Dec
1
“Slumdog Millionaire” Review
Filed Under Indies, Movies | Leave a Comment
This is a film you’re probably going to be hearing a lot about if you haven’t already. It’s playing to sold-out audiences here in L.A. and expanding to other markets in the coming weeks. I saw it in a packed house a couple weekends ago and not even “Twilight” with all of its non-sex could peel off this movie’s business.
“Slumdog Millionaire” is about Jamal, a contestant on India’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” He’s close to taking home the top prize when he’s arrested and aggressively interrogated by the police. Jamal’s a child of the slums, someone who couldn’t possibly know the answers on “Millionaire,” so he must be cheating? But, through a series of flashbacks, it’s revealed how Jamal’s punishing childhood experiences actually taught him all the useless trivia he needed to know. That being said, I knew the answer to the final question at the film’s climax — w00t!
Co-directed by Danny Boyle (”Trainspotting,” “28 Days Later”) and Loveleen Tandan, “Slumdog Millionaire” is Charles Dickens by way of Bollywood. The torture and children in peril scenes are difficult to watch — the family seated next to me walked actually walked out — but this is also one of the most emotionally satisfying movies you’ll see this year. And it’s not like this movie is “Hostel,” either. Hollywood movies are just so sanitized, so safe and boring, mainstream audiences are physically incapable of sitting through anything that challenges them. Yet they’re missing out if they skip “Slumdog.”
The film isn’t all doom and gloom. Boyle brings plenty of humor to the proceedings — a scene with a young Jamal in a public toilet recalls a sequence from “Trainspotting” — and the dance number over the closing credits has you walking out the theater with a smile on your face. Though fantastical in the context of the film, it’s nonetheless emotionally rewarding — a little bit of what they call “magical realism,” which is sorely lacking from the latest bit of product that hits screens every Friday. What I wouldn’t give to have seen a similar dance number at the end of “The Dark Knight.”
This review comes two weeks late, since this is a difficult movie to talk about without getting too hyperbolic. I’ve gone through a few drafts. I find it’s much easier to review movies than films, since I don’t want to sound like those annoying critics who review movies in soundbites, custom made for slapping on posters and newspaper ads, rather than in anything resembling depth. I think the best review I heard for “Slumdog Millionaire” was from this random woman sitting near me in the audience. When a friend of hers asked her how she liked it, she made a noise that sounded like she was either clearing her throat or having an orgasm — maybe even both. I think that about sums up my feelings as well.
-Brad Lohan
Oct
7
“Religulous” Reviewulous
Filed Under Indies, Movies, Political Films | Leave a Comment
I didn’t have much in the way of a religious upbringing, thank God. I’ve never read the Bible, but I did see “The Passion of the Christ” because I heard it was a gorefest. I think religion can be of some value to people who seem to have a much easier time believing in a fairy story than in themselves. Okay, now I’m starting to sound smug. I’m starting to sound like Bill Maher.
But Maher’s smugness is part of what’s great about “Religulous,” Larry Charles’ documentary about faith and the faithful. Like Michael Moore, Maher inserts himself in the proceedings, interviewing various and sundry religious leaders, followers and even a few non-believers. He’s not afraid of calling people on the myriad paradoxes and contradictions that are couched in their belief systems. A couple of times, I thought he was going to get punched in the nose. But he gets some priceless responses (like the politician who tells him you don’t need an IQ test to be in the Senate), and Charles has directed a movie that’s every bit as hysterical as his previous film, “Borat.”
Maher was never a comedian or social critic I’d followed with much enthusiasm, so he was a bit of a revelation for me in this film. That he knows more about religion than some of the people preaching the gospels makes for some spirited discussions. Most of the interviewees come across as folks who honestly don’t seem to have given very much thought as to why they so passionately have faith in the first place. Their grasp of Ancient Egyptian history is also a bit spotty. In about 1200 B.C., a fellow named Horus took the phrase “What Would Jesus Do?” quite literally in that his story is virtually identical to Christ’s. I wonder if that’s what the “H” in Jesus H. Christ stands for: Horus. I used to think it was Hussein.
Unfortunately, I feel this film will preach to the [un]converted, like most documentaries. The fundies are no fun at all and don’t have much of a sense of humor about religion. They’d rather put a saddle on an anamatroic triceratops in a Christian theme park, suggesting dinosaurs co-existed with ancient man several millennia ago, rather than acknowledge the Bible left out several bajillion years of prehistory before Adam and Eve came onto the scene. Trying to reconcile modern science with a 2,000 year old religious text isn’t going to wash. We as a culture need to rethink our approach to religion, to not take the passages quite so literally.
