Have you someone in your life who hasn’t read the Harry Potter books? Have you encouraged them only to be greeted with rolling eyes and an “I’m an adult and I don’t read kids’ books” attitude? It saddens me that there are people we know all around us who are on the wrong path; we will have to reach out to them. If there is a muggle in your life, have him/her read this testament … and pray.
Dear Muggles, or Those Who Don’t Know:
I was once like you old friend. My parents and others used to urge me to read Harry Potter. I would treat their appraisals of the books with scorn. Indeed, I mocked their happiness and contentment with life. A small part of me was confused with their joy and perhaps wanted to share in it, but I was too proud to let The Boy Who Lived into my heart. I was wandering, alone in this world, a muggle without a cause; and then something miraculous happened: I saw the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I was intrigued, but still I struggled against the strongest magic of all ... love. Then, finally, I read the books, and I came to realize what a friend I have in Harry.
Brother or sister, have you heard the story of The Boy Who Lived? Perhaps I could come by one afternoon and we could have tea and chat. I have some literature I would like you to read--seven books, actually. You may say, you've seen the movies and do not need to read the books. My friend, the movies are a trap for the weak and the attention challenged, and they are nothing but an echo of the true message. Many of your children have heard the message and believe. Your loved ones have embraced The Boy Who Lived, but we are concerned for you, you poor ignorant muggle. Many years from now as we journey to the next world we would be crushed to leave King's Cross Station without you. Join us, friend. Open the books, open your mind, open your heart, save your soul. "Love has a power beyond the reach of any magic," the apostle Albus taught us that, and that is the joy that awaits you.
OK, seriously dudes and lady dudes, you haven't read the books?! No excuses, read the books then you can pooh-pooh them with knowledge if you like, but you have to read them first. If you don’t know me personally then you should know that I am a confirmed snob, I have an honours degree in English, and I actually thought they were just for kids before I read them--but then I did, and they're great. I've re-read them many times, and with that, I'm more and more impressed with the many intriguing layers throughout the books and the imagination that was used to create that world. The parallels with the real world confront classism, racism, and corrupt governments, and most importantly of all, show that justice and love are worth fighting for; worth dying for. The books are remarkably funny, always compelling, and flat-out page turners. I already have to deal with some people I know not thinking the Beatles are all that great (oh, Elaine); don’t let me suffer through the knowledge that there are obstinate muggles out there meandering aimlessly through life--give the books a chance, and save yourself.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: Review
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
After decades of seeing Toronto play anything but itself it’s nice to see two movies in one year where the ol’ girl actually gets to show the CN Tower and not have to hide the km/hour signs. And with the lead actor and two supporting characters also being Canadian … well, I’m just shocked.
While Chloe perhaps shoots this city better than it’s ever been seen, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World goes even a little farther by actually mentioning the city as well. However, once we adjust to the fact that the setting is truly in Toronto (for Canadians it’s an unusual adjustment) then we can just sit back and let the movie take us for a ride.
Our director, Edgar Wright is no stranger to making inventive, high paced action/comedies being the director of both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I think he’s topped himself with Scott Pilgrim.
The movie is fresh, modern and quick and unlike pretty much anything you’ve seen before. What’s great about the film is that although it’s definitely for a young audience its essential story line—boy fights for girl—is universal. Now, a boy fighting for a girl is something we’ve seen a thousand times before, but not like this.
The basic plot is thus: Scott (Cera) is a 23 year old slacker, “I’m in a band” dude who is trying to get over heartbreak by dating a high school girl, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Mercilessly teased by friends and band-mates over dating a 17 year old, Pilgrim continues his near platonic relationship until he meets Ramona Flowers (Winstead) and is instantly smitten. But dating Ramona isn’t so simple, Scott must fight (and I mean freakin’ fight) all of Ramona’s exes before he can capture the girl of his dreams (literally).
The fights are exceptionally well done and carried out in a comic-book/video game/over-the-top fashion. Naturally, they are also hilarious. Part of the humour comes from the fact that the fights are happening at all, part of it comes from a wee, skinny slacker being able to form a fist, let alone kick ass; but most of the humour comes from the ADD mode of everything-all-the-time.
While the style and look of the film is impressive, the movie wouldn’t be as good as it is without such an effective turn from a great ensemble cast. The leads Cera and Winstead are strong and well cast but the supporting actors truly shape the film. They roll with the various tones and situations, being droll, crazy, demented or heart-felt when the need arises, but they are always honest and that is essential for a movie like this. The audience would have drifted away after twenty minutes in this sensory over-load extravaganza, if the cast didn’t keep the emotions real, wry and true. My favourite of the supporting cast is Ellen Wong as Knives. Wong is cute, heart-breaking, funny and is literally a green belt in taekwondo, which, trust me, is important in this film.
However, it wouldn’t be right to review this movie without specifically looking at the performance of Michael Cera. I’ve heard complaints of Cera playing “the same character” in every movie. I actually don’t think this is true. Cera is considerably different in this movie than in others. His last movie, Youth in Revolt, is even more of a departure. In this film, Cera has perfect timing, is both awkward and strong and does a pretty damn good job with the fight scenes, which I don’t think many people would have predicted (me included). Also, if we’re going to criticize Cera for being “the same” then we better be prepared to say that for nearly every other actor out there. Only a few actors can completely disappear into their roles (Streep, Penn, Depp, Pearce) while most play different characters that may have a similar energy. This lack of variety does not mean they are not good actors. I think George Clooney is a great actor but he doesn’t shave his head and speak with a Kiwi accent just to have a different “feel.” Jimmy Stewart and Humphrey Bogart are two of my all time favourites, but one could accuse them of being “the same” in many roles. It’s not all about versatility; it’s more about honesty and whether the audience tunes into the character’s emotions. I think Cera has that, and it comes through in this film.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World keeps you entertained without getting stale or losing its heart; thanks to strong direction and a tight ensemble cast. Besides, how can you not like a film where the hero wears a CBC t-shirt.
Very good flick.
Point of Interest: The only confusing thing about this film is that it didn’t make very much money at the box office. It received (generally) great reviews with an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s certainly geared to the traditional movie-going audience of teenagers, so why the weak box-office? I’ve heard some speculate that the Toronto setting might have affected sales. It’s one of the reasons nearly every movie gets “set” in America even if it’s not shot there, or based on a book that has a different setting all together (High Fidelity being moved to Chicago from London being a great example). Many studio execs feel that if a movie isn’t in America and about Americans then the U.S. audience won’t care. I don’t know if that’s true, but studios certainly act as if it is, Americanizing nearly every thing they touch (I’m just glad they left Wolverine Canadian!).
Directed by: Edgar Wright
Starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
After decades of seeing Toronto play anything but itself it’s nice to see two movies in one year where the ol’ girl actually gets to show the CN Tower and not have to hide the km/hour signs. And with the lead actor and two supporting characters also being Canadian … well, I’m just shocked.
While Chloe perhaps shoots this city better than it’s ever been seen, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World goes even a little farther by actually mentioning the city as well. However, once we adjust to the fact that the setting is truly in Toronto (for Canadians it’s an unusual adjustment) then we can just sit back and let the movie take us for a ride.
Our director, Edgar Wright is no stranger to making inventive, high paced action/comedies being the director of both Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I think he’s topped himself with Scott Pilgrim.
The movie is fresh, modern and quick and unlike pretty much anything you’ve seen before. What’s great about the film is that although it’s definitely for a young audience its essential story line—boy fights for girl—is universal. Now, a boy fighting for a girl is something we’ve seen a thousand times before, but not like this.
The basic plot is thus: Scott (Cera) is a 23 year old slacker, “I’m in a band” dude who is trying to get over heartbreak by dating a high school girl, Knives Chau (Ellen Wong). Mercilessly teased by friends and band-mates over dating a 17 year old, Pilgrim continues his near platonic relationship until he meets Ramona Flowers (Winstead) and is instantly smitten. But dating Ramona isn’t so simple, Scott must fight (and I mean freakin’ fight) all of Ramona’s exes before he can capture the girl of his dreams (literally).
The fights are exceptionally well done and carried out in a comic-book/video game/over-the-top fashion. Naturally, they are also hilarious. Part of the humour comes from the fact that the fights are happening at all, part of it comes from a wee, skinny slacker being able to form a fist, let alone kick ass; but most of the humour comes from the ADD mode of everything-all-the-time.
While the style and look of the film is impressive, the movie wouldn’t be as good as it is without such an effective turn from a great ensemble cast. The leads Cera and Winstead are strong and well cast but the supporting actors truly shape the film. They roll with the various tones and situations, being droll, crazy, demented or heart-felt when the need arises, but they are always honest and that is essential for a movie like this. The audience would have drifted away after twenty minutes in this sensory over-load extravaganza, if the cast didn’t keep the emotions real, wry and true. My favourite of the supporting cast is Ellen Wong as Knives. Wong is cute, heart-breaking, funny and is literally a green belt in taekwondo, which, trust me, is important in this film.
However, it wouldn’t be right to review this movie without specifically looking at the performance of Michael Cera. I’ve heard complaints of Cera playing “the same character” in every movie. I actually don’t think this is true. Cera is considerably different in this movie than in others. His last movie, Youth in Revolt, is even more of a departure. In this film, Cera has perfect timing, is both awkward and strong and does a pretty damn good job with the fight scenes, which I don’t think many people would have predicted (me included). Also, if we’re going to criticize Cera for being “the same” then we better be prepared to say that for nearly every other actor out there. Only a few actors can completely disappear into their roles (Streep, Penn, Depp, Pearce) while most play different characters that may have a similar energy. This lack of variety does not mean they are not good actors. I think George Clooney is a great actor but he doesn’t shave his head and speak with a Kiwi accent just to have a different “feel.” Jimmy Stewart and Humphrey Bogart are two of my all time favourites, but one could accuse them of being “the same” in many roles. It’s not all about versatility; it’s more about honesty and whether the audience tunes into the character’s emotions. I think Cera has that, and it comes through in this film.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World keeps you entertained without getting stale or losing its heart; thanks to strong direction and a tight ensemble cast. Besides, how can you not like a film where the hero wears a CBC t-shirt.
Very good flick.
Point of Interest: The only confusing thing about this film is that it didn’t make very much money at the box office. It received (generally) great reviews with an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it’s certainly geared to the traditional movie-going audience of teenagers, so why the weak box-office? I’ve heard some speculate that the Toronto setting might have affected sales. It’s one of the reasons nearly every movie gets “set” in America even if it’s not shot there, or based on a book that has a different setting all together (High Fidelity being moved to Chicago from London being a great example). Many studio execs feel that if a movie isn’t in America and about Americans then the U.S. audience won’t care. I don’t know if that’s true, but studios certainly act as if it is, Americanizing nearly every thing they touch (I’m just glad they left Wolverine Canadian!).
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Other Guys: Review
The Other Guys
Directed by: Adam McKay
Starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg
Sometimes a movie tries to be too many different types of film and suffers for it. Sometimes a movie can have different styles, different messages and switch genres every five minutes and still pull off an entertaining, hilarious thrill-ride: The Other Guys gets it done.
The jokes are both subtle (sometimes) and outrageous (much more often) but are nearly always funny. Sure, there are some misses here and there, but that’s to be expected when there are just so damn many of them. More often that not, they find their mark.
Narrated by a man who once sang about killing cops and now plays one on TV (Ice-T) this is one of the better “buddy-cop” movies to come along, and it’s certainly one of the better “buddy-cop” parodies ever done. That’s what makes The Other Guys interesting; it’s much more than typical “parodies” like Date Movie and Scary Movie, it actually has decent acting, a real story, and more importantly, biting political satire. Still, it is a parody. Not just of buddy-cop films, but of action films altogether. The action sequences are so ridiculous they border on surreal, thus lambasting the typical over-the-top action seen in so many movies where the hero can fly his car through any old building and emerge without a scratch. Just when you think this is how they’re going to do it, cheesy violence with no consequences, they switch gears and suddenly the “heroes” at the start of the film meet a very real (though inexplicable) end.
This is where our main characters, Detective Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Detective Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) come in. Both have been delegated to back-up detectives, helping the real cops who are on the street fighting crime, by doing paper work. Gamble is very happy and safe pushing paper and crunching numbers, whereas Hoitz is itching to get back out on the street. The back story of how these two ended up where they are is hilarious and I won’t ruin it for you here, but then a case comes down that prods them away from their desks.
The gags are great. Gamble and Hoitz getting “tricked” into accepting bribes, the hobo orgies and desecration of Gamble’s Prius; the Prius itself contrasting with the super-cops’ mint condition SS Chevelle and the scorching hotness of Gamble’s wife (Eva Mendes) and their bizarre relationship. Perhaps the best gag of all though, is the political humour and surprising insight. You don’t expect the savvy lines about the bail out of the ultra rich being blended into a movie like this, but just in case you missed it (and there’s a good chance that we did) the end credits knock it over your head—but in a good way.
I joked that the end credits were the best part of Robin Hood in an earlier review (they were) but these end credits are even better. Filled with well researched facts (Sony insisted for fear of lawsuits) the end credits spell out the huge gap between what large financial corporations and executives get away with in relation to the rest of us. My favourite was the CEO salary compared to the average employee salary. Starting at about 10 to 1 in 1924 it slowly grew to about 20 to 1 in the 1950s … it is now currently 319 to 1. If that doesn’t piss you off, I don’t know what will. Some might feel it’s a little jarring that these Michael Moore-like credits come at the end of The Other Guys but there are hints of this message throughout, as well as the crime that they are investigating itself. It may have been a better film if this theme was explored a little more but we should be happy for any political message at all in what is otherwise a zany, buddy-cop flick.
Kudos should also go out to Ferrell and Wahlberg. We expect them to be funny, especially Ferrell, but they also make the viewer care about these guys. It’s not a big dramatic turn or anything; they just both have the ability to create empathy for characters that aren’t all that likeable.
Check out The Other Guys. It’s not perfect, there are a couple of lulls, but it’s inventive, different, takes unexpected turns, and has a slyly hidden political punch.
Point of Interest: As mentioned earlier the hero cops drive around in a mint condition ’69 SS Chevelle. I love this. It’s a shot at so many different films and TV shows where the tough cops always drive a cool muscle car. I happen to love old muscle cars so I’ve always noticed this little quirk. What’s great about The Other Guys is when this beautiful Chevelle gets destroyed they’re driving a different Chevelle the next day. And, naturally, once our leads earn their chops, they have a mint condition first generation Camaro … perfect.
Directed by: Adam McKay
Starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg
Sometimes a movie tries to be too many different types of film and suffers for it. Sometimes a movie can have different styles, different messages and switch genres every five minutes and still pull off an entertaining, hilarious thrill-ride: The Other Guys gets it done.
The jokes are both subtle (sometimes) and outrageous (much more often) but are nearly always funny. Sure, there are some misses here and there, but that’s to be expected when there are just so damn many of them. More often that not, they find their mark.
Narrated by a man who once sang about killing cops and now plays one on TV (Ice-T) this is one of the better “buddy-cop” movies to come along, and it’s certainly one of the better “buddy-cop” parodies ever done. That’s what makes The Other Guys interesting; it’s much more than typical “parodies” like Date Movie and Scary Movie, it actually has decent acting, a real story, and more importantly, biting political satire. Still, it is a parody. Not just of buddy-cop films, but of action films altogether. The action sequences are so ridiculous they border on surreal, thus lambasting the typical over-the-top action seen in so many movies where the hero can fly his car through any old building and emerge without a scratch. Just when you think this is how they’re going to do it, cheesy violence with no consequences, they switch gears and suddenly the “heroes” at the start of the film meet a very real (though inexplicable) end.
This is where our main characters, Detective Allen Gamble (Ferrell) and Detective Terry Hoitz (Wahlberg) come in. Both have been delegated to back-up detectives, helping the real cops who are on the street fighting crime, by doing paper work. Gamble is very happy and safe pushing paper and crunching numbers, whereas Hoitz is itching to get back out on the street. The back story of how these two ended up where they are is hilarious and I won’t ruin it for you here, but then a case comes down that prods them away from their desks.
The gags are great. Gamble and Hoitz getting “tricked” into accepting bribes, the hobo orgies and desecration of Gamble’s Prius; the Prius itself contrasting with the super-cops’ mint condition SS Chevelle and the scorching hotness of Gamble’s wife (Eva Mendes) and their bizarre relationship. Perhaps the best gag of all though, is the political humour and surprising insight. You don’t expect the savvy lines about the bail out of the ultra rich being blended into a movie like this, but just in case you missed it (and there’s a good chance that we did) the end credits knock it over your head—but in a good way.
I joked that the end credits were the best part of Robin Hood in an earlier review (they were) but these end credits are even better. Filled with well researched facts (Sony insisted for fear of lawsuits) the end credits spell out the huge gap between what large financial corporations and executives get away with in relation to the rest of us. My favourite was the CEO salary compared to the average employee salary. Starting at about 10 to 1 in 1924 it slowly grew to about 20 to 1 in the 1950s … it is now currently 319 to 1. If that doesn’t piss you off, I don’t know what will. Some might feel it’s a little jarring that these Michael Moore-like credits come at the end of The Other Guys but there are hints of this message throughout, as well as the crime that they are investigating itself. It may have been a better film if this theme was explored a little more but we should be happy for any political message at all in what is otherwise a zany, buddy-cop flick.
Kudos should also go out to Ferrell and Wahlberg. We expect them to be funny, especially Ferrell, but they also make the viewer care about these guys. It’s not a big dramatic turn or anything; they just both have the ability to create empathy for characters that aren’t all that likeable.
Check out The Other Guys. It’s not perfect, there are a couple of lulls, but it’s inventive, different, takes unexpected turns, and has a slyly hidden political punch.
Point of Interest: As mentioned earlier the hero cops drive around in a mint condition ’69 SS Chevelle. I love this. It’s a shot at so many different films and TV shows where the tough cops always drive a cool muscle car. I happen to love old muscle cars so I’ve always noticed this little quirk. What’s great about The Other Guys is when this beautiful Chevelle gets destroyed they’re driving a different Chevelle the next day. And, naturally, once our leads earn their chops, they have a mint condition first generation Camaro … perfect.
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