Max Payne

Max Payne is just mind numbingly bad. Sitting through the credits, a scene after the credit roll teases us with Payne (Mark Wahlberg) and Mila Kunis (Mona Sax) sipping beers and plotting revenge on the corporate head of Aesir Pharmaceuticals as if the preceding film deserved much less earned sequel rights.
Max Payne is based on a video game and lives and breathes in a cosmology of its own. One cannot deny the coolness of the Norse mythology that underlines the plot that detective Payne stumbles upon while searching for the long ago killers of his wife and child. The bad pharmaceutical company was testing a potion that turned soldiers into invincible killing machines although their symptoms resemble doped-up race horses. The drug enables the user to see, feel and hear Norse gods who take you to heaven only if you die through violence. If you die in your sleep you go to hell, or something like that.
Sax hooks up with Payne after her sister Natasha is killed, with Payne's wallet found next to her remains. Olga Kurylenko plays Natasha and this marks two films where she dies in upcoming weeks. It's already been reported how her character in Quantum of Solace, Camille, is dispatched in a manner similar to the woman painted gold in Goldfinger.
There's some beautifully realized photography that plays with shadows in a unique way, plus the whole film takes place in falling snow. That's it for May Payne's good points. Some prime actors like Kate Burton, Chris O'Donnell, Donal Logue and Beau Bridges are wasted while a non-actor like Chris Ludacris Bridges play an internal affairs detective so badly conceived you don't even notice how poor his acting chops seem. There's a couple of sequences that use slo-mo bullet trajectory during an action sequence and they just blow. It looked like a video game version of something we might've seen nearly ten years earlier in The Matrix. Maybe that's what the filmmakers considered par for the course.

Ashes of Time Redux

This 1994 film by Kar Wai Wong gets the full re-release treatment with a digitally enhanced upgrade. About seven minutes have been taken out but you'd have to be an expert in Asian cinema to tell what was trimmed. Ashes of Time Redux (Dung che sai duk redux) has to be one of a handful of contemporary films that you could just turn the sound off and fall under the spell of its images. Yet the soundtrack deserves praise on its own, ranging from 80s genre style synthesizer to wind sound effects to lyrical interludes more in tempo with the subject.
Kar Wai even produced another version of the source material with the same cast (The Eagle Shooting Heroes), a talented line-up that includes Brigitte Lin, Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, and Tony Leung. Add the contributions of cinematographer Christopher Doyle at his most evocative and action coordinator Sammo Hung and the combined chi is unbeatable.
In a series of solarized wide wind-swept images we meet the cast interacting in a non-linear plot. There's unrequited love, there's heroism and stoic stances. Most of all there's a hypnotic feel to the images that lulls you into alpha waves. Shot after shot depicts text book examples of chiaroscuro lighting that provoke romantic, or, as the case may be, loveless moods. The camera caresses the actor's faces as they stand next to light shimmering off water, or being reflected by the intertwined strands of a birdcage. The exteriors provide high contrast of stark desert scenes, usually with a bright colored tree or other figure offsetting the earthy tones. Likewise a close-up of one femme's face in anguish embellishes the redness of her lips with the tragic irony of jealousy.
I could go on about the actual plot but I'm not sure if I understand it, so discombobulated is the time flow, even after watching the film. The setting is ancient China and samurai freelancers are asked to seek vengeance for spurned lovers. A second time basking in the glow of this must-see feature is called for to truly understand its existential wuxia wisdom.

