Ricochet Reviews: Marwencol

Marwencol

Director: Jeff Malmberg (debut film)

Documentary

On Blu-Ray/DVD: April 12, 2011

This will be a very short review because, well, I didn't really take that much away from Marwencol. Also, I'm lazy. Not to say that it's a bad movie.

Marwencol is a documentary about Mark Hogancamp, a man who is beaten nearly to death by a gang of men because he told them he was a cross-dresser. The film follows Hogancamp's odd path to recovery from the brain injury that they caused. To cope with his disabled life, he created an entire city (named Marwencol) full of dolls and action figures, each of them with full back-stories. The sheer detail that Hogancamp attains in this city is mind-blowing. In one scene, we follow Hogancamp as he "breaks in" one of the humvees that his soldiers use in Marwencol by pulling it down a busy road for two miles. He does this because the new tires don't seem realistic enough to him. The level of sophistication that Hogancamp is able to bring out of such a poor medium as action figures is easily the best part of the film. The lives of these action figures is just as fascinating. I actually found myself caring more about the city of Marwencol than the man behind it.

That's a good enough transition to what I didn't like about Marwencol. For all the depth and beauty that Malmberg was able to bring out of the city Hogancamp created, he did a very poor job of telling Hogancamp's story. The entire crux of the storyline (the beating) is rarely discussed, and the repercussions are only hinted at. We are given a few looks into Hogancamp's life outside of Marwencol, but it is very disjointed and not very complete. My biggest complaint about the film, though, is how forced it can seem at times. Two specific scenes immediately come to mind: a scene where Hogancamp revisits the place where he was assaulted, and what I'll term, for spoiler purposes, "the high heel scene". These scenes are very short and seem very out of character for who Hogancamp is built up to be throughout the rest of the film.

Overall, though, this is a documentary worth seeing simply for the city of Marwencol. I've seen nothing like it before and it is a very unique and strangely beautiful piece of artwork. I definitely wish I knew more about Hogancamp, and I wish Malmberg would've let his film be what it was without a few unrealistic scenes, but Marwencol should, at the very least, give you something to talk about.

Ricochet Reviews: The Bill Hicks Story

I'm going to try out a new review format with this reviews. It's also worth noting that this (and my next review) are the first two documentaries I've seen this year, and (at least in comparison to 2010's great docs) it's looking like a meh year.

American: The Bill Hicks Story

Directors: Matt Harlock & Paul Thomas (debut film)

Documentary

On Blu-Ray + DVD: June 7, 2011

The Story: American: The Bill Hicks Story is quite obviously about a man named Bill Hicks. Hicks was a somewhat famous comedian during the 80s and early 90s who died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 at the age of 32. Since his death, Hicks has become something of a stand-up legend, consistently being ranked at or near the top of lists of the best stand-up comedians of all time. His material, especially in his later years, is well-known for being very political and philosophical. The film is titled American humorously, because, although Hicks grew up in Texas and toured the US constantly, his biggest fame was in the UK, where his critiques of the United States were viewed favorably.

I found The Bill Hicks Story to be very informative and interesting. I knew next to nothing about Hicks before watching this documentary, and the film does a good job of giving a broad overview of his life. I especially enjoyed the sections narrated by Dwight Slade. These sections added some personality to what was otherwise a fact-centered story. However, I am afraid that those people who already know the basics about Bill Hicks will be disappointed with the lack of depth that the film goes into. Although American does a great job of conveying the broad strokes of Hicks's life, there are very few fine details to be found here that aren't well-known to his fans.

Technical: The biggest flaw in American is the style of animation that they used to tell their story. The filmmakers made heavy use of photographs of Hicks, which were cut out and pasted onto animated backgrounds. I assume that this technique was used because there weren't that many videos available of Hicks (outside of his stand up) and because the filmmakers didn't want to use the actual footage from the interviews very much. This style of animation ends up looking really cheap, though. And although documentary directors seem to believe that focusing on the interviews is boring, it can actually make the film better. For example, a lot of the content of the interviews was getting at the interviewee's connection with Hicks, and had the film simply shown the interview during some of these, the film would have felt much more emotionally investing.

I will say, though, that Hicks's stand up is very interesting to watch, if not always comedic. The best part of American is contrasting Hicks's style during different periods of his life.

Overall: American: The Bill Hicks Story is a flawed but entertaining documentary. If you've never heard of Bill Hicks, or if you've only heard a little, this film will give you a good overview of his life story. If you're well-versed on Hicks, though, there's probably very little here that you don't already know. American is worth checking out, at the least.

