Captain Spaulding's Cinematic Catalogue

Sabotage
(David Ayer, 2014)

It's great to have Arnold Schwarzenegger back on the big screen. I enjoyed his previous starring vehicle, 2013's The Last Stand, which was fun, exciting, contained some great action sequences and several humorous one-liners. Unfortunately, Sabotage is lacking in all of those things. It's too dour, too self-serious and too mean-spirited to have fun with its action. Schwarzenegger's character is still reeling from the brutal murder of his family, so he lacks his usual commanding presence and inherent likability. It's also unclear for the majority of the film whether or not his character is a hero or a traitor. If this was a stronger film with better direction and a better script, I'd probably praise the ambiguity, but such an approach instead removes any rooting interest in the characters, making the whole affair rather dull and lifeless. Aesthetically, the film reminds me of a direct-to-video feature with poor production values and too-bright lighting. Most of the dialogue is your typical sex-obsessed, my-d!ck-is-bigger-than-your-d!ck, wannabe-macho diatribe heard in locker rooms and battalions. To shoot or get shot is the only reason side characters exist in this film, which means Terrence Williams, Sam Worthington and other familiar faces go to waste in this below average, poorly written, forgettable action-thriller.


The Woman in Black
(James Watkins, 2012)

Surprisingly old-fashioned and heavy on Gothic atmosphere, The Woman in Black is most successful when relying on traditional haunted-house archetypes and imagery. The story is similar to every ghost story ever made, but at least the film spends little time on exposition and mostly just follows Radcliffe around the creepy mansion while things go bump in the night. Every other scene features Radcliffe walking down a long dark hallway in trepidation. That gets old after awhile, but a few scenes provide an inkling of suspense and chills. It's hard for me take Radcliffe seriously as an adult actor. Surely he learned some tricks at Hogwarts to vanish ghosts. Or at the very least he could have used his wand to provide a bit of light so he doesn't have to explore in the dark. The ending is lame, and the movie becomes less creepy once it starts relying on CGI instead of imagination to provide the frights. The Woman in Black is below average as a horror film, but the short run-time and the thick atmosphere make it more effective than some ghost stories I've seen in recent years.


Philomena
(Stephen Frears, 2013)

Considering the true story at the heart of Philomena, this should have been a powerful, infuriating, emotionally engaging film, but the only emotion it elicited in me was boredom and indifference. However, that's my general reaction to all human interest stories, whether it's in the form of a two-minute segment on the news or, in this case, a ninety-minute motion picture, so my tepid reaction might speak more to my misanthropy than the film's shortcomings. Or maybe not. Personally, I blame my disconnect with Philomena on its approach to the subject matter. If the film's perspective had focused less on Steve Coogan's smug journalist and more on Judi Dench, then I think I would have had a stronger emotional connection to the story. Dench is excellent in the film. Her performance is deceptively complex, balancing tenderness and warmth with a great inner strength required for her character to carry the weight of such enormous sorrow. The young actress who plays Philomena in the flashbacks is nowhere near as talented, but the tragic events that unfold give those scenes an emotional resonance. Unfortunately, Coogan's reluctant decision to assist in the search for Philomena's forcefully adopted son, as well as his ensuing moral dilemma over whether to publish her story or not, is given more screen time and treated with more importance than Philomena's injustice. Perhaps that's not surprising since the script is adapted from a book by Coogan's real-life counterpart, but it reeks of self-centeredness and it impedes the film from capitalizing on Dench's strong performance or the powerful true story.


Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
(Adam McKay, 2013)

I feel like the only person in the world who hated the first Anchorman. I found it absolutely dreadful, yet everyone and their mother said it was hilarious and constantly quoted it. Now comes the sequel, which is even more idiotic and even more of a torture to sit through. The only time I laughed was when Burgandy and his crew smoked crack on live television. I also admired the satiric aspects of the film since it accurately spoofs the lack of integrity and the ratings-obsessed tactics of modern news stations. The rest of the film, however, is atrocious. Few things are worse than an unfunny comedy, and I just don't find these characters and their ad-libbed attempts at humor to be funny. There is little structure to the film. Everything feels reckless and made up as it goes along. The one-liners try too hard to be ridiculous and quotable. A scene near the end of the film features about twenty-five cameos from well-known superstars. It's humorous at first, but in the spirit of the film, the scene goes on and on and on until it quickly becomes tiresome. I generally like Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell and Paul Rudd, but not in these particular roles.


You're Next
(Adam Winguard, 2013)

When I first saw a trailer for You're Next, I thought it looked like one of the most unoriginal films I'd ever seen. Then it received surprisingly strong reviews and the endorsement of my friends. Now that I've seen it, I should have trusted my initial instinct. You're Next isn't the self-aware horror comedy many have labeled it. Sure, the film tries to be different, teetering toward a Scream-version of the home-invasion sub-genre, but instead it lands more on the side of The Strangers and a gazillion other similar films. If this is what passes for smart nowadays, then the genre has fallen farther than I thought. At least when a horror film features the usual cast of clichés--- the virgin, the nerd, the stoner, etc.--- you recognize those characters, regardless of their lack of depth. The problem with You're Next is that everyone looks and acts alike, so it's as if the entire cast blends into one faceless blob of bland personalities. Since the relationships between most of the characters isn't evident, the big twist in the second half had no impact. Some viewers have mentioned the humor in the film, which I failed to notice except in one or two scenes, and even then the movie fails to fully commit to the joke, resulting in an awkward moment of "Should I laugh or should I not?" And with the exception of a blender to the skull, even the kills lack creativity. Overall, You're Next is a rudimentary, by-the-the-numbers home-invasion movie lacking in tension, scares or suspense, yet somehow it has fooled many viewers into thinking it's more than the sum of its (severed) parts.

