Zeroplate Movies

Movie Blog Moving

2010-05-10T21:41:22Z

In 2004, Bryan and I decided to write a little paragraph or two about every movie that we saw that year. For Larvae, it was an attempt to keep fresh content on the site even when we didn't have music news. For me, it was the start of a writing exercise that I've kept up with for a little over 200 movies.

I'm moving the Movies blog to Chud.com in an effort to focus this site back on Larvae and music. I've been a regular reader of Chud for almost a decade now, and I'm glad to have a new outlet for these ramblings about films. I'm not going to port all of this content over to Chud, but from now on, new movie thoughts will be posted on my Chud Blog.

I'm starting with some touched-up versions of the Actionfest reviews but I've also just posted some thoughts about the expanding Marvel movie universe. Please come on by and take a look.

Oh, and thanks for keeping up with this so far!

Exit Through the Giftshop

2010-05-02T14:44:52Z

Through Mr. Brainwash, Banksy has pointed out that the emperor has no clothes, and with this film, he's pulled another astonishing prank by subverting expectations and giving us all some questions that are interesting even in the absence of answers.

The Losers

2010-04-29T03:57:11Z

This is probably the better of the A-Team movies that you will see this year. I mean, this isn't the A-Team, but it sure as hell gets set up the same way. The Losers are a crack team of special ops guys who get set up by a shadowy figure and have to fight their way through one last mission to clear their names and help a woman who's got a problem. There's no B.A., but I liked most of the Losers better than B.A. anyway.

Chris Evans steals the show as the geeky communications expert with a thousand funny t-shirts. Evans has a real knack for comedy and he's built like a svelt action hero, so it's no wonder that he keeps getting comic book properties thrown at him. He was great as the Human Torch, and while I think Captain America is a bit of an odd choice because it won't really use all of that comedic timing, I have faith that he's going to be good in that too. Who would have thought that the guy who walks out with whipped cream on his johnson in Not Another Teen Movie would turn into a bona fide action hero?

Having just watched a festival's worth of action movies at Actionfest, I wasn't let down by the action in The Losers, but I did notice the things that Hollywood films like this tend to do well and the things they could still learn about from their foreign competition. Namely, all of the hand-to-hand fighting in The Losers seems staged and it's all shot in closeups so that it's hard to follow. The explosions and gags with trucks, bombs, helicopters were generally much better than the lower-budget effects in Thai and Indonesian films, but it's really clear to see how directors get more creative with the action when they don't have a huge budget.

The Losers isn't a perfect movie, or even a great one, but it did get me interested in the comic book. It also cemented my faith in Chris Evans as a funny and charismatic guy, and it made me a little sad that we'll probably never see a sequel to the underrated Push. Kick-Ass is still the comic book movie to beat so far this year, but The Losers was quite a bit of fun and it ended on a really satisfying note which is all too rare.

Valhalla Rising

2010-04-19T20:49:44Z

Nicolas Winding Refn's newest film is a brutal and breathtaking meditation on violence, religion, and the human will.

Merantau

2010-04-19T19:38:30Z

With Merantau, the relationships give weight to the story and they ultimately give the film value beyond its spectacular fight scenes.

The Square

2010-04-18T04:34:31Z

My wife walked out of The Square before its slow-burning downward spiral really started to pick up steam. I can understand that--she’s not a fan of movies where the characters all make insanely bad choices. We were talking about the movie a lot after it was over as I tried to recount the story’s twists and turns that kept me glued to my seat. The more I described the film like an eight year old “and then he did THIS, and then, she went THERE, and then…” the more I realized how tightly plotted the movie had to be. I love these kinds of puzzle films, even if there is no question about where they are headed from the first frame.

Nothing is random or just unfortunate in The Square. Everything happens as the direct result of a bad decision. Some of those decisions are pretty minor, the kinds of tiny lies or omissions that we all might make, almost without thinking. Some, like the decisions that kick the story into gear, are more serious. But nothing in the movie is an unpreventable accident. In a twisted way, The Square is the ultimate film about personal responsibility because it demonstrates graphically what happens when people act without it.

