Movie Review - Snowpiercer

Director: Joon-ho Bong
Starring: Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Kang-ho Song
Jamie Bell, John Hurt, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris
Year: 2013

Not very often is a sci-fi action film so well received by critics.  Snowpiercer is the quintessential post-apocalyptic fight for survival movie, one that has a lot plot-wise in common with The Colony, and yet shines where the latter collapses.  Why?  The stories are very similar, the setting is not so different, the time period is about the same, the actors are on related talent levels.  What makes one so different from the other?  Audiences and critics both agree, giving Snowpiercer a 7.0 & 8.4 out of 10 on IMDB, respectively.  They give The Colony a 5.3 & a 2.8.  Big difference in results for two films with the same general outline, one on a train, one underground, both involving desperate (and chilly) remnants of humanity just trying to survive.  But watch both and I think you'll agree; this movie succeeds where the other fails miserably.

In the near future, global warming will become a reality.  In order to fix the man-made rise in global temperatures, we will send rockets into space with the mission of controlling the weather externally.  Perhaps not surprisingly, this attempt fails, backfiring and plunging the Earth into a new Ice Age.  Everything and everyone dies, leaving the planet an uninhabitable wasteland of snow.  But mankind has not been annihilated, there is still a small number of humans who exist.  They are the passengers of Wilford's circumnavigating locomotive Snowpiercer, a train that travels the world without stopping, a home that is 100% self-sustaining.  Its engine is perpetual, its food supply is well-regulated, its water created from the ice all around, and its people perfectly ordered.  The tail passengers stay in the tail, scraping out an existence the best they can.  The front passengers live a life of ease, a life that was predetermined by their original tickets.  But a movement led by the ancient Gilliam and the brave young Curtis is about to change the new world order, bringing the back of the train forward in a rebellion that will shake the status quo.

So, cool story, ice, hungry people, all alone on the Earth; not overly original.  The train concept is a good twist, forcing us to look at life through the metaphor of a compartmentalized world.  But neither the plot nor the acting are what set Snowpiercer apart from others of its genre.  The Colony could have been as well respected as this film if it had done but two things better; improved the visual and conveyed believability.  Snowpiercer succeeded in both these areas and so succeeded on screen.  It was visually interesting, well-shot, with a style that takes a few minutes to get used to, but once accepted sweeps you away into a darkly humorous existence.  And it was believable, again after some time & effort put in on the part of the audience.  Its world comes off as possible, as well explained, as detail-oriented; something that The Colony and so many others failed to accomplish.  The characters aren't amazing, Chris Evans isn't going to blow you away, you're probably not crying at the end of the film.  But none of that matters because the story is conceptually strong, that story is presented to us in an intriguing way, and that presentation always feels like it might just be possible.  For a post-apocalyptic sci-fi action roller-coaster, you could do much, much worse.

My rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Movie Trailer - A Merry Friggin' Christmas

Director: Tristram Shapeero
Starring: Joel McHale, Robin Williams, Lauren Graham
Release: November 2014

I guess it was too much to hope that this genre of movies had died a slow, painful death and was no more.  I like Christmas Vacation as much as the next guy, but there is only one Chevy Chase, and Joel McHale is not his equal.  It'd be nice to watch Robin Williams in one more movie, but not like this.

Movie Review - Birdman

Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Starring: Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone
Zach Galifianakis, Naomi Watts, Andrea Riseborough, Amy Ryan
Year: 2014

It's almost Oscar time and the buzz is, well, buzzing.  So far this year, the five best pictures I have seen, in no particular order, are: The Grand Budapest Hotel, A Most Wanted Man, Boyhood, Guardians of the Galaxy, and now Birdman.  Each film has a strength and a weakness that could keep it from winning or from even getting nominated for Best Picture.  Grand Budapest is visually & comically amazing, but it's a quirky Wes Anderson film, which the Academy doesn't seem to enjoy.  Most Wanted Man is perfectly restrained, but lacks in-your-face drama.  Boyhood is the year's best piece of art, but it's also slow and uneventful.  Guardians is the most entertaining thing you'll see in 2014, but it's a sci-fi action/adventure movie and so has no chance.  And lastly, Birdman, which is wonderfully strange but could be seen as somewhat exclusive.  Any of these five films could take home the top prize come this awards season, but that's assuming they don't get beat out by the anticipated films that haven't yet come out: The Imitation Game, Unbroken, Interstellar, American Sniper, The Theory of Everything, Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler, or even a few already released like Kill the Messenger, Fury, Gone Girl.  Anyway, to get back of track, for my money Birdman is not just a contender but one of the best films of the year.

