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Moriarty Wrassles With Mortality As He Kicks THE BUCKET LIST And Is Haunted By THE ORPHANAGE!
Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
Death is a big subject. Maybe one of the biggest of the big subjects. Artists routinely wrestle with issues of mortality and existence, and with some filmmakers, it seems like the longer they work, the more focused all of their energy becomes on thoughts of death: what it means, what it leads to, how it unites us.
Next week, two films will be opening wider that are already playing in limited release, both of which attempt to grapple with death in very different ways. One is very good, one is very bad, but both reflect sincere impulses to understand the experience of dying as well as the nature of what happens to us afterwards.
I wish Rob Reiner’s THE BUCKET LIST was a better film. I genuinely do. I wish I could say it represents a return to form for this filmmaker who has spent well over a decade lost in the creative wilderness. Instead, it’s exactly the film you think it’s going to be based on the smarmy, vaguely horrifying trailers, and the casting is as on the nose and obvious played out at feature length.
And do you know how much it bothers me to say any of this? Justin Zackham’s script was widely circulated in LA both before and after it appeared on one of the annual editions of “The Black List,” an informal poll of specific agencies and management firms for their favorite scripts their clients wrote that year. It’s not bad. It’s emotionally direct, it’s entertaining while trying to play things real, and it is confident about the way it embraces cliché. It’s forgivable on the page. And Quint quite liked Zackham’s film GOING GREEK a little while ago.
But when Reiner signed Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman to star, he doomed the movie, and that’s the thing that makes me feel like a crazy person when I type it.
I mean... we’re talking about Jack Fucking Nicholson. And Morgan Fucking Freeman. Heavyweights by any definition. Don’t argue just to argue, either. Both men represent pretty much the textbook definition of long-proven professionals, master craftsmen who do more than their fair share of broad audience-pandering crap. They are. They do. It’s just the way the business works. You make a dozen movies when you’re Jack Nicholson, and if you’re lucky, four of them are interesting and one or two might even be really good. You just work to stay fresh. Same thing with Morgan “Voice-Over” Freeman. He works constantly, and he’s always game for whatever he’s doing. He does consistently solid and honest work.
And they have moments here that are gold. Just two guys enjoying each other as actors, passing off moments like Jack’s Lakers at their finest, knowing exactly how to support, exactly how to lay up. But what they’re playing is ham. Thick-cut fatty fatty ham. It’s shameless. What worked on the page has been cranked up to theme-park-subtle, and Reiner has got to be the first guy to blame. Everything that’s wrong with the movie can be traced to what’s wrong with Reiner’s work in recent years. It’s his sensibility. The way he pushes the material onto the screen… the tone… the palette… it’s like he literally can’t make the right choice at this point. John Schwartzman’s a good DP... films like THE ROOKIE and THE ROCK and SEABISCUIT and PEARL HARBOR and ARMAGEDDON... say what you will about them as films, but they were all gorgeously photographed. THE BUCKET LIST... is not. It’s just not. It’s flat, phony, like a Norman Lear sitcom from 1978. Marc Shaiman’s score is just as obvious as the movie, and not to be trusted. He works waaaaaay to hard to lend the film emotional power where it doesn’t earn it.
I can’t really fault the actors for playing what they’re asked to play. Sean Hayes, for example... this is a smart choice for him in a post-WILL & GRACE world. The role of Nicholson’s personal assistant is pretty much a perfect opportunity for him. It’s the John Gielgud role in ARTHUR. It’s not written as well, but that’s the archetype. He does what he’s asked to do.
