zpct
Joined Jun 2006
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The original RoboCop grounded itself in satire and comedy. The robocop in that film, though mostly machine, often displayed a lot of human emotion and human wit. He told jokes. He understood sarcasm. He very convincingly mocked the police system. The film itself was chockablock with blood and exploding limbs. Often it all looked very comical. This new RoboCop is sleeker, smarter, faster, deeper, more tragic, and ultimately much needed.
I thoroughly enjoyed this remake, and that's because it devotes a lot of its time and attention to Alex Murphy the man, not to robocop. There is a scene early on that demonstrates this difference. Murphy returns home after a hard day's work to be with his family. He tucks his son into bed and promises to watch hockey games with him. He retreats to his bedroom with his wife (Abbie Cornish) for a romantic night. His car alarm interrupts the undressing. What happens next you've already seen in the trailers.
This scene is strategic because it introduces us to Murphy's family. Yes, it's a little bit contrived, but it's something the original film lacked. In order to feel for this man, we need to know what he has to lose. In the original, Murphy's family was only shown to us via memories and dreams. They could've been dead for all we knew. Here, they are very much alive, and Murphy's wife plays a larger role. By the end of the movie we are not sure if we feel more sorry for Murphy or for his family.
The general idea of RoboCop, in case you missed the 1987 original directed by Paul Verhoeven, involves a police officer becoming a robot, or a cyborg. In order for this to happen, he has to die, or come dangerously close to death. All that has to survive are his neurological signs. The technology, developed by the Omni corporation, ensures that his physical body can be manufactured. The reason for this transformation, however, is different in both films.
In the original, the Omni corporation wanted a more efficient law enforcer. They released a prototype machine that malfunctioned, causing the board of directors to push for a more organic approach. In this remake, robots are already patrolling the streets of foreign countries. Now, OmniCorp — headed by Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) — wants to disperse its robots to the streets of America. A debate rises. Do the people of America want humans with intuition, judgement and logic keeping them safe? Or do they want efficient robots protecting them and the lives of their law enforcers? "Not a single police officer has to die in the line of duty ever again", Raymond ensures.
Raymond wants his machines protecting America, thus bloating his bank account. The United States congress believes nothing beats human intuition. Raymond and his PR team come up with the solution: Put a handicapped man in a mechanical body and give the people what they want. The best of both worlds. They find Murphy, badly charred and disfigured after a murder attempt sends his car up in flames. With the help of R&D chief, Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), they create robocop.
Murphy is played by Swedish-American actor, Joel Kinnaman, who does a fine job of underacting. This is ideal because he spends most of the movie sedated, stoned, or rigid-faced. I am not familiar with his work, but I suspect he was chosen because his mouth, chin, and voice bear uncanny similarities to Peter Weller's. His downgrade from human being to monotone machine is well charted. And at times it's very painful to witness. Director José Padilha does well to draw his transformation to the foreground. Here is a man whose only hope for survival is to become a machine. And in order for him to become a successful machine he has to surrender his humanity. Where is the line that separates us from them?
RoboCop takes its time with its characters. It gives us the space to lend sympathy. We are familiar with Murphy's plight, but we are not familiar with what this plight does to him. Now we are. Now we can see that he isn't a hero; he's the victim. His whole life is nothing but a test. A gimmick to help promote OmniCorp's arrogance. The original RoboCop was a gritty and gory action flick that exalted its titular character to superheroism. It lacked depth and patience, and it never penetrated robocop's metallic exterior. If I had to judge this remake on its own, I would've given it 3 stars out of 5. Compared to the original, it gets 4.
I thoroughly enjoyed this remake, and that's because it devotes a lot of its time and attention to Alex Murphy the man, not to robocop. There is a scene early on that demonstrates this difference. Murphy returns home after a hard day's work to be with his family. He tucks his son into bed and promises to watch hockey games with him. He retreats to his bedroom with his wife (Abbie Cornish) for a romantic night. His car alarm interrupts the undressing. What happens next you've already seen in the trailers.
This scene is strategic because it introduces us to Murphy's family. Yes, it's a little bit contrived, but it's something the original film lacked. In order to feel for this man, we need to know what he has to lose. In the original, Murphy's family was only shown to us via memories and dreams. They could've been dead for all we knew. Here, they are very much alive, and Murphy's wife plays a larger role. By the end of the movie we are not sure if we feel more sorry for Murphy or for his family.
