Film Review: "Take This Waltz" (****)

Putting aside notions of cinematic greatness briefly, it's rare for a truly delectable film to find its way to the surface, and even rarer for such a film to have a genuine kick to it. The last film I recall under similar circumstances was "Certified Copy", which went a long way with reviewers around my corner of the net. Before that, "White Material" is a film that got such a spectator's joy out of me. Both manage to deal with rather difficult emotional or social issues, but they're visually worthy of glorious visual consumption. "Take This Waltz" also finds its way along that path, be it with a much more scrumptious palette.

The film follows sweet Margot, played with childlike simplicity by the ever-lovable Michelle Williams, living in Toronto, Canada with her cookbook writer husband Lou, performed with equal, though not as fragile, simplicity by Seth Rogen. The unexpected power-couple is having a recent boom in mainstream cinema, with pairings like Steve Carell and Keira Knightley or Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum gaining much favor for their singularly unexpected chemistry. Rogen and Williams can be brought into that circle now, since both have such a warm mesh with each other. Amongst other things, it makes portions of this film seem like a big bear hug.

For Your Anticipation: I'm Gonna Throw Up

I don't think many would have pegged this as one of the top films coming out this month, but it's been a really sad and depressing year for comedies. There's a bit of irony in that the one with most depressing subject matter has the most potential. Honestly, I keep hearing about people getting illogically excited for "What's Your Number?" and I'm wondering why that energy isn't being pointed towards "50/50". This isn't an insensitive sort of film, and there's some kind of honesty going on here. It's based on the writer and Seth Rogen's experience of this. There's got to be some honesty in the pot.

"50/50" Trailer

I haven't exactly missed out on any trailers from the past two days, but I haven't gotten them up until now, so there's enough to talk about. First up is 50/50, a dramedy starring Joseph Gordon Levitt and Seth Rogen. Dealing with the subject of a fatal disease in a comedic context is a tricky thing, but it worked in Funny People, and it seems to work with 50/50. The trailer is embedded below. Take a look and leave a comment!

Film Review: "Kung Fu Panda 2" (***)

Last year was a booming year for animation, so this year has been more than a bit of a disappointment. Rio is the only animated venture I've even considered attending this year, but ultimately opted out of it. Seems more than a little too irritating for my tastes. Pixar is setting themselves up for another moderate dip with Cars 2, so we leave it to Dreamworks Animation to redeem this Summer. The tricky thing with Kung Fu Panda 2 is the expectations of this sequel, especially after the first film kicked off a trend of quality within the less than stunning animation company.

The film picks up some time after its predecessor, just as albino peacock Lord Shen returns to China in order to proclaim his rule over the world. As per usual, Po and the Furious Five head to Gongmen City to defeat him. Whilst this is all going on, Po begins seeing visions of his real family, and is reinvigorated in his hunt for Shen by his search for answers. Despite all their Kung Fu abilities, the group is rendered powerless against Shen's latest masterpiece of destruction: a unique fusion of cannon and fireworks.

The first film dealt with some rather standard themes in kids films, with Po transforming himself from a simple juvenile panda into one of the greatest kung fu masters in history. This second film's plot isn't as openly inspiring, and it works on several different emotional levels. The main theme it deals with is identity, and who we make ourselves to be as opposed to who we were born to be, and how those sometimes work in harmony. Po's discovery of his past is played a little too dumb, because Po would have conceivably figured things out sooner. It didn't make things any less heart-wrenching when Po finally remembers how he lost his parents.

For Your Anticipation: He Looks Too Obvious

Paul is an interesting little sci-fi feature, and it does have its share of baggage. The humor is occasionally a bit obvious, and there are a few jokes that fall flat. On the other hand, that's much like complaining that of the 200 skittles you had, three of them were M&Ms. No, this film isn't as good as the films Nick Frost and Simon Pegg have done in the past, but it doesn't try to be. It still wins out, and I can say that it's probably more interesting than your other wide release possibilities this weekend.

Film Review: Paul

Not exactly the Steven Spielberg tribute people had in mind heading into this year, with Super 8 still three months away, but Paul offers us purely and organically what most films this years have failed at. This isn't exactly a great piece of filmmaking, but for once we can't really mark that against it. Most times this year, films set the bar way too high for itself, like going for an epic gritty war film with Battle: Los Angeles, or a stylistic twist on the superhero genre with The Green Hornet. Both of those films overreached and failed, but Paul sets readily achievable goals for itself and deliver an enjoyable science fiction confection for those looking for some fresh entertainment.

The film follows two British comic book geeks, Clive and Graeme, who are on holiday in America checking out comic con and famous UFO hot-spots. En route to Area 51, they witness a horrific car accident, and out of the wreckage comes Paul, a gray-green alien whose stay on earth has gone beyond what he payed for. The two nerds team up with Paul to get him to the rendezvous point where his race is waiting to pick him up, and along the way they pick up Christian fanatic Ruth, played with gleeful abandon by Kristen Wiig. Even further complicating matters, they are sought after by two rookie FBI agents, Ruth's crazy father on "a mission from God", and the mysterious Lorenzo Zoil.

