DVD Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star in a sophisticated, elegant thriller of predestination.

There’s an old proverb, certainly hundreds of years old and probably British, that begins with a horseshoe losing a nail and ultimately leading, through a cascade of dire consequences, to the collapse of an entire kingdom. Such small twists of fate – seemingly random yet maddeningly well- and ill-timed, holding the potential for disaster or joy – lie at the intelligent heart of The Adjustment Bureau. Helmed by first-time director George Nolfi (who also adapted the Philip K. Dick short story), the film trusts its audience to reach their own conclusions and rewards their patience with genuine suspense and characterization of an elegant, old-school Hollywood flavor. Until its last few moments, when the script veers into a pat ending, it’s one of the year’s best films.

Matt Damon stars as David Norris, a New York congressman whose hard-partying past (which fortunately does not involve Twitter) has cost him a Senate race in a bitter upset. Moments before his concession speech he meets Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), a free-spirited woman who’s crashed a party elsewhere in the labyrinthine hotel. The two have an immediate, undeniable romantic chemistry, their flirtation relaxed and smart without seeming forced or purely sexual: more than simply attracted, they’re fascinated by one another. Norris has to make that speech, however, and thanks to Elise’s inspiration he gives one that revitalizes his political fortunes.

But forces are literally conspiring to keep them apart: Norris has been watched since childhood by “adjusters,” men in mid-20th Century clothing who periodically fine-tune reality on behalf of a vaguely defined “Chairman” who lays out intricate plans for everyone on Earth. Norris and Elise must not be together, the group’s leader (John Slattery) explains, because their togetherness violates the plan intended for Norris. (The Chairman, we learn later, wants him to be President.) When Norris intrudes on the adjustment team tweaking the venture capital firm where he works, the team makes him swear to not pursue Elise again. Confused and frightened, he agrees.

The film jumps ahead three years, to when a chance encounter brings the two would-be lovers together again. But the adjustment team is right there to intervene, even as one of their number (Anthony Mackie) decides to work on the couple’s behalf. Norris’ attempt to reach Elise through narrow Manhattan streets, while the adjusters manipulate reality and circumstance around him, makes for an unusual but gripping chase sequence that’s breathlessly staged and handsomely photographed.

Comparisons to last year’s far murkier Inception are unavoidable, but where that film sacrificed plot for spectacle Nolfi’s script and direction keep emphasis on character – particularly Norris’, but also allowing Elise ample screen time to develop into something more than the object of Norris’ obsession. She’s a well-rounded character in her own right, deserving of happiness and even sometimes pitiable: suffering without benefit of knowledge of the adjuster’s machinations, much of her life through the story is lonely and frustrated. (How many of us have wondered, sometime in our life, if vast forces weren’t keeping us alone? Elise becomes our proxy for that dilemma.)

The two leads, as mentioned above, deliver performances rich with maturity and depth. Damon the actor has virtually grown up on camera since his earliest appearances in the 1990s, and here he’s able to convey confidence and vulnerability without coming across as showy, and to his and Nolfi’s credit the screenplay never provides him a showy monologue or expressive scene in which – as we can imagine lesser films might – he gets to rage at the heavens. The film is too smart for that.

Can you imagine if the plan for your life included her?

Blunt, without benefit of Damon’s comparatively greater screen time, matches Damon’s restraint while making her character alluring on several levels. In that initial men’s room scene, her dialogue suggests a free-spirited type similar to the over-used and (and perhaps over-celebrated) pixie dream girl trope. Thankfully Elise the character outgrows that shoebox in seconds; she’s too old for the impish behavior suggested by the scene, for one thing; for another, such contrivance would derail the film’s better aspirations. Blunt’s best moment in the film comes later, when Elise confronts Norris for abandoning her: rather than allow herself to sink into bitchiness or spite, her hurt and anger fuel her reasoning with him.

The adjusters, meanwhile, carry frustrations with their job but keep a brusque professionalism with each other. John Slattery, playing the adjuster Richardson, makes an effective foil for Norris’ determination, at once amused by the humans’ resolve but wary of the consequences of defiance. His impatience and disappointment with Mackie’s rebel angel, communicated with impatient gestures and harried asides, speaks volumes without lapsing into bald exposition. “Three years later and I’m still cleaning up your mess,” Richardson tells him bitterly, as they pass in a hallway. You get the sense the adjusters feel as mystified by the Chairman’s plans as anyone else, but their’s isn’t to question why, no matter how much the job drains them.

