Movie Review: Hairspray

Utterly satisfying, as charming as you would hope it would be. Haven't seen it on the stage, but ya damned skippy I saw the original movie. I really think that this new trend of remaking a movie on Broadway, then making the Broadway show into a movie is funny. Looking forword to seeing The Wedding Singer and Legally Blonde, even though the original ones are less than ten years old.

In some ways this is better than the 1988 original, as all the John Water's scuzziness has been smoothed over (even though it was PG, you can't escape the underlining Divine Madness in all of Water's films). This is certainly the best musical I've seen since Chicago, mostly because the director, Adam Shankman (who is a great director who's made some shit films: Bringing Down the House, Cheaper By the Dozen 2, and The Pacifier), is like Rob Marshall in that he understands how a musical should work on film. Shankman's a choreographer and has marvelous energy and timing.

Nikky Blonsky is adorable- a star is born. Amanda Bynes is cute, too, which's nice because I've always wanted to like her, but she's always been in terrible tweenage pictures. Everyone's memorable, actually. Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been as sexy since she was Catwoman, but it's a shame that now she's found her middle-age nitch by playing villains. Christopher Walken's sweetly deadpan. The bell of the ball, Travolta, is actually not a spectacular as he should have been. Good, but they would have had better movie if they'd just asked Harvey Fierstein to do it.

Side-note: For those who hadn't heard, GLAAD complained about the casting of Travolta because Scientology aparently believes that homosexuality is something that can be cured by joining Scientology and eating lots of vitamins. I don't think that this is fair, because Travolta has made no negative comments about gays, and it's not right to condemn a man just because of his (nutjob) beliefs.

Movie Review: Stardust

Saw this last weekend, and I have to say that this has been the best movie I've seen this summer. One of those sheer delights that you don't want to end.

However, now that I'm starting to read the book, I'm afraid that I might end up being disgusted with how they changed things. I'm a big Neil Gaiman fan, but Stardust never appealed to me until now. Just by flipping through and reading passages and looking at Charles Vess' illustrations, I can tell a lot has been changed, most notably that the world beyond the wall is in fact Fairie. In the movie, it's just an original fantasy world, so much of the old ballad elements are lost. This said, I'm still optomistic that I will like both book and movie as individual works in their own rights, especially since they are so different. I already find the movie's ending more satisfying than the book's (I peaked).

The film is sweetly romantic, well-paced, and visually exciting. With the special effects, I was initially not empressed with moments like the pet-sized elephants at the fair, but the sky ship, the dead princes, and Yvaine's starshine were enchanting. Most rememberable were probably the performances. Charlie Cox was your standard charming but bumbling Gaiman hero, and you fall in love with him, even at his stupid moments. I haven't liked Claire Danes so much since Little Women, but she was excellent as Yvaine, just the right proportions of ethereal and spunky. I'm a little torn over that Michelle Pfeiffer is mostly playing villainesses now, but I cannot deny that she plays them well. I'm glad I had forgotten that Peter O'Toole and Ricky Gervais were in it, because it was fun to be surprised by them. Robert De Niro hasn't been in a movie like this since Brazil, and he obviously had a lot of fun with it. He steals whatever scene he's in without being too overpowering.

Telling from the trailers, which included Beowulf, The Spiderwick Chronicles, and The Golden Compass, fantasy is the most bankable in-thing to do in the post-Lord of the Rings industry. Maybe with movies like Stardust it'll be a fantasy-film Renaissance, like it was in the 80's. Imagine this decade creating movies more in line with the Neverending Story and Legend!

Stardust worked, but it was more aimed at adults, but some movies, like the dreaded upcoming Dark is Rising, seem to be pandarizing to tweens, ripping out its literary elements and simplifying its mythology. However, The Golden Compass looks very promising, and the Narnia movie appears to be respectable to its source.

Movie Review: Live Free or Die Hard

Heh, I like Bruce Willis. He can star in absolute crap and still make it somehow watchable. However, the fourth Die Hard flick is great, especially if you're looking for some big, noisy, dumb fun. I can't think of any other film series where the first two sequels suck, while number four is good. It's funny how increasingly bad ass John McClane becomes as the movies go by. In the first one, he blows up a chair as his opening act. In this one he blows up a HELICOPTER WITH A FRICKIN' CAR! It must be a hair thing, because whenever Bruce Willis is bald, he's indistructable (see: Unbreakable).

However, in this one McClane was more grizzly, hardened, and wisened, rather than his original wise-ass. There were a few moments, but mostly he was all brood and tough-talk. This might be because he's towing around Justin Long to play the voice of sarcasm. I hope Justin Long becomes huge after this movie, because I can just see people getting excited when they discover the "I'm a Mac" guy makes movies (actually he's been in a lot of stuff). He's hot geekage.

I was expecting to be annoyed by the introduction of McClane's grown up daughter, but then I realized that this is probably how she would have realistically grown up to be- white trash and a little tarty. The villain was boring, especially when you remember that he's following up Alan Rickman and Jeremy Iron. They should have cast someone like Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, or the like so they create a creepy British guy triumverant.

Kevin Smith is a mug.

The storyline was pretty freaky, apparently based on an article speculating this tech-based national disaster. But who cares... EXPLOSIONS!!!

Saints Be Praised. Sam Jackson is Nick Fury!

In a bizarre example of art imitating life imitating art, Samuel L. Jackson, the only man that anyone would ever want to play Nick Fury from Marvel Comics, is indeed playing Nick Fury in the Iron Man movie.

