Galaxy Quest (1999)

Galaxy Quest is a sci-fi action film parodying the cult sci-fi TV show genre (or Star Trek, more specifically). The title is named for the Galaxy Quest show which, in terms of the films story, is a fictional cancelled TV program from the late seventies/early 80s. The now has-been actors are all miserable as they go to conventions and each seem to despise Jason Nesmith (Tim Allen), the commander from the show who likes to hog the spotlight and not include his fellow cast members when doing gigs outside of conventions, which parodies the real-life relationships of the actors of the real Star Trek show. When doing one of these gigs, it turns out that the fans who hired him are actual aliens who had built a real spaceship based on the television series that they received the signals for on their home planet.

Sigourney Weaver, Tony Shalhoub,
Alan Rickman, Daryl Mitchel & Sam Rockwell

It’s a bit high concept and seemingly ludicrous, but it works well within the film and this can largely be credited to the performances of the actors as well as the seriousness devoted to the story and characters on the part of the director (Dean Parisot) and writer (David Howard). The actors’ responses to these absurd events are often hysterical and the writing was clearly done by someone familiar with the clichés and conventions of the old Star Trek series. Sigourney Weaver plays Gwen DeMarco, whose only job on the ship is talk to the computer and repeat its answers to the crew; the aliens designed the ship so that the computer will not respond to anyone else’s voice. Alan Rickman plays Alexander Dane, the actor who played the obligatory alien member of the crew. Alan Rickman’s performance captures the misery that his character, a would-be stage actor, emits on a regular basis as he's forced to spout out his catchphrase and wear his alien-head cap. There's one particularly amusing scene that shows Gwen calling him from her nice apartment after the convention and not only does his place seem significantly cheaper, but he's still wearing the make-up from the show. Tony Shalhoub (the odd engineer) and Daryl Mitchell (the now grown-up child pilot of the ship) are also memorable comedic performances, but it's Sam Rockwell who steals pretty much every scene. He plays Guy Fleegman, a one time extra on the show that was killed by a lava monster in order to “prove how serious the situation was.” His constant fear of being killed off and knowledge of the common clichés of the show creates some hilarious scenes. At one point he gets fed up with the rest of the crew and asks, “Did you guys ever watch the show?” These actors, after thinking that they’ve taken on some kind of job, find themselves battling a real alien menace on behalf of the squid-like aliens that hired them. Much like the Edgar Wright films (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), the jokes here are exclusively based on the genre that's being both parodied and paid tribute to. This makes the story much more worthy of investing time in, as by the end, when the actors have fully embraced their new positions on the ship, the film becomes that which it was mocking. The visual effects are pretty impressive featuring a lot of CG as well as some good looking practical effects made by Stan Winston that are used for the aliens and creatures that they encounter. It's a surprisingly hilarious and smart film that stays true to what it’s making fun of.

The Prince of Egypt (1998)

The Prince of Egypt is an animated musical version of the story of Moses. I know that may sound a bit strange. To start, it’s not fair to compare it with the more famous Cecil B. DeMille version The Ten Commandments because it’s not trying to be a remake of that film. This version is its own separate telling of the story and it's actually pretty good. The story, though most people probably know it by now, starts with baby Moses (who grows up to be voiced by Val Kilmer) being put in a basket by his mother to save him from the Egyptians massacring newborns in order to control their slave population. After surviving an incredibly rough river ride (the basket is the target of hippos and crocodiles alike), he ends up in the care of the Pharaoh’s wife (voiced by Helen Mirren) and becomes a prince because they decide that this was one newborn slave that they could keep alive. As with the way most kids in film who find out their adopted seem to react, Moses goes through a bit of an identity crisis thinking his whole life is a lie and so forth. He runs away, becomes a shepherd, meets a talking plant, causes plagues, gets the Pharaoh to let his people go, etc.