In turn this only raises larger issues, but they’re the issues that the movie wants to face. Predestination is an old, old subject in art and culture, and here the film’s split-the-difference explanation of determinism grinding against free will might either intrigue or annoy you, depending on how you felt about such matters in the first place. Thompson (Terence Stamp, imperious as ever), the adjuster’s “hammer” sent in to separate Norris and Elise once and for all, explains the rises and falls of human history as a series of interspersed periods of free will and divine engineering. Agree with him or not, his perspective is both smart and chilling. The film’s submerged theme – that there is a plan, but it’s imperfect, and it changes all the time – is also troubling on any number of levels. The film doesn’t provide any answers, but there’s something to say for a mainstream film of this day and age even asking the questions.

With so much done right and most often done very well, it’s almost inevitable that the film underwhelm a little at the ending. It does, but only mildly and only very narrowly. A resolution that allows for – well, a happy ending, honestly – comes along too tidily and too conveniently to earn its place among the scenes preceding it; listen to the dialogue closely and you may even be reminded of The Wizard of Oz, and realistically we can imagine that wasn’t Dick’s or Nolfi’s intent. Until those last moments, however, The Adjustment Bureau is handsome, near-excellent filmmaking.

- Michael Kabel

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Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt star in a sophisticated, elegant thriller of predestination.

There’s an old proverb, certainly hundreds of years old and probably British, that begins with a horseshoe losing a nail and ultimately leading, through a cascade of dire consequences, to the collapse of an entire kingdom. Such small twists of fate – seemingly random yet maddeningly well- and ill-timed alike, holding the potential for disaster or joy - lie at the intelligent heart of The Adjustment Bureau. Helmed by first-time director George Nolfi (who also adapted the Philip K. Dick short story), the film trusts its audience to reach their own conclusions and rewards their patience with genuine suspense and characterization of an elegant, old-school Hollywood flavor. Until its few moments, when the script veers into a pat ending, it’s probably the best new release of the year to date.

Matt Damon plays David Norris, a New York congressman whose hard-partying past has cost him a Senate race that, it’s explained to us, most voters felt certain he’d win. Moments before his concession speech he encounters Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), a free-spirited woman who’s crashed a party elsewhere in the labyrinthine hotel. The two have an immediate, undeniable romantic chemistry, their flirtation relaxed and smart without seeming forced or purely sexual: more than simply attracted, they’re fascinated by one another. Norris has to make that speech, however, and thanks to Elise’s inspiration he gives one that revitalizes his political fortunes.

But forces are literally conspiring to keep them apart: Norris has been watched since childhood by “adjusters,” men in mid-20th Century clothing who periodically fine-tune reality on behalf of a vaguely defined ”Chairman” who lays out intricate plans for everyone on Earth. Norris and Elise must not be together, the group’s leader (John Slattery) explains, because their togetherness violates the plan intended for Norris. (The Chairman, we learn later, wants him to be President.) When Norris intrudes on the adjustment team tweaking the venture capital firm where he works, the team makes him swear to not pursue Elise again. Confused and frightened, he agrees.

The film jumps ahead three years, to when a chance encounter brings the two would-be lovers together again. But the adjustment team is right there to intervene, even as one of their number (Anthony Mackie) decides to work on their behalf. Norris’ attempt to reach Elise through narrow Manhattan streets, while the adjusters manipulate reality and circumstance around him, makes for an unusual but gripping chase sequence that’s breathlessly staged and handsomely photographed.

Comparisons to last year’s far murkier Inception are unavoidable, probably, but where that film sacrificed plot for spectacle Nolfi’s script and direction keep emphasis on character – particularly Norris’, but also allowing Elise ample screen time to develop into something more than the object of Norris’ obsession. She’s a well-rounded character in her own right, deserving of happiness and even sometimes pitiable: suffering without benefit of knowledge of the adjuster’s machinations, much of her life through the story is lonely and frustrated. (How many of us have wondered, sometime in our life, if vast forces weren’t keeping us alone? Elise becomes our proxy for that dilemma.)

The two leads, as mentioned above, deliver spotless performances rich with maturity and depth. Damon the actor has virtually grown up on camera since his earliest appearances in the 1990s, and here he’s able to convey confidence and vulnerability at the same time. His performance isn’t for a moment showy, and to his and Nolfi’s credit the screenplay never provides him a showy monologue or expressive scene in which – as we can imagine lesser films might – he gets to rage at the heavens. In this way, too, the film is too smart for that.

Can you imagine if the plan for your life included her?

