Drive: A Review

Think of his sweet jacket as a cape.

Carey Mulligan

We should totally hang out

We should make out too.

That was my haiku about Carey Mulligan.

Oh, my darling Carey Mulligan. So soft, so quaint, so innocent. Your dimples can express the beauty of the world more than Renoir, Michelangelo, and Bob Ross ever could. Your smile seems to reach out and grasp my inner being and comfort it until it transforms from hard, cold, and angered into warm dripping slurp. Oh Mulligan My Mulligan…

DRIVE, a film by Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn, has all of the recognizable tropes of a crime/noir film but never seems to have a conventional moment.  But the unconventional is no new territory for Refn who on his last two films embody the term. 2008’s BRONSON is a menacing biopic of Michael Peterson, a story of the most notorious prisoner in Britain that discards the notions of how a biopic should be and incorporates the pacing and feel not so unlike the late Stanley Kubrick. 2009’s VALHALLA RISING, about a one eyed mute near the year 1000 AD that has supernatural abilities, seems content in prioritizing mood over narrative. So, hearing the news of Refn’s next project, centered on a stunt driver in LA taking a heist job gone wrong in order to protect the girl he loves, had me extremely excited. Knowing the man’s previous projects, I knew he would make the popular setting and familiar story unique in the distinctive Refn way. And unique it is, by bridging the incredible style and mood Refn has shown in his previous works with a heftier story. 

The story is this: A part time stunt driver, a part time car mechanic, a part time heist driver (played by Ryan Gosling with an intense and commanding presence I thought he could never show) falls in love with his neighbor Irene and her son (played by the beautiful, rapturous, enchanting Carey Mulligan). Irene’s husband, Standard, gets released from jail a short time afterward. Standard needs to pay back protection money from some gangsters unless he wants to risk his family's livelihood. Driver, for Irene and her son’s sake, decides to help Standard on his last job. As expected, the job goes poorly and Driver must right the wrongs that have occurred in order to protect Irene and her son. 

 

Aren't these two just the sweetest things?

The relationship between Driver and Irene is subtly emotional. Driver is shy and meek around her. Because of this, the scenes involving the two are more about quick glances, long pauses and the unsaid. His motivations throughout the film become entirely believable because of this relationship. The restraint from the two of them comes off stronger than immediate passion and leaves room for more impactful moments later on.  

The subtle love story is only a starter for DRIVE. Once Driver is cornered into a position of life and death, some dark side of him comes out. His driving skills, his knife and gun skills all come off as instinctual. He kicks ass. He kicks ass hard. The dichotomy of the shy Driver and the killer Driver is one of the most interesting aspects of the movie. The internal conflict between the peaceful, quiet side he wants to embody versus the dark, murderous side he wants to avoid is fascinating. The dark part of him seems to terrify him as the film progresses. And not only does that scare him, but knowing that he has to have this side to survive and protect his loved ones scares him as well. 

Driver’s character is one of the most interesting protagonists this year, which is a shame considering everyone else in the film isn’t as remarkable. The other characters are all well acted, but come off as cardboard cut outs from other crime films. The two main antagonists are bad guys because they are. Ron Perlman’s Nino is a bad guy because he is rude and vulgar. Albert Brooks’ Bernie is also bad, but worse because he is higher up than Nino. It’s these stereotypical characters that come off as stale, which is saying a lot considering the film is everything other than. 

The action is dramatic and short like a violent punch to the audience. There is probably ten minutes of actual action, but the tension that leads up to these moments makes the action seem present throughout the film. Refn shoots these scenes with a menacing yet beautiful tone that only dreams can convey well.  The settings of these action sequences come off as a little off, where the floor might drop out from under you at any moment. The tone of the action is also helped by Refn’s musical choices. There seems to be two styles of music. There are moments of 80s synth pop and moments of ethereal techno vibes. The music together seems to mesh John Hughes movies and Refn’s own. I couldn’t help but be astonished that this type of style could work for an action film. It is incredibly refreshing.

 

DRIVE is a film that I needed to watch a second time. It wasn't that I didn't like it at first. My first reaction was rather positive. But DRIVE is one of those films that leaves an impression inside of you after you leave the theater. I needed the second viewing so I could discover what that internal feeling was. Sadly, I'm not a good enough writer to articulate this feeling. To me, DRIVE is not a film to be watched, but to be felt. And with all good movies, that feeling lingers.

