60/60 Review #24: The Pianist.

I stated yesterday in my review of The Counterfeiters that I was getting bored with the whole genre. Perhaps it's the fact that all these Nazi films feel the same. And it wasn't helping me any that, of all the films this month, The Pianist was the one that got the least amount of favorable talk and gave me the smallest expectations going in. All of this taken into account, it was to my incredible surprise and amazement how much I enjoyed this movie.

This film tells the true story of a Jewish, Polish pianist named Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) throughout World War II. He and his family lived in Warsaw when the Nazis invade, and they end up in a self-made ghetto. From then on, things continue to go downhill, and Szpilman does what he can just to survive.

There's not much of a story behind the 2-and-a-half hours of film, and that's really my one major negative behind the movie. Around the middle it starts to drag ever so slightly, but that doesn't last too long. There's also a strange flow of time, sometimes having the movie make a huge jump in time where the visuals make it seem like it's the same day or maybe only a day later. But overall, the movie kept me engaged, mostly thanks to the strong characters--particularly Szpilman. And I think that's one of the strongest aspects of the movie. I think one issue I had with the previous few films in this month was that, while a lot of the time was spent in those films building up the characters and getting you to feel for them, none of them made me feel as strong about them as I did with Adrien Brody. By the end of the film, I was in pretty heavy suspense, hoping nothing would happen to the guy (no, I didn't know the true story behind the movie).

The acting, particularly Brody, was outstanding. He definitely deserved his Oscar. Also deserving of the Oscar was director Roman Polanski. His visual eye in this film was fantastic. There are plenty of scenes that, despite the destruction, are gorgeous to look at. And there are other moments that are heartbreaking. Characters just walking down the street and stepping over dead bodies of men and children as if they're everyday occurrences. And I felt this movie was even more disturbing and brutal than the others, even though there's probably just as much death shown (maybe even less). Something about it just felt more... real.

For most of the film, I was going to go with a slightly lower rating. But it was within that last 20-30 minutes that really shot it up for me. I've always felt an ending (or third act) can make or break a movie, and this one just had a great third act. With Brody on the run and in hiding in the destroyed town, every day is a new struggle. (SPOILERS) I think it's when he's found by the Nazi near the end of the film, and the Nazi forces him to play the piano for him before deciding to not only let him live but help him survive... that resonated with me. The piano playing scene was beautiful, thrilling, suspenseful, and touching all at the same time. I think I was holding my breath, expecting the Nazi to pull out his gun and shoot Brody at the end of the song, meanwhile captivated by the beautiful music. It was just a flurried mix of emotions that grabbed me. (END SPOILERS)

Overall, I think one good reason the film resonated with me so quickly was its placement in the 60/60 List. Let me explain... over the last few movies, I've been given concentration camps and, outside that, I'd seen little things here and there that were basically glossed over, or at least hardly explained. I saw the armbands to signify who were Jews; I saw (in Schindler's List, specifically) Jews being forced into walled-in ghettos within the city; I saw people hiding their money and jewels as Nazis invaded their homes; I saw threats of uprising that never really went anywhere. But none of that was ever really explored. But in this film, they explored the armbands and reactions to said armbands; they explored the building of the walls around the ghetto and the extreme nature of living within those walls; they had a deep discussions on hiding their valuables; and there were actually uprisings. And not a single concentration camp. In other words, along with everything else I've said in this review, this was a movie that gave me everything the other movies didn't--and I think that's why I loved it.


Royale With Cheese

PREDATORS.

I've never considered myself an uber-Predator fan. I mean, I've seen the films (including both vs. Alien ones), and the Predators themselves are cool. They're enjoyable films (OK, so maybe not Requiem). But at the same time, I'm also not a big fan of Nimrod Antal's other films (such as Vacancy and Armored). I guess my point is that while this movie did interest me and looked like fun, I wasn't going to go out of my way to see it. Luckily, I didn't have to. Despite going to an afternoon show 5 minutes before it started, I didn't have to fight any lines or struggle to find seating. And after this long, pretty pointless diatribe, what am I getting at? Predators was freakin' awesome.

Technically a sequel to the first film (as it does make reference to it), this one picks up years later (I guess) where a bunch of people fall from the sky and land in a jungle. These people appear to be some of the most dangerous people on Earth, including Royce (Adrien Brody), Isabelle (Alice Braga), Stans (Walton Goggins), Nikolai (Oleg Taktarov), Cuchillo (Danny Trejo), Hanzo (Louis Ozawa Changchien), and Mombasa (Mahershalalhashbaz Ali). In fact, the only one that doesn't seem to fit the mold as "most dangerous person on Earth" is a doctor named Edwin (Topher Grace). Royce leads the group through the jungle, trying to figure out what's going on. And then, slowly, they begin to discover they're being hunted by an alien race, and they'll do anything to stay alive and get off this strange planet. The movie also stars Laurence Fishburne, but he doesn't come in until later.

To me, the movie was like mixing LOST with Pitch Black, except where everybody is Riddick (though much less cool). The first third of the movie is basically them walking around the jungle, finding other survivors, scoping out the land, and trying to figure out what's going on. It doesn't sound interesting, but this part of the movie was so engaging and encapsulating that I completely forgot I was watching a Predator movie up until right before the aliens showed up. There was one point where I was literally like "Oh crap, and they still have to fight dangerous aliens!"