Blunt, without benefit of Damon’s comparatively greater screen time, matches Damon’s restraint while making her character alluring on several levels. In that initial men’s room scene, her dialogue suggests a free-spirited type similar to the over-used and (and perhaps over-celebrated) pixie dream girl trope. Thankfully Elise the character outgrows that shoebox in seconds; she’s too old for the impish behavior suggested by the scene, for one thing; for another, such contrivance would derail the film’s better aspirations. Blunt’s best moment in the film comes later, when Elise confronts Norris for abandoning her: rather than allow herself to sink into bitchiness or spite, her hurt and anger fuel her reasoning with him.

The adjusters, meanwhile, carry frustrations with their job but keep a brusque professionalism with each other. John Slattery, playing the adjuster Richardson, makes an effective foil for Norris’ determination, at once amused by the humans’ resolve but wary of the consequences of defiance. His impatience and disappointment with Mackie’s rebel angel, communicated with impatient gestures and harried asides, speaks volumes without lapsing into bald exposition. “Three years later and I’m still cleaning up your mess,” Richardson tells him bitterly, as they pass in a hallway. You get the sense the adjusters feel as mystified by the Chairman’s plans as anyone else, but their’s isn’t to question why, no matter how much the job drains them.

In turn this only raises larger issues, but they’re the issues that the movie wants to face. Predestination is an old, old subject in art and culture, and here the film’s split-the-difference explanation of determinism grinding against free will might either intrigue or annoy you, depending on how you felt about such matters in the first place. Thompson (Terence Stamp, imperious as ever), the adjuster’s “hammer” sent in to separate Norris and Elise once and for all, explains the rises and falls of human history as a series of interspersed periods of free will and divine engineering. Agree with him or not, his perspective is both smart and chilling. The film’s submerged theme – that there is a plan, but it’s imperfect, and it changes all the time – is also troubling on any number of levels. The film doesn’t provide any answers, but  there’s something to say for a mainstream film of this day and age even asking the questions.

With so much done right and most often done very well, it’s almost inevitable that the film underwhelm a little at the ending. It does, but only mildly and only very narrowly. A resolution that allows for – well, a happy ending, honestly – comes along too tidily and too conveniently to earn its place among the scenes preceding it; listen to the dialogue closely and you may even be reminded of The Wizard of Oz, and realistically we can imagine that wasn’t Dick’s or Nolfi’s intent. Until those last moments, however, The Adjustment Bureau is handsomely excellent filmmaking.

- Michael Kabel

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Night Flights, August 2010 Edition

These films have maybe only one thing in common: we watched them this month.

One a month or so we corral all the movies we watched on late night television into this feature, hopefully casting new light on older or overlooked films that still have something to offer audiences. They only thing they really have in common, possibly, is that we watched them this month. 

Probably no one enjoys only one kind of movie anyway, so hopefully more than one of these will strike your interest. Most are available on DVD, except where noted otherwise. Many are also available online and streaming on demand.

1. Danika (2006) – Suburban housewife Danika (Marisa Tomei) begins hallucinating all the evils that could befall her three children coming true over the course of a few days: abductions, morally corrupt teachers, girlfriends with diseases, irate neighbors, household accidents. Though her husband (Craig Bierko) and therapist (Regina Hall) are at first supportive, there’s more to Danika’s reality than is readily apparent.

By and large the film does well under Ariel Vroman’s (Rx) journeyman direction, but Tomei holds the film together through her acting and presence, especially the seemingly requisite twist ending that spins the whole 75 minutes before it into what some viewers might regard as a big – and familiar – cheat. As a rental though, or on cable on a slow night, it’s perfectly entertaining viewing.

2. The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) – This notorious flop probably deserves an entry all on its own just by virtue of its weirdness. Still, it has its moments: when secessionist warlord Butch Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd) kidnaps President Ulysses S. Grant (Jason Robards) and holds him hostage inside an elaborate Western fortress, the Lone Ranger and Tonto (Klinton Spilsbury and Michael Horse) ride to his rescue, partially to avenge the death of the Ranger’s brother and comrades.

Accomplished cinematographer William A. Fraker (Bullitt, Tombstone) gets the sweeping Western vistas right but falls short on directing the actors and pacing the narrative, with a story that’s jumbled and awkwardly-paced when it’s not just odd: seeing President Grant plant dynamite and gun down outlaws would be strange under the best of circumstances; Merle Haggard’s balladeering of the already-simplistic storyline is intrusive and clumsy. Making matters worse, Spilsbury’s voice was dubbed over with Keith Carradine’s, giving his speech a strange disjointed quality throughout. On the plus side: Lloyd is excellent, and seeing actual cowboy Richard Farnsworth (The Natural) play Wild Bill Hickok is a treat.

