Eye Candy #584 - "Paranormal Activity 3"

Paranormal Activity 3:  The third in this better-than-average horror film series about demonic goings-on and “found footage” is a prequel, as we finally get the back story of what set the events of the first two films in motion (not a whole picture, mind you; there is still some ‘splaining to do).  In the first film, Katie and her husband Micah encountered increasingly disturbing paranormal phenomena in their house, before ending in tragedy.  The second film focuses on her younger sister Kristi, as the paranormal strangeness overwhelms her family too, with similar results.  We go back in time to 1988, the dawn of the personal video camera era, when both girls were children living with their mother Julie, and Julie’s boyfriend Dennis.  Kristi talks to her imaginary friend Toby, who may not be imaginary, while Dennis starts to hear strange noises and see inexplicable things on his new video camera.  This has a similar build as the previous 2 movies as well: foreboding doom for the first ¾ of the film and then poo hits the fan in the last reel.  The cast is full of relative unknowns (I recognize Dustin Ingram, who was the lead in “Meet Monica Velour”, and the two lead actresses from the previous films, but that’s pretty much it).  If you’ve seen the first movie, then you know it’s all closing doors, squeaky hinges, shadows, things you can’t clearly see that move quickly in and out of frame, though the filmmakers do go for some higher-tech special effects this time around (not crazy big budget, but more so than the previous two).   If you’re a fan of the first two films (like I was), you’ll enjoy this entry as well, though I think this is the least of the series so far (there is a fourth on the way).  Woodchuck sez, “Me likey.”

Eye Candy #583 - "Bunraku"

Bunraku:  A film with style to spare, this actioner combines various genres into one really colorful, visually interesting pastiche, including western and samurai films (something that‘s been in vogue recently).  Unfortunately that doesn’t make up for a certain lack of originality in story or general silliness in dialogue.  In the future, after a globe-spanning war, firearms are banned.   Nicola the Woodcutter (Ron Perlman) is a crime boss that controls his territory with his 9 assassins (including his no. 2 man, Kevin McKidd), all of whom are masters at hand to hand combat.  Into his world come two disparate men - a mysterious stranger with a fondness for fisticuffs (played by Josh Hartnett) and a samurai (played by the relatively androgynous Japanese rock star Gackt).  They are brought together in a pursuit of mutual vengeance.   The supporting cast also includes Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson.   The film purports to lean heavily on the Asian puppet tradition that gave the film its title (and which plays a large part in the opening credits), but I have a hard time seeing it.  It seems more like an excuse to retread German Expressionist film in day-glo colors.  The fight choreography, for the most part, is shabby.  In fact, some of the fights starring the nominally less physically talented actors have an apparent sloppiness that is hard to ignore (as in “how the heck did that take make it into the final film?”).  I was looking for a time-waster and boy! did this waste my time.  Woodchuck sez, “Skip it.”

Eye Candy #582 - "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"

Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows:  The 2nd Guy Ritchie-helmed film based on Arthur Conan Doyle‘s venerable property, and all the familiar faces are here again, including Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes, Jude Law as Watson, and Rachel McAdams (briefly) as Irene Adler, with Holmes facing off against his nemesis, the anti-Holmes Professor James Moriarty (played extremely well by Jared Harris), who wishes to start a war that will consume Europe.  Noomi Rapace and Stephen Fry are in support here.  This outing definitely veers towards the “more is more!” school of filmmaking, so we get more slow-mo fights and more gimmicky camera-work padding out the length of the film which is already overlong.  In addition, it is decidedly schizophrenic,  with both Downey and the film swerving from mischievous humor to pitch-black violence.  One minute, Holmes is playing practical jokes on Watson, the next he’s dark and brooding.   Not to mention that the convoluted wrap-up at the end feels more overwrought than seamless.  This film, as with its predecessor, is missing something to put it over the top from being an okay-to-good movie to being great.  It’s a very watchable flick, just not a completely satisfying one.  Woodchuck sez, “Worth a look.”

