337. The Impossible

337. (29 Dec) The Impossible (2012, Juan Antonio Bayona) 76

228. Nightwatch

228. (29 Sep) Nightwatch (1998, Ole Bornedal) 41



Though there's a creepiness to the setting and premise of Nightwatch, it's too strained and arty to feel especially scary. Ewan McGregor, Patricia Arquette, Josh Brolin and Lauren Graham all lack chemistry with one another, which doesn't help matters. There's also such a limited pool of possible murderers, this barely works as a mystery, especially when you consider how much of the plot defies logic.

Fastest (Documentary)

Sports documentaries have become the toast of the town in recent past. With Senna taking worldwide acclaim, documentaries relating to different sports, like Fire in Babylon about West Indian cricket and Endurance about long distance runner Haile Gabrselassie, are emerging slowly.

Fastest takes a look at the breathtakingly fast and dangerous world of MotoGP racing. While the film is a great insight into all the different elements of the sport, it comes across more as a teaching tool, a MotoGP 101 course if I may, where an ardent fan will not necessarily find anything interesting.

Since my knowledge of the sport was zilch, I found the step-by-step information about the players, the companies, the dangers, and the superstardom quite interesting. Being a racing sport there are a lot of similarities that the documentary shares with Senna, but while Senna focused on just one individual and his story, Fastest looks at the sport as a whole.

The highlight of the documentary has to be the narration by Ewan McGregor who talks in a rather calm and soothing tone throughout the film amidst all the fast paced action and crashes on the circuit. Featuring interviews with riders like Rossi and Lorenzo, the documentary presents an inside look at the thinking of these individuals whose passion to race is so intense that they are even ready to race with broken bones.

Fastest is beautifully pictured comprising of multiple camera angles during the races specially the bike cams that takes the audience up close and personal to the real deal. It’s colorful and just like the individuals that make up the sport it is lively.   

MotoGP, just like any other sport, is not without rivalries, dangers, confrontations, fashion, and the perks of success. With tremendous money, egos, and honor on the line it also has a certain business like approach. It is a sport that isn't for the faint-hearted and one where every race will lead to glory for some, but it can also lead to despair and tragedy for many.

Fastest is recommended viewing if like me you are clueless about the sport of MotoGP racing, but if you are a fan, then it might serve well as a nice compilation of some of the most memorable races and events from the history of the sport.        

THE IMPOSSIBLE

THE IMPOSSIBLE

Written by Sergio G. Sanchez

Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona

Starring Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts and Tom Holland

On December 26, 2004, a series of horrifically destructive tsunamis struck many land masses touched by the Indian Ocean. Over 230,000 people were estimated to have died and nearly 1.7 million people were displaced during the events. THE IMPOSSIBLE, the first film from director, Juan Antonio Bayona, since his breakout, THE ORPHANAGE, and incidentally also his first in English, tells just one of those stories and, in doing so, provides one of the most emotional experiences I’ve had at the movies in quite some time.

Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts play Henry and Maria, father and mother to three young boys, all under the age of 12, on vacation in Thailand for the Christmas holiday. Dad is in the pool with the two youngest when the torrential tide starts to come in, while Mom is a few feet away with a book, and their eldest, a few feet further away getting a ball. Up until this point, Bayona has allowed us to spend a few moments with the family, to get to know them, even if just a little, so there is actually some connection to them that binds them to us when they are fighting for their lives. Then, he simply lets the natural horror unfold and before long we are immersed in devastation and desperation, and led towards salvation by two strong performances by McGregor and Watts.

THE IMPOSSIBLE is quite an apt title for this film. Not only is the experience this family endures an impossible one to survive, but making this film is in itself an incredible feat that should not have been possible either. With the Indonesian Tsunami not quite 8 year behind us now, this disaster movie could have literally been a disaster if it got anywhere near exploiting the events for the sole purpose of titillating the audience and manipulating our emotions. Bayona flirts with this fine line on occasion but for the most part, he creates an honest space that just allows this powerful story to be told and resonate with the sheer nature of its authenticity.

SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN

SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN
Written by Simon Beaufoy
Directed by Lasse Hallstrom
Starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas

The people behind SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN are fully aware of how ridiculous the title of their movie is. In fact, director Lasse Hallstrom capitalizes on just how ludicrous the entire concept of transplanting salmon fishing as a sport form Ireland to the Yemen truly is, by juxtaposing it against that other ever elusive impossibility we call love. Enter Ewan McGregor and Emily Blunt. He’s repressed; she’s passionate. Clearly, they have much to learn from each other. The whole international affair is a tad bit obvious at times in its intention but thanks to delightful turns by McGregor, Blunt and a hysterical Kristin Scott Thomas, this film is abundantly charming.

054. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

054. (18 Feb) /Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace/ (1999, George Lucas) 52



My rating for this film seems to take a tumble with each viewing. There's really nothing I didn't cover when I watched this about a year ago. Frankly, the film gets worse with each viewing. The film's shiny sequences really don't go together whatsoever. The Mr. Plinkett review and his DVD commentary certainly make watching this more fun.

HAYWIRE

HAYWIRE
Written by Lem Dobbs
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Starring Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum


Aaron: Is this your idea of relaxing? Wine and gun maintenance?

To a large extent, both on the surface and at its root, Steven Soderbergh’s latest caper, HAYWIRE, is nothing more than a filmic excuse to watch former “American Gladiator”, Gina Carano, beat the living crap out of a bunch of big, strapping men. On many levels, Soderbergh has made this exact same movie in some form or another a number of times before, both stylistically and structurally. And while it may not be original at all, nor carry any real substance, HAYWIRE packs a punch that resonates with visceral intensity, leaving the viewer just as walloped as the men on screen, and loving it.

HAYWIRE is tailored to exhibit Carano’s talents to the utmost. Her mixed martial arts background lends great weight to the film, making the showcase well deserved. Whether she is taking on the likes of the mammoth Channing Tatum, or the highly skilled Michael Fassbender, or even the slightly smaller but equally spry, Ewan McGregor, Carano holds her own and then some. Her acting is occasionally stiff, but like Sasha Grey in Soderbergh’s THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, the frosty exterior suits her character. Besides, Carano is a total pleasure to watch when she gets rough and tough. When she fights, she unleashes a pressure and force on her opponents that is almost palpable, as if you can almost feel the brunt of her knuckles against your own cheek. Of course, this is also partly attributed to the manner in which Soderbergh allows the sequences to play out as well. While they bear his unmistakable style, they also exude a certain natural rawness to them that helps anchor the film too.

Soderbergh is unquestionably one of the most accomplished filmmakers working in cinema today. He is also, most of the time, one of the most identifiable directors as well. One always knows when one sees that yellow tint on the screen that one is watching one of his films. Even the international spy story, told from several different perspectives is reminiscent of his OCEAN’S 11 series or last year’s CONTAGION. On the one hand, I was disappointed to see Soderbergh cruising through such familiar terrain in HAYWIRE, but then there is the flip side to that. While it may not break any new ground for the director, all of his staples come together perfectly here, allowing for HAYWIRE to do what it does best, which is just kick ass.

483. Beginners

483. (04 Dec) Beginners (2011, Mike Mills) 66



The structure of Beginners gets a little too cutesy at times, but it's also rather dreamlike. Dramatic events are exaggerated, as are the romantic ones, as if remembered too tragically or fondly. That makes it easy to invest yourself in the film even if there's some deck-stacking in play. Anything with an adorable, subtitled dog is obviously aiming to crowd please. But I was nevertheless drawn in by Ewan McGregor and Melanie Laurent's adorable romance. Christopher Plummer's performance is warm and well-crafted. He's a deserving Oscar frontrunner considering this year's Supporting Actor category will otherwise look abysmal.

BEGINNERS

Written and Directed by Mike Mills

Starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer and Melanie Laurent

Oliver: Our good fortune allowed us to feel a sadness our parents didn't have time for.

We might bounce along through life thinking that we have certain things figured out, only life has an amusing way of reminding us that we are constantly starting from scratch. Mike Mills’ second film, BEGINNERS, explores this bewildering facet of life with great brilliance and charm. Vaguely based on his own relationship with his father, Mills examines love in its many forms and applies what he has learned to the patterns in his own life. Ewan McGregor plays Oliver, a version of the director on screen, and exhibits a firm emotional understanding of the journey he is set upon when his 75-year-old father, Hal (Christopher Plummer), comes out of the closet. It is as though Hal is reborn and seeing his life for the first time, a sentiment that exudes from Plummer with great sensitivity and depth. Playing witness to this in turn informs Oliver's new relationship with Anna (Melanie Laurent). BEGINNERS may be a very personal story but its message of acceptance and closeness is universal, making it entirely irresistible.

Black Sheep interviews Mike Mills

From Scratch

An interview with Mike Mills

Ordinarily, by the time a filmmaker is sitting in front of me for an interview, the film they are promoting is a distant memory in their mind. They finished it months beforehand and whatever issues went into making it have been dealt with in the process. Sitting down to speak with Mike Mills about his second feature film, BEGINNERS, is different. In talking about his film, he must inevitably discuss some of the more intimate moments of his life.

