Following (1998)

Following (1998)

   The movie begins with the opening of a box. We're watching as the box is being filled. But with what? And why? What is this box? We are introduced to the point of such a box later on in the film after the loner follower (read quiet stalker) encounters a man who has caught the loner in his act of following. But then the question becomes "Whose box is being filled?"

   Christopher Nolan has a penchant for studying the mind, its intricacies, its desires, its thought, its progressions and regressions. We follow this loner character, whose name may or may not be Bill (in the credits he is simply referred to as  'The Young Man'), through the streets. We see people through his eyes, and possibly even through his ears. For the most part the people he encounters are harmless victims. We learn that he is a writer looking for inspiration, and is hoping to find the inspiration through his observances of other people. Where are they going? Who are they seeing? Why might they be acting strange? These are the questions he wants to ask. And we believe him....

   But then Bill is caught by a man known as Cobb, a probably too handsome burglar whose motive is not to rob a person but to enlighten them. By robbing their houses he is opening their eyes to the things they are missing. Only when they are missing do they come to realise that they actually owned it. It is during Bill's introduction to Cobb's theory that we are introduced to the box. Everyone has a box, we are told, one that includes all the important things a person can own. A note, a picture, a piece of memorabilia...anything that we hold close to our own heart. Cobb believes that through these personal items you can identify a person, psychologically and socially. It's not long before we are given the treatment to Bill as he makes Cobb believe his apartment is just another job.

  The movie is told in spurts by voiceover narration by Bill in a scene we realise is actually taking place at the end. So while the film begins, there is already a bridging between what is officially the start and what is actually the end. As the film progresses, there are leaps and bounds between the time gap, almost like a story being told and retold, stopping and pausing for where the gaps need to be filled. It's not long before Bill's life is being complicated by Cobb's and a conspiracy theory develops involving a seductive blonde. Bill begins to reinvent himself, looking more like Cobb, the suave burglar, the one no one would suspect of robbing houses. Soon Bill is talking with more ease and eloquence with a hint of weakness and vulnerability. It's a big step from the Bill we met at the beginning in the coffee shop experiencing his first apartment robbery.

  But then it all comes down to the box. Throughout the film we see boxes being filled, unfilled, carried, examined. We see these boxes, but not for what they are. We are given glimpses into the lives of several victims and their lifestyle described to us by the items, we are told, should technically mean the least to them. But then there are the boxes, which are said to be important but which are given nothing more than a passing glance, and traces that they've been tampered with. And so it comes down to the box at the beginning, the one that was being filled with hands we can only assume would be Bill's own.

   Bill is never revealed to own such a box. It wouldn't be too hard to assume that Bill could have no such box. At least not in his apartment. As Cobb and Bill wander through his things, they are discarded with near disgust by Cobb as he is clearly having his time wasted. But as the final images of the film come to an end, we watch as Cobb walks into a shadowed crowd, only to disappear once a shadowed figure moves past the camera. Perhaps Bill could never own a box because he never had anything he could cling passionately to. The box we see being filled at the beginning with money,  a toy sea horse, photographs that are never revealed, might not be a box we can hold. Nolan might be giving us a box, but it is the box that Bill is so desperately trying to fill inside his mind. As the final lines of the film are uttered by Bill to an investigator, we can't help but wonder if it was never the investigator Bill was trying to convince, but The Young Man.

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

2/4

  There's not much I can say that hasn't already been said about this movie. It's not good. I loved the story of Spider-Man growing up in the 90s. It was probably my favourite cartoon and comic along with X-Men. However, while its easy to see the throwbacks to the comics and being less liberal than the Sam Raimi-Toby Maguire films, I missed the personal investment that was apparent in those earlier films.

  The Amazing Spider-Man is a little darker and does try to take a couple different paths, but honestly by the end, there just wasn't enough of a good thing to even care about. The characters are painted with such broad strokes that it's hard to relate. I do like Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone, and I do think they have the potential to make a great pair, but there's not enough of them. I wish the film had developed them more. Both actors are different enough characters (aside from the fact that Emma Stone is literally playing a different character) that any comparisons to the original films would have been completely irrelevant. But because Mary-Jane and Peter Parker from Raimi's film clearly had more care (even in the first one) it's not long before we start missing their interactions. And, as much as it is a refreshing change of pace to not have the damsel in distress, I kind of missed it.

   Then there's the story. The script isn't good. You really have to either accept it or be entirely distant from it. I was distant from the beginning. I didn't believe Peter's transition into Spider-Man, there were far too many deus ex machinas and plot contrivances to ignore. I understand the intent to re-envision the Spider-Man legacy, but the story could have been so much tighter and well-thought out if we had just skipped the Spider-Man origin all together. We've seen it. We know. We don't need it again. The film could have become reborn even without the origin story. I wish we could have gotten more of the Lizard as well. But only if the CGI wasn't awful. It looks like a cartoon. Not just the Lizard, but every bit of CGI looks out of place with the rest of the film. There is never a cohesion between the CGI scenes and the films using real sets and actors, and because they're clearly distinguishable it's nearly impossible to get involved.

  It seems like the filmmakers tried to jump on the reboot bandwagon with too much reliance on the origin story. A simple shift of focus could have saved this story. As long as the filmmakers realise this before the sequel, it could be good, if not great, now that this is behind them. If they keep it to being more or less in line with this first chapter, well it might have even me wishing for another Spider-Man 3, something nobody wants to see played out before their eyes.

The Sessions (2012)

The Sessions (2012)

3/4

   I'm a bit of a sucker for these kind of redemptive stories. When done with honesty and not with the sole intent of tugging at your heart-strings, the stories can be incredibly rewarding experiences. In this case the characters include a man trapped in an iron lung, a professional sex-surrogate, and a priest. Not exactly three characters you'd expect on a roster.

