Lucy

directed by Luc Besson

Every once in awhile, I will actually traverse the concrete jungle to the nearest theater to partake in a new movie, and since this one was getting all the controversy amongst various podcasts I listen to, Lucy was to be the next adventure to endure.  It turned out to be quite the visual experience to take in, but are visuals and simple concepts enough to make a fantastic movie?

Scarlett Johansson wonderfully plays Lucy, an American expat living in Taipei, Taiwan, who finds herself in a predicament where she has become a drug-mule for a local gang, headed by Oldboy’s own, Choi Min-Sik.  After a traumatizing introduction between them and her, she wakes to discover someone has stashed a large amount of a very powerful drug called CPH-4 inside her stomach which she is to transport to a spot in Europe.  After getting in an altercation and rupturing the bag of drugs in her body, the drug starts to take over, the effects of which are known to make the brain operate at exponential levels of activity.  At higher levels of activity, the brain conceptually ceases to be controlled and expands in power, creating a sense of hyper-awareness, psychic abilities, x-ray vision, and total dexterity and motor controls in a human body…but the brain cannot be contained within a body alone.  With all synapses on fire, it begins to research everything on the internet with absurd quickness.  Its neurons yearn to exist beyond the body itself.  Its energy reaches into all things much like the stars outstretch to all solar systems.

There are ties to a number of films and concepts throughout the movie, like its comparison to Limitless, The Matrix, Akira, and Enter the Void.  Limitless, in particular, sounds the most like this film because the protagonist takes a drug called MDT-48 and turns superhuman much like Lucy experiences throughout the movie.  Other YouTubers (like BlackCriticGuy) have correctly compared the movie to 2001: A Space Odyssey in the way that its protagonist experiences the furthest reaches of space, only for space to collapse on itself in a minimalistic, simplified world.  The concept of the actual chemical DMT (dimethyltryptamine) existing in most lifeforms naturally and being synthesized to sell in concentrated amounts is the overall idea behind the drug in this movie.  In the book “DMT: The Spirit Molecule” (Strassman, 2010), DMT reportedly is released naturally during key moments in all lifeforms coincidentally (or with purpose) around the timeframe when organisms evolve and enter their next stage of development.  Because of this, DMT is believed to be a “spirit molecule,” providing the shock to the system (and brain, in humans/animals) allowing it to expand and create new synapses as it grows.

I could go on forever about the connections that Besson really wanted to explore (and was probably forced to cut back from and not reference, since sale of DMT is illegal), but the main takeaway from the film is the amount of brilliant visuals and musical score combined with action scenes that leave you interested in where this movie is headed.  There isn’t much of a typical plot or story; you’re primarily just curious about what is happening to Lucy as she experiences all of her changes.  There were some ham-fisted moments when Besson includes stock footage of animals chasing prey edited into some of Lucy’s “fight-or-flight scenes” between her and the gang encounters. However, the artisanal visual effects involved in her time travelling, the look of her physical deformities, breaking down of what we consider rational thinking, and having the balls to explore these concepts to a fairly luddite Joe-America, movie-going public is quite the feat…but again, does it make a good movie?

My opinion is that it is a great movie, but it suffers from the blast that most “truth-bombs” (you be the judge) try to teach an audience, which usually ends in an audience looking at each other like “what kind of cultist brainwashing did I just endure?”  It almost mocks the human-audience by displaying huge numbers as her brain changes from the 10% of brain power (that we’ve been lied to believing we use) to 100% that this drug achieves in her.  (Besson himself has admitted that the 10% brain power statements are known to have been debunked prior to the film’s production, but the concept exists anyway in the movie.)  We’re mocked because Lucy explains that numbers were only created to allow our feeble minds to believe in a measurement system other than the one true measurement system, time.  Being shown “30%” then “40%,” etc. in giant block letters is like giving us, the viewers, a paint-by-numbers canvas from which to paint our perceived, expected transformation of her expanding brain at “50%” and so on.