3. Eight Million Ways To Die (1985) – An attempt to bring mystery author Lawrence Block’s detective Matt Scudder to the screen (though changing his locale from New York to Los Angeles), this undercooked, overwritten neo-noir remains an oddity in the resumes of all involved. It marked Hal Ashby’s (Shampoo) final screen credit, while Andy Garcia made his leading role debut. Oliver Stone and David Lee Henry adapted the Block novel, though Robert Towne (Chinatown) also contributed material.

As the poster suggests, the final film too closely resembles a sleazed-up episode of Miami Vice while enjoying all the artistic freedom (in this case, nudity and profanity) an R rating can provide. When alcoholic cop Scudder (Jeff Bridges, doing his best) fails to keep a high-priced call girl (Alexandra Paul) from getting killed, he teams with her friend and madam (Rosanna Arquette) and a reformed crook (Randy Brooks) to get revenge on the drug dealer  responsible (Garcia.) The ensuing drama never reaches its boiling point, even if the warehouse shoot out scene (in the NSFW clip below) is riveting from its first fame. Those cartons are chock full o’ cocaine, by the way.

Despite the talent involved, the film has so far eluded a DVD release.

4. Slayground (1983) – Another attempt to bring the work of a celebrated crime writer to the screen – this time Donald E. Westlake, author of the books that inspired Point Blank and The Grifters – this low-budget neo-noir tries, somewhat unsuccessfully, to merge noir and slasher film tropes, getting neither one exactly right while neglecting plot clarity and depth of characterization. The ending borrows liberally from Blade Runner, The Lady From Shanghai and The Man With the Golden Gun, actually becoming the film’s best segment.

Westlake wrote the script himself, but director Terry Bedford focuses on style and atmosphere instead. The two never completely meet, despite capable performances by Peter Coyote and British actors Mel Smith and Billie Whitelaw, playing criminals and lost souls whose mistakes catch up with them in the form of a psychotic hitman trailing Coyote’s noble thief. A minor entry, ultimately, in the neo-noir resurgence of the early- and mid-80s, even if frequent showings on late night cable television back then elevated it into a humble cult status.

5. Not Another Teen Movie (2006) – Perverse curiosity led to a viewing of this 2001 “spoof,” and anyway when you’re on vacation it’s okay to lower your standards. Though there are several laugh worthy moments, it’s sometimes difficult to understand its target audience, as the level of humor suggests modern high school students while the constant stream of references and meta-jokes pander mostly to the sensibilities of Generation X, with the then-current “Young Hollywood” romcoms She’s All That and Never Been Kissed also the target of biting (if gummy) jabs.

As with so many films of its type, the script throws one joke on top of another figuring you’ll only remember the ones that connect, and when that gets hard it provides something to gross you out or shock you instead. Not as lazy as some of its successors but not exactly inspired, either. And remember, star Chris Evans is your Captain America.

6. The House Bunny (2008) – Scary Movie franchise regular Anna Faris stars in this mildly underrated light comedy about a Playboy Bunny kicked out of the Mansion on her 27th birthday – she’s too old, it seems, to remain of interest to Hef and his followers. After getting snubbed by the wealthy, pretty members of an elitist college sorority, she joins the “misfit” sorority of book worms and wall flowers instead. You can imagine what happens next.

The subject matter is familiar, comfortable territory for Legally Blonde screenwriters Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz, while Faris is actually, surprisingly charming and multi-layered in her turn as the dumb blonde getting smart for lack of a better idea. Rising stars Emma Stone and Kat Dennings are sweet in their sidekick roles, and perpetual up-and-comer Colin Hanks is charming as the heroine’s everyman love interest. Hefner, probably figuring there’s no such thing as bad press, makes a guest appearance accompanied by some recent real-life Playmates and concubines. So frothy it almost evaporates, but harmless fun all the same.

We’ll be back next week with reviews of some current movies. Thanks for reading.

- Michael Kabel

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Miscellaneous Debris, August 2009 Edition

Our irregular roundup of other news worth blogging about.

Buffalo Tom said it best: “Summer’s gone, can’t wipe it off my hands.” Labor Day is just around the corner, bringing this summer of cinematic discontent to a close – and look how it’s ending with a whimper, at that. The fall season begins with the holiday weekend, meaning that by and large the days start getting shorter, the temperatures get cooler, and the movies get better. Autumn is our favorite time of year for film, offering as it does a middle ground between the loud, no-thought-required spectacles of summer cinema and the increasingly inert prestige pics that dominate the winter months.

For this year especially, the fall movie season is a welcome sight, offering not only a variety of films but a pretty interesting cluster of stuff we’re excited about checking out. September offers new work by Steven Soderbergh and Mike Judge, while October releases include the latest from Michael Moore, the Coen Brothers, Spike Jonze, and the long-awaited film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

In the meantime, here’s the latest of our semi-monthly compendiums of topics that never got a full post.

Still no Citizen Kane Blu-Ray

1. A recent article by MacClean’s Canadian online edition brought some disturbing news that was nevertheless not exactly surprising: the amount of classic cinema making its way to DVD is diminishing, with future Blu-Ray releases even more precarious. Even the once-faultless selection of films issued by the Criterion Collection is waning.

What’s wrong with the DVD and especially the Blu-Ray markets right now is a lot like what went wrong with the American automobile industry: keep making tons of the same stuff almost nobody wants, and eventually no one’s going to want any of what’s around. Classic movies are a niche market, and they’re expensive to remaster and package. But they’re important to preserve, important enough to supersede the studio’s profit margin. For that matter, the studios have a responsibility both to themselves and to our culture to preserve their best works, and if this means letting releases of modern drivel wait a while or receive diminished production runs, that’s the cost of  the pedigrees the studios perennially trade upon. Alternately, Warner Brothers’ recent rollout of their burn-on-demand library of archive titles is a huge step in the right direction.

2. Because we grew up in the 1980′s, the golden age of product placement in film, we’re pretty much inured to its proliferation across the modern television landscape. While we don’t watch 30 Rock or Damages, two shows who’ve drawn the heaviest flack for product placement deliberate or otherwise, this summer both Rescue Me and Leverage have taken the marketing gimmick to a whole new egregious extreme. Rescue Me is the worse of the two, including transparent plugs for Samuel Adams, Vitamin Water and the Volkswagen Routan into its storylines. They only narrowly beat out Leverage ‘s persistent and loving close-ups of the Hyundai Genesis, however.

3. Speaking of the 80s, producers at Lakeshore Entertainment this week announced they’re working to bring the cult 1988 classic Heathers to television as a regular series. Not to second-guess, but if you’ve ever wondered what Christian Slater’s snarky sadist J.D. would be like as a sullen hipster, you may soon find out. Apparently the new show won’t involve the movie’s muder-the-popular-bitches plotline, which would kind of make it just like any other rich-teen soap opera already around.

Our Guy: Baldwin

4. In our May edition of Miscellaneous Debris we lobbied for Battlestar Galactica alum Michael Trucco to win the coveted lead in Warner Bros’ upcoming live-action The Green Lantern. The part of lead GL Hal Jordan went to Ryan Reynolds, and we think that’s great. If the script includes his character, we want to suggest Adam Baldwin for the role of Guy Gardner, Jordan’s maniacally bull-headed alternate in the interstellar Green Lantern Corps. Baldwin’s turn as the similar Jayne Cobb on Firefly and Serenity was underrated and unfairly overlooked by mainstream audiences, and he’s long deserved a part in a big project where he can show his swaggering cool. (Incidentally, he bears no relation to the clan of Baldwin brothers.)

O'Loughlin

5. We’ve come to believe that if Skeet Ulrich’s fans ever joined forces with the boosters of Moonlight‘s Alex O’Loughlin, their combined fervency would split the entertainment industry in half. Both actors’ fans are motivated, loyal, and protective of their star in ways that are both impressive and a little intimidating. And both groups get something to cheer about this fall: the Ulrich co-starring Armored opens in December, while the long-delayed O’Loughlin-featuring Whiteout debuts in just two weeks.

6. You’ve probably seen the promos somewhere already, but the “STD for your TV” anti-sitcom It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia starts its fifth season on FX September 17. Season 4 was uneven (to say the least), but when this show is on its game it’s possibly the funniest thing on pay or broadcast TV. The setup is sitcom simple: four deadbeats share ownership of a bar. Everything after that gets perverse real quick:  the bar is a pit, the friends regularly conspire to screw one another over, and bad things inevitably ensue. Nothing is safe, not even cats:

7. Ever follow something you wished were a lot better, but you watch it anyway? ABC’s interplanetary soap opera Defying Gravity has the potential to become a vastly better show than the hybrid it is right now, a flagging and listless affair that could variously be better titled “Lost” In Space or Gray’s Astronomy. The largely talented but somewhat overloaded cast, including Office Space‘s Ron Livingston and Dead Like Me‘s Laura Harris, struggles with stories that go all over the place but never really gel into anything compelling. That the show is on at all is more evidence of ABC’s weird and self-sabotaging fickleness: they’re willing to develop offbeat shows (this, Life On Mars, The Unusuals) but quick to cancel them if they don’t immediately catch on with the public and critics, as Lost did. Meanwhile the network obviously has an abundance of faith in its new David Goyer-created sci-fi series Fast Forward, the previews of which have “hit” written all over them.

