The Girlfriend Experience

Stephen Soderberghs’ latest directorial, made controversial by casting adult film star Sasha Grey as the lead. Sasha plays Chelsea, a high end escort in NYC working during late 2008, when the economic crisis had everyone in a tizzy. Being that sort of working girl in Manhatten, Chelsea has a lot of financial clients.

A ‘GFE’ offers more of a full services than a hooker, these ladies act more like companions (hence the gf label). More than just a hook up that knows when to hit the bricks, she’s a true actress. And who knew, but Sasha can act! She more or less listens to her clients and nods a lot, but there are a few times (when she’s smiling actually) that she really comes across as a great actress. It’s a strange thing to see really. Considering Sasha’s day job, she does act. And her Chelsea character is in a similar position. She pretends to care, to listen, to be a real friend that shows up for love and not because the John made an appointment and she’s going to be paid four figures after an hour or two.

The movie is done out of order, it follows three timelines. Chelsea being interviewed by a journalist, Chelsea at work, and Chelsea’s personal life. The presentation makes things flow a little rough to follow, you shoot from each time line and have to kinda place what Chelsea did and when. But the core of it is seeing this girl juggle this bizarre life. She can front to her clients with no problem, most of them just want someone to talk to. Sex is just a bonus, hell some of them don’t even consummate the “relationship”. Her personal life is obviously a much harder job for her to get “right”. She’s got a boyfriend and she makes some stupid choices that show her she really doesn’t have it figured out. She may have a recession proof job, but her personal life is anything but secure.

The movie was done for cheap and it’s a short movie. There’s nothing really there to linger on, you follow Chelsea for a few days and then it just kinda ends with her trucking on. The life of a high class escort is really a mystery for everyone and the intricacies of her job really isn’t explored here. That could have made the movie more interesting, but I guess her job really isn’t the focal point, just the ends to a means. I’m sure there are some documentaries out there that delves into that better than this movie ever could.

Interesting flick, it didn’t really blow my mind (tee hee!) but I think it’s worth a watch.

Watchmen (2009)

Watchmen is the adaptation of the milestone graphic novel (comic book!) of the same name in 1985. The story is in an alternate reality in 1985 (Nixon is President to give you an idea) where superheros exist. One of them, The Comedian is murdered and sets superhero/vigilante Rorschach into a deep investigation that leads to a Earth changing event.

There’s a long history between the superheros and it’s all laid out for you in the two and a half hour run time. Keep in mind that they left a lot of from the book with that! Zack Snyder and co. had a daunting task in front of them, a shit load of people tried to get this done as a movie or TV mini series for years. I think they pretty much pulled it off.

The look is perfect, the tone almost so. It’s a very faithful adaptation, almost to a fault. That said, I have no idea what I would change. There are some questionable music choices, but the casting is great, costumes too. Acting is solid all around and while Snyder continues to remind everyone that he loves slow motion, the directing is great too. A lot of shot for comic book frames and all that. The ending was changed as well and while I’ve seen some people bitch about it, I can see why they did it and really don’t have a problem with it.

It’s a very heady movie, just because it’s from a comic book you can’t go in thinking X-Men or Hulk. Yeah, it’s got action but nothing that really matches the typical Hollywood Summer Blockbuster.

Solid movie, I really don’t have anything bad to say about it.

Where the Wild Things Are

This is a good 2 weeks late, but Where the Wild Things Are is one of the best movies I’ve seen in awhile.

Based on Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s story, director Spike Jonez has taken the core of the short story and expanded it into a fantastic, mature film. The book may be for children, but the movie certainly isn’t. I can’t see anyone under the age of 8 being able to understand, let alone appreciate the story and complex thoughts going on here.

I’m trying not to make this sound like a shitty ultra snooty art house film. It really isn’t, it’s just easy to go in expecting cartoon animals falling over each other and come out of it pissed when it’s actually a mature take on growing up and coming to grips with it.

It’s pretty simple, Max is a rambunxious 9 year old with an active imagination. His father is out of the picture (death? divorce?), his teenage sister has seemingly turned her back on him (she’s too cool for childish things) and his mother is trying to move on with her life with 2 kids in tow. After an argument with his mother, Max freaks out and runs away into the night. The journey with the Wild Things begins.

The Wild Things are Max. Each one is a complex emotion that Max struggles to understand and control. They all want to be loved, but don’t know how. Doing things you think are right, could push them away. Sacrificing your happiness is a rough road to take. Lashing out is easy to do. Fear makes you irrational and hard to understand. Max’s time with The Wild Things is pretty much a therapy session.