Total mindfuck movie.  Bluntly put, but it is.  And nothing wrong with that, but I fail to see the overall importance from experiencing a dumb blonde’s transformation into a robotic, Jean Grae, psychic mind overtaken by energy and left behind on this Earth as nothing more than a Rice Krispies treat.  Especially since after she gains so many powers, her adversaries are laughably inept, and this leaves the audience to shrug about every force that tries to stop her after the 70% mark and so on.  It stops being fun after a point, and we’re just supposed to marvel at her crazy, energy-spewing, brain development.  Still, worth the artistic approach (it’s fun to look at pretty lights), and it felt fun getting poked in the frontal lobe for an hour and a half.

6/10 wobbly, grotesque extra fingers

In Bruges

 

directed by Martin McDonagh

For years I was told how delightful and interesting In Bruges was, and yet I waited until tonight to view it for the first time.  IMDB has it holding onto 8/10 stars and Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 82% fresh rating (at the time of this review).  So I took the bait and almost immediately, as I watched the “Focus Features” logo “bubble-up” on screen, I sat back in awe and said “Of course.”  Because my hat goes off to everything FF gets involved in.  Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost In Translation, Brokeback Mountain, The Pianist, Milk, Dallas Buyers Club, and multiple other fantastic, award-winning films were distributed by them, and they remain a symbol of quality films when your movie begins.

So riding on that saddle of quality, In Bruges tells the Shakespearean-style tale of two UK hitmen as they wait in Bruges, Belgium, for their boss’ advisement after one the hitmen accidentally murders a young boy during his first job.  Wrought with guilt, this hitman, Ray (played by Colin Farrell), has to come to grips with his poor judgement during the hit and decide how or if he will continue to be a hitman, especially after his boss contacts them both and reveals his displeasure in men who kill children.

Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy, and Jordan Prentice star in this Martin McDonagh film.  Brenden Gleeson plays Ken, Ray’s hitman partner in the trade, with amazing ease and beautiful agony through to the end.  Ralph Fiennes plays the hard-as-nails employer of these hitmen (Harry) whose principles can never be broken.  Fiennes does an amazing job as well, as does Clémence Poésy who plays Chloe, the production assitant to a Dutch film being shot in Bruges.  Her beauty overcomes Ray during the beginning of his ordeal, and despite having a tragic set of illegal side jobs with miscreant ex-boyfriends checking her every step, Ray continues to regard her as the fairy-esque symbol of hope in this described “fairytale setting of Bruges.”  Jordan Prentice is the midget…ahem…dwarf, American movie star of the Dutch film shooting in Bruges who crosses paths with Ray and Chloe multiple times, leading into great discussions for the film such as his belief that there will be a great war between the whites and blacks of the world and which nationalities will side with whom. (Great memorable scene)

The movie keeps you guessing what the next steps will be for each of these characters since they are all strong characters with individual traits that guides them.  Ken is a smart, loyal hitman who still has emotional understanding of where Ray can end up, not necessarily as a hitman for life as he has been.  Chloe is damaged but can attract whomever, which could be a handicap for Ray as he tries to remain under the eyes of the law and others.  Ray is stubborn, bored with Bruges and looking for mischief even while contemplating what to do next.  And Harry…Harry wants blood for the child who died, but he makes amazing compromises with dark, humorous tones that keep you wondering what lengths his convictions go and where his reasonable appreciation of another’s future might hold him back.

The soundtrack was a flurry of contemplative yet energetic piano scores, which picked up in intensity towards the end which featured full-bodied orchestral pieces.  During a particularly daring piece of acting, Ken has to grab the attention of Ray as we hear the haunting Irish song “On Raglan Road” play.  That song deals with the hurt that could be caused if the narrator developed a relationship with the love interest in the poem/song, but he chooses to anyway.  In the same sense, Ken has to put himself in harm’s way to get Ray’s attention, but it is worth it to Ken.

For a crime drama, this had an original flow and setting that I wouldn’t expect from a hitmen-on-the-run movie.  It felt like this was an American-script trying to point out Euro-ideals and mannerisms towards Americans more than a UK script might fuss over, but it was humorous to witness Ray lambast touring, fat Americans with insults and assume that the “personal-space-victims” in the restaurant (who complained about Chloe blowing smoke in their direction) were American (when they actually were Canadian tourists).  There was also a confusing amount of Vietnamese references and random references to other cultures and places to get sent to.  Not sure what all that was about, but it padded the script about as well as jokes about other cultures go over in stand up comedy clubs.