Ricochet Reviews: Black Death

Black Death

Director: Christopher Smith (Severance, Triangle)

Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, John Lynch

On Blu-Ray + DVD: May 10, 2011

Black Death has easily been the biggest surprise of the year so far. That is because it had a lot of things going against it in my book. First and foremost, it is a film set during the Middle Ages. There are definitely some great films set during this time period (like The Seventh Seal and Braveheart), but as a general rule, these movies are very redundant and predictable. Black Death was also pretty much a direct-to-DVD release. Obviously, movies that feel necessary to completely skip a theatrical release usually do so because the filmmakers don't think it is good enough to warrant a theatrical release. Finally, the film has drawn continuous comparisons to Valhalla Rising, a medieval film from 2010 that actually made my bottom 10 of the year. Having said all of this, Black Death blew me away.

Black Death is the story of a young monk named Osmund (Redmayne), during the period when the bubonic plague ravaged through Europe. As a guide, Osmund joins a group of knights led by Ulric (Bean), who are on a quest to a town in the middle of a forest where the plague has supposedly never reached. When they reach the town, they find out that all of its members have forsaken their Christian heritage in favor of their leader, a necromancer named Langiva. Ulric's group decides that the heathens must be dealt with.

Interestingly, the comparisons to Valhalla Rising are completely valid, as both films follow the same general storyline and even touch on the same thematic elements. In Valhalla, the main character joins a group of crusaders who are on their way to purge the Holy Land of nonbelievers. Both films also focus significantly on the concept of good and evil, and more specifically how this concept is not black and white, as religion usually likes to paint it. The reason that I enjoyed Black Death so much more is because it executed this theme much better. In Black Death, the consequences of being a nonbeliever feel true and makes you wonder if Ulric and his team are there not to destroy evil but to kill non-Christians. The movie isn't anti-Christian, either: the nonbelievers are just as atrocious to the knights. Black Death is also a much more entertaining film than Valhalla Rising was. When I watched Valhalla, it seemed like nothing important would happen for 10 or 15 straight minutes, and it was a chore to watch. Conversely, I was completely enthralled with Black Death's story and the characters in it.

I was also pretty impressed with the technical aspects of the movie. Being direct-to-DVD, I have to assume that Black Death had an extremely small budget, but the filmmakers still managed to find some beautiful scenery and develop some impressive cinematography. The film managed to use long shots without seeming tedious or boring. The acting overall was also really good. Redmayne conveyed his transition from innocent monk to battle-hardened knight well, though I wish the film had focused on his traditional Christian values a bit more. Carice von Houten, who plays Langiva, managed to infuse her antagonist with sexiness and sympathy. The star of the film for me, though, was Sean Bean, even though he's basically playing the character he always plays. He just has a presence about him that makes him feel as if he was actually plucked from the Middle Ages, and that makes his performances like these seem very authentic.

Not that Black Death is flawless. Other than Bean, the other knights aren't very fleshed out and therefore seem like caricatures. Another major problem for me was the shaky camera during one of the pivotal battle scenes in the film. I usually don't have a problem with shaky cam (for instance, I love most of Paul Greengrass's work), but in this film I actually found myself having trouble seeing what was actually happening. I also wish that more time had been spent on the necromancer's town. When the group reaches the town, the plot escalates very quickly, and I wish the film had given some time for the knights to explore the town a bit further.

Overall, though, Black Death was a great film. It manages to bring up religious ideas while also entertaining with a fun, gruesome story. Bean and Redmayne give great performances, and the camera work (other than the battle scene) is surprisingly good. Don't let the direct-to-DVD moniker fool you: Black Death is better than 90% of the films that will be released in theaters this year, and you need to check it out.

30 Day Movie Challenge Part II

Let us continue with the 30 Day Movie Challenge, in which I pick my favorites in a variety of categories. This post will cover entries 11-20.

Day 11: Your favorite science fiction film.

My Choice: 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

A lot of people tell me that they think 2001 looks cool, but it is plotless and boring. I can kind of understand these points of view, but I wholeheartedly disagree with them. 2001 grips me from beginning to end, even in the parts I don't fully understand. On top of that, 2001 is gorgeous. The space scenes are amazing, especially considering we hadn't even sent a man to the moon at this point in history. 2001 also gave us one of the greatest movie characters of all time with HAL. And the ending, although I doubt I'll ever really know what it means, is still awesome. 

Day 12: A movie that you hate.

