Woody Harrelson: Zombie Killer, Messenger and Defendor

I never expected to be writing anything praising the acting skills of Woody Harrelson, the bartender from "Cheers." I thought he did a decent job of playing the over-the-top crazy guy (Natural Born Killers, 2012) and the "doofus" (Kingpin, Edtv), and didn't really have too much to offer aside from that.

In the past few months, I have seen Zombieland, The Messenger and Defendor. If not for Christoph Waltz's outstanding performance in Inglourious Basterds, I really think that Harrelson could have been the one sweeping the awards for his genuine performance in The Messenger. (He did manage win the Independent Spirit and National Board of Review awards for Best Supporting Actor.) He provided depth and a range of emotion in that part that I wasn't really aware that he could pull off. He brought the right blend of that depth with the aforementioned archetypes to play Tallahassee in Zombieland and the titular character in Defendor. Sure, Zombieland was a little over-the-top (what zombie movie isn't?), but in the scenes that called for a little more than the guns-blazing action star performance, Harrelson delivered both the comedy and the drama. In Defendor, Harrelson plays Arthur, a man who isn't "all there" mentally and decides to become a real-life superhero. The world of Defendor is not pretty - from the dirty cop's crew that nearly beats Defendor to death to his unlikely female sidekick, who is also a hooker - but Harrelson manages to play Arthur (and Defendor) with a mix of innocence and fortitude that really makes the whole story compelling.

Out of the three films, I have to say that Defendor surprised me the most. I knew going into The Messenger that it was getting a lot of awards buzz, so Harrelson's strong performance wasn't a huge shocker. Zombieland was pretty much a straight-forward horror comedy, it just featured some better-than-normal performances and plot twists. I'm a big fan of comic book/superhero films and I also love revisionist takes on pretty much any genre, so when I first heard about Defendor I was curious to see the revisionist superhero movie. The narrative structure of the film provides the story, more or less, from Arthur's point-of-view. I don't want to give too much away, but through his conversation with Sandra Oh's character, a framework is established that allows Arthur to gradually reveal more about himself by sharing the events of his life over the last few weeks. The setting of the story and a lot of the situations the characters find themselves in might be bleak, but Arthur/Defendor carries a sense of hope if he can help turn things around, and he extends that hope to the people around him. And that, my friends, is what any good superhero should do.

After seeing these three films, I'm feeling hopeful about the future of Harrelson's acting career (which includes Zombieland 2).

Ratings

Defendor: 4 (out of 5)

The Messenger: 4

Zombieland: 4

Mixed Feelings: Loving and Hating Romantic Comedies, Part Two

Warning: The following "spoils" the ending of Leap Year, 27 Dresses and The Holiday. I'm sorry if it shocks you.

At the end of the last romantic comedy-related post I wrote, I suggested that I should skip out on the romantic comedies that I know will be completely predictable and practically devoid of any reality whatsoever. I didn't follow my own advice, and I recently found myself watching Leap Year. My curiosity was piqued by the setting in Ireland, the presence of Matthew Goode (who actually gives good performances in non-romantic comedies A Single Man and Brideshead Revisited) and the use of a newer song by Snow Patrol (one of my favorite bands), "Just Say Yes," in the trailer. It is also directed by Anand Tucker, who I thought did a good job with Shopgirl. But now I'm thinking that might've just been due to the involvement of Steve Martin.

Leap Year is pretty much your standard modern Hollywood romantic comedy: a neurotic, control-freak female lead finds herself in the company of a pessimistic male lead who is really romantic but is insanely heartbroken. He senses this caricature of a woman could help him overcome said heartbreak, especially after she has a scene or two where she "lets her hair down." She is not interested in him, at least at the beginning. By the end of the movie, they are inseparable. If you take the title and replace it with any major romantic comedy released in the last few years, you can see how ridiculous and recycled these plot lines are. (The best examples I can think of are 27 Dresses and the Cameron Diaz-Jude Law storyline in The Holiday.) The only major difference is that Leap Year is set in Ireland.

I might start to refer to this as When Harry Met Sally syndrome. I love that movie. It is truly an original story about love, and is probably the romantic comedy that originated that general storyline I mentioned above. To me, it seems like writers, directors and studios are repeatedly trying to recreate the film, and they fail pretty much every time - if not financially, most certainly critically.

I think that the most common problem is that these modern stories are just boiling it down to sweeping romantic moments and are not doing a very good job of filling in the gaps. Romantic relationships need romance and passion, but the two characters also need to have some sort of deeper connection to bond them. The Casablanca phone call scene in When Harry Met Sally is a perfect example of that. There might be a tinge of romance to the scene, but it's about these two people connecting through the movie and other bits of information that circle around their conversation about and viewing of Casablanca. The inclusion of the line, "I think this is going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship," into the narrative of When Harry Met Sally is essential and it comes off without being incredibly cheesy and obvious (see the story Matthew Goode's character tells Amy Adams' character in the castle in Leap Year).

