The Spirit

Where our previous Frank Miller escapade was dark, the Spirit is silly. The Spirit tells the story of a former cop (Gabriel Macht) who protects the people of Central City beating up bad guys, like Central City's psychotic criminal mastermind The Octopus (Samuel L. Jackson,) and taking a pounding in the process with no side effects. He's a ladies man who cannot be killed and he's on the beat tracking an old flame Sand Saref (Eva Mendes) and her idiot husband (Eric Balfour.) The Octopus and his bored mad-scientist associate, Silken Floss (Scarlett Johanssen,) are after a priceless artifact. Seems Sand Saref is after it, too. And The Spirit just wants to end The Octopus' underground activities permanently.

The central figure of a noir plot may be a disgraced cop, in this case one who's undead. He's involved in an investigation into the underground. A boss is involved and there a clutch of femme fatales, girls who have their own agendas and who are seductive and destructive in the same package. And there is a love interest who stands miles away from the femmes. She is pure, virtuous, and our hero loves her with all his heart: it's always been her, but she waits in the wings, because he can't resist the others. And usually the case destroys our hero. But is this the case with The Spirit? This one is so like the typical noir plot, but unlike as well. The similarities include the disgraced cop/hero, the underground boss, and the femme fatales, as well the style, dark and starkly lit as is Frank Miller's brilliant style. But it's also slightly more into the vein of a superhero story, as our hero is undead and so is his nemesis and they fight in the realm of the supernatural and superhuman. Its a western, in heart, with the shootouts and scuffles. But it works well this marriage of genres.

The only problem I see is the long dialogue, mostly delivered by Samuel L. Jackson's The Octopus. The action turns stale, both internal, emotional action and also physical movement. Mr. Jackson is one of my boys, I've been a really big fan since the pairing between himself and Mr. Travolta in Pulp Fiction with his misquoting of the prophet Ezekiel. However, here, he harms the overall feel of the story with over-the-top delivery, which, to be fair, is what The Octopus is. So, what we have here is a Catch-22. The Octopus as a character is perfectly cast in Mr. Jackson, but his performance puts me off....yeesh!!

Sin City is elegant; The Spirit is simple. Over-the-top melodramatically simple, yes. The film is also beautifully designed, similar to Rodrigues' opera. But this is jazz, smooth jazz with an edge that sounds a bit wrong, but it does the job. The story is tight, but the villain dissolves the oil in the gears causing the machine to creak a bit. But there's little damage done and it works as a great piece of eye candy that really tastes good.

***

In: Jamie King

Out: Louis Lombardi

Coming Soon: Suicide Kings

Sin City

A saxophone cries, and first-person narrative begins, with the story of a perceptive hit-man set in black and white landscape with a bold insinuation of color, a red dress complimented by exact-color lipstick. The cheeky narrative that follows is romantic, dry, dark and wickedly poetic. Four stories intersect: a hit-man's quarry, a cop's last ride, a good-willed scrapper's revenge for his prostitute lover's murder and a mob-war on the streets of Old-Town Sin City begun by an exiled, razor-wielding murderer with a red Cadillac. With a massive cast, academy award-winning and from tony-nominated musicals and three directors with a production design that left my jaw eating carpet.

The photography lives in black and white, with the violent splash of color, light and animation. The audio mix is nostalgic of the old film noir of the 1930's and 1940's smacking of Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard. The framing feels exactly as it's meant to, from a comic book. The narrative is pure noir with femme fatales and crooked cops, sensual and brooding. And yet, it's clearly modern with its wire-stunts, seamless prosthetic make-up, green-screen effects and CGI. Each cast member added depth to each story. It is this, most of all that keeps me coming back to this film. All are heavy hitters in today's cinema and I love a good-sized cast. The directors as well are brilliant and two of them are two of my favorites: Rodriguez and Tarantino. Rodriguez is a master storyteller and each of his films I've played in my DVD Player has kept me captive in my seat on the possessed side of my sectional sofa. Where Rodriguez breathes and guest director Tarantino interrupts is clear, but smooth, with his acid trip-style and ADD-fueled emotional ride. It's actually one of my favorite scenes, between Dwight and Rafferty on the way to The Pits. But it is Frank Miller's storyboard guide in the graphic novel that speaks loudest and is interpreted most shockingly by cinematographer Rodriguez.

