[CinemaRatty] category: Children

Central Ohio Like Wall-E, Mickey and Melissa

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 14:12:46 +0000

Here are the Central Ohio winners:

Best Films
1. WALL·E
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Frozen River
4. The Dark Knight
5. Frost/Nixon
6. Milk
7. The Wrestler
8. Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in)
9. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
10. In Bruges

Best Director
-Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
-Runner-up: Andrew Stanton, WALL·E

Best Actor
-Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
-Runner-up: Sean Penn, Milk

Best Actress
-Melissa Leo, Frozen River
-Runner-up: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

Best Supporting Actor
-Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
-Runners-up (tie): Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt and Eddie Marsan, Happy-Go-Lucky

Best Supporting Actress
-Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
-Runner-up: Misty Upham, Frozen River

Best Ensemble
-The Dark Knight
-Runner-up: Slumdog Millionaire

Actor of the Year (for an exemplary body of work)
-Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man and Tropic Thunder
-Runner-up: James Franco, Milk and Pineapple Express

Breakthrough Film Artist
-Melissa Leo, Frozen River (for acting)
-Runner-up: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River (for directing and screenwriting)

Best Cinematography
-Wally Pfister, The Dark Knight
-Runner-up: Anthony Dod Mantle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Screenplay – Adapted
-Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
-Runner-up: Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon

Best Screenplay – Original
-Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon, WALL·E
-Runner-up: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River

Best Score
-Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
-Runner-up: A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Documentary
-Man on Wire
-Runner-up: American Teen

Best Foreign Language Film
-4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile)
-Runner-up: Let the Right One In (Låt den rätte komma in)

Best Animated Film
-WALL·E
-Runner-up: Kung Fu Panda

Best Overlooked Film
-Ghost Town
-Runner-up: RocknRolla

COFCA offers its congratulations to the winners.

Previous Best Film winners:

2002: Punch-Drunk Love
2003:   Lost in Translation
2004:   Million Dollar Baby
2005:   A History of Violence
2006:   Children of Men
2007: No Country for Old Men

Will "Mad Men" really be back this summer?

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:42:00 +0000

The Variety piece about this that caught my eye does indeed feature the much more optimistic headline " 'Mad Men' Season 3 set for summer," and I really can't see anyway that AMC would really let its clear franchise show fail.

It was more than a little distressing, however, to hear that executive producer and creator Matthew Weiner, who has said he foresees a five-season arc for what is clearly TV's current best drama (with all apologies to "Friday Night Lights") still hadn't signed a new contract with Liongate. Sign the man up already! Here's what AMC president Charlie Collier had to say Thursday:

"As long as we get the writers' room up and running over the next few months, we're fine (for a summer launch)," Collier told reporters after the sesh, adding that he's optimistic that an agreement with Weiner will be reached soon.

Good news indeed, hopefully, since I just can't wait to see what happens to Sterling Cooper and, of course, to our hero Don Draper. Along with the "Mad Men" return came news about what AMC will be using it to launch, which sounds like it could be pretty cool in its own right.

The cable network is cooking up a six-part remake of the '60s British show "The Prisoner," set to star Jesus (a k a James Caviezel) as "No. Six" and, even better, Sir Ian McKellen as "No. 2," the mysterious official charged with extracting secrets from "No. Six."

A solid two-hour block of summer entertainment. I can only say bring it on.

"Iron Man 2" cast taking shape in great form

Perhaps even better than the news on who will play the villains in "Iron Man 2" is at least the implication that there will only be two of them (at least someone managed to learn something from the excremental "Spider-Man 3"!)

According to multiple sources, Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell are set to sign on as the big baddies who will do battle with Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark when the second installment hits in summer of 2010.

The Hollywood Reporter has the most details about Rourke's character, who would be called the "Crimson Dynamo" and be: "An evil version of Iron Man who battles the superhero in a nuclear powered suit of armor." Nothing but cool there.

Rockwell will play Justin Hammer, a multibillionaire and business rival of Tony Stark. I just love the possibilities opening up here, especially with the franchise continuing with great actors playing smart villains (following Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane), even if Terrence Howard is out as Rhodey and being replaced by the equally intriguing Don Cheadle.

