Elf

I wrote about this movie after I saw it for the first time in 2011.  Three years (and a lot of personal drama) later, I have grown even more attached to this completely inane story of Buddy the Elf.  The older I have gotten, the more I have realized that there are two completely different holidays being celebrated on and around December 25th.  What is the true meaning of Christmas?  It depends on who you ask and what they are celebrating.  It has been more helpful for me to enjoy the meaningless frivolity that comes with this time of year, and wait until December 25 to truly welcome the Christ child.  In the church, December is a time of waiting, not celebration.  In the US, and in many other parts of the world, December is one long Christmas month.  As it turns out, the Christ in this Christmas happens to mean almost nothing...but there is a lot of warmth and common grace that shines through nevertheless.

With that tangent, back to the movie.  "Elf" makes no bones that Christmas is all about Santa and getting presents (with maple sugar and elves as nice side portions).  Not only that, it is a movie that is fanatically devoted to its premise.  Here goes: Buddy (Will Ferrell) is an orphan who finds his way into Santa's toy bag on Christmas Eve when he is a baby.  When he ends up at the north pole, a bachelor elf (Bob Newhart) decides to adopt him and he raises him as an elf.  As Buddy matures, it becomes clear that he is not an elf, but he still thinks he is, and spiritually, he is an elf.  He loves Christmas, and his utter devotion to Christmas spirit outshines that of the real elves.  When he is finally told of his true origins, he goes on a journey to find his biological father, who Santa informs him, is on the "naughty list."  All this happens during a North Pole energy crisis.  The lack of Christmas spirit (which powers the sleigh) down south has led to the sad circumstance of Santa's sleigh being inoperative.  When Buddy goes to New York to find his father, madness ensues.

I was talking to a friend about this movie the other day and we were trying to think of any other actor who could play this role.  What makes Will Ferrell so great in this role is his total commitment to it.  A lot of actors might play this role with a wink to the camera or with a hint of irony.  Ferrell totally is the character, and his ability to "be Buddy" makes the "fish out of water" scenario work well.  James Caan (who plays Buddy's biological father) also does a good job of showing a man whose world is rocked by this person (who must be insane) who says he is his son.

The movie has enough laughs for adults (I love the paranoid supervisor at the department store), is innocent enough that kids can watch, and it has just enough warmth to make it a sentimental holiday treat.  There are also so any well written small moments that even though it's a silly movie, there is a certain artistry even to that.  Enjoy!

One last Star Wars parody trailer

This is the "George Lucas Special Edition Trailer"

Funny stuff...

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

I had to make sure that I included the year of release in my post title, because I grew up with the film version starring Danny Kaye that was released in the late 1940's.  Neither that movie nor this movie (which stars Ben Stiller in the title role) stay totally faithful the James Thurber's original short story.  Furthermore, these two films are in themselves very different.  However, having seen both of them, they are both fine films, for very different reasons.

In this present day version, Walter Mitty works at Life magazine in the photography department.  He is in charge of the processing and use of negatives.  In the film, Life magazine has decided to release one final print edition before switching over to all online.  Walter Mitty has worked for Life magazine for 16 years, and he loves the company.  All the while, he has slipped into his share of daydreams, as he seeks to augment his humdrum life with adventure.  He has become working friends with a great photographer named Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn), whose photographs have been used by the magazine regularly.  Strangely, though the two have worked on photos together, they have never met in person.  O'Connell seems to live the life of discovery and adventure for which Mitty yearns.  When Sean sends him one roll of negatives and claims that negative #25 captures "the quintessence of life", Mitty is horrified to realize that he has misplaced the negative.  When a new corporate hatchet man (Adam Scott) is brought in by Life to lay off all its unnecessary employees, he finds out about this "quintessential" picture and demands that Mitty provide it so it can be considered for the final cover.  When Mitty is unable to find the negative, Mitty sets off on a journey to find the negative.  Thus far, his life has been somewhat mundane.  But this new quest gives his life a new purpose.  This is helped along by the presence of a new attractive worker in the office named Cheryl (Kristen Wiig).

This movie kind of snuck up on me.  The first half of the movie incorporates Walter's fantasy life very well, but is a bit slow.  Only after the movie's end did I come to see that the movie has a deliberately slow pace at times.  Its pace lends itself to the movie's being a sort of meditation on life.  Ben Stiller's vision works very well.  The fantasy world of Mitty is contrasted very well by the new places Mitty actually sees.  His passport is finally put to use, and the vistas and people from such faraway places as Greenland, Iceland and Afghanistan show a great wonder to the real world.  As Walter begins to explore the real world and relate to, his fantasy world begins to subside.  The new experience of faraway places as well as relating to Cheryl give him not only new reasons to be excited, but also a new sense of courage, especially as his new boss proves to be a difficult person.

