4. Under the Skin

April 29th in Birmingham, AL: When I saw The Grand Budapest Hotel, the trailer for this film was attached and it piqued my interest because it was dark and I couldn't tell what the hell was going on. When I wrote the April Film Preview, I mentioned that the trailer gives nothing away and that according to the film's summary it was about "an alien in human form is on a journey through Scotland." Based on the ambiguous trailer I was hoping it wasn't a stupid comedy like Paul but I took a chance anyway. I liked director Jonathan Glazer's other feature, Sexy Beast, a lot so there was that as well.

I am not very technical when it comes to film. Granted, I can usually tell between a location shoot and a sound stage and I can recognize a steady cam shot but this film had a look that it's exterior shots were all done outdoors and without public knowledge. There's also very little dialogue. It's very difficult to tell what is going on. Anyway, the opening scene sees a dude dressed in motorcycle leathers retrieve a female body from a ditch by a highway and throw it in the back of a van. Inside the van it is stark white and a naked woman strips the clothing off the girl who was thrown into the van, both of whom appear to be Scarlett Johansson.

Definitely not the interior of a cargo van.

The motorcycle dude leaves and ScarJo drives the van into town in search of 18-25 year old men. ScarJo then attempts to pick up dudes under the pretense of "being lost" or needing "directions." Apparently 18-25 year old males aren't to cautious when being approached in a van being driven by Scarlett Johansson as she has no trouble finding willing participants (funny how aliens figured out that males will follow a pretty girl anywhere without question). She brings her victims to a house with a creepy all black interior, she walks along taking off her clothes and the dude follows doing the same (there's several full male frontal shots so be warned if that skeeves you out) until the dude starts to sink into some black fluid.

Still hoping for sex with ScarJo until fully submerged that is. Then that's all she wrote.

While in the black fluid, which isn't really fluid because the victim still breathes apparently. Until this happens...

Yeah, that's an "Edgar suit." - MiB reference btw (aliens).

It's not a grizzly death but it doesn't seem all that fantastic of a way to go, especially when you remove the part about sex with ScarJo. She's looking for single males who are just out by themselves and who live alone (no muss no fuss I guess). She runs into a dude at the beach who's by himself and living in a tent. ScarJo starts working him when the dude runs off to try to help a family,the wife went in to try to save the dog then the dad leaves the kid to try and get the mom. Doesn't end well. The swimmer (who's a Czech on vacation) is knocked unconscious and taken back to ScarJo's lair. The motorcycle dude returns to the beach to remove any traces of the swimmer, leaving the crying kid on the beach.

Things are now full throttle strange. ScarJo then goes after a dude with facial Neurofibromatosis. She feels pity for the poor guy and she allows him to live (for awhile at least, the motorcycle dude is very thorough). ScarJo gets in the van and drive until it runs out of gas. She finds herself in a small town where she is helped by a man who takes her his home. He feeds her, gives her a room for herself and generally shows her some kindness. Meanwhile, there's actually four motorcycle dudes and they go out to search for ScarJo because they need more victims I guess.

ScarJo leaves after a botched sexual encounter with the kind man and runs into the woods (again, nothing good ever, ever happens in the woods). As she's strolling aimlessly through the forest she runs into a fellow who seems to think sexual assault might be a good way to go, so let's call this dude Rapey McRaperson. McRaperson attacks ScarJo but stops as her skins starts to peel after he rips her clothes. ScarJo then reveals her true self but it's all short lived as Rapey douses here with gas and lights her on fire. The End.

This is not a bad film per se but I wouldn't begrudge someone who doesn't like it as I myself sat dumbfounded for stretches of time. The dialogue is almost nonexistent and there's no music to give away the plot. Which is ok, the film takes you on a trip and it doesn't tell you where you're going. So it's not very predictable. As for the acting, it's not Shakespearean by any standards because there seems to very little of it because of the lack of dialogue, keep in mind ScarJo's victims are Scottish men so some of them need subtitles. When ScarJo isn't trying to score victims she doesn't talk, she just has s glazed look on her face, like an alien would have if they were in a body out together like ScarJo. Right? Anyway, I'm on the fence with this, it's not a bad film but I would only recommend it to certain people but make no mistake, Glazer  made a decent, indie, low budget sci-fi film that has merits. It was "experimental" if you will.

Thank you for your time.

