Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Les Miserables [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]


This was definitely the movie out of the best picture nominees this year that I had the least interest in seeing. That might be why I took so long to get around to Les Miserables. I'm not into musicals in the slightest, but Russell Crowe, and to an extent Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman, were enough to interest me in this. Also while watching finding out Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter were a sort-of comic relief duo it kept me alert. But this musical turned feature film was a long watch and a struggle for me to like even a little.

Les Miserables follows the story of recently freed slave Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). He is freed after 19 years by prisoner guard Javert (Russell Crowe). Who tells him he'll never get anywhere again in life, since he'll always be a convict. One night Jean is fed and given shelter by The Bishop of Dinge (Colm Wilkinson). He ends up stealing a ton of silver and getting caught by the police. The Bishop has mercy on Jean, telling the police it's a misunderstanding, and forgives him. Eight years later, Jean has become the mayor of a town and a successful factory owner. Putting his past behind him. One day there is a dispute between the workers at his factory when a woman, Fantine (Anne Hathaway), is found to have an illegitimate daughter. Cosette (Isabelle Allen) is living in another city with two sleazy inn owners, The Thenardiers (Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen). Fantine is fired and is forced to become a prostitute to continue sending money to her daughter. Fantine is almost arrested by Javert, she's in terrible condition, when Jean intervenes and saves her. Fantine dies in the hospital and entrusts her daughters life to Jean who is forced to run from Javert who found out who he is. Jean saves Cosette from The Thenardiers and continues running from Javet all as France is in the midst of a revolution.

Oh boy, this was long a long adaptation. I don't mean 55 yard field goal long either. I mean, kicking it from your own endzone long. Sports reference in a review about a French musical, can you tell I miss football? This movie is two and a half hours and since most of it was song, I felt myself just listening to it rather than watching. If you're into musicals (or have seen Les Misrables live) and the like it, I doubt you got bored watching this. But for me, it was just one long dragging scene after the next. I'm assuming the plot and story are taken straight from the play, and it's pretty good. You can tell that they took their time and tried to include all the pertinent information. The story is highly original, which is good considering it's one of the biggest musicals of all time. It's just a shame I couldn't connect well with most all of the characters, and you know all the dragging scenes and the length didn't help this at all. The songs themselves were done well. A lot of them I just tuned out after awhile cause they went on far too long. The cinematography was pretty cool as well. But you can only show these awesome places and sets so many times, in the span of the long two hours, without it losing the initial "Wow Factor" of seeing things.

As far as the characters and acting go, the only one that I cared for following was Javet, played by Russell Crowe. His whole demeanor and transformation throughout the movie was pretty interesting to follow. Fantine, played by Anne Hathaway, was pretty solid and set up the second-half of the movie well. While Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter as The Thenardiers were pretty solid comic relief in an otherwise serious movie. I guess Jean, played by Hugh Jackman was alright, but he wasn't the strongest and pretty forgettable. Isabelle Allen, was great as a young Cosette, while Amanda Seyfried as grown up Cosette lent no redeeming qualities to a supporting character. The rest were pretty forgettable as I can't think of any other off the top of my head. Only liking and getting into one or two characters out of an ensemble is not the way to make an interesting movie. The singing was pretty good throughout. Russell Crowe really surprised me. You could tell he's not a singer, but shined in his role. Hugh Jackman was a great complement to Crowe in their scenes together as well. Anne Hathway is clearly the best of the main character singers and she did great with her songs. I didn't know Sacha Baron Cohen had pipes, but his comedic scenes were all done well. I liked Helena Bonham Cater in Sweeney Todd and I still like her singing in this as well. There was also a girl I didn't recognize, Samantha Banks, who apparently reprises her role that she had in the musical and never sounded bad.

My main problems with Les Miserables is this length and its characters. While I liked a lot of the singing and the story, the long run time and inability for me to truly invest in anyone, kills any momentum this movie had in my eyes. Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway's performances will keep you into this if you can't quite get into the early parts of this movie. While the combination of Crowe and Hugh Jackman (with some of the supporting cast) keeping you somewhat engaged till the end. If you've never gotten or been able to see this live, and have wanted to, I'm sure you'll enjoy this heartily. But for people like me, while I see what others would love in this, its not something I can truly like.


