Film

Burning bright

Life of Pi

It’s that time of year when studios release their Oscar hopefuls, continuing the embraced tradition of saving the best—or, what they hope to convince us is the best—for last. So here’s Life of Pi, an adaptation of the seemingly unfilmable novel by Yann Martel about a 14-year-old boy spending more than 200 days at sea, alone on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger that totally wants to eat his face. Many took a crack at making the 2001 spiritual novel into a film, and many just threw their hands up in the air, said “Screw this, I’m going to Cabo!” and departed. I never read the book, but seeing a synopsis of the story had me thinking it would be best to leave this particular fable on the page. It appeared it would be a real bitch to film. Then I read somebody got director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Hulk) on the project. For me, this means hold on to your asses because something amazing is on the way. Life of Pi is just that: an amazing achievement in filmmaking. Not only does it prove an entirely unfilmable project filmable, it proves to be one of the year’s best movies, and easily one of the best uses of the 3-D medium. Lee is a creative force that cannot be deterred or stopped. Life of Pi is his most splendorous and enchanting film to date, and that’s coming from the guy who gave us Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It only takes a few seconds of this film’s opening, depicting animals grazing in an Indian zoo, to see that a master has some-

thing special in store for us. Here’s a 3-D movie so innovative, even the great critic and 3-D naysayer Roger Ebert declared, “I love the use of 3-D in Life of Pi.” Anybody who reads Ebert knows he detests 3-D, so we’re definitely talking about a landmark film achievement when The Ebert comes around. Lee has cast Suraj Sharma as the teenaged Pi, and Irrfan Khan as the adult Pi, and both deliver performances that center the film.by Bob Grimm Khan sets a good, worldly tone as the older Pi being interviewed by a writer (Rafe bgrimm@ Spall) who heard he had a great story to tell.newsreview.com Khan describes, in very matter-of-fact terms, how he came to be the lone survivor of a5 spectacular shipwreck. The shipwreck sequence, by itself, is some of the most harrowing and eye-popping footage you will see this or any year. Lee uses 3-D to put you right in the middle of it. As water pounds Pi, you’ll be checking yourself to see if you’re wet. Pi finds himself in a lifeboat out at sea with members of his family’s zoo that were being transported on the big boat: a frightened zebra, a crazed hyena and, of course, a rather annoyed tiger. Things transpire, and it’s just Pi and the tiger staring each other down, with Pi using a makeshift raft to stay the heck out of the boat. The tiger, as it turns out, is not very good company. The tiger itself is a mixture of CGI and actual tigers. He’s named Richard Parker for a reason I won’t give away, and there’s never a dull moment when he’s on screen. I especially liked when Richard Parker found himself in the water, and unable to get back on the boat. And let it be said that there are few things sadder than a giant, soaked tiger that’s very hungry. Those who have not read the book are in for a lot of surprises when watching Life of Pi. Those who have read it are in for some big surprises as well, in that the film does great honor to the bestseller. If you read it thinking “There’s no way anybody can make this into a movie!” you are in for a big shock. It’s a movie, all right, and it’s a great one. Ω

“Meow.”

1

POOR

2

FAIR

3

GOOD

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VERY GOOD

5

EXCELLENT 4Argo Ben Affleck makes another meaty movie with this spellbinding recreation of the late ’70s/early ’80s Iran hostage crisis, and the strange CIA mission that helped to extricate six American citizens from Iran at a most inopportune time. Affleck directs and stars as Tony Mendez, who hatches an elaborate plan to pose as a Canadian film director scouting Iran for shooting locations, with the six Americans posing as his Canadian film crew. The whole scenario seems ridiculous, yet it actually happened. Having lived through this period of American history, I can tell you that Affleck does a terrific job of capturing the look and mood of the time. The late ’70s were sort of humiliating both in terms of our status overseas and the way folks were wearing their hair. Bryan Cranston, John Goodman and Alan Arkin are all superb in supporting roles. This one will be in the running for some Oscars.

3Flight Denzel Washington stars and Robert Zemeckis directs this uneven film about an airline pilot with mad flying skills and a mad problem with alcohol and drugs. Washington is Whip Whitaker, a man who ties one on the night before a flight that first requires him to pilot through a horrible storm and then results in a spectacular crash. Whip performs miraculous feats as the plane goes down despite an alcohol level off the charts. Washington is typically great in the role, keeping the movie worth watching even when it gets a bit trite. The first half hour of this movie is a powerhouse. The remaining nearly two hours are OK, but nothing like the punch of that flight sequence. Sure to score Washington on Oscar nomination. A decent return to live action for Zemeckis, who had gotten all caught up in those creepy motion capture animation films like The Polar Express.

