Archive for November, 2011
Way late review: Street Thief
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
I had the disadvantage of seeing Street Thief five years after it was originally released. In between 2006 and now, I’ve seen more than a few documentary, found footage style fictional films. The newness of that approach to fiction films has worn off. Had I seen Street Thief closer to when it was released rather than discovering it on Netflix streaming five years later, I probably would have enjoyed it more.
The story is straight forward. A documentary filmmaker connects with a professional thief, Kaspar Karr (Malik Bader). The film wastes no time showing Karr in action as he robs a grocery store. From there we get to know the man a little, though he’s guarded and suspicious of the filmmaker’s motives. Karr takes us through the ins and outs of various robberies. He shares little tips along the way as he cases his next target. Setting aside disbelief that any great thief (as Karr claims to be) would allow someone to film him in this manner, the insights into the strategy and tactics used hold interest. In between all the action are cuts to interviews with a professional thief in prison. These scenes provide a good contrast between Karr’s arrogant, I’m not your average criminal and the sage advice of someone who thought he was just that but finds himself in prison anyway.
Around the half way mark a seemingly straightforward robbery goes awry. We’re not told why and then Karr disappears for two months. Finally, out of nowhere, Karr reappears and gets back in touch with the filmmaker, though never explaining why he disappeared or what exactly happened during the robbery of the night club two months ago. The next target is a movie theater. It is clear by the amount of careful planning Karr puts into this job that we’re seeing a new level of thievery. Again, setting aside disbelief that a thief would go to such great lengths to plan this perfect heist yet allow it all to be filmed as a documentary, the setup and execution hold interest, though the low fidelity film making becomes aggravating. This more significant robbery demands better camera work. But that’s a big down side to this sub-genre. In order to keep things real one can never break away from run and gun filming.
The rest of the movie plays out with some twists which are definite spoilers. The ending felt long and forced mainly because the disbelief the movie required throughout was impossible to hold all the way to the end.
Street Thief succeeds more than it fails. Malik Bader as Kaspar Carr carries the film well. The contrast of Carr with interviews of a similar criminal in prison worked. The details revealed before, during and after each robbery were engaging. All this outweighs the shortcomings of the format (fictional documentary) of the film.
This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.
Topics: Entertainment, Movie Reviews | 2 Comments »
Quote from EC: “I have seen so many teeth but yours is the best.”
Monday, November 28, 2011
My now ten year old son decided he’d play the part of the “Tooth Pixie” for his sister who lost her first tooth over the weekend. He left the following note:
Dear Leia Hoover,
I love your tooth. In return I give you this $5 dollar bill. I have seen so many teeth but yours is the best. Love the Tooth Pixie.
XP
Apparently the Tooth Pixie signs all official letters with “XP”. Who knew?
Topics: EC Quotes | No Comments »
Way late review: The King’s Speech
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Colin Firth plays King George VI, a man who struggled with a terrible stammer since a young age. In fact, before Firth becomes king in the film, we watch as he struggles to give public speeches. The camera work makes us feel the full emotion of the struggle as it gets catastrophically close. There is nowhere to hide, not for Firth, not for us. Meanwhile, King George V is getting older and losing his health. He has two sons, one (Guy Pearce) a loose canon with little interest in royalty beyond the exploits it affords him, and the other (Firth) who seems destined for the throne except for that one nagging problem – he can’t speak a complete sentence without stammering through it.
Firth’s wife (Helena Bonham Carter) pushes for Firth to get help. She seeks out the best therapist in the land and this leads her to Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an Australian who has some seemingly unusual tactics for helping his patients overcome their speech impediments. Like any film where we have an underdog student and an unorthodox teacher, there is the fairly typical progression in the budding relationship between the two and the improvement in the student. Thankfully the director (Tom Hooper) never over does it and the acting never goes into the dreaded territory of “Oscar bait” performances. The relationship between Firth and Rush’s characters is believable and enjoyable to watch, even when you know exactly where the story is headed.
True, The King’s Speech has some trite scenes but they never left me rolling my eyes or ruining the story as a whole. And the final triumphant scene (sorry if that spoils it for you) is rather subtle, especially when you consider sports themed films that follow a similar narrative which culminate in manipulative melodrama. The King’s Speech isn’t perfect but it is one of those movies that is very hard not to enjoy.
This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.
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Way late review: Planet of the Apes
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Fast forward to 2011 and I’m more patient with watching films. Since I really enjoyed this year’s ape movie, I wanted to give the original a full viewing. I ended up watching it with my ten year old son and six year old daughter. I was sure they wouldn’t make it more than thirty minutes. To my shock, they made it all the way to the end, though it tested their patience along the way.
I enjoyed Planet of the Apes overall. I’ve always liked the idea of the story. The overall execution was well done, campiness and all. The ape costumes were still a bit terrifying with the mouths barely moving when talking but that’s also part of the fun. What was less than fun was when the film tries desperately to hit you over the head with its themes, using heavy handed dialogue that takes place in a single setting, normally with long dialogue between Heston and one or more ape. It wouldn’t be bad to have one of these scenes but there were at least three and none of them added significantly to the story. There are some deep messages being preached in the movie, but by the time one of these overly long scenes ended all I could think about was if we’d get to see some more action. For all its good intentions, Planet of the Apes is at its best when the expedition is downplayed and the action is moved to the forefront. Just enough expedition and exploration of deeper themes goes a long way to making a film like this hit the perfect balance between action and deeper meaning. Unfortunately, the screenplay for Apes seems determined to hit the viewer over the head with not so subtle ideas about social justice, religion, and science.
I love the idea of Planet of the Apes. When Charlton Heston gets to play the role of action hero, it’s highly entertaining. Seeing him act so dramatically with these strange looking simians who ride around on horses was mostly fun. Discovering even more ways The Rise of the Planet of the Apes subtly made references to its original predecessor was also a lot of fun. The famous ending, complete with Heston’s over the top reaction topped it all off in a way that was at once campy and oh so serious.
This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.
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Way late review: Chop Shop
Friday, November 25, 2011
We don’t learn much about Alejandro (who most call “Ale”) early on beyond the fact that he’s a street smart kid without any adult custodians, mentors or guidance. The only family Ale appears to have is a teenage sister, Isamar (Isamar Gonzales), who Ale serves as the caretaker for. He secures a tiny room above the car shop he works at for he and his sister. She gets a job working at a street food vendor, though the contrast between her work ethic and Ale’s are hard to miss. While Ale endlessly works with determination, Isamar is more reluctant. Ale appears so responsible that it’s easy to forget this is a homeless kid with little education and no one to care for him. The adults in Ale’s life aren’t portrayed as good or bad. Rather they are people who see a hard working kid they can pay a little money in order to make themselves more money. It would be easy for the story to portray these adults as villains and introduce another as a hero who saves Ale and Isamar from the life they’ve been forced into. Chop Shop is not that kind of movie. There are no adults stepping up and saving the day. Ale is left to fend for himself and his sister.
Chop Shop had an odd effect on me as I found myself seeing Ale as a young adult, not the child he was. It isn’t until about half way through the movie where I was shaken from this misconception. Ale was once again a child, forced to live in an adult world without a single adult to love and care for him. The cause for this change in my reaction is the closest you’ll come to a spoiler in a movie that doesn’t rely on a deep plot, so I’ll stop delving further.
The film as a whole has a documentary like feel to it. The camera never strays far from its subjects. The acting never feels like acting. Every moment feels real, which also makes it a challenge to watch at times. The harsh realities for young homeless kids does not make for a feel good movie. After watching Chop Shop, I wondered if it would have been done even better as a documentary. The almost cold and sterile approach to the filmmaking combined with difficult subject matter makes for a challenging watch. Overall it’s a well done film and the challenge to watch is most definitely rewarding.
This post is part of my Way late reviews. Read more reviews here.
Topics: Entertainment, Movie Reviews | No Comments »