The photography is why my chin has a rug-burn, the color highlights; interesting where the color is found: in Dwight's shoes, the customer's eyes and lips, Goldie's hair, the mole, Becky's, eyes, every cut and blood spatter. The atypical use of animation, white on black as well as the black and white live-action keeps the memory of this film a clear one. I will continue to crave the excellence this film wears.

***

Entrance Actor: Josh Hartnett

Exit Actor: Jamie King

Coming Soon: The Spirit

Lucky Number Slevin

We begin in a parking garage with an assassination/robbery as a man is shot and falls into his driver-side window. Another place, another time and another man visits someone else seated behind a desk and swiftly whacks everyone in the room with a pair of glasses and a smooth fastball. The tale is one of revenge, 20-years-in-the-making, beginning with a sure-thing score on a horse race and ending in an example made in a routine mafia housecleaning. It's what Mr Goodkat (Bruce Willis) explains as the inciting incident to a "Kansas City Shuffle." This, he continues, is when someone points right, and you look right, and then proceeds to escape to the left. The "Shuffle" involves the story of Slevin Kelevra (Josh Hartnett) who comes to visit his friend Nick Fisher in the city. And in a classic case of mistaken identity, Slevin is picked up by Slo and Elvis, two enforcers for the Boss. Nick is in red to the Boss and the Rabbi, two kingpins, for quite a bit of money. So the Boss (Morgan Freeman) dragoons Slevin to kill the Rabbi's son in vendetta for the death of the Boss' son, who was assassinated recently. The Rabbi (Ben Kingsley,) however, just wants his money, in 48 hours, or Slevin is dead. And to top it off, Detective Brikowski (Stanley Tucci) doesn't know who he is. And then there's Mr. Goodkat, who's been hired to kill someone, and he will, no matter what happens. To complicate things Nick's sexy neighbor Lindsey (Lucy Liu) falls for Slevin with the feelings being mutual. Lines are crossed, confessions are made, people die and the strings behind it become clear and the puppet-master is unmasked.

This film's story, presentation and denouement seems as it would fit as comfortably on stage as it does on screen. With its static sets, chess-move plot, wit and dramatic tension, it's completely captivating. I found myself disinclined to turn away from the story, even to make dinner; a captive audience, despite the fact I can walk around my apartment freely (something I do not advocate you try while seeing anything at any theater.) The plot is perfectly tight, I can't see anything that could be cut or transposed. As well, the down-spiral from dark comedy to thrilling drama makes this film fresh and memorable with its quirky dialogue and dextrous character creations. The acting is top notch with quality performers Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Stanley Tucci and Bruce Willis; I enjoyed the photography, editing and music, as well; and I fell in love with Josh Hartnett the first time I saw this one. Granted the film's score is nothing you'd notice if it passed through the local classic-music station, but it fits perfectly and adds the right tension, romance and wit in enhancing the story.

My favorite scene is the prelude to the denouement with the denouement, when everything is capped off and the puppet-master and his motives are finally revealed. The operatic performance by Hartnett, Kingsley, Tucci, and Freeman was stunning. Stunning, as well, was the editing and the brilliant choice to hand a major part of the narration to an extra and leave the majority of the performances silent. Orson Wells said that a person should be able to turn off the sound of a film and still be able to tell what's happening. This is true during these scenes, it is edited and acted in such a way that, when I turned the sound off to watch the scene again, it plays out just the same: a sign of a great director. And this is a beautiful and elegant scene!! The prelude, between Kingsley and Freeman, is a powerful one and well done, being performed back-to-back and tied up in chairs. Bravo, gentlemen!!

****

Entrance Actor: Stanley Tucci

Exit Actor: Josh Hartnett

Coming Soon: Sin City

Julie and Julia

Julie and Julia is the story of two women in their quest to find themselves through marriage and cooking. Julie Powell (Amy Adams) is a low-level government worker helping the victims of the September 11th attacks. Julia Child (Meryl Streep) is the wife of a low-level consulate officer who is assigned to the paris embassy. Their husbands Eric (Chris Messina) and Paul (Stanley Tucci) each are supportive of whatever their wives want to do. Julie decides, after a friend writes an article of the "lost generation," to which I also belong, and includes her as failing her dreams of being a writer, to write a blog about something. Her husband suggests that, since she enjoys cooking, she write about cooking. Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking is her muse. Julia, on the other hand, is a childless and bored housewife. Her husband, during a dinner discussion, suggests she do something, and she concludes that she loves French Cooking. So she joins Le Cordon Bleu Institute and becomes a master chef. She meets other like-minded women and agrees to write a cookbook for American housewives. Their stories are linked with failures, triumphs, writing and cooking.