What's Jean Pierre Jeunet up to?

When I first heard Jean Pierre Jeunet was going to direct a movie based on Yann Martel's "The Life of Pi," I can't say my reaction was much more than meh. I thought the novel, about a character (I'm not kidding) who survives for more than 200 days on a lifeboat with an orangutan, a tiger and various other zoo animals, had its charms, but I also just though Jeunet could do so much better.

Well, apparently so does he. After backing out of "The Life of Pi," he's now apparently well into something called "Micmacs a Tire Larigot" (and though I have a rudimentary knowledge of French, don't ask me what in the world that means.) Here, however, is a rather interesting snippet that falls short of a plot summary, courtesy of Twitchfilm:

Is it better to live with a bullet lodged in your brain, even if it means you might drop dead any time? Or would you rather have the bullet taken out and live the rest of your life as a vegetable? Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes? Is scrap metal worth more than landmines? Can you get drunk from eating waffles? Can a woman fit inside a refrigerator? What’s the human cannonball world record?
Find out answers to these questions and more.
A comedy in the vein of Delicatessen and Amélie.

The IMDB describes it further only as "a satiric comedy set in the world of illegal gun trade," but whatever this turns out to be I only hope I get to see it fairly soon. The photo above is courtesy of Twitchfilm also, and they have plenty of more stills from "Micmacs a Tire Largot" you can view here.

"Amelie" is just one of those movies I return to a couple of times each year when I need a lift, and "City of Lost Children" is even better, so any news about Jeunet is welcome in this little corner of the world.

And, since it's Friday, I'll leave you with this fairly disturbing poster from Tyler Perry's "Madea Goes to Jail," set to drop in February. I'm a big fan of Tyler Perry, so here's hoping probably beyond hope that this turns out to remarkably funny. Peace out.

Man Bait/The Last Page (1951)

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 06:39:00 +0000

Man Bait is one of those Hammer Noirs that had much more effective and lurid titles in the States than for their British releases. In the UK it was more widely known under the more obscure title The Last Page that was in a way referring to the fact that this film had a very unusual setting placed primarily within the confines of a second hand book store.

Based on a play by thriller writer James Hadley Chase this film focuses on a blackmail attempt gone wrong, leading towards a murder chase against the innocent manager of the store.

It is a fast paced and entertaining production directed by Terence Fisher in his first assignment for Hammer so in that regards this is indeed a key film for the production company. It is also of importance as it brought Hammer’s James Carreras together with Robert Lippert, thus ensuring a lengthy relationship that helped see the release of their films in the US.

The actual plot is more than convoluted and forced (SPOILER ALERTS): We are expected to believe that shop assistant Ruby Bruce (Diana Dors) is so naïve to make a date with a guy who she catches stealing a book (Peter Reynolds). When she accidentally rips her blouse on a shelf and then very very briefly snatches a quick innocent kiss from her boss (John Harman) we are then to believe that she does not find it the slightest bit weird that her new boyfriend (who she had hardly exchanged ten words with) demands she blackmail the boss. The boss of course does not fire her or bring her to the attention of the police as he threatens. Nay, not even when his frail wife dies of shock when receiving a letter about the non-incident does he do what anyone with half a brain would do and instead fires more than the demanded sum at the Dors character. Even worse, when she accidentally gets killed herself (I told you this was getting convoluted), he doesn’t simply relate everything to the police but instead goes running for no apparent reason bringing all suspicions on himself.

At one time this film saw its release as part of a Double Feature with Bad Blonde. Strangely enough Diana Dors was presented as a new “introducing” actress, yet already had been in film for about five years with a dozen movies to her record. It was, however, this production that established her name in the US. Dors would later re-appear for Hammer in Children of the Full Moon, an episode for the TV Show Hammer House of Horror. Quite interesting to see that she was therefore associated with Hammer’s earliest productions as well as with their last ones, though never with their classic phase.

