A bit of Poetry

"Celebrities up in the hills live high on the hog/Ticket buyers pay their bills and gape at them in

awe/They complain they got it rough, boo-fuckin-hoo, it must be tough/Save that shit for your

shrink or your next movie/Don't tell us about the pain, show us the baby."

                                                                                                       - lyrics by Foster Timms


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Zero Dark Thirty (2012) filmReview

Release: December 19, 2012

Budget: $40 million

Box Office: $102.1 million

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

Script: Mark Boal

Cast: Jessica Chastain
         Jason Clark
         Joel Edgerton
         Chris Pratt
         James Gandolfini
         Mark Strong
         Kyle Chandler
         Mark Duplass
         Edgar Ramirez
         Jennifer Ehle




It is very difficult for me to write this review. The latest film from Oscar-winning director, Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), is not an easy film to sit through. The events of September 11, 2001, while by no means black and white, resulted in controversial foreign policies that deeply divided our nation and led to our engagement in two major conflicts which have cost the lives of over 6,500 American troops and upwards of one million civilians. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, I suspect you'll be flooded with emotion after a viewing of this film. Ten years of the War on Terror distilled into a grueling, yet thrilling, 2 hours and 36 minutes. This is filmmaking of the highest order, to be sure, but one that puts the viewer through the emotional ringer.

A storyboard of the opening scene

This is the most effective film regarding the War on Terror since Paul Greengrass' brutally magnificent, United 93 (2006) and Kathryn Bigelow's own, The Hurt Locker (2009). Like those other films, Bigelow's latest is like a tightly coiled spring, that just keeps tightening and tightening until finally, you don't think you can take it anymore. The tension I felt during this film just kept building and building. This is perhaps the most effective aspect of the film, the fact that you feel the stress of the 10-year man-hunt for bin Laden as you witness the main character Maya (Oscar nominee, Jessica Chastain) go through it as well.

In the first scene of the film, we witness the torture of a detainee at the hands of a CIA operative named Frank (effectively played by Jason Clarke) as Maya looks on. Bigelow's camera never turns away. While the U.S. government may claim that specific terrorists weren't tortured in the ways shown in the film, all of the interrogation techniques were utilized at one point or another during the Bush Administration's years of fighting terror. These are not easy scenes to deal with. Water boarding, beatings, prisoners being put into torture boxes, prisoners led around by dog collars, sleep deprivation, it's all here. Was it morally appropriate? Was any useful information gained? Bigelow, working from a script by Mark Boal, doesn't go for the easy answers. However, I don't believe this is a film that endorses torture. The scenes are simply presented as fact. Torture was utilized. Obama ordered the torture to stop. Bin Laden was eventually killed. I think this is the best way to present this material. Instead of preaching at the viewer, we are left to make up our own minds as to how we feel about all of this. Still, I found myself very conflicted after viewing these scenes of brutality.

Jessica Chastain's Maya

Jessica Chastain's performance is what really sells the film. Her Maya is a woman bound by duty to find one man. Her only goal is to find the world's biggest terrorist and bring him to justice. You really feel her pain as information gained from detainees lead to dead-ends and administrations come and go. Between scenes of Maya pouring over information and participating in the torture of prisoners, we see the terrorist attacks continue. She's involved in one herself. While texting her friend and fellow CIA colleague, Jessica, she is killed in a suicide bombing. The physical toll all of this takes on Maya is heartbreaking and Chastain completely sells it in an understated yet steely performance. It is no wonder she was nominated for Best Actress. It is amazing that despite being surrounded by top talent such as James Gandolfini (as a weary beauracrat), Mark Strong, Kyle Chandler (Maya's determined and fiercely loyal boss), Chris Pratt and Jason Clarke, that Chastain manages to outshine them all.

The last thirty minutes of the film is dedicated to showing us the raid on Bin Laden's compound. It is shocking to learn that the suirvellance of this house, and Maya's firm belief that within was Bin Laden himself, began over four months before the order was finally given to attack. In one of the best scenes of the film, as various members of the intelligence community hem and haw over the chances of Bin Laden being there, Maya looks directly at Gandolfini's character and says with undeterred resolve: "It is 100% certain that he is there...or maybe 95% because I know you guys don't like to deal in certainties, but it's 100%." Like Black Hawk Down (2001), the final assault is meticulously recreated. There is no booming score or wave the flag moments, this is a cold, calculated, recreation of what happened. It is also perhaps the most well-executed piece of military cinema I've ever seen. You even get a brief look at Bin Laden's face, but only for about a tenth of second. There are plenty of shots; however, of his lifeless corpse, on the floor, in the helicopter, in a body bag. One of the most tense scenes comes back at the base, when Maya must identify the body.