 

Cantagion: A review.

Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion could not have come out at a better time. Contagion, a film depicting a catastrophic epidemic, opens on the weekend of the ten year anniversary (strange to call it an anniversary) of the tragic events of September 11. It is hard to not think about the aftermath of 9/11 and its affect on the world populace and I think it is best to keep these thoughts in mind while watching this great film. 

Let’s get the “well duh’s” out of the way. The film looks fantastic. The directing is spot on. The pacing is swift and the film is entertaining throughout. All of this comes with a Soderbergh film. What did stand out to me even more was how improvisational each scene felt. The pauses, the stuttering, the “uhs,” all feel organic and genuine. Scenes that lesser movies would have made cliché come off as authentic. Deaths come at a shock to characters who can’t take it in immediately.  Only when several months have passed is when it finally hits. And it hits hard. The dialogue and acting, involving Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law, Laurence Fishburne and many more, easily makes these people feel like real people and that this horrible epidemic is really happening. 

What Contagion also does well is creating tension early on, just by showing everyday habits everyone does that nobody thinks about doing. Knowing that the virus could be transmitted by a touch or a cough, any focus on a door handle, a hand rail, a handshake, a hotel bed all carry a huge weight and significance. Each of these seemingly small and irrelevant objects and gestures  could potentially carry a massive death sentence. Knowing the encroaching doom that is bound to occur really creates a tense and scary experience. 

But on a closer look, through all of the tragedy and horror, there are glimmers of hope in the film: A sick patient trying desperately to reach over and lend a cold patient her blanket; a man giving up his vaccine for another less advantaged child; concern over someone’s well-being instead of whether they will get them sick. Moments like this are sprinkled throughout the horror and the rioting and the anarchism. Soderbergh isn’t interested in shedding a too bright light on horrifying events, but he does recognize the strength and warmth that can make shape and reveal itself.

Which brings me back to my previous point. Because the aftermath of 9/11 was present in my mind, Contagion became a little more than just an entertaining film, but an incredibly moving one. A lot of the film is dire, hundreds of thousands of people are dying, people are robbing and kidnapping, rioting and chaos is rampant throughout the world and it represents this horror exceptionally well. But where Contagion truly shines is in these small, yet powerful moments of kindness that rise above the doom and gloom of the world just enough to keep one afloat.

An Exercise in Writing Part II

Greatest Movie Ever Sold – Morgan Spurlock of Super Size Me fame came out with a new documentary about the process of gaining sponsors for the movie industry. In a Meta way, Spurlock’s film IS the process he has to go through to fund his film. While clever and entertaining throughout, I came out feeling just slightly more informed than I had been before. Although I found it a little slight, if you are a fan of Super Size Me, this documentary is bound to please you. 

X-men First Class – Two words. McAvoy. Fassbender. The two leads playing Dr. X and Magneto are the driving force of this well made film. The relationship between these two characters is the main reason X-men is so beloved by fans and this film does not disappoint. While I found the story to be rushed and certain secondary characters plot lines to be present only for the hardcore fans, X-Men First Class is still a first class summer blockbuster. (Heyoo…)

The Tree of Life – Terrance Malick (The Thin Red Line, The New World, Days of Heaven) is not for everyone. His fascination with unanswered questions, his deliberate pacing, and overly philosophical stories can turn some people off. Tree of Life is no different. What some people can find boring, I experienced an enriched lyrical way to tell a coming of age story. The fragmented timeframe expertly shows how we remember our past. We never really remember things in broad terms, but we remember the feelings, the smells, how someone says something, or how the light was shining in through the window. I can’t argue with someone who finds it hard to mold into this type of storytelling because I find it difficult at times, but I feel elated when I come out of a theater realizing that through almost 100 years of cinema I have not seen anything quite like it.

Midnight in Paris – Do you like Woody Allen movies? Do you like looking at a gorgeous city? Do you like looking at gorgeous people like Marion Cotillard or Rachel McAdams? (Maybe Owen Wilson is cute to you ladies?) Do you like a great soundtrack? Do you just like movies? How about pointless questions? Do you like those? Because I’m giving them to you. Midnight In Paris is a delight to watch from start to finish. With a character who believes he was born a generation to late, someone like me who also believes this at certain times, connected with the movie very easily. Woody Allen’s latest is one of the year’s best so far. 