Phil Leakey provided the Make up; Jimmy Sangster is again listed as the Assistant Director.

In short: Forced plot, but fast and entertaining and at least of important historical value for Hammer.

Marley & Me Review

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 04:34:54 +0000

The film adaptation of John Grogan’s best-selling memoir, Marley and Me, is a cute diversion for dog-lovers and old softies, but lacks the humor to compliment the depressing denouement. At the most it’s a decent romantic comedy, if only because it doesn’t dwell on a typical dating drama or a formulaic “will she or won’t she” ending.

John and Jennifer Grogan (Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston) are two newlyweds freshly relocated to South Florida to live out their dreams as newspaper contributors. Fearful of starting a family too soon, John decides a dog would be an easy step towards caring for a loved one. Until they brought home Marley, the out-of-control Labrador Retriever who terrorizes the neighborhood and destroys everything in sight.

Unfortunately, a lengthy montage of doggy disasters glosses over the years where the Grogans bonded with their animal. It might have been nice to know what separated Marley from all the other rambunctious puppies, aside from his maddening aversion to training.

The story skips right to the part where the title canine is less important, and Marley is reduced to comic relief during darker times. The once baby-frightened Grogans embrace parenthood, and Jennifer start birthing her own litter of messy family members. Meanwhile, John can’t decide whether he wants to be a successful columnist or a struggling reporter. In the background, Marley eats stuff. That is, until the plot takes the inevitable turn towards tearjerker and the filmmaker cranks the knob to “Full Weep Mode.” Grab your tissues on the way to the theater.

This movie is not “fun for the whole family.” Your kids might enjoy the wacky dog-jinx during the first half, but a more mature, duller story sets in when Marley loses his step, and children will whisper “Where’s the doggie?” I saw a parent briskly leading her two very young children from the theater during the holidays. I don’t blame her. No one likes Jennifer Aniston’s acting.

But don’t take my word for it. Let’s hear from NewsinFilm’s resident dog movie expert. I figure you’ve seen enough of what I have to say, let’s read another take on Marley and Me. Back by popular demand, after the positive reactions to his first review… Rowdy the Chihuahua:

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op[l’pl,’;l;;lkkopo;opop;oilklklloippoiiikkmmmm,,ukuulluuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

3 out of 5.

LES NEUF RÉSOLUTIONS DU CINÉMA 2009 (with no apologies to Jean-Luc Godard)

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:04:00 +0000

The following is a response to another tag from Bill over at The Kind of Face You Hate; this time Bill instructs us, via Adam Ross of DVD Panache, to come up with nine cinema-related resolutions for the new year, ones that we could conceivably have a chance at keeping. Here, with one to grow on, is the dark cloud of obligation I have concocted for myself.

1) In the interest of broadening my cinematic horizons (and giving less and less attention to whatever new superhero franchises come wiggling down the Hollywood pipe), I will make better progress on paring down that list of unseen foreign films than I did in 2008. There are some movies on the list now that no longer belong there, but those that remain a mystery to me far outnumber the ones with which I have since become familiar. That really must change.

2) In that same spirit, I will see every movie on this list before the ball drops on 2009 a mere 12 months from now. (I have it within my power to scratch three of them this January alone! Hey, Andrew, are we still on for God’s Angry Man?)

3) I will see more movies in revival theaters and repertory cinemas than I do first-run features in multiplexes.

4) I will relearn to be a more disciplined reader. Right now there are probably 20 books on various shelves in my house that have my bookmarks in them—novels, nonfiction, film criticism, collections of dirty jokes, you name it. Ever since my children were born my ability to find time to sit down for an extended period of time with a good book has significantly dissipated. (Yes, girls, I’m blaming it on you so, when you’re 20-ish and I’m even more broken-down and beaten up than I already am, maybe we can have our own phony-baloney Evan Rachel Wood/Mickey Rourke-style moment of reconciliation. But I will not get an Oscar nomination for it.) However, school will be over soon and the distractions from literature will be again minimized, at least for a while. It will again become possible for me to read a book that doesn’t rely on phrases like “California content standards” or “zone of proximal development” to ground its subject matter. And the first thing I’m going to do is resume, or perhaps even restart, Flicker, the best, most entertaining and entrancing novel I’ve ever stopped reading cold..

