Category: Movies Page 49 of 57

Connie has been reviewing film uninterruptedly since 1970 (47 years) and routinely covers the Chicago International Film Festival (14 years), SXSW, the Austin Film Festival, and others, sharing detailed looks in advance at upcoming entertainment. She has taught a class on film and is the author of the book “Training the Teacher As A Champion; From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now, published by the Merry Blacksmith Press of Rhode Island.

Oscar Race, 2013, Predictions One Month Out

By Connie Wilson

On January 31, 2014

In Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews

Academy Award Predictions for the 2013 Oscars in the Main Categories

I’ve been watching magazines (like “Entertainment Weekly”) predict the potential Oscar nominees for Best Actor in advance and score only 3 out of 5. (They missed with Tom Hanks and Robert Redford). True, they did better in other categories, but as someone who covered the Chicago Film Festival and has seen nearly all of the nominees, it’s time to share my view(s) on who will win. After all, it’s over a month away.

Best Picture of 2013

Bruce Dern at the Chicago Film Festival, nominee for “Nebraska.”

The nominees are: “12 Years A Slave;” “American Hustle;” “Captain Phillips;” “Dallas Buyers’ Club;” “Gravity;” “Her;” “Nebraska;” “Philomena;” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” First of all, let me say that there were enough good movies out there this year that the Academy could/would/should have picked 10 films, but it is my understanding that, to make the list, a film has to receive enough first-place votes from Academy members, and, obviously, films like “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “August: Osage County” and “Blue Jasmine” didn’t quite make the cut. Why? Beats the heck out of me!I’d say they were too much “downers” as movie fare, except that “Blue Jasmine,” in particular, has some very funny moments, and “Dallas Buyers Club” is hardly frivolous fare.

“American Hustle” is David O. Russell’s second great film in 2 years. Maybe it’s his year for Best Director?

If I were to put the list above in order, entertainment-wise, I’d be hard-pressed to pick a favorite between “American Hustle” and “Captain Phillips.” For me, “12 Years a Slave” started much too slowly, was too depressing, and did not accurately depict what life would have been like for a free man in 1841 in the North. Steve McQueen, its director, is British, and I think he must have missed the Jackie Robinson film “42,” which depicted the struggles of blacks (even Jackie Robinson) to crack the color barrier as recently as the sixties. No way would a black man in 1841 in the North in Washington, D.C., have been served in the fancy dining room (seated with white men), attired as a fop, nor lived in the very fancy house he returns to at film’s end. I also did not like the hanging scene. From the standpoint of veracity, I will never believe that the other slaves depicted tip-toeing around in the background wouldn’t have helped poor Solomon out of that noose, since the slave master(s) had disappeared from the scene. However, having these negative things, I do think that the Best Supporting Actress award should go to new-comer Lupita Nyong’o. (For my money, the SAG awards got it right most of the time).

Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine” was pitch perfect. Why wasn’t the film nominated as Best Picture?

However, if you hold my feet to the fire and say, “Rank order these films in the order of which ones are really good movies that I will enjoy,” I’d start out with “American Hustle” and move to “Captain Phillips” second.

“Gravity” with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney (briefly).

After that, “Dallas Buyers Club” was a revelation. I recognize the achievement(s) of “Gravity,” but it was a boring film a lot of the time, despite its technical achievements. I look for the Academy to award those achievements and perhaps its Director, but not the film. I think the feel-good film (“American Hustle”) will win out over watching the wicked slave owner Edwin Epps (excellently played by Michael Fassbender) whip Patsy till she damn near dies. I regret the omission of “Blue Jasmine,” a truly funny, yet heartbreakingly honest film. The minute I saw Cate Blanchett’s performance, I took my husband back for a second look, since it was such a good film and she was phenomenal in it. Let me be honest here: I’ve not (yet) seen “Her” or “Philomena;” I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be swayed by either. “The Wolf of Wall Street” contained good performances, but it was way too long and seemed rather self-indulgent on Scorsese’s part to carry scenes on so long when the point had been made 20 minutes earlier. (I’m thinking of Leonardo DiCaprio’s many scenes exhorting his troops of brokers.)

So, Best Picture: “American Hustle”—-when “Blue Jasmine,” which wasn’t even nominated, was its equal and so was “Captain Phillips,” a truly heart-thumping Paul Greengrass effort with his trademark quick cuts, which have made Matt Damon’s outing in the Bourne series so great.

Director: Even though David O. Russell deserves it, for directing both “Silver Linings Playbook” and this year’s “American Hustle” (and, many years ago, “Flirting with Disaster,” one of my All-Time Favorite comedies), the Academy will give it to “Gravity’s” director, Alfonso Cuaron, which I can live with. I realize he overcame some daunting technical issues to make this space epic so realistic, but, quite frankly, the best line I’ve heard about “Gravity” was from Tina Fey when she told the Golden Globes audience that George Clooney floated away after 10 minutes so he wouldn’t have to spend any more time with a woman his age. (I paraphrase loosely). That was part of the problem. One-person movies are not as riveting as those with an actual cast that hangs around. Yes, I know that “Castaway” was well done and that Robert Redford’s effort this year was good, but, for me (and most other movie-goers) watching one person onscreen for a couple hours gets boring after a while. Sorry. It’s just the way it is, Tina Fey funny remarks notwithstanding.

Best Actor: Nominees-Christian Bale (“American Hustle”); Bruce Dern (“Nebraska”); Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years A Slave”); Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club”); Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Wolf of Wall Street”). I’ve bold-faced the winner. I could give you all the (good) reasons why, such as his great year appearing in “Mud” and his superb cameo in “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which is one of the film’s most memorable moments. I will give you that both Tom Hanks and Robert Redford were snubbed, especially since Hanks not only had “Captain Phillips” but, also, “Saving Mr. Banks.” Nevertheless, the momentum is with the letter “M” and he will be joined onstage by his co-star Jared Leto, as Best Supporting Actor. Why not Best Film then? Too depressing, overall, but a really, really good film. (*It played in the Quad Cities for about 2 days, so I had to drive all the way to Chicago to see it; I think it’s coming back, however, so be sure to catch it if you are a true film buff).

Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County” is nominated once again.

Best Actress: Nominees –Amy Adams (“American Hustle”); Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”); Judi Dench (“Philomena”); Meryl Streep (“August: Osage County”); Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”). I’ve not seen Judi Dench, but both she and Streep and Bullock have won previously, so there’s that to consider. The bottom line is that Cate Blanchett’s performance was pitch perfect, at times, funny, always touching and just perfect. She deserves it.

