By Christopher Stipp
April 30, 2004
YOU IT IS SLOW, ATTACH THAT ABOVE
Translators are so much fun.
I wanted a really good Japanese translation to “stick it up you’re a$$†in this week’s theme of Why I’ve Been Thinking About The Trailer For APPLESEED For The Past Seven Days and what I think of those who believe otherwise about the viability of animation in today’s thrill and chill landscape.
After seeing the demise of Fox’s traditional animation studio here in Arizona and the way contemporary animation is barely creeping by as films like FINDING NEMO and SHREK are swishing by on the autobahn of box office grosses I was wondering if I just had just grown up in a different time and possibly that the time was nigh to embrace computer generated tall tales as the standard. Like Dianne Wiest finally giving in to Edward Herrmann’s vampiric spell, I was almost ready to believe the hype. Then I saw APPLESEED and remembered why I always enjoyed the visual splatter of those who could do it better than American studios ever could. I saved plenty of vitriol below for the review so feel free to enjoy the heat that burns off the screen.
In other trailer news, a new updated one for THE VILLAGE appeared this week and, thank god, it seems to ratchet up the tension better than the first one did. I have been hearing, and reading, too many people who may, or may not, have read the final shooting script only to say the trademark twist ending that M. Night is known for is beyond elementary understanding, that is, it is about as lame as a dying mule. I’ve been a huge supporter and champion of M. Night’s work and I reserve the right to say the latest trailer is great, his last movie SIGNS was a thrilling addition to his canon and there is no evidence, other than speculation, to say it sucks just yet. If it does, I promise to be the first one to fess up and admit it.
Enjoy the offerings this week as I bumped a trailer off the list just so I could spotlight THE CORPORATION. Also, if you do nothing else this week and are a fan of animation in the slightest, do me a favor and watch the APPLESEED trailer. Let me know if you think I’m just being brainwashed and awed by guns, robots, chicks flying off rooftops in the middle of the night and finely detailed explosions.
LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (2004)
Director: Brad Silberling
Cast: Jim Carrey, Timothy Spall, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Meryl Streep, Jude Law (voice of Lemony Snicket)
Release: December 17, 2004
Synopsis: Jim Carrey stars as Count Olaf, a wily villain with clever disguises and outrageous schemes, who is bent on swindling the Baudelaire orphans out of their family fortune. Featuring the unique blend of intelligence, irony and irreverence that readers of all ages have discovered in Lemony Snicket’s best-selling books.
View Trailer:
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Progonosis: Positive.
Jim Carrey never ceases to amaze.
I was in absolute shock when I was at an early screening of THE MAJESTIC a while back as I thought I had laid eyes on one of the very worst films that Carrey or Frank Darabont had ever put into the ecosystem. Of course ACE VENTURA 2 comes close but this was made with the intention of being a good film, right? I thought it was me or I was just having a bad day at the movies. It was nice to know I wasn’t wrong, in the long run, but I wasn’t very happy, either, when BRUCE ALMIGHTY made its way to the populace. I realize how many millions it made, but you can’t really put a price tag on what made that comedy seem like the most plainest, dull, puerile and lifeless ninety minutes but I would estimate it at about $8.50 and a box of Goobers. With ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, however, everything was again right with the universe as Jim put on a performance I not only am still in wonderment of, but a role, if there ever was one, he really deserved the kind of acclaim usually reserved for Oscar contenders. Jim was really “on†in a way that other actors rarely demonstrate and with this new trailer for LEMONY SNICKET he looks to be doing it again.
Unlike a Mike Myers in a full body cat suit or even the dreadful Grinch persona that Jim donned for that other Seuss movie, Jim’s mannerisms and cadence is enveloping in this trailer. It opens with three young children who are orphaned after a fire kills their parents and are brought to the estate of Count Olaf to live out their youthful days. What you can feel as soon as the trailer opens is the style in which this film is being shot. I am reminded of a Tim Burton, circa SLEEPY HOLLOW, with a little more light and color added for kicks, but there is a sensation of everything being dipped in a very inviting yet somber hue. Watching Carrey literally move in this thing is a wonder. His uttering of the phrase “left behind” reminds me of a Carrey who is channeling some of the more original, and funny, aspects of Ace Ventura; there’s even a moment when he does a little impromptu T-Rex strutting I found to be reminiscent of the kind of performer I never thought to would see again.
