Diversion 2.0 Thirty Day Movie Challenge -- Day 29

Day 29 – The Last Movie You Watched

We’ve covered a good deal of movies over the last twenty-eight days, with numerous genres and associated memories. Those entries were selective, but this one is not: what was the most recent movie that you (read “I”) watched, no faking allowed? The last movie I saw in theaters was Captain America: The First Avenger, but I’ve watched a few Blu-rays since then, so I’ll opt for one of those instead.

Inception (2010)

Like many nerdy folk last year, I was interested in checking out the hype surrounding Christopher Nolan’s post-Dark Knight Big Deal Project. Inception was supposed to turn the world upside-down, and tweak your brain from hell to breakfast with its deep treatise on dream philosophy and oodles of mind-bending visual effects. What we got instead was a really damn good caper movie, akin to Ocean’s Eleven, but with The Mirage swapped out for The Animus. It wasn’t, contrary to what was promised on teh interwebz, cinema’s second-coming of Christ, but that didn’t bug me too much, because I first saw it on Blu-ray, at a comfortable distance from all of the promises and expectations surrounding it. I love heist movies, and Inception is one hell of a heist movie.

The plot is surprisingly straight-forward: in order to get home to his estranged family, Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DeCaprio) must pull One Last Job for businessman Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe). Cobb wastes no time in assembling a team for the job, including pointman and researcher Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), grifter Eames (Tom Hardy), driver Yusef (Dileep Rao), and audience-proxy Ariadne (Ellen Paige).

Or, at least, these would be their roles in a traditional caper picture. Cobb specializes in a very unique sort of breaking and entering: he enters peoples’ dreams while they sleep and steal their corporate secrets. Mr. Saito’s job is for Cobb to break into the thoughts of one of his business rivals and plant a thought, rather than filch one. Desperately tricky, but not impossible, and the rest of the film is spent planning the job and then pulling it off.

For all out its touted mind-screwery, Inception is a straight, if well-executed, heist pic.

Most of what I love about Inception comes from what I love about heist pictures in general. First, we are introduced to whatever it is we’re supposed to rob, which is invariably a behemoth of impenetrable security. Then, we’re introduced to the players, one at a time, so as to show off their individual prowess at whatever they’re skilled with. Last, we’re given the job itself, where our team of misfits work together in concert to pull off the caper. Inception takes this structure and sets it against a richly-imagined sci-fi backdrop, but most of the classic heist elements are here, and I’m ever-so-grateful for them.

Where Inception gets its own unique flavor is in its imagination of how dreams work. Nolan does a great job of introducing rules, explaining them, and then altering them in short succession, and it’s fun to hear about the fiction and watch it being bent before our eyes. It’s not as philosophical or deep as the hype may have lead on, but it is well-realized, and I appreciate how Nolan pushes the boundaries of his own concepts.

But, yeah, definitely still some mind-screwery going on here.

A few more things. Nolan has been criticized in some circles for his scripts’ ham-handed usage of irony and foreshadowing, but perhaps he doesn’t do it as smugly as he could, because I like the pulpy, “obvious call-back” nature that some of the lines possess (“You’re waiting for a train…”; “An old man, filled with bitterness and regret;” or, my most recent favorite from The Dark Knight: “You’ve known Rachael her whole life?” “Oh, not yet, sir.” GUESS WHAT YOU BLOODY WILL HAVE BY THE END OF ACT II!!!). Also, I’ve gone quite a ways without discussing Cobb’s struggle with his personal demons, which is a major plot point and affects the film in no small way. The simple truth is that I don’t really care that much for it, or at least as much as I like watching him and his team execute their plan as a well-oiled machine. Lastly, I do enjoy Hans Zimmer’s Oscar-nominated score, even if it does largely consist of BRRAAAAHHHHHMMMM. BRRAAAAHHHHHMMMM, or variations of that motif.

My favorite part about Inception? I got it for a steal! The Blu-ray was like $14 on Amazon a couple months ago, and I plundered the s@$# out of it, along with a copy of Top Gun that I bought with it, as an excuse to use Super Saver Shipping. Inception is a fine, imaginative heist movie, and its solid performances, robust imagination, and stellar execution make it one of my favorite films of last year.

Diversion 2.0 Thirty Day Movie Challenge -- Day 28

Day 28 – A Movie With a Celebrity Crush

Until recently, I didn’t play the Celebrity Crush game. In middle and high school, my dude friends had many-a poster of Carmen Electra or Demi Moore on their walls, while my chick friends adorned their lockers with pictures of Josh Hartnett and Justin Timberlake; in both cases, I substituted for fold-out posters I received in issues of Nintendo Power. Now, I’ve decided to indulge myself a little, and pay slightly more attention to projects from certain actresses. Today’s entry is one such film.