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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Amour [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]


I came into Amour only knowing that translated it means "Love." So happy Valentine's Day to you folks out there. Also I came in knowing that it is a French movie. Now, I'm your typical American that rarely goes out of his way to see anything not in English. So anything labeled as foreign, I take with a grain of salt. Plus growing up in Texas, I never really had that French class option, only Spanish. So I never got to learn about the language and culture growing up. But with stuff that has actually happened in my life, with my immediate family, Michael Haneke and his film Amour, hit kinda close to home for me. Though I would say I far from love this movie myself.

Amour follows the story of an elderly couple by the name of Georges and Anne Laurent (Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva). They are retired music teachers with their daughter, Eva (Isabelle Huppert), living abroad. The day after going to see one of their pupil's concerts, the couple are eating breakfast. Anne goes silent and worries Georges to the point he's about to go get help when she comes around. Anne doesn't remember anything that just happened. It turns out that Anne had suffered a stroke and while clearing out a blocked carotid artery, she becomes partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Georges becomes Anne's full time caretaker, as she can still do things on her own with his assistance. One day Anne tells Georges that she wishes not to continue to live, since she has become a burden to him. This distresses Georges, but when a former pupil of theirs, Alexandre Tharaud (himself), visits and Anne has a great conversation with him, he regains faith. Soon after Anne's condition worsens to the point she can't move on her own after another stroke. Eva comes by to see how they're doing and notices all the distress her father is under. They discuss what they want to do moving forward. Georges may be at his breaking point, but the love for his wife may give him the strength to carry on life or in fact his break spirit in the end.

This is a pretty rough movie to watch at points. At least for me it is. While it pulls off the charming old couple that clearly love each other, almost immediately, turns it on it's side. This movie starts to get darker and darker, so to speak, as this movie goes along.  The one thing it does keep though is the sense that the connection between the two is always still there. The story was pretty original to my knowledge. Sure maybe not flashy, but showing the later years of a couples lives has some merit. That they do all the same things than us youngins is nice to see. The characters were build up well, though we never saw then when they were young, we got to know Georges and Anne as they were fully mature in life and just living it. The two were build up well and carried it decently too. The acting was pretty solid by Jean-Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva, but there's not much to expound upon on that front. Random thought, I loved the parts of this where Georges writes a letter and Georges scenes involving a rouge pigeon. To continue, there are really no support characters to speak of in this aside from Eva, their daughter and their pupil, Alexandre. They have two scenes in the movie. But we never get to know more about them than we need to. I think I connect with the main two, because growing up my dad had a stroke and for years I watched (and when needed helped) my mom take care of my dad. I think that's where I had the most connection with this movie. On the caregiver aspect, that was done quite well.

There are problems with this movie. I like cinematography, so basically being set in about five rooms, albeit a gorgeous house, got me a little bored. I mean the house is a cool, classicly inspired looking home, but it wasn't something that always lent itself to my eye every scene on the movie. I like scenery, I like big, grand things I'll probably never see in my life, being stuck inside kinda dampened things for me. Also the dialogue, are older people this mundane, or am I just being a brash kid in thinking their conversations could be boring? There is a couple of heartfelt scenes that were good, as well as some humor between the couple. Otherwise all the things they talked about were just plain meh to me. The length is another huge aspect of this movie. with me getting bored of a lot of the dialogue, this nearly two hour movie was a pain to keep up with at times. There were a ton of scenes that really didn't need to be included and dragged for me. Also there's a ton of unnecessary little moment scenes. While I understand why they're there, I don't need to watch an 80 year old woman poop, shower or fall off of things multiple times. Cut this film down to an hour and a half and it might have retained some of the emotional connection I do have towards it. Instead of it just being long and winded to me. There are more small problems in this movie, to me, that offsets the stuff I actually did love, no pun intended, about Amour. 

I don't think there's much more I can say about this. Amour is a French movie that captures the essence of an ailing older couple. While there is an underlying heartfelt, well written, story to this. It turns out to be a well acted, but extremely dark look at this concept. Combine that with one location, boring dialogue and it being far too long, you have a movie that set its self up for you to fall in love with it. But in the end all Amour did was leave my heart wanting something better.


