Best Picture Nominees Part IV: The Departed

[rate 3.5]

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The Departed is the story of two men from South Boston who were raised within the sphere of Irish organized crime. Billy Costigan (Leonardo DiCaprio) has a "connected" family but wants to get away from that life, while Colin Sullivan (Matt Damon) is taken under the wing of Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson), a major mob player, as a child.

Costigan and Sullivan join the police force with different agendas: Costigan to become a good cop and fight crime, and Sullivan to gain a position of power and feed Frank Costello information that keeps the cops out of his business.

Sullivan breezes through life as easily as he does through the police force. He's well liked, confident, and can't seem to make a mistake. Costigan, on the other hand, is insecure, and hated by the other officers (they know his family is "connected" and don't trust him).

Costigan, therefore, is given the option to go undercover and infiltrate Costello's gang. "You will never be a cop," they say to him. This is his one chance to make a difference.

Eventually, the police and the mob realize they have rats in their midst, and try to find them. Sullivan, as usual, is the lucky one. He's put on a one-man task force to find--himself. Costigan, however, is suspected of being the rat and kept under scrutiny.

Things get interesting when their paths cross.

The Departed is an enjoyable movie to watch, but lacks the style of Scorsese's earlier mob classics. In Goodfellas and Casino, we're exposed to the cultures within the New York and Vegas crime families, we see their camaraderie, their night life, even how they treat their wives. In the Departed, we only see Costello barking orders and behaving strangely. We barely get to know his crew.

What is also lacking is the witty, conversational dialog. A case in point from Goodfellas is the now famous moment when Tommy (Joe Pesci), believing he's being made fun of, confronts Henry (Ray Liotta): "You think I'm funny? I amuse you?" Henry doesn't know how to take that, and the situation almost comes to blows, but doesn't; though, there was always doubt in Henry's eyes.

There are moments in The Departed that attempt this conversational style, but those moments seem forced and insincere. For example, when Dignam (Mark Wahlberg) addresses fellow cops in a board room, he gets into a shouting match with one of them. They shout obscenities about each other's mother, or something. That seemed completely out of place and unnecessary.

I also found the climax disappointing. It was interesting, and got my attention, but it could have been more compelling. In a story filled with dramatic irony, the dichotomy between these two men, resorting to shock value is a real let down.

Where The Departed really shines, however, is the performances of Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon. Both are believable in their roles, and both outshine Jack Nicholson (as it should be, since they are the leads). DiCaprio, of course, has the more challenging role as the introverted, angst-ridden Costigan, and he never loses his focus. I suspect his performance in The Departed will help his chances to take the statue for Blood Diamond.

Being that Martin Scorsese has never taken home a Best Director Oscar, my guess is that he'll take it this time. But I'd rather he had gotten it for Goodfellas.

Timewarp Moves Forward

Since Don Dohler's passing last December, we at Timewarp Films have been contemplating our next steps. To that end, we've been holding (and will continue to hold) monthly production meetings to discuss our goals, plans, ideas, gripes, and whatever else. You can read about our new production staff, and some of our initial plans here.

Needless to say, we're all excited about our future prospects. While I can't go into details, I would like to mention a little about what's on our slate.

First, we will continue to work on Crawler, and plan to complete it soon. We're finishing the last two scenes with the monster, about 7 or 8 shots, and then we have some miscellaneous FX shots, one scene to cut, some sound effects, and maybe a little tweaking (though we're not messing with Don's edit). That's it!

Then, our first new project is a 3-part anthology, with a common theme threaded throughout. A first draft is completed for the first segment, and we've cemented the ideas for the second and third. We're hoping that working on 3 short films will help our new team develop a synergy that will carry over into our upcoming feature-length stuff.

Speaking of feature length, we have 5 potential projects in the queue, all horror/thriller oriented: A zombie/action movie, a vampire movie with religious elements, a serial-killer movie, a supernatural thriller, and vampire movie that begins during WWII. That's enough projects to cover the next 6-8 years. So we'll definitely be busy.

Blood, Boobs, and Beast

John Kinhart has been putting the finishing touches on a documentary about Don Dohler. He's just announced that it's complete.

Posted with permission from John Kinhart

I'm happy to announce that our documentary about Don Dohler is complete! It will be titled Blood, Boobs & Beast, which are the three components needed to make a successful b-horror movie. The documentary follows Don and his collaborator, Joe Ripple, as they make their latest low-budget film, Dead Hunt.

The movie also features:

• key moments in Dohler's career, such as his pioneering underground comix character ProJunior, and his influential Cinemagic Magazine.
• behind the scenes footage of his low-budget films from the 70s and 80s
• interviews with J.J. Abrams (Creator of TV show Lost), Tom Savini (Effects artist for Dawn of the Dead), Tom Sullivan (Effects artist for The Evil Dead), Lloyd Kaufman (Director of The Toxic Avenger), and underground comix artists Jay Lynch (Nard n Pat) and Skip Williamson (Snappy Sammy Smoot).

Visit the website at http://www.bbbmovie.com to view the trailer. The website also has more information about the movie and will be updated weekly.

Thanks!

