On Second Thought: Equilibrium and Ghostbusters II

This past Thursday night, the Toronto Underground theatre held another instalment of its wonderful Defending the Indefensible series. The premise of the series is simple, two individuals, be it critics, bloggers, or a combination of the two, get in front of an audience and debate why they either love or hate a particular film. The film is then screened for the audience. Afterwards the audience can ask questions to the participants based on what they just saw. The best part is that all the proceeds go to charity. This week's edition featured Sasha James defending Equilibrium and Matt Brown slamming Ghostbuster II.

Equilibrium
In this science fiction action tale, the world has suffered through three World Wars and cannot live through another one. The leaders of the dystopian city of Libria, see the elimination of human emotion as the only way to prevent another war. Using medication to suppress desire and expression and an elite task force, known as Cleric to seek out anyone who may be violating the "Sense Offense" laws, the Council keeps its citizens in check. When Cleric John Preston's (Christian Bale) partner, Errol Partridge (Sean Bean), is found guilty of violating the laws, Preston is a assigned a new partner Brandt (Taye Diggs). They are commissioned with finding the underground resistance movement, who are promoting the right to feel, and destroy them once and for all. Yet when Preston begins to interrogate a beautiful resistance member, Mary O'Brien (Emily Watson), the lines between what he has been told is right and what he is starting to feel are blurred.

Equilibrium is a film that was clearly influenced by The Matrix and practically every science fiction film ever made. I remember being on the fence, in regards to my feelings towards Equilibrium, when I originally viewed the film several years ago. I had enjoyed the stylized gun play, referred to as "Gun Kata", but found elements of the story lacking. This time around, I realized just how silly Equilibrium really is, and the film take itself way too seriously. Having said that, I must say that I had a lot of fun watching it with an audience, I originally saw it on DVD, as the majority seem to revel in the absurdity of it all. To say that Equilibrium has some potholes would be a huge understatement. The leaps in logic throughout the film are just astounding. Scenes are sloppily thrown together to form a bridge of sorts between all the Gun Kata.

Original Reaction: I have no emotion (Grade C)
On Second Thought: I feel like taking Gun Kata on this whole production. (Grade D)

Ghostbusters II

Picking up five years after the events of the previous film, Ghostbusters II finds our fun loving paranormal fighting team on hard times. They have been sued by the city of New York for all the destruction they caused while saving the city. Bankrupt, The Ghostbusters have been forced to close up shop and take jobs, some of which are rather demeaning, elsewhere. However when they discover a river of ectoplasm flowing beneath New York, the team is determined to find its source. Little do they know that the ectoplasm is linked to a 17 century sorcerer, Vigo the Carpathian, looking for a new body to host his spirit. Fortunately for Vigo he does not have to look too far as Dana’s (Sigourney Weaver) infant son fits the bill perfectly.

Having a fondness for The Ghostbusters series I was interested to see how Matt Brown would take it apart. While he made some solid points against the film, I found that my love for the film did not waiver enough for me to consider it a bad film. Yes, the last act of the film is much weaker than I had remembered. It really does squander all the energy that the film had built to that point. Yet I find that the first half is the film’s saving grace. Bill Murray is hilarious in this section as he generates big laughs with the simplest of facial expressions. Everything from when his character, Dr. Peter Venkman, is hosting the physic centric television show to his attempts at winning back Dana’s heart is comedic gold. In fact the entire cast is solid in the first half of the film; I even enjoyed the relationship between Louis (Rick Moranis) and Janine (Annie Potts) a lot more this time around. Despite the obvious flaws with the last act, I still think Ghostbusters II is an entertaining comedy that still offers plenty to enjoy.

Original Reaction: Who am I going to call? Ghostbusters! (Grade A-)
On Second Thought: Who am I going to call? Ghostbusters! (Grade B)

Child actors then and now

Jonathan Lipnicki

 As a child he starred in Jerry Maguire ("Did you know dogs and bees can smell fear?") and the Stuart Little films. However, he's all grown up now...

 As well as taking a break from acting to concentrate on education and doing work for various charities, Lipnicki is now set to star in For the Love of Money with Edward Furlong.

Dakota Fanning

 Her career began at the age of five in a Tide advert. From that she starred in all manner of A-list films like War of the Worlds, Man on Fire and Charlotte's Web. Co-stars like Kurt Russell and Denzel Washington claimed that she was the best actress they've worked with. High praise for a ten-year-old girl...

 Now, at 17, she's still very active indeed. She can be seen in Breaking Dawn and will be playing Princess Margaret in the upcoming film Girls' Night Out.

