MovieZen Blog

Hellboy II Review

As a fan of Guillermo Del Toro and even Hellboy II, I was eagerly awaiting the second part of the series. Instead of the wry humour we got a diluted Lord of the Rings story which never is fully explained and villains who were not very evil at all.

The film starts when Hellboy II is but a wee demon and is told the story of the races of the Earth who were destroying each other. The one-armed elf king recruited a troll to keep everyone in line and built a powerful army for the king. The Elf King eventually made peace with man and they all decided to have a truce. That is, until hundreds of years later when the King's son grows tired of man destroying the earth and decides to find the army for his own purpose.

Hellboy's character is overshadowed by the overall mythology, which unlike the first film has little to do with him. Instead we are introduced to the "fairy tales gone wrong" bit familiar to Guillermo's Del Toro's work. The special effects are not impressive, the love story between all the characters is too fast and not very convincing and there is little comic relief in the film. Overall a thorough disappointment of a film.

Maryam DiMauro
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Magic Realism

Magic Realism in movies

Magic realism is perhaps one of the most beautiful tools used in films to get a point across. It is a touch of a fantastical element which gives a particular message to a film.

There are movies that are so bizarre they toy with your puny little brain, take it for a walk, and then put it in the blender to watch it explode. These acid trip movies are absurd and make little sense to anyone. The truth is, they aren't supposed to.  It is an abstract realism, a way which becomes real only through watching our perceptions of it.

In order to enjoy these absurd and bizarre demonstrations, we must suspend our belief that the natural order of things don't apply. We must believe that there is a door which leads to John Malkovich's brain as with Being John Malkovich  . We would realize that there is a way to erase the memories of our lover from our brains as in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It can also take acid trip proportions like the head twisting baby in Trainspotting .

The key here is not to go too far off the edge. A Clockwork Orange is brilliant because it combines real life happenings with absurdity. Everything else in the movie makes sense, so it can afford these fantastical elements.

We also empathize with the characters, we wish them well.  This is the difference between science fiction and fantasy movies. Behind all the absurdity there is a realism, which is further told by placing these fantastical elements.

When it goes really wrong is when things are absurd and idiotic, for stupidities sake. Take Jennifer Lopez in The Cell which was more about special effects and design than true notions in absurdity. Another example is Vanilla Sky and it's strange turn of events at the film's climax.

The important thing to remember about magic realism is not to overuse it or to become too literal, it is of the upmost importance to maintain the integrity of the film and have the magical elements become part of the film and not a distraction.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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Hollywood's view of reality

 

Hollywood : like the real world only without the rules and stuff            

So, the predictability of Hollywood and the convenient loopholes are what we choose to not know when we enter a cinema, Hollywood follows a couple different rules which makes them able to jump over any sticky situation.

Airports are just like magic carpets
The guy always goes through security without a problem and always catches the girl. We have all seen the movie a bazillion times, guy gets mad at girl/sad at girl/gives up girl. Guy then realizes (30 minutes conveniently before the plane leaves) that guy cannot live without said girl. Guy rushes through very heavy traffic which is heavy but still finds miraculous ways to get to airport, like hijacking random cars/bikes/motorcycles or having an amazing ability to run which would rival anyone running a marathon. Guy then breezes through security, because nowadays people just believe in giving random guy a chance. If not, guy has enough money to pay for a ridiculously overpaid ticket, and still goes to wrong gate and goes to girl's or goes into plane, just because he can. Oh, and girl always accepts him no matter what and decides that yes, she will put her life on hold for him.
For examples see films  "Love Actually," "Notting Hill," "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days"....and so on and so on.


Parents are clueless
No matter what havoc kids do, parents will not find out. They shall somehow find the exact replicas of broken furniture, the neighbors will not complain to parents about whorehouses/frat parties/car accidents/bongs and kids will a little phew look to eachother. Parents, in fact, will not know anything at all, because kids are much smarter. They will definitely not take another day off. Wink Wink.
For example, see Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Cars  are like planes, only on streets
In running traffic, in extreme car chases our main character is a regular pro on the road, revving through random traffic, driving in reverse, and going through dark alleys. The police, unless run by corrupt people will not seek our heroes out for this, but rather commend them for a job well done even though they have wrecked half the city in catching one random guy.
See Bourne Identity, Mission Impossible, Mr. and Mrs. Smith...

