Beautiful Creatures (2013) - Movie Review

I'm already tired this year of using "Twilight" as a blanket comparison to any teen romance, but I'm gonna do it again...

Beautiful Creatures is naturally going to draw those comparisons, as it has familiar elements, a teen romance, supernatural elements, but that's about where it ends.  For one, when dealing with magic, you have a mythology that has a little more room for leeway, so you automatically don't have the irritation of sparkly vampires. Second, you cast two young actors that have way more chemistry and acting chops. Third, you round out your cast with Oscar-caliber actors.

I'll admit that I really wasn't looking forward Beautiful Creatures.  The trailer looked terrible, and appeared to be yet another Twilight clone with bad southern accents. Much like Warm Bodies, it quickly won me over.  When Beautiful Creatures starts though, I'm still on the defensive because the narration from Ethan Wate (Alden Ehrenreich), is delivered with a pretty over-the-top accent.  Once you realize that he's actually an intelligent kid, it's easier to get past that.  He lives in the very small town of Gatlin, South Carolina, and longs for the day he can get out.  It's the kind of small town that still bans (maybe even burns) books, where he's an avid reader, so he doesn't feel like he fits in.  Ethan explains that he's had this recurring dream about a girl, but doesn't understand the meaning or why he keeps having it.  The school year starts and Ethan is intrigued by the new girl Lena Duchannes (Alice Englert), and believes she may be the girl from those dreams.  Lena's from a notorious family that most people in town believe are Satanists, so she's rejected by her new classmates.  There's a lot of bible thumping and veiled slams on southern or Christian values, but I didn't think that was too over the top.  I tend to have a blind spot regarding political or religious undertones in movies, so I didn't focus on that much, but it's definitely there.

Ethan and Lena start hanging out and their love slowly blossoms.  However, Lena reveals that she's actually a witch (they prefer the term 'Caster') and that on her 16th birthday she's either going to be claimed for the Light or Dark.  Lena's concerned that she's going to be taken for the Dark (it runs in her family), so she tries to keep Ethan at a distance.  She's actually forbidden by her family to have a love, especially with a normal guy, but Ethan won't let up, and doesn't believe she's capable of being Dark.

Then the movie takes a turn for the awesome when Jeremy Irons shows up as Macon, Lena's uncle.  I hear the name Macon and can't stop thinking about bacon.  Mmmmm...bacon.  Sorry.  Irons has a pretty awesome opening scene, and generally classes the place up.  Just about any time Jeremy Irons appears he raises the level of the film and his scenes are some of the highlights.  One of the better qualities to Beautiful Creatures is that the adult characters actually have things to do, and are more than just parents there to warn their kids about danger.  Emma Thompson also really excels in her role as Mrs. Lincoln. There's more to her character than meets the eye and when this is revealed, Thompson is a blast to watch.  The same can be said for Viola Davis as Amma, who's a comforting presence when on screen.

When I looked at the cast, I thought of a basketball team where you have two rookies as your starting point guard and shooting guard, but then you have a team of experienced all-stars as your center (Irons), power forward (Thompson) and small forward (Davis).  If everyone knows their role and plays their part right, then you've got a really great team.

The movie works because you do like Ethan and Lena and they feel like normal kids.  That's to the credit of Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert.  Their performances are why this feels like the anti-Twilight, as they can act circles around Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.  Englert starts out a little cold, but she warms up as the movie goes on and shows just enough personality for you to understand why Ethan is still pursing Lena so hard.  There were a few times where Alice's native New Zealand/Australian accent would creep in over her southern accent from time to time, but that's forgivable.  Ehrenreich really impressed me though.  While his southern accent was a little too jokey at first, he reigned it in a bit and he shows a lot of charm in his performance.  There's great chemistry between the two, and it's helped by the natural and sometimes clever dialog.

Another thing I liked about Beautiful Creatures is that it does pretty decent job with explaining it's own mythology.  It get's a little convoluted towards the end, but I never found myself lost, confused, or questioning it.  It helps that much of the exposition is taken care of by the veteran actors, and Ethan's character stands in for the audience in many of these scenes.

The effects weren't that bad either.  I don't know what the production budget was, but I'm guessing it wasn't huge.  There were few things here and there that looked a little cheap, but they did a good job for the most part.

The only real problem I had with the film is that once it gets going there's a little too much going on, and the film drags on just a tad longer than it probably should.  Emmy Rossum appears as Lena's cousin, Ridley, who's witch powers were to make her super hot and sexy, but it didn't feel like there was much for her to do otherwise.  I enjoyed her performance, so I don't want to say they should have gotten rid of her character, but I'm wondering if Ridley was more substantial in the book.