In the end, the movie keeps you guessing and entertained, and it reminded me a bit of Carlito’s Way.  There are plenty of moments where you can just accept these characters fighting each other without cheering for either one because they all have a bad side to their characters so they’re not exactly “likeable” or even “anti-heroes.”  As previously mentioned, Bruges was supposed to represent a fairytale land to Harry, but it was nothing but a shithole to Ray, which is interesting to watch as one ends their future in their personal paradise as the other can’t believe the hell that Bruges has become.

Definitely worth a watch, and a rewatch wouldn’t be out of the question within a few months.  Superb acting, original flow and setting, and overall, it’s a great movie to pass some time with.

8/10 inanimate fucking objects

Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

directed by Simon West

And now here’s where the “video game adaptation challenge” becomes a challenge to hold my attention.  Let me explain…

When I look back on video games I played in passing around the original Playstation era, the “Tomb Raider” series was definitely on the list somewhere, but I didn’t get obsessed with playing it at all.  I was getting older as a gamer, and I thought I had seen everything up to that point in games.  I understood the basic premise: it was a third-person-angle, run ‘n’ gun-while-maneuvering adventure game, discovering hard-to-reach areas that may lead to the final generic treasure at the end of the game.  The selling point for many is that the hero in the game is a woman, Mz. Lara Croft, changing the game (literally) for what we expected from video game gender roles for years to come afterwards.

Fast-forward five years after the original game was released and those 13-year-old gamers are now 18, nostalgically curious about what if we saw Lara Croft in the flesh on screen.  One thing is for certain, they definitely cast Angelina Jolie in the right role for this one.  As an actress being known for her controversial and daring on and off screen persona during the 90’s with alluring looks to match, the thought of her as the lead was appropriate and brilliant.  The filmmakers were taking the hyper-realistic approach to the adaptation of the character model to match the girl in the game, for sure.

However, after the movie starts is where I get lost.  I haven’t played the game much at all, so I am relying heavily on what the filmmakers want to convey is her primary motivation, and if they want to surround her with adversaries ranging from robots to ninja-henchmen, that’s all well and fine.  Would any combatant or world jewel collector ever truly end up splurging a good amount of their riches on sparring robots or replacement walls to their mansion?  If you answered no, you haven’t met Croft.  She even kicks ass against gangs of henchmen as they try and sneak up on her enjoying her possible daily routine of meditating in her bungee swing.  If Kill Bill borrowed anything from this movie, it would be this scene of her taking on crony after crony while acrobatically maneuvering without any need for parkour. (This is post-Matrix after all).

So…her believability is suspect throughout the entire movie.  Her fighting scenes finish with Jolie’s beestung lips flawlessly catching breath just in time for a closeup Revlon ad to photograph her.  She’s a super clean adventurer who doesn’t shy from a pose-down mid-adventure when chasing after the same artifact actor Daniel Craig is after.  She jet-sets from location to location, tracking down halves of a medallion that forms an all-seeing eye symbol that can be used to time travel or something.  I don’t know.  The plot was a typical Indiana Jones rip off script with exaggerated shots of cool guns, cyalume light sticks, and exotic locales being recklessly driven through by Lara’s jeep while blasting techno music out the back of it.

I enjoyed the soundtrack, as a fan of Nine Inch Nails and 90’s electronic artists.  And then they throw in a U2 song for no reason during the end credits.  That…didn’t fit.  But hey, it’s a fun popcorn movie where little to no sense needs to be made as long as the kids are enthralled and teens are enjoying the action on screen.  And with that, there’s little else to discuss about the film.  Jolie’s real father, John Voigt, cameos in the film as Lara’s deceased father, so that was interesting.  She’s gone on to star in numerous movies just like LC:TR (see the other Tomb Raider sequels, Salt, Wanted, or any of her headstrong female roles in Mr. & Mrs. Smith or Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow).