Johnny Cash Christmas Special, 1978 - 1979

Johnny Cash Christmas Specials were a tradition of sorts in the later 70s that saw Cash coming into the holiday living room from 1976 though 1979 repeating the glory of his late 60s TV show. Last year saw the release of the 1976 and 1977 specials, and now the set becomes complete with the addition of The Johnny Cash Christmas Special 1978 and 1979, released on DVD.
Frankly these last two years are the better of the set mainly because the guest comics include Steve Martin (he was so much funnier in the 70s than now) and Andy Kaufman.
Cash especially had clout in this era attracting guests across the spectrum from singers like Joni Mitchell and Melanie for his late-60s ABC show to Tom T. Hall on the 1979 Christmas special. Cash even had a mid-70s Summer replacement show, Johnny Cash and Friends. All of his shows would be DVD collectibles if only for the amount of talented performers involved, many much better early in their careers than later. Rights clearance for so many artists must be a bitch.
1978’s special guests include Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, and like Cash and June Carter they were a married couple that electrified audiences with their duets. The 1979 guest list varies from Anne Murray to Hall, but nothing comes even close to Kaufman when he channels Elvis. Here Kaufman wows the crowd with as good an imitation of the King as anybody ever did, doing one of E’s early recordings “That’s When Your Heartaches Begin.” Combine that with Johnny and June singing “If I Were A Carpenter” and this disc is a keeper. The Christmas specials are available as a box set with all four years or single discs.

67 Countries

First in a series of Academy Awards updates. Sixty-seven countries have movies up for the best foreign film Oscar. The 2008 submissions are:

Afghanistan, “Opium War,” Siddiq Barmak, director;

Albania, “The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider,” Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani, directors;

Algeria, “Masquerades,” Lyes Salem, director;

Argentina, “Lion’s Den,” Pablo Trapero, director;

Austria, “Revanche,” Gotz Spielmann, director;

Azerbaijan, “Fortress,” Shamil Nacafzada, director;

Bangladesh, “Aha!,” Enamul Karim Nirjhar, director;

Belgium, “Eldorado,” Bouli Lanners, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Snow,” Aida Begic, director;

Brazil, “Last Stop 174,” Bruno Barreto, director;

Bulgaria, “Zift,” Javor Gardev, director;

Canada, “The Necessities of Life,” Benoit Pilon, director;

Chile, “Tony Manero,” Pablo Larrain, director;

China, “Dream Weavers,” Jun Gu, director;

Colombia, “Dog Eat Dog,” Carlos Moreno, director;

Croatia, “No One’s Son,” Arsen Anton Ostojic, director;

Czech Republic, “The Karamazovs,” Petr Zelenka, director;

Denmark, “Worlds Apart,” Niels Arden Oplev, director;

Egypt, “The Island,” Sherif Arafa, director;

Estonia, “I Was Here,” Rene Vilbre, director;

Finland, “The Home of Dark Butterflies,” Dome Karukoski, director;

France, “The Class,” Laurent Cantet, director;

Georgia, “Mediator,” Dito Tsintsadze, director;

Germany, “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” Uli Edel, director;

Greece, “Correction,” Thanos Anastopoulos, director;

Hong Kong, “Painted Skin,” Gordon Chan, director;

Hungary, “Iska’s Journey,” Csaba Bollok, director;

Iceland, “White Night Wedding,” Baltasar Kormakur, director;

India, “Taare Zameen Par,” Aamir Khan, director;

Iran, “The Song of Sparrows,” Majid Majidi, director;

Israel, “Waltz with Bashir,” Ari Folman, director;

Italy, “Gomorra,” Matteo Garrone, director;

Japan, “Departures,” Yojiro Takita, director;

Jordan, “Captain Abu Raed,” Amin Matalqa, director;

Kazakhstan, “Tulpan,” Sergey Dvortsevoy, director;

Korea, “Crossing,” Tae-kyun Kim, director;

Kyrgyzstan, “Heavens Blue,” Marie Jaoul de Poncheville, director;

Latvia, “Defenders of Riga,” Aigars Grauba, director;

Lebanon, “Under the Bombs,” Philippe Aractingi, director;

Lithuania, “Loss,” Maris Martinsons, director;

Luxembourg, “Nuits d’Arabie,” Paul Kieffer, director;

Macedonia, “I’m from Titov Veles,” Teona Strugar Mitevska, director;

Mexico, “Tear This Heart Out,” Roberto Sneider, director;

