Forever Strong

Forever Strong

In general, I expect locally produced films to be a complete waste of time. They've mostly been completely unwatchable. Even the few exceptions (like Saints andSoldiers) have been far from great. So it was a great surprise to me that Forever Strongdisplays a general level of professionalism, and skill that's been sorely needed. It may not exactly be my cup of tea, but it's definitely watchable, and fairly entertaining.

Rick Penning (Sean Faris), the star player on his Arizona rugby team is sentenced to a stretch in a juvenile detention center in Salt Lake City after a second DUI conviction. While there, the administrator of the facility, Marcus (Sean Astin), introduces him to the Highland rugby team, and their coach Larry Gelwix (Gary Cole), and a new way of doing things. Rick joins the team, ultimately leading to a confrontation in the national championship game with his former team, and their coach, his father (Neil McDonough).

Forever Strong definitely belongs in the "inspirational sports movie" sort of genre. It's all about teaching a moral lesson using sports as a metaphor for life. Which doesn't really lend itself well to complex character development, or especially unique storytelling. The story, and characters, are much the same as the other films you've probably seen before in the genre.

But there's a reason why this genre is revisited again and again. This type of story is usually pretty effective. It's simple, straightforward, and moving. It's easy to see a Rick's progression through the course of a rugby season, and the national championship makes for a logical climax.

Forever Strong does bring one unique thing to the table though, rugby. I can't think of any other American films that portray rugby at all (I assume that they probably have some in New Zealand), regardless of how accurate that portrayal may be. So it's a nice change of pace to see a sport other than the usual five (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer). It perks my interest a little bit.

What sets the film apart from the other locally produced films is the level of talent involved. It's a huge step up to cast people like Gary Cole, Neil McDonough and Sean Astin instead of the local actors that seem to usually get the parts. This isn't to say that there aren't some fine local actors (there have to at least be a few, right?), but that having some experienced hands just makes everything go smoother. Though I can't help thinking that Astin was saying to himself that, "I was in the Lord of the Rings, and now they've got me doing scenes with the wacky morning news guy? I'm Samwise Gamgee!" every time he had a scene with Big Budah.

I generally enjoyed Forever Strong. It wasn't the best, or most original, film I've ever seen, but it was easy to watch, and well made. If you're a fan of the "inspirational sports film" then you'll probably like it even more than I did.

Grade: B-

Sunshine

Sunshine

I really enjoy hard science fiction. The kind of story where the tech feels completely logical and believable, but where the story isn't really about it. The first two thirds of Sunshine was exactly that kind of story (excepting the device of using a stellar bomb). Pity that it went off the rails at the end.

In the near future, the sun is dying, plunging Earth into a permanent winter. They dispatcha ship, Icarus,todetonate a nuclear bomb to hopefully reignite fusion in the heart of the sun. The ship disappears without a trace, never completing its mission.Seven years laterIcarus2and it's crew of eight, including Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, and Michelle Yeoh, embark on the same mission, braving the dangers of space in the hope to rescue humanity. Getting close to the sun, they encounter the Icarus 1, and decide to investigate, in the hopes of finding the answer to why they failed, or at least recovering its payload, increasing their chances of success. Things go horribly wrong, and the remaining crew must fight for their lives, and the chance to complete their mission.

Director Danny Boyle gives Sunshine a unique visual style, that I find to be pretty spectacular, taking advantage of the contrast between the darkness of space, and the bright light of the sun. Only in this situation, it's the darkness that is safe, and the light that's deadly. Strictly from a visual sense, I would call Sunshine a brilliant film.

It's the tone and structure of the film that it falls apart. The first two thirds of the film are a hard science fiction film with some thriller elements. It's all about the struggle between this crew, and the harshness of space. The danger comes from the elements, and from the conflicts within the crew themselves. I was completely eating it up, and would have liked the entire film to continue with these themes. But with the introduction of Mark Strong's character (Pinbacker) the film takes a hard left turn into horror movie territory.

It becomes all about the crew, specifically Capa (Murphy), Mace (Evans), and Cassie (Byrne) surviving the attacks of a crazed religious zealot (Strong) that doesn't believe humanity deserves to live. They're running through the ship, surviving his attacks, losing crew members one at a time. It's like they wedded elements from Alien on to the end of something like 2001. Which sound all well and good in concept, but doesn't really work very well together.