The general idea of RoboCop, in case you missed the 1987 original directed by Paul Verhoeven, involves a police officer becoming a robot, or a cyborg. In order for this to happen, he has to die, or come dangerously close to death. All that has to survive are his neurological signs. The technology, developed by the Omni corporation, ensures that his physical body can be manufactured. The reason for this transformation, however, is different in both films.
In the original, the Omni corporation wanted a more efficient law enforcer. They released a prototype machine that malfunctioned, causing the board of directors to push for a more organic approach. In this remake, robots are already patrolling the streets of foreign countries. Now, OmniCorp — headed by Raymond Sellars (Michael Keaton) — wants to disperse its robots to the streets of America. A debate rises. Do the people of America want humans with intuition, judgement and logic keeping them safe? Or do they want efficient robots protecting them and the lives of their law enforcers? "Not a single police officer has to die in the line of duty ever again", Raymond ensures.
Raymond wants his machines protecting America, thus bloating his bank account. The United States congress believes nothing beats human intuition. Raymond and his PR team come up with the solution: Put a handicapped man in a mechanical body and give the people what they want. The best of both worlds. They find Murphy, badly charred and disfigured after a murder attempt sends his car up in flames. With the help of R&D chief, Dr. Dennett Norton (Gary Oldman), they create robocop.
Murphy is played by Swedish-American actor, Joel Kinnaman, who does a fine job of underacting. This is ideal because he spends most of the movie sedated, stoned, or rigid-faced. I am not familiar with his work, but I suspect he was chosen because his mouth, chin, and voice bear uncanny similarities to Peter Weller's. His downgrade from human being to monotone machine is well charted. And at times it's very painful to witness. Director José Padilha does well to draw his transformation to the foreground. Here is a man whose only hope for survival is to become a machine. And in order for him to become a successful machine he has to surrender his humanity. Where is the line that separates us from them?
RoboCop takes its time with its characters. It gives us the space to lend sympathy. We are familiar with Murphy's plight, but we are not familiar with what this plight does to him. Now we are. Now we can see that he isn't a hero; he's the victim. His whole life is nothing but a test. A gimmick to help promote OmniCorp's arrogance. The original RoboCop was a gritty and gory action flick that exalted its titular character to superheroism. It lacked depth and patience, and it never penetrated robocop's metallic exterior. If I had to judge this remake on its own, I would've given it 3 stars out of 5. Compared to the original, it gets 4.
Walter Mitty isn't a deep or complex character. He is defined by his actions — where he goes, who he speaks to, how he speaks to them, what decisions he makes. What he is, is the majority of the population. Most of us have plans to do many things. We want to scale Everest. We want to swim with grey whales. We want to bunjee jump or fly to the moon. Walter Mitty represents our laziness, and ultimately our failure.
But he isn't a loser. Ben Stiller is known for taking on roles and degrading them to the lowest possible social status. His characters usually have no place in the real world because they're unable to live in it and function on the same level as normal people. Consider White Goodman, with his puffed up blonde hair and thick moustache. He is a caricature. His speech, motives and actions require him to make a fool of himself, and then he ends the movie in a position worse off than when he began it.
Walter Mitty, by comparison, begins the movie in a position that's already pretty stable. He's the chief negative assets manager of Life magazine, which means he's in charge of processing, maintaining and preserving film negatives. You can bet that by the time the movie ends, he will be better off. Of course, he has a crush on a fellow worker, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), and the movie begins with him trying unsuccessfully to leave her a wink on her eHarmony page. This whole eHarmony thing is important, because Walter's profile page is blank; he's done nothing worth mentioning in his life. He compensates by projecting his desires onto a mental canvas where he sees himself leaping through the air and into flaming buildings, rescuing Cheryl's three-legged dog and inventing a mechanical prosthetic leg in the process. "Zoning out", as his sister calls it. I'm pretty sure everyone calls it that.
So Life magazine is moving to new management. It's going 100% online, like Progressive Car Insurance, which means most of the staff will be let go. To commemorate the final print edition, famed photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) has sent Walter a gift: A reel of film containing frame 25 — the most perfect photograph he's taken, one which will send Life magazine off in style — along with a note and a wallet. But there's a problem. Frame 25 is missing. And the new boss, the bearded prig Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), wants it immediately or Walter's job is no more.
