Oblivion

The summer blockbuster season has officially kicked off with this smart thought-provoking Science fiction epic with big Hollywood A-list names attached to it. Not since Prometheus (2012) has there been an attempt made at such a slick and serious dystopian post-apocalyptic vision.

If you’ve seen and loved Duncan Jone’s low budget film Moon (2009), you will recognized the inspiration for this cerebral story about an ‘effective team’ couple whose mission is to oversee the repairs of drones protecting a terraforming project after a devastating attack by aliens has left the Earth a surreal moonscape of pock-marked ruins. You will also find familiar story elements from Logan’s Run (1976), Independence Day (1996), I Am Legend (2007) and WALL-E (2008).

‘Style over substance’ seems to be the main complaint by critics about Oblivion, Tom Cruise’s latest sci-fi action drama. But that’s what they said about Blade Runner when it was first released in 1982. Whether Oblivion will have the same impact and become the cult classic that Blade Runner is remains to be seen. But it’s certainly as enjoyable and provocative with a visual style that’s reminiscent of the best of classic sci-fi.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski, we get a visual mix of Tron: Legacy (2010), which he also directed, and more than a few visual references to 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Star Wars (1977). What’s not to like about that? Anyone who loves good Sci-fi will certainly enjoy this stylish mind-bender that’s part futuristic action and part psychological thriller with a touching love story thrown in.

As futuristic as it looks, filmed on the otherworldly landscapes of Iceland; it’s as if the earth has been covered by layers of volcanic ash, Oblivion also has a nostalgic retro bent to it as our hero, Jack Harper, collects all manner of vintage trinkets and memorabilia that he finds on his excursions while repairing drones. He also has recurring visions of a time before the apocalypse.

The music by M83 has a Vangelis type electronic ambient mood that fits well with the barren landscapes and gives the film a cutting edge feeling suggestive of the dehumanized worlds of Philip K. Dick’s novels like Blade Runner (1982), Minority Report (2002) and Total Recall (2012).  

Living literally as the last man and woman on earth, our lonely but effective couple is promised that they will join the rest of the remaining human colonists on Titan, a life sustaining moon orbiting Saturn, when their mission is completed. But when Jack investigates a crashed space vessel that lands nearby, a shocking mystery is revealed.

If you look at what defines a Tom Cruise movie, the one thing they all have in common is obsessively motivated characters with an abundance of confidence and determination to accomplish the job at hand. Much like his own personality his latest character fits perfectly into his legacy of 37 films playing charismatic action heroes from Risky Business (1983) and Top Gun (1986) to The Last Samurai (2003), Collateral (2004), Valkyrie (2008), Knight and Day (2010) and the Mission Impossible movies.

The movie’s theme of breaking barriers and seeing past the façade is an apt one for the beleaguered public image of Tom Cruise. People who may be turned off by his portrayal in the media will be deprived of a stunning visual experience and an entertaining film that pays homage to many of the best sci-fi action films.

JP

Trance

Danny Boyle’s hyper-charged new film Trance is a psychological thriller so hypnotic in its visual style and techno-synthesized soundtrack that it feels like watching a cross between the mind tripping films Memento (2000) and Fight Club (1999) with a little art history thrown in the mix. 

Set in the high stakes world of European fine art, a London art auctioneer and addicted gambler Simon, played by James McAvoy recently seen in X-Men: First Class (2011), decides to steal a valuable painting with the help of a group of his criminal accomplices to pay off his gambling debts. 

Trance has all the visual flair you would expect from a Danny Boyle film, who is known for pushing the genre envelope with films like Slumdog Millionaire (2008), and 127 Hours (2010), and is at the top of his game here, throwing every visual and story-telling technique he can at you to give us a unique cinematic experience.

The art theft is pulled off perfectly, except that the painting itself goes missing when Simon loses his memory after being hit on the head during the robbery and now can’t remember where he hid it.

Filmed simultaneously while producing the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics in England last year, Trance has a way of engaging its audience with an exciting mix of dynamic digital photography and hip Euro-trance club music that drives the story, giving it a heightened euphoric rush. Besides the trance like state our anti-hero finds himself floating in and out of, the title Trance also refers to a style of house music made popular in Germany that’s known for its fast upbeat, repetitive electronic dance rhythms.

With the help of a sexy female hypnotherapist, played by the stunning Rosario Dawson, who was also seen in Unstoppable (2010), Simon begins to reach into the recesses of his brain to put some of the missing pieces of his past together, but it seems to leaves him even more confused about his identity and what happened to him.

Just when you think you might have a handle on what’s happening, the movie does a Sixth Sense (1999), where you don’t know who did what and characters are not who you think they are. There are subtle clues throughout but the film is so entertaining that the audience won’t know what hit them until the very end.

When Simon becomes intimately involved with his therapist, the mystery finally begins to unravel while exposing the fragile nature of identity and the power of hypnosis. It’s an intriguing hallucinogenic exercise that messes with our minds, as we the audience are also kept guessing until the shocking end. 

Shot in locations that mix modern and classic architecture around London, England, this intense, stylish crime drama washes over you like a wave of rapid colorful rhythms that successfully integrate classic film noir images with state-of-the-art technology. 

Don’t miss this visually stunning treat for the eyes and ears as well as the mind. 