There is a slight sadness to this movie that breathes life into it.  Perhaps its the initial dullness of Walter's life.  Perhaps its his father's absence (Walter brings up a couple of times in the movie that his father died when he was 17) that gives the film an air of melancholy.  Whatever it is, the melancholy is augmented by Walter's impending job loss, and his sadness over what he sees as the new management's failure to live up to Life magazine's values.  In many ways, this movie reminded me of one of my favorite movies of the past ten years, "Stranger Than Fiction".  Both films star actors primarily known for comic work, but do fine dramatic work in their respective roles.  Both films involve shaking the protagonist out of a sort of permanent day dream to live their lives more fully.  And both films have a secret that keeps the viewer guessing until the very last shot.  The ability of both of these films to make us laugh and think while also tapping into our emotions sets both of them apart.  But what makes them both exciting and dramatic show both films have a great plot twist that is only revealed in the closing shots.  This is a movie about celebrating real life.  Whatever trials we face in this life, there is a lot to celebrate.

Star Wars Trailer: Lego Version

What scares me about this is that someone already did it...impressive...most impressive...

STAR WARS TRAILER!!

Not that any of you haven't already seen this, but how about another look?  The shot of the Falcon is pretty awesome...

St. Vincent

It's always good to see Bill Murray on screen, even when the character he is playing is unattractive.  In the character Vincent in this movie, we have a man who is a drunk, a gambler, and a man who hires a pregnant prostitute because he likes her belly.  There would be no movie to speak of here if something didn't come into Vincent's world to change things.  Vincent's new neighbor Maggie (Melissa McCarthy, in a refreshingly non-crazy role) has found herself unable to care for her son Oliver after school.  In desperation, she agrees to begin paying Vincent to watch Oliver so she can continue to earn an income and support her son.  As a single mother, Maggie is in a bind, but the person she picks seems to defy her own better judgement.

The first 15 minutes or so of this movie show us one anecdote after another to establish Vincent as a cretin.  This is a set up to see the fireworks once the crisis that we know is coming does indeed come. While Oliver is at school, two chief things are happening.  First, as an outsider at a new school, he is faced with bullying and teasing.  Second, he is given an assignment to do a project about a Catholic Saint of the past, and to augment that through writing about a saint in his own life.  As Oliver spends more time with Vincent, the layers of Vincent's life are peeled back, and we begin to see through the hard shell the man has built for himself (or has been put upon him through suffering).  We begin to see him in his totality.  He doesn't suddenly become, well, a saint.  But the complicated realities of his life come to bare, and his predicament could help but bring sympathy and emotion from me as I watch the story unfold.

I don't think there is anything terribly unique about this movie.  The chief hole in the ploy is so great that the film itself ends up having to address it.  Once the viewer can get past the absurdity of Maggie paying Vincent to watch her son, the film begins to work really well.  I cannot help but have admiration for the fine performances in this movie.  Bill Murray is great as always.  The first and last images of him in the movie are both unique, and they serve as remarkable bookends for his character.  Furthermore, I think movie directors should take this movie's example and use the closing credits to keep the audience in the seats (Pixar has also done this well).  Melissa McCarthy is a fine actress. and it is wonderful to see her outside of her slapstick comic persona (as much as that persona is great).  She creates a character here who is world weary and backed into a corner.  She is out of options, so she makes Vincent her son's caregiver, even though she knows he is less than savory.  The young actor who plays Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) is also very convincing.  He brings this outsider to life and makes us sympathize with him.  Oliver's character is the backbone of the film.  When the emotional payoff takes place at the end of the movie, it is made possible largely because of how believable Lieberher has made him.

The theme of the film really comes down to the question of what makes a saint.  As a Christian, I found the theme to be so applicable.  We live in a world corrupted by sin and human folly, and the notion that any human is a saint can be laughable.  This movie brings to the forefront the idea that ugly people can do saintly things.  How that happens is a matter of debate.  I think it shows us that any human can, by grace, be called a saint.