It’s a famous story and the film takes it more seriously than I'm willing to give time in summarizing. In fact, they take it so seriously that the entire cast is made up of stars. Rameses is voiced by Ralph Fiennes, Michelle Pfeiffer voices Moses’ wife Tzipporah, Sandra Bullock is Moses’ sister, Jeff Goldblum is her husband, Patrick Stewart is the Pharaoh, and Steve Martin and Martin Short voice the two priests. The voice acting is good all across the board, but Ralph Fiennes is particularly memorable as Rameses. He never feels like a true villain, and the story places a lot of emphasis on the sibling rivalry and relationship between him and Moses. This makes the characters feel more human and adds a lot of depth to the story. Moses and Rameses were raised together as brothers. Their inevitable conflict against each other is not something that's easy for either of them. Rameses would love to make his brother happy, but he can't allow himself to be seen as the "weak link" in his ancestral heritage. Moses spends most of his life as an Egyptian so the conflict he feels within himself as he basically destroys his old home seems genuine. A lot of these feelings are expressed through song, so luckily there's some good music here featuring songs like “When you Believe” which is the one that Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey sang together with the idea that it win best original song at the Oscars. The score is by Hans Zimmer and it feels like it matches the settings with its obvious middle-eastern/desert style and instrumental accompaniment.

Because this film is animated, and it uses lots of CG seamlessly blended in with the 2-D characters, everything is huge (after all, it took three directors to make this film). The buildings, the statues, the canyons, and the parting of the sea are all massive spectacles showing how much can be done when not relying on sets and human actors. It all fits well into the story and makes for some pretty memorable visuals. One aspect that I personally enjoyed about this film was its own seriousness towards the story. There were no characters inserted into the film intended to be comic relief for kids. The Hunchback of Notre Dame is another animated film that's much more serious than most, but the addition of the cute animal (or gargoyle) friends did not fit well into the tone of the story. They clashed with characters like Frollo who's relentlessly adult in that film. In The Prince of Egypt, there are no such characters and this makes the film a genuine reminder that just because it's a cartoon, that doesn’t mean that it needs to be targeted exclusively towards kids.

Hot Fuzz (2007)

After the success of Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright, along with the two stars Simon Pegg (also helped write the film) and Nick Frost, went on to make Hot Fuzz: a tribute/parody of the buddy cop film genre. The story follow Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), who's something of the greatest police officer in history being transferred to a small village in order to prevent him from making the rest of the force look bad. In this new town he meets a hoard of silly characters like Danny (Nick Frost), who's his incompetent film-obsessed partner. The town consistently wins the annual best village contest and Nicholas begins noticing that the number of accidents (including graphic decapitations and shear impalement to name a few) is abnormally high. After investigating further the town turns out to be much more sinister than it seems and Nicholas comes to the realization that “this shit just got real.”

Timothy Dalton as Simon Skinner

Edgar Wright, a director with an uncanny talent to make even the mundane seem intense and exciting, manages to capture every cliché there is about the buddy cop film referencing “classics” like Point Break and even the infamous Bad Boys II; there's the rival in the force who will begrudgingly give Nicholas respect by the end of the film, ridiculous action sequences featuring bullet-ridden mayhem, and of course, the sexual tension between the two protagonists. Like with Shaun of the Dead, the first half of the film is set to a different tone than the second. The first half plays out like a comedy that basically mocks the typical conventions of the genre. Danny constantly references other films as well as persistently asks Nicholas questions about experiencing the clichés of the cop movie genre such as, “Have you ever fired two guns whilst jumping through the air?” and “Ever fired your gun in the air and yelled, 'Aaaaaaah?'” The writing, credited to Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, is hilarious and the deliveries are quick. There are lines that are very memorable and, if this review is any indication, easily quotable. One of the most surprisingly funny performances in the film actually comes from Timothy Dalton who plays Simon Skinner, one of the most obviously evil characters in film. Nearly every time he's on screen he winks menacingly at the heroes or the music plays an ominous accompaniment. He hams it up so brilliantly that every time he's even on camera he warrants a laugh. The second half of the film is where it literally becomes what it was mocking in the first half. In this it follows the exact formula of Shaun of the Dead, though that’s not a complaint. The action is violent and ridiculous, and the fact that it involves fight sequences with mostly senior citizens (who seem to take it very seriously) makes it even funnier. At one point, after Nicholas Angel rides into town on a white horse armed to the teeth with guns, he gets into a brutal fight with an old man wielding a sword. The film takes itself seriously as a buddy cop film and it emphasizes the absurdities that go along with it including the twist endings and forced character developments. Hot Fuzz is an incredibly funny film and probably the best buddy cop movie. Ever.