5) In the spirit of Bill’s Tarr/Syberberg double-header, I will not only seek out Satantango (which will be my first Bela Tarr movie), I will trade Our Hitler for Berlin Alexanderplatz and then, just to prove that I’m no slice of Eastern Eurotrash, I’ll throw in an all-day marathon of the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy too. After all that, nothing over 92 minutes in 2009! (I’m probably kidding about this last part.)

6) Once again, I will see no movie starring Kate Hudson in 2009, especially if she’s costarring with Matthew McConnaughey and/or wearing bridal gear. I reserve the right to change my mind if she should unexpectedly appear in another bayou-set horror opus opposite the likes of John Hurt and Gena Rowlands

7) I don’t care how goddamn hungry I get-- no more movie theater popcorn! I vow that the only kernels to pass my lips during feature films projected in any public auditorium will be the Orville Redenbacher 94% Fate-Free Smart Pop variety smuggled in courtesy of my none-too-conspicuous backpack (unless I’m at the New Beverly, where the popcorn is not only good, but it supports something other than the corporate coffers of Mssrs. AMC, Mann and Pacific). However, I cannot make the same vow as regards the bubbly soda pop. The carbonated allure of a freshly fountain-poured Diet Pepsi is just too much for this weak, thirsty man to resist. (Besides, they get all room-temperaturey when I put ‘em in the backpack.)

8) I will try not to devote every spare moment before April 1st to The MLB Network (but I won’t try very hard…)

9) I will try to remember that writing this blog is a pleasure and a privilege, not a duty, and that the world will not end if I make less than four posts a week. I’ve been getting better about this, but the adrenaline generated by being productive and connecting with a readership, however modest, is addictive and, dismaying as it may be at times, I have to realize that I don’t have as much time as I’d like to devote to SLIFR, I’m likely to have even less in the future, and that I must learn to be okay with that.

10) That said, the next thing I post on this blog will be my somewhat delayed year-end blow-out. (I’ll just have to come to terms with not having yet seen Synedoche, New York, or A Christmas Tale, or…)

Happy New Year, everyone!

***********************************************************************

When, When, When, Will It End?

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:43:00 +0000

I was going to post some more about the movies I saw over the weekend, but it's difficult for me to talk about frivolous things when I'm right here in Oakland in the midst of the aftermath of the murder, yes, murder of Oscar Grant. In case you don't know, Oscar Grant was shot and killed, while laying face down, in what some say were handcuffs, in Oakland by the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) police. Yes, transit police.

It is ironic that just a few weeks ago I posted about my own experience with the BART police slamming my newborn son's head on the trunk of a car here.

During that time, I met a man whose son was also murdered by the BART police. His son was sixteen years old, and was falsely accused of stealing a Walkman because "he fit a description". When the police officer questioned him, the young man, knowing his innocence, walked away from the officer, and was shot from the back by the cop, killing him.

He was also unarmed, minding his own business, just as I was, when these animals came upon him, just like they did me and Oscar Grant, scarring families and lives for eternity. The father always carried around this huge scrapbook of his son under his arm, filled with newspaper articles, letters, pictures, and depositions. I was so filled with sorrow for him every time we met, because I knew that book was his own personal cross to bear. It brings tears to my eyes even writing about it now. As far as I know, the father never received any type of justice for his son, just as BART wrote a letter regarding my baby's slammed head and stint in foster care as "justified" because "the officer felt threatened". I couldn't talk about my experience until very recently, and a part of my life was taken away from me that day, never to return.

Was this piece of shit that shot Oscar Grant "threatened" as well? I'm sure if there were no real witnesses, that would have been the lie told for the thousandth time by those dogs. This gross abuse of power is absolutely sickening, and is just one of many examples of how far we have to go in equal justice. I learned through a police-watch group that the BART police are monitored by NO ONE, and therefore ARE NOT held accountable for ANYTHING that they do.

