The American

The American (2010)
Director: Jason Reitman
Cast: George Clooney, Violante Placido, Johan Leysen, Thekla Reutan, Paulo Bonacelli

Summing Up, Up Front:
The American is a movie that tries so hard to be subtle and cryptic that it’s sometime difficult to know what it’s trying to say and, worse, to even care. George Clooney once again plays the aloof, confident, and competent man seemingly without a care in the world with exception of the people who are trying to kill him.

The American is almost all about George Clooney’s performance. So much of what this film has to stay is internalize inside his character, Jack. Is the world a dark place where only menace lives? Or is there a potential for a ray of hope?

The movie starts out with Jack (Clooney) and a women he seems to care about as they luxuriate in a remote cabin somewhere deep in the woods. He smiles, she appreciates him. Things change quickly when they goes outside for a walk. Jack changes, too. Someone is out there and wants him dead and he must act quickly and decide who he can trust. How he acts in these moments tells us the true darkness that lies within this character.

He is now a man on the run. Trusting few, he makes a call to a man who we must believe is his handler (Leysen). They meet in Rome and his contact provides him with a safe place and the necessary means to make it there. The only catch is that Jack still must stay in the game.

We slowly learn that the game is killing and we must assume that Jack is a highly paid and highly regarded member of this quiet and esteemed profession. Even after being provided with a means of escape, he still has little trust in those around him and decides an alternate route, selecting a different village in remote Italy to lay low.

It is in this village that he has several interesting encounters. His most intriguing encounter is with the village priest (Bonacelli) who has probing eyes and a sharp intuitive mind. He senses something dangerous and, also, troubled about Jack and seems to challenge Jack, hoping to draw him out with each encounter.

Jack, being a loner with few people he trusts, must find it physical pleasure with hired woman. Specifically, an alluring and sexy, Clara (Placido). This turns out to be another interesting encounter that seems out of the ordinary as Jack takes his encounters with Clara past what you would expect from this type transaction.

It is through these encounters that we learn more and more about Jack. We learn that maybe he wants something different for his life. We learn that he may urgently and emphatically want to make a connection with the world and be among people who trust and even care for each other.

But there is one more job. For some unknown yet compelling reason he must satisfy the needs of his contact and this is where Jack learns that changing your stripes is so much more difficult than having said you will make a change. His rivers of darkness and mistrust run so deeply that anyone could doubt that he could make it to a lighter, more trusting place. Plus, it’s not all up to him. The people he knows in his line work know he knows a lot about them and if he’s not in the game, maybe he’s too dangerous to be walking around.

There are choices made in the storytelling of this movie, deliberate decisions that precisely detail what the storyteller will let the viewer know and the depth of that knowing. This is a dangerous tightrope as cryptic and mysterious can turn to muddled and imponderable very quickly. While this movie never steps off that tightrope, it does come very, very close at times.

The thread of mystery and lack of revelation of insights leaves the viewer guessing and these questions start to pile up in droves early in the movie. So much so, that at one point, it’s hard to see how the director will be able to reveal anything about this character or story without totally wrecking the tone and atmosphere of the movie. Many of the questions are answered though and the movie doesn’t get overwhelmed with a slew of revelations at the end. Conversely, many questions go unanswered and this can be frustrating for some viewers. In my opinion, I think the movie suffers from trying to play its cards too close to its chest.

As for the performances, Clooney is a perfect fit for this movie. He wear the aloof loner persona like a comfortable suit. Just check him out in “Up in the Air” and the shades of gray between that character and this one aren’t that vastly different. It’s the supporting cast that really shines. The director smartly elected to go with largely unknown actors in some of the pivotal roles. Bonacellui is wonderfully authentic as the priest who is somehow able to see past Jack’s exterior and get a glimpse of this troubled man’s soul. Placido seems to bring multiple facets to what could have been a stereotyped role, playing a prostitute that is a more than just a object of the flesh, but as a person who just happens to sell herself. Or maybe better put, rent herself out. Even Leysen, playing Jack’s handler, brings levels of nuance and menace to his role.