The attack commenses on Bin Laden's compound

I was expecting some kind of carthasis after the killing of Bin Laden. But as the soldiers crowded into his bedroom to take a look at his frail form on the floor in front of them, I found myself even more conflicted. Bin Laden deserved to die, of course. However, I kept thinking to myself, after the two wars, the countless lives lost since September 11, the repeated terrorist attacks, the torture of detainees, the emotional destruction of people like Maya, was the killing of this aged man worth it? I guess the answer is yes. This is the most emotionally engaging film of 2012. Just don't expect it to provide you with easy answers or a sense of pride.

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Silver Linings Playbook (2012) filmReview

Release: November 16, 2012

Budget: $21 million

Director: David O. Russell

Script: David O. Russell

Cast: Bradley Cooper
         Jennifer Lawrence
         Robert DeNiro
         Jackie Weaver
         Chris Tucker
         Julia Stiles




Paul (Oscar nominee, Bradley Cooper) is a highschool history teacher just released from a mental health facility. We learn through flashbacks that Paul was sent to the funny farm after he came home to find his wife in the shower with a fellow teacher and then commenced to beat him to within an inch of his life. He now has restraining orders that force him to keep away from his estranged wife and from his former workplace. Now, Paul must live at home with his mother (Oscar nominee Jackie Weaver) and Philadelphia Eagles-fanatic, father (played with surprising heart and feeling by Robert DeNiro). Tiffany (Oscar nominee, Jennifer Lawrence) is a recently widowed 23-year-old that has dealt with her grief by moving back to her parent's house and sleeping with as many men as possible. The lives of these two damaged individuals collide to comic and touching affect in the brilliant film, Silver Linings Playbook.

Bradley Cooper, David O. Russell & Jennifer Lawrence

Nominated for eight Academy Awards (including Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, as well as acting nods for all four principals), this is by far one of the best films of 2012. After a rather middling beginning wherein we see the prequisite run-ins between Paul and his parents (who patiently try to deal with their son's troubling behavior - he is very fond of waking them up at 3:00 am to rant about something, be it Earnest Hemingway or the loss of his wedding video), his friends and former coworkers. However, once Jennifer Lawrence's character enters the scene, the film takes off and never faulters on its way to an emotional finale which may have some of you wiping the mist from your eyes.

Bradley Cooper (in a well-deserved Oscar-nominated role) may be the focal point of this film; however, it is Jennifer Lawrence that really steals the show. At 23, she just might become the youngest Best Actress in Oscar history, and deservedly so. Her enigmatic and fiery Tiffany is one of the best performances I've seen in a long time. Every time she's on screen, you simply can't take your eyes off of her. Brilliant.

I was also very glad that this wasn't a cliched look at mental illness. Director, David O. Russell (The Fighter) takes a very respectful and emotional look at a subject that doesn't get enough attention. He shows all aspects of what it means to deal with mental illness on a day-to-day level. He shows Paul going to therapy, taking medication (or not taking it), dealing with the fall-out from the damage he's done, struggling to function on a "normal" (whatever that is) level, and his attempts to connect to another equally damaged person. The film also shows Paul coming to grips with the fact that he indeed has serious problems. "Oh my god! You think I'm crazier than you are, don't you!" Tiffany exclaims at one point.

Jackie Weaver and Robert DeNiro

Ultimately, though, this film is about letting go and learning how to accept people for who they are. Paul's scenes with his father are particularly effective. We learn that Paul's father's obsession with the Philadelphia Eagles borders on OCD, particularly when it comes to gambling. Still, by film's end, Paul has found newfound respect for his family and has taken a few necessary steps into becoming a better person. This film is an example of what great cinema is all about: solid direction and an intriguing premise, anchored by phenomenal performances and dialogue that bites and rings true.

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X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)

Release: July 18, 2014

Director: Bryan Singer

Script: Simon Kinberg
            Matthew Vaughn
            Jane Goldman

Cast: Jennifer Lawrence
         Nicholas Hoult
         Hugh Jackman
         Michael Fassbender
         Peter Dinklage
         James McAvoy
         Ellen Page
         Patrick Stewart
         Ian McKellen

                                                               
                                                               
Rumors have been pouring in on a regular basis regarding Bryan Singer's return to the X-Men franchise with 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past. Based on the original 1981 storyline by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, the film will unite the casts from the original X-Men Trilogy (2000-2006) and X-Men: First Class. This will mark Singer's third time behind the director's chair for the mutant series and his first film in the franchise since X2: X-Men United in 2003. No word yet on a budget; however, filming is set to begin this April in Montreal.

