THE GREEN HORNET: Make way for Jay Chou

 
The three Webbers went to see The Green Hornet when it opened last weekend, and only one of us liked it. Care to guess which one of us? Now before you go thinking that I’m an indiscriminate movie lover who likes anything they put on the big screen, let me remind you that there are numerous reviews right here in this blog that clearly indicate otherwise. And the thumbs-down list crosses all genres – comedies, family movies, dramas, thrillers, rom-coms, action movies. The Green Hornet, however, gets the green light from me.

“The Green Hornet” has been around in one form or another since the 1930s, and the nostalgia of it all is part of what appeals to me. It’s been a radio show, a film franchise, a TV program, and a comic-book series. I grew up hearing my dad say, “Let’s roll, Kato,” and roll we did, albeit not in the Black Beauty! Now that I’m grown, it’s great to have a contemporary context for this famous line, built by and for my generation.

Of course the critics didn’t care too much for this iteration of Hornet. So why did I like it so much? Truth is, they had me at Coolio. I won’t spoil the scene for you, but suffice it to say there’s nothing better than two masked buddies taking harmony parts in a tape-deck singalong. Beyond that, I just went along for the ride, so to speak. Like any good comic-book movie, it was over the top – the bad guys, the bullets, the butt-kicking martial arts. And best of all was Jay Chou, a Taiwanese sensation who has burst onto the American film scene as “Kato,” a role originally played on TV by Chou’s real-life hero, Bruce Lee. With all the best lines and all the best moves, this is really Chou’s movie. You’re coming to see him, not Seth Rogen.

As for the other Webbers, let’s just say they weren’t able to appreciate what this movie had to offer, and I completely respect that. The youngest Webber was offended by it – by the language, the moronic humor, the gratuitous violence. Mr. Webber’s disappointment was rooted in comparisons to other movies in the comic-book genre. True, it’s not as well written as Ironman, not as well acted as Red, not as funny as The Losers, etc. etc. But my allegiance stands. If you make it your business to see comic-book movies, then you ought to make it your business to see this one, too.

See the trailer for The Green Hornet here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9btZIK3Obpg

For more Green Hornet fun, check out the Mythbusters Green Hornet Special on the Discovery Channel:
http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-green-hornet

HOW DO YOU KNOW: And why should I care?

 
“How do you know?” is a great question. So is “Who cares?” and “What time is it?” and “What is Jack Nicholson doing in this movie?” It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a good romantic comedy. Looks like it’s going to be a while longer yet.

How Do You Know stars some of my favorite people – Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, and – for reasons unfathomable – Jack Nicholson. It should have been a slam-dunk. The only explanation I can come up with is that they spent so much budget on big-name actors, they didn’t have any funds left over for anything else, like scriptwriting. It’s bad, folks. I’m pretty sure my 12-year-old could write a more cohesive and compelling screenplay.

The crux of the problem is that Witherspoon’s “Lisa” finds herself having to choose between a self-absorbed pro athlete (Wilson) and an unemployed white-collar criminal (Rudd). Well, suspected criminal, but still. In Washington, D.C., a city of 600,000 people, in a country of 312 million, in a world of almost 7 billion, why is she limiting herself to these two clearly unsuitable choices? THAT is the question.

The only bright spot in the movie is Owen Wilson. It’s fun watching him negotiate his relationship with Lisa, uncovering the principles of monogamy one transgression at a time, as if learning the rules to a new board game. Daft yet charming, I would have given him a slight edge over Rudd. But by the end of the movie, not only was I not rooting for either fellow, I was actually rooting for Witherspoon’s softball coach, Sally, who wasn’t even in the running. A twist like that would have made for a completely different movie – one possibly worth seeing.

