The Cost of the Death Star

Funny stuff.  The Empire had way too big of a defense budget-maybe the Death Star was the beginning of the end:


http://www.centives.net/S/2012/how-much-would-it-cost-to-build-the-death-star/

NEW FEATURE!!!: TRAILER TUESDAY

I wanted to begin this weekly feature by sharing a trailer for Wes Anderson's new film, "Moonrise Kingdom":

Great Character Actors

A great article in Vanity Fair on character actors...you'll recognize most of them:

http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/03/hollywoods-best-character-actors

Raison d'etre

The French saying from which this entry takes its title is literally translated "reason for being." I wonder sometimes, why do I write this blog? I enjoy writing on the films, but many in the blogosphere and in newspapers do that. I am a small voice in an internet world that is vast. So, why do I do it? Furthermore, why do I write about movies, of all things?

First of all, I write my blog because I have a longing to express myself to others. Movies are important to me, and so I feel that this is one way that I can interact with other people, whatever their background. But, again, why movies? I write about movies because I believe that they are an important common language of our time. Sure, we still have the written word, the sung word, and other forms of communication. In spite of that, I really do believe that this art form is the theater for our age. It reaches nearly everyone. It combines almost every other art form into one art form (music, written word, drama and visual artistry). And, as a simple observation, it starts more discussions than any other art form. I am much more likely to have someone ask me, "Have you seen any good movies lately?", than what kind of music I am listening to.

That is why I write this blog. It is not because I think my opinion holds great weight. The appeal of a blog is that even if very few read it, it still can be one's own. I like to think that I bring a unique perspective. I am a disciple of Jesus, and yet I watch things which clearly depict people and actions that are outside of my beliefs. Why do I do this? This goes back to my title for this entry. The raison d'etre for this blog is to attempt, in a small way, to talk about something that I have in common with other people, whatever their background may be. As such, I want to expand it. I want it to be a place where not only do I talk about movies, but I share some things that have helped me find more great movie experiences. I want to be able to share resources, share laughs, do more quizzes/trivia contests, and share more of how I interact with these movies as a person of faith in Jesus Christ. I do not want to change very much...but I do want to expand this place and try to post more frequently. I want it to be a place where I can embrace and celebrate this art form myself, but also with others. I hope you enjoy what is to come!

Midnight in Paris

This movie is pure pleasure. This movie makes me want to go to Paris. This movie makes me want to take a walk into my favorite Golden Era of history. In short, this movie makes me glad to be alive.

Woody Allen's movies always interest me. I have only seen 11 of his 41 movies, but none of them have proven to be uninteresting. Here, he displays a rare joy. Most of his movies seem intent on either deconstructing life and poring over its complexities ("Crimes and Misdemeanors" or "Match Point"), ruminating about the eccentricities that torpedo love affairs ("Annie Hall"), or just being silly ("Bananas"). While this movie definitely has the Allen neuroses on display, the overall arc of the movie is one of joy of living. It shows a neurotic character (played very well by Owen Wilson) who is able to get beyond his rut and discover something important about life.

The movie follows two lovers Gil and Inez (Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams) who are engaged to be married. Inez's father is an ultra-rich American businessman who is in Paris dealing with a merger. Gil and Inez end up spending time with them in Paris. While Inez and her parents feel the French capital beginning to wear on them, Gil is quite taken with the city. He is a Hollywood screenwriter who has grown dissatisfied with his work, and he is working on a novel. He wants to write novels and things that he cares about, but he knows that the screenwriting pays the bills, so he cannot do otherwise. While he restlessly scampers around the city considering what it would have been like to see Paris in the 1920's, his fiancee is being drawn to Paul (Michael Sheen, doing a great American accent), a friend of Inez's whom she finds fascinating and urbane. Gil finds him to be insufferable and pompous. He is visiting town and begins to spend time with Gil and Inez, and ends up spending a lot of time just with Inez. As Inez spends more and more time with Paul, Gil walks the streets of Paris late at night, and stumbles into an amazing world which heretofore only existed in his dreams. These late night walks could hold the key to him successfully writing his novel and fulfilling his dreams.