The cast of the 2000 original

The original storyline was part of a very popular run of comics beginning in 1981. The story focuses on an alternate timeline in which mutants in the future are being held in internment camps and the Sentinels (giant robots) rule the streets. Kitty Pryde is able to transfer her mind into her younger self in order to warn the X-Men about their possible futures. As the comic features both current and older versions of the X-Men, the decision was made to bring back all of the original cast to reprise their roles for the new film. Therefore, the film will see both Michael Fassbender & Ian McKellan as Magneto, James MacAvoy and Patrick Stewart back as Dr. Xavier, etc.

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister in HBO's Game of Thrones

Along with the exciting news of the casting of mega stars Jennifer Lawrence and Hugh Jackman in the new film, word has come that Game of Thrones' Emmy Award winning actor, Peter Dinklage has been cast as the chief villain of the film. Originally, it had been assumed that Dinklage would be cast as Wolverine's sometime sidekick, Puck, considering that both the character and Dinklage suffer from the condition known as dwarfism. However, Bryan Singer and Dinklage's agent have borth confirmed that he will be the chief protagonist of the new film. What a fantastic choice. Dinklage has proved with his role in Game of Thrones (for which he won a Best Supporting Actor - TV Drama Emmy) that he certainly has the acting chops for any role which he is cast in. I can't wait.

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Star Wars: Episode VII Rumors

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII

Director: J.J. Abrams
Budget: $200 million (rumored)
Screenplay: Michael Arndt
Cast: Harrison Ford (rumored)


IGN has reported some exciting news regarding the latest Star Wars Trilogy, which will commence with the release of Episode VII sometime in 2005 (if we are to believe the rumors). The IGN story (which you can see right here: Episode VII to Focus on Skywalker-Solo Kids) reports that longtime Hollywood insider, Roger Friedman (Showbiz 411), has stated that the new film will focus on the offspring of Han Solo & Leia Skywalker and Luke Skywalker & Mara Jade.

I personally think this is a great direction for the new trilogy of films to take. Hopefully the story will skip past the early years of these character and instead pick up with them in their late teens or, preferably, their early twenties. If this story turns out to be true, you can expect all of Hollywood's hottest young talent to be lining up to get cast in Episode VII.

While only a rumor, this could be an exciting development for the future direction the franchise might be headed in. Some basic information about these kids might be helpful.

Ben Skywalker

Ben Skywalker:
Son of Luke and Mara Jade (Luke's apprentice and former Hand of the Emperor). He becomes an apprentice to his cousin, Jacen.

Anakin Solo

Anakin Solo:

Though constantly referred to as Han Solo, Jr. by Han, Leia insists that her youngest son's name is Anakin. He tragically dies defending his friends and family from an attack.

Jaina & Jacen Solo

Jaina & Jacen Solo:

The twins born to Han Solo and Leia Skywalker. Following in their Uncle Luke's and Grandfather Anakin's footsteps, they both become powerful Jedi. Ultimately, Jacen turns to the dark side becoming the Sith Lord Darth Caedus. With the aid of Luke (living in exile at the time), Jaina confronts and is forced to kill her brother.

Stay tuned to Electric Cinema for more news regarding the return of Star Wars to a cinema near you. 

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Hearts & Minds (1974) - film Review

"We weren't on the wrong side, we were the wrong side."

                                                       - Daniel Ellsberg

Director: Peter Davis

Runtime: 112 minutes

Budget: $1,000,000

Cast: George Bidault 

         George Coker 

         Daniel Ellsberg

         Clark Clifford  

I have never seen a more damning documentary regarding U.S. foreign policy than director Peter Davis' film, Hearts and Minds (1974). Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1975, the film examines the U.S. role in Southeast Asia from the early 1950s all the way up until 1974. At the time of filming, South Vietnam was still under U.S. occupation and Richard Nixon had yet to resign the Presidency. While quite controversial for the time, even now, nearly forty years after its initial release, it still has the power to anger, shock and divide politically.

