Renaissance
Just what is the multi-complex company Avalon? Apart from
manufacturing health and beauty products, why are they conducting
research into genetic engineering, premature aging and longevity?
And, more importantly, why has one of their most brilliant
research scientists suddenly disappeared? It is up to the
notorious Detective Karas, a Parisian cop with a reputation
for finding anyone, to solve this totally intriguing mystery.
Set in a futuristic Paris of 2054, French filmmaker Christian
Volckman creates a captivating sci-fi thriller with his remarkable
movie ‘Renaissance’. But, somewhat like its American
predecessor ‘A Scanner Darkly’, the movie has
initially been shot on film, then, in post-production, computer-manipulated
into animation. Still, being French, the movie is made with
a hell of a lot more style and panache. Director Volckman
presents the ‘cartoon’ in deep ‘Black’
and dazzling ‘White’. This extreme monochromatic
image staging only goes to highlight the movie’s ‘graphic
novel’ sources, and underline its fashionable ‘Pop
Art’ visual appearance. Basically, the movie has a very
absorbing story to tell, but, it is the amazing animated images
that are entirely enthralling. Finding its inspiration in
contemporary art, literature and culture, this new innovative
style of ‘cartoons for adults’ are directing animation
into unique narrative and visual realms which Walt Disney
could never have envisaged, without today’s sophisticated
computer technology. ‘Renaissance’ is a marvelous
example of this emerging and fascinating new cinematic genre.
Lonely Hearts
Regular readers of this column will no doubt know that I have
a ‘thing’ for Salma Hayek. I just love that stormy
Mexican spitfire. And, as we all know, Salma is very fond
of saying “I am not a sex symbol, I am an actress”.
Well, Salma gets another opportunity to display her formidable
talents in writer and director Todd Robinson’s retrograde
crime thriller ‘Lonely Hearts’. Set in the late
1940’s, and looking remarkably like a voluptuous Jane
Russell, Salma plays a serial-killer who, along with her wimpy
con-artist boyfriend, goes on a carefree murder spree, finding
their victims in newspaper personal ads. Todd Robinson turns
what is basically a standard murder story into a powerful
study on the motivations of serial-killers. However, in Salma’s
case, she pretty much lacks motivation. Most of her victims
are dispatched merely because they get in the way, or arouse
her possessiveness and intense jealousy over her spineless
lover. Salma sizzles in the movie. She burns up the screen.
Jared Leto, as the pathetic boyfriend, and John Travolta,
as the tied cop who has to track them down, both don’t
stand a chance. They are incinerated in Salma’s inferno.
Todd Robinson has made a very good movie, but it would be
nothing without the fabulous Ms. Hayek. Fans will love it.
Man of the Year
Regular readers of this column will also know that I do not
have a ‘thing’ for Robin Williams. I regard him
as one of the most obnoxious personalities to ever force his
way into public awareness. A smart movie reviewer once said:
“If Robin Williams is wearing a beard, then you know
it is suppose to be a drama. If he is clean shaven, it is
meant to be a comedy”. That more-or-less sums up his
acting method. Robin Williams is clean shaven in director
Barry Levinson’s political satire ‘Man of the
Year’, so I guess we are dealing with a comedy. I hate
to admit it, but, Robin Williams is perfect casting for this
movie. It is hard to imagine anyone else in the role. Williams
plays a ‘political’ stand-up comedian, with his
own successful talk-show, who, in a moment of exasperation,
announces his candidacy for President of the United States.
A grassroots movement, also annoyed with American politics,
gets behind him, and, thanks to a computer ‘glitch’,
Williams finds himself ‘President Elect’. Director
Levinson takes writing credits for the movie, but, it is obvious
that there are moments when Levinson tells Williams he needs
five minutes, here and there, of ‘relevant spiel’.
In his stream-of-conscious raves, Williams reveals that he
is politically astute. Laura Linney is amazing as the computer-programmer
who stubbles across the computer ‘glitch’, which
gives Williams the election, and she doesn’t quite know
how to tell him. Christopher Walken gives excellent support
as a show-biz manager who now finds himself the next White
House Head of Staff, but, whether you like it or not, this
is Robin Williams’ best work since his successful debut
movie ‘Good Morning, Vietnam’. I hate to say it,
but Robin Williams is brilliant in ‘Man of the Year’.
Barry Levinson creates an entertaining movie that takes substantial
‘shots’ at American politics and voting systems.
Casino Royale
Back in 1962 American producer ‘Cubby’ Broccoli
created the first James Bond movie ‘Dr. No’. Since
then there have been countless 007 movies and countless James
Bonds. Sean Connery being the original and best, and Roger
Moore a pretty good substitute, to name just two. But, for-God’s-sake,
after 45 years isn’t it time to put this particular
movie cliché out to pasture. Martin Campbell directs
the latest James Bond movie, ‘Casino Royale’,
and he takes it way too seriously. Gone is the trademark ironic
humor, and the highly amusing ‘Bond Girls’, to
be replaced by some sort of intense realism, which turns the
movie into just another espionage escapade. Newcomer Daniel
Craig (maybe they got him cheap) plays the latest 007. He
has the looks, the physique and the debonair personality to
carry it off, but, if I were Daniel Craig, I wouldn’t
be too keen to get type-cast into this role, especially if
I wanted some sort of movie career after James Bond. Maybe
it is just me, but I found some of the movie hard to follow.
James Bond is hot on the trail of an international terrorist
group, which involves some spectacular chases within a skyscraper
building site in a corrupt African nation, through the Caribbean,
and on into downtown Miami. Some of it is very breathtaking.
Anyway, this all leads to a glitzy casino somewhere in Montenegro,
where 007 is entailed in a high stakes card game, and where
the fate of the Western World rests on the turn of a card.
It was at this point that I fell deeply asleep.
