The Spy Next Door

Carcasses Review

*As seen at the 7th Annual All Canadian northbayfilmfestival*

Don’t you hate it when a film does nothing? Absolutely nothing. There’s potentially a good story there and, with a very open and creative director, the film could be very effective but instead the film just decides to do….nothing? Carcasses is one of these frustrating films filled to the brim of a director’s own indulgence and is too busy basking in its own pretentious soak to see that it’s doing nothing to involve an audience whatsoever. I sat in the theatre as the characters mumbled, observed crummy camerawork, and as the film’s pace progressed sluggishly, I couldn’t believe what was going through my head. Carcasses, a film barely directed by Denis Côté, is the worst movie I have ever seen.

Finding a plot in this muddled mess is difficult. What the audience is shown in the short duration is a series of scenes that feature real-life Quebecer, Jean-Paul Colmor, quietly drifting through life, not doing anything exciting in particular, while he helms his own personal junkyard. We see Jean-Paul rummaging through old car parts, finding old car parts and trying to sell these old car parts. When he’s not searching through his cluttered junkyard, he’s wandering around inside his house, where we see he is a hoarder. The audience then experiences what Jean-Paul likes to do in his spare time when he’s not looking for spare parts. Jean-Paul practices his Spanish and eats. He eats a lot. In fact, Jean-Paul breaks the forth wall to tell us how many times he chews his food before swallowing, and we see these actions; every last chew. One day, while Jean-Paul is searching through his junkyard, four teenagers with Down Syndrome, one welding a rifle, appear on the site seeking refuge. What will happen if Jean-Paul and these young teens meet? You’ll just have to wait and see. Or better yet, don’t wait at all. In fact, don’t even bother to wait from the first scene of the film to the end.

A movie like Carcasses really tests an audience’s patience. The audience is punished by sitting through endless scenes of lonely Jean-Paul finding car parts, sitting by himself, and chopping wood. These are just some of the activities Jean-Paul takes part in. As a fan of film and a critic, I can understand what Côté is trying to establish with these methods of filmmaking. For example, in Gus Van Sant’s, Elephant, the audience watches many scenes where students walk around a school for endless scenes. Why? To capture the innocence of an environment before two students turn that innocent environment into a murderous nightmare. Another example is Jim Jarmusch’s ,The Limits of Control, where the audience follows a no-named hit-man as he collects clues and meets interesting characters while the film builds up an intense mood to see how this hit-man’s mission will end. I mention these films because what Sant and Jarmusch do is what Côté fails miserably at and that is that he never makes one iota of his film compelling. Yes, we understand Jean-Paul leads an action-packed absent life but is he interesting enough of a character to have a movie made around him? Simple answer, no. Scenes where “nothing” happens is fine if we, the audience, care about a situation or characters. Here, we have no one interesting to care about in dull situations. By bringing in actors with Down Syndrome, this is Côté’s way to get the audience interested in his characters but it’s too late into the film for the audience to garner any interest for anyone or anything. It’s just sloppy handling of an otherwise fine method to create a fascinating film.

Not only is the limited direction a wreck, everything else is very confusing and frustrating as well. The camerawork is awful. We have multiple shots where the camera is locked off, showing establishing shots of trees and debris. These shots don’t add anything to the story since we already known how isolated Jean-Paul is in this environment. Whenever there are close-ups of characters, the shots are never of anything interesting as well. For instance, in a shot where Jean-Paul and a client are talking about cars, the shot is locked off on their lower torsos. There is no explanation given as to why the audience is forced to look at stomachs and rears and even if there was a reason given, the shot looks sloppy and unappealing. This example speaks volumes considering the other shots featured in this film are of the same nature. Also, the music chosen for this film is unnecessary. Hardly any music is used throughout this film to symbolize the isolation issue but when Côté decides to incorporate some kind of musical elements, the audience gets uncomfortably loud drivel that adds distraction to the scenes. Instead of being captivated, the audience is wondering, “who in their right mind would’ve picked a musical track this maddening?”; absolutely disappointing. Along with the confusing technical decisions, the actors look distraught too. Jean-Paul, who is apparently playing himself, looks confused to even breath let alone perform any actions that are directed towards him. As an audience member, I felt unsettled when the young teens with Down Syndrome would appear on the screen because it appears they were given limited direction. The camera focuses on them as they appear uncomfortable and confused as to what they should be doing. When they are given direction, the actors look very forced and uneasy. The film wrestles between being a documentary and being fictitious work and I don’t think anyone informed the talent of what Carcasses is even supposed to resemble. Côté’s direction is borderline exploitation and if he intends on directing another film, he needs to get his act together.