It’s a fun film but highly forgettable despite the original fight sequences and the fast-moving chase scenes.  The creative ideas displayed in the film were ok, but some of the implementation was a bit cheesy for the time, such as the CG statues and numerous fake tech elements that she used to find these artifacts.  I’ll give it an average score for being a throwaway movie meant to bring the gamers to the theaters because even though it was lacking impactful dialogue through most of the movie, it’s originality for the time helped mold several movies starring new women heroes in the future.

5/10 sideboobs for the nerds

I Am Divine

 

directed by Jeffrey Schwarz

Back in my high school years, I had the pleasure of experiencing absolute curiosity in the experiments put on by the Bravo Channel (U.S. cable channel) and PBS (the U.S. public funded channel).  They dared to air indie films at primetime hours on various nights throughout the school week, and I watched amazing films such as I Shot Andy Warhol, Do the Right Thing, Slacker, Heathers, and Polyester.  I videotaped these movies and watched them over and over, but Polyester stuck out the most to me.  And of the characters in the film, Divine played the most simple yet most memorable role.

“Divine” is actually Harris Glenn Milstead, a man who became fascinated by the drag queen reviews in counterculture areas of Baltimore, MD, where he went on to make movies with fellow Baltimorean, director John Waters.  His oversized physical presence matched his oversized personality on screen, and overtime, with the help of makeup designer Van Smith, Divine was cast in her brand of witchy looks and brash delivery as an actor.  Borrowing some of the daring behavior found in San Francisco performance troupe the Cockettes, she felt it was her job to shock everyone and bring the level of drag performing to a state of anarchy.  The “Divine” character allowed Harris to unleash his frustrations through his characters in Waters’ movies and gave him courage to develop himself as an actor.

The story of Divine is an astounding one because it taps into almost every aspect of living that confuse and upset the mainstream, middle-class, American-family model of being.  Instead of being masculine, he was effeminate and wanted to be a hairdresser.  He took drugs and fell in with the wrong crowd.  Instead of straightening up and following his parents’ wishes, he ran off to explore his true self.  He overlooked all taboos and made a concerted effort to shock and gross-out audiences wherever he performed.  He followed a life of independently-made movies and productions and trusted his vision instead of straying to pursue bigger projects and changing his image (for the most part).  He explored a life as a singing performer and enjoyed a small career making musical hits for the gay techno scene before it became a fad in the 1980’s.  He tried to transition his vision as an actor to the big screen without the makeup, as well (to a limited success).

He truly is a one-of-kind, inspirational, touching personality who deserves a documentary as thorough as this one turned out to be.  Filled with interesting testimonials to Divine’s lifestyle changes and shenanigans, we learn how many people were impacted by this man-turned-fierce creation.  Included (and probably my favorite segment) is the tumultuous fall and redemption story between a gay-drag son and his mother, which added that extra layer to this character of Divine not seen in the public eye.

If you haven’t seen anything starring Divine, check out Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Polyester, Hairspray, and various interviews and clips on YouTube.  If you’re simply curious about her, check out this documentary first, but seeing this documentary after seeing the movies themselves brings together a context that explains so much to someone after seeing those films.  You owe to your entertainment-seeking mind to watch those films first.  But definitely, definitely, definitely…watch this film.  I’m not even gay or a drag queen aficionado, and I absolutely loved everything about this documentary.

10/10 bathhouse techno singles

* As a side discussion, what happened to the Bravo channel?  It used to be about arts and entertainment, such as these indie movies discussed in this post.  Fellow WordPressian “eksith” expresses himself in his post “R.I.P. Bravo TV” better than I ever could.

 

Religulous

directed by Larry Charles

In 2008, TV-personality and stand-up comedian Bill Maher challenged Christians, Mormons, Scientologists, and Hasidic Jews to explain to him why he should believe in their respective religions.  The problem with this “open” discussion about religion is that Maher had pretty much made up his mind a long time ago to shut out discussions and decisions based on blind faith and only push his agenda of believing in factual, evidence-based rationality instead of believing in a made-up “god” who controlled the past and controls the present and future.  Following this line of thinking, they named the title Religulous, basically denouncing all religion as ridiculous from the start.