To end on a high note, I'll leave you with the sequence I described, which only constitutes the first three and a half minutes of the following clip.

Ratings

Leap Year: 1.5 (out of 5)

When Harry Met Sally: 4.5

27 Dresses: 2

The Holiday: 3.5 (rating elevated due to Kate Winslet-Jack Black-Eli Wallach storyline; Cameron Diaz-Jude Law alone would likely receive a 2)

Mixed Feelings: Loving and Hating Romantic Comedies

Disclaimer: I know I'm not the first person to complain about realism in mainstream romantic comedies and I know I won't be the last. I just wanted to get another voice out there. Also, as a spoiler alert, you shouldn't read this if you haven't seen (and want to see) 500 Days of Summer and When Harry Met Sally, as I write about their endings.

I recently acquired both 500 Days of Summer and When Harry Met Sally, two of my favorite films, or romantic comedies to be specific, on DVD. I watched them back to back, and two days later, I found myself seeing Valentine's Day, the latest generic Hollywood romantic comedy to hit the big screen. I chose it because I wanted to watch something new, but I wanted it to be a "lighter" film, as opposed to the "heavier" foreign films (The White Ribbon, A Prophet, etc.) I'm eager to see before the Oscars. I definitely got what I was looking for, but I think I would have felt better about myself if I had gone with one of the aforementioned foreign films. It was pretty much as light as they come, with no real nuance or realism akin to that which I found myself engulfed in only two nights earlier with my own double feature.

500 Days of Summer doesn't have a stereotypically happy ending (it's not exactly depressing though either), and When Harry Met Sally, while the story leading up to the ending is fairly original (especially for 1989), does manage to slide in to the happy ending pile. Although, as I discovered by watching some of the bonus features on the Collector's Edition DVD, the original script didn't see Harry and Sally becoming romantically involved at the end of the film. I personally would have rather seen that ending; while the whole New Year's climax is romantic, I do think it would be nice to see a "friend-mance" on the big screen between a straight male and a straight female that doesn't end up turning sexual or romantic. When I was a little girl, and even as I've grown up (a little), I've always fantasized about having great friends over great romance. I know that might be considered ridiculous or blasphemous to some, but it's the truth. So I would just like to see that reflected on the big screen.

Or, at the very least, I would like to see more stories similar to 500 Days of Summer and Annie Hall (another personal favorite movie/romantic comedy), which both go through the ups and downs of relationships, which I find to be a hell of a lot more realistic than a movie where almost every character winds up getting what they want or need, even if it's not the same as what they wanted or needed at the beginning of the movie.

Some people go to the movies for escapism (and I can occasionally be included in that group), but I mostly go to see life reflected or to be inspired by life lived. As far as romantic comedies go, Annie Hall and When Harry Met Sally are the touchstones for the latter, and 500 Days of Summer and Away We Go (my favorite film/romantic comedy of 2009) are the most recent examples. I would rewatch them instead of seeing pretty much any of the mainstream Hollywood romantic comedies released in the last few years, and after watching Valentine's Day, I realize that's what I should've done.

Ratings

Valentine's Day: 1 (out of 5)

500 Days of Summer: 4.5

When Harry Met Sally: 4.5

Annie Hall: 5

Away We Go: 5

A Week at the Movies

This week, in an effort to see as many of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award nominees as possible, I saw three films - A Single Man, The Lovely Bones and Crazy Heart.

A Single Man

In co-writer/director Tom Ford's A Single Man, Colin Firth plays George Falconer, an English professor in the 1960s who recently lost his partner of 16 years (played by Matthew Goode). It follows him throughout one day in his life, from the memories of Jim, the aforementioned partner, through his work day at a small university to dinner with a close friend (Julianne Moore) and beyond. The entire cast is wonderful, but Firth, Nicholas Hoult, Moore and Goode all give great performances. Firth especially is brilliant; he fully embodies the character, conveying the accurate amounts of emotion expected from scene to scene, and bringing just the slightest bit of arrogance he has displayed through playing Mr. Darcy three times. Fashion designer Ford does a brilliant job of setting an extremely elegant, stylish tone in his first film.

Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

The Lovely Bones

At its best moments, The Lovely Bones is a tense thriller about the hunt for a murderer. At its worst, it dawdles in the invented landscape of the "in-between," with over-dramatic narration by the aforementioned murderer's young victim, Susie Salmon, played by Saoirse Ronan. Unfortunately, the film spends too much time at its worst. Ultimately, the film's best moments rely on the tension created by Stanley Tucci's performance as the murderer. He does an incredible job of embodying someone capable of such a monstrous act. Mark Wahlberg, who plays Susie's father, gives a very uneven performance - he is great at certain points, horrible at others, much like his career in general. The other performances are just okay. Some of that may lie with the film's co-writer/director, Peter Jackson, as some of the transitions between the real world and the "in-between" seem awkward and forced. Those awkward and melodramatic moments tend to overshadow the more poignant or gripping parts of the film.