Carcasses is an agonizing journey through a never-ending void. Côté is too focused on being experimental that he is too blind to see he has made a disaster of a film. For me, a big convention of film is substance, which always has to come first over style. If the substance isn’t there, the film is going to fall apart. Côté’s Carcasses doesn’t have substance, it doesn’t have style, it just has a large, pompous ego

Mood: Angry

THE TOP 10 OF '09: The Rest of 'Em

Hey everyone,

I haven't done one of these in ages. It feels like eons, really, since the piece on The Soloist, which makes a nice transition into this note. I've been really busy with working and writing reviews for more recent movies. I have no clue, not a single clue, when I'm going to finish this top 10 write-up and we're almost in March. In the past, I've posted my top 10 in February and I've found that works well. So, as much as these write-ups have been fun, I kind of just want to post my complete list and move onto other reviews. These write-ups were a little bit of an experiment and maybe next year, I'll continue with them for my top 10 of '10, in the meantime, I'm going to post my list as it stands right now. For those who have listened to the Krupke's podcast, and I urge you guys to listen to us (it's a really good show), some of you have probably heard my list already. For those who haven't, here's my *ahem* TOP 10 MOVIES OF 2009!

And the list goes like so.

#10: Tie: Bart Got A Room & Up In The Air
#9: Coraline
#8: Observe and Report & World's Greatest Dad
#7: The Soloist
#6: Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
#5: The Box
#4: The Princess and the Frog
#3: Avatar
#2: Where The Wild Things Are
#1: Pontypool

And I'm giving a special award out to the *ahem* BEST MOVIE THAT, UNFORTUNATELY, HAD NO THEATRICAL RELEASE which goes to.....Trick R' Treat

My Honorable Mentions are:

The Limits of Control, It's Complicated, Funny People, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Antichrist, Inglorious Basterds, Paper Heart, Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience, This is It, and Humpday.

Now, on to my WORST MOVIES OF '09! And the list is...

#10: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
#9: The Final Destination
#8: I Love You, Beth Cooper
#7: The Ugly Truth
#6: Last House on the Left
#5: Next Day Air
#4: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
#3: My Life in Ruins
#2: All About Steve
#1: Watchmen

And as for the WORST STRAIGHT-TO-VIDEO award, well, that award goes to......Waiting 2: Still Waiting.

My Dishonorable Mentions are:

Bride Wars, Balls Out: The Gary Houseman Story, Confessions of a Shopaholic, 12 Rounds, and Year One.

And that's all she wrote. Like always, I'm open to feedback. Do you like my list? Do you hate my list? Comment, please. Sorry again that this write-up stuff fell through but, hey, that's why we have New Year's Resolutions, right?

Take care, everyone, and thanks for reading. Also, check out Joseph Krupke's Movies in Review on Facebook. It's good stuff, for sure. Thanks in advance!

Mood: Happy

THE TOP 10 OF '09: Loads of promotion but still lost through the cracks

Hey, hey!

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with these blogs. I've just started writing for a friend's film website (filmblot.com) and I've been working non-stop. I had some time to spend now and, well, I want to get caught up. I mean, yeesh, I'm not even in my top 5 yet. Yikes. Well, let's go onto #7. My #7 film on my top 10 of 2009 is...

#7: The Soloist

What the heck happened with this film? I remember when trailers for this film were playing in 2008 and the same trailer got placed before, what it felt like, every single film that came out. A trailer that gave me goose-bumps the first time around but, to be honest, really got on my nerves after I saw it for the 15th time. Maybe that's why the film never found an audience. People were just really sick of hearing about it. Something tells me the constant changing of the release date as well had something to do with the film not doing well in theaters. It was coming out during last year's Oscar season then it got bumped and then it got released during the "dump" months. I just don't get it. It's really too bad this never found its groove with audiences because The Soloist really is a spectacular film about wanting to have a connection with someone different than you and what would be the best way to affect one's life.

The film follows Los Angeles Times writer Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey Jr.) as he recovers from a bike accident as well as a dry writers well. This is when he meets up with a very eccentric, mentally ill, homeless man, Nathaniel Ayers, (played by Jamie Foxx) who cannot stop talking except when he sees the opportunity to play some music. Due to having little activity in his social life and him wanting to get the ball rolling on his writing, Steve accepts Nathaniel into his life and wants to help him as much as possible in order to get insight into his life and find that emotional connection so he will have good, heartfelt articles for the paper. As the friendship builds, Steve starts to see Nathaniel's inner fears and frustrations to which Steve figures he must find a way to conquer these demons.