America is the center of the earth
Whenever there is a disaster happening say meteor/alien/tornado there is no need to call any country but the United States. The United States saves the world and all it's citizens, because it is all knowing and beautiful and never makes really stupid mistakes.
Watch the references in Independence Day, Mission to Mars, and any other random disaster/alien/tornado movies.

Heroes figures things out in five minutes
The heroes of the films are strangely misunderstood, and while it takes other morons who have studied Nuclear Physics and won awards up to the end of the movie to figure out ...our hero knows it instantly (who has only had a high school degree/dropped out of college/ is mulling options) and it is up to him, and only him, to save the day from evil ( fill in blank here)
See Transformers and Independence Day.

Meteors Funerals are automatic
Heroes do not prepare and pay for wakes, funerals and what not. They instantly happen because we don't have time to pay attention to those details.

The girl is always the prettiest
No one else in said movie is prettier than the main girl, even when she is with glasses and awkward looking, girl will always be wittier, thinner and prettier. Because that is how it works.

The little guy always wins
Upon facing incredible injustice, the little guy gets revenge in the end and talks back to evil corporation without consequence.

Poor people don't pay bills
Despite having spent a good thirty minutes talking about not having money, hero can leave job and not pay bills and no creditors are on their butts to pay their bill. Electricity is always turned on and they always have the most high tech computers and clothes.

Loose ends are tied
Everyone in the movie gets a finale, the little guy gets random hot girl who shows up in the last five seconds, the couple are happy, people get money, evil guy ends up miserable, cut to freeze frame of happiness. Unless there is sequel and people find a way to somehow have a random loose end that needs to be given a resolution for say, oh three more movies before the characters are officially dead.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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Not so "Big"

After watching the film Sex and the City I left the film more than a tad perplexed....how could Carrie just forgive Big?  And how could Big just miraculously "change?"

The real Bigs in the world don't change that easily, if at all. If they hesitate for ten years, they are more than likely going to hesitate for another ten, until of course they find the girl they WON'T hesitate with.  I am not sure if I like the message this is going for...so women have to put up with a ll of men's crap because they MIGHT change?

A leopard never changes their spots. The real Mr.Big didn't come back. It seems too neatly tied, too convenient.  Of course, Sex and the City is always funny and entertaining but this last episode, like a slew of unnecessary amount of sequels, leaves a bad taste in your mouth...or perhaps it's just Mr. Big.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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Kung Fu Panda

Kung Fu Panda is a great animated film, albeit slightly predictable.  If the film seems familiar, bear in mind these are the same people behind Shrek.

Kung Fu Panda is about a panda who dreams big, but is in fact lazy, fat and has an otherworldly love of food. The panda is Jack Black up to the weird shorts he wears. His father, a stork (I don't know how THAT works out, nor is it ever explained) is a village renowned noodle shop owner who dreams that his son will someday take over his business. It seems in this animal world all the creatures blissfully exist ignoring the food chain and whether or not tigers and leopards would live in the same environment but I digress...  Po has other ideas however as he dreams, literally, of being part of the elite five who are trained on the upper mountain of the secrets of kung fu.

In his rampant desire to meet them, he goes to a festival where they will pick the chosen one, by a turtle master. Of course, on a supposed fluke they end up picking Po. Go figure. His master must teach him the most basic and deepest secrets of kung fu before the fearsome enemy arrives who used to be ( of course) a scorned apprentice who seeks after a long sought after key to the kingdom: the Dragon Scroll. It turns out however, that the dragon scroll is no secret after all but merely a reminder that greatness lies in believing you are great.