The City of Lost Children (1995)

A very young child wakes up on Christmas to find that Santa Claus has arrived in his home. Saint Nicholas smiles kindly at the boy and gives him a toy. It's a picturesque moment that brings comfort and nostalgia to childhood memories and dreams. But then it goes wrong. Soon, another Santa Claus has entered the room followed by yet another...and another. Soon there are too many Santas to count, taking up all the space and suffocating the boy. There are Santas of all kinds: drunk Santas, fat Santas, tall Santas, mean looking Santas, and now the scene of childhood joy has mutated into a claustrophobic nightmare. The dream ends, and we find ourselves thrown screaming into a world even more grotesque and strange than that of the dream.

Thus opens The City of Lost Children. This is another film from directors Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Delicatessen) and it doesn’t disappoint. Set in a fictional city where there are many orphans, a strange group of Cyclops patrolling the streets stealing children, and a towering oil rig-like factory surrounded by mines a few miles off shore. In the factory, a group of creations live without their master in fear of the new ruler, Krank (Daniel Emilfork). Krank is an old bald misanthrope who was created without the ability to dream. As a result of this defect, his body ages faster and he lives in misery. So he has his fellow creations (a group of child-like clones, all played by Dominique Pinon) go out and deal with the group of Cyclops in order to bring in children so that he may hook them up to an elaborate machine and steal their dreams in order to slow down his own aging process as well as give him peace of mind. The only one who seems to realize how wrong all this is is the disembodied brain who lives in a tank and is connected to speakers and a camera (voiced by Jean-Louis Trintignant). While this is the set up for the villains, the film also follows One (Ron Pearlman), a kind and simple strong man who performs feats of strength at the carnival, who's trying to save his little brother, one of the recent victims of kidnapping. In the process, he runs into Miette (Judith Vittet) who's a member of a group of orphan thieves working for a sadistic pair of conjoined twins (Odile Mallet and Geneviève Brunet).

Daniel Emilfork as Krank

Clearly there's a lot going on in this film and the first half hour or so suffers a little for it. Many characters are introduced early on (I haven’t come close to mentioning all of them) and most of them are visually fascinating and so different that it requires a period of adjustment in order to get used to the visuals. The film provides no introduction or prologue introducing the audience to the city. Instead, the viewers are simply dropped into a world that's entirely its own. This rapid introduction may cause some viewers to feel a bit lost at first, but after that introduction period is over, and this seems to coincide with the main plot taking off, it becomes much easier to follow along. As with Delicatessen, Caro and Jeunet prove their care and dedication to the visuals and style. This film is all about the visuals and they are incredible. The setting of this film is original, horrifying, enchanting and fascinating to look at. There's no other set quite like the one used here. There are many high angle shots used in order to show off the length of a street or the depth of an alley. Every street is freshly wet as if it just rained, smoke rises from the sewers, buildings are cracked and ugly, and every street is littered with minuscule details in order to convince the audience that this place is real. There are also a lot of interesting special effects, some of which are now dated (the green smoke and the flea for instance), but suit their purposes here without really hurting the film. The costumes and make-up however, hold up extremely well and only compliment the style and performances of the film and its characters. The main story focuses on One and Miette teaming up to find the lost children and their relationship feels so genuine – thanks to the top notch acting from Pearlman and Vittet – that not only does the film become easier to follow, but it becomes a story that's easy to care about. This is another great film by Caro and Jeunet that's even better the second and third time around.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Quantum of Solace (directed by Marc Forster) is the direct sequel to the last Bond film and proves it’s canonical worth by taking place roughly ten minutes after the last sequence of Casino Royale (2006), in which Bond captures the bad guy and says, “The names Bond, James Bond.” The crowd cheers, the music flares up, and the credits roll down the screen. It seems like a pretty great ending. Or does it? Apparently not since five minutes later Bond (played once again by Daniel Craig) is driving back to his headquarters and he gets into an insane and special effects heavy chase sequence in his car. This is the opening scene of the film, and I would argue that this opening sequence lasts about forty minutes. Every second given to moving along the plot (and I stress the use of seconds to measure the length of these scenes) seems like its only purpose is to bridge together action scenes…let’s make that chase scenes. James Bond has a chase scene in this film using nearly every possible mode of transportation: on foot, in a car, on a motorcycle, on a boat, and even in a plane. I half-expected the finale to take place on a couple of trains. What makes it worse is that these scenes aren't even that thrilling. They're pretty standard chase sequences, most of which you've already seen in a Bourne film.

