In a year filled with Oscar bait movies, leave it to Danny Boyle to throw a wrench into the works with the crime/romance/bio/drama Slumdog Millionaire. It’s a fascinating film that keeps you on your toes and never asks more of you as an audience than is absolutely necessary.

By sheer luck, Jamal Malik (Dev Patel), a young man who grew up in the slums of Bombay and now works as an go-fer in a tech support call center, has made it onto India’s “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.” By even more luck, or possibly eerie coincidence, he’s got a shot at the 20 Million Rupee question. Jamal can’t believe it. Indian Regis (Anil Kapoor) can’t believe it. The Indian authorities can’t believe. Jamal is promptly arrested on suspicion of cheating. As he and the police cheif watch the tape of his performance, Jamal reveals the story of his life, with each chapter informing his correct answers to the questions presented to him.

If you were to ask me to pick one film to define director Danny Boyle’s career… I wouldn’t pick this one. But that’s only because he is a filmmaker who consistently mixes up the genres. Were I to name several of Spielberg’s films, you’d recognize them as Spielberg. Same with Scorsese, Fincher, Tarantino and Smith. They have their signature styles. While Boyle certainly a great director, and leaves his stamp on his films, he removes his personality from the film. If I didn’t know any better, I’d never be able to tell that Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later… and Slumdog Millionaire were all directed by the Boyle.

I commend Boyle for meshing the styles of Western filmmaking (he’s British) with Bollywood. Including the random, yet not out of place dance sequence during the end credits.

The performances from the actors are powerful, engaging and truthful. You aren’t hit over the head with the weight of what they’re doing. There’s a bizarre subtlty to it. Which is only bizarre when you realize that the 9 actors who play the leads (3 characters at different ages) have very little experience amongst the lot of them. It’s films like this that make me wish they had a best ensemble performance or best Casting Oscar. While an actor can have a great single performance in a great movie (or terrible movie, as is the case with the previous movie reviewed), sometimes the whole cast together elevates a movie, as is the case with this one.

What makes this film perform well is a great match of strong script and director. Boyle understood the story that needed to be told, and told it very well.

And I’ve got writers block.

So… in summation… Slumdog Millionaire= One of the best of the year.

Burn After Reading

4 stars

How dark and violent was last year’s Coen Bros. offering No Country for Old Men? Now… imagine that… only funny. And without Tommy Lee Jones. Such is the case of Burn After Reading. It’s dark. It’s violent. It’s hilarious. Really it is. In a year filled with several funny movies, this is another interesting entry into that cannon.

After finding what they believe to be top secret government documents, personal trainers Linda and Chad (Frances McDormand and Brad Pitt) engage CIA analyst Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) in a blackmailing scheme for the return of said documents. Unbeknownst to Linda, Chad and Osborne, the documents are actualy Osborne’s personal finance records, which his wife, Katie (Tilda Swinton), had prepared in advance of the divorce papers she is filing. The divorce papers are because she is leaving Osborne for U.S. Marshall Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney).

Sound complicated? It’s not, really. The comedy doesn’t draw from how they’re connected, but from that they’re even connected in the first place. Rarely does Brad Pitt take on roles that challenge his comedic prowess, but he was really able to sink his teeth into a role that let him shine. He showed glimpses of timing in the Ocean’s saga and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but this was his moment to prove himself, and prove himself he did. With a cast of great actors playing great characters (including Clooney, Swinton, McDormand and the always fantastic Malkovich), Pitt was truly the one to watch.

The thing about the Coen brothers, and I have yet to decide if this is a good thing or not, is that even when it seems like they’re phoning it in, they’re still a cut above the rest. They’ve been funnier (The Big Lebowski, O Brother Where Art Thou?) and they’ve been darker (Fargo, No Country For Old Men), but even when they’re just so-so (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers), they’re still watchable, if for nothing more than the quirkiness of their scripts. They were quirky and bizarre before it was trendy, and continue to transcend the palate of “quirky indie” to always remain a level above everyone else. With stories about wholly unlikeable characters, you find yourself siding with them for some reason or another.

Such is the case with Burn After Reading. It’s a story populated with cheaters, vain people, and all around total assholes. The few “good people” are disregarded by the rest, and Pitt, while generally good, is still an annoying D-bag. But you end up liking them for some reason. Can’t put my finger on it.