Until now. Why the fuck is anyone killed, or having their children taken away, just for riding a public train? The BART police are, in essence, a bunch of wild cowboys in uniform in my opinion, and it is way past time for a rebellion like this to happen regarding the suffering they have put on Black riders for years.

Yes, there were fires, and protests, and a damn near riot, and I'm sorry for anyone that suffered because of it. But I am also, to be very, very honest, almost gleeful that the whole country can finally see what has been swept under the rug, and covered over with dirt for so very long.

And oh, Mr. Murdering Cop? Mr. Johannes Mehserle? Sorry honey, resigning is not nearly enough. No freaking way. You should be in jail, even as I write this, never to see the light of day again, just like Oscar Grant, who begged you not to harm him for the sake of his young daughter, will never see the light of day ever again. May you burn forever.

Here is some footage of one of the protests, cause I couldn't find it in me to post the videos of his murder:

UPDATE: Spotted on Slant Truth from RaceWire:

5 Things You Can Do Right Now About the Oscar Grant Shooting

1. Digg the story so that the national media can pick up on it

2. Contact BART Director Carole Ward Allen and demand that 1) the officers involved be taken off duty without pay and charged and fully prosecuted; 2) there be an independent investigation of the shooting that includes a review of training and hiring practices; and 3) BART establish an independent residents’ review board for the police Call her at 510-464-6095 or email the BART Directors at BoardofDirectors@bart.gov

3. Call the BART police to complain about the officers’ conduct and demand immediate action: Internal Affairs: Sergeant David Chlebowski 510.464.7029,dchlebo@bart.gov; Chief of Police: Gary Gee 510.464.7022, ggee@bart.gov

Call them toll free at 877.679.7000 and press the last four digits of the phone number you wish to reach.

4. Talk it up on your blogs, networks and talk radio shows (call Michael Baisden 877-6BADBOY or Rev. Al, etc. to get this on the national radar)

5. Stay tuned for other actions, protests, etc., especially if you are in the Bay.

talkin' bout mah Degeneration

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:41:00 +0000

Fans of the Resident Evil video games have long been clamoring for a movie to give a big "Eff you!" and a swift kick to the butt of Paul WS Anderson and his film series, which bears little resemblance to the source material. Or, at least, I have. Sure, I like the movies okay- they're nothing if not fun- but as I've stated before, I want to have Resident Evil's babies. I mean...uh...I sure do like those games! I don't, like, really want to literally have those babies for real. First of all, if they were born shaped like video games that would really hurt my no no and it would be pretty awkward at family gatherings and, like, in the grocery store and stuff. My village might even shun me! I'd have to run away from them, clutching little Rezzie and dodging the stones they throw, and find asylum somewhere in an underground network-type thing, and that sounds like a real hassle...a hassle for which I do not have the time. Also, I'm not a fan of running or having stones thrown at me.

On the other hand, children are totally the future and I sure do like those games...but enough about my personal life! This is supposed to be about Resident Evil:Degeneration, so let's get ~~small~~ to it.

Seven years after the government eradicated the zombie problems in Raccoon City with a nuclear boom boom, the eeeevil Umbrella Corporation has risen again. Now called WilPharma, the company has been performing tests with human subjects in India. I have a sneaking suspicion that no good will come of this, unless there's FINALLY a cure for erectile dysfunction out there (seriously, every website in the world except mine is running those fucking Vimax ads and I'm really tired of my screen being inundated with obnoxious photos of women going all bug-eyed at the notion of a boner).

Anyzombie, the action begins at Harvardville Airport where Claire Redfield, heroine of Resident Evil 2, has just landed after...doing something for...the FDA or something or other. We meet a few other characters, like the eeeevil greedy stereotype Senator Davis, who's totally in cahoots with the eeeevil pharmaceutical company. Oh, and he's a jerk.

