Film Journal — 2/7/10
Monsters, Inc.
My top five Pixar films list goes like this:
1) Toy Story 2
2) Monsters, Inc.
3) Wall-E
4) Up
5) Ratatouille
The key factor for me in each of the top two is the level of comedy writing, with Monsters and Toy Story each playing like the best buddy comedies. The blend of Laurel-and-Hardy-esque repartee with more juvenile gags and child-like imagination and wonder (particularly in Monsters) raises these films above the other outstanding Pixar offerings. (Really, they’re all fantastic, but I was surprised how aged the first Toy Story felt on a recent viewing). In particular, the door-room sequence at the climax of Monsters, like the baggage-belts/airport sequence in Toy Story 2, stands out as some of the finest animated action you’ll find.
Final score: 5 out of 5
Jackie Brown
As a huge Tarantino fan, this was an omission that I had been looking to correct for a long time. The overarching critical consensus that I’d seen was that this was his most “mature” work, which is interesting considering it was his third feature in a career that approaching two decades. I don’t necessarily disagree with that assessment, but I feel that the reaction may have more to do with the genre choices and sources that Tarantino drew from here as opposed to something like Kill Bill or Grindhouse. I was unaware — though not surprised to learn— that this was based on a Leonard novel, which indicates that perhaps Tarantino was intentionally limiting himself by tying his own range of choices to the writer’s text. Whatever the case, it’s a brilliant film, and certainly more restrained feeling than other Tarantino efforts.
Final score: 5 out of 5
District 13: Ultimatum and District B13
It was a real treat to see Ultimatum, the sequel to one of my favorite action films of the last decade, at one of my all-time favorite theaters, Village East Cinemas. Having watched the sequel, re-visiting the original — directed by Pierre Morel, who used the film as a launching point for a real break-out career — provided some perspective. In many ways, the newer film is a near remake, hitting many almost identical plot-points and with a central twist that is remarkably similar. Of course, both sprung from the well-practiced pen of Luc Besson, so that’s not entirely a surprise. That being said, the one thing that lifts Ultimatum, even despite its mimicry, is what felt like a greatly expanded budget and a more post-modern sense of self. Stars Raffaelli and Belle are better as well.
In general, everything feels just a little more polished and a little bigger — the openings providing the most instructive example. In the original, we are informed of B13 through title cards, and then we quickly zip through the district witnessing drug use, violence and degradation. The scene is bleak, but not beyond recognition. In Ultimatum, this exact same mechanism opens the film, but now we fly through a district divided into racial fiefdoms, each a comic-book caricature of stereotyped Parisian citizens. There’s the white supremacists, the Africans, the Muslims, the Asians (Chinese?) and then what appeared to me to be lower-class French, but could have been a spin on traditional Italian mafiosos. These groups trend more toward Doomsday silliness than actual social commentary, and they lack the nuance, or perhaps just the restraint, of the monolithic gang that populates the original. And what of K2 — easily one of the best parts of the first film.
Taken on its own however, the sequel is just as terrific, and even surpasses the original in many areas. Raffaelli’s fight sequences have more “Oh damn!” type moments, and the casino bust in act one (yes, there’s another casino bust) is far wilder — owing more to the Jackie Chan police films than the original. While the addition of the multiple gangs should have in theory led to more complex political plotting, the reverse is more true. The stereotypes really don’t matter much other than for characterization, and the true enemy or threat is never really in doubt.
Like Besson and Morel’s Taken, both of these should be filed in the guilty pleasure category, but there’s far more meat — and wit — on these bones than in Taken. And while Liam Neeson may be unmatched as a snarler, Raffaelli and Belle are stunt men whose feats are not to be missed.
Final score: Both, 4 out of 5
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
There’s not a whole lot to say about this one. We started it while doing some cleaning, and though we made it to the end, it was really more out of indifference than anything else. It was interesting when viewed in the context of Observe and Report, which we also recently watched. There’s a level of self-loathing pulsing through Paul Blart that can’t be completely brushed away with the saccharine conclusion. In that way it’s not completely out of step with Jody Hill’s misanthropic masterpiece, it’s simply refitted for a PG audience.
Final score: 1 out of 5