When compared to their previous effort, No Country For Old Men, this comes off as an easy follow-up, meant to rest their creative processes, and hopefully prepping for something bigger and better. But I would never decry someone to take an alternate route with a new film. And while we’ve seen similar efforts from the Coens, I don’t feel they’ve ever quite so successfully fused the comedy and the dark. They are filmmakers for which the term “black comedy” was practically invented.

I’ve been away for awhile, I know. Demands of the new job. But I’m returning with a double dose of reviews. Both comedies… both good.

Pineapple Express

4.5 Stars

There’s something to be said for stoner comedies. Some people will get them. Some people won’t. But they are generally funny if they aren’t too reliant on cliched jokes. Judd Apatow is proving himself to be the Pixar of R-Rated comedies: he just can’t seem to miss.

Dale (Seth Rogan) witnesses a dirty cop (Rosie Perez) and the city’s most ruthless drug-lord (Gary Cole) murder a member of a rival drug cartel, and subsequently drops a joint in his panic. But this isn’t any joint. This joint is some of the rarest weed on earth, the titular Pineapple Express. Since Ted Jones (Cole) is the primary supplier of it, he can easily track it to Dale and the dealer he bought it from, Saul (James Franco). Thus Dale and Saul embark in a game of cat and mouse, trying to stay one step ahead of their pursuers, all while trying to keep the groovy buzz going.

Apatow and Rogan have been ever pushing the boundries of the R-Rated comedy, ever since their break out success with The 40 Year Old Virgin. And this goes balls to the wall with action. The action comedy ground work laid down by Eddie Murphey in the 80’s, coupled with the stoner-buddy comedies of Cheech and Chong makes for a potent combination, one that I was initially wary of. But I shouldn’t have been. I should know that if it’s done by Apatow and crew, I need not worry.

It could have been a dumb little flick about weed. It could have been a mediocre entry into the Apatow cannon. But the bar keeps getting pushed higher (no pun intended) and the boundries expand further and further.

I wouldn’t say it’s completely brilliant, but it is a mostly original entry into the stoner comedy sub-genre. It’s one of the finer comedies to be released in recent years, especially amid all those *Insert random genre* Movie pieces of shit flicks that have been churned out with disturbing frequency.

The real hub of the film, the glue that kept it together, was James Franco. He takes a break from his more serious roles and takes on a role that he seems almost born to play. It’s good to see an actor play a character that’s out of his usual range and stock. It’s like when you go back and watch Sean Penn as Jeff Spicolli.

I laughed the whole way through, and it probably hasn’t been since Seth Rogan’s previous flick, Superbad, that I laughed so hard and so consistently at a flick. Highly recommended.

Tropic Thunder

4 Stars

Perhaps my expectations on this one were too high. But I couldn’t get into this one as much as I wanted to. It was good. I enjoyed it. I laughed a lot. It certainly wasn’t a bad movie, far from it. But I kinda wanted more. But Tom Cruise was the bomb.

Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey, JR. play prima-donna stars in a new Vietnam War epic, who are dropped into an actual South-East Asian war zone when their on and off screen antics get to be too much for rookie director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan). Stiller’s action star Tugg Speedman, Black’s comic actor Jeff Portney and Downey, Jr.’s method actor Kirk Lazarus unfortunately don’t know they’re in a real warzone and continue “acting” through real raids, real kiddnappings and real deaths. Hilarity ensues.

It does. It really does. There are times when there are several in-jokes, where if you’re an astute observer, as well as being well-versed in war flicks, you’ll get the jokes. I got them, but I’m a film nerd like that. Everybody did a damn fine job playing off each other, and no one stole the show (except Tom Cruise).

But… I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it. I was just expecting more, I guess.

As for the controversy… To me, the retard thing wasn’t that big of a deal. They weren’t making fun of the mentally handicapped. They were making fun of actors who feel like they have to play a mentally handicapped people in order prove their worth as an actor, and the sometimes ignorance of the actual affliction. Same thing with Downey, Jr. in black face. He was making fun of “method acting.” They’re highlighting the extremes of each, blowing it out of proportion to comedic effect. And it worked.

