Glutton for punishment

I am evidently a glutton for punishment. No I'm not talking about a non-stop listening marathon to the new song by Omar and the Howlers, but rather my choice of cinematic pleasures for the last week. Sure, Choke, Towelhead and Traitor all rocked my world but then the follow up trifecta of Mama Mia Sing Along Edition, House Bunny, and hands down the worst film I have seen in over 20 years Disaster Movie zeroed me back to neutral.
The problem with Mama Mia is not that it's a bad movie - it's badly directed and the tech values are uneven. Who doesn't love the music of Abba? There needs to be a typewriter key that makes a backwards "b."
Specifically the mixture of Grecian locales and London studio green screen effects don't really match lighting wise. Also, the decision to have Pierce Brosnan sing, and not talk-sing or dub lip movements to another singer, was not good. Not good. Audrey Hepburn was dubbed for My Fair Lady and Andy Williams warbled for Lauren Bacall in To Have and To Have Not. Mama Mia's director Phyllida Lloyd directed the stage play and was part of the deal regarding movie rights. The film's studio Universal has shown a bizarre resilience by successfully marketing some of the summer's worst films (Mummy 3, Death Race, MM).
That said, Mama Mia plays like one of those American International beach party movies from the 60s. It's more camp than crap and will be a milestone of this era, say, twenty years from now.
For the Sing Along Edition the words appear in all caps along the bottom of the screen. The letters are blue and when the actors sing the words turn yellow. My personal favorite Abba song "Waterloo" is heard instrumentally at the beginning, but only during the end credits do we hear it sung by the entire cast.
By contrast Disaster Movie, a film made for teens who watch too many illegally downloaded internet movies and too much E! Television, was truly a low point of my movie attending career. There were actually people in the audience from a radio station promotion giveaway. By sharp contrast when fellow Houston film critic Joe Leydon reviewed the film for Variety a mere few hours later (midnight screening) he was the only one in the theater. Until some guy came in and took a piss on the carpet.
To quote from Leydon's blog:
"... I actually was the only person in the theater. At least, that was the case for about 30 or so minutes into the movie. At the 30-minute mark, I noticed a young guy wandering in. (Can’t tell you his age for certain – it was, well, dark.) I thought this was kinda-sorta weird – remember, we’re talking close to 12:40 am at this point – but I figured, what the hell, maybe he just ducked in after seeing another movie in another auditorium of the megaplex. He sat down a few rows ahead of me. But after about five or so minutes, he stood up and… and… well, I am not 100 percent sure about this, but I think he took a leak. Really. Right there in the freakin’ auditorium. On the floor. And then, he left."
Just for the record I was at the same theater that night but I swear it wasn't me, I left House Bunny at 10:40 pm. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

He's wanted in the United States and desired in France. This documentary, produced by and shown on HBO last month, makes a theatrical loop on its way to ancillary. Like another recent docu, Gonzo, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired expresses a special reverence for the 60s and 70s through clips of its cultural landmarks.
If you're familiar with the events surrounding Polanski's flight from the U.S. after being charged with "unlawful sexual intercourse" this film fleshes out the details of the backroom deals that were brokered. If you're unfamiliar with same, the film packs quite a wallop of information. Polanski engaged in consensual sex with a 13-year old (after he halved a Quaalude with the girl), otherwise the charge would've been statutory rape. To the film's credit Wanted and Desired presents facts from the defense and prosecution point-of-view, so the viewer can decide which side of the fence they might want to straddle.
Interview subject include Polanski's victim Samantha Geimer nee Gailey (who long ago forgave Polanski), along with various lawyers, reporters and screenwriters. The film never forgets that Polanski was himself a victim of Nazi occupation in his childhood Poland, nor his wife Sharon Tate's murder at the hands of the Manson gang.
The actual incident that makes Polanski flee occurs when the judge presiding over the case (the only person involved in this drama that has since died) confides to a friend at a country club that he plans to send Polanski to prison. This is overheard by a friend of Polanski's and he passes the word along. Polanski gets the hell out of Dodge at that point.
Aside from the evocation of the shift in Hollywood attitude before and after Manson, the film concentrates on the legal aspects of this case. A more interesting documentary could have been made about various directors who, for whatever reason, have fled: Chaplin departing America, Fritz Lang fleeing Nazi Germany, and such. Or perhaps a docu on adults, men and women, and the way society views their desire to have sex with teenagers. But Polanski and Samantha are the subjects and Wanted and Desired sticks to its guns.