First, if you are expecting a completely balanced look at the war in Vietnam, you might walk away from this film disappointed. However, if you choose to avoid this film because of this fact, you will be missing out on one of the most eye-opening examinations of the war and its consequences, particularly the effect it had on soldiers, politicians, journalists, the American public and more importantly, the people of Vietnam themselves. Through usage of actual footage and photographs, including interviews with troops as they are engaged in battle, Peter Davis paints a horrific picture of brutality, death, and the utter futility of U.S. involvement in the conflict. Warning: this film contains numerous disturbing scenes of death, torture and nudity (related to prostitution). Davis isn't afraid to shy away from the carnage with his camera. More importantly, he brings us face to face with Vietnamese civilians whose lives have been irrevocably damaged by the long and bloody conflict.  It is available to watch as a DVD release from Criterion, a download from iTunes, or better yet, check it out for free on YouTube here:

While perhaps it is manipulative to intercut scenes of the homecoming celebration for U.S. POW George Coker and his speech wherein he tells the jubilant crowd: "you must not be afraid to send me back", with scenes of troops suffering in combat, it succeeds in making one realize the cost of that sentiment. One of the most disturbing sequences shows the burial of a South Vietnamese soldier wherein his mother has to be physically restrained from throwing herself into his grave. This sequence is intercut with an interview with U.S. General William Westmoreland (commander of all U.S. forces in Vietnam from 1964-1968) where he matter-of-factly states that: "The Oriental doesn't put the same high price on life as does a Westerner. Life is plentiful. Life is cheap in the Orient." Coker seems to share this sentiment when he tells a class of schoolchildren, in answer to a youngsters question of "what does Vietnam look like", that: "If it wasn't for the people, it was very pretty. The people there are very backwards and primitive and they make mess out of everything." More shocking is when he explains to the class that "some of you will probably be sent to war one day." How is this acceptable in our democratic society, that children must be groomed for war? Must we treat conflict as inevitable?

George Coker, grooming our children for war?

Davis' examination of torture is an unsettling look at something most policy makers claimed the U.S. took no part in. Yet there on the screen is footage of prisoners being water-boarded, beaten, kicked, and brutally hit with the butts of machine guns. A former CIA officer describes an interrogation which ended with the prisoner being thrown from a helicopter. A Vietnamese woman described the torture she underwent at the hands of the U.S.-supported South Vietnamese. For months she was tortured and starved. "You cannot imagine the beatings" she wearily says. These interviews are intercut with footage of a U.S. Colonel denying our use of torture on the "Nips" and Colonel George S. Patton III gleefully expressing his satisfaction with "what fine killers" our troops are.

Davis fills his film with informative interviews with former U.S. policy makers, generals, officers and Vietnamese citizens. These interviews help to establish a brief history of the conflict and to discuss U.S. involvement (of which the soldiers provide harrowing first hand accounts). It is not easy to endure. Ultimately one learns that the Vietnamese had fought invasion from the Chinese for over twelve hundred years, and then resisted French colonization for nearly a century (the U.S. funded 78% of re-colonization efforts after World War II) before finally gaining their independence in 1954. Then the U.S. entered the fray, determined to overthrow the democratically elected government of Ho Chi Minh, a massively popular leader and revolutionary who had repeatedly petitioned our government for support. Minh was convinced (after studying the American Revolution and our constitution) that the U.S. would support the Vietnamese effort to emerge from the shadow of colonialism. Instead, the U.S. spent billions propping up a corrupt and murderous, totalitarian regime based out of Saigon in the South. Each President was expected to support the U.S. position without question.

Five successive U.S. Presidents (from Truman to Nixon) misled and lied to the American public in order to justify and secure support for our involvement. The Soldiers interviewed for this film were all quite shaken by their experiences. One former pilot is haunted by the thought of someone napalming his daughter. Another tells a horrifically comical story about an accidental napalming of his trench wherein 35 of his fellow soldiers were either killed or severely injured.

This is an eye-opening documentary that I will not soon forget. Nothing much can be said in defense of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. We engaged in a brutal war of attrition and genocide on a massive scale. During our "invasion" (it is hard to see it as much else) of North Vietnam we dumped millions of tons of conventional and biological weapons upon civilian populations (including villages and hospitals). We burnt down villages and destroyed civilian crops, livestock and food supplies. It is staggering the amount of destruction we wrought upon the peoples of Vietnam. An interview with a Vietnamese coffin maker is unsettling in its look at the production of coffins for children: "I make 900 a week" he says, "sometimes more." Another heart-wrenching scene is with a farmer raging with grief at the death of his daughter, killed in a bombing run. He bitterly yells: "Here is where my daughter died! She is dead. The pigs survived." Regardless of your understanding of the conflict which cost the lives of over 2 million Vietnamese and 58,000 Americans. This a film that must be seen. For those of you who believe we were fighting in a righteous cause of liberation and freedom, I will simply quote one of the Vietnamese journalists interviewed in the film: "what kind of freedom can you bring us?"

