2009 Film/Music Log

2009 films that I am too lazy to fully review.

Sunshine Cleaning–What could go wrong in a film about a pair of down on their luck crime scene cleaners? A lot, apparently. The film opens with a solid (if not realistic) premise and a cast that’s just as strong (love Arkin and Blunt’s stoner American accent is hypnotic) but both are brought down by a screenplay that falters in the second act where the interesting crime scene clean upstuff gets buried (get it) under way too much extraneous character BS (oh, god no, not childhood flashbacks! and the dumbest scene of the year: hey, lets go stand under a train so we can feel ALIVE–the fuck?). Then it down right sinks in the third act when that character BS I didn’t like to begin with gets NO payoff (the dude with the one arm? the cop with the two arms? the lesbian subplot? the chick who hates her mom? and a final, solve-all happy ending that reeks of reshoots). C
Taken–Look, I have no idea how Taken, a kick ass B-actioneer that was released in Europe a few years ago, has become one of the biggest films of the year (it’s heading towards 200 million!). But I’m glad it is. As some blogger noted, this film has no right being as good as it is. Yup, there’s something intrinsically pleasing about seeing Liam Neeson take out the (euro)trash in an attempt to save his daughter–he’s the new Harrison “GIVE ME BACK MY DAUGHTER” Ford in that respect. The awesome cathartic zing of Taken stems not so much from Neeson’s ex CIA bad-assness but from his character’s slow and steady and methodical approach as he inches closer and closer towards the whereabouts of his daughter. Bones are broken, lives are taken… this no nonsense/bare-bones character Neeson takes on reminds me of Lee Marvin in Point Blank and George C Scott in Hardcore, men who are driven by a mechanical soulless rage, and you can’t find better company than that. And how great is it that Neeson finally has a solo hit film on his hands; one where he’s not a smooth talking goddamn mentor (Star Wars: Episode I, Batman Begins, Narnia, Kingdom of Heaven). B+
Coraline–I’m going to admit right here that I feel Neil Gaimen is overrated. Sorry, he gets way too much credit for peddling goth-light versions of fairy tales. Coraline, you could say, also fits into that whole Hot-Topic-Nightmare-Before-Christmas-OMG hype but the film overcomes a lot by being so simple and pure and non-gimmicky. Just a splendid little archetypal film about a raven haired girl entering into a dream world and overcoming her fears (hum, sounds like Spirited Away). Much adventure is had… but it’s pretty thin stuff. The film gets bumped up a grade point for the fantastic IMAX presentation. B-
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans–No Kate Beckinsale… more Bill Nighy… all Michael Sheen. A win, win, win situation for semi-Underworld fans like me. Does this make this prequel any better than the first or half-way decent second? No, not by much but it sure makes it a lot more fun. I mean, vampire/werewolf sex is a hoot, and a howl! The story is set in the past and, thus, dosen’t bother us with how COOL it (thinks it) is. That’s a wise move because it was never cool to begin with. B-