8. To close on another science fiction note, here’s a rarely-seen deleted vignette from the 1982 classic Blade Runner, featuring weary detective Rick Deckard’s (Harrison Ford) hospital visit with Holden (Morgan Paull), the cop injured by replicant Leon’s (Brion James) rocket pistol attack at the film’s beginning. Deckard’s boss (M. Emmett Walsh) and his flunky (Edward James Olmos) watch them on close-circuit television. NSFW warnings are in effect:  

We’ll return next Wednesday. Have a good weekend.

- Michael Kabel

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DVD Review: The Day The Earth Stood Still

The uneven modernizing of a sci-fi masterpiece arrives on DVD and Blu-Ray next Tuesday.

Remakes carry their own special kind of hubris, and remakes of beloved science fiction classics are liable to find an extra-strong dose of public and critical skepticism greeting their release. That’s certainly the case with director Scott Derrickson’s (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) update of The Day The Earth Stood Still, which for those who don’t mind its glum tone and slow-moving pace makes an entertaining enough diversion as its story unfolds. In fact, many parts of it are beautifully rendered in ways that haven’t been done thousands of times before. Unfortunately, a shallow script and too-quick conclusion that’s entirely reliant on special effects cripples its would-be social relevance, however, so that the film’s final worth is as murky and mysterious as the swirling balls of light so memorably rendered onscreen.

The setup is brutally elegant and simple: alien craft descend on Earth, represented by alien-in-human-form Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), carrying a dire warning. The human race should be extinguished, they believe, so that the Earth can be preserved to sustain other life. There are precious few worlds in the cosmos capable of such biological diversity, Klattuu tells human astrobiologist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly), and the human race is screwing things up past the point of no return. As the government, represented by Secretary of Defense Regina Jackson (Kathy Bates) and advisor John Driscoll (Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights) attempts to overpower Klaatu’s spaceship and towering guardian GORT, Klaatu escapes their custody and journeys into the New Jersey highlands to visit one of the ark spheres that will safeguard Earth’s plant and animal species during the coming purge. Benson and her stepson Jacob (Jaden Smith) escort Klaatu while Benson tries to reason for mankind’s survival.

Perhaps the film’s greatest visual strength lies in drawing distinctions between Earth technology and the vastly superior techno-organic gear used by Klaatu, GORT, and the sphere ships. While man’s tools are all flash and fire, alien tech is earth-toned and austere. Klaatu’s “spacesuit” exo-skeleton most closely resembles whale blubber or amniotic tissue (“The womb is a life support system,” Benson notes). The military, here a proxy for man’s savagery, seem to use fire as their only tool and recourse. It’s a recurrent image throughout the film, a not-quite-subtle jab at the first tool we mastered and a reminder of global warming to boot. Shot in depths-of-the- ocean blues and greens, the entire film has a look that’s not often used in modern sci-fi, and I have to admit it was refreshing to see science fiction that for once did not owe a great debt to Blade Runner.

Past that intriguing sheen, however, the trouble begins. Connelly isn’t quite given enough to do with Benson’s character, and her performance is largely built around tears welling in her giant blue eyes. We joked earlier that Reeves was perhaps better suited to play the robotic GORT  than Klaatu, but he’s fine in a part that could also have used extra embellishment. With so much modernized from the original, not least of all the film’s central admonishment, would it have been difficult to give the alien visitor an idiosyncrasy or quirk that made him a little more… human? Jeff Bridges once mined a whole film worth of such embellishments in 1984′s Starman. If Klaatu is indeed inhabiting a human host, as the film’s rushed, ambiguous prologue suggests, there ought to be something more human inside Keanu’s stoic shell. John Hamm, the star of AMC’s Mad Men, is underused as a government scientist. But the real distraction, however, is Jaden Smith’s performance as the angry pre-teen Jacob. His boisterous line delivery, always with an Oscar clip seemingly in mind, is a grating distraction from the grim surroundings. As for Bates and Chandler, they’re both are so perfunctory in their Official Government Asshole roles that I don’t remember either character getting called by name.