The sets look dazzling in their detail, the cinematography, in some places, is a wonder to behold, and the costuming is spot-on. The kids who play Carrey’s wards don’t look Fanning-cute or too perfect for their roles. It’s nice they went with some unknowns as it lets Carrey just run with things. One of the other things you notice, however, was that there was no Meryl Streep, no Billy Connolly and no Luis Guzman. Since this is just really only a television spot for a film that doesn’t land until December of this year I am sure the other actors will get their due. So far, Carrey is getting his and this looks like a deservedly well-won role.
Director: Vincent Rocca
Cast: Nicole Rayburn, Drew Wicks, Nikki Stanzione, Ryan Parks
Release: Coming Soon
Synopsis: Kisses And Caroms is your typical romantic comedy. Boy meets Girl, Boy has Sex with Girl and her friend, Boy and Girl live happily ever after. Or do they?With the help of a shot gun wielding psycho therapist, a sexy got it together new age girl, a horny housewife, a sex obsessed best friend, his loving ex-girlfriend and the antics of Breaktime’s zany offbeat customers (including a naked white guy and a little person), will Zack finally figure out what he wants in life?
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Progonosis: Positive-Negative.
There were some very funny moments in this trailer. I am not sure if all of it worked for me but I will take it from the top.
The trailer begins with a normal green banner that says that the trailer has been approved for, wait, no it does not. It says that it has NOT been approved for all audiences and I already know what general direction we’re headed after I see this.
The real meat of this clip opens up with a man in bed with two women. It’s our protagonist and the voiceover, a rather plain and ineffective one at that, essentially lets us know that this guy’s life will not be going in a pleasant direction for that day. Great. I like that. In a bed with two chicks and things are going to go south on the man? I’m in. However, there are some things that I have to go before I would be motivated enough to see this movie.
1. Get rid of that music that plays in the background. I don’t know what Gary Numan fire sale the track was picked up at, but I would definitely ask for a refund. Annoying, repetitive, and distracting.
2. If it was a Commodore 64 that created the colorful palates that let us see each character and get an idea for what their role is in the movie, get an upgrade to at least a 386 to craft something a little more contemporary. Unless, however, you are being ironic or purposefully low-budget with things and to that I say stick with it because it works very well in that regard.
3. Man ass. There is a rather long, sustained shot here and I am not sure if my watching, and watching, and watching it had anything to do with how I felt about the trailer as a whole. You know what, keep the man ass in as there is definitely a contingent of individuals who appreciate that sort of thing.
With those foibles neatly wrapped and taken care of this is what works very well and deserves some attention:
1. The movie’s main character, Zack, seems like a genuinely enjoyable and likable actor. I can’t seem to place where I’ve seen him, I know I have or at least feel I have, but he has a familiarity that would play well in a comedy and this role works. Best part of the trailer is to watch him work the comedic angle. There is a moment when he is describing what a black Jesus is doing in a depiction of all black rendering of the Last Supper and it’s great; his timing and delivery make it work.
2. The direction. It’s hard to make it out between some of the more sloppily stitched together scenes but it is there. Rocca has some good comedic eye in this trailer for what needs to be in a shot. Direction is key, and so is the writing, but I am more confident in a competent director than I am in a subjective script where comedy is at the center.
3. The ladies. Since this seems to be a screwball comedy of a HOT DOG nature it is only fitting that you have women that are so easy on the eyes you have at least one who works in porn. If I was thirteen and saw this trailer, I would want to see it for the hoochie action alone especially when one of them, exasperated, makes the comment to, “caress my cl$% with sandpaper.” Classless and vulgar; nice touch. Also, the lingerie-clad woman who was prone on the pool table getting a good rodgering before some mofo breaks up the party with a shotgun? A little sex and violence makes a great combo. It definitely hits the target demographic on the mark.