“I opened the door,” Mills tells me when I apologize in advance if anything gets too personal. The truth is, he sorta did. BEGINNERS recounts what it was like for Mills after his mother passed away and his father came out of the closet at 75 years old, only to be diagnosed shortly thereafter with terminal cancer himself. The relationship he formed with his father in the final years of his life informed Mills on all kinds of love and showed him the walls he had put up in his own life to protect himself from getting hurt.

“I started to write before he died,” Mills confides. “One night, we started getting into these intense conversations about relationships. He was way more engaging, emotionally available and he also challenged me about why I never stayed with anyone. I really appreciated how unpolite he got with me.” I’m sure spending his entire life married and in the closet gave him a fairly unique perspective on the subject. “In many ways, the film is a continuation of our talks about love, across the orientation divide and the generation divide.”

As personal as BEGINNERS is, Mills believes that this only broadens its universal appeal. “I don’t believe in generalizing as a way to make things more accessible,” Mills asserts. “I believe that by making things really concrete and specific, they become more relatable. It’s like they’re real, like they have more nooks and crannies.” Mills isn’t kidding about getting particular with the details either; actual family photographs and heirlooms were used in the film’s sets.

This would mean that Ewan McGregor would be playing the role based on Mills. “I really don’t like thinking of it that way,” Mills says of the idea. “I feel like I stole from myself by any means necessary but I’m not interested in making a portrait of myself. I never looked at Ewan and thought, ‘There I am.’” The reason for this is likely twofold. The first is that Mills sees the character of Oliver (McGregor) as just a part of him that he ran with; the second is because they really look nothing alike.

And his detachment didn’t stop there either. “Even with Christopher [Plummer] playing my dad, you would imagine it would be hard sometimes but it never was,” Mills claims. This might be just a testament to how strong Plummer is in the film. His curiosity and enthusiasm are terribly endearing, which in itself also affirms Mills’ great strength as a director and his dedication to the story. “If it was bad or fake or false as a film but true to my life, who would care?”

I’m sure his parents would have cared. BEGINNERS is a touching love letter to his mother and father, told with a deep yearning to understand who they were and what they knew of love together. For Mills, this quest is ongoing. “I don’t really believe in closure. Losing your parents is so much bigger than making a movie.” This is not to say progress wasn’t made either; Mills is hardly downtrodden when speaking with me. “I really enjoyed communing with my dad and writing from their perspective. They were really interesting people just past being my parents.”

So interesting in fact that Mills’ dad would actually inspire the title for the film. “My dad was so hungry; he was just getting started; he just couldn’t get enough,” Mills describes with fondness. “He was so happy and so not dying. He was just beginning. I learned a ton from watching him. We should really try to be ourselves. It sounds trite but its pretty profound.”

And with that, it is time for Mills to begin again.

Black Sheep interviews Mike Mills

From Scratch

An interview with Mike Mills

Ordinarily, by the time a filmmaker is sitting in front of me for an interview, the film they are promoting is a distant memory in their mind. They finished it months beforehand and whatever issues went into making it have been dealt with in the process. Sitting down to speak with Mike Mills about his second feature film, BEGINNERS, is different. In talking about his film, he must inevitably discuss some of the more intimate moments of his life.

“I opened the door,” Mills tells me when I apologize in advance if anything gets too personal. The truth is, he sorta did. BEGINNERS recounts what it was like for Mills after his mother passed away and his father came out of the closet at 75 years old, only to be diagnosed shortly thereafter with terminal cancer himself. The relationship he formed with his father in the final years of his life informed Mills on all kinds of love and showed him the walls he had put up in his own life to protect himself from getting hurt.

“I started to write before he died,” Mills confides. “One night, we started getting into these intense conversations about relationships. He was way more engaging, emotionally available and he also challenged me about why I never stayed with anyone. I really appreciated how unpolite he got with me.” I’m sure spending his entire life married and in the closet gave him a fairly unique perspective on the subject. “In many ways, the film is a continuation of our talks about love, across the orientation divide and the generation divide."

As personal as BEGINNERS is, Mills believes that this only broadens its universal appeal. “I don’t believe in generalizing as a way to make things more accessible,” Mills asserts. “I believe that by making things really concrete and specific, they become more relatable. It’s like they’re real, like they have more nooks and crannies.” Mills isn’t kidding about getting particular with the details either; actual family photographs and heirlooms were used in the film’s sets.