This is a fun science-fiction road trip film about a group of people thrown into a situation where they become great friends. Nick Frost and Simon Pegg play the main duo, so they have the best friend chemistry locked firmly down for any adventure they partake in. Seth Rogen's voice is strangely perfect for the titular character, offering a sort of charisma that usually goes beyond voice acting. Jason Bateman actually comes off as a believable bad-ass in the role of Agent Zoil. The true gem of this film is Kristen Wiig, who is always in a position to steal the show from her fellow actors. This film offers the perfect catalyst for her crazy adorable brand of humor. Of course, some may say this feature lacks something, but only because it doesn't reach out for anything more than it gets.

Frost and Pegg also wrote the film, and there's a certain intelligence to their brand of humor, bringing in the religious implications of an alien encounter without coming off as pretentious or radically offensive, but still never quite sticking the landing. Composer David Arnold is second to none when it comes to scoring action sequences, as he established in the underrated Quantum of Solace. Not to say he's amongst the greatest composers, but he's well suited to a specific style, and he just scrapes below his regular work here. I should also say that the visual effects on Paul were pretty great without being quite photo-realistic. It's less a Spielberg tribute than you might think, but Paul is an earnest entertainer, even if it fails to impress on more than a few aspects.

C+

Film Review: The Green Hornet

We've come around to the first major release of 2011, and I was pretty sure that The Green Hornet would actually be pretty entertaining, even if it wasn't the hit of the new year. That also happens to be the same mindset I went into The Other Guys with last year, and I left both with the same bad taste in my mouth. The film had been in pre-production for a while before landing on Michel Gondry to direct, and I honestly don't believe it made much of a difference. There are things done well, and at times it's pretty damn chilling, but does that make up for the numerous narrative and technical shortcomings? I would say not.

The Green Hornet is about Britt Reid, a slacker from a wealthy family headlined by his estranged father, the head of the main city newspaper. After said father is found dead, Britt teams up with his father's mechanic, Kato, to take down the city's underground crime system under the guise of The Green Hornet. However, rather than going out as the obvious hero, they pose as criminals in order to get closer to the bad guys. This could have been done in an interesting and realistic way that potentially could have twisted the genre in a new and inventive way. Instead, we got something derivative and uneven.

Starting from what I absolutely hated, the editing of this film is obnoxiously all over the place. It doesn't really move the story forward, and it was painfully obvious that this was an artificially made film. Danny Elfman's score is the usual cheesy nonsense that we shouldn't be expected to care about. Michel Gondry does bring some visual flair to the table, but his usual method of filmmaking doesn't fit the film right. The film should've been something slightly darker than it was, and I know I shouldn't take it seriously, but I wanted to. There was potential there, and it was unfortunately wasted. The dialogue was amongst the worst I've heard in Seth Rogen comedy, so it's disappointing even on that end.

Speaking of Rogen, I just didn't care about his character in the slightest. I could tell from the opening that this wasn't going to be somebody who we can actually get behind as the hero. He's a snotty rich boy asshole who doesn't do anything right, and everything that comes out of his mouth is arrogant bullshit. He's kind of the Armond White of the superhero community. Meanwhile, Jay Chou is passable as Kato, but his accent was really thick and I couldn't understand it at times. I know I shouldn't complain about that, seeing as I was could understand Jeff Bridges and Ken Watanabe perfectly in True Grit and Inception respectively, but I had too much trouble with Chou's words. James Franco gave a hilarious cameo at the start of the film, and every scene with Christoph Waltz is gripping and entertaining. The scene between Franco and Waltz set a standard for the rest of the film to live up to, and it just didn't. The final action sequence was pretty exciting, and I'll give the film that. I just wish The Green Hornet had been living at that level for the entire film.

D-

For Your Anticipation: That's A Very Big Gun

In the original release date that The Green Hornet had, I don't think it would've been as important as it is this weekend. In December, it would've been just another film in the market, regardless of how good it is. In January, it's a beacon of light amongst a mostly mediocre landscape. Last year had nary a good film at all in this month, so I'm fine with the comforts that this film will give. I can't really say I have high hopes, because it's a Seth Rogen action flick, and you have to adjust your expectations at the door for what you're seeing. It's not going to revolutionize anything, but it should be a fun and hilarious film with visual style, like the following clip leads us to believe. Please comment on what you think the film will be.

Theatrical Trailer: The Green Hornet

MIn terms of trailers, Ryan Reynolds just got schooled by Seth Rogen. The new trailer for The Green Hornet premiered in front of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 this weekend, and it occurred right after the Green Lantern trailer managed to be a colossal disappointment. So it was the perfect time for it to come into my life, and I really enjoyed it. It does offer a lot of things we already saw, and it does seem to be skewing towards comedic potential, but I don't care. It has Christoph Waltz in his first post-Inglourious Basterds villain role, and the more I think about it, the more I want him to be cast in The Dark Knight Rises. That would be a dream come true. Anyways, check out the new trailer, let me know what you think, and also let me know what you'd like to see Christoph Waltz take on. It matters to me.