"Good For Nothing" Review: A Refreshing Gallop Into The West

To simply say this film is about a Clint Eastwoodesque cowboy on the other side of the law who forcibly captures a seemingly naive English woman and hurls her over the back of his horse hoping to have his way with her, doesn't really do it justice. Good For Nothing is not your typical spaghetti western, there is a lot more sauce and much less cheese than you would think. You're watching the vulnerability of the most grizzled of outlaws being melted into a tenderfoot at the hands of a curvaceous fair skinned city slicker. His manhood is literally and figuratively taken away from him when he can't perform during his attempt to "poke" his newly acquired female treasure.

Good For Nothing glides across the scenic landscapes of New Zealand where it was filmed, painting a stunning sun stroked canvas in which the typical wild west stereotypes are turned on it's ear. The moment Inge Rademeyer steps off the train as the soon to be captive Isabella she steals the show. She takes her lumps as the damsel in distress but the dirt and grime doesn't take away from her sex appeal as you wonder if she is ever going make it to her Uncle's house after her father's death. Cohen Holloway plays it straight as The Man, and although he is gruff and thick skinned he grows as an actor on screen along with his character.

Director Mike Wallis has crafted a most unorthodox medley of action, romance, and comedy, against the backdrop of a straight forward frontier Western. There is plenty of violence for fans of the genre, guns are fired and blood is spilled. One of the bodies that is left behind causes an good ole' posse to tail the lady thief and the lady herself, who is mistaken as whore. The pursuit adds the right amount of suspense as The Man attempts to figure out why can’t function below the belt by visiting medicine men of Asian and Native American descent. It’s not as if Wallis is reinventing the wheel but his knowledge of the genre is apparent and you seems like his time working closely with the likes of James Cameron and Peter Jackson have paid off.

The dialogue is sparse but relevant giving the actors a chance to actually harness their craft on screen before you.  When The Man storms into a doctor’s office under the guise of a serious sequence and utters the phrase “My dick is broke.” you can’t help but chuckle. The methodical exchanges and well planned visuals are accompanied by some impressive melodic sounds courtesy John Psathas and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. The music only adds to the illusion that you are hiding in the brush watching these interesting characters in this most curious predicament.

Good For Nothing is not going to break box office records and may not be the best Western you’ll ever see, but any fan of Westerns can easily note the appreciation that Wallis has for the genre. He understands what is required of of taking on a Western and also knows how far you can push it without upsetting the nostalgia fans are accustomed to. Interested to see what Wallis is going to dig his spurs into next, and whatever it is I hope that his companion Inge Rademeyer is attached to it. Good For Nothing opens March 9^th in select theaters.  

"Project X" Review: Your Fondest Teenage Memories On Steroids

Like any story worth telling, this story is about a girl. Not just any girl, every girl. Or at least the hottest ones that every delusional adolescent male dreamed of impressing or undressing in high school.  Project X is the party you always were hoping you would be invited to and the one you always dreamed of throwing.  It's about our incessant need to feel accepted and the pains our insecure and awkward selves go through in order to achieve such a lofty goal. It's the one night you'll remember forever, when you couldn't believe their were topless girls in the pool and wondered drunkenly aloud how you survived that insane leap from the roof.

Project X takes you on a found footage journey with three unknown high school students who have little to no impact on the social scene, yet. Costa (Oliver Cooper), a character straight out of The Bronx Tale, is foaming at the mouth for the opportunity to throw a "game-changer" of a birthday party for his unnaturally shy friend Thomas (Thomas Mann) when his parents sneak away for their anniversary. Along with the Fudgie The Whale like JB (Jonathan Daniel Brown), Costa takes to word of mouth, email, radio, and Craiglist to ensure the guest list is overflowing with willing and able teenage partygoers.

Director Nima Nourizadeh somehow seemlessly transitions back and forth from what plays like a pulse pounding music video featuring gyrating adolescents engaging in every parents worst nightmare to suprisingly meaningful yet lighthearted character moments. The jokes seem familiar since we've probably seen them before in some past on screen comedic incarnation or another but they hit at the right time and they hit it hard. The party hard mind of Producer Todd Phillips of The Hangover fame almost oozes from the shaky cam footage. It's your fondest teenage memories on steroids as penned by Matt Drake and Michael Bacall.

The visuals are raw as Nourizadeh emerges you right into the sweaty alcohol soaked orgy making you feel just as blissfully disoriented as the party attendees themselves. You smash cut from the main cameraman Dax to the cell phones of partygoers providing a myriad of viewpoints in which to absorb the large amount of visual euphoria. When Thomas, Costa, and JB are standing on the roof looking down on the mass hysteria they somehow managed to orchestrate Thomas asks Costa, "Is this big enough to be cool?" You want it to be bigger and boy does it get there and more.

Although Project X hits you over the head again and again with escalating party mayhem at it's raunchiest, you still route for the characters. I wanted Thomas to score with Alexis, the hottest girl in school. I even hoped there might be something more than friendship brewing with the girl next door Kirby. At it's bare minimum the movie does what it was made to do, it makes you laugh. For 88 minutes you are sitting right smack dab in the middle of complete and utter chaos and loving every minute of it. You may even reminisce a little, about the one that got away, or that night that completely got out of hand. We've all been there, sometimes we just need a little reminder.

Gainsbourg (Vie Heroique)

Gainsbourg (vie heroique) gained much attention for not only becoming the first film ever to tell the story of France’s legendary rebel named Serge Gainsbourg on the big screen, but also accomplishing it in such unconventional manner that it appears questionable whether the film can be categorized as anything that matches the standards of a biopic.

The cinematic debut of Joan Sfar, a famous comics creator from Europe, may split its audience in two parties by his venture to approach the long-existing idea of a movie about the French cult of the last century through a rather risky exposure of the protagonist’s inner world and personal life, rather than going the traditional route of aiming at exploration of his career’s rises and falls and the public image his persona represented in society.

Those, who are looking forward to the thorough examining of the true events in the tumultuous life of a rowdy celebrity, will be left unsatisfied from the opening scene to the final credits of an over-two-hour observation of Serge’s continuous love affairs and interactions with his illusions from childhood imagination.

Nevertheless, the film apparently doesn’t lose much from its inconsistency with the real life of Gainsbourg, as it still succeeds to build connection between Gainsbourg and us, between his reality and ours, thus it is not surprising if you find yourself wondering what turn the story will take after the first fifteen minutes.

Sfar’s choice to focus his entire film on personal concerns of Gainsbourg may be applauded by ones and criticized by others. The man, whose name is behind some of the most controversial songs of the last century, was notorious for his outrageous attitude on stage and inadmissible statements addressed to those in power.

Aside from the scene involving Gainsbourg’s dispute with the right-wing war veterans in the last act, all this is barely even mentioned in Sfar’s movie. Although it would be certainly delightful to have a whole movie about the thrilling conflict between Gainsbourg and society and between his songs and publicity, Sfar’s movie proves that the personal life of the rowdy, yet talented and clever artist is also tremendously fascinating to watch.

Without any doubt, the movie strongly stands on the phenomenal acting, which quickly sells the story and convinces in its credibility. The lead actor, Eric Elmosnino, precisely implements every peculiar movement, every eccentric gesture and every unique face expression of Serge Gainsbourg to the degree, at which it becomes impossible to discern the actor in his role and question the embodiment of Gainsbourg on the screen.

Elmosnino completely disappears, giving the breath to the iconic figure in French music to have just one leap from the past to the present days and take advantage over another chance to sing seducing songs to his gorgeous women and handle queer conversations with the surreal La Guele, well-performed by the common man behind the mask, Doug Jones. The grandiose acting of the cast splendidly balances with Sfar’s surreal visuals and transiently flowing narrative.

However, the film’s title Gainsbourg (vie heroique), translated as Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, may cause confusion among many. Such title would be appropriate to the film about an artist, who was fighting for the truths he believed in, which was well-depicted in Gainsbourg’s argument with veterans of the war in Algeria regarding the actual meaning of the lyrics of the French national anthem, La Marseillaise. On the contrary, Sfar’s vie heroique implies the story of an unattractive man, whose talent is personified by his own hyperbole and whose dirty songs about lollipops have brought such beautiful and elegant ladies as Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin to his bed.

The question that may be whirling in one’s mind throughout the whole movie is “What was so great about this guy that turned him into a national idol?”. Every French person knows the answer to this question even prior to the beginning of the film, while every foreigner will leave theatre still asking this question until he looks up in the Internet or encyclopedia. A Heroic Life runs for over two hours, but never really reveals what was so heroic about Serge Gainsbourg.

Joan Sfar’s movie is ingenious in its delivery of the story, similarly to Francesco Rosi’s Salvatore Giuliano and Todd Haynes’s I’m Not There. Its charming and unusual visual style and excellent acting contribute to the film’s distinction from others in its genre. The film is far from being anything like a detailed and reliable guide in exploring Serge Gainsbourg’s biography and the answer that would explain the prominence of his role in French culture and music.

Nonetheless, it is an entertaining journey throughout his private life, which discloses some truths of Gainsbourg’s nature and the way he was when not on stage. Gainsbourg (vie heroique) represents a sea one should cautiously swim in when discovering the deepness of Gainsbourg’s inner world, not a surface to confidently walk upon while investigating the reality that surrounded the protagonist.

DVD Review: The Brothers Bloom

There is nothing wrong with enjoying a solid "con movie" once in awhile. Some recent examples would be the "Ocean's 11", "Oceans 12", and for those who lost count, "Ocean's 13". One of my favorite "con movies" and one of the best of all time in my very humble opinion, "The Sting". These films sometimes let us in on the secret and sometimes they let us think we're in on it, but this genre needs to keep us guessing and entertained at the same time.

"The Brothers Bloom", lensed by Rian Johnson, giveth the con and then taketh away, only to do it all over again...and again. Considering the title one would think that this would be about two brothers with the last name Bloom, but surprisingly that isn't the case. This story is about two brothers, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) and Bloom (Adrien Brody) there last names never are mentioned.

Bloom was thrust into playing the role of a Con-Man at a young age courtesy of careful planning and plotting by his brother Stephen. As they progress in age Stephen continues to embrace the role of maestro, orchestrating elaborate cons and enjoying every minute of it along with his deadeye Asian girlfriend who answers to the name of Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi). Bloom on the other hand feels as though he has never really been himself, and merely a pawn in game after game being controlled by his brother.

Early on in the film the brothers skillfully begin to set up a filthy rich eager young woman named Penelope (Rachel Weisz) who lives alone in a fortress like mansion. Although Bloom attempts to distance himself from this world, his brother drags him back in with the greatest of ease. Of course the beautiful and very eligible sophisticate ends up as a love interest to one of the brothers and fills in admirably in the role.

The twists and turns in this film would confuse even M. Night wearing an Alfred Hitchcock mask, although said twists are both interesting and fun. You almost find yourself competing with the rest of the viewing audience as to where the multiple cons begin and end. However the amusement eventually gets tiresome and you can only ride the coaster a certain amount of times before getting sick to your stomach.

I can't put my finger on when this film ended but in my mind it was long before the credits started to roll. I found myself wishing for a tighter more polished version of this film because of the large amount of delight there is to be had. The film is easy on the eyes, as the characters bounce from such exotic locals as Montenegro and Serbia.

Johnson attempts to create a timeless feel which he achieves for the most part despite the bright yellow sports cars and cell phones. The film tries not to take itself seriously but seriously misses the mark when drama and emotion are needed. The acting really helps you throughout he confusing areas of the film. Weisz is refreshing as Penelope and plays the wide eyed rich girl with a wry smile. Ruffalo is likeable despite his incessant disregard for his brother's feelings. You believe that Brody really wants something more even if he can't turn his back on his family to achieve his goal.

A decent entry into the Con-Genre by the thirty-something Johnson and not a bad follow up to the much talked about "Brick". If Johnson can tone down the "Look at me" factor in his next film, he can deliver a movie both endearing and compact with enough dramatic action to put asses in the seats and keep them there.

Grade: C+