2010 Rewind: "True Grit"

When Oscar season rolls into town you can expect a few things: popcorn flicks are put into hibernation, several foreign language films will see a limited release in New York (meaning no one will see them), and of course there will be a historical film or two about the nazis. Over the past few years a new trend has emerged to join the ranks of these other venerated traditions, the appearance of a Coen brother film. In 2010 we had "True Grit".

Ignoring the fact that this film is based on a novel and has already been adapted to the big screen in the past with legendary screen gem John Wayne himself, the Coens take this rather simple western story about revenge and the emergence of law and intellectuals into the anarchistic wild frontier and reshape it into their own highly entertaining vision that can be enjoyed by nearly all audiences.

The film has great acting, terrific cinematography, a compelling script, and some gut busting scenes of comedy that prove once again that the Coens are masters of comic timing and are always able to pull the best line delivery from their actors.

Helping to deliver those lines is an all-star cast of dependable actors who are strangely all playing second string to a young actress who not only serves as the film's protagonist but also it's sacred cow. To say that she has acting talent seems wildly inaccurate as this girl could have stood to win the best actress award this year, if the Academy hadn't pigeon holed her into the supporting actress category. She'll probably be someone we see a lot of in the near future and I couldn't be more happy to see some fresh blood in Hollywood that didn't get to where they are by posing on the cover of a hot rod magazine.

Everything about this movie is so very perfect that it might seem odd to hear me say that I really felt like the Coens were putting their feet up and vacationing with this one. Everything is by the book and feels like so many other Coen films in the past, but even when they are slumming, the dynamic duo somehow manage to turn out material that blows most competitors out of the water. They definitely know film and are very accomplished artists; "True Grit" may be nothing new or special but it is highly entertaining and is one of those rarities that will please the cinema snobs and matinee popcorn texters alike. Check it out.

2010 Rewind: "Black Swan"

Being an artist is tough. Aside from pursuing a career that has no security or long term prospects, the physical and mental strain it places on the individual is enough to drive most mad. Every morning artists wake up and strive for perfection and in many cases they go by unrewarded and worst of all, sometimes completely unrecognized. It's a wonder that artists don't all lose their minds at some point early in their career, which leads us to the topic of the movie "Black Swan".

Considered a spiritual successor to Darren Aronofsky's previous film, "The Wrestler", "Black Swan" observes the behave and destructive dedication that performers go through in order to reach that next level of their career.

The film follows Natalie Portman, a young girl gunning for the lead role in her troop's production of Swan Lake. In every way she's perfectly suited for the white swan position; she's humble, delicate, fragile, a perfect unblemished innocent. Unfortunately, in order to play the white swan, tradition dictates that she must also be the black swan, a symbol of unbridled sexuality and precocious adolescent lust and temptation. The audience is treated to the maddening lengths that one young girl will go to in order to achieve her goals as she slowly changes from the shy girl next door to a passionately unchecked ball of emotional confusion and sexual discovery.

Where the film truly excels is in the presentation. Mirroring her mental transformation, we are treated to a hauntingly bizarre physical metamorphosis that brings into the very question of the character's mental state and radically alters the viewer's perspective; thrashing and tearing at the walls of reality and exposing a twisted fantasy that blurs the lines of reality and psychosis.

For all the struggling artists out there and even for all of you workaholics, this film is something that needs to be seen. There's definitely a hidden message buried within the context here, about the dangers of perfection and the harsh reality of personal discovery and the nightmarish roads that we sometimes must take that will lead to our own happiness.

2010 Rewind: "The Town"

Americans love a good crime story. Perhaps they're nothing more than a twisted reflection of our inner wants and desires, but I feel like criminals intrigue us because they embody freedom. They do as they please and they're often rewarded for their efforts; the American dream in all of its shady glory. As a result, making a crime thriller seems like the easiest way to print cash but its not always the case. Criminals by their very nature are bad people, and while they may be fun to watch, we also need some semblance of humanity in order to attach ourselves towards whatever their plight is. No matter what a persons' actions may say, deep down we have a hard time sympathizing with those who step outside the boundaries of civility, which is why the great crime stories of our country's filmography tend to focus on strong character development.

