Oldboy, The Book Thief, Dallas Buyers Club

Oldboy

I will admit it: I was pretty excited for the remake of Oldboy. Typically, I don't think remakes are a good idea, but in this case, I did. First off, the remake was directed by Spike Lee, a divisive director but his best films are great films and I thought he was a good choice. Second of all, films with subtitles, no matter how good they are, will have trouble finding American audiences and that's just the way it is. I thought if the remake was really great, more people might just search for the original Korean film and it would get even more fans. The original Korean film is a cult classic for a reason. It's possibly the best foreign film I've ever seen - violent and edgy and dark and provocative; an instant classic. Unfortunately, the remake is merely a pale copy of a vivid film.

Saying too much about Oldboy risks giving something away. It's got twists and turns and a great, shocking ending. The basic premise is this: Joe (Josh Brolin) is an asshole with a long list of enemies. After a night of heavy drinking, he finds himself kidnapped and locked in a motel room where he is left to rot, framed for the murder of his ex-wife, for twenty years. Who kidnapped him and why? But the better question is: why let him out after twenty years? Once free, he tries to answer these questions and get his revenge. Brolin is great, there is no denying that. Sharlto Copley is this versions villain and I guess he might be auditioning for a Bond villain because I don't understand his over-the-top performance in the slightest. Samuel L. Jackson roams around dressed like the Penguin from Batman Returns. Some of the changes this version makes are for the better (doing away with the whole hypnosis subplot is a definite good thing), but overall, the movie is a huge disappointment, just like the American version of the epic, iconic hallway fight scene. I'm glad this version is more grounded in reality (the Korean version is a tad cartoon-ish at times), but it's also lost so much magic. The Korean version is definitely something special and if you don't mind subtitles, it's infinitely better than this mediocre wannabe.

Grade: C

The Book Thief

It seems strange to say a movie that is narrated by Death, takes place in Nazi Germany, and where more than half of the characters die is nice, but that's exactly what this movie is. There's nothing wrong with it, per se, there's just not much that's special about it either. The Book Thief is based on one of my favorite books of all time, a book that is so special and so singularly important to me, that it sort of makes me mad that the movie is not better. But, at the same time, I can't find a whole lot wrong with it. It's not that the book didn't translate well, it's just that it's so much better on the page. The book follows a young girl who is sent to live with a couple in Germany just before the start of World War II. She is obsessed with books and learning to read and ultimately steals books. She grows close to the neighbor boy Rudy, and also Max, the Jewish man living in her family's basement. It also seems strange to say that The Book Thief is a good movie to watch with the whole family, but it definitely is. It's just so damn nice that I can't really find much to say about it. It's definitely worth renting once it hits Redbox and Netflix.

Grade: B

Dallas Buyers Club

Earlier this year, I saw Prisoners which I felt was an average movie elevated by great acting performances. I feel the same way about Dallas Buyers Club. The movie is overly long, it takes so long to get started and, once it does, it's got a sort of deja vu feel where the same events seem to be happening over and over. Still, the tale of a homophobic straight man in Texas in 1985 who discovers he has AIDS is also riveting at times. This is in part to performances by Matthew McConaughey (how many award worthy performances can he give IN A ROW??? By my count, it's 5, with The Wolf of Wall Street still coming out this year)and, especially, especially, especially Jared Leto. After being diagnosed with AIDS, McConaughey's Ron meets a transvestite named Rayon (Leto) and the two form a Dallas Buyers Club, which is a place for AIDS patients to get drugs smuggled in from Mexico. They aren't paying for the illegal drugs, but instead, paying a membership fee which sort of circumnavigates the law. At the beginning of the AIDS crisis, when no one knew what drugs would work and what wouldn't, these Buyers Clubs helped people live longer lives with a steady dose of mostly vitamins and protein shots. Of course, the FDA wants to shut him down, and of course no doctors are sympathetic to his situation save for one played by Jennifer Garner, and of course, it's AIDS in the 80's, and you can only delay the inevitable for so long. McConaughey is absolutely amazing to watch. His performance is an instant classic and I think he's bound to finally get nominated for an Oscar for it. But the real magic here belongs to Leto who is just absolutely stunning. He's incendiary and the movie lights up whenever he is on screen. A few weeks ago, I claimed Michael Fassbender gave the years best performance in 12 Years a Slave, but Leto is a very, very close second. I wouldn't want to be an Oscar voter who has to choice between these two men, but then, I guess you can't go wrong. The movie is flawed, for sure, but the performances sure as hell aren't.