Morocco, “Goodbye Mothers,” Mohamed Ismail, director;

The Netherlands, “Dunya & Desie,” Dana Nechushtan, director;

Norway, “O’Horten,” Bent Hamer, director;

Palestine, “Salt of This Sea” Annemarie Jacir, director;

Philippines, “Ploning,” Dante Nico Garcia, director;

Poland, “Tricks,” Andrzej Jakimowski, director;

Portugal, “Our Beloved Month of August,” Miguel Gomes, director;

Romania, “The Rest Is Silence,” Nae Caranfil, director;

Russia, “Mermaid,” Anna Melikyan, director;

Serbia, “The Tour,” Goran Markovic, director;

Singapore, “My Magic,” Eric Khoo, director;

Slovakia, “Blind Loves,” Juraj Lehotsky, director;

Slovenia, “Rooster’s Breakfast,” Marko Nabersnik, director;

South Africa, “Jerusalema,” Ralph Ziman, director;

Spain, “The Blind Sunflowers,” Jose Luis Cuerda, director;

Sweden, “Everlasting Moments,” Jan Troell, director;

Switzerland, “The Friend,” Micha Lewinsky, director;

Taiwan, “Cape No. 7,” Te-Sheng Wei, director;

Thailand, “Love of Siam,” Chookiat Sakveerakul, director;

Turkey, “3 Monkeys,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director;

Ukraine, “Illusion of Fear,” Aleksandr Kiriyenko, director;

United Kingdom, “Hope Eternal,” Karl Francis, director;

Uruguay, “Kill Them All,” Esteban Schroeder, director;

Venezuela, “The Color of Fame,” Alejandro Bellame Palacios, director.

W.

One sequence in Oliver Stone's newest biopic W. shows President George W. Bush's cabinet walking behind him at his Crawford ranch. The long shots of the group strolling distinctly reminded me of a similar shot of the cast walking along a country road in The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. In the latter film by Luis Bunuel the shot is repeated throughout and the set-up implies that the cast are dead and are walking on a road in the afterlife.
In W. Stone uses a repeating motif of Bush (played with veracity by James Brolin) playing major league baseball in center field only there's nobody in the stands. This sporting image pops up sometimes with Bush in his Ranger's jersey (he once owned the Texas Rangers and the script notes he traded Sammy Sosa) and even once in a business suit. On one hand it recalls another sports movie that Stone directed with high octane energy (Any Given Sunday) yet W. unwinds in a dramatic low-key manner that eschews any hyperkinetic motion. W. is a tough movie to swallow and that demands an audience versed in drama to appreciate its nuances.
On a side note, when I wrote for another paper and listed JFK as best film of that year the publisher's wife said I should be replaced because I was just a conspiracy freak. A week later when Roger Ebert listed JFK as film of the year she retracted her statement. There's strength in numbers baby. This isn't the Stone of Platoon or JFK or even U-Turn or NBK yet there's an unmistakable touch that defines the director. When we progress in one scene from the White House to the Bush ranch we hear the song "Robin Hood" in the background. With this campy theme song from a 50s children's show the moment elicits grins and recalls that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where Eric Idle is being serenaded as "Brave Sir Robin."
The tone quickly switches to pathos as we sit in conferences with Bush and his cabinet discussing WMDs. Scenes like this and lunch scenes are played for heavy dramatic effect. Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) tries to explain to his boss the logic behind going to war over WMDs even if the probability is 1-percent. This is scary stuff and even the comic implication of Bush using his finger for a toothpick or the fact that he's eating a baloney sandwich (served from a silver platter) doesn't make you laugh out loud so much as send a chill down your psyche. Later after the war is in its disastrous stage and Bush tells everyone he's sworn off desert until there's a resolution to the conflict we see Daniel Rumsfield (an unrepentant Scott Glenn) gobble down the pecan pie. Thandie Newton plays her part of Condi Rice as a sycophant, Elizabeth Banks plays Laura Bush as a woman who stands by her man, and Jeffrey Wright gives Colin Powell a conscious, just witness his wrathful aside to Cheney in one scene. There are illuminating bits like when W. wakes up one morning with one too many hangovers and decides to kick his addiction to booze. As admirable as that is it results in his zealous religious ideals that include praying after Presidential staff meetings.
Stone has made a bio that stands alongside his other bios like Nixon and Alexander. It's complicated, researched and opinionated, and something like that will only appeal to a narrow audience. Fortunately they will not be narrow minded.

