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Movies

The Great Canadian Digital Film Festival

StandeeI was reminded of why I make a point of regularly checking the listings at the Cineplex Odeon Devonshire Mall when some old favorite films randomly appeared up on their schedule this past week. It turned out the cinema was taking part in a one week only “Great Digital Film Festival” – spotlighting classic films centered on fantasy, science fiction and adventure all across Canada. It seems this event has become a tradition for Cineplex filmgoers in recent years, and the impressively quirky lineup shows that they are programming for film lovers and not just to make some money off ticket sales.

For me, the choice of Blade Runner and Dick Tracy stood out the most, and conveniently, they were both showing on the same day. This was an audacious trek over the border, given that it happened to be last Sunday, the day the metro Detroit area received one of its largest snowfalls in a 24 hour period ever. But I forged ahead. When I did reach the Devonshire Mall, the cinema was not surprisingly sparsely populated.

Blade Runner AdBlade Runner was up first, and I’d actually previously seen the film on the big screen at the Palm Theatre back in 2008. But (no offense to the charming and unique Palm) the Devonshire Mall has a much more substantial film viewing experience, so I knew this time would be a fuller sensory experience. And that was just the case, with a crystal – clear print, Vangelis’ unique soundtrack oozing over the speakers, and the moody cinematography gaining more depth in its onscreen presentation where it should be.

It was a sort of “oh, aha!” moment to remember that the film takes place in 2019, which, of course, isn’t that far away at this point in time. I’d forgotten that a few of the lines of dialogue concerning Rutger Hauer, Daryl Hannah and co.’s replicant characters reference 2016 and 2017, just around the corner. Cineplex realized this coincidence as well and humorously played on it with their in-house advertising, as seen at right.

A long-awaited sequel to the film is reportedly close to shooting, but I have to wonder if they’ll delay the release until 2019 itself? It’s great to see the original film continuing to hold up so well and become even more prescient about our increasingly digital – obsessed world.

Dick Tracy was the evening show, and this was a major cinematic update for me, as I clearly recall seeing that film during its original run almost 25 years ago at the Star Theatre in St. Johnsbury, VT, even though I was just shy of my sixth birthday at the time – maybe it was one of the first “event movies” I ever saw?

Looking at the film now was, needless to say, a different experience. There was Warren Beatty in the lead, entering the autumn years of his career and playing a role that could/should have been played by someone younger – I believe Beatty was in his early or mid 50’s at the time of filming. There was Madonna, coming off her stratospheric debut decade and beginning the first of many image transformations over her long career. There was Al Pacino, overacting as usual and made up to be heftier onscreen. There was a boat load of other character actors, perhaps having more fun than the main cast in various levels of makeup and elaborate guises.

I’m certain I didn’t notice the technical mastery of the film when I looked at it through younger eyes. Today’s comic book movies really ought to have looked more closely at Beatty and co.’s depiction of a fabled world, using a very specific color scheme and deliberate lighting and editing choices, leading to Academy Awards for best makeup and art direction. As well, acclaimed composer Stephen Sondheim lent his distinctive composition talents to the movie’s original songs, and that led to an Academy Award for the main theme, “Sooner or Later“.

I don’t think I would enjoy Dick Tracy if I saw it for the first time today – the cartoonish violence overwhelms the main story, and is surprising given the PG rating, the characterizations are way over the top, Beatty is perhaps too old for the main role, and so on. But it sure was a big event movie in the summer of 1990 – I remember acquiring several collectable cards and likely a few other “must have” items related to the movie – so I’ll always recall its impact on that particular summer, like the best type of time capsule.

Thanks are due to Cineplex Odeon for programming these classics. I’ll look forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves next year.

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Movies, Theatre

From the cosmos to the mind

This past weekend’s filmgoing spanned two countries (and more onscreen) and went from the wide galaxy to the inner mind.

I turned my first visit to Downtown Detroit’s RenCen 4 cinema into a Yelp review, visible in standard form here but I will re-post it below in italics.

I picked the wrong movie (INTERSTELLAR) for my first visit here, but think I will be returning from time to time for the convenience and mostly pleasant experience.

The cinema is nestled in to the checkerboard of the Ren Cen, on the second level of the main atrium area. Signs direct you where you need to go from any of the main entrances, although you need to look closely, as the cinema is highlighted in a different font color than the rest of the signage. A weird circular atrium area is immediately outside the cinema itself, but it does have a small seating area and actual display of the movie posters currently showing; the latter detail seems to be an increasingly lost art of moviegoing.

I was very surprised by the inexpensive $8.50 admission, especially on a Friday night. The box office and concession employees seemed happy and comfortable working as a team. Concessions are also on the lower end of average prices; I paid $5 for a medium popcorn that had smaller kernels than your average offering, and was thankfully not overflowing. The theatre also offers Little Caesar’s pizza slices and cocktail choices, which I may take advantage of on a future visit.