I felt everyone did a good job. And especially Cruise’s over-the-top cameo as bad ass movie producer. It almost seemed as if he was making fun of both his real life role as head of United Artists, and his role in Jerry Maguire. I dug it.

It was funny, I liked it, go see it in theatres… but to me, it was missing something that I just can’t put my finger on.

Brodie Fanns!

I was perusing other movie blogs, as I do from time to time. And one of my favourites is “Misfortune Cookie”, really cool stuff over there. Last week, I was checking it out, and she wrote this cool post on constructing the perfect day, using scenes from movies. This link takes you to the actual post.

I rather enjoyed it, and I figured I’d take a crack at it.

– I’d most likely start the day off recovering from the night before with Russell Hammond of Stillwater in Almost Famous.
– Then I’d probably grab a cheeseburger from Big Kahuna Burger, the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast, like in Pulp Fiction.
– After breakfast, I’d probably want to pick up some new records. First I’d head to High Fidelity’s Championship Vinyl, and try to trade barbs with Rob, Dick and Barry. Then I’d cruise over to Empire Records for “Rex Manning Day.” Say no more, mon amour.
– For lunch, I’d have to do Chotchkie’s, the favourite coffee spot for Office Space’s Peter, Michael and Samir.
– I’d probably take a trip to the convention center, see if they’ve got a comic book convention going on, like in Chasing Amy.
– I of course can’t make it through the day without taking in a Sonny Chiba flick or two, hook up with my good buddy Clarence Worely from True Romance.
– Dinner at American Psycho’s Dorsia with some co-workers, but only if we have reservations.
– In the late evening I’d probably go bowling for a game or two with The Dude, Walt and Donny from The Big Lebowski. Of course, I’d make sure not to step over the line.
– I’d spend the rest of the night chillin’ on the football field with the Robert E. Lee Class of ’77 out of Dazed and Confused. When I first conceptualized this list, I thought about just making my entire day out of that movie, but that would be cheating.

Get Smart

4.5 Stars

There have been many a great cinematic adaptations of television shows. And there have been many a terrible ones, too. Where does Get Smart fall? On this side of great. Not quite The Fugitive, but miles ahead of *shudder* The Brady Bunch.

We’re introduced to Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell), a mild-mannered and mostly naive analyst for CONTROL, a top-secret spy agency reportedly dismantled after the Cold War. He’s on the brink of becoming a full blown agent, but he’s just too good at his current job. But after the ruthless Siegfried (Terrance Stamp), leader of KAOS, bombs CONTROL headquarters and has their top agents assassinated, Smart gets promoted and gets assigned the task of bringing Siegfried to justice. All with the help of the beautiful, and more seasoned Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway), the superstar Agent 23 (Dwayne Johnson), and the careful guidence of the Chief (Alan Arkin).

With any adaptation of a TV show, and I probably delved into this a bit with Sex and the City, there’s always the fans of the show that are hinging on whether or not it will be a faithful adaptation of the show, or if it will just be a goofy take-off. But what do you do when the show you’re adapting starred the hilarious Don Adams, and was created by the even more hilarious Mel Brooks? Well, it’s going to be goofy. But it’s never insulting to the source material.

Get Smart the movie keeps the same light spirit as the show, with it’s bizarre take on the spy genre. And I think the parody/satire has evolved with the genre. Where the spy genre had to reinvent itself after the fall of the Soviet Union (you can thank 24 and The Bourne Identity for the reinvention), Get Smart had to follow suit and become relevent again. And it does so in glorious fashion. It takes a cue from the Bourne page and hypes up the action, but doesn’t strip itself of the slapstick and pratfalls. Carell and Hathaway have significantly more fight scenes than Adams and Barbara Feldon would have ever done, but that doesn’t mean they are completely gadget-less. In fact, with the fantastic progress in actual techhnology that has been made in the past 43 years, the gadgets were even funnier and more outlandish than they were back then.

I have to do it because it’s an iconic role… compare Carell to Adams as Smart. This was a hard role to take on, only because Adams poured so many idiosynchracies into the character, that to do a straight impersonation would have been wrong, and an ultimate fail. But to not play it like Adams would have been an insult to the character and the show. So Carell had to, and did, find that balance of playing the character, and also making it his own. It never became a charicature of Maxwell Smart. And that speaks volumes on Carell’s talent as a comedian.