I'm still so blown away that this film is having a hard time finding a welcoming audience because everything in this film is stellar across the board. I think the acting is certainly Oscar worthy and Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx have wonderful on-screen chemistry to which they are able to comfortably play off one another. We see the frustrations both characters are going through and we're interested to see how they will overcome them or if they ever will. Catherine Keener also stars in this film. She's in a handful of scenes and isn't doing anything special compared to her past roles but that's ok with me because she is playing a very interesting character that keeps the story going. I think the script is well written and, again, feel like it should've been at least nominated for a best adapted screenplay Oscar this year. The humongous bright spot of the film for me is the direction by Joe Wright. Wright directed a favorite a couple years ago called Atonement and even though I never saw it (really wanted to), it was hailed by many. I think his work here is extremely strong, using long one-takes in order to establish an environment, using a variety of techniques in order for the human emotion to be carried throughout the film; everything feels real and not fabricated. I also like the methods he uses to convey how people are reacting. There's a scene where Nathaniel is listening to music and all we see are bright, kaleidoscope-esque images as they follow the beats to the song. This has to be one of my favorite scenes from any movie in 2009. It's just so powerful and mesmerizing that it almost takes you into another world. Also in relation, I think the cinematography is top notch and, once again, should've been recognized come Oscar time.

All in all, I'm saddened this movie has been so overlooked. The performances, the technical elements and the methods of storytelling all ring true and are fabulously executed. The story does feel like a modern day re-telling of Rain Man and normally people would complain about the film not being original enough but this is a story I find inspiring and uplifting and I think the film does a good job by taking something many people have seen before and putting its own spin on things. That said, the film is out on DVD and Blu-Ray and I can't recommend this wonderful film enough.

Thanks for reading, everyone. I'll try to get #6 up here as soon as possible.
:)

Mood: Happy

THE TOP 10 OF '09: Dark. Disturbing. Funny?

Hey everyone,

We've narrowed down both movies at #10 and we nabbed #9 as well. Now at #8, I'm put in yet another conundrum. When first organizing this list, I had only one movie at #8 and that was fine. Nothing wrong there. Y'know, I shouldn't even have ties, however, I have now two ties on my list. What's wrong with me? It's catching up on all these excellent, overlooked masterpieces that triggers most ties for me. When the year is up, I collect all these films on DVD that I heard good things about. This is the case with #8. Two dark, disturbing movies share this spot and I'm super proud they do because they are, without a doubt, two of the funniest movies released in 2009 as well as two of my favourite dark comedies of all time. These two movies are...

#8: OBSERVE AND REPORT & WORLD'S GREATEST DAD

I remember seeing a movie during my first year at Canadore called "Happiness" directed by Todd Solondz and I thought to myself "this will hold the highest rank of being the darkest comedy I have ever seen". Happiness is one of my favorite movies and I'm proud to say that it can share the top spot with these two films as well.

Let's start with Observe and Report. Observe and Report is about a heavily medicated mall security guard (played by Seth Rogen) named Ronnie who is overly dedicated to his job. He treats his position with all the required respect and then some. When a streaker runs through the mall parking lot exposing himself to women including Ronnie's crush Brandi (played by Anna Faris), Ronnie decides that he must take the situation into his own hands and bring this streaker down. That also means he won't let any police officers take control of the situation. Also, hilarity and chaos ensues when Ronnie halts taking his medication.

The film is faced with a lot of challenges. The film wants us to identify with Ronnie so we'll be able to care about him through his ups and downs. However, Ronnie isn't exactly the perfect citizen he believes he is. There are scenes were Ronnie is harassing people and being violent. The character is a great anti-hero; he's someone we want to see succeed because we've identified with his passions and emotions but he is also rebellious in his ways of reaching his goals. Seth Rogen does a pitch perfect job at diving into this insane character study and making it his own; adding mannerisms and subtle developments that make the character "real". That said, I think the acting is great across the board. Anna Faris shines here as a character that could be read as "the bimbo character" if one was to read it at face value but, like Rogen, she takes this character and makes it her own by really developing the character into something more. However, I do think the director, Jody Hill, had a great impact on this character development. Jody Hill is a director who knows exactly what he wants and he isn't afraid of going into some really dark territory to have these characters emote and tell an audience how they really feel. With his first feature, The Foot Fist Way, and now this feature, Jody Hill is a fearless director who has creativity overflowing out of him. Also, I think the film looks very good and the film is very well paced as well.

For those who saw Observe and Report in theaters expecting, and I hate to say it, a Paul Blart-esque film (and by saying that I mean in its slapsticky style) and were very disappointed, I say give it another shot on DVD or Blu-Ray and observe it as a character study of a highly medicated man who wants to in all his power do good. I'm telling you, you might enjoy it a little more everytime you watch it.

