Broken City

Broken City

2013
Crime/neo-Film Noir
3.0 stars out of 5

As I watched this movie, I almost stopped after the first third and wrote a scathing review. I thought it should be re-named Cliché City or Dumb and Dumber III. But for even so inept a movie, I thought that it was inept of me to not watch the entire movie. So, I slogged on, and was surprised in the second act, and even more so in the final act.

Like so many, I loved “Chinatown” and then later “L.A. Confidential”, and when I saw this movie’s description and that it starred Russell Crowe and Mark Wahlberg, I thought great, a new Film Noir with two excellent actors. As I note above, the first act quickly disabused me of that idea. Crowe, an actor I greatly admire (see for example The Insider) plays sleazy Mayor Hostetler in a manner so over the top; I kept asking myself, is this intentional? How could he so overact this part? Wahlberg plays (and very well I might add) Billy Taggart, a disgraced and humbled former detective hired by the mayor to investigate the mayor’s wife Cathleen, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Billy stumbles along taking pictures and not understanding a thing. Billy is so not paying attention, and after one too many dead giveaways that all is not as it seems, you start wonder how Billy ever graduated from Grade School let alone made it to detective.

However, as the movie progressed, it pulled me in. There are no big twists by movie’s end that could not be seen from a mile away, but it does have a satisfactory story arc and an acceptable ending. The other reason to watch is to catch another performance by Jeffery Wright (currently stealing the show on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire as Dr. Narcisse) as he plays the police commissioner working for whom? This latter point is the one part of the movie that kept me watching – I was never sure until the end in this character’s case.

No graphic violence, but mature themes keep this one for the adults.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2013
Fantasy
4.5 stars out of 5

I love science fiction, but I am normally only mildly interested in fantasy. The problem for both genres is that they make up their own rules for their various universes, but then too often break them whenever it is convenient to do so. Why it works better for me in science fiction than in fantasy is hard to say, but I think it has to do with whole concept of the Suspension of Disbelief. Every work of fiction requires such a suspension, but how often or how far the writer requires you to suspend it is where the problem lies; too often, the writer has destroyed an otherwise good story. And in my opinion, flying multi-ton, fire breathing, (did I mention, talking) dragons where everyone else in this universe is constrained by the normal rules of gravity are for me problematic.

Now that I have that off my chest, I loved this episode of “The Hobbit” by Peter Jackson. He has done again what is for me the most astounding job of telling an almost un-filmable story. His cinemagraphic vision is breathtaking. I could go see any of the previous Lord of the Ring Trilogy movies or the more recent first two Hobbit movies just to lose myself in his various aerial shots of grand landscapes. In this movie Jackson has achieved an astonishing film sequence along a river that combines incredible stunts, camera angles and CGI that truly has to be seen. I think it could be used as a class in film school.

To be sure, Jackson’s technical artistry is consistently good throughout the movie (the various CGI men or orcs on horses or wargs are a weird lapse of quality), but this story brings more. We have the opportunity to watch two subplots wherein the seduction of power begins its corrosive effects on two of our heroes: Bilbo, played by Martin Freeman, falls further under the Ring’s lure and Thorin, well-played by Richard Armitrage, continues a multi-generational obsession with a large jewel. This theme also plays out in the Ring Trilogy. It makes one wonder if Tolkien, when he wrote The Hobbit in the late 1930’s, was overtly commenting on Hitler and his cohort. The main theme of The Hobbit (as well as the Lord of the Rings) is The Quest wherein Good is locked in constant and near overwhelming combat with Evil. And, of course, this is where fiction almost always gets in trouble: the good guys never miss, and the bad guys never hit. But Jackson tells this old tale so well.

This movie is really worth seeing if you’re ten or older. It is far too violent for the little ones.

Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies

2013

Comedy/Love Story/Horror

3.5 stars out of 5

While I am a fan of many zombie movies, I am not that big a fan of the classic Boy Meets Girl, Boy Loses Girl, Boy Gets Girl back three act play. But hey, put both together in one movie and I have to see it. 

You would think it tough to make the story of a zombie boy falling in love with a human girl work, but work it does. If fact, I found myself completely engaging in the couple’s story in the first reel. You can see them as zombies, and you can see them as people with human needs. At times between the laughs, you could almost tear up if you engage a little too much.

The movie tells the story of R a zombie teen played by Nicholas Hoult and the object of his desire, Julie played by Teresa Palmer. We learn of his unease at being a zombie but also of his interest in things human (a rather odd variation to Ariel’s fascination in The Little Mermaid). R must woo Julie under rather vexing circumstances, but is eventually able to do so, roughly anyway. By the third reel R has a much improved complexion, a beating heart, and a new life.

The movie has a few rough zombie thrills, but is quite frankly a really refreshing version of an old story; two old stories actually.