Director/writer Richard LaGravenese, adapted Beautiful Creatures from the book of the same name by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.  It's interesting to note that some of the criticisms of their book (i.e. protracted climax, overall length could have been tightened up) apply to the movie as well, so I'm guessing it's a pretty faithful adaptation.  I think LaGravenese understood how to keep the dialog natural and smart between the leads, and then got out of the way of Irons and Thompson and just let them do their thing.  Overall, I thought he did a good job from someone who's previous films I haven't been crazy about.

Beautiful Creatures is a supernatural teen romance that's smarter than it lets on.  It does a good job of setting up a rich magic universe, and then populating it with fun and natural characters.  It's strengthened by good performances from the leads and an awesome supporting cast.  It caught me be surprise and I recommend checking it out.  It's worth a matinee.

3.5 (out of 5) Death Stars

Brave (2012) - Movie Review

Listen to your Mom!  Sure, she might nag you to keep your elbows off the table and pick up after yourself, but she usually knows best.

Brave is the story or Merida (Kelly Macdonald), a young, fiery Scottish girl that just wants to control her own fate.  She's a bit of tomboy, pursuing things like archery, hunting and exploring the wilderness.  She butts heads with her mother (Emma Thompson) who wants her to be more lady-like, where her father (Billy Connolly) encourages her behavior.

The trouble for Merida starts the day when she must choose a husband between the eldest born sons of three neighboring clans.  The problem is that these guys are nothing to get excited about.  Even though this is tradition and will prevent the clans from fighting, Merida wants none of it and flees.  While in the woods, she happens upon a Witch that promises a spell that will change her Mother's mind and allow Merida to choose her own fate.  As always, this has unexpected consequences and now it's up to her to fix things before it's too late.

As always, Pixar films are a visual treat.  The animation was great and the movie was gorgeous.  Merida's hair is practically a character on it's own.  I didn't get a chance to see this in 3D, so I can't comment on that, but I really don't think it's necessary.  The visuals didn't need the 3D gimmick and I didn't see a lot in the way of things being thrown at you where 3D would have enhanced the experience.

The voice talent was top notch!  Kelly Macdonald as Merida was perfect.  I always enjoy Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson and they are both great as well.  You have other strong actors like Robbie Coltrane, Kevin McKidd, Craig Ferguson and Pixar-regular John Ratzenberger lending their voices to the supporting characters.  One thing that I've always liked about the voice acting in Pixar films is that it's never really distracting.  Even if you recognize the voice, you don't spend the rest of the movie trying to figure out who the voice belongs to.

The only real weakness of the film was the writing.  I felt the characters, particularly their motivations at the beginning of the film, were a little underwritten and needed a little more explanation.  It also lacked the same wit we've come to expect from Pixar films.  I was nervous from the trailers that much of the humor was going to be too childish, but it ended up being more sight gags and slapstick oriented.  While it was amusing, I felt it was very easy and safe. Merida's younger brothers should have been brought in more to provide a jolt of humor. I'm not surprised to see there were four writers (Mark Andrews, Steve Purcell, Brenda Chapman) and with the exception of Irene Mecchi, all shared directing duties as well.  It can work, but I think it hurts a film when you don't have a unified voice in the writing in directing.  It's not that Brave was a mess, it just could have been a bit stronger.  People have such high expectations for Pixar films.

Brave does have all the heart you'd expect though.  Pixar has alwasy excelled at taking a simple concept or story, but adding depth to it.  This time you get a story about an independent young woman growing up, while learning to compromise and bond with her mother.  It's a nice message, and sure, we've seen it before. Maybe I'm a big softie for this kind of story, but Brave had my wiping my eyes a few times.  I have two weaknesses: Scottish music, and stories based around the relationship of a parent and child.  Combine both and you have a recipe for making this grown man cry.

People really seem to be down on Pixar lately for not knocking it out of the park with their recent movies.  While Brave isn't a homerun, a double or triple that drives in a few runs isn't a bad thing either.  Sure, the appeal to this one skews a bit younger than with previous films, but overall, Brave is a great family movie that most everyone can enjoy.  It has gorgeous visuals and animation, great voice acting, plenty of humor and heart and a good message that we can all identify with.  This is a good matinee.

4 out of 5 Death Stars

Men in Black 3 (2012) - Movie Review

"Threequels" tend to have a pretty bad track record, especially when nearly 10 years has passed since the last film.  After the lackluster MiB 2, was anyone really demanding another?  There's a reason why it's been 10 years.  Anyway, the good news is that while not as strong as the original MiB, MiB 3 is a mostly entertaining, but flawed addition to the series.

