Movie Review

  • The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

    The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Blu-Ray, July 2015)  At the time of The Emperor’s New Groove, Disney animated movies had an undeserved reputation for formal stuffiness, their quasi-mythic grandeur either being absent of comedy (Pocahontas), sweeping it aside (The Lion King) or being undermined by it (Mulan).  The overtly-comic Hercules is an important exception, but it too often struggled to present a solid dramatic framework as backup for its pop-culture gags.  So it is that The Emperor’s New Groove comes (still) as a refreshing change of pace, taking on a post-modern comic sensibility and minimizing the drama to its structural essence.  The sense of humor shown by the film is far hipper than most of its contemporaries, with a fast-talking narrator/protagonist and a slapstick narrative that feels far removed from the staid Disney brand.  It may not aspire to much more than a modest commercial success (reading about the film’s troubled origins clearly shows that its conception was of a hail-Mary move to recoup a huge investment in a failed project.) that won’t have the same staying power as most other Disney animated films, but The Emperor’s New Groove is still quite enjoyable fifteen years later and doesn’t seem to have aged a single second even at a time when most animated films are computer-generated.  I’ll note that the French version included on the Canadian Blu-Ray version has two recognizable voice actors, and features quebecisms (including accented turns of phrase) far more often than other translated Disney films. 

  • Duplex (2003)

    Duplex (2003)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, July 2015)  There’s a particular type of domestic bourgeois horror at the heart of Duplex, which is to say: what happens when a tenant not only refuses to leave, but makes your life miserable?  Ben Stiller, in his classic manic mode, and an unremarkable Drew Barrymore star in this black comedy whose main claim to fame remains that it’s directed by Danny DeVito.  Duplex is, for the most part, a reasonably entertaining accumulation of mayhem, as a sweet old lady proves to be the bane of our protagonist landlords.  It escalates quite a bit, in ways that don’t feel entirely natural.  The point of the film being embarrassment and violent intentions, it’s not the kind of comedy fit to be appreciated whole-heartedly.  The deliberately frustrating ending plays along that vein, making this a film for specific audiences.  At least it works on a basic level: most of the film is reasonably entertaining, moves from one plot point to another and packages everything in a neat bow (although, once again, you have to wonder about the sanity of antagonists trying those dangerous long-cons.)  Neither particularly good nor bad (albeit maybe irritating), Duplex seems to be the kind of film you see once, shrug off and then make no particular effort to see again.

  • The Rainmaker (1997)

    The Rainmaker (1997)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, July 2015) Early-career John Grisham was often accused of writing the same story over and over again, but it’s a good story, and The Rainmaker boils it down to perhaps its simplest essence: A young Southern lawyer, basely out of law school, takes on the Establishment and wins –although the ending proves to be bittersweet.  There isn’t much more to it, and there doesn’t need to be once the atmosphere and details are filled-in.  A much younger Matt Damon plays the protagonist with a good deal of naiveté and steely resolve, with Danny DeVito turning in a rather good performance as his much more devious sidekick, and Jon Voigt is deliciously slimy as a seasoned lawyer with all the resources at his disposal.  Otherwise, this is a film that uses a basic story as a framework for moments, giving us a credible insight in the life of a young lawyer working way above his head.  The Rainmaker may not be the best movie adapted from Grisham’s work (I’m still partial to Runaway Jury) but it’s almost certainly the purest representation of what Grisham has spent a long time doing on the page.

  • Hercules (1997)

    Hercules (1997)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Blu-Ray, July 2015) Most Disney animation films tend to go heavy on sentiment with a bit fo comic relief built-in, so it’s not a bad thing to discover that Hercules inverts the proportions and ends up being a comedy with bits of heartfelt sentiment built-in.  A half-satirical take on Greek mythology, Hercules multiplies the pop-culture allusions, irreverent jokes, deliberate anachronism and a conscious take on the hero’s journey.  The characters aren’t bad either, especially if you already have a good background understanding of Greek mythology.  It helps that we also get a strong heroine to play off Hercules himself: I had enough bits of pieces of the film years ago to figure out that Megara was one of my favourite female Disney characters until that point, and a good beginning-to-end look at the film only confirmed that quick assessment.  The jokes fly fast, and while the film can’t avoid a bit of mood whiplash when the dramatic stakes get heavier (kind of Mulan in reverse, which suffered from it comic relief), much of the film works reasonably well.  As an outright comedy, Hercules will never be considered in the top third of the Disney animated features, but it’s a very enjoyable one, and a welcome change of pace for the studio.