Best Supporting Actor: Nominees – Barkhad Abdi (“Captain Phillips”); Bradley Cooper (“American Hustle”); Michael Fassbender (“12 Years A Slave”); Jonah Hill (“The Wolf of Wall Street”); Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”). This performance as a trans-gender male is outstanding. Leto deserves it, also. While the Somalian pirate was a wonderful debut by Minneapolis resident Barkhad Abdi, it’s his first film and we’ll have to see if there is a big market for Somalian pirates in future films. (Abdi hopes so, because he already has moved to Hollywood and plans to act.) Michael Fassbender was good, as always. I’m bummed that Jonah Hill got the nod while Tom Hanks and Robert Redford were ignored, but oh, well. Alfred Hitchcock never won, nor did Richard Burton and Hanks and Redford have at least won Oscars previously. Leto was just absolutely spot-on.

Best Supporting Actress: Nominees-Sally Hawkins (“Blue Jasmine”); Jennifer Lawrence (“American Hustle”); Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years A Slave”); Julia Roberts (“August: Osage County”); June Squibb (“Nebraska”) Frankly, I think Jennifer Lawrence was a bit young for the role she played in “American Hustle.” She’s definitely Hollywood’s “it” girl, right now, but that isn’t a good enough reason to give it to her. Julia Roberts has already won. If Lupita doesn’t get the trophy she so richly deserves for playing Patsy, I’d enjoy seeing either of the 2 lesser-known nominees (Sally Hawkins or June Squibb) be so honored. This is the “Wild card” category that I would “wheel” if I were entering contests, because Jennifer Lawrence is the front-runner. I’m voting with my heart and remembering how many times there have been upsets in this category.

So, to sum up, my winners (given the nominees) are: “American Hustle”
Director – Alfonso Cuaron
Best Actor – Matthew McConaughey
Best Actress – Cate Banchett
Best Supporting Actor – Jared Leto
Best Supporting Actress – Lupita Nyong’o
How much you want to bet I can get at least 3 out of 6 right to rival “Entertainment Weekly’s” nominee predicting?

Opening Night of the 49th Chicago Film Festival at the Chicago Theater

By Connie Wilson

On October 13, 2013

In Movies, Pop Culture

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel with a Festival judge at the 49th Chicago Film Festival.

Chicago Film Festival Opens with “The Immigrant” on October 10th, 2013

By Connie Wilson

On October 11, 2013

In Movies, Reviews

The 49th Chicago Film Festival opened in Chicago on October 10th, 2013, with a showing of James Gray’s film “The Immigrant.” The festival is the longest-running festival in North America. Director James Gray appeared with his film, which stars Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner.

The story of a Polish immigrant in 1921 New York City, Marion Cotillard speaks Polish throughout the film. She arrives at Ellis Island with her sister, Magda, and the duo expects to be met by their aunt and uncle. They are fleeing Poland after their parents were murdered in front of them by armed horsemen.

Chaz Ebert, widow of film critic Roger Ebert, is interviewed on the Red Carpet at the opening of the Chicago Film Festival.

Unfortunately, Magda is ill with tuberculosis and the officials decree that she must spend 6 months quarantined in the infirmary on Ellis Island. Ewa makes it her mission to wait for her sister. She is initially helped by Joaquin Phoenix’s character of Bruno Weiss, who forces her into prostitution, despite her reluctance. Bruno is attracted to the luminous beauty, but, even though he wants her for himself, he has arranged for her to be put in the position of facing deportation (until he intervenes) and he puts her in this position, despite wanting her for hinself.

The plot thickens when Bruno’s cousin, Emil (Jeremy Renner), a magician who performs as Orlando the Magician, returns to the Bandits’ Roost. Emil has a bad habit of stealing Bruno’s girlfriends. This time, Emil’s intent seems to be no different, causing friction between Bruno and Emil.

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel enters the Chicago Theater for Opening Night of the Chicago Film Festival.

The performances are routinely fine, although Jeremy Renner is under-used, and his guy liner is off-putting. The recreation of 1921 New York City are outstanding. As the granddaughter of a Dutch woman who immigrated through Ellis Island at the age of 13 (and who has visited Ellis Island), you can literally see what it must have been like.

Mayor Rahm Emmanuel with a Festival judge at the 49th Chicago Film Festival.

The film feels “old timey.” It is a melodrama with the “eternal triangle” motivating much of it, and the blackmail of Bruno (“Don’t you want to help your sister”) keeping Ewa in the traces at the Bandits’ Roost. As the film ends, Bruno admits that he is responsible for Ewa’s entire situation and says, “You hate me and I don’t blame you for hating me.” The entire film focuses on “The things we do to survive” and emphasizes the message, “You’re desperate. We’ve all been desperate.”

The festival this year is dedicated to recently-deceased film critic Roger Ebert, and his wife, Chaz, spoke and attended with her children. Also attending was Director James Gray.

The Weinstein Brothers are distributing the film, and James Gray (“Two Lovers,” “We Own the Night”) is scheduled to direct a space epic (“To the Stars”) in mid-2014.

Cate Blanchett’s Portrait of ‘Blue Jasmine’ Is Pitch Perfect in New Woody Allen Film

By Connie Wilson

On September 4, 2013

In Movies, Reviews

The first bona fide Oscar-caliber female performance of the year is Cate Blanchett’s turn in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.” Probably based on the Bernie Madoff massive pyramid scheme scandal, the film examines what Mrs. Madoff may (or may not) be experiencing, now that she’s as poor as the rest of us.

There are several messages that come through loud and clear, including this one: “When Jasmine doesn’t want to know something, she’s got a habit of looking the other way.” As Jasmine’s step-son, Danny, asks her, “Did you not suspect anything, or did you not care.”

Cate Blanchett in Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine.”

When Hal French, the Bernie Madoff-like crook, played expertly by Alec Baldwin, is arrested and imprisoned, Jasmine (whose real name is Jeanette) loses it. Most of the film, we see Jasmine teetering on the brink of a complete breakdown. She even admits to having had some of “Edison’s medicine” (electro-shock treatments) and downs Xanax as though they are breath mints. Jasmine is a totally manufactured persona without an ounce of genuine sincerity in either her words or deeds.

After her husband’s arrest, Jasmine is so broke that she is forced to move in with her sister, Ginger (Sally Hawkins), a blue collar cashier at a grocery store. Jasmine tells Ginger, “I’m dead broke. I’m worse than tapped out,” but then reveals she flew from New York City to San Francisco (to move in with Jasmine) first class. When asked (by Ginger) how it is possible for Jasmine to be destitute and yet fly first class, Jasmine replies, “I don’t know. I just did,” which p sums up Jasmine’s general attitude towards spending money. (She quotes her dead husband, “As Hal said, it’s not the money, it’s the money.”)

Both girls were adopted and raised by the same family, but Ginger reveals that she ran away while Jasmine was the family favorite. Jasmine constantly references her short-lived college career in Anthropology at B.U. and spouts things to her two nephews like, “With wealth comes responsibility.” One of her small, noisy ADD nephews says, “Mom said you used to be okay and then you got crazy.” Jasmine replies, “There’s only so many traumas you can withstand before you take to the streets,” referencing her disconcerting habit of talking to herself in public places, as deranged mental patients often do. (Her seat mate on an airplane ride says, “She couldn’t stop babbling about her life.”)

Another underlying message is that Jasmine has brought all this on herself. She mentions this in a car ride with ostensible fiancé Dwight Westlake (Peter Saarsgard) and we see previous actions on Jasmine’s part that reinforce this point-of-view.

The consensus: Jasmine is a phoney, as was her husband and as was her entire ivory tower life of privilege. The “real” people in the film recognize this, and that includes Andrew Dice Clay as Ginger’s ex-husband, Augie; Chili (Bobby Cannavale of “Boardwalk Empire”), who intends to marry Ginger; and Jasmine’s own step-son, Danny (Alden Ehrenreich). Jasmine looks every bit the affluent Park Avenue socialite, with her Louis Vuitton luggage, her pearls, Chanel jacket and belt, Hermes bag and expensive Vivienne Westwood shoes. Ironically, she gives her young nephews a lecture about working hard and tipping big, when she, herself, is dead broke. At the same time she is talking a good game, she initially rejects a job as a dentist’s receptionist because it is “too menial.” Cate Blanchett’s Jasmine seems to be a direct descendant of Vivien Leigh’s character in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” who has always depended on the kindness of strangers and looked down upon the little people.

There are still the hilarious Woody Allen lines and funny situations in the film, despite its serious insights and subtext. (To Ginger, re Chili: “There’s a world of men out there who’d never think of ripping a phone out of the wall.”) Placing Jasmine in a world that she has not inhabited in years, populated by “the little people” who actually work for a living, is a recipe for humor.

She is forced to fend off the unwanted advances of ordinary males like Eddie (Max Casella), a friend of Chili’s, who gets great lines like: “You get a bad clam, you’ll wish you’d never been born,” and “I had a friend that used to do that (stare into space), but there was something wrong with him. Epileptic, I think.” As she attempts to cope with the rigors of a real job, Jasmine has one elderly dental patient who rejects the appointment time offered saying, “That’s my colonoscopy prep day, and it’s always very special” with a dreamy expression on her face. You can’t help but smile. The expressions on Blanchett’s face in fending off the advances of ordinary suitors who are not wealthy is priceless. (Comedian Louis C.K. plays one such ordinary suitor seeking her sister Ginger’s affections, Al Munsinger.)
All of the supporting players are spot-on. It’s refreshing to see Andrew Dice Clay articulate “the common man’s” emotions at being swindled of their hard-earned money, saying, “Some people, they don’t put things behind so easily.” Peter Saarsgard as a promising suitor who is with the State Department is equally good in the part of the white knight Jasmine thinks might rescue her from her new reality.

Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Dice Clay, Louis C.K.—all are perfect in their parts. But the actor who seems to have a lock on an Oscar nomination is Cate Blanchett’s unhinged socialite-turned-pauper. She may well have brought all this upon herself, but her totally convincing turn as a woman on the brink of a breakdown (or trying to recover from one) is Oscar-worthy.

Ashton Kutcher Scores As Steve Jobs in Bio-Pic “Jobs”

By Connie Wilson

On August 26, 2013

In Movies, Pop Culture, Reviews

In the opening scene of “Jobs,” the resemblance of star Ashton Kutcher to the ailing Steve Jobs was so great that I thought it was archival film footage–-until the camera moved in for a close-up and we heard Kutcher’s voice. Dressed in the “uniform” that Jobs almost always wore (a black long-sleeved Issey Muyake mock turtleneck, Levi’s 501 blue jeans and New Balance 991 sneakers) Kutcher captures the physical man, including his odd walking gait, as he stepped onstage in 2001 to introduce the Ipod . Say what you will about the over-long movie (2 hours, 20 mins.), this is Kutcher’s finest hour as an actor. He does a great job with material that may—or may not—-be totally historically accurate.

Steve Wozniak weighed in regarding Jobs on the blog Gizmodo on August 16, 2013:
“I saw the (Jobs) movie tonight. I thought the acting throughout was good. I was attentive and entertained, but not greatly enough to recommend the movie. One friend who is in the movie said he didn’t want to watch fiction so he wasn’t interested in seeing it.

I suspect a lot of what was wrong with the film came from Ashton’s own image of Jobs. Ashton made some disingenuous and wrong statements about me recently (including my supposedly having said that the movie was bad, which was probably Ashton believing pop press headlines) and that I didn’t like the movie because I’m paid to consult on another one. These are examples of Ashton still being in character. Either film would have paid me to consult, but the Jobs one already had a script written. I can’t take that creative leadership from someone else. And I was turned off by the Jobs script. But I still hoped for a great movie.

As to compromising principles for money, I will add one detail left out of the film. When Apple decided not to reward early friends who helped, I gave them large blocks of my own stock. Because it was right. And I made it possible for 80 other employees to get some stock prior to the IPO so they could participate in the wealth. I felt bad for many people I know well who were portrayed wrongly in their interactions with Jobs and the company. The movie ends pretty much where the great Jobs finally found product success (the iPod) and changed so many of our lives. I’m grateful to Steve for his excellence in the I-era, and his contribution to my own life of enjoying great products, but this movie portrays him having had those skills in earlier times.”

Steve Wozniak is portrayed by Josh Gad (“The Book of Mormon”). Gad also does a stellar job portraying the idiosyncratic partner to the hard-driving Jobs. The scene where Woz (quoted above) tearfully tells Jobs he is leaving the company they built together is as fine a piece of supporting actor work as Noah Hill’s Oscar-nominated turn opposite Brad Pitt in “Moneyball.” (“Not everyone has an agenda, Steve. It’s about yourself. You’re the beginning and the end of your own world and it’s gotta’ be sad and lonely.”)

The film makes it clear that Woz was the technical computing genius and Jobs the marketing guru. In fact, Apple executive Bud Tribble even coined a term for the Jobs magic in 1981: the “reality distortion field.”
What does that mean? It refers to the ability to convince himself and others to believe almost anything is possible, using charm, charisma, bravado, hyperbole, marketing savvy, appeasement and persistence. Jobs was the consummate salesman, but he was also a visionary. Back in 1995, eighteen years ago, in an interview with David Morrow of the Computerworld Smithsonian-Awards Program (April 20, 1995) Jobs said: “The Internet is the one bright spot of hope in the computer industry for some serious innovation to happen at a rapid pace…It is going to radically change the way goods and services are discovered, sold, and delivered not only in this country, but around the world.”