Frances Ha
(Noah Baumbach, 2013)
(Starring: Greta Gerwig; Mickey Sumner; Adam Driver)




Some people don't want to come of age. Case in point: Frances Halladay, a twenty-seven-year-old aspiring dancer who lacks in talent, maturity, financial responsibility and social awareness, yet who tries to make up for it with childish enthusiasm and teenage spontaneity. Many would label her a case of arrested development, but I disagree. I view Frances, instead, as a practitioner of a well-meaning, but misguided, philosophy: a desire to live life in the moment with the same carefree attitude of a child. No worries. No responsibilities. (In other words, what Timon and Pumbaa referred to as "Hakuna Matata".) She treats her nights as a sleepover, sneaking cigarettes and booze as if her parents might come storming in the door at any second; she flies to Paris on a whim and a credit card with no plans of what to do when she gets there or how to pay off the ensuing debt; she regularly abandons what she needs to do for what she wants to do, whether that means forgoing a trip to the laundromat to eat breakfast with friends or sharing a lazy day with roommates instead of practicing her dance routines. But a person can only shrug off life's responsibilities for so long. Adulthood always catches up. Reality always crashes down. And I think Frances Ha, with all its hipster French New Wave flourishing, would have been a much better film if it had fallen less in love with the airiness of its main character and adopted a sterner eye.

At the beginning of the film, Frances breaks up with her boyfriend after rejecting a proposal to move in with him. Judging by her non-reaction to the sudden denouement of her relationship, clearly the relationship didn't mean much to her. Instead, Frances values her relationship with Sophie, her best friend and roommate, over more intimate connections with the opposite sex. "We're like lesbians who don't have sex," says Frances of her relationship with Sophie, and early scenes of the two goofing off in their apartment and holding hands as they run through the streets of New York portray their youthful connection. In many ways, Sophie mirrors Frances's childlike enthusiasm and naivety, but unlike Frances, Sophie shows progression. When Sophie moves in with her boyfriend, Frances is left scrambling, unable to adapt to the sudden change. Later in the film, when Frances learns of Sophie's engagement, she acts like a petulant child. It's natural for her to miss her friend and feel a sense of jealousy toward Sophie's fiancée, but Frances's immaturity gets the best of her, and her actions mirror that of a spoiled brat in the midst of a temper-tantrum. It's one of the only scenes in the film to capture Frances with a critical eye; as a result, it's one of the most effective.



Frances exhibits many admirable characteristics: her energy, her boundless optimism, her sunny disposition. But she's also too satisfied with discontent, too careless of the future, too unaware of how she is perceived by those around her. Instead of addressing the flaws in her character or illustrating the potential pitfalls of her immaturity, Noah Baumbach, the director, plays the part of an irresponsible parent. "Isn't she cute?" his direction seems to imply, while everyone else is like, "How 'bout disciplining your child?" The people with whom Frances interacts seem to find her eccentric nature either amusing or odd. When she insists on "play fighting" with one of her colleagues, the colleague seems stricken, yet Frances remains aloof. When Frances racks up debt during an ill-informed trip to Paris, the matter is briefly mentioned later on, but like everything else in the film, the director would rather gloss over his muse's faults and mistakes. I understand that Frances is the life of the film and that the tone is reflective of her own inner spirit, but that misguided approach results in a film that feels pointless and self-indulgent. Instead of stepping back and documenting Frances with an unbiased eye, the film pats her on the head and calls her adorable.

I've seen people on this forum express the erroneous opinion that no modern motion-picture should be filmed in black-and-white. Where they see antiquity, I see beauty. However, the choice to transfer Frances Ha from color (the way it was initially shot) to black-and-white adds nothing to this particular film. I'm sure Baumbach wanted to invoke Truffaut and Godard and give Frances Ha a classic French New Wave aesthetic, but the self-conscious usage of black-and-white makes Frances Ha feel like a pretentious student film instead. As for the acting, I have nothing but praise for Greta Gerwig's performance, which is the highlight of the film. She co-wrote the script, so she understands Frances and what makes her tick. Her performance is so effortless, so natural, that she doesn't even appear to be acting. I also admire the nuanced way the film deals with Frances's lack of funds. In most films, regardless of a character's occupation, money is never an issue, but twenty-somethings are notorious for being broke, so I enjoyed small details like Frances not being able to afford a trip to the cinema or hesitating before paying a usage fee at the ATM.

Trapped somewhere in the hipster pretension and self-infatuation were the ingredients of a very good film, but the recipe is all wrong. Instead of an insightful, memorable character study, Frances Ha is forgettable and annoying, much like its titular character.

JayDee's Movie Musings (Reviews - Frailty / Total Recall / Lone Ranger / Nightcrawler / Whiplash / Imitation Game / Birdman / Avengers: Age of Ultron / Mad Max: Fury Road)