Transformers Dark of the Moon – I admit I was a fan of the first Transformers but after hearing the putrid reviews of the second movie from the internet and from trustworthy friends, I avoided it like a plague. What brought me to this movie is a mystery but I sat for a overly long 2 ½ hours to only get 30 minutes of honest exciting action. Is it worth going to the theaters to see it? Definitely not. I would hold off until a rental so you can skip the first 2 hours to get to the nonstop action of the last 30 minutes.Or not rent it at all and watch something worthwhile. Because it's incredibly stupid. But you probably know that already. So go read a good book. I hear books are good.

An Exercise in Writing Part 1

I like to collect my own movie ticket stubs so I can look back on all the movies I have paid to see in theaters throughout my years. The sad thing (at least something I always regret after the year) is that I never see enough movies. But it can’t be helped considering the closest theater is the type that plays the wrong film half the time, forgets to open the curtains wide enough to show the full screen, and even forgets to change 3D lenses to 2D so the image is exponentially dimmer. But that is no excuse. I will always need to see more movies. Here is the horribly small list of movies that I have ventured out to fifteen minutes and even two hours to see.  

Rango – The best animated film of the year so far is surprisingly not from Pixar or Dreamworks Animation, but from Nickelodeon. Rango culminates into many things. It can be viewed as a homage to old Spaghetti Westerns especially those of Sergio Leone and his Man with No Name Trilogy. It can also be viewed as a story about crisis of identity and coming into one’s own skin, but involving geometrically impaired, hyper stylized creatures from a child’s light nightmare. But what it all comes down to its incredible sense of fun and imagination. It is one of the best movies of the year.  

Sucker Punch – So this movie is bad. Really bad. The story becomes incoherent once you give the slightest effort to understanding its plot, but who comes to Sucker Punch for the story? People in their right minds would want to watch this movie for its attractive female protagonists kicking butt against giant stone samurai, steam-punk styled robotic Nazis, fire-breathing dragons, and 50s styled futuristic robots. Is that there? Yes, but in the sense that your pet cat will be there as well. Sure it’s in your eyesight, but it doesn’t interest you because your cat is the fattest and laziest bastard alive. 

Insidious – Oh man, oh my, oh me. This horror film was not what I expected. Given the poster it seemed I was walking into another “creepy kid” style horror film but what I got was a roller coaster thrill ride. Usually I’m against jump scares. Usually they are used to trick the audience into thinking something bad will happen when really it’s just that damn lazy fat bastard cat that jumps at you and screams for no reason. But this film has just enough jump scares where you feel tense the entire film waiting for them. What it culminates into is a fun haunted house ride that should be experienced with a lot of friends. 

Your Highness – Coming from the director of Pineapple Express, I had at least some expectations for this film to create a few good laughs throughout its runtime. But what the film actually presented itself as was a string of highly promising jokes resulting in dick jokes. I love the nuance a good dick joke can bring, but Your Highness believes that just the mere mention of said dick is funny. It never is fun to come up with better jokes during the movie when it seems that the writers obviously did not know where else to go other than treading familiar dicky waters bad dick joke after bad dick joke.

DICK. See, was that funny?

Hanna – UNTS CCCS! UNTS CCCS! UNTS CCCS! Hanna is the third movie by director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, Atonement) and is becoming one of my favorite recent directors. He visual flare comes off as confident and slick. Hanna is a mix between a fairy tale and a Bourne movie, but with a 15 year old lead. Saoirse Ronan, who plays the lead role as Hanna, shines with an amazing performance involving an entire spectrum of acting including intense action scenes and emotionally deep drama. The fight and chase sequences incorporate strobe lighting and fast editing that give off a sense of a rave party and a dance club; A rave party that even a recluse like me would enjoy experiencing. 