Frame 25 essentially becomes the MacGuffin that allows Walter to embark on a journey through Scandinavia and the mountainous regions of Afghanistan as he seeks not only to find Sean O'Connell and determine the whereabouts of frame 25, but to discover himself. Here is a man who has not travelled outside of America. Now, because of one frame, he is led to Greenland, where he will leap out of an unstable helicopter into icy-cold shark-infested waters. To Iceland, a land of great beauty — its winding roads resemble streams that weave themselves around grand mountains and lush greenery. And then to the Himalayas. Yes, at times The Secret Life plays like a travelogue of these places, but you know what? I don't care. Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan are spectacular.
The movie is directed by Stiller, and it's his most mature and fully realised project to date. It is grounded in Walter Mitty, who is aware of his surroundings and what's going on outside of his mental projections, but able to focus on the task at hand as if he's MacGyver crossed with Carmen Sandiego. He's also funny, which is good. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in this movie, and they lend an interesting balance to a story that could easily have gone astray and fallen into cheesy clichés.
There are nice little touches. Shirley MacLaine and Patton Oswalt make quick but effective appearances as Walter's mother and an uber friendly eHarmony customer service agent respectively. And Penn's performance as Sean is handled with love; his appearance borders on a cameo. But ultimately, the star is Stiller who, at 48, is as alive and energetic as a 10-year old discovering a theme park for the first time. His lust for adventure is infectious, and the journey he embarks upon is altogether touching, gorgeous, and completely satisfying.
But he isn't a loser. Ben Stiller is known for taking on roles and degrading them to the lowest possible social status. His characters usually have no place in the real world because they're unable to live in it and function on the same level as normal people. Consider White Goodman, with his puffed up blonde hair and thick moustache. He is a caricature. His speech, motives and actions require him to make a fool of himself, and then he ends the movie in a position worse off than when he began it.
Walter Mitty, by comparison, begins the movie in a position that's already pretty stable. He's the chief negative assets manager of Life magazine, which means he's in charge of processing, maintaining and preserving film negatives. You can bet that by the time the movie ends, he will be better off. Of course, he has a crush on a fellow worker, Cheryl (Kristen Wiig), and the movie begins with him trying unsuccessfully to leave her a wink on her eHarmony page. This whole eHarmony thing is important, because Walter's profile page is blank; he's done nothing worth mentioning in his life. He compensates by projecting his desires onto a mental canvas where he sees himself leaping through the air and into flaming buildings, rescuing Cheryl's three-legged dog and inventing a mechanical prosthetic leg in the process. "Zoning out", as his sister calls it. I'm pretty sure everyone calls it that.
So Life magazine is moving to new management. It's going 100% online, like Progressive Car Insurance, which means most of the staff will be let go. To commemorate the final print edition, famed photographer Sean O'Connell (Sean Penn) has sent Walter a gift: A reel of film containing frame 25 — the most perfect photograph he's taken, one which will send Life magazine off in style — along with a note and a wallet. But there's a problem. Frame 25 is missing. And the new boss, the bearded prig Ted Hendricks (Adam Scott), wants it immediately or Walter's job is no more.
Frame 25 essentially becomes the MacGuffin that allows Walter to embark on a journey through Scandinavia and the mountainous regions of Afghanistan as he seeks not only to find Sean O'Connell and determine the whereabouts of frame 25, but to discover himself. Here is a man who has not travelled outside of America. Now, because of one frame, he is led to Greenland, where he will leap out of an unstable helicopter into icy-cold shark-infested waters. To Iceland, a land of great beauty — its winding roads resemble streams that weave themselves around grand mountains and lush greenery. And then to the Himalayas. Yes, at times The Secret Life plays like a travelogue of these places, but you know what? I don't care. Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan are spectacular.
The movie is directed by Stiller, and it's his most mature and fully realised project to date. It is grounded in Walter Mitty, who is aware of his surroundings and what's going on outside of his mental projections, but able to focus on the task at hand as if he's MacGyver crossed with Carmen Sandiego. He's also funny, which is good. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments in this movie, and they lend an interesting balance to a story that could easily have gone astray and fallen into cheesy clichés.
