Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, La Vie en Rose, Lights in the Dusk
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer *1/2
Directed by Tim Story
92 Minutes
Rated PG for sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo.
"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," the newest installment in the summer of sequels, is just as stupid, lame, cartooney, and plot less as the first film from two years ago. Tim Story has made a mockery out of what could have been some of the best superhero films ever. Picking up two years later, we join the Fantastic Four on the eve of the wedding between Reed Richards and Sue Storm-also known as Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman. Fantastic has the power of stretching himself anywhere he wants, and the Invisible Woman. . . well, you can figure that out. Joining them are Johnny Storm-The Human Torch, who can engulf himself in flames-and Ben Grimm-The Thing, who is just a giant rock form of his former self. The Thing has found love with Alicia, who is blind so can see his inner beauty-blah blah blah. And then. . . . disaster strikes as the Earth is being visited by a mysterious silver. . . surfer, who has destroyed a number of planets only after a few days of contact. And when the United States government finds the four's dastardly arch enemy Dr. Doom, they have to try and trust him to destroy the surfer.
There is just way too much silliness going on, and never any type of character development. The only real character that deems some kind of development could be The Thing, but with his blind lady love that inner struggle just pales away. Perhaps in Johnny Storm-the ladies man who watches as all of his friends are in happy relationships-there is some hint of sadness, but that just comes from him being a jerk, and not an inner struggle as a result of his superpowers. And in a ninety minute film-considerably shorter than most of the other summer fare of late, which could be a good thing-there are only two action scenes amidst as the talking. And once again, if the talking had been used to expand on these character-much like the talking throughout "Spider-Man 3"-I would not have minded, but it was just scientific jimber jamber. Seriously, they could just have been saying anything using big words and the audience would still not understand. The acting is extremely horrid-and Jessica Alba still can't be taken seriously as "one of the greatest minds in the country." Michael Chiklis, as The Thing, may be the best performance, but his cheesy jokes placed throughout just ruin it for him. I changed my mind. The best acting work was the three second Stan Lee cameo, which actually made me laugh. And most of all, I just feel bad for The Silver Surfer, who could have had his own movie in a year or two-and yet was reduced to an introduction in this dribble. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" could be the worst film of the summer. I've given Tim Story his chance to redo his mistakes from one, and instead he gave me more of the same. While this may be slightly better than the first, it isn't saying much.
La Vie en Rose **
Directed by Olivier Dahan
140 Minutes
Rated PG-13 for substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, language and thematic elements.
I will be crucified for this one by some cinematic psycho one day for saying the next two statements. Statement One: I was not a fan of "La Vie en Rose," to the point where I will even say it was a bad film. Statement Two: I was not blown away by the performance of Marion Cotillard in any way at all. And while I exited the theatre I heard people use the words "amazing" and "great" in regards to it, while I was kind of confused. "La Vie en Rose" is a biopic of Edith Piaf, but don't let the fancy French subtitles fool you. There is nothing in this film quality wise that makes it any different from a Hollywood biopic. There are still the montages, the extended musical bits, the drug problems. And it is all centered by a performance by Miss. Cotillard, who is sure to get hoards of nominations and maybe even an Oscar nomination, but I could not seem to get into it. I was more impressed by the make-up department than her acting, which managed to show different ages by Piaf, as the film jumps in time more than "The Good Shepherd." Bloated and overlong, "La Vie en Rose" is sure to be hailed as a biographical masterpiece by critics and audiences alike, and yet I found it to be one of the more overrated films I've seen all year. I checked my watch far too many times, and when Marion Cotillard's name came onto the screen at the end, instead of joining my audience in applause, I got up and walked out of the screening room. In movie land-the life of Edith Piaf is no different than the life of Ray Charles, of Johnny Cash. The language may differ, but its all the same movie.
Lights in the Dusk ***
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
78 Minutes
Not Rated-Brief Violence, Maybe Language. . . I Can't Remember
"Lights in the Dusk" is my first venture into the cinematic world of Aki Kaurismäki, and I asked myself why I waited. Perhaps it was because I had never heard of him before its release. "Lights in the Dusk" is a short, quick, minimalistic film noir drama that tells a very simple story, but is directed with such perfection that you don't even notice. The film stars Janne Hyytiäinen as Koistinen, a lonely night watchman whose only real form of a friend is a woman that owns a little food cart off the side of the road where he eats his dinner every night. One night he comes across a woman, Mirja, in a cafe, who ends up befriending him. Little does he know that she is only buttering him up so that she could aid her boyfriend in a heist where Koistinen works, which of course he easily falls for.
I've read that this marks the third in a trilogy made by Kaurismäki, known as the Loser Trilogy, and Koistinen is the classic definition of just that. Here is a man that has a nowhere job, and fails to see love right in front of his eyes. Instead he goes to what society deems beautiful-blonde hair, decent weight, nicely dressed-and that proves to be his downfall. There is a lot of humor here, a most of it I'm sure I missed just because there was so much. Simple images of a woman vacuuming a floor while her boyfriend and his partners drink had a few heads in the crowd laughing, and had me wondering what was so funny. It reminded me a bit of Jarmusch, especially the emphasis on color. That being said, each shot is a beauty to look at, which was strange because the trailer used the same images only made them gloss over, as if in a 1970's Technicolor film. I don't understand why the adverts did that, but I'm glad that it didn't linger into the film. "Lights in the Dusk" is worth scoping out, and it does demand several viewings, which the short running time does not make difficult.
Directed by Tim Story
92 Minutes
Rated PG for sequences of action violence, some mild language and innuendo.
"Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," the newest installment in the summer of sequels, is just as stupid, lame, cartooney, and plot less as the first film from two years ago. Tim Story has made a mockery out of what could have been some of the best superhero films ever. Picking up two years later, we join the Fantastic Four on the eve of the wedding between Reed Richards and Sue Storm-also known as Mr. Fantastic and The Invisible Woman. Fantastic has the power of stretching himself anywhere he wants, and the Invisible Woman. . . well, you can figure that out. Joining them are Johnny Storm-The Human Torch, who can engulf himself in flames-and Ben Grimm-The Thing, who is just a giant rock form of his former self. The Thing has found love with Alicia, who is blind so can see his inner beauty-blah blah blah. And then. . . . disaster strikes as the Earth is being visited by a mysterious silver. . . surfer, who has destroyed a number of planets only after a few days of contact. And when the United States government finds the four's dastardly arch enemy Dr. Doom, they have to try and trust him to destroy the surfer.
There is just way too much silliness going on, and never any type of character development. The only real character that deems some kind of development could be The Thing, but with his blind lady love that inner struggle just pales away. Perhaps in Johnny Storm-the ladies man who watches as all of his friends are in happy relationships-there is some hint of sadness, but that just comes from him being a jerk, and not an inner struggle as a result of his superpowers. And in a ninety minute film-considerably shorter than most of the other summer fare of late, which could be a good thing-there are only two action scenes amidst as the talking. And once again, if the talking had been used to expand on these character-much like the talking throughout "Spider-Man 3"-I would not have minded, but it was just scientific jimber jamber. Seriously, they could just have been saying anything using big words and the audience would still not understand. The acting is extremely horrid-and Jessica Alba still can't be taken seriously as "one of the greatest minds in the country." Michael Chiklis, as The Thing, may be the best performance, but his cheesy jokes placed throughout just ruin it for him. I changed my mind. The best acting work was the three second Stan Lee cameo, which actually made me laugh. And most of all, I just feel bad for The Silver Surfer, who could have had his own movie in a year or two-and yet was reduced to an introduction in this dribble. "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" could be the worst film of the summer. I've given Tim Story his chance to redo his mistakes from one, and instead he gave me more of the same. While this may be slightly better than the first, it isn't saying much.
La Vie en Rose **
Directed by Olivier Dahan
140 Minutes
Rated PG-13 for substance abuse, sexual content, brief nudity, language and thematic elements.
I will be crucified for this one by some cinematic psycho one day for saying the next two statements. Statement One: I was not a fan of "La Vie en Rose," to the point where I will even say it was a bad film. Statement Two: I was not blown away by the performance of Marion Cotillard in any way at all. And while I exited the theatre I heard people use the words "amazing" and "great" in regards to it, while I was kind of confused. "La Vie en Rose" is a biopic of Edith Piaf, but don't let the fancy French subtitles fool you. There is nothing in this film quality wise that makes it any different from a Hollywood biopic. There are still the montages, the extended musical bits, the drug problems. And it is all centered by a performance by Miss. Cotillard, who is sure to get hoards of nominations and maybe even an Oscar nomination, but I could not seem to get into it. I was more impressed by the make-up department than her acting, which managed to show different ages by Piaf, as the film jumps in time more than "The Good Shepherd." Bloated and overlong, "La Vie en Rose" is sure to be hailed as a biographical masterpiece by critics and audiences alike, and yet I found it to be one of the more overrated films I've seen all year. I checked my watch far too many times, and when Marion Cotillard's name came onto the screen at the end, instead of joining my audience in applause, I got up and walked out of the screening room. In movie land-the life of Edith Piaf is no different than the life of Ray Charles, of Johnny Cash. The language may differ, but its all the same movie.
Lights in the Dusk ***
Directed by Aki Kaurismäki
78 Minutes
Not Rated-Brief Violence, Maybe Language. . . I Can't Remember
"Lights in the Dusk" is my first venture into the cinematic world of Aki Kaurismäki, and I asked myself why I waited. Perhaps it was because I had never heard of him before its release. "Lights in the Dusk" is a short, quick, minimalistic film noir drama that tells a very simple story, but is directed with such perfection that you don't even notice. The film stars Janne Hyytiäinen as Koistinen, a lonely night watchman whose only real form of a friend is a woman that owns a little food cart off the side of the road where he eats his dinner every night. One night he comes across a woman, Mirja, in a cafe, who ends up befriending him. Little does he know that she is only buttering him up so that she could aid her boyfriend in a heist where Koistinen works, which of course he easily falls for.
I've read that this marks the third in a trilogy made by Kaurismäki, known as the Loser Trilogy, and Koistinen is the classic definition of just that. Here is a man that has a nowhere job, and fails to see love right in front of his eyes. Instead he goes to what society deems beautiful-blonde hair, decent weight, nicely dressed-and that proves to be his downfall. There is a lot of humor here, a most of it I'm sure I missed just because there was so much. Simple images of a woman vacuuming a floor while her boyfriend and his partners drink had a few heads in the crowd laughing, and had me wondering what was so funny. It reminded me a bit of Jarmusch, especially the emphasis on color. That being said, each shot is a beauty to look at, which was strange because the trailer used the same images only made them gloss over, as if in a 1970's Technicolor film. I don't understand why the adverts did that, but I'm glad that it didn't linger into the film. "Lights in the Dusk" is worth scoping out, and it does demand several viewings, which the short running time does not make difficult.
posted by Eric at
12:13 AM
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