The final supporting character of note is Italy. The town that Jack ends up in is spectacularly atmospheric while being totally ordinary at the same time. This is due in part to the cinematography in the movie. The conscious decisions of how to compliment and yet not glamorize the settings show skill and wisdom.

Storytelling is all about choices. Especially in movies which do not employ heavy handed voice overs (which this movie avoids). But that means that everything is internal. Clooney is good. No, very good, but I think that too much relies on his performance and the movie suffers from not bleeding a little more out, giving a little more insight into why.

Don’t get me wrong. Ambiguity is good. It’s intelligent. Questions are intriguing. But too many questions puts me at arms length when I want to get a more intimate knowledge of what is going through this character’s mind. With “The American, “ I could have lived with a few more answers.

Up in the Air

Up in the Air (2009)

Director: Jason Reitman

Cast: George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman, Danny McBride, Melanie Lynsky

Summing-up, Up-Front:

No man is an island, but Ryan Bingham has a system in place that makes him a mobile island, spending most of his life in the air, going from place-to-place delivering some of the worst news a person could deliver and is never really touched by it. George Clooney teams with director Jason Reitman to bring a story that is seemingly light and airy at times, but really is much harder edged as Ryan tries to keep on the move and out of touch.

How can you tell if someone is truly happy with the way they live their life or if they are using a set of elaborate cover ups to mask deep seated pain or fear?

Ryan Bingham (Clooney) spends an inordinate amount of time on planes traveling around the country. It's to such an extreme that he has given up any permanent residence. And to add to the scenario, his job when he gets to these locations is to fire people. He works for a company who is employed to come into troubled business and sack people. Talk about unpleasant jobs. But Ryan glibly goes from place-to-place never connecting with the people he has to break bad news to. He has a well-hone procedure that seems to cover all the contingencies of reactions as he ushers them from employment to uncertainty and fear.

With all his travel, Ryan has a goal -- 10,000,000 miles. It's an stunning number considering that fewer people have accumulated that many miles than have walked on the moon. He has traveling down to a science, knowing what luggage to carry, what lines to get into, and how to never pay for a meal that doesn't get him more miles. And he seems happy as a clam while he is at this as he solos around the country.

A chance encounter with a fellow road warrior named Alex (Farmiga) leads to a relationship based on coincidental plane hops around the country. She matches him stride-for-stride in traveling acumen and also in detached, surface level charm. Their relationship seems to meet their basic needs as they hook-up in different cities when their travels coincide.

But things go awry for Ryan when his boss (Bateman) introduces a new young employee who has an idea to revolutionize their business while nearly eliminating all need to travel. Natalie (Kendrick) is fresh with B-School and has all the brash confidence it can imbue her with. Ryan finds her ideas ludicrous and also as a threat to his way of life, but his boss sees a way to maximize profits. To better season the young Natalie in the ways of the business, the boss pairs Natalie with Ryan and they hit the road.

So, off they go and Natalie finds the business of firing people to be quite unpleasant, but she soldiers on. While on this sojourn, Ryan is able to make another hook-up with Alex and then gives her an unlikely invitation to attend his sister's wedding as his date. Estranged from his family primarily because if his nomadic lifestyle, he is forced to face a past and a family that wants to reconnect with him. Other pressures mount up and Ryan now stands at a precipice -- should we re-join the world or stay the course on his solo adventure.

This story is about pairing (or not pairing) and the real success of the movie is the pairing of George Clooney with director Jason Reitman. Clooney exudes a roguish, anti-authoritarian charm which suits this character so well. This character is by no means a tortured and reluctant loner. He's comfortable and confident in his habits and relishes his ability to stay on the move. He doesn't come across as a jaded individual, but a pragmatist who knows a little too much about the world to trust it. Reitman knows when to focus in on the details and when to give the big picture. There's a balancing act with this movie because there are moments of hilarity and times of deep poignancy and Reitman shows great skill in make both work together and not compete.

My only qualm with the movie is that we never really know what or if the Bingham character was driven to this lifestyle or if chose it voluntarily.

Up in the Air a very good movie. Clooney allows us to see him as middle aged man and that brings us closer to making a connection with his character. Vera Farmiga fits comfortably with Clooney and Kendrick brings wonderful combination of innocence and ambition to her role.

This will deservedly get attention at Oscar time. If you want an adult drama with just the right mix of comedy and poignancy, then Up in the Air is the movie for you.

Daybreakers

Daybreakers (2010)
Director(s): Peter and Michael Spierig
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Willem Defore, Sam Neill, Claudia Karvan

Summing-up, Up-Front:
Daybreakers takes a very popular genre of horror -- the vampire film -- and turns it on end which is very engaging but is that enough to make it a great movie? Yes and no because it's what you do with the rest of the movie outside that hook that makes or breaks the movie. The concept is good enough to get the viewer through the first half of the movie, but then it teeters somewhat in the second half.


Daybreakers is an immersive film, much like the Underworld films, creating a new reality. The new world is a dark reflection of what once was and a much bleaker one.

In the not so distant future, a vampire outrbreak erupts and within ten (short) years nearly the entire population of the planet is now consists of vampires with only a few humans hiding in seclusion or on the run. The vampires are living an existance much like what the humans lived. They have jobs, they shop, they have families, only they do all this under the cover of night and, yes, they need to drink blood to survive.

But there is one big problem. When they turned the majority of the planet into vampires, they drastically reduced their blood supply. In fact, as the movie starts, blood supplies are dwindling fast and this vampire society is starting to fray at the edges at an exponential speed. Edward Dalton (Hawke) is a scientist who works for a large corporation which "farms" humans to supply blood for the vampires, but there a too few humans to maintain demand and Edward is charged with finding a blood substitute which will avert a inevitable disaster. The company's CEO, Charles Bromley (Neill), is just as desperate to find a blood substitute to keep the supplies flowing and profits up.

Edward has his own complication tension which revolves around the fact that he does not like the idea of drinking human blood. A chance encounter with a group of humans on the run is a catalyst for Edward to do some soul searching and he ultimately gets involved with these human refugees. Edward then makes a startling discovery when he encounters a unique human (Defoe) in their midst. This discovery puts him and the rest of the dwindling human population on a collision course with the vampires, but which will win out?

The directors, Michael and Peter Spierig are a unique combination also because they are twins. Their 2003 debut, The Undead, was a serio-comic take on the zombie picture and was produced on what looked like a shoestring budget. You can tell they have a lot more money to work with this time around.

Daybreakers is both stylish and gory. The visual design of the world the directors have created for vampires is not unlike the world they consumed and the directors have selected a 1940's look and feel for the visual design of the film. This aesthetic brings a subdued quality to this new world, but underneath it all is an eruption ready to happpen.

The concept the film turns on is very intriguing hook. Seeing how a vampire world would really work carries us during the early portions. We get to see how they live and don't breath and we see how they can't escape their human origins. Plus the story does an excellent job of being more than just about vampires as it includes commentary on corporate greed and our consumer culture. It's not overt about these sub-themes, but they are there and add a enjoyable layer to the movie that those who want just a little bit more than a vampire flick.

As the film progresses, the story adds on some new layers and the complications are organic, but then it seems as if the directors become somewhat timid as the film takes on a less original tone and becomes more melodramtic. An inevitable and predictable face-off is careening full steam ahead in this mode, the films devolves into a plot driven vehicle. This is not necessarily bad as it does propel the action along, but it takes the unique edge off the movie and towards the end of the movie it seems to devolved into a bit of a gore fest.

With this new elevated budget, the Spierig brothers were able to get some name talent and this serves the movie well. Hawke carries the film with a gaunt appearance and conflicted demeanor. Neill handles the role of the patrichian CEO with sinister intent quite well. Defoe's role is pivotal and he makes the most of it.

At heart, this is a horror movie, but the filmmakers do their best to give this movie more weight than being just that. They do layer in some commentary, but when the chips are down, the blood flows in copious amounts. If you're squemish, then it's a not the film for you, but if you like your horror with a little more weight, Daybreakers is a good choice.