Juno (2007)

During Day 15, I went into a mini-rant about the modern Indie Film, and how I don’t care for the cleverer-than-thou, pretentious tones hanging in so many of them. So why the hell did I see Juno?! This film is exactly what I’m talking about when I point at what twerks me off about the whole genre: “different” (but not that different) story structure; sensitive, shy guy acting performances; “hip” and “clever” dialogue vernacular; SHIT soundtrack made up entirely of Neko Case-soundalikes. Yet I went and saw it anyway, and went to a good deal of trouble, too; my dad and I timed it so that we could theater-hop into National Treasure: Book of Dreams to see the Goofy short in front of that movie, then make our way to see Juno immediately after. Why, oh why, did I make such an effort to see a movie that, conceptually, should cause me to hurl myself off of the balcony, if only to end the smugness?

The first reason was Roger Ebert. The second was Ellen Paige.

Juno is the story of our eponymous character, a sixteen-year-old with a hamburger phone and a penchant for Sunny D. Juno wants to try sex, because, well, why not, and ends up getting pregnant in the process. She considers going to an abortion clinic, but decides against it, and makes plans with her parents (Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons) and her baby-daddy (Michael Cera) to keep it. The plot takes her to Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), a married couple looking to adopt, and the movie is a character study about how they all interact together.

Contrary to my diatribe-filled first paragraph, I actually didn’t mind Juno so much. Granted, the soundtrack had me casting around to see what sort of theater-floor refuse I could jam into my ears, and I did eventually tire of Juno’s notoriously clever-for-clever’s-sake quips, but the acting was solid across the board (Garner and Simmons in particular), and I thought the story was sweet and likeable. But if Roger Ebert’s four-star review didn’t carry me through the movie, Paige certainly did.

Though very, very "indie," I liked Juno, at least enough to be disappointed when it lost to No Country For Old Men in the 2007 Oscars.

Paige’s Juno is the Kind Of Girl that Boys Like Me tend to gravitate towards: independent, strong women who probably don’t ultimately need male companionship, but like it all-the-same. Paige herself has a kind of offbeat cool about her, and she seems like someone I would want to chill out and listen to music with (but not Neko Case!). Rather than a pie-in-the-sky hottie like Megan Fox or Jessica Alba, Ellen Paige is a down-to-earth, regular girl, and I find that rather attractive.

There are other starlets who are more physically attractive, but Ellen Paige has the most appealing personality out of my celebrity crushes, an attraction point that runs much deeper for me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to comb my bangs into my eyes and play some Fall Out Boy on Rock Band.

Diversion 2.0 Thirty Day Movie Challenge -- Day 27

Day 27 – A Movie You Can Quote Extensively

As a man who loves puns, I think movie quotes are positively swell. I love taking film dialogue and applying it to a situation out of context; like any good pun, it gives the words a double-meaning, and unlike puns, the people who catch on actually laugh. There’s something communal about movie quoting as well – get a group of people together who can swap quotes, and there’s a good chance they’ll grow closer as friends, all while entertaining themselves. Today’s entry is the first film I’ve been able to quote extensively, and I’ve been doing so for almost twenty years.

Aladdin (1992)

Aladdin is one of my favorite movies ever. Not favorite Disney movies, not favorite animated movies, favorite movies period. It’s on the very select list of Disney’s out-and-out comedies, and its wacky, devil-may-care attitude gives me a pleasantly warm sensation. There are “better” Disney pictures in the canon, with “better” songs and “better” characters (few with better animation, though; even for the Renaissance, this movie looked damn good), but Aladdin is easily my favorite.

There’s no way you don’t, to some extent, know about the plot in Aladdin, but here goes anyway. Aladdin (Scott Weigner) is a young street rat living in the Middle Eastern city of Agrabah, and though he spends his days in poverty, he knows he’s meant for something greater than scrimping for food. Meanwhile, in the palace castle, Princess Jasmine (Linda Larkin) dreams about a life where she is buried under fewer rules and allowed to be free. The two meet and fall in love, but Aladdin is soon spirited away by the treacherous vizier Jafar (Jonathan Price) in order to retrieve a magical lamp from a temperamental cave.

Aladdin botches the lamp extraction, but meets the genie of the lamp (Robin Williams), a fast-talking, pan-dimensional being that yearns to be free of his brass prison. Aladdin promises to free the genie after he uses two of the genie’s three wishes, and the rest of the film follows Aladdin’s efforts to win over Princess Jasmine, while Jafar continues to scheme about how he will overthrow the Sultan and rule Agrabah.

"Yessir, we pride ourselves on service..."