The real Steve Jobs (left) and Ashton Kutcher as Jobs (right).

The film opens with Jobs introducing the Apple Ipod at a 2001 Apple Town Hall meeting, then flashes back to 1974, portraying Jobs’ days as a drop-out on campus at Reed College. He’s still hanging around taking classes that interest him, such as a calligraphy class. He tells a dean, played by James Woods, that “higher education comes at the expense of experience” and he and a friend travel to India for seven months.

But Steve Jobs sees the future of personal computers and announces to the few who work with him at first to create this new device, “We’re working in a market that doesn’t even exist yet.”

Jobs and Woz design computer boards in his father’s garage and Jobs finds a small businessman willing to purchase 400 units for $500 per unit. It isn’t until Mike Markaloe (Dermot Mulroney) gives the small start-up group $90,000 in seed money that things really take off, however, and at that moment we see that Jobs can be a shrewd negotiator. In fact, he is portrayed as money-grubbing when he calls Steve Wozniak in to help him with the technical challenge of meeting a deadline for the computer, telling him that the pay is $700 when it is really $5,000. With the task complete, Jobs gives the accommodating Wozniak $350 and quietly pockets the lion’s share himself. Jobs never joined in the Bill Gates/Warren Buffett pledge to donate their fortunes to charity after their death, and was supposedly worth $8.3 billion in 2010, the 42nd wealthiest American and #17 on Forbes’ magazine World’s Most Powerful People.

From their humble beginnings in his father’s garage (the original Jobs home in Palo Alto was used for filming), the Jobs film recycles truths from the master like these: “If we wanna’ be great, we gotta’ risk it, too. I would rather gamble on our mission than on a ‘Me, too’ product.” He says at one point, “In your life, you only get to do so many things, and we’ve chosen to do this, so let’s make it great.” Later: “We’re selling it (the Apple) as a tool for the mind. The belief in the possible, the limitless. Come with me and change the world.”

The chintzy side of Jobs is portrayed and his egomaniacal streak is clearly visible. He is temperamental and fires people seemingly at random. The project manager for the Macintosh, Jeff Raskin, said of him, “He would have made a good King of France.” He is told by his board, “You are your own worst enemy and this company’s.” Jobs wanted to “create something useful that you care about.” His drive and passion for excellence, however, are not shared under CEO John Scully (formerly of Pepsi) and he is forced out in a power play. Jobs went on to start a smaller company called NeXt. It would be eleven years— (especially rocky years for the company he co-founded) —before then CEO Gil Amelio (Kevin Dunn) would come calling to lure Jobs back to Apple as a consultant.

Steve returns to the company he founded, but ultimately forces out both Amelio and his first initial investor/ backer, Mike Markaloe (Dermot Mulroney), an act of revenge for not backing Jobs in the coup that ousted him from the company he founded eleven years earlier. Steve Jobs’ mentality: “You’re either with me or against me.”

Jobs’ personal life is largely ignored in this bio-pic. There is a passing reference to his being given up at birth for adoption , but it’s very casual, pictured as a small remark made in passing to his girlfriend while dropping acid (“Who has a baby and then throws it away like it’s nothing?”) In real life, Jobs found he had a biological sister and became close to her later in life, but he remained estranged from his biological father even when his father tried to seek him out, and there is no mention of his father or his sister in the film.

The remark regarding throwing away a child seems ironic in the context of the film’s revelation that for years Jobs denied his own biological daughter, Lisa–-conceived with his first girlfriend. (Later, Lisa lives with Jobs and his wife Laurene Powell Jobs (Abby Brammell).
Most of the lines in the film are taken from interviews and statements by Jobs himself and were woven into a screenplay by screenwriter Matt Whiteley. The film was directed by Joshua Michael Stern.

It’s a fascinating character study of a man whom students between the ages of 16 and 26, (asked in a survey to name the greatest innovator of all time), ranked second only to Thomas Edison. And it may serve to repair Ashton Kutcher’s image in the same way that Ben Affleck finally distanced himself from flops like “Gigli” and “Pearl Harbor” by directing and starring in “The Town” and this year’s Best Picture,

“Paranoia,” (Based on Joseph Finder Novel) Fails Thriller Test

By Connie Wilson

On August 18, 2013

In Books, Movies, Reviews

OPENING SCENE
The opening sequence in “Paranoia” is promising: the hero (Liam Hemsworth as Adam Cassidy) running down an alley. That’s about as much action, tension and “paranoia” as you’re going to get in this film, so enjoy it There are interminable scenes of computer uploads. Technological babble fouls the air at every turn. You can almost feel time passing, never to return. (That’s an hour and 40 minutes of my life I’ll never get back.)

The plot of “Paranoia,” (based on the excellent Joseph Finder novel), has Hemsworth (Adam Cassidy), blackmailed by the villainous Gary Oldman (Nicholas Wyatt) into spying on his former business partner Harrison Ford (Jock Goddard) and stealing his arch enemy’s plans for a revolutionary new electronic device. It’s all about the world of high-tech big corporations and espionage—spying at the highest levels of power.

WHERE’s WALDO? Or WHERE’S/WHO’S THE HERO?

Top to right, clockwise: Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Amber Heard and Liam Hemsworth in “Paranoia.”

It’s hard to root for anybody in this film. All three leads do pretty reprehensible things. Hemsworth isn’t 100% admirable, and Oldman and Ford are involved in a longstanding blood feud, with each trying to one-up or buy out the other. The script’s articulated wisdom: “Everybody steals. Everybody lies. There’s no right or wrong. There’s just winning or losing.”

Why is “Paranoia,” the new movie based on Joseph Finder’s excellent plot so lifeless? There are long sequences that plod along as though expert EMTs are working hard to resuscitate the victim. Finally, the frustrated EMTs shake their heads and pull the sheet over the deceased’s face, acknowledging that this one didn’t make it. Dead-on-arrival.

Scene to illustrate: Adam Cassidy (Liam Hemsworth) tries to use a bogus latex fingerprint to gain access to the 38th floor’s top-secret vault in order to steal the heavily-guarded prototype. He tries to enter with the fingerprint identification gadget three times.

I hoped Liam would quit after one try. I was rooting for him to go home, take off his shirt, go for another dip in the pool, and then aimlessly walk around in a towel some more. [I also doubt if any top-secret object is stored in a vault and displayed exactly this way; I saw the Secret Service drag “the Red Phone” into a restaurant during a presidential campaign in a plain black box, and THAT object could have started a nuclear war!]