Frozen River

Tundrariffic would be a great word to describe the terrific low key drama Frozen River. Even snow bound movies like Fargo and Lars and the Real Girl don't capture the frigid relations between people like Frozen River. Set along the U.S. - Canada border the story paints a vivid picture of a trailer trash mom who turns to human cargo when her husband abandons her and her employer enforces the glass ceiling.
Melissa Leo plays the desperate soul with a firm grasp on the nature of what drives a person to criminal activity. Leo is even better than she was in 21 Grams, and to give you an idea of how prolific she is, she's made over 35 film and television appearances since that 2003 film. Joining her is the equally magnetic Misty Upham, playing a Mohawk Indian widow in a similar hopeless situation who shows Leo the ropes regarding illegal transportation. These are a couple of tough chicks who know how to pack a side arm into a purse and when to use it.
Their friendship results more from the axiom "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" than any actual similarities they share as women. Frozen River is best when depicting this uneasy alliance. The scenes where Leo and Upham drive across the frozen St. Lawrence River are rightfully filled with foreboding and danger.
Their cargo includes Chinese and Pakistani nationals who're obviously being mistreated by the thugs holding them in Canada. Leo and Upham load them in the trunk and trek across the slush, later dropping them at a motel on the U.S. side where the money transaction is completed. Even though the women are at odds with each other a couple of important story and emotional twists take their commitment to each other up a notch. Frozen River will find an intelligent audience once the word starts to spread on its performance values.

Traitor

Jeffrey Nachmanoff is not a household name, and the only movie he worked on you might be familiar with is Day After Tomorrow (screenwriter) although the parts of that film that spring to memory are the special effects, not the script. As writer/director of Traitor Nachmanoff just jump started the wave of serious films that follow the summer blockbusters.
The story is tightly constructed right down to major twists that jolt the middle and second to third act breaks. The plot will remind some of Syriana but that's due to the film's attitude about politics and terrorism. One person mentioned that Traitor reminded them of Body of Lies, a Ridley Scott flick nobody has seen, but again that has to do with the subterfuge of government agents and not any actual plot points. Taken on its own terms Traitor provides a serious story and a credible character that allows Don Cheadle to go to town.
Cheadle owns this film but gains momentum by playing off the equally excellent Guy Pearce, Neal McDonough, Jeff Daniels and as a Jihadist, Saïd Taghmaoui. Cheadle's Roy Clayton is a cipher of a character and the audience will not be able to figure him out any more than the various agents chasing him. When we first meet Clayton he's selling explosives to the highest bidder. Before long we realize that every agency or group has some kind of mole feeding surreptitious info to their superiors.
Traitor pays off with well timed explosions that balances the more intimate human drama that flows throughout. Locations revolve around the world with the climax culminating in a bombing mission meant to disrupt a typical American Thanksgiving holiday. Traitor has a sleek tone thats bolstered by accurate portrayals of its various international players. The terrorists are as human as the FBI agents, a point that makes Traitor more than just a good guy chases bad guy movie.

Drug Wars: Silver or Lead

I became aware of this documentary after it played at The Bayou City Inspirational Film Festival. On the film's website they refer to that festival as The Bayou City International Film Festival. I've never heard of any of them, but likewise they've never heard of me so we're even.
Drug Wars mines territory from which most investigative essays would steer clear. The specifics concern gangs and cartels that smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Mexican border. Interviews include people involved in the drug trade as well as officials trying to control same, in addition to people whose lives have been aversely affected by the violence this scene produces. Archival footage details efforts in smuggling for the last couple of generations. To its credit Drug Wars is never snide about government attempts to coral the problem, although it's also clear that such efforts are in themselves part of a cover-up.
Where Drug Wars starts to become long in the tooth is the dramatic recreations that instantly remind the viewer of bad reality television programming. The film's more powerful scenes, like forensic footage of gang violence, are lessened by juxtaposing them next to these obvious recreations.
Drug Wars covers areas as diverse as the battles between gangs in Laredo and grade school kids using an addictive knock-off called Cheese. When the film ends with what appears to be an actual mob murder recorded on videotape one gets the feeling that the producers were only interested in sensationalizing their subject to the point of offering the audience a snuff film rather than a balanced expose.