It was a 1-for-3 week here in the Pop Bunker House of Blues Theater. One movie I wish I’d seen sooner – on the big screen – and two I’d really like to try and forget.
Three films on how to deal with your past, next…
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ALICE IN WONDERLAND (2010)
Based on the books by Lewis Carroll
Screenplay by Linda Woolverton
Directed by Tim Burton
Walt Disney Pictures
”…on that day, I shall Futterwacken. Vigorously.”
This live-action (kind of) sequel to the original “Alice in Wonderland” stories was really quite good. We pick up the thread 10 years after Alice’s original adventures, as the young lady is about to be engaged to a horrific bore of a Lord. The older Alice remembers her time in Wonderland as a dream, but as she finds out when she once again falls down the rabbit hole, it wasn’t.
The Red Queen and the White Queen are very much at odds, and it seems that the only way to settle who should really wear the crown is to have their fiercest warriors do battle. It’s been prophesied that Alice must slay the Jabberwock, and now that Alice has arrived, it’s Go Time.
There wasn’t much about this film I didn’t like. The effects and CGI animation were stellar, but that’s to be expected when Tim Burton and Disney collaborate (I’m bummed that I didn’t see this in the theater, or IMAX). I loved watching Alice re-discover Wonderland, and it was fascinating to see how the passage of time had affected the residents of that fantastic place.
Of course, the highlight of the movie is Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, who has only grown madder with time. What I most enjoyed was how Depp’s Hatter clearly had a plan; for all of his crazy, the Hatter is quite the strategist, and when things got serious he would slide into this warrior mode. Depp’s voice deepens and takes on a Scottish accent, and it was an instant and complete transformation. The Hatter knows what he’s doing, even when you’re pretty sure he doesn’t. He’s fully in control of his schizophrenia.
A number of reviews I read when Alice first came out had issues with either the third-act battle scene, or the overall theme of Alice as an Independent Woman, but I have to say that I find no fault with either. I loved the inclusion of the Jabberwock, and the symbolic way that it was Alice who had to defeat it, as she was struggling with her own dragons up above.
Now…maybe Tim Burton can do something similar with Peter Pan – with Depp as Captain Hook, naturally – and make us all forget about the Spielberg/Williams misfire.
Elwood Says: 5 Regrettably Large Heads out of 5.
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THE BOONDOCK SAINTS II: ALL SAINT’S DAY (2009)
Story by Troy Duffy and Taylor Duffy
Screenplay by Troy Duffy
Directed by Troy Duffy
Stage 6 Films
”Erin Go Bragh? What the fuck is that?”
“It’s Irish for ‘You’re Fucked’.”
This sequel to the 1999 original was pointless, silly, and completely nonsensical. Set eight years after the Saints went underground, Connor and Murphy are brought back out of hiding when a copycat kills a priest in Boston. They set out to clear their name and do some killing of their own.
The film is from the same writer and director as the brilliant original Boondock Saints, but this time it’s just a stylized farce that looks like a handful of music videos strung together with bits of half-rate script and populated with actors who treat their parts like it’s a junior high summer acting camp.
Julie Benz continues her string of Bad Acting in Unnecessary Sequels (see: Rambo, 8MM 2, and Punisher: War Zone), Judd Nelson hams it up in a part that goes absolutely nowhere, and Peter Fonda – of all people – is wasted as the Big Villain that doesn’t even get introduced until the last third of the movie. And the movie was about a half-hour too long anyway.
Billy Connolly was great, and seemed like the only one taking it seriously. The setup at the end for another sequel brings a character back from the dead, and makes me really want to see that movie. It’s a pity that they didn’t just go there with this one.
Elwood Says: 1 Whoop-Ass Fajita out of 5.
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THE GHOST WRITER (2010)
Based on the novel ‘The Ghost’ by Robert Harris
Adaptation and Screenplay by Robert Harris and Roman Polanski
Directed by Roman Polanski
R.P. Productions/Summit Entertainment
”Be sure to take a right at the end of the drive. If you turn left, the road will take you deeper into the woods and you may never be seen again.”
This was a movie that Could Have Been. It’s topical, it’s got darkness and noir, and it involves conspiracy on a Grand Scale. Instead, it came out like a Grisham novel adapted by a round-robin of Huffington Post bloggers.
Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan) is a recently former British Prime Minister who is coming under scrutiny for his participation in torture and war crimes while in office. He’s also trying to publish his memoirs when the author he had ghostwriting for him dies mysteriously.
When Ewan McGregor (who doesn’t get a name, and is simply listed as “The Ghost”) is brought in to finish the book, he also investigates the death of his predecessor, and the die is cast.
The real-world parallels and commentary is plainly intentional, and is almost still too soon. There are too many red herrings to count, and the number of left turns the narrative takes has the story going in circles. I was, quite frankly, bored by the whole affair.
Director Polanski edited this film from his prison cell, and it shows. Sloppy cuts, weird transitions, and some last minute ADR to change several versions of “fuck” to “sod” or “bugger” or some other British equivalent – likely to get the rating down to PG-13 – just took me right out of the whole thing, mostly because you could clearly see the actors mouthing the former. Made it look like it was edited for content on commercial television.
Even the reveal at the end made no sense. What a mess. Skip it.
Elwood Says: 1½ Bald Jim Belushis out of 5.
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Elwood J. Blues is both an Editor and Author for Pop Bunker. From his listed residence at 1060 West Addison, Elwood spends a great deal of time and effort getting people addicted to comic books at 
AiW is showing at a historical second run theater next week right down the street from me. I think I’ll go check it out.
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All Saints Day might be the worst movie I have ever seen on the Posnanski scale of realistic expectation compared to actual product.
It basically tried to re-hash the last movie with different perimeter characters (trying yet another quirky FBI agent was a total fail – Dafoe made the first movie). The script was a hot mess of ineptitude and, as you said, the actors involved largely mailed in their performances.
Worthless garbage. That goon Troy Duffy should be exiled forever from making another movie.
Oh, and I guess I will return Ghost Writer without watching it
As long as you have it, check it out. I’d be curious to see if you agree with me.
Watching Alice in 3D IMAX is the best money I’ve ever spent on a movie. They used the technology the way it was meant to be used, and the movie is an absolute work of art as a result. Doesn’t hurt that the cast is perfect and Depp is a friggin’ acting genius, either.
The thing that bothered me the whole way through The Ghost Writer was Ewan McGregor’s accent; for some reason, he had to go with a sort-of-cockney. This may not matter much to American audiences but it just left me wondering why there was a burning need for him not to just use his own (Scottish) accent. I’ve made myself understood perfectly in the US and I’ve got a way thicker Scottish accent than he does, so it can’t be that. I could claim some anti-Scots bias here but I don’t think it’s that either. I think it’s just Hollywood’s obsession with sticking an English accent into a movie when the plot doesn’t call for it (see Don Cheadle in Ocean’s 11…).
Also, the movie pretty much sucked.
You don’t think it was because he was writing for a former British PM?
More then likely they figured that any Scottish accent couldn’t be understood by the lowest common denominator, even one that barely exists like Ewan’s.
Now if the actor hailed from say Inverness…..ya that’s illegible even to this semi-trained ear.
I can take it. I just watched 2 hours of Mark Millar talking about Kick-Ass on the DVD. I didn’t miss a word, and that dude has a *thick* brogue.
And they actually made that sequel for The Saints hmm? Ugh. That was a movie that had “Dale Berra” written all over it right from conception.
I had trouble even coming up with anything past “BLERGH” for the review.