Lately, I've been trying to get back to the movies, since I love going to the movies and love that great, dying art form. So, I thought it might be time to share a few thoughts from about the most recent movies I've seen:
IRON MAN 2
My grade: B
In a Hollywood where every movie seems to be either a sequel, a remake or an adaptation of some previous greater (or lesser) work, it seems almost pointless to compare Iron Man 2 to it's predecessor. It is a movie off of the Marvel assembly line--having established the basic template in Iron Man by introducing us to the key characters while also sketching a picture of our flawed superhero--every movie carrying the Iron Man brand name from this point forward is going to plug in different supervillians from the comic books while riffing on the basic themes and character points established in the original. Such is Iron Man 2.
Enter a few new characters this time: a comely new assistant, Natalie Rushman a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff a.k.a. "the Black Widow" (Scarlett Johansson - the more "a.k.a"'s a character has by the way, the better); a shadowy, badass operative named Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson); a weaselly rival to Tony Stark/Iron Man in Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and our ugly Russian villain, Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke, almost stealing the movie).
Mix them all up, press start on the blender, add generous impressive special effects, make sure to allow for some impressive Robert Downey Jr. verbal riffing and, voila! Instant crowd pleaser and box office smash. Nothing I could possibly say would prevent this movie from making close to a billion dollars worldwide, but I will note that as much as I enjoyed it--and I enjoyed the hell out of most of it--I am aware that Hollywood could and should do better. After all, the comic book genre has given us some transcendent movies in the not-too-distant past: The Dark Knight, Spider-Man 2, the first Iron Man. Iron Man 2 is fun but it feels a little like the latest shiny car off of the assembly line. Thank goodness for Robert Downey Jr., who looks like he's having the time of his life and imbues that feeling throughout the entire movie.
Also stars: Don Cheadle, Garry Shandling, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau and Clark Gregg. Written by Justin Theroux (based on the comic book created by Stan Lee). Directed by Jon Favreau. Rated PG-13 for special effects violence and intense action sequences. There may also be a couple of curse words.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
(in Swedish, with subtitles)
My Grade: A
I haven't yet become a part of the almost cult-like following that almost worships the "Millenium Trilogy" of mystery thrillers by the late Stieg Larssen (this movie is an adaptation of the first book), but I couldn't pass up a chance to check out the first movie adaptation of one of these acclaimed thrillers. I wasn't disappointed, although I was shocked at the level of violence. Considering the original Swedish title of the novel was "Men Who Hate Women", I can't say the violence is inappropriate.
Tautly written, very well acted and subtly, but noticeably political in it's intent, T.G.W.T.D.T grips you from the beginning and never lets you go, eventually weaving together what at first seem to be two very different plot threads into a classically structured mystery-thriller that deals with rape, murder, Nazis, a wealthy family and financial malfeasance among other things.
Have I been too vague? I am probably assuming that if you're reading this then a) you've already read the book or b) you want to and you want to discover everything for yourself. I will say that the inevitably crappy American remake (already in pre-production) will probably tone down the violence and go with a leading lady with nowhere the spunk or edge of Swedish actress Noomi Rapace. However, if I can make a suggestion, the American remake could do worse than Emma Stone, an American actress of Swedish descent who might--read MIGHT--have the chops and the edge to do the part of Lisbeth justice (see below).
Stars Noomi Rapace and Michael Nyqvist. Written by Nikolaj Arcel, Rasmus Heisterberg (from the novel by Stieg Larssen). Directed by Niels Arden Oplev. Rated "R" for graphic rape, strong sexuality, violence, adult themes and nudity.
ZOMBIELAND (DVD)
My Grade: C-
I checked this one out through Netflix because a) my wife suddenly became very interested in a certain zombie-based video game and b) the commercials made it look tongue-in-cheek, stylish and different than the typical zombie movie. "B" turned out to be true, but that wasn't quite enough I'm afraid. Even though zombie horror comedies have become all the rage (thank you, Edgar Wright), an essential component of the better ones is that you are still afraid of the zombies. It also helps if the zombies in some way comment either satirically or ironically on something in contemporary society. In Zombieland, neither of these components is present and the movie suffers as a result. As gross as the flesh eating zombies appear to be, they never seem to be more than a mere nuisance.
This movie has several things going for it: Jesse Eisenberg plays a sheltered OCD young man known as "Columbus" who is forced out of his nerdy agoraphobia by a plague outbreak, but still keeps a lengthy list of "rules" that he religously follows in order to cope with it all; Woody Harrelson plays a Twinkie-obsessed redneck who loves to kill zombies; Abigail Breslin (maturing nicely from Little Miss Sunshine) and the aforementioned Emma Stone are grifter sisters with their own set of rules. They seem to be the only four non-zombies left in the world. Well...there's one other non-zombie, but in what turns out to be Zombieland's best and most subversive sequence, it's best if I don't tell you who shows up.
All in all, Zombieland was a disappointment to me. The cast was game, there are some occasionally funny moments and I liked the way "Columbus'" rules sometimes flashed on screen with creative and gruesome examples of how he carried them out. But the whole picture could have been so much...more. More fun, more hilarious, more gruesome, more detailed, even more wise. Sometimes less is more. Usually though, more is more, know what I mean?
Stars Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin. Written by Rhett Rheese and Paul Wernick. Directed by Reuben Fleischer. Rated "R" for gore, violence and profanity.
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