There are some definite things that can be done to make this a better trailer but there are already good enough elements here that at least save it from being a total disaster. If it ditches the lo-fi sensibility that seems to be pervading the trailer this could do nothing more than help this movie’s chances of success.
Director: Shinji Aramaki
Cast: Ai Kobayashi, Jûrôta Kosugi, Yuki Matsuoka
Release: Japan, April 17th
Synopsis: Officer Deunan Knute and her cyborg partner Briaros Hecatonchires must prevent terrorists from gaining control of the Olympus city computer and causing massive chaos. As they fight to stop the terrorists and preserve their society, the question of who is actually in the right–their society, or the “terrorists”–continues to arise.
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Progonosis: Positive.
For all those in the wings decrying the death of traditional animation, you need to have a ball gag shoved between your zippered teeth long enough for you to see how the Japanese are deaf to every word of it.
Again, I almost believed the hype. I almost did. Especially with the high class, fiscal failures of recent movies like TREASURE PLANET, and the weak, feeble features like HOME ON THE RANGE, one could make the case that traditional, animated storytelling is dead. However, stalwarts in the animation genre, men and women with an unyielding commitment to craftsmanship, like Hayao Miyazaki are showing how it’s done, and done well through films like SPIRITED AWAY and winning awards for doing it with class.
I, personally, like my animation subtle, sharp and thoughtful rather than the flash/bang visual shotgun blast to the eyes fanaticism of a TRIGUN or MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM. While both thought-provoking and non-stop action fulfill their duties well in this regard there is something to be said how well Japanese animation is bridging both sides of that visual medium that many people are decrying as buried somewhere six feet under a fresh plot somewhere in Orlando, Florida.
APPLESEED seems like a harmonious balance of both the sublime and all-out war with it erring, wonderfully, on the destruction side of things. The oversized eyes of most animated Japanese women is something I would take contention with, from a sociological point of view, but this trailer is too much fun to even dwell on that. From the word go, well, that’s what I’m thinking is being said as I don’t speak Japanese, the clip starts off with some generic contemporary rock n’ roll (oddly enough, all the music is English speaking) but it’s really the fluidity of the movie’s protagonist, Deunan Knute, as she moves between gunfire and runs with a weight that feels oddly natural. Most times in animation, domestically speaking, the characters don’t seem to adhere to basic laws of physics. Their style of movement, if you watch ALADDIN, SINBAD, et al., is almost ethereal and light. Here, there’s some real punch with every step. Watch the first ten seconds and you’ll see what I mean as Deunan comes out of a slo-mo flip over as she goes over a baddie. Not perfect, but it is better than what’s usually offered in the hybrid genre of computer assisted animation blended with traditional methods. The result just has to be seen.
The direction, as well, is something that I almost, well, do, take umbrage with when I see it appear on most animated movies’ credits. Most times it seems if the director could simply say, “Ok. What I want you to do here is just keep everyone in the frame and keep doing that for the next ninety minutes. Unless, of course, someone doesn’t belong then you can just leave them out of the shot.†With this trailer, there are great perspectives and the director is trying hard to really capture an action movie here without giving any acknowledgement to the fact it is an animated feature. This is a movie with people and some of the vantage points that are chosen (watch the part where Knute takes a flying leap off a building).
As all things are subjective, so too I realize this is a trailer that very well could be something people just don’t like or just say “meh†with disinterest after looking at it. For those in the know and like animation I would be more apt to believe a “meh†coming from them than I would from someone simply trolling, looking for a sequel to BROTHER BEAR. While Shinji Aramaki is only directing the movie, and it was a team of animators who really were the workhorses bringing this all to life it is amazing how well traditional and computer aided comes together here for a wondrous synergy of eye popping proportions.
Director: Mario Van Peebles
Cast: Mario Van Peebles, Joy Bryant, T.K. Carter, Terry Crews, Ossie Davis, David Alan Grier, Nia Long, Paul Rodriguez, Saul Rubinek, Vincent Schiavelli, Adam West, John Singleton
Release: May 28, 2004 (limited)
Synopsis: Mario Van Peebles, Melvin Van Peebles’ son, directs an honest and revealing portrait of his pioneering father. Following in his dad’s footsteps, and documenting his exceptional journey towards political defiance through cinema, Mario directs and stars as Melvin in BAADASSSSS!, based on the book Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song written by his father right after making SWEETBACK. The book went onto become a best seller, has been translated into several languages and is now a standard in university film classes.