Thor – I believe I was little too harsh on this movie after I had seen it. I found the acting to be hammy, the love story to be forced and overall a movie that was insubstantial. But as time progressed and I saw more summer blockbusters I found myself remembering more fondly on this movie. The acting sure is hammy but quite fun, while the love story is forced, it didn’t distract from the story and while insubstantial, I had a lot of fun. And although Asgard, Thor's home world, seems to be inhabited by only 20 people, doesn't steer away from the fact that it is a beautiful place to gawk at.This movie does not take itself too seriously and overall it is easily recommendable.

A Look Back On: PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
95 minutes
- Adam Sandler
-Emily Watson
- Philip Seymour Hoffman






Do you like to smile? Do you like to have certain adjectives describing your smile such as big, warm, and goofy? Wouldn't you like to have a certain something to brighten your day and put this said big, warm or goofy smile on your face? For me, it's P. T. Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love, a movie that throws away all cynicism and judgement and fills itself with one magical word: Joy.

The first installment of A Look Back On takes a trip in the odd, awkward, comical and sincere love story of entrepreneur Barry Egan. Barry, the owner of a business that sells plungers, is an introvert. Barry is the only brother of seven sisters who, like most siblings, tend to give him a hard time. When one of his sisters tries to introduce Barry to one of her girl friends, he declines in a small panic. That night Barry indulges in a gut wrenching phone-sex line call and gives all of his personal and financial information. What results is an illegal scheme to steal his money all the while Barry finds his quirky love with his sister's friend.

Barry is an interesting character that I can easily see myself in. Barry is a contradiction. He is nervous and anxious around others, but longs for a human connection. He wants to give a possible plunger buyer his home phone number, just in case he would want to reach him outside of work hours. It even takes him several minutes to actually utilize what the phone-sex line is for because he keeps distracting himself with normal small talk about himself that he desperately wants to share. Because of his anxiety he struggles with coping around normal relationships even though that is the one thing he truly wants.

Barry can also pull off some tremendous feats of human strength. He is kind of like a blue Bruce Banner. When being called "gay boy" or revealing a flaw in his character Barry goes NUTS and humorously goes HULKSMASH on glass windows and restaurant bathrooms. Seriously, its pretty awesome.
 
But having this character destroy public property and initiate in awkward but funny conversations there needs to be something more that propels this movie from a good movie to a great movie. Here are some things Punch-Drunk Love manages to pull off:

1) Getting you into the mindset of Barry.
While I already find similarities between Barry and I, the film does a great job of making it easy for me to enter Barry's emotional state. The music is a key component. Jon Brion places what seems like sand paper being scratched over holographic photos, pops and fizzes permeating the background, loud cymbal crashes and horn rises. All of this surrounds Barry during his encounters with people. One good example is a frenetic scene when Barry is finally introduced to his sister's friend Lena. It's easy to imagine the panic in Barry when he is beginning to struggle with his newly formed problem with the phone-sex line, his sister's forceful introduction to him of his "possible date" and work related accidents, but the music pushes you further into the chaotic mindset Barry currently is in.

The camera work is also something to take notice of. The camera moves quickly, turns swiftly, never steady.You can't help but feel his anxiety and panic which really is a good start when nearing the second half the movie when it...

2)  Excrets (gross) Joy through every scene.
After all the anxiety and panic that Punch-Drunk Love puts you through in the first half, all of it fades away when Barry's love story barrels down in full force. There is so much happiness going on. Barry decides to leave for Hawaii to surprise Lena.(You must watch the clip to understand my gooey rambling.) I mean...look at the earnestness in his walk! "Can you take me to where the beaches and the hotels are? Oh and a phone?" Oh man! My smile! "He needs me He needs me. But I do! But He does!" Oh he wants to find her so bad! He can't handle the heckling from his sister! But's it's ok. We know its from a good place. The light on the telephone booth lights up when he hears her talk! They both are excited to hear each other! How lovely! He can't stop from asking her questions, he wants to know so much about her! Look at her strutting towards him! Oh he's so awkward! Aw, he's going for the handshake. But wait! They have the most DELIGHTFUL EMBRACE ONE CAN IMAGINE. Excuse me. My cheeks need a rest. They hurt to much FROM SMILING LIKE A DAMNED DROOLING GOOBER.