There are so many details to love in this movie. To start, the comic relief of watching the pseudo-intellectual Paul interact with Gil is great. Here, I am reminded of the classic scene in Annie Hall in which Woody Allen and Diane Keaton are in a movie line behind a pseudo-intellectual blowhard who wishes to share his opinion on film with everyone in the room. Also, the details shown in Gil's dream world are wonderful. I sense that there are so many details that I will catch more of them upon further viewings if the film (and there will be further viewings). Further, the way Woody Allen handles the relationship between Gil and Inez is quite impressive. Sometimes, characters in movies are purposely unsympathetic in order for the audience to dislike them (see Bill Pullman in "Sleepless in Seattle). Here, while Inez and her family are clearly the antagonists to Gil, they nevertheless are not two dimensional. Instead, they are very well written and add texture to the story. Even though there are rocky roads for Inez and Gil, it seems that it is because they are two very different people with different priorities, not simple because one is clearly a villian.

All of this wonderful storytelling is wrapped in the cozy blanket of Paris. Someday, Steph and I will make it there, and this movie did nothing but wish for that time to come more quickly. The movie is a very special fantasy. It is played out in a world of such unimaginable wealth that it is a tribute to the writing that the characters and their story still seem so accessible. One example of this is a scene in which the characters are all drinking Bordeaux wine dated from the 50's and 60's. As I watched, I was seeing the dollar signs in my head as I contemplated how expensive the wine they were drinking was. The wealth is part of the fantasy after all. But it is not part of the fantasy just for its own sake, but for the "good life" that it represents. It is ironic that these folks who know nothing but the "good life" can still be dissatisfied.

Still, I would love to drink that wine on that balcony overlooking Paris...and to sip the wine and take in the ambiance. Maybe someday....but until then, I'll always have this movie.

Drive

This is a genre movie. As such, there is very little about it that is original, but the sum of its borrowed parts make for an original film. Paradoxical? Yes, but I thought about two major things as I watched this movie.

First, this movie could have been a silent movie. That's not just because its main character (the nameless Driver, played by Ryan Gosling) says very little, but because the photography of the film tells the story. I once heard that Orson Wells said that a viewer should be able to follow the story of any movie without being able to hear anything. In other words, the visuals of a film should be able to tell a story. Those who are fans of great dialogue may take issue with that statement, but it does ring at least partly true. In "Drive", the visuals tell the story. The dialogue is spare, and it is almost unnecessary. Every shot of the movie not only tells the viewer what is happening, but also what will happen next. Because of this, while this is not a message movie and has nothing to say of lasting significance, it is a cinematic wonder.

Second, and equally important, the movie borrows from so many other places that it is familiar to the viewer, even though it is totally original. While I watched, several movies came to mind. Michael Mann's work in "Collateral" came to mind as I watched the vistas of Los Angeles (my hometown). Clint Eastwood's work also came to mind. Gosling's character is given no name, just like Eastwood's character in the Sergio Leone westerns. Also, Eastwood's work in "Unforgiven" came to mind, especially as the driver begins to take care of his personal business with a certain air of invincibility. I thought of "Pulp Fiction", as the crime bosses in the valley saunter around the LA urban sprawl, leaving blood and chaos in their wake. I remembered David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive", with its dreamy night scenes. I thought of "Kindergarten Cop" and its woman and child in distress plot device (by the way, have you thought about "Kindergarten Cop" lately? Me neither). There is a touch of "North by Northwest", as the main character is drawn into a world with which he is unfamiliar, but seems remarkably agile at working his way through it. And the dreamy soundtrack and traditional opening credits reminded by of many different 80's movies. It also calls to mind countless action movies that I have seen ("Ronin" "Bulitt", the "Bourne" trilogy etc). I am also have read that it pays homage to grindhouse/horror films with its graphic violence (a genre in which I have no interest, so these homages meant nothing to me). This is a carefully constructed homage to many different movie elements.

The movie works because of the familiarity of its parts. Albert Brooks is solid as the mobster, and the sense of dread that the viewer has when he and his partner (Ron Perlman) are on the screen is palpable. But, we know that the Driver is smarter than them. How do we know? Because we have seen other movies. That's part of what the movie does very well. However, in spite of that predictability, this movie has such a fresh feel to it that I did find myself wondering what would happen to the protagonist until the very end of the film.