 Kristen Stewart

 Originally, Stewart didn't want to be an actress - she wanted to be behind the camera. However, aged 8, she broke into acting. One of her biggest roles was playing Jodie Foster's diabetic daughter in Panic Room. 

 Now she's famous the world over for playing Bella in the Twilight series, going out with co-star Robert Pattinson and generally being cool. 

Jodie Foster

 Foster's career began at the age of three, when she starred in various commercials, then it took off after playing Iris (a pre-teen prostitute) in Taxi Driver. The role earned her an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress.

 Since childhood stardom her star has risen and risen. She played Clarice in the Silence of the Lambs and took the lead in Contact, Panic Room and The Brave One. She also voiced Maggie Simpson in an episode of The Simpsons.

Natalie Portman

 After becoming a model at 10 years old, Portman starred as an orphan who befriends a middle-aged hitman in Leon and took star turns in Mars Attacks, Heat and Beautiful Girls.

 Her real rise to fame was as Queen Amidala and Padmé in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and since then she's starred in Closer, Black Swan and most recently Thor. She's currently expecting her first child. 

Christina Ricci

 As a child actress she was best known for portraying the frankly terrifying Wednesday Addams in the Addams Family films, and Kat in Casper the Friendly Ghost - all of which did rather well.

 Since moving from child acting into an adult career, Ricci has done pretty well for herself. She featured in 1999's Sleepy Hollow and 2008's mildly disappointing Speed Racer. 

Drew Barrymore

 While she starred in many films, the role that defines her childhood career is the role of Gertie in ET. However, while she was growing up her life was plagued with drug and alcohol issues, landing her in rehab on more than one occasion.

 Having set up Flower Films she has starred in plenty of films. She found her niche in romantic comedies like The Wedding Singer and 50 First Dates. She starred in the Charlie's Angels films and has made cameos in many films (and Family Guy).

Macaulay Culkin

 There's one series of films Culkin will forever be remembered for - Home Alone. His portrayal of Kevin McCallister, the booby trap-setting kid with a sense of humour, won over audiences of adults and children alike.

 He took a break from acting for a while, returning to the stage in 2000. He has made further films, but none of them repeated the critical acclaim of his earlier career. However, he has been known to appear as a voice actor in Seth Green's Robot Chicken.

Lindsay Lohan

 As a child, Lohan took on the role of twins in Disney's 1998 (remake of) The Parent Trap. She was applauded for her work and went on to star in Mean Girls, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and Herbie: Fully Loaded. However, things started to go wrong shortly afterwards...

 Her adult life has been splashed all over the papers. Drink, drugs and driving offences. She continues to act, but not in the A-List films of her past. Most recently she featured in the Grindhouse flick Machete.

Saoirse Ronan

Starting out in 2003 on RTÉ's medical drama The Clinic, Ronan went on to star in 2007's Atonement, which earned her a BAFTA, Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination.

Since then she's starred in the macabre and touching The Lovely Bones and more recently she's taken the starring role in Hanna - a story about a young girl who happens to be really rather handy with an array of weapons...

Daniel Radcliffe

 Before becoming stratospherically famous as Harry Potter, young Daniel played David Copperfield in the 1999 BBC adaptation. However, he'll always be remembered for playing the Boy Who Lived.

 As he's grown up (literally in front of our eyes) he's taken to the stage in Equus and will be playing Arthur Kipps in 2011's the Woman in Black.

 Source: MSN

The Fighter’s Family Pull No Punches

The Fighter

Sometimes our greatest enemies are the ones who we are linked to from birth. In the case of boxer Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg), it is his family that causes a great deal of his strife in his life.

Based on a true story, The Fighter looks at Micky Ward’s turbulent journey towards becoming a boxing champion. Micky is managed by his overbearing mother, Alice Ward (Melissa Leo), and trained by his brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale). The latter is a former boxer whose biggest claim to fame is knocking out Sugar Ray Leonard many years earlier. Much to Micky’s dismay, Dickie, still hanging onto his past glory, becomes entangled in the world of drugs. After losing a series of boxing matches to opponents that he had no business fighting in the first place, Micky starts to question whether or not Alice and Dickie are really working in his best interest. When Micky starts dating Charlene (Amy Adams), he begins to seriously think about getting his life back on track. Yet in order for Micky to move forward with his boxing career he will have to sever ties with his family, a task easier said than done.

