Moon is an example of what I hope we will see from the next generation of great filmmakers. The era of the twist ending, which brought us The Sixth Sense (good), The Usual Suspects (great), Memento (good), Fight Club (good), The Others (alright), Identity (so-so), and Secret Window (bleh), has reached it’s point of cliché. Now, if a crazy movie ends with the protagonist being split personality, dreaming, actually the bad guy, hallucinating, or a ghost, I can usually see it coming and feel a bit cheated. It’s a cop out. It’s almost a twist not to have a twist these days, and that’s how I felt about Moon.
Moon is about a man named Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) who has been working for three years mining some sort of clean energy resource on the moon. He is two week away from getting to go home, but after three years he’s unbearably lonely and maybe a little crazy. His troubles only get worse after he is involved in a mining accident and upon returning to the base, finds himself. Not in the backpacking across Europe way, but in the coming home to find a flesh and blood exact clone of yourself doing your work kind of way. He freaks a bit, understandably, but then teams up with himself to solve the mystery of why there are two Sam Bells (answer: Because Sam Rockwell is awesome and should form a seriously underrated actors club with Paul Giamatti).
I sat through Moon waiting for a twist I hoped wouldn’t come. I thought “Maybe he’s dreaming, maybe he’s crazy and actually locked in an asylum, maybe he’s part of a government social experiment.” He wasn’t. It was great.
This is a small, self-contained movie. The settings involve the inside of a space station, and the surface of the moon. Characters include Sam Bell the astronaut, played by Sam Rockwell, a second Sam Bell, also played by Sam Rockwell, video messages from Sam Bell’s wife, and a computer named GERTY, voiced by Kevin Spacey, a truly inspired casting choice. There is elegance in the restraint involved in a low budget, high quality science fiction picture. The simplicity of the setting allows for us to focus on a subtly complex narrative.
It’s tricky, following a movie about clones where one of them isn’t evil. The second Sam Bell we meet is exactly the same as the first, with the same memories and knowledge. At first I thought we were just dealing with an unreliable narrator, like all the twist movies mentioned above, but it turns out we’re just dealing with two narrators that happen to be the exact same person. It’s slightly jarring, especially after watching old school Star Trek where Kirk being cloned or split into two people is a regular plot device, and there’s always evil Kirk and good Kirk. But ultimately I thought Moon really pulled it off conceptually, with several scenes of Sam talking to his double the same way he was talking to himself while he was still alone. There’s also a great scene where second Sam gets pissed about something and flies off the handle, and first Sam says something about how he now understands what his wife meant about his temper.
The one complaint I have about Moon is that it didn't feel as tight as it could have been. I think a couple minutes could have been shaved off here or there, scenes made slightly more direct. It’s the first film for director Duncan Jones (also responsible for the story idea) and screenwriter Nathan Parker (first time writing, but has been working in film for quite some time by the looks of his IMDB page) and I think it shows a bit in the editing. It’s like a really cool child’s Halloween costume that’s slightly too large, and all the neighbors go “Wow, great costume! Is it your first time making one?”
But it’s also clear that Jones comes from the same film canon that all future successful filmmakers will come from. Moon oozes Kubrick in the nicest ways, from the slightly awkward cross fade transitions in the first half of the movie that feel just like The Shining, to the several beautiful shots lifted directly from 2001. It gave me a feeling of comfort knowing that even if Jones' art is still a bit rough around the edges, he definitely has the tools to perfect it.
Also, the music by Clint Mansell (responsible for the music in Pi and Requiem for a Dream, among many other things) is great. And there were many lens flares, which I will never not notice in film ever again, thank you JJ Abrams.
Fun fact: Duncan Jones is David Bowie's son. His given name is Zowie Bowie, but he's changed it legally.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Transformers: Rise of the Fallen Review
I don’t care if the dialogue sucks. I don’t care if the acting is terrible. I don’t care if the plot is nonexistent. I didn’t go see Transformers for its clever wit or emotional weight. I just want to see big fuck off robots change into cars and back, then beat the crap out of each other, and maybe destroy some large buildings or pyramids in the process. When there is more plot than robot carnage, the movie fails. Especially if the movie is two and a half hours long.
Shia LaBeouf goes to college. His parents are zany. Megan Fox is hot. Hey, look, all college girls are hot! The military is doing something, and someone is trying to stop them, Optimus Prime is shiny, there are some evil robots and some borderline racist robots (think Jar Jar Binks). LaBeouf’s roommate is zany, a hot coed is actually a robot, Optimus “dies,” more military stuff, John Turturro’s talent is wasted in an incredibly obnoxious character (what else is new?), and they go to -- Egypt? Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf have petty relationship drama. The parents and roommate continue to be zany. There is more military action that goes on forever, then a happy ending. There's simply not enough Optimus on Megatron action to make sitting through all that worth it. I don’t think any amount of robot fighting would make me want to sit through Fox and LaBeouf arguing over who says, “I love you” first. Who the hell cares?
The summer action blockbuster has never been a genre to strive for greatness, but there are films prove that you don’t have to be mind numbingly stupid to make money in the hotter months, especially in recent years with the comic book geek takeover in Hollywood. The first Spiderman, X-Men, and Pirates movies, last summer’s Ironman, the newest Star Trek, and of course, The Dark Knight, had action, adventure, explosions, and a plot that made sense, clever dialogue, and artful direction. I enjoyed the first Transformers movie. Was it a work of art? No. Was it a lot of fun? Yes. They have the money. They have the talent. A gazillion people are going to go see it no matter what. What excuse is there not to give us something really good?