See the trailer for How Do You Know here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS7CmZdhwmQ

SUMMER WARS: Anime, fresh from Japan

 

As a working mother in a dynamic household, I see myself as having two primary responsibilities. The first is to pick up socks off the floor. The second – and far more satisfying – is to take my daughter to the movies. Now that she’s too old for Disney but still too young for the Coen brothers, we don’t see all that many movies together. So when a gem like Summer Wars comes to town, we jump at the opportunity.

Summer Wars is a Japanese animated feature in the tradition of Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki is the one who brought us Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Ponyo, and he’s one of my daughter’s favorites. With Summer Wars, 43-year-old Mamoru Hosoda follows in his enormous footsteps. Seeing as how Hosoda was directing “Digimon” cartoons ten years ago, it will be interesting to see where he goes from here.

While Miyazaki is like the Woody Allen of anime, garnering all manner of big-name voice talents such as Liam Neeson and Lauren Bacall, Hosoda’s film has a far more humble list of credits. What he didn’t skimp on, however, was storytelling and production. The plot is as powerful and the graphics as arresting as anything Miyazaki has done.

Summer Wars is essentially the anime version of Tron. An artificial intelligence takes over a virtual world, ultimately posing a threat to the real people on the outside. That’s Tron, right? Only instead of “the grid,” Summer Wars concerns itself with a Second Life sort of place, an online universe with strong ties to bricks and mortar. Look a little deeper, however, and you’ll find that Summer Wars is a cautionary tale, revealing the potential dangers of living our lives online. It made me want to go home and unplug myself from everything . . . except for this blog, of course!

In keeping with Miyazaki tradition, the heroes of the story are the young people – the misfit kids, the math geeks, the gamers with mad hot computer skills. They may be only animated characters, but they make outstanding role models. And if Summer Wars is any indication of the future, we’re going to need kids like those to help protect us from technology in the years to come.

See the Summer Wars trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbmdYasVDDg

TRUE GRIT: One-eyed Rooster rides again

A three-legged dog walks into a bar. A hush falls over the room as all eyes are drawn to the stranger. He goes up to the bar and says to the bartender, “I’m looking for the man who shot my paw.”

So, that’s basically the setup for True Grit, except instead of a three-legged dog, it’s a two-legged, 14-year-old fireball named Mattie Ross. And she’s not looking for her paw by herself – she’s got two hired guns, U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, played by Jeff Bridges, and a Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf, played by Matt Damon. All joking aside, Joel and Ethan Coen’s latest project is a serious movie, and one that I enjoyed even more than I had planned to.

Ever since the wood-chipper scene in Fargo, I’ve been a little scared of the Coen brothers. People who care about my emotional well-being urged me not to see Old Country for Bad Men, and I breathed a sigh of relief when we got to the theater box office and saw that True Grit was rated PG-13 instead of R. Of course it wouldn’t be the Coen brothers if there weren’t a few body parts and brutal deaths, but it was all worth it. This is a mighty fine piece of filmmaking.

I haven’t seen the original True Grit, starring John Wayne and that powerhouse thespian Glen Campbell, so I can’t speculate on how well The Dude filled The Duke’s boots, except to say that he did it with the patch on the other eye. But according to a recent Time interview with Jeff Bridges, he wasn’t the least bit intimidated by the task at hand. Apparently the Coens told the cast and crew that they weren’t doing a remake of True Grit – they were making their own movie. And their movie, so they said on NPR, is truer to the time period and truer to the original novel by Charles Portis.

Near as I can tell, the movie has but one flaw. The haunting song that features so prominently in the movie’s trailer (“God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” by Johnny Cash) doesn’t actually appear in the movie. But what it lacks in Cash it more than makes up for in grit. Hailee Steinfeld is full of it. She holds her own as the take-charge Mattie Ross – articulate, astute, and unsinkable. Yes, it turns out the Coen brothers have gone and made a movie about girl power! Mr. Webber, who loved the movie, has even taken to calling me “LaBoeuf.” Sweet, huh? Perhaps there is a little bit of grit in us all.