Hot off the heels of his previous Boston based film "Gone Baby, Gone" Ben Affleck proves once again that what he may lack in acting skills he more than makes up for in direction. Clearly a learned man, Affleck shows all the potential of a young Scorsese with his latest film "The Town".

On the surface, "The Town" is nothing more than a movie about a bank robber who is trying to find a way out of the business. On a technical level however, there is a lot more going on. The various character relationships and goals of everyone involved spins a delightful web of suspense and white-knuckle entertainment from start to finish. Each person no matter how important or minor, is given some business and feels like a fully fleshed out individual who contributes immensely towards the overall objective of the film. Top it off with the near perfect performances with some clever dialogue and scenes of tension and you've got an instant classic.

One can only hope that we will continue to see more work from Ben Affleck along the lines of "The Town". Now if only the Academy Awards could recognize him for his efforts then we'd all be good.

2010 Rewind: "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World"

One of the biggest cinematic disasters that await studios occurs when they try to adapt a video game or comic book to a live action full-length feature. The concern isn't that the source material is poor or that it wouldn't make an interesting film, the real challenge comes from most peoples' inability or complete misunderstanding of translating two entirely separate mediums into a film format.

Video games are a narrative that is structured around interaction. There is a large emphasis on allowing the player to dictate the event of the story; and as a result, diverges heavily from more traditional screenplay narratives. Comics are a unique visual entertainment in that they are free to play with aspect ratio and distort perspective and reality to communicate nonverbal ideas. These elements have remained a huge hurdle for movie studios to overcome and while a few comic films have broken the mold, most of them are still disasters on the scale of the Titanic, while video game movies continue to be nothing more than shameless cash-ins on popular trends. Thankfully the world was blessed by the grace of Edgar Wright, a man who can seemingly do no wrong who decided to challenge the world by bringing about the first A+ video game title that was based off, of all things, a comic book.

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" is one of those revolutionary films. Similar to "Fight Club" or even Oscar contenders like "American Beauty", "Scott Pilgrim" changed the way we will forever look at movies. By seamlessly incorporating the imagery and symbolism commonly found in games and comics into the visual narrative, Mr. Wright created a spectacular template of stylized high energy perfection that helped strength the dialogue and exposition.

Visuals and editing aside, it helped that the film was based on some very strong source material. "Scott Pilgrim" is a very smart of clever tale that perfectly sums up the ideologies and modern zeitgeist of a 21st century 20-something-year-old who is entangled in a post-college malaise and all the drama and hyper sexuality that kids have to go through when trying to make it in the world. Taking these common themes and projecting them through the mind of a kid who's entire life is predicated upon music, games, comics, and movies is one of the most satisfying and sensible analogy to be committed to popular expression.

The greatest strength of the movie however, is held in its marriage of fidelity and independence. Because video games and comics are not written as screenplays first it would be silly to do a completely loyal adaptation without making a few modifications. On the other hand, if you change too much then the original message and feel of the story risks getting washed away. A large portion of all film adaptations suffer from these two problems; the ones we remember as classics, like "The Dark Knight" change the stories while keeping the feel and tone of the original intact. "Scott Pilgrim" does just that; it still feels like a thorough translation of the comic while also giving the audience a completely new experience that they haven't seen before.

Normally I don’t pick favorites, but the more and more I dwell on the subject, “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” is starting to become my favorite film of 2010. Well done Edgar Wright, well done.

2010 Rewind: "Toy Story 3"

There's a sort of bitter sweet quality involved in the ending of a franchise. On the one hand you hate to see your long time friend leave, on the other you acknowledge that all things are finite and must have a respectable curtain call.

Too movie franchises share the tragic fate of being run into the ground when corporate big wigs demand the teats of the sacred cash cow be milked dry, resulting in a final product that doesn't resolve anything and leaves the series in a state of perpetual limbo only to have it rebooted in a few years. Luckily, Pixar has a tendency to deliver Grade-A products and knows when its much beloved progenitor franchise deserves a comfortable seat at the retirement home.

Thanks to Pixar's awareness of Toy Story's age and importance to the company they put lots of work into this finally. It perfectly ties up all plot threads and gives the audience a memorable ending that both solidifies that the journey we have all grown up with is over, but also reminds us that the adventures of these individual characters will carry on long after the events of this movie even if we never get to see them.

