Category: Film Review

One of the best transitions ever for a TV show to feature film. Directed with style and smarts by series veteran Rob Bowman. Fantastic widescreen cinematography from underrated shooter Ward Russell (Days of Thunder, The Last Boy Scout), who utilized a rich color palette and took full advantage of the excellent locations chosen for the story. Absolutely loved the Neanderthal Man opening sequence with the first alien encounter – raw, nasty, primal, and scary. Series mastermind Chris Carter took full advantage of the inherently cinematic possibilities with his iconic material, and along with Frank Spotnitz and undoubtedly many others, crafted a fabulous continuation of the central alien mythology plot-line, while beefing everything up visually and thematically. I’ve gone back to this movie for years, not just out of my love for The X-Files in general, but because, on its own, it’s a damn good movie. Fine, some of it is a bit impenetrable to the casual viewer or non-fan, but even in those instances, the gripping set pieces, tremendous production design, and excellent performances should alleviate any concerns.

Bowman throws in nods to various political thrillers from the 70’s, most notably Alan Pakula’s masterpiece The Parallax View, and all throughout, there’s an unnerving vibe present, from the ominous back-room deals with the Syndicate, to the sub-Antarctic government base that forms the absolutely smashing action-oriented finale. All of the regular faces from the TV show are present in the film, while the filmmakers brought in some excellent supporting players like Martin Landau, Armin Mueller Stahl, Blythe Danner, and Terry O’Quin. The opening domestic terrorism bombing sequence is rivetingly staged, while the mid-film action sequence inside the dual domes out in those corn stalks is expertly shot, cut, and directed. And when those bees are released, the scene kicks it up a further notch. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were at their best here as Mulder and Scully, and their “almost-kiss” moment was one of the absolute best moments in the series. Everything about this movie clicked (which you can’t say for the decade later follow up, The X-Files: I Want to Believe), and I am eagerly anticipating the return of the TV series when it drops at the beginning of 2016. I just really hope that the central narrative beats pivot off of the extraterrestrial angle that the show is famous for.

An aesthetic and thematic masterpiece for director Todd Haynes, who brilliantly recalls the work of Douglas Sirk with this passionate, exquisitely mounted melodrama. Sterling performances from Dennis Quaid, Julianne Moore, and Dennis Haysbert, with sharp supporting turns from Patricia Clarkson and Viola Davis and James Rebhorn. Ed Lachman’s primary-color-rich cinematography frequently pops the eye, from the bravura opening crane shot, all the way through to the studied camera placement and deliberate pacing, this is an extraordinary evocation of a lost genre, while simultaneously operating as a stirring piece of emotional storytelling. Features a gorgeous and soul-stirring score by Elmer Bernstein. I can’t wait to see the upcoming film Carol, which seems to be some sort of companion piece to Far From Heaven.

Wherein Nate and Tim discuss their favorite Twin Peaks characters and speculate on some of the upcoming new additions.

What if a “real movie” looked like a Michael Bay movie? Pain and Gain is that project. This is Bay’s best work as a storyteller and filmmaker. In fact, it’s his only “film,” as he’s made a career out of making “movies.” And that’s fine. Sometimes, we need silly fun to clean the palette or to just admire in the way of aesthetic beauty, and in terms of Bay’s visual abilities, it’s inarguable that he’s a master of composition, camera, color, texture, atmosphere, and pyrotechnics. He’s at the top of the class when it comes to “blowing shit up and making it look fabulous in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen,” as The Rock, Bad Boys, and most especially, Bad Boys II, are genre touchstones, and I’ll always go to bat for The Island and the first Transformers. But make no mistake – Bay’s special brand of visual insanity is absolutely head-spinning when it wants to be, as almost always, he’s capable of astonishing visual sights. His use of saturated primary colors, all vibrant and slick yet still with some grit packed in there (hello, Tony Scott…), has influenced commercial filmmaking over the last 20 years. I’ve had a long, off-and-on obsession with this man’s robust filmmaking technique, as I think there’s a level of cinematic dynamism that is impossible to ignore.