Same with Beverly Todd as Virginia Chambers, the wife of Carter Chambers, played by Freeman. She’s asked to basically play an unplayable role. There’s no way for her to play sympathetic in what they give her until the end, where her character has a major turn for no motivated reason. She’s a sounding board for Freeman, not a real character. Same with Rob Morrow, who shows up as a generic sitcom doctor, all shtick with a sad face to show it’s “serious.” Aside from them, no one registers at all, and that’s a problem. You’re left with Nicholson and Freeman as the whole show, and a little bit of the shtick between them goes a long, long way. I was actually sort of writhing at one point, as the guys were skydiving, and the use of the CGI to make it look like they were skydiving was so strange and so awful that I couldn’t help but wonder why Reiner would want to make a film about people having these allegedly life-changing experiences, and he would fake them using special effects. As a director, isn’t that decision automatically the moment where your film is sort of bullshit? Look at what Sean Penn did with Emile Hirsch in INTO THE WILD this year. Even if you’re not a fan of the film, you have to admit that the work they did together was adventurous, impressive, and... well, real.
It gives me no pleasure to write any of this. Seriously. I wish THE BUCKET LIST offered up even some marshmallow philosophy that I could at least give a pass because some things are worth saying, even smothered in cheese. But I don’t think the film ever makes a cogent point about dying or dignity or experience. Nicholson’s inevitable transformation from Grinch to Santa, his moment where his heart swells ten sizes, is pretty much mandated by running time, not by genuine character. Freeman’s inevitable exit from the film is tasteful and restrained and a crashing bore. It just doesn’t deliver any emotion. It’s short. I’ll say that for it. Even so, I didn’t feel like it was time well-spent, especially considering some of the other good films currently booked in limited or wide release. If you want to see a film that deals with issues of mortality, questions of life or death, and does it with intelligence and taste and skill, then you need to be ready for some subtitles, because it’s the Spanish-language THE ORPHANAGE that really delivers.
But before we begin, a question.
Who said this was a horror film?
I’ve been hearing for months now that THE ORPHANAGE is “terrifying” and “the best horror film in years.” Fiddlesticks. This isn’t a horror film at all. It’s a very good film, a lovely meditation on how parents deal with the loss of a child, but a horror film? Hardly.
Ghosts are one of the oldest literary devices still in use. Ask Shakespeare sometime if HAMLET is a horror story or not. They can be harbingers of the future, reminders of the past, the evidence of buried sins, or simply playful companions. They can be full of malice, or they can be comic foils. But the appearance of ghosts in a piece does not automatically make that piece a horror film, and despite a few moments of tension, I think anyone who goes to THE ORPHANAGE expecting to be terrified is going to walk away disappointed, convinced they’ve been misled.
But the fact that this is not a horror film is what makes it interesting and worthwhile, I think. I’ve only seen Belen Rueda in one film before this (THE SEA INSIDE), but I’m impressed by her in general. She’s a strong Spanish woman whose performance here would be garnering awards-consideration talk if it were in anything other than a genre film. The start of the film establishes who she was: a little girl growing up in an orphanage with a group of friends, the leader of the group really, who was adopted and who left those friends behind. She returns with her own family as an adult, and the film is really her journey, her experience.
And it’s a crazy ride in places, sure. There’s a scene early on where Laura (Rueda) and her son Simon (Roger Princep) play a game that involves following clues that is creepy and cool and thrilling all at once. There’s an attack in the film that’s startling, certainly, and there are some images involving the aforementioned ghosts that are striking, and appropriately haunting. But from the very start, there’s great sadness running through the film. Simon is a troubled, unhappy kid, and when the hints about his health condition come together, it’s obvious that Laura is concealing the knowledge that he is probably not long for the earth. And to complicate things, he’s adopted and doesn’t know it, so the secrets being kept from him weigh heavily on Laura. The first part of the film is just about her relationship with this fragile boy she loves so dearly.
