Anyone who watches ESPN will be familiar with most of the events of The Tillman Story. Others may have caught part of it on their regular news channels as it was very big news. For those that know nothing of Pat Tillman this film will likely have a greater impact than for those for which this film is simply filling in the gaps of what they already know.

Professional football player for the Arizona Cardinals, Pat Tillman gave up a multimillion dollar contract to serve his country after the events of 9/11. The press praise Pat as a hero for his unselfishness, but Pat would just assume be treated like everyone else. When it is reported that Pat is killed in a fire fight in Afghanistan the press again praise Pat for making the ultimate sacrifice for his country. However, it comes out over the next several months that Pat was actually killed by friendly fire and there was a high level cover up by the government and the military who used Pat’s enlistment, image, and death to rally support for their war.

The film distinguishes itself from just compiling what is already public knowledge from the news stories by adding depth to the portrayal of Pat Tillman. His disillusionment in the war, his atheism, and his sense of obligation to his commitments are all addressed and well developed.

The film also brings into the foreground the tremendous role Pat’s family, particularly his mother Dannie, had in investigating Pat’s death and uncovering the truth, ultimately unraveling the government’s attempts to cover up the real cause of Pat’s death.

As cinema it is a compelling story, but the fact that many of the story’s most damaging points are already common knowledge does detract from the film’s impact. It will have its most impact on those who have no familiarity with Pat Tillman and his death. As the years go on the film may prove to age better as Pat’s story is forgotten. For now it is does a good job of expanding on and clarifying Pat’s personality and motives, and revealing little known details of the investigation which sheds light on yet another blight on the heavily criticized Bush Administration.

  Suffering first a nasty divorce from husband Stephen (Billy Crudup) and then a painful breakup with her lover David (James Franco), Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) is miserable and searching for a deeper meaning to life.  She sets out on a quest to let herself go, be at one with God, and to find herself in Eat Pray Love.

Gilbert’s first stop is Rome where she befriends Sofi (Tuva Novotny), a traveler from Sweden, who introduces Liz to a language instructor named Giovanni (Luca Argentero).  As they hang out together, eating their way across Rome, Liz learns the meaning of familia.

Liz’s next stop is India, for cleansing of her mind and spirit through meditation.  She is befriended by another American named Richard (Richard Jenkins), who teaches her to accept, let go and forgive (mainly herself).  Liz also learns an important lesson of selflessness from a local Indian girl.

Her sojourn ends in Bali where she pursues ancient truths from elderly guru Ketut Liyer (Hadi Subiyanto).  Gilbert crosses paths with a charming Brazilian named Felipe (Javier Bardem) and they find themselves in a whirlwind romance.

Based on the memoirs of writer Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat Pray Love is yet another woman’s inner-discovery picture, not unlike Julie and Julia, which include close ups of mouth-watering meals.  It’s the unsettled, teary-eyed female character that does something wild and extravagant which attracts many female fans.

Julia Roberts’ portrayal of Gilbert seems dowdy and washed out, even at the point when her life turns around for the better after meeting Felipe -  the teethy grin and auburn locks that once attracted many viewers in Pretty Woman, while still attempted, just isn’t there.  Gilbert’s persona seems weak and fragile, appearing too dependent on the constant attentions of a male, any male - where’s Ellen Ripley when you need her?

The film is not without merit, as it was entertaining and humorous at times.  Javier Bardem does not disappoint in his minor role as Felipe, but it makes one wish for more interactions with his character than all the others combined.  To see Julia at her best check out Erin Brockovich or Charlie Wilson’s War.

  Paying tribute to the Dynamation, visual effects maestro on his 90th birthday, AMPAS hosted a free Ray Harryhausen exhibit on the 4th floor of the Wilshire office location.

Ray, who turned 90 on June 29th, mastered a technique of interacting his models with live action using a split screen process.   The models had to be re-positioned in each frame, known as stop-motion animation, which was a tedious process and is somewhat of a lost art due to the advent of CGI.  His creatures were made of a latex over steel armature with ball and socket structure, and more often than not Harryhausen was a one-man operation, who believed his creatures should sustain an almost unreal (fantasy) look. 

 His work may be seen in such high-action fantasy films as Mighty Joe Young (1949), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), Clash of the Titans (1981), and a trilogy of terrific Sinbad adventures; The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977).