My Choice: Spider-Man 3 (2007)

It's not that Spider-Man 3 is the worst film of all time or anything. It's more-so that Spider-Man 2 was so wonderful that the heap of garbage that the filmmakers threw together for the third installment looked so much worse. Spider-Man 2 had one of the greatest supervillains of all time in Doctor Octopus, and it actually managed to turn Parker into a interesting and relatable character. In Spider-Man 3, both of these crucial elements are missing. None of the endless sea of villains are interesting, unless you count the fact that Sandman looked kind of cool. And Parker? Well, he fully regressed into one of the lamest, whiniest characters I've ever seen. And don't even get me started on that dance sequence.

Day 13: A movie that is a guilty pleasure.

My Choice: The Room (2003)

The Room is the ultimate guilty pleasure movie. There is absolutely nothing in this film that is noteworthy in a positive way except the fact that the movie is such a catastrophe. It is this sheer amount of ineptitude that makes The Room infinitely rewatchable. I honestly don't think there is one scene in the entire film that doesn't end up as a complete disaster. From football tossing to reused sex scenes, from unnecessary cancers to Wiseau's weird laugh, from the terrible CGI rooftop to the random shots of San Francisco, this film is a total mess, and I absolutely love it.

Day 14: A movie that no one would expect you to love.

My Choice: Titanic (1997)

My choice for this entry stems mainly from the stigma about Titanic when I was growing up. The film came out right around my 11th birthday, or that middle phase of childhood where the boys hate stuff simply because the girls like it. As should be obvious to anyone who can remember when Titanic came out, it was the biggest film of all time, and all the girls loved it at my school. Because of this, the boys hated it. In fact, although the Titanic hatred died down after a few years, a lot of my friends held on to their dislike of Leonardo DiCaprio for a very long time afterwards simply because he was in Titanic. Not that I was immune to the distaste. I remember hating Titanic when I saw it as a kid, especially that stupid Celine Dion song. And while that song is still horrible, Titanic is actually a great movie. DiCaprio and Winslet are wonderful in it, and the final hour (when the ship actually sinks) makes for some of the best disaster scenes in film history. I urge anyone who dislikes the movie simply because of childhood memories to give it another chance.

Day 15: The movie character who you can relate to the most.

My Choice: The Dude from The Big Lebowski (1998)

I actually thought of quite a few for this one (Benjamin Braddock from The Graduate, Alvy Singer from Annie Hall, Robert Dupea from Five Easy Pieces, and Joel Barish from Eternal Sunshine, to name a few), but in the end I had to go with The Dude. He's very laid back, but he's also willing to take charge if he needs to. He has a definite lack of motivation. He seems to possess a wide vocabulary, but he readily falls back on slang terms like "dude" and "man". He also has extremely vivid dreams. I can relate to all of these things.

Day 16: The first movie you saw in theaters.

My Choice: Twister (1996)

I'm not actually sure if this is the first movie I saw in theaters. I was tempted to put Aladdin (because I remember seeing it when I was really young) or Jurassic Park (because I was obsessed with dinosaurs as a kid), but the first one I can truly recall seeing in theaters was Twister. The movie spawned an interest in tornadoes in me that continues to this day. I am fascinated by them; their destructive power, their shapes, their colors, their unpredictability. The actual twisters that Twister gives us are amazing. I recently bought the film on Blu-Ray and still found myself gripped by those tornado scenes. Twister was actually my favorite movie of all time for quite a chunk of my childhood. I'm not going to sit here and pretend that it's a flawless movie or anything, but Twister holds a special place in my heart, and I'll always love it.

Day 17: The last movie you saw in theaters.

My Choice: Bad Teacher (2011)

Well, Bad Teacher wasn't a very impressing movie. Because of that, I'm not going to waste much space talking about it. Instead, I'll direct you to my review of it, if you're really interested in what I thought about it.

Day 18: A movie that you wish more people would've seen.

My Choice: Barton Fink (1991)

When I posted this entry, I wasn't aware of anyone I was friends with who had seen Barton Fink. After posting it, I know of two people. That isn't enough. Barton Fink is the Coen brothers' most underrated film. While Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and O Brother Where Art Thou are great movies and deserve their recognition, Fink is simply more original and more interesting. It stars two of the Coens' favorite supporting actors, John Turturro and John Goodman. This is actually the film that made me realize how great of an actor Goodman can be. I won't turn this into a full-fledged review of the film, but I love basically everything about Barton Fink, from the silly side-plots to the out-of-nowhere metaphorical ending. Please check it out.

Day 19: Your favorite western.

