Mars Attacks

“A long time ago we used to be friends.....”  Over the course of three seasons from 2004-2007, a little TV show called ‘Veronica Mars’ earned both rave reviews from critics and legions of passionate fans around the world.  While this addictive, smartly written teen detective neo-noir created by Rob Thomas (the writer/producer/director, not the ‘Matchbox Twenty’ front-man) never became a ratings success, it garnered a strong cult following that made this movie possible.  You see, ‘Veronica Mars’ was funded via a kickstarter campaign by fans who contributed over $5.7 million to its production.  A paltry sum by Hollywood standards, to be sure, but it nonetheless underscored the passion the show’s rabid fans reserved for the diminutive, street-smart blond Sherlock with a razor-sharp tongue played by Kristen Bell that’s second only to Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy.  Indeed, a cuter detective there never was. 

‘Veronica Mars’ picks up nine years after the TV series ended, and we find our feisty young crime-solver putting her sleuthing days behind to pursue a normal life as an attorney and a stable relationship with her fiancé Piz.  She gets interviewed at a prestigious NYC law firm by Jamie Lee Curtis and wins her over with the same charm, wit, and smile as she did the rest of us.  Alas, her past catches up with her when she’s called back to Neptune because her ‘bad boy’ ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls (now a well behaved ‘officer and a gentleman’ a lá  Richard Gere, believe it or not) proved once again that he can draw murder raps like a manure pile draws flies.  Never fear, Logan, Veronica is here to pull your ass out of the fire again, and she's in fine form even after all these years.  It’s as if she never left.

The movie is a reunion of sorts, quite literally, and we see many a familiar face, including Veronica’s frequent partners-in-crime Wallace and Mac, Weevil, Dick Casablancas (the harmless and unintentionally funny California surfer douche, uh, dude), Gia Goodman, and sleazy PI Vinnie Van Lowe (Ken Marino) whose moniker, like the movie’s murder victim’s stage name, ‘Bonnie DeVille,’ are almost porn-worthy.  While ‘Veronica Mars’ remained faithful to its small-screen roots and is a noir mystery through and through, it is also a satire of our celebrity-obsessed culture and provides social commentary on the divide between classes and cliques.

If you’ve never seen the TV show, the movie provides a brief exposition at the beginning to set you up nicely for what is to follow.  You’ll find yourself drawn irresistably into the sordid, corrupt world of Neptune, California, a fictional seaside community of the rich (the ‘0-9ers’) and downtrodden, a town where many dark secrets lay hidden, waiting for the light of justice to be shined upon them by Veronica and her private investigator dad, former sheriff Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni).  Then, you’ll no doubt want to watch the TV series to find out how Veronica, who was once a popular girl at Neptune High, ditched her ‘0-9er’ circle of friends to defend the weak, solve the murder of her BFF Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried), and unravel the mystery of who caused a bus full of Neptune High students returning from a field-trip to careen off a mountainside highway into a canyon.

Grade: A
 

300: The Untold Story

It’s been seven years since Zack Snyder’s stylish adaptation of Frank Miller’s blood-splashed swords-and-sandals graphic novel ‘300,’ played to Abs-olute perfection by Gerard Butler, among others.  Loosely based on the epic Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, when 300 Spartan hoplites (and allies which increased their numbers to around 7,000), sold their lives dearly at a narrow pass against a Persian army numbering over 100,000.  With a worldwide gross of $456 million on a ‘mere’ budget of $65 million, the only surprise is that it took Hollywood this long to make a sequel.

‘300: Rise of an Empire’ is neither a sequel nor a prequel, but a ‘in the meantime’-quel which steps back and takes a look at the bigger picture.  You see, before the 300 Spartans marched off to immortality in the name of democracy and freedom, an Athenian general named Themistocles tried to forge an alliance with Sparta to fight the Persians but was rebuffed, as Sparta was fiercely independent and looked upon the hoplites of other Greek city‑states, particularly those of cultured Athens, with an attitude bordering on contempt.  Even though Themistocles was the hero of the Battle of Marathon ten years prior and a respected strategist, he could not persuade Queen Gorgo (King Leonida’s wife played by Lena Headley) to pool the Spartan ships with Athens’ into a stronger navy.  ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ recounts the Battle of Salamis, the naval battle which took place while the Spartans made the sacrifices necessary for Greece to win the war on land later in the Battle of Plataea.