  • Australia (2008)

    Australia (2008)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On TV, July 2015) I probably could have written the following review without seeing Australia, so consistent is director Baz Luhrmann when he gets to work: Fantastic visual style, great performances by the lead actors, a bit of an underwhelming script and a sense of excess that overflows from every frame.  As it turns out, that’s an accurate assessment: This take on World-War-Two northern Australia is every bit as lush and excessive as we could expect it from the creator of Moulin Rouge!  Nicole Kidman is radiant as a widow taking on her deceased husband’s ranch, running against cattle barons trying to take it from her, but meeting a charming cattle driver played by the always-photogenic Hugh Jackman.  Thematically, Australia is more concerned about aboriginal exploitation, spending a lot of time fretting over a young boy’s problems as he’s taken away from the ranch.  Still, this is all an excuse for razzle-dazzle epic, perhaps none more over-the-top than the cliff-side stampede.  To its credit, Australia is about show and spectacle, and there’s definitely a place for that kind of stuff.  The landscape is impressive, and shot in consequence.  Less fortunately, this tendency toward excess can lead to unchecked lengths and meandering storytelling – and yet, for a movie so grandiosely titled, Australia doesn’t always feel as epic as it should be.  It’s not as innovative as it could have been either, as Luhrmann giving a lot of energy trying to re-create familiar sequences.  Still, it’s decently entertaining –often on the sole basis of its wide-screen ambition.  I suppose that it could have been worse –at least we get almost exactly what we expected from the film.

  • Tarzan (1999)

    Tarzan (1999)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (In French, On Blu-Ray, July 2015) For parents with Disney-addicted toddlers, there are a lot of familiar Disney-film elements in Tarzan: The jungle location, the animal characters, the dead parents, the musical numbers, the adaptation of a familiar tale… Fortunately, the way it all blends together is also classic Disney, which means that it works pretty well even when it’s following the rule book.  As an animated film, it does have the luxury of presenting much of Burroughs’ original story without compromises.  It certainly help that the animation is eye-popping, flawlessly integrating CGI environmental elements with traditional hand-drawn characters thanks to the vaunted “Deep Canvas” technology.  (In that, Tarzan shows its place in animation history – films completed two years earlier like Anastasia still had dodgy integration between the two animation methods, whereas Atlantis, two years later, would feature even more CGI elements well-integrated with the rest of the traditional animation.)  The three-dimensionality of some sequences is jaw-dropping (better than most live-action films), and the rest of the animation is as good as it ever gets.  Musically, the film is well-served by Phil Collins’ songs, with the “Two Worlds” anthem being instantly memorable.  (Interestingly enough, the French version also has Collins signing his own songs in French, although it’s obvious that he’s doing so phonetically, with a heavy accent peeking through.)  It all amounts to a pretty good adventure, albeit with a slightly weaker third act.  Still, it’s a pretty good example of late-era Disney 2D animation, aiming for the slightly older set of kids.

  • A Walk among the Tombstones (2014)

    A Walk among the Tombstones (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2015) As much as I enjoy seeing Liam Neeson taking on action roles in borderline-exploitation thrillers, the problem is that he’s usually far better than the movies surrounding him, and he’s such a good actor that an unintentional layer of irony surrounds his Liamsploitation streak.  So it is that his most enjoyable roles have been in over-the-top thrillers, from Non-Stop to Unknown to The A-Team to Taken.  With the unusual exception of The Grey (serious film ; fantastic role), he doesn’t do as well in straight-up crime thrillers like A Walk Among the Tombstones, a humorless and dark suspense film in which he plays a private investigator tracking down the murdered wife of a mobster and finding a pair of serial killers.  It’s a dirty grimy little tale, and while Neeson is irreproachable as an ex-alcoholic retired cop turned to private investigations, the film itself is far duller than it ought to be.  In other words; Neeson is awesome, the film is not fun.  Adapted from a late-sequence Scudder series novel by Lawrence Block, the film sometimes feels like an overblown TV series pilot, complete with the story of how the protagonist meets and befriends his sidekick.  While it would be churlish not to like the result as a run-of-the-mill suspense film, seeing Neeson headlining the film does bring up unfair expectations.

