The Little Mermaid 25 Years On – My First Theater Experience

November 17th, 1989. I have no idea if I actually went to see The Little Mermaid on the Friday it came out. I doubt it. But the film turns 25 years old today. What I do know was that this was the first movie I remember seeing in theaters. I remember it was cold outside, so it could’ve been that first weekend, however the film was only out from late November until late February, so it could’ve been during any of that time. The movie actually was never the number one grossing film of any weekend, only reaching as high as number three. I would’ve been just 4 years old, but I remember seeing it rather vividly. I remember sitting in the back right of the theater with my mom. I remember how Ursula absolutely scared the shit out of me. I had obviously watched lots of children’s films at home in the age of VHS and I remember having already seen The Wizard of Oz, where The Wicked Witch of the West and the flying monkeys scared the shit out of me too, but at this age I had no idea how much I would come to love film.

I think The Little Mermaid in a lot of ways was the perfect movie for my first moviegoing experience. You cannot go wrong with Disney. The Little Mermaid launched The Disney Renaissance which defined many of our childhoods. Before 1989 Disney had not put out many good animated films since the early 1970s and then boom. After 1989 we all got a string of greatness so amazing that we ended up pretty spoiled on animation. Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Pocahontas. After that I was sort of out of my Disney phase, but it was a great time. I remember playing an incredibly frustrating Aladdin video game on the Sega Genesis even. Disney continued making amazing films and then when they acquired Pixar cemented their animation pedigree in the 3D computer realm as well. Every year it never fails. This year they came out with Big Hero 6. I haven’t had the chance to see that yet, but by all accounts it’s something special again.

I’m not going to go into what makes The Little Mermaid great. Everyone knows it’s a great movie. When people have children and they are ready to watch a movie with a proper story this would be an excellent choice to show them first. This isn’t a movie just for girls. It’s 2014, 25 years after, it wasn’t a movie just for girls then and it certainly isn’t now. There is something for everyone in this. It’s not so much that this movie is great, it’s that it was my first. That will always hold a unique place in my memory because of it. I’ll be sure to watch this again soon to rekindle my memories even more than writing this little retrospective. In some ways it’s hard to believe that the movie is 25 years old and in other ways it seems timeless, like the Disney animation films from the early 1940’s. I think what we can take away from this most is to watch movies like we are kids again. Appreciate them for what they are and just sit back and enjoy. I did that recently with Interstellar and it was one of the best moviegoing experiences I’ve had and I plan to do it again in one month with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Just marvel at the images and the sounds and the story. Just be a kid and smile.

The Missing on Starz – Review

The Missing is another quality program offered up by Starz after they premiered Outlander earlier this year. Virtually every cable and premium channel now gives us original dramatic programming. This is a co-production with the BBC, and as usual British shows offer really great alternatives to some of the more tired network offerings in the US. Some of the early shows from Starz were a little suspect so I steered clear of them, but as of late I keep coming back to see what’s new on that channel. And no, I don’t pay for Starz, I happily use my dad’s password. Thanks dad!  The Missing stars James Nesbitt as the father of a child who is taken while on a family holiday in France. You might know Nesbitt from his terrific work in Paul Greengrass’s Bloody Sunday, Steven Moffat’s Jekyll, Five Minutes of Heaven with Liam Neeson, Danny Boyle’s Millions, and as Bofur in The Hobbit films. The Northern Irish actor is terrific as usual and I’m always appreciative when he’s given more of a starring role. Nesbitt’s performance here is very nuanced and made all the more impressive due to the series narrative structure. The series splits time between 2006 when the child was taken and the present day when 8 years later he returns to France with a new clue about his son’s kidnapping. This structure allows Nesbitt to show the absolute fear but yet glimmers of hope in 2006 and the utter despair in 2014. Much has changed in the intervening 8 years for him. We want to know how the circumstances in 2014 came to be from what occurred back in 2006. We are given clues in the past only for them to be dashed in the present. This structure, while tried before elsewhere to so-so results, shines here with a great performance by Nesbitt.

The search for the child is frustrated with typical bureaucratic red tape and a police force that communicates poorly with the family. All of this frustration is bellied by the language barrier as most of the investigation is done by French characters and the family is English. This barrier is played up on screen as subtitles are only given when the only characters on screen are native speakers. If a member of the family is present no subtitles are used so we can feel how they do being a fish out of water, not being able to understand those who are supposed to be helping them. The french countryside is also used to great effect with it often being rainy and dreary. The scenery is beautiful yet haunting. I think this is what I wanted Fox’s mini-series Gracepoint to end up being. That show has ultimately disappointed. The Missing succeeds by having a narrower focus. Where Gracepoint meanders with a dozen plus central characters, the focus in The Missing is narrowed by only following the family and investigators.

Frances O’Connor plays a rather unsympathetic mother, at least in 2014, but we still feel her pain in 2006. There are the beginnings of the trope of the mother blaming the father for the disappearance, but we’re not quite there yet, and there is hope it is going to be dealt with in another way. In 2014 she is in London, at least for the time being, and her physical separation aids in her much different type of character in each time period. You should check her out in great films like A.I. and The Hunter and another good British TV series, Mr. Selfridge.  The chief investigator is played by Turkish-French actor Tcheky Karyo. American audiences know him as ‘the French Guy’ in films like Bad Boys, The Patriot, and The Core. Some of those are rather poor but his effort here is very good.

With other fall series heading towards their winter hiatuses (I checked the plural of hiatus is not hiati, just FYI) you should give this limited series, with only 8 episodes in its run, a try. The first two episodes are available on Starz right now and the third episode is available overseas if you’re clamoring for it as much as I am. Hope you enjoy this one as much as I have.

A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night Trailer

This one looks like it could be a very interesting genre picture. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is a vampire movie. And before you go make an ‘ugh’ noise about how tired the Vampire genre is let’s talk about some recent successes. For every Twilight and overstayed welcome of True Blood is a Let the Right One In, Thirst, or The Only Lovers Left Alive. There are a lot of interesting and weird stories to be told using vampires. And I hope this film continues in the tradition.

It’s been bouncing around the festival circuit since early this year at Sundance but has not made it around here. It begins a limited release soon and we can only hope that if it generates enough buzz it could end up on local arthouse screens. It’s in the Persian language and takes place in an abandoned town in Iran but was filmed in California. So I don’t really know if you could call this an Iranian film. I’d have to imagine the regime there would ban this in a heartbeat. But the director is a newcomer with her first feature length film and a female as well, and we always like being inclusive and getting movies from as many different perspectives as possible. I’ll be checking this one out if I get the chance.

Director Ana Lily Amirpour pictured above

Daniel Bruhl enters Captain America’s Civil War

Well this is some very good news. Aside from the intricately shared universe that Marvel has created the next best thing about their films are the great talent they get to star in it. And it’s just been announced that Daniel Bruhl will be starring as a villain, perhaps a secondary villain, in the third Captain America film, Captain America: Civil War. He’s been terrific in Good Bye Lenin!, The Bourne Ultimatum, Inglorious Basterds, Rush, The Fifth Estate and A Most Wanted Man. In my opinion this is just as big a get for the film as the reveal that Iron Man and Captain America will be adversaries in the movie. The Civil War is one of the only comics I’ve actually read all the way through. It’s a great story about surveillance and government registration of superheroes.

Captain America: Civil War hits screens on May 6, 2016 to begin Marvel’s Phase Three of their superhero movies. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was the best standalone Marvel film since Iron Man in 2008 and I have high hopes for this concluding film to Captain America’s trilogy.  It is also rumored that Bruhl’s character could be a villain in Doctor Strange which will be coming later in 2016. Marvel’s firing on all cylinders right now and they’ve basically planned out the next few years of my blockbuster film going life. Thanks Marvel!

The Hobbit Final Credits Song Early Listen

The Last Goodbye

https://soundcloud.com/watertowermusic/thelastgoodbye/s-5WjOd#t=0:00

Billy Boyd’s (who played Pippin in the original trilogy) song in The Return of the King was haunting and beautiful. It’s only fitting he has been brought back to do the song that will play over the final (and beautifully illustrated) credits of The Battle of The Five Armies. And here it is for an early listen. It’s going to be an amazing ride when this last film comes out in a little over a month, and a very sorrow-filled farewell. Cannot wait.

Rosewater – The Daily Show Movie

Rosewater is a very interesting film. When it was announced I wonder if it was timely anymore because the president in Iran had changed into more moderate hands and so many other world hot spots had popped up that people sort of forgot about the troubles there. But then just a couple Sundays ago on Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown the host visited Tehran and while Iran seemed like a better place than we all imagined one of the journalists he interviewed there had already been placed in prison by the time the show aired for reasons that have not been divulged. All of the sudden Rosewater became very relevant again. The film is about about an Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari who was placed in prison in Iran after filming and reporting on the 2009 uprisings after a fraudulent and stolen presidential election that kept everyone’s favorite villain Ahmadinejad in power. He was in solitary confinement for six months. Gael Garcia Bernal plays his fear and his inner freedom extremely well against each other. Bernal is one of the better actors working today and one of my personal favorites as well. His turns in Amores Perros, Y tu mama tambien, Bad Education, The Motorcycle Diaries, Babel, The Science of Sleep, Rudo y Cursi, The Loneliest Planet and No are all amazing. As you notice from the title and subjects of some of these films Bernal is a Mexican actor. Some people could take issue with a Mexican actor playing an Iranian man. But if that’s something you choose to get hung up on then you’re really missing out. Don’t let that bother you, this is a movie after all. One of these days Bernal will be rewarded with Oscar gold for his work, just not this time. A terrific Iranian actress was in this film however, as Bahari’s mother, Shohreh Aghdashloo. She has lots of small roles in plenty of great films, but my favorite thing about her is her distinctive voice. The film opened with a voiceover and a quote in Persian, and while I obviously don’t speak Persian I could still recognize her voice. It’s low and smooth tone are instantly recognizable. I didn’t know she was in this movie going into watching it and as soon as I knew she was involved I got even more excited for the movie.

Of course the biggest story about this film is that it is directed by Jon Stewart. Yes the fourth male lead in Big Daddy and Half Baked and current host of The Daily Show directed this film. That’s mostly because they couldn’t find someone else to do it after searching for prestigious A-list directors and because Bahari’s capture came after an interview he did with the show while in Tehran that jokingly referred to him as a spy. This is Stewart’s first film and unfortunately in parts it shows. It could be that he is just too close to the subject. It could feel like a mea culpa as well. That’s not to take away from it’s obvious credits which is a relatively strong script and visuals. Stewart and Bahari admitted that there was actual footage shot in Tehran for this film, while most of it was filmed in Jordan. Ultimately what this film could be most remembered for is Stewart’s three month absence from his show to shoot this film, which led to John Oliver subbing in and now his own show on HBO is perhaps the most important thing on television. Stewart’s contract with Comedy Central ends soon, and while his debut directorial effort had flaws I would hope he hangs up the The Daily Show cleats and goes full steam ahead to directing films.

The biggest problem with Rosewater was focus and this can be a common rookie mistake. The film is a history lesson (both recent and distant) and a family drama and treatise on torture. And it does all of this through the use of flashbacks, and hallucinations and real life news coverage along with what is becoming a typical sequence regarding social media. There’s just too much going on. I enjoyed the lead up to his capture with the focus on Iranian politics on the ground, but wished some of the focus remained there with cuts away to what was still going on in the street during his detention. The isolation is also dealt with a deft yet disturbing touch. Stewart does not focus on the physical torture, which could easily turn audiences off, but instead with the mental torture. There are moments where Bernal captures the small joys a prisoner experiences, like the feeling of the sun or finally contacting a loved one that really shine. This film also has spots of humor that help to lighten the mood when the Iranian interrogators have no context for Western cultural items like films and music and misidentify them as something nefarious when they are so clearly not.

Even with the flaws considered I still think this is a film worth seeing, just not as much as the others I’ve reviewed recently. So I would try to see those others first and save this for later or perhaps rent it when it comes to Redbox. Stewart deserves to be rewarded for his first directing effort and given a second and third chance to iron out the kinks because I think he has stories that are worth telling. All in all a good film.

The Theory of Everything – An Advanced Screening Review

Last night I was lucky enough to win two tickets to a free special advanced screening at my local theatre held by Focus Features for The Theory of Everything. It opened in 5 theaters in NY and LA this past weekend but won’t be opening here until November 21st, so I felt very special getting to see it 10 days early. It was also nice that it was free because I was fully intending on buying tickets for this in a couple weeks regardless. Instead of me spending money the rest of you should because this movie is well worth your dollars. The film is a biopic about famed physicist Stephen Hawking and he is played by Eddie Redmayne. Except that it’s not. Everyone knows him and his famous work on black holes and the big bang and all those amazing things. However this story is more of a romance than anything and focuses on his relationship with his wife Jane, played by Felicity Jones. It spans time from 1963 when he is in doctorate school in Cambridge until 1989 when he was given an honor by the Queen. Now, interesting things happened to Hawking before this time and of course after, but this time period allows the story to focus almost solely on his relationship with his wife Jane. I won’t give any spoilers, but anyone who has read about Hawking knows about his relationship as well. If you haven’t, don’t start now so that you can experience it afresh on the screen. The story is mostly from Jane’s perspective from her book about their life together, but the story has Stephen’s support and this is evidence by the fact that his actual computer voice, and not some replica, was used in the film. The film does spend most of it’s time with Stephen Hawking prior to him losing the ability to speak entirely and use his trademark computer voice. It was nice to see how his life was prior to how we all know him.

The film is very good, and probably one of the better romances I’ve seen in a good long while. This isn’t because the script is incredibly sharp or the directing that deft. Though they are rather good on their own. The cinematography is also well worth mentioning amongst awards contenders. The director, James Marsh, is no slouch and is best known for winning the Best Documentary Oscar in 2008 for Man on Wire. The film ascends to truly awards worthy because of the unique characters, setting and story backdrop. Other than this it is a rather standard romance. What elevates it most is the performances of Redmayne and Jones. Redmayne has had smaller parts in films since the mid to late 2000’s, with his most visible being in 2012’s Les Miserables. Expect him to get much larger parts after this starring role. I would bet that he earns a nomination for Best Actor for this film, though this year has some of the stiffest competition there is with Michael Keaton, Benedict Cumberbatch and Steve Carrell getting more buzz for their films. And since Redmayne is much younger it would be hard for him to come home with a win. Though the thought of Professor Hawking maybe tagging along to give that award to Redmayne would be a dream. What is surprising is that Jones gets almost equal screen time with Redmayne, though not quite. Her performance is what makes the film work and not just making it an acting class in how to play Hawking. This would definitely classify her performance as a Lead Actress and not Supporting. The Lead category is less competitive than the Supporting, unfortunately because female roles aren’t as meaty as male roles still in Hollywood today. She could still be eclipsed by Reese Witherspoon, Julianne Moore, or Rosamund Pike. I’ll be rooting for Jones or Pike personally.

It’s quite an amazing thought to think that one of the world’s most prolific minds could’ve been placed behind an impenetrable wall by a horrific disease, ALS. (The one you’ve all been dumping ice on your heads for). It’s even more amazing to think that aside from all the amazing work he’s done and theories he’s created that he had an equally amazing love story. This is definitely a must see for people who have been searching for a grown up romance film, fans of science, and those who like prestigious awards type films. Everyone else should endeavor to check this one out too, but perhaps seek out some of the other contenders in the meantime as this still doesn’t hit screens around here for a week or two. Or even go out of your way to read his most famous book, A Brief History of Time. It’s accessible and easy to read but will open your eyes to a wide universe of mind boggling things.

Edward Snowden is Citizenfour!

Citizenfour will be at the front of the list for Best Documentary come Oscar time. It could be that the Academy opts for something more in line with the entertainment industry with the documentary about Roger Ebert Life Itself, but that makes Citizenfour nonetheless an impressive contender for the award. Before you go into see this film you likely already have an opinion about Edward Snowden and the leaks he made to the press about the NSA domestic and international spying programs. This film comes down hard on the side of Snowden and supports his actions wholeheartedly. This is not a movie questioning the ethics of what Snowden did. It does not brand him a traitor or spy. Snowden is the hero of this documentary. Laura Poitras has been very critical of the US and its policies after 9/11 with a trilogy of documentaries. A lot of her criticism is warranted, though not all. Citizenfour is her best work and the easiest to agree with. Unless of course you enjoy being spied upon personally. Who knows, maybe that’s your thing.

The film gives an overview of the surveillance culture that has been so prevalent in the last 13 plus years and also goes into the specific programs that Snowden unveiled from secrecy to alert the public what the government is doing to dismantle privacy in the name of national security. All of that is very interesting and rage inducing and could make for an informative and interesting documentary on its own, but that’s only a fraction of what’s going on here. This is mostly a story of how Snowden contacted journalists and investigative documentary filmmakers and then divulged his secrets to them. It was a painstaking and careful process that led the filmmakers from Berlin to Utah and Hong Kong to Rio to Moscow. We see Snowden for about a week straight giving interviews and explaining complex documents and computer files in a hotel room in Hong Kong. Everything is thought out. When to release certain stories and most importantly when to reveal that Snowden was the leaker. He comes across as a man in control, very smart and a little paranoid. He says he is not nervous, but he doesn’t hide it very well. I think he does end up as coming off as rather brave. What he did seemingly was a patriotic act. He appears to love the idea of the internet and all the good that it could possibly do when unbridled from surveillance and he seems to love his country as well. Even knowing what has transpired; his escape from Hong Kong and being stuck in Moscow the documentary still comes across as a well-crafted thriller and legal drama. This is all the more impressive considering most of the film takes place in administrative hearings and court rooms as well as the aforementioned claustrophobic hotel room. The editing is snappy and the inlaying of news footage and email correspondence is never boring.