My Choice: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)

Do I really need to justify choosing The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly as my favorite western? Well, okay. I know it's a popular choice for favorite western, especially among those who aren't well-versed in the genre. Personally, a lot of westerns blend together because they are so thematically and aesthetically similar, but when I find a good western, it's usually one of the best films I've ever seen. Some of my other favorites are Stagecoach, Unforgiven, High Noon, and even High Plains Drifter. None of them really come close to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, though. This is Eastwood in his most badass form. Without even giving him a name, Leone created one of the most iconic characters in film. I love everything about this movie, from Leone's repetitive musical themes to the Civil War battle to that last showdown between the three main characters in what is one of the greatest scenes of all time.

Day 20: Favorite movie by your favorite actor/actress.

My Choice: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Kate Winslet) and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Jack Nicholson)

I'm not sure if I was supposed to pick one for either an actor or an actress, but I did both, and it wasn't hard for me to choose either one. Kate Winslet has only been around for 15 years or so, but those 15 years are filled with wonderful performances in lots of great films. A few of her standout films include Titanic, Quills, Finding Neverland, and Little Children, but none of those great movies come close to Eternal Sunshine. ES is a film unlike any other thanks to Gondry's unique perspective and Kaufman's fantastical script. Winslet's performance in the film is quite different from most of her other work, but she gives Clementine a personality and life that no other actress could.

Jack Nicholson needs no introduction, but I'll list some of his other great films anyways: Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown, The Shining, Batman, As Good As It Gets. And even with this superb list of films, nothing compares to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Cuckoo rightfully deserves its claim as one of only three films to ever win all of the Big Five awards at the Oscars (along with It Happened One Night and The Silence of the Lambs). Nicholson turns McMurphy into a well-rounded, sympathetic criminal that anybody can root for. Nicholson also proved here his unique ability to portray characters who are a bit on the crazy side. Cuckoo is one of the few films I consider flawless.

Part III coming soon.

Ricochet Reviews: Uncle Boonmee

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century)

Starring: Thanapat Saisaymar, Jenjira Pongpas, Sakda Kaewbuadee

Language: Thai

On Blu-Ray + DVD: July 12, 2011

Oh boy, this is probably going to be another unreadable review. After seeing The Tree of Life and now Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, I'm starting to wonder whether this is a weird year for film or if I'm just expanding the types of movies that I'm willing to see. Regardless of which one is to blame, these two films have challenged the boundaries of what I consider to be an entertaining film. Within Uncle Boonmee, you can find horror, comedy, existentialism, tedium, and even fish fellatio blended into a movie that is the very definition of an original film.

To me, one of the most surprising aspects of Uncle Boonmee was that it actually has a narrative that can be followed (as long as you pay attention). Jen (Pongpas) and her son Thong (Kaewbuadee) have come to help her brother-in-law, Boonmee (Saisaymar), who is dying of kidney failure. During supper on the first night of their stay, Boonmee's dead wife and missing son visit in the form of a ghost and an ape, respectively. They discuss their experiences since they left. The rest of the film is more abstract, but seems to play as a recollection of one of Boonmee's past lives in which he was a catfish.

As I've said already, the narrative is hard to follow, but it's there, and if you are willing to pay attention, the film becomes much more rewarding. Many of these scenes, especially those involving the catfish, seem to be randomly spliced together and nonsensical, but once you integrate them into this somewhat cohesive narrative, the philosophical aspects of the film become illuminated within a logical context.

Even if you are unwilling to thread Uncle Boonmee through with a storyline, some of the individual scenes are wonderful on their own. The dinner scene is simply amazing. The scene lasts somewhere around 20 minutes, and a lot of that time is spent on just two or three different camera angles, but the time still flies by as you watch this surreal conversation between a man, his dead wife, and some transformed version of his son. Another example is the film's final scene. This scene incorporates an idea introduced earlier in the film by Boonmee. Without giving anything away, the scene creates another surreal experience for the viewer.

Not that all the scenes in the film are as thought-provoking as these. In fact, the amount of boring, tedious scenes in Uncle Boonmee is nearly equivalent to the number of wonderful ones. A common occurrence in the movie is for a shot to focus on someone lying in bed doing absolutely nothing for 3-5 minutes. There's another scene in which Boonmee and Jen eat honey and then sit around in silence. There's even a scene at the end where we watch a monk take a shower. Not just glimpses or anything; we see the entire shower. Scenes like these make it easy for me to understand the negative reactions that some people have had to this film. Not even in the context of the film do these scenes seem to serve a purpose. Are they supposed to be artistic? Maybe it's just me, but a guy taking a shower isn't artistic.