A plane from India is headed for Harvardville and one of the passengers has a decidedly grey and gross pallor...before you can say "Does that guy have rickets or something?" the plane crashes into the airport just like in the opening moments of the comedy classic Airplane!. Before anyone can say "Holy crap, that was just like the opening moments of the comedy classic Airplane!", however, zombies start spilling out of a gash in the fuselage. It was kind of awesome, and I was kind of giddy.

In related news, I'm psyched that I FINALLY have a chance to use the word "fuselage".

As you can imagine, from there things quickly go to bitey hell. The government steps in and attempts to resolve the situation. Enter Leon Kennedy, the hero of Resident Evil 2. Yep. Claire and Leon are reunited, and all 'round the world could be heard the flutter of a million nerd hearts. Or one. Mine. Don't judge me!

Once the sitch at Harvardville Airport is under control, Claire and Leon decide to find out what the eff is going on. They team up with some rookie special forces-types and head off to this place and that, this house and that lab, encountering a few more zombies and beasties along the way. It's all, you know, like, totally action-packed and stuff.

I'm not gonna lie- I dug this movie...but then, obviously I was predisposed to. My biggest disappointment is that the moment never came where I was supposed to pick up my controller and get my Claire Redfield on- and that's exactly the reason why I'm dubious about how the general horror movie lovin' audience will feel about Resident Evil: Degeneration.

Essentially, the film is little more than the typical CGI cut scenes stitched together. The acting is fair, the character development virtually nil, the dialogue sometimes excruciatingly hokey...and it's best if I don't get much into the "developing love interest" wicked-mini-subplot. By "developing", I mean, "these two characters stare stare stare at each other and that means they're falling in love after knowing each other 15 minutes". The plot is absolutely video game worthy as our gang heads down a path that ultimately culminates in your standard boss battle.

I suspect that large chunks of that plot will be confusing and/or inaccessible to non RE-heads, as a basic knowledge of some characters, Raccoon City, and Umbrella Corporation are assumed. Terms like T-Virus and G-Virus are tossed around, and unless you're a nerd like me you probably won't know- or figure out- the difference between the two.

All of that said, this is still a fun movie. The CGI falls squarely in that weird almost real but not trying to be real so I don't know how to feel about it territory. I found most of it pretty killer, but your tolerance may vary. There's some bloodshed, and certainly plenty of action.

Is this going to appeal to the general public the way the Milla Jovovich films have? I'd have to say no. But really, who cares? It's a fun zombie flick (I've certainly seen less interesting live-action zombie flicks), and I finally got my "real" Resident Evil movie. My nerdy little heart is content.

WTF?? Volume 14

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 07:55:00 +0000

Sorry I've been MIA for awhile...trying to make that cheese, cheddar, cake, ifyaknowwhatimean. I shouldn't stay away for such long stretches, cause blogs are like your children, and right now my child has hair like Zahara Jolie-Pitt and is dressed in rags with no shoes...in other words, a blog needs maintenance! So here I am.

I haven't done a WTF Volume in a long time, but this sh*t right here just puzzled the hayell out of me. I know it's a bit late, and I really meant to put it on my last post, but I just had to share.

I mean, can somebody please explain to me who deemed Mrs. Martha's Vinyard the authority on Kwanzaa? This has to be the most disgusting cake I've ever laid eyes on--they bill it as "famous"...what self-respecting Negro would be checking for this sorry nastiness? Acorns on a cake? I'm through.

spotted on Dlisted

Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:56:00 +0000

OPENING THIS WEEK
Kam's Kapsules:
Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun
by Kam Williams
For movies opening January 16, 2009

BIG BUDGET FILMS

Chandni Chowk to China (Unrated) Action comedy about a humble chef (Akshay Kumar) from Delhi who moves to China after being mistaken by a couple of visitors from the Orient as the reincarnation of an ancient war hero.

Defiance (R for violence and profanity) Oscar-winner Edward Zwick (for Shakespeare in Love) directs this harrowing tale of survival, set in occupied Poland during World War II, recounting the heroic efforts of three brothers (Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell) who escape into the forest where they join forces with Russian resistance fighters to save over 1,000 fellow Jews from the Nazis.