"Toy Story 3" is an emotional experience which most live-action films can only dream of having. In many ways this movie is the greatest love letter made for a devoted fan base in history, but it also serves as a wonderful instruction manual for other film makers to learn from. Where so many have failed, this film provides the perfect template for trilogy resolution.

Honestly, this movie contains it all; in many ways it deserves to win best picture this year, but as we all know, that's not the way the Academy Awards Ceremony works. Oh well.

2010 Rewind: "Inception"

"The Matrix" was a movie idolized by many because of the broad surrealist plot that explored the nature of computers, machines, and what it meant to be human. To most this was something fresh and exciting, a spectacle that had never been conceived before those genius Watchowski brothers penned the story idea into a neat little 110 page screenplay (give or take a few pages). For science fiction nerds it was familiar territory though. Many of the story hooks came from other resources and creative visionaries like William Gibson and Philip K. Dick and the Watchowski bros openly admitted to borrowing heavily from these sources. Were they wrong to take these ideas and fabricate it into something else and slap their names on it? No, of course not, study enough literature and you'll see that pretty much everything has been done already. What set "The Matrix" aside from its predecessors was its amazing camera work, groundbreaking visuals, and fight choreography that governed the way future action movies would be directed. So you can see why I felt lost when a tidal wave of angry consumers came back from seeing "Inception" and dismissed it as nothing more than a "Matrix clone".

Christopher Nolan, now a recognized demigod amongst nerd fandom for his riveting Batman movies, is a person who can seemingly do no wrong. He's a master student that can take nearly any idea and improve upon it with his own unique sensibility. "Inception" was an idea he had been formulating for supposedly seven years and was meant to be both an homage and evolution to the science fiction genre. "Blade Runner", "The Matrix", "Johnny Mnemonic", "Aliens", and a heap of other titles were films Nolan claimed inspired this project. He wanted to leave an imprint on history with his own fantastical creation and in this critic's opinion, he succeeded.

By plumbing the rich lore that comes attached with the psychology of dreams and mixing it with the elements of a heist film, Nolan spawned a rare treat by combining a high octane summer action film with cerebral philosophical concepts. To be fair, most of the language being spoken here is pretty watered down compared to other brain teasers, and while vocal minorities of high nosed pseudo-intellectuals have cried foul they fail to recognize its greatest strength. No, not everyone out there will understand what is going on in "Inception", but most will. It's not a film that talks down to its audience but neither is it an open book. By carefully crafting the exposition holding the audiences hand just a little bit, Nolan managed to arrest any confusion that may be associated with the mechanics of the plot and left the viewer to interpret the various shadowy metaphysical components as independent and autonomous fragments to be analyzed on their own merits.

Rarely do you see a movie that tries to combine two diametrically opposing genres, but it’s usually a treat when you do. "Inception" is that once in a decade action mind bender that raises the intelligence quotient of the general human populace a few degrees and it’s always a delight to have those things around. So no, the movie didn't bring us anything we haven't seen before but the execution of all the moving parts was so flawless that it's hard to get upset without looking like a pretentious parrot who really isn't bringing any solid counter arguments to the conversation other than "It's just like 'The Matrix" or "The movie thinks it’s smart but the philosophy is amateurish at best". Yeah, I'm coming off a little strong on the naysayers with this one but to be honest they deserved to be ridiculed. The movie is devilishly clever and shows a tremendous amount of polish and love for the genre, and if you can't appreciate that, than I don't know what else to say other than, chill out.

2010 Rewind: "Kick-Ass"

Let me begin this one by talking about one of my biggest movie pet peeves (I'll write a whole article about these sometime in the future). I can not stand it when people forgive a horrible movie simply because it had "good action" and "stuff 'sploded real good". Sure, the ultimate goal of any piece of entertainment is to keep the audience entertained, but if it comes at the cost of a decent cohesive story and interesting characters can you really say it was worth it? What I'm proposing is that you CAN eat both sides of this delicious chocolate coin without having to give up anything in return. Don't go setting your standards too low here, folks; "Kick-Ass" is one of those rare movies that delicately balances all the elements together into a smorgasbord fit for a fleet of Vikings in the halls of Valhalla.

As you may or may not know, the film was adapted from a fairly popular comic book which was being published around the same time the film was in production. What hit theaters was a masterpiece that parodied the genre by deconstructing its tropes and being self-aware of the limitations and logistics of real life heroes. The movie was very funny, had some great action segments, and experimented with a lot of quirky, albeit, lovable new film ideas that pleased all but the most curmudgeonly of old cooks (here's looking at you, Roger Ebert). "Kick-Ass" gave audiences everything they could hope for in an action flick and raised it high above the competition by remembering to give us those all important materials of story telling: a structured narrative and interesting characters.

Without a doubt the movie follows a traditional three act plot that goes through the tried and true motions of a hero's journey. In act one, we are introduced to the nerdy comic book kid. We get to know about his life, what he enjoys, and most importantly we see his frustration with other people's lack to help others. Act two begins after the hero rises to the challenge and accepts his calling. We then spend our time being introduced to the supporting cast and allowing for the characters to go through some interesting moral dilemmas and confront some of their darkest moments. Managing to overcome their defeats, the hero goes on to defeat what ever evil threat or obstacle stood in their way in act three. After that its a done deal and we watch the credits roll. Simple, sweet, familiar, and no wasted time or awkward development of fourth or fifth acts.

To compliment the story we are also given characters we can relate to on a human level. The movie spends a large portion of its time lingering on the events of their daily lives and gives us a fleshed out map that illustrates every aspect of their psyche. Even the characters that are clearly meant as comical parodies seem strikingly human and realistic thanks to this effort to develop them as real people first and characters second.

This extra effort to go the distance and ensure all pieces of the puzzle are properly put into place is what set this movie apart from other mindless action schlock. No matter how mentally enfeebled we may think the average movie goer is, there is a portion of the brain that picks up on these subtle touches and recognizes them as the all important cherry that completes the cinematic sundae. "Kick-Ass" had everything most action movies have been failing to incorporate and as a result it managed to stick around as one of the top movies I remember watching in 2010.

2010 Rewind: "Shutter Island"

When movie studios have little faith in a film project they tend to place it at a time of the year when there is little competition. The early months of the year for example, are ample moments for these films to see a wide release and rake in some dough that may not have been earned otherwise. While it's true many of the films that satisfy a comfortable niche market during these cinematic lulls are considered among the years worst, every now and then a true gem emerges that is doomed to be forgotten by most critics and audiences by the time the new year roles around and a new batch of films is ready to fill that same dead zone.

"Shutter Island" was a Martin Scorsese film that surprised America by telling a remarkable chilling edge-of-your-seat thriller during a time when most people were still waiting for the big summer season to hit. Presenting a classic story of paranoia and creepy ambiance rather than jump scares or gross-out moments resulted in some big box office bucks and reminded us all that Martin Scorsese was a man who understands horror ("Cape Fear", anyone?).

Truth be told the story is somewhat predictable and if you are anything of a crime story snob than you could have probably guessed the ending of the film just by looking at the trailer; but that's not what makes this film so great. People tend to forget that originality is not the end-all be-all of cinema. When you take a familiar idea and put it into the hands of experts, sometimes the end result is something that transcends the limitations that are present at face, or paper, value.
Martin Scorsese brought his A-game with this one reminding, us all how much of an influence one auteur can make. The cast also did a commendable job breathing a lot of mystery and depth into their complex and puzzled labyrinthine characters' psyches.

The true show stealer with this one had to be the editing though. For those who pay attention, the movie subtly shift aspects of the scene around between cuts playing with the audiences' sense of perspective and understanding. Whether we all saw what was happening or not, our minds were still being fed information that something wasn't right from our view point. This slick style of mental manipulation was one of the hallmarks of this year for thrillers and to see the Oscars ignore it for the category of editing is a crime I won't soon forget.

If you haven't invested the time to catch this one then I suggest you do so right away. There's nothing here story-wise that will blow your mind, but the careful detail layered into every single shot and performance on display is mind bending and will have you replaying the film in your head days after you've finished viewing.