I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy the movie. There were quite a few things about it that I liked a lot. The visuals are great, some of the effects look great, and I would say on the whole the performances are quite good. Even from Evans, who I've never liked. This has to be the best performance I've ever seen him give. Sunshine is just a good film that had the potential to be much better. Shame that it squandered that chance. Still worth watching though.

Grade: B-

Doomsday

Doomsday:

While not the most original, or smart, film in the world Doomsday is still a competent, enjoyable action flick. It's a perfectly acceptable choice if you're looking for something that's fun and easy to watch.

In present day Britain the "Reaper" virus is spreading like wildfire, so the government decides to quarantine it, sealing off Scotland, and all it's inhabitants, from the rest of the world. Which seems to have worked brilliantly until there's another flair up of the virus in London almost 30 years later. An elite team of soldiers, and scientists, led by Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra) are sent to Glasgow, inside the quarantine zone, to find survivors, and find out how they survived the virus.

Writer/Director Neil Marshall (The Descent) borrows liberally from other films, like Alien and The Road Warriorin creating his amalgam of futuristic distopiaand medieval fiefdom. Apparently when society falls apart humans either devolve into punk influenced cannibals, or into knights, kings and serfs. Quite the bit of range there.

Which isn't exactly a bad thing. I quite enjoyed the swords and sheilds gladiatorial part of the proceedings, and the fact that it was closely followed by a pretty good Road Warrioresque car chase sits just fine with me. I can even accept a punk master of ceremonies hosting a combination party/pole dancing session/human barbecue to a British New Wave soundtrack. It at least brings some comedy to what would otherwise be completely horrific.

But I don't think I thought to myself, "this is a really clever, smart, film," once during all this craziness. The plotline is very predictable. I think I had the whole thing figured out about ten minutes into the film. The characters are stock, from the tough action hero woman (Mitra) to the sneering, sadistic villain Sol (Craig Conway) and the corrupt, villainous government leader (David O'Hara). I don't think I cared a bit for a single one of the characters, and even chuckled a bit when the film was trying to make me care about some of them towards the end.

I'm not sure that it even matters though. Most of the performances were decent. I always enjoy Alexander Siddig (PM John Hatcher), Bob Hoskins seemed to be having a good time, Malcolm McDowell always makes for a decent bad guy and it'd take quite a while for looking at Rhona Mitra to get old. So I was more than willing to look past some of the film's stupider moments (like the super convenient stockpile of cell phones, ammunition and vehicles) and enjoy it for what it was, a dumb, fun action flick.

Grade: C

Q & A (aka Slumdog Millionaire the novel)

Q& A by Vikas Swarup (since retitled to Slumdog Millionaire in the United States) is an interesting not just for its story (which is pretty fantastic), but also as a source material for adaptation.

The book tells the story of Ram Mohammad Thomas, an orphaned young man who raises himself in, and out, of the slums in some of India's biggest cities (Mumbai, Delhi and Agra) before he goes on a quiz show trying to win the largest prize in game show history, one billion rupees, only to be accused of cheating. It uses the structure of the show to illuminate important events from his life, as they taught him the answers to the questions he's asked on the show. Everything from his early years being raised by a Christian priest, to meetin his best friend Salim, and finding the love of his life, Nita comes into play. It's a beautiful, magical, not entirely realistic story. I quite enjoyed it.

I also found the differences between the book, and the film adaptation to be quite interesting. Writer Simon Beaufoy made some major changes to the characters, structure and narrative of the book when he wrote the screenplay (there's a fascinating q&a on the subject on the Creative Screenwriting podcast- one of my favorite podcasts).

In the film, the main character becomes Jamal, a Muslim, and Salim becomes his brother. Nita becomes Latika, and the two meet much earlier on, whereas in the novel Thomas doesn't meet Nita until they are in their late teens (and she's working as a prostitute at the time, which a whole other thing), amongst many other changes.

We still see the structure of the answers to the questions coming out of the contestant's life experiences, but with one major change. Instead of the chronological jumble of the book, the film tells everything in order. It's very convenient, and one of the major complaints that I've heard about the film version. So if that was a problem for you, read the book!