What does it take to remake a sci-fi masterpiece?

A lot of criticism has been levied against the film for failing to articulate the threats the Earth faces at the expense of man’s destructive nature. It probably wouldn’t have helped the film to catalog the many challenges facing the planet’s survival (and I’m not going to list them here, either). Most people are by now all too aware of the numerous crises already. On the other hand, some more strident argument on Klaatu’s part, listing the compelling evidence why mankind should be erased rather than spared or simply bitchslapped into responsibility, wouldn’t have hurt his character or the film’s clarity.

None of these issues are insurmountable, however, if the film were able to muster the focus to compose a memorable or at least meaningful ending. The climax and conclusion involving the destructive cloud of devouring organisms (nannites?) laying waste to New York is over so quickly you might be tempted to think, in the moment between fadeout and credits, that there’s more movie to come. The ending is literally that inconclusive. Ambiguity is one thing, but after 100 minutes of build-up something more than a few hastily-rendered special effects are necessary. If this The Day The Earth Stood Still isn’t up to the classic level of its inspiration, it’s not bad; in fact it’s the kind of no-thought-required epic Hollywood flick that likely plays better on home theatres than on big movie screens. But it could’ve been better, anyway.

-Michael Kabel

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(Note: this review originally appeared for the film’s theatrical release.)

100 Posts and Counting…

We’re congratulating ourselves! You should, too!

Yikes! 100 Posts! And we’ve only been at this since last March. Credit our three-times a week update schedule. But it’s still fun. Actually, it’s more fun now that our traffic numbers are rising and we’re getting more feedback.

When we got to the 50-post mark we ran down a list of ten things we’d learned from the experience up to that date. They’re still true, but there are a few other new things we picked up since.

Fitzgerald actually wrote several fantasy stories as a way to make some quick cash.

1. We’re more certain of our mission statement now than we were seven months ago, in no small part because lately the fall season’s ad campaigns are staring once again to piss on our legs and tell us it’s raining champagne. The three big prestige pictures this year, from what we can tell, are Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, David Fincer’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and future Bravo Network staple Australia, directed by Baz Luhrmann.

Of the three, we’re least leary of Benjamin Button, mostly because Fincher’s coming off his masterful Zodiac and Pitt is actually often at his best when playing more restrained, downbeat roles. We just hope the “I do de-clay-yah!” New Orleans grotesques aren’t as pervasive in the film as in the trailer.

9. Social networking tools like Digg and Twitter are great, and we welcome traffic from them, but there’s no substitute for good word of mouth. We’re getting less bitch mail than we used to, too, so we must be doing something right or anyway better than we were before. That being said, we wish there were more comments coming across our threshold.

The Man

8. Google works in mysterious ways. When we ran a pic of actor Skeet Ulrich on our 50th milestone post, the image somehow topped Google’s search rankings. So far we’ve had more than 300 visitors looking for that one pic.  To Mr. Ulrich’s fans, especially those coming over from Capturing Skeet.com, welcome and thank you. To Skeet himself, we probably owe you a steak dinner or something.

7. Our most popular post is still the “Six Forgotten Sci-Fi Films of the 1970s” retrospective from last May. It’s also the one that’s provoked the most griping, so if you check it out remember that one fan’s “forgotten” film is another fan’s cherished memory.

6. We don’t know if anyone else is laughing at our picture captions, but we’re cracking ourselves up. Editor Michael Kabel grew up reading Creem magazine, and it’s just too much fun paying some homage to that late, lamented mag by following their brilliant example here.

5. One post we wish got more traffic showcased a gorgeous montage of Homicide: Life On The Street images set to Coldplay’s “Don’t Panic.” Really, it’s a profoundly haunting couple of minutes. Here it is again:

Thanks again to easilyjaded2 for creating it.

Hello, I'm Shia LaBouef. I'm an actor.

4. Our worst review remains Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but Eagle Eye only narrowly missed taking that dubious distinction for itself. And in either film’s case, their appalling failure had nothing necessarily to do with mutual participant Shia LaBouef. It’s the films themselves that are godawful, virtually from the ground up.

3. Our posts are getting longer, but there’s more to be said about most films than will fit into a 500- or 600-word essay. Maybe the single greatest advantage of the Internet over print, to quote Walt Disney out of context, is the “blessing of space.” Now, that’s no excuse not to be succinct. But in reviewing some films and analyzing others it’s important to attempt comprehensiveness. Failing that, we’ll try to be funny if not smart.