And then the action kicks in, and it grabs you even more. There's a variety of action, too. There's gun fighting, explosions, hand combat, traps... there's even a, I kid you not, samurai-style sword fight. There's human versus human, human versus alien dog thing, human versus Predator, and even Predator versus Predator. This movie really covers all your bases. There's literally something for everybody. The action is high, the suspense is good, and there are even some creepy moments. Oh, and a character gets his spine and skull ripped out. Hardcore.

The acting is nothing to shout about, but this is a Predator movie. What do you expect? Most people, before the movie came out, complained that Topher Grace seemed completely out of place. Well, that's because he's supposed to be. They actually casted the role well, because they needed an assuming person like Topher to pull off the role. And Adrien Brody, the other questionable casting, was pretty good. He pulled off the gruff bad-ass aspect really well. In fact, the only character that bugged me was Laurence Fishburne's. He was a necessary character, but there was just something about him that bothered me.

There's not all that much to say about this movie. If you want a good, unapologetic action flick, totally check this out. It's totally predictable, but for the most part you don't care. Or at least I didn't. I was too engrossed with the thrills that none of it really bothered me. There were parts that made it seem to drag slightly, near the end, but not for too long. Overall, I really recommend it. I had a really fun time with this one. And Alice Braga is hot (though totally giving off a "Michelle Rodriguez" vibe throughout).


A Keanu 'Whoa'

SPLICE.

Warning: The following review is semi-spoilerous.

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What is there to say about Splice? Well, I've been anticipating this movie for quite some time. My regular readers might know that I'm a long-time fan of director Vincenzo Natali, who directed one of my favorite movies--Cube. He also directed a great paranoid thriller called Cypher. Natali, like many directors, has his staples that come with every movie he does. One-word title... check. Actor David Hewlett... check. Slow reveals rather than jump scares... check. Ending where one character goes crazy, a well-liked character dies suddenly, and those remaining are left with an ambiguous ending and/or choice... check. The overall movie is very strange... check. Yeah, I could leave my review at that, but I won't.

The movie is about scientists and couple Elsa (Sarah Polley) and Clive (Adrien Brody). They work with splicing different DNA together to create new species in order to find proteins that might cure diseases. But when their company refuses to let them move on to human/animal hybrid splicing, Else and Clive decide to try it in secret. What they end up creating is Dren (Delphine Chaneac), a creature that grows into a feminine-like creature with animalistic features and tendencies. So Elsa and Clive have to try and keep it a secret from their bosses, including William Barlow (David Hewlett), as they study and grow to love their newest experiment.

From the first trailer (the teaser, I suppose), I thought this movie was gonna be pretty cool. Then the theatrical trailer came out, and it played it up like a straight horror/monster movie, and I became confused. I looked like straight-up Species, a mainstream horror film, and that is not the type of film Vincenzo Natali makes. So I figured that the trailer had to be misleading. Fortunately, it was. This is not a horror movie (except maybe the climax), but more of a... well... family drama--with monsters. Elsa and Clive go through everything with Dren that your average parent does. How do you feed it? What do you do when it's sick? How do you respond to temper tantrums? The film is more about our two leads growing as people as they discover what kind of parents they are with a more... abnormal child. Are there moments of suspense/tension? Yeah. But there are no jump scares, which is an insane rarity with any kind of movie dealing with this subject matter (monsters or children, these days, honestly).

The acting is done really well (and I particularly love David Hewlett as usual), but the standout is Delphine Chaneac as Dren. In what is basically a speechless role, she had to emote using her eyes and body language--and on top of that, she had to be both human and animalistic. There's really not all that big of a cast for this movie (again, which is pretty par for the course with Natali), though the guy they got to play Brody's brother was a great choice. Looks like they could really be brothers.

Before going into this movie, I had heard that the last 20 minutes or so kind of derails and gets very... strange. I have to say that I saw no derailment, as I saw practically all of it coming a mile away (not sure what that says about me, though... especially in one or two cases... like Clive's... moment). So I really didn't have any problems with any of it on an entertainment level, as I didn't think the last 20 minutes (or so) came from left field in the world the movie had set up.

The only major issues I had were with the character developments. Clive starts out early on wanting a child and Elsa doesn't. Then Dren comes along and Clive wants to kill it and Elsa loves it. Then Elsa starts going crazy and Clive starts to care for it. Honestly, I could go with Elsa's development easily, because they flowed well and they made sense. In fact, I liked it quite a bit. But Clive's development jumped all over the place. He shows interest in creating this thing, then immediately hates the idea and wants to destroy it. Then he wants to get rid of the creature for a good bulk of the movie before suddenly becoming attached to it. There was no real flow or reason for any of his major thought changes (except maybe one), so it was a bit off-putting to me at times. Regardless, I still enjoyed his character, especially once he started to care about Dren.

There's not much more I can say about the movie. It has some great cinematography (I particularly love the 'wings behind Clive' shot). Maybe I'm just really, really strange, but I didn't think any of the story was all that surprising, but it was still quite entertaining regardless. Like most of Natali's films, it'll probably split the audience. Some will love it. Some won't. But I recommend checking it out. After all... what's the worst that could happen?


A Keanu 'Whoa'

(P.S. I saw somewhere a while back where somebody made a MewTwo joke... which is hilarious. Well, if you were ever into PokeMon, anyway. But yeah, at times, there is quite a striking resemblance to both Mew and MewTwo...)