THE SCRIPT VERSUS THE ACTING

Liam Hemsworth in “Paranoia.”

Why didn’t the adaptation by screenwriters Jason Dean Hall and Barry L. Levy work? The words must be there on the page in order for actors to deliver. And the author’s intent must hew as closely as possible to the ideas expressed in the plot. For the most part, in this script, the great lines (and thoughts) are MIA (missing in action).

Liam Hemsworth in “Paranoia.”

With actors the caliber of Richard Dreyfuss (Oscar winner for “The Goodbye Girl”), Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, not to mention handsome Australian actor Liam Hemsworth (brother of “Thor”, boyfriend in “The Hunger Games” and sometime fiancé of Miley Cyrus) and attractive female love interest Amber Heard, there is more than enough talent to deliver a tense thriller.

I can’t fault the acting (although others have), with but two exceptions: Josh Holloway’s FBI Agent Gamble was weak and Julian McMahon’s (“Nip/Tuck”) hired hitman Miles Meachum was laughable. The music was not my favorite film score, but the sets were appropriately high-tech (although Philadelphia represents midtown Manhattan at some points), the costuming was okay and there were some killer cars.

EYE CANDY

Liam Hemsworth’s acting has been most often singled out for criticism, with comparisons to the vapid blankness of Taylor Lautner or Keanu Reeves. I disagree. My problem with Hemsworth’s role involved the inordinate number of times he is required to appear sans clothing, in bed or elsewhere. He’s a hunky guy; no doubt about it. But does the plot really require him to stroll about in a towel or hit the pool that often, even if he IS eye candy?

One critic actually suggested that cutting Hemsworth totally out of the movie might have made for a better film, as we could enjoy the two old lions (Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman) battling it out onscreen as they last did in 1997’s “Air Force One.” This would gut Joseph Finder’s complicated plot. The point is that too much experienced talent is wasted. [My suggestion: read the book.]

GARY OLDMAN, HARRISON FORD & RICHARD DREYFUSS

Oldman and Ford don’t have that many good lines or much to do; therefore, they mainly chew the scenery. The acting from Dreyfuss is actually more engaging, especially in the touching scene when Hemsworth, sitting on the front stoop with the sick old guy (emphysema) who badly needs a haircut, insensitively says he doesn’t want to turn out like his old man. Dreyfuss’ face conveys the hurt he feels without any dialogue. Looking at Dreyfuss and Hemsworth, side by side, you feel that, in addition to a haircut, Dreyfuss needs a Maury Povich paternity test.

COMPUTER NERDS RULE

I’m also growing impatient with the trope in movies where gigantic corporations apparently employ only the dimmest programmers in the world. The big corporations never hire the best and brightest. Some nerdy outcast (Lucas Till playing Kevin, this time), using a computer he may have made out of a paper cup, string and tin foil, is WAAY smarter than anybody the big company employs. The plucky upstart (Lisbeth Salander, anyone?) outwits them all. [Oh, really? Then, why is Kevin unemployed and looking for work for most of the film?]

PLOT POINTS THAT FAIL

That plot point aside, many have pointed out that when an employee is terminated, his credit card from the company is immediately de-activated, which would play hell with a scene set in a New York City nightclub where a disgruntled Adam leads his team on a $16,000 drinking binge on the company’s dime. This party was a big change from the book, where Adam is doing a “good deed” in throwing a retirement party for Jonesie, a loading dock guy, so that this sub-set of workers, who never get to enjoy “the good life” at the top, can have a night to remember.

The book’s original motivations for young Adam (Hemsworth) were slightly more admirable. His actions were more in keeping with the necessary “good guy” image of a hero, rather than having Adam simply go rogue in a fit of pique. In the novel, Adam’s going off the reservation—while impulsive and certain to cause dire repercussions— seem generous and less criminal. In the movie, Adam’s actions just come off as wrong and petty.

But, of course, watching Adam’s “team” of handsome young people dancing and popping champagne corks was probably deemed cinematically superior to watching a bunch of old farts (Jonesie has a wife of 42 years, Esther) get down to a Jamaican reggae group, as per the book’s opening chapter. The trouble may have started with scripted changes like that, because Adam’s actions, although wrong in either case, now paint him in an entirely different light as a spoiled brat angry that the Big Boss (Gary Oldman) didn’t like or carefully listen to his sales pitch. He’s a small child petulantly giving the finger to the boss and saying, “I’ll show you!” not the good guy throwing a nice going-away party for a deserving retiree.

THE O.J. FACTOR

For me, the film fails to deliver, in part, because of the O.J. Factor. The O.J. Factor defined: Remember when the prosecution introduced massive amounts of DNA evidence in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, causing the jury to zone out? After so many monologues or dialogues about computer chips (blah, blah, blah), the audience’s eyes begin to glaze and we lose interest. [This is especially true if you can’t even add a new number to your fancy cell phone, but even tech savvy youngsters, especially those who are pining for a car crash per second, will find the droning on about technology a bit much].

Never has technology and industrial espionage seemed so dull. Films like Tom Cruise’s 2002 “The Minority Report” illustrate crisper, more interesting ways to illustrate the wonders of technology. When one company ruthlessly murders programmers, the audience gets to see none of that exciting stuff. We get a quick peek at a black-and-white photo of a corpse with a sheet over the body. (And this particular character actually had a small speaking part earlier!) Why not show us some of THAT action (i.e., how the poor sap met his end) rather than miring us in miasma?

DIRECTOR ROBERT LUKETIC

Is the director the problem? The film is directed by Robert Luketic. Luketic’s best previous film was “Legally Blonde,” a Reese Witherspoon vehicle. He also directed “Monster-in-Law.” One critic wondered what the film might have been like if director Brian DePalma had been hired to build the tension that doesn’t seem to exist—even in what are supposed to be thrilling moments. There were opportunities, but they were not seized. As you sit in the theater, it feels as though you are caught in a time warp. The film is often static, with little conflict beyond Oldman’s ranting in a thick British accent about hotter water for his tea. The onscreen chemistry between Hemsworth and Heard is non-existent. Hardly riveting stuff.

TIMELY TOPICS

The revelation of the NSA wiretapping and data gathering of innocent civilians, as well as the sub-plot involving expensive health care in the U.S. and how it is unaffordable to the average American (especially young >Americans) should have been home runs for the screenwriters to integrate into the script. Lord knows, they tried, using Frank Cassidy’s (Richard Dreyfuss’) emphysema as the entrée to the health care/excessive cost debate.

The film has been a work-in-progress for some time; the recent and still-ongoing NSA flap should have been as timely as the meltdown at Three Mile Island was for “The China Syndrome” in 1979. Alas, even this helpful confluence of fact and fiction did not resonate.