Birdman was a tremendously popular superhero years ago, leading to a franchise of films that made Riggan, the man behind the mask, an A-list celebrity.  A house is Malibu, a cult following; Riggan had it all.  But that was long ago, when he was young, and before he decided to attempt to be a serious actor.  His fans are still out there and would leap at the chance to see Birdman return to the screen, but Riggan is on to new projects now.  On Broadway, he is attempting to adapt, write, direct, and star in a hit new show that he hopes will reboot his career.  But the theatre is a wild backdrop for emotionally unstable inhabitants, a world that Riggan knows little about and is about to be crushed by.  His costar, Mike, is a over-talented diva who assumes he can do no wrong.  Lesley & Laura, the female leads, are about as unstable as actresses can possibly be.  Riggan's best friend and jack-of-all trades Jake desperately tries to keep the show together, while Sam, Riggan's daughter, is back from rehab and trying to become an assistant.  And oh yeah, by the way, the voice of the old Birdman is haunting Riggan whenever he is alone, speaking to him as if the alter-ego were real, pressuring him to sabotage the play and return to the big screen.  The next few days before Opening Night are going to be interesting, as all the characters involved both on & off screen seem to be losing their minds all at once.  Break a leg!

If that summary doesn't pique your interest I don't know what will.  As someone who has been involved in theatre on a very small level, the play-is-about-to-begin plot line is an exciting one for me.  There is so much inherent drama happening backstage before & between every show, so many characters interacting in frequently unhealthy ways, that the stories write themselves, the action is there for the imagination to capture; basically the theatre is a perfect place to set a film.  It can go horribly wrong and has, just watch A Prairie Home Companion, but it can also work marvelously well, as it did with Noises Off.  Both of those films are a bit more comedic than Birdman, but both showcase the madness we never see when sitting down in an auditorium, and that feeling is captured here as well.  The characters combine to bring us along on a wild ride, a series of ups & downs that exhibit the free-wheeling nature of the theatre.  It's funny, fast-paced, eventful, surprising, and well produced, an over-the-top spectacle, a movie about a play, a comedy of errors, and entertaining look at a stressful & enviable life.

But that's just part of what makes Birdman great.  Left alone, the amusing first half of the film could have been a cool movie, a comedic look at life behind the curtain, a farcical romp crafted to enjoy.  The second act, however, brings a much darker element into play, elevates the quality of the film, and adds another level to what began as solely entertaining.  Michael Keaton, playing a man who takes everything on to his shoulders, carries the complicated load of being Riggan the actor & Riggan the Birdman.  He is a character that's difficult to understand completely, a man trying to hold on to the past and yet transcend it, to become something more while being afraid to leave his safe perch.  Sounds a bit dramatic perhaps, but Keaton makes it natural, he forces it to seem real in our eyes, even when talking to a poster of his former self.  But Birdman can't do it alone, he needs a Robin, or maybe in this case a Flying Squirrel, I don't know, but someone to balance him out.  And that's where Mike comes in, or Ed Norton, for they both steal their respective shows with their talent, while simultaneously supporting the casts around them.  This is the best I've seen Norton in a long time, while the same can be said about Emma Stone, who I actually don't like but was impressed by in this film.  Everything comes together with a magical ease; the comedy, the tragedy, the reality, the wild imagination, and of course the incredibly well-acted characters.  Birdman is a film that delivers its ideas in perfect balance, a movie that deserves every honor it will most surely receive.

My rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