Parking in the nearby Beaulieu Garage is just $2 with validation – be sure to ask for this sweet deal when you buy your ticket! And be sure you’ve parked in the right garage, where the Atwater Garage is confusingly adjacent to the Beaulieu’s entrance. If you’re getting to the cinema via the People Mover, the Ren Cen of course has its own stop.

Finally, the screening rooms themselves. The one I visited, second from the left, was shockingly small by modern standards, with the now-anachronistic “bowling alley” style seating layout and a narrow wide screen. Although this arrangement is not well suited, IMO, for blockbuster-style visually expansive movies such as INTERSTELLAR, I can see it working okay in other settings. Just be sure to sit closer to the front of the room, as long as you are comfortable with that.

The theatre seems selective with its programming, not always grabbing what’s expected to be the #1 movie of the weekend. I’m not sure if this was a trend this fall or has lasted for a longer period of time.

Once I got settled in to the smaller than current standards viewing arrangement, I felt it was an ultimately comfortable experience, and continued to appreciate the ease and opportunity of coming to see a film downtown, rather than driving to Royal Oak, Southfield, Dearborn or some other metro area location. It is this ease, and the pleasant, welcoming demeanor of the staff, that will probably draw me back to the RenCen for another film before too long.

Getting back to the film, INTERSTELLAR, I was impressed (again) by Christopher Nolan’s bold and enormous vision, but felt that this film ultimately overreached and stayed at a cool distance from the viewer… or at least this viewer.

Matthew McConaughey continues his recent acclaimed streak in the lead performance, showing more humanity than ever before (although I did not catch DALLAS BUYER’S CLUB) in the role of Cooper, a veteran NASA astronaut who is led into a mission to save humanity from a dusty, uncertain future. A respected supporting cast unevenly filled out the other central roles. Anne Hathaway seemed more ill at ease than confident in the role of a co – pilot scientist, who is connected to Michael Caine back on Earth as her character’s father and the principal behind the scenes architect of the mission. Caine offered a familiar and comfortable presence, but no unique shadings, to a character he has portrayed before, and I longed for a sense of menace or uncertainty that he’s displayed in some of his other Nolan projects. Jessica Chastain, in really the third lead role, continues to maintain an impressive command and intensity of the screen, but was subject to wide and sometimes incomprehensible swings in character.

Among the secondary supporting cast, John Lithgow makes a notable appearance as a relative of McConaughey’s, while Ellen Burstyn has an extended cameo as another primary character, and a Surprise Hollywood Veteran (an unbilled and well – known actor) appears in a few crucial scenes. Actor Wes Bentley, who seems to be enjoying a modest career revival, also appears as an underdeveloped character.

Technically the film is a masterwork. Nolan and company reach their biggest heights on a series of uncharted planets and universes, including a tidal wave toting water planet, an icy world that is not hospitable to many forms of life, and several variations on what the Earth’s landscape might look like at some point in the future.

While the story makes every effort to tell a humane story, and succeeds at points, I couldn’t shake a broader feeling of distance and observation, thus preventing my full identification with the story. I do have to wonder if the tiny confines of the RenCen cinema affected my perception of the film, and if my opinion would be different having seen it on an IMAX or stadium seating style large format screen.

Yesterday brought an encore visit across the river for one of the final screenings featured in this year’s Windsor Film Festival. I would have liked to have seen more of the films that this festival offered, but am satisfied with having seen at least two.

The Sea has film prints in such short supply that WIFF had to show one with German subtitles. Made in 2013 with Irish backing – and on location along the coast of that country – the film features a notable ensemble of British actors, including veterans Ciaran Hinds, Charlotte Rampling, and Sinead Cusack, younger veterans Natascha McElhone, Rufus Sewell, Bonnie Wright (moving on from Harry Potter fame), and a trio of even younger newcomers.

This film also shows a fine sense of technical craftsmanship, especially for a directorial debut. Shifts in time are keenly delineated with strong differences in filming style, fades in and out of memory, and occasional uses of creative segues between the time periods. An often plaintive musical score adds depth by being selective as to when it fades in and out, and chooses to feature violin solos that also serve to accentuate different thematic strands of the narrative.

The three elder veteran actors offer expectedly strong portrayals, although the two women fare better than Hinds. Rampling, who is always a welcome and intense presence onscreen, and I had the pleasure of seeing onstage in a 2004 production (referenced within this past blog post) brings focus and attention to the role of an innkeeper who knows more than she lets on. However, the character is not a kindly Miss Marple type, and Rampling effectively balances a sense of sharp awareness with a feeling of the character’s past and wider presence. Cusack has a smaller part, but knows just how to bring a brittle awareness to her scenes, which are all opposite Hinds. As for him, he has a difficult role, and only partially succeeds in evoking a sympathetic portrayal. Apparently the source novel adds more shadings and rationale to his character.