2Hotel Transylvania This animated take on Dracula (Adam Sandler) and other big monsters like Frankenstein’s monster (Kevin James) and the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi) has a fun setup and some great gags. But its overall feeling is that of total mania in that it barely slows down long enough for you to take it in. It’s often unnecessarily spastic in telling the tale of a nervous Dracula dealing with his daughter on her 118th birthday—young in vampire years). A human (Andy Samberg) shows up at the title place, a building Dracula created to keep dangerous humans away, and his daughter (Selena Gomez) falls for him. The overall story is hard to digest, but there are some great moments, such as every time the vampires turn into bats (cute) and a werewolf baby knowing what plane flight somebody is taking by smelling his shirt (unbelievably cute). Even with the cute moments, there were too many times when I just wanted to look away because the animation was far too frantic.

2Lincoln I love Steven Spielberg, I love Daniel Day-Lewis, but I do not love this movie. In fact, I don’t even like it. While Day-Lewis is astoundingly good in the title role, the movie around him is a drab, lifeless retelling of the final days of Abraham Lincoln’s life. Spielberg makes this a darkened room political potboiler, chronicling how Lincoln and his staff managed to get slavery abolished in the waning days of the Civil War. Sally Field is cast as Lincoln’s troubled wife. While Mary Todd’s plight deserves a movie of its own, it’s not given much consideration here, nor is the life of Lincoln’s eldest son (an utterly wasted Joseph Gordon-Levitt). The movie’s final act treats the death of Lincoln like a strange afterthought. They would’ve been better off ending the film before his assassination. I expect Day-Lewis to be in the Oscar hunt. He could actually win for this movie, a film that doesn’t live up to his magnificence.

1Red Dawn This one languished on the studio shelf for three years; I wish it had stayed there. I would say it’s the equal of the 1984 original, for they are both pieces of shit. Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck replace Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen as two brothers who become experts in guerilla warfare after the Pacific Northwest is invaded. This time the culprit is North Korea, although that happened in post-production, because they shot the movie with China as the invading enemy. The movie shows some promise in the buildup, but goes off the rails in the second half, becoming too much like its ridiculous and melodramatic predecessor. If I had to choose, I would say this one is better than the John Milius original. I really hated this new movie, so that’ll give you an idea just how much I hated the first crack at it.

4The Sessions John Hawkes delivers a remarkable performance as Mark O’Brien, a man rendered virtually motionless by polio and looking to lose his virginity in his late 30s. He contacts a sex therapist (played by an often very naked Helen Hunt) that guides him through the ways of fornication and also becomes his friend. Hawkes does most of his acting from the head up, and he’s never anything less than totally convincing as O’Brien (an actual journalist who lived in Berkeley, Calif.). He should easily find himself in contention with the likes of Daniel Day-Lewis for this year’s best acting Oscar. As for Hunt, it’s the best work she’s done in many a year. William H. Macy brings great humor to the film as Mark’s priest and confidant. This is one of the movie year’s more pleasant surprises.

4Skyfall This officially stands as my all-time favorite Bond film. That’s coming from somebody who really hasn’t cared much for the Bond films. Daniel Craig had been my favorite Bond since Sean Connery and, with this fine entry, has actually become my favorite Bond. Sam Mendes directs this installment with a depth and level of excitement I haven’t detected before in the series—although Casino Royalecame close—and Javier Bardem, as a former British agent gone bonkers, is a Bond villain for the ages. Great action scenes, fun homages to the series and a nice supporting turn from Judi Dench as M make this a Bond to be reckoned with, and truly enjoyed. Also stars Ralph Fiennes and a decent song from Adele. I don’t know how many Bond films Craig has left in him, but I hope it’s a lot.

1The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 And with this, the suffering of discerning moviegoers finally ends. No more Bella pouting, no more Edward swooning, no more Taylor abs (OK, I admit the Taylor abs are wonderful). Bella is now a super vampire capable of taking down mountain lions and sitting in a chair real fast. The head vampires of the world hear that Bella has had a baby—and a weird-looking CGI baby at that—and they look to start a vampire war with Dakota Fanning and Michael Sheen as their overacting leaders. The previous film showed some promise, but this one (both directed by Bill Condon) tosses that promise aside and reverts to the awfulness that pervaded the earlier films. Stephenie Meyer has hinted the saga could go on with Taylor’s Jacob and the grown up Bella Baby. No, this needs to stop. It needs to stop now.

Reno

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