Daniel Craig as James Bond

Roughly forty minutes or so into the film James Bond and the audience are finally allowed a breather and get to watch a story develop. Bond, having just lost Vesper (remember Eva Green from the first film?) is basically on a murderous rampage (hence the first forty minutes) to hunt down the master organization that was linked to her murder and other nefarious plots, which brings us to the villain; Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric) is in charge of some sort of environmental preservation company whose goal is to hoard off the water in a desert country in order to make a lot of money. Not quite as intimidating as his more globally threatening predecessors, but in terms of the James Bond revenge story, it serves its purpose. While all this is happening, there's a subplot with Camille (Olga Kurylenko) who's also out for revenge with one of Greene’s associates and finds a kindred spirit in James Bond. The second half of the film is considerably better than the first because of story pacing and Bond starting to do things like sneaking into parties in a tux, meeting with C.I.A agent Felix (Jeffrey Wright), and showing off some of his charm to Agent Fields (Gemma Arterton). Daniel Craig is great as James Bond, and there should have been more scenes to show off the more charismatic and suave side of the character. Most of this film seems determined to prove that James Bond can fight as well as Jason Bourne as he appears to prefer hand-to-hand combat over using guns. There's a considerable lack of Bond-isms in this film and that becomes apparent very quickly. He never introduces himself in his famous manner, he spends most of the film covered in blood or dirt, he doesn’t order his famous drink (though there's a scene where it's described), and there are no gadgets (I don’t think his fancy cell phone counts) let alone a Q character. There's also a disturbingly toned down version of the Bond theme played at various parts of the movie. To hear the version that everyone was probably waiting for, you have to stay for the ending credits. The only thing that seems to carry over from the previous bond films outside of the opening credit sequence is the use of varied locations. Bond travels extensively in this film to places all over South America and Europe and there are plenty of beautiful establishing shots of these locales, all of which flatter the scenery.

All these complaints aside, this is not a terrible film and it certainly ties up any loose ends from the first. Based on the ending, I should think that the next film (and let’s face it, there will be one) will be much more reminiscent of what usually makes a Bond film. He's a spy, but he’s not a super soldier. There's a certain subtlety to the character that seems to have been lost in this film due to the revenge storyline. That’s not to say that James Bond can’t desire revenge, it just means he should do it with a bit more style.

The Hangover (2009)

The Hangover is a fun comedy from director Todd Philips (Old School, Road Trip) which follows four friends who go to Vegas two nights before their friend Doug’s (Justin Bartha) wedding. While there they accidentally take rooffies in their drinks, resulting in a series of drunken adventures that inevitably lead to the next morning where they can’t remember anything they did the night before and to make matters worse, their friend Doug has gone missing.

The basic scenario of a group of guys getting so drunk that they have to retrace their steps in order to discover something is not new (think Dude, Where’s my Car? but with a person), but this film manages to stand out, mainly thanks to the performances of the three main actors and Todd Philips' smart pacing. The main characters, outside of Doug who spends the majority of the film M.I.A, are Phil (Bradley Cooper), the more arrogant and cocky leader of the group, Stu (Ed Helms), the reserved Dentist who’s in a failing relationship with a very cruel woman (Rachael Harris) and finds that he married a single mother stripper during the party, and Alan (Zach Galifianakis) the soon to be brother-in-law of Doug who's just a little bit off (and that's the best way to describe him). All three of the characters are not particularly hilarious on their own (though each are funny in their own way), and that’s part of what makes the film work. They feel like relatively normal guys trying to deal with (often) absurd situations that aren’t exactly their fault, including an encounter with a crazed Asian mob boss, traveling around in a stolen police car, and dealing with the repercussions of having stolen Mike Tyson’s pet tiger. Their reactions are often reasonable and the dynamic between the characters makes for some great scenes. They even seem genuinely worried about their missing friend, which brings a small amount of reality to their situation.

