One can certainly see that Pixar whiz John Lassiter has taken over all of Disney’s animation. This computer-animated flick – directed by Simpsons and Futurama alum Rich Moore – has love and detail all over it.
It also has a nifty sense of nostalgia, a great visual palette and awesome plot twists.
Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly) is the villain in a video game most likely built by the same people who made Mario Bros. Ralph uses his huge, ham hock fists to punch down buildings, and Fit-It Felix (McBrayer) and his magic hammer fixes them. When Ralph grows tired of being the villain, he escapes, searching for heroics in other games in the arcade. First, he visits badass Lynch and her sci-fi military game, and then he visits Silverman in her Candyland cart racing game, always trying to change his lot in life.
The several video game settings allow for some cool and varied art direction. Also, throughout, we get to see other classic video game characters – Pac Man, Dig Dug and Q-Bert.
Neatly buried – so kids cannot sense it – is a more complex message about changing your lot in life. Are you trapped by your past? Is it always bad to be the bad guy if that’s what’s really needed? When should you go against the status quo?
Pixar, and now Disney, has somehow made kids films with some surprising emotional punch for adults. Good job, Wreck-It Ralph!
Well, here’s one film they won’t be showing on the in-flight movie!
Yes, it contains some harrowing, well-filmed action sequences with a faulty plane in a stormy sky. (There’s no doubt director Robert Zemeckis is behind the camera.) It also has a couple great comic bits and able-bodied Washington at the helm.
Washington plays a gifted pilot, despite his all-consuming alcohol and drug habits. When a flight from Orlando to Atlanta goes awry, our hot dog flier pulls some daring moves, saving many lives. At the time, he was drunk and coked up – so was he really the savior or, quite possibly, the cause of the accident?
Sadly, that question of culpability is never really fully explored. Instead we get spiraling scenes of him connecting with druggie friend Goodman and talking to airline wonks Cheadle and Greenwood. In the hospital, Washington meets Reilly, a delicate, recovering heroin addict. At this very moment, we get the sinking feeling that this film is quickly going south, landing in emotional goo.
Washington’s skillful turn at addictive histrionics doesn’t quite crash the endeavor. But Flight remains a well-made, well-acted Lifetime film about self-destruction. (Did we really need another one?) A little post-film reflection will tell you there’s nothing new here. The script has some serious holes and some major implausible moments – particularly at the end. Our 12-step friends may love Flight, but the rest of us can find better ways to fly.
Cloud Atlas is amazingly ambitious. It’s also frustrating. It seems an epic filmed on a dare, missing many chances at insight. That’s sad. Movie buffs will want to see the astounding art, but the film never totally emotionally engages.
The grandiose, $200 million flick presupposes reincarnation. The same 20-some actors meet each other in six stories throughout history, past, present, and future. Their characters experience roughly the same themes of suppression, violence, emancipation and love. The metaphor is that their souls are like clouds, forever changing, blending – sometimes they are the villains, sometimes the heroes.
One can certainly understand why daring filmmakers and A-list actors found the challenge intriguing.
However, this three-hour eye-popper is also seriously disjointed, damaged by the filmmakers’ hacked-up script. The visionaries – the Wachowski brothers (the makers of the Matrix trilogy) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) – offer way more style than substance. Their makeup and art direction are amazing, but the editing is choppy and frustrating, robbing all six stories of arc and drive. The performances can seem gimmicky. Connecting the dots with over 20 actors in multiple roles gave me a headache.
As a side note, Larry Wachowski now goes by Lana. I would love to ask Lana what she feels about reincarnation and rebirth. There may be a more direct, heartfelt story there.