Classic Interviews: Jim Jarmusch

Every so often Free Press Houston visits the classic interview bag, this week we came up with our conversation with Jim Jarmusch conducted while he was promoting the Neil Young documentary Year of the Horse.

Rock and roll will never die, especially when it's captured on film stock. Jim Jarmusch, indie-minded writer/director of Mystery Train, Stranger Than Paradise, and Dead Man, took the assignment to chronicle the 1996 Crazy Horse tour after having collaborated with Neil Young on the soundtrack to Dead Man. Call it two iconoclasts jamming in synch, one on guitar, the other with film emulsion, and you've got the heart of Year of the Horse.
The only thing that could possibly be better with this dead-on performance film would be if it was projected in an digital stereo THX-enforced theater. It's not, but the Landmark Greenway Three has assured that the volume will be cranked the fuck up.
Jarmusch used super-8 (three stocks: high speed color negative, Ektachrome, and Tri-X) and 16mm, which he seamlessly blends with footage of Crazy Horse shot in 1976 and 1986. Year of the Horse alternates complete live song segs with vignettes of the band. The 107-minute film closes with a version of "Like a Hurricane" that uses footage from Crazy Horse's 1976 perf at the Hammersmith Odeon immaculately intercut with last year's footage from a concert at The Gorge (off Interstate 90 near George, Washington).
"It flowed together, man, we only fooled with a few frames of image, but the sych was fine, so were the tempo and the pitch," Jarmusch told Free Press Houston in a phone interview regarding the "Hurricane" sequence. "Twenty years later it just melted right into it."
Young contacted Jarmusch about going on the road to shoot concert footage after Jarmusch had done a music video for "Big Time," also shot in super-8. "This film had no intention to it," said Jarmusch. "I asked how long a film he was thinking of making and he said 'Hey, when I start writing a song I don't think about how long it's going to be.'"
Jarmusch intends his film to paint of true portrait of a band on the road, without pretending that he understands 30-years of a band's heart. Young, who also directed the musical movie Journey Through the Past, commissioned a crew to shoot concert footage in 1976, which resides in Young's archives and was used in Year of the Horse. "The stuff from 1986, Neil shot himself on video," said Jarmusch, "And he made a beautiful film called Muddy Track, which is finished but has never been released." Jarmusch lifts footage that can be narcissistic but yet revelatory. One passage which a raging argument pretty much sums up the band's stake in the world of rock 'n roll. "They're not arguing about some rock star drama, like why aren't there pimentos in the olives," noted Jarmusch. "They're arguing about their art, their expression, and they take it real seriously," added Jarmusch. "It comes from their souls and they're very pure about that."
On his decision to give the film a gritty look, yet the look of film, Jarmusch explained: "Video is immediate, but it's not beautiful. Film has light passing through it when you expose it, and video is dead where no light passes through anything. It's pixels on a digital palette. But it's a good tool for certain things.
"I've had to fight to make films in black-and-white. I had to shot Dead Man on a budget lower than I needed to make the film, whereas I could've gotten the budget if I'd made it in color. No, it was black-and-white in my head when I sat down to write it and it's going to be black-and-white on the screen.
"Are you telling me that since photography was invented nobody's allowed to paint? Are you telling me that now that we have computers that pencils are illegal? Sometimes you need a hammer and a chisel and you don't need a chainsaw."
Jarmusch considers himself a "guy from Akron," where he grew up yet has little intention of ever returning. His father worked for B.F. Goodrich, his uncle worked for Goodyear, one neighbor worked for Firestone, another neighbor worked for General Tire. "They used to have a hotel with a lounge on the top called the Rubber Room. My mother saw Gene Krupa play the Rubber Room," recalled Jarmusch, ever the embodiment of the New York filmmaker. "That's as high as culture gets in Akron."