If you weren't already intreiged with the miscasting that somehow works of Robert Downey Jr. (instead of Scotchity-Scotch-Scotch, will it be Cokity-Coke-Coke?), this is enough to make me see it. The badassness will positively ooze off the screen.

Oh, and for the record, Jackson has so far played a Jedi, a Tarantino hitman, a supervillain, Shaft, and now a superhero. Squee!

Comic Review: Gargoyles #5

Ooh, I'm a happy fangirl. I was super stoked when I heard that they were resurrecting Gargoyles as a comic book. The coolest series of my childhood which became a new love during my college years didn't get the send off it deserved, and when the writers were replaced, the series immediately degraded to mundane action cartoon.

However, I was a bit disappointed with the first four issues. Granted, the first few were just a retelling of the first episode of the last season, but the writing never really did anything for me. All the fans of Gargoyles are now probably much older (ie more sophisticated... relatively speaking) so it should be writen with them in mind. I'm not sure how many people in the 8-12 demographic have seen Gargoyles, so don't write it for their level. I found myself no longer excited, but rather only buying it out of obligation to a childhood love.

However, this issue changed all that. It's got its own brand of cheeky geek humor, as well as some nice drama and action. If I reread the action sequences, that's a designation that I liked it. Plus, there's blood and cussin', which isn't cool in itself, but does signal that they're not going to be pussyfooting around serious issues in the future. I'm not fond of the art, but considering it must be tough to draw fantasy, it's fine.

There are some sweet moments between Elisa and Goliath, as well as between Hudson and his blind friend. Oh, and it has the cheesy goodness of seeing a masquerade ball with Elisa dressed as Princess Jasmine, Lexington as Cyborg, and Angela and Broadway as Dorothy and Scarcrow (aw, they even got the Oz mythos right!)

Happy they found their niche.

Movie Review: Marie Antoinette

Finally got around to seeing this, as I've been intrigued with it since seeing the teaser trailer with its delightfully inappropriate 80s music. The teaser caused a bit of a stir when it was first released, stirring history buffs into a tizzy. I think it was a smart move to make, because it helps one be prepared to the strangeness of the anachronist soundtrack, which I think will help keep the film innovative for years to come. The film is a rare example of a postmodern biopic, with the out-of-place music and the unexpected casting of Rip Torn, Jason Schwartzman, Molly Shannon, and others that are suprisingly effective.

I adored the film, but I do have to admit that the real stand-out is production design and the costumes. Everyone must have spent an ungodly amount of time pouring over paintings of the time. Its so appealing to look at, it even made a socialist feminist like me somehow desire laying around in beautiful gowns, gossiping, while eating bon bons and playing with little dogs.

As it is a movie, I'm only going to assume that historical accuracy was thrown out the window, but as a film everything works and the result is charming. Kirsten Dunst is a good queen, and I might be saying that because I've fallen out of love with her over the years. But she is best when she is playing spoiled and shallow types, just as she was when she was younger and playing Amy in Little Women and Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. So you might say that Marie Antoinette is the role Dunst was born to play. The film is sympathetic to the film, but not necessarily taking an appologist's stance: it's rather counter-legend, as she would certainly never have said, "Let them eat cake," but she would have been generous enough to settle for smaller oak trees to line her Versailles estate. She may have been incredibly irresponsible, but to an extent she was the scapegoat of the sins of all the nobility. Sophia Coppola portrays her as the ultimate poor little rich girl.

I love Sophia Coppola, especially her earlier films, The Virgin Suicides and its semi-companion short, Lick the Star, both about lonely girls struggling with the cruelty of childhood and their blossoming sexualities. I had hoped that Marie Antoinette would be more in the tone of these ones, but its more like her famous Lost in Translation. I do adore her directing style, somehow appearing Zen-meets-Roccoco. Delightful.

Let's hope that her next project is even more daring and ambitious.

Movie Review: Paprika

Paprika is the newest release by Satoshi Kon, the master behind the acclaimed Japanese animated films Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress, and Tokyo Godfathers. I had the privilege of seeing on the big screen at Raleigh's wonderful Galaxy Cinema, and it's breathlessly beautiful trip. The film is about technology that allows researchers to enter patients' dreams, but when the technology is stolen, the dream world begins to invade the "real world." Paprika is the vivacious and sexy alter-ego/avatar of the project's serious and formal Dr. Chiba, but she seems to be quite independent of her counterpart.

So, let's play the irritating "it's like" game: It's kinda like Ghost in the Shell, mixed with a more interesting Waking Life and a much better The Cell. Paprika can hop into any canvas and out through another or travel through live television feeds and out onto the street, and giant dolls attack office buildings. The ground ripples violently before the dreamer is pulled back into the waking world, and a doll ceremony parades through forrests and busy streets. It really captures the bizarre, delerious moments that makes sense only in your dreamscapes. And, oh, the colors...

It's one of those cases where I am so envious of the filmmakers because they were able to conceive and create such original images. You cannot learn how to have such a productive imagination, as well as how to shape your imagination into something presentable on screen. The Japanese are truly ahead in the animation medium, using it to its full potential. It's no longer just "Pokemon and porn," but movies where the stories are actually enhanced by producing them as animation.

The film was a bit confusing, particularly since it's not real clear what the detective's role is, even though he's so prominent (it turns out he's an incidental character who becomes a hapless hero). But it was not just some visuals-are-the-saving-grace picture, it's interesting once you catch up with what's going on, and there's a really sweet, suprising love story that surfaces at the end. I didn't think it was as good as Tokyo Godfathers or Millennium Actress, but I think I may appreciate it more when I rewatch it on video.