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Lincoln [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]


Daniel Day-Lewis is easily one of the most recognized and best actors of the past twenty plus years. With movies such as Gangs of New York, My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood under his belt, he won the best actor Oscar for two of those performances. Steven Spielberg hasn't produced and directed a movie I've liked since Catch Me If You Can back in 2002. But with a history like the one President Lincoln has and an outstanding actor in Daniel Day-Lewis he struck gold. Along with support in Sally Field, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln is the story of the final months of one of the most influential people in American history.

To put it simply, Lincoln follows the story of the last four months of President Abraham Lincoln's (Daniel Day-Lewis) life. These are the four months, starting in January, in which Lincoln struggled to pass the 13th Amendment in 1865. His main opposition in passing the 13th Amendment is radical republican leader Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones). His wife, Mary Lincoln Todd (Sally Field) is wearing thin. His son Robert Todd Lincoln (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is fighting for the Union. While his other son, Tad Lincoln (Gulliver McGrath), is being severely ignored by his mother at the time. Also worrying the family, is that his 1863 Emancipation Proclamation may not pass if the Civil War ends. With all the things going on in Lincoln's life; family problems, work problems and managing a war and country, this is a fascinating chronicle of the last months of Abraham Lincoln's life.

This, to me, is like history class turned into an amazing movie that I'll go back to after awhile. Where as history class I never wanna go back to again. Spielberg took this movie right out of the pages of the 2005 book,  "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearnis Goodwin. With the help of phenomenal acting and actors, he made this into one of the best historical movies of all time. The plot is very straightforward, which is exactly what you'd expect from a historical film and the story is one of the better ones from America's past. The attention to detail is one of the things I loved about this movie. The wardrobe, set design and the shooting of the battlefield, White House or any other historical place (or battle) was done beautifully. Also, Spielberg has said in interviews that the Smithsonian let his crew make an exact replica of Lincoln's pocket-watch. He's quoted as saying, when you hear his pocket watch in the movie, it's what Lincoln heard all those years ago. Holy crap, if that doesn't get you excited  you can just stop reading. No please don't though, or do, at this point I can't stop you.

The acting in this is astounding and it's really what makes the movie. Daniel Day-Lewis is the arch of this movie. From Lincoln's high pitched voice, to the stories that Abraham would tell to ease tension or stress, the humor, or seriousness, was never lost in this fine performance. I'd also assume if you went into this knowing it was only the tale of Lincoln's life, you'd have no idea that Lewis was Lincoln. It adds to the fact that you're watching Linclon's life, not Lewis', I liked that. Even past the amazing performance Daniel Day-Lewis puts on, the rest of the cast follows suit. Sally Field was a great First Lady and Lincoln's wife, Mary. You could she the emotion pouring towards her husband in the scenes they're in together. Tommy Lee Jones was outstanding as Thaddeus Stevens. Oh man, there was a scene where it was just Lewis and Jones having a conversation, and I was glued to the screen. Both men played off of each other superbly and Tommy Lee helps make this movie almost as much as Lewis. Joseph Gordon Levitt did well with the screen time he got, especially some scenes toward the end of the movie. Also Gulliver McGrath was pretty solid as Tad.

I highly enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I loved Daniel Day-Lewis from There Will Be Blood as well as Tommy Lee Jones from No Country For Old Men both back in 2007. Spielberg has always been able to create a great film, but I had a few reservations going into a historical movie. The length could have been a little shorter, this is a two hour movie, but since I never felt it dragged too much (there are a few scenes) I can look past it. The look, feel, story and acting are all amazing. With the acting really propelling this into the top of Best Picture nominations at this years Oscars. Lincoln is a very good historical drama you should not skip out on.


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Monday, February 11, 2013

Beasts of the Southern Wild [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]


This is going to be the first of four movies (all Best Picture of the Year nominees), and then the five animated shorts (all of the Best Animated Shorts nominees), that I'll be doing reviews on this week. As most of us know, next Sunday, the 24th, is the 85th Annual Academy Awards. These four movies I'm doing this week, including this one, Beasts of the Southern Wild, are the last four best picture nods I had not seen yet.

 Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of those indie type movies you don't hear a lot about until a few people see it and praise it. Or it gets nominated for best picture at the Oscars. Which is kinda sad since I had heard both good and bad opinions on this before the Oscar nods were even announced. While a talented cast needs some big name players, it's nice seeing talent I've never seen before act well in a movie like this. There are no huge name stars and the two leads are a five year old girl and a man who owned a successful bakery. I think we'll soon see if baking now becomes a part time job, as this movie is one you shouldn't sleep on.

Beasts of the Southern Wild follows the story of  Hushpuppy and Wink (Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry), a five year old girl and her hot-headed father. They live in a Louisiana area in the bayou called "The Bathtub". It's cut off from the mainland by a levee system. They live happily in this highly unorthodox community and believe that life is going well for them. The children in the town are being taught about Aurochs by their teacher Miss Bathsheba (Gina Montana) in school. Meanwhile a massive storm starts approaching The Bathtub and a lot of the population leaves. But a few dedicated habitats (including Hushpuppy and Wink) decide to ride out the storm. With Hushpuppy accidentally burning her house down, as well as seeing her dad suffer a heart attack, they are forced to ride out the storm at Wink's home. The two survive the night, and the storm, and begin to look for people in the town still the next morning. Having found a group of survivors besides themselves, Hushpuppy, Wink and the rest decide to rebuild this almost mythical place called, The Bathtub.

First off, this is one of the most bizarre movies I think I've ever seen. It's fantasy, drama and coming of age all rolled into one package that I'd never quite seen before. When I first started delving into research on this, I found out there's a book from the 1970s called "Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories". Then it became quickly apparent that the movie and book aren't related. Well, awesome. Why awesome you ask? Because this makes this story and plot fantastic. Like nothing ever done before. An outcast area in the bayou with it's own population, culture, traditions all living right under our noses is an awesome concept to me. The plot of this tight-knit group of people going through devastation, only to decide to rebuild is a cool, feel good, story to tell. Everything is highly original and that really did appeal to me. Also, Hushpuppy and Wink are awesome characters. There's a few townspeople and other people introduced, but it's almost irrelevant due to the writing for the duo. Wink as a ailing father trying to pass on life lessons to his five year old daughter? Just a cool concept. Their character development is great, since they're the only two we need to see. Once Hushpuppy's character gets in stride in the movie, its cool to watch. 

The acting was good I'd say and get's by due to a lot of narration, by Quvenzhané Wallis, and then it's more taken over by Dwight Henry when need be. I believe this was filmed when Quvenzhané was five or six, so doing all that she did for this movie really impressed me. What Dwight did impressed me as well. He came in as someone who owned a bakery, and went right into giving this as his first performance. Solid, solid stuff. The cinematography is great in this movie too. I've been watching a lot of movies set in neighborhoods and cities lately. So to be taken into almost the jungle like place that was The Bathtub was nice. This was filmed in the Terrebonne Parish in Louisiana and it really gave of the feel of a place so close to the world, yet still cut off from it.  The music in this was almost an after thought to me when I got into the more cinematic and theatrical stuff in here. The whole subplot with the flashes of Aurochs was a bit odd to me as well. I understand why they were thrown in and also partly why this movie was named I'm sure, but I'm not quite sold on them "stomping" in and out just yet. The length was perfect as this isn't an overly long two-hour crafted film. A lot of times movies can be overly long or just too short. This is one that ended up perfectly for me.

Despite all this praise I'm giving Beasts of the Southern Wild, and rightfully so, this ended up being just an okay movie for me. The plot and story, written by Lucy Alibar and director Ben Zeitlin, are highly original and the cinematography and length are perfect. There's just that "it factor" missing. The acting was as good as can be between Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry. I think this just lacked that spark, that breakout, that connection I have with other great movies. Maybe it's because I've never lived through a devastating storm or a need to rebuild my life. I just couldn't get fully into this. I really wanted to love this movie, but it only ended up as something I want to like more.


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Sunday, February 10, 2013

Superbad [A Fat Jesus Movie Review]


Hard to believe it's almost been six years since Superbad hit theaters. I remember seeing this when it came out on DVD after it's initial theatrical run. Since I was a filthy teenager at the time, of course I loved it. I saw it a couple times since, with friends, hanging out with people, etc. But this is the first time I've actually watched it again and focused in on the story, jokes and all the little nuances of this movie. Seth Rogen co-wrote one of the best raunchy coming of age teen comedies of all time. Though it's still behind the likes of Fast Times At Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused. Superbad is one of the modern comedies that really sort-of captured what it felt like for the less popular kids at the end of high-school.

Superbad follows the story of Seth, Evan and Fogell (Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and Chrisopher Mintz-Plasse). They are in their senior year of high-school and Evan and Fogell have gotten into different schools than Seth. Seth is paired with a girl named Jules (Emma Stone) in their home-ec class one day. She invites him to a party she's throwing since her parents are out of town. Since that day Fogell is getting a fake ID, Seth offers to being the alcohol to the party. Fogell shows the ID to Seth and Evan later in the day, but they highly dislike it for many reasons, including the name being only listed as "McLovin'". Seth decides that they have to use the ID and gives Fogell the list of alcohol to get. The ID works, but as he's paying a thief runs in, punches Fogell and steals the money form the cash register. The police are called and two cops, Slater and Michaels (Bill Hader and Seth Rogen) take statements from everyone. Seth and Evan decide that Fogell is a lost cause and leave to go to a party with a guy who hit Seth with his car. Meanwhile Fogell gets a impromptu ride-along. The two groups go in drastically different directions en route to Jules' party. Seth and Evan deal with the idea of finally being separated going to different schools, while Fogell gets once in a lifetime advice from two unorthodox cops.

This is one of Apatow's five best comedies during the years of 2004 to 2007. Where arguably he had his best comedies made. Anchorman, The 40-Year Old Virgin, Talladega Nights and Knocked Up are some of my favorite comedies of all time and Superbad stands with them pretty well. Co-written by Seth Rogen there's a ton of great one-liners and dialogue in one of the most raunchy and perverted movies you'll ever see. From a kid with an addiction to drawing penises, to a buddy cop duo so irreverent that would make anyone join the force, this movie is a lot more than over using curse words. The interactions between the characters, especially scenes involving the main three, are great. I was a high-school kid once upon a time, as I'm sure most people reading this are. We would try to put on acts in front of out parents or teachers, but we all wanted to be the cool kids. Cursing, cracking inappropriate jokes and sneaking around was apart of growing up. Though maybe not as much to this scale for a lot of us. The plot for this is pretty straightforward, though done in a way that was unique to help the comedy along. I mean kids getting a bad fake ID to buy booze for a party sounds really dull. Throwing in the "cool" cops, the older man going through a rough patch hitting a kid with his car and the high-school crushes we all had, makes the story more real and relatable. The music was an awesome touch as well, as it wasn't just generic party music. Exclusive jazz tracks by Lyle Workman and even a shout-out to The Roots, make this music in this pop.

There are a couple drawbacks to this though for me. Aside from the main five there's not a ton of character development. I would've loved to see Jules and Becca get more screen time as they were the main girls and it felt like we didn't REALLY get to know their characters till the last 30 minutes or so of the movie. Emma Stone has a great comedic air about her and this being one of her first movies I guess they didn't wanna test those waters too much. Now I've seen both versions of this, the theatrical and unrated editions. Both felt long to me, with the unrated sometimes being a chore. There's a ton of dragging or unnecessary scenes. The bar scene, while funny, could've been made shorter or cut. Also the parallel scene with Seth and Evan at the strangers party, while again funny, could've been cut down at the very least. Length is a huge plus or minus for me with movies. Nearly two hour comedies take a lot to be good the whole time. Cutting stuff definitely would've made this movie in that tier with something like 40-Year Old Virgin or Knocked Up. One more thing, and I say this with a lot of movies since a lot are filmed in LA, try to take advantage of the LA scenery. LA, from everything I've seen over the years is a beautiful place. Put in some pull backs, shots of famous landmarks or skylines. It doesn't hurt ANY movie to do that.

This is really one of the last few great Apatow produced movies before his slide began in 2009 after Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers and Pineapple Express. Seth Rogen co-wrote one of the great coming of age comedies of all time. Jonah Hill, established himself as a great lead for comedies, Michael Cera cemented himself as the type-cast timid funny man and Christopher Mintz-Plasse may have unfortunately given himself "McLovin'" for life. The length is something that I get by because Bill Hader and Seth Rogen play off each other so well in so many scenes. Even the long or unneeded ones. There is plenty of laughs that still stand today in whatever version you do watch and this is a good comedy to go back to every once in awhile.


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