Now I’m starting to sound preachy. Maher takes this approach as well in the film’s final moments. But he does have a point. Our world is definitely falling into a state of disrepair and it’s not because our deeply religious elected officials have chosen to be like those super-nice Mormons who go door to door, selling the word of God like it’s a vacuum cleaner. No, Bush stole the election in 2000 because God wanted him to be president. Our country is fighting in Iraq endlessly because people like Sarah Palin think it’s a mission from God. Banning gay marriage is up for a vote in the state of California because of that goddamn bit of nonsense in Leviticus. Are these goofballs serious? It’s okay to steal and to kill, but not to allow people basic human rights? Yeah, I’ve gone off on a tangent here, I know. I’m trying to show the hypocrisy.
I’m asking the most basic religious question, “What the hell?!”
-Brad Lohan
Jul
27
“Baghead” Review
Filed Under Indies, Movies | Leave a Comment
I hadn’t heard the term mumblecore until just recently. Considering the Wikipedia definition of the filmmaking style, it appears that I should be more than a little familiar with it, as I’ve made a couple shorts that could easily be described as mumblecore. The term sounds like a pejorative, though. Mumblecore filmmakers are simply using cost-effective approaches to storytelling, like guerilla filmmakers have for decades. It’s easier now with DV cameras are living in a town lousy with out-of-work actors. That reminds me. I really need to get on the ball and make a movie-film.
This afternoon, I saw the Duplass Brothers’ “Baghead.” It’s a mumblecore film about four aspiring actors that hole up in a cabin for the weekend to write a movie that will star them. There’s doughy Chad (Steve Zissis), bohunk Matt (Ross Partridge), pixie-like Michelle (Greta Gerwig) and model-quality Catherine (Elise Muller). Chad’s in love with Michelle, but Michelle likes Matt, and Matt used to date Catherine. What’s more, they’re being stalked by some lunatic wearing a paper grocery sack on his head.
I like scripts that are partially improvised. Coming from someone who’s a writer, I guess that may sound weird to you. But solid actors can be more than just mouthpieces for scripted dialogue. Sometimes you discover things in the moment that aren’t on the page. At any rate, the script for “Baghead” seems like it’s more of a jumping off point than a to-do list. I think the performances in the film really have a life and energy that would’ve been lacking had the actors been slaves to a standard indie dramedy dialogue. There are just so many great little nuances that sound authentic, fragmented speeches and conversations that don’t quite go anywhere. None of it is “mumbled” or inaudible, either, like what you’d expect from something that’s been dubbed mumblecore.
Is “Baghead” scary? Well, I don’t want to give too much away in regards to the horror elements. The movie definitely spends more time on the relationships than on the stalk-and-slash. When it becomes clear to the four character that there’s someone else in the woods, someone who’s really stalking them and not playing a game, the movie is more gripping than your average dead teenager flick. You’re invested in these characters and want to see them make it out of there alive.
I liked “Baghead.” It’s a fun little genre-bending indie, the kind of movie that inspires you to grab a camera, grab some friends and make a mumblecore film of your own. Just make sure everyone speaks up, so the audience can hear.
-Brad Lohan
Jul
25
After I graduated from film school in 2002, I moved to Hollywood, thinking that my talent for writing would easily land me a screenwriting gig. Well, it’s been almost 6 years now. A couple of my scripts have been semi-finalists in screenplay competitions, and I’ve had exactly one meeting with a producer about a low-budget script I’d entered in the Nicholl Fellowships. But nothing’s really come of any of my screenwriting efforts to date, regardless of the fact that I live right where it all happens.
Meanwhile, a buddy of mine from film school, Sean Gleaves, stayed in Washington and found himself a writing gig on an independent film produced there called “GPS.” As part of the Action on Film International Festival program, I finally got to check it out. The film was screened in Old Pasadena at the One Colorado — a theater I used to work across the street from during my days at Yahoo. So my living in Los Angeles fortunately positions me that much closer to art houses screening my former classmates’ films.
At least I’ve got that going for me.