Rating: 3

Crazy Heart

In writer-director Scott Cooper's Crazy Heart, Jeff Bridges plays Bad Blake, a country singer whose life has become an endless blur of booze, small gigs, one-night stands and more booze. Things start to look up when he meets a small-town journalist (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) and reconnects with a country music star who used to be his protege (Colin Farrell). Bridges takes his character through a range of strong emotions, managing to avoid overblown stereotypes - it truly is one of the best of his career, and possibly the best leading actor performance of 2009. Cooper does a terrific job of allowing Bridges to shine, by avoiding overloading scenes with too much dialogue or action. He only brings in other characters when he feels it's necessary; Gyllenhaal, Farrell and Robert Duvall all give great supporting performances. The original music, by T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham (who also has a small role in the film), adds another refined layer. When Bad Blake plays those songs in the film, it is easy to think that they are really coming from him - a testament to Bridges and the songwriters.

Rating: 4.5

Of all the awards season movies, the only major contenders I still need to see are The White Ribbon, The Cove, District 9 and A Prophet.

Unconventional Love for an Unconventional Love Story

I saw 500 Days of Summer for the first time the week it was released in theaters in the St. Louis area. I went into it knowing I would like it, having the suspicion that it would hit on all the right notes for me. Add in terrific performances from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, two actors that I adore, and I swoon. After my first viewing, I was a bit apprehensive about the film, as I was afraid that it just played into the pure emotional reasoning that sometimes goes along with enjoying a film; the cinephile part of me was prepared with cynical comebacks.

Shortly after my first viewing of the film, Gordon-Levitt, Deschanel and director Marc Webb released a bonus musical number completely unrelated to the movie set to the tune of She & Him's "Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?" (Deschanel is the "she" of that group, for those who don't know.) That was the start of me realizing that 500 Days of Summer is more than just a film that draws an emotional response from me as a human being - it is also a film that can be taken seriously by any cinephile. A couple of months later, I saw the film for the second time, and my emotional and film-loving responses matched up. I've probably watched both that music video and the clip of Gordon-Levitt's musical number from the film about 20 times each now - because they just instantly make me happy upon viewing, and because they are both great representations of cinematic moments.

I recently watched the film for the fourth time, on Blu-Ray, and it is quickly climbing up the ranks of my favorite films of 2009 and of all-time. Needless to say, I will be rooting for Gordon-Levitt to win a Golden Globe on Sunday (January 17), and also secretly hoping that he'll pull an upset and somehow get an Oscar nomination on February 2. I've been a fan of his for almost as long as I can remember, from the days of TV's "3rd Rock from the Sun" and 10 Things I Hate About You all the way up to 500 Days of Summer. To a lesser (but still fairly large) extent, I've also been a fan of Deschanel, as an actress and a musician, since I first saw her as William's older sister in Almost Famous. As I said earlier, they both give strong performances, as do supporting players Chloe Moretz, Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler.

The music is also a major factor in my love for the film. From a few great karaoke performances by Gordon-Levitt, Deschanel and Arend through the "You Make My Dreams Come True" musical scene to the placement of two Regina Spektor songs, all of the musical cues are pitch-perfect. I am a huge Regina Spektor fan, and the use of "Us" in the opening credits helps build the smallest sense of hope; "Hero" magnifies the heartbreaking scene it accompanies later in the film.

In one way or another, this movie also managed to break in quite a few pop culture references, from TV's "Knight Rider" to a play on classic foreign films, most notably those of Ingmar Bergman, in one fantasy sequence.

If you take away all bells and whistles - the references and fantasy-type scenes - you are still left with a film that projects realism about modern relationships. Of all the more realistic moments in the film, there isn't a single one in the movie that hasn't brought to mind either something that I've encountered or that someone I know has encountered. None of the dialogue feels forced, which is a dreadfully common occurrence in most romantic comedies being released nowadays.

The blending of fantasy and reality is perfect, from the opening disclaimer to the last look. The credit for that is due to everyone involved in the making of the film, but most notably the screenwriters, Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, and director Webb.

Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)

This awards season, 500 Days of Summer has officially joined Away We Go and Bright Star to become my trifecta of underdogs. (Inglourious Basterds is probably my favorite front-runner.) Those three movies have more going on in singular frames than some movies have going on throughout their entire plots, and not in a showy way, but in a way that makes the most simple things at times the most beautiful and/or the most intense.

Side note: I will have a longer post on Joseph Gordon-Levitt on February 17, his birthday, which also happens to be my birthday. For now, I'll leave you with the aforementioned Bank Dance: