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Copernicus' Quick Observations of ONG BAK 2, SOLOMON KANE, VALHALLA RISING, A SOLITARY MAN & More!
Sadly, another TIFF is finished. After 10 days of as many as 5 movies
a day, I'm exhausted, but giddy. This was a great year -- many I
spoke to called it one of the best ever. I have a few more long
reviews to finish, but in the meantime here are some quick thoughts a
few.
SOLOMON KANE
A fantasy epic about a character by Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan
– what could go wrong with that, right? Sadly, this is a wasted
opportunity. It isn’t outright terrible, but it is a waste of time.
This is just fantasy by the numbers, and it failed to move me. I
liked James Purefoy in ROME, but here as Kane he is only so-so. He
isn’t terrible, but he isn’t compelling – we just don’t care one way
or the other about his character. Pete Postlethwaite is excellent,
but he’s only in the film for about 10 minutes. The effects and some
of the fight scenes are competently executed, but the storytelling
isn’t (make us care about a character before throwing him into a
fight), and everything seems derivitive and second or third rate.
This is to LORD OF THE RINGS what those unmemorable Sci Fi films of
the early 80s were to STAR WARS. Fantasy methadone.
VALHALLA RISING
In twitter-speak, this has been summarized as, “Viking FAIL.” That’s
about right. While the idea of Mads Mikkelsen as a one-eyed Viking
killing machine had many of us wetting our pants pre-fest, we were a
victim of our own imagination. In reality there’s about 2 minutes of
fighting, and about 90 minutes of brooding amidst landscapes as Mads
and Co. get on a boat, find themselves in an interminable fog, and
miraculously find themselves in the new world being attacked by
Indians. Then they continue to do nothing but fret and fulminate as
destiny does its thing. Astonishingly, the film has a few fans, but
I’m not one of them – this was one of the biggest disappointments of
the festival.
LEAVES OF GRASS
Edward Norton stars as twins(!) – one is a classics professor being
pursued by Harvard, and the other is a pot-growing Oklahoma hillbilly.
Susan Sarandon is their possibly-crazy mamma, and Keri Russell a the
kind of girl who catches catfish with her bare hands (noodling). The
film was written, directed by, and co-starrs Tim Blake Nelson, and it
is hard to criticize such a work of love that he poured his heart and
soul into. It feels a bit too “indie” to storm the box office,
characters do things that are strained just to further the plot, and
some of the wacky local color seems a little painted on, but there’s
plenty to see. Check it out on DVD if for no other reason than to see
Edward Norton’s amazingly executed conversations with himself. I’d
never mistake him for a true Southerner but he does deliver two
memorable performances. Susan Sarandon is good in a small role, and I
love seeing Steve Earle here as the heavy. But to me the best thing
about the film is Tim Blake Nelson’s performance. He’s may have a few
things to learn as a writer/director, but he’s at the top of his game
as an actor.
A SOLITARY MAN
Michael Douglas plays a man who has amassed a fortune by building an
empire of car dealerships, but then spent it all on legal fees trying
to keep himself out of prison after some improper financial dealings.
He’s dumped or enraged a series of women who are good to him by
picking up younger models, and between all of these flaws he’s burned
bridges with nearly everyone he knows. He’s barely hanging on to a
decent relationship with his daughter, played by Jenna Fischer (Pam
from The Office). Facing declining prospects, he has one more chance
to set everything straight, when the ultimate temptation presents
itself – he must escort his girlfriend’s daughter, Allyson (Imogen
Poots) on her college recruitment visit to his alma mater. Along the
way he encounters his old friend, played by Danny DeVito. Poots is
stunning. The script is tight, and at times surprising. There are
solid performances all around, and it is great to see another
Douglas-DeVito team up. But the real draw here is the outstanding
performance by Michael Douglas as a fatally flawed skirt chaser. He
may well get a best actor nomination. And the film leads off with the
Johnny Cash version of the Neil Diamond tune, so they had me from the
start.
HARRY BROWN
Michael Caine returns to his roots in a film set near where he grew
up. Here he’s the titular HARRY BROWN, ex-marine, widower, and
pensioner. Thugs are taking control of the neighborhood, even openly
committing murder, and the police refuse to do anything.
Circumstances force Harry to take matters into his own hands. This
is a straight-ahead vengeance tale with few surprises, but who cares –
I signed up to see Michael Caine blow some punk-ass motherfuckers away
and I was not disappointed. Director Daniel Barber has his first
outing here at feature length, though he had previously directed the
Oscar nominated THE TONTO WOMAN. He didn’t win, which prompted
Michael Caine to joke at the premiere that he agreed to take the
script because it was, “Help the loser day.” He did a fine job,
though. The plot had a way of working itself out a little too neatly,
but it is a forgivable sin. Michael Caine carries the film and he’s
great.
GET LOW
The reason Michael Douglas won’t get an Oscar this year (see A
SOLITARY MAN) is Robert Duvall’s performance in GET LOW. He plays
Felix, a hermit in 1930s Tennessee who has barely talked to anyone in
40 years. As he approaches the end of his life he decides he wants to
throw a funeral for himself while he’s still alive. Supreme champion
of deadpan, Bill Murray, is a thrill to watch as the funeral director,
and Lucas Black is great as his no-nonsense assistant. Sissy Spacek
rounds out the phenomenal cast as a long-ago love interest who stirs
up old memories. I was unsure about this film going in, but it blew
me away – one of the discoveries of the festival. Robert Duvall
knocks it out of the park – even though he’s playing a man of few
words, you hang on every one. Felix is a character for the ages.