Like its predecessor, ‘300: Rise of an Empire’ is as beautiful and stylish as it is brutal and bloody, filled with breathtaking poetry and savagery.  The battle scenes, rendered in the muted tone that is a common feature of movies adapted from Frank Miller graphic novels, are mesmerizing to watch, perfectly choreographed dances-of-death with computer-generated blood splashes, disembowelments and decapitations. 

The movie features two charismatic and compelling commanders, the aforementioned Themistocles (Sullivan Stapleton) and Persian admiral Artemisia (Eva Green), as they try to outwit and outmaneuver each other in a battle that was arguably as crucial as the Battle of Thermopylae in saving Greece.  Eva Green delivered a marvelously malevolent (and sexy) performance as the tragic Artemisia, and I have not seen a more tenacious or badass villainess since Olga Kurylenko in Neil Marshall’s historical Roman chase thriller ‘Centurion.’

Grade: A-

'Non-Stop' Suspense.... and Suspension of Disbelief

Since his surprisingly successful ‘Taken’ back in 2008, Liam Neeson has established himself as a popular action star, and one over 50 no less.  The ‘Rob Roy’ star’s latest actioner, ‘Non-Stop,’ proved once again that he’s a relatable, tortured and flawed hero with charisma to spare whom we cannot help but root for.  A movie like ‘Non-Stop’ is supposed to prove that moviegoers have put behind their post-9/11 airplane hijacking fears, and in spite of Malaysia Flight 370 (which happened after its release), the movie is doing respectably well at the box office.
 

As I’m sure you’ve seen from its trailer, ‘Non-Stop’ is a serial-killer-on-a-plane movie, one of those movies that you should not even attempt to watch unless you can check your disbelief out at the door.  Your mind has to be open to all ‘possibilities,’ as unlikely (okay, impossible), as they may seem.  You’re at the movies for Chrissakes, so stop analyzing already! 

And boy, does ‘Non-Stop’ put your suspension of disbelief to the test.  Liam Neeson plays an US Air Marshal who gets mysterious texts on his cellphone via a ‘private network’ informing him that, unless he wires $150 million to a certain account, a person on the plane he’s on will die every twenty minutes (all this is clear from the trailer).  Yes, we’ve all seen these sadistic guessing-game whodunit? movies before, but ‘Non-Stop’ gives us a variation so deviously and delectably delicious with such creeping, palpable and tightly-wound suspense that I’m going to recommend it, plot-holes and implausibility be damned.  It’s the perfect summer popcorn movie (in March).  I somewhat enjoyed ‘Red Eye’ and ‘Snakes on a mother-#@&%*! Plane’ too, so sue me.

Grade: B+
 

The Great Patriotic Movie

The Battle of Stalingrad is the subject of Fyodor Bondarchuck’s full-blooded World War II epic CTAΛИHГPA∆.  This is the fourth film centering on this pivotal battle of the Eastern Front in the last 25 years, although each took a different approach.  The 1989 two-part movie was ambitious in scope and followed the battle from beginning to end, while the stoic-yet-powerful 1993 German version told its story through the German experience.  2001’s somewhat silly ‘Enemy at the Gates’ was based on a 1973 book which recounts of an alleged sniper duel between famed Russian sniper Vasily Zaitsev and a German master sniper named Erwin König or Heinz Thorvald.

 

Bondarchuk, who previously directed the Afghanistan anti-war opus ‘9th Company,’ displayed his virtuosity once again in CTAΛИHГPA∆.  Filmed entirely using IMAX 3D digital technology, the $30-million CTAΛИHГPA∆’s cinematography is simply breathtaking, with the ruins and shattered landscape of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) rendered in vivid detail.  Loosely based on the defense of ‘Pavlov’s House,’ in which a small group of Soviet soldiers led by Sergeant Yakov Pavlov held off repeated German attempts to take it for 58 days, CTAΛИHГPA∆ perfectly captured the brutality of urban combat, with some of the most realistic close-quarters battle scenes ever put on screen.  Seeing the 5-month long battle in microcosm through the eyes of a small group of Russian scouts and a German officer, Hauptmann Kahn (Thomas Kretschmann, who also played Leutnant Witzland in the 1993 movie), CTAΛИHГPA∆ not only depicted the futility and despair of war but also managed to humanize the opposing sides without resorting to jingoism.  Like 'Enemy at the Gates,' the movie also has an obligatory romantic subplot, but fortunately it wasn't so overwrought with sentimental melodrama as to detract us from the story.