District 9

District 9 (2009)
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Cast: Sharlto Copley, Marian Hooman, Jason Cope, William Allen Young

Summing-Up, Up Front:
District 9 is also a wonderfully original Sci-Fi movie that takes some big chances with an unconventional approach as they place a metaphorical wrapper around the movie that gives it a little more weight than just another alien encounter story.

Alien encounter movies usually break down into two categories:
1 - They come down and try to kill or enslave everyone
2 - They are friendly, but misunderstood and we try to kill or enslave them

District 9 takes a decidedly different path. It is a film that places the aliens among as refugees and we are forced to face what it means to be one of "the others" through the eyes of the protagonist. There's a deep poignancy in this approach that is very affecting.

The film starts after the aliens have been among us for twenty years. Unlike most movies where the aliens arrive in New York, Washington D.C., London or some other high profile place. These aliens have arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa. And also unlike most alien encounter movies, these aliens aren't invaders or even planned visitors. These aliens have just drifted into Earth's atmosphere with their ship coming to rest above the city.

When the humans finally muster up the courage to investigate the ship, they discover malnourished and sickly aliens. These are not either the fearsome creatures ready to devour humans, nor are they the erudite overlord types. These scared, nearly desperate souls are on the verge of dying and their ship isn't the intimidating craft that the humans initially perceived, but is more of a space faring life raft.

After twenty years with us, the aliens are quarantined into a lowly and squalid refugee camp outside of the city and are treated as a nuisance more than anything. Anyway to exploit their advanced technology has already been completed, but the humans have a hit a wall because any weaponry they could exploit has failed because the weapons can only be used by the aliens and none of the alien refugees really know much or even care too much for these items.

The aliens also have strange proclivities including borderline lust for cat food which, of course, gets exploited by human gangs that have infiltrated the aliens refugee camp. This unsanctioned human/alien contact is prohibited, but there is not much enforcement.

The film kicks into full gear right at the beginning as the humans are getting ready to evict the aliens from their pathetic slum to even worse conditions (not that the aliens know of this future). A fumbling, low-level functionary (Copley) is charged with this effort and while in the process of informing the aliens of their impending displacement, discovers a cannister containing a mysterious liquid. While fumbling with it, he gets a face full of the liquid and starts a startling transformation that will lead to a dramatic confrontation between the humans and their alien guests.

The films initially employees a documentary approach that is very effective and almost makes these aliens seem real. Of course, the alien special effects work flawlessly with this approach. As the film progresses, it drifts in and out of this documentary style into a traditional narrative and while this may seem jarring, it does work.

It is not entirely clear that the filmmakers intended to create a metaphorical commentary on the treatment of refugees, but the film certainly works that way. And this is not a pretty picture of how refugees are relegated to sub-standard existences along with depicting the victimization of these desperate creatures. While the film moves along in fits and starts, this disorienting style creates a sense of chaos and uncertainty which certainly must be akin to the life a refugee.

The choice of going with no named stars serves the documentary approach quite well. And this doesn't mean that any of the acting is sub-par. Copley provides a wonderful performance as we get to see an average (or, even, below average) Joe have his world turned upside down. During the chaos of his transformation, we get to see not only a physical transfiguration, but also an emotional transformation as he finds himself more aligned with the aliens than he could ever suspect.

Just as a warning, this film is graphic in several places, so it shouldn't be viewed like the cute-cuddly E.T. genre. District 9 is a unique entry in the alien encounter genre and one that has some real poignancy along with some fantastic action. For those looking for action, there's plenty of it on the surface level, but for those wanting more substance, there's definitely several layers in this film for those that want to look deeper.

Avatar

Avatar (2009)

Director: James Cameron

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribsi

Summing Up, Up Front - Avatar:

Avatar is a fantastical and phenominal visual experience -- there's no denying that, but the story is very derivative and somewhat thematic. Still, the overwhelming visual experience trumps any short comings of the script.

I have this feeling that seeing Avatar is like taking a recreational drug -- you have to get away from it to get some real perspective, but once you experience Avatar again you will come away with the same high. The stunning visual impact of Avatar is just so profound that the deficits of the script are completely ignored and everything is beautiful.

