Zarafa

Zarafa is an animated feature about a young boy who is kidnapped from his home and adopted by a giraffe family. The boy makes a promise to protect his "brother" giraffe (Zarafa). This leads him on an adventure that addresses themes such as international politics, racism, travel, slavery, hope, love, family and the levity of a promise. the animation is 2D with detailed settings. Pathe productions took a few pages from the Disney vault for it's animation style. At times I wondered if Disney was not a silent partner. The story grows further into a fantasy as the story goes on, but is charming and light-hearted. Pathe productions and France 3 Cinema present a film written by Alexander Abela and Remi Bezancon, directed by Remi Bezancon and Jean-Christophe Lie, Run Time: 78 minutes

Detachment

Remember back in high school we had to deal with cliques, popularity, learning to accept yourself, class work as well as home life? Some people describe those locker filled hallways as a specific kind of hell. High school teachers live in this hell for more than just 4 years. Director, Tony Kaye, takes a classic story of the hardships of high school and flips the table around to show us not the students struggles, but the teachers' instead. In this film, a particular high school is one of the worst schools in the county, despite it's award winning principal. We are introduced to this institution through Henry Barth, the narrator and substitute teacher, played by Adrian Brody. He is going to be a substitute teacher at the school for one month. We follow his life as well as what he does for his job. The audience sees his co-workers and how they are verbally abused by other teachers, students, and parents. Detachment calls attention to more than just the school aspect of teachers work. It humanizes them by showcasing their home lives as well as the emotional toll their unforgiving jobs take on them. I found this narrative interesting because I have been a student majority of my life and have recently escaped the clutches of high school. Seeing what most teachers are (probably) experiencing sheds a new light on the tribulations high school brings to everyone, not just the pubescent teens flooding the classrooms and hallways. Detachment is shot like a documentary. This can be off putting since it is a drama. Major actors such as Adrian Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu and more, play administrators, teachers and officials such as guidance counselors. I find the style to be interesting, but occasionally disconcerting. Instead of feeling for a guidance counselor who struggles to keep composure while facing rude, hopeless children, all I see is Lucy Liu from the Charlie's Angels remake. This is not to say that she did not play her role well, but that the cinema graphic style and the cast of notable actors did not have the desired affect. Most of the time I was able to sympathize with the teachers and feel for the story, but on occasion I could not suspend my belief for the film. The cinematography and pacing were high quality and executed well. Both were able to hep describe the story in a very stylized, yet relatable and tangible way. The style of the film mainly used cool color filters and simplistic, almost empty settings outside and inside the school. This helped reinforce the theme of loss of hope. Almost every characters' story encompasses loss. Some of the teachers and students exhibit loss of hope by quitting and giving up. In the film, Henry is nice to a student named Meredith, played by Betty Kaye, who is verbally abused by her family and classmates alike. She has the most in common with the faculty, which is why she attaches herself to Mr. Barthes. Hope is stripped from her when another teacher accuses Mr. Barthes' comforting as harassment, exactly what he was trying to avoid. Both Meredith and Henry snap. Henry cuts his ties to anything committal and stable, while Meredith takes more extreme measures. Other faculty members show that they have lost respect from the state, their coworkers, as well as from their students. One teacher feels so lost he just goes through life defeated, hoping someone, anyone would recognize that he is still alive. Students are constantly insulting and threatening the faculty. This lack of respect starts to wear on their own self respect. Most of all there is the theme pertaining to loss of control. Henry Barthes struggles with loss of control in his life in many different ways. The audience follows Henry Barth as he is introduced to the school and follows him home to his life troubles. Soon the audience finds out that he has a grandfather that suffers from Alzheimer's. Neither Henry nor his grandfather can control his grandfather's lucidity or declining health, much to their dismay. He commits to nothing so that he can control everything in the moment. Eventually he does try to commit to a "real" life, but not without hesitation. The substitute teacher helps out the teenage prostitute. Both of their occupations are taken day by day. They try to help each other create some sort of stability and home in their nomadic lives. The girl is quick to settle in, but his fear of commitment and reliability prohibit them from becoming a functional adoptive family, at least right away. Although Henry realizes his actions can in fact affect people, it is bittersweet because it is Meredith's extreme actions that cause this realization. Detachment is a well written stylistic film that takes a fresh look on the concepts of acceptance and loss within the setting of high school. Paper Street Films and Kingsgate Films present a film written by Carl Lund and directed by Tony Kaye. Run Time: 97 minutes, Not Rated With: Adrian Brody, Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, Sami Gayle, & Betty Kaye