What’s thrilling about watching the film is not wondering where the characters will end up--that much seems certain--but rather watching to see just how much the problems can escalate. Thankfully, there is a limit, but the protagonists wind up dragging all manner of people into their tangled mess before its all over. Not even the babies and animals are safe! If you told me that the movie was written out first as a comic book, I would believe you, because each scene ramps up to the next one as the situation gets more and more complicated. The film could be released as a set of 5 or 10 minute serials and it would be murderously suspenseful. In a single sitting, the only thing that keeps it from producing that anxiety is the knowledge that it has to end in under two hours.

I loved The Square with its pessimistic view of human nature and its utter lack of redeemable characters. I loved even more the airtight script that brilliantly set things up and paid them off, without dropping any story threads along the way. It’s rare to see a complex film made so well that it seems effortless and simple. I’m anxious to see what the talent behind this film does next.

Operation Endgame

2010-04-18T04:02:14Z

It creates a world of mostly unbelievable but entertaining super spies who have to fight each other with little more than office supplies.

Mandrill

2010-04-17T22:33:34Z

Marko Zaror and Ernesto Diaz Espinoza are back with another Chilean riff on Hollywood action films.

Raging Phoenix

2010-04-17T22:12:02Z

Raging Phoenix is a showcase for some great fight choreography, but it’s also a film about sadness

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil

2010-04-17T14:31:56Z

It's sad that we live in a world where companies will throw millions of dollars are garbage like Captivity instead of recognizing good, fun films like Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. I get it, the horror comedy is a tough sell and Tucker & Dale maybe moreso because it doesn't have any bankable stars and it doesn't play up the T&A, but dammit, this film deserves to be seen. Though it's not at all like Edgar Wright's movies, it does have that same knack for character-based comedy and reverence for the source material that inspired it that made Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz so successful. Maybe this is actually the first post-Edgar Wright horror comedy, where a talented filmmaker has taken a love of genre films and turned it into a loving homage! It might have more in common with Behind the Mask and Dance of the Dead, but Tucker & Dale is yards ahead of both of those films!

Tucker and Dale are two messy and socially awkward but good-natured hillbillies who live in the mountains of West Virginia. I was expecting gross caricatures but the film is too smart to fall into that trap. When they run into a group of partying college kids at a last stop gas station, the kids are freaked out by Dale's clumsy attempt to make small talk. As they all head up into the woods, the kids get into typical slasher movie hijinks including a hillbilly-themed campfire story and a trip to the lake for skinny dipping while Tucker and Dale just get excited about fixing up their newly-purchased vacation home.

The role-reversal is perfect, as both Tucker and Dale are delightful and entertaining if a little rough around the edges. We want them to fix up the crummy shack they've just purchased so that they can end up with a vacation home that they can be proud of, and we're pulling for Dale as he tries to put the moves on a girl that he firmly believes is out of his league. The kids are one dimensional but they are set up as the kinds of characters that SHOULD die in any good slasher film. Only here, there is no slasher, the hillbillies are horrified by the bloody events that follow, and the kids still manage to off themselves through a series of hilarious kills.

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil was the fifth film that we watched in a long, long day of festival screenings, but it was still a riot. Usually at the end of a long day of movies, that last title is just washing over fatigued eyeballs, but Tucker & Dale actually gave me a jolt at 1 in the morning. It's clever, it's full of twisted foreshadowing (like a great scene at the store where Tucker and Dale are purchasing seemingly every item that's ever been used to kill someone in a horror film,) and the kills all flow naturally from the story. It's perfectly paced and there isn't really a wasted scene; everything works to endear the hillbillies and to vilify the snotty kids, especially their off-centered leader.

Films like this must be hard to market. Tucker and Dale earns a hard-R rating with plenty of gore and profanity, but it's amazingly light on nudity. In an alternate universe, someone would see the Scream-like potential of Tucker & Dale and push the hell out of this good-looking, well-made, low-budget film because the return on investment would be enormous. While studios are no doubt stepping over each other to find the next camcorder horror a la Paranormal Activity, the real goods are right here in an earnest, honestly funny, horror comedy that tells an actual story and ends with an actual message. Maybe this movie will at least find its way to an on demand slot through Fearnet, but I wish that it could make a splash in theaters. It's a great audience movie, and even though the midnight screening at Actionfest was sparsely attended, everyone in the room seemed to love it.