May 2014 Film Preview

May 2nd

• The Amazing Spider Man 2: There's three villains (Electro, Green Goblins and Rhino), a conspiracy in regards to Peter's dad, and a look into Sinister Six. It is with a high level of certainty that I will see this film. 
• Walk of Shame: Elizabeth Banks, is an local LA news anchor who goes out for a night of drunken revelry with her pals. Since the title is a small hint, Banks finds herself in a bad part of town, in a revealing outfit with out her car or any ID. Oh and she's going to be looked at for a network gig so she has to get to the studio for her big break. This is pretty predictable and is littered with cliches. Banks is talented and funny but I don't know that she can carry a film.
• Belle: Gugu Mabatha-Raw plays the lead character, a woman of mixed race who is raised by her British Naval officer father's aristocratic family. Belle is raised as kind of an equal, by that I mean she's not treated as a slave, just as the help (so much better). Belle struggles to gain acceptance within her family and the upper society she's been brought up in. She also falls in love with a young aristocrat and surprise! That causes a problem with his family. Belle has an all-star cast and looks to be a solid period piece. If period pieces are your thing, then this could be a film for you.
• Mr. Jones: After watching the trailer, this appears to be a "found footage" film that has all the makings of The Blair Witch Project. A cutesy couple drive into a remote section of the woods (a swell idea) to look for a recluse named, Mr. Jones apparently. The first sign they should've turned around and left would be the creepy stick-like creations depicting crucifixion and other fun things. As with all scary films, make sure you do your research as most of them seem to suck.

May 9th

• Neighbors: Ugh! Where to begin? Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are your typical white breed couple with a newborn living in a nice suburban neighborhood. Their domestic tranquility is interrupted when Zac Efron and his fraternity, Phi Crotcha Stud, move in next door and act like stereotypical fraternity douches. The very thought of this hideous Old School wannabe hurts my brain. Every scene from the trailer is a brutal cliche. Admittedly, the scenes where Rogen falls into multiple booby traps involving an airbag bring a smile to my face. Otherwise this looks beyond stupid.
• Chef: Jon Favreau writes, stars and directs an all-star cast about a chef who tries to find himself by cooking food he believes in. That leads him to making Cuban Sandwiches out of a truck (just like Jason Segel in The Five Year Engagement) and good times ensue. Normally I'd avoid a film like this but Favreau is a good writer/director and it's got a great cast so it could be worth a look.
• The Double: Jesse Eisenberg plays nerdy nobody Simon, the kind of guy no one notices (like most of the characters Eisenberg plays). Then one day the new guy at work James, turns Simon's world upside down. James is the exact double as Simon except that he's a bit more assertive. James slowly starts to take over Simon's life but no one around seems to notice. This looks like it could be an interesting dark comedy art house film. 
• Devil's Knot: Director Atom Egoyan's latest film brings us a dramatic story of the West Memphis Three. Reese Witherspoon puts on a few pounds (in an obvious attempt at Oscar recognition) as she plays one of the mothers of the victims. The film focuses on how the murder, arrest and trial affects her and her family. Egoyan has made some really good films (check out The Sweet Hereafter) but I don't know where I stand on this. Colin Firth stars as one of the lawyers but I think that you would get more out of watching one of the three documentaries about the subject.
• God's Pocket: In what looks to be Philip Seymour Hoffman's last film, he plays a small time hood who investigates the death of his stepson (who no one in the town really cares about except his mom played by Christina Hendricks). Th trailer shows PSH getting into all sorts of hijinx snooping around the construction site where the boy died and with the body itself. I guess it's a black comedy or something but it doesn't look all that great (guess that's why it only got a 14% at Rotten Tomatoes). This looks like it's a small independent film so it may not get a wide relsease but it has a solid cast with Richard Jenkins and John Turturro along with Hendricks and PSH.

There are a bunch of other titles that open this weekend but after reading the summary about them, they don't seem worth mentioning. 