 

For the most part, CTAΛИHГPA∆  is historically accurate and authentic in the uniforms, weapons and equipment during the fall/winter campaign of 1942 Russia, although the Panzer IV tanks with schurzen which spearheaded the Germans' final assault (they're T-55’s modded as German tanks) did not appear until later in the war.  Also, a German soldier in the movie referred to Friedrich Paulus (the commander of 6th Army) as ‘Field Marshal,’ even though the movie's events took place in November 1942 before the German surrender.  There are the notably cheesy ‘Hollywood’ moments as well, such as a scene in which the Russians fired a 45mm anti-tank gun at a German-controlled building used as a HQ across from them by richocheting the round off of a knocked-out T-34 tank between them and gave the Germans shell‑shock.  I don’t presume to be an expert but, assuming they fired an AT shell, would it damage the building and create shell‑shock?  And if it was an HE round, wouldn’t it have exploded when it strikes the T-34 and never reach the building across the street?  Am I overanalyzing here?  Who cares, CTAΛИHГPA∆ is still better than ‘Enemy at the Gates,’ which I can never forgive for the stupid scene where Ed Harris ran out of his well-concealed cover to be shot by Jude Law.

Grade: A-
 

I'm a sucker for WWII movies...... and the Cyrillic alphabet

The Two-Point-Six Billion Dollar Man

Hollywood is all about the remakes nowadays.  Never mind that the original is pretty good already and still stands the test of time.  If a reasonable period of time has passed since the original, then it could use an update as far as the rigid Ms. Wood (aka Holly) is concerned.

 

It is in this spirit that we get ‘RoboCop 2014,' Brazilian director José Padilha’s contemporary take on love-him-or-hate-him Dutch auteur Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi classic about a good cop struggling in a world of evil (okay, two good cops if we include Officer Lewis).  Verhoeven’s original, starring Peter Weller and Nancy Allen, was beloved by fans for its bold, subversive portrayal of corporate greed and corruption.  In the bleak setting of RoboCop's Detroit, law and human decency are under constant siege by not only scum-of-the-earth criminals but evil corporations, immoral politicians and corrupt law enforcement agencies.   Weller’s Alex Murphy never stood a chance before he became RoboCop.  What’s brilliant about Verhoeven’s ‘RoboCop’ is that it placed social commentary and political satire in a dark and edgy R-rated dystopian sci-fi action thriller, often with humorous results.

 

Since the remake is unlikely to hold a candle to the original, my expectations for it was correspondingly low.  So it was to my pleasant surprise that it managed to exceed them.  This glossier, PG-13 rated version is actually pretty good!  Joel Kinnaman’s Alex Murphy/RoboCop had more emotional depth than Peter Weller's.  His shock, revulsion and overreaction upon seeing his 'new and improved' body for the first time seemed genuine, and his attempts to connect with his wife and son came straight from the heart.  Likewise, Michael Keaton did a great job as the movie's villain, OmniCorp (http://www.omnicorp.com/)  CEO Raymond Sellars, a mad (as in insane) tech-guru/entrepreneur who honestly believed that he was doing mankind a favor in realizing his dreams of a robotic 'Police States of America.'  This is timely and topical in our era of paranoia and fear of Big Brother government legislating the use of drones for domestic purposes.  The action scenes of RoboCop fighting against squads of EM-208 combat droids (the love child between a T-800 Terminator and a Cylon?: http://www.omnicorp.com/products/em-208.php) and the redesigned ED-209 fire support walkers from the original movie (would you like to know more?: http://www.omnicorp.com/products/ed-209.php) are exciting to be sure, but they're nothing we haven’t seen before in similar PG-13 superhero and action movies with their tightly edited close-up shots and quick cuts from multiple angles.