In case you haven't seen, Avatar tells the experience of a far-off world called Pandoa inhabited by a primitive alien race called the Na'vi. The Na'vi are ten foot tall humanoid species and live in a communal society with a deep connection to the planet including all the plants and animals. They also happen to have their base settlement sitting right on top of some of the most precious ore in the universe. This puts them at odds with some greedy corporate types which have hired a highly sophisticated mercenary army to protect the corporations interests on the planet.

Negotiations between the humans and the Nav'i have stalled as the aliens won't move and the humans are backing down on their goal of getting to the precious ore. A new scheme has been hatched by to create androids fashioned to to look like the Na'vi called Avatars. These Avatars operate on a principal in which humans make a connection to the android and experience the world through the body of the Avatar. The team sole goal is to convince the Na'vi to move and the team is led by the hard-nosed scientist, Dr. Grace Austine (Weaver).

Unfortunately, one of the Avatar team members is killed before the Avatars can be fully integrated with the Na'vi and the team is forced to draft the team member's twin brother to replace him as a new Avatar. Jake (Worthington) is a war vet who was injured and is now paralyzed. Having lost his legs, he finds the experience of regaining the ability to walk again in the Avatar body to be exhilarating.

Jake takes on his new "assignment" with great relish and quickly integrates with the Na'vi as he saved by Neytiri (Saldana) who happens the be the leader of the local Na'vi tribe. Jake's orders are to get the Na'vi to move, but with each successive encounter with the Na'vi and Neytiri, his affinity for these people and specifically Neytiri grows and his loyalties become divided.

While Jake and the Avatar team try to convince the Na'vi to move, the corporation slowly runs out of patience and decides that diplomacy is at an end and more forceful forms of persuasion are taken creating a deadly showdown where the Avatar team must take sides.

Again, the story takes second seat to the technology and while that usually ends up with disastrous results, in Avatar, the story has just enough substance that the movie is successful outside the wonderment of the technological achievement. Many elements of the story seem derivative of other plot lines, but director James Cameron makes them seem fresh in this fantastic new world.

Avatar is one of the movies that demands to be seen on the big screen and if you can experience it in 3D, that's all the better.

The Haunting in Connecticut

The Haunting in Connecticut

Director: Peter Cornwell

Cast: Virgina Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Elias Koteas, Martin Donovan, Amanda Crew

Summing Up, Up Front - The Haunting in Connecticut:

The Haunting in Connecticut is a genuinely effective and creepy movie. It does start out strong, but in the end sabotages itself while it looks for that big, Hollywood ending.

In this age of vampire fascination in film and television, the ghost movie is a difficult sub-genre to pull-off well but The Haunting in Connecticut does give the vampires a run for the money in terms of scares and creepiness. Because it is based on a true story, this movies stands out more than some of the other entries in the sub-genre because while this movie is about a haunting, it is also about a family that is in crisis. This added dimension elevates the this movie to a more substantial plane and helps create characters that have some tangibility and substance.

The story starts out as we see a family on the edge. Matt (Gallner) is deep in a battle with cancer. His mother, Sara (Madsen), is deeply devoted to her son's survival as she drives him long distance to his frequent treatments. The long drive back from the hospital where Matt is getting his treatment is a torturous trip. So, Sara proposes the idea that they rent a house closer to the hospital and after some considered thought, they decide it's the course of action despite the fact that it with stretch their already frayed finances. Another source of tension in the family is that the father (Donovan) is a recovering alcoholic.

Without too much deliberation, they end up in an older house without knowing anything about it's sinister background. This house has secrets.

Almost immediately strange things begin to happen. The primary conduit for these happenings is Matt who has one foot in the grave himself as it seems he is losing his battle with cancer. Matt is able to see things the others cannot, but that period only last for a brief while as the forces in the house start to plague the entire family.

While at one of his treatments, Matt encounters a priest (Koteas) who is also being treated for cancer. They form a bond and Matt calls on the priest for aid when the supernatural forces seems to about to tear the family apart.