See the True Grit trailer here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUiCu-zuAgM

THE KING’S SPEECH: All hail, King Colin!

My stalwart movie buddy L.W. and I headed out to see The King’s Speech at the Arbor this past weekend, along with everyone else in the 78750 area code. When the crowds there scared us away, we thought we’d have better luck at the mall. I mean, who goes to the mall to see an art film? Turns out everyone who lives in 78746. The only seats left were on the second row!

Necks craned, we watched as Colin Firth’s character made the halting transformation from Duke of York to King George VI, just in time to rally the country on the eve of World War II. Inflicted with a socially and politically debilitating stammer, King George VI took the throne begrudgingly after his brother Edward abdicated so that he could marry an American divorcee. Oh, the shame of it all . . .

Needless to say, Colin Firth deserves the nominations he’s getting, as does Geoffrey Rush, who plays George’s unconventional speech therapist. It was also delightful to see Helena Bonham Carter without her magic wand trained on Harry Potter. Rounding out the superb cast was Michael Gambon as a deteriorating King George V, Guy Pearce as the disgraced King Edward III, and Timothy Spall as an imposing Winston Churchill.

With all the Oscar buzz Colin Firth’s been getting for this movie, I went into it fully expecting a masterpiece. What I didn’t expect was for the masterpiece to contain so much humor. It will make you chuckle, it will make you smile, and it will have you holding your breath, straining to hear every hard-won syllable. It may even make you want to learn more about this incredibly dark period in history – and the people who led us through it.

You can see pictures and learn more about King George VI and the role he played during and after World War II on the official website of the British monarchy.

While the movie’s title refers to King George’s manner of speaking, it also refers to a pivotal speech – a live radio broadcast King George VI made on September 3, 1939. Thanks to the wonders of the web, you can hear the original speech in its entirety.

See the trailer for The King’s Speech here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsxjM03ME7s

TRON: LEGACY: An exercise in hand-wavium

The Webbers Three saw Tron: Legacy on its opening weekend in December, primarily at the insistence of the youngest Webber. And for lo these many weeks, with holiday carols ringing in my ears, I’ve been trying to make heads or tails of this movie. I felt I needed to fully understand it before I could write a fair and balanced review of it.

“It’s a game, right? A video game? Called Tron? No, Tron is the name of one of the characters in the movie. A pretty minor character, actually. But he’s there – in the grid. Or is it “on the grid”? Whatever. But the grid’s a game, right? Well, it’s more of a virtual world, I guess. But they do play games there. In the grid. (On the grid.) And you have to win the game in order to stay alive – and also to save humankind back on Earth. So does that mean the grid is in outer space? Because I thought it was downstairs – through that portal in the basement?? Also, where do the grid people go to the bathroom – or do they not need to???”

After listening to me babble on in this way for quite some time, Mr. Webber looked at me, and with infinite patience said, “Holly, you’re thinking about this way too hard.” And then he introduced me to a new term, “hand-wavium,” which is apparently the cornerstone of all good science fiction movies. According to tvtropes.org, “When skillfully done, a hand-wave can obscure the ridiculousness, or at least make it plausible enough so that the audience achieves a willing suspension of disbelief.” Alright, I get it. You’re just supposed to nod your head and move on. And so, two weeks later, I’m finally nodding my head and moving on.

I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie. I admit, the computer-generated version of Jeff Bridges kind of creeped me out, as did the albino Willy Wonka character played by Michael Sheen. But I thought the movie was fun, in a Speed Racer sort of way. And the youngest Webber thought it was the best movie she’d seen all year – she loved the neon color schemes, the batons that turn into motorcycles, and the thumping electronica soundtrack. And the fact that she could not explain the story to me did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm.

So, if you’re 12, or if you dig special effects, the Dude, and/or platinum blondes in white leather go-go boots, this movie might be perfect for you! Just don’t ask too many questions.

See the TRON: Legacy preview here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4RiUy23e9s