I am struck by the parallelism involved in the film. By the colors each of them wore in their costumes, by the editing and by the fusion of the two stories. Based on two separate books, the film is woven together brilliantly by the director and writers. Incredibly, they are both true stories. With the similarities there are differences as well. The two women are very different from each other. The modernity of the world is shown beautifully through Ms Adams' performance as well as the vintage performance by Ms. Streep. I was struck particularly by Stanley Tucci's performance in Paul’s romance, love and support.

The directing was superb and graceful. I was struck by the sub-plot with Julia's sterility. As she and Paul are walking down the streets of Paris trying to find something for her to do, they pass a couple with their baby buggy and Meryl's Julia stiffens ever so slightly and Stanley's Paul feels it and the supporting love is on. Bravo Nora Ephron!! As well, the editing parallels were brilliant. There's three distinct transitions that I love: Juile's failed stew, to Julia packing up the exact same pot to leave Paris, Juila laying in bed and pulling the blankets over her head with Juile popping out of hers after Eric leaves her, and finally the push-edit into the Smithsonian Kitchen to Julia's home kitchen. Beautiful!!

And this film is just that!!

***

Exit Actor: Stanley Tucci

Coming Up: Lucky # Slevin

Discussion Guidelines

I picked this up from Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Tribune's TV Blog and I like it for discussion guidelines:

Observe the Lurkers Rule: The environment here should be so accepting, so calm and so non-screechy that most timid lurker should feel it's safe to comment. You can express any opinion you like, as long as it's on topic and as long as you express yourself without vitriol (sulfuric acid, people!!) and without attacking others

Anyways, see you tomorrow with our first response!!

Jitters...and perhaps stage fright

First post goes up tomorrow and, I've got to admit, I'm a little nervous. I have what may be described as the feeling you get before you give an oral report for a class. Also, I'm affected a bit from writers block, although it doesn't seem like it now (because I'm writing this.) I've also got some jitters, because I'm about to critique the collection and I'm truly concerned with the perception of readers regarding some of the titles I own. However, know this: There are reasons why I have them, and I'm not afraid of their content; I'm open to seeing any genre, with one exception.

Max has nearly burned his way through the first tank of gas, on my dime, and has begun to take up Sebastian's place as the bird loo for our place in the parking lot in my apartment complex, so frequent trips to the car wash may be in order. I'm still lacking the proper tools to remove the California plates in order to put the Texas ones in their place, but I intend to visit a Lowes or Home Depot in the next few days. I'm fully enjoying the fully armed and operational air conditioning unit in my new transport...and it arrived in the perfect time. I've been so blessed during this entire process.

So, I was thinking...if this is to become a forum in the future, perhaps I should lay down some ground rules for such discussions. And I do welcome them. There is a great set somewhere out there, but I need to find them, so stand-by and I'll post them soon.

Coming Up: Julie and Julia

Smoking Gun...

The Eagle has Landed...and, so the gun has fired!!

Max arrived on Sunday with my Daddy, Larry!! Sebastian and I said farewell, after six years together, at Carmax in Irving on Monday in the AM and I walked away with $1200.00. We got Max inspected and titled in Texas, received the new plates, and transferred insurance. And, just like that, Max became my new transport in this metroplex.

And so, Max's arrival hearalds the beginning of this project.

Responses will begin posting next week on Wednesday. Our first selection will be Julie and Julia, the film that inspired this project.

Selections to follow will be picked based on a "six-degrees-of-Kevin Bacon" method. For anyone who does not understand the rules to that game, they are thus: The game requires a group of players to try to connect any film actor in history to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible. And so, selection will be similar, but instead of searching for Kevin Bacon, we'll be finding the other films in my collection that include similar actors, in order to keep boredom at bay. If the exiting actor from a film freezes the process, then alphabetical selection will act as a failsafe to continue the process. When selection enters a series, Harry Potter, for instance, the series will begin at the beginning and continue serially until the series is complete. Special thanks to Sarah Ramos for the idea!!

And we're off!!