  • Meet Joe Black (1998)

    Meet Joe Black (1998)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, July 2015)  It’s rare to squarely point at length as a film’s main point of failure; usually, if the film is good then a few lulls won’t damage it; conversely, if a film is bad it will feel long even at 85 minutes.  But Meet Joe Black is something else: A film with pretty good moments, marred by interminable subplots and, thanks to director Marti Brest, a shooting style that never makes a point in five seconds if thirty will do.  A very young-looking Brad Pitt starts as Death incarnate, taking a holiday among humans to understand how we act like we do.  Opposite him, Anthony Hopkins plays a Hollywood rarity: a wealthy man with some innate decency, a genuinely good guy who nonetheless escape caricature.  Finally, Claire Forlani has never looked better than she does here as the daughter of the wealthy man, seduced by Death’s innocence.  (Which leads to a pretty funny scene in which our businessman comes to realize that Death, nominally there to get him, has ended up sleeping with his daughter.)  The film does have an understated poignancy, as death and his target negotiate the terms of our businessman’s death over a few days, timing it to ensure a small triumph.  And while the film does have a few unintentionally hilarious moments (That shot of Pitt’s character being hit by two cars plays beautifully as a looped gif), it’s generally earnest in its musings.  But, as stated previously, the film is fatally wounded by its pacing.  There simply isn’t enough plot to justify the three-hours (!) running length –in fact, the pacing issues are glaringly obvious on an individual scene level as there is no snappiness to the editing and sequences always run longer than you’d expect.  Lop off an hour (from the script, not in the editing room) and you’d have a far more potent film.  As it is, though, Meet Joe Black will repeatedly put anyone to sleep.

  • 21 Grams (2003)

    21 Grams (2003)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On DVD, July 2015) I’m really not a very good public for the kind of everything-is-related heavy-duty drama represented by 21 Grams.  It may be a powerhouse demonstration of actors’ skills (Sean Penn, Benitio del Toro and Charlize Theron all make good impressions in emotion-heavy roles) and its non-linear structure may increase the film’s interest like a puzzle box, but sometimes I don’t really have to work so hard to piece together a story that is so heavy on emotional manipulation, grief, loss, and high-stakes drama.  Director Alejandro González Iñárritu certainly knows how to shoot (and edit) a film but the script is the kind of one-wild-thing-after-another pile of contrivances that can either feel profound or meaningless.  The mystical element announced by the title is more metaphorical than interesting, whereas the jumbled chronological order of the film saves it from feeling too much like an overblown movie-of-the-week.  It’s the kind of weepy tear-jerker that seems to exist for award season and however successful it can be in its chosen genre, it’s just now what I’m looking for.  I do have to wonder, however, about the role of mood (mine) is dealing with such a film –I wasn’t receptive to 21 Grams, and even acknowledging its strengths can’t actually make me like it any more.

  • The Boxtrolls (2014)

