Watchable French dramedy based on a true story of the improbable friendship between a rich quadraplegic and a lower-class young man from the ghettos. Will inevitably be remade by Hollywood (the Weinsteins already bought the rights), though some of the best lol moments will have to be rewritten – they were quite un-PC 🙂
Category Archives: Passive Media
The Intouchables (2011, dir. Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano): watchable French dramedy
Total Recall (2012, dir. Len Wiseman): not as fun as the Schwarzenegger/Verhoeven 1990 version
I see the crap movies then tell you about them so you don’t have to … the latest being the Total Recall (2012) remake … wasn’t as fun or OTT as the Schwarzenegger/ Verhoeven 1990 version (though it hews closer to the Phillip K Dick source material) … plays out like a big-budget Bourne movie set in the future. The 1990 adaptation and Inception dealt with the “am I in a dream or not” theme better (e.g. the scene with the sweat bead vs. the tear), Inception also captured the relationship angle better, and the Bourne movies (plus Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)) better explored the amnesia implications. Overall, OK to watch if it’s for free on Netflix, you’re bored, and you’ve already seen the other better movies 🙂
The Hunger Games (2012, dir. Gary Ross): smart, well-made thriller
Smart, well-made thriller which appeals both to the Twilight/Harry Potter set and adult auds who enjoy intelligent action movies. BO should be sky high. For the unitiated, take the central premise of Battle Royale (1999 Japanese novel of teenagers fighting to the death for sport under a totalitarian regime), set it in near future America, then throw in elements from The Truman Show (1998 Peter Weir flick) and the overall story arc from Gladiator (2000 Ridley Scott film). Though it plays more like The Running Man (1982 Stephen King novel, 1987 Schwarzenegger vehicle) than Lord of the Flies (1954 William Golding novel). Jennifer Lawrence shows how Kristen Stewart how to act, though it’s clear the weak link is Josh Hutcherson (who plays Peeta Mellark), especialy if Peeta has a big role in the sequels.
The Muppets (2011, dir. James Bobin): fun nostalgia trip for Generation X
For those who grew up in the 70s and 80s, the Muppets are usually a fond memory of zany puppetry, colourful characters and occasionally uproarious skits. Disney’s revival of the franchise plays up the nostagia value with a simple story about “getting the band back together”, but doesn’t offer much else that would turn it into a classic for the older folk, nor a new hook for the younger generation. Entertaining for a while, but ultimately forgettable, and curiously enough, not one for the kids.
Cowboys & Aliens (2011, dir. Jon Favreau): does what it says on the packet
Passable B movie fare, the story is nonsensical, and both leads Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are dialing it in, but the action and CGI sequences are OK. Just from the title alone, it could have been far worse, I guess. Does what it says on the packet, no more, no less.
Terra Nova (2011 TV series): mindless, big-budget fun for the family
Steven Spielberg’s latest TV show is a big-budget cross between Jurassic Park (dinosaurs and action adventure), Lost (wilderness survival, mysteries, long story arc) and a typical family drama (pick any, like Brothers & Sisters). It mostly delivers as a family action adventure show, and is quite watchable, but falls short of greatness. When watching, I’ve mostly been thinking, “gee, they should adapt Julian May’s Saga of Pliocene Exile, that would make a brilliant TV or film series.”
Contagion (2011, dir. Steve Soderbergh): Soderbergh’s Traffic meets global pandemics of a virus, fear and bureaucracy
Plays as an extended episode of the excellent Canadian TV show ReGenesis (watch it on Hulu Plus if you’re a fan of this film or Fringe). Soderbergh applies the multi-layered documentary-like formula of Academy Award-winning Traffic (2000) to a global virus pandemic, exploring also the societal implications – the contagion of fear, and morass of bureaucracy.
Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows Part 2 (2011, dir. David Yates): among the superior HP films, themselves better than the books, but that’s a low bar
The fanboys (and girls) will likely be satisfied, and those others of us who trudged through the rest of the movies will find it a more entertaining and quicker-paced conclusion (certainly compared with the insufferably slow Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009), and the interminably boring Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)). Things come to an end, but because I didn’t much care about the characters, it really wasn’t very dramatic or triumphant or even sad. Truth be told, I did feel a twinge of regret that the vast resources of money and filmic talent could not have been put toward adapting more worthy material!
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011, dir. Joe Johnston): serviceable comic book fare
Serviceable comic book fare, Captain America: The First Avenger tells a simple story which is better executed than its predecessor Avenger movie, Thor. It’s not as jingoistic as you might expect, given the name. The hook is that Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) was selected to become a superhero not because he knows how to beat up the bad guys, but precisely because he isn’t a bully and doesn’t want to kill anybody, even if they are Nazis.
The Tree of Life (2011, dir. Terrence Malick): impressionistic nature doco with little real drama
I spent most of this film’s running time worrying about the Bluetooth headset that I’d misplaced somewhere … to summarize the plot, Jack (Sean Penn) wakes up, walks to work, travels up an elevator, has some meetings at the office, rides back down the elevator, and walks back home as the sun starts setting. During the day, he reminisces about growing up in 1950s suburban Texas. The good parts are random scenes evoking childhood feelings, and a pretty cool but irrelevant CGI sequence showcasing the birth of the universe and of life on Earth. But nothing really hangs together
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