And then he vanishes. I won’t say more. That disappearance is the event that the rest of the film depends on, and the way things spin out of control from there are more tragedy than horror. The Orphanage turns out to be a thin place, a location where this life and the next seem to exist simultaneously. This allows Laura to search both worlds for her son, exhaustively. More than anything, this is a movie about the pain of losing a child, and when we’re talking about death, that’s one of the particular permutations I hope to God I never have to contend with. It’s potent dramatic fodder for obvious reasons, but it’s also a cheap shortcut to emotion if used wrong. Sergio G. Sanchez’s script is lean and focused and smart, though, so the film doesn’t shortchange the reality of what Laura goes through. And Rueda really makes it hurt. She’s so obviously dying inside the longer the search for Simon continues that it becomes hard to watch. When everyone else gives up, when everyone else believes Simon dead or gone for good, Laura continues to probe The Orphanage for the secrets she’s sure it will give up eventually. The problem is, if it does, she may not be able to handle them.
Layering in an extended literary reference to a film can backfire mightily, but again... it’s handled with just the right touch here, and considering the thematic weight of PETER PAN, it really pays off powerfully here. I think Juan Antonio Bayona is a talent to watch, a guy whose fundamental storytelling skills are so strong, so fully formed here in his debut picture, that I have no doubt this is the start of a decades-long relationship we’ll have with him as an artist. And that’s another reason I think it shortchanges the movie to just call it a “horror film.” Bayona is capable of whatever he wants to do in terms of working with actors and creating mood and emotion. He shouldn’t have to struggle with the inevitable ghetto-ization that comes with being labeled a genre filmmaker at the start of a career. My guess is we’ll see him try many different types of storytelling and genres, and I hope he proves to be this good at all of them.
Once you realize where this film is going, you start to wonder if they’re really going to have the balls to go there. And the answer is yes. They really do. The film doesn’t compromise at all, and the ending is one of the most ironic happy endings since BRAZIL, an act of love that is both devastating and oddly euphoric.
I’m in the homestretch right now in terms of putting together my list of 2007 films, and I’ve got about eight or nine more films to watch in the next two days before I consider myself “done.” Should be interesting, and I’ll certainly try to put up a few other things in the meantime. Happy new year to all of you, and here’s hoping 2008 is full of just as many great film moments as 2007 was.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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And it should be noted that in chat the other night, when I brought up Capone's review to Mori, his response was: "I love Capone, but if THE ORPHANAGE scared him, he is a little girl." That made me laugh.
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however it won't go anywhere near AMPAS...
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Jan 04, 2008 6:14:45 AM CST
Whats with the Gay Pilgrim and Drunk Viking in the Snickers Ad ?
by skinfan
Not that there is anything wrong with that....
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Jan 04, 2008 6:18:48 AM CST
One didn't call the Oprhanage a "horror film" at least!
by drwilliamweir
Great ghost story. My plan to post in all Orphanage related threads is still on, too.
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... though, if the Orphanage didn't scare you a few times or chill you throughout then you're somehow inhuman. Watching at the horror fest in London there were moments where the entire hardcore audience wet their pants. So Mr Moriarty is probably immune in some way, maybe by being a criminal genius or something...
Meanwhile, I have my R3 DVD of Re-Cycle on in the background. How come that never made a noise outside of Asia? Great film! Would be interested if Mori has seen it. -
...and one of the best horrorfilms ever, but it isn't! (Scary and a horrormovie. Don't misunderstand me! It's a great movie!)
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I thought Sly would be an official AICN-Friend, so where is the stuff about Rambo? It's coming out in a few weeks!
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like The Bucket list, and you're right about Nicholson and Freeman. Me personally I don't like a lot of Nicholson movies,but that's not because of Nicholson's acting ability. But my question is this, what is the movie about? Okay we understand it's a list of things these two guys are going to do before they die, but you gave us no information on how these two meet, decide what to do, and their adventures, or lack thereof. This could be given to us spoiler free. The impression I get from the commercial is they meet in the hospital and become sort of buddies. I could be wrong, but how will I know without a little bit more background.
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At the end of the 20 days of Q&A with Sly for Rocky Balboa, we were told he would do it all over again for RAMBO. Well, RAMBO is released Jan 25. The 20 days of Q&A would have to start on the 5th or 6th! So where's the word on it? There's been no invitation to send in questions.