An alien criminal, Boris the Animal, played by an unrecognizable Jermaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), escapes a secret Lunar prison that contains the worst aliens out there.  Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) imprisoned him back in 1969, shooting off one of his arms in the process.  Boris wants revenge, and plans to travel back in time, not only to kill Agent K, but do it before he loses his arm.  Making matters worse, killing Agent K in the past prevents him from deploying a defense grid around that Earth that would have stopped the invasion of Boris' people and led to their extinction.

Boris succeeds, but Agent J (Will Smith) is somehow able to detect the fracture in the timeline.  He also goes back in time to stop Boris and restore the original timeline.  The movie picks up once Agent J arrives in 1969.  Fortunately, the movie avoids using the 60's to make fun of the times or use a lot of lame fish-out-of-water jokes  There are a few here and there, but I felt they worked since they didn't overdo it.  It sticks more to the task at hand.

You meet the younger version of Agent O (Alice Eve), but she's really not in the movie much.  This also goes for the modern version of Agent O (Emma Thompson).  This is one of the missed opportunities of the film, as it is consistently implied that Agents K and O may have had a thing at some point, but it's never developed and it's a thread that goes nowhere.

MiB 3, starts off a little rough, with some really labored and stunted dialog.  I had heard that they went into filming without a story or script and it feels like it at first.  Speaking of dialog, Will Smith seems like he's been out of it a little too long, as much of his ad-libbed dialog seemed out of date by a decade or so.   You know, like when your Dad or Uncle tries to relate to you and uses slang that nobody says anymore?  It felt like that.  Will Smith was his typical, charismatic self otherwise.

There's a lot about MiB 3 that felt underdeveloped.  In the early parts of the film, it seems like they are going to get into K's history and his motivation a bit more, but then by the time the movie ends you realize that none of the questions that are setup in the beginning are ever answered.  You still know the same amount about the characters as you did before.

As much as I like Jermaine Clement, he wasn't given a lot to do as Boris the Animal.  He doesn't have much in the way of meaningful dialog and just speaks with a weird voice and laughs unusually.  I think he tried as hard as he could, but again, there wasn't much there.

The most inspired thing is Josh Brolin's portrayal as the young version of Agent K.  He does a spot-on impression of Tommy Lee Jones (who's also barely in the film, as if he didn't really want to be there).  The impression is so good that the first time I heard him do TLJ's voice, I thought it was a dub, rather than impression.  You really do start to forget that you're watching an actor do an impression and somehow are  looking at a younger version of Tommy Lee Jones.

Another thing I thought was really interesting was the character of Griffin (Michael Stuhlbarg), an important alien that has the ability to see the outcome of multiple timelines simultaneously.  It's a cool concept and they use it well.  He isn't introduced until almost the end of the film though, so again, it felt like something that was underused.  Bill Hader, as Andy Warhol, was also one of the funnier things about the film.

There are a lot of weird or inconsistent things in the movie.  At one point during a fight, a metal door comes off the hinges for no reason at all. You see an alien die only to the same alien alive in the very next scene.  There a bystander screaming during the same fight, only to be one of the people the MiB are fighting against.  Why are you screaming like you're helpless, but then attack later on when you lost your tactical advantage?  There are a few things during the climax that aren't consistent either.  You'll notice moments where the bad guy would win if would do something simple, but that's 'bad guy movie logic' for you.  Some of these flaws you don't really notice until after the fact, where others are totally obvious as they are happening.

Barry Sonnenfeld did a good job keeping the tone of the film light and mostly fun.  It doesn't fully capture what made the first MiB great though.  The script by Etan Cohen (Idiocracy, Tropic Thunder) is an improvement over MiB 2, but many of the jokes fall flat.  I'm surprised at all the missed opportunities here.  As mentioned earlier, you think you're going to get more character development, but it never happens.  There's a moment at the end that's thrown in to give the climax some emotional weight, but it felt forced in.

The strongest elements of the film are the overall look of the film and the effects.  The alien and creature design was excellent, but that's to be expected whenever the legend, Rick Baker, is involved.  I didn't bother to see this in 3D for a change, and I didn't feel like I missed anything.  It is a very nice looking and colorful film though.

Overall, MiB 3 is a enjoyable enough addition to the series, but as I've mentioned a few times, it seemed like there was a lot of wasted potential.  If you're a die-hard fan of the series, I think there's a lot you'll enjoy about MiB 3.  For those of you that are dying to see this or are all caught up on your movies, it's worth a matinee.  Otherwise, I'd save it for a rental.

3 (out of 5) Death Stars