I realize that that was a very unprofessional analysis on how P. T. Anderson employs a thematically appropriate song, character interactions and cinematography to emphasize the joyful experience Barry is having. My brain just can't handle all of the joy my inner being fills up with. And being forced into all the anxiety and the panic stricken state of being, when the eager anticipation and the lovingly innocent relationship show up, it washes over you like cold water in a hot summer day.


3) It is unrelentingly not cynical. 
For all I know, my generation should be called Generation Irony. Our entertainment is filtered through an ironic pit of reality shows ("Jersey Shore is so good because it's so bad.") and music ("I just bought Rebecca Black's Friday because it's so bad.") but what Punch-Drunk Love does so well is takes all of that away and puts in quirky people doing strange things and saying odd things to each other with no hint of irony or judgement. The film loves Barry and his faults. It loves the idea that his relationship with Lena is not a normal one. In a world growing up with judgmental bigotry and criticism of the odd, Punch-Drunk Love is one of the most fun and honest film watching experiences I've had had in a long time.

Punch-Drunk Love, for me, will always put a smile on my face. But WARNING. It is not for everyone. If you hate dimples, facial wrinklage, laughter, strained rip cages, more laughter, a loving honesty and joy, then just, you know, don't watch it I guess.

REDEMPTION POINT: 1
 

My Attempt at Introducing Myself and My Blog: Here's the Beef

I’ve never been good at introducing myself. 

Listen.

I have this hobby. This hobby of mine doesn’t warrant heavy exercise, collecting obscure items, or hands on recreations of San Francisco’s  famous spots with toothpicks.  

My hobby is watching movies. I sit. I watch. But where others might think movies is just a form passing the time, they are much more for me. I marvel.  I question. I yearn. It's horrible. I share extremely close personal connections to certain movies that it's nauseating. My obsession with film is getting to the point where I almost can't carry on a normal conversation without referencing movies.

But it's not much of a hobby. Even though I love watching movies I can't help but escape the idea that I am just sitting for two hours staring at a bright television screen that is slowly but effectively ruining my eyes. 

This is where my blog comes in. 

After viewing a film, instead of keeping my thoughts to myself and obsessing over them, why not share my feelings on new films, and reiterate my love for the always returnable cherished ones. Shine the light on the overlooked, the misunderstood, and the experimental. 

Hopefully, by doing that I can feel a sense of redemption. Maybe I won't feel so guilty about molding the couch to form the shape of my butt. Maybe I can evolve my analytical skills through writing more about films. Maybe I can begin to write more better and maybe realize that "more better" is definitely not a good start. And maybe, what my ultimate goal is, just maybe I can reveal to others why film is so great and create more film lovers for the world.

So this is it. My redemption begins.

My attempts at introducing myself and my blog: The Prolouge

ATTEMPT 1

 Hi my name is Mark and this is a blog I am doing.

ATTEMPT 2

I am starting a blog and this is my blog. Hello I am Mark. 

ATTEMPT 3

Bonjour all! This is Me! Mark! And this is my somewhat blog!

ATTEMPT 4

Hello All! My name is Mark and this is my blog! Say hi blog!

B: ...

Aw, don't be shy blog!

B: ...

C'mon! Who's a good blog?

B: ...

Whoooo's a goood blog?!

B: ... Shut it.

What?

B: Shut the HELL up.

...BAD BLOG. BAD.

B: ... 

Get in your kennel blog!

B: You are such a pencil dick.

At least I have a dick, you crusty whore!

B: ...

...

B: ...

I'm sorry blog.

B: Why create me and bring me into this self destructive world? Why, Mark? WHY?!

I know it was wrong blog, I know.

B: I HATE it.

(Another iteration of this conversation goes like this: 

Hello All! I'm Mark and this is my blog! Say hi blog!

B: ...

Go ahead blog. They are waiting for you.

B: ...

Blog?

B: Blogs don't talk asshole.

Don't you sass me! Get in our kennel or I'll get the lemon juice spray bottle!)

ATTEMPT 5

PurpleeyesneedtojoinademonsoulandKILLTHEPRESIDENTsothelakecouldcatchadogandWITHANICEPICKthenwecamearoundyouthandrevolutionTOTHEEYEBALLwithjuices.

(I closed my eyes and used my fingers like a Ouija board hoping something creative would come out of it. You are to judge if it was successful or not. My fingers didn't like the space bar.)