Obligatory Movie Awards Guestimations (Not to Mention Gesticulation, Which You Unfortunately Can't See)

2010 has long since past but the fetid odor of its corpse still lingers in the upholstery of pop-culture (I apologize for that metaphor). Since I tend to make a big deal about movies on this blog page I decided to throw my hat into the game and spend the next week talking about the best movies from last year as well as my thoughts on this years Oscar contenders. If you don't like reading about movie ceremonies or don't give a flying frigate about the "art" of film making, then please take this moment to familiarize yourself with the back button on your internet browser window and come back in about a week when all of this is over and I have some video game material to report on.

Sacred Barbeque: Mortal Kombat

Put down that sissy salad fork and grab one of them big Outbreak steak knives, 'cause I've got the grill fired up and its time we all indulged in some succulent deified cow meat. The first entree being served up in this experimental kitchen of culinary editorial cuisine is none other than the '90s classic, "Mortal Kombat".

For those of you born somewhere beyond the mid '90s let me give you a brief history on the importance of fighting games in the grand spectrum of video game history. Back in the late '70s and throughout a large portion of the early '80s arcades were the dominant provider of electronic entertainment. Sure, consoles existed such as the various Atari platforms, but most of their libraries consisted of poor arcade ports that removed all the glitz and glamor from the mammoth machines as well as that all so important competitive edge thanks to leader boards. Several companies tried to bring a unique experience to the home market but most of them failed and it lead to a very dark time for console players as future prospects seemed dim.

Luckily for us introverted house rats a couple of wise sages from across the ocean developed a little known console called the Famicom, which you may better remember as the Nintendo Entertainment System, a strikingly ingenious new device that not only brought the quality of console machines to a new plateau of excellence but was also key in developing the first set of platforming single-player titles that would forever set the mold for the console industry. The years to come were not kind to arcades and while they still did enough business to stay afloat they were no longer the looming titans governing the gods. Consoles had made their mark and as you can see by today's atmosphere they had a solid foundation that would last up until present day. Now what most of you youngin's or gaming neophytes may not realize is that the arcade scene was not out of the fight just yet. Entering into the scene somewhere in the early '90s was Capcom, a Japanese based developer responsible for creating some of the best platformers for the Nintendo during the '80s. Not content to just claim master over the NES, the company decided to take that same level of precision and care applied towards their triple-A console games and bring it back to the arcades to birth one of the most competitive games to ever see the light of day, "Street Fighter 2".

"Street Fighter 2" in many ways was the definitive fighter. In fact it was so well designed that the game is still considered a benchmark to be used for gaming tournaments thanks to the extreme levels of skill and balance that was emphasized in its core design. Sure, there were a few minor exploits and cheap combos at first but whatever problems existed in the initial release were slowly smoothed over with each new edition to hit the market. Arcades had once again exploded in popularity and children were lining up around the blocks to get their opportunity to put down some quarters and throw down.

If you were to ask most kids above the age of 20 whether or not they had any fond memories of "Street Fighter 2" I can guarantee most will fire back with long-winded hour long epics about the countless quarters they invested to sharpen their skills and prove their mettle. Even I can recall the times I used to play "Street Fighter 2" at my local public pool; the arcade had suffered so much water damage that it emitted a painful static aura when you placed your hands on the face buttons, but even this uncomfortable annoyance wasn't enough to keep me away from dispensing loose change while getting a quick bite to eat.

Of course, this article isn't really about "Street Fighter 2" now, is it? No, this article is about the Midway counter attack to Capcom's classic. A little title of gore and misery by the name of "Mortal Kombat".

Wanting a piece of that oh so delicious pie, Midway Entertainment and two fellows by the name of Ed Boon and John Tobias decided to create their own competitive fighter. This new title borrowed heavily from Capcom but had several distinctive differences that set it apart from its predecessor: it used a form of motion capture to give the characters a more realistic appearance, it was gory beyond all belief, and it was an inferior game. I'll allow a moment for the hissing and jeers from my peers (hey, that rhymes!) to settle, but "Mortal Kombat's" intense popularity was not predicated on its balance or revolutionary gameplay, it was all contingent upon the presence of blood and brutal dismemberment.