Eye Candy #581 - "The Ides of March"

The Ides of March:  George Clooney directs and stars with Ryan Gosling in this film based on the play “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon, which is itself based on the 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean (we‘ll go with “very loosely“ on that one).  Gosling is Stephen Meyers, a junior campaign manager for Governor Mike Morris’ (Clooney) presidential campaign currently running in Ohio.   While he is politically savvy, Meyers is also more than a little naïve and idealistic.  He starts a relationship with an intern (played by Evan Rachel Wood) who happens to be the daughter of the DNC chairman and also has had sexual encounters with the Governor.  Soon Meyers finds himself out of his depth, out of his job, and exposed to the true nature of the political animals he‘s surrounded himself with, going from golden boy to toxic in the blink of an eye, all while doing what he thinks is the right thing to do to protect the Governor.  Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman co-star.  I’m a fan of most of Clooney’s directorial efforts (I think “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind“ and “Good Night and Good Luck“ are great), but this one left me cold.  The film is populated by unlikable, amoral sharks, none of whom you can empathize with.  It feels distinctly detached from reality. It’s  also advertised as a political thriller, but sorely lacks any thrills.  Technically sound, and it’s nice to see Clooney in a non-good guy role, but this is still a lesser effort.  Woodchuck sez, “Meh.”

Eye Candy #580 - "Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame"

Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame:  Directed by the prolific Tsui Hark, this is a period mystery/fantasy based on the real 7th century Chinese courtier Di Renjie.  When several men die under the same extreme circumstances (they spontaneously combust) on the eve of the coronation of the first (and only) Empress of China, Wu Zetian, Detective Dee (Andy Lau), sort of a medieval Sherlock Holmes, is freed from prison to find the culprits.  Working with a member of the justice ministry and the Zetian’s handmaid (Li Bingbing), he is drawn into a web of conspiracy and betrayal.  The martial arts shenanigans here are fine without being exceptional, the plot is fairly convoluted, and some of the cultural elements just have to be accepted on face value (such as the talking deer…yeah, you’re just going to have to take my word on that one).  Some have labeled this film a historical epic.  I disagree - while it doesn’t lack for spectacle, it is missing the appropriate gravitas of a “Red Cliffs” or “Hero”.   “Detective Dee” also has an over-reliance on computer animation and rendering, some of which looks very fake.  I would recommend either listening to the over-dub OR reading the subtitles, but not both at the same time as they don’t sync up correctly.  I often think that some films have potential to be more than what ends up on the reels, but frankly, I don’t know if this film could have.  It is thoroughly mediocre in almost every way.  Woodchuck sez, “Okay.  Just okay.”

Eye Candy #579 - "Attack the Block"

Attack the Block:   A chav’s wet dream, about a group of English juvenile delinquents in London, staving off an invasion of their improverished apartment block by a horde of furry black monsters with glowing teal-colored teeth.  A gang of 5 youths, led by Moses (newcower John Boyega who does well here; several of the children make their film debuts) are mugging a young woman when something crashes into a car next to them.  Investigating, they are attacked by a small, dog-sized alien, which they promptly kick to death…except that only pisses off the rest of the aliens which are bigger, faster, and meaner.  Soon the kids are running around their apartment building, fighting off aliens and dodging drug dealers and cops to save the day.  I had to watch this with the subtitles on just to understand what some of the kids were saying.  A certain shaky morality pervades the whole film (you’re rooting for people who aren’t terribly likable in and of themselves).  Executive produced by Edgar Wright (who gave us “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”), this film is definitely in that same sort of genre-mashup vein.  We even get Wright stalwart Nick Frost in a role as a drug dealer who lives in the block.  I thought this was fun, if a tad lightweight.   Not great, not crap. Woodchuck sez, “Check it out.”

Eye Candy #578 - "If A Tree Falls - A Story of the Earth Liberation Front"

If A Tree Falls - A Story of the Earth Liberation Front:  First, anyone pretending that this documentary is unbiased is smoking some great weed - it’s firmly in the camp of Daniel McGowan, convicted terrorist associated with the Earth Liberation Front, from the word ‘go’.  Tracing McGowan’s life and upbringing through his conviction and incarceration, we get to follow his developing activism and militancy against the broader picture of growing militant environmental movement, as he and his colleagues committed various destructive acts across the Pacific northwest in the late 90’s/early 2000’s, until he and the rest were caught back in 2005.  The problem in lionizing McGowan is that he isn’t’ terribly likable or sympathetic - he’s mostly unrepentant, pathologically self-centered (i.e. enforces his own behaviors on others, including family members he lives with while on house arrest), and hypocritical, as do most of his confreres.  Sure, they committed at least one act worth the risk, the firebombing a slaughterhouse that focused on the killing of wild horses.  But they also committed acts against people using bad information, such as the Jefferson Poplar tree farm in Clatskanie, which they burned down because they thought it was fostering genetically modified plants when the owners were doing nothing of the sort (it’s very telling when the perps of that arson can’t even acknowledge that they were wrong and that they targeted completely innocent).  But in the end, they come off as young people driven by misplaced idealism and a rampant disregard for the consequences of any of their actions.  Still, as a film, it’s worth watching and well put together.  Woodchuck sez, “Worth a look.”