Every performance in the film is note perfect. In this kind of movie, the primary way to measure the performance to me is to judge how well a given performance services the story. Ryan Gosling does this very well, giving us a vision of coolness and calm under pressure. Carey Mulligan plays the damsel in distress well, and the boy actor who plays her son is just right. Albert Brooks plays a typical immoral mobster, and does it well. Ron Perlman plays the menacing mobster very well. Bryan Cranston plays the Driver's boss and gains great sympathy from the viewer. And Christina Hendricks (whom I have seen in "Mad Men") plays a hapless woman who has been drawn into the LA underworld, and cannot get out. This all comes together to tell a simple yet engaging story. It is hardly light hearted entertainment, mostly due to how graphic the violence is. But, it stands on its own as a unique work of cinema.

Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)

Some of the best movies are ones that become so familiar to us that small moments are the ones that bring us back. There is a moment in "Searching for Bobby Fischer" that always grabs me. The film's protagonist (Josh, a 7 year old chess prodigy) has made a hasty move in an important chess match. Josh has had two main influences in his chess career: 1) Vinnie (Laurence Fishburne) a streetwise speed chess player who Josh begins challenging in Washington Square, and 2) Bruce (Ben Kingsley), a professional chess player who Josh's father (Joe Mantegna) hires to teach his son the finer points of the game. Bruce looks down upon Vinnie's influence, but Josh's mother (Joan Allen) knows that her son loves playing with Vinnie, and she doesn't want him to stop loving the game. Late in the film, both of these mentors are with Josh at a crucial match when Josh makes the hasty move I mentioned above. When Josh makes the move, Bruce exclaims his disapproval and begins pacing. At the same time, Vinnie proclaims "Josh is setting him up...I taught him that." It is a wonderful moment of yin and yang in the film. However, the moment I love is moments later. Josh makes an important move that turns the tide of the game. When he makes the move, no one but Vinnie is watching, because the father and teacher had written him off. As Vinnie sees the move Josh makes, he points at the viewing screen and proclaims, "THERE IT IS", and the game is afoot once again.

I don't know how many times Stephanie and I have watched this movie. I wrote an entry found here a couple of months ago of movies my wife and I can watch over and over. How I forgot to include this one is beyond me. It is brilliant on every level. The cast is astonishing. The setting is wonderfully evocative. The family lives in Greenwich Village in Manhattan, and it adds so much texture to the story. Finally, the story itself is rich. It follows a chess prodigy and his family as they navigate through the challenges of having such a talented young boy in the family. As his talent is discovered, Josh's father has to struggle with projecting his own ambitions onto his son, and Josh's mother struggles to maintain a nurturing environment for their son. At times the father goes overboard. There is a very uncomfortable scene wherein Josh's teacher (a young Laura Linney) expresses concern to Josh's parents about the amount of school Josh is missing due to his being in competitive chess tournaments. Josh's father becomes highly defensive to her criticism, and it takes more pointed persuasion from his wife to ask himself what his priorities indeed are. Herein lies the movie's genius. It allows the father to be human, to make mistakes, but also to learn from them. The father senses that his son has a unique gift, and he drives his son because of that. But he finds it a struggle to walk the line between challenging his son and forgetting that his son has to be an individual. A lesser film would see a father who is merciless in his drive, or one who gives up any ambition whatsoever. This film has the courage to allow the father to learn and to let the father's love for his son grow deeper.

One of the marks of a brilliant film is the fact that there could be a movie made about each of its characters because the characters are so well realized. We sense that about the two main characters outside the family, VInnie and Bruce. The film could have made Vinnie a stereotypical street dweller, but instead it shows a man who truly cares for this boy, and recognizes his talent and love for the game. The film also could have been content to let Bruce be a typical taskmaster who has no heart. He goes too far in the film in driving the boy, but by its end, he shows himself to be a man who has been touched by this remarkable boy. Both of these characters are multidimensional. They never act outside of their character, but they both grow as people, and we love watching that.

In the center of it all is the remarkable boy. The young actor (Max Pomeranc) is wonderful, and he creates a sympathetic character. The boy is afraid of losing his father's love, but he never loses his own sense of decency. Clearly, his parents have given him a moral compass, and he never wanders from that. My older son is almost Max's age. He has begun playing the cello. This movie offers helpful insight into what a parent should do with a child and an endeavor such as music or sports. We see the challenges of the parents in the movie and we identify. We see the obsession of some parents and we cringe. But how many of us, as parents, would do anything for our children? And how many of us have the courage to say that we shouldn't do absolutely anything for our children? This movie sheds great insight into what can happen when parents lose control of their ambitions for their children, and what can happen when a parent learns to scale back that drive. If you have never seen it, put it in the Netflix queue...you won't be disappointed.