    The Boxtrolls (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2015) I really would have liked to like The Boxtrolls more than I did.  At an age of fully computer-generated animation, there is something wonderfully tactile about Laika Studio’s blend of stop-motion animation and CGI augmentation.  Unfortunately, (and after Paranorman this seems to be a house style issue), Laika has one of the ugliest character design aesthetics in the business today, and the choices them make in building their characters is not helping the films they’re creating.  The Boxtrolls isn’t, per se, a bad or unenjoyable film, although the script is often too ordinary for its own good.  But for a film built around a visual experience, the grotesque character design takes it a step back.  Otherwise, it’s mildly enjoyable –as long as you’re not allergic to familiar plot elements, the film plays nicely from beginning to end, with inherent quirkiness, fast-paced action sequences and a fantastic attention to detail.  Emotionally, The Boxtrolls doesn’t pack the punch that previous Laika production Coraline or Paranorman managed –this is a more laid-back and unstructured result and the end result doesn’t redeem the design like Paranorman eventually did.  The technical wizardry is obvious (there’s a wonderful mid-credit moment where we clearly see the amount of work that goes into animating stop-motion films) but it feels a bit wasted here, in search of a more cohesive plan.  It’s still worth a look, but it could and should have been a bit better.

  • I Origins (2014)

    I Origins (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2015)  Aaaargh: So much potential, so close to being exceptional.  At a time when science-fiction films are far more about spectacle than actual exploration of scientific issues, it’s refreshing to find a film that, at least, tries to grapple with a world-changing premise in a relatively realistic way.  There are times where I Origin’s low-key approach is a delightful change of pace, and if the movie could have sustained that tone, then we’d be looking at a far more interesting result.  But a good chunk of the film is either too silly or too obviously manipulated by writer/director Mike Cahill to inspire full admiration.  I’ll let much of the initial setup pass, as a young impetuous scientist meets a striking young woman and then reconnects with her through an amazing chain of coincidences.  If the film wants to start foreshadowing destiny-related themes, that’s fine.  The first of the film’s problems comes at the end of that sequence, though, with a scene so gruesomely morbid as to create more incredulous laughter than sadness.  After that, the films plod quite a bit – the protagonist is so obviously arrogant that it’s a given for his atheistic convictions to be shaken as the film goes on.  And so I Origins tips its hand very early, making the rest of the film feel like an often-tedious exercise is going exactly where we think it’s going to go.  I recall more or less the same core idea developed far more engagingly in Science-Fiction short stories.  Here, there’s no sense of discovery as much as long series of confirmations of what we already suspect: it doesn’t help that the film more slowly enough for viewers to race past it.  I still like much of the film’s layered thematic symbolism, its willingness to occasionally nod toward real science and a refreshingly low-key approach.  But it’s not very well-served by a fairly dull premise that seems to be holding back on more interesting extrapolations.  Wikipedia says that I Origins serves as a prequel to another film, but frankly I’d be more interested in seeing I than meandering in its prequel.  

  • Let’s Be Cops (2014)

    Let’s Be Cops (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (On Cable TV, July 2015) I’m not necessarily opposed to silly immature comedies, but Let’s Be Cops is… not a good example of the form.  The big premise here is how two out-of-luck young men hit upon the idea of donning police uniforms and pretending to be cops for fun and then love and profit.  Surely I can’t be the only one unaccountably bothered by this?  There’s a really good reason why impersonating a police officer is a jail-worthy offense.  It certainly doesn’t help that the film’s two protagonists are borderline-unlikable, their immaturity being a problem long before they start wearing their uniform.  (Damon Wayans, Jr. is slightly more tolerable than Jake Johnson, but I’m not sure that’s a quirk of the role or the actor.)  Let’s Be Cops may have played better in a year or two, given current issues of police brutality being in the news.  But as of today, it feels crass, and its lack of wit only makes it worse as it doesn’t deserve its infringement of social norms.  (Arguably, it doesn’t have the guts to exploit its premise at full-tilt.)  The criminal subplot isn’t much, but Andy Garcia does make an impression in a short time.  With little wit, few laughs, more than a bit of irritation and unremarkable directing, Let’s Be Cops is almost instantly forgettable… and that’s not a bad thing.