After taking a minor misstep with his last feature length film, I Heart Huckabees, director David O. Russell is back in top form with The Fighter. Although the film is set in the world of boxing, boxing is actually secondary. The Fighter is more of a character study than it is a boxing movie. All of the members of Mickey’s large family constantly talk about the obligations to family, but Micky seems to be the only one to actually adhere to “family” logic. The rest of the clan seems more than happy to ride Micky’s coattails. Alice and Dickie, in particular, are especially blinded by the money and the celebrity status they believe they have. This is prominent in the way both of them prance around for the HBO cameras. One of the best scenes in the film arrives when Dickie is watching the HBO documentary, which he believes is about his boxing career, and realizes that the show is actually about his drug addiction. The range of emotions which he goes through in the short span of time is fascinating to watch.

Christian Bale is mesmerizing as Dickie, he really does deserve many of the supporting actor awards he has be receiving this award season. Within the first five minutes of watching The Fighter you completely forget you are watching an actor. A similar point can be made for both Melissa Leo and Amy Adams, as they each completely immerse themselves into their roles. While each are strong on their own, their scenes together are filled with so much tension that it is only a matter of time before the rage starts to boil over. While Wahlberg may not bring the same impact as his fellow cast members, he still gives a rather good performance. While Wahlberg is talented, a lot of his best work in this film is due to Russell’s direction. Similar to other films they have worked together on, Russell finds a way to perfectly play up Wahlberg’s strengths as an actor. Russell is able to bring out a vulnerability in Wahlberg that is not often seen on screen.

If you go into The Fighter looking for a straight movie about boxing you might be a bit disappointed as the boxing scenes are nothing out of the ordinary. Films like Raging Bull, Rocky, The Hurricane and even Girlfight had more exciting in the ring scenes.Yet, if you are looking for a film that delivers both a good story and great performances, then The Fighter is definitely a film worth seeing.

Movie Marketing Monday

Unknown White Male (aka. Unknown)

Why does it feel like I have already seen this film before?




The Fighter

I am not expecting Raging Bull level of intensity, but the casting has raised my level of interest for this film.

Enemies Make Feud Public

Public Enemies

The story of Robin Hood has always been appealing on tale. The idea of someone taking from the wealthy and giving to the poor does have a nice ring to it, especially in this current economy. Yet is it way he swoops in and steals the money? Or is Robin Hood himself that makes the tale interesting? These questions crossed my mind while watching Michael Mann's Public Enemies.

Set during the fourth year of the Great Depression, crime is on the rise and notorious bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) is making a mockery of the law. Fed up with Dillinger's antics, the Director of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), assigns agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) to lead a task force to bring John Dillinger to justice once and for all. Purvis soon realizes that capturing Dillinger will be much harder than both he and Hoover had ever expected it to be. Dillinger shows no signs of slowing down nor does he have any weaknesses. Of course this may all change after he meets the Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard).

Though he kept everything he stole Dillinger was still viewed as the Robin Hood of his time. Dillinger became a symbol for those suffering through the Great Depression . Yet the Depression merely serves as a backdrop for the film as Mann is more interested in the various ways Dillinger robbed banks and broke of jail. While these moments were very entertaining to watch, by time the film ended, I could not help but wonder how much did I actually learn about any of the parties involved? Clearly John Dillinger was a charismatic criminal who had the intelligence needed to get away with what he did. Yet after the jail break scene, and the scene were the cops pass him in the car, you have to question whether Dillinger truly was a genius? Or were the cops just really dumb?

Since Mann opts not to delve too deep into his characters we only get glimpses of what makes the characters tick. This is most evident when you look at Bale's Melvin Purvis, who really gets short changed in this picture. Purvis is clearly way over his head when he is promoted but we rarely see how the pursuit affects him emotionally. This ultimately diminishes the impact of what happens to him at the end of the film. Also, Mann does not provide Bale room to truly showcase his range. Purvis is a rather one-note character throughout the entire film. Despite Purvis' many errors and his inner turmoil, Mann portrays him mainly as the hard stoic agent. Bale would have been much more interesting in the film had he been able to show more of the cracks within Purvis' wall.

Aside the limitations set on Bale , the majority of the cast does a decent job of breathing life into their characters. Depp and Cotillard are the standouts in the picture as there scenes together offer a nice break from the standard cops and robber stuff. Despite the lack of depth, Mann does create a film that is, if nothing else, fairly entertaining. All the trademark Mann element's are there: the handheld video shots, the elaborate shootout sequences etc. Although Public Enemies is not as spectacular as I hoped it would be, it was entertaining enough for a mild recommendation.