The Jerk

I had never seen this 1979 Steve Martin classic before yesterday, and after recently completing my viewing of the entire run of "Freaks and Geeks" (in which they reference The Jerk in a few episodes), I figured March Madness was as good a time as any to rectify that situation. While I didn't find it uproariously hilarious, I definitely laughed a lot and can appreciate the movie as a precursor to the money-based comedies of the 1980's.

The Jerk

Director: Carl Reiner

Starring: Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters

Before I get too far into this, let me explain what I mean when I say "money-based comedies of the 1980's." Since America was going through a ridiculous societal change at that point thanks in part to the influx of cocaine (profiled, among other places, in the fantastic documentary Cocaine Cowboys), the country became obsessed with money. Movies like Brewster's Millions, Trading Places, and even, to a lesser degree, Night Shift, had plots surrounding the rise (and sometimes fall) of normal people coming into insane amounts of wealth and showing how they deal with it. Outside of the comedy realm, movies like Oliver Stone's Wall Street reiterated the pervasiveness of money into America's subconscious. The Jerk popularized many of these story elements in the form of a film comedy, paving the way for countless movies to take aspects of the plot and repackage them until the story became a cliche.

But before the cliche, Steve Martin and Carl Reiner made cinematic history with Martin's first feature film. I can see why the film is referred to as a classic - not only for its trailblazing sensibilities as far as story goes in the genre, but for the specific manner in which the film accomplishes its mission. Steve Martin essentially plays a man-child (Will Ferrell, eat your heart out) named Navin Johnson, adopted by a black family in Mississippi. While his family sings and dances to music on their front porch, Navin can't seem to keep the beat and feels slightly out of place at various points in his life. One year on his birthday, he discovers he can dance when he hears a jazzy tune on the radio and undergoes a shift in perspective. "If THAT's out there," he shouts, pointing to the music emanating from the radio, "imagine what ELSE is out there!" So Navin leaves his home for the first time, and stumbles into all kinds of adventures after that point. I won't ruin them for you, as most of the fun comes seeing Navin tackle his ridiculous jobs throughout the movie.

One of my favorite scenes had nothing to do with comedy. When Navin meets Marie (Bernadette Peters) and asks her out on a date, they sing a duet (with Steve Martin playing ukulele) of "Tonight You Belong To Me" that I thought was really touching.

The film doesn't shy away from throwing these heartwarming moments in here and there, and I think the movie benefits greatly from that decision; it gives the movie a certain level of heart that is normally lost in other madcap comedies. Navin's innocence automatically makes us root for him, and his naive nature propels the story forward in an organic way.

The writing in this movie was perfect for Martin's comedy style. There were quick-witted lines of dialogue that shined on their own, as well as a solid overarching storyline and situational humor that worked really well for the characters created in this cinematic world.

That's all for now; I wouldn't want to ruin this for anyone else who hasn't seen it yet. I'd definitely recommend checking this out. Even if you don't necessarily care for the humor (hint: if you're a sophisticated female, your chances aren't good), you can probably still appreciate the movie for it's pioneering ways and connect the dots on your own from The Jerk up to the comedies of today. Until next time...

[Two things: This movie was apparently the first film to rent out theaters for a world premeire of a trailer. (I thought that was kind of a fun fact.) And my favorite scene? Probably the convenience store robbery.]

March Madness 2010

Welcome back to Ben's Movie Reviews, and welcome to March Madness 2010 Edition. One frequent guest collaborator has already beaten me to the punch with the first film of the month, and you can read his review of Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic by clicking the link or searching through the archives.

If you're reading this, then you probably know I've been writing for other sites for some time now, and this blog has fallen into a secondary position lately. I basically use it as an aggregate of my reviews from around the web. I've also started writing about TV at Media Consumed, another blog I started a while back, and I've recently engaged in a CBS Show Photoshop Pun War with The Solar Sentinel. The results of that battle are coming in as we speak over at The Playing Field, so keep checking there for the eventual winner.

The point being that "Not Just New Movies" has been pretty much, well, just new movies lately. I intend to use this year's March Madness to remedy that. So if you've got some old favorites that you want to see reviewed here, throw your suggestions in the comments section. I won't promise to review them, but who knows - you might spark some interest in me and I'll give your selection a whirl. For now, look for a review of Steve Martin's The Jerk coming to the site tomorrow. [Probably around 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific, if I had to guess.]

Thanks for reading, and keep your eyes glued here (and at Media Consumed, etc.) for more from me over the next month and beyond!

How To Train Your Dragon

When I saw the first trailer for How To Train Your Dragon, I must admit it didn't pique my interest. A non-Pixar film is automatically fighting an uphill battle in the animation industry, and Dragon just didn't seem that interesting to me. So I practically surprised myself when I decided to check out an advanced screening (in 3D, no less) at the Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood on Thursday night. I was also surprised with how much I ended up enjoying the film.