Directed by Larry Charles, the same man who masterminded The Dictator, Bruno, Masked & Anonymous, and Borat, we are presented with a vehicle (some would say driven by Michael Moore) for BIll Maher to attack the logical loopholes in religion as he visits various Christian theme parks, unique churches, the Vatican, a Cannabis ministry in Amsterdam, and Israel, to name a few locations.  In between montages of quickly-cut and brilliantly edited footage of public-domain films and television footage of faith healers and ministers-for-hire, I was impressed with the music cuts they got to use from such great acts as The Who, Bob Dylan, Ben Folds, Tiffany, and the Talking Heads.  The editing and music montages (along with soundbites from Pres. Bush) really made me feel that their mission was a Michael Moore side-project.

The pompous behavior displayed by faith-healers and televangelists with merchandise to sell you.  The radicalism and poisonous indoctrination taught in the name of some religions to commit genocide against nonbelievers.  The insane stories created to capture the spirit of what one god did for the world and watch believers play into the emotion without any question.  These previous examples are what you experience as you watch the documentary because that’s what’s currently going on in the world.  Mind you there are far more religions than are displayed here, and I wish they could have torn apart beliefs from every religion they could find…but what would really be the point, especially by Maher, a man who has denounced religion for so long in most of his comedic acts and TV appearances.  It wasn’t likely that this movie would end with him experiencing an epiphany of some sort out of the blue.  Maybe he should’ve prayed for rain and stuck his hand out the window to experience the newly-formed rain cloud just above his window (as one man representing the Jews For Jesus campaign had witnessed).

If you’ve seen Bill Maher on TV or on one of his many specials, the outcome of this documentary will not be surprising.  I don’t think he was looking to be converted into a religion by the end of his “journey,” but he was wondering why he didn’t believe in the same things and with the same fervor that others did in these various religions.  I don’t think he really explored that question, either, because he basically found a ton of opposing viewpoints to various religions and religious figures and debated his “factual rationalistic approach” versus their “emotional belief system” the entire documentary.  It was a futile exploration from the beginning.  The minute you start to question your beliefs in unfounded deities is the minute you change into a person seeking knowledge in our naturalistic history and trying to apply that knowledge to understanding religious and spiritual systems.  It’s basically apples and oranges, and Maher is fighting to understand why his apple tree isn’t producing oranges this year.

It’s an entertaining watch with good music.  Unfortunately, it suffers from overtly biased and mocking viewpoints from Maher.  It would’ve been nice to see an interviewer such as Louis Theroux (who stayed and interviewed the Westboro Baptist Church for his The Most Hated Family In America documentary) tackle such a broad subject with a more balanced viewpoint, but what can you do?  Maher fans already own this, and the religious right don’t.  So I give it a middle-of-the-road score:

5/10 lookalike Jesuses

Super High Me || The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled

 

directed by Michael Blieden                                              directed by Ryan Polito

Doug Benson is an interesting fellow.  I never heard of him before Super High Me, and during the initial viewing of the movie, I found his jokes to be OK, except everything about the movie is super-saturated in “weed talk.”  I had tried pot by 2007, but I never appreciated the herb on the level that others apparently did enough to get so wrapped up in it that ingesting it became as normal as grabbing a bottle of water when you’re thirsty.  These cats are on a different compulsion that didn’t relate with my lifestyle at all.  So when a comedian I’ve never heard of is going on and on about how difficult it is that he gives up pot for 30 days, takes a series of tests, tries the same tests after 30 days of straight pot use, and mugs for the camera in-between montages, I can say that I was only marginally interested in the experiment, if, for nothing more, only to witness the parody of the successful Morgan Spurlock documentary Super Size Me.

The jokes fell flat during most of my first viewing of the doc.  Since watching it, though, I gave the man multiple chances to grow on me by downloading and tuning into podcasts he has been on, including his own featured podcasts (Doug Loves Movies) and watching his groundbreaking YouTube series “Getting High With Doug.”  I understand more about his style of comedy, and unlike when I first listened to his stoner-faced chuckling in-between telling comedic bits, I started to focus on the quality of his jokes and also realized that he can be serious and have passion for things like movies instead of exclusive love for pot.