 

Cosmetically, the new RoboCop looks more ‘tactical’ in black and speeds along the streets of Detroit on a sleek bike (also from OmniCorp, of course: http://www.omnicorp.com/products/c-1.php), but he stomps around heavily just like the old RoboCop, and his servos and actuators make the same whirring and whining sounds.  The remake also kept some of the original’s satirical elements, such as the opening scene live coverage of ‘Operation Freedom Tehran’ and a recurring talking head (played by Samuel L. Jackson) in the mold of conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly.  If ‘RoboCop 2014’ makes the current generation want to check out the Verhoeven original, so much the better.

 

Grade: A-

 

Pretty Little Bloodsuckers

Ah, another movie adaptation of a YA series.  While the successes of the 'Harry Potter,' 'Twilight' and 'Hunger Games' franchises cannot be denied, other attempts to mine box-office gold were far less lucrative.  In fact, would-be franchise starters 'The Host,' 'Beautiful Creatures,' 'Percy Jackson' and 'The Mortal Instruments' were all abject failures.  Not to be cowed, however, Hollywood continues to try with the upcoming 'Divergent' and this Twilight-meets-Buffy rip-off called 'Vampire Academy.' 

 

Based on a series of YA novels by Richelle Mead, which I have not read, 'Vampire Academy' is about a bunch of prep-school vampires called the Moroi and their half-human, half-vampire servant/protectors called the Dhampir.  The Moroi are peaceful 'good' vampires, unlike the archetypal Hollywood evil vampires, called the Strigoi in the movie and books.  Directed and written by the Waters brothers, Mark and Daniel, of 'Mean Girls' and 'Heathers' fame, respectively, 'Vampire Academy' promises to be another juicy and nasty portrayal of High School bitchiness.

 

So did the movie deliver?  Well, yes and no.  The rapid-fire, wise-cracking dialogue does possess echoes of Joss Whedon and Diablo Cody.  Rose Hathaway, the Buffy-esque Dhampir protector of her highness the princess Lissa Dragomir, is smart and sassy, full of sarcastic wit and well stocked with barbed quips and clever retorts.  Played by newcomer Zoey Deutch, the daughter of 80's brat-packer Lea Thompson, she is truly one to watch.  Unfortunately, the Moroi she watches over and has a psychic (or soul) connection with, Lissa Dragomir (played by Lucy Fry), is boring as hell, as were most of the other characters in the movie except for the chipper Natalie Dashkov, played by Modern Family's Sarah Hyland.

 

The movie is easy enough to follow without too much narrative exposition, and that is a good thing.  The long-haired and brooding 'designer vampires' popularized by 'Twilight' and The CW Network were predictable and a bit been there, done that, as were the googly-eyed romances between some of the characters.  All in all though, the movie isn't nearly as bad as the critics say.

 

Grade: B

  

LEGO Story

The world's most popular toy blocks finally get the big screen treatment in 'The Lego Movie,' a fun-filled action adventure that has something for the whole family.  Eschewing the jerky stop-motion technique of 'Robot Chicken' for smoother CGI animation, 'The Lego Movie' nonetheless managed to retain a vintage shot-with-real-Legos look.  Remarkable, that.

The story of an ordinary, unassuming construction Lego named Emmet who ultimately became someone special (so special, cue 'The Pretenders' song please), 'The Lego Movie' is about rebelling against conformity and discovering your true potential.  Sure, we've heard this all-too-familiar story before.  But 'The Lego Movie' tells it with such humor and a large cast of pop-culture references, from Batman and the Millennium Falcon to a Gandalf-like wizard named 'Vitruvius' and a T-1000-ish 'bad cop,' that the movie somehow endeared itself to our inner 12-year olds. 

Still, if it was only a bunch of hyperkinetic CGI-rendered Legos moving around in various Legos-constructed locales it wouldn't have been enough for me to recommend it.  What did it was the movie's heartwarming final act, when the movie shifted from 'Lego world' to the real world, in which a father-and-son relationship blossoms over their shared affections for these colorful construction blocks in spite of their marked differences on how they should be used.  

Grade: B+