CONCLUSION

Amber Heard’s character says, at one point, “The expectation is so high that I can’t ever really succeed.” For me, (having read Joseph Finder’s ingeniously plotted and well-written novel), I was disappointed that this movie didn’t succeed, despite heroic and expensive efforts to infuse life into “Paranoia.” Past the opening sequence, the film is on life support. Somebody or something either tripped over or pulled the plug.

Bingo Is Rising in Popularity As A Past-time

By Connie Wilson

On August 1, 2013

In Humor and Weird Wilson-isms, Movies, Pop Culture

Bingo, the movie.

The Rise of Bingo Films on the Silver Screen mirrors the increasing popularity of the game worldwide.

The popularity of bingo has grown by leaps and bounds since the creation of the card game in the 1500’s. The ever-growing craze of bingo is widespread. Bingo has acquired a large number of devoted players around the globe.

Because of the upsurge of the game in many parts of the world, the card game has exerted a strong influence on its players. There have been several documentaries chronicling the continuous steady rise of this famous social game.

Films Featuring Bingo:

If you are an ardent bingo player and have been educating yourself about the game, you may have seen a movie featuring bingo. The documentary Bingo, released in 1999, is familiar to bingo enthusiasts. That film is considered to be the best movie illustrating the elaborate history of bingo
.
The film highlights the influence of bingo in various cultures around the world and illustrates its role in the formation of a society. Regular bingo players, fanatics, and gaming hall employees were interviewed,all testifying that bingo is a card game which has been played by people of varied backgrounds for centuries. The presentation of details debunks the old perspective of the game as restricted merely to housewives or old ladies.

Other bingo-themed movies, such as The King of Bingo Game in 2008 and Jackpot in 2009, illustrated different perspectives towards bingo. Both films showed how every bingo player interviewed was deeply engrossed in the game, dreaming and hoping that the next number called out would change his or her life forever.

These and other bingo-themed movies have extended beyond the four corners of the bingo hall. The unstoppable bingo fad transcended the walls of brick-and-mortal bingo halls and reached the growing online bingo scene, such as cheekybingo. Other online bingo providers have acquired a vast number of participants.

“The Purge” and Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman Trial

By Connie Wilson

On July 16, 2013

In Editorial, Movies, Pop Culture

Ethan Hawke stars in “The Purge.”

The Ethan Hawke vehicle “The Purge,” made for $3 million, has been out since June 9th. I thought it looked interesting, but I think the main reason it struck me as so interesting when I took it in this afternoon (at the $6 for ticket and popcorn and small drink theater) was that the George Zimmerman trial ended yesterday with Zimmerman’s acquittal for shooting and killing Trayvon Martin in a gated community where Zimmerman was part of the neighborhood watch program.

The trial has consumed days of television and the themes of this science fiction film about a fictional future where anything goes for 24 hours of each year, in an effort to “release the beast” resonated. The year is 2022 and the night is March 21st—which, coincidentally, happens to be my husband’s birthday.

“The purge” is upon the populace (actual filming took place in Chatsworth, California) and all the well-to-do people have invested heavily in security systems to protect themselves during this one night of complete and utter lawlessness. Even murder is condoned the night of the purge, so it is best to be under lock and key.

Ethan Hawke has made a pretty penny selling security systems to all of his neighbors in the gated community.
Ethan and his wife and two children—a teen-aged daughter Zoe and a younger son Charlie—will be safely ensconced behind thick metal walls. “Blessed be America, a nation reborn.” Unemployment is 1% and this country-wide act of catharsis is supported by the populace, who place blue flowers outside to show their patriotic involvement with the sanctioned chaos going on outside their locked doors.

It is noted that “The poor can’t afford to protect themselves,” but who really cares about the poor? As the plot has it, “The purge allows people a release. This night saved our country, unburdening the economy. It is the eradication of the poor and those unable to defend themselves.”

Certainly the “fine, young, very educated guys and gals” who come calling at the Sandens’ house, demanding that the “dirty homeless pig” who has been given safe haven inside the Sandens’ home hold the poor to be fair game. They gather outside Ethan Hawke’s home and give him a deadline to turn over the African American homeless person compassionate son Charlie has taken pity on and allowed into the sanctuary the Sandens’ home provides.

Give him up, is the message, “It’s fight night. We don’t want to kill our >own,” says the psychotic leader of this demented Manson-like gang. But if the Sandens don’t turn over “the piece of flesh that you are protecting,” which the gang says “exists only to serve our needs of the purge,” then the mob will kill them all.

What to do! What to do? The message to Ethan Hawke is “It’s time for you to quiet down and let us do our duties as Americans.” Otherwise, say the psychos gathered outside the house waiting for reinforcements that will allow them to breach the fortified walls, “Was his life really worth yours?”

As security system salesman James Sanden says to his wife (Lena Headey) as they huddle helplessly inside, “Things like this are not supposed to happen in our neighborhood.” She responds, “But they’re happening, James. They’re happening right now.”

It comes down to a simple restatement of the issue: “It’s him or us.”

James Sanden votes for “him” and attempts to duct tape the poor, bloody, wounded homeless man to a chair on rollers, planning to sacrifice him to the hungry crowd, even though, as he is overpowering the helpless man he says, “We didn’t do anything to deserve this and you don’t deserve it.”

Shades of Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman.

Michael Shannon as General Zod in “Superman” Showcases an Actor with “Nerves on the Outside.”

By Connie Wilson

On July 3, 2013

In Movies, Pop Culture

Michael Shannon as General Zod in “Superman.”

If there were two young actors, back in the day, whose work was revered by their peers (and whose onstage turns drew a crowd of other actors to watch them perform), those two were Mickey Rourke and Sean Penn. Another equally intense but more mature actor (who just won acclaim as Best Actor at Cannes in “Nebraska”) is Bruce Dern, who nailed such parts in “Coming Home” and “Black Sunday.” And, of course, you can’t forget Christopher Walken in “The Deer Hunter” and other films when discussing film portraits of personally conflicted protagonists that are delivered with ferocious intensity.

Today, the name on everyone’s lips for such roles—especially after the release of “Superman,” in which he plays the evil General Zod—is Michael Shannon. Michael Shannon’s first stage work began at age 15. Born in Lexington, Kentucky at Good Samaritan Hospital on August 7, 1974, his parents divorced and remarried five times. His mother, Geraldine Hine, is a social worker who stayed in Kentucky (reported by some other sources as “a lawyer.”)

