Screenhead

I was really looking forward to this one, I’ll tell you that much going in.  I saw Borat back in 2006, and I really liked it.  I loved the way Sacha Baron Cohen playfully jabbed at our weaknesses and failings, as a way for us to maybe take a little better look at how we treat other people.  Was it frequently wrong, how we treated others?  Yes, of course it was.  Look at those poor dumb fratboys who got in the trailer with him.  They’ll NEVER live that down.  See?  We’re even still talking about it three years later!  Right here!

But Bruno…this is somewhat different.

Bruno, opening today,  is the story of Bruno, a nineteen year old fashionista played ably by Sacha Baron Cohen and the former host of Funky Tag, a show dedicated to fashion and similarly pointless topics such as a “What’s in / what’s out” segment. One such segment declared chlamydia out and autism in because “autism is funnier”.

That is a QUOTE, please save your flames.

Indeed, Bruno was on top of the world, with Germany-wide fame, at least minor celebrity and power, and even a flight attendant boyfriend, plus several bicycle-powered sex toys.  No, seriously.  But following a disaster of epic proportions involving a suit made entirely of velcro at the Prada show, Bruno was out.  And thus, taking with him only his assistant’s assistant Lutz, Bruno went to Los Angeles in search of global celebrity.  But what he would find would be much more and much different than he would ever expect.

Like I said above, Bruno was a much different animal from Borat.  Sure, both started out about the same, making me laugh with the power of sheer over-the-top antics.  Borat had The Running Of The Jews, Bruno had a three minute sequence involving things he did with his flight attendant boyfriend.  Sheer ludicrousity fuels the comedy in both Borat AND Bruno.

But Bruno…Bruno overdid the ludicrousity.  I know, how can it be possible?  The very definition of ludicrous requires it to be laughably unrealistic!  How can you overdo the unrealistic when it’s REQUIRED for ludicrous!  Oh, they did.  Believe me, they did.

Most of the movie is, as I’ve mentioned, that gentle poking of fun with the standard overblown Sacha Baron Cohen style,  with one-note jokes over and over again:  gay guy learns self-defense, gay guy baits ministers, gay guy tries to join the Army, gay guy baits more ministers, gay guy goes down South and tries to bait EVERYBODY and so on and so forth.  But not a whole lot of people are rising to that bait.

Until the night of the cage match, and this is where it really gets low.

See, Cohen, in a new persona as “Straight Dave”, sets up a cage match.  Lots of people there, plenty of them clearly crocked, several actually holding beers.  And “Straight Dave” ramps up the rhetoric, describing how great it is to be around straight people, how he’s glad no “fags” are around (again, QUOTE, no flames, thank you) and it goes on like this until Lutz shows up.

You can probably figure out what happened from there, but I’ll say this much, the phrase “descent into barbarism” is at least somewhat appropriate.  Bruno stacks the deck by trying literally everything it can think of to bait a response.  Sometimes it works, more often it doesn’t.  Thus, we’re left with a series of gay jokes that fall terribly flat and a skewed reflection of the very worst of America.  It’s the Borat that didn’t work.

I had wondered how Cohen could ever manage to pull off another Borat–wouldn’t everyone see him coming?  And the answer, for the most part, is yes.  No matter what outlandishness he tries–and man, does he ever try–he just can’t replicate what he did the first time.

Bruno is a profound waste of time and money.

Popularity: 1% [?]

I have to admit, there have not been a whole lot of World War 2 movies coming out these days.  I guess that whole “greatest generation” buzz just kinda wore off in the face of a depression that’s looking like it’ll make the thirties look like the nineties.  This is why I was actually pretty happy to find a copy of great war movie Defiance, featuring Daniel Craig and Liev Schreiber.

Craig and Shreiber play the Bielski brothers, a pair of Jews who witnessed the complete destruction of their hometown at the hands of the Germans.  At least they looked like Germans–they seemed to be wearing the right uniform.  But anyway, following the slaughter of all they knew and loved, these simple farmers became freedom fighters, escaping into the woods around their houses, picking up strays as they went.  Eventually, the steadily growing collective built a camp in the woods with shelter for its residence, food storage and dispersal, and even fighting positions.  Sure, there was infighting and privation and sacrifice and everything else, but by and large, they got along well.  In fact, given the state of a lot of OTHER Jews in Europe at the time they were doing pretty nicely indeed.  But of course, this couldn’t last, and eventually the Germans grew tired of the Bielski group’s constant raids and sabotages and killing of German soldiery, so they launched all out war, eventually sending an entire division in a time when every man Hitler could muster was being either thrown at the Russians or at the Americans.

And I’ll be honest with you, this is a GREAT movie.  It’s got a huge runtime by today’s standards—just over two hours in fact—but you will almost barely notice it go by.  There is not a dull moment in this, whether they’re building their camp or blasting Nazis or running from same, there’s always something interesting going on here.

It’s a downright inspirational piece, as people in the midst of a horrible situation grapple with the very worst parts of their humanity, facing greed and rage and the craving for revenge, and yet at the same time, they also struggle to reaffirm their humanity in a time when they’re hunted like animals.

I love how this movie can switch so rapidly and so seamlessly between the most tender feelings humanity can muster for each other and the sheer blinding rage of hatred and warfare and bloodshead.  The dichotomy is just amazing, and watching this is like a blistering mix of themes and flavors all at once, that combines to make a whole far, far greater than the sum of its parts.

We need more movies like Defiance.  We need more characters willing to stand in the breach the way these characters do and willing to face down all the horrors that modern man can generate.  We need a little more uplifting in our movies…but just a little more.  It’s the kind of thing that’s so very easy to overdo.  Maybe Defiance didn’t, but it wouldn’t be hard for anyone else to do it.  It wouldn’t have been that hard for even Defiance itself to overdo it.  But it didn’t, and that’s the great news for all of us.

Basically, Defiance is an amazing movie with top-notch performances, a great cast, and a plotline so uplifting it’s a wonder there isn’t a hole in my ceiling right now just from watching this thing.  It’s definitely worth your time to see this.

Popularity: 1% [?]

From Variety comes word that producer Joel Silver has landed a five-year, fifteen picture co-production deal with German studio Babelsberg. The films will be produced under the Dark Castle Entertainment label and be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Silver is known for his work on Speed Racer, V for Vendetta as well as upcoming films The Reader and Valkyrie. The first film will be shot in Berlin in Spring 2009.

Popularity: 1% [?]

A large part of the missing footage cut from Metropolis, Fritz Lang’s most impressive film of its time, after it flopped upon opening in 1927 has been found in a museum in Argentina.

The most expensive film ever made in German at that time, 1927, the cult sci-fi classic, was written by Lang and his wife.

Metropolis did poorly, so the movie received a re-edit to recoup costs, cutting about 25% of the film.  It was released and received great acclaim.

Yet a copy of the original version ended up in Argentina by Adolfo Z. Wilson, who was head of Buenos Aires distribution named Terra.  

Now, the original unedited version of Metropolis has been found.

For film lovers and historians this is awesome.  The film needs to be restored; I hope it is, because it’s not in the best of shape with scratches and such.

Personally, I’d like to see the original version and see what Lang truly intended with his film about futuristic urban dystopia. The year 2006 set against the conditions of social tension between the working class and capitalist bosses.

Metropolis was considered a classic in part because of its pioneering special effects.

Popularity: 1% [?]