Killing Them Softly

A dash of Rusty Ryan, a pinch of Lt. Aldo Raine, add Brad Pitt's natural charm and good reputation, bake at 350 degrees and in 104 minutes you will have the hit man from Killing Them Softly. All of the buzz surrounding Brad Pitt being in a new movie did not work in his favor. He did a good job with his delivery and overall acting as the character (Jackie), but his role has been done before. Not only has the role been done before but it felt reminiscent of roles that he has played before. Pitt's character appeared to be an untouchable hodgepodge of Pitt's past characters down to the very look. My love of the character Rusty Ryan from Ocean's 11 only extends to other movies in the series not another movie entirely. Killing Them Softly is about a few men that seize a risky opportunity to hold up a mobsters poker game. Mickey, played by Ray Liotta, is the head of an illegal poker ring for the mobsters and robbed his own casino at gun point in the past, but now a few men do it again trying to frame Mickey as a repeat offender. Jackie, played by Brad Pitt, is an enforcer hired by the mob to track down and "take care" of the thieves. Brad Pitt's character was probably the most interesting and boring man of the movie. He had everything figured out economy wise and had no real threat of death. From the beginning every other character had a threat to their life, the middleman and his bosses, the scam artists, Frankie, and Mickie. This gave depth to their personalities as well as building suspense in the movie. Frankie, played by Scoot McNairy, did a wonderful job expressing the creeping and every increasing paranoia. Pitt's character lacks this depth. There is no lack of blood in this mobster mentality film. The first incident is when Mickey, is roughed up because he had pulled the heist before, making him the prime suspect. The mob bosses suspected he might have tried to pull the heist again. Two lackeys "slap him silly". Mickie pukes, spits up blood and by the end looks like he has gone through a blender. The scene was gory and excessive. Just like the lackeys had to make an example of Mickey to reassure the mob bosses, Killing Them Softly had to reassure the audience that it is a violent, gritty film, that deserves it's R rating. This scene was grotesque and violent enough to make the audience cringe, but not enough to make (most of them) leave their seats. In major contrast to the first incident of brutality, the films second attempt (Mickie's murder) was beautiful. It had amazing attention to detail and outstanding visual affects. The mood is set with a calm Frank Sinatra-esque song instead of sound effects. The scene is in slow motion. We see every rain drop and drop of blood when Jackie unloads a round into Mickey's head. There is a considerable amount of gore and we see Mickeys head explode, but differently than the first scene. It was crafted visually in a way that seemed more like a dramatic ballet, than the murder of a man in high def. The brutality scenes that follow are not constructed in the grotesque manner of the first scene, yet do not hold a candle to the elegance of this one. Economy and capitalism are themes that engulfed the film. They were expressed through the plot of deception within a mobster community mirroring the corporate world. Andrew Dominik uses audio clips from the 2008 presidential political debates to outline this comparison. At first it seemed like a unique commentary, but as the movie progressed the clips of speeches became more and more preachy. This idea was good in theory, but the execution lacked tact and ultimately made me roll my eyes with annoyance. In contrast the soundtrack was complimentary. The songs were still literal and descriptive about the scene, yet still inoffensive. The plot moved slowly. I would find myself wondering who will be offed next. After the first act it seemed as though the pacing of the film plateaued. It became increasingly predictable. We know people will be hurt it is just a matter of when and how. The pacing seemed off in certain parts like the ending (which seemed to miss a beat) and reliable in others. Maybe this was done on purpose. If so it still left me unsatisfied. Overall Killing Them Softly is worth seeing once but I probably will not be seeing it again. Plan B Entertainment presents a film written and directed by Andrew Dominik, Run Time: 104, Rated R With: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins

The Children of Mount Napf

The Children of Mount Napf is a documentary which showcases the picturesque country side and landscapes of the city of Ramoos, Switzerland. The Valley area is know for the fable of creating thunder, but this tidbit is mentioned once in the film. It actually interviews some children and shows their take on the various weather conditions that shape their lives. the director, Alice Schmid, favored a little girl named Laura, whom she interviewed often. However picturesque, there was little substance to the film. It mainly showed children doing their chores and going to school. It might have been more effective as a short about Laura and her life in Ramoos, than a full feature. Cine A.S. GmbH productions presents a film written and directed by Alice Schmid, Run time: 91 minutes, not rated

Moonrise Kingdom

Some food, camping supplies, a record player, stolen library books and a kitten are what Sam and Suzy have to head out, live on their own, away from adult authority. Unfortunately for them, parents, police, and legal guardians find out about their getaway shortly after the kids "flew the coupe". They form a search party made up of Suzy's parents, the local law enforcement, the khaki scout troop Sam had been a part of and the Khaki scout leader. Both Sam and Suzy were considered troubled by adults, but found solace in one another. Wes Anderson creates a quirky story about first love and what people do to keep it. Our protagonists, Sam and Suzy, are children, but are serious and want to be adults. They run away together, get "married" behind their superiors back and are willing to die to be together. It is almost a witty adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, but with quirky situations and set in the 1960s. Although they address adult issues and try to fill the roles of the older generation, Sam and Suzy still show their age by yelling out their freedom and talk about super powers. Wes Anderson's style is in full swing in Moonrise Kingdom. The pacing follows the story, crescendoing at intense moments and slowing down at calmer situations. Most of the time the editing is quick, to go with the witty dialogue. In exciting sequences the editing has more fast cuts, for instance when Sam and Suzy are caught by the Khaki scouts in the woods the shot length gets shorter and shorter, building up to the conflict. Instead of showing the fight, it cuts to an abstract interpretation of it (a red arrow flying through the air). Suddenly it cuts to the aftermath, post retreat, literally cutting out time with editing. The quick-paced style of the movie builds suspense and tension. The straightforward shots were blunt and showed just what the viewer was intended to see, nothing else. This gave the actors a canvas to build off of and showcase their talents. Luckily, there was a star filled cast full of new and old actors, to do just that. Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman all brought their characters to full light with invoking performances. The framing was very geometric. It had bold lines and 90 degree angles. This gave clarity to the depth of the shot and the position of the character in that shot. Like a still photograph, everything was placed with a purpose. Anderson's cinematography and compositions are reminiscent of Piet Mondrian's painting, "Composition II in Red, Blue and Yellow," which emphasizes the beauty of geometry, stark lines, and pure primary colors. Moonrise Kingdom uses rich vibrant colors, namely yellow, in it's cinematic filters. At some points there won't be any other color than shades of red or blue, such as when Suzy and Sam had set up camp on the beach. I found this style to be breathtaking and refreshing in comparison to the bland coloration of the generic blockbuster in theaters. Wes Anderson also incorporates unrealistic effects in Moonrise Kingdom, such as when the Camp Leader has to jump across a small river with a man on his back and clears it in one leap. Usually I do not like random special effects that are out of place with an otherwise realistic film setting, but because of the extreme visual style it does no look entirely unnatural. The dialogue was what drove the film to the extreme heights at which I now hold Wes Anderson's films to. It was witty, comical and somewhat obscure. The script does not lack attention to detail. In fact it is the small quip that has the entire theater chuckling in their seats. Most of the dialogue is quick, again in correspondence to the editing. It is easy to be swept up in the snappy retorts and the plot twists that are embedded in a fantastical world. The script is versatile. It can appeal to a broad audience and niche audiences all together. Moonrise Kingdom is a relatable story with reliable themes of love and rebellion. It is not just a film for the masses, because it appeals to the intellectuals and cinephiles due to style, banter and a myriad of references. Although some of the references and themes may have surpassed me on the 1st viewing, I will be happily watching Moonrise Kingdom over and over again. Indian Paintbrush presents a film written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola; Directed by Wes Anderson; Running time: 94 minutes; Rated PG-13 With: Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman

The Dish & The Spoon Review

Watching "The Dish & The Spoon" is like watching paint dry. The pacing was slow that I found myself wanting to go to sleep, but searching for a plot instead. The story is about a married woman, Rose, whose husband cheated on her. She comes to accept this fact, but not before having a young british boy attach himself to her like a lovesick puppy. Together they try to find the girl Rose's husband cheated on her with and along the way show that neither one of them is emotionally stable. Unfortunately, I could never tell if Rose's character was drunk or just rude. Both of the leads were mundane at best. There are some charming moments to this film, but overall it is something to put on when you do not want to be in the room. Written and Directed by Alison Bagnall; Running time: 90 minutes; Rated R (for some sexual references and language) With: Greta Gerwig, Olly Alexander

A Review of "Rango"

Dry desert land, tumbleweeds, gun-slingers, corrupt politicians and a desperate town called Dirt in need of water to survive, all turn to a witty, thespian of a chameleon to save them. His name is Rango. The movie starts off showing Rango as a pet with no companions except for the toys to which he has assigned personalities for his theatrical amusements. Within the first 5 minutes of the film we know that Rango would be tossed from his plush, yet lonely, home. He literally says “ what our hero needs is an ironic unexpected event that will propel our hero into conflict!” And with that, his terrarium is tossed from the car and crashes on the sizzling road. That is where Rango’s story begins.

The CGI animated movie Rango is a modern twist on the classic western told through the eyes of desert animals. Rango is a pet chameleon who is thrust out of the lonesome existence that he knew and into a world dependant on water. He sees an opportunity to make friends and become a new character, a tough gunslinger of a sheriff for Dirt. He soon realizes that the character he has made up for fun is the very person he wants to become, if not for him, for the town. The water in the town has run dry, save for the mayor’s, and the town cannot survive without it. Our hero, voiced by Johnny Depp, makes friends and foes, voiced by stars such as Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin and Ned Beatty, to try to help save Dirt from evil plots, theft and drought.

Throughout the Gore Verbinski directed animated feature, the audience can expect witty jokes that not only pertain to the plot line, but also call attention to the movie itself. Writers John Logan, Gore Verbinski and James Ward Byrkit have drizzled in quips that poke at the formulaic western genre and seriousness that trails with it. They include everything from puns, to witty social commentary, to jokes at their own writing styles. Dipping their fingers into most notable westerns, modern and classic, Rango’s writers incorporate the moments we love the most. The plot line is similar to all westerns but is presented in a refreshing way that had me chuckling and cheering.

Along with witty writing and a wonderful cast, the aesthetics are truly breathtaking. The CGI animation reaches new levels with its use of motion capture and attention to detail. The beloved cinematic western shots are recreated for the film, such as riding into the sunset or trekking along the sandy desert. The compositions of the shots and the smooth incorporations of surrealist sequences set it apart. It is definitely the gritty yet vibrant settings, the dazzling special effects and the characters, so realistic that it looks like you could touch them, that bring this film to be a visual delight.

Although the classic western story is rehashed, it is truly charming and fun to watch. Rango exceeded my expectations from a cute animated feature for children to a witty, beautiful film that an older audience could enjoy.