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Progonosis: Positive.
This trailer has a funky sheen dripping from it in a way that I haven’t seen since, well, ever. As noted from Blaxploitation.com, a great resource on more of the background of a film like this, it was Melvin Van Peebles, Mario’s dad, who is credited for setting off the chain of films that would be known for producing flicks that had, “the most innovative music, if not plot” and, “were the black alternative to…mainstream offerings. Now known as “blaxploitation†films, they satisfied the demand from inner-city audiences for movies made by and for blacks.” Obviously, these kinds of movies had long term repercussions in the way films were made throughout the seventies as they were aimed at black moviegoers.
Since many, like myself, weren’t around for this renaissance of filmmaking and movie going around that time, I had to deal with having the leftovers, the scraps, if you will, of these films. However, those two were responsible for producing some of the best talent out there today: NEW JACK CITY and I’M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA. NEW JACK stands out as one I go back to regularly, not only for its content, but because it is in my top ten trailers of all time. It was a film that had Mario, in one of his best roles ever, Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Judd Nelson (who knew he would be so good?), Chris Rock, and it was notable as it was actually helped by an addictive soundtrack, one of the markings of any great blaxpoitation film. So, how does this all pertain to the trailer? This film, BAADASSSSS!, is a homage not only to Mario’s pioneer father, but he is playing his father as he retraces his dad’s steps in starting a revolution in moviemaking and how all the elements that worked over ten years ago to make a crime film worked over thirty years ago that ignited some great artists.
The first thing you notice about the trailer (and the site if you visit it) is the music, a little funk, and it assists the movie, tonally, in such a way that it puts to shame many other films that look to whore the soundtrack of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them bands on their own soundtrack. A couple of contentions I would take as the trailer rolls on is that while I am a big supporter of those afflicted with ADD and deserve to have their views disseminated in the public eye it does not mean, however, I have to be subjected to it in my trailers. As soon as I get comfortable with a little exposition about what this story is about I am yanked and then pulled into different visual directions. Yes, I understand what’s happening because I read a synopsis but think of the people who are coming to this fresh off the farm. Take some pills. Please. The other issue I have are the words that are interposed on the screen between what the filmmakers feel are moments of necessitude, which I can understand with all the quick cutting going on, but it’s the same thing here as what is going on in the trailer for THE LAST SHOT; great trailer, with awful lettering. You would think some people would be inspired by the company that did the opening work for PANIC ROOM, but it’s a small fault as the rest of the trailer really shines.
Watching Mario Van Peebles work I am amazed I haven’t seen more of this guy around. Sure, he’s done a lot of low visibility work as of late, read here: television and small movie roles, but the man still is a marvel to watch. He’s charismatic, compelling and there’s a genuine believability that comes across as he does his thing throughout this trailer. From the pieces that show the nuts and bolts of getting his film, Melvin Van Peebles film, personally financed, made and what kind of resistance he encounters in the process. There’s a dash of humor, some sensuality, and a whole lot of heart. With other trailers I would almost call what Mario does in this trailer, in technical verbiage, as being a camera hog but he has different faces and moods that change throughout the couple of minutes this trailer runs. With great a visual style and, again, shifting musical tempos the trailer never lags and it’s a full sprint from start to finish.
With the addition of Nia Long, Paul Rodriguez, David Alan Grier, John Singleton, and even, huh?, Adam West, this movie is packed. Since this film is under the Sony Pictures Classics imprint it is unlikely that this film will be playing everywhere which is a shame as it looks completely accessible. From what informational pieces I picked up in the trailer I can understand why a lot of theater owners probably won’t be showing it; somewhere in my mind a Public Enemy song still rings with clarity.
