Tower Heist Review

Tower Heist (2011)

Dir: Brett Ratner

With the exception of his unforgivable entry in the X-Men series and the lackluster After the Sunset, I rather enjoy Brett Ratner’s movies. He is a director who is usually seen with much disdain because of just how basic his style of filmmaking is. But I’ve always found them fun in all of their glorious simplicity; in fact I’ll go right ahead and admit that Rush Hour 2 is one of my all time favorite movies. Tower Heist sticks to this simple-minded mentality; it’s a good piece of entertainment but in the end, the director’s most notable trait (keeping his movies as simple and digestible for the mass audiences as possible) is what hurts it the most.

The plot borrows heavily from other movies, specially the Ocean’s Eleven and Fun with Dick and Jane remakes, hell it even has Casey Affleck (from the Ocean’s movies) and Tea Leoni (from Fun with Dick & Jane).  Here, a group of employees of an upper-class, high-security apartment building lose all their money after a wealthy tenant to whom they had trusted all their savings is found to be involved in a ponzi scheme, so they do what every logical group of people would do in this situation: Break into his apartment and steal all their money back. 

The “funny” part of the ordeal is that they’re all pretty much stupid so they decide to hire an “experienced” thief who turns out to be equally, if not more, stupid than they are, not to mention selfish.  We are then presented with scenes such as the one with an old lady approaching the group mid-heist much to their shock and asking them to walk her dog apparently oblivious to what’s happening in front of her only to turn around and walk away as if nothing happened much to the relief of the group. This, like many others in the movie, is a scene that we’ve seen done countless of times in countless of other movies.  It’s a very cliché and formulaic plot.

Heist movies are usually divided in three segments: Set-up, planning and the heist itself. This film doesn’t make it as overly complex as we’re used to see; it doesn’t really demand the audience’s full attention and it doesn’t have a whole lot of factors coming into play, again keeping it all in the simple-minded mentality.  This is not necessarily bad but it keeps it from being a truly exciting and surprising story development. 

Ben Stiller, Gabourey Sidibe, Matthew Broderick, Eddie Murphy, Affleck , Leoni and the rest of the cast do a serviceable job here, never pushing for more than what their characters demand. They’re all equally charismatic and this represents the closest Murphy has been to his glory days. But with so much comedic talent it feels like a miss opportunity, they barely go out of their way to make a line feel special or funnier.

But perhaps we have the script to blame for that. This is a very basic type of comedy, very simple and accessible, but too innocent for its own good, with such a serious subject matter it could’ve been a lot darker and have some more depth to it or at least it should’ve gone full-on with the screwball and physical comedy aspects that are briefly touched here and there. I chuckled a few times but it wasn’t funny per-se. At least it doesn’t go the Adam Sandler “kick in the nuts, shit on the face” path and we have that to be thankful for. 

Brett Ratner and company’s lack of risk tacking is ultimately what hurts this film the most. But for what is worth this is not a bad film, it doesn’t bore and it’s technically competent. It’s a good time killer that will entertain and be almost immediately forgotten once it’s over.    

The Girlfriend Experience review

The Girlfriend Experience

2009

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Steven Soderbergh is certainly one of the most interesting directors working today. Whether he is making big summer blockbusters like Ocean’s 11, Epic bio-pics like Che or crazy indie flicks like Bubble he always achieves some degree of success. The Girlfriend Experience, his latest experimental film is another triumph for the director, who’s able to find the most human side in the most messed-up of characters.

The film follows the trials and tribulations of Chelsea (played by porn actress Sasha Grey), a New York City escort who is paid to provide her clients “the girlfriend experience” where she acts as girlfriend for lonely men for a short period of time. This period may or may not involve sex as part of the experience depending on her customer’s needs. She has to balance her work with her relationship with her boyfriend (Played by Chris Santos).

The story is presented in a non-linear fashion and is told via an interview between Chelsea and a reporter, a conversation with a fellow escort friend and by herself as she narrates her blog entries. This storytelling method proves to be confusing as it makes the story hard to follow, but after the first hour or so it’s easier to connect the dots and enjoy it.

