Today's News: Kingsmen, earthquakes, giant monsters: but worst of all, extinction

This is my batch of news the week has yielded thus far:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158267/nieuwe_japanse_godzilla_in_de_maak

This was bound to happen sooner rather than later. I'm surprised we had to wait for the announcement as long as we did. The new Godzilla remake by Gareth Edwards quickly proved to be a big success worldwide, so of course the original studio is looking to bring back the original monster in its country of origin ASAP. And I don't mind at all. It's been ten years since the "last" Gojira flick, the terrificly entertaining Final Wars, which happened to be its Fiftieth Anniversary celebration. In hindsight, it's a damn shame there's no new Japanese feature to celebrate its Sixtieth, and I suppose the American feature will have to do (and it does fine at that). The question of course is not whether 'we need this', since 28 (!) Gojira movies have proven the creature isn't particularly versatile in both its themes (continuing nuclear angst, almost exclusively) or story make-up: Gojira needs to be destroyed by man, or Gojira destroys other creatures, that's basically the two most prevalent plot routines the majority of the movies follow. I doubt a proper 21st century Gojira will add much novel substance to the franchise, but as long as it delivers decent suit-acting and highly enjoyable Kaiju monster fights accordingly, most people won't particularly care, nor will I.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158283/eerste_trailer_san_andreas

Well, this looks positively uninspired. It's basically a remake of Earthquake, though with different human characters. Which of course we won't give a damn about, since disaster movies for the audience really are all about the disaster itself, while the characters serve merely as canon fodder. Throwing a movie star like Dwayne Johnson in the mix doesn't change a thing about that. In fact, it may be somewhat alarming for his career, since disaster movies have an awkward habit of (ab)using actors and stars that are at the tail end of their career. That's why Kylie Minogue is in this film, for example. One cannot help but wonder why Johnson signed up for this project (though it may have something to do with the director, with whom he has worked previously). One also cannot help but be puzzled as to why studio execs greenlit this picture. It simply offers nothing new it appears, both in terms of story but also visually. We've already seen Los Angeles get whacked somethin' fierce by a giant earthquake in 2012. It's really doubtful San Andreas' level of digital destruction will surpass that of the alleged Mother of all Disaster Movies, especially with a director at the helm who is new to the genre. It's highly doubtful someone who doesn't specialize in flicks of extreme demolition could match a disaster movie made by Roland Emmerich. I can't stop San Andreas' director from at least trying, but I can honestly say anybody who has seen 2012, a movie only five years old, will look at this trailer and be befuddled by its apparent excessive redundancy. Only a true major earthquake wrecking the American west coast could add a much needed sense of actuality or urgency to this one.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158284/kathryn_bigelow_onthult_leed_achter_olifantenstroperij_in_korte_film

A sense of urgency, however, is exactly what typifies Kathryn Bigelow's latest directorial effort, the shocking short Last Days. The focus on terrorism which could be called a trademark of her oeuvre proves well suited to this short synopsis of the evil at work in the illegal ivory trade, which is not simply threatening but downright causing elephants to go extinct before our eyes. African terrorist organizations like Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab kill these innocent and magnificent animals (and other species like rhinos, too) en masse to sell their tusks to shady South-East Asian criminal networks who make useless trinkets and bogus medicine to sell to stupid rich people in that part of the world. And consequently, the terrorists use the money to kill innocent people as well. It's a lose-lose scenario for both man and beast. Fortunately, we have talented filmmakers like Bigelow and other good people who care enough to combat these despicable practices. In my mind, they're the true heroes of our age, since particularly on the African continent itself, fighting these heinous crimes is not without risk. Graphic material notwithstanding, if I had my way I would show Last Days upfront of every movie playing in theaters. Everything to make the general audience, blissfully unaware of these exact goings-on as they tend to be, recognize the painful reality, so they can sponsor the fight against elephant poaching before there are no more elephants left to poach, which sadly could prove to be a lot sooner than most people would think. Kathryn Bigelow, I salute you for supporting this cause!

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/158292/nieuwe_trailer_kingsman_the_secret_service

And then there's the typical movie terrorist with his grandiose plots and schemes that only involves killing people and just leaves defenseless animals alone. Gotta love the maniacal mastermind with his diabolical ploys that are so completely over-the-top they can only be put down by larger-than-life characters, to effectively remind you you're just watching a movie and reality is nothing like this. Kingsman: The Secret Service sure seems a film in that veign, where only the most British of characters can ward off the impending evil. The kind of evil Samuel L. Jackson is only to happy to supply as he eagerly acts his way through villainhood (do I detect a lisp in his voice, mayhaps?). This new trailer gets me a little more enthusiastic about this project, though that is mostly thanks to the cast infectiously appearing to have a great time with the subject material of silly one-liners and nifty gadgetry. Otherwise, the premise is hardly unique or inspired. I guess we can just chalk this one up as a 'fun ride devoid of any pretensions'. That's fine with me. The ignorant general audience can't consider the plight of endangered species all the time. How about three minutes of elephant suffering mixed with two hours of mindless entertainment then?