Running down a dream: The Flash

2. We’ve tried several different types of features, from hypothetical sequels to rewriting underwhelming blockbusters to armchair casting films we know are getting made but don’t trust Hollywood to make the right personnel decisions. Our rewrites of the Star Wars prequels have been the most popular, though we’re not kidding ourselves that poeple are looking for info about the actual films. The post about how to make The Flash movie is a sentimental favorite.

1. Now that the blog’s growing bigger, it’s probably time for some big people clothes. Specifically, we’re looking for someone to create our new header. If you’ve got the design skills and think you can help, please contact us at the email shown back up and to the right there.

To wrap things up, and by way of crossing our fingers for the next 100 posts, the clip below is the famous “cuckoo clock” segment from The Third Man, starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten.

Wednesday we’ll have a review of the new DVD edition of L.A. Confidential. Thanks again for reading.

-Michael Kabel

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Sequels That Never Were, Part One

Blade Runner 2: Mandatory Retirement (1985)

In Sequels That Never Were, we present fictitious sequels to films that, with a little more box office performance, might’ve spawned an additional chapter.

Synopsis: Blade Runner 2: Mandatory Retirement begins immediately after the conclusion to the theatrical release, with Rick Dekkard (Tom Berenger, substituting for Harrison Ford) and his Replicant lover Rachel (Sean Young) fleeing into the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. Little do they realize that the vice president of the Tyrell Corporation (Dean Stockwell) has requested the use of a covert government “kick murder squad,” ostensibly to pursue them for the murders of Landon Tyrell and J.F. Sebastian. In fact, he’s more concerned with reacquiring Rachel – she’s “company property.”

The squad is part of the shadowy agency known only as Home and consists of four combat Replicants led by former Blade Runner Jack Taggart (Powers Boothe.) Because no Replicants are allowed on Earth, the task force must not leave any evidence of their work, and are authorized to “retire” any witnesses. The Replicants are: James (Steven Bauer), tactics;  Victoria (Grace Jones), demolitions;  Cassandra (Lori Singer), infiltration; and Dean (Bill Paxton), an infantry combat model.

The squad finds Dekkard and Rachel at a remote motel in the village of Gehenna, near a roadside attraction that showcases obsolete Nexus models. Cassandra, using her beauty, is able to charm their location from the manager of a nearby roadhouse. The squad converges on the motel in long black trench coats that hide laser pulse rifles. Dekkard has seen them coming and waits in ambush. In the ensuing firefight, he’s wounded by an attack from Victoria. They escape, fleeing up a long mountain road into the surrounding forests.

The second act is largely a cat and mouse game of pursuit, with Rachel ill-prepared to deal with the terrain. Dekkard manages to rig the car to self-destruct, killing Dean. Back at Taggart’s base camp at the museum, he’s confronted by Gav (Edward James Olmos), who’s followed Dekkard to warn him of the squad’s approach. Taggart kills Gav rather than let him interfere.

A subplot depicts James interacting with a family living in the hills. The father had been off-world but had returned to Earth because “there’s no difference in this planet and any other as long as people are there.” James realizes he should kill the family to cover his tracks but, realizing their John Lockian “natural state,” allows them to live and instead returns to the pursuit.

The third act shows Victoria attempting to kill Rachel but falling off a cliff. James deserts his duty rather than kill Dekkard, wandering into the wilderness and stripping off his uniform. Cassandra attempts to guile Dekkard but turns on him, saying, “Pris was a friend of mine.” He defends himself and leaves her damaged but still conscious.

Finally, Dekkard and Taggart face off at the top of a mountain plateau. Despite some dirty fighting typical of 80s-era action villains, Dekkard is able to defeat Taggart and leave him for dead, alone and wounded in the wilderness. As he starts back down the mountain, he tells a bloodied Rachel that they’re returning to Los Angeles. “We can’t run forever,” he tells her, echoing the last lines of the first film. “Who can?” 

Filmmakers: After Ridley Scott left the project during preproduction, Warner Brothers hired Walter Hill (Southern Comfort, The Warriors) to direct, giving the film a more straightforward action tone, from a script by David Webb Peoples (Ladyhawke, Blade Runner) and Terry Hayes (The Road Warrior).

Release Date & Box Office: Blade Runner 2 was released on June 13, 1985, part of the same summer as A View To A Kill, Back to the Future, and Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. It was only moderately more successful than its predecessor, but became a staple on fledgling cable movie networks Showtime and Cinemax through 1986.

A new DVD re-release is planned for early fall 2008.

 - Michael Kabel

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