Three This Week: Chronicle, John Carter, and Silent House

Chronicle
(John Trank, 2012)

Chronicle is a movie about superpowers. It tries to do something few other "powers" movies have done and it succeeds for the most part. In many ways it is like the cult time travel film Primer in the approach that it takes to telling a story about how negative things can come from having access to awesome power. Overall I felt like the FX were decent (especially relative to films like Cloverfield and fellow South African District 9). I feel like we are almost "getting there" with the integration of POV filming and "verité" effects. Still this film had some obvious story issues and some weak acting at times. A decent effort and a lesson to bullies. . . . (5/7)

(I wish Shane Carruth and Primer had had $12M to play with. . . .)

John Carter
(Andrew Stanton, 2012)

John Carter is Andrew Stanton's (Wall-E, Finding Nemo ) attempt to translate the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic "A Princess of Mars" to the big screen. In terms of capturing the essence of the source material while avoiding some of the author's own weaknesses he succeeds. This is a fun film. It has some nice editing and the effects are generally not distractingly CG looking. The costume, prop, and set design are all solid and in places stunning. The inclusion of the Edgar Rice Burroughs character (Daryl Sabara) is actually in keeping with the original material! I like that most of HBO's ROME cast seem to have made it into the film. Giacchino's score is fine. I liked the 3D too. Good escapist play. Taylor Kitsch looks appropriate as John Carter and Lynn Collins is beautiful as Dejah Thoris. Willem Dafoe is great as Tars Tarkas. Also my name: Jed is prominent throughout the original material and film. Way to go. 6/7

Go to the website or IMDB and look at the full voice cast: some heavy hitters in there!
Hopefully the sequel will be better.

Silent House
(Chris Kentis/ Laura Lau, 2012)

Silent House attempts to raise the fear bar and exploit the "single long take" idea to tell what to me is a wholly predictable and unoriginal story. I liked the acting by Elizabeth Olsen-- but once I conceived of where the story was going in the first 20 minutes or so, it is just a long wait to be right. I was. Like Haute Tension I would have liked this movie much better if it was not a scary story about real people with fractured selves. Spoiler alert! Oops. Hey predictable is as predictable does. Still this was scary but the long take scheme adds little cinematic value to the story. Disturbing in the way that Hard Candy, Butterfly Effect and Gothika are disturbing.
(5/7 for scenic scares, 4/7 for obvious storytelling)

Haywire and Warhorse

Haywire
(2011, Steven Soderbergh)

The short of it is: Gina Carano works as an action star but this film was too contemplative and the story a bit contrived. Decent lensing. Nice triangle choke. A sequel might work. Michael Fassbender can do no wrong. I hoped for more and better and nudity. 4/7

Trailer

Warhorse
(2011, Steven Spielberg)

A tear jerker. Animal movies are sad. A decent film with competent acting. Some nice locations and war action. Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch show that they are actors to watch. Peter Mullan has one of the best voices around. Hopefully young Jeremy Irvine does not go astray as an actor because he was pretty believable in Warhorse. Not a bad film from Mr. S'berg. 5/7

Trailer

Sleeping Beauty

(2011, Julia Leigh)

Check it.

The Grey (¡¡Advanced Screening!!)

(2012, Joe Carnahan)

Okay so I won tix to Liam Neeson's new wilderness survival pic from good old Nordling at AICN. So that was cool. . . Nordling raved about this exciting movie and seemed to think Mr. Neeson would be up for an Oscar if it were not after the selection period. I am not sure about that but the acting is good. (H-town's own) Dallas Roberts is really good as is Frank Grillo (in important supporting roles). I like to describe Frank Grillo as the handsomest man that director's manage to make look really rough. This is a fairly unremarkable story of plane crash victims versus ravening wolves. There are some nice poetic edits, some nice lensing, some decent wolf effects (KNB), and we get to hear Liam Neeson be Irish. There is good emotion here but I did not cry and there is no double-punchiness. . . think the somberness of The Road but not as bleak. I want to like Joe Carnahan-- I dug Smokin' Aces, and I found the A-team pleasantly surprising. There were some logical gaps in this film and if I say that then there are some logical gaps in this film. Stay through the credits if you want. . . . (5/7)

Official Site

The Divide (Coming Soon)

(2011, Xavier Gens)

The up coming film the Divide. Reminds me of a post-apocalyptic re-telling of a certain Bible story I was working on. . . Damn Collective Unconscious!

The Divide Official Site

Trailer

On DVD: Freeze Frame (2004)

(2004, John Simpson)

This is a film I saw years ago and could never remember what it was called. Now I rediscovered it! I found this movie to be a rather original take on a murder mystery. Sean Veil is accused of a crime he maintains he did not commit and spends all of his time filming himself in case he is ever accused of another crime. . . which of course he is. A tale of well-placed paranoia, evidence, and opportunity. A visceral and stirring performance by Lee Evans as Sean Veil (he actually shaved his eyebrows for the role!!) (5/7)

Trailer

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

(2011, Guy Ritchie)

Not as crisply executed as the first film, this story follows an actual Holmes tale (the Final Problem) much more closely than the initial Holmes outing. Here we get to see Holmes square off with arch-nemesis James Moriarity (played by Jared Harris). There is some good action and fun banter between Jude Law's wonderful Watson and Robert Downey, Jr.'s Holmes. Noomi Rapace (of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo fame) works well as a gypsy fortune teller caught up in revolutionary politics. Paul Anderson as the diabolical crack shot Sebastian Moran is well cast. An enjoyable romp with a good score by Hans Zimmer. This film also introduces Stephen Fry (Jeeves and Wooster) as a brilliantly, nay definitively, cast Mycroft Holmes-- Sherlock's older, smarter brother. A surprising commentary on the rise of the military industrial complex. (6/7)

Trailer