‘World War Z’ is ‘A’ budget zombie flick deserving ‘B-’ rating
By Steve Crum
It used to be that a make believe foot race between a mummy and a zombie would pretty much be a dead heat, per se. Now, thanks to the zombie-redux thriller World War Z, any zombie could beat a slow shuffling mummy, gnarled hands down. In fact, a WWZ zombie can run, dodge, and jump as fast or faster than its terrified human prey. Talk about motivated flesh eaters!
Understand from the outset that I have never been a zombie movie fanatic. However, I consider 1968’s Night of the Living Dead a genre classic, and it still elicits chills groping down my back. Zombie productions, including the mega popular TV series The Walking Dead, dwell on blood and gore close-ups of the many ways to kill a zombie. The bashing and slashing of a zombie’s cranium resembles comedian Gallagher’s Sledge-O-Matic crushing of a ripe watermelon. It’s not my cup of joy juice. World War Z certainly includes its share of zombie violence, but it is lighter on graphic imagery such as gray matter spattering. Its director, Marc Forster, has made his reputation at the helm of such diverse, non-horror titles as Finding Neverland and The Kite Runner. Based on Max Brooks’ best seller of the same name, WWZ has a narrative that emphasizes the central human characters, particularly Brad Pitt’s Gerry Lane, during the race to contain and hopefully eliminate the worldwide zombie takeover.
Screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, and Damon Lindelof have restructured Brooks’ anecdotal novel into a cohesive, traditional story line. Whereas the book borrowed its segmented style from Studs Terkel, the film is structured with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It all works quite well with enough jumping out of the shadows, teeth chomping scenes that should satisfy the mainline zombie fan. Ultra zombie-ites, however, might be disappointed with the lack of grossness.
One of the half dozen set pieces, in fact, includes a nightmarish scene directed at viewers’ nerve control center. It takes place in the World Heath Organization’s building, wherein Pitt’s Lane is entrapped inside a lab while an especially obnoxious zombie guy leans outside the door glass. He wants to get at Lane so much that he makes rapidly chattering bites with his disgusting front teeth. It is horrifyingly funny.
My favorite sequence occurs aboard a packed airplane, and our hero and central character Lane is aboard. (His wife and two young daughters have been left on a military ship, sailing the ocean, for safety reasons. Don’t zombies swim?) Without ruining any surprises not already divulged in the previews, let us say that WWZ segues into Zombies on a Plane. No doubt other critics will make the same reference, which proves we have no shame. The scene, however, is pretty terrifying, relying on innate fears for many of us: airplane flight + claustrophobia. Mix in a heap of zombies for bad measure.
Not that it greatly matters, but Lane is an agent of the United Nations assigned to find a reason and cure for the world’s zombie pandemic. Not only do these living dead things run, but they have super sensitive hearing, which makes hiding from them daunting. Immediately after being bitten, the victim transforms to zombie and so on and so on. Scenes of thousands of zombies on the move, even climbing on top of each other, to form a squirming ladder to scale high walls, are disturbing, memorable visuals.
Seeing WWZ in 3D will add little to the overall viewing experience. In fact, it is hard to recall any particular scene that pops into one’s eye space.
As for acting notables, it is pretty much a draw between Brad Pitt and the zombies. Extraneous cast members Mireille Enos (portraying Lane’s wife), James Badge Dale (as Captain Speke, Lane’s friend and boss), and David Morse (a psychotic prisoner) are given sparse scenes and lines.
Pitt plays out as the cool hero who steps up to battle zombies when necessary, while never exhibiting much fear. His character could use some Kevin McCarthy/Invasion of the Body Snatchers frantic demeanor.
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GRADE on a Scale of A to F: B-
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Zombies live! Proof is in this trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcwTxRuq-uk
Summer movies I want to see, kind of want to see, and don’t want to see…Part 2/June 2013
By Steve Crum
Objectively reviewing a movie is a misnomer. Try as I try, personal preferences and influences affect the viewing of any film. Call it being human. Reviewing has always been an “in my opinion” process, so why not admit it? Of course, I am aware there are many tastes out there who turn to a movie review for information and guidance. There needs to be a word for the film critic who falls between subjective and objective. Come to think of it, that should describe all film critics.
That said, if I had to pay to see summer movies, instead of screening them for free, I would avoid these repugnant-to-my-taste film factors: coming-of-age/teen romance-sex “comedies”; animation; martial arts; anything Seth Rogen; sequels, particular the 5th or more; slasher horror; and zombies. True, I often exist outside the mainstream bubble.
Of 109 summer releases, my list happens to include 29 subjectively chosen titles. Opening dates, in parenthesis, might change. The June sampling:
TO SEE
•AFTER EARTH [Originally slated for June 7, but released May 29]
Real life dad and son, Will and Jaden Smith, were effective in The Pursuit of Happyness, so this sci-fi yarn should benefit as well. After crashing on an angry planet (Earth), the two encounter life threatening challenges. This is co-penned by director M. Night Shyamalan. (I wrote and rated this before viewing the film, and would now place it in the So-So viewing category.) •THE BLING RING [June 14]
Sofia Coppola directs Harry Potter’s Emma Watson in a fact-based crime drama involving teens teaming up to steal jewelry from celebrity homes. The real story is the kids’ obsession with their own reality show-like celebrity, criminal as it certainly is.
•TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM [June 14]
Morgan Neville’s documentary focuses on the unheralded backup singers who make pop stars like Mick Jagger and Sting look and sound even better. I could care less about pop stars like Jagger and Sting, so why would I be interested in their assistants? (OK, I’m a little interested.)
•WORLD WAR Z [June 21]
Producer-star Brad Pitt’s six-years-in-the-making, $170 million sci-fi spectacular is all about a virus killing millions, and their reanimation into calculating, fast stepping zombies. The Running Dead. Maybe I could truly enjoy a zombie movie after all.
SO-SO’s
•THE INTERNSHIP [June 7]
Those partial to Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson (like me) should enjoy this Shawn Levy directed comedy that pits two jobless pals as competitive interns at the Internet’s tech central, Google. Probably good for at least a Google giggle.
•MONSTERS UNIVERSITY [June 21]
Before Sulley and Bill (voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal) buddied up in Monsters, Inc., they attended Monsters U., when they were not yet buds. This animated comedy prequel is referred to as a Pixar-esque Revenge of the Nerds.
•THE HEAT [June 28]
Since her comedic breakthrough two years ago in Bridesmaids, Melissa McCarthy has embellished her popular, starring comedies with pratfalls and crude laughs. Here teamed with Oscar winner Sandra Bullock, it is a flip of the tried and true male buddy cop movie, featuring two females.
•WHITE HOUSE DOWN [June 28]
Jamie Foxx plays the President, with Channing Tatum his Secret Service guy (sort of). The real draw here is director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day), who orchestrates a White House under siege by mercenaries.
NO-NO’s…only one sticks out
•THIS IS THE END [June 12]
Seth Rogen always appears to have a tobacco chaw behind his lower lip, which is the funniest thing about him. And that’s not funny at all. Rogen, the force behind the disastrous The Green Hornet, directs and stars in this star-laced comedy. Look for Judd Apatow/Freaks and Geeks grads James Franco and Jason Segel as well as Jonah Hill and Emma Watson. They’re together at a wild party somehow connected to the world’s end. The title says it all. If they live through it, it could be Hangover 4. For joy.
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This trailer for This Is The End reinforces my expectations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yma-g4gTwlE
Glitz, glamour, director flourishes cloud ‘The Great Gatsby’s’ base story
By Steve Crum
Had it only been the use of rap music on the soundtrack of this tale set during the Roaring Twenties, an invasion enough on one’s sensibilities, The Great Gatsby would nearly have failed. But Baz Luhrmann, the director and co-screenwriter, went so much further in his overwrought presentation. Luhrmann, lauded by many for his flamboyant movies (Moulin Rouge, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet), surely won’t disappoint his followers with Gatsby. It is all about style: ultra colorful, superb costuming, knock-out set design, and all in 3-D. That last ingredient pops the imagery past one’s eyes and deep into the brain cells. Way past my comfort zone.
Luhrmann’s Gatsby is a movie of and for our times. That is, it’s purely targeting the teen to 30-something watcher with glitz and glamor. The demographic raised to think the mediocre shouters on American Idol are instant superstars and the real superstars surround themselves with pyrotechnic special effects will surely savor and devour this lower-the-bar treatment of The Great Gatsby. All its smoke blocks a classic F. Scott Fitzgerald story.
So what is enjoyable about this tragic tale centered on the lush life of the 1920’s upstate New York rich? For one, there is a strong cast headed by Leonardo DiCaprio as title character Jay Gatsby. He is the mysterious, charismatic, wealthy bachelor who lives in the mansion across the sound from the Buchanans, Daisy and husband Tom (Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton). No one knows much about Gatsby, except the fact he throws parties, big parties, and throws them often. People know his abode much more than they know him. DiCaprio, ever an underrated actor, impresses in a role demanding because it is so repressed. Gatsby is a troubled, driven soul given to faint smiles, and hidden glances. He is so insecure, there are scenes with him literally hiding in the bushes on his estate. He has issues, yes.
The root of his psychological imbalance, as the millions who have read the novel already know, is the exasperating love and obsession of his life, Daisy. Mulligan has similar challenges in portraying Daisy, since she is virtually the female counterpart to Jay Gatsby. Again, it is her underplaying that is required. This means numerous sequences of darting eyes and reflective glances by both DiCaprio and Mulligan, when together or apart. Director Luhrmann, of course, embellishes these scenes, like he does everything throughout Gatsby, with extended slow motion takes. Egad, even when a character gets hit by a car and is shown airborne in slo-mo, Lurhrmann chooses to repeat the ghastly occurrence in a flashback. I was looking at my watch each time like it was an Olympic time trial.
Told from the viewpoint and narrated by bond broker/writer Nick Carraway (Tobey Maguire), The Great Gatsby lumbers along quite spectacularly. Again, the 3-D sets and costumes are pretty enticing…for about the first half hour. Unfortunately, the film clocks at 143 minutes.
Gatsby’s story is of unrequited love, friendship (Nick and Jay become fast friends due to unexplained reasons, except both are loners), and ultimate tragedy on several levels. These are the same reasons the novel has sustained and is still required reading in American high schools. Of course, the 1925 novel also has the style and distinctive voice of its author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Part of its credence is the knowledge that Fitzgerald was himself a mix of Carraway and Gatsby, and suffered many demons in his life. This movie version, the latest in adaptations dating from black and white, silent movie days, seems more caricature than real in depicting the pretentiousness of the wealthy. Maybe the next version of Gatsby will connect better than this one.
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GRADE: On an A to F Scale: C-
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Glitter and glamour are evident in this trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OULhlaX6JY4
Featuring near nonstop action, this flick should be named ‘Iron Man 3 X 3’
By Steve Crum
Kudos and a solid “A” to the marketing machine for Iron Man 3. Co-star Ben Kinglsey, who plays the evil villain Mandarin, has been touting the movie and his part in it on various talk shows. What’s fun and intriguing about the film clip he shares is its clever deception. No, I will not spoil a key plot twist. Just prepare to be hoodwinked, thanks to screenwriters Drew Pearce and Shane Black. Black also directs this terrific Iron Man installment, which both exhilarates and exhausts. There’s a whole lot of good versus evil shakin’ goin’ on. Iron Man 3 rocks.
Although Jon Favreau does not direct this time, after helming the previous Iron Men, he reprises his Happy Hogan role. Hogan, if you recall, is the overprotective bodyguard of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) aka Iron Man. Favreau is is also executive producer, which befits this talented multitasker. Also returning is Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark’s vivacious assistant/secretary/girlfriend/now CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts. Along for the high flying is Don Cheadle’s Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Rhodes is not only Stark’s buddy, he is also the Iron Patriot, our government’s red, white and blue Iron Man wannabe.
Then there is Guy Pearce, portraying the brilliantly warped villain, Aldrich Killian. It turns out that Killian and The Mandarin have much more in common than is first apparent, which relates to the previously mentioned plot twist. Pearce, a much under-used actor in his film history, grandstands spectacularly here. Possessing superhuman strength, regenerative healing powers, and heated hands, Killian is the iron guy’s ultra-foe.
The per se real time plot takes place in a present day America wherein frequent terrorist bombings have put our military and Commander-in Chief, President Ellis (William Sadler), on high alert. It would help if Iron Man were available, but he is pretty much retired. The government’s colorful Iron Man clone, Iron Patriot, is supposed to fill the void as he targets The Mandarin, a Fu Manchu-looking maniac who interrupts TV broadcasts to make threats, which he carries out, graphically live.
Tony Stark seems unmoved until he is directly affected. Soap operatics aside, it is the action sequences (the oil rig finale) and plot detours (the Air Force One attack, kidnapping, and mass rescue) that make IM3 so jaw dropping awesome. Sandwiched between all the pyrotechnics and flying scenes is a great sub-story involving Stark and a youngster, Harley (Ty Simpkins). Their teamwork should really delight the younger viewers in the audience.
By the way, moving Stark away from his self-centered, arrogant persona is a welcome character development. Unlike other Marvel heroes, Tony Stark has rarely been depicted as a sensitive guy. Then again, he obviously has issues, being subject to panic attacks.
If the grand, and I emphasize, grand finale, does not excite and soothe the savage Iron Man fan, what in the world will? It worked for me. Big time.
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GRADE on an A to F Scale: A
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This trailer sets the proverbial stage for one exciting movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CzoSeClcw0
Summer movies I want to see, kind of want to see, and don’t want to see…Part 1/May 2013
By Steve Crum
As a film critic, I am supposed to view a film objectively. But I’m an opinionated, elderly human, filled with years of pent-up dislikes and preferences–explainable and unexplainable. Excuse me for baring my soul, exposing my prejudices, and parsing movies before viewing them.
That said, if I had to pay to see summer movies, instead of screening them for free, I would avoid these bitter-to-my-taste film factors: coming-of-age/teen romance-sex “comedies”; animation; martial arts; anything Seth Rogen; sequels, particular the 5th or more; slasher horror; and zombies. Yes, I usually swim upstream instead of mainstream.
Of 109 summer releases, my list happens to include 29 titles. Opening dates, in parenthesis, are subject to change. The May sampling:
To See
•STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS [May 17] Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are back as Kirk and Spock, respectively, battling mass terrorism. (A terrorist is currently the villain of choice in the entertainment media, reflecting reality.) The real plus here is the return of director J. J. Abrams.
•NOW YOU SEE ME [May 31]
An FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) chases magicians who are robbing banks. Tricky thieves, indeed. Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson are among the illusionists. This is a thriller, not a comedy.
So-So’s
•IRON MAN 3 [May 3]
At this writing, I have not seen it, but scuttlebutt says this take has more action derring-do and laughs than IM2. The iron guy battles Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin, a super terrorist.
•THE GREAT GATSBY [May 10]
I am a so-so fan of Fitzgerald’s novel, and disliked Robert Redford’s 1974 adaptation, so this Baz (Moulin Rouge) Luhrmann version has nominal appeal. Add Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire as attractions. AND it’s in 3-D (?). My question: When is the 1949 version, reputedly superior to the ‘74 take, going to be released on DVD? It stars Alan Ladd.
No-No’s
•BLACK ROCK [May 17]
Three young ladies are sexually assaulted during a camping trip on a Maine island. So they unite as lethal revengers to attack, maim, and destroy. It sounds like The River Wild Meets Deliverance. Kate Bosworth is featured.
•BEFORE MIDNIGHT [May 24]
Since I dislike Before Sunrise (1995) and Before Sunset (2004), why should I clamor to see this episode in the life of two talky lovers, again played by Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy? Please, nothing after this Before!
•THE HANGOVER PART III [May 24]
Getting drunk, either in public or on a movie screen, is never funny for yours truly. This installment follows the hapless men-children on a knee-slapping, barf-filled journey that includes the accidental decapitation of a giraffe. Now, THAT’S entertainment.
•FAST & FURIOUS 6 [May 24]
•FAST & FURIOUS 6 [May 24]
I am neither a fan of cars nor Vin Diesel, so multiplying this dislike by six only accelerates the issue and fuels the fire. That’s the brakes.
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PART 2, covering selected June releases, coming soon…
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Until then, here is the sobering trailer to The Hangover, Part III: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96TelFMZwHc