Rebecca Hall

Has anyone come as far as fast as Rebecca Hall? Previously, I only recall her in The Prestige. This year, praise in both Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Frost/Nixon.

In the jungle [Madagascar 2]

Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa [PG]
Grade: D
Cast: Ben Stiller, David Schwimmer, Jada Pinkett-Smith, Chris Rock, Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, Andy Richter, Bernie Mac, Alec Baldwin
Director: Eric Darnell, Tom McGrath

Sitting down to watch Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa, I quickly realized that I remembered almost nothing about the original Madagascar.

After sitting down and watching Madagascar 2, I find that I already remember very little of it. If you’ve seen one group of animated animals, ultimately you’ve seen them all. This is a pedestrian sequel to a pedestrian original.

So a lion, a hippo, a giraffe, and a zebra hop into a plane …. If you’re expecting a punch line, I guess it’s fair to say that there are a few. But when this group of animals on vacation from the Central Park Zoo crash-land into the African savannah, it never quite finds enough good punch lines to earn its pride. Or its herd?
The greatest attention falls on the antics of Alex the lion (Ben Stiller), whose showmanship has given him the nickname The King of New York. His accidental trip to Africa plops him right in the middle of a power struggle in his old pride, between his father and his enemy.

While watching Alex, I kept thinking that he was the least interesting character. His showmanship, dancing, and diva act gets repetitive. But then we turn to the other animals – the hippo and her romance with the beefy hippo. The hypochondriac giraffe and his … what was he doing exactly, again? Fortunately, there are some definite chuckles with Chris Rock’s zebra, suffering an identity crisis in an endless herd of identical black and white stripes. The best thing about the films continues to be the musical sequences, which often are loopy fun.

The film does smooth out the look of the animation when compared to the first film. The original Madagascar was plagued by the uncomfortably angular nature of its figures. That problem fades.

If there’s one group of animals that have been consistently funny in the two films, it is the foursome of jaded, resourceful penguins. In this one, they steal a jeep, fix a plane, and conduct labor negotiations with monkeys. It’s like they‘ve flown in (well not flown - they're penguins) from a different film – the consistently funny animated adventure next door. Which raises a troubling question. Should a comedy need comic relief?

Does anyone know about ....

a new film version of Jesus Christ Superstar set for 2010? I came across this on imdb while downloading music last night, but the information is scant.

Are there going to be any good films this fall?

OK, it's not quite that bad. But this fall, so far, has been one onscreen disappointment for me after another. I saw one of the season's most hyped films this afternoon, and it did nothing for me. I actually disliked it. (Dude, just .... get another girlfriend. Please. She's not that special.)

My weekly "What the hell is the deal with Rachel Getting Married's distribution" post

This week, Rachel Getting Married is on 135 screens. For comparison, the unhyped Canadian Great War film Passchendaele, doing nice box office, is in 187.

Need a lift?

Yes, in America we call them elevators.

Top of the world, ma

Man on Wire reaches the top of the Rotten Tomatoes list of best-reviewed films ever - a 100 percent "tomatometer" with 129 reviews. Great news.

Quantum of dollas

I take it they don't have Halloween in England (Do they?). The new Bond film Quantum of Solace opens with the highest Friday box office ever there. Rumor is that it is slated for a zillion dollar opening in two weeks on these shores, as well.

My review is up in the usual non-Anti-D places. It'll be here at the US opening.

critics are a little mixed. But the fans seem to like it.

Rocked, rolled [RocknRolla]

RocknRolla [R]
Grade: C
Cast: Tom Wilkinson, Gerard Butler, Toby Kebbell, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong
Director: Guy Ritchie

With Keira Knightley and The Duchess having already knocked out the annual British costume drama quota for this fall, it is time for Guy Ritchie to show up with RocknRolla and fill the British gangster picture slot. Now the world of British filmmaking can feel complete.

Take:

A sweet-natured criminal in debt for a cool couple million.
A crooked businessman who runs London.
A druggie rock star who, by all accounts is dead. Or should be.
A vamp accountant with a taste for theft.
A Russian billionaire with a fondness for poisoned cocktails.
A reflective henchman.
Two hopeless record producers.
A lucky painting,
A stash of hot cash.
And a bad London land deal going badder every minute.

Drop them into a blender and see what kind of story comes out. These are the things that RocknRolla has going for it. And also the things that go against it.

Being overwhelmed with so much stuff, it’s just the law of averages. Some storylines and characters in Guy Ritchie’s hip, twisty new release are more exhilarating than others. And some are duller than others.

When it’s creative … like a car robbery thwarted by a stick shift …. a fresh, funny sex scene …. a fight to the death won by distance running …. It’s oh so good. When it’s not, it drifts so much, and there’s nothing that Ritchie;’s endless style and visual flair can do to enliven it.

The film features roughly every semi-famous British actor Ritchie could get his hands on (Gerard Butler, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Toby Kebbell). Very strong is the maliciously great Tom Wilkinson as Lenny Cole, a wheelchair-bound wheeler dealer greasing his own palm. Among the virtues of this film, one should not overlook the reminder that Wilkinson is actually English.

The words that have long attended Ritchie’s films still apply. Hip. Stylish. Flashy. Empty. Nothing really changes, does it?

Witherspoon located

Reese Witherspoon has been located! She has a film coming out in the next month or two, with Vince Vaughn, called Four Christmases. Judging by the trailer, perhaps Ms. Witherspoon would have been better off by keeping up the Greta Garbo routine.

LAT buyouts

The buyouts by the LA Times of film critic Carina Chocano and entertainment reporter Sheigh Crabtree raises the troubling quesiton of whether the Times is discriminating against apparent babes. :)

But seriously ....

I've never understood the distaste you sometimes read on blogs toward Chocano. I'm not a religious reader of hers. But there are two occasions of importance where I know I agreed strongly with her. The first was in her overwhelming praise for Terrence Malick's The New World. The second was in her willingness to go against the grain of critical response and call out Judd Apatow on the sexism of his films while reviewing that stalker fantasy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Her reviews are extremely thoughtful and well-written. She'll be missed.

HIgh School Musical 3: We're doomed

High School Musical 3 made a gob of money this weekend. I'm reminded of a radio interview i once heard with Neal Howe, the generational theorist. He thinks of High School Musical as a quintessential example of positive, communitarian Millenial Generation entertainment. He said he once told a Gen Xer who was asking about HSM that if he were going to watch it, he'd better be prepared to go into a diabetic coma from all the sugariness. I think it's safe to say that it's Howe's view that this sort of thing, particularly musicals, is a future trend.