But, with his long-time passion project Pain & Gain, Bay proved that he actually DOES have the ability to tell a multi-tiered story, complete with flawed and unlikable characters with smart pacing and witty dialogue. I also loved the upending of the idea of the classic Bay Hero, which is one of the most unique aspects of this fresh little black-comedy crime caper. The script was credited to Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely (Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier), and it’s clear from the start that this won’t be another easy-to-digest popcorn movie or a $250 million toy commercial posing as a summer blockbuster. All three lead performances (an unnervingly stone-faced Mark Wahlberg, an extra-agitated and creeped-out The Rock, and Anthony Mackie providing some great moments of dim-witted comedic levity) are fantastically gross, while the movie revels in nastiness and a foul, wrongly-idealized version of the American dream. Tony Shaloub is viciously nasty, Ed Harris dominated the final act with a gruff performance of coiled masculinity, and there’s a great cameo from Michael Rispoli, who I always love seeing on screen. This was the movie that Bay forced Paramount to make in between Transformers entries, and it’s the movie he had been keeping in his back pocket for years and years. And it’s not hard to see why; the project is based on a true story, the Florida locale plays to Bay’s sexy visual strengths, and the characters leap of the screen. Whether or not you like them at all is your business. The script isn’t afraid to get down and dirty, as it‘s very clear that Bay felt energized about the notion of making an honest-to-goodness story without having long-lead conversations about marketing tie ins and lunch boxes.

As anyone named Kirk Cameron can tell you, Kirk Cameron’s got it all figured out.  A faded sitcom star from the 80s, he’s remade himself into something of a one man cinematic cottage industry; thanks to an aggressive religiosity he’s pumped out a variety of ‘films’ that are light on things like acting and production value but heavy on evangelical finger-wagging.  His smug mug is actually the perfect front for a denomination known for a general tenor of “I’m right and you’re wrong” moralizing and agonizing mental gymnastics applied in the service of proving the Bible to be an inerrant history of civilization.  I’m cautiously optimistic that his wins—previous film Fireproof brays that it’s “the most successful independent movie in history!” on the DVD case—will result in some right wing sugar daddy bestowing a few million on him that results in cavemen riding dinosaurs across the silver screen, but until then we are left with the no budget likes of Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas, a holiday classic in only the loosest sense of the term.

Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas is actually a narrative film in only the broadest definition of the form.  Our hero starts the proceedings by directly addressing the audience in his best Bing Crosby mode, fireside and pontificating about the complexities of rectifying the Christ in Christmas with the supposed pagan trappings that the holiday has picked up over the years.  We’re then introduced to Cameron’s brother in law, toting the leaden name Christian, of course, and told he hates the crass commercialization of this most serious of holidays (most theologians worth a crap would tell you that Christ’s resurrection, celebrated on the equally heathen-stained Easter, is actually the one you should keep your eye on).  He marches out of a Christmas party set in a bland suburban McMansion and populated with an ethnically diverse group that doesn’t appear to actually know each other to pout about all of this in his car.  Kirk follows him out to set him straight with 40 minutes of bizarre speechifying.  The good news is that viewers who find themselves flummoxed by complicated plots can ease right into this low mileage beauty and hit the road; there’s actually no story, so to speak, aside from what I’ve described.  We are treated to about two scenes of what might be considered a subplot with a jive-talkin’ co-worker of Christian’s who is about two steps up from a full blown minstrel show, but otherwise it’s just Kurt explaining away Christmas trees and Saint Nick as righteous biblical figures, wholly appropriate to the message.  It’s a bizarre exercise, delivered with relentless sincerity, weak stabs at humor and no attempt to actually entertain the audience.

Before you know it, 55 minutes have passed and Kirk’s run out of sermon, and out of movie.  The pair pull themselves back inside for an extended dance sequence and a bit more speechifying to drag the exercise towards something approaching feature film run time, but nobody’s fooled.  While I don’t begrudge anyone their faith or their right to make a living, Cameron and his cohorts have left a rather large stain on the venerable holiday film genre, much as his Left Behind series did on the disaster flick and Fireproof on the romance movie.  It’s not an understatement to call Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas a war on film itself, and I can only recommend its viewing if alcohol and sarcastic company are both in plentiful supply.