His father, Donald Sutherland Shannon, who died November 19, 2008, took a position teaching economics at DePaul University in Chicago where he was much-honored during his 25 year tenure. Michael moved to be with his father, attending New Trier Township in Winnetka for two years. He moved back to Kentucky for his junior year. Then he attended Evanston Township High School for one semester before dropping out of school entirely.

It is ironic that Michael Shannon’s grandfather was famed entomologist Raymond Corbett Shannon, because one of the first stage roles Shannon inhabited was as the lead in 1996’s “Bug.” Shannon was cast in the stage version of the Tracy Letts play and then reprised the role in the film version in 2006, playing unhinged war veteran Peter Evans. In the film, directed by William Friedkin (“The Exorcist”), Shannon and Ashley Judd hole up in a spooky hotel room in Oklahoma and begin to hallucinate about a bug infestation. They definitely reach tin-foil hat levels of insanity. Shannon and playwright Letts played opposite one another in a pair of one-act plays, “Fun” and “Nobody,” at Evanston’s Next Lab when Letts was twenty-five.

Shannon’s acting teacher in Chicago, Jane Brody, commented in a Chicago Tribune article (June 30, 2013), “Mike once told me being onstage was the only place where he could be as angry as he felt and it was still acceptable.” As Shannon himself explained to interviewer Christopher Borrelli regarding his return to Chicago from Kentucky, “I’ve been an only child, a middle child, and an oldest child. I felt guilty because I wanted to help out, but at that age? My mother was dealing with other people’s problems all day, and then came home to a house of children. I had to leave.”

Shannon has become typecast as the intense, brooding guy steeped in pain. His role on “Boardwalk Empire” as Agent Nelson Van Alden catapulted him into viewers’ consciousness as a weird, freaked-out agent who becomes a bootlegger. He was equally riveting in a small part as a dinner guest (an outpatient from a mental institute) in “Revolutionary Road” in 2009.

In fact, Shannon received an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor, but did not win. He says of the experience, pointing to a certificate that confirms he was an Academy Award nominee, “Which is what I have to show for that experience. That, and a sweatshirt saying ‘Academy Award nominee,’ which I do wear.”

Just as with the Kings of Intensity, Penn and Rourke, co-stars give telling insights into the actors by relating their interaction(s) with Shannon. Chicago actress Shannon Cochran remembers the New York run of “Bug” onstage: “I was standing over Mike (in the scene) and he was hunched down. Then, suddenly, he stood up and screamed into my face at the top of his lungs.” Adds Cochran: “OK, so, do I react? I ignored it, then spent the rest of the show assuming he was mad at me. Later, I got this note apologizing, saying he shouldn’t lose control like that, but he gets so mad when audiences don’t concentrate. We never really talked much offstage, but eventually I did end up with a little pile of notes.”

Zack Snyder, who directed Shannon in the summer blockbuster “Superman,” relates that when General Zod is sentenced to eternal prison and is vowing to destroy Superman, he is to shout, “I will find him!” once. Said Snyder, “In the script, it’s once, but Michael hemorrhaged the line.”

Co-star Paul Rudd, who appeared with Shannon in “Grace” on Broadway and is a longtime friend, says of him: “He is extremely kind, with a completely unique sense of humor. Yet other times, you realize how guarded he is…that you have no idea what he is thinking. He always leaves you guessing a bit.” His acting teacher Jane Brody would agree with Rudd. Her take? “He liked to be a mystery.”

Liatt Kornowski at the Huffington Post wrote an article entitled “15 Reasons Why Michael Shannon is the Coolest Effing Person Around.” (June 14, 2013). Not so much an article as a video tribute to the intensity of Shannon’s eyes and the eccentricity of his onscreen characters and his offscreen persona, as well. She also mentioned his intense reading of an inane sorority girl’s letter that has garnered millions of hits on YouTube, done as a favor for a Columbia College (Chicago) graduate.
When Christopher Borrelli of the Chicago Tribune interviewed Shannon , prior to the start of his star turn opposite his best friend, actor Guy Van Swearingen, in Sam Shepard’s “Simpatico” (which runs through August 25 at the Red Orchid Theater in Chicago), the duo strolled around Shannon’s Red Hook Brooklyn neighborhood with Shannon clad only in socks. Shannon helped co-found the Old Town-based Red Orchid Theater 20 years ago.

Kate Arrington, who lives with Shannon and with whom Shannon has a 5-year-old daughter, Sylvia, says of him: “Mike has a high level of anxiety. He might seem chill, but he is anxious, as anyone would be who grew up as he did, always worried about others, angry. He hates that view of himself as a guy just a bit off, playing guys a bit off. But the thing is, Mike is off. He is not a normal person! He sees the word differently.”
Two of the best films this year, so far, were “Mud,” in which Shannon had a small part as the Uncle who is raising “Neckbone,” one of the young boys who helps the stranded Matthew McConaughey and “The Iceman,” a film about Mafia hitman Michael Kuklinski. Shannon’s performance as the cold-blooded killer was spot-on. One scene in which he merely sits at the top of a flight of stairs as his secret life is about to collide with his private family life is masterful. The entire film is one of the best films of the year, so far, with such co-stars as Wynona Ryder, Ray Liotta, Stephen Dorff, Robert Davi, David Schwimmer, and Chris Evans.

Like Christopher Walken before him, Shannon has mastered the art of conveying a certain humanity to even the most depraved of men. It’s clearly his forte. Does he like that? As Shannon told Borrelli, “And so now you’ve seen that I’m a normal person. I clean the house. I take care of my family. I’m exhausted by this perception that I’m a lunatic.” But, later, when asked about the many projects he has on the docket, including “Boardwalk Empire,” “Simpatico” on stage in Chicago, maybe a small film in Chicago in the fall, he adds, very gravely, “But overall, I find myself uncertain about the future.”

What’s not uncertain about Michael Shannon’s future as an actor is that he will continue to garner much-deserved accolades for his intense portrayals. Next time, maybe he’ll get more for his pains than a sweatshirt and a certificate.

“World War Z”: Brad Pitt Takes on Zombie Apocalypse–and Filming Problems

By Connie Wilson

On June 22, 2013

In Movies, Reviews

“World War Z,” a zombie film written by the son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft (Max Brooks) and starring Brad Pitt opened in theaters today after a tumultuous series of filming experiences. First, there was a bidding war with Leonardo DeCaprio’s production company. Pitt’s 11-year-old Plan B company won the book rights in 2006 for $1 million. In the book, survivors of a zombie Apocalypse give first-person accounts of their experiences. That idea quickly went out the window, as did several screenwriters and production people.

Marc Forster, the Director of the film, was quoted in Vanity Fair June, 2013 issue saying, “We started shooting the thing before we locked down how it was going to end up, and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted it to.” [That’s a little like your 10-year-old, having just burned down the house, saying, “We wanted to light a candle to have a little bit of light, but it set fire to the curtains and burned the house down.”]