Uncle Boonmee didn't have the same kind of emotional impact on me that The Tree of Life did, but it still affected me. A lot of the scenes brought out thoughts of spirituality and religion within me, and it was nice to watch a film that evoked positive thoughts of religion instead of negative ones. This film is not for everyone, and even if it is for you, you'll probably end up getting bored with parts of it. Regardless of your personal reaction to it, Uncle Boonmee is a film unlike any other.

Ricochet Reviews: Cedar Rapids, The Dilemma, Sucker Punch, & The Mechanic

Yep. It's about to get real lazy in here. To be honest, I don't really have too much to say about any of these films. They aren't all bad (though two of them are), it's just that there isn't much worth mentioning. I also want to catch back up because I've fallen far behind in my reviews again. So, these four reviews will be very short. Sue me.

Cedar Rapids

Director: Miguel Arteta (Youth in Revolt, The Good Girl)

Starring: Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Isiah Whitlock Jr.

On Blu-Ray + DVD: June 21, 2011

Cedar Rapids reminded me a lot of The Royal Tenenbaums or Best in Show with its extremely dry humor. To the point where you aren't even really expected to laugh. I did laugh a few times at Rapids, but usually the jokes merely gave me a smirk. This isn't to say that the jokes didn't work; they just aren't made for the sake of laughter. 

The story is entertaining and you'll find yourself emotionally invested in Helms's character. Having said that, Helms doesn't put in a noteworthy performance; he basically just emulated his character from The Office, but that's okay. The supporting actors are much more interesting, including Isiah "sheeeiiit" Whitlock as the nerdy black guy, Alia Shawkat as a prostitute (and a sexy one, then again I've always thought she was fine), and John C. Reilly as the douche roommate. Reilly is the real star of the film and brought out every bit of laughter that this movie got from me.

Cedar Rapids is a fun film that will keep you smiling (if not laughing) through its running time. The movie doesn't break any new ground, and you probably won't take anything away from it, but it's still an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes of your life.

The Dilemma

Director: Ron Howard (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, The Da Vinci Code)

Starring: Vince Vaughn, Kevin James, Winona Ryder, Jennifer Connelly

On Blu-Ray + DVD: May 3, 2011

Man, this stinker of a movie. But I'm getting ahead of myself. The first half of The Dilemma actually isn't too bad. I was enjoying the direction that the film was taking, following Vaughn's character after he finds out that his best friend's wife is cheating on him. He goes through different phases, trying to decide how he should handle this information and whether he should tell his friend. 

Then something happened. I guess Ron Howard decided that the film really had no point to exist (you would tell your friend, duh), so he felt compelled to add a bunch of idiotic twists to the second half of the story. All of a sudden, Ryder's character is a manipulative bitch, James is a workaholic, and Vaughn has some random gambling problem. The only character who felt real at the end was Connelly's, who plays Vaughn's girlfriend.  She is compassionate and willing to compromise, as people in relationships usually are. If only everyone around her wasn't going insane.

The Dilemma isn't a complete mess. The first half of the movie is entertaining and mostly interesting. However, the second half ruins everything that the first half had going for it with its illogical twists and unintelligible decisions. These are the types of films that really make me wish that Howard had retired after he finished A Beautiful Mind.

Sucker Punch

Director: Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead)

Starring: Emily Browning, Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone

On Blu-Ray + DVD: June 28, 2011

Sucker Punch feels like Snyder took all the negative comments about his filmmaking (weak storytelling, unnecessary slow-mo, mindless action) and intentionally made a movie that included all of these bad parts. I'll get the positive comments out of the way first. The action sequences are completely mindless, but they're also the only good part of the movie. Take out the terrible music that accompany them and you're left with some fun battles, including giant ninjas, zombie Nazis, dragons, and robots. Also, the ending was at the very least interesting and I'll give Snyder credit for trying something new there.

Now I'll get to the bad. First off is that terrible music. Instead of advancing the plot through people actually doing things, Snyder cops out by trying to evoke emotion through background music with lyrics that tie way too heavily into what's happening on screen. I've seen it referred to as a two hour music video, and that's a fair assessment. When the characters actually do talk, they say horrible one-liners and pseudo-philosophical nonsense. The antagonist is one of the flattest characters I've seen in years. Satan is portrayed as more sympathetic than this guy. And even though the action sequences are cool, they rip off so many different sources, including the video games Shadow of the Colossus and Call of Duty. 

This is the first movie of the year that has actually annoyed me. From the ripoffs to the music, Sucker Punch kept finding ways to make itself worse. The action sequences are definitely cool, but that's not enough of an excuse for me to recommend this movie to anyone.

The Mechanic

Director: Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)

Starring: Jason Statham, Ben Foster, Donald Sutherland

On Blu-Ray + DVD: May 17, 2011

Being a fan of Statham, as well as hitman movies in general, The Mechanic should be good by default to me. In this respect, the film succeeds. However, The Mechanic never dives into its characters at all, and because of this, the film is hollow and ultimately just an okay action movie.

The Mechanic opens on a great scene, with Statham drowning a man and then using his body to sneak past the guards. The film doesn't reach the intensity of this scene again until its very final moments. In between, we are given very brief glimpses into the two main characters. I can't even remember if we are ever even told Statham's character's name. Foster, on the other hand, is looking to avenge his father's murder, and that's about as far into him as we ever get. The movie seems intent on sticking to the superficial; even when Foster tries to get to know Statham better, it doesn't work. Even the sex is mindless: Statham's relationship with a prostitute exists solely to create a sex scene, as it doesn't advance the plot or his character in any way.

Having said all of that, The Mechanic overall is an entertaining film. The assassinations are filled with tension and the action sequences are very exciting. Just don't go into the film expecting a smart thriller like Casino Royale or even Taken, because you won't find that here. Leave your brain at the door, and The Mechanic is an exciting and superficially engaging movie worth checking out. 

Ricochet Reviews: Unknown

Unknown

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra (Orphan, House of Wax)

Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones

On Blu-Ray + DVD: June 21, 2011

Unknown is greater than the sum of its parts. The acting ranges from decent to bad, the action scenes are nothing new, and the plot is at times tedious and unoriginal. Having said all of that, the film still manages to be really fun and entertaining from beginning to end.

Unknown is the story of Dr. Martin Harris (Neeson), who is on vacation with his wife, Liz (Jones), in Germany. Near the beginning of the film, Dr. Harris is involved in a car crash with his taxi driver, Gina (Kruger), and his injuries leave him in a four-day coma. When he wakes up, parts of his memory are missing, but he remembers where he and his wife were staying. Upon arriving at the hotel and finding her, Liz denies knowing Martin, saying that she is married to another man who is staying at the hotel with her. The rest of the movie is centered on Martin's quest to prove that he is who he says he is as well as figuring out why his wife pretends not to know him.

Stories about amnesia are fairly common in film, but I liked where Unknown took the concept. There's a significant plot twist that I won't spoil here, but it gives the film a very unique take on amnesia. Sometimes plot twists come off as cheesy, but here it worked great and actually made sense with the story we are given. Having said that, the rest of the plot is fairly generic. In a similar vein as Taken, another Neeson-led thriller, Martin spends almost the entire movie chasing down people and getting information. However, unlike Taken, Neeson isn't spicing these scenes up with gunfights; in Unknown, he just finds them and then runs away before he gets caught. I was still interested in the story because I wanted to know how it ended, but I definitely feel like the movie would have benefited from a more well-executed story.

As for the characters and their actors, they are mostly passable. Neeson plays basically a watered-down version of his character from Taken. His journey through Unknown is intriguing and I was able to connect with him. Kruger is the standout in the film, although the character she plays is very flat. Gina's emotions are conveyed well and her actions feel realistic, even in the middle of all of the crazy things happening around her. Frank Langella's character, as well as all the people chasing Martin, are throwaway characters who I can't clearly distinguish between. By far the worst acting in the film, though, is from January Jones. As a huge fan of Mad Men, I always assumed that her wooden demeanor and emotionless performance as Betty Draper was because her character on the show is such a coldhearted woman. After seeing her in two films already this year (Unknown and X-Men: First Class), it is becoming apparent that this is just how she acts. Because of this, she never establishes a connection with Neeson and all of her scenes with him seem forced.

This review is a perfect example of what I meant at the beginning of the review. From the text, it looks like I disliked Unknown a lot more than I actually did. Outside of Jones's scenes, I was thoroughly entertained by the film and completely invested in its climax. The film's unique twist on the amnesia story is refreshing and intriguing, even if its execution isn't as great as it should be. It's not a flawless movie, but Unknown is enjoyable and well worth taking a look at.

Ricochet Reviews: Rubber

Rubber

Director: Quentin Dupieux (debut film)

Starring: A Tire, Stephen Spinella, Jack Plotnick, Wings Hauser

On Blu-Ray + DVD: June 7, 2011

Rubber is one of the weirdest movies you'll ever see. Not only is the central story about a sentient tire that rolls around blowing people's heads up, but there's a meta-film aspect in which a group of spectators watch the tire doing all of this as if it was a movie. There's also a guy within the tire storyline who knows that it's just a movie. All this makes for a pretty jumbled mess of a film, but one I won't soon forget.