On display at AMPAS (which ran from May 14th – August 22nd) were the models Perseus, Pegasus and the Kraken from Clash of the Titans, the sword-wielding skeleton crew from Jason and the Argonauts, the Cyclops from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, and many more, all of which had incurred some degree of degredation over the years.  This most impressive collection also included drawings, photographs and storyboards, as well as screens set up highlighting clips from his most popular films.

Cheers to AMPAS for hosting this wonderful free exhibit and a very happy birthday to Ray!

  Washing ashore on a foreign land, Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is pulled from the water and brought before an elderly Japanese man whom he has been searching for.  Though his memory is a bit cloudy, in a matter of seconds the scene shifts to Cobb working as a safe cracker stealing important documents, and then plunging into a tub of water as everything comes crashing down.

Cobb works as a corporate spy, or pirate if you will, stealing valuable info by extracting it from the minds of competitors through their dreams and delivering it to the client.  He is highly skilled and the best at what he does, until Saito (Ken Watanabe), a client, hires him with a special request, not to extract but to implant an idea instead, known as an Inception.

The challenge is accepted only with a guarantee that he will be reunited with his family back in the States once the task is complete.  Cobb then recruits a skilled team to assist him in the dream process, but as they set about on their mission he is repeatedly hindered by the dogged behavior of his wife Mal (Marion Cotillard).

Moving at a fast pace from beginning to end, racked with thrills, twists and turns, the film has wonderfully appropriate CGI and terrific special effects – particularly the hallway scene.  As the film comes to a close, Nolan manages to implant ideas into the minds of his audience, or at least it seems so – it’s easy to lose track of the characters.

Marion Cotillard gives a chilling standout performance, and Cillian Murphy, as the target, is equally entrancing.  Inception is also a study in screenwriting, as Christopher Nolan has outdone himself and surely deserves an Oscar nod for his efforts.  It is difficult to find a flaw, and believe me, seeing it twice - I’ve tried.

Unlike the horribly depressing  Batman sequel, The Dark Knight, with its splashy over the top pyrotech special effects and nightmarish Joker domination, Inception is a decisive (9 years in the planning stage) masterpiece of writing and directing. 

Lastly, it would be remiss not to mention the brilliant and haunting score by Hans Zimmer, Composer for Gladiator, Green Card, and many many more, where the film and music work congruently.

  The producers of the National Treasure franchise, have created an action film, based on the popular sequence from the 1940′s Disney animated film Fantasia, titled  The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

Beginning in 740 A.D., Merlin the wizard is betrayed and killed, but before he takes his last dying breath he passes on a magical ring to his apprentice Balthazar (Nicolas Cage), who is told to find the next sorcerer’s apprentice.

As Balthazar begins his quest through each decade, he ultimately stumbles upon a young boy named Dave in the year 2000 that shows promise.  Before he can fully pursue the matter, Horvath (Alfred Molina), a nemesis from his past, is released from a nesting doll (grimhold), where he has been trapped since Merlin’s death.

Battling each other, Horvath and Balthazar then become trapped in an antique vase and are not released until ten years later when Dave (Jay Baruchel), is fully grown and in college.  As Horvath attempts to acquire Merlin’s ring, he destroys everything in his path, while Balthazar hurriedly trains Dave for any possible encounter with him.

After learning a few spells, Dave, who is eager to impress his childhood sweetheart Becky (Teresa Palmer), suddenly bids the cleaning supplies to tidy up his lab.  One by one, each mop, broom, and bucket march from the closet and begin to re-enact the popular scene from Fantasia – which is by far the most enjoyable and memorable scene in the film, one that works well in live action.

Solid acting all around, with Nicolas Cage in top form with his unique dry wit and a good counterpart to Alfred Molina’s Horvath.  It’s surprisingly entertaining, not much in the way of storyline, but a decent kid’s action film, and one purposely created for a franchise.

It feels like the jury has been out on whether Christopher Nolan was really one of the elite directors of our time. Sure he’s made a genre defining film in Memento, and arguably the best superhero film ever in The Dark Knight, but I can’t help feeling that there was an uncertainty about Nolan as to whether he could deliver again or was the remainder of his success to be tied to the Batman series with minor interesting films like The Prestige? His latest film, Inception, puts that argument to rest once and for all announcing with authority that Nolan is for real.

Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) heads a small team whose job is to steal information from an individual while inside their dream. Businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe) hires Cobb for a different job. He wants him to plant an idea in the mind of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), the son of Saito’s terminally ill corporate rival, Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaite), so that Robert will break up his father’s empire when he takes over. This is an unusual and nearly impossible request, but Cobb is willing to take the risks involved for the reward which is the chance to return home to his children. Cobb’s dead wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard) figures prominently both in and out of the dream world.

From here it gets more complicated and the viewer must pay attention as the rules of the dream worlds and logistics of their operation are carefully laid out over time. It is nearly impossible to tell more of the film’s plot without getting sucked into explaining some of these rules as explanation of one area will lead to questions about another. Just know that it works. Sure the nitpicker will be able to find a hole here or there, but Christopher Nolan’s brilliantly complex, philosophically inclined script does an excellent job of creating a logical world that only the most anal will want to question for the purpose of debunking it.

Nolan builds his film with a fascinating momentum as he simultaneously unravels the specifics of how this dream world, and dream within a dream world, works at just the right pace to give us time to process it while awing us with his visuals. We are often in the dark about what will happen next as Nolan is basically inventing our story as we go.

This kind of daringly original film is unusual to see and even more unusual to see it in a big budget special effects heavy film that works. Nolan uses some incredible effects and CGI, but it never gets in the way of, nor overwhelms the story. One scene in particular, Arthur’s gravity shifting fight scene in a hotel hallway, will have you beside yourself with glee and shows how a real director uses special effects in what is instantly one of cinema’s best fight scenes ever! Nolan understands what so many directors do not. That the special effects are not the story. They are there to serve and enhance the story which they do brilliantly here.

Bursting with originality, Nolan’s film still recalls several influences. Nolan’s concept of hours of dream time being equal to only seconds of real world time may be an idea inspired by Jean Cocteau’s 1930 film Blood of a Poet whose entire fantasy/dream story is implied to take place in the few seconds it takes for a chimney to collapse.

The film also has a con job/heist feel to it not unlike 1973’s The Sting or Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven with the characters playing very specific roles to get the job done. Cillian Murphy is their mark with Ken Watanabe as the financial backer of the operation, Joseph Gordon Levitt is the planner, Tom Hardy is the forger, Dileep Rao is the chemist, Ellen Page is the architect, and Di Caprio is the man in charge of pulling it off. The performances all around are solid with no one overshadowing anyone else, although I give a slight nod to Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy who stood out a bit for me.

Nolan has definitely paid his dues and is not likely to see the kind of high handed snub many felt was given to The Dark Knight when awards season comes around, especially with ten nominees now, and should be taking home some hardware. The only negative I can see is that Nolan has raised the bar so high for himself that it will be difficult to match, but this auteur of our time is one who seems up to that challenge.

The opening moments of Mesrine: Killer Instinct filled me with dread.  Multiple, split-screen perspectives had me wondering if director Jean-François Richet had turned the film’s protagonist, notorious real life gangster Jacques Mesrine, into a Thomas Crown-esque gentleman-criminal, or worse a comic book anti-hero.  I need not have been concerned.  I was not being set up for a fun filled heist romp.  Rather, the fractured frame sets up the life of the man who is the focus of each shot.  Though based upon Mesrine’s autobiography, this two-part film adaptation (part one is Killer Instinct, part two Public Enemy No. 1) refuses to glamorize its protagonist.  Instead it paints a fascinating portrait of a psychopath with press-fuelled delusions of grandeur.

Though the films are ‘based upon’ the book that Mesrine himself wrote, it is made explicit from the opening moments that Richet and his co-writer Abdel Raouf Dafri (also responsible in part for last year’s dynamite A Prophet screenplay) have extrapolated, as the film opens with Mesrine’s death at the hands of the French police.  It then quickly rewinds to the first episode in his life that we are to witness.  Serving in the military in Algeria, he is commanded to execute a young woman in order to make her brother reveal the location of a bomb.  He shoots the brother.  Thus begins the films’ four hour episodic journey, from petty crime through cold blooded murder, towards his inevitable death.

Mesrine’s refusal to kill the girl sets up one of the many contradictions that he embodies.  He won’t kill the Algerian woman, and later in the film he executes a pimp for beating a prostitute senseless, yet he forces a gun into his wife’s mouth during an argument, and assaults most of the women he’s seen with.  His numerous prison breaks are intricate and well conceived, while an attempt to rescue others is farcical and doomed.  His entire personality is tied up in the public’s perception of his anti-establishment deeds.  He is contrary and compulsive, railing against captivity when he does far worse to others.  Towards the end of his life, fuelled by his own press, he drapes himself in the catchphrases and ideology of a political movement that his cunning mind seems barely to understand, but whose colors he is sure will grant him greater press-allure. But the press is as contrary as Mesrine himself, and the attempted murder of a journalist whose articles don’t fall in line with Mesrine’s self image inevitably leads to a backlash and his demise.