Hotel for Dogs (PG for crude humor, mild epithets and mature themes) Family comedy about a couple of orphaned siblings (Emma Roberts and Jake T. Austin) who turn an abandoned hotel into a shelter for stray dogs after being pressured by their foster parents to put their own beloved pooch up for adoption. Supporting cast includes Don Cheadle, Lisa Kudrow and Kyla Pratt.

My Bloody Valentine 3-D (R for profanity, gruesome violence, grisly images, explicit sexuality and graphic nudity) High attrition-rate slasher flick about a coal miner (Jensen Ackles) who returns to his hometown of Harmony exactly 10 years after the slaughter of 22 locals by a deranged murderer on Valentine’s Day only to discover another madman embarking on a similar killing spree.

Notorious (R for nudity, drug use, graphic sexuality and pervasive profanity) Bio-pic about the rise and fall of Notorious B.I.G. (Jamal Woolard), aka Biggie Smalls, the Brooklyn born crack dealer-turned-gangsta rapper gunned down in a drive-by shooting in L.A. in 1997, the victim of the bloody East Coast-Coast West Coast hip-hop feud. Cast includes Angela Bassett as Biggie’s mom, Naturi Naughton as Lil’ Kim, Derek Luke as Sean “Puffy” Combs, Anthony Mackie as Tupac Shakur, Antonique Smith as Faith Evans and Sean Ringgold as Suge Knight.

Paul Blart: Mall Cop (PG for violence, suggestive material, crude humor and mild epithets) Kevin James stars in the title role of this Christmas comedy about a mild-mannered security guard who saves the day when crooks disguised Santa’s helpers take hostages at a suburban shopping mall in New Jersey. With Keir O’Donnell, Bobby Cannavale and Raini Rodriguez.

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Cherry Blossoms (Unrated) Bittersweet romance drama about an elderly woman (Hannelore Elsner) who hides from her husband (Elmar Wepper) his terminal diagnosis while encouraging him to visit their children in Berlin and Japan as soon as possible. (In German, Japanese and English with subtitles)

Mock Up on Mu (Unrated) Fanciful sci-fi adventure, set in 2019, revolving around the efforts of Scientology founder-turned-real estate developer L. Ron Hubbard (Damon Packard) to colonize and corporatize the moon, pitching lunar theme parks and crater naming rights with the help of celebrity Earthlings.

The Pervert’s Guide to the Cinema (Unrated) Philosopher/psychoanalyst/film lover Slavoj Zisjek narrates this examination of clips from the classic movies of such legends as Alfred Hitchcock, David Lynch and Charlie Chaplin.

Starship Troopers

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 19:59:00 +0000

Starship Troopers is at once a thrilling, ultra-violent, energetically paced sci-fi action flick, and a viciously clever, uncompromising satire of exactly the kind of movie it purports to be, and of the militaristic, proto-fascist attitudes and assumptions underlying such films. It's the story of a war between an intelligent alien species of bugs and a human society of the future, when the world has been united under an international government in which citizenship is not assumed but granted only to those who earn it by serving in the military. The nature of this society is never thoroughly explored in the film, which instead focuses on the military itself, but director Paul Verhoeven makes it very easy to read between the lines and imagine the kind of society he's depicting here. It's a totalitarian world government with an iron grip on the media, which is used as a tool of indoctrination, encouraging military service and vilifying the enemy bugs to the extent that kids on earth senselessly stamp out harmless cockroaches as their mother enthusiastically cheers them on. The military leaders are the only figures of authority shown in the film, suggesting that the military and government are closely related if not interchangeable. And the leaders take no real responsibility for their actions; after a particularly grave military disaster, the "sky marshall" who had been in charge makes a show of calmly stepping aside, ushering in his replacement and then standing behind her on the podium as she delivers the newest commands. It's as much of a blatant mockery as the reasons for the war in the first place: the media continually blames the alien bugs on their distant planets for sending meteors towards Earth, but this never makes much sense even if the film neither explains nor explicitly questions it. The absurdities peddled by the media and the government are simply allowed to stand, their ridiculous contradictions and blatant non-sequiturs obvious to anyone who looks.

