Playing Catch-Up

Movies: The Dark Knight Rises, Turn Me On Dammit!, The Campaign, Ruby Sparks

Hey guys, so sorry about not updating this blog for a long time. I have been busy moving to a new state and preparing for a new job! But now that I'm settled in, it's time to review a few movies I saw recently.

The Dark Knight Rises

For everyone living under a rock, TDKR is the third film in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. The final film finds Gotham nearly a decade after the Joker wrecked havoc on the city and the vigilante known as "the Batman" killed beloved public official Harvey Dent (or so the people of Gotham believed).

Now a new villain, the terrifying Bane, is causing chaos in Gotham in the form of violent civil unrest (imagine if the Occupy movement was run by an violent fascist). Bruce Wayne, who has been avoiding Gotham for years, must suit up and return to save the day, while also fielding the affections of two lovely women, Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) and Miranda Tate (Marion Cotillard).

As with Nolan's other Batman movies, TDKR is intense, violent, and more than a little nihilistic. It has some truly intense scenes of destruction (when Bane starts setting off bombs all over Gotham) and fights (the opening scene where Bane takes over a plane in mid-air is awesome).

However, TDKR lacks something that The Dark Knight had. First, I didn't find Bane as compelling as the Joker. Part of this was due to the fact that you can't really tell what's going on behind that scary gas-mask contraption on his face. While Tom Hardy does the best with what he has to work with, his performance doesn't live up to Heath Ledger's insane and oddly sympathetic turn as the tormented Joker.

Also, as someone not familiar with the Batman comics, I was easily able to follow the plot and understand the motivations in The Dark Knight whereas I was often at a loss for what drove the villain(s) in TDKR. So many people seem to want to destroy an entire city because of its "corruption" (where the main corruption comes in the form of those who seek to destroy it) or for revenge. However, I did like the sequences that took place in the South American (or Middle Eastern?) prison.

Despite these quibbles, TDKR is a very good and entertaining movie. Once again, Nolan shows his flair for creating slick, fanciful, and exciting worlds, as well as writing complicated plots that leave the audience with much to debate and discuss.

4 out of 5 stars

***

Turn Me On, Dammit!

This little coming-of-age gem from Norway has something many American teen movies lack: female sexuality without the side helping of exploitation. The film opens with 15-year-old Alma masturbating while listening to her favorite phone sex operator, Stig, describe a juicy scenario to her. Like most teens her age, she lives with her mom and enjoys the rare moment of lack of supervision by indulging in a common pastime (masturbation...not talking to a phone sex operator).

Alma is a normal teenager in her podunk little town in Norway, but she soon finds herself an outcast after her crush, Artur, randomly pokes her with his penis at a youth group event. Alma tells her jealous, mean girl friend, Ingrid, who accuses her of lying. Artur of course denies it, and Alma earns the nickname "Dick Alma". The teasing becomes so bad, that Alma looks for a way out--whether by retreating into her fantasy life, or by literally running away.

The best thing about this movie is how real it is. Alma, Ingrid, and the other teens look and act like real teenagers. They're mean, petty, and horny, but also intelligent and capable of empathy and kindness. The film doesn't blow their small dramas out of proportion (for example, Alma doesn't end up pregnant or raped for her sin of having sexual feelings). Alma has a generally good relationship with her single mother, who is embarrassed and taken aback by Alma's interest in phone sex and porno mags, but she never flips out on her daughter. I can't imagine what this movie would look like if it were made by Americans. Probably pretty dumb.

4 out of 5 stars

***

The Campaign

Speaking of dumb, the latest Will Ferrell comedy sadly has more idiocy than laughs. The movie concerns North Carolina politician Cam Brady (Ferrell), a slick democratic incumbent, who loses popularity after he accidentally leaves a ridiculous and vulgar message intended for his mistress on the answering machine of a conservative local family. Republican bigwigs in DC see the opportunity to run a gullible Yes Man candidate against Brady in the hopes that if this man wins the election, he will blindly pass any legislation they want. Their pick for the Republican candidate? Effeminate, pug-loving Marty Huggins (Zach Galifanakis, who is the best thing about this movie). Huggins is the naive son of Southern Good Ol' Boy Raymond Huggins, who is so old-fashioned, he makes his Asian maid talk like a black Mammy to remind him of times gone by (the joke gets old before it even starts).

Although there are some pretty good jokes and great cameos, The Campaign offers very little you haven't seen a million times before. The writers seem to value penis jokes more than actually coming up with original ideas. It's your typical not great, but not awful comedy.

3 out of 5 stars

***

Ruby Sparks

Ruby Sparks, written by and starring Zoe Kazan, turns the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope on its head. Ruby Sparks is the name of a character created by young writer Calvin (Paul Dano, great as always). Ten years ago, Calvin wrote a Salinger-esque novel that was a huge critical and financial success. Hailed a genius, he has been living off the royalties since and has failed to come up with his next great novel. He has also failed at love, preferring to avoid women and keep to himself, opening up emotionally only to his therapist (Elliot Gould).



Calvin longs so hard for a perfect female mate, that he begins to write about a girl named Ruby who grew up in Dayon, Ohio. Ruby roller skates to work and doesn't own a computer. Ruby wears red dresses and purple tights. Ruby loves giving blow jobs and can cook French cuisine. In other words, Ruby is a geeky male fantasy. The weird thing is...this fantasy comes to life.

One day, Calvin wakes up to find Ruby in his kitchen. At first, he thinks he's going crazy. But when other people see Ruby too, Calvin realizes that he has literally written Ruby into reality. And not only has he created her, he can change her at will, simply by writing whatever changes he would like. The movie takes a dark turn when Ruby begins to do things Calvin doesn't like, such as bond with his mom and stepdad, and flirt with other men. In the end, Calvin has to decide whether he will keep a perfect woman as a prisoner, or let Ruby go off to become a "real girl".

In spite of a sticky-sweet ending that didn't mesh well with the rest of the movie, I loved Ruby Sparks. I thought the idea behind it was fun and interesting, without being heavy-handed. The acting was great--Paul Dano is perfect as the well-meaning but insecure Calvin, and his real life lady love Zoe Kazan is wonderful as the cute, moody Ruby. The supporting roles, including Antonio Banderas as Calvin's hippie stepdad, are equally well cast. If you hate the whole Manic Pixie Dream Girl phenomenon, I'd recommend giving Ruby Sparks a try. It suggests that even "kooky" femininity is still kept under lock and key by men who want a partner who was placed on this earth for their pleasure alone.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Katrina Fairy Tale

Movies: Beasts of the Southern Wild

In Benh Zeitlin's magical, moving, revelation of a film, Beasts of the Southern Wild, characters that many of us would consider the reddest of rednecks live in disgusting, abject poverty. They literally sleep on top of trash. Their clothes are ratty and covered in dirt and filth. Yet, the director asks us to believe that they are happy. We (and by "we", I mean most anyone who has shelter, a place to shower, healthy food, and possibly an Internet connection) have difficulty believing that there can be anything other than misery and pain while living in such conditions. Yet we are asked to believe that with such poverty comes a certain dignity and community that cannot be replaced with nice clothes, nice cars, and safe, stable homes.

I had a hard time believing it, I'll tell you that. I would take a safe, clean home and running water over "The Bathtub" any day. The Bathtub is what the residents of the waterlogged, Southern Louisiana community call their town. Beasts takes place in this town in the not to distant future, where global warming is a fact of life, the ice caps are melting, and big chunks of Florida and Louisiana are all but under water.

While most everyone has moved north to avoid the storms and constant flooding, the Bathtub residents have decided to stick it out until...well, until they're underwater. Even if that means having to construct motorized boats out of the backs of dismantled pick-up trucks to glide around in after the storms. Such stubborn refusal to relocate somewhere safer is difficult to believe, especially since some of the Bathtubbers are young children.

Hushpuppy is one such child. She is a motherless six-year-old girl with an unstable, sick daddy who somehow manages to be braver and wiser than many of the adults around her. Quvenzahane Wallis plays Hushpuppy, and her performance is just unbelievable. Hushpuppy is an old soul; acutely attuned to nature. She has a habit of picking up creatures--birds, farm animals, etc--and listening for a heartbeat in their chests. When the ancient beasts that give this movie its title start to roam the land, it is Hushpuppy who is unafraid to face them.

The only thing that Hushpuppy is not equipped to handle is life outside the Bathtub. After a forced evacuation of the area, Hushpuppy and the other Bathtubbers are taken to a stark white shelter that feels more menacing than safe. The 'Tubbers desperately want to return to their warm, wet home, despite its dirtiness and danger.

Although I couldn't relate to the 'Tubbers and their love for their flooded hometown, I was touched by the film's suggestion that home is where one chooses to make it, and the freedom to do so is ultimately more important than safety, convenience, and even life itself. Beasts is a bizarrely patriotic film, given that we live in a country where patriotism is now something you can purchase at Walmart [or Chick-Fil-A ;)].

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a singular film. It is a fairy tale without the glass slipper and the fairy godmother. It's a patriotic film about the very people who are considered lowest on the totem poll of America. It's a film that says inner strength is what makes someone human, not clean clothes and a warm bed. It's a celebration of the human spirit that doesn't put humans on a pedestal above nature.

5 out of 5 stars