Natascha McElhone seems not to have aged at all since her string of mid – 1990’s art house and Hollywood releases, such as Surviving Picasso, Ronin, Mrs. Dalloway and The Truman Show, among others. She portrays a character that is seen by others rather than given her own voice, but succeeds in the portrayal. Sewell has less success as an eccentric womanizer – his role could have been simplified without problems for the narrative. Wright, unrecognizably grown up from her Harry Potter role as Ginny Weasley, also embodies a “seen” character, but is allowed a few moments of strength.

I didn’t feel that this film offered a completely satisfying narrative, but I certainly enjoyed the chance to see the veteran performers shine in new material.

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Movies

International Indies

As the summer movie season continued to rev up its engines this past weekend, I was pleased to go the other direction and take in two independent films, on opposite sides of the border.

On Friday I happened to notice that Trust Me had appeared at the Quality 16. I had not heard much about this film, but a look at the cast list (written and directed by Clark Gregg, with featured roles for Amanda Peet, Allison Janney, Felicity Huffman, Sam Rockwell, and several other notable actors) showed that it might be a project of note.

Gregg wrote and directed the film, in addition to playing the lead role, and so I wondered how cathartic or personal the experience had been for him. Some scenes, most notably involving Huffman’s agent/casting supervisor character, had a strong industry bite to them, while others, mostly focused on Gregg’s own likable but awkward main character, went on for too long or did not seem well thought out.

The plot focused on Gregg’s character, a former child star turned acting coach for young actors, and his troubles fitting in to the fast – moving, changeable Hollywood system, as seen through his interactions with two primary younger clients. After meeting the second one (Saxon Sherbino) by chance, he quickly gets drawn into her and her father’s world as Hollywood outsiders, with him serving as the guide for the out-of-towners coming in from Oklahoma. Along the way, he is glad to get to know his neighbor (Peet) more intimately.

But in a sudden shift for the plot and for the film as a whole, Gregg discovers that the girl and father may not be what they seem, and spends the remainder of the movie (this is all crammed in to the last half – hour) trying to get to “the truth” and putting bis career on the line, which ultimately creates challenging and surprising results for everyone involved.

I feel like this movie had good intentions and rose above the label of “vanity project” thanks to plot and commitment of the esteemed actors. But what if the late in the film plot twist had not occurred and the story went in a different, yet still unpredictable direction? I wonder if that would have made things easier to digest or reinforced the allegorical parody style of the script. As it stood in finished form, the ending put a somewhat sour taste in my mouth, though I wasn’t completely down on the whole film.

peet and gregg

The next day, while on a visit back over to Windsor, Ontario, I noticed that the Devonshire Mall Cineplex Odeon was again offering a not-advertised-as-such Sneak Preview of a film not yet enjoying a wide US release. In this case, The Grand Seduction had been on my radar as a film spotlighting the majestic Canadian Maritime Provinces (it was filmed in Newfoundland) and offering a possibly rare starring role for character actor Brendan Gleeson, with Taylor Kitsch in a co-leading role, and a slew of Canadian actors in supporting roles, including Gordon Pinsent, who’d shown a more dramatic side in Away from Her several years ago. I didn’t realize that Pinsent is over 80 years old; he doesn’t seem it.

This film made laugh out loud and gaze with awe at the cinematic landscapes more than any other film I have seen in recent memory, but, the plot should have been simplified. Gleeson is the self-appointed mayor of a small Newfoundland coastal town falling on hard times based on lack of employment and job opportunities in general. Someone in the town, I forget who, decides that the town has an opportunity to serve as a site of a new oil and gas (or something like that) production factory. But first they have to prove they are ready to host the new factory, which is where Kitsch comes in as the young hotshot doctor that the town goes to extreme lengths to convince that he may want to stay there more than one month.

Sounds like a crowd pleaser, right? It was, but there was just TOO MUCH PLOT. Kitsch’s opening scene should have been cut, and his second scene, which does a better job of setting up his character, put in his place. Gleeson’s wife moves to the mainland for another job at the start of the film, which sets the plot in motion, but then (minor spoiler) she decides to return home at the end with what felt like the flick of a hand. Other townspeople are introduced, most notably a crafty and younger postmistress who may or may not have eyes for Kitsch, but the movie eventually becomes so overstuffed, it’s impossible to get a sense of their various character arcs. And towards the end of the film, Kitsch makes a not-quite-believable quick decision that contributes to the end of the story, but felt like a cop-out to me.

In spite of that, the movie is filmed completely on location, with the lush, green cliffs of coastal Atlantic Canada on full display, and the picturesque village coming across as a character of its own. The film’s music score makes use of charming, and regionally appropriate, fiddle music at multiple instances in the story.

So, if the viewer is game for going along with the ride, and feeling like they are part of a small coastal town where everyone knows your name, but doesn’t want to think too much about the plot (or just suspend their disbelief) this one is a great choice. Interestingly, it was originally a French – Quebec film; I can’t recall seeing an example of a Canadian company remaking a film from elsewhere in the country, although I am sure it has happened.


 grand seduction

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