May 16th

• Godzilla: Once again there is a high probability that I will be seeing this film on or about opening day. The trailer looks cool as balls and should erase the memory of the 1997 version where Matthew Broderick (?) was the hero.
• Million Dollar Arm: Don Draper plays a baseball scout who thinks outside the box and defines conventional wisdom by going to India in search of pitching prospects. This film is from Disney so it'll most likely have a happy ending, they'll be some fish out of water jokes and I wouldn't be surprised if Draper has some sort of epiphany towards the end of the film. It's allegedly based on a true story. I seem to recall Kevin Bacon doing the same thing in The Air Up There when he went to Africa to find basketball players.
• The Immigrant: Marion Cotillard is an immigrant separated from her sister at Ellis Island. She's forced to fend for herself. Things go from bad to worse when she runs into Joaquin Phoenix who forces her into prostitution. Eventually she runs into stage magician Jeremy Renner and things start to look up. Talented cast, could be worth seeing.
• Wolf Creek 2: The evil Crocodile Dundee is back for another go around as he menaces twenty-somethings in the Outback. The Outback is such a HUUUGE area it seems unlikely that campers would stumble upon this guy's hunting ground but it happened again.
• A Night in Old Mexico: Robert Duvall plays a Texan who loses his ranch and is forced to relocate to a trailer park. Being an old codger, Duvall is having none of it, so he and his grandson make for Mexico and along the way they encounter some seedy hitchhikers. After ditching to hitchers they get to Mexico for one last hurrah. The problem is that the hitchers left a bag of money in the car and things get a little No Country for Old Men.

May 23rd

• X-Men: Days of Future Past: The newest installment of the X-Men franchise has Wolverine going back in time to warn Professor X and the X-Men: First Class gang that the future is really bleak. This film is based a two issue story arc that took place after the Dark Phoenix saga. Make no mistake, I will be seeing this film and perhaps even more than once. The trailer raises some interesting questions, like how did Professor X get unparalyzed? But instead of trying to answer these questions, I will allow the film to take a swing at it.
• Blended: Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore team up again as single parents who have a bad date but manage to run into each other, with kids in tow, on vacation. I will lay dollars to donuts that there is absolutely nothing original here. Both Sandler and Barrymore have bled the romcom dry. Do something else already.
• Palo Alto: A group of high school kids are disenchanted with life in a well to do suburb and go looking for trouble. Also, James Franco gets a little inappropriate with one of his students, Emma Roberts. It looks gritty but I have a hard time empathizing with teens who aren't satisfied with their upper middle class lives and need an adrenaline fix. 
• Tracks: Mia Wasikowska plays Robyn Davidson, who decided to trek across 2,000 miles of Australian desert with her dog and 4 camels in 1977. Why did she do this? Why the heck not apparently! Lots of great cinematography and of course the conquering spirit of the heroine. Adam Driver plays the National Geographic photographer sent to document her trip. 
• The Angriest Man in Brooklyn: Robin Williams is a bitter New York jerk who is diagnosed with a deadly brain aneurism by Mila Kunis and is given 90 minutes to live. So naturally he wants to reconcile his life and it being Robin Williams, hilarity ensues. Being a jerk, Williams has his work cut out for him. This film has a solid cast but the jokes from the trailer fell flat.
• The Hornets Nest: Documentary about U.S. troops (it appears to be the 101st Airborne by the looks of it) fighting the War in Afghanistan. Lots of up close footage of troops in close quarter fire fights. This is a film that most Americans should see.
• Words and Pictures: Clive Owen is an English teacher at an upscale prep-school with writer's block (words). Juliette Binoche is the new art teacher who paints (pictures). Both have some baggage and manage to overcome and fall in love. I managed to put that all together by only watching half the trailer. Ugh!

May 30th

• Maleficent: Angelina Jolie is the evil witch from Sleeping Beauty as we get to learn her origin! Jolie looks awesome and the film looks very interesting. It may not be as dark as some would like it because it's a Disney film but it could be worth it as there's a lot early buzz around the film.
• A Million Ways to Die in the West: Seth MacFarlane's 2nd directorial feature has him in Arizona in 1882 where the odds of a long life are stacked against you. Part of the film spends time on the different ways the town folk "buy the farm," from getting crushed by a giant block of ice to burning to death from taking a photo at the town fair. Then along comes Liam Neeson, the local bad ass who starts shooting up the town and MacFarlane has to stand up to him (this part seems to play out in a similar manner to Marty and "Mad Dog" Tannen from Back to the Future 3). Charlize Theron has to train MacFarlane in the finer points of marksmanship in increase his odds of survival (this led to the one laugh out loud scene from the trailer). I saw Ted, and I will probably see this but I suspect there will be plenty of recycled Family Guy jokes littered throughout the film. 
• Filth: James McAvoy is a dirty cop along the lines of Harvey Keitel in Bad Lieutenant. This is a gritty cop drama from the creators of Trainspotting but it is not directed by Danny Boyle. 
• Night Moves: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard team up to conspire to do something to a dam. The trailer doesn't give you much other than they do a lot of stuff at dusk and they always seem to have a sullen look on their respective faces. Indie film that may not get a wide release so you may have to look for it.
• Kornegal: Sebastian Junger's follow-up to Restrepo with the same troops in the same valley. A must see!
• Delivery: The Beast Within: A low budget, indie found footage film that mixes Rosemary's Baby with Paranormal Activity (it actually says that in one of the review blurbs). Pregnant heroine does weird stuff as she gets closer to her delivery date. Ugh.

3. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

April 17th in Birmingham, AL: I had been looking forward to this and the timing worked out well during a business trip to "the Ham." Let me start off by saying that you have to suspend reality when watching this film. Not just the super hero or "science" aspect, it's the political aspect. There is no way the United States government could fund all the cool shit that SHIELD has. The income tax rate would be at 75% and all the wealthy alleged "job creators" would feel the squeeze as well. After being frozen for over 50 years and joining the Avengers, Cap is working for SHIELD doing covert ops with Black Widow as a member of the team.

As time goes by Cap seems to think that working for SHIELD isn't what it's cracked up to be and maybe director Fury is not telling him the whole story. Well it turns out Cap's instincts were right, but it's worse than he realizes. Fury narrowly escapes an assassination attempt and tries to enlists Cap's help. Fury is then "liquidated" and while pursuing the assassin, Cap comes face to face with...the mysterious Winter Soldier. Cap goes to meet with Alexander Pierce, Fury's boss, and after the meeting Pierce's goons try to take Cap into custody in an elevator. Despite a 12-1 man advantage, Cap beats everyone up and is now on the run. An outlaw. He links up with Black Widow and the pair dodge SHIELD agents inn DC and make their way to an old Army base in New Jersey.

At the base Cap and Widow find a secret bunker with outdated 70's computer technology and Cap comes face to computerized face/voice with Arnim Zola (Red Skull's weapons designer). Turns out that Pierce had recruited Zola and has been secretly infiltrating SHIELD for decades with HYDRA agents! After barley escaping a drone strike, Cap and Widow make their way back to DC. In DC they go to hide out with Sam Wilson, a guy Cap befriended while jogging. SamWilson, being a veteran and a stand-up guy, isn't about to let Cap and Widow attack SHIELD without his help. Luckily he happens to be an expert at a certain piece of military technology that will no doubt be very helpful in their castle onslaught (funny how that always works out that way for the good guys).

Fast forward a bit and Cap reveals that Pierce is a HYDRA agent and that SHIELD has been compromised (be advised...Fury was only mostly dead which is actually slightly alive). So Cap, Sam, Widow and Fury manage to foil HYDRA's plan by destroying hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax payer funded machinery over Washington DC (somehow with no collateral damage I'm sure). While this is going down Cap and the Winter Soldier have their final showdown. Cap has a slight advantage in knowing the Winter Soldier's true identity...his old pal "Bucky" Barnes! It turns out that Bucky survived the fall from the train in the first film (remember when Cap rescued him he had been "experimented" on by Zola). Russian troops found him and Zola did some more work on him, he was placed in suspended animation and thawed out as a communist assassin.

There was a lot of things I liked about this film, the HYDRA (although they come off a bit like the League of Shadows) aspect was well done and Redford was a solid villain for starters. Inside this superhero film was a nice little spy thriller. I like they way they worked Agent 13 into the story line. For those who don't know, Agent 13 is Sharon Carter. Agent 13 and Cap were an item back in the day and I seem to remember getting killed in a fight with HYDRA but whatever. There was also the standard easter egg where a secret HYDRA facility has been "experimenting" on Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch. Given, they don't mention them by name but it's been no secret that they were going to make an appearance in this film so they can be tied to the next Avengers installment due out next Summer. They also worked some other names into the film since part of HYDRA's plan with the three heli-carriers were to eliminate potential threats, Bruce Banner and Stephen Strange are mentioned. To say the least Marvel has got their shit together in regards to their characters despite the fact that the properties are spread out over different studios. They seem to have a solid long term plan, unlike DC. If you're into comic book films like I am, this is worth seeing.