JP

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

The first installment in The Hobbit trilogy is a fun, thoroughly enjoyable romp through Middle-earth. It's the start of a new epic quest through the Misty Mountains to reclaim the legendary dwarf kingdom of Erebor, under the Lonely Mountain, which is filled with jeweled treasure and guarded by the great golden red, flying, fire-breathing dragon Smaug.

After nine years since the end of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson returns to Middle-earth with his expanded version of the classic Tolkien children’s tale that started it all. Using Tolkien’s appendices, backstories and revisions to further connect The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings stories with more contexts, Peter Jackson is able to make direct references to his earlier trilogy and allow for richer character development while giving voice to Tolkien’s unpublished work.

Due to some mischievous scheming by the wizard Gandalf, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire is visited one evening by a group of disgruntled but talented dwarves lead by Thorin Oakenshield, dwarf king-in-exile, under the false impression that Bilbo is a famous burglar who can help them break into the impenetrable dragon’s lair.

Filmed once again in breathtaking scenic locations around New Zealand, we get to revisit many of the well-known settings that were introduced in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The journey starts once more in the peaceful rolling hills of Hobbiton village in the Shire, where Bilbo has his unexpected encounter.  We are also welcomed back to the elven refuge of Rivendell, where we meet the half elven prince Elrond, played a new by Hugo Weaving and the angelic elven queen Galadriel, played by the returning Cate Blanchett.

Unimpressed and disappointed by the Hobbit’s lack of enthusiasm for adventure, the dwarves leave him behind in his Hobbit hole at dawn, convinced that he isn’t the cunning burglar they were lead to believe and definitely not up for the challenge of what will certainly be a long and very dangerous, life threatening journey. 

Using the same facial motion capture technique used in Avatar (2009), which they perfected for Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), the New Zealand effects company Weta Digital was able to make many of the new and familiar characters in Tolkien’s world look even better here.

After the initial relief of settling back into his quiet uneventful life, Bilbo’s curiosity and a strange craving for an exciting new adventure get the better of him. But Bilbo must now prove that he’s up to the task at hand, which won’t be easy for a Hobbit who has never set foot out of his comfort zone.

In addition to the merry band of courageous dwarves, we get to meet some interesting new characters; a new Wizard called Radagast the Brown, a lover of birds, and flora and fauna, who discovers a strange evil force brewing in Middle-earth. The Great Goblin, lord of the goblin hoards that capture our dwarf heroes and live in a deep network of caves where Bilbo first meets Gollum, who looks even more realistic here, and discovers the magical One Ring that is featured in the later adventures of Frodo and company. And a vengeful white Orc chieftain named Azog, who was long thought to be killed in the Battle of Azanulbizar by Thorin Oakenshield. 

As the journey continues, our Hobbit hero eventually proves to be quite resourceful when put in a tight spot during a run in with several large Stone-trolls and again when on the run from a slew of menacing Warg riding Orcs.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be followed by The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on Dec. 13, 2013, and The Hobbit: There and Back Again on July 18, 2014.

JP

Lost In Translation

Have you ever been stuck in a foreign country with nothing to do and unable to communicate with anyone? Well that’s just what happens to Charlotte, played by Scarlett Johansson, in this intimate and absorbing film by Sofia Coppola, of two strangers who meet in a Tokyo hotel and strike up a flirtatious friendship.

Lost in Translation (2003) is a whimsical but moving meditative journey of two lost souls isolated and lonely in a strange land, both dealing with relationship issues, who end up bonding while sharing some insights about their life struggles.

Directed by Sofia Coppola, this is only the second major film by this promising and talented daughter of the legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, director of Apocalypse Now (1979) and The Godfather (1975) movies.

Bored and unable to sleep in a Tokyo hotel room while her boyfriend works day and night as a photographer, Charlotte wanders aimlessly around the city and the hotel to take in the unusual Japanese culture. While in a bar having drinks she meets up with a declining American movie star, Bob Harris played by Bill Murray, who is there to film a Japanese whiskey commercial. They eventually become close friends as they pass the time talking and discovering Tokyo’s night life.

This is a humorous but very naturally acted, subtle character piece that seems almost improvised as we follow along like an unsuspecting tourist wandering the streets and taking in all manner of strange cultural sights and sounds. In one of the funniest and unusual scenes of the film, Bill Murray is invited to attend a popular Japanese game show where the host dares him to play along with some nutty stunts.

Bill Murray is great at just being himself and you get the sense that he is genuinely baffled by the Japanese culture and their funny pronunciation of English. While directing him on the set of a whiskey commercial for Japanese television, the photographer gives him instructions on how to pose. He gets some wonderful laughs from his attempt to make sense of the Japanese way of speaking. He patiently listens to the director as he gives a long passionate speech in Japanese, but when his translator relays the message it comes out as a short vague sentence. Murray’s expressions of bewilderment are priceless. Something was definitely lost in the translation.

Nothing is explained and the audience is as baffled as the American actors by the bizarre customs. Young Charlotte is willing to try anything and finds the curious traditions intriguing. Together they awkwardly manage to deal with the culture clash and eventually just have fun meeting new people and going along with the local scene.

Don’t miss this wonderful slice of life that appeals to the eternally youthful spirit in all of us and almost feels like a travelogue to a fascinating oriental destination sampling the people, food and entertainment of downtown Tokyo.

Sofia Coppola’s films are always fun and insightful. Her latest film, The Bling Ring (2013) is coming out this summer and stars Emma Thompson, in a comedy about a group of stalking celebrity obsessed teens.

JP