The government's enthusiastic propaganda for military service — and the extra rights and privileges granted to those who serve and thereby become "citizens" — makes many youths willing slaves ready to feed themselves into what one army recruiter half-jokingly calls "the meat grinder." He immediately retracts his jest, though, proudly announcing that the army made him into the man he is today: a man missing both legs and one arm, as it turns out. Still, kids join up for a variety of reasons, many of them familiar from our own armies (poverty, lack of options, the desire for a college scholarship), and some predicated on this future government's increasing stranglehold on the lives of its people (one young woman says she enlisted because it's easier for citizens to get permission to have children).

Among these new recruits, a quartet of friends are sent to vastly different fates within the military apparatus: brainy psychic Carl (Neil Patrick Harris) becomes a military intelligence officer; brash, talented, ambitious Carmen (Denise Richards) is sent to pilot training; and the slow-witted but earnest Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien), who enlisted only for his love of Carmen, is sent to be a lowly grunt in the mobile infantry, where he's joined by Dizzy (Dina Meyer), who just wants to be close to Johnny. The film follows these friends through the initial stages of the war against the bugs. Verhoeven deliberately populates the film with mannequin-pretty young actors who go, glassy-eyed and uncomprehending, into the maw of an industrial machine that churns them out like bloody meat. None of them know why they're fighting these bugs, beyond the fact that they're blamed for meteor showers, but they nevertheless charge into action without hesitation.

And there's certainly plenty of action. The film is swarming with fierce, terrifying bug creatures. There's surely a lot of CGI at work here, but these aliens feel real and physically tangible when it counts; the close encounters with the bugs have a messy, sticky, gory emphasis on viscera and bug-goo that is reminiscent of the best of David Cronenberg's body-horror special effects. Verhoeven focuses equally on the casualties of humans and aliens alike; neither is spared horrible, bloody deaths in which limbs are shredded apart and hacked off, and blood sprayed everywhere. The human carnage is often harrowing (though in its aftermath, the dead strewn around frequently look more like discarded crash test dummies than real corpses), but the deaths of the aliens are often felt less intensely, since the obvious impulse is to root for the humans.

Still, Verhoeven keeps subtly reminding his audience that the aliens are not simply expendable cannon fodder: a bombing raid on their planet emphasizes the way huge swaths of the creatures, who are seemingly doing nothing aggressive for once, are simply obliterated by the waves of fire. It's the bug equivalent of a civilian massacre, and Verhoeven's composition deliberately recalls popular representations of the Pearl Harbor attack and of American napalm bombing raids in Vietnam. The bugs also cease being quite so intimidating in the film's increasingly lurid final sequence, in which the troops are tracking what's known as the "brain bug," the central intelligence driving the creatures. This turns out to be a massive, nearly immobile lump with a nakedly vaginal face, a row of curiously soulful black eyes surrounding its labial, muscus-squirting mouth. Once the troops capture this creature, Carl reads its thoughts, triumphantly declaring that "it's scared" to the cheers of the soldiers, who rejoice at the revelation that their enemy can feel emotions, and that they've frightened it. Finally, the scientists who study this captured bug complete the vaginal metaphor by inserting metallic probes into the creature's mouth, accompanied in the media propaganda by censorial black bars, a subtle joke that links top-secret military intelligence and low-grade smut. The victors complete their victory by literally fucking the enemy, a final act that definitively establishes Verhoeven's sympathy for the bugs rather than humans. At the same time, the human specificity of the film's actual protagonists is de-emphasized, not only by the wooden acting but by the way that human life is so casually expended in pointless battles. At one point, the military commanders knowingly send a small group of soldiers onto a planet where they're pretty sure the troops will be slaughtered — "that mission had a very low probability of survival" is the euphemistic explanation — just to prove a theory. The film is all about the low value of life in militaristic and totalitarian society, and the high costs of pointless wars fought by a docile, brainwashed populace.