John Kinhart, Director Blood, Boobs & Beast

Best Picture Nominees Part III: The Queen

[rate 4]

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All that I heard about The Queen before seeing it was that Helen Mirren was superb playing Queen Elizabeth II. I definitely agree. I also believe that Michael Sheen was a perfect Tony Blair. In fact, all of the performances were first rate.

What surprised me, at least at first, was that a movie about a woman who reigned over England for more than 50 years, oversaw Prime Ministers such as Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, and whose country went to war several times since 1952, was about how she handled Princess Diana's death. Why was a week of silence that angered her country more interesting than the other fifty-some years? Then I thought about it. Since biopics about her have already been made, including one this year also starring Helen Mirren, that wasn't the point of The Queen. The film wasn't really so much about Queen Elizabeth II as it was about how the world, particularly England, has changed in the 50+ years of her reign. And how little she has changed.

In the film, the royal family follows century-old protocols in dealing with Princess Diana's death. They consider it a private matter, so the Queen makes no formal statement to her subjects, and they do not travel to London to appear at Buckingham palace; thus, do not fly a flag at half-mast.

The public, however, seeing Diana's death as a tragedy for the whole world, disapproves of the Queen's behavior, believing it has more to do with her disapproval of Diana than protocol. This makes for a week of angst and embarrassment for the Queen, and the rest of the royal family, as they watch the public and the press rebuke them.

On the other hand, Tony Blaire comes off smelling like a rose. He runs interference for the royal family, and offers them advice on handling the public. The press praises him for this.

Ultimately, the Queen must decide whether to follow tradition or cater to the public.

The Queen was thoroughly enjoyable, filled with great performances and a realistic, if not a bit too light-hearted, portrayal of they royal family and Princess Diana's death. However, the movie lost its focus on the Queen at times, as it ran actual news clips of Diana. Though, I suppose that couldn't be helped.

HorrorTalk Reviews Dead Hunt

DJBenz over at HorrorTalk reviewed our latest film, Dead Hunt. Check out the review here. Then watch the trailer (below).

Update 4/5/2014: I had originally uploaded the full res trailer to Youtube years ago, but some douche with a personal grudge against one of our Timewarp folks had it flagged for inappropriate content and Youtube took it down. This version was uploaded by someone else, so the sound quality is a little over processed and tinny. But it's the only one up there.

Best Picture Nominees Part II: Letters from Iwo Jima

[rate 5]

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What a well-crafted film. Films like this are the reason I go to the movies, and the reason I want to make movies.

In the tradition of Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, Letters from Iwo Jima brings an introspective, human side to WW2. But this time we see war from the Japanese perspective. The film focuses on how the Japanese prepared for the American attack on the small island of Iwo Jima, ill equipped and undermanned. General Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe), a western-educated, academic takes command and finds he has his work cut out for him. While he prefers to use military tactics and careful planning to lead his men, many of his officers intend to use brute force and loyalty to the empire to keep men in line--and oh how these methods are incompatible.

Upon his arrival, he prevents two men from being beaten to death for disloyalty. One of them is Saigo (Kazunari Ninomiya), a drafted baker who is perhaps the worst soldier in the entire pacific theater. His crime: suggesting to his friend that the Japanese should just give this worthless hunk of rock to the Americans. Such undisciplined behavior was not tolerated in the Japanese army, but the new General knows they need every man for this battle, and wanted Saigo and his friend spared.

The film portrays the men on both sides as shades of gray, not black and white caricatures. We see die hard Japanese soldiers torture Americans, kill themselves rather than be captured, and shoot underlings for showing cowardice, but we also see an officer speak kindly to an American POW, soldiers care for a captured American, and honest discipline for irrational behavior. And we see the same benevolence and cruelty in American soldiers. Were we really so different? The movie says we weren't. I doubt, however, that a German perspective will be produced by Hollywood any time soon.

Best Picture Nominees Part I: Little Miss Sunshine

[rate 4.5]

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In the spirit of Oscar season, I plan to review each of the best picture nominees. If I do actually manage to see them all before Oscar night (I have for the last three years), I'll post my pick for best picture.

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

After last summer's vast desert of forgettable movies, Little Miss Sunshine was a true oasis, a real find. It was a light hearted satire that wasn't afraid to visit the darker side of human nature.

The Hoovers, a dysfunctional family if there ever was one, took a road trip across the country so their pre-teen daughter Olive (Abigail Breslin) can enter the Little Miss Sunshine beauty contest. That was the plan, and they all wanted Olive to go. But with the dynamic hodge-podge of personalities--A dad who's a wannabe motivational speaker, a mom who tries too hard to keep everyone happy, a son who took a vow of silence and hates everyone, a suicidal, homosexual uncle, and an I-don't-give-a-crap-I'll-say-anything-I-please grandfather--the trip was anything but "A to B".

Each obstacle they faced was harder to overcome, and funnier, than the last--with a climax that you have to see to believe. I laughed so hard, I cried.

What I really liked about this movie was that it didn't turn into a feel-good cliche where all the characters realize how much they love each other at the end. This movie is only about one thing: getting to the beauty contest at all costs, and not being a loser.

In addition to best picture, the screenplay, Abigail Breslin, and Alan Arkin were also nominated.