Rubber opens with a five minute monologue by Lieutenant Chad (Spinella) about how "having no reason" is an integral part of every great film. ("In E.T., why is the alien brown? No reason.") It's a great way to open the film and got me way more interested than it should have. That probably has to do with unexpected humor being one of my favorite types of comedy.

Following this introduction, Rubber opens on a group of spectators with binoculars who make comments on a variety of things happening within the film. These characters are supposed to be watching a film, just like us, but they play a part in the movie as the people within the "real" movie are trying to poison them so they can stop acting. It's a very weird idea, and, for the most part, it works. A lot of their commentary did get annoying after a while, because I really just wanted to see the tire do its thing. However, I can respect a film that tries to do something as ballsy as a movie within a movie. I feel like if they had focused more on the spectator aspect of the film they could have really taken it somewhere great, but since they had to balance it with the actual story, it comes off a little silly and unnecessary.

That statement also applies to the tire's story. Rubber actually follows the tire from its first moments of sentience. We see the tire learn to stand up and roll, learn to crush things, and eventually learn to use its telekinetic powers to blow things up, like beer bottles and rabbits. This section was probably my favorite part of the film because it is so completely original. After this, the tire finds a road and begins tormenting and exploding humans. I honestly laughed out loud every single time that someone exploded in this film. It just looked so silly, which I think was the point. I mean, it's a movie about a tire that explodes people; you're supposed to laugh. And yet, I wanted so much more of the tire's story. For example, the film showed comical instances of the tire's emotional side that I would've liked to see played out further. Also, of course, I wanted more exploding heads.

As it is, though, Rubber ends up being only moderately successful. Had the film been longer (it's not even 90 minutes long), the filmmakers might have been able to explore both the tire's story and the spectators' story. With its running time, though, they only have time to rush through both parts. The end result is a flawed but unforgettable film that will keep you entertained throughout.

Ricochet Reviews: Bad Teacher

Bad Teacher

Director: Jake Kasdan (Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Orange County)

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Lucy Punch, Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel

Currently In Theaters

Bad Teacher isn't really a bad movie. It's just not good, either. The film tries far too hard to be something that it isn't, and when it finally figures that out, the movie ends.

Bad Teacher is the story of Elizabeth Halsey (Diaz), a gold-digging teacher who quits her job and then gets immediately dumped by her rich fiancee. Halsey decides that getting a boob job will give her a better chance of meeting another millionaire. The problem is that she's now broke. Halsey decides to start teaching again so she can raise enough money for the surgery. Along the way she meets Amy (Punch), a teacher obsessed with being the best; Russell (Segel), a gym teacher who likes Halsey; and Scott (Timberlake), a substitute teacher whose family is wealthy. That's pretty much the entire story. I'm not complaining about it, it's just a simple story that was obviously chosen to lay jokes on top of.

It becomes very obvious very fast that the people who made Bad Teacher really want this movie to be Bad Santa, and I don't just say that because of the name. The main characters are completely unsympathetic and a douche to everyone. The problem is that Elizabeth Halsey has zero character arc in the entire film. In Bad Santa, Thornton's character was a dick, but somewhere around the one hour mark, they give you reasons to think he could be a good person (helping out the kid, the love interest), and they pay this off with the ending which manages to be terrible and altruistic at the same time. In Bad Teacher, Halsey just runs around the entire time being mean to everybody. Russell tries numerous times to break through to her, and it never works until the very last scene. I guess this is as good of a place as any to mention that the ending of Bad Teacher was terribly rushed.

And then there's Amy. She's obviously supposed to be the "bad guy" of the movie, as she snoops around and constantly tries to get Halsey in trouble. The problem is, Amy isn't a bad guy. Everything she does is justified in the context of the film because of what Halsey does. When Amy asks Halsey about showing movies every day in class, she's right. When she is suspicious that Halsey helped her students cheat on exams, she's right. When she accuses Halsey of doing drugs, she's right. And for all of her legitimate snooping, the film lets Amy lose her boyfriend to Halsey and take the blame for Halsey's drugs. It's supposed to be funny, but it just comes off as annoying.

There are some good parts to this movie, but I don't feel like writing very much more, so I'll just mention one. Jason Segel is hilarious here. Granted, I love him in most of the things I've seen him in, but almost every scene in the film that is actually funny involves him. His line delivery and body humor is so good. There's a scene in the gym where he's trying to impress Halsey with his strength, and his delivery gets you to believe it just enough that when he fails miserably at it, it's perfect. There are very few scenes in this film that are worth mentioning, but almost every single one of them involve Jason Segel. Having said that, this scene from the trailer where he's yelling at a kid about Lebron James is idiotic and didn't make any sense within the context of the film.