  • The Boy Next Door (2015)

    The Boy Next Door (2015)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, July 2015)  I’m not sure what’s inadvertently funnier: Jennifer Lopez in a role where she gets romantically involved with a much younger man (this is one instance when knowing the tabloid persona of the actor is detrimental to the film) or seeing the filmmakers bend themselves in pretzels pretending that this is a so-called “erotic thriller” when this isn’t much more than a schlocky fatal-attraction horror film.  The Boy Next Door’s plot feels intensely familiar, as a middle-aged mom sleeps with a young man and find herself the object of his unwanted attention.  It doesn’t take long for family, friends and pets to be threatened by a psychotic caricature of an antagonist, all the way to a bloody confrontation.  Not a lot separates The Boy Next Door from countless cheap made-for-cable thrillers, other than having Lopez’s bankable name on the marquee.  It certainly skirts the so-bad-it’s-good category, as nearly every minor jolt is underscored in the bluntest way possible.  (There’s a classroom sequence that’s, ahem, special.)  Lopez looks good, but otherwise there isn’t much to play here –and having seen her in a similar role a dozen years ago in Enough is, well, enough.  The film does have an entertainment value at odds with its qualities, but that’s the kind of compliment that leaves you guilty the next morning.

  • Batoru rowaiaru [Battle Royale] (2000)

    Batoru rowaiaru [Battle Royale] (2000)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Netflix Streaming, July 2015) The problem with infamous movies is that by the time you see them, there’s a good chance that you’ll end up with a big “that’s it?”.  So it is that I have heard about Battle Royale for almost fifteen years, but seeing it now only highlights how the hype is better than the source.  The shocking premise is having high-schoolers compete in a deadly tournament until only one remains, and pretty much the point of the film is ultraviolence by/on young people.  Needless to say, this isn’t as shocking today now that The Hunger Games has entered the pop-culture lexicon.  It really doesn’t help that Battle Royale doesn’t make any sense.  I never thought I’d say nice things about The Hunger Games’ world-building (which is terrible) but it’s at least better than the non-existent one in here.  (ie; we’re supposed to believe that Battle Royale was created as a social response, but the rest of the world looks identical, and it’s practically impossible to believe that Battle Royale, sprung forth without antecedents, would actually solve anything.)  But of course the point here is exploitative violence, not social extrapolation.  And once you get over the premise (again; thank you Hunger Games) there isn’t much more left.  It’s tough to distinguish actors when they’re identically dressed, let alone care for them.  There’s an ex-teacher subplot that barely makes sense. (I suspect that it comes from earlier rougher iterations of the script, and should have been removed once the rationale was clearer.) The film lives for its graphic death sequences, but the connecting tissue couldn’t be less interesting.  In short, I’m feeling neither impressed nor pleased by the result, and as my repeated references to the latter derivative Hunger Games suggest, I do not hold Battle Royale in any sort of awe.  Perhaps, someday, someone will do something interesting with the concept.

  • While We’re Young (2014)

    While We’re Young (2014)

    ByChristian Sauvé Movie Review

    (Video on Demand, July 2015)  It’s good to see Ben Stiller play something closer to his age, in a movie where he doesn’t have to mug for frantic attention via cringe-worthy humiliation, or competing with special effects.  Having him play an early-forties man in While We’re Young is still shaving a decade from his age, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.  It helps that this is a film about aging, and the aches and pain and nagging doubts of encroaching middle-age.  Stiller has been featured in so many broad comedies than seeing him in something more adult, more dramatic and more subtle is almost a revelation.  Here he’s paired with Naomi Watts as a childless couple suddenly confronted by the rest of their lives as their friends settle down with kids and they befriend a young hipster couple (Amanda Seyfried and Adam Driver is good performances.)  While We’re Young starts as a low-key observational comedy and does a lot of mileage out of ordinary middle-age anxieties, it does veer off into something a bit stranger by the last third: By the time our protagonist races down the freeway in an attempt to uncover the world’s most trivial conspiracy, it’s hard to avoid thinking that this is not the film it started to be.  Still, the interplay between Stiller and Driver, as well as the gradual revelation of a character’s true nature, provides a lot of dramatic mileage to the film.  There’s are little bits about hipsterism, the ethics of documentary filmmaking, couple relations, making friends in your forties, drug-fueled revelations, ambition masquerading as something else.  The film is surprisingly absorbing, truthful, sadly a bit underwhelming in its conclusion, but a good time nonetheless.  I suspect that I liked it because it’s reaching me at a very particular time in my life… but that’s how it goes.