This would mean that Ewan McGregor would be playing the role based on Mills. “I really don’t like thinking of it that way,” Mills says of the idea. “I feel like I stole from myself by any means necessary but I’m not interested in making a portrait of myself. I never looked at Ewan and thought, ‘There I am.’” The reason for this is likely twofold. The first is that Mills sees the character of Oliver (McGregor) as just a part of him that he ran with; the second is because they really look nothing alike.

And his detachment didn’t stop there either. “Even with Christopher [Plummer] playing my dad, you would imagine it would be hard sometimes but it never was,” Mills claims. This might be just a testament to how strong Plummer is in the film. His curiosity and enthusiasm are terribly endearing, which in itself also affirms Mills’ great strength as a director and his dedication to the story. “If it was bad or fake or false as a film but true to my life, who would care?”

I’m sure his parents would have cared. BEGINNERS is a touching love letter to his mother and father, told with a deep yearning to understand who they were and what they knew of love together. For Mills, this quest is ongoing. “I don’t really believe in closure. Losing your parents is so much bigger than making a movie.” This is not to say progress wasn’t made either; Mills is hardly downtrodden when speaking with me. “I really enjoyed communing with my dad and writing from their perspective. They were really interesting people just past being my parents.”

So interesting in fact that Mills’ dad would actually inspire the title for the film. “My dad was so hungry; he was just getting started; he just couldn’t get enough,” Mills describes with fondness. “He was so happy and so not dying. He was just beginning. I learned a ton from watching him. We should really try to be ourselves. It sounds trite but its pretty profound.”

And with that, it is time for Mills to begin again.

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS

Written and Directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra

Starring Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor and Leslie Mann

Phillip Morris: Enough romance. Let's Fuck.

I suppose it is fitting that a movie about a man who never quite grasps who he truly is should suffer from the same issues. I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS is a rather ridiculous account of the life of Steven Jay Russell, an American con man with an uncanny ability to break out of prisons. On one of his fateful visits to the big house, he met the love of his life, Phillip Morris, and proceeded to break them both out of prison so that they could live happily ever after. His story has it all, from dangerous escapes to fraudulent scams to even gay prison sex but yet somehow, in the hands of writing/directing team, John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (CATS & DOGS), his life amounts to nothing more than a big old boring mess.

Russell was adopted as a baby. He grew up to become a police officer in a small town. He married and had children. He felt abandoned but aside from that gaping hole in his heart, he was content. He was at least until one day, when he got into an automobile accident and decided he had enough of living a lie. It was time for Russell to live as an out and proud homosexual. He divorced, moved to Miami and got himself a cute, younger boyfriend and, if you are to believe the incredibly tacky clichéd picture the directors paint, he also got too matching miniature dogs to parade up and down the street with said younger, cuter boyfriend. There was just one tiny problem; being gay is expensive and Russell had no skills that could afford him the lavish lifestyle he and his boy toy had grown accustomed to.

This is when Russell turned to insurance fraud. It is also the point where the film starts to get thoroughly lost. Russell is played by Jim Carrey, who is the first person who comes to my mind when I picture believable gay men strutting down Miami Beach in white cargos and a T-shirt that is two sizes too small. I guess the costume people wanted to make sure there was no confusion over his sexuality, just in case it wasn’t coming through in the performance. I personally think Carrey doesn’t get the credit he deserves for some of his dramatic turns but the trouble here is he can’t seem to decide whether this particular turn is meant to be dramatic or comedic. I’m sure he had no assistance from his directors mind you. There are some genuine attempts at touching moments in the film and Carrey handles them as well as he can but then the next scene will rely solely on Carrey’s humorous side, only without the actual humour.

And what of Phillip Morris? I mean, he is in the title and all. Phillip Morris is another minor offender doing time, played by Ewan McGregor, who is as swishy as he can be with his pretty blue eyes and horrifically dyed strawberry blond hair. The twosome meet in a library one day and it is love at first sight. Well, they stare longingly into each other’s eyes for no reason other than the fact that they are gay and standing next to each other so naturally I assume this is the great love it is meant to be. Once together, I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS doesn’t seem to know what to do with them or itself. Is it a comedy or a serious romance? Is this really the treatment of someone’s life story? Because if it is, it plays as though it were completely made up or implausible. More importantly, is the intended audience meant to be gay or straight? It shouldn’t matter but there are moments when it isn’t clear whether the filmmakers are laughing with or at their heroes. To that extent though, I guess it doesn’t matter who the audience is meant to be as I don’t see there being much of an audience for this film at all.