I found Q & A to be a fun, interesting read that would highly recommend to anyone. Even if you've already seen the film the book will be like a whole new story, they share only a few story points. Go out an dpick up this book, it's very commonly available now.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3

"It's been a long road getting here. For you. For Sunnydale. There was been achievement, joy, good times. And there has been grief. There's been loss. Some people who should be here today... aren't. But we are. Journeys end. And what is a journey? Is it just.. distance travelled? Time spent? No. It's what happens on the way, it's the things that shape you. At the end of the journey you're not the same. Today is about change. Graduation doesn't just mean your circumstances change, it means you do. You ascend... to a higher level. Nothing will ever be the same. Nothing." Mayor Wilkins- "Graduation Day, Part 2"

The villains always sum things up, looking right into the heart of things, better than anyone else. The big bad of seasonthree of Buffy, Mayor Richard Wilkins (Harry Groener), is no exception. Season three truly was the end of a journey. The original metaphor of the series, "high school is hell" would have to come to an end with the principal characters graduation at the end of the season.

The graduation of the characters would be far from the only change we'd see by the end of the season. New characters would be introduced, including a new slayer, Faith (Eliza Dushku), and Xander's future love interest, vengeance demon Anya (Emma Caulfield) and few of our favorites, Angel and Cordelia, would depart at the end of the season, spinning off into their own show, Angel.

There's a slow build on the season long arc for season three. Over time we're given glimpses of how Mayor Wilkins runs the town, covering up the stranger goings on in Sunnydale. By the end of the season we see the full extent of his evil as he prepares to ascend, transforming into a true demon. His every action moving things toward his goal, even as he wraps Faith into it.

It's in the character of Faith, and her relationship with Buffy that we see the heart of the season. Faith is almost the dark aspect of Buffy herself. In her maxim of "want, take, have" she's the abuse of slayer power incarnate. It's a path that Buffy very easily could have followed herself, and perhaps would have (as evidenced in the alternate version of Buffy seen in the episode The Wish) if it weren't for the friends and family that keep her grounded. Buffy sees the life she could live, flirts with it, and rejects it, ultimately forcing a confrontation between the two that has to end with the destruction of one of them.

Out of all the seasons of Buffyseason three does the best at combining the stand alone, monster of the week stories with the season long arc. There are a few clunkers here and there (like Beauty and the Beasts, or Homecoming) but even the lesser episodes have their entertaining moments.I think that if yousurveyed any fan of the series quite a few of their favorite episodes would befrom season three.

Everything from all the adults in town being turned into teenagers by chocolate (Band Candy) toSpike's drunken,despondent return to Sunnydale (Lover's Walk) andAngel playing undercover tolearn the Mayor's plan (Enemies)contribute to the story. It's impossible to pickout just a few of the seminal moments. There's even an episode(The Wish)that shows the alternate Sunnydale that would have existed if Buffy had never come to town. Then the gang gets to interact with the vampire Willow from that world as she visits theirs (Dopplegangland).

By the end of the season the charactershave grown and matured to the point where they are ready to move on from high school. Willowhas grown in confidence and in magical abilities,and crafted a deep, mature relationship with Oz. Xander realizes that he's more than just the odd man out inThe Zeppo,to the point where he can save the gang all on hisown without anyone knowing. Even Cordelia grows out of her spoiled rich girl persona by the end of the season. She's still the Cordelia we've come to know and love, but with more depth andcaring.

As is fitting, at the very end of the season Sunnydale High is destroyed, blown apart in the battle against the mayor. The characters have graduated, they don't need it anymore.

The Worst Episode: I've never liked Beauty and the Beasts. It's so "very special episode" in its anti domestic violence message (not that I think domestic violence is good, just a little subtlety would be nice).

The Best Episode: It may not be for everyone, but I just completely love The Zeppo. It take the usual A and B story structure of the show and flips them around. Highly hilarious, and huge for Xander's character.

Some of My Favorite Moments:

Spike's speech about how Angel and Buffy will never be friends, and will always be in love. It all ends with one of my favorite quotes ever, "I may be love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."

Willow pretending to be her vampire self.

Buffy reading her mom's mind about what she did with Giles."Twice! On the hood of a police car!"

Faith dances.A lot. She always seems to be dancing for some reason.

When the students give Buffy the class protector award at The Prom. It's a misty eyed sort of moment.

The final battleat SunnydaleHigh from Graduation Day, Part 2. It's inspirational.

This is right up there with season two for my favorite seasons of the show. It has what I consider to be the best big bad (the Mayor) and it's the last time we get to see the whole gang together.