Now to be perfectly fair I can understand why this caused so much hype and interest. Shortly after the games release it became the media's poster child for everything wrong with the blossoming game industry and was quickly swept up as some sort of scapegoat for crime and violence amongst a misunderstood American youth. What news outlets didn't understand was that the attention they were giving the game was exactly what it needed to make a name for itself. Kids, in their infinite curiosity and penchant to go against their parents' wishes, were stealing quarters and sneaking out of their homes to go decapitate their friends and have a good ol' time in the process. Looking back on the whole event it seems rather silly, and it doesn't take a person with more than two braincells to rub together to realize that this game had little impact on the developing minds of teenage boys; it was escapist violence that helped quell aggressive tendencies and in that sense the game should be commended. Where the game shouldn't be congratulated though is in its game play.

Defenders of "Mortal Kombat" seem to fall victim to echolalia as they all chant praise towards "Mortal Kombat" for bringing games to a much more mature level. Admittedly the game was probably responsible for the invention of the ESRB rating but to act as if it was the sole contributor for something that was going to happen anyways is just absurd. Unlike developments in game design, violence is something that always existed in the background waiting for the opportunity to emerge. In 1988, four years before "Mortal Kombat" was released there was "Splatterhouse", a game so violent it came with a warning label. Someone could even extrapolate violence from the simple act of Mario jumping on a Koopa's head by adding red pixels. Let's not forget about sex either, in the mid '80s the Japanese and several Atari developers had already explored the possibilities of interactive pornography (sex, being a topic so taboo in the states that its still the only real way to ensure a NC-17 rating in film).

Regardless of what anyone says games were destined to become more and more violent. Living in the shadow of their big brother in the entertainment industry, films (which had long since adopted a rating system to allow for more graphic subject matter), video games had entered those awkward teenage years (and in this writers opinion are still stuck in a perpetual adolescent limbo) and were trying to establish a unique persona for themselves where rules and regulations regarding decency need not apply.

to solidify my argument let's take a detour and examine one of the big game changers of game play, "Everquest", and see why it differs from the advent of violence. While online gaming had existed for long enough to guarantee that someone would eventually create a massively multi-player experience, the existence of most contemporary MMOs are contingent upon the core game mechanics that Verrant Interactive had established with their benchmark title. "Everquest" was a radical idea that was just waiting to be built but the actual "way" in which the game was played is far more important. Quest design and raid encounters realized in a fully explorable 3D environment were ideas that no one had explored before and were not gravitating towards any kind of singularity of gimmicks or appealing to the lowest common denominator. "Mortal Kombat", in terms of game player on the other hand, has only contributed the fatality maneuver. As an industry flagship I'll agree that it was partially responsible for making games a whee bit more mature, but the word "mature" being used here is somewhat relative as the cartoonish levels of violence and sex that has spawned in its wake seem more childish than adult.

I'm not going to deny "Mortal Kombat" its place in gaming history, but I will take it down a few pegs; ultimately the game was nothing more than a poor duplicate of the king of fighters (that's "Street Fighter 2", not to be confused with the actual game, "King of Fighters") and the past decade has exposed the series for being nothing more than a publicity stunt that appeals to an audience belonging to an infantile mental age group. I hear they are trying to reboot the series again, but with Capcom's dominion of fighting games still alive and well with "Street Fighter 4" and this writers most anticipated new release "Marvel Vs. Capcom 3" it may end up arriving as cold as a dead fish in the arctic. Let's face it, layers upon layers of caked on viscera and blood can't hide the inconvenient reality that a poorly inspired game is nothing more than mediocre.

About Last January

Any of you true believers may have been disappointed to see that the number of posts last month was at a staggeringly low total of two. I apologize for this complete lack of updates but alas January was a busy month for yours truly and it doesn't help when the first quarter of each year is usually the low point in the entertainment industries resulting in a complete lack of material to write about. Still, the hibernation of the film and game industry is no excuse for me to be putting off on writing topics, especially when there is so much old content that I still want to talk about. So once again, I'm sorry for failing all of you, but February is another month and that means another 30 days - scratch that - 28 days to provide plenty of entertainment for the avid internet readers. In fact, I've already got a treat lined up for you all so sit tight and enjoy some old favorites this month as well as some brand new segments.