The next film I'm about to talk about to Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad. However, I'm going to only talk about its merits and not so much about its story. I heavily stress that you know nothing about this movie before seeing it. Sky and I both saw this movie knowing virtually nothing about this movie and we were both blown away by the subject matter and by the degree of how deep the film goes in order to find satirical elements. Let me just say it is probably the darkest satirical comedy I've ever seen and I'm leaving it at that.

That said, the acting is stellar across the board. Robin Williams is wonderful as Lance Clayton, a father trying to identify with his rebellious son (played by Daryl Sabara who explodes far from his role in Spy Kids and into a very much matured actor who I have lots of faith in after this film). The acting by the supporting characters was very well done as well. I really enjoyed the look of the film; everything was very well lit and each shot was very well crafted. Also, the directing is excellent too. What Bobcat Goldthwait does behind the camera is exceptional and makes me want to track down a copy of his first film "Shakes the Clown". The guy obviously has a very unique sense of humor and knows how to convey it through film successfully. On a final note, the soundtrack is perfect. Each song plays its own role in the movie and adds something more to each scene, whether it's humor or grief, the soundtrack mixes with the movie in a top notch manner.

Observe and Report and World's Greatest Dad. Two very overlooked movies that revel in subject manner that isn't usually joked around with. Maybe that's why these films didn't really connect with audiences in theaters. Now that they're both out on DVD and Blu-Ray, I highly suggest that you rent these if you feel like traveling somewhere dark to get your laughs. Each film is masterfully done and it's made me as a viewer and a fan of film very eager to see future work from Jody Hill and Bobcat Goldthwait

Thanks for reading, guys. Lookout for #7 and, don't worry, no more ties for 2009.

Mood: Happy

THE TOP 10 OF '09: Scaring the Bejesus out of Children

Hey everyone,

I'm in a writing mood so let's serve up #9 on my top 10 of 2009. Y'ready?

#9: CORALINE

I remember when Sky and I first saw Coraline. It didn't come to our theatre in North Bay so when we traveled down to Newmarket to see my mom and baby brother, we decided that one night, we would see Coraline. Not JUST Coraline but Coraline in REEEEEEL D 3D! Our theatre never got 3D movies and we heard from someone that Coraline is amazing in Reel D. Plus, there's something about seeing a stop motion film in 3D that tweaked my interest. That, and I was a fan of the director's previous work; yes, even Monkeybone but I haven't seen that one in a while. However, I digress.

We get to the theatre and as the movie starts, we find out it's in 2D. The theatre is only allowed to show one 3D movie at the time and because the Jonas Brothers concert was released that weekend, Coraline got the shaft. We were still amped to watch Coraline but we were a little bummed out. However, this was the movie to get us back into a great mood.

What an excellent movie, first of all. I find everything about this movie marvelous, mysterious, and unlike anything I've seen before. Coraline is about a young girl (voiced by Dakota Fanning) who moves into a new area with her parents. While there, her parents are always caught up in work and Coraline is left to fend for herself when it comes to entertaining herself. She meets strange characters such as a talking black cat (voiced by the talented Keith David), an in-your-face gymnast, and two old ladies obsessed with dogs and theatre. As Coraline discovers new elements about her new house, she discovers a door which leads her into another dimension where everything she's wished for has come true. However, there is a price Coraline must pay in order for this world to stay how it is and that is she must sew on buttons for her eyes.

This movie will scare the bejesus out of your children. Hell, it creeped Sky and I out as the other parents from the other dimension keep pressuring Coraline to give in. Plus, there are some really eerie visuals in this movie that I cannot put into words. There hasn't been a movie that I can remember recently that has been a horror movie for children. It's scary but it's never mean spirited and it's quite aware of itself and where the surrealistic boundaries lie. The animation is top notch in this film and I cannot even imagine how grueling and time consuming the stop motion and editing procedures were so major kudos to such a dedicated director and his production team. I found the voice acting to be spot-on. There was never a time where I was taken out of the viewing when I recognized voices.In fact, I had to watch the credits to find out who was voicing who and was pleasantly surprised to find out who each character was. I think everything is extremely well lit and the cinematography is stellar. People have had gripes with the story and how it doesn't feel meaty enough to carry this film during its duration but I had no problem with the script. It was surrealistic and, like another film this year that's somewhere on my list (I won't say which one), I found the script really captured how a young person's imagination runs wild with them and can even be taken into a realm where unspeakable things can happen.

What else can I say really? Coraline is an extremely strong animated piece that is not only on my "best of" list of 2009 but its also on my list of the best animated films I have ever seen. Definitely check it out. Whether your old or young, you're bound to find something in this film that you can connect to and, thus, be in the movie's grasp.

Stick around for #8. It'll be coming soon.

Mood: Happy