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Didn't love it, but think it's better than the early reviews give it credit for being. But that's just me. :)
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...and he is worth a thousand sniveling critics who would say otherwise. When Nicholson dies they might as well shut down Hollywood because he is the last of a dying breed of genuinely great actors. Like I have with every single Nicholson film released, I will see The Bucket List but I would much prefer a third Jake Gittes film.
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Which one? The theatrical release, the Sheinberg cut, or Gilliam's final cut?
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The Invisible is a great case. Anyone going into that hoping for another cookie cutter horror mystery was left sorely disappointed. While everyone dragged into it lamenting seeing another cookie cutter horror mystery was pleasantly surprised by it. Everyone they marketed the film towards hated it, and all the people who would have loved it now have it on the bottom of their 'crappy films to watch someday when there's nothing left to rent'.
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Because for the last 10 years all he has made are 'old codger, odd-couple buddy films'. It's the exact same movie over and over again, with the exact same music, same plot, the only real difference is the buddy he's paired up with. Which is a shame, because he is the best in Hollywood, like Deniro he can and should still be doing masterpieces with cutting edge directors, and instead over and over again they sign on to the most pedestrian films hollywood has to offer.
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Nominee for first good AICN pull quote of 2008.
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I keep waiting for Rob Reiner to find his form again, but it's just not to be. Becoming entreched in politics for so long must have ruined his moviemaking sensiblities. What a shame.
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Eh, the movie's probably not that bad , mo. the wife must have given you some trouble is all... them women folk, eh... never pleased.
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despite the ads on this website, the movie One Missed Call ain't cool at all. Avoid it. Trust me.
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http://tinyurl.com/2qr3kl
I found this picture on a cloverfield junkie's myspace page. It looked interesting. Anybody have a guess? I love changing topics... -
http://tinyurl.com/2ohylc
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That picture is NOT from CLOVERFIELD. We get sent that fucking thing 50 times a day.
http://tinyurl.com/37flrq
That's the origin of the drawing. I repeat. Not from the film. Not from the film. Not from the film. For the love of God, stop posting it. -
http://www.ugo.com/movies/prom-night/trailer/
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Grantedm my prom was 20 years ago, but do Proms today really have all that Pink Floyd disco light show stuff? Varolights, lasers, smoke machine, giant stage.....come on, what the hell.
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I hated it.
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Can't remember even hearing an American speak that way. :|Semi-seriously, though... most people who don't like subtitled films dislike them not because they're "morons," but because they just kind of lazy. Having to watch a film and read the text fast enough to keep up with the action going on the screen takes a certain amount of eye/brain coordination and, while most of US may be used to it, a lot of people simply find it uncomfortable and too much work to do, keeping them from enjoying the film.I know people who take a couple of minutes to read and take in a 4-panel comic strip, while I can suck down a 22-page comic book in less than five. Slow readers likely find subtitled films just a pain in the @$$ to follow and keep up with.
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Well I won't go on record to say that Jack hasn't given a bad (or broad, based on his persona) performance. At least he hasn't embarassed himself as badly as DeNiro did in Rocky & Bulwinkle. I know he was trying to strecth his image with broad comedy, it just did not work at all. I think Jack's work a couple of years ago in About Schmidt ranks with his best. DeNiro hasn't had a role like that in eons...
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HERE is the true concept art, a copy of which was slipped to me by a buddy who refills the water coolers at the studio and is sort of pals with the production team. This image depicts the creature attacking a vehicle in the metropolitan area (assumed to be new york). Behold, and tremble with fear:
http://tinyurl.com/yqt9e6 -
Jan 04, 2008 2:33:40 PM CST
The monster looks legible. I think ppl will be let down when its
by mike_d
its only natural.