Well, I've gone way over how long a review of Bad Teacher deserves to be, so I'll wrap it up now. Bad Teacher is not a good movie, and overall it just comes off as a Bad Santa ripoff. However, if you check it out, you should at the least be entertained by Jason Segel's antics throughout the film as well as Cameron Diaz running around in Daisy Dukes.

The 2011 Mid-Year Ricochets

Welp, 2011 is over halfway over and I've officially seen twenty films released this year. That means that it's time for the first annual Mid-Ricochets. These aren't actually awards; this is more of a list of the noteworthy achievements of the first half of this year. A few categories will be missing because I haven't seen at least three films or performances worthy of mentioning in that category yet, and all of the movie genre categories will be missing because I haven't decided on any of those yet. You'll also see a couple new categories that I've added this year. I don't expect most of the films listed here to make it onto my finalized lists at the end of the year, but that's kind of the point of the Mid-Ricochets: to recognize these early-year films that will likely get lost in the awards season scramble at the end of the year. And finally, all of these are listed in alphabetical order and no winner is explicitly chosen, since this isn't the actual awards. Anyways, let's get on with this.

Actually, I've decided to just stick with the overall film, director, and acting awards instead of delving into the more technical things. I'll reserve those for the real Ricochets.

Films of the (Half) Year

Biutiful, directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Rango, directed by Gore Verbinski.

Source Code, directed by Duncan Jones.

Super 8, directed by J.J. Abrams.

The Tree of Life, directed by Terrence Malick.

Best Director

J.J. Abrams for Super 8.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Biutiful.

Duncan Jones for Source Code.

Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life.

Gore Verbinski for Rango.

Best Actor

Javier Bardem as Uxbal in Biutiful.

Michael Fassbender as Magneto in X-Men: First Class.

Paul Giamatti as Barney Panofsky in Barney's Version.

Jake Gyllenhaal as Colter Stevens in Source Code.

Best Supporting Actor

Kevin Bacon as Sebastian Shaw in X-Men: First Class.
Choi Min-sik as Kyung-chul in I Saw The Devil.
Dustin Hoffman as Israel Panofsky in Barney's Version.

Brad Pitt as Mr. O'Brien in The Tree of Life.

Best Supporting Actress

Elle Fanning as Alice Dainard in Super 8.

Melissa McCarthy as Megan in Bridesmaids.

Michelle Monaghan as Christina Warren in Source Code.

Best Comedic Performance

Johnny Depp as Rango in Rango.

Seth Rogen as Britt Reid in The Green Hornet.

Kristen Wiig as Annie Walker in Bridesmaids.

Best Supporting Comedic Performance

Jon Hamm as Ted in Bridesmaids.
Melissa McCarthy as Megan in Bridesmaids.
John C. Reilly as Dean Ziegler in Cedar Rapids.
Jason Segel as Russell Gettis in Bad Teacher.

Best Young Actor

Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb in Super 8.

Elle Fanning as Alice Dainard in Super 8.

Riley Griffiths as Charles Kaznyk in Super 8.

Hunter McCracken as Young Jack in The Tree of Life.

Best Cameo

The Black Pearl in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

James Franco in The Green Hornet.

Hugh Jackman in X-Men: First Class.

The Man With No Name in Rango.

Sexiest

Emily Blunt as Elise Sellas in The Adjustment Bureau.

Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis in Thor.

Cameron Diaz as Casey Case in The Green Hornet.

Minnie Driver as 2nd Mrs. P. in Barney's Version.

Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique in X-Men: First Class.

Best Cast

Barney's Version: Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman, Rosamund Pike, Minnie Driver, Scott Speedman.

Biutiful: Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib, Guillermo Estrella.

Super 8: Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Riley Griffiths, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Noah Emmerich.

The Tree of Life: Hunter McCracken, Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Laramie Eppler.

Best Back-to-Back Films

J.J. Abrams, for following Star Trek with Super 8.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, for following Babel with Biutiful.

Duncan Jones, for following Moon with Source Code.

Best Poster

Bridesmaids.

Hobo With A Shotgun.

I Saw The Devil.

The Mechanic.

Midnight in Paris.

The Tree of Life.

Best Credits

The Green Hornet.

Rango.

X-Men: First Class.

Worst Film of the (Half) Year

The Dilemma, directed by Ron Howard.

happythankyoumoreplease, directed by Josh Radnor.

Sucker Punch, directed by Zack Snyder.