I really the whole message and the way it’s handled because it doesn’t pander to children. It doesn’t fall back on thinking that children as stupid, simple and need everything painted out in bright colors to get a simple point across. Instead of looking down to children, we get the daring take that children are just…young adults. We all go through these emotions and generally shittyness of life. The age of a person doesn’t change the emotions. It’s this daunting task that everyone goes through and has to handle in life. It’s a learning experience that changes from person to person. It’s confusing, fun, scary, uncertain, confusing.

The presentation is just fantastic. The movie is goergous. Fantastic directing, razor sharp editing, fantastic soundtrack, beautiful cinematography and top notch special effects. The Wild Things were made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, so Max (that’s the actors real name too) had real beings to work with. Augmented with CG to animate their faces and a fantastic group of actors for voice work, there was never a time when I thought the Wild Things were not real. Max is really an amazing actor, he’s in 98% of the movie so he carries it all. This movie is impressive from end to end.

The best movies stay with you and I thought about this one for days after I saw it. It makes you think about your life and how you saw things as a kid and now see as an adult. I can see a lot of people hating this movie, not getting what it’s about. But those people are stupid, so ignore them and see it to take a trip you never knew you had to take.

My Bloody Valentine (2009)

Since Halloween is right here, I figured I should get in a horror movie. MBV looked good, so I decided to give her a whirl.

A remake that was sold heaveley on it’s 3D effects, MBV doesn’t do anything new.

It’s a pretty straight forward horror/slasher flick. A mining accident happened and the only survivor went nuts afterwards. He kills 20 something people, the cops cap him in the mine and the town moves on from the terrible Valentines Day event. 10 years later, Tom, a survivor from the miners final rampage comes back to town and the miner shows up too! Cue scary music!

It’s not a bad movie, it’s just nothing special. Competent filmmaking in all regards. Hot girls, decent acting, clear direction and editing. There are some inventive kills, but some of them are ruined by the 3D effect that isn’t 3D on the DVD. It just looks like terrible CG. There’s much better horror flicks out there now so if you skip this, you aren’t missing much.

Nerdcore Rising (2008)

First, “Nerdcore”. Refers to a genre of hip hop born from the minds of nerds! Pretty self explainitory, instead of raps about bitches, hoes, tricks, rims and general thuggery, you get more common topics you’d hear from a nerd. Star Wars, math, candy, bullies, anything sci-fi/fantasy related and yes, girls! Some topics don’t deviate too far from their source regardless of musical genre.

Nerdcore is a newer phenomenon, in this great documentary we hit the road with MC Frontalot on his first tour. Considered the godfather of Nerdcore, MC F (Damien Hess) is your average white boy nerd. Growing up he listened to rap and then found that he had a knack for it. Rapping about what he knew, he put his music online and slowly built a following. It got to the point where he though, could I do this full time? Would people show up and pay to see me? He finds that it’s time to pull the trigger and see if his career life is more than an IT job.

MC F piles into a van with his 3 friends and bandmates for a tour around mostly the East Coast (12 dates or so) that ended at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. Whether it was a crowd of 12 in a bar or a flocking mass of fans at PAX (2-4 thousand) he brought it everytime. It’s what rap started out as, taking the unbeaten path and rapping about what you felt, a lone voice coming up to inspire others. A community as grown around this music.

It’s a fascinating story of an average guy really making something of himself musically. Some guy who, through the power of the Internet, found people who thought like him and were willing to listen. He started a movement that has slowly and steadily gained momentum, helping this sub-genre of rap become something. Interviews with others in the business (MC Chris, MC Lars) and on the fringe (Weird Al Yanchovic) help to paint the full picture of Nerdcore. Nerdcore Rising is a testament to what is possible in the digital age.

It’s serious, it’s funny, it’s stupid, it’s a quality documentary worth checking out.

Fast & Furious (2009)

a.k.a The Fast and the Furious 4!

Getting right to it, this is just a safe sequel. It’s right in the middle, nothing new or all that exciting, but it’s not a bad picture. Favorite characters from the series are back, it’s got a lot of hot cars and women and a barely there plot. A by the numbers revenge story for Dominic (Vin Diesel) and Brian (Paul Walker) to team together to take down a no good drug smuggling king pin.

The driving choreography and stunt work is often great, but the amount of CG pulls you right out of it. It doesn’t feel exciting or dangerous when you’re zooming down a tunnel that’s just wide enough for a car to fit when it looks like a videogame. It looks like people leaning side to side in the shell of a car. The practical elements are fantastic though.

There really isn’t much to say, if you have an hour and a half to kill and you are looking for an easy movie to watch, Fast & Furious could fit your needs. If you hate the lead actors you’ll want to avoid it, but if that’s the case you didn’t need someone to tell you that.