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i found it fucking terrifying to be honest. I absolutely loved it. It is atthe same time one of the saddest and scariest films I have seen in a long time. The last 20 or so minutes were unbearably tense for me and then i wound up bawling like a fucking baby. A great film and for me personally much better than pans labyrinth
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Here's the 411: http://tinyurl.com/33qv6u.
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I remember my wife and I sitting down in a mostly empty theatre to watch Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, when a middle aged couple sat a couple rows up in front of us. As soon as the first few subtitles hit the screen, they mumbled something to each other, got up and left. I don't know why, but that kind of thing irks the shit out of me! Your gonna bail on a beautiful film/story just because you have to exert some energy to fucking READ! Yes they ARE morons!
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The theatrical cut and the 'final cut' of Brazil have, to all intents and purposes, the exact same ending. Only a few clouds 'in the sky' to make the difference.
The Sheinberg cut, on the other hand...
And clearly Moriarty wasn't referring to THAT travesty. -
Jack's an icon, true. But with a few exceptions he's been playing the same character for years now. It's the same over the top, leering, arched eyebrow lunatic. I give Jack all due credit, and I fully admit that he can gnaw the scenery with the greatest of them. And he IS capable of subtle performances when he gets a director that will let him do it. I was pretty well bored to death with Jack's same old schtick until Scorcese stuck him in The Departed. Wow. That movie brought me back into the cult of Nicholson. It's his best performance in years. More "The Departed." Less "Bucket List."
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That's taking one for the team, dude. I can't think of an upcoming film I'd like to see less than that.
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Warner Bros. Entertainment to Release its High-Definition DVD Titles Exclusively in the Blu-Ray Disc Format Beginning Later This Year
January 04, 2008
In response to consumer demand, Warner Bros. Entertainment will release its high-definition DVD titles exclusively in the Blu-ray disc format beginning later this year, it was announced today by Barry Meyer, Chairman & CEO, Warner Bros. and Kevin Tsujihara, President, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group.
"Warner Bros.' move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want," said Meyer. "The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers."
Warner Home Video will continue to release its titles in standard DVD format and Blu-ray. After a short window following their standard DVD and Blu-ray releases, all new titles will continue to be released in HD DVD until the end of May 2008.
"Warner Bros. has produced in both high-definition formats in an effort to provide consumer choice, foster mainstream adoption and drive down hardware prices," said Jeff Bewkes, President and Chief Executive Officer, Time Warner Inc., the parent company of Warner Bros. Entertainment. "Today's decision by Warner Bros. to distribute in a single format comes at the right time and is the best decision both for consumers and Time Warner."
"A two-format landscape has led to consumer confusion and indifference toward high definition, which has kept the technology from reaching mass adoption and becoming the important revenue stream that it can be for the industry," said Tsujihara. "Consumers have clearly chosen Blu-ray, and we believe that recognizing this preference is the right step in making this great home entertainment experience accessible to the widest possible audience. Warner Bros. has worked very closely with the Toshiba Corporation in promoting high definition media and we have enormous respect for their efforts. We look forward to working with them on other projects in the future."
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HD-DVD is DEAD
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Blu-Ray people are celebrating, but the HD-DVD people aren't even TRYING to defend it anymore. Just...nothing. Acceptance: the final stage :)
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That was fucking hilarious. Blu Ray won because it has a cooler name and DVD is no longer in the name so people figure it's a whole new thing. I'm excited everything will finally be on one format though, and it's the right one! Huzzah!
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Even if you can't understand them, listening to the actors speak in their native language STILL manages to convey so much emotion and subtle nuances that are all but lost when you dub them, no matter how good the "dubbers." I watched Cinema Paradiso sub-titled in my Italian Cinema class at UCLA and fell in love with it. I later saw (or at least started to see) a dubbed version later on and it wasn't half the film I remembered. Lastly, it's ten times more distracting to me to watch a dubbed film than to watch a sub-titled film. 5 minutes in you almost don't even notice that it's sub-titled...