Soderbergh and his writers (who also wrote Ocean’s 13) do a great job in letting the audience understand the characters and their problems. You never feel disgusted with Chelsea as she is shown as strong, smart and not ashamed of her job yet you cheer for her to get out of that lifestyle and make a transition towards a more stable life and relationship. You also never feel sorry for her customers when you know you probably should because for the most part they’re pathetic men. The way their stories are put together and evolve makes you feel sympathy for all the characters, you certainly won’t but at least you’ll understand them.

Technically the movie looks very amateurish, you can tell Soderbergh was just messing the hell out of some cheap cameras and editing software yet it’s composed of some pretty great looking shots and the editing, though a bit rough, gives it a great style that fits the tone of the movie really well. Some of the shots, especially the camera movements reminded me a lot of Hideaki Anno’s Shiki-Jitsu and Love & Pop, which is not a bad thing.

Perhaps the most surprisingly good thing of all is Sasha grey’s performance. If you’ve seen a porno movie before you’ll certainly notice that it takes absolutely no acting talent to be in one which is why I wasn’t expecting much from her, but I was blown away by her role. She portrays Chelsea as strong, intelligent, likeable, emotional yet not vulnerable but most of all human, she is not the sex doll some of her clients see her as and Grey does a fantastic job at revealing her inner emotions.

My only complain with the movie and the reason it’s not rated higher is because it lacked closure, which left me immensely unsatisfied as I felt there was a final act missing and the final scene is all kinds of ambiguous. Yet despite that I still strongly recommend this movie, it's beautifully well made and surprisingly well acted and best of all, unlike most experimental films it doesn’t feel pretentious at all, it truly is a fantastic movie.

Machete review

Machete (2010)

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Machete is one of those meta-ironic movies that are just too awesome to be true. It’s a real movie based on a fake trailer that features the most random list of actors you can ever think of and the result is a goofy movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously but still manages to entertain the hell out of its audience.

Machete stars Danny Trejo, AKA that Mexican guy you’ve seen in every movie ever albeit with a lead role for (I’m pretty sure) the first time, as Machete Cortez, an ex-Federale whose family was killed and now lives as an illegal in the United States. He is hired by a mysterious man to kill a racist senator (played by Robert De Niro in his best role since the 90s) but is soon set-up and finds himself not only trying to clean his name but also in the middle of an ongoing war between the senator’s anti-immigrant vigilantes and the pro-immigrant Network.

He's one angry Mexican

Danny Trejo is not the best actor in the world, but he does a fantastic job as Machete, perhaps because he is not playing Machete as much as he is Machete. But he is not alone, co-starring are Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez who do a fantastic job playing their characters and being hot when needed and Robert De Niro being eerily accurate as a racist southern senator. 

The cast also includes the most random collection of forgotten stars with varying degrees of success; Cheech Marin is hilarious as Machete’s brother and priest, Jeff Fahey is functional albeit not great in his role as the senator’s right-hand man, Lindsay Lohan is unsurprisingly bland yet surprisingly hot as Fahey’s daughter. But the most surprisingly good performances come from Don Johnson and Steven Seagal as a racist border vigilante and a Mexican drug lord respectively. Seagal’s best days might be past him but godamn does he nail the Mexican accent and he is pretty much the best thing about every scene he appears in.

But it’s not only the cast that makes Machete the great movie it is. It’s the fact that it pretty much nails the style it was going for. The film pays homage to the exploitation films of the 70s and early 80s as well as the ridiculously cheesy and gory action films of the late 80s and 90s, but it takes it a step further and is gorier, cheesier and more ridiculous than any of the films it pays homage to.

Rodriguez direction is what allows Machete to be all those things and not be a bad movie. Yes it’s ridiculous, but it knows it is and never takes itself too seriously. The action scenes in particular are hilariously over the top. There are decapitations, boobs, crucifixions, guts being used as a rope, stabbings, boobs, martial arts, shoot-outs, boobs, explosions and much more.

Did I mention boobs?

Machete is not for everyone, those who are looking for a serious action movie will certainly not find it here, nor is it meant to be watched as one. It’s great for what it is, a one and a half hour cheesy and gory journey with actors who are all in the joke and having fun. And that’s just what it is, just plain fun.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time review

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

2010

Director: Mike Newell

The Prince of Persia series has a special place in my heart as one of the most involving, deep and just plain fun series of games I’ve played (Warrior Within being my favorite) so when I heard that a movie based on the first game of the Sand of Times series was being made I was naturally worried. Expectations were low considering previous video game adaptations and producer Bruckheimer claiming it’d be “the new Pirates of the Caribbean”. Now that I’ve seen the movie I can safely say that this is one of the most functional video game adaptations made so far, if only in terms of perfectly capturing the style of the games.