Vincent Cassel is superb in the lead role.  His Mesrine is brutal and savage, but with moments of utter charm.  He is Robin-Hood as he thumbs his nose at the judiciary and, once he has been caught you find yourself willing him over the walls and through the barbed wire fences to freedom, just as the French public did when he ignited their imaginations.  Yet within moments, Cassel turns him, seamlessly, into the snarling monster you knew needed caging from the start, and you fear for those around him.  This is the film’s greatest strength in many ways.  It never lets you get carried away for more than a moment in the criminals life before forcing you to stare at the beast within.  We are complicit with the public who cheered him on, while those unfortunate enough to cross his path cowered before his rage.  To glamorize Mesrine would have been a great mistake, and it is one that the film, even taken as it is from Mesrine’s own words, ably avoids.

The rest of the cast in both films ably support him, but special mention must go to Gérard Depardieu who dominates his scenes with a slickly-grim, intimidating presence as the crime-boss who takes Mesrine under his wing.  Also worthy of praise is Richet and Dafri’s screenplay which, even at four hours with the two films combined, never drags.  Mesrine’s episodic life sizzles from one caper to the next, the pace of the film matching his self-destructive path.

My only real concern is over the two part nature of Mesrine.  While Killer Instinct and Public Enemy No. 1 chart separate arcs in his life, neither really makes sense without the other.  I may often moan that films need their fat trimming, but this one fills its four-hour running time with ease.   I hope that at least the choice to watch them in a ‘double-bill’ format will be offered.  Your legs might fall asleep, but you certainly won’t.

In the interest of full disclosure, Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1 were screened free for members of the press.

  In an otherwise normal neighborhood, lives the cantankerous supervillain Gru (Steve Carell), who’s been upstaged by his punk nemesis Vector (Jason Segel), who recently heisted the Great Pyramid.  Gru sets his sights much higher and shoots for the Moon in Universal Pictures’  Despicable Me.

Seeking a loan from the Bank of Evil to bankroll his Moon heist, Gru is told he must first secure a shrink ray machine.  He succeeds in stealing one, only to have it stolen by Vector, who lives in a modern but luxurious fortress nearby.

When Gru spots three orphan girls selling cookies door to door he hatches a plan to adopt the girls and use them as bait to get inside (the cookie-loving) Vector’s lair and steal the shrink ray back.

Gru’s constant companions are his nerdy scientist Dr. Nefario (Russell Brand), his disapproving mom (performed deliciously by Julie Andrews), and a host of little yellow minions who do his bidding.  When the orphans (Margo, Edith and Agnes) move in with Gru, they take over his home and begin to work wonders on his heart. 

 The girls beg Gru to take them to a local amusement park where he is forced to ride the roller coaster and later defend their honor at a target practice game.  At night they plead with Gru to read them a hopelessly boring bedtime story until he agrees, and ultimately Gru warms up and begins to enjoy being a daddy.

Although slow in the beginning, with too much time spent building the story with the bank loan and at the orphanage, the film does eventually pick up and entertain.  It is surprisingly funny with the usual juevenile gags, such as when the minions are spotted making xerox copies of their behinds, but it’s heartwarming as well.  Gru’s character is constantly trying to impress his equally cantankerous mom, who looks the other way with each of his endeavors, until finally she informs Gru that she’s proud of him at the least expected moment.  Overall a good kid flick with a catchy soundtrack by Pharrell Williams.

  The Last Airbender  is a live-action martial arts fantasy film, based on the Nickelodeon anime series Avatar.

Brother and sister team Sokka and Katara (Jackson Rathbone and Nicola Peltz), find and rescue Aang (Noah Ringer) from frozen captivity.  Aang soon discovers he is the last of the airbenders, capable of controlling the four elements of water, air, fire, and earth, and Zuko (Dev Patel) the Prince of Fire, is in hot pursuit of him.

At odds with Zuko is Admiral Zhao (Aasif Mandvi), a Fire commander who is also pursuing Aang and attempting to destroy Zuko, who’s a castaway.

Sokka, Katara and Aang seek the help of Princess Yue (Seychelle Gabriel) of the Northern Water Tribe, for protection, training, and in the case of Sokka, a tender romance.

This film however is neither tender nor romantic.  It is also not funny or thrilling or scary or exciting.  It is not predictable nor is it unpredictable, and it did not suspend my disbelief.