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Some people have bad enough eyesight that, while regular movies can be enjoyed, subtitled movies are pretty much pointless. Yeah it doesn't excuse every philistine out there who walks out when they see that first bit of text, but some people legitimately wouldn't get much, if anything, out of a movie where they basically can't understand any of the dialog.
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now closed, that I always went to would every once in awhile show a subtitled movie, I belive Crouching Tiger and Life is Beautiful were the last two they ever showed there, but I had similar experiences. walk in with maybe 5 people in and by the end of the movie, you're the only one left because it's subtitled. It's crap I'm telling you, people will not give it a chance. I don't think it has to do with keeping up, my friend who is legally blind can (and did) watch The Passion of The Christ, but some redneck yokel goes in to CTHD expecting to see jackie Chan and leaves. And yet Titantic sold out almost every night, ARGGHHH it's frustratingon subject ummm, Cloverfield looks good, Jack still rocks but I have no desire to see the Bucket List and Mori you sold me on seeing the Orphange...I think that covers it
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I saw an alleged production drawing of the monster and it looked like a whale crossed with a crab -- awful! I hope that's a fake.
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Because I am pretty sure nothing said about either of these movies could only make me care less then I do about these blah looking movies. Tom Hanks was pretty much flawless until Da Vinci. I think that is the worst movie I have ever seen. If there ever was a book not to be turned into a movie it was that one. But whatever people are stupid. Can't wait for Guillermo del Toro to get directors credit for movies he didn't do, just like Quentin Tarantino gets for directing Hostel and Hero. You silly americans.
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TWELVE. FUCKING. YEARS.
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Some films you just plain don't want to watch subtitled. There's no way, for example, I'd want to watch Riki-Oh with subtitles . . . it's a chop-suey fighting flick with quick, bloody visuals, and it's one after the other. Dialogue in something like that is an afterthought.Diving Bell and the Butterfly? VERY different story. You spend the first reel trapped in the man's immobile body and can do almost nothing BUT look at the other character's mouths when they speak . . . but if you weren't hearing their actual voice, the film would feel completely disingenuous the whole way through.Plus, I gotta admit, sometimes I just plain don't wanna read . . . especially action flicks. Sometimes you just wanna turn your brain off and watch some shit go BOOM.Unfortunately, yes, most people write them off immediately . . . it's all about CONTEXT people!! (gotta love subtle puns!)
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I want to say that have seen The Orphanage twice already and it was just as emotional on the second viewing (I balled like a little girl the first time and just got teary-eyed the second time). This movie has so mush wieght and depth that it isn't a simple genere movie. I think it is more correct to just call it a ghost story cuz there are many movies about ghosts that can be found outside the horror section. And I don't know what the f@#$ they were thinking when they made The Bucket List
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Hey buddy you actually starting posting on AintItCool. I saw the Orphanage tonight and I loved it but the whole situation around Simon's fate just didn't make sense. They could hear him pounding on the walls but the kid could have just screamed and they would have endlessly searched the house to find him. I just hate when logic like that ruins a movie, just a little bit. If anyone can prove that point wrong, please do, so I can call this movie perfect. I also got teary-eyed at the end of the film. I understand the Bucket List. It's for people who watch movies like Wild Hogs. Hence, 2/3 of the US population.
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Visually it's pretty, and the three spooky moments Moriarty mentions above are definitely chilling, but the movie as a whole is so cliched, contrived (even within its own set of rules), and forced (in terms of dialogue, performances, and plot developments). Enjoyable for some pretty imagery and a few scares but otherwise forgettable.
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I concede that, in the words of Wd Wood, "It's not a horror movie. It's a supernatural thriller." But it was still pretty gotdang terrifying.
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For some reason, I thought the kid fell down the stairs and immediately died. Hence your logic is faulted. Then again, I could be wrong. I should be seeing it again soon.
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