If you are concerned about the future of our country you should see this film. Obviously a person who is sympathetic to Snowden is going to enjoy this more than those who aren’t. But I hope that as time goes on and surveillance remains secretive and pervasive and so harmful to the continued existence of a free and democratic society that more people will come to be on Snowden’s side. Maybe this film will be what pushes you over the line from being vaguely concerned to actively pissed off. And the more people pissed off about this could lead to action that would dismantle such abusive domestic spying. This documentary comes highly recommended. It’s rare to get a documentary in theaters so if you get a chance to go see it you really should.

The White Knight Rises – An Interstellar Review

I am a huge Christopher Nolan fan. I’ve seen all of his movies and love them. I know what he’s extremely good at, probably better than anyone working today or even ever, and I know where his skills lack. Nolan’s characters can always seem a bit distant as to allow such huge themes and ideas to the forefront. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity is just as much of an actor in this film as is Michael Caine. I know this can bother some people and the reactions to this film have been very love/hate. I just don’t see how anyone could hate this film if you have any sense of wonder or awe left in you. I actually feel rather sad if you aren’t left completely amazed after seeing this film. The science, of course, is extremely interesting and very theoretical and gets more theoretical and even fantastical towards the end when you reach parts that we can’t even begin to explain. You either buy into it or you don’t. Please buy in.

The visuals are absolutely stunning and you need to see this on the biggest screen you can find. I saw it on an Ultrascreen and my eyes practically melted from all the awesome. What makes it even more impressive is all the practical effects work that was done instead of copious use of CGI. The spaceship design was meticulous and detailed almost to the point of absurdity. You know there are rivets and dings on the model that will never been seen on screen, but they’re placed nonetheless to up the sense of realism. This is what Nolan does best, telling a surreal story with such minute details sprinkled in to make it believable and make the story world feel lived in. This makes the consequences to the characters and the world feel weightier. This is helped by the terrific work of new collaborator and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema. Nolan’s usual cinematographer, Wally Pfister, has moved on to directing and Hoytema does not miss a beat as the replacement. He has lensed great films before like Let the Right One In, The Fighter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Her. It will be a knock down drag out fight for Best Cinematography with Birdman. While Nolan’s films have won Best Sound Mixing and Editing in the past, they always seem to have issues. Here the sound mix seemed out of whack with music and effects drowning out dialogue. This happened in The Dark Knight Rises as well, though he was able to fix some of that after complaints of not being able to understand Bane. This is a relatively small complaint however. The music of Hans Zimmer is sweeping and awe-inspiring. The use of organs in the music feels very inspired and it will give you chills at points.

Do your best to avoid spoilers with this film. There is a major character that is not part of any of the promotion material and this character is played by an actor arguably even more popular than McConaughey. The theater was genuinely surprised when I saw it and it helped to keep the mood of awe and wonder going. As for the other actors you actually know will be in the film McConaughey by far does the best job as he has the most to do, but then Jessica Chastain does the next best work. Unfortunately Anne Hathaway is not given the best part and is not at her personal best here. At first I found her character annoying and cloying, but she gets much, much better as the film goes along and ultimately I would say I found her character likable by the final scenes. Michael Caine is basically the same character he was in Inception and serves his purpose to drive the narrative. Wes Bentley and Casey Affleck are underused but do more with their material than could be expected and I found them as standouts in the crowd. The robot characters really shine here as well. TARS and CASE are the names of the monolith inspired robots in the film. They are grey blocks that whirl around the ship and planet surfaces to assist in ways you wouldn’t see imaginable based on their humble shape.

To sum up I will say the movie plays like 2001: A Space Odyssey  and Days of Heaven, but ultimately it’s incredibly similar to Inception  and feels like a thematic sequel to that film more than anything. If that’s the case I can’t wait to see how Nolan would round out this thematic trilogy. I absolutely loved this film, and while I recognize it likely won’t earn any awards outside of the technical categories (which it could sweep), it will still wind up in my top 10 for the year. To be compared to Kubrick and Malick is the ultimate compliment. It is rare to get a film that is so large and sweeping with huge and important themes with such a gigantic budget, but still have this film treat their audience intelligently. This is epic filmmaking at its best and no one else is doing it right now. Perhaps only Peter Jackson has the balls to even attempt this, but his interest lie elsewhere. This sort of movie is made for people like me. Space is awesome. And so is Nolan.

Final Hobbit Trailer

Gaze upon the glory that is the final trailer for our final trip to Middle Earth in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. It hits screens on December 19th. Get excited!