I’m not sure who is to blame for this endless, boring monstrosity. The first suspects are certainly the writers, Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman. However, Orci and Kurtzman are responsible for the newest Star Trek screenplay, which was fairly strong piece of writing (the movie was very strong, I think mostly thanks to J.J. and the existing canon). Maybe Transformers was just a paycheck for them, because there is an obvious lack of effort here. Or maybe they didn’t work very much on it at all and Kruger (The Brothers Grimm, The Skeleton Key, The Ring) is to blame. Orci and Kurtzman wrote the first Transformers movie as well, while Kruger is an addition for the sequel. Who knows why they brought on an extra person, why Kruger, or why it took three people to write this piece of drek. However, while this movie definitely suffers from bad writing, I don’t think that’s what killed it.
I truly believe that if an hour of people talking and traveling and running from stuff had been cut from this movie, I would’ve liked it. I would’ve been entertained instead of my brain turning to mush. And I don’t know who is responsible for not cutting this movie down significantly, Michael Bay or the four editors. I’m inclined to blame Michael Bay, because even if the editing was bad, as the director, he has the authority to change it. And because he made Armageddon and The Rock and should know better. And just look at his face. He just kind of looks like a douche.
Regardless of whom I direct my anger towards for not giving us a better movie about 80’s toys, this movie is rolling in the dough. And the more money this one makes, the less effort will be put into the next one. But all I want from a third Transformers movie is an hour and a half of really badass action sequences involving massive violent robots and rockets and mass destruction, without character development or comedic relief getting in the way (unless, of course, they decide to make it creative and witty). Is that so much to ask?
On a side note, the Untitled Star Trek Sequel will also bring on a third writer, but there is nothing to fear, because it’s Damon Lindelof. He’s awesome. And he wrote this: (WARNING: LOST SPOILERS)
Shia LaBeouf goes to college. His parents are zany. Megan Fox is hot. Hey, look, all college girls are hot! The military is doing something, and someone is trying to stop them, Optimus Prime is shiny, there are some evil robots and some borderline racist robots (think Jar Jar Binks). LaBeouf’s roommate is zany, a hot coed is actually a robot, Optimus “dies,” more military stuff, John Turturro’s talent is wasted in an incredibly obnoxious character (what else is new?), and they go to -- Egypt? Megan Fox and Shia LaBeouf have petty relationship drama. The parents and roommate continue to be zany. There is more military action that goes on forever, then a happy ending. There's simply not enough Optimus on Megatron action to make sitting through all that worth it. I don’t think any amount of robot fighting would make me want to sit through Fox and LaBeouf arguing over who says, “I love you” first. Who the hell cares?
The summer action blockbuster has never been a genre to strive for greatness, but there are films prove that you don’t have to be mind numbingly stupid to make money in the hotter months, especially in recent years with the comic book geek takeover in Hollywood. The first Spiderman, X-Men, and Pirates movies, last summer’s Ironman, the newest Star Trek, and of course, The Dark Knight, had action, adventure, explosions, and a plot that made sense, clever dialogue, and artful direction. I enjoyed the first Transformers movie. Was it a work of art? No. Was it a lot of fun? Yes. They have the money. They have the talent. A gazillion people are going to go see it no matter what. What excuse is there not to give us something really good?
I’m not sure who is to blame for this endless, boring monstrosity. The first suspects are certainly the writers, Ehren Kruger, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman. However, Orci and Kurtzman are responsible for the newest Star Trek screenplay, which was fairly strong piece of writing (the movie was very strong, I think mostly thanks to J.J. and the existing canon). Maybe Transformers was just a paycheck for them, because there is an obvious lack of effort here. Or maybe they didn’t work very much on it at all and Kruger (The Brothers Grimm, The Skeleton Key, The Ring) is to blame. Orci and Kurtzman wrote the first Transformers movie as well, while Kruger is an addition for the sequel. Who knows why they brought on an extra person, why Kruger, or why it took three people to write this piece of drek. However, while this movie definitely suffers from bad writing, I don’t think that’s what killed it.
I truly believe that if an hour of people talking and traveling and running from stuff had been cut from this movie, I would’ve liked it. I would’ve been entertained instead of my brain turning to mush. And I don’t know who is responsible for not cutting this movie down significantly, Michael Bay or the four editors. I’m inclined to blame Michael Bay, because even if the editing was bad, as the director, he has the authority to change it. And because he made Armageddon and The Rock and should know better. And just look at his face. He just kind of looks like a douche.
Regardless of whom I direct my anger towards for not giving us a better movie about 80’s toys, this movie is rolling in the dough. And the more money this one makes, the less effort will be put into the next one. But all I want from a third Transformers movie is an hour and a half of really badass action sequences involving massive violent robots and rockets and mass destruction, without character development or comedic relief getting in the way (unless, of course, they decide to make it creative and witty). Is that so much to ask?
On a side note, the Untitled Star Trek Sequel will also bring on a third writer, but there is nothing to fear, because it’s Damon Lindelof. He’s awesome. And he wrote this: (WARNING: LOST SPOILERS)
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