Grade: B

Elysium

The disappointing summer of 2013 continues...

In 2009, a first time director named Neill Blomkamp directed a little movie called District 9 which completely wowed me. I loved District 9 so much that his follow up film, Elysium, was my absolute most anticipated movie of this summer. I thought Blomkamp had a vision, something different and unique and more intelligent than that standard issue fare from the studios - sequels and reboots. But my anticipation was misplaced because I found Elysium to be nothing more than a huge disappointment.

The movie takes place in the year 2154, where Earth is little more than a shanty town full of the poor and the sick. Meanwhile, the rich live in outer space on a spherical man made planet called Elysium. They have perfect lawns and perfect weather and devices that can cure any illness or injury. Elysium is all but run by Jodie Foster, who has an indescribable accent for some reason, that comes and goes at will. Meanwhile, on Earth, a young boy named Max dreams of taking his childhood sweetheart Frey to the new planet. He grows up to be played by Matt Damon, an ex con who works a terrible job which leads to an accident that leaves him with only 5 days to live. Suddenly, he absolutely has to get to Elysium because they have the machinery to cure him. So, he goes to an old friend named Spider (Wagner Moura, where have you been all my life???). Spider is a shady underground figure who Max apparently did time for earlier so he owes him a favor. Spider's thugs outfit Max with a bad ass exoskeleton which makes him into some sort of super fighter dude, ask him to do one last job for them, and then promise him a ticket to Elysium. Of course, nothing goes right, Max runs into a grown up Frey (Alice Braga) who has problems of her own, and a sociopathic Elysium henchman named Kruger (Sharlto Copley).

So, that's Elysium in a nutshell. In some ways, this movie is really all that you can ask for out of a summer movie. It's got great direction, beautiful visuals, great acting, and special effects that are far and away from most everything else. Plus, it's got a very distinct style and vision and, although dark and depressing, it's special nonetheless. Also, it's so refreshing to have a big budget summer action movie that ISN'T IN 3D!!! So, thank the Lord for that, because I am totally burned out on 3D. So, if this looks and feels like a good sci-fi movie, then why is it so damn disappointing?

Well, for starters, the story is just so bogged down with unnecessary things. I think this sort of movie would have been best, and seemed smarter, if it had just stayed simple. You don't have to throw in some half-cooked, hair-brain idea about stealing encrypted information from someone's brain in order to seem smart, especially when this doesn't advance the plot in any real way. It just forces a character to get from point A to point B, when there are other ways that could have been done. The story just seemed so mediocre and I was definitely expecting so much more from the Blomkamp. I mean, if you don't have a good story to begin with then you really can't have a good movie. So, my biggest problem is the trite and haphazard nature of the plot, but that's hardly the only problem. Jodie Foster, who is a great, great actress, either isn't right for this role in the least or was just phoning it in. Her performance is terrible and nearly as distracting as whatever awful accent she was using for whatever reason. And don't even get me started on the lack of action in this "action movie."

But there is a saving grace and his name is Sharlto Copley, whose gleefully grinning maniac Kruger is the best damn thing about this movie. His performance is so intense, it puts everyone else to shame. He's perfection and gives the absolute best kind of performance, which is to say his mere presence manages to elevate the entire movie. If only he could have been in every single frame. Then perhaps I wouldn't have left Elysium so disappointed.

Grade: C-