While the film is entertaining it's hardly a classic compared to Shrek or Toy Story. The problem lies in that there is little time to flesh out some of the secondary characters. We never find out whether Master Tigress is ever to make amends with the fact that her master never really loved her as much as her nemesis (and the fact that she's female doesn't help either). While there is limited screen time for his father and the other secondary characters, we are unable to feel so empathetic towards the panda's plight.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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Summer Comedies

It looks like the summer is going to belong to comedies for once. Hopefully they will be good enough to forget all the lackluster attempts from yesteryear. All of them seem fairly original and will probably cater to differing tastes. Here are some films which are slated to come out this year

First up is Forgetting Sarah Marshall a film with a lot of "Freaks and Geeks" alums. It is yet to be seen if they can repeat the magic with the sleeper hit "Knocked Up." It strikes me as a regular run of the mill comedy: boy-gets-heart-broken-finds-new-girl-in-paradise type but I can only go by the trailer. It apparently has not done very well, I guess the lack of bankable stars and predictable plot line was their downfall.

Critically acclaimed and well received is the comedy Baby Mama starring Tina Fey, a critical take on woman's biological clock ticking. Mike Myers returns to cinema with the The Love Guru which has been hyped as the next "Austin Powers."  Will Smith stars as an unlikely hero (Will smith rarely misses and it is highly unlikely that this film will do badly). There is another SNL alum who graces summer comedies with "You Don't Mess with the Zohan."  Rainn Wilson stars in his first starring role as a mullet wearing rocker in The Rocker ( Aug.1) as an aging metalhead who left a band right before it became famous and now he wants a second chance.  And of course Ben Stiller is presenting a comedy about making a movie about Vietnam in Tropic Thunder ( Aug.15).

Don't miss out on a summer full of comedy!

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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The power and disenchantment of artist bio pics

"Documentaries" is a very relative and biased term for artists bio pics. In reality they are glossed over and made more glamorous  than their realistic counterparts.  Of course when creating a good bio pic it is even harder than transferring books into film.  A whole life needs to be summarized in a two hour time frame.

It is always arguable that artists live very complex and tormented lives. It is as if they feel things differently than Regular Joe and get a good dose of bad karma and crap thrown at them by the universe to balance their other worldy talent.  Painters as far back as Van Gogh and musicians like Mozart certainly had fascinating lives.

However, because of their great success people feel compelled to portray them in a positive light. Therein lies the mistake. These great artists at times could be narcissistic, misunderstood misogynistic and destructive.  This characterization might be too hard to swallow for regular moviegoers, yet fictionalizing them might not appease hardcore fans.

Focusing on tormented love affairs is a good way to attract audiences. Movies like Walk the Line and Frida depict two artists journey to try and find love through large obstacles like drugs, fidelity and health problems.

Films such as Pollock do not seem to do well as it is quite hard to like a character who seems to treat his wife like a transferable commodity. And artists who do incredibly deplorable things can never seem to find a  good hold on audiences such as Great Balls of Fire where he had a love affair with his 13 year old cousin.

Fictionalized films which perhaps remain truthful to the essence of the artists such as Amadeus create a heightened sense of drama and comedy viewing a fool given the gift of a genius.

Because an artist's life is so incredibly complex and unidimensional, that is, there are numerous points of view of who the artist was at times films have concentrated on seeing the artist's life in small snippets instead of attempting to tell the whole story. We can see glimpses of the complexity of Andy Warhol in his relationship with Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl.

Yet the biggest way to attract audiences is that these films have to  have poignant acting in order for us to truly care about them. Jamie Foxx made Ray into a struggling yet deeply beautiful soul which produced great music.

Whatever the method, artist bio pics are a genre which will never be bereft of material as these artists created amazing art in music, painting and dance yet led destructive lives and were very tormented souls.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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Films that appeal to the senses

Film is obviously a visual medium. We see the story through our eyes which then appeals to the other parts of us. Charlie had the right idea trying for us to get to "taste" and "smell" through the television.

Obviously we can never convey the sensual experience that comes with taste or smell. It is a unknowable essence that can only be appealing if we know it firsthand. Sure, we can describe the taste of dark chocolate but can we really know until we try it ourselves?

Therein lies the dilemma....how to appeal to the senses in film? Well, image overload...and hope it makes people associate it with the sensual delights that it offers. Here are a couple examples of some films who were successful in conveying this (and for some reason foreign films are just more successful).

Chocolat
Ah Johnny Depp and chocolate where can you go wrong? (It was so right that he repeated it again with Willy Wonka...) The chocolate provokes an emotional reaction, and each person has a "chocolate type."
In a small French village, a mysterious woman comes with her daughter and makes "blasphemous" concoctions of chocolate, provoking women's liberation, sexual revolution and a general joy of life that was missing in this small town. The chocolate scenes themselves are spectacular. Interesting types such as roses and chocolate makes anyone's mouth water. It definitely gives us the idea of sensuality and chocolate, as well as a touch of magic realism sprinkled in there.

Like Water for Chocolate
A beautiful mexican movie which shows us that if you cook with your emotions you will influence those around you. Whether it is the main character's obsessive love for her lover Pedro, or the anger over him marrying another, this movie is amazing to give a fiery influence to those around them.

Mistress of Spices
Starring Aishwarya Rai, this movie is about a woman who can manipulate spices to help people with their problems. She cannot however have a life for herself and struggles with this. The spices are another character in of themselves and play a huge role in the plot.

The Perfumer
A man is born, under extreme filth and squalor to have an extremely heightened sense of smell. A psychopath, he is obsessed with obtaining "the perfect smell". Perhaps more difficult to convey than taste, this movie does a good job to give the idea of his supersonic sense of smell.

These are only some examples of some repetitive themes , which can only be enjoyed by seeing the visual representation of these senses and transporting us there with it.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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Parodies are the sewers of comedy

Parody movies are the most horrendous example of turning great films into pure and utter garbage. Why mess with a good thing to just produce mindless dribble and inane pop culture jokes ? Scary Movie  is the culprit, which took an amazing movie like Scream, which was an amazing parody and single handedly chewed it up and flushed it down the sewer.

Yes, these movies can murder even the best and most beloved comedies. They are so bent on putting as many scenes as they can that they don't even care if it has any congruency or makes sense in plot development.

It really makes me wonder who really wrote these things. So they decide that horror movies are good spoofs why not do an Epic Movie, a Date movie heck, any genre that can be milked for this anorexic cash cow. Even the titles aren't original. What's really wrong with this picture? How on earth do these things get made?  And how do they get perfectly reputable actors like Charlie Sheen and Alyson Hannigan to become a part of this? It's truly mind boggling.

However, as long as there is processed cheese perhaps there shall be parodies. And just like that cheese it is never the same as the real thing and always leaves a sour aftertaste.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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Where is Harry Potter headed in the next films?

You know the drill, anytime you hear the melodious bell music you know the film. It has become a staple to the inner geek. Harry Potter made it cool to like magic.

Now that the Deathly Hallows became the last book of the series what's left? Three movies to go if Hollywood has their way.  But considering how jaded Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and company look, the magic might have been let out of the bottle a bit.

Harry Potter has grown up. Let's face it. Most of the kids who grew up reading him are now young adults, so it is natural that Harry will be headed in a far more darker direction. It's safe to say that the film now in production Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will have a more complex storyline.

That said, one never knows because they do leave out a lot in the films. (How they gyped us of the chance to see Lily Potter and James as young teens torturing young "Snivellus" is beyond me, and sort of put them in a corner for the next two films as this particular scene is very important for the series.)

Personally, I think they should begin to concentrate less on the magic and more on the intricate characters. The Hallows themselves will be amazing, and watching Voldemort's backstory will be pretty challenging.

The sixth book in many ways lends itself a bit more to cinema than the previous incarnations. I believe the best overall was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as it really captured human emotion. Lots of the films get too caught up in the school, the magic and the overall world. They forget that at this point these things are entirely normal.

Maryam DiMauro
Filmsi

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