The same could, and should, be said about Hathaway taking on 99. Granted she had a bit more wiggle room with the character (though not in that dress, yowzah! Very nice!) than Carell did. But I think she did a fantastic job of portraying super-sexy yet super-deadly and the whole time super-sweet secret agent that has to carry Smart through his first real mission, and oddly doesn’t seem to really mind.

I give major props for all involved, they really did an amazing job of capturing and subsequently updating the 40 year old TV show. You will not have more fun at the theatres at all… I sure as hell haven’t.

Brodie Fanns!

In my ongoing series to inform my reading public of the favourite films of the people in my life, I now bring you the list of the man who helped shape my taste in music, TV and film. My dad. This is a great list. I love almost all of these flicks.

Here you go:

10. Wrath of Kahn – The very best Star Trek movie. No Star Trek movie (original cast or TNG) has lived up to this one.

That’s my dad’s list. Reviews and other stuff to return next week.

-Brodie Mann!

Brodie Fanns!

I love you all. Not like that. Well… maybe you like that. You know who you are. Call me. Yeah…..

Anyway. I realize I kinda fucked myself by posting my top 5 romance flicks a few weeks ago. I should have held onto it for today.

Now I’ve got nothing to post, really.

Well… not a list per se… how about a collection of films about romance, love, relationships, that weren’t on that original list, but I enjoyed anyway.

First up…
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
I think it’s a funny take on the fractured marriage story.

Romeo + Juliet
It’s Dicaprio before his talent really matured, but I like it.

Out of Sight
Off-beat sure, but just about the only film featuring Jennifer Lopez I can watch.

Lost in Translation

Brodie Fanns!

I want to wish you all a Happy Christmas. You all mean so much to me. I hope your Holiday season is wonderful, and that the new year brings great things for you and yours. And for me, too.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

-Brodie Mann

So… I realize I’ve been on an unfortunate hiatus. But I’m coming back with a vengeance. Three reviews to come this weekend. But today is part 1 of my long awaited 7 part series of my top 100 Favourite Films of all time.

Now… this list isn’t a “Greatest Films” list. It’s a “My Favourites” list. I feel I have to make that distinction right away because I acknowledge that there are films I left off the list that are technically better than films I included, or the way the rankings go a technically superior film is ranked lower than another film. For example… I acknowledge that Gone With The Wind is a wonderfully made film in almost every aspect. But it’s not really my cup of tea. So it’s not on the list. Likewise if I were to look at the sheer mechanics of the two films, Citizen Kane would be higher than Dazed and Confused, but it’s not, because there’s the emotional and mental connection to Dazed and Confused that I feel weighs heavier on the decision.

There’s no way I could do a scientific ranking of all the films ever made, as I simply haven’t seen them all. But of the movies that I have seen, the ones presented here are my absolute favourite. It’s a combination of personal taste, technical merit and emotional attachment. Part I is 100-76, Part II will be 75-51, and from then on it will be in increments of 10 accompanied by YouTube clips, if a clip can be found. Occasionally I’ll post side lists, and at the end, I’ll post a summary report, with different stats from the list.

Keep in mind that while certain movies may be down near 100, these are 100 favourites. A quick look at my Flikster app on Facebook shows that I’ve reviewed or rated 1350 odd movies, I personally own nearly 500 DVD’s. I went through over 200 titles before I closed my Netflix account. I see anywhere between 40 and 70 new releases in theatres per year. And I have 3 tiers of movie channels, including their OnDemand services. Suffice it to say, I’ve seen a lot of movies. And these are all 5 Star flicks. So while it maybe 100, that doesn’t mean it isn’t damn good.

So here it is… 100-76

100) The Longest Day
99) Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair
98) Chinatown
97) Halloween
96) The Dirty Dozen
95) Shaun of the Dead
94) The Terminator 2: Judgment Day
93) Goldfinger
92) 2001: A Space Odyssey
91) Bullitt
90) The Maltese Falcon
89) Superman
88) Blade Runner
87) You Can’t Take It With You
86) The Wizard of Oz
85) To Kill a Mocking Bird
84) The Shining
83) Scream
82) Saving Private Ryan
81) Platoon
80) One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
79) North By Northwest
78) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
77) The Matrix
76) M*A*S*H*

Brodie Fanns!