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The Oscar Games!

Every year, without fail, I find myself in the same predicament: how to see each of the Oscar-nominated films before the telecast begins in late February. Well, I have 17 days left before the ceremonies begin on February 24th. Let the games begin!

So far, I've done fairly well. I was able to catch some of the smaller Best Picture nominees such as Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour on iTunes; however, a couple of larger films have eluded me. Les Miserables and Zero Dark Thirty, as well as Lincoln have finally opened here in Mexico City, so the rush is on to see these films in theaters. I've already experienced the wondrous films Life of Pi and The Impossible (a nominee for Best Actress), as well as the empowering and downright crowd-pleasing Silver Linings Playbook (nominated for Picture and every acting category).

A couple of films I will be cutting it close with, The Sessions (a nominee in two acting categories), for instance. It opens here on Friday, February 22. Close, but I'm determined to make it. Quentin Tarantino's latest, Django Unchained, was unable to escape my grasp, as it opened here on January 25th. It was a bloody brilliant slice of gonzo filmmaking. The Master (nominated in three acting categories) is a film I will have to check out on iTunes; in over 15 years, director P.T. Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will be Blood) has yet to deliver a dud at the theaters. I can't wait.

There you have it, the rush is on. Feel free to weigh in on your Oscar favorites in the comments section below.

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A Long Time Ago...at a theater near you

From our friends over at www.ropeofsilicon.com comes word that along with Star Wars: Episode VII (2015), the House of Mouse (Disney) has decided to put two standalone Star Wars films into production as well. Here is a link to the full article: New standalone Star Wars films to focus on Han Solo & Bobba Fett. Apparently Simon Kinberg (X-Men: First Class) and The Empire Strikes Back alum,  Lawrence Kasdan, have both signed on as screenwriters for these pictures. While some may be hesitant to embrace this news, I think a little perspective should convert any skeptics.

From 1998 to 2007, Marvel had to watch helplessly as successful film adaptations of its comic properties were turned into blockbuster entertainment. Films such as Blade (1998), Spider-Man (2002), X2: X-Men United (2003) and, to a lesser extent, Hulk (2003) and Fantasic Four (2005) resulted in billions of dollars in box office and DVD sales for film studios not affiliated with the comic giant. By 2005, Marvel had seen enough and launched a film division of its own. Over the next seven years it would focus on launching (and relaunching) four comic franchises, which would then culminate in an epic mash-up of the title characters from each of these films.

Despite a host of critics, Iron Man opened huge in 2008, raking in nearly $600 million in worldwide box office grosses. By year's end, with the release of The Incredible Hulk, Marvel's gamble had paid off to the tune of nearly $1 billion. Disney acquired Marvel in 2009; however, they wisely decided to continue with Marvel's film aspirations. By 2011, a second Iron Man film had conquered the box office and Captain America and Thor had also made successful debuts on the big screen. By 2012, Marvel's (and Disney's as of 2009) seven-year strategy (now known as Phase 1) culminated in the release of The Avengers in theaters. The result? Over $1.5 billion in ticket sales. Due to the success of these films Marvel has announced Phase 2 which will consist of Iron Man 3 (releasing in April of this year), Thor: The Dark World (Summer '13), Captain America: Winter Soldier (2014), Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) and finally, The Avengers 2, releasing in 2015. Ant-Man will also launch in 2015, but Kevin Fiege, President of Marvel, has stated it will be the first film of Marvel Phase 3.

Disney has successfully, and with respect to the characters and source material, launched (and will have launched) seven comic-book franchises in under a decade. Critics and audiences alike have flocked to these films, which have brought in over $5 billion in ticket sales alone. When it comes to Star Wars, Disney seems to be following that old adage: "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The studio has hired legendary producer Kathleen Kennedy (Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Lincoln) to shepherd the next generation of Star Wars films to theaters worldwide. J.J. Abrams (Star Trek, Super 8, Lost) has been brought on board to direct Episode VII and Academy Award-winning screenwriter, Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3), has been tapped to script the new film. Though it remains to be seen if lightening can strike twice for Disney, they seem committed to successfully rebooting Star Wars. Here is one cinephile that is more than happy to give them the benefit of the doubt.

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