Director: Jennifer Abbott, Mark Achbar
Cast: Jane Akre, Ray Anderson, Maude Barlow, Chris Barrett, Noam Chomsky, Peter Drucker, Samuel Epstein, Milton Freidman, Naomi Klein, Luke McCabe, Mikela J. Mikael, Robert Monks, Michael Moore, Vandana Shiva, Steve Wilson
Release: Limted Release starting June 4th.
Synopsis: One hundred and fifty years ago, the corporation was a relatively insignificant entity. Today, it is a vivid, dramatic and pervasive presence in all our lives. Like the Church, the Monarchy and the Communist Party in other times and places, the corporation is today’s dominant institution. But history humbles dominant institutions. All have been crushed, belittled or absorbed into some new order. The corporation is unlikely to be the first to defy history. In this complex and highly entertaining documentary, Mark Achbar, co-director of the influential and inventive MANUFACTURING CONSENT: NOAM CHOMSKY AND THE MEDIA, teams up with co-director Jennifer Abbott and writer Joel Bakan to examine the far-reaching repercussions of the corporation’s increasing preeminence. Based on Bakan’s book The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power, the film is a timely, critical inquiry that invites CEOs, whistle-blowers, brokers, gurus, spies, players, pawns and pundits on a graphic and engaging quest to reveal the 4corporation’s inner workings, curious history, controversial impacts and possible futures. Featuring illuminating interviews with Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Howard Zinn and many others, THE CORPORATION charts the spectacular rise of an institution aimed at achieving specific economic goals as it also recounts victories against this apparently invincible force.
View Trailer:
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Prognosis: Positive.
Yes, it’s like BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. With that out of our system, this trailer previews what I feel will be a very evocative, if not far left-wing, look at modern corporations.
“What is a corporation?” One thing that informs my own viewing of this trailer is my own digestion of the works “Gain” by Richard Powers, “Culture Jam” by Kalle Lash, and even the documentary “Merchants of Cool” that aired on PBS’ Frontline. If taken as a whole these works piece together a very broad picture of how the modern corporation exists, how it gives us a bulk of our popular culture and how it consumes hours of our lives in our pursuit of happiness. Again, some of it is far-leftie claptrap but it is riveting nonetheless. This documentary seems to synthesize all these things, aided in part by my main man sam Noam Chomsky, no stranger to a little controversy, Michael Moore, like you didn’t see that one coming, and other cultural, political and economic figureheads.
The trailer is well paced and definitely has me excited to see the whole thing. It starts off with some old file footage of some old factories from a black and white era and it interposes these images with contemporary visages of today’s economic powerhouses whilst social commentators start chipping away at what would otherwise be a nice, gingerly stroll down history lane on A&E.
“There are companies that make our lives better; the problem comes in the profit motivation.”
From the set-up that this isn’t a documentary playing with kid gloves, we get right into the thick of the allegations of unscrupulous commercial tactics used by the likes of Nike and Liz Claiborne. The trailer shows, and exploits the visage of, the third world countries and people where sweatshop conditions, and wages, is the way business is done on a daily basis; a global basis. From there it is the demanding consumer that is then spotlighted as one of the reasons why the cycle of cheap goods equates to the need for cheap labor.
“You can manipulate consumers. Is it ethical? I don’t know, but our rule is to move products.”
The environment, our greed, society, future of what’s to come for us and the global economy takes up the last quarter of the trailer but it’s all very provocative and packed with some great sound bites to gnash on while pondering the movies essential ethos: What is the modern day corporation, how does it affect my life and am I happy to be a good consumer of it all?
The trailer raises good questions, is a perfect ad for exactly the kind of movie it is going to be, and doesn’t shy away from using some good money shots to get the job done. Now, that being said, I am sure everyone could see the flick as the kind of “hippy†extremist rhetoric indicative of those hooligans that disturbed the lovely G7 meetings and crashed the window of your favorite Starbucks. Without question you would be right; however, what should be noted here is that keeping with the conglomerated stranglehold that media monoliths have, and that most news outlets are simply directed by shareholder concerns (read here: News Corp, Time Warner, et al.), this is the kind of long, hard look at corporations that would be at least worth a listen if nothing else.
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