Anyway, before I begin my review of “GPS” in earnest, I have to mention the short film, “Apparition,” that was screened before it. Now I’ve seen some truly awful shorts — hell, I’ve written and directed a couple myself — but “Apparition” is like a punch to the man-parts. It’s about three friends on a camping trip. On the drive home, their SUV goes over a cliff. Two of them manage to escape, but they can’t pull the third one out in time. So they leave him to die in a firey explosion. A month later, the surviving female friend has a vision of the dead guy — all burned and gnarly looking — while taking a tastefully-shot shower. Later, the surviving male friend comes over to her house. She sees the dead guy again, this time in the kitchen, standing behind the guy who’s not dead. She dumps the guy who’s alive for no reason, he leaves, and she goes to bed. THAT’S THE WHOLE FRIGGIN’ MOVIE!!!
I understand that “Apparition” is a short, and short films don’t always have endings that tie up everything like feature films do. But, WTF?! The film ends about two acts too soon. Even shorts have a three-act structure. It’s not as though I wanted “Apparition” to go on much longer — as it is, it’s a pretty horrid way to spend 10 minutes of your life — but they weren’t even trying. If anything, it’s inspired me to make another short film just to show idiots like the auteurs behind “Apparition” how it’s done.
With all that out of the way, what follows is my review of “GPS.” It’s a stalk-and-slash movie about a group of campers on a GPS hunt, looking for $2 million in stolen money a friend of theirs has hidden deep in the woods. Before seeing the film I was completely unfamiliar with the concept of a GPS hunt. Like I said, I live in Los Angeles. As far as I’m concerned, going into the woods is something you do if you’re interested in having your head split open by some hatchet-wielding psychopath. But there are some folks out there, I guess, who go on these types of hunts — plugging coordinates they get off the Internet into their hand-held GPS units — to find all sorts of treasures…when they’re not getting stabbed repeatedly, shot full of arrows, or being impaled on a tree branches.
Now I love slasher films. There’s something about stupid young people being destroyed way out in the middle of nowhere by a masked killer that appeals to me. Probably my biggest critique of “GPS” is that it’s not a more straightforward slasher movie. Tonally, it’s a little uneven because the horror is introduced rather late in the film. I initially thought the movie was a light-hearted adventure until about the midpoint when the kids discover footage of one of their friends getting his head caved in.
Knowing Sean as well as I do, I imagine most of the issues I have with the script — co-written by the director Eric Colley and star Hallie Shepherd — probably weren’t his idea. I’d bet cash money that the ridiculously overwrought motive the killer provides at the end of the film wasn’t something he’d suggested during the development stages. It’s almost a self-reflexive send-up of all the bizarro contrivances that drive a slasher movie psychopath to cut people into tiny pieces, it’s so out of left field.
Despite its flaws, the movie was produced. I can’t say that about anything I’ve written. So for those of you keeping score it’s…
Sean: 1
Brad: 0
“GPS” hasn’t quite put Sean on the map yet — har, har. But when and if it does, I hope he doesn’t forget about the little people like me, not to mention my extremely well-written entertainment blog that doubtless made it all possible.
-Brad Lohan
Jul
12
“Garden Party” Review
Filed Under Indies, Movies | 2 Comments
A few years ago, I wrote a pilot script about listless young people living in Los Angeles. The one and only literary agent who was willing to read it said that audiences aren’t interested in watching anything about the entertainment industry. To be honest, I don’t think she was paying that close attention. The whole script — hell, the whole series — was about people who can’t break in to the entertainment industry. It was the antithesis of all those cacamamie Cinderella stories about overnight successes.
Oh, and then the show “Entourage” came out a couple years later. I understand that it’s a show about the entertainment industry. It’s nothing at all like my idea, but I’m just sayin’. The gatekeepers in Hollywood don’t know anything.
Anyway, this afternoon I went to see “Garden Party,” an indie about listless young people living in Los Angeles. It’s not like my idea all that much, either. One character’s trying to break into the music business (in my pilot, the main character wanted to make movies) but apart from that, the listless young people are mostly in real estate or selling dirty pictures of themselves to creeps.
The stories are all interlocking, making Hollywood seem like the smallest town on the map. I’ll concede that you do sometimes run into people in Los Angeles that you never expected — or wanted — to see again. But apparently in this film, everyone goes to the same coffee shop, the same bar, and the same pornographer. If they didn’t, I guess there wouldn’t be a movie. So I’ll bite.
