention to the article was this photograph of the Giant Asian Hornets’ queens:

 As I said before…the stuff of nightmares…Reminds me of something I saw many a moon ago…

The Blog of E. R. Torre