Aladdin was my favorite movie as a child, and I watched it innumerable times on VHS. As a result, I can probably quote over half of the thing from memory. Not just the "good" lines or the songs, but half of any given scene in the movie, ancillary dialogue and all. Watching it only increases my near-total recall of the film, and turns the movie into a bit of a sing-along, sans bouncing ball.

Because it’s not tricking if you got it, here are some of my favorite non-traditionally-quoted lines from Aladdin:

• “It never fails. You get in the bath, and there’s a rub at the lamp.”
• “Allah forbid you should have any daughters!”
• “Look at this! Combination hookah and coffee maker! Also makes Julian fries!”
• “I can’t believe it, I’m losing to a rug.”
• “They’re after me! They’re after you?!”
• “Tonight, the part of Al will be played by a tall, dark and sinister ugly man.”
• “You were born a street rat, you’ll die a street rat, and only your fleas will mourn you!” (only because I like impersonating Prince Achmed)

Other movies are certainly more quotable (Anchorman, for example), but Aladdin, for personal reasons, is my favorite to quote.

Diversion 2.0 Thirty Day Movie Challenge -- Day 26

Day 26 – A Movie You Love That Many Do Not

Movie-watching is incredibly subjective. On one hand, even the greatest films have their detractors; on the other, my roommate actually, sincerely enjoys Dickey Roberts: Former Child Star. Today’s post is a sort of sibling to yesterday’s—rather than hatin’ on a movie that is generally asserted to be pretty good, we’re showing some love to a film that may not be generally well-liked.

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

If there’s one thing that’s cool to have on the internet, it’s better-than-thou antipathy, and few movies know this better than The Phantom Menace. The first film in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace experiences vitriol the likes of which is generally reserved for discussing the Vietnam War. And while I’m not going to be an apologist for all of the story decisions or Jar Jar Binks, I don’t think The Phantom Menace is nearly as bad as it’s made out to be.

The plot, because structure dictates I recount it. A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, two members of a peace-keeping society called the Jedi Order, Qui Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), are sent to assist the planet of Naboo, which is under siege by the Trade Federation. Their negotiations fail spectacularly, and must flee the planet with Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) in order to seek further assistance. Along the way, they make a detour to the desert planet Tatooine, where they encounter a young prodigy of the Force named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd). Qui Gon is convinced that Anakin is the boy of prophecy who will one day bring balance to the Force, and brings him along for training. Together, the party must find a way to liberate Naboo from the Trade Federation’s grasp, and investigate a creeping evil that casts a shadow over the whole series of events.

Yeah, Jar Jar's pretty obnoxious, but this is the one with Darth Maul, so they sort of cancel each other out.

For my money, The Phantom Menace is my favorite of the Star Wars prequels, for the simple reason that it feels the most like Star Wars. As much as The Phantom Menace uses CG and computers for its visual effects, it still utilizes models and actual real-life locations, which gel with the original trilogy much better than Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith’s mostly- or all-digital backgrounds and sets. From a writing perspective, The Phantom Menace feels like it has more quote-worthy lines than the others – certainly nothing on the level of the originals, but there are a few memorable lines, compared to none at all in the other two prequels. The Phantom Menace also benefits from not having Hayden Christiansen, whom I will swap for Jake Lloyd any day of the week.

I also had the unique advantage of being a part of the film’s exact target audience when it was released. Back in 1999, I was a white, pre-teen male whose movie theater-experience was pretty nominal, and the film’s slightly-adolescent tone and incredible imagination resonated with me in a way that carries over to the present. To upshot is that, while I recognize the film’s shortcomings (questionable story decisions, uneven acting, etc.), I still have affection for the thing, and continue to like it even now.

To close, I’d like to offer some perspective: is The Phantom Menace really worth all of the cinephile angst it receives? Of course it’s not as good as the originals, but does that really make it one of the worst films of 1999? For all of the nasty, hyperbolic statements made about the film, is it honestly worse than Jawbreaker or Wild Wild West? If the answer is yes, I would rather like to hear about it in the comments.

Diversion 2.0 Thirty Day Movie Challenge -- Day 25

Day 25 – A Well-Liked Movie that You Don’t Care For

Deny all you want, but occasionally, it’s pretty fun to be a contrarian. Some have even made an entire career out of it, like Pauline Kael, and A_____ W______. This entry isn’t necessarily about deliberate contrarianism (though that certainly can be part of it), but instead about pointing at a piece of classic Hollywood and saying, “Nope, not going to happen”; or wishing you could be anywhere besides watching Big Daddy with all of your friends, despite what an obvious good time they’re all having with the film. You certainly don’t “win” anything for not liking something someone else does, but it can feel pretty good to rant about it once in a while.

The Secret of NIMH (1982)

Apparently I just like to rag on Don Bluth. It’s not because I have a problem with the guy; I just think his movies are overrated. Maybe it’s because they were a shining beacon from when Disney was up Crappy Films creek, or because of the nostalgia associated with their VHS releases, but animation buffs and Gen-Y'ers absolutely love Donnie B. Goode's pictures for some reason. They’re really not bad films (at least the ones that everyone typically fawns over), but they just don’t do much for me.

Perhaps the most overrated of his films was his first one, 1982’s The Secret of NIMH. NIMH is based on a 1971 children’s novel by Robert C. O’Brian called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, and follows the basics of its storyline. The plot centers around Mrs. Brisby (Elizabeth Hartman; her character was renamed, after the makers of the Frisbee had words with Senior Bluth), a field mouse living on the land of Farmer Fitzgibbons. Plowing season is coming up, which means Mrs. Brisby must relocate her children to a safer spot out of the way of shreddy death. This is nigh-impossible this year, because her youngest son, Timothy (Ian Fried), is bed-ridden with pneumonia, and cannot be moved. After a fetch-quest of asking around, she is directed to the eponymous, super-intelligent rats of NIMH, who volunteer to move her house out of harm’s way because her late husband, Jonathan, was a Big Effing Deal.

And what a deal he was. As we learn through the plot (spoilers!), the smarty-pants group of rats gained their superior intellect through a questionably-legal series of tests conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, and could not have made their escape from the NIMH labs without Jonathan Brisby’s help. As she learns more about the rats and their secret society beneath the farmer’s property, Mrs. Brisby becomes caught-up in an internal struggle between two sides: the elderly, peaceful Nicodemus (Derek Jacobi), who desires to leave the farm and quit preying on the Fitzgibbons’ electricity, and Jenner (Paul Shenar), who’s perfectly happy sponging off the guy, thank you very much.

As a heroine, Mrs. Brisby actually comes across as sympathetic and compelling, unlike much of the movie she's involved in.

NIMH isn’t bad per se, but definitely not good enough for the rabid cult-following it’s attained since its debut. For a film sparked by Bluth’s declaration to return to quality characters, NIMH is surprisingly lacking in anyone well-written or –developed. With the exception of Mrs. Brisby and Mr. Ages (Arthur Malet), the film’s cast is flat and either boring or obnoxious—Jenner twirls his mustache, Justin (Peter Strauss) kinda looks handsome for most of the movie, and Jeremy the crow (Dom DeLuise) acts like a dry run for DeLuise’s character in Oliver & Company. Meanwhile, Nicodemus sits in the corner, looking sagely and doing what sounds like a bad impression of Ralph Fiennes. Granted, perhaps the characters in the original novel weren’t exceptionally dynamic, but it still doesn’t assuage the pants-on-head aggravating antics of Auntie Shrew (Hermione Baddeley).

Much is also made of the film’s animation, and I suppose I can concede that it looks nice; the backgrounds certainly look pretty stonking good, and Bluth was trying experimental and different things with lighting than anyone else at the time. But that’s just it, then: “at the time.” I certainly won’t try to deny that back in ’82, The Secret of NIMH must have looked like an absolute show-stopper compared to tripe like The Fox and the Hound or The Aristocats, but I also won’t try to pretend like it’s aged gracefully. It’s like video games made on the original PlayStation or Nintendo 64: they looked pretty good at the time, but damn they look dated now. Every character flops around like an elastic Jar Jar Binks (again, sans Mrs. Brisby and Mr. Ages), and I have a personal vendetta against every shade of Easter egg violet that Bluth absolutely loves to use in his films. The art design is solid (minus Nicodemus’ older-than-God-himself appearance), and I like the way the costumes and interior of the rats’ colony looks, but I find it hard to watch The Secret of NIMH and not mentally compare it to a host of better-looking films that would soon be released.

When NIMH is firing on all cylinders, it looks positively staggering, but these moments don't come nearly frequent-enough for my liking.

Nearly all of my complaints are personal bias; no doubt this film was a labor of love, cranked out by Bluth with few animators and a shoestring budget. Saying that, I don’t understand the absolute fervor generated by people who like this movie, which (cynical Andrew alert) I’m half-convinced is because The Secret of NIMH underperformed at the box office, and is largely a hidden gem among a sea of better-known animated features. That’s right: people like it because it’s obscure. I went there.

But anyway. The Secret of NIMH benefits from its story and stronger characters, and touts a level of artistry unseen in ’82. Bluth is a huge reason why Disney put their rear in gear during the 80's (and as a result, his place in animation history is forever sealed), and I’m certainly glad people enjoy this film. I’m just not one of them.