Surfwise

Ever feel like dropping out of the rat race? One guy did and this is his movie, or rather a look back to the 60s when he actually dropped out and took his wife and kids along in a 24-foot camper trailer so he could surf some cool waves. Before the 60s were over Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz had sired 11 children. Consider that gas was under a dollar a gallon and the logistics of such travel seem affordable. Also since Doc is now in his 80s and the kids grown adults the film acted as a bridge to reconcile the bad feelings that had torn the family apart.
Surwise demonstrates that even utopian dreams have a downside. Doc's Faustian bargain ends up driving his children away later in life. In the film Doc asks the camera point blank: "Why are you interviewing me? I'm a crazy Jew." But his brother reminds that Doc brought surfing to Israel. Being a medical professional Doc was able to piecemeal funds for his excursion at various rural clinics, yet one son recalls a moment when they literally were down to their last dime.
As Surfwise unfolds you are pelted with ambivalent feelings towards Doc. On one hand his escape from the direct effects of consumerism, on Doc, his wife and family, are commendable. The other side of the rainbow reveals the disassociation of Doc's nuclear unit. The parents were feeding the kids nuts and berries that they'd pick along the roadside. When they caught fish Doc would eat everything right down to the bones. The kids never knew anything better or different. Taking a cue from apes, Doc would eat what they ate. One of Doc's offspring recalls his rather neurotic attempts to date in school, and maintains that hearing his dad and mom having sex in the trailer every night did nothing to further his young romantic yearnings.
As a cautionary tale or a fable of mid-20th century life Surfwise holds your interest throughout. If you still want to go off the grid after watching this film at least you'll have a better idea of what roads to avoid.

2001 reboot

Notice how the admiration for 2001: A Space Odyssey lives on?
In WALL-E the spaceship's computer obviously bears a string resemblance to HAL from 2001. And in Hellboy II a theater displays signage for non-existent film See You Next Wednesday. See you next Wednesday was a line spoken in 2001 when Frank Poole is talking to his parents via a time delay satellite transmission.
The phrase has tuned up in most of the films that John Landis ever directed usually as a mock movie poster. That's a lot of traction for a throwaway line in a classic movie.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army

No matter how enthused people were over Iron Man or even The Incredible Hulk they now have to rethink their superhero accolades because Hellboy II is just what those other superhero movies weren't - funny, engaging, cleverly written, and with a lot of heart. It's little surprise writer/director Guillermo del Toro will next turn his talent to the Peter Jackson produced The Hobbit. Jackson seems to recognize the kind of vision del Toro offers, and with as many lackluster movies as the studios release they too should jump on the del Toro bandwagon.
Oddly and perhaps a tad off subject, the first Hellboy was screened at 10 p.m. on the Thursday night before it opened and had a cool Top Secret folder type press kit. For the sequel it was a Tuesday night screening, enough time to savor the feeling before the typical Friday reviews. As fate would have it the screening of Hellboy II: The Golden Army was marred by a faulty projector lighting source, an errant xenon bulb that rendered the image too dim to actually distinguish details in the obviously fine tuned cinematography. del Toro and DP Guillermo Navarro establish an instant noir mood as much of the film is dark to begin with. There's only one real bright daylight scene and that's at the end (just like Dark City). But being the film (geek?) pro I am I found it a great opportunity to actually train my eye to differentiate bad luminosity. And after a couple of reels the film did seem to gain a lumen, but it was still too dim to register the kind of nuances you see on the big screen as opposed to even Blu-Ray DVD. I once attended a screening of Persona where one projector was broken so the entire film was shown reel by reel, with a brief pause between each changeover. In other words, I have a better handle on how to visualize the proper amount of projected light to portray darkness. End of digression.
Hellboy II offers one scene that cements del Toro's ability to bond his subject with an audience. Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and Abe Sapien (Doug Jones who also dons heavy make-up to play two other creatures) get knee wobbling drunk on Tecate (like del Toro a stout Mexican product) and the scene plays as funny and yet profound as any scene you can name from any really good movie. del Toro knows how to drive a sequence from comedy to pathos to danger with the turn of a switch. After this bonding scene the ending sequence in which Sapien and Hellboy makes instant life or death decisions not only plays with operatic precision, it's just plain fun.
There are visual references to earlier del Toro films like the mechanical egg of Cronos, the sideways closing eye p.o.v. from The Devil's Backbone or the look of the creatures from Pan's Labyrinth. It was easy enough to give the May releases an easy pass because they accomplished a minimum of cinematic momentum and entertainment. Hellboy II just ratcheted up the bar for what to expect, both with action editing and emotional tone, from superhero movies.