Though there are only a few standout hysterical scenes such as Zach Galifianakis getting punched and immediately knocked out by Mike Tyson or Ed Helms singing about their predicament on the piano while waiting for a tiger to pass out, most of the film manages to just maintain a consistently high level of humor which makes it very enjoyable to watch. Another aspect of the film that works in its benefit is the pacing set by Todd Philips. The film is relatively short (about 100 minutes) and the characters are constantly on the move, going from one place to the next, searching for their friend or at least a clue that will lead them to him. Nearly every scene takes place in a different location and there's never the sense that a scene or a joke has gone on for too long; the comedic moments are quick and timed just right. The focus of finding their friend is never brushed aside for a gag, either. Every scene somehow relates to this overall objective and this contributes to the flow of the story. All this makes The Hangover not only enjoyable, but ideal for repeated viewings.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Directed by Eric Randomski and Bruce Timm, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is an animated film that spawned from the team behind the then popular and acclaimed television series, Batman: The Animated Series. The films’ story follows Batman as he attempts to stop a new masked vigilante who's killing off mob bosses and framing him in the process. As the cops hunt him down he's also plagued with memories from his past such as the first time he put on the cape and cowl as well as a romance from his college years. To top it all off, the Joker soon becomes involved in the assassinations and things only get worse. Not too bad for a seventy minute film.

Despite all the story and subplots involved, there's never a feeling that too much was put into this film. The story is strong and well structured, featuring a well acted cast of characters who are three dimensional and complex. There are some pretty memorable moments such as Bruce Wayne in the rain in front of his parents’ grave, begging them to forgive him because he never thought he could be happy. The love story in the film is surprisingly deep and during one of the flashbacks, it plays a major role into what finally pushed Bruce Wayne into becoming the Dark Knight. All the voice acting is done by those who worked on the show. Kevin Conroy voices Batman/Bruce Wayne and does an excellent job altering his voice to suit the characters’ personalities. His playboy Bruce Wayne is much lighter and even sounds a bit air headed, while his Batman and real Bruce Wayne share a darker and more threatening tone. The one voice that may or may not bother some viewers is the Joker’s. Voiced by Mark Hamill (as he did on the TV show), The Joker sometimes sounds genuinely threatening, but at other times, due to his relatively constant voice fluctuations, he comes off as a bit silly. These fluctuations however, add a great deal to what makes Joker's temperament seem random and very hard to predict. Mark Hamill plays him in a style that's highly theatrical and over-the-top; it's something that you either love or hate. Overall it's not too bad, and as a once child viewer of the show, I can't help but smile when I hear it.

The Joker (Mark Hamill)

The animation is high quality and fluid, showing some impressive hand-drawn characters and painted backgrounds. The visual style in the film is one of the highlights; Gotham City is a dark and high angled place with heavy shadows, reminiscent of old film noir; the night sky is red and the cars resemble vehicles used in the 1940s. Clearly there was some influence taken from the Tim Burton films (as the show itself came after the success of those films), but the city itself is much more modern and the way it looks is stylized in such a way that it could only be done through animation separating it from the live action counterparts and giving the film its own unique vision of the city and the Batman characters. The Danny Elfman theme utilized in the Tim Burton Batman films is used as the main theme in this as well, but it sounds a little different with the choir accompaniment. This film is dark and earns its PG rating; characters get killed, suffer from psychological issues, and experience real emotion. There's a great scene where Batman suits up for the first time. Alfred's response is a look of horror as he says, "My, God." This is not because Batman's costume is so terrifying; that's only part of it. The real reason is because he witnesses first hand Bruce Wayne disappear forever. There's no turning back from that moment and from then on, Batman is the true face of the one he takes care of. There's not one moment that feels dumbed down because the film is meant for younger viewers. It takes its audience seriously, and the outcome is an incredibly deep story about Batman that's easily on par with the best of the live action versions.

Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005)

In Kwang-Hyun Park’s film Welcome to Dongmakgol the protagonists, being two South Korean soldiers, three North Korean soldiers, and one American soldier, all arrive at the village of Dongmakgol and are thrown off by the isolation and ignorance of the villagers in terms of their attitude towards the conflict (they are unaware of North and South Korea as separate entities) and their reaction towards modern weapons. At the time the film takes place (around 1950) North and South Koreans were involved in heavy conflict and the prospects of peace were virtually non-existent. The films that were shown at the time were generally propaganda and depicted the enemy side as inhuman monsters. This film displays postsocialist ideas and provides a scenario in which a group of soldiers become displaced in their own time while staying in this village which results in their ways of thinking changing drastically. The acting from most of the main characters is very impressive. I say most because some of the Americans seem a bit stiff. Jae-yeong Jeong and Ha-kyun Shin (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance) are particularly good and their scenes together provide some of the most touching and interesting character interactions in the film. The cinematography is beautiful and the lush green of the mountain spills into every shot. The village is depicted as a beautiful oasis in a world of war. Most of the events that take place, especially those involving the slightly crazy but entrancing Yeo-il (played by Oldboy‘s Hye-jeong Kang), feel very surreal. Everything that she comes into contact with is given a mystical quality (with the aid of slow motion).

There's one scene in particular that best shows the setting’s conflict with the times and also blatantly makes this film a representative of postsocialist cinema and that's the boar scene. Roughly halfway through the film all the protagonists are helping the villagers farm their fields after what's thought to be a dud grenade blows up their food storage. While in the field a massive boar shows up and heads towards one of the protagonists. It's at this point that the entire scene slows down to extreme slow motion; in some cases it’s practically a freeze frame. Both the North and South Korean soldiers realize that there's a bigger threat than their own grudges and begin working together to overcome it. The way the characters react to help one another is by pure instinct; as if to show that it's only natural to help another human being, regardless of their allegiance. The way that the scene is shot in slow motion and with only the characters in clear focus (making them stand out strongly against the backgrounds), it's almost as though because of the sheer idea that the two sides could unite to defend a higher cause, the laws of gravity and time no longer apply as they perform feats such as leaping thirty feet into the air to slay the boar or flying towards a former enemy to save him from being trampled. Even the American (Steve Taschler) helps out in the effort. The scene is very dreamlike and surreal through the use of slow motion and sound. The music takes dominance over the scene and there are very few sound effects. The scene presents an idea that despite the bitter hatred and mistrust the two sides feel towards each other, at their cores they are all Koreans and will unite for a higher purpose than their useless war. The unification of the North and South Koreans in order to save to non divided Korean villagers from danger marks the turning point in the film. After this scene the protagonists begin to like and trust each other. They all seem to like what the village represents, being a united Korea. They even cast aside their uniforms and wear villager’s clothing, literally shedding all that really made them different from each other.

Hye-jeong Kang as Yeo-il

The concept that there could be peace between North and South Korea is very much a part of postsocialist cinema. Before the 1990s, South Korea was under the impression that the North would invade at any time and force them to be communists. It was only after South Korea began to move toward open democracy that the directors were given more freedom to make their films and there were several films dealing with the idea that North Koreans are human just like the South Koreans such as Welcome to Dongmakgol and Joint Security Area (2000). The way that the North Koreans are treated in Welcome to Dongmakgol not only criticizes the soldiers fighting but is often humorous in displaying their conflicts. They have a stand off for days as the confused villagers grow bored from being their hostages and go on to do more important things like minding their beehives. The film shows a human side to the “enemy” and also gives off a feeling of hope that there will be an end to the conflict in the future. This kind of thinking was just not possible to show in films before even the 1990s. The change in the South Korean viewpoint of the conflict happened quickly and it's represented in their films. Welcome to Dongmakgol is an incredible and entertaining film that leave a profound impression on its viewers.