Today's batch of mini reviews

Picking up where I left off, here's yet another batch of recently seen films that have not been critiqued on this my blog in sufficient detail and thus have to make do with a mini-review. The term 'missed movies' no longer applies here, since I have seen these films after my PC was returned to me and I was back online again. Truth is, now that I am writing for MovieScene and screening films for audiences at Provadja, next to my regular work at Pathé, I just don't have time for old-fashioned extensive reviews anymore. I am watching more movies than I can handle, so to say. Expect to see this type of mini-review more often and 2,000 word reviews less and less around here. It may not be a bad thing per se, considering word has reached my ears regarding modern man and his lack of time and interest for lengthy movie discussions. By keeping it short and simple I might actually attract more readers, even though one could argue my blog is dumbing down. Not to worry, I'm sure there's still many a long review to come (MovieScene reviews aside, though they're of medium length really), at least once I've caught up with mentioning all the films I've seen in the past months. Getting there, slowly but surely.

Lore: ****/*****, or 7/10.

Fascinating microcosmic (post) WW II tale from a German perspective, focusing on the plight of teenage girl Lore, shortly after Germany has capitulated to the allied forces. Lore has had a good life in a happy Nazi family until she finds her world shattered by the Führer's death and the downfall of the Third Reich. Her parents, being devout Nazis, have to run before the Allies catch up with them and are forced to leave their children behind in the process. Lore, a powerful performance by the young Saskia Rosendahl, has to trek her way with her younger brothers and sisters to distant Hamburg across newly occupied territory, dodging Russian forces and her own countrymen who have degenerated into lawlessness. Along the way she meets a young Jewish man, freshly released from Auschwitz, who uneasily teams up with them to their mutual benefit for mere survival. The movie does a great job of portraying the lost German generation that grew up in the Third Reich and didn't know better, but had to cope with their parents' atrocities and lies afterwards. The key issue for Lore is trust: she trusted Hitler and her parents unconditionally, only to be betrayed by their failure. Now she has to trust a man whom she has been raised to hate, despite the genuinely helping hand he offers (which quickly earns him the faith of Lore's siblings, who are just too young to understand the stakes involved). Matters are complicated further when she develops a strange, possibly romantic, attraction to the guy, something he may or may not be exploiting. To Australian director Cate Shortland's credit, the film is completely spoken in German. She also presents a great metaphor for puberty, when a child's world is changed completely as are its feelings for those it has always taken for granted, without getting overly preachy. However, a less lyrical and dream like quality, plus a little faster pacing, might have made her movie more accessible.

De Ontmaagding van Eva van End: ****/*****, or 8/10.

Whaddayaknow, a good Dutch movie! Not surprisingly, considering director Michiel ten Horn used the fabulous work and style of Wes Anderson for inspiration, creating a definite Dutch counterpart of that particular auteur's work. All the typical Anderson ingredients are there (except for Bill Murray), including wacky characters, colourful visuals, dysfunctional family drama and a funky soundtrack. And decent writing of course. The Van End family members have a hard time connecting to one another and lead their own little lives in their own silly little worlds, until daughter Eva takes home a German foreign exchange student. The boy turns out to be the perfect human being, an angelic blond persona with great empathy for the whole world, whose healthy, altruistic life style soon creates havoc at his guest home as the whole family reacts differently to his presence and their natural balance is severely upset, exposing a few dirty family secrets in the process. And yes, Eva gets her cherry popped as the title indicates, though not in the way you would first expect. Solid acting, especially for Dutch actors, though of course young Austrian actor Rafael Gareisen leaves the greatest impression. The movie leaves ample room for both genuinely heartfelt drama and funny jokes and situations, some surprisingly edgy and politically incorrect. Ten Horn does a fine job of translating Anderson to a Dutch setting (unconsciouslyly or not, but it seems utterly unlikely he has never heard of his American inspiration), making the movie look distinctly Dutch but not feeling like any other Dutch film, all for the better. It's a real shame Dutch audiences prefer to watch crap like Verliefd op Ibiza and Het Bombardement over little gems like this, but it's good to know not all hope is lost for Dutch cinema thanks to talented directors like Ten Horn inspired by all the right people.

Zero Dark Thirty: ****/*****, or 8/10.

Kathryn Bigelow continues to critique America's army following her big Oscar breakthrough The Hurt Locker (2009). This time she focuses on the hunt for Osama bin Laden by the driven and resourceful female CIA agent Maya (excellent bit of acting on Jessica Chastain's part), inspired by true events, not all of which have been formally disclosed. Maya gets increasingly obsessive over the Agency's inability of locating Bin Laden and soon makes it her personal job to see the hunt come to an end, especially after dear colleagues of her die in related terrorist bombings. The climactic chopper showdown at Bin Laden's villa where a team of Navy SEALs has to quietly fight its way through the building to claim its prize was one of the most rewardingly suspenseful scenes of 2012. And to Bigelow's credit, the face of the Al-Qaeda leader was never even shown, clearly stating the movie is not so much about the man himself, as about Maya's long road to get to him. The movie's merit as a genuinely good film was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Bigelow's explicit portrayal of torture of terrorist suspects at the hands of American agents: no doubt such crossing of political and ethical lines took place historically, but Bigelow was said to condone it. However, Bigelow makes no statement of her own, just showcasing events as they supposedly happened. The torture could have proven to be instrumental in tracking the most wanted man alive down in the long run, but she presents it as just another part of the bureaucratic machinery: a frightfully gruesome part though, revealing more than we would want her to reveal on the subject, and as such already indicating torture sure is no fun. Nevertheless, she was denied a well deserved Oscar or two: Zero Dark Thirty's only win was for Sound Editing, an award the movie had to share with Skyfall in a rare 'tie' situation at the Academy.