The spectral incursions become more frequent and more intrusive the longer the family stays in the house and Matt just gets sicker and sicker. The family also starts to delve into the houses gruesome past. In the search, they learn more than they ever wanted and will ultimately have to face down the terrors that inhabit this house.

Madsen and Gallner have to carry this movie and both of them are up to the task and Gallner, who actually looks physically depleted during the movie, is very good in his part. Koteas brings a grim gravitas to his role that borderlines on being overbearing though.

One real challenge of the haunted house story is to overcome the fact that the family could move out at anytime. While vampire, werewolves, and other assorted monsters are portable, the haunted house is place bound. The screenwriter does an excellent job of maintaining the rationale of why this family doesn't just leave, but it does get stretched towards the end.

The scares start our small and gradually grow to epic proportion and this is where the film moves into more spectacle realm and loses it's footing. The filmmaker must have felt the need to have a bombastic ending and this is where the films comes off the track somewhat. Still there some decent scares in this movie and the family in crisis background provides some solid ground for the cast and crew to work with.

While it's not "The Haunting" (the 1963 version, not the dreadful 1999 remake), The Haunting in Connecticut is an effective haunted house movie.

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Sherlock Holmes

Director: Guy Ritchie

Cast: Robert Downey, Judd Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong

Summing Up, Up Front - Sherlock Holmes:

Ritchie and the red-hot Robert Downey team up to "pimp-up" the old Sherlock Holmes character. Does it work? Not really. Instead of the thinking-Holmes, we get the two-fisted version that is entertaining, but somewhat of a let down.

Sherlock Holmes has been around seemingly forever and the character has been nearly done to death by any number of filmmakers and actors. What the Ritchie/Downey team decides to do is to go strong on the action and sort of throw-out much of the real appeal of Holmes -- his penetrating mind. Yes, Holmes' brilliance is still there, but it gets almost completely concealed by the ramped-up action sequences. Don't get me wrong, I didn't go in expecting the talking-head treatment, but a lot got lost along the way.

The film starts off with a wonderful action sequence of the dynamic duo of Holmes and Watson busting up a cultish ceremony, led by the nefarious Lord Blackwood (Strong), all by themselves as the authorities arrive just in time for mop up duty.

After this initial romp, Holmes (Downey) retreats into a spiral of self-absorption as this Holmes seems totally focused on some higher level of esoteric and intellectual pursuits combined with several forms of debauchery, but is this masking some real, yet undisclosed, source of emotional angst underneath? Perhaps it is a love lost? Perhaps it is just a scintillating mind caught up in the hum-drum and banality of daily life? Perhaps it is the fact his team of two is being broken up as Dr. Watson (law) intends to get married?

Whatever it is, it almost immediately takes a back seat as the man they apprehended in the opening sequence is given the death sentence, but miraculously Lord Blackwood re-appears intent on wreaking as much havoc as he can even after he has had the sentence carried out to its fullest extent. The only thing standing in his way is the team of Holmes and Watson.

Somehow, Irene (McAdams), the woman Holmes is seemingly pining for, gets intertwined with the scheme and ultimately ends up adding a third dimension to the team. She just also happens to be the only person to get the best of Holmes on a repeated basis.

Ritchie and Downey's Sherlock Holmes is a whole lot of sound and fury and the strength of the Holmes character really seems to get lost in all the action sequences. Don't get me wrong; Ritchie is plenty inventive and Downey has an amazing amount of charisma, but I think the scales in this movie tipped too far towards expressing Holmes in action rather than Holmes as the man of thought. Judd Law does get a juicy role of pumping up the usually stodgy Dr. Watson. Rachel McAdams, as lovely as she is, seems miscast in this role. I can imagine the studio pressuring Ritchie into casting someone who can appeal to the young U.S. lads, but I can't imagine that a true British actress might have been a better fit.

The action scenes are marvelous as Ritchie speeds up and slows down the action to give us Holmes perspective of the action. The pace is relentless as the story speeds along, but mercifully Ritchie gives us breaks for levity along the way.

This version of Sherlock Holmes is sure to please the action-hungry crowd which likes it's meat tough and a bit raw, but I was left wanting a more refined and palatable meal.