Into the Storm
Dir. Steven Quale
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Even though it's been done to death, I personally enjoy the concept of found-footage movies. Whether it's a small-scale horror flick like The Blair Witch Project or a giant monster movie like Cloverfield, I just find that personal, on-the-ground perspective of events to be a really fun change of pace. So the idea of taking that concept and applying it to Twister seemed cool. Into the Storm seemed to promote itself solely on its effects, but I still wasn't sure how Steven Quale (2nd unit director for Titanic, Avatar) would be able to make a movie like this using the format. The answer? Throw the found-footage concept away whenever it's most convenient for you. It's a shame this didn't attempt to really show a mega-storm from a first-person perspective, because this film, though it lacks any decent story or characters, does have some great special effects and set pieces.
The film follows a storm-chasing documentary crew as they try and capture the "eye" of a tornado. For added stakes they NEED to get it or they don't get paid (oh no!). We also follow a father and his two high school-aged sons whose graduation is about to be cut short due to inclement weather, along with a couple of hillbilly daredevils meant to be comedic relief. The plot is thin, and the acting is for the most part terrible, but they suffice just enough to justify watching giant tornados rip through this small town. Into the Storm is basically tornado porn; you get your money's worth if that's what you paid for, you just have to sit through god-awful "human" scenes for a good chunk of it.
Rating: C+
Calvary
Dir. John Michael McDonagh
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John Michael McDonagh (brother of Martin McDonagh, director of In Bruges, which you all should check out) previously directed The Guard, a fun enough little violent indie movie starring an expletive-spewing Brendan Gleeson and some dark comedy - though not nearly as good as his brother's work on In Bruges. McDonagh's follow-up, Calvary, gets rid of that sense of fun from The Guard, and puts in its place a much more "mature," metaphorical tone. Gleeson this time plays a priest who, not dissimilarly to Naomi Watts in The Ring, is told in a confession booth that he has 7 days before he is killed. And not because he's a bad priest, but because he's a good one and the killer wants to send a message to the church as he'd been molested as a child. Though the stage is set for a gripping, paranoia-filled whodunit, I found Calvary to be too up its own ass, with every character talking through "doublespeak," and only Gleeson being able to pull it off.
This is all one big Jesus metaphor. Gleeson's character is going to die for others' sins, and the whole movie is him just going around, getting his affairs in order (including talking with his daughter, fresh off a suicide attempt), and just ruminating about life. Maybe it was a matter of expectations (I wanted this to be more of a fun, black comedy), but I really found this too slow and the characters to sound mostly unnatural. The beautiful Irish scenery and Gleeson keeping this movie together may be enough for some, but either I didn't like it or I need a second viewing to appreciate it.
Rating: C-
Monty Python Live (mostly)
Dir. A Dead Parrot
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Alright, so this isn't really a "movie" review per se, but in keeping up with the tradition of expressing my opinion of things I saw on a large screen in a public space, I figured I'd talk about this special event screening of Monty Python's final performance, Monty Python Live (mostly). I'm a big fan of Python, especially the films, and this big "Vegas-y" stage production, filmed live in a huge London arena, caters to the fans in a nice little send-off that includes their "best-of" sketches. Though the five remaining Python members, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam are all old bucks now in their 70's, they still have their comedic wit about them and put on their old skits without missing a beat (well, except for those few times where they did skip a bunch of beats...actually, now that I think of it, they did seem to be pretty forgetful, and likely put this show on because they know they aren't going to last much longer).
Although you can't go wrong with the classics, and they're still funny all these years later, I found that the show sometimes relied too heavily on playing the old cut-out animations while they changed around the set. Also, I don't know if this was just my theater or what, but whenever the orchestra played or the background dancers started singing (like on 'Every Sperm is Sacred'), I couldn't hear them hardly at all! It's like they weren't mic'ed properly and the sound was terribly muffled. The Python members themselves were always crystal clear, but this was a huge glaring error I don't see how anyone could have fucked up. Technical issues aside, it was still a nice trip down memory lane, and a sweet farewell to THE BEST comedy troupe in the history of the planet.
Rating: B
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