The story follows Prince Dastan, played by former gay cowboy Jake Gyllenhaall, who is tricked alongside his brothers to attack the sacred city of Alamut and steal the dagger of time. Soon, he finds himself framed for the death of his father and must escape with Tamina, the Princess of Alamut. During his adventure, he discovers that the dagger allows its possessor to reverse time for a minute and that someone in his own family has deceived him to take over of the dagger which combined with the sandglass can go back to any point in time to become the king of the Persian Empire.

At this point, anyone who has ever played the original Sands of Time game is probably saying “wait what?” There’s no Vizier, no Farah, no Maharajah, no sand monsters and the dagger doesn’t have the Time-slowdown or Sand bomb powers which is disappointing. I’ve always thought the Sands of Time story was a perfect fit for the screen, it had tension, romance adventure, drama, it was short and it wasn’t complicated for anyone to follow so it’s beyond me why it was changed so much. While the story in the film subtly keeps some aspects from the game it has changed into a cluttered, convoluted and boring mess.

And while the story is disappointing, what kept me in awe most of the time and what makes this movie good for me is how they perfectly capture the style and feel of the games. The prince is acrobatic, running across walls, engaging in impressive parkour sequences, climbing ridiculously high structures, jumping from ledge to ledge and fighting with his trademark double blades (from Warrior Within). Persia looks exactly like it did in The Two Thrones and Alamut borrows heavily from Azad in the first game. The lighting is fantastic and it adds a lot to the setting, though sometimes everything looks a bit too yellow. The music is also atmospheric, relying mostly on sitar tunes and Arabic corals with drum-based beats for the action sequences. The CGI though, looks very bland and almost archaic, especially the last sand storm that nearly devastates the city.

While Jake Gyllenghaal is certainly not the right man for the role, he at least looks the part and plays it well considering it’s not the most demanding role. Gemma Arterton, who plays the Prince’s love interest, Tamina on the other hand is rather robotic in her performance and seems bored to death for the most part, this hurts any little chemistry they had. Ben Kingsley is functionally sinister and honestly, but he also seems bored as hell, this being another one of his “fuck it, I already have an Oscar” performances. The real jewel in the cast is Alfred Molina as the obligatory comic relief character Sheik a tax-hating entrepreneur who is easily the best addition the filmmakers made to the story.

I can’t say it’s the best video game adaptation, I still think Mortal Kombat combined perfectly the heart and style of the video games to make a good movie. Here the impressive style makes up for the uninspired story obviously aimed to the Disney/Pirates fanbase. It is not a terrible movie and it’s certainly one of the better video game adaptations, but there’s not enough substance to make it worth watching a second time, or even pay to see it.

Movie Review - The End of Evangelion

The End of Evangelion

Director: Hideaki Anno

Year: 1997

If I were to describe The End of Evangelion in one sentence it would simply be “wow”. No other movie, animated or not has had the impact EoE had in me, it’s beautifully shocking, jaw-dropping and most of all depressing. End of Evangelion shows us a world filled with selfishness, deception and misery, yet it pushes us to get out of that world and find happiness, something that will prove to be incredibly difficult and nearly impossible.

Love is Destructive.

The first two minutes would set the tone of the movie for me, as I watched everything I loved about Shinji being flushed down the toilet while he masturbated to a comatose Asuka before telling himself “I’m the lowest”. More shocking would be to hear Asuka herself telling him that he could do whatever he wants with her, that she “would even watch him”. This is what End of Evangelion is all about, emotionally disturbed characters and the movie blatantly asks us “How are you any different?”

The movie perfectly combines the drama, action, psychology and pseudo-Christianity of the series in two parts. The first, Air/Love is Destructive, is a violent reminder of why we like Evangelion so much; the characters, the drama, the fantastic action are all here and better than ever. Here, we get our fair share of Robot action in one of the most beautifully choreographed battle scenes ever created, it also delivers some of the saddest moments I’ve seen in my life; one particularly powerful was when Asuka chanted “I’ll kill you all” with her hand reaching the sun before being killed and devoured by the Mass Production Evas, just a minute later Maya completely destroyed my heart into pieces when she screamed “Asuka is…Asuka is…” never finishing the sentence.

The second part, “Sincerely Yours/I Need you”, is a thought provoking and jaw dropping trip through Shinji’s mind as he decides the fate of the world (a task set to him by Rei/Lilith). It is tough for any Evangelion fan not to be shocked when watching all the characters you’ve learned to love and appreciate disgust you before dying a miserable death. It is especially difficult to see Rei, the most mysterious character, finally realizing what she is and watching her do the things she does, completing her pivotal role in the series.

One of the most heartbreaking moments in the movie.

To say this is a masterpiece would be an understatement; Hideaki Anno is not only a mastermind in story development and a great director, but also a revolutionary filmmaker. This movie combines the usual animation with a sublime live-action sequence perfectly synchronized with a slow, almost melancholic version of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude”. It also shows some postmodernism when some real-life shots of Gainax headquarters and a few death threats Anno received for the previous Evangelion movie Death & Rebirth flashes rapidly before going back to the “anime world”. There’s also a full live-action alternative sequence not shown in the original theatrical release which depicts Asuka, Rei and Misato as normal 25-year old women living in Tokyo, here Anno shows again his sublime directing using hand-held cameras that gives it sense of documentary, and makes us feel closer to the characters.

I need you.

Everyone has their own theories about this movie. It is really difficult to understand, even for veteran Evangelion fans like me; that’s not much of a problem though, since the movie invites you to watch it more than once and it’s one of those weird case where every time you watch it, you find something new. It is also filled with religious and psychological themes which actually made me want to find out more about that stuff. But unlike the series, EoE doesn’t stick to just Christian symbols and themes, it takes things a bit farther and includes Judaism and Kabala.

Whether or not this is a retelling of episodes 25 and 26 of the series or an alternate ending is a matter of debate. I tend to believe this is a retelling or that it is meant to complement the episodes since both 25 and 26 give hints to events that happen in this movie such as Asuka being inside her Eva in a fetal position, Shinji being surrounded by cameras and Misato’s and Ritsuko’s death. The “reality” sequence is also showed here as I previously stated in a live-action sequence, while in episode 26 it is shown as an alternate world where every character has a different personality, they’re both different in their own way, but in the end the point is the same.

Sincerely Yours.

From an animation standpoint, End of Evangelion is a step up for the series. You can tell Anno and Gainax didn’t want to recycle animation, which was the main problem with the TV ending. Here, everything is new and the animation, while not perfect, is fantastically well done. Movements are fluid, backgrounds and characters are extremely well drawn, and the little use of 3D imagery is great, one example is when Lilith is capturing all human souls into her egg, just beautiful.

The soundtrack of the movie is just as incredible as everything else and I’m pretty sure the movie wouldn’t be the same thing without it. Shiro Sagisu is once again in charge of the music and he brings his best to the plate, creating one of the best soundtracks in any anime movie. His original songs fit perfectly well and are incredibly atmospheric, among the best we can find the sad “Yume no Sukima” and the exciting “Tanin no Kanshou”. We can also find Sagisu’s classic choral piece “Mother is the first other” reworked as “Hajimari he no Touhi”, which is played when Rei reunites with Lilith, giving the whole scene a fantastic epic feel.

But not everything is just Sagisu’s original work. He also takes a few songs from the master Johann Sebastian Bach. The first is “Air” which is perfectly used to choreograph the battle between Asuka and the MP Evas and the other is “Jesus Bleibet Meine Freude” which is transformed from a light and joyful orchestral tune to a heartbreaking piano piece which as I said before, is used with the live-action sequences. But the best of them all is the beautifully depressing song “Komm, Susser Tod” written by Hideaki Anno himself from Shinji’s point of view and sung by Arianne. This song, while it has a positive and optimistic tune deals with depression and suicide and it’s played just when the Third Impact begins.

It all returns to nothing.

In the end this movie makes us question our own existence and makes us asks us questions like why are we here? What or who do we live for? What is reality? What are dreams? It’s the kind of movie that likes to play with the viewers mind. Hideaki Anno combined everything we love about the series and transformed it into something nobody ever expected and got the results he wanted. A fantastic film that might just be the best movie experience I’ve ever had in my life.