Famous Actresses Real Names

taken from this week's Bruce Hershenson movie quiz:

June Allyson (her birth name was Ella Geisman)
Julie Andrews (her birth name was Julia Wells)
Jean Arthur (her birth name was Gladys Greene)
Lauren Bacall (her birth name was Betty Joan Persky)
Anne Bancroft (her birth name was Anna Italiano)
Theda Bara (her birth name was Theodosia Burr Goodman)
Amanda Blake (her birth name was Beverly Louise Neill)
Ellen Burstyn (her birth name was Edna Gilhooley)
Cyd Charisse (her birth name was Tula Finklea)
Cher (her birth name was Cherilyn Sarkisian Lepiere)
Claudette Colbert (her birth name was Lily Cauchoin)
Joan Crawford (her birth name was Lucille Fay Leseur)
Geena Davis (her birth name was Virginia Davis)
Doris Day (her birth name was Doris Kappelhoff)
Yvonne DeCarlo (her birth name was Peggy Middleton)
Sandra Dee (her birth name was Alexandra Zuck)
Diana Dors (her birth name was Diana Fluck)
Elvira (her birth name was Cassandra Peterson)
Dale Evans (her birth name was Frances Octavia Smith)
Sally Field (her birth name was Sally Mahoney)
Rhonda Fleming (her birth name was Marilyn Louis)
Judy Garland (her birth name was Frances Gumm)
Greer Garson (her birth name was Eileen Evelyn Greer)
Jean Harlow (her birth name was Harlean Harlow Carpenter)
Susan Hayward (her birth name was Edythe Marrener)
Rita Hayworth (her birth name was Margarita Cansino)
Audrey Hepburn (her birth name was Edda Van Heemstra/Audrey Kathleen Ruston)
Judy Holliday (her birth name was Judith Tuvim)
Jennifer Jones (her birth name was Phyllis Isley)
Diane Keaton (her birth name was Diane Hall)
Veronica Lake (her birth name was Constance Ockelman)
Hedy Lamarr (her birth name was Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler)
Dorothy Lamour (her birth name was Mary Kaumeyer)
Queen Latifah (her birth name was Dana Owens)
Gypsy Rose Lee (her birth name was Rose Louise Hovick)
Janet Leigh (her birth name was Jeanette Morrison)
Vivien Leigh (her birth name was Vivien Mary Hartley)
Sophia Loren (her birth name was Sofia Scicolone)
Jayne Mansfield (her birth name was Vera Jane Palmer)
Helen Mirren (her birth name was Illiana Lydia Petrovna Mironova)
Marilyn Monroe (her birth name was Norma Jean Baker)
Demi Moore (her birth name was Demetria Guynes)
Merle Oberon (her birth name was Estelle O'Brien Thompson)
Mary Pickford (her birth name was Gladys Smith)
Martha Raye (her birth name was Margaret Reed)
Ginger Rogers (her birth name was Virginia Mcmath)
Meg Ryan (her birth name was Margaret Hyra)
Winona Ryder (her birth name was Winona Horowitz)
Susan Sarandon (her birth name was Susan Tomalin)
Jane Seymour (her birth name was Joyce Frankenberg)
Ann Sothern (her birth name was Harriet Lake)
Barbara Stanwyck (her birth name was Ruby Stevens)
Gale Storm (her birth name was Josephine Cottle)
Lana Turner (her birth name was Julia Jean Turner)
Tuesday Weld (her birth name was Susan Ker Weld)
Shelley Winters (her birth name was Shirley Schrift)