There are nice little touches. Shirley MacLaine and Patton Oswalt make quick but effective appearances as Walter's mother and an uber friendly eHarmony customer service agent respectively. And Penn's performance as Sean is handled with love; his appearance borders on a cameo. But ultimately, the star is Stiller who, at 48, is as alive and energetic as a 10-year old discovering a theme park for the first time. His lust for adventure is infectious, and the journey he embarks upon is altogether touching, gorgeous, and completely satisfying.
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues is a celebration of fun. I find no need to dig deeper for a coherent storyline or consistent satirical play. Yes, there is a coherent storyline, and there is heaps of satire, but I'm not about to sue the scriptwriters for veering off course from time to time to focus on the maniacal ecstasy of Ron Burgundy and his crew, because most of the time the places the story veers off to are incredibly funny.
The movie, directed by Adam McKay, is a followup to 2004′s cult classic, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, and despite the near 10-year gap between films, none of the comic energy or zany writing seems to have disappeared. Ron (Will Ferrell) is still a chauvinist pig but with a more racist tone. His co-anchors are still either sex-crazed, sports-crazed, or mentally challenged. His lover from the first film — and wife now — Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is still an ambitious fox. And the retro vibe that uplifts the story is still glaringly present in every shot and every vein. This movie is a bag of laughs, and the way it's built signifies no intention to be anything else.
Alright. So where do I begin?
Ron and Veronica are happily married. They have an eerily sweet and pleasant son named Walter (Judah Nelson), and they live in comfort in New York City. One day, their boss (the omnipresent Harrison Ford) decides to promote Veronica and fire Ron — "You are the worst newscaster I've ever known". This sparks a heated argument that ultimately leads to the couple's separation. Six months later, Ron is hired to be one of the pioneering anchors of a new news network, GNN, which will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To Ron, this is a ridiculous idea. Who runs boring news for 24 hours? Who's going to plop themselves in front of a TV and listen to reports of global warming at 2 in the morning? All fair questions.
Ron reassembles his old news team, made up of womaniser Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), possible homoerotic sports fanatic Champ Kind (David Koechner), and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), whose name couldn't be any more appropriate, and takes the job. Along the way, they will participate in dirty jokes, cruel pranks, some love-making, and so on; they will form a bitter rivalry with the handsome and popular primetime anchor Jack Lime (James Marsden) — after losing a silly bet, he officially changes his name to Jack Lame — and they will revolutionise the art of news broadcasting without even knowing it. For instance, while brainstorming story ideas for their inaugural graveyard shift broadcast, Ron's team decides to give the people what they want, instead of what they need. They choose to focus the broadcast on Americana, and wouldn't you know it, drunks and partygoers all across the city begin cheering and applauding their local pub television sets (there's nothing else to watch at 2am).
Much of this movie is very, very funny. A lot of time is devoted to Brick Tamland, which might seem like a nonsensical idea but actually pays off with large amounts of satisfaction. When the first Anchorman premiered in 2004, Carell's most popular work was still Evan Baxter from Bruce Almighty (coincidentally, he was also a newsman). In 2013, he is one of the biggest names not just in comedy, but in drama too. A few days ago I watched and reviewed The Way Way Back. In it, Carell played an adulterous jerk whose cheeks and jaw were perpetually stubbled and whose outlook on life scorned at the face of humour. He was superb. In Anchorman 2, he is just as superb as the air-headed Brick, who spends much of his time laughing at things that are unknown even to himself. The script also has room for his love interest, played dutifully by Kristen Wiig. Some of their meet-cutes are so idiotically awkward that you can't help but laugh.
Among some of the supporting characters are Linda Jackson (Meagan Good), whose African- American descent puts Ron off completely; Freddie Shapp, played by the reliable Dylan Baker; and Kench Allenby (Josh Lawson), the Australian owner of the GNN who also owns an airline company. There is also the usual catalogue of cameo appearances by some big-name actors. Naturally, I will not mention names, but I was surprised to see two leading R&B artists rumble and tumble with the best of them.