Good Will Hunting

Why is it that there are certain movies that one can watch again and again and they never grow old?  The chemistry has always proved to be perfect for my wife and I, so we have returned to this movie several times over the years.  Now, since Robin Williams has died, the time seems to have come to watch this movie again, which I am sure we will do int he near future.  What is it about this movie that makes it so watchable for us?  Why can we go back to it repeatedly and it doesn't get old?  There are several reasons.

First, to watch this movie is to capture a moment of time of two young performers who have ended up being significant players in the movies.  Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have gone on to be be two of the most accomplished performers in Hollywood, and this movie is really where they got their start.  To watch this movie again is to have a glimpse into why they have been so successful, each of them in their own way.  They create characters in this movie (both by acting and writing, since they wrote this movie) that are funny, vulnerable and real.  As two young men from South Boston, they are rough around the edges but share a core of loyalty and honesty that is refreshing.  Two scenes come to mind.  The classic scene wherein Will (Damon) blows away a pompous Harvard student with his intellect is a classic.  Part of the reason for that is not only Matt Damon's scene wherein he recites the history books, but also Affleck's clear role as a wingman/set up man.  As a side note, the gang of four friends that Damon and Affleck wrote is a classic case of using a group of friends to create a world where the viewer feels a certain belonging to a group.  As a viewer of this movie, you care about this group of young men.  The viewer laughs with them, hurts with them, and even shakes their head at them when they stray off the path and get in trouble.  The creation of this group of hoodlums is one of the pillars of tho movie.

Second, the movie gives as a tremendous amount of depth to every significant character.  For examples, as Will's mathematic genius begins to reveal itself, Jerry (Stellan Skarsgaard), an accomplished mathematician at MIT, takes an interest in him.  Jerry keeps Will out of jail, but them wishes to take him under his wing.  Jerry promises the judge that he will get Will therapy, and that brings Sean (Robin Williams) into the mix.  Sean is a professor of psychology at a community college.  Jerry insightfully believes that Sean will understand Will, and after some rough early sessions, it becomes clear that Sean can indeed help Will.  The depth of character to which I refer comes to light not only with Sean and Will's interactions, but also in the interactions of Sean and Jerry.  As the story moves along, it becomes clear that Sean and Jerry have a past as well, being friends and rivals at MIT during their college days.  This tension between them is handled masterfully in the screenplay.  The subtext of their relationship os assumed by the characters, but it is never awkwardly belabored.  Sean and Jerry talk to each other in a real way, not in a way that artificially reveals their past.  I have always thought that the relationship between Sean and Jerry could make for a great movie of its own, and that is part of what makes this film so rich.

Finally, the joys and losses of the characters prove to be relatable to the audience.  It is easy Will to put his girlfriend Skylar (Minnie Driver) in a privileged box because she goes to Harvard.  It is only when he begins to become vulnerable to her that she reveals her pain to him.  The only reason she can go to Harvard is because her father died and left her the money to do so.  The emotions that come from these confrontations cause Will to be scared and flee from intimacy.  This sets up the wonderful interactions Will has with Sean.  Robin Williams' character in this film proves to be a challenge to Will's world.  He pushes Will to become vulnerable, even though Will has been abused or abandoned by nearly everyone who has been close to him, except his circle of friends.  At the same time, Will challenges Sean as well, since Sean has had his own share of deep pain.  Sean's wife has died of cancer, and he is also reticent to be vulnerable again.  The scenes between Matt Damon and Robin Williams are the heart of the movie.  Williams' comic persona is almost absent here, though it does show itself a few times.  It is in a performance such as this that Williams showed, to me, the extent of his talent.  Of course his comedy was in its own world, but his ability to create a character here and interact with the other actors in the cast is noteworthy.  The subtext of his relationship with Jerry is rich, and the challenge both that he gives to will and receives from him is wonderfully executed in his performance.  Sean's life is in shambles, and this young man seems to give him a purpose as well as a challenge.

Since Williams is a supporting character in this movie, it can be lost how good Matt Damon is in the central role.  He is in most every shot, and he carries the title character with verity.  Robin Williams adds a great deal to this movie, and his ability to do this kind of work will be missed by all of us.  His best scene is a wonderful scene wherein he challenges young Will to open up to him.  If I could have bookends that would encapsulate this man's career, I would show this clip, and the clip I shared in my last blog entry about Williams.  This is a wonderfully written and performed scene, and I think it shows how good Williams could be (word to the wise...some ROUGH LANGUAGE AHEAD).  We will miss his performances...