Since 2006, when Paramount optioned the book, four writers have been hired, an experienced producer and Oscar-winning visual effects artist (“Gladiator” helmsman John Nelson ) left, and an expensive 12-minute climactic Russian battle scene was rewritten, scaled down and reshot, moving the budget ever upward. (Sources say it probably cost at least $250 million to make and will need to make $400 million, worldwide, to break even). All this in the name of creating a new franchise for the studio, since Paramount lost its business partnerships with DreamWorks and DreamWorks Animation when Walt Disney bought Marvel in 2009.

Marc Forster, the 43-year-old German/Swiss director, seemed like an unlikely choice to helm a big budget over-the-top film. His previous credits were smaller films like “Finding Neverland,” and “Stranger than Fiction,” although he did have the dubious distinction of directing “Quantum of Solace,” a Bond film not held in high esteem.

First script submitted (by J. Michael Straczynski, well-regarded screenwriter of horror and science fiction scripts, known for TV’s “Babylon 5”) was rejected. Straczynski was quoted this way in the Vanity Fair article: “Marc wanted to make a big, huge action movie that wasn’t terribly smart and had big, huge action pieces in it. If all you wanted to do was an empty-headed Rambo-versus-the-zombies action film, why option this really elegant, smart book?”

A good question.

The ending was eventually reshot to make the main thrust of the film focus on Brad Pitt’s desire to reunite with his family. Personally, the Russian ending originally planned sounded interesting. It was filmed in Red Square with the undead fighting an army of thousands of soldier slaves forced by the Russians to lop off the heads of the zombies with shovel-like weapons called lobos (short for “lobotomizers.”) I’m not giving anything away with that grim bit, because those scenes (12 minutes) ended up on the cutting room floor.

My very own “World War Z” poster from Opening Night.

Shooting began on June 20, 2011 in Malta (an island south of Sicily) and V.F. informs us that over 45 tons of equipment and props were brought in in 25 full shipping containers for the three-week shoot. As many as 1,500 people were on set some days. All sorts of logistical headaches followed with the person in charge eventually quoted this way, “The movie started out small, then grew into a monster,” and “We were feeding half the city.” (You will notice that the scenes shot AFTER the Israel sequence, set in the World Health Organization lab, are considerably scaled down in terms of how many people are involved and special effects costs.)

The first big action sequence of the plot begins with a Philadelphia scene (actually shot in Glasgow, Scotland, because it was cheaper) in which Pitt and family are caught in a car amongst a crowd menaced by zombies. Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt’s character) is a hot-shot ex-troubleshooter for the U.N. who is lured back into service to help fight the plague of the undead by promises of safety for his family (Brad’s wife is played by “The Killing’s” female cop, Mereille Enos.)

First, Brad is off to North Korea taking along a 23-year-old specialist in epidemics who turns out to be particularly hapless. He accidentally offs himself early in the film, but not before pontificating about epidemics: “Mother Nature is a serial killer. No one’s better. Like all serial killers, she wants to get caught.” North Korea has met the challenge of the zombie invaders quite creatively, by pulling all the teeth out of 23 million people within 24 hours. (“Otherwise, they’re bitin’ everything like fat kids love Twix,” says a soldier who seems immune to the hordes.)

Israel recognized the zombie problem, becoming the first to know and the first to act. They built a Salvation Wall, but then fail to properly supervise the wall after it is built. Says the Israeli hot-shot Brad has come to consult, “The trouble with most people is that they don’t believe something can happen till it does.” It’s not long after making that prophetic statement that the wall defense develops major issues. (Ironic.)

The globe-trotting hero carries on, heading for the WHO (World Health Organization). This destination was added after the Israel sequences instead of the film‘s original Red Square Russian sequences, which were scrapped so that a more character-driven ending could be developed. Some of the scenes of Brad en route to WHO you’ve probably seen in trailers as an airplane sequence. Pitt does so much traveling that the movie almost becomes a giant game of “Where’s Waldo?” It was an exciting action-packed, suspense-filled game, for the most part, so carry on, Brad. Maybe plug a few plot holes (Salvation Wall supervision being one) and aim for the noggins of those fast-moving creatures. Plus, don’t forget to carry your weapon at all times. (Fireman’s axe: don’t leave home without it.)

The Balkans were not “berry, berry” good to Brad and company. The Hungarian Anti-Terrorist organization seized weapons meant for filming with claims that a crucial pin needed to be removed to render them harmless. Dede Gardner (Pitt production partner) said, “It is a very normal hiccup on a big production. Things like that happen every day.” The Hungarian Counter-terrorism unit did drop the case after four months, but, as Paramount spokesman Adam Goodman said of the Budapest finances, “When you are that deep in production and your budget has taken hits along the way, you put it back on the filmmakers and say, ‘You’ve got to absorb those hits and figure out how to make the best with what you have here.’” Therefore, underground prison factory scene (escape sequence for Pitt): out the window. Likewise, water gag with cold water dumped on zombies: ultimately not in film. It was cold enough filming, as it began at night about nine o’clock and the temperatures sank below freezing, with hundreds of extras pretending to fight with zombies that were added later via computer. As second-unit director Simon Crane is quoted in the Vanity Fair article, “We had 750 extras not used to being on a film set, fighting an imaginary opponent.”

The talk is that the first film was to be Number One in a trilogy. Hopefully, it hasn’t run out of steam right out of the gate. “World War Z” was suspenseful, scary, and exciting in 3D, and I’d still like to see those twelve minutes of Red Square film. I find the back-story regarding filming problems as interesting as the actual film. But any time they send Brad Pitt to my theater, in person, to hand out tee shirts (this actually happened in Chicago and elsewhere), count me in.

It’s an exciting film throughout, although it is interesting to watch the numbers (of extras) shrink as the film progresses, which does not in any way detract from the suspense the fairly predictable solution to the world’s zombie plague problem provides by film’s finale.

Kudos to the tooth-clacking zombie in the World Health Organization lab and let’s get this bad boy trilogy back on the road with better supervision/leadership in the future. Quote from Director Marc Forster (Vanity Fair, June issue), “You are having a meltdown while you are
working. So, I don’t usually know what is going on.” Then he added, “For me, it’s like, I had a good time on this film. I didn’t feel like it was a big drama. I feel like, yes, the ending didn’t work. Yes, we all thought it was going to work. Yes, we decided it’s not the right ending. Yes, we decided to change it and spend more money. Yes, it never happened to me before on any of my other movies. But I think this movie is more original and bigger and more special than I have ever done before.”