So, some of you are probably wondering why I haven’t posted a blog or a list in while. Or you’re not, cause you don’t read my blog. Who knows? But if you do, then you’ve noticed it’s been a while since I’ve posted a review or a list.

Well, to be honest, there are several reasons. For one there have been weekends where I just haven’t seen a movie. Remember, I’m busy with two jobs and since I have to pay for all this out of my pocket, I can’t always afford it. But I try. Rest assured by the end of the week I’ll post 3 new reviews. I have one written. What the hell, I’ll post that one now. (Scroll to the end of the post to read the review of “The Kingdom”

Another reason is, as some of you know, I’m also a writer of scripts. Screenplays, if you will. I’d say “aspiring”, but that means I hope to be one some day. And as I’m currently writing one, that is a full 15 pages in, I think I’ve moved past the “Hope to be one” to just “I am one.” I got in a groove with my script, and I’ve been focusing a lot of energy on that.

I haven’t hit a wall with the writing of the script, I’m still going strong. But that being in the zone with it time period has past. I’ve got the next few scenes that I’m writing mapped out, so to speak, so I know where I’m going. I can return to telling you what films to watch, and what is cool in the top 10.

Just so you know, I am working on a few HUGE posts that are time consuming, just compiling information, stuff for the lists and what not. One is what currently stands as a “Top 13 Reasons Why Scrubs is the Best Medical Show On Television”, but that number could change. I’m also working on what I call a “Love Letter to the Movies.” It’s a mini-auto-biography on why Brodie loves movies so damn much. This fall’s must read. Well… it’s the must read as far as myspace blogs written by me go.

Anywho, that’s just a little update, so you know I’m not dead. And to give you a taste of the upcoming reviews… Yes, it is possible for me to not think a George Clooney film is not the best thing known to man (shocking, isn’t it) and gangland flicks starring Marky Mark kinda peaked with The Departed.

Keep it real, homies,

-Brodie Mann

AND NOW… THE KINGDOM

The Kingdom

3 Stars

Movies covering any war are always a touchy subject. But covering a current one is just asking for controversy. Peter Berg tackles current American/Saudi relations in his new thriller The Kingdom, and isn’t exactly the political thriller it could have been.

Following a carefully coordinated series of attacks on an American oil company’s community in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, which left several FBI agents dead, a team of agents is sent to collect evidence and find out who was the mastermind of the attacks. American bureaucracy, Saudi traditions and cultural differences hinder their investigation along the way, but the team stops at nothing to catch the perpetrators of the heinous attacks.

At first glance, it seems like a noble effort on the part of Berg (Friday Night Lights, Very Bad Things) to fuse the action and political thriller genres, and on some levels, it works. It really does. But it’s also a deterrent, because by that same merit, it seems doomed to fail. Which makes this film hard to pin down. I honestly can’t tell which genre to put it into, and subsequently which one to judge it as. It moves around in both with great ease, but never really breaks the two to be it’s own film. It fascinates audiences while confusing them at the same time. Ultimately I have to determine which one is more dominant, and write my review as such. Hopefully I figure it out by the time I’m done writing it.

One must give credit to the cast, Jamie Foxx, Jason Bateman, Chris Cooper and Jennifer Garner play the FBI agents sent to Saudi Arabia, while their Saudi escort, Ashraf Barhom, should get equal attention, as he really pulls the story together for the characters. They could have played it as the atypical Americans vs. Saudis, us vs. them type of mentality, with the rah rah governmental attitude, but they didn’t, and it’s a true credit to their abilities to not do so with a story such as this, considering the geopolitical climate.

The strongest asset this movie has is it’s script. It perfects the balance of a political thriller and action war flick, one too few movies have even attempted. And it packs an emotional punch at the end that the general American audience may not even appreciate, but is full of impact none the less.

Overall, it’s definitely worth a look. But would I expect any sort of attention come awards season? Probably not anything outside of technical awards, and even that’s stretching it a bit, as that didn’t stand out. Though in a year of mostly underwhelming films, even the moderately good stand out as the cream of the crop.