Girl Meets Geekdom

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that director Brett Ratner just does not like the X-Men. Why else would he take a perfectly healthy franchise, so brilliantly conceived by his predecessor, Bryan Singer, and completely and utterly destroy it?

X-Men 3: The Last Stand has the largest ever Memorial Day weekend opening. In the trailer, we see glimpses of Angel, Beast, a mutant “cure”, and above all, the return of Jean Grey as the “Dark Phoenix.” The fact is, it was too good to be true. Everything in X3 seems artificial. For those familiar with the X-Men series, the film’s story makes reference to the Dark Phoenix and Apocalypse plotlines, strung together by overly computer-graphics dependent action sequences, and emotional character development artificially charged through repeated death and losing-of-purpose-in-life.

In the end, this really wasn’t a film, it was a spectacle for the fans. With Bryan Singer, you walk away with a sense of the characters, the weights they carry, and all the beauty and subtly of who the characters are. X3 is all about the money. They inserted all the X-Men things that Bryan Singer missed to trick fans into going to see the film. I’m sorry to say, Angel and Dark Phoenix were complete cop-outs. In fact, remember that fire we saw in Jean Grey’s eyes in X2 foreshadowing Phoenix? Well…they forgot the fire. Instead they decided to make her really ugly and wear a poofy dress. And that Sentinal they promised? You only get to see a head.

I’ve also never seen such a bad use of visual effects. Seriously, the film felt more like a Siggraph technical demo rather than a movie. It really was 100 minutes of particle effects. I felt like I was being punished for screwing up the particle effects on the final project for my graphics class. It was like, every scene of the movie, something had to be incinerated, or floating around or something out of the ordinary. If they cut out some of the effects, maybe they could’ve paid someone to actually think of something cooler for Phoenix to do…or say.

X2 set up such a promising sequel. This was just upsetting.

D Movie
B- Action
C+ Visual Effects
F Character Development
D Story

Movie title: Pride & Prejudice Starring: Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFayden, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Rosamund Pike, Judi Dench, Jena Malone, Simon Woods Directed by: Joe Wright Written by: Jane Austen (novel), Deborah Moggach (screenplay) Genre: Drama, Romance Year: 2005

Call me skeptical. As a die-hard fan of the 5-hour BBC version of Pride and Prejudice featuring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle, you can hardly blame me for thinking it impossible for capturing the scope of the story in a mere two-hours. After having seen the new film, I can fairly say it does not capture the scope of the entire story, but this new Pride & Prejudice can certainly hold its own grounds.

This 18th century costume drama runs on a pace to match that of a modern suspense, but settles down comfortably enough. For those less familiar with the classic story, the film centers on the Bennets, a family with 5 daughters who face a life of poverty upon their father’s death. Mrs. Bennet (Brenda Blethyn) dedicates her life existence to marrying off her daughters. The film opens as a young man of good fortune, Mr. Bingley (Simon Woods), moves into the county and quickly takes a liking to the eldest of the Bennet girls, Jane (Rosamund Pike). Around the same time, the second eldest, Lizzie (Keira Knightley), takes a strong disliking to Mr. Bingley’s friend, Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFayden) who finds her too plain to tempt him. As the story progresses, Lizzie finds herself drawn to Mr. Wickham, a man who claims to be wronged by Darcy in the past, and the object of Mr. Colins, the foolish-minded heir of the Bennet estate. Ultimately, it is a love story between Lizzie and Darcy, one about overcoming prejudices and class barriers to reveal the true characters of two people who were meant for each other. Of course, we rush through it too fast to get that much, but it was an honest attempt.

What saves the film is the fact that director Joe Wright focuses far less on the theatrical absurdities of the story but instead takes a much more sensitive approach to the characters. The script lacks wit and is the low point of the film, but Wright makes up for it by brilliantly playing with the nuances of its characters and situations, especially in terms of their resulting awkwardness. Most of the film resides purely within the subtleties of every character, something which no other adaptation of the novel has accomplished to date.

The tone of the film is refreshing. There is a certain raw beauty in its cinematography, something Hollywood films consistently lack. Everything from the overexposed exteriors, to the stray farm animals, or the stringy curls of Keira Knightley’s hair adds to a certain realism of the English countryside.

For the fans of the BBC production who were wondering – yes, the film is as sexually tame as the BBC; no, you will not see Mr. Darcy emerging from a pond dripping wet; yes, Keira Knightley is a convincing Lizzie; no, Matthew MacFayden is not as good as Colin Firth (He keeps reminding me of a young Alan Rickman for some reason). The film lacks the intricacies of the BBC miniseries and skips out on many of the subplots, which is hardly unexpected given the length of the film. Minor characters such as Mr. and Mrs. Hurst, Mary King, and Mariah Lucas were left out completely.

The film is a worthwhile effort but, in the end, Wright attempted to capture more that a mere two hours would allow. I enjoyed the BBC version over this one, but, to be fair, if you take away comparisons to previous versions, this film on its own proves to be a beautifully delicate interpretation of Jane Austen’s masterpiece.

In General:
B  Movie
A- Performance
C- Script
A  Love Story
C+ Execution of Love Story

Movie title: Reality Bites Starring: Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn, Ben Stiller Directed by: Ben Stiller Written by: Helen Childress Genre: Drama, Romance, Comedy Year: 1994

Maybe it’s just that I’m approaching that post collegiate angst period of life, but there is something in Reality Bites that is very real and revealing about stepping into the world for the first time. In my depressive “what to do with the rest of my life” state, Reality Bites has been something to ponder, to relate to, and simply to enjoy.

Reality Bites is an angst-ridden glimpse of life after college for 4 Generation X-ers. Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder) is a woman with her own ideals and big dreams to become a documentary filmmaker. She gets her first taste of post-collegiate life when she takes a job at a TV station and moves into an apartment with her college roommate Vickie (Janeane Garofalo). Soon they are joined by another college friend, Troy (Ethan Hawke), a man who chose not to graduate college in favor of his philosophical views on society and has been in love with her for some time. Lelaina shows antagonism towards Troy from the start, and ultimately ends up in a relationship with Troy’s opposite–a yuppie TV exec, Michael played by Ben Stiller. Ultimately, this story deals with characters facing bleak realities that come with idealism, love, and career.

The interesting thing is that the characters are not necessarily likeable, but they grow on you as you watch them slowly let go of the adolescent ideals of their identity. Strangely enough, the film is uplifting despite a depressing subject nature. There’s no wrong or right, and the film is structured in such a way that you can still relate to the characters without necessarily agreeing with them, yet they belong to a unique generation. The film is accompanied by a great soundtrack that carries you through a glimpse of the 90’s.

In General:
B+ Movie
B+ Performance
B+ Script
A+ Music
A- Love Story