So then I saw the Netflix featured list which included his newish tour-documentary The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled (starring him and straight-edge comedian Graham Elwood).  I was more willing to sit and listen to Benson’s comedy than before, mostly because I can understand his comedy voice more than the world of weed culture in its entirety.  As a groaning in-joke, the premise was (again) based on another Morgan Spurlock documentary (The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, which was made purely to show the power of advertising dollars when you tell a company that they will be featured in a movie, then make the movie about nothing but advertising).  What actually seems like a smart, funny turn of phrase on a callback of Morgan Spurlock’s ideas becomes a tour documentary with nothing much to say:  They tour.  Benson smokes pot, Graham doesn’t.  They purchase fireworks.  They showcase the Midwest comedy scene and comedy club owners who respect the comedy crafters.  They light fireworks.  The end.  The catch is that the money made from doing those nationwide shows would directly fund the tour documentary they were shooting.  Big deal.  This kind of thing happens all the time in the background of productions like this; the difference is that these comedians are telling the audience to their face that this is what’s happening.  OK…so?  Film blog “Film School Rejects” puts it perfectly that this “tour documentary” is nothing more than a glorified vanity project.  (Read their review through this link.)

Going back to Super High Me for a second watch and recap, I had a different viewpoint.  I enjoyed the fact the film discusses everything about Prop 215 in CA, state vs. federal laws and how they are enforced, rogue DEA cops attempting to illegally shut medical marijuana dispensaries down, and various viewpoints on medical marijuana were shared to the camera, from doctors to a Minneapolis state senator to patients who medicate using marijuana themselves.  Various tests were administered to Doug testing his SAT scores, lung capacity, weight fluctuation, sperm count, and psychic ability (however you accurately measure that) off and on regular usage of pot.  Multiple comedians, counterculture figures, and dispensary owners/operators are interviewed throughout the doc, making the medical marijuana movement  feel like a more balanced, heavily-explored topic worth getting an educated opinion on instead of relying on my emotional distaste for the common stoner stereotype.  The filmmakers also chose interesting musical snippets to add as Benson explored the country touring and discussing his intentions to quit then start back on pot regularly.

Do I recommend either of these?  Let me whip out my soapbox for a second:  It’s a tough call.  I used to be very anti-pot.  To me, pot was to be the new Nikes that everyone and their mother accepted, and because so many had parents who lived through the 1960’s and hippie counterculture types, I feel that the stigma about smoking pot has gradually declined over time.  (Unless your parents are like my parents and instill the fear of God in anyone interested in the devil’s weed or anything outside of Sunday school for that matter.)  Weed never affected me one way or the other, also, so it was easier to write-off my opinion as “not important” and anyone who LOVED pot I saw as completely weird or trying too hard to maintain a fringe lifestyle because it was cool or something.  I judged…a lot…and for anyone sober and trying to be productive, I watched friends talk and talk about ambitions and never do anything about their lives as they packed another bowl.  Doug Benson represented in documentary-entertainer form that I associated with my stoner friends who never did anything, and I felt he and Super High Me didn’t deserve any attention initially.

I have lightened up since 2007 and believe that Benson is a funny and ambitious comedian (almost too ambitious for a stoner), and Super High Me is informative and entertaining.  (They used to call that kind of documentary something, right? /sarcasm)  The medical marijuana subject can open up eyes towards the current events surrounding laws such as this and other state laws like abortion and gay marriage.  The tour documentary, on the other hand, is a glorified YouTube video, stretched to make a longer production than it feels it’s worth to watch.  The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled is funny at times (when other comics are on-screen, especially, as a break from just watching two comedians on tour) and the music was fun, just like Super High Me, but the whole production felt like some kind of behind-the-scenes featurette that would be included on an updated Super High Me DVD or something.

Super High Me – 6/10 giant Redwoods

The Greatest Movie Ever Rolled – 3/10 awkward appearances on the news