   John Hawkes plays Mark O'Brien, the man trapped in the iron lung. The Sessions is his story, but not in the way you'd expect. His ultimate goal is to lose his virginity. What is so refreshing about The Sessions is that it doesn't try to lay a manipulative hand on the story. For the most part it's an incredibly honest portrayal of a man in Mark's position. The interactions between Mark and Cheryl (Helen Hunt) are comfortable and natural, it's not hard to relate to these characters who, while maintaining a professional relationship can't help but see past those barriers. The Sessions never becomes about the physical bodies but about the sounds, the words, the expressions. This is a story about people.

  Hunt and Hawkes are fantastic. Hawkes is seemingly great in everything and he deserved and Oscar nomination for this role. Hawkes is more than convincing as a man trapped in an iron-lung, and he makes his struggles and successes palpable. As he develops his relationship with Cheryl, we feel for the both of them. We're only given snippets of their lives outside of The Sessions (Mark is obviously given a lot more freedom to open up the story) but we can feel their emotions growing. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for William H. Macy's character Father Brendan. It's not so much the acting of Macy that takes away from the film, but the whole setup of his scenes. There is never a natural chemistry like there is between Mark and Cheryl, Macy's scenes clearly seem scripted and it takes away from the easy flow of the story. It's easy to see why the filmmakers wanted to include Macy's character, but the story could have easily done without. I would have loved to see more interaction between Cheryl and Mark, or even more Mark's interaction with some other characters near the beginning when discussing sex and pleasure. There's a lot more interesting material that could have been traversed,

  It's not perfect, but it's more than just an entertaining 90-minutes. It has real heart and it knows how to reach its audience. As a redemptive story it's more than a welcome inclusion and simply for the interaction between Hunt and Hawkes its worth the investment of time.

Frankenweenie (2012)

3/4

             Tim Burton finally succeeds with a passion project that is all heart and soul. I've grown tired of the recent Tim Burton films that elevate style over substance. Most of his recent outings have grown stale and they all seem to accomplish the same goal. But Frankenweenie is so full of heart that it's hard not to enjoy it. It clearly comes from deep inside Burton's mind (coming from his nearly 30-year old short film) and is clearly something held very close to the filmmaker.

            The story has a young Victor Frankenstein being urged by his father to step outside of his solitary life (making short films with his dog Sparky) and get out with other people. While playing a game of baseball, Victor and his family watch as Sparky is killed by a car. A heartbroken Victor tries to continue on with his life, but once he watches as his science teacher reanimates a dead from with electricity, Victor can't help but give Sparky the same treatment.

            It's not a light film to take, and younger audiences might actually find it to be a bit too much, not that it even seems to be catering to a younger audience. Sure it's animated and contains visuals and gags that might appeal to a younger audience, but there is much more behind the project and will likely appeal to an older audience much more than younger. It lovingly pays tribute to horror classics that have influenced hundreds of filmmakers. The most obvious one if the story of Frankenstein, but it also uses The Mummy, The Wolfman, Godzilla, Dracula, The Creature From the Black Lagoon, and even Gremlins seem to be thrown into the mix. It also echoes earlier Burton classics by bringing in old-school-Burton actors like Catherine O'Hara and Winona Ryder, and thankfully Burton has taken a break from Johnny Depp, which has served him well. Not to hate on Johnny Depp, but his Burton collaborations have become a blend of over-familiarity. "Weirdness" is what we expect and he has become more-or-less the same in each collaboration.

            For a horror film fan, this is a delightful project that will speak directly to you. If you are a Burton fan needing a refreshing change of pace, this is also for you. With such a personal voice and filled with loving care (the stop-motion animation is absolutely beautiful) and such a warm tribute to films that have influenced future generations, Frankenweenie is a delight to behold.

Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)

1.5/4

              I flock to these films like a rat smelling cheese on the rat trap. Objectively (perhaps even subjectively) it's not in my best interests at all, but there is something that draws me in like a lamb to the slaughter. These films have gotten bad. To many, they started out fine with the first installment (I think I was one of the few who found it satisfying, but not terrifying or overly creepy) but they have fallen so far that they have simply become an annual obligatory routine.

              What is perhaps my main problem with this film (and the other sequels) is that it's become all setup with almost nowhere to go. The camera is static (at least the third one had the ingenious idea to use a rotating fan) and the editing flips from room to room and we wait patiently for something to happen, but it never does. We are left with strands of wasted opportunity. The knife floats into midair and we wait...and wait...and wait, and finally when it crashes down it's so inopportune that you can't help but wonder "Who cares?" Clearly the characters don't, written with such condescension and indifference. As they wander through the story, they become increasingly witless to their surroundings even as things gradually get weirder.

             The story is inconsequential at this point. The whole series is meant to build the mythos of Katie and her haunting, but this story does so little to advance the story that it is almost pointless. The first sequel at least had its bumps in the night while tying Katie into the story, the third story went the prequel route and came off as just plain silly, this one is so plain and uninteresting that when the final showdown occurs in the last minutes of the film it is so comical that you just have to shake your head. It's basically a rehash of the stories from #2 and #3.

             With wasted (aka entirely missed) opportunities and stretches of absolutely nothing that go on and on and on, this fourth entry is about as entertaining as watching water boil. There's a whole lot of nothing with nowhere to go. It's an easy buck to make, and clearly that's why the series continues, and perhaps why the filmmakers are just becoming lazier. With such little payoff (or need for a payoff) the filmmakers are just running through the motions with as little energy they can use.