I like these kinds of movies. Coming out the same weekend as “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” (read my review here), “Garden Party” is a nice little bit of counter-programming — a peek into the lives of people with very little going on day-to-day. I’m not sure if that’s the film’s strength or weakness. Tapestry movies like this usually have an emotional peak to each character’s story. The folks in this film just sort of coast in and out of each other’s stories. Their lives change in one way or another by film’s end, but they’re all sort of unimpressed by what’s different about themselves. I guess life’s sort of like that. Movies have spent so much time trying to condition us to think that there has to be some grandiose, life-altering climax. “Garden Party” doesn’t have that.
What the film does have is the gorgeous Vinessa Shaw as real estate agent and marijuana maven Sally St. Clair. I’ve seen Ms. Shaw in other unremarkable movies — “3:10 to Yuma” and “The Hills Have Eyes” — but I’ve never really paid all that much attention to how stunning she actually is. I wanted to see more of her character, and by “more” I mean “bikini photos.”
At any rate, writer-director Jason Freeland’s “Garden Party” taps into that listlessness that I was going for in my own attempt at writing something “real.” I enjoyed the film. It’s lived-in and authentic. The movie feels almost like a pilot for an HBO series. That said, it’s something I would definitely watch every week. I’d like to see what else happens to these characters, and not just Vinessa Shaw.
-Brad Lohan
“Hi, I’m Vinessa Shaw. See ‘Garden Party,’ now in theaters.”
Jun
15
“War, Inc.” Review
Filed Under Indies, Movies, Political Films | Leave a Comment
Last year, John Cusack starred in “Grace is Gone,” an indie film about a father whose wife was recently killed in Iraq, and he can’t find a way to tell his two daughters. So he takes them on an impromptu road trip, trying to avoid the issue altogether. I thought it was a very effective and original anti-war film. Of course the movie was largely ignored, even on the art house circuit. After all the movie was about something. American audiences don’t like that. Movies that have some artistic value interrupt people’s text-messaging.
Cusack’s latest film — another anti-war piece, this time a satire called “War, Inc.” — opened in extremely limited release in New York and L.A. a few weeks ago. But this one has “legs,” as people in the know call it, and it’s quietly been finding an audience and expanding to additional cities amid all the sound and fury of the major summer releases. I finally caught it this afternoon and thought it was great.
No one plays an introspective, black-clad hitman quite like Cusack. In “War, Inc.,” we’re first introduced to his character Hauser while he’s doing a job in the Arctic Circle. When he’s not blowing people away, he drinks shots of tabasco sauce and has deep, meaningful conversations with his GPS system. These little nuances are what Cusack often brings to the table and makes them work brilliantly. At any rate, after a successful hit in the Great White North, Hauser sells his services to the ex-Veep (Dan Aykroyd playing Dick Cheney even better than Dick Cheney) and goes to the occupied country of Turaqistan, where he’s to assassinate an uncooperative oil baron.
Hauser poses as a trade show coordinator (the ongoing conflict in Turaqistan has been completely privatized), tasked with organizing the wedding of Middle Eastern songstress Yonica Babyyeah (Hilary Duff). Left-wing journo Natalie Hegalhuzen (Marisa Tomei) catches his interest, real-life sister Joan Cusack plays his high-strung liaison Marsha Dillon, and Ben Kingsley with a southern drawl and Bush’s odd gesticulations appears as Hauser’s former CIA boss.
This is sort of the “Airplane!” of anti-war films. Reporters are herded into a motion simulator theme park ride instead of being allowed outside the Green Zone to experience real combat; the “Viceroy” is personified by a giant, Big Brother-style screen with shifting images of American icons from Babe Ruth to John Wayne to Pam Anderson; military vehicles are covered with corporate logos like they’re something out of NASCAR. But these touches are organic, not at all like the bonk-on-the-head gags in the witless “Scary Movie” clones. As weird as things have gotten over the past eight years or so, “War, Inc.” doesn’t feel that far removed from our own reality. And that is what makes it so tragically funny.
I’m pleased that “War, Inc.” is showing some staying power on the art house circuit. It’s angry, and it’s clever, and it’s designed to piss off all the Right[-wing] people. I think it connects better with audiences than “Grace is Gone” because it’s a comedy. Audiences would rather laugh at our bass ackwards foreign policy than be made to feel all sad and crummy. I don’t know what that says about them, but as long as the movie gets people to use that lump of tissue between their ears, the filmmakers can declare mission accomplished…and mean it.
-Brad Lohan