ONG BAK2
This one doesn’t quite have the magic of the original, but there’s
lots of crazy Tony Jaa Muay Thai ass kicking. There is just a tangled
thread of a confusing plot, which amounts for excuses for escalating
numbers of people to fight Tony Jaa at the same time. And it
seemingly has nothing to do with ONG BAK, since it is set in ancient,
rather than modern-day Thailand. Allegedly this will be cleared up in
ONG BAK 3, which is a sequel to ONG BAK 2, but a prequel to ONG BAK.
I miss the fact that the original ONG BAK director, Prachya Pinkaew is
not directing this. Allegedly, he and Tony Jaa had a falling out.
Also production on this film shut down for a time -- rumors say Tony
Jaa,, who started off as the director of this, just disappeared.
Despite all these flaws, the climax, involving fighting around, and on
elephants is worth seeing, as is the man-on crocodile fight at the
beginning.
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+ Expand All
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Been waiting a long tome for Ong Bak 2. Not interested in the story as long as there is some serious ass kickin!
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Sep 22, 2009 4:50:56 AM CDT
Can't wait for Harry Brown! BTW - Slashfilm has a trailer...
by juansanchez
http://tinyurl.com/lwbclu
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Absolute tosh...terrible film...the fight scenes are rubbish...the film defo missed the director from the first film...although the flying kick off the elephants trunks at the end is sublime and ridiculous at the same time
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a couple of ok fights but a piss poor movie Tony really still didn't have a clue about how big a job he was undertaking it seemedI think Twitch had the full details of him losing his mind and hiding in the jungle.
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at the least the OB2 trailer kicked ass... i'll just watch that again and save 10 bucks
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And I'll check out Get Low, too. Love Duvall. Lucas Black rocks.
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You're on drugs, Copernicus... Yeah, I do agree that it was a pretty standard fantasy yearn, but so what? it was pulled off incredibly well, and we haven't seen a "standard" fantasy yarn in such a long time that it was a welcome change. It's Solomon Kane. We don't need to see a "fresh new take" on the swords and sorcery thing, we just need for it to be done well. If you liked straightforward adventure movies circa the good old days, you can't help but like Solomon Kand.
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a lot of typos in my previous post. Can you spot them all?
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The "to-see" list is getting pretty long.
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Sep 22, 2009 9:02:29 AM CDT
valhalla rising wasnt what i expected. however it was genius.
by lilgorgor
vikings via tarkovsky.
also i loved ong bak 2. -
Does anyone remember the title of the fantasy film, swords & sorcery thingee, that was released on DVD a few months ago? Think it was Russian? Sorry this is vague, but I forget the title, and my memory sucks...
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Wolfhound is the Russian DVD. It heavily rips off Conan and LOTR but manages to adds an interesting Russian mythology feel plus has great cinematography. Really enjoyed it.
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ong bak 2 is a pretty spectacular piece of medieval martial arts action piece too, it might not be a great drama or the most coherent story, but its mostly action anyway. it's filmed much more professionally than ong bak 1, the weapons, the villains, and the brutal reality of the fights are awesome.
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"This is to LORD OF THE RINGS what those unmemorable Sci Fi films of
the early 80s were to STAR WARS." So it's just like the films most of us geeks have very fond memories of, then? Thanks for the recommendation - I'm booking my ticket now! -
Unnecessary and disgusting cinema. Look, I'm not anywhere near my 60s, so I can't say for sure how I'll feel at the time, but as of now I find it really fucking twisted that we see so many movies where "grandpa" is running around trying to fuck barely legal girls all of the time. Remember that Steve Martin film SHOP GIRL? Vomitous...
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A Tony Jaa movie, plain and simple. And yes, Twitch did mention that he had some emotional breakdown or such, and did cause a delay in filming.I was hoping for some crazy goodness in Valhalla Rising. I will continue to cling to that hope.
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...but after reading this review and seeing the preview (which sadly, radiates a strong SciFi movie-of-the-week vibe), starting to get that sinking feeling. Wouldn't be surprised if it ends up going straight to video in the U.S, anyway.
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She's lovely though, I'd like to poot my poot in her poots.
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go to trusty old Twitch, until the slightly more serious writers on this snailpace site cranks out some opinions.
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lest they ban me.
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Michael C. is my main shit-stain, and I CAN NOT WAIT to see this film. Hellzyah. And I'll prolly shell out for OB2, despite the warnings. Can't be worse than Iron Monkey 2...
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But it can't be any grimmer than "The Philanthropist"
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If I recall, she was so beautiful, it was distracting.On the other hand, Michael Douglas has always been gross to me. Definitely has that creepy uncle vibe.
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It's one of my favorite of Elmore Leonard's Western stories and this little movie follows it damn closely for about 9/10ths of the way, but then they tack on an ending that's 180 degrees from what Leonard wrote. I hate it when filmmakers think they know better than the authors of the material they're adapting.
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It cannot fail. Ever. Just wait as I type this and someone begins the script... old man vs. old neighborhood punk genre. Let the games begin.
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I guess I let the sexual screams of Harry in thai get the best of me. over hype of the century.
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Sep 23, 2009 6:14:24 AM CDT
Some must-sees there. And I'm just glad Jaa's OK and OB2 is fin
by mr nicholas
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