Basically the martial arts suck, as well as the acting, casting, directing, writing, and dialogue.  Admittedly not a huge fan of CGI, in this case it’s the only thing holding the film together – it’s a snoozer!

In a nutshell:

Acting – Nicola Peltz (Katara) comes off as a whiny, cry-baby, and over-emotional.

Casting - At 25, was Jackson Rathbone (Sokka) really the best actor available to play a 15 yr. old Asian character?

Directing – M. Night just had too much on his plate.

Writing – My 11 yr. old daughter’s scripts are more concise.

Dialogue – “Hey guys” and “let your emotions flow like water” just doesn’t cut it for me.

To set the record straight, I’m a fan of M. Night and I dig his out of the box creativity.  Supposedly M. Night was writing the rough draft for part II (in this planned trilogy), during filming of part I.  Maybe he’s doing too much and should just concentrate on writing (OR) directing, maybe he picked the wrong material (his family are fans of the series), maybe he needs a long vacation at a spa, but his multi-tasking is working against him now, and someone in his camp should point this out.

Two great films I recommend are The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable.  The Village and Signs are also worth watching, but the three to avoid are Lady in the Water, The Happening, and this recent fiasco.

Watching James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) for the first time, at the tender age of 10, I was overcome with love for Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his determination to save Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) “in every way that a person can be saved.”  Unfortunately for Cameron, that charm does not hold up upon viewing the film 13 years after its theatrical release.  Now the film seems overcompensating and trite.  James Cameron transforms the epic story of an ill-fated ship into the over told story of an ill-fated romance, but, he does it with “style.”

Regrettably, the film is hardly about the disastrous voyage.  Instead Cameron encases a romance between two fictional characters of different classes in the historical background of a tragic journey.  Not that the theme is uncommon; films such as A Very Long Engagement (2004) and Pearl Harbor (2001) also utilize tragic historical events to ground a fictional love story.  Had Titanic not faked interest in the artifact of the ship itself, I may have forgiven this downfall; however, treasure hunter Brock Lovett and his exploration of the RMS Titanic surround the context of the story as he scavenges the ship for a rare, expensive diamond known as the Heart of the Ocean.  After a failed attempt at recovering the relic, he meets 101 year-old Rose, the last person known to be wearing the jewel.  Although Brock does not recover the gem, his team restores a drawing of a beautiful, young, naked woman wearing nothing but the diamond in question, who happens to be Rose, herself.  From there, she tells the story of the ship’s doomed maiden voyage, and the love that found her along the way.

The film boasts as audacious of claims as the boat itself did in the 1910s.  The sets are lavish and striking, and the costumes are highly romantic.  Jack cleans up handsomely in “The Unsinkable” Molly Brown’s son’s dress clothes and his hair slicked back, as he prepares to meet with the ship’s elite for dinner.  Rose’s memories introduce us to a typical dinner for upper class: an ornate flat leading to a polished wooden grand staircase; at the bottom, an open flat filled with lavishly dressed people, and then an elegantly dressed Jack practicing his greetings.  He greets her with a kiss on the hand (“I saw that in a nickelodeon once and I’ve always wanted to do it.”) and takes her arm in his.  Rose’s dinner gown is phenomenal: a red evening dress with a fully beaded net overlay; it is classic extravagance.  It is also one more aspect of the film that, while aesthetically pleasing, screams over-kill as much as the number of deaths accrued on the “unsinkable ship.”

Why did he even make Titanic?  We all know the end of the story: the RMS Titanic sinks; the History Channel has been telling us that for years.  Maybe Cameron just wanted to be “King of the World” and created a film so ludicrously ostentatious he could not be forgotten for it.  Check.  Who could forget the grandiose sinking of the ship sequence that lasts for half of the film?  The panic sweeping through the multitudes of passengers and staff, the forlorn captain and crew, the desperate Cal, the water sloshing down empty halls and stairwells as sparks fly from short-circuiting lights, and Rose and Jack frantically engaged in their survival—together.  The sets and special effects are high and the storyline is over familiar, but somehow the monstrous hit was the highest grossing movie of all time until Cameron outdid himself in 2009 with the even more ridiculously pretentious Avatar (shot in 3D, of course).  I guess that is why Titanic is now scheduled for re-released in 3D.  After the successful transformation of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland (2010) and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender (2010) from 2D shooting to 3D post-production, Cameron decided the conversion process is good enough for his precious Heart of the Ocean to get her second chance to sail.