Anchorman 2 is insane. I cannot think of any more intelligent way to describe it. It's one of those rare comedies that pushes its least funny moments to the trailers, and then surprises everyone by how funny it actually is. You've probably seen it, the scene with the RV on cruise control rolling across a busy highway. I thought the payoff was lame. But the trailer never shows us the build up. And that's the thing with this movie: It never considers the build up to be a requirement. Our characters leap right into the joke. Sometimes they leap up, as when Ron suggests getting perms for everybody, and it's that kind of euphoria and complete disregard for maturity that makes him and his team America's most endearing bunch of fools.
The movie, directed by Adam McKay, is a followup to 2004′s cult classic, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, and despite the near 10-year gap between films, none of the comic energy or zany writing seems to have disappeared. Ron (Will Ferrell) is still a chauvinist pig but with a more racist tone. His co-anchors are still either sex-crazed, sports-crazed, or mentally challenged. His lover from the first film — and wife now — Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate) is still an ambitious fox. And the retro vibe that uplifts the story is still glaringly present in every shot and every vein. This movie is a bag of laughs, and the way it's built signifies no intention to be anything else.
Alright. So where do I begin?
Ron and Veronica are happily married. They have an eerily sweet and pleasant son named Walter (Judah Nelson), and they live in comfort in New York City. One day, their boss (the omnipresent Harrison Ford) decides to promote Veronica and fire Ron — "You are the worst newscaster I've ever known". This sparks a heated argument that ultimately leads to the couple's separation. Six months later, Ron is hired to be one of the pioneering anchors of a new news network, GNN, which will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week. To Ron, this is a ridiculous idea. Who runs boring news for 24 hours? Who's going to plop themselves in front of a TV and listen to reports of global warming at 2 in the morning? All fair questions.
Ron reassembles his old news team, made up of womaniser Brian Fantana (Paul Rudd), possible homoerotic sports fanatic Champ Kind (David Koechner), and Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), whose name couldn't be any more appropriate, and takes the job. Along the way, they will participate in dirty jokes, cruel pranks, some love-making, and so on; they will form a bitter rivalry with the handsome and popular primetime anchor Jack Lime (James Marsden) — after losing a silly bet, he officially changes his name to Jack Lame — and they will revolutionise the art of news broadcasting without even knowing it. For instance, while brainstorming story ideas for their inaugural graveyard shift broadcast, Ron's team decides to give the people what they want, instead of what they need. They choose to focus the broadcast on Americana, and wouldn't you know it, drunks and partygoers all across the city begin cheering and applauding their local pub television sets (there's nothing else to watch at 2am).
Much of this movie is very, very funny. A lot of time is devoted to Brick Tamland, which might seem like a nonsensical idea but actually pays off with large amounts of satisfaction. When the first Anchorman premiered in 2004, Carell's most popular work was still Evan Baxter from Bruce Almighty (coincidentally, he was also a newsman). In 2013, he is one of the biggest names not just in comedy, but in drama too. A few days ago I watched and reviewed The Way Way Back. In it, Carell played an adulterous jerk whose cheeks and jaw were perpetually stubbled and whose outlook on life scorned at the face of humour. He was superb. In Anchorman 2, he is just as superb as the air-headed Brick, who spends much of his time laughing at things that are unknown even to himself. The script also has room for his love interest, played dutifully by Kristen Wiig. Some of their meet-cutes are so idiotically awkward that you can't help but laugh.
Among some of the supporting characters are Linda Jackson (Meagan Good), whose African- American descent puts Ron off completely; Freddie Shapp, played by the reliable Dylan Baker; and Kench Allenby (Josh Lawson), the Australian owner of the GNN who also owns an airline company. There is also the usual catalogue of cameo appearances by some big-name actors. Naturally, I will not mention names, but I was surprised to see two leading R&B artists rumble and tumble with the best of them.
Anchorman 2 is insane. I cannot think of any more intelligent way to describe it. It's one of those rare comedies that pushes its least funny moments to the trailers, and then surprises everyone by how funny it actually is. You've probably seen it, the scene with the RV on cruise control rolling across a busy highway. I thought the payoff was lame. But the trailer never shows us the build up. And that's the thing with this movie: It never considers the build up to be a requirement. Our characters leap right into the joke. Sometimes they leap up, as when Ron suggests getting perms for everybody, and it's that kind of euphoria and complete disregard for maturity that makes him and his team America's most endearing bunch of fools.
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