How To Train Your Dragon

Directors: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois

Starring: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson

How To Train Your Dragon shares plot elements with a lot of stories we've seen recently. The plot follows Hiccup, a young Viking living in a culture that thrives on fighting dragons. His dad is the chief of the village and wants nothing more than for his son to grow up to be a hard-nosed Viking like the rest of the tribe. That's what Hiccup wants, too - but the problem is he's kind of clumsy and seems to be more of an inventor than a warrior (he's the apprentice to a blacksmith). When Hiccup uses one of his inventions to take down a Night Fury (the most mysterious and rare of all dragon classifications), he finds he doesn't have it in him to kill the beast and instead befriends it. As the rest of the story unfolds, Hiccup attempts to convince his tribe that dragons may not be as bad as they thought.

So why did I like this film? First off, aside from the overly-cartoonish characters (admittedly a Dreamworks style that I don't particularly care for), the animation was phenomenal. There were a few sequences in which Viking ships were travelling over water where I literally whispered "wow" in the theater because of how beautifully the water was rendered. I know it's a small detail, but it was some of the best CG water I've ever seen. More than the water, though, I loved the actual "dragon training" sequences. Remember the scene in Avatar where Jake Sully's Na'vi flies through Pandora on the back of a dragon? This film does that same sequence, but better (and about half an hour longer). You can practically feel the wind on your face as Hiccup and his dragon soar through the air, coast above the water, and dodge through rock formations. It's genuinely thrilling filmmaking, and I had an insane amount of fun with those scenes.

I mentioned before the film shares plot elements with a few other films. Besides the Avatar similarities (which are too blatant to ignore), How To Train Your Dragon also borrows a bit from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, one of my favorite animated films of the past decade. The protagonists in both films are "different" from societal norms; they are outcast inventors trying to impress their fathers and score their first girlfriend at the same time. They both get in over their heads, but eventually prove that not only is it OK to be different, but it's ultimately necessary for the well-being of their respective towns. Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the (slight spoiler alert) huge monster dragon that appears near the end of the film bears a striking resemblance to the Kraken from the upcoming Clash of the Titans. The animators must have been pissed when they saw that Titans trailer.

Rising above the shuffle of filmic references and breathtaking visuals is a solid cast featuring Jay Baruchel (She's Out of My League, The Sorcerer's Apprentice) as Hiccup, Gerard Butler (300, Gamer) as Stoic, Hiccup's father and village chief, and late night talk show personality Craig Ferguson as Stoic's right hand man, Gobber. Butler and Ferguson relish in their Scottish accents, while Baruchel mercifully plays it straight and avoids any annoying vocal tricks. America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Kristen Wiig round out the cast in supporting roles, all to fine effect. (Hill plays a character clearly based on Jack Black.)

The film tries to introduce a romance that didn't work for me, partly because Astrid's (Ferrera) transformation from "badass alpha-female" who wants nothing to do with Hiccup to "instant girlfriend" was rushed and didn't feel natural. There's even a scene reminiscent of Aladdin's famous "A Whole New World" montage where Hiccup and Astrid fly for the first time together, but it isn't enough to make their relationship believable. With that said, the visuals during that sequence were spectacular. There's one shot in particular that stood out as something I've never seen before. The camera stays locked in a side profile view of the pair flying atop a dragon as the dragon goes into a flying flip, with the background around the camera rotating but the trio staying right-side-up for the duration of the shot. It's a cool little touch; add that to the training sequences I talked about earlier and I think we have one of the most gorgeous films of the year so far. It's no surprise that Academy-Award winning cinematographer Roger Deakins was a visual advisor on the film.

Speaking of visuals, I haven't mentioned the 3D yet. Like Pixar's Up, this movie uses 3D as a means of adding depth instead of bringing things out into the face of the audience. I'm generally not a fan of 3D, but this felt totally organic and didn't distract from the story at all. However, if you're not willing to part with the extra cash for the more expensive 3D ticket, I'm confident the film will look just as dazzling in the standard two dimensions.

My last point comes with a brief disclaimer: I'm fully aware some people are going to accuse me of reading too far into a "kid's movie," but I figured I'd bring this up anyway. At one point, Astrid disgustedly looks at Hiccup (who has just failed a training mission in Viking Camp) and says "our parents' war is about to become ours. You better figure out whose side you're on." Poignant words from a movie geared towards kids, especially today. Later on, Hiccup and his father argue over the merits of saving the dragons or fighting them. "They've killed hundreds of us!" Stoic yells at his son. "But we've killed thousands of them!" Hiccup replies. "They're just defending themselves." I'm not going to use this review as a platform for my own political beliefs, but it would appear someone was trying to slide a little current affairs into this movie. For those who would argue with me on this, let me offer a bit of defense: I think the aforementioned points are just as relevant as the political references in The Dark Knight. How To Train Your Dragon was based on a book written in 2003, so it's probable that if those specific bits of dialogue were in the text, they were written with the War on Terror consciously or subconsciously in the author's mind.

Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois co-wrote (with a few others) and co-directed, and overall I had a really fun time with this movie. The characters aren't as fully rounded as I'd like, but the breathtaking visuals and fun tone of the film more than made up for any missteps along the way. While I haven't seen many of Dreamworks Animation's films outside of the Shrek series, How To Train Your Dragon definitely ranks up there next to the first Shrek film as my favorite of their work so far. Unlike the Shrek sequels (and, from what I hear, other Dreamworks Animation films since), this movie does not rely on pop culture gags AT ALL and instead chooses to focus completely on the story and the characters. Obviously this was a great decision on their part, one I hope they repeat in the future. I'd recommend this movie to anyone of any age. Until next time...

Shutter Island

It's not difficult for the adept moviegoer to predict the direction Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island travels; the fun is in the ride. The Oscar-winning director has crafted a psychologically charged thriller that is as much about recapturing a classical style of filmmaking as it is a showcase for the acting talents of star Leonardo DiCaprio.

Shutter Island

Director: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams

The plot is familiar enough: In 1954, a pair of "duly appointed federal marshals" (an irresistibly fun phrase to imitate with a Boston accent) arrive on Shutter Island to visit Ashcliffe, the federal mental hospital for the criminally insane. A woman named Rachel has vanished, and it's up to Teddy Daniels (DiCaprio) and his partner Chuck (Mark Ruffalo) to find her. As a threatening storm places the island on lock down and Dr. Cowley (Sir Ben Kingsley) begins playing mind games with the marshals, Teddy must battle through delusions, drugs, and hysteria to discover the truth behind Rachel's disappearance and relive his own horrific wartime experiences in the process.

Like I said: if you've seen the trailer, you know this movie is going to tackle the tried and true question, "what is real?" Thematically, the film this instantly reminded me of is Total Recall, the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick directed by Paul Verhoeven. Like that film, Shutter Island presents a world in which reality is called into question, and it's our job as the audience to sift through the details and discover the truth for ourselves. Tonally, the movie reminds me more of an old Vincent Price film; the "trapped on an island" setup and mind games lend well to recapturing the claustrophobia of 1940's film noir (Key Largo comes to mind). Scorsese's style also fits this mold well - his use of close ups help to force the viewer in for a closer look (mirroring Teddy's journey) and he employs quick cuts to keep the audience slightly uneasy and uncertain of anything they are seeing.

The score, an eerie mix of previously recorded songs, was put together by Scorsese's frequent collaborator Robbie Robertson. Surprisingly, it works extremely well, providing an old school vibe that is overpowering at points. (The introduction to the island in the opening scene is fantastic.) But the uncomfortably loud volume (again, only at certain points) definitely served its purpose, driving the audience into their seats and cringing to escape the pulsating strings and deep orchestral tones. In Shutter Island, the score is used as yet another manipulation, keeping the viewer off balance and intensely aware of every detail.

For the sake of full disclosure, let it be known that I'm a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio - so take this next paragraph with a grain of salt. DiCaprio is my favorite actor working today, and his performance here was outstanding. The movie itself has a sort of B-movie vibe to it, not taking itself too seriously and allowing certain aspects (like Ben Kingsley's performance) to be wonderfully over the top. DiCaprio's performance, on the other hand, was as straight as an arrow. We needed him to be believable since everything on the island is questionable. He takes us on a personal journey and we can feel every emotion seething through him on the screen. We completely buy into his viewpoint, and Scorsese and Co. knew that the entire film rides on this performance. The actor is fairly selective about his film projects and always strives to push himself into a challenging role, and Teddy Daniels was different enough from other characters he's played to meet his needs. If this movie was released back in October of 2009 as initially planned, we would most likely be discussing the battle between Jeff Bridges and Leonardo DiCaprio for Best Actor at the upcoming Academy Awards.

The cinematography is striking, avoiding cheap camera tricks in favor of a classical shooting style that retains suspense and simultaneously borders on beautiful. The disorienting aura surrounding Teddy's flashbacks and slowly infiltrating his existence is translated skillfully through the camera, allowing us the luxury of an enjoyable ride even if we know (or at least suspect) where the path will end.

The script, written by Laeta Kalogridis and based on Dennis Lehane's novel, is complex and layered, giving Teddy a solid arc and providing a captivating commentary about living with guilt. Teddy's flashback sequences, both of his days as a soldier at the liberation of Dachau and memories of his deceased wife, are well paced throughout the movie's run time. Small-but-solid parts for Jackie Earle Haley and Max von Sydow also add to the creepy and moody atmosphere.

Overall, Shutter Island is my favorite movie of the year so far. It's tight, suspenseful, well-acted, well-directed, and well-shot. Was it worth the wait? Absolutely. Even if you think you've figured out the "twist" from the trailers, it's